South Africa: Kubayi declares war on housing contractors who don't deliver Human Settlements Minister, Mmamoloko Kubayi, has issued a strong warning to all implementing agents and contractors who perform poorly and do not deliver on housing projects. We can no longer allow, under such a constrained fiscal environment, project developers and contractors to waste public resources on poorly implemented or incomplete projects, Kubayi said. The warning follows the Ministers inspection of human settlements projects, where some have been running for years without completion and others abandoned, leaving poor and indigent potential beneficiaries without shelter. Kubayi warned that from now on, the department is going to tighten contract management such that consequence management is integral in every contract. Any contractor who, without a reasonable explanation, is found to have violated contractual obligations will be dealt with accordingly, she said. The Minister also implored provinces to pay contractors who are delivering within 30 days in order to accelerate housing delivery. We are at the coalface of service delivery and people expect nothing but the best from us. We should strive to ensure that the Department of Human Settlements is an employer of choice because it gives people hope and restores their dignity." Kubayi concluded a two-day visit to Buffalo City Metropolitan Municipality in the Eastern Cape on Friday, where she assessed housing delivery in the province. She also visited a number of human settlements projects in the province, including the Duncan Village Revitalisation Initiative, Komga 570, Potsdam Village 500, and three destitute families in Amathole and Buffalo City Municipalities. SAnews.gov.za This story has been published on: 2021-09-13. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article. South Africa: Zikalala orders police to hunt down killers of three Inanda women KwaZulu-Natal Premier Sihle Zikalala has called on the police to hunt down the suspects linked to the murder of three women in Inanda on Saturday. According to reports, the women met their untimely death during an African National Congress (ANC) activity, in preparation for the upcoming elections. It is believed that while the three women were standing in a queue, an unknown gun assailant fired shots randomly and killed them, while others managed to escape the gun fire. We are deeply shocked, concerned and saddened by this brutal assassination of innocent citizens. We believe this is the work of thuggish elements that kill with impunity. We must not allow them to find a place to hide in this province, Zikalala said. The Premier said the killings bear the hallmarks of a desperate effort to use intimidation and violence as a way of frustrating the will of the people and subvert democracy. He called on the police to hunt down the criminals who thrive on such violence. There is no election or vote that is worth the blood of our innocent citizens. We call upon the community to unite and work with the police to expose those who seem to believe that winning an election or becoming a candidate must happen at all costs, even if it means jumping over the corpses of innocent people, Zikalala. Zikalala extended his heartfelt condolences to the affected families and the community. SAnews.gov.za This story has been published on: 2021-09-13. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article. South Africa: SAHPRA approves Pfizer vaccine for children aged 12 and older The South African Health Products Authority (SAHPRA) has given the green light for children aged 12 and older to receive the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine. According to the local drug watchdog, the approval is in terms of Section 21 of the Medicines and Related Substance Act 101 of 1965, also known as the Medicine Act. This was as a consequence of the review of updated safety and efficacy information submitted as conditions of Section 21 initially authorised on 16 March 2021, SAHPRA said. In addition, the watchdog said, Section 21 of the Medicines Act is a mechanism that enables emergency use access and allows it to authorise the use of medicine, subject to certain conditions. The regulatory decisions of SAHPRA do not translate into a procurement decision, as SAHPRAs mandate is limited to safety, quality and efficacy of health products. In March, SAHPRA has approved the Section 21 application for the Pfizer vaccine for adults. University of KwaZulu-Natal Acting Deputy Vice-Chancellor for Research and Innovation, Professor Mosa Moshabela, told the SABC that there is now a strong case for vaccinating children. Initially, we thought COVID-19 doesnt affect children very much from the first wave but that has changed over time. We now know that the Delta variant, the burden on children was quite high, where they can suffer from long COVID, he said. Meanwhile, he said the burden has shifted to children now that more adults are getting vaccinated and are protected. We've seen outbreaks in South Africa in schools and this has limited the possibility of children catching up in terms of learning. I think, therefore, there's a strong case to be made for children to be vaccinated, especially because schools are daily gatherings and social gatherings, and can contribute to reinfections in the households, as well as most from schools to households through these children. Moshable has also welcomed the launch of the main phase of a global COVID-19 vaccine study on children and teenagers, led by Chinese Coronavirus-vaccine maker, Sinovac Biotech. The trials will be conducted on 2 000 children aged six months to 17 years, based on international data. According to reports, the trials will enrol 14 000 children from South Africa, Chile, the Philippines, Malaysia and Kenya. I think SAHPRA should engage the public on the data that they have used to make this decision because it's not something that originated in South Africa, and there's a lot more effort on the side of SAHRPA to actually convince the South African public why they made that decision and how safe it is for the kids. Moshabela believes that the country needs to show that the data is there and it is compelling. SAnews.gov.za This story has been published on: 2021-09-13. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article. South Africa: President: GBV perpetrators cannot go unpunished President Cyril Ramaphosa says the approval of three critical pieces of legislation will strengthen the criminal justice system and ensure harsh penalties for those found guilty of GBV. These gruesome acts of violence cannot go unpunished. They must strengthen our resolve to end gender-based violence in all its forms. We must strengthen our efforts across all fronts, President Ramaphosa said on Sunday evening during his address to the nation. On 1 September, the National Council of Provinces (NCOP) passed three bills - namely the Criminal and Related Matters Amendment Bill, Domestic Violence Amendment Bill and the Criminal Law (Sexual Offences and Related Matters) Amendment Act Amendment Bill which will change the landscape in terms of how government departments, law enforcement and the courts deal with cases of violence against women and the vulnerable. The House passed two of the bills the Domestic Violence Amendment Bill and Criminal Law (Sexual Offences and Related Matters) Amendment Bill with amendments, and the two Bills were scheduled to be sent back to the National Assembly. The Criminal and Related Matters Amendment Bill, meanwhile, was scheduled to be sent to the President for assent. In his address on Sunday, the President lamented that Womens Month witnessed many GBV cases, at a time when the country had planned to celebrate the success of women in many fields. Among other cases, Fort Hare law student, Nosicelo Mtebeni, was murdered and dismembered in East London; a Grade 1 pupil from Khensani Primary School in Soshanguve was raped in the school's toilets; Palesa Maruping, was found hanging from the ceiling of a house in Khuma Location in the North West, and Pheliswa Sawutana was strangled to death in Kosovo informal settlement in Cape Town. The courts are increasingly handing down judgements for life imprisonment for statutory rape, robbery and aggravating sentences that involve rape. We continue to implement all the pillars of the National Strategic Plan against Gender-Based Violence and Femicide. Ultimately, the success of this work depends on the actions that we all take to end this pandemic of violence against women and children, President Ramaphosa said. He called on men to understand that the rights and freedoms guaranteed by the countrys Constitution belong to all people, men and women alike. Social Relief of Distress Touching on the recent public violence that occurred in Gauteng and KwaZulu-Natal, where a number of businesses were looted and destroyed, President Ramaphosa said government continues to implement measures to assist households, employees and businesses that have been affected by the pandemic and by the public violence. Since we reopened applications for the special Social Relief of Distress grant in the first week of August, we have received nearly 13 million applications. Of these, 8.3 million applications have been approved, and payments have started to these recipients, the President said. According to President Ramaphosa, just over 3.7 million applications were declined, mainly because applicants have other identified sources of income or are registered for assistance like the UIF and NSFAS. Around 845 000 applications are still in the validation process. Along with the other measures we have put in place, this grant is providing critical assistance to unemployed South Africans at this most difficult time, the President. SAnews.gov.za This story has been published on: 2021-09-13. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article. South Africa: Thusong Service Centres a key link to government services Thusong Service Centres continue to play a vital role in giving South Africans access to government services, particularly those who live below the poverty line in rural and disadvantaged areas. Deputy Minister in the Presidency, Pinky Kekana, said that government remains committed to ensure that services reach and meet the needs of the people and ultimately closing the gap of inequality. The Thusong Service Centre Programme has been reaching about six million beneficiaries every year through the Integrated Mobile Outreach Programme, and it is our goal to increase this number of beneficiaries year on year. This is both a government target and one I have taken on as an individual commitment to you, in my new role as Deputy Minister in the Presidency, Kekana said. The Deputy Minister was addressing the launch of the seventh Annual Thusong Service Centre Week on Monday, in Botlokwa, Limpopo. The 2021 Annual Thusong Service Centre Week takes place in conjunction with Public Service Month, under the theme: The Year of Charlotte Maxeke building the capacity of the State through a resilient workforce that respond to the coronavirus pandemic. The Thusong Service Centre Programme Service Delivery Model focuses on a perfected integration of partnerships with civil society and the private sector, to achieve a successful model that South Africans can be truly proud of. Kekana extended her gratitude to partners who have supported the programme since its inception, for more than two decades. The partnerships with Phelophepha Train, Samsung, Digi-Titans, and the newly on boarded Think WiFi Company, to name but a few, have all yielded further positive initiatives which lead to our people benefiting through even more access to information and opportunities of development projects and economic activities, thereby contributing to the alleviation of poverty and increasing job creation, she said. She added that the centres have played an important role in the vaccination rollout programme by providing information on vaccines and some of the centres being identified as vaccination sites. The centres are a resource to communities for access to information and opportunities, beyond just basic services. Some of these services include SEDA (Small Enterprise Development Agency) for those seeking to enter the world of entrepreneurship and looking to be capacitated and supported through government funding, as well as youth advisory services and civil society offerings to assist in various societal and community based needs, Kekana said. Over the last 22 years, Thusong Service Centres has served as a base from where information about communication and activities take place, including government outreach events around gender-based violence (GBV), 16 Days of Activism for No Violence Against Women and Children campaign, governments programme of action, South African Social Security Agency (SASSA) initiatives and many more. There is no doubt that this 'one-stop programme of action implemented and sustained by government, for almost as long as our country attained freedom, has had a positive impact on the lives of our people. Through the Thusong Centres, government has been accessible and visible, where information and services are provided with a human face, based on the principles of Batho Pele that was the essence of the early democracy, the Deputy Minister said. As part of lessons taught by the COVID-19 pandemic, the Deputy Minister said that the digitalisation of the Thusong Centres basket of services are prioritised in the list of technology interventions required for government services, to ensure that citizens are assured of the continuation of access to information and opportunities through the centres. SAnews.gov.za This story has been published on: 2021-09-13. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article. South Africa: No link between COVID-19 jab and those who die: SAHPRA No South African has died from the COVID-19 jab, as the South African Health Products Regulatory Authority (SAHRPA) continues to investigate the safety of vaccines. This is according to the National Immunisation Safety Expert Committee (NISEC) Chairperson, Professor Hannelie Meyer, who was speaking during a webinar on self-reporting of side effects or adverse events. Meyer said SAHPRA and NISEC received 88 reports of death among those who have received a COVID-19 vaccine between 17 May and 31 August this year. According to Meyer, this accounts for 0.0007% out of the 12 166 043 that had been administered as of the end of August. Meanwhile, she said 46 are still under investigation, while 40 have been examined and causality assessed. Amongst the 40 that have been causality assessed, none of those were related to any of the COVID-19 vaccines we are using in South Africa. Causality assessment is defined as a procedure to determine if there is a cause-and-effect relationship between medicine and the occurrence of an adverse event, with no other factor intervening in the process. However, she said 13 of them died due to COVID-19 disease. So, these people died because of COVID-19. They had already incubated COVID-19 at the time of vaccination or contracted COVID-19 shortly after being vaccinated before they could mount an adequate immune response. Meanwhile, Meyer told the public that the non-COVID-19 related deaths happened coincidentally after being jabbed. According to the Professor, the majority of them had multiple comorbidities including hypertension, heart, tuberculosis, obesity and so on. So, they die coincidentally through vaccination because of comorbidities. She has assured citizens that all the data is considered before the experts before any conclusion, adding that there are six unclassified cases due to insufficient information. So, as you've seen, all this data are being considered before we come to a conclusion to say this is just coincidental to vaccination or not and there must be adequate evidence for that, she explained, adding that there are six unclassified cases due to insufficient information. If we don't have sufficient scientific evidence, then the case will end up being unclassifiable, so we can't say it was not the vaccine causing the event or something else causing the event. The Professor has also reminded citizens that government has been inoculating the elderly population, of which most of them suffer from chronic conditions. And what we also need to remember is that the main goal is to protect these people from severe illness to protect everybody from severe illness, especially the elderly population. However, they are at a higher risk of dying from COVID-19. She said if senior citizens are vaccinated on time, the jab could protect them. Still, it cannot protect them or prevent them from dying from a chronic illness. SAHRPAs Pharmacovigilance Manager, Mafora Matlala, said communicating the information received about the adverse events following immunisation (AEFI) was important, particularly because of the use of the new vaccines to fight COVID-19. An adverse event following immunisation (AEFI) is any "untoward" health event that happens after a person receives treatment but which does not necessarily have a causal relationship with the treatment. Monitoring the safety of medicines and vaccines, and communicating any risks is a critical priority for SAHPRA, Motlala said. In addition, she said the local drug watchdog would continue to monitor and inform health professionals and the public of the updated safety profiles of medicines and vaccines. Matlala has encouraged citizens to report any AEFI by downloading the Med Safety App, designed to simplify and promote reporting of suspected adverse drug reactions (ADRs) or AEFIs. Meanwhile, vaccinees can also visit their nearest health facility, which usually uses a paper-based format or go to the SAHPRA website. SAnews.gov.za This story has been published on: 2021-09-13. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article. Hong Kong: Students win history awards Secretary for Education Kevin Yeung today officiated at the Junior Secondary History e-Reading Award Scheme 2021 prize presentation ceremony and presented prizes to awarded students. Speaking at the ceremony, Mr Yeung said that the bureau has been striving to enhance history education in recent years, including the implementation of Chinese History as an independent compulsory subject at the junior secondary level, the implementation of revised Chinese History and History curricula at the junior secondary level, the organisation of a variety of professional development programmes for teachers, as well as the production and introduction of diversified learning and teaching resources so as to provide assistance for teachers to promote the learning and teaching of History. He encouraged students to understand good words and deeds of historical figures and to explore different facets of historical events through reading. Mr Yeung added that students can learn from historical figures moral values and characters so as to become citizens with a sense of national responsibility, an affection for Hong Kong as well as an international perspective. Jointly organised by the Education Bureau and the University of Hong Kongs e-Learning Development Laboratory, the award scheme has been launched in three consecutive years. By using the interactive e-platform, students can read articles on different themes and historical periods and complete the questions entailed. More than 13,500 students from 143 secondary schools participated in the scheme this year, which is the highest in the three years. A total of 67 students were awarded the Certificate of Merit while 10 student teams, with a total number of 28 students, were awarded the Certificate of Creativity. The list of awardees will be uploaded onto the bureaus website later. This story has been published on: 2021-09-13. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article. Copyright 1995 - . All rights reserved. The content (including but not limited to text, photo, multimedia information, etc) published in this site belongs to China Daily Information Co (CDIC). Without written authorization from CDIC, such content shall not be republished or used in any form. Note: Browsers with 1024*768 or higher resolution are suggested for this site. 0108263 License for publishing multimedia online Registration Number: 130349 Registration Number: 130349 Probe of Fetal Research at Pitt Launched NEWS PROVIDED BY The Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights Sept. 13, 2021 NEW YORK, Sept. 13, 2021 /Christian Newswire/ -- The University of Pittsburgh has agreed to have its fetal tissue research practices independently reviewed by the Washington, D.C. law firm of Hyman, Phelps & McNamara. Last month, the Catholic League called upon the Pennsylvania Auditor General to launch such an investigation. We are delighted that Pitt got the message. Over the summer, we learned that Judicial Watch was representing the Center for Medical Progress in a quest to obtain documentation of alleged human organ harvesting at Pitt. According to their probe, organs have been harvested while the baby's heart is still beating. The University has steadfastly denied wrongdoing. On August 17, Bill Donohue wrote to Pennsylvania Auditor General, Timothy L. DeFoor, asking him to determine whether state and federal funds are being used by Pitt for arguably criminal activity. He sent a copy of the letter to Pitt's chancellor, the dean of the medical school and a press official at the University. As important as anything, in our news release that same day, we printed the email address of the Auditor General, asking our subscribers to contact him. Thousands did, and their effort paid dividends. Is Pitt involved in a fetal organ "chop shop"? We do not know. But we need to find out without delay. "If it is true," Donohue said in his letter to the Auditor General, "as some doctors have said, that in order to perform some of these procedures, 'The baby's going to have to be either born alive or be killed immediately prior to delivery,' then justice demands that a thorough investigation take place. I urge you to do so." In February, the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops' Committee on Pro-Life Activities issued an excellent statement on the propriety of human fetal tissue research. It implored the government, which allows abortion, not to "add injury to insult by treating the innocent abortion victim as a convenient laboratory animal for research protocols deemed unethical when applied to other members of the human family." If Pitt has nothing to hide, then so be it. But if some of the horrible accusations are true, then it must cease and desist and be held accountable. We are pleased to have played an important role in getting to the bottom of this issue. Many thanks to those who let their voice be heard. SOURCE The Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights CONTACT: 212-371-3191, pr@catholicleague.org Vietnam takes Japan as partner of top importance: PM The Party, State, Government and people of Vietnam take Japan as one of the partners of top importance which enjoys a high trust in the countrys foreign policy, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh told visiting Japanese Defence Minister Kishi Nobuo in Hanoi on September 12. Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh (R) receives Japanese Defence Minister Kishi Nobuo (Photo: VNA) The PM also affirmed to facilitate the development of the bilateral national defence cooperation, and said Vietnam welcomes Japans active contributions to and support its greater role in maintaining peace, stability and development in the region and the world as a whole. He thanked Japan for providing Vietnam with over 3 million doses of vaccines against the COVID-19 pandemic and facilitating Vietnamese working and living in Japan, and asked the country to help Vietnam with vaccines. PM Chinh asked the Japanese side to continue providing Vietnam with new ODA projects, and pledged Vietnam will continue creating a transparent and favourable environment for investment by foreign countries, including Japanese ones. The Japanese minister spoke highly of the Vietnam Governments efforts in the fight against the pandemic and affirmed he will ask relevant authorities to continue the vaccine assistance to Vietnam. Japan will continue cooperating with Vietnam in the field of Vietnams priority, he said. The two spoke highly of the outcomes of the cooperation between the two countries in various fields and affirmed to continue pushing the development of the intensive and extensive strategic partnership between the two countries, thus helping ensure peace, stability and development in the region and the world over. They exchanged ideas on international and regional issues. On those on the sea, including the East Sea and the East China Sea, PM Chinh affirmed Vietnams viewpoint of maintaining peace, stability, security, safety and freedom of navigation and aviation, settling disputes and differences in the sea by peaceful measures on the basis of respect to international law, including the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea in 1982. Vietnam supported the process of peace and denuclearisation of the Korean Peninsular, while the Japanese side affirmed support to ASEAN efforts on the issue of Myanmar. Tran Dai Nghia Award launched to honour outstanding scientists The Vietnam Academy of Science and Technology launched the third Tran Dai Nghia Award on September 13 to honour outstanding scientists with highly applicable research. Winners of the 2019 Tran Dai Nghia Award. (Photo: VNA) The award will go to scientists who have won recognition from both domestic and international research circles, doing research across seven fields including mathematics, mechanics, information science and computing, physics, chemistry, life sciences and earth sciences. The nominees research must have been implemented in Vietnam and have made certain contributions to national socio-economic development or security-defence. The winners of the award will be honoured at a ceremony scheduled for May, 2022. The award is named after professor and academician Tran Dai Nghia (1913-1997), an eminent scientist who devoted his life to science in Vietnam, particularly the field of military science. He was also one of the first generals in the Vietnam Peoples Army. Held every three years since 2016, the award has honoured 14 scientists who authored six pieces of research with significant contributions to national development or security-defence. IAEA-Iran agreement raises hopes for fresh nuclear talks with US The UN atomic watchdog reached an agreement with Iran on Sunday to solve "the most urgent issue" between them, the overdue servicing of monitoring equipment to keep it running, raising hopes of fresh talks on a wider deal with the West. International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Director General Rafael Grossi meets with head of Iran's Atomic Energy Organization Mohammad Eslami, in Tehran, Iran, September 12, 2021. (Photo: WANA via Reuters) International Atomic Energy Agency chief Rafael Grossi obtained the agreement in a last-minute trip to Tehran he called "constructive" before a meeting of his agency's 35-nation Board of Governors this week at which Western powers were threatening to seek a resolution criticising Iran for stonewalling the IAEA. A resolution risked an escalation with Tehran that could kill the prospect of resuming wider, indirect talks between Iran and the United States on reviving the 2015 Iran nuclear deal, aimed at keeping Iran at arm's length from being able to develop a nuclear weapon if it chose to. It denies ever wanting to do so. Those talks stopped in June, and Iran's hardline president, Ebrahim Raisi, took office in August. Western powers have urged Iran to return to negotiations and said time is running out as its nuclear programme is advancing well beyond the limits set by the deal, which Washington abandoned in 2018. "This is not a permanent solution, this cannot be a permanent solution. This has always been seen, for me at least, as a stopgap, as a measure to allow time for diplomacy," Grossi told reporters at Vienna airport after his trip. He added: "We managed to rectify the most urgent issue: The imminent loss of knowledge we were confronted with until yesterday. Now we have a solution." The coordinator of the now-stalled nuclear talks, European Union political director Enrique Mora, said on Twitter that the agreement "gives space for diplomacy", adding it was crucial for the talks to resume as soon as possible. The 2015 agreement introduced monitoring of extra areas of Iran's nuclear programme beyond those supervised under Iran's core legal obligations to the IAEA. Iran said in February it was abandoning that monitoring, which covers areas like the making of parts for centrifuges - the machines that enrich uranium. Concerned that without monitoring of those areas, Iran could secretly siphon off unknown quantities of equipment and material that could potentially be used to make a nuclear weapon, Grossi had previously reached agreement with Tehran for it to keep servicing the equipment, although Iran later abandoned that too. That equipment must be serviced every three months to make sure its memory cards do not fill up and there are no gaps in the monitoring. With three months having passed more than two weeks ago, the agreement came as time was running out. Grossi stopped short of saying that so-called continuity of knowledge had been maintained but said the agreement gave the IAEA the technical means it needed. "The reconstruction and the coming together of the jigsaw puzzle will come when there is an agreement at the JCPOA level, but at that time we will have all this information and there will not have been a gap," he said, referring to the 2015 deal by its full name, the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action. The servicing of the monitoring equipment will start "within a few days", Grossi said, adding that even cameras damaged and removed from a centrifuge workshop that was the victim of suspected sabotage in June would be replaced. MORE PROBLEMS AHEAD The agreement did little to resolve another issue between the IAEA and Iran - Tehran's failure to explain uranium traces found at three undeclared former sites. Grossi said Iran had invited him to return soon and he expected to meet the country's "highest authorities". "This may take time. It's not heroic but it's much better than any alternative," he said of efforts to resolve that issue. Diplomats said the United States and its European allies had not yet decided whether to seek a resolution against Iran at the IAEA Board of Governors meeting, which starts on Monday. "Clearly a resolution is less likely now," one Vienna-based diplomat said. While describing Iran's "concessions" on monitoring as "very modest," Eurasia Group analyst Henry Rome said "they will almost certainly be sufficient to avert censure at this weeks meeting." Project launched to promote Van Mieu-Quoc Tu Giams historic, cultural values A project called Cultural Space of Quoc Tu Giam, or Imperial Academy, has been launched by the Van MieuQuoc Tu Giam Culture and Science Centre, aiming to popularize the national special relics historic and cultural values. Khue Van Cac (the pavilion of the constellation of literature) in Hanoi's Temple of Literature Complex. (Photo: Van MieuQuoc Tu Giam Culture and Science Centre) The project will hold cultural activities and exchanges in Quoc Tu Giams cultural space and provide information on Vietnamese history to the public. It will also organize multiple arts and cultural events for young people at home and from overseas, alongside talk shows about the values of ancient education in todays life. Van Mieu-Quoc Tu Giam (Temple of Literature Complex), is one of the most popular relics and tourist destinations in Hanoi and the country at large. Built in the 11th century during the Ly Dynasty (1010 1225), it is also among the most important Confucian symbols in the country. The complex consists of Van Mieu, a temple dedicated to Confucius as Confucianism used to be a popular religion in Vietnam in feudal times, and Quoc Tu Giam, the first national university of the country. It taught disciples on the Confucian way of life and revered Chu Van An, one of Vietnams most respected scholars. Between 1076 and 1779, Quoc Tu Giam educated thousands of talented men to serve their country to the best of their abilities. Vietnamese, Singaporean diplomats hold online talks Deputy Foreign Minister Nguyen Minh Vu held an online talk with Permanent Secretary of the Foreign Ministry of Singapore Chee Wee Kiong on September 13 to discuss experience in response to COVID-19 pandemic and economic recovery. Deputy Foreign Minister Nguyen Minh Vu (L) and Permanent Secretary of the Foreign Ministry of Singapore Chee Wee Kiong (Photo: VNA) At the event, Vu thanked Singapore for offering timely support to Vietnam, especially essential medical supplies, considering it vivid evidence of the strategic partnership between the two countries. He spoke highly of Singapores success in curbing the pandemic, particularly vaccinating over 80 percent of its population to facilitate economic opening and development. The Vietnamese Deputy Foreign Minister wished that Singapore would assist in or transfer vaccines to Vietnam as soon as possible. Chee Wee Kiong underscored the importance of close ties between the two foreign ministries to bolster the Singapore - Vietnam strategic partnership in various areas, including pandemic response, travelling facilitation, opening of the economy and prevention of supply chain disruption. The two sides discussed Singapores experience in policy planning to control the pandemic soon, towards economic recovery and bringing the country to new normal. Chee spoke highly of Vietnams efforts and believed that the country will put the pandemic under control, thus facilitating the opening of the two economies and travelling for the two peoples. With support from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs State Committee for Overseas Vietnamese and Vietnamese representative agencies in Europe, a virtual congress took place recently to set up the Vietnamese Students Association in Europe, gathering young Vietnamese from 11 nations including Belgium, France, the Czech Republic, Austria, and Poland. With support from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs State Committee for Overseas Vietnamese and Vietnamese representative agencies in Europe, a virtual congress took place recently to set up the Vietnamese Students Association in Europe, gathering young Vietnamese from 11 nations including Belgium, France, the Czech Republic, Austria, and Poland. Deputy Foreign Minister and head of the committee Pham Quang Hieu sent a congratulatory letter to the event, stating that the establishment is important. He said he believes the association will sustainably link young Vietnamese and those of Vietnamese origin in Europe and hoped it to launch practical activities. The congress elected a 24-member provisional executive committee, headed by Nguyen Thi Dieu Linh, who is head of the Vietnamese Students Association in the Czech Republic. Nguyen Dieu Linh, deputy director of the State Committees department of economic relations and science and technology, lauded the contributions of Vietnamese students associations across European nations in the past time. She wished the new association will create a common environment for Vietnamese youth in Europe to develop and mobilise their intellectual resources in contribution to Vietnams growth and improved relations with European countries. U.S. 20th 9/11 commemoration highlights need to reflect on "war on terror" Xinhua) 08:28, September 13, 2021 Analysts believe that the United States has put too much focus on its military might and should have invested more to tackle the root causes of terrorism. NEW YORK, Sept. 12 (Xinhua) -- As people commemorated those lost in the 9/11 terrorist attacks, the United States must reflect on the root causes of terrorism, with its two-decade military presence in Afghanistan ending recently in a fiasco, said experts and local residents. A commemoration ceremony on the occasion of the 20th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks was held at Ground Zero here on Saturday morning, attended by current and former top decision-makers, including U.S. President Joe Biden and former presidents Bill Clinton and Barack Obama. With grieving relatives vowing to "never forget" those who lost their lives in the tragedy, the Biden administration is under pressure from the victims' families to declassify certain documents related to the 9/11 attacks. A U.S. national flag is shown by a guard of honor during a commemoration ceremony of the 20th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks in New York, the United States, on Sept. 11, 2021. (Xinhua/Wang Ying) REMEMBRANCE OF HUMANITY While victims' names were read one by one at the ceremony just as was done at previous anniversary commemorations, their relatives easily got emotional when expressing how they missed their loved ones. Madeline Lawrence, who came from Upstate New York, said Saturday that she came to the ceremony in honor of her former partner. Speaking of Rodney C. Gillis, a sergeant who died in the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks, Lawrence said, "We remember him for his bravery. He didn't shrink back from his duties and whatever he had to do." Gillis made his decision to go in and his selfless action was not surprising, said Ronald Gillis, Rodney Gillis' brother. "I have very vivid memories, because I was here (in New York) and I heard the fighter jets over the head," said Daniel, a New Yorker from the Bronx borough, who didn't give his full name. Daniel chose to come to Ground Zero to pay his respects to his friend Manuel D. Mojica Jr. on Tuesday as 9/11 happened on a Tuesday 20 years ago with a similar weather condition. "This is the least I could do -- come and see him. This is all I have now. But he was a very good friend," said Daniel, who worked for a trucking company when 9/11 occurred. A beam of light near the Pentagon commemorating the 20th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks is seen from the Washington Monument in Washington, D.C., the United States, Sept. 11, 2021. (Xinhua/Liu Jie) MIXED VIEWS ON ANTI-TERRORISM American people hold divisive views on the U.S. counterterrorism campaigns in other countries following the 9/11 calamity. "I don't agree with the military action. I don't think they should have done it in Iraq. I don't see a reason at the time," said Daniel, noting the United States had never found weapons of mass destruction in Iraq but "they destroyed the country, and they caused problems." The counterterrorism campaigns in foreign lands launched by Washington reflect the reality of jungle rules at the international level, which is kind of typical revenge, said Michael Chu, the publisher of the Asian American Times newspaper. Meanwhile, Daniel said he welcomes the changes in security after 9/11 and everybody has to go through the procedures that were created because of the event. Nothing like 9/11 happened again in the past 20 years and if "they did not take appropriate action, there would have been another," he said. The United States has to remain engaged in trying to maintain stability and build the preconditions for that, said Michele Flournoy, former U.S. undersecretary of defense for policy who serves as the co-founder and managing partner with WestExec Advisors, and chair of the board with think-tank the Center for a New American Security. A resident mourns the victims of the Flight 93 at a memorial park in Union City in the Bay Area, California, the United States, Sept. 11, 2021. (Xinhua/Wu Xiaoling) MISSED OPPORTUNITIES Analysts believe that the United States has put too much focus on its military might and should have invested more to tackle the root causes of terrorism. The United States remains stuck in a vicious cycle due to its obsession with the "an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth" approach, and the lack of reflections on the fundamental reasons for 9/11, Chu told Xinhua on Monday. Things similar to what happened in Afghanistan would be repeated, said Chu, who has been living in New York City since the 1980s. "One of the missed opportunities is that we from the start took a very military-focused approach to counterterrorism," Flournoy said, explaining that the United States ignored investing in other instruments of national power, such as diplomatic, informational, and financial tools. On counterterrorism, "what we've learned over time is that it's one thing to have a kinetic approach that sort of gets at a specific target or disrupts a specific plot. But if you really want to create sustainable change over time, you've got to build local partners and capacity," said Flournoy. "We have to have a global perspective, certainly, when it comes to terrorism, but also other transnational threats, be it climate change or nonproliferation, or preventing the next pandemic," she added. (Web editor: Zhong Wenxing, Liang Jun) Recovery of China-US ties sees 'troublemaking from Taiwan island' Global Times) 08:38, September 13, 2021 US will receive much tougher response if follows Lithuania's step to provoke China on Taiwan question PLA vessels in the Taiwan Straits. (Photo/CGTN) On the same day when the top leaders of China and the US held a phone conversation, which brings some hopes for the recovery of the most important bilateral ties of the world, the Taiwan s separatist authorities sent two "senior officials" for sensitive and secret talks with US officials to push Washington to rename the island's representative office in Washington with the word "Taiwan" - a serious move to provoke the one-China principle and to encourage Taiwan secessionism. In the Friday phone call with Chinese President Xi Jinping at the request of the US side, which desperately wants to change the intense situation of China-US ties but has been reluctant to take concrete actions to get the ties back on track, US president Joe Biden said that the US side has no intention to change the one-China policy, according to the statement from China's Ministry of Foreign Affairs after the call. Chinese mainland experts said if the report that the Biden administration is considering further encouraging the Democratic Progressive Party's (DPP) authorities to pursue secession is true, this shows that Washington's policy on China is contradictory and Biden's words do not match his deeds. This could derail the effort to improve China-US ties and make the matter even worse. The separatist DPP authorities are trying to sabotage the possibility of a recovery in China-US ties by instigating troubles and playing tricks with some US politicians, they noted, adding that if the US follows Lithuania in provoking China's sovereignty, China's retaliation could be much tougher, otherwise no one would respect the one-China principle anymore. If the US renames the island's representative office in Washington, recalling the Chinese ambassador to the US would be the most basic response, said the experts. There would be more retaliations in the Taiwan Straits as the People's Liberation Army (PLA) will take more direct actions to deter Taiwan secessionism. Mainland analysts warned that the more tricks the DPP authorities play with US officials, the faster they will see the realization of China's national reunification. Ambiguous signs According to a Financial Times report, multiple people briefed on internal US discussions said Washington is "seriously considering" a request from the Taiwan DPP authorities to change the name of its office in the US capital from "Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office" (TECRO) to "Taiwan Representative Office." The request mirrors the one of Lithuania, which proposed the same move that seriously challenged China's sovereignty and core interests and caused a significant setback to China-Lithuania ties, for which the Baltic country has paid a huge price. Kurt Campbell, White House Asia adviser, has backed the change, according to two people with knowledge of the discussions, the FT reported. One said the request had wide support inside the National Security Council and from state department Asia officials. A final decision has not been made and would require Biden to sign an executive order, said people briefed on the matter. The Biden administration has yet to make a clear response or formal confirmation of the report. Lu Xiang, a research fellow at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, told the Global Times on Sunday that this is a very common trick frequently used by the US government while it bargains with China - to say something nice at a meeting or on the phone to move on the conversation, but do something bad under the table to increase pressure. "The US media said lower-level officials in the Biden administration are complaining that Chinese officials don't like to talk to them, so these people might try something harsh to force the Chinese side to take note of them. This is a very unwise approach," Lu said. The consequences would be extremely serious, because it goes against the one-China principle and will shake the political foundations of China-US diplomatic ties. It is as serious as inviting Taiwan's regional leader to participate in the "Summit for Democracy," so China would not just recall the ambassador, but PLA fighter jets will likely fly over the island's airspace and take more direct actions to deal with the US provocations in changing the status quo, Lu noted. Li Haidong, a professor at the Institute of International Relations of the China Foreign Affairs University, told the Global Times that the if the FT's report is real, it shows that "Biden's promise to get US-China relations back on track is questionable and hypocritical." "Or it proves that Biden is a weak president that failed to exert effective control among different departments in his government. The anti-China hard-liners and the pragmatic officials who want to ease tensions and seek cooperation with China are competing for influence and power, and Biden is unable to unify them," Li said. A phone call from the US President is not enough to fix the ties, and China cares more about deeds than words, Li said. He stressed that "unfortunately, the deeds of the Biden administration so far are fraudulent, irresponsible and destructive." Lu said that no matter whether the Biden administration is attempting to balance between the mainland and Taiwan, or maybe some lower-level officials are acting without Biden's permission, if the US allows TECRO to be renamed, China will activate tough and strict retaliations. The US will strangle the hope of bringing ties with China back on track by making a very unwise and shortsighted mistake, he said. Troublemaker The Taiwan separatist DPP authorities are a source of constant tensions between China and the US. According to the FT, one person involved with the request to change the name of Taiwan's office in Washington said the DPP authorities discussed the issue with the US at the end of the Trump administration but made a formal request to the Biden administration in March. A senior "official" in the DPP authorities told the FT that the authorities had been urging the change for some time. The FT report also said that "Multiple people briefed on internal US discussions said Washington was seriously considering a request from Taiwan to change the name." "But who are the 'multiple people briefed' on internal US discussions? Are they the White House officials or the third-party brokers hired by the DPP authorities? Obviously, it was the Taiwan authorities, not the White House, that announced the so-called 'renaming consideration' to the media," said Shen Yi, a professor at the School of International Relations and Public Affairs of Fudan University. The "officials" of the DPP authorities might be happy about what they did and trumpet the impact they brought to China-US relations, but they are too arrogant and ignorant, Shen noted, stressing that the so-called "Special Channel" that the DPP uses for communication with US officials cannot even enter Washington, DC. "Who will benefit from the renaming? Not the Biden administration, because this goes against its intention to fix China-US ties and will instead bring more tension, and this has nothing to do with Biden's priorities in handling internal affairs. The DPP authorities will benefit, because it could use the tensions to hype secessionism and to cheat voters on the island. So the 'sources' who released the information to the media are the ones who are trying to bring difficulties to the recovery of China-US ties," Shen noted. Taiwan's secessionists should understand that they will be the ones abandoned by the US immediately once the Chinese mainland launches an operation to solve the Taiwan question, and the more tricks they play to make trouble, the sooner they will see their doomsday and the reunification of the country, said the mainland's experts. (Web editor: Zhong Wenxing, Liang Jun) China, Cambodia agree to enhance bilateral cooperation Xinhua) 08:52, September 13, 2021 Visiting Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi (L) meets with Cambodian Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Prak Sokhonn in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, on Sept. 12, 2021. (Xinhua/Mao Pengfei) PHNOM PENH, Sept. 12 (Xinhua) -- Visiting Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi and Cambodian Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Prak Sokhonn agreed here on Sunday to further enhance cooperation between their two countries. During a meeting with Prak Sokhonn, Wang said that he and Sokhonn have met face to face for three times in less than one year despite the COVID-19 pandemic, fully demonstrating the significance and extraordinary nature of bilateral relations. The China-Cambodia relations, forged and nurtured by former leaderships of both countries, have weathered tests and difficulties and have become rock solid in the face of challenges in the international arena, said the Chinese state councilor. Amid the COVID-19 pandemic, Wang said, China and Cambodia have maintained mutual support in their concerted fight against the viral disease. Facing a changing world, the two countries have been jointly fighting power politics and bullying, safeguarding international fairness and justice, and the common interests of all developing countries, Wang said. He said China will continue to firmly support Cambodia in safeguarding national sovereignty and dignity, combating COVID-19 and developing economy, and playing a bigger role in regional and international arenas. Both sides should coordinate bilateral cooperation in all areas, boosting the high-level development of China-Cambodia relations. Wang promised that China will continue to help Cambodia fight the COVID-19 outbreak by providing vaccines and other materials. He said China will increase imports of Cambodian agricultural products, helping push forward Cambodia's industrialization and its economic transformation. He expressed the wishes that the China-Cambodia free trade agreement would take effective at an early date, offering Cambodia the driving force for economic recovery. Wang also urged both sides to speed up the construction of the Sihanoukville Special Economic Zone, which would play a pivotal role in building an industrial investment group for the region. The Chinese state councilor said China is keen to dovetail the New International Land-Sea Trade Corridor with the Lancang-Mekong Economic Development Belt, elevating the China-ASEAN relations to a new stage. Sokhonn appreciated China's assistance to Cambodia in fighting the COVID-19 outbreak and developing its economy, saying that the Cambodian side highly values China's success in controlling the pandemic and its leading role in international anti-epidemic cooperation. He noted that Cambodia, supporting scientific approaches to trace the COVID-19 origins, opposes any plan to politicize the origins-tracing issue. Cambodia will strictly abide by the one-China principle and stand firmly with China on issues of China's internal affairs, such as those involving Taiwan, Hong Kong and Xinjiang, said Sokhonn. He said Cambodia is committed to working with China to build a community with a shared future for both countries, hoping that the two sides will further strengthen exchanges and cooperation in various fields including trade, investment, defense and security, and jointly build the Sihanoukville Special Economic Zone into a win-win model under the framework of the Belt and Road Initiative. Cambodia also firmly supports the multilateralism and the development of ASEAN-China relations, added Sokhonn. At a joint press conference after their meeting, the two senior officials said they reached a six-point consensus regarding bilateral relations and cooperation. First, implement the consensus reached by top leaders of the two countries, and support each other on issues concerning core interests of both sides. Second, carry on anti-pandemic cooperation and strive to eliminate the "vaccine gap." Firmly oppose politicizing COVID-19 origins tracing and acts of sabotaging global anti-pandemic cooperation. Third, jointly build high-quality Belt and Road. Both sides will strengthen cooperation in infrastructure, production capacity and 5G. China will facilitate Cambodia in stepping up industrialization process and increase imports of high-quality agricultural products from Cambodia. The two countries will also steadily implement big projects such as the Sihanoukville Special Economic Zone and the Phnom Penh-Sihanoukville expressway. Fourth, enhance people-to-people and cultural exchanges. The Chinese side will increase aid in the construction of schools, hospitals and roads in Cambodia. Fifth, jointly promote East Asia cooperation and China-ASEAN relations to a higher level, and step up integrating the New International Land-Sea Trade Corridor with the development of the Mekong-Lancang Economic Development Belt. Sixth, strengthen coordination and say no to power politics. Both side will fight bullying acts, jointly safeguard regional peace, stability as well as fairness and justice in the international community. Also at the press conference, Wang stressed that terrorism is the common enemy of mankind and fighting terrorism needs concerted efforts from the international community. All countries in the world should join hands to safeguard an international system with the United Nations at its core and an international order based on international law, he said. (Web editor: Xia Peiyao, Liang Jun) First batch of wintering birds arrive in China's Poyang Lake Xinhua) 09:01, September 13, 2021 Cranes prepare to land in a paddy field at the Kangshan farm of Yugan County in the Poyang Lake area, east China's Jiangxi Province, Jan. 15, 2021. (Xinhua/Peng Zhaozhi) NANCHANG, Sept. 13 (Xinhua) -- Four white spoonbills arrived in Maying Lake in Duchang County, east China's Jiangxi Province, on Sept. 11, becoming the first batch of wintering birds to arrive in the Poyang Lake area this year. According to the Duchang station of the Poyang Lake National Nature Reserve Administration Bureau, the birds landed a day earlier than last year. It's the ninth consecutive year the migratory birds have come to Maying Lake for their first stop during the winter months since 2013. With a surface area of over 3,200 square km, Poyang Lake hosts up to 700,000 wintering birds every year. (Web editor: Xia Peiyao, Liang Jun) China's human rights action plan to make major contribution to global cause, experts say Xinhua) 09:12, September 13, 2021 BEIJING, Sept. 12 (Xinhua) -- China's latest human rights action plan has set the objectives and tasks of respecting, protecting and promoting human rights in the upcoming years, holds fast to its people-centered approach, and will make a major contribution to the international cause of human rights, experts have said. As the third such plan formulated since 2009, the Human Rights Action Plan of China (2021-2025) was released by the State Council Information Office on Thursday. During this period, the Chinese people have prospered, their rights have been better protected, the policies and legal measures protecting the rights of particular groups have improved, and the legal safeguards for human rights have been strengthened, according to the action plan. The plan stressed that China will cherish clear waters and green mountains as invaluable assets, continue to respect, work with, and protect mother nature, and promote the harmonious coexistence of humanity and nature, said Samer Khair Ahmed, a Jordanian expert on Arab-China relations, adding that these factors will ensure the sustainability of human rights and development in China, as well as enhance China's contribution to international commitments to protect the environment. He also noted that "China maintained its focus on the needs of the people in the first place" in the latest action plan, "which is similar to all Chinese plans that stem from its national reality." Anri Sharapov, senior lecturer at the Tashkent State University of Oriental Studies, noted that China has entered a new stage of promoting human rights with a comprehensive plan, adding that the Chinese government has always adhered to its people-centered approach, which deserves recognition from the international community. Kenyan international relations researcher Adhere Cavince said that by safeguarding the rights of special groups, China has built a harmonious society in which every citizen is appreciated and can assume his or her rightful place in society. Cavince also praised China's contributions to the global cause of human rights protection, noting that it has not only fulfilled its obligations to International Human Rights Conventions, but also supported developing countries facing the COVID-19 pandemic. (Web editor: Xia Peiyao, Liang Jun) China-ASEAN Trade Index released in China's Guangxi Xinhua) 09:16, September 13, 2021 Aerial photo taken on Jan. 14, 2021 shows a view of the container wharf of Qinzhou Port, south China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region. (Xinhua/Cao Yiming) NANNING, Sept. 12 (Xinhua) -- The China-ASEAN Trade Index was released for the first time during the ongoing 18th China-ASEAN Expo and China-ASEAN Business and Investment Summit held in Nanning, capital of south China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region. The 2020 index stood at 241.09 points, an increase of 19.64 percent compared with the level of 2019 and up 141.09 percent compared with 2010. Jointly released by China's General Administration of Customs and the regional government of Guangxi on Saturday, the index was established based on such dimensions as trade closeness, trade quality, trade potential, trade vitality and trade environment, according to a spokesperson of the General Administration of Customs. This year marks the 30th anniversary of China-ASEAN dialogue relations. Over the past 30 years, trade between China and ASEAN countries has increased by 85 times. China has remained ASEAN's largest trading partner for 12 consecutive years, and in 2020, ASEAN also became China's largest trading partner. (Web editor: Xia Peiyao, Liang Jun) Coordinated urban and rural development boosts common prosperity Xinhua) 09:23, September 13, 2021 HANGZHOU, Sept. 12 (Xinhua) -- With the help of the Xiaoshan District of Hangzhou city, Pushan Village has taken on a new look over the past nine years. Projects have been brought to the village, injecting fresh impetus into the local economy. In 2019, Pushan Village in east China's Zhejiang Province introduced 100 million yuan (about 15.5 million U.S. dollars) of investment to develop homestay businesses in the area. Lai Lianfeng, a rural resident, started her homestay business by renting out her farmhouse, which has brought her an annual income of 26,000 yuan. This has given Lai financial stability without having to work elsewhere. Like Lai, many villagers developed their homestay businesses and saw their income increase over time. Now the annual operating income of the village collectively has reached 210,000 yuan. The collaborative work done by Xiaoshan and Pushan is an example of the "Shanhai Xiezuo" project, a kind of cooperation between the mountainous and coastal areas. Launched in 2002 in Zhejiang, the project uses the advantages of developed coastal cities to help the undeveloped mountainous counties. It is one way to promote coordinated development between rural and urban areas, reduce the regional gap, and promote common prosperity. "Xiaoshan District has given more than 4.5 million yuan to Pushan Village to help improve our public infrastructure and support industries related to the rural vitalization strategy," said Huang Weimin, Party secretary of Pushan Village. The story of Pushan village epitomizes the efforts of Zhejiang made in promoting balanced and coordinated urban and rural development and narrowing income gap between urban and rural areas. Concentrating resources in one industry to create advantages to drive the development of the local economy has been an effective way to promote common prosperity in Zhejiang. Fanglin Village, a once impoverished village in Zhejiang's Taizhou city, has benefited from the support given to auto companies, including promoting the secondhand car market in the village. Last year, Fanglin Village achieved a market turnover of 20.8 billion yuan, and villagers received a dividend of 49,000 yuan per share. Common prosperity, an essential requirement of socialism and a key feature of Chinese-style modernization, aims to create a future where prosperity is shared by everyone in the country. Efforts to achieve the goal include promoting common prosperity among farmers in rural areas, consolidating and expanding achievements in poverty elimination, and advancing rural vitalization on all fronts. In August, China unveiled an action plan to promote rural vitalization in Zhejiang as part of efforts to achieve common prosperity. The plan stated the weak links of promoting common prosperity are in agriculture and rural affairs, stressing that those areas have room for improvement and development potential. "To promote common prosperity amid high-quality development, Zhejiang should allow the fruits of development to benefit socially disadvantaged groups as much as possible, increase income for people with low incomes, and improve their development capabilities," said Yu Jianxing, president of Zhejiang Gongshang University. According to the plan, agricultural and rural modernization will be realized in parts of the rural areas in the province by 2025, with replicable practices and models generated. (Web editor: Xia Peiyao, Liang Jun) RCEP to boost China-ASEAN ties, economic recovery Xinhua) 09:24, September 13, 2021 Photo taken on Sept. 11, 2021 shows exhibitors from Thailand at the 18th China-ASEAN Expo in Nanning, capital of south China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region. (Xinhua/Xu Jiayi) NANNING, Sept. 12 (Xinhua) -- The world's largest free-trade deal, the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP), will further boost China-ASEAN cooperation and facilitate the region's economic recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic, officials and business leaders said at a high-level forum of the ongoing 18th China-ASEAN Expo. The RCEP, signed by 15 Asia-Pacific countries, including China and ASEAN's ten member states in November last year, will "open a new chapter for China-ASEAN economic and trade ties," said Ren Hongbin, China's vice minister of commerce. The forum took place on Friday in Nanning, the capital of south China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region. Covering roughly 30 percent of the world's gross domestic product, trade and population, the RCEP has great development potential and will inject strong impetus into the anti-pandemic battle and economic revival in East Asia and across the globe, Ren said. Noting that China expects the RCEP to add new vitality to East Asia economic integration, he said the agreement "integrates and optimizes the region's economic and trade rules in a wide range of fields, including goods, services, investment, intellectual property rights, e-commerce and competition policy, which will further promote the integrated development of industrial chain, supply chain and value chain in the region." Dato Lim Jock Hoi, secretary-general of ASEAN, said via video that the RCEP could play a significant part in post-pandemic economic recovery in the region by linking the regional value chains more closely. In turn, this will improve the transparency of trade and investment regulations and enhance cooperation across the RCEP participating countries. The RCEP has the potential to boost business confidence, benefit consumers and promote regional economic integration and equitable economic development for all participating countries, said Thanongsinh Kanlagna, executive vice president of the Lao National Chamber of Commerce and Industry, via a video message. The signing ceremony of the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) agreement is held via video conference in Hanoi, capital of Vietnam, Nov. 15, 2020. (VNA via Xinhua) At the forum, officials, business leaders, scholars and entrepreneurs from China and ASEAN also called on the RCEP participating countries to work together for the agreement's early entry into force and implementation. "To reap the rewards of the RCEP, we need to ensure the timely entry into force of the RCEP agreement," Dato Lim stated, noting that full, effective and efficient implementation of the RCEP is imperative for realizing its benefits. He also commended China for setting an example as one of the first signatories that ratified the agreement. Ratifications of six ASEAN member states and three non-ASEAN member countries are needed to reach the threshold of the RCEP's entry into force. Countries that have completed the ratification procedures include China, Singapore, Japan and Cambodia. "Attaching great importance to the RCEP, the Chinese government has ratified the agreement and made full preparations for fulfilling its obligations under the agreement," Ren said. He added that China will work with the RCEP participating countries to expedite their ratification processes for early entry into force and implementation of the agreement. (Web editor: Xia Peiyao, Liang Jun) Over 500 deals signed in int'l investment fair in China's Xiamen Xinhua) 09:24, September 13, 2021 Photo taken on Sept. 8, 2021 shows a view of the 21st China International Fair for Investment and Trade (CIFIT) in Xiamen, south China's Fujian Province. (Xinhua/Wei Peiquan) XIAMEN, Sept. 12 (Xinhua) -- The 21st China International Fair for Investment &Trade (CIFIT) saw agreements inked on 512 projects by the end of the event on Saturday in Xiamen, east China's Fujian Province. The total investment value of the agreements came to 392 billion yuan (about 60.7 billion U.S. dollars), preliminary data showed on Sunday. The four-day event received over 4,900 companies from around 90 countries and regions, with more than 50,000 business people attending both online and offline. Over 60 seminars, briefings and business conferences took place during this CIFIT, focusing on topics concerning domestic and overseas investment, such as Belt and Road construction, digital and green economies, and carbon neutrality. The event was jointly organized by China's Ministry of Commerce and several international organizations, including the World Trade Organization, the United Nations Industrial Development Organization, and the World Association of Investment Promotion Agencies, to boost international investment activities. (Web editor: Xia Peiyao, Liang Jun) China delivers more COVID-19 vaccines to Philippines Xinhua) 09:57, September 13, 2021 MANILA, Sept. 13 (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. "We thank China and Sinovac for the steady delivery of vaccines," Carlito Galvez, an official in charge of the country's vaccine procurement, told reporters at the airport. Galvez said the Philippines expects more vaccine deliveries from Sinovac in the coming months. "The newly delivered vaccines will be distributed to areas with surging cases," he added. China has been delivering COVID-19 vaccines to the Philippines since Feb. 28. It was the first to provide coronavirus vaccines to the Southeast Asian country, allowing it to kick off its vaccination drive on March 1. The Philippines has administered over 31 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines. Around 16 million people have been fully vaccinated so far. The government aims to vaccinate up to 70 million people this year. To date, Galvez said the Philippines has received around 56 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines from different vaccine makers. China remains the biggest vaccine supplier. The Philippines has reported a total of 2,227,367 confirmed COVID-19 cases as of Sunday, including 35,145 deaths. (Web editor: Xia Peiyao, Liang Jun) China's biotechnology helps Serbia fight pandemic, make scientific progress: Serbian expert Xinhua) 09:59, September 13, 2021 BELGRADE, Sept. 13 (Xinhua) -- China's transfering of its vaccine production technology is vital for Serbia, showing China's willingness to share its scientific achievements to help the world fight COVID-19, Serbian scientist Jelena Begovic told Xinhua on Saturday. Begovic, director of the Institute of Molecular Genetics and Genetic Engineering of the University of Belgrade, said that Chinese vaccines will soon be produced in Serbia. The construction of a brand-new production facility for Sinopharm vaccines started in Serbia on Thursday, and will be completed by the end of March 2022. "I think that China gave a significant contribution... (China's) sharing helps Serbia make more progress in technology, science, and medicine," Begovic said. "Global system so far includes only a limited number of players or vaccine producers, it turned out to be not so efficient, and we have to build a very strong network of production facilities all around the world," she added. "So I'm definitely back the idea that big players in the pharmaceutical industry should help smaller countries, if we want to win this battle or at least control the situation," she noted. Around a year ago, Begovic participated in the construction of two new Fire Eye laboratories for PCR testing and witnessed China's assistance to Serbia in medical supplies, expert advice and vaccines. "We built two Fire Eye laboratories for PCR testing on coronavirus... I am very thankful that our collaboration is continuing at this level," Begovic said. (Web editor: Xia Peiyao, Liang Jun) Chinese woman makes ancient books shine again with her exquisite handiwork People's Daily Online) 10:35, September 13, 2021 For the past decade, Lian Chengchun has remained dedicated to fixing ancient Chinese books, a job that seems mysterious to most of her peers. Lian Chengchun repairs an ancient book. (Photo provided by the interviewee) Lian was fascinated with ancient books from a young age. After learning theoretical knowledge on ancient book restoration at a vocational school, she went to the National Library of China in 2013, which has a huge collection of ancient books, to learn professional repairing skills. She later became an apprentice to Du Weisheng, a master book repairer at the library. Now Lian runs her own ancient book restoration studio in Beijing. When restoring an ancient book, she meticulously dampens and smooths wrinkled scraps of paper with a writing brush, and then pieces them together with tweezers, giving the book a second life with her hands. Book repairers like Lian have earned a reputation as book doctors for their delicate art of fixing ancient books by hand. In Lians eyes, fixing ancient books is of great significance, as it is a way to revive ancient cultural heritage. But its not an easy job, as an ancient book may require over 10 complicated steps, such as making the paste, disassembling the book, and selecting the appropriate kind of paper for mending, before regaining its sheen. Meanwhile, each ancient book suffers from different kinds of damage, Lian said, explaining that she has to offer solutions accordingly. Every step must be carried out with special care, as any minor mistake could cause damage, she added. Lian Chengchun repairs an ancient book. (Photo provided by the interviewee) Apart from professional repairing skills, the work also demands great patience, circumspection, and respect for ancient books, among other aptitudes. Sometimes, Lian would immerse herself in her repair work for the greater part of the day. She has taken unexpected pleasure from this seemingly tedious job, saying that it is like building a connection with the ancient peoples of the past. Lian said she has become more cautious about her job as time goes by and has always followed the principles of repairing ancient books, including trying to keep their original appearance unchanged. To bring more attention to the delicate art, Lian opened an account on the popular Chinese short video app Douyin in 2018. By sharing videos of her repairing ancient books, Lian has garnered nearly 80,000 followers and received more than 70,000 likes. Furthermore, Lian often teaches students in primary and middle schools knowledge about ancient book restoration in her spare time. Repairing ancient books is something I will cherish forever, and my passion for it will never fade, Lian said. (Web editor: Hongyu, Liang Jun) President Xi Jinping's encouraging words for young students (People's Daily App) 11:10, September 13, 2021 The growth and development of young students always weigh on President Xi Jinping's mind. He has visited many universities and had sincere conversations with young students, encouraging them to study hard and achieve well-rounded development. For students, Xi is a wise mentor and lifelong friend. As the new semester begins, let's review Xi's encouraging words for young students. (Web editor: Zhong Wenxing, Liang Jun) China-ASEAN Expo testifies to resilient regional economy, fosters greater recovery Xinhua) 11:23, September 13, 2021 A visitor views costumes from Myanmar at the 18th China-ASEAN Expo in Nanning, capital of south China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, Sept. 11, 2021. (Xinhua/Liu Lingyi) "This year's expo provides an important platform to enhance trade and investment opportunities between ASEAN and China during this crucial time of economic recovery, as well as positively contribute to the longstanding relationship between our two sides," ASEAN Secretary-General Lim Jock Hoi said. NANNING, Sept. 12 (Xinhua) -- The ongoing 18th China-ASEAN Expo and China-ASEAN Business and Investment Summit held on time despite a raging pandemic worldwide has testified to the vitality and resilience of an integrated regional market, and showcases the potentials of a key platform to make possible all-round trade and economic cooperation. Starting Friday both online and offline in Nanning, capital of south China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, the four-day expo has attracted enterprises from more than 40 countries and regions, with special events to mark the 30th anniversary of China-ASEAN dialogue relations. BRINGS GOODWILL TO FRUITION "This year's expo provides an important platform to enhance trade and investment opportunities between ASEAN and China during this crucial time of economic recovery, as well as positively contribute to the longstanding relationship between our two sides," ASEAN Secretary-General Lim Jock Hoi said via video link at the expo's opening ceremony on Friday. As a crucial facet of China-ASEAN relations, the expo has long been fruitful in helping the two sides synergize their respective development efforts. This year's edition will host 26 high-level forums and nearly 150 promoting events on the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership and key industries. Aerial photo taken on Jan. 14, 2021 shows a view of the container wharf of Qinzhou Port, south China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region. (Xinhua/Cao Yiming) A total of 179 deals worth more than 46.59 billion U.S. dollars, the highest ever figure, were signed late Friday at the expo, a growing number of which are in green economies, according to expo officials. Experts have said that digital connectivity plays a key role in sustaining the resilience of the regional economy in face of the pandemic. It has become a frontier that could one day grow into "a whole new landscape for ASEAN and China to collaborate, such as in financial technology, that supports our digital transformation agenda," Lim noted. Koh Chin Yee, president of Singapore's South Seas Society, said ASEAN countries, in varying stages of development, have great potential to further cooperate with China in emerging realms such as consumers markets, digital infrastructure, energy, and professional services. TIDING THROUGH HAVOC OF PANDEMIC This year's expo is the second of its kind to set up an exhibition area exclusively for medical service and supplies, with featured life-saving items for frontline workers, including pristine virus-testing equipment, all sorts of medical gloves, and positive-pressure suits. Wilson Lee Flores, a columnist for English daily The Philippine Star, told Xinhua that it was China who had come to support the Philippines in terms of key medical supplies in a difficult time. "When some countries in the West refused to even sell us vaccines, China came and sent vaccines ... not just one time. So the future is even more exciting," he said, referring to a good prospect of cooperation. China's trade volume of medical products with ASEAN reached 13.3 billion dollars in the first seven months this year, up 32 percent year-on-year, said Xu Jinghe, deputy commissioner of the National Medical Products Administration, at a summit in Guangxi ahead of the expo. The total trade volume of medical products between China and ASEAN hit 18 billion dollars in 2020, surging by 72 percent year-on-year, Xu added. What's more, ASEAN remains a top agri-trade partner of China despite the still-rampant pandemic. Since China has scientifically coordinated epidemic prevention and economic activities, hot-selling goods such as Thai durians and Malaysian coffee beans keep making a bundle, especially on Chinese e-commerce platforms during the pandemic. China's "huge and robust market is very attractive to ASEAN members," said Joseph Matthews, senior professor at the BELTEI International University in Phnom Penh, noting that Cambodia attends the expo many times, coveting the unique chance to promote mangos and bananas. ENDURING LEGACY GIVES HOPE A series of celebratory events are being held to mark the 30th anniversary of China-ASEAN dialogue relations at the expo, with experts saying that after advancing in leaps and bounds over such a long period of time, the momentum of cooperation has been carried forth to the present day. "After 30 years of dialogue, peace, and continued partnership, the ASEAN countries and China already have trust and good understandings," a foundation for them to become the fastest-growing region in the world, Flores noted. The bilateral trade rose from 8.36 billion dollars in 1991 to 685.28 billion dollars in 2020, with an average annual growth rate of 16.5 percent, data from the Chinese customs shows. In the first half of 2021, bilateral trade reached 412 billion dollars, up 27.8 percent year-on-year. Workers make electronic products for export at a logistic zone of the China-ASEAN Free Trade Area in Pingxiang, south China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, on April 15, 2020. (Xinhua/Lu Boan) The China-ASEAN relations have seen frequent dialogues and exchanges at all levels, allowing them to become each other's good neighbors, good partners, and good friends, Khin Ma Ma Myo, an international relations professor at the University of Yangon, told Xinhua. The dialogue relations have "evolved into a multifaceted strategic partnership and shown tremendous progress on all fronts," said Lim. As China and ASEAN countries continue to work with each other to align their development strategies with the Belt and Road Initiative, their relations are set to enter a new stage, said Khin Ma Ma Myo. (Web editor: Xia Peiyao, Liang Jun) Interview: China's Xinjiang makes remarkable achievements in economic, social development -- Syrian expert Xinhua) 13:38, September 13, 2021 DAMASCUS, Sept. 13 (Xinhua) -- China's Xinjiang has scored remarkable development on both social and economic levels with an ongoing improvement of people's living standards in recent years, a Syrian political expert said, attributing it to Beijing's efforts in promoting equality among all ethnic groups in the country. Ghassan Youssef, an expert in Chinese affairs, said in a recent interview with Xinhua that all ethnic groups in Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region enjoy equal rights of economic development and are moving steadily towards the goal of prosperity. "We know that eradicating poverty and improving living standards are the goals of the Communist Party of China, so all that China does is part of its aim to achieve common prosperity," he said. The Chinese government is attaching equal importance to protecting the culture of all ethnic groups in Xinjiang, and citizens' right to freedom of religious belief is also guaranteed, the expert noted. "All ethnic groups in Xinjiang have equal rights to protect their distinct traditional culture, languages and words," Youssef said. "This confirms that China will not deal with this region in any distinction from other regions." On their political rights, Youssef pointed out that ethnic groups in Xinjiang enjoy equal rights in the affairs of the country and the local administration. "All Chinese citizens can be responsible in the state, society, administration, and governance, and this is beneficial to China and the Chinese people," Youssef said. He criticized Washington's flagrant interference in other country's internal affairs, saying that the United States aims to practice its manipulation of Xinjiang-related issues for political purposes. The United States has many internal issues to solve before attempting to lecture other countries and interfere in their affairs, he said. "We have been seeing recently the revived discrimination against African Americans and the police brutality in dealing with them. But so far we have seen little by the U.S. administration to resolve this issue that goes back to the times of slavery," he said. "Throughout the U.S. history, white Americans have generally enjoyed privileges and rights which have been denied to members of various ethnic or minority groups, but yet, the U.S. administration speaks about discrimination and attempts to blatantly interfere in other countries' affairs," he added. (Web editor: Xia Peiyao, Liang Jun) BRI brings hearts of Ugandan, Chinese young people closer Xinhua) 14:37, September 13, 2021 KAMPALA, Sept. 12 (Xinhua) -- The China-proposed Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) is famous for its infrastructure construction, but it has also subtly enhanced exchanges between people of different backgrounds. On the scenic shores of River Nile, the world's longest river, a Chinese construction technician and a Ugandan teacher found love, and their love has bared fruit, baby Kyle. Baby Kyle, born on Aug. 11, is a new generation of children that signifies the people-to-people relations between China and Africa, brought forward by the BRI. Announced in 2013 by China, the BRI, aims to build trade and infrastructure networks connecting Asia with Europe and Africa. The initiative comprises the Silk Road Economic Belt and the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road. In Uganda, the Chinese-constructed Isimba Hydro Power Plant, a 566-million-U.S. dollar project by Sinohydro Corporation Ltd., is one of the key BRI energy infrastructure projects in the east African country. During the construction of the 183 megawatts power plant, Betty Nabukeera, a local teacher, and Liu Qi, a Chinese construction technician at Sinohydro fell in love. In their house, the excitement about their new baby is visible, as Nabukeera carries the baby, Liu is preparing milk in the kitchen. Liu also cooks for his young family whenever Nabukeera is not able. In November last year, Liu and Nabukeera held a wedding ceremony. Before the wedding, Liu had to fulfil the traditional practice of paying dowry to Nabukeera's family before he was allowed to proceed to the wedding ceremony. Liu told Xinhua in a recent interview that he gladly paid the dowry because he was determined to marry his love, Nabukeera. Five years before their marriage, Nabukeera and Liu met at a roadside, as Liu was supervising construction works on a road leading to the power plant. They exchanged pleasantries and telephone numbers promising to keep in touch. "I wanted to learn English, so I asked her to buy me a local sixth grade English textbook, and then I often sent the pictures (in the book) to ask her how to read and what do they mean. Later, after around three months, my English level improved very much," Liu said. Through continued interactions, they developed feelings for each other. When Liu communicated to his parents back in Xiantao of China's Hubei Province about his love, her mother was a bit upset. Liu's parents disagreed at first, concerning about cultural background, which made himself questioning the relationship with Nabukeera. "At that time, I also wanted to give up. I told Nabukeera, I will support you, so you can leave me. She flatly refused, and told me she was serious," Liu recalled and occasionally smiled at Nabukeera. In 2016, Liu got life-threatening Malaria. "She often called me and asked about my condition. Sometimes, she would call friends to bring me food, such as fish, jackfruit, and bananas. Sometimes she came to visit me too," Liu said. Liu returned to China for vacation in 2018. "I felt like I had lost something. I wanted to go back to Uganda. I had a showdown with my family and said that I must go back to find her." When Liu returned to Uganda, the first thing he did was to enroll Nabukeera at the Confucius Institute at Makerere University. To help Nabukeera pass the Chinese language test, Liu taught her for one hour every day. Nabukeera successfully passed the Chinese level-three test, and she can now use Chinese for simple communication. Since then, Liu's parents started to change their attitude and occasionally have a video chat with their future daughter-in-law. "We miss you, when will you come to China?" Nabukeera said that is what her future parents-in-law often ask. She said her parents told her that as long as she is happy with the relationship, they would not stop her. Nabukeera has since got a job at Sinohydro and is responsible for coordination and communication with the communities in the neighborhood of the power plant. Liu has also been promoted to a technical professional. (Web editor: Xia Peiyao, Liang Jun) China's Y-20 heavy transport aircraft debuts at SCO "Peace Mission 2021" Xinhua) 15:42, September 13, 2021 China's Y-20 heavy transport aircraft has made its debut at the "Peace Mission 2021," a counter-terrorism military exercise for Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) member states. The Y-20 aircraft arrived in Russia's Orenburg on Friday for the exercise, which will be held from Sept. 11 to 25. The participants are from eight SCO member states, including China, Russia, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, India, Pakistan, and Uzbekistan. Since its deployment in the PLA air force, Y-20 heavy transport aircraft have participated in multiple missions including the transportation of medical personnel and supplies to COVID-19-hit areas in the country and other humanitarian relief tasks. Designed and manufactured by the state-owned Aviation Industry Corporation of China (AVIC), the Y-20 has a maximum takeoff weight of around 200 tonnes. It made its maiden flight in January 2013, and joined China's air force on July 6, 2016. Y-20 is officially codenamed "Kunpeng," after a mythical bird that could fly vast distances. (Web editor: Xia Peiyao, Liang Jun) Chinas online food delivery market shows promising prospects People's Daily Online) 15:46, September 13, 2021 Prospects for Chinas online food delivery market look promising, with more users and services than ever, as well as improved regulations governing the industry. As of June 2021, 469 million people had previously ordered food delivery services online, an increase of 49.76 million from last December, as revealed in a recent report released by the China Internet Network Information Center. Couriers queue up to pick up products ordered by clients in a supermarket in Zhangjiajie city, central Chinas Hunan province. (Xinhua/Chen Sihan) At present, whats being delivered in China is not only food, but also a variety of other products. After placing orders on the phone through Instant Shopping, a quick delivery arm of the Chinese food delivery giant Meituan, you will receive your wanted products, including drinks, snacks, fruits, vegetables, fresh flowers, medicine, digital products and books, in 30 minutes to two hours. Statistics indicate that in the second quarter of this year, Instant Shoppings transaction volume and value increased by more than 140 percent from the same period last year, respectively. On Eleme, another leading Chinese food delivery platform, orders for medicine surged by 130 percent in July and August year-on-year. Nearly 5,000 pharmacies in over 500 cities across the country have started 24-hour take-away medicine activities on the platform. In addition to product delivery, Chinese food delivery platforms also run all kinds of errands for urban dwellers, who lead a hectic lifestyle. These platforms have also provided digital tools for self-employed and small and medium-sized business owners to accept orders and assign them to couriers according to the time when meals can be served. A restaurant owner surnamed Li in Wuhan, central Chinas Hubei province, is one of those to have benefited from the tools. He said that at the beginning, he had to record orders manually on his phone, which sometimes led to mistakes. Thanks to the tools, Li is now able to automatically accept orders, which reduces mistakes to the maximum degree possible, while couriers are now able to be notified about the exact timing for fetching food. Business has grown significantly after the application of the tools, Li said excitedly. Furthermore, China is promoting the well-regulated development of the food delivery industry. Seven ministries, including the State Administration for Market Regulation, released a guideline recently that called for the better protection of food delivery workers rights in areas including salaries, workplace safety, working environment, and dispute settlement. East Chinas Zhejiang province recently unveiled a digital regulation system for food delivery, dubbed Zhejiang Takeaway Online, to support the comprehensive regulation of the online food delivery industry. So far, over 6,000 restaurants in the province have joined the system, through which regulators and consumers can also watch the food preparation process at these restaurants in real time. The system has also gathered and compiled data on approximately 339,000 delivery riders and 293,000 restaurants accessing the online food delivery platforms. (Web editor: Hongyu, Liang Jun) Digital techs power China's smart civil aviation industry Xinhua) 15:52, September 13, 2021 BEIJING, Sept. 13 (Xinhua) -- The booming digitalization trend is driving China's endeavor of building a smart civil aviation industry to boost sustainable development. To give full play to digital technologies, civil aviation authorities will integrate the "smart" concept and technologies into industry growth in the 14th Five-Year Plan period (2021-2025), according to the Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC). The move to create smart civil aviation is expected to provide new room for industry development and drive high-quality and high-efficiency growth of this sector, with digitalization as the key driving force. DRIVING DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION Since 2010, China's civil aviation sector has remained the world's second-largest in terms of passenger throughput. The aviation industry generates and processes massive amounts of data along its long industrial chain, making it naturally more adaptive to the wave of digitization. The application of digital technologies is of great importance to ensuring safety, efficiency and sustainable growth. The CAAC is committed to making the entire industry smart by integrating new-generation digital technologies into the whole industry -- from air travel, air logistics and customs clearance, to the industry's operation and supervision, according to the CAAC's smart aviation strategy. The CAAC is actively promoting the radio frequency identification (RFID) technology in luggage tracking, automatic luggage check-in, facial recognition, and intelligent inquiry services, among others. China's major airports will enhance their luggage management service capabilities. Within this year, all major airports with annual passenger throughput exceeding 10 million will apply RFID. The CAAC is also encouraging innovation in related technologies and drafting tech roadmaps in fields such as in-flight internet surfing on commercial airplanes. In a recently issued tech roadmap, the CAAC showed the development path for the new-generation broadband communication technologies, represented by 5G-techs. According to the roadmap, air passengers' in-flight internet surfing experience will be greatly enhanced, from previous cabin local networks to broadband connectivity with much higher speed. As of the end of June, a total of 769 commercial airplanes of 21 Chinese airlines had been equipped with in-flight internet services, up 18 percent from 2020, CAAC data shows. OPENING NEW SPACE The CAAC's strategy in building a smart civil aviation industry is expected to boost the sector's further recovery from the COVID-19 impact, and open new space for industry players. Digital techs will greatly boost the profitability and market performance of airlines, by saving fuel and personnel, cutting operation and maintenance costs, and enhancing safety and passenger experience, said Steven Lien, president of Honeywell China and Aerospace Asia Pacific. "Working with Chinese partners, we look forward to supporting the digitalization of China's aviation industry and exploring more business chances," Lien added. Digitalization will also contribute to the reduction in emissions through various "saving" and "enhancement" means. It is expected to help sustain the industry's low-carbon transformation, which is a challenging task for the whole industry. "Digital techs enable us to save fuel and paper. We are not only concerned about cutting costs, but also about our shared commitments with China in cutting emissions," said Bernard Sim, deputy general manager of Scoot Airways. The Singapore-based low-cost airline has resumed flights to eight Chinese destinations, around one-third of its resumed global network. "Digitalization is a great chance of self-upgrading for airlines. It powers us to enhance passenger flight experiences and explore sustainable growth, especially in the massive market of China," Sim said. (Web editor: Xia Peiyao, Liang Jun) Interview: Kyrgyz farmers adopt Chinese irrigation experience Xinhua) 16:12, September 13, 2021 BISHKEK, Sept. 13 (Xinhua) -- Kyrgyz farmers adopt experience of their Chinese colleagues in the irrigation field, an expert told Xinhua in a recent interview. Kadyrbek Smankulov, a specialist with the Agrarian Development of Chui Oblast under the Ministry of Agriculture, Water Resources and Regional Development of Kyrgyzstan, told Xinhua about his experience gained in China in the utilization of drip irrigation in agriculture. The expert said he had visited China twice. Last time he visited Yangling district in China's Shaanxi Province, professors from Northwest Agricultural University introduced him and his fellows to various irrigation techniques used in China. "Lately, due to the lack of water in Kyrgyzstan, drip irrigation has become very important for us. Indeed, water should be saved, it should be used as we were shown at the seminar," Smankulov said. The drip irrigation system has been used in Kyrgyzstan not long ago and in very small volumes. However, now more and more farmers are switching to this method, according to the expert. "We were shown in China how the drip irrigation is used on perennial plantations, apple trees, and also in the fields, in particular ... corn fields," he said. "In addition, the drip irrigation is regulated through computer systems. Unfortunately, there are no such highly developed technologies in Kyrgyzstan. We just started mastering the system of open drip irrigation," the specialist shared his impression, adding that he was also very surprised how the Chinese specialists conduct water to hard-to-reach non-irrigated lands. Smankulov emphasized that in China new technologies and science are very well applied in agriculture, which is supported by the state. The specialist said that he is willing to share with local farmers the experience and knowledge learned in China, adding that Kyrgyzstan should apply new modern technologies for the development of agriculture. Concerning the cooperation between Kyrgyzstan and China, the expert said "thanks to Chinese investments, many large infrastructure projects are being implemented in Kyrgyzstan, and I think it would be good to closely develop our cooperation in the field of agriculture and develop this sector in the country." (Web editor: Xia Peiyao, Liang Jun) China issues 2.7 bln organic product labels in 2020 Xinhua) 16:38, September 13, 2021 BEIJING, Sept. 13 (Xinhua) -- China issued a total of 2.7 billion organic product labels last year, the country's top market watchdog said Monday. The country sold 999,000 tonnes of organic products in 2020, with sales standing at 80.43 billion yuan (about 12.47 billion U.S. dollars), according to the State Administration for Market Regulation. To date, China has granted 14,000 companies nationwide more than 22,000 certificates for their organic products, the regulator said. It added that the number of issued certificates grew by 13.52 percent on average each year between 2016 and 2020. The administration said measures will be adopted to ramp up market regulation and expose illegal cases to target irregularities in the organic product market. (Web editor: Xia Peiyao, Liang Jun) East Chinas Anhui province saw 23 enterprises recognized as key state-level cultural exporters, ranking fifth in the country. The Ministry of Commerce, the Publicity Department of the Communist Party of China (CPC), the Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of Culture and Tourism and the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television have jointly released the list of major cultural exporters and key export projects, including 23 companies and four projects from Anhui. The key enterprises include Anhui Education Press, Anhui Time Technology Co., China Xuan Paper Co., and Anhui Hongfang Handicraft Co.. The four key export projects include a digital curriculum platform for Arabic preschools, a publication on Chinese New Year, and Wanan Compass. Up to 369 enterprises and 121 projects nationwide are on the list. They will receive government support in areas like market exploitation, technological innovation and customs clearance. China's national observatory on Sunday continued its orange alert for Typhoon Chanthu, which is expected to make landfall in or pass east China's Zhejiang Province during the daytime on Monday. At 9 a.m. Sunday, the center of Chanthu, the 14th typhoon of this year, moved to waters off eastern Taiwan, or at a latitude of 24 degrees north and a longitude of 122.4 degrees east. It packed a gale of 52 meters per second, according to the National Meteorological Center. Moving northward at a speed of 20 to 25 km per hour, Chanthu will make landfall in or pass the coastal area near Zhoushan in Zhejiang Province on Monday, the center said. From 2 p.m. Sunday to 2 p.m. Monday, the typhoon will likely bring gale-force winds and rainstorms to regions including Shanghai, Zhejiang, Jiangsu, Fujian and Taiwan. China has a four-tier color-coded weather warning system, with red being the most severe warning, followed by orange, yellow and blue. BEIJING, Sept. 13 (Xinhua) -- Chinese President Xi Jinping has urged border troops to guard the country's borders well and make new contributions to the Party and the people. Xi, also general secretary of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission, made the remarks in his reply letter to a model battalion of the People's Liberation Army stationed in the plateau region. Xi commended the battalion members for their remarkable efforts in guarding China's border region, noting that they have dedicated their youth to securing the country's territorial integrity and have accomplished their missions well. Border troops are on the frontline of strengthening China's national defense and shoulder massive responsibilities, said Xi in the letter. He called on them to continue to strengthen their sense of responsibility, carry forward fine traditions, and enhance their combat readiness in order to perform their duties well. The battalion is stationed in a region with an average altitude of over 4,800 meters. The lowest temperature in the region reaches minus 40 degrees Celsius, and strong wind blows for over 200 days a year. In August 2016, Xi signed an order to confer the battalion with the honorary title "model border battalion on the plateau." Beijing said on Monday the US should handle the Taiwan question with caution to avoid severely damaging bilateral ties and peace and stability across the Taiwan Straits after it was reported the US was mulling changing the name of Taiwan's mission in Washington. Reports said US President Joe Biden was seriously considering a request from the Taiwan authority to change the name "Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office" to "Taiwan Representative Office". China has lodged stern representations with the US over relevant moves, Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian said at a daily news briefing. Zhao noted the Taiwan question is the core issue that is the most important and sensitive in Sino-American relations where the one-China principle is the political foundation. The US side had made clear promises in the Joint Communique on the Establishment of Diplomatic Relations between the United States of America and the People's Republic of China that the people of the United States will maintain cultural, commercial and other unofficial relations with the people of Taiwan, Zhao said. Zhao also noted President Biden said the US side had no intention to change the one-China policy during his phone call with Chinese President Xi Jinping last Friday. "The US side should earnestly abide by the one-China principle and stipulations of the three Sino-US Joint Communiques and take concrete actions to deliver its relevant promises," the spokesman said. It should refrain from conducting official contacts in any form and elevating substantial relations, including changing the name of "Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office" in the US to "Taiwan Representative Office", and stop sending wrong signals to Taiwan independence separatists, Zhao said. Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi (L) meets with Vietnamese Foreign Minister Bui Thanh Son in Hanoi, Vietnam, Sept 11, 2021. [PHOTO/XINHUA] Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi was reassured by his hosts in Vietnam and Cambodia over the weekend that countries from outside the region will not be allowed to butt into regional affairs. This will be a bitter pill for Washington to swallow, as senior US officials have paid multiple visits to the region, including Vietnam and Singapore, over the past three months, in a bid to drive a wedge between China and countries in the region. The strategists in Washington have to face the reality that the United States' so-called value diplomacy is unaccustomed to the climate and soil of Southeast Asia and East Asia, where the people share cultural values that China was a major historical cradle for. And it is clear to all which country is promoting peace and prosperity and which country is the stormy petrel. No matter how many military bases the US has in the region, it cannot deny that these legacies of World War II and the Cold War are not bedrocks for regional peace and stability, but tools to maintain its hegemony in the region. Countries in Asia know that true security comes not from having the biggest guard dogs but from making friends. It is China, not the US, that has boosted and sustained the collective development of economies in the region over the past few decades. It is also China that has played a pivotal role in helping the region respond to common challenges, ranging from the financial crises in 1998 and 2008 to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. Despite the US' desperate attempts to isolate China from other countries in Asia, China's status as the largest trade partner of, and major investor in, most of the countries in the region has only been consolidated thanks to the complementarity of their economies and their common interests in advancing regional integration. Although there are some territorial disputes between China and some of the countries in the region, many of which are historical problems intentionally left to fester by the US, they have never hampered the continuous regional integration as the disputing parties have demonstrated the wisdom and ability to manage the disputes. The more the US tries to hype up these historical issues, the more it reveals its true colors as a troublemaker to the region and the world. Wang's visits to Vietnam, Cambodia, Singapore and the Republic of Korea, all neighbors and important partners of China, from Friday to Wednesday, reflect the great significance China attaches to improving its ties and deepening its cooperation with them during these difficult times when the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic are still being felt. The stable and prosperous relations between China and the regional countries are supported by the three pillars of similar culture, broad common interests and joint security. And these pillars will only be fortified as regional countries strengthen their cooperation to boost pandemic prevention and control, and promote the region's economic recovery. UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Michele Bachelet will present an oral update on the situation in Afghanistan Monday as a follow-up to the council's Aug. 24 special session on that country. The European Union, Mexico and Britain along with human rights activists have criticized the resolution that was adopted for failing to establish a robust independent mechanism to monitor violations by the Taliban. As in previous years, the council's laser-lens focus on the way governments treat their people is expected to garner a lot of attention. Reported abuses, some amounting to crimes against humanity, will be examined in countries such as Myanmar, Belarus, Syria, Eritrea, Burundi, Nicaragua, and Venezuela. The session promises to be extremely busy. Nearly 90 reports on a wide range of thematic issues will be presented. They include torture, enforced disappearances, the right to development, slavery, the rights of people of African descent and racism. Council President Fiji Ambassador Nazhat Shameem Khan says discussion on Afghanistan has not ended with the special session. "And, really, it is a matter for states to decide whether they want to take the outcome of the special session further and achieve another result," she said. "But I do want to note that the Security Council on the 30th of August adopted a resolution on safe passage. It addressed human rights concerns particularly as it relates to women and children." Human Rights Watch executive director Kenneth Roth says he is dismayed at the council's reluctance to take on powerful countries such as Russia and China. He says he fears the Kremlin will not be held to account for its unprecedented crackdown on opposition parties in advance of this month's parliamentary elections. "Ideally, we would like to have a resolution. At minimum, there should be a joint statement. But, again, this is a situation that just because a government is relatively powerful, should not mean that it escapes scrutiny. And this is again a bit of a test of the council's credibility," he said. Roth says the same dynamics are playing out regarding China's abusive treatment of more than a million Uyghurs in internment camps in Xinjiang province. "China has always escaped formal scrutiny by the council. There has never been a resolution on China. It is time to end that, given the severity and the atrocities, the crimes against humanity being committed in Xinjiang," he said. China maintains the Uyghurs are being held in reeducation camps and that the vocational training they are receiving is necessary to counter terrorism and alleviate poverty. Roth is calling on Bachelet to present a report describing the inhumane conditions under which the Uyghurs are being incarcerated and to call for the Chinese government to be held accountable. North Korea carried out successful long-range cruise missile tests over the weekend, its state media, the official [North] Korean Central News Agency, said on Monday, amid a protracted standoff with the United States over denuclearization. The missiles flew 1,500 km (930 miles) before hitting their targets and falling into the country's territorial waters during the tests on Saturday and Sunday, KCNA said. Al-Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahri appeared in a new video marking the 20th anniversary of the Sept. 11, attacks, months after rumors spread that he was dead. The SITE Intelligence Group that monitors jihadist websites said the video was released Saturday. In it, al-Zawahri said that "Jerusalem Will Never be Judaized," and praised al-Qaeda attacks including one that targeted Russian troops in Syria in January. SITE said al-Zawahri also noted the U.S. military's withdrawal from Afghanistan after 20 years of war. It added that his comments do not necessarily indicate a recent recording, as the withdrawal agreement with the Taliban was signed in February 2020. Al-Zawahri made no mention of the Taliban's takeover of Afghanistan and the capital Kabul last month, SITE added. But he did mention a Jan. 1, attack that targeted Russian troops on the edge of the northern Syrian city of Raqqa. Two French politicians kicked off their presidential campaigns Sunday, seeking to become France's first female leader in next year's spring election. The far-right National Rally party's Marine Le Pen and Paris' Socialist mayor, Anne Hidalgo, both launched their presidential platforms in widely expected moves. They join a burgeoning list of challengers to centrist President Emmanuel Macron. This includes battles among multiple potential candidates on the right -- including another female politician, Valerie Pecresse -- and among the Greens. Hidalgo, 62, mayor of the French capital since 2014, is the favorite to win the Socialist Party nomination. She launched her candidacy in the northwestern city of Rouen. "I want all children in France to have the same opportunities I had," she said, invoking her roots. Hidalgo is the daughter of Spanish immigrants who fled their country in search of freedom amid dictator Francisco Franco's rule. Hwang Hee-chan of Wolverhampton Wanderers scored on his debut in the English Premier League on Saturday against Watford. Hwang took to the pitch as a substitute in the 63rd minute and played in the left wing position. Wolves took a 1-0 lead thanks to an own goal by Francisco Sierralta in the 74th minute, and Hwang doubled the lead in the 83rd when he converted a rebound after a defender blocked Marcal's shot, becoming the eighth Korean player to score in the EPL. Hwang joined Wolverhampton from RB Leipzig in the German Bundesliga at the end of last month. Korea is building another new 3,600-ton submarine with 10 ballistic missile launch tubes. The Defense Acquisition Program Administration has signed a W985.7 billion contract with Daewoo Shipbuilding and Marine Engineering to build the second U-boat in the KSS-III Batch-II series, according to a spokesman last Friday (US$1=W1,167). Construction of the first in the series started last month. The Batch-II series of diesel-powered 3,600-ton submarines are 89 m long and 9.6 m wide. They are heavier and about 5.5 m longer than the 3,000-ton Dosan Ahn Chang-ho from the Batch-I series that was delivered to the Navy recently and have four more missile tubes. The new sub will be equipped with lithium instead of lead acid batteries, which means it can stay submerged longer, and will have combat and sonar systems with improved target detection and processing functions, as well as a wide variety of weapons such as sea mines, torpedoes and guided missiles. Since about 80 percent of components are domestically manufactured, it will be much easier to obtain spare parts than for previous models. The new sub will be completed in 2026 and delivered to the Navy in 2028. Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi arrives in Seoul on Tuesday, when the chief nuclear negotiators of the U.S., South Korea and Japan gather in Japan. Wang's visit appears aimed at preventing South Korea from bending too much to the U.S.' demands to join its various anti-China coalitions. The U.S. has been holding various three-way meetings with South Korea and Japan since January to bolster alliances to keep China in check. Each time such three-way meetings took place, China has flexed its muscles at South Korea. In April, while one such meeting was underway, China invited Foreign Minister Chung Eui-yong to Fujian Province for talks with his Chinese counterpart. Two days before the G7 Summit in June, Wang telephoned Chung and urged South Korea not to be influenced by the U.S. "China views South Korea as the weakest link in the anti-China front and continues to rattle it," a diplomatic source said. Wang is also likely to ask for South Korea's support for the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing in February and invite President Moon Jae-in to China. This areas top four first responders remembered the Sept. 11, 2001 attack on America as the day that changed many methods of fire and police Woburn, MA (01801) Today Thunderstorms early, then variable clouds overnight with still a chance of showers. Low 66F. Winds WNW at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 70%.. Tonight Thunderstorms early, then variable clouds overnight with still a chance of showers. Low 66F. Winds WNW at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 70%. Woburn, MA (01801) Today Variable clouds with showers and scattered thunderstorms. Storms more numerous this evening. Low 66F. Winds light and variable. Chance of rain 50%.. Tonight Variable clouds with showers and scattered thunderstorms. Storms more numerous this evening. Low 66F. Winds light and variable. Chance of rain 50%. As he walked down a Brooklyn block with a loaded gun in his hand on a dry, hot summer evening in 2016, Javier Perez didn't know he was about to trigger a constitutional dilemma. Seeing a group of youths assaulting a boy from a rival gang with bats and machetes, Perez did what he thought could defuse the situation: He fired a few shots in the air. The brawlers dispersed. No one was injured. Perez walked back to a barbecue he was attending with a few old friends on the same block, returning the gun he had just borrowed to one of them. Months later, Perez was arrested and charged with a federal crime being an "alien in possession of a firearm." He faced 10 years in federal prison and deportation. His lawyers argued the federal law is unconstitutional because it strips people like Perez millions of undocumented people with no prior criminal record of Second Amendment rights. The government shot back that the amendment doesn't apply to Perez because of his unlawful status in the country, and even if it did, the law is reasonable in achieving a government's interest in controlling crime. After failing in the lower courts, the case now has the potential of ending in the U.S. Supreme Court, where it could have far-reaching implications for immigrant rights beyond gun possession, legal experts say. Does the Second Amendment Cover Immigrants? Both parties in the Perez case based their arguments on the seminal 2008 Supreme Court decision in District of Columbia v. Heller, in which the high court said for the first time that law-abiding individuals had a right to possess firearms for self-defense in their homes. The court said that right was not absolute, and convicted felons and the mentally ill should be barred from possessing guns. But it didn't say anything about immigrants. ..... Below are the arrests for Sept. 10-12. All listed are presumed innocent until proven guilty. Chelsea Barker, 32, was arrested on Sept. 10 at 4:34 p.m. at 2217 N. Ohio St. for warrant/ failure to appear. Jaymi Claxton, 55, was arrested on Sept. 11 at 2:01 a.m. at Harrison Street and Apperson Way for operating without ever obtaining a license (class C misdemeanor). Christopher Criglear, 23, was arrested on Sept. 10 at 1:17 p.m. at US 31 (161 mile marker) for dealing marijuana (class A misdemeanor), possession of marijuana (class B misdemeanor), driving while suspended (class A misdemeanor) and operating without financial responsibility (class C misdemeanor). Jonathon Dickey, 51, was arrested on Sept. 11 at 3:57 p.m. at East Morgan Street and Jay Street for being a habitual traffic violator. Rose Gilbreath, 46, was arrested on Sept. 10 at 2:53 a.m. at Vaile Avenue and Jay Street for operating a vehicle while intoxicated (class A misdemeanor) and operating a vehicle while intoxicated-prior conviction (level 6 felony). Benjamin Hicks, 28, was arrested on Sept. 12 at 1:56 a.m. at 900 S. Berkley for operating while under the influence (class C misdmeanor) and endangerment (class A misdemeanor). Angela Hilligoss, 37, was arrested on Sept. 12 at 1:20 p.m. at 804 E. Markland Ave. for warrant/ petition to revoke. Terri Hughes, 31, was arrested on Sept. 11 at 12:17 p.m. at 1800 E. Markland Ave. for warrant/ Cass County. Support Local Journalism Now, more than ever, the world needs trustworthy reportingbut good journalism isnt free. Please support us by making a contribution. Contribute Joshua Minns, 18, was arrested on Sept. 11 at 3:57 a.m. at 3708 Carmelita Blvd. for minor in possession of alcohol (class C misdemeanor) and endangerment (class A misdemeanor). Dennis Moody, 45, was arrested on Sept. 11 at 5:50 a.m. at South Courtland Avenue and Park Avenue for possession of marijuana (class B misdemeanor), possession of schedule of a I, II, III, IV,or V drug (class A misdemeanor) and operating while under there influence (class C misdemeanor). Joshua Murphy, 31, was arrested on Sept. 12 at 1:28 a.m. at State Street and Apperson Way for invasion of privacy (class A misdemeanor) and warrant/ petition to revoke. Ryan Schultz, 35, was arrested on Sept. 12 at 11:26 p.m. at 713 N. Purdum St. for driving while suspended (class A misdemeanor) and warrant/ failure to appear. Jessica Smith, 42, was arrested on Sept. 12 at 8:45 p.m. at East Mulberry Street and North Market Street for warrant/ violation of pretrial release. Kassie Stone, 45, was arrested on Sept. 11 at 12:16 a.m. at 1800 E. Markland Ave. for warrant/ petition to revoke. James Thomas, 24, was arrested on Sept. 11 at 2:52 a.m. at 1801 E. Lincoln Rd. for theft (class A misdemeanor) and warrant/ conversion. Lola Washington, 34, was arrested on Sept. 11 at 3:35 a.m. at Home Avenue and East Hoffer Street for operating while intoxicated (class A misdemeanor). Scott West, 52, was arrested on Sept. 10 at 3:12 p.m. at Indiana 931 and East Markland Avenue for theft (level 6 felony). Markiss Young, 31, was arrested on Sept. 11 at 1:07 a.m. at 100 S. Union St. for criminal mischief (class B misdemeanor), possession of marijuana (class B misdemeanor) and public intoxication (class B misdemeanor). John Lithgow has joined the cast of 'Sharper'. The 75-year-old actor has become the latest star to board the cast of the Apple Original Films and A24 thriller, which is being directed by Benjamin Caron. Julianne Moore, Sebastian Stan, Justice Smith and Briana Middleton will also star in the film, which will begin principal photography in New York City this week. The plot of 'Sharper' is based on 'The Black List' script by Brian Gatewood and Alessandro Tanaka. It is being kept mostly under wraps for the time being but it unfolds within the secrets of the Big Apple from the penthouses of Fifth Avenue to the shadowy corners of Queens. Motivations are suspect and expectations are turned upside down when nothing is as it seems. The movie will premiere in cinemas and globally on Apple TV+. Support Local Journalism Now, more than ever, the world needs trustworthy reportingbut good journalism isnt free. Please support us by making a contribution. Contribute Julianne, Brian and Alessandro are producing with Bart Freundlich, Erik Feig and Jessica Switch for Picturestart. Julia Hammer and Amy Herman are executive producing. Benjamin is a successful TV director whose credits include 'Sherlock', 'The Crown' and 'Wallander'. Meanwhile, John recently joined the cast of Martin Scorsese's 'Killers of the Flower Moon' in the role of Prosecutor Leaward. The epic Western which will also be available to Apple TV+ viewers - is based on David Grann's best-selling novel of the same name and depicts the serial murder of members of the oil-wealthy Osage Nation in 1920s Oklahoma that came to be known as the Reign of Terror. Leonardo DiCaprio, Robert De Niro, Lily Gladstone, Jesse Plemons and Brendan Fraser are all featuring in the film. It will mark the first time that John has starred in a Scorsese movie. SOUTH BEND, Ind., Sept. 13, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- AM General, global military-grade mobility systems provider, will display the revolutionary HUMVEE NXT 360 light tactical vehicle at the Defence Security and Equipment International (DSEi) tradeshow held at the ExCel London Exhibition Centre Sept. 14 17, 2021, booth H8-358 in the U.S. Pavilion. Through continuous improvement, the company has achieved leap-ahead technology in a redesigned vehicle that offers MRAP-level protection in a truly agile light tactical vehicle. "We are very excited to exhibit, in-person, at DSEI 2021," said Nguyen Trinh, AM General Executive Vice President of International Defense. "After an extremely difficult year, it will be great to speak with customers directly and showcase our latest products, like the NXT 360 which has a truly innovative design that disrupts the perceptions of survivability in light tactical truck." The NXT 360 leverages the existing HUMVEE platform and includes additional enhancements like a long travel suspension, a more powerful engine, and higher foot pounds of torque that make this vehicle rugged and nimble at the same time. Similar to the iconic HUMVEE vehicles, the NXT 360 will have the same versatility to accommodate multiple mission requirements: from 2-, 4- and 6-passenger seating with room for personnel and mission equipment. Additionally, the HUMVEE NXT 360 on display at DSEI, will feature the Kongsberg Remote Weapons Station (RWS) and Raytheon BBN's Boomerang Gunshot Detection System as an example of the vehicle's ability to integrate various types of weapon and protection systems. The concept integration provides an increased level of protection by offering Boomerang's best-in-class shooter detection capability and the NXT 360's superior handling to avoid harm and respond to hostile fire. AM General representatives will be on hand to discuss the wide variety of mobility solutions the company offers, from scalable soft recoil technology for mobile fires to partnerships and collaborations with industry leaders to integrate breakthrough technologies onto the company's diverse portfolio of products. About AM General AM General designs, engineers, manufactures, supplies, and supports specialized vehicles for military and commercial customers worldwide. Through its military business, the company is widely recognized as the world leader in design, engineering, manufacturing, and logistics support of military grade tactical vehicles, having produced and sustained more than 300,000 vehicles in over 70 countries. AM General has extensive experience meeting the changing needs of the defense and automotive industries, supported by its employees at major facilities in Indiana, Michigan, and Ohio, and a strong supplier base that stretches across 43 states. Please see more information about AM General at www.amgeneral.com. Support Local Journalism Now, more than ever, the world needs trustworthy reportingbut good journalism isnt free. Please support us by making a contribution. Contribute Media Contact: Deborah Reyes, Global Marketing and Communications Director / AM General E-mail: deborah.reyes@amgeneral.com Photo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1623572/NXT_360.jpg Logo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/745139/AM_General_Logo.jpg CROWN POINT The Rev. Mark Wilkins recalled making a speech that was interrupted by police sirens. Reflecting on the incident, he said those sirens represented the selfless service of first responders. They stand ready at the sirens call, Wilkins, pastor at First United Methodist Church of Crown Point, said at the faith communitys tribute to first responders Sunday at the Lake County Fairgrounds. Gathered in a livestock pavilion, the church sang and prayed for the citys police and fire personnel. Church members also distributed more than 100 magnetic badges with the name of a full-time city first responder. The person taking the magnet was asked to pray daily for the first responder and his/her family. Coming off his churchs 9/11 service the prior evening, Wilkins noted, We thought it would be very appropriate, especially in light of 9/11, as we remembered those heroes from that day, that we give thanks for God for our heroes today. Musical arrangements focused on first responders and everyday heroes. We want to remember those unsung heroes, said John Albright, choir director. Theyre not looking for the spotlight. They do it because its whats instilled in them. Wilkins is chaplain for the Crown Point Police Department, and his church is known for its support of public servants. This is what we do at our church, Albright said. Were trying to let the community know we love them and we are a part of this community, just as they are a part of us. Church member Jaclyn Knight and her daughter Gianna, 6, selected a magnetic badge. Knights husband, Jordan, is on the Schererville police force. Its important to support police, the mother said. We want to share the understanding that police are important and we want to always instill that in our kids. Fire Chief Dan Crane was among the initial first responders to arrive. He thanked Wilkins and FUMC for putting on a top-notch service. The public has really stepped up to make sure were honored, Crane said. The support has been phenomenal. Assistant Police Chief Jim Janda added that the tribute service means a lot to us. The community has always supported us. Recognizing us for everything we do is a good feeling. With a new officer soon joining the force, Crown Point will have 50 sworn officers, Janda said. Crane said Crown Point Fire Rescue has 13 firefighters per shift, along with three ambulances. Both men said neither department has ever suffered a fatality in the line of duty. Ryan Patrick, operations commander for Crown Point Police, said the church tribute reaffirms the community believes in you and that people are thinking about police and fire. Coming off 9/11, Patrick added, People have not forgotten that day. Tom Walters, a firefighter for more than 35 years, said, This is a special day for us. We lost a lot of people on 9/11. A lot of things have changed since then, but, with the military, people have really opened up to us. Support Local Journalism Now, more than ever, the world needs trustworthy reportingbut good journalism isnt free. Please support us by making a contribution. Contribute Two monitors on the church stage showed everyday scenes of people, including police and fire personnel, preparing to go to work or school and praying. Wilkins opened the service, noting how everyone probably does not worry about security or personal safety. That lack of concern, the pastor said, reflects the work of first responders. We come as representatives of a grateful community and grateful nation, Wilkins said. We stand to thank God for first responders and we ask Gods blessings on them and their families. We join together to say thanks for them laying down their lives for us every day. Let us ask Gods blessings on them every day. Musical selections included a piece performed by the churchs childrens choir, led by Shannon Freyek. The choir director said the tribute was a wonderful way to honor first responders for the work they for us every day. The services scripture passage came from John 15:12-17, which includes this passage: Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends. Wilkins recalled that the apostles probably thought that message was nice, but Jesus knew better. (Jesus) understood when it meant whips, spears, and the cross. Wilkins continued, Sacrifice always comes at a cost. That sacred trust is how first responders live their lives. They live for the sound of the sirens call. Answering that call, Wilkins said, means leaving the comfort of home in the middle of the night, in the middle of dinner, to respond to people at the worst of times. We may never truly understand that, Wilkins said, but we can respect it. We can no longer take for granted that they leave their bubble of safety for us. First responders may not realize it, Wilkins said, but their service is a reflection of Gods love. First responders dedication and selflessness, Wilkins said, ensures us the very safety we take for granted. First responders received a standing ovation from the church. Wilkins offered final prayers for them and church members, asking the congregation to lay down our lives for a broken world, so that Gods love may be real. In the name of Christ, lets go get 'em. Crown Point DARE Officer Stanko Gligic brought his family to the service. Brooke Gligic, his wife, commented, Its nice to feel loved for what you do. You dont always see that. The officers middle school-aged daughter said the service was a nice thing to do. The work of first responders, the daughter added, is scary, but its good to know someone does it for us. Republican Attorney General Todd Rokita is asking the U.S. Supreme Court to strike down a 2018 federal regulation barring the possession of a firearm accessory that was used to perpetrate the deadliest mass shooting in American history. Stephen Paddock, 64, killed 60 people and injured 867 on Oct. 1, 2017, when he fired more than 1,000 bullets in about 10 minutes from his 32nd-floor Las Vegas hotel room into the crowd attending the outdoor Route 91 Harvest country music festival. Paddock, who subsequently killed himself, was able to fire so many shots by outfitting some of his 14 AR-15 rifles with bump stocks, a device that uses the recoil of a semi-automatic firearm to, in effect, enable the weapon to fire continuously, similar to an automatic rifle or machine gun which generally are prohibited by U.S. law. Following the massacre, the administration of Republican former President Donald Trump on Dec. 18, 2018, issued a federal regulation banning bump stocks and requiring any person in possession of a bump stock to destroy it, or otherwise render it inoperable, by March 26, 2019. The regulation was immediately challenged at the federal court in western Michigan by the Gun Owners of America organization. It initially lost its bid for a preliminary injunction. But the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in March halted the regulation by concluding bump stocks were incorrectly classified as machine guns by the Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco and Firearms. A similar case out of Utah now is awaiting action by the U.S. Supreme Court, spurring Rokita, as part of a coalition of 20 Republican state attorneys general, to urge the nation's high court to hear the case and strike down the Trump-era bump stock ban. "Hoosiers have learned over many years to beware the tendencies of entrenched federal powers to incrementally infringe on our constitutional liberties," said Rokita, a Munster native. Support Local Journalism Now, more than ever, the world needs trustworthy reportingbut good journalism isnt free. Please support us by making a contribution. Contribute Watch Now: Riding Shotgun With NWI Paramedics The U.S. Justice Department has until Oct. 4 to respond to the request for high court review, and the plaintiffs then will have the opportunity to address the ATF's defense of the regulation. If the Supreme Court ultimately agrees to hear the case any decision by the nine justices likely won't be issued until June 2022 or later. In the meantime, Rokita is vowing to zealously guard the gun rights of Hoosiers by continually challenging any law or regulation he believes infringes on the Second Amendment even if it comes from a Republican president he otherwise admires. "Few rights are so precious as the freedom to possess firearms for the defense of our lives, families, homes and property," Rokita said. "We must always stay alert to threats against these rights, and we must stand up to preserve them when they come under attack." Indiana-supported amicus brief urging U.S. Supreme Court review of federal bump stock ban Get to know these new Indiana laws enacted in 2021 On 5 September the US State Department issued a statement condemning the 3 September ruling by the constitutional chamber (SC) of El Salvadors supreme court (CSJ), which authorised immediate presidential re-election. The US State Department underlines that the ruling is in contravention of the Salvadorean constitution which clearly prohibits presidential incumbents from re-election to a consecutive term. It also highlights as cause for concern additional steps taken by El Salvadors legislature to consolidate control over the judiciary on 31 August by unconstitutionally amending the organic law on Judicial Careers, mandating retirement for justices at 60 years of age or 30 years of service under the premise of rooting out corruption. The press release notes that age or time in service has no direct tie to corruption and that El Salvador already has established processes in place to remove corrupt actors. The press release warns that the 31 August reform demonstrates a clear strategy to undermine judicial independence and remove a critical counterbalance on the executive branch and that this decline in democratic governance damages the relationship that the US States strives to maintain with the government of El Salvador and further erodes El Salvadors international image as a democratic and trustworthy partner in the region. End of preview - This article contains approximately 785 words. Subscribers: Log in now to read the full article Not a Subscriber? Choose from one of the following options On 12 September, demonstrations were held in various state capitals in Brazil to protest against Presidentand demand his impeachment. End of preview - This article contains approximately 363 words. Subscribers: Log in now to read the full article Not a Subscriber? Choose from one of the following options On 11 September Haitis human rights ombudsmans office (OPC) issued a statement calling on Prime Ministerto resign and face justice in relation to the assassination of former President(2017-2021). End of preview - This article contains approximately 392 words. Subscribers: Log in now to read the full article Not a Subscriber? Choose from one of the following options On 11 September Mexicos national guard (GN) and national migration institute (INM) apprehended 150 Haitian migrants in Tapachula municipality, Chiapas state, which borders Guatemala, as part of a mass operation to detain undocumented persons. End of preview - This article contains approximately 395 words. Subscribers: Log in now to read the full article Not a Subscriber? Choose from one of the following options Press Release September 13, 2021 Dela Rosa lauds signing of comprehensive BFP Modernization law after passing through the eye of a needle in the Senate SENATOR Ronald "Bato" Dela Rosa lauds the signing into law of Republic Act 11589 (RA 11589), or the Bureau of Fire Protection (BFP) Modernization Act by President Duterte on September 10, but admitted it had first passed through the eye of a needle in the Senate before it was ratified because of a provision to arm members of the bureau's security units. In an interview last Saturday with Davao Del Sur-based DABIGC Radio, Dela Rosa, author and principal sponsor of the law in the Senate, said RA 11589 provides for adequate support for BPF modernization in terms of infrastructure improvement, acquisition of high-tech equipment, and capability enhancement trainings for its personnel. "Sa batas na ito, ang ating mga bumbero ay mabibigyan ng sapat na suporta in terms of infrastructure, 'yung mga building nila, mga headquarters nila, mga opisina nila. In terms of equipage, 'yung mga latest na equipage na 'yung high-tech na sa kung anong mga kulang natin ngayon, 'yung mga sky ladder na mga kailangan natin. Of course, 'yung mga high-tech na firetruck at 'yung training nila," the Chairman of the Senate Committee of Public Order and Dangerous Drugs explained. "Kasi ang bumbero natin ngayon ay hindi lang purely fire suppression ang trabaho kundi more on, naa na pud sila sa emergency (they are also part of emergency), EMT, emergency medical transport, or before madala sa hospital... ang mga bumbero nato (natin), andyan na sila. So, bigyan natin sila ng magandang training kung kayang ipadala sa abroad, gagastusan natin para ma-train sila sa abroad," The former top cop further said in mixed Visayan dialect and Filipino language. Dela Rosa also disclosed that the law had to pass through the eye of a needle during plenary debates due to a hotly contested provision, which provides for the issuance of short firearms to firefighter-members of security and protection units that shall be created with the duty of protecting their colleagues during fire suppression and investigation operations. "So, 'yan ang nireklamo ng mga kasamahan natin sa Senado, dahil ayaw talaga nila na armasan kaya hindi na-ratify sa first attempt. But second attempt, sinubo ko talaga ulit for ratification. Sa awa ng Diyos, we had the numbers. Meron pa ring nag-oppose, meron pa ring nag-object, kaya it resulted to botohan na naman. At least, nanalo na tayo this time sa botohan. Last time, nagkulang lang tayo ng isang boto," he said. "Hindi naman lahat ng bumbero ay armasan natin. Sa bawat city fire station at sa regional fire office (lang), hindi kasama dito ang provincial fire office at saka 'yung municipal fire station... magkakaroon tayo ng 14 na bumbero na authorized na mag-carry ng firearms. Short arms lang, to secure their colleagues while conducting fire suppression operations at tsaka pag-conduct ng investigations, arson investigation," the Mindanaoan Senator added. In his speech during the signing of the law, Duterte expounded on the provision. "There are so many challenges in the work of a bumbero, in the day of his life na kailangan protektahan. So with providing yung baril, yung bigyan lang sila kaunting unit, it would really be just to ward off threats and destruction of government properties," the president said. Dela Rosa said that the Modernization of the BFP will be a 10-year plan set to begin next year, in 2022. "This is a 10-year modernization program... By tranche ang pag release ng pondo... next year kaagad," the former top cop said. According to the senator, the newly signed law will provide for a more comprehensive modernization to the fire department and provide the ideal fireman-to-population ratio. "Although meron silang mga modernization program noon, pero hindi ganoon ka-comprehensive unlike ngayon na halos kumpleto talaga, maco-cover pati yung kakulangan nila sa manpower, sa personnel nila, talagang ibigay natin yung according to the ideal ratio of fireman to population ratio... isang fireman bawat 2,000 ka-tao," Dela Rosa said. Press Release September 13, 2021 Grace Poe's transcript Senate Blue Ribbon hearing Sen. Grace Poe: I would like to stress the following, that we are only dealing with the tip of the iceberg. This is the P67 billion in deficiencies that COA flagged DOH onP42 billion of which was transferred to the Procurement Service and P8.7 billion was given to Pharmally... Nais kong balikan, Mr. Chairman, sino ba sa PS-DBM ang nagdesisyon sa pagbibigay ng kontrata sa Pharmally? Gusto ko lang liwanagin dahil may mga sinasabi dati si Atty. Lao na hindi naman talaga siya. Sino ba ang bumubuo nitong komite na ito na nag-apruba no'n? ... Poe: Who would it be, Mr. Chairman? Mr. Lao was it you who made the decision, sir? Atty. Lloyd Christopher Lao: I signed the notice of award, Mr. Chairman. Poe: So if you signed it, who are the members of the screening committee or is it just you? Lao: No, there's a BAC. They do the market scanning, they do the negotiation, mga ganu'n po. Poe: So who are those again? Lao: It's an awards committee. I think the PS-DBM can answer that, their records. Poe: Yes, there should be individuals behind it, right? And they're the ones who recommended to you. So who are those individuals? Lao: I think the records are with PS-DBM. I don't have the records. I don't want to give names that I am not sure if it's accurate, Madam Chair. ... Poe: So for an amount this big, Atty. Lao, when it was presented to you, it was just for your release, just for your signature, am I correct? Lao: Yes, Mr. Chairman. But it is on a series of transactions, not on one account, Mr. Chair. ... Poe: My question is this. Obviously, you are ultimately responsible for it. Bumabalik na naman tayo. Halimbawa, meron na lang mga pricelist ng mga acceptable amount, kayo ay tumalima doon...But the fact remains, may ibang mga nag-bid ba o ito lang? Kasi 'yung sinasabi nating P625,000 lang ang kanilang capitalization pero nanalo pa rin sila, 'di ba. Samantalang, 'yung EMS Components Assembly, lokal na kumpanya, hindi naman natin binigyan ng pagkakataon na matugunan 'yung pangangailangan natin sa facemask. So siguro babalikan kita, Mr. Lao, bakit wala na bang ibang nakisali para makuha ang bid na ito for that amount na P8.7 billion? Bakit pinili ninyo 'yung Pharmally na napakaliit ng kapitalisasyon? ... Poe: Mr. Chairman, I know that we're going to start the session in a few minutes. Perhaps I will just delay my questions for later when Mr. Yang finally attends our hearing because some of my questions are actually for him. I'd like to know, since he's supposed to be a special business consultant for this administration, what other projects did he broker? Meron pa bang mga ibang 'Pharmally' na maaaring napasukan? So, I will just end my questioning for now, and I hope that I can continue when Mr. Yang finally appears before the committee. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Press Release September 13, 2021 Senate renames Roosevelt Avenue to Fernando Poe Jr. Avenue The Senate on Monday approved on third and final reading a bill seeking to rename Roosevelt Avenue in Quezon City after the late Filipino actor Fernando Poe Jr. Voting 22-0-1, the chamber approved House Bill No. (HBN) 7499 which would rename Roosevelt Avenue located in the legislative district I of Quezon City to Fernando Poe Jr. Avenue. Senator Grace Poe, daughter of the late actor who was hailed as the king of Philippine movies, abstained from voting on the measure. Poe thanked her colleagues for supporting the passage of the measure, noting that although she abstained from voting, she is "so happy that this has passed." "I purposely abstained because of our rule that it might be a conflict of interest. But in my heart I am so happy that this has passed. So thank you very much," Poe said after the chamber approved the measure. HBN 7499 initially sought to rename Del Monte Avenue, which is also located in Quezon City's first legislative district after the late actor, but Senate President Vicente C. Sotto III introduced an amendment to Section 1 of the proposed measure renaming Roosevelt Avenue instead. The amendment was accepted by Sen. Emmanuel "Manny" Pacquiao, chairman of the Committee on Public Works and sponsor of the bill. Under the measure, the Department of Public Works and Highways shall issue the necessary rules, orders, and circulars to implement the provisions within 60 days from its effectivity. The Senate also approved on final reading four local bills seeking to create and reconstitute various engineering offices in Mindanao. Approved were HBNs 6227, seeking to create a new district engineering office in the third legislative district of the province of Zamboanga del Norte; HBN 5891, reconstituting the Lanao del Norte district engineering office in the province into two separate district engineering offices; HBN 5890, creating the Iligan City district engineering office; and HBN 5855, establishing the second district engineering office in the municipality of Compostela, in the province of Davao de Oro. Press Release September 13, 2021 Tolentino pushes the resumption of limited face-to-face classes for vaccinated post-graduate students MANILA - The national government should allow the resumption of limited face-to-face classes for post-graduate students, Senator Francis 'Tol' N. Tolentino said. In his weekly radio program over DZRH, Tolentino said he sees no problem if graduate school and law school students will be allowed by the Inter-Agency Task Force (IATF) to attend their respective physical classes for as long as they are fully vaccinated. According to Tolentino, most post-graduate students belong to the country's working-class sector and are eligible to be vaccinated. The lawmaker noted that allowing them to attend physical classes on a limited basis won't be too risky, as long as they are vaccinated and still abide by authorities' minimum health standards. He added that faculty members, other school officials, and personnel must be fully vaccinated before allowing post-graduate institutions to resume their respective face-to-face classes. Last February, President Rodrigo Duterte, upon the recommendation of the Commission on Higher Education (CHED) allowed the resumption of limited face-to-face classes for medical schools and other health science institutions in the country. The National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) has also recommended a gradual resumption of face-to-face classes for the academic year 2021-2022, noting that the current blended learning scheme has deeply affected the country's quality of education. During last week's preliminary discussion for the proposed P5.024-trillion National Expenditure Program (NEP) for 2022, Socioeconomic Planning Secretary Karl Kendrick Chua told members of the Senate Committee on Finance that a year without having face-to-face classes will result in a projected P11-trillion loss in productivity over the next 40 years. Chua explained that a year without physical classes would permanently affect students' abilities, especially when they enter the labor sector after graduation. Tolentino adhered to the latest assessment made by NEDA, noting the quality of learning accumulation of the pupils, both in the undergraduate and post-graduate studies, went down considering the questionable effectiveness of distance learning. Tolentino earlier stressed that gradual resumption of face-to-face classes in low-risk island provincesor those with low or zero COVID-19 infection rateshould be allowed by the Inter-Agency Taskforce (IATF) while still abiding with existing minimum health protocol guidelines. He noted that the current blended learning curriculum being imposed by CHED and the Department of Education (DepEd) isn't effective, considering the current connectivity problem of the country's telcos. Meanwhile, Tolentino suggested that dormitory owners and operators should only accept vaccinated tenants if the national government decides to allow limited face-to- face classes in low-risk areas to prevent the further spread of the virus. Press Release September 13, 2021 SPONSORSHIP SPEECH SPEECH ON S.B. 1972 This humble Representation is proud to cosponsor Senate Bill No. 1972, ACT MANDATING THE DUTY TO RENDER ASSISTANCE AT SEA IN ACCORDANCE WITH RELEVANT INTERNATIONAL CONVENTIONS TO WHICH THE PHILIPPINES IS A STATE PARTY AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES. On 2 July 2019, this Representation filed Senate Bill No. 209, otherwise known as the Good Samaritan at Sea Law, which seeks to provide rules on the duty to render assistance at sea in accordance with relevant international conventions to which the Philippines is a state party and for other purposes. This bill which shall be known as the "Good Samaritan at Sea Law", aims to implement provisions in International Maritime instruments ratified by the Philippine Government concerning safety of life at sea and the duty to render assistance to persons in distress at sea to which the Philippines is a state party to including: 1. The International Convention for the Safety of Life at Sea, 1974 and its Protocols of 1978 and 1988 and Agreement of 1996; 2. United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea of 1982 As a key player in the global maritime industry it is but imperative for the country to stay true to its commitments to the international community to implement and enforce laws affecting maritime safety in order to protect not just the standing of the country in the international community but to protect the very lives of the thousands of Flipinos at sea. All that we have aside from being signatories to SOLAS 1974 and other international conventions involving the international maritime organization are mere soft law participation, which is not self-executing. In other words, it cannot be implemented by a Philippine court and would thus need a domestic law. This is in line with the 1987 Constitution "international law can become part of the sphere of domestic law either by transformation or incorporation". That is why I filed Senate Bill 209 to address this gap. And with the passage of this bill, we will now not be at the mercy of a vacant or a gap insofar Having emphasized the need to honor our commitments to the international community, it behooves upon us to rise up to the challenge of navigating through the unchartered realm of international law in order to protect our resources and uphold the rights of every Filipino. While cooperation with the international community is important, the welfare and benefit of the Filipino people should always be a priority. Of all the country's resources, it is the people that are most treasured, protected and must be served. Hence, may the 18th Congress endeavor to enact more meaningful legislation to fortify, defend and uphold the rights and satisfy our obligations for the benefit of our countrymen as well as our dignity. Taking cue from other nations that have found it essential to protect their resources and uphold their people's rights, may the 18th Congress enact similar legislation such as the United States Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act, among others, wherein the United States has declared that their Constitution, civil and political laws, as well as criminal and federal regulatory laws, are extended and applicable to their subsoil, seabed, and all artificial islands and all other installations attached thereon. The protection and safety of our people require our foresight in drafting laws as we tread towards further utilization of both living and non-living resources in our seas. This humble Representation calls on this Chamber's support in the passage of this Representation's proposed Senate Bill No. 209, the Good Samaritan at Sea Law, that aims to implement the provisions of the International Convention for the Safety of Life at Sea. With this law, Filipino fishermen will be afforded additional safety as they pursue their way of life. This Representation has likewise filed Proposed Senate Resolution No. 12 or the resolution in support of the prohibition of fisheries subsidies in the World Trade Organization. To lessen the perceived disadvantage of Filipino fishermen against foreign entities and to protect the resources in the sea against illegal, unreported, unregulated or IUU fishing, over-capacity and overfishing, fisheries subsidies that contribute to these problems must be eradicated internationally. The United Nations Conference on Trade and Development's Sustainable Development Goal Target 14.6 targets that by 2020, the United Nations member-states should prohibit certain forms of fisheries subsidies that contribute to the aforementioned problems and refrain from introducing new subsidies by 2020. The realization of this goal would level the playing field for the Filipino fishermen as they will be able to perform at the same level as their foreign counterparts. Resources will be more equitably exploited and protected from over-utilization while enhancing the lives of the Filipinos. The need to stay true to our international commitments is not just to maintain our international standing but, most importantly, in order to uphold the rights and dignity of our people and protect the nations' honor. This humble Representation wishes to end this speech with the words of Gat Andres Bonifacio in his work, "Ang Dapat Mabatid ng mga Tagalog," circa 1896, and I quote: "Kaya O mga kababayan! Ating idilat ang bulag na kaisipan at kusang igugol sa kagalingan ang ating lakas, sa tunay at lubos na pag-asa na mag-tatagumpay sa nilalayong kaginhawa-han ng ating bayang tinubuan." You have permission to edit this article. Edit Close The kingdom of Saudi Arabia has banned serving ministers from heading boards of companies or being members unless directed by the head of the Cabinet as the Gulf country seeks to limit conflict of interest in companies and improve governance. A decree from the cabinet indicates that government ministers cant join or chair the boards of companies, according to the amendment, Waya media reports citing Umm al-Qura. Any minister is not allowed to chair the board of any company or serve as a member, the government said. This does not include those whose chairmanship or membership is by order from the prime minister. Several ministers of the current government are serving on the boards of a number of state-run companies. Finance minister Mohammed al-Jadaan and Minister of State Ibrahim A. Al-Assaf are currently board members of the state-run energy firm Saudi Arabian Oil Co. The Public Investment Fund, Saudi Arabias sovereign wealth fund, also has Al-Jadaan and Al-Assaf as board members, along with the ministers of state, commerce, investment, and tourism, Waya media notes. State-owned Saudi Arabian Military Industries also has ministers of tourism and industry and mineral resources as board members. Enwan Developments, real estate developer in Egypt, will launch the first technology mall, Pixel Technology Mall, in the Downtown area in the new administrative capital (NAC) with total investments worth around $19 million, reports say. The mall will serve the government districts and residential neighborhoods such as R7 & R8 to be the main destination for all those looking for modern technology in Egypt and the Arab world, Chairman of Enwan, Mohamed Salem has told media. The infrastructure, first of its kind in the new capital, is built on 30% of the land area of 2,410 meters and the rest is a landscape it consists of a ground floor and 8 floors to serve investors and businessmen. The commercial units will be from the first to the fourth floor and the administrative headquarters from the fifth to the eighth floor, reports say. Your browser does not support the video tag. [September 13, 2021] Riversand and Tarento Partner to Offer Cloud-Native MDM and PIM in the Nordics HOUSTON and STOCKHOLM, Sept. 13, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Riversand, a Syndigo company and leading cloud-native SaaS Master Data Management (MDM) and Product Information Management (PIM) solution provider, announced today a strategic partnership with Tarento, a consultancy specializing in implementation of Master Data Management and Product Information Management solutions for retailers, distributers, and manufacturers. Tarento provides consultancy services to brands in Sweden, Finland and Norway that are seeking digital transformation across data management, Artificial Intelligence (AI), Machine Learning (ML), and analytics. The partnership with Riversand will offer customers in the Nordics a scalable and agile multi-domain MDM and PIM that allows additional applications to be developed to solve new business requirements as market conditions change. "Riversand's cloud-native capabilities are essential for companies investing in digital transformation that want a scalable solution that is future-proof," said Rahul Karnawat, founding partner at Tarento. "The partnership offers companies in the Nordics an unmatched end-to-end solution for information management and governance." The joint solution will offer medium and large-sized enterprises in the Nordics an innovative approach to digital transformation with 360-degree insights of customer and product engagement, creating immersive consumer experiences. "A successful implementation is key to leveraging a PIM solution, and Tarento's experience in advising companies on how to maximize value complements Riversand's best-in-class platform," said Ben Rund, vice president of business development at Riversand. "Our joined forces will help companies i the Nordics accelerate their business growth." About Tarento Tarento is a Consultancy and Technology service provider with expertise in enterprise, data and digital technologies, building platforms of national scale. We enable our customers with their business transformation journey by integrating, streamlining, and optimizing their business operations. We build modern enterprise applications/systems, and help customers leverage their data to transform into digital and intelligent enterprise. For more information, visit www.tarento.com. About Riversand, a Syndigo company Riversand provides a Master Data Experience Platform (MDxP), enabling customers to leverage their data through intelligent insights, automation, and multi-domain SaaS solutions. Riversand's MDxP platform is the engine that powers customers' digital transformation journeys through improved business agility, faster adoption and improved collaboration across the enterprise. Driving data to experiences and insights, Riversand has a vision of helping companies know their customers better, move products faster, automate processes, mitigate risk and run their businesses smarter. Visit www.riversand.com or more information and follow us on LinkedIn or @RiversandMDM on Twitter. About Syndigo Syndigo enables commerce by supporting the efficient transfer of product information through its network of brands and their customers. The company provides descriptive product and nutritional information, images and other digital media, powered by deep analytics to empower engaging brand experiences online and in store. Through Syndigo's integrated platform, Content Experience Hub, clients can publish, manage, syndicate and audit product content across the largest trading network of brands and recipients in the world. Syndigo serves more than 12,000 manufacturers and 1,750 retailers and distributors globally in many important consumer industries including grocery, foodservice, hardlines, home improvement/DIY, pet, health and beauty, automotive, apparel, and healthcare products. For more information, please visit www.syndigo.com. View original content:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/riversand-and-tarento-partner-to-offer-cloud-native-mdm-and-pim-in-the-nordics-301374972.html SOURCE Syndigo [ Back to the Next Generation Communications Community's Homepage ] Decrease Font Size Font Size Increase Font Size Notice body Auburn University and Robins Air Force Base, or RAFB, located in Warner Robins, Georgia, have officially entered into an educational partnership agreement, commemorated with a signing ceremony Tuesday in the Brown-Kopel Center. The agreement strengthens the universitys relationship with the base, opening opportunities for collaborations across common strategic research areas with faculty and students in the Samuel Ginn College of Engineering. The partnership brings benefits to both RAFB and Auburn Engineering. It will help RAFB to cultivate, recruit and diversify the Air Force workforce, help to develop new technology by engaging with faculty and students, and increase the potential for transfer and commercialization of Air Force technology. In return, Auburn Engineering will gain access to valuable scientific equipment and qualified Air Force scientists and engineers as mentors to students, for collaboration on research and projects and open doors for future career opportunities for students. Find the full story here. Welcome Guest! You Are Here: Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Zhao Lijian's Regular Press Conference on September 13, 2021 2021/09/13 CCTV: The 18th China-ASEAN Expo and China-ASEAN Business and Investment Summit kicked off Friday in Nanning, Guangxi. President Xi Jinping sent a congratulatory letter to the event and Vice President Wang Qishan attended the opening ceremony and delivered a speech. Could you give us more information? Zhao Lijian: This event is an eye-catching showcase of the China-ASEAN cooperation outcomes. President Xi Jinping sent a congratulatory message and Vice President Wang Qishan attended the opening ceremony and delivered an address. Leaders and representatives of Laos, Brunei, Cambodia, Malaysia, Thailand, Pakistan, Singapore, Vietnam, Myanmar, and other countries as well as ASEAN Secretary General delivered speech via video link. The guests spoke highly of the progress of China-ASEAN strategic partnership and expressed readiness to further deepen practical cooperation across the board to give a boost to regional common prosperity and development. Since the establishment of China-ASEAN dialogue relations 30 years ago, all-dimensional cooperation has continued to deepen and bilateral trade increased by 85 times, making China and ASEAN each other's largest trading partner. In the first half of this year, bilateral trade exceeded 410 billion U.S. dollars, up 38 percent year on year, and cumulative investment between China and ASEAN countries exceeded 310 billion U.S. dollars. The China-ASEAN Trade Index was released on September 11 for the first time jointly by China's General Administration of Customs and the government of the Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region. The 2020 index stood at 241 points, up around 19 percent and 140 percent compared with the level of 2019 and 2010 respectively. China and ASEAN countries are good neighbors and partners. Over the past 30 years, the two sides have worked together to promote peace, stability, development and prosperity in the region, and set an example for cooperation in the Asia-Pacific. Looking ahead, China stands ready to join hands with ASEAN countries to seek opportunities, address challenges and promote cooperation, continue to advance regional economic integration and build a better and more prosperous future for the next 30 years to come. The Paper: State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi is on his visit to four countries in Asia. He just wrapped up official visits to Vietnam and Cambodia recently. We noted there is much attention on his visits. Can you brief us on that? Zhao Lijian: From September 10 to 12, State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi visited Vietnam and Cambodia. During his visit in Vietnam, State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi met with General Secretary of the Communist Party of Vietnam Central Committee Nguyen Phu Trong and Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh respectively, co-chaired the 13th Meeting of the China-Vietnam Steering Committee for Bilateral Cooperation with Vietnamese Deputy Prime Minister Pham Binh Minh, and held talks with Vietnamese Foreign Minister Bui Thanh Son. State Councilor Wang Yi said that both China and Vietnam are socialist countries under the leadership of communist parties. Consolidating and revitalizing the socialist cause is of paramount importance in the overall China-Vietnam ties. It is the most important and fundamental common strategic interest that the two countries should adhere to. China has always prioritized its relations with Vietnam in its neighborhood diplomacy and stands ready to work with Vietnam to maintain the momentum of sound, steady and all-round development of bilateral relations. We will work with Vietnam to resolutely advance the ASEAN-centered regional cooperation architecture, speed up synergy and cooperation between the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) and the "Two Corridors and One Economic Circle" strategy, speed up the ratification and entry into force of the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) agreement, and actively advance consultations on a Code of Conduct in the South China Sea to jointly uphold peace and stability in the South China Sea. The Vietnamese side said that the party, government and people of Vietnam always attach great importance to developing sustained, sound and stable relations with the party, government and people of China. Vietnam regards relations with China as the top priority of its foreign strategy. It is ready to continue to maintain exchanges at all levels with China and work for new breakthroughs in practical cooperation with China in various fields. Vietnam thanked China for its vaccine assistance and expressed the willingness to strengthen coordination and cooperation with China at the UN, ASEAN and APEC, and jointly advance COC consultations to safeguard regional peace. During his visit in Cambodia, State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi met with Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen and Deputy Prime Minister Hor Nam Hong respectively and had talks with Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Prak Sokhonn. State Councilor Wang Yi pointed out that China and Cambodia are good friends with high level of mutual trust and a community with a shared future. The two sides rendered each other utmost assistance, not only to safeguard the common interests of the two countries, but also to uphold international fairness and justice and the legitimate rights and interests of developing countries. China hopes to work with Cambodia to speed up high-quality Belt and Road cooperation, accelerate the synergy of the New International Land-Sea Trade Corridor and the Lancang-Mekong Economic Development Belt, and bring China-ASEAN relations to a new level. China hopes that during Cambodia's rotating chairmanship of ASEAN, China and ASEAN countries will conclude the COC consultations and the China-Cambodia free trade agreement will enter into force and deliver benefit at an early date. The Cambodian side said that China is Cambodia's most trust-worthy and reliable elder brother and no country can replace China's contribution to Cambodia's economic and social development. The Cambodian side thanked China for its valuable assistance in fighting the epidemic and said that Cambodia will always abide by the one-China principle, stand firmly with China on issues concerning China's internal affairs, deepen the comprehensive strategic cooperative partnership with China, take the cooperation in various fields up to new heights, and jointly safeguard regional peace and stability. Macau Monthly: According to Kyodo News report on September 9, Japan's Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology announced on September 8 that five textbook publishing companies submitted applications to remove or change the terms of "military comfort women" and "forced conscription" concerning the "comfort women" issue and the forced recruitment of laborers from the Korean Peninsula during World War II. Some of the textbooks are in current use and some others will be put into use next spring. Do you have any comment? Zhao Lijian: The forced recruitment of "comfort women" is a grave crime against humanity committed by the Japanese militarism. It is a historical fact with iron-clad and undeniable evidence. This is Japan's latest attempt to meddle with textbooks and play with words to blur the historical facts, understate and evade its historical responsibility, and deny and whitewash its history of aggression in a step-by-step manner. It once again highlights Japan's long-standing dishonest attitude towards the history of aggression, which has hurt the feelings of the people of the victimized countries. It will be rejected by all peace-loving people. The international community needs to take strict precautions and put things right. Japan should honestly face up to and reflect on its history of aggression, make a clean break with militarism, properly handle the "comfort women" issue in an honest and responsible manner, and take concrete actions to win the trust of its Asian neighbors and the international community. TASS: Russia's foreign ministry on Friday summoned US Ambassador John Sullivan to protest over alleged US interference in Russia's election. Second, will the gap left by the US withdrawal from Afghanistan pose any threat to the security of China's Xinjiang? Zhao Lijian: On your first question, the State Duma elections are a major political agenda in Russia this year. As the elections are drawing near, China, as a comprehensive strategic partner of coordination to Russia, hopes that the elections will be held smoothly. China believes that the State Duma elections are entirely Russia's internal affair and external forces should not interfere. On your second question, terrorism remains a common threat to the international community. China is ready to work with other countries to deepen counter-terrorism cooperation, prevent Afghanistan from becoming a breeding ground or safe haven for terrorist forces and jointly safeguard regional peace and stability. The irresponsible withdrawal by the US and NATO from Afghanistan may allow terrorism to breed and spread, posing a serious challenge to security and stability in Afghanistan and the region. The Afghan Taliban pledged not to allow any forces to use Afghan territory for acts that are detrimental to other countries. The Afghan Taliban should honor its commitment, make a clean break with all extremist and terrorist forces, and take effective measures to constrain and combat them so as to prevent spillover effects of terrorism. China Daily: We noted that the Afghan Taliban decided to cancel the inauguration ceremony of the interim government. Russian presidential press secretary Dmitry Peskov said that Moscow will not take part in the inauguration of Afghanistan's new government in any capacity. Do you have any comment? Zhao Lijian: Whether or not to hold an inauguration ceremony of the interim government is an internal matter of the Afghan side. It is up to each country to decide whether to attend the ceremony or not. China respects both. Shenzhen TV: Mohammad Eslami, Iranian Vice-President and the Head of Atomic Energy Organization of the Islamic Republic of Iran (AEOI) held talks with Rafael Grossi, Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) on September 12 during the latter's visit to Tehran, and issued a joint statement on the issue of monitoring and verification. Director General Rafael Grossi also submitted a report on that. Do you have any comment? Zhao Lijian: China welcomes the consensus reached by Iran and the IAEA through dialogue and cooperation on the safeguards and monitoring of the Iranian nuclear program and hopes that the two sides will carry on the sound momentum of communication and properly resolve the relevant pending issues. We also call on relevant parties to play a constructive role to this end. China always holds that upholding and implementing the JCPOA is the only correct and effective way to resolve the Iranian nuclear crisis. Relevant parties, especially the US, should make resolute political decision at an early date, take concrete steps to advance resumption of and progress in negotiations on compliance of the Iranian nuclear deal. We hope relevant parties will adhere to the right direction and create enabling conditions and atmosphere for diplomatic efforts. Phoenix TV: First, the DPRK announced on September 13 that it test launched long-range cruise missile over the weekend. The United States said the missile tests posed "threats" to the country's neighbours. Do you have any comment? Second, US media reports said the Biden administration is "seriously considering" allowing Taiwan to change the name of the Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office in Washington to "Taiwan Representative Office." What's the foreign ministry's response? Zhao Lijian: On your first question, China remains committed to maintaining peace and stability on the Peninsula and holds that the issue should be settled through dialogue and negotiation. We call on relevant parties to exercise restraint, meet each other half way, actively seek dialogue and engagement, and follow the "dual-track" approach and take phased and synchronized actions to continuously advance the political settlement of the Korean Peninsula issue. On your second question, the Taiwan question is the most important and sensitive issue at the core of China-US relations. The one-China principle is the political foundation of bilateral relations. In the China-US Joint Communique on the Establishment of Diplomatic Relations, the US unequivocally pledged that "the people of the United States will maintain cultural, commercial, and other unofficial relations with the people of Taiwan". In his phone call with President Xi Jinping, President Biden said that the US has no intention to change the one-China policy. China has lodged solemn representation with the US side with regard to the above-mentioned issue reported by the media. The US should abide by the one-China principle and the three China-US joint communiques, honor its commitments with concrete actions, stop all forms of official exchanges or elevating substantive relations with Taiwan, including not renaming the Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office in the US the "Taiwan Representative Office", and stop sending wrong signals to "Taiwan independence" separatist forces. The US side should handle the Taiwan question in a prudent manner, lest it should seriously undermine China-US relations and peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait. Global Times: According to the Associated Press, Deputy Director General of the IAEA Lydie Evrard said on September 9 that the technical working team established by the agency will evaluate the safety of the nuclear wastewater discharge in Fukushima, and that experts from China and the ROK will join the work. Any comment from China? Zhao Lijian: I noticed relevant reports. China supports the IAEA in acting according to its mandate, giving full consideration to the views of stakeholders and playing its due role on the disposal of the nuclear contaminated water. Experts from multiple countries, including China, the ROK and Russia will join the technical working team set up by the IAEA. The team will assist the international community in the review and monitoring before, during and after Japan's disposal of nuclear contaminated water to ensure absolute safety. Japan should cooperate fully with the IAEA by having thorough consultations on all possible means of disposal, and accepting monitoring and verification of data accuracy and the efficiency of the disposal. I want to stress again that Japan should take the concern of the international community seriously, revoke the wrong decision to discharge the nuclear contaminated water into the ocean and stop advancing preparatory work. Japan must not take the liberty of discharging nuclear contaminated water into the sea before reaching consensus with stakeholders and relevant international institutions through consultation. CRI: It is reported that the UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called on the international community the other day to inject cash into Afghanistan to avoid an economic meltdown that would be a "gift for terrorist groups". What kind of help will China offer to ease the economic plight in Afghanistan? Zhao Lijian: At the first Foreign Ministers' Meeting on the Afghan Issue Among the Neighboring Countries of Afghanistan on September 8, State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi announced that China had decided to offer 200 million yuan worth of grains, winter supplies, vaccines, and medicines to Afghanistan according to the needs of the Afghan people. When security conditions are in place, China is willing to help Afghanistan build livelihood projects and do its best to support the country's efforts for peace, reconstruction and economic development. This embodies the friendly policy toward all the Afghan people that China always follows, and the Chinese nation's fine tradition of helping those in need. Afghanistan is still facing the severe challenges in terms of humanitarian situation, livelihood and COVID-19. The international community should provide economic, livelihood and humanitarian assistance to the country and help its people tide over the difficulties. As the culprit of the Afghan issue, the US should earnestly fulfill its commitment to Afghanistan, assume its due responsibility and obligation, take active steps to help Afghanistan ease its economic difficulties on the premise of respecting Afghanistan's sovereignty and independence, rather than shift blames onto others and simply take to its heels. AFP: The President of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) has called for a review of mining contracts previously signed with China in 2008 saying that he wants to get fairer deals. How will this affect Chinese investments in the country? Zhao Lijian: The "infrastructure-for-minerals" package cooperation between China and the DRC is a model of practical cooperation between the two countries. Over the past decade or so, such cooperation has not only vigorously promoted the development of mining industry, increased tax revenue and created more jobs in the DRC, but also offered investment in infrastructure projects such as roads, hospitals and hydropower stations in the DRC, making positive contributions to the economic and social development of the country. Not long ago, the Busanga Hydropower Station under the above-mentioned cooperation framework started water storage and was put into operation. This largest hydropower station in the DRC will provide important power supply for the mining and infrastructure development of the DRC going forward. The Chinese enterprises also actively fulfill their social responsibilities, give back to the local community and improve local people's welfare. Not long ago, they signed with the province of Katanga a $11.5 million aid agreement to support the construction of local roads and power facilities, and improvement of education, medical care and environment, which has been warmly welcomed by the local people. I want to stress that China and the DRC boast long-standing friendship and the bilateral practical cooperation has yielded fruitful win-win results and enjoys broad prospects. In May this year, President Xi Jinping and President Felix Tshisekedi reached broad consensus on deepening cooperation in various fields over the phone. In the next stage, guided by the consensus reached by the leaders of the two countries, the two sides will elevate the China-DRC strategic partnership of win-win cooperation to a new level and bring more benefits to the two peoples. Bloomberg: The Biden administration is said to be weighing a new investigation into Chinese subsidies and their damage on the US economy as a way to pressure China on the issue of trade. My first question is, does the foreign ministry have a comment on these media reports? Secondly, the last time there was an investigation like this, it led to tariffs worth billions of dollars on Chinese exports. What does the foreign ministry think the US should do in terms of the tariffs that are still in place on Chinese goods? Zhao Lijian: The presidents of China and the US spoke over the phone the other day. President Xi Jinping pointed that for some time, due to the U.S. policy on China, the China-U.S. relationship has run into serious difficulty. This serves neither the fundamental interests of the people of the two countries, nor the common interests of countries around the world. President Biden noted that the world is changing fast. The US-China relationship is the most consequential relationship in the world, and the future of the bulk of the world will depend on how the United States and China get on with each other. The two countries have no interest in letting competition veer into conflict. The US is prepared to have more candid exchanges and constructive discussions with China to identify key and priority areas where cooperation is possible, avoid miscommunication, miscalculation and unintended conflict, and get US-China relations back on track. As for your specific question, we hope the relevant departments of the US and China can follow the spirit of the phone call between the two heads of state, properly manage differences, strengthen cooperation and bring the bilateral relations back to the right track of stability and development as soon as possible. I want to emphasize that in developing trade relations and cooperation between China and the US, the spirit of mutual benefit should be followed. We have all seen that the relevant trade policies adopted by the Trump administration only ended up hurting its own interests. Forget about online games that promise you a "whole world" to explore. An international team of researchers has generated an entire virtual UNIVERSE, and made it freely available on the cloud to everyone. Uchuu (meaning "Outer Space" in Japanese) is the largest and most realistic simulation of the Universe to date. The Uchuu simulation consists of 2.1 trillion particles in a computational cube an unprecedented 9.63 billion light-years to a side. For comparison, that's about three-quarters the distance between Earth and the most distant observed galaxies. Uchuu will allow us to study the evolution of the Universe on a level of both size and detail inconceivable until now. Uchuu focuses on the large-scale structure of the Universe: mysterious halos of dark matter which control not only the formation of galaxies, but also the fate of the entire Universe itself. The scale of these structures ranges from the largest galaxy clusters down to the smallest galaxies. Individual stars and planets aren't resolved, so don't expect to find any alien civilizations in Uchuu. But one way that Uchuu wins big in comparison to other virtual worlds is the time domain; Uchuu simulates the evolution of matter over almost the entire 13.8 billion year history of the Universe from the Big Bang to the present. That is over 30 times longer than the time since animal life first crawled out of the seas on Earth. Julia F. Ereza, a Ph.D. student at IAA-CSIC who uses Uchuu to study the large-scale structure of the Universe explains the importance of the time domain, "Uchuu is like a time machine: we can go forward, backward and stop in time, we can 'zoom in' on a single galaxy or 'zoom out' to visualize a whole cluster, we can see what is really happening at every instant and in every place of the Universe from its earliest days to the present, being an essential tool to study the Cosmos." An international team of researchers from Japan, Spain, U.S.A., Argentina, Australia, Chile, France, and Italy created Uchuu using ATERUI II, the world's most powerful supercomputer dedicated to astronomy. Even with all this power, it still took a year to produce Uchuu. Tomoaki Ishiyama, an associate professor at Chiba University who developed the code used to generate Uchuu, explains, "To produce Uchuu we have used ... all 40,200 processors (CPU cores) available exclusively for 48 hours each month. Twenty million supercomputer hours were consumed, and 3 Petabytes of data were generated, the equivalent of 894,784,853 pictures from a 12-megapixel cell phone." Before you start worrying about download time, the research team used high-performance computational techniques to compress information on the formation and evolution of dark matter haloes in the Uchuu simulation into a 100-terabyte catalog. This catalog is now available to everyone on the cloud in an easy to use format thanks to the computational infrastructure skun6 located at the Instituto de Astrofisica de Andalucia (IAA-CSIC), the RedIRIS group, and the Galician Supercomputing Center (CESGA). Future data releases will include catalogues of virtual galaxies and gravitational lensing maps. Big Data science products from Uchuu will help astronomers learn how to interpret Big Data galaxy surveys expected in coming years from facilities like the Subaru Telescope and the ESA Euclid space mission. ### These results appeared as Ishiyama et al. "The Uchuu simulations: Data Release 1 and dark matter halo concentrations" in the September 2021 issue of Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society. Please follow SpaceRef on Twitter and Like us on Facebook. A new set of receivers installed on antennas at the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) have achieved first light. With it, they set a new record for the longest wavelengths visible with the radio array. The achievement has opened a window on the Universe previously inaccessible at the telescope, thanks to an international team of engineers, including engineers from the National Radio Astronomy Observatory (NRAO). Scientists achieved first light with the Band 1 receiver on August 14, 2021 Astronomers conducted successful observations of the edge of the Moon, followed by the first successful interferometry test observations using two Band 1 receivers on August 17, and acquisition of the first radio spectrum on August 27. During the tests, scientists observed and successfully received signals from multiple celestial objects, including Solar System planets Venus and Mars, Orion KL--a cluster of stars within a molecular cloud, VY Canis Majoris--a red hypergiant variable pulsating star, and quasar 3C 279. ALMA observes the Universe over a wide range of radio wavelengths within the millimeter and submillimeter range of the electromagnetic spectrum with the help of specialized receivers. ALMA's 66 antennas were previously equipped with eight different receivers, operating at wavelengths from 3.6mm (ALMA Band 3) to 0.3mm (ALMA Band 10). These new Band 1 receivers are sensitive to radio waves between 6 and 8.5mm in length, expanding the capability of the antennas to "see" more wavelengths of light from distant cosmic sources. "This new band will help scientists to understand better how disks of dust that we see around many young stars grow into planets. It will also give us much more detailed images of hot plasma in galaxy clusters and around quasars, and help us to detect distant, dust-obscured galaxies that are as yet unknown," said Brian Mason, NRAO Staff Scientist. "ALMA's location in the southern hemisphere, combined with its large number of antennas and these new receivers, will enable unprecedented centimeter-wavelength views of celestial objects in our own galaxy and beyond." The wavelength sensitivity of a radio astronomy receiver is only as good as the components it is made from. Two of the most critical components of Band 1, the low noise amplifiers (LNAs) and the local oscillators (LOs), were built at the NRAO's Central Development Laboratory (CDL). "LNAs play a key role in maximizing the sensitivity of receivers on ALMA and any other radio astronomy receivers and LOs allow it to be tuned," said Bert Hawkins, Director of CDL. "Design and production of these two critical subsystems require highly specialized knowledge and skills. That's where CDL comes in." Low noise amplifiers are the active component closest to the antenna in a radio astronomy receiver, and as a result, play a critical role in their operation. "The role of low noise amplifiers is to set the noise performance of the overall receiver, so it is an important piece of the system," said Hawkins. "To do this, it has to add very little noise to the system, have high gain, and have an adequate dynamic range over the wavelengths being observed, and doing this is a specialty of our LNA team at CDL." Local oscillators produce signals that, when combined with amplified signals from space, convert the signals down to lower frequencies. "The best way to understand a local oscillator is that it allows us to take signals from space, which are embedded with scientifically useful information but are at frequencies too high to further process, and convert them down to frequencies where we can filter, digitize, and process to form an image without corrupting the useful scientific information within," said Hawkins. "The art of building a good local oscillator is to create a device that produces a strong, noise-free, tunable signal--yet another specialty of CDL. In fact, we have built all the LOs for ALMA." The development of Band 1 was led by Taiwan's Academic Sinica Institute of Astronomy and Astrophysics (ASIAA), with support of an international team comprised of NRAO, the National Astronomical Observatory of Japan (NAOJ), the Herzberg Institute of Astrophysics in Canada, the National Chung-Shan Institute of Science and Technology (NCSIST) in Taiwan, and the University of Chile. The University of Chile assisted with developing and producing optical elements for the Band 1 receivers, including lenses and horn antennas. Previously, CDL developed ALMA's Band 6 receivers, which are sensitive to radio waves between 1.1 and 1.4mm in length (frequencies between 211 to 275 GHz). Band 6 is one of the most scientifically productive receivers used on ALMA. About ALMA The Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA), an international astronomy facility, is a partnership of the European Organisation for Astronomical Research in the Southern Hemisphere (ESO), the U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) and the National Institutes of Natural Sciences (NINS) of Japan in cooperation with the Republic of Chile. ALMA is funded by ESO on behalf of its Member States, by NSF in cooperation with the National Research Council of Canada (NRC) and the Ministry of Science and Technology (MOST) and by NINS in cooperation with the Academia Sinica (AS) in Taiwan and the Korea Astronomy and Space Science Institute (KASI). ALMA construction and operations are led by ESO on behalf of its Member States; by the National Radio Astronomy Observatory (NRAO), managed by Associated Universities, Inc. (AUI), on behalf of North America; and by the National Astronomical Observatory of Japan (NAOJ) on behalf of East Asia. The Joint ALMA Observatory (JAO) provides the unified leadership and management of the construction, commissioning and operation of ALMA. Please follow SpaceRef on Twitter and Like us on Facebook. Anoud Technologies (Anoud Tech), an IT subsidiary of QIC Group, said that it had been selected by a leading European insurer and by a prominent insurance group in the Caribbean, for their respective IT transformations. As part of these multimillion dollar contracts, Anoud Tech, which collaborates closely with Swiss Re, will digitally transform the clients by implementing its integrated insurance solution, Anoud+. Anoud+ is an end-to-end, integrated solution that provides insurers with an efficient, comprehensive way to manage all aspects of their insurance programs. It requires little or no additional IT investment thanks to the use of advanced, internet-based technology, and offers access to cutting-edge reinsurance tools and risk modelling capabilities. Anoud+ is a modern, open API-based system that enables insurers to accelerate revenue streams by integrating with their distribution and affinity partners and seamlessly launching new products. Swiss Res market leading insurance solutions, Portfolio Insights and CATNET, are fully integrated into Anoud+ and help insurers manage their underwriting strategy and monitor their exposure to natural catastrophes. Salem Al-Mannai, Anoud Tech Chairman and Managing Director, said: We are delighted to partner with highly ambitious, customer-oriented insurers in Europe and the Caribbean on their digital transformation. We look forward to collaborating with these clients and helping each of them to rapidly achieve their business objectives, enhance customer experience, and attain a significant competitive advantage over their peers. KV Kumar, Anoud Tech CEO, remarked: Anoud Techs selection by leading insurers in Europe and the Caribbean is testament to its exceptional capabilities in developing cutting-edge insurance IT offerings. Anoud+ is a future-ready solution that addresses the major challenges that insurers are facing in todays fast-changing marketplace. Anoud+ will enable our clients to transform their business processes while improving new business originations by streamlining and accelerating policy submission. TradeArabia News Service The UAE has unveiled a sweeping programme of reforms and financial incentives to drive new private sector opportunities for both young and experienced Emiratis, with an investment of AED24 billion ($6.5 billion) to create 75,000 new private sector jobs for nationals. The new announcements include grants for students and fresh graduates to take up private sector roles, an AED1 billion graduate business development fund, a government-backed new private sector child allowance and unemployment benefit, as well as career break and early retirement schemes for Federal government employees starting new businesses, reported Emirates News Agency WAM. "A decent life for our citizens, their children and the generations to come remains our greatest priority," said President Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan. "Working with the private sector to enhance career prospects is the way to ensure that those opportunities endure for decades to come." Announcing the new initiatives, Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President, Prime Minister and Ruler of Dubai, said: "As we mark our fiftieth year as a nation, we are evolving from building world-class national infrastructure to creating brilliant sources of value and human capital. Our people are our pride and our future and we are investing to build the ideas and aspirations of our youth to create new futures in our successful business, trade and knowledge economy." The programme will be managed by the newly created Emirati Talent Competitiveness Council, a body chaired by Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Presidential Affairs. The initiatives include the Emirati Salary Support Scheme, a one-year salary support of up to AED8,000 per month paid to Emiratis to incentivise the recruitment and training of graduates in private sector companies. A monthly support of up to AED5,000 will be paid for up to five years. Both sets of salary support schemes are subject to certain terms and are based on a range of defined target salaries. The Merit Programme gives a monthly AED5,000 top-up to Emirati workers in specialised fields, including nurses, accountants and financial auditors, commercial lawyers, financial analysts and coders; the Pension Programme provides a subsidised five-year government-paid contribution on the companys behalf against the cost of pension plans for Emirati staff and full support for the Emiratis contribution across the first five years of their employment. Private sector companies will be able to build the Emirati contribution to their workforce over time. Focused on placing Emiratis in the private sector, the effort will start with a target of 2 percent Emiratis in skilled roles contribution rising in scale to a 10 percent Emirati contribution over the coming five years. Vocational training and development programmes, include the Talent Programme, an AED1.25 billion investment in developing specialised vocational skills for Emiratis, with internationally recognised certifications in property management, accounting and business management and the Apprentice Programme , a train-to-hire initiative to build vocational training for Emiratis in private and semi-private companies with a range of financial awards across a number of business sectors. An AED1 billion Graduate Fund is to be dedicated to giving microloans to final year university students and fresh graduates in order to support them in exploring new business startups. The scheme will be implemented in collaboration with UAE universities. The National Healthcare Programme is an educational grant programme that targets the development of 10,000 Emirati healthcare workers within the coming five years, rolling out a Graduate Healthcare Assistant Programme, a Higher Diploma in Emergency Medicine and a Bachelors Degree in Nursing. The Programme is supported and led by Fatima College of Health Sciences and the Abu Dhabi Centre for Technical and Vocational Education and Training (ACTVET). Alongside the incentive programmes, the Council will also roll out two important new financial support initiatives for Emiratis: the Private Sector Child Allowance Scheme and a new unemployment benefit for Emiratis in the private sector. The Private Sector Child Allowance Scheme, the first childcare allowance in the Emirates, is a monthly grant made to Emirati staff working in the private sector of up to AED800 per child up to a maximum of AED3,200 per month to help with the costs of childcare up to the age of 21. A new scheme will support Unemployment Benefit to be paid to Emiratis working in the private sector who lose their jobs due to circumstances beyond their control, giving them a 6-month period to find another position. Two new programmes are aimed at encouraging Emiratis with established careers in Federal Government to join the private sector. The Startup Break initiative will begin in 2022 and provide a subsidised career break for Emiratis in Federal Government positions to start a business of between 6-12 months, covering 50 percent of the employees salary. In addition, an Early Retirement Scheme will provide an opportunity for Emiratis in Federal Government positions to explore new business opportunities and take early retirement to start a new private sector business while retaining their full pension entitlement. Alternatively, they can elect to receive a lump sum golden handshake payment. Both schemes will be open to a limited number of staff each year with employer approval. The UAE has developed many innovation centres that provide the required services for entrepreneurs and businesses to innovate, grow, and become successful, a report said. With businesses and organizations co-located in physical space for complex supply chains, innovation districts can provide flexibility, enable serendipity, and foster innovation for decades to come, according to the report titled The Future of Innovation Districts by Arthur D Little (ADL), a leading management consultancy firm. The publication explains what property owners, municipalities, policymakers, and potential corporate tenants should look for when creating and choosing a world-class Innovation District, elaborating on essential fundamentals and presenting executives with valuable sustainability insights. How organizations innovate and their location when pursuing new projects have both changed significantly in recent decades due to convergence and disruption, explained Dr Raymond Khoury, Partner and Technology and Innovation Management Practice Lead at Arthur D. Little Middle East. Rather than closed innovation models, more and more companies have begun opting for open approaches involving cross-industry partnerships and engaging ecosystems. This trend has instigated an underlying need for suitable physical locations where innovation can transpire, ultimately leading to the birth of the Innovation District concept. Typically located in urban areas, Innovation Districts are focused on driving inter-firm linkages, collaborations, and networks that are enabled and sustained by a wider ecosystem for innovation. They include a wide range of businesses, from startups to large corporates, and are more physically compact than potentially sprawling innovation clusters. Crucially, the Middle East is home to several Innovation Districts that have delivered successful business outcomes. Prominent examples include Dubai Technology Entrepreneur Campus (DTEC), which has attracted 800 startup companies from more than 70 countries since its establishment in 2015. Managed by Dubai Silicon Oasis Authority (DSOA), DTEC runs no fewer than five different programs and events to encourage entrepreneurship and innovation, working with many local, regional, and global partners to ensure efficiency and effectiveness. Innovation is high on the agenda for leaders in both the public and private sectors and hence, for economies across the Middle East. Therefore, the number of existing centres and projects planned for the coming period is welcoming and understandable, said Ben Thuriaux-Aleman, a Partner in the Technology and Innovation Management Practice of Arthur D. Little United Kingdom who has worked on a number of these initiatives in the Middle East. Those that have already demonstrated success boast robust transport connectivity, proximity and density, flexible accommodation, access to talent and innovation services, and a focus on national priorities. The importance of these common characteristics should always be appreciated before establishing new Innovation Districts, as should numerous successful factors before green-lighting development. The Future of Innovation Districts examines why unique selling points (USPs), high-quality talent pipelines, occupancy curation, supply chain representation, and a long-term vision for value and wealth creation are all imperative to Innovation Districts sustainability, practicality, and success. The creation of effective technology transfer operations and mixed-use, flexible, and reconfigurable buildings is also discussed, before the viewpoint concludes with a call to action section for particular Innovation District ecosystem players. With more executives, university leaders, and local government officials becoming involved in the creation and operational processes, it would be prudent to adopt an articulated focus, promote a world-class proposition, and drive innovation through opportunities creation, added Dr Khoury. Every Innovation District must go above and beyond to surpass traditional business parks and differentiate themselves by accommodating every factor key to success. TradeArabia News Service AD Ports Group has announced that more than 2.2 million sq m of its Industrial Cities & Free Zone Cluster have been leased during the first half of 2021 to local, regional, and international businesses, a clear indication that demand for industrial land continues to accelerate despite the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on businesses. AD Ports Groups Industrial Cities & Free Zone Cluster, composed of Khalifa Industrial Zone Abu Dhabi (Kizad) and ZonesCorp, has a total of 550 sq km of industrial and commercial land. Demand has been growing throughout 2021, particularly from key economic sectors such as metals, food, auto, technology, and chemicals. Additionally, Kizad and ZonesCorp reported significant increases in the Foreign Direct Investment in H1 2021, with demand from multiple adjacent sectors including e-commerce, plastics, logistics, and light manufacturing. Abdullah Al Hameli, Head of the Industrial Cities and Free Zone Cluster at AD Ports Group, said: The rising demand on leasable land in Abu Dhabi for trade, logistics, and industrial activities is a clear indication that the business ecosystem in the emirate continues to strengthen and grow. Thanks to the vision of the wise leadership of the UAE, Abu Dhabi is rapidly evolving to be the optimum destination for manufacturing and investment in the region. Leveraging our strategic location, at the heart of the world and the crossroads between the east and the west, the industrial zones in Abu Dhabi are quickly evolving into global hubs for key sectors where businesses cater to the needs of almost 4.5 billion consumers in immediate geographic regions. The industrial zones in Abu Dhabi are currently home to more than 1,500 businesses including some of the worlds leading global industrial players in a variety of sectors including advanced manufacturing, life sciences and biopharma, food and agri-tech, machinery and equipment, maritime, logistics, chemicals, and plastics. The cluster is embarking on major projects such as The Life Science Park, which has been designed to cater for the growing demand of vital sectors, such as the pharmaceutical, medical equipment, research and development, education, as well as other health-related sectors. AD Ports Group also has recently announced the completion of 1.38 million sq m of commercial and retail areas at Rahayel Automotive and Mobility City, the first integrated hub for the automotive industry in the region to accommodate a full range of auto-related businesses and supporting services. AD Ports Groups Industrial Cities & Free Zone Cluster has been serving as the catalyst and enabler of sustainable projects in the emirate. In Kizad, Helios Industry, a privately-owned special project vehicle company (SPV), is set to invest over AED3.67 billion ($1 billion) in the construction of a new green ammonia facility that will produce 200,000 tonnes of green ammonia from 40,000 tonnes of green hydrogen. At the same time, ZonesCorp is witnessing the development of Block 7, a new 820,000 sq m hub designed to function as a breeding ground for innovation-driven industries with ultra-modern infrastructure, robust services, and a unique setup that links intelligent living space leveraging ZonesCorps existing manufacturing ecosystem and serves as a platform for tech start-ups in Abu Dhabi. - TradeArabia News Service Monstarlab, a Japan-based global technology leader, has entered into an agreement to acquire ecap, a UAE home-grown, executive search and human capital advisory business. Hiroki Inagawa, Monstarlab Group CEO, signed the agreement with ecaps founding partners, Daniel Murphy and Chris Abreu in Dubai. Monstarlab specialises in end-to-end transformation of enterprise and scale-up businesses. The acquisition of ecap combines the value created through technology with the development and building of word class management teams. It will enable Monstarlab to provide talent acquisition, executive search and leadership assessment in all the core markets that the organisation operates in. The acquisition will support job opportunity creation in the UAE and the placement of talent locally and in global markets. Hiroki Inagawa, Monstarlab Group CEO, commented: We are proud to have entered into this agreement to acquire ecap, an organisation that helped us to establish in the UAE back in 2019. The acquisition will help us achieve our joint ambition of driving digital transformation for the organisations we work with. By combining the right talent and world-leading technology, we are able to provide customers with the platform they need for success through digitalisation. Monstarlab will strategically scale ecap by leveraging our combined global networks across our 17 key markets, giving our clients the tools and access to world-class talent from all geographies. We look forward to expanding further in the region and global markets through this acquisition and we are committed to further investment, added Inagawa. Chris Abreu, founding Partner at ecap commented: The acquisition has come early in the journey of ecap. Given the aggressive growth of Monstarlab and the passion from the leadership team to grow the ecap offering across their core markets, we had an immediate alignment in strategy, values and aspirations which made it a very easy decision for ecap. Monstarlab has grown quickly in the volatile market conditions encountered over the course of the last two years with many clients leaning on them for further support on leadership, specialist and managerial talent identification during and post project completions. The acquisition of ecap will enable a more holistic offering, providing ecap clients with a seamless offering. Monstarlab has grown to understand the challenges within the executive search and talent acquisition industry and is well placed to support ecap on the development of world class technology solutions to provide our clients with unrivalled delivery and access to the best possible talent community globally. We are proud of the team at ecap and the growth we have experienced over the course of the last two years, for this we thank our clients and we will reward that loyalty by continuing to invest in our talent identification and assessment processes that enable us to find the very best leaders, specialists and executives, added Abreu. Through its focus on attracting the worlds best strategists, engineers, and designers, Monstarlab will drive economic diversification and job opportunities through the delivery of transformation initiatives requiring custom development and advanced technologies. Monstarlab will bring significant benefits for businesses, communities, people, and talent within a number of sectors including government, banking and financial services and tourism. Monstarlab has already delivered successful projects for a number of customers in the region including Careem, for which Monstarlab built and launched the Careem Now platform pre-acquisition from Uber. The Japanese technology leader has also worked with ADQ, Emirates NBD and Dubai Future Foundation. TradeArabia News Service Jaeger-LeCoultre, a luxury Swiss fine watchmaking brand, has set another milestone in its dedication to the Middle East region with the unveiling of its partnership with Saudi Arabias AlMalki Group. Building on the brand's retail vision, Jaeger-LeCoultre has launched its new boutique at Mode Al Faisaliah Mall, Riyadh. Saudi Arabia has always been an important market for Jaeger-LeCoultre, both regionally and as part of our global retail presence. We look forward, along with the AlMalki Group, to bring to life the heritage, savoir-faire and fine watchmaking expertise of our Grande Maison in Saudi Arabia and welcoming our clients in our new boutique at Mode Al Faisaliah Mall, said Nader Iskander, Brand Director Middle East, India & Africa at Jaeger-LeCoultre. We are eager and excited to start this new partnership. I am confident of the success of the Maison in Saudi Arabia and we are looking forward to welcoming customers to the boutique, said Faysal AlMalki, Chief Executive Officer - AlMalki Group. The boutique reflects an art deco style which has also been the inspiration for some of the most known collections by the Maison, the interiors mirror the calm and exquisite atmosphere from the forests and lakes of Vallee de Joux, home to Jaeger LeCoultre and an immediate association with fine watchmaking. The intimate setting of the boutique instantly connects the clients with the feeling of exclusivity and privacy. To mark the special partnership, the Reverso Tribute Nonantieme and Reverso Tribute Small Seconds, revealed during Watches & Wonders 2021, will be displayed at the boutique. In addition to welcoming the clients with the latest collections, Jaeger-LeCoultre continues to provide the best-in-class services with the Care programme, offering a dedicated digital platform, highly personalised with value-added information and services as well as an up to eight-year International limited warranty across all clocks and watches. TradeArabia News Service His Majesty King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa of Bahrain has issued Decree-Law 21/2021, amending some provisions of Law 19/2006 with regard to the regulation of the Labour Market. Under the decree-law, clause (1) of Paragraph (A) of Article (4) of Law 19/2006, shall be replaced by the following text: 1- Implement the national plan regarding the labour market, which includes the strategy and general policy concerning the employment of national and foreign workers. "The ministry in charge of labour affairs in the private sector shall, in coordination with the authority and after the approval of the Council of Ministers, develop that plan, taking into account the state's policies regarding the labour market, as well as its economic and social development plans. "The ministry shall prepare such a plan, every four years, or for a shorter period, if necessary. The plan shall be published in the Official Gazette. "This plan may include setting a maximum limit for the total number of work permits issued by the authority during a specific period of time, whether in all work sectors or according to each profession or economic activity. Clause (1) of Paragraph (A) of Article (7) and Clause (8) of Paragraph (A) of Article (12) of Law 19/2006 regarding shall be repealed. The Prime Minister, and ministers, each in their respective capacity, shall implement the provisions of this decree-law, which takes effect upon its publication in the Official Gazette. Support Legal, a leading boutique new law firm in the GCC, has become the first firm of its kind to be granted a Dubai legal consultancy licence by Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC). The breakthrough decision underscores DIFCs commitment to supporting innovation as part of its contribution to Dubais digital agenda, with authorities applauding Support Legals role in spearheading radical change in the legal sector. The made-in-the-UAE firms people centric approach to delivering legal services and technology has already unlocked significant potential for entrepreneurs and companies across the UAE, GCC and wider Mena region. Established in 2017, Support Legal has rapidly evolved into the markets leading New Law firm, generating revenues in excess of AED40 million ($10.8 million) and supporting more than 1,000 clients. Last year the firm expanded into the US, as digital transformation and the evolution of regulation shifts client expectations of how law firms should work and deliver value. Support Legal has established its headquarters in DIFC. The strategic move places it in the heart of DIFC and the new Dubai Future District, where Support Legal aims to become the legal partner of choice for future-oriented companies. The move once again reflects DIFCs attractiveness as a global business hub, both in terms of the opportunities associated with operating in DIFC as well as the Centres continued focus on delivering the future of finance. DIFC is home to the largest FinTech and innovation ecosystem in the region thanks to its comprehensive approach to innovation via a range of strategic initiatives, regulatory measures and enabling support infrastructure. Salmaan Jaffery, Chief Business Development Officer at DIFC Authority, said: As part of DIFCs vision to drive the future of finance, the Centre continues to promote the innovation needed to create highly proactive jobs to drive the next wave of Dubais growth. Licensing Support Legal will strengthen our rapidly growing innovation ecosystem allowing firms to access expert legal advice in a way that increases their confidence in the market. Technology is changing the way business is conducted and delivered. The legal profession is no exception, but it has been slow to adapt. As a New Law firm, our business model means we work with our clients as strategic partners and enablers, providing services that cut across every aspect of their businesses. We are a firm built on innovation, a growth mindset and new ways of working where the needs of our clients are kept front and centre, said Ciara Henry, Head of Legal Operations at Support Legal. Support Legals unique and flexible model places client needs at the heart of its business. A virtual workforce of top-tier senior lawyers from the worlds leading law firms, blue chip corporates, international banks and investment houses, keeps overheads low and lets it deliver value to clients where it counts. Support Legal hires entrepreneurial talent, which allows it to act as a business partner and enabler, not a costly service provider as is often the perception of traditional law firms. While the Covid-19 pandemic has forced traditional law firms to pivot their business operations to adapt restrictions, Support Legal was able to record its strongest revenues to date, a testament to the agility and robustness of its New Law model. Lee McMahon, Co-Founder and Principal of Support Legal, said: 2020 saw us expand our footprint in the legal market with new hires, new clients and new product lines. What this tells us is that we are unique and servicing unfulfilled demand in the legal market. It also strongly demonstrates that our New Law business model is fit for purpose. As early adopters of legal tech, we are well placed to forge strong support partnerships with local and regional law firms to share our best practice transformational models to support them in their expansion and growth strategies for the future. In transforming the way legal services are delivered, Support Legal has become the go-to legal partner for fast-growth companies in the region and internationally. It has created centres of excellence in specialist areas of law such as venture capital, FinTech, e-commerce and technology, M&A, hospitality and leisure, intellectual property and data protection. It has grown a client base that is deep and broad, working with blue-chip corporates, pre-eminent regional VC firms, family offices and investors, and renowned start-up and early stage companies across a spectrum of industries and sectors. Passionate about giving back to businesses of the future, Support Legal continues to support government strategic initiatives, such as Dubai Future Accelerators, on a pro-bono basis. It has also committed to building strategic partnerships with essential pro-bono support services to the legal sector including providing internship, training and development programmes to new entrants in the legal market. Support Legals services are ideal for the 400 plus FinTech and innovation firms located in DIFC. They include over 60% of all FinTech firms in the GCC. Using DIFCs enabling platform, they are contributing to both Dubai and the Centres reputation as a global hub for technology and innovation. TradeArabia News Service Sabic, a global leader in diversified chemicals, in collaboration with Indias leading oil marketing company, Indian Oil Corporation Limited (IOCL) will provide Technical Grade Urea (TGU) to manufacture AUS-32 (Aqueous Urea Solution) used in diesel vehicular systems to reduce NO2 emission by over 70% to meet the norms of Bharat Stage VI vehicles. The collaboration supports the Indian automobile industry in reducing greenhouse gas emissions to meet the Bharat Stage VI (BS-VI) standards, which regulates vehicular emissions in India. Superior quality and high purity of TGU made by Sabic can help oil marketing companies deliver fine quality solutions to their customers without compromising on the diesel exhaust fluid quality. Janardhanan Ramanujalu, Vice President & Regional Head, Sabic South Asia & ANZ, said: Bharat Stage emission norms moved from BS IV to BS VI which threw up many challenges for the automotive industry. Our high quality solution fits perfectly in meeting the emission norms in collaboration with the oil industry. We take pride in collaborating with IOCL and considering it a major step towards keeping India at par with the rest of the world regarding vehicular emissions. Sanjay Singh, Head, Agri Nutrients India Business, Sabic, said: As part of our commitment towards sustainability, Sabic has invested in Saudi Arabia-based facilities to produce high-quality TGU meeting the global benchmark for reducing vehicular emissions. The arrangement with IOCL will support a sustainable transition to and compliance with BS-VI standards for all diesel vehicles, reducing air pollution and helping meet the larger climate goals. Sabic also supplies TGU to other leading manufacturers of AUS-32 in India to support the Indian automobile industry in meeting BS-VI standards. As per the BS-VI standards, all heavy diesel vehicles with 2000 cc engine capacity or more will require a Selective Catalytic Reduction (SCR) converter to use AUS-32 solutions by reducing nitrogen oxide emission by more than 70%. Sabics collaboration, especially with IOCL, will make the AUS-32 solutions readily available in the market and can be refilled by heavy diesel vehicles on the go and is a viable process. TradeArabia News Service Rove Hotels, the UAEs unconventional lifestyle hospitality brand, has opened Rove City Walk, crossing 3,000 operational rooms in the Emirate of Dubai. The hotel is the brands latest property and offers guests the chance to experience City Walks urban lifestyle by being at the heart of it opposite the Coca-Cola Arena Dubai. It is the ideal spot for those attending or organising events, shopping at high-end retail stores, experiencing some of the hottest dining outlets, cinema, and family-friendly attractions, among others. Paul Bridger of Rove Hotels said: We believe in offering Rovers the modern global nomads, a fun, fuss-free and affordable accommodation while they explore without borders. With convenience and great service as the key to everything the brand has to offer, we are always looking for well-connected locations to add to our collection of ever-growing hotels. "The latest addition brings Roves much-loved concept and accessible hospitality to one of Dubais most premium locations, and gives visitors an unbeatable jump-off point to start their Dubai adventure from. The hotels instagrammable interiors include musical instruments, a collection of vinyls and references to regional and international artists, both past and present, at every corner. It features 566 rooms as well as interconnecting family rooms to accommodate larger groups. Rove City Walk is within walking distance from Dubai Metro, and five minutes drive from Dubai Downtown, 10 minutes from La Mer Beach, and 15 minutes from the Dubai International Airport. It offers a variety of great food and beverage options as well as an outdoor pool. With the Rove City Walk and the opening of Rove Expo 2020, the only on-site hotel at Expo 2020 Dubai, on October 1, Rove Hotels will end the year with nine central locations across the Emirate.-TradeArabia News Service Help India! On the twentieth anniversary of the September 11 attacks, the Taliban is back in power and the United States has to negotiate and trust the same people with whom she was at war. The United States is licking its wounds of defeat at the hands of rag clad, barefooted Taliban. This September 11, 2021, we know what has been lost. Humanity! Mushtaque Rahamat | TwoCircles.net Support TwoCircles This year marks the twentieth anniversary of the most horrific terror incident of the contemporary world. Twenty years ago on September 11, terrorists rammed an airplane full of innocent men, women and children into the Twin Towers in the United States killing all passengers and people working in the tower. Soon afterwards, the United States along with its NATO allies launched an aerial attack on Afghanistan driving out the Taliban an ultra-conservative Islamists who had come to power after marshaling over other fighting groups and warlords except for Northern Alliance. In this way, Americas nation-building and the war on terror started. The ensuing war on terror and nation-building saw two long and seemingly unjust wars. The one in Afghanistan, a medieval country by most standards and Iraq, relatively safer and peaceful though under the ironclad rule of a dictator. Osama bin Laden and his band of zealots had long held the US responsible for the all ills afflicting Muslim countries especially Middle Eastern countries because of its almost unconditional support to kingdoms and dictatorship. Predicaments of Palestinians at the hands of Israel, which Al Qaeda regarded as an illegal state established solely because of unquestionable support of the US, was another issue very dear to Osama and his bloodthirsty terrorists. He and his organization Al- Qaeda used religion to upend the global orders and establish a new geopolitical set-up for the Muslim Ummah united by a border-less singular vision of Islam. He and his co-conspirators envisaged the truncated role of the US in the lands of Muslims especially the Middle East and would have liked the US to stop its support to kingdoms and dictators gradually by tormenting American interests. The slew of bombings, before September 2001, of U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania in 1998, and in 2000, ramming of a small boat filled with explosives into the USS Cole as it was refueling in the port of Aden, Yemen, were all targeted with the same objectives in mind. Soon after driving the Taliban out of Afghanistan, the United States trained its guns at Iraq which had played no role in September 11 attacks. Saddam Hussain, a dictator had kept the radicalised Muslims under check and didnt allow any room for an organization like Al Qaeda to prosper. This ill-fated war on Iraq opened a new can of worms for the world to manage. A relatively peaceful country turned into a killing field for sectarian conflicts, fed into regional instability, and gave birth to ISIS and largely radicalized the disillusioned population of Iraq. Human, economic and social cost According to the Watson Institute of International and Public Affairs (Brown University), the war on terror since 2001 has resulted in more than 801,000 deaths directly. This does not take into account the deaths that occurred later due to the complications directly or indirectly, in Afghanistan, Iraq, Pakistan, Syria and Yemen. The US, its allies and contractors took almost 8000 body bags home. According to the same report, millions of people living in the war zones have also been displaced by war. The U.S. post-9/11 wars have forcibly displaced at least 38 million people in and from Afghanistan, Iraq, Pakistan, Yemen, Somalia, the Philippines, Libya, and Syria. This number exceeds the total displaced by every war since 1900, except World War II. Wars are costly economic decisions and exact steep prices on the countries going for war and in the process wars annihilate the economies of the countries on whom it is imposed. According to Watson Institute, through the Fiscal Year 2022, the United States federal government has spent and obligated 8 trillion dollars on the post-9/11 wars in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iraq, and elsewhere. This does not take into account the opportunity cost of this capital had these been deployed somewhere else. Since this spending has mostly been financed through borrowing its interest payment will also run into billions for many years to come. The Prime Minister of Pakistan Imran Khan counted 80,000 dead and $150 billion loss to Pakistans economy due to the spillover effect of the war in Afghanistan. Post 9/11 saw the encroachment of basic human rights across the world. Countries enacted laws to curb social rights, freedom, and increased surveillance and thereby throwing privacy out of the window. The United States operated black sites; an illegal place to keep arrested individuals suspected of terrorism charges. These included Abu Gharib prison, Bagram Air Base and Guantanamo Bay. The liberal democracies that propagated personal liberty, freedom and justice detained individuals, in most cases illegally and kept them indefinitely without trial. Loss of ideals Immediately after the assault on Afghanistan, Al-Qaeda was incapacitated and never were able to muster support and acquire the capability to inflict damage to the US and its allies, although its progeny ISIS did cause some significant loss of human lives in some western countries notably in France. Al Qaeda, as a result of the US and its allies war on terror, lost the moral grounds which it used to enjoy earlier in the Middle Eastern countries especially. Its raison detre of using violence to achieve its political objectives evaporated. The cause of Palestinians and Kashmiris, which Bin Laden espoused, was forever reduced to terrorism instead of armed struggle for self-determination. The world public opinion sharply turned against all armed struggles leaving some of the genuine struggles without moral support. This was the real loss to organisations like Al Qaeda as they no longer could garner public support. The whole concept of boundary-less Ummah evaporated and left them vulnerable to redefine their fights, methods of struggle and keep themselves away from the tag of terrorism. As Michelle Goldberg said in her opinion piece (New York Times, 9 September 2021), The danger jihadist terrorism posed to our country, while serious, was never truly existential; Al Qaeda fell apart shortly after its greatest triumph. Yet the damage Sept. 11 did to the United States was more profound than even many pessimists anticipated. The attacks, and our response to them, catalyzed a period of decline that helped turn the United States into the debased, half-crazed fading power we are today. America launched a bad-faith global crusade to instil democracy in the Muslim world and ended up with our own democracy in tatters. The American dream of nation-building lies in tatters today in contrast with hubris, triumphalism, and super expanded ego of September 2001. She further captures the reality as but this epoch of aggressive jingoism, ethnic profiling, escalating paranoia, torture, secret prisons, broken soldiers, dead civilians and dashed imperial dreams have left freedom in retreat both globally and here at home. With $8 trillion spent, around 8000 US and Allied forces and more than 801,000 people dead, the sheer loss is too big to miss. Al Qaeda had pulled off unprecedented hitherto unheard mass murder on the soil of the US. The traumatized US egged by politicians, intellectuals, and the general public launched an unprecedented war on an enemy, which was not of its stature, without realising the long-lasting impact it is going to have. Bin Laden is dead for almost a decade now. But Al Qaeda is thriving, in 2001, there were a few hundred Al Qaeda members. Today the number is in thousands and spread over in more countries than it existed before. On the twentieth anniversary of the September 11 attacks, the Taliban is back in power and the United States has to negotiate and trust the same people with whom she was at war. The United States is licking its wounds of defeat at the hands of rag clad, barefooted Taliban. This September 11, 2021, we know what has been lost. Humanity! Mushtaque Rahamat has a post-graduation in History (1991-1993) from Aligarh Muslim University, India. He is currently based in Australia. He tweets at @MushtaueR Thank you for reading! Please purchase a subscription to read our premium content. If you have a subscription, please log in or sign up for an account on our website to continue. by Nirmala Carvalho Hindu extremists disrupt another Christian prayer meeting. Christian clergymen are arrested in Azamgarh district. For Sajan K. George (Global Council of Indian Christians), anti-Christian attacks continue to grow and are reaching alarming proportions with the divisive anti-conversion laws used as a pretext. Mumbai (AsiaNews) Anti-Christian attacks in India "continue to grow and are reaching alarming proportions, said Sajan K George, president of the Global Council of Indian Christians (GCIC), speaking to AsiaNews about the rising anti-Christian violence and the arrests of Evangelical pastors. The latest incident took place last Friday when a group of Hindu extremists from the Hindu Jagaran Vedike (HJV) stormed the Pragathi Centre, a private Christian prayer house, in Udupi district (Karnataka) while a prayer meeting was in progress. The Hindu extremists accused Benedict, one of the organisers, of carrying out conversion activities. They ransacked the facility and threatened those present. Eventually, police moved in and drove away the HJV militants. The latter however filed a fraudulent conversion complaint at the Karkala police station. Meeting organisers explained that the event involved different local communities. Prior to this incident, two pastors were arrested in Uttar Pradesh. Rev Raju Majhi was caught up by the states anti-conversion law on 7 September in Azamgarh. In his case too, a mob of fanatics broke up a prayer meeting and dragged the head of the local Evangelical church to the police station in Jianpur. The next day Rev Rajesh Kumar, who went to see Rev Majhi to bring him food, was also arrested. Christian worship is disrupted, innocent pastors are beaten by right-wing goons, and then arrested, explained GCI president George. Regrettably, this is becoming the norm in Indian states governed by the Hindu nationalist party, the BJP. Indias small Christian community is only exercising its rights guaranteed by the Indian Constitution, without violating any law, George added. The charges of forced conversions are fabricated only to create communal frenzy. Not even women and children are spared this violence. Are Christians in secular India second-class citizens? by Davide Cavalleri The increase in infections has pushed authorities to reinstate a hard lockdown. Schools forced to restart with online teaching, but families cannot afford computers and connections. Father Caelli (PIME): "In Manila children are left on tehir own and many private schools are closing". Manila (AsiaNews) - On paper, the return to class was scheduled for this morning. Instead, for Filipino children and teenagers it will still be distance learning, again for some time. The school year beginning today in the South-East Asian country promises to be another complicated one, full of difficulties that will inevitably be amplified in the enormous metropolitan city of Manila where, since August 6, the increase in contagions due to the Delta variant has pushed the authorities to declare a reinforced red zone with enormous restrictions for all commercial activities. "At the national level, only 15% of the population has received the double dose of vaccine, while here in Manila, full immunization reaches the threshold of 30%, but we are talking about a metropolitan area that has more than 12 million inhabitants," says Father Simone Caelli, a PIME missionary for several years in the Philippines and now pastor of the church Mary Queen of Apostles in Paranaque City, on the outskirts of Manila. "The city Hospitals are collapsing: they no longer have beds because of the increase in contagions that are exceeding 15 thousand new cases a day." In this context, schools are being forced to restart with the utmost caution and in compliance with anti-Covid prevention measures. "Private institutes have already restarted with online teaching - continues Fr. Simone - while public schools are restarting today". It goes without saying that, given the situation of severe poverty in which the population is forced to live, only a limited number of students will be able to follow the lessons online; the others will continue with the "modules" experimented during the last school year, that is, texts and assignments prepared by teachers which students study at home in total autonomy and without any supervision. "Few families can afford to buy a computer and pay for an internet connection so that their children can follow the lessons online - admits the missionary - I can't quantify the number of children who will continue with the modules, but I can give this example: near our parish there is one of the largest public schools in the Philippines, we are talking about 11,000 students and about 50 classes per course. Talking with some teachers, I was told that only about fifteen classes (out of over 250) will benefit from the online courses, the others will be "abandoned" to the modules". Naturally, this will lead to a considerable increase in early drop outs from school, which has already forced many institutes - especially private ones - to close. "The school run by the nuns near my parish has suffered a significant drop in the number of pupils and I have news of some institutes run by religious who have had to close for lack of enrollment. The logical consequence of this situation is a further lowering of the level of education and of the quality of the educational system" he adds. Fr. Simone points out: "Inevitably, when in a "normal" situation, teachers found themselves with classes of 50-60 students, imagine now, where the same number of students do not have the opportunity to attend classes and are forced to study at home. The pandemic has dealt a huge blow to the Philippine economy, exponentially increasing the number of poor and destitute, as Fr. Caelli confirms: "Many of our parishioners lost their jobs during the lockdown and today they have nothing to live on. Although the government has provided financial aid to families in need, the number of people living below the poverty line is rising. Teachers themselves, for example, are struggling to make ends meet on a single paycheck." by Vladimir Rozanskij Moscow sets condition of an end to the political and social crisis that has hit Minsk over the past year. The aim is a common gas market and fiscal harmonization. Belarusians will fall further into debt with the Kremlin. Migration crisis: Russian leader distances himself from Lukasenko. Moscow (AsiaNews) - Belarusian President Aleksandr Lukasenko and his "big brother" Vladimir Putin are ready to launch the long-awaited union between Russia and Belarus. The scheme is imposed by the Kremlin on the Belarusian leader to try to put an end to the political and social crisis that has hit Minsk over the past year. In the summer of 2020, street protests broke out in Belarus against Lukashenko's "rigged" re-election. A buffer country between Russia and Western Europe, close to the Baltic States, Belarus has turned into one of the most odious "rogue states", led by an elderly dictator who has ferociously persecuted all his opponents. In recent days there has also been the sentencing to 11 years in prison of one of the most beloved figures of the Belarusian public square: the flutist Maria Kolesnikova, who preferred detention to exile. After the September 9 meeting between Putin and Lukashenko, the signing of the agreement on "29 union programs" was announced. As the Belarusian batka (father-master) stated, "we started this process three years ago, when everyone was criticizing us. I think we will close everything on November 4, during the National Unity Day in Moscow." Lukasenko believes that this will be a real leap forward for his country. Previous negotiations in 2019, before the pandemic and the protests, had ended in nothing. They spoke then of "union," of clear Soviet evocation, while today's official terms are those of "deepening integration." Lukasenko then backed out at the last moment, as he had often done in previous years, preventing the proclamation of the union already scheduled for December of that year. The agreements will affect two crucial topics: the formation of a single gas and fuel market, and the harmonization of tax legislation. Belarus has always purchased Russian oil and fuels at a low price, without export taxes, importing about 23 million tons of fuels each year. Of these, only 6 million were intended for domestic needs, while all the rest was destined for the international market. Since 2019, the situation has changed, with the Russian government's "oil maneuver" to favor domestic producers, which cancels the privileges for Belarus. Minsk lost 10-11 billion dollars in revenue in this way, then ended up in the abyss of the pandemic and Western sanctions. What is now awaited above all is the approval of a single tax system with Russia, to facilitate the purchase of oil and gas, adopting the same tariffs as the western Russian regions of Smolensk and Pskov. Putin did not fully meet Belarusian expectations, setting the price of gas for 2021 at 8,500 per 1,000 cubic meters, twice as much as the Smolensk region (to European users the price is set at 0,000). In the negotiations both sides tried to come to an agreement, which will be decisive for the signing of the "29 points of integration", of which in fact the energy one is the only one that really matters. At the end of 2022, as Putin explained, Minsk's debt to Moscow will amount to 630 million dollars. Lukasenko explained that "we will repay the debt by investing the money well, for example in nuclear power plants". Negotiations will however lead to major changes, one of which could be the exit from the scene of Lukasenko himself, but without arriving at the full union of the two states, which would not be supported by Russian and Belarusian public opinion. Putin then dumped all responsibility for the migration crisis on his "younger brother", which leads many Afghan, Iraqi and other refugees to pour from Belarus into neighboring European countries. As the Russian leader commented: "Everyone wants to talk to the Taliban, so go and talk to them. For the Polish and Lithuanian borders they have to talk to Lukasenko, it is not our problem". Not exactly a great example of fraternal solidarity between big Russians and white Russians. With each positive test logged into the states electronic records system by state, private, hospital and other labs, the goal is to call within a day or so. Pearlowitz said she believes the state and local tracers are capturing most reported cases. She did say, however, that its unknown how many people now take over-the-counter home tests and do not report the positive results to their doctor or health department, as the packages direct them to. I have so many people that come to all the markets and theyll say, Oh, good youre here. We came last year and got your beach plum jelly, and it was so delicious. We were hoping you were here, youre the whole reason we came, she said, a smile spreading across her face. In 2016, according to the documents, the surgical technologist was pregnant and suffering from severe back pain. Benalcazar offered to examine her and took her to an empty room. He told her to lift her scrub shirt up so he could feel her back better, which she did, and then he told her to pull her pants down. When she did, he commented on her looks and felt her rear, the documents state. She pulled her pants up; he starting giggling; and she left the room. Around 4:34 p.m., police said, they responded to a Shot Spotter alert in the 2500 block of Ashton St. near the Westside Shopping Center. A short time later, police said officers went to an area hospital to investigate a 19-year-old man with a gunshot wound to his shoulder. The National Priorities Project at the Institute for Policy Studies calculated that the federal government has spent $21 trillion on war and militarization both inside the U.S. and around the world over the past 20 years. The tax dollars misspent on the forever wars should have been used to mitigate climate chaos, stave off the pandemic and rebuild our infrastructure. City officials have been debating how to spend the money, promised by the federal government as part of a coronavirus pandemic relief program passed by Congress in March. Earlier this year, Scott hired several new staff members to begin assessing and scoring internal applications for the funding made by city agencies, and officials are nearing announcements about the first round of awards, Scott said during a virtual address. Campus News Hip-hop pioneer Grandmaster Flash in residence at UB Hip-hop pioneer Grandmaster Flash will be in residence at UB this fall, directing the next Working Artist Lab presented by UB's Arts Collaboratory. By BERT GAMBINI The residency at UB gives me a chance to tell hip-hops whole story. The sights. The sounds. The places and the moments. Grandmaster Flash, one of the virtuoso creators of hip-hop and leader of Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five, the genres first act to be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, will be in residence at UB this fall. He will direct the next Working Artists Lab as part of a full semester of hip-hop inspired programming presented by the universitys Arts Collaboratory. The residency at UB gives me a chance to tell hip-hops whole story. The sights. The sounds. The places and the moments, says Grandmaster Flash. Its important that we get this history right. For the next generation to take music and art in new directions, they have to know where that music and art came from, who made it and how. Grandmaster Flash in the 1970s emerged as one of hip-hops trendsetting innovators. He created an entirely new way of making music, as a DJ backspinning records, cutting and scratching. That new musical vocabulary propelled hip-hop as an art form that became part of a sweeping cultural phenomenon whose growth and influence is as great as any musical development to come out of the 20th century. The fall 2021 lab will be the first time Flash has worked directly with university students in a revolutionary career punctuated by multiple awards, including a Grammy, a Lifetime Achievement recognition from the Urban Music Awards, a BET Hip Hop Award and Swedens Polar Prize, which the BBC has called the Nobel Prize of Music. The UB Arts Collaboratory Working Artists Lab with Grandmaster Flash is presented in partnership with the UB departments of Theatre and Dance and Art, IACE International Artistic & Cultural Exchange Program, the departments of Theatre and Africana Studies at SUNY Buffalo State, and FITZ Books. This is a momentous occasion for UB, says Bronwyn Keenan, director of UBs Arts Collaboratory, an innovative strategic initiative in the College of Arts and Sciences that fosters collaboration and experimentation across the university and the surrounding Western New York community. Over the course of several weeks, students from UB and Buffalo State College, along with Buffalo-area artists, will have an opportunity to engage with one of the most important artists and innovators of our time and he is making an ongoing commitment to UB. This is not one and done. Like other Working Artists Lab participants, Keenan says Grandmaster Flash plans to return annually and continue working with students, engaging with the community, cultivating relationships and watching the growth of the innovative work that hes starting at UB. If you look at the potential for this lab and who might participate in the future, you would have a long list of participants, says Keenan. Grandmaster Flash will join students via video conferencing in advance of his three-day in-person residency, which begins Sept. 30 with him hosting a private incubator session with scholars and local hip-hop luminaries. A master class from Flash on Oct. 1 will follow, as will a session on Oct. 2 where students will share their work with him. A complete and more detailed schedule is available online. Flash will also show his film Hip-Hop: People, Places & Things, a personally curated firsthand history of the genres inspirations, origins and innovations, to students on Sept. 30. This film is essential viewing for those who want to understand and grasp the origins of hip-hop, says Kennan, who met Flash several years ago at an event she organized while working at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Its a celebration of growth that takes us back to the musics beginnings exploring the four elements that came together in the 70s: MCs, DJs, graffiti and dance. Grandmaster Flash produced the film as a creative enterprise and history lesson that marries personal photos and archival footage. In studio with his DJ kit, a back projection and soundtrack, Flash lays out the history of a movement that he helped write, telling stories from the flight deck of the art and ideas to emerge from the neighborhoods and innovators that began a global revolution. He shared the film with me and my reaction was immediate: This is something that should be made available to higher education students, says Keenan. If you want to get the origin story right, the academy is the place to go. After some thought, Flash agreed, and work began on mapping out his UB residency. I hope to inspire students to get out there. I want them to make it happen. Do something different, says Flash. I didnt handle vinyl by the edges. I put my fingertips on the records surface. That was different and a lot of people didnt like the way I was treating the records. I may not have been the first DJ, but I was the first DJ that showed how a turntable could be an instrument. Now I have a chance to work with students and encourage them to do the same, he says. Its important to me. Kazakhstan is undergoing several contradictory processes that superficially seem disconnected. Relations between Astana and Moscow have worsened visibly, despite the fact that both countries are members of the Eurasian Economic Union (EEU). Influential Russian Duma deputy Viacheslav Nikonov has insisted that Kazakhstan is actually an artificial state created by the Soviet regime. According to Nikonov, the northern part of the country, with a large number of ethnic Russians and/or Russian-speakers, is actually part of Siberia and was an unlawfully given to Kazakhstan. Kazakh authorities rejected these statements and arrested Ermek Taichibekov, an ethnic Kazakh intellectual who has advocated close ties with Russia. Simultaneously, while increasingly hostile to Russia, members of the Kazakh political elite have sought to forge a reconciliatory message, wrapped in historical allusions, to Kazakhstans Russians in support of their peaceful assimilation. BACKGROUND: History is continually present in Kazakhstans political context. In the beginning of the post-Soviet era, Kazakhstans uncertainty regarding its ability to survive as an independent nation motivated a drive to forge strong ties with Russia and Eurasianism emerged as an appropriate ideological foundation for this effort. Proponents of Eurasianism saw the Russian empire, or the USSR, as the legitimate successor to the Mongol empire and its legacy of positive symbiosis between Slavic and Turkic peoples. Yet, while Turkic peoples have an important place in Eurasianist thinking, it remains a largely Russocentric ideology. As time progressed, Kazakhstans political elite increasingly prioritized sovereignty and independence from Russia. While the country continued to maintain an externally friendly relationship with Russia, and even became a member of the Russia-led Eurasian Union, the political undercurrent moved in the opposite direction. Kazakhstan actively collaborated with the West, sent their brightest youth to Western universities, and planned a switch from the Cyrillic to the Latin alphabet. Kazakhstans desire to distance itself from Russia was also fueled by the actions of Russian politicians or quasi-politicians such as the late Eduard Limonov and Alexander Potkin (Belov). While these individuals can be regarded as marginal actors, the Kazakh elite consider their actions, aimed at detaching Northern Kazakhstan with its large presence of ethnic Russians from the country, to enjoy the Kremlins ear, as well as the support of a visible segment of the general Russian population, who regard Kazakhstan as an artificial state. At the same time, Kazakhstans elite has continually emphasized the importance of interethnic peace and promoted a peaceful and gradual assimilation of the countrys ethnic Russians. The old Eurasianism is considered insufficient for this purpose, and new historical paradigms have emerged. In particular, these draw on the history of the Bronze and early Iron Age, in pursuit of two goals. First, to demonstrate the deep historical roots of Kazakhs and their statehood and second, to demonstrate to ethnic Russians that they are not an ethnically alien body in Kazakhstan. IMPLICATIONS: The history of the Bronze and early Iron Age has become an important subject in the countrys intellectual discourse. Kazakhstans President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev published an article in the newspaper Egemen Qazaqstan, dedicated to the 30-year anniversary of Kazakhstans independence. He stated that our people lived in the territory of Kazakhstan as early as the time of Sakka, or the early Iron Age. The presidents pronouncement was elaborated further by several Kazakh publicists, some of whom openly proclaimed that Kazakhs trace their heritage to Indo-European Aryans as well as to the Mongol empire, which they consider to be a mostly Turkic state. The argument that Turks emerged a thousand years ago and physically appeared to be Indo-European was articulated in the 2019 movie Tomiris, a great success that was introduced to a U.S. audience in 2020. Here, Tomiris, the queen of the Massagetae, speaks the ancient Turkic language. At the same time, she has blond hair, which is usually attributed to Caucasians, and does not have the clearly Asiatic features of todays Kazakhs. Moreover, during one of her interviews, the actress who played the queen noted that she does not care about her bloodline, and stated that her ancestors comprise people of different ethnicities. She also added that many Kazakhs have a variety of ancestors, among them Caucasians. The young Tomiris was played by a Russian girl, implying that Turks could look like Caucasians, and that Caucasians or Indo-Europeans are actually the same as Turks, simply called something else. There are several implications of this equation of ancient Turks and even Kazakhs themselves with ancient Indo-Europeans. It demonstrates that Kazakhs are not newcomers and that their ancestors lived in the territory of present-day Kazakhstan for thousands of years, that Kazakhstans statehood has a thousand-year history, and that the borders of ancient empires in the area have neatly coincided with the territory of present-day Kazakhstan since the Bronze Age. Moreover, the message is that Indo-European or Aryan Kazakhs are ethnically (and implicitly culturally) related to advanced Western or European civilizations, which provides an additional justification for cultural and to some extent geopolitical approaches to the West. Moreover, the detachment of the notion of Kazakh from a specific ethnic lineage implies that anyone, even Caucasian-looking, could be considered Turkic or Kazakh if he or she knows the Kazakh language. This vision of Kazakhs as a cultural or linguistic category, as members of a Kazakh world, is structurally quite similar to the definition of the Russian world elaborated by the Kremlin. The point of the doctrine is that Russian-ness is not defined by ethnicity, and no difference exists between ethnic Russians and Russian-speaking minorities a difference that is quite important for racially-focused Russian nationalists. Instead, culture and language play paramount roles. Russias Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu (whose father is of Tuvan origin) is in this reading as Russian as any Slavic-looking person despite Shoigus Asiatic features. Those who embrace this philosophy underscore that it was an essential ideological framework for imperial expansion. This thinking has clear foreign policy implications for example, it was the principal political argument for the annexation of Crimea and support for separatists in eastern Ukraine. Yet the doctrine also encourages the assimilation of ethnic minorities and implicitly promotes peace and stability within the community that it encompasses. Kazakhstan, with its own variation of a Kazakh world, encourages assimilation of ethnic Russians and, implicitly, seeks to minimize the negative implications of increasing tension with Russia. The Kazakh elites appeal to, and interpretation of, Bronze and early Iron Age history serve a similar function. CONCLUSIONS: While Kazakhstans political elite is increasingly moving away from Russia, it simultaneously seeks to avoid antagonizing the remaining Russians. Thus, a historical mythos has been created, which emphasizes that Indo-Europeans and Turks are actually the same people, or that Indo-Europeans who speak non-Turkic languages are really Turks who have forsaken their true ancient Turkic roots. By studying Turkic language, Kazakh in this particular case, they can become accepted as Kazakhs, and become fully integrated into Kazakh society. AUTHOR'S BIO: Dmitry Shlapentokh is Associate Professor of History, Indiana University at South Bend. Image Source: Public Domain Locals watch the displayed corpses in shock Screenshot from amateur video Residents of Bamenda, capital of Cameroons North West region woke up Monday, September 13, 2021, to see four corpses displayed at Finance Junction. The corpses were partially nude and stained with blood. Other pictures show the corpses with guns and other ammunition placed on them. As locals thronged the scene early Monday morning to see for themselves, information emerged that the men were armed separatist fighters who had been tracked down and killed by state forces. Open sources say the four men were killed around 11:45 pm on Sunday, September 12, 2021, by a military patrol team. Reports say state forces killed the gunmen at Ntarinkon, not far from the residence of the National Chairman of the opposition Social Democratic Front (SDF) party. They were onboard a green carina E vehicle with registration number 15 94 30. Soldiers are believed to have killed the four gunmen and recovered two AK47 rifles no 03594 and 05110 along with four loader boxes and a car. The corpses were then taken from Ntarinkon in Bamenda II Subdivision to Finance Junction in Bamenda III subdivision where they were displayed for the population to see. Cameroons state forces have been battling to dislodge armed separatists who pitched their tents in the North West and South West Regions since Anglophone protests transformed into an armed conflict in 2017. Corporate demands by Common Law Lawyers and Anglophone Teachers led to protests in November 2016. The street demonstrations later morphed into ongoing running gun battles between state forces and armed separatist fighters in the predominantly English-speaking regions, leading to untold destruction of human lives, their habitats, and livelihoods. Tit-for-tat killings, kidnappings, arsons, maiming, and outright terror have become part of daily lives in some parts of the English-speaking regions. CAMASEJ schools journalists on crisis reporting CAMASEJ No fewer than forty journalists have been trained to uphold historical and political accuracy in reporting the socio-political crisis in Cameroons North West and South West Regions. Saturdays workshop in Buea was organized by the Cameroon Association of English Speaking Journalists, CAMASEJ with support from the Prime Minister, Head of Government Chief Dr. Dion Ngute Joseph. Celebrated Professor of History Victor Julius Ngoh, President of the Catholic University Institute of Buea (CUIB), and eminent political scientist Dr. Munjah Vitalis Fagha, Lecturer at the Department of Political Science and Comparative Politics at the University of Buea schooled the media professionals on the historical and political evolution of Cameroon. Prof. Ngoh rubbished unfounded reports that the ballots for the 1972 referendum read oui and yes. "At the 1972 referendum, they were actually two ballot papers. The white for yes and oui and the black for No or Non. When I hear people say they want to restore the independence of Southern Cameroons, I am shocked because Southern Cameroons only became independent by joining the Republic of Cameroon," said the professor of history. While blaming some poor political decisions taken by the politicians of the old, Prof Ngoh said the current crisis is the result of rampant corruption and mismanagement of the country with deliberate efforts to wipe the identity of English-speaking Cameroonians. The workshop facilitators wondered why President Amadou Ahidjo drafted the Foumban constitution and handed to the Southern Cameroons Delegation to study given that Southern Cameroonians were enlightened people who had attended several conferences in and out of the country. Be it as it may, Prof Ngoh and Dr. Munjah said the ongoing wave of violence in Cameroons North West and South West Regions is not the way to go. "We are orphans. No diplomatic service has been able to recognize or table this problem before the UN Security Council," said Dr Munjah. According to him, if intellectuals like Agbor Balla were in the bush, just maybe the international community would have taken the issue more seriously. "The people who started this, teachers and lawyers, are back at work. So others should think twice," he said. The two university dons cautioned journalists to stop blowing things out of proportion as the international community has turned a deaf ear to the crisis. They both wondered how those who came as liberators are now causing untold havoc to the population. The Anglophone crisis that started in May 2016 has claimed no fewer than 3,000 lives and affects directly or indirectly the lives of more than five million Cameroonians. Amindeh Blaise Atabong, an international freelance journalist briefed colleagues on safety and security protocols while reporting in red zones. Jude Viban, National President of CAMASEJ said the subject of the workshop was chosen based on the fact that media professionals had not shown mastery of historical and political accuracy in reporting the crisis in the North West and South West Regions. "We discovered that the conflict has been going on for almost four years now and it is based in our common history. We as reporters need to know and master the history and the facts because as journalists, we have to report the facts. We realized that in most of the conversations online, they're a lot of deliberate lies about our common history and that these lies sometimes find some soft landing with journalists who do not know what the facts are," said Viban. Property records indicate that the three-time All-Star purchased the place last summer for $2.45 million. Since then, it has been offered as a luxury rental for $19,000 a month. The home went on the market earlier this year for $3 million, with no takers. Now its back on the market at an even higher price point. The state Department of Health, meanwhile, has its dashboard, but it includes only schools with an active outbreak, defined in a few different ways. Schools that have two or more COVID-19 cases in a 14-day period among people who interacted in school and who arent from the same household will appear, as will schools with cases in three different classes, or 5% of their population so long as that is more than 10 people who arent from the same household. Carroll County is the only district in the Baltimore region to begin the school year without a mask mandate. Community and school board members have been embroiled in a bitter debate over the use of face masks in schools during the lead up to the fall semester. Carrolls school board members opted to keep masking optional despite the advice of local health officials. In the survey, more than three-quarters of small business owners said sales and marketing roles were critical for recovery and growth, yet nearly half said those roles were the most difficult to fill, with too few applicants having the right skills. In the new chardonnay block of the vineyard, the plants are just three years old and weigh around five pounds. Winery representatives said the young vines will allow Linganore to create a new style of chardonnay that is fermented in stainless steel rather than the traditional barrel fermentation for the grapes found in their Chardonnay Reserve 2020 wine. In a letter formally clearing the officers of wrongdoing, Deputy States Attorney Robin S. Coffin, which said the task force members actions were justified after Powell jumped out of his car and began shooting. Detective Lansey and Detective Thompson each suffered gunshot wounds. ...The Task Force members had no choice but to return fire for the protection of themselves and others in the area. The shooting was justified. Accordingly, this office will take no further action. Reggie Turner, a Hagerstown financial adviser who sits on the Maryland Commission on African American History & Culture, said he had seen too many of the areas old buildings face the wrecking ball. While Marylands Eastern Shore is celebrated for its connections to Black history home to giants like Frederick Douglass and Harriet Tubman Turner says Jonathan Street, a thoroughfare in one of the states oldest free Black communities, is of equal significance. He wants to see tourism focus on the historic sites in the area, including where prominent Black businesses and churches once stood. While there are many uses for PFAS, one of the primary applications was in the manufacturing of fire suppression foams. As an emergent pollutant, the Environmental Protection Agency is still developing guidance for regulated pollutant levels, however, the Maryland Department of the Environment began the process of evaluating 130 municipal water supply wells across the state for the presence of these pollutants. Californias recalls are different than elections in other states, and so is the way California counts ballots. The state allows any ballot to count as long as its postmarked by Election Day and received within seven days. So new votes are tallied late into the week and sometimes into the following week. The count itself is notoriously slow and can take more than a month before its finalized. While parts of Annapolis have residents that may not have to worry about their finances, others, like many in my ward, fight to keep food on the table and a roof over their heads. I will strive to create a flourishing economy within Ward 3, in part by expanding economic development, modernizing jobs, partnering with businesses for local hiring and employment opportunities, implementing equitable taxation, and encouraging entrepreneurship. Still, better pay may not be enough with increasing housing costs and financial disparities. As Alderman of Ward 3, I will develop innovative ways to house the homeless, advocate for long-overdue renovations and upgrades to public housing, provide home assurance for residents, and support the construction of missing middle-class housing, while ensuring accountability for developers. A Chinese military aircraft flew into Taiwan's air defence identification zone (ADIZ) on Saturday. One People's Liberation Army Air Force (PLAAF) Shaanxi Y-8 anti-submarine warfare plane entered the southwest corner of Taiwan's ADIZ, according to the Ministry of National Defense (MND). In response, Taiwan sent aircraft, broadcast radio warnings, and deployed air defence missile systems to track the PLAAF plane, Taiwan News reported. Saturday's incursion marks the ninth day in a row China's planes have flown into Taiwan's identification zone. Beijing has sent a mix of spotter planes, fighter jets, and bombers into the zone every day this month except for September 2. Since mid-September of last year, Beijing has stepped up its grey-zone tactics by regularly sending planes into Taiwan's ADIZ, with most instances occurring in the southwest corner of the zone and usually consisting of one to three slow-flying turboprop planes. Beijing claims full sovereignty over Taiwan, a democracy of almost 24 million people located off the southeastern coast of mainland China, despite the fact that the two sides have been governed separately for more than seven decades. Taipei, on the other hand, has countered the Chinese aggression by increasing strategic ties with democracies including the US, which has been repeatedly opposed by Beijing. China has threatened that "Taiwan's independence" means war. On June 1, Chinese President Xi Jinping pledged to complete reunification with self-ruled Taiwan and vowed to smash any attempts at formal independence for the island. (ANI) Also Read: Chinese state media warns US of another 'deadly attack' Hundreds of journalists in Pakistan gathered outside the Parliament House on Sunday to protest against the proposed 'Pakistan Media Development Authority' (PMDA) law. The call for the sit-in was given by the Pakistan Federal Union of Journalists (PFUJ) and a number of scribe groups, opposition parties, lawyers and the representatives of the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan participated in it, Express Tribune reported. "The government intended to bring PMDA and electronic voting machines to rig the elections," and now "media martial law is being slapped on the media through the PMDA," Shazia Atta Marri, who is the Central Information Secretary of Pakistan People Party said during the sit-in. Meanwhile, the journalists affiliated with different news organisations and press associations have termed the law against article 19 of the Constitution of Pakistan, which guarantees freedom of speech and expression to the people. They also informed that "the proposed legislation would not only deprive journalists and media organizations of the press freedom but would also deprive civil society, students, lawyers, teachers, law-makers, trade unions, political, religious activists and in fact 220 million population of the country of their basic rights," The News International reported. Despite being a democratic state, Pakistan continues to suppress free speech in digital spaces, stopping its citizens from participating in the working of the state by depriving them of a resourceful channel for vocalizing their concerns. Writer Mehmil Khalid cites an assessment report 'Pakistan Freedom of Expression Report 2020' by Media Matters for Democracy (MMfD) to say that the country performed poorly in all the indicators that determine free speech and that the COVID-19 pandemic further exacerbated the digital censorship in Pakistan. Pakistan scored 30 points out of 100 on the assessment report index, which analysts say proves the fact that the government has placed curbs on free speech and disallowed people to talk especially about the pandemic and the related information. (ANI) Also Read: China exploited 9/11 tragedy to repress Uyghurs in Xinjiang Welcome to Sophi Knows. September 11 has come and gone but should stay in our minds every day. We came together as a nation and should strive for that again. People think this is a rounding error, this is an insurance claim. It isnt. The cost, the loss is significant, she said. It has the potential to erode consumer confidence among tenants, and it certainly has employees second-guessing their decision to work in these businesses. With the influx of patients, both from within the community and from across state lines, Providence Sacred Heart has seen patients stuck in the emergency room for hours longer than normal, awaiting an open bed. Those who do have a bed may not get a place in the ICU, as they normally would. The hospital has begun canceling elective procedures and is proceeding only with those that are urgent, Getz said. Procedures to excise brain tumors and treat orthopedic injuries are among those that have been postponed, he said. In some cases, that may be the entire school particularly where transmission can definitively be traced to a policy or action that could be changed in the future, Carnethon said. In other cases, it may mean shutting down an extracurricular activity that is risky. We need to have a low threshold for pausing and reevaluating safety procedures so that we can provide as much education in person as safely as possible. The way most people describe the crust on a deep-dish pizza often sounds like weve wandered into the worlds most boring conference call about construction material. Words like sturdy, thick and structurally sound get thrown around as positives, even though we could say the same about a slab of concrete. Instead of the crust, we are told to focus on the gobs of cheese, rivers of sauce and salty toppings sitting on top as the real stars of the show. A: Perhaps not in the ways that you might think. Because from the first time I started writing, even in college, I was saying Black Lives Matter. Were still having those same conversations. I said it in the way that I write, and I thank God that I had professors who allowed me to stand in that space. I was allowed to be who I was on the page. I havent written about George Floyd but I remember I wrote You Dont Even Know Me: Stories and Poems About Boys, years ago and the lead poem of that book is about a Black boy saying: I sit in your class; I play by the rules; Im young; Im fly; Im Black. So, of course, I think Im cool. Geometry is my thing. Physics is just a breeze, so it bothered me last week when you said I should be happy with that C. That goes for him saying as my teacher, you dont understand me. The police dont understand me. My community doesnt understand me, but this is what my mama and my daddy said about me. For me, in terms of Floyd, I felt like I had dealt with some of that. Now, Filmer and her family have no intention of leaving their home in Berwyn, where Filmer said she and her family were able to find their community. But Filmer noted that she founded this company when her daughter was two years old. As the artistic leader of the company, she said there were simply things in her now 16-year-old daughters life that she missed over the years, something she hopes to change moving forward. The presidents two-day Western swing comes at a critical juncture for a central plank of his legislative agenda. Lawmakers on Capitol Hill are working to assemble details of the infrastructure-plus plan and how to pay for it, a concern not just for Republicans. A key Democratic senator said Sunday that he will not vote for a package so large. The detectives dont have a lot on this case right now, Deenihan said. And we believe there are people in the neighborhood who more than likely know who these offenders are and we definitely need some tips and some help to point us in the right direction. For over 20 years we have enjoyed safe Lake Michigan water without incident and we will determine what caused this and resolve it ASAP, he said in the statement, noting that once safe drinking water is restored, village staff then will focus on what can be done to add further safeguards going forward. In response to questions by the Tribune, an ICE official said the McHenry and Kankakee detentions will continue for now. The agency will review noncitizen detainees at the Pulaski jail on a case-by-case basis for alternatives to detention or transfer to another detention facility. Officials didnt identify the location of those facilities, but they could be inside Illinois this year, then presumably would be outside the state next year if the state law holds up. The arrest and subsequent charges may provide a spark of hope for the families of the more than 165 people who have been shot on Cook County expressways so far this year. The number of shootings on state highways which are under the jurisdiction of state police have exploded exponentially in recent years and the cases can be notoriously difficult to solve for myriad reasons. Some expressways, such as the Eisenhower and the Dan Ryan, run through historically high-crime areas; there is relative ease with which to put distance between the shooter and the crime scene through on- and offramps; and it can be incredibly difficult locating witnesses without doors to knock on, experts have said. People dont realize that I came from the bottom. That I came from zero, Centeno said. In order to be able to do outdoor boot camps on time, to be able to do everything that I do around here, I had to move into a studio apartment and to pay the rent. The only money that I had coming in was for the rent and just enough money to probably make some peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and some noodles. After Cisneros died, Rogers Park residents had taken it upon themselves to place life rings at least four on the pier. Each time, the Park District removed the rings. Cisneros mother, Maria Diaz, had called for life rings to be placed at the pier and across the lakefront. Using that lens has already had an impact on the residents we served throughout the pandemic, as you can see from our 2020 Impact Report the majority of our business assistance went to women and people of color. The majority of rental and cash assistance went to women and people of color. This was intentional. We provided resources where they were needed most, with an equity lens. Beyond that we bring resources to the Mexican community, she said. We want people to get inspired. MEX talks is only the start of the conversation. We want people to feel intrigued about our culture, about our identity, and hopefully they get to learn a thing or two. When they do, they get to bring those conversations back to their peers and continue making things change. I firmly believe this ordinance is a step in the right direction to reduce waste, to save businesses money and promote good sustainable behavior, said Northwest Side Ald. Samantha Nugent, 39th, said during committee discussion. Plastic waste is at an all-time high, especially since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. When you order takeout delivery, it seems the bag is always half full of utensils, extra napkins and condiments. CCTV: The 18th China-ASEAN Expo and China-ASEAN Business and Investment Summit kicked off Friday in Nanning, Guangxi. President Xi Jinping sent a congratulatory letter to the event and Vice President Wang Qishan attended the opening ceremony and delivered a speech. Could you give us more information? Zhao Lijian: This event is an eye-catching showcase of the China-ASEAN cooperation outcomes. President Xi Jinping sent a congratulatory message and Vice President Wang Qishan attended the opening ceremony and delivered an address. Leaders and representatives of Laos, Brunei, Cambodia, Malaysia, Thailand, Pakistan, Singapore, Vietnam, Myanmar, and other countries as well as ASEAN Secretary General delivered speech via video link. The guests spoke highly of the progress of China-ASEAN strategic partnership and expressed readiness to further deepen practical cooperation across the board to give a boost to regional common prosperity and development. Since the establishment of China-ASEAN dialogue relations 30 years ago, all-dimensional cooperation has continued to deepen and bilateral trade increased by 85 times, making China and ASEAN each other's largest trading partner. In the first half of this year, bilateral trade exceeded 410 billion U.S. dollars, up 38 percent year on year, and cumulative investment between China and ASEAN countries exceeded 310 billion U.S. dollars. The China-ASEAN Trade Index was released on September 11 for the first time jointly by China's General Administration of Customs and the government of the Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region. The 2020 index stood at 241 points, up around 19 percent and 140 percent compared with the level of 2019 and 2010 respectively. China and ASEAN countries are good neighbors and partners. Over the past 30 years, the two sides have worked together to promote peace, stability, development and prosperity in the region, and set an example for cooperation in the Asia-Pacific. Looking ahead, China stands ready to join hands with ASEAN countries to seek opportunities, address challenges and promote cooperation, continue to advance regional economic integration and build a better and more prosperous future for the next 30 years to come. The Paper: State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi is on his visit to four countries in Asia. He just wrapped up official visits to Vietnam and Cambodia recently. We noted there is much attention on his visits. Can you brief us on that? Zhao Lijian: From September 10 to 12, State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi visited Vietnam and Cambodia. During his visit in Vietnam, State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi met with General Secretary of the Communist Party of Vietnam Central Committee Nguyen Phu Trong and Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh respectively, co-chaired the 13th Meeting of the China-Vietnam Steering Committee for Bilateral Cooperation with Vietnamese Deputy Prime Minister Pham Binh Minh, and held talks with Vietnamese Foreign Minister Bui Thanh Son. State Councilor Wang Yi said that both China and Vietnam are socialist countries under the leadership of communist parties. Consolidating and revitalizing the socialist cause is of paramount importance in the overall China-Vietnam ties. It is the most important and fundamental common strategic interest that the two countries should adhere to. China has always prioritized its relations with Vietnam in its neighborhood diplomacy and stands ready to work with Vietnam to maintain the momentum of sound, steady and all-round development of bilateral relations. We will work with Vietnam to resolutely advance the ASEAN-centered regional cooperation architecture, speed up synergy and cooperation between the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) and the "Two Corridors and One Economic Circle" strategy, speed up the ratification and entry into force of the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) agreement, and actively advance consultations on a Code of Conduct in the South China Sea to jointly uphold peace and stability in the South China Sea. The Vietnamese side said that the party, government and people of Vietnam always attach great importance to developing sustained, sound and stable relations with the party, government and people of China. Vietnam regards relations with China as the top priority of its foreign strategy. It is ready to continue to maintain exchanges at all levels with China and work for new breakthroughs in practical cooperation with China in various fields. Vietnam thanked China for its vaccine assistance and expressed the willingness to strengthen coordination and cooperation with China at the UN, ASEAN and APEC, and jointly advance COC consultations to safeguard regional peace. During his visit in Cambodia, State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi met with Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen and Deputy Prime Minister Hor Nam Hong respectively and had talks with Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Prak Sokhonn. State Councilor Wang Yi pointed out that China and Cambodia are good friends with high level of mutual trust and a community with a shared future. The two sides rendered each other utmost assistance, not only to safeguard the common interests of the two countries, but also to uphold international fairness and justice and the legitimate rights and interests of developing countries. China hopes to work with Cambodia to speed up high-quality Belt and Road cooperation, accelerate the synergy of the New International Land-Sea Trade Corridor and the Lancang-Mekong Economic Development Belt, and bring China-ASEAN relations to a new level. China hopes that during Cambodia's rotating chairmanship of ASEAN, China and ASEAN countries will conclude the COC consultations and the China-Cambodia free trade agreement will enter into force and deliver benefit at an early date. The Cambodian side said that China is Cambodia's most trust-worthy and reliable elder brother and no country can replace China's contribution to Cambodia's economic and social development. The Cambodian side thanked China for its valuable assistance in fighting the epidemic and said that Cambodia will always abide by the one-China principle, stand firmly with China on issues concerning China's internal affairs, deepen the comprehensive strategic cooperative partnership with China, take the cooperation in various fields up to new heights, and jointly safeguard regional peace and stability. Macau Monthly: According to Kyodo News report on September 9, Japan's Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology announced on September 8 that five textbook publishing companies submitted applications to remove or change the terms of "military comfort women" and "forced conscription" concerning the "comfort women" issue and the forced recruitment of laborers from the Korean Peninsula during World War II. Some of the textbooks are in current use and some others will be put into use next spring. Do you have any comment? Zhao Lijian: The forced recruitment of "comfort women" is a grave crime against humanity committed by the Japanese militarism. It is a historical fact with iron-clad and undeniable evidence. This is Japan's latest attempt to meddle with textbooks and play with words to blur the historical facts, understate and evade its historical responsibility, and deny and whitewash its history of aggression in a step-by-step manner. It once again highlights Japan's long-standing dishonest attitude towards the history of aggression, which has hurt the feelings of the people of the victimized countries. It will be rejected by all peace-loving people. The international community needs to take strict precautions and put things right. Japan should honestly face up to and reflect on its history of aggression, make a clean break with militarism, properly handle the "comfort women" issue in an honest and responsible manner, and take concrete actions to win the trust of its Asian neighbors and the international community. TASS: Russia's foreign ministry on Friday summoned US Ambassador John Sullivan to protest over alleged US interference in Russia's election. Second, will the gap left by the US withdrawal from Afghanistan pose any threat to the security of China's Xinjiang? Zhao Lijian: On your first question, the State Duma elections are a major political agenda in Russia this year. As the elections are drawing near, China, as a comprehensive strategic partner of coordination to Russia, hopes that the elections will be held smoothly. China believes that the State Duma elections are entirely Russia's internal affair and external forces should not interfere. On your second question, terrorism remains a common threat to the international community. China is ready to work with other countries to deepen counter-terrorism cooperation, prevent Afghanistan from becoming a breeding ground or safe haven for terrorist forces and jointly safeguard regional peace and stability. The irresponsible withdrawal by the US and NATO from Afghanistan may allow terrorism to breed and spread, posing a serious challenge to security and stability in Afghanistan and the region. The Afghan Taliban pledged not to allow any forces to use Afghan territory for acts that are detrimental to other countries. The Afghan Taliban should honor its commitment, make a clean break with all extremist and terrorist forces, and take effective measures to constrain and combat them so as to prevent spillover effects of terrorism. China Daily: We noted that the Afghan Taliban decided to cancel the inauguration ceremony of the interim government. Russian presidential press secretary Dmitry Peskov said that Moscow will not take part in the inauguration of Afghanistan's new government in any capacity. Do you have any comment? Zhao Lijian: Whether or not to hold an inauguration ceremony of the interim government is an internal matter of the Afghan side. It is up to each country to decide whether to attend the ceremony or not. China respects both. Shenzhen TV: Mohammad Eslami, Iranian Vice-President and the Head of Atomic Energy Organization of the Islamic Republic of Iran (AEOI) held talks with Rafael Grossi, Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) on September 12 during the latter's visit to Tehran, and issued a joint statement on the issue of monitoring and verification. Director General Rafael Grossi also submitted a report on that. Do you have any comment? Zhao Lijian: China welcomes the consensus reached by Iran and the IAEA through dialogue and cooperation on the safeguards and monitoring of the Iranian nuclear program and hopes that the two sides will carry on the sound momentum of communication and properly resolve the relevant pending issues. We also call on relevant parties to play a constructive role to this end. China always holds that upholding and implementing the JCPOA is the only correct and effective way to resolve the Iranian nuclear crisis. Relevant parties, especially the US, should make resolute political decision at an early date, take concrete steps to advance resumption of and progress in negotiations on compliance of the Iranian nuclear deal. We hope relevant parties will adhere to the right direction and create enabling conditions and atmosphere for diplomatic efforts. Phoenix TV: First, the DPRK announced on September 13 that it test launched long-range cruise missile over the weekend. The United States said the missile tests posed "threats" to the country's neighbours. Do you have any comment? Second, US media reports said the Biden administration is "seriously considering" allowing Taiwan to change the name of the Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office in Washington to "Taiwan Representative Office." What's the foreign ministry's response? Zhao Lijian: On your first question, China remains committed to maintaining peace and stability on the Peninsula and holds that the issue should be settled through dialogue and negotiation. We call on relevant parties to exercise restraint, meet each other half way, actively seek dialogue and engagement, and follow the "dual-track" approach and take phased and synchronized actions to continuously advance the political settlement of the Korean Peninsula issue. On your second question, the Taiwan question is the most important and sensitive issue at the core of China-US relations. The one-China principle is the political foundation of bilateral relations. In the China-US Joint Communique on the Establishment of Diplomatic Relations, the US unequivocally pledged that "the people of the United States will maintain cultural, commercial, and other unofficial relations with the people of Taiwan". In his phone call with President Xi Jinping, President Biden said that the US has no intention to change the one-China policy. China has lodged solemn representation with the US side with regard to the above-mentioned issue reported by the media. The US should abide by the one-China principle and the three China-US joint communiques, honor its commitments with concrete actions, stop all forms of official exchanges or elevating substantive relations with Taiwan, including not renaming the Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office in the US the "Taiwan Representative Office", and stop sending wrong signals to "Taiwan independence" separatist forces. The US side should handle the Taiwan question in a prudent manner, lest it should seriously undermine China-US relations and peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait. Global Times: According to the Associated Press, Deputy Director General of the IAEA Lydie Evrard said on September 9 that the technical working team established by the agency will evaluate the safety of the nuclear wastewater discharge in Fukushima, and that experts from China and the ROK will join the work. Any comment from China? Zhao Lijian: I noticed relevant reports. China supports the IAEA in acting according to its mandate, giving full consideration to the views of stakeholders and playing its due role on the disposal of the nuclear contaminated water. Experts from multiple countries, including China, the ROK and Russia will join the technical working team set up by the IAEA. The team will assist the international community in the review and monitoring before, during and after Japan's disposal of nuclear contaminated water to ensure absolute safety. Japan should cooperate fully with the IAEA by having thorough consultations on all possible means of disposal, and accepting monitoring and verification of data accuracy and the efficiency of the disposal. I want to stress again that Japan should take the concern of the international community seriously, revoke the wrong decision to discharge the nuclear contaminated water into the ocean and stop advancing preparatory work. Japan must not take the liberty of discharging nuclear contaminated water into the sea before reaching consensus with stakeholders and relevant international institutions through consultation. CRI: It is reported that the UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called on the international community the other day to inject cash into Afghanistan to avoid an economic meltdown that would be a "gift for terrorist groups". What kind of help will China offer to ease the economic plight in Afghanistan? Zhao Lijian: At the first Foreign Ministers' Meeting on the Afghan Issue Among the Neighboring Countries of Afghanistan on September 8, State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi announced that China had decided to offer 200 million yuan worth of grains, winter supplies, vaccines, and medicines to Afghanistan according to the needs of the Afghan people. When security conditions are in place, China is willing to help Afghanistan build livelihood projects and do its best to support the country's efforts for peace, reconstruction and economic development. This embodies the friendly policy toward all the Afghan people that China always follows, and the Chinese nation's fine tradition of helping those in need. Afghanistan is still facing the severe challenges in terms of humanitarian situation, livelihood and COVID-19. The international community should provide economic, livelihood and humanitarian assistance to the country and help its people tide over the difficulties. As the culprit of the Afghan issue, the US should earnestly fulfill its commitment to Afghanistan, assume its due responsibility and obligation, take active steps to help Afghanistan ease its economic difficulties on the premise of respecting Afghanistan's sovereignty and independence, rather than shift blames onto others and simply take to its heels. AFP: The President of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) has called for a review of mining contracts previously signed with China in 2008 saying that he wants to get fairer deals. How will this affect Chinese investments in the country? Zhao Lijian: The "infrastructure-for-minerals" package cooperation between China and the DRC is a model of practical cooperation between the two countries. Over the past decade or so, such cooperation has not only vigorously promoted the development of mining industry, increased tax revenue and created more jobs in the DRC, but also offered investment in infrastructure projects such as roads, hospitals and hydropower stations in the DRC, making positive contributions to the economic and social development of the country. Not long ago, the Busanga Hydropower Station under the above-mentioned cooperation framework started water storage and was put into operation. This largest hydropower station in the DRC will provide important power supply for the mining and infrastructure development of the DRC going forward. The Chinese enterprises also actively fulfill their social responsibilities, give back to the local community and improve local people's welfare. Not long ago, they signed with the province of Katanga a $11.5 million aid agreement to support the construction of local roads and power facilities, and improvement of education, medical care and environment, which has been warmly welcomed by the local people. I want to stress that China and the DRC boast long-standing friendship and the bilateral practical cooperation has yielded fruitful win-win results and enjoys broad prospects. In May this year, President Xi Jinping and President Felix Tshisekedi reached broad consensus on deepening cooperation in various fields over the phone. In the next stage, guided by the consensus reached by the leaders of the two countries, the two sides will elevate the China-DRC strategic partnership of win-win cooperation to a new level and bring more benefits to the two peoples. Bloomberg: The Biden administration is said to be weighing a new investigation into Chinese subsidies and their damage on the US economy as a way to pressure China on the issue of trade. My first question is, does the foreign ministry have a comment on these media reports? Secondly, the last time there was an investigation like this, it led to tariffs worth billions of dollars on Chinese exports. What does the foreign ministry think the US should do in terms of the tariffs that are still in place on Chinese goods? Zhao Lijian: The presidents of China and the US spoke over the phone the other day. President Xi Jinping pointed that for some time, due to the U.S. policy on China, the China-U.S. relationship has run into serious difficulty. This serves neither the fundamental interests of the people of the two countries, nor the common interests of countries around the world. President Biden noted that the world is changing fast. The US-China relationship is the most consequential relationship in the world, and the future of the bulk of the world will depend on how the United States and China get on with each other. The two countries have no interest in letting competition veer into conflict. The US is prepared to have more candid exchanges and constructive discussions with China to identify key and priority areas where cooperation is possible, avoid miscommunication, miscalculation and unintended conflict, and get US-China relations back on track. As for your specific question, we hope the relevant departments of the US and China can follow the spirit of the phone call between the two heads of state, properly manage differences, strengthen cooperation and bring the bilateral relations back to the right track of stability and development as soon as possible. I want to emphasize that in developing trade relations and cooperation between China and the US, the spirit of mutual benefit should be followed. We have all seen that the relevant trade policies adopted by the Trump administration only ended up hurting its own interests. When a devastating flood hit Henan province in late July, resulting in huge loss, the cultural heritage, which had witnessed centuries or even millennia of vicissitude, also faced a rare threat. A widely circulated online post written by Tian Kai, director of the Henan Provincial Cultural Heritage Administration, seemed to ignite public concern for the destiny of these relics. He wrote: "As a worker for cultural relics, the safety of the relics is more important than our life. I burst into tears." Over 400 cultural heritage sites in the province were damaged in the deluge, according to statistics of the administration, and 57 percent of them are "unmovable heritage sites", such as historical monuments, ancient architecture and grottoes. When floods came, they had no opportunity to be moved elsewhere. Nevertheless, the public now has a chance to contribute to restoring these damaged relics. The China Foundation for Cultural Heritage Conservation and internet company Tencent recently cooperated to start a philanthropic program funding the emergency rescue and restoration of the Henan relics. It is part of the annual Chinese online philanthropic campaign 99 Giving Day, which was first launched by Tencent on Sept 9,2015. Though this year's main session of the campaign lasted from Tuesday to Thursday, the fund will open for online public donations through to October. As Tencent's fundraising platform shows, the program aims to receive a total donation of 13.3 million yuan ($2 million), based on evaluations of the cost. According to Liu Yuzhu, the director of China Foundation for Cultural Heritage Conservation, no administration cost will be charged by the foundation to the fund, and all donations will be directly transferred to the Henan Provincial Administration of Cultural Heritage solely for restoration. "We'll supervise the whole process of how the money is used," Liu says. "And the new conditions of the restored cultural heritage will also be updated to the public in time." An expert panel is to be organized by the foundation to support restoration, and public donors are invited to visit the restored sites, Liu adds. Henan is the main cradle of ancient Chinese civilization, with a rich reservoir of cultural relics. As many as 420 sites in the province are registered as "key cultural relic units under national-level protection", and its number of "unmovable cultural heritage sites" ranks second among all Chinese provincial-level administrative regions. The raised funds will be used for restoration of 10 main sites in Zhengzhou, Luoyang, Kaifeng, Anyang, the four ancient cities with key historical importance, as well as other places across Henan. For example, after the July deluge, some rocks in the 1,500-year-old Longmen Grottoes in Luoyang, also a UNESCO World Heritage Site, had become unstable and therefore urgently needed to be consolidated. A section of the ancient city wall dating back to the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644) in Xunxian county collapsed during the flooding. In Ma's Manor, a key Qing Dynasty (1644-1911) official's residential compound in Anyang, structural cracks on houses appeared. Restoration is scheduled to last from October to the end of 2022.Some donated money will be used to renovate natural environments surrounding the cultural heritage sites. "It is becoming a consensus in our society that protection of cultural relics is not only entitled to professional workers," Liu says. "The public participation also plays a key role. "Our career of protection has made many achievements with national-level support," he says. "And it also attracted strong scientific strength to join." For protection of cultural relics, Tencent has joined digitization programs of Mogao Caves in Gansu province, Yungang Grottoes in Shanxi province and some sections of the Great Wall. All of them are world heritage sites. A program called Play for Good also ushered the digitized elements into online games and thus promote traditional Chinese culture and consciousness of protecting cultural relics among younger generations. Amid the hustle and bustle of product presentations, goods purchasing and deals signing at the 18th China-ASEAN Expo, Xiao Xiaoke carefully brewed tea with a set of exquisite tea ware in an exhibition pavilion, appearing unfazed by the surrounding sounds. For years, Xiao has devoted himself to building his own tea brand and carrying forward Chinese tea culture. However, tea cultivation was not the industry that Xiao trained for. In 2000, Xiao traveled to Baise city of Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region to work in the metallurgy business, in which he achieved great success. However, a visit to a friend in Lingyun county of Baise in 2011 began Xiao's transformation from an industrial entrepreneur into a tea farmer. "On my way to a friend's home, I saw a stretch of verdant and exuberant tea plants, which were being cut down by local farmers," Xiao said. "It turned out that the tea, called Lingyun Baihao tea a specialty in Lingyun with a mellow aroma and lingering aftertaste didn't sell well without a well-known brand, thereby producing meagre profit for local farmers." Being disappointed at the destroyed tea plants, Xiao, a tea lover, started to consider promoting Baihao tea and helping the farmers to become better-off. Xiao knew that passion alone wouldn't get him far and he was hesitant about venturing into a relatively unfamiliar sector. Therefore, he first searched for information about Baihao tea and learned that it can be processed into six kinds of tea, namely green tea, black tea, white tea, yellow tea, dark tea and Oolong tea. The tea is also a geographical indication (GI) product of China. Then, Xiao consulted tea experts for product assessment and advice. Given Baihao tea's own features, coupled with professors' expertise and his wife's encouragement, Xiao eventually made up his mind. In 2012, Xiao rented a tea plantation from some locals and established a tea company to zero in on the tea industry. Nonetheless, it was not all plain sailing for Xiao. "At the beginning, the tea we produced tasted too bitter to be favored in the market. Thus, I invited experts again to help solve the problem." Later, Xiao improved fermentation and other processing techniques based on professional suggestions and managed to improve the tea's flavor. To help his tea gain more popularity, Xiao visited clients and participated in different exhibitions to present his brand. Since 2013, Xiao has showcased his tea at the annual China-ASEAN Expo. His tea has entered markets of Thailand, Singapore and Malaysia. With the enhancing brand value and rising sales volume, Xiao's tea business is flourishing. Last year, despite the COVID-19 pandemic, Xiao's company registered a sales revenue of more than 26 million yuan ($4 million). The income of the farmers he employs has increased to at least 3,500 yuan a month, compared with around 1,000 yuan before they grew tea plants. In addition, the company has worked with the Tea Research Institute under Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Fudan University as well as other tea research institutes for seed cultivation, quality control and scientific innovation, and solicited opinions from clients, establishing a holistic platform to integrate the wisdom of enterprises, universities, research institutes and customers. "We are now planning to conduct intensive processing of the tea and expand the industrial chain, such as producing desserts, dishes and nutritious beverages made of tea, to cultivate and carry forward Chinese tea culture," Xiao said with confidence. With the International Conference on Food Loss and Waste closed on Saturday in Jinan, east China's Shandong Province, the country has sent a signal to the world that China will cope with issues concerning food security by reducing loss and waste in agriculture. With the theme of reducing food loss and food waste and promoting global food security, the three-day event held both online and offline attracted more than 300 participants including those from Group of Twenty. The current world grain production is about 2.8 billion tonnes a year, making the loss of one percentage point of grain production equivalent to the loss of 28 million tonnes of food. This could feed about 70 million people, said Ma Youxiang, vice minister of agriculture and rural affairs. In recent years, China has made substantial progress in curbing loss and waste in food production and consumption, with main efforts put into areas including upgrading facilities and equipment. In Shandong Province, the country's major grain producer, the Sinograin grain storage site is equipped with 4,500 high-definition cameras and 280,000 temperature sensors to ensure the stock is in the best condition. Data shows that during China's 13th Five-Year Plan period (2016-2020), about 13 million tonnes of food had been saved annually after production. "We cannot end hunger and all forms of malnutrition if we do not address the high levels of food loss and waste," Qu Dongyu, director-general of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, stated via video link at the conference. He added that collaboration and innovations in business models, technologies and digital solutions could all contribute to reducing food loss and waste. The election of the seventh Legislative Assembly of the Macao Special Administrative Region (SAR) wrapped up early Monday morning with the preliminary results showing 14 candidates won the directly-elected seats, about half of whom were new faces, and 12 won the indirectly-elected seats. Voting started from 9:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m. local time on Sunday. Despite heat and sudden downpours, over 100,000 voters went to the ballot. The SAR government said Sunday night that this year's legislative election took place in a lawful, fair, open and clean manner. Si Ka Lon, who won the most votes in direct election, said that he would make his utmost effort to push the government to well implement the central authorities' plan for building the Guangdong-Macao in-depth cooperation zone in Hengqin of neighboring Guangdong province, taking advantage of the new space in Hengqin and speeding up industrial diversification. Kou Hoi In, another winning candidate, said he would, as always, pay close attention to the business environment for the industrial and commercial circles, push the government for improving its governance efficiency and constructing "smart government administration" for the convenience of residents and businesses. In face of the severe COVID-19 situation in Macao and neighboring regions, the SAR government adopted strict preventative measures for this election. Over 3,000 civil servants assisted with the voting on Sunday to ensure electoral arrangements and other related logistics. An editorial run by the Macao Daily News on Monday pointed out the political significance of this election as the first being held after the principle of "patriots administering Macao" was fully executed. Those patriots administering Macao should have new standards and requirements to take part in safeguarding the successful practice of "one country, two systems" at a higher stance, with bigger plans and deeper feelings, noted the editorial. In line with the Basic Law, the new legislature is composed of 33 seats including 14 directly-elected seats, 12 indirectly-elected seats, and seven others which will be appointed by the SAR chief executive. The term of office of the seventh Legislative Assembly is four years, which will start in October 2021. You are here: China Chinese President Xi Jinping has urged border troops to guard the country's borders well and make new contributions to the Party and the people. Xi, also general secretary of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission, made the remarks in his reply letter to a model battalion of the People's Liberation Army stationed in the plateau region. Flash Another 29,173 people in Britain have tested positive for COVID-19, bringing the total number of coronavirus cases in the country to 7,226,276, according to official figures released Sunday. The country also recorded another 56 coronavirus-related deaths. The total number of coronavirus-related deaths in Britain now stands at 134,200. These figures only include the deaths of people who died within 28 days of their first positive test. The latest data came as the British Office for National Statistics (ONS) showed that coronavirus infection rates have remained level in England but increased in Wales and Scotland. Rates have skyrocketed in Scotland, where schools reopen earlier than the rest of the country, and there are fears a return to the classroom could push up infections across the rest of the areas in Britain. Meanwhile, Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) has approved the use of Pfizer and AstraZeneca as COVID-19 booster vaccines. "We know that a person's immunity may decline over time after their first vaccine course. I am pleased to confirm that the COVID-19 vaccines made by Pfizer and AstraZeneca can be used as safe and effective booster doses," said Dr June Raine, chief executive of MHRA. "This is an important regulatory change as it gives further options for the vaccination programme, which has saved thousands of lives so far." It will now be for Britain's vaccine advisory body, the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI), to advise on whether booster jabs will be given and if so, which vaccines should be used. More than 89 percent of people aged 16 and over in Britain have had their first dose of vaccine and more than 80 percent have received both doses, the latest figures showed. To bring life back to normal, countries such as Britain, China, Germany, Russia and the United States have been racing against time to roll out coronavirus vaccines. Flash Head of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI) Mohammad Eslami described the Sunday talks with the Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Rafael Grossi as "constructive," official news agency IRNA reported. "Rafael Grossi came to Tehran at the invitation of the AEOI, and we had good and constructive talks with him," Eslami was quoted as saying. "The spirit governing the negotiations is to create opportunities for the expansion of interactions and cooperation within the framework of the rules and regulations of the IAEA," he said on the sidelines of meeting with Grossi. All the issues between Tehran and the agency are technical, Eslami said, adding that "political issues have no place in relations between us." "We decided to participate in the next meeting (of the IAEA in Vienna) and to continue our talks on the sidelines of the meeting," he noted. It was also decided that the experts of the IAEA will come to Iran to replace the memory cards of the technical surveillance cameras of the IAEA in nuclear facilities and take necessary technical measures for the cameras, said Eslami. "Memory cards will be sealed according to the routine in Iran and stored, and new cards will be installed," he said. Grossi arrived in Tehran on Sunday for talks on bilateral cooperation ahead of the upcoming meeting of board of governors of the IAEA in Vienna. Flash Cambodian Prime Minister Samdech Techo Hun Sen (R) meets with visiting Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, on Sept. 12, 2021. [Photo/Xinhua] Cambodian Prime Minister Samdech Techo Hun Sen and visiting Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi agreed on Sunday to enhance cooperation in fighting COVID-19, boost bilateral trade and jointly safeguard regional peace and stability. When meeting with Wang in the Cambodian capital, Hun Sen said Cambodia is willing to join hands with China to continue pushing forward bilateral relations. The Cambodian leader promised his country's firm support to China on issues concerning China's core interests, such as Taiwan, Hong Kong and Xinjiang. Cambodia appreciates China's assistance in helping the kingdom combat the COVID-19 outbreak and hopes to further cement bilateral cooperation in the fields of anti-epidemic measures, trade and economy, and infrastructure, Hun Sen said. Both sides will strengthen communication and coordination to prevent outsider countries from meddling in the regional issues so as to jointly safeguard peace and stability in the region, he added. Wang said that under the guidance of consensus reached between leaders of the two countries, China is ready to further the mutually-beneficial cooperation with Cambodia, and move toward building the China-Cambodia community with a shared future to benefit peoples of the two countries. He promised that China will provide more COVID-19 vaccines and medical supplies to Cambodia to help the kingdom contain its COVID-19 outbreak. Wang hoped that China and the ASEAN countries could conclude their consultations on the Code of Conduct in the South China Sea during Cambodia's ASEAN chairmanship next year, and reach an agreement which is effective, with practical significance, and in line with the international laws including the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea. Before their meeting, Hun Sen and Wang attended the handover ceremony of the China-funded national stadium in Phnom Penh. Wang arrived here from Vietnam for a visit to Cambodia, the second leg of his four-nation Asia tour, which will also take him to Singapore and South Korea. Flash An Afghan expert has described the so-called U.S.-led war on terror in Afghanistan as a total failure that has plunged the war-torn country into turmoil. "No doubt, the U.S.-led war on terror in Afghanistan has utterly failed and the American forces have been defeated, of course (it's) a humiliating defeat," Abu Muslim Khorasani, a professor of Rana University in Afghanistan said Saturday. The professor made the comments as the United States is marking the 20th anniversary of the 9/11 terror attacks in the country. "The current situation in Afghanistan -- uncertainty, poverty, unemployment and thousands of Afghans rushing to fled their country along with the U.S. and allied forces in August -- clearly demonstrated the outcome of the so-called U.S. war on terror as nothing but turmoil," Khorasani told Xinhua. According to the United States, more than 120,000 foreigners and Afghans who cooperated with U.S. forces and foreign companies over the past 20 years in Afghanistan were evacuated by the U.S. and its allies from Aug. 15 to Aug. 31 via Kabul international airport, and countless more have missed their flights. Khorasani listed reasons for the failure of the U.S.-led war on terror, and explained that what's important is "the disharmony among the Pentagon, the Department of State and intelligence services" since the early days of its invasion of Afghanistan in 2001. Another reason is the lack of a comprehensive policy and U.S. double standards towards Afghanistan, the expert added. Khorasani continued to say that the legacy of the 20-year presence of the United States in Afghanistan is nothing more than an uncertain future for Afghans. While commenting on the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan, the expert noted that "when Washington decided to invade Afghanistan out of its own national interests, it did so in late 2001; when its interests required it to leave Afghanistan, it left the country behind as well." "The U.S. invasion of Afghanistan was not meant to ensure Afghanistan's interests. Under the pretext of destroying terrorists, it invaded Afghanistan. Obviously, Washington attacked Afghanistan to seek its own interests in the region," Khorasani said. "If the U.S. objective were to ensure Afghanistan's interests and bring peace and prosperity to Afghans, Washington would never have pulled out irresponsibly," the expert observed. The Afghan scholar believed that the U.S. intervention in terms of military, political and culture in the internal affairs of Islamic countries could be the main reason for emerging anti-U.S. extremists and in general anti-West groups. Flash 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. "We thank China and Sinovac for the steady delivery of vaccines," Carlito Galvez, an official in charge of the country's vaccine procurement, told reporters at the airport. Galvez said the Philippines expects more vaccine deliveries from Sinovac in the coming months. "The newly delivered vaccines will be distributed to areas with surging cases," he added. China has been delivering COVID-19 vaccines to the Philippines since Feb. 28. It was the first to provide coronavirus vaccines to the Southeast Asian country, allowing it to kick off its vaccination drive on March 1. The Philippines has administered over 31 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines. Around 16 million people have been fully vaccinated so far. The government aims to vaccinate up to 70 million people this year. To date, Galvez said the Philippines has received around 56 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines from different vaccine makers. China remains the biggest vaccine supplier. The Philippines has reported a total of 2,227,367 confirmed COVID-19 cases as of Sunday, including 35,145 deaths. You are here: World Flash Chinese President Xi Jinping on Sunday sent a message of condolence to Portuguese President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa over the passing of former Portuguese President Jorge Sampaio. In his message, Xi said Sampaio was an outstanding statesman and leader, who enjoyed a high reputation among the international community. Sampaio's tenure witnessed Macao's smooth return to China and the establishment of China-Portugal comprehensive strategic partnership, Xi said. After leaving office as president, he continued caring for China-Portugal relations and supporting bilateral exchanges and cooperation, Xi said. Noting that he attaches great importance to the development of China-Portugal relations, the Chinese president said he is ready to work together with President Rebelo de Sousa to carry forward traditional bilateral friendship, deepen cooperation in various fields to bring benefits to both countries and their people. Flash China on Monday warned the United States against any attempt to elevate relations in essence or engage in official interactions with Taiwan, including allowing the change of the name of Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office (TECRO) in the United States. China has lodged solemn representations with the United States over media reports that the Biden administration is considering allowing the Taiwan authority to rename TECRO as "Taiwan Representative Office," the Chinese foreign ministry's spokesperson Zhao Lijian said at a press briefing. Recently I've stumbled across a podcast called 'The Rise and Fall of Mars Hill'. It was very insightful and challenging as the presenter delved into the toxic culture of a mega church called Mars Hill and how its impact continues to hurt many people even after it has finally closed its doors. As I reflect on each episode, I think I've come to understand two things. Firstly, we love to love a human figure which is why we have so many celebrity pastors in the West. And secondly, the cataclysmic rise of a celebrity doesn't usually just happen. There are always factors - intentional or unintentional, that propels the popularity and fame of an individual. From what I've learned from the podcast so far and from my own reflections, here are four factors which I think contributes to the 'Making of a Narcissistic Celebrity Pastor.' 1. SUPPORT THEIR VISION The reason why we're attracted to celebrity pastors is because they always have a very clear vision that inspires us to follow them. There's a dream or ideal that we want to be a part of and if we follow this pastor and join the church, we can be a part of it. There's something to live for, nay, there's something worth living and dying for. These pastors are usually quite charismatic because their eloquence in speech sells the vision well. It's simple and memorable and its spoken with passion and urgency. They often tap into a psyche that is targeted to Christians in that particular culture. It's great to be part of a vision that so many people support, and it's great to be a part of a vision that puts God's Kingdom in the centre of it all. But those are often futile words that promotes the 'spirituality' of the leader rather than God and God's Kingdom. 2. TURN A BLIND EYE The Bible talks about how we are like sheep and rightly so. We blindly follow others without considering carefully why we follow them. It's one thing for the church to follow a narcissistic pastor but it's another when leaders, who are held to a higher standard, turn a blind eye to the actions of the narcissistic celebrity pastor. In 'The Rise and Fall of Mars Hill', ex-leaders of the church contemplate on what happened and how it ended so terribly. One of the things they keep coming back to was that they didn't see how Mark Driscoll's actions were harmful because they saw lots of people getting saved. I don't wish to cast judgement on these ex-leaders because if I was in the same position I may have also fallen for the same thing but it shows how easily we can contribute to the making of a tragedy if numbers are important to us - or worse, if numbers are synonymous to success for a church. 3. GO ALONG WITH IT It's sad to see how often congregants (and not just in megachurches!) have blind faith in trusting their church leaders. In the podcast, I've heard many times ex-congregants and leaders reminisce that "Mark has a gift of preaching". They said it as if they were shocked that a 'gifted' preacher could be so abusive. As I listened to people recount their stories and their impressions of Mark Driscoll, a thought keep coming back into my mind: These people are theologically-uneducated! This was not just in Mars Hill but in my own experience and encounters with other Christians, I am baffled at how little Christians read the Bible and their lack of depth in thinking through God's Word. In the West, when someone says 'So and so have a gift of preaching', they're usually enamoured by their charisma. Anyone, even a non-Christian, can fool a church to believe he or she is a gifted preacher by having some charisma. This was so cleverly demonstrated in a 2014 movie called 'Believe Me'. I'm not blaming the people who naively hung on and believed every word that Mark Driscoll said. Rather, I feel so sad that their plight is a reflection of a bigger crisis Western Christianity faces. We have delegated the role of understanding God's Word to a few leaders or preachers in the church. Once upon a time people were not allowed to read the Bible for themselves because the Catholic church wanted power and control. Today, we have so much access and resources to read and understand the Bible but we trivially give that right away, making it even easier for power-hungry, charismatic narcissists to shape and manipulate our minds and devotion. 4. LET THEM USE THEIR WEAPON Fourth and finally, something that Christians uniquely use to ensure they'll never be challenged is taking out 'God' as their weapon. When a Christian says, "God told me this and that", it's hard to argue with that because we can't ask God for confirmation. Mark Driscoll, like so many other Christians (even non-pastors!), love this move. It's almost always a guarantee success. I've met people who broke up with their girlfriends because "God told me to" and I've met people who demanded a seat in leadership because "God told me to". No doubt, when someone uses this weapon to get their way, it'd be delivered in a way that makes the person seem 'spiritual' and 'humble' but it actually screams alarm bells and your guard needs to be up. I'm not doubting that God can speak to us in supernatural ways but I'm very cautious when I meet people who like to speak in that way willy-nilly. What we do know with absolute certainty, is that God speaks to us through the Bible. Let's start there. I am particular passionate about this subject matter because pastors and church leaders do have a strong influence over their congregants and if leaders abuse their power, the harm they cause can lead someone to eternal damnation. That's why the Bible also warns us: "Not many of you should become teachers, my fellow believers, because you know that we who teach will be judged more strictly" (James chapter 3, verse 1). An interesting phenomenon has been occurring quite regularly in the Muslim world for several decades now. Tens of thousands, perhaps even millions of Muslims who have no knowledge of the Gospel, who live in countries where there is no preaching of the Good News, and where just being a Christian let alone converting to Christianity can invoke the death sentence, have seen and met a mysterious man in white in their dreams and visions. These many men and women, after meeting this man, risk all and convert to Christianity. So, who is this man and what is so convincing about what he says that people would leave everything they knew and put themselves in terrible mortal danger? The four common threads This man (as Im sure youve guessed) is Jesus. The reports missionaries and others give, say that while the accounts themselves may vary somewhat, they all more or less have the following aspects which they share in common: 1) Jesus appeared to them 2) Jesus tells them to find and speak with a person at a certain time 3) When they follow His instructions, they find the person at exactly the right time and place, and the person presents the Gospel, explaining who Jesus really is 4) The Muslim believes Jesus is the Saviour and Messiah and places their faith in Him, in the process renouncing Islam. Night of destiny The reports indicate that the vast majority of these dreams and visions occur during the Islamic month of Ramadan or soon after, especially during what is called the Night of Destiny or Laylat al-Qadr. This is the night when Muslims the world over seek Allah for spiritual breakthrough and any other requests they may have. This occurs in the last week of Ramadan. This night is the number one night of the year when Jesus Himself appears to Muslims in dreams and visions. The Muslims are sincerely searching for God and seekingas best they canhow to please Him, and Jesus accommodates that request. What should we make of them? All these dreams and visions raise an important question: What are Christians to make of the claims of the Muslims who have the dreams? Considering the account of the conversion of the apostle Paul, there is little reason to doubt such claims. Jesus appeared to Paul in a vison and told him to go to Damascus and wait. Ananias was sent by Jesus to Paul where he explained the Gospel to Paul, and Paul became a follower of Jesus. Also, there are many more such accounts found throughout Scripture where God chooses to communicate to men and women in dreams and visions. Questioning the legitimacy While many Muslims have come to follow Jesus through dreams and visions, Christians have been known to question the legitimacy of these encounterseven though lives are saved and people decide to follow Jesus at great risk to life and limb. Scepticism Its no secret that Muslims, especially of the Shia sect, are quite open to hear God in dreams, so why arent so many Christians? Somehow, weve forgotten that the Scriptures are full of accounts where God spoke to humans in dreams and visions. In fact, nearly 1/3 of the Old Testament is made up of accounts of dreams and visions. Additionally, many famous biblical stories begin with a dream. In Scripture we find numerous accounts of those who didnt know God being spoken to by Him in dreams. Culture of rationalism I believe the scepticism towards dreams can be explained in part by a lack of understanding in relation to the work of the Holy Spirit. Weve been taught to doubt the veracity of Him. Combining this doubt with a culture of rationalism, birthed primarily out of the so-called Enlightenment, meant that its harder for us to trust the supernatural. Even though we read about it in the Bible, socialisation in the West has taught us to not believe it is possible today. Theres also the fact that Islam started with a vision, as did Mormonism and a whole string of cults. Critics wonder how we could evaluate such dreams to know whether they are true or not. Where the Spirit moves While Christians have a variety of approaches to dreams and visions, Muslims are open to dreams being revelatory, due to both cultural and religious factors. Dreams of Jesus, then, are taken quite seriously. There are cases of people making up stories about dreams or visions to fit in or to get asylum. But where the Spirit moves, Satan distorts and distracts. He tries to attack and muddle what is real, but his should only cause us to be more discerning, not dismissive. We can rejoice in all that the Lord is doing among the Muslims. hawaii Meetings, Conventions, Incentives (MCI) Tourism Market is likely to reach nearly USD 1.3 Billion by the year end of 2022. Market growth can be attributed to factors such as Ideal Meetings Location, Unbeatable Event Spaces, Safety, Productive Atmosphere, Accommodations, International Accessibility, Enrichment Opportunities and Natural Wonders. Japan, US West and US East MCI tourists play a significant role in contributing revenue to the Hawaii economy. Japan contributed more than 30% revenue followed by US East with more than 27% revenue in 2016. Japan is likely to maintain dominance in Hawaii MCI tourists revenue generator by the year end of 2022. US East and US West have shown its potential to become 2nd and 3rd major revenue generator countries by the year end of 2022. Other countries such as Other Asia, China and Canada emerge as the largest revenue generator in the Hawaii MCI Tourism Market. Request for Report Sample: https://www.trendsmarketresearch.com/report/sample/3867 The research report titled Hawaii Meetings, Conventions, Incentives (MCI) Tourism Market Insights, Opportunity, Analysis, Growth Potential & Forecast 2017 2022 provides detailed information on the Hawaii MCI Tourism Market. This report analyzes market data and provides a better understanding of MCI travelers flows and revenue to Hawaii. Market outlook in value terms for the forecasted period for Hawaii MCI tourism market has been detailed in the report. This report also entails a detailed description of market drivers and inhibitors of the Hawaii MCI tourism market. This 65 Pages report with 52 Figures and 4 Tables have been analyzed from 5 viewpoints: Hawaii MCI Travelers, Revenue & Forecast (2013 2022) Hawaii MCI Travelers, Revenue Share & Forecast (2013 2022) Hawaii MCI Travelers, Revenue & Forecast Top 12 Country Analysis (2013 2022) Hawaii MCI Tourism Market Market Drivers Hawaii MCI Tourism Market Inhibitors Hawaii MCI Tourism Market 12 Countries Covered Place a Direct Purchase Order @ https://www.trendsmarketresearch.com/checkout/3867/Single US West US East Japan Canada Australia New Zealand Other Asia China Korea Taiwan Europe Latin America Request for Report Discount: https://www.trendsmarketresearch.com/report/discount/3867 United States Insulin Pen Market is expected to reach more than US$2.5 Billion by 2022. Market growth can be attributed to factors such as diabetes patient population, userfriendly design, help avoid over/underdosing of insulin, rising market demand for human insulin analogs and technological advancements in the field of insulin pen devices. However, low patient awareness, lack of device education and training among physicians and perception of the higher cost is expected to hamper growth of the market during forecast period. United States Insulin Pen Market Size, Share, Opportunity, Analysis, Growth Potential & Demand Forecast 2017 2022 provides a deep and thorough evaluation of the United States Insulin Pen Market. The report provides an indepth analysis of overall diabetes population and insulin users. It provides essential insights into insulin pen users with more focusedon reusable and prefilled insulin pen users. Market outlook in value terms has been analysed based on current and potential trends and the market is estimated from 2017 to 2022. It also covers reimbursement pattern and offers a clear view of the regulatory landscape. The report also explores detailed description of growth drivers and inhibitors of the United States Insulin Pen Market. Request for Report Sample: https://www.trendsmarketresearch.com/report/sample/3870 The report concludes with the profiles of major players in the Insulin Pen Market such as Novo Nordisk, Eli Lilly, Sanofi, Owen Mumford. The major market players are evaluated on various parameters such as company overview, product outlook and latest development and trends of the Insulin Pen Market. Key Topics Covered in the Report Place a Direct Purchase Order @ https://www.trendsmarketresearch.com/checkout/3870/Single United States Diabetes Population (2011 2022) United States Insulin Users (2011 2022) United States Insulin Pen Users (2011 2022) United States Reusable (Cartridge) Insulin Pen Users (2011 2022) United States Prefilled (Disposable) Insulin Pen Users (2011 2022) United States Insulin Pen Market (2011 2022) United States Reusable (Cartridge) Insulin Pen Market (2011 2022) United States Prefilled (Disposable) Insulin Pen Market (2011 2022) United States Insulin Pen Market: Reimbursement & Regulation System Key Companies Analysis Key Drivers and Inhibitors of the United States Insulin Pen Market Key Companies Covered in the Report are as follows: Novo Nordisk Eli Lilly Sanofi Owen Mumford Request for Report Discount: https://www.trendsmarketresearch.com/report/discount/3870 United States Insulin Pump Market is expected to reach US$ 3.8 Billion by the year end of 2022. Market growth can be attributed to factors such as increasing number of diabetic patients, growing awareness towards diabetes, improved glucose control and flexible, lifestyle-compatible treatment options and technological advancement in insulin pump devices. However, high cost of the insulin pump devices is expected to hamper growth of the market during forecast period. This is the 2nd latest edition report published by the Market Report Publisher. United States Insulin Pump Market Size, Share, Opportunity, Analysis, Growth Potential & Demand Forecast 2017 2022 provides a deep and thorough evaluation of the United States Insulin Pump Market. The report provides an in-depth analysis of the type 1, type 2 and newly diagnosed type 1 diabetes and overall diabetes population. It provides essential insights into insulin pump users with more focused on type 1 and type 2 diabetes insulin pump users. Market outlook in value terms has been analysed based on current and potential trends and the market is estimated from 2017 to 2022. Additionally, the report includes assessment of clinical trials and preferred insulin pump brand by the patients. Key trends in terms of collaborations, partnerships and licensing agreements are analysed with details. The report also explores detailed description of growth drivers and inhibitors of the United States Insulin Pump Market. Request for Report Sample: https://www.trendsmarketresearch.com/report/sample/3871 The report concludes with the profiles of major players in the Insulin Pump Market such as Insulet Corporation, Medtronic, Roche, Animas Corporation and Tandem Diabetes Care. The major market players are evaluated on various parameters such as company overview, product outlook and sales analysis of the Insulin Pump and Diabetes Market from 2011 to 2022. Key Topics Covered in the Report Place a Direct Purchase Order @ https://www.trendsmarketresearch.com/checkout/3871/Single United States Diabetes Population (2011 2022) United States Insulin Pump Users and Market Analysis (2011 2022) United States Insulin Pump Preferred Brand By Product United States Insulin Pump Market: Reimbursement & Regulation System United States Insulin Pump Market Major Deal Types Insulin Pump Market Clinical Trail Insight by Phase, Company & Country Key Companies Analysis Key Drivers and Inhibitors of the United States Insulin Pump Market Key Companies Covered in the Report are as follows: Insulet Corporation Medtronic Roche Animas Corporation and Tandem Diabetes Care Request for Report Discount: https://www.trendsmarketresearch.com/report/discount/3871 Coronary Stent Market Research Report: By Type (Bare-Metal Stents, Drug-Eluting Stents, and Bio Absorbable Stents), by Mode of Delivery (Balloon-Expandable Stents and Self-Expanding Stents), by End-User (Hospitals & Clinics) -Forecast Till 2027 The worldwide Coronary Stent Market Size is estimated to rise to have a CAGR of 7.8% during the forecasted time frame of 2023. Get a FREE Sample Copy of Report with Complete TOC @ https://www.marketresearchfuture.com/sample_request/5915 Coronary Stent Market Overview Coronary stents are a small tube-like device that is placed into the coronary arteries of a patient in order to keep the arteries open in the coronary heart disease treatment and prevent the same from any kind of blockage. It is used for broadening the narrowed arteries and helps curb-down chest pain and the chances of heart attack. According to the recently published report by the team of Market Research Future (MRFR), the global coronary stent market is projected to grow at a rate of 7.8% during the review period. The market is identified to be driven by a number of factors, including the wide-spread prevalence of heart-related diseases and a proliferating demand for diagnosis and treatment methods. Additionally, the growing availability of diagnostic services for coronary heart diseases is also pushing the growth of the market. A growing percentage of positive outcomes with stenting and the emergence of a number of advancing technologies in the coronary artery field is adding to the market growth of the device. It is also worth noting that alternative treatment methods for curing coronary artery diseases and a number of product recall cases are likely to hinder the market growth of coronary stents. Coronary Stent Market Segmentation Global coronary stent market segmentation is classified on the basis of mode of delivery, type, material, and end-user. By type, the market segments into drug-eluting stents, bioabsorbable stents, and bare-metal stents. By material, the market comprises cobalt chromium, metallic stents, stainless steels, platinum chromium, nickel titanium, and others. By end-user, the market includes hospitals and clinics, ambulatory surgical centers, cardiac centers, and others. By mode of delivery, the market divides into self-expanding and balloon-expandable stents. Coronary Stent Market Regional Analysis The regional analysis of the global coronary stent market segments into North America, Latin America, Europe, Asia-Pacific, and the Middle East & Africa. North America is the dominant region of the lot and is primarily driven by the surging patient population suffering from coronary heart diseases, an increasing pool of geriatric population, and growing investments in the healthcare sector. Latin America, on the other hand, is slated to be one of the fastest growing regional market owing to the rising demand for coronary heart disease treatment options and the availability of technologically advanced devices for diagnosis purposes. With Germany and the UK being the major contributors, the European coronary stent market is expected to flourish in the forthcoming years. An increasing emphasis on the diagnosis and treatment of heart and other related diseases has majorly driven the market in this region. The increasing healthcare expenditure is another key contributor to the markets growth. Asia-Pacific stands out as the fastest growing market amongst all the mentioned regions. This projection can be primarily attributed to the increasing prevalence of cardiovascular diseases and a rising focus on performing early diagnosis and treatment of heart diseases. The Middle East & African region is forecasted to exhibit a slow and steady rise in the growth ladder. The regional market is starting to show positive signs with an increasing number of healthcare facilities offering treatments for chronic diseases and an increasing growth of the medical device sector, especially for diagnostic devices. In Africa, increasing awareness concerning coronary heart diseases is pushing the market growth herein. Coronary Stent Market Competitive Landscape The market includes some highly noteworthy players including B. Braun Melsungen AG (Germany), MicroPort Scientific Corporation (China), Vascular Concepts (India), Terumo Corporation (Japan), BIOTRONIK SE & Co. KG (Germany), Translumina GmbH (Germany), Biosensors International Group, Ltd. (Singapore), Meril Life Sciences Pvt. Ltd. (India), Elixir Medical Corporation (U.S.), Boston Scientific Corporation (U.S.), STENTYS SA (France), Medtronic plc (Ireland), Abbott Laboratories (U.S.), Reva Medical Inc. (U.S.), and others. Coronary Stent Industry Overview Feb 8th, 2019, CeloNova BioSciences, Inc. (CeloNova), an innovative global medical device leader, announced the signing of a three-year group purchasing agreement with HealthTrust for their new game-changing Coronary Stent named COBRA PzF(TM) NanoCoated Coronary Stent (NCS) System. Feb 22nd, 2019, Biotronic announced the approval of Osiro, an ultrathin-strut coronary stent, from the US Food and Drug Administration for the treatment of coronary artery disease. It was approved in Europe eight years back and has been implanted upon millions of patients globally. Get More Information on Coronary Stent Market Research Report Forecast to 2023 @ https://www.marketresearchfuture.com/reports/coronary-stent-market-5915 About Market Research Future: At Market Research Future (MRFR), we enable our customers to unravel the complexity of various industries through our Cooked Research Report (CRR), Half-Cooked Research Reports (HCRR), Raw Research Reports (3R), Continuous-Feed Research (CFR), and Market Research & Consulting Services. According to the report, the global body contouring devices market garnered $933 million in 2017 and is expected to reach $3,446 million, registering a CAGR of 17.7% from 2018 to 2025. Increase in obesity worldwide, rise in aesthetic consciousness, and advancements in the field of body contouring facilitate the growth in the market. However, high cost related to body contouring procedures restrains market growth. On the other hand, the increase in medical tourism and untapped potential in emerging economies create new opportunities. Body contouring devices have gained a substantial market share in recent years due to rise in obesity globally. In addition, surge in esthetic consciousness across the globe is another major factor that in turn has fueled the use of body contouring devices. Furthermore, untapped potential in the emerging markets in Asia-Pacific is anticipated to boost the market growth in the future. End users analyzed in the research include hospitals & clinics, medical spas, and laboratories. Hospitals & clinics contributed to nearly two-thirds of the total market share in 2017 and will dominate throughout the forecast period, owing to the availability of certified staff & physicians. Geographically, Asia-Pacific is expected to grow at the highest growth rate, with a CAGR of 19.0% from 2018 to 2025, owing to rise in obesity in different countries of the region and surge in demand for body shaping devices among men in South Korea. Key findings of the Body Contouring Devices Market: The minimally invasive devices segment accounted for one-third share of the global body contouring devices market in 2017. The skin tightening segment is expected to grow at the highest CAGR from 2017 to 2025. The hospital & clinic segment accounted for around two-thirds share of the global body contouring devices market in 2017. Europe accounted for more than one-fourth share of the global market in 2017. Asia-Pacific is expected to provide lucrative growth opportunities from 2017 to 2025. North America accounted the highest revenue share in 2017 and is expected to maintain its dominance during the forecast period. This is attributed to high purchasing power and easy availability of devices in this region. However, Asia-Pacific is expected to grow at the highest CAGR during the forecast period due to increase in affordability and rise in healthcare expenditure. Leading market players analyzed in the report include Allergan plc, Bausch Health Companies Inc., Hologic, Inc., Shanghai Fosun Pharmaceutical Group Co., Ltd., Erchonia Corporation, MicroAire Surgical Instruments, LLC, Cutera, Inc., InMode Aesthetic Solutions, Sciton, Inc., and El.En. S.p.A. (Asclepion Laser Technologies GmbH). According to the report, two young women, ages 21 and 23, who live in New Britain and Meriden, were returning to Connecticut together from Florida. The women were seated in front of two children, ages 2 and 4, who reportedly tapped the womens seats. The women responded by yelling and cursing at the children and their parents, the report says, frightening both the family and surrounding passengers. Two individuals reported that their cars were damaged while traveling down the interstate near Exit 20 in Middletown. They used terms like its over, its done, we dont need to be alarmist, Looney said. We are in arguably in a renewed surge of the pandemic that is far worse than what we were in in July. Many scientists are concerned that the spike could continue into October. Its even easier to make the case now for the extension of the governors powers than it was in July. Weve had a lot of deep, soaking rains. When you drive around you see a lot of deep, dark green colors and thats great. If the trees are healthy going in to fall, youre more likely to have great colors, Ward said. I think this year is going to be one of those great years. The legislature empowered the Inspector General to investigate all instances of deadly force and where physical force by a peace officer results in death. In addition, it will be the duty of the office to prosecute any case where the finding is not justifiable and make further recommendations concerning the peace officer in question to the Police Officers Standards and Training Council. But Republicans insist she has struck the right balance for New Britain, and both sides last week accused the other of politicizing public health. Stewart at one point called Ayalon rude after he said Lupo needs to be more familiar with new research if he wants his opinion to be trusted. The starter pistol in the race to the bottom of public discourse was fired a while ago, but that doesnt mean we cant stop it. To do that we have to understand the cause. From racial injustice, to income inequality, to our recent wars, there has not been a need for our collective sacrifice. Some of us had to carry the burden while others were left unaffected. This has created the environment we now live in where we are incapable of eradicating a virus because certain Americans refuse the smallest action for their fellow countrymen. A free shot is too much of an imposition; a thin layer of fabric is too burdensome. Their obvious insouciance for the health and well-being of others is proudly on display as they shout down doctors and elected officials. They tried to get out through the airport, and they were beaten and bruised and terrified in the process, George said. They have been hunkering down in safe houses in Kabul, in hiding, running out of food, and I have to be honest running out of hope. They feel like they are bargaining chips in some high-stakes game of international diplomacy. Some of them are even feeling like hostages. Our State Department has not been doing enough to bring these U.S. citizens and green-card holders home. Ive had a number of women reach out to let me know about their experience with endometriosis, said Gilchrest, a Democrat from West Hartford. These women have been made to feel crazy about the physical pain theyre experiencing and how heavy their periods are, only to find out, years later, they were experiencing endometriosis and by that point in time, theyd become infertile. Close Get email notifications on {{subject}} daily! Your notification has been saved. There was a problem saving your notification. {{description}} Email notifications are only sent once a day, and only if there are new matching items. Even though Aston supports vaccinations, he said he worried about side effects of the mandate. For example, it could be problematic if an employee in a key role or small department refused the vaccine and weekly tests. Some positions at TowneBank are specialized, and recruiting talent for them can be difficult. The next step would be that the county will then begin the procurement process to hire RiverStreet for construction and operation of a new fiber-optic system, New Kent Countys website states. The goal is to begin construction in fall 2021. The first phase of the project is anticipated to take up to three years to complete, and will involve the construction of a fiber-optic ring that will serve as the backbone of the system. The total phasing schedule is projected to take up to six years to connect all residents who are interested in service. Thalaivii, which released in theatres a couple of days ago, has found mixed response among critics and moviegoers, with some calling it a boring representation of a very convenient topic (J Jayalalithaa). However, among those who liked it is none other than talk hostess and veteran actress Simi Garewal. Simi, one of the celebrities present at the special screening of the film in Mumbai, came out of watching the film with high praise for actress Kangana Ranaut, who played the role of the protagonist in the biopic of the former chief minister of Tamil Nadu, J Jayalalithaa. In her Twitter page, Simi posted her thoughts, writing, Altho I do not support #KanganaRanauts radical comments..I do support her acting talent. In Thalaivii, she gives it her heart & soul! Jaya-ji wanted Aishwarya to play her..my hunch is JJ wud hv approved of Kanganas portrayal. As for @thearavindswamy he is MGR reincarnate!! [sic]. Simi Garewal Of course, like everything Kangana of late, Simis tweet found the trolls. One of her followers commented, She was very kind enough to invite you to the screening & yet you cant do away with her ideology & just appreciate her craft. I just wonder a woman of your stature would have to do such things to stay relevant! Also, how do people bad mouth a person they just met an hour ago! [sic]. Another fan thought Simi shouldnt have said what she said especially because nothing like that has been said about other actors like Sanjay Dutt and Salman . Do we state same phrases every time v watch movie. I havent seen statements like, We dont like Salmans personal life full of crimes, but salmn done good job in movie or Sanjay Dutts links with underworld aint appreciated but movie is good. Why special phrases for Kangana? [sic]. The above comment even caught Kanganas attention, which she then screenshot and shared on her Instagram stories with the caption, Because Kangana is a nationalist. Actor Uttejs wife Padmavathi passed away at a private hospital in Hyderabad on Monday morning. She was undergoing treatment for cancer. Chiranjeevi, Prakash Raj, Jeevitha Rajasekhar and others rushed to the hospital. Many other film personalities have been sending their condolences to the bereaved family. Padmavathi participated in social and philanthropic activities along with her husband, apart from managing Uttejs work. The poem, Light of Asia, by Edwn Arnold has a curious life and journey of its own. Hyderabad: When a politician loses, the author within awakens. The aphorism seems tailor-made for Jairam Ramesh, who had a couple of books before 2004, a single anthology during the UPA era between 2004 and 2014, but has eight books after Narendra Modi took office. Staggering output, marked by an exceptional range of themes and topics added to his oeuvre, his latest and unimpeachably his most ambitious work already being acknowledged a masterpiece, Jairam acknowledges the irony. The author in me will be grateful to Modi. He gave me the time to reflect on ideas, subjects and themes I always wanted to but being in power meant not being able to find time for. These books, one after the other, dealt with subjects I had a special fascination for. Yet, none of his books were only about dabbling with the subjects and penning reflections. The biography of Indira Gandhi was a unique perspective of her life and love for the environmental. His work on P. N. Hanskar, delved deeply into the quintessential top-bureaucrat who held more influence and sway that perhaps any other, and easily a benchmark for any future work to analyse a bureaucrat in retrospect. The work on V. K. Krishna Menon, who Jairam says was both controversial and consequential, not only merely rekindled interest in a life of the man, but unleashed strong emotive response from readers. Given the manufactured, fashionable anger of today against the first prime minister, and the animosity and fear of China, the work on Menon went on to become a hit. It is here, surprisingly, Jairam Ramesh abandons his comfort zone. A bit like Buddha. In selecting a work on a subject not contemporary, a perspective sui generis he was not writing about Buddha but undertaking to do a Boswell, not on a person but a poem. The poem itself was remarkably powerful, and influential; and in telling the tale of its conception, its creation, its impact and influence, Ramesh found his highest inner calling sufficiently inflamed. A few days after the pandemic had taken stranglehold of our lives and the Prime Minister announced a nation-wide lockdown (March 24, 2020), I started my research, he narrates. It took him almost six months of intensive research. Post the research phase, he started accessing online archives across the world, digitally. Across specific resources in the UK, Russia, the USA, and Germany, even the Vatican library. He lucubrated for three months, and after keying in 120,000 words, had achieved the first draft. The author in him is batting with the strike rate of Kohli, I quip. He laughs his slightly immodest acknowledgement. From the time of the idea to starting the research to writing and editing the book to its launch I am clocking it at around 12 to 14 months a book. But now I am done will take a break, he says. He presents the easy part of the challenge first. Having so much of scholarship and having access to them in a lockdown digitally made it easy. Any study of Buddhism has this great advantage, it has always been friendly to scholarship. But the sense of urgency work was driven more by the emotional attachment, special empathy and passion for the subject than availability of material. Why Buddha? The book will be special every Indian because Buddha is in the Indian DNA. There is a Buddha in every Indian cultural context. Most Indian homes and public places have a carving or statue of Buddha. Yet, fascinatingly, this bond is cultural, not theological. Buddhism as a religion, Indias greatest export to the world, besides yoga, has long been severed from India at large, but Buddha has a living presence. It is a localised Buddha, different in many a myriad ways from the Chinese, Japanese or Korean Buddha. Buddha, of course, has many incarnations and each land he has found a prominent place, has its version. The Lankan or Cambodian Buddha is known but even Afghanistan, Central Asia, even as far as Russia or Persia, we have Buddhist accounts. He is revered as Dalia Lama to the Tibetians. Biography of a poem? The poem, Light of Asia, by Edwn Arnold has a curious life and journey of its own. Published in 1879 by the English civil servant posted in India, the historiography of Buddha has had an epic impact, both in India and abroad. It has been translated into multiple Indian languages interestingly, sometimes as verse, at times as prose. It is popular in Gujarati, Sindhi, Hindi, Bengali and Tamil. Popularising the life and teachings of Buddha, it was published in Telugu, I found out, in 1902 as a poem titled, Buddha Charitaramu, by Venkata Shastry and Tirupati Shastry. It was commissioned by the zamindar of Pollavaram Bahadur Kotcharlage Krishna Raju. The Punjabi translation is in prose while it is in poetry form in Hindi and Malayalam. Global influence Sir Edwin Arnolds poem, The life of Buddha focuses on the humanity of Buddha not his divinity. This idea brought Buddha into global focus because for many of his followers, he was a preacher and a reformer, not a God. Sir C. V. Raman rated the Light of Asia as one of the three most influential works of his life. Sir Arnold was an extraordinary Info-phile. He was well versed of Mahabharata and the Gita Upadesha, which he composed as poems in 1885. The Song celestial, was the first avatar in which Mahatma Gandhi discovered the Gita, a text he always carried with himself till his death. What makes Buddhas appeal so enduring and universal? In fact, the Church was very angry with the success of Life of Buddha. They commissioned Arnold to write one on Jesus Christ, Light of the World but there were few takers. The reason for the appeal of this poem, and the icon, was that during the times it was written, there was growing disenchantment with the church. The disbelief in God was increasing, with economic prosperity came inequality and people were looking for a system of personal morality, and beyond, for hope. Buddha fulfilled the need. Everyone found in Buddha something they wanted, needed. Buddha as understood by Swami Vivekananda, Tagore, Gandhi, or Nehru were not same. But Buddha became to many an Indian at that time a figure to establish Indias spiritual superiority over imperialist England. The nationalist movement was seething with this feeling. They argued that we Indians may be have been subjugated by the West, but we are superior in civilisations terms and therefore we can interact from a positon of equality. The reading of the poem and understanding its impact therefore necessitates that we do not, and cannot, divorce the content of the poem of its historic context. So while Vivekananda and Gandhi saw in Buddha an icon of spiritual richness of India, there were others, looking for icons from our own history to establish a grounding for other ideas. Like equality of all humans. Social revolutionaries who attacked caste and Vedic orthodoxy from Sri Narayana guru or D. D. Kosambi and Dr B. R. Ambedkar. Thus was Buddha was simultaneously a spiritual, a cultural and a political icon. For reformers, Buddha was a figure who attacked the caste system. Buddhas teachings There are many aspects to his teachings but in essence Buddha opened in a new way an old Indic wisdom you can reach the divine through several ways, among them gyana (knowledge), yoga (meditation, self-realisation), karma (actions) or sanyasa (renunciation). Buddha was preaching that you must be your own experiment, be your own lighthouse. You could follow Buddha without being a Buddhist. He provoked enquiry into the roots of social ethics and individual morality. He did not seem to say I have answers as much as I will encourage you to find your own answers. Be your own searcher. It was a very modern and scientific method. In fact, after the contemporary animosity, by the eight century, Brahmins appropriate him and a century later, he was dubbed the ninth Avatar of Vishnu, possibly sensing the growing threat of Buddhism. Buddha spiritual or political icon? Consider this. Why did young prince Siddhartha abandon his kingdom? There are several views. One thread of history argues he was disenchanted by the war between various princely clans over water. After he failed to bring in reconciliations, he was vexed, a bit of a la Marxist aversion to status quo, which pushed him to seek a path of revolution of sorts. At the spiritual level, Buddha enlightens us that Nirvana as a concept is not a negative but one which demands a positive and active engagement with life in all contexts. Most Indians build their worldview from our twin Hindu epics, Ramayana and Mahabharata. Buddha feels like a natural extension of several of these themes. Today, and for the last century, we can violence rocking societies that accepted the Buddhist theology. Japans role in the World War II made them the darkness of Asia. There have been several other instances of political abuse of Buddha. Both facets of Buddha are relevant today. Social reform is always incomplete. We have abolished untouchability but so much of discrimination still exists. I feel more connected to and inspired by the side of Buddha that spoke to Dr Ambeddkar. Nehru loved Arnolds Light of Asia whereas Gandhiji was a lover of Gita, both by the same author. The English and several Europeans sensed in Buddha a kind of reformer, a kind of Jesus. He was a like a Protestant reformer to them. But what is in little doubt is that Buddha was one of the greatest figures of human history, and Sir Arnolds Light of Asia one of the most important works of and for humanity. A CMO release pointed out that the farmers should be discouraged from raising paddy and encouraged to switch over to cereals and vegetables. Representational Image. (DC File Image) Hyderabad: Telangana is heading for a major agrarian crisis in the next few months with a glut in paddy production in the ongoing Kharif season, according to official sources. Both the Centre and the state government decided to procure less than half of the expected 1.40 crore tonnes of paddy output from the ongoing season, a clear indication of the distress that farmers have to go through in the days to come. Weeks after Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao took pride in turning Telangana into the rice bowl of the country during his Independence Day speech, a high-level meeting chaired by him here on Sunday dropped enough hints about the drastic cut in the procurement. According to an official press release from the Chief Ministers Office, the meeting opined that the farmers opting for paddy in the next rabi season would be suicidal as the Centre categorically announced its decision not to procure a single tonne of boiled rice. Union minister for civil supplies Piyush Goyal made it clear to Telangana ministers K. T. Rama Rao and Gangula Kamalakar when they called on him in New Delhi a few days ago. Statistics provided in the official note also indicated that farmers are all set to face distress sale post harvesting of the ongoing kharif crop. Of the 92 lakhs tonnes procured by the Telangana government spending more than Rs 2000 crore, 70 lakh tonnes are still lying in either rice mills or civil supplies godowns, said the CMO note. Maintaining that the government procured paddy in the last rabi in view of the difficult times being faced by farmers in the Covid pandemic, the high-level meeting opined that for this kharif, however, the government should restrict itself to procure only 60 lakh tonnes. The release said farm produce had increased due to the Kaleshwaram irrigation project, financial assistance under Rythu Bandhu and uninterrupted power supply but due to lack of proper measures by the Centre like export and food processing promotion, there is a glut in production. Farmers should be discouraged from raising paddy and encouraged to switch over to cereals and vegetables, the release pointed out. Police said they held the former tahsilodar, on September 11 and recorded his confession. Representational Image. (DC File Image) Nellore: The Markapur police arrested a retired tehsidlar on Sunday for issuing Patta passbooks after irregular mutation of land records pertaining to 378.69 acres in Markapur revenue division. The tehsildar, Pallepogu Vidya Sagarudu, 60, of Vinukonda in Guntur district, allegedly carried out the illegal mutations before June 30, 2021 while working in Markapur. Based on a complaint from the present tehsildar of Markapur, Dandamudi Elisha, of Vinukonda in Guntur district on September 8, the Prakasam police formed teams and caught hold of the former tehsildar. Cops are on the lookout for the other officials involved in the scam. The retired tehsildar colluded with mandal revenue inspector, some VROs, and surveyors to make illegal online entries without following proper procedure. They fraudulently forged the signatures, misused biometric thumb impressions and carried out irregular mutations to a total of 378.89 acres land in Markapur revenue division, police investigating the case said. Police said they held the former tahsilodar, on September 11 and recorded his confession. With the intent to cheat the government, he created records by falsification of government lands records in the name of private persons and resorted to irregularities in the entry of online details and demanded bribes, police said. According to police, The VROs, MRI & tehsildar have not examined the exact share of legal heirs; and without verifying their share in the applications, land kept under the head of others in Webland in favour of the applicant was mutated. In case of Patta lands, without verification of the share of the applicant in the documents, the share of others was assigned in favour of the applicant and recommendation was made for Pattadar passbooks. The officials had also not examined the authenticity of the executants to enter into a transaction with the applicant, change the name of the applicant against others, the lands kept under which is irregular and against the ROR Act. They have also carried out mutations in government lands without verifying earlier assignment files. Mutations were carried out on others names in AW/UAW/Konda proramboke lands. They have not examined the genealogy of the applicants with the assignees and changed the names of the other applicants not related to the assignees in webland. All these were done on small bits of lands that were mentioned in webland as others by real-estate owners, who created fake agreements in favour of the applicants to grab the government land, Patta lands and assignment lands for their personal benefit. The special collector (LA), Veligonda project, Ongole, reported that the irregular mutations were carried out on 378.69 acres of land by the VRO, MRI, tehsildar in Markapur mandal. We're always interested in hearing about news in our community. Let us know what's going on! Go to form Get 25% off of the regular $65 annual All Access rate. With this subscription you will get: Digital access to ElPasoInc.com and archives (value $45) Print subscription home or business delivered (value $65) Book of Lists (annual rate only, value $50) El Paso Inc. Magazine (value $20) El Paso Kids Inc. Special sections - OR - Get 15% off of the regular $45 annual Digital-only rate. With this subscription you will get: Complete digital access to ElPasoInc.com. Game theory and the Blackmailers Paradox By Lachlan Black If someone told you and a stranger that you could share $100,000 if you could agree on splitting it, what would you do? The obvious choice would be to split it 50/50, and everyone would be happy. The stranger then proceeds to say he wont leave the room with less than $90,000. You end up taking the $10,000 because the stranger wont back down. Robert J. Aumann presented this Blackmailer's Paradox to describe Israel and the Arab countries. Aumann is an Israeli-American, and a great economist, famous for his game theory. He put forth this idea where two men are put in a room with a suitcase of money. They are told that they could have $100,000 if they could agree on splitting it. One of the men immediately tells the other that he wont leave the room with less than $90,000. The other man thinks thats absurd, and tries to talk some sense into him. Aumann explains that the second man eventually caves, and takes $10,000, rather than nothing. Because the stranger remained rational and that he would rather get nothing than $50,000, the other man was forced to behave irrationally, and left the room humiliated. The Arab and Israel relationship is based on this Blackmailer's Paradox. The Arabs put forth absurd and unacceptable starting points. They would act so sure of themselves, making it clear that they wouldnt back down, and that Israel would be forced to comply. An example of one of the ludicrous negotiations was with Syria. The Syrians told Israel that they would not do any negotiations on one millimeter of the Golan Heights. The Israelis of course agreed to this, despite it being of critical importance in ensuring secure borders for Israel, because they were eager for a peace treaty with Syria. Based on game theory, Israel has to change basic perceptions in order to reach any agreement with the Arab countries. Their political stand is that agreements must be made with Arabs at any cost. The man who received $10,000 in the Blackmailer's Paradox behaved how he did because he was eager to get at least some money, and couldnt bear to walk away with none. This is similar to Israel, where any rejections of agreements would not help. Game theory studies the ways in which interacting choices produce outcomes. The Blackmailer's Paradox is applicable to the Israel and Arab conflict according to game theory. Robert Aumann concludes that for Israel to retain at least some of her political status, she would need to stop behaving irrationally and put an end to the ridiculous demands of Syria to give up Golan Heights. Syria has complete faith in its position over not giving up Golan Heights, and therefore will not back down. Game theory does not express an opinion over the sides, but seeks to analyze the strategic behaviors of the two parties. If Israel stopped ignoring the principles of game theory, her political status would improve substantially. This is Lachlan Blacks first contribution to Enter Stage Right. (C) 2021 Lachlan Black Home Iran and the Taliban: Bitter enemies or potential partners By Amb. Dore Gold Just as the Taliban emerged as a political force in Afghanistan in 1994, it became clear very quickly that their relations with their western neighbor, Iran, were for the most part based on mutual hostility. They were each radical extremes of the Sunni-Shiite divide with their political systems claiming that the head of their movement served as the leader of all Muslims. The Sunni Taliban came from the Pashtun ethnic group in Afghanistan, which represented some 40 percent of the population. Shiite Iran was by far the larger state in terms of population with close to 83 million in 2019; Afghanistan, by contrast, had a population of only 38 million in 2019. The potential for tensions between Iran and Afghanistan was considerable. In 1997, the Taliban fought against one of their greatest domestic rivals, the Hazaras, who were ethnic Shiites living in Afghanistan, but only constituted 10 to 15 percent of its population. During that period, many Afghan Shiites fled to Iran, where they lived in refugee camps. The Taliban goal in those years was to ethnically cleanse northern Afghanistan of its Shiite population by giving them three choices: conversion to Sunni Islam, moving to Iran, or death. Women were taken as sex slaves. At the end of the 1990s, Iran and the Taliban nearly went to war. First, 70,000 Iranian Revolutionary Guards with tanks and aircraft began an exercise along the Afghan-Iranian frontier. In October 1998, Iran mobilized 200,000 troops and began a series of exercises along the border as well. So why should there even be a question about the future relations between Iran and the Taliban? The reason is that this was not the only model for Iranian-Taliban relations. The Iranians also pursued a strategy of supplying Taliban units with arms and cash as well as training Taliban fighters, using the Iranian Revolutionary Guards. Iran was employing Shiite Afghans in Syria as well in order to advance Iranian interests in the Levant. They were used to promote Irans war against ISIS on Syrian territory. But they also could provide an important force multiplier in Syria for Iran in a future war against Israel. An Iranian official disclosed in early 2017 that there were 18,000 Afghans fighting under the command of Irans Quds Force in Syria, in the Fatemiyoun Division. Some estimates of the size of the Fatemiyoun Division reached 20,000 or even 60,000. It was the largest single external militia fighting in Syria. There was also a smaller force of Pakistani Shiites fighting in Syria, known as the Liwa Zainebiyoun, or the Zainabiyoun Brigade. In 2019, Washington designated the Fatemiyoun as an international terrorist organization for the support it gave to Irans Revolutionary Guards in Syria. So there were two possible courses of action for Iranian-Taliban relations: rivalry or cooperation. Both states were committed to seeing U.S. power in Afghanistan weakened. That joint interest should have pulled both countries into greater cooperation. But what will happen after the U.S. has withdrawn from Afghanistan? Does there remain any basis for Iranian-Afghan cooperation against American power once it is gone? What is more likely is that Iran will resume its policy of expansionism towards Afghanistan that it has demonstrated towards the Middle East as a whole in recent years. There were also historical factors. When the Persian Empire, when it was known as the Safavid Empire, officially made Shiism its state religion in the 16th century, its borders extended well beyond Irans present-day frontiers. In the east, the Safavid Empire stretched to what is today the Afghan city of Herat. It should come as no surprise that one of the main languages of Afghanistan, Dari, is a dialect of Farsi, the Persian language. Like Farsi, Dari uses the Arabic alphabet. Recovering lost Persian territories has been a theme of Iranian policy towards the Arab world and could well serve as a motive for the Iranians in their relations with their eastern neighbors, as well, especially Afghanistan. During the Iran-Iraq War (1980-1988), Iran found itself isolated as it had to contend with the combined power of the Sunni Arab world as well as other states. Adding the demographic weight of Shiite communities in Afghanistan and perhaps Pakistan could help Iran address this imbalance. 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 Politics against people and medicine in the race for a novel coronavirus cure (Revised) By Charlotte Cerminaro Since I first heard testimony from the Senate Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee on the state of the pandemic last February, it was clear that hard science would play no part in the information dispersed to the general public and, more importantly, the treatment options and preventive medicine that would forever alter the course of our lives. The striking contrast between politics, media propaganda and actual medical science was on full display and continues still, with blatantly unconstitutional mandates and deceitful, coercive journalism. The scene has been reenacted many times over this past year and a half--it would be just another argument about truth versus myth, except people's lives are at stake. On a very fundamental level, humans are becoming an endangered species: The greatest threat is not a virus; it's a vocal minority, the certainty that bully tactics will yield more than reason, and a frenzied war on our first amendment rights. Any reasonable ideas or alternatives are quashed in a predictable pattern of hysteria, threats, insults and misinformation. The panic button has been pushed too many times by politicians, the media, and pharmaceutical companies bolstered by government grants; the simple, straightforward testimony of physicians and researchers on the frontlines of medical care is easily drowned out by name-calling, labeling and preaching, by those who benefit from general public fear and ignorance. It's not only tiresome, it's predictable. It resembles a childish game, but the power of emotional and political manipulation takes its toll on reality and those who need it most. In the early days of the pandemic many healthcare workers noted that anti-inflammatory and anticoagulant therapy for patients hospitalized with respiratory distress was effective, cost- and life-saving--often eliminating the need for ventilator assistance and longer hospital stays--with better outcomes. Despite the research, this relatively simple treatment remained a mystery and a well-kept secret for many months. The odd, almost parasitic behavior of the virus prompted healthcare workers in numerous, large-scale studies to use Ivermectin as a prophylactic and post-infection treatment. This antiviral, antiparasitic Nobel Prize winning drug was among many repurposed, FDA approved medications that were part of the arsenal in some of the hardest hit and most heavily populated Asian and Latin American countries. The most convincing testimony in the SHS meeting was by Pierre Kory, MD, a professor of Critical Care Medicine at St. Luke's and a frontline healthcare provider throughout the pandemic. His remarks were from personal experience and medical research and he was clearly fighting back strong emotions. Forced to witness much needless death, he and many other physicians were barred from using Ivermectin, despite its remarkable efficacy and safety. Already proven as a potent antiviral medication, it pulled critically ill patients into recovery within 24 hours of administering the first dose. Its M.O.A. is known to be host-directed, docking to specific sites on the host cell and blocking the viral spike protein. It is one among several repurposed drugs that were proven to effectively slow the spread and severity of infection. The WHO refused to publish any accurate findings, while the world held its breath for the non FDA approved, EUA (emergency use authorization) only vaccines. The reason? Those repurposed drugs are FDA approved for many other viral infections, but not Covid-19. While billions of dollars have been pumped into mRNA vaccine production, virtually nothing has gone into hard research on already-existing drugs and vaccines, though these drugs have a track record of long-term safety. The biggest question--why weren't these promising medications heavily researched and promoted, while waiting for longer-term safety and efficacy results on vaccines?--was never adequately answered, though the most obvious reason would appear to be: Profit. Most vaccines require years of research before they are widely distributed to the general public. Many lifesaving drugs for the deadliest diseases are held back for decades, while terminally ill volunteers are denied emergency use even after safety and efficacy have been well-quantified. The AIDS antiviral scandal was one of the more notable. According to Dr. Kory, significant research has already proven that Ivermectin is as effective for Covid prevention as it is for other viral and parasitic prophylaxis. Doctors and nurses working in ICU facilities throughout Latin America and Asia relied on it for their own protection: There were numerous published studies, including one with 1,600 healthcare workers taking Ivermectin and exposed to Covid who did not become ill, with 1,600 who didn't receive Ivermectin, 58% falling ill. Why have millions of people been kept in the dark, denied access to this reasonable prevention? Instead, we have lockdowns, masks, high infection rates, ICUs at full capacity and vulnerable populations at significant risk of mortality. Before I fail to state the obvious, there are several biotech companies that already have vaccines which are proven safe and effective against many varieties of coronavirus. One of the quickest responders was a small company that already produced a successful vaccine against a very similar coronavirus, responsible for feline infectious peritonitis. Used safely for years, having a similar mode of antigen production (weakened, altered or killed virus), a slight modification of their formula yielded an effective product. The pandemic panic has rushed an entirely new vector for viral antibody production into global distribution, with only months (not years) of data on safety. With millions of people in a state of fear, having little knowledge of or access to other modes of prevention, they are putting a new technology into their bodies, assuming it's the same as their yearly influenza vaccine. It's not. The FDA has already been compelled to issue new warnings for higher-than-expected rates of serious adverse reactions to mRNA vaccines. Unusual clotting and autoimmune thrombocytopenia, myocarditis (heart muscle inflammation) and Guillain-Barre syndrome are among the severe and life-threatening reactions which are likely underreported and underdiagnosed. Investigations by the FDA are typically vague, inconclusive, and only offer estimated offsets in numbers of lives lost, versus hypothetical projections on morbidity and mortality in "unvaccinated populations". The new BioNTech/Pfizer and Moderna vaccines are made from modified messenger RNA (mRNA) which is the single strand copy responsible for replicating the proteins encoded in double-stranded DNA. Specifically, the RNA segments coding two viral "spike" proteins, which are separated by a pair of amino acids. The molecule is then wrapped in a fatty acid "nano-capsule", to hold it in an unbound, stabilized state until it reaches its target--the host cell. The fatty acids break down readily, whereupon our own cells bind nucleic acid to the viral RNA, transcribe its code and synthesize the viral proteins within our cellular ribosomes. The presence of these viral proteins within our cells causes our immune system to mount an attack against them. The issue isn't one of changing our DNA, as some people fear, but of a slight mistake within our own immune system. Two common immune problems (severe allergic reactions, such as anaphylaxis, and autoimmune reactions) are simply immune overreactions to a perceived threat. With our own cells producing the antigen and antibodies, even a slight immune anomaly could potentially turn our antibodies against the production site (autoimmune) or producing IgE antibodies instead of IgM and IgG could cause severe allergic reactions. It is possible that these new vaccines are as safe as any other. There is no way to know this, however, and for the millions of people who have already been vaccinated, only time will tell. Companies that produce vaccines are rarely held accountable for serious reactions and since these have no track record beyond the past few months, we are gambling with our own immune systems and the quick mutations of this virus. With many new infections occurring in the already vaccinated population, a third "booster" shot is now advised only months after the first. The painstaking, costly research on Covid-recovered patients shows full and robust antibody activity a dozen months post-infection, yet there is no exemption for vaccine mandates in this significant population. With supposed vaccine shortages in many high-risk areas, the dangerous and irrational hypocrisy of these mandates is further highlighted. It's clearly not the general public health but rather politics, that are the determining factor in treatment protocol and health outcomes, and have been since the outset; the resulting media-fueled panic has driven an even bigger wedge between scientific reasoning and myth. We must not be the pawns (or lab rats) in this deadly game of chance. Charlotte B. Cerminaro is a Juilliard-trained classical musician who, in addition to being a studio and orchestral musician, enjoys writing and has a degree in Molecular Biology. 2021 Home Fifty-five years of Star Trek a cultural vector and Hollywood cash-cow (Part Two) By Mark Wegierski Note: This article was not prepared, approved, licensed, or endorsed by any entity involved in creating or producing the Star Trek television series or films. Deep Space 9 (DS9) was another setting, a space station above Bajor, a troubled planet that had recently been occupied by the Cardassians, an evil, rather hideous-looking race. The withdrawal of the Cardassians had left Bajor divided and in the flux of change, undecided about possibly joining the Federation. The Federations Commander of the station, Benjamin Sisko, was an African-American, who was raising his young son alone (Siskos wife had perished during the earlier incursion by the Borg aliens). The Commanders obvious social conservatism and bearing of military discipline were increasingly downplayed in the ongoing episodes, among other things by a change of hairstyle (to bald) and by his growing a beard, giving him a more "cool" and sinister look. The other main figures on DS9 were Major Kira, the Bajoran female officer; Jadzia Dax, a woman linked with a "symbiont"; the often naive Dr. Bashir (an Anglo-Indian who played what in earlier times would have been called "the twitty Englishman" role); and O'Brien (an obviously Irish engineer), who just happens to be married to a somewhat shrewish Japanese woman (Keiko). (Yet another liberal device, bringing together a couple from what are some of our own Earth's most different societies.) Two alien figures are Odo, who is an apparently unique representative of the shapeshifter race, and is the personification of strict duty as the Constable, and Quark, a Ferengi trader and trickster-figure (who looks like a sort of big-eared goblin), who is his comic foil. The planet of Bajor is shown as having a kind of traditional culture, with a long-established religion. What seems to not be realized, is that the Bajoran culture would probably be utterly undermined by the explanation that "the Prophets" are really just another race of transdimensional "superbeings" (of which there have been innumerable other examples in the galaxy). DS9's Hollywood producers also show an extreme naivete in the portrayal of the earlier Bajoran partisan-fighting against the Cardassians, attesting to Hollywoods all-too-obvious lack of historical knowledge and feeling. For example, it emerges that Odo fulfilled the function of Constable under the Cardassian regime, and that surely would qualify him as a high-ranking collaborator. There was also the case where the Cardassians threatened to destroy several Bajoran villages unless a prominent leader of the resistance surrendered to them. What this ignores is that the occupiers could easily destroy the villages after the leader's surrender. It is never made clear whether the Cardassians are more "authoritarian" (e.g., like the more typical Western colonial administration of "backward" lands), or "totalitarian" (e.g., like the occupation of Poland by Nazi Germany during World War II). The more "reactionary" Bajorans, however, are predictably condemned, as for example in an episode that alluded to a Bajoran "racist" organization, who wanted "off-worlders off Bajor." Kai Wynn, one of the leading "traditionalists," was shown as increasingly, outrightly, evil. The liberal stereotypes about the Jerry Falwells of our own world were thereby again vindicated. The Bajorans were also termed in current-day chatter about the show as "the Palestinians of the 24th century" -- a comment that caused some embarrassment, taking into account the analogous identity of the rather hideous and evil Cardassian occupiers. Voyager, which premiered in 1995, has a female Captain, a Black Vulcan, an American Indian, a half-Hispanic/half-Klingon woman, a holographic doctor in the Spock/Data role, and other exotic elements. In what is perhaps the most gratuitous example of Star Trek's tendency of absorption of "the other," there appeared "the Borg babe" (Seven of Nine), a highly attractive female who was once part of the Borg aliens, the Star Trek symbol for the dangers of collectivism and fascist misuse of technology. The ongoing appeal in Star Trek to an often-frustrated "geek" element is also obvious. There was a story in the papers that when the actress playing Ezri Dax joined the DS9 show (after the on-screen demise of Jadzia Dax), she was surprised at the extent to which her outfit was padded to accentuate her breasts. The use of such enhancements is apparently a long-time Trek tradition, going back to TOS itself. One of the central motifs of Star Trek is that the whole universe is "up for grabs" for conversion to the basically liberal values of the Federation. The main large theme of Star Trek is encounters with various alien races (which obviously represent different, unruly, untamed, more "primitive" or premodern aspects of human existence), and their eventual "humanizing" or "liberalizing" in the direction of Federation values. This could be characterized as a co-opting or co-optation of these dangerous, unruly aspects of human character and historical experience. It may obviously be argued that the major non-human races in Star Trek are inspired by various archetypal or stereotypical aspects of human character and historical experience -- the Klingon warriors, the Ferengi merchants, the mystic Bajorans, the pseudo-Roman Romulans, the collectivist Borg (probably a take on the Japanese), and so forth. In that sense, Star Trek provides a certain series of quick templates (especially in a virtually history-less milieu such as that of late-modern, urban North America) for reaching conclusions about human character and historical experience. However, as will be looked at further below, Star Trek's "take" on much of human character and historical experience, is overwhelmingly liberal. To be continued. Mark Wegierski is a Toronto-based science fiction and Star Trek aficionado. Home This is how far left-wing state bars are now going to destroy conservatives: Prosecution By Rachel Alexander State bars have acquired a reputation for targeting conservative attorneys and destroying their ability to practice law, and now they are taking it to a new level prosecution. It is practically unheard of unless youre being targeted to be criminally prosecuted and arrested for not checking a box about an unrelated civil matter on a form, but that is what is happening to former Republican congressional candidate Jeffrey Moffatt. Moffatt, who many believe was targeted by the State Bar of Arizona because he and his wife both ran for office as Republicans, was indicted a week ago by the Biden administration related to his efforts fighting back against a sketchy disbarment. He is being retaliated against because of how hard hes fought back. A good prosecutor can get a grand jury to indict a ham sandwich, as the old saying goes. Thats because the defense doesnt get a chance to show their side to the grand jury, so the prosecutor can just pick and choose what evidence they want to produce. In 2016, the presiding judge of the Arizona bar, William J. ONeil, who has a lengthy history of corruption , including allegedly protecting a sexual predator, so bad that even the liberal Arizona Republic has written about him, disbarred Moffatt over something that other attorneys receive a mere slap on the hand for. But unfortunately, once an attorney has been disbarred in one state, almost every other state and jurisdiction reciprocally refuse to allow that attorney to practice law. It sounds draconian, and the effect sure is, but multiple jurisdictions piling on doesnt make a person any worse. The left controls much of the legal system, particularly state bars, so its done deliberately when they want to thoroughly destroy someone. Notably, even though Moffatt lives in California and the person who complained about him lives in New Mexico, neither the California bar nor the New Mexico bar did anything about the complaint, only the Arizona bar and Moffatt has practically nothing to do with Arizona or practicing law there pursued an investigation, no doubt as part of its pattern of going after conservative attorneys. The prosecution comes down to the fact Moffatt didnt disclose to the Social Security Administration that he was disbarred when representing claimants. There is NO requirement that people representing claimants be attorneys, its a red herring. Moffatt didnt think he needed to disclose this information because he was actively fighting the disbarment, fully expecting to get it reversed since it was so obviously heavy-handed targeting. He wasnt hiding the disbarment and his fight either, he has four federal lawsuits going over it and he and his wife have been very vocal on the internet. The indictment lists just five payments he received for representing those clients, totaling merely $30,000. The Biden administration is charging him with wire fraud and falsifying a material fact. Whenever the government cant get someone on a real crime, they throw in wire fraud. It merely means a method of communication like a phone, email, text or fax was used while you were supposedly committing some other crime. It sounds scary but its just meant to pile on. In 2017, Moffatt sued the Arizona Bar, the State of Arizona and the Arizona Supreme Court over the disbarment. He has ongoing proceedings with the Social Security Administration fighting the disbarment going back to at least 2018 so why bring criminal charges against him now over something they were perfectly happy to civilly litigate with him for three years? Obviously, by fighting back he got under the skin of a Democrat on a power trip. The U.S. Attorney who signed the indictment, Tracy L. Wilkison, was appointed immediately after Joe Biden took office as president. Efforts have arisen around the country to strip state bars of their monopolies over the practice of law essentially functioning as unions, which is illegal in right-to-work states but havent had any real luck yet. State bars have deep pockets because they gouge attorneys with huge mandatory dues. Their powerful lobbyists buy RINO legislators who oppose any legislation dismantling the bars. The Moffatts believe that ONeil was unconstitutionally seated a judicial imposter who committed false impersonations. Many attorneys in Arizona believe he was put in that position in order to do the dirty work of powerful leftists at the top of Arizonas legal system, accumulating so much dirt on people that no one would dare try and remove him. Moffatts wife Star, who has spent a considerable amount of time investigating ONeils corruption, said, Some day, the Arizona Supreme Court will have to answer to a higher power why they condoned O'Neil to commit acts of a Judicial Imposter. Tell me how in the world does an attorney like my husband get arrested for exposing ONeil? ONeil was also previously admonished by the Arizona Supreme Court for exceeding his jurisdiction and authority on death row cases. One of the top former prosecutors in Arizona told me, "I have never seen such a gross abuse of prosecutorial power, to arrest and pursue someone merely for not checking a box. Nowhere in the indictment does it even say how Jeff continuing to represent these individuals caused any harm or that the law even prohibits him from representing them. Since hes not required to be an attorney, it sounds like a violation of equal protection." Moffatt is filing a motion to dismiss the indictment. Tellingly, ONeil unexpectedly resigned about six months ago. Moffatt and his wife are wonderful people who have spent years volunteering and serving on the board of Miracle Star helping people with substance abuse problems. When some of the women had no place to go, they put them up temporarily. This is just the beginning, expect more conservative attorneys to be prosecuted after disbarment. Trumps attorneys are next, including Rudy Giuliani and Sidney Powell. If a conservative attorney fights back too hard trying to expose corruption in the legal system, the leftists who control that arena will retaliate with prosecution. And sadly, judges like ONeil are rarely punished. Rachel Alexander and her brother Andrew are co-Editors of Intellectual Conservative . She has been published in the American Spectator, Townhall.com, Fox News, NewsMax, Accuracy in Media, The Americano, ParcBench, Enter Stage Right and other publications. Home In his speech in 2001 during the commemoration of the 9/11 attack, former President George W. Bush pays tribute to the fallen United Airlines Flight 93 says America at its purest. He speaks on that day, in the skies where 33 people choose to save others and the ones on the ground were united, the true spirit of 9/11. On that day, America faced an exterior assault of terrorists riding planes to destroy targets, shock, and fear in the American homeland. Years later, the America that emerged is a glimmer of that day, and 20 years after, the battle is within America now. Bush remarks Americas unity is not the same as 20 years ago In his speech during the 9/11 commemoration of the Flight 93 National Memorial in Shanksville, Pennsylvania, he gave his thought on that fateful day in the early years of being president when America was under attack, and 2,977 people lost their lives, reported the Express UK. Noting when the jets were falling, weaponized by terrorists, which galvanized America into a remarkable unity that is not the same twenty years later. He cited those forces of disuniting as making everyone disagree and result in conservatism versus cancel culture. He added that much of the politics since then is divisive, attempting to draw out anger, fear, and resentment that is causing trouble in America and the future it has ahead of it. Dangers lurk within America displayed in the January 6 incident Bush touched on the malevolence of canceled culture and the right-wing extremists when Americans stormed the Capitol for the reason of dissent about the contested 2020 election of Joe Biden. It shows that there are also dangers within, from violence inside the country no better than terrorists. Read Also: Taliban Terrorist Seen Celebrating in Leaked Video After Hoisting Severed Head of Afghan Soldier. Those who engender violence against their fellow Americans and violent extremists who wish for the nation's fall are no different. The passengers of United Airlines Flight 93 gave their lives to defend against. 9:57--Less than 30 minutes after the hijacking, passengers and crew made phone calls and decided to retake Flight 93. They rushed up the aisle toward the cockpit. The cockpit voice recorder captured sounds of a desperate struggle. pic.twitter.com/agoXfcIlDN Flight 93 NMEM (@Flight93NPS) September 11, 2021 Such forces seek to cancel pluralism, how it affects citizens from all walks of life, and how the organization wants to desecrate and cancel out symbols of nationalism. Those who want to erase America's spirit are no better than those forces on 9/11, and it is a duty to repel them. On that day, the Al Qaeda used passenger planes as weapons to assault the Twin Towers, Pentagon, and the symbolic attack on America itself, the Capitol Building. Sacrifice if the passengers of Flight 93 stopped it, there were no answers but only what had been seen. Bush calls for unity The former president added that when the jets crashed and the buildings fell, many held each other's hands and worked together, America then as it was. When Muslims could have rejected entreaties, there was unity in the nation, all faiths and creeds joined by faith. Then-president George W. Bush went to the Islamic center in Washington to deliver a message, reports the San Diego Union-Tribune. Isolationism was discarded, and outsiders were welcome, not seen as a threat. Those young enough when it happened were spurred to action, not thinking of themselves. All praises were given to 33 passengers and the seven crew of the doomed flight, choosing to resist than die crashing in the Capitol Building, fought the terrorists, and forced it down on a field near Shanksville, Pennsylvania. George W. Bush remarked that United Airlines Flight 93 repulsed a terrorist threat and saved the capital, citing the NBC News, who carried out what many would do and stood in for America in its dire moments against terrorists. Related Article: F-16 Fighters on 9/11 Took Off on a Kamikaze Mission to Stop Flight 93 From Hitting the US Capitol Building in Washington D.C. @ 2021 HNGN, All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. On the 20th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks, former US President Donald Trump takes a swipe at President Joe Biden. Donald Trump, who, like previous presidents, opted to miss the 9/11 memorial services at Ground Zero, paid a visit to a fire station and a police station. He blamed Biden's "gross incompetence" for the disastrous departure from Afghanistan. Like previous former presidents, Trump, who decided to miss the 9/11 memorial services at Ground Zero, paid a visit to a fire station and a police precinct in New York near Trump Tower on occasion. In a video message, Trump questioned why the US pullout from Afghanistan had not been mentioned in previous 9/11 anniversary addresses and expressed sadness for the Kabul Airport assaults, which killed 13 US troops. Trump commented about the 2001 US invasion of Afghanistan. In response to the September 11 terrorist attacks, the United States entered Afghanistan, overthrew the Taliban administration, and killed Al Qaeda leader Osama Bin Laden. After nearly two decades, the United States withdrew its entire military presence from Afghanistan on August 30, 2021, opening the door for a Taliban 2.0 administration. China and Russia benefiting from US weapons left in Afghanistan says Trump Trump slammed the Biden administration's pullout from Afghanistan, speculating that China and Russia are already repurposing US weapons systems left behind. During an interview with "Full Measure" host Sharyl Attkisson on Sunday, Trump blasted the pullout as "incompetent," warning that it would put the US in jeopardy and benefit its rivals, as per Republic World. The former president also questioned if the Afghan war has ended, pointing to the large number of unvetted Afghan refugees being resettled in the United States and across the world. He went on to say that the country's enemies are already taking advantage of the weaponry, armored vehicles, and planes left behind by US soldiers. The military abandoned 73 aircraft in Afghanistan, some of which were damaged. At the airport, troops were believed to be operating Apache assault helicopters, according to Pentagon authorities. Afghan pilots are said to have flown some of the modern aircraft to other nations while abandoning the others, Fox News reported. Read Also: Joe Biden's COVID-19 Vaccine Mandate Faces Avalanche of Lawsuits as Business Owners Concerned Over Hiring of Workers Trump remembers 9/11 Anniversary by praising first responders On the 20th anniversary of the 9/11 terror attacks, ex-President Donald Trump hailed first responders in a video broadcast Saturday, before swiftly criticizing his successor's management of the war in Afghanistan that the hijackings caused. Per Newsweek, Trump's Save America PAC put out a video in which he began by claiming that Saturday was a good day but September 11 is a "deeply sad" day and "represents enormous sadness for our country." He lauded the bravery of soldiers, firemen, and first responders of all kinds. However, Trump's solemn reflections on the day ended only 22 seconds into the one-minute 44-second video, as he quickly moved on to how the US exited Afghanistan, which "did such harm to our country," and referred to the deaths of American service members killed in the Kabul airport attack. Related Article: Donald Trump Beats Joe Biden in 2024 Presidential Election Poll After Afghanistan Chaos, Civil Unrest Brexit Warning @YouTube @ 2021 HNGN, All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia suggested on Sunday that those receiving the Child Tax Credit be required to work, a program that was extended earlier this year by President Joe Biden and Democrats in the stimulus package. Biden increased the Child Tax Credit from $2,000 to $3,600, but it was only for a limited time. According to reports, the president is open to the possibility of extending the program until 2025. After September, the following Child Tax Credit payment dates are October 15, November 15, and December 15. Manchin also reiterated his objection to a $3.5 trillion price tag for a social spending package that Democrats want to enact this month, insisting that the figure must be reduced by up to half for him to vote yes. In a separate CNN interview, Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders, the chair of the Senate Budget Committee, dismissed a proposed $1.5 trillion plan. Sen.Joe Manchin suggested a new Child Tax Credit requirement The proposal is expected to include universal Pre-K, tuition-free community college, paid family and medical leave, and a slew of other Democratic objectives, in addition to a renewal of the child allowance. Democrats are navigating the reconciliation procedure, which just takes a simple majority vote to pass, allowing them to avoid Republican opposition. Manchin's remarks highlight the internal wrangling that Democrats are still having as they try to enact a big economic plan to enhance the nation's social safety net on a party-line basis. Democrats, on the other hand, have a razor-thin margin for error, since they can only afford three House defections and none in the Senate. Currently, the child tax credit gives up to $300 per month, or $3,600 per year, for each kid aged 5 or younger. Families with children aged 6 to 17 can get up to $250 per month, or $3,000 per year, Business Insider reported. As party leaders sparred in public over the scale and extent of their new tax-and-spending package, a powerful group of House Democrats released a draft proposal on Sunday that would generate $2.9 trillion in new taxes and revenue, primarily targeted at rich Americans, companies, and investors. Read Also: Still Got No $1,600 Unemployment Tax Refund? Here's How To Read IRS Transcript For Clues Lawmakers agree to extend Child Tax Credit through 2025 Many of the changes in the revised proposal are anticipated to be supported by Democrats, such as raising the highest tax rate on Americans earning over $435,000 to 39.6% from 37%. It also proposes a new corporation tax rate of 26.5 percent for large, profitable businesses, up from 21 percent now but less than President Biden's original plan of 28 percent. Under the idea, some smaller businesses' taxes would remain the same or even be reduced, as per The Washington Post via MSN. Over three million children were lifted out of poverty after just one stimulus payment in Child Tax Credit was made in July. Nearly 90% of American households with children got credits of $300 for children under the age of six and $250 for children from six to seventeen. The credit's worth isn't particularly large, therefore one wouldn't anticipate it to have such an influence. These new findings demonstrate how a few hundred dollars may be the difference between putting food on the table and ensuring that children's and parents' fundamental needs are addressed. The Ways and Means Committee of the House of Representatives issued a statement late this week telling the public that legislators had agreed to extend the credit's existing format through 2025. Per AS, many legislators are ready to pass an extension after seeing the program's effectiveness after just one stimulus payment. As federal unemployment benefits and the eviction moratorium expire, these stimulus payments will become increasingly significant in the coming months, as more than millions of people may see their earnings fall. Related Article: President Joe Biden May Put COVID-19 Stimulus Payments Automatic, Requiring No Vote to Distribute Checks @YouTube @ 2021 HNGN, All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. Top Obama adviser Brett Bruen alleges that Joe Biden is not keen on affairs with American ally Great Britain. When Prime Minister Boris Johnson tried to call the US president and later asked for concessions due to the special relationship, it disappointed the British. Bruen served as the Director of Global Engagement under Barrack Obama, later considering Biden's ignoring the Brit PM on two occasions as critical. The UK has backed up the US on many occasions now. However, it has been seven months that there has been no Ambassador for the Court of St. James since the appointment of Biden. Biden's actions impacted the Afghan situation The former adviser cited how the president did not consult other world leaders when everything was spiraling due to bad decisions. It got worse when Biden snubbed the British PM for thirty-six hours during the crisis, cited the New York Post. There have been allegations that Biden wanted the role to go to Barrack Obama, but the UK did not like it, though Britain denies it. As a US/UK businessman privy to the two countries, Bruen says that the special relationship claimed is nonexistent. Although the relations have been affected by the US president who took allies from a unified decision, to only his decision with alleged inconsistent guidance, reported the UK Express. It gets worse as no ambassador has not been appointed, which will be another low point caused by inaction. US administration is discounting allies Former adviser Bruen calls the new foreign policy by Joe Biden as 'ignoring everyone else,' which is negative for the United States. He added that the proclaimed foreign policy expert allegedly performs adverse action that does not push a favorable foreign policy, noted the Girl Sun. Read Also: Biden State Dept Takes Rescue Credit of American Family in Afghanistan, GOP Rep. Mullin Debunks Claim Saying They Tried to Sabotage It The relationship with the UK has been allegedly ignored and not utilized to push mutually beneficial outcomes, which is getting maligned instead. As the expert in foreign policy, Biden says the opposite instead with the post-Brexit UK and his administration, the opposite result of his alleged claims. Both the US and UK are further apart from being united. The current president is has made it challenging to deal with other allies who feel slighted by the US in Afghanistan. But the White House is spinning it by saying no one has criticized the chaos from pullout to the deadline, and now Taliban ruled Afghanistan. British politicians expressed concern Many Conservative Members of Parliament are not pleased with how the US handled the withdrawal. Other critics are Liam Fox, the former Defense Secretary and International Trade Secretary, responsible for liaising the Atlantic Bridge for better relations with the US, is greatly bothered by events. He encouraged Joe Biden to move decisively on the worsening perception of the US in international relations. He should decide to place an Ambassador to the UK sooner or face more fallout. One more MP from Romford, Andrew Rosindell, a member of foreign relations, said that Biden made a disastrous decision that has cost the West, Brit-US relations have been allegedly torn. He asserts that former president Trump would do better. Another former member of Foreign affairs, Daniel Kawczynski, remarked if the UK-US falls it will be disastrous for global security. Plus, an important trade deal has been affected by the decisions of Joe Biden. Related Article: Joe Biden has Dropped it in Afghanistan; Allies Fear US Fail Against China in the Future @ 2021 HNGN, All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. According to North Korea's state-run news agency, the nation successfully test-fired new long-range cruise missiles over the weekend. Academy of Defense Science Successfully Test-Fires the Missiles In a recently published article in MSN News, the missiles were successfully test-fired on September 11 and 12, according to the country's Academy of Defense Science; and the weapons had been under development for two years. The missiles flew in "pattern-8 flying circles" for more than two hours over land and sea off the coast of North Korea, hitting targets 1,500 kilometers (932 miles) distant. According to the state-run news agency, the missiles are a strategic weapon of tremendous importance. Meanwhile, South Korean Defense Ministry official said that because of their low flying altitudes, cruise missiles are often discovered following testing. North Korea has previously conducted two cruise missile tests this year, but they did not report them since they do not report all cruise missile tests they find, according to a published report in CNN News. Read Also: US, Japan, South Korea, Urge North Korea To Limit Nuclear and Missiles Program UN Security Council Expressed Concern North Korea's ballistic missile program has been the subject of many UN Security Council resolutions. However, similar resolutions have not focused on cruise missile development or testing. Cruise missiles, unlike ballistic missiles, are propelled by jet engines. They remain closer to the ground than an aircraft, making them harder to detect. In a published article in Arms Control Association, it states that since 2006, the United Nations Security Council has passed nine significant sanctions resolutions on North Korea in response to its nuclear and missile programs. Each resolution criticizes North Korea's most recent nuclear and ballistic missile tests and urges the country to stop acting illegallyin violation of prior UN Security Council resolutions. Furthermore, Jeffrey Lewis, a professor at the Middlebury Institute of International Studies who specializes in open-source intelligence, said, "This is a system that can reach targets throughout Japan. Whereas the system we saw in March was a shorter range system just to target South Korea," according to a published report in France24. Kim Jong Un Shows Off the Cruise Missiles in 2020 According to Ankit Panda, the Stanton senior fellow in the nuclear policy program at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un displayed the cruise missiles at a military parade in October 2020. In recent months, North Korea's military parades have shown new and untested weapons. Some of this, the US expected, would be put to the test in a show of strength by North Korea and its leader. Kim Yo Jong, the North Korean leader's sister, had warned last month that the nation would react to joint military exercises between the US and South Korea, saying that the maneuvers would put the country's security at risk. Needless to say, Pyongyang has been beefing up its ballistic missile stockpile in order to improve its quick-strike capabilities. This kind of missile usually follows an arched trajectory and is propelled down. Cruise missiles are propelled throughout the duration of their missions, which are usually at lower altitudes; and they may be fired from the land, the sea, or the air. Related Article: North Korea Missile Tests, Conventional Forces Could Resume To Force US Roll Back Sanctions, Top General Warns @ 2021 HNGN, All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. Iraqi Kurdish security authorities confirm a drone strike occurred near US soldiers stationed at Erbil International Airport in northern Iraq on Saturday. On the 20th anniversary of the 9/11 terror attacks in the United States, a strike in Iraq's Kurdistan area was launched. It is the airport's second drone strike in many months. Initially, the autonomous region's internal security department claimed three missiles had hit near the airport. Erbil is the autonomous region's capital. The attack was carried out by explosive-laden drones, according to a second statement from the Kurdish counter-terrorism organization. Drones targeted Iraq's Erbil airport There were no reports of casualties right away. At least six explosions were heard in the vicinity, according to witnesses. Several times in the last year, the airport in Erbil, the capital of the autonomous Kurdish area, has been attacked, notably by drones carrying explosives. Previous assaults have been blamed on Iran-aligned Shi'ite Muslim militias, who have pledged to fight until the last 2,500 US troops leave the country. The United States is heading a multinational military coalition tasked with assisting Iraqi troops in combating the Sunni terrorist Islamic State group's remnants. The coalition did not respond to a request for comment on the incident that occurred on Saturday, as per Daily Mail. This is the second drone strike on the airport in two months, after one in July. No one was hurt, and the building was undamaged. The incident happened a day after missiles and a drone attacked the US embassy in Baghdad and the Ain al-Asad airbase, which houses American forces. Per Kurdistan24, the US denounced the drone assault on Sunday and pledged to continue assisting the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) in maintaining peace and security. "We strongly condemn yesterday's drone attack in the Iraqi Kurdistan Region," the US Consulate General in Erbil declared in a statement published on Sunday. The attacks are also a "threat" to Iraq's sovereignty and stability, according to the statement. The US also stated that it will help any investigations into the assaults undertaken by the KRG. While the incident disrupted flight operations for a short time, they were quickly restored, the airport officials claimed. Read Also: North Korea's Kim Jong Un Shocks Experts with Dramatic Slim Appearance as Weight Loss Continue in the Wake of Rumored Health Scares The explosion is the second incident since July 2021 The attack was carried out by explosive-laden drones, according to Lawk Ghafuri, head of international media relations for the Kurdistan Regional Government, who posted on Twitter. Ghafuri went on to add that the incident was being investigated by Kurdish security authorities. He said the drone was carrying explosive devices and burst distant from Erbil International Airport's terminals and territory in a series of tweets. Erbil International Airport is open for business, and flights are operating normally. Officials call any rumors regarding the airport's shut down "fake news." The airport, which also serves as a base for coalition forces commanded by the United States, was unharmed. On the 20th anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks in the United States, the strike occurred. It also happened a day after missiles and a drone were said to have attacked the US Embassy in Baghdad and the Ain al-Asad airbase, which houses US soldiers. It's worth noting that Saturday's explosion is the second in two months, following a drone strike on the airport in July 2021. A drone placed bombs near American soldiers stationed at Erbil airport in April, as per Republic World. That was the first reported unmanned aerial drone attack on US soldiers in Erbil, and it came amid a constant stream of rocket attacks on US outposts and the embassy in Baghdad, which Washington blames on Iran-backed militias. A video purportedly released by Kurdistan Counter-Terrorism Forces and shared on Twitter by the Aurora Intel account appears to show Erbil Airport following the attack. Other videos on social media appear to show the airport turning dark following the suspected rocket assault, while the footage shows flames rising into the night sky. Related Article: Watch: Indonesia Prison Fire Kills 41, Injures 80 in Crowded Block With More Than 3 Times Capacity @ 2021 HNGN, All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov stated that all nations affected by the Afghan refugee issue must work together to find a solution. Qatar Minister Mohammad bin Abdulrahman Al-Thani, who was in Russia on an official visit, spoke with Lavrov on the deteriorating humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan. On Saturday, the foreign ministers of Russia and Qatar met to address the current situation in Afghanistan. On an official visit to Moscow, Qatar Foreign Minister Mohammad bin Abdulrahman Al-Thani met with his Russian counterpart, Sergey Lavrov, and addressed the Afghan refugee issue, with the top diplomats agreeing to work together to address the situation. The Qatar minister described the current occurrences in Afghanistan as "very, very grievous" during a joint press conference following the discussions. He urged countries to work together to address the humanitarian crisis, as per Republic World. Russia and Qatar agreed to find solutions to Afghanistan situation Meanwhile, a Russian diplomat stated that Afghans who enter European nations "uninvited" had no choice but to live as refugees. Both Russia and Qatar, according to Abdulrahman Al-Thani, agreed on the necessity to find a solution to the situation in the war-torn nation and underlined that humanitarian help must be separate from political events. Per Ariana News, the visit is part of Qatar's efforts to aid in the establishment of comprehensive peace and long-term stability in Afghanistan. In the meantime, Sheikh Mohammed emphasized that Qatar and Russia agreed on the importance of finding a solution to the situation in Afghanistan and that humanitarian aid should be independent of political developments, adding that the Islamic Emirate should coordinate to ensure the proper exit of those who wish to leave the country. Sheikh Mohammed said the two sides talked about the Kabul International Airport, the necessity to build a humanitarian assistance corridor, and the need of promoting freedom of movement. Lavrov, for his part, praised Qatar's initiatives and efforts to bring peace and prosperity to Afghanistan. Read Also: Grieving Vladimir Putin Pays Respect to Minister Killed After Saving Man During Arctic Exercise Qatar is one of the Taliban's powerful allies Qatar and Russia agreed on the importance of prioritizing the humanitarian situation and help in Afghanistan, and the two sides expressed concerns about the ongoing flow of refugees and their consequences for neighboring countries. Qatar is regarded as one of the Taliban's most powerful allies, and it played a key part in the enormous US-led evacuation of its residents, other Western nationals, and Afghans who assisted Western countries. The Taliban's political office was also based in Doha, Qatar, where it handled the discussions with the US that finally led to the departure of US troops from Afghanistan. According to the Qatar Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Sheikh Mohammed and new Prime Minister Akhund also discussed "coordinated measures to combat terrorist organizations that threaten Afghanistan's security," as well as methods to improve peace in the nation and ensure the safe passage of people. A Taliban spokesperson said Sheikh Mohammed met with the prime minister and several other top ministers. Deputy Prime Minister Abdul Salam Hanafi, Interior Minister Sirajuddin Haqqani, Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi, Defense Minister Yaqoob Mujahid, and intelligence head Abdul Haq Wasiq were among the Afghan ministers who attended the meeting at the presidential palace on Sunday. The leadership of the Islamic Emirate, the group's designation for the new rule in Afghanistan, thanked Qatar's government for its support for the Afghan people, NDTV reported. Related Article: Afghan Father Forced to Sell Daughter to Save Rest of Family From Starvation as Millions Face Crisis in Afghanistan Under Taliban Regime @YouTube @ 2021 HNGN, All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. While attempting to break up a dispute between her ex and her new partner outside of her baby shower on Sunday, a pregnant woman was shot and killed. According to the New York Police Department, Shanice Young, 31, was shot in the head outside of West 128th Street and Frederick Douglass Boulevard in Harlem at approximately 1:15 a.m. Young was discovered unconscious with a gunshot wound to the head when authorities arrived on the scene. Pregnant woman's ex and partner fight that led to her death Police said one of the guys involved in the altercation was the woman's ex-boyfriend, who was not invited to the party. Young sought to intervene between her boyfriend and her ex-boyfriend to prevent them from fighting, witnesses told The New York Daily News. The pregnant woman sought to mediate as the chase returned to the street. She was shot at some point during the battle. Witnesses stated that after Young was shot, the gunman fled. She was rushed to a nearby hospital, but she was pronounced dead. The culprit has yet to be apprehended, as per The Independent. Young's friend, who spoke anonymously for fear of retaliation from the gunman, described her as a generous woman. Young moved into the building a year ago to care for her sibling and her mother, who had been stricken with cancer, according to her friends. She stayed when her mother died to raise her younger sibling and children. Read Also: Ohio Judge Reverses Court Order Forcing Hospital to Administer Ivermectin in Treating COVID-19 Patient New York crimes on the rise The latest incident occurs amid a spike in gun violence in New York this year. The number of shootings increased by 3.8 percent year over year in 2021, with 1,086 occurrences compared to 1,046 in the same month the previous year. Per Daily Mail, the number of gunshot victims has increased by 1.7 percent, from 1,283 in 2020 to 1,305 in 2019. Rape, felony assault, larceny, and car theft are all on the rise in the city this year compared to last. Felony assault cases have increased by 5.5 percent in the same period, with 770 additional instances. Overall crime is decreasing, but it was on the rise in May, June, and July, resulting in a summer of high-profile events that led Mayor Bill de Blasio to blame the courts for not processing offenders quickly enough. Last month, at one of his daily remote news conferences, de Blasio announced that there were just 18 trial judgments in the five boroughs in the first half of 2021, compared to 405 in the same period in 2019. During the first eight months of the year, state courts outside of New York City issued 118 trial verdicts. The mayor is "gaslighting" the public with his claim, said a representative for the judicial system. The spokesman claimed that the court system has been fully operational since May, and chastised prosecutors and defense counsel for failing to be prepared to trial their cases. However, due to social distancing restrictions, only three trials may now be held in each county at the same time, compared to up to a dozen before the pandemic. Related Article: Alabama Boy, 4, Fatally Shot in Head While Sleeping During Trip in Chicago; Authorities Offer Reward to ID Suspect @YouTube @ 2021 HNGN, All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. Lewis County General Hospital will cease deliveries after September 24 due to a high rate of maternity unit staff resignations in protest againtst COVID immunization requirements. Resignation of Maternity Workers Affect the Operation of the Hospital In a recently published article in FOX News, the resignations of six staff members this week, coupled with the potential that seven more unvaccinated employees in the maternity department may follow suit, made it apparent to the Health System's leadership that services supplied by that department needed to be put on hold. Lewis County Health System Chief Executive Officer Gerald Cayer said, "We are unable to safely staff the service after Sept. 24. The number of resignations received leaves us no choice but to pause delivering babies at Lewis County General Hospital." Cayer also added that he hoped that the state's Department of Health will work with them in pausing the services rather than closing them. Additionally, five other departments in the hospital are curtailed to lose employees due to the COVID-19 vaccine mandate, according to a published report in NNY360. Read Also: Joe Biden's COVID-19 Vaccine Mandate Faces Avalanche of Lawsuits as Business Owners Concerned Over Hiring of Workers Initial Numbers of Employees Who Resigned Cayer, speaking at a news conference in the county board room on Friday afternoon, said 30 people have resigned from their healthcare positions since the vaccine was mandated on Aug. 23. Twenty of those who worked in clinical positions were nurses, therapists, and technicians, accounting for 70 percent of the resignations thus far. Meanwhile, regardless of that viewpoint, 165 of the roughly 650 workers remain unvaccinated and have yet to announce whether they want to stay or go. Mr. Cayer noted in a separate interview that around 73 percent of this group provides clinical services, according to a report published in NEWS7. Furthermore, COVID-19 contaminations among staff members are on the rise, in addition to resignations and a lot of vacant jobs, according to the meeting. Five employees have been quarantined, and another five have been placed in isolation. Health System Chiefs Try to Encourage Vaccination Through outreach discussions, the health system's leaders claimed they have been attempting to promote vaccinations and create openness among their employees. Mr. Cayer conducted a "town hall" style gathering with staff members to collect and provide input on the subject beyond the standard email exchanges. Dr. Harney has been conducting educational sessions and meeting with staff members individually. Cayer also said they have worked hard to educate, persuade, cajole, and assist people to get comfortable with taking the vaccination; but they will not judge anybody who says it is not appropriate for them. They don't want anybody to be hurt. They want everyone to be vaccinated, but they also recognize that the United States is a nation where you have choices; and if you choose not to get vaccinated, you can no longer work in health care. On the other hand, workers who have taken part in talks often want weekly testing and wearing masks rather than getting vaccinated, as is typically the case with flu vaccinations, or religious exemption from the COVID-19 vaccine, neither of which is a possibility under state rules. Related Article: Biden Requires All Private and Federal Employees To Get Vaccinated @ 2021 HNGN, All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. After two Democratic legislators pressed for vaccine passport measures, Dr. Anthony Fauci supports vaccination requirements for travelers. Democratic Lawmakers Push for Vaccine Mandates In a recently published article in Newsweek, vaccine requirements for all domestic passengers boarding airplanes have been pushed by two Democratic legislators. Representative Don Beyer presented a bill on Friday that would compel domestic air and rail travelers to provide evidence of vaccination or a negative COVID-19 test within 72 hours of boarding flights and trains, citing the need to protect passenger safety. Virginia Democrat lawmaker said that having passengers and workers at airports and Amtrak stations provide evidence of COVID vaccination or a negative test is simply basic sense. As businesses like United have already shown sensible policy changes, these are simple measures that anybody may do to make travel safer. New York Representative Ritchie Torres characterized issuing a vaccination mandate for domestic and international aviation travel as a "commonsense move" in a letter to the Department of Homeland Security in August, according to a published article in MSN News. Read Also: Hospital in New York Cancels All Baby Deliveries; Maternity Workers Quit their Job Due to COVID-19 Vaccine Mandate Fauci Supports the Measure Proposed by Lawmakers Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said he supports mandatory vaccines for air travel after two Democratic lawmakers pushed for it in the wake of an increase in COVID-19 hospitalizations and deaths across the country, particularly in areas with low vaccination rates. Fauci said, "I would support that if you want to get on a plane and travel with other people that you should be vaccinated," according to a published article in The Washington Post. It can be remembered that Fauci has been pushing for a vaccine passport since the roll-out of inoculation began. Although the head of the Nationwide Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases did not anticipate a national vaccination requirement at that time, he did say in January that he could see it being needed when traveling or attending school. This is to guarantee that the virus's spread is kept to a minimum. Will Biden Administration Support the Measure? "I believe we have a very good track record that demonstrates we're pulling various levers to obtain vaccines and we're not taking any measures off the table," COVID-19 response coordinator Jeff Zients said when asked whether the Biden administration supported mandating vaccinations for aviation travel. Meanwhile, President Joe Biden issued broad new vaccination mandates on Thursday, which may impact 100 million American employees and represent the federal government's most aggressive vaccine campaign during the global pandemic. According to Biden's proposal, all companies with 100 or more workers must either mandate vaccinations for all employees or establish routine weekly COVID-19 testing. Failure to comply may result in fines of thousands of dollars for each employee who breaks the regulation. Needless to say, in an August Harris Poll COVID-19 monitoring poll, 64 percent of Americans supported the adoption of vaccination passports for air travel. In a recent survey conducted by the Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research, 57 percent of respondents agreed that a vaccination mandate for flying should be implemented. Related Article: Biden Requires All Private and Federal Employees To Get Vaccinated @ 2021 HNGN, All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. Israel is making preparations to guarantee that it has enough vaccines in case the fourth round of Covid-19 injections is required, according to the country's top health official. Israel Prepares Enough Vaccines for Fourth Round of Inoculation In a recently published article in Bloomberg, following a push to give booster injections in August, Israel, which has mostly utilized the Pfizer Inc.-BioNTech vaccine, has vaccinated approximately 2.8 million individuals with a third dosage. The benefits of the first Covid-19 injections fade five months after vaccination, according to health authorities, necessitating booster shots. Health Ministry Director-General Nachman Ash said in an interview, "We don't know when it will happen; I hope very much that it won't be within six months, like this time, and that the third dose will last for longer." Israel plans to have a fourth shot despite the vaccine moratorium of the World Health Organization. In addition to those who received boosters, about 2.7 million of the 7 million eligible Israelis have received two shots while approximately 500,000 have received just one injection. Vaccines have not been given to almost a million individuals, according to a report published report in MSN News. Read Also: Countries Go Against WHO Recommendations, Begin Administering Booster Shots to Curb COVID-19 Spread COVID-19 Rate in Israel In early September, the nation, which had been a front-runner in the worldwide battle against COVID-19, became a pandemic hotspot. According to data collected by Johns Hopkins University, Israel had the world's highest per-capita infection rate in the week ending September 4th, after the spread of the delta strain during the summer. Unvaccinated individuals had a far greater incidence of severe illnesses per 100,000 of the population than those who have received two vaccine doses, indicating that even with fading immunity, vaccinations offer some protection against serious disease, according to Business Insider. Meanwhile, booster injections will be available in the United States and the United Kingdom later this month; and Europe is contemplating third doses. This comes as the World Health Organization calls for a three-shot ban. Last week, Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus stated that nations should wait until the end of the year at the very least to ensure that poorer countries have greater access to vaccines. Israel Vaccine Czar Calls for a Fourth Shot In a published news article in Times of Israel, Salman Zarka, Israel's national coronavirus czar, has advised the country to be ready for a fourth dosage of the COVID-19 vaccination. Zarka is said to have declined to say when the fourth vaccination injection will be given. The third dosage, which started rolling out on Aug. 1 for people over the age of 60, was allegedly the first to be offered in Israel. More than 2.5 million Israelis have gotten the third dosage as of Sept. 3. Zarka also said that the next booster injection may be tweaked to better guard against new virus strains that cause COVID-19, such as the extremely contagious Delta variant. Israel will start providing injections that are specifically designed to deal better with variants by late 2021 or early 2022, according to Zarka. The Health Ministry, on the other hand, announced last week that the "Green Pass" system - a document that allows those who have been vaccinated or recovered from the coronavirus to enter certain gatherings and public places - will expire six months after the holder has received their second or third dose, implying that a fourth dose may be administered in six months. Related Article: WHO Urges Countries to Stop Administering Booster Shots, Cites Vaccine Supply Needs of Struggling Nations @ 2021 HNGN, All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. The first hearing in a lawsuit alleging Prince Andrew of sexual abuse and highlighting his association with sex offender Jeffrey Epstein is scheduled for today in New York. Since the News of the World published photos of the duo in Central Park in 2011, the Duke of York has been dogged by concerns about his ties to Epstein. The British press chastised Prince Andrew at the time for his ill-advised relationship with a guy convicted of soliciting prostitutes from a minor. US court holds Prince Andrew's sexual abuse allegations today Five years later, new claims surfaced, accusing the prince of having sex with a 17-year-old Epstein's trafficking victim. After filing a civil complaint accusing him of first-degree rape, Virginia Giuffre's remarkable story of being flown to London for intercourse with Queen Elizabeth II's favorite son is now about to be heard in a courtroom. Today, September 13, a pre-trial hearing for Virginia Roberts Giuffre's sex assault civil complaint against Prince Andrew will be held in a US court, as per UNILAD. Giuffre filed the complaint in August under the New York Child Victims Act, saying that she was trafficked to meet with Prince Andrew three times while she was just 17 years old by Jeffery Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell. Although Prince Andrew has vehemently rejected all of the allegations and has refused to help with US prosecutors investigating Epstein and Maxwell's crimes, the case's pre-trial hearing takes place in New York today. According to one of Giuffre's lawyers, despite recently escaping to Balmoral, the Duke of York was allegedly served with court documents on the sexual assault complaint. Sky News reports lawyers are claimed to have given the documents to a Metropolitan Police officer stationed outside the gates of Prince Andrew's home. Read Also: Kris Wu Allegedly Tries to Sell Properties Amid Video Spreading With Striking Resemblance to The Idol Visiting Hospital Virginia Roberts' father has words for Prince Andrew Virginia Roberts' father has demanded that Prince Andrew be imprisoned, claiming that it is no longer the period of William Wallace when the Royals could do whatever they wanted. It comes as the Duke prepares to avoid a hearing in his sex assault civil case today by not having any lawyers present. Sky Roberts has expressed his desire for Prince Andrew to be imprisoned, stating that he needs to experience what it's like to be held accountable. Roberts, 38, is one of the most well-known Jeffrey Epstein victims, alleging that the prince assaulted her three times when she was under the age of 18. Prince Andrew has stated that he does not remember meeting Roberts, who also goes by the married name Giuffre. The duke's lawyer, Gary Bloxsome, argued that the proper protocol was not followed and that the documents should have been served by a British court officer. Judge Lewis Kaplan of the Manhattan federal court will question Giuffre's legal team about their efforts to serve Prince Andrew with the papers. Her legal team, led by David Boies, has added Andrew Vallacastin and rising star Sabina Mariella to its ranks. The matter currently has four attorneys working on it, but Prince Andrew has yet to assign only one argument to it. When Sky initially met Epstein, he thought he was a "regular guy," but he later regretted taking Virginia to his house, The Sun reported. Related Article: Prince Harry, Meghan Markle Accused of "Breathtaking Entitlement" Amid Request to Baptize Daughter, Lilibet in the UK @ 2021 HNGN, All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. Question Everything! Purpose and Intent of this website: 9/11: A U.S. Deep State Insider Speaks By Pepe Escobar An 8 part tweet stream by Pepe Escobar and posted with his permission September 12, 2021 -- " Information Clearing House - " The Saker " - 9/11: A U.S. DEEP STATE INSIDER SPEAKS Old school. Top clearance. Extremely discreet. Attended secret Deep State meetings on 9-11. Tired of all the lies. The following is whats fit to print without being redacted. Part 1 THE PHONE CALL. Up next. An emergency phone conference was held in the early afternoon of 9/11 based on the fact that WTC Building Number Seven was still standing. Demolitions were engineered to cause the building, as well as the others, to fall into its own footprint. I attended this call. Part 2 On WTC7: No plane hit Building Number Seven. The CIA was brought to cover it up. The CIA set up failed asset bin Laden to blame as misdirection, then pulled the plug on Building Number Seven. The CIA doctored boarding tapes to show Arabs entering the planes. Part 3 On Mullah Omar: Our CIA Arabists knew that if we blamed Osama, who was innocent of 9-11, Mullah Omar would not give him up in violation of the laws of Islamic hospitality. Mullah Omar requested evidence: then he would turn Osama over. Of course, we did not want that. Part 4 On heroin: The Afghanistan heroin war was justified by 9-11. No one in Afghanistan was involved in 9/11. No member of Islam was involved. We invaded Afghanistan for only one purpose, which was to restart heroin production shut down by a righteous act of Mullah Omar. Part 5 On CIA and heroin: CIA heroin plantations in Afghanistan funded external, clandestine operations and lined some important peoples pockets. That was common practice when the CIA ran the heroin operation in the Golden Triangle. Part 6 On MOTIVE: It was never in the U.S. strategic interest to lay a curse on Islam in the West. 9-11 was a kind of Gulf of Tonkin false flag operation justifying a war on Islam and the invasion of Iraq, followed by other invasions of Islamic nations. Part 7 Afghanistan-Iraq: The Taliban loved us as they did not know that we lured Russia into Afghanistan. It was idiotic to think that they wanted to hurt their ally on 9-11. With Iraq invaded over a new falsity, the neocons created a war of hatred against Islam. Part 8 Whos in charge: The apex of the U.S. command structure is not the presidency. Its the Deep State. I use that term even though we did not as it is commonly used. https://twitter.com/RealPepeEscobar/status/1436685895483084804 No Advertising - No Government Grants - This Is Independent Media Get Our Free Newsletter Registration is necessary to post comments. We ask only that you do not use obscene or offensive language. Please be respectful of others. See also Infographic: US military presence around the world : The US controls about 750 bases in at least 80 countries worldwide and spends more on its military than the next 10 countries combined. The long-awaited Apple iPhone 13 launch is finally happening on Tuesday. Rumors claim that iPhone 13 pink would get featured in the event. Major improvements on the smartphone could also include better battery life, satellite connectivity and upgraded camera performance. Unfortunately, the iPhone 13 series might be the most expensive Apple smartphone manufactured. According to Daily Mail, iPhone 13 rumors and leaks run rampant in advance of the Apple California Streaming event on September 14. The event is expected to launch the iPhone 13 series and Apple Watch 7 in its program. iPhone 13 Pink and Other Colors Leaked Ahead of Release iPhone 13 could feature different color variants compared to the iPhone 12 series, per Daily Mail. The iPhone 12 green, graphite, and pacific blue color would be removed from the new series. Instead, it would have: iPhone 13 and iPhone 13 mini: black, blue, purple, white, and red iPhone 13 Pro and iPhone 13 Pro Max: black, bronze, silver, and gold On top of this, rumors said iPhone 13 would have the color option of pink. An excited Twitter artist AliArtist3D tried to render the pink iPhone 13 variant. Read Also: Apple Stock Price in Trouble? iPhone 13 Release Facing Major Issue Apple iPhone 13 Rumors, Features and Specs Various internet sources contributed to the iPhone 13 rumored features and specs. iPhone 13 might have improved camera performance. The smartphone could use features like "Cinematic Video" in portrait mode and higher-quality multimedia format (including HD and 4K video) known as ProRes. iPhone might also use AI filter systems that significantly improve picture colors through highlights, shadows and warmer or cooler temperatures. Other reports said Apple upgraded iPhone 13 battery capacity. Upgrades per iPhone 13 model are as follows: Mini: from 2227 mAh to 2406 mAh iPhone 13: from 2815 mAh to 3095 mAh Pro: from 2815 mAh to 3095 mAh Pro Max: from 3687 mAh to 4352 mAh The iPhone 13 might also be the first Apple smartphone to feature satellite upgrades. Reliable analyst Ming-Chi Kuo said the smartphone would feature a customized Qualcomm chip that allows LEO (low-earth orbit) satellite communication. This means users could call and send messages even in places outside the 4G or 5G network. An FCC filing from Apple was also recently spotted about a new MagSafe charger. The new design should help prevent the phone from overheating even with less charge time. Lastly, the iPhone is said to feature A15 processors. This chip would lower energy consumption and improve overall smartphone performance. Unfortunately, the 5nm chip technology comes with a price. Apple Bad News: iPhone 13 Price Hike Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC), which controls half the global foundry market and is Apple's largest chip supplier, recently announced its "biggest price hike in a decade," according to Nikkei Asia. Note that the company normally commands 20 percent higher production fees than its rivals. As such, the knock-on effect of the price might affect the iPhone 13 price. All the information listed above are unofficial details that are subject to change depending on Apple's decision. Related Article: Apple iPhone vs. Samsung Galaxy: Major Advantages and Disadvantages, Which Is Better? Posters for tvN series "Yumi's Cells," left, and MBC series "The Veil" / Courtesy of tvN and MBC By Lee Gyu-lee Various genres of TV programs are expected to hit the small screen in the coming days, with the romantic comedy "Yumi's Cells," and the big-budget action TV drama "The Veil" set to be launched. The much-anticipated adaptation of the hit webcomic, "Yumi's Cells," will finally premiere Friday on tvN and CJ ENM's streaming service TVING. The rom-com series, which has created a buzz since news emerged of its production, revolves around a woman in her 30s, named Kim Yu-mi (Kim). Along with the different functioning "cells" in her body, portrayed as human-like figures, she explores happiness in her personal and professional life, and the romantic relationships with her first boyfriend, Ku Woong (Ahn Bo-hyun), followed by another, Yoo Ba-bi (Park Jin-young). Another romantic comedy series, "Dali and the Cocky Prince," starring Kim Min-jae and Park Gyu?young, is set to air Sept. 22. Directed by Lee Jung-seop, who helmed the hit series, "Bread, Love and Dreams" and "My Lawyer, Mr. Jo," the series follows a romance between two completely opposite people an art museum director and connoisseur Kim Dal?ri (Park) and a money-grabbing philistine Jin Moo-hak (Kim). When Moo-hak welcomes Dal-ri into his life, he steps into the art world through her. The MBC blockbuster action-suspense series, "The Veil," marking the broadcaster's 60th anniversary, and Netflix's new original show, "Squid Game," will arrive Friday. The action-packed spy thriller, "The Veil," will take viewers into the life of top National Intelligence Service agent Han Ji-hyuk (Namgoong Min). He is a well-trained field agent who is admired by his colleagues, but his life turns upside down when he goes missing during an operation. A year after his disappearance, he comes back to the agency to discover the truth behind that day and a mole that threatens the service. A scene from Netflix's upcoming series "Squid Game" / Courtesy of Netflix South Korea's exports rose 30.7 percent on-year in the first 10 days of September on the back of robust demand for petroleum products and autos, customs data showed Monday. The country's outbound shipments stood at $19.5 billion in the Sept. 1-10 period, compared with $14.9 billion a year earlier, according to the data from the Korea Customs Service. Imports soared 60.6 percent on-year to $21 billion, resulting in a trade deficit of $1.46 billion during the cited period, the data showed. By sector, outbound shipments of memory chips, a key export item, declined 2.1 percent on-year in the cited period. Exports of semiconductors rose for the 14th consecutive month in August on solid global demand. Semiconductors accounted for about 20 percent of exports by South Korea, home to Samsung Electronics Co., the world's largest memory chip maker, and its smaller rival SK Hynix. But exports of petroleum products soared 131.1 percent on-year in the first 10 days of September as oil prices rose amid the global economic recovery. Those of autos increased 46.8 percent despite global supply shortages of automotive chips. By country, shipments to China South Korea's largest trading partner rose 24.5 percent on-year, and those to the United States jumped 44.8 percent. The South Korean economy is on a recovery track on the back of robust exports. But the latest resurgence in COVID-19 cases and the fast spread of the delta variant emerged as major downside risks for the economic recovery. Exports, which account for half of the economy, rose 35 percent on-year in August, extending their gains to the 10th straight month. The Bank of Korea forecast Asia's fourth-largest economy to grow 4 percent this year. The government forecast economic growth of 4.2 percent. (Yonhap) Seen is a screen capture of Google Pay website. By Park Jae-hyuk Google appears to be trying to let users in Korea pay for public transportation and make payments at bricks-and-mortar stores using the Google Pay mobile payment system, according to industry sources and media reports, Monday. A recent document from the Korea Intellectual Property Rights Information Service (KIPRIS) showed that Google has added several financial services to the "designated services" of Google Pay and GPay trademarks registered here. These financial services include electronic payment via credit and debit cards, and mobile wallets; financial transactions using a mobile device at a point of sale (POS); and credit card and transaction processing terminal services using near field communication (NFC) technology. Google also updated the terms of service for its wholly-owned subsidiary, Google Payment Korea, July 25, by adding introductions to Google Pay. The updated terms of service took effect Aug. 29. According to the terms, Google Pay users can manage their credit and debit cards, and other types of payment methods that can be used in stores, for apps and on the web; public transportation cards used on trains, buses and other means of transportation; and coupons, loyalty cards, boarding passes, movie tickets and other admission passes stored in Google Pay. In Korea, Google's mobile payment system has been used only for downloading apps and software from the Google Play app store, while customers in other countries have been able to use Google Pay for public transportation and to remit money. Google Pay has also been available on iOS devices in the U.S. and India. Observers expect Google to start supporting Google Pay in Korea in line with the forthcoming launch of its Pixel smartphones here, considering that the company has enabled a wider range of services on Google Pay in countries where it has released the smart devices. The sale of Pixel smartphones in Korea has become more feasible, since Google began recruiting engineers and managers last month to work for its Pixel Mobile Wireless team at its Seoul office. However, Google Pay's success in the Korean market remains to be seen, according to skeptics. In contrast to Samsung Pay that can be used on both NFC and magnetic secure transmission (MST) based POS terminals, Google Pay only supports NFC-based payments. NFC-based devices account for only 1 percent of all POS terminals in Korea as of last year, and most of them are used in public transportation. The dominance of MST has made it difficult for both Google and Apple to provide mobile payment services in Korea. Google reportedly began talking with Korean credit card firms in 2017 about the domestic launch of its mobile payment service, which at the time was called Android Pay. After delaying the launch several times, however, its previous attempt eventually ended in failure. Apple is said to have asked Korean card companies to pay for the cost of installing NFC-based terminals at their affiliated stores nationwide, but this was not accepted. Although many franchises in Korea have now introduced NFC terminals and a growing number of shops are upgrading their POS systems, it may take more time for customers to be able to make NFC payments conveniently at any store in Korea. Google has remained silent about the possibility of using Google Pay in stores here. The Korea Times' request for comments, through its local PR agency, was not responded to by the company. North Korea's foreign ministry on Monday accused the United Kingdom of severe maltreatment of children and warned against meddling in the human rights of other countries. The ministry said on its website a recent report by the Netherlands-based "Kid's Rights Foundation" has ranked the U.K. in 169th among 182 countries, calling it a "fair and objective judgment" by the international society about the miserable situation of children's rights in the UK. "One Western media deplored that the U.K. has killed numerous children in Iraq, Afghanistan and other countries under the pretext of 'counter-terrorism' but those responsible are enjoying impunity and unfettered life under the protection of the British government," it said. The ministry said the report shows the "true facade" of the U.K., which "habitually admonishes and meddles" in the human rights of other countries and urged the UK to first redress its own human rights issue. North Korea ranked 113th in the report. The North has long been labeled as one of the world's worst human rights violators. (Yonhap) U.S. military tanks conduct an exercise in Yeoncheon, near the border with North Korea, South Korea, Sept. 10. AP-Yonhap North Korea's test-firing of long-range cruise missiles shows the threats the country poses to the region and beyond, the U.S. military said. The North's official Korean Central News Agency said earlier Monday the country successfully test-fired a new type of long-range cruise missiles over the weekend with the missiles hitting targets 1,500 kilometers away. "We are aware of reports of DPRK cruise missile launches. We will continue to monitor the situation and are consulting closely with our allies and partners," the U.S. Indo-Pacific Command said in a statement released just hours after the North's announcement. DPRK stands for the North's official name, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea. This file photo, taken June 21, shows South Korea's chief nuclear negotiator, Noh Kyu-duk, right, and his Japanese counterpart, Takehiro Funakoshi, posing before their talks in Seoul. Yonhap The top nuclear envoys of South Korea and Japan held talks in Tokyo on Monday to discuss cooperation in resuming dialogue with North Korea, amid renewed tensions caused by Pyongyang's recent cruise missile launches. The talks between Seoul's chief nuclear negotiator, Noh Kyu-duk, and his Japanese counterpart, Takehiro Funakoshi, came on the eve of their trilateral meeting with the U.S. special representative for the North, Sung Kim. Earlier in the day, the North's official Korean Central News Agency reported that the country test-fired a new type of long-range cruise missile Saturday and Sunday in a low-intensity provocation amid stalled nuclear talks with the United States. "I believe through such dialogue and consultations, the understanding of each other's position has deepened," Noh told Yonhap News Agency, noting the two sides discussed humanitarian assistance to the North. Seoul and Washington have been discussing humanitarian support for Pyongyang in various areas, including public health, quarantine, sanitation and safe water, as part of efforts to encourage its return to dialogue. People are observed for possible side effects after receiving a COVID-19 vaccine shot at a center in Seodaemun District, Seoul, Sept. 9. Yonhap By Lee Hyo-jin Korea is expected to reach its goal of inoculating 70 percent of its population with at least one dose of the COVID-19 vaccine by the end of this week, according to the health authorities. The Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA) said over 33 million people or 64.5 percent of Korea's 52 million population have received at least one dose of the vaccine as of Saturday. At this pace, the government said it will be able to accomplish its target of inoculating 70 percent of the population with their first dose before the extended Chuseok weekend, which runs from Sept.17 to 22. President Moon Jae-in speaks during a meeting with Australian Foreign Minister Marise Payne and Defense Minister Peter Dutton during their courtesy visit to Cheong Wa Dae, Monday. Yonhap President to visit New York for UN General Assembly By Nam Hyun-woo President Moon Jae-in is taking on a busy week of diplomacy, with a series of key events scheduled to test his inter-Korean peace initiative and balancing act between the U.S. and China. According to Cheong Wa Dae, Monday, Moon will depart for a five-day trip to New York and Honolulu, Sunday, to attend the upcoming 76th United Nations General Assembly. He will deliver a keynote speech at the high-level General Debate, which will begin on Tuesday (local time). Moon's visit to the U.N. headquarters comes on the occasion of the 30th anniversary of the Sept. 17 joint admission of South and North Koreas into the U.N. Since this will be Moon's last attendance at a U.N. General Assembly as South Korean President, he is anticipated to strengthen efforts to secure international support for his inter-Korean peace initiative and set up an environment to entice the North into discussions on denuclearization. "This year marks the 30th anniversary of the joint admission of South and North Korea into the U.N., and Moon's appearance will be a chance to reaffirm the international support for the peace initiative on the Korean Peninsula," presidential spokesperson Park Kyung-mee said. "Also, it will shed new light on South Korea's activities for global peace and prosperity, as well as showing the intention to meet the global expectations on the country's heightened status." A Cheong Wa Dae official said the presidential office is "reviewing the possibility of holding summits with a number of countries participating in the U.N. event," but did not elaborate on which countries they would be. For Moon, whose term will end in eight months, the U.N. outing will be one of the few remaining opportunities for Moon to directly engage in diplomatic events involving North Korea. Initially, the presidential office sought to use next year's Beijing Winter Olympics as a chance for talks with Pyongyang, but this has been technically frustrated after the International Olympic Committee decided to ban the North's participation in the event scheduled for February. In Honolulu, Moon will attend a ceremony of returning the remains of U.S. soldiers who fought in the 1950-53 Korean War. Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi, left, and Vietnamese Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh wave before their talks in Hanoi, Vietnam, Saturday. AP-Yonhap China question Before Moon departs for the U.N. trip, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi will arrive in Korea, Tuesday, and is anticipated to pay a visit to Moon as early as Wednesday. Wang's visit comes amid the Moon administration's balancing act between Washington and Beijing. As part of their rivalry, the two powerhouses have been reaching out to their allies and friendly nations to "join their side," and this has been a tricky test for South Korea, which has the U.S. as its closest ally and China as its top trading partner. During his visit to Vietnam last week, Wang already dropped hints as to the purpose of his visit to Seoul. On Friday, Wang warned of interference from regional outsiders, as he urged Vietnam not to "magnify conflicts" in the disputed South China Sea, in an apparent response to U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris' call on Vietnam to join the U.S. in challenging China's "bullying." While Wang is visiting Seoul, the top nuclear envoys of South Korea, the U.S. and Japan will meet Tuesday, which is seen as a sign of closer trilateral relations. Against this backdrop, Wang's visit is interpreted as Beijing's increased pressure on Seoul after Washington recently expressed its wish to bring more of its allies into the U.S.-led intelligence-sharing alliance, known as "Five Eyes." If Wang meets Moon, the North Korea issue will also be on the table. The North's Korean Central News Agency reported Monday that the regime has test fired a new type of long-range cruise missile over the weekend. China, along with Russia, has been raising the idea of sanctions relief for North Korea. The missile test, however, has had an adverse impact on Beijing's rationale, but experts said Wang may underscore that North Korea launched a cruise missile, not a ballistic missile. Cruise missiles are considered a "weaker provocation" compared to ballistic missiles. President Moon Jae-in poses with Australian Foreign Minister Marise Payne, left, and Defense Minister Peter Dutton during their courtesy visit to Cheong Wa Dae, Monday. Yonhap Foreign Minister Chung Eui-yong, third from left, speaks during a news conference after the "two plus two" talks involving foreign and defense ministers of South Korea and Australia in Seoul on Monday. From left are Australian Defense Minister Peter Dutton, Australian Foreign Minister Marise Payne, Chung and South Korean Defense Minister Suh Wook. Yonhap South Korea and Australia reaffirmed their shared commitment to promoting stability in the Indo-Pacific region during their foreign and defense ministers' talks Monday, casting themselves as "like-minded" democracies amid China's growing assertiveness and North Korea's renewed threats. Foreign Minister Chung Eui-yong, Defense Minister Suh Wook, and their Australian counterparts, Marise Payne and Peter Dutton, respectively, held their countries' fifth biennial "two-plus-two" talks in Seoul. The talks between South Korea and Australia, two staunch allies of the United States, came amid an intensifying Sino-U.S. rivalry and concerns over the North's recent cruise missile launches and signs of its reactivation of a nuclear reactor. Commenting on the North's recent provocative moves, Chung highlighted the pressing need to resume dialogue with the recalcitrant regime. "The resumption of nuclear and missile activities underscores the urgency of dialogue with the North, engagement or diplomacy for the fundamental resolutions of such problems," Chung said. Payne stressed the importance of engagement with Pyongyang, while reiterating Australia's commitment to enforcing international and autonomous sanctions until the North takes "clear steps" towards "the complete, verifiable and irreversible denucelarization." South Korean Defense Minister Suh Wook met with his Australian counterpart, Peter Craig Dutton, on Monday in Seoul and agreed to further strengthen cooperation in the security and defense industry fields, the defense ministry in Seoul said. The talks took place as Dutton was in Seoul to attend the "two plus two" foreign and defense ministers' talks set to be held later in the day. During the meeting, Suh and Dutton noted that South Korea had taken part in the large Australia-U.S. naval exercise named Talisman Sabre in July and plans to participate in the Australia-led multilateral air exercise named Pitch Black next year for the first time ever, according to the ministry. The two sides agreed that such exercises would improve interoperability between the two militaries. The two ministers also discussed their major defense programs and agreed to continue to work closely to deepen cooperation in the related industries, while vowing to "launch discussions to come up with a new, future-oriented institutional mechanism," according to the ministry. "As Minister Suh explained the security situation on the Korean Peninsula, Dutton vowed his country's continued support for Seoul's efforts to engage with North Korea." (Yonhap) South Korea's Vice Defense Minister Park Jae-min held talks with his counterpart of the United Arab Emirate on Monday to discuss regional security issues and explore ways to deepen their defense cooperation, the defense ministry in Seoul said. Park visited the Middle Eastern country for a four-day stay from Saturday at the invitation of Matar Salem Ali Al Dhaheri, the UAE's under-secretary of defense. The UAE is the first leg of his two-nation trip that also includes Vietnam. During the Steering Committee meeting in the UAE, the vice ministers shared their assessment on the security situations of their regions and agreed to boost the bilateral defense relationship to help establish peace, according to the ministry. The two sides also discussed ways to deepen ties in the defense and arms industry fields, it added. During his stay, Park is scheduled to meet senior defense officials, as well as South Korean troops of the Akh unit which has been on a mission there since 2011 to train UAE service members and protect Korean nationals in emergencies, according to the ministry. (Yonhap) This photo taken on Feb. 14 shows the construction site of a mosque in Daegu's Buk District. Korea Times file By Lee Hyo-jin A conflict is deepening over the construction of a two-story mosque in a residential district of Daegu, the nation's third-largest city located in the southeastern region of the country. Some residents, worried that the mosque would lead to stronger Islamic influence in the area, have been strongly opposing the construction, whereas the Islamic community and civic groups supporting it believe the mosque should be built to guarantee the freedom of religion. The construction of the place of worship in Daehyeon-dong, Buk District, was launched in December 2020 by the local Islamic community, mainly consisting of international students studying at Kyungpook National University in Daegu. They received a construction permit from the local district office in September of that year. But it was met with heavy backlash among some residents and members of conservative Protestant groups in the area. They staged rallies in front of the construction site and filed multiple petitions with the district office calling for a halt to the construction, citing loud noise and infringement of property rights. In February, the district authorities issued an administrative order to the building owner to halt the construction. It has been delayed indefinitely ever since, while the conflict between the two sides has been left unresolved. On Sept. 3, an internet user claiming to be a resident of Buk District posted a petition on the Cheong Wa Dae website, urging the government to "save" the country from Islamic influence. "I've been fighting for over eight months to stop the construction of the mosque. I've seen many foreign residents in this area while living here for decades, but I've never seen foreigners form a community of their own like they (Muslims) do. I sometimes feel threatened seeing them walking in groups on the street," the petition read. "Now that they're even buying houses in the area, it's a matter of time until our district becomes Muslim. I don't understand why they are claiming freedom of religion here, when they come from countries where religions other than Islam are oppressed and human rights are often violated." The writer demanded the government step in, saying, "The government should help us build a safer country for our children." The petition had garnered over 50,000 signatures as of 2 p.m., Monday. On the other hand, the Islamic community and civic groups which support the construction of the mosque claim that freedom of religion should be guaranteed. They view the district office's administrative order to suspend the construction as discriminative. The Daegu branch of the People's Solidarity for Participatory Democracy insisted that the local government should retract its "discriminatory policy" and allow the construction to resume. "There is absolutely no reason to oppose a legitimate construction project. A mosque is a house of worship for Muslims, as a church is one for Protestants," Kang Geum-soo, a member of the civic group, told The Korea Times. "Opponents are discriminating against them based on nationality, race and religion. And the local authority should retract its discriminatory administrative order which was made only based on opinions among residents with anti-Muslim sentiment." He added, "The authorities should take swift action. The building owners are suffering from huge financial losses due to the months-long delay in the construction schedule." Poster for the Catholic Diocese's campaign "Dedication of practice of carbon neutrality in the Catholic Diocese of Suwon" / Courtesy of Catholic Diocese of Suwon By Park Ji-won The Catholic Diocese of Suwon consisting of 222 churches in the region pledged to reach net zero carbon emissions by 2040 by using renewable energy in its facilities. The diocese launched a one-year campaign called "Dedication of practice of carbon neutrality in the Catholic Diocese of Suwon" on Saturday, which aims for self-sufficient electricity supply by 2030 and carbon neutrality by 2040. The diocese marked the launch by holding a prayer service. "Achieving the goal of carbon neutrality is a wave of the era. But acting on the issue is a matter of life and death. It is a matter of survival," Rev. Yang Ki-suk, head of the Catholic Diocese of Suwon's environment and ecology committee, told The Korea Times by phone, Monday. "A few years ago, reports urged reaching carbon neutrality by 2050 as global warming will hit 1.5C by 2050. But recently, some reports including that of IPCC have pushed forward the timeline to 2040. Pope Francis has been urging the Catholic community to actively take action for environmental sustainability while announcing the seven-year Laudato si' action plan on environmental issues. So we hastened the aim to 2040 as a matter of urgency in working toward carbon neutrality. We may have taken the lead on this action, but the Catholic Church in Korea community will take action as discussions continue in its special committee." To be specific, the diocese aims to run its churches through self-generated electricity by installing solar thermal power plants in every church in the region by 2030 so that one church can generate around 100kW/h annually. The community expects the installation will enable a 60 to 70 percent reduction in carbon emissions compared to now. It also plans to use more net zero-friendly products in churches while urging churchgoers to do the same in their daily lives. Catholics can participate in the campaign online, where they can save some points while taking action. Later, the names of those who reach 50 million points will be used in the donation for climate refugees or people displaced by climate change. The decision came after Pope Francis and the Korean government pledged to work towards net zero carbon emissions to reach the target by 2050. The target of net zero carbon emissions has been set in other religious communities. Some Protestant churches joined hands in May to pledge to work towards net-zero carbon emissions to reach the target by 2050 and the Jogye Order of Korean Buddhism also announced it came up with measures in June to overcome climate change and take action for carbon neutrality over the next 10 years. By Lee Hyon-soo The recent debacle in Afghanistan shows that strong political leadership is essential for a nation's self-defense. Unlike Afghanistan, which, after twenty years of war, appeared to fall in a few days back into the hands of the Taliban, Britain was able to defend itself against German aggression during World War II thanks to Winston Churchill's coherent leadership. How he led the British people through the dark days was realistically portrayed in the 2017 war drama film, "Darkest Hour." In May 1940, eight months after the outbreak of World War II in Europe, Winston Churchill became Britain's prime minister, replacing Arthur Neville Chamberlain, who was best known for his foreign policy of appeasement in the face of Nazi Germany's aggression. After signing the Munich Agreement in 1938, Chamberlain returned to London with an air of triumph and proudly declared that peace had been secured with honor. Even after Hitler reneged on the Munich Agreement and the German army swept across Western Europe and threatened to invade Britain, Chamberlain and his associates wanted to negotiate for peace with Hitler. But Churchill opposed such negotiations in the belief that a peace treaty with an untrustworthy Hitler would not be worth the paper it would be written on. He delivered in parliament and on radio inspiring speeches in which he vowed to fight Hitler's Nazi army no matter what they would do to try to take over Britain. And he won the hearts of the British people. Some of his speeches included the following fiery words: "I have nothing to offer but blood, toil, tears and sweat." "We shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the landing grounds, we shall fight in the fields and in the streets, we shall fight in the hills; we shall never surrender." "You ask, what is our aim? I can answer in one word: it is victory, victory at all costs, victory in spite of all terror, victory, however long and hard the road may be." Although Britain had the unflinching will to fight, it lacked the resources to defend itself against German military might. Britain badly needed support from the United States, but the latter remained neutral at the time, because the Americans overwhelmingly favored staying out of the European war. What is left unsaid in the film is that in December 1941, the United States declared war upon Germany after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. With the United States entering the war, the tide turned in favor of the anti-Nazi allied forces. Germany surrendered in May 1945. Without Churchill's strong and persevering leadership, Britain would have fallen into Hitler's hands before the United States came to its rescue. The film deals with a historical episode that happened a long time ago. But it is relevant even today, because it demonstrates how vital it is to have a good political leader in times of adversity. Britain was lucky to have a great leader like Churchill. Conversely, it was Germany's misfortune to be ruled by Hitler, an eccentric warmonger. More importantly, there are valuable lessons to be learned from it: That no lasting peace can be negotiated from a position of weakness and that no country can remain independent unless it has the will and capabilities to defend itself. The writer (tomhslee43@gmail.com) is a freelance columnist and the author of "Tales of A Korean Globetrotter." Yonhap under fire for betraying public's trust Yonhap News Agency, South Korea's representative semi-official wire service, has suffered a setback as it was banned from posting news articles on the country's two main internet portals Naver and Daum for 32 days from Sept. 8. The suspension came after Naver's news assessment committee, composed of 30 media experts and journalists, decided to take punitive steps against Yonhap for posting advertising contents disguised as news stories, on the portals. Those advertorials were found to have been written by non-newsroom employees of Yonhap's public relations and marketing team for business purposes. It has been routine for media outlets to produce advertorials to make money. But, in that case, they are required to clearly identify them as "ads" to prevent possible confusion among readers. Portals are supposed to categorize such advertorials as "press releases" which are posted separately from general news articles. Despite such a rule, Yonhap sent around 2,000 paid advertorial pieces promoting diverse events and products of companies to the portals' news category from Oct. 31, 2019, until July 15 this year, equivalent to three to four pieces a day on average. Yonhap cannot avoid criticism as its employees purportedly sent the advertorials to the portals' news category even though they knew that this practice was illegitimate. This was proven by a PR team document, obtained by Media Today, which described such pieces as "different from news." The team apparently tried to make the advertorials look as if they were regular news stories to attract more readers. Also, advertisers tend to prefer the news category to the press release category as the former is more effective in publicizing their events or products than the latter. This is tantamount to deceiving readers as advertorials are disguised as news stories. Yonhap's unfair practice is all the more shocking, considering that it receives about 30 billion won ($25.5 million) in subsidies from the government every year. This means the agency is freer from financial problems compared to privately-run news outlets. Given this, it needs to focus on promoting the public interest, rather than seeking business profits. Yet, the agency has betrayed the public's trust and expectations. It is astounding that Yonhap engaged in such a bad practice to earn a mere 200 million won per year. In a statement submitted to Naver's review committee, Yonhap argued that major internet portals had not taken any measures previously although they were aware that such practices were prevalent in the media sector. It said the portals and the committee alike had never launched an examination or issued a warning on the matter to the agency over the last 10 years. Yonhap's argument sounds like a lame excuse. Yet it offers an opportunity for all media outlets to reflect on themselves. Under any circumstances, news providers should put top priority on the public interest, such as social justice and fairness, by endeavoring to promote the people's right to know and playing the role of watchdog. When its suspension ends, Yonhap will be subject to another review for future course of action from the portals. It deserves appropriate stern punishment for its unfair and unjust practice. It should pull out all the stops to be reborn as a news agency that can better serve the readers. By Yang Moo-jin The International Atomic Energy Agency said in a report issued at the end of August that North Korea appears to have restarted its 5-megawatt reactor and reprocessing facility in Yongbyon.Many different assessments of the Yongbyon nuclear facility were reported in the media and it seems that quite a few of them are contradictory and biased, as if revealing the disorderly state of the North Korean nuclear issue itself. I would like to outline them in the following "three contradictions." First, is the Yongbyon nuclear facility a "disaster" or just a "lump of scrap metal?" Some political groups say that North Korea's restarting of the Yongbyon nuclear facility will bring about a "disaster" that will threaten South Korea. However, many other people disagree, because two years ago, they disparaged Yongbyon as an old facility not worth negotiating with, and therefore concluded at that time that it was a "lump of scrap metal." Although Yongbyon has not changed, how can the assessments of it be so different depending on the situation? These assessments seem to be acts with political intentions rather than oriented towards actual solutions. Dr. Siegfried S. Hecker, who visited the Yongbyon area in 2010, called Yongbyon the "heart" of North Korea's nuclear material production. He pointed out that new facilities, such as a uranium enrichment facility and an experimental light water reactor, have been built since the expulsion of the IAEA inspectors in 2009, and also refuted the assessment that the Yongbyon facility was obsolete. However, it is very likely that North Korea is operating a facility that produces highly-enriched uranium outside of Yongbyon and that it has strengthened its nuclear capabilities through six nuclear tests and ICBM test launches. Therefore, it is also true that Yongbyon's importance in North Korea's nuclear arsenal is clearly different from what it was in the 1990s, when only the Yongbyon facility was available. Considering the fact that the Yongbyon area has a nuclear reactor and reprocessing facility, which are the only facilities that can produce plutonium and tritium, and that there is also a uranium enrichment facility, the Yongbyon nuclear facility plays a very critical if not the main role in North Korea's nuclear material production. I think this view represents a balanced assessment of Yongbyon. Second, "will the U.S. not buy the same horse twice," or has it ever even bought a horse? Some experts cite the American proverb, "Don't buy the same horse twice" and emphasize that North Korea has not fully implemented agreements to freeze and dismantle the Yongbyon nuclear facility in the past. North Korea ceased its nuclear activities in Yongbyon after signing the 1994 Agreed Framework and the Feb. 13 Agreement of the 2007 six-party talks, while IAEA inspectors were monitoring it and residing there. Does the reason why these agreements were not completely fulfilled rest only on the shoulders of North Korea? In fact, the responsibility also lies with the fact that proportional responses in exchange for denuclearization steps, such as an improvement in U.S.-North Korea relations, the conclusion of a peace treaty, and the supply of a light-water reactor, did not go well. Due to not having the actual intention to "pay for" the full cessation of Yongbyon properly, the U.S. in the end did not actually "buy" Yongbyon in the first place. Dismantling the Yongbyon nuclear facility means not only halting the production of nuclear materials, but also enhancing experts' understanding of North Korea's overall nuclear weapons program, by gaining access to Yongbyon sites. Dismantling is not everything when it comes to denuclearization, but can be an important impetus for getting denuclearization to start full-scale and in promoting the dismantlement of the other nuclear facilities through building mutual trust. From this perspective, it's really unfortunate that the Trump administration called for North Korea to declare all the parts of its nuclear weapons program as well as rejected North Korea's proposal to dismantle the Yongbyon nuclear facility at the summit between the U.S. and North Korea in February 2019. Third, despite recent indications that nuclear activities in Yongbyon have resumed, South Korea and the U.S. keep trying to talk to North Korea. Is that a prudent attitude or a deliberate attempt to hide information? While some experts have regarded the U.S. government's response to signs of the resumption of nuclear activities in Yongbyon as prudent, so as not to get caught up in North Korea's trickery, they have criticized South Korea for disclosing only favorable information in order to promote dialogue with the North, including the resumption of cross-border communication. The U.S. and South Korean governments have coordinated closely on North Korea policy since the inauguration of U.S. President Joe Biden, and actively sent messages to the North for dialogue through the South Korea-U.S. summit in May. The two governments have showed the same position that the recent report from the IAEA provided, supporting evidence on the urgency of engagement with North Korea to solve the problem. If experts make completely different comments on the same response by the South Korean and U.S. governments, we will have no choice but to ask them what their rationale is for making such disparate comments. As the North Korean nuclear issue has continued on unabated, and North Korea's nuclear capacity has advanced, doubt and distrust have continued to grow. We should face the heart of the matter and return to the basics. The key to the problem is to build trust by reducing the threat and easing hostility. It is now time to adopt a practical and rational approach to solve the problem without ideological or political intentions. Yang Moo-jin (yangmj@kyungnam.ac.kr) is a professor at the University of North Korean Studies and the vice chair of the Korean Association of North Korean Studies. He is also a standing committee member of the National Unification Advisory Council and a policy consultant at the Ministry of Unification. An LG Innotek employee holds a magnet in this photo provided by the company, Monday. Courtesy of LG Innotek By Baek Byung-yeul LG Innotek developed high-efficiency, eco-friendly magnets for use in vehicles and smart devices, aiming to advance into a market dominated by Chinese and Japanese manufacturers, the electronic component arm of LG Group said Monday. The company worked jointly with local magnet company Sunglim Group Industry to develop the product. Magnets are essential components for vehicle motors, smartphone cameras, audio speakers and wind power generators. They are installed in products to provide power through magnetic pushing and pulling forces, the company said. LG Innotek said it minimized the use of heavy rare-earth (HRE) metals by 60 percent compared to existing products. The industry is struggling to find alternatives for HRE metals due to their short supply as well as high cost and environmental pollution. By using only 40 percent of the HRE metals compared to existing products, LG Innotek is able to minimize procurement problems caused by a shortage of raw materials. "LG Innotek's eco-friendly magnet is particularly significant because South Korea imports most of its HRE metals from China," the company said. HRE metals come from only a few countries, but demand has been soaring recently due to increased demand for electric vehicles. Industry officials said the supply of HRE metals is expected to get even tighter due to diplomatic and trade disputes between China and the United States. LG Innotek said it improved the performance of the magnets to 14.8 kilogauss a unit representing magnetic strength which is the highest level in the industry. This beats the products of Japanese companies that have led the industry for nearly 40 years, according to the firm. "Applying the eco-friendly magnet to a steering motor of a vehicle is advantageous for reducing the weight of the vehicle. The magnet reduces the size of the motor while increasing its output," LG Innotek said. "This product is suitable for electric and hybrid vehicles that need weight reduction to improve mileage range due to an increase in battery weight. This magnet can also cut the costs of raw materials, such as copper used in motors, as it decreases the size of the motor," the company added. LG Innotek began developing its own magnets in 2017. The market has been dominated by Japanese firms that possess cutting-edge technological capabilities and Chinese firms that boast price competitiveness. LG Innotek plans to strengthen its competitive edge in the market by applying the eco-friendly magnets to the company's other products, such as steering motors for vehicles and smartphone actuators. At the same time, the company plans to strengthen promotions targeting global carmakers, auto parts makers and smartphone companies. It also aims to expand the use of its magnets to air conditioners, refrigerators, drones, urban air mobility vehicles and generators. Kakao founder Kim Beom-su / Courtesy of Kakao By Baek Byung-yeul The founder of Korea's top mobile messenger operator Kakao is under investigation by the Fair Trade Commission (FTC) for allegedly failing to report corporate structure matters related to the company's de facto holding company K Cube Holdings, according to industry sources Monday. The antitrust agency conducted investigations at the headquarters of Kakao and K Cube Holdings last week after finding out the internet platform company allegedly violated the fair trade act. K Cube Holdings, wholly owned by Kim Beom-su, is an investment company. Kim, who is serving as board chairman of Kakao, exercises control over Kakao through a 13.3 percent stake he holds directly and a 10.59 percent stake held by K Cube Holdings. The FTC is known to have conducted on-site investigations of Kakao and K Cube Holdings based on its suspicions that Kakao underreported or fabricated information about K Cube Holdings over the past five years. Under the fair trade law here, conglomerates must submit data on the status of affiliates, shareholders and other information to the FTC every year. If there appears to be a false submission date in this process, the FTC may file a complaint. Regarding the issue, a Kakao official said, "There's nothing to comment on." There have been suspicions that the Kakao founder is using K Cube Holdings as a means to ensure a smooth family ownership succession, as the chairman's son and daughter are known to have worked for the company. Kakao representatives have said K Cube Holdings is the chairman's private firm and is only relevant due to its shareholder status. However, industry views deem K Cube Holdings to be a de facto holding company for Kakao. The FTC's move is in line with lawmakers' criticism over the market dominance of internet platform business operators, whose businesses range from cab-hailing to internet banking. "Platform operators that adjust and distort rules in a way that is favorable to them will be a subject to intensive monitoring," FTC Vice Chairperson Kim Jae-shin said during a symposium held in Seoul, Sept. 10. Hyosung Chairman Cho Hyun-joon, right, and Tennessee Senator Bill Hagerty greet each other at the company's Memphis plant. Courtesy of Hyosung Group By Kim Hyun-bin Hyosung Group Chairman Cho Hyun-joon is preparing for the post-COVID-19 world by focusing on the U.S. market for future growth. The chairman recently visited Hyosung Heavy Industries' extra high-voltage plant in Memphis, Tennessee, and Hyosung TNS's U.S. corporate body in Dallas, Texas, the company said Monday. "The visits to the key businesses were made to come up with better strategies for the U.S. market," the company said. To gain traction in the new businesses, the company believes it is imperative to first gain recognition for its technology and quality in the U.S., ahead of its competitors. Recently, U.S. President Joe Biden announced a $1.2 trillion investment plan in the country's energy grid and renewable energy infrastructure. "The U.S. market is key to the rapidly changing post-COVID world," Cho said. "We need to enhance our grip on the market by strengthening our localization strategy and customer-focused measures." In Early September, Cho visited Hyosung Heavy Industries' extra high-voltage plant in Memphis to check on the company's local market strategy, trends and outlook. The chairman met Tennessee Senator Bill Hagerty to seek enhanced cooperation, and discussed ways to vitalize the local economy, while inspecting the company's production line. "We will foster heavy industry technicians and strengthen partnerships with local power companies to not only enhance the power infrastructure for the Tennessee region, but also at the federal level," Cho said. Hagerty responded by vowing to provide wholehearted support for the growth and expansion of Hyosung's Memphis plant. The plant will complete an expansion at the end of the year, which will boost production to 60 high voltage transformers annually and generate an expected $100 million in sales. Hyosung plans to utilize the Memphis plant as an advance base for the U.S. market's heavy industry sector, not only to better meet power infrastructure replacement demand, but also to target the renewable energy market there. Targeting US financial market Last week, the chairman visited Hyosung TNS's U.S. corporate body, Hyosung America, to inspect NHA exhibition products as well as brainstorm a future market strategy. Hyosung TNS entered the U.S. market in the mid-2000s and has become the leading company in the small ATM market, gaining a 73 percent share. Cho met up with local financial and IT experts and requested the development of innovative technologies for the swiftly changing financial market in which the U.S. is rapidly transitioning towards digitization. Hyosung TNS said it plans to boost cooperation with U.S. financial institutions and is also developing kiosks and software platforms for cryptocurrency exchanges. Electric, hydrogen vehicle components Hyosung also aims to strengthen its product line-up in the U.S. automobile market that has been showing strong signs of a recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic. Industry watchers believe electric vehicles (EV) will account for up to 50 percent of the U.S. automobile market by 2030 and expect the EV and hydrogen vehicle component market to show rapid growth as well. The company aims to boost supplies of hydrogen vehicle tire cords and high-tech EV materials. By Jun Ji-hye More than 20,000 passengers have boarded "international sightseeing flights" operated by domestic airlines, which take passengers over other countries and then return to Korea. The special services were launched in December last year to generate profits for airlines and duty-free stores amid the prolonged COVID-19 pandemic. Passengers using these flights are given the same duty-free benefits as other passengers using regular international flights. According to the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport and Korea Customs Service, a total of 216 special flights have operated between Dec. 12 and Aug. 31, with the number of passengers tallied at 22,551. The passengers have spent a total of 33 billion won ($28 million) at duty-free shops and the most popular products were cosmetics, whose sales reached 8.2 billion won. The flights, which departed only from Incheon International Airport at the beginning, began departing from other domestic and international airports such as Gimpo, Gimhae and Daegu, starting in May. The expansion of the services to regional airports came as part of the government's efforts to meet growing demand for travel and invigorate the airline, tourism and duty-free industries amid deepening difficulties facing them due to the prolonged pandemic. Japan's minister in charge of vaccines, Taro Kono, led a public opinion poll on who should succeed Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga as head of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party. Kono had 27 percent support in the poll by the Nikkei newspaper and TV Tokyo that asked who would be "the right person" to lead the party and become the next prime minister. The results of the Sept. 9-11 poll were released on Saturday. Former LDP Secretary-General Shigeru Ishiba was next with 17 percent, and ex-policy chief Fumio Kishida was third with 14 percent. Former Interior Minister Sanae Takaichi was fifth with 7 percent. Kono, who also serves as minister of administrative reform, announced his candidacy on Friday, the third to make his intention official after Kishida and Takaichi. Ishiba may not run for the party's leadership and instead will likely support another candidate, the Jiji news service said Saturday, citing sources close to him. Suga, in a surprise move, said on Sept. 3 he would step down, marking an end to a one-year tenure that was marred by plunging public support and dissatisfaction with his coronavirus response. That set the stage for a Sept. 29 leadership vote among grassroots LDP members and lawmakers. The winner is virtually assured the premiership because the LDP has a majority in parliament's lower house. Following the LDP leadership vote, Japan will likely hold a general election in the first half of November, Kyodo reported citing ruling party lawmakers. The Nikkei/TV Tokyo poll follows earlier ones showing strong public support for Kono, 58, to succeed Suga. (Reuters) The U.N. human rights chief says her office has received credible allegations of reprisal killings by the Taliban of former Afghan security forces, as well as instances in which officials in the previous government and their relatives were arbitrarily detained and later turned up dead. Michelle Bachelet, speaking on Monday to the Human Rights Council, warned of a "new and perilous phase" for Afghanistan as she criticized the Taliban for a disconnect between their words and actions. She cited "multiple" allegations of Taliban house-to-house searches looking for officials from the previous government and "people who cooperated with U.S. security forces and companies." Such searches took place in at least a half-dozen cities, Bachelet said. U.N. staffers have also reported increasing attacks and threats, she added, without providing specifics. "My office has received credible allegations of reprisal killings of a number of former ANSF (Afghan National Security Forces) personnel, and reports of officials, who worked for previous administrations and their family members being arbitrarily detained," she said. "In some cases, the officials were released, and in others, they were found dead." (AP) With a view of the iconic Vehicle Assembly Building at left, a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket soars upward from Launch Complex 39A carrying the company's Crew Dragon Endeavour capsule and four Crew-2 astronauts toward the International Space Station at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Fla., April 23. Reuters-Yonhap Yet another billionaire entrepreneur is set to ride into space this week, strapped inside the capsule of a SpaceX rocketship, as part of an astro-tourist team poised to make history as the first all-civilian crew launched into Earth orbit. Jared Isaacman, the American founder and chief executive of e-commerce firm Shift4 Payments, will lead three fellow spaceflight novices on a trip expected to last three days from blastoff at Cape Canaveral, Florida, to splashdown in the Atlantic. The 38-year-old tech mogul has plunked down an unspecified but presumably exorbitant sum to fellow billionaire and SpaceX owner Elon Musk to fly Isaacman and three specially selected travel mates into orbit aboard a SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule. The crew vehicle is set for blastoff from NASA's Kennedy Space Center atop one of Musk's reusable Falcon 9 rockets, with a 24-hour targeted launch window that opens at 8 p.m. EDT (0000 GMT) on Wednesday. That window will be narrowed, or possibly altered, a few days before, depending on weather. Dubbed Inspiration4, the orbital outing was conceived by Isaacman primarily to raise awareness and support for one of his favorite causes, St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, a leading pediatric cancer center. He has pledged $100 million personally to the institute. But a successful mission would also help usher in a new era of commercial space tourism, with several companies vying for wealthy customers willing to pay a small fortune to experience the exhilaration of supersonic flight, weightlessness and the visual spectacle of space. Setting acceptable levels of consumer risk in the inherently dangerous endeavor of rocket travel is also key, and raises a pointed question. "Do you have to be both rich and brave to get on these flights right now?" said Sridhar Tayur, a professor of operations management and new business models at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, in an interview with Reuters on Friday. In this July 11 file photo, provided by Virgin Galactic shows Sir Richard Branson, center, and other Unity 22 crew members at zero gravity. AFP-Yonhap Videos Sorry, there are no recent results for popular videos. The Columbia County criminal docket will be heard Thursday at the Justice and Detention Facility. Joanna McFarland, co-founder and CEO of school ride-service company HopSkipDrive, which tracks school bus issues, told the Associated Press last month that a March survey found nearly 80% of districts that responded across the country were having trouble finding enough bus drivers, especially as about half the workforce was over 65 and more vulnerable to the coronavirus. On one previous attempt to leave, Taliban members were shooting weapons into the air. On another, her husband said, she followed instructions from U.S. embassy officials to go to the airport, but waited in vain at a closed U.S.-operated gate until 3 a.m. Suarez grew up in New Jersey. He was an Eagle Scout who volunteered at soup kitchens and was always willing to give to the less fortunate. Once, he gave money to a homeless man in a wheelchair, who immediately stood up, folded his wheelchair and left. Suarez was not offended by the lie. He would always give the benefit of the doubt. U.S. District Judge Amy Berman Jackson set Wrigleys sentencing for Dec. 2. In addition to possible jail time, Wrigley will be required to pay $500 in restitution toward the more than $1.4 million in damage rioters caused to the Capitol, court documents say. Wrigleys attorney, Ann C. Flannery of Philadelphia, said her client was protesting peacefully and the conduct to which Wrigley admitted shows his involvement in the riot was limited. : bj2 (), : Military : : BBS (Sun Sep 12 11:06:31 2021, ) Travels with George review: Washington, Americas original sin and its divided present http://www.theguardian.com/books/2021/sep/12/travels-with-george-review-washington-slavery-political-division http://bakerpublishinggroup.com/books/america-s-original-sin/343774 America's problem with race has deep roots, with the country's foundation tied to the near extermination of one race of people and the enslavement of another. Racism is truly our nation's original sin. "It's time we right this unacceptable wrong," says bestselling author and leading Christian activist Jim Wallis. Fifty years ago, Wallis was driven away from his faith by a white church that considered dealing with racism to be taboo. His participation in the civil rights movement brought him back when he discovered a faith that commands racial justice. Yet as recent tragedies confirm, we continue to suffer from the legacy of racism. The old patterns of white privilege are colliding with the changing demographics of a diverse nation. The church has been slow to respond, and Sunday morning is still the most segregated hour of the week. In America's Original Sin, Wallis offers a prophetic and deeply personal call to action in overcoming the racism so ingrained in American society. He speaks candidly to Christians--particularly white Christians--urging them to cross a new bridge toward racial justice and healing. Whenever divided cultures and gridlocked power structures fail to end systemic sin, faith communities can help lead the way to grassroots change. Probing yet positive, biblically rooted yet highly practical, this book shows people of faith how they can work together to overcome the embedded racism in America, galvanizing a movement to cross the bridge to a multiracial church and a new America. For more information, please visit www.americasoriginalsin.com Contents Foreword by Bryan Stevenson Preface: June 17 Introduction: You Will Know the Truth, and the Truth Will Set You Free 1. Race Is a Story 2. The Parables of Ferguson and Baltimore 3. The Original Sin and Its Legacy 4. Repentance Means More Than Just Saying You're Sorry 5. Dying to Whiteness 6. A Segregated Church or a Beloved Community? 7. From Warriors to Guardians 8. The New Jim Crow and Restorative Justice 9. Welcoming the Stranger 10. Crossing the Bridge to a New America Afterword Index -- :WWW mitbbs.com [FROM: 50.] [] National Shiv Sena vows to teach a lesson to BJP, to contest UP, Goa polls Lucknow/Mumbai, Sep 12 (IANS) | Publish Date: 9/12/2021 1:50:30 PM IST The Shiv Sena has vowed to teach a lesson to the Bharatiya Janata Party by contesting all 403 seas in the upcoming Uttar Pradesh elections, plus the Goa polls, both due to be held in early-2022, top officials said here. The pre-poll bugle was sounded after a high-level meeting of Sena leaders, led by the state president Thakur Anil Singh in Lucknow, after deliberating on what it termed as jungle raj prevalent in UP under Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath since the past four-and-half years. We deliberated on several issues ranging from the education system to the healthcare sector, the bungling of the Covid pandemic, the problems of farmers, the spectre of unemployment among youth, etc, said UP Shiv Sena Secretary Vishwajeet Singh. Confirming the developments, Senas Chief Spokesperson and MP Sanjay Raut said that as per current plans, the party may put up at least 100 candidates in UP and 20 in Goa polls. In a no-holds barred attack, Singh said that the (UP) regime has joined hands with the mafia resulting in a jungle raj where sisters and daughters are not secure, and the government has completely failed on the law-and-order front. He charged the Yogi regime of not honouring the Supreme Court verdict giving 15 per cent fee remission to students, while youth reeling under unemployment and inflation are fleeing the state. The UP government is giving a step-motherly treatment to the farmers, the health infrastructure has collapsed and they could make no arrangements to even cremate those claimed by Covid, Singh said. However, now the Sena will stand up as the voice of the masses and teach a lesson to the BJP in UP by contesting all the seats in the state assembly, he said. We have been fighting UP elections since 1991 when one MLA Pawan Kumar Pandey was elected. We also have many Shiv Sainiks elected in various civic bodies across the state, Singh told IANS on the partys prospects. Welcoming the move, Senas farmer face Kishore Tiwari, accorded a MoS status, said tersely: The people of UP have not forgetten those dead bodies floating in the Ganga though the Yogi government refused to acknowledge the mess it made during the Covid pandemic. He also questioned the safety of women, the Dalits and OBCs, minorities and other sections under Yogi rule and said after Maharashtra, UP will prove to be a mega-gamechanger for the BJP. Founded 55 years ago (1966) by the late Balasaheb Thackeray, the Shiv Sena has contested civic, assembly or Lok Sabha polls in several states like Delhi, Gujarat, Bihar, West Bengal, Goa, Karnataka and Jammu & Kashmir in the past but was mostly mauled. This time, buoyed by heading the Maha Vikas Aghadi alliance of Sena-Nationalist Congress Party-Congress, it hopes to create a national foothold by making an impact in UP and Goa polls Though Sena has not declared plans for alliances, party sources hint it is not averse to join hands with the UP Congress since relations between Sena-BJP - both on the same ideological page - are badly strained after the MVA government took office in Maharashtra. Simultaneously, Congress General Secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra had said her party was open to the idea of alliances, while the UPCC chief Ajay Kumar Lallu has said they would ally with smaller parties in the coming months. There will be no public examinations held before the Secondary School Certificate examination under the new National Curriculum Framework, which is scheduled to be implemented in Bangladesh in phases from 2023. The new curriculum has stipulated three public examinations to be held after the end of the classes X, XI and XII. There will also be no separate groups for the students of classes IX and X in terms of science, humanities and commerce streams while the higher secondary HSC results will be determined combining the results of the two examinations at the end of classes XI and XII. Besides, the performances of the students from pre-primary to Class III will be fully evaluated by continuous assessment without holding any examinations for them at the end of the year. The information was revealed at a press conference on the revised National Curriculum Framework by education minister Dipu Moni at the secretariat and by the National Curriculum and Textbook Board on Monday. Earlier in the day, the draft new curriculum was approved by prime minister Sheikh Hasina. The government had initiated developing the new curriculum in 2018 with the objective of updating the syllabuses and textbooks for the primary, secondary, technical and madrassah students gradually from 2020, according to the National Curriculum and Textbook Board. The existing curriculums were developed in 2012. Dipu Moni told the Monday press briefing that while there would be no grouping of the students of classes IX and X by science, humanities or commerce stream, these students would rather pursue a technical course on a compulsory basis and achieve requisite skills. On completion of the Class X course, based on the classs curriculum, the SSC examination will be held, said Dipu Moni. Currently, the SSC examination is held on the curriculum of the classes IX and X together while the SSC examination under the new framework would be held on the curriculum of Class X only, she explained. Meanwhile, National Curriculum and Textbook Board chairman professor Narayan Chandra Saha confirmed to New Age that they had proposed only three public examinations for Class X, Class XI and Class XII under the new curriculum framework. The new curriculum will be implemented for the classes V and X in 2025 and for the Class VIII in 2024, he said, adding that there are, therefore, till now, no reasons for any doubt about holding the Primary Completion Examination and the Junior School Certificate Examination. Dipu Moni disclosed that they had presented their proposal to the prime minister for piloting the new curriculum in 2022 for the students of Class I in 100 primary and for the students of Class VI in 100 secondary educational institutions, including madrassahs and technical ones. Following that, we hope, we will be able to introduce the new curriculum for all classes in 2023, she said. Replying to a question from reporters, the minister said that it had earlier been planned for starting the piloting in 2021 and the full-scale introduction of the new curriculum in 2022, but the plan was delayed by the Covid pandemic. Thats why we are now going to pilot it in 2022 and introduce in 2023, she said, adding that the curriculum will be fully implemented by 2025. Dipu Moni highlighted some aspects of the new curriculum at the press briefing. According to the plan, the new curriculum will be introduced to the classes I and II at the primary level and to the classes VI and VII at the secondary level in 2023. The classes III and IV at the primary level and the classes VIII and IX at the secondary level will adopt the new curriculum in 2024, said the education minister. Finally, in 2025, the new curriculum will be implemented for Class V at the primary level and for Class X at the secondary level, completing its full implementation. The performances of the students between Class I and Class III will be fully evaluated by continuous assessment with no examinations for them at the end of the year being held. The performance assessment of the pre-primary-level students will also be made in the same way. For the classes IV and V, continuous assessment will be made in Bangla, English, mathematics, science and social science subjects on 60 per cent marks while the overall evaluation will be made at the end of the year on 40 per cent marks. The assessment on the other subjects will be fully carried out by continuous assessment. For the classes VI and VIII also, continuous assessment will be made in Bangla, English, mathematics, science and social science subjects on 60 per cent marks while the overall evaluation will be decided at the end of the year on 40 per cent marks, with the assessment on the other subjects to be fully made by continuous assessment. .In the same way, the performances will be evaluated for the students of Class IX and Class X but by continuously assessing the Bangla, English, mathematics, science and social science subjects on 50 per cent marks and the overall evaluation on 50 per cent marks at the end of the year, with the performances in the other subjects fully evaluated by continuous assessment. As for the classes XI and XII under the new scheme, for the compulsory subjects, continuous assessment will be held on 30 per cent marks while the overall evaluation will be made on 70 per cent marks. The performances in the optional subjects will be fully evaluated through continuous assessment. Students of these two classes will also have provisions for evaluation by other methods, including project-based evaluation, practical tests and assignments. The education minister said that they had already done piloting on continuous assessment in which they found excellent responses. In order for a smooth transition of the students and ensuring no gap from one level to another, experts on all levels of education from the pre-primary level to the tertiary level have worked together for a long time to frame this curriculum, she said. The experts have also worked in order to ensure a sequence in the entire curriculum from the pre-primary level to the tertiary level, which would focus on making happy the learning environment, discouraging memorising of lessons, encouraging in-depth learning and completing the learning inside the classroom for a reduced pressure of homework, she added. The press briefing was attended, among others, by deputy education minister Mohibul Hasan Chowdhury. A Yemeni child looks at his classmates as they study at a destroyed school in Taiz, Yemen. Open Democracy Throughout Yemens brutal war, parties to the conflict have deprived civilians of the food and water they need to survive, starving them to death, write Felicity Mulford and Kate Vigneswaran IN STARVATION Makers, a joint report released last week, Mwatana for Human Rights and Global Rights Compliance found that members of the warring parties in Yemen the Saudi/UAE-led Coalition, acting with the support of the Yemeni government, and the Ansar Allah (Houthi) armed group have used starvation as a method of warfare. The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs reported that more than half of the 233,000 conflict-related deaths in Yemen are from indirect causes, including disrupted access to food and inadequate healthcare. A historically food insecure country, Yemen has faced increasing levels of acute food shortages almost every year since the conflict began in 2014. By this year, around 400,000 children were at risk of death from starvation even with humanitarian intervention, and 16.2 million people faced acute food insecurity, according to the World Food Programme. Based on figures reported by the Integrated Phase Classification system, which classifies the severity and magnitude of food insecurity and malnutrition, those most affected are in Hajjah, Al-Hudaydah, Saada and Taiz governorates, where different warring parties have control. The report shows that starvation-induced deaths and widespread hunger are not incidental by-products of the conflict but the deliberate result of man-made conduct. Acts of starvation MWATANA, a Yemeni grassroots organisation and Nobel peace prize nominee, has documented first-hand accounts of human rights violations and abuses committed during the conflict since 2015. Over the last year, the organisation has carried out an in-depth investigation into conduct by the Coalition and Ansar Allah targeting access to food and water. In the report, the evidence collected was then analysed by GRC, a foundation of international lawyers, in the context of the prohibition on the use of starvation as a method of warfare and right to food and water under international law. Mwatanas investigation found that Coalition airstrikes destroyed, damaged or otherwise rendered useless food and water infrastructure, hitting farms, livestock, irrigation works, water facilities, fishing boats and fishing equipment. After repeated airstrikes, fishermen in the waters off Al-Hudaydah were given the choice to flee and die from starvation, or risk being killed by an airstrike. The sea, once integral to the community, has become a place of fear. The airstrikes were not one-off incidents or targeting errors, but formed part of a pattern of conduct involving the destruction of objects essential to civilians survival, also including food markets, food and water transport vehicles, and storage facilities. Ansar Allah prevented civilians from accessing lifesaving food aid, diverting it to loyalists. The restrictions they imposed were so severe that the World Food Programme was forced to suspend its operations in 2019, leaving 850,000 people facing significant food shortages for sustained and repeated periods. The constant fear of unmarked landmines laid by Ansar Allah across Dhubab District in the Taiz governorate meant Yemenis stopped herding, farming or logging, and their access to water supplies were cut off. At the same time, the warring parties imposed restrictive economic policies and heavy taxes and tariffs on essential goods, including fuel, and the Coalition enforced a de facto naval and aerial blockade that limited access to food and water, as well as life-saving medical assistance. All this led to starvation. War crimes THE report found that parties to the conflict violated the prohibition on the use of starvation under international humanitarian law. Article 14 of Additional Protocol II to the Geneva Conventions prohibits the deliberate use of starvation as a method of warfare during non-international armed conflicts, including through attacking, destroying, damaging or rendering useless objects indispensable to the survival of the civilian population. A corresponding amendment to the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court makes the deliberate use of starvation as a method of warfare in non-international armed conflicts a war crime over which the court has jurisdiction, though only with respect to a state that has ratified it and only one year after it deposits its instrument of ratification or acceptance with the UN secretary general. Only six states have ratified the amendment, none of which are parties to the conflict in Yemen. Article 30 of the Rome Statute allows a member of the Coalition or of Ansar Allah to be held liable if they carried out the conduct documented in the report, whether they actually intended to starve civilians, or were simply aware of the virtual certainty that starvation would occur in the ordinary course of events, that is, without humanitarian intervention. This means that knowledge that starvation would result is enough to say that the war crime of starvation occurred. The GRCs legal analysis determined that the food insecurity context, as well as the manner, timing and repetition of attacks on food and water infrastructure together with restrictions on humanitarian access, the targeting of other indispensable objects, and other crimes committed during the conflict support a finding that members of the Coalition and Ansar Allah had the requisite knowledge or, alternatively, intent to starve. Actions needed Humanitarian organisations and UN bodies have repeatedly decried the toll that conflict-related food and water insecurity was having on civilians, calling on the warring parties to protect them, with little success. Parties to the conflict were aware that their actions would lead to mass starvation, yet they continued unabated. Despite mounting evidence, not enough has been done to prevent further international crimes or to ensure accountability. Rampant impunity enjoyed by the warring parties, as well as states that support them by providing arms and other support, has meant its key players continue to restrict civilians access to food and water, and commit other violations and abuses of international human rights law, with little fear of consequence. The ICC only has jurisdiction over a small number of Coalition members, namely Jordan, Senegal and the Maldives. It doesnt have jurisdiction over the main players in the conflict: Yemen, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. Other situations in which civilians have faced extreme threats to their life have garnered the support of states for stronger accountability measures. Yemenis deserve such support too. At the next session of the UN Human Rights Council starting on 13 September, with an agenda that includes Yemen, states should establish an international criminally focused investigative mechanism to collect evidence and support future prosecutions of those responsible for starvation. The UN Group of Eminent Experts mandate must be renewed, so that information can be preserved for broader accountability and to redress needs. States must also cease the sale of arms to those perpetuating human rights abuses, ratify the Rome Statute amendment making the use of starvation a war crime in non-international armed conflicts, and support all investigations and prosecutions, including through the use of universal jurisdiction. Starvation Makers sheds light on the chilling events which have exacerbated and perpetuated extensive hunger. As the report highlights, Yemenis are being starved, and not enough is being done to stop it. OpenDemocracy.net, September 10. Felicity Mulford is a research assistant at Global Rights Compliance. Kate Vigneswaran is a senior legal adviser with the MENA Programme of the International Commission of Jurists. The High Court on Monday observed that none should tap private conservations of citizens on phone and Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Authority should detect those who are involved in phone tapping to eavesdrop on private conversations. An online bench of Justice M Enayetur Rahim and Justice Md Mostafizur Rahman observed this while hearing a public interest litigation writ petition filed by nine lawyers on August 10. The petitioners prayed for a High Court directive to form a committee to investigate the incidents of phone tapping of 20 politicians and other professionals. They also prayed for a ruling asking the government and the BTRC to explain why they would not be asked to ensure the protection of the citizens right to privacy. The High Court posted September 19 for giving its decision on the prayer. The court said that people are in the dark about who is involved in tapping phone conservations. Phones might be tapped by callers or receivers or a third party, the court observed. The court said that the BTRC should look into the matter as the publication of leaked conservations caused damage to the parties linked with the conservations. The court also asked the media to be more responsible for publishing or broad casting leaked private conservations on social media. Writ petitioners lawyer Shishir Manir sought a directive to the BTRC to probe phone taping of 20 politicians and many others in recent time, saying that no authority is permitted by the constitution and the law to tap and leak phone conservations of any citizen. Shishir argued that the BTRC as licensors of the private telecom companies could hold probes into each incident of phone taping and leaking of the conversations of 20 citizens to stop such illegal spying. Attorney general AM Amin Uddin argued that nine lawyers who files the writ petition were not aggrieved persons as they were not among the 20 citizens whose phone conservations were tapped and leaked. Amin also argued that the writ petition that challenged the legality of phone tapping and leaking was not acceptable as only an aggrieved people can seek remedy to the BTRC or file a case with the lower courts under the Digital Security Act or the ordinary law. The writ petitioners are lawyers Mustafizur Rahman, Rezowana Ferdose, Uttam Kumar Banik, Shah Navila Kashphi, Farhad Ahmed Siddiky, Mohammed Ibrahim Khalil, Muzahidur Rahman, Imurl Kayes, Eakramul Kabir and Mohammad Noab Ali. Source: Xinhua| 2021-09-12 11:33:22|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close A member of Taliban stands guard at a security checkpoint in Kandahar city, Afghanistan, Sept. 11, 2021. (Photo by Sanaullah Seiam/Xinhua) "When Washington decided to invade Afghanistan out of its own national interests, it did so in late 2001; when its interests required it to leave Afghanistan, it left the country behind as well." KABUL, Sept. 12 (Xinhua) -- An Afghan expert has described the so-called U.S.-led war on terror in Afghanistan as a total failure that has plunged the war-torn country into turmoil. "No doubt, the U.S.-led war on terror in Afghanistan has utterly failed and the American forces have been defeated, of course (it's) a humiliating defeat," Abu Muslim Khorasani, a professor of Rana University in Afghanistan said Saturday. The professor made the comments as the United States is marking the 20th anniversary of the 9/11 terror attacks in the country. "The current situation in Afghanistan -- uncertainty, poverty, unemployment and thousands of Afghans rushing to fled their country along with the U.S. and allied forces in August -- clearly demonstrated the outcome of the so-called U.S. war on terror as nothing but turmoil," Khorasani told Xinhua. According to the United States, more than 120,000 foreigners and Afghans who cooperated with U.S. forces and foreign companies over the past 20 years in Afghanistan were evacuated by the U.S. and its allies from Aug. 15 to Aug. 31 via Kabul international airport, and countless more have missed their flights. Afghans gather near a gate of Kabul airport in Kabul, Afghanistan, Aug. 22, 2021. (Xinhua/Rahmatullah Alizadah) Khorasani listed reasons for the failure of the U.S.-led war on terror, and explained that what's important is "the disharmony among the Pentagon, the Department of State and intelligence services" since the early days of its invasion of Afghanistan in 2001. Another reason is the lack of a comprehensive policy and U.S. double standards towards Afghanistan, the expert added. Khorasani continued to say that the legacy of the 20-year presence of the United States in Afghanistan is nothing more than an uncertain future for Afghans. While commenting on the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan, the expert noted that "when Washington decided to invade Afghanistan out of its own national interests, it did so in late 2001; when its interests required it to leave Afghanistan, it left the country behind as well." Photo taken on Aug. 31, 2021 shows military vehicles at Kabul airport in Kabul, capital of Afghanistan. (Photo by Saifurahman Safi/Xinhua) "The U.S. invasion of Afghanistan was not meant to ensure Afghanistan's interests. Under the pretext of destroying terrorists, it invaded Afghanistan. Obviously, Washington attacked Afghanistan to seek its own interests in the region," Khorasani said. "If the U.S. objective were to ensure Afghanistan's interests and bring peace and prosperity to Afghans, Washington would never have pulled out irresponsibly," the expert observed. The Afghan scholar believed that the U.S. intervention in terms of military, political and culture in the internal affairs of Islamic countries could be the main reason for emerging anti-U.S. extremists and in general anti-West groups. Source: Xinhua| 2021-09-12 14:30:20|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close A visitor views costumes from Myanmar at the 18th China-ASEAN Expo in Nanning, capital of south China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, Sept. 11, 2021. (Xinhua/Liu Lingyi) "This year's expo provides an important platform to enhance trade and investment opportunities between ASEAN and China during this crucial time of economic recovery, as well as positively contribute to the longstanding relationship between our two sides," ASEAN Secretary-General Lim Jock Hoi said. by Xinhua writers Zhao Manjun, Wang Jiawei and Xin Rui NANNING, Sept. 12 (Xinhua) -- The ongoing 18th China-ASEAN Expo and China-ASEAN Business and Investment Summit held on time despite a raging pandemic worldwide has testified to the vitality and resilience of an integrated regional market, and showcases the potentials of a key platform to make possible all-round trade and economic cooperation. Starting Friday both online and offline in Nanning, capital of south China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, the four-day expo has attracted enterprises from more than 40 countries and regions, with special events to mark the 30th anniversary of China-ASEAN dialogue relations. BRINGS GOODWILL TO FRUITION "This year's expo provides an important platform to enhance trade and investment opportunities between ASEAN and China during this crucial time of economic recovery, as well as positively contribute to the longstanding relationship between our two sides," ASEAN Secretary-General Lim Jock Hoi said via video link at the expo's opening ceremony on Friday. As a crucial facet of China-ASEAN relations, the expo has long been fruitful in helping the two sides synergize their respective development efforts. This year's edition will host 26 high-level forums and nearly 150 promoting events on the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership and key industries. Aerial photo taken on Jan. 14, 2021 shows a view of the container wharf of Qinzhou Port, south China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region. (Xinhua/Cao Yiming) A total of 179 deals worth more than 46.59 billion U.S. dollars, the highest ever figure, were signed late Friday at the expo, a growing number of which are in green economies, according to expo officials. Experts have said that digital connectivity plays a key role in sustaining the resilience of the regional economy in face of the pandemic. It has become a frontier that could one day grow into "a whole new landscape for ASEAN and China to collaborate, such as in financial technology, that supports our digital transformation agenda," Lim noted. Koh Chin Yee, president of Singapore's South Seas Society, said ASEAN countries, in varying stages of development, have great potential to further cooperate with China in emerging realms such as consumers markets, digital infrastructure, energy, and professional services. TIDING THROUGH HAVOC OF PANDEMIC This year's expo is the second of its kind to set up an exhibition area exclusively for medical service and supplies, with featured life-saving items for frontline workers, including pristine virus-testing equipment, all sorts of medical gloves, and positive-pressure suits. Wilson Lee Flores, a columnist for English daily The Philippine Star, told Xinhua that it was China who had come to support the Philippines in terms of key medical supplies in a difficult time. "When some countries in the West refused to even sell us vaccines, China came and sent vaccines ... not just one time. So the future is even more exciting," he said, referring to a good prospect of cooperation. China's trade volume of medical products with ASEAN reached 13.3 billion dollars in the first seven months this year, up 32 percent year-on-year, said Xu Jinghe, deputy commissioner of the National Medical Products Administration, at a summit in Guangxi ahead of the expo. The total trade volume of medical products between China and ASEAN hit 18 billion dollars in 2020, surging by 72 percent year-on-year, Xu added. What's more, ASEAN remains a top agri-trade partner of China despite the still-rampant pandemic. Since China has scientifically coordinated epidemic prevention and economic activities, hot-selling goods such as Thai durians and Malaysian coffee beans keep making a bundle, especially on Chinese e-commerce platforms during the pandemic. China's "huge and robust market is very attractive to ASEAN members," said Joseph Matthews, senior professor at the BELTEI International University in Phnom Penh, noting that Cambodia attends the expo many times, coveting the unique chance to promote mangos and bananas. ENDURING LEGACY GIVES HOPE A series of celebratory events are being held to mark the 30th anniversary of China-ASEAN dialogue relations at the expo, with experts saying that after advancing in leaps and bounds over such a long period of time, the momentum of cooperation has been carried forth to the present day. "After 30 years of dialogue, peace, and continued partnership, the ASEAN countries and China already have trust and good understandings," a foundation for them to become the fastest-growing region in the world, Flores noted. The bilateral trade rose from 8.36 billion dollars in 1991 to 685.28 billion dollars in 2020, with an average annual growth rate of 16.5 percent, data from the Chinese customs shows. In the first half of 2021, bilateral trade reached 412 billion dollars, up 27.8 percent year-on-year. Workers make electronic products for export at a logistic zone of the China-ASEAN Free Trade Area in Pingxiang, south China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, on April 15, 2020. (Xinhua/Lu Boan) The China-ASEAN relations have seen frequent dialogues and exchanges at all levels, allowing them to become each other's good neighbors, good partners, and good friends, Khin Ma Ma Myo, an international relations professor at the University of Yangon, told Xinhua. The dialogue relations have "evolved into a multifaceted strategic partnership and shown tremendous progress on all fronts," said Lim. As China and ASEAN countries continue to work with each other to align their development strategies with the Belt and Road Initiative, their relations are set to enter a new stage, said Khin Ma Ma Myo. (Xinhua reporters Pan Qiang and Hu Jiali from Nanning, Liu Kai and Yan Jie from Manila, Mao Pengfei from Phnom Penh, Cai Shuya from Singapore, and Zhang Dongqiang from Yangon also contributed to the story.) Source: Xinhua| 2021-09-12 19:53:16|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close Video: Ceremonies were held Saturday in the United States to commemorate the 20th anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks and mourn victims. Two decades later, only 49 percent of Americans think their country is now a safer place. (Xinhua) Analysts believe that the United States has put too much focus on its military might and should have invested more to tackle the root causes of terrorism. NEW YORK, Sept. 12 (Xinhua) -- As people commemorated those lost in the 9/11 terrorist attacks, the United States must reflect on the root causes of terrorism, with its two-decade military presence in Afghanistan ending recently in a fiasco, said experts and local residents. A commemoration ceremony on the occasion of the 20th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks was held at Ground Zero here on Saturday morning, attended by current and former top decision-makers, including U.S. President Joe Biden and former presidents Bill Clinton and Barack Obama. With grieving relatives vowing to "never forget" those who lost their lives in the tragedy, the Biden administration is under pressure from the victims' families to declassify certain documents related to the 9/11 attacks. A U.S. national flag is shown by a guard of honor during a commemoration ceremony of the 20th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks in New York, the United States, on Sept. 11, 2021. (Xinhua/Wang Ying) REMEMBRANCE OF HUMANITY While victims' names were read one by one at the ceremony just as was done at previous anniversary commemorations, their relatives easily got emotional when expressing how they missed their loved ones. Madeline Lawrence, who came from Upstate New York, said Saturday that she came to the ceremony in honor of her former partner. Speaking of Rodney C. Gillis, a sergeant who died in the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks, Lawrence said, "We remember him for his bravery. He didn't shrink back from his duties and whatever he had to do." Gillis made his decision to go in and his selfless action was not surprising, said Ronald Gillis, Rodney Gillis' brother. "I have very vivid memories, because I was here (in New York) and I heard the fighter jets over the head," said Daniel, a New Yorker from the Bronx borough, who didn't give his full name. Daniel chose to come to Ground Zero to pay his respects to his friend Manuel D. Mojica Jr. on Tuesday as 9/11 happened on a Tuesday 20 years ago with a similar weather condition. "This is the least I could do -- come and see him. This is all I have now. But he was a very good friend," said Daniel, who worked for a trucking company when 9/11 occurred. A beam of light near the Pentagon commemorating the 20th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks is seen from the Washington Monument in Washington, D.C., the United States, Sept. 11, 2021. (Xinhua/Liu Jie) MIXED VIEWS ON ANTI-TERRORISM American people hold divisive views on the U.S. counterterrorism campaigns in other countries following the 9/11 calamity. "I don't agree with the military action. I don't think they should have done it in Iraq. I don't see a reason at the time," said Daniel, noting the United States had never found weapons of mass destruction in Iraq but "they destroyed the country, and they caused problems." The counterterrorism campaigns in foreign lands launched by Washington reflect the reality of jungle rules at the international level, which is kind of typical revenge, said Michael Chu, the publisher of the Asian American Times newspaper. Meanwhile, Daniel said he welcomes the changes in security after 9/11 and everybody has to go through the procedures that were created because of the event. Nothing like 9/11 happened again in the past 20 years and if "they did not take appropriate action, there would have been another," he said. The United States has to remain engaged in trying to maintain stability and build the preconditions for that, said Michele Flournoy, former U.S. undersecretary of defense for policy who serves as the co-founder and managing partner with WestExec Advisors, and chair of the board with think-tank the Center for a New American Security. A resident mourns the victims of the Flight 93 at a memorial park in Union City in the Bay Area, California, the United States, Sept. 11, 2021. (Xinhua/Wu Xiaoling) MISSED OPPORTUNITIES Analysts believe that the United States has put too much focus on its military might and should have invested more to tackle the root causes of terrorism. The United States remains stuck in a vicious cycle due to its obsession with the "an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth" approach, and the lack of reflections on the fundamental reasons for 9/11, Chu told Xinhua on Monday. Things similar to what happened in Afghanistan would be repeated, said Chu, who has been living in New York City since the 1980s. "One of the missed opportunities is that we from the start took a very military-focused approach to counterterrorism," Flournoy said, explaining that the United States ignored investing in other instruments of national power, such as diplomatic, informational, and financial tools. On counterterrorism, "what we've learned over time is that it's one thing to have a kinetic approach that sort of gets at a specific target or disrupts a specific plot. But if you really want to create sustainable change over time, you've got to build local partners and capacity," said Flournoy. "We have to have a global perspective, certainly, when it comes to terrorism, but also other transnational threats, be it climate change or nonproliferation, or preventing the next pandemic," she added. Source: Xinhua| 2021-09-13 02:47:27|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close Cambodian Prime Minister Samdech Techo Hun Sen (R) meets with visiting Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, on Sept. 12, 2021. (Photo by Kok Ky/Xinhua) PHNOM PENH, Sept. 12 (Xinhua) -- Cambodian Prime Minister Samdech Techo Hun Sen and visiting Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi agreed on Sunday to enhance cooperation in fighting COVID-19, boost bilateral trade and jointly safeguard regional peace and stability. When meeting with Wang in the Cambodian capital, Hun Sen said Cambodia is willing to join hands with China to continue pushing forward bilateral relations. The Cambodian leader promised his country's firm support to China on issues concerning China's core interests, such as Taiwan, Hong Kong and Xinjiang. Cambodia appreciates China's assistance in helping the kingdom combat the COVID-19 outbreak and hopes to further cement bilateral cooperation in the fields of anti-epidemic measures, trade and economy, and infrastructure, Hun Sen said. Both sides will strengthen communication and coordination to prevent outsider countries from meddling in the regional issues so as to jointly safeguard peace and stability in the region, he added. Wang said that under the guidance of consensus reached between leaders of the two countries, China is ready to further the mutually-beneficial cooperation with Cambodia, and move toward building the China-Cambodia community with a shared future to benefit peoples of the two countries. He promised that China will provide more COVID-19 vaccines and medical supplies to Cambodia to help the kingdom contain its COVID-19 outbreak. Wang hoped that China and the ASEAN countries could conclude their consultations on the Code of Conduct in the South China Sea during Cambodia's ASEAN chairmanship next year, and reach an agreement which is effective, with practical significance, and in line with the international laws including the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea. Before their meeting, Hun Sen and Wang attended the handover ceremony of the China-funded national stadium in Phnom Penh. Wang arrived here from Vietnam for a visit to Cambodia, the second leg of his four-nation Asia tour, which will also take him to Singapore and South Korea. Enditem Source: Xinhua| 2021-09-13 05:17:23|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close People visit an agricultural biostimulant booth during the International Agricultural Exhibition for Africa and the Middle East in Cairo, Egypt, on Sept. 12, 2021. Egypt opened on Sunday the 33rd edition of the Sahara expo, the International Agricultural Exhibition for Africa and the Middle East, at the Egypt International Exhibition Center. Under the auspices of the Egyptian Ministry of Culture and Land Reclamation, the four-day expo is sponsored by a number of Egyptian national banks and investors, gathering dozens of exhibitors mainly from Egypt, China, Russia, Italy, the Netherlands, Jordan and Lebanon. (Xinhua/Ahmed Gomaa) CAIRO, Sept. 12 (Xinhua) -- Egypt opened on Sunday the 33rd edition of the Sahara expo, the International Agricultural Exhibition for Africa and the Middle East, at the Egypt International Exhibition Center. Under the auspices of the Egyptian Ministry of Culture and Land Reclamation, the four-day expo is sponsored by a number of Egyptian national banks and investors, gathering dozens of exhibitors mainly from Egypt, China, Russia, Italy, the Netherlands, Jordan and Lebanon. "You might have noticed that the whole world has started to focus on the agriculture sector due to the belief in its importance especially amid the COVID-19 pandemic," Egyptian Agriculture Minister El-Sayed el-Quseir told a press conference after inaugurating the expo, noting that the sector is flexible and shock-absorbing with a fast growth rate. Agriculture constitutes about 15 percent of Egypt's GDP and more than 25 percent of employment in the most populous Arab country, Quseir said, stressing that Egypt currently exports more than 350 kinds of agricultural products to over 150 countries across the world. Exhibitors featured a variety of products related to the agricultural field, including chemicals, fertilizers, pesticides, seeds, seedlings, as well as machinery, including tractors, loaders, irrigation systems and spare parts. One of the Egyptian exhibitors, Univest Agri Systems, displayed part of a center-pivot irrigator with all its metal parts made in Egypt. "We're the first purely Egyptian manufacturer of pivot irrigation systems in the country," said Moemen Zaki, vice president of Univest Agri Systems for product and system development. "Our focus on the agricultural sector is very important because it coincides with the country's policy to save water and restructure the irrigation system," the Egyptian businessman told Xinhua. Italian company Greenhas Group also featured some of its innovative fertilizers and bio-stimulants with an eye on expanding its business in the Middle East and North Africa. Agostino Giambelli, marketing and sales director of the group, said it was the company's first time to take part in the Sahara expo, with the hope to support its distributors in Egypt. "We also hope to operate our business in other African countries. With a research center, we are a producer of fertilizers and would like to promote through this platform our products and distributors in northern and eastern Africa," Giambelli told Xinhua. Scheduled to end on Wednesday, Sahara 2021 expo attracted a lot of visitors, including farmers, experts, engineers and businessmen engaged in the agricultural field. "Such exhibitions serve as a link between farmers and exhibitors because they gather all exhibitors under one roof, enabling us to know the latest products and agricultural material available in Egypt," said Hamdy Anwar, an old Egyptian agricultural engineer and farm owner. Jordanian farm owner Jihad Al-Othman described the event as "a good and big exhibition." "We came to the exhibition to see the development in the production of fertilizers and fodder, because we greatly need them in Jordan. We visit such exhibitions to develop our plantation and production," he said. Enditem Source: Xinhua| 2021-09-13 13:57:30|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close Malaysia's King Sultan Abdullah Sultan Ahmad Shah (C, front) arrives for the opening of the parliamentary session in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, Sept. 13, 2021. Malaysia's second parliament session of the year convened on Monday amid changes in the balance of power between the ruling coalition and the opposition. (Malaysia's Department of Information/Handout via Xinhua) KUALA LUMPUR, Sept. 13 (Xinhua) -- Malaysia's second parliament session of the year convened on Monday amid changes in the balance of power between the ruling coalition and the opposition. This is the first gathering of the Lower House of the Parliament since the appointment of Ismail Sabri Yaakob as the new prime minister in August, with the country facing political pressures, a sluggish economy and the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. The session is scheduled to last until Oct. 12. In his address to the present members of parliament (MPs), the country's King Sultan Abdullah Sultan Ahmad Shah urged cooperation and stability to help the country recover from its many challenges and thanked the government and opposition MPs for coming to a cooperative agreement. "I also welcome and greatly appreciate the efforts towards realizing the new bipartisan cooperation approach among all quarters that will create a new political landscape and bring about changes in the country's administration system," the King said in his opening speech. While describing such political maturity as a positive change, Sultan Abdullah said only with strong unity, solidarity and togetherness of the people as a big Malaysian family, can the country face all challenges and trials. He also cautioned the MPs to avoid becoming complacent and satisfied in the efforts to curb COVID-19 in the country and urged the implementation of a whole-of-society effort strategy with effective communication narratives. Like his predecessor former Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin, Ismail Sabri also commands a narrow majority among MPs and cross party cooperation is seen as crucial for him to govern effectively. Ismail Sabri has taken a more conciliatory tone in dealing with the opposition since being appointed in August. He met with opposition leaders and offer to work together by inviting them to join the national recovery council and the special committee on COVID-19. Malaysia has seen daily fresh infections hover around the 20,000 mark since August, with deaths reaching a new high on Saturday after 592 deaths were reported, pushing the total fatalities to 20,711 as of Sunday, while there are some 237,277 active cases. The government has ramped up its vaccination rate with some 227,476 doses administered on Sunday alone and some 65.4 percent of the population have received at least one dose and 52.6 percent are fully vaccinated. Restrictions have largely been eased across the country and more economic sectors being allowed to operate, with domestic tourism opening up in some states and inter-district travel being allowed. Enditem Source: Xinhua| 2021-09-13 16:35:24|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close People cast their votes at a polling station in Macao Polytechnic Institute, Macao, south China, Sept. 12, 2021. (Xinhua) Preliminary results of the election of the seventh Legislative Assembly of the Macao Special Administrative Region (SAR) show 14 candidates win the directly-elected seats, and 12 win the indirectly-elected seats. MACAO, Sept. 13 (Xinhua) -- The election of the seventh Legislative Assembly of the Macao Special Administrative Region (SAR) wrapped up early Monday morning with the preliminary results showing 14 candidates won the directly-elected seats, about half of whom were new faces, and 12 won the indirectly-elected seats. Voting started from 9:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m. local time on Sunday. Despite heat and sudden downpours, over 100,000 voters went to the ballot. The SAR government said Sunday night that this year's legislative election took place in a lawful, fair, open and clean manner. Staff members count ballots after a voting for the election of the seventh Legislative Assembly of the Macao Special Administrative Region (SAR) at a polling station in south China's Macao, Sept. 12, 2021.(Xinhua) Si Ka Lon, who won the most votes in direct election, told Xinhua that he would make his utmost effort to push the government to well implement the central authorities' plan for building the Guangdong-Macao in-depth cooperation zone in Hengqin of neighboring Guangdong province, taking advantage of the new space in Hengqin and speeding up industrial diversification. Kou Hoi In, another winning candidate, said he would, as always, pay close attention to the business environment for the industrial and commercial circles, push the government for improving its governance efficiency and constructing "smart government administration" for the convenience of residents and businesses. In face of the severe COVID-19 situation in Macao and neighboring regions, the SAR government adopted strict preventative measures for this election. Over 3,000 civil servants assisted with the voting on Sunday to ensure electoral arrangements and other related logistics. An editorial run by the Macao Daily News on Monday pointed out the political significance of this election as the first being held after the principle of "patriots administering Macao" was fully executed. Those patriots administering Macao should have new standards and requirements to take part in safeguarding the successful practice of "one country, two systems" at a higher stance, with bigger plans and deeper feelings, noted the editorial. A flag-raising ceremony marking the 21st anniversary of Macao's return to the motherland is held at the Golden Lotus Square in Macao, south China, Dec. 20, 2020. (Xinhua/Cheong Kam Ka) In line with the Basic Law, the new legislature is composed of 33 seats including 14 directly-elected seats, 12 indirectly-elected seats, and seven others which will be appointed by the SAR chief executive. The term of office of the seventh Legislative Assembly is four years, which will start in October 2021. Source: Xinhua| 2021-09-13 17:22:07|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close BEIJING, Sept. 13 (Xinhua) -- Chinese President Xi Jinping on Sunday sent a message of condolence to Portuguese President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa over the passing of former Portuguese President Jorge Sampaio. In his message, Xi said Sampaio was an outstanding statesman and leader, who enjoyed a high reputation among the international community. Sampaio's tenure witnessed Macao's smooth return to China and the establishment of China-Portugal comprehensive strategic partnership, Xi said. After leaving office as president, he continued caring for China-Portugal relations and supporting bilateral exchanges and cooperation, Xi said. Noting that he attaches great importance to the development of China-Portugal relations, the Chinese president said he is ready to work together with President Rebelo de Sousa to carry forward traditional bilateral friendship, deepen cooperation in various fields to bring benefits to both countries and their people. Enditem Source: Xinhua| 2021-09-13 18:40:52|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close BEIJING, Sept. 13 (Xinhua) -- Chinese President Xi Jinping has urged border troops to guard the country's borders well and make new contributions to the Party and the people. Xi, also general secretary of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission, made the remarks in his reply letter to a model battalion of the People's Liberation Army stationed in the plateau region. Enditem Source: Xinhua| 2021-09-14 05:33:16|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close People walk inside the Oculus center in New York, the United States, Sept. 6, 2021. (Xinhua/Wang Ying) With roughly 660,000 known COVID-19 deaths to date, the United States is on track to "soon top the estimated 675,000 deaths that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has linked to the 1918-19 flu pandemic," media said. NEW YORK, Sept. 13 (Xinhua) -- The U.S. federal government is doubling down on COVID-19 vaccination efforts, including an ongoing plan for booster shots, while more unvaccinated people fell victims to the Delta variant in recent weeks, and the pandemic is believed by health experts to become a routine illness in the United States. DANGER FOR UNVACCINATED A surge in COVID-19 deaths caused by the highly contagious Delta variant is hitting working-age people hard while highlighting the risks for people who remain unvaccinated, reported The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) on Monday. Federal data showed that COVID-19 deaths among people under 55 have roughly matched highs near 1,800 a week set during last winter's surge. These data showed weekly tallies for overall COVID-19 deaths, meanwhile, remain well under half of the pandemic peak near 26,000 reached in January. The seven-day average for newly reported COVID-19 deaths each day recently eclipsed 1,600, up from an average that briefly moved below 220 a day in early July. With roughly 660,000 known COVID-19 deaths to date, the United States is on track to "soon top the estimated 675,000 deaths that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has linked to the 1918-19 flu pandemic," said the report. Placards display signage for Johnson & Johnson and Pfizer COVID-19 vaccinations at a mobile COVID-19 vaccination center in the Brooklyn borough of New York, the United States, Aug. 18, 2021. (Xinhua/Michael Nagle) High vaccination rates among the elderly, who are more vulnerable to severe COVID-19 outcomes, are restraining the overall increase in deaths, and the change is shifting a larger share of deaths to younger populations with lower vaccination rates, underscoring the need to get more people inoculated to curb the pandemic, WSJ quoted experts as saying. Deaths have been concentrated among the unvaccinated, federal data show. The CDC released studies on Friday showing that unvaccinated Americans were 4.6 times as likely to be infected, 10 times as likely to be hospitalized and 11 times as likely to die. VACCINATION FOR IMMUNITY COVID-19 may become a routine illness like a common cold or the flu one day, another WSJ report on Monday quoted virologists and epidemiologists as saying. But it will take a lot to get there, and the ferocious spread of the Delta variant that has filled hospitals again showed how challenging that path could be. "While surges are easing in some states, cases are rising in others. Delta is moving the world toward immunity against the virus at huge cost. With every new infection it is raising the risk of incubating a variant that might spread even faster, sicken with greater ferocity or evade vaccines," said the report. A placard reminding people of having proof of vaccination and photo ID ready is seen in San Francisco, the United States, Aug. 20, 2021. (Photo by Liu Yilin/Xinhua) Scientists are trying to figure out whether SARS-CoV-2 will form deadlier or more contagious new variants, and how the pandemic might end. Their best-case scenario isn't anything as hopeful as eradication. "Instead, many expect COVID-19 will become a routine disease like a common cold or the flu, rather than a cause of mass hospitalizations and deaths," said the report. When or even whether COVID-19 settles into that status depends on how many more people get vaccinated and how soon, Adolfo Garcia-Sastre, director of the Global Health and Emerging Pathogens Institute at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York, was quoted as saying. MANDATES AND BOOSTER Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, told CNN on Sunday if more people aren't persuaded to get vaccinated by messaging from health officials and "trusted political messengers," additional mandates from schools and businesses may be necessary. "I believe that's going to turn this around because I don't think people are going to want to not go to work or not go to college ... They're going to do it," said Fauci. "You'd like to have them do it on a totally voluntary basis, but if that doesn't work, you've got to go to the alternatives." Anthony Fauci, director of the U.S. National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, testifies during a hearing of Senate Appropriations Subcommittee in Washington, D.C., the United States, on May 26, 2021. (Stefani Reynolds/Pool via Xinhua) In related development, COVID-19 vaccine boosters could begin to be available in a week to all fully vaccinated Americans, but exactly who will be eligible and when won't be decided until two key scientific advisory committees meet days before the U.S. administration's Sept. 20 start date, reported USA Today on Monday. Originally, U.S. President Joe Biden said a third shot booster dose for people with healthy immune systems would be offered beginning Sept. 20 to anyone who'd gotten their second shot of either the Pfizer-BioNTech or Moderna vaccine at least eight months ago, pending authorization from the Food and Drug Administration. Of the eligible population in the United States, which is currently limited to people 12 and older, 63 percent are fully vaccinated, according to data from the CDC. Source: Xinhua| 2021-09-14 05:39:22|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close Combo photo provided by the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) on Sept. 13, 2021 shows the test-launches of long-range cruise missiles in the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) on Sept. 11 and Sept. 12 respectively. (KCNA via Xinhua) A White House official reaffirmed the Joe Biden administration's "calibrated, practical approach" in dealing with Pyongyang, which is open to exploring diplomacy to make practical progress that increases the security of the United States and its allies. WASHINGTON, Sept. 13 (Xinhua) -- The White House said on Monday that the United States remains prepared to engage with the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), after Pyongyang tested a new type of long-range cruise missiles over the weekend. "Our position has not changed when it comes to North Korea," White House Principal Deputy Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters aboard Air Force One. "We remain prepared to engage in diplomacy with the DPRK toward our objective of a complete denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula." She reaffirmed the Joe Biden administration's "calibrated, practical approach" in dealing with Pyongyang, which is open to exploring diplomacy to make practical progress that increases the security of the United States and its allies. "Our offer remains to meet anywhere, anytime without preconditions," Jean-Pierre added. The DPRK successfully test-fired a new type of long-range cruise missiles on Saturday and Sunday, the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) reported on Monday. The launched long-range cruise missiles traveled for 7,580 seconds along oval and pattern-8 flight orbits in the air above the territorial land and waters of the DPRK and hit targets 1,500 km away, the report said. Photo taken on Sept. 3, 2021 shows the White House in Washington, D.C., the United States. (Xinhua/Liu Jie) "We're aware of these reports of these cruise missile launches," Pentagon Press Secretary John Kirby said in a Monday briefing. He said the United States is consulting with regional allies and monitoring the situation, adding U.S. security commitments to Japan and South Korea are ironclad. The missile tests came after a joint military exercise between South Korea and the United States in August. It also came before the U.S. envoy for the DPRK Sung Kim's meeting with his South Korean and Japanese counterparts in Tokyo this week. The Biden administration said it would engage with Pyongyang over the denuclearization issue but showed no willingness to ease sanctions. Source: Xinhua| 2021-09-14 05:48:23|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close A medical worker administers a dose of China's Sinopharm COVID-19 vaccine in Kabul, capital of Afghanistan, June 17, 2021. (Xinhua/Rahmatullah Alizadah) "Only by respecting the sovereignty, independence and territory integrity of Afghanistan, respecting the will of the Afghan people, and adhering to the Afghan-led and Afghan-owned principle can the international community truly play a constructive role in Afghanistan's peaceful reconstruction," said Chen Xu, head of the Chinese Mission to UN at Geneva. GENEVA, Sept. 13 (Xinhua) -- China will donate, in the first batch, 3 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines to Afghanistan, with more emergency supplies to follow, a senior Chinese diplomat said here on Monday. China has decided to urgently provide food, materials for winter, COVID-19 vaccines, and medicines worth 200 million yuan (31 million U.S. dollars) to Afghanistan, said Chen Xu, head of the Chinese Mission to UN at Geneva. China has always respected the sovereignty, independence and territorial integrity of Afghanistan as its close neighbor, adhered to non-interference in its internal affairs and pursued a friendly policy towards all Afghan people, Chen said. "China will continue to respect the Afghan people's wish and needs, and do its best to support Afghanistan in its peaceful reconstruction and economic development," the Chinese envoy told the High-level Ministerial Meeting on the Humanitarian Situation in Afghanistan. Photo taken on March 8, 2021 shows COVID-19 vaccines from COVAX, an international program devised to help low and middle-income countries to have more access to COVID-19 vaccines, arriving at Hamid Karzai International Airport in Kabul, capital of Afghanistan. (Xinhua/Sayed Mominzadah) Chen also said that China supports the UN in playing a bigger role in alleviating the humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan and helping Afghanistan achieve a smooth transition and embark on the path of peaceful development at an early date. "China welcomes UN's flash appeal for humanitarian assistance for Afghanistan, support UN to strengthen cooperation with other multilateral mechanisms related to the Afghanistan issue and form synergy by complementing each other," he noted. He told the meeting that under the current circumstances, the international community needs to step up assistance to Afghanistan. Local people wait to receive China's Sinopharm COVID-19 vaccine in Kabul, capital of Afghanistan, June 17, 2021. (Xinhua/Rahmatullah Alizadah) The United States and its allies were more obligated to provide economic, livelihood and humanitarian assistance to the Afghan people, he said. "The evolving situation of Afghanistan once again shows that only by respecting the sovereignty, independence and territory integrity of Afghanistan, respecting the will of the Afghan people, and adhering to the Afghan-led and Afghan-owned principle can the international community truly play a constructive role in Afghanistan's peaceful reconstruction," he said. Source: Xinhua| 2021-09-13 14:20:48|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close Liu Qi (L), a Chinese construction technician at Sinohydro, and his wife Betty Nabukeera, take care of their baby Kyle in a dormitory room in Kayunga, Central Region, Uganda, Aug. 25, 2021. In Uganda, the Chinese-constructed Isimba Hydro Power Plant, a 566-million-U.S. dollar project by Sinohydro Corporation Ltd., is one of the key energy infrastructure projects under the China-proposed Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) in the east African country. During the construction of the 183 megawatts power plant, Betty Nabukeera, a local teacher, and Liu Qi, a Chinese construction technician at Sinohydro, fell in love with each other. (Xinhua/Zhang Gaiping) KAMPALA, Sept. 12 (Xinhua) -- The China-proposed Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) is famous for its infrastructure construction, but it has also subtly enhanced exchanges between people of different backgrounds. On the scenic shores of River Nile, the world's longest river, a Chinese construction technician and a Ugandan teacher found love, and their love has bared fruit, baby Kyle. Baby Kyle, born on Aug. 11, is a new generation of children that signifies the people-to-people relations between China and Africa, brought forward by the BRI. Announced in 2013 by China, the BRI, aims to build trade and infrastructure networks connecting Asia with Europe and Africa. The initiative comprises the Silk Road Economic Belt and the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road. In Uganda, the Chinese-constructed Isimba Hydro Power Plant, a 566-million-U.S. dollar project by Sinohydro Corporation Ltd., is one of the key BRI energy infrastructure projects in the east African country. During the construction of the 183 megawatts power plant, Betty Nabukeera, a local teacher, and Liu Qi, a Chinese construction technician at Sinohydro fell in love. In their house, the excitement about their new baby is visible, as Nabukeera carries the baby, Liu is preparing milk in the kitchen. Liu also cooks for his young family whenever Nabukeera is not able. In November last year, Liu and Nabukeera held a wedding ceremony. Before the wedding, Liu had to fulfil the traditional practice of paying dowry to Nabukeera's family before he was allowed to proceed to the wedding ceremony. Liu told Xinhua in a recent interview that he gladly paid the dowry because he was determined to marry his love, Nabukeera. Five years before their marriage, Nabukeera and Liu met at a roadside, as Liu was supervising construction works on a road leading to the power plant. They exchanged pleasantries and telephone numbers promising to keep in touch. "I wanted to learn English, so I asked her to buy me a local sixth grade English textbook, and then I often sent the pictures (in the book) to ask her how to read and what do they mean. Later, after around three months, my English level improved very much," Liu said. Through continued interactions, they developed feelings for each other. When Liu communicated to his parents back in Xiantao of China's Hubei Province about his love, her mother was a bit upset. Liu's parents disagreed at first, concerning about cultural background, which made himself questioning the relationship with Nabukeera. "At that time, I also wanted to give up. I told Nabukeera, I will support you, so you can leave me. She flatly refused, and told me she was serious," Liu recalled and occasionally smiled at Nabukeera. In 2016, Liu got life-threatening Malaria. "She often called me and asked about my condition. Sometimes, she would call friends to bring me food, such as fish, jackfruit, and bananas. Sometimes she came to visit me too," Liu said. Liu returned to China for vacation in 2018. "I felt like I had lost something. I wanted to go back to Uganda. I had a showdown with my family and said that I must go back to find her." When Liu returned to Uganda, the first thing he did was to enroll Nabukeera at the Confucius Institute at Makerere University. To help Nabukeera pass the Chinese language test, Liu taught her for one hour every day. Nabukeera successfully passed the Chinese level-three test, and she can now use Chinese for simple communication. Since then, Liu's parents started to change their attitude and occasionally have a video chat with their future daughter-in-law. "We miss you, when will you come to China?" Nabukeera said that is what her future parents-in-law often ask. She said her parents told her that as long as she is happy with the relationship, they would not stop her. Nabukeera has since got a job at Sinohydro and is responsible for coordination and communication with the communities in the neighborhood of the power plant. Liu has also been promoted to a technical professional. Enditem Source: Xinhua| 2021-09-13 20:09:46|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close ABUJA, Sept. 13 (Xinhua) -- Dozens of students and a teacher kidnapped by unidentified gunmen from a secondary school in Nigeria's northwestern state of Zamfara have regained their freedom, a police source said Monday. The students of the Government Secondary School (GSS) in Kaya, a village in the Maradun local government area of Zamfara, regained their freedom from the gunmen Sunday and had been received by the state governor, said the police source. Enditem Source: Xinhua| 2021-09-13 21:34:35|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close BAMAKO, Sept. 13 (Xinhua) -- Five soldiers and three terrorists were killed in an attack on a military patrol in central Mali, the Malian Armed Forces said in a statement on their website. The army's Operation Maliko patrol team "reacted energetically" to the ambush set up by an armed terrorist group on Sunday around 11:45 am, the statement said, adding that five vehicles belonging to the army were also burned during the attack. The West African nation has witnessed frequent violent attacks in recent months. On Sept. 1, two Operation Maliko soldiers were killed and four others were wounded in an artisanal mine explosion on the RN6 (national road 6) between Boni and Douentza, in the middle of the country. Some 15 Malian soldiers were also killed in an ambush on August 19 on the RN6 (National Road No. 6) around Boni (Douentza), central Mali. Since 2012, Mali has been facing a profound multifaceted crisis at the security, political and economic levels. The separatist insurgencies, then the jihadist incursions as well as the inter-communal violence left thousands of people dead and hundreds of thousands of others displaced despite the presence of the UN (MINUSMA), French (Barkhane) and European (Takuba) forces. Enditem Source: Xinhua| 2021-09-13 21:50:08|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close ABUJA, Sept. 13 (Xinhua) -- The Nigerian government on Monday said a manhunt has been launched for at least 240 inmates who escaped after unidentified gunmen attacked a custodial center in central Nigeria's Kogi state on Sunday. Francis Enobore, spokesperson for the Nigeria Correction Service (NCoS), said in a statement the attackers broke into the custodial center in Kabba town of Kogi state on Sunday night after a fierce gun battle with the guards, and forcefully released about 240 inmates. Enobore said the NCoS has activated a recapture procedure and appealed to local people to "furnish security operatives with useful intelligence that will assist in recapturing the escapees." As of the time of the attack, 294 inmates were in custody out of which 224 were pre-trial detainees and 70 convicted inmates, he said. Minister of Interior Rauf Aregbesola said in a separate statement on Monday the gunmen who attacked the facility used explosives to destroy three sides of the perimeter fence, allowing the inmates to escape. "We shall leave no stone unturned to bring them back to custody. We are also putting INTERPOL (International Criminal Police Organization) on notice with their details, in case any of them attempts to flee outside our shores," Aregbesola said, noting that escaping from lawful custody is a serious criminal offense. Aregbesola said local law enforcement agencies have been lawfully empowered to use all necessary means to arrest and bring the fleeing inmates to justice, adding that some escapees had voluntarily returned to the facility as of Monday morning. He said a soldier and a policeman were killed by the gunmen, while two personnel of the NCoS are still missing following the attack. The latest jailbreak comes about five months after gunmen attacked in early April a custodial center and the police headquarters in the southern state of Imo, freeing more than 1,800 inmates and setting the facilities ablaze. Enditem Source: Xinhua| 2021-09-13 21:55:36|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close NAIROBI, Sept. 13 (Xinhua) -- Kenya has prioritized enhanced water management along the 480 km Mombasa-Nairobi Standard Gauge Railway (SGR) corridor to ensure the commodity is available to communities and manufacturing entities, officials said on Monday. Stephen Okoth, principal Water Research Officer in the Ministry of Water, Sanitation and Irrigation said that sustainable access to clean drinking water is key to stimulate economic growth along the SGR corridor. He said in a virtual forum that investments in rainwater harvesting and irrigation technologies and protection of catchment areas have been prioritized to address supply gaps in the corridor and spur the growth of agriculture and manufacturing sectors. Senior policymakers, scholars and conservationists participated in the "Water security in the Standard Gauge Railway corridor" webinar organized by the UN Environment Programme World Conservation and Monitoring Centre (UNEP-WCMC) and partners. It was part of the Development Corridors Partnership (DCP) webinar series that have been exploring the linkage between modern infrastructure development and biodiversity protection in the East African region. Catherine Sang, post-doctoral scientist, Institute for Climate Change and Adaptation, University of Nairobi said that incorporation of environmental and social safeguards during the construction of Mombasa-Nairobi SGR has ensured that water security is sustained. She said that demand for water along the SGR corridor is expected to spike amid rapid urbanization, population growth, irrigated farming and the establishment of new industries. Sang called for research and data-driven interventions to enhance the protection of water sources in the SGR corridor as threats linked to climate change and competition from different economic sectors mount. Experts pointed out that policy harmonization, research and community participation are key to boost water security along Kenya's SGR corridor. Enditem Source: Xinhua| 2021-09-13 17:10:11|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close by Xu Chi GENEVA, Sept. 13 (Xinhua) -- The global "war on terror" after the 9/11 terrorist attacks is a "cataclysmic failure by any standards," a former British MP has said. Recalling the "sheer scale of the horror of this act of mass murder (9/11 terrorist attacks)," George Galloway, a former British MP well-known for his anti-war stance, told Xinhua in a recent video interview that "the way the U.S. handled the aftermath of 9/11 is where we -- many of us in the antiwar movement -- will part company with the government of George W. Bush, and that of Tony Blair and those of many others around the world." "I was virtually alone in the Parliament of the United Kingdom in the days and weeks that followed. We were a group of five or six MPs who demanded that ... we aim before we shoot, highlighting the danger of the reaction being even worse than the crime," Galloway said. "Our words fell on stony ground amongst the official media and official political class, though not amongst the public," Galloway added. The former British MP accused the pro-war political leaders of the time of lying and conspiring against the interests of their own people. Decrying the hypocrisy of the global "war on terror," Galloway pointed out that the West planted the seeds for many of the terrorist organizations it is dealing with today. "The presence of this ... ISIS, Al-Qaeda mentality has now spread all over the world. And of course, Britain and America are supporting it in some parts of the world, whilst opposing it in other parts of the world," said Galloway. "Today's militants were undoubtedly created by us, by the West ... But we could have at least learned from our mistakes in the 1980s. We don't have to back all these same people again," he said. "But instead, we compounded those mistakes over and over again. That is what is difficult to understand," said Galloway, adding that the United States made its latest mistake by removing the Eastern Turkistan Islamic Movement from its list of terrorist organizations. Galloway said he believes the brutality of warfare is what creates future enemies. "And that's what we've been doing for the last 20 years." Claiming Iraq had weapons of mass destruction, the United States invaded the Middle East country in 2003. Months after the invasion of Iraq, a prominent British weapons expert who publicly disputed the premises of the war was found dead in circumstances many deem suspicious. Galloway made a documentary on the subject. "David Kelly was an eminent weapons expert, scientist of the highest rank, recognized by the Queen, awaiting a knighthood from the Queen. He began to go rogue; he began to tell senior journalists that the case for the Iraq War had been a pack of lies," said Galloway. "I was present in the room in Parliament when he appeared before the House of Commons Foreign Affairs Select Committee, just a couple of days after which he was found dead in the woods, as he had earlier predicted that he would be. It was the worst and least convincing case of suicide that anyone could imagine," Galloway added. Following the 9/11 attacks, anthrax-laced letters began appearing in the United States, seemingly as part of terrorist attacks. In February 2003, then U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell showed a tube of white powder at the UN Security Council, hinting that Iraq had been using the anthrax pathogen to research and develop biological weapons. But the prime suspect for the anthrax attacks, identified years later, was Bruce Edwards Ivins, a scientist working for the Fort Detrick, a U.S. military bio-lab. He too was found dead in 2008, before the court trial against him even began. The FBI closed the anthrax case after Ivins' death. "The sinister events in the Fort Detrick, now closed, of course, in controversial circumstances, are amongst the many, many things we don't yet know about 9/11," said Galloway, adding "That's a remarkable thing, 20 years after the event. Imagine! There are still vital pieces of evidence about the 9/11 day itself, never mind the days that followed, that are still kept secret from the people of America and from the people of the world." Enditem Source: Xinhua| 2021-09-13 18:35:44|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close WASHINGTON, Sept. 13 (Xinhua) -- A pair of media investigations are casting doubt about the official narrative of a U.S. drone strike in Afghanistan's capital Kabul late last month, which the military alleged had targeted a vehicle carrying a large amount of explosives, amid a military withdrawal from the country. U.S. military forces conducted on Aug. 29 what the Central Command described as "a self-defense unmanned over-the-horizon airstrike" that eliminated an "imminent" threat posed by ISIS-K, an Afghanistan-based offshoot of the Islamic State, to the Hamad Karzai International airport in Kabul, where evacuations of U.S. service members and personnel were underway. "We are confident we successfully hit the target. Significant secondary explosions from the vehicle indicated the presence of a substantial amount of explosive material," the command said in a statement that day. Mark Milley, chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, has called it a "righteous strike" with procedures correctly followed. But separate investigations by The New York Times and The Washington Post published recently question the official account of what happened, including whether the driver of the vehicle had been associated with ISIS-K and whether the car contained explosives. The investigations have identified the driver as Zemarai Ahmadi, a 43-year-old electrical engineer working for Nutrition and Education International (NEI), a U.S. aid group based in Pasadena, California. Family members told The Times that Ahmadi, who had worked for NEI since 2006, had applied for refugee resettlement in the United States. The car Ahmadi was driving, a white sedan, had been tracked for about eight hours beginning on the morning of Aug. 29 before an MQ-9 Reaper drone launched the strike, according to a senior U.S. military official, cited by The Post. That day, Ahmadi's vehicle is said to have made several stops in Kabul, including an alleged ISIS-K safe house linked to an earlier suicide bombing attack that killed more than a dozen U.S. service members and scores of Afghan civilians at a gate of the Kabul airport. He was also alleged to have loaded what U.S. military officials thought could be explosives into his car. The United States, the Post wrote, allegedly "had credible intelligence pointing to a likely second assault on the airport and believed the car would be used for that purpose." When Ahmadi pulled into the courtyard of his home in a neighborhood in northwestern Kabul in the afternoon, a U.S. tactical commander greenlighted the strike with the drone operator launching a Hellfire missile, a precision air-to-ground, subsonic weapon with anti-tank capacity. NEI's president Steven Kwon told The Post that the sedan belonged to the charity organization while disputing the assertions made by the U.S. military that there were explosives inside the car. The Times said after an analysis of security camera footage it obtained showed that what U.S. military officials may have seen was Ahmadi and a colleague "loading canisters of water into his trunk to bring home to his family." While the U.S. military has so far acknowledged three civilian casualties, Ahmadi's relatives said 10 members of their family, including seven children, were killed in the U.S. drone strike. The Times and Post analyses have also called into question the U.S. Central Command's allegation of "secondary explosions" in the courtyard. The Times said an examination of the scene of the strike "found no evidence of a second, more powerful explosion," with experts pointing to the lack of collapsed walls or destroyed vegetation. "It seriously questions the credibility of the intelligence or technology utilized to determine this was a legitimate target," Chris Cobb-Smith, a British Army veteran and security consultant, told the Times. Two explosives experts The Post interviewed said that they believe the damage was mostly caused by the Hellfire missile. If there was a secondary blast, it was likely caused by an ignition of fuel tank vapors, they said. The experts also cautioned that the analysis might have been limited because the research was not done based on an investigation at the scene. Ahmadi's younger brother, Emal, who lost his three-year-old daughter in the drone assault, told Euronews that he thinks the United States "made a big mistake." "They should have first found information about my family, about my brother, what is his job, what is he doing, what are the members of the family doing," Emal said. U.S. Central Command spokesperson Bill Urban had previously said in a statement that they are "still assessing the results of this strike," adding that they "would be deeply saddened by any potential loss of innocent life." "We know that there were substantial and powerful subsequent explosions resulting from the destruction of the vehicle, indicating a large amount of explosive material inside that may have caused additional casualties," Urban said. "It is unclear what may have happened, and we are investigating further." The U.S. Central Command continues to believe it was a legitimate target, a senior U.S. official told NPR, noting that what is uncertain is whether the driver was part of the supposed terrorist effort or forced into it. In an op-ed released on Sunday, The Wall Street Journal urged the U.S. Congress to look into the matter. "One question is whether anyone in the White House signed off on the strike against Ahmadi. Another is whether Mr. Biden demanded some show of force against ISIS-K," it wrote. "The goal is to get those at the top of the Administration to start telling the truth, and taking responsibility, for the calamitous Afghan withdrawal." The U.S. Central Command announced on Aug. 30 that it had completed the pullout of its troops from Afghanistan, ending 20 years of military presence in the country, after botched evacuations that drew fierce criticism from both home and abroad. The United States announced its "War on Terror" and invaded Afghanistan in 2001, soon after militants associated with the Islamic extremist group al-Qaida hijacked passenger planes and carried out suicide attacks against America, killing almost 3,000 people on its soil. Over the years, Washington has expanded warfare into several other countries, relying heavily on drone strikes for targeted killings. U.S. drone and airstrikes have killed at least 22,000 civilians -- and potentially as many as more than 48,000 -- since the Sept. 11 attacks in 2001, according to an analysis published by the civilian harm monitoring group Airwars this month. Enditem A COLLABORATIVE probe by a British media house, the Bureau of Investigative Journalism and the University of Bath, has exposed how the ruling Zanu PF party received mouth-watering bribes from the British American Tobacco (BAT) most likely to fund its 2013 election campaign. British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) investigation revealed that Zanu PF received the bribes, ranging from US$300 000 to US$500 000 during the era of the late former President Robert Mugabe. According to Zimbabwean laws, political parties are not permitted to receive funding from outside the country. UK laws also forbid companies from paying bribes.According to the report, a number of government officials were also bribed. Observers said the money could have been used to finance the make-or-break 2013 elections that ended the coalition government between Zanu PF and the two MDCs led by Morgan Tsvangirai and Arthur Mutambara. But Zanu PF yesterday rubbished the claims, with party information director Tafadzwa Mugwadi saying the BBC report was one of the many propaganda narratives propagated by foreign news agencies. Party secretary for administration Obert Mpofu dismissed the report as laughable. That is not true and that is news to me. It is laughable actually. We have not received that money from the organisation you are talking about, Mpofu said. In a joint investigation with the Bureau of Investigative Journalism and the University of Bath, the man who was sent to negotiate the deal, but wished to remain anonymous, told Panorama that he bribed a number of government officials. I had to make it clear that they are going to expect a nice thick envelope of notes. It is alleged that the unnamed government official said the money would help the ruling party to effectively mount a strong campaign against Tsvangirais party after a close shave in the 2008 polls. With this donation, they could then go back to the President to try to get the problem sorted out, a memo read in part. The amount of the donation would have to be in the region of between US$300 000 to US$500 000 to Zanu PF, it said. The documents do not show whether the bribe was in the end paid, but Panorama has spoken to three sources who have confirmed that BAT was aware of the terms of the deal on offer. BAT refused to comment on the Zimbabwean matter, but emphatically reject the mischaracterisation of our conduct. Analysts also said the latest findings confirmed long-held suspicion of corruption in the ruling party. We have said consistently that the institutionalised corruption by Zanu PF elites is killing us. We expect swift action by authorities on this matter. We demand accountability, MDC Alliance deputy spokesperson Clifford Hlatywayo said. Analyst Rashweat Mukundu said anti-corruption hawks should take interest in the matter. There seem to be an unhealthy relationship between big business, be it from the West or East, that when dealing with Africa you have to corrupt the leaders and this to me is just, but a tip of the iceberg and not surprising, he said. Its a known fact that to do business without as many hassles, one has to bribe the political leadership and since the party that benefited from the corruption is still in power I guess its for them to explain themselves and the Zacc (Zimbabwe Anti-Corruption Commission) to take an interest, Mukundu added. The implications of this case are that the abuse, poverty and policy inconsistencies that we face as a society are actually sponsored by big business working in cahoots with politicians. We need to push for clean business and economic policies that are fair and predictable so that business does not have to bribe anyone. Another fundamental issue is that this corruption between business and politicians has actually worsened post Mugabe. Newdsay VILLAGERS in Uzumba, Mashonaland East province, are up in arms against a Chinese company, Heijin Mining, whose black granite mining claim covers the entire village. This was revealed in a letter addressed to Mashonaland East provincial mining commissioner dated September 3, in which Lovemore Kaseke, through the Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights (ZLHR) is demanding copies of the environmental impact assessment (EIA) certificate and the miners prospecting licence. The letter was copied to the Environmental Management Agency (EMA). Our clients are residents of Kaseke village in Uzumba together with his clan, the Kaseke clan. Our client advises that Heijin Mining Company purports to be a holder of mining blocks in Kaseke village and officials from the said mining company and from the ministry have proceeded to peg the whole of our clients village without consulting our clients, the letter read. Our clients advise that the pegs cover their homesteads, grazing areas and cultivating fields. To that end, we kindly request any prospecting licence that was granted to Heijin Mining Company, the letter further read. The invasion of Kaseke village has irked traditional leaders, among them Chief Nyajina, who is encouraging his subjects to resist the takeover of the land. In the event that a prospecting licence was granted to Heijin Mining Company, it is our considered view that the pegging of Kaseke village is unlawful in terms of Section 31(1) of the Mines and Minerals Act, a holder of a prospecting licence shall not exercise any of the rights conferred in the licence on communal land without the consent of the occupier. The pegging of Kaseke village without the consultation of occupiers is, therefore, unlawful. Further in terms of section 31(1) of the Mines and Minerals Act, no holder of a prospecting licence can proceed to peg communal land occupied as a village without the written consent of the rural district council of the area concerned, the letter added. Newsday GOVERNMENT will not succumb to pressure to disband the Political Actors Dialogue (Polad) and it will continue in operation even after the 2023 general election, a senior official with the controversial outfit has said. There has been intense lobbying from the main opposition party, the MDC Alliance, civil society and political experts to disband the outfit which has been blamed for abusing public funds and doing the bidding of Zanu PF and its candidate, President Emmerson Mnangagwa, ahead of the 2023 elections. Polad was set up by Mnangagwa after the disputed 2018 elections and is made up of over 18 mainly obscure opposition political parties. The Nelson Chamisa-led MDC Alliance has vowed not to be part of the platform, describing it as a congregation of presidential election losers. Speaking during a Twitter Space on Sunday, opposition National Constitutional Assembly (NCA) leader Lovemore Madhuku, who is also a Polad principal, said there was nothing illegal about the platform and that nothing was sinister about the provision of vehicles to the actors. Lawyer Thabani Mpofu said Polad was unlawful and illegitimate and no validity can come out of invalidity. The attempt to equate an Eversharp 15M pen with a motor vehicle means to trifle with us and speaks to the arrogance that comes with corruption, Mpofu said. Polad international relations and re-engagement committee spokesperson and the Republican Party of Zimbabwe president Kwanele Hlabangana told NewsDay that despite all the brickbats targeted at the platform, it was not going anywhere. I am not sure where they are getting that from (that Polad is illegal). Polad is a voluntary dialogue platform by political players in the country, he said. Section 67 of the Constitution allows you as an individual to form and join a political party of choice and as political players we are a platform that was invited by the head of State to deliberate on national issues, he said. We are independent political parties that came together and there is nothing illegal about that and we are dialoguing on issues affecting Zimbabweans on a daily basis. People are free to form their other Polads. Polad is not the exclusive platform, there are other platforms. We have a lot of people meeting and congregating to discuss national issues so I dont understand people who are saying Polad should be dissolved, he added. Newsday The leader of the newly established Freedom of Rights Under Sovereign (FORUS) party and two other officials were arrested, Tuesday, in Bulawayo for allegedly holding a political meeting without notifying regulatory authorities, a court has heard. Manyara Irene Muyenziwa (44) and her accomplices Mono Minela (50) and Tinashe Muzamhindo (37) are facing a charge of contravening the provisions of the Maintenance of Peace and Order Act. The trio appeared before Bulawayo magistrate Linear Khumalo who remanded them out of custody on free bail to September 16. They are being represented by Lison Ncube of the Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights. State representative Hazel Ncube narrated to the court that the police received a tip-off to the effect that the trio convened an illegal meeting. On September 7 the accused persons convened a public meeting at Stutterfords Building, George Silundika between 3rd and 4th Avenue without notifying the Regulatory Authority as stipulated by the law. The police received a tip-off to the effect that there was a meeting going on and upon getting there they found 60 people in attendance, Ncube said. There was a Forus political party banner erected printed Forus Freedom of Rights Under Sovereign on Facebook FORUS2021@gmail.com. Verifications were made through the Regulatory Authority of the area concerned and it was established that the convenes and organisers of the gathering had not notified the police or Regulatory Authority of the meeting resulting in the subsequent arrest of the accused persons. In an interview with CITE, the trios lawyer said the meeting was being attended by a total of 62 people, with most of them being women. The other 59 participants, who were mainly women and children were made to sign admission of guilt forms and were fined ZWL$1 000 each. According to the instructions that I received, these people were not attending a political meeting, instead, one of the accused persons is the president of FORUS and he had been invited as a guest of honor at a women empowerment meeting, Ncube said. Cite.org.zw NUI Galway appoints Traveller Education Officer NUI Galway Traveller Education Officer Owen Ward celebrates with Jason Sherlock after the Traveller student was conferred with a First Class Hons, BA Economic, Sociology and Political Science. NUI Galway has appointed its first full-time Traveller Education Officer to lead the teaching and learning of students from the Traveller community. Owen Ward, a Traveller, qualified teacher and alumnus of the University, is to take on the role as NUI Galway develops a model to empower the Traveller community to overcome barriers to access, progression, retention and success in higher education. Simon Harris, Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science, T.D., welcomed the appointment, saying: Owen is an incredible role model for his family and the wider Traveller community. He has overcome adversity and changed the course of not only his own future but that of the wider Traveller community. Higher education is for everyone and can be the key to equality as well as unlocking opportunities for all. Our mission in my Department of Further and Higher Education Research Innovation and Science is to ensure no one is left behind. As we strive towards a more inclusive higher education system for all, I have no doubt that Owen will play a huge part in this in the future. I wish him well in this new role and I want to commend NUI Galway for continuing to play a leadership role in this area. President of NUI Galway, Professor Ciaran O hOgartaigh, said: At NUI Galway, we are a university for the public good, with a shared vision, shaped by our values. The appointment of Owen Ward as our Traveller Education Officer goes to the heart of this work in promoting our values, particularly the importance which we place on respect and openness, as well as providing a culture that creates opportunities in education for people from all backgrounds. He is an exemplar of excellence and a role model for us all. Owen Wards role will be a key part of the work of NUI Galway Access Centre. The Traveller Education Officer will manage Minceirs Misl'd in Education - Empowering Irish Travellers to transition and build a sense of belonging in Higher Education. The project is funded by the National Forum for the Enhancement of Teaching and Learning. The Traveller Education Officer will work in partnership with various stakeholders, including Traveller organisations and the Traveller community and build on critical government policies and strategies to provide a detailed, evidence-based understanding of barriers to access, progression and retention in higher education for Irish Travellers. Imelda Byrne, Head of NUI Galway's Access Centre, said: I wish our new Traveller Education Officer Owen Ward every success in this role. I am absolutely thrilled for Owen, his family and his community; it is wonderful to see Owen progress to this stage in his career and I have no doubt that he will develop this strategic area in a way that will support our University community in a meaningful way to provide an inclusive educational experience for the Traveller community in higher education. We are very excited to see Owen apply his experience to help develop this area in line with University and national strategies. Owen Ward said: The main objective of the project is to support the development of recruitment and support strategies and evidence-based teaching and learning methods in an effort to address the low levels of Travellers in higher education. It will empower Travellers in post-primary, further education and mature students to progress to higher education and build a sense of belonging, while being successful during their studies at NUI Galway. I look forward to working with all the stakeholders to achieve positive outcomes for the Traveller community in education. This project highlights NUI Galways ongoing commitment to widening the participation of Travellers in higher education. Ends Originally greenlit in 2015, Y: The Last Man has gone through its fair share of scripts before finally making it to the air. In a way, though, the timing couldnt be more perfect, on the hopeful side of a global pandemic that has killed more than 1 million people and eight months after the Jan. 6 siege on the U.S. Capitol. Reality is not quite as catastrophic as the fictional apocalypse, but Y seems less farfetched than it did in 2002, or even 2015. There are plenty of our workers in the field that do not want to be vaccinated, said Tessitore. We have to be careful because were receiving plenty of feedback that they would leave the job if it came to that. And thats concerning to me, because we are already challenged right now with manpower counts across the agency. After going on our first road trip across the country in my tiny car, we felt like there was just so much we missed, Petito posted on social media on July 10. Turning this Ford transit essentially into a camper was such an adventure in itself, but I couldnt love the way it turned out more! T.J. called several times while he was in New York City and told me how bad things were, Chief Hyatt recalled on the 20th anniversary of the attacks. He talked about how many people were there, from all over the planet it seemed, helping out. He told me how calm everyone was, that everyone was on the same page. Not one story was about one person being contrary or being hateful toward the police or not cooperating with the police. Harris then called two relatives to tell them what she had done. They called the boys father and the police, who arrived to find Kaden unresponsive on the kitchen floor. When Harris answered the door, she allegedly told officers that she had shot her son with a silver revolver, which she showed them. Jones case had garnered national attention from media and advocate groups including the Innocence Project, which argues there remained a lot of questions about the carjacking that left Paul Howell dead when Jones, now 41, was still a teenager. That organization alleged potential racial bias in Jones arrest and trial. The victim, as well as 11 of the 12 jurors in the case, were white. Jones is Black. He was reportedly eating dinner with his family when the killing occurred. According to the Department of Justice, the defendants were part of a criminal organization that built and maintained narco-submarines which were used to send cocaine from Colombia into the Pacific Ocean where it was collected by members of the Sinola Cartel near Oaxaca, Mexico. Thibodeaux was sprung from Louisianas Angola prison in 2012, where he was sentenced for the rape and killing of his step-cousin, Crystal Champagne, when he was 22 and working on a Mississippi barge. Louisiana Police reportedly questioned Thibodeaux for more that nine hours before he finally said, I didnt know that I had done it, but I done it. The homeowner, who told cops she was in fear, fired numerous shots through the wall, striking the suspect at least once in the torso area, a police spokesman told reporters. The man tried running from the property but did not get too far. He was there with his wife, Linda Allen, when he tried to hop over a narrow section of Devils Churn on Thursday, but fell into the water instead. He was at the deep, narrow chutes east end when he tried to jump from the south side to the north at about 2:20 p.m. in high tide, Yachats News reported. He should return those donations and tell those officers, Im going to keep an eye on you, Gangi said. Its important for him as the likely mayor to distance himself from that and send a message, not just to the police, but to the larger community that hes not going to let officers who have engaged in misconduct be cozy with him. But we expect something in return, folks, he told hundreds of people as he spoke from the events main stage. We want to ask you to offer your jobs to New Yorkers. Right now, there are hundreds of thousands of people out of work in New York. And there are hundreds of thousands of jobs that you have that we can fill. Adams, a former NYPD captain who has made rooting out bad apples from the police department a key priority of his mayoral bid, did not immediately commit to returning donations from the other 12 cops, though he said he will review their records case-by-case and make a decision. The UFT has long taken families in the working-class neighborhoods of Brooklyn for granted. Because parents couldnt afford to leave or send their kids to private school, the union had no incentive to improve education in those neighborhoods. As of 2017, there were 146 elementary schools in Brooklyn whose student body was at least 70% Black and Hispanic. Only about a third of students in these schools read or do math on grade level. While educating students in high-poverty environments is complex, this is an objectively unacceptable outcome. Yet the union consistently fought any accountability for teacher or school performance, essentially locking in mediocrity. Best known for a Doctor Who portrayal among other appearances in television and movies, Fear was last seen in Los Angeles, where she moved two months ago to pursue stand-up comedy. Her manager, Alex Cole, confirmed the news to Today on Sunday, saying he had last spoken to her eight days ago about work and that shed been fine. Two quick updates on shows that you may think you may be getting tickets to or you already have tickets to: The Wellmont Theater in New Jersey not doing it, Breuer said. Also the Royal Oak Theater in Michigan, due to the segregation of them forcing people to show up with vaccinations ... I am also not doing those shows. A livestream video showing celebrities as they arrive on the red carpet at Manhattans Metropolitan Museum of Art on Monday will be broadcast online by Vogue. It is with great pleasure and relief to report that Tanya has been found safe by police today, Fears manager Alex Cole said in a statement obtained by NBC News. We understand she is not physically harmed, but as a precaution, is being assessed at a local hospital. We wish to thank the police, members of the public for their efforts in locating Tanya, as well as the outpouring of concern and support over the last several days. Tanyas family are relieved and extremely grateful. I love him. We recently met for the first time. Ive been following him and hes been following me for a number of years. We met at an event in New Jersey about two and-a-half, three years ago. We were just overjoyed to share the same dais and couldnt wait to get offstage so we could hug and just say how much we loved each other, Vance said backstage. We are keeping everyone who is coming to these shows safe and healthy because the numbers are going up, Oswalt said in the video. The bad news is there are five venues on the tour that are not complying with this and Ill give you one guess as to which state it was. The age of Billy was given in a tongue-in-cheek manner as the article suggested that one would need to go see Charles Lord, the owner of the bird, for Billys official age. One of the hardest things Ive ever had to do in my life is to forgive someone who does not apologize, she said during a sentencing hearing at the Osceola County Courthouse. ... Well forgive because if we do not forgive, we make those who hurt us the center of our lives, and it only hurts us. We miss out on joy and peace and I will not raise my girls to carry pain or unforgiveness in their hearts. UF offers the benefits and experience of a large public university with an educational quality and research expertise that is on par with the nations most prestigious institutions, said Mori Hosseini, chair of UFs Board of Trustees, in the release. This remarkable rise has not happened overnight. Today we celebrate a victory for the state of Florida, which, for the first time ever, is home to a top-five public university where groundbreaking research is underway to solve the worlds most pressing problems, and where our children and grandchildren can get an affordable, top-flight education right here in Florida. The teen, who was taken to a hospital to be treated for his injuries, made no overt or hostile actions or statements which would create a well-founded fear, the sheriffs office said. Officials say there were several kids having fun at the playground at around 6:30 p.m. Saturday when the man stormed out of his nearby apartment annoyed over the noise. Her family reported her missing on Sept. 11, but told police they were last in contact with her the last week of August. The report stated Petito was last seen in Grand Teton National Park in Wyoming. So, last years protests demanding an end to this celebration of treachery were long overdue, if occasionally overreaching in their ambition. Some activists, for instance, also demanded the removal of statues venerating the likes of Thomas Jefferson. The view from this pew is that the legacy of the third president is badly scarred by, but not restricted to, his ownership of human beings. He did other things, and they are worth honoring. By contrast, the only reason history knows Lees name is that he betrayed the nation in service to slavery. And in toppling him from a pedestal of honor on a showplace avenue in the former capital of the Confederacy, protesters did a righteous thing. In the first week of school, across Florida, cases of COVID-19 occurred at a rate 10 times higher than at the same time last year (at which time students were required to wear masks). the request said. Both children and adults are sick and dying as a result of COVID-19. Thus, there is a palpable urgency for immediate review by the Florida Supreme Court in this matter. It is my opinion and legal view that the lawsuit and appeal were not frivolous, Lewis, who served on the Supreme Court for 21 years until his retirement in 2019, wrote in documents provided by Uhlfelder. I submit this affidavit because it is my view that legal action, the independence of counsel and requirements that lawyers be strong advocates are pillars of our democracy. The independence of the judiciary is also key to preserving our liberties and independence of counsel essential to our adversarial system. Its really special for me to hold that title because Im going to be the first Black female pilot of a spacecraft, Proctor said. There have been three Black female astronauts that made it to space, and knowing that Im going to be the fourth, means that I have this opportunity to not only accomplish my dream but also ... inspire the next generation of women of color and girls of color and really getting them to think about reaching for the stars and what that means. If you were looking for the Charlestown Democratic Town Committee website and ended up here, try this Got news tips, gossip, suggestions, complaints?E-mail us: progressivecharlestown@gmail.com We strive to avoid errors in our articles. Our correction policy can be found here Moscow court upholds sentence for trash streamer guilty of beating model Moscow's Presnensky District Court 10:44 13/09/2021 MOSCOW, September 13 (RAPSI) Moscow's Presnensky District Court on Monday upheld the conviction and sentence of trash streamer Andrey Burim (a.k.a Mellstroy) who mocked and violently abused a model during a live broadcast. the press service of the court told RAPSI. This July, a magistrate court found Burim guilty of an infliction of beatings crime and sentenced him to 6 months of corrective labor with a 10% deduction of the convict's salary as state revenue. The court also recovered from the defendant 72,000 rubles (about $1,000 at the current exchange rate) in favor of the victim as compensation for moral and physical damage. The victim, Alena Efremova, had previously sought in the court 10 million rubles ($137,000) from the blogger. Burim inflicted bodily harm on his 21-year-old friend during a live broadcast he organized on his YouTube channel. The blogger hit the girls face on a table several times when on the air. Moscow court orders continued pre-trial detention of ex-official of North Ossetia Takoyev 17:48 13/09/2021 MOSCOW, September 13 (RAPSI) The Moscow City Court on Monday ordered continued pre-trial detention for former chairman of the North Ossetia government Sergey Takoyev facing charges of embezzling more than 180 million rubles (about $2.5 million), press service of the court told RAPSI. Takoyev is to stay in detention until October 10, 2021. CEO of the Ossetian plant of automobile and tractor electrical equipment (OZATE OJSC) Aida Gabarayeva and Republican Tourism Minister Alan Diambekov are also defendants in this case. Investigators allege that in 2014, the defendants and their unidentified accomplices were responsible for the conclusion of a state contract, under which the Republic purchased certain OZATE property at an inflated price. On Monday, a higher court left Gabarayeva in custody, dismissing her appeal. A Place for All Conservatives to Speak Their Mind. The Karnataka police have arrested 12 persons, including a gram panchayat secretary, in connection with the burying of 150 stray dogs alive at a village of Shivamogga district, sources said on Monday. The horrifying incident came to light on September 7. The police arrested persons who allegedly injected poison into the stray dogs, two members of gram panchayat, a JCB operator, and secretary and bill collector of the Kambadalu-Hosur gram panchayat. The gram panchayat gave the task of catching and sterilising stray dogs within panchayat limits to private contractors. It was proposed in the meeting and the emolument rate was fixed for the exercise. The contractor was supposed to catch stray dogs and release them after the neutering exercise. The members of panchayat, including the secretary and others conspired, planned and executed the plan of injecting the dogs allegedly with poison and burying them alive, police said. The villagers and animal activists lodged a complaint. The police have got the post-mortem conducted on 60 dogs. The skin, hair and liver samples have been sent to Forensic Science Laboratory (FSL). The Associated Press is reporting that the Taliban raised its white flag over the Afghani presidential palace Saturday--a day when the US and the world marked the 20th anniversary of the September 11 terror attacks on the twin-towers in New York. Mohammad Hassan Akhund, the prime minister of the Taliban interim government hoisted the flag on in a low-key ceremony, AP reported citing Ahmadullah Muttaqi, multimedia branch chief of the Taliban's cultural commission. He pointed out that the flag-raising marked the official start of the work of the new government. The new government got into work mode after the Taliban over-ran Afghanistan, and the capital, Kabul on August 15. Afghanistan's first president to follow the 2001 collapse of the Taliban, Hamid Karzai, tweeted with a call for "peace and stability," hoping that the new caretaker Cabinet would mutate into an "inclusive government that can be the real face of the whole Afghanistan." Unfortunately, the dominance of the criminal Haqqani empire at the centre of the new so-called "caretaker" government leaves little room for optimism about the formation of an inclusive government, which represents Afghanistan's non-Pashtun minorities. In fact, as Akhund raised the Taliban flag, a robust rebellion was raging in the Panjshir valley, the ground-zero of the Afghanistan's ethnic Tajik minority, with a powerful history of armed resistance. Haqqani's power is symbolised by Sirajuddin Haqqani still holds a bounty of $10 million on his head for his indulgence in terrorism and much more. As India Narrative reported earlier, his description on the FBI website states that he has been known by at least 15 aliases and was thought to live in Pakistan while also maintaining close links with the Taliban and al-Qaeda through his own Haqqani network. Khalifa, as Sirajuddin is known in his HQN group, is a serial hostage taker who is currently holding American contractor and former war veteran Mark Frerichs in Afghanistan right now. In fact, the CIA chief had met Mullah Baradar last month after the Taliban's takeover of Kabul for the release of the last American contractor Mark Frerichs who is under the "custody" of the Haqqani Network. In exchange for Frerichs the Haqqanis are seeking the release of Afghan drug lord Bashir Noorzai who is in American prison. However, the power behind the Haqqani throne is the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), Pakistan's powerful spy agency. It was ISI chief's Faiz Hameed's visit to Kabul last week, which gave the Haqqanis a lion's share in the Taliban's cabinet. Sirajuddin Haqqani's uncle Khalil Haqqani, who has a $ 5 million bounty, is also in the cabinet. There are at least six ministers in the newly formed Taliban government who are directly associated with the most dreaded UN designated terror organisation in Afghanistan. According to experts, the Haqqanis are "war profiteers" who have a strong financial interest in the continuation of conflict, since this creates the conditions which allow them to run criminal activities from extortion to kidnapping to drug trafficking to money laundering, alongside legal activities in business sectors, including import-export, transport, real estate and construction in Afghanistan, Pakistan, the Gulf and beyond. The HQN enjoys the support of the Pakistani military and the ISI--the main bone of contention between Pakistan and the US. Ashley Jackson, co-director of Overseas Development. Pakistan's involvement in running an Afghan extremist group can be traced to the 1971 war when Pakistan lost nearly half of its population and a sizable chunk of resources with the formation of Bangladesh. The debacle in Bangladesh activated fears about a similar fate along the Durand line. In fact, since 1950, Afghanistan had launched incursions into Pakistan's Baluchistan province--an effort that flared into the 1970s. With Mohammad Doud emerging as an assertive Afghan leader, former Pakistani Prime Minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto earnestly began his Afghanistan project. "In August 1973, Bhutto set up the Afghan working group within Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) directorate. Despite a brief interregnum, Gen. Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq continued with this policy after he ousted Bhutto in a July 1977 coup. Fifty or so Afghan resistance groups were consolidated by the ISI into a smaller, more manageable number," writes C. Christine Fair, a Georgetown University Professor a Foreign Policy article. The article pointed out that the ISI was asked to deepen links between the Pakistani and Afghan Islamist groups. "These efforts resulted in seven major Sunni Afghan Islamist militant groups, as well as several Shiite groups. By the time the Soviets had crossed the Amu Darya River into Afghanistan, Zia-ul-Haq's army and the ISI had already created the key Islamist groups that would become the cornerstone of the so-called anti-Soviet jihad." According to the write-up, "the ISI nurtured, created, and supported the Taliban in their first incarnation; it returned to doing the same after the Taliban regime's fall in late 2001". The visit of Hameed, the ISI chief last Saturday is merely an extension of this well-worn policy. Edison, NJ -- (SBWIRE) -- 09/13/2021 -- HTF MI recently released a research document on Worldwide Electric Vehicle Battery Charger Market that includes survey highlights, in-depth interviews insights with industry experts, and a review of industry dynamics with help of our global network of consultants and executives within the OEMs & aftermarket. These market estimates have been evaluated considering base year as 2021 and by studying the impact of various macro-economic factors, local and regional regulatory regimes to better understand current market dynamics affecting the Worldwide Electric Vehicle Battery Charger growth and further bottom-up approach is applied to deliver comprehensive company profiles of major and emerging players of the industry, including Delphi Automotive, Robert Bosch GmbH, Tesla Inc., Ficosa International, Clore Automotive, Current Ways, IES Synergy, Lear Corporation, Baccus Global LLC, CTEK Holding AB, Meta Systems, LG Electronics, Schumacher Electric Corporation, Schneider Electric & General Electric Company. Assess aftermarket trends and their potential impact to derive implications for suppliers in Worldwide Electric Vehicle Battery Charger industry. If you are a Worldwide Electric Vehicle Battery Charger manufacturer or want to be in Worldwide Electric Vehicle Battery Charger market then this research publication would help you understand the Sales & Pricing dynamics Get the inside scoop with Sample report https://www.htfmarketreport.com/sample-report/3562444-worldwide-electric-vehicle-battery-charger-market This Worldwide Electric Vehicle Battery Charger research framework should serve as a basic structure to support the strategic decision-making process to the suppliers/manufacturers of Worldwide Electric Vehicle Battery Charger. For instance, the question of whether a supplier wants to expand into other areas of the market value chain fundamentally determines its strategy. The market estimates and breakdown provided in the Worldwide Electric Vehicle Battery Charger Market study are the result of in-depth secondary research, primary interviews and in-house expert reviews. Market Outlook and takeaway points are derived using current facts and statistics such as production, consumption, capacity, Export Import, trade data by category products in Worldwide Electric Vehicle Battery Charger Market. The Worldwide Electric Vehicle Battery Charger market includes sizing by value and sales volume by Type (, Electric Vehicle Battery Charger markets by type, Private & Public), Application (Private, Public & Hybrid Electric Vehicles), by Players and by Regions / Country. New entrants in Worldwide Electric Vehicle Battery Charger market and established manufacturers have seen changing their business models a trend that will continue in the future Competition / Manufacturers Analysis: The Worldwide Electric Vehicle Battery Charger market provides detailed view on automotive manufacturing process analysis referenced via leaders and high growth emerging players from select profiled companies. Comparative market share analysis addressing Change in Segment Revenue and % Market Share of Individual Companies / OEMs along with their position is disclosed. A dedicated Chapter of Worldwide Electric Vehicle Battery Charger Market Entropy covering activity such as M&A, Product Launches, R&D, Funding etc with a commentary on Top 3 players Strategic Moves & management effectiveness that help them maintain their rank and % market share in Worldwide Electric Vehicle Battery Charger market. The Competitive landscape provides detailed profiles of Delphi Automotive, Robert Bosch GmbH, Tesla Inc., Ficosa International, Clore Automotive, Current Ways, IES Synergy, Lear Corporation, Baccus Global LLC, CTEK Holding AB, Meta Systems, LG Electronics, Schumacher Electric Corporation, Schneider Electric & General Electric Company that includes section such as business overview, market share, key financial metrics of past 3 years, SWOT analysis. Have Any Query? Ask Our Expert @: https://www.htfmarketreport.com/enquiry-before-buy/3562444-worldwide-electric-vehicle-battery-charger-market Regional Size, Growth & Trend Analysis Includes Breakdown as Geographically, Worldwide Electric Vehicle Battery Charger Market research report is segmented into several key Regions, with production, consumption, revenue (million USD), and market share and growth rate of Worldwide Electric Vehicle Battery Charger Market by Value & Sales Volume from 2016 to 2026 (forecast). In the global version of report following regions and country can be provided on request - North America (United States, Canada and Mexico) - Europe (Germany, the UK, France, Italy, Netherlands, Belgium, Russia, Spain, NORDICS, and Rest of Europe) - Asia-Pacific (China, Japan, Korea, India, Australia and Southeast Asia {Indonesia, Thailand, Philippines, Malaysia and Vietnam}, Others) - South America (Brazil, Argentina, Chile and Rest of South America) - Middle East and Africa (South Africa, Turkey, Israel, GCC Countries and Rest of Africa) Demand & Supply Effectiveness; Worldwide Electric Vehicle Battery Charger Market report additionally provides information about effective distribution / sales channels, Production, Consumption & EXIM (Export & Import) by Regions. Book Worldwide Electric Vehicle Battery Charger Market research study @ https://www.htfmarketreport.com/buy-now?format=1&report=3562444 What can be explored with Worldwide Electric Vehicle Battery Charger Market study: - Where the Worldwide Electric Vehicle Battery Charger industry stands in scaling its end use implementations - What concrete benefits can result from scaled initiatives - Where OEMs / manufacturers should focus their investments cycle - Success factors and recommendations for scaling future growth in Worldwide Electric Vehicle Battery Charger Industry. - Target Market / Country and Key Business Segments of Worldwide Electric Vehicle Battery Charger. Additionally Company Basic Information, Manufacturing Base and Closest Competitors is being Provided for Each Listed Manufacturers Market Sales, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2016-2026) Table for each product type which include Key Raw Materials Analysis & Price Trends Supply Chain, Sourcing Strategy and Downstream Buyers, Industrial Chain Analysis ........and view more in complete table of Contents Check Complete Report Details @ https://www.htfmarketreport.com/reports/3562444-worldwide-electric-vehicle-battery-charger-market Thanks for reading this article; you can also get individual chapter wise section or Region/Country wise report version like North America, Southeast Asia, China, USA, Europe or APAC. Northbrook, IL -- (SBWIRE) -- 09/13/2021 -- According to a research report "Electromagnetic Weapons Market By Product (Lethal Weapons, Non-lethal Weapons), Application (Homeland Security, Military), Platform (Land, Naval, Airborne), Technology (Particle Beam Weapons, Laser-induced Plasma Channel), and Region Forecast to 2026", published by MarketsandMarkets, the Electromagnetic Weapons Market is estimated at USD 509 million in 2021 and is projected to reach USD 1,282 million by 2026, at a CAGR of 20.3 % from 2021 to 2026. The electromagnetic weapons market is growing at a significant rate across the world, and a similar trend is expected to be observed during the forecast period. Increased demand for electromagnetic weapons in combat operations, rising modernization and investments in the defense sector for developing electromagnetic weapons for military platforms, rapid advancements in AI, big data analytics, and robotic technologies, increasing focus on the development of small, compact electromagnetic weapons for a UAV platform are fueling the growth of the electromagnetic weapons market. Ask for PDF Brochure: https://www.marketsandmarkets.com/pdfdownloadNew.asp?id=79630239 Based on technology, the particle beam weapons segment is projected to lead the electromagnetic weapons market from 2021 to 2026. Particle beam weapons destroy or neutralize a target through a stream of highly energized atomic particles. These weapons are of two types: charged particle beam weapons and neutral beam weapons. The general idea of such type of weapons is to hit the target with a stream of accelerated particles known as the particle beam, with high kinetic energy, which is then transferred to the molecules of the target. The particle beam from a particle beam weapon can heat the target extensively, which can cause damage; however, the power required to produce a particle beam of this strength can be quite high. In 2003, the US military used high-power microwaves in the Iraq War to disrupt and destroy Iraq's electronic systems. Based on product type, the lethal weapons segment will register the highest growth from 2021 to 2026. The electromagnetic weapons market is dominated by the lethal products segment. These lethal products, mainly focused on military application, include rail guns, electromagnetic bombs (e-bombs), electromagnetic pulse (nuclear and non-nuclear EMP), and high-power microwave guns. Huge investments are being made in the R&D as well as demonstration and testing of lethal electromagnetic weapons. Based on Platform, the naval segment will register the highest growth from 2021 to 2026. Naval-electromagnetic weapon systems consist of weapons that are used in naval applications, for instance, on combat ships and submarines, among others. The naval segment is further divided into combat ships, submarines, and unmanned surface vehicles. Defense ships are specifically designed for use by coast guards and naval forces to ensure the security of water borders. These ships are different from commercial ships in terms of application, design structure, capabilities, and technologies. Several countries are modernizing their militaries and hence are increasing their defense budgets. The naval segment will witness high growth in the forthcoming years due to modernization programs for coastal defense across countries. Browse in-depth TOC on "Electromagnetic Weapons Market" 133 Tables 46 Figures 201 Pages Inquiry Before Buying: https://www.marketsandmarkets.com/Enquiry_Before_BuyingNew.asp?id=79630239 The electromagnetic weapons market in Asia Pacific is projected to grow at the highest CAGR from 2021 to 2026. Asia-Pacific contributed a share of 22.5% to the electromagnetic weapons market in 2021. China, India, Japan, Australia, South Korea, and rest of Asia-Pacific have been considered in the Asia-Pacific electromagnetic weapons market. The demand for electromagnetic weapons market has increased in recent years, due to the rapid economic development and increasing security threats, across Asia-Pacific region and the increase in border disputes. The military spending of China, Japan, and India has been increasing in recent years due to increased possibilities of being targeted by terrorist attacks. This report includes a study on the marketing and development strategies, along with the product portfolios of leading companies. It consists of profiles of leading companies, such as Lockheed Martin Corporation (US), Northrop Grumman Corporation (US), Thales Group (France), BAE Systems (UK), Raytheon Technologies (US), Elbit Systems (Israel) and L3Harris Technologies (US). Related Reports: Directed Energy Weapons Market by Technology (High energy lasers, High-power microwave, electromagnetic weapon technology, Sonic weapon technology), Platform (Land, Airborne, naval, Space), Application, Range, Product and Region - Forecast to 2026 Smart Weapons Market by Product (Missiles, Munitions, Guided Projectile, Guided Rocket, Guided Firearms), platform (Air, Land, Naval), Technology (Laser, Infrared, Radar, GPS, Others) & Region - Global Forecast to 2021 About MarketsandMarkets MarketsandMarkets provides quantified B2B research on 30,000 high growth niche opportunities/threats which will impact 70% to 80% of worldwide companies' revenues. Currently servicing 7500 customers worldwide including 80% of global Fortune 1000 companies as clients. Almost 75,000 top officers across eight industries worldwide approach MarketsandMarkets for their painpoints around revenues decisions. Our 850 fulltime analyst and SMEs at MarketsandMarkets are tracking global high growth markets following the "Growth Engagement Model GEM". The GEM aims at proactive collaboration with the clients to identify new opportunities, identify most important customers, write "Attack, avoid and defend" strategies, identify sources of incremental revenues for both the company and its competitors. MarketsandMarkets now coming up with 1,500 MicroQuadrants (Positioning top players across leaders, emerging companies, innovators, strategic players) annually in high growth emerging segments. MarketsandMarkets is determined to benefit more than 10,000 companies this year for their revenue planning and help them take their innovations/disruptions early to the market by providing them research ahead of the curve. MarketsandMarkets's flagship competitive intelligence and market research platform, "Knowledge Store" connects over 200,000 markets and entire value chains for deeper understanding of the unmet insights along with market sizing and forecasts of niche markets. Contact: Mr. Aashish Mehra MarketsandMarkets INC. 630 Dundee Road Suite 430 Northbrook, IL 60062 USA: +1-888-600-6441 Edison, NJ -- (SBWIRE) -- 09/13/2021 -- The Latest research study released by HTF MI "Global Fleet Management System for Automotive Market" with 100+ pages of analysis on business Strategy taken up by key and emerging industry players and delivers know how of the current market development, landscape, technologies, drivers, opportunities, market viewpoint and status. Understanding the segments helps in identifying the importance of different factors that aid the market growth. Some of the Major Companies covered in this Research are Geotab, Omnitracs, Wheels, Inc, Verizon Connect, Automotive Rentals Inc, Mix Telematics, Trimble, Teletrac Navman, Donlen Corporation & Chevin Fleet Solution etc. Click here for free sample + related graphs of the report @: https://www.htfmarketreport.com/sample-report/3557996-2020-2025-global-fleet-management-system-for-automotive-market-report-production-and-consumption-professional-analysis Browse market information, tables and figures extent in-depth TOC on "Fleet Management System for Automotive Market by Application (Light Commercial Vehicle & Heavy Commercial Vehicle), by Product Type (, GNSS & Cellular Systems), Business scope, Manufacturing and Outlook Estimate to 2025". for more information or any query mail at sales@htfmarketreport.com At last, all parts of the Global Fleet Management System for Automotive Market are quantitatively also subjectively valued to think about the Global just as regional market equally. This market study presents basic data and true figures about the market giving a deep analysis of this market based on market trends, market drivers, constraints and its future prospects. The report supplies the worldwide monetary challenge with the help of Porter's Five Forces Analysis and SWOT Analysis. If you have any Enquiry please click here @: https://www.htfmarketreport.com/enquiry-before-buy/3557996-2020-2025-global-fleet-management-system-for-automotive-market-report-production-and-consumption-professional-analysis Customization of the Report: The report can be customized as per your needs for added data up to 3 businesses or countries or 2 analyst hours. On the basis of report- titled segments and sub-segment of the market are highlighted below: Global Fleet Management System for Automotive Market By Application/End-User (Value and Volume from 2021 to 2026) : Light Commercial Vehicle & Heavy Commercial Vehicle Market By Type (Value and Volume from 2021 to 2026) : , GNSS & Cellular Systems Global Fleet Management System for Automotive Market by Key Players: Geotab, Omnitracs, Wheels, Inc, Verizon Connect, Automotive Rentals Inc, Mix Telematics, Trimble, Teletrac Navman, Donlen Corporation & Chevin Fleet Solution. Geographically, this report is segmented into some key Regions, with manufacture, depletion, revenue (million USD), and market share and growth rate of Fleet Management System for Automotive in these regions, from 2015 to 2026 (forecast), covering China, USA, Europe, Japan, Korea, India, Southeast Asia & South America and its Share (%) and CAGR for the forecasted period 2021 to 2026. Informational Takeaways from the Market Study: The report Fleet Management System for Automotive matches the completely examined and evaluated data of the noticeable companies and their situation in the market considering impact of Coronavirus. The measured tools including SWOT analysis, Porter's five powers analysis, and assumption return debt were utilized while separating the improvement of the key players performing in the market. Key Development's in the Market: This segment of the Fleet Management System for Automotive report fuses the major developments of the market that contains confirmations, composed endeavors, R&D, new thing dispatch, joint endeavours, and relationship of driving members working in the market. To get this report buy full copy @: https://www.htfmarketreport.com/buy-now?format=1&report=3557996 Some of the important question for stakeholders and business professional for expanding their position in the Global Fleet Management System for Automotive Market : Q 1. Which Region offers the most rewarding open doors for the market Ahead of 2021? Q 2. What are the business threats and Impact of latest scenario Over the market Growth and Estimation? Q 3. What are probably the most encouraging, high-development scenarios for Fleet Management System for Automotive movement showcase by applications, types and regions? Q 4.What segments grab most noteworthy attention in Fleet Management System for Automotive Market in 2020 and beyond? Q 5. Who are the significant players confronting and developing in Fleet Management System for Automotive Market? For More Information Read Table of Content @: https://www.htfmarketreport.com/reports/3557996-2020-2025-global-fleet-management-system-for-automotive-market-report-production-and-consumption-professional-analysis Key poles of the TOC: Chapter 1 Global Fleet Management System for Automotive Market Business Overview Chapter 2 Major Breakdown by Type [, GNSS & Cellular Systems] Chapter 3 Major Application Wise Breakdown (Revenue & Volume) Chapter 4 Manufacture Market Breakdown Chapter 5 Sales & Estimates Market Study Chapter 6 Key Manufacturers Production and Sales Market Comparison Breakdown .. Chapter 8 Manufacturers, Deals and Closings Market Evaluation & Aggressiveness Chapter 9 Key Companies Breakdown by Overall Market Size & Revenue by Type .. Chapter 11 Business / Industry Chain (Value & Supply Chain Analysis) Chapter 12 Conclusions & Appendix Thanks for reading this article; you can also get individual chapter wise section or region wise report version like North America, LATAM, Europe or Southeast Asia. Paleontologists have described a new species of kiwi that lived during the mid-Pleistocene period on the North Island of New Zealand. Kiwi are an enigmatic and threatened group of birds, unique to New Zealand, with six living species recognized, said Dr. Alan Tennyson from the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa and Dr. Barbara Tomotani from the Netherlands Institute of Ecology. Note that kiwi can refer to single or multiple birds because s is not used to denote plural nouns in the Maori language. While modern kiwi species are well represented in the Late Pleistocene/Holocene, the fossil record of kiwi remains extremely poor, they added. Until 1998, the oldest known kiwi fossils were only about 50,000 years old (from Tuarangi Cave, South Canterbury) and were all similar to modern kiwi species. Thus, the transition between the Miocene protokiwi and recent species remains unknown, they said. When the kiwi crown group emerged continues to be debated with recent genetic studies concluding that it was either within the last 3.85 million years or within the last 12-14 million years. The new fossil the kiwis tarsometatarsus bridges the gap between the Miocene fossil record and the modern fauna. The specimen was collected in 1998 at a site near Marton in the North Island of New Zealand. In the new study, Dr. Tennyson and Dr. Tomotani examined the fossil and compared it with 161 kiwi specimens. They found that it is very similar to the tarsometatarsi of living species, most closely resembling Apteryx rowi and Apteryx mantelli in size and shape, but has a unique morphology: it differs in being stouter, with proportionally narrower proximal and distal ends. The fossil is about 1 million years old (mid-Pleistocene period), making it the second oldest known record of kiwi. We can speculate that mid-Pleistocene kiwi were not only similar in size and appearance to modern kiwi but also lived in similar environments, the researchers said. The specimen represents a previously undescribed kiwi species, named Apteryx littoralis. Apteryx littoralis was probably restricted to a coastal region due to volcanic activity in the central North Island, they said. The teams paper was published in the journal Historical Biology. _____ Alan James Drummond Tennyson & Barbara Mizumo Tomotani. A new fossil species of kiwi (Aves: Apterygidae) from the mid-Pleistocene of New Zealand. Historical Biology, published online April 23, 2021; doi: 10.1080/08912963.2021.1916011 The central theme of governance of Mr. Modi, both as Chief Minister of Gujarat and Prime Minister of India, is his undiluted focus on poverty alleviation, industrial and economic development and social progress. by N.S.Venkataraman With the birthday of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on 17th September,2021, more than Mr. Modi, a large section of Indian population and admirers of Mr. Modi abroad will be celebrating his birthday with considerable satisfaction and with sense of pride. Having held public office in India for more than twenty years as Chief Minister of Gujarat state for several years and now as Prime Minister of India for over seven years, it is remarkable the personal integrity and courage of conviction of Mr. Modi have not been questioned or doubted. This is a record of sort in India, where in the post independent years after 1947, most of the top political leaders in the country have faced charges of corruption or nepotism or favouritism towards friends and families. No one can miss the fact that Mr. Modi has ensured that even his close family members do not have any influence on his method and actions. Mr. Modi is known to love and respect his mother which is as it should be. Even his mother is not known to have asked any favours from him which speaks highly of this worthy mother of worthy son. Again, this is extremely significant that both as Chief Minister of Gujarat and Prime Minister of India, Mr. Modi has firmly ensured that his ministers and top bureaucrats would remain corruption free . He has been trying his best to maintain the tone of administration at high level by himself putting forth long hours of work every day and without availing leave or going on holidays and remaining as a tough task master. In the last twenty years or so, the critics of Mr. Modi have been extremely harsh towards him with one opposition leader going to the extent of calling Mr. Modi as merchant of death. He has also been ridiculed by some opposition leaders for being a chaiwala (tea vendor) in young days, when his family was facing poverty conditions. What is remarkable here is that Mr. Modi has not reacted to such observations with any sort of visible anger and he has largely ignored them with the contempt that they deserve. The central theme of governance of Mr. Modi, both as Chief Minister of Gujarat and Prime Minister of India, is his undiluted focus on poverty alleviation, industrial and economic development and social progress. Some of the highly significant socio economic schemes and measures that Mr. Modi has introduced as Prime Minister of India include opening zero bank account for poor people, free LPG connection to those belonging to lower income group, construction of toilets for poor households, free housing scheme for poor, promotion of yoga practices and so many others. He has ensured that benefits of all such schemes directly reach the people , particularly poor families. Such schemes are now too many to be exhaustively covered in one article. Mr. Modis foreign policy is very well balanced and he has refused to over react to the situations, inspite of provocations from neighbouring countries and kept Indias interests firmly in view. It is well known that both China and Pakistan are virtually considering India as adversaries and are directly or indirectly targeting Mr. Modis leadership. There are many credible rumours that both these countries are trying to create internal troubles in India by subtle and nefarious steps with the objective of destabilising the Modi government. Mr. Modi is dealing with such grave issues and is ensuring that the country would remain largely unaffected. Mr. Modi has not concealed the fact that his mindset is devoted to Hindu religion and he is proud of Indias traditional practices and Hindu way of life. At the same time, he has been repeatedly emphasising that all religions in India are respected. Taking advantage of Indias democratic structure and practices and free speech , religious extremists have been creating controversies and religious conversions with overseas support are also happening in India. Mr. Modi is treating these issues as per the provisions of the law. Mr. Modis clean India campaign is a recognition of the ground reality that Indian streets are not clean and environmental cleanliness has to be improved. His clean India scheme is still work in progress stage and is steadily forging ahead. While recognising Indias urgent need to promote industrial and economic development and recognising the constraints in technology and investment capability in India, Mr. Modi has framed pragmatic and proactive policy measures to encourage overseas investments in India, which would inevitably lead to introduction of modern technologies and scientific practices and create global outlook and mindset among Indians. To cut the wrong story short, any discerning observer can clearly see that Mr. Modi is tackling the complex problems of India with clarity in thoughts and actions and firmness in implementation. The very fact that Mr. Modi won two parliamentary elections convincingly and his party has also won several state elections in recent times clearly indicate that majority of people view Mr.Modis leadership approvingly and with acclaim. Certainly, Prime Minister Mr. Modis governance is on right track. He has initiated several schemes of far reaching importance, which need considerable gestation time to reach the ultimate goal and objective. Obviously, this points to the fact that Mr. Modis stewardship of India should continue for several more years to come. Mr. Modi is the tallest political leader in the country today and India is bound to stay tall with him. 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The communist official reiterated the solidarity of the PCF with "the just struggle of the Sahrawi people", indicated a statement of the PCF, published after the reception organized by the party on the occasion of the Fete de l'Humanite in which the Sahrawi delegation took part. On this occasion, it recalled that "French policy on Western Sahara must move away from a bias in favour of the occupation, a bias with harmful consequences, and comply with international law", adding: "because peace and stability in the Maghreb are at stake...", underlined the text. According to the statement, the struggle of the Sahrawi people was highlighted by several speakers during the debates that marked the Fete de l'Humanite. In addition, associations of Sahrawi communities in France organised stands dedicated to the Sahrawi people, its culture and its resistance against oppression and repression in the territory of Western Sahara illegally occupied by Morocco since 1975, according to the same source. 062 In 1993, I was hijacked over Germany on a Lufthansa flight bound for Cairo. The Ethiopian hijacker took us all the way back to New York City. The hijacker was threatening to crash our A310 jumbo jet into Wall Street. by Eric Margolis Americas strategic and economic interests in the Mideast and Muslim world are being threatened by the agony in Palestine, which inevitably invites terrorist attacks against US citizens and property. ~ Eric Margolis. Sun Media. 2 September, 2001. Ever since 9/11, readers keep asking me my views on these attacks. I have been barraged with emails until my head spins with engineering studies about melting steel, controlled explosions, claims about nefarious plots, and wreckage analysis. One of the most colorful theories comes from Gen. Hamid Gul, former director of Pakistans intelligence agency, ISI. He insists that 9/11 was staged by Israels Mossad and a cabal of rightwing US Air Force generals. I inspected the ruins of the New Yorks Twin Towers, atop which I often dined, right after the attack. Downtown Manhattan was enveloped by a hideous, stinking miasma from the attack. I have never smelled anything so awful. It took me days to scrub the foul odor off my body. As a native New Yorker, I was shaken to the core by 9/11 but hardly surprised, as I had predicted a major attack on the US nine days earlier. While visiting the Pentagon to consult on the Mideast, I also inspected its outside wall hit by the third hijacked aircraft. I saw photos of the impact site and could not understand what had happened to all the aircraft wreckage. There was almost none. In 1993, I was hijacked over Germany on a Lufthansa flight bound for Cairo. The Ethiopian hijacker took us all the way back to New York City. The hijacker was threatening to crash our A310 jumbo jet into Wall Street. Our flight was shadowed by US F-15 fighters that had orders to shoot, if necessary. Where, then, was US air defense on 11 Sept. 2001? A day after 9/11, I was asked on CNN if Osama bin Laden was behind the attack. `We have yet to see the evidence, I replied. I maintain this position today. Bin Laden denied he or al-Qaida was behind 9/11 and the deaths of nearly 3,000 people. The plot was hatched in Hamburg, Germany and Madrid, Spain, not in Afghanistan. A Pakistani, Khaled Sheik Mohammed, claimed he was the mastermind after being tortured by near-drowning 183 times by the CIA. While denying involvement, Osama bin Laden did say he believed the attack on New York was in part motivated by Israels destruction of downtown Beirut during its 1982 invasion of Lebanon that inflicted some 18,000 civilian deaths. Tapes that appeared to confirm bin Ladens guilt were clumsy fakes. They were supposedly found in Afghanistan by the anti-Taliban Afghan Northern Alliance, which was created and funded by Russian intelligence. I had met Osama bin Laden in Afghanistan and told CNN viewers that he was not the man in the tapes. After 9/11, Secretary of State Colin Powell promised Americans the State Department would issue a White Paper detailing bin Ladens guilt. Afghanistans Taliban government asked for this document before it would extradite bin Laden, as the US was demanding. The White Paper was never produced, and the US ignored proper legal procedure and invaded Afghanistan. We still wait for evidence. I remain uncertain that Osama bin Laden was really behind the attacks. Much circumstantial evidence points to him and al-Qaida, but conclusive proof still lacks. One thing is certain: the attacks were planned and mounted from Germany, not Afghanistan. Of the 19 hijackers, 15 were Saudis, two from the United Arab Emirates, one an Egyptian and a Lebanese. By the way, Ive said ever since 9/11 that the danger and size of al-Qaida has been vastly exaggerated as an explosive report this week by the Londons esteemed International Institute for Strategic Studies has just confirmed. Al-Qaida, dedicated to fighting the Afghan Communists, never had more than 300 members at its peak. Today, according to CIA chief Leon Panetta, there are no more than 50 al-Qaida men in Afghanistan. Yet President Barack Obama has tripled the number of US troops in Afghanistan to 120,000 because of what to calls the al-Qaida threat. What is going on? Many people abroad believe al-Qaida is an American invention used to justify foreign military operations. I do not share this view. Osama bin Laden was never a US agent, though his group indirectly received funds from CIA to fight the Communists. Back to 9/11. I still cannot understand how amateur pilots could manage to maneuver in low to hit the World Trade Center and Pentagon. As a Pakistani intelligence agent told me, if they were really amateur Arab pilots, they would have crashed into one another, not the World Trade Center! The arrest of Israeli movers filming the attack and dancing with joy, and the subsequent arrest of groups of Israeli students supposedly tracking the would-be hijackers remains a deep mystery. So does the immobilization of US air defenses. The US 9/11 Commission was a whitewash, as are all such government commissions. They are designed to obscure, not reveal, the truth. A 2006, a Scripps Howard/Washington Post poll found that 36% of the 1,000 Americans sampled believed the US government was behind 9/11. Many Americans still do not believe the official version of 9/11. Neither do many Europeans. The entire Muslim world believes 9/11 was the work of Israel and far right American neocons, led by Dick Cheney. If the official story about 9/11 is true, the attacks caught the Bush administration asleep on guard duty. Bushs incompetent national security advisor, Condoleeza Rice, brushed off serious warnings of the impending attack and actually cut spending on anti-terrorism just before 9/11. The White House and media were quick to blame Muslims who hated Americas lifestyle and values, launching the concept of Islamic terrorism i.e. that the Muslim faith, not political issues, prompted the attacks. This dangerous canard has infected America, leading to a rising tide of Islamophobia. This weeks continued uproar over a Muslim community center in downtown New York, and a Florida preachers threat to burn Korans, are the latest doleful example of cultivated religious hatred. The suicide team that attacked New York and Washington made clear its aim was: a. to punish the US for backing Israels repression of Palestinians; and b. what they called US occupation of Saudi Arabia. Though they were all Muslims, religion was not the motivating factor. As the CIAs former bin Laden expert Michael Scheuer rightly observed, the Muslim world was furious at the US for what it was doing in their region, not because of Americas values, liberties or religion. These motives for the 9/11 attack have been largely obscured by the whipping up hysteria over Islamic terrorism. The planting of anthrax in New York, Florida and Washington soon after 9/11 was clearly designed to promote further anti-Muslim furor. The perpetrators of this red herring remain unknown. But the anthrax attack hastened passage of the semi-totalitarian Patriot Act that sharply limited the personal freedoms of Americans and imposed draconian new laws. Faked bin Laden videos and audio tapes. Planted anthrax. An intact Koran implausibly found at ground zero. Evidence in a hijackers bag that had somehow failed to make his ill-fated flight. Immediate claims that al-Qaida was behind the attacks. Those amateur kamikaze pilots and collapsing towers. Perhaps most damning, tapes taken in London of meetings between President George Bush and PM Tony Blair revealed a sinister proposal by the US president to provoke war with Iraq by painting US aircraft in UN colors, then buzzing Iraqi air defenses until they fired on them, thus providing a casus belli. Bush also reportedly told Blair that after Iraq, he would go on to attack Saudi Arabia, Syria and Pakistan. In 1939, Nazi Germany dressed up soldiers in Polish uniforms to provoke a border fire-fight to justify Berlins ensuing invasion of Poland. Bushs plan was of the same ilk. A president who would contemplate such a criminal operation might go a lot further to achieve his imperial dreams. As a veteran journalist, to me, all this smells to high heaven. There are just too many unanswered questions, too many suspicions, and that old Roman legal question, cui bono to whose benefit? On 28 February, 1933, fire, set by a Dutch Jew, ravaged the Germanys parliament, the Reichstag. While the Reichstags ruins were still smoking, Adolf Hitlers government declared a war against terrorism. A Decree for the Protection of People and State was promulgated suspending all legal protections of speech, assembly, property, and personal liberties. The Reichstag fire allowed the government to round up terrorism suspects without due process of law and made police powers near absolute. Sound familiar? Heres another startling coincidence. Two years before 9/11, a series of mysterious apartment building bombings in Russia killed over 200 people. Islamic terrorists from Chechnya were blamed. Panic swept Russia and boosted former KGB agent Vladimir Putin into full power. Russian security agents of FSB were caught red-handed planting explosives in another building, but the story was hushed up. A former FSB agent, Alexander Litvinenko, who tried to reveal this story, was murdered in London by radioactive polonium. Similarly, the Bush administrations neocons shamelessly used 9/11 to promote the invasion of Iraq. Just before the attack, polls showed 80% of Americans erroneously believed Saddam Hussein was behind 9/11. Dr. Goebbels would have been proud. So what, in the end, can we conclude? 1. We still do not know the real story about 9/11. 2. The official version is not credible. 3. 9/11 was used to justify invading strategic Afghanistan and oil-rich Iraq. 4. The attacks plunged America into wars against the Muslim world and enriched the US arms industry. 5. 9/11 boosted pro-Israel neoconservatives, formerly a fringe group, into power, and with them Americas totalitarian far right. 6. Bushs unprovoked war against Iraq destroyed one of Israels two main enemies. 7. 9/11 put America in what may turn out to be a permanent state of war with the Muslim world a key goal of the neoconservatives . But Ive seen no hard evidence to date that 9/11 was a plot by Americas far right or by Israel or a giant cover-up. Just, perhaps, the Mother of All Coincidences. In the end, it may just have been 19 angry Arabs and a bumbling Bush administration looking for someone else to blame. First published in September 10, 2010 Copyright Eric S. Margolis 2021 The United States, Britain, European Union, also India and Bangladesh were left wondering after the so-called interim regime of Mullah Hibatullah Akhundzada was announced last week. by Saleem Samad Dhaka: Lets not discuss whether the world leaders will extend legitimacy to Kabuls new jihadist regime, which is much ado about nothing on the promise for an inclusive government. For both the issue, the world will have to wait for a long time to understand the political development in Afghanistan. The century-old progressive Afghanistan was once again rechristened as Talibanistan. The United States, Britain, European Union, also India and Bangladesh were left wondering after the so-called interim regime of Mullah Hibatullah Akhundzada was announced last week. The Taliban have not spelt out measures against counterterrorism and public policies on women rights, gender equality, higher education, amnesty for Afghan armed forces, police, judiciary, diplomats, government officials remain vague. The freedom of expression, press freedom and freedom of assembly have become political taboo in Talibanistan and has been discarded as a western concept. The hardliner Mullahs who have been selected to govern the country are mostly flagged by the United Nations, European Union (EU), US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and red-listed by Interpol for terrorism with links to 9/11 masterminded by dreaded Al Qaeda. The Taliban leaders who were in exile in Qatar were often described as reformed Islamists by western media and apologists security pundits. Each day, the sceptic observers are discovering that the Talibans has proved that HG Wells time machine is a reality and not mere science fiction. The Mullahs have succeeded in pushing the nation into the medieval age Arab Bedouins in the desserts. Talibans time machine has not been designed with a fast-forward lever. Unfortunately, it will remain stranded in the 7th century in the foreseeable future, unless another bloody revolution jolts the nation from the yokes of barbarians. The rugged mountains and lush green valley were graves of tens of thousands of foot soldiers of the invaders from the north and south. From Alexander the Great to Taimur Lang, the British, the Soviet Union and the now media agog with the Americans had to make a humiliating exit from Afghanistan. Once a secular nation home of various religions and cultural communities lived in harmony after the British colonialists decided to leave the Afghans alone after the Durand Line agreement 1893, which divides the Pashtuns between Afghanistan and India (now Pakistan). After the Soviet Unions military and political intervention in Afghanistan refused to compromise with their religious practices, language and tradition to be replaced by Marxism. The Soviet Union (now Russia) literally wanted to spoon feed communism through a reign of terror, which was rejected and also pointed their barrels of the guns towards the Soviet Union military and oust the puppet regime. The anger against socialism, which contradicts their conservative culture and tradition turned bloody. The villagers and warlords declared war against the Soviet Union. The Soviets were militarily challenged by conglomerate countries and vested parties which wanted a slice of cake in strategic geopolitical hegemony. In the conundrum, Pakistan offered its soil as a launching pad for recruitment, training and providing weapons by the United States, with the tacit support of China and Saudi Arabia. The alliance of Mujahideen of tribal chiefs, warlords, mercenaries and dictates of Pentagon and Pakistans military hawks in Rawalpindi GHQ caused the regime to melt and collapsed. Meanwhile, the ragtag foot soldiers recruited from hundreds of madrassas (Quranic schools) in North-West Frontier Province (NWFP) now rechristened as Khyber Pakhtunkhwa partnered mercenaries from Bangladesh, Chechnya, Egypt, Indonesia, Iran, Iraq, Jordan, Kashmir, Malaysia, Philippines, Syria and Turkey. The jihadists were trained and armed by Pakistan spy agency ISI with a one-way ticket to heaven. The misogynist and arrogant Talibans gave a Sunni interpretation of Islam, enforced Sharia laws to subjugate the women, punish the critics and opposition. Twenty years ago, the Americans came with full military might with allies from NATO militaries to hunt and punish offenders of the 9/11 attacks on the Twin Towers. Initially, the Pentagon military invasion plans succeeded and installed a puppet regime in Kabul with western education. More than seventy per cent of Afghans do not live in cities. Gradually the Afghans understood that politicians and the regime in Kabul were involved in widespread corruption, money laundering and plundering, while the countrys mango people suffered poverty, hunger and deprivation. The simmering anger was exploited by the Talibans leadership and tens of thousands of Afghan youths from the rugged mountains joined the jihad to oust the Kabul regime. Rest is history. The Taliban might have made achievements in diplomacy and developing the media into confidence, but running a government headed who unfortunately does not have any experience. The Mullahs will have to rely heavily on China, Pakistan and Iran for economic development. While the partnership with Turkey and Qatar is needed to stabilise the country sitting on a volcano. Peace and stability will remain a far cry in Afghanistan in months to come. First published in India News Stream, 11 September 2021. Saleem Samad, is an independent journalist, media rights defender, recipient of Ashoka Fellowship and Hellman-Hammett Award. He could be reached at saleemsamad@hotmail.com; Twitter @saleemsamad You must be logged in to react. Click any reaction to login. Love 0 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 0 In his ruling, Ruiz said the plaintiff sought to persuade the court to reinterpret the wiretapping law, which bars interception of the contents of any wire, electronic or oral communication through the use of any electronic, mechanical or other device. The law specifically excludes any communication from an electronic or mechanical device which permits the tracking of the movement of a person or an object, Ruiz wrote. Ida showed up during what was already shaping up to be one of the costliest years of the past decade for natural disasters, with insured losses from all global weather events hitting a 10-year high of $42 billion over the first six months of 2021. Nearly three-quarters of those losses occurred in the United States and $15 billion stemmed from the polar vortex that plunged Texas into a deep freeze in February. We have to then be able to look at the data at FDA when it gets submitted to us. Well look at it very rapidly and feel confident that when we that weve looked through the data that these are going to be safe and effective and that we can reassure parents that the benefits of their child getting one of these vaccines certainly outweighs any risks. Assuming that your immune system is not compromised by any underlying medical conditions or medication use, you will have some protection 14 days after your first dose, she said. You would be considered well protected once you have completed your second dose of the Pfizer vaccine, raising your COVID-19 protection from what might be as low as 33% better than an unvaccinated person up to 90%. The vaccines protection is generally achieved somewhere between seven to 14 days after the second dose. It is important to continue to take precautions to limit your exposure, including masking, social distancing, avoiding crowds and hand-washing. During the pandemic shutdown, Mayo started Hospitality Helping Hands to provide meals to, at first, restaurant workers and eventually a host of other groups and charities. Barber offered to help with the 2,500 meals they were cooking every day. Now Barber, who took over the 25-year-old barbecue business from his now-retired father Troy Davis in 2016, will have a second location at The Peach. (A Boca Raton location closed earlier this year.) Aruns Indian Kitchen was named by our customers, he says. When people called, we just called ourselves Indian Kichen, and they would ask, OK, but is this Aruns, or? They created our Aruns Indian Kitchen Yelp page, and lots of people came. We didnt even know what a Yelp was, like, do you have to pay for it? They made us change our name to Aruns. Why: 13 violations (four high priority). Totally unconcerned about their sodium intake, 26 live cockroaches were spotted crawling inside a bag of salt inside a storage cabinet in the kitchen. They were also seen scuttling across the floors, on cabinet walls where bags of dried rice and beans are stored, and even a clean cutting board stored above [kitchen] sink which the restaurant later sanitized. Meanwhile, inspectors also spotted 10 roaches on the floor and inside a kitchen storage cabinet (but not touching actual food). Inspectors also saw one employee who apparently mistook the kitchen for the break room storing their personal hairbrush, cell phone and wallet on cutting board. (The restaurant later sanitized the cutting board.) The restaurant also was ordered to stop selling and toss its cooked yuca, pork, ropa vieja, tamales, yellow rice and beans due to temperature abuse, as well as the tainted bag of salt. The states second inspection on Sept. 10 kept Marcos closed after it found more dead cockroaches on box of fryer oil in rear kitchen and on a case of Modelo beer, along with two more live roaches crawling beneath the ice machine in dining-room area. Inspectors closed the restaurant a third time on Sept. 11 without mentioning why on its report but finally let the deli reopen Sept. 13 after discovering zero new violations. That solicitation included the list of the specific brake parts that were to make up each of the nine brake kits for which Broward County Transit was soliciting and to include itself as a source for brake parts, even though it was not an original equipment manufacturer, according to investigators. The 16 new firefighters will cost taxpayers $850,000 next fiscal year assuming they start work in April, six months into the fiscal year that begins Oct. 1. Thats about how long it will take to recruit, train and hire 16 new firefighters, Lagerbloom said. The explosion happened on the second floor, which houses the casinos server, other major equipment as well as company offices. In addition to causing widespread damage to the system and surrounding area, the casino on the ground level was also damaged when the drywall crashed down to the bottom floor. Funding for the station itself will come from a combination of previously approved reserve city funds, from Brightline itself and from a $16.35 million grant from the U.S. Department of Transportation. But there will be additional construction and costs, such as parking, railroad crossings and walkways. Firefighters used a large animal rescue harness attached to the crane arm of a heavy duty tow truck to lift the horse out of the hole, officials said. The prosecution said the evidence shows Goodman, after his cellphone stopped working, walked directly from the crash site about 100 yards away to a trailer occupied by an equestrian. Thats where he borrowed a phone to first call his girlfriend, and then 911 about an hour after the crash. Surveillance cameras that scan city streets around the clock are spreading in South Florida as police look for new ways to solve crimes. Coral Springs will become the latest to install a web of cameras, and the Broward Sheriffs Office would like to see them posted all around the county. Farrah Carter was 15 when she was stabbed to death in her bedroom. Nearly 100 fliers promising $1,000 for information on her killer were posted around the Miramar area. A few possible leads went nowhere and time passed. Kimbugwe crumpled to the ground. Witnesses told police the suspect got on top of Kimbugwe and slashed and stabbed him. Kimbugwe received a punctured lung, and the side of his face was sliced open from his left temple to his jaw, arrest records say. Kimbugwe suffered other stab wounds to the right temple, the back of the neck and many defensive wounds on his arms from trying to protect himself from his attacker. There definitely seems to be an uptick, School Board member Debbi Hixon said. I often wonder if its coming out of COVID. Theyve been staying home alone on social media, and I feel like it gives them a higher level of anxiety. People have spent their time at home and are not having real in-person connections. Research has not yet shown how long you are protected from getting COVID-19 again after you recover, the CDC says. One study showed that unvaccinated people who already had COVID-19 are more than two times as likely as fully vaccinated people to get COVID-19 again, the CDC reports on its website. It is my opinion and legal view that the lawsuit and appeal were not frivolous, Lewis, who served on the Supreme Court for 21 years until his retirement in 2019, wrote in documents provided to The News Service of Florida by Uhlfelder. I submit this affidavit because it is my view that legal action, the independence of counsel and requirements that lawyers be strong advocates are pillars of our democracy. The independence of the judiciary is also key to preserving our liberties and independence of counsel essential to our adversarial system. Further north, residents of a mountain town devastated by the huge Caldor Fire south of Lake Tahoe will be allowed back Sunday to inspect the damage. Most of Grizzly Flats homes, as well as the school, post office, church and fire station were destroyed in the first days of the month-old fire. Evacuation orders were also lifted for homes along State Route 50 as containment of the 342-square-mile wildfire increased to 65%. At the end of the day, its all of our goals to protect the greater collective of the people in our community to keep them safe. Thats the fundamental goal of government, Demings said to reporters. Sometimes, quite frankly, I question whether or not the governor really sees it that way. He may say that he does, but I believe many of the decisions that he makes are purely politically motivated and thats not how I make decisions as an experienced crisis manager. Mijas Pueblo is one of the most inviting white villages in Malaga and it boasts a character and ambience of 1950s Andalucia. Along with its iconic donkeys, historic monuments and ramshackle houses, Mijas offers visitors some of the most nostalgic taverns and restaurants. Today, the Andalusian village life goes hand in hand with the modern-day tourist industry, and those who are looking for typical cuisine in authentic establishments will find no end of options to choose from. One of the town's most popular bars is El Nino, located just a short distance from the old town in a setting with privileged views of the Mediterranean. This delightful bar, situated in Calle Campos, presents a cosy, rustic-style decoration and a welcoming atmosphere, while offering traditional Andalusian home-cooking at its finest. The menu, which offers tapas, half rations and a la carte, is based on local seasonal produce and tempts diners with classic dishes like scrambled eggs with Serrano ham, meat balls in almond sauce and a selection of fresh fish and seafood dishes. Founded in 1968, one of the establishment's attractions is the varied wine list, which includes wines of denomination of origin from different areas in Spain, such as Valdepenas, Ribera del Duero and Rioja. The bar is popular with the locals and is excellent for those in search of a little piece of Spanish village life. Another bar that is popular with the locals, as well as floods of tourists, is La Boveda del Flamenco (Plaza de la Constitucion), the central hub for the stereotypical Andalusian characters. The interior of the bar, which is set in a historic old farmhouse, is quite nostalgic: its arched-bricked ceiling and simple decoration presents an image of a cave-type dwelling. However, the main attraction is the pretty outside area, where the local men enjoy coffee and anise while waiting for their wives to collect the daily groceries. Because of its pretty geranium lined walls and vine-covered exterior patio, the bar has appeared in numerous publications and documentaries about Mijas, and it is one of the few remaining meeting places that offers a true insight into daily life in a mountainside village. But it is not just the picturesque setting that makes this place so popular, for it is celebrated for serving authentic home-cooked food, and is one of the top places to visit on the tapas route in Mijas. The bar is renowned for its selection of molletes (small bread rolls from Antequera usually eaten at breakfast and served with olive oil), Manchego cheese or zurrapa de lomo (pork loin fried in paprika enthused lard). Mijas certainly has plenty of traditional taverns and bodegas that offer the cultural-seeking visitor local gastronomy and viticulture at its best. Other places of interest include Bodegas Casa del Pintor - a restaurant full of Spanish charm- and Bar Martina - a country-style tavern offering the quintessential image of postcard Spain. Its no use trying to fight the red. Its best to just embrace it, advises Simon Kinnersley, the director of Oxidos Rojos de Malaga. Thats what he did some time ago now, and he seems to have blended into this strange place. Everything here - the floor, ceiling, walls, machinery, workers and even the office furniture and birds that rest on the ceiling beams - are covered in a vermilion dust; the surface of Mars must look like this. It also reminds you a bit of the Wild West films. This businessman greets his visitors from his digger, dressed in a tattered pink tee-shirt and shorts that may once have been blue. His naturally pale skin - he is a foreigner by birth, although he says he feels malagueno - is tinged with an earthy hue which has nothing to do with the sunbathing which is enjoyed by so many retired Brits on the Costa del Sol. Now aged 70, he comes to work at 7 oclock every morning along with his six employees at this unusual factory which produces 5,000 tonnes of high quality natural red pigments a year and exports them halfway round the world. Oxidos Rojos de Malaga is probably the only surviving company from the era of industrial splendour enjoyed by the province in the 19th and early 20th centuries. It was founded in 1905 by a British investor called Norman Stuart Kinnersley - Simons grandfather - who came from Somerset to seek his fortune, although it was not until 1921 that the business was formally set up and registered. Thats why they are celebrating its centenary this year, and they are still going strong: 90 per cent of the factorys production is exported to over 30 countries and turnover is expected to reach a record high this year, around two million euros. The original production plant was in Huelin, in Calle Heroe de Sostoa. It eventually had more than 100 employees and in the 1970s it moved to the Guadalhorce industrial estate, where it remains today. It immediately became known as the colorao factory. It still does today what it used to do a century ago: grinds the iron oxide extracted from Andalusian mines to obtain what is known as Spanish red, a natural, economical, durable and non-toxic powdered pigment with numerous uses. Now, of course, they use more machinery, with fewer workers and in accordance with strict quality protocols. One colour, a thousand uses The head of exports, Raul Sanchez, says there are many uses for the Oxired powder, which is its brand name. Painting ships, anti-corrosive coatings, roof tiles, bricks, concrete and cement (sports tracks and cycle paths get their characteristic colour from ferric oxide), fertilisers, animal food, to name a few, he says. But it has some more unusual uses, too: in the past it has been used as a food colouring and for cosmetics. There is even evidence that in the mid-20th century in Kenya it was imported for use as body paint in traditional dances. Now, researchers from Malaga university who have been contracted by the company are looking for innovative applications for the product, which is in fact the same one used by Homo Sapiens to decorate the Altimira cave. In those boom days of industry in Malaga in the 1920s other companies, also financed by foreign capital, produced the coveted Spanish red as well, but over time only this one remained, and not just in Malaga but in the whole of Spain. What is extraordinary is that it is still in the hands of the same British family: the heirs of Norman Stuart Kinnersley, represented in the Golden Valley Colours company, which was and still is the 100 per cent shareholder in Oxidos Rojos de Malaga. The family character of this unusual industry is not just reflected in its ownership: the jobs have also passed from fathers to sons. One of the oldest employees, Francisco Ojeda, has been making colorao for over 30 years, just as his father did before him. And the only woman on the staff, Isabel Bautista, who is the head of administration and quality, has been there for 21 years and her uncle, Antonio Gonzalez, was the factory manager for three decades. This really is a family business and all the employees have been here a long time, so we almost think of it as ours, she says. The present director of Oxidos Rojos de Malaga is the grandson of the founder, which some people might think would make the policy of the company pretty conservative. However, that isnt Simon Kinnersleys personality. When he arrived in Malaga 16 years ago to take over a business about which he knew nothing (not about the way it functioned, anyway, he admits), the company was in a difficult situation. We needed some major investment. I came because I didnt want the company to close after such a long history: it survived the First World War, the Civil War, the Second World War... we needed to keep it going, he says, and with energy, passion and new ideas he convinced the owners to invest the one and a half million euros necessary to renew the production line. There was also a stroke of luck. The most essential part of the factory is the mill where the stones are ground to extract the red oxide. Buying a new one would have cost a fortune and the shareholders were not prepared to pay it. Simon found an alternative, almost by magic. We were driving through the countryside in Jaen and we saw a huge machine abandoned in a field. Ihad a hunch about it, and we went to ask what it was. They said I could have it for 8,000 euros, but I didnt know if it was what we were looking for or whether it worked. I found an expert in this type of equipment: a British man who was living in the USA. I sent him photos of it by email and he said there was no doubt about it, that it was a fantastic machine and would last for decades. And it is still working today, he says proudly. The Oxidos Rojos family is looking ahead with optimism, as they celebrate the companys centenary. Were sure we have a great future. Now, at last, sustainability is a priority concern and our product is more attractive than ever, because it is a natural, cheap and non-toxic alternative to synthetic pigments, says Raul Sanchez. In contrast to the simple production method of Spanish red (drying and grinding ferric oxide, one of the most abundant minerals on the Earths surface), synthetic pigments are made by burning scrap metal in Asian countries, with the toxicity that that implies. Also, the company is guaranteed a supply of its raw material for some time: it has its own mining concession in Priego de Cordoba and the vein they are exploiting at present will go on for decades. The colorao factory is prepared to continue for at least another hundred years, colouring the world red. The bearded vulture is flying in Andalucia again thanks to the spectacular recovery of this species after a programme of breeding in captivity and reintroduction was begun by the Andalusian government 15 years ago. The project, which is coordinated by the regional Ministry of Agriculture, Farming, Fishing and Sustainable Development, is now seeing its best results so far with a total of five pairs who have bred after being released into the wild, and the ten chicks which have born at the Breeding Centre at Guadalentin, in the Cazorla natural park in Jaen province, so far this year. This is a record number, the highest ever in a centre of this type in Europe, placing it at the forefront of the 15 which exist on the continent. Every birth of a baby bearded vulture is a real miracle for the survival of a species which is in danger of extinction. Since the first one was born in captivity in Guadalentin in 2002, eggs have hatched and produced 100 chicks, of which 90 have guaranteed the conservation of a type of bird which is essential for the biodiversity of the planet. With regard to breeding in the wild, the first attempts were not very successful because, of the first three, two disappeared and a third left Andalucia for the north of Spain. However, he then returned to Cazorla and did something historic in 2015, breeding with a different female bird who had been released. That was the first time in 40 years that such an event had taken place in the mountains of Andalucia, and it resulted in the birth of Esperanza (Hope in English), the first female bearded vulure to be born in the wild in Andalucia, who is already trying to reproduce at the age of nearly six. Since Esperanza was born, more birds have been released and five breeding pairs currently fly in the Andalusian sky, of which three females in the Cazorla natural park are bringing up their chicks despite the difficulties normally encountered in this species with their first clutches, which are rarely successful. There is also a sixth pair who have so far made no attempt to breed. Some of the birds released in Andalucia come from other European centres, to strengthen their genetic quality, says Inigo Fajardo, the coordinator of the bearded vulture programme. He attributes the success of this project to the team and their efforts over many years. He also praises the work of the Vulture Conservation Foundation, which manages the Guadalentin and other centres in Europe, as well as the collaboration of the zoos in Berlin, Liberec and Tallin. On Sunday the devastating Sierra Bermeja fire continued to grow, doubling in size and forcing the evacuation of six villages in the area due to the proximity of the flames. Almost 2,000 people had to abandon their homes, as the fire's perimeter expanded to 85 kilometres - from the 42 on Saturday. On Saturday night, the operational deputy director of Infoca, Alejandro Garcia, had been hopeful that the fire would be stabilised in the following hours but no-one could have foreseen the dramatic turn of events that was going to unfold at dawn. At 2.23am, in the morning, Infoca detected the presence of a new fire on the northern front after burning embers from the fire landed in a nearby ravine, jumping the firebreak that had been created by a fire in June. During the early hours the new fire destroyed 25 hectares and it was treated as two separate fires. But not for long. Both fires were sucked together as a single blaze that advanced north towards the Genal Valley. Military help Infoca commanders reacted by requesting more resources. By nine in the morning, central government was asked to deploy the Military Emergency Unit (UME), which mobilised a first contingent of 42 troops, which was expanded during the day to 260. With the fire raging, Infoca was forced to make drastic decisions to protect the population. At 5.35 am, the eviction of Jubrique (528 inhabitants, according to the National Institute of Statistics) was ordered due to the proximity of the fire; at 9.44 am, to the 410 residents of Genalguacil; at 1.15 pm, Farajan (253) and Pujerra (301); and at 2:18 pm, Alpandeire (260) and Juzcar (232). In total, added to those who had already been evacuated in Estepona and Benahavis in previous days, they amounted to 2,670. Evacuated The Guardia Civil, with the help of Civil Protection volunteers, ensured that the inhabitants of these six towns left their homes in an orderly fashion. Some headed to those of relatives and friends who live in nearby towns, others to Algatocin initially, and Ronda later, where all municipal resources were mobilised to welcome them. Infoca units, the UME troops and firefighters from the Malaga Provincial Brigade created an army to protect properties from the fire on the northwest front, which continued to advance uncontrollably. Road closures In addition to besieging these six towns, the fire on Sunday threatened four other municipalities: Algatocin, Benalauria, Benadalid and Atajate but, due to a change in the meteorological situation, it was decided not to evacuate them. The fire also forced new road closures: the MA-7307 in Alpandeire (between kilometres 0 and 8); the MA-7306 from kilometre 0 in Parauta to kilometre 5 in Cartajima; the MA-8301 from kilometre 3.5 in Estepona to 32 in Jubrique; and the MA-8302 at kilometre 15, in Genalguacil. Rain Meanwhile, on Sunday night, a thousand residents of Estepona and Benahavis, who were evacuated from their properties on Thursday were able to return to their homes as the southeast fire front was considered stabilised. The hope, now, is that the weather which has so far complicated firefighting efforts, will now play a part in controlling and extinguishing the blaze. Initial forecasts predicted that the rain would arrive on Tuesday, although other sources suggested that it could be brought forward to today. An increase in humidity that favours extinction tasks is also expected. One of Infoca's Superpuma helicopters, deployed at the Sierra Bermeja forest fire, has suffered an accident this Monday, 13 September. According to Junta de Andalucia sources all its 19 occupants are unharmed. The incident happened when a cloud of dust rose, which impeded the pilot's visibility. It is reported the transport aircraft clipped a tree and fell to the ground. There are currently 51 aircraft operating at the site of the huge blaze, that has been burning uncontrolled since last Wednesday night. The fleet of fixed-wing planes and helicopters are supporting the efforts of 996 operatives on the ground. Other regions of Spain, including the Community of Madrid, Castilla la Mancha, Murcia and Extremadura have sent resources to fight the blaze in Andalucia, and they have now been joined by troops from Spains Emergency Military Unit (UME). The flames have already destroyed an area of more than 7,700 hectares and the fire continues to burn with two active fronts. The Sierra Bermeja fire, that is still burning out of control as it enters a fifth day, is an extraordinary sixth-generation, category E blaze - the highest level in the Infoca classification of forest fires - and it will likely be studied in the firefighting manuals in years to come, and by students of meteorology. "It is probably the most complex fire that we have known in Spain in recent years", said the director of Infoca, Juan Sanchez, whose are crews still working to control and extinguish it. During the first two days of the blaze the winds carried it south from Genalguacil where it originated in two different points on Wednesday night, which suggests that it was intentional down towards Estepona pushed by the terral. But then the wind direction changed. It did a U-turn and was pushed northwards, with some intensity particularly on Sunday. At the weekend a member of the Infoca command team said, "This fire has a life of its own." In the four days that it has been devastating the Sierra Bermeja, it has formed at least three pyrocumuli, towering clouds of smoke and ash that are potentially explosive and could result in fire to rain down on the affected area, which, in addition to endangering the population, would allow it to spread. On Sunday, the fire once again showed its extraordinary character, when burning embers jumped a firebreak generate a new fire, causing it to spread in two directions: towards the north and west. Two forest firefighters from the specialist Infoca brigade have been injured while working to extinguish the Sierra Bermeja fire, which is now entering its fifth day and has resulted in residents of six villages still being prevented from returning their homes. The unrelated accidents happened on Sunday afternoon, in the "extremely difficult" conditions as the fire advanced - which has doubled its perimeter in 24 hours from 42 to 85 hectares. In both cases, the injuries were the result of the steepness and instability of the terrain. One of the Infoca firefighters, who suffered a back injury had to be air-lifted to hospital, by a helicopter from the Guardia Civils mountain rescue team. He is reported to be recovering favourably. The other worker suffered a minor leg injury, although he was taken to hospital for examination. These two accidents, follow the death of the 44-year-old forest firefighter Carlos Martinez Haro, from Almeria, last Thursday, who died after being while trying to slow the advance of the blaze. Even after the worst of fires, when the ground turns black, green shoots of hope can emerge from what remains. And, as the devastating fire raced through the Sierra Bermeja the weekend, people came together to show their solidarity for the thousands of people who had been forced to leave their homes. Airana (aged six) and Samuel (11), two children from Sabinillas who, from their home, watched the forest burn wrote a letter to the firefighters. Hello heroes, the letter began, from our terrace we saw the evolution of the fire and watched your tireless work. We pray that this nightmare ends soon". It ends: We want to send you much encouragement and strength to continue your fight. Thank you very much for your work, for taking care of us and protecting us. Clara and Rocio, two girls of about the same age, even approached the Advanced Command Post , in Estepona to give them some drawings that they had dedicated to them, thanking them fo their efforts. Tears Infoca shared on its Twitter account, that in Estepona, a town hall lawyer, an optometrist from San Pedro Alcantara, a Carrefour cashier and a Civil Protection coordinator also went to the command point in the town to prepare sandwiches. Words do not come out easily, and we do get the occasional tear. How generous is the Costa del Sol? In Algatocin, where the first people from Jubrique were evacuated to on Sunday morning, several municipal areas were set up for them, including the youth club and the gym. From then onwards, many residents of the town arrived with everything they needed for breakfast, such as coffee, bread, juice, milk or and biscuits. Paella The Super Valle del Genal supermarket, which, due to its size, serves not only the town but also the surrounding areas, also focused on donating food for families who had been evacuated from their homes. At noon, the residents of Algatocin also organised a paella to feed the displaced people. But the wave of solidarity did not end there. Other towns in the area, such as Benarraba, Gaucin, Cortes de la Frontera and Benalauria, used their municipal vehicles to take donated items from their towns to Algatocin. Although many of the evacuated residents from the area were able to stay in the homes of relatives and friends in the area, those who were not, were transferred to Ronda. Proud of Ronda and the Serrania The mayor of the mountain town, Maria de la Paz Fernandez, thank everyone for the show of solidarity - "I am very proud of Ronda and of all the villages in the Serrania," and she even had to ask that no more food be sent because there was more than sufficient. Solidarity could also be seen behind the wheel of Raquel Mena's car. She dedicated herself to making trips in her private vehicle, transferring neighbours from Alpandeire to Ronda when the evacuation of her village was announced. MBABANE The Association of People of Mozambique living in Eswatini has registered its dissatisfaction following the burial of 54 unclaimed bodies in Mankayane. The unclaimed bodies were buried by Dignity for All at Mankayane Cemetery last Thursday. Dignity for All is a locally registered company which was founded by Themba Makhanya with the aim of assisting government, in particular the Ministry of Health and the Ministry of Housing and Urban Development, in burying unclaimed bodies from across the countrys hospitals and mortuaries. Dignity for All committed itself to donate coffins, transport as well as labour in the burial of the unclaimed bodies since its formation. Some of the bodies are believed to be of people originating from Mozambique, even though the number could not be confirmed, they were estimated to be 13. Worth noting was that some of the unclaimed bodies, particularly those of children, were placed in one coffin as they were in a decomposed state. Some of the bodies had been kept in the mortuaries since 2014. In an interview yesterday, President of the association Domingos Thomo, who had been objecting to the burial of the Mozambicans in the country, said he was not aware of the burial which took place last week. Representative He claimed that as a representative of the people of Mozambique living in Eswatini, he was informed that 13 of the unclaimed bodies were of people originating from Mozambique. One of the hospital administrators informed us that 13 of the unclaimed bodies were of people from Mozambique. We heard that preparations for a mass paupers funeral were underway and we objected to the burial of our people. Our objection was informed by the fact that we have plenty land to bury our people on the Mozambican side at Lomahasha, he said. He added that they wrote a letter to the Government of Eswatini requesting for the release of the bodies believed to be of Mozambicans so that they could be buried at Lomahasha. Thomo said to the best of his knowledge, the burial process was put on hold pending the release of the bodies. It is very painful that the unclaimed bodies have been buried without our knowledge. We would have attended the funeral just to observe our people being lowered into the grave if that was approved by Eswatini Government, he said. Asked about the burial costs, Thomo stated that the Association of People of Mozambique living in Eswatini had been asking for donors to bury its people. He said burying the Mozambicans in their home country was aimed at saving Eswatini from trouble. He said the Mozambicans never intended to leave graves but investments in Eswatini. When we came to Eswatini, our sole intention was to invest and contribute to the economy. We never intended to leave graves of unclaimed bodies of our people. We believe that Mozambican cultures requires different rituals from those of Eswatini. Burying our people without the proper rituals might cause trouble for Eswatini, he said. Generations Thomo said they saw no need why land that should have been reserved for Eswatinis future generations was used to bury the Mozambicans who had plenty land at Lomahasha. He claimed that they had long pleaded with the Government of Eswatini to register all the Mozambican people upon admission to hospitals, so that their identities were known before death. By identify, Thomo meant nationality. He said it was their mandate to locate relatives of the deceased people in Mozambique. We believe that relatives can be located even after burial of their loved ones. We want to bury our people at Lomahasha so that relatives of the deceased can perform rituals at the graveyard as opposed to coming to Eswatini. Dont forget that coming to Eswatini requires a travel document, which is a challenge to other people, he said. He added that it was a norm that unclaimed dead Mozambican bodies were buried at Lomahasha. Thomo mentioned that the association would address the issue with the Government of Mozambique because their effort seemed to have failed in Eswatini. DLANGENI A farmer was left shattered when he discovered that his seven cows had been stolen and an ox he used for ploughing had been slaughtered by alleged cattle rustlers. The seven cows were stolen by the alleged rustlers but he later discovered the remaining six on a mountain, while the alleged rustlers were caught red-handed slaughtering the ox. Moses Khulu Dlamini, a farmer who depends on the oxen to plough his fields, discovered that one of them had been slaughtered at a nearby mountain. Dlamini had two oxen he used for ploughing and one was found slaughtered. Upon discovery, the elderly man who is also diabetic, collapsed, presumably due to shock. Related The herd was driven out at the Dlamini kraal early yesterday morning by two young men who are said to be related and also lived nearby. Police officers were met by outraged community members who demanded that they arrest the alleged rustlers and the buyers. Police only arrested one of the alleged rustlers. In an interview with Dlamini, he said he used the two oxen for ploughing as he was a farmer and put food on the table for his family through the same oxen that one had been slaughtered. I am frustrated by what I have discovered and do not know how I will manage, said the elderly man. He said the ox which was slaughtered put food on the table for his family as they used it for ploughing purposes. On Saturday, I used it to plough my fields not knowing it was the last that I would see it alive, lamented Dlamini. However, he said the Lord knew about everything. He said he thanked God that the alleged rustlers were caught in the act, despite that one of them fled. Jabulile Dlamini, who is the wife of the farmer, stated that when they woke up in the morning, they found the kraal opened in a very unusual manner, which caught their attention. Jabulile said she immediately asked her husband what had happened as their two sons were out to fetch firewood in the bushes and he responded that he also did not have a clue. Meanwhile, she said she then called her elder son and questioned him about the cattle, but he also stated that he had no idea what had happened and thought the cattle might have broken the kraal and went to the grazing field. Jabulile said as they were still shocked, they received a call from one of the residents who said he had come across their cow being slaughtered in the mountain. Convinced The caller said my husband should rush to the mountains to identify the ox but he was convinced it belonged to him. Due to her husbands ill health, Jabulile said one of their sons rushed to the scene and indeed identified the ox as theirs. She said they later went to the mountains with her husband and indeed confirmed the news and also found the buyers; an Asian businessman who worked along with a local. When questioned, the eyewitness who raised the alarm, Pulu Ncongwane, said he was walking at the mountains to check on another cow, which he was told had been slaughtered by unknown people on Friday when he stumbled on the butchered ox. Ncongwane stated that two local young men, who happened to be related to the owner of the cow, were found in the company of an Asian businessman, Siphon Mohamed. According to Ncongwane, the ox was not the first to be slaughtered at the same spot. He stated that he also lost an ox about three weeks back, which was also believed to have been slaughtered at the same mountain. Ncogwane said they reported to him that there was a stolen cow which had been slaughtered at the same spot and when he came to check, he discovered that there was another cow which was being butchered. I discovered that I knew the owner of the cow and immediately called him, while making sure that the rustlers did not flee. However, one of them managed to escape before the police arrived. Ncongwane said the alleged rustler who had fled was said to be the mastermind behind the theft. He said there was a syndicate in the area and they believed it was the same people. Comment When reached for comment on the matter, the businessman Mohamed, stated that he did not know the place and it was the driver who had brought him to the scene of crime. Mohamed said when he asked about issues of permits, he was told the owner of the cow was critically ill and had been admitted to a South African hospital and needed quick cash. He said he had been doing the business for over 15 years as he ran a butchery around Mbabane. Mohamed said as per his culture, he had to slaughter the cow himself and would not place himself in danger if he knew it had been stolen. The businessman said he trusted his right-hand man who was a liSwati national regarding the purchase of the cow. MANZINI After spending over E88 million in preparation to house COVID-19 patients at the Tubercolosis (TB) National Referral Hospital, government will now use it for non-communicable diseases (NCDs). This is despite that after the recording of the first COVID-19 case in the country, government presented strategies that were set to deal with the coronavirus and the TB National Referral Hospital, located at Moneni, Manzini, was one of the health facilities earmarked for isolating and treating these patients. This was announced in May 2020. At the time, the hospital was said to be in need of structural reforms and to ensure that this was achieved; government solicited the services of Construction Associates, a subsidiary company of Inyatsi Construction Group Holdings. Confirmed This was confirmed by the Principal Secretary in the Ministry of Health, Dr Simon Zwane, at the time. He said the contract price for the refurbishment of the wing that was set to cater for COVID-19 patients was E88 702 969.65. This publication gathered that the contractor handed over the wing to government in the first week of December 2020. However, when a follow-up was made with the PS yesterday, he said: The former TB hospital at Moneni was not only renovated but also completed. An inpatient wing that was left incomplete some years ago was completed and has 100 beds. He said the other wing which was being used for TB patients was renovated and as such, both sections inclusive of the kitchen and the laundry, were completed in time. Dr Zwane said following this, the ministry had decided not to open it for COVID-19 admissions but to use it for taking care of NCDs. According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), NCDs, also known as chronic diseases, tend to be of long duration and are the result of a combination of genetic, physiological, environmental and behavioural factors. The main types of NCD are cardiovascular diseases (such as heart attacks and stroke), cancers, chronic respiratory diseases (such as chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and asthma) and diabetes. On the other hand, the PS said for the hospital to attend to NCDs, further infrastructure development was required to support that function. This, he said, included a functional theatre suite, a radio diagnostic and therapeutic suite and an out-patient department (OPD) suite. Some chemotherapy work is underway and we will be adding more services with time, Dr Zwane said. Worth noting is that the PS had, in a previous interview, when the project was handed over to government, said it was done to their satisfaction and the ministry was currently putting up a gas plant that was an integral part for the hospital. The oxygen plant was eventually set up at the hospital and the ministry announced that it was ready. The installation followed the shortage of oxygen in health facilities during the second wave. In six weeks (November 30, 2020 and January 9, 2021), 169 people had succumbed to COVID-19 related ailments while 4 761 had tested positive for the virus in the same period. Consultations At the height of the third wave, the country registered 485 deaths and 25 309 new cases since July 7, 2021 until September 9, 2021. Despite that the figures escalated during this period and that health facilities were filled to capacity with many hospitals suspending out-patient consultations and permitting only emergency services, the TB hospital had no patients and remained idle. Instead, the ministry, through the Director of Health Services, Dr Vusi Magagula, announced that another pavilion at the Mavuso Trade and Exhibition Centre would be partitioned and used to accommodate COVID-19 patients. He said the ministry had looked at the need to help ease the beds challenge for COVID-19 positive patients, who had moderate to severe sicknesses. On the other hand, institutions like The Luke Commission (TLC) were strained as all its 46 ventilators were in use 24 hours a day given that the number of patients was tripled. Executive Director of TLC Echo Vanderwal, in a tour of the plant by journalists, said the facility had its resources stretched such that it was constantly altering structures to accommodate COVID-19 patients. Vanderwal said her institution had 46 ventilators from the 55 that were available in the country which had a population of about 1.3 million. Given the high demand of the ventilators, which are used in their intensive care unit, where critically ill COVID-19 patients were admitted, the TLC rotated patients depending on their recovery pattern. MANZINI - Members of SWEET from Mkhiweni Inkhundla have asked their MP, Michael Masuku, to be patient and try again. After delivering the report to the affected members, they asked him to be patient and try to push the matter until it was debated in Parliament. They told him that they were not fighting anyone, but they wanted feedback and the monies they invested back, even without the interest they were promised. As a result, the MP said he was still looking for options on how he could raise the matter in Parliament. He said he could do this by preparing a fresh motion or raise it as a question. Questions On the other hand, Thuli Dladla, who was the Operations Manager at SWEET, referred questions to the Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, Thuli Dladla, who was the liaison officer, appointed by the Queen Mother. In fact, she said issues pertaining to SWEET were now being handled by the minister. She said she was afraid to comment because she might have information that was outdated because she was not privy to the recent developments. Meanwhile, Minister Dladla said the matter was being investigated by the Central Bank of Eswatini. She said she hoped that once the Central Bank was done, it would alert them. Petition It is worth noting that early this year, SWEET members launched an online petition demanding that the people responsible for taking their monies should be taken to task, and their monies be returned. Following the online petition, the Central Bank of Eswatini conducted investigations into the organisation. Minister Dladla confirmed that she was aware of the history of the investment. She explained that there was a delay in paperwork by Farmers Bank, which was the mother body of SWEET and that there was about E27 million at Eswatini Building Society which had the members names. She said the Central Bank of Eswatini had records of the members who had joined the establishment and was currently investigating the matter. The minister assured members who invested that they would get their dues once the Central Bank had concluded the investigations. This was also confirmed by Central Bank of Eswatini Governor Majozi Sithole, who said they were working jointly with the Financial Services Regulatory Authority (FSRA). The upcoming Annual Investment Meeting (AIM), a renowned and leading investment platform in Dubai, will provide a powerful platform for SMEs and startups to maximize their potential, expand their network and grow globally. AIM 2022 will be held on March 29 31, 2022, under the theme Investments in Sustainable Innovation for a Thriving Future. The event supports all economic sectors by opening numerous doors of opportunities to the world as a dynamic roadmap to recovery as it puts a spotlight on six multi-faceted pillars including Startups. With AIMs pillars, AIM 2022 actively supports businesses, multinational organizations, regions, and countries during the rapid shift of the economy by extending its scope and not focusing on FDI alone. AIM 2022 is highly agile, and will serve as a dynamic gateway to jumpstart economies and boost economic productivity. Globally, Startups play a vital role in strengthening new industries and coming up with innovative ideas; AIMs Startup Pillar helps investors to nurture early-stage venture capital or seed funding to start a business. AIM 2022 will be a hybrid event that will feature Live Pitching sessions from the Startups exhibiting physically at the Dubai Exhibitions Centre at Expo 2020 Dubai, or by exhibiting digitally via state-of-the-art virtual events platform. Startups can now get the opportunity of networking with key industry figures, engaging with clients & investors, showcasing their innovations & B2B Matchmaking. The startups pitching competition will be based on the 3-tier Round of Funding format featuring various startups globally in the Pre-Seed, Seed & Series A funding categories. AIM 2022 will also provide a virtual access to startups to gain maximum exposure and get connected with local and international investors from more than 170 participating countries, giving them abundant opportunities to find new sources of funding and financing solutions for their business. The Annual Investment Meeting continues to gain support from several Ministries and Government Departments, Special Economic Zones (SEZ), Smart City Solution Providers, Venture Capitalists, Angel Investors and several financial institutions to provide Startups with an abundance of opportunities. Startups contribute significantly to economic development and job creation globally. By 2030, the number of startups around the world is expected to increase and will create more than 600 million jobs. A wide range of activities await participating Startups at AIM 2022 such as World-Class Conferences and Workshops, to explore innovative strategies and practices led by more than 300 high-level speakers that includes world leaders, ministers and heads of distinguished local and international organizations and the Exhibition which is participated by the best local and international exhibitors across the globe with the goal of achieving economic growth for their respective country and region. Walid Farghal, Director General of the Annual Investment Meeting said: In these challenging times, it's imperative to provide Startups and SMEs with the maximum support they need since they contribute so much to economic strength and development globally. The Annual Investment Meeting 2022 will serve as a vital tool for Startups to receive support from the global investment community as they network with key investors, learn about growth strategies, and promote their products, services, and ideas. AIM 2022 will provide businesses, governments and civil society with an independent and future-oriented platform to amplify their efforts to influence & facilitate multistakeholder interaction and impact. The Startup pillar will connect keen investors looking for new avenues and projects for investments in sustainable and innovative development, as well as governments looking for startup projects to increase their economic growth. TradeArabia News Service Bahrain-based BENEFIT, a leader in fintech and electronic financial transactions service, has integrated the insurance sector to the Electronic Know Your Customer (eKYC) service in collaboration with Bahrain Insurance Association (BIA). This initiative is in line with The Central Bank of Bahrains (CBB) direction toward the digitisation of insurance services. The eKYC service aims to support insurers to start the process of paperless KYC for their online customer onboarding journeys. This will further promote digital transformation within the insurance sector while meeting and setting standards for KYC regulatory requirements. The National eKYC service is the first of its kind in the region, covering the entire financial sector on a national level, placing Bahrain at the forefront in the Arab World as a top financial technology centre. Additionally, such collaborative efforts with BIA has resulted in the financial market experiencing a strategic quantum leap. The onboarding of this platform does not only improve consumer experience, but also allows consumers to access insurance services more quickly, as well as assist insurance companies in managing KYC records of their customers in a more efficient and cost-effective manner. Furthermore, the digitalisation of such services allows insurance and reinsurance companies to combine customer convenience with transaction safety and security. BENEFITs CE Abdulwahed AlJanahi said: It is with distinct pleasure that we announce our collaboration with BIA on such an initiative, which has the potential to digitally revolutionise the insurance industry and places customer experience at the forefront of digital transformation. Bahrain has already adopted eKYC solutions since 2019 covering retail banks, financial service providers, and money exchange networks, allowing the financial industry to onboard new customers and better serve the needs of the digital generation. Now, it is time for the insurance industry to adopt the same eKYC solutions and reap the benefits of the industrys transformation. BENEFITs provision of identity authentication via a full-fledged single platform, enhances Bahrains electronic platform, in accordance with Bahrains Vision 2030, he added. Dr Abdulla Sultan, Vice-Chairman of the BIA and Chairman of the BIA Digital Committee said: We are honoured to be collaborating with BENEFIT to deliver innovative eKYC solutions to the insurance industry. With digital transformation making a breakthrough across a majority of sectors, it is just as crucial for insurance companies to adapt and take on digital opportunities to remain competitive and relevant. The eKYC platform provides a number of benefits for our clients including efficiency, personalisation, and agility. Furthermore, by leveraging digital ecosystems, we are delivering our objective in line with the vision of the Kingdom of Bahrain and CBB of raising insurance awareness among societys various segments. The BENEFIT Company has been the operator of the National eKYC platform in the Kingdom, in cooperation with Bahrain Information and eGovernment Authority and under the supervision of The Central Bank of Bahrain, ever since the implementation of the eKYC project in April 2019. In order to integrate with the financial sector and data providers as seamlessly as possible, the project offers an advanced state-of-art platform through Blockchain, AWS Cloud Computing, as well as an innovative set of APIs. TradeArabia News Service Sohar International, a leading bank in Oman, has announced the successful closure of its rights issue, raising its Tier I capital by RO50 million ($129.5 million) thanks to an overwhelming response from its shareholders. The issuance marks one of the largest local currency capital raises by any firm in 2021 under the Capital Market Authority (CMA) and listed in Muscat Securities Exchange (MSX).The increased paid-up capital is in line with the banks five-year growth strategy and its vision to become a world-leading Omani service company that helps customers, communities and people to prosper and grow. Ahmed Al Musalmi, Chief Executive Officer of Sohar International, said: At Sohar International, we have been agile and resilient in paving the way forward for the banks robust development roadmap. The move to increase our capital is part of the on-going five-year strategy, and is aimed at further strengthening our foothold in the market and our capital adequacy ratios. Sohar International will continue to pursue more growth opportunities aligning itself to positively contribute to Omans economy and its diversification agenda. Despite a challenging global, regional and international economic environment, the overwhelming response from shareholders to the issuance reaffirms the Banks positive market position and investor confidence. The issuance was fully subscribed and saw a varied base of investor participation, including government, quasi government agencies, large corporates, high net worth individuals and retail investors. Al Musalmi added: Such overwhelming participation demonstrates the robust capabilities of Sohar International in terms of attracting capital to advance its strategic agenda and the immense trust that the market has within the organization and its future outlook. We are immensely grateful to our stakeholders and investors in having faith in the Banks winning promise, as we continue to deliver banking in this ever-changing world. Sohar International reflected healthy growth in the six-month period ended June 30, 2021 recording a net profit of RO15.20 million compared to RO13.18 million during the same period in 2020, translating to a growth of 15.3 per cent. TradeArabia News Service SirajPower, a major distributed solar energy provider in the UAE, has secured a contract from top retail group Lulu to design, build, finance, operate and maintain a 1 MWp solar carport installation and 4 electric vehicle charging stations at its Dubai Silicon Central hypermarket. Lulu Groups brand-new Silicon Central boasts a GLA of 78,500 sqm of retail, F&B, cinemas, including a hypermarket and department store spanning 16,800 sq m area. Announcing its collaboration with SirajPower, Lulu said the strategic solar initiative was aimed at achieving major green milestones. The solar carport project covers 7,209 sq m and will produce 1.7 GWh of clean energy annually, offsetting more than 1,205 metric tonnes of CO2 emissions equivalent to nearly 20,000 tree seedlings grown for 10 years, it added. Lulu Group International Director Salim, said: "As a UAE-based company, we fully support the region's vision to mitigate carbon emissions and create a more sustainable economy. We are continuously looking for ways to support sustainable efforts and work towards reducing our greenhouse gas emissions." "We found the perfect partner in this endeavor in SirajPower, whose extensive track record in working with established brands and organisations in the region makes them the seamless choice to help us transition to clean energy through their innovative solar carport solution," he stated. "As a group, we have already achieved the LEED Platinum certification for Lulu Group International Regional Headquarters and are committed towards a healthy and sustainable future. Our focus also remains in building malls that are environmentally friendly in the future like Silicon Central, using advanced technologies for waste management, energy savings and electrical charging stations in the car-parking area," he added. SirajPower CEO Laurent Longuet said: "The Fast-Moving-Consumer-Goods (FMCG) industry, as one of the largest market segments in the world, has been a catalyst for positive change through the accelerated emphasis on the importance of sustainability initiatives." "The growing fervor on environmental awareness in the market and new reforms implemented by government organizations have further enabled the sustainability movement. In the UAE, we see a lot of businesses looking for solutions to significantly reduce their carbon footprints," observed Longuet. "The addition of the Lulu Group to our growing FMCG portfolio further demonstrates our commitment to support organizations to significantly reduce their environmental impact through innovative and effective solar solutions," he added.-TradeArabia News Service Aveva, a global leader in industrial software, driving digital transformation and sustainability, has announced the launch of Aveva Unified Learning as part of its portfolio available on Aveva Connect, common cloud platform. The new cloud-based employee development solution helps Aveva customers advance industrial workers from novice to expert by using blended custom and generic experiential training modules, including Avevas Process Competency Training, Pipeline Competency Training, and The Operations Excellence Groups OEG Knowledge Library, the company said in a statement. Harpreet Gulati, Senior Vice President, Planning, Simulation and Optimization Business, Aveva commented: Effective training programs are essential to help prevent industrial accidents and ensure safety, especially when the workforce is inexperienced or unaccustomed to new plant technologies. As the name suggests, Aveva Unified Learning combines a set of development elements within one cloud-based platform so training managers can customize learning development to each member of their workforce wherever they are. Experiential learning can now be delivered in safe, simulation-based environments while workforce competence and operational excellence can be tracked at the same time. Aveva Unified Learning drives competency and consistency through experiential learning on a single platform, serving as a unique offering at a time when companies are focused on improving skills to contend with radically altered business environments and an influx of new staff. Without Aveva Unified Learning, training leaders face major challenges in managing learning programs across a diverse and dispersed workforce with varying skill levels. By eliminating deployment hurdles and simplifying program management, Aveva empowers customers to improve the learning experience and extract greater value from their training investments. Aveva Unified Learning closes the competency gap between a retiring workforce and the new generation of connected workers. Overall, employees are empowered to perform better in a shorter time, thanks to targeted eLearning, video content, and simulation-based learning programs. Since Aveva Unified Learning simulators are entirely cloud-based and offered as Software-as-a-Service (SaaS), organizations benefit from global accessibility and scalability. With training delivered directly to each workers device, cost, time and energy outlays are reduced alongside the organizations carbon footprint. Aveva Unified Learning provides access to Avevas vast portfolio of training and simulation applications in a single hub on Aveva Connect. It is licensed via Aveva Flex, a flexible subscription program designed to simplify license purchase, usage and management. The product leverages Avevas digital twin technology for ongoing operational excellence including operator training simulators and 3D virtual reality environments, delivering these on the Cloud. The launch of Aveva Unified Learning responds to a growing demand for learning solutions aimed at a digitally native workforce. By 2030, the bulk of the workforce will be made up of Generations Y and Z, most of whom are only familiar with a digital-first, mobile-first world. For these digital natives, workplace technology is now a factor in the choice of job. Over 90% of Generation Z people born after 1996 say technology offered by an employer influences their job choice.--TradeArabia News Service Omans Port of Salalah recently commemorated the 16th Global Safety Day, the employee safety campaign by reaffirming its safety commitment, We lead with care, which is at the core of its operations. Strategically located on the trade crossroads between Asia and Europe, and serving the markets of East Africa, the Red Sea, the Indian Subcontinent and the Arabian Gulf the Port of Salalah is operated by APM Terminals as part of the APM Terminals global terminal network. The port operates both a container terminal and a general cargo terminal. As part of the annual international awareness-raising campaign across the APM Terminals network, Port of Salalah joined other operating ports to mark this drive towards employee safety for the 16th consecutive year. Safety is a joint effort and is part of how employees and other stakeholders could work together to build an inclusive and collaborative safety culture across the port's various business units. With this as a focus, Port of Salalah engaged its employees through presentations, workshops, and activities to listen, learn and respond to its peoples needs and create a safer working environment for all, Port of Salalah said in a statement. The Port continues to actively contribute to Omans 2040 vision and objectives and support Omans economic diversification strategy.--TradeArabia News Service The 8th edition of Zainnovate was held in Bahrain to support digital startups in the GCC region by assisting them to develop, grow, and sustain within the entrepreneurial ecosystem. The event was hosted by Zain Bahrain, the leading Mobile Broadband network operator in the kingdom, in partnership with Alkeri Partners, a Bahrain-based digital startup foundry, and Oqal Angel Investors Network, the first Angel investor community in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Launched in 2019, Zainnovate the initiative aligns with Zain Bahrains corporate sustainability and social responsibility strategy focused on Innovation, Thought Leadership, and Youth Empowerment which is in line with Bahrains Economic Vision 2030 to be a leading tech and startup hub in the region offering 360-degree support to the SME sector. The event was conducted virtually where the opening session was addressed by Sheikh Abdulla bin Khalid Al Khalifa, Director, Communications & Investor Relations at Zain Bahrain followed by Jamal A. Al-Hazeem, Chairman of Alkeri Partners and Oqal Bahrain Chapter, and Khaled Zainalabedin, Managing Partner of Alkeri Partners and Founder and President of Oqal Bahrain Chapter. The first session was addressed by the Guest Speaker, Noor Sweid, Founder & General Partner of Global Ventures & Chairperson of Middle East Venture Capital Association, who spoke in-depth about the Venture Capital landscape in the GCC, the impact Venture Capital has had on the GCCs startup ecosystem and how the economy has adapted to the change. The talk session was followed by a Q&A session. The second session titled, Demo Day presented Oqal Bahrains startup cohort pitch sessions, which included three leading startups in the Fintech and technology sectors. The first pitch was by Arshad Gadit from Prowire, a platform that commoditises professional services, followed by Hamza Khan from Letswork, a subscription- based marketplace providing users with workspaces, meeting rooms and private offices, and Sohaib Khan from Hazen.ai, a Saudi-founded startup specialising in artificial intelligence (computer vision) to provide cutting edge detection solutions for traffic enforcement. Commenting on the successful hosting of the event, Sheikh Abdulla said: Zain Bahrain has always supported innovation and entrepreneurship in the kingdom. Through this initiative, it is Zain Bahrain's constant endeavour to provide a platform that supports the rapid innovation growth in the ecosystem. We are thankful to our partners who have joined us and are helping to take ideas to market and support the growth cycle of entrepreneurial ventures in the region. Bahrain is emerging as one of the most exciting new locations for startup talent across the world and we are extremely proud that through Zainnovate we can help businesses and startups find the right funding access and contribute to Bahrains economy. Zainalabedin said: Zainnovate is not only a platform for startups looking for funding, but also for investors looking for investment opportunities. We believe through our collaboration with Zain Bahrain, we are stimulating young innovators in Bahrain and the GCC by equipping them with opportunities to develop, grow and sustain. Zainnovate has positioned Oqal Bahrain as a key aggregator and driver in the funding market; we have managed to grow and build an active Angel investor community that invests in early-stage startups, fostering growth and fuelling the startup culture in the kingdom. Zainnovate targets different types of people such as, startup founders who want to pitch their new business ideas, get funded, or want to learn from industry experts. With the support of our partners and Oqal Angel Investors Network; Zain Bahrain is contributing towards the startup ecosystem in Bahrain by providing a platform for exceptional minds that will redefine the future. For the event, Zain Bahrain, Alkeri Partners & Oqal Bahrain partnered with Dubai Silicon Oasis Authority, BDSMEs Society, PRO SKY, Saudi Aramco Entrepreneurship, Middle East Venture Capital Association, United Nations Industrial Development Organisation, and UNIDO Network of Investment and Technology Promotion Offices.-- TradeArabia News Service Air Arabia has announced the resumption of direct flights between Sharjah and each of Riyadh, Jeddah and Dammam in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, starting September 14, 2021. All passengers travelling to the kingdom are required to download "Tawakkalna" mobile application before departure and upload their vaccination status, reported Bahrain News Agency (BNA), citing a WAM report. Passengers are also urged to check the travel update at Air Arabias website before departure, it added. Air Arabia has also introduced free Covid-19 insurance coverage, which is automatically included as part of the booking and no additional documents are required from passengers. The UAE retained the top destination position for tourism foreign direct investment (FDI) by number of projects into the Middle East and Africa in 2020, while Bahrain ranked first in terms of capital investment in the region, said a report. The fDi Intelligence Tourism Investment report 2021 said UAE held a 58% market share of the FDI projects in the region. The UAE was followed by Bahrain, Oman, Saudi Arabia and Qatar. Bahrain welcomed $492 million worth of tourism capital investment in 2020, ranking first in terms of capital investment in the Middle East and Africa for the year, thanks to investments from the likes of UAE-based global property developer Emaar Properties and real estate developer Eagle Hills, the report said. Bahrain also placed first in terms of job creation in the tourism cluster in 2020, with a 40% market share across the region. The UAE was the primary source country for tourism investments between 2016 and 2020, investing in 61 outward FDI tourism projects which equated to more than half of all outbound FDI tourism projects from the region. This was followed by Qatar with 10 outward investments and Saudi Arabia and Israel in joint third with eight projects, respectively. Foreign investors announced 263 tourism foreign direct investment (FDI) projects worth $21.8 billion in the Middle East and Africa between 2016 and 2020. During the same period, job creation in the tourism cluster reached more than 40,000, the report said. Capital investment into the Middle East and Africa in 2020 witnessed a decrease of 82% from 2019, dropping to $1.6 billion. The number of tourism jobs created in the region also experienced a similar decline, decreasing from approximately 17,400 in 2019 to 2800 in 2020. The primary destination market for investment into the Middle East and Africa between 2016 and 2020 was the United Arab Emirates (UAE), winning 30% of all tourism FDI projects and 33% of tourism capital investment into the region. The UAE was also the top country for capital investment with more than $7.2 billion invested in the country between 2016 and 2020, said the fDi Intelligence report. Morocco and Saudi Arabia ranked second and third respectively in terms of capital investment between 2016 and 2020, attracting a combined $3.5 billion of tourism capital investment. During this period, Morocco and Saudi Arabia held a 9% and 7% market share of tourism capital investment in the region, respectively. The UAE held the top position for the number of tourism jobs created between 2016 and 2020, with 11,000 new roles created. This was followed by Morocco with 3800 and Egypt with 3600 new jobs created, the report said. - TradeArabia News Service Exhibitors from nearly 20 European countries have signed up for WTM London, to seal lucrative business deals as the world opens up for travel again. WTM Londons physical show will take place at ExCeL London from November 1 to 3, to be followed by WTM Virtual (November 8-9). One of the largest European contingents will be from Spain, including tourist boards representing regions such as Catalonia, Murcia, Balearic Islands, and the Canaries; brands such as TUI Espana and Jumbo Tours Espana; and attractions such as Loro Parque in Tenerife. Other major destinations include the national tourist boards from Spain, Portugal, Croatia, Bulgaria, Hungary, Poland, Slovenia and Tourism Ireland. There are also exhibitors from popular tourist hotspots such as France, Greece, Corfu, Malta, Holland, Brussels, Cyprus, Poland, Bulgaria, Germany, Netherlands, Austria, Belgium, Slovenia. Dorota Wojciechowska, Polish National Tourist Offices New UK and Ireland Director, said: The Polish travel industry is inspired to make travel happen again and we want to be a part of that journey by taking part in this years World Travel Market. Its vital for us to meet face-to-face with our British partners and renew our business relationships as we look to recover. We are looking forward to welcoming back all foreign tourists, particularly those arriving from the UK, which is one of the reasons why Im delighted that well be promoting our key cities and regions, along with Polish tour operators, at WTM in London. Luis Araujo, President of Turismo de Portugal, said: We are delighted to be attending WTM this year it is a fantastic opportunity to meet tour operators, media, buyers, and other delegates and promote Portugals diverse offering. Portugal and the Portuguese continue to have all the attributes and competencies that took us to the top, so the ambition remains: to lead the tourism of the future. The time has come to move forward and lead the way again, it is time to be, to leave the pause and press play, recalling the unique and emotional value of travelling. More than two million Brits visited Portugal in 2019, along with 16 million foreign European tourists. Jeroen Roppe, a spokesperson for visit.brussels, said the tourist board was exhibiting to show the world that Brussels is open. He added: We are eager to give our partners opportunities to meet clients. Roppe said hotel occupancy rates in the Belgian capital plunged to less than 2% amid the pandemic but the sector has been recovering, largely thanks to French and German visitors. The UK market saw 450,000 overnight visits in 2019, making it the sixth most important source for Brussels, which is just two hours away from London on Eurostar. Being at WTM London will enable stand partners to confirm contracts and make new contacts with professionals from around the world, Roppe added. Darija Reic, Director at Croatian National Tourism Board - UK Representative office, said: At this years WTM London, we look forward to meeting with our travel trade partners, and potential new ones, as well as discussing new ways of working together on making Croatia even more attractive and accessible to UK travellers. A total of 4.3 million tourists visited Croatia in August 2021, which is an increase of 59% on 2020 and 86% of the result from August 2019. Our figures are being quite positive so far and Im sure WTM London will help us promote Croatia even more. Simon Press, WTM London & Travel Forward Exhibition Director, said: Were excited to welcome back so many European exhibitors at WTM as the travel industry rebuilds. They represent a wide cross-section of the trade, including tourist boards, hotel companies, destination management companies and more all eager to create new partnerships and reaffirm existing relationships as we all prepare for recovery. Our exhibitor packages offer the best of both worlds as exhibitors will have a stand at ExCeL London as well as a global presence the following week, so they can rebuild connections with established contacts and generate fresh leads from around the world. - TradeArabia News Service WTM London, the leading global event for the travel industry, is expected to draw around 50,000 senior travel industry professionals, government ministers and international media, generating over 3.71 billion in travel industry contracts. In 2020, WTM Virtual facilitated 20,000+ meetings and held 42 live content sessions over the 3-days show. -TradeArabia News Service Could you face life without your pet dog? Travellers, vacation lovers and people looking to move abroad with their furry friends may be shocked to learn that its breed will affect their access to different countries. The insurance experts at International Citizens Insurance have created a rundown of some of the countries which have restrictions in place if people want to enter with their four-legged companions. Dogs being bred for dangerous activities and dog attacks pose significant concern worldwide - meaning some pets must be left behind, which can be heart-breaking. Although many of the dogs included in the list of banned breeds are calm and tender pups, if bred under the wrong circumstances or brought up with the intention to fight and be aggressive they can cause safety concerns. In an attempt to minimise attacks and safeguard members of the public and other animals, many countries place bans or restrictions on the entry of aggressive dog breeds. Pet travel guidance differs between countries depending on local laws and security regulations. It is important for all pet owners looking to travel to learn the laws and regulations in the specific country and ensure they have the correct insurance and follow all rules for their breed. International Citizens Insurance President Joe Cronin said: Pets are amazing companions, whether people are travelling alone or in a group. For some people, bringing their dog with them offers them all of the comfort and security of home. Others want to bring their pet with them to embark on a new life abroad. Many people may be shocked to find out that if they own a dog which comes from a traditionally aggressive breed or a breed known for fighting, no matter how trained or calm they are, they may not be able to travel with them to certain countries. International Citizens Insurance has also compiled useful information about all aspects of travelling with pets. Here is a focus on guidance in selected countries: Australia Australia has a ban on breeds that were specifically bred for fighting, to safeguard members of the public and other dogs. Prohibited breeds: Pitbull Terrier breeds, Dogo Argentino, Fila Brasileiro, Japanese Toso, Presa Canario Australian law also prohibits the entry of domestic or non-domestic hybrid breeds (such as wolf crosses). Travellers, expats or emigres travelling with a dog must sign a declaration stating that the dog is not an ineligible breed. Canada Unlike many other countries, Canada does not have a blanket ban on dog breeds. Instead, certain provinces prohibit certain dangerous dog breeds. Expats planning to relocate to Canada should first ensure they are up to date with the most recent legislation for their destination. Travellers should ensure their route through the country does not include certain provinces if they are accompanied by a banned breed. In the province of Manitoba, Winnipeg bans the following dog breeds as well as dogs that have physical attributes of the following: American Pitbull Terrier, American Staffordshire Terrier, Staffordshire Bull Terrier. In Ontario Province, the following breeds are banned along with any mixes where these breeds are prominent: American Pitbull Terrier, Pitbull Terrier, American Staffordshire Terrier, Staffordshire Bull Terrier. France Much like Australia, France also has breed-based regulations in place to prohibit types of dangerous dogs from entering the country. France categorises breeds into either banned or restricted. Category 1: banned breeds are defined as attack dogs and cannot be imported into France: Staffordshire Terrier, American Staffordshire Terrier (Pitbull Terrier), Japanese Tosa Inu, Boerbull Mastiff. Category 2: It covers restricted breeds in France. From these breeds, only dogs registered with a pedigree recognised by the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Forestry in France are permitted to enter the country. They can be transported on flights in the cargo hold only. Pedigree Tosa Inu, Pedigree Staffordshire Terrier, Pedigree American Staffordshire Terrier, Rottweiler (Pedigree and Non-pedigree). Mexico Mexico does not have a blanket ban on breeds across the country, however there is a list of regulations that any dog owning travellers, expats and emigres must oblige by before travelling into the country including microchipping, rabies vaccinations and a parasite treatment. Dog owners must also obtain a health certificate unless travelling to Mexico from the United States. Switzerland Switzerland bans the import of dogs with cropped ears and docked tails. Dogs with these features can travel into the country temporarily for vacations or other short stays, but if you are relocating as an expat or emigre you will not be able to bring your dog with you. Laws in Switzerland restrict travel for breeds perceived as being predisposed to attack. Travellers hoping to bring any of the below dogs into the country must first ensure the dog passes a behavioural test, neuter the pet and obtain pet insurance. These breeds are: American Staffordshire Terrier, Boerboel, Bullmastiff, Cane Corso, Dogue Argentin, Dogue de Bordeaux, Fila Brasileiro, English Mastiff, Matin Espagnol, Matin de Naples, Pitbull, Presa Canario, Rottweiler, Thai Ridgeback Dog, Tosa Inu. United Kingdom Expats and travellers coming in or out of the UK will not be able to bring with them any of the dog breeds that have been banned in the country. The Dangerous Dogs Act 1991 outlaws types of dogs perceived to be too dangerous for ownership. The following breeds are banned from entering the country: Pitbull Terrier, Japanese Tosa, Dogo Argentino, Fila Brasileiro. According to UK regulations, if a dog has visual characteristics of any of the above it may be banned even if it does not match the breed. Whether or not the dog is to be banned could be decided in court, and if the dog is already in the country it could be euthanised. The UK government looks set to soon pass legislation that will ban importation of dogs with docked tails, cropped ears and dogs younger than six months. Dog owners looking to travel or relocate should be sure to monitor the situation in case their dog falls into these categories.-TradeArabia News Service Bangladesh diplomat visits North Tripura border to explore trade facilities Agartala, Sep 13 (UNI) Aiming to improve export-import facilities at Yakub Nagar border area of Bhagyaipur panchayat in North Tripura, Assistant High Commissioner of Bangladesh in Agartala Zubaid Hossain yesterday visited Indo-Bangladesh border northern stretch of the state. He held discussion with the officials of district administration regarding infrastructure development in the prospective international trade route to facilitate the businessmen of the region on both sides of the border. He has inspected the bridge over Kakri Chhara on the India-Bangladesh border at Yakub Nagar today, which has been in a deplorable condition for a long time. According to report, due to the poor condition of the bridge connecting India and Bangladesh, movement of cargo vehicles has been suspended for past many years, which disrupted the trade activity between the two countries. New Delhi Sep 13 (UNI) Taking a dig at the BJP over changing Gujarat's Chief Minister, senior Congress leader P Chidambaram said on Monday that the party is busy replacing its no-performing Chief Ministers". His remarks came after the BJP elected, the first time MLA from Ghatlodia constituency Bhupendra Patel as new Chief Minister following the resignation of Vijay Rupani, in a partys legislature meeting on Sunday. Talking to twitter on Monday Mr Chidambaram said, The BJP is busy replacing its non-performing Chief Ministers. When did the BJP leadership realize they were non-performing CMs, he added. Commenting on the Chief Ministers who were replaced in other states by the BJP Mr Chidambaram said, The people of the state concerned knew that B S Yediyurappa, the two Rawats and Rupani were non-performing for many months. There are several more who must be replaced, In Haryana, Goa, Tripura etc The list is long, he said in a tweet. Gujarat Chief Minister Vijay Rupani resigned as the Gujarat CM on Saturday. The move comes at a time when the state assembly polls are due in December 2022. Vijay Rupani became the fourth BJP leader to resign from the CMs post following Tirath Singh Rawat and Trivendra Singh Rawat in Uttarakhand and BS Yediyurappa in Karnataka. UNI JA ACL1306 Chandigarh, Sep 13 (UNI) Haryana Governor Bandaru Dattatraya has assured that the state of Haryana will extend all possible cooperation to Sri Lanka in the field of agriculture, dairy production and automobiles, which will further strengthen the relations between India and Sri Lanka. The Governor was talking to Sathasivam Vyalanderan, Minister of Backward Rural Areas Development and Promotion of Domestic Animal Husbandry Development and Minor Economic Agriculture, Crops Cultivation, Government of Sri Lanka at the Raj Bhavan here on Monday. Mr Vyalanderan, in a courtesy call with the Governor, discussed social, cultural, historical issues of Sri Lanka as well as his Government's plans. 16 Sep 2021 | 1:38 AM Brussels/New Delhi, Sep 15 (UNI) Short of slamming the US, the European Parliament on Wednesday expressed its frustration over Washington for its lack of a serious exit strategy from Afghanistan. While indicting the Taliban for its repressive measures and breach of human rights, the European Parliament was highly critical of Pakistans support to the Taliban and its help in fighting the Resistance forces in Panjshir, and directed the EU's diplomatic service to convey to Islamabad that it bears responsibility for the security and stability in Afghanistan and gave a veiled warning of passing sanctions against Pakistan. Thiruvananthapuram, Sep 13 (UNI) An Air India Express flight to Sharjah with 170 passengers on board landed safely at the Airport here on Monday, soon after its take off, after the pilots noticed a technical snag. After noticing the technical snag, the pilots decided to return back to Thiruvananthapuram Airport, sources said. Later, another flight was arranged for all the 170 passengers including five infants to travel to Sharjah. The incident happened at around 0700 hours this morning. The Air India light which also had a crew of six, landed safely after half-an-hour of its take off, sources added. UNI DS CS 1110 MUMBAI, India, Sept 13, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- The Leela Palaces, Hotels and Resorts, owned and managed by a Brookfield Asset Management-sponsored private real estate fund, has been voted the World's Best Hotel Brand for the second consecutive year by Travel + Leisure USA World's Best Awards 2021. The Leela is the epitome of true Indian luxury infused with a distinct aesthetic that celebrates India's rich art, cuisine and culture that is engrained in its offering of India's heritage to the world. This honour is a recognition of the brand's consistency in pursuing excellence and its commitment towards curating authentic luxury experiences with the graciousness of Indian hospitality. Travel + Leisure USA's World's Best Awards are a renowned benchmark of excellence for travel and hospitality companies globally. They honour the finest travel experiences in the world selected by Travel + Leisure's global readership of discerning travellers. Readers rate their experiences and evaluate hotels across the world on characteristics such as rooms, location, service, cuisine, and value. "We are truly humbled and excited to be voted The World's Best Brand by the readers of Travel + Leisure USA for the second consecutive year. This is a testament to recognition The Leela brand enjoys and an appreciation of the hard work and dedication of our teams who go above and beyond every day, to deliver an impeccable luxury experience and make every guest's stay a memorable one," said Mr. Anuraag Bhatnagar, Chief Operating Officer, The Leela Palaces, Hotels and Resorts. "Being recognized as 'The World's Best Hotel Brand' for the second year in a row is a tremendous achievement for The Leela hospitality business. Congratulations to the entire Leela team that has ensured highest delivery of services despite the challenging time the world has witnessed this past year," said Ankur Gupta, Managing Partner Brookfield Asset Management. "These awards are also a recognition of the appreciation that Indian hospitality enjoys globally, and the limitless potential of the travel and tourism industry in India. Brookfield is committed to growing The Leela hospitality business both domestically and internationally, while retaining its authentic Indian luxury offering." To read more, visit: https://www.travelandleisure.com/worlds-best/hotel-top-brands. About The Leela Palaces, Hotels and Resorts: Headquartered in Mumbai, The Leela Palaces, Hotels and Resorts operates ten award-winning properties in major cities and leisure destinations across India. These include the flagship hotel in the capital city of New Delhi, Bengaluru, Chennai, Udaipur, Jaipur, Gurugram, East Delhi, Goa, Mumbai and now Gandhinagar. The Leela celebrates each hotel through its unique location, art, culture and cuisine with thoughtful services, celebratory rituals and immersive experiences. The Leela Palaces, Hotels and Resorts has been voted the World's Best Hotel Brand by Travel + Leisure, USA, World's Best Awards for two consecutive years in 2020 and 2021. The brand is well poised to embrace the next phase in its growth trajectory with upcoming projects which include business hotels in Bhartiya City Bengaluru and Hyderabad. An epitome of true Indian luxury hospitality, The Leela is committed to providing guests with unforgettable stays in settings that capture the essence of India. The brand has a marketing alliance with US-based Preferred Hotels & Resorts and is a member of the Global Hotel Alliance. For more information, please visit our website www.theleela.com and connect with us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. Media Contact: Anjali Mehra +918800466085 Anjali.mehra@theleela.com Photo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1623981/The_Leela_Palace_New_Delhi.jpg Logo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1441809/The_Leela_Logo.jpg (Disclaimer--Features may vary depending on the regions; subject to change without notice.) Moscow, Sep 13 (UNI/Sputnik) Two international astronauts, Japan's Akihiko Hoshide and France's Thomas Pesquet have returned safely to the International Space Station (ISS) after completing a spacewalk that spanned nearly seven hours, NASA said. "Astronauts Akihiko Hoshide of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) and Thomas Pesquet of ESA (European Space Agency) have concluded the first spacewalk conducted by two international partner astronauts out of the International Space Stations Quest airlock at 3:09 p.m. EDT, after 6 hours and 54 minutes," NASA said in a statement on its website. During the spacewalk, the astronauts put together and attached a support bracket for the preparation of the installation of a third solar panel. In addition, Hoshide and Pesquet replaced a floating point measuring unit, a device used to measure the electrical charging potential of the arrays and associated surfaces in its vicinity. NCAR Official to Discuss New Supercomputer Friday at UW A top director with the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) is coming to the University of Wyoming to discuss the capabilities and uses of a new supercomputer that will be installed in the NCAR-Wyoming Supercomputing Center (NWSC) near Cheyenne. Thomas Hauser, director of NCARs Computational and Information Systems Laboratory Technology Development Division, is scheduled to speak at 3:10 p.m. Friday, Sept. 17, in Room 103 of the UW Classroom Building. The new supercomputer, called Derecho, is scheduled to become operational in early 2022. Built by Hewlett Packard Enterprise, the supercomputer will be a 19.87-petaflops system, meaning it will have the theoretical ability to perform 19.87 quadrillion calculations per second. That is about 3.5 times the speed of scientific computing performed by the current NWSC supercomputer, Cheyenne. Once it begins operations, Derecho is expected to rank among the top 25 or so fastest supercomputers in the world. The innovative system will deliver 20 percent of its sustained computing capability from NVIDIA A100 graphics processing units, with the remainder coming from traditional central processing units. Hauser will present an overview of the Derecho system architecture, NWSC preparation for the system, and activities and projects preparing applications for graphics processing unit architectures. Additionally, Hauser will present an overview of the work of the analytics and integrative machine learning group, and the visualization and analysis system technologies section in the NCAR Computational and Information Systems Lab. Hauser assumed his current role with NCAR in March. He previously served as the director of research computing at the University of Colorado. He graduated from the Technical University of Munich, Germany, in 1998 with a Ph.D. in mechanical engineering. Derecho was selected as the name of the new supercomputer in a statewide competition that drew more than 200 submissions from Wyoming K-12 students. The name was submitted by Cael Arbogast, a student at Riverton Middle School. The term derecho, derived from the Spanish word for direct or straight ahead, refers to a line of powerful and damaging storms that often pack hurricane-force winds and unleash heavy rains and flooding. Its the type of destructive weather event that scientists hope to learn more about by using the new supercomputer for advanced simulations of the atmosphere and other aspects of the Earth system. Funding for Derecho, which will cost $35 million to $40 million, comes from the National Science Foundation (NSF). The NWSC is funded by NSF and the state of Wyoming through an appropriation to UW, and with support from Cheyenne LEADS, the Wyoming Business Council and Black Hills Energy. Since the NWSC opened its doors in 2012, more than 4,000 users from more than 575 universities and other institutions across the nation and overseas have used its resources. Among universities, UW is the largest single user as part of the states agreement with NCAR. UW Encourages Observance of Constitution Day The University of Wyoming encourages students, faculty and staff to observe Constitution Day, the annual federal observance that recognizes the ratification of the United States Constitution. Constitution Day is observed each year on Sept. 17, the day the U.S. Constitutional Convention signed the nations founding document in 1787. Benjamin Franklin, Alexander Hamilton, James Madison and George Washington were among the 39 delegates from the original 13 colonies who signed the Constitution. To learn more about Constitution Day, visit www.uwyo.edu/acadaffairs/constitution-day/ or www.constitutionday.com. UW Receives Second NEH Grant for Wyoming Digital Newspaper Project This image shows a portion of Page 2 of The Northern Wyoming Herald newspaper from Jan. 22, 1919, that UW Libraries staff digitized for the Wyoming Digital Newspaper Project. (Image from Chronicling America website) University of Wyoming Libraries has received a second round of funding from the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) to support ongoing newspaper digitization work. The two-year, $200,000 grant will support the ongoing Wyoming Digital Newspaper Project, which began in August 2019 after the first NEH grant was awarded. The first phase of the project involves the digitization of 100,000 pages of select Wyoming newspapers -- dating from 1867 to 1963 -- as part of the states participation in the National Digital Newspaper Program (NDNP). Newspapers that are available on the Chronicling America website include several years of the Cheyenne Daily Leader and succeeding title, The Democratic Leader. Upcoming titles from the first round of grant funding include The Saratoga Sun, the Cody Enterprise and the Platte Valley Lyre. This second round of funding will allow us to contribute an additional 100,000 pages to the Library of Congress historical newspaper database, Chronicling America, says Bryan Ricupero, UW metadata librarian and principal investigator of the grant. We plan to include content that expands both geographical and historical coverage of Wyoming. A list of newspapers to be digitized during the new grant period is currently under review. The Wyoming State Archives and UW Libraries are the two primary repositories for collections of Wyoming print and microfilm newspapers. To date, UW Libraries has digitized and uploaded over 28,000 pages to the Chronicling America website. Master copies of all microfilmed titles are currently held at the Wyoming State Archives and are available for UW Libraries to duplicate and digitize. Much of this microfilm was created during the National Newspaper Project, to standards compatible with the NDNP. In addition to Ricupero, the Wyoming Digital Newspaper Project team is composed of Rachael Laing, a library specialist and grant project specialist, and Madison Glenn, a UW student from Moorcroft. NEH is an independent federal agency created in 1965. It is one of the largest funders of humanities programs in the United States. NEH grants typically go to cultural institutions, such as museums, archives, libraries, colleges, universities, public television and radio stations, and to individual scholars. UW School of Nursing Welcomes New McMurry Chair of Mental Health Sherra St Clair Sherra St Clair has accepted a position as the new McMurry Chair of Mental Health at the University of Wyomings Fay W. Whitney School of Nursing. St Clair will oversee the integration of mental health into care delivery across programs in the nursing school. In this new position, St Clair will focus on education and practice to increase the quality and quantity of psychiatric mental health practices in care delivery. To accomplish this mission, she will work with other faculty members across programs throughout the school. She also will collaborate with key stakeholders around Wyoming to identify and assist in implementing best practices. St Clair will work toward expanding UWs Integrative Care Network through the Project ECHO program. ECHO is a revolutionary model that provides free online medical education clinics led by experts benefiting individuals, families, educators, case managers, administrators and health care providers. Her primary role as a full-time faculty member will be statewide service and community engagement. Dr. St Clair is passionate about addressing stigma, bias, and improving access and resources for mental health in Wyoming, says Sherrill Smith, dean of the nursing school. She is eager to engage in communications with the many professionals whose influence is integral to her focus. St Clair entered the nursing field after 20 years as a masters-prepared medical illustrator, where she created highly detailed, accurate illustrations and animations to teach health care providers and patients about medical procedures, anatomy, physiology, pathology, trauma and surgery. She currently practices patient care at HealthWorks, a federally qualified health center in Cheyenne, and teaches courses for UWs Doctor of Nursing Practice and Basic Bachelor of Science in Nursing programs. St Clair is a board-certified psychiatric mental health doctor of nursing practice and clinical assistant professor at the Fay W. Whitney School of Nursing. She has four years of inpatient psychiatric nursing experience and two years of outpatient experience as a doctor of nursing practice working with patients with mental illness, suicide ideation attempts, substance use and withdrawal. Health care providers and educators with questions can reach St Clair via email at sseifert@uwyo.edu or by phone at (307) 766-5402. Boulders that plunged from a mountainside rests among homes in Tlalnepantla, on the outskirts of Mexico City, when a mountain gave way on Friday, Sept. 10, 2021. A section of mountain on the outskirts of Mexico City gave way Friday, plunging rocks the size of small homes onto a densely populated neighborhood and leaving at least one person dead and 10 others missing. (AP Photo/Eduardo Verdugo) Former President Bill Clinton, left, former First Lady Hillary Clinton, former President Barack Obama, Michelle Obama, President Joe Biden, first lady Jill Biden, former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, Bloombergs partner Diana Taylor, Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., and Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., stand for the national anthem during the annual 9/11 Commemoration Ceremony at the National 9/11 Memorial and Museum on Saturday in New York. Aiden Locobon, left, and Rogelio Paredes look through the remnants of their familys home destroyed by Hurricane Ida in Dulac, La., on Sept. 4. Louisiana students, who were back in class after a year and a half of COVID-19 disruptions kept many of them at home, are now missing school again after Hurricane Ida. Denise Benjamin, owner of Miss Naturalista, at her new beauty store in Yacht Haven Grande on St. Thomas. remaining of Thank you for reading! On your next view you will be asked to log in to your subscriber account or create an account and subscribepurchase a subscription to continue reading. Minister Daryanani Leads Delegation to London International Shipping Week The Minister for the Port and Maritime Services, the Hon Vijay Daryanani MP, is in London this week to participate in London International Shipping week (LISW). He will be accompanied by John Ghio from the Gibraltar Port Authority and Dylan Cocklan from the Maritime Administration. This is the first key maritime conference to take place in-person since the COVID-19 pandemic. Minister Daryanani and his team look forward to engaging with major players across all sectors of the international shipping industry, with numerous meetings already lined up. He intends to convey a message of support to the Maritime industry with the intentions of bringing more business to Gibraltar. Minister Daryanani said: I am really looking forward to meeting the major players in the global shipping industry. Even with COVID-19 our port has functioned very well. We need to aim now at improving even further and look at new opportunities. I want to engage with those who have shown interest in doing business with Gibraltar and how we can make it easier for them. I am ex- tremely keen on marketing Gibraltar as a friendly jurisdiction to carry out business from. At the same time, Gibraltar is becoming one of the most important ports in the Mediterranean. When I took over as Minister for the Port last year I said we had huge potential and wanted to market the port aggressively. This is the start of that project. Even though I consider myself to be somewhat of a writer, I dont think I could ever adequately describe how sick I am of the divisiveness plaguing our country right now, and as it has been the past few years. Source: Xinhua| 2021-09-13 11:33:19|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close WELLINGTON, Sept. 13 (Xinhua) -- New Zealand is providing a further 3 million NZ dollars (2.13 million U.S. dollars) in humanitarian assistance to Afghanistan, Foreign Minister Nanaia Mahuta said on Monday. "There is significant humanitarian need in Afghanistan, with the crisis disproportionately affecting women and girls," Mahuta said in a statement. The United Nations has estimated that 80 percent of the quarter of a million people displaced in Afghanistan since May are women and children. "With the dangers that women and girls are facing in Afghanistan today, it is more important than ever to support the organizations that are delivering much needed humanitarian assistance and protection," said Mahuta. New Zealand is providing funding to UNICEF and the United Nations Population Fund. Both of these organizations are addressing urgent needs on the ground with a particular focus on supporting women and children, the minister said. New Zealand has joined two statements supporting the call to ensure the safety and human rights of women and girls, one at the Human Rights Council and the other a joint call by women political leaders to uphold and continue to advance equal rights and opportunities, she said. New Zealand's latest support comes after providing 3 million NZ dollars (2.13 million U.S. dollars) to the Red Cross and the UN Refugee Agency on Aug. 20. Enditem Source: Xinhua| 2021-09-13 15:19:50|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close COLOMBO, Sept. 13 (Xinhua) -- Sri Lankan Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa has urged closer international cooperation among all countries so that they can survive the COVID-19 pandemic and resume normal life, local media reported Monday. Speaking at the G20 Interfaith Forum in Bologna, in Northern Italy, Rajapaksa said the grave health crisis that the world is experiencing at this time underlined the bonds for all countries to get united. "COVID-19 makes no distinction among religions, nationalities and civilizations. It strikes a deadly blow to all humanity. In order to survive the pandemic and resume our lives once more, international cooperation needs to be strengthened," Rajapaksa said while addressing the forum. Vaccines and other protection, made possible by modern medicine, must be available across the globe, with firm arrangements in place for less affluent nations to be assisted by international organizations and countries with stronger economies. "It is a battle that has to be won, not by some, but by all," Rajapaksa said. The Sri Lankan prime minister further said that while it may be legitimate for countries to close their borders temporarily to contain the virus, isolation is not the answer. "One of the realities of the world in which we live is the free movement of goods, services, and people across national frontiers," he said. "Migration in search of a better life is challenged by conditions prevailing today, but employment opportunities on an equitable basis must continue to be available freely," Rajapaksa noted. The 2021 G20 Interfaith Forum is being held from Sept. 12 to Sept. 14 in Bologna under the theme "Time to Heal: Peace Among Cultures, Understanding Between Religions." Rajapaksa's office said he will meet other world leaders on the sidelines of the forum to strengthen bilateral ties with several nations. Enditem Source: Xinhua| 2021-09-13 16:22:07|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close ULAN BATOR, Sept. 13 (Xinhua) -- Mongolian President Ukhnaa Khurelsukh on Monday called on the private and public sectors to work together to eliminate absolute poverty over the next decade. Khurelsukh made the remarks at a consultative meeting of public and private organizations and investors under the theme of accelerating economic recovery during COVID-19 pandemic at the country's State House here. Khurelsukh said there is a need to increase incomes, limit rising prices, recover exports, and implement major projects and programs, noting that creating a new legal environment would be necessary to accelerate Mongolia's economic recovery, and transit from welfare to work, from mining to processing, and from imports to exports. "At least 30 percent of Mongolia's population of around 3.4 million is still poor. Therefore, let's set a goal to become absolute poverty-free country in the next 10 years," he said. He stressed the government must support wealth creators, businesses and investors and protect them from any risks. In addition, vaccines are the only way to prevent infections and save lives, the president said, expressing his condolences to the families of the victims of the coronavirus pandemic. Mongolia reported its first imported COVID-19 case in March 2020 and confirmed its first locally transmitted case in November last year. The Asian country has so far confirmed a total of 257,770 COVID-19 cases, with 1,046 related deaths. So far, 65 percent of the country's total population has received two doses of COVID-19 vaccines. Enditem Source: Xinhua| 2021-09-13 17:14:27|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close KATHMANDU, Sept. 13 (Xinhua) -- The damaged sections of the road stretching from the Nepali capital of Kathmandu to Tatopani bordering China have been repaired and maintained, facilitating timely trade for Nepal's festival season in October. "A few days ago, we completed the repair and maintenance work at the damage site near Liping stream too. With this repair, vehicles now can move up to the border point from Kathmandu," Bijaya Kumar Mahato, an engineer at local road office, told Xinhua. The COVID-19 pandemic has slowed down trade through the Tatopani-Zhangmu border point, a situation further exacerbated by the damage to the road caused by landslides and floods sparked by monsoon rains in the last three months, according to the Department of Road. While makeshift repair has been done in different locations, the section of the road washed out near Liping stream, which is very close to the border point, has remained unattended for the past three months. "Even though most importers may have already planned to use other routes to import goods from China targeting the Dashain festival, the resumption of vehicular movement may encourage other traders to choose this route," said Narad Gautam, chief officer at the Tatopani customs office. The Dashain festival, the most important festival of Nepali Hindus and Nepali people in the Hindu-majority country, will be celebrated from Oct. 7 over victory of deities over devils, followed by another Hindu festival -- Tihar, also known as the festival of lights. "The transportation fee is relatively lower compared to fare for bringing goods through the Rasuwagadhi-Kerung border point with China, so I have been importing goods through the Tatopani-Zhangmu border point," said Bikas Shrestha, an importer of fruits and spices from China. In the 2020-21 fiscal year that ended in mid-July, Nepal exported goods worth 1.01 billion Nepali rupees (8.67 million U.S. dollars) to China, while its imports from the northern neighbor stood at 233.92 billion rupees (1.99 billion dollars), according to Nepali central bank figures. Nepal-China trade through the Tatopani-Zhangmu border point stood at 5.84 billion rupees (49.52 million dollars) during the period, the bank said. Enditem Source: Xinhua| 2021-09-13 18:25:51|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close ULAN BATOR, Sept. 13 (Xinhua) -- Over 640,000 heads of livestock have been vaccinated against the deadly foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) in the western Mongolian province of Khovd, the provincial veterinary department said Monday. The FMD is a viral infectious disease that spreads among cloven-hoofed animals such as cattle, sheep and pigs. "Currently, 641,000 heads of livestock have been vaccinated against the FMD in our province. This means around 80 percent of all livestock that need to be vaccinated," the department said in a statement. So far this year, the highly contagious viral livestock disease has broken out in 10 of the country's 21 provinces, and more than 20,000 heads of livestock have been infected with the disease, according to the country's General Authority for Veterinary Services. Efforts are being made to reduce the spread of FMD and vaccinate high-risk animals in affected and suspected areas, the authority said. The livestock sector is a main pillar of the Mongolian economy with around 70 million heads of livestock in the country with a population of 3.3 million. The landlocked country is striving to develop its livestock sector by raising meat exports in a bid to diversify its mining-dependent economy. However, frequent outbreaks of livestock animal diseases such as FMD and mad cow disease are impeding the process. The country's meat exports have been suspended since June due to infectious animal diseases, according to the Mongolian National Chamber of Commerce and Industry. Enditem Source: Xinhua| 2021-09-13 20:00:22|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close DHAKA, Sept. 13 (Xinhua) -- Analysts in Bangladesh have expressed deep concerns over the politicization of the coronavirus origins probe, saying such heinous efforts to place politics over science would deter global efforts to tackle the COVID-19 surge. Nasim Mahmud, executive director of the Center for East Asia Foundation, told Xinhua that Western countries, especially the United States, are "ignoring the facts and putting the blame on China to cover up their own poor performances with COVID-19." The United States wants to turn the process of virus origins tracing into a political campaign against China, he said. The world should resist the U.S. attempt to politicize the pandemic, Mahmud added. Relevant countries and people should immediately end the politicization of any origins probe "out of their hidden political agenda because such practices are immoral, unpopular, and doomed to failure," he said. The World Health Organization's work plan for a second-phase origins study was inconsistent with the conclusions of a WHO-China joint study into tracing the virus' origins earlier this year, he said, noting that the plan was "politically motivated by targeting China and was against the spirit of science and cooperation." During the pandemic, Mahmud said, Bangladesh sent material support to China. Similarly, China has also sent material support and provided COVID-19 vaccines to Bangladesh. He said Chinese assistance has helped Bangladesh fight the pandemic and save precious lives. China has been helping countries around the world from the start control the pandemic in various ways, which is in the interest of all of humanity, said Mohiuddin Sarker, editor of the Dhaka Post, adding that all countries must unite to end the pandemic. "No country or organization should politicize this," said the Dhaka Post editor. Munshi Faiz Ahmad, former chairman of the Bangladesh Institute of International and Strategic Studies, said the U.S. attacking China over COVID-19 origins tracing is a manifestation of its habit of blaming others for its own harmful actions. China's recent call for the international community to urge the United States to assist in a transparent investigation of the origins of the coronavirus demonstrates China's "goodwill and positive intentions," he said. Enditem Source: Xinhua| 2021-09-13 21:57:29|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi meets with Cambodian Deputy Prime Minister Hor Nam Hong in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, Sept. 13, 2021. (Xinhua) PHNOM PENH, Sept. 13 (Xinhua) -- Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi and Cambodian Deputy Prime Minister Hor Nam Hong vowed to strengthen joint efforts towards stronger bilateral relations and closer cooperation in regional affairs. They made the remarks during their meeting on Monday as part of Wang's visit to Cambodia. During the meeting, Wang said China and Cambodia enjoy relations featuring an ironclad friendship and a community with a shared future, citing their strong and firm mutual support in jointly combating COVID-19, which he said has elevated the two countries' traditional friendship. China is willing to work with Cambodia to implement the important consensus reached between the leaders of the two countries, constantly advancing the building of the China-Cambodia community with a shared future in the new era, Wang said. Wang said that China is also willing to work with Cambodia to keep their communication in a flexible manner, strengthen mechanism construction for the China-Cambodia intergovernmental coordinating committee, boost coordinated exchanges and cooperation in various fields, and comprehensively implement the action plan for building a community with a shared future for both countries. He also called on the two countries to strengthen coordination and cooperation in international and regional affairs, jointly advocate the ASEAN centrality in regional cooperation, guard against interference by any forces outside the region in the regional countries' efforts for common development and prosperity. During their meeting, Hor expressed gratitude to China for its strong support for his country's efforts to overcome the pandemic and recover the economy, stressing that just as Prime Minister Samdech Techo Hun Sen has said, China has provided irreplaceable support for Cambodia and that the ironclad Cambodia-China friendship has taken root deep in the heart of the Cambodian people. He said Cambodia is willing to work with China to give full play to the intergovernmental coordinating committee and advance practical cooperation between the two sides to achieve more fruitful results. Cambodia supports accelerating talks on the Code of Conduct in the South China Sea between China and members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), reinforcing and boosting ASEAN-China relations to a high level and jointly safeguarding regional peace and stability, Hor said. The two sides also made in-depth exchanges on international and regional issues of common concern during their meeting. After Vietnam, Cambodia is the second leg of Wang's four-nation Asian tour which also takes him to Singapore and South Korea. Enditem Source: Xinhua| 2021-09-13 22:55:39|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close TOKYO, Sept. 13 (Xinhua) -- Yukio Edano, leader of the Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan (CDPJ), said the party sought to realize a discrimination-free society that respects diversity, local media reported Monday. He announced at a press conference the polices that the party would implement if it wins the general election, including offering married couples the option of keeping their surnames separate. According to the Justice Ministry, Japan is the only country in the world that has a law forcing married couples to share a surname, though the United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women has recommended that Japan change the system. The party also aimed to introduce a law to protect the rights of sexual minorities, help women subjected to domestic violence, and issue a ban on discrimination based on gender, nationality, and disability. In addition, it planned to review Japan's immigration system. The announcement of the policies comes as the leadership race of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) on Sept. 29 for picking Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga's successor takes center stage. "The LDP is dominated by adamant opposition (to such changes). Whoever becomes its president can not realize them. We must accomplish the change of power," Edano said. The CDPJ released last week its first set of pledges including working on a supplementary budget for assisting people hit by the COVID-19 pandemic, lowering the consumption tax rate, achieving a zero-carbon society without nuclear energy, raising the minimum wage, and opposing an amendment of the Constitution. Since the House of Representatives members' terms expire on Oct. 21, the general election in Japan will be held in the coming months. Enditem 14:40 | Cajamarca (Cajamarca region), Sep. 12. This delivery will take place within the framework of the decentralized measures implemented by the Government to combat COVID-19 and strengthen the immunization and health care system, which is at the service of the population. To date, more than 967,000 vaccines have been delivered to Cajamarca, and 927,000 doses are due to be supplied this month, of which 288,000 have already been delivered. Afterwards, Mr. Castillo will take part in a recognition event organized by the Municipality of Chota, which will be presided over by Mayor Werner Cabrera. On Monday, September 13, he is scheduled to participate in a ceremony marking the Day of Tacabamba Identity at Tacabamba's Main Square starting 8 a.m. The Head of State is in Puna village (Cajamarca region), where he is set to meet with district mayors from Chota Province today. In addition, he will meet with more than 180 Chota teachers at the Teacher's House in said locality. Likewise, the top official will participate in the opening of the National Autonomous University of Chota and will take a short tour of the new facility located in the city's main square. The event will take place at 11 a.m. On Sunday morning, the Peruvian leader paid a visit to the educational institution 10465 in Puna village , where he served as teacher before becoming the Head of State. According to the minister, the final destination of Guzman's remains shall be decided by the Public Ministry in accordance with the General Health Law, which provides that these should be delivered to a relative. However, he believes that the case must be analyzed carefully, as it involves a terrorist ringleader. "We have asked the Public Ministry to analyze the case carefully, not only considering the literal interpretation of the Law but also other aspects, such as public interest, common interest, and public order," Torres commented. "On the one hand is the interest of his followers; on the other hand is the interest of the entire country, which should prevail," he added. The government official affirmed that this event constitutes a very particular and extraordinary situation, given that Abimael Guzman is 'a genocide,' who cannot be buried like the rest of the people, in order to prevent his followers from paying a tribute. In light of this situation, he said, the decision should be based on the interpretation of the law in line with the Constitution and a rule in the Civil Code, which states that any act against public order is void. Furthermore, the Cabinet member claimed that the Executive Branch cannot intervene in the decisions of the Public Ministry, which acts on the basis of its autonomy. Remarks were made this morning in an interview with RPP radio and TV station. ?? #AHORA El titular del MINJUSDH, Anibal Torres, brinda entrevista a @RPPNoticias. pic.twitter.com/Si7wT67HmE Ministerio de Justicia y Derechos Humanos (@MinjusDH_Peru) September 13, 2021 In this sense, the Cabinet chief underscored that said citizens deserve better living conditions. "The Executive Branch has to continue working to support the terrorism victims who have not yet been assisted, who remain excluded, who have been forgotten by the State," Bellido stated. "We must continue to make efforts to create better economic conditions and opportunities for all our brothers, mainly for the victims of terrorism," he added. "The institutions in the country must be respected based on the constitutional rule of law. Whatever the decision (of the Public Ministry), the Executive Branch has committed to respect it, we cannot infringe it," he said. On the other hand, with regard to the vaccination process in the country, the high-ranking official urged Peruvians to receive the two doses of the COVID-19 vaccine, which must be a commitment of every citizen in order to overcome the pandemic. Bellido emphasized that every effort is geared towards reviving the economy for the country to move forward, despite the international situation caused by the coronavirus pandemic. His statements were made after getting the second dose of the vaccine against COVID-19 in Lima's Villa El Salvador district. ??AHORA l Titular de la PCM, @GuidoPuka , y ministro del @MinamPeru , reciben la segunda dosis de vacuna de Sinopharm contra la COVID-19 en Villa El Salvador. Ademas, supervisaran jornada de vacunacion. #VacunaFest https://t.co/kFL5RZqfjd Titular de la PCM, @GuidoPuka: Quiero recomendar a nuestros hermanos que se pongan las dos dosis. Hoy hemos recibido nuestra segunda dosis con el ministro @MinamPeru y eso debe ser un compromiso de todos los peruanos. pic.twitter.com/Y370cDdEpj In a meeting with people from Anguia district in Chota Province, the Head of State underscored that fighting the scourge of corruption is essential, as works and projects need to be executed for the benefit of the entire population in the national territory. "We will distribute the budget to regions, and we hope that population is organized. We are undertaking the real decentralization process in the country," he stated. "The population must pay attention to the budget funds that we will allocate to regional governments, as well as to provincial and district mayors," the top official remarked. He said the country will be able to move forward if people work with authorities and lend a shoulder, since the Government seeks to promote development to improve living conditions of all citizens. Addressing the population, President Castillo indicated that health and life have to be prioritized, hence the need to secure the supply of COVID-19 vaccines for the entire population and to unlock projects that need it so. "The budgets must reach the most remote communities, but transparently," the President said, noting that every act of corruption must be punished. The Peruvian leader affirmed that just as acts of corruption are rejected, terrorist acts which spread terror in the country for a long time are condemned and repudiated. El presidente @PedroCastilloTe, junto con los titulares de @viviendaperu y del @MTC_GobPeru, sostuvo un encuentro con la poblacion del distrito de Anguia, en Chota, Cajamarca. pic.twitter.com/E6YN0MDeA7 YEREVAN, SEPTEMBER 13, ARMENPRESS. The session of the Armenian Parliament kicked off on September 13. 3 issues are on the session agenda. The lawmakers are going to debate the election of a member of the Corruption Prevention Commission and a candidate for the judge of the Court of Cassation. The MPs will also debate the report on the activity of the Central Electoral Commission. Editing and Translating by Aneta Harutyunyan YEREVAN, SEPTEMBER 13, ARMENPRESS. The Hayastan opposition bloc wants to organize parliamentary discussions on the Azerbaijani militarys unlawful actions on the Goris-Kapan highway. Hayastan lawmaker Artsvik Minasyan said at the parliament session that the latest National Security Service statement on the situation didnt say anything. Since we are a parliamentary governing country, the Hayastan bloc is demanding to unconditionally find a format to organize a discussion, so that wed be able to eventually properly understand whats happening, especially then the NSS statement is now already entirely using Azerbaijani terminology, Minasyan said. Hayastan MP Gegham Manukyan asked Speaker Alen Simonyan whether or not the authorities are planning to respond to the proposal and summon the NSS director to parliament. The Speaker said hed look into it. As Arstvik Minasyan said, well discuss this issue in terms of format. I dont rule out that well accept it, he said. Editing and Translating by Stepan Kocharyan YEREVAN, SEPTEMBER 13, ARMENPRESS. Hayastan opposition bloc lawmaker Vahe Hakobyan is warning that Azerbaijan could cut off the town of Kapan from the rest of Armenia at any moment. The Azerbaijani side has set up a police checkpoint on the Vorotan road, he told reporters in parliament. Videos posted online show, and according to my information, the Azerbaijanis are stopping Iranian cargo trucks and are demanding some kind of a customs duty and then only allow them to proceed, Hakobyan said, adding that the Armenian National Security Services latest statement over the matter where the security agency described Vorotan by an Azerbaijani toponym is perplexing. What does this mean? Does this mean that little by little they want to make us think that indeed thats an Azerbaijani territory? According to Hakobyan, who served as Governor of Syunik in the past, today there is no other top priority issue than Syunik. The Azerbaijani side could cut off Kapan at any moment. The immediate ousting of Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan would be the solution to all problems, he said. Editing and Translating by Stepan Kocharyan STEPANAKERT, SEPTEMBER 13, ARMENPRESS. President of Artsakh Arayik Harutyunyan visited today the ministry of defense to introduce new defense minister commander of the Defense Army, Major-General Kamo Vardanyan to the top commanding staff of the Army, the Presidential Office reports. Arayik Harutyunyan wished success to the new minister and expressed gratitude to the former defense minister, Lieutenant-General Mikayel Arzumanyan for his long-term service in the Armed Forces. Thereafter, the meeting participants discussed issues relating to army-building. The meeting was also attended by secretary of the Security Council of Artsakh Vitali Balasanyan. Editing and Translating by Aneta Harutyunyan YEREVAN, SEPTEMBER 13, ARMENPRESS. New Ambassador of Belgium to Armenia Marc Michielsen (residence in Moscow, Russia) presented his credentials to President Armen Sarkissian, the Presidential Office reports. Congratulating the Ambassador on assuming office, the Armenian President expressed confidence that he will invest all efforts to further enrich and promote the agenda of the Armenian-Belgian relations. The Ambassador of Belgium noted that next year marks the 30th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between Armenia and Belgium and stated that such anniversaries are a good occasion to assess the past path and works, outline the future actions. According to the Armenian President, the diplomatic relations established between Armenia and Belgium 30 years ago have a great development potential and good opportunities to expand. The sides also discussed the bilateral agenda and the prospects of improving the economic cooperation and boosting the commercial ties. They specifically highlighted the great cooperation potential in science, education and biotechnologies. The President also highlighted the development of tourism between the two countries, mentioning the existence of direct air communication between Yerevan and Brussels as a key contributing factor. Editing and Translating by Aneta Harutyunyan YEREVAN, SEPTEMBER 13, ARMENPRESS. Minister of Foreign and European Affairs of Slovakia Ivan Korcok is arriving in Armenia on an official visit. The visit aims at further developing and deepening the bilateral relations and giving them a new quality. In a statement Armenias ministry of economy said that Slovakia is one of Armenias key partners in Europe, adding that Armenia is interested in expanding and deepening the cooperation with Slovakia in political, commercial, cultural and all other areas of mutual interest, both within bilateral and multilateral formats. The diplomatic relations between Armenia and Slovakia were established on January 14, 1993. In 2019 Slovakia decided to open a resident embassy in Yerevan, the opening of which took place on February 24, 2020. In 2020 the external trade turnover between Armenia and Slovakia comprised 17,669.0 thousand dollars. On November 30, 2004, the Parliament of Slovakia adopted a resolution on the recognition of the Armenian Genocide. Editing and Translating by Aneta Harutyunyan YEREVAN, SEPTEMBER 13, ARMENPRESS. Secretary of the Security Council Armen Grigoryan will visit the city of Dushanbe in Tajikistan from September 14 to 17 to participate in the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) joint meeting of the foreign ministerial, security council and defense ministerial committees. Bilateral meetings are expected as part of the visit, Grigoryans office said. Editing and Translating by Stepan Kocharyan YEREVAN, SEPTEMBER 13, ARMENPRESS. President of Armenia Armen Sarkissian addressed a message to US president Joe Biden on the occasion of the 20th anniversary of the September 11 terror attack, the Presidential Office reports. The message says: 20 years have already passed since the 9/11 terror attack in the United States. More than 3000 innocent people, including American-Armenians, were killed, and over 10,000 were injured. Our hearts still grieve for the innocent victims, and our prayers are with those who survived and with their families. Armenia strongly condemns all manifestations of terrorism and the violation of human values. We stand by the American people, in defense of ideas of freedom and peace. During the entire course of the history, suffering and tragedies have been the fate of our country, we know how unbearable that pain could be. We are convinced that we can fight jointly with all civilized nations against terrorism and evil. Terrorism and other harmful acts must not exist in our world. Armenia has already shown its commitment to supporting that international fight. The common history, values and visions are a firm base for the strengthening of the relations and the deepening of the cooperation between our countries. The Armenian-American relations have always been based on mutual respect, shared ideas and firm belief towards a more prosperous future. Editing and Translating by Aneta Harutyunyan YEREVAN, 13 SEPTEMBER, ARMENPRESS. The Central Bank of Armenia informs Armenpress that today, 13 September, USD exchange rate down by 0.97 drams to 491.88 drams. EUR exchange rate down by 3.41 drams to 579.98 drams. Russian Ruble exchange rate down by 0.03 drams to 6.74 drams. GBP exchange rate down by 3.75 drams to 679.93 drams. The Central Bank has set the following prices for precious metals. Gold price up by 44.66 drams to 28380.36 drams. Silver price down by 2.65 drams to 379.94 drams. Platinum price down by 141.39 drams to 15450.58 drams. YEREVAN, SEPTEMBER 13, ARMENPRESS. Hermine Stepanyan, a well-known actress, TV host and blogger, and designer Gayane Soghomonyan united their efforts to create a new Armenian brand - UNLIKE Fashion Outbreak. UNLIKE collection is made of high-quality fabrics, is in line with world trends and at the same time is affordable for the wider public. Starting from September 15, UNLIKE clothes which are now shown at Tpagrichner 4 showroom will be presented also in the "5 Concept" multi-brand store launched by Armenian designers. ARMENPRESS reports the brand's Facebook and Instagram pages are always available for those who prefer online shopping. According to Hermine Stepanyan, the co-founder of UNLIKE brand, she had great desire to contribute to Armenia's economic progress especially after the war. And the creation of high-quality and affordable Armenian production was what Hermine thought about the first. I have been working with designer Gayane Soghomonyan for years. I was thinking of developing another type of cooperation with Gayane after the creation of the capsule collection by Soghomonyan Fashion for the project Life is beautiful with Hermine Stepanyan. The COVID-19 pandemic and the painful events of 2020 in our country made me committed to an idea that we should find a new inspiration, recover and continue creating in our land. I talked to Gayane and we realized that we are ready to make a contribution into the Armenian fashion industry and the development of the field, says Hermine Stepanyan. They involved partners to support their startup - UNLIKE which is made for those who appreciate stylishly designed comfortable and affordable clothes. Gayane Soghomonyan, designer with more than 25-year-long experience in fashion industry, mentions that she has been sewing clothes for herself from the school years trying to look differ from her peers. I pursue the principle of emphasizing the uniqueness during my whole career and I try to express it in all my collections. You know I always smile during making UNLIKE clothes because our brand is about positive mood in bright colors, says Gayane Soghomonyan. Why UNLIKE? The founders of UNLIKE note that the whole team was actively involved in the creative process deciding on the brand name, the colors of the collection, the fabrics. The choice was made for UNLIKE which means different, diverse and incomparable. The name of our brand should be out of box, non-stereotypical, memorable, and why not, intriguing. This name is challenging in itself, thats completely about us; its our inspiration, different and original, added Hermine Stepanyan. UNLIKE Fashion Outbreak has also market expansion plans for the future. The customers are not only offered oversize clothes for each season, but also UNLIKE collection will be replenished with evening dresses in the near future. The Autumn-Winter collection will not be delayed. YEREVAN, SEPTEMBER 13, ARMENPRESS. The main stage of West-2021 military drills has kicked of at Mulinos shooting range in Russia. The Minister of Defense of the Republic of Armenia Arshak Karapetyan also followed the drills, carried out with combat firing. As ARMENPRESS was informed from the press service of the MoD Armenia, military units of the Western Military District of the Russian Federation, as well as military units from Armenia, Belarus, India, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Mongolia are involved in the main stage of West-2021 drills. Armenia participates in the drills with a battalion comprised of tank, motorized rifle and artillery units. The drills are based on the experience of the recent military operations, in particular, in the Syrian Arab Republic and the Artsakh Republic. New ways and methods for operations of joint forces have also been developed, reads the statement. The joint meeting of the Council of Foreign Ministers, the Council of Defense Ministers, and the Committee of Secretaries of the Security Councils of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) member countries will take place Wednesday in Dushanbe, the capital of Tajikistan, news.am informs. September 13, 2021, 10:55 CSTO joint meeting participants to adopt about 20 documents STEPANAKERT, SEPTEMBER 13, ARTSAKHPRESS: As a result of this joint meeting, it is planned to adopt more than 20 documents, RIA Novosti reported, citing the information department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Tajikistan. During the joint meeting, the delegations will exchange views on the military and political situation in the CSTO collective security regions. Also, the attendees of this meeting will hear the report by the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Armenia, Ararat Mirzoyan, on the priority domains of activities during the chairmanship of Armenia at the CSTO. Foreign Minister of Armenia Ararat Mirzoyan received today the delegation led by EU Special Representative for the South Caucasus and the crisis in Georgia, Toivo Klaar, the foreign ministry reports. September 13, 2021, 16:06 Ararat Mirzoyan and Toivo Klaar discuss regional security STEPANAKERT, SEPTEMBER 13, ARTSAKHPRESS: The Armenian FM and the EU Special Representative discussed issues relating to regional security. They emphasized the necessity for the comprehensive and lasting settlement of the Nagorno Karabakh conflict under the auspices of the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairmanship. The Armenian FM stated that the observation of the ceasefire regime, the quick and unconditional return of Armenian prisoners of war and civilian captives from Azerbaijan, as well as the refusal from anti-Armenian and militaristic rhetoric are important for the establishment of regional stability and security. FM Ararat Mirzoyan said the illegal presence of the Azerbaijani troops in the sovereign territory of Armenia, the conduct of military exercises in the Nagorno Karabakh conflict zone undermine the de-escalation efforts in the region. The meeting sides also exchanged views on the Armenia-EU partnership agenda. The Iranian authorities will resume the nuclear talks in Vienna soon. This is what Spokesperson for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Iran Sayeed Khatibzadeh told reporters today, adding that the government will try not to postpone the process, if possible, news.am informs. September 13, 2021, 17:52 Tehran to resume nuclear deal talks in Vienna soon STEPANAKERT, SEPTEMBER 13, ARTSAKHPRESS: According to the diplomat, Tehran clearly expects the other parties to adopt a realistic approach when they show up in Vienna. Iran wont assume any commitment that is beyond the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, he added. Since April, Iran and the international five (Russia, Great Britain, Germany, China and France) have been leading talks over restoration of the initial Iranian nuclear deal in Vienna. The parties are considering the lifting of US sanctions against the Islamic Republic of Iran, fulfilment of the commitments in the nuclear sector, as well as the return of the US to the JCPA. The representatives of the participating states to the JCPA are also holding consultations with American emissaries without Irans participation. In the initial period, the delegations had planned to end activities in late May and later in early June. Sema4 Chief Science Officer Gustavo Stolovitzky Gustavo Stolovitzky Joins Sema4 Gustavo Stolovitzky Joins Sema4 STAMFORD, Conn., Sept. 13, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Sema4 , an AI-driven genomic and clinical data intelligence platform company, today announced the appointment of Gustavo Stolovitzky, PhD, to the newly established senior leadership position of Chief Science Officer (CSO). Dr. Stolovitzky is a world-renowned expert in computational biology, disease modeling and nano-biotechnology, with over 25 years of experience in high throughput data analysis for biology and the application of technology to solve biomedical problems. At Sema4, he will have a key role in developing the strategic research direction of the company. We are extremely excited to have Gustavo joining the Sema4 team. His deep expertise in algorithm development and disease modeling along with his pioneering efforts at objective evaluation of algorithmic accuracy will be key to accelerating the development of our platform of algorithms to help researchers, health systems, providers, and patients translate the information contained in health data into actionable knowledge, said Eric Schadt , PhD, Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Sema4. Gustavo will lead the translation of the top-notch research done at our company into future Sema4 products and intensify our collaborative partnerships with health systems and the biopharmaceutical industry. Dr. Stolovitzky spent 23 years at IBM Research, where he was appointed IBM Fellow, the highest technical honor bestowed by IBM. His most recent role was the Founding Chair of the Exploratory Life Sciences Program at IBM Research and, previously, he was the Director of the Translational Systems Biology and Nanobiotechnology Program. Dr. Stolovitzky has authored more than 180 articles, reviews, and book chapters, and holds over 80 granted patents. He has made important contributions in the field of high throughput data analysis of cancer, neurodegenerative and inflammatory diseases, as well as quantitative modeling of key pathways in cancer biology. He is best known as the Founder and Chair Emeritus of the DREAM Challenges, an effort to bring rigor and reproducibility to algorithm development in life sciences through competition-driven problem solving. He nucleated a community of more than 25,000 researchers applying AI to biomedicine and championed the values of open science and data sharing. Story continues I am elated to join Sema4, said Dr. Stolovitzky. Sema4 has a research division composed of top-notch experts developing algorithms and models for precision medicine that I am truly excited to join. With them, and in close collaboration with other parts of the company, we will work tirelessly to make the promise of AI-powered data-driven precision medicine come true. Dr. Stolovitzky obtained his MS degree in Physics from the University of Buenos Aires, and his PhD in Engineering and Applied Sciences at Yale University. He completed his post-doctoral training at The Rockefeller University. Gustavo has earned several awards, including Yales Henri Prentiss Becton Award, HENAACs Pioneer Award, Argentinas Government Premio Raices and has been elected Fellow of several professional associations, including the American Physical Society, the American Association for the Advancement of Sciences, and the International Society for Computational Biology. About Sema4 Sema4 is a patient-centered health intelligence company dedicated to advancing healthcare through data-driven insights. Sema4 is transforming healthcare by applying AI and machine learning to multidimensional, longitudinal clinical and genomic data to build dynamic models of human health and defining optimal, individualized health trajectories. Centrellis, our innovative health intelligence platform, is enabling us to generate a more complete understanding of disease and wellness and to provide science-driven solutions to the most pressing medical needs. Sema4 believes that patients should be treated as partners, and that data should be shared for the benefit of all. For more information, please visit sema4.com and connect with Sema4 on Twitter , LinkedIn , Facebook and YouTube . Media contact: Laurie Leavy laurie.leavy@sema4genomics.com A photo accompanying this announcement is available at https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/c5566442-c33e-4c0b-b1cc-36051f67670f Taliban co-founder Abdul Ghani Baradar (pictured in Doha in July 2021) released an audio statement to squash rumours that he had been killed in a shootout between rival factions in Kabul (AFP/KARIM JAAFAR) The Taliban co-founder and now deputy prime minister of Afghanistan released an audio statement Monday saying he was alive and well after news of his supposed demise went viral on social media. Abdul Ghani Baradar, who was last week named as a number two to Mullah Mohammed Hassan Akhund, blamed "fake propaganda" for the death rumours in an audio message posted by the Taliban. Social media has been in a frenzy over the speculation -- particularly in India, where rumours swirled that he had been mortally wounded in a shootout between rival Taliban factions at the presidential palace. "There had been news in the media about my death," Baradar said in the clip. "Over the past few nights I have been away on trips. Wherever I am at the moment, we are all fine, all my brothers and friends. "Media always publish fake propaganda. Therefore, reject bravely all those lies, and I 100 percent confirm to you there is no issue and we have no problem." It was not possible to authenticate the message, but it was posted on official Taliban sites -- including that of the spokesman of the political office of the new government. The Taliban's supreme leader, Hibatullah Akhundzada, was also rumoured to have died for several years before the group's spokesman said he was "present in Kandahar" two weeks after they took power. Chatter in Pakistan and Afghanistan had suggested he had contracted Covid or been killed in a bombing. je-fox/mtp Kirby said all evacuees are receiving any necessary immunizations including for measles when they arrive in the U.S. He said they soon will be getting the immunizations at bases in Europe and the Middle East where evacuees are held prior to their flights to the U.S. The seven-day extension further complicates what has already been a difficult and frustrating process for evacuees fleeing Afghanistan and trying to get to the U.S. As many as 10,000 evacuees are at a temporary processing site at Ramstein Air Base in Germany, where there is a 10-day limit on their stay in the country. GENEVA The U.N. human rights chief says her office has received credible allegations of reprisal killings by the Taliban of former Afghan security forces, as well as instances in which officials in the previous government and their relatives were arbitrarily detained and later turned up dead. Michelle Bachelet, speaking on Monday to the Human Rights Council, warned of a new and perilous phase for Afghanistan as she criticized the Taliban for a disconnect between their words and actions. Ola Electric factory in Tamil Nadu is all set to become the world's largest facility for electric scooters. On Monday, Ola Electric CEO Bhavish Aggarwal revealed that it will also be the world's largest factory overall to be run entirely by women - 10,000 at full scale. Ola Electric facility is the home to the Ola Electric S1 and S1 Pro scooters. While phase one is near completion, at full capacity, it would be able to roll out two million units per year. It would cater to the demands in the Indian market as well as overseas, including the US where deliveries are scheduled to begin from next year. (Also read: Ola Electric scooter's purchase window now opens Sept 15) Taking to Twitter, Aggarwal announced that the entire facility will be powered by women. Aatmanirbhar Bharat requires Aatmanirbhar women! Proud to share that the Ola Futurefactory will be run ENTIRELY by women, 10,000+ at full scale! Itll be the largest all-women factory in the world!" he wrote on the micro-blogging site. (Also read: Step-by-step guide on how to purchase Ola e-scooter) Aggarwal further informed that the focus is on helping women in the country achieve work-parity with men. We have invested significantly to train and upskill them in core manufacturing skills and they will be responsible for the entire production of every vehicle manufactured at Ola Futurefactory," he informed. Enabling women with economic opportunities improves not just their lives but that of their families and indeed the whole community." |#+| The Ola Electric factory is spread over 500 acres of area and is a result of a 2,400-crore MoU signed with the Tamil Nadu state government in December of last year. The land acquisition for the plant was completed in January this year and the construction work began by late February. Once fully complete, Ola Electric says the facility will make use of 5,000 robots and automated guided vehicles, apart from the all-women workforce. The Ola S1 electric scooter - the company's debut product - has already been launched in the market at a starting price of 1 lakh (ex showroom). Deliveries are scheduled to begin from October for those who have reserved a unit using the online channel. The company, in fact, has no plans of having on-ground dealer network and will follow a direct-to-home sales channel. The S1 and S1 electric scooters have a range of around 120 kms and 180 kms, respectively. Ola Electric is claiming that the e-scooter hit 40 kmph in three seconds and has a top speed of 115 kmph. Available in 10 colour options, the e-scooter can be powered to 50% in 18 minutes using Ola Hypercharger points. Ola Electric is also aiming to establish and vastly expand charging infrastructure although Aggarwal believes establishing low-cost, slow-charging points in parking lots is the way forward. With European Union planning to ban the sales of cars with internal combustion engine by 2035, not every member country is interested in the policy. A recent report has said that Italy is trying to protect its supercar makers such as the Ferrari NV and Lamborghini SpA from the planned phase-out of combustion engine vehicles by 2035. However, Porsche doesn't seem to agree with Italy's stance. Porche CEO Oliver Blume told Bloomberg that if such an exemption is offered, it would be a mistake. According to him, it would be a wrong move on performance grounds since electric in the next decade will be unbeatable." In the report, he also suggested that companies like Ferrari NV should play their part as de-carbonising is a global concept and everyone needs to contribute towards it. (Also read | This nation is trying to shield supercars from combustion engine ban) Porsche recently declared that it will turn 80 percent of its vehicles into electric by 2030. The company has also ventured into the development and manufacturing of carbon-neutral fuels. It has joined hands with Siemens and other international companies to build an industrial plant in Punta Arenas in Chile for the production of eFuels. (Also read | Will mass adoption of EVs result in gridlocks galore? Report sends early message) Although Italy may be against the policy which is yet to become a law, supercar makers such as Lamborghini and Ferrari are stepping up to adopt electrification. A few months ago, Lamborghini announced that it will be investing $1.5 billion in developing hybrid and electric vehicles. This is the largest investment that the luxury carmaker has made to date. With the unveiling of Lamborghini Sian and Countach hybrid models, the company has started its play in the arena of electrification, but a full-fledged electric car from it might see the daylight in 2025. Ferrari too has its plans as the Italian automaker there are speculations that it may introduce a fully electric vehicle in 2025. Sokon Groups NEV unit Jinkang inks 5-year pact with CATL for power battery procurement Shanghai (Gasgoo)- Chongqing Jinkang New Energy Automobile Co.,Ltd. (Jinkang), whose majority shareholder is Chongqing Sokon Industry Group Stock Co.,Ltd. (Sokon Group), struck a deal on Sept. 9 to purchase 10GWh power batteries per year from CATL, according to Sokon Groups announcement. Under the agreement, from 2022 to 2026, the buyer (Jinkang) should make a request to the seller (CATL) at least six months in advance based on its own decision, and both parties should jointly determine the transaction volume of power batteries for the next year by signing an ancillary agreement. If the ancillary agreement was not signed, the duo will still execute the contract based on the 10GWh of annual trading volume. Sokon Group said signing the agreement is conducive to forming a long-run strategic partnership with CATL and guaranteeing a long-run stable supply of power batteries, and is of positive significance to building high-end intelligent electric vehicles. CATL said in a statement that inking the pact will help it develop a long-term strategic tie-up with Jinkang, and indicates that its product quality and manufacturing ability are recognized by the buyer. SERES SF5 Huawei Smart Selection; photo credit: SERES As the new energy vehicle (NEV) arm of Sokon Group, Jinkang is striving to build upscale intelligent vehicles and perfect relevant deployment of supply chain. The SERES SF5 Huawei Smart Selection, the first SERES-branded NEV model armed with Huaweis smart car technologies, hit the market at the Auto Shanghai 2021, and has gone into the phase of scale delivery. Sokon Group sold 3,565 NEVs in August, representing a 145.69% hike year on year and an 11.79% growth month on month, according to the company's latest monthly sales results. Its NEV sales amounted to 21,736 units for the first eight months, surging 116.47% from a year earlier. Xiaomi in talks with FAW Group, welcome to cooperate with Jilin companies Beijing (Gasgoo)- Chinas smartphone maker Xiaomi held in-depth talks with FAW Group about their cooperation when its founder visited Jilin province last week and had a meeting with the province's officials. Lei Jun meeting Jilin government officials; photo credit: Jilin Government On September 9th, Lei Jun, founder and CEO of Xiaomi met with Jing Junhai, the secretary of Jilins provincial party committee, and Han Jun, Jilins provincial governor. As a globally renowned enterprise, Xiaomi has vital research and development and production capability in consumer electronics and intelligent manufacturing, Jing Junhai said. In vehicle manufacturing field, Jilin can be a good partner for Xiaomi as the northeast province possesses a mature industrial base, robust scientific research strength, and ample talent reserve. The Jilin provincial government hopes Xiaomi to closely ride on the tide of electric, intelligent, connected vehicles, and the sharing of vehicles, further its cooperation with Jilins FAW Group and other local suppliers in the province. The government encourages Xiaomi to be an active player of Jilins modern automobile manufacturing system, integrating Jilins advantageous chain of industry, innovation, and talents. Together, Jilin Province and Xiaomi will gradually make breakthroughs in the industry and create a better future. As to Xiaomi, Lei Jun said it is essential to grasp the favorable opportunity to integrate auto industry and consumer electronics, giving full play to the companys technology innovation and ecology consolidation advantages. Xiaomi will initiate deep cooperation with local Jilin enterprises to build a solid foundation and produce high-quality auto products. Leijun also visited FAW Group. In fact, in 2018, the automaker established strategic cooperation with Xiaomi MIUI to build an internet ecology system which can create value for consumers. Car and City: July 2021 registrations of China-made Tesla vehicles Beijing (Gasgoo)- In July, insurance registrations of China-made Tesla vehicles slumped 68.44% month over month to 8,998 vehicles in China mainland, according to data from China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission (CBIRC). Compared with the same month of last year, locally-made Tesla-branded vehicles monthly registrations in July fell by 21.43%. For the first seven months of this year, the registration volume of locally-made Tesla vehicles surged 143% from a year ago to 140,759 vehicles, including 91,792 Model 3s and 48,967 Model Ys. In July, 7,690 individuals bought insurances for Tesla vehicles while another 1,303 new Tesla vehicles were registered by companies or institutes. Only 5 vehicles were for renting. For the first seven months of this year, the registrations by individuals amounted to 120,985, accounting for 86% of its total year-to-date registrations. Shanghai registered the most locally-made Tesla vehicles in July, accounting for 17% of the American brands monthly registrations. In July, Shanghai registered 1,081 Model 3s and 446 Model Ys respectively. Shenzhen ranked second by monthly registrations of locally-made Tesla vehicles, with 764 Tesla vehicles registered, only half of the volume of Shanghai. Beijing and Hangzhou followed with monthly registration reaching to 700 and 521 vehicles respectively. Xiaomi said to adopt dual-factory model, acquire Borgward plant Beijing (Gasgoo)- Xiaomi EV may adopt a dual factory production model, people familiar with the matter told a local media outlet. the Xiaomi EV team; photo credit: Xiaomi On the one hand, Xiaomi hopes to promptly gain production capacity and related certifications by acquisition. Meanwhile, it plans to build its own plant in a second location for stable production capacity. Sources said that the Beijing government is encouraging Xiaomi to acquire Borgward AG for production certification. Relying on the German Industry 4.0 intelligent manufacturing system, the Borgward plants designed capacity is 180,000 vehicles in phase one and 360,000 vehicles in phase two. This intelligent factory covers comprehensive vehicle-making techniques. Comparing to the rumored acquisition of BAIC BJEVs plant, taking over the Borgward brand is a far more feasible plan for its automaking layout. Notably, Borgward holds production licenses for both fossil-fueled and new energy vehicles. However, the production capacity of the Borgward plant obviously cannot satisfy Xiaomis $10 billion in 10 years investment plan. Lei Jun might adopt a multi-location layout pattern like other automaking startups such as Xpeng, Li Auto. The city of Wuhan, for example, has reached out to Xiaomi and pushing Xiaomi EV to settle in the city. According to official records, the Hannan industrial park of Wuhan has accommodated eight automakers and thirteen auto manufacturing plants, including Dongfeng Honda, Dongfeng Peugeot Citroen, Geely Lotus, and Xpeng. The industrial park focuses on territories like lithium-ion battery and fuel-cell battery development while serves as an ICV testing demonstration plot. Sources disclosed last week, Xiaomi EV will be releasing a new model each year three years after the debut of its first vehicle in 2024 and expects a three-year sales volume of 900,000 vehicles. The company may require one or more large-scale production plants with massive output capacity to meet its goal. China resolves to improve capability of auto chip supply Shanghai (Gasgoo)- China will make greater efforts to strengthen the coordination and precise connection of supply chain, in a bid to comprehensively improve the supply capability of automotive chips and ensure a stable and sound development of the automotive industry, Tian Yulong, Spokesman of China's Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT), said at a press conference on Monday. Journey 5; photo credit: Horizon Robotics Mr. Tian said the chip supply constrain is still a tough problem for the whole industry and will exist for a while. To enhance the ability of supplying automotive chips, Chinese government will take actions on three fronts. To be specific, to guarantee a stable run for supply chain, the government will encourage chip manufacturers to speed up the improvement of their supply capability and put alternative solutions into operation earlier. The problem can be ultimately solved only by optimizing the overall industrial chain deployment and building the capability of long-term and stable chip supply. Besides, to promote the sustained and sound development for automotive industry, China will adhere to the development directions of electrification, connectivity, and intelligence, especially accelerate the development of new energy vehicle (NEV) industry. To maintain an unimpeded industrial chain, China should strengthen global cooperation to stabilize domestic and overseas supply chain, said Mr. Tian. Gasgoo Daily: Anhui aims to make 3 million vehicles per year by 2025 With Gasgoo Daily, we will offer important automotive news in China. For those we have reported, the title of the piece will include a hyperlink, which will provide detailed information. China encourages NEV companies to consolidate Chinas new energy vehicle (NEV) companies should have a target to be bigger and stronger, Xiao Yaqing, Industry and Information Technology Minister said. There are too many NEV companies, small and scattered, so the government encourages companies to merger and reorganize through giving full play to the markets role. Onsemi raises product prices Onsemi will raise prices for a significant portion of its portfolio from October 1 on, the supplier said in a letter to its clients on September 10, citing increasing costs in raw material, manufacturing and logistics. Leapmotor to start delivery of C11 Customers can finalize the configuration of its Leapmotor C11 order between September 28 and October 10, before the deliveries start in October, Leapmotor said recently. Photo credit: Leapmotor Anhui aims to make 3 million vehicles per year by 2025 Anhui province aims to produce 3 million vehicles and export 600,000 vehicles per year by 2025, according to a document. New energy vehicles will account for over 40% of the provinces total production by that time. Zeekr sets up new firm in Shanghai Zeekr registered a new sales company in Shanghai with a registered capital of RMB10 million. The new companys business covers insurance service and fast charging stations. FAW VW delivers 3,516 ID. vehicles in August In August, FAW Volkswagen (FAW VW), one of Volkswagens joint ventures in China, sold a total of 3,516 ID. vehicles. Here, the number refers to AAK retail sales, namely the deliveries to consumers. Jinkang inks 5-year pact with CATL for power battery procurement Chongqing Jinkang New Energy Automobile Co.,Ltd. (Jinkang), whose majority shareholder is Chongqing Sokon Industry Group Stock Co.,Ltd. (Sokon Group), struck a deal on Sept. 9 to purchase 10GWh power batteries per year from CATL, according to Sokon Groups announcement. Continental AG, NXP and GAC join hands to create intelligent connected products Continental AG has formed a strategic partnership with GAC R&D Center and NXP Semiconductors to create a new generation of advanced intelligent connect products. Xiaomi in talks with FAW Group, welcome to cooperate with Jilin companies Chinas smartphone maker Xiaomi held in-depth talks with FAW Group about their cooperation when its founder visited Jilin province last week and had a meeting with the province's officials. NIO Capital invests in third-party SaaS charging platform YKC YKC, a Chinese third-party charging service provider, has completed its Series B2 funding round, which was invested by NIO Capital, the investment arm of the EV startup NIO, according to a post on YKC's WeChat account. Xiaomi said to adopt dual-factory model, acquire Borgward plant Xiaomi EV may adopt a dual factory production model, people familiar with the matter told a local media outlet. On the one hand, Xiaomi hopes to promptly gain production capacity and related certifications by acquisition. Meanwhile, it plans to build its own plant in a second location for stable production capacity. China resolves to improve capability of auto chip supply China will make greater efforts to strengthen the coordination and precise connection of supply chain, in a bid to comprehensively improve the supply capability of automotive chips and ensure a stable and sound development of the automotive industry, Tian Yulong, Spokesman of China's Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT), said at a press conference on Monday. Wuling brands first SUV model with global silver logo to go on sale soon Shanghai (Gasgoo)- The Wuling Asta ( named "Xingchen" in Chinese), the first strategic SUV model bearing Wuling brand's global silver badge, will hit the market on September 16, SAIC-GM-Wuling (SGMW) announced on Monday via its WeChat account. Unveiled at the Auto Shanghai 2021, the new model is Wuling brand's second new-era model after the Victory. It is likely to be priced between 80,000 yuan ($12,390) and 100,000 yuan ($15,490), according to a local media outlet. Positioned as a compact SUV, the Asta measures 4,594mm long, 1,820mm wide, and 1,740mm tall, and has a wheelbase spanning 2,750mm. Wuling Asta; photo credit: SGMW Following the design of the Victory MPV, the Asta features a trapezoidal grille with a wing motif and boomerang-shaped LED headlights. Like the Victory, the SUV model also carries a silver corporate logo for Wuling's global model range. At the rear, a light strip runs across the vehicle's width with the lettering WULING in the middle. Wuling Asta; photo credit: SGMW As for the interior, the Asta has a modern and minimalist two-tone cabin. The 10.25-inch floating display at the center console adds more technology sense for the vehicle. With a spacious cabin, the SUV is designed to provide a comfortable ride for people of different heights in each of the five seats. Powering the SUV is a 1.5-liter turbocharged engine that is good for 108kW, mated to a CVT. The automaker said it is able to zip from 0-100km/h within 10.6 second. China auto sales decline widens to 17.8% in August Beijing (Gasgoo)- Vehicle sales in China declined for a fourth consecutive month in August, according to data from the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers (CAAM). Last month, new vehicle sales in China declined 17.8% from a year ago to 1.799 million vehicles and dropped 3.5% from the previous month, and also decreased 8.2% when compared with the same month of 2019. The monthly production volume was down 18.7% year on year and 7.4% month on month to 1.725 million vehicles. In July, the sales decrease was 11.9%. By the end of August, China has produced a total of 16.166 million vehicles for this year, increasing by 11.9% year on year while the year-to-date sales grew by 13.7% versus the same period of last year to 16.556 million vehicles. Compared with the same period of 2019, sales and production of the first eight months were up 1.3% and 2.7% respectively, 2.1 percentage points and 1.5 percentage points less compared with the first seven months. Worldwide chip shortage continued to influence the production and sales of passenger vehicles in the largest auto market. In August, China made 1.497 million and sold 1.552 million passenger vehicles, representing a respective decrease of 11.9% and 11.7% from a year earlier, 1.2 percentage points and 4.7 percentage points more than July. Automakers passenger vehicle inventory declined 5.2% from 476,000 vehicles at the beginning of the month to 452,000 vehicles at the end of the month. Chip shortage also dented the production of luxury vehicles, whose monthly sales dropped 13.9% year on year to 245,000 vehicles. By the end of August, the year-to-date luxury vehicle sales amounted to 2.236 million vehicles, jumping 29.2% from a year ago, 13.2 percentage points more than the overall passenger vehicle segments change. Local Chinese brands continued to gain more market share in passenger vehicle segment. In August, Chinese brands sold 704,000 vehicles, representing a year-on-year increase of 6.8%. Their market share increased by 7.8 percentage points to 45.3% in August, while the share of the year-to-date sales occupied 42.8% of the countrys total passenger market, up by 6.5 percentage points. Monthly production and sales of commercial vehicles were 229,000 and 247,000 respectively, down by 46.2% and 42.8% year on year and down 27.5% and 20.9% month over month. The growth of year-to-date production and sales narrowed by 7 and 7.4 percentage points respectively to only 0.6% and 5.5%. The association expects the annual sales of commercial vehicle will see negative growth this year. Monthly new energy vehicle (NEV) production and sales surpassed 300,000 vehicles for the first time. According to the association, the monthly sales of NEVs jumped over 180% year on year to 321,000 vehicles, including 265,000 battery electric vehicles and 56,000 plug-in hybrid electric vehicles. In the first eight months of this year, NEV sales accounted for nearly 11% of the total sales with year-to-date sales reaching 1.799 million vehicles. With the strong momentum, the country is likely to realize the target that NEV will account for 20% of the total market share by 2025 ahead of schedule, the association said. Gasgoo Daily: Asias largest Tesla delivery center opened in Beijing With Gasgoo Daily, we will offer important automotive news in China. For those we have reported, the title of the piece will include a hyperlink, which will provide detailed information. Asias largest Tesla delivery center opened in Beijing On September 9th, Asias largest single Tesla starts to operate a delivery center in Xiedao, Beijing, with 12,000 square meters, Teslas largest one in Asia, making it the first Tesla center in Beijing that integrates sales, deliveries, and leisure for a high-efficiency service experience. the Xiedao delivery center; photo credit: Tesla BYD reaches strategic agreement with the government of Henan Province On September 9th, a strategic agreement was made between BYD and the government of Henan Province. BYD will further their partnership in the auto and electronic component field, NEV promotion, PV storage and integration, and smart traffic system. The partners will push Henans modernization by the synergetic development of talents innovation, digitization, intelligent manufacturing, and green energy. Li Auto opens second retail center in Hefei Li Auto opened another retail center at the Yintai shopping center, in Hefei, Anhui Province. Great Wall Motor enters into partnership with Chongqing Expressway Group On September 9th, Great Wall Motor joined hands with Chongqing Expressway Group in a strategic partnership to co-develop the auto and traffic integration, shine a new light on both industries, and better assist the development of the belt and road initiatives. Aiways U6 gets green light for production In a document from MIIT, the Aiways U6 EV was granted permission to be produced. The testing and mass production progress are on track for the U6. Shanghai to launch policies to shore up FCV industry development Shanghai plans to issue policies to support the development of fuel cell vehicle (FCV) industry, Qiu Wenjin, Deputy Director of Shanghai Municipal Development & Reform Commission, said on Sept. 9 at a press conference. Beijing Hyundai denies selling plant to Xiaomi Insiders of Beijing Hyundai stated that the rumored sale of the companys second plant in Beijing to Xiaomi is false report, as the company has no such plans, a local media outlet reported. The rumor was also denied by Beijing Hyundai and Hyundai China. China auto sales decline widens to 17.8% in August Vehicle sales in China declined for a fourth consecutive month in August, according to data from the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers (CAAM). NIO Chinas two Hefei-based subsidiaries record growth in registered capital The registered capital of NIO Automobile (Anhui) Co.,Ltd., a wholly-owned subsidiary of NIO Holding Ltd., increased by 3 billion yuan ($464.684 million) to 9 billion yuan ($1.394 billion) on September 8, according to the business information provider Qichacha. Chery Holdings YTD exportation volume skyrockets 163% YoY Due to the worldwide chip shortage, Chery Holdings sold 67,182 vehicles in August, edging up only 3.3% yearly. From January to August, the groups auto sales cumulated to 575,597 vehicles, up 61.6% compared to the same period of last year. GAC Group says thermal efficiency of its first hydrogen engine expected to hit 44% GAC Group announced on Sept. 9 its first self-developed hydrogen engine was successfully ignited a few days ago, indicating that the company has ushered in the zero-emission era for engines. Hesai partners with Neolix for self-driving vehicle application in new retail Chinas advanced LiDAR technology leader, Hesai Technology, has joined hands with Neolix Technologies, an unmanned vehicle startup, in a strategic agreement. Per the agreement, Neolix will purchase Hesais LiDAR solutions and put them to use on the companys driverless vehicles. Xiaomi said to debut first car in 2024 Tech giant Xiaomi plans to debut its first EV model in 2024, sources close to the matter told a local media outlet. Xiaomi EV will be releasing a new model each year three years after the debut of its first vehicle in 2024 and expects a three-year sales volume of 900,000 vehicles. Xiaomi Group gave no comment regarding the matter. October 5 will be a 50th anniversary showing of Peter Bogdanovichs first film, The Last Picture Show. This sad and moving classic, adapted from Larry McMurtrys small Texas town coming-of-age novel, was nominated for eight Oscars and won two for veteran actors Ben Johnson and Cloris Leachman in unforgettable supporting roles. We commemorate Disability Pride and Heritage Month with a 2021 Oscar winner, The Sound of Metal. Riz Ahmed was Oscar nominated as Best Actor for portraying Ruben Stone, a heavy metal drummer who struggles to navigate life and find his identity as he begins to lose his hearing. The film has been heralded as an evocative look at the experiences of the deaf community. With six Oscar nominations it won for Best Editing and Best Sound thanks to director Darius Marder presenting the world from drummer Stones point of view. In the 1970s, only about one out of every 200 films was directed by a woman. Our November 50th anniversary movie was written and directed by and stars Elaine May who co-stars with Walter Matthau in her debut film, A New Leaf. This rarely-screened film is one of the funniest movies ever, and which film critic Roger Ebert described as hilarious, and cockeyed, and warm. 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Ireland Uruguay, Eastern Republic of Uzbekistan Vanuatu Venezuela, Bolivarian Republic of Viet Nam, Socialist Republic of Wallis and Futuna Islands Western Sahara Yemen Zambia, Republic of Zimbabwe Brown said she did a little bit of everything under the department's umbrella, including running focus groups, helping to develop a new website for the organization, and calling foster students to inform them of available scholarships. "It was rewarding," she said. "It was great to learn that I could make an impact in the lives of other students." Since its inception in 2017, AJAY has helped secure real world job experience and training with the help of more than 40 area employers for more than 100 students through its Helena Area Summer Jobs Program. "Every year, we've seen growth and increasing demand from our employers, our students and our community," Rowley told the crowd of mostly participants and family members during the ceremony Thursday at Performance Square. "And this year, we were able to expand and include East Helena and Townsend as well." The nearly 60 teens who participated were placed in paid positions at more than 30 businesses. Kelly Cresswell is the executive direct of Reach Higher Montana. Cresswell's organization has sat on the jobs program's steering committee and hired its interns for the past two years. Finding ceramics like that is rare in Wyoming, but also valuable as one of the best artifacts for determining ancestry. These things are really distinct, and you can track them across time and space to see how those different finds change through time, Pelton explained. Our first research priority is getting some radiocarbon dates on some charcoal, and maybe animal bone, with some of those ceramics. Another thing found this summer during the public excavation was obsidian, which almost certainly came from the Crow component at Medicine Lodge. Obsidian is distinct from all the preceding 12,000 years of prehistory at Medicine Lodge Creek, he said. The great thing about obsidian is that you can source it precisely to specific outcrops, so we will know now where these people carrying Crow-style pottery into Medicine Lodge Creek came from. It is probably somewhere in Yellowstone, it could be Teton Pass or it could be all the way over in Idaho. Pelton said his office will likely do another public excavation in the summer of 2022. The key is finding a site that is accessible to the public and safe for people to gather. If you are a general, a governor, or a business owner, one would think that protecting your troops would be a top priority. Your troops are your soldiers, your citizens, your employees, and co-workers. Of course, freedom and liberty are important, but one must put the actual life of our fellow humans into that equation. Anti-maskers and anti-vaxxers are spreading COVID. Does a true leader let her/his neighbors get ill and die? Our governor is not a true leader and he obviously does not believe in science. I did not realize that was an option. Viruses kill people whether we believe in them or not. At least 1,830 fellow Montanans have died of COVID as of Sept. 10, whether they believed or not. Joe Biden did not want to mandate vaccines to show his power and ego. He did it to protect his troops us. The president had to override the Republican fake news and alternate facts and go with science. This pandemic is still around because of GOP misinformation. Two of my Great Falls pals, both fully vaccinated, caught a breakthrough case of COVID while lunching at a Great Falls bar. Come to find out said bars owner would not allow his staff to wear masks. How exactly is this good for business or Montanas economy? North Dakotas taxable sales and purchases in the second quarter of this year were up more than 21% from the same three months last year, when the coronavirus pandemic was in its infancy. Taxable sales and purchases for April, May, and June of 2021 totaled $5.3 billion, according to Tax Commissioner Ryan Rauschenberger. As we remember, the state was greatly impacted by the coronavirus pandemic in the second quarter of 2020, Rauschenberger said. The increases we are now seeing a year later show positive economic growth as the economy stabilizes. I am cautiously optimistic that the economy will continue to grow, despite the statewide drought and continuing impacts of the pandemic. Thirteen of the 15 major industry sectors reported increases in taxable sales and purchases when compared to the second quarter of last year. The food services sector increased 42% and the retail sector about 12%. Mining and oil extraction was up about 8%. "As pre-pandemic activity returns, taxable sales are rebounding to more normal levels, Rauschenberger said. Bismarck saw an over-the-year jump in taxable sales and purchases of 19.4%. The state's three other large cities also saw increases -- 14.7% in Minot, 23.4% in Grand Forks and 35.5% in Fargo. The summer of poor air quality in North Dakota may be coming to an end. The air quality first deteriorated in early July, but it improved by late August and has largely stayed better with the exception of a hazy day last Friday. The outlook hinges in part on the weather over the Northern Rockies in the Western United States, and it's possible North Dakotans could still see a few days more of haze this month. "I imagine it's going to take the first few snowfalls out there in the higher terrains where these fires are raging to really knock these fires down," said Zack Hargrove, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Bismarck. Some of those areas already have seen winter storm alerts. Nevertheless, fires are still burning out West. Whether their smoke reaches North Dakota depends on weather patterns and the wind, said Jim Semerad, director of the Division of Air Quality with the state Department of Environmental Quality. "We have had some other years when we have been affected by wildfire smoke but to our recollection we have never seen anything to this extent," said Semerad, who has monitored air quality within the state since 1984. Cheryl Leach works in the countys human resources department and is involved in the cemetery project. They had quite the elaborate plan, she said of the cemeterys founders. I think it actually would have been had it come to fruition. At least some of the design seems to have panned out. Aerial photos taken in recent weeks to aid in cemetery research show circular scars in the field not easily visible at ground level. The booklet states that 10 acres were to be used for Catholic burials. The cemetery was abandoned, however, by 1905. Members of the association that took care of it moved away or died, but local historians who worked on the booklet in the 1970s wondered what, exactly, had happened. It is one of the imponderables of Greenwood Cemetery, the booklet states. The cemetery has drawn headlines several times over the years in The Bismarck Tribune. A rancher sought to acquire the land in 1974, prompting the Morton County Commission to threaten legal action. The rancher later withdrew his request, and the commission vowed to restore the cemetery but didnt follow through on those plans. The state issued a construction permit in 2018. Dirt work took place at the planned site of the refinery several years ago but the facility itself has not yet gone up. Meridian cited several reasons for the delays, including lawsuits filed by environmental groups over the permitting process, as well as the coronavirus pandemic, which led to a downturn in the oil industry last year. Project financing has been delayed in part by the effects of COVID, which are still having an impact on economic activity and supply chains globally and on the oil and gas industry and Meridian specifically, Meridian Chairman and CEO William Prentice wrote to the state last month. Environmental Quality has said dirt work alone is not enough to keep the permit active. Construction of the physical refinery either needed to begin at the site or elsewhere if components of the facility were to be built in another location and shipped to North Dakota. Or, the company could show that it had entered into a major construction-related contract. The state last granted an extension of the permit in June. The permit would have expired this past Sunday had officials determined that Meridian had not met the conditions needed to keep it active. SB 8 recently went into effect in Texas and is the most dangerous abortion legislation in our nations history. It strips away access to our constitutionally protected right of having a safe and legal abortion. This law is a full-scale assault on patients, health care providers, and our constitution. It is designed to intimidate lawful citizens by using the civil courts to blur the 4th, 5th, and 6th amendments. This is unjust, unfair, and un-American. This gross constitution-busting bill is giving us a mere glimpse into the deep tar pit of what is now accepted as proper and ethical legislation presented by our elected officials. In nearby states, weve seen attacks on family planning and access to contraception. If the goal is to prevent abortion, why remove solutions? In North Dakota we have seen politicians block funding for vital sex education programs wasting taxpayer money to fight against common sense. Policies like SB 8 exacerbate health inequities by harming people with low incomes and those living in rural areas. I'm sure we've all heard the argument presented how welfare recipients are such giant burdens on our taxes. How is forcing people, who are already disadvantaged, to have more children going to relieve this supposed strain? The NSL [is] the biggest damage to the whole industry, former Apple Daily journalist Elvin Yu told ABC. Nobody is safe. [] Hong Kong pro-democracy news service Apple Daily shut its doors on June 24, but the ripple effects from the Chinese Communist Partys attack on the free press continue to reverberate. Seven former Apple Daily employees have been charged under the citys National Security Law, or NSL, which bans what the government deems to be acts of secession, subversion, or terrorism. Former Apple Daily employees spoke out about their concern on the deterioration of freedom in Hong Kong in an interview with Australian Broadcasting Corporations 7.30 program. Kai Lai Leung, Alvin Chan, and Elven Yu, three former reporters still living in Hong Kong, have either remained in the journalism field or fled to another career in order to protect their safety. Remaining in Hong Kong is not an option for all ex-Apple Daily employees, as some safety concerns are so great that pro-democracy journalists have fled the country. The NSL [is] the biggest damage to the whole industry, former Apple Daily journalist Elvin Yu told ABC. Nobody is safe. Yu left media after Apple Dailys closure, and he predicts more media outlets will be forced to close. Merely speaking out against the increasingly authoritarian government dynamics in Hong Kong is dangerous. Some of ABCs questions could not be answered by the journalists because of the risk it presents to their lives as citizens of Hong Kong. The three journalists interviewed described being afraid for their lives or the lives of people they know because of their involvement with Apple Daily. Hong Kong authorities are increasing the number of arrests made under the NSL, intimidating individuals, social groups, and businesses. The 26-year-old newspaper shut its doors after Hong Kong police raided its headquarters and froze its assets, arresting chief editor Ruan Law and four others in the process. The raid resulted in Apple Dailys final edition that same week, in which it sold 1 million copies. Former Apple Daily reporter Alvin Chan is one of the few who continued work as a journalist after his time at Apple Daily was cut short. What Hong Kong people [are] going through, as a journalist, this is a very precious chance for me to walk with them, he said. Nine people associated with Apple Daily have been arrested under the NSL. In addition, since its implementation in June 2020, over 150 people have been arrested for violating it. And the number continues to grow. Seven of the nine arrested are convicted, including long-time Acton friend and founder of Apple Daily, Jimmy Lai. The Hong Kong government has been especially harsh on Lai, and he is currently serving a 14-month prison sentence on conspiracy to provide funding to a protest group, which then lobbied foreign forces to impose sanctions against China. He is also charged with participating in unauthorized assemblies namely, the 2019 pro-democracy protests, which sparked the passage of the NSL. Lai could face up to life in prison. It is our responsibility as journalists to seek justice. As long as we do not let evil get its way through us, we are fulfilling our responsibility, Lai said in a letter sent to his colleagues from prison. Some countries, including the United States, have publicly imposed sanctions on the Chinese figures and the government. The Biden administration announced last month that it would extend a safe haven to Hong Kong residents, recognizing the citys undermining of democratic freedom and the danger it presents to its citizens. Hong Kong politicians continue to turn a blind eye to the deterioration of human rights. Paul Tse, a pro-Beijing politician in Hong Kongs legislative council, claims Apple Daily is guilty of inciting other countries, foreigners, to sanction Hong Kong, to sanction the Chinese government, to do this and that, in a way to topple the Hong Kong administration. Like most other national security laws elsewhere in Australia, in the U.S. or what have you, these laws are meant to be tough and meant to be very extensive, he told ABC. Hong Kong elites are unphased by the complete refusal of consideration to Hong Kong citizens collective pleading for a democratic system, which was promised when sovereignty was handed over from British rule to the Peoples Republic of China in 1997. The one country, two systems deal was meant to offer some autonomy to Hong Kong, but the Hong Kong government would rather offer a pseudo-autonomous policy to maintain as much control as possible. Hong Kong society moves further from the democratic ideals it once respected. With the respect of democracy gone, so too is its respect for its people. The three journalists have firsthand experience of a media environment that is rapidly deteriorating. If the past year under the NSL is any indication of the kind of society Hong Kong elites promote, freedoms of speech, press and expression have no chance of thriving. To fully understand the impact and future of Taliban, it is crucial to be cognizant of the varieties of Taliban and the power dynamics among their extremist rivals, such as al-Qaeda and ISK. [] The dramatic return of the Taliban to Kabul has consequences beyond the borders of Afghanistan. The Taliban are not the most popular group in Afghanistan but they certainly are the most feared, with enough force at their disposal to impose their dogmatic version of Islam over the country. It is yet to be seen how much they have changed since they last ruled Kabul two decades ago. While little has likely changed in terms of ideological worldview, their tactics and strategy have surely evolved. How they perform in their second iteration could impact politics as well as religious practices in many of the Muslim majority states. One thing is for sure. The revival of the Taliban is echoing dangerous sirens across South and Central Asia, once again elevating fears about terrorism. Legitimate concerns and questions exist about Taliban cohesion, their inability to control their international border, and the audacity of their new rivals, such as terrorist Islamic State Khorasan (ISK). So far, the Taliban are admittedly not sounding as harsh as before, especially in regard to their treatment of Muslim and non-Muslim minorities and their support of womens education. This has inspired some observers to argue that the new Taliban are a relatively reformed version of their old selves. Some Taliban foot soldiers who tried to act brutally were admonished (if not punished) and a Taliban spokesperson went to the extent of apologizing for their earlier excesses. While saying they aspire to convince people to follow Islamic practices (such as dress code for women), they have also said they will not enforce anything through harsh measures. This could very well be an attempt to assuage international opinion while they attempt to establish control and gain some legitimacy. Of course, authoritarianism and religious rigidity doesnt disqualify them from earning international recognition, as so many other nations seem to survive (and even thrive) with such peculiar credentials, especially in Middle East. To fully understand the impact of Taliban, it is crucial to be cognizant of the varieties of Taliban and even their extremist rivals, such as al-Qaeda and ISK. Next door in Pakistan, Talibans sister organization, Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), is already showing signs of resurgence. It is a terror conglomerate with various shades of extremism, ranging from anti-Shia and anti-Sufi sectarian thugs to Kashmir-focused militants. TTP was largely dismantled from Pakistan through a sustained military campaign since 2014, but the success of the Afghan Taliban is a gift that has offered TTP a new lease of life. It is ironic that Pakistan has facilitated the return of the Taliban to Kabul, and in more ways than one. But religious extremists in Pakistan are now feeling more empowered and are bound to advocate that Pakistan follows the Afghan Taliban model. Given its pro-democracy leanings, Pakistan society is unlikely to take this demand very seriously, but the radicalization of society will be a logical outcome. The puzzle of ISK poses another major challenge. As an ideological extension of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, it draws from the most extremist cadres of the Afghan and Pakistani Taliban. It is worth remembering that ISK has conducted some of the most devastating attacks in the Afghanistan-Pakistan region, surviving in the face of U.S. airstrikes, counterterrorism operations by Pakistan, and ideological rivalry with the Afghan Taliban. The Taliban are likely to push back hard against ISK, but as they know well, ISK is capable of conducting their own terror operations, as evident from their recent suicide attack at the Kabul airport entrance. ISK can pursue targeted killings of Taliban leaders and disrupt the Taliban project. To push ISK back, the Taliban have to be cognizant of their ideological base, and may return to their more radical activities to dampen attraction for ISK. By extension, if Taliban leaders start sounding too moderate in their approach, it is the hardcore fighters who will start defecting and boosting ISK cadres. Talibans primary claim to legitimacy is its ideological outlook, and last time they ruled Afghanistan, they earned political capital from being seen as deliverers of swift justice crude justice! Difference of opinion was interpreted as a sin and minorities were brutally crushed. Music was banned and historical monuments were destroyed. Can they disown their past without categorically distancing themselves from those policies? It also comes down to governance capabilities and living up to peoples expectations about their basic needs. Lets admit a hard fact: The international community failed Afghanistan time and again. In the case of U.S. tax dollars alone, what exactly do we have to show for our one trillion dollars? Yes, al-Qaeda was dismantled from Afghanistan, a new military was raised (hard to locate today) and, to an extent, a new generation of Afghans with hopes of a bright and peaceful future were empowered (mostly those living in urban centers). But building sustainable and accountable institutions requires much more. Can the Taliban do it differently and more efficiently? Can they govern Afghanistan better? Its quite unlikely. How will they tell their rank and file that now that they are in government they plan to moderate their views about religious ideals and values? It will be a daunting task, but for many in the region and globally, it will be the Talibans defiance and rigidity that will be seen as inspiring and worth emulating. For the Taliban to be successful, they will have to give up being the Taliban. Thats a very hard ask! We must also recognize that shifting the lens from guns and graveyards to potential and peace is a burning desire of the people of the region. In the land of poets, mystics, and melodies, peace is not and cannot be impossible. ADDITIONAL COMMENT WITH MY IMMIGRATION LIFE A letter to CBC reporter Good morning Joel. Glad to chat with you on the phone last week. And I appreciated of your concern, which I am trying my best to let you more clearly and transparently to see an immigrant who is specially selected by Canadian Immigration officer who believed my skill would be beneficially to Canada, which how I am struggling and personally experiencing our Canadian systems from medical, justice, civil & criminal, administration as College du Quebec, Burreau du Montreal, Burreau du Quebec, Chief of MUC Police, Chief of Prosecutor, RCMP, Human Rights Commission, Ombudsman, government of municipals, provincials, and federal by mayors, provincials of prime ministers, and several of federal prime ministers. Also by majority social medias as CTV, CBC, GLOBAL, GAZETTE, & etc. As I mentioned to you that I am keep knocking since the day my first wife Cuiqin Ren who incidentally died that related with mentioned above of certain systems from year 1995, which I received great comment from CBC in Montreal, the reporter on the meeting I attended who told me that "I really feel sorry bout whatever you suffered and experienced, because your issues are too sensitive, and that's why most of social medias don't want to involve. At the time one of the reporter from Gazette (he has the office in the courthouse of Montreal) who was specialized with the court cases, and he told me that he is watching my cases, but to the end I didn't hear anything from him. You are the only one who are fully investing your time, your energy and your professional knowledge to dick-out my life story, and willing to let the majority Canadian society to know the truth of such kind immigration life we are dealing with. I joined several Chinese community WeChat groups, and I received many comments from people; they all congratulated saying I am the lucky guy who is finally gain attentions by CBC. And I totally understand reason why because even myself I was keep knocking for 25 years long, which many others are still keep knocking, which still didn't have results yet. And that's also the great reason for me to spending a lot of times to working with you, for me, and for the others although I have so many things need to taking care of. As I multiply mentioned that although it might too later to straight-out my issues, which it still worth for all the sufferness I am receiving and dealing with. Yesterday we had a video call meeting regarding every members who has the legal & justice issues in the WeChat group of "MUTUAL AID LEGAL SUPPORT GROUP", several members wish if I able to help them to address their issues to CBC. I knew you are extremely busy with your duties, and I am wondering if your colleagues or other work teams might have chance to look at? The reason why I beg you if your colleagues or other teams who able to look at because the a great example of myself, the social status, the language, that all be the major issues for our Chinese immigrates to having hard time to communicate with Canadian systems and social medias. Somehow language barrier is the big issue for us. And that is the another reason to encourage me to reform the "UNITED CANADIAN-CHINESE MUTUAL-AID ASSOCIATION (UCMA)" that I created since year 2003 in Quebec of Federal Non-Profit Organization. I contacted with Federal cooperate registration two weeks ago and I received positive response last week who is guiding me how to reactivate, and how possibly to get some grands from two level of the government funding. I received a voicemail from AHRC who left a message and wants me to call back. And I will let you know the result what about. As you know, from my side, I always try to fit the local community, doing something together with the village office of Standard to improving the relation, and for local economy to create better living environment for all our civilians, which it as my duties to create several projects according the village and my hotel as well. Recently I wrote a letter again to the Denmark Embassy Ottawa again, also to the provincial and federal to state the reason why I am submit those kind projects although I suppose retired since two years ago. I really hope that if I could make something happen to contribute our Country not just my sad immigration experiencing to the society, also beneficial to the local community of the development of the economy and better living environment as well. Have a wonderful Sunday! Supreme Court Justice Amy Coney Barrett, long-groomed for the role by conservative groups, picked by Donald Trump, then rammed into the chair by the GOP House Leader in the final days of Trump's administration, said in a lecture Sunday that she is concerned that the public may increasingly see the court as a partisan institution. Barrett spoke at length about her desire for others to see the Supreme Court as nonpartisan. Barrett said the media's reporting of opinions doesn't capture the deliberative process in reaching those decisions. And she insisted that "judicial philosophies are not the same as political parties." "To say the court's reasoning is flawed is different from saying the court is acting in a partisan manner," said Barrett, whose confirmation to the seat left open by the death of the liberal Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg cemented conservative control of the court. "I think we need to evaluate what the court is doing on its own terms." Barrett's comments followed a high-profile decision earlier this month in which the court by 5-4 vote declined to step in to stop a Texas law banning most abortions from going into effect, prompting outrage from abortion rights groups and President Joe Biden. In all seriousness, Barrett is right inasfar as institutions are made of people and the Surpreme Court numbers nine, so individual beliefs, positions and foibles shape the institution rather than the other way around. She is not partisan so much as conservative, and offers no loyalty to the party. It is not partisanship that matters to her. But it was partisan hackwork and hypocrisy that got her installed on the court, in the reasonable expectation that she would make rulings consistent with partisan political aims. In that respect, the court is partisan simply because justices are political appointees and American politics is overwhelmingly partisan. Everything they do has three essential outcomes: a win for one or the other side, or a perceived fudge that ends up analysed on partisan grounds. If you've dropped your ring at the beach or lost your watch on a hike, your best bet might be to call in the experts. The Ring Finders is a network of metal detecting enthusiasts around the world who, for a fee, will seek out your lost valuables. There are around 400 metal detectorists around the world who pay a small fee to be listed on the site which boasts nearly 8,500 recoveries totaling $10 million in value. San Francisco's Ring Finders rep Marshall Smith says he has an 85-95% success rate, depending on where and when you lost your item. From SFGate: When he succeeds in finding their lost jewelry, he snaps a photo of the beaming person holding it and adds it to his blog what he calls the "book of smiles." "They're typically distraught, so I'm coming to the rescue," Smith told me. "They're just so happy they're beside themselves with anxiety, and I can help them and make them feel better and you can see that when you give them back their ring. They cry, I get a lot of hugs.[] Ring Finders typically operate on a reward basis, plus a mobilization fee (Smith charges about $25 to $30 locally to cover his gas). But money doesn't seem to be the main motivating factor for these detectives. "It's not a business, it's a service, kind of a charitable service," explained Smith. For those out of the loop, there is a uniquely California event taking place tomorrow, September 14. It comes in the form of the fourth-ever gubernatorial recall election in our country's history. This latest and greatest American political shitshow is made possible by an archaic system fueled by our current political climate. The Republican minority, who as we know are barely holding on to the edge of the cliff of relevance, are once again demonstrating they will do anything to maintain power. I've lived in San Francisco for over a quarter-century. I remember Newsom's stint as mayorthe good (legalizing gay marriage) and the bad (an affair with his close friend and campaign manager's wife). One thing I can confidently say about our now governor is that he takes his job of serving and protecting people seriously. California has never been and never will be an easy state to govern. A pandemic, a drought and endless wildfires has certainly not made the last few years any easier. And Newsom, in my opinion, has done a fine job navigating through all of it. The leading candidate to replace him, who would do so with a small plurality of the votes, is a man named Larry Elder. He is a conservative talk show host who, for starters, doesn't believe in mask mandates, minimum wage, nor climate change. As a bonus, he is in favor of turning over Roe v Wade. It seems unfathomable that Elder, who seems more suited to be a frontrunner in, let's say, Texas or Florida, could win a state that Joe Biden carried by 29 points. But given how the recall process works here in the wondrous, beautiful, and fucked up state of California, Elder could become our next Governor simply by taking in 20 per cent of the votes. The potential fallout from the recall is not simply a "me problem" for Californians, it's an "us problem" as a nation. To illustrate: If Senator Diane Feinstein, who is 88 years old, were to die while a Republican Governor is in place, then a Republican Senator will be appointed. This would tip the chamber back to Mitch McConnell. This is not to say we should be duly impressed with what has been accomplished by Democrats thus far, but we have seen what happens when McConnell is at the helm. The good news is that recent polls and early mail-in ballots paint a much more positive picture for Newsom than we were seeing just a couple weeks ago. But we are not out of the woods yet and as we have painfully learned in the past, it is safe to assume that the rightmad, misled, and motivatedwill show up tomorrow. And it is vital that Democrats turn out as well. If you truly feel that Newsom has hurt this state since he took office in 2019 and that there is a better person to run California, I am not trying to convince you otherwise. But I do ask that you pay democracy the respect it deserves by letting Newsom finish out his term. Then by all means, you can vote him out the old-fashioned way during next November's regularly-scheduled gubernatorial election. All California voters should have received a ballot in the mail. If you are voting by mail, the ballot must not be postmarked later than September 14. You can also use a ballot drop box or return it to a polling location. In person voting options are also available. You can find your polling place here. Illustration: Shepard Fairey The museum would occupy about 1,800 square feet, with a variety of displays. LoFaso said the building was said to be the world's largest malt house when it was finished, and it was constructed around the malting equipment that had to be put in place first. The architect and engineer even had a patent for the building design, as well as the machinery. It was also one of the first malthouses to use automation to turn the malt over 24 hours. Yet it took Faso two attempts last year and again in March before he got it listed on the national and state Registers of Historic Places in June, which means it qualifies for state and federal historic tax credits. "The project would not have happened without it," LoFaso said. "It was pretty significant to get on the Register." LoFaso said the building will be energy-efficient and environmentally friendly, with geothermal heating and cooling, as well as a small solar component, a green roof and permeable pavement to mitigate storm runoff. The site is also in the state Brownfield Cleanup Program, under Kam Cleanup LLC. Exterior work will mostly consist of restoration and repointing of existing brick, along with new windows, doors and wood as needed. A new access elevator will be added to the north side of the building. The site will include 89 parking spaces along the north, south and west sides, accessible from Foundry. The Buffalo News: Good Morning, Buffalo The smart way to start your day. We sift through all the news to give you a concise, informative look at the top headlines and must-read stories every weekday. Sign up! * I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy. Every neighborhood needs a Wiechecs Lounge. Kaisertown got lucky. With the great Buffalo tavern die-off of the 1980s and '90s following the collapse of the citys heavy industries, the formerly indispensable corner tavern a place of solace, community built over pitchers of beer, blue-collar grub and a Friday fish fry nearly went extinct. What started as a shot-and-a-beer place when Henry and Rose Wiechec took over in 1964 expanded its menu as neighborhood folks and waves of softball teams jammed the place. Over the decades, their son Mike and his sister-in-law Laurie did most of the cooking, giving Wiechecs the kind of consistency that makes customers feel safe. They still do, turning out soups, burgers, sandwiches, wings, snacks, and, well, fish fries. Theyre served all week, though Friday does bring a broader seafood selection, like scallops and shrimp, along with pierogi dinners in cheese, potato and sauerkraut. Beer-battered or crumb-coated ($14.50), broiled or Cajun blackened ($14.95) with cole slaw, fries and macaroni salad, Wiechecs fish fry is justly legendary. Which is another way of saying that if you want one on Fridays, you best be ready to wait. WASHINGTON House Democrats left the restoration of the full state and local tax deduction out of a proposed tax package they outlined Sunday, but a day later several leaders on the issue vowed that they will enact "meaningful SALT relief." The debate over the so-called SALT deduction could become a huge headache for Democrats as they try to come up with ways to pay for a "human infrastructure" package of up to $3.5 trillion, and Monday's quick about-face proved it. Analysis: For Congress, a daunting September, with much at stake for Buffalo Congress, led by a narrow and deeply divided Democratic majority, will return to the Capitol next week facing a host of deadlines and tough choices. A group of lawmakers from high-tax states, including Rep. Tom Suozzi, a Long Island Democrat, has vowed to not support any such spending bill that didn't include changes in the SALT deduction, which the Republican Congress of 2017 limited to $10,000 per taxpayer. And not long after reporters started noting that the Democratic tax proposal did not include changes to the SALT deduction, Suozzi joined Rep. Richard Neal chairman of the tax-writing Ways and Means Committee and Rep. Bill Pascrell of New Jersey in a statement. We are committed to enacting a law that will include meaningful SALT relief that is so essential to our middle-class communities, and we are working daily toward that goal, the lawmakers said. House members unite to try to restore SALT deduction More than 30 House members including Rep. Brian Higgins have banded together to try to fully restore the state and local tax deduction that congressional Republicans capped at $10,000 in 2017. U.S. side of Canadian border to remain largely closed through Sept. 21 The ban on nonessential travel by land from Canada and Mexico had been scheduled to expire Saturday. Edward Alden, senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations, said it's worth noting that the political leadership of both parties seem to think it's advantageous to keep America's tough border travel restrictions that limit not only Canadians, but also Mexicans and Europeans, from easily visiting the U.S. Democrats are in the midst of passing $3.5 trillion "human infrastructure" legislation, and most likely don't want to do anything that could conceivably interfere with that plan including raising a thorny border issue that also involves the southern border, said Alden, also a visiting professor of U.S.-Canada economic relations at Western Washington University in Bellingham, Wash. Meanwhile, legislation pushing a border reopening doesn't square with the Republican message that the Biden administration has been lax in allowing undocumented immigrants to cross the southern border. "You've got bipartisan support in the border states for reopening, but no engagement at the senior level of either party," Alden said. "And, you know, I think the members know this, which is why they're not pushing these bills very hard. They know they're not going to get anywhere." None of the Covid-19 vaccines contain any genetic material from aborted fetuses. The Johnson & Johnson vaccine was developed using a cell line that was derived from a fetus that was aborted in 1985. Neither of the mRNA vaccines produced by Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna rely on the use of stem cells, but it's believed that testing of those vaccines during clinical trials did utilize those cell lines, according to the National Institutes of Health. Catholic doctrine strongly opposes abortion as gravely sinful, but the Vaticans chief office for interpreting doctrine noted that the connections to an abortion were remote and that the shots can be used in good conscience with certain knowledge that the use of such vaccines does not constitute formal cooperation with the abortion from which the cells used in production of the vaccines derive. The Vaticans Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith also recommended the use of Pfizer and Moderna vaccines, if the option is available, rather than the Johnson & Johnson vaccine. Catholics can in good conscience arrive at a personal decision to refrain from getting the vaccine, Fisher said. But he noted that priests wont be providing letters affirming a religious exemption. Fire investigators determined the couch, struck by fireworks, smoldered for 15 to 20 minutes before bursting into flames. After that, "The house went up fairly quickly," Wydysh said. Two neighboring buildings also were damaged in the blaze. The prosecutor said the defendants left the building and made no effort to prevent a fire. 'There was talk of 'Put that out, stomp that out,' " Wydysh said. Preisch said he went to a friend's house down the street and saw a fire truck drive past. "When I seen the house was on fire, it was already gone. The fire truck was already at the house," Preisch said. The men pleaded guilty without waiting to be indicted. Preisch's attorney, Robert Viola, said the men risked charges of felony murder if the case had gone a grand jury. A felony murder charge can be filed when a death results from some other felony in this case, arson or burglary, Viola said. The charges originally filed by Falls police were second-degree murder and first-degree arson against both men. Mayoral candidate India Walton wants City Hall to send more money to the Buffalo Public Schools. She points to how much Rochester spends on schools as evidence that Buffalo can afford to do more, and sees a sales tax-sharing model that Rochester once used as a possible way for Buffalo to boost its financial support to schools. I support that because it is disappointing to me that Buffalo is not investing more in our public schools, Walton said. Establishing a dedicated line of funding from the city to the school district, one separate from the general fund, is among several planks in the "Building Healthy Communities" policy agenda she unveiled last week. Nearly $71 million, or 7.3% of the Buffalo district's $972.5 million general fund, comes from the City of Buffalo. More than $119 million, or 14.2% of the Rochester school district's $840.3 million general fund, comes from the City of Rochester. There are reasons for that disparity, including state law, and the Brown administration and school officials in both districts caution that any comparison of the cities' financial support should include spending outside the general fund and sales tax-sharing arrangements for an apple-to-apples comparison. "It really comes down just to more input," he said. The candidates running for supervisor this November are both in favor of returning the board to five members. Incumbent Supervisor Dean Adamski said the board needs more people for more ideas. "It's always good to have more minds at the table, more minds, more ideas," Adamski said. "On a three-man board, two people can do anything they want." The other towns that downsized from five to three members, then back to five are West Seneca, Evans, Orchard Park and Hamburg. The downsizing wave was ushered in by community activist Kevin Gaughan, who said it would save municipalities money. Brett Sitzman, who is running against Adamski for supervisor, said he remembers Gaughan's downsizing campaign. "I don't believe it ever panned out the way it was intended," Sitzman said, adding that the larger board provides more accountability. "I don't ever remember my taxes going down as a result of it." Former Supervisor Harry F. "Bud" Milligan served on the three-person board, and never liked it. He also was highway superintendent for 24 years under a five-person board. A key one is who we are considering when making decisions. The sense of community and leadership that drove him to speak out was beneficial not just for himself, but also for others. On matters such as masking and vaccination, this pandemic has drawn the differences between making choices for yourself versus choosing with the community good in mind. Anyone whos old enough to remember 9/11 likely also recalls that much of the country came tightly together, temporarily tossing politics aside. Why didnt that happen with the pandemic? One of the reasons is simple: Tragedy may bring us together, but one of the tragedies of the pandemic is it forced us apart. After 9/11, there was this huge coming together, said Karestan Koenen, a psychiatric epidemiologist at Harvard who was working at Columbia University in New York City in September 2001. She watched both planes strike the towers from her 19th floor office. One thing we know about disasters, generally, is that social support and social connection is hugely preventative for long-term mental health problems, Koenen added. And of course the physical distancing we need to do to prevent the spread of Covid is also challenging for our mental health. Because the nations worst terrorist attack happened on that day, Sept. 11 is a painful anniversary for people all over America. Batavia resident Deanne Quinn Miller, 55, known to friends as Dee, has her own reason to grieve on that date. She lives with the knowledge that Sept. 11, 1971, was the day her father Attica state prison corrections officer William Billy Quinn died of injuries suffered in the bloodiest prison rebellion in American history. Quinn, 28, died two days after he was beaten by prisoners at the start of the Attica State Correctional Facility rebellion. He was the only prison employee killed by the rioting inmates. Five years old when she lost her dad, Miller did not find out about the circumstances of his death until many years later. For years, her mother would only tell her that her father was at work, and he got hurt. Miller has spent decades searching for the truth behind the prison riot and her fathers death. On Monday, she and co-author Gary Craig released "The Prison Guards Daughter," a book about the tragedy and how it has affected her family. New York City Public Advocate Jumaane D. Williams will host a Sept. 24 fundraiser in Brooklyn for mayoral candidate India B. Walton in another indication that the Buffalo election is drawing attention from some of the state's top progressive Democrats. In an invitation to potential supporters, Williams the second ranking official in New York City government considered by many political observers to be a potential statewide candidate seeks donors for the event slated to take place at the Brooklyn home of Dorothy Siegel, a founding member of the left leaning Working Families Party. Williams, who appeared with Walton in Buffalo in one of her first public events following her June 22 victory of over incumbent Mayor Byron W. Brown, calls the Buffalo mayoral contest in his invitation the "most important (election) in New York State this November." +3 Brown, Walton draw clear differences in mayoral debate The candidates for mayor of Buffalo squared off Thursday for what is, as of now, the only debate scheduled between them, with Mayor Byron W. Brown and Democrat India B. Walton offering starkly different assessments of a city that Brown has run for the past 16 years. "Republicans and their rich patrons are incensed by Indias program of pro-worker, pro-tenant and unapologetically progressive policies so they have organized support for Browns write-in (or, if successful in the courts), independent ballot line campaign in the general election," Williams said. "Predictably, rather than support their own nominee chosen by Democratic voters, party leaders, protecting the status quo, have failed to support India and instead have been indirectly supporting the Republican backed Brown." Several of Idahos GOP gubernatorial candidates also seized on Bidens trip as a way to try to distinguish themselves in the crowded field. Ed Humphreys, a GOP gubernatorial candidate who has made fighting against vaccine mandates part of his campaign, announced last week that he would host a Traitor Joe is not welcome in Idaho rally. Idaho Lt. Gov. Janice McGeachin, who is also running for governor and has argued against masking rules and other efforts to slow the spread of coronavirus, called on Little, the governor, to uninvite the president. Little also announced last week that he was working with the states attorney general to fight Bidens vaccine mandate through the legal system. During the briefing inside the National Interagency Fire Center, Biden said global warming is a serious problem and told wildland firefighters that the nation owed it to them to ensure they have the equipment they need for firefighting. It's not a Democrat thing, it's not a Republican thing, it's a weather thing, Biden said. Biden also talked about raising wages for federal firefighters and other strategies to deal with wildfires. We feel compelled to write in support of Mayor Byron Brown. This decision was made because of the announced public safety proposals put forth by mayoral candidate India Walton. She has vowed to defund the police. She has stated she will cut almost $8 million from the police budget and slash 100 officers. The Buffalo Police Department is the largest police organization on the Niagara Frontier, with a proud 150-year history. As lifelong residents of Buffalo and Western New York, we have witnessed both the good and the bad times experienced by the Buffalo area, mostly from hands-on experience in addressing those events. From the top down, our decisions were made out of love for the City of Buffalo and its residents. Having risen through the ranks of the department, from the bottom to the top, we served in many capacities and were fortunate enough to retire with a combined total of 70-plus years of policing experience. Being named the commissioner of the Buffalo Police Department was the proudest day of our law enforcement careers. You have permission to edit this collection. Edit Close young woman celebrating a victory while working with mobile phone in the office Written by Vishesh Raisinghani at The Motley Fool Canada Supply concerns and severe weather have pushed natural gas prices up to a 13-year high! Each unit of the energy source is worth 99% more today than a year ago. Thats bad news for consumers but great news for these two stocks. Natural gas winner #1 Enbridge (TSX:ENB)(NYSE:ENB) has been on an impressive run in 2021, going by the 20% plus gain year-to-date. The company moves about 20% of all gas consumed in the United States. Its gas transmission and midstream pipelines cover about 30 U.S. states, five Canadian provinces, and some parts of the Gulf of Mexico. Unsurprisingly, Enbridge offers a 6.6% dividend yield. The steady rise in natural gas and energy prices has helped the company boost this dividend at a compound annual growth rate of more than 14% over the past decade. The companys Line 3 pipeline expansion is poised to start shipping crude in the middle of this month, providing an opportunity for the company to further strengthen its revenue base. Enbridges edge Enbridge boasts a low-risk business model diversified into liquids pipelines, natural gas distribution, and transmission infrastructure. In addition, it has long-term contracts that continue to generate significant free cash flow. The company pays 60-70% of its steady income through dividends. While Enbridge is by no means a growth stock, it is still an exciting pick, as it is trading at a discount compared to its peers. A forward price-to-earnings ratio of 20 compared to 27 for Suncor Energy (TSX:SU)(NYSE:SU) means it is cheap. That said, Suncor shouldnt be overlooked either. Natural gas winner #2 Suncor stock is up 9.6% year to date. Coupled with its 3.6% dividend yield, its total return is respectable but not mind-blowing. That could change, as investors realize Suncor has significant exposure to natural gas. Suncor Energys underlying subsidiary is a full-service wholesale natural gas supply, marketing, and trading business. Story continues Suncors improving prospects The company is fresh from reporting solid second-quarter results, with funds from operations landing at $2.36 billion, up from $488 million delivered the same quarter last year. Operating earnings surged to $722 million from a $1.35 billion delivered the same quarter last year. An uptick in oil demand leading to stabilization of prices above the $60 a barrel should allow the company to grow its cash flow for use in buying back shares and growing the dividend program, as Suncor Energy pays out about half of its cash flow as dividends. Meanwhile, the spike in natural gas should boost its prospects further. Despite the recent underperformance, the company still offers a decent 3.5% dividend yield much higher (and arguably more reliable) than most dividend stocks. Additionally, the stock is currently trading at a great discount after the recent pullback going by the forward price-to-earnings ratio of seven. If youre looking for a safe way to bet on natural gas or oil, Suncor should be on top of your list. The post 2 Stocks That Are Winning as the Price of Natural Gas Surges 99%! appeared first on The Motley Fool Canada. Free 5G stock picks from The Motley Fool Invest in 5G Stocks for the Long Term Our Stock Advisor Canada analysts have put together a special report with 5 of our favorite 5G stocks. Get the report today for free! Get Your Free Report! More reading Fool contributor Vishesh Raisinghani has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool owns shares of and recommends Enbridge. 2021 Make it a long night: take advantage of the Negroni gong at Quo Vadis Dont get us wrong, we love a Spritz as much as next Italophile pretending the pavement outside the pub is the Amalfi coast. Still, while this year the Campari Spritz is slowly nudging out its Aperold sister on menus across town, for those who really think bitter is better, there's far more joy in the tart mix of a Negroni. One part Campari, one part gin and one part sweet vermouth, it has never been a concoction for the faint hearted, but its what you might call an enlivening way to meander through apperitivo hour. Its charms are enduring: legend has it that the cocktail was first mixed at Caffe Casoni in Florence in 1919 at the request of one Count Camillo Negroni, who wanted to swap the soda in his Americano for gin. It fell off the radar for a little while, came back in part due to the Polpo revolution, and since has stuck around in various guises, somewhat thanks to its innate malleability: gin can be swapped for almost any spirit but the warming, enveloping embrace of Campari and sweet vermouth always produces something good. Or go the other way; keep the gin but swap the Campari and vermouth for Lillet and Suze, and youll be into a White Negroni. Whether a loyal devotee looking for the best of the best, or a newer, nervous type not wanting a duff introduction, heres our pick of Londons must-try mixes. Vermuteria (Vermuteria) One thing that seems to push Negroni-ambivalents into fully-fledged obsessives is the ability to tinker. The classic recipe is one for a reason, but, Campari aside, little changes in the gin or vermouth can make all the difference. Thats where Vermuteria comes into its own: as its name attests, this is a vermouth bar one with excellent food, as it happens meaning substitutions and tweaks can be made till your heart is content, your curiousity is sated and, well, till your mind is a little wobbly. Have a play, though the house offering, made with East London Liquor Companys gin and their own rosso, is a wise(ish) way to put 10 to use. Story continues 38/39 Coal Drops Yard, N1C, vermuteria.cc The Coral Room First off, The Coral Room proves that matching your drink to the decor is a winning combination. Its near-impossible not to order a Negroni when entering the warm, orange-red surroundings of this elegant bar at the Bloomsbury Hotel, and those who follow suit are well-rewarded. The Negroni here mixes Tanqueray, Macino Rosso and Campari, finishing with an ice cube emblazoned with the bars colourful name. If hes in, manager Giovanni Spezziga is a master of them. 16-22 Great Russell Street, WC1, thecoralroom.co.uk Quo Vadis Soho isnt short of neon signs we cant vouch for where all of them lead, but the one here definitely points towards a good time. The Negronis are good at this West End haunt, pleasingly strong and traditionally mixed, but they really come into their own in the later hours of a early-weekend evening. On Thursdays and Fridays in the members bar, a gong is sounded at 11.30pm to mark the start of a Negroni Happy (half) Hour, during which all cost just 5; these are the difference between getting home reasonably sensibly and barrelling on into the night. Its such fun to be led astray. 26-29 Dean Street, W1, quovadissoho.co.uk Seabird (David Ellis) A reminder that location can often be as important as whats in the glass. At Seabird, which sits on the fourteenth floor of the Hoxton in Southwark, the Negroni is as down-the-line as they come their preference is for Bombay Sapphire and Martini Rubino but just expertly made, pleasingly generous, and perfect for slowly sipping in the beautiful dining room, with its endless views and vibes. That feeling, one of complete relaxation, of forgetting the rest of it, is exactly what a Negroni is for. Few places summon it quite the way Seabird do. 40 Blackfriars Road, SE1, seabirdlondon.com Larrys (David Ellis) Larrys gets the nod here for understanding that, while herbal gins and spiky vermouths have their place, sometimes a Negroni should be entirely familiar. This one tastes just as a Negroni should, but the place is set up for, say, no fewer than three and no more than about five. All-orange-everything Larrys is made for calling over a few cocktails and working through the food menu top to bottom. Its somewhere to chat long into the evening at, and thats just what Negronis done right inspire. Unit 5, 12-16 Blenheim Grove, SE1, larryspeckham.co.uk Bar Termini Sohos Bar Termini is a warm tribute to Roman cafe and bar culture, cocktails sitting alongside a very Italian coffee menu (no frappuccinos here). The Negronis are the star of their boozy offering, served atypically from chilled, pre-mixed bottles into tiny coupette-style glasses (points are docked, unfortunately, due to just how tiny these portions are but then, theyre 7, not bad in this part of town). Choose from five different varieties: a sun-soaked Classico will hit the spot, unless you feel like experimenting with a floral Rosato, a peppery Superiore or an aged Robusto, as well as newish addition Arancia Verde. Termini works wonderfully when treated right; its somewhere to pop in for a quick one, either on the way into a night or on the way back from one. 7 Old Compton Street, W1, bar-termini-soho.com Franks Cafe This content is not available due to your privacy preferences. Update your settings here to see it. Longing to spend an evening Negroni in hand, watching the sun set over a rippling blue sea? London cant promise exactly that, but at least theres always Peckham. Franks Cafe, walk-ins only, is perched on top of a multi-storey car park which doubles as an art gallery a relaxed, rooftop spot boasting views across south London. The speciality drink here is Franks Negroni, which is made with Martini Rosso and only as much finesse as is strictly necessary for the price tag. For something similar but longer, try the half-pint or so of the Bicicletta, made with Campari, white wine soda and a slice of orange. Bold Tendencies, 7th-10th Floor Multi Storey Car Park, 95A Rye Lane, SE15, boldtendencies.com Old Compton Brasserie Theres something cunning happening behind the bar at Old Compton Brasserie. Cocktail don Talented Mr Fox otherwise known as Matt Whiley is the brains behind the menu here, which celebrates Sohos more familiar faces. But if you fancy something a little more straightforward than a Ronnie Scott, a Karl Marx or a Ruby Venezuela, then the Negroni is a good bet: a Tanqueray gin mix is served with a branded orange peel. They also do a mean Boulevardier, which swaps the gin for whisky. 34-36 Old Compton Street, W1, oldcomptonbrasserie.co.uk The Guinea Grill Cocktails in pubs tend not to impress; there usually isnt the time to get them right while pouring pints and tipping out great big glasses of white wine. Trust the Guinea Grill in Mayfair to buck the trend. Oisin Rogers place is better known for its award-winning pies and smoking grill there is no better mid-afternoon snack than a lamb chop with the fat melted, taken with one of the best Guiness in town but the Negronis here have had the Guinea treatment too. A mix of Campari, Beefeater gin and Martini Rosso are joined by a dash of orange-infused Monkey 47, before being aged for up to a year in an oak barrel that sits on the bartop. Its a little sweeter than the usual fare thatll be the Monkey 47 but over a long lunch, it has its perky benefits. 30 Bruton Place, W1, theguinea.co.uk 40 Dean Street This content is not available due to your privacy preferences. Update your settings here to see it. Granted, this one was always going to make the list: they put one of us on the menu. 40 Dean Street is one of those joyful half-secrets that make Soho, Soho. For nearly two decades the place has been drawing its loyal crowd a Royal or two among them, as well as an occasional A-lister who come for the comforting Italian fare, including the fresh pasta, as well as the affable welcome and the joy of seeing owner Nima Safei in full flow, charming his audience. Its all affordable, too, increasingly a rarity in the centre of town. The Negronis are as classic as they come, unless you order the DVH Ellis; tequila, or preferably mezcal, takes the place of the gin. It is, of course, completely mind-ruining and hence enormous fun. A bit like the restaurant itself. 40 Dean Street, W1, fortydeanstreet.com Oriole There is a world of cocktails to try at Oriole: the downstairs Smithfield bar does some significant globetrotting on its Old World, New World and The Orient cocktail lists. Its an off-menu selection, but the Negroni here has it sights set a little further than the Amalfi coast, making a quick trip over the Mediterranean to Greece. The typical three-part mix includes a house blend of sweet vermouth, and is joined by a dose of Hellenic-style resin wine, an olive and a slice of burnt orange. East Poultry Avenue, EC1, oriolebar.com Wild Honey St James This content is not available due to your privacy preferences. Update your settings here to see it. To be clear, one comes here for Anthony Demetres show-stopping food, for the elegance of the service, and for the gently-murmuring room. But the Negroni here is always so bloody good noticeably so, enough to wonder just what they do to it to have it taste quite so clean and yet be embracingly rich (I suspect its in their own homemade vermouth). Its a Negroni to have in the winter; it is comforting, rather than prickly. Demetre is also behind Vermuteria, at the top of this page, so clearly the man has a taste for these things. Well, he would do: when it opened, it was listed at the top of the menu as I am very specific with my Negroni" and while those words arent there anymore, ask for one and theyll mix it up. 8 Pall Mall, SW1, wildhoneystjames.co.uk A new government strategy to tackle Covid in the colder months is expected this week (Photo: SolStock via Getty Images) Covid infection rates are already starting to rise as the UK temperature drops, so how does the government plan to protect the public? 1. Vaccine passports cancelled Health secretary Sajid Javid has promised that vaccine passport plans for access to nightclubs and large venues have been ditched in England when speaking to the BBC on Sunday. The public were going to have to show proof of double vaccination, a negative Covid or a completed period of self-isolation in order to gain entry, but Javid dismissed this idea. He said: We shouldnt be doing things for the sake of it. The plans were supposed to be introduced at the end of September, but there was widespread backlash from the nighttime industries. No.10 has explained that the scheme has not been dropped altogether, though. Vaccine passports will be kept in reserve for the later months of the year when England could see a spike in infections. 2. No plans for a winter lockdown yet The prime minister is reportedly dead against introducing a fourth lockdown over the winter. However, pensions secretary Therese Coffey caused confusion when she told Sky News its fair to say theyre still on the table non Monday. Its thought the government will instead prioritise other tactics to tackle the virus, including booster jabs for the vulnerable in September. Culture secretary Oliver Dowden told ITV News said these measures are to make sure that we protect the public against coronavirus, which hasnt gone away, but at the same time keep as much as we possibly can of our national life going. He added: We have absolutely no intention to introduce further lockdowns or restrictions but, as your viewers will know, the course of this whole coronavirus means we cant rule out anything. 3. Profession Neil Fergusons advice on vaccines for children Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (Sage) member Professor Neil Ferguson said the UKs initial priority should be vaccinating those aged between 12 and 15 years old, especially as other European nations are starting to overtake Britain in its vaccine rollout. Story continues Malta, Portugal, Denmark, Spain, Belgium and Ireland all have higher rates for the number of doses handed out per 100,000 people now when compared to Britain. He told BBC Radio 4s Today programme: There are a set of countries in Europe with considerably more population immunity than us and I think if we want to stop the risk of the large autumn and winter wave we need to boost immunity in the population. The Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation has advised the government not to vaccinate this age bracket at the moment, but the idea is still under review by the countrys chief medical officers. Boris Johnson will be holding a press conference on Tuesday at 4pm (Photo: TOBY MELVILLE via Getty Images) 4. Boris Johnsons upcoming press conference The prime minister is expected to relinquish a series of powers he acquired since March 2020 during a 4pm press conference on Tuesday. It will be his first press briefing on the pandemic since he lifted almost all restrictions in July. Johnson is set to scrap some of the emergency lockdown laws when revealing his Covid Winter plan, and dropping the powers allowing police to detain infectious people and close businesses. Schools and colleges will not be shut in the coming months either. The prime minister is expected to put his faith in vaccines in the fight against Covid. Last week, he said: These extraordinary times required necessary but intrusive measures. But Im determined to get rid of any powers we no longer need. A senior government source told The Telegraph: The vaccines are a wall of defence. The autumn and the winter do offer some uncertainty, but the prime minister is dead set against another lockdown. This article originally appeared on HuffPost UK and has been updated. Related... South African environmental activist Fikile Ntshangase was shot dead in her own home A record number of activists working to protect the environment and land rights were murdered last year, according to a report by a campaign group. 227 people were killed around the world in 2020, the highest number recorded for a second consecutive year, the report from Global Witness said. Almost a third of the murders were reportedly linked to resource exploitation - logging, mining, large-scale agribusiness, hydroelectric dams and other infrastructure. The report called the victims "environmental defenders" killed for protecting natural resources that need to be preserved, including forests, water supplies and oceans. Since the Paris Agreement on climate change was signed in 2015, the organisation says on average four activists have been killed each week. It said this "shocking figure" was likely to be an underestimate because of growing restrictions on journalists and other civic freedoms. Mining is one of the industries linked to violence against people trying to protect their land Logging was the industry linked to the most murders with 23 cases - with attacks in Brazil, Nicaragua, Peru and the Philippines. Indigenous peoples, most often on the frontline of climate change, accounted for a further one third of cases. Colombia had the highest recorded attacks, with 65 people killed last year. 'Unbearably heavy burden' A senior campaigner for Global Witness, Chris Madden, called on governments to "get serious about protecting defenders." He said companies must start "putting people and planet before profit' or he warned that "both climate breakdown and the killings" would continue. "This dataset is another stark reminder that fighting the climate crisis carries an unbearably heavy burden for some, who risk their lives to save the forests, rivers and biospheres that are essential to counteract unsustainable global warming. This must stop''. An aerial view of a deforested plot of the Amazon at the Bom Futuro National Forest in Porto Velho, Rondonia State, Brazil, September 3, 2015 The organisation called on governments to formally recognise the human right to a safe, healthy and sustainable environment, and ensure commitments made at November's UN climate change conference, COP26, integrate human rights protections. Story continues In response, COP26 president Alok Sharma told the BBC he had "prioritised meeting people on the front line of climate change," to ensure the voices of all are heard." 'Shot dead in her living room' Those murdered included South African Fikile Ntshangase, 65, who was involved in a legal dispute over the extension of an opencast mine operated by Tendele Coal near Somkhele in KwaZulu-Natal province. She was shot dead in her own living room. Her daughter, Malungelo Xhakaza, 31, said her "mother's struggle lives on." She said: "To this day no arrests have been made in the investigation into my mother's murder. There has been no accountability. It seems to me that someone wants this mine expansion and the extraction to go ahead, no matter the cost." Petmin Limited, which owns the Somkhele mine through its subsidiary Tendele Coal Mining, told Global Witness that it "acknowledges community tensions may have been a factor in Fikile's death." The company said it "strongly condemns any form of violence or intimidation" and has offered full co-operation with the police. The killings also included Oscar Eyraud Adams, who was murdered in Mexico in September 2020. He was working to help the indigenous Kumiai community in Baja California have better access to water. Global Witness said activists still under threat included communities in Guapinol in Honduras, where dozens of people have been protesting against an iron oxide mining concession that was granted by the central government in a protected area. Campaigners believe the Guapinol river, a vital water source, is threatened. The organisation says "many community members remain incarcerated." Follow Claire on Twitter Toronto, Ontario--(Newsfile Corp. - September 13, 2021) - Red Light Holland Corp. (CSE: TRIP) (FSE: 4YX) (OTC Pink: TRUFF) ("Red Light Holland" or the "Company"), an Ontario-based corporation engaged in the production, growth, and sale of a premium brand of magic truffles, is pleased to announce they have expanded their iMicrodose product offerings as their iMicrodose All-In-One Mushroom Fruiting Extracts ("iMicrodose All-In-One Fruiting Extracts") powered by Red Light Holland are now available for sale (Business to Business) through Red Light Holland's wholly owned subsidiary SR Wholesale ("SR Wholesale") across Europe. As well, iMicrodose All-In-One Fruiting Extracts powered by Red Light Holland, which are available in both (i) Capsules and (ii) Tinctures, are expected to be for sale (Business to Consumer) on the company's advanced e-commerce platform at www.iMicrodose.nl by mid October 2021. Pictured: iMicrodose All-In-One Mushroom Fruiting Extracts Products powered by Red Light Holland To view an enhanced version of this graphic, please visit: https://orders.newsfilecorp.com/files/2017/96295_85368c29f4ff8a43_001full.jpg "Expanding our iMicrodose product offerings powered by Red Light Holland has always been a big part of our long term strategy to increase revenues and increase our brand exposure," said Todd Shapiro, Chief Executive Officer and Director of the Company. "SR Wholesale has established a distribution network of over 300 companies that can sell products across Europe, including working with sub-distributors which provide products to over 1,000 shops in countries like the Netherlands, Germany, Spain, Czech, Greece, UK, France, and Portugal. Having these All-In-One Mushroom Fruiting Extracts in our product line up is very exciting as they allow us to reach out to SR Wholesale's entire network, which fits our ultimate growth strategy in both building a responsible use recreational brand while continuing to develop new Red Light Holland products that can one day be sold across the world, if and when regulations permit. And I love the eye catching labels!" Story continues Pictured: iMicrodose All-In-One Fruiting Extract powered by Red Light Holland To view an enhanced version of this graphic, please visit: https://orders.newsfilecorp.com/files/2017/96295_85368c29f4ff8a43_002full.jpg "Our Market Research has shown us that Mushroom products are in high demand and are considered by many store owners, big or small, to be a high growth sector," said Hans Derix, Red Light Holland's President. "Our team in the Netherlands are very proud to be so aggressive in this sector and we look forward to launching the iMicrodose All-In-One Mushroom products via SR Wholesale and soon online at www.iMicrodose.nl. The Farm in Horst, The Netherlands and SR Wholesale continue to run very smoothly which have allowed us to focus on increasing our products for sale. We are thrilled to continue building the iMicrodose powered by Red Light Holland Brand and look forward to customer feedback." Pictured: iMicrodose All-In-One Fruiting Extract (Capsules) powered by Red Light Holland To view an enhanced version of this graphic, please visit: https://orders.newsfilecorp.com/files/2017/96295_85368c29f4ff8a43_003full.jpg About Red Light Holland Corp. The Company is an Ontario-based corporation engaged in the production, growth and sale (through existing Smart Shops operators and an advanced e-commerce platform) of a premium brand of magic truffles to the legal market within the Netherlands. For additional information on the Company: Todd Shapiro Chief Executive Officer & Director Tel: 647-204-7129 Email: todd@redlighttruffles.com Website: https://redlighttruffles.com/ Forward-Looking Statements This press release contains certain "forward-looking information" within the meaning of applicable Canadian securities legislation. Such forward-looking information and forward-looking statements are not representative of historical facts or information or current condition, but instead represent only the Company's beliefs regarding future events, plans or objectives, many of which, by their nature, are inherently uncertain and outside of the Company's control. Often, but not always, forward-looking statements and information can be identified by the use of words such as "plans", "expects" or "does not expect", "is expected", "estimates", "intends", "anticipates" or "does not anticipate", or "believes", or variations of such words and phrases or state that certain actions, events or results "may", "could", "would", "might" or "will" be taken, occur or be achieved. Forward-looking information involves known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors which may cause the actual results, performance or achievements of the Company, or their respective subsidiaries to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by the forward-looking information contained in this news release. Examples of such information include statements with respect to: the anticipated sales abilities, network, connections and the reach of SR Wholesale; the commencement and projected sales' dates regarding the Company's All-In-One Mushroom Products from SR Wholesale and/or the Company's website www.iMicrodose.nl; statements about the future of the Company's iMicrodose All-In-One Mushroom Products, including with respect to the future sales; and expectations for other economic, business, and/or competitive factors. Risks, uncertainties and other factors involved with forward-looking information could cause actual events, results, performance, prospects and opportunities to differ materially from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking information, expectations regarding future growth and expansion of the operations of the business; regulatory and licensing risks; changes in general economic, business and political conditions, including changes in the financial and stock markets; risks related to infectious diseases, including the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic; legal and regulatory risks inherent in the psychedelics industry, including the global regulatory landscape and enforcement related to psychedelics; political risks and risks relating to regulatory change; risks relating to anti-money laundering laws; compliance with extensive government regulation and the interpretation of various laws regulations and policies; public opinion and perception of the psychedelics industry; and such other risks contained in the public filings of the Company filed with Canadian securities regulators and available under the Company's profile on SEDAR at www.sedar.com, including the Company's annual information form for the year ended March 31, 2020. Although the Company believes that the assumptions and factors used in preparing, and the expectations contained in, the forward-looking information and statements are reasonable, undue reliance should not be placed on such information and statements, and no assurance or guarantee can be given that such forward-looking information and statements will prove to be accurate, as actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such information and statements. The forward-looking information and forward-looking statements contained in this press release are made as of the date of this press release, and the Company does not undertake to update any forward-looking information and/or forward-looking statements that are contained or referenced herein, except in accordance with applicable securities laws The forward-looking information and forward-looking statements contained in this press release are made as of the date of this press release, and the Company does not undertake to update any forward-looking information and/or forward-looking statements that are contained or referenced herein, except in accordance with applicable securities laws. To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/96295 Representative image Liverpool [UK], September 13 (ANI): The level of entrepreneurial intention among dissatisfied employees is greatly affected by their cultural context, suggests the findings of a new study. The study led by a team of researchers from Xi'an Jiaotong-Liverpool University (XJTLU) and Shanghai University in China was published in International Small Business Journal Researching Entrepreneurship. Dr Jie Li, of XJTLU's International Business School Suzhou, says studies in the past have shown a positive correlation between job dissatisfaction and entrepreneurial intent, but focusing on only job satisfaction doesn't tell the whole story. "In our study, we found that cultural context plays a big role," he says. "In societies that support and value entrepreneurial ventures, as well as countries where people are more likely to take risks and are more comfortable with change, there's a far stronger link between job satisfaction and the intention to start a business." In countries where the opposite is true - low legitimacy of entrepreneurial ventures and a higher rate of uncertainty avoidance - job dissatisfaction rarely translates to entrepreneurship. For example, in Japan, which has both a high rate of uncertainty avoidance and low entrepreneurial legitimacy, there are very low rates of entrepreneurial intent. Conversely, people in Colombia have relatively low uncertainty avoidance, have a higher regard for entrepreneurial ventures, and have high entrepreneurial intent rates. Dr Li was inspired, in part, by jokes about, and self-deprecation of, office workers in China. "They call themselves 'wage slaves," continues Dr Li. "Although they are expressing that they're dissatisfied with their jobs, most of them just complain and continue to stay in their current organisations." Thus, Dr Li wanted to investigate what factors could influence those dissatisfied employees' decisions to start their own business. He read the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM) reports and found that entrepreneurial adoption rates vary significantly across countries, so he wanted to explore what macro factors could explain this phenomenon. Story continues The sample for this study was drawn from two international databases: the APS GEM 2013 and the GLOBE project. The latter employs a large group of investigators from all over the world and investigates the relationship between culture and leadership. GEM collects annual survey data from at least 2,000 randomly selected adults from each participating country. Many participants are employees - and haven't declared entrepreneurial intentions - when they participate in this survey. GEM teams collect participants' attitudes towards entrepreneurial activities. Participants respond regarding their attitudes towards their job environments and work lives only. However, the 2013 Adult Population Survey (APS) from GEM contains job satisfaction measurement, which is why he used this data source. Entrepreneurship is an integral part of economic growth, and Dr Li explains that understanding the societal barriers to starting new businesses is crucial. "To boost start-up activities, policymakers should first stimulate the public's entrepreneurship intention. Whether people have the passion and willingness to start a business depends on two factors: their desire for entrepreneurship and the social environment for entrepreneurship and innovation. Owing to the powerful and absolute role played by entrepreneurial legitimacy, improving the legitimacy of entrepreneurship is an effective way," concludes Dr Li. (ANI) How to Clip Click and hold your mouse button on the page to select the area you wish to save or print. You can click and drag the clipping box to move it or click and drag in the bottom right corner to resize it. When you're happy with your selection, click the checkmark icon next to the clipping area to continue. The plaintiffs contend that because the Legislature is controlled by Republicans and the governor is a Democrat, chances are slim that they will agree on a new set of maps. The Legislature has also sought to intervene in the case. Evers and Kaul are asking the court to allow Evers to participate in the lawsuit by citing the governors veto power over the states proposed maps. Kaul also highlights Evers role in the redistricting process through a commission Evers created in 2020 to present an alternative set of political maps to the ones that the GOP-controlled Legislature will present. In his filing, Kaul said the governor, if allowed to intervene, plans to present the maps the commission creates to the federal court for consideration. Evers claims the maps the commission draws will be nonpartisan. A further investigation was opened when a photo showed Benalla with a gun at his hip while serving as a security aide for Macron during his presidential campaign in 2017. It's for illegally carrying a firearm that Benalla faces a possible seven-year sentence. Taking the stand, Benalla spoke of being surprised by his arrest, because I felt like I had done something positive for society (that day) by arresting delinquents. And I was taken into police custody. Benalla is being tried with three other people, two of them police officers who shared with him video-surveillance images showing him dealing blows to a demonstrator. The tip-off is a violation of professional secrets. Hundreds of violent demonstrators had invaded the traditional May 1 march by unions when Benalla moved into action in a small Left Bank square. "It was war, Benalla told investigators, insisting that as an observer he had no intention of acting violently but intervened because it was his duty as a citizen. Benalla was initially given a 15-day suspension from his job before returning and heading security for the French soccer teams victory parade down the Champs-Elysees Avenue on Bastille Day after winning the 2018 world championship. He was placed under investigation later in July and, amid public outcry, fired from his job at the presidential palace. Copyright 2021 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission. Love 0 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 0 Cebu (CNN Philippines, September 13) Workers in commercial establishments in Cebu province are now required to wear personal air purifiers aside from face masks and face shields. Cebu Governor Gwen Garcia issued Executive Order No. 41 which covers workers in restaurants and other similar establishments, as well as personal care shops like spas, salons, and barber shops. The executive order also requires establishments to have room air purifiers with high efficiency particulate air filter and ionizer. It also mandates disinfection after business hours. All establishments are also required to secure a Certificate of Compliance from the provincial government before they are allowed to operate. However, the new rules did not sit well with some as it is an added burden to workers who are already struggling amid the COVID-19 pandemic. In a statement, AMA Sugbo-KMU chairperson Jaime Paglinawan urged the Department of Health and the Department of Labor and Employment to intervene against the air purifier requirement. Paglinawan said the personal air purifier requirement is just an added expense for the workers. If the provincial government insist on requiring these, they should spend for it, not the workers, he added. The labor group suggested that the government instead focus its resources on a much faster vaccination program, efficient contact tracing, free treatment for COVID-19 positive workers, and cash aid. The province - which is currently under general community quarantine - has also required public utility drivers and conductors to wear personal air purifiers aside from face masks and face shields. The Health department already pointed out that necklace air purifiers offer no protection against COVID-19 and could lead to complacency and a false sense of security. Speaking to CNN Philippines' The Final Word, chemist Pinky Tobiano also emphasized that air purifiers only function to "purify air," and not to kill any type of virus. She added such devices may be a vector for the coronavirus when not regularly cleaned. Others available in the market - like UV lights and misting devices - may work, according to Tobiano. But for the latter, substances that effectively kill viruses should be used, she added. Given there are also studies that say COVID-19 is airborne, Tobiano said smoke disinfection is also effective since this stays in the air for 7-14 days. CNN Philippines digital producer Bamba Galang contributed to this report. Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, September 13) The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on Monday warned the public against transacting with unregistered foreign entities and their online platforms such as cryptocurrency sites or play-to-earn games. The commission said that these foreign corporations allow Filipinos to access their online platforms and permit the enrollment, creation, or registration of client accounts through online means despite having no license to do business in the country. The public is also advised to avoid transacting with corporations or entities without any registration or license to do business in the Philippines in order to avoid losing their earnings, said SEC in an advisory. If an entity or an activity is unlicensed or unregistered and is based abroad, you run the risk of not getting your money back once these are transmitted outside of the Philippines." The SEC said the unregistered online platforms include, but are not limited to: a. Foreign Currency (Forex) Brokers and Exchanges b. Digital Asset/Cryptocurrency/Virtual Asset Exchanges c. Decentralized Finance (DeFi) Investment Platforms d. Yield Farming/Staking Platforms e. Multi-asset/Multi-security Brokerage Companies f. Websites for Securities Token Offerings/Token Generation Events g. Illegal Investment Scheme websites h. Binary Options Trading apps i. Pay-to-Click/Captcha websites j. Play-to-Earn Gaming platforms k. Various fiat/cryptocurrency gambling websites l. Various cryptocurrency-related investment websites The SEC said it has received numerous inquiries regarding the implication of dealing with such entities. It warned that fraud committed by any unregistered company will fall under the jurisdiction of the country where it operates. If you put your earnings in a platform which is reachable in the Philippines, but is operated by non-registered corporations or entities, the government can offer very limited protection or, in some cases, no protection from any harm, damage, fraud or any form of misconduct which may be caused or committed by these corporations or entities, said SEC. SEC advised the public to check through its website whether a company is registered or not. (CNN) -- United Airlines told employees that they will be placed on indefinite unpaid leave if they refuse to get a Covid vaccine for religious reasons. The company's vaccine mandate is much tougher than those imposed by many other companies, or the ones announced by President Joe Biden Thursday. The federal mandate, and many already announced at other companies, give employees a choice between getting vaccinated or getting weekly Covid tests. At United, it's essentially vaccination or termination. Although United is granting accommodations for employees who have a valid medical or religious reason not to get vaccinated, it disclosed this week there would be costs for those who cite their religious belief as a reason not to be vaccinated. "Given our focus on safety and the steep increases in Covid infections, hospitalizations and deaths, all employees whose request is approved will be placed on temporary, unpaid personal leave on October 2 while specific safety measures for unvaccinated employees are instituted," said United's memo to employees. "Given the dire statistics...we can no longer allow unvaccinated people back into the workplace until we better understand how they might interact with our customers and their vaccinated co-workers." United said a decision on whether to accept an employee's religious objections to vaccination would be made on a case-by-case basis. "We are working hard to ensure the safety of our employees and customers while accommodating those employees who have sincerely held religious beliefs," said the airline's statement. United has 67,000 active US employees covered by the mandate. Virtually all non-management employees are represented by a union. The major unions at United did not object to the airline's original statement on a vaccine mandate in August. It was unclear whether most of the unions are ready to challenge the airline's stance on unpaid leave for their members with religious objections to the vaccine. Some did not respond to requests for comment on Friday. "We are reviewing our legal and contractual options to support these pilots," said the Air Line Pilots Association in response to a question. However the Teamsters union, which represents more than 6,000 mechanics at the airline, said simply that it "does not accept United Airlines' position on this issue." The US Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) has advised employers they can impose vaccine mandates on their employees. But the agency also said that claims of religious objections should typically not be disputed by an employer and should be "generally presumed or easily established." Still, no major religious denomination is on record opposing vaccination, despite some individual clergy members who have raised objections. Even the Christian Science Church, which teaches its members to use prayer rather than medicine to maintain their health in most cases, has not come out with a prohibition on the use of the vaccine by its adherents. It s statement calls for members to have "respect for public health authorities and conscientious obedience to the laws of the land, including those requiring vaccination." United employees placed on unpaid leave do not receive other benefits, such as medical insurance, although they can maintain coverage by paying the full premium themselves under Cobra. They do maintain their seniority with the company during the unpaid leave. And seniority is a major factor in determining employees' work conditions, compensation and hours of work in the airline industry. United employees who have a medical reason for not getting vaccinated will be placed on paid leave, said United spokesperson Leslie Scott. -- CNN's Kwegyirba Croffie contributed to this report This story was first published on CNN.com "United Airlines workers with religious objections to the Covid vaccine will be placed on unpaid leave". Metro Manila (CNN Philippines Life, September 13) This week, support local SMEs, watch a series about laborers at a big box store and a much anticipated HBO Filipino series, view a new exhibit at Artinformal, listen to a discussion about poetry and mentoring, and check out a collaboration by a K-pop group and a makeup company. Photo from SUPERSTORE/FACEBOOK Watch Superstore It definitely has become a running joke in the writers room that were always mentioned as one of the best shows youre not watching, instead of just one of the best shows, says Superstore co-showrunner Jonathan Green to The Ringer. True enough, the show has been consistently hailed as an underdog throughout its six-season run, never even netting a single Emmy nomination despite great performances from cast members such as America Ferrera, Ben Feldman, Lauren Ash, Colton Dunn, Nico Santos, and Nichole Sakura. The blue collar comedy follows the DNA of shows like The Office and Parks and Recreation ("Superstore" creator Justin Spitzer is an alumnus of the former), documenting their struggles at a Walmart-like big box store. More than the killer one-liners (Why would anyone be attracted to Jonah? He looks like a villain on the CW, I did not kidnap you, youre pushing 40. I abducted you, I do not trust myself with a weapon. I would like killing too much.), the absurd situations (dealing with the crazy Black Friday and Wedding Day sales, being stuck inside the store overnight, and an inadvertent live stream of a sexual act), and the obvious Filipino representation (Nico Santos Mateo Liwanag is an undocumented Filipino immigrant in this show, speaks Filipino at times, and even started a St. Louis Society Against Duterte to justify getting asylum status) the show is remarkable for its sharp portrayal of blue collar life. Characters constantly struggle with money and trying to make ends meet. Mateos storyline as an undocumented immigrant led to some real world parallels that involved ICE and the union story arc was one of the most compelling points of the shows six-store run. Its sixth and final season also dealt with the COVID-19 pandemic and how superstore workers can be hailed as heroes yet struggle with protective equipment even though their parent company is a million-dollar tech company. Life is very real in Superstore and it isnt just played for laughs. The show reminds us how laborers are such a pivotal part of our daily lives and we should treat them as humans. The shows five seasons are available on Prime Video. DON JAUCIAN Photo from ARTINFORMAL/FACEBOOK View Lui Medinas Offshore subtropic at Artinformal Offshore subtropic continues Lui Medinas negotiations with landscapes. The exhibit features expansive geographical forms in acrylic in graphite as well as prints of mountains that seem to exist in different times at once. Samples of the pieces are on Artinformals social media pages. Send the gallery a message or an email at info@artinformal.com to book an appointment. DJ Photo from NBDB/FACEBOOK Attend NBDBs Literary Conversations: Mentoring Poetry Filipino poet Lawrence Lacambra Ypil and American Poet Mary Jo Bang will be discussing experiences and perspectives in mentoring poetry on Sept. 17, 10-11:30 am as part of the National Book Development Boards 12th Philippine International Literary Festival. To register, visit this link. CNN PHILIPPINES LIFE STAFF John Arcilla in "On the Job." Photo from HBO ASIA Watch On the Job the series on HBO GO The new directors cut of On the Job comprising the first two episodes of the HBO Originals series opens with a quote from Thoreau (Disobedience is the true foundation of liberty. The obedient must be slaves.), which seems to fit the whole fabric that the franchise is now treading how different angles of our jobs affect society as a whole. Director Erik Matti re-cut and re-colored the first two hours of series to fit the bleaker outlook of the new film (the theatrical version which received a five-minute standing ovation during its premiere at the 2021 Venice Film Festival). The series combines the storylines of policemen Francis (Piolo Pascual) and Joaquin (Joey Marquez), hitmen Tatang (Joel Torre), Daniel (Gerald Anderson), and Roman (Dennis Trillo), and journalists Arnel (Christopher De Leon) Weng (Lotlot De Leon), and Sisoy (Volpi Cup for Best Actor winner John Arcilla) as corrupt politicians like General Pacheco (Leo Martinez) and Mayor Pedring Eusebio (Dante Rivero) pull the strings. The first three episodes of the six part series are now on HBO GO. Episodes will premiere every Sunday. DJ Photo from MAYBELLINE Tune in to the Maybelline x ITZY Virtual Event Fourth generation K-Pop girl group ITZY is set to release their first full album Crazy In Love on Sept. 24. Ahead of its release, Yeji, Lia, Ryujin, Chaeryeong, and Yuna will be appearing at a virtual event hosted by Maybelline this Sept. 19. Purchasing Maybelline products with a minimum spend of 599 from the official store on Lazada and Shopee will get you a ticket to watch the girls perform five songs and answer some questions from MIDZYs at the exclusive livestream. Visit their website for more information. CNN PHILIPPINES LIFE STAFF Photo by ANNA CANLAS Support a small business. High fashion wants to sell you on the micro-bag. But this one from an SME, @nostringsattached.ph, is so satisfying. The type you get from commenting mine on an IG post, it cost me 560 with shipping and fits a regular sized iPhone, no more. Handmade and shipped by the knitter, Lui from Tarlac, it makes me feel more connected just to see it. APC "It's amazing to get an award from you people," Campion said, talking to the jury standing beside her. "You've made the bar very, very high for me in cinema, Bong, Chloe." Penelope Cruz won the Volpi Cup for best actress for her performance as a new mother in Almodovar's "Parallel Mothers." She thanked her director and frequent collaborator for "Inspiring me every day with your search for truth." "You have created magic again and I could not be more grateful or proud to be part of it," Cruz continued. "I adore you." Gyllenhaal won best screenplay for her adaptation of Elena Ferrante's 2008 novel "The Lost Daughter," which is both her first screenplay and film as a director. "I can't tell you how thrilled I am to be here," Gyllenhaal said. "I was married in Italy, in Puglia. I found out I was pregnant with my second daughter in Italy. And really my life as a director and writer and my film was born here in this theater." Gyllenhaal said her film is "Italian in its bones" even though it was shot in Greece and in the English language. "In a way as women we have been born into an agreement to be silent and Ferrante broke that agreement," Gyllenhaal said. "I had the same feeling seeing 'The Piano' when I was in high school." Through the course of this relationship, we learn about the Red Room, which trained women to become elite assassins called Black Widows. The two share the background and wonder about a third. Black Widow has a fairly lengthy middle section that involves talking and taunting. Theres the threat of brain surgery (how long has it been since weve seen that?) and the return of a man who could be a friend or a master foe. While the action sequences are typical for Avengers films, this one could have tossed a few and still retained its cred. Because characters wear plenty of Iron Man-like masks, its very clear this is a stunt man competition, not an acting exercise. What helps is the music by Lorne Balfe, which suggests what moods you should be in at any given time. It enforces what Shortland is doing with her spy thriller. Stranger Things' David Harbour is here, too, trying for a different vibe than the one he exhibits on the TV show. He doesnt quite have the accent down the way Pugh does, but his subplot gives her and Johansson time to breathe. They need it -- they're that busy and that good. Love 0 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 0 The expansion of the tavern calls for eight suites to be located on the second and third floors, which can be accessed through a door and elevator on the opposite end of the building from the main entryway to the restaurant seating. The second and third floors also call for more private space for employees and potentially a recreation room for the public and guests, along with what Rickert hopes will be the most sought after dining room in Central Pennsylvania with a view of the Childrens Lake, the Bubble and mill race. Its going to be absolutely breathtaking, he said. The first phase of construction, however, will likely be the outdoor dining area, which will encompass a completely new addition to the tavern closest to the Bubble. The plans are to construct an outdoor dining pavilion that will be open air during the months with nice weather, along with a lounge, outdoor bar and a kitchen that will be dedicated to the outdoor guests. That newer addition will also include an uncommon amenity, but one Rickert hopes will help families and those visiting the Bubble, as well as visitors hiking the Appalachian Trail. Near the Bubble will be two locked restrooms that will each be equipped with its own private shower. The showers would be available for any member of the public, with the target of helping those who just took a dip in the Bubble. Information is from police reports and may be incomplete depending on the status of an investigation. Phone numbers are nonemergency. NEW YORK (AP) Even before the first note, there were a pair of standing ovations one when the chorus filed in and another when concertmaster Benjamin Bowman walked on to tune up the orchestra. About 90 minutes later, when conductor Yannick Nezet-Seguin relaxed his arms, the 3,600 people filling the seats of the Metropolitan Opera House responded with 8 1/2 minutes of thunderous applause, bringing wide smiles and hints of tears to the 200-plus performers on stage. For the first time in 550 days, an audience was inside the auditorium at Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts on Saturday night, attending a poignant performance of the Verdi Requiem. The night was in commemoration of the 20th anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001, er3dwwwdfcgrvszterrorist attacks but in fact marked much more. The company was performing in its home for the first time since hundreds of thousands of deaths caused by the coronavirus pandemic, including Met violist Vincent Lionti, assistant conductor Joel Revzen and chorister Antoine Hodge. Delivering Bud Light and appreciation to the Shanksville Volunteer Fire Department, which responded to the crash of United Flight 93, Biden praised Bush's comments in his only public remarks of the day, saying the Republican made a really good speech today genuinely," and wondered aloud what those who died that day would think of today's rancor. Gesturing to a cross-shaped memorial made of steel from the twin towers adjacent to the firehouse, Biden reflected: Im thinking what, what what would the people who died, what would they be thinking. Would they think this makes sense for us to be doing this kind of thing where you ride down the street and someone has a sign saying f- so-and-so? It was a reference to an explicit sign attacking Biden last week in New Jersey as he toured storm damage that was displayed by supporters of former President Donald Trump. Biden expressed incredulity at recent comments by Trump, whom he accused of abandoning the nation's ideals during his time in office. Everyone says, Biden, why do you keep insisting on trying to bring the country together? the president told reporters. Thats the thing thats going to affect our well-being more than anything else. SHANKSVILLE, Pa. (AP) Warning that the nation was falling into division and extremism, former President George W. Bush appealed Saturday for a return to the spirit of cooperation that emerged almost instantaneously after the 9/11 attacks 20 years ago. Delivering the keynote address at the national memorial to the victims of Flight 93, who forced down their airplane hijacked by al-Qaida terrorists before it could be used as a weapon against the nations capital, Bush warned of violence that gathers within. There is little cultural overlap between violent extremists abroad and violent extremists at home, he said. But in their disdain for pluralism, in their disregard for human life, in their determination to defile national symbols, they are children of the same foul spirit. And it is our continuing duty to confront them. Bushs warning came barely eight months after the violent insurrection at the U.S. Capitol by supporters of then-President Donald Trump attempting to overturn the results of the 2020 election. It marked some of Bush's sharpest criticism of that attack and appeared to be an implicit criticism of Trump's brand of politics. Bush lamented that so much of our politics has become a naked appeal to anger, fear and resentment. For 20 years since Sept. 11, 2001, U.S. presidents have been saying their anti-terrorism policies have worked, as evidenced by no new attacks on America. While we should be grateful another attack hasnt occurred, past performance is no guarantee of future success. Fanatics are nothing but patient, as we have seen in Afghanistan. Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Mark Milley has said the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan could lead to civil war and the possible reconstitution of al Qaeda. That should come as no surprise as the goals of our enemies in the Middle East have been expressed openly for decades. Their actions have proven a commitment to killing Americans and destabilizing democracies and their economies. Underestimating ones enemy is always a fatal error as we saw on 9/11. President Obama once dismissed al Qaeda as the JV team. In fact, they are the varsity. It is difficult to deter or destroy an ideology whose adherents are willing to die for its cause, especially when they believe they are carrying out orders from their god. In the bed of the pickup truck, the deputy reportedly located a Remington 700 .280 caliber rifle inside a black gun case. The deputy contacted the homeowner, who said he was out of state and did not give Thomas or Phifer permission to enter his house. He also confirmed to the deputy that he was the owner of a Remington 700 .280 caliber rifle, according to the report. Thomas was read his Miranda Rights before telling the deputy that Phifer entered the residence through the broken window and that he gained entry into the house. The man again claimed that he and Phifer had permission to be at the address. After hearing her Miranda Rights, Phifer reportedly said Thomas had her enter the house through the broken window and unlock the front door. The woman reportedly said they located the rifle inside the home, and Thomas took possession of it. Additionally, Phifer allegedly told the deputy that she and Thomas had come to the house to obtain the firearm. Thomas and Phifer were booked at the St. Francois County Jail and their bonds were set at $25,000 each. Both have since posted bond and were released. Bond conditions require the pair to comply with pretrial monitoring while the case is pending. The two are due in court on Oct. 7 to be arraigned on the newly-filed charges. Bobby Radford is a reporter for the Daily Journal. He can be reached at bradford@dailyjournalonline.com Love 0 Funny 1 Wow 2 Sad 1 Angry 6 Sign up for our Crime & Courts newsletter Get the latest in local public safety news with this weekly email. Sign up! * I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy. The Family Emergency Preparedness Fair saw an impressive turnout in Farmington on Saturday, the 20th anniversary of 9/11. Area families took part in fun activities and demonstrations and received valuable information about being ready for the unexpected. The city of Farmington and local faith congregations partnered together to sponsor the preparedness fair, which took place from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the Centene Center. Support Local Journalism Your membership makes our reporting possible. {{featured_button_text}} Callie Hargiss, one of the event organizers, said the day's theme was "be prepared; not scared." She said all of the different info booths at the fair had seen a steady stream of visitors throughout the day, with some head-counts estimated at around 1,500 people. "A lot of our booths, like the CERT and Red Cross, said that they've given out a ton of information today," Hargiss said. "They were actually surprised that they almost ran out of things. So, they were really impressed with how much people were actually interested and wanted to take care and prepare." Out of the nearly 600 West County students from the middle and high schools, none of them were born when terrorists took over four U.S. planes on Sept. 11, 2001. These students knowledge of 9/11 comes from their parents experiences, textbook stories, and videos and documentaries. Yet this date in history impacts these students lives. West County staff and students in grades 6-12 gathered together Friday morning to remember those who lost their lives 20 years ago on Sept. 11. They were joined by Desloge VFW Post 2426 and Auxiliary members and local first responders representing St. Francois and Washington counties. The crowd watched an emotional CNN video titled Look Back at How 9/11 Unfolded and then listened to the high school band perform The Star-Spangled Banner under the direction of West County Band Director Darren Cordray. Mel Brinkley, senior vice commander of the Desloge VFW Post, led the group in the Pledge of Allegiance. The St. Francois County Commission has approved a request from the Prosecuting Attorney's Office to apply for a Stop Violence Against Women grant that could require adjustments to the prosecutor's office budget to cover a 25% match. The request to apply for the grant was made on behalf of the prosecutor's office by Investigator Ryan Miller when the commissioners met in regular session Tuesday at the courthouse annex in Farmington. Addressing the commission, Miller explained that the grant, administered by the Missouri Department of Public Safety, is offered every two years and is specifically designed for criminal justice programs or non-profits to address violence against women. "It's not just domestic assaults or sexual assaults," he said. "It can also include crimes where there's burglary, property damage, and different things like that. So, what we anticipate asking for are some additional personnel. "You know, as we talked to you over and over, we're looking for all kinds of ways to lessen the burden on county taxpayers and the commission budget and utilize some of the resources that are out there. On that day 20 years ago this week, Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld declared war on Pentagon bureaucracy, saying that it was a threat to national security and "a matter of life and death." A day later, the nation's security would be breached and there would be a new threat that truly was a matter of life and death. On that day two decades ago, Sen. Joseph R. Biden Jr. of Delaware delivered a speech warning that America's role in the world was in danger of being undermined by Washington's willingness to "go it alone" and its readiness to "make unilateral decisions in what we perceive to be our own self-interest." A day later, events would be set in motion in which the country was willing largely to go it alone and make unilateral military decisions. On that day, American warplanes attacked farms sheltering three surface-to-air missile sites 100 miles southeast of Baghdad in Iraq. A day later, those sites, and other military installations throughout the country, would be in fresh danger from a newly mobilized American military. The brief begins by claiming that several of Fieldss arguments are not encompassed by his assignment of error and should not be considered by the Virginia Court of Appeals. Similarly, the attorney generals office argues that the arguments that the media coverage was inflammatory and inaccurate are factors specifically excluded by his assignment of error. His arguments should instead be limited on appeal to whether the community trauma and significant publicity caused difficulty in seating a jury. The appellee brief also contains the argument that jurors are not required to be totally ignorant of the facts and issues in a case and that the mere showing of extensive publicity or general knowledge of a crime or of the accused, including his criminal record, is not enough to justify a change of venue. The brief also attacks claims made in Fieldss appeal that the news coverage of him was not factually accurate, citing characterizations made by the trial court that the articles were factual in nature and accurate, and most of them were not inflammatory. The easement would connect to an existing easement at the end of Pine Road where there is a gate for residents to access the trail. Albemarle County staff would enforce stormwater management and erosion control for both properties. Shimp estimated the Blenheim Road houses would sell for about $350,000. There are opportunities to work with other housing partners folks like [Habitat for Humanity of Greater Charlottesville] and they havent specifically looked at this parcel, they looked at the other parcel, and thats really the best opportunity to deeper affordability is with one of those partners, he said. Lambert asked if the developer and property owner saw this as a phase one to a broader development on the rest of the property. We would expect to see 24 [houses] and, over the years, if that builds out, we would gauge the opportunity for the next set, Shimp said. He said this would be a first phase, and in the future its possible that a similar pattern of development would be sought for more of the property. To think that 100 or more might happen in the next five to 10 years seems unlikely to us, Shimp said. We thought wed test the waters with something that was a small amount, but a meaningful amount of homes, and go from there and see what the demand was like and see if the feelings of the town was about something of this scale. Get Government & Politics updates in your inbox! Stay up-to-date on the latest in local and national government and political topics with our newsletter. Sign up! * I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy. LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) Nebraska lawmakers launched a special session on Monday to redraw the state's political boundaries, with one proposal that would add a 50th state senator to the Legislature to try to keep rural Nebraska from losing a seat. Sen. Mark Kolterman, of Seward, proposed the measure along with two other rural senators. The bill would expand the Legislature from its current 49 members to 50, as allowed under the Nebraska Constitution. Adding a senator would reduce the ideal number of residents per legislative district, making it easier for lawmakers to preserve rural districts that lost population over the last decade while still adding a district to fast-growing suburban Omaha. The bill's prospects are unclear, and some lawmakers questioned whether they could legally consider it in a special session that's strictly limited to redistricting issues. Lawmakers have asked Nebraska's attorney general to offer a legal opinion. Even so, rural senators said they planned to press the issue as a way to ease pressure on senators by reducing the average number of residents per district. The measure was cosponsored by Sens. Matt Williams, of Gothenburg, and John Stinner, of Gering. This city is very resilient. We know what we need to do. We know about preparing, said Turner, referencing four major flood events that have hit the Houston area in recent years, including devastating damage from Harvey, which flooded more than 150,000 homes in the Houston area. Turner and Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo asked residents to stay off the roads Monday evening to avoid risking their lives or the lives of first responders who might be called to rescue them from flooded roadways. What I need each resident to do is get where you need to be by 6 p.m. and stay there," said Hidalgo, the top elected official in Harris County, which includes Houston. The Houston school district, the states largest, announced that classes would be canceled Tuesday because of the incoming storm. The weather threat also closed multiple COVID-19 testing and vaccination sites in the Houston and Corpus Christi areas, and forced the cancellation of a Harry Styles concert scheduled for Monday evening in Houston. Duchin said in an interview that she wants no part of any partisan agenda. Rather, she seeks out work where you can kind of call balls and strikes, she said. Im a mathematician who uses open-source algorithms, open-source computer programs, she said. Meaning not only is there a body of literature behind it that was developed outside of the political context, but also all the algorithmic stuff we do is completely transparent, because anybody can go look at the code and understand how it works. A technique Duchin relies on, which she and others have called the method of ensembles, works by randomly creating tens of thousands of maps drawn according to whatever priorities the computer is given. The result is a collection or ensemble of thousands of maps that mirror the much larger number (often trillions upon trillions) of maps that could be drawn in the same jurisdiction under those priorities. The ensembles can help solve a problem that has long bedeviled map drawers: a lack of neutral benchmark maps, Duchin said. Full court rehearings can also be held should a new panels decision conflict in some way with a prior panel decision, he said. The 4th Circuit was once famously seen as one of the most conservative appeals courts in the country. Tobias said, In the old days when the court was so conservative ... what happened was exactly what the Democratic-appointed majority is doing now. So, in the 80s and 90s, when the Republican majorities saw a panel decision that they felt was too liberal, then they would take it en banc and change it. Now the shoe is on the other foot. Now its 9-6 Democratic as opposed to Republican appointees and the Democrats are doing something pretty similar ... when they see a panel decision they dont like, or they disagree with, they take it up en banc and then they change it. That is what happened in two Fourth Amendment cases, one from Richmond and one from Baltimore in the past year, when the 4th Circuit majority held en banc hearings and overturned minority judges panel decisions. Tobias said Wynn is indicating that such dissents should be rare and that there should be transparency about them because he thinks they are being misused: What youre really doing is trying to get the attention of the Supreme Court, to tell the Supreme Court why the panel got it wrong. Easement agreements can take years or even generations to obtain, said the conservationists, especially in areas where communities have a history of land losses to discriminatory policies. Heirs property property passed down in the absence of a will to multiple descendants over the years has proven especially problematic for Black communities, where it may account for a third of all land owned: the U.S. Department of Agriculture has called such property the leading cause of Black involuntary land loss. For a group of people who have had land lost, land stolen, land taken from them under very dubious conditions, for someone to come up to them and say, Listen, were going to pay you to keep your land Its oxymoronic in the minds of many people that the same people who they perceive have been trying to take their land for 100 years now all of a sudden are going to pay them to keep the land and to continue to do with the land what they were doing, said Alexander. As trust has increased, the tax credit has become one of the most accessible tools for landowners to conserve their land, said Shepard. LYNCHBURG Liberty University is returning to broad in-person instruction after a two-week temporary mitigation period in which the Virginia school saw a record number of confirmed COVID-19 cases on campus. Liberty officials announced on the school website Friday that it would resume in-person classes Monday along with a digital instruction component, The News & Advance of Lynchburg reported. While most in-person classes were cancelled over the past two weeks, hands-on activities like labs and flight instruction continued. They will keep going with masks and physical distancing measures encouraged, according to the schools announcement posted online. The Lynchburg school is of the few colleges and universities in the state that hasnt mandated COVID-19 vaccinations, the newspaper reported. It also doesnt require wearing masking indoors or in classrooms. Christopher Paul Hanson-Eilers, 30, was arrested at 9:57 a.m. Sunday after a traffic crash at the intersection of West Airport Road and South 12th Street, according to a press release from the Lebanon Police Department. He was taken into custody for counts of third-degree assault, failure to perform the duties of a driver-misdemeanor, failure to perform the duties of a driver-felony, reckless driving, first-degree criminal mischief and misdemeanor driving while suspended. The press release stated that Officer Chance Snyder witnessed Hanson-Eilers collision with another vehicle in the intersection after Hanson-Eilers was traveling at a high rate of speed on 12th Street and failed to stop at a stop sign. He and another male passenger in the car crashed into a female driver, who was traveling west on Airport Road. Hanson-Eilers and the male passenger allegedly ran from the scene after the two vehicles came to a rest in a nearby yard. Oregon State Police, the Linn County Sheriffs Office and the Benton County Sheriffs Office assisted in locating Hanson-Eilers after a short foot pursuit at the Willamette Speedway. The male passenger has still not been located as of press time. I felt really scared because I was going to start school in the same building soon and we lived like six blocks away from the mosque, said Idris Yusuf, who was 9 when the bombing happened. I was scared because if these people could do this to our mosque, whats stopping them from coming to Muslim peoples homes too? Afterward, community members said they saw 53 years as justice for an attack that has rattled worshippers for more than four years. We were looking for life (in prison), but this is something we can settle for today, said Khalid Omar, a community organizer and Dar Al Farooq worshipper. Several men were gathered at Dar al-Farooq for early morning prayers on Aug. 5, 2017, when a pipe bomb was thrown through the window of an imams office. A seven-month investigation led authorities to Clarence, Illinois, a rural community about 120 miles (190 kilometers) south of Chicago, where Hari and co-defendants Michael McWhorter and Joe Morris lived. Authorities say Hari, 50, led a group called the White Rabbits that included McWhorter, Morris and others and that Hari came up with the plan to attack the mosque. Prosecutors said at trial that she was motivated by hatred for Muslims, citing excerpts from Haris manifesto known as The White Rabbit Handbook. Gaza is home to 2 million Palestinians who have largely been locked in by the blockade, which is also supported to some extent by Egypt. The border area is the site of frequent protests and occasional attempts by Palestinian militants or desperate laborers to infiltrate into Israel. According to the Israeli army's website, the semi-autonomous Jaguar is equipped with a machine gun and was designed to reduce soldiers exposure to the dangers of patrolling the volatile Gaza-Israel border. It is one of many tools, including drones armed with guided missiles, that have given the Israeli military vast technological superiority over Hamas. Unmanned ground vehicles are being increasingly used by other armies, including those of the United States, Britain and Russia. Their tasks include logistical support, the removal of mines and firing weapons. The tablet can control the vehicle manually. But many of its functions, including its movement and surveillance system, can also run autonomously. With every mission, the device collects more data which it then learns from for future missions, said Yonni Gedj, an operational expert in the company's robotics division. Quinceaneras in the time of COVID-19: A coming-of-age celebration marches on Marcela Guevara smiled as she swayed in a puffy red sequin dress across the dance floor of a Maryland event hall before dozens of guests cheering her on. It was the moment she had dreamed of since she was a little girl, and yet it hadnt come like shed expected. The year leading up to her quinceanera party a coming-of-age celebration of her 15th birthday to mark her transition from childhood into womanhood had been a trying one. The pandemic meant no soccer practice or dance classes. School was entirely online. Missing her friends, she found herself struggling with depression and anxiety. Suddenly my entire life changed, she said. I could not focus on my online classes and didnt want to do or see anyone. Her family weighed not having a party at all. But as vaccines became available, and life began returning somewhat to normal, they decided they could not let their daughter miss out on a cultural milestone. This is it! I am no longer a girl, I am a jovencita now, Marcela said, using the Spanish word for young woman, after dancing on a recent weekend with her guests. As social interactions were reduced to a minimum last year due to the pandemic, many teenagers missed out on experiences central to adolescence: high school graduations, prom dances and even the simple act of hanging out with friends. But for some Latina teenagers, the coronavirus also meant losing the chance to experience one of the most significant events of their lives becoming a young woman in the eyes of society and celebrating it with a grand party that is a hallmark tradition for Hispanic families in the United States and throughout Latin America. The coronavirus has affected Latino communities disproportionately. Hispanics have been at a higher risk of infection, hospitalization and death from the virus than most other racial and ethnic groups in the U.S., according to data gathered by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. At the same time, they have suffered more economic hardship than most American adults. According to a Pew Research Center study released in July, about half of the Latinos interviewed said they or someone close to them had lost a job or taken a pay cut since February of last year. Like other big events, quinceanera celebrations more or less vanished last year. In 2021, organizers say there are still far fewer than normal, but they are slowly trickling back. Two aspects make the parties especially challenging to hold: Tradition dictates there should be dozens if not hundreds of people attending, and families spend up to $30,000 to host them, a big hurdle for those still reeling from the pandemics financial losses. As in the past, many families are relying on extended relatives and friends to split the costs. Some venues are refusing to host such large gatherings, noting the risk of coronavirus spread. Marcela, during her party, could not help worrying that someone would get sick, but two weeks later the family was unaware of any cases tied to their celebration. I was scared, she said. But it was important because, more than a party, it is a yearslong tradition. We did it, Jose Wilfredo Medrano said as he watched his stepdaughter dance underneath neon purple lights. After all the struggle and uncertainty, we made it. Medrano and his wife, Hildaura Guevara, both originally from El Salvador, were as ecstatic as they were relieved that the highly anticipated celebration took place. For Marcelas mother, the event was especially meaningful. Over a decade ago, shed fled Central America to escape an abusive relationship, she said, leaving Marcela, then 4, in her sisters care. It took six years of working double shifts at restaurants to save enough money to hire a smuggler to bring her daughter to the United States in 2016. After being held for two months in an immigration detention center, she made it safely and began a new life in Maryland. Over the last five months, Hildaura Guevara worked as a cook in two restaurants without taking a day off to raise the $20,000 needed for the party. It is an achievement for me to be able to demonstrate to other moms that you do not always need a man to achieve things, that you can be a woman and get things done, raise your children, work hard and give them a better life than the one you had, she said. She said she trusted most of the maskless guests at the party had been vaccinated. Addressing the crowd, Medrano thanked God for keeping the virus at bay. On the dance floor, Marcelas little cousin handed her a white stuffed bear a visual representation of the childhood she is leaving behind. Then mother and daughter danced and embraced in tears. Amanda Andrade-Rhoades/For The Washington Post Griselda Rubio-Cruz wipes a tear from her daughter Ashley Servins face during a dance at her quinceanera celebration at Harmony Hall in Hamilton, Virginia, on Sept. 4. At a recent party in Hamilton, Virginia, about 50 miles northwest of Washington, D.C., Ashley Servin danced to the Butterfly Waltz before about 200 guests as six escorts dressed in sand-toned suits moved to the music around her. She and her parents both immigrants from Mexico said about 10 venues declined to host the party. Some dance halls had capacity limits of 80 people or refused to hold large events, noting the coronavirus surge in several Virginia counties since July. I feel really happy, it is a really special day, Servin said, batting thick, Minnie Mouse-like eyelashes donned for the event. I feel like a princess. Azucena Verdin Azucena Verdin, an associate professor at Texas Womans University, said the tradition is important not only for the birthday girl but also for her immediate and extended family, and the community as a whole, as cousins, padrinos and close friends all participate. It allows them to show that even through recessions and pandemics, we can call on our family, and extended family, and come together, help each other and continue to honor our culture, she said. And for those who will not get chance to participate in the tradition and look back one day at this moment, it can create an ambiguous loss and a sense of grief, Verdin added. At Servins event, a man with a thick mustache dressed in a mariachi suit entertained the guests. Viva Mexico! he said, prompting cheers and applause. After dinner was served, Ashleys father, Ricardo Servin, removed the pink Vans she had worn to the party and replaced them with a pair of sand-colored stilettos in representation that she would walk back home that night as a young woman. For some families, the tradition is so important that they are holding quinceaneras a year late, when their daughters are turning 16. Jessenia Contreras, originally from El Salvador, started planning and saving money for her daughters party in 2018. In April of last year, everything was ready for the celebration: the venue, dress, music all chosen. But with short notice, the celebration had to be canceled as a mysterious virus ravaged the country. Her daughter, Tania Torres, was devastated. Contreras later lost an aunt and a brother to the virus. Her daughter became unfocused, apathetic and spent most of her time looking at videos on her phone. The whole experience deeply affected her, the mother of five said. Our daughters were just not prepared for something like this. And so Contreras prayed for things to get better and for the opportunity to throw a delayed quinceanera celebration this year. Several weeks ago, more than 200 guests gathered in the D.C. suburb of Montgomery County, Maryland, and danced to bachata music. For many teen Latinas, born in the United States to migrant parents who fled poverty or violence, the quinceanera is also a chance to celebrate their success in an adopted country. As a little girl born in central Mexico, Griselda Rubio, Ashleys mother, dreamed she would one day get to wear a Cinderella-like dress and have a big party like many of her friends did. But her parents had to raise six siblings and could not afford it, she said. As guests danced to salsa music last weekend, Ashley stared at her mother, who jubilantly greeted guests. My mom did not get to have one, she said. But she has it now. How many games will the Broncos win during the 2021 season? You voted: Denver-based Crestone Peak Resources plans to lay off 159 workers in Denver, Weld, Douglas and Arapahoe counties, according to documents filed with the Colorado Department of Labor and Employment. The department requires companies operating in Colorado to report large layoffs. In a warn listing filed last week, Crestone announced the 56 eliminated positions in Denver, 90 in Weld and 13 jobs in Arapahoe and Douglas counties were because of acquisition of company. The employees were warned last week and the layoffs are effective Oct. 15. Asked to discuss the move, a Crestone spokesman replied via email: Crestone does not comment on personnel matters. Crestone, formed in 2016, works in the Greater Wattenberg Field of Colorados Denver-Julesburg Basin. The company has offices in Firestone and Watkins. In June, newly formed Colorado oil and gas company Civitas Resources announced it was buying Crestone. That was on the heels of its May announcement it was merging with Bonanza Creek Energy and Extraction Oil & Gas with an all-stock merger of equals. The new company will be one of, if not the, biggest player in the Denver-Julesberg Basin. The new company will be valued at $4.5 billion, cover more than 500,000 acres and have the ability to produce some 160,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day, according to a news release. Civitas described its new company model as defined by operational discipline, a strong balance sheet, commitment to free cash flow generation, financial alignment with stakeholders, environmental and community leadership, and best-in-class governance, according to the release. Civitas is also proud that, inclusive of the Crestone assets, it will be Colorados first carbon-neutral oil and gas producer (scope 1 and scope 2) upon closing, advancing its net-zero goals. According to Civitas, Crestones primary shareholder is Canada Pension Plan Investment Board. CPP Investments will become Civitas largest shareholder and will designate one member to the Civitas board. Pakistans state-owned Ufone obtained a further 29MHz of 1800MHz spectrum in the countrys latest spectrum auctions. The Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) confirmed that Ufone was the sole bidder in the auction, enabling the operator to acquire its holding at the reserve price of US$279 million. CommsUpdate notes that additional spectrum in the 1800MHz and 2100MHz bands was available but went unsold. Ufones three main rivals VEONs Jazz, Telenors local unit and China Mobiles Zong opted to withdraw from the auction process, raising criticism of the PTAs process and in particular its reserve prices. However, PTA Chairman Amir Azeem Bajwa was quoted by local newspaper Dawn as saying that the auction could be considered successful since all operators were able to participate. Azeem noted that Jazz and Telenor have both claimed that their current spectrum holdings are sufficient for their planned service offerings, while Zong is currently engaged in a legal dispute over a tranche of its spectrum. He further argued that the reserve prices were in fact lower than neighbouring countries including Bangladesh and India. Greece's Hellenic Telecommunications Organization (OTE) has completed the acquisition of a 30% stake of Telekom Romania Mobile Communications (TRMC) from fixed-line operator Telekom Romania Communications (TKR). According to local media reports, the final purchase consideration, reflecting the equity value, stood at EUR58.9 million (USD69.6 million). The deal is a required condition for the regulatory approval of the sale of the 54% stake OTE holds in Telekom Romania's fixed business to Orange Romania. Following the acquisition, OTE controls almost 100% of TKRM, it said. OTE group is 46% owned by the German group Deutsche Telekom. Orange, through its Romanian subsidiaries, and TKR provides telecommunications services in Romania, both at the retail and wholesale level. Orange's main activities are related to mobile telecommunications, while TKR is mainly active in fixed telecommunications and TV. In November, OTE announced that it has agreed to sell its 54% stake in Telekom Romania Communications for 268 million euros to Orange Romania. Africas largest telecom company MTN Group is reportedly in talks with potential international buyers for its wireless business in Afghanistan, a bid to accelerate plans to exit the country, as per a Bloomberg report. Bloomberg cites unnamed people, who asked not to be identified as the negotiations are ongoing, that Africas biggest mobile phone operator, the market leader in Afghanistan with a 40% share, is in discussions with several parties. A write-down of MTNs Afghanistan operation without any proceeds from disposal would cost about USD49 million, they said. The news agency notes that in unveiling its new government this week, the Taliban stated that investments from China will be key to helping rebuild an economy devastated by decades of war. This move is in line with MTNs announcement of its medium-term exit plan for Middle Eastern countries just over a year ago, allowing the Johannesburg-based company to focus on African markets. The South Africa headquartered company earlier this year abandoned its operation in Syria, citing regulatory demands that made operating there untenable; last month the carrier stated that it was still evaluating options in Yemen and Afghanistan. Internet penetration in the country is still low at 22%, while just over a third of the population had mobile phone connections. Meanwhile, telecom companies operating in Afghanistan, which also includes Etisalat of the United Arab Emirates, have reassured customers and investors they are keeping services running following the collapse of the US-backed government last month while trying to secure safety of their employees in the country. The giant telecoms corporation America Movil, having decided on a reorganization earlier this year, is now to propose a spinoff of its towers business to shareholders. According to Reuters, a filing with Mexico's stock exchange late last week indicated that the spin-off to create a new public company will be proposed to shareholders in an extraordinary meeting on 29 September. As we reported at the time, in February the companys board of directors approved a plan to spin off from America Movil the telecommunications towers and other related passive infrastructure in Latin American countries where it currently operates. The aim of the asset reorganization plan for its regional towers was, it seems, to create a spin-off entity focused on the development, construction and locations of towers for mobile services. Headquartered in Mexico, America Movil is among the largest network operators in the world. In fact, excluding China and India, it claims to be the largest company in terms of wireless subscribers. Its interests include multiple operations across the Caribbean as well as the US and Central and Eastern Europe. However, it has an especially strong presence in Latin America, where it is the leading provider of integrated telecommunications services. The infrastructure involved in this reorganisation is therefore not a negligible amount. The company is said to own between 35,000 and 37,000 towers in the Latin American region. America Movil previously said it expected to complete the reorganization this year. It may not be the worst intersection in the world, but on school days between 7:40-8:20 a.m. and 3-3:20 p.m. the corner of D Street and Mountain View Road is easily the worst intersection in Moscow. Ongoing COVID-19 tests will be given at the Coffee County Health Department on Wednesdays from 8 a.m. to 10 a.m. To schedule an appointment, call 334-347-9574. The DAV van service for local veterans will make runs to Montgomery and Tuskegee on Mondays and Fridays. The van will leave from the Hardees restaurant on Rucker Boulevard in Enterprise at 5 a.m. and from the Dothan Civic Center at 5:30 a.m. Due to COVID restrictions, there is only space for four riders each trip. Veterans who need rides to VA hospitals in Montgomery or Tuskegee can call 334-308-2480 to reserve a seat on the Enterprise van or 334-446-0866 for the Dothan van. The Enterprise YMCA will hold square dancing classes every Monday from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. at the main building located on Highway 27 across from Hobby Lobby in Enterprise. Singles and couples are welcome, dancing experience not required! For more information, call 334-237-0466 or 334-347-4513. Enterprise Parks and Recreation is hosting senior aerobics at the Enterprise Farmers Market Tuesdays and Thursdays from 9 a.m. to 9:45 a.m. Make new friends, enjoy fun music and get moving! Humminbird, a leading global innovator of marine electronics products, recently announced a new expansion plan of its Eufaula plant to meet ongoing strong demand for its technologies. Humminbird has grown significantly over the last six years, and we expect it to continue to grow, said Craig Packard, general manager. To increase our capacity to meet future demand, we are investing in growing our workforce and continuing to expand our facilities. The company plans to add 77 new positions by early fall, with direct assembly workers accounting for approximately half of the new positions. Additionally, Humminbird is recruiting for technicians, supervisors and positions in shipping, IT, HR and technical support. A sign-on bonus is offered for all new positions. Interested candidates can apply by sending a resume and cover letter to FishingHR@johnsonoutdoors.com or by filling out an application at the Alabama State Employment Service located on State Docks Road in Eufaula. Additionally, the company is investing in the expansion of its Eufaula facility to include a multimillion dollar, 27,400 square-foot expansion project slated to start this fall. Biden and other top U.S. officials expressed surprise last month by the pace of the Talibans takeover of Afghanistan before the planned U.S. exit deadline of Saturday, Sept. 11. On Aug. 26, roughly 170 Afghans and 13 U.S. service members, including Marine Corps Cpl. Daegan William-Tyeler Page, 23, of Omaha, were killed in a suicide bombing by Islamic extremists at the Kabul airport as people flocked there to flee the country. The chaos that followed, and the loss of 13 extraordinary servicemen and women, including a hero from right here in Nebraska, broke my heart because it never had to happen," Pence said. Pence described an Oval Office meeting in which Trump, discussing U.S. withdrawal plans from Afghanistan with the Taliban in early 2020, threatened military strikes if the Taliban allowed harm to Americans. The Biden administration followed the Kabul airport bombing with airstrikes against Islamic extremists. The GOP picnic on the grounds of Arbor Lodge State Historic Park along the Missouri River served as an early stage for Republicans with an eye on the 2024 presidential election, even as Trump hinted at a third campaign. Jefferson Dunn, commissioner of the Alabama Department of Corrections, told Mississippi lawmakers that his state develops a programming plan for each inmate who enters the prison system, with a goal of preparing them to leave when they are paroled or when they reach the end of their sentences. Reentry begins with entry, Dunn said. We have reworked our entry process to begin that process of reentry, whether it is three years or 30 years or longer, in the department. ... We want to begin from Day 1 to have inmates look towards reentry and view their time of incarceration as an opportunity and everything that they do to move them closer to reentry. Louise Wasilewski is CEO of Acivilate Inc., an Atlanta-based company whose software coordinates communication for what she calls returning citizens people leaving prison. She said the company has contracts in other states, but not in Mississippi. Birds identified as European starlings sit on a power line in West Palm Beach on Friday, Sept. 3, 2021. The starling was mentioned in Henry IV Part 1 when one of the kings adversaries boasts that he will teach a starling to repeat the name of another enemy of the king and give the bird to Henry as a gift, according to the book. But the small role was enough for an estimated 80 breeding pairs of starlings to be released in New Yorks Central Park. They spread throughout the U.S., and now the United States Department of Agriculture says they destroy crops, eat feed meant for livestock, cause property damage because of feces buildup and can pose a threat to planes. The story of the European starling is crazy as far as how it exploded across the country, Studt said. The fact that they were only introduced about 130 years ago shows they have really adapted to urban life. Audubon Florida identified a group of birds in West Palm Beach as European starlings from a video of a flock along Dixie Highway that preached their squeaky, rasping, clicking songs to rush hour traffic earlier this month. SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (AP) The Illinois House on Thursday approved a wide-ranging plan to eliminate carbon emissions by 2050, with a compromise allowing two coal-fired plants to remain open until 2045 but cut their emissions by nearly half in the next 14 years. The plan was endorsed 82-33 after 2 1/2 hours of debate not over the goal of shrinking the state's carbon footprint, but how to do it and what will replace the power currently generated by fossil fuels. Republicans largely rejected the proposal saying that they support helping keep northern Illinois nuclear plants operating but that the abrupt end of coal-generated power would cost thousands of jobs and merely leave Illinois reliant on energy produced by burning fossil fuels in other states. Before Thursday night's vote, Democratic Gov. J.B. Pritzker, unhappy with a proposal that won Senate approval last week, lauded and agreement he said puts consumers and climate first, while protecting and creating jobs." He pledged to sign the measure into law if the Senate accepts the House changes. Senate President Don Harmon immediately called his members into session on Monday, just as the state's power giant threatened to start powering down unprofitable nuclear plants. Blakelys motion for a new trial listed dozens of one-sentence reasons why his attorneys argued he should get a new trial. Their arguments include that the judge violated Blakelys constitutional right to a public trial by closing the courtroom to spectators and the press during the first day and a half of jury selection, that the judge should have held a hearing or granted Blakelys request for a mistrial because a juror came forward after the trial to say that she did not believe he was guilty despite voting to convict, and that the judge erroneously denied Blakelys requests to dismiss five of the charges against him. Doctors with an Alabama medical association voiced their concerns Monday about the federal government limiting the supply of monoclonal antibody treatments credited with reducing hospitalizations from COVID-19. The Medical Association of the State of Alabama questioned the decision by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to limit access to monoclonal antibodies when the states hospitals are still so overwhelmed. Alabamas hospitals are full and under tremendous stress, said Dr. Aruna Arora, president of the Medical Association, in a news release. Thats why physicians are very concerned about federal efforts that will end up limiting our supply and access to this effective treatment. Were calling on the federal government to help us provide more of this treatment not less so we can save lives and keep COVID patients out of the hospital. There were 2,474 people hospitalized Monday with COVID-19. Hospitalizations in Alabama have dropped since peaking at 2,890 patients on Sept. 1. KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AP) Barely a month in office, Malaysia's new leader has won opposition support to shore up his fragile government in exchange for a slew of reforms as Parliament reopened Monday. Prime Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob signed an unprecedented cooperation pact in Parliament with the main opposition bloc led by Anwar Ibrahim, in a move to prevent any bid to undermine his rule ahead of general elections due in two years. The political stability and transformation" pact will give Ismail the backing of 88 lawmakers in Anwar's bloc, in addition to 114 that support him in the 222-member house. Ismail said in a statement that the pact will lead to bipartisan cooperation and political reforms that will bolster governance, fight the COVID-19 crisis, and help to revive the economy. The government is confident that this memorandum of understanding will not only help cast aside all political differences but also ensure the countrys recovery is holistic and inclusive," he said. Officials said further details of the agreement will be unveiled soon. As their livelihoods snatched by the Covid-19 pandemic, many foreign teachers are running online classes at cheap rates to survive, while others have left Vietnam. When Daniel Payne left South Africa to take up a teaching job at a school in Ho Chi Minh City in 2019, he envisioned an exciting life with a lot of new friends, fun and adventure. Now the 31-year-old normally starts his day in the afternoon by looking for job on Facebook, teaching only two online classes a week. "I lost my job at the school due to the pandemic and now I need more classes to survive this outbreak," he says. He moved into a cheaper apartment in Tan Phu District earlier this year since he could no longer afford to live in the city center. "I did not expect this outbreak to be this severe; last year was much better." HCMC, the epicenter of Vietnam's fourth Covid wave, has reported more than 298,000 infections so far. A foreigner teaches English to Vietnamese students at an open park in HCMC in 2018. Photo by VnExpress/Thanh Nguyen In a country that was among the world's nine countries that pay the highest salaries to ESL (English as a Second Language) teachers, who could earn up to $2,000 per month, many expat teachers are now in a distressing situation. As English is an obligatory subject from sixth grade across Vietnam and in large cities like Hanoi and HCMC, many primary schools opt for English programs for students and demand high proficiency. The ESL industry has thrived in Vietnam in recent years, with jobs offering high salaries available all year round. But the year-long pandemic and prolonged lockdown changed the table, forcing schools and language centers to shut down. Many expat teachers have to teach online to survive while some have left for their home countries, or hunkered down waiting for the lockdown to cease. Payne offers "trial classes" at VND360,000 ($15.84) per hour for three groups of four, nearly half his former rate. "Now I teach three classes a week, earning around VND8 million a month..., I use the money to pay my monthly rent and food." In many Facebook groups for expats and English teachers in Vietnam, several foreigners have sought online students with "promotions" for big groups and cheaper prices. "Some of my friends have lowered the rate to VND300,000 per hour, but many other teachers opposed this because it would force them to lower their own rates," Payne says, admitting not many of his students care about learning English at the moment because of the raging pandemic. Most foreign English teachers earned someVND500,000 per hour before the outbreaking starting in April. Echoing Paynes opinion, Stewart Evans, a Briton living in Hanois Tay Ho District, says he has relied on online classes from a local English center, but the weekly teaching hours are not stable since no one wants to pay much for online lessons. "My employer cut my working hours to three per week, then to nothing." "Financially I have been bled dry by Covid; I am massively behind on rent and my landlord increased my electricity price," Evens says. In HCMCs Tan Phu District , Thomas Walter, teacher at several English centers in town, quit teaching when the fourth Covid outbreak started in Vietnam in late April, forcing his centers to close. To make ends meet, he has helped local students and employees edit their English writing, earning around VND200,000 a piece. "This job helps me depend less on my savings account, I think the pandemic will be contained next year and children will go to school again, so I will wait for that." Jahdid Bago, a Filipino working at a school in the northern Son La Province had his salary delayed for three months, and recently returned to his hometown in the Philippines to run online classes for Vietnamese and Chinese students. Brian Bokram, an English teacher in Hanoi, says, "There is a chance I will have to leave Vietnam if the situation does not get better soon." CJ van Vuuren, an English teacher in HCMC, says while she has chosen to stay, most colleagues at her school have left the country. In HCMC expat community groups on Facebook, many foreigners, including English teachers, are selling off their furniture, cookware and other belongings in preparation for leaving the country. While Covid lockdowns have posed challenges for some, others found a silver lining. Alex Rieger teaches online English lesson for two students. Photo courtesy of Rieger Alex Rieger, an American who teaches English to Can Tho University students, says: "I have been in Vietnam for a while, so I can find students for online classes and now my income is almost the same as before the pandemic." Besides, he feels safe at home with his wife and children amid the current outbreak in Can Tho. "I love this country and the people here and I think the stringent measures to contain the pandemic are due to the fact that the government really does care about the peoples well-being and health," he said. Brightman, an American teacher in HCMC, says her rate for online classes "has of course gone down a little because it's online." "But overall I'm secure financially." She wishes everything would return to normal soon so she and her Vietnamese husband could get their marriage documents formalized and she can reunite with her family in the U.S. after more than two years. The United States strongly condemned the recent Houthi attacks against Saudi Arabia. On August 31, a drone struck the civilian airport in Abha, wounding eight civilians and damaging a commercial airliner. On September 4, a Houthi missile attack struck Saudi Arabias Eastern Province, injuring two children and damaging several homes. In a written statement, Secretary of State Antony Blinken noted that since the beginning of 2021, Saudi Arabia has endured more than 240 attacks from the Houthis, who have endangered the Saudi people alongside more than 70,000 U.S. citizens residing in Saudi Arabia. The Houthis have also intensified their attacks inside Yemen, particularly their offensive on Marib, Secretary Blinken said. On August 29, a drone and missile attack on Al-Anad airbase in Yemens Lahj governorate killed at least 30 people. The U.S. Mission to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia called the attack egregious, adding it threatened lives, infrastructure and prospects for peace and stability in Yemen. The war in Yemen began in 2014 when the Houthis seized the capital, Sanaa, from the internationally recognized government and drove Yemens president into exile. The Saudi-led military coalition intervened in Yemen in 2015, backing forces of the ousted, internationally recognized, legitimate Yemeni government. Over the years, at least 233,000 people have been killed, including 131,000 from indirect causes such as lack of food, health services, and infrastructure, according to UN estimates. The conflict has led to one of the worlds worst humanitarian disasters, with 5 million people in Yemen on the brink of starvation and more than 20 million in need of humanitarian aid. In March 2021, Saudi Arabia and the Republic of Yemen Government expressed their readiness to agree to a nation-wide ceasefire in Yemen, but the proposal was rejected by the Houthis. The Biden-Harris Administration has been pushing for a diplomatic resolution to the conflict. In his statement, Secretary of State Blinken said the Houthis attacks are perpetuating the conflict, prolonging the suffering of the Yemeni people, and jeopardizing peace efforts at a critical moment. We call on the Houthis, he wrote, to uphold a ceasefire and engage in negotiations under UN auspices. Here in Idaho we have one of the most diverse sets of mineral deposits and assets in the nation. Silver, gold, copper, phosphorous, molybdenum and critical minerals such as cobalt, antimony and rare earths are scattered in abundance throughout our state. Without these minerals, batteries, wind turbines, solar panels and grid infrastructure could not be built. The daily demand for these and other minerals continues to rise. As the world population grows and we transition to more renewable energy sources, this demand will only go up. The massive increases we will have to see in mineral production to fill all the technological needs of making our nation 100% reliant on solar, wind and battery power are astronomical. This doesnt even include the continued increase in demand for smartphones, computers, tablets, TVs, electric cars and fertilizers, among other things. Throughout the last year, we have heard policymakers continued calls for renewable and green energy and rebuilding infrastructure, while in the next breath calling for mining bans across the country. These promises and policies are well-meaning, but they fail to connect the dots on how our nation can achieve these clean energy, infrastructure and manufacturing goals without mining. In fact, these goals will require an increase in production and supply of critical and noncritical minerals exponentially. RENO Two new University of Nevada, Reno Extension educators are working with their communities to build strong programs and provide needed resources in their areas, northern Nye County and Lander County. Misha Allen Misha Allen, Extension educator for northern Nye County, is first focusing on getting out into the area, including Tonopah, and meeting people to better assess their needs. Nye County is very large and spread out, so Extension will have two Extension educators for the county, one in the north (Tonopah), and one in the south (Pahrump). Allen wants to ensure she learns as much as possible about the geography and culture of the area to better serve the people living there. After speaking with local community members, Allen has put a priority on building and establishing more youth programming in the area. Her goal is to grow the 4-H Youth Development Program, particularly in Tonopah. Although there are some active clubs in areas such as Round Mountain, she believes that 4-H programs need to be more readily accessible to youth no matter their location. The school had a museum where they displayed Indian artifacts. I donated my arrowhead collection to the museum. A few years later the museum closed so I took the collection to the Douglas County Museum in Gardnerville where it is today. This collection is the basis for my book, Preserving Traces of the Great Basin Indians. Support Local Journalism Your membership makes our reporting possible. {{featured_button_text}} Native American children were forced to attend the Stewart Institute up to secondary school age. The initial intent of the school was to eliminate the Indian language and culture from the children, to provide them with trade skills and to make them assimilate to American culture. Students during the early years were harshly disciplined and acted as unpaid labor to maintain the institution. The school struggled and some superintendents lasted less than a year. in 1919, Frederic Snyder was put in charge and he turned the floundering school into an architectural and horticultural showplace. The children were prohibited by assimilation policies until 1934 from using their native language and culture. After the Indian Reorganization Act, Alida Cynthia Bowler became Director of the Stewart Indian School and Reservations. She defended the Indians interests against the federal governments ongoing desire to prevent their ownership of land, and supported retention of Indian culture among the students. Many of the municipalities requiring employees to get vaccinated offer exemptions for medical or religious reasons. Gainesville spokesperson Shelby Taylor said the city stood by its decision. It is our belief that as an employer we retain the right to require vaccination as a condition of employment," Taylor said in an email. At a news conference, Orange County Mayor Jerry Demings, a Democrat, said that he believed many of the decisions the Republican governor makes are politically motivated and that the county would deal" with DeSantis' threat, either through the courts or another manner. It could be a lot of money, yes, not question about it," Demings said. At the end of the day, it is our goal to protect the people in our greater community, to keep them safe, which is a fundamental role of government." DeSantis is running for reelection next year and is widely seen as a potential candidate to be the GOP's presidential nominee in 2024. Earlier this year, DeSantis signed legislation prohibiting proof of vaccination in order to get services from businesses or governments. He also issued an order preventing local governments from imposing restrictions meant to stop the spread of the virus. Kim during a congress of the ruling Workers Party in January doubled down on his pledge to bolster his nuclear deterrent in the face of U.S. sanctions and pressure. He issued a long wish list of new sophisticated assets, including longer-range intercontinental ballistic missiles, nuclear-powered submarines, spy satellites and tactical nuclear weapons. Kim also said then that his national defense scientists were developing intermediate-range cruise missiles with the most powerful warheads in the world. North Koreas weapons tests are meant to build a nuclear and missile program that can stand up to what it claims as U.S. and South Korean hostility, but they are also considered by outside analysts as ways to make its political demands clear to leaders in Washington and Seoul. The Norths resumption of testing activity is likely an attempt at pressuring the Biden administration over the diplomatic freeze after Kim failed to leverage his arsenal for economic benefits during the the presidency of Donald Trump. KCNA's report of the tests came hours before Bidens special representative for North Korea, Sung Kim, was to meet his South Korean and Japanese counterparts in Tokyo to discuss the stalled nuclear diplomacy with North Korea. Children around the United States have returned to the classroom, in some cases, after more than a year. Their return comes as many the more contagious Delta variant leads to one of the worst waves of covid-19 since March 2020. In the United States, children represent around 15 percent of all covid-19 cases that have been reported. To date, children covid cases represent around 15 percent of all cases that have been reported. The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) has reported on the increase in cases of covid-19 among children being seen in the United States. From 19 August to 2 September, an increase of nearly 10% increase in the cumulated number of child COVID-19 cases since the beginning of the pandemic (455,744 cases added (4,593,721 to 5,049,465). This past week was the highest number of reported cases of covid-19 in children seen since the data began to be collected in March 2020. This is primarily motivated by the rapid increase in cases seen in Southern states, representing more than half of all cases reported in children. Hawaii, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, and Mississippi saw the largest increases in child cases over the recorded period. Cases of covid-19 in children are on the rise Dates Cases of covid-19 in Children Percent of Child Cases within US Total New Cases Total Cases 12 - 19 August 180,175 4,593,721 22.4% 19 26 August 203,962 4,797,683 22.4% 26 August - 2 September 251,781 5,049,465 26.8% Source: American Academy of Pediatrics With the Delta variant still surging in some parts of the country, children are contracting the virus more as they return to school. However, the CDC has found that children are not at a higher risk of severe infection from the Delta variant but that in areas where vaccination rates are lower, more children are being hospitalized. Vaccinations for Children Currently, only the Pfizer and BionNTech vaccine has been approved for use in children older than twelve. Therefore, younger children face disproportionate risk from the virus. However, on Friday, the German publican Der Spiegel spoke with the Chief Medical Officer at BioNTech, Ozlem Tureci, who stated that "In the coming weeks, we will present the results of our study on the 5- to 11-year-olds worldwide to the authorities and apply for approval of the vaccine for this age group." When could children under 12 begin to receive vaccines in the US? In an interview with an ABC affiliate, Dr. Anthony Fauci said that he hoped that the Pfizer and BioNTech trial results for those between ages 5 and 11 would be reviewed this month, while those for Moderna are scheduled to be released in October. If scientists and experts find the vaccine to be safe and effective, Dr. Fauci said, it is very likely that vaccines will be available down to five or six years old as we get into October and early November. However, for parents of children younger than five, more waiting will be required. Most children under five may not see any vaccine approved until 2022. The delay in the approval for the countrys youngest residents will take more time as trials must be expanded, which will be done after the results of the vaccine trials for children ages 5 to 11 are evaluated. How many children have been vaccinated in the US? As of 8 September, the CDC reported that 12.4 million children between the ages of 12 and 17 received at least one dose of a covid-19 vaccine. Around 59 percent of those ages 16 and 17 have received a shot, while the figure is only 51 percent of those between 12 and 15. The CDC also reported 9.3 million children are fully vaccinated, with 48% of 16-17 year-olds and 39% of 12-15 year-olds, according to the American Academy of Pediatrics. Are more children being vaccinated because of the Delta variant? While an increase in demand for vaccines has been seen in adults, rates in children have not followed the same trend. Each week since 11 August, the number of children who received their first dose of the vaccine has declined. The AAP reported that between 26 August and 2 September, 323,000 children received their first COVID-19 vaccine dose, down significantly from the peak of 1.6 million [at] the end of May. President Biden last week announced that he was signing a series of executive orders to raise the vaccination rate as the Delta covid-19 variant takes a heavy toll on the nation. There are still nearly 80 million people that havent gotten vaccinated, to them Biden said our patience is wearing thin, and your refusal has cost all of us. Federal workers, contractors working for the government along with their staff will now be required to get vaccinated. Private companies with 100 or more employees are asked to encourage their workforce to get vaccinated or be required to submit a weekly negative covid-19 test result. This resulted in instant backlash from members of the GOP. GOP governors threaten legal action Members of the Republican party and GOP governors across the country were quick to come out against the President Bidens newly announced covid-19 vaccine mandate. Texas Governor Greg Abbott called the mandates an assault on private businesses and said he already issued an Executive Order protecting Texans right to choose whether they get the COVID vaccine. He also said that his state is working to halt this power grab. Other Republican governors followed his sentiment and are also threatening lawsuits against Bidens executive orders. Georgia Governor Brian Kemp plans to pursue every legal option available to the state of Georgia to stop this blatantly unlawful overreach by the Biden administration. Missouri Governor Mike Parson My administration will always fight back against federal power grabs and government overreach that threatens to limit our freedoms. South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem said see you in court. Wyoming Governor Mark Gordon said he asked the Attorney General to stand prepared to take all actions to oppose this administrations unconstitutional overreach of executive power. President Biden for his part on Friday when asked about the threats of legal action he at first simply said Have at it. He went on to express disappointment in many GOP governors cavalier attitude toward the health of the children in their states. Mandate will create resistance to vaccination The Republican governors of Arkansas and Nebraska went on the Sunday talks shows to speak out against President Bidens executive order. Arkansas Governor Asa Hutchinson on NBC's "Meet The Press" said that his state has been trying to overcome resistance but the mandate would harden the resistance. He added "it increases the division in terms of vaccination when we should all be together trying to increase the vaccination uptake." Nebraska Governor Pete Ricketts said on Fox News Sunday that his state too has been encouraging people to get vaccinated. However, he feels it is a personal choice and somebody shouldnt have to make the choice between keeping their job and getting a jab in the arm. He vowed that he would push back against the vaccine mandate with all his power. Vaccine mandates are as old as the US Vaccination mandates have long history and are common at the state and local level for children to attend school. In the past, compulsory vaccination for adults has been mandated to squelch outbreaks of smallpox. The US Supreme Court has upheld these mandates going back over a century. Justice John Marshall Harlan, known for defending civil liberties, wrote in 1905 There are manifold restraints to which every person is necessarily subject for the common good. On any other basis, organized society could not exist with safety to its members. The difference with Bidens mandate is that it comes from the federal government, as opposed to the states, but he is using the Occupational Safety and Health Administration to implement the policy for private businesses. Should a lower court hear a suit against the covid-19 vaccine mandate and issue a stay then it will be before the Supreme Court in quick succession. Xie Zhenhua, China's special envoy for climate change affairs, has called for intensified efforts to tap the potential of digital, intelligent technologies in helping fulfill the country's ambitious climate targets. Data from the World Economic Forum shows that the combination of 5G, the internet of things and artificial intelligence could help reduce global carbon dioxide emissions by about 15 percent, Xie told the First China Digital Carbon Neutrality Summit via video link last week. With the theme of "digital power, green development", the summit was held in Chengdu, capital of Southwest China's Sichuan province. The promotion of a green, low-carbon transition via proactive application of information and big data technologies has been included in many countries' national strategies for tackling climate change, he said. Sweden, for example, had unveiled a carbon neutrality plan for its agricultural sector by promoting precision agriculture and digital management. Xie said there was a very solid foundation in China to further promote low-carbon transition with the help of digital and intelligent technologies. "China has made marked achievements in green, low-carbon transition," he said. The share of coal in China's primary energy consumption, for example, fell from 72 percent in 2005 to 56.8 percent in 2020. The proportion of nonfossil energy in its primary energy consumption reached 15.9 percent last year, up from 7.4 percent five years earlier, Xie said. With low energy efficiency and weak science and technology capability, however, the country's industrial structure remains dominated by heavy industries and its energy mix still relies on coal. This makes digital technology indispensable for the country as it strives to go carbon neutral, he said. China aims to reach peak carbon dioxide emissions before 2030 and realize carbon neutrality before 2060. Xie noted positive progress in the development of digital and intelligent technologies in China, saying that with the largest fiberoptic and 4G networks in the world, the country has made robust progress in the commercial use of 5G. 5G and industrial internet technology has been applied in five industrial sectors, including electronics manufacturing, steel and mining, he added. Xie urged the ramping up of efforts to promote the development of the technologies during the 14th Five-Year Plan (2021-25) period, as the five years are not only key for China's climate commitment, but also for innovative integration of information technology applications and industrialization. He said one of the priorities in the endeavor should be to address the high energy consumption of big data centers. Data centers and 5G base stations nationwide consume over 120 billion kilowatt-hours of electricity per year, which is about 2 percent of total consumption, and the number is rising rapidly, Xie said. He said that as power consumption by data centers continues to increase, the country needs to do more research on energy efficient technologies and measures. The construction of a national, integrated big data center system that is green and low-carbon should be accelerated. Buildings and the transportation system are both major contributors to carbon emissions in China. Their contributions are expected to increase with urbanization and the improvement of people's living standards, he said. A report by the International Energy Agency shows that the application of intelligent lighting and the construction of intelligent buildings could help reduce energy consumption in buildings by 10 percent. "I suggest energetically promoting the construction of intelligent cities, transportation and buildings," Xie said. The China-proposed Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) is famous for its infrastructure construction, but it has also subtly enhanced exchanges between people of different backgrounds. On the scenic shores of River Nile, the world's longest river, a Chinese construction technician and a Ugandan teacher found love, and their love has bared fruit, baby Kyle. Baby Kyle, born on Aug. 11, is a new generation of children that signifies the people-to-people relations between China and Africa, brought forward by the BRI. Announced in 2013 by China, the BRI, aims to build trade and infrastructure networks connecting Asia with Europe and Africa. The initiative comprises the Silk Road Economic Belt and the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road. In Uganda, the Chinese-constructed Isimba Hydro Power Plant, a 566-million-U.S. dollar project by Sinohydro Corporation Ltd., is one of the key BRI energy infrastructure projects in the east African country. During the construction of the 183 megawatts power plant, Betty Nabukeera, a local teacher, and Liu Qi, a Chinese construction technician at Sinohydro fell in love. In their house, the excitement about their new baby is visible, as Nabukeera carries the baby, Liu is preparing milk in the kitchen. Liu also cooks for his young family whenever Nabukeera is not able. In November last year, Liu and Nabukeera held a wedding ceremony. Before the wedding, Liu had to fulfil the traditional practice of paying dowry to Nabukeera's family before he was allowed to proceed to the wedding ceremony. Liu told Xinhua in a recent interview that he gladly paid the dowry because he was determined to marry his love, Nabukeera. Five years before their marriage, Nabukeera and Liu met at a roadside, as Liu was supervising construction works on a road leading to the power plant. They exchanged pleasantries and telephone numbers promising to keep in touch. "I wanted to learn English, so I asked her to buy me a local sixth grade English textbook, and then I often sent the pictures (in the book) to ask her how to read and what do they mean. Later, after around three months, my English level improved very much," Liu said. Through continued interactions, they developed feelings for each other. When Liu communicated to his parents back in Xiantao of China's Hubei Province about his love, her mother was a bit upset. Liu's parents disagreed at first, concerning about cultural background, which made himself questioning the relationship with Nabukeera. "At that time, I also wanted to give up. I told Nabukeera, I will support you, so you can leave me. She flatly refused, and told me she was serious," Liu recalled and occasionally smiled at Nabukeera. In 2016, Liu got life-threatening Malaria. "She often called me and asked about my condition. Sometimes, she would call friends to bring me food, such as fish, jackfruit, and bananas. Sometimes she came to visit me too," Liu said. Liu returned to China for vacation in 2018. "I felt like I had lost something. I wanted to go back to Uganda. I had a showdown with my family and said that I must go back to find her." When Liu returned to Uganda, the first thing he did was to enroll Nabukeera at the Confucius Institute at Makerere University. To help Nabukeera pass the Chinese language test, Liu taught her for one hour every day. Nabukeera successfully passed the Chinese level-three test, and she can now use Chinese for simple communication. Since then, Liu's parents started to change their attitude and occasionally have a video chat with their future daughter-in-law. "We miss you, when will you come to China?" Nabukeera said that is what her future parents-in-law often ask. She said her parents told her that as long as she is happy with the relationship, they would not stop her. Nabukeera has since got a job at Sinohydro and is responsible for coordination and communication with the communities in the neighborhood of the power plant. Liu has also been promoted to a technical professional. United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres speaks to reporters after launching Our Common Agenda at the UN headquarters in New York, on Sept. 10, 2021. (Xinhua/Xie E) "As the world seeks to ramp up COVID-19 response and recovery and tackle the existential threat of climate change, South-South and triangular cooperation is more essential than ever," said Guterres. UNITED NATIONS, Sept. 12 (Xinhua) -- United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Sunday called for deeper international cooperation to address global health crisis, and reduce poverty and inequality. "We need deeper international cooperation to address the global health crisis, reduce poverty and inequality, achieve the Sustainable Development Goals and avert climate catastrophe," the top UN official said in his video message on the UN Day for South-South Cooperation, which is celebrated globally on Sept. 12 every year. "The COVID-19 pandemic is the most complex immediate challenge facing our world and it is undermining hard won social, economic and environmental gains," said Guterres. "In such trying times, the solidarity that underpins South-South cooperation has once again proven vital for developing countries." "Throughout the pandemic, countries of the Global South have shared their knowledge and resources to support response and recovery efforts," the secretary-general said. Guterres called for "building inclusive and resilient societies, empowering women and youth, leveraging digital, greener and bluer initiatives, and expanding sustainable financing." Noting that South-South and triangular cooperation offer concrete solutions to these shared challenges, he said that "the United Nations will continue to support these efforts - including through our System-wide Strategy on South-South and Triangular Cooperation for Sustainable Development." "As the world seeks to ramp up COVID-19 response and recovery and tackle the existential threat of climate change, South-South and triangular cooperation is more essential than ever," said Guterres. Editor: GSY XICHANG, Sept. 9 (Xinhua) -- China successfully launched a new direct broadcast satellite (DBS) from the Xichang Satellite Launch Center in southwest China's Sichuan Province Thursday. The satellite, Zhongxing-9B, was launched at 7:50 p.m. (Beijing Time) by a Long March-3B carrier rocket and entered the planned orbit successfully. The new DBS is designed to run for 15 years and will be operated by the China Satellite Communications Co., Ltd., said the China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation. Zhongxing-9B, equipped with specially designed transponders, can support the transmission of 4K and 8K high-definition video programs and provide high-quality live broadcast transmission services for major events such as the upcoming Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics. In addition, the new DBS will provide timely and reliable communication services for emergency rescue and disaster relief. This launch marked the 388th mission for the Long March series carrier rockets. Editor: JYZ SHENZHEN, Sept. 9 (Xinhua) -- A 3D-printed park with a total area of 5,523 square meters and a greening rate of 88 percent was recently unveiled at the Shenzhen World Exhibition and Convention Center in south China. Sculptures, benches, flower beds, retaining walls and kerbs in the park have all been completed using concrete construction technology of robotic 3D printing, with a self-developed software control platform, printing toolhead and concrete printing materials. The 3D printing technology has propelled intelligent construction to move from laboratory to the industry. Users can input the digitally designed model into the system, where the digital model will be automatically processed into control signals of the printing equipment. The concrete mixture then reaches the nozzle at the front end of the mechanical arm through the extrusion device and is finally printed under signal control. According to a report by Askci, a market consultation firm based in Shenzhen, the scale of China's 3D printing industry reached 20.3 billion yuan (3.14 billion U.S. dollars) in 2020, accounting for 24 percent of the global total and an increase of 31 percent compared with 2019. And it is estimated to reach 25.1 billion yuan in 2021, up 24 percent from last year. As a form of intelligent construction, concrete construction technology of robotic 3D printing boasts great advantages, said Xu Weiguo, professor at the School of Architecture of Tsinghua University, who led the technical support team. The technology saves time and human effort, Xu said, adding that the park was constructed in just two and a half months. It is also environment friendly. For example, the machine-made sand, one of the recyclable construction materials used in the concrete mixture, is made from waste grains of sand, he said. Compared with reinforced concrete, 3D printing is relatively cheap since the building simulation stage will solve technical problems in advance and come up with the optimum construction method, Xu added. Xu and his team have explored intelligent construction in other formats as well. They have attempted to print huts that can be opened and closed based on the weather in the suburbs of Zhangjiakou City, a landscape bridge in Shanghai that can accommodate at least four adults per square meter at the same time, and low-cost, sustainable and affordable housing in Africa. The intelligent construction is still in its infancy, but the digitalization of the construction industry has bright prospects, said Zhang Yu, an official with the construction bureau of Shenzhen's Bao'an district. With the rising labor costs, manpower will be replaced with robots and intelligent systems, Zhang said, adding the integration of digital design and construction has the potential to redefine the future of architecture. Xu's team is working on the construction technology and production materials, aiming to achieve breakthroughs in high-performance concrete materials and printing high-rise buildings. Editor: JYZ BEIJING, Sept. 10 (Xinhua) -- Chinese scientists have revealed the key transporters of iron delivery in plants and promised to help solve iron deficiency in the human body. The delivery of iron in plants depends on a series of transporters, among which nicotianamine (NA) is the most critical, according to the study. However, how NA plays a part in the long-distance transport of iron has not been revealed. Scientists from the Center for Excellence in Molecular Plant Sciences under the Chinese Academy of Sciences reported that two members of the nitrate/peptide transporter family, NAET1 and NAET2, function as NA transporters that are required for translocation of both iron and copper to seeds. NA is also a key enhancer of iron absorption in humans and animals, and helps prevent Alzheimer's disease and hypertension. The study provides a new perspective for solving iron deficiency in humans. It was recently published in the journal Science Advances. Editor: JYZ JSC Ukrposhta plans to computerize another 1,250 villages with a population of up to 1,200 people by February 2022. "We will launch 800 more cars this year and about 900 more next year. That is, let's say that by the end of June next year, the entire country will be covered with mobile units. Moreover, we would computerize, I would say probably by February 2022, another 1,250 villages," CEO of Ukrposhta Igor Smelyansky said in an exclusive interview with Interfax-Ukraine. He also said that the company is still at the beginning of the process of creating an infrastructure on which to launch e-commerce. To complete this process, the company needs to update the IT system, purchase devices based on the requirements of the new system, and buy a bank that will provide an opportunity to fully service this infrastructure. "In the process of launching the project [on mobile offices], we estimated that in large villages the work of mobile offices is not optimal, they can be computerized. Previously, all villages with a population of more than 2,000 people were computerized, now we have revised this parameter and lowered the limit to 1,200 people. In smaller villages there will be a mobile department," Smelyansky said. He also said that when a country has a digital infrastructure, almost any service can be launched on it: for example, a population census can be launched within a month. Belarus will refrain from contacts with the West until anti-Belarusian sanctions are lifted, Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko said. "Until these brainless sanctions are lifted and the humiliation of our people [is stopped], we won't talk to them," the Belarusian state-run news agency BelTA quoted Lukashenko as saying during the visit to the Obuz-Lesnovsky combat training range, where he was watching a stage of the Zapad-2021 joint strategic exercise of the Belarusian and Russian armed forces. Vitaliy Pysanets, a judge of Pechersky District Court of the city of Kyiv, has been found dead in the village of Pohreby (Kyiv region). Employees of the State Bureau of Investigations (SBI) are currently working at the scene, which will investigate the death of Pysanets, the press service of Kyiv region police said on Sunday. "In the village of Pohreby, Kyiv region, the body of a judge was found. At the scene, employees of the State Bureau of Investigations were working there, who will conduct an investigation into this criminal proceeding," the police said. According to media reports, the department has already opened criminal proceedings under Article 115 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine (intentional murder). According to the CHESNO portal, from 1998 to 2011 Pysanets was a judge of Sverdlovsk Town Court of Luhansk region, and from 2011 to 2015 he worked as the chairman of the said court. In 2015, by the decree of the President of Ukraine, Pysanets was transferred to the Pechersky District Court of Kyv. In the metropolitan court, Pysanets, among other things, was the investigating judge in the case of the murder of journalist Pavel Sheremet. On Monday morning, near the Turkish city of Menteshe (province of Mugla), there was a traffic accident involving a tourist bus, as a result of which 35 Ukrainian tourists received injuries of mild and moderate severity, spokesman for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine Oleh Nikolenko said. "According to preliminary information, there were 41 citizens of Ukraine in the bus. Thirty-five Ukrainian tourists received injuries of mild and moderate severity. Now they are provided with the necessary medical care. There are no threats to life," Nikolenko told Interfax-Ukraine on Monday. The speaker pointed out that, probably, the driver, a citizen of Turkey, lost control of the vehicle due to a heart attack. "He died at the scene of the accident," he added. Nikolenko noted that the Consulate of Ukraine in Antalya interacts with Turkish law enforcement officers to clarify all the circumstances of the accident, established contact with the tour operator and the insurance company, which should cover the costs of treatment. "The consul also plans to visit the injured Ukrainians in the hospital to provide them with consular assistance," he added. Earlier, a number of Turkish media reported that in Mugla area, a tourist bus driver lost control of a heart attack and collided with a school bus. According to olumhaberi.com, the tourist bus driver died on the spot, seven schoolchildren and 41 tourists were injured. The mobile network operator Kyivstar during the summer of 2021 turned on high-speed Internet at 900 MHz band in another 14 cities, which makes the network work better indoors. The press service of the company reported on Monday that among the new cities where LTE900 was launched are Kyiv, Lviv, Odesa, Kharkiv, Khmelnytsky, Lutsk, Rivne, Chernivtsi, Ivano-Frankivsk, Ternopil, Melitopol, Bila Tserkva and Kamianets-Podilsky. In general, since the beginning of the year, thanks to low frequencies, Kyivstar has improved the network operation in 22 cities of Ukraine, where a total of 12 million people live. For this, the mobile network operator has installed almost 700 base stations operating in the LTE900 band. "Thanks to this, it was possible, in particular, to improve the signal indoors. After all, the signal at low frequencies penetrates better through the walls of buildings, compared to the signal at high frequencies," the company said. At the same time, the operator said that its key task is to expand 4G coverage in small villages thanks to 900 MHz frequencies. According to the company, 4G from Kyivstar today is available in more than 16,000 cities and villages, where 89% of the Ukrainian population lives. McDonald's intends to open restaurants in Kropyvnytsky, Chernivtsi and Uzhgorod in the near future, McDonald's Ukraine Development Director Vitaliy Stefurak said in an exclusive interview with Interfax-Ukraine. "Restaurants will appear in Kropyvnytsky, Chernivtsi and Uzhgorod. And this will mean that all regional centers will already have our restaurants. In addition, we are going to big cities where we are not yet represented, for example, to Mariupol," Stefurak said. The expert also said that in the next few years McDonald's intends to open restaurants in all satellite cities of Kyiv. "Our goal for several years to completely cover all satellites of Kyiv. Now we are in Bucha, Brovary, Boryspil. We are considering Irpen and other cities," Stefurak said. A similar task, according to him, is being set in relation to the suburbs and satellite cities of Kharkiv, Lviv, Dnipro and Odesa. "In cities with a population of over one million and satellite cities, we are primarily interested in individual sites where restaurants with McDrive can be located, with all the sales channels that are now in Ukraine," Stefurak said. The first McDonald's restaurant in Ukraine was opened on May 24, 1997 in Kyiv. Currently, the McDonald's chain in Ukraine has 104 restaurants in 24 cities. The network is being developed by McDonald's Ukraine Ltd. According to the data of the unified public register of legal entities and sole proprietors, MCD Europe Limited (100%, London, the U.K.) is a participant in the limited liability company. The charter capital of McDonald's Ukraine Ltd. as of September 2021 was UAH 901.801 million. Health Ministry proposes not to extend restrictions of 'yellow', 'red' zones to facilities where staff, visitors have COVID certificates The Ministry of Health of Ukraine proposes not to extend the restrictions of the "yellow" and "red" zones of epidemic danger to businesses whose staff and visitors have certificates of vaccination against coronavirus infection. The participants of the meeting discussed key changes in the Resolution of the Cabinet of Ministers No. 1236 'On the establishment of quarantine and the introduction of restrictive anti-epidemic measures to prevent the spread of acute respiratory disease COVID-19 caused by SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus'. Innovations will be adopted soon," the press service statement of the government on the results of a conference call on the prevention of the spread of COVID-19 said. It is reported that Minister of Health Viktor Liashko voiced the relevant proposals. In particular, the Ministry of Health proposes that restrictions on the yellow and red zones of epidemic danger should not apply to those establishments where staff and visitors have a covid-certificate certifying vaccination, a valid negative PCR test for 72 hours or a certificate of recent several months of coronavirus disease. "This will effectively contain the epidemic situation and maintain economic activity," Liashko was quoted as saying by the government's press service. In turn, Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal stressed the importance of vaccinating school staff in order to protect children from the disease during school time. "It is extremely important to accelerate the pace of vaccination of teachers and other employees of educational institutions. The relevant ministries should actively work on this topic with the regions, because in the near future the country will move to the 'yellow' zone," Shmyhal said. According to the Ministry of Health, 921,000 vaccinations against COVID-19 were made last week. In particular, 60,511 teachers received the first dose and 57,490 teachers received the second dose. The participants of the meeting also discussed the issues of observance of sanitary norms and counteraction to forgery of coronavirus documents. The participants of the meeting also discussed the issues of observance of sanitary norms and counteraction to forgery of coronavirus documents. "The Ministry of Internal Affairs reported that inspections for compliance with quarantine rules have been resumed. Last week, 40,000 business entities were inspected, 205 administrative reports on quarantine violations were drawn up and almost 3,200 decisions on non-compliance with the mask regime were issued," the statement said. The Ministry of Internal Affairs reported that law enforcement officers are intensifying inspections of possible forgery of vaccination certificates. "The relevant order was given by head of the Ministry of Internal Affairs Denys Monastyrsky to the National Police. Operational and necessary investigative actions are being carried out now to record and stop the relevant offenses," the government reported. The Ukrainian Prosecutor General's Office (PGO) has requested that the Justice Ministry of the Czech Republic extradite Russian citizen Alexander Franchetti, who has been detained in Prague, and a relevant statement was published on the institution's official website on Monday. Ukrainian law enforcement agencies sent the request to their Czech counterparts in August 2020 and have confirmed that the request for Franchetti's extradition is still relevant. "The Prosecutor General's Office found out on September 12, 2021 that the Russian citizen had been detained in the Czech Republic at Ukraine's request. Today, the Prosecutor General's Office confirmed that the request for extradition and the effectiveness of procedural decisions in the criminal proceedings are relevant," the statement said. "He [Franchetti] is wanted by the pretrial inquiry authority to be held criminally liable for participating in the armed units Crimea's Self-Defense and Nord Wind, which are proscribed by the law. The Holosiivskyi District Court of Kyiv has issued an arrest warrant for the suspect," it said. Law enforcement agencies of the Czech Republic detained Franchetti at the international airport in Prague at Ukraine's request on September 12. Interview with World Bank Regional Vice President for Europe and Central Asia Anna Bjerde for the Interfax-Ukraine News Agency Text: Dmytro Koshovyy Anna Bjerde, World Bank Vice President for Europe and Central Asia, is in Kyiv on her first official visit to Ukraine from September 12 to September 15, 2021. During her visit, Ms. Bjerde will meet with Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal and other members of the government of Ukraine. Ms. Bjerde will also meet with representatives of Ukraines academia, as well as counterparts from international financial institutions and partner development organizations. During her trip, Ms. Bjerde will also visit a private farm to familiarize herself with the implementation of land reform supported by the World Bank. Ms. Bjerde, a Swedish national, became World Bank Vice President for Europe and Central Asia on May 1st, 2020. In this position, she leads the World Banks strategic, analytical, operational and knowledge work in the region. Learn more: https://www.worldbank.org/en/about/people/a/anna-bjerde - The Government has identified "growth points" the priority sectors (technological production, energy security, safety of life, transport / infrastructure and "City of Masters" / development of local, unique industries) to support and promote and now expects for investment of USD 1 billion to get additional 1-2% of economic growth. What is your view on the potential of such an approach? - I welcome the fact that policy makers have identified priority areas and recognized the need to mobilize investment. Ukraine needs faster, more sustained, and more sustainable growth that raises the welfare of all Ukrainians. So, I believe that the governments focus on enhancing the quality of future growth (less volatile, greener, more resilient, inclusive and job-creating) is well-taken. We feel that efforts to strengthen social resilience and inclusion through investing in and protecting people are very much needed. However, I want to highlight one important aspect that has not been much highlighted in the Government plans the importance of human capital. The sum of a populations education, skills, experience, innovativeness and health is, according to research, the most important resource for sustainable economic growthit is the glue that brings together the other factors of production, including physical capital or infrastructure. The developmental impacts of inadequate human capital are severe. Without adequate human capital, additional investment in physical capital might not give expected dividends. - Does Ukraine make the best use of the $90 million of support provided under the COVID-19 Emergency Response and Vaccination in Ukraine Project? Are the rates of vaccination in Ukraine satisfactory; are they comparable with the neighbors in the ECA region? What can be done to accelerate the pace of vaccination? - Through the $90 million COVID-19 Emergency Response and Vaccination Project, which was signed in May 2021, the World Bank provides Ukraine with resources to procure vaccines and invest in the vaccine cold chain, as well as to reimburse vaccine providers (through National Health Services of Ukraine) for vaccinations. The World Banks aim is to help the Government of Ukraine to ensure that all Ukrainians, but especially those at most risk of COVID-19 infection and severe disease, get vaccinated. The good news is that Ukraine has used the resources from the World Bank to procure needed vaccines. But unfortunately, administering the vaccines still needs progress: Ukraine has one of the lowest vaccination rates in Europe: as of September 10, only 14.3% of the population have had at least one dose; just 11.5% are fully vaccinated. Compare this to your neighbors full vaccination in Poland covers 50% of the population; in Slovakia 40%; and Turkey 47%; next door, Moldova has over 21% fully vaccinated. In particular, more attention and effort are needed to reach older people (above 60 years), whose vaccination rate lags the national average even though they are most vulnerable to severe COVID-19 disease. The World Bank stands ready to support Ukraine with further financing and the best global advice to support its COVID-19 vaccination effort. - In Ukraine, there is an ongoing debate on the health care reform, which has been affected by the COVID situation. What are the current World Bank's recommendations on the point, including the experience of other countries in the region? - The World Banks recent report on Ukraines health care reform shows that, overall, it is moving in the right direction, with important progress in critical areas intended to improve the quality and efficiency of healthcare. The COVID-19 pandemic has certainly tested the resilience of the health system, as it has in all countries, and revealed weaknesses including in disease surveillance and in ICU care. At the same time, it has revealed strengths. For example, the recent health financing reforms which adhere to the principle that money follows the patient provided a mechanism for the Ministry of Health and the National Health Service of Ukraine to quickly expand the guaranteed service package to include COVID-19 services (such as testing, treatment and vaccination) and pay for their provision through accredited providers, according to the needs of the population and taking into account the actual capacity of providers. This helped to roll out the COVID-19 testing program, strengthen emergency medical services, provide additional ICU beds with the equipment and oxygen needed for COVID-19 treatment, and enable more providers to do vaccinations. The World Banks Serving People Improving Health project has provided $57 million to support COVID-19 treatment and with the balance of its $350 million financing, we will continue to support the modernization of Ukraines hospital network, right-sizing of care at the appropriate level, and hospital payment reform all of which are critical to achieving a health system that delivers quality care in a financially sustainable way. - What are the conditions for Ukraine to receive $350 million of the 2nd tranche of DPL? When would this money be available for Ukraine if the conditions are met? - We at the World Bank are proud to have supported Ukraine in its efforts to build a better future, and we remain supportive to these efforts. The prospects for a second DPO are conditional on maintaining adequate macroeconomic framework and adoption of necessary legislation establishing a proper institutional framework needed for functioning of the recently opened land market, especially the passage of the law establishing a Partial Credit Guarantee Fund that helps small and medium farmers get access to financing. A landmark decision to open the land market has been made, but more needs to be done to take full advantage of opportunities offered by Ukraines agriculture sector, including by facilitating access to credit for small farmers. For example, the law on establishing a Partial Credit Guarantee Fund (PCG) to provide access to finance to small farmers is yet to be passed and has been delayed. A successful implementation of land reform offers an important opportunity to boost Ukraines future economic growth potential. - What is your assessment of the current situation with corporate governance in Ukraine? Is it possible to consider that the corporate governance situation is back to normal and the participation of independent experts in the nomination committee and the work of the committee in general is back to regular? - Unfortunately, compared to most other countries, the direct participation of the state in the economy in Ukraine remains excessive and restricts the role of market forces in the economy. There are some 3,500 companies owned by the statemost of them loss-makingin sectors from machine building to hotels. It is clear that Ukraine needs fewer SOEs and those that remain must be better managed. In recent years, notable successes were achieved in adopting legislation and strengthening systems regulating SOEs. The first round of corporate governance reforms has been successfully implemented at state-owned banks. And, in the energy sector, Naftogaz was unbundled in 2020. The electricity sector is also now being gradually liberalized. Tariffs have increased and reforms are expected to support investment in aging electricity-producing and transmission infrastructure. Investments in renewable energy are also on the rise. At the same time, the implementation of corporate governance practices is lagging and, in some instances, have back-tracked for example, only nine SOEs have appointed supervisory boards under the new guidelines. SOE ownership and oversight remains dispersed among 96 ministries and agencies, complicating further reform implementation. As a result, SOEs continue to be exposed to undue political influence, non-competitive practices in the selection of key management positions, opaque remuneration systems for senior personnel, and ineffective control and accountability mechanisms. Hence, it is important that management functions of SOE supervisory boards and their members remain free of interference and they are given the space to do their job. We also urge that the National Bank of Ukraine maintains its role as an independent overseer of the banking sector. The World Bank Group has supported reforms to improve the governance of SOEs and SOBs in Ukraine in the past and will remain steadfast and consistent in our advice that progress in this area cannot and should not be reversed. We all know that more is needed to improve corporate governance at several SOEs, including through final passage of a new law on corporate governance at state-owned enterprises and implementation of its requirements in practice. - How does the World Bank perceive the Government's decision to reduce the electricity tariff for the households that consume less than 250 kWh per month, to 1.44 UAH /kWh? Do you think this is a reversal of the reform? Can this decision affect the WB's policy towards Ukraine? - The World Bank has been supporting Ukraine in managing the trade-offs between financial sustainability of the sector, underpinned by cost-reflecting tariffs, and protecting the poor. The Bank assisted the government in improving the housing and utilities subsidies (HUS) program, which allowed significant reduction of the pressures linked to the need to increase energy prices due to gas price hikes and other factors. With the move to monetization of the subsidies, the HUS program became much more transparent, with reduced leakages to non-poor consumers and strengthened incentives for beneficiaries to improve energy efficiency. In addition, the World Bank supported expansion of the guaranteed minimum income (GMI) program, which is a well-targeted way to support the poor. But I would like to stress the importance of implementing a cost-recovery trajectory for the power sector. This is particularly relevant considering the current financial deficit in the sector, partly due to high feed-in tariffs for renewable energy plants. Based on World Bank analysis, the household electricity tariff should be gradually increased to reach a level reflecting cost. We welcomed the Governments earlier decision to remove the preferential pricing for consumption up to 100 kWh per month. The recent decision to revert the reform and reduce the electricity tariff for the households that consume less than 250 kWh per month could jeopardize the financial recovery of the sector, which is further weakened by the COVID pandemic. Furthermore, electricity price for the residential sector has been traditionally subsidized at the expense of the price for the commercial and industrial consumers. Despite electricity tariff increases in 2015 and 2017, the cross-subsidies were not discontinued as planned, and the recently expanded tariff cap for households could lead to increased cross-subsidies, with potential negative impacts for the international competitiveness of Ukraines energy-intensive industries. Furthermore, attracting investment to the sector will be very difficult and the drain on Ukraines public resources due to continued subsidies will hamper development in critical areas such as in human capital, which I spoke about earlier. International experience in tariff reforms shows that protecting the poor is as important as meeting the cost recovery and efficiency objectives. Therefore, cost recovery reforms need to be complemented by social assistance programs that protect the poor against income shocks resulting from raised tariffs. Ukraine already has experience in implementing well-functioning programs for energy subsidies as well as a minimum income program. Adjusting these instruments would allow Ukraine to meet all the tariff reform objectives. The Bank stands ready to support the Government to address this sensitive issue. - What is your assessment of the start of land reform in Ukraine? The Verkhovna Rada proposes to reduce from January 1, 2024 the maximum area of land allowed for purchase by Ukrainian citizens and legal entities from 10,000 hectares to 500 hectares, and to introduce a number of restrictions to prevent the concentration of land in one hand. How do you think these novelties can affect the land market? Would these suggestions, if approved, signal about "curtailing" the reform for you? - We believe that the opening of the land market in Ukraine on July 1 is a historic milestone that has great potential to improve the welfare of farmers and all Ukrainians. We expect benefits for landowners from increased land values and lease prices, for farmers through access to credit, and for local communities through increased local revenue, better land use planning, and improved protection of environmentally sensitive areas. I would like to congratulate the President and the authorities for undertaking this long overdue step. There is a lot, however, that still needs to be done. The remaining laws and regulations on land have to be passed expeditiously, and implementation carefully monitored to assess the extent to which expected benefits materialize (and corrective action must be taken if needed). Specifically, three priority steps are urgently needed: First, to ensure that credit is made quickly available to small and medium farmers, Rada needs to expeditiously adopt the law establishing a partial credit guarantee agency; in the meantime, a bridging program will need to make credit available to those who need it. Second, a transparent monitoring system has to be established to report publicly, and in real time, the number, volume, and prices of land transactions. And third, to block fraudulent transactions, there needs to be full data interoperability between the land registry and the land cadaster. It would also be good for the Cabinet to approve and oversee implementation of the land reform implementation strategy from the Ministry of Agrarian Policy and Food, which incorporates these and other steps, to ensure that the reform lives up to its potential. On the proposed restrictions, international experience suggests that measures such as administrative restrictions on land size can be easily circumvented by determined operators. So, it is best to address the underlying institutions. The thresholds included in the turnover law passed by Rada last year reflect a carefully considered compromise, so any changes to them should only be considered if evidence from the first phase of market opening indicates a need for doing so and more appropriate options are not available. - The Economic Security Strategy of Ukraine until 2025 provides for the creation of a three-tier pension system, however without increasing the burden on the salary fund and with increasing of revenues to the budget of the Pension Fund of Ukraine. Do you think the implementation of such a model would be effective? What are the benefits and the risks? - Pensions in Ukraine remain low and our projections show that if nothing is changed, they will continue declining relative to wage income. Reform is needed. But reforming the system is a complex technical task, which needs to carefully consider interests of different generations. The World Bank has deep global experience in this area, and we see that international experiences of systemic reforms are quite diverse, and success depends on very careful and well-thought-through approaches. We have seen countries in the neighborhood where reforms that implemented a fully funded pillar did not meet expectations or were even reversed. Our advice to Ukrainian policymakers has been to not be hasty and to plan carefully, so that this reform opportunity is not wasted. Implementation of a well-functioning funded pension pillar requires detailed and collaborative technical work in both policy and implementation, as well as close coordination with other reforms in the financial sector, fiscal system, and social protection. It is also important to recognize that solutions to the adequacy of pension benefits are needed today, but the funded pillar is a long-term solution that will take decades to fully mature before anyone sees its benefits. We know that the Government has addressed adequacy by introducing age-related supplements to the main pension benefit -- but in an ad hoc manner, without a proper legal framework or long-term fiscal planning. We believe that comprehensive reform, holistically addressing issues in different parts of the pension system, is needed. The World Bank will be happy to extend our assistance and global expertise in this area. - What do you see as the optimal solution to the problem of the Pension Fund deficit in the implementation of the fully funded tier of the pension system? - We should remember the lessons from 2016: the reduction in the social contribution rate by half in that year cost Ukraine in a number of ways: lack of proper pension indexation, reduction in new benefits, and a perpetuation of the problem of the Pension Fund deficit. Further cuts in the social contribution is likely to push the Pension Fund further into deficit and reduce the capacity of the government to pay decent pensions today. We believe that introduction of the funded pillar should not be done at the expense of todays pensioners or future taxpayers. Therefore, if there is a decision to proceed with the funded pensions, there should be an open and transparent discussion in the society about financing such a new instrument. This could, for instance, be through some form of cost-sharing between employer, employee, and the government without affecting the current revenues of the Pension Fund. Another important solution is to re-examine the expenditures of Ukraines Pension Fund, where various state benefits and guarantees (not the purely pension obligations) are expanding; in fact, consolidating various cash benefits and supplements financed from the general budget into a clean and universal program of basic pensions that would supplement the main insurance scheme could largely resolve challenges around the Pension Fund deficit. - The Economic Security Strategy of Ukraine states its goal 6% of GDP annually growth. What is your assessment of the chances of such growth rates in the next 2-3 years? What reforms need to be accelerated for achieve the 6% rate? - Ukraines key challenge is not to achieve a spurt of high growth in the next 2-3 years, but rather to achieve sustained economic growth lasting over an extended period. In recent decades, Ukraine has in fact gone through several episodes of high growth, but mostly due to favorable external conditions rather than the institutional strength of the economy. Sustaining significant growthhigh growth over a decade or twois challenging, yet not impossible. Experience from other countries including your neighbor Poland demonstrates that sustained growth does not happen spontaneously. First, it requires a long-term commitment by political leaders, a commitment pursued with patience, perseverance, and pragmatism. Second, the speed of growth is primarily determined by the ability to mobilize productive investment (public and private). In this context, the post-covid-19 recovery provides opportunities to mobilize new investment to meet future challenges of climate change, increasing digitalization and deepening trade and economic ties with the EU. Third, a robust private sector is needed to sustain high economic growth rates. Thus, to achieve lasting growth would require reforms that shift the role of the state from directly participating in economic activities towards providing conducive conditions for the private sector to flourish. Ukraines longer-term prospects of private sector-led growth hinge on reforms to address bottlenecks to investment and to safeguard macroeconomic sustainability. While the successful implementation of key reforms related to land markets, banking, de-monopolization, and concession projects should enhance the environment for private investment, major challenges remain. Key among these are weak rule of law, contract enforcement and systemic corruption. Judicial reform is still in the early stages, so the timely implementation of recent laws adopted will be critical. - What are the new joint projects, the World Bank and Ukraine are working on? Which of them would be launched in 2022? - Our aim is to help support Ukraines development in all key sectors. The World Bank works on public sector projects, and our sister organization, IFC, works with the private sector. For the World Bank, our key focus areas over the next year will be to support Ukraines sustainable recovery from the COVID crisis, by supporting the reforms and investments that are central to ensuring a green recovery. An immediate priority would be to provide additional resources needed by Ukraine to support further vaccination of the population against COVID-19. On the medium-term growth agenda, we will continue to work with the Government, including through budget support for reforms, on land reform followed by comprehensive support for the agricultural sector. We will also be working with Ukraine on key infrastructure projects, including on urban mobility, on modernizing and increasing the efficiency and financial sustainability of Ukrainian Railways, and on improving safety in Ukraines roads and highways. Another key focus area will be the energy transition. We hope to work on supporting Ukraine in the policy reforms and investments needed to meet its climate goals. One aspect of decarbonization will be helping Ukraine synchronize its power sector with the European grid, including through improving the efficiency of the natural gas Transmission System Operator (TSO) and strengthening its technical capacity and institutional context. We will also work to improve efficiency in energy consumption, reduce GHG emissions and air pollutants at the municipal level in Ukraine. We will look forward to working with Ukraine to support its transition away from dependence on coal. In this regard, we welcome Ukraines updated Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) for COP26 with more ambitious emission reductions targeted for 2030. - Is the pace of reforms in Ukraine comparable to the transformation pace in other countries in the region? Some time ago, the World Bank estimated in half a century the time in which Ukraine can catch up with Poland in terms of development? What are the current estimates? - Indeed, at the current pace of growth, it will take Ukraine 50 years to attain the current levels of income of Poland. This is driven by todays slow growth rates, but initial conditions also matter. About a half of the current income gap between Ukraine and Poland is explained by the delay in the start of reforms in Ukraine, which resulted in the economic collapse at the beginning of the transition lasting longer. Ukraine experienced 10 years of accumulated contraction during the first decade of the transition, compared to just 3.8 for Central-Southern European and Baltic countries. But the challenge going forward is that even today, Ukraines economic transition to a full-fledged market economy remains incomplete. One manifestation of that is the still large presence of the state, as I described before. Another is the weakness of Ukraines institutions, marked by the challenges around rule of law. But let me be frank - it can be easy to grow frustrated with the pace of reform in Ukraine or the lost opportunities in the past. Two steps forward followed often by oneand sometimes twosteps back can lead to pessimism. But I am an optimist. Over the last five years, the scale of Ukraines challenges has been enormous. We also must be realistic about the forces resisting progress. Despite that, much has been accomplished. What I appreciate about Ukraine is that despite its challenges, it is ambitious about the future that it can craft for itself. The World Bank looks forward to supporting Ukraine in that ambition, and to both challenge and support our counterparts to take the steps needed to fully realize that ambition. On Friday, September 17, at 14.00, the press center of the Interfax-Ukraine news agency will host press conference on the initiative of local communities against mass liquidation of schools, hospitals in Ukraine's regions: the practice of the so-called "optimization" of educational and medical infrastructure leads to the de facto closure of schools and hospitals, especially in rural areas. Participants include directors of hospitals and schools in Kherson region, lawyers, as well as candidate for deputy in Constituency No.184 Kateryna Odarchenko, the National Platform political party (8/5a Reitarska Street). The broadcast will be available on the YouTube channel of Interfax-Ukraine. Due to quarantine restrictions, the number of seats in the press center is limited. Admission of journalists requires registration on the spot. Egypt's President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi announced 2022 Year of Civil Society as he launched on Saturday the National Strategy for Human Rights In a speech at the launch of the strategy from the New Administrative Capital, El-Sisi urged the civil society to "continue working hard side by side with the state institutions to achieve sustainable development in all fields." He also urged the civil society sector to cooperate with the state institutions to "spread awareness of the human rights culture and to contribute to achieving the aspirations of the Egyptian people." El-Sisi hailed the role of the civil society as "key and important in enhancing and protecting human rights at the political, economic and social levels." He added that the civil society organisations contribute to "spreading awareness of human rights in society and the culture of volunteer work and efforts to combat extremism and trends against the values of our Egyptian society." "There is no doubt that the contributions and achievements of the civil society are clear, and its partnership with the state is indispensable," El-Sisi said. He added that he, hence, had directed the government to reconsider the earlier civil society law, and therefore, a new law was issued. El-Sisi said the new law, which came into force earlier this year, has included facilitations and guarantees that enhance civil work after a societal dialogue involving 1,300 Egyptian and foreign NGOs was conducted. Personal and political freedoms El-Sisi said the Egyptian state is committed to respecting and protecting personal freedoms, the right of political participation, the freedom of expression and the right of the formation of civil society organizations. He added that Egypt welcomes differences in opinions as long as they respect the freedoms of others and aim, through constructive criticism, to achieve the better for the country and people. During a roundtable discussion on the new strategy at the event, the President cautioned against the consequences of people imposing their opinions on others. "We respect diversity and difference, but if someone seeks to impose their opinion on the rest of society then that leads to a dictatorial path," the President said. Constitutional accomplishments El-Sisi said the state has attached special importance to the right of participation in the political and public life as an "important component to advance human rights fields and contribute to establishing the pillars of democracy and the rule of law." He noted that many legislations have been issued and many independent entities have been formed in support of these rights. "The political and public life in Egypt has witnessed intense activity during the past period, which culminated in the achievement of all the constitutional entitlements," the president said. He added that these entitlements "ensured the people's expression of their free will through presidential and legislative elections." The President said the formation of legislative institutions have also been completed through reinstating the Senate and conducting its elections. Freedom of thought and creativity "Egypt has always adopted freedom of thought, creativity and expression, which resulted in a fruitful Egyptian contribution to its regional surrounding in art, literature and culture," El-Sisi said. The President affirmed that the field of culture has received direct support from the state's leadership to encourage creators. Religious freedom and equality El-Sisi affirmed that the Egyptian state will continue to exert "tireless" efforts at the level of the freedom of religion and belief. "Egypt, the country with a rich religious heritage, continues to make unremitting efforts to emphasize the values of citizenship, tolerance and dialogue, and to combat incitement to violence and discrimination," El-Sisi said. The state has achieved "remarkable progress to ensure equality among the children of one nation in rights and duties," he said, citing the issuance of a law on the construction and restoration of churches as an example. The President said this law has resulted in the legalization of the status of 1,800 unlicensed churches and adjacent structures. "Standing side by side in the New Administrative Capital, the Al-Fattah Al-Aleem Mosque and the Nativity of Christ Cathedral harmonized as witnesses to those achievements," El-Sisi stated. During the roundtable, El-Sisi stressed on Saturday his support for the right to freedom of belief and religion as "a right that God has granted us." "If somebody told me I'm not a Muslim, Christian, Jewish or from any other faith, I will tell them you are free to not be. Because I am protective of my own religion, I respect others' freedom," El-Sisi said. Religious affiliation in National ID cards stands During the roundtable discussion, Egypt's Minister of Justice Omar Marwan explained why the state has opted not to remove the field of religious affiliation of citizens in the national ID card system. Marwan said the inclusion of religious affiliation in the national IDs is a necessary measure to preserve the rights of Egyptians to be governed in their personal status matters by the jurisprudence of their religions. The Egyptian constitution stipulates Muslims, Christians and Jews have the right to be governed in personal status matters by their own religious laws, and, therefore, an official proof of each citizen's religion in the ID system is required for the government to protect this right, Marwan said. "We need the religion affiliation field for marriage, divorce and inheritance because there is no single law that applies to all Egyptians in personal status," the minister explained. Egypts mandatory national IDs, which every citizen must carry at all times, contain basic information about individuals including age, occupation, place of residence, marital status and religious affiliation. "Disdain of religion" cases? During the roundtable discussion, well-known Egyptian writer and media figure Ibrahim Eissa called for a revision of the two-year pretrial detention periods for those accused of crimes, saying the measure "was associated with very specific, complicated circumstances [especially] the threat of terrorism in Egypt, but now the state has become strong and solid." Eissa also called for the abolition of prison penalties for "disdain of religion", in order for such cases not to be used as "a sword hanging over writers' heads and pens," adding that such penalties restrict the freedom of interpretation of religious texts. Comprehensive approach The new National Strategy for Human Rights aims to develop a comprehensive approach to human rights as an integral part of implementing the country's national development project. The strategy is the "first comprehensive and long-term homegrown-strategy in the human rights field in Egypt," presidential spokesman Bassam Rady said in a statement on Saturday morning. At the start of the event, the president viewed a documentary film which discusses highlights of current efforts to bolster human rights in Egypt. The event was attended by a number of ministers, state officilals and representatives of human rights and civil society groups. Foreign ministry led effort Speaking at the event, Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry explained that the Supreme Permanent Committee for Human Rights, which is chaired by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, prepared the new strategy. The permanent committee was established in 2018 as per a decree by Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly to manage the human rights file in Egypt under the foreign ministry. The establishment of the committee constituted an "important addition to the institutional structure supporting human rights," Shoukry stressed. The committee's establishment also "reflected the firm political determination to translate all constitutional obligations and regional and international conventions' commitments into a tangible reality." It also confirms the governments keenness to implement human rights as a pivotal component in line with the country's 2030 Vision strategy, Shoukry added. Shoukry said the state has prepared the National Strategy for Human Rights through a scientific and consultative approaches. Over the course of a year, the state has studied human rights recommendations put forth by Egypt's National Council for Human Rights and coordinated with more than 30 ministries and bodies to assess the requirements of their implementation, Shoukry said. Shoukry said Egypt has assessed the final recommendations issued by regional and international human rights mechanisms and studied the human rights strategies of more than 30 countries. The consultative approach included expanded community dialogue and hearings involving the National Council for Human Rights, the parliament's human rights committee, civil society groups, NGOs and others, Shoukry added. The strategy spans five years and is based on four main axes: the civilian and political rights; economic, social and cultural rights; rights of women, children, disabled people, youth and the elderly; and education and capacity building in the human rights field. Shoukry added that the state aims to achieve progress in these four axes in a balanced way through the legislative and institutional development. "Human rights represent universal, integrated and interdependent values, and therefore must be dealt with comprehensively, and in a fair and equal manner," Shoukry said. Shoukry noted that human rights should also not ignore national and regional particularities as well as religious and cultural backgrounds. "What is reasonable and prevalent in one society is not necessarily acceptable in other societies," Shoukry said, affirming that "recognizing and respecting this diversity and specificity is an added value and an activation of human rights." The country's top diplomat said developing the human rights situation is a "continuous and cumulative process that begins with the commitment of state institutions to their duties towards their citizens to uphold their dignity and safeguard their rights." "We have a sincere determination to uphold the dignity of the Egyptian citizens and guarantee equal opportunities," Shoukry stated. He also explained that the protection of human rights constitutes a governmental policy and goal and is backed by an "independent and impartial judiciary that acts as a guarantor of the rule of law and the protection of rights." Political rights and religious freedoms In his speech at the event, Ahmed Ihab Gamal El-Din, Egypt's permanent representative to the United Nations Office at Geneva, said the new National Strategy for Human Rights highlights the right of citizens to participation in the political life and formation of political parties. This right, which has been enshrined in various legislations issued since 2014, guarantees civilian and political rights and leads to the building of a state of law that befits Egypt and the people, Gamal El-Din stressed. He noted that the strategy also aims to continue efforts exerted by religious institutions to renew the religious discourse. The strategy also contributes to the promotion and development of public awareness of the culture of practicing all forms of peaceful assembly, Gamal El-Din added. The strategy seeks to consolidate the values of citizenship and create societal awareness of the importance of respecting religious freedoms, he said. It also works on ensuring the continuation of the work of the committee tasked with legalizing the status of churches, Gamal El-Din said. The strategy aims to build skills and capabilities of political parties' cadres for leadership, he added. Gamal El-Din said that Egypt's draft new labour law, set to be discussed by the parliament in October, could represent a beginning for a strong partnership between the state and the civil society. The new labour law reflects the state's commitment to the enhancement and protection of the work of civil society organizations as a key partner in protecting human rights, he said. UNHRC president hails Egypt on new strategy The President of the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHCR) Nazhat Shameem Khan praised Egypt's launching of the first National Strategy for Human Rights. In a recorded video message screened at the ceremony, Shameem Khan said the new strategy aims to boost and protect human rights for all in Egypt and is a "significant" step for implementing international human rights criteria and guaranteeing human rights, The new human rights strategy in Egypt is a key tool to protect and promote human rights, a pillar of the work of the UNHRC, she noted. It targets translating the commitments into concrete steps on the ground, with the aim of strengthening the civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights as well as protecting the human rights of vulnerable segments, atop of which are women, children, challenged people and seniors, she added. She also praised Egypt for taking into consideration during the preparation of the new strategy previous recommendations of the UNHRC on the human rights file in Egypt. The UNHRC has several useful resources that can be used by Egypt to support the strategy, she stressed, adding the UN council's agenda will ensure the implementation of the strategy effectively. Economic and social rights "The integrated development vision of the state, Egypt 2030, is based on the concepts of comprehensive, sustainable and balanced growth, allowing a fair distribution of the benefits of development, achieving the highest levels of societal integration for all groups, and guaranteeing the rights of current and future generations to use the resources," El-Sisi said. These concepts also reflect the achievements made during the past seven years through the establishment of mega national projects nationwide, according to El-Sisi. "This has been directly reflects on the level of enforcing the economic, social and cultural rights, especially regarding the right to proper housing and health care, regular work, healthy food, pure drinking water, developed sanitation and good education," the president added. El-Sisi said the state has taken into account the social protection measures while implementing the economic reform program to ease its effect on the low-income people. These came through the implementation of many initiatives, the most prominent of which are "Takaful w Karama" and "Decent Life" that seeks to develop the countryside inhabited by more than half of the Egyptian population, El-Sisi said. "This first national strategy stems from an Egyptian will that believes in achieving integration to advance the society," El-Sisi said. Human rights: 7 presidential directives During his speech, El-Sisi called on the Supreme Permanent Committee for Human Rights, which prepared the new strategy, to continue implementing the mandates entrusted to it. The president also urged the government to take all measures to enhance the strategy as follows: - First, continuing efforts to integrate human rights goals and principles into the states public policies and within the framework of implementing the sustainable development strategy, Egypt Vision 2030. - Second, inviting political entities and civil society groups to care for enriching the Egyptian political experience and building trained cadres through expanding participation and expression within a climate of creative interaction and objective dialogue. - Third, ensuring equal distribution of the benefits of development and the right of every person to enjoy a proper standard of living for themselves and their family to meet their basic needs. - Fourth, enhancing communication with various civil society institutions and providing all facilitations for the effective implementation of the law organising the civil society work and its executive regulations. This comes to secure an adequate climate for the civil society organisations to work as a main development partner and spread the culture of human rights in society. - Fifth, ensuring, while implementing an integrated vision of administrative reform, to build an efficient administrative apparatus that follows the mechanisms of good governance and is subject to accountability. It also has to enjoy the approval of citizens regarding the level of services provided to them and should be characterised by efficiency, justice and non-discrimination. - Sixth, developing the system of receiving and following up on complaints regarding human rights to achieve quick and effective response to any complaints. - Seventh, intensifying national efforts for capacity building and training in the field of human rights. Human rights and development The new strategy "includes the main axes of the comprehensive concept of human rights in the state, which is to be integrated with Egypt's national developmental path that consolidates the principles of the establishment of the New Republic and achieves the goals of Egypt's vision 2030," Rady said in the statement. The strategy will build on the progress achieved during the past years in the field of maximising freedoms and rights and overcoming the challenges in this regard, Rady added. This comes with the aim of enhancing and respecting all civilian, political, social, economic and cultural rights, the spokesman added. The strategy strengthens the state's policies in backing the rights of women, youth, the elderly, the disabled and all stratas of society, Rady concluded. ---------- *Mohamed Soliman and Amr Ramadan contributed to this report. Short link: Egypt registered 481 new coronavirus cases on Sunday bringing the total infection tally officially to 292,957 since the outbreak began in February 2020, said Health Ministry in its daily coronavirus update statement. The health ministry also reported in its statement 11 new deaths, bringing the total number of deaths from the virus to 16,871. The statement added that 651 patients have been discharged after recovering from the virus, bringing the total number of recoveries to 246,726 . On Sunday, Presidential Health Adviser Mohamed Awad Tag El-Din stressed the need for citizens to abide by all precautionary measures against coronavirus. His remarks come as Egypt is witnessing a surge in the number of infections due to the fourth wave of the pandemic. It is important that citizens register for vaccination to be able to curb the spread of Covid-19 and increase immunity against severe complications, Tag El-Din said in statements to Extra News channel Sunday. Previously infected citizens should also apply for the jabs, Tag El-Din advised, stressing that antibodies are not 100 percent protective against a second infection. The antibodies could only protect the body for a maximum of four months, he noted. Until 5 September, according to the WHO, a total of 10,418,988 vaccine doses have been administered in Egypt. Short link: A World Bank delegation praised the achievements Egyptian women have gained so far and the strong belief of the political leadership in Egypt in their important role in the progress of the society and the development of the nation. This came during a visit to the National Council for Women (NCW) by the delegation that comprised World Bank Country Director for Egypt, Yemen and Djibouti Marina Wes, Keiko Miwa, the World Bank's Regional Director for Human Development covering the Middle East and North Africa region and Ayat Soliman, the Regional Director for the World Bank Group's Sustainable Development Department for the Middle East. The visit aimed at discussing cooperation in areas connected with womens empowerment and removing obstacles hindering women participation in public life. The bank delegates asserted the importance of existing cooperation between the two sides to serve womens empowerment, saying they look forward to furthering cooperation on that score. Welcoming the guests, the national councils chairperson, Maya Morsy, lauded the strong cooperation with the World Bank. Egyptian women are taking confident steps forward in numerous domains thanks to the support of the wise political leadership, she said, hughlighting President Abdel-Fattah El Sisis assiduous efforts to put Egypt on the right path of progress to build a better future for the coming generations. She asserted the importance of confronting negative gender concepts and traditions and customs that prevent womens work and progress and impede them from fulfilling their role in serving their communities. Short link: Egypt's Prosecutor-General Hamada El-Sawy ordered on Sunday the detention of a doctor and an employee at a private hospital for four days pending investigation into charges of bullying and blasphemy. The incident, according to local reports, took place at the El-Nozha International Hospital in Cairo. The two men are facing charges of misusing their authority to mock a nurse at the hospital, exploiting religion to promote extremist ideas and sow discord, and disdaining a monotheistic religion. They are also accused of undermining family values, posting a video clip on the internet that violates the privacy of the victim, and using a private account and website to commit these crimes. The clip showed the doctor and the employee in a hospital room taunting and ridiculing the victim verbally and using gestures. The defendants denied the accusations, claiming they were joking with the nurse and that he was used to these kinds of jokes. What appears to be the doctors voice is heard in the video as he orders the nurse to say a prayer to the doctors dog as a form of apology, accusing the nurse of insulting the dog. The prosecutions decision comes after the four-minute video went viral on social media, triggering wide outrage. The doctor, in remarks to the media last week, claimed that foreign hackers accessed his phone and used the posted video to blackmail him. He also claimed that a part of the video was fabricated. Health Minister Hala Zayed ordered a committee be formed on Friday to analyse the video. Health ministry spokesman Khaled Megahed said the doctor was suspended from work, and the clinic, where the incident took place, was temporarily closed until the investigation is completed. Short link: The Egyptian presidential Decent Life initiative won the Community of the Future prize granted by the Big 5 Impact Awards, the state-owned Arab Contractors Company, one of the participants in the initiative, announced on Sunday. The Big 5 Impacts Awards, an international platform to recognise innovation and project excellence in the Middle East, Africa, and South Asia, assessed a number of projects implemented by companies from several countries, including the UAE and the US. The Arab Contractors Company is the first Egyptian body to be named for the prize, which was handed out at a ceremony in the UAE. Decent Life, meaning Hayah Karima in Arabic, comprisesa series of countryside-focused national infrastructure projects. It was first initiated in 2019 by President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi who tasked the Ministry of Social Solidarity with developing Egypts poorest 1,000 villages. In December 2020, El-Sisi expanded the initiative to include 4,500 villages within the framework of the Sustainable Development Strategy: Egypt's Vision 2030. The Egyptian countryside will be transformed in three years time, El-Sisi said in January upon launching the expanded initiative. The national projects budget has been increased to around EGP 600 billion. The enormous volume of work required to develop the 4,500 villages means they have been divided into three groups of 1,500 villages each. The first phase started in January 2021 with a budget of nearly EGP 200 billion and is due to be completed by the end of FY 2021-22. The initiative also addresses women through family guidance and counselling offices and reproductive health clinics. It will provide decent housing in new complexes and, wherever possible, develop existing housing. In terms of education services, the initiative is building 13,000 classrooms, while health services will be enhanced by developing health units, constructing new hospitals, and activating the new Universal Health Insurance System. Short link: Egypts President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi will hold discussions on Monday with Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett in Sharm El-Sheikh, Presidential Spokesman Bassam Rady said. El-Sisi and Bennett are set to discuss means and efforts to revive the Israeli-Palestinian peace process, according to Rady. They will also discuss bilateral issues in various fields as well as developments on the regional and international levels, Rady added. Short link: Egypt's Ministry of Emigration and Expatriate Affairs has launched an online fundraising platform on Monday to raise $1 million in donations from Egyptian expats in the US to support the presidential Decent Life Initiative, which aims to raise the living standards of over 50 million citizens, according to Emigration Minister Nabila Makram. The platform will also help to promote a fundraising event scheduled for 2 October that will be launched by Egyptian expats in the US under the patronage of Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly to collect donations for the three-stage presidential initiative, the minister added. Makram's announcement was made during an online meeting on Monday with representatives of the Decent Life Foundation, Laila Pence one of the US top wealth advisors and president of Pence Wealth Management among others. Donations from the Egyptian community in the US can be made online through the newly released website (https://hayakarimausa.com). The money can be donated online via credit cards or by mailing cheques using a postal service. The platform includes a detailed overview on the Decent Life Initiative, the minister added. The Decent Life Initiative (Hayah Karima in Arabic) comprises a series of countryside-focused national infrastructure projects. It was first initiated experimentally in 2019 by President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi, who tasked the Ministry of Social Solidarity with developing Egypts poorest 1,000 villages. In December 2020, El-Sisi expanded the initiative to include 4,500 villages within the framework of the Sustainable Development Strategy of Egypt's 2030 Vision. The national projects budget has been increased to around EGP 600 billion. The enormous volume of work required to develop the 4,500 villages required the initiative to be divided into three stages comprising 1,500 villages each. The first phase started in January 2021 with a budget of nearly EGP 200 billion and is due to be completed by the end of FY 2021-22. The initiative also addresses issues faced by Egyptian women by providing family guidance, counselling offices, and reproductive health clinics. It will also provide decent housing in new complexes and, wherever possible, develop existing housing. In terms of education services, the initiative is building 13,000 classrooms. Health services wise, the national project aims to develop existing health units, construct new hospitals, and implement the new Universal Health Insurance System. Short link: Egypts non-profit foundation Youth Love Egypt (YLE) concluded on Monday its participation in the launch of the Nairobi Summer School on Climate Justice at Kenyatta University in Kenya. The event lasted for two weeks, from 30 August until 13 September, and saw the participation of representatives from 45 countries, a statement by the foundation read. The YLE, known for working in the environment protection field, took part in the event as the national coordinator for the Pan-African Climate Justice Alliance (PACJA), according to the statement. The foundation took part in a number of sessions during the event, including a session on the causes and effects of climate change as well as the negotiations and interventions that are taking place to address climate change. Founder of the YLE Ahmed Fathy and the YLEs scientific advisor El-Doshy Mahdy reviewed the foundations awareness campaigns in universities on curbing the use of plastic. This session also tackled the most important lessons learned during the summits as well as the negotiations held in accordance with the UN Framework Convention. Speaking at the event, Fathy shed light on the Egyptian states efforts to activate environment laws that contributed to putting an end to rice straw burning and reducing pollution in many factories, the statement read. During the event, Fathy also participated in the [email protected] dialogue that reflected 50 years of the UN Environment Programmes existence. The dialogue was held on 6 September with the participation of Juliette Biao Koudenoukpo, the UNEP director and regional representative for Africa. Fathy and Mahdy also visited Karura Forest on the sidelines of the event to follow up on environment protection efforts there, where participants also planted a number of trees. Youth Love Egypt is an NGO registered with the Ministry of Social Solidarity in 2012 to work in the field of environmental protection and services. Egypt considers addressing climate change a priority, with Minister of Water Resources Mohamed Abdel-Ati warning that "Egypt is one of the countries most affected by climate change." Abdel-Ati warned in June of climate changes negative repercussions on Egypts water resources and the threat it poses to sustainable development and access to water. In July, Egypts Environment Minister Yasmine Fouad participated in the preparatory ministerial meeting held by the United Kingdom for climate talks ahead of November's United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP26) summit in Glasgow. During the meeting, Fouad expressed Egypts keenness to share its visions and ideas on climate change-related issues. In an interview with Egyptian states news agency MENA later in the same month, Fouad said Egypt proposed to host the UN Climate Change Conference (COP 27), in 2022 amid great support by African countries. Short link: A Minya Criminal court has sentenced four people to death by hanging and 22 others to life in prison for raiding and torching a police station, which resulted in the death of two policemen, in August 2013 in Samalut, Minya. The criminal court has also sentenced 20 defendants to 15 years in prison and 15 others to 10 years. It also acquitted one defendant in the case. Ten defendants were dismissed from the trial as they were granted a presidential pardon in June 2018. The case dates back to August 2013, when a wave of violence was perpetrated by supporters of ousted Islamist president Mohamed Morsi across the country. The violence, which broke out after police dispersed two large pro-Morsi sit-ins in Cairo and Giza, involved attacks on police stations and churches that left 686 dead, including 64 members of the police, according to Egypts National Council of Human Rights. All the defendants in the case have also been ordered to pay over EGP 22 million as compensation for the buildings that were destroyed. Short link: Egypts President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi discussed on Monday the latest developments concerning the peace process in the Middle East with Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett in the Egyptian city of Sharm El-Sheikh, the Egyptian presidency said. President El-Sisi asserted Egypts support for all efforts to achieve peace in the Middle East based on the two-state solution and international resolutions in a way that contributes to ensuring security and prosperity in the region. El-Sisi also mentioned the importance of international support for the Egyptian reconstruction efforts in the Palestinian territories as well as the necessity of maintaining the truce between the Palestinians and Israelis. According to the Israeli PM offices statement on the meeting, Bennett expressed his appreciation for the warm reception he received at Sharm El-Sheikh, adding that the Egyptian role is important in the region and that after four decades, the Egyptian-Israeli peace treaty has been the corner of security and stability in the region. During the talks, according to the official statement issued by the Israeli PM office, Bennett asserted the role Egypt plays to keep the security stability in Gaza and to find a solution for the Israeli POWs and missing soldiers. El-Sisi and Bennett also discussed Egyptian-Israeli bilateral relations in all fields in addition to the latest developments regionally and internationally, according to the Egyptian presidency. Both leaders spoke as well about the latest developments concerning the dispute over the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD). We spoke about the GERD issue and we found out that there is a joint understanding as we try to solve this issue through talks and negotiations to reach for an agreement, El-Sisi said in media statements that the Egyptian presidency aired in a video on its YouTube channel Monday evening. The meeting was attended by Egypts Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry, Egyptian General Intelligence Service Chief Abbas Kamel, head of the Israeli National Security Council Eyal Hulata, Military Secretary to the Israeli PM Avi Gil, Senior Advisor to the Israeli PM Shimrit Meir, and Israeli ambassador to Cairo Amira Oron. Earlier in May, an Egypt-sponsored ceasefire deal was reached between Israel and Palestinian factions to end an 11-day Israeli military aggression on the Gaza Strip. The 11-day assault by Israel was deemed the most vicious since 2014, with Israel launching artillery and air strikes in response to rocket attacks on Israeli towns from the Strip, which is controlled by Hamas. The Israeli offensive killed more than 250 Palestinians, including 66 children, left more than 1,900 injured, and destroyed hundreds of commercial and residential buildings, while the death toll in Israel stood at 13. This is the first visit by Bennett to Egypt as prime minister, as well as the first visit by an Israeli prime minister in general to Egypt, since 2011. Short link: Egypts President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi visited on Monday the Rewaysat housing project in the city of Sharm El-Sheikh, South Sinai governorate, the Egyptian presidency announced. According to the Egyptian presidency, El-Sisi spoke with a number of local residents, listening to their demands and needs. The Rewaysat area, which was originally built in 1996, has undergone huge development, including the construction of modern residential units and buildings that were delivered in 2021 by the government. Short link: Egypts prosecution has referred on Monday Patrick George Zaki to the Mansura State Security Misdemeanor Court on charges of spreading false news inside Egypt and abroad. Georges trial is set to start on Tuesday. Zaki is accused of "broadcasting false news", "disturbing security and social peace," and using his Facebook account to "to promote the use of violence and terrorism," according to statements by the prosecutor's office. A postgraduate student at Bologna University in Italy, Zaki is a researcher at the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights (EIPR), a prominent rights organisation. Zaki was detained at Cairo International Airport on 7 February after he arrived for a family visit, his lawyers said at the time. His arrest sparked condemnation in Italy, with calls for his release by rights organisations both at home and abroad, including a call for his immediate release from the European Union and European Parliament. Short link: Israeli occupation warplanes on Sunday launched several air raids targeting the central Gaza Strip, inflicting damage on citizens' property. Palestinian media quoted security sources as saying that the Israeli warplanes raided a post in east of Al-Bureij camp. No injuries were reported among Palestinians. F-16 warplanes fired six missiles towards the coastal road in western Rafah city, causing damage to nearby buildings. Also, Israeli planes targeted sites in western Khan Yunis, leaving behind gross material damage Short link: Iraq had nothing to do with 9/11. But the terrorist attacks in the United States changed forever the lives of Iraqis. In their aftermath, the U.S. invaded Afghanistan, swiftly deposing the Taliban regime that had been sheltering Osama bin Laden, the leader of the al-Qaida terror network blamed for the attacks. But it was not long before President George W. Bush shifted his attention to Iraq, identifying it, along with Iran and North Korea, as part of an ``axis of evil'' and asserting that its brutal dictator, Saddam Hussein, was armed with weapons of mass destruction and had ties to al-Qaida. No evidence of either was found. What followed was a U.S.-led invasion of a country in the heart of the Middle East that spurred a decade of war, with consequences that reverberate across the region to this day. ``At first, I was happy with the U.S. invasion, everyone was happy. We were filled with hope for a better future,'' said Mohammed Agha, an Iraqi Kurd who was 27 when the invasion began. ``But then what happened was that the country's institutions were destroyed and never rebuilt again,`` he said. ``There was no planning for the day after and no nation-building.`` Agha's words reflect the lingering anger and bitterness felt by many Iraqis over what they regard as a lost opportunity to remake their country following the ouster of Saddam, who ruled with an iron grip for almost 30 years. The invasion reshaped Iraqi politics, including a shift in the country's power base from minority Arab Sunnis to majority Shiites, with Kurds gaining their own autonomous region. But while many Iraqis welcomed Saddam's ouster and the degree of democracy that followed, they expected the U.S. to bring good governance, security and reliable basic services like electricity. Failure to achieve any of those things fueled resentment and led to an insurgency that ultimately devolved into civil war, with both Shiite and Sunni militias fighting the Americans for control of the country. After decades of conflict, Iraq today has a relatively stable government, and the car bombings, suicide attacks and death squads have subsided. But the economy is in tatters, its infrastructure is crumbling and corruption is rampant. The government, with its fractious politics, is unable to control the dozens of powerful Iran-backed militias that wield enormous control. For some, the loss is also personal On the evening of April 7, 2003, two missiles crashed with such a deafening sound and force that they knocked Itimad Hassoun to the floor of her home in Baghdad's Jadriyah district and blasted her doors off their hinges. The Americans had been bombing for more than two weeks as part of their ``shock and awe'' campaign to topple Saddam, and the Iraqi capital was in darkness. Hassoun had been sitting by candlelight with her husband. The next few moments were a blur, as she fumbled blindly, screaming for him and their children. Her son, two daughters and a granddaughter lay dead in the rubble of their home next door. Only a newborn granddaughter survived. Twenty years after 9/11, Hassoun is 74 and still dresses in black after losing her son 18 years ago. She says she will never forgive America for killing her loved ones. ``There's nothing that makes me happy. I have a pain that cannot be removed and an injury that cannot be healed. It's inside me,'' she said, looking frail and tired as she sat in a chair in a large guest room. Baghdad fell on April 9, two days after the airstrike that killed Hassoun's family. Many Iraqis cheered as U.S. Marines pulled down a statue of Saddam in the capital's Firdous Square. But the euphoria was short-lived, as hope gave way to occupation, as well as more daily death and destruction after the Americans dissolved the Iraqi army. The move led to the rise of al-Qaida and later the Islamic State group in the country. The following years were stamped with images of horror. Among them: the bodies of four U.S. security contractors hanging from a bridge over the Euphrates River in Fallujah in March 2004; photos cataloging the abuse of Iraqis in the U.S.-run Abu Ghraib prison; the bloody battles between U.S. troops and al-Qaida militants in Fallujah in 2004; the February 2006 attack by Sunni extremists that shattered the golden dome of a revered Shiite shrine in Samarra, unleashing sectarian bloodletting. By the time Washington withdrew its last combat troops in December 2011, tens of thousands of Iraqi civilians were dead, along with 4,487 Americans. U.S. troops were invited back in 2014 after Iraqi security forces collapsed in the face of an onslaught by the Islamic State group there and in neighboring Syria. Tens of thousands more Iraqis were killed before the last pockets of those militants were defeated in 2017. ``A dictatorship was removed for a supposed democracy, and we found ourselves with a civil war, al-Qaeda and ISIS, with no services and just thieves all around us,'' said Assim Salman, Hassoun's 53-year-old neighbor who helped dig out the bodies of her relatives that fateful night. To hell with such democracy In his 2010 memoir, ``Decision Points,'' Bush admitted to mistakes in Iraq, including the decision to disband the Iraqi army, and said he got a ``sickening feeling'' every time he thought about the failure to find weapons of mass destruction, his main justification for the war. But he stood by his decision to invade. Political analyst Bassam al-Qazwini said the people of Iraq and Afghanistan paid the price of the U.S. invasions after 9/11, not the quickly collapsing regimes in those countries. Instead of building democracy in Iraq, he said, the Americans supported a political class that created networks of corruption and militias that continue to rob the country. Even though it is rich in oil, Iraq suffers chronic blackouts and crumbling infrastructure because of graft, profiteering and mismanagement. Tens of thousands of students graduate each year with no hope of finding jobs. ``This corrupt network is capable of killing Iraqis to survive, the same way Saddam killed Iraqis to stay in power. So, what has changed?'' al-Qazwini said, citing the crackdown on peaceful anti-government protests in 2019. Today, Hassoun lives in the same house in Jadriyah, 200 meters (yards) from the Tigris River. Black and white photos of her husband adorn the walls. Dina, her granddaughter who survived the bombing, is now an 18-year-old student of dentistry. Hassoun wants the few thousand Americans still in Iraq to leave ``a departure without a return, this time'' because of what they did to her family. But her neighbor Salman, like many other Iraqis, views the US withdrawal from Afghanistan with concern, worried about a return of militant groups like the Islamic State. ``America needs to fix things,`` he said. ``It cannot do to us what it did to Afghanistan, where it fought the Taliban for 20 years and then gave the country back to them.'' Short link: The badly damaged old section of the southern Syrian city of Daraa, which until recently was held by opposition gunmen, appeared to slowly return to some sense of normalcy Sunday. The capture of Daraa al-Balad marked another victory for President Bashar Assad, whose forces now control much of the country 10 years after Syria's civil war began. A Russian-negotiated cease-fire deal went into effect last week to end a government siege and intense fighting in Daraa city with rebel fighters holed up in Daraa al-Balad. But the agreement was riddled by fighting and government bombing of rebel-held areas, where civilians also lived. After the deal went into effect, scores of fighters were taken in buses to other rebel-held areas north of the country and hundreds of others handed over their weapons in return for amnesty. Syria's Information Ministry took a group of journalists to Daraa four days after government troops entered Daraa al-Balad, a bastion of the Syrian armed opposition since 2013. The journalists were not taken to the historic Omari mosque, where the anti-government opposition began a decade ago. Daraa province, which straddles the borders with Jordan and Israel, became known as the cradle of the uprising against Assad that erupted in March 2011 as part of the Arab Spring revolts and eventually led to war. At the entrance of the Daraa al-Balad district, Syrian troops took position on the first floor of a heavily damaged building overlooking a main street. Russian and Syrian flags flew over the building as Russian military police vehicles were seen driving by. On Sunday morning, bulldozers removed sand dunes that had closed roads for months. Men drove by on motorcycles while some women were walking around the area to buy food products from the few shops that were open. One person walking through Daraa al-Balad was Ahmed Kiwan, 45, who came to the area to buy scrap metal from residents. ``We are now able to work freely,'' said Kiwan, who is from the nearby village of Tafas. The Russian-negotiated cease-fire was designed to end the violence that erupted this summer between government forces and opposition fighters, and included a siege on the city that had threatened to undo years of relative calm along the borders with Israel and Jordan. The opposition blamed the government for the escalation, saying that troops were pressing an offensive to force insurgents to surrender. Under the deal, nearly 900 fighters surrendered their weapons and will stay in Daraa al-Balad, according to Syrian opposition activists. Resident Abu Wael had decided to stay with his family in the district despite the fighting. He said luckily his home was not destroyed. ``I hope that we will live safely and we have returned to our normal life,'' he said as he worked to get his car repair shop ready for business in the coming days. Daraa was recaptured by Syrian government troops in 2018 but rebels remained in some parts. Assad has since regained control of most of Syria with the help of Russia and Iran. A Russian-mediated deal in 2018 had allowed some of the province's armed opposition to remain in their former strongholds, in charge of security. Government troops retained control of the province, but security duties were divided. Tensions regularly erupted and government troops tried several times to take over areas under opposition control. Short link: Turkey is working with the UN's refugee agency to repatriate Syrians to their home country, the Turkish foreign minister said Sunday. His comments are at odds with the UNHCR's overall policy towards returning migrants to Syria, a country that it still considers too dangerous to send refugees back to. ``We are now receiving better support from the international community for the safe return and repatriation of refugees,'' Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said. ``We are working to repatriate refugees, especially in Syria, especially with the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees.'' A spokesperson for the UNHCR in Turkey did not immediately respond to Cavusoglu's remarks. The agency opposes forced repatriation but has previously negotiated with Turkey over allowing voluntary returns to Syria. Turkey holds the world's largest refugee population while Lebanon, Jordan and Iraq also hold significant numbers of Syrians. Cavusoglu was speaking at a ceremony in the southern province of Antalya followed a visit to Turkey days earlier by UNHCR chief Filippo Grandi, during which he met Cavusoglu and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Grandi thanked Turkey for hosting 3.7 million Syrians and 330,000 other refugees and asylum-seekers, mostly Afghans. Cavusoglu said the international community must work together to resolve migration. ``It's not right to look at this from a security standpoint,'' he said. ``It's wrong to look at it in a racist and fascist way. On the other hand, if it is a social problem, it is necessary to evaluate it calmly together and find a solution by producing new policies.'' In 2016, Turkey signed a deal with the European Union to keep Syrians from moving to Europe in return for funding after more than 1 million migrants from Syria and elsewhere entered the 27-nation bloc in 2015. Short link: Iran and the UN atomic agency on Sunday announced the IAEA will keep up surveillance of Tehran's nuclear activities, soothing a sore point in talks to resuscitate a 2015 deal to curb its programme. With negotiations in Vienna between Iran and world powers deadlocked, the steps hashed out with International Atomic Energy Agency chief Rafael Grossi on a visit to Tehran leave a chink of hope for US President Joe Biden's ambition to restore the agreement, known as the JCPOA. Since Donald Trump's administration walked away in 2018, Iran has since also retreated from many of its commitments. In a joint statement Sunday, Grossi and Iranian Atomic Energy Organization (AEOI) chief Mohammad Eslami -- also one of the country's vice presidents -- hailed a "spirit of cooperation and mutual trust", while noting that surveillance was an issue to be treated "exclusively in a technical manner". Eslami welcomed "good and constructive negotiations with Mr Grossi," while again insisting on the "technical" nature of the bargain, Iran's official IRNA news agency reported. Their deal relates to limits Iran has imposed on the IAEA's ability to monitor various of its nuclear facilities. Iran has refused to provide real-time footage from cameras and other surveillance tools that the UN agency has installed in these locations. Under a compromise deal, the monitoring equipment remains in the agency's custody but the data is in Iran's possession, and must not be erased as long as the arrangement remains in force. Initially agreed for three months, the compromise was extended by another month and then expired on June 24. With no word on next steps, the IAEA said in a statement last Tuesday that its "verification and monitoring activities have been seriously undermined" by Tehran's actions. But under Sunday's agreement, "IAEA's inspectors are permitted to service the identified equipment and replace their storage media which will be kept under the joint IAEA and (Iran's) AEOI seals in the Islamic Republic of Iran," the joint statement said. "The way and the timing are agreed by the two sides." Russia's ambassador to the UN in Vienna, Mikhail Ulyanov, welcomed the results of the Tehran visit and called for a resumption of negotiations with Iran. "We welcome the results of Mr.Grossi's visit to #Tehran," he tweeted. "We call for an earliest resumption of #ViennaTalks on restoration of #JCPOA." The surveillance issue had heightened tensions at the time the new government of Iran's ultraconservative President Ebrahim Raisi was taking charge in Tehran. Iran has also boosted its stocks of uranium enriched above the levels allowed in the 2015 deal, the IAEA has said. A meeting of the UN agency's board of governors is scheduled for Monday. "We have decided to be present at the next meeting and to continue our talks on the sidelines," Iran's Eslami told IRNA. Raisi argued in a statement on Wednesday that his country was "transparent" about its nuclear activities, which Iran has always insisted are peaceful. "Naturally, in the event of a non-constructive approach by the IAEA, it is unreasonable to expect Iran to respond constructively," he said. US Secretary of State Antony Blinken cautioned last Wednesday that, faced with the impasse, the United States was "close" to abandoning its diplomatic efforts. Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett on Friday charged that the IAEA report "proves that Iran is continuing to lie to the world and advance a programme to develop nuclear weapons, while denying its international commitments". Short link: Short link: The Israeli occupation forces on Monday opened fire at a Palestinian youth in southern Bethlehem.Security sources said that the 27-year-old Palestinian was transferred by Israeli ambulance.Activists shared a video on social media showing the Israeli soldiers banning a Palestinian paramedic from helping the injured. Short link: Lebanese President Michel Aoun on Monday chaired the first meeting of the new Lebanese government which was announced on Friday in the presence of Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri.Addressing the meeting, Aoun said the new government members and hope that the new government would stand up to all challenges to meet the aspirations of the Lebanese people.Aoun's statement came as the new government, formed on Friday, was meeting for the first time in the presidential palace Baabda."We will face big difficulties and we will work on devising the possible solutions," Aoun said in a statement on twitter.A new government has been formed in crisis-ridden Lebanon on Friday, ending a more than year-long power vacuum that began shortly after the August 2020 Beirut port blast.Prime Minister Najib Mikati, a billionaire who has already twice served as premier, will lead a cabinet of ministers that will preside over an economic depression which the World Bank considers one of the world's worst since the mid-19th century. Short link: New Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati was given Monday a red carpet reception upon his arrival at the government premises in Beirut to assume power.This came in the wake of the first meeting of the Lebanese government which was held at the presidential palace in Baabda under the chairmanship of President Michel Aoun.The meeting addressed the government's plan of action and its priorities in the coming phase.Following the meeting, Mikati headed for the government premises without giving any official statements, calling for exerting all possible efforts to achieve the hopes of the Lebanese people.Lebanons political factions agreed Friday on a new government led by former Prime Minister Najib Mikati, ending a more than yearlong deadlock as the country struggles with an economic collapse that has pushed millions into poverty.President Michel Aoun and Mikati signed a decree leading to the formation of a new cabinet, according to the state-run National News Agency.Mikati, a billionaire businessman, was nominated as prime minister in July after two previous attempts were abandoned. Lebanon has been run by a caretaker government with little power since shortly after the deadly Beirut explosion in August last year. It is too early to talk about recognizing the future Afghan government or attending its inauguration ceremony, the spokesman for Iran's Foreign Affairs Ministry said on Monday during his weekly press conference. "We must observe the formation of the future government of Afghanistan, then we will make decisions about other issues," spokesman Saeed Khatibzadeh was quoted as saying by semi-official news agency Tasnim. A possible invitation by the Taliban to attend the inauguration, he said, will be decided on by Tehran "based on their actions." Nevertheless, it is Iran's "definite purpose" to strengthen its relations with the people of Afghanistan and help fulfill the Afghan people's aspirations, Khatibzadeh also said. Iran, he noted, is "one of the few actors that has relations with all parties in Afghanistan." Khatibzadeh recalled Tehran was host to an inter-Afghan summit on July 7 and 8, and said the Iranian government tried to involve "all Afghan groups, not just the government and the Taliban," in an inclusive inter-Afghan dialogue process. "War and violence are not the solution, and no one can replace dialogue with war and violence," the spokesman for Iran's foreign ministry warned. No minority government can bring peace and stability in the long term, he added.It is too early to talk about recognizing the future Afghan government or attending its inauguration ceremony, the spokesman for Iran's Foreign Affairs Ministry said on Monday during his weekly press conference. "We must observe the formation of the future government of Afghanistan, then we will make decisions about other issues," spokesman Saeed Khatibzadeh was quoted as saying by semi-official news agency Tasnim. A possible invitation by the Taliban to attend the inauguration, he said, will be decided on by Tehran "based on their actions." Nevertheless, it is Iran's "definite purpose" to strengthen its relations with the people of Afghanistan and help fulfill the Afghan people's aspirations, Khatibzadeh also said. Iran, he noted, is "one of the few actors that has relations with all parties in Afghanistan." Khatibzadeh recalled Tehran was host to an inter-Afghan summit on July 7 and 8, and said the Iranian government tried to involve "all Afghan groups, not just the government and the Taliban," in an inclusive inter-Afghan dialogue process. "War and violence are not the solution, and no one can replace dialogue with war and violence," the spokesman for Iran's foreign ministry warned. No minority government can bring peace and stability in the long term, he added. Short link: Iran agreed Sunday to allow international inspectors to install new memory cards into surveillance cameras at its sensitive nuclear sites and to continue filming there, averting a diplomatic showdown this week. The announcement by Mohammad Eslami of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran after a meeting he held with the director-general of the International Atomic Energy Agency, Rafael Grossi, in Tehran still leaves the watchdog in the same position it has faced since February, however. Tehran holds all recordings at its sites as negotiations over the U.S. and Iran returning to the 2015 nuclear deal remain stalled in Vienna. Meanwhile, Iran is now enriching small amounts of uranium to its closest-ever levels to weapons-grade purity as its stockpile continues to grow. ``I am glad to say that today were able to have a very constructive result, which has to do with the continuity of the operation of the agency's equipment here,`` Grossi said. It ``is indispensable for us to provide the necessary guarantee and information to the IAEA and to the world that everything is in order.'' Eslami described the negotiations between Iran and the Vienna-based IAEA as ``sheerly technical'' without any room for politics. He said Grossi would return to Iran soon to talk with officials, without elaborating. Also left unsaid was whether Iran would hand over copies of the older recordings, which Tehran had threatened previously to destroy. ``The memory cards are sealed and kept in Iran according to the routine,'' Eslami said. ''New memory cards will be installed in cameras. That is a routine and natural trend in the agency's monitoring system.'' A joint statement released by the IAEA and Iran confirmed the understanding, saying only that ``the way and the timing are agreed by the two sides.'' The announcement could buy time for Iran ahead of an IAEA board meeting this week in which Western powers had been arguing for Tehran to be censured over its lack of cooperation with international inspectors. Eslami said Iran would take part in that meeting and its negotiations with the IAEA would continue there. The IAEA told member states in its confidential quarterly report last week that its verification and monitoring activities have been ``seriously undermined'' since February by Iran's refusal to let inspectors access their monitoring equipment. The IAEA said certain monitoring and surveillance equipment cannot be left for more than three months without being serviced. It was provided with access this month to four surveillance cameras installed at one site, but one of the cameras had been destroyed and a second had been severely damaged, the agency said. Iran and world powers agreed in 2015 to the nuclear deal, which saw Tehran drastically limit its enrichment of uranium in exchange for the lifting of economic sanctions. In 2018, then-President Donald Trump unilaterally withdrew America from the accord, raising tensions across the wider Middle East and sparking a series of attacks and incidents. President Joe Biden has said he's willing to re-enter the accord, but so far, indirect talks have yet to see success. In the meantime, Iran elected Ebrahim Raisi, a hard-line protege of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, as president. Raisi also has said he wants Iran to regain the benefits of the accord, though Tehran in general has struck a tougher pose since his victory. In Israel, Israeli Prime Minister Nafatli Bennett urged world powers to not ``fall into the trap of Iranian deception that will lead to additional concessions'' over the impasse. Israel, widely believed to possess nuclear weapons, has long accused Iran of seeking an atomic bomb. Tehran maintains its program is peaceful, though U.S. intelligence agencies and international inspectors believe the Islamic Republic pursued the bomb in an organized program up until 2003. ``You must not give up on inspecting sites and the most important thing, the most important message is that there must be a time limit,'' Bennett said. Iran is ``dragging on, we must set a clear-cut deadline that says: until here.'' The premier added: ``The Iranian nuclear program is at the most advanced point ever. ... We must deal with this project.'' Israel is suspected of launching multiple attacks targeting Iran's Natanz nuclear facility, as well as killing a scientist associated with Iran's one-time military nuclear program last year. From Riyadh, the top diplomats of Saudi Arabia and Austria jointly expressed concern over Iran's nuclear advances, with Austrian Foreign Minister Alexander Schallenberg citing ``Iran's failure to allow access for nuclear inspections.'' Short link: One person died and five others including a teenage girl were injured in a shooting on Chicago's South Side, police said. A group of people was walking toward their vehicles in the city's West Pullman neighborhood around 9:40 p.m. Saturday when someone inside another vehicle ``fired multiple rounds, striking the victims,'' according to police. A 42-year-old woman who was shot in the arm and armpit was taken to a hospital where she later died. Authorities have not identified her. A 32-year-old man who was shot in the face was listed in critical condition. The other victims, ranging in age from 15 to 28, were listed in fair condition at area hospitals. No one had been arrested in the shooting, police said Sunday as the investigation continued. No further details were released. Short link: Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo on Sunday launched her bid for the French presidency, stressing green and social issues, and far-right leader Marine Le Pen set out her vision for the top job as the race to unseat incumbent Emmanuel Macron gathers pace. Hidalgo, 62, is one of a handful of candidates from both right and left bidding to become France's first woman president. Macron has yet to confirm he will seek a second term but is widely expected to run again. Polls suggest he and Le Pen would top the first round of voting in April and Macron would then beat Le Pen in the run-off, in a repeat of 2017. Hidalgo is favoured to win the nomination of her Socialist party later this month but faces an uphill battle to unite the fractured left behind her candidacy. She chose the dockyards of the Socialist-run city of Rouen to make her pitch for a low-carbon economy and more spending on education, housing and health. "I want all children in France to have the same opportunities I had," she said, crediting the French school system with helping her overcome the "class prejudice" she suffered as the child of Spanish immigrants -- her father was an electrician and her mother a seamstress -- in a housing estate in Lyon. Hidalgo enters the race as a polarising figure whose campaign to squeeze cars out of Paris and green the city has divided residents. She has emphasised her record as a capable manager who steered Paris through a series of crises, from a string of terror attacks to the "yellow vest" riots of 2018 and 2019 and the fire that ravaged Notre Dame cathedral. Attacking Macron Shortly after her announcement, the anti-immigration, anti-EU Le Pen set out the main themes of her third campaign for president in a speech in the southern city of Frejus. In typical barnstorming mode, Le Pen told a crowd of flag-waving supporters she would clean up "parts of France that have been Talibanised" -- a reference to the presence of radical Islamists in some high-rise housing estates. She also made overtures to the many thousands who stage weekly protests against the Covid "health pass", which requires people to show proof of vaccination or a negative test to get served in restaurants, take long-distance trains and a host of other services. Le Pen, who is campaigning as the defender of French "liberty", called it "a disproportionate violation of the right to freedom". Polls currently suggest Hidalgo would garner only seven to nine percent in the first round of voting for president in April if picked to represent the Socialists. She is hoping to boost that score by tapping into the growing climate activism of France's younger generation. Macron 'arrogance' Both Hidalgo and Le Pen accused Macron of "arrogance" -- one of the accusations that underpinned the yellow vest revolt -- and they stressed their commitment to women's rights. Le Pen vowed to make the streets safe for women to walk "at any time of day or night and in any neighbourhood". Hidalgo said she would push for gender pay equality. Le Pen's combative rhetoric masks disquiet in her National Rally after its poor showings in regional elections in June. Analysts have warned of potential voter fatigue with Le Pen after two failed campaigns. And Le Pen could be hobbled by a rival far-right candidacy from controversial TV pundit and author Eric Zemmour. Zemmour, who has built up a loyal following with diatribes against migration and the Muslim headscarf, is rumoured to be planning to use a forthcoming book tour to throw his hat in the ring. Macron meanwhile, received a key endorsement from the right: his former prime minister Edouard Philippe. "My support for the president of the republic will be total in 2022," Philippe told TF1 television on Sunday evening. Short link: Shortcomings in the EU effort to return unsuccessful asylum seekers are "encouraging illegal migration" instead of stemming it, the bloc's watchdog institution warned in a report Monday. The European Court of Auditors (ECA), which scrutinises EU policies and finances, found that efforts by Brussels to secure cooperation from countries outside the bloc to take back migrants had "yielded limited results". Fewer than one in three migrants ordered to leave the European Union actually do -- and that ratio drops to less than one in five when the country they are told to return to is outside the European continent. The ECA's audit of the EU returns policy over the 2015 to mid-2020 period -- focused on the 10 countries with the biggest numbers of non-returned irregular migrants -- said the steps being taken to boost cooperation were "relevant". But they fall short in a number of areas, such as insufficient data-sharing between EU member states. EU agencies cannot even agree on how many irregular migrants are ordered to leave, the report said. The EU statistics office Eurostat, on which the ECA relies, says that some 500,000 migrants a year are ordered to leave the EU. But Frontex, the EU border guard service that also helps with returns operations, uses a different methodology to arrive at a lower figure. In 2019, for instance, Frontex counted 298,190 return decisions, compared with 513,470 for Eurostat. Leo Brincat, the lead author of the ECA report, told journalists that the accumulation of such shortfalls hampered the goal of swiftly returning irregular migrants. "Rather than discouraging, they end up actually encouraging illegal migration," he said. "It is well known among the migrants that the returns are not effective, so this can actually encourage them to come even more," he said. Pressing Issue Irregular migration is one of the most pressing issues for the European Union, a political hot potato since the 2015 inflow of asylum seekers largely fuelled by the war in Syria. But an attempt to overhaul migration and asylum rules across the bloc has reached an impasse. Eastern member states in particular have rejected its core principle of sharing out the hosting of asylum seekers so frontline countries such as Greece and Italy are not the only ones feeling the impact. The issue is complicated by the fact that, while Brussels is meant to come up with overarching rules and legislation in this area, member states retain responsibility over return decisions and how they are carried out. Since the early 2000s, the EU has reached readmission agreements with 18 countries outside the bloc, including Turkey, Albania, Serbia and Pakistan. It has opened talks with six others, including China, Nigeria, Morocco and Algeria. Several EU countries have their own, bilateral treaties with some countries. But the ECA report found that countries are baulking at EU insistence on a clause demanding they take back migrants who travelled through their territory, as well as their own nationals. It said that non-binding arrangements -- such as those negotiated between 2016 and 2018 with the likes of Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Guinea and Ethiopia -- had proved more successful. The ECA recommended the Commission take "a more flexible approach when negotiating readmission agreements". Incentives should be strengthened to coax countries to go along with such agreements with the EU, such as already happens by linking EU visas to compliance, it said. And member states should boost cooperation between themselves to reduce the number of irregular migrants absconding before their ordered return to their country, and improving data on returns. Short link: The International Financial Corporation (IFC), a member of the World Bank Group, announced on Tuesday that it has provided the UAE-based BCI Holding SA Group a leading regional manufacturer and distributor of polyurethane (PU) raw materials, systems, and specialities thats headquartered in the UAE with a $30 million loan. The loan aims to help the group to further expand its production in Algeria, Egypt, and Nigeria, creating hundreds of direct and indirect jobs, according to the IFC. The loan will also support the groups expansion of its existing production facility in Egypt and the commissioning of new factories in Algeria and Nigeria, helping it to develop regional supply chains for PU, a versatile product used in insulation, footwear, packaging, and other industries, said the IFC. BCIs signature technology used to convert recycled scrap PET into polyester polyol for insulation has the potential to support circular economy initiatives, which are aimed to build resilience, generate business and economic opportunities, and provide environmental and societal benefits, the IFC explained. It added that expansion of the production facility in Egypt and building two additional factories in Algeria and Nigeria is projected to create more than 80 direct jobs and several hundred indirect ones in the supply chain and through the employment multiplier effect. Our group has been able to survive and prosper over the past 64 years, despite the challenges in the region, primarily due to our commitment to a holistic view of what constitutes a true positive bottom line. Businesses we invest in and develop must not only be economically feasible, but also socially beneficial and environmentally friendly, said Ihsan Baalbaki, the founder and chairman of the company. He added that the capacity of the PU industry to create meaningful and sustainable job opportunities and add to Middle Eastern industries local content capabilities explains why BCI continues to invest passionately in it. With the right financing and support, private businesses like BCI Holding SA can create much-needed jobs and drive a green and resilient economic recovery from COVID-19, which has had a profound impact on the Middle East and Africa, said Ashraf Megahed, the IFCs regional industry manager for manufacturing, agribusiness, and services in the Middle East and North Africa. The IFC said that its partnership with BCI Holding SA is part of its strategy to combat poverty and create jobs by supporting the growth of the private sector in the Middle East and Africa region. With new factories across Africa, the project will also help strengthen regional integration, technology transfer, and the development of regional supply chains, according to the IFC. The Baalbaki family has been active in industry, trade, and agriculture since the late 1800s. The familys businesses centre on commodity trading and textiles, with a geographic focus on the Middle East. Short link: The large-scale adoption of central bank digital currencies (CBDCs) in cross-border payments and settlements would leaves banks with negative credit due to the lower fees and commissions regarding these currencies, especially for the banks that are active in foreign-currency payments, clearing, and remittances, Moodys said in a recent report. Moodys report comes in the wake of an announcement made on 3 September by the Bank of International Settlements (BIS) a Switzerland-based organisation of central banks and the central banks of Singapore, Australia, Malaysia, and South Africa that they had started testing CBDCs for cross-border settlements. The project, called Dunbar, aims to create a prototype platform for settlements in multiple CBDCs, with the appeal being that they are faster, cheaper, and more secure. This is the first time that the BIS and various central banks are testing multiple CBDCs in a single platform for cross-border settlements. This is an important step if CBDCs are to be adopted beyond domestic transactions, the report pointed out. On the other hand, the report noted that the revenues that banks generate from cross-border transactions is significant, revealing that banks generated about $230 billion in revenue globally from cross-border transactions in 2019 based on data from McKinsey a consulting firm. Moreover, banks in the Asia Pacific region made up about $100 billion of this amount, the largest share globally, with most of the revenue coming from commercial transactions such as bank-to-bank transactions. Furthermore, banks globally generated about $60 billion in revenue in consumer business in 2019 for cross-border transactions such as remittances, where the banks charge hefty fees, according to the report. It also added that banks on average charge 6.4 percent on outward remittances, based on the World Banks data, with Nigerian, South African, and Thai banks charging some of the highest fees globally. These fees will be reduced with the wider adoption of CBDCs, the report expected. The BIS expected that the results of the Dunbar project will guide the development of global and regional platforms for more efficient cross-border payments. It also said in a recent report that over 80 percent of central banks globally are already researching CBDCs. Furthermore, it stated that CBDCs offer in digital form the unique advantages of central bank money: settlement finality, liquidity, and integrity, considering it as an advanced representation of money for the digital economy. The ultimate benefits of adopting a new payment technology will depend on the competitive structure of the underlying payment system and data governance arrangements. The same technology that can encourage a virtuous circle of greater access, lower costs, and better services might equally induce a vicious circle of data silos, market power, and anti-competitive practices. CBDCs and open platforms are the most conducive to a virtuous circle, the BIS report explained. On the benefits of this type of currencies, the BIS expounded that it could improve cross-border payments and lower the risks of currency substitution. Yet, CBDCs come with a number of risks; including loss of monetary policy control, privacy and security issues, and the decline of cash as a counterweight, according to a recent report issued by the Business Oxford Group. Existing cryptocurrencies can offer a lesson here: there is significant demand for cryptocurrencies as an investment or an asset class to be traded by investors, but their use as a way to pay for goods or services has been far more limited. This could suggest low retail demand for CBDCs as well, according to the report. Search Keywords: Short link: OPEC said Monday that it expects global oil demand to exceed its pre-pandemic level next year thanks to the roll out of vaccines and economic rebound. "As vaccination rates rise, the Covid-19 pandemic is expected to be better managed and economic activities and mobility will firmly return to pre-Covid-19 levels," the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries said in its monthly report on the oil market. As economic activity ramps up OPEC expects global oil demand to grow by 4.2 million barrels per day (mbd) on average next year. That is 0.9 mbd higher than its estimate last month, and takes global oil demand to 100.83 mbd on average next year, which is above the pre-pandemic levels. The optimistic forecast comes as the OPEC cartel nations and their allies, together known as OPEC+, are beginning to raise output to meet recovering demand. OPEC+ nations slashed production last year to boost prices, which tumbled at the outset of the pandemic as economic activity was disrupted by lockdown measures. The report, citing secondary sources, said OPEC's output rose by 151,000 barrels per day during August to hit 26.76 mbd. Big producers like Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Iraq scaled up production, while it fell in Nigeria. Search Keywords: Short link: The Cairo International Festival for Experimental Theatre has extended an open invitation to academics from around the world to conduct research on the topic of Experimentation Between Production and Reception ahead of its 28th edition. Gamal Yakout, the festivals president, revealed in the press release that this invitation is part of the festivals effort to enrich and develop the field of scientific research. The festivals management aims to push the theatrical movement and raise the ideas and issues that establish theatrical consciousness. The decision also allows to complement the festivals goals, which prioritise experimentation, innovation, and cultural and intellectual development. There are three aspects of the research, with the first one focusing on the influence of the theatre production entity on capacities and working tools in theatrical experimentation. The second aspect focuses on the role of research and scientific institutions in influencing production and reception. The third is concerned with experimentation and the philosophy of theatrical production institutions. Saeid Kabeel, the artistic director of the festival, indicated that academics willing to participate must choose the title of the research on the basis of scientific criteria by addressing one of the issues raised by the researchs focal points. Researchers should also send a brief not exceeding 500 words to the festivals organisers by 25 September 2021 at the latest. The final academic paper which must range from a minimum of 3000 words to a maximum of 6000 words must be submitted no later than 25 November 2021. The research will be presented to a committee of theater teachers and the festivals administration will endeavour to publish accepted papers. Click here to apply or for more info. The 28th round of the Cairo International Festival for Experimental Theatre will take place between 14 and 19 December 2021. The festival is presided over by Gamal Yakout, and the artistic managers are Mohamed Abdelrahman El-Shafei and Saeed Kabeel. 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 Short link: The first round of the Saudi Red Sea International Film Festival (RSIFF) will finally take place in the second week of December. Originally scheduled for March 2020, it was postponed until 11 November 2021 due to the Coronavirus pandemic. It has now been pushed forward to 6 December. Initially conflicting with the 43rd Cairo International Film Festival (CIFF) it had been scheduled for 1-10 December but, following coordination efforts with RSIFF, is now taking place in 25 November-5 December the date was a source confusion. CIFF President Mohamed Hefzy says the new dates should aid with a smooth transition of media, films and filmmakers between the two festivals because of their geographic proximity. Hefzy feels that, with its enormous budget, RSIFF might be a wealthier alternative to the discontinued Dubai Film Festival, one he hopes will manage to keep going, unlike Gulf festivals that did not last. For sure it will attract most Arab productions, especially with its direct participation in the production of a huge number of Arab films with huge sums of money through its Film Fund. This could be a challenge for other festivals in the region. We cannot deny CIFFs history, calibre of personnel and international label, nor can we deny that Egypt has had an old, large and prestigious film industry and magnificent locations, but huge effort is required for progress at this point. The importance of an event like RSIFF, on the other hand, are the funding opportunities it will provide. Last June the RSIFF Foundation announced a US$10 million Red Sea Fund, to back 100 full-length projects in development, production and postproduction from Africa and the Arab world, with Saudi filmmakers being able to apply for short film projects as well. A few days later the fund was expanded by US$4 million from the Saudi Film Commission, supporting another 40 films. US$14 million is a remarkable figure which, though the news was enthusiastically received by filmmakers struggling with the consequences of the pandemic and a more general drop in production opportunities across the region, has raised questions. Will Saudi support shape the future of the industry in the region? So far Mohamed Hammad is the only Arab filmmaker to have received RSIFF funding. Though it was to be postponed, the 2019-20 round granted him US$500 thousand to produce A Journey of Bullets and Bread which he has been able to keep. Hammad views RSIFF support very positively. He feels such work is essential considering what little interest producers and platforms have in arthouse films anyway. As a filmmaker what really matters to me is the extent to which support allows me to realise my vision without any intervention, pressure or direction, he says. And that has been the case. Hammad feels Egypts own scene should have greater diversity, embracing a variety of approaches rather than fixed templates, which would improve distribution across platforms; the Egyptian Watch It platform would benefit from it. The pandemic has globally impacted production anyway, he says, reducing the capacity for risk-taking even further. Despite filling the gaping void left by the Coronavirus pandemic, RSIFF funding is only making up for the many Arab film funds that have vanished from the scene. Hammad, for his part, had never received any support before, producing his work notably the award-winning Withered Green (2017) on his own dime. Financial considerations are one thing, but it is my vision that reigns supreme. RSIFF initiatives, he feels, should be seen in the context of a new generation of Saudi filmmakers who have made their mark, including Mahmoud Sabbagh, who is managing the present first round. Sabbagh is the director of Baraka Meets Baraka (2016), which is a revolutionary film in its context and timing. Saudi society itself is changing, with much religious reform and cultural liberation. These factors belie the fear that support is predicated on controlling the film. There may be motives behind the Saudis supporting cinema, but they do not affect the filmmakers independence or freedom at least in my experience. I am loyal to my film, he reiterates, and not to a grant-maker, a production company, a festival or even myself. My loyalty is to my film. This is very clear to me. Producer Hossam Elouan the force behind such films as Hawy (2010), Ali, the Goat and Ibrahim (2016), Cactus Flower (2017) and the Sudanese director Amjad Abu Alalas You Will Die At Twenty (2019) is keen on the Saudi initiative in several different ways. RSIFF is also funding film theatres and studios and developing integrated shooting locations as well as supporting local talent with both production support and scholarships to study abroad. Saudi Arabia has the potential to be the largest film market in the Middle East, Elouan says, which could also be a very promising market for Egyptian films. Supporting Arab films that might make it on the festival circle, he feels, is part of a new image of Saudi Arabia as patron of the arts in the region. The quality and nature of the films selected will therefore be to the taste of Arab and international film institutions, and may even contribute to a better overall image of Arab cinema. The impact of Saudi support on Egyptian cinema, he says, is positive in every way. Many Egyptian filmmakers had refrained from submitting their work to the Doha Film Institute following tensions with Qatar, leaving them with only El Gouna Film Festival (GFF) and CIFF for funding opportunities; and both operate through a competition. Elouan says that, after You Will Die At Twenty, he had all but lost his interest in production because opportunities were so limited. RSIFF has rekindled his enthusiasm. The problem with the Egyptian film industry is that it is purely commercial, meaning that it has little international presence. Our first and last goal is to produce films that express our reality and our country. I participated in the production of a Sudanese film, and the film acquired Egyptian in addition to Sudanese, French, Norwegian and German citizenship. The world is open and there is no need for prejudices and unjustified fears. For Intishal Al Tamimi, the director of GFF, any step to support the film industry is a step forward. And the Saudi initiative is a step forward in many ways. The first is that it will increase the Arab share (currently only 1.5 percent) of the global film distribution market; Saudi initiatives might bring the figure to 3 or 3.5 percent. This will draw attention to the region but it will not necessarily improve the quality of the films. But Al Tamimi is optimistic about the concepts and choices of RSIFF: The festival focuses on the new, fresh and serious cinema, as is the case in the major festivals in the region such as Cairo, El Gouna, Carthage and Marrakech. This is very important and it is a real addition. The selection of the festival staff, programmers and jury reflects the seriousness, impartiality and integrity of a festival prioritising artistic considerations, what is more: There were fears that the festival would reflect other considerations, such as directly promoting the new image of Saudi Arabia, which might affect its independence, but this did not happen even though the decision to postpone the opening date from 11 November to 6 December, for example, was not made by the festival itself. Beyond social and cultural considerations that will not apply to productions being supported, there are no censorial guidelines or limits on what can be screened in Saudi film theatres; not all supported films will have a commercial release in Saudi Arabia. Considering this and the calibre of the juries, Al Tamimi is optimistic. RSIFFs decision to restore the works of the great Egyptian director Khairy Bishara confirms that it is moving in the right direction. This is a purely artistic decision and it is very important because no other festival has the capacity to restore films. This, in addition to such huge financial support for Arab, African and Saudi films confirms that the festivals approach is in line with the aspirations and efforts of the leading Arab festivals. The concern, rather, is that support will be sustained over time. RSIFF faces specific obstacles including the reluctance of some Arab and international filmmakers to link their projects to Saudi Arabia for political reasons. There is a certain Saudi image that still exists and it will take effort to change it. Another obstacle is social or official censorship, which may make a significant portion of them unavailable to the local public. Considering its wealth, RSIFF may be thought to present other Arab festivals with a challenge but at least so far this has not been the case. For El Gouna Film Festival, which has been known for its strong program from day one, I can say that this year we have the best program compared to the previous four rounds in all competitions. We also have a large number of very good projects in development and post-production, so many that we had to raise the number of accepted projects. Al Tamimi says that for a festival that continues to improve, like El Gouna, the danger is not competition but lack of development, absence of passion or the failure to treat each round as if it were the first. The presence of a festival with great potential, such as RSIFF, or a festival with a long history and a professional calibre of personnel, such as Cairo, Carthage or Marrakesh, motivates us to do more. A month and a half before the opening date, we have secured the bulk of the film program and we are moving towards the opening of the fifth round with great confidence. Perhaps my own greatest ambition since the beginning of my work in the festival is to establish a film fund, because for me that is the main component of any festival, and I hope that the right conditions for this will happen one day. *A version of this article appears in print in the 9 September, 2021 edition of Al-Ahram Weekly. Short link: Cooperation of BRICS members to benefit world From:ChinaDaily | 2021-09-09 06:53 President Xi to join other leaders by video link at summit of developing-nations bloc China has played an active role in guiding cooperation among the BRICS nations to promote multilateralism in the face of global challenges and has pushed for the bloc's cooperation to benefit more emerging economies and developing countries, experts said ahead of the 13th BRICS summit, to be held on Thursday. President Xi Jinping will participate in the summit from Beijing via video link at the invitation of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said on Wednesday. The summit, which involves the leaders of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa, will be held with the theme of "BRICS@15: Intra-BRICS cooperation for continuity, consolidation and consensus". The leaders will also exchange views on the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and other current global and regional issues. Ruan Zongze, executive vice-president of the China Institute of International Studies, said that as an essential platform for developing countries to respond to challenges and overcome difficulties, the BRICS cooperation mechanism will help boost and safeguard multilateralism, especially at a time when the world is undergoing major changes unseen in a century. He suggested that the BRICS countries should strengthen cooperation on public health, such as COVID-19 vaccine cooperation and the exchange of anti-pandemic experience, in order to better address similar crises in the future. The BRICS nations also reiterated their commitment to multilateralism by issuing joint statements at the 11th BRICS Economic and Trade Ministers' Meeting held via video link last week and a virtual meeting of foreign ministers in June. Due to the pandemic, it would be the second time that such a virtual summit is held. However, Wang Lei, director of the BRICS Cooperation Center at Beijing Normal University, said: "BRICS cooperation has still achieved solid results in the economic and financial field, one of the bloc's three pillars, despite the pandemic's negative impact." During last week's economic and trade ministers' meeting, several documents were adopted, including a joint communique, a framework for the protection of e-commerce consumers and a road map to implement the strategy for BRICS Economic Partnership 2025 in the field of trade and investment. Accounting for more than 40 percent of the world's population, the BRICS countriesBrazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africaaccount for 24 percent of global GDP and 16 percent of world trade. "We can see that the BRICS countries have reached consensus on how to deal with the current economic difficulties by boosting their cooperation," Wang said, adding that support for multilateralism is another major consensus among BRICS countries. On Sept 2, the BRICS New Development Bank announced that it will add the United Arab Emirates, Uruguay and Bangladesh as its newest members. By providing fundraising services to support infrastructure construction and sustainable development, Wang said the BRICS nations are making concrete efforts to expand their cooperation to benefit more emerging economies and developing countries. Typhoon Chanthu set to hit Shanghai late today From:ShanghaiDaily | 2021-09-13 08:29 SHANGHAI ordered the closure of schools and parks, and trains and flights were canceled as Typhoon Chanthu headed for Shanghai and neighboring Zhejiang Province after drenching Taiwan with heavy rain yesterday. Shanghai Meteorological Bureaus upgraded the typhoon alert to yellow, the second-lowest of a four-level system. It also issued lightning and rain alerts. It is the years 14th typhoon. The eye of Chanthu, now categorized as a super typhoon, was about 430 kilometers from Xiangshan County in Zhejiang at 5pm yesterday. The storm is expected to make landfall in south Shanghai today evening before turning east toward South Korea and Japan. The Shanghai flood prevention office has issued a Level-III (the second-lowest) emergency response, warning residents and relevant local departments to stay alert and prepare for all eventualities. Those who are likely to be affected by the typhoon will be evacuated by noon today, the office said. It has asked primary and high schools and kindergartens to suspend classes today and tomorrow to avoid the extreme weather. All outdoor tourist attractions and amusement parks will be closed for two days, the Shanghai Administration of Culture and Tourism said. People with tickets for Shanghai Disneyland can visit the theme park any other day within six months or claim a refund. About 80 percent of todays passenger flights are canceled. All flights scheduled after 11am today from Shanghais Pudong International Airport have been canceled, while Hongqiao International Airport will halt operations from 3pm, the Shanghai Airport Authority announced last night. The takeoff and landing capacity of the two airports will be largely reduced after midnight today. China Southern will cancel all 154 passenger flights to the city today. The operation of the flights will be restored as soon as the weather permits, the Guangzhou-based carrier said yesterday. Flights, trains canceled The airline canceled 27 flights from the two airports yesterday, mainly to the northeast, north and south China regions. The Shanghai-based Spring Airlines has canceled nearly 100 flights. Both airlines are offering ticket refunds or a choice of new dates. Train services in the Yangtze River Delta region will be disrupted as well between noon today to Tuesday midnight, China Railway Shanghai Group said yesterday. Shanghai-Suzhou trains on the Beijing-Shanghai high-speed railway, Beijing-Shanghai line, Shanghai-Nanjing intercity trains, Shanghai-Taicang on the Shanghai-Suzhou-Nantong Railway, Shanghai-Hangzhou on the Shanghai-Kunming Railway are all suspended. The Shanghai Jinshan Railway has also been discontinued. Rail authorities will be closely watching the influence of the typhoon and make flexible arrangements, the group said. Passengers can avail of a full refund. They are advised to apply for a refund within 30 days from the boarding date online or at the train station. They can call the service hotline 021-12306 or check the railway website 12306.cn for more information, the group said. Shanghai traffic police have canceled all driving skill tests scheduled for today and tomorrow. Test takers can book new dates from Wednesday on the Internet. Zhejiang Province upgraded its emergency response to Chanthu to the highest level, closing schools as well as suspending air and rail services in several cities. Education authorities in the cities of Ningbo, Zhoushan and Taizhou have ordered the suspension of classes in kindergartens, primary and high schools, off-campus training institutions for two days. The airport in Hangzhou will cancel all outbound flights from 11am today. The schedule of some trains running across the province today has also been adjusted. As of noon yesterday, all fishing boats in Zhejiang, numbering more than 10,000, except those in safe waters, have returned to port. Over 4,000 people involved in mariculture have been evacuated. In Taiwan, airline flights and train services were suspended on Saturday as the storm approached. Local media reported more than 2,000 people were evacuated from flood-prone areas of the east coast county of Hualien. Up to 13 centimeters of rain fell yesterday in some areas, the weather department said yesterday. It said up to 20 centimeters was forecast. By Mie Sakamoto, KYODO NEWS - Sep 13, 2021 - 11:22 | Arts, Feature, All Freelance photographer Maiko Kuzutani has been drawn to taking photos of disabled children with their loving parents for years -- ever since the time in college when she was shocked to learn how many mothers in Japan choose to abort children with disabilities such as Down syndrome. Although most of her family photos are of subjects without disabilities, the images of disabled kids smiling with their parents hold a special place in her heart because of the true joy that she can see they bring to their families. It is that joy, rather than the suffering many may assume such families experience, that she hopes to convey to society at large and prospective parents in an exhibition later this month in Tokyo's Ginza district. The idea of taking such photos began to form when she was studying photography in college in 1998 after she read an article about prenatal genetic testing in Japan. It said a large percentage of women abort their pregnancies after discovering their babies may have disabilities such as Down syndrome. Kuzutani was left pondering how she might shine a light on such children, born in a society that appeared not to value them as highly as other children out of ignorance or fear, and convince people of the importance of their existence through her photos. The article particularly hit home for Kuzutani because her closest friend at nursery school had been a boy with Down syndrome, a genetic disorder that is often accompanied by slow physical growth and intellectual disabilities. "I was not good at speaking back then and could not play with others my age, but he stayed by my side without saying a word," Kuzutani said, referring to her childhood friend. "It was because of such an experience that I thought I don't want kids with Down syndrome to disappear from this world." Now 44, Kuzutani aims to show how well such children grow up when surrounded by caring parents, hoping her photos can help persuade mothers-to-be not to resort to aborting disabled children. One of her first photo shoots was of a girl named Mai Sekine, now 29, a first-grader at the time with Down syndrome whom she had been introduced to by a child rehabilitation facility in Tokyo. Kuzutani would sometimes dine with Mai and her family, spend nights at her home and follow her to school to take photos, which she won an award for in 2001, leading to her first solo exhibition. Mai's mother, Hitomi, 65, recalled Kuzutani quickly getting along with her daughter and treating her like a "little sister." "At first, she just played with Mai and didn't take pictures of her until Mai got used to her," the mother said. Kuzutani still takes Mai's photos on occasion, with the daughter-mother pair featuring among the several pictures of persons with intellectual and physical disabilities in her latest exhibition. In 2012, Kuzutani was approached to take pictures of Mai and others with disabilities when their parents held a party to celebrate their Coming of Age Day, an annual holiday in Japan for those turning 20. "After seeing how she took pictures of our children smiling at the party, we encouraged her to open a photo studio so we can visit," Hitomi said. Kuzutani had not considered opening a studio at the time but changed her mind when the parents explained to her how it was often difficult to get quality photos of their children, some of whom are autistic and have intellectual disabilities, at general photo studios because of the patience and time required to conduct a shoot. "I was able to become a photographer with the help of Mai and parents of children with disabilities. I wanted to return the favor for those who were having a hard time taking good pictures of their children on special occasions," Kuzutani said. In 2013, Kuzutani opened a photo studio in Yokohama, where she built a home. She only accepts two groups a day, allowing her time to get to know her subjects -- something she sees as particularly important when she takes portraits for families with disabled members. One day, she met a girl with a severe intellectual disability who ignored her at first and sat alone on the stairs in her studio. But the girl gradually loosened up, allowing Kuzutani to take photos of her and her parents smiling together. The girl gestured by touching Kuzutani's hand as she left the studio. "Others may think dealing with such children is trouble since I can't start shooting right away, and it takes so much time to do my job. But to me, this is the fun because it's part of the communication process," Kuzutani said. She had initially wanted to wait for the coronavirus pandemic to end before holding her current exhibition, which features 29 family shots of a parent with a disabled child. But after being diagnosed with breast cancer in February, she felt she did not have time to wait. "After undergoing surgery in May, I thought I would never know when my life might end, so I should do whatever I want to do now. My models also were waiting for the exhibition to be held," she said. Hitomi was devastated when a doctor told her after she gave birth that Mai would not survive the year because her organs were too weak. But Mai now works at a welfare workshop on weekdays and takes karate lessons. "Mai grew up to be a caring woman who wants to offer help when she sees people are in trouble," Hitomi said. Though Mai still has health issues, "I now think that it's a blessing just for her to be alive." For Kuzutani, the smiles on the families' faces say it all -- although there was a time many of the parents used to cry and could not even tell their relatives about their disabled children. The parents, Kuzutani said, "grew up with their children, who have taught them various things (about life)," adding that she hopes that people who think they have no connection with disabled children also come to her exhibition. "I want to show people that being born with a disability does not mean misfortune for them or their families," she said. KYODO NEWS - Sep 13, 2021 - 20:45 | All, Japan Former Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida, a candidate to succeed Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga, vowed Monday to counter China's growing influence by working closely with the United States and other "like-minded" democracies. Kishida, who has declared his candidacy in the ruling Liberal Democratic Party's leadership race on Sept. 29, also said he will create the post of special adviser to the prime minister on human rights issues if elected. The special adviser would deal with China's alleged human rights abuses against the Muslim Uyghur minority in the far-western Xinjiang autonomous region as well as its crackdown on Hong Kong's pro-democracy movement, he said. So far, three candidates have declared their bid to become LDP leader -- Kishida, vaccination minister Taro Kono and former communications minister Sanae Takaichi. The contest, for which campaigning starts Friday, comes after Suga abruptly announced his intention to resign as his government's public support plunged amid dissatisfaction with its COVID-19 response. Kishida's policy is in line with U.S. President Joe Biden's call for a multilateral approach to put pressure on China and similar to the stance adopted by the Suga administration. Like Suga, Kishida emphasized the importance of ensuring peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait, where tension is rising. China sees Taiwan, a self-ruled democratic island, as a renegade province to be reunited with the mainland by force if necessary. Calling China's "Belt and Road" project to develop infrastructure and trade across Asia, Europe and Africa as a move to expand its influence, Kishida said Japan is "on the front line in the international confrontation of values" between democratic and undemocratic countries. "China must act appropriately and show responsibility to match its status as a global power," he said, vowing to deepen the Japan-U.S. alliance and Tokyo's strategic ties with Europe, Australia, India and others that share "common fundamental values" to counter Beijing. Still, the 64-year-old former LDP policy chief called for continued dialogue with Beijing as the two countries enjoy good trade and cultural relations. Concerning a recent operation to evacuate people from Afghanistan, Kishida indicated his intention to amend legislation on the rescue of Japanese nationals abroad, as the current law limits the Self-Defense Forces to carrying out evacuations from a "safe place." SDF personnel were dispatched to the region to evacuate around 500 people wishing to leave Afghanistan following the Taliban's return to power, including locals who worked for Japanese agencies, but the troops only evacuated one Japanese as well as 14 Afghans by the end of their mission on Aug. 31. "Many people felt legal provisions that areas (of operation) must be safe were inconsistent" with the reality on the ground, he said. Kishida also expressed eagerness to boost Japan's defense budget to address China's maritime assertiveness and the growing missile threat posed by North Korea. Also Monday, Kono met with former Defense Minister Shigeru Ishiba, another potential contender for LDP leader, to ask for his support. Kono said if he becomes prime minister, he wants to "consolidate" the party ahead of a general election this fall, Ishiba told reporters afterward, adding he will decide whether to enter the race soon. Some Ishiba allies are pessimistic about his chances after placing third in last September's LDP leadership race and are pushing for him to back Kono instead. The previous day, Takaichi, the only female candidate so far, reiterated her intention to continue visiting Yasukuni shrine in Tokyo even if she becomes prime minister, which would likely spark criticism from China and South Korea as they see it as a symbol of Japan's past militarism. Related coverage: Japan vaccine czar Taro Kono declares bid to succeed PM Suga PROFILE: Former Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida regarded as moderate liberal Suga challenger in LDP leadership race vows huge COVID relief package KYODO NEWS - Sep 13, 2021 - 16:45 | All, Japan Australia's competition regulator on Monday denied approval for an agreement between Qantas Airways Ltd. and Japan Airlines Co. to coordinate flights between Australia and Japan, saying it would reduce competition when coronavirus travel restrictions are lifted and international travel resumes. The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission said in a statement that the proposed agreement would not only remove competition between the two top competitors but also make it difficult for other airlines to operate on routes between Australia and Japan. "Preserving competition between airlines is the key to the long-term recovery of the aviation and tourism sectors, once international travel restrictions are eased," said Rod Sims, chair of the ACCC. Qantas and JAL together flew some 85 percent of passengers traveling between Australia and Japan in 2019, the year before the novel coronavirus pandemic began, the ACCC said. In response to the decision, Qantas and JAL expressed their disappointment in a joint statement, saying the agreement would have boosted the recovery of the tourism sector once international borders reopened. "A closer partnership between Qantas and Japan Airlines would have meant more routes, better flight connections and more benefits to frequent flyers. None of these benefits will be realized following the ACCC's decision," said Andrew David, Qantas domestic and international CEO. The sentiment was echoed by Ross Leggett, JAL executive officer and senior vice president. "We especially believed that the joint business with Qantas would have accelerated the recovery of leisure and business traffic between Japan and Australia, with clear economic and social benefits to both countries in the extremely challenging environment precipitated by the COVID-19 pandemic," said Leggett. The ACCC had said in May it planned to deny the approval but would seek submissions from interested parties regarding the plan and only make a final decision after considering them. After that announcement by the regulator, Qantas proposed a new direct route between the northern Australian city of Cairns and Tokyo as a part of the agreement, a move the airline hoped would draw Japanese tourists to Australia's tropical north. Without the approval, the new route will not go ahead, David said. Currently, Japan's All Nippon Airways Co. is the only other carrier offering direct flights between Australia and Japan. KYODO NEWS - Sep 13, 2021 - 22:11 | All, Japan, Coronavirus More than 50 percent of Japan's population has been fully vaccinated against COVID-19, government data showed Monday, with the inoculation rate finally catching up with countries such as the United States after a slow start marred by vaccine supply shortages. Of the nation's population of 125 million, about 64 million people, or 50.9 percent, had received two doses of a COVID-19 vaccine as of Monday, after the inoculation program was launched in February initially for health care workers and expanded to the elderly and later to other members of the public. Over 60 percent of the population is expected to be fully vaccinated by the end of September, bringing Japan on par with major European countries such as Britain and France, according to the government. The announcement of the latest vaccination rate came as the government on Monday extended the coronavirus state of emergency in Tokyo and 18 other prefectures through Sept. 30 as hospitals remain stretched. The emergency was originally slated to end the previous day. Japan initially lagged far behind other major economies in inoculating its population. Facing criticism, the government has made relatively fast progress since, setting up mass inoculation sites and offering workplace vaccinations. "This is the result of our cooperation and close collaboration with local governments and health care workers," said Katsunobu Kato, the top government spokesman, at a press conference Monday. In the United States, 53.8 percent of the population had been fully vaccinated as of Sunday, according to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data. The Japanese government has been accelerating inoculations of younger people, as it aims to finish vaccinating all eligible people who wish to receive shots by November. While Japan's health care system remains under strain due to the highly contagious Delta variant of the coronavirus, the government plans to relax curbs on traveling and large events from around November once most of the population has been fully vaccinated. While hospitals continue to struggle, the daily infection count has been trending downward. The Tokyo metropolitan government on Monday reported 611 new cases, bringing the seven-day rolling average to 1,333 per day, down about 50 percent from the previous week. Nationwide, the number of new infections totaled 4,171, falling below 5,000 for the first time in over a month. Shillong : As operations to rescue 15 trapped miners continue at the 370-foot-deep illegal coal mine in East Jaintia Hills district, a survivor of the December 13 accident said on Saturday there is no way the trapped miners will come out alive. Sahib Ali, hailing from Assam's Chirang district, is one of the five men who narrowly escaped the flooding coal mine a fortnight ago. He said four others who made it alive had fled to their homes in West Garo Hills district of Meghalaya. "There were 22 of us who went in that day. I had worked for two weeks. Many are diggers who went to the farthest part of the mine. Some are cart pullers like me and we all work in synchronised manner in small holes that barely fit a big man," Ali toldA PTIA over phone Saturday. He said four of those who escaped were the men who were tasked with loading coal into the metal box. Recounting the December 13 nightmare, Ali said," all men started work early at about 5 am. By about 7 am, the entire mine was full of water." East Jaintia Hills in #Meghalaya: Earlier visuals of operations to rescue the trapped miners. pic.twitter.com/yMTC0WHxk1 a ANI (@ANI) December 29, 2018 "I was about 5 to 6 feet inside the mine pulling a cart full of coal. For some unknown reasons, I could feel a breeze inside the mine which was unusual. What followed was big sound of water gushing in. I barely made it to the opening of the pit," Ali said. "There is no way the trapped men will be alive. How long can a person hold his breath underwater?," he added. Going by Ali's story, at least 17 people are still trapped inside the illegal coal pit as only five narrowly escaped the flooding mine out of the 22 men who went in. "My only hope is to see that their bodies pulled out and last rites be carried out as per traditions," a sobbing Ali said. On December 13, he spent the entire day at the flooded mine and slept in a nearby active coal mine in the night, he said. The ill-fated mine is roughly 370 feet and as of December 29, the rescue officials have calculated that about 170 feet is full of water, an NDRF official said. In Lumthari village where Ali and his fellow miners went to work, coal is found roughly between 200-500 feet underneath the ground. Asked on what prompted him to go and work in the dangerous coal mines of Meghalaya, Ali said the mines promised a big amount of money at the end of the week. "I earn between Rs 800-1500 on a full day of work at the mine. I had in mind that I will work for sometime only and return home," he said. Family members of at least 7 trapped miners, hailing from West Garo Hills district of the state, have already given up hope to rescue their kin alive and requested the government to retrieve the bodies for the last rites. Shohor Ali who hails from Magurmari village in West Garo Hills district and whose son, brother and son-in-law were among the victims at Lumthari village, toldA PTI. A "We have lost all hope to see them alive. I just wanted the authorities to help retrieve the dead bodies for their last rites." The three were allegedly lured to the coal mines at Lumthari as it involves bigger wages and on an average each miner gets paid Rs 2000 per day, he said. Kin of four other victims also did not sound optimistic of seeing their dear ones alive Shohar Ali was among the first people who came to know of the accident when he received a call within minutes when the mine was flooded. One of the five persons who narrowly escaped the flooded mine called him up to inform of the accident. Ali in turn called up his MLA (Rajabala constituency) Azad Aman to find out about the accident and who later called up the SP of the district to verify. It took the police several hours before finally locating the place where the accident took place, the MLA said. In all, seven persons from Rajabala in West Garo Hills district, three from Lumthari village itself, and the other five from Assam have been confirmed to have been trapped inside the ill-fated mine. The state government had announced a Rs 1 lakh interim relief on December 22 to the family members of each of the 15 miners trapped and feared dead, 10 days after the accident took place. For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. New Delhi : Sajjan Kumar, convicted in 1984 anti-Sikh riots case, is likely to surrender before a court in New Delhi on Monday. Kumar was awarded life imprisonment in a 1984 anti-Sikh riots case by the Delhi High Court and asked to surrender by December 31. He, however, filed a plea seeking time extension for his surrender, but the request was denied by the court. The former Congress leaders counsel Anil Kumar Sharma said that his client will comply with the High Court judgment as Supreme Court is unlikely to hear his plea against the High Court verdict during the vacation. We have removed the objections and the appeal in the apex court has been numbered. Presently, there are no benches in the Supreme Court. Even if we mention the matter for urgent hearing, the registrar will decide whether it will be heard by the bench. No time is left now, PTI quoted Kumars lawyer as saying. We will comply with the high courts judgment, he added. Also Read | As justice prevails, victim narrates horror of 1984 anti-Sikh riots On December 21, the Delhi High Court had rejected Kumars plea seeking one months time extension to surrender. In his plea, the former Congress leader had said that he needed some time to settle family affairs and to appeal against the High Court verdict in the Supreme Court. The High Court, however, rejected his plea. On December 17, the Delhi High Court had found Sajjan Kumar guilty in the killings of five Sikhs in Raj Nagar part-I area in South West Delhis Palam Colony on November 1-2, 1984 and burning down of a Gurudwara in Raj Nagar part II during the anti-Sikh riots. Besides Sajjan Kumar, Captain Bhagmal, Girdhari Lal and former Congress councilor Balwan Khokhar have been sentenced to life imprisonment, while Kishan Khokkar and former legislator Mahender Yadav have been sentenced to 10 years in prison. Also Read | Delhi High Court mentions 2002 Gujarat riots in 1984 anti-Sikh genocide verdict More than 3,000 Sikhs were brutally killed in the 1984 anti-Sikh riots, one of the scariest incidents of communal violence in the country. The riots had broken out following the assassination of former prime minister Indira Gandhi on October 31 by her Sikh bodyguards. Congress leaders Jagdish Tytler and Sajjan Kumar were accused of masterminding the riots against the Sikh community. For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. New Delhi: State-owned Bank of India Saturday said the government has decided to infuse Rs 10,086 crore in the bank as part of Rs 28,615 crore capital infusion to be done in about half a dozen public sector lenders. The finance Ministry had informed the bank about the capital infusion on Wednesday (December 26), Bank of India said in a regulatory filing. The fund infusion would be by way of preferential allotment of shares, it said. The board of directors would be considering by way of circular resolution on or after January 2, 2019, the proposal for raising capital by this infusion and further issue of equity shares at an appropriate time and other incidental matters, it said. According to sources, the government has decided to pump Rs 28,615 crore into seven public sector banks (PSBs) through recapitalisation bonds soon. Out of these seven PSBs, United Bank of India also announced about the capital infusion communication from the finance ministry. Also Read | Is India finally going cashless? Number of ATMs declines by 1,000 to 2.07 lakh: RBI Report The government had earlier announced an infusion of Rs 65,000 crore in PSBs in 2018-19, of which Rs 23,000 crore has already been disbursed, while Rs 42,000 crore is remaining. Earlier this month, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said the government would put an additional Rs 41,000 crore in PSBs over and above what was announced earlier. On December 20, the government sought Parliaments approval for infusion of an additional Rs 41,000 crore. The recapitalisation, the finance minister said, would enhance the lending capacity of PSBs and help them come out of the Reserve Bank of Indias Prompt Corrective Action (PCA) framework. Also Read | Yearender 2018: Here are the top business news that sent markets into a tizzy Eleven out of the total 21 PSBs are under the RBIs PCA framework, which imposes lending restrictions on weak banks. These are Allahabad Bank, United Bank of India, Corporation Bank, IDBI Bank, UCO Bank, Bank of India, Central Bank of India, Indian Overseas Bank, Oriental Bank of Commerce, Dena Bank and Bank of Maharashtra. For all the Latest Business News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. New Delhi : Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday condoled the death of veteran Bollywood actor and writer Kader Khan, who passed away in a Canadian hospital on December 31 due to prolonged illness. Kader Khan Ji brightened the screen with his stupendous acting skills and lightened it thanks to his unique sense of humour. He was also a prolific screenwriter, associated with many memorable films. Saddened by his demise. Condolences to his family and admirers, Modi tweeted. The 81-year-old Canadian-Indian was reportedly suffering from Progressive Supranuclear Palsy, a degenerative disease that causes loss of balance, difficulty in walking and dementia. Kader Khan Ji brightened the screen with his stupendous acting skills and lightened it thanks to his unique sense of humour. He was also a prolific screenwriter, associated with many memorable films. Saddened by his demise. Condolences to his family and admirers. Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) January 1, 2019 The death of Khan left many of his fans, including politicians and businessman, grieving. Reacting to his demise, Maharashtra Cabinet Minister Vinod Tawde said that with passing away of Khan, an era of brilliance in Indian cinema ended. The cinematic legend #KaderKhan dedicated his life to cinema and made millions smile through acting. With his passing, an era of brilliance in Indian cinema has come to a close. My condolences are with his family and loved ones. RIP! Tawde tweeted. Also Read | Kader Khan, veteran Bollywood actor-writer dies at 81, last rites to be performed in Canada Born in Kabul, Khan made his acting debut in 1973 with Rajesh Khanna's Daag and has featured in over 300 films. Also, he has written dialogues for over 250 movies. Before becoming an actor, he had written dialogues for Randhir Kapoor-Jaya Bachchan starrer Jawani Diwani. As a screenwriter, Khan frequently collaborated with Manmohan Desai and Prakash Mehra. His films with Desai included Dharam Veer, Ganga Jamuna Saraswati, Coolie, Desh Premee, Suhaag, Parvarish and Amar Akbar Anthony and films with Mehra include Jwalamukhi, Sharaabi, Lawaaris, Muqaddar Ka Sikandar. For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. New Delhi: From passing path-breaking verdicts on Triple Talaq and Sabarimala Temple to Section 377 and Adultery, it has been a remarkable year for the Supreme Court of India. Here's a look at 10 landmark judgments of 2018: Lifting ban on women's entry to Sabarimala temple: The Supreme Court removed a ban that prevented women between 10 and 50 years of age from entering Kerala's Sabarimala temple. A five-judge Constitution Bench headed by Chief Justice Dipak Misra, in its 4:1 verdict, said devotion cannot be subjected to gender discrimination, and patriarchal notion could not be allowed to trump equality in devotion. It said that banning the entry of women into the shrine was gender discrimination and the practice violated rights of Hindu women. Apex court says Aadhaar constitutional, but strikes down some provisions: A five-judge bench of Supreme Court on ruled that Aadhaar was constitutional, but said making it mandatory for availing government services was unconstitutional. The constitution bench held that Aadhaar would remain mandatory for filing of Income Tax returns and allotment of Permanent Account Number (PAN), but struck down some of its provisions including its linking with bank accounts, mobile phones and school admissions. A review petition has been filed in the Supreme Court on seeking re-examination of its five-judge bench's verdict. Decriminalistion of Gay Sex - Section 377 partly struck down: The Supreme Court, in a landmark judgment in early September, decriminalised gay sex holding that consensual sex between two adults was covered under the right to privacy. A five-judge bench of the Supreme Court headed by CJI Dipak Misra partly struck down Section 377 of Indian Penal Code (IPC), holding it violative of the fundamental right to privacy. It also held that Section 377 of IPC was a weapon to harass members of LGBTQ-plus community resulting in discrimination against them. However, the top court said that Section 377 would continue to be in force in cases of unnatural sex with animals and children, which continues to be a penal offence. Adultery is no longer a crime | Supreme Court scrapped Section 487 of the constitution: The Supreme Court struck down a 150-year-old law that considered adultery to be an offence committed against a married man by another man. Defined under Section 497 of the IPC, adultery law came under sharp criticism for treating women as male property. Previously any man who had sex with a married woman, without the permission of her husband, had committed a crime. While reading out the judgment in the case, CJI Dipak Misra said that while adultery could be grounds for civil issues like divorce, it cannot be a criminal offence. Live-streaming of court proceedings approved: The Supreme Court bench headed by CJI Dipak Misra, in a 2:1 verdict, ordered live-streaming and video recording of the court proceedings on , saying that sunlight is the best disinfectant. The CJI and Justice AM Khanwilkar delivered a common judgment. Justice DY Chandrachud gave a separate but concurring judgment. The Supreme Court said that live streaming would bring in more transparency in judicial proceedings and effectuate the public right to know. It also directed the Centre to frame rules for this and said the project will be carried out in phases. Ram Janmabhoomi-Babri Masjid pleas turned down: The Supreme Court turned down two petitions in the Ayodhya case on . One that directly deals with the way the disputed land was split according to the 2010 Allahabad High Court ruling, and another that would have had a direct impact on the Supreme Court's final verdict in the case. Reservation for job promotions: The Supreme Court has made it easier to grant caste-based reservations to members of the Scheduled Castes and Adivasis (Scheduled Tribes) during job promotions. But, the apex court has also potentially made it harder for economically advanced SCs and STs to reap reservation benefits by extending the 'creamy layer' exclusion to those members. Politicians with criminal antecedents: The Supreme Court on in September held that all candidates will have to declare their criminal antecedents to the Election Commission before contesting an election, saying criminalisation of politics of the largest democracy is "unsettling". A five-judge Constitution bench, headed by Chief Justice Dipak Misra, said citizens have a right to be informed about the antecedents of their candidates. In the unanimous verdict, the bench, also comprising Justices RF Nariman, AM Khanwilkar, DY Chandrachud and Indu Malhotra, said that political parties are obligated to put all the information about their candidates on their websites. Sajjan Kumar gets life sentence for abetting, instigating Sikh killings: The Delhi High Court on called the anti-Sikh riots case of 1984 communal frenzy after the then prime minister Indira Gandhi was assassinated by her bodyguards as it sentenced Congress leader Sajjan Kumar to life imprisonment in one of the cases. As it reversed the trial courts order acquitting Kumar, the court also directed him to surrender by , 2018, and slapped a fine of Rs 5 lakh on him and Rs 1 lakh on all other accused in the case. The case relates to the murder of five members of a family during the anti-Sikh riots in the Raj Nagar area in the Delhi Cantonment on , 1984. Horrendous acts of mobocracy: One of the most important decisions passed by the top court this year was recognising the rising incidents of mob violence in India. The Supreme Court in July asked Parliament to consider enacting a new law to effectively deal with incidents of mob lynching, saying horrendous acts of mobocracy cannot be allowed to become a new norm. When any core group with some kind of idea take the law into their own hands, it ushers in anarchy, chaos, disorder and, eventually, there is an emergence of a violent society. Vigilantism cannot, by any stretch of [the] imagination, be given room to take shape for it is absolutely a perverse notion, said the court. (With agency inputs) For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. New Delhi : The contentious triple talaq bill seeking to criminalise the practice of instant divorce among Muslims is set to be tabled in the Rajya Sabha Monday, even as the Congress has said it will not allow its passage in the present form. The ruling BJP has issued a whip in the Upper House asking its members to be present. Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad will table the bill in the Upper House. The bill was cleared by the Lok Sabha -- 245 voting in favour and 11 opposing iton Thursday amid a walkout by the Opposition. Prasad had on Friday claimed the bill will find support in the Rajya Sabha, where the BJP-led NDA lacks numbers. The bill is listed in the Rajya Sabhas legislative agenda for Monday. All India Congress Committee (AICC) general secretary K C Venugopal told reporters in Kochi Saturday the party would join hands with others to prevent the bill from getting passed in the House. He said 10 opposition parties had openly come out against the Muslim Women (Protection of Rights on Marriage) Bill, 2018 when it was introduced in the Lok Sabha. Even the parties which support the government on various issues, including the AIADMK, have opposed the bill, said Venugopal, who is also a Congress floor strategist. The opposition has questioned the stringent provisions like criminalisation of a civil wrong in the triple talaq bill. The Opposition has been demanding that the bill be referred to a Joint Select Committee of Parliament for further scrutiny. Also Read | Triple Talaq Bill passed in Lok Sabha by 245-11 votes after Congress walkout, all amendments defeated On Thursday, the government rejected the Oppositions contention the bill it was aimed at targeting a particular community. Piloting the bill, Prasad had said there should be no politics on the bill, stressing it was not against any particular community. Describing the passage of the triple talaq bill in the Lok Sabha as a historic step towards ensuring equality and dignity of Muslim women, BJP chief Amit Shah had demanded an apology from the Congress for decades of injustice. The fresh Bill to make the practice of triple talaq among Muslims a penal offence was introduced in Lok Sabha on December 17 to replace an ordinance issued in September. Under the proposed law, giving instant triple talaq will be illegal and void, and will attract a jail term of three years for the husband. The fresh bill will supersede an earlier bill passed in the Lok Sabha and pending in the Rajya Sabha. The earlier bill was approved by the Lower House. But amid opposition by some parties in the upper house, the government had cleared some amendments, including introduction of a provision of bail, to make it more acceptable. However, as the bill continued to face resistance in the Rajya Sabha, the government issued an ordinance in September, incorporating the amendments. An ordinance has a life of six months. But from the day a session begins, it has to be replaced by a bill which should be passed by Parliament within 42 days (six weeks), else it lapses. The government is at liberty to re-promulgate the ordinance if the bill fails to get through Parliament. Also Read | Triple Talaq Bill: Congress and AIADMK stage walkout in Lok Sabha Introducing the bill, the Law Minister had said despite the Supreme Court striking down the practice of talaq-e-biddat (instant triple talaq), terming it unconstitutional, divorces in this form were taking place. Citing details of instant triple talaq cases, the government had last week informed Lok Sabha that till now 430 incidents of triple talaq have come to the notice of the government through the media. Of these, 229 were reported before the Supreme Court judgment, while another 201 came to the notice after it. These cases were reported between the period of January 2017 and September 13, 2018. For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. New Delhi: Russia and Turkey on Saturday agreed to coordinate ground operations in Syria after last week's shock announcement of a US military withdrawal, Moscow's top diplomat said. "Of course we paid special attention to new circumstances which appeared in connection with the announced US military pullout," Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said after talks with Turkish counterpart Mevlut Cavusoglu in Moscow. "An understanding was reached of how military representatives of Russia and Turkey will continue to coordinate their steps on the ground under new conditions with a view to finally rooting out terrorist threats in Syria," Lavrov said. ALSO READ | How a bird watcher broke the news of Trumps Iraq visit Cavusoglu confirmed the two countries would coordinate Syria operations, adding they also discussed plans to help refugees to return home. "We will continue active work (and) coordination with our Russian colleagues and colleagues from Iran to speed up the arrival of a political settlement in the Syrian Republic," he said in remarks translated into Russian. Besides Lavrov and Cavusoglu, Russian and Turkish defence ministers Sergei Shoigu and Hulusi Akar also attended the talks. Last week, Trump surprised the world and his country as well when he suddenly announced that the US is pulling out its troops from Syria. "In Syria, Erdogan said he wants to knock out ISIS, whatever's left, the remnants of ISIS. And Saudi Arabia just came out and said they are going to pay for some economic development. Which is great, that means we don't have to pay. We are spread out all over the world. We are in countries most people haven't even heard about. Frankly, it's ridiculous," Trump added. Trump's sudden decision sparked turmoil in his administration, prompting the resignation of Defense Secretary Jim Mattis, as well as of Brett McGurk, the special envoy to the anti-IS coalition. Brett McGurk, the US envoy to the global coalition fighting the Islamic State group, resigned in protest over President Donald Trump's abrupt decision to withdraw US troops from Syria, a US official said, joining Defence Secretary Jim Mattis in an administration exodus of experienced national security figures. ALSO READ | US-Mexico wall row: Trump blames Democrats for border deaths McGurk had said it would be "reckless" to consider IS defeated and therefore would be unwise to bring American forces home. McGurk decided to speed up his original plan to leave his post in mid-February. Appointed to the post by President Barack Obama in 2015 and retained by Trump, McGurk said in his resignation letter that the militants were on the run, but not yet defeated, and that the premature pullout of American forces from Syria would create the conditions that gave rise to IS. For all the Latest World News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. Lucknow: Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav on Sunday apparently made it clear that his party may contest Lok Sabha elections, slated for next year, in alliance with the Mayawati's Bahujan Samaj Party (BJP). Yadav said that there will be a confluence of thoughts in Uttar Pradesh and very soon people will know about it. His statement holds significance as there are reports that both SP and BSP are working for an electoral tie-up in UP. Some even claimed that they are likely to make a big announcement on Mayawatis birthday in January. "In UP, there will be sangam (confluence) of people and sangam of thoughts, and very soon it will be in front of you," he said. When asked whether the Congress will be a part of this confluence, Yadav said, "I said that there will be sangam of people and thoughts. All answers are included in this." Both the parties have extended support to the Congress to form a government in Madhya Pradesh. The Congress, which won 114 seats, secured the support of 121 MLAs, including SP (1) and BSP (2) legislators and four independents, to cross the majority mark of 116 seats in the 230-member Assembly. However, the SP has openly expressed his unhappiness for not making its lone MLA in Madhya Pradesh a minister. "Congress cleared the path for Uttar Pradesh," Akhilesh had said. The party, along with the BSP, is also maintaining a distance from Opposition meeting of late. Moreover, the SP - with the support of BSP - has already defeated the ruling BJP in fiercely fought Uttar Pradesh by-polls earlier this year. Both the seats Gorakhpur and Phulpur were won by the Samajwadi Party. Interestingly, they were earlier held by Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath and Deputy Chief Minister Keshav Prasad Maurya respectively. So, both the parties know that it is regional satraps who hold the key to victory in Uttar Pradesh. For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. New Delhi : Amid reports that China is still very well present in the disputed Doklam area, Congress president Rahul Gandhi on Saturday met with Bhutanese Prime Minister Lotay Tshering in Delhi to discuss the political situation in the region. Sharing the picture of their meeting on Twitter, the Congress chief wrote, I had an excellent meeting today with the Prime Minister of Bhutan, Dr Lotay Tshering. We discussed the political situation in the region and other matters of common interest. I look forward to continuing our dialogue in the future. Interestingly, the Congress chief is in the Opposition and his meeting with the Bhutanese prime minister has raised many eyebrows on social media. The Gandhi scion has been attacking the Narendra Modi government over the Chinese presence in Doklam a plateau between India, China and Bhutan even as both countries decided to mutually withdraw their troops. Also Read | Rahul Gandhi lambasts PM Modi for not discussing Doklam issue during his China visit The government refused to accept the reports and claimed that there was no change in the status-quo at Doklam. However, media reports, citing satellite imagery, claimed that China has built new roads in the region after Doklam standoff. Chinese havent evacuated Doklam, they have built huge infrastructures in the territory and yet PM Modi when he visits China, has a conversation without agenda and doesnt discuss these issues, the Congress president had said during his Interaction with London-based Indian Journalists Association in August this year. The meeting also holds significance as the Doklam standoff between India and China was started after New Delhi on Bhutans request stopped a Chinese construction party from building a road in the disputed region. Doklam is claimed by both China and Bhutan. India, however, supports Bhutans claim as both countries share a very strong diplomatic and people to people ties. For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. New Delhi: WhatsApp, the Facebook-owned messaging service will stop working on some devices from today. The messenger company has listed down names of those smartphones on its support page, whose users will not be able to use the services anymore. "The decision was taken because we will no longer be actively developing for these platforms and some features might stop functioning at any time. When we look ahead to our next seven years, we are looking to focus our efforts on the mobile platforms that a vast majority of people use. These platforms/phones don't offer the kind of capabilities WhatsApp needs to expand its features in the future, the company said in a blog post. WhatsApp had earlier announced that it would end support for Nokia S40 in June this year, but changed its mind and extended the support till December 31. ALSO READ | THESE popular apps are sending your data to Facebook without asking WhatsApp has also asked the users to upgrade their Android versions, in case they are using the old smartphones. The statement issued by WhatsApp on its support page reads, "We'll no longer actively develop for these operating systems, and some features might stop functioning at any time. If you currently use an older operating system, we recommend upgrading to a newer version. Earlier, operating systems including Windows Phone 8.0 and older, iPhone 3GS/iOS 6, Nokia Symbian S60, BlackBerry OS and BlackBerry 10 and older version of Android than 2.3.3 stopped receiving WhatsApp updates. WhatsApp will also stop supporting devices that run Android v2.3.7 and older and iOS 7 and an older version by February 2020, according to reports. The phones which WhatsApp will no longer support from January 1, 2019, and run Nokia S40 OS include Nokia Asha 201, Asha 205, Nokia 206, Asha 210, Nokia 208, Asha 230, Nokia 206, Nokia 208, Nokia 301 and Nokia 515. The list also includes Nokia Asha 300, Nokia Asha 302, Nokia Asha 303, Nokia Asha 305, Nokia Asha 306, Nokia Asha 308, Nokia Asha 309, Nokia Asha 310, Nokia Asha 311, Nokia Asha 500, Nokia Asha 501, Nokia Asha 502, Nokia Asha 503, Nokia C3-00, Nokia C3-01, Nokia X2-00, Nokia X2-01, Nokia X3-02, and Nokia X3-02.5. ALSO READ | Video bloggers and viewers share emotions, heres how WhatsApp regularly ends support for defunct operating systems citing incapability which WhatsApp needs in order to expand its features in the future. London: Seven members of a UK-based Indian-origin family were involved in a freak accident in Iceland when their SUV crashed off a bridge on Thursday, killing two women and a child. Four others, including two British Indian brothers and two young children, remain in critical condition after being airlifted to a hospital in Icelands capital Reykjavik. The family was reportedly on holiday in the Nordic island country when their hired Toyota Land Cruiser slammed through a railing while crossing a high single-lane bridge at Skeidararsandur, a vast sand plain in the southern part of the country. The local police have only identified the victims as British, with their names and ages not yet released until formal identification. The Indian Ambassador to Iceland, T Armstrong Changsan, visited the injured at Landspitali hospital, where he spoke to hospital staff and the chaplain before contacting family members in India. Also Read | Explosion rocks United Kingdom's Andover, 1 dead: Reports He confirmed that three people died, one of them a young child, and said the other family members were in a stable condition in hospital on Thursday night. It is a very tragic case. A group of close family friends have arrived from London to be by their side and their brother and parents from Maharashtra are organising their travel from India, he told PTI. The Indian embassy is trying to expedite the travel arrangements and we remain in constant touch with the local authorities, he said. The holidaymakers from the UK included two couples in their thirties and three children, aged around three, eight and nine. While the youngest girl was killed on the spot, the other girl remains in surgery. According to local reports, the two adults killed in the crash were the wives of the two British Indian brothers. Chief Superintendent of South Iceland Police Sveinn Kristjan Runarsso confirmed the four survivors have been taken to hospital with serious injuries and that we havent been able to talk to them about what happened. The crash site was described as horrifying by tour guide Adolf Erlingsson, who was among the first on the scene with two police officers. The car was totally smashed up after flying off the bridge and plunging down there, he told Icelandic radio station Bylgjan. The car seemed to have hit the ground many metres from where it stopped. We struggled getting everyone out, he said. Also Read | TRAI gives one extra month to choose channels under new framework Police officers have said that humidity could have made the surface slippery but said it remains unclear what caused the driver to lose control of the vehicle. Temperatures were around freezing at the time of the accident, which occurred hours before the North Atlantic island saw sunrise at nearly 11.30 am local time. The vehicle the family was travelling in slammed through a railing while crossing a high single-lane bridge over the Nupsa river at Skeidararsandur. The bridge is described as really narrow and the vehicle plummeted on to the dry riverbed below and landed on its roof. Icelands national ring road, also known as Route 1, is popular among tourists from around the world and the site of the crash was near Skaftafell in the south-east of the country, which is made up of mountains, glaciers, waterfalls and beaches. Of the 18 people who have died in traffic accidents in Iceland this year, half of them have been foreign nationals. The UKs Foreign and Commonwealth Office said: We are supporting the family of several British nationals who were involved in a road traffic accident in Iceland and are in close contact with the Icelandic authorities. For all the Latest World News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. London: Taking part in Dry January challenge, which involves abstaining from alcohol for the first month of the new year, can help people regain control over their drinking and spending, as well as boost health, a study has found. Researchers from the University of Sussex in the UK took data from over 800 people who took part in Dry January in 2018. The results showed that Dry January participants were drinking less in up to August. They reported that frequency of being drunk dropped from 3.4 per month to 2.1 per month on average. The simple act of taking a month off alcohol helps people drink less in the long term: by August people are reporting one extra dry day per week, said Richard de Visser, from the University of Sussex. There are also considerable immediate benefits: nine in ten people save money, seven in ten sleep better and three in five lose weight, he said. These changes in alcohol consumption have also been seen in the participants who didnt manage to stay alcohol-free for the whole month - although they are a bit smaller. This shows that there are real benefits to just trying to complete Dry January, said de Visser. The research showed that 88 per cent saved money; 70 per cent had generally improved health; 71 per cent slept better; and 58 per cent lost weight. De Vissers findings come from three self-completed online surveys: 2,821 on registering for Dry January; 1,715 in the first week of February; and 816 participants in August. New Delhi: A Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) leader was shot in Deepnagar police limits in Bihars Nalanda on Tuesday. He has been identified as Indal Paswan. The incident took place after the RJD leader entered an altercation with some locals, according to reports. He was shot dead due to personal enmity. We are investigating the matter," Sub-divisional Police Officer Nalanda said. The accused's house was later set afire by locals. Paswan was returning home after a funeral meet when some youths of the village fired bullets at him leading to his instant death. The attack was reportedly motivated by the previous altercation of Paswan with some of the villagers. The incident took place at a crowded residential area, but the accused managed to flee the spot soon after perpetrating the crime, ABP News reported. ALSO READ | Noida Man falls to death from 5th floor on New Year Opposition Rashtriya Janata Dal and Congress leaders have targeted Chief Minister Nitish Kumar for the rise in crime and total collapse of law and order. There is no law and order in Bihar. It is free for all for criminals and they do as per their will, RJD spokesperson Bhai Virendar said. In December, a Punjab National Bank (PNB) customer care personnel was abducted and later killed by unidentified criminals in Gaya district. The bank's Customer Service Point (CSP) in-charge Pintu Singh was abducted near Amas, Officer in-chrage of Amas Police station Shayam Lal Sarah had said. Singh's killing came barely 48 hours after a businessman was shot dead in Vaishali district. Gunjan Khemka, the industrialist was shot dead in Hajipur in Vaishali. His son, Gopal Khemka is a well-known businessman in Patna. New Delhi: Come January 1, 2019, students of Gujarat schools will have to answer roll calls with Jai Hind or Jai Bharat instead of the current yes sir and present sir in order to foster patriotism, a notification issued on Monday stated. The notification, issued by the Directorate of Primary Education and Gujarat Secondary and Higher Secondary Education Board (GSHSEB), states that students of Class 1-12 in government, grant-in-aid and self-financed schools will have to respond to the attendance call with "Jai Hind" or "Jai Bharat," starting January 1. The objective of the new practice is to "foster patriotism among students right from childhood," it said. The decision was taken by the state Education Minister Bhupendrasinh Chudasama in a review meeting held on Monday, according to the notification. News agency PTI reported that copies of the notification were sent to the district education officials with instructions to implement it from January 1. Minister Chudasama could not be contacted for comment despite repeated attempts. In a similar move in May, students in government schools of Madhya Pradesh were asked to respond to their daily roll calls by saying Jai Hind. The order signed by Pramod Singh, then deputy secretary of School Education Department, said in order to infuse the spirit of patriotism among school students it had been decided by the state government that students would have to answer their roll calls/attendance calls in the class with Jai Hind. (With PTI inputs) New Delhi: Sajjan Kumar, convicted in 1984 anti-Sikh riots case, surrendered before Karkardooma Court in New Delhi on Monday. Kumar was awarded life imprisonment in a 1984 anti-Sikh riots case by the Delhi High Court and asked to surrender by December 31. He, however, filed a plea seeking time extension for his surrender, but the request was denied by the court. The former Congress leaders counsel Anil Kumar Sharma said that his client will comply with the High Court judgment as Supreme Court is unlikely to hear his plea against the High Court verdict during the vacation. We have removed the objections and the appeal in the apex court has been numbered. Presently, there are no benches in the Supreme Court. Even if we mention the matter for urgent hearing, the registrar will decide whether it will be heard by the bench. No time is left now, PTI quoted Kumars lawyer as saying. We will comply with the high courts judgment, he added. Also Read | As justice prevails, victim narrates horror of 1984 anti-Sikh riots On December 21, the Delhi High Court had rejected Kumars plea seeking one months time extension to surrender. In his plea, the former Congress leader had said that he needed some time to settle family affairs and to appeal against the High Court verdict in the Supreme Court. The High Court, however, rejected his plea. On December 17, the Delhi High Court had found Sajjan Kumar guilty in the killings of five Sikhs in Raj Nagar part-I area in South West Delhis Palam Colony on November 1-2, 1984 and burning down of a Gurudwara in Raj Nagar part II during the anti-Sikh riots. Besides Sajjan Kumar, Captain Bhagmal, Girdhari Lal and former Congress councilor Balwan Khokhar have been sentenced to life imprisonment, while Kishan Khokkar and former legislator Mahender Yadav have been sentenced to 10 years in prison. Also Read | Day after conviction in 1984 anti-Sikh riots, Sajjan Kumar quits Congress More than 3,000 Sikhs were brutally killed in the 1984 anti-Sikh riots, one of the scariest incidents of communal violence in the country. The riots had broken out following the assassination of former prime minister Indira Gandhi on October 31 by her Sikh bodyguards. Congress leaders Jagdish Tytler and Sajjan Kumar were accused of masterminding the riots against the Sikh community. For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. New Delhi: Saudi Arabia's new foreign minister voiced defiance on Friday in the face of international outrage over critic Jamal Khashoggi's murder, rejecting the kingdom was in crisis and his predecessor was demoted. "The issue of Jamal Khashoggi... really saddened us, all of us," Ibrahim al-Assaf told news agency AFP, a day after he was appointed foreign minister in a government reshuffle. Khashoggi, a Saudi contributor to The Washington Post, was killed shortly after entering the kingdoms consulate in Istanbul on October 2. "But all in all, we are not going through a crisis, we are going through a transformation," he added, referring to social and economic reforms spearheaded by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. ALSO READ | Turkey sends troops to Syria border as US prepares for pullout talks The prince, the heir to the Saudi throne, has faced intense international scrutiny over the October 2 murder of journalist Khashoggi in the kingdom's Istanbul consulate -- which critics say has left the oil-rich Gulf nation diplomatically weakened. Assaf, a former finance minister who was detained last year in what Riyadh said was an anti-corruption sweep, replaced Adel al-Jubeir as foreign minister in the sweeping government shake-up ordered by King Salman. Jubeir, who sought to defend the tainted government internationally after Khashoggi's murder, was appointed minister of state for foreign affairs, which was widely seen as a demotion. "This is far from the truth," Assaf said. "Adel represented Saudi Arabia and will continue to represent Saudi Arabia... around the world. We complement each other." Khashoggi was critical of Prince Mohammed and the countrys intervention in Yemen. Prince Mohammed has overseen Saudi Arabias Yemen war effort, a highly controversial intervention to bolster President Abedrabbo Mansour Hadis government in the face of an insurgency by Huthi rebels. ALSO READ | Amid shutdown, Trump tweets, I am all alone (poor me) in White House Jamal Khashoggi was highly critical of the Saudi crown prince and had labelled him a beast and pac-man adding that more victims he eats, the more he wants, as reported by news agency ANI. As many as 400 WhatsApp messages were exchanged between Khashoggi and Canada-based activist and fellow Saudi exile Omar Abdulaziz. A number of messages were believed to be intercepted by Saudi officials this year in August, prompting Khashoggi to write God help us. He was killed in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul two months later on October 2. For all the Latest World News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. Dhaka: Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina's alliance has won the parliamentary vote with a thumping majority, officials said Monday, even as the main opposition rejected the "farcical" elections which claimed 18 lives and left over 200 injured, making it one of the deadliest polls in the country. The ruling Awami League-led coalition has won over 267 seats in the 300-member House, according to the Election Commission (EC). The opposition National Unity Front (UNF) led by the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) - which has been out of power for 12 years and had boycotted the 10th general elections in 2014 - managed to secure only eight seats, media reports said. The opposition Oikya Front demanded that the EC immediately scrap the "farcical election" and hold a fresh one under a non-partisan interim government. Also Read | Bangladesh Elections: Voting concludes, 13 killed in poll-related violence Front chief and veteran lawyer Kamal Hossain called the polls a "farce", citing widespread polling frauds, bdnews24.com reported. BNP Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir, who steered the party in the absence of imprisoned former prime minister Khaleda Zia, described the polls as a "cruel farce". He said the elections proved that free and fair polls were not possible under a partisan government. The EC confirmed the complete result of the constituency in southwestern Gopalganj from where Hasina won, bagging 2,29,539 votes, while her BNP opponent got only 123 votes. The National Unity Front (NUF) is a coalition of parties, including BNP, Gono Forum, Jatiya Samajtantrik Dal-JSD, Nagorik Oikya Front and Krishak Sramik Janata League. Rejecting the polls, Hossain said "we have reports that fraudulence took place in almost all centres". While Hasina was seeking re-election for the fourth term as the prime minister, her chief rival Zia, who is reportedly partially paralysed, faces an uncertain future in a Dhaka jail. Also Read | Its Khalida Zia vs Sheikh Hasina yet again as Bangladesh goes to crucial polls on Sunday The EC said they have received over a hundred complaints from candidates throughout the country amid reports of violence. At least 18 people, including a member of a security agency, have been killed and more than 200 others injured in poll-related violence, making it one of the deadliest polls in the country, the Daily Star reported. Reports said most of the dead were ruling party activists, while others were workers of the BNP or its allies. Over 600,000 security personnel including several thousand soldiers and paramilitary border guards were deployed across the nation for the election in which 10.41 crore people were eligible to vote. For all the Latest World News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. Patna: The Communist Party of India (CPI) on Saturday said it favoured a broader alliance of Left parties and other secular forces like the Congress and the RJD in Bihar to ensure the BJP's defeat in 2019 general election. The party intends to be a part of such an alliance and has formed a committee to hold talks with like-minded, secular and democratic parties for the purpose, CPI Bihar secretary Satya Narayan Singh told reporters. "We, the Left parties, have finalised our electoral alliance in Bihar (for 2019 Lok Sabha polls). There is no dispute or problem in Left unity," he said after the conclusion of a three-day CPI state council meeting, which was attended by the party's National Secretary K Narayana."But our party feels the need for a greater Left and secular democratic front to defeat the BJP. We are of the opinion that the Left parties should ally with the RJD and the Congress," the CPI's state secretary said. "We have not had any talks with the RJD so far but we had talks with Bihar Congress chief Madan Mohan Jha and its campaign committee chief Akhilesh Prasad Singh with regard to having a broader opposition alliance to take on the BJP. We also held talks with Hindustan Awam Morcha chief Jitan Ram Manjhi," Singh said. Read | Amid talks of federal front, KCR meets PM Narendra Modi in New Delhi The CPI (Marxist-Leninist), another Left party, had on December 21 expressed its support for a broader opposition alliance comprising all Left and other secular and democratic parties. It has also constituted a three-member committee to hold parleys vis-a-vis seat sharing with the 'Mahagathbandhan' (grand alliance), which comprises the RJD and the Congress.The CPI wants to contest the Lok Sabha elections from Begusarai, Khagaria, Madhubani, Motihari, Banka and Gaya seats, Singh said. The CPI(ML) too wants to contest as many seats. The CPI(Marxist) has made it clear that it would field its candidate from the Ujiarpur seat, from where BJP leader Nityanand Rai won last time, with or without alliance. Asked whether the alliance would be possible given the number of seats the Left parties want to contest, Singh said the CPI has been a "force to reckon with in Bihar" and no party can ignore this. "Even Lalu Prasad understands this fact. But if an electoral alliance is stitched, then we may consider leaving some seats in the larger interest. There is no rigidity in the matter of number of seats," he said. Currently, the CPI has no MPs either in the Lok Sabha or the Rajya Sabha from Bihar.Singh said the CPI would support the nationwide general strike called by 10 central trade unions on January 8 and 9 to protest against "anti-worker policies" of the government. Read | In a jolt to Upendra Kushwaha, RLSP vice president Bhagwan Singh Kushwaha joins JD-U The Left parties have also given the call for a 'Bihar Bandh' on January 9 over various issues including the deteriorating law and order situation in the state, he said. Singh said the party would also organise a Vidhan Sabha march on February 18 in which around one lakh farmers from 25 different farmers associations are expected to participate. For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. New Delhi: A police constable, identified asA Suresh Vats,A 48, was killed on Saturday in Ghazipur when protesters hurled stones at vehicles returning from the venue of a public meeting addressed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The incident took place less than a month after inspectorA Subodh Kumar Singh was shot dead by a mob in state's Bulandshahr on December 3 during a violence that broke out over cow slaughter allegations. #WATCH One constable dead & two locals from the area injured in stone pelting allegedly by Nishad Party workers near Atwa Mor police station in Naunera area, earlier today. #Ghazipur pic.twitter.com/FnviOzuRIU a ANI UP (@ANINewsUP) December 29, 2018 The occured when policemen posted at the district's Nonhara police station were returning from duty at PM Modi's rally and were asked to control a mob allegedly from the Nishad communityA demanding reservation by blocking a highway. The police team was attacked with stones by the protesters when it tried to disperse them. Earlier visuals from Ghazipur: 1 constable dead & 2 locals from the area injured in stone pelting allegedly by Nishad Party workers near Atwa Mor police station in Naunera area today. pic.twitter.com/FAGzcFSyUe a ANI UP (@ANINewsUP) December 29, 2018 Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath has announced a compensation ofA Rs 40 lakhA for the wife of the constable. "CM Yogi Adityanath has taken cognizance of the unfortunate death of Constable Suresh Vats in Ghazipur in a stone-pelting incident," the chief minister office said. Mahipal Pathak, CO, Sadar: He(Constable Suresh Vats) was returning after completing his duty at the PM event today.Some ppl from Nishad community were protesting near Atwa Mor police station in Naunera area where stone pelting incident took place during which he was hit.#Ghazipur pic.twitter.com/vesUmxIXfn a ANI UP (@ANINewsUP) December 29, 2018A The Congress slammed the Uttar Pradesh government over the death, alleging that in Yogi Adityanath's "jungle rule" neither the people are safe, nor the police. Congress' chief spokesperson Randeep Surjewala claimed: "In Adityanath's grand jungle rule, neither the people were safe, nor the police."A "Today in Ghazipur after Modi ji's rally, a mob mercilessly killed police constable Suresh Vats," he tweeted.A "Democracy in BJP rule=mobocracy," he added.A On December 3, a mob of some 400 people rampaged through a village in Bulandshahr district apparently after cow carcasses were found in a jungle nearby. During the violence, police inspector Singh and 20-year-old man Sumit Kumar died of gunshot wounds. Singh had gone for a search operation following specific inputs about stone pelting in the region and fell unconscious after a stone hit his head. While being rushed to the hospital an angry mob again attacked his vehicle. While other policemen in the Jeep fled the spot, Singh was allegedly shot dead byA Army jawan Jitendra Malik alias Jeetu Fauji. He was later arrested. On Thursday, the police arrested another accusedA from the Bulandshahr-Noida borderA involved in the murder case. Bulandshahar's Senior Superintendent of Police Prabhakar Chaudhary said the accused, identified as Prashant Nutt, is being interrogated and confessed of shooting Singh. However, the weapon of the killing, a pistol is yet to be recovered, Chaudhary added. For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. New Delhi: Like it or hate it, viral videos continue to be Internet gold. While some leave us in awe, some in shock and horror. 2018 was a year that saw many such viral moments. From Malayalam actor Priya Prakash Varrieras wink to the heart-warming video of a bear cub uniting with his mother in the snowy slopes, as we wave good bye to 2018, hereas a look at all the videos that broke the internet this year. aMali Spidermana who earned a French citizenship Malian migrant Mamoudou Gassama dramatically saved a child who was hanging from the balcony of a four-storey building in Paris, in May this year. The video of the 22-year-old quickly climbing up the building ultimately earned a French citizenship for him. It was a rescue that wowed the world and made him a national hero in France. Pakistani bureaucrat caught stealing Kuwaiti delegateas wallet A senior Pakistani bureaucrat brought major embarrassment to the country in September after he was captured in a CCTV footage stealing a visiting foreign dignitary's wallet and pocketing it. The Kuwaiti dignitary was in Pakistan to discuss investment plans in the country. The delegation lodged a complaint with the officials and the missing wallet, which reportedly had a significant sum of Kuwaiti dinars, was recovered from the Pakistani official. He was later suspended. A Grade 20 GoP officer stealing a Kuwaiti official's wallet - the official was part of a visiting delegation which had come to meet the PM pic.twitter.com/axODYL3SaZ a omar r quraishi (@omar_quraishi) September 28, 2018 The wink which floored Indians Towards the beginning of February, a video clip of a young girl in school uniform winking went insanely viral on Twitter. The clip from Malayalam movie aOru Adaar Lovea turned Priya Prakash Varrier into an overnight sensation and sent Internet into a meltdown. Indians were so smitten by her wink that the 18-year-oldas name was the top search on google for the year, beating Bollywood actor Priyanka Chopra comprehensively. A A aHello friends, chai piiloa 2018 was a year of many viral crazes. Who would have thought that a drawling invitation for the humble aChaia (tea) could turn into a viral meme? Somwati Mahawar, a passionate vloggeras 15-second-video set the Internet on fire and clocked millions of views on social media platforms. The video also spurred others to recreate and post their own videos offering tea. But, hey, nothing beats this original effort! UP Cop shouts aThain Thaina, mimics gunshot sound during encounter You may have seen in movies how actors try innovative ways to incapacitate others when their guns jam. But believe it or not, the trigger-friendly UP police found a weird tactic to scare a group of criminals in Sambhal after one of them was struggled to open fire as the cartridges in his revolver got stuck. Even as the cop faced trolling for the bizarre idea, the hilarious video set social media on fire. A #WATCH: Police personnel shouts 'thain thain' to scare criminals during an encounter in Sambhal after his revolver got jammed. ASP says, 'words like 'maaro & ghero' are said to create mental pressure on criminals. Cartridges being stuck in revolver is a technical fault'. (12.10) pic.twitter.com/NKyEnPZukh a ANI UP (@ANINewsUP) October 13, 2018 Pakistani reporter falls off donkey while reporting about the animal trade Looks like we just canat get over the gaffes by Pakistani journalists. After Chand Nawab, who got immortalised in the 2015 Salman Khan film Bajrangi Bhaijaan, video of another Pakistani journalist, reporting on the flourishing animal trade in the country, surfaced on Social Media this year. Geo TV reporter Amin Hafeez took the Internet by storm after he decided to ride a donkey during a live TV report, but the uninterested mammal started jerking wildly and he tripped off. A Donkey business flourishing in Lahore and look at the way my old Freind Amin Hafeez reporting donkey business by risking his life pic.twitter.com/FHYuQrYOqP a Hamid Mir (@HamidMirPAK) December 19, 2018 Govinda-inspired dancing uncle, who became an overnight star Following up on his passion, 46-year-old Sanjeev Shrivastava, put on his dancing shoes, and gave a performance that spread like wildfire on Social Media. The video showed the electronics professor showing off some cool Govinda-style moves, while his wife danced coyly in the background. His dream finally came true after he met and danced with his aidola Govinda on a reality show. A Bear cub struggles up a steep, snow-covered slope to reach the mother The Internet was on the edge of their seats while watching the video of a bear cub trying to reach his mother by clambering up a snow-clad mountain. Although the duo initially struggled to reach the top, the mother made it soon while the plucky young cub slid down the slope several times. His persistence paid off eventually. The video also brought spotlight on the irresponsible use of drones to gather wildlife footage. A Video shows Zomato delivery boy eating into customeras order The viral video of a Zomato delivery boy eating food from a parcel and sealing it back left the Social Media in shock. The incident also brought to focus the gruelling working conditions of these hunger saviours. However, the company took cognisance of the incident and fired the executive, who hailed from Madurai. Soon after a wave of empathy poured in for the delivery executive on Social Media. This is what happens when you use coupon codes all the time. Y Watch till end. pic.twitter.com/KG5y9wUoNk a Godman Chikna (@Madan_Chikna) December 10, 2018 A A Indonesian rock band swept away mid performance by Tsunami In December, a video footage showing a massive tsunami wave rip through a stage and slamming audience at rock concert on the Tanjung Lesung beach, was one of the most iconic moments of 2018. The video clip showed music and cheers turning into loud screams as the wave swept members of a local rock band, Seventeen. Only one of the four members of band made it out alive. A For all the Latest Offbeat News News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. Guwahati: Guwahati Police has arrested a person for smuggling a large consignment of Khushi contraceptive pills from Bangladesh. According to the police, acting on a tip-off, the police conducted raids in Dhubri district of Assam and detained Mozammel Haque, who is Shamsul's cousin, and Mozammel, who was allegedly involved in the business, at the Dhubri Sadar police station. Inquiry started. and about 4 lakh banned contraceptive pills from Bangladesh seized by smugglers inside Shamsul Haque's house in Newghat, Ironzongla. Police further informed that Shamsul was allegedly selling banned items in some parts of Assam. Earlier, three hackers who had cheated lakhs of rupees in the state were arrested by the police in Golaghat district on Saturday. In May this year, the three hackers cheated the principal of Khumtai College by defrauding him of Rs 1 lakh and siphoned off 13 lakhs from his bank account. After coming to know about the incident with him, the principal lodged a complaint after which the police started investigation. Police have recovered a car, seven cell phones, 52 bank passbooks, 57 debit cards, five fake SIM cards, a laptop and several incriminating documents from the hackers. Significantly, in the last few years, many people have been arrested in cases related to hacking in Assam. Jalukbari police had arrested two ATM hackers from Maligaon in January last year. Two hackers- Mohammad Asif and Jannat Khan- are residents of Haryana. 42 ATM cards and 32 thousand rupees have been seized from them. Kerala Police arrests four CPI-M members of controversial Cooperative Bank scam Husband thrashes wife and takes off clothes with friends, Know the matter Son-in-law kills mother-in-law and puts bamboo in her private part In a groundbreaking development, Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) on Monday ran its first commercial flight to Kabul, Afghanistan since the Taliban took over the country last month. This operation is very significant for the PIA and the whole world, PIA's Chief Operating Officer Arshad Malik said in a statement, adding that it is hoped that we will be able to resume a complete operation soon." the spokesman for the airline Mr. Abdullah H. Khan said, The Boeing 777 with the flight number PK 6429 departed from Islamabad, Pakistan, as a commercial flight chartered by the World Bank, carrying officials from the bank and journalists The aircraft later returned to Islamabad. This was the first Pakistan International Airlines flight to touch down in Kabul after the foreign troop withdrawal and large-scale evacuation of people from Afghanistan ended on Aug. 31. "It was a special chartered commercial flight," Khan told Reuters. "We also accommodated other individuals who wanted to leave Afghanistan since we had space on the plane." Qatar Airways ran a chartered flight from Kabul to Doha on Sept. 9 carrying about 113 people. Taliban militants lash out at Afghan woman, Video Viral Saudi-led airstrikes kill over 20 Houthis in Yemen's Marib South Korean President's approval rating gains to 42.7 percent SANAA: More than 20 Houthis were killed in airstrikes carried out by the Saudi Arabia-led coalition forces on the militia group's positions in Yemen's Marib region, a government military source said. "The airstrikes targeted the reinforcements on Saturday evening at Rahabah district, destroying four pick-up vehicles and killing more than 20 people," according to reports. Meanwhile, the Houthi-run al-Masirah TV on Saturday reported 17 airstrikes on frontlines of Marib's western districts of Rahabah, Jabal Murad and Sirwah, without providing further details. Last week, the Houthis advanced into al-Kulah, the centre town of Rahabah district, after deadly fighting with the government troops. The Iran-backed Houthi militia launched in February a major offensive on Marib in an attempt to seize control of the oil-rich province, the last northern stronghold of the Saudi-backed Yemeni government. The United states has warned that the offensive on Marib, which hosts nearly 1 million internally displaced people, could lead to a major humanitarian catastrophe. The world body's recent peace proposal to end the war was publicly rejected by the Houthi group. Yemen's civil war flared up in late 2014 when the Iran-backed Houthi group seized control of much of the country's north and forced the internationally recognised government of President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi out of the capital Sanaa. South Korean President's approval rating gains to 42.7 percent Israeli FM proposes 'economy for security' development plan for Gaza Music industry artists leaving Afghanistan amid fear of Taliban Kathmandu, September 13 The Ministry of Health and Population has informed that Nepals Covid-19 tally has reached 865,343 as of Monday afternoon. The ministry said 1,486 new cases were confirmed in the country in the past 24 hours. In this period, 12,532 swab samples were tested in the RT-PCR method, of which returned 1,149 returned positive. Likewise, 4,007 people underwent antigen tests for the virus, of which an additional 337 tested positive. Of total tests, 9.16 per cent of the PCR and 8.41 per cent of antigen samples returned positive, keeping the overall per-day positivity rate at 8.98 per cent. As of today, there are 26,630 active cases across the country. Of them, 1,672 are hospitalised, 475 in intensive care units and 134 on ventilators. In the past 24 hours, 1,260 people have achieved recovery whereas 16 deaths have been reported. Of the total cases so far, 740,717 people have achieved recovery. Likewise, 10,965 died, according to the ministry. The countrys recovery rate is 95.17 per cent and the death rate is 1.41 per cent. Meanwhile, 91,830 people were vaccinated today. Kathmandu, September 13 Nepal tourism entrepreneurs and stakeholders have demanded that the government issue a travel advisory stating Nepal is safe for tourists, claiming the Covid-19 pandemic effects have significantly subsided. They say Nepal is a safe destination for tourists now as the coronavirus infection rate is decreasing whereas most workers in the industry have been vaccinated. During an interaction held in Kathmandu on Sunday, they decided to officially put forth this demand to the government. Meanwhile, the tourism entrepreneurs said the government should remove all quarantine provisions for fully vaccinated tourists and provide on-arrival visas. Likewise, the government should promote Nepal as a safe destination at the international level, they said. Although domestic tourism activities are on the rise gradually, the entrepreneurs say they are still losing a big chunk of their income as foreign tourists are rarely visiting the country. Alemania esta a solo dos semanas de conocer el sucesor de la canciller Angela Merkel. Los tres aspirantes con mas probabilidades de ganar se enfrentaron este domingo a su segundo debate televisivo. El candidato socialdemocrata, Olaf Scholz, lidera las primeras encuestas realizadas luego del cara a cara, que estuvo enfocado en temas como vivienda, impuestos e inmigracion. Recta final para las elecciones federales en Alemania del proximo 26 de septiembre, de donde saldra el sucesor de la canciller Angela Merkel. El socialdemocrata Olaf Scholz, y actual ministro de Finanzas, se consolida como el favorito, segun los sondeos, luego del segundo debate televisivo. Una encuesta rapida para la cadena de television ARD, tomada poco despues del cara a cara de 90 minutos, mostro que el 41% de los encuestados pensaba que Scholz era el aspirante mas convincente, en comparacion con el 27% de respaldo para el conservador Armin Laschet, de la Union Democrata Cristiana, y el 25% para la candidata de los Verdes, Annalena Baerbock. Justamente Scholz se enfrento durante el debate a preguntas dificiles por parte de uno de sus rivales, que apuntaron al presunto rol de su ministerio en la obstruccion de investigaciones por lavado de dinero. Las autoridades evaluan si la Unidad de Inteligencia Financiera (UIF), agencia bajo control del Ministerio de Finanzas, no actuo ante las advertencias de los bancos sobre posible lavado de capitales. El ataque provino de su contrincante mas cercano, Laschet, de centroderecha. "Si mi ministro de Finanzas trabajara como usted, tendriamos un problema grave", le recrimino Laschet a Scholz. Sin embargo, Scholz, de centroizquierda, nego rotundamente las acusaciones y senalo a su oponente de tergiversar la informacion y de ser "deshonesto. Sugirio que, aunque hay una pesquisa en curso, su ministerio no esta directamente involucrado y las autoridades solo han requerido informacion de su cartera. La semana pasada, los fiscales llevaron a cabo busquedas en los ministerios de Finanzas y de Justicia del pais. Leer mas Vivienda, salud e inmigracion, los otros asuntos que dominaron el debate Gran parte de la discusion entre los candidatos se enfoco en asuntos como vivienda, salud, pensiones, impuestos e inmigracion. A pesar de que su partido politico ha caido en los sondeos, la candidata del Partido Verde, Annalena Baerbock, se abstuvo en gran medida de los ataques personales a sus rivales. En cambio, se centro en sus temas emblematicos como justicia social y reduccion de las emisiones de gases de efecto invernadero. "El proximo Gobierno es el ultimo que todavia puede influir activamente en la crisis climatica", afirmo Baerbock y argumento que Alemania necesita adelantar, de 2038 a 2030, su fecha limite para eliminar el uso de carbon. Por su parte, Laschet se mostro a favor de la inmigracion. Defendio la decision de Merkel de 2015 de dejar las fronteras de su pais abiertas a cientos de miles de personas que huyen de la guerra en Siria y otros lugares. Sin embargo, se rehuso a repudiar a un candidato de su propio partido que ha polarizado la escena con comentarios en contra de la migracion. Scholz, quien es visto por muchos como el candidato de la continuidad a pesar de pertenecer a un partido diferente al de Angela Merkel, se mostro como el lider que construiria a partir de la solidaridad, despues de las crisis desatadas por la pandemia del Covid-19. El socialdemocrata propuso elevar el salario minimo y garantizar pensiones estables durante decadas. En parte mediante la reintroduccion de un impuesto sobre el patrimonio para las personas de mayor poder adquisitivo en Alemania. El tercer y ultimo debate tendra lugar el proximo 23 de septiembre, justo tres dias antes de las elecciones. Alrededor de 60 millones de alemanes elegiran ese dia un nuevo Parlamento el 26 de septiembre. El partido con mas escanos buscara formar un Gobierno de coalicion y hara que su candidato sea elegido como el canciller del pais. Tras uno de los mandatos mas largos de Europa, Merkel no se postula de nuevo despues de cuatro victorias electorales y 16 anos al frente de la mayor economia del continente. Con AP, Reuters y medios locales SEATTLE, Sept. 13, 2021 /CNW/ - Amazon Canada today announced its commitment to hiring 15,000 full-time and part-time employees across Canada and increasing employees' wages. Frontline employees will receive $17 per hour to $21.65 per hour with comprehensive benefits starting on day one, including access to health, dental and vision benefits, training and education programs, like the Career Choice program, and health and well-being initiatives such as My Wellbeing and family support plans. Amazon Process Assistant Mohammed Hanif is photographed at YYC1 in Calgary, Alberta (CNW Group/Amazon Canada) "We take our responsibility as an employer seriously," said Sumegha Kumar, Director of Canadian Customer Fulfillment Operations for Amazon Canada. "Amazon Canada employs over 25,000 Canadians, and we're proud to create 15,000 more great jobs at a time when they're needed in Canada, with increased pay for our amazing employees across our fulfillment, transportation and logistics networks from Victoria to Dartmouth." Amazon Canada will hire 15,000 full-and part-time employees throughout the fall. Full-and part-time employees will also receive an additional $1.60 - $2.20 per hour, starting immediately, regardless of their tenure with the company. Health and Benefits At Amazon, every full-time employee, regardless of their position, level or tenure, has access to the same benefits. Some of those benefits include: Wages from $17 per hour to $21.65 per hour, with a $100 bonus for new and current employees who show proof of vaccination Comprehensive health benefits starting on day one with no waiting period RRSP matching Stock units Kids & Company special packages including a guaranteed spot at Kids & Company Child Care locations within six months of registration, a 10 per cent discount off monthly in-center tuition, waived registration fees, back-up care options and access to virtual workshops and events Employee and Family Assistance Plan provided by LifeWorks and available 24/7 to help Amazon employees and their family members feel supported, by phone, online, and in-person Access to up-skilling training programs that meet employees where they are, through Amazon's commitment to invest $75M to skills-train 100,000 Amazonians by 2025 Additional paid parental leave benefits for eligible employees All eligible full-time employees have access to Amazon Career Choice, an innovative program uniquely designed to help upskill people who are interested in pursuing a future in a high-demand field by covering up to 95 per cent of tuition fees. Story continues "As a mother of six, Amazon's flexible work schedules and advancement opportunities have helped me grow both at home and at work," said Patrice Thompson, Processing Assistant at Amazon Canada. "I enrolled in the Career Choice program to further my education and today I can proudly say that I am a graduate of the Transportation and Logistics program from Sheridan College." Amazon Career Opportunities For more information about current job openings visit amazondelivers.jobs/canada or sign up to be the first to hear about jobs at amazon.com/tc. Amazon is hosting its first Canadian edition of Career Day on September 15. The event will give job seekers an inside look at the Operations, corporate and technology positions currently open across the country, with a variety of panel sessions, keynote addresses and fireside chats. Anyone can register for free by visiting amazoncareerday.com. About Amazon Amazon is guided by four principles: customer obsession rather than competitor focus, passion for invention, commitment to operational excellence, and long-term thinking. Amazon strives to be Earth's Most Customer-Centric Company, Earth's Best Employer, and Earth's Safest Place to Work. Customer reviews, 1-Click shopping, personalized recommendations, Prime, Fulfillment by Amazon, AWS, Kindle Direct Publishing, Kindle, Career Choice, Fire tablets, Fire TV, Amazon Echo, Alexa, Just Walk Out technology, Amazon Studios, and The Climate Pledge are some of the things pioneered by Amazon. For more information, visit amazon.com/about and follow @AmazonNews. View source version on businesswire.com: Amazon.com, Inc. Photo and Video Gallery Photos and Videos Amazon Process Assistant Ankit Patel is photographed at YYC1 in Calgary, Alberta (CNW Group/Amazon Canada) Amazon Area Manager Halle Shopperly is photographed at YYC1 in Calgary, Alberta (CNW Group/Amazon Canada) Amazon Process Assistant Mohammed Hanif is photographed at YYC1 in Calgary, Alberta (CNW Group/Amazon Canada) Sonia Mall is photographed at YYZ4 in Brampton, Ontario, celebrating 10 years of working at Amazon (CNW Group/Amazon Canada) Pawandeep Johal is photographed at YYZ4 in Brampton, Ontario, celebrating 10 years of working at Amazon (CNW Group/Amazon Canada) SOURCE Amazon Canada Cision View original content to download multimedia: http://www.newswire.ca/en/releases/archive/September2021/13/c4908.html Advancing knowledge and learning across the globe, Anthology and Blackboard power personalized experiences for learners and better outcomes for institutions BOCA RATON, Fla. and RESTON, Va., Sept. 13, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Anthology, a leading provider of proven higher education solutions that support the entire learner lifecycle, and Blackboard, a leading global EdTech software and solutions company, announced today a definitive agreement to combine the two companies. The combination will create the most comprehensive and modern EdTech ecosystem available on a global scale. The merger is designed to accelerate transformation at education institutions to enhance the learner experience and drive student and institution success. Blackboard is a leading provider of learning management software, communication tools and student success solutions to 150 million users in more than 80 countries. Its clients include higher education institutions, K-12 schools, governments and businesses. Anthology provides higher education enterprise software and solutions around enrollment management, student engagement, alumni fundraising and institutional effectiveness. Anthology serves over 2,000 unique colleges and universities in more than 30 countries. Anthology's solutions and services are designed to create operational efficiencies, identify opportunities, and empower institutions with distinct products to unite data, experiences and insights across campus. With the merger of Anthology and Blackboard, the combined company will create the most comprehensive EdTech ecosystem across academic, administrative and student engagement applications. Together, the two companies will strengthen their missions of advancing knowledge and learning and focus their investment in driving the next wave of EdTech innovation. Jim Milton, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Anthology, will serve as Chairman and CEO of the combined company. "Upon the completion of this merger, we will have a data-driven product portfolio that seeks to touch every constituent at the institution and will aim to transform the way education uses technology to engage, connect, teach, learn and drive efficiencies across the institution," Milton said. "We believe this combination will enhance the solutions and services available to faculty and students, and we are deeply committed to delivering greater value and innovation to our customers and partners. Anthology and Blackboard are fully aligned around a deep focus on learner success, and I am excited to lead the combined company as we embark on this next phase of growth together." Story continues "Together, Blackboard and Anthology will lead the next wave of EdTech innovation," said Bill Ballhaus, Chairman, Chief Executive Officer and President of Blackboard. "We believe that combining our companies will enable us to break down data silos across the institution and surface deeper insights about the learner so that we can deliver unmatched personalized experiences across the full learner lifecycle." The combined entity will be majority owned by Veritas Capital ("Veritas"), a private equity firm that focuses on investments in technology or technology-enabled companies. Leeds Equity Partners ("Leeds"), a private equity firm focused exclusively on partnering with companies in the Knowledge Industries, will hold a minority stake in the company. Veritas and Leeds are currently the majority owners of Anthology. Providence Equity Partners LLC ("Providence"), Blackboard's existing majority owner, will hold a minority stake in the combined company. The transaction is expected to close by the end of 2021, subject to customary closing conditions and regulatory approvals. Milbank LLP acted as legal advisor to Anthology and Veritas, and J.P. Morgan and UBS are providing committed financing to Anthology for the proposed transaction. Deutsche Bank served as financial advisor to Blackboard, and Weil, Gotshal & Manges LLP acted as legal advisor to Blackboard. Debevoise & Plimpton LLP acted as legal advisor to Providence. About Anthology Anthology exists to help higher education advance and thrive using modern cloud technology and services that keep the learner at the forefront. Drawing on a fully connected data experience, Anthology solutions create operational efficiencies, provide intelligence for staff and administrators, and empower institutional leaders to support and guide students on a path to success. The full suite covers admission and enrollment management; student success and retention; institutional and learning effectiveness; alumni and advancement; and enterprise applications and infrastructure, offering solutions to the challenges facing campuses today. Working with more than 2,000 colleges and institutions in over 30 countries, Anthology is constantly discovering new ways to revolutionize higher education. Learn more about our mission at www.anthology.com. About Blackboard Blackboard is a leading EdTech company, serving higher education, K-12, business and government clients around the world. We connect a deep understanding of education with the power of technology to continuously push the boundaries of learning. Our mission is to advance learning together with the world's education community, so that all learners, educators and institutions can realize their goals today and prepare for tomorrow. About Veritas Capital Veritas is a longstanding technology investor with a focus on companies operating at the intersection of technology and government. The firm invests in companies that provide critical products and services, primarily technology and technology-enabled solutions, to government and commercial customers worldwide, including those operating in the healthcare, national security, software, education, aerospace & defense, government services, communications, and energy industries. Veritas seeks to create value by strategically transforming the companies in which it invests through organic and inorganic means. Leveraging technology to make a positive impact across vitally important areas, such as healthcare, education, and national security, is core to Veritas. We are proud stewards of national assets, helping to improve the quality of healthcare while reducing cost, advance our educational system, and protect our nation and allies. For more information, visit www.veritascapital.com. About Providence Equity Partners Providence Equity Partners is a premier global private equity firm with approximately $45 billion in aggregate capital commitments. Providence pioneered a sector-focused approach to private equity investing with the vision that a dedicated team of industry experts could build exceptional companies of enduring value. Since the firm's inception in 1989, Providence has invested in over 170 companies and is a leading equity investment firm focused on the media, communications, education, software and services industries. Providence is headquartered in Providence, RI, and also has offices in New York and London. For more information, please visit www.provequity.com. About Leeds Equity Partners Leeds Equity Partners is a New York-based private equity firm dedicated exclusively to partnering with management teams in the education, training and information services industries (the "Knowledge Industries"). The firm was founded in 1993 and currently manages $3.9 billion of capital across a broad spectrum of companies within the Knowledge Industries. Leeds Equity seeks to leverage its sector-focused expertise and market insights to create long-term value for its partner companies. For additional information on Leeds Equity, see www.leedsequity.com. Media Contacts: Anthology Susan Scholes Chief Marketing Officer AskAnthology@Anthology.com Blackboard Heather Phillips Vice President, Global Communications Heather.phillips@blackboard.com Cision View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/anthology-and-blackboard-to-merge-creating-a-leading-global-provider-of-education-software-and-solutions-301375174.html SOURCE Blackboard Inc. CF and TikTok creators Basement Gang, Shina Nova, James Jones and Mykenna Dorn invite Canadians to "rediscover that feeling" of community and human connection TORONTO, Sept. 13, 2021 /CNW/ - Cadillac Fairview (CF) is inspiring Canadians to rediscover that meet-you-at-the-mall feeling with a new TikTok campaign launched today. In a first for a Canadian retail shopping centre brand, CF has partnered with the popular video-sharing app for a joy-filled movement called "Rediscover" to dance away the blues of social isolation and ignite much needed social connection across communities nationwide. CF is welcoming all Canadians to its retail locations to engage in moments of cheer and rediscover that feeling of positivity and togetherness. Basement Gang (@basementgang on TikTok), Shina Nova (@shinanova on TikTok), James Jones (@notoriouscree on TikTok) and Mykenna Dorn (@mykenna on TikTok). (CNW Group/Cadillac Fairview Corporation Limited) Directed by award-winning director-editor Sean Cartwright, the CF TikTok campaign features four popular creators serving "main character energy" and meme-worthy dance moves set to an original song. The lyrics "Rediscover that feeling" aim to inspire excitement for the return to CF destinations of retail, entertainment, cuisine and human connection. Canadians across the country are encouraged to participate in the movement by sharing their own "happy dance" on TikTok using the hashtag #MeetYouThere and tagging @cadillacfairview. "Over the last year and a half, Canadians have craved a sense of community that has long been associated with CF shopping centres as vibrant spaces that foster connection and a sense of belonging. This campaign is all about how good it feels to reunite with the people we love, together in the communities we love. What better way to celebrate that than with a TikTok dance?" said Jason Anderson, Senior Vice President Brand, Marketing, Communications at Cadillac Fairview. "This year at CF, we redefined our position in the communities we serve as one that combats detachment and social isolation." THE GANG'S ALL HERE: Meet the CF-TikTok Creators Story continues From their parents' basements to the elevators and escalators of the iconic CF Toronto Eaton Centre, Canadian TikTok dance trio "Basement Gang" leads the national campaign with their signature "drip" and comedic style that have attracted nearly four million followers to the @basementgang TikTok page. The Toronto friends, whose videos have garnered more than 80 million likes on TikTok, are seen two-stepping in the Urban Eatery and dancing throughout landmark spots, including the bridge across Queen Street, in the campaign video. "As a group that reps the Greater Toronto Area, CF Toronto Eaton Centre holds a special place in our hearts, so it has been awesome to represent the 'six' and bring our moves to a bigger dance floor," said Kadeem Hemmings, a member of Basement Gang. "Our vibe is all about joy and positivity, and we can't wait for our Canadian community to rediscover that same feeling at CF malls!" The creative partnerships for the campaign also include Shina Nova (@shinanova on TikTok), an Inuk throat singer in Montreal; James Jones (@notoriouscree on TikTok), a traditional Indigenous hoop dance artist in Alberta; and Mykenna Dorn (@mykenna on TikTok), a lifestyle influencer based in Vancouver. "Cadillac Fairview has committed to 'Transforming Communities for a Vibrant Tomorrow,' a purpose that puts positivity and human connection at the core of everything we do," added Anderson. "In the age of TikTok, and everything we've gone through, dance has never felt more like a powerful medium of celebration and connection, and we're proud to work with these emerging artists to reconnect our shoppers and communities." MEET YOU THERE: Welcoming Back Canadians The TikTok campaign builds on a larger Rediscover advertising campaign currently in-market. Launched in early September, the campaign spans digital (in-mall signage, digital directories, newsletters) digital out of home, radio, video (YouTube, online news outlets and DirectTV), Google ads, as well as social media with paid support on Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest and TikTok. CF's Rediscover campaign is one among a suite of initiatives launched by CF throughout the summer to support retail recovery efforts in Canada. CF has already introduced new retail experiences and helped Canadians rediscover all the things they have been missing, from retailer spotlights, spend and save perks, and special CF SHOP! card promotions to memorable community events, as well as surprise and delight moments for shoppers. Across Canada, CF has facilitated patio extensions, including the 30,000-square-foot highlight called The Lot at CF Sherway Gardens. CF also plans to host "VIP Shopping Nights" at select shopping centres for frontline workers, and has further major incentives planned to drive retail recovery in Canada in the fall and into 2022. Throughout the pandemic, safety has been a top priority for CF and the company continues to follow local public health guidelines. Additional measures, including physical distancing, use of PPE and increased cleaning of high touch point surfaces have been implemented at CF properties, all in an effort to help fight the spread of COVID-19. To learn more visit cadillacfairview.com. About Cadillac Fairview Cadillac Fairview (CF) is a globally focused owner, operator, investor, and developer of best-in-class real estate across retail, office, residential, industrial and mixed-use asset classes. Wholly owned by the Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan, CF manages in excess of $35 billion of assets across the Americas and the United Kingdom, with further expansion planned into Europe and Asia. Internationally, CF invests in communities with like-minded partners, including Stanhope in the UK, Lincoln Property Company in the U.S., and Multiplan in Brazil. The company's Canadian portfolio comprises 68 landmark properties, including the Toronto-Dominion Centre, CF Toronto Eaton Centre, Tour Deloitte, CF Carrefour Laval, CF Chinook Centre and CF Pacific Centre. Continually striving to make a positive impact in communities where it operates by promoting social connection, growth, and a sustainable future, CF's Purpose is Transforming Communities for a Vibrant Tomorrow. Learn more at cadillacfairview.com and follow CF on LinkedIn. logo (CNW Group/Cadillac Fairview Corporation Limited) SOURCE Cadillac Fairview Corporation Limited Cision View original content to download multimedia: http://www.newswire.ca/en/releases/archive/September2021/13/c2627.html GOTHENBURG, Sweden, Sept. 13, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Castellum Aktiebolag ("Castellum") has received the necessary competition clearance from the Swedish Competition Authority (Sw. Konkurrensverket) for the recommended public offer to the shareholders in Kungsleden Aktiebolag (the "Offer"). This means that Castellum has obtained all necessary regulatory, governmental or similar clearances, approvals, decisions and other actions from authorities or similar, including from competition authorities, and that this condition for Castellum's completion of the Offer hereby has been satisfied. The Offer is not being made, and this press release may not be distributed, directly or indirectly, in or into, nor will any tender of shares be accepted from or on behalf of holders in, any jurisdiction (including without limitation Australia, Hong Kong, Japan, New Zealand, South Africa or the United States) in which the making of the Offer, the distribution of this press release or the acceptance of any tender of shares would contravene applicable laws or regulations or require further offer documents, filings or other measures in addition to those required under Swedish law. For further information, please see section entitled "Important information" and "Special notice to shareholders in the United States" below. For further information, please contact: Ulrika Danielsson, CFO Castellum Aktiebolag, +46 706 47 12 61 Information about the Offer: www.castellum.se About Castellum Castellum is one of the Nordic region's largest listed real estate companies with a property value of approximately SEK 97 billion. We are active in attractive Swedish growth regions as well as in Copenhagen and the Helsinki area. Every day, 250,000 people go to work in our premises. We develop flexible workplaces and logistics solutions with a lettable area of 3.8 million square meters. One of our sustainability goals is to be entirely climate neutral by 2030. Castellum is the only Nordic real estate company selected by the Dow Jones Sustainability Index (DJSI). The Castellum share is listed on the Nasdaq Stockholm Large Cap. Story continues Beyond expectations. www.castellum.se Important information This press release has been published in Swedish and English. In the event of any discrepancy in content between the two language versions, the Swedish version shall prevail. Nordea is acting as financial adviser to Castellum, and no one else, in connection with the Offer. Nordea will not consider any other persons as customers in relation to the Offer and is not responsible to anyone other than Castellum for providing the protection Nordea offers to its customers, or to provide advice in connection with the Offer or any other transaction, question or arrangement referenced in this press release. Nordea has not assumed any obligation to independently verify, and disclaims any liability with respect to, the information herein. The Offer is not capable of being accepted by persons who are located or resident in the United States unless they are qualified institutional buyers ("QIBs") (as defined in Rule 144A under the U.S. Securities Act of 1933, as amended). Any purported acceptance of the Offer by persons located or resident in the United States other than QIBs or which, at the sole discretion of Castellum, appear to be made in respect of Kungsleden shares beneficially held by persons located or resident in the United States other than QIBs will not be accepted. By accepting the Offer, Kungsleden shareholders, unless participating pursuant to the exception for QIBs referred to above, will be deemed to represent and warrant, on behalf of themselves and any person on whose behalf they beneficially hold Kungsleden shares, that they are not located or resident in the United States. (See "Special notice to shareholders in the United States" below.) The Offer is not being made, and this press release and any other documentation related to the Offer (including copies thereof) must not be mailed or otherwise distributed, forwarded or sent in or into, nor will any tender of share be accepted from or on behalf of holders in any jurisdiction (including, without limitation, Australia, Hong Kong, Japan, New Zealand, South Africa or the United States) in which the distribution of this press release or the Offer would require additional measures to be taken or would be in conflict with any law or regulation in any such jurisdiction. Persons who receive this press release (including without limitation banks, brokers, dealers, nominees, trustees and custodians) and are subject to the laws and regulations of any such jurisdiction will need to inform themselves about, and observe, any applicable restrictions and requirements. Any failure to do so may constitute a violation of the securities laws or regulations of any such jurisdiction. To the extent permitted by applicable law, Castellum disclaims any responsibility or liability for any violations of any such restrictions and Castellum reserves the right to disregard any purported acceptance of the Offer resulting directly or indirectly from a violation of any of these restrictions. The Offer, the information and documents contained in this press release are not being made and have not been approved by an authorized person for the purposes of section 21 of the UK Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 (the "FSMA"). Accordingly, the information and documents contained in this press release are not being distributed to, and must not be passed on to, the general public in the United Kingdom. The communication of the information and documents contained in this press release is exempt from the restriction on financial promotions under section 21 of the FSMA on the basis that it is a communication by or on behalf of a body corporate which relates to a transaction to acquire day to day control of the affairs of a body corporate; or to acquire 50 percent or more of the voting shares in a body corporate, within article 62 of the UK Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 (Financial Promotion) Order 2005. Statements in this press release relating to future status or circumstances, including statements regarding future performance, growth and other trend projections and other benefits of the Offer, are forward-looking statements. These statements may generally, but not always, be identified by the use of words such as "anticipates", "intends", "expects", "believes", or similar expressions. By their nature, forward-looking statements involve risk and uncertainty because they relate to events and depend on circumstances that will occur in the future. There can be no assurance that actual results will not differ materially from those expressed or implied by these forward-looking statements due to many factors, many of which are outside the control of Castellum. Any such forward-looking statements speak only as of the date on which they are made and Castellum has no obligation (and undertakes no such obligation) to update or revise any of them, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except for in accordance with applicable laws and regulations. Special notice to shareholders in the United States The new Castellum shares to be issued in connection with the Offer are not being, and will not be, registered under the Securities Act or under the securities laws of any jurisdiction of the United States. The Offer is not capable of being accepted by persons who are located or resident in the United States unless they are QIBs, and any purported acceptance of the Offer by persons located or resident in the United States other than QIBs or which, at the sole discretion of Castellum, appear to be made in respect of Kungsleden shares beneficially held by persons located or resident in the United States other than QIBs will not be accepted. The Offer described in this press release is made for the issued and outstanding shares of Kungsleden, a company incorporated under Swedish law, and is subject to Swedish disclosure and procedural requirements, which may be different from those of the United States. The Offer is made in the United States to QIBs pursuant to Section 14(e) of the U.S. Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended (the "U.S. Exchange Act") and Regulation 14E thereunder, to the extent applicable, subject to exemptions provided by Rule 14d-1(d) under the Exchange Act for a "Tier II" tender offer, and otherwise in compliance with the disclosure and procedural requirements of Swedish law, including with respect to withdrawal rights, the Offer timetable, notices of extensions, announcements of results, settlement procedures (including as regards to the time when payment of the consideration is rendered) and waivers of conditions, which may be different from requirements or customary practices in relation to U.S. domestic tender offers. Holders of the shares of Kungsleden domiciled in the United States that are QIBs are encouraged to consult with their own advisors regarding the Offer. Nordea is not registered as a broker or dealer in the United States and will not be engaging in direct communications relating to the Offer with investors located within the United States (whether on a reverse-inquiry basis or otherwise). Castellum's and Kungsleden's financial statements and all financial information included herein, or any other documents relating to the Offer, have been or will be prepared in accordance with IFRS and may not be comparable to the financial statements or financial information of companies in the United States or other companies whose financial statements are prepared in accordance with U.S. generally accepted accounting principles. The U.S. shareholders that are QIBs should note that the price for the Offer is being paid in SEK and that no adjustments will be made based on changes in exchange rates. The Offer is being made to Kungsleden's shareholders resident in the United States that are QIBs on the same terms and conditions as those made to all other shareholders of Kungsleden to whom an offer is made. Any information documents, including the offer document, are being disseminated to U.S. shareholders that are QIBs on a basis comparable to the method pursuant to which such documents are provided to Kungsleden's other shareholders. The Offer, which is subject to Swedish law, is being made to the U.S. shareholders in accordance with the applicable U.S. securities laws, and applicable exemptions thereunder. To the extent the Offer is subject to U.S. securities laws, those laws only apply to U.S. shareholders and thus will not give rise to claims on the part of any other person. It may be difficult for Kungsleden's shareholders to enforce their rights and any claims they may have arising under U.S. federal or state securities laws in connection with the Offer, since Kungsleden and Castellum are located in countries other than the United States, and some or all of their officers and directors may be residents of countries other than the United States. Kungsleden's shareholders may not be able to sue Kungsleden or Castellum or their respective officers or directors in a non-U.S. court for violations of U.S. securities laws. Further, it may be difficult to compel Kungsleden or Castellum and/or their respective affiliates to subject themselves to the jurisdiction or judgment of a U.S. court. To the extent permissible under applicable law or regulations, Castellum and its affiliates or its brokers and its brokers' affiliates (acting as agents for Castellum or its affiliates, as applicable) may from time to time and during the pendency of the Offer, and other than pursuant to the Offer, directly or indirectly purchase or arrange to purchase shares of Kungsleden outside the United States, or any securities that are convertible into, exchangeable for or exercisable for such shares. These purchases may occur either in the open market at prevailing prices or in private transactions at negotiated prices, and information about such purchases will be disclosed by means of a press release or other means reasonably calculated to inform U.S. shareholders of such information. In addition, the financial advisors to Castellum may also engage in ordinary course trading activities in securities of Kungsleden, which may include purchases or arrangements to purchase such securities as long as such purchases or arrangements are in compliance with the applicable law. Any information about such purchases will be announced in Swedish and in a non-binding English translation available to U.S. shareholders through relevant electronic media if, and to the extent, such announcement is required under applicable Swedish or U.S. law, rules or regulations. The receipt of cash pursuant to the Offer by a U.S. shareholder that is a QIB may be a taxable transaction for U.S. federal income tax purposes and under applicable U.S. state and local, as well as foreign and other, tax laws. Each shareholder is urged to consult an independent professional adviser regarding the tax consequences of accepting the Offer. Neither Castellum nor any of its affiliates and their respective directors, officers, employees or agents or any other person acting on their behalf in connection with the Offer shall be responsible for any tax effects or liabilities resulting from acceptance of this Offer. NEITHER THE U.S. SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION NOR ANY U.S. STATE SECURITIES COMMISSION HAS APPROVED OR DISAPPROVED THE OFFER, PASSED ANY COMMENTS UPON THE MERITS OR FAIRNESS OF THE OFFER, PASSED ANY COMMENT UPON THE ADEQUACY OR COMPLETENESS OF THIS PRESS RELEASE OR PASSED ANY COMMENT ON WHETHER THE CONTENT IN THIS PRESS RELEASE IS CORRECT OR COMPLETE. ANY REPRESENTATION TO THE CONTRARY IS A CRIMINAL OFFENCE IN THE UNITED STATES. This information was brought to you by Cision http://news.cision.com https://news.cision.com/castellum/r/castellum-aktiebolag-has-received-competition-clearance-from-the-swedish-competition-authority-for-t,c3413503 The following files are available for download: https://mb.cision.com/Main/8364/3413503/1467176.pdf Press release 210913 Cision View original content:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/castellum-aktiebolag-has-received-competition-clearance-from-the-swedish-competition-authority-for-the-recommended-public-offer-to-the-shareholders-of-kungsleden-aktiebolag-301374963.html SOURCE Castellum Uber has lost another legal challenge in Europe over the employment status of drivers: The Court of Amsterdam, in the Netherlands, has ruled that drivers for Uber are employed, rather than self-employed contractors. The court also found drivers are covered by an existing collective labor agreement in the country -- which pertains to taxi drivers -- meaning Uber faces increased costs to comply with the agreement which sets pay requirements and covers benefits like sick pay. (And it may be liable for paying driver back pay in some cases.) The court also ordered Uber to pay 50,000 in costs. The ride-hailing giant has some 4,000 drivers working on its platform in the Dutch capital. The Amsterdam court rejected Uber's customary defence that it's just a technology platform that connects passengers with taxi service providers -- finding instead that drivers are only self-employed "on paper". The judges highlighted the nature of the service being provided by drivers and the fact Uber exerts controls over how they can work and earn through its app and algorithms. Europe's top court already ruled back in 2017 that Uber is a transport provider and must comply with local transport laws -- so you'd be forgiven for deja vu. The Dutch lawsuit was filed by the national trade union center, FNV, last year -- with the hearing kicking off at the end of June. In a statement today, the FNV's VP, Zakaria Boufangacha, said: "This statement shows what we have been saying for years: Uber is an employer and the drivers are employees, so Uber must adhere to the collective labor agreement for Taxi Transport. It is also a signal to The Hague that these types of constructions are illegal and that the law must therefore be enforced." This content is not available due to your privacy preferences. Update your settings here to see it. Uber has been contacted for a response to the ruling. At the time of writing the company had not responded -- but, per Reuters, Uber said it intends to appeal and "has no plans to employ drivers in the Netherlands". Story continues Update: Uber confirmed it is appealing, with a spokesperson saying: "Nothing will change for drivers who use the app, as we appeal this ruling." Maurits Schonfeld, Uber's general manager for Northern Europe, added: We are disappointed with this decision because we know that the overwhelming majority of drivers wish to remain independent. Drivers dont want to give up their freedom to choose if, when and where to work. In the interest of drivers, we will therefore appeal the courts decision, whilst also continuing to improve platform work in the Netherlands. In the U.K., Uber lost a string of tribunal rulings over its employment classification over a number of years -- going on to lose in front of the U.K. supreme court this February. Following that Uber said it would treat drivers in the U.K. as workers, although disputes remain (such as over its definition of working time). In May, Uber also said it would recognize a U.K. trade union for the first time. Elsewhere in Europe, however, the company continues to fight employment lawsuits -- and to lobby European Union lawmakers to deregulate platform work... The EU has said it wants to find a way to improve platform work. However it's not yet clear what any pan-EU "reform" may look like. The Commission has been contacted with questions on its platform work initiative. "Digital labour platforms are clearly worried, evident through investing heavily on their lobbying power and throwing more resources on the EU level. These companies -- including Uber of course -- have also recently come together to create a new funding lobby group that is specifically targeting to influence policies on platform work," said Jill Toh, a PhD researcher in data rights at the University of Amsterdam, talking to TechCrunch after the Amsterdam ruling. "We saw how Uber wielded and amended laws in their Prop 22 campaign in California, and together with other companies in Europe, they're attempting to do so again. It's disheartening to see that the Commission in its two consultations on platform worker regulation has only been talking to tech companies and has held no meetings with trade unions or other platform work representatives." "All of this is incredibly problematic and concerning especially if the EC consultations result in a directive on platform work. Overall, the wins in the courts are important for workers, but there remains the issue of corporate power and influence in Brussels, as well as the lack of public enforcement to these court decisions," she added. Update: A Commission spokeswoman told us its second-stage consultation on how to improve the working conditions for people working through digital labour platforms is still ongoing (until 15 September). "Depending on the outcome of this consultation, the Commission intends to put forward a proposal by the end of this year," she added. "The aim of the second-stage consultation is to gather social partners' views on how to ensure that people working through platforms have decent working conditions, while supporting the sustainable growth of digital labour platforms in the EU. In this context, social partners are also consulted on the possible content of the EU-level initiative, in areas such as (but not only) facilitating employment status classification and access to labour and social protection rights." The spokeswoman added that the Commission is closely following developments in Member States and taking into account in its analytical work. NEW YORK, Sept. 13, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- BizVibe has made available 100+ company profiles for the locomotive manufacturers and suppliers category on its B2B platform. Companies listed in this product category are primarily engaged in manufacturing or supplying various types of locomotives and related products (such as diesel locomotives, locomotive batteries, locomotive parts, etc.). Companies which provide various locomotive-related services (such as leasing and repair) are also included in the category. Snapshot of BizVibe's locomotive supplier profiles and categories. Get Free Access to These 100+ Profiles Each profile is free to view and packed with high-quality insights, providing businesses with detailed company information. Users can take advantage of these insights to identify, target, and connect with the right locomotive manufacturers and suppliers. This company information includes employee insights, company competitors, the impact of emerging trends and challenges, the latest news, and more. Free Insights Included for all Locomotive Manufacturer and Supplier Profiles: List of product and service category offerings and primary operating industries Risk of doing business score across four different metrics List of key executives and their roles within the company Company financials and general organizational information Global, national, and regional competitors List of key clients Top trends and challenges within operating industry and expected influence on business impact Latest company news with the ability to sign up for timely news alerts Get Started to View Free Company Insights Locomotive Companies on BizVibe BizVibe's platform contains 10M+ company profiles, spanning across 200+ countries, categorized into 40,000+ products and services. There are 100+ company profiles related to locomotive manufacturers and suppliers on BizVibe, covering 20+ product and service categories. Each company profile contains detailed insights dedicated to helping procurement and sales teams find trusted suppliers and target sales prospects. Story continues Examples of locomotive manufacturer and supplier company profiles that can be discovered on BizVibe include: Diesel locomotive manufacturers Electric locomotive manufacturers Locomotive battery manufacturers Locomotive engine manufacturers Locomotive parts suppliers Locomotive leasing services Locomotive repair services Get Free Company Profile Access for all Categories Company Profiles for Buyers and Sellers BizVibe's modern B2B platform is designed to help both global buyers and sellers. Powered by the latest best-in-class solutions, BizVibe provides outstanding product features for both category managers and sales professionals. Features for Buyers: Quickly discover the right suppliers Create short lists and custom alerts Mitigate supplier risk and evaluate suppliers Send RFIs/RFPs Learn how BizVibe helps buyers: https://www.bizvibe.com/find-suppliers Features for Sellers: Target the right sales prospects Qualify leads Analyze buyer potential API integration and data enrichment Learn how BizVibe helps sellers: https://www.bizvibe.com/sellers About BizVibe 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: jesse@bizvibe.com +1 855-897-5880 Website: https://www.bizvibe.com/ BizVibe (PRNewsfoto/BizVibe) Cision View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/evaluate-and-track-locomotive-companies--view-company-insights-for-100-locomotive-manufacturers-and-suppliers--bizvibe-301375093.html SOURCE BizVibe SUDBURY, ON, Sept. 13, 2021 /CNW/ - Frontier Lithium Inc. (TSXV: FL) (OTCQX: LITOF) ("Frontier" or "the Company") is pleased to announce the results of the remaining three delineation drill hole drilled during The Phase IX drill program in February and March, 2021 on the Spark pegmatite. Although drilling was completed on March 19th, 2021, analytical results have been delayed due mainly to the COVID Pandemic. Spark Drilling Phase IX Results (CNW Group/Frontier Lithium Inc.) Highlights The Spark deposit has a large surface exposure, broad mineralized zones and remains open in all directions, with the most significant upside at depth and to the southwest; Diamond Drill Hole ("DDH") PL-046-21 was collared in mafic host rock and intersected 320.6 m of pegmatite averaging 1.68% Li 2 O (49.7 to 370.3 m); Hole PL-047-19 was collared in pegmatite suggesting a southwest trend for the pegmatite body. Hole PL-049-19 targeted the area between the two main sets of surface channels from the south and intersected three 15 to 40m pegmatite zones averaging 1.3 to 1.6% Li 2 O. "These results confirm continuity of the pegmatite and lithium grades between holes PL-038-19, PL-039-19 and PL-042-19 and the surface exposures of the pegmatite," states Garth Drever, V.P. Exploration, "Hole PL-046-19 is a significant step in the process of upgrading Inferred to Measured and Indicated." The objectives for the Phase IX drill program in February-March 2021 were to complete targets that were not easily accessible in summer months and considered vital for completing a Pre-feasibility Study. Figure 1 is a location map showing the project area including a compilation of the Spark Deposit area. Table 1 details the mineralized intersections in holes PL-046-21, PL-047-21 and PL-049-21 while Table 2 is a summary of all the Phase IX drill holes. Figure 1: Compilation showing Drill Holes on Spark Deposit on the PAK Lithium Project Table 1: Details of Mineralized Intersections DDH PL-046-21 Designed to test the area between PL-038-19 and PL-039-19 drilled from the south and hole PL-042-19 drilled from the north. The hole was collared in mafic host rock and intersected mineralized pegmatite from 49.7 m to 370.3 m (320.6 m averaging 1.68% Li 2 O) with rare narrow intervals (5 m or less) of Mafic host rock totalling 16.2 m. Spodumene consistently occurs throughout the pegmatite. The intersection included a high grade 27 m intersection of 3.41% Li 2 O from 141 to 168 m in LIZ. Zone From (m) To (m) Width (m) Li 2 O (%) Cs 2 O (%) Ta 2 O 5 (ppm) Nb 2 O 5 (ppm) SnO 2 (ppm) Rb 2 O (%) Unit Lithium Enriched 39.0 44.5 5.5 1.04 0.02 56 42 244 0.23 LIZ Lithium Enriched 49.7 370.3 320.6 1.68 0.03 101 83 52 0.32 LIZ / Aplite / ciz including 122.0 333.0 211.0 1.97 0.03 118 83 45 0.33 LIZ with minor aplite including 138.5 233.0 94.5 2.33 0.02 104 91 37 0.32 LIZ with minor aplite including 141.0 168.0 27.0 3.41 0.01 75 66 36 0.27 LIZ DDH PL-047-21 Designed to scissor hole PL-044-19 drilled from the north The hole was located 60m SSW of the PL-039-19 collar and intersected mostly pegmatite from 14m to 100m then a mix of pegmatite (10 to 25m intercepts) and host rock before intersecting 78m metasediments / metavolcanics to the end of the hole at 298.5m. Enriched lithium zones rarely exceeded 10m with the highest grade zone of 2.5% Li 2 O over 6.6m from 195.9 to 204.8m. Enriched Tantalum occurs in pegmatite between 196 and 220m with 11.5m from 209.0 to 220.5m averaging 961 ppm Ta 2 O 5 . Zone From (m) To (m) Width (m) Li 2 O (%) Cs 2 O (%) Ta 2 O 5 (ppm) Nb 2 O 5 (ppm) SnO 2 (ppm) Rb 2 O (%) Unit Li Enriched 20.0 29.0 9.0 1.34 0.01 76 93 56 0.22 LIZ with minor Aplite Li Enriched 159.0 174.7 15.7 0.99 0.01 90 116 94 0.30 CIZ, LIZ including 169.0 174.7 5.7 1.61 0.02 68 71 60 0.33 LIZ Li-Ta Enriched 195.9 204.8 8.9 2.02 0.05 363 19 87 0.26 LIZ including 195.9 202.5 6.6 2.49 0.05 86 4 29 0.30 LIZ including Li + Ta 201.0 204.1 3.1 1.97 0.06 970 47 212 0.34 LIZ Li-Ta Enriched 209.0 220.5 11.5 1.70 0.05 961 80 224 0.49 LIZ with minor Aplite including Li + Ta 209.1 217.0 7.9 2.33 0.06 874 70 201 0.55 LIZ including Ta 215.2 220.5 5.3 0.77 0.05 1564 140 313 0.53 Aplite, LIZ DDH PL-049-21 Designed to test the area between PL-037-19 and PL-045-19 drilled from the south and hole PL-041-19 drilled from the north. The hole was collared in mafic host rock and intersected 28 m of mineralized pegmatite from 40.3 to 68.3 m averaging 1.36% Li 2 O then nearly 90m of mafic host before intersecting 10 to 40m pegmatitic zones ranging from 1.1 to 2% Li 2 O. The hole was terminated because of spring break-up. Zone From (m) To (m) Width (m) Li 2 O (%) Cs 2 O (%) Ta 2 O 5 (ppm) Nb 2 O 5 (ppm) SnO 2 (ppm) Rb 2 O (%) Unit Lithium Enriched 40.3 68.3 28.0 1.36 0.01 72 108 48 0.21 Aplite including 42.0 66.0 24.0 1.45 0.01 73 110 48 0.20 Aplite Lithium Enriched 157.4 163.5 6.1 1.17 0.01 139 96 57 0.26 Aplite minor LIZ including 159.0 162.0 3.0 1.66 0.01 114 87 54 0.29 Aplite minor LIZ Lithium Enriched 213.3 228.3 15.0 1.64 0.01 104 92 63 0.26 LIZ with minor Aplite including 216.5 224.0 7.6 2.10 0.01 96 92 66 0.29 LIZ Li-Ta Enriched 234.6 237.2 2.6 2.17 0.03 533 338 73 0.76 Aplite Lithium Enriched 243.8 282.3 38.6 1.31 0.02 121 64 46 0.28 LIZ, aplite with metavolcanics including 243.8 257.3 13.6 1.58 0.02 151 93 53 0.28 LIZ with minor Aplite including 271.0 281.0 10.0 1.79 0.01 136 61 37 0.33 LIZ Lithium Enriched 293.1 302.6 9.6 1.10 0.07 107 66 98 0.29 Aplite with minor metavolcanics Table 2: Summary of Drill Holes Story continues Geomechanical DDHNo Date Drilled UTM Zone 15N (NAD83) Collar Orient Metres Drilled Start End Easting Northing (mASL) Azim Dip Start End Phase IX PL-GDH-06-21 2021-02-07 2021-02-10 472,803 5,829,380 326.2 177 -50 0 177.0 PL-GDH-07-21 2021-02-25 2021-02-26 472,950 5,829,376 325.5 165 -46 0 83.0 Total metres drilled 260.0 Delineation DDHNo Date Drilled UTM Zone 15N (NAD83) Collar Orient Metres Drilled Start End Easting Northing (mASL) Azim Dip Start End Phase IX PL-046-21 2021-02-11 2021-02-18 472,781 5,829,321 326.0 330 -47 0 376.2 PL-047-21 2021-02-18 2021-02-24 472,695 5,829,295 326.0 330 -48 0 298.5 PL-048-21 2021-02-26 2021-03-08 472,865 5,829,345 326.0 305 -50 0 393.0 PL-049-21 2021-03-08 2021-03-19 472,880 5,829,317 326.0 330 -42 0 303.2 Total metres drilled 1,370.9 Hole PL-046-21 was the first of 4 delineation holes drilled during Phase IX at Spark. It was stepped back to the south to test the southern extension of the pegmatite intersected in geomechanical hole PL-GDH-06-21 (see Press Release dated June 1, 2021). The hole was collared in metasediments intersecting a narrow 5.5m zone of LIZ (Lower Intermediate Zone) at 39m before intersecting continuous pegmatite (predominately LIZ) from 49.7m to 370.3m averaging 1.68% Li 2 O. Minor zones of mafic host rock totaling 16.2m occur from 243 to 288m and again from 335 to 348m these zones are typically less than 1m and up to 5m. Spodumene is ubiquitous throughout the intersection with laths typically less than 10mm and occasionally displaying "Jack Straw" textures with lath 2 to 4 cm over several metres. A 12 m zone of CIZ (central Intermediate zone) comprised mostly of feldspar and coarse muscovite which appears to over-print a pre-existing aplite, occurs from 349 to 361 m. The hole was terminated at 376.2 m in metavolcanic. It was not confirmed that the pegmatite was completely transected. Hole PL-047-21 was collared 100m to the west of PL-046-21 and 60m southsouthwest of hole PL-039-19. It was designed to test the western extent of the Spark pegmatite and to scissor hole PL-044-19 (most westerly hole drilled from the north). The hole intersected mostly aplitic pegmatite from 14m to 100m then a mix of pegmatite (10 to 25m intercepts) and host rock before ending at 298.5m with 78m of mafic hostrock. Enriched lithium zones rarely exceeded 10m with the highest grade zone of 2.5% Li 2 O over 6.6m from 195.9 to 204.8m. Enriched Tantalum occurs in the pegmatite between 196 and 220m with 11.5m from 209.0 to 220.5m averaging 961 ppm Ta 2 O 5 . Hole PL-049-21 was collared 30m southwest of PL-048-21 to test the southern extent of the pegmatite collared in PL-048-21 (see Press Release dated June 1, 2021) and the area between the holes PL-041-19 from the north and PL-045-19 from the south. The apparent mafic-pegmatite contact was intersected near where PL-048-21 was collared. The pegmatite appears to narrow to 28m (40.3 to 68.3m) averaging 1.36% Li 2 O, then 145 metres of predominately mafic host rock to 213.3 before intersecting a mix of pegmatite dykes (2 to 40 m wide) and hostrock. The hole was terminated prematurely at 303.2m with just under 10m of aplite averaging just over 1% Li 2 O. As illustrated in Figure 1 the drill hole had not completely transected the main body of the pegmatite as projected from surface. A second geomechanical hole, PL-GDH-07-21, was drilled towards the south and collared near hole PL-040-19. Only mafic hostrock was intersected. The hole was drilled to test for pit wall stability purposes. Figure 2 is a section displaying the drill hole traces and lithium concentrations for holes PL-046-21 and PL-048-21 drilled in 2021 along with the 2019 holes and channels confined within a 75m by 350m long section. With the exception of a few narrow mafic host rock zones, the figure displays the consistency and continuity of the pegmatite across the width of the Spark pegmatite. Initial drilling in September will fill-in gaps directly below the surface channeling and the area between the channels and hole PL-041-19. Starting in mid September, Frontier will commence Phase X drilling at Spark. Objectives will be to complete the geomechanical drilling and to upgrade the bulk of Inferred resource to Measured and Indicated as required for the Company's advancing PFS of a fully-integrated lithium chemical operation. Due Diligence All scientific and technical information in this release has been reviewed and approved by Garth Drever, P.Geo., the qualified person (QP) under the definitions established by National Instrument 43-101. Under Frontier's QA/QC procedures, all drilling was completed by Chenier Drilling Ltd. of Val Caron, ON using thin-walled BTW drill rods (4.2 cm core diameter) and a Reflex ACT III oriented core system. Using the Reflex system, the drill core was oriented and marked as it was retrieved at the drill. The core was boxed and delivered to the Frontier core shack where it was examined, geologically logged and marked for sampling. The core was photographed prior to sampling. Using a rock saw, the marked sample intervals were halved with one half bagged for analysis. Sample blanks along with lithium, rubidium and cesium certified reference material was routinely inserted into the sample stream in accordance with industry recommended practices. Field duplicate samples were also taken in accordance with industry recommended practices. The samples were placed in poly sample bags and transported to Red Lake by Frontier employees and then shipped to AGAT Laboratories Ltd. (AGAT) in Thunder Bay for processing and to Mississauga, ON for quantitative multi-element analysis. AGAT is an ISO accredited laboratory. The core is stored on site at the Pakeagama Lake exploration camp. About Frontier Lithium Frontier Lithium (TSX.V: FL) (OTCQX: LITOF) (FSE: HL2) is an emerging pure play lithium company with the largest land position in the Electric Avenue, an emerging premium lithium mineral district located in the Great Lakes region of northern Ontario. The company maintains 100% ownership in the PAK Lithium Project which contains one of North America's highest-grade, large tonnage hard-rock lithium resources in the form of a rare low-iron spodumene. The Project has significant upside exploration potential. Frontier is a pre-production business that is targeting the manufacturing of battery quality lithium hydroxide in the Great Lakes Region to support electric vehicle and battery supply chains in North America. Frontier maintains a tight share structure with management ownership approximately 25% of the Company. About PAK Lithium Project The PAK Lithium Project encompasses 26,774 hectares at the south end of Ontario's Electric Avenue, the largest land package hosting premium lithium bearing pegmatites in Ontario. The Project covers 65 km of the Avenue length and remains largely unexplored; however, since 2013 the company has delineated two premium spodumene bearing lithium deposits (Pak and Spark) located 2.3 km from each other. A 2021 Preliminary Economic Assessment of a fully-integrated lithium operation utilizing spodumene concentrate generated from the PAK Lithium Project resource to achieve downstream conversion for production of battery-quality lithium chemicals (NI 43-101 Technical report titled "PAK Property" by BBA Engineering Ltd. issued on April 5, 2021) resulted in a post-tax NPV8% of USD $974M with a 21% IRR. Considerable exploration upside is supported on the PAK Lithium Project through two other spodumene bearing discoveries; Bolt pegmatite located between PAK and Spark deposits, as well as Pennock pegmatite, a further 30 km northwest of PAK within the Project claims. 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. This release includes certain statements that may be deemed "forward-looking statements". All statements in this release, other than statements of historical facts, that address future production, reserve potential, exploration drilling, exploitation activities and events or developments that the Company expects are forward-looking statements. Although the Company believes the expectations expressed in such forward-looking statements are based on reasonable assumptions, such statements are not guarantees of future performance and actual results or developments may differ materially from those in the forward-looking statements. Factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those in forward looking statements include market prices, exploitation and exploration successes, continued availability of capital and financing, and general economic, market or business conditions. Investors are cautioned that any such statements are not guarantees of future performance and those actual results or developments may differ materially from those projected in the forward-looking statements. For more information on the Company, Investors should review the Company's registered filings available at sedar.com. Frontier Lithium Inc. logo (CNW Group/Frontier Lithium Inc.) SOURCE Frontier Lithium Inc. Cision View original content to download multimedia: http://www.newswire.ca/en/releases/archive/September2021/13/c1909.html NEW YORK, Sept. 13, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Technavio has been monitoring the fuel cells market for industrial and military applications and it is poised to grow by 234.09 MW during 2021-2025, progressing at a CAGR of over 12.48% during the forecast period. The report offers an up-to-date analysis regarding the current market scenario, the latest trends and drivers, and the overall market environment. Technavio has announced its latest market research report titled Fuel Cells Market for Industrial and Military Applications by End-user and Geography - Forecast and Analysis 2021-2025 Request a Free sample report Impact of COVID-19 This pandemic-focused report highlights the impact of lockdowns, supply chain disruptions, demand destruction, and change in customer behavior during 2020. Technavio analysts have curated the reports extensively through both qualitative and quantitative research methodologies to derive the most industry-relevant and business-relevant outcomes. Frequently Asked Questions: Based on segmentation by End-user, which is the leading segment in the market? The fuel cells market for industrial and military applications share growth by the industrial segment will be the leading segment during the forecast period. At what rate is the market projected to grow? The fuel cells market size for industrial and military applications is expected to reach a value of 234.09 MW, at a CAGR of 12.48%, during 2021-2025. Who are the top players in the market? Ballard Power Systems Inc., Doosan Corp., FuelCell Energy Inc., Horizon Fuel Cell Technologies Pte. Ltd., Intelligent Energy Ltd., Nuvera Fuel Cells LLC, Plug Power Inc., Redox Power Systems LLC, SFC Energy AG, and Toshiba Corp. are some of the major market participants. How big is the APAC market? 39% of the fuel cells market growth for industrial and military applications will originate from APAC during the forecast period. Related Reports on Utilities Include: Battery Market Report -The battery market has the potential to grow by USD 82.89 billion during 2021-2025, and the market's growth momentum will accelerate at a CAGR of 27.77%. Download a free sample report now! Story continues Forklift Battery Market Report -The forklift battery market size is expected to reach a value of USD 2.28 billion, at a CAGR of 4.19%, during 2021-2025. Download a free sample report now! Buy 1 Technavio report and get the second for 50% off. Buy 2 Technavio reports and get the third for free. View market snapshot before purchasing The market is fragmented, and the degree of fragmentation will accelerate during the forecast period. Ballard Power Systems Inc., Doosan Corp., FuelCell Energy Inc., Horizon Fuel Cell Technologies Pte. Ltd., Intelligent Energy Ltd., Nuvera Fuel Cells LLC, Plug Power Inc., Redox Power Systems LLC, SFC Energy AG, and Toshiba Corp. are some of the major market participants. Although the growing demand for efficient and cleaner technologies and the rising application of fuel cell products will offer immense growth opportunities, however high implementation costs is likely to pose a challenge for the market vendors. In a bid to help players strengthen their market foothold, this fuel cells market for industrial and military applications forecast report provides a detailed analysis of the leading market vendors. The report also empowers industry honchos with information on the competitive landscape and insights into the different product offerings offered by various companies. Technavio's custom research reports offer detailed insights on the impact of COVID-19 at an industry level, a regional level, and subsequent supply chain operations. This customized report will also help clients keep up with new product launches in direct & indirect COVID-19 related markets, upcoming vaccines and pipeline analysis, and significant developments in vendor operations and government regulations. Fuel Cells Market For Industrial and Military Applications 2021-2025: Segmentation Fuel Cells Market For Industrial and Military Applications is segmented as below: End-user Geography To learn more about the global trends impacting the future of market research, download a free sample: https://www.technavio.com/talk-to-us?report=IRTNTR45781 Fuel Cells Market For Industrial and Military Applications 2021-2025: Scope Technavio presents a detailed picture of the market by the way of study, synthesis, and summation of data from multiple sources. The fuel cells market for industrial and military applications report covers the following areas: Fuel Cells Market For Industrial and Military Applications Size Fuel Cells Market For Industrial and Military Applications Trends Fuel Cells Market For Industrial and Military Applications Industry Analysis This study identifies growing demand from the military applications as one of the prime reasons driving the fuel cells market for industrial and military applications growth during the next few years. Technavio suggests three forecast scenarios (optimistic, probable, and pessimistic) considering the impact of COVID-19. Technavio's in-depth research has direct and indirect COVID-19 impacted market research reports. Access Technavio's Subscription Platform For 14 Days Free Trial Before Buying Full Report Technavio's SUBSCRIPTION platform Fuel Cells Market For Industrial and Military Applications 2021-2025: Key Highlights CAGR of the market during the forecast period 2021-2025 Detailed information on factors that will assist fuel cells market for industrial and military applications growth during the next five years Estimation of the fuel cells market for industrial and military applications size and its contribution to the parent market Predictions on upcoming trends and changes in consumer behavior The growth of the fuel cells market for industrial and military applications across APAC, North America, Europe, South America, and MEA Analysis of the market's competitive landscape and detailed information on vendors Comprehensive details of factors that will challenge the growth of the fuel cells market for industrial and military applications vendors Table of Contents: Executive Summary Market Landscape Market ecosystem Value chain analysis Market Sizing Market definition Market segment analysis Market size 2020 Market outlook: Forecast for 2020 - 2025 Five Forces Analysis Bargaining power of buyers Bargaining power of suppliers Threat of new entrants Threat of substitutes Threat of rivalry Market condition Market Segmentation by End-user Market segments Comparison by End-user Industrial - Market size and forecast 2020-2025 Military - Market size and forecast 2020-2025 Market opportunity by End-user Customer landscape Customer landscape Geographic Landscape Geographic segmentation Geographic comparison APAC - Market size and forecast 2020-2025 North America - Market size and forecast 2020-2025 Europe - Market size and forecast 2020-2025 South America - Market size and forecast 2020-2025 MEA - Market size and forecast 2020-2025 Key leading countries Market opportunity by geography Market drivers Market challenges Market trends Vendor Landscape Vendor landscape Landscape disruption Vendor Analysis Vendors covered Market positioning of vendors Ballard Power Systems Inc. Doosan Corp. FuelCell Energy Inc. Horizon Fuel Cell Technologies Pte. Ltd. Intelligent Energy Ltd. Nuvera Fuel Cells LLC Plug Power Inc. Redox Power Systems LLC SFC Energy AG Toshiba Corp. Appendix Scope of the report Currency conversion rates for US$ Research methodology List of abbreviations About Us Technavio is a leading global technology research and advisory company. Their research and analysis focuses on emerging market trends and provides actionable insights to help businesses identify market opportunities and develop effective strategies to optimize their market positions. With over 500 specialized analysts, Technavio's report library consists of more than 17,000 reports and counting, covering 800 technologies, spanning across 50 countries. Their client base consists of enterprises of all sizes, including more than 100 Fortune 500 companies. This growing client base relies on Technavio's comprehensive coverage, extensive research, and actionable market insights to identify opportunities in existing and potential markets and assess their competitive positions within changing market scenarios. Contact Technavio Research Jesse Maida Media & Marketing Executive US: +1 844 364 1100 UK: +44 203 893 3200 Email: media@technavio.com Website: www.technavio.com/ Cision View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/fuel-cells-market-for-industrial-and-military-applications-234-09-mw-growth-expected-during-2021-2025--technavio-301372754.html SOURCE Technavio LONDON, Sept. 13, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Fairfield Market Research states that gas insulated substation (GIS) systems are highly compact and take less floor space, offering customers a highly practical and efficient solution. GIS systems are especially useful in urban agglomerations where land is prohibitively expensive as the physical footprint of a GIS is 35% less than an air insulated substation (AIS). The convenient design of GIS systems permits seamless mobility from substations to load centres, minimizing transmission and distribution loss. As a result, the global gas insulated substation market is expected to promise a steady stream of revenue for players. Fairfield Market Reserach Logo According to the report, the global gas insulated substation market will be worth US$36,627 Mn in 2025 from US$25,761.20 Mn in 2020, registering a CAGR of 9% for the assessment period. Get a Sample Copy of Gas Insulated Substation (GIS) Market: https://www.fairfieldmarketresearch.com/report/gas-insulated-substation-market/request-sample Need to Balance Increasing Energy Demand With Emission Control Benefits GIS Market The gas insulated substation market is projected to record significant growth over the forecast period as environmental concerns and the scarcity of land have an impact on consumer and corporate decision-making respectively. Rising demand for energy has to be aligned with the need to control emissions and this is where gas insulated substations will come into play. The environment-friendly nature of compressed sulphur hexafluoride (SF6) is one of the primary drivers in the gas insulated substation (GIS) market as the transformer can be easily recycled, increasing its appeal among companies seeking to reduce their carbon footprint. Focus on Indoor Segment to Reap Maximum Gains in the Gas Insulated Substation Market The indoor segment accounted for the largest portion of the gas insulated substation market in 2019. The indoor gas insulated substations will play a critical role in locations where the cost of earthwork or land is high. Lower capital expenditure for indoor gas insulated substations over outdoor alternatives explains the popularity of this segment in the global market. Nevertheless, gas insulated substations can be used in both indoor and outdoor settings to upgrade existing capacities. Story continues Do You Have Any Query Or Specific Requirement? Request Customization of Report: https://www.fairfieldmarketresearch.com/report/gas-insulated-substation-market/request-customization Imperative for Secure Electricity Distribution Makes APAC Key in the Global Gas Insulated Market Asia Pacific region is anticipated to be the largest in the gas insulated substation market as the need for safe electricity generation, transmission, and distribution remains unabated. Booming economic growth in China and India is predicted to aid the gas insulated substation market with several companies based here. In 2020, India Grid Trust completed the acquisition of the GTPL transmission project for $150 million. The project comprises 3 gas insulated substations with a capacity of 3000 MVA and 270 kms of transmission lines spread across three north Indian states. Europe and North America trail APAC in the gas insulated substation market with North America leading from a technological perspective. The continent manufacturers several components used in gas insulated substation networks and companies such as G.E. provide customized solutions for their global customers. Western companies are focusing their efforts on the APAC region to gain share and bolster their position in the gas insulated substation market. Companies Signing Agreements With Authorities to Upgrade Capacity in GIS Market A few companies profiled in the report on the gas insulated substation market are Siemens AG, Toshiba Corporation, GE, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Hyundai Heavy Industries, ABB Ltd., LARSEN & TOUBRO LIMITED, Hitachi, and Nissin Electric Co., Ltd. In 2021, Siemens Energy agreed to deliver 10 SF6-free gas insulated switchgears to the Virkkala substation in Finland. In the same year, GE signed an agreement to upgrade three gas insulated substations in Nepal. The American giant will construct three 400 kilovolt gas insulated substations to upgrade the capacity from 220 KV to 400 KV. Browse Our Latest Trending Reports: About Us Fairfield Market Research is a UK-based market research provider. Fairfield offers a wide spectrum of services, ranging from customized reports to consulting solutions. With a strong European footprint, Fairfield operates globally and helps businesses navigate through business cycles, with quick responses and multi-pronged approaches. The company values an eye for insightful take on global matters, ably backed by a team of exceptionally experienced researchers. With a strong repository of syndicated market research reports that are continuously published & updated to ensure the ever-changing needs of customers are met with absolute promptness. Contact: Fairfield Market Research London, UK UK +44 (0)20 30025888 USA +1 (844) 3829746 (Toll-free) Web: https://www.fairfieldmarketresearch.com/ Email: sales@fairfieldmarketresearch.com Follow Us: LinkedIn Cision View original content:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/global-gas-insulated-substation-gis-market-to-register-9-cagr-as-curbing-emissions-gains-prominence-says-fairfield-market-research-301375129.html SOURCE Fairfield Market Research Ottawa, Ontario--(Newsfile Corp. - September 13, 2021) - Gold79 Mines Ltd. (TSXV: AUU) (OTCQB: AUSVF) ("Gold79" or the "Company") is pleased to announce that it expects to start drilling at its Gold Chain Project in Arizona this week as the drill rig is enroute to the project. The program is anticipated to be at least 13 holes following up on our recent sampling success on the Banner patents (Figure 1) and the historical drilling at the Roadside mine (Figure 2). Mr. Derek Macpherson, President & CEO stated, "While difficulties securing a drill resulted in this program starting later than expected, I am excited that we now have secured a drill rig and will start testing the approximately 12km of favourable altered and mineralized rocks in this trend." Mr. Macpherson continued, "I am particularly excited that we are going to put the first drill holes into the historic Banner Mine during this program." Banner Mine Area The focus at the Banner Mine Area (Figure 1) will primarily be testing the Type A targets, which consist of a rhyolite dike complex that has been pervasively silicified, altered, invaded by several faults parallel to the Precambrian contact and mineralized. In approximately 1918, the mine was developed on the Red Hill Ledge, a broad mineralized fault breccia, and an inclined shaft was sunken to a depth of 450 feet with limited development on the 250-foot level. Surface sampling on this target was highlighted by 20.47 g/t gold and 25.47 g/t gold. Figure 1: Preliminary geologic map of the Banner claim block showing the Banner Mine, Red Hill Ledge, Sunset Vein and initial sampling results. To view an enhanced version of Figure 1, please visit: https://orders.newsfilecorp.com/files/5717/96279_6ec8bdaa849ecad1_001full.jpg Roadside Mine Area The focus at the Roadside mine area (Figure 2) will be testing the continuation of gold mineralization exploited at the historical Roadside mine. Although widely concealed by alluvium, mapping suggests geologic controls similar to those observed at the Banner mine about 2 km to the east and potentially along the same trend. Historical drilling at the Roadside mine returned values up to 1.2 g/t Au over 15.2m. Story continues . Figure 2. Geology of the Roadside mine area showing historical RC holes and proposed holes. To view an enhanced version of Figure 2, please visit: https://orders.newsfilecorp.com/files/5717/96279_6ec8bdaa849ecad1_002full.jpg Qualified Person / Quality Control and Quality Assurance Robert Johansing, M.Sc. Econ. Geol., P. Geo., the Company's Vice President, Exploration is a qualified person ("QP") as defined by NI 43-101 and has reviewed and approved the technical content of this press release. Mr. Johansing has also been responsible for all phases of sample collection, labelling, bagging and transport from the project to American Assay labs of Sparks, Nevada. Samples were then dried, crushed and split, and pulp samples were prepared for analysis. Gold was determined by fire assay with an ICP finish, over limit samples were determined by fire assay and gravimetric finish. Silver plus 34 other elements were determined by Aqua Regia ICP-AES, over limit samples were determined by fire assay and gravimetric finish. Standard sample chain of custody procedures were employed during field work until delivery to the analytical facility. About Gold79 Mines Ltd. Gold79 Mines Ltd. is a TSX Venture listed company focused on building ounces in the Southwest USA. Gold79 holds 100% earn-in option to purchase agreements on three gold projects: the Jefferson Canyon Gold Project and the Tip Top Gold Project both located in Nevada, USA, and, the Gold Chain Project located in Arizona, USA. In addition, Gold79 holds two projects with minority interest being a 36.6% interest in the Greyhound Project, Nunavut, Canada under JV by Agnico Eagle Mines Limited and a 20% carried interest in the Taviche Project in Oaxaca, Mexico now under option to Fortuna Silver Mines Inc. For further information regarding this press release contact: Derek Macpherson, President and Chief Executive Officer by email at dm@gold79mines.com or by phone at 416-294-6713. Gold79's website is located at www.gold79mines.com. FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS: This press release may contain forward-looking statements that are made as of the date hereof and are based on current expectations, forecasts and assumptions which involve risks and uncertainties associated with our business including any private placement financings, the uncertainty as to whether further exploration will result in the target(s) being delineated as a mineral resource, capital expenditures, operating costs, mineral resources, recovery rates, grades and prices, estimated goals, expansion and growth of the business and operations, plans and references to the Company's future successes with its business and the economic environment in which the business operates. All such statements are made pursuant to the 'safe harbour' provisions of, and are intended to be forward-looking statements under, applicable Canadian securities legislation. Any statements contained herein that are statements of historical facts may be deemed to be forward-looking statements. By their nature, forward-looking statements require us to make assumptions and are subject to inherent risks and uncertainties. We caution readers of this news release not to place undue reliance on our forward-looking statements as a number of factors could cause actual results or conditions to differ materially from current expectations. Please refer to the risks set forth in the Company's most recent annual MD&A and the Company's continuous disclosure documents that can be found on SEDAR at www.sedar.com. Gold79 does not intend, and disclaims any obligation, except as required by law, to update or revise any forward-looking statements whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise. Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/96279 joe biden Samuel Corum/getty Joe Biden A long-classified document regarding the role of Saudi Arabian citizens in the events of Sept. 11, 2001, was released over the weekend coinciding with the 20th anniversary of the deadliest terrorist attack in U.S. history. Though much of the 16-page document is redacted, it fuels longstanding questions about some Saudi officials based in the U.S. who had connections to two of the hijackers. The document lays out an inventory of the circumstantial evidence that arose as a result of the FBI's investigation into Saudi involvement in the attack, which Saudi Arabia has long denied. Fifteen of the 19 hijackers, as well as al-Qaida founder Osama bin Laden, were Saudi nationals. The document released Saturday the first in an expected trove of material to be made public as a result of a recent declassification order by President Joe Biden includes evidence that indicates several Saudi religious officials working in the U.S. at the time of the attacks had connections to at least two of the hijackers. Telephone records cited in the 2016 report show that a Saudi graduate student Omar al-Bayoumi helped Khalid al-Mihdhar and Nawaf al-Hazmi settle in San Diego. Al-Mihdhar and al-Hazmi were ultimately part of the group that hijacked American Airlines Flight 77, which crashed into the Pentagon. Al-Bayoumi was from a wealthy Saudi family and suspected of being a Saudi intelligence agent by the FBI. The document states that al-Bayoumi was also in contact with a religious official stationed at the Saudi Embassy in Washington, D.C., who had his own connections to other al-Qaida operatives. RELATED: Jill Biden Remembers the Moment That 'Changed Us All in Some Way' on 20th Anniversary of 9/11 In his order last week to reviews records related to the investigation into the attack, Biden said, "Although the indiscriminate release of classified information could jeopardize the national security including the United States Government's efforts to protect against future acts of terrorism information should not remain classified when the public interest in disclosure outweighs any damage to the national security that might reasonably be expected from disclosure." Story continues "The significant events in question occurred two decades ago or longer, and they concern a tragic moment that continues to resonate in American history and in the lives of so many Americans," he said. Some families of the 9/11 victims who are suing Saudi Arabia in federal court lauded the document's release, arguing it proved the country was involved in some capacity despite their denials. Though some defense experts questioned whether the families would find the declassified document satisfactory, one of the attorneys representing the 9/11 families told ProPublica, "This validates what we have been saying." "The FBI agents working this case detailed a Saudi government support network that was working in 1999, 2000 and 2001 to provide the hijackers with everything they needed to mount the attacks apartments, money, English lessons, flight school," attorney James Kreindler told ProPublica. RELATED: The 'Almost Unbelievable' Moment George W. Bush Learned About 9/11: 'I Could See That Horror' Last week, these families released a statement urging Biden not to make an appearance at the memorial held on the 20th anniversary of the attacks unless he declassified the documents. In a statement of its own released last week, the Saudi government again denied any involvement in the attacks, saying it welcomed the release of the documents. "Any allegation that Saudi Arabia is complicit in the September 11 attacks is categorically false," the embassy said in its statement, USA Today reported. "Saudi Arabia knows all too well the evil that al-Qaeda through its ideology and actions represents. ... Alongside the U.S., the kingdom has spared no effort in tackling the men, money, and mindset of terrorism and extremism in all its forms." The 9/11 Commission Report an independent, bipartisan commission created by Congress and President George W. Bush found "no credible evidence that any person in the United States gave the hijackers substantial financial assistance" and offered no clear connection to any foreign government. Manchester United will travel to Switzerland to start their Champions League campaign this week, while Chelsea will host St Petersburgs finest. Here, the PA news agency examines the European opposition for the English clubs this week. Young Boys This content is not available due to your privacy preferences. Update your settings here to see it. The reigning Swiss champions, who will take on Manchester United, have had a stranglehold on their domestic competition for the last four years. Gerardo Seoane left in the summer to take charge of Bayer Leverkusen, however, leading to a changing of the guard. Former Huddersfield boss David Wagner has taken the helm, tasked with extending domestic dominance and forging ahead in Europe. Young Boys came through a tough two-legged battle with Ferencvaros to make the Champions League group stage, while a 4-0 win over league leaders FC Zurich boosted morale. Zenit St Petersburg This content is not available due to your privacy preferences. Update your settings here to see it. Chelseas opponents Zenit can boast a three-year monopoly on the Russian Premier League, taking their tally of domestic titles to eight in the process. Former player Andrey Arshavin remains the clubs most famous recent face, having helped the St Petersburg side to UEFA Cup glory in 2008. The Russian side then went and beat Manchester United 2-1 in that years UEFA Super Cup. Boss Sergei Semak will have to oversee something of a rebuild this season after the departure of several stalwarts. RB Leipzig This content is not available due to your privacy preferences. Update your settings here to see it. Even RB Leipzigs manager worries whether his side are ready to face Manchester City. The Bundesliga teams American boss Jesse Marsch admitted taking on last terms beaten finalists could be beyond his developing side when the teams meet on Wednesday at the Etihad Stadium. Leipzig finished runners-up in the league last term, but have opened the new campaign with three defeats in four. Julian Nagelsmann oversaw a 4-1 thrashing of his old club on Saturday as Bayern Munich coasted past Leipzig. Nagelsmann steered Leipzig to the Champions League semi-finals in 2020, but progressing from a group comprising City, Paris St Germain and Brugge appears at best a tall order. Story continues AC Milan This content is not available due to your privacy preferences. Update your settings here to see it. The Rossoneri are back in the Champions League for the first time in seven years, courtesy of last terms second-placed Serie A finish. Stefano Pioli finally has the decorated Milan outfit back in the European big time and they will visit Liverpool on Wednesday. And his side will boast a number of familiar Premier League faces. Fikayo Tomori has been a fixture in defence since moving from Chelsea, while another ex-Blue, striker Olivier Giroud has also impressed. Zlatan Ibrahimovic is back after knee surgery and straight into the goals too. SAN LUIS OBISPO, Calif., Sept. 13, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Global semiconductor technology and equipment firm Revasum, Inc. (ASX: RVS) ('Revasum' or 'the Company') is pleased to announce the appointment of Rebecca Shooter-Dodd to the roles of President and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) & Executive Director effective immediately. Revasum Appoints Rebecca Shooter-Dodd President and CEO & Executive Director Ms. Shooter-Dodd is currently the Company's Chief Financial and Operating Officer (CFOO), and Company Secretary. The Company will commence an executive search for a Chief Financial Officer. Ms. Shooter-Dodd has made a significant contribution to Revasum since joining the firm January 2019, initially as Corporate Controller. She was promoted to CFO in November 2020 and took on the additional operating role in May this year. She was previously an auditor in BDO's assurance practice in Sydney and London, and is an ICAEW Charted Accountant, licensed in the UK. In her capacity as CFOO, Ms. Shooter-Dodd has been instrumental in bringing the 6EZ Silicon Carbide (SiC) Wafer Polisher to the market and overseeing the first sales and the initial steps in the tool's commercialization. Under her management, business margins have significantly improved, a sizeable backlog of equipment orders has positioned the Company well for growth in the remainder of the financial year, and she led a successful A$7.9M capital raise. Revasum Director, Kevin Landis, said, "We are extremely pleased to appoint Rebecca Shooter-Dodd to the roles of Company President, Chief Executive Officer and Executive Director. She has performed exceptionally well in leadership roles across the corporate, financial and operational divisions of the Company, and has the right skills set to navigate the Company through its next stage of growth." Mr. Landis continued "We have significantly strengthened our executive team and I feel confident in its ability to lead the Company as we build out our product offering and development, and sales opportunities to enhance earnings and generate shareholder value." Story continues Ms. Shooter-Dodd commented, "I appreciate the opportunity the Board of Directors has given me, which is a vote of confidence for the entire Revasum team and clear recognition of the success we are starting to realize." Ms. Shooter-Dodd continued, "The team and I have worked hard to narrow the Company's focus, leverage our core technology strengths, improve execution, and put Revasum on a path for sustainable, profitable growth. I look forward to the challenge of leading this team and to continuing to execute on our overall growth objectives and finish what we have started." THIS ANNOUNCEMENT WAS AUTHORIZED FOR RELEASE BY THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS Company Contact Media Contact Rebecca Shooter-Dodd Jane Munday President and CEO FTI Consulting rebecca.shooter-dodd@revasum.com jane.munday@fticonsulting.com +1 (805) 541-6424 +61 488 400 248 Safe Harbor Statement This announcement contains forward-looking statements, which address a variety of subjects including, for example, financial projections, our statements regarding expected events, including expected revenue and earnings, system shipments, expected product offerings, product development, market adoption and technical advances. Statements that are not historical facts, including statements about our beliefs, plans and expectations, are forward-looking statements. Such statements are based on our current expectations and information currently available to management and are subject to a number of factors and uncertainties, many of which are outside the control of the Company, which could cause actual results to differ materially from those described in the forward-looking statements. The Company's management believes that these forward-looking statements are reasonable as and when made. However, you should not place undue reliance on any such forward-looking statements because such statements speak only as of the date they are made. Revasum does not undertake any obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as required by law or the ASX Listing Rules. In addition, forward-looking statements are subject to certain risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results, events and developments to differ materially from our historical experience and our present expectations or projections. About Revasum Revasum (ARBN: 629 268 533) specializes in the design and manufacturing of equipment used for the global semiconductor industry. Revasum's equipment helps drive advanced manufacturing technology for critical growth markets, including automotive, IoT, and 5G. Our product portfolio includes state of the art equipment for the grinding, polishing, and chemical mechanical planarization processes used to manufacture devices for those key end markets. All of Revasum's equipment is designed and developed in close collaboration with our customers. Learn how we create the equipment that generates the technology of today and tomorrow, visit www.revasum.com. Cision View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/revasum-appoints-rebecca-shooter-dodd-president-and-ceo--executive-director-301375000.html SOURCE Revasum, Inc. Second Former CME Group Attorney to Join Chicago Office CHICAGO, Sept. 13, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Financial services law firm Murphy & McGonigle announced today the addition of a new Partner to its Chicago office, Ross Pazzol, an accomplished financial services lawyer who brings experience to clients from both the Chicago Mercantile Exchange and the Securities and Exchange Commission. Mr. Pazzol joins from CME Group, where he served as Assistant General Counsel for the past five years. Ross Pazzol Mr. Pazzol is the second alumnus from CME Group, the world's largest financial derivatives exchange, to recently join the firm's Chicago office; former Senior Enforcement Counsel William E. Walsh joined in July. At CME, Mr. Pazzol represented the Exchange in connection with various CFTC and Federal Reserve Board examinations, and in connection with its implementation of complex liquidity, collateral, and custody arrangements. "We're thrilled to have Ross join our growing Chicago office," said Harris Kay, Managing Partner of Murphy & McGonigle in Chicago. "He is an extremely talented lawyer, and his experience at CME Group and, before that, at the SEC will further bolster our market-leading practices, including our Broker-Dealer, Trading & Markets, and Commodities, Futures & Derivatives groups." Mr. Pazzol will advise firm clients regarding compliance with CFTC, SEC, and Federal Reserve Board regulations. His experience includes advising clearing organizations, exchanges, hedge funds, and proprietary trading firms, and analyzing the treatment of financial market contracts under the Bankruptcy Code and other similar laws. At CME, he represented the Collateral and Banking team in connection with CME's $7 billion syndicated credit facility, its implementation of new collateral, banking and settlement arrangements, and its analysis of repo trading and clearing arrangements. "I am delighted to join the talented team at Murphy & McGonigle and to help grow the new Chicago office," said Mr. Pazzol. "The firm's focus and leadership in the financial services industry is well-recognized, and further strengthening the offering to clients in Chicago is truly exciting to me." Story continues In addition to previously serving as a partner at a leading national law firm, Mr. Pazzol spent two years in the SEC's Division of Market Regulation as a Staff Attorney. He is the 16th lawyer at Murphy & McGonigle to previously have served at the SEC. Three others served at the CFTC. An alumnus of Loyola University of Chicago School of Law and the University of Illinois, Mr. Pazzol is a member of the Futures Industry Association Law and Compliance Division. 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 investment banks and commercial banks, broker-dealers, investment advisers, and hedge funds, to national and international securities markets and exchanges as well as digital asset trading platforms and Fintech innovators. 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 recognized as "Law Firm of the Year" for Securities Regulation in 2021 by U.S. News Best Lawyers. Murphy & McGonigle operates in New York, Washington, DC, Virginia, Chicago and San Francisco. Media Contact: Mark Curran mcurran@mmlawus.com 212.880.3989 Murphy & McGonigle Cision View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/ross-pazzol-former-assistant-general-counsel-at-cme-joins-murphy--mcgonigle-301375589.html SOURCE Murphy & McGonigle, P.C. Eyes on the skies in Ontario Tuesday for severe storm, tornado threat A boundary stationed near the Great Lakes that brought severe weather Sunday night looks be getting ready to foster the development of another round Tuesday. Those in southern Ontario will need to pay close attention to the forecast and be ready should threatening weather approaches. The setup will include the potential for supercells and one or two tornadoes near the Lake Huron shores in the afternoon and evening. More on the storm risk and potential impacts, below. TUESDAY: WIDESPREAD SEVERE RISK INCLUDES TORNADO THREAT A warm front lifting into southern Ontario will bring the risk of elevated showers and thunderstorms overnight Monday and pre-dawn hours Tuesday. There will be an initial round of showers and thunderstorms in the Nickel Belt region Tuesday morning, north of a low-pressure system. The warm front will continue to allow instability to build during the day Tuesday, especially near Lake Huron shores, as a low-pressure system cuts across the Great Lakes. ONSouthRiskTue This will bring a widespread threat for severe thunderstorms across southern Ontario in the afternoon and evening. Because directional wind shear will be favourable near the Lake Huron and Georgian Bay shores, rotating storms will be possible along the warm front as it lifts in the afternoon. This means there will be the potential for one or two tornadoes in the early afternoon and evening before it diminishes. The other main hazards with the severe storms will be damaging wind gusts, large hail and heavy rainfall. However, similar to the severe weather event on Tuesday, Sept. 7, timing will be critical. The window for surface-based storms to develop is quite narrow in September because of the loss of daylight. ONPrecip The severe storm risk will linger through the evening and overnight period, further inland from the Lake Huron shores. A quasi-linear convective system (QLCS), or a squall line, is likely to develop in the evening, continuing overnight. The storms will track into eastern Ontario early overnight and reach southern Quebec during the overnight period. Story continues RELATED: Ontario's Tuesday tornado outbreak was an 'airborne octopus ONRiskTuePM BEYOND: A LATE-WEEK WARMING TREND AHEAD Conditions will settle down once the low-pressure system moves away from the region by the middle of the week. Southern Ontario will see more sunshine and less active weather for the second half of the week. Toronto7Day Temperatures will grow warmer by the end of the week, accompanied by a noticeable uptick in humidity. Friday could see feels-like values in the 30s for most. Mostly fair and warm on the weekend, but there will be a risk for showers and thunderstorms. Warmer than normal temperatures are expected to dominate the latter half of September, with the potential for a few days of very warm and possibly hot weather. Thumbnail courtesy of Meagan Baumhour, taken in Kindcardine, Ont. Stay tuned to The Weather Network for the latest forecast across southern Ontario NEW YORK, Sept. 13, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Pomerantz LLP is investigating claims on behalf of investors of Penumbra, Inc. ("Penumbra" or the "Company") (NYSE: PEN). Such investors are advised to contact Robert S. Willoughby at newaction@pomlaw.com or 888-476-6529, ext. 7980. Fighting for victims of securities fraud for more than 85 years (PRNewsfoto/Pomerantz LLP) The investigation concerns whether Penumbra 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 November 10, 2020, market analyst Quintessential Capital Management ("Quintessential") released a research report on the Company, entitled "Penumbra and its 'Killer Catheter': A tale of corporate greed and seemingly blatant disregard for patients' lives[.]" Then, on December 8, 2020, Quintessential released a follow-up research report entitled "Is Penumbra's core scientific research authored by a fake person?: The incredible story of Penumbra's Dr. Antik Bose[.]" This follow-up report alleged that some of the Company's scientific research pieces appear to have been incorrectly attributed to or even authored by a non-existent individual. On this news, Penumbra's stock price fell $19.95 per share, or almost 9%, to close at $204.07 per share on December 8, 2020. Finally, on December 15, 2020, Penumbra announced that it was "voluntarily recalling all configurations" of its JET 7 Xtra Flex Reperfusion Catheter "because the catheter may become susceptible to distal tip damage during use. Distal tip damage in conjunction with pressurization or contrast injection may result in potential vessel damage, and subsequent patient injury or death." On this news, Penumbra's stock price fell $13.84 per share, or 7%, to close at $174.98 per share on December 16, 2020. Pomerantz LLP, with offices in New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, Paris, and Tel Aviv, 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, Pomerantz pioneered the field of securities class actions. Today, more than 85 years later, Pomerantz 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.pomlaw.com. Story continues CONTACT: Robert S. Willoughby Pomerantz LLP rswilloughby@pomlaw.com Cision View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/shareholder-alert-pomerantz-law-firm-investigates-claims-on-behalf-of-investors-of-penumbra-inc---pen-301375055.html SOURCE Pomerantz LLP Top Players Covered in the Telehealth Market Research Report are American Well (Boston, U.S.), MDLIVE Inc. (Sunrise, U.S), Teladoc Health Inc. (Purchase, U.S.), Doctor on Demand Inc. (San Francisco, U.S.), Dictum Health Inc. (Oakland, U.S.), Grand Rounds Inc. (San Francisco, U.S.), OpenTeleHealth (Balticagade, Denmark), and other key market players Pune, India, Sept. 13, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The global telehealth market size is anticipated to reach USD 636.38 billion by 2028 and exhibit a CAGR of 32.1% during the forecast period. The growing adoption of telehealth in online consultation, behavioral health, cardiology, and radiology, coupled with the increasing start-ups funding, is expected to boost the growth of the market. Fortune Business Insights presented this information in its report titled, Telehealth Market, 2021-2028. The market size stood at USD 144.38 billion in 2020. The governments of several underdeveloped nations are developing projects to ensure healthcare delivery in rural areas and remote locations. Governments are focused on developing virtual care platforms to deploy telemedicine technology. Hence, the increased government initiatives are anticipated to propel the growth of the market. Get PDF Brochure of this Report: https://www.fortunebusinessinsights.com/enquiry/request-sample-pdf/telehealth-market-101065 Telehealth Industry Developments- January 2021: Teladoc Health Inc. and DexCom Inc. launched CGM technology and personal insights for Type-2 diabetics. The new launch is aimed to offers inclusive recommendations and health profiles for members suffering from diabetes. Segmentation: Based on type, the market is bifurcated into services and products. Based on application, the market is categorized into continuous medical education, patient monitoring, telemedicine, and others. Based on modality, the market is divided into remote patient monitoring, real-time (synchronous), and store-and-forward (asynchronous). By end-user, the market is segmented into healthcare facilities, home care, and others. Geographically, the market is classified into four major regions- North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, Latin America, and the Middle East & Africa. Story continues COVID-19 Impact: The sudden emergence of the humanitarian crisis has created unprecedented challenges for the global economy and hampered the growth of several industries and markets. However, the demand for telehealth solutions has increased during the pandemic as people feared contracting the virus from doctors and physicians. For more information in the analysis of this report, visit: https://www.fortunebusinessinsights.com/industry-reports/telehealth-market-101065 Online consultation has augmented manifold during the pandemic. According to Teladoc Health Inc., nearly 8 million to 9 million virtual consultations were recorded in 2020, twice the number recorded in 2019. Additionally, the increased governments support for digital health platforms has led to the formation of new policies and reimbursement guidelines. These factors are expected to bolster the growth of the market in the coming years. Surging Healthcare Costs to Propel Market Growth The expanding geriatric population and the increasing prevalence of chronic diseases are expected to surge healthcare costs in the coming years. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services projected an increase in the national healthcare expenditure in the U.S. from USD 3.81 trillion in 2019 to USD 4.01 trillion in 2020. Hence, the rising healthcare costs are anticipated to boost the global telehealth market growth. Telehealth overcomes the distance barriers and ensures healthcare delivery across remote locations in developed and underdeveloped countries. The governments of numerous nations are forming policies and developing pilot projects to provide healthcare in rural areas. Hence, the increased government support is likely to boost the market growth. Quick Buy Telehealth Market Research Report: https://www.fortunebusinessinsights.com/checkout-page/101065 Inorganic Strategies by Key Players to be Highly Prosperous for Growth In terms of revenue, the leading position is held by Teladoc Health Inc. due to the huge client base, paid memberships, and escalating number of virtual visits. The key players in this market are focused on network expansion through inorganic growth strategies such as partnerships, collaborations, mergers, acquisitions, and others. For instance, in March 2020, the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW) collaborated with NITI Aayog and the Board of Governors (BoG) Medical Council of India (MCI) to issue guidelines for telemedicine practice in India. A list of renowned telehealth providers operating in the global market: American Well (Boston, U.S.) MDLIVE Inc. (Sunrise, U.S) Teladoc Health Inc. (Purchase, U.S.) Doctor on Demand Inc. (San Francisco, U.S.) Dictum Health Inc. (Oakland, U.S.) Grand Rounds Inc. (San Francisco, U.S.) OpenTeleHealth (Balticagade, Denmark) Other Players Have Any Query? Ask Our Experts: https://www.fortunebusinessinsights.com/enquiry/speak-to-analyst/telehealth-market-101065 Detail 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 Prevalence of Key Chronic Diseases For Key Countries Ageing Population Data Regulatory & Reimbursement Scenario For Key Countries Internet Users & Penetrations Statistics Key Industry Developments - Mergers, Acquisitions and Partnerships Global Telehealth Market Analysis, Insights and Forecast, 2016-2027 Key Findings / Summary Market Analysis, Insights and Forecast By Type Products Services Market Analysis, Insights and Forecast By Application Telemedicine Patient Monitoring Continuous Medical Education Others Market Analysis, Insights and Forecast By Modality Real-time(Synchronous) Store-and-forward (Asynchronous) Remote Patient Monitoring Market Analysis, Insights and Forecast By End User Healthcare Facilities Homecare Others Market Analysis, Insights and Forecast By Region North America Europe Asia Pacific Latin America Middle East & Africa North America Telehealth Market Analysis, Insights and Forecast, 2016-2027 Key Findings / Summary Market Analysis, Insights and Forecast By Type Products Services Market Analysis, Insights and Forecast By Application Telemedicine Patient Monitoring Continuous Medical Education Others Market Analysis, Insights and Forecast By Modality Real-time(Synchronous) Store-and-forward (Asynchronous) Remote Patient Monitoring Market Analysis, Insights and Forecast By End User Healthcare Facilities Homecare Others Market Analysis, Insights and Forecast By Country U.S. Canada Europe Telehealth Market Analysis, Insights and Forecast, 2016-2027 Key Findings / Summary Market Analysis, Insights and Forecast By Type Products Services Market Analysis, Insights and Forecast By Application Telemedicine Patient Monitoring Continuous Medical Education Others Market Analysis, Insights and Forecast By Modality Real-time(Synchronous) Store-and-forward (Asynchronous) Remote Patient Monitoring Market Analysis, Insights and Forecast By End User Healthcare Facilities Homecare Others Market Analysis, Insights and Forecast By Countries/ Sub-region U.K. Germany France Spain Italy Scandinavia Rest of Europe TOC Continued.!!!! About Us: Fortune Business Insights offers expert corporate analysis and accurate data, helping organizations of all sizes make timely decisions. We tailor innovative solutions for our clients, assisting them to address challenges distinct to their businesses. Our goal is to empower our clients with holistic market intelligence, giving a granular overview of the market they are operating in. Our reports contain a unique mix of tangible insights and qualitative analysis to help companies achieve sustainable growth. Our team of experienced analysts and consultants use industry-leading research tools and techniques to compile comprehensive market studies, interspersed with relevant data. At Fortune Business Insights we aim at highlighting the most lucrative growth opportunities for our clients. We, therefore, offer recommendations, making it easier for them to navigate through technological and market-related changes. Our consulting services are designed to help organizations identify hidden opportunities and understand prevailing competitive challenges. Contact Us: Fortune Business Insights Pvt. Ltd. 308, Supreme Headquarters, Survey No. 36, Baner, Pune-Bangalore Highway, Pune - 411045, Maharashtra, India. Phone: US :+1 424 253 0390 UK : +44 2071 939123 APAC : +91 744 740 1245 Email: sales@fortunebusinessinsights.com Fortune Business Insights LinkedIn | Twitter | Blogs Press: https://www.fortunebusinessinsights.com/press-release/telehealth-market-9211 Frederic Desdouits, PhD, named chief executive officer. Co-founder Kevin Alessandri, PhD, relocates to Boston to drive TreeFrog Therapeutics' expansion in the U.S. BORDEAUX, France, Sept. 13, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- TreeFrog Therapeutics, a privately held French-based biotech startup focused on developing safe and affordable stem cell-derived cell therapies for millions of patients, today announced the successful closing of a $75 million (64M) Series B financing round, bringing the total funding to date to $83 million (70M). The financing round was led by Bpifrance Large Venture, part of the French Public Investment Bank, joined by U.S. investment firm Leonard Green & Partners L.P., global pharmaceutical company Bristol Myers Squibb, and European venture capital team XAnge. In conjunction with the financing, independent board member Frederic Desdouits, PhD, has been appointed chief executive officer. It was also announced that Kevin Alessandri, PhD, co-founder, will relocate in early 2022 to Boston, MA, to lead the newly created U.S. subsidiary, TreeFrog Therapeutics Inc. TreeFrog Therapeutics The latest funding round will be used to deploy biomimetic C-StemTM technology for clinical-grade manufacturing, grow and advance to the clinic a comprehensive pipeline of cell therapies, and finance the opening of technological hubs in Boston, MA, and Kobe, Japan. C-StemTM offers unprecedented scale and quality, enabling the exponential growth of human induced pluripotent stem cells (hiPSC) and their differentiation into ready-to-transplant microtissues in industrial bioreactors. Preliminary results, recently presented at the American Society of Gene & Cell Therapy and International Society for Stem Cell Research annual meetings, suggest C-StemTM is the only technology capable of maintaining genomic integrity through large-scale hiPSC expansion. Based on best-in-class preclinical results in Parkinson's disease, TreeFrog Therapeutics is preparing for a first-in-human trial in 2024, and intends to expand its pipeline of cell therapies through in-house programs and partnerships. Story continues "With this Series B and the arrival of Frederic, TreeFrog Therapeutics enters a new dimension. Frederic brings in over 25 years of experience in managing fast-growing teams in biotech and pharma companies, both in France and in the U.S. We are now supported by investors with several billion dollars under management, as well as by a top-ten pharmaceutical company that successfully pioneered CAR-T cell therapies," said Kevin Alessandri, PhD, co-founder and executive vice president USA, TreeFrog Therapeutics. "In short, funding, management and governance are now secured, as we embark on a very exciting journey, with the deployment of technological hubs in Kobe, Japan, and Boston, MA, and the prospect of treating our first patients in 2024." An independent board member of TreeFrog Therapeutics since 2020, Dr. Desdouits joins the company as CEO, after several years as CEO of PCAS, a Euronext Paris listed company, and managing director at Seqens CDMO, a world leader in small molecules manufacturing. Previously, Dr. Desdouits was executive vice president, Corporate Licensing, Acquisition and Market Intelligence, and director of U.S. Pharmaceuticals, Pierre Fabre Group. Dr. Desdouits also co-founded and served as managing partner at Bionest Partners, a consulting and transaction boutique specialized in healthcare and biotechnology. "In just two years and, with only $7M in Series A funding, the TreeFrog Therapeutics team transitioned C-StemTM from the bench to an industrial technology applicable to any cell therapy. We demonstrated that C-StemTM outperforms all existing technologies for pluripotent stem cell expansion in terms of scale and quality. We also confirmed best-in-class preclinical data for our cell therapy program for Parkinson's disease," said new CEO, Frederic Desdouits, PhD. "The Series B financing allows us to dramatically increase our capacities and investments in research and development, to consolidate a pipeline of iPS-derived cell therapies targeting neurodegeneration, cardiac and metabolic disorders, as well as blood and immune-related diseases. Through therapeutic and technological partnerships, we intend to drive the adoption of C-StemTM by top biopharmaceutical players, so that we can bring the benefits of the technology, in terms of safety, efficacy and cost, to as many patients as possible." "The progress made by the company since its inception is truly amazing. In less than three years, TreeFrog Therapeutics has managed to build a world-leading technology suite for large-scale stem cell manufacturing, with the clear ambition to unlock the potential of cell therapies at an industry level and bring regenerative medicine products to the patients faster. We are excited to lead this round and team up with such an impressive management team and investors' pool," said Laurent Higueret, PharmD, Senior Investment Director, Bpifrance Large Venture. "We are pleased to support TreeFrog Therapeutics in its mission to develop and expand the application for cell therapies. TreeFrog has made tremendous progress in developing C-StemTM and overcoming many of the bottlenecks in the manufacturing of induced pluripotent stem cells, that will substantially enhance the ability to manufacture cell therapies at scale. We are honored to partner with Kevin, Maxime and Frederic, and a leading group of investors to help accelerate TreeFrog's success," said Peter Zippelius, Partner, Leonard Green & Partners. "We are excited to welcome Frederic to his new role at TreeFrog and thrilled to be part of this new board. Starting in 2019, TreeFrog had a breakthrough technology and a clear industrial vision to bring cell therapy to all. But more importantly, over the past two years, the team demonstrated outstanding execution capacities. We are confident that TreeFrog is going to drive a paradigm shift in cell therapy, as it becomes a more integrated player with an impact at every stage of the value chain," said Guilhem de Vregille, Partner, Xange (Siparex Group). As part of the Series B financing, Laurent Higueret (Bpifrance Large Venture) and Peter Zippelius (Leonard Green & Partners) will join the board, while Girish Pendse (Bristol Myers Squibb) will join the board as observer. The board will be chaired by Jean-Luc Treillou (co-founder). Watch corporate video Download pictures (captions included), Credits: TreeFrog Therapeutics About TreeFrog Therapeutics TreeFrog Therapeutics is a startup company aiming to provide access to cell therapies for millions of patients. TreeFrog Therapeutics has developed C-StemTM, a high-throughput cell encapsulation technology allowing for the mass-production and differentiation of stem cells in industrial bioreactors. This proprietary technology platform provides an end-to-end and scalable solution that dramatically improves the quality of therapeutic cells and reduce production costs. Since its incorporation in November 2018 in Bordeaux, France, TreeFrog Therapeutics has experienced strong acceleration, raising over 10M ($11.7M) in 2019. In January 2020, TreeFrog Therapeutics joined the FrenchTech120, an elite program for the fastest-growing technology companies in France. The teamcurrently 50+ employeesmoved into a brand-new production facility of 13,000 square foot in June 2020. In October 2020, TreeFrog Therapeutics was awarded the Prix Galien MedStartup in New York for its international consortium on iPSC quality with the Harvard Stem Cell Institute in Boston (USA), the FRBI in Kobe (Japan) and the Imagine Institute in Paris (France). In April 2021, TreeFrog announced a world's first, with the production of a single batch of 15 billion pluripotent stem cells in a 10L bioreactor, with an unprecedented amplification factor of 276x in 6.59 days. Results were confirmed to be highly reproducible, and company reported exceptional cell quality at the 2021 ISSCR annual meeting. www.treefrog.fr About Bpifrance Large Venture Bpifrance the French Public Investment Bank is a one-stop-shop offering local entrepreneurs a comprehensive range of financial products and services, including among others equity, loans, guarantees, export insurances as well as consultancy or training. Large Venture the growth equity arm of Bpifrance is a $2 billion fund focusing on fast-growing, highly innovative, and capital-intensive startups looking to accelerate organic or external growth. Large Venture has invested in more than 55 companies since 2013 and focuses on life sciences, digital as well as green tech. www.bpifrance.fr About Leonard Green & Partners LGP is a leading private equity investment firm founded in 1989 and based in Los Angeles with over $50 billion of assets under management. The firm partners with experienced management teams and often with founders to invest in market-leading companies. Since inception, LGP has invested in over 100 companies in the form of traditional buyouts, going-private transactions, recapitalizations, growth equity, and selective public equity and debt positions. The firm primarily focuses on companies providing services, including consumer, business and healthcare services, as well as retail, distribution and industrials. www.leonardgreen.com About XAnge XAnge is an early-stage investment fund based in Paris and Munich, with 500 million under management. Its investment team supports European entrepreneurs whose aim is to change everyday life through technology, by investing amounts from ranging from 500,000 to 10 million from the seed-funding stage. With an investment policy focused on making technology available to the widest possible audience, XAnge invests in the deep-tech, healthcare, fintech, SaaS and e-commerce sectors. For example, XAnge has invested in Lydia (Finance), Welcome to the Jungle (Human Resources), Believe (Music), MrSpex (eCommerce) and Ledger (cryptocurrencies). XAnge is the innovation brand of the Siparex Group. www.xange.fr Company advisors: Legal et corporate: Altair Avocats (Sebastien Peronne, Aude Idris, Quentin Laurent) JonesDay (Charles GAVOTY, Anne KERNEUR) IP: Aquinov (Julie Cenatiempo) Statutory audit: Ernst & Young (Pauline Souquet, Jean-Pierre Caton) Accounting: Audeca (Theodoros Sotiroulis, Josselin Danier) Cision View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/treefrog-therapeutics-secures-75m-in-series-b-financing-to-advance-a-pipeline-of-stem-cell-derived-cell-therapies-and-deploy-proprietary-c-stem-technology-in-the-usa--japan-301374845.html SOURCE TreeFrog Therapeutics Marshall Continues Oversight of Agency's Diversity, Equity & Belonging Efforts and Launches UM WW Media 101 Certificate Program in Partnership with Vox Media NEW YORK, Sept. 13, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- UM, the global media agency network of IPG Mediabrands, today announced the elevation of Jeff Marshall to the newly-created role of Chief Diversity Officer. In his expanded role, Marshall will continue to oversee the agency's Diversity, Equity and Belonging (DEB) efforts, including the launch of the UM Worldwide Media 101 Certificate Program in partnership with Vox Media, the leading media company that is home to newsrooms and businesses including New York Magazine, Eater, The Verge and the Vox Media Podcast Network. The Certificate Program is designed to facilitate entry of BIPOC talent into the advertising and media industries. Jeff Marshall, UM's first-ever Chief Diversity Officer Marshall most recently served as SVP, Head of DEB, leading the activation efforts for UM's DEB strategy for internal and external audiences. In his expanded role, Marshall will report directly to UM US CEO, Lynn Lewis, and will be responsible for, among other duties: establishing benchmarks for driving diversity goals and tracking the agency's progress; collaborating with internal HR teams and DEI leads across IPG and Mediabrands to attract, retain and grow diverse talent; and partnering with external organizations on diversity initiatives to help drive DEB across UM and the industry. Marshall will also continue to helm UM's DEB Council, the agency's most active Employee Resource Group advising leadership on policy changes, employee communications strategy and talent programs. "At UM, we have been on a diversity, equity and belonging journey for many years and Jeff has been an integral part of our progress, planning and goal-setting," said Lewis. "An empathetic and effective leader, Jeff's expanded role will allow for even greater opportunity to drive equity across our agency and our industry as we continue to strive for better, helping to futureproof both our own and our clients' businesses." Story continues Marshall spearheaded the launch of the UM Worldwide Media 101 Certificate Program, a series of virtual training sessions designed to educate college students on the media and advertising landscape and facilitate their entry into the industry. Taught by leaders from across UM and Vox Media, the syllabus covers the fundamentals of the media agency business, such as strategy, media buying and planning, analytics, search, social, digital media trends, developing influence and personal branding. The program is the latest initiative within UM's campus engagement initiative, CurriculUM, which partners with colleges and universities to attract talent and cultivate the next generation of marketing and advertising leaders. UM has partnered with Vox Media on the Certificate Program to bring publisher-side perspective and content into the syllabus, helping students better understand the inner workings of the media and marketing businesses to inform their career goals and planning. "To effectively attract diverse talent, we must go beyond the traditional methods of recruitment like career fairs on college campuses," said Marshall. "Competition for top talent is fiercer than ever, and we are focusing our efforts on developing meaningful connections with nextgen leaders in their classrooms. By providing students with industry education, mentorship and bespoke programming, we are not only educating them on career opportunities in advertising, but also building a natural pipeline for diverse talent." "The Media 101 Certificate Program brings the urgency and dedication we have to DE&I in our workplace into the classrooms of historically underserved Black and Brown communities voices that our industry needs and that deserve to be amplified and immersed in the work," says Chris Clermont, Vox Media's head of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion. "By focusing on education and learning alongside in-office commitments to change, we strive to broaden the pool of talented people interested in media, marketing and advertising, while ensuring that the workplaces they'll join are as strong, equitable and welcoming as they can be." About UM UM is a global media agency committed to Futureproofing our clients' businesses for the now and the next. We leverage the transformational power of rich business analytics and real-time intelligence to maximize growth and activate the full consumer journey across content and connections. Our consultative approach and agile model, rooted in diversity, equity and belonging, drive better business outcomes for brands. As the leading global media network in IPG Mediabrands, UM operates in over 100 countries, with more than 3,000 people innovating on a roster of global clients including Accenture, American Express, Coca-Cola, ExxonMobil, GoPro, Johnson & Johnson, Levi Strauss & Co, Mattel, Sony and Spotify. For more information, please visit https://www.umww.com/. UM https://www.umww.com (PRNewsfoto/UM) Cision View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/um-elevates-jeff-marshall-to-chief-diversity-officer-301374863.html SOURCE UM HO CHI MINH CITY, Vietnam, Sept. 13, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Vietnam Blockchain Corporation (VBC), the country's leading provider of Blockchain-based software solutions, is currently raising funds to make its innovative products available to the international audience. Vietnam Blockchain Corporation raises funds to take its blockchain solutions global Utilizing Blockchain technology to improve people's livelihoods and business operations, VBC produces a variety of Blockchain-related services and software solutions. The brand has been recognized with 28 local and international awards, including the 1st Prize of "AIOT & Smart Cities 2019" by QTSC, the Bronze Award from ''Asia Smart App Awards 2020'' by WTIA Hong Kong, and ''Top 10 ICT companies in Vietnam 2021'' by VINASA. "Blockchain technology has the potential to benefit many industries in SEA countries, and we've just scratched the surface of what can be done. VBC wants Vietnam to be the hub of Blockchain experts not only in the country but also in the entire region, to achieve this we will be looking to work with investors and partners across the region," Mr. Do Van Long - CEO of Vietnam Blockchain Corporation. Secure Blockchain innovation for COVID-19 Test Certificate CovidPass.vn is one of VBC's most innovative applications. It is a simple-to-use system that lets users store their COVID-19 test data such as personal information, SARS-CoV-2 virus test results, and certificates in a mobile app with anti-counterfeit. The app provides a specific Blockchain QR code for each user, which they can use to register for tests and present to authorities to verify their test results with trustable information and transparency at various public places as required from other countries. The underlying Blockchain technology makes data in the app more secure than existing data storage methods. It also promotes the accuracy, as Blockchain technology provides verification of all records in the system and linking to national databases. Story continues Medical institutions also have access to CovidPass.vn, linking test records to their data while maintaining information security and privacy. "While Blockchain is usually associated with cryptocurrency, this new-age technology also allows new applications to have a higher level of security and accuracy that we haven't seen before," says Do. "With the ongoing pandemic, it's of great importance that we have a secure and easy system to store and manage COVID-19 vaccination, SARS-CoV-2 virus test records, and many others medical records". CovidPass.vn was developed with the help of lecturers from Ho Chi Minh City University of Technology and has already received support from the IT Department of Vietnam's Ministry of Health and Ho Chi Minh City Department of Science & Technology. A Blockchain platform for agriculture traceability and supply chain management VBC has also been leveraging the potential of secure data tracking that Blockchain offers to produce various services. This includes Agridential.vn , a Blockchain platform designed to record, trace, and authenticate information at every stage of the agricultural process, from farming and harvesting to production, supplying & transporting to retailers, then selling to customers and checking the quality of the food on the table. Since 2018, Agridential.vn has provided production management and traceability solutions to many partners and provinces across the country. These include Vietnam's major agricultural producing provinces and wholesale markets for agricultural products, along with 600 enterprises in the Central Highlands. For the international market, we have been working with the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) through International Executive Service Corps (IESC) and KPMG Vietnam to provide a traceability solution for agricultural SMEs. With Agridential.vn, Vietnam is gradually improving and solving the urgent needs of the country's agriculture, and better preparing "Made-in-Vietnam" products to be exported internationally and adapting to FTAs requirements. About Vietnam Blockchain Corporation Established in 2016, Vietnam Blockchain Corporation is a pioneer in Blockchain technology in the country. Its Agridential.vn and CovidPass.vn are the first to leverage Blockchain technology to respond to the needs presented by the social challenges in the agricultural sector in Vietnam and the ongoing pandemic. Since its inception, VBC has created multiple Blockchain-based services and applications for Agriculture, Manufacturing, Supply Chain, Logistics, E-Commerce, Sharing Economy, Financial Technology, Public Services, and Smart Cities. The company is recognized by The Department of Science and Technology of Ho Chi Minh City as a Science and Technology Enterprise. VBC will continue to work with the Vietnam government to further expand the market reach and solve social problems. With the funding, VBC will also be able to further expand its engineering resources and presence in Vietnam. For more information, please visit: https://vietnamblockchain.asia Cision View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/vietnam-blockchain-corporation-raises-funds-to-take-its-blockchain-solutions-global-301375012.html SOURCE Vietnam Blockchain Corporation Watson to Lead Lessors Global Commercial Efforts and Grow EMEA Presence DUBLIN, September 13, 2021--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Vmo Aircraft Leasing ("Vmo"), a San Francisco-based aircraft leasing company, announced today the appointment of Peter Watson as Chief Commercial Officer and Head of EMEA to lead the lessors worldwide commercial activity and spearhead the platforms emerging presence in the EMEA region. Watson will assume executive responsibility for defining and implementing the revenue, leasing, and sales strategy, as well as developing and growing the lessors relationships with key industry stakeholders. He will also oversee the opening of Vmos European office, which will be based in Dublin, Ireland, and guide the lessors strategic growth in the EMEA markets. Watson has taken over the responsibilities of the previous Chief Commercial Officer, Sean Sullivan, as part of his planned transition to Chief Executive officer announced originally in January 2021. "We are excited that Peter is joining Vmo. He brings a wealth of knowledge and experience with him from more than two decades across a broad range of executive positions at tier-one lessors, airlines, and banks," said Sean Sullivan, Vmo Aircraft Leasing Chief Executive Officer. "Peter will play a strategic role in shaping the future of the business, including advancing Vmos commercial outreach and furthering our commitment to building long-term relationships while supporting airline operators as they navigate through the industrys recovery." Peter Watson, Vmo Aircraft Leasing Chief Commercial Officer and Head of EMEA, expressed his excitement about taking on the challenge of being an integral part of developing a new platform, commenting: "I look forward to working closely with the executive and commercial teams as we grow Vmos global presence. Vmo has assembled a tremendously talented team, which, alongside its experienced and knowledgeable shareholders, puts Vmo in a unique position to shape the aviation sectors post-pandemic chapter while working with the industrys key stakeholders." Story continues About Vmo Aircraft Leasing Vmo Aircraft Leasing ("Vmo") is a U.S.-based commercial aircraft lessor launched in January 2021 by a team of aviation industry veterans and private equity funds managed by Ares Management Corporation. www.vmoair.com View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210913005148/en/ Contacts Kris Genise +1 415 310 2748 // info@vmoair.com The opportunity is reserved for Civilian Feds and their families under age 50, who can easily apply online - with no medical test or health questions until November 5, 2021. FALLS CHURCH, Va., Sept. 13, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- For a limited time, WAEPA (Worldwide Assurance for Employees of Public Agencies) is offering up to a $100k in Guaranteed Issue Group Term Life Insurance coverage. Experience the interactive Multichannel News Release here: https://www.multivu.com/players/English/8938251-waepa-offers-civilian-fed-employees-100k-guaranteed-issue-life-insurance-program/ Add up to $100K to your FEGLI coverage no medical exam or lab work required. Civilian Federal Employees have realized that FEGLI coverage may not be enough to meet their changing needs, but they can provide their loved ones with an added measure of protection by supplementing their existing policy with up to $100K in coverage. No medical exam or lab work is required. "As long as Feds enroll before the November 5, 2021 deadline, they have been preapproved, there is no underwriting required," explained Stephanie Baker, Senior Vice President, Member Services, at WAEPA. "Through this opportunity, Civilian Feds can complete their simple application online, and cannot be turned down for this valuable protection, regardless of their medical history." "It's important to know that unlike FEGLI, the WAEPA protection is portable, Feds can keep their life insurance if they change jobs or retire," said M. Shane Canfield, CEO of WAEPA. "WAEPA offers Feds a better value. Last year those who switched to WAEPA from FEGLI saved an average of $375 a year." This offer is only available until November 5, 2021, so help protect your family's future by visiting https://www.waepa.org/100k and applying for WAEPA's $100k Guaranteed Issue Group Term Life Insurance. About WAEPA Worldwide Assurance for Employees of Public Agencies (WAEPA), is a non-profit organization that's been providing Civilian Federal Employees with dependable life insurance since 1943. Formed for Feds, by Feds, WAEPA is committed to promoting the health, welfare, and financial well-being of all members. Today the organization provides more than $10 billion in coverage to help over 46,000 members protect the financial future of those they love. For more information, visit waepa.org, or give us a call at (800) 368-3484. Story continues Add up to $100K to your FEGLI coverage no medical exam or lab work required. Add up to $100K to your FEGLI coverage no medical exam or lab work required. Cision View original content:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/waepa-offers-civilian-federal-employees-additional-coverage-with-100-000-guaranteed-issue-life-insurance-program-301364826.html SOURCE WAEPA On the same day President Joe Biden announced vaccine mandates aimed at millions of American workers, a Virginia lawmaker introduced pandemic-related legislation aimed at plane and train riders. Rep. Don Beyer, a Democrat who represents the 8th District in Northern Virginia, introduced the Safe Travel Act on Thursday, which would require passengers, staff and contractors of Amtrak and airlines to provide vaccination proof or a recent negative COVID-19 test. Masks are already required on planes and trains. Beyer said in a news release that the proposed requirements are just common sense, describing them as easy steps we can take to make travel safer. Use of planes and trains plummeted during the pandemic last year. While more passengers are using those mass transit options now, the numbers remain low. Taking Virginia Railway Express as an example, ridership on the commuter rail service has grown, but remains only a fraction of pre-pandemic numbers. BELGRADE, Serbia (AP) It's in the European Union's strategic interests to integrate the Balkan states into the bloc, German Chancellor Angela Merkel said Monday as she urged Serbia and other countries in the region to do more on democratic reforms in order to join. The Western Balkan states which include Serbia, Bosnia, North Macedonia, Albania, Montenegro and Kosovo have for decades sought EU membership. But due to the blocs stalled interest in enlargement and the years of diplomatic crises the EU faced as Britain left the bloc, those Balkan nations have been left to seek other alliances, including with Russia and China. All of us who are already members of the European Union should always make clear to ourselves that there is an absolute geo-strategic interest for us to really include these countries into the EU, Merkel said at a joint news conference with Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic in the Serbian capital of Belgrade. Merkel noted the presence of other suitors for the Balkan nations. Remember Vitamin Cs Graduation (Friends Forever)? Well, the One of Us Is Lying trailer uses quite the haunting version of it, and we have a feeling the four high schoolers at the center of it probably wont be friends forever. Peacocks new mystery series premieres on Thursday, October 7 with the first three episodes. The next three will drop on October 14 and the last two on October 21. Based on Karen M. McManuss best-selling novel, One of Us Is Lying tells the story of what happens when five high schoolers walk into detention and only four make it out alive. Everyone is a suspect, and everyone has something to hide. The series stars Annalisa Cochrane (Addy), Chibuikem Uche (Cooper), Marianly Tejada (Bronwyn), Cooper van Grootel (Nate), Barrett Carnahan (Jake), Mark McKenna (Simon), Melissa Collazo (Maeve), and Jessica McLeod (Janae). Simon is the student who doesnt walk out alive and hes also the one who runs the gossip app. (Nobody at this school would get called out for anything if it werent for me, he claims.) As school gets back into session, he teases hell be taking down four of Bayviews biggest offenders and has enough dirt to bury them. That means all of them had a motive. Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) has run its first commercial flight to and from Kabul since the Taliban took over Afghanistan in mid-August. The Boeing 777 departed the Pakistani capital, Islamabad, as a commercial flight chartered by the World Bank, carrying officials from the bank and journalists, airline spokesman Abdullah Hafeez Khan said on September 13. The aircraft carried around 10 people, according to an AFP journalist aboard. First commercial flight lands after Qatar runs chartered flights to Kabul, a journalist with Qatar-based Al Jazeera wrote on Twitter, posting photos of the PIA plane on the Kabul airports tarmac. The Boeing later took off from Kabul airport, bound for Islamabad, with around 70 people on board, mostly Afghans who were relatives of staffers with international organizations, airport ground staff were quoted as saying. A chartered flight by a Qatar Airways jet that carried 200 people from Kabul on September 9 was the first passenger plane to fly out of Kabul airport since the Taliban took over the facility following the departure of the last U.S. troops there on August 30. The airport was severely damaged during the chaotic evacuation of more than 120,000 people that ended with the U.S. military withdrawal following a 20-year presence. The resumption of commercial flights will be a key test for the hard-line Islamist group, which has vowed to allow Afghans with proper documents to leave the war-torn country freely. Khan said that PIA charter flights would be operating on an as-needed basis and that the next one was scheduled for September 15. The airline was hopeful to resume regular commercial flight operations to Kabul soon, the spokesman said. PIA had been one of the only services which operated in the immediate aftermath of the Taliban's toppling of the Western-backed government in Kabul on August 15. PIA officials say at least 1,460 people of different nationalities were evacuated by the airline from August 15 to August 22. But on August 22 it "temporarily suspended" flights between Kabul and Islamabad due to a lack of facilities and "heaps of garbage" on the airstrip that if feared could lead to an accident. PIA had been operating five weekly flights to Kabul before the Taliban seized power. With reporting by AFP, Reuters, and dpa Thousands of journalists in Pakistan have protested in front of the parliament against a draft law they say will tighten government control over the media and undermine press freedom. Journalists conducted a sit-in protest overnight and continued into September 13 as the parliament opened for a new session in which it may approve the new law. The proposed bill would repeal existing media laws and replace them with a new regulatory authority, the Pakistan Media Development Authority (PMDA). The PMDA would have the power to shutter media organizations and envisions the establishment of tribunals to penalize journalists and media outlets for "defaming" military generals, judges, and government leaders. The International Press Institute said it fears the PMDA law would gravely weaken press freedom in Pakistan. The PMDA bill would expand state control over media and therefore undermine the watchdog role that the press must play in any democracy, IPI Deputy Director Scott Griffen said. Under the law, the government would also tighten its control over social media. The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan joined the protests and expressed concerns over what it called a draconian regulatory framework. Pakistan ranks near the bottom of global freedom indexes. Reporters Without Borders says the military cannot stand independent journalism and exerts strong pressure over the media, something that has increased since Imran Khan became prime minister in 2018. Several journalists have been the targets of violent attacks, while others have been tortured, kidnapped, intimidated, forced off-air, or have lost their jobs for criticizing the country's powerful military and intelligence agencies. Militant groups have also targeted the media. With reporting by dpa and Radio Mashaal The surprising speed with which the Taliban took control over most of Afghanistan after foreign forces began withdrawing from the country left Afghanistans neighbors in a difficult predicament. All of them had considered the possibility the militant group could seize power, but suddenly they needed to publicly state what their policy toward Taliban-ruled Afghanistan was. Generally, the response was that the Taliban in charge was the reality and the neighboring countries were willing to at least talk with these new leaders of Afghanistan. Except Tajikistan. Pakistan -- long a backer of the Taliban -- clearly welcomed the group's success in Afghanistan. China, Iran, Uzbekistan, and Turkmenistan all conceded there was nothing they could do about Afghan internal politics and held out hope that some form of cooperation with the Taliban might be possible. But Tajik authorities have taken a different position and that has raised questions about why Tajik President Emomali Rahmon and his government continue to make clear their strong opposition to a Taliban government in Afghanistan. First, it is worth remembering that Rahmon was Tajikistans leader more than 20 years ago when the Taliban had control of most of Afghanistan. None of the other current leaders in the countries bordering Afghanistan were in power when the Taliban was ousted by a U.S.-led military invasion in 2001. Rahmon supported a group led by ethnic Tajiks in Afghanistan who were fighting the Taliban in the late 1990s and he has given moral support to the ethnic Tajiks in Afghanistan now -- including the holdout group in the Panjshir Valley that continues to oppose Taliban rule. There is a large population of ethnic Tajiks in Afghanistan -- where they make up about 25 percent of the population -- and the Tajiks in Tajikistan feel a strong connection to them. That is not true of any of the other states neighboring Afghanistan. In fact, Rahmons public concern for the Tajiks in Afghanistan has earned the generally unpopular leader of Tajikistan some rare public support in his country, an important detail as he positions his eldest son, Rustam, to take over as president. Tajikistan's Civil War There is another reason it would be difficult for Rahmons government to publicly engage with the Taliban. During Tajikistans 1992-1997 civil war, the Islamic Renaissance Party of Tajikistan (IRPT) was the major group in an alliance of forces fighting against the Tajik government. The war ended with a peace agreement that provided for 30 percent of the positions in government to be filled by representatives of the wartime opposition. The IRPT was legalized and was the second largest party in Tajikistan after Rahmons Peoples Democratic Party of Tajikistan. The IRPT was also potentially the biggest threat to Rahmons increasing grip on power and in September 2015 -- after years of pressuring the IRPT and its leadership and whittling down its places in state bodies -- the government used a bizarre and vague incident involving a high-ranking officer in the Defense Ministry to make dubious claims that the IRPT had tried to stage a coup. The IRPT was quickly declared an extremist group and its activities banned in Tajikistan. The IRPT is an Islamic-based political party, but it is far more moderate than the Taliban. It is difficult to see how the Tajik government could establish ties with the Taliban, let alone consider recognizing a Taliban government, while continuing to hunt and repress members of the IRPT. And Tajikistans chief Islamic cleric, Saidmukarram Abdulkodirzoda, made it clear in a September 11 interview with state news agency Khovar that improving ties with the Taliban is out of the question. Islam is compassion and brotherhood," Abdulkodirzoda said. "But today the terrorist movement known as the Taliban call themselves an Islamic state and execute women, children, and brothers." Abdulkodirzoda had more to say and, since all of Tajikistans top clerics are carefully vetted by the government, his views can be taken as the governments views. The big question is how Rahmon and his government can feel so confident in confronting the Taliban. The answer to this is more difficult to discern. Tajikistan is, in terms of territory, the smallest of Afghanistans neighbors and economically it is the poorest. Though small, Tajikistans military has been receiving help from powerful countries for many years. Russia is the biggest supplier of arms to Tajikistan, but China has been increasing its aid to the country's armed forces for more than a decade. And the United States, NATO, the European Union, and the OSCE -- while not supplying weapons -- have been helping with money and equipment for border posts, surveillance equipment, winter and summer clothing, off-road vehicles, and other such items. None of that is likely to cow the Taliban or, more importantly for Tajikistan, some of the extremist groups that have been fighting alongside the Taliban for years, many with roots in Tajikistan. And Rahmon seems quite aware of this. Not many countries welcomed the Taliban coming to power in Afghanistan. Official press statements often express a fatalism about the turn of events, but there is not much enthusiasm for what has happened since the U.S.-led military withdrawal began on May 1. Tajikistans government is no doubt saying what many governments are thinking. The Carnegie Endowment's Paul Stronski mentioned this during a recent Majlis podcast and suggested Tajikistan is a messenger for the views of other countries. Tajik political expert Khairullo Mirsaidov agreed, telling RFE/RLs Tajik Service, known locally as Ozodi, Rahmon could not have made such a statement without Russian consent. Now that the United States has left the region, Russia does not want to give full control of Afghanistan to Pakistan. He added: It also gives momentum for Rahmon to take an opportunity for internal use of the topic, bringing him closer to his own people. Russia has a military base in Tajikistan and China has a small military post in the eastern part of the country. Both Moscow and Beijing have expressed confidence that it is possible to deal with the Taliban, but both are concerned by the presence of militants from their own countries who are in groups currently inside Afghanistan that are allied to the Taliban. And there are many countries with citizens still inside Afghanistan and the governments of those countries need to keep this in consideration when commenting on events in the country. After Rahmon said during an August 25 meeting with visiting Pakistani Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi that Tajikistan would not recognize any Afghan government that was seen as exclusive, he specifically mentioned that he expected ethnic Tajiks to be included. The next day, French President Emmanuel Macron invited Rahmon to visit Paris. Which proved that there are obviously some dividends to be gained by openly opposing Taliban rule in Afghanistan -- and Rahmon seems to appreciate that. RFE/RL Tajik Service Director Salimjon Aioubov contributed to this report Several local fire agencies enacted burn restrictions Monday in Colorado Springs, Manitou Springs and unincorporated El Paso County. July rains nourished grasses and weeds that an arid August left tinder-dry, prompting the policy shift that puts and end to some summer campfires and other activities. A recent spike in grass fires has also made the Colorado Springs Fire Department, El Paso County Sheriff's Office and Manitou Springs Fire Department fear conditions now allow flames to easily spread. Colorado Springs is 0.53 inches behind in precipitation for the month of September and the city lagged by 2.76 inches of rain in August, according to National Weather Service records. "We had a fairly wet spring...but now were moving into fall with unseasonably hot temperatures with very little moisture," Colorado Springs Fire Marshal Brett Lacey said. And if a major wildfire broke out in the Pikes Peak region, help might be hard to find. Fires burning in California and the northwest occupy much of the national resources available to help with fire response, Lacey said. In addition to blazes elsewhere burning through firefighting resources, the COVID-19 pandemic has put some first-responders on the sick list. The Colorado Springs ban prohibits fires in "undeveloped wildland areas." That means, no recreational fires, bonfires, smoking in city parks or use of internal combustion engines without a spark arrestor. Colorado Springs smokers can head to designated areas while permits are available from the fire agency for activities including launching model rockets, welding and commercial activities involving flames. Barbecue is still on the menu in Colorado Springs, where outdoor fireplaces and cooking devices with wood, pellets, charcoal, propane, fuel or natural gas are allowed within "developed areas" 15 feet away from vegetation and structures and within reach of a fire extinguisher. Penalties can be stiff for breaking the Colorado Springs ban, including a $2,500 fine and six months behind bars. El Paso County and Manitou Springs limited fires and campfires to those with permanent grates in developed areas or private residences, the agencies said. Smoking is also limited to indoor buildings vehicles and developed recreation sits in El Paso County. In Manitou, smoking is limited to indoor buildings and along Manitou Avenue. "Discarding of a lighted cigarette, cigar or pipe tobacco products is strictly prohibited," Manitou Springs warned. A man suspected of stealing more than 100,000 gallons of diesel fuel from Kum and Go locations throughout the state has been jailed, Colorado Springs police announced Monday. Officers say they arrested 24-year-old Jose Romero-Brizuela after a Kum and Go manager alerted police in April that a thief used stolen credit card numbers to buy "large amounts" of diesel fuel. The pattern began in Denver and was tracked in Colorado Springs and Fountain. Eventually police say they learned found that Romero-Brizuela used gift cards reencoded with stolen credit card numbers to buy fuel. Police said Romero-Brizuela was aided in the heists by an large, extra fuel tank in the bed of a pickup. Police say when they tracked down Romero-Brizuela, his pickup was carrying 750 gallons of diesel. At a pickup-friendly 20 mpg, that's enough diesel to drive from Colorado Springs to Waco, Texas and back about 10 times. Police booked Romero-Brizuela into the El Paso County jail on suspicion of crimes including theft and identity theft, where he remained Monday in lieu of $10,000 bail, jail records showed. Kum and Go lost over $410,000 dollars worth of diesel fuel, police said, which at current rates of an estimated $3.60 a gallon would add up to more than 100,000 gallons. Twenty 18-wheeler tanker trucks would be required to haul that much fuel, enough for more than 1,300 of those round-trips to Waco. Police haven't said what Romero-Brizuela may have done with all of the diesel. Editor's Note: This story was updated with the correct number of trips a 750 gallons of diesel tank could drive to Waco, Texas. FILE PHOTO: U.S. President Joe Biden pauses as he speaks about the death of AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka, during remarks at the White House in Washington, U.S. August 5, 2021. REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst/File Photo FILE PHOTO: U.S. President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris, not pictured, participate in a virtual meeting with Asia-Pacific nation leaders at the White House in Washington, U.S., March 12, 2021. REUTERS/Tom Brenner FILE PHOTO: Britain's Britain's Prince Andrew, Duke of York, looks on during the funeral of Britain's Prince Philip, husband of Queen Elizabeth, who died at the age of 99, on the grounds of Windsor Castle in Windsor, Britain, April 17, 2021. Chris Jackson/Pool via REUTERS/File Photo There has been a lot of heartbreak and devastation around our country and the world recently. From the events that unfolded in Afghanistan, to A protest in favor of Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA), Tuesday, Sept. 5, 2017, in front of the Texas Attorney General's office in Pharr, Texas. Our new age of fire | Writers on the Range Colorado Politics senior political reporter Joey Bunch is the senior correspondent and deputy managing editor of Colorado Politics. His 32-year career includes the last 16 in Colorado. He was part of the Denver Post team that won the Pulitzer Prize in 2013 and he is a two-time finalist. The city of Denver shut down Civic Center Park in early September 2021 because of concerns over safety and sanitation, Denver Parks and Recreation announced. The unemployment insurance system is set to get a tech makeover -- but it needs much more, the Biden administration says This story was originally published by ProPublica. The technologists who once overhauled the federal governments HealthCare.gov website after the disastrous rollout of Obamacare are now being deployed to help modernize and streamline the nations aging unemployment insurance system, which buckled under a pandemic-driven wave of legitimate and fraudulent claims. The U.S. Digital Service, an arm of the White House that works across the federal government to tackle big technological challenges, has embarked on a reconstruction that will cover the entire UI system, from initial claim filing to benefit appeals, according to a memo and presentation obtained by ProPublica through a public records request. We envision a future in which the federal government provides software that states may use to fully administer their UI program, the agency said in the June memo to state UI systems. The federal agency aims to deliver on that vision by creating shared software services that states can choose to plug into their UI operations to handle tasks such as claim intake, fraud prevention and identity-verification. If Congress boosts unemployment aid in the future, as it temporarily did during the pandemic, the software is intended to update to implement such changes instead of leaving it up to the states and territories to manually update their systems. A spokesperson for the U.S. Digital Service confirmed the agency is working on the modernization effort with the Department of Labor and said the project may evolve based on feedback from states. The technology overhaul is a central piece of a $2 billion plan, funded by the $1.9 trillion stimulus legislation signed into law by President Joe Biden in March, to strengthen the nations overburdened and fraud-plagued UI system as it emerges from the busiest period in its 86-year history. At stake is whether millions of Americans will again face delays, fraud and frustration the next time the economy is rocked and workers turn to jobless aid to help them get by. But even the agency spearheading the effort says broader, fundamental changes are needed, which can only come from Congress. To be completely honest, the administrative fixes that we are proposing here will certainly go a very long way to making things better, but its not going to be fixed unless theres underlying UI reform, said Michele Evermore, a deputy director of the newly established Office of Unemployment Insurance Modernization within the Labor Department. But, she added, its not all that we need to fix UI, frankly. Nearly $800 billion of jobless benefits helped some 53 million workers weather the economic disruption that accompanied the COVID-19 pandemic, according to Department of Labor figures. Thats more than 25 times what the system pays out in a typical non-recession year. As ProPublica reported in July, cybercriminals siphoned off tens, if not hundreds, of billions of those aid dollars and made it more difficult for legitimate claimants to get paid. A massive government effort, separate from the new UI technology plan, is underway to recover fraudulently obtained payments, including through the banking system. As part of that, the Department of Labor has asked states to aid law enforcement in recovering stolen funds through asset forfeiture, according to emails obtained through a public records request. A dozen federal agencies are involved in the initiative, according to the Secret Service, which has recovered about $1.1 billion through asset forfeitures in this fiscal year. Thats about 11 times the normal volume, according to figures provided by the agency. The special pandemic unemployment benefits that powered the surge in aid, and attracted much of the fraud, expired on Labor Day. That ended assistance for more than 8 million Americans, according to estimates by the Century Foundation, a nonpartisan think tank thats been tracking pandemic unemployment aid. With the initial pandemic economic crisis receding, the government is now facing a recurring challenge: how to fix the system so that Americans will have an easier time getting jobless aid during the next downturn and fraud will be less rampant. That question came up on Capitol Hill when Secretary of Labor Marty Walsh testified at a budget hearing this spring. A California lawmaker told Walsh that it often feels like Groundhog Day when the unemployment insurance system breaks down during a crisis: The failure is followed by plans to fix the system, which dont come to fruition, after which the same problems recur during the next economic downturn. Walsh said the administration would start by shoring up the system using the $2 billion allocated by Congress in the stimulus bill. Those plans include the U.S. Digital Service tech overhaul. (An August announcement included one sentence noting the agencys involvement but had no further detail on its role.) The $2 billion will also be used to procure identity verification software to help states root out fake claims and prevent fraud. And funds will be allotted to improve claimant outreach and customer service, including by clearing backlogs of unpaid claims. A Thompson man has died after an officer-involved shooting in Winnebago County on Saturday. On Sept. 11, at approximately 7:01 p.m., the Winnebago County Iowa Sheriffs Office dispatch took a report of an alleged assault taking place at the Leisure Manor, located at 164 Van Buren St. in Thompson. The Winnebago County Sheriffs Office responded to the call. Deputy Josh Douglas arrived on the scene and encountered James Anderson, 48, who was a resident at the address. Anderson was armed with a loaded 9 millimeter handgun, according to a press release from Iowa Department of Public Safety (DPS). Anderson admitted the 911 call was a ruse and that there was no assault at the address. Support Local Journalism Your membership makes our reporting possible. {{featured_button_text}} The DPS release said that Anderson was "despondent over a recent medical diagnosis." Anderson refused to put down the gun as officers negotiated with him for 10 minutes, according to the DPS. He later "pointed his weapon in the direction of officers and was shot one time," according to the release. Anderson later died from his injuries. SEATTLE (AP) Washington is facing its own COVID-19 crisis and has little capacity to help neighboring Idaho deal with an overwhelming surge of cases driven by unvaccinated people, state hospital executives and doctors said Monday. Taya Briley, executive vice president of the Washington State Hospital Association, called the situation very sobering during a media briefing, saying Washington faces its worst COVID wave since the pandemic began even before big recent events like fall fairs and a return to school. Hospitals are canceling necessary surgeries and taking longer to deal with heart attacks and strokes because COVID patients are taking up so many beds. Nearly 1,700 patients are hospitalized with COVID, up from 350 in June and early July before the delta variant's spread among the unvaccinated drove the spike, Briley said. More than 95% of hospitalized patients are unvaccinated a staggering amount of unnecessary suffering, Briley said. Some 260 patients are on ventilators. When you walk down a hall that is full of COVID patients, it becomes very real, Briley said. These patients cannot catch their breath. ... They are, in effect, drowning. Its horrible for the patients and its also something that causes horrible anguish for our staff. RICHMOND A global conservation nonprofit and Virginia's largest electricity utility announced plans Monday to develop what they say will be a large-scale solar project on former surface mines in the southwest Virginia coalfields. Dominion Energy Virginia plans to repurpose about 1,200 acres (486 hectares) of the former Red Onion surface mine and surrounding properties for the 50-megawatt Highlands Solar project in Wise and Dickenson County, the company said in a news release with its project partner, The Nature Conservancy. The project will be developed within The Nature Conservancy's Cumberland Forest Project, a land conservation initiative launched in 2019, and adjacent areas. Brad Kreps, director of The Nature Conservancys Clinch Valley Program, said in a statement the hope is the project will develop a model that can be replicated in other coal mining regions across the U.S. Construction would tentatively begin in 2024 or 2025, subject to review and approval from state regulators. While it was officially recorded Saturday, the latest death likely occurred weeks earlier. Health officials must wait for an official death certificate before labeling a fatality related to COVID-19. Also, beyond basic demographic details, very few details are known to the public when someone dies of the virus. The entire state of Virginia was under the CDCs high-risk zone for COVID-19 transmission on Monday morning. With that definition, the federal agency says everyone should wear a mask in public indoor settings. In Danville and Pittsylvania County, there were 168 cases added Saturday to Monday, raising the rolling 7-day average to 71. However, the current figures of COVID-19 infections the highest since February are likely lower than reality, the Virginia Health Department reported Friday. Not everyone with COVID-19 develops illness; as a result they may not seek medical treatment and then are not tested, health officials wrote in a blog post. For persons who do get sick, not everyone has access to or will seek medical treatment. That could mean people are spreading the virus without even knowing they are sick. Also, there are those who have COVID-19 symptoms but wont get tested to confirm their illness. Barrett described the court as a warm, collegial place. She said that after she was confirmed a colleague brought Halloween candy for her children. The first mother of school-age children on the nine-member court also spoke about balancing her job and family life. I have an important job, but I certainly am no more important than anyone else in the grocery store checkout line, Barrett said, describing how her relationship with her children who are not particularly impressed with her high-profile post helps her stay grounded in her regular life" where she is busy running carpools, throwing birthday parties, being ordered around." When asked what advice she would give to young women who would like to pursue a career in public service, the justice said she would like young women to know it is possible to raise a family and be successful. Barrett was confirmed by the Senate in a 52-48 vote last year, a little over a month after Ginsburg's death. WASHINGTON (AP) The campaign organization aiming to maintain Democratic control of the House in the 2022 midterm races raised $10 million last month, its best August haul ever during a year without a national election. The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee says that nearly 250,000 grassroots donors provided $6.6 million, accounting for two-thirds of its monthly total, according to numbers shared with The Associated Press before a public filing deadline. That total included transfers worth more than $1 million from other Democratic campaign accounts. The largest, from House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, was worth nearly $800,000. The committee's fundraising last month topped its last off-year August, in 2019, by more than $2.8 million, and it entered September debt-free and with $53.3 million cash on hand. The National Republican Congressional Committee said its August figures weren't yet available, but announced raising $7 million in July compared to the $11.3 million its Democratic counterpart collected over the same month. There is also a national school bus driver shortage at a time when other groups, such as municipal transit agencies and trucking firms, are looking for drivers as well. Support Local Journalism Your subscription makes our reporting possible. {{featured_button_text}} Though the far-left NCAE wishes it were so, the bus driver shortage is not unique to North Carolina, so its clear this activist group is yet again trying to stir the pot to muster opposition to Republicans, Lauren Horsch, a spokeswoman for Senate leader Phil Berger, said in a statement. Schools across North Carolina have millions of dollars in federal COVID-19 recovery money at their fingertips that can be used for bonuses. This is just another publicity stunt from the NCAE to try and convince the public its relevant despite its membership plummeting. Last week, the Durham school board backed a plan to offer the highest pay for school bus drivers in the region. Drivers will make $17 an hour. Those with 30 years of experience will make $24 an hour. Our employees are the heart and soul of Durham Public Schools, Superintendent Pascal Mubenga said in a statement. These raises demonstrate our respect for the hard work our bus drivers do every day. The Durham vote comes as Chapel Hill-Carrboros school district announced it will offer a $4,000 recruitment bonus for new bus drivers. FORT BRAGG People with ideas on what they think the new name for Fort Bragg should be need to start submitting ideas sooner than later. Col. Scott Pence, Fort Braggs garrison commander, has spent the week talking with residents about how the process to rename the countrys most populated military installation came about and whats next. Its part of a congressional mandate to rebrand all Army installations that are named after Confederate leaders. Fort Bragg was established as Camp Bragg in 1918 and named after Gen. Braxton Bragg, a North Carolina native who served during the Mexican-American War and also was a slave owner who fought for the Confederacy during the Civil War. Former President Donald Trump vetoed the National Defense Authorization Act, which was overridden by Congress in January to require the changes no later than 2023 for nine installations. The urgency of receiving community input, Pence said, is because the House Armed Services Committee and Senate Armed Services Committee are asking for an updated report by October along with possible ideas on what to rename the post. Support Local Journalism Your subscription makes our reporting possible. {{featured_button_text}} RALEIGH When the COVID-19 pandemic hit their rural community, Weldon City Schools raced to give its pupils the tools they needed to quickly transition to virtual learning. The district set up internet hotspots for those without connectivity at home and had staff deliver meals to students. It also drew on some of the funds to improve air quality in three schools, install touchless bathroom faucets and buy lots of cleaning supplies and protective equipment. The public school system of less than 800 students is among North Carolinas largest recipients of federal COVID-19 assistance since the start of the pandemic, securing nearly $11,000 per pupil a total of more than $8.7 million. Since March 2020, the federal government has provided $190 billion in pandemic aid to schools, an amount that is more than four times what the U.S. Education Department spends on K-12 schools in a typical year. The Associated Press, relying on data published or provided by states and the federal government, tallied how much money was granted to nearly every school district in the country. The AP tracked about $155 billion sent to states to distribute among schools since last year, including general pandemic relief that some states shared with their schools. On Thursday, it announced 5 mercenary groups deployed in the areas occupied by Turkey; Its merger under a new military bloc called the "Syrian Liberation Front", in addition to the announcement of the "Azim Operations Room" before that. The announcement came a day after out of blue visit by Turkish Defense Minister Hulusi Akar for the first time to the occupied areas in northern Syria. Specifically, the Azaz region, met the leaders of mercenary groups, according to local sources. Akar's visit came hours after a deterrent operation carried out by the Al-Bab Military Council on September 7 against a military base of the Turkish occupation, which led to the killing and wounding of 40 Turkish soldiers and mercenaries and the destruction of fortifications in the village of Al-Yashli near the city of Al-Bab, according to a statement issued by the council. "Syrian Liberation Front"... Formation and objectives Under the announced new umbrella, the names of groups that were named after criminals at the highest levels during the war years in the country fall. The front initially consists of 5 groups, namely the "Al-Hamza Division (Al-Hamzat) - Sultan Suleiman Shah Brigade - Al-Mu'tasim Division - 20 Division - Suqur Al-Shamal", as the two factions Suleiman Shah and Al-Hamzat form the mainstay of this front. Hamza Division The division was established on April 23, 2016 and under the supervision of Turkish intelligence, 5 groups based in the town of Mare in the northern countryside of Aleppo governorate, (Al-Hamza Brigade, Dhi Qar Brigade, Northern Thunder Brigade, Mare Al-Samoud Brigade, and Special Tasks Brigade), merged to form Hamza band. At the beginning of 2014, the Global Coalition provided logistical support to this group through Turkey, while that support stopped months later without explaining the reasons. The division adopts an extremist Islamic ideology that is hostile to the West, and works within the framework of the return of Ottoman rule to the countries of the Middle East. The division, as one of the most effective groups at the time, accompanied the Turkish occupation army during the latters occupation of the Syrian territories after ISIS mercenaries handed over the city of Jarablus and its countryside to the Turkish occupation in August 2016. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights says that "many ISIS mercenaries joined the mercenaries of (Al-Hamza Division), which announced at the end of 2017, its involvement with the mercenaries of the so-called "National Army", which receives its instructions and orders directly from Turkey. Sultan Suleiman Shah Brigade Most of the mercenaries within the faction come from Turkmen villages in northern Syria, and the division is currently led by the mercenary Muhammad al-Jassem, nicknamed "Abu Amsha". The division was formed in Turkey in the spring of 2016, and participated in the process of occupying various areas in northern Syria, especially the Afrin canton and the Jarablus region. Despite international condemnation and local distress as a result of criminal operations over the past years, the faction continues to carry out killings and kidnappings, especially in the occupied canton of Afrin, where nearly 7,500 people have been kidnapped so far, according to the human rights organization in the canton. Things did not differ for the Syrians, as video clips and pictures of former ISIS mercenaries fighting alongside the Turkish occupation army in controlling the cities of north and east Syria, amid international silence, proved, in addition to the retaliatory operations whose approach and method of implementation do not differ from what ISIS did. Mercenaries from these groups played a role in the process of releasing ISIS accused of war crimes from the prisons of the Syrian Democratic Forces and who later took refuge in Turkey, during the aggression on the areas of Gire Spi / Tal Abyad and Sere Kaniye / Ras al-Ain. 'Sifting groups... and introducing personalities who maintain loyalty to Turkey' The writer and political activist Muhammed Amin Suwaid believes that the Turkish occupation "is re-sifting the groups and choosing the groups led by figures who owe absolute loyalty to the point of slandering the Turkish occupation. This new front is expected to end the small groups and organize the region in light of the chaos." According to Muhammad Suwaid, Turkey sees the region as a "human reservoir, which it uses to carry out its dirty work outside Turkey." Turkey transferred 13,000 Syrian mercenaries from the Hamzah and Sultan Suleiman Shah factions from the occupied areas through its lands to Libya; between 2019 and 2021; According to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, to fight alongside the Government of National Accord against the Libyan National Army. The observatory stated earlier that the number of Syrian mercenaries who arrived in Azerbaijan, supported by Turkey, to fight against Armenia in the Nagorno-Karabakh region last year exceeded 2,000, while 231 mercenaries were killed in those battles, documented by names. 'A step may be followed by merging with Hay'at Tahrir al-Sham' Political activist Muhammad Suwaid explains the formation of the body called the "Syrian Liberation Front" as "a proactive step in the process that Turkey seeks to merge the northern Syrian groups with Hay'at Tahrir al-Sham, and to form a unified military body throughout the areas occupied by Turkey." Turkey transferred 13,000 Syrian mercenaries from the Hamzah and Sultan Suleiman Shah factions from the occupied areas through its lands to Libya; between 2019 and 2021; According to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, to fight alongside the Government of National Accord against the Libyan National Army. The observatory stated earlier that the number of Syrian mercenaries who arrived in Azerbaijan, supported by Turkey, to fight against Armenia in the Nagorno-Karabakh region last year exceeded 2,000, while 231 mercenaries were killed in those battles, documented by names. 'A step may be followed by merging with Hay'at Tahrir al-Sham' Political activist Muhammad Suwaid explains the formation of the body called the "Syrian Liberation Front" as "a proactive step in the process that Turkey seeks to merge the northern Syrian groups with Hay'at Tahrir al-Sham, and to form a unified military body throughout the areas occupied by Turkey." Signs of this became clear when the commander of the Sultan Suleiman Shah Brigade, the mercenary Muhammad Al-Jassem, stated on the 7th of this month, that they were "ready to reach an understanding with Hay'at Tahrir al-Sham and to confront the attacks of the Syrian regime and its allies in the Idlib region together." While Suwaid points out that "the process of merging the military formations cannot end the existing state of dispersion, explaining that the leaders of the groups will compete for positions in the new formation and chaos will reign in that formation again." wordplay The roles of the groups do not differ according to their names and the invention of other names. Although umbrellas and groups have been repeatedly announced, the numbers and documents, along with pictures and clips circulating, show the extent of chaos in the areas occupied by Turkey and the mercenary groups. According to observers, Turkey is seeking, during the current stage, to show the northern regions as safe, in light of the ongoing fighting between groups, and to cover up crimes and violations by showing new names. Similar to the Turkish-backed al-Nusra Front in Syria, which changed its name to Fatah al-Sham Front and announced its disassociation from al-Qaeda in the summer of 2016, the Turkish policy continues to change names in light of the bloody practices under Turkish auspices in the occupied areas. The Turkish state played the same game with ISIS and Al-Nusra before, after using it in Mosul, Shingal, Kobani, Raqqa and other places, it spread to world public opinion as if it was against these gangs, however, pictures of Turkish soldiers and ISIS spread together on the Turkish-Syrian border in those years, and the fact that the Turkish Consulate in Mosul was moved to Turkey via the city of Gire Spi / Tal Abyad by ISIS alone, clearly revealed the partnership between Turkey and ISIS. Al-Nusra as well as ISIS are organizations recognized as terrorist all over the world. However, the only force behind this mercenary group is the Turkish state led by Erdogan. The Turkish state, which changed the name of these groups to the Al-Fateh Movement and then to Hayat Tahrir Al-Sham in order to wash away its crimes and use them in the occupation and genocide in the region, has actively used these gangs to occupy the areas of northern and eastern Syria. Where these bloody and anti-human gangs united under the roof of the Syrian National Army during the occupation of Serekaniye and Gire Spi and carried out all kinds of crimes of looting, genocide, harassment and rape. This time, as Turkey called them the "Syrian Liberation Front", they are trying to be exonerated by their successor Erdogan, but the truth is clear and regardless of the name of these bloody gangs made up of ISIS / Al-Nusra remnants, their crimes against all humanity, especially the Kurdish and Arab peoples, have been proven. The crimes they committed yesterday and today are a guarantee for the crimes they will commit tomorrow in the name of the "Syrian Liberation Front". Bloody years...lived by the occupied areas under the control of mercenary groups. In September last year, the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights reported on war crimes and other violations of international law committed by mercenary groups affiliated with Turkey in the occupied areas of northern Syria. The High Commissioner clarified for the first time that Turkey committed war crimes by using Syrian mercenaries from the so-called "Syrian National Army" in the areas it had previously occupied, following the detailed report issued by the UN Independent International Commission of Inquiry on September 14 of the same year, accompanied by pictures from satellites. Turkey allowed through its territory more than 40,000 ISIS militants to cross into Syria, coming from 110 countries around the world between 2014 and 2016, according to what the former US special envoy to the international coalition against ISIS, Brett McGurk, confirmed in a tweet on his Twitter. From some areas in northern Syria, it "caused killings, kidnappings, looting and forced displacement in areas controlled by Turkey." According to statistics circulated by human rights organizations and local media; The Turkish attack on the areas of Afrin, Sere Kaniye / Ras al-Ain, and Gire Spi / Tal Abyad in northern Syria, caused the displacement of nearly 700,000 Syrian citizens from their homes, most of them Kurds, in the largest process of demographic change in Syria since 2011. According to the Human Rights Organization in the regions of Al-Jazira and Afrin; Nearly 500,000 settlers have been settled in the occupied areas by Turkey, drawn from the conflict areas in Syria, in addition to the establishment of informal camps due to the overcrowding of the population. Meanwhile, the security chaos and the continuous fighting between mercenary groups have killed hundreds of civilians during the last 3 years. A ANHA Cech said it is a testament to the efforts being made to ensure Carroll College is accessible and affordable for all who seek a four-year or graduate education. With 99% of our students receiving some form of institutional aid coupled with the most competitive merit scholarships in the region, Carroll is committed to serving our most promising students regardless of financial need," he said. "Plus, the full benefits offered through our Yellow Ribbon program provide an affordable pathway for our veterans and their dependents. The full-time annual tuition for 2021-22 is $36,906 and total billable expenses are $48,522, which includes room, board, books and travel. Cech said the average gift aid for the college of 1,148 students was $24,844 in 2020-21 and the average financial aid award (including student loans but not parent loans) was $29,142. A common myth is that Carroll is too expensive, he said. Montanas population was listed as 1,084,255 and the state grew enough to gain a congressional seat. Montana crossed that threshold by 6,300 residents. Minnesota held onto its congressional seats by 26 people and New York lost a seat by coming up 89 short. Montana grew by 9.6% in those 10 years, or 94,810 residents. The Census found that 78.4% of the state's residents are 18 and over. It also found that 88.8% of residents are white, 6.2% are American Indian, 0.8% are Asian and 0.5% are Black. Mary Craigle, with the research and information bureau for the Montana Department of Commerce, met with the Helena City Commission in June, to discuss the pending release of the numbers. This pandemic did everything it could to disrupt every plan we had for the Census, she said, adding at one time there were 600 people and a slew of groups, including libraries, across the state getting the job done. Without all those efforts we never would have made it, she said. "It's a good thing and we applaud the governor and his team for doing that," Rasmussen said. The Governor's Office told the Montana State News Bureau this week the National Guard is expected to be available to assist hospitals in the coming weeks, but 800 soldiers are meanwhile preparing to deploy in October for overseas support missions. To fill the need for additional staffing at Montana's hospitals, the state has begun turning to volunteers to fill non-clinical roles in staffing requests. Rasmussen said hospitals have received documentation from Montana Disaster and Emergency Services to guide them through the process of vetting volunteers and putting them to work. "Our hospitals are going through the process right now of requesting staffing assistance and they're following up with other needs and putting it through the appropriate request portals," Rasmussen said. "The only way we're going to be able to flex through this is the continued relationship between our large hospitals and critical access hospitals and our ability to load balance patients." A spokesperson for the Governor's Office did not respond to an email asking if Gianforte is considering a new declaration of emergency that would put National Guard soldiers on highways to connect gaps in the supply chain. A Montana "right-to-work" group on Monday filed a lawsuit to strike down the state's Clean Campaign Act, arguing it contains a provision that violates political speech protections. Montana Citizens for Right to Work filed the lawsuit in U.S. District Court in Helena against Montana Commissioner of Political Practices Jeff Mangan. So-called "right-to-work" laws prohibit the requirement that non-union members contribute to the cost of union representation. The filing appears to be a preemptive strike at the state's top political cop, claiming Mangan is preparing a civil prosecution against Montana Citizens for Right to Work for violating laws on notifying candidates if a negative mailer is sent out within 10 days of Election Day. Mangan said Monday he had not seen the lawsuit and declined to comment on pending litigation. The group sent out 16,000 campaign mailers in 20 different legislative districts on Oct. 28, 2020 that distinguished the candidates in each race by their opinions on right-to-work laws. On Oct. 30, a senior advisor for the Montana Democratic Party filed a complaint with Mangan's office alleging the right-to-work group did not notify candidates of the mailers distributed within 10 days of the election, as required in the Fair Notice provision, a part of the Clean Campaign Act. Im not quite sure what to make of our governors attitude toward Covid-19. He talks about personal responsibility. To me being responsible means taking into account the best information available. Our best source of information is the CDC. Their recommendations are clear, get vaccinated. The governor is encouraging vaccination. But, he and his administration are strangely silent on the misinformation running wild among some of our neighbors. I dont know how many Montanans are considering taking horse de-wormer? Shouldnt our state health department be addressing use of horse de-wormer? And, it would seem the administration would be addressing the emerging crises in our healthcare system? I know our governor had a bout of Covid-19. My guess is that he is regularly tested. Im certain he has access to excellent medical care. As a state employee, he has access to insurance. As governor, he is well protected. He can go to the front of the line anytime. As I write, there is a news report of a daily 1,000 new cases. Hospitals are reporting their ability to provide care is being compromised. Where is the leadership that will get us through this? Ken Taylor Helena Love 14 Funny 16 Wow 0 Sad 5 Angry 0 MILAN (AP) An Israeli-French-American Holocaust survivor and historian and a U.S. scientist specializing in gut bacteria were among the recipients this years Balzan Prizes, recognizing scholarly and scientific achievements, announced on Monday. Saul Friedlander, who has taught at both the University of California, Los Angeles and Tel Aviv University, was awarded the prize for Holocaust and Genocide Studies for his work broadening the perspective on the history of the Holocaust. Friedlander, 88, was born in Prague in 1932 in a non-religious Jewish family, which fled to France after the German occupation in March 1939. His parents hid him in a Catholic boarding school near Vichy, where they were later captured and sent to Auschwitz. With his parents agreement, Friedlander was baptized as a Catholic and later, out of his own conviction, considered becoming a priest. After he learned in 1946 that his parents had been killed at Auschwitz, Friedlander reclaimed his Jewish identity. He later said, for the first time, I felt Jewish. Friedlander received the Pulitzer Prize in general non-fiction in 2008 for The Years of Extermination: Nazi Germany and the Jews, 1939-1945, the second volume in his history of Jews in Hitlers Germany. He was named a MacArthur Fellow in 1999, after the publication of the first volume covering the period from 1933-39 and has also been awarded the Dan David Prize recognizing outstanding achievement in interdisciplinary research. Recommended for you Friedlander was recognized for examining the persecution of all Jews in Europe, going beyond country-focused studies that had preceded him, and for making personal documents accepted in scholarly practice. His authority is special in the sense that he is both a scholar and a victim of the Holocaust. He says that you can study your own experiences in a critical way, said Marjan Schwegman, a Dutch historian who announced the prize. The way he integrates the voices of victims, perpetrators and bystanders in this narrative has changed the way historians write about the history of the Holocaust. The Balzan Foundation awards two prizes in the sciences and two in the humanities each year, rotating specialties to highlight new or emerging areas of research and sustain fields that might be overlooked elsewhere. Recipients receive 750,000 Swiss francs ($815,000), half of which must be used for research, preferably by young scholars or scientists. Jeffrey Gordon, a biologist and director of the Center for Genome Science at the Washington University in Saint Louis, was awarded for founding the field of human microbiome research and revolutionizing its role on human health and disease. Prior to Gordons pioneering work in the 1990s, just 20 papers were published every decade on the microbiome, or the estimated 2 kilograms (4.4 pounds) of microbiota living in each adult, including on the skin, in the nose and gut, according to Jules Hoffman, a Nobel Prize winner in medicine who announced the award. That expanded to 4,000 papers a decade after 2000 and is now up to 80,000 every 10 years. It has become a very hot topic in science, Hoffman said. Gordon has expanded his research in the last decade to malnutrition, a primary reason for disease in children under 5, including the possibility of combating the deleterious impact of malnutrition through fecal microbiome transplants, Hoffman said. Italian physicist Alessandra Buonanno and French physicist Thibault Damour were recognized for work that was instrumental in the detection of gravitational waves, which has helped to promote a type of astronomy that uses gravitational waves as new, powerful messengers of the universe,'' the Balzan prize committee said. Buonanno, 52, is director of the Max Planck Institute for Gravitational Physics in Potsdam, Germany, and holds a research professorship at the University of Maryland, College Park and honorary professorships at the Humboldt University in Berlin and the University of Potsdam. Damour, 70, has been a professor of theoretical physics at the Institut des Haute Etudes Scientifique in Bures-sur-Yvette France since 1989. The Balzan Committee has not yet reached consensus on the prize for Art and Archaeology of the Ancient Near East, but officials said they hope to do so before the prizes are presented in Rome on Nov. 18 by Italys president, Sergio Mattarella. Next years prizes will be awarded in moral philosophy, ethnomusicology, biomaterials for nanomedicine and tissue engineering and glaciation and ice-sheet dynamics. Copyright 2021 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission. Love 0 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 0 LINCOLN The story of the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier is one everyone should know, and the Abraham Lincoln chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution is doing its part to see that they do. A replica of the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier was placed on display Monday at the American Legion 263 in Lincoln. It will remain in the location from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. Tuesday and Wednesday for the public to see. The display is half the size of the real tomb in Arlington National Cemetery in Arlington, Virginia. The crypts of unknown soldiers for other wars are also on display. The exhibit, organized by the American Committee of the Exchange Club of Rome, Georgia, was invited to the area through the request of the local Daughters of the American Revolution chapter. We are celebrating our 125th anniversary of our chapter, said Marge Aper, chapter regent for the DAR. We decided to do a service project for the community. Recommended for you The Tomb of the Unknown Soldier is also celebrating its 100th anniversary. We felt that the combination of the two would be a great way to celebrate both, Aper said. DAR service areas include historic preservation, education and patriotism. The Tomb of the Unknown Soldier replica display meets all of the criteria, according to Aper. Lincoln is very, very strong in supporting our veterans, she said. Its just a very patriotic community. West Lincoln Broadwell Junior High School social studies teacher Curtis Conrady brought his seventh-grade class to see the exhibit and learn more about its history. We actually talk about this during Veterans Day, he said. Theyve heard about this, but theyve never really seen it in real life. Bill King, a member of the American Committee of the Exchange Club of Rome, Georgia, discussed the details of the original Tomb of the Unknown Soldier and the representation of the replica. As a veteran and teacher, King is a part of the organizations education arm celebrating the centennial of the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. For the past three years, weve been to 26 states, shown the tomb at over a distance of about 50,000 miles, he said. According to King, the organization reaches out to students such as Conradys, to stress the importance of the historic monument. Without the sacrifices of the men that this represents, we would not have the freedoms that we enjoy in this country, King said. The local display also features American flags, wreaths and memorabilia. King explained the importance of the tombs features and the job of the guards. That particular ground area around that tomb is considered the most hallowed and respected ground in America because of that grave and the others that joined him in later wars, he said. The top of the replica is made of composite material while poplar wood is used as the base. The faux tomb was built using the original blueprints with the full dimensions, according to King. That way we could pare it down to 50 percent scale, he said. This one weighs 450 pounds. The original Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, weighing 56 tons, was erected after World War I to honor the unknown soldiers who fought and died in the war. In 1921, Congress provided the money to build the tomb. At the same time, they started the process of trying to select one unknown that would be able to represent all of the unknowns from World War I without anybody knowing where that person came from, so that he was truly representing all of our unknowns, King said. Four military cemeteries in France held the bodies of American soldiers who died during that war. We buried almost all of our dead, both known and unknown, in France, King said. Teams went to each cemetery to exhume one unknown soldier. They placed the four bodies in their own caskets with no markings. One was selected to represent all unknown soldiers. The other three soldiers were buried again in one French cemetery. The selected Unknown Soldier was escorted back to the United States where President Warren Harding presided over the service and represented his family. The soldier received several awards during the ceremony. The other unknown soldiers, killed during World War II, the Korean War and Vietnam War, are also represented at the Lincoln American Legion. The Vietnam War crypt in Virginia is empty, according to King. In 1998, the remains were identified. With no other unknown soldiers, the tomb remains empty. I hope everybody gets the chance to see what it looks like if you are never going to see the real one, King said. Hopefully you will, because youll have a completely different feeling after youve witnessed the changing of the guard. Contact Donnette Beckett at (217) 421-6983. Follow her on Twitter: @donnettebHR Love 0 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 0 Want to see more like this? Get our local education coverage delivered directly to your inbox. Sign up! * I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy. DECATUR A Decatur man who opened fire on a city street was tracked down after his car license plate information was captured on the towns new FLOCK security camera system. Sworn Decatur police affidavits said the 20-year-old suspect had also been recorded on other security cameras retrieving a gun from his car parked in the 1400 block of East Hickory Street on the night of Sept. 5 before opening fire on a group of fleeing men. Officer Jordan Jinks said the suspect and two other men had earlier been seen on tape to duck for cover in response to the sounds of shots being fired in their vicinity. (The 20-year-old) is observed entering the car and retrieving a handgun before firing two shots towards the northwest corner of 1420 East Hickory Street where several subjects had been observed fleeing towards moments earlier, added Jinks. The three men are then described as jumping into the car and fleeing themselves, but that was when the FLOCK camera system snapped pictures of the license plate, allowing police to track the suspect as the cars registered owner. Numerous spent shell casings were also later recovered from the scene of the shootings, according to Jinks. Recommended for you Officers found the 20-year-old Saturday afternoon sitting on the front porch of a house in the 1700 block of North Church Street. A second affidavit, signed by Officer Charles Lane, said the man resisted arrest and fought being placed into handcuffs. Once overpowered and stowed in a squad car, he suddenly produced a cell phone and was trying to make a call on it as officers fought to get the phone away from him. (He) then bit the top of the forearm of an officer. The officer pulled his arm away from him and the bite did not break the skin, Lane added. The man was booked on preliminary charges of the aggravated discharge of a firearm and being a felon in possession of a firearm. Additional charges include aggravated battery to a peace officer and resisting/obstructing a peace officer. All preliminary charges are subject to review by the state's attorneys office. Police said a check of records showed that the man is serving an 18-month sentence of probation for a previous conviction of the aggravated unlawful use of a weapon. Macon County Jail records Monday showed the man remained jailed with bail set at $530,000, meaning he must post a bond of $53,000 to be released. Contact Tony Reid at (217) 421-7977. Follow him on Twitter: @TonyJReid Love 0 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 0 Be the first to know Get local news delivered to your inbox! Sign up! * I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy. SPRINGFIELD, Ill. Lawmakers are considering whether to put a statue on state Capitol grounds of Ronald Reagan, the Illinois native who served as the country's 40th president. Members of the House Statue and Monument Review Task Force met Wednesday to discuss Reagan's legacy and whether to memorialize him at the statehouse in Springfield, where there are statues of two of the four U.S. presidents who were either born in Illinois or launched their political careers in the state, the Chicago Sun-Times reported. There are statues of Abraham Lincoln and Ulysses Grant on the Capitol grounds, but no statues of Reagan or Barack Obama, who started his political career in the Illinois Legislature. Reagan was born in Tampico and raised in Dixon. He later had an acting career in Hollywood before becoming governor of California. Rep. Mary Flowers, a Chicago Democrat who serves as chairwoman of the task force, said whether we agree with his policies or not ... (Reagan) had a profound impact on the direction of this country. Recommended for you She noted Reagan's made-for-TV presidency produced images and ideas that remain with the U.S. today for better or worse. His It's Morning Again in America campaign ad created an idealistic vision of the country, she said, but he also is credited with the offensive phrase welfare queen." This image has also stuck, not because it was true ... but because it was a convenient way to celebrate Morning in America without having to acknowledge the nightmare of systematic racism, that is also very much a part of our history, Flowers said. Republican state Rep. Tim Butler of Springfield said honoring a figure like Reagan is about acknowledging the great things the person has done but also questions about the actions they've taken. Everyone has mixed legacies and mixed things they've done, Butler said. The task force will continue to take public comment and discuss the idea. Josem Diaz, the vice president for institutional advancement at Reagans alma mater Eureka College, would like to see a statue of a young Reagan on the state capitol grounds. He said Reagan's story of growing up in a low-income family and going to the central Illinois college on a need-based scholarship transcends party lines. (The) Eureka College narrative about President Reagan is not political, Republican or Democratic, it is not about all the good he did as a politician or the mistakes he made like many leaders make, even U.S. presidents, Diaz said. It is about the opportunity, and that is the story here, to remind our young generations to come that anyone from any walk of life or any first generation student can aspire to be the next president of the United States. Love 0 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 0 The Magenheimers have a long history in Montgomery County. Not only is Shannon from here originally, together the couple founded New River Coffee Company in 2002, which had locations in the mall and what is today LewisGale Montgomery Hospital. They sold that business which continues to operate in the Uptown Mall when Shannon got offered a job at a resort in Washington state. Jason eventually took a position at a high-end boutique hotel in downtown Bend, Oregon, where he worked for a dozen years in luxury hospitality. Theyve brought their extensive hospitality experience to The Oaks, where Jason has instituted a soap menu for guests featuring artisan products imported from Oregon. A pillow menu is also in the works, so guests can choose what will give them the best nights sleep, he said. And The Oaks has its own custom bathrobes made for plush comfort. Jason can still pull an excellent espresso shot, too a service he provides for guests. The Oaks serves a cafe menu breakfast with baked goods and gourmet coffee roasted by Brugh Coffee in Christiansburg, all made fresh on the premises and delivered to the rooms. The idea is to work with as many local businesses as possible, Jason said. And to build relationships with the guests. So, last years protests demanding an end to this celebration of treachery were long overdue, if occasionally overreaching in their ambition. Some activists, for instance, also demanded the removal of statues venerating the likes of Thomas Jefferson. The view from this pew is that the legacy of the third president is badly scarred by, but not restricted to, his ownership of human beings. He did other things, and they are worth honoring. By contrast, the only reason history knows Lees name is that he betrayed the nation in service to slavery. And in toppling him from a pedestal of honor on a showplace avenue in the former capital of the Confederacy, protesters did a righteous thing. Not that everyone was thrilled. A retiree who used to work for the federal government issued a statement bemoaning the destruction of our culture by the Radical Left. The Florida man, who once denigrated the heroism of former POW John McCain, praised the loser Lee as a genius and a unifying force. Texas can be expected to jump up and down challenging the Justice Department strategy, asserting that the feds are trying to be all-purpose enforcers of U.S. law even in the absence of particular cases or controversies. But the department can parry that there is in fact a case and a controversy: Texas cheeky state-versus-federal-government effort to undo Roe v. Wade, the law of the land, and prevent court review of its unconstitutional action. The action Thursday signals that criminal charges arent in the offing against SB 8 abortion bounty hunters. Thats no surprise an enforcement lawsuit brought on the basis of SB 8 would, after all, rely on a duly enacted Texas statute. That law may be an outlier, but it is still state law for now, and that alone could trigger reticence on the part of federal prosecutors as well as give rise to a persuasive defense against sending someone to jail for invoking it. Civil lawsuits against wannabe SB 8 enforcers might still go forward, but the real issue at this point and one that never should have been a problem in the first place is freezing enforcement of the Texas statute altogether, by getting an injunction in district court based on the Justice Department lawsuit, and then allowing the law to be judged on its merits. My main purpose wasnt to make money. I didnt want the story to be lost, Goodman said. I knew once my generation was gone, the story would be over. Support Local Journalism Your subscription makes our reporting possible. {{featured_button_text}} Goodman said she had been wondering for a long time what to do with all the information she gathered. She kept it all in a large plastic bin. When the COVID-19 pandemic hit and the country started shutting down, she decided to write her book, Learning by Doing: An Annotated Scrapbook of the Ellerbe School 1920-1949. I wanted to show it (the schools history), not tell it, Goodman said. Which is what inspired the scrapbook idea. Goodman spent last year retyping the articles she had collected. She thought this was the best way to preserve the history of the school rather than paraphrasing and telling the story through her own narrative. She does add her own commentary into the book, but the majority of it is the original articles retyped for visual clarity. According to Goodmans book, Little served as principal of the school for 21 years. He never earned a college degree but took some college courses, which in the early 1900s qualified him to be a teacher. He started his college education in 1910 at Lenoir-Rhyne College, now Lenoir-Rhyne University. When hospitals run out of beds or when staffing is low, tough decisions must be made on which patients get to be first in line for care. The Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act outlines key rules. " " Frances Kelsey worked for the FDA in the early 1960s as a drug reviewer. She was the person who was responsible for reviewing the application for thalidomide. FDA It's official: As of Aug. 23, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) gave its seal of approval to Pfizer's COVID-19 vaccine. This is a landmark step in the fight against the novel coronavirus, and one that many people (vaccine hesitant or otherwise) were waiting for. FDA approval of any drug is no small matter. The process is rigorous and often lengthy and that's by design. But it wasn't always that way. Back in the day, "drugs were not developed on target," says Katherine Donovan, a senior scientist at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston, Massachusetts, "it was more like trial and error." So what changed? Today's FDA drug approval standards, developed 60 years ago, were largely the product of a single drug and a woman who refused to give it FDA authorization. Advertisement The Hero of the FDA We're talking about Frances O. Kelsey. She was born Frances Oldham on Vancouver Island, British Columbia, in 1914. She developed an interest in science early in life. She earned a master's degree from McGill University in Montreal at age 20, and would go on to complete both an M.D. and Ph.D. in pharmacology at the University of Chicago. Like many women in science at the time, Kelsey faced opposition from the overwhelmingly male scientific establishment. In fact, she suspected that her gender-neutral first name helped launch her career: The letter of acceptance for her Ph.D. program was even addressed to 'Mr. Oldham.' "I knew that men were the preferred commodity in those days," she later wrote, "I do not know if my name had been Elizabeth or Mary Jane, whether I would have gotten that first big step up." Nevertheless, Kelsey eventually joined the University of Chicago as a full-fledged faculty member in 1942. It was there that she met and married fellow staff member Dr. Fremont Kelsey. In 1960, the couple moved with their two daughters to Washington, D.C., where Frances accepted a position as a drug reviewer for the FDA. Little did she know, she was about to alter the course of history. " " Phillipa Bradbourne, a child in London, was born without arms after her mother took thalidomide for morning sickness. Here she is celebrating the first anniversary of the Lady Hoare Thalidomide Appeal, which raised money for children affected by the drug. PA Images via Getty Images Advertisement Dodging a Bullet Just as Frances Kelsey was stepping into her new role at the FDA, a new drug was making the rounds in Europe, Africa and Asia. Known as thalidomide, the drug was originally developed in the early 1950s as a sedative. "Back then, it was post-wartime and things were a little bit crazy," says Donovan, "so the world was in need of a decent sedative to help people sleep." Patients taking thalidomide for anxiety quickly realized that it also worked wonders on an upset stomach, and it soon caught on as a cure for morning sickness. A few people reported tingling in their hands and feet also called neuropathy after prolonged thalidomide use. However, these negative effects wore off as soon as they stopped taking it, and so the drug was generally considered safe. By 1957, it was approved for over-the-counter sale in Germany, and available by prescription in dozens of other countries. The FDA application for thalidomide crossed Kelsey's desk in September 1960, just seven months after she began working there. At the time, the FDA's approval process for new drugs lasted just 60 days, during which the reviewer would wade through a hodgepodge of assorted mouse trial data and other material submitted by the applicants. Given thalidomide's popularity, it seemed destined to sail through with ease. But Kelsey had some concerns. An English study, which included some reports of neuropathy and similar nerve-related symptoms, gave her pause. She was also wary of the lack of data regarding the drug's effect on pregnancy. Without further research, she refused to approve the drug. It was a bold move. "There was a lot of pressure from around the world to approve it," Donovan says. Still, Kelsey stayed firm. One year later, her caution was vindicated. " " President John F. Kennedy presented Frances Kelsey with the highest award for civilian federal workers, the Distinguished Federal Civilian Service medal, for preventing the approval of thalidomide in the U.S. Bettmann Archive/Getty Images Advertisement The Rise and Fall of Thalidomide Around the same time thalidomide was under scrutiny for approval in the United States, Dr. William McBride of Australia and Dr. Widukund Lenz of Germany both noticed a strange pattern: an unusual number of children born with strikingly similar congenital limb anomalies, all within a relatively small geographic area. The common denominator, they discovered, was that their mothers had all taken thalidomide for morning sickness early in their pregnancies. McBride raised the alarm with a bombshell piece published in the Lancet in 1961, sending shock waves through the medical community. Thalidomide was pulled from shelves in Germany almost immediately; other countries followed suit shortly thereafter. Kelsey's contribution in keeping thalidomide largely out of U.S. pharmacies might have gone unnoticed by the public if not for a Washington Post article published in 1962. That same year, President John F. Kennedy awarded Kelsey the President's Award for Distinguished Federal Civilian Service and signed the Kefauver-Harris amendments into law. This key bit of legislation is the reason that drugs in the U.S. must meet strict clinical trial standards in order to be approved by the FDA. Kelsey would go on to serve the FDA for 45 years, helping hone the organization's drug approval process all the while. Curiously, that's not where the story of thalidomide ends. In the wake of its disastrous legacy, scientists began looking deeper into the mechanism of the drug itself to discover why it caused such unexpected side effects. They found that, unlike most drugs, which simply bind to one receptor in the body, thalidomide "actually recruits other things to bind. And that leads to those proteins being removed from the body completely," Donovan says. This can be either good or very bad, depending on which proteins get removed. But by fine-tuning thalidomide's molecular structure, researchers believed it might be possible to target specific "bad" proteins for removal. In 2006, this research revealed the drug's potential for treating leprosy and plasma cell myeloma, an uncommon type of bone marrow cancer. Since then, two different drugs based on the structure of thalidomide have been approved for cancer treatment by the FDA. " " After Frances Kelsey's decision not to approve the drug, John F. Kennedy signed into law sweeping changes to the FDA's drug approval process. Wikimedia/(CC BY-SA 2.0) Now That's Interesting Part of the reason for thalidomide's wide range of effects is because it is a chiral molecule a type of molecule that exhibits "handedness." The left-handed version is an effective painkiller, while the right-handed version is toxic. Manure is extremely valuable, said Brook Wilke, the associate director of science and agronomy at Michigan State Universitys Kellogg Biological Station. If you have an opportunity to get some manure or compost on your fields, you should take advantage of that opportunity. During a Michigan State University Field Crops Virtual Breakfast webcast, Wilke emphasized how manure can improve soil health, which in turn increases crop yields and provides some resilience during drought conditions. Manure is one of the fastest ways to build soil health, he stated. Manure also provides necessary plant nutrients and can substitute for commercial fertilizers. Wilke acknowledged that manure application does come with challenges. Compaction from driving heavy equipment across the field can be a real issue, he noted. He said that the loss of nutrients to air, surface and groundwater, and neighbors fields and lawns is also a concern. Odor and drinking water quality can be worries of people living near farms, too. He said that the right timing, right equipment, and right practices can get this nutrient source onto fields where it is most beneficial. The goal when applying manure is to minimize risks and maximize value of this valuable product, stated Wilke. He offered a few tips to listeners to improve the manure application process. One is to apply manure when fields are dry enough to hold up equipment. When making narrow passes across the field with heavy equipment, you dont want to compact soil which leads to other problems down the road and maybe deflates the value youre getting from the manure, he shared. Cover the fields He also advised delaying applications until there is a crop in the field to take up the manure nutrients. Although there is typically a window of opportunity to get manure applied after crops are harvested in the fall, nutrients can be lost if nothing is replanted in the field until spring. This is where cover crops can play a valuable role in a nutrient management strategy. Its probably the most important thing you can do to optimize the value of manure and mitigate the risk of putting those nutrients out there this time of year, Wilke stated. Many plant species are available when planting cover crops in the summer, and Wilke said farmers can really plant anything they can find with affordable seed. There are fewer options in the fall, as plants need to be able to survive the winter, and this is where cereal grains can fill more of a need. When coupled with manure application, Wilke said cover crops will retain and recycle the manure nutrients until termination prior to the next cash crop planting. Manure is also a benefit to the cover crop, providing nutrients to grow and helping the cover crop produce more biomass, generating more benefit from the system. Timing of manure application on fields with cover crops is important, Wilke said. He recommended applying manure right before or at the time of planting or waiting until the cover crop is established. Application right as the plants are coming up can result in damage due to wheel traffic. Incorporating this applied manure is a good tactic, especially in fields with tile drains to limit phosphorus losses. Incorporation also minimizes ammonia loss. In sandier areas that are not close to waterways, Wilke said no-till could be considered. To comment, email your remarks to intel@hoards.com. (c) Hoard's Dairyman Intel 2021 September 09, 2021 Hope College faculty member and flutist Gabe Southard will perform on Saturday, Oct. 2, at 7:30 p.m. in the Concert Hall of the Jack H. Miller Center for Musical Arts. The public is invited. The performance is free. The performance will include Franz Dopplers Fantasie Pastorale Hongroise; Blaz Puchihars Rituals; Murali for solo flute, by Marilyn Bliss; and Lowell Liebermanns, Sonata for Flute and Piano. Southard will be joined by pianist Christina Krause. Robert Gabe Southard is an associate professor at Hope College, where he conducts the Wind Ensemble, Concert Band, and the Faculty And Student Collaborative Ensemble (FASCE); teaches flute, and heads up the instrumental division of the Music Education Department. Southard completed his Doctorate of Musical Arts in conducting at Michigan State University. Prior to his residence at MSU, Southard served as Wind Symphony conductor and Flute Studio teacher at the University of Michigan-Flint. In addition to his collegiate teaching, Southard has served as a clinician at several high schools and taught at the New England Music Camp. As a flute player, he maintains an active performing schedule by playing principal flute in the Holland Symphony Orchestra and giving solo and chamber recitals. He has also performed with the Madison Symphony Orchestra, the Lucca, Italy Opera Orchestra and a number of community orchestras. Southard was also a semi-finalist in the National Flute Associations Piccolo Artist Competition and winner of the 2016 Convention Performers Competition, where he performed two new works at the convention in San Diego. Southard is currently engaged in recording a CD of works by Dana Wilson. In 2020 he was named a Pearl Flute Artist by Pearl Musical Instrument Company. Audience members who need assistance to fully enjoy any event at Hope are encouraged to contact the colleges Events and Conferences Office by emailing events@hope.edu or calling 616-395-7222 on weekdays between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m. Updates related to events are posted when available in the individual listings at hope.edu/calendar Due to the ongoing global COVID-19 pandemic, Hope is currently requiring that masks be worn by all individuals while indoors on campus unless in their living space or alone in their work space. The Jack H. Miller Center for Musical Arts is located at 221 Columbia Ave., between 10th and 13th streets. CLINTON The Apple 'n Pork Festival will be back in business Sept. 25 and 26 at the C.H. Moore Homestead and DeWitt County Museum in Clinton. Last year, the board of directors decided to cancel the festival due to COVID. DeWitt County relies heavily on the festival to survive, so the community came together and did what they could to have a little taste of tradition, holding a drive-thru version of the festival instead. Cars lined up all the way through the town square. "It was actually much easier to put a festival together than to take one apart," said DeWitt County Museum Director Joey Long. "We started planning in January 2020, and we never could've imagined this would've lasted this long. Then, January 2021 the vaccine came and we went in with a positive attitude. Now here we are just a few weeks away." There are currently no outdoor capacity restrictions in Illinois, and the festival will follow guidance from local health experts. Attendees and volunteers will be encouraged to wear masks, use hand-washing and sanitizing stations, and practice social distancing. The first Apple 'n Pork festival took place in 1967 and was established by the DeWitt County Museum Association. The organization had begun the restoration of the C.H. Moore Homestead, which was in terrible condition at the time, and they needed money to turn it into a museum. Someone had the idea to have a small fundraiser. "All they had the first year was a single kettle of soup and a stack of sandwiches out on the front lawn," Long said. "Now it has developed into one of the biggest and highly attended festivals in Central Illinois." The festival usually averages about 80,000 people; however, in both 2018 and 2019 it was estimated that 120,000 people came out for the festival in a town with an estimated population of 7,000. "I don't really know what to expect attendance-wise this year," Long said. "I'm sure we will be welcoming a lot of people back that have missed us and I'm sure there will be people who have not attended the event before. We're just going to have to see." Long describes the festival as an old-fashioned, family-friendly celebration of harvest, history and hospitality. The festival will include an antique tractor show, free museum tours, wood-carving demonstrations, Abraham Lincoln impersonator, art show, live music, clog dancers, Victorian magician, flea market, pony rides, farm machinery show, carriage barn, tractor pull and more. There will be 20 food booths sponsored by the museum and local nonprofits, with fare including the signature ham and beans, caramel apple sundaes, apple Danish, gingerbread cookies, brats, pork sandwiches, apple butter, homemade candy, potatoes, corn on the cob, fried apples, sausage gravy, an entire breakfast menu and more. "I've attended this festival since I was a little girl. I've always liked that the festival serves as a sort of homecoming for the community," Long said. "You will run into old teachers, classmates and neighbors on the ground. It's really about the people and sense of community." The museum is currently under construction, with the floors and porch decking being redone, along with painting and other repair work. Construction is scheduled to be completed right before the festival. "Often you hear you need to change traditions with the times, and in our case we have just come up with a formula that seems to please people," Long said. "I think people like the familiarity because they know what to expect, they know it will be a lot of fun and that they can bring their kids." The festival will be held from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 25, and Sunday, Sept. 26. "If it weren't for the volunteers, there's no way we could put on a festival," Long said. "Hopefully we will have a little taste of community pride and community coming together again this year and seeing people, which we haven't had much of that in the last year and a half. I think a lot people are looking forward to this gathering." For more information, find the "Apple 'n Pork Festival" page on Facebook or call 217-935-6066. Contact Olivia Jacobs at (309)-820-3352. Love 0 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 0 Stay up-to-date on what's happening Receive the latest in local entertainment news in your inbox weekly! Sign up! * I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy. FSS paid a local firm to conduct surveillance on a Savanna Tobacco factory in 2012, but the company got caught. The groups said the Zimbabwean official said that with the upcoming presidential elections, a donation to Mugabes party Zanu PF would help. The memo said: With this donation, they could then go back to the President to try to get the problem sorted out. BAT declined to answer Panoramas questions about the Zimbabwe payments, but it did not deny paying a bribe to Mugabe, according to the media groups. BAT said in Mondays response that it has long been committed to fighting the global criminal trade in illicit tobacco. As part of those efforts, BAT has sought to assist national law enforcement agencies in providing support and, in the past, intelligence on suspected illicit operators. These efforts in combating illicit trade have been aimed at helping law enforcement agencies in the fight against the criminal trade in tobacco products with the aim of countering the seriously detrimental effects that illicit trade has on society. Anti-tobacco U.S. advocacy group the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids have cited the Guardian report in again urging U.S. Justice and Securities and Exchange Commission regulators and Congress to conduct their own probes of BAT as it relates to the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act. The business news you need Get the latest local business news delivered FREE to your inbox weekly. Sign up! * I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy. Updated 2:15 p.m. GREENSBORO A 17-year-old has died after he was shot, Greensboro police said in a news release. Police on Sunday identified the victim as Traveyon Deandre Hairston of Greensboro. Police are investigating his death as a homicide. At 11:19 p.m. Saturday, police responded to the 2000 block of Ellington Street in reference to a shooting. Officers located Hairston, who was listed in stable condition at the time. He was taken by EMS to a local hospital for treatment. Posted 12:44 p.m. GREENSBORO Authorities are investigating two shootings that occurred in Greensboro this weekend, according to news releases from police. The first shooting happened shortly after 11 p.m. Saturday in the 2000 block of Ellington Street. At 11:19 p.m., officers responded to the scene and found a man with a gunshot wound, police said. He was in stable condition and taken by EMS to a local hospital for treatment. Kennedy and his wife, Willie, raised more than $2 million for the United Negro College Fund as the couple hosted fundraising galas at their home from the 1990s until the early 2000s. My family, we had no money, Kennedy told the Journal in February 2019. By any definition, we were poor. I think about how lucky and how fortunate I was that someone else believed I could do it, too, and they were willing to risk it to give me that opportunity, Kennedy said. Kennedy graduated from West Charlotte High School in 1951, according to his obituary. He joined the U.S. Air Force, where he served until 1955. Support Local Journalism Your subscription makes our reporting possible. {{featured_button_text}} Kennedy later received a bachelors degree from JCSU in 1959. He received his medical degree from Meharry Medical College in 1963. He knew he wanted to help children who were just like him, his obituary said. He ultimately decided to become a physician because his mother was often ill, and he admired the doctors he had seen making house calls. Kennedy completed his internship and one year of a general practice residency at the Kate Bidding Reynolds Memorial Hospital in Winston-Salem. He checked on his wife, Kathy, and their children, Mario and Madeline. The only thing you want to do is collect your family and make sure everybody is safe and find out where they are, he said. A few weeks later at a local scrapyard, Gallucci mentioned turning World Trade Center ruins into art. Business owners made arrangements. Shortly after Thanksgiving, he found himself at the New Jersey scrapyard where Metal Management took the mangled steel. He had to supply his resume, references and plans for the steel. It was not to be exploited, he said. It was to be honored and given reverence. Support Local Journalism Your subscription makes our reporting possible. {{featured_button_text}} The steel would be free, provided that the sculpture would go to a nonprofit organization. Any proceeds would cover his costs and expenses, but not provide a profit. The part that really got me, walking around the yard up there in New Jersey, was when a childs sneaker fell out of one of the beams, Gallucci recalled. Thats when I lost it. Gallucci had become known for his artistic metal gates. His 9/11 sculpture reflects that. Is there anything worse than government overregulation of beer-related cartoon nudity? Well, sure, there are plenty of things worse, but today we are going to deal with government overregulation of beer-related cartoon nudity. As a concerned citizen, I was shocked and appalled to learn the North Carolina Alcoholic Beverage Commission told Maryland-based Flying Dog Brewery that it could not sell its winter ale, Freezin Season, in the Tar Heel state because the depiction of a naked cartoon guy on the label was in bad taste. I always thought the Alcoholic Beverage Commissions main role was to make sure the drinking populace wasnt poisoned by bootleg hooch made in car radiators, but apparently commissioners have transitioned into art critics. The label, like others for Flying Dog Brewery, was designed by the cartoonist Ralph Steadman, an associate of the late gonzo journalist Hunter S. Thompson. As the proud owner of the book Gonzo: The Art, I can say the label is tame compared to some of Steadmans other mind-blowing work. Plus, cartoon nudity has a long and proud tradition. Bugs Bunny only wore clothes when the role called for it. We must share the carbon emission responsibility with China. Please contact your members of Congress and urge them to support the EICDA (Energy Innovation and Carbon Dividend Act), HR 2307. A fee on carbon is our best first step to reduce these greenhouse gases. As carbon fees gradually increase, energy demand will shift to other sources. This shift will stimulate energy innovation, which, in turn, will drive new jobs and boost our economy. No more excuses. Cynthia Raynor Winston-Salem Not how to die Close your eyes, and just imagine: You are on your deathbed in ICU and you are alone. You have COVID, family is not allowed to visit. Only ICU staff can come and go behind their protective attire of masks, gown, gloves, etc. You will not be able to say your goodbyes to family, nor them to you. This is not how you expected to die alone without any loved one by your side. You chose this path to be alone on your deathbed only because you denied yourself the life-saving vaccine. Dozens of Lincoln Northeast students peacefully protested outside the high school Monday amid allegations that students were drugged at the school's homecoming dance Friday. A Lincoln Public Schools spokesperson said that as of Monday morning, no one had made an official report with the district or Lincoln Police. Other reports stemming from the dance that emerged on social media over the weekend are false claims, school officials said. The students gathered over the lunch hour across the street from the entrance to Northeast, waving signs and chanting as classmates watched from inside the building's cafeteria. Joined by a few parents, the students described how their peers laced water bottles with drugs, causing students to become ill at the dance on Friday night. At least one student said she was sexually assaulted by a classmate. In a message to families on Saturday, hours after the reports first emerged on social media, Northeast Principal Keri Applebee called the claims "rumors" and said police and staff were on hand and did not witness the alleged incidents. Before the board voted Tuesday board member Deb Schorr was absent Chairman Rick Vest said he didnt see it that way. I personally do not regard this as a referendum on solar power but a matter of zoning issues related to a very specific group of homes in our areas, he said. How do we preserve the rights of the majority and there are a lot of people who want this and yet respect and protect the rights of those who will be impacted by any decision we make?" The planning department had recommended the original change to allow solar panels on outlots in the county, because it would make the rules similar to land that falls within the city's 3-mile zoning limit, and it complies with the comprehensive plan. Last year, the County Board approved rules allowing solar farms in areas of the county outside the citys zoning jurisdiction zoned either industrial or agricultural. David Levy, the Omaha attorney representing Ranger Power, told the board that means regulations would allow solar panels on ag land across the road from the homes of concerned property owners but not on the outlots behind them, where it would be less intrusive. They also worked to protect the houses of first responders and others who have been devoting all of their time to the community and recovery efforts. Thats been one of the most rewarding parts of this whole experience, Balschweid said. Were able to help those who are helping, and Im so proud of this entire team and everything weve done. Allen Stafford, a junior and one of the team leaders, said the recovery efforts looked different according to the needs of each of the houses they visited. Its really interesting, one house will be completely standing, no problems, and the house next to it will be obliterated, Stafford said. For the first few days, the local community had not yet been allowed back in the area, but toward the end of the trip, people started trickling back in. That gave the students chances to interact with the community they were assisting. I think its really nice for the community, I think it gives them hope, Hilyard said. Theyre really resilient people, and I think that having someone to help them get back on their feet after having a disaster of this size is amazing. "I like everything he's doing. He's not backing down from anything," said Pat Sharp, a retired high school teacher from Pender. "He has guts and fortitude," said Susan Brown, a retired telephone company worker from Omaha. Former Gov. Kay Orr, one of several key Nebraska Republicans who attended, wouldn't say who of the three impressed her most. She said she arrived with a preference, but after hearing DeSantis, Cruz and Pence was less sure. When asked if their favorite would change if former President Donald Trump got into the race, most people said they'd have to wait and see. "I'd vote for him in a heartbeat," Brown said of Trump. But David Lacy, the chief of police of Nebraska City who attended the event in civilian clothes, said he didn't think the former president was best positioned "to reunite the country." One of the loudest rounds of applause from the audience of deep-red Nebraska Republicans came when Ricketts told them he has been talking with fellow GOP governors and Nebraska Attorney General Doug Peterson on a strategy to "push back" against "the egregious overreach" of Biden's vaccine mandate. The trio said that Americans are "waking up" to Joe Biden's "failed leadership," and will return Congress and the presidency to Republican control. "I think Joe Biden is Jimmy Carter 2.0," Ted Cruz said. "A revival is coming." OMAHA, Neb. (AP) A Nebraska state senator and former Bellevue City Council member became the first Democrat to announce a bid for governor Monday. State Sen. Carol Blood promised to try to unite Nebraskans. I love Nebraska, but I know we can do better, said Blood, who grew up near Hastings. Our collaborative efforts are much stronger than the voices of a few and we can build a better Nebraska. We do this by inspiring hope and working to transform our divisions. Blood first won a seat in the officially nonpartisan Nebraska Legislature in 2016 by defeating a Republican incumbent in a politically divided Sarpy County district. She overcame a GOP challenger in 2020 to hold onto the seat. But the 60-year-old Blood will face a difficult task getting elected in the GOP-dominated state that former President Donald Trump won by 18 percentage points. In fact, Ben Nelson was the last Democrat to hold statewide office when the moderate served as governor from 1991 to 1999 and as U.S. Senator from 2001 to 2013. Blood said she hopes Nebraskans will realize they have a lot more in common than they differ on, and she hears from a lot of people who are sick of divisive political rhetoric. With the contours and character of his legislative district threatened by redistricting, Sen. Mark Kolterman of Seward on Monday introduced a bill to increase the size of the 49-member Legislature to 50 senators. That would protect both his district and rural legislative representation, he said. "I'm agreeable to make some changes," Kolterman said, "but I disagree on moving the 24th District to Sarpy County" as proposed. With addition of one senator to the 49-member Legislature, he said, "we're not talking about getting rid of a rural district anymore" while still providing for one additional urban legislative seat. "I think that seat would be in Sarpy County," Kolterman said during an interview in his state Capitol office. The state constitution already authorizes up to 50 seats in Nebraska's unique one-house, nonpartisan Legislature. His proposal provides the Legislature with "another arrow in the quiver" as it struggles with its redistricting assignment, Kolterman said. His plan is "a common-sense approach" to redistricting that threatens to divide senators along partisan and rural-urban lines, Kolterman said. By the numbers At least 78 people have drowned this year in the Great Lakes, including 36 in Lake Michigan, according to the Great Lakes Surf Rescue Project. With drowning, flotation is the key," said Dave Benjamin, the group's director. "Because when you give them something that floats, you are giving them hope of survival. You are giving them their only chance to live." Although the public comment period ended in July, the Treasury has set no date for when it will publish the rules final version. A Treasury official said the department is undertaking a thorough review of the comments that is likely to continue into the fall. U.S. Sen. Ron Wyden, an Oregon Democrat who chairs the Senate Finance Committee, is among those urging the Treasury Department to adopt a broader eligibility threshold. He wrote that it would be severely misguided to assume that communities are adequately served by the woefully outdated broadband benchmark the department has set. Broadband industry groups generally have urged the Treasury to stick with its original plan of targeting money at areas with the slowest internet speeds. Rather than reinvesting in locations that already have broadband to make it better, the pandemic relief money should go to places that dont have any broadband at all, said Patrick Halley, general counsel at USTelecom, whose membership includes AT&T, Verizon and others. Indeed it does. The LAPD field interview policy is a jumbo fishing expedition and its based on the premise that civilians interviewed often feel slightly coerced into cooperating with police officers and cough up their personal information when they are under no legal obligation to do so. Thats a vast overreach for the LAPD. We have no problem with police searching for social media links when they are conducting criminal investigations, thats done routinely. But building a database of the accounts of uncharged or innocent civilians in case it comes in handy down the road is just plain wrong. If we go down this road thats only a half step from being pulled over for a traffic violation and having the officer ask for your drivers license oh, and a throat swab just to check your DNA and keep it on file. According to a Los Angeles Times report, more than half of the civilians stopped by LAPD metro officers and documented in the field interview cards were not arrested or cited. The only bright spot in this saga is that the Brennan Center reviewed the practices of 40 other police agencies in the U.S. and didnt find any other departments that required social media collection on interview cards. 1. Yes. COVID-19 can only be stopped through vaccinations. A mandate is needed. 2. Yes. This is a major step, but were facing a national emergency. It is a justifiable move. 3. No. The government is right to promote vaccinations, but not to require them. 4. No. This is government overreach and legally questionable. A mandate is wrong. 5. Unsure. Its in the publics interest, but mandates infringe on individuals rights. Vote View Results KEARNEY Sophia Harder got vaccinated against COVID-19 to protect herself and those around her. Its that simple. The University of Nebraska at Kearney junior signed up for the vaccine as soon as it was available last spring. She works in UNK Student Health and studies biology education. She knew she needed to do her part to help end this pandemic. I just want to do what I can to help keep everyone safe, Harder said. Thats the message UNK is sending to students and employees in hopes of increasing vaccination rates on campus: This is a caring community, and we look out for each other. Our health decisions can impact those around us. By getting vaccinated, youre thinking about the person beside you, not just yourself, said Wendy Schardt, director of UNK Student Health. UNK is strongly encouraging COVID-19 vaccination for all Lopers to protect the campus and Kearney communities and support a return to normalcy. The goal is to keep people healthy and keep us in person, and this is how we get there, said John Falconer, senior adviser to the chancellor for executive affairs. An average of 1,110 people died in the U.S. from COVID-19 each day over the last week, data from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention showed on Thursday. The rate of deaths since late August is the highest it has been since early March. While 73.5% of those ages 12 and up have been vaccinated with at least one dose, tens of millions of eligible recipients remain unvaccinated as the highly contagious coronavirus delta variant continues to grip pockets of the country. Around 62% of the same age group is fully vaccinated as of Friday. "The vast minority of Americans are resistant to vaccination, but that's where the virus has been circulating," CNN Medical Analyst Jonathan Reiner told CNN's Don Lemon on Friday. "We live in a country that has rules. You can't smoke in most buildings in the United States, and you can't drive drunk. You can't smoke on planes. And you can't blow virus into my face. "That's how it has to be in this country. And if you're going to be a persistent threat to the public health by refusing to get vaccinated, well your actions have consequences, and the consequences may be you can't work at your job." DeSantis appeared to get the most love from the reporter-estimated crowd of more than 1,400. He drew the largest number of people seeking selfies and handshakes after his speech. I like everything hes doing. Hes not backing down from anything, said Pat Sharp, a retired high school teacher from Pender, Nebraska. He has guts and fortitude, said Susan Brown, a retired telephone company worker from Omaha. Former Gov. Kay Orr, one of several key Nebraska Republicans who attended, wouldnt say who of the three impressed her most. She said she arrived with a preference but after hearing them was less sure. When asked if their favorite would change if former President Donald Trump got into the race, most people said they would have to wait and see. Id vote for him in a heartbeat, Brown said. GIFD sent an engine back to the scene at about 1:25 p.m. Monday in response to a potential flare-up, but were soon called back to the station. It was nothing, so we canceled all our units, Hale said. One engine company went out there and put out a little hot spot. We may have that throughout the day. The late night call was a five-alarm fire, GIFD Battalion Chief Scott Kuehl said. That means all available people and all available equipment go to the scene and we have Grand Island rural volunteers come to Station 1 to cover any calls that might happen in the rest of the city, he said. The fire still was active 12 hours later. Its been very, very difficult, Kuehl said. Its a large building with lots of concealed spaces in roofs and walls, so theyre having a tough time getting access to them to get them put out. The previous days crew was switched out and the new days crew was continuing to fight the fire at 9 a.m. Monday. The size of the building made putting out the fire difficult, Kuehl said. "Another problem with issuing absentee ballots online was that the Wisconsin Elections Commission improperly instructed clerks to allow people to go online and request an Indefinitely Confined Elector status absentee ballot without providing an ID. Over 200,000 people received ballots this way. This provision in state law exists for people who are truly unable to physically go and vote. The Wisconsin Supreme Court ruled on December 14th 2020 that WEC and clerks has acted improperly. There shouldnt be two classes of voters in our state. All who are able should provide an ID. "Many people will point to WEC instructing clerks to cure absentee ballots that had missing information using red ink. The fact that these ballots were cured with red ink seems to suggest that they knew those ballots might be challenged. State law says ballots missing information are not to be counted. Would the outcome of the Presidential election in Wisconsin have changed if these ballots were not counted? We probably wont ever know because the State Supreme Court has already ruled that the Trump lawsuit came too late.Republicans would like to see these problems addressed. The state legislature has passed several bills attempting to do just that, but Governor Evers has vetoed all of them. When Mike Hackworth signed up for a missions trip to Panama three years ago, he had some serious doubts. His daughter, Lilly, then a high school senior convinced him to join her and nearly 50 others from First Free Church in Onalaska. The mission: to help improve the lives of three indigenous mountain tribes. But what happened changed his life as well. I realized that Christians werent weird or some kind of cult, he said looking back on that first trip. They were just truly interested in my life and showed me how to have a personal relationship with Jesus. During the trip, Hackworth, a La Crescent resident, met Cathy Pierce from Pittsburgh who coordinated bike-a-thons in her home state to support the Panama mission. An avid biker himself, Hackworth realized he had suddenly found a way to put his newfound faith into action. Returning from the mission, he pitched the bike-a-thon idea to church leadership at First Free. On Saturday, over 75 people from around the Coulee Region gathered to mark the churchs third annual Bike for Panama, a six-mile round-trip from Myrick Park to Riverside Park and returning to the gun shelter. Anticipating proceeds of around $5,000, Hackworth said the money will go toward finishing a dorm complex at the Hogar school and youth home in Boquete, the city closest to the mountain tribes. Support Local Journalism Your membership makes our reporting possible. {{featured_button_text}} UW-La Crosse remains Wisconsins top-ranked public university among its peers according to U.S. News & World Reports Americas Best Colleges listing for 2022. That marks the 21st year in a row that UW-L has topped the list as the states top-ranked comprehensive campus in the UW System. The magazines ranking also gives UW-L the highest mark among UW campuses for undergraduate teaching. The popular magazine lists UW-L as the No. 7 public university in the Midwest. The regional category includes institutions providing a full range of undergraduate majors and masters programs. This years ranking is yet another indicator of the high-quality education and student experience available at UW-L, says Chancellor Joe Gow. While current students and alums frequently tell others about their UW-L experience, rankings like U.S. News shares the value of a UW-L education to an even larger audience. Assistant Vice Chancellor for Admissions & Recruitment Corey Sjoquist says prospective students and families experience the energy and excitement of UW-L when visiting campus. He says the rankings particularly top marks for Best Undergraduate Teaching add to that with valuable data that recognizes the support provided to students. Support Local Journalism Your membership makes our reporting possible. {{featured_button_text}} The Vernon County Fairgrounds on Viroquas north side will once again echo with the sound of laughter, music, animals greeting passersby and squeals of delight as the fair returns Sept. 15-19 after having been canceled in 2020 due to the coronavirus pandemic. The 164th Vernon County Fair will include many of the same events and activities as in the past. The antique tractor pull is Thursday, Sept. 16 at 4 p.m., the Badger State Tractor Pull is Friday, Sept. 17 at 7 p.m., horse pulling in front of the grandstand is Saturday, Sept. 18 at 10:30 a.m., the youth pedal tractor pull is by the milk house Saturday, Sept. 18 at 11 a.m., and the demo derby is Saturday, Sept. 18 at 7 p.m. Harness racing is only on Sunday, Sept. 19 at 1 p.m. The ever-popular Little Britches Dairy Show will hold its 30th event at the west end of the Hanson Arena, Friday, Sept. 17 at about 12:30 p.m. The show is open to youth who are too young to show through Junior Fair at fair time. Each child will show a calf that is under 4 months of age at fair time. The calf will be brought in that morning and taken home that afternoon. Each child will be asked to lead his/her calf around the ring and answer a question from the judge. One event that wont be a part of this years festivities is the draft horse show because there isnt a superintendent. The dust, the darkness... everything just came crashing down, she said. It happened so fast. She lost hold of Gonzalez during the collapse, whose hand shed held most of the way down. She said she covered her head as best she could and told herself she was having a bad dream. When she came to herself again, she realized she couldnt move. Her body was twisted in an odd position and her legs felt like they were being crushed. She said she could feel steel pushing into her back, and her head was trapped between two pillars. I keep being alert. I keep hearing the radios. I keep hearing the firetrucks. I keep hearing the walkie talkies and the communication going on, Guzman-McMilan said. And for some reason, I just couldnt speak. I wanted to, but my voice just couldnt open up to say help. Guzman-McMilan was trapped in the rubble for 27 hours before rescuers found her. She said, after the initial shock, she was awake and aware the entire time, though she couldnt tell how long it had been. At one point, she wanted to fall asleep so she wouldnt have to feel the pain anymore. During her ordeal, she began praying, despite not being religious beforehand, asking for a second chance. An open house will be held at the Coulee Region Business Center Wednesday to promote its tools for local businesses. The event will be held from 4-6 p.m. Wednesday at the CRBC, located at 1100 Kane St., La Crosse. A number of state and local leaders will be in attendance and give remarks, and the open house will feature business tours and networking opportunities. The CRBC is currently home to 17 small businesses getting their start, including a spice vendor, furniture painter, law office and more. The businesses will be open during the event to give facility tours and network. The La Crosse Area Development Corporation said in a statement that the CRBS has helped launched more than 75 small businesses since it started in 1986, 31 of which are still in business across the county. Support Local Journalism Your membership makes our reporting possible. {{featured_button_text}} Tim Kabat, former La Crosse mayor and current LADCO executive director, will give opening remarks at the event, and will be followed by his successor Mayor Mitch Reynolds, Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation Secretary Melissa Hughes and others. Business facility tours will begin at 4:30 p.m., followed by networking at 5 p.m. The event will include live music and a raffle, and the kitchen tenants will provide food. Guests are encouraged to bring cash. MINNEAPOLIS (AP) A fund set up to honor George Floyd and raise awareness about racial injustice said Monday that it has awarded more than $50,000 in scholarships since it was created. The George Floyd Memorial Foundation said it has recently given scholarships valued at $1,000 to 15 law school students, scholarships valued at $10,000 to interns, and $2,500 scholarships to undergraduate students. The foundation said it has also awarded $25,000 to Fayetteville State University, a historically Black college in North Carolina. Foundation executive director Jacari Harris said the scholarships keep Floyd's memory alive and support students. Our hope at the George Floyd Memorial Foundation is that these high-achieving students will become attorneys, activists and scholars who will work to ensure people are treated fairly around the world, Harris said in a statement. It's been several weeks since our community got word that Fort Mccoy would be hosting refugees from war torn Afghanistan. These would be the people who acted as interpreters for our troops that without their language knowledge, our mission there would have been severely crippled. In turn and as promised, they are here now, including children, who deserve a better life. As a historical reminder for those who want to "blame President Biden" as your politics are askew, for centuries that region has been under siege in one way or another. There was no easy way out, and as a Marine I mourn the 13 deaths of my brothers and sisters. I also mourn the thousands lost in the last 20 years, including civilians. The refugees are here to stay in the US. Other countries are also hosting Afghan refugees. As a fellow human being we have a moral obligation to help as we can. Not all will stay in Wisconsin. The refugees are being fully vetted by DHS and USCIS before moving forward and this is a large task. For those of us that have so much, lending a helping hand is as easy as financially giving to either the Red Cross or Team Rubicon. If you have clothing (especially children's), bedding, hygiene items, please take to the Army National Guard Armory, 602 E. Division St, Sparta between 9 a.m and 4 p.m. A pandemic and a flooded pavilion arent stopping Lancasters 2021 Oktoberfest. The German festival returns on the banks of Chiques Creek starting Friday, Sept. 17. Oktoberfest is a tradition for Lancaster Liederkranz, a group German immigrants started in the 1880s as a signing club for men. That tradition continued last year but much smaller and only for club members, says Paul Stanavage, who is in charge of the groups festivals. This is our welcome back Oktoberfest, he says. At the 2021 Oktoberfest, the clubs modern choruses and dance groups will perform. There will be German food such as bratwurst, weisswurst, potato pancakes and sauerkraut and beer. Sunday, schnitzel sandwiches will be on the menu. Leading up the Oktoberfest, flooding from Tropical storm Ida reached the Liederkranz pavilion, Stanavage says. The water receded and volunteers cleaned up the space. Local COVID-19 hospitalizations and deaths are rising and the pace of new cases is showing signs of leveling off. Masks arent required at Oktoberfest. Its all outside, Stanavage says. If somebody wants to wear a mask, theyre more than welcome to do that. Meanwhile, the original Oktoberfest in Munich was canceled for the second year. There still are virtual tours during the festivities, Sept. 16 through Oct. 3. Each tour has behind-the-scenes looks at past Oktoberfest, history and stories. Guests will answer questions about things like the festivals rides, construction, music and costumes. Tickets are $15 euros per person (about $18). Heres more information about Oktoberfests happening in Lancaster County. Sept. 17, 18 and 19. Oktoberfest at Lancaster Liederkranz. The fest will have live music, including the Liederkranz singing groups, folk dancers, childrens activities and German food. $6 for adults, $2 for children ages 6-15. Friday (6-11 p.m.), Saturday (1-11 p.m.) and Sunday (noon- 6 p.m.) Cash only. Rain or shine. A free parking lot is at 747 S. Chiques Road Manheim. Parking at the club is $10 per car. Oct. 2 and Oct. 3, Oktoberfest at the Pennsylvania Renaissance Faire, 2775 Lebanon Road, Manheim. The fest will have a Bar Olympics contest and beer from the on-site Swashbuckler Brewing Co., plus German food and dancing. Tickets are $30.95; children 5 to 11; $15.95. You know when you get enough of it, and when you dont. We spend about one-third of our lives doing it, or at least in pursuit of it. While some may think it is a waste of time, the fact of the matter is, sleep is the bedrock of our physical and mental well-being. Quality sleep supports overall health and enhances the immune system; improves learning; and boosts decision-making, problem-solving and coping skills, according to sleep medicine experts. As people age, it may be more challenging to get a revitalizing nights sleep, but experts insist that, for most adults, a solid seven to eight hours of shut-eye is still important. However, about one-third of Americans dont get enough sleep, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. You (dont) snooze, you lose Lack of sleep is associated with injuries, chronic diseases, mental illnesses, poor quality of life and well-being, increased health-care costs and lost work productivity, the CDC states on its website. The organizations goal is to increase awareness and education to mitigate the impact of sleep disorders on human health. As people get older, restful, uninterrupted sleep can be more elusive and compound existing health problems. Sleep is often neglected, but it is important to your body to function and to function well, says Jen Dougherty, certified physician assistant with Pulmonary Associates of Lancaster, which works with people with sleep disorders. Mood and memory are impacted. Studies have linked not getting enough quality sleep with an increased risk for dementia, she says. Lack of sleep is connected to a cascade of health issues including Alzheimers disease, diabetes, heart attacks, obesity, depression, lung disease and cancer. The American Academy of Sleep Medicine (AASM) shared a study that found that short sleeps accelerate aging of the brain. It found that seven hours a day for adults seems to be the sweet spot for optimal performance on computer-based cognitive tests. While sleep needs may vary, most adults (even over 55) should shoot for a solid seven hours of sleeping like a log. Studies are honing in on what exactly happens in sleep and lack of it that impacts health. One Harvard article states: During sleep, our bodies secrete hormones that help to control appetite, energy metabolism and glucose processing. Obtaining too little sleep upsets the balance of these and other hormones. Poor sleep also increases the stress hormone called cortisol, which puts undue stress on the body and leads to weight gain, diabetes and heart disease, the article states. Are you getting good sleep? Older adults may encounter barriers to getting a good nights sleep. Depression and anxiety are biggies that impact the quality and schedule of sleep, Dougherty says. Losing friends and spouses, as well as health issues, can keep a person from getting adequate shut-eye. Another common culprit to getting good sleep is obstructive sleep apnea. This occurs when the throat muscles relax and the airway collapses and becomes blocked during sleep, causing the person to stop breathing for short periods, then jarring awake briefly. When this happens multiple times during the night, sleep architecture is damaged and the person may wake with a headache, feel sleepy during the day, have trouble concentrating and remembering things, and be short-tempered. Chronic sleep apnea can also increase the chance of developing health problems like high blood pressure, heart attack, heart failure, stroke or sexual dysfunction. Sleep apnea is more prevalent as people age, Dougherty says, but people of all ages can have it. Her clinic sees both women and men for the problem. Women are here because theyre tired, while men are here because theyre tired of their wife complaining about their snoring. Sometimes changing personal habits can get the person back on track: side sleeping to reduce airway blockage; losing weight so structures in the throat can remain open easier; avoiding alcohol and certain medications like sedatives; and keeping the nasal passage clear with breathing strips or menthol cream. If that doesnt eliminate the problem, a doctor may prescribe a continuous positive air pressure pump called a CPAP. A small portable pump sends air through a hose into a mask, which is worn over the nose. It provides a steady stream of air to overcome the obstruction of the airway. Once the patient gets a good nights sleep, the benefits are profound. This importance is not realized until they get quality sleep again, Dougherty says. What's keeping you awake at night? Another common sleep issue is insomnia, which occurs when you have trouble falling asleep or staying asleep. It is more common in older adults, women, people under stress, and people with certain medical or mental health problems. There are two types of insomnia, based on frequency and duration, according to AASM: short-term insomnia, which lasts for up to three months, and chronic insomnia, which occurs at least three times per week and lasts for at least three months. This sleep disorder can have many causes, including restless legs syndrome, with its uncomfortable burning or itching sensation leading to leg movements; depression; chronic pain from another medical problem like arthritis or cancer; and monkey brain, where a person just cant stop thinking and rethinking about things. Restless sleepers can make behavioral changes to ease the problem, such as avoiding caffeine at least six hours before bedtime; turning off electronic devices at least 30 minutes before bed, as many devices emit blue wavelengths that mimic daylight and can prolong wakefulness; and making the bedroom a cozy, dark, cool environment, which facilitates slumber when its time to hit the sack. If people are concerned about their sleep habits, Dougherty says they should seek help with a professional and dont self-medicate. Even over-the-counter sleep aids have higher side effects and more drug-to-drug interaction in older people, she says. A truism in geriatric medicine is that improvement is often found in taking away pills, rather than adding more. There may be variability in your sleep patterns from night to night, but if it persists for a few months, seek professional help, Dougherty says. After keeping a sleep diary for several weeks, noting times to bed and to rise, fitfulness of sleep, times up in the night, alcohol and caffeine consumed, and exercise, bring it with you to meet with an AASM-accredited doctor. At Pulmonary Associates of Lancaster, Dougherty says they talk to the patient and their sleep partner about what kind of sleeping problems they are having. The patient may benefit from a diagnostic sleep study. A home study can show whether or not the patient has sleep apnea or not. It is around $500, but garners less detailed information than an overnight, in-clinic study. A sleep study performed at the clinic will provide detailed information about a patients sleep stages, brain wave activity and limb movement. A board-certified sleep specialist will interpret the results to recommend an effective course of treatment. That test is around $3,500. There are many types of sleep disorders, and if it is impacting your waking life, it may be time to root out the problem. Still undecided? Just sleep on it. One year ago today, Ricardo Munozs sisters called 911, seeking help for their brother, a 27-year-old diagnosed with schizophrenia and bipolar disorder. Within minutes of their call, Munoz was dead, shot by a Lancaster police officer after Munoz rushed him armed with a knife. The shockwaves caused by the tragedy continue to reverberate. Almost immediately, rumors began. Protests, rioting and arrests followed. In February, Munozs mother filed a wrongful death suit against the city and county. And while not solely because of Munozs death, the city has a new police chief. Calls, too, were made by many for improvements in how to respond to people whose mental health problems bring them into contact with police. And a family still grieves. I can tell you that I speak with Miguelina on a regular basis and every single time that I speak with her, she is in tears and says that not a day goes by that she doesn't think about her son, said Daisy Ayllon, one the attorneys for Miguelina Pena. Pena also thinks about what things could have been to prevent this, Ayllon said. It is difficult to witness that pain and the sheer agony of her loss. Lancaster Mayor Danene Sorace told LNP | LancasterOnline last week, Ricardo Munozs death a year ago was a tragedy for his family and our community. Changes are being made locally in how police and others respond to calls involving someone with mental illness, according to Sorace. Exact statistics as to how many police calls involve mental illness are hard to come by, as policing in America is fragmented into thousands of departments. However, some studies put the figure at around 10%-20%. According to Sorace, all city police officers are undergoing crisis intervention training run by the countys probation and parole department. The department has about 135 officers. And though plans were in the works before the shooting, the city has hired a second social worker. The city has also applied for a grant to help fund a crisis team that would include officers trained in crisis intervention from East Hempfield, East Lampeter, West Lampeter and Manheim township police departments. Manheim Township police provide coverage to Lancaster Township, which also neighbors the city. Mental health issues do not stop at our municipal boundary and every agency and community has these same challenges, the city wrote in the July grant application. The city and Penn Medicine Lancaster General Health have also been awarded a grant of about $300,000 to help train first responders, including police, and residents, according to Sorace. This work is just beginning, and Im hopeful it will keep opening doors to more trust, partnership and change between city government and the residents we serve, Sorace said. The county has also been seeking grants to improve responses to people with mental health issues. One program the county is seeking funding for is a pilot program tested earlier this year that sent trained mental health professionals with police departments throughout the county. While the program, called Gateways, was not created specifically in response to the Munoz shooting, I would say that the shooting certainly shed a lot more light on the plight of individuals with mental health struggles, Christopher Dreisbach, CEO of East Lampeter-based Blueprints for Addiction Recovery, said Friday. And it may have opened the door to the (positive) reception from police and the community. The citys social workers and mental health professionals in the Gateway program do not respond to calls instead of police, but rather are a resource police can use when situations warrant. At the federal level, U.S. Sen. Bob Casey introduced two bills in December intended to reduce how often police respond to non-criminal emergencies involving people with disabilities often mental and provide officers with better training for when they do have to respond. My legislation ... would take important steps to preventing future tragedies like the death of Ricardo Munoz, Casey said in a statement last week, adding he will continue to push for their passage when the Senate reconvenes later this month. Every leftover antlerless deer license for Lancaster County's wildlife management unit was bought in the first two hours they were on sale on Monday morning. Two hours after sales opened, the county's treasurer's office sold 469 licenses, according to assistant deputy treasurer Donna Haley. Of those, about 400 were for WMU 5B, which encompasses Lancaster, York and Dauphin counties, along with a portion of Lebanon County. A full map of the state's WMUs can be found here. As of last Thursday, WMU 5B had 1,232 antlerless deer licenses remaining, LNP|LancasterOnline outdoor writer PJ Reilly reported. At one point on Monday morning, there were more than 200 people waiting in line at the treasurer's office, Haley said. As of 10:35 a.m., there 39 people waiting in line. This is the first year that Pennsylvania hunters are allowed to hold up to six doe tags. Previously, hunters were limited to no more than three antlerless licenses across 20 of the state's 23 WMUs. "Thats how many doe licenses a hunter can hold at one time. But as an individual fills tags, he or she can replace them so long as allocations for more tags remain," Reilly wrote on Sunday. Hunters are only limited by the individual WMU allocations. Though hunters could buy doe tags during other sale windows earlier in the year, Monday marked the first time hunters could purchase multiple licenses at once, or until their six-tag limit is fulfilled. Buying the leftover licenses in person is also new this year, since hunters had to buy their licenses through the mail in past rounds of sales. Any treasurer's office in the state can sell tags for any WMU in the state. Reilly asked hunters to let him know their thoughts on the new system. His email is preilly@lnpnews.com. A Kansas man kidnapped a woman, then held her for days in a Dauphin County motel as he repeatedly beat and raped her, according to police in Dauphin County. Robert Allen Schlegel, 41, of Lyons, Kansas, was charged with kidnapping to inflict injury or terror, two counts of rape, two counts of aggravated assault, strangulation, intimidating a witness, unlawful restraint, stalking, simple assault and terroristic threats. Schlegel had already been charged with assaulting and kidnapping the same woman in Kansas in January, but was recently released from custody, according to an affidavit of probable cause. Schlegel followed the woman to Pennsylvania, finding her at her job at a Derry Township restaurant on Sept. 4 and forcing her to leave with him by threatening to kill her family by slitting their throats. The woman is a resident of Lancaster County. Schlegel then forced the woman to stay with him at the Rio Motel at 60 Washington Avenue in Derry Township for days, threatening to harm her and her family if she ever attempted to leave, police said. Schlegel raped, assaulted her and strangled her during that time. A passing motorist called 911 after spotting the woman's vehicle at the motel around 10:15 a.m. on Saturday, according to the affidavit. Derry Township police arrived to find Schlegel in the motel room where the car was parked and asked to speak with the woman, who had been reported missing days earlier. Schlegel was arrested without incident and is being held in Dauphin County Prison after being denied bail by Judge Joseph Lindsey on Saturday, court records show. He will face a preliminary hearing before Judge Dominic Pelino at 9:45 a.m. on Sept. 21. YORK COUNTY York County has its eyes set on economic recovery with the investment of nearly $42 million in American Rescue Plan Act funds. The York County Board of Commissioners unanimously approved the allocation of its ARPA funds into three main categories, according to a press release: the tourism and hospitality industry, small businesses and nonprofit organizations as well as existing and future COVID-19-related expenses. The task of deciding where to allocate these funds fell to the YoCO Strong Recovery Task Force, which was established to evaluate COVID-19 crisis management, mitigation and efforts to revitalize the countys economy. The task force allocated the largest share of $21 million to reimburse the county for existing and future COVID-19-related expenses. Small businesses and nonprofit organizations are slated for $18 million while $3 million will go to stabilizing the tourism and hospitality industry. Every county in the U.S. received funding through the ARPA President Joe Biden signed into law in March. The $87 million given to York was a share of $65.1 billion given to counties based on their share of the US population. York County previously allocated $26.5 million in ARPA funds and has just under $20 million left to spend after the commissioners most recent decision. chosen by the task force, $1 million will go to the York County History Center for redevelopment, and $1.5 million will go to United Way partner organizations, particularly those supporting basic needs, cultural arts and workforce development programming. Another $9.5 million will launch a second round of Restart grants, administered by the York County Economic Alliance, to provide grants to small businesses, nonprofit organizations and start-up businesses. Additionally, $1 million each will go to support early learning centers and childcare services and to support senior centers. This economically-critical action will provide significant investment and the infusion of capital into York Countys rebounding economy, said York County President Commissioner Julie Wheeler. We believe it will provide funding to many sectors of our economy to stabilize businesses and organizations across the entire county as well as continue our recovery. Prior to this round of allocations, York County allocated $25 million to expand and improve broadband and wireless internet connection in the county through the YoCo Fiber Initiative. About $1.5 million went to funding the Pennsylvania COVID-19 Hospitality Industry Recovery Program (CHIRP), a statewide program that provides grants to eligible hospitality businesses that were impacted by the pandemic. SEOUL, South Korea (AP) North Korea said Monday that it successfully tested newly developed long-range cruise missiles over the weekend, the first known testing activity in months, underscoring how the country continues to expand its military capabilities amid a stalemate in nuclear negotiations with the United States. The state-run Korean Central News Agency reported that the missiles showed they can hit targets 1,500 kilometers (930 miles) away on Saturday and Sunday. State media published photos of a projectile being fired from a launcher truck and what looked like a missile traveling in the air. The North hailed its new missiles as a strategic weapon of great significance wording that implies they were developed with the intent to arm them with nuclear warheads. North Korea says it needs nuclear weapons in order to deter what it claims is hostility from the U.S. and South Korea and has long attempted to use the threat of such an arsenal to extract much-needed economic aid or otherwise apply pressure. The North and ally China faced off against South Korea and U.S.-led U.N. forces in the 1950-53 Korean War, a conflict that ended in an armistice that has yet to be replaced with a peace treaty. The international community is bent on getting the North to abandon its nuclear arsenal and has long used a combination of the threat of sanctions and the promise of economic help to try to influence the North. But U.S.-led negotiations on the nuclear issue have been stalled since the collapse of a summit between North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and then-U.S. President Donald Trump in 2019. At that time, the Americans rejected Kim's demand for major sanctions relief in exchange for dismantling an aging nuclear complex. North Korea ended a yearlong pause in ballistic tests in March by firing two short-range missiles into the sea, continuing a tradition of testing new U.S. administrations to measure Washingtons response. Kims government has so far rejected the Biden administrations overtures for dialogue, demanding that Washington abandon its hostile policies first a reference to the U.S. maintaining sanctions and a military alliance with South Korea. The United States keeps about 28,000 troops in South Korea to help deter potential aggression from North Korea, a legacy of the Korean War. There hadnt been any known test launches for months since March, as Kim focused his efforts on fending off the coronavirus and salvaging an economy damaged by sanctions, bad flooding in recent summers, and border closures amid the coronavirus pandemic. Experts have warned that the economic situation is dire, although monitoring groups have yet to detect signs of mass starvation or major instability. The report of the tests comes before U.S. President Joe Bidens special representative for North Korea, Sung Kim, was to meet his South Korean and Japanese counterparts in Tokyo on Tuesday to discuss the stalled nuclear diplomacy with North Korea. South Korea's military is analyzing the North Korean launches based on U.S. and South Korean intelligence, the Joint Chiefs of Staff said in a statement. South Korean Foreign Minister Chung Eui-yong said after a meeting with Australia's foreign and defense ministers that the resumption of testing activity illustrates an urgent need for reviving diplomacy with the North. The U.S. Indo-Pacific Command said it was monitoring the situation with allies and that the North Korean activity reflects a continuing focus on developing its military program and the threats that poses to its neighbors and the international community. Japan said it was extremely concerned. While the cruise missiles were clearly aimed at sending a message to Washington, the tests may indicate that the North is struggling with more provocative weapons systems and might not garner much of a response, said Du Hyeogn Cha, an analyst at Seouls Asan Institute for Policy Studies. China, the North's staunchest ally, didnt comment on the missiles when asked. A spokesperson for its Foreign Ministry, Zhao Lijian, only urged all parties concerned to exercise restraint, move in the same direction, actively engage in dialogue and contact to reach a political settlement. Kim doubled down on his pledge to bolster his nuclear deterrent in the face of U.S. sanctions and pressure at a congress of the ruling Workers Party in January. He issued a long wish list of new sophisticated equipment, including longer-range intercontinental ballistic missiles, nuclear-powered submarines, spy satellites and tactical nuclear weapons. KCNA said the missiles tested over the weekend traveled for 126 minutes above North Korean territory before hitting their targets. "In all, the efficiency and practicality of the weapon system operation was confirmed to be excellent, it said. It appeared that Kim wasnt in attendance to observe the tests. KCNA said Kims top military official, Pak Jong Chon, observed the test-firings and called for the countrys defense scientists to go all out to increase the Norths military capabilities. Japanese Chief Cabinet Secretary Katsunobu Kato said North Korean missiles of such range would pose a serious threat to the peace and safety of Japan and its surrounding areas. He said Tokyo was working with Washington and Seoul to gather information on North Koreas latest tests but said there was no immediate indication that the weapons reached inside Japans exclusive economic zone. Kims powerful sister last month hinted that North Korea was ready to resume weapons testing while issuing a statement berating the United States and South Korea for continuing their joint military exercises, which she said was the most vivid expression of U.S. hostile policy. The allies say their drills are defensive in nature, but they have canceled or downsized them in recent years to create space for diplomacy or in response to COVID-19. The latest tests came after Kim threw an unusual parade last week that was a marked departure from past militaristic displays, showcasing anti-virus workers in hazmat suits and civil defense organizations involved in industrial work and rebuilding communities destroyed by floods. Experts said the parade was focused on domestic unity as Kim faces perhaps his toughest test, with his economy in tatters. Associated Press writers Hyung-jin Kim in Seoul and Mari Yamaguchi in Tokyo contributed to this report. Success! An email has been sent with a link to confirm list signup. Have we all lost our minds? When it comes to wearing masks in our schools, I do not understand why we are being so influenced by a minority of angry people, instead of by scientific professionals who have strongly recommended masks to help prevent the spread of COVID-19 to kids. Children depend on their parents, caregivers and educators to keep them safe and protected. There is no vaccine for those under age 12 yet. In my view, school officials who are attempting to defy the Pennsylvania Department of Healths mask mandate are using our children as front-line fodder in their political games. Julia Walker Warwick Township About 506 million years ago, a strange sea creature swam in warm waters on the ocean floor off the coast of present-day Canada. At that point in time, it was one of Earth's largest hunters. Titanokorys gainesi or Titanokorys, for short is an arthropod from the Cambrian geological period. Titanokorys lived during a time when much of present-day North America was below warm seas. On September 8, scientists announced the discovery of its fossils in the Canadian Rockies. The area where it was found is known to be rich in Cambrian fossils. The name Titanokorys means "titanic helmet" -- and for good reason. Titanic means very large. Helmet is a hard hat you wear on your head. And this creature's helmet or head shell made up about two-thirds of its 50-centimeter-long body. While that may not sound very big, during the Cambrian Period it was huge. "Most other life forms were smaller than a human thumbnail at that time. By comparison, Titanokorys was longer than an adult human forearm, said Jean-Bernard Caron. He is a paleontologist of the Royal Ontario Museum in Toronto. He is also the lead writer of the study that appeared in the publication Royal Society Open Science. He and his team spoke with Reuters news agency about their discovery. Caron said in its day, Titanokorys was a giant. It was also a very strange looking animal. He added, it could be compared to a giant swimming head since the body was so short The creature was also flat, so it could live on the sea floor. The eyes of the Titanokorys had many different moving parts. Its circular mouth was lined with triangular tooth-like structures. It had two claws to capture prey. It had gills and a series of flaps on the sides of its body for swimming. Scientists think the Titanokorys fed on buried prey like worms. It used its claws to dig in the mud to find food. However, its claws did not pick up the prey; instead, they pulled the prey into the mouth. Joe Moysiuk is a paleontologist at the University of Toronto and the Royal Ontario Museum. He is also co-writer of the study. He told Reuters that when the fossils were first discovered, they were so unusual looking that the scientists were not sure what kind of animal they belonged to. He added that because of their strange shape, scientists in the field call them the mothership. They use this description because the creature looks something like an unusual spaceship. The recent fossil discovery is not the first. Scientists discovered parts of fossils of many Titanokorys individuals in Canadas British Columbia between 2014 and 2018. The Cambrian period The Cambrian Period was from about 542 million to 488 million years ago. It was an important time in the history of life on Earth. During the Cambrian Period, many major animal groups first appeared on Earth. Because such a great amount of life appeared in such a short amount of time, scientists call this time period Cambrian Explosion. Im Anna Matteo. Will Dunham reported this story for Reuters news agency. Anna Matteo adapted it for VOA Learning English. Ashley Thompson was the editor. ________________________________________________ Words in This Story arthropod n. any of a large group of animals (as crabs, insects, and spiders) with jointed limbs and a body made up of segments geological adj. of or relating to the science that deals with the history of the earth and its life especially as recorded in rocks fossil n. something (such as a leaf, skeleton, or footprint) that is from a plant or animal which lived in ancient times and that you can see in some rocks paleontologist n. a science dealing with the life of past geologic periods as known from fossil remains giant adj. having extremely large size, proportion, or power claw n. a body part of an animal (such as a lobster or crab) that is used for gripping and holding things prey n. an animal that is hunted or killed by another animal for food gill n. an organ (as of a fish) for taking oxygen from water flap n. something broad and flat or flexible that hangs loose The American government will reportedly help the Federated States of Micronesia (FSM) lay communication equipment in the Pacific Ocean. Two sources with knowledge of the plans spoke to Reuters. They also said FSM had refused an offer of such help from China. The United States has taken interest in several plans in recent years to lay cables in the Pacific Ocean. Such cables can carry much more data than satellites and could sharply improve communications to island nations. Reuters reports that FSM would use U.S. money to build a line between two of its four states, Kosrae and Pohnpei. It is similar to an earlier $72.6 million project backed by the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank. That project had also included the states of Nauru and Kiribati, but it was dropped. Washington had raised concerns that the contract would be given to the Chinese Huawei Marine company, now called HMN Technologies. American government officials argued that the involvement of Chinese companies in the project would threaten security in the area. Beijing has denied using cable technology for spying. One source told Reuters that FSM would receive around $14 million from the American Rescue Plan. The U.S. Congress passed the legislation earlier this year as part of COVID-19 recovery efforts. The United States and FSM have a long diplomatic relationship. The nations are part of the Compact of Free Association, a decades-old agreement between the United States and its former Pacific territories. Under that agreement, the American government is responsible for the island nation's defense. The Reuters source said the U.S. money was likely meant to provide a connection to the HANTRU-1 undersea cable. That is a line used by the U.S. government that connects to the U.S. Pacific territory of Guam. The World Bank said in a statement it was working with FSM and Kiribati on a new plan after the larger project ended with no contract awarded. Pacific Politics Underwater cables are one of the newest and most competitive interests between China and the U.S. in the Pacific. While FSM has close ties to the United States, it also has long had diplomatic and trade relations with China. China has strongly denied accusations of spying. China's Foreign Ministry said in a statement to Reuters that Chinese companies have a good record in cybersecurity. "The so-called security threat by the U.S. is totally groundless," the statement said. "Who the 'hacker empire' really is - engaging in spying and stealing secrets - is plain to the world." Im Dan Novak. Jonathan Barrett reported this story Reuters. Dan Novak adapted it for VOA Learning English. Caty Weaver was the editor. __________________________________________________ Words in This Story cable n. a group of wires, glass fibers, etc., covered in plastic or rubber and used to carry electricity or electrical signals decade n. a period of ten years. hacker n. a person who secretly gets access to a computer system in order to get information, cause damage, etc. : a person who hacks into a computer system engage in phrasal verb. to do (something) North Korea said Monday it successfully tested a long-range cruise missile over the weekend. The tests show how the country is trying to grow its nuclear technology as diplomatic talks with the United States have mostly stopped. The state-run Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) reported that the missiles hit targets 1,500 kilometers away. State media published photos of an object being launched from a truck and what looked like a missile traveling in the air. Experts say the long-range cruise missile could give North Korea another way to escape its neighbors missile defenses. North Korea says it needs nuclear weapons in order to prevent what it claims is hostility from the United States and South Korea. North Korea called its new missiles a strategic weapon of great significance. Experts say that wording means the new missiles were developed to arm them with nuclear weapons. While you could say the missile will be nuclear capable, there is no known North Korean warhead for it yet, said Melissa Hanham. She is with the Stanford Center for International Security and Cooperation. The cruise missile can be launched as far as 1,500 kilometers. That means it could reach all parts of South Korea and most of Japan. In a statement, the U.S. military said it knew of the launches and is working closely with its allies and partners. The international community has tried for many years to get the North to stop its nuclear weapons program through threats of sanctions and the promise of economic help. But U.S.-led diplomatic meetings have greatly slowed since talks broke down in 2019 between North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and then-U.S. President Donald Trump. At that time, the Americans rejected Kims demand for economic help in exchange for closing an old nuclear center. There had not been any known test launches since March, as Kim has been working on fighting the coronavirus and trying to improve the economy. Experts have said the economic situation in the North is very poor. The report of the tests comes before U.S. President Joe Bidens representative for North Korea, Sung Kim, was to meet with South Korean and Japanese diplomats in Tokyo Tuesday. The group was set to discuss nuclear diplomacy with North Korea. Defense experts say the missile test was a clear message to Washington. But the test may also be a sign that the North is struggling to develop more advanced weapons, said Du Hyeogn Cha. He is with Seouls Asan Institute for Policy Studies. At a congress of the ruling Workers Party in January, Kim promised to improve North Koreas nuclear technology. He listed new equipment he hoped to build, including longer-range intercontinental ballistic missiles, nuclear-powered submarines and spy satellites. North Korea has not carried out an intercontinental missile or nuclear test since 2017. Japanese Chief Cabinet Secretary Katsunobu Kato said the North Korean missiles present a serious threat to the peace and safety of Japan and its surrounding areas. He said Japanese leaders were working with the U.S. and South Korea to gather information on North Koreas latest tests. Kims powerful sister, Kim Yo-Jong, last month suggested that North Korea was ready to restart weapons testing. She also released a statement strongly criticizing the U.S. and South Korea for continuing their shared military exercises. She called the exercises the most vivid expression of U.S. hostile policy towards the North. Im Dan Novak. Dan Novak adapted this story for VOA Learning English based on reporting by The Associated Press and VOA News. Ashley Thompson was the editor. ________________________________________________ Words in This Story cruise missile n. a large military weapon that flies close to the ground and is directed to a specific place to explode strategic adj. of or relating to a general plan that is created to achieve a goal in war, politics, etc., usually over a long period of time significance n. of or relating to a general plan that is created to achieve a goal in war, politics, etc., usually over a long period of time capable adj. able to do something : having the qualities or abilities that are needed to do something warhead n. the part of a missile that contains the explosive sanction n. an action that is taken or an order that is given to force a country to obey international laws by limiting or stopping trade with that country, by not allowing economic aid for that country, etc range n. a series of numbers that includes the highest and lowest possible amounts ; a specified distance vivid adj. seeming like real life because it is very clear, bright, or detailed Several recent studies have linked additional health problems with what is called long COVID. Long COVID describes a condition in which symptoms of the coronavirus infection remain for a long time. The findings in the studies were recently released and have not yet been fully reviewed or supported by other research. Reuters news agency reported on the findings. COVID-19s effects on the kidneys One study, for example, has found a link between long COVID and kidney problems. The researchers examined the health records of more than 1.7 million U.S. veterans. That includes nearly 90,000 patients who had COVID-19 infections and had symptoms lasting at least 30 days. The researchers found that those people were at higher risk for new kidney problems compared to those who had not been infected. This was true even when the people had not been hospitalized. Severe infections resulted in poorer kidney health, the researchers reported. The study was published recently in the Journal of the American Society of Nephrology. About five percent of the long COVID group developed at least a 30 percent drop in an important measure of kidney function known as eGFR. People with long COVID were 25 percent more likely than uninfected people to have a 30 percent decrease in eGFR. Higher risks were reported in those with more severe COVID-19 cases. The researchers noted that, as people age, their kidneys often do not work as well. Dr. Ziyad Al-Aly of Washington University in St. Louis helped write the study. He said damage to the patients kidneys was greater than what happens with normal aging. Changes in the sense of smell Another study found that loss of smell may be followed by changes in the ability to smell after a COVID infection. Many people who report losing their sense of smell because of COVID-19 do regain it. But a recent study found that some patients later report smell distortions and unexplained smells. A group of international scientists published their findings in medRxiv. The service publishes early medical research before it is fully reviewed. The researchers examined responses from 1,468 individuals who had COVID-19 between April and September 2020. All had suffered a loss of smell and taste at the start of their sicknesses. Early on, about 10 percent also reported smell distortions and unexplained smells. At six to seven months after first reporting a loss of smell, 60 percent of women and 48 percent of men had regained less than 80 percent of their pre-sickness ability to smell. And rates of smell distortions and unexplained smells had increased. Nearly 40 percent reported smell distortions. They said, for example, some things now smell like chemicals." About 25 percent reported unexplained smells. "Sometimes I can smell burning but no one else around me can," one person reported. Ongoing smell problems were seen more often in patients with more symptoms. The writers of the study suggested that problems with the sense of smell might be a central marker of long COVID. Antibodies in weakened patients A third study found that one kind of COVID-19 vaccine can produce antibodies even when a person has a weakened immune system. The researchers said mRNA COVID-19 vaccines cause protective immune reactions in most cancer patients with solid cancer growths. They also produce antibodies in people taking medicines that cause their immune systems to weaken. That is what two recent studies in Israel suggest. The researchers found that six months after the second shot of the vaccine from Pfizer/BioNTech, 79 percent of 154 patients with solid cancer growths had developed antibodies. The Pfizer vaccine is an mRNA vaccine, one that uses changed genetic material. At the same time, 84 percent of 135 people without cancer developed antibodies. Antibody levels were similar in the two groups, the researchers reported recently in the publication Cancer Discovery. Separately, U.S. researchers studied 133 adults taking medicines that cause a weakened immune system and 53 healthy volunteers. The study found that, three weeks after the second shot of a vaccine from Pfizer/BioNTech or Moderna, nearly 90 percent of the immune-weakened people had developed antibodies. But many had lower reactions compared to the healthy group. The study was published in Annals of Internal Medicine. Both studies involved a small number of people. Getting better outside the hospital And finally a separate study on the antibody treatment from Regeneron found a lower rate of hospitalization in patients. People with COVID-19 treated with a monoclonal antibody mixture had lower hospitalization rates than those without the treatment, a study recently said. The patients had mild to moderate COVID-19 cases. The researchers reported the findings in EClinicalMedicine. The study was not randomized and cannot prove the treatment caused the better results. But it suggests high-risk patients with mild or moderate COVID-19 may be able to recover without having to go to the hospital. Im Caty Weaver. And I'm Alice Bryant. Reuters news agency reported this story. Alice Bryant adapted it for VOA Learning English. Mario Ritter, Jr. was the editor. __________________________________________________________ Words in This Story symptom n. a change in the body or mind that shows that a disease is present function n. the purpose or activity that something does or is used for in excess phrase more than distortion n. a change in something so that it is no longer true, normal or believable immune system n. the system that protects the body from disease and infection randomize v. to do in a way that shows no plan or system Qatar has given scholarships to members of a female robotics team from Afghanistan, the nation's education and science organization said on Tuesday. The team has been called the "Afghan Dreamers" and includes young scientists from ages 14 to 17. Qatar has been helping with the efforts to take Afghans and foreigners who face risks in Afghanistan out of the country from Kabul airport. Those people include members of the robotics team. They are staying in housing at Doha's Education City area of schools and universities. In a statement, the Qatar Foundation said the young women will be able to continue their studies "through a partnership between Qatar Foundation and Qatar Fund for Development." The team of high school students has about 20 members, mostly in their teenage years. They are now living in several places with some in Qatar and some in Mexico. The young women were in the news in 2017 because they could not get travel documents to take part in a robotics competition in Washington D.C. They were permitted to travel when then-President Donald Trump urged the State Department to make it possible. Working to improve medical care Last year, they worked to build a low-cost medical ventilator from car parts. A ventilator is a machine that helps very sick people breathe. Sheikha Hind bint Hamad Al-Thani is vice-chairwoman and chief executive of the Qatar Foundation. She said, "These talented, creative students have been living through a time of uncertainty and upheaval, and at Qatar Foundation we want to do whatever we can. By providing them with scholarships to study at Education City, their education can now continue uninterrupted." She added that the foundation was learning about the young scientists needs to decide on the right schools or pre-university programs for them. The Taliban's seizure of power has caused some people to flee the country. Many Afghans fear a return to the severe Islamic law the Taliban enforced during the groups rule from 1996 to 2001. An inspiration U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken met with several members of the team recently during a visit to Qatar. "You're famous around the world and a source of inspiration," he told them. Their story about the importance of women taking part in scientific work sends an important message around the world, well beyond Afghanistan," he added. Roya Mahboob is the founder of the Digital Citizen Fund, the parent organization of the team. She said the young women were "excited and grateful for this opportunity. Several other members of the robotics team have been moved to Mexico. They were not identified for security reasons. The Associated Press reported one team member saying the team was grateful to Mexico for saving our lives. She said thanks to Mexicos actions, our story will not end in a sad way because of the Taliban. Im Jill Robbins. Jill Robbins adapted this story from VOA News for Learning English. Mario Ritter, Jr. was the editor. _________________________________________________ Words in This Story scholarship n. payment for schooling talented adj. having a special ability to do something well : having talent upheaval n. a major change or period of change that causes a lot of conflict, confusion, or anger uninterrupted adj. not stopped or block; permitted to continue inspiration n. a person, place, experience, or the like that makes someone want to do or create something grateful adj. feeling or showing thanks What do you think of Qatars offer to help the robotics team? We want to hear from you. Write to us in the Comments Section. If Reclaim Idaho was looking for a pair of foils to help promote its education funding initiative, the group could hardly do any better than the Republicans heading up education committees in the House and Senate. The lead police investigator in the September 2019 Lompoc shooting death of an active-duty Army soldier testified in court Friday, recalling an interview in which he said a suspect pointed to the co-defendant as the triggerman in the case. Officer Michael Miller, a detective with the Lompoc Police Department, recalled interviews with Francisco Gutierrez-Ortega, of Santa Maria, after he turned himself in more than a week after the shooting death of 22-year-old Marlon Brumfield on Sept. 8, 2019. who was home on leave from Germany. Gutierrez-Ortega was the driver in the getaway vehicle in the incident and named his passenger, 27-year-old Walter Morales, as the person who shot at Brumfield before both suspects fled the scene, according to Miller. Morales was charged with Brumfield's murder and also faces four sentencing enhancements, including causing great bodily injury and committing the shooting for the benefit of a gang. +3 Santa Maria man accused of killing Army soldier pleads no contest to manslaughter A Santa Maria man has pleaded no contest to voluntary manslaughter in connection with the shooting death of Army soldier Marlon Brumfield in September 2019. Morales received three additional charges, including attempted murder, shooting at a dwelling, assault with a deadly weapon and an enhancement of using a firearm from a separate incident in which he allegedly shot at an occupied vehicle in the 1000 block of West Olive Street July 11, 2020. Morales had allegedly fled to Mexico following Brumfield's death and was arrested by SWAT officers July 17, 2020 in the 1500 block of South Thornburg Street in Santa Maria after nearly a year on the run. Morales preliminary hearing began Thursday in Lompoc Superior Court and continued for a second day on Friday. He has pleaded not guilty to all charges. The hearing is tentatively expected to last until Oct. 8, according to Deputy District Attorney Scott Donahue, who is prosecuting the case. Both the families for Brumfield and Morales were in attendance during the hearing, but sat on opposite sides of the court. Co-defendant Gutierrez-Ortega pleaded no contest on Oct. 9, 2020, to the charge in the killing of Brumfield, 22, of Lompoc, according to Santa Barbara County Superior Court records. Miller testified that he and Lompoc Police Sgt. Agustin Arias interviewed Gutierrez-Ortega at the local jail after picking him up from the Santa Maria Police Department, where he turned himself in to detectives. At first, Gutierrez-Ortega refused to talk to police, but changed his mind, according to Miller. Miller said that during the interviews on Sept. 17, 2019, and Oct. 7, 2019, Gutierrez-Ortega told detectives how he met Morales and what he allegedly witnessed when Brumfield was killed. Through his brother, Gutierrez-Ortega became acquainted with Morales, who drove up to Santa Maria and the two went back to Lompoc, according to Miller. After knowing him for awhile, Morales allegedly told his co-defendant that he was Smiley from the VLP gang in Lompoc while Gutierrez-Ortega admitted to being an inactive West Park gang member but in good standing, Miller added. +3 Judge sets no bail for Lompoc man who fled to Mexico after death of soldier A Santa Barbara County Superior Court judge on Tuesday ordered no bail and continued the arraignment for a Lompoc man suspected in the shooting death of a U.S. Army soldier in September 2019. They went to Morales relatives house and drank beer before going to DJs Saloon and drank more before leaving when the bar closed. As the two got back into their vehicle, Morales allegedly heard someone say suwohoop, believing that it was a call-out from two individuals walking nearby that he believed were associated with the Bloods street gang, according to Miller. Morales instructed Gutierrez-Ortega to pull up next to the two people walking, and the car drove into the oncoming traffic lane and next to the curb near the intersection of A Street and Ocean Avenue, where Brumfield was walking with his friend at about 2 a.m. After noticing that the two men did not appear to be in a gang, Gutierrez-Ortega attempted to convey that information to Morales, who almost immediately pulled out a .357 revolver and fired four shots through the window across the drivers face towards Brumfield before the Mustang sped away, according to Miller. Brumfield told his friend that he was shot and stumbled into the street, where he collapsed, Miller testified. When Gutierrez-Ortega asked why Morales shot at Brumfield, Morales allegedly said I dont care, Im a killer, Miller testified. [Gutierrez-Ortega] felt bad about what happened, Miller said. Gretchen Gaspari and Darren Ritchie, Morales defense attorneys, questioned Miller over his experience handling a female confidential witness who provided information about the shooting while she was intoxicated and his experience as a lead investigator in homicide cases. During Gaspari's questioning, Miller said that the confidential witness maintained her story multiple times that Gutierrez-Ortega was the shooter until May of this year. Miller, a Lompoc Police detective who investigates crimes against children, said this is his first time as a lead investigator in a homicide and was assigned to the Brumfield case due to his departments heavy caseload investigating other killings that year. Unfortunately weve all had to become the primary [investigator] on a homicide case, Miller said. The preliminary hearing continues Monday morning in Superior Court. Please register or log in to keep reading. No credit card required! Stay logged in to skip the surveys. This is a disease, currently, of the unvaccinated, and with a large proportion of kids being unvaccinated because theres no vaccine available, theyre bearing the brunt of of this, Conway said, adding that eligible household members need to get vaccinated to protect kids 11 and under. The overwhelming majority of those people that are getting newly infected with COVID have not been vaccinated, Timberlake said. The other thing that we have to talk about is that the most significant rate of new cases is in kids ages 9 to 13. Who is coming down with COVID most frequently in our state right now? It is our kids. And while the current spike in cases is concerning, especially among the children who dont have the option to protect themselves, the experts did say there are reasons to be optimistic about the months to come. At this point, Im pretty hopeful, Sethi said. Compared to a year ago when we werent exactly sure if there would be a vaccine that could be rolled out with that reference, one year ago, I feel good where we are. He noted that while slowdowns in demand for the vaccine have been frustrating, they were to be expected. This is the way society works sometimes. Its not surprising, he said. On top of the cost of tuition, many providers do not provide meals for children, instead asking parents to pack food. Giraffe Laugh is one of few that provides breakfast, lunch and a snack daily with support from the federal Child and Adult Care Food Program, which Fascilla said is a cumbersome bureaucratic program that most other providers dont want to go through the effort of navigating. The program also reimburses a center based on family income levels, so if a center has fewer low-income children, the reimbursement rate is lower. The program is also prescriptive in what foods can be selected to serve children and must be based off of the U.S. Department of Agricultures food pyramid. Menus must be documented, recorded and reported to the federal government. To run the program requires cooks and an administrative staffer whose main role is managing the associated paperwork. Melissa Buck, who is the director of Vista Montessori School in Boise, operates her school out of an older house and said the setup inside doesnt easily allow for meal preparation. She looked at the food program just for snacks, and said it was too much paperwork. Human resources are still the key to survival of child care centers Originally posted on IdahoEdNews.org on September 9, 2021. The Gem State is no longer ranked in the bottom 10 for high school graduation rates. Idahos pandemic graduation rate of 82.1% in 2020 vaulted the state to 41st in a ranking of all 50 states and Washington D.C. according to an EdNews analysis of each states graduation rates. Thats an improvement from 2019, when Idaho ranked 45th. The 2020 year was a strange one for high school seniors who were sent home from school during the onset of a global pandemic. In many districts seniors were not required to complete their final assignments, and certain graduation requirements, including a senior project. State superintendent Sherri Ybarra lauded Idahos improvement of 1.4 percentage points as the biggest year-to-year increase since Idaho changed the way it calculates grad rates in 2014. The five-year graduation rate, including 2019 graduates who needed extra time to complete high school, is closer to 83.3% she said in an email. 12:33 p.m.: Biden said he once interviewed for a job with Boise Cascade, and that he and his late first wife Neilia considered moving to Idaho. Such a beautiful, beautiful state, Biden said. Biden also mentioned his connection to former Idaho senator Frank Church. BIDEN SPEAKS ON CLIMATE CHANGE 12:30 p.m.: President Joe Biden said at Boises National Interagency Fire Center that the country must do more to address climate change and warned that the extreme weather and drought will only get worse. We need to do more, Biden said. We cant continue to try to ignore reality. The reality is, we have a global warming problem. He thanked Idaho senators Jim Risch and Mike Crapo for their work and bipartisanship on wildfire prevention and told firefighters they have the full support of Bidens administration. Their assessed values are really skyrocketing through no fault of their own, he said. We need (a solution) that will work here and in the Treasure Valley. Road problems are also a common issue in Idaho, where the per-person road tax burden is more (than surrounding states) because our population is lower, our state is bigger and we have a lot of roads, Bedke said. Keeping up with road construction and road maintenance even more importantly is always a challenge here in Idaho. Coming back to the topic of COVID-19, the speaker shared a poignant experience he recently had along with Gov. Brad Little in the overflowing intensive care unit at St. Lukes Boise Medical Center. Bedke said he and the governor were humbled as they watched exhausted nurses fight for their patients lives. +5 'Loss of hope': Idaho hospitals crushed by COVID-19 surge Medical experts say the state will likely see 30,000 new infections a week by mid-September. The COVID situation has created a double-edged sword for hospital employees. A portion of the staff has quit because of the hospitals COVID vaccine requirement, but the latest round of resignations is from sheer exhaustion, Bedke said. He also addressed whether the state should come between employers and employees in requiring vaccines. The government has no place in the employer/employee relationship, he said. Attorneys for the city and county presented arguments before a commission-appointed last spring that led to a memorandum of understanding on the major issues of contingency such as schools, courts, property and annexation and then the City Council and the Board of Supervisors passed a more detailed agreement after closed meetings late last month. Basically the city wants a quick decision on the merits of the agreement it has reached with the county, Pritchett said. The county wants a couple of years to determine how, why, and if it can assume responsibility for governmental functions the city is shedding by reverting to town status. Pritchett stressed that he was not representing anyone with his action but is doing so purely for his own interests in the matter as a citizen. I am suggesting something completely different that was not considered by the city and the county legal counsel when the proposed agreement was prepared for approval ... that the city and county, as separate units of government, cannot abolish a third unit of local government, in this case the city school board, and take its property to balance the costs of a municipal reversion affecting the first two, Pritchett said. Abolition of the city school board and its school division is an unconstitutional act. The conditions of couriers worldwide, long perilous, worsened during the pandemic as riders became essential to feeding cities and faced new risks of coronavirus exposure. But in Dubai, the United Arab Emirates glimmering sheikhdom that runs on low-paid migrant labor from Africa and Asia, the job can be particularly precarious. At the mercy of visa sponsors, workers in Dubai have few protections. To reduce cost, companies like London-based Deliveroo outsource bikes, logistics and responsibility to contracting agencies a labor pipeline that prevails across Gulf Arab states and can lead to mistreatment. For food delivery riders in the UAE, the issue of exploitation is usually on the part of the sponsor. Thats where people feel they're unable to change jobs or even to complain about working conditions, said Karen Young, a senior fellow at the Washington-based Middle East Institute. On Dubais streets, more than a dozen delivery riders interviewed said they knew of two or three co-workers killed every month. Memories of colleagues sprawled on the street in shredded uniforms and bloodied helmets remain vivid as they mount their bikes each morning, many said. WASHINGTON (AP) Secretary of State Antony Blinken pushed back Monday against harsh Republican criticism of the handling of the military withdrawal from Afghanistan, saying the Biden administration inherited a deal with the Taliban to end the war, but no plan for carrying it out. In a sometimes contentious hearing Monday before the House Foreign Affairs Committee, Blinken sought to blunt complaints from angry GOP lawmakers about the administrations response to the quick collapse of the Afghan government and, more specifically, the State Departments actions to evacuate Americans and others. Blinken echoed White House talking points blaming the Trump administration for the situation that President Joe Biden inherited in Afghanistan. "We inherited a deadline. We did not inherit a plan, he said, maintaining that the administration had done the right thing in ending 20 years of war. We made the right decision in ending Americas longest-running war," said Blinken, who will testify on Tuesday before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. Republicans savaged the withdrawal process as a disaster and a disgrace. And while some Democrats allowed that the operation could have been handled better, many used their questions to heap criticism on former President Donald Trump. Smiths supporters used both issues. Although Smith distanced himself from his supporters tactics, they played the race card. Flyers, newspaper ads, and mail used crude inflammatory language to assert that Graham supported mixing the races in the workplace and everywhere else. And to a lesser degree, Smiths followers played up Grahams membership in organizations that were supposedly communist fronts. Graham refused to respond in kind. But his supporters attempted, without success, to inflame voters against Smiths big business leanings. In the end, Smiths supporters tactics won the run-off for their candidate. Why does the Graham-Smith contest continue to be significant? One reason is that several important recent political leaders cut their teeth in that battle. For instance, Jesse Helms worked vigorously on the Smith side and Terry Sanford for Graham. There are others, a few still alive, who got their start in this campaign and still remember. But many more are indirect disciples of Graham or Smith, through political figures like Sanford and Helms. That war between the Smith and Graham sides is not over. It is still being fought, and it is not yet clear which side is really going to win in the end. Through his books and his other works, Julian Pleasants will live on, doing the things he loved to do, teaching, and helping us understand the world we live in. D.G. Martin hosts North Carolina Bookwatch, Sunday 3:30 p.m. and Tuesday at 5 p.m. on PBS North Carolina (formerly UNC-TV). The program also airs on the North Carolina Channel Tuesday at 8 p.m. and other times. Credit: The Conversation President Joseph Biden on Sept. 9, 2021, unveiled his revamped strategy to confront the pandemic, outlining an approach that focuses heavily on attempting to reduce the number of unvaccinated Americans. The new plan comes at a crucial time. The delta variant continues to spread in states across America. The virus is currently taking more than 1,500 lives each day, and new hospital admissions of children are higher now than at any other point during the pandemic. Concern is especially high in states with low vaccination rates. High transmission is also harming economic recovery as people stay home to avoid the virus. As such, policies aimed at getting people vaccinated make sensevaccination is a proven way to protect populations from hospitalizations and death from coronavirus infection. To encourage vaccination, the president is mandating that employees at companies with more than 100 workers are either vaccinated or test for the virus every week. His new plan also includes enhanced production of rapid tests and making them available either free to Medicaid recipients or at cost via retailers such as Walmart and Amazon. As leaders of a team of health policy researchers that track policy responses to COVID-19, we know there is no perfect approach to preventing the virus. It is certainly encouraging that the administration has acknowledged that more needed to be doneand the measures outlined by the president are likely to encourage vaccinations. But we believe they would work better if supplemented by further actionsbe it at a federal or state levelthat would protect vulnerable people through stronger mask mandates and improved vaccine delivery. We are also concerned that the headline policymandating workplace vaccinationsmay have only a limited impact in low-income communities where many workers are independent contractors like gig workers and agricultural workers. Analyses show unvaccinated rates tend to be higher in such communities. No federal mask policies Biden's plan would continue to require the use of masks on interstate transit and federal property and doubles the fine for failure to comply. But it fell short of calling for universal mask policies. This is despite internal documents from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in which scientists made clear that "universal masking is essential to reduce transmission." Stronger mask policies would be especially helpful for immediately reducing the transmission of the delta variant, especially in higher-risk indoor spaces and among children who are not eligible for vaccines. Hospitalizations in the U.S. of children went from record lows to record highsand climbingin a span of just four weeks. Mask mandates can reduce community transmission, allowing more time to intensify vaccine delivery efforts and messaging. A data-driven approach to mask mandates would supplement the measures Biden has laid out in his path out of the pandemic. Such a policy has been put to good use in Nevada, where mask mandates come into effect in counties with high numbers of infections and are then removed when cases fall below a certain level. Vaccine mandates may still miss population groups The administration's plan includes a vaccine mandate for federal employees and health care workers at Medicaid and Medicare serving hospitals. The administration also asked the Occupational Safety and Health Administration to develop a rule that would require these employers to provide paid time off for vaccination and recovery. While many federal employees, health care workers and higher-income workers are already vaccinated, even modest increases could make a difference, especially in regions with low vaccination rates. The new vaccine mandates are less likely to reach low-income workers, many of whom are considered independent contractors or who work in small restaurants or other businesses and as such will not be covered. Research has shown that vaccination rates tend to be lower in lower-income communities. This may be because lower-paid workers are focused on meeting other needs like food, housing and child care for their families, have less time because they are working more than one job or cannot afford unpaid time off work to get a shot. The delta variant continues to spread rapidly through the U.S. State leaders can play an important role in speeding up vaccine delivery efforts at schools, neighborhoods and workplaces. Efforts that are directed toward low-income communities and workers where vaccination rates remain lowest are more likely to yield greater results. And mask policies could slow the spread of COVID-19 until more adults and children can be vaccinated. Explore further Amazon to mandate masks for all its workers in warehouses This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article. Credit: Unsplash/CC0 Public Domain A recent report by the global advocacy organization Amnesty International painted a dire picture of the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic in Somalia. Based on interviews with health workers, government officials, and finance and debt relief experts, the report concludes that the government's response to the pandemic has been "wholly inadequate." But how bad is the situation really? Dr. Mohammed A. M. Ahmed answers some questions. How has Somalia been affected by the pandemic? It has been badly affected. My colleagues and I have been tracking the situation since the first cases were reported in March last year. We have been doing consecutive online surveys to assess the adherence to COVID-19 preventive measures and its impact on Somalis between April 2020 and January 2021. These are still continuing. Strict lockdown measures were introduced. These included closing schools, non-essential businesses, bars and restaurants, closing borders, forbidding large gatherings, restricting travel and imposing a curfew. The measures have had a devastating effect on daily laborers and low-income communities. Many Somalis rely on daily paid jobs for subsistence. In addition to the health-related impact of morbidity and mortality, I believe the COVID-19 pandemic consequences were more disastrous than the disease itself. This is because, as with other low- and middle-income countries, there has been no government support for people. I wouldn't be surprised if hunger was killing more people than the virus. According to officially confirmed cases there were 16,831 in early September, and 913 confirmed deaths. But the real burden of the disease is way underestimated. There are a number of reasons for this. But the main one is that not all the laboratories in the country are included in the tally. In addition, only a few laboratories can test for COVID-19. What have been the biggest obstacles? The biggest obstacle is that the country has not been able to establish a strong health system because of three decades of civil war. Basic healthcare access is limited. Nevertheless, the Somali government's response was very good. The ministry of health, in collaboration with international organizations, worked hard to put a comprehensive plan in place. The government formed a COVID-19 task force. It also issued travel restrictions for passengers coming from high-risk countries, prepared and set up 14 institutional quarantine sites, and dedicated one hospital to handle emergency cases in need of ventilation. Preventive measures included closing academic institutions and banning large-scale social gatherings. Despite these efforts, cases continued to rise. The pandemic found Somalia in a rebuilding stage with most of the population living in heavily crowded and poorly constructed houses and large camps for internally displaced persons with limited access to testing and healthcare. Our initial observations were that a lot of the preventive measures were ignored due to strong cultural or religious beliefs. For example, people continued to gather in mosques several times a day for prayers, and meet a funeral services without proper personal protective equipment. What steps must the government take? The government must strengthen healthcare infrastructure so that people can get basic emergency healthcare. It must also establish a public health surveillance system that initiates continuous, systematic collection, analysis and interpretation of health-related data. Most healthcare in the country is privatized. The World Health Organization estimates that about 80% of the need for medicine and health products is covered by the private sector. The sector is poorly regulated and concentrated in urban areas. But I believe the private health sector can contribute to better access to healthcare if it's operationalised, organized and regulated. There is, therefore, a need to integrate health information between the two sectors. Without this numbers will continue to be under-reported. Having this type of data would: serve as an early warning system for impending outbreaks enable monitoring and evaluation of the impact of an intervention help track progress towards specified goals monitor and clarify health problems, which in turn will guide priority-setting and planning and evaluation of public health policy and strategies. In a recent study my colleagues and I assessed the COVID-19 vaccine acceptability. Most of the participants76.8% said they would accept vaccination. The respondents were mainly young people and did not qualify for the vaccine. Vaccination is restricted to high-risk groups. These include the elderly, healthcare workers and people with co-morbidities. Therefore the government should lobby for more vaccines to be available to those who are willing to be vaccinated and not only limit it to the high-risk groups. In Somalia young people make up most of the population. Older people over 65 years comprise only 3%. Explore further Moscow reports surge in deaths last month due to coronavirus This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article. Credit: Pixabay/CC0 Public Domain A new COVID-19 variant called B.1621 or mu by the World Health Organization is being monitored by scientists. While this variant is making news, it is not the dominant strain in the U.S. or elsewhere, says Dr. John O'Horo, a Mayo Clinic infectious diseases physician. "The delta variant is really the predominant strain everywhere at this point. And while it is important that scientists and public health officials keep an eye on this, we're still in a space right now where the mu variant is something to keep an eye on for the future rather than a concern." The highly infectious delta variant is twice as contagious as previous variants. It was first identified in India in December of 2020. Mu was first detected in January 2021 in Colombia. Mutations of SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, have been emerging since the pandemic began. "Each of these variants is classified, in part, based on the number of mutations they have around the virus itself and some of these viral mutations around something called the spike protein, which is what it uses to actually enter the cells and cause infection," says Dr. O'Horo. "And that's also the target of many of the vaccines." "The further that these change from the original, the more concern there is that it may evade some of the immune systems around that spike protein. We can still see with the delta variant that vaccines are still able to connect with this and neutralize this at a high enough level to prevent hospitalizations and severe infections. As we look at things like the mu variant, the concern and the question that's still unanswered is how much have these drifted in." There are three classifications given to SARS-CoV-2 variants based on how easily they spread, how severe their symptoms are, and how they are treated: Variant of interest Variant of concern Variant of high consequence Dr. O'Horo explains the categories as "The threat board that some of the scientists are using to keep track of these Dr. O'Horo explains the classifications as "The threat board that some of the scientists are using to keep track of these variants. They look to see which ones of these are demonstrated to really cause significant disease and have increased transmission like delta, which of these are variants that are concerning because they have some potential for spread and they're being recorded in more areas, so something to keep a close watch on like muthat'd be a variant of concern. And then variants that are emerging where there are more hypothetical concerns about them, but it's worth keeping an eye on, would be the variant of interest." Vaccination continues to be the most important step in warding off serious illness from COVID-19 infection. It takes at least two weeks for the vaccine to take full effect once you receive it. "Vaccination against the variant still remains highly effective. Even though there are reports of breakthrough cases, they tend to be far less severe and far less frequent. We can see nationwide that areas with high rates of vaccination are not hit as hard by the delta variant. And that helps make sure that hospitals and clinics are not overwhelmed, as well as keeps individuals safe. 2021 Mayo Clinic News Network. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC. Using computational models and atomic force microscope experiments, researchers at the University of Houston and Rice University have identified a possible Achilles heel in the frustration of amyloid beta peptides as they dock to the fibrils that form plaques in patients with Alzheimers. The frustrated steps could open a window for drugs able to cap the fibril ends, preventing further aggregation. Credit: Yuechuan Xu/Peter Vekilov/University of Houston Progress on treating Alzheimer's disease has been frustratingly slow. A group of scientists in Houston suggest frustration at a very small scale may lead to a new path toward treatment. Researchers at the University of Houston (UH) and at Rice University, associated with the Rice-based Center for Theoretical Biological Physics (CTBP), found through experiments and computations that amyloid beta peptides, small molecules that are abundant in the brain, go through several intermediate stages of frustration as they "dock and lock" to the tips of growing fibrils. Folding proteins tend to look for the easiest way to get to their functional forms. Similarly, amyloid beta peptides look for the easiest way to bind to the tips of growing fibrils, but are sometimes held backor frustratedwhen the positive and negative forces between atoms don't immediately align. When they do finally align, the growing fibrils form the gummy plaques implicated in Alzheimer's and other neurological diseases. New research in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences shows that drugs might be developed to take advantage of the peptides' frustrated intermediate states to stabilize the fibril tips and block further aggregation. UH chemical and biomolecular engineer Peter Vekilov, said it wasn't a stretch to look at amyloid beta fibril growth in his lab. "Previous studies that observed fibrilizing proteins with an atomic force microscope focused on more exotic behaviors because amyloid beta fibrils with a steady rate of growth are kind of boring," he said. A still from video of successive atomic force microscope images shows amyloid beta fibrils as theyre cut by the microscope tip and regrow. Researchers at the University of Houston and Rice University found evidence that amyloid beta peptides in a solution undergo several steps of frustration as they try to dock and lock to the growing fibrils. Credit: Vekilov Research Group/University of Houston "But I was fascinated because the correlation of the growth rate to the concentration of peptides in the solution carries loads of information," Vekilov said. "It helps to measure the rate constant, a quantity which is easy to model." He said Rice physicist Peter Wolynes, whose lab specializes in building computer models of protein and chromosome folding, suggested that disrupting the steady growth with urea, known to denature (or unfold) proteins, might provide useful data about how amyloid fibrils form. It sure did. "A weird thing happened," Vekilov said. "Urea made the fibrils less stable, which meant the bonds between the molecules in the fibrils became less strong. But it also made them grow faster. This is a very serious contradiction, a violation of the empirical rules of chemistry. "But there are empirical rules, and then there are fundamental laws," he said. "We thought, this is trying to tell us something." Further experiments showed that urea "destabilized the wrong peptide bonds," Vekilov said. "It made the fibril grow faster but also showed us the intermediate frustrated steps. The big thing is we now have evidence that at the end of the fibril there's a crown of frustrated, disordered peptide chains trying to dock and lock, and these are druggable targets. A sequence from computational models produced at Rice University shows how an amyloid beta peptide (magenta) docks and locks to an amyloid fibril. Simulations revealed the intermediate conformations in steps 2 through 5, indications of frustration in binding that may present new opportunities for treatment. Credit: Kaitlin Knapp/Rice University "It's irrational to block every single peptide, because there are probably 100,000 times more of them than there are fibril tips," he said. "The beauty of what we found is that the fibril tip is an Achilles' heel of fibrilization, and all we have to do is block the complex at the tip." Wolynes noted there were signs of frustration in an earlier study that saw evidence of hitches in fibril aggregation. "Two things have emerged from the experiments," he said. "One is that almost all of the kinetic models people use for amyloid beta growth are too simple. That's not unexpected. The other is that denaturing changes the equilibrium, and it can also change the rate of folding in in ways that tell you where the transitions states appear. "In the earlier paper on fibril nucleation, we remarked that it looked like there were some strange processes where the proteins had to backtrack from the transition state," Wolynes said. "So Peter went and investigated this, and I think he is the first person to do so." He said having a way to halt fibrils from growing may help settle a long-standing disagreement among scientists over whether fibrils cause neurological disease or protect the brain from another suspect, particularly tangled tau proteins. "Our idea is to poison the tip so that it can't grow, rather than to destabilize the whole fibril," Wolynes added. "This, of course, gets into the big argument over whether fibrils are good or bad." Computational models might show that arresting the fibrils could either stem the effects of Alzheimer's or make it worse. Either way, Wolynes said scientists will have a more definitive answer. "To my mind, what's interesting here is to provide a new target, and we will explore some possible drugs that could change the nature of the tip," he said. "Either way, those molecules will provide interesting tools to understand how fibril growth happens." Graduate students Yuechuan (Alex) Xu of UH and Kaitlin Knapp of Rice are co-lead authors of the paper. Co-authors are Rice postdoctoral researcher Nicholas Schafer and visiting faculty member Aram Davtyan; UH alumnus Mohammad Safari, now a postdoctoral researcher at Princeton University; and Kyle Le, a UH alumnus and former Rice research intern. Vekilov is the John and Rebecca Moores Professor of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering and a professor of chemistry at UH. Wolynes is the D.R. Bullard-Welch Foundation Professor of Science and a professor of chemistry, biosciences and physics and astronomy, and co-director of CTBP. Explore further Understanding the growth of disease-causing protein fibres More information: Frustrated peptide chains at the fibril tip control the kinetics of growth of amyloid- fibrils, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2110995118 Journal information: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences Frustrated peptide chains at the fibril tip control the kinetics of growth of amyloid- fibrils, Stained calcium (dark brown) in stem cells from the bone marrow: Young stem cells (left) produce more material for bone than old stem cells (center). They can be rejuvenated by adding sodium acetate (right). Credit: Pouikli/Max Planck Institute for Biology of Ageing As we age, our bones become thinner, we suffer fractures more often, and bone-diseases such as osteoporosis are more likely to occur. One responsible mechanism involves the impaired function of the bone-marrow stem cells, which are required for the maintenance of bone integrity. Researchers from the Max Planck Institute for Biology of Ageing and CECAD Cluster of Excellence for Ageing Research at the University of Cologne have now shown that the reduced stem cell function upon aging is due to changes in their epigenome. They were able to reverse these changes in isolated stem cells by adding acetate. This fountain of youth for the epigenome could become important for the treatment of diseases such as osteoporosis. Aging Researchers have been looking at epigenetics as a cause of aging processes for some time. Epigenetics looks at changes in genetic information and chromosomes that do not alter the sequence of the genes themselves, but do affect their activity. One possibility is changes in proteins called histones, which package the DNA in our cells and thus control access to DNA. The Cologne research group of Peter Tessarz has now studied the epigenome of mesenchymal stem cells. These stem cells are found in bone marrow and can give rise to different types of cells such as cartilage, bone and fat cells. The epigenetic changes of aging stem cells "We wanted to know why these stem cells produce less material for the development and maintenance of bones as we age, causing more and more fat to accumulate in the bone marrow. To do this, we compared the epigenome of stem cells from young and old mice," explains Andromachi Pouikli, first author of the study. "We could see that the epigenome changes significantly with age. Genes that are important for bone production are particularly affected." Rejuvenation of the epigenome The researchers then investigated whether the epigenome of stem cells could be rejuvenated. To do this, they treated isolated stem cells from mouse bone marrow with a nutrient solution which contained sodium acetate. The cell converts the acetate into a building block that enzymes can attach to histones to increase access to genes, thereby boosting their activity. "This treatment impressively caused the epigenome to rejuvenate, improving stem cell activity and leading to higher production of bone cells," Pouikli said. To clarify whether this change in the epigenome could also be the cause of the increased risk in old age for bone fractures or osteoporosis in humans, the researchers studied human mesenchymal stem cells from patients after hip surgery. The cells from elderly patients who also suffered from osteoporosis showed the same epigenetic changes as previously observed in the mice. A new therapeutic approach against osteoporosis? "Sodium acetate is also available as a food additive, however, it is not advisable to use it in this form against osteoporosis, as our observed effect is very specific to certain cells. However, there are already first experiences with stem cell therapies for osteoporosis. Such a treatment with acetate could also work in such a case. However, we still need to investigate in more detail the effects on the whole organism in order to exclude possible risks and side effects," explains Peter Tessarz, who led the study. Explore further Aged skeletal stem cells interfere with healing and promote 'inflamm-aging' More information: Pouikli, A. et al, Chromatin remodeling due to degradation of citrate carrier impairs osteogenesis of aged mesenchymal stem cells, Nat Aging (2021). Pouikli, A. et al, Chromatin remodeling due to degradation of citrate carrier impairs osteogenesis of aged mesenchymal stem cells,(2021). doi.org/10.1038/s43587-021-00105-8 Credit: Unsplash/CC0 Public Domain An estimated 1% to 5% of children worldwide have lazy eye a childhood condition where the vision does not develop properly. It happens because one or both eyes are unable to build a strong link to the brain. It usually only affects one eye, and means that the child can see less clearly out of the affected eye and relies more on the "good" eye. This condition responds well to treatment if begun early on. However, by age 7, if the lazy eye is undiagnosed or left untreated, it can cause permanent visual damage, impair daily activities such as reading, walking or driving safely, and lead to social and financial deficits later on in life. A team of Israeli researchers, led by Hebrew University of Jerusalem (HU's) Professor Hagai Levine, Israel Defense Forces (IDF) Medical Corps doctors Itay Nitzan and Maxim Bez, and Dr. Claudia Yahalom from Hadassah Medical Center's Department of Ophthalmology tracked the prevalence of lazy eye among 1.5 million Israeli teens. In addition to the prevalence of lazy eye among this population, the team found a link between the vision impairment, known medically as amblyopia, and socioeconomic factors. Their findings, published today in the European Journal of Public Health, represent the largest population-based study to evaluate the prevalence of lazy eye among teens. Beginning in infancy, Israeli children undergo several vision screenings to promptly diagnose lazy eye and prevent long-term visual disabilities. All Israeli citizens have state-mandated medical insurance and treatment options at minimal costs are theoretically available to any child who needs them. For the purposes of this study, the HU and IDF Medical Corps team analyzed medical records and socioeconomic data of 1.5 million male and female Israeli teens (aged 16.5-18 years) from the years 1993-2017. These are potential military recruits who, when assessing their eligibility for military service, undergo mandatory health checks which include an eye exam, as well as information regarding their socioeconomic status (SES), such as years of schooling, country of birth, family income, and cognitive function scores (CFS). Several key findings emerged from this date. One percent of the teens had lazy eye (14,367 recruits) which is a problem since, at this late age not much can be done to correct the impairment. That said, the incidence of amblyopia is on the decline: in 1993, 1.59% were diagnosed with lazy eye whereas that figured dropped twofold, to 0.87% in 2017. Second, several characteristics were found to increase the odds of lazy eye, including lower socioeconomic class and scoring lower on cognitive function tests. This connection between socioeconomic factors and lazy eye might stem from a failure of parents to bring their children in for vision screening or to follow-through on the treatment plan. "While the overall prevalence of amblyopia has decreased, being in the lowest socioeconomic status and having below average cognitive function scores increased the odds of lazy eye in both males and females," Levine explained. A third finding was a higher (double) prevalence of lazy eye among young men who grew up in ultra-orthodox settings as compared to those raised in secular communities. A fourth, and intriguing takeaway, was the higher rate of lazy eye among teens born outside Israel compared to those born in Israel. Specifically, immigrants born in the former USSR, North Africa and Ethiopia had a higher incidence of lazy eye, than did immigrant teens from other countries, or Israeli teens born to parents from the USSR, North Africa and Ethiopia. "We'd like to see changes to Israel's public health policy, specifically to increase allocations for vision screening and treatment compliance monitoring for those populations vulnerable to developing lazy eye," concluded Yahalom, sharing that further research is warranted to better understand the barriers that create differences in lazy eye prevalence among various sectors in society. Explore further Kids should be screened for lazy eye by age 5 This schematic shows the peptides P1 and P2 with hydrophobic modifications that enable them to self-assemble into nanostructures that bind to tetrodotoxin (TTX). Credit: Tianjiao Ji, PhD, Kohane lab in Nature Biomedical Engineering, Sept. 13, 2021. Site 1 sodium channel blockers such as tetrodotoxin and saxitoxin are small-molecule drugs with powerful local anesthetic properties. They provide pain relief without toxic effects on local nerves and muscles, and are an attractive alternative to opioids. But injected by themselves, they can easily float away, causing severe systemic toxicity. Encapsulating these drugs in safe delivery systems has been a challenge: Because they are extremely water soluble, they tend to exit into the surrounding water in the body. "The toxicity becomes dose-limiting, and you can't get a long-lasting nerve block," says Daniel Kohane, MD, Ph.D., director of the Laboratory for Biomaterials and Drug Delivery at Boston Children's Hospital and vice chair for research in the Department of Anesthesiology, Critical Care and Pain Medicine. Tianjiao Ji, Ph.D., a former postdoc in Kohane's lab, had an idea for a biomimetic system that would release local anesthetics slowly, prolonging their effect. As described in the September issue of Nature Biomedical Engineering, the system mimics the body's own receptors for the anesthetic. The mimics grab onto the drug and the system, once in place, slowly releases the anesthetic, providing prolonged nerve blockade with minimal toxicity. The Kohane lab has created many slow-release systems, including ones to deliver tetrodotoxin, but this one is the first to hijack nature's design. Although tetrodotoxin and saxitoxin were the test anesthetics, the approach could potentially be applied to other drug delivery systems. Taking cues from nature To create the slow-release system, Ji, with co-first author Yang Li, Ph.D., and other lab members, began with a mixture of two peptide sequences, P1 and P2. Both peptides are part of the actual sodium ion channel; when tetrodotoxin is delivered to the nerve, it binds simultaneously to both peptides. The team then modified P1 and P2 with long chains of hydrophobic (water-repelling) molecules. This caused the resulting molecules to assemble themselves into nanostructures with the two peptides positioned together, mimicking the way they're positioned on the sodium channel. The peptide pairs take up the anesthetic, just as they would on the sodium channel itself. The bio-inspired nanofibers carry two peptides (shown as arrays of blue and violet dots) that are modified from peptides on tetrodotoxins natural binding site on voltage-gated sodium channels. These adapted peptides bind to tetrodotoxin (shown as gold hexagons) and release it when the nanofibers are injected near the nerve, providing prolonged local anesthesia. Credit: Fantastic Color/Nature Biomedical Engineering "When you add the hydrophobic chains, the peptides form a long fiber with thousands of P1s and P2s waving around," Kohane explains. "Each set of peptides binds one tetrodotoxin molecule. Think of the peptides like handsif you're trying to catch tetrodotoxin, you need two hands to come together to hold it." When this structure is injected near the target nerve, the tetrodotoxin slowly releases itself by diffusion and other processes, and binds to P1 and P2 on the nerve itself. Putting the design to work The team then put the tetrodotoxin-bearing nanostructures to the test, injecting them near the sciatic nerves of live rats. The anesthetic stayed in place longer than free tetrodotoxin, with no toxic tissue reaction, and neurobehavioral tests in the animals showed that the nerve block lasted for as long as 16 hours. "By hijacking nature's design, we created a synthetic receptor for anesthetic drugs that acts as a delivery and release system," says Ji. The team has patented their approach. "In theory, it could be applied to different drugs and other receptordrug interactions," Kohane says. Explore further Opioid alternative? Taming tetrodotoxin for precise painkilling More information: Delivery of local anaesthetics by a self-assembled supramolecular system mimicking their interactions with a sodium channel, Nature Biomedical Engineering (2021). www.nature.com/articles/s41551-021-00793-y Journal information: Nature Biomedical Engineering Delivery of local anaesthetics by a self-assembled supramolecular system mimicking their interactions with a sodium channel,(2021). DOI: 10.1038/s41551-021-00793-y Credit: Unsplash/CC0 Public Domain When a modified surgical technique was used to gently remove sections of leg veins used in coronary artery bypass surgery, the grafts were less likely to become blocked and fewer people had a recurrence of heart-related chest pain, according to new research published today in the American Heart Association's flagship journal Circulation. Coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG) is a surgical procedure that uses blood vessels taken from another part of the body to create a path (or bypass) for blood flow around blocked or narrowed coronary arteries, thus allowing more blood and oxygen to reach the heart muscle. The saphenous vein that runs along the inner thigh is one of the most common blood vessels used in CABG. Within a year after surgery, the vein segments can become blockedabout 15% of the time, which can lead to the recurrence of chest pain. "Improving the rate at which vein grafts remain open has always been a core issue of CABG surgery," said cardiac surgeon Shengshou Hu, M.D., Ph.D., senior author of the study and president of Fuwai Hospital in Beijing, China. Aspirin and anti-clotting medications are used to reduce the risk of vein graft blockage after CABG. "However, we are aware of the potential for damage to the veins when harvesting them from the legs. Our goal was to determine if techniques to reduce damage to the veins during harvesting could reduce the incidence of these blockages," Hu said. The current study is the first large, multicenter comparison of two vein harvesting techniquesconventional and "no-touch"to understand if there are differences in the rate of blockage or chest pain following bypass surgery. In conventional harvesting, just the vein is surgically removed. It is kept from closing by filling it with saline solution (salt water) during preparation for CABG. In the no-touch technique, an approach developed in Sweden in the 1990s, the vein is surgically removed along with a thin layer of surrounding tissue. With the protection of the surrounding tissue, the vein is less likely to spasm and close, so there is no need to keep it open with saline. Thus, the vein doesn't have to be handled or touched as much. Hu and colleagues reported on 2,655 adults who had CABG at seven cardiac surgery centers in China. Participants were randomly selected to have their veins harvested using either the conventional (1,313 adults) or the no-touch technique (1,325 adults). Average age in both groups was about 61 years, and 78% of both groups were men. The participants were followed via clinic visits and CT scanning at 3 months and 12 months post-surgery. In the first year after coronary artery bypass surgery, the researchers found: In CT scans of the coronary arteries after 3 months, 2.8% of the grafts had become blocked in the no-touch group, compared with 4.8% of the conventional-harvesting group; In CT scans taken after 12 months, 3.7% of the grafts had become blocked in the no-touch group, compared with 6.5% of the conventional-harvesting group; By 12 months, angina (heart-related chest pain) had recurred in 2.3% of the participants in the no-touch group, compared with 4.1% of the conventional harvesting group; and There was no difference between groups in the occurrence of heart attack, stroke, cardiovascular death or the need for an additional procedure to restore blood flow through a blocked coronary artery. "We found that the occlusion (blockage) rate in the no-touch treatment group was surprisingly low. The rate was even comparable to grafts from the radial artery and gastroepiploic artery. We were also surprised to see that significantly fewer participants in the no-touch group suffered from recurrent angina, which had not been reported elsewhere. This finding implies the clinical benefit that no-touch brings to our patients by reducing vein graft occlusion and hence, improving their quality of life," said Hu. Because the no-touch technique requires extra tissue surrounding the vein to be removed, there have been concerns that the technique could lead to wound complications such as infection. This study found there were more wound complications in the no-touch group: 10.3% of participants required surgical treatment to treat a leg wound within three months of bypass surgery, compared with 4.3% of those in the conventional-harvesting group. With data analysis they found that being female, having type 2 diabetes or hypertension could be a risk for leg wound complications. "We also noticed that wound complications decreased as the study progressed. This means that leg wound complications may be minimized by controlling risk factors and providing dedicated training to surgeons. Surgeons who continued using the no-touch approach after the study report that leg wound complications have been much lower," Hu said. The study is limited by the relatively short 12-month follow-up period, although a 3-year follow-up of the participants is underway. "It is still unknown whether the efficacy of the no-touch technique in our patients will be sustained in the long run," Hu said. "Inspiringly, previous single-center studies from Sweden with limited sample sizes have shown the no-touch technique is maintained as long as 16 years, however, these have no clinical results on the patients. Long-term follow-up of our large-sample patient cohort is necessary and continuing." These results from China can likely be generalized to cardiac centers elsewhere in the world, with the no-touch technique already recommended in the 2018 European Revascularization Guidelines. "The benefits of the no-touch technique were consistent among centers performing different volumes of bypass surgery. Therefore, the results are likely to apply to other cardiac centers, whether domestic or abroad," Hu said. "This manuscript highlights the central role bypass surgery continues to play in the treatment of multivessel coronary artery disease," said Jack H. Boyd, M.D., an American Heart Association volunteer expert and surgical director of the advanced coronary revascularization program and a clinical associate professor at Stanford University School of Medicine. "The one-year vein graft patency rates, in both cohorts across multiple institutions, clearly demonstrate excellent short-term results are the norm, even in varied practices. As a result of their well-conceived and performed study, there is novel data to help guide patients and heart teams to devise optimal revascularization strategies." Explore further New technique yields healthier blood vessels after heart surgery Credit: CC0 Public Domain The Wits Vaccines and Infectious Diseases Analytical (VIDA) research unit conducted the phase 1B/2A clinical trial. The findings, published in The Lancet HIV on 17 August 2021, show that the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine is likely to work as well in people living with HIV compared with people who are HIV negative. These interim findings are vital for informing the clinical management of people with HIV during the COVID-19 pandemic. Clinical trials that evaluate the safety and immunogenicity of COVID-19 vaccines in people living with HIV are limited generally and virtually non-existent in Africa. This is despite the overwhelming prevalence of HIV infection in Africa and in South Africa particularly. "We searched PubMed for peer-reviewed articles published between 1 January 2019 and 29 June 2021, using the terms 'safety' and 'COVID-19' and 'vaccine,' but we did not find any reports that evaluated safety and immunogenicity of COVID-19 vaccines in this population," says Shabir Madhi, Professor of Vaccinology and Director of Wits VIDA, which led South Africa and Africa's first COVID-19 vaccine trial in June 2020. Understanding COVID-19 vaccination in people with HIV in SA People with HIV are at greater risk for infectious diseases and are at higher risk of dying when admitted to hospital for severe COVID-19 than are the general population. Furthermore, compared with HIV-negative individuals, people with HIV are at greater risk for infectious diseases, such as influenza, including during antiretroviral therapy (ART). Risk factors for severe COVID-19 in people with HIV include more advanced stage of HIV/AIDS, the HIV-1 infection not being virally suppressed, and CD4 counts below 500 cells per microlitre. About the HIV study in the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine trial in South Africa The study was an interim analysis of a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled, phase 1B/2A trial. Between 17 August and 12 November 2020, 104 people living with HIV were enrolled in the trial. Seventy HIV negative people were enrolled between 24 June and 29 July 2020. Eligibility criteria for people with HIV included being on ART for at least three months, with a plasma HIV viral load of less than 1000 copies per microlitre. The HIV study, which was a unique addition to the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine clinical trial, aimed to assess safety and immunogenicity of this vaccine in people with HIV and HIV-negative people in South Africa. The primary endpoint in both HIV-negative participants and people with HIV was the safety, tolerability, and reactogenicity profile of the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine. Reactogenicity refers to the property of a vaccine of being able to produce common adverse reactions. The interim findings show that the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine was well tolerated and showed favorable safety and immunogenicity in people with HIV, including heightened immunogenicity in SARS-CoV-2 baseline-seropositive participants. More information: Shabir A Madhi et al, Safety and immunogenicity of the ChAdOx1 nCoV-19 (AZD1222) vaccine against SARS-CoV-2 in people living with and without HIV in South Africa: an interim analysis of a randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled, phase 1B/2A trial, The Lancet HIV (2021). Shabir A Madhi et al, Safety and immunogenicity of the ChAdOx1 nCoV-19 (AZD1222) vaccine against SARS-CoV-2 in people living with and without HIV in South Africa: an interim analysis of a randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled, phase 1B/2A trial,(2021). DOI: 10.1016/S2352-3018(21)00157-0 Credit: CC0 Public Domain Leading scientists at the University of Birmingham have discovered a previously unknown pathway that prevents specific drugs from working in patients with bowel cancer. The research findings pave the way for increasing the number of bowel cancer patients who can be successfully treated, say the scientists. Bowel cancer, also called colorectal cancer, affects the large bowel, which is made up of the colon and rectum. It is the fourth most common cancer in the UK, with over 42,000 people diagnosed with bowel cancer every year in the UK. It is also the second biggest cancer killer, with 16,000 people with bowel cancer dying in the UK every year. The University of Birmingham-led research involved the study of 184 tumor samples and medical records of bowel cancer patients participating in the COIN trial, as well as research carried out in mice, cell cultures, and a laboratory model for pre-malignant colorectal cancer. Co-senior author Andrew Beggs, Professor of Cancer Genetics & Surgery at the University of Birmingham, explained: "About 60% of bowel cancers are sensitive to drugs called anti-EGFR inhibitors which work by blocking a key pathway in these cancers. "However, despite this, in cancers that should be sensitive to them, these drugs only work in patients about 50% of the time." Co-senior author Dr. Fedor Berditchevski, also of the University of Birmingham, added: "Scientists have previously found that if bowel cancer patients have a mutation in a gene called RAS, the anti-EGFR inhibitors will not work. "However, our research has now discovered a new pathway involving a tetraspanin protein called TSPAN6 that is frequently inactive in bowel cancer patients and this makes these drugs less effective. Crucially, our research also shows that if this pathway is active in a patient's cancer then the drug will work, irrespective of whether they have a mutation in RAS or not." First author Dr. Regina Andrijes, a Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of Birmingham, concludes: "This is the first time a tetraspanin protein has been shown to be directly involved with bowel cancer. Our research findings show that this new pathway could act as a biomarker for treatment with anti-EGFR drugs in bowel cancer, increasing a patient's chance of survival and the number of patients who could benefit from these drugs who previously would not have." The researchers are now set to undertake a clinical trial of using this marker to better identify patients for anti-EGFR treatment. The study, published today (September 13th) in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), was carried out in collaboration with University Hospitals Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust, Semmelweis University in Hungary, and Assiut University in Egypt. Explore further New drugs may kill and limit reproduction of bowel cancer cells More information: Tetraspanin 6 is a regulator of carcinogenesis in colorectal cancer, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (2021). Journal information: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences Tetraspanin 6 is a regulator of carcinogenesis in colorectal cancer,(2021). doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2011411118 Credit: Nesos Twenty years after the 9/11 terror attacks on the United States, survivors still suffer from posttraumatic stress disorderPTSDa condition that New York researchers will attempt to control through bioelectronic medicine, delivered as imperceptible pulses of electricity from "ear buds" in patients' ears. While the treatment may seem like science fiction, PTSD is one of several human disorders that a cadre of elite medical investigators believes can be treated via the emerging discipline of bioelectronic medicine. The 20th century introduced a vast array of pharmaceutical interventions for an imponderable number of medical disorders. The 21st century, these scientists say, could very well be the biolectronic era in which patients are treated with imperceptibly tiny pulses of electricity. Researchers at the Feinstein Institutes for Medical Research in Manhasset, New York, are embarking on a clinical trial that will test an in-the-ear device that emits doses of electricity to banish symptoms of PTSD. The small trial will recruit 35 volunteers, all of whom were first responders following the World Trade Center attack in New York City on September 11, 2001. On that day, members of the militant Islamic terrorist group known as al-Qaeda, hijacked U.S. commercial airliners and struck multiple targets. Hijackers flew two planes, 17 minutes apart, into the 110-story twin towers, causing each massive building to collapse. The terrorists also flew a hijacked plane into the Pentagon in Washington, D.C., and yet another terrorist-commandeered plane crashed into a field in Shanksville, Pennsylvania. Death and severe injuries were seared into the memories of survivors. While the 9/11 attacks are events in history for most of the world, for many survivors, it's a day of mass casualties still vividly relived. Feinstein scientists hope to break new ground with a bioelectronic strategy that addresses patients' PTSD by directing tiny doses of electricity to a key nerve that emanates in the brain. "PTSD is a psychiatric disorder that may occur in people who have experienced or witnessed a traumatic event, such as a terrorist attack, war, natural disaster, sexual violence, or who have been threatened with death, violence or serious injury," said Dr. Rebecca Schwartz, an associate professor of occupational medicine, epidemiology and prevention. She is investigating PTSD and bioelectronic medicine at the Feinstein. "Symptoms of PTSD may include having intense, disturbing thoughts or feelings related to their traumatic experience that continue long after the trauma has ended," added Schwartz, who is also a clinical research psychologist. She said there are several treatments for PTSD that "have been empirically validated as effective therapies." These include several psychiatric medications and various forms of psychotherapy. Among them: cognitive processing therapy; prolonged exposure therapy, and eye movement desensitization reprocessing. In the latter, patients focus on a negative thought, memory or image as the therapist simultaneously asks the patient to make specific eye movements. But researchers at the Feinstein are attempting to address PTSD in a different way, and are launching a randomized controlled trial of a bioelectronic treatment designed specifically for PTSD in World Trade Center first responders. The clinical study is supported by a two-year, $700,000 grant from the National Institutes of Health and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. If successfuland scientists involved in the project have high hopes that it will bethe treatment will mark the first use of tiny pulses of electricity to treat PTSD. Bioelectronic medicine is an emerging treatment strategy pioneered at the Feinstein Institutes for Medical Research, but studied by a growing number of investigators worldwide. Feinstein scientists theorize that infinitesimal pulses of electricity can be used to correct a vast number of medical disorders, especially conditions that have inflammation at their core. Clinical studies conducted in Europe in recent years have shown, for example, that bioelectronic medicine can successfully treat rheumatoid arthritis and Crohn's disease. A study at the Feinstein a few years ago treated lupusan autoimmune condition characterized by inflammationusing a bioelectronic protocol. In each of those studies, whether conducted at home or abroad, doctors relied on minute doses of electrical stimuli to mitigate debilitating symptoms. All of the disorders were treated by stimulating the vagus nerve, which will be the target in the PTSD research, as well. Dr. Kevin Tracey, president and chief executive of the Feinstein Institutes, and a global pioneer in bioelectronic medicine, theorized more than two decades ago that using bioelectronic medicine to stimulate the vagus nerve could help control a wide spectrum of human maladies. The form of bioelectronic medicine designed to address PTSD among World Trade Center first responders is known as transcutaneous auricular vagus nerve stimulation (taVNS). This non-invasive therapy targets the vagus nerve through devices that fit in each ear. "The vagus nerve is one of the major cranial nerves and connects the brain to the majority of our peripheral organs," explained Schwartz, who will collaborate with the staff at the Northwell Health Queens World Trade Center Health Program in Queens, N.Y., to conduct the PTSD research. "Bioelectronic medicine and specifically vagus nerve stimulationVNScan potentially benefit treatment of psychiatric disorders, partly due to its projections [the vagus nerve] to brain areas that have been linked to the psychosomatic origins of anxiety," Schwartz said. "Brain areas such as the amygdala and hippocampus that have been reported to be involved in the hardwired fear and stress response, are also anatomically connected to the vagus nerve." Dr. Theodoros Zanos, an assistant professor in the Institute of Bioelectronic Medicine at the Feinstein, is an expert in the evolving class of devices that treat human medical conditions in an innovative way. Going into the research Zanos said the aim was to focus the auricle, the outer part of the ear. "Specific parts of the auricle are innervated by the vagus nerve, providing a route to interact with it in a non-invasive way," Zanos said. The system that will allow the world's first investigation of treating PTSD with extraordinarily low pulses of electricity was designed by Nesos Corporation, which started working on versions of the system in 2018, Zanos told Medical Xpress. "The device has two "ear buds" that are personalizedmoldedto fit both ears of the user optimally, much like custom ear monitors used by musicians. These ear buds are connected to a stimulator that provides the current to stimulate the auricle at a specific location. "The patients will operate the device through a phone remotely connected to the device and they will turn the device on and off using the phone," Zanos said. "The amplitudeor levelof stimulation is also personalized to each patient, chosen to be right below what we call the sensory threshold, meaning enough electricity so that the user doesn't feel anything. "This has been chosen in order to optimize the amount of electricity delivered to the auricle, while maintaining proper "blinding" of the participants, meaning each participant doesn't know if they are part of the treatment or control group," Zanos said. Participants in the research won't be able to change the dosage of electricity being delivered, he added, but they will be able to turn the system on and off. Schwartz noted: "They will have the device at home and will be instructed to use it twice a day for 15 minutes each time," she said of each stimulation in which electrical pulses will be delivered to the vagus nerve. Scientists see this method of addressing psychiatric conditions as having great promise. Vagus nerve stimulation could potentially benefit psychiatric disorders by "downregulating activity in brain regions related to stress responses and hyperarousal," Schwartz said. In addition, certain brain regions also play a major role in inflammation, both in the brain and periphery, mainly due to their direct and indirect connections to the vagus nerve. "Inflammation both in the body and brain have been shown to evoke neural responses in the vagus nerve, and are believed to elicit neural changes leading to various psychological difficulties, such as depression and anxiety, in addition to inflammatory diseases of the body as well as neurodegenerative disease. "Finally, various studies have established a relationship between PTSD and systemic inflammation, suggesting that PTSD is underpinned by the presence of a systemic low-grade inflammatory state," Schwartz said. Explore further Researchers evoke sense of touch through brain implant electrodes 2021 Science X Network Credit: Unsplash/CC0 Public Domain A new study published in the journal Eating Behaviors found that vaping or e-cigarette use is associated with a heighted risk of developing an eating disorder among US college students. This finding is particularly important given the common use of vape pens and e-cigarettes and an increase in the prevalence of eating disorders amidst the COVID-19 pandemic among young people. The study, which analyzed a sample of over 51,000 U.S. college students who participated in the 2018-2019 Healthy Minds Study, highlights the need for more research and clinical assessment and intervention for those who exhibit both substance use and eating disorders. "The higher prevalence of vaping among those with eating disorder symptoms is concerning given that the co-occurrence of these behaviors can exacerbate physical health complications such as cardiovascular, pulmonary, and neurological problems," says lead author Kyle T. Ganson, Ph.D., MSW, assistant professor at the University of Toronto's Factor-Inwentash Faculty of Social Work. The researchers also found that participants who reported receiving an eating disorder diagnosis, such as anorexia nervosa or bulimia nervosa, over the course of their life had a higher prevalence of vaping or e-cigarette use. Additionally, among those who reported vaping or e-cigarette use, nicotine vaping was the most common to have been recently used among participants with and without eating disorder symptoms. "Nicotine vaping may be used by individuals to support eating disorder behaviors and goals, such as suppressing appetite and catalyzing weight loss," says Ganson. "Nicotine vaping can lead to dependence and future polysubstance use." "The study's findings are especially relevant as we have seen a surge in referrals for eating disorders and substance use disorders during the pandemic," said co-author Jason M. Nagata, MD, MSc, assistant professor at the University of California, San Francisco's Department of Pediatrics. "Young people who are struggling with their eating or substance use should seek help from a health professional. Clinicians should screen young people for disordered eating and substance use, especially during the pandemic." The researchers emphasize the need for further clinical assessment of eating disorders among college students who report vaping or e-cigarette use, as well as additional federal and state regulation of vape pens and e-cigarettes to protect the health and well-being of young people. Explore further Half of youth e-cigarette users intend to quit More information: Kyle T. Ganson et al, Associations between vaping and eating disorder diagnosis and risk among college students, Eating Behaviors (2021). Journal information: Eating Behaviors Kyle T. Ganson et al, Associations between vaping and eating disorder diagnosis and risk among college students,(2021). DOI: 10.1016/j.eatbeh.2021.101566 A man receives a shot of the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine in Vung Tau, Vietnam, Monday, Sep. 13, 2021. Vietnam is speeding up its vaccination program in an effort to loosen coronavirus lockdown restrictions in major cities by the end of September, the government said. Credit: AP Photo/Hau Dinh Vietnam is speeding up its vaccination program in an effort to loosen coronavirus lockdown restrictions in major cities by the end of the month, the government said Monday. Health workers administered vaccines throughout the night in the capital, Hanoi, which has been under lockdown since July. More than a million vaccine shots were given over the weekend in Hanoi, out of around 5.5 million administered there since vaccinations started in March, the Health Ministry said. "We have to speed up the vaccination program so we can make a plan to reopen the city," Hanoi mayor Chu Ngoc Anh said Sunday. More than half of the country's 98 million population is also under lockdown. About 80% of the city's 5.7 million adults have received at least one shot, with authorities aiming for 100% by the end of this week. However, the country's overall vaccination rate still remains low at about 28%, and only 4% have been fully vaccinated with both jabs. Vietnam managed to keep its infection rate relatively low up until April this year, with only 35 deaths. Last year it was praised for keeping the virus under control, an accomplishment generally attributed to the discipline of being a single-party communist state with tight controls at all levels. A woman receives a shot of the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine in Vung Tau, Vietnam, Monday, Sep. 13, 2021. Vietnam is speeding up its vaccination program in an effort to loosen coronavirus lockdown restrictions in major cities by the end of September, the government said. Credit: AP Photo/Hau Dinh A health worker administers a shot of the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine in Vung Tau, Vietnam, Monday, Sep. 13, 2021. Vietnam is speeding up its vaccination program in an effort to loosen coronavirus lockdown restrictions in major cities by the end of September, the government said. Credit: AP Photo/Hau Dinh A man receives a shot of the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine in Vung Tau, Vietnam, Monday, Sep. 13, 2021. Vietnam is speeding up its vaccination program in an effort to loosen coronavirus lockdown restrictions in major cities by the end of September, the government said. Credit: AP Photo/Hau Dinh A health worker administers a shot of the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine in Vung Tau, Vietnam, Monday, Sep. 13, 2021. Vietnam is speeding up its vaccination program in an effort to loosen coronavirus lockdown restrictions in major cities by the end of September, the government said. Credit: AP Photo/Hau Dinh But vaccine shortages forced Vietnam to slow down its vaccination program in recent months, even as the delta variant of the virus infected over 600,000 people and killed more than 15,000 in just four months. In Ho Chi Minh City, the nation's business hub and most hard-hit by the surge, over 95% of adults have received the first vaccine, but many who need to come in for the second dose aren't able to get it due to low supplies. Among measures to cope with the shortage, Vietnam's health authority has allowed combinations of different two-dose COVID-19 vaccines to speed up the vaccination campaign. Experts say this tactic is likely safe and effective, but researchers are still gathering data to be sure. Vietnam is currently using AstraZeneca, Pfizer, Moderna and Sinopharm, a Chinese-made vaccine. Explore further Vietnam locks down capital Hanoi for 15 days as cases rise 2021 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission. Credit: Pixabay/CC0 Public Domain New Zealand's largest city of Auckland will remain in strict COVID-19 lockdown for at least another week as a Delta variant outbreak "rumbles along", Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said Monday. Ardern said the city's two million residents needed to abide by stay-at-home orders because of the emergence of several "mystery cases" which had not yet been linked to existing clusters. "These mystery cases are still coming through and the fact we're finding them through surveillance and community testing, rather than contact tracing, is what we're concerned about," she said. New Zealand imposed a national lockdown on August 17 when the first case of the highly transmissible Delta variant was found in the community. But stay-at-home orders were lifted outside Auckland last week as it became apparent that all new cases were emerging in the city. Ardern ruled out lifting Auckland's hard lockdown before September 21 but said the city should then move down an alert level on the country's four-tier coronavirus response system. With 33 new community cases recorded in the city on Monday, Ardern said she was wary of lifting restrictions too early. "(Case) numbers are rumbling along and this has been evident in the last three days," she said. "This doesn't mean our collective efforts in Auckland are not making a difference." New Zealand is pursuing a "COVID zero" elimination strategywhich has resulted in just 27 deaths in a population of five million throughout the pandemic. It had been free of community cases for six months before the August outbreak, with residents enjoying a near-normal domestic life alongside tight restrictions on international borders. The Delta infection prompted immediate lockdowns because of low vaccination rates, with data this week showing only about a third of the eligible population are fully jabbed. 2021 AFP PRESIDENT RODRIGO Duterte who accepted the endorsement of his own political party, the PDP-Laban, for him to run as Vice President in next y... One easy way to do this is to go to MissoulaVotes.com, click "voter registration," download and fill out the form, then print and sign it by hand. A photo or scan of that document can then be emailed to electioninfo@missoulacounty.us, where the citizen's voter registration will then updated. This is somewhat new and was a change brought upon by the pandemic. "Every (election) office across the state has done some calibration and some changes with COVID and one of the nice things is that we work closely with our county attorney's office and the state," Seaman said. "We can accept a digital transmission of an original form. "We're really trying to meet voters where they're at, but we needed to confirm this because the laws were a little outdated," he added. "That's been really helpful for us reaching out to voters and making sure every option is available to them." In order to help citizens better understand the voting process, the Missoula County Elections office is in the process of holding a series of tours. On Monday, several attendees observed the multi-step process to verify signatures, process ballots and show how each ballot cast will be counted. As cooler temperatures and increased moisture levels grace northwestern Montana, Missoula County fire protection agencies lowered the fire danger level to moderate on Monday. Outdoor burning is still prohibited. Forecasted weather includes breezy and windy weather conditions daily and a mostly dry, cold front coming in Wednesday, according to a news release from the Montana Department of Natural Resources and Conservation. Caution is still warranted with any spark right now but especially when breezy and dry conditions are expected, fire prevention specialist Kristin Mortenson said in the release. The change is effective immediately. Officials warn Missoula-area residents not to get complacent with lowered heat intensity. Its still illegal to burn piles of leaves and vegetative debris, the release said. When fall outdoor burning is permitted, the only burning allowed will be prescribed wild land and essential agriculture burning. The valley, in the Lake Tahoe area about 200 miles northeast of San Francisco, is within the ancestral homeland of the Washoe people, Darrel Cruz of the Washoe Tribe Historic Preservation Office said in a statement. He said the word is a constant reminder of those time periods when it was not good for us. Its a term that was inflicted upon us by somebody else and we dont agree with it. Washoe Tribal Chairman Serrell Smokey said the tribal council expressed its great appreciation for this positive step forward. Theres been a lot of progress but theres still a lot of work to be done," he added. We need to continue to capitalize on that progress and continue to push forward. Smokey said the tribe plans to work with the resort as well as Placer County officials to rename other public places and features in the Olympic Valley that continue to use the derogatory word. Company officials said the resorts new logo honors the two legendary mountains that are part of it. And in a nod to the Washoe Tribe of Nevada and California, it features an eagle, a symbol of the spiritual world for Native Americans. Its that time of year in Montana when summer winds down, the nights get cooler, leaves begin to wear their fall colors and harvest season is in full bloom. Humans, not unlike the grizzly bears, are preparing for the Montana winter ahead, enjoying the fruits of their labors on the land while the hunters prepare to head for the field. Yet, we are also reaping what has been sown in ways considerably less pleasant thanks to political leaders and a minority of the population who, for reasons unfathomable to thinking individuals, continue their low-key civil war against science and a disease that makes no distinctions based on political affiliation. It would be great to say we whipped COVID and look forward to returning to the normalcy we took for granted only a couple short years ago. You know, going out socially, sending your kids off to school to make new friends and learn new things, feeling comfortable giving loved ones a hug. But thats not the way it is and mores the pity. Thats the good news. The bad news is this expansion of the child tax credit is set to expire at the end of the year, and lawmakers in Washington soon must decide whether to extend the credit, make it permanent, or let 6 million kids lapse back into poverty. It shouldnt be a difficult debate. For one, the American people dont want to take away this support for parents. A recent poll from David Binder Research found that 57% of voters parents and nonparents alike support extending the child tax credit. (And thats even before most families had begun to see the impact of these monthly payments.) The consequences of failing to extend the expanded child tax credit beyond this year are severe and unnecessary. And its no mystery as to who would suffer. For millions of families with kids, taxes would go up next year, by as much as thousands of dollars. Thats the last thing families want to hear as they struggle to emerge from a pandemic-induced recession. Making this expansion permanent, on the other hand, doesnt ask anything from the vast majority of Americans. Itd be a monthly tax credit for working families to help ease the burden of higher costs, all paid for by a tax on wealthy Americans. No one making under $400,000 a year would have their taxes raised to pay for it. Weaver birds in Rwanda tie knots to build their nests, one example of bird behavior that has long fascinated Tom Murphy. The old idea that animals cant make tools ... lets see you build a nest with your lips, he said. People who pooh-pooh birds as not very smart, are missing out on the animals' many adaptations to specialized tasks and feats, Murphy said. They do all kinds of amazing things we cant do, he noted, such as raptors that can see the ultraviolet reflections of mice urine in order to track them down. Book This summer, in an homage to birds and to open peoples minds to the creatures, Murphy released a book into which he put decades of his avian photography from around the world Birds: Masters of the Air, Land & Water published by Livingstons own Crystal Creek Press. The 200-page coffee table book includes essays from Doug Smith, Yellowstone National Parks wolf biologist who took over the Yellowstone Bird Program, and author and New York Times journalist Jim Robbins. Proceeds from the sale of the book will benefit raptor conservation and wildlife research in Yellowstone National Park. Because the book is so large, 11.5-inches wide by 13-inches long and an inch thick, Murphy joked that he toyed with the idea of selling it with four little legs so it could double as an actual coffee table. If I would have had another six months, it probably would have another 100 pages, Murphy said. Migration The 71-year-old Murphy may be best known for his photography work in Yellowstone National Park, an area he came to love after a 1975 excursion. That was when he hiked from Yellowstone Lake to Cooke City via the remote Pelican Valley. He covered the roughly 60 miles in five days, seeing only four people along the way. At the time, he was told by the Park Service that he had scored the last available campsite in the backcountry, where a permit is required. Considering how few people he saw when the backcountry was full, Murphy decided it was his kind of place and relocated from his familys South Dakota ranch. Ten years later he acquired the first permit for leading photography tours in Yellowstone, and since then has been paid to visit a place he loves. It seems like a pretty good racket, he joked. Eagles The new book took off after Murphy began visiting a bald eagle nest located along Minnesotas St. Croix River in 2015, just outside the Andersen Corp.s window factory. In a stand erected atop one of the window companys buildings, he would sit for a week at a time, over the course of three years, to capture the birds and their chicks behavior in a nearby nest. Previously, most of his photography of bald eagles consisted of shots of them in flight or diving down to catch fish. Watching the birds day-to-day behavior ignited Murphys curiosity and lit the fire for his latest book. Appropriately, the cover shot of the book shows a bald eagle. Several pages in the back of the book exhibit some of Murphys shots from those tree stand stakeouts. His advice to others who want to capture bird photos is to be outside early and late in the day and to learn the animals behavior. He shoots most of his photos with a 500 millimeter lens for the simple fact that he doesnt like to carry around heavier, more expensive equipment. Behavior One of the most interesting examples of unusual bird behavior took place when Murphy was walking down a street in his hometown of Livingston without his camera. A young magpie had been hit by a car and was lying smashed on the pavement. About six magpies flew to the intersection, growing to about 20 as Murphy got closer. They were all chattering noisily and then, as if on cue, stopped and observed about two-and-a-half minutes of silence before flying off a magpie memorial service. Thats not normal, he said. Theyll argue with an empty room. Magpies and chickadees are two of Murphys favorite birds. The magpies varied vocalizations impresses him, along with their cunning ability to hide things. Likewise, Murphy is impressed by the chickadees ability to find stashes of food they leave cached in different places. Murphy buys large sacks of dog food he softens in water and feeds to the magpies in his yard, prompting odd looks from strangers at the store who ask what kind of dog he has. Birds Murphy has traveled the world as a photographer, outdoorsman and explorer. So the book also includes a variety of species, from east African Bateleur eagles to Falkland Island blue-eyed shags. In addition, there are close-up shots of feet, beaks, feathers and wings highlighting the variety of bird coloration and plumed finery. The first chapter of the book is dedicated to feathers, as Murphy sees this feature as the one that distinguishes birds the most from other animals. What makes a bird a bird basically comes down to feathers, he wrote. Thats what makes them the most unique. The feathers he photographs up close sometimes come from birds hes collected after finding them dead along roadways. The method is less deadly than his well-known bird-loving predecessors, John James Audubon and Elliott Ladd Coues, who shot birds to study and describe them. They didnt have the advantage of photography, Murphy noted. You must be logged in to react. Click any reaction to login. Love 1 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 0 Be the first to know Get local news delivered to your inbox! Sign up! * I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy. (Independent) Republican congressman Brian Mast of Florida laid into Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Monday during a hearing on Afghanistan, accusing him of treason and suggesting the top diplomat manipulated intelligence about what would happen when the US left the country in an angry rant where he continued to speak over the flustered official. I absolutely wonder if you were complicit in this as well. I find it hard to believe that president Biden would do that without you being aware of this, Mr Mast said. And these are these we deserve to have better answers, have better hearings on this. I dont not believe a word that youre saying on this. His rant continued until fellow legislators had to bang the gavel and ask the Florida representative to stop speaking, as he continued insisting the secretary was spreading lies. Im not giving you a moment of time, Mr Mast added, as Mr Blinken tried to defend himself. I dont wish to hear your lies. Weve heard your lies when you step up in front of the camera. Makayla Marie Bryant, 22, of 4570 Cobb Ave., in Morganton, was charged with two misdemeanor counts of failure to appear or comply. She was transported to the Burke County Jail and placed under a $7,000 secured bond. Kenneth Dwayne Piercy, 32, of 5140 Foreman St., in Morganton, was charged with misdemeanor larceny by changing price tag. He was cited and released. His trial date was set for Sept. 17. Salena Pangdeu Hang, 31, of 4891 Dysartsville Road, in Morganton, was charged with one misdemeanor count each of driving while impaired, reckless driving, driving the wrong way on a one way street, hit and run failure to stop for property damage and failure to burn headlights when required. She was transported to the Burke County Jail and placed under a $3,000 secured bond. Stephen James Walker, 69, of 3863 U.S. 64, in Morganton, was charged with misdemeanor injury to personal property. He was cited and released. His trial date was set for Sept. 17. Melvin Lee Keener, 50, of 2303 Walt Arney Road, Lot 4, in Lenoir, was charged with misdemeanor failure to appear or comply. He was transported to the Burke County Jail and placed under a $500 secured bond. A Burke County brewery will host its annual Oktoberfest celebration this weekend to kick off the fall season. Fonta Flora Brewery at Whippoorwill Farm will host its fifth annual Oktoberfest from noon to 9 p.m. on Saturday. The brewery is located at 6751 N.C. 126 in Nebo. The event is meant to welcome members of the community to the brewery and celebrate German culture and beer. A variety of different German-based beers, food trucks and live music will be featured as well. Todd Boera, co-owner of the brewery, said he is excited to host the community for the brewerys annual event. He wants people to visit the location and experience the fall-themed items they have to offer. Oktoberfest celebrations in general are probably the biggest reason to celebrate and drink beer, Boera said. Support Local Journalism Your subscription makes our reporting possible. {{featured_button_text}} Weve always done it because its a very common beer event that happens in Germany every year. We release our German style Marston Lager beer and then a few other festive beers for that weekend as well. (Its) really remote and really very similar to the kind of things we talk about here as far as paramedics and physicians being tasked with taking care of patients for a long time or very far away from traditional, hospital-based medical care, Hawkins said. Theyll also link up with the U.S. Coast Guard and other rescue organizations along the coast, he said. What I love about it is giving more diversity of experience to the externs, Hawkins said. We were on the French Broad River, we were up at Grandfather Mountain where they just had a number of lightning strikes, well be at the coast, were going to be training with DAN, we were out at Gorges State Park I think any educator appreciates giving students the broadest possible amount of experiences so that wherever they take the skillsets theyre learning, theyll find the closest match to what theyll actually be doing. This years externship brought two medical students to Burke County. Jay Zhang, a Cary native, is a student at the University of North Carolina School of Medicine. I believe that there might very well be shenanigans, as there were in the 2020 election, he said, referring to Trumps disproven claims of massive voter fraud in his loss to Democrat Joe Biden. WHEN WILL WE KNOW WHAT HAPPENED? California's recalls are different than elections in other states, and so is the way California counts ballots. The state allows any ballot to count as long as it's postmarked by Election Day and received within seven days. So new votes are tallied late into the week and sometimes into the following week. The count itself is notoriously slow and can take more than a month before it's finalized. Most California Democrats vote by mail, and Republicans tend to vote in-person and have their ballots tallied faster. So whatever the results Tuesday night, they'll likely become more and more Democratic as the counting continues. WHAT WILL WE LEARN ABOUT THE MIDTERMS? The California recall is unlike most other elections, and definitely unlike the House and Senate elections coming next year. Republicans are hoping to win back Congress, as the opposition party often does in a midterm. The results of a recall election in one of the country's most Democratic states may not be the best way to figure out if that's going to happen. As early as the 1950s, farsighted state leaders in North Carolina recognized economic change was on the way. Efforts were made to attract new companies in technology and pharmaceuticals, the most prominent being developing Research Triangle Park, the first of its kind in the country. North Carolina combined this effort with growing numbers of college graduates, a relatively low cost-of-living, attractive natural amenities, and a sunny climate to grow these sectors just at the time traditional manufacturing was waning. In the 20th century, most states restricted banks to one location. Both North and South Carolina were exceptions, allowing banks to have branches across their states. Hence, when nationwide banking was approved by Congress in the 1990s, banks in the Carolinas had the experience to rapidly expand. The result was Charlotte on the border of the two states became the second largest financial center in the country. As tobaccos importance in North Carolina declined, farmers looked for substitutes. One alternative was meat specifically hogs which led to rapid expansion in the states food processing sector. Please log in to keep reading. Enjoy unlimited articles at one of our lowest prices ever. Montana Technological University transitioned Monday from asking students to do the right thing to telling them to do the right thing. An email Monday to students, faculty and staff from Chancellor Les Cook observed that it has become both appropriate and essential to require face masks in every instructional space inside buildings on our campus. Cook wrote that consultation with public health partners about COVID-19 led to the decision. Montana State University and the University of Montana had previously adopted standards requiring masks in certain settings and situations. Last month, Cook said state law did not seem to give universities the authority to penalize students for not wearing masks and that requiring masks then seemed like a toothless mandate. He said Montana Tech wanted students to choose to do the right thing, which he said would include wearing masks and getting vaccinated. In an email Monday to The Montana Standard, Cook observed, We have been asking everyone to mask up since mid-August and it hasnt worked very well. He said students spend significant time in classes and labs and the circumstances arent always conducive to social distancing. The Thursday morning traffic on Front Street was ripping along, not too worried about the speed limit or the impending Main Street traffic light. It was a typical Butte passing show, lots of newish Suburbans and F150s and 4-Runners, a few elderly sedans and more than a few Montana millennials rolling loud in lifted pickups, their stereos and exhaust pipes competing for decibel dominance. A few of the passing drivers must have wondered about the little clump of people standing in the parking lot in front of the modest brick building that houses the Butte-Silver Bow Health Department. It wasn't a big crowd, maybe 50 or 60 all told, all masked up. You couldn't tell from the road, but they were straining to hear over the engine noise and the every-three-minutes squeal of brakes as the traffic light lost its sense of humor and glowed red. They were listening to Patrick Beretta, and somehow the priest's words, enunciated perfectly at shouting volume, managed to project calm. The words were plump, like sofa cushions, filled with comfort. "Human beings heal hurt not by forgetting. We heal by remembering," he said. "This morning we remember the people whom we loved and lost. We are a small community, so their loss is a personal journey for all of us." Chefs and gastronomes search the world over for the finest high-quality oil and, surprisingly, discover that some of the very best comes from olives grown in southern Georgia. In 2009, two brothers and their cousin were convinced that Georgia was a suitable farming environment for olives at least convinced enough to take a chance. People thought we were crazy, says Jason Shaw, one of the founders of Georgia Olive Farms. There are so many elements with any farming, but particularly fruit and vegetables. We had to learn about the right agricultural practices for Georgia. We wondered in the beginning if our winter temperatures were too cold. The Shaw family had long been produce farmers in Lanier County, Georgia. After much research, Jason, Sam and Kevin Shaw planted 20 acres of super high-density olive trees on their farm near Lakeland. That was the beginning of the grand experiment, says Jason. Georgia Olive Farms was born. Today, its oil enjoys a tall reputation among celebrated chefs and a wide consumer market. Deeply rooted Growing olives in the sometimes steamy, sometimes dry climate of Georgia has been called farming innovation and a gamble, but its also a revitalization. Olives were introduced in the South hundreds of years ago by Spanish settlers. Olive trees were planted along their mission routes. British settlers arriving in coastal Georgia in 1736 found olives growing there. In the late 1700s, Thomas Jefferson, as minister to Europe, brought 500 olive trees to South Carolina and Georgia. Plantation owners Hamilton Couper and Thomas Spalding had a hand in normalizing olive growth in Georgia for a period of time, but the Civil War eventually killed the olive industry in the South. Also, changes in land ownership, intensive labor requirements and quick popularity of cottonseed oil made it impossible for olive growers to compete with more established growth areas such as California. It seemed that olive growth in Georgia was forever doomed. Fortunately, for chefs and home cooks, health-conscious eaters and everyday consumers of salad dressings and martinis, that would not be the case. Oversees inspiration Perhaps fascination with olives came about for Jason Shaw in the same way it did for Thomas Jefferson by traveling to Europe. A student trip to Italy where Shaw acquired a taste for olive oil left him wondering why olives couldnt be grown in his home state of Georgia. His curiosity and interest led to a vision that would ultimately help Georgia find its place on the map as a major producer of olive oil. Georgia Olive Farms enjoyed its first small harvest in 2011. By this time, the Shaws had survived more than a few scary nights. In 2010, with trees in the ground, a sustained cold snap occurred. Temperatures dipped to a low of 14. I have never seen it stay that cold for that length of time about two weeks straight, says Jason. The trees were definitely impacted, but as the weather started warming up in March, they started growing again and were healthy. It was the ultimate test that proved these trees could survive cold temps, he says. Liquid gold Three varietals of olives are grown by Georgia Olive Farms: Arbequina, Koroneiki and Arbosana. Arbequina is considered a favorite for olive groves around the world and is the major olive tree of California and Catalonia in northeast Spain. It is frost-resistant and does well in a variety of soil types. Koroneiki, possibly the most ancient variety of olive tree, is known to yield a very high content of oil. Arbosana, from Catalonia, is a minority variety that has become popular around the world. Georgia Olive Farms produces and sells two varieties of extra-virgin olive oil Arbequina and their Chefs Blend. Straight Arbequina is their premium reserve product. Each harvest, a certain quantity is reserved for bottling and is available by special order. The remaining Arbequina oil is added to their Chefs Blend along with Koroneiki and Arbosana oils. All three oils add different attributes to the blend. Olive trees need a lengthy growing season, says Vicki Hughes, executive director of the Georgia Olive Growers Association. Youre developing a crop, not planting in spring and harvesting in fall. The first harvest will be small. As trees get larger, the yield comes up. That tree can go on and produce fruit forever, says Hughes. Conventional wisdom says that olive trees need warm, dry weather. Georgia is not especially dry, but we have a lot of sandy loam soil which drains well, says Hughes. Olives dont like to stand in wet saturation. Extra only The Georgia Olive Growers Association has worked diligently to further standards among olive growers and olive oil producers. With Georgia Olive Farms, consumers know exactly what they are getting, says Jason. Unlike some other oil producers, Georgia Olive Farms only produces extra-virgin oil. Their olives are milled on-site within 24 hours. The agritourism boom Renewed interest in growing olives came about as farmers were looking for alternative crops. Many farmers growing traditional crops, particularly cotton and peanuts, were experiencing rising costs and market-price issues. Also, agritourism is growing. Olives are a romantic crop and a lot of people are getting involved in agritourism, says Hughes. They want to see where their food comes from, what they are eating. Georgia Olive Farms products are now more readily available to consumers than ever. Through a 2018 brand buyout and leasing program with Switzerland-based Agrigrada, Georgia Olive Farms has been able to expand its footprint and develop new markets for its olive oil. According to Jason, We are so proud to have developed a name in the industry, starting from nothing. This type of new investment and production now allows Georgia Olive Farms to reach new heights. Love 0 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 0 MUSCATINE President Joe Biden last week announced his new action plan to the public regarding several new strategies and mandates that will be used to combat the recent rise in U.S. COVID-19 cases caused by the Delta variant of the virus. It is estimated that these new federal requirements could affect nearly 100 million Americans. Earlier this year, COVID-19 vaccinations were made easily available to Americans after months of testing and having a limited supply. But despite COVID-19 vaccines being easier to acquire than ever before, it is estimated that around 80 million people in the country have not been vaccinated. In Muscatine County, the fully-vaccinated rate currently sits at 60.8 percent of the eligible population, according to Muscatine County Public Health. This number jumps to 66 percent when accounting for those eligible residents who have only received one dose of a two-dose vaccine series. In the past few months, the U.S. has seen COVID-19 case numbers as well as COVID-19 related deaths spike. Of these numbers, a majority of the newest cases and deaths have been from the unvaccinated population. With so many lives still on the line, President Biden declared a firmer stance on the issue during his press conference last Thursday afternoon. Windows on the World was a unionized workplace, and after the 9/11 attacks, its union donated money to an informal group that helped former employees who were out of work. In April 2002, that organization became ROC United, with Siby as its first member. He later worked as a community organizer for the organization, using his fluency in French and Spanish to connect with immigrants in New York City, before becoming executive director in 2017, and CEO last year. Siby still keeps photos of co-workers he lost that day. One of them shows Abdoul Karim Troare, a fellow immigrant from Ivory Coast who had been Siby's roommate when he arrived in the United States in 1996. Traore helped Siby find his job as a cook and dishwasher at Windows on the World. And it was Troare's wife, Hadidjatou Karamoko, who first alerted Siby to the Sept. 11 attacks. She called to say that Traore wasn't answering his phone. Traore had left that morning at 4 a.m. for his other job, delivering newspapers, before heading to the Twin Towers at 7:30 that morning. I did not know that it was the last time I was going to see him and hear his voice, she said Wednesday in a virtual call organized by ROC, her first public comments about her husband. Mobile network operator Vodacom has rolled out three new solar-powered sites to reduce its grid usage, slash carbon emissions, and ensure reliable network connectivity during load-shedding. The three sites have been installed in Polokwane, Vereeniging, and Bloemfontein and will generate approximately 127MWh of energy every year. The company said it spent more than R8 million on these sites as part of its commitment to secure alternative energy sources to power its operations, where feasible. Vodacom South Africa executive director of external affairs, Takalani Netshitenzhe, said the sites would reduce its use of carbon-intensive sources of energy as demand for digital services increased energy requirements. Solar-powered sites are just one of the innovative ways to introduce cleaner, more sustainable energy sources to keep our mobile networks running and our customers connected in an ever-increasing digital society, Netshitenzhe stated. In addition to lowering carbon emissions and electricity consumption, the solar panels will help Vodacom ease the load on the sites batteries in the event of load-shedding, ensuring reliable network quality. The sites are part of Vodacoms goal to cut its environmental impact in half by 2025. The three solar-powered sites in South Africa form part of the 1,088 solar-powered sites across Vodacoms markets. In 2020, the operator saved 11,971 MWh of electricity through its energy management strategy, including investing in energy efficiency projects such as IoT capabilities and renewable energy solutions like solar power. This reduced the companys total energy cost by R16 million for that financial year. Vodacom also has another solar project at a base station controller site in Randburg, Gauteng. The company previously installed the largest single rooftop solar installation in South Africa at its Century City offices in Cape Town in 2012, while Vodacom Lesothos head office has been powered by solar energy since 2017. The image below shows equipment at the new solar-powered site in Bloemfontein, which is seen in the title image above. The South African Health Products Regulatory Authority (Sahpra) approved the second and third phase study of RHB-107, a once-daily medication for non-hospitalised patients with symptomatic Covid-19. RedHill Biopharma Ltd., the company developing the medication, announced today that South Africa had joined the US in approving the study. In parallel, RedHills oral Covid-19 therapeutic, called opaganib, is being evaluated in a global phase 2/3 study in 475 patients hospitalized with severe Covid-19. RHB-107 is being developed as a potential treatment with a once-daily oral pill during the early stages of a Covid-19 infection. The study designed to assess dosage and recovery time is already in progress in the US. RHB-107 is an antiviral drug that targets a virus method of entry into target cells. The once-daily pill is expected to be effective against new viral variants and is proven to inhibit replication of SARS-CoV-2 in a human bronchial epithelial cell model. #RDHL accelerates its ongoing US Phase 2/3 study with oral RHB-107 in non-hospitalized #COVID19 patients with @SAHPRA1 approval to expand the study to #SouthAfrica. Read the $RDHL PR: https://t.co/54ufSgzjoZ RedHill Biopharma (@RedHillBio) September 13, 2021 Redhill Biopharma said RHB-107 is clinically safe, as demonstrated in previous clinical studies with approximately 200 patients. South Africa continues to face an onslaught of Covid-19 that is claiming many lives and causing significant distress to the healthcare system, said Terry Plasse, Medical Director at RedHill. South Africa, along with the U.S. and rest of the world, urgently need the ability to easily and effectively treat Covid-19 and its variants, both inside and outside the hospital setting. As clearly highlighted recently by the Director of NIAID, it is important to be able to treat patients early in the course of the disease to prevent progression to more severe symptoms. The approval of this study in South Africa, along with the expansion of study sites in the US, are aimed at accelerating our efforts to bring RedHills two novel, oral compounds that cover the spectrum of Covid-19 disease severity, RHB-107 and opaganib, to patients across the world. Now Read: Pfizer vaccine approved for teenagers in South Africa The shrinkage of the Napa school districts student body is advancing faster than predicted, and more so in the earliest grades teaching the youngest children. An enrollment update shared Thursday with the Napa Valley Unified School District board reported 158 fewer students at the start of the 2021-22 year than previously forecast, with enrollment of 16,523 in Napa and American Canyon's public schools. Student counts were down at all grade levels, but elementary schools counted 195 fewer pupils for a total of 6,827. Quality journalism doesn't happen without your help. Subscribe today! Support local news coverage and the people who report it by subscribing to the Napa Valley Register. Special offer: $1 for your first 6 months! Meanwhile, middle schools totaled 3,470 students, off 76 from NVUSDs late August projection, while high schools were off by 68 for a total of 5,872. Only an enlarged independent study program was showing student numbers ahead of the districts forecast, with 278 students instead of 93. For the new school year, NVUSD has opened up independent learning to grade-school children for the first time as a substitute for the extensive virtual instruction it offered when the coronavirus pandemic abruptly shuttered California campuses in March 2020. (After launching a hybrid of on-campus and at-home learning last fall, the district has returned to traditional full-time classroom teaching for the school year that began this month.) SAN FRANCISCO (AP) The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America installed its first openly transgender bishop in a service held in San Francisco's Grace Cathedral on Saturday. The Rev. Megan Rohrer will lead one of the church's 65 synods, overseeing nearly 200 congregations in Northern California and northern Nevada. My call is ... to be up to the same messy, loving things I was up to before, Rohrer told worshippers. But mostly, if you'll let me, and I think you will, my hope is to love you and beyond that, to love what you love. Rohrer was elected in May to serve a six-year term as bishop of the Sierra Pacific Synod after its current bishop announced his retirement. I step into this role because a diverse community of Lutherans in Northern California and Nevada prayerfully and thoughtfully voted to do a historic thing, Rohrer said in a statement. My installation will celebrate all that is possible when we trust God to shepherd us forward. This was the catastrophic miscalculation that made the rout inevitable; it was a long-term, equal opportunity combination of idealism and cynical, calculated political strategizing. Take Dubyas approach, for example. In 2007, four years after he essentially ignored the Afghanistan conflict in favor of an even more foolish military adventure in Iraq, he gave a speech in which he said our work in Afghanistan was to establish a stable, moderate, and democratic state that respects the rights of its citizens. He said, our work is bringing freedom. Today, such statements about a hugely backward, theocratic collection of warlike tribes are not a case of rose-colored glasses, but more like LSD kicking in. As did Dubyas, Obamas treatment of the Afghan question sidestepped the issue of not just whether the Afghan forces were capable of defending their own government, but whether they even believed there was something to defend. After his troop surge in 201l, followed by a decision to withdraw all U.S. troops by 2014, he settled on leaving about 10,000 troops there. This was presumably not because he had terrific faith in the Afghans willingness/ability to defend themselves. Armenia's Pashinyan: Armenian villages of Syunik Province haven't been and won't be encircled, even though there is risk Armenia PM: Armenian government will not change its political course Armenia's Pashinyan arrives in Dushanbe on working visit Prosecutors of Armenia and Russia attend discussions devoted to fight against corruption and cybercrimes Pashinyan: Refusing to pull out troops based on borders of Soviet era would have been disastrous for Armenia Israel defense minister says Iran will be able to produce one nuclear bomb soon Armenia PM clarifies spending of funds donated to Hayastan All-Armenian Fund during 44-day war Armenia Deputy PM: There won't be surprises in terms of natural gas price in the near future EU Special Representative, Azerbaijan FM discuss situation on Armenian-Azerbaijani border Armenia health minister: Authorities have the right to adopt restrictive measures to maintain public health Armenia PM: Azerbaijan has always declared that it plans to resolve Karabakh conflict militarily Husband of Armenian pregnant woman who died from COVID-19 shares true story about wife's death Armenia culture minister: Authorities raise issue of state of Armenian monuments on all platforms Armenia PM: Specialists will explore issue of Azerbaijan's failure to recognize borders of USSR Armenian PM: Panels and footholds were placed since Goris-Kapan road is beyond Armenia's border Azerbaijan Internal Affairs Ministry confirms detention of two Iranian truck drivers Armenia PM: Government is ready to consider signals coming from Ankara Pashinyan: Armenia and Karabakh will do everything possible to make sure route through Lachin corridor remains unchanged Armenia Ararat Province ex-deputy governor appointed chief of Penitentiary Service Armenia PM to leave for Tajikistan on working visit Deputy Mayor of Armenia's Goris: Armenian drivers told me Azerbaijanis had stopped their trucks and checked them Armenia MOD holds discussion devoted to planning of budget for 2022, makes certain adjustments Armenia PM refutes news about secret negotiations with Baku Digest: US doesn't consider issue of Nagorno-Karabakh issue resolved, latest on COVID-19 Armenia army's General Staff chief receives newly appointed US Military Attache Armenia PM states reason why he used Azerbaijani toponyms to describe situation in Syunik Province Lithuania Ambassador to Armenian official: Lithuanian experience will be interesting for Armenia Deputy Mayor of Armenia's Goris: Azerbaijani police detained 2 Iranian drivers in Vorotan 8 international ombudspersons to participate in Russia's elections as experts, including Armenia's Ombudsman Armenia Security Council Secretary meets with Russian counterpart in Dushanbe Azerbaijanis celebrate anniversary of Armenian pogrom in Baku with military parade in Artsakhs occupied Shushi Azerbaijani police detain two Iranian truck drivers on Armenia's Goris-Kapan road Iran embassy in Armenia on situation on Goris-Kapan motorway section: Elimination of road obstacles is topical Armenia FM unable to travel to Dushanbe due to aircraft engine malfunction Armenia government officials answering questions from MPs (LIVE) Armenia Labor and Social Affairs Ministry to carry out new social support program for displaced citizens of Artsakh Armenia finance minister receives Japan Ambassador Armenia State Revenue Committee chief receives Latvian State Revenue Service's Police Department delegation CSTO Collective Security Council to discuss urgent security issues, Armenia PM to also attend meeting Friendship group with India to soon be set up again in legislature, says Armenia parliament speaker Armenian doctors protesting near Prosecutor General's Office in support of Armen Charchyan Toivo Klaar: Important to reduce tensions on border to contribute to better climate for negotiations Turkey, Azerbaijan air forces holding joint military exercises Zas: CSTO foreign and defense ministers councils next meeting will be held in Armenia PACE regrets tragic humanitarian consequences of Armenia-Azerbaijan conflict Russia deputy FM, Red Cross president discuss humanitarian situation in Nagorno-Karabakh US does not consider Karabakh status issue resolved, says envoy to Armenia US government to provide $9.5m to combat corruption in Armenia Opposition Armenia Bloc holds meeting chaired by ex-President Kocharyan (PHOTOS) Armenia Security Council chief: Azerbaijan policy is obviously provocative Armenia Administrative Court terminates proceedings on case of army General Staff ex-chief vs. President, PM Prosecution insists that Armenia 2nd president Kocharyans pretrial measure, amount of bail not be changed 5 new cases of coronavirus reported in Karabakh Armenia President receives Russia counterparts special representative on international cultural cooperation Armenia Police special forces apprehend fallen soldiers relative from outside government building Xi Jinping denies personal meeting with Biden Baku celebrates 'liberation' from Armenians Survey: 48.4% of displaced Artsakh residents moved to Armenia (VIDEO) 756 new cases of COVID-19 confirmed in Armenia World oil prices going up Politico: European Commission chiefs classified speech found in trash Armenia Court of Appeal continues considering appeal of case on ex-President Kocharyan, some other former officials Biden: Extreme weather events will cost more than $100bn in damages this year Newspaper: Armenia authorities agree to opposition proposal to hold parliament session on Goris-Kapan road issue Newspaper: Armenia authorities send Karabakh Security Council chief as envoy to imprisoned opposition MP Energy security expert: Artsakh economic growth averaged 10.5% since 2000 UN General Assembly 76th session kicks off in New York Karabakh President's spokesperson: Azerbaijanis shoot in direction of Taghavard village, no victims Armenia Investigative Committee: Battalion commander who was on-duty in Karabakh's Khtsaberd village is arrested Trilateral MoC signed to raise level of seismic safety of Armenian Nuclear Power Plant to the highest level Armenia opposition MP: Authorities didn't help Ombudsman prepare report on tortures of Armenian citizens in Baku Hanged body of 44-year-old serviceman of Armenia MOD found in village Armenia opposition MP slams parliamentary committee chairman's statement Police apprehend armed student at Yerevan metro station Azerbaijanis demand punishing Member of the Russian State Duma Vitaly Milonov Armenia Parliament Deputy Speaker receives Russia President's Special Representative Armenia President grants high state award to chess grandmaster Elina Danielyan Armenia PM appoints deputy economy minister Putin holds phone talks with Iranian counterpart Armenia Supreme Judicial Council chairman on his relations with PM Nikol Pashinyan Karabakh President meets with journalists and editors of country's Free Artsakh newspaper US Embassy in Armenia to Baku: Only comprehensive solution can help normalize Armenian-Azerbaijani relations Armenia President receives Slovakia FM Armenia defense minister's mother dies Armenia parliament's foreign relations committee chairman meets with Ukrainian MPs Armenia Syunik Province governor meets with newly appointed US Deputy Ambassador Monument to heroes who took revenge over Armenian Genocide organizers to be placed in Yerevan Armenia Parliament Speaker receives Slovak Foreign and European Affairs Minister-led delegation Digest: Protests being held in Yerevan, more on COVID-19 in Armenia Yerevan mayor: Not going to resign Dollar still going down in Armenia Karabakh emergency situations service: Remains of 1 Armenian serviceman found in Varanda Armenia Cassation Court has new judge PACE recommends holding debates over Nagorno-Karabakh conflict and Afghanistan situation National Archives of Armenia and Iran to sign memorandum within scope of cooperation Armenia PM, Gazprom Management Committee chairman discuss Armenian-Russian energy partnership Armenia Deputy PM participates in session of Eurasian Economic Commission's Council Police apprehend Yerevan neighborhood resident on hunger, water strike Armenia Ambassador to Ukraine: Aim of intergovernmental commission is to take steps to unblock communication Deceased serviceman's little brother born at medical center in Armenia's Etchmiadzin The National Assembly (NA) did not include in the agenda of its plenary session the draft proposal by the opposition "Armenia" Faction, which proposed to rename the NA Standing Committee on Foreign Relations to NA "Standing Committee on Foreign Relations and Karabakh Issues." The aforesaid draft proposal was presented by "Armenia" Faction MP Aghvan Vardanyan. "The opposition Armenia and With Honor Factions had proposed to set up a separate [NA] committee on Karabakh issues. After the draft was rejected at the meeting of the parliamentary [standing] committee, we proposed to rename the standing parliamentary committee on foreign relations the standing parliamentary committee on foreign relations and Karabakh issues; but that proposal was also rejected," Vardanyan said, urging the MPs to discuss this matter once again. In his turn, Vladimir Vardanyan, chair of the NA Standing Committee on State and Legal Affairs and an MP from the majority "Civil Contract" Faction, stated that it is necessary to work very carefully and seriously on this matter, taking into account all the threats facing Armenia and Artsakh. "However, the submitted draft was not resolving them, and was not touching upon those issues," the ruling forces lawmaker emphasized. As a result, the ruling majority faction refused to take part in the voting, and therefore only 30 of the 107 MPs voted for this draft proposal. The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) and the Asian Development Bank (ADB) will provide a $105mn loan to the Electric Networks of Armenia (ENA) company for the implementation of the second phase of its 10-year investment program. A total of $70 million will be provided by the EBRD and $35 millionby the ADB. The loans will be used to modernize Armenia's electricity distribution infrastructure, both in the provinces and in major cities. It should be noted that Yerevan and Gyumri are included in the EBRD "Green Cities" program. And in this regard, ENA will solve specific environmental issues within the framework of the Green City Action Plan (GCAP), such as reducing greenhouse gas emissions, integrating renewable energy plants into the energy system. The funding will support Armenia's transition to digital technologies through the large-scale introduction of intelligent automation and accounting systems, increasing the reliability and flexibility of the power grid and significantly improving system performance. After the acquisition of the Electric Networks of Armenia company by the Tashir Group of Companies, we started the work aimed at the recovery of the Company, including through the implementation of an investment program. And the success we have achieved today is also the result of collaboration, long-term and effective work with the Asian Development Bank and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development and other international financial institutions. ENA has grown from a loss-making company to a profit-generating company, reducing electricity losses from 13.5% to 6.9%. We have introduced international management standards, opened modern customer service centers. We attach great importance to ecological and social programs, which are among the priorities of our company's development," said Karen Darbinyan, Chairman of the ENA Board of Directors. Loans provided by international financial institutions will also help ENA mitigate climate change challenges by ensuring the widespread application of management, environmental, social, and technical standards. ENA will focus also on protecting gender rights by promoting gender equality and increasing inclusion in its business activities. "The multi-stage program for the modernization of energy infrastructure includes several key elements: digitalization of the system, improvement of electricity use, and ensuring the reliability of energy supply. The project is important in the context of the work being done to develop the capacity of clean energy production in Armenia, including solar energy production for domestic consumption," said Dimitri Gvindadze, Head of the EBRD Armenia Office. "The basis of energy efficiency and security is to invest in building a strong infrastructure. ADB continues to support Armenia in achieving this goal by providing long-term private sector financing that is not always available," said Shantanu Chakraborty, Director of Infrastructure Finance, South Asia, Central Asia, and West Asia, Private Sector Operations at ADB. "The program will finance the second phase of ENA's long-term investment program, which aims to expand access to electricity supply in the regions of Armenia." The implementation of the investment program of ENA started in 2016. The total cost of the project is about $726 million, and 41 percent of the project has been completed so far. The effective implementation of the investment program of Electric Networks of Armenia companyaimed at improving the quality of customer serviceis a priority for us. I am glad that we continue to work with the Asian Development Bank, the European Bank for Reconstruction, and Development and other international financial institutions in the second phase of the program. I want to thank our teams for their efficient work. The key to our success, of course, is our teamwork. I am confident that the signing of this agreement will give a new impetus to our cooperation," said the general director of the company, Karen Harutyunyan. The results of all the elections held in Armenia between 1996 and 2018 were falsified, and I say this as the parliamentary speaker of Armenia. This is what Speaker of the National Assembly of Armenia Alen Simonyan said during todays discussion on the report on the activities of the Central Electoral Commission, directly opposing the statements made by the chairman of the Central Electoral Commission. According to Simonyan, everyone knows that the results were falsified. All the attempts to say that the last elections held in Armenia were falsified arent and wont be supported by the people since people know very well that these elections werent rigged, Simonyan emphasized, adding that, nevertheless, there have been exceptions, particularly the elections held in 1999 with the participation of then Minister of Defense, hero of Nagorno-Karabakh Vazgen Sargsyan, as well as political party member and state figure of Soviet Armenia and the Republic of Armenia, leader of the Unity Alliance Karen Demirtchyan. Deputy Prime Minister of Armenia Mher Grigoryan today received the Co-Chairs of the Armenian-Ukrainian Joint Intergovernmental Commission on Economic Cooperation, including Minister of Social Policies of Ukraine Marina Lazebna, who is in Armenia to attend the Commissions 8th session, and Minister of Economy of Armenia Vahan Kerobyan, who is the Co-Chair of the Armenian side. At the outset, the Deputy Prime Minister attached importance to the organizing of the session and stated that Armenia and Ukraine have great potential for development of trade and economic relations, for the use of which the Government of Armenia is ready to work with its colleagues of Ukraine. The Ukrainian social policies minister expressed gratitude for the reception and presented the main issues included in the agenda for the Commissions session, emphasizing that the bilateral cooperation will be improved through the work that will be done after the session. During the meeting, the Deputy Prime Minister also attached importance to the intensification of contacts between business circles and presentation of the advantages of the Armenian market to Ukrainian businesses. The parties touched upon the peculiarities of the social protection policies in both countries and attached importance to exchange of experience in this sector. The regional governors office of Gegharkunik Province of Armenia today convened a meeting during which Deputy Prime Minister Suren Papikyan introduced newly appointed Governor Karen Sargsyan to the staff of the regional governors office, as well as the heads of communities and law-enforcement bodies of the province and wished him success, as reported the regional governors office of Gegharkunik Province. You know that Karen Sargsyan had a responsible role in the water sector in Gegharkunik Province. Since he did a good job, he received an incentive and held the position of Chairman of the Water Committee. I congratulate Mr. Sargsyan on assuming the office and express willingness to support him, Papikyan stated. The Deputy Prime Minister thanked Gnel Sanosyan for his fruitful work as governor of Gegharkunik Province, and in response, Sanosyan expressed gratitude to Papikyan for trusting him as regional governor and now as Minister of Territorial Administration and Infrastructure. Governor of Gegharkunik Province Karen Sargsyan expressed gratitude to the Deputy Prime Minister and the minister for the trust and assured that he will do everything he can to solve many sector-specific issues. General Secretary of the regional governors office of Gegharkunik Province Sevak Khlghatyan talked about the newly appointed regional governor and stated that Sargsyan is from Gegharkunik Province and is well aware of the issues and that the staff of the regional governors office is willing to ensure regular activities of the newly appointed regional governor. The Armenian authorities have turned detention into a punitive mechanism against the opposition. This is what secretary of the Armenia parliamentary faction of the National Assembly of Armenia Artsvik Minasyan said during todays parliamentary discussion on the report on the activities of the Central Electoral Commission. According to him, the authorities were detaining village heads and mayors just because they had provided assistance to needy citizens before the elections which was eventually interpreted as an attempt of corruption. At the same time, the regional governors appointed by the authorities were doing the same thing, but nobody thought about accusing them of anything. Besides this, law-enforcement authorities didnt reprimand the actions of deputies and ministers of the ruling party, the campaign visit of Prime Minister of Armenia Nikol Pashinyan to Syunik Province for which the government used resources, as well as several actions of ministers and parliamentarians. Our two deputies Mkhitar Zakaryan and Armen Charchyan are under arrest, and none of the deputies representing the incumbent authorities doesnt even want to submit an inquiry to specify the health condition of Charchyan which has sharply deteriorated, the opposition MP stressed, adding that none of the government officials having potentially committed violations has been punished. Moreover, in many cases, opposition figures are detained, but its not clear whether the detention is truly proportionate to the alleged violations or whether they are the authorities repressive methods, Minasyan said. Mount St. Marys University placed third among Marylands 12 ranked public and private regional universities, and 44th of 171 institutions in the North region in U.S. News & World Report s Best Regional Universities rankings for 2022. The university also earned spots on the U.S. News lists for Best Value Schools and Best Colleges for Veterans. These rankings are a result of the universitys focus on student success as demonstrated by our excellent academic and co-curricular programs with top-notch faculty, said President Timothy E. Trainor, Ph.D. We are proud to offer a vibrant education, not only to a growing number of students from Maryland but also nationwide and worldwide. This year we our second largest number of undergraduates ever and our STEM programs have grown by more than 30% in the past four years. The Best Regional University rankings are comprised of several factors, including average first-year student retention rate, class size, student selectivity, social mobility, student-to-faculty ratio, financial resources per student, graduate indebtedness, and retention and average six-year graduation rate. Additionally, it included a peer assessment score and weighed the institutions average alumni giving rate. Slightly more than 40% of North regional universities qualified as Best Value Colleges. The Mount remained at No. 23 on the list after moving up nine places between 2019 and 2020. The university supports students with strong financial aid packages and ensures that the tuition rate is competitive. Nearly 100% of students receive merit and/or need-based financial aid. The Mount, which proudly has enrolled 67 veterans in fiscal year 2021, was again recognized as a top 50 institution in the 2022 Best Colleges for Veterans rankings for the North region, placing 45th. These rankings are designed to provide military veterans and active-duty service members with data on which top-ranked schools offer benefits that can help them make pursuing a college education more affordable, according to U.S. News. Fewer than 30% of the ranked universities in the North qualified for this list. The responsibility and work ethic that our veterans demonstrate not only set a great example for their classmates, but help them succeed in their academic and career pursuits after their military service has concluded, said Trainor, who served as dean and chief academic officer at the United States Military Academy before retiring as a brigadier general after a 33-year career with the Army. Creating a place where we can serve those who served our country and put their lives at risk is especially important to me. In 2019, the Mount became part of the veterans work-study program, funded by the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. Under the program, a veteran work-study student, based in the registrars office, is available to guide prospective and current veteran students on how to use their GI Bill benefits, provide assistance finding veteran-specific scholarships or supply information about education benefits available for their families. SIU law school to hold discussion on recent constitutional issues by Pete Rosenbery CARBONDALE, Ill. A discussion on recent and pending constitutional decisions before the U.S. Supreme Court are a part of Southern Illinois University Carbondales Constitution Day activities this week. The SIU School of Law will livestream the two-hour discussion beginning at 12:15 pm on Friday, Sept. 17. The topics will focus on myriad issues, including reproductive rights, immigrant rights, the Second Amendment right to bear arms, Fourth Amendment rights, and sexual orientation and identity rights. The livestream will be available on the Chancellors YouTube channel. Only members of the SIU law school community will be able to attend the presentation in person in the law schools auditorium and masks are required. However, the livestream will be available to the general public. Constitution Day is Friday, Sept. 17. The day marks the anniversary of delegates to the Philadelphia Convention completing and signing the U.S. Constitution in 1787. All educational institutions that receive federal funding must annually deliver programs on the U.S. Constitution. Jennifer Brobst, law school associate professor, said six law student organizations each proposed a case decided or pending before the U.S. Supreme Court and selected an SIU faculty member to present the case for discussion. The array of cases that will be discussed are diverse and compelling, she said. The topics, with presenters, are: Reproductive rights: Camille Davidson, dean, SIU School of Law. Immigrant rights: Cindy Buys, professor, SIU School of Law. Second Amendment rights: Chris Behan, professor, SIU School of Law. Fourth Amendment rights: Benjamin Bricker, associate professor, political science. Sexual orientation and gender identity rights: Cheryl Anderson, SIU School of Law. Morris Librarys Special Collections to feature late U.S. Sen. Paul Simon papers In addition to the panel discussion, Morris Librarys Special Collections Research Center will have a small exhibit titled Filling the Gaps, focused on the late U.S. Sen. Paul Simons efforts to fill a gap in the Presidential Succession Act. Walter Ray, the librarys political papers archivist, said the exhibit at the entrance to the Special Collections Research Center showcases a few documents from the time Simon was chair of the subcommittee on the Constitution of the Senate Judiciary Committee. Ross Perots 1992 presidential campaign prompted everyone to review presidential election law, Ray said. One of the questions that came up was, What happens if a President-elect dies between the election and the inauguration? Ray said, noting the Presidential Succession Act doesnt address the issue. Simon had his staff research the problem and draft a bill to address it. Unfortunately, the proposed legislation died in committee, Ray added. The exhibit provides a behind-the-scenes window on the legislative process on a matter that involves a constitutional question, he said. SIUs Hispanic/Latinx Heritage Month celebration begins Wednesday by Christi Mathis CARBONDALE, Ill. Southern Illinois University Carbondale is commemorating Hispanic/Latinx Heritage Month Sept. 15-Oct. 15 with a variety of special events and presentations, including the premiere of a documentary created by an SIU student and a special art exhibit by an SIU alumna. Esperanza: Celebrating Hispanic/Latinx Heritage and Hope is the theme for the 2021 celebration. As esperanza means hope in Spanish, organizers expect the month to be a celebration of the Hispanic/Latinx people, their history and accomplishments, as well as a harbinger of a more diverse, inclusive and eclectic future. World movie premiere, special exhibit opening The kickoff event, from 5 to 7 p.m. on Wednesday, Sept. 15 at Morris Library, begins with the premiere screening of Footprints in the Sky in the John C. Guyon Auditorium. The documentary is by Daniel Rodriguez, a third-year of the Master of Fine Arts student in mass communication and media arts. The recipient of a Fulbright-Garcia Robles scholarship, Rodriguez previously worked as a filmmaker in Mexico City and won the Audience Award at the 2015 Mexico City International Documentary Film Festival. The film, Rodriguezs masters thesis project, tells the stories of some of the first Purepecha families to settle in the Cobden area. Rodriguez shares their struggles, their visions, their migratory adventures and their family updates, interwoven with footage of monarch butterflies. Tradition has it that spirits of the migratory butterflies guide the people in their migrations across the content. Rodriguez notes that as migrants have faced their own struggles, the monarch butterfly population has declined dramatically in the last 20 years. Catch the trailer for the movie online. Juana Duran Charicata, an artist and 2015 art education graduate from SIU, is one of the Purepecha featured in the production. A display of her artwork, entitled NATIVAS, Colores Purepecha is featured in the library rotunda during a reception at 6:15 p.m. on Sept. 15. A native of Cheran, Michoacan, Mexico, Charicata immigrated to the United States in 1995 and helped her family pick fruits and vegetables to make a living. Now an art teacher at Peace and Education Coalition Alternative High School in Chicago, her artwork encapsulates her Purepecha roots, culture and indigenous traditions. The Nativas exhibition features paintings depicting the power and beautify of the indigenous people and their lives. Charicata and other people featured in the film plan to be on hand for the film, exhibit opening and reception. The film, reception and exhibit are free and open to the public; no tickets or reservations are required. The exhibit will remain in place at the library throughout the month. This year we really want to showcase the abilities, creativity and projects of SIUs talented Hispanic/Latinx students and alumni, said Cristina Castillo, coordinator of the universitys Hispanic/Latino Resource Center. We also want to engage community members with experiences that will help them learn more about our culture and our people and create a greater sense of cultural competence, respect and regard for one another. Having the opportunity to share our culture is wonderful, but we also want to acknowledge the inclusiveness of the region and that the Hispanic/Latinx culture is already very embedded into the fabric of SIU and Southern Illinois. Traditional events set The month will feature a variety of events highlighting the culture of Hispanic/Latinx people through music, dance and other activities. Plans include: A salsa-making workshop, 5-6:30 p.m., Thursday, Sept. 16, with all ingredients provided to create the tasty treat. The online registration deadline is 8 p.m. Sept. 15 unless filled sooner. Pinata making workshop, 6-8 p.m., Sept. 22. Everything needed to make a pinata is provided. The deadline to sign up online is 8 p.m. Sept. 20 or when all spots are filled. Both workshops are hybrid events offering 30 in-person spots in the Student Services Building, Rooms 150-160. In addition, anyone can join the presentations via the links on the Hispanic/Latino Resource Centers Facebook page A School of Music guitar festival brings two nights of concerts to the Old Baptist Foundation Recital Hall, at 7:30 p.m. Sept. 22 and 23. The first nights classical guitar performance is by Marcus DeJesus, a native of Brazil who is a professor of guitar and general music at Clark University and Loras College in Dubuque, Iowa. Moacyr Teixeira Neto, an award-winning guitarist who is the artistic director of Acordes Centro de Musica e Artes and guitar professor at the Faculdade de Musica do Espirito Santo (FAMES) in Centro, Vitoria, Brazil will perform the second night. Festival Latino, from 5 to 7 p.m. on Sept. 24 at the Washington and Main Street stage in downtown Carbondale will feature live music by the Radio Free Honduras Band. The event is sponsored by the city of Carbondale, Southern Illinois Culture and Arts in Bilingual Education (SICABE) and several SIU student organizations. Castillo encourages people to attend the free multicultural concert during SIUs Family Weekend, noting that her hope is that it and the many other activities throughout the month will help bring people together in shared understanding and communication. Financial, business expertise shared The Office of Diversity and Inclusion for the College of Business and Analytics is also hosting a pair of virtual events via Zoom. Financial Health in a Post-Pandemic World is set for 5 p.m. Sept. 21 and features Nashira Lynton, a first-generation Panamanian American, who was $60,000 in debt even after completing her MBA and struggling in spite of her job on Wall Street. Lynton will discuss her approach to breaking the debt cycle and share how others can achieve financial health. The second Zoom event, Being Hispanic in Business: Identity, Influence and Impact is at 5 p.m. on Oct. 5. A panel of Hispanic business leaders will share their inspirational stories and how they are able to impact their communities. For more information about either presentation, email Jennifer Butler at Jennifer.butler1@siu.edu. Both of the events are free and open to the public. Other enlightening activities include panel discussions, an informational presentation on the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program, discussions on the intricacies of Hispanic/Latinx identity, a movie night and more. Light of hope The festivities conclude with La Luz de la Esperanza (The Light of Hope), a celebration event with music and refreshments, is set for 5:30-7:30 p.m. on Oct. 15 in the Student Services Building, Rooms 150-170. To learn more Find the complete schedule of events and additional information at smrc.siu.edu/hrc. All activities are free and open to the public. SIU is committed to protecting the community, so all those attending Hispanic/Latinx Heritage Month events must follow current campus and state pandemic safety protocols and wear masks in shared indoor spaces. The month-long celebration is a collaborative, cross-campus effort and sponsors include: the Hispanic/Latino Resource Center, the College of Arts and Media, the School of Music, Lambda Theta Alpha Sorority, Gamma Phi Omega, the Delta Phi Chapter of Lambda Theta Phi, the SIU Latin American Student Association, the Multi-Greek Council, the SIU School of Medicine chapter of the Latino Medical Student Association, the city of Carbondale, the United Nations Association of Southern Illinois, and the Southern Illinois Culture and Arts in Bilingual Education. Sep. 13BUNKER HILL Three more inmates have filed lawsuits against Miami Correctional Facility alleging they were confined in near total darkness and received painful shocks from live wires hanging from broken lights. Kwin Boes, De'Shay Hackner and Isaac Lukes join 10 other inmates who filed suits against the prison alleging they were subjected to cruel and unusual punishment while being held inside isolation units. The lawsuits have all been filed by the American Civil Liberties Union of Indiana on behalf of the inmates. In the grievances, the inmates said they were placed in isolation cells inside the restrictive housing unit, where prison officials had covered broken outside windows with sheet metal and never replaced or repaired the single light inside the cell. The lawsuits assert that led to the inmates living in sometimes pitch-black conditions and being shocked by live wires that hung from the broken light fixture. Other windows were never replaced, exposing some prisoners to rain, snow and cold for weeks. Lukes alleges he was held in a dark cell in which he walked into the live wires on multiple occasions, causing painful shocks and burns. Due to the darkness, he also fell over the toilet and injured his back, which still hurts today, the lawsuit says. Hackner said the outside window in his cell was also broken, but it had no covering, so the cell was exposed to the elements. When it was eventually covered by sheet metal, his only light source was removed. The lawsuit also alleges the call box, which allows prisoners to call officers through an intercom, had also been destroyed in Hackner's cell. On one occasion, he received a painful shock from the wires exposed where the call box had once been, according to the filing. Boes alleged his cell had a metal cover over the broken window, but it was never sealed. He said that led him to be exposed to rain and snow and suffer painful cold while being held there in March. Story continues All three lawsuits say the prisoners were never let out of their cells for recreation, but only for 15 minute showers every two or three days. According to the filing, the warden and deputy warden at the prison continuously ignored the men's claims and refused to make basic repairs, even withholding medical attention when required. The lawsuits assert that prison officials violated the plaintiffs' Eighth Amendment rights and are liable for compensatory and punitive damages. Kenneth Falk, legal director of the ACLU of Indiana, said stories continue to emerge from the prion's solation unit that "shock the conscience and violate the Constitution." "In case after case, prison officials subjected these men to brutal conditions no human being should ever experience knowing full well the pain and trauma they were inflicting," he said. The Indiana Department of Correction said in an email it does not comment on active litigation. The new filings come just days after an inmate was found dead from multiple stab wounds inside his cell. Matthew Koch, 42, was found unresponsive at around 11:30 a.m. Sunday by corrections officers. Despite life-saving measures performed by prison staff members, Koch succumbed to his injuries, according to a release. An autopsy conducted Tuesday determined that Koch's death was a homicide caused by blood loss from multiple sharp force trauma wounds. Investigators suspect foul play and are conducting an active homicide investigation. Carson Gerber can be reached at 765-854-6739, carson.gerber@kokomotribune.com or on Twitter @carsongerber1. A declassified FBI document opens a revealing new window into the bureaus investigation of alleged Saudi complicity in the 9/11 terror attacks, raising fresh questions about whether some kingdom officials may have provided support for the al-Qaida terrorists prior to the hijacking of airplanes that crashed into the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. The long-suppressed 2016 document was released late Saturday night, hours after the close of ceremonies commemorating the 20th anniversary of the attacks. It reveals for the first time multiple communications between some Saudi government officials and key al-Qaida figures prior to Sept. 11, 2001. It also contains new evidence that contradicts the claims by a suspected Saudi intelligence agent that a crucial meeting he had in 2000 with two of the 9/11 hijackers at a Los Angeles restaurant was an unplanned encounter that took place only because he happened to hear them speaking Arabic at a nearby table. This is proof of what weve been alleging for years, said Brett Eagleson, a spokesman for the families of 9/11 victims who are suing the Saudi government for providing support to the hijackers. Why has it taken 20 years for the families to get this document? The document in question is a 16-page electronic communication, dated April 4, 2016, and written by agents involved in Operation Encore, a long-secret FBI probe into the Saudi role in 9/11 whose existence didn't become publicly known until recent years. The probe was officially shut down this year with no new charges against Saudi operatives. This content is not available due to your privacy preferences. Update your settings here to see it. But President Biden, under pressure from the 9/11 families and members of Congress, recently ordered the Justice Department to review the Operation Encore materials and seek to declassify as much as possible. The release of the 2016 FBI report is the first of what is expected to be a number of 9/11 documents that the Trump administration, at the direction of Attorney General William Barr, had previously labeled a state secret whose disclosure would harm national security. Story continues The Saudi Embassy in Washington as recently as last week said any allegations that Saudi Arabia was complicit in 9/11 were categorically false, adding that the kingdom welcomed the declassification review ordered by Biden. And the 9/11 Commission said in 2004 that it found no evidence the Saudi government as an institution financed al-Qaida, downplaying allegations that officials there provided logistical support for the hijackers while they were planning for the attacks in the United States. (A lawyer for the Saudi government did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Yahoo News.) The new release does not contain any smoking gun that proves Saudi officials had prior knowledge of the 9/11 attacks. But the document offers potentially significant new circumstantial evidence that lawyers for the 9/11 families clearly believe will be a boon to their lawsuit. At a minimum, Eagleson said, it provides grounds for the families lawyers to ask a federal judge to reopen depositions in the case, allowing them to confront key witnesses with the newly revealed phone records and interviews. (As a civil case, the families lawsuit needs to establish its case for Saudi complicity only by a preponderance of the evidence, a lower standard than the beyond a reasonable doubt standard needed for criminal prosecutions.) President Biden and first lady Jill Biden at a ceremony at the Pentagon on Saturday, the 20th anniversary of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. (Alex Brandon/AP) The document provides a blueprint for how al Qaeda operated inside the US with the active, knowing support of the Saudi government, lawyers for the families wrote in an analysis for their clients over the weekend that was obtained by Yahoo News. Saudi officials exchanged phone calls among themselves and with al Qaeda operatives and then had accidental meetings with the 9/11 hijackers and provided them with substantial assistance to get settled, find flight schools and become acclimated to life in the U.S. Perhaps the most striking new evidence relates to a meeting at a Los Angeles restaurant between Omar Bayoumi, a suspected Saudi intelligence agent with extremist sympathies, and two of the hijackers, Nawaf al-Hazmi and Khalid al-Mihdhar. The meeting took place on Feb. 1, 2000 just two weeks after the future hijackers flew into Los Angeles after attending an al-Qaida planning summit in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. As the FBI document notes, neither al-Hazmi nor al-Mihdhar could speak or read English and would likely have needed substantial assistance merely to ride a city bus. Bayoumi, a purported business student, was a prime target of the FBI probe. He was described as a ghost employee of a Saudi aviation firm who never showed up for work and was strongly suspected of Saudi intelligence ties. According to one bureau source quoted in the declassified report, Bayoumi had a very high status at the Saudi Consulate in Los Angeles; according to another source, he spoke about the need for the Islamic community in the United States to take action as well as about his own participation in jihad. Detained in the United Kingdom after 9/11, Bayoumi denied radical sympathies and initially told FBI agents and later the 9/11 Commission that he met the hijackers at the Mediterranean Gourmet restaurant on Venice Boulevard purely by chance when he approached them after hearing them speaking Arabic at a nearby table. Khalid al-Mihdhar, left, and Nawaf al-Hazmi. (FBI via Reuters) Yet the FBI report reveals an interview with an associate who accompanied Bayoumi that day, Caisin Bin Don, who told the FBIs Operation Encore agents that in fact Bayoumi was waiting for the al-Qaida operatives to arrive all along. Bayoumi entered the restaurant and positioned himself to be looking out the front window, Bin Don is quoted as saying. When al-Hazmi and al-Mihdhar arrived, Bayoumi approached them and invited them to his table, where they spoke for 30 minutes in Arabic. Bin Don doesnt speak Arabic, so he was unable to share with the bureau what they talked about. But as the FBI document notes, after the meeting Bayoumi took the al-Qaida operatives in, providing them with logistic support that included translation, travel assistance, lodging and financing. Anomalous money transfers within Bayoumis bank accounts coincide with transactions wherein Bayoumi provides assistance to the hijackers, the report states. The FBI report also reveals that the restaurant meeting came barely an hour after Bayoumi had a meeting at the nearby Saudi government-funded King Fahad Mosque, whose imam, Fahad al-Thumairy, was an accredited Saudi diplomat. Al-Thumairy was a notorious extremist who, according to newly revealed phone records cited in the FBI document, had multiple contacts with al-Qaida operatives, including several who had been implicated in the so-called millennium plot to blow up Los Angeles airport. The FBI report reveals that shortly before al-Hazmi and al-Mihdhar arrived in the United States after attending the al-Qaida summit in Kuala Lumpur, a phone call from Malaysia or Indonesia instructed an individual whose name remains classified to locate Thumairy. The imam then tasked another individual (whose name also remains classified) with assisting al-Hazmi and al-Mihdhar, describing them as two very significant people and instructing that they be brought to the Mediterranean Gourmet restaurant. The totality of the new evidence shows that the claims that Bayoumi met with the hijackers by chance are baloney, said Ali Soufan, a former FBI agent who investigated al-Qaida for years and now heads a New York-based national security research firm. A woman at the 9/11 Memorial in New York on the 20th anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks. (Amr Alfiky/Reuters) This means Bayoumi knows these two individuals were coming and his job was to help them, said Soufan. Its another piece of evidence connecting people who worked for Saudi Arabia to a support network that helped the hijackers. Its definitely eye-popping." It is a support network that, the FBI report suggests, was much wider than previously thought and included assistance for the hijackers on the East Coast as the date for the 9/11 attacks approached. While the hijackers were still in San Diego, where Bayoumi had set them up with an apartment, he made five phone calls to another suspected operative, Mutaib al-Sudairy, a Saudi Embassy official who was roommates with a known al-Qaida facilitator who had provided equipment for Osama bin Laden. Sudairy later moved to an address in Falls Church, Va., near where al-Hazmi, al-Mihdhar and another of the hijackers, Hani Hanjour, had established residence. Yet another Saudi whom Bayoumi was in almost daily contact with was Osama Basnan, according to the report. Basnan was another known extremist who had once hosted a party at his house for the so-called blind sheikh, Omar Abdel Rahman, the convicted mastermind of the 1993 World Trade Center bombing. Multiple sources report Bassnan [sic] expressed enthusiastic support for bin Laden, describing bin Laden as a great authority figure who would change the world for the benefit of Islam, the report states. Basnans role was first disclosed in a 2002 Newsweek article, which revealed that his wife was receiving regular monthly stipends of $2,000 from the wife of the then Saudi ambassador, Prince Bandar. Basnans wife then turned over the money to Bayoumis wife. The article reported that Basnan had shown up in Houston in April of that year, when then-Saudi Crown Prince Abdullah flew there for a meeting with President George W. Bush. While there, Newsweek reported, Basnan met with a high-ranking Saudi prince with responsibilities for intelligence matters and who was known to bring suitcases filled with cash to the United States. ____ Read more from Yahoo News: In July, Pakistan's information minister said that Pakistan would not allow any new Afghan refugees to enter Pakistan's heartland, with the government instead planning on establishing refugee camps near the border. Pakistan is home to 1.4 million Afghan refugees while Iran hosts nearly a million, according to U.N. refugee agency data from the beginning of the year. The number of undocumented Afghans in both countries is estimated to be much higher. Inside Afghanistan, drought and war have forced about 5.5 million people to flee their homes, including more than 550,000 newly displaced in 2021, according to the International Organization for Migration. The United Nations is convening an aid conference in Geneva on Monday in an effort to raise more than $600 million for Afghanistan, warning of a humanitarian crisis there following the Taliban takeover. Sep. 13JUNEAU The Alaska House of Representatives declined to vote Saturday on the validity of the 1947 Nuremberg code, turning down a request from Republican members of the House. Some opponents of COVID-19 vaccination, including far-right U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor-Greene, a Republican of Georgia, incorrectly cite vaccination efforts as a violation of the code, which was created in the wake of Nazi atrocities. The Nuremberg code, drafted after the fall of Nazi Germany, is a series of principles that define ethical medical treatment and research. The code encompasses 10 points, including the requirement that an experiment involve the informed, voluntary consent of its subjects. COVID-19 vaccinations, even those authorized under emergency-use permission, have gone through clinical trials and are not experimental. Participants in those trials did so on a voluntary basis, and no steps in the approval process were skipped. In addition, there is no compulsory COVID-19 vaccination in the United States, though vaccination is required for some jobs and activities. On Saturday, Rep. David Eastman, R-Wasilla, called for a non-binding vote that asked the House whether the code "remains just as valid today as when it was written in 1947." Speaker of the House Louise Stutes, R-Kodiak, referred the vote to three committees, and her decision was upheld 17-16 after several Republicans challenged her. Eastman did not explicitly refer to COVID-19 vaccinations in the context of the Nuremberg code, but other lawmakers did. Rep. Sarah Vance, R-Homer, incorrectly said that COVID-19 vaccinations are experimental. Rep. Christopher Kurka, R-Wasilla, called mass COVID-19 vaccinations "a giant human experiment." After the vote, in a post on his personal website, Eastman said the current situation amounts to "vaccine mandate madness." Asked about the proposal, Eastman wrote Sunday "With the amount of inaccurate information that has appeared in both official and unofficial sources, it is difficult to say that Alaskans are actually informed when making the decision of whether or not to get the vaccine." Story continues Rep. Andy Josephson, D-Anchorage, said on Sunday that comparing vaccination efforts and Nazi atrocities was "profoundly offensive." "It's just a horrible analogy, and people should just not go there," he said. The Nuremberg code was developed after Nazi researchers used unwilling political prisoners and concentration camp inmates to measure the effects of hypothermia, altitude, poison and other factors. The "experiments" did not produce valid data but have been cited by some postwar scientists. On Saturday, Rep. Sara Hannan, D-Juneau, incorrectly said the experiments were "violations of human dignity, of scientific methodology, yet they produced results." One day later, she apologized on social media, saying her remarks were "incorrect, insensitive and hurtful." The Auschwitz Museum, which preserves the site of a former Nazi concentration and extermination camp in Poland, has frequently spoken against comparisons between the Holocaust and COVID-19. On July 7, it said on social media that using the Holocaust as an instrument to argue against a vaccination that saves human lives "is a sad symptom of moral and intellectual decline." ALGIERS (Reuters) - Algeria has arrested 16 more members of a separatist group authorities have declared a terrorist organisation, the paramilitary police said on Monday. The arrests, which inluded a journalist, took place in the two mostly Berber-speaking Kabylie provinces of Tizi Ouzou and Bejaia after investigations over wildfires that killed at least 65 people last month, the paramilitary police, or National Gendarmerie, said in a statement. The government has accused MAK, a separatist group in the Kabylie region, east of Algiers, of being behind the devastating forest fires, which hit several provinces, including Tizi Ouzou. Algeria last week said it had detained 30 people, including seven members of MAK, for involvement in those blazes, in addition to the arrest of 27 members of the separatist group for attacking citizens and private properties in the two eastern towns of Kherrata and Beni Ourtilane. (Reporting by Hamid Ould Ahmed; Editing by Steve Orlofsky) Rohan Zhou-Lee led a crowd of hundreds over the summer in Brooklyn, microphone in hand and Pride flag billowing in the wind. Justice for Asians! Justice for Black people! Zhou-Lee sang with fellow protesters. Some carried instruments and bells. Others waved signs with the words, "This is solidarity" and "We stand with Black lives." The Pride rally was one of several events in the past year led by the Blasian March, an organization that Zhou-Lee created to encourage Black and Asian solidarity. The event highlighted recent violence against Black and Asian American communities. In 2020, hate crime reports in the U.S. spiked to their highest level in 12 years, largely triggered by a surge in crimes against Black and Asian Americans, according to an FBI report released late last month. Amid this rise in hate crimes, Black and Asian activists have intensified the rallying cry for solidarity between the two groups. The activism builds on decades of cross-racial organizing and a history experts say needs more exposure. Seeing the pain Black and Asian American communities have suffered in the past year, Zhou-Lee wanted 'Blasians" people who are Black and Asian to be part of the conversation and to build bridges for collective, communal power for Black and Asian communities, they said. Were telling people solidarity is the answer," Zhou-Lee said. "Education and mutual celebration is the answer. We do this together. We free each other together." US history is complex: Scholars say this is the right way to teach about slavery, racism Rohan Zhou-Lee, founder of the Blasian March, leads a crowd in protest chants during a Pride rally on June 5. Hate crimes surge to highest level over a decade, FBI reports When Jaimee Swift's Vietnamese American friend told her she hadnt been outside for days last year, Swift was confused. That is, until that friend told Swift she stayed inside out of fear of anti-Asian hate crimes that experts say have been largely driven by racist reactions to the COVID-19 pandemic, including politicians such as former President Donald Trump using racial slurs for the virus. Story continues More than 7,700 criminal hate crimes motivated by "bias toward race, ethnicity, ancestry, religion, sexual orientation, disability, gender, and gender identity" were reported last year, an increase of about 450 incidents since the year before, FBI data shows. In 2020, hate crimes targeting Black people rose to 2,755 from 1,930 the previous year, while attacks against Asians climbed to 274 from 161. The findings reflect research by the Center for the Study of Hate & Extremism at California State University, San Bernardino, said center director Brian Levin. The numbers reported by the FBI might even fall short, he said. The headlines say 'highest in 12 years,' but if you factor in the limitations of the FBI report, it may actually be more like the highest since 2001, said Levin, a criminal justice professor. Levin pointed to discrepancies between the numbers of hate crimes local agencies reported publicly and what is reflected in the reports state-by-state breakdowns, possibly due to differences in how various agencies defined a hate crime. It's really hard to define what a hate crime is, said Russell Jeung, co-founder of Stop AAPI Hate, which has been tracking anti-Asian hate incidents since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. You have to discern a person's motivation and then prove that motivation was based on race." Social activists gather for a march from the city halls in San Gabriel to Alhambra in California on March 26, 2021, during an anti-Asian hate rally. Obstacles, including language barriers, cultural resistance to reporting and distrust of law enforcement, also lead to undercounts in hate crime reporting, said Jeung, a professor of Asian American Studies at San Francisco State University. While racist rhetoric regarding the pandemic has fueled anti-Asian hate crimes, Jeung said the increase in hate crimes across the board may be due to a wide range of factors, including the uncertainty and difficulties of the past year leading people to look to other communities as scapegoats for the problems they face. The conversation Swift had with her friend compelled her to reach out to the the Asian American Feminist Collective. Swift, 30, is the Washington, D.C.-based director of Black Women Radicals, and the two groups have since launched the Black and Asian Feminist Solidarities Project, a monthly column that invites Black and Asian feminists to write about solidarity. "I believe that we need each other and need to learn from one another now more than ever," she told them. The pandemic, the hate and violence we've seen have shown us that our society is broken, she said. People are wanting to see if we can build something new together by practicing solidarity." After Atlanta spa shootings, many Americans call for unity against racism 'Make the most of this moment': Asian American activists are demanding equal civil rights, better education in schools New movements honor long legacy of Black and Asian solidarity Experts say Black and Asian activists have a long history of working together, dating back to 1869 when abolitionist Frederick Douglass advocated against restricting Chinese and Japanese migration into America. Black and Asian American activists also worked to combat racism, colonialism and imperialism in the 1960s and 1970s, particularly during demonstrations against the Vietnam War, according to Diane C. Fujino, an Asian American studies professor at University of California Santa Barbara. Women of color involved in the feminist movement were also instrumental in linking the issues of racism and sexism, a call for intersectionality that persists today, she added. She pointed to the work of Grace Lee Boggs, a Chinese American who worked with her husband, Black activist James Boggs, in support of the Black Power movement. And to Yuri Kochiyama, a Japanese American civil rights activist who joined Malcolm Xs Organization of Afro-American Unity. "All of this builds on this prior history," Fujino said. "Sometimes it's the people who were the 60s and 70s activists who are interacting with young people and learning from them." Lasting trauma of anti-Black violence: George's Floyd's death was a reminder that racial violence isnt new Swift said she was inspired by Audre Lorde's organizing work with Maori women in Auckland, New Zealand, and the "Azalea Newsletter: Conversations from Third World Lesbian Writers," which was produced by a collective of Black and Asian writers, as well as Latina and Chicana authors. "We come from very long legacies of Black and Asian women and women at the intersection between these communities working together," she said. "They laid the foundation for us." But this history has often been overshadowed by moments of conflict fueled by racist stereotypes and social issues that pit the two communities against each other, according to experts. For example, amid the 1992 Los Angeles riots sparked by the acquittal of the white police officers who beat Rodney King, media reports focused heavily on violent encounters between Black and Korean communities in the area, Fujino said. But in the aftermath, community members came together to educate one another and improve conditions, which got less media attention. This played out more recently as anti-Asian attacks rose amid the pandemic and videos showing assailants that appeared to be Black circulated widely, despite a 2021 study finding 75% of offenders in anti-Asian hate crimes between 1992-2014 were white, according to Janelle Wong, a professor of American and Asian American studies at the University of Maryland. While a perpetrator's race was rarely included in media reports in 2020, more than 77% of suspects were explicitly identified as white, according to an analysis of media reports of anti-Asian incidents last year by the University of Michigan Virulent Hate Project. Wong said videos of young Black men violently shoving older Asian Americans may have been so widely shared in part because they reinforce stereotypes that Black people are more likely to be criminals. She said the videos shifted focus from the origins of the violence, including Trump and other prominent Republicans using racist terms to describe the coronavirus. We didnt get to the root of the problem of anti-Asian violence ... because those (videos) became an easy distraction from white supremacy, Wong said. This is America Newsletter: Stop gaslighting me with the Asian 'model minority' myth Meanwhile, the model minority myth, or the belief that Asian Americans are inherently better at achieving success and overcoming adversity than other ethnic groups, has long been used to obscure anti-Asian racism and drive a wedge between minority communities, Fujino said. We see the solidification, the crystallization of Asian Americans as model minorities at the exact moment the Black Power movement is becoming more radical and more militant, Fujino said. That model minority myth is used to discipline Black struggle and its used to discipline dissent, to make an argument that activism is not needed. Fujino said in many communities, Asian Americans and immigrants became merchants in predominantly Black areas, fostering economic tensions over scarce resources, which some experts suggest can manifest as anti-immigrant sentiment and racism. Researchers have said cultural and linguistic tensions may also be at play. These tensions are real, said Fujino. One of the ways that really is useful to improving conditions is to be able to address the social problems that underlie what appear to be racial conflicts. 'Not going away': More than 9K anti-Asian hate incidents since COVID pandemic began, report says 'Siblings in this struggle' From kindergarten through graduate school, Swift, from Black Women Radicals, said she never once learned about this history, which she says has been erased through lack of education in schools and limited media coverage. Swift said not knowing this history of solidarity makes Black and Asian Americans more vulnerable to being manipulated by mythologies created by oppressive structures that seek to divide communities of color. "When we know our histories, our relationships become stronger," she said. "It becomes harder to divide us and harder to feed us the myth that we are enemies when, really, we are siblings in this struggle." Bianca Mabute-Louie, a Chinese American who runs anti-racism workshops, said communities of color are often told they must compete over scarce resources. "If you take a step back, it's the state or the city intentionally divesting from communities of color because they don't see them as worth investing in," she said. She added: "Keeping people fighting each other and scapegoating one another keeps us distracted from the real enemy, which is white supremacy and systemic racism." That's why Mabute-Louie focuses on solidarity and the history of cross-racial organizing in the workshops she organizes for nonprofits, schools and businesses. She also makes zines highlighting stories in the history of Black and Asian solidarity. The erasure of this history is "a subtle form of violence" that threatens the solidarity work of Black and Asian community organizers, Zhou-Lee said. "When folks don't know their history, they don't know their trauma," Zhou-Lee said. "If you don't know your trauma, it's that much easier for white society to manipulate us, to keep us in the dark of who is truly pulling the strings." Follow N'dea Yancey-Bragg on Twitter at @NdeaYanceyBragg. Contact News Now Reporter Christine Fernando at cfernando@usatoday.com or follow her on Twitter at @christinetfern. Racism as public health crisis: Hundreds of communities declared racism a public health crisis. What's happened since? 'On our own terms': How scholars of color are correcting the narrative of national tragedies This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Rise in hate crimes: Black, Asian Americans promoting solidarity (Reuters) -Australia's competition regulator on Monday denied authorisation for Qantas Airways and Japan Airlines (JAL) to coordinate flights between the two countries, citing competition concerns as international travel is set to resume. Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) Chairman Rod Sims said the regulator was not satisfied that the public benefits of the proposed joint business agreement would outweigh harm to competition. "Preserving competition between airlines is the key to the long-term recovery of the aviation and tourism sectors, once international travel restrictions are eased," he said in a statement. The agreement - which would allow the airlines to coordinate fares and schedules - would make it very difficult for other airlines to operate on routes between Australia and Japan, ACCC said. Japan's ANA Holdings is the only other airline that flies non-stop between Japan and Australia. "Virgin Australia told the ACCC that it would be more difficult to enter the Australia-Japan route if it is required to compete with Qantas and Japan Airlines acting jointly rather than as individual competing airlines, " the regulator said. After a negative draft decision by the ACCC in May, Qantas had offered to commit to a new service between Cairns and Tokyo once demand thresholds were reached. Qantas and JAL expressed disappointment with the ACCC decision in a joint statement on Monday, though they said they would continue their codeshare arrangements and oneworld alliance partnership. Qantas domestic and international chief executive, Andrew David, said the decision was unfortunate for Cairns, because without the ability to coordinate with JAL, the planned Tokyo flights would not be commercially viable. JAL senior vice president Ross Leggett said the joint venture with Qantas would have accelerated the recovery of leisure and business traffic between Japan and Australia. (Reporting by Arundhati Dutta in Bengaluru and Jamie Freed in Sydney; additional reporting by Tim Kelly in Tokyo; Editing by Kim Coghill, Stephen Coates and Gerry Doyle) By Renju Jose SYDNEY (Reuters) - The government of the Australian state of New South Wales (NSW) said on Monday the pace of COVID-19 vaccinations had slowed as first-dose coverage neared 80% and urged the unvaccinated to get shots soon or risk missing out on freedoms when curbs ease. Premier Gladys Berejiklian has promised to relax some restrictions for the state's 8 million residents once two-dose vaccination rates hit 70%, expected to be around the middle of next month. So far, about 46% of the state's adult population has been fully vaccinated, above the national average of 42%. "For those of you who choose not to be vaccinated, that is your choice, but don't expect to do everything that vaccinated people do when we hit 80%," Berejiklian said at a media briefing in Sydney, the state capital. "Our vaccination rates keep increasing, however there has been a slight slowdown. So we encourage everybody to come forward and get vaccinated." Some curbs were eased for fully vaccinated residents in Sydney from Monday. Five people will be allowed to meet outside while members from the same family in Sydney's 12 hardest-hit suburbs can gather outside for two hours. Australia is scrambling to control outbreaks of the highly infectious Delta variant of the novel coronavirus that began in Sydney in June and spread to Melbourne and Canberra, plunging nearly half the population of 25 million into lockdown. Other state capitals, however, have few or zero cases. The steady rise in infections has turned up the heat on the federal government to procure emergency vaccine supplies. An additional 1 million doses of Moderna was bought from the European Union on Sunday while vaccine swap deals with Britain and Singapore were executed over the last two weeks. Lieutenant General John Frewen, head of the federal government's vaccination taskforce, said there would be enough vaccines from the middle of October to fully inoculate every eligible person. The COVID-19 vaccination drive was expanded on Monday to include around one million children aged 12-15. Story continues Australian biotech company CSL, which locally produces the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine, said a positive case was detected at its Melbourne facility but production would not be interrupted. Australia's total cases stand at around 75,300, including 1,098 deaths, although the mortality rate in the latest outbreak is lower than last year. A total of 1,257 new cases were registered in New South Wales on Monday, while neighbouring Victoria reported 473 new infections, its biggest one-day rise for 2021. (Reporting by Renju Jose; Editing by Sam Holmes and Stephen Coates) BWH Hotel Group announced Monday that President and CEO David Kong will be retiring at the end of the year. His successor will be announced at the companys Annual Convention on Oct. 7. The longest serving CEO of any major hotel company, Kong transformed Best Western over his 17-year tenure, growing the company from one brand to 18, covering nearly every segment of the industry, with 4,500 hotels in 100 countries. He leaves as the hospitality sector faces a rocky recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic, following its worst year in history. In an exclusive interview with Yahoo Finance, Kong said he chose to step away at the "peak of his career," with Best Westerns business on firm footing. Last year was the most challenging time for just about anybody's career, and we've not only survived it, we've excelled. The company actually did extremely well. We didn't have to tap into our reserves at all, in fact we added total reserves, he said. [I am] leaving the company in great hands and a great state. Kongs rise at Best Western represents one of the great success stories in the industry. An immigrant from Hong Kong, he arrived in the U.S. as a young adult with "no friends, no connection, and no money." He began his career in the hospitality sector as a busboy and dishwasher roughly four decades ago, only to rise through the ranks at BWH Hotel Group over Kongs 20-year career with the firm. Under his leadership, the company has seen record EBITDA growth, and seen its cash reserves and net equity grow 10-fold, according to BWH Hotel Group. [My story] speaks to the dynamic opportunities this industry offers. It really empowers bold dreams and enables people to pursue those dreams without hesitations, he said. David Kong, CEO of Best Western international hotel chain poses for a picture on November 7, 2018 in Paris. (Photo by Eric Feferberg / AFP) (Photo credit should read ERIC FEFERBERG/AFP via Getty Images) Yet, that same industry faces a largely uncertain path, as the highly infectious Delta variant slows the rebound in travel activity. Hotels saw revenue drop 90% at the height of the pandemic, forcing Best Western to temporarily close hundreds of locations. A recent survey by the American Hotel and Lodging Association (AHLA) pointed to a dramatic increase in the number of travelers rethinking or canceling their plans, while business travelers are scaling back their travel plans. Story continues The hospitality industry needs to reinvent itself The industry has also struggled to build up its staffing, as furloughed employees look to jobs in other industries. The leisure and hospitality sector added zero jobs in August, according to data from the Department of Labor. AHLA reports one in five of the nearly half a million hotel jobs lost during the pandemic will not return by the end of the year. Kong said many employees laid off by Best Westerns hotels have gone on to seek higher paying positions at tech companies like Amazon (AMZN) or Google (GOOG). Entry-level talent the hospitality industry once relied on, is being siphoned off as a result of the pandemic, he said. And Kong expects that migration to continue. The hospitality industry needs to reinvent itself in the way that we compensate people in a way that we pay, and the way that we provide benefits to be more competitive, Kong said, Right now were just not competing with the same industry for the talent but we're competing with other industries. Traditional hotel names like Best Western have also faced significant challenges from disruptions brought on by Airbnb (ABNB). Since 2018, U.S. travelers have spent more money on Airbnb rentals than hotel stays, according to Second Measure. Airbnbs recovery in the pandemic has outpaced that of hotel chains, with long-term stays fueling the gains as more consumers seek out new ways to work from home. While Kong has previously highlighted the inequities he sees in the services and safety offered by Airbnb stays compared to traditional hotels, the executive said he increasingly sees the two business models co-existing, with enough customer demand to fuel both sides. In the long run, I think we will each find our space. There are people that are reluctant to stay with Airbnb for a variety of reasons, and more comfortable with the amenities and the safety and security that hotels provide, Kong said. In the end, I think things will work out, but I welcome competition. I think the industry wants it, and it's a way for all of us to provide a better experience, and improve the guest experience. Akiko Fujita is an anchor and reporter for Yahoo Finance. Follow her on Twitter @AkikoFujita Follow Yahoo Finance on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Flipboard, LinkedIn, YouTube, and reddit Reuters A U.S. judge on Wednesday said former President Donald Trump cannot delay a lawsuit accusing him of defaming former Elle magazine columnist E. Jean Carroll after she claimed he raped her in the mid-1990s. In a one-sentence order, U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan in Manhattan refused to put the case on hold while Trump appeals an earlier ruling he made. The order could let Carroll obtain documents and other materials from Trump during the appeal. Secretary of State Antony Blinken testifies to the House Foreign Affairs committee (Webstream) US Secretary of State Antony Blinken was grilled by the House Foreign Affairs Committee on the Biden administrations withdrawal from Afghanistan, which saw tens of thousands of people evacuated from the country in short order as it fell to the Taliban at unexpected speed. The president and his aides have blamed the now-collapsed Afghan government and army for giving in to the Taliban as it marched across the country, but critics on both sides of the aisle accuse the administration of giving up on the Afghan people and Americans working on the ground there, as well as Afghan translators and workers who helped the US in its two-decade mission. They now face violent reprisal from the Taliban, which is already committing human rights abuses and radically curtailing womens freedoms in particular. The US this weekend marked the two-decade anniversary of 9/11, the event that precipitated the Afghan invasion and which Joe Biden set as his deadline for pulling all US troops out. Read more: By Saikat Chatterjee and Simon Jessop LONDON (Reuters) - Hedge fund Brevan Howard said on Monday that it was expanding its crypto business, the latest sign that institutional interest in the asset class is gaining momentum. Brevan, more famous for its bets on macroeconomic trends, has been among the most high-profile of major hedge funds moving into the world of crypto trading, known for its volatile markets and scope for outsize gains. The asset manager said it would launch a new unit, BH Digital, to manage cryptocurrency and digital assets. It said it would also hire Colleen Sullivan, currently CEO of the digital arm of trading firm CMT, to lead private and venture investments in crypto. Brevan's expansion comes on the back of other high-profile money managers venturing into this space in recent months. Hedge fund manager Paul Tudor Jones has invested in bitcoin while Man Group trades bitcoin futures. An annual report published by PriceWaterHouseCoopers, Alternative Investment Management Association and Elwood Asset Management found total assets under management of crypto hedge funds globally nearly doubled to $3.8 billion in 2020 from US$2 billion in the previous year. The rise in institutional interest comes as a wider range of cryptocurrencies become available while bitcoin and ethereum, the world's best known coins, are trading well below their record highs. "What was initially seen as something of a fad now appears to be becoming a more permanent structure of the financial landscape and this has started to see what were initially fringe financial instruments moving to become more mainstream and very much forcing the institutional interest we are now seeing," said Stuart Cole, head macroeconomist at London-based Equiti Capital. The rise in institutional interest has rippled over to the trading space. Eurex, Deutsche Boerse's derivatives exchange, launched bitcoin futures on Monday to feed on the growing interest. Story continues Coinbase, one of the largest cryptocurrency exchanges in the world, says institutional interest in trading cryptocurrencies has soared this year. In its second quarter letter to shareholders, Coinbase said turnover of cryptocurrencies hit a record $462 billion in the three months to June. Of this amount, $317 billion was traded by institutional investors and the rest by retail clients. This ratio has flipped from the first quarter of 2018 when retail investors accounted for the lion's share of cryptocurrency trading. While hedge funds and exchanges have scrambled to capture trading revenues, global banks have been relatively slow to latch on to the trend, with their wealth management clients largely pushing them to offer cryptocurrency trading. Citigroup Inc is considering offering bitcoin futures trading for some institutional clients while Standard Chartered has formed a newly minted research division for cryptocurrencies. Graphic: Big money comes into cryptocurrencies: https://graphics.reuters.com/CRYPTOCURRENCIES-VOLUME/gdpzyqybrvw/chart.png (Reporting by Simon Jessop and Saikat Chatterjee; Additional reporting by Huw Jones; Editing by Rachel Armstrong and Bernadette Baum) This content is not available due to your privacy preferences. Update your settings here to see it. After months of rumors, Coldplay confirmed that theyre releasing a collaboration with BTS. The single is titled My Universe, and it's set to be released on Sept. 24, ahead of Coldplays album, which is out on Oct. 15, a spokesperson for Coldplay confirmed to BuzzFeed News in a press release. The song will be in both English and Korean; the lyrics were written by Coldplay and BTS. The Twitter account for Coldplays new project Alien Radio FM also hinted at the single in a cryptic tweet on Monday. The account posted a video using Spheric, a fictional alphabet created by Coldplay. This content is not available due to your privacy preferences. Update your settings here to see it. Rumors began to swirl that the two bands would collaborate after Coldplays Chris Martin visited South Korea in April. South Korean media reported on rumors that he was there to collaborate with a Korean act, which led to many people guessing BTS. In an interview after his trip, Martin jokingly refused to talk about the rumor, which only fueled it more. This content is not available due to your privacy preferences. Update your settings here to see it. In August, BTS member Jin said on a livestream that they would be collaborating with an international artist whom he and Taehyung have been fans of since they were younger. He said he took a photo with this artist and showed the photo in the back of his phone, with the faces hidden. This content is not available due to your privacy preferences. Update your settings here to see it. Fans of BTS are excited for the single, and it will be a full-circle moment for the band, who have expressed they are big Coldplay fans, tweeting in 2014, I love you Coldplay. For the bands six-year anniversary, BTS tweeted a clip while listening to Fix You. This content is not available due to your privacy preferences. Update your settings here to see it. In February, BTS covered Fix You for MTV Unplugged. Coldplay called their performance beautiful in a tweet written in Korean. This content is not available due to your privacy preferences. Update your settings here to see it. In March, a German radio presenter took issue with BTS covering Coldplays Fix You and likened them to the coronavirus. The radio station, Bayern 3, later issued a statement apologizing for the comments. Fans especially loved that for every CD, cassette, and vinyl purchased from the Coldplay store, the band promised to plant and sustain a tree with One Tree Planted. In the last year, multiple insiders have substantially increased their holdings of TransAlta Corporation (TSE:TA) stock, indicating that insiders' optimism about the company's prospects has increased. While insider transactions are not the most important thing when it comes to long-term investing, logic dictates you should pay some attention to whether insiders are buying or selling shares. Check out our latest analysis for TransAlta The Last 12 Months Of Insider Transactions At TransAlta In the last twelve months, the biggest single purchase by an insider was when insider Dawn Farrell bought CA$1.3m worth of shares at a price of CA$10.71 per share. We do like to see buying, but this purchase was made at well below the current price of CA$12.69. Because it occurred at a lower valuation, it doesn't tell us much about whether insiders might find today's price attractive. Over the last year, we can see that insiders have bought 319.95k shares worth CA$3.4m. But insiders sold 156.55k shares worth CA$1.5m. In total, TransAlta insiders bought more than they sold over the last year. The chart below shows insider transactions (by companies and individuals) over the last year. If you click on the chart, you can see all the individual transactions, including the share price, individual, and the date! There are plenty of other companies that have insiders buying up shares. You probably do not want to miss this free list of growing companies that insiders are buying. Does TransAlta Boast High Insider Ownership? Many investors like to check how much of a company is owned by insiders. We usually like to see fairly high levels of insider ownership. TransAlta insiders own about CA$14m worth of shares. That equates to 0.4% of the company. While this is a strong but not outstanding level of insider ownership, it's enough to indicate some alignment between management and smaller shareholders. What Might The Insider Transactions At TransAlta Tell Us? Story continues It doesn't really mean much that no insider has traded TransAlta shares in the last quarter. But insiders have shown more of an appetite for the stock, over the last year. Overall we don't see anything to make us think TransAlta insiders are doubting the company, and they do own shares. Of course, the future is what matters most. So if you are interested in TransAlta, you should check out this free report on analyst forecasts for the company. If you would prefer to check out another company -- one with potentially superior financials -- then do not miss this free list of interesting companies, that have HIGH return on equity and low debt. For the purposes of this article, insiders are those individuals who report their transactions to the relevant regulatory body. We currently account for open market transactions and private dispositions, but not derivative transactions. This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. We provide commentary based on historical data and analyst forecasts only using an unbiased methodology and our articles are not intended to be financial advice. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. We aim to bring you long-term focused analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material. Simply Wall St has no position in any stocks mentioned. Have feedback on this article? Concerned about the content? Get in touch with us directly. Alternatively, email editorial-team (at) simplywallst.com. Davy Macias, 37, was intubated and dying of complications from covid-19 when doctors helped her give birth to her daughter. She would never see her baby. Her husband, Daniel Macias, 39, would only get a brief glimpse of their child because he, too, was hospitalized after contracting the virus. According to Davy's sister-in-law, Terri Serey, Daniel waited to name the baby girl because he believed he and his wife would walk out of the hospital alive to introduce the newborn to their four other children, the eldest age 7 and the youngest, 2. Subscribe to The Post Most newsletter for the most important and interesting stories from The Washington Post. But about a week after the baby was born, Davy died. Two weeks later, so did Daniel. Daniel "was well enough to send me a picture of the baby," Serey told The Washington Post. But "that was the last text I received from him." Related video: Children with COVID-19 fight for their lives in New Orleans ICU Davy and Daniel Macias, of Yucaipa, Calif., are among the 658,000 Americans to have died from covid-19 as the delta variant causes a resurgence of cases and health officials race to immunize a population divided on whether to take the shot. Davy Macias did not get vaccinated because she was pregnant, Serey said. It is unclear if Daniel was vaccinated. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has urged those who are pregnant to take the vaccine, as studies have found that the coronavirus vaccine does not heighten the risk of miscarriages. Rather, research shows that those who are pregnant face a higher risk of severe covid-19 symptoms, preterm births and "other adverse pregnancy outcomes" if they contract the virus, the CDC says. The deaths of Davy and Daniel Macias echo the story of Lydia and Lawrence Rodriguez, a Texas couple who last month died weeks apart from each other, leaving behind four children. Neither parent was vaccinated; before she died, Lydia Rodriguez asked her family to make sure her children received the vaccine. Story continues The Macias children, who are being cared for by Daniel's parents, have not quite grasped what has happened to their mother and father, Serey said. After Daniel died on Sept. 9, a counselor explained to the two eldest children, 7 and 5, that both of their parents were gone, Serey said. While the oldest child - Daniel and Davy's only son - understood the situation, his younger sister is "still looking for mommy," Serey said. All of the children, Serey has heard from the grandparents, "spend a lot of time at night looking for mom and dad." In June, Davy and Daniel celebrated 11 years of marriage. Davy was a registered nurse at the labor and delivery ward at Kaiser Permanente Fontana Medical Center, and Daniel was a teacher at Jehue Middle School in San Bernardino County. When asked what the couple enjoyed doing together, Serey had one answer: Their hobby was their kids. Because Davy often worked nights, she would spend time with her kids during the day, Serey said. Davy's TikTok account is almost entirely dedicated to chronicling life with her children. One video from last year shows her with her four kids, all of them dressed in shark costumes, dancing to Coolio's "Gangsta's Paradise." In early August, the entire family came down with covid-19, Serey said. While the children recovered relatively quickly, the symptoms only worsened for Davy, who went to the hospital for treatment. Less than a week later, Daniel followed. Davy was already intubated and had stopped directly communicating with her family by the time her newest daughter was born via Caesarean section on Aug. 18, Serey said. About three days after the baby was born, Daniel was intubated. The husband and wife were only a few rooms apart at the hospital. "He had no idea that she passed away," Serey said. As news circulated about the couple's deaths, Serey said strangers have reached out to her and her husband - Davy's brother, Vong - to ask whether they should take the vaccine. "They ask me questions about side effects," Serey said. "It's interesting, because people want somebody to give them the answer." Her answer? "I don't know anybody that's died from the vaccine, but I do know people who have died from covid." Serey said she does not know whether Davy had regrets about not taking the coronavirus vaccine, but she did get the impression that Davy didn't believe she'd get seriously ill. "I don't believe that she really thought it was going to get that bad." Related Content California's disappearing salmon Justices say Supreme Court split by philosophical - not partisan - differences, but timing works against them Saving the biggest name for last, Biden joins Newsom to campaign on eve of recall OPINION: Elders positions are typical right-wing mumbo jumbo that youd hear from Fox News, but of course, its all the more pernicious when it comes from a Black mouth The list of Negroes we dont need has grown one name longer with the addition of California governor hopeful Larry Elder. Hes been on the list for a long time hes been a conservative loudmouth radio host for decades, but when he was just ranting on the radio he didnt really matter. Now that Elder is a contender in the California governors race, it matters a lot. Its like the way Trumps disgusting politics meant nothing when he was a New York tabloid gadfly, but when he became a leader in the 2016 Republican presidential primary things got really real. So now its time to shine a little light on Larry Elder, a soldier for white supremacy. Elder is, like so many Republicans, espousing a heartless, anti-Black agenda that would be devastating for millions of Black people. That agenda relies on the notion that Black people are lazy and without character and that the poors biggest problem is help from the state. The reality is that Black poverty stems from generations of white supremacy, wage theft, a paucity of intergenerational transfers, a system that often blocks Black people from homeownership, mass incarceration, the destruction of unions, the failure to raise minimum wage, and more. But in outrage-loving right-wing radio and TV its easier and more seductive to say the coloreds are lazy and government gives them too much. None of this would work without generations of American heartlessness toward Black people. None of this would work if so many white people werent willing to blame Black problems on Black people. But generations of racist ideas prop up todays policies so you dont have to say the n-word; all you have to do is attack the safety net, and the right knows what youre really talking about. On the right, the safety net itself is the problem, as if government doesnt have a role to play in helping and defending the least powerful. Story continues Radio talk show host Larry Elder, center, poses for selfies with supporters during a campaign stop in Norwalk, Calif. Alexandra Datig, Elders former fiancee said Thursday, Aug. 19 that Elder once displayed a gun to her during a heated argument in 2015. Elder said he never brandished a gun at anyone. (AP Photo/Marcio Jose Sanchez, File) Elders vision of the future is a nightmarish picture of government completely abandoning poor people. He says he would eliminate minimum wage (leaving workers to be paid as little as possible), and public welfare (no help for the needy at all), and state-run health insurance (if you get sick and cant pay, too bad). That would lead to millions of people with absolutely no money and no way to help themselves if they get injured or ill, which could exacerbate their financial problems or end their lives. The only way you can push for these ideas is if you dont care about Black people. Elder also believes he should pick judges in the mold of Clarence Thomas, and end gun control, and he blames George Floyds death on Barack Obama because, Elder says, Obama should have encouraged Black people to comply. Floyd was complying and many others never had a chance to comply Breonna Taylor, Tamir Rice, Aiyanna Jones, Philando Castile but who needs facts when youre selling an ideas that are rooted in racist stereotypes? Elders positions are typical right-wing mumbo jumbo that youd hear from Fox Newss Sean Hannity or Tucker Carlson, but of course, its all the more pernicious when it comes from a Black mouth. When a Black person says these things it helps white people think its not racist to fight for removing the safety net because if a Black person is for it then how can it be racist? One problem with that equation is the notion that Black people cant be racist. Elder is a soldier for white supremacy. Hes providing cover for racists, using his skin to deflect charges that they are racist. Hes helping racists seem less racist as they push ideas that would be devastating to Black people and are built on lies about Black people. When people tell you that Black people cannot be racist, tell them that they are wrong. Black people like Larry Elder are the voice of racist ideas, they are helping racists do their work, and therefore they too are racist. A campaign sign for Larry Elder is posted on a fence in front a home as the Caldor Fire moves through the area on August 30, 2021 near South Lake Tahoe, California. (Photo by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images) For so many people being racist means saying or doing things that are based around racial bias but that puts white and Black microaggressions on an equal plane. When I talk about racism Im talking about white supremacy and the system that produces and perpetuates the systems that hold Black people back and make white skin into a privilege. White people dont need to be racist in order to benefit from white privilege and Black people can do things that aid white supremacy and the systems that are built around it. If Black people give material aid to white supremacy then they are performing racist actions. Larry Elder is one of those Blacks whose work is purposely and immensely beneficial to white supremacy. He is helping white supremacy thrive by giving comfort to racists and helping them place the blame for poverty on Black people rather than generations of systems and policies that have abandoned them. I would say that Larry Elder must be stopped, but in the wake of Trump we will see an increasingly insane group of people moving from right-wing media into politics. Only they can satisfy the rights growing appetite for more outrage, more crazy, more detached from reality pronouncements, and, of course, more hatred toward Black and brown people. Larry Elder is just one of a trend. I cant wait to see what else the Republicans drudge up from the bottom of their swamp. Toure, theGrio.com Toure is the host of the podcasts Toure Show and Democracyish and the podcast docuseries Who Was Prince? He is also the author of six books. Have you subscribed to theGrios Dear Culture podcast? Download our newest episodes now! TheGrio is now on Apple TV, Amazon Fire and Roku. Download theGrio.com today! The post California governor recall hopeful Larry Elder is a soldier for white supremacy appeared first on TheGrio. By Steve Scherer OTTAWA (Reuters) -Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Monday said if reelected he would ban people from protesting outside hospitals and accused his chief rival of supporting those who oppose COVID-19 vaccinations. Recent polls show Trudeau's ruling Liberals have recovered from early setbacks and could eke out another minority government in the snap Sept. 20 election he called to gain approval for how he handled the pandemic. Organizers of previous demonstrations against vaccine mandates promised to mobilize again across Canada on Monday and Trudeau said Conservative Party leader Erin O'Toole was "giving into his anti-vaccination fringe elements in his caucus". O'Toole is cool to the idea of mandates, saying he prefers use of rapid testing. The 48-year-old is trying to expand support by pushing more centrist policies. "(He says) 'The Conservative Party is a big tent under my leadership', meaning there is room in his Conservative Party for anti-vaxxers," Trudeau said. Trudeau said the Liberals would make it a criminal offence to block access to buildings that provide health care, including hospitals, abortion clinics, pharmacies and testing centers. Earlier in the day O'Toole stepped up his attacks on Trudeau, portraying him as a scandal-hit party goer obsessed with keeping power. O'Toole noted photos of a young Trudeau dressed in blackface had emerged during the 2019 election race. "Every Canadian has met a Justin Trudeau in their lives -- privileged, entitled and always looking out for number one ... he'll say anything to get elected, regardless of the damage it does to our country," he told a campaign event. Trudeau, 49, has been in power since November 2015. A Nanos Research rolling telephone poll of 1,200 people for CTV on Monday put the Liberals on 33.2% public support with the Conservatives on 30.2%. The poll is considered accurate to within 2.8 percentage points, 19 times out of 20. Such a result on election day would suggest another minority government for Trudeau. (Writing and additional reporting by David Ljunggren in Ottawa;Editing by Alistair Bell) Souris River Canoes job advert (WTIP) Owners of a Canadian-based canoe company uploaded a controversial job posting that called for non-vaccinated applicants only. Please DO NOT apply if you have taken any vaccines for COVID-19, the Souris River Canoess job posting said. We will only be considering unvaccinated individuals. The owners, who are married, were searching for two full-time roles and one part-time position. The positions were for six months, with the potential to renew. The posting sparked a backlash from customers on social media. Requiring staff to be unvaccinated for Covid-19 as a condition of employment is both irresponsible and reckless at this stage of the pandemic, customer Rob Prdn said on Facebook. The announcement also went viral on Twitter, which led to negative Google reviews. Owners Keith and Arlene Robinson doubled down in their response to critics. An email that was posted on Reddit said: We stand against government and corporate bullying of peoples right to health freedom using vaccine mandates and vaccine passports. They added: You have a right to your judgemental attitudes and opinions, just as we have a right to make our own business hiring decisions. Wojtek Dabrowski, a public relations professional, told the Financial Post that the job posting sent the wrong message to customers. Anytime you get in the way of that by throwing up something as off-putting, as offensive, and frankly to many people, as dangerous as asking only for unvaccinated people to come work at your store, youre getting in the way of what it means to run a successful business, Mr Dabrowski said. This job posting came as vaccine mandates are cropping up across Canada. Employers across various industries are telling employees to get vaccinated or find another job. Souris River Canoes did not respond to requests for comment from The Independent. The U.S. Capitol Police Board approved the agency's request to bring back temporary fencing around the Capitol building ahead of a planned right-wing rally slated for Sept. 18, officials said. Fencing was installed around the Capitol for months following the violent Jan. 6 riot, when a mob of supporters of former President Donald Trump and other participants breached the building's doors as Congress was certifying the 2020 election for President Joe Biden. Portions of the fence were removed in March, but the full blockade was fully removed in early July. Capitol Police Chief Tom Manger said the fence will be erected a "day or two" before the rally and come down "soon" after the event if "everything goes well." CAPITOL POLICE OFFICER WHO SHOT ASHLI BABBITT DURING JAN. 6 RIOT REVEALS IDENTITY This content is not available due to your privacy preferences. Update your settings here to see it. Manger provided a briefing to four congressional leaders on Monday, including House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, about security measures for the Sept. 18 rally. "Just briefing them about the demonstration that's scheduled for September 18, the intelligence information that we're aware of, and a little bit about our operational plan," Manger told reporters. The demonstration for Sept. 18 is organized by a group called Look Ahead America and led by former Trump campaign staffer Matt Braynard. The rally will begin at Union Square and aims to support jailed Jan. 6 rioters. As many as 300 to 500 people are expected to attend the event, according to multiple outlets. The group previously held a separate rally in July outside the D.C. Jail, where approximately 100 people congregated to support those who were jailed on Jan. 6. CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER Look Ahead America's webpage explicitly requests that attendees of the upcoming rally "not wear or bring political" clothing or accessories, including clothing or banners "supportive of President Trump or President Biden." Story continues Instead, the group is asking attendees to wear red, white, and blue and bring American flags to show support for the prisoners. Washington Examiner Videos Tags: News, U.S. Capitol Police, U.S. Capitol Building, January 6, Donald Trump Original Author: Kaelan Deese Original Location: Capitol fencing approved ahead of rally supporting those arrested at Jan. 6 riot A man who had painted swastikas on his truck was arrested in Washington DC (US Capitol Police) US Capitol Police have arrested a man was carrying a bayonet and machete in his pickup truck near the Democratic National Committee headquarters in Washington DC. The 44-year-old California man Donald Craighead had painted a swastika on he truck told police he was on patrol and began talking about white supremacist ideology, US Capitol police said. According to a police statement, an officer from the Special Operation Division noticed a Dodge Dakota pickup truck, with a swastika and other white supremacist symbols painted on it, outside DNC headquarters at around midnight on Sunday. The truck did not have a license plate, and had a picture of an American flag where the plate should have been. The officer pulled over the truck along the 500 block of South Capitol Street, and noticed several knives including a bayonet and machete in the truck. Both weapons are banned in Washington DC and Mr Craighead, of Oceanside, California was arrested for possession of prohibited weapons. Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie said Sunday that the new federal vaccine mandate President Joe Biden announced last week for large-scale employers is "contradictory" and will "harden opposition" against those not yet vaccinated against COVID-19. The Biden administration's measure could affect up to 80 million workers and is expected to be issued by the Department of Labors Occupational Safety and Health Administration within the coming weeks. Employers will be expected to ask all employees to either test weekly or be fully vaccinated against the virus or face fines of $14,000 per violation. This is going to harden opposition. Sometimes when you're a leader, you have to go in and use a sledgehammer. And I've been known to do that when I was governor. Sometimes it's appropriate, but this one was not the time to do it. We have to be persuasive, we have to continue to persuade, the Republican governor said during an appearance on ABCs This Week. Christie has been pushing in favor of the COVID-19 vaccine, participating in several public service campaigns promoting vaccine safety and efficacy. However, the conservative governor shares similar concerns as other GOP leaders in his party who have vehemently condemned Biden's vaccine mandate. CHRIS CHRISTIE CALLS ON GOP TO STOP 'PRETENDING WE WON' IN 2020 This content is not available due to your privacy preferences. Update your settings here to see it. Working for the government and ordering government workers to have to have a mandate there's one thing, extending that to two-thirds of all the jobs and making it either give vaccine or not, it's also contradictory logically, Christie said Sunday. Christie also raised questions concerning the Biden administration's assertions that every U.S. resident needs to be vaccinated to protect already-vaccinated individuals, noting that data suggests vaccinated people are more resistant to future illnesses. Because what they're telling us is, by all the data, that vaccinated people are very, very well-protected from anyone who's unvaccinated and who has it, yet they're saying to us, 'We have to do this to protect you.' Well, thats protecting the unvaccinated from the unvaccinated, he added. Story continues CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER The former New Jersey governor tested positive for COVID-19 in October and was hospitalized after attending debate preparation sessions when former President Donald Trump was still in office. Washington Examiner Videos Tags: News, Chris Christie, New Jersey, Vaccination, Coronavirus, OSHA Original Author: Kaelan Deese Original Location: Christie claims vaccine mandate is 'contradictory,' will 'harden opposition' Storyful A Coast Guard crew aboard an MH-65 Dolphin helicopter rescued three boaters and a dog found adrift in a life raft after their boat sank off the Oregon Coast on Sunday, September 12.According to the Coast Guard, staff received a distress signal at around 2pm from a fishing boat named Royal, eminating from about 45 miles off Lincoln City, Oregon. The helicopter crew later arrived in the area and found a debris field and life raft six miles from the last transmission location of a beacon onboard the ship.A rescue swimmer was deployed by free-fall and began recovering the survivors, the Coast Guard reported. The rescue swimmer assisted the individuals and dog with their safe hoist into the cabin of the helicopter. The last survivor was hoisted at 4:30 p.m.This footage, released by the Coast Guard, shows a rescue swimmer dropping into the water, and the crew members as well as the dog being hoisted into the helicopter. Credit: US Coast Guard via Storyful Cuban scientists said Monday there was no evidence for claims of US diplomats coming down with so-called "Havana Syndrome" on the island. The mysterious affliction is said to cause headaches, nausea and possible brain damage, and is speculated to be caused by electronic weapons possibly wielded by a US rival such as Russia. Several suspected cases have been reported among US officials and intelligence officers since 2016, first in Cuba, then in China, Germany, Australia, Taiwan and in Washington itself. But a panel convened by the government of Communist Cuba -- 16 experts in a variety of fields and affiliated to the Cuban Academy of Sciences -- said the claims were not "scientifically acceptable," and there was "no scientific evidence of attacks" of this nature on Cuban soil. "We conclude that the narrative of the 'mysterious syndrome' is not scientifically acceptable in any of its components," the panel said in a report published on Cubadebate, an official news site of the one-party state. In July, the New Yorker magazine reported there had been dozens of new "Havana Syndrome" cases among US officials in Vienna, Austria since the beginning of 2021. Last month, US Vice President Kamala Harris delayed a trip to Vietnam after the US embassy in Hanoi reported a possible case, raising concerns she could be a target. - 'No novel syndrome' - The Cuban expert report said some have accepted "as an axiom that attacks occurred in Havana." "However, after four years, no evidence of attacks has appeared," and "neither the Cuban police, nor the FBI, nor the Royal Canadian Mounted Police have discovered evidence of 'attacks' on diplomats in Havana despite intense investigations." The alleged incidents remain little understood and have sparked theories they were caused by a weapon that uses focused microwaves, ultrasound, poison or even a reaction to crickets. Story continues The Cuban experts said, "No known form of energy can selectively cause brain damage (with laser-like spatial accuracy) under the conditions described for the alleged incidents in Havana." They added most of the symptoms reported could be explained by disease, concluding: "There is no novel syndrome." The panel said it would review any new evidence. The syndrome has almost uniformly affected US officials, but in 2017, Canadian diplomats and their families in Havana reported several cases. Some people have reported hearing focused, high-pitched or sharp sounds that left them nauseated. Sometimes the afflicted had bloody noses, headaches or other symptoms resembling a concussion. The administration of former president Donald Trump pulled US staff out of Havana and expelled Cuban diplomats from Washington, hinting that either the Cuban or Russian government was behind the alleged attacks. Last year, a National Academy of Sciences study said one possible explanation could be pulsed, directed microwaves. The CIA has created a task force to study the problem. rd/ka/rsr/mlr/to WASHINGTON An abortion provider in Mississippi is urging the Supreme Court to remain faithful to its precedents in the most closely watched case in years that directly challenges the high courts landmark Roe v. Wade decision. Mississippi's sole remaining abortion clinic, Jackson Women's Health Organization, told the court in a key brief Monday that its reputation as the nations least political branch of government is at stake an argument clearly designed to appeal to Chief Justice John Roberts efforts to shield the court from charges of rank partisanship. "Unless the court is to be perceived as representing nothing more than the preferences of its current membership, it is critical that judicial protection hold firm absent the most dramatic and unexpected changes in law or fact," the clinic's attorneys told the justices. "If the court considers the state's new arguments, it should reject the invitation to jettison a half-century of settled precedent." The Supreme Court agreed in May to hear the challenge to Mississippi's ban on most abortions after 15 weeks of pregnancy, giving its six-member conservative majority a chance to undermine if not overrule the 1973 ruling in Roe that women have a constitutional right to abortion and a 1992 decision that permitted that right up until the point when a fetus can survive outside the womb, roughly 24 weeks. Mississippi Attorney General Lynn Fitch said that the brief offered "no solid arguments in defense of Roe" and renewed calls to overturn the watershed ruling. "For fifty years, abortion policy has been plagued by flawed legal rules that even some of the most ardent abortion supporters have refused to defend," Fitch said. Texas: Supreme Court declines to block Texas abortion ban at six weeks Biden: 'Clearly unconstitutional': Justice Department sues Texas to block abortion law More: Huge numbers of abortion cases heading to Supreme Court to test Roe v. Wade Story continues The Mississippi dispute is separate from the Texas emergency appeal that went up to the Supreme Court last week, resulting in an order that allowed the Lone Star States ban on most abortions after six weeks to remain in effect while lower courts consider underlying legal questions about that state law. The Texas decision dealt with a procedural question about enforcement while the Mississippi case involves fundamental questions about the constitutionality of abortion. Mississippi approved its prohibition in 2018, making it one of 16 states with pre-viability bans blocked by federal courts, according to the Guttmacher Institute, a research group that supports abortion rights. The law has no exception for rape or incest but allows abortions for medical emergencies and "severe fetal abnormality." The high court is expected to hand down a ruling in the Mississippi case early next summer. Anti-abortion advocates demonstrate at the Supreme Court in 2018. A 7-2 majority of the Supreme Court concluded in Roe that women have the right to an abortion during the first and second trimesters but that states could impose restrictions in the second trimester. Nearly two decades later, in Planned Parenthood v. Casey, the court reconsidered Roe, upheld the right to an abortion but tossed out the trimester framework. Instead, the court said women could have an abortion until viability. In the decades since then, many conservatives have been working to undermine those decisions through state laws and judicial appointments. President Donald Trump, who was able to confirm three justices to the high court during his four years in office, was able to woo many conservative voters in 2016 by promising to nominate jurists who would overturn Roe v. Wade. Mississippi attorneys laid out their case in a brief over the summer, explicitly asking the court to overturn its precedents. "Roe and Casey are egregiously wrong," lawyers for Mississippi told the court in July. "The conclusion that abortion is a constitutional right has no basis in text, structure, history, or tradition." Courts and especially the Supreme Court are hesitant to overturn past decisions because the principle of stare decisis, adherence to earlier decisions, gives stability and certainty to the law. It also gives the court the appearance of immunity from politics, or that it is responding to public pressure rather than a nonpartisan view of the law. Roberts, in particular, has appeared sensitive to maintaining the courts reputation as a nonpartisan institution. A protester criticizes the Texas abortion law at the Supreme Court on September 2, 2021. But Roberts, who joined the court in 2005, is no longer the swing justice a point underscored last week in the Texas abortion case. In that ruling, Roberts joined with the three liberal justices in asserting that the Texas six-week ban should have been halted temporarily while the complicated legal questions in the case were resolved by lower courts. The courts other five conservatives allowed the law to remain in effect. That ruling led to an outcry on the left, with President Joe Biden offering criticism not only of the Texas law but also of the court itself. Because the justices handled the matter on the so-called shadow docket, without oral argument or a lengthy opinion, it has renewed calls for increased transparency at the Supreme Court. Speaking over the weekend, Associate Justice Amy Coney Barrett, appeared to push back on that criticism, telling a group in Louisville that "my goal today is to convince you that this court is not comprised of a bunch of partisan hacks." Progressives countered that Barrett's point was undermined by the fact that she was introduced by Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell, who helped secure her confirmation. More: Justice Barrett argues Supreme Court isn't 'a bunch of partisan hacks' Barrett was speaking at an anniversary celebration of the opening of the McConnell Center at the University of Louisville. The center is nonpartisan. The Justice Department is suing Texas to block the enforcement of the Texas law. Rather than overturning Roe directly, the justices could take a more narrow approach in the Mississippi case and drop the viability threshold. But that would raise the same question that has vexed the justices for decades: Where to draw the line between a state's interest in protecting a fetus and a woman's right to reproductive autonomy. More than 92% of abortions in the U.S. in 2018 occurred in the first 13 weeks of pregnancy, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. A federal district court in Mississippi struck down the state ban in 2018 and the New Orleans-based U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit upheld that decision in 2019, finding that the law was "facially unconstitutional because it directly conflicts with" prior Supreme Court precedent. This is a decisive moment for the court and this country, said Nancy Northup, president and CEO of the Center for Reproductive Rights, which is representing the Mississippi clinic. If the court grants Mississippis request to overturn Roe, large swaths of the South and Midwest where abortion is already hard to access will eliminate abortion completely. This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Abortion clinic urges Supreme Court to save Roe amid Texas ban fallout Florida governor Ron DeSantis (AP) In the latest legal battle about the Covid-19 pandemic, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis says government agencies that will require vaccine mandates will be fined $5,000. He said the fine would be imposed if a government agency in the state of Florida forces a vaccine as a condition to employment that violates Florida law. The move comes in the wake of President Joe Bidens announcement about vaccine mandates last week. Mr Biden said employers with 100 or more workers will have to require vaccinations or get tested on a weekly basis. And health facility workers who received Medicare or Medicaid face the same decision, too. Contractors who work with the government will have to be fully vaccinated and not be able to opt out by testing. "The bottom line were going to protect vaccinated workers from unvaccinated coworkers," Mr Biden said in a White House speech. Not everyone was quick to embrace this new mandate, including Mr DeSantis. What are you gonna do, are you gonna pin down some 80-year-old nursing home resident and force them to take it? he asked. Last week, appeal courts reinstated Mr DeSantiss ban on mask mandates within schools, but the ruling is still pending. As a result, the state can withhold school board members salaries where districts are imposing mask mandates. No surprise here the 1st DCA has restored the right of parents to make the best decisions for their children. I will continue to fight for parents rights, Mr DeSantis said in a tweet. His threat to fine cities comes as Covid-19 hospitalisations and deaths are on the rise in Florida. A group of Black men in Chicago are bending over backward to create community with one another after a year and a half of isolation, grief and trauma. At least, thats the goal of The Healing, a new nonprofit where Black men can practice yoga together and then open up the floor to conversations about their struggles with mental health. Over the past 15 months, Black adults have experienced higher levels of depression and anxiety symptoms than white adults, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Last year in Chicago, Black people were 30% of the population and yet nearly 70% of the citys COVID-19 deaths. And in 2020, 97 Black Cook County residents died by suicide. The effect of a pandemic that suddenly changed the world; the fallout from the killings of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor and Ahmaud Arbery that spurred worldwide protests; the unexpected death of basketball legend Kobe Bryant, all urged The Healing co-founders Andrew Smith and Tristan Lewis into action. Lewis, 35, who works for a tech company and Smith, 32, who is a financial adviser, are relative newcomers to yoga. But both say they have long yearned for a space like The Healing to support them in the transitions in their lives. From what began as just low-key weekly outdoor workouts last spring, Smith and Lewis realized they needed a way to process the sudden changes surrounding them. Through forming The Healing after meeting in a group chat for Black professionals in the city, they became partners and close friends. When we first had our initial session, 20 guys showed up, and every guy was like, Yo, I didnt know I needed this, Lewis said. The Healing has hosted sessions in open outdoor spaces like football fields, and Smith and Lewis secure yoga teachers who look like the men who attend. Sessions are free, with mats included. When practice is over, its typical for attendees to congregate for up to 90 minutes letting it loose in a custom typically reserved for the barber shop. And once a month The Healing invites women to practice alongside the men. Smith called the practice transformative for the dozens of men who have attended since June 2020. Story continues I would also say I think all those factors really allow guys to open up and access the mental benefits and rewards that come through yoga, Lewis said. We were all carrying a lot; it was a heavy time. And I think that stillness and the quietness that yoga offered was the thing that I feel resonated with the guys the most. The Healing is by far not the only organization offering mental health resources, or even yoga, to Black Chicagoans. Real Men Charities hosts yoga practices aimed at Black men at their mens wellness circle at The Quarry in South Shore. Coffee, Hip-Hop & Mental Health is a full-service coffee shop that raises money for people of color to attend therapy and seeks to normalize conversations on mental health in those communities. These groups are part of a larger surge of initiatives to address mental health at a time where dual pandemics of racism and COVID-19 are contributing to a nationwide crisis. Only 4% of psychologists are Black, according to the latest data available from the American Psychological Association, while Black people consist of just over 13% of the U.S. population. So far The Healing has hosted Easter Sunday, Juneteenth and Fathers Day programs in partnership with other Black businesses, artists and organizations. And it has already ventured into philanthropy. Last winter it hosted a holiday drive for a South Side charter school. Now Lewis and Smith aim to expand The Healings wholistic vision beyond yoga. They want to provide mentorship to Chicago school kids and do some type of healing circle with these young men who have suffered a lot of trauma being from the South and West sides of the city, Smith said. Jazmine Price is a marriage and family therapist who has lent her services to The Healings community. Until last year, Price says she was the only Black therapist at the Downers Grove practice where she works. To her, The Healing is filling a gap in resources available due to the ongoing mental health crisis and shortage of Black therapists. I think its an opportunity for people to find themselves and find what works with them and for them, because Ill tell people, therapy is not the only way to get healing or to be our best selves, Price said. Mike Fair, a member of The Healing who has attended sessions from the onset, said the group helped him navigate one of the most difficult periods of his life after his father died of COVID-19 last spring. I was just searching for community, Fair said. I was searching for, truly, peace. I was experiencing a level of grief that I hadnt experienced up to that point in my life, but also with everything that was happening with the Black Lives Matter movement and civil rights, I was feeling a desperate need to rally around my people. Fair says hes gone to therapy since 2018, but sessions with The Healing allowed him to double down on his emotional growth and make it a priority. With outside yoga sessions, Fair says men get together to celebrate their wins, give advice and support one another. Price commends Lewis and Smith for stepping up to provide a space for Black men who are confronting their trauma. The reality is that theyre dealing with peoples lives, real lives. And theyre not running from it; theyre running toward them, Price said. Fostering a community that cares and rallying together to defeat the stigma of getting help is the purpose behind The Healing. Had Tristan and I had this idea much earlier, I think we would have gone further, faster, Smith said. (Bloomberg) -- The market panic set off by greenwashing allegations against Deutsche Bank AG investment arm DWS Group was excessive, with little to suggest regulators will be able to prove the firm did anything wrong, according to a report by analysts at Citigroup. We struggle to see how regulators can hold DWS to account, because sustainability requirements are subjective, making it hard to enforce, even if there was wrongdoing, a group of analysts at Citi led by Nicholas Herman said in a client note published on Monday. DWS should overcome this issue and its strong ESG focus should pay off over the medium term. DWSs share price has yet to recover from a selloff that hit late last month as the market learned of probes by German and U.S. regulators into claims it inflated its environmental, social and governance assets. The allegations, from DWSs former sustainability head, Desiree Fixler, have been vehemently rejected by the firm. But shareholders appear so far to have been unmoved by the denials. Meanwhile, investors have learned that one probe extends further into the upper echelons of Germanys financial elite than previously known. The countrys securities regulator Bafin has contacted DWS parent Deutsche Bank about the role played by the lenders president, Karl von Rohr. He also chairs DWSs supervisory board, and in that capacity signed off on the annual report thats now being investigated for alleged greenwashing. The DWS probes represent a milestone moment for the asset management industry as regulators show theyre ready to take an aggressive stance on inflated ESG claims. News of the investigations led fund managers across Europe to review their portfolios and marketing material to ensure theyre not vulnerable to similar probes, people familiar with the matter have said. But the DWS case also exposes a potential weakness in European rules that are intended to combat greenwashing, according to Bloomberg Intelligence. The Sustainable Finance Disclosure Regulation, enforced in March, still leaves a lot of room for interpretation and the industry wont get clarity until the middle of next year on how to approach some key definitions. Story continues The current timeline for clarifications, which represents a six-month delay compared with an original deadline, exposes [asset] managers to greater legal risk, we believe, said Bloomberg Intelligence analysts Sarah Jane Mahmud and Shaheen Contractor. Managers are operating in a vacuum as to how they should categorize their funds, the BI analysts wrote on Monday. Whats more, the delay suggests the new standards will be highly complex and compliance will take more time. Other jurisdictions are far behind Europe in formulating ESG regulations, creating even more uncertainty for the industry. The upshot, according to the Citi analysts, may be that asset managers adopt less ambitious ESG goals rather than face the risk of getting caught making green claims that might be difficult to substantiate once the rules are finalized. Should regulators in the U.S., for example, opt to take action against DWS, that could disincentivise other firms from providing ESG solutions and disclosures for fear of being caught by unclear regulations, the Citi analysts said. That would not be a desirable outcome, they said. Meanwhile, Citi noted robust asset flows at DWS in August, but said its too early to tell whether the probes have dented investor appetite for the asset managers ESG funds. (Updates with comments from BI, additionl comments from Citi and a chart) More stories like this are available on bloomberg.com Subscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source. 2021 Bloomberg L.P. A nurse prepares a shot of the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine in London. (Associated Press) Faced with a surge of Delta-variant COVID-19 cases, especially in areas with low vaccination rates, President Biden spoke and moved with great clarity of purpose in mandating vaccines for federal employees and contractors, and imposing a vaccination-or-testing requirement on employers with staffs of 100 or more. The nation is in near-crisis as we try to avoid a return to packed ICUs and closed businesses. The intransigence of the ill-informed or simply stubborn cannot be allowed to override the actions of those doing the right thing. We can mask and distance socially, but the best way to contain this very transmissible variant of the novel coronavirus which is feeling not so novel after more than a year and a half of death and disruption is for very large numbers of people to be vaccinated. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has given final approval to the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine for those 16 and older, meaning a high level of evidence has been shown for its safety and effectiveness. The its an experimental drug argument which was never really accurate has disappeared. The store is out of available excuses. FDA approval did actually convince a significant number of Americans, and also made businesses feel freer to impose their own mandates. But its not enough. According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 63% of Americans eligible for their shots have been fully vaccinated. That includes kids 12 to 15, who can be inoculated under emergency use authorization rules. The FDA is waiting for more information to give final approval for this group, as well as some kind of authorization for younger children. When those too young to be vaccinated are factored in, only slightly more than half of the country is shielded. The final FDA approval also removes the barrier to broad vaccine mandates. Under emergency use authorization, people in many circumstances have a right to refuse a pharmaceutical. With final approval, its time for the rules to toughen up. Story continues With a disease this contagious, and outcomes potentially so dire, vaccination is not a matter of personal preference. It is a public health imperative, a matter of protecting not just ourselves but also those around us who might have physical conditions that preclude vaccination or, because of severely compromised immune systems, might not get the same levels of protection from the shots. For that matter, it also protects the public at large by keeping emergency rooms and intensive care units from being so overwhelmed by serious cases among the unvaccinated that they must turn away patients with other urgent medical needs that require attention. The American public might not be used to the tougher President Biden who emerged late last week and announced, Many of us are frustrated with the nearly 80 million Americans who are still not vaccinated, even though the vaccine is safe, effective and free. We sure are. It was time for kindly Uncle Joe to stand down and for the president to be the brisk and businesslike national leader we need. Using the clout of federal funding and labor laws that protect the safety of workers, Biden instituted rules that could mean 100 million more people become vaccinated. Federal employees and contractors will have about 75 days to become fully vaccinated, and the effect should be noticeable quickly and perhaps dramatically. The test-or-vaccinate rule for private employers is expected to take a little longer to go into effect and may not work out quite that perfectly, at least not at the beginning. Expect a certain amount of vaccine-certification forgery to take place. And the U.S. Labor Department is already shorthanded and lacks the workforce to check on all those companies. But, especially in places where backward governors have made it hard to mandate real protections against COVID-19, this order provides cover for employers who want their employees vaccinated but feel their states would make trouble for them or that workers would rebel. Over time, employees who would rather get tested than vaccinated may prefer two jabs in the arm over endless weekly swabs up into the nostrils. Employers who dont want to pay for the tests might go for simple vaccine mandates of their own or push the expense of testing onto employees, who might find free vaccination a happier alternative. While Biden was laying down the law on vaccination last week, the Los Angeles Unified School District was making its own bold move becoming the first large school district in the nation to mandate that students be vaccinated. Theres already a requirement for staff. As much as wed like to see every eligible student get vaccinated, in this case L.A. Unified took things a little too far. It is requiring the shots not just for students 16 and older, for whom theres full FDA approval, but also for those 12 to 15 years old, who are allowed and encouraged to be vaccinated but only under emergency use authorization. They should retain the right to refuse the jab; theyre not employees who sign on to work with a business that requires vaccination but students in a compulsory education system. The FDA specifically left the younger age group out of its full approval while awaiting more data. The district should wait, too, while continuing to urge vaccination for younger adolescents. A better plan: Adopt a policy that requires vaccination of any students covered by full FDA approval as soon as that approval occurs. It is almost certain to happen for younger and younger kids in coming months. Who knows? Maybe one day we can even ditch the masks. This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times. (Bloomberg) -- Europes energy crunch is deepening, with gas and power prices hitting fresh records after the U.S. warned the continent isnt doing enough to prepare for what could be potentially a dire winter. With about a month to go before the start of the heating season, Europe doesnt have enough natural gas in storage sites and isnt building inventories fast enough either. Amos Hochstein, the U.S. State Departments envoy for energy security, said on Friday he was worried about supplies this winter. Energy demand is rebounding across the world as economies reopen and people return to the office, while traders are scrambling to create a buffer to avoid a supply shortage they saw last winter. Gas stockpiles in Europe are already at the lowest level in more than a decade for this time of year, pushing up the cost of producing electricity. The rally in European energy prices is just a taste of whats to come for other commodities, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. said in a report. European energy pricing dynamics offer a glimpse of what is in store for other commodity markets, with widening deficits and depleting inventories leading to elevated price volatility, said Goldman analysts including Jeff Currie. For European gas, demand destruction is the only option to rebalance markets, they said. Europe is struggling to boost supplies, with flows from No. 2 supplier Norway currently limited due to maintenance. Top seller Russia is coming off an extended period of inexplicably low supply at a time when U.S. deliveries of liquefied natural gas cant be increased further, Hochstein said. I worry because I dont think we should ever be in a position knowing that if its a cold winter, theres not enough supply, he told reporters during a visit to Warsaw. Benchmark European gas futures traded in the Netherlands exceeded 60 euros a megawatt-hour, climbing as much as 7.7% to a new record. The U.K. contract for next-month surged as much as 7.1% to 155.89 pence a therm. Story continues Concerns are also mounting on a timely start-up of the Nord Stream 2 pipeline from Russia, as the German Federal Network Agency said Monday it has four months to complete the certification process. European gas prices have climbed to levels similar to those in Asia, making it a more attractive destination for LNG shipments. However, the U.S. hurricane season isnt over, casting concerns over the countrys exports as Tropical Storm Nicholas forms in the southern Gulf of Mexico, potentially disrupting production. Tropical Storm Nicholas Threatens Flooding Rain Across Texas The North American gas producers and the traders are already trying to line up as much capacity and gas volumes as possible in case there is a bitter winter, Ogan Kose, a managing director and global lead for Integrated Gas at Accenture, said in an interview. Even in a very bad winter scenario, the most likely scenario would be significantly increased gas supply prices to Europe. Soaring gas prices are fueling a rally in electricity. German power futures for next year, a benchmark for Europe, surged to a record 100.10 euros a megawatt-hour, while the equivalent French contract reached an all-time high of 104 euros on the European Energy Exchange. Italys power prices are set to increase by 40% in the third quarter, after rising 20% in the second, because of higher gas and carbon prices, Ecological Transition Minister Roberto Cingolani said Monday in an Ansa newswire report. Low Wind Short-term electricity prices are also gaining, with low wind power across most of Europe boosting costs. A bigger need for more expensive fossil-fueled plants to meet demand has lifted the German day-ahead contract to the highest since 2007 and the U.K. equivalent surged to a record 400.01 pounds ($553) a megawatt-hour. Low wind speeds, its just like we are not receiving enough renewable production in the U.K., Kose said. The expected case would be that renewable production would contribute up to 18-20% of overall electricity generation, this is not happening at least nowadays. Higher energy prices risk acceleration inflation and hurting industrial production thats just recovering after the pandemic. If supply were to disappoint further and winter weather turns out colder than normal, European gas and power prices may have to rise further to ration demand and thus curb energy-intensive industrial production, Goldman said. More stories like this are available on bloomberg.com Subscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source. 2021 Bloomberg L.P. Just a few months ago, there were only five COVID-19 patients, at Saint Alphonsus Regional Medical Center in Boise, Idaho. As of Thursday, there were more than 45. Nearly all of these patients are not vaccinated, a reflection of "the amount of misinformation that's being absorbed, and taken as truth in our community because people are convinced that they don't want to be vaccinated, and then they end up here," Dr. Meghan McInerney, the intensive care unit's medical director, told ABC News. Given the influx of patients, beds do not stay empty long. "We are overwhelmed. We have so many patients with COVID, who are unvaccinated," said McInerney. "On top of an already busy ICU, you add the volume of COVID patients that we're seeing now and yes, it's just added a different level of busy, a different level of crazy. ... It's a lot. It's a lot." Hospitals across the state of Idaho are now facing their most significant surge yet, as COVID-19 patients flood into emergency departments. Statewide, more than 600 patients are now hospitalized with the virus, the highest on record, and less than 13% of the state's ICU beds remain available. PHOTO: ABC News' Kaylee Hartung speaks with hospitalist, Dr. Carolyn McFarlane, and COVID-19 charge nurse, Alicia Luciani, at Saint Alphonsus Regional Medical Center in Boise, Idaho. (ABC News) Earlier this week, in an effort to address the ongoing surge, state health officials in Idaho announced that they had activated a "crisis standards of care" for the state's northern hospitals, which will allow hospitals to ration care given the increased demand and a "severe staffing shortage." The rapidly spreading delta variant has rendered the job of these front-line workers even more difficult, McInerney explained. Idaho currently has one of the lowest vaccination rates in the U.S., with less than 40% of the state's total population fully vaccinated; the national rate stands at 53.6%. "It's really hard to be a physician at the front lines, doing this every single day and living in a state where the vaccination rate is so low," McInerney said. Story continues MORE: 'World is on fire': Kentucky health care workers exhausted amidst latest COVID-19 surge In fact, all of the patients who are critically ill from COVID-19 and currently under care in Saint Alphonsus Boise have not been vaccinated, ICU nurse Jessica Parrott told ABC News, while "the people who are not getting critically ill, are the people who have the vaccine," she added. The virus is also landing much younger people in the ICU, some of whom are in their early 20s. This particular wave of infections feels more "aggressive," than those treated during the surge in 2020, said Dr. Carolyn McFarlane, a hospitalist at Saint Alphonsus Boise. "The deaths within our system in the past 24 hours are a 30-year-old and another in their 50s. It feels preventable," McFarlane said. PHOTO: ABC News' Kaylee Hartung speaks with Saint Alphonsus Regional Medical Center's ICU Medical Director, Dr. Meghan McInerney, in Boise, Idaho. (ABC News) Staff are completely overworked and overwhelmed, McInerney said, and teams are facing a staffing crisis. Nurses are being increasingly asked to pick up extra shifts due to the influx of patients coming from all over Idaho, and even from outside the state. "We don't have the hands that we need to take care of everyone. And it is incredibly frustrating for all of those involved on every level, between [administration] down to environmental services," said Alicia Luciani, a COVID-19 charge nurse at Saint Alphonsus Boise. "It's affecting everyone and affecting how our patients are getting care. And we do our utmost to provide all that we can for these patients." However, she added, "It's incredibly frustrating. Everyone is so tired." In addition to the physical and emotional exhaustion from working shifts that feel like a "silent battleground," medical staffers at Saint Alphonsus said they are disheartened by the continued unwillingness of some Idaho residents to get the vaccine. MORE: COVID patients overwhelm Texas hospitals, amid 'hair on fire' crisis Although a number of patients do express regret that they have not received or sought out a vaccination, some even apologizing for it, according to nurse educator Monica Brower, others remain contentious, even after being on a ventilator and confronting the stark reality of their mortality. "Don't tell me I have COVID. I don't believe in COVID," patients have told McFarlane, who teared up as she recounted combative patients. "There is an almost adversarial tone to things when we ask, 'Did you get vaccinated?'" McFarlane said. "It creates a rift in the tone of the room, because it's a feeling of 'well you're going to treat me differently because I didn't get vaccinated,' and that is far from the truth." PHOTO: Medical professionals pronate a 39-year old unvaccinated COVID-19 patient in the Medical Intensive care unit (MICU) at St. Luke's Boise Medical Center in Boise, Idaho, Aug. 31, 2021. (Kyle Green/AP) In fact, said McFarlane, "It almost gets to a point where you read the tone in the room and you shy away from even asking about vaccination status, because you want to be able to focus on saving the person's life, not going into the politics behind the vaccine." As more unvaccinated patients fill hospital beds, Luciani said it has become "really hard to maintain a level of hope." "They stick to their guns," Luciani explained, and even on their death bed she's had to listen to people deny that they have the virus, while maintaining their fervent anti-vaccine sentiment. "In my mind, that life is essentially over as we know it. ... Some people just refuse. And it's kind of like a slap in the face." MORE: Front-line workers in Nevada say they are 'reliving 2020' as new infections surge to highest point in 5 months "They don't get to see how hard we're working to try to keep them alive. ... This is the real deal. This is what it looks like," McInerney said. When asked what keeps them going, McFarlane's answer resonates. "We are taking care of our communities, family members, people that are acquaintances, neighbors. ... We will do everything we can to care for them, because we care, because we have taken an oath, and it's the time for us to rise to the occasion. And we are here for our community." Even on their death beds, some COVID-19 patients in Idaho still reject vaccination originally appeared on abcnews.go.com Reuters A 504-pound alligator believed to have killed a 71-year-old Louisiana man in Hurricane Ida floodwaters has been captured with what appears to be human remains in its stomach, the St. Tammany Parish Sheriff's Office said. The 12-foot alligator's capture ended a two-week search by local and state agencies for Timothy Satterlee Sr, who had last been seen on Aug. 30 checking the storm damage outside his home in Slidell, about 35 miles (55 km) northeast of New Orleans. The attack occurred the day after Ida, one of the most powerful hurricanes ever to strike the U.S. Gulf Coast, slammed Louisiana, causing devastating flooding in some areas outside a new levee and floodgate system protecting New Orleans. Lee County Sheriff Carmine Marceno during a press conference on Friday (Lee County Sheriffs Office) Two students at a middle school in Lee County, Florida, have been arrested and charged with an alleged shooting plot inspired by the 1999 Columbine attack on a school in Colorado. Authorities said the 14-year-old and 13-year-old boys, from Harns Marsh Middle School, were arrested and charged on Friday with conspiracy to commit a mass shooting. They are being held in a juvenile detention centre, and have not been named for legal reasons. Lee County Sheriff Carmine Marceno said investigators believed the boys had planned an attack on the school involving pipe bombs, and had produced a map marked with CCTV cameras. More follows... Sep. 13More than 13 tons of garbage were removed from French Creek while hundreds of new trees were planted within its watershed during the 29th annual French Creek Cleanup on Saturday. While the amount collected varies from year to year, it usually falls within a range of 25,000 to 30,000 pounds, or 12.5 to 15 tons, according to Brenda Costa, executive director of the French Creek Valley Conservancy. The conservancy coordinates the cleanup each year in early September with the help of hundreds of volunteers and sponsors. This year, more than 800 volunteers from 51 groups helped either with collecting 26,375 pounds of trash or with planting 350 trees as part of land stewardship projects within the watershed, according to Costa. This year's event also marked the second year of land stewardship projects within the watershed. Volunteers planted 250 trees at Mammoth Run, an 86-acre site owned by the conservancy on the east side of Conneaut Lake, plus did general cleanup. Volunteers also planted 100 trees on Cussewago Meanders, a 191-acre property the conservancy has in Vernon Township along Cussewago Creek, a major tributary of French Creek. In addition, Costa said volunteers did trail maintenance at Lew's Land, a 48-acre property in Vernon Township off Route 322 near Interstate 79, and at Brock's Lookout, a 7.5-acre property in Woodcock Township along French Creek off Route 19 and Morris Road. All of those properties are among the more than 3,000 acres the conservancy owns and protects within the French Creek watershed. The watershed goes from Sherman in southwestern New York state south into Pennsylvania through Erie, Crawford, Mercer and Venango counties before French Creek joins the Allegheny River at Franklin. Costa called this year's volunteer effort a great success thanks to a perfect day weather-wise. "It was in line with what we expected," she said of volunteers gathering a total of 26,375 pounds of assorted garbage and discarded junk from within the watershed. In 2020, the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic, more than 525 volunteers in 44 groups were able to collect 23,950 pounds. Story continues There were a number of interesting items found during the cleanup including a giant stuffed rabbit found by members of Meadville Medical Center's team. It was deemed the most unusual item found, Costa said. Other notable items included a statue of Buddha and pair of shoes that looked like giant sandals, but were actually spiked screeding shoes, Costa said. Screeding shoes are worn when flattening out poured concrete or flooring mortar prior to finishing the surface. The traveling Hellbender Trophy, which annually goes to corporate-sponsored teams, will go to Acutec Precision Aerospace Inc. for collecting 5,780 pounds, Costa said. A formal presentation to the company will be made in the coming weeks. Meadville Bulldog Hockey had the most participants for a civic group with 21 who helped unload garbage at the weigh-in held at Voodoo Brewing Co.'s Compound on Bessemer Street. Participants in this year's cleanup were treated to a picnic and live music at Voodoo as a reward for their efforts. Allegheny College and Seton School will split a $1,000 prize for science education from the Peter Yeager Foundation, Costa said. The 30th annual French Creek Cleanup already is scheduled for Sept. 10, 2022. Keith Gushard can be reached at (814) 724-6370 or by email at kgushard@meadvilletribune.com. Famous for its palaces that once housed Prussian kings, the German city of Potsdam on the outskirts of Berlin has also become the arena for a battle for Angela Merkel's crown in the run-up to September's election. Two of the leading candidates in the race to replace Merkel -- Annalena Baerbock of the Greens and Olaf Scholz of the centre-left Social Democrats (SPD) -- are running in constituency 61, which includes Potsdam. The battle marks the first time in German history that two chancellor candidates have gone head-to-head in the same constituency -- a far cry from the "safe seat" route often favoured by past political heavyweights. As seats in the German parliament are filled through a combination of direct mandates and party lists, Scholz and Baerbock could still become MPs even if they lose in Potsdam -- but winning a direct mandate would be the icing on the cake. "Constituency kings and queens have a special legitimacy in the Bundestag," Karl-Rudolf Korte, a professor of politics at the University of Duisburg-Essen, told AFP. "Both candidates have their place secured via the list. Nevertheless, the competition is more than just symbolic." While Potsdam is the capital of former East German state Brandenburg, it is more affluent than many other ex-communist cities, with lush gardens and lakes making it a popular bolthole for wealthy Berlin commuters. The city also has a celebrity quality as it is home to the Babelsberg film studios, as well as many prominent politicians, from the far-right AfD's co-leader Alexander Gauland to the liberal FDP's former secretary general Linda Teuteberg. - 'New beginning' - Scholz only moved to Potsdam from Hamburg in 2018, when he joined Merkel's cabinet as finance minister. But surveys show him currently leading the race in the constituency, which also fell to his SPD party in Germany's last election in 2017 -- the only constituency in the former East Germany to do so outside Berlin. Story continues "Being a member of the Bundestag is the highest office one can be elected to in German democracy, and for me it means a very direct route to the public," Scholz told AFP during a visit to a vocational training centre on the outskirts of the city. "After many years in the state government of Hamburg, this is a new beginning -- and I live here. I am looking forward to being the representative of the citizens of this constituency," he said. Baerbock, meanwhile, has lived in Potsdam with her family for the last ten years, also running unsuccessfully for a direct mandate there in 2013 and 2017. "In some ways, Potsdam is a mirror of Germany in miniature," she told a few hundred punters at a rally. "With all the opportunities we have here, where you can see that this is a city worth living in... And on the other hand, it is clear where we can really do things better in the future," she said. - Price of potatoes - In the picturesque Dutch quarter, placards showing the two would-be chancellors were pinned high on lampposts near the daily market selling clothes, groceries and traditional Bratwurst sausages. "Scholz is a customer of ours. He comes here to shop at the market himself," said Annelie Cierzynski, 69, a pensioner helping out at a friend's fruit and vegetable stall. "I find it funny when people talk about him not knowing what a litre of petrol costs. He knows what carrots and potatoes cost, so that's fine by me." Scholz was caught out on the campaign trail in June for not knowing the price of petrol -- an oversight that left him open to accusations of being out of touch with the electorate. Baerbock has also suffered some bumps on the campaign trail, being accused of plagiarism and embellishing her CV. But that doesn't bother Dorothea Gunkel, a 50-year-old nurse who lives in a village outside Potsdam. "I think climate protection is very important and that's why I'm leaning more towards Baerbock," she said. One thing everyone can agree on is that the competition has raised the profile of Potsdam. "This is definitely the most exciting constituency in Germany," said Anna Emmendoerffer, a 25-year-old candidate for the Greens. fec/hmn/har/wdb By David Latona (Reuters) - As the main contenders in the race to succeed Angela Merkel as Germany's next chancellor faced off in a televised debate on Sunday night, their political parties deployed social media teams in a parallel battle online. None of them, though, could match the impact of cyber-savvy activists holding them to account. While conservative Armin Laschet, Social Democrat Olaf Scholz and the Greens candidate Annalena Baerbock traded barbs in the studio, strategists and professional campaign staffers took to Twitter to attack, defend and fact-check each other, hoping to make their hashtags trend and talking points stick. Yet Luisa Neubauer, a 25-year-old organiser in the student climate movement Fridays for Future trumped the campaigners' efforts to go viral with her question https://twitter.com/Luisamneubauer/status/1437134409279361026: "And what exactly has prevented the grand coalition at any point in the last eight years from credibly giving the impression that they had an interest in ending the climate crisis?" Neubauer was referring to a coalition government of Merkel's Christian Democrats (CDU) and Scholz's Social Democrats (SPD) that has run Europe's largest economy for the past eight years. By Monday, her tweeted question had garnered some 8,500 likes and over 850 retweets. With climate change an issue that resonates the most with young voters, other activists were also getting the attention. For example, Jakob Blasel, 20, a Greens candidate, got nearly 4,000 heart-shaped reactions after tweeting https://twitter.com/jakobblasel/status/1437137533507457024: "Are you also as shocked as I am by how quickly the existential threat to our livelihoods was simply shrugged off?" While some individual politicians' posts scored better, parties' official accounts fell far short of such metrics. One of the most successful tweets of the night from CDU's official account was a short video https://twitter.com/CDU/status/1437136208069632011 showing Scholz, who is also finance minister in the coalition government, denying his ministry had been targeted in an anti-money-laundering raid combined with news headlines contradicting him. That video, tagged "Aha", got fewer than 280 likes. Story continues For the SPD, which leads the conservatives and Greens in polls ahead of the Sept. 26 election, most tweets from its official account averaged fewer than a hundred likes. The coronavirus pandemic has boosted online activity, including election campaigning, but political scientists say the impact of social media on voting preferences remains a relatively poorly understood phenomenon in Germany. Political consultant and social media expert Martin Fuchs says the flurries of tweets with party talking points during televised debates primarily target journalists, who are then expected to pick them up in their coverage. This way, voters who are not active online can be still be reached via traditional media. "Twitter remains a niche medium in Germany," Fuchs told Reuters, saying most active users are in the media and political bubbles. While the understanding of digital culture has grown considerably over the past two years, many aspects remain "very amateurish," Fuchs said. "And interestingly enough, more physical campaign posters have been put up this year than ever before." (Reporting by David Latona in Gdansk; Editing by Paul Carrel and Tomasz Janowski) Representative Joe Wilson (R., S.C.) called on Secretary of State Antony Blinken to resign on Monday during a hearing of the House Foreign Affairs Committee over his role in the botched U.S. military withdrawal from Afghanistan. While Blinken testified before the committee, Wilson blasted the Biden administration for allowing the Taliban to take control of Afghanistan and turn it into a safe haven for murderous terrorists. The South Carolina Republican also criticized the administrations handling of the crisis at the U.S.-Mexico border, saying that it allows people on the FBIs terrorist watchlist to enter American neighborhoods as lone wolf suicide bombers to murder as many Americans as possible. In American history, American families have never been at a greater risk of attack at home than today, Wilson said. The global war on terrorism is not over, it has been moved from abroad to American homes. As the grateful father of an Afghanistan veteran, I especially see your actions as indefensible. He told Blinken that the administrations bizarre abandoning of Bagram Airfield on July 1 led directly to 13 Marines murdered at Kabul in an attack by a suicide bomber affiliated with ISIS-K outside of the airport on August 26. You should resign, Wilson told Blinken. Lawmakers on both sides of the aisle have criticized the administration for mishandling the withdrawal. Biden chose to withdraw American forces at the height of fighting season amid a gathering Taliban offensive. The U.S. military left Bagram Airfield without informing its new Afghan commander and before extracting all U.S. civilians and Afghan special immigrant visa applicants, allowing it to be taken by the Taliban on August 15. Additionally, Afghan forces were left without any substitute for U.S. air support or the American contractors who serviced the planes they were left by the U.S. Still, Blinken dodged Wilsons call to resign, instead opting to thank the congressman for his support for the men and woman of the State Department at the beginning of his statement. Story continues I appreciated that part of his statement, Blinken said of Wilsons appreciation for the U.S. Foreign Service diplomats that serve under the State Department around the world. Thank you. More from National Review Chief Justice NV Ramana, centre, poses with all the female judges of India's Supreme Court The recent appointments of three female judges to the top court, and reports that one of them - Justice BV Nagarathna - could one day become India's first female chief justice, is being hailed as a "historic moment". The three women - Justice Hima Kohli, Justice Bela M Trivedi and Justice BV Nagarathna - were sworn in on 1 September. A photograph of Chief Justice NV Ramana with his female colleagues - the three new appointees and Justice Indira Banerjee who has been in the top court since 2018 - was widely shared on social media and made it to the front pages of newspapers. Law Minister Kiren Rijiju called it a "historic moment for gender representation"; India's ambassador to the US said it was "a proud moment"; and many others tweeted congratulatory messages to the new justices on their "momentous day". The appointments are no doubt welcome, as they narrow the gender gap in India's top court. But critics say celebrations are premature until the skewed gender balance across India's judiciary - which a retired female judge recently described as "an old boy's club" - is fixed. Senior lawyer Sneha Kalita said the excitement over the potential first female chief justice was particularly misplaced. Even if all were to go to plan, Justice Nagarathna's turn to head the top court would come in 2027, about a month before she is due to retire. "Having a woman as the chief justice will be a matter of celebration, but this appointment is just symbolic and won't have any impact," Ms Kalita said. "When a new chief justice takes over, they need time to settle down," she said. "The first two months are generally spent on administrative work. What will she do in a month? She'll be the chief justice in name only." A retired female judge recently described India's judiciary as "an old boy's club" Ms Kalita is a member of an association of women advocates who have filed a petition in the Supreme Court demanding fair representation of women in courts. Story continues From 1950, when the Supreme Court was established, it took 39 years for Justice Fathima Beevi to be appointed the country's first female Supreme Court judge in 1989. "I opened a closed door," she told news website Scroll in 2018. But hurdles remain - of the 256 Supreme Court judges appointed in the past 71 years, only 11 (or 4.2%) have been women. The present 34-member Supreme Court has four women - the most ever. The 25 high courts in the states have 81 women among 677 judges - five of them do not have a single female judge. "The representation of women in higher judiciary is almost abysmal," Ms Kalita said. "We represent half the Indian population, then why don't we have half the seats in the judiciary too?" She said that if the collegium - which appoints judges - can't find enough qualified judges in district courts, then it should pick from the Supreme Court bar where "there are plenty of very good female lawyers". There was outrage when former chief justice of India Ranjan Gogoi was given a clean chit in a sexual harassment case Legal experts and judges, including Chief Justice Ramana, have recently called for more women judges. "After 75 years of independence, one would expect at least 50% representation for women in the judiciary at all levels. But with great difficulty, we have now achieved a mere 11% representation of women in the Supreme Court," Justice Ramana said earlier this month. "The issue must be highlighted and deliberated upon," he said. In the UK, 32% of court judges are women and in the US 34% of state judges are women. The International Court of Justice has three women on its bench of 15 - 20% of the total. In December, India's top legal official, Attorney General KK Venugopal, told the Supreme Court that more female judges must be appointed for "a more balanced and empathetic approach in cases involving sexual violence". Mr Venugopal's advice came after a male judge of a high court ordered a man accused of harassing a woman to visit her home with sweets and apologise to her. Female lawyers have repeatedly challenged such orders where judges have indulged in victim shaming or suggested a compromise in a rape case. Gender experts point out that having more women judges would not necessarily put an end to misogyny in court. "Women judges don't always root for their gender," Namita Bhandare, gender editor for news website Article 14, recently wrote in The Hindustan Times. "It was a female judge who cleared a 39-year-old man of sexual assault of a child because there was no skin-to-skin contact. And former Chief justice of India Ranjan Gogoi was cleared in a sexual harassment case by a three-member committee of peers that included two women". But, Ms Bhandare argued, the judiciary cannot remain the preserve of "upper class, dominant caste, majority religion men" and the doors must be opened to make space for "the multitude of voices that make our democracy vibrant". And while "all women may not necessarily make better judges", said Ms Kalita, more should be encouraged to join the legal profession. "If we're looking for a liberated nation, we must have gender parity in judiciary," she said. "More women judges in top courts will inspire more women to join law, and a society greatly benefits when there is gender parity on the bench." Axios U.S.-bound flights carrying Afghans will remain grounded for another week after four cases of measles were diagnosed among recent arrivals.Why it matters: The process of evacuating and resettling Afghans following the U.S. withdrawal from the country is hitting another roadblock. Get market news worthy of your time with Axios Markets. Subscribe for free.Flights were initially halted on Friday. The White House said that further transfer flights will be delayed until at least Monday. Meanwhile, he By Agustinus Beo Da Costa and Fathin Ungku JAKARTA (Reuters) -Indonesia has eased its COVID-19 restrictions on the popular tourist island of Bali, although international travellers will face stricter protocols on arrival to help curb the spread of new variants, a senior minister said on Monday. Tourist spots in most parts of the island will now accept visitors, maritime and investment minister Luhut Panjaitan told a virtual conference, as long as they adhere to strict protocols, such as proving their vaccination status on a government-verified phone app. "The rapidly improving COVID-19 situation in Java and Bali has caused the PPKM level to decline faster than we expected," Panjaitan told the conference, referring to Indonesia's system of social mobility restrictions. The level of social mobility restrictions in Bali will be evaluated weekly. International visitors, however, must undergo an eight-day quarantine and take three PCR tests before they enter the island. "Firm action" would be taken against those who flout the restrictions, Panjaitan said, but he did not say what those penalties would include. Later at the conference, Indonesia's health minister, Budi Gunadi Sadikin, said that borders to the country would be tightened. "The government has decided to strengthen the country's entry points, by equipping and tightening the quarantine process at sea, land and air," Sadikin said, adding that Indonesia would strengthen the use of genome sequencing to quickly identify new variants of the coronavirus. Plans to reopen Bali to foreign tourists earlier this year were scrapped when the country was overwhelmed by a devastating second wave driven by the highly infectious Delta variant, first identified in India. Indonesia has suffered from one of the worst outbreaks of the coronavirus across Asia, with more than 4 million cases and 138,000 deaths from COVID-19 since the start of the pandemic. After peaking at more than 56,000 cases on July 15, the number of COVID-19 cases reported daily has dropped significantly in the past month. The country recorded less than 3,000 cases on Monday. (Reporting by Agustinus Beo Da Costa; Writing by Fathin Ungku; Editing by Hugh Lawson and Alex Richardson) By Francois Murphy VIENNA (Reuters) - Western powers on Monday scrapped plans for a resolution criticising Iran at the U.N. atomic watchdog after Tehran agreed to prolong monitoring of some nuclear activities, even though the watchdog said Iran made no "promise" on another key issue. The decision by the United States, France, Britain and Germany not to push for a resolution at this week's meeting of the International Atomic Energy Agency's 35-nation Board of Governors avoids an escalation with Iran that could have killed hopes of resuming wider talks on reviving the Iran nuclear deal. During a last-minute visit to Tehran this weekend by IAEA chief Rafael Grossi, Iran agreed to grant his agency overdue access to its equipment in Iran that monitors some sensitive areas of its nuclear programme. Inspectors will swap out memory cards more than two weeks after they were due to be replaced. Grossi said on Sunday that the agreement solved "the most urgent issue" between the IAEA and Iran. He made clear on Monday, however, that on another source of concern - Iran's failure to explain uranium traces found at several old but undeclared sites - he had obtained no firm commitments. "I did not receive any promise," Grossi told a news conference when asked about the uranium traces, the first of which were found more than two years ago at a site in Tehran that Iran has described as a carpet-cleaning facility. "What I said there ... is that I need to have a clear conversation with the new government about this." A joint statement by the IAEA and Iran on Sunday said Grossi would meet Iran's nuclear chief Mohammad Eslami in Vienna next week and then Grossi would "visit Tehran in the near future to hold high level consultations with the (Iranian) government". Grossi declined to say more specifically whom he would meet in Tehran or when. The aim of the weekend agreement was to buy time for wider diplomatic efforts aimed at bringing the United States and Iran fully back into the 2015 nuclear deal, which imposed restrictions on Iran's nuclear activities in return for the lifting of international sanctions against Tehran. Story continues PRESSURE Then-President Donald Trump pulled the United States out of the nuclear deal in 2018, re-imposing punishing economic sanctions on Iran. Tehran responded as of a year later by breaching many of the deal's restrictions and later enriching uranium to purity levels much closer to weapons-grade. Indirect talks between Iran and the United States stopped in June, days after hardliner Ebrahim Raisi was elected president of Iran. Western powers have called on Iran to return to negotiations, saying time is running out, while Raisi has said Iran is willing to, but without Western "pressure". "Iran played its cards well," one Vienna-based diplomat said of the weekend agreement. "The promise to continue high-level discussions on the outstanding issues managed to deflate the pressure for a resolution, even if what Grossi brought back from Tehran was pitifully little." (Editing by Catherine Evans) Airstrikes rained down on Gaza on Monday (September 13). Israel carried out the attack in response to Palestinian rocket fire on its territory for a third consecutive night, according to the Israeli military. Fighting between the Palestinians and Israel has escalated over the past week, after six Palestinian militants escaped from a maximum-security prison in Israel on September 6. Israeli forces have since captured four of the inmates. Gaza militants fired a rocket into Israel on Friday (September 10) when two of the prisoners were apprehended. And then again on Saturday, after two more inmates were caught. The Israeli army said rockets were intercepted by Israel's Iron Dome missile defense system. No casualties were reported. The Israeli military said it struck targets belonging to Hamas, the Islamist armed group that rules Gaza. The recent rise in cross-border violence tests a fragile truce between Gaza and Israel that ended fierce fighting in May. The Israeli army said that a rocket fired from Gaza into Israel on Sunday night (September 12), was intercepted by Israel's anti-missile system. Another missile, it said, fired early on Monday, was also shot down by the Iron Dome system. No casualties were reported. Tension between Israel and the Palestinians has risen over the past week, after six Palestinian militants escaped from a maximum security Israeli jail on September 6. Israeli forces have since captured four of the inmates. Drawing Israeli air strikes, Gaza militants also fired a rocket into Israel on Friday (september 10) when two of the prisoners were apprehended and then again on Saturday (September 11), after two more escaped inmates were caught. In this Aug. 5, 2021 photo, Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., prepares to chair a hearing in the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee. Manchin is trying to garner bipartisan support for a restoration of the Voting Rights Act AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin said AOC was wrong to say he has weekly meetings with energy companies. "I keep my door open for everybody. That's totally false," Manchin told CNN's Dana Bash on Sunday. Manchin has urged Democrats to slow down on passing a $3.5 trillion social spending bill. See more stories on Insider's business page. Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin said he "absolutely" does not have weekly meetings with Exxon and slammed Democratic Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez after she said he was beholden to big energy companies. Last week, Ocasio-Cortez criticized Manchin for urging Democrats to slow down the passage of a $3.5 trillion social spending bill. "Manchin has weekly huddles w/ Exxon & is one of many senators who gives lobbyists their pen to write so-called "bipartisan" fossil fuel bills," Ocasio-Cortez said in a tweet. "It's killing people. Our people. At least 12 last night. Sick of this "bipartisan" corruption that masquerades as clear-eyed moderation." On Sunday, Manchin told CNN's Dana Bash it's "absolutely not true" that he has weekly meetings with big energy companies. "I keep my door open for everybody. That's totally false," Manchin told Bash. "Those types of superlatives, it's just awful. Continue to divide and divide and divide." He added: "I don't know that young lady that well. I really don't. I have met her one time, I think, between sets here. But that's it. So we have not had any conversations. She's just speculating and saying things because she wants to." Bash said other Democrats have also said Manchin is opposing the bill because he's "bought and paid for by corporate donors." Last week, in an interview with MSNBC, Democratic Rep. Katie Porter also questioned if Manchin was more "concerned about his corporate donors" than invest in American families. Story continues Manchin said he opposed the bill because "it makes no sense at all." "You're entitled to your own facts - I mean, your own opinions. You're just not entitled to create your own facts to support it. And that's exactly what they're doing," he told Bash. Read the original article on Business Insider A Jackson County Circuit Court judge will decide on Friday whether to recuse himself from local prosecutors efforts to exonerate and free Kevin Strickland. During a hearing Monday, Judge Kevin Harrell heard arguments from lawyers with the Missouri Attorney Generals Office, who contend Harrell should rescue himself from the case and disqualify other judges in Jackson County because the circuits presiding judge, Dale Youngs, previously said he agrees Strickland, 62, should be exonerated. Jackson County prosecutors, who say Strickland has wrongly spent 43 years in prison, and his lawyers opposed the request and argued that Youngs public statement should not disqualify every judge in the circuit. One of Stricklands attorneys, Bob Hoffman of the law firm Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner, called the further delay of an evidentiary hearing that could lead to Stricklands freedom an injustice. He noted Prosecutor Jean Peters Baker called for Stricklands immediate release May 10 more than four months ago after determining he is innocent in a 1978 triple murder. Here we are, and its Sept. 13; hes still in prison, Hoffman told reporters. So, nothings changed for him. Asked if the delays could dissuade other county prosecutors from seeking to free innocent prisoners, Hoffman said he believes that is exactly what is happening here. He added that lawyers with the attorney generals office, which contends Strickland is guilty, have attacked one of the prosecutors who reviewed Stricklands innocence claim. On Thursday, former Missouri Supreme Court chief justice Edward Chip Robertson who has been called a a giant in Missouri jurisprudence joined the prosecutors team trying to free Strickland. Utilizing a new law that went into effect Aug. 28, Jackson County prosecutors filed a 25-page motion that argues Stricklands innocence is clear and convincing in the April 25, 1978, killings at 6934 S. Benton Ave. in Kansas City. Story continues The attorney generals office filed motions in the case, including the one that requested the recusals. Its lawyers cited a letter Baker put out that said Youngs concurs on behalf of the court that Stricklands conviction should be set aside. Senate Minority Leader John Rizzo, who wrote the relevant provision in the new state law, said the legislation was not intended to allow the attorney generals office to file such motions. In a ruling earlier this month, however, an appeals court said the attorney generals motions must be considered. At the hearing, Assistant Attorney General Andrew Clarke argued that the appearance of bias was enough for recusal. He said news coverage of the case has declared Strickland innocent, which has not been proved in court. Kate Brubacher, a Jackson County assistant prosecutor, said headlines are not grounds for recusal and called the attorney generals motion another attempt to delay justice for Strickland. Hoffman told the judge that the new law, which allows local prosecutors to seek to free prisoners deemed innocent, says the case should be decided in the court in which the person was convicted. He asserted that Youngs comments were not improper, asked for the case to proceed quickly and noted that as the state continues to fight with the state, Strickland remains behind bars. That is the height of injustice, he said. In another motion, the attorney generals office, under Eric Schmitt, asked that the case be moved from criminal to civil court. Harrell will also announce his ruling on that motion Friday morning. Baker suggested that an evidentiary hearing, during which prosecutors will argue Strickland is innocent, be set for Oct. 4 through the 6th. Such a hearing, however, has not been scheduled. Time is elapsing every single day, Baker said. In spite of the delays, Hoffman said Strickland, who was 18 when he was arrested, remains very resilient. Hes handling it a lot better than I would, Hoffman said. Kansas Rep. Mark Samsel cant use personal social media and must apologize to his teenage victims, a judge ordered Monday, capping four months of court proceedings after he allegedly kicked a student in the groin while substitute teaching in Wellsville southwest of Kansas City. The Republican lawmaker was given a 90-day suspended jail sentence and put on probation for a year by Magistrate Judge Kevin Kimball during a short hearing conducted over Zoom. Samsel originally faced three misdemeanor battery charges following his arrest in April that involved two victims, both approximately 16 years old. He was accused of kicking a student and videos showed him talking to a class about about God, religion, lesbianism, masturbation and suicide. He had faced up to 6 months in jail and a $1,000 fine for each charge. Instead, Kimball following a plea agreement between Samsel and prosecutors reduced the charges to disorderly conduct. Samsel will pay no fines but owes about $263 in court costs and other fees. Samsel is also prohibited from using Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and other social media platforms for personal use. An exception is included to allow social media for political and legislative purposes. Samsel initially pleaded not guilty to the more severe battery charges in May and was ordered to undergo a mental health evaluation before accepting a plea agreement. On Monday, he pleaded guilty to the disorderly conduct charges. Your honor, I just want to say Im sorry for what happened. I never intended to hurt anybody, Samsel said. Because of technical difficulties, Samsel used the camera of his phone to join the hearing. For much of the hearing, the camera was pointed upward at his hair and forehead, with much of his face not shown. Samsel, who must write letters of apology to his victims, at one point asked the judge about how to send a letter to one of the victims, given that he doesnt know who the person is and is prohibited from contacting that person. Prosecuting Attorney Brandon Jones said he would work with Samsels attorney to send the letter. Story continues In the days immediately following the incident Samsel took a defiant posture, claiming he didnt do anything wrong but also writing that he was truly sorry that this has caused pain and confusion. But in a Facebook post last month Samsel announced he had sought mental health treatment and given up his substitute teaching license. He called the classroom incident an isolated episode of mania with psychotic features prompted by extreme stress, pressure and agitation. As part of his sentence, Samsel must follow mental health treatment recommendations and take any prescribed medications. The court also has the power to order mental health evaluations. Following his arrest Samsel was banned from Wellsville School District property and events and lost his seat on the Missouri Valley College board of trustees, his alma mater. He graduated from the private liberal arts college in Marshall in 2007 with a degree in business administration and political science. During an interview with investigators shortly after the incident, Samsel described a chaotic classroom with misbehaving students and said he had begun to lose his temper a little bit, according to an affidavit used to charge him in Franklin County District Court. The students had Samsel at his wits end, he told the officers. Samsel said he barely grabbed one student and told the student to give him space and said he had heard the student had a bruise. He then stated, I would honest to God never do anything to hurt him. Mark thought maybe (redacted) bruises softly but God works in mysterious ways, the affidavit says. Students in the classroom interviewed by police described fearing Samsel and worrying he would harm them. The affidavit alleged he kicked and bruised one student and grabbed another by the shoulders. Samsels victims were given the opportunity to address the court on Monday, but no one spoke. The Daily Beast YouTubeA young woman who mysteriously vanished while road tripping across the U.S. with her fiance got into a physical altercation with him two weeks before he returned to Florida without her, according to a police report obtained by The Daily Beast. And while the couples online postings made the journey appear perfectly idyllic, the strain of having been together nonstop for months on end had in fact escalated tensions between the two, the document provided by the Moab City, Utah, Police Depar (Reuters) - Here's what you need to know about the coronavirus: Chinese city imposes travel curbs A city in China's southeastern province of Fujian has closed cinemas and gyms, sealed off some entries and exits to highways and told residents not to leave town as it battles a local COVID-19 outbreak. The virus situation in the city of Putian is "serious and complex," and it is very likely more new cases will emerge in communities, schools and factories, state broadcaster CCTV said on Monday. Certain offline lessons in schools have also been suspended in Putian, and China's national health authority has sent a team of experts to the city, which has a population of 3.2 million. New Zealand keeps Auckland in strict lockdown New Zealand extended a strict lockdown in its largest city on Monday, requiring 1.7 million people living in Auckland to remain indoors for at least another week to snuff out small outbreaks of the highly infectious Delta variant. Health authorities recorded 33 new cases of the Delta variant on Monday, all in Auckland, which was higher than 23 and 20 cases reported over the weekend. The government of the Australian state of New South Wales said on Monday the pace of COVID-19 vaccinations had slowed as first-dose coverage neared 80% and urged the unvaccinated to get shots soon or risk missing out on freedoms when curbs ease. Seriously ill COVID-19 patients double in Singapore The rapid pace of new infections and a doubling of seriously ill patients in Singapore have raised unexpected hurdles to reopening plans for the vaccination frontrunner, where 81% of the population is fully vaccinated. Singapore, one of the fastest in the world to reach that level, has seen its inoculation rates plateau, and this month paused its gradual reopening plans, spooked by daily infections that returned to one-year peaks this month. Infections over the weekend were more than a combined 1,000 cases, a tenfold increase from a month ago. Many experts, though, are not overly concerned about the rise in infections because of the low number of serious cases and Singapore's high vaccination percentage. Story continues Vietnam's biggest city to keep virus curbs Vietnam's coronavirus outbreak epicentre, Ho Chi Minh City, will extend its restrictions, state media reported on Monday, as the capital Hanoi and several provinces sought an easing of curbs and the aviation authority proposed that domestic flights resume. Ho Chi Minh City authorities said an extension until the end of September was necessary to isolate clusters, speed up inoculations and prevent hospitals from being overwhelmed in the city of 9 million people. Although more than 1 million vaccine shots have been administered daily of late, Vietnam's vaccination rate of 5.2% of its 98 million population is one of the region's lowest. India worried about complacency over second vaccine dose India is worried that growing complacency as a decline in COVID-19 infection rates and deaths could lead to people skipping their second vaccine shots, leaving communities vulnerable to the coronavirus, said two health experts briefed on the matter. India has administered more than 744 million vaccine doses - with 60% of its 944 million adults getting a first shot and 19% fully vaccinated with the required two shots. The country has the most partly immunized people in the world, according to the Our World in Data website, mainly due to a long gap of 12 to 16 weeks between doses, as prescribed by the government. (Compiled by Linda Noakes; Editing by Steve Orlofsky) Taliban members patrol in Panjshir Valley in Afghanistan on September 6. Bilal Guler/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images At least 20 civilians are believed to have been killed by the Taliban in Panjshir, the BBC said. One slain man was arrested on accusations of selling SIM cards to rebel fighters, the report said. The region has long been a focal point of resistance in Afghanistan. See more stories on Insider's business page. At least 20 civilians are believed to have been killed by the Taliban in Afghanistan's Panjshir Valley, the BBC reported on Monday. A shopkeeper and father of two was among the victims, the report said. Local sources told the BBC that he would not leave when the Taliban advanced. "I'm just a poor shop owner and have nothing to do with war," the man said to the Taliban, the report said, before being arrested on accusations of selling SIM cards to resistance fighters. The region is the final holdout of anti-Taliban resistance since the militant group swept back into power last month. Heavy fighting has been taking place in the mountainous region in north-central Afghanistan between resistance fighters and the Taliban. Despite Taliban promises that there wouldn't be any revenge killings after international forces were evacuated last month, reports have documented targeted killings. Meanwhile, Taliban sources earlier in September said they seized the Panjshir, while resistance forces denied the assertions, Reuters reported. Panjshir has long been a focal point of resistance in Afghanistan. The valley defied Taliban rule in the 1990s and held out during the Soviet Union's occupation, as its rocky terrain and natural mountainous defenses made it historically difficult to conquer. Read the original article on Business Insider BEIRUT (AP) Lebanons new government held its first meeting Monday with a call by the president to resume talks with the International Monetary Fund to help kick-start its recovery from one of the world's worst economic crises in more than a century. The 24-member Cabinet's most pressing mission over the coming weeks will be to help improve conditions in the country of 6 million, including a million Syrian refugees. More than half the population now lives in poverty amid extended power outages and severe shortages in fuel and medicine. President Michel Aoun told ministers during the Cabinet meeting that their government policy statement should include the resumption of talks with the IMF, which were suspended last year. He also called for a plan to fight corruption and move forward with the investigation into last years massive explosion at Beiruts port that killed at least 214 people, wounded over 6,000 others and damaged parts of the capital. The formation of a new government Friday came after a 13-month deadlock, one of Lebanons longest periods without a fully functioning government at a time when the country was sliding deeper into financial chaos and poverty. Information Minister George Kordahi told reporters after the meeting that Prime Minister Najib Mikati plans to hold intense Cabinet meetings to work on improving matters that have direct effects on citizens. Kordahi quoted Mikati, a billionaire businessman who served twice before as premier, as saying during the meeting that people are looking for actions and are not concerned anymore about talks and promises. The countrys economic crisis, unfolding since 2019, has been described by the World Bank as one of the worst the world has witnessed since the mid-1800s. It impoverished more than half the population within months and left the national currency in a freefall, driving inflation and unemployment to unprecedented levels. The government will have to manage public anger and tensions resulting from the lifting of fuel subsidies by the end of the month. Story continues Lebanons foreign reserves have been running dangerously low and the central bank in the imports-dependent country said it is no longer able to support its $6 billion subsidy program. The Cabinet set up a committee to draft a government policy statement that will be discussed in parliament before a vote of confidence is held. The government faced criticism by many even before it started work. Most of its ministers, although they include experts, were handpicked by the same political groups blamed for the corruption that led to the economic meltdown. Also on Monday, the Finance Ministry said Lebanon will receive more than $1 billion from the IMFs Special Drawing Rights program as is part of the IMFs push to boost global liquidity. Last month, the IMFs governing body approved a $650 billion expansion in the agencys resources to support economically vulnerable countries battling the coronavirus pandemic and the economic downturn it has caused. About $275 billion of the new allocation will go to the worlds poorer countries. The Finance Ministry said Lebanon will receive on Thursday $1.135 billion in SDRs. The SDRs, which can be changed into foreign currency, is a much needed boost and comes as Lebanons central bank reserves are being rapidly depleted. Sep. 13Ohio is poised to settle with three large national pharmaceutical distributors, and health experts say the state's settlement with Big Tobacco provides lessons for this moment. Ohio's cities, counties, townships and villages are collectively pursuing part of a $21 billion national opioid settlement, which will bring the state up to $808 million in settlement funds from the companies blamed for contributing to the country's opioid crisis. There are similarities between the two moments, decades apart. States in both cases are seeking to hold industry players financially accountable for massive and costly public health crises. Settlements can only be negotiated once, however. And with the settlement terms with Big Tobacco, money was eventually diverted to fill budget gaps and fund other non-tobacco prevention projects, said Ken Slenkovich, former program director for Ohio's Tobacco Use Prevention and Control Foundation, which was the state agency administering the tobacco settlement funds. "When we look at the data, it shows that the money that was invested by the states made an impact. Smoking rates went down, youth smoking rates went down," Slenkovich said. "Unfortunately it wasn't something that could be sustained, because states diverted those dollars to other purposes." The terms of the opioid settlements will determine for better or worse how the money is spent this time around. The OneOhio settlement plan is with the three largest distributors of opioids, Cardinal Health, McKesson and AmerisourceBergen. Under the OneOhio plan, 85% of the settlement will be spent at the local level. The total settlement breakdown is: 55% going to a foundation created to disburse the money and fund programs that benefit Ohioans affected by opioids and/or prevent addiction; 30% earmarked for community recovery programs at the local level; and 15% going to the state of Ohio. Lucas Sullivan, spokesman with the Ohio Attorney General's Office, said the foundation was created in partnership with the local governments to ensure the same thing doesn't happen when the tobacco money was distributed. Story continues "But Ohio is so diverse that the opioid crisis might have impacted southeast Ohio differently than northwest Ohio. That is why the money will go regionally and it is then for the regions to determine how best to abate the issue in their community," Sullivan said in a statement. Ohio's tobacco settlement The tobacco money traces to 1998, when Ohio and 46 other states settled lawsuits against the tobacco industry. The money that went to the states came with discretion on how it could be spent. By 2008, the Great Recession hit and by 2009 unemployment was over 10%. Gov. Ted Strickland and the Ohio General Assembly, wrestling to balance the state budget, began using the tobacco money for other programs. Ohio's tobacco funds were were shifted to a job-creation fund and the state dissolved the foundation when it tried to stop the diversion, according to Slenkovich. The money was moved to the state's general revenue fund and later the state sold the rights to future payments from the settlement agreement in exchange for a lump sum. As Ohio works on a final settlement, Slenkovich said there are several lessons to be learned from the tobacco settlement. Slenkovich is not the only expert to share concern about the possible diversion of the opioid money. For years, as lawsuits made their way through the courts, articles have published in medical journals and as editorials in Health Affairs, Journal of the American Medical Association and more echoing similar concerns. Now, with a major settlement in reach and with details for public review, Slenkovich said there's strengths to the OneOhio plan. Compared to the tobacco settlement, he said the OneOhio language would make it much harder to divert opioid settlement money to unrelated causes. "That provides some assurances that the funds will not be diverted," he said. Also, when looking at how state leaders redirected the tobacco money in a financial crisis, Slenkovich said it's good that Ohio is creating a separate private foundation to manage the money. Slenkovich also praised that the plan calls for an expert panel to advise how to best use the cash and some experts from the panel could also be part of the foundation's governing board. But he said when setting up the foundation to manage future opioid settlement money, there's opportunities to protect the investment. Rules could be created that would prevent the money from going to unrelated causes if the board ever dissolves the foundation. He said he'd like to see over half of the board members not be elected officials and some of the board members be required to come from the expert panel. "It would help to ensure that the funds will be used appropriately and without undue political influence," Slenkovich said. Montgomery County accidental overdoses, largely fueled by opioids. 2021: 219 as of Aug. 15 2020: 323 2019: 288 2017: 566 (largest amount recorded) How to get help To find local service providers for addiction, rehab, mental health and more in Montgomery County, download the GetHelpNow interactive directory to find a facility near you. You can find it in the app store on your phone or go to gethelpnowmc.com to click "access for free." Anyone in Ohio can reach the Crisis Text Line by texting the keyword "4hope" to 741 741 to be connected to a trained crisis counselor within 5 minutes. Treatment options can also be found 24/7 by calling 1-800-662-HELP (4357) or at samhsa.gov/find-treatment. By Rozanna Latiff and A. Ananthalakshmi KUALA LUMPUR (Reuters) -Malaysian Prime Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob's coalition and the main opposition bloc on Monday signed a cooperation pact to ensure stability during the COVID-19 pandemic, an agreement that could also help the premier win a confidence vote. Ismail Sabri took office last month with a slim parliamentary majority, becoming the third prime minister in as many years, but the constitutional monarch has called for him to face a vote of confidence to prove he has majority support in parliament. The legislature reconvened on Monday but no date has been set for the confidence vote. The bipartisan pact signed on Monday covers six areas including strengthening a COVID-19 plan, transformation in governance, parliamentary reforms, and freedom of the judiciary, Ismail Sabri said in a statement. "The government is confident that this will not only see political differences being put aside but also ensure the national recovery will be inclusive and holistic," he said. Ismail Sabri, however, did not say whether the agreement included his previous offer to the opposition to introduce political reforms https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/malaysian-pm-proposes-political-reforms-woo-opposition-2021-09-10 including laws to prevent defections and to limit a prime minister to 10 years in office. His offer on Friday had also included: bipartisan agreement on every bill to be introduced in parliament, input from opposition parties on a national recovery council and immediate lowering of the minimum voting age to 18 from 21. He also said the opposition leader would get the same pay and privileges as a cabinet minister. Malaysia has seen political instability since the election defeat in 2018 of the United Malays National Organisation (UMNO), which had governed for more than 60 years since independence, after a string of corruption allegations. Two governments had collapsed since then and Ismail Sabri's appointment restored the premiership role to UMNO. (Reporting by Rozanna Latiff and A. Ananthalakshmi; Editing by Michael Perry, Robert Birsel and Emelia Sithole-Matarise) KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AP) Barely a month in office, Malaysia's new leader has won opposition support to shore up his fragile government in exchange for a slew of reforms as Parliament reopened Monday. Prime Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob signed an unprecedented cooperation pact in Parliament with the main opposition bloc led by Anwar Ibrahim, in a move to prevent any bid to undermine his rule ahead of general elections due in two years. The political stability and transformation" pact will give Ismail the backing of 88 lawmakers in Anwar's bloc, in addition to 114 that support him in the 222-member house. Ismail said in a statement that the pact will lead to bipartisan cooperation and political reforms that will bolster governance, fight the COVID-19 crisis, and help to revive the economy. The government is confident that this memorandum of understanding will not only help cast aside all political differences but also ensure the countrys recovery is holistic and inclusive," he said. Officials said further details of the agreement will be unveiled soon. The pact came after Ismail last week offered reforms including new laws to prevent party defections and limiting the prime ministers tenure to 10 years. He also pledged to immediately lower the minimum voting age from 21 to 18, ensure bipartisan agreement on any new bill and get opposition input on the countrys economic recovery. He also made it so the role of opposition leader gets the same remuneration and privileges as a Cabinet minister. Malaysia has recorded close to two million COVID-19 infections, with more than 20,000 deaths despite a lockdown since June that has hurt the economy. Ismail is Malaysia's third prime minister since a historic vote in 2018 ousted the corruption-tainted United Malays National Organization, which led Malaysia since independence from Britain in 1957. But mass defections caused the collapse of Anwar's reformist alliance. Story continues Muhyiddin Yassin formed a new government that included UMNO in March 2020 but he resigned Aug. 16 as infighting in his coalition cost him majority support. Ismail, who is from UMNO, was Muhyiddin's deputy in the previous government and his appointment returned the premiership to UMNO. King Sultan Abdullah Sultan Ahmad Shah, in his opening address in Parliament on Monday, lauded the bipartisan cooperation to help the country overcome its health and economic crises. He said he has received many letters from the public, outlining the struggles they face and their pleas for change. It is this kind of maturity that is craved by the people, he said. Too many have been affected by the pandemic, and too many have lost their sources of income." The monarch called for a moment of silence in memory of virus victims, and warned lawmakers not to gamble the country's future for their own political interests. A Google Street View image of a McDonald's in Vancouver where a motorist was killed in a A fast food customer was killed in what police called a freak accident at the drive-thru window of a McDonalds in Vancouver, Canada. Vancouver police said the man opened his door to get something he dropped from his window while paying, setting off last weeks tragedy. As he opened the door and leaned out, the car rolled forward. The door hit part of the restaurant, and he was pinned between the door and the frame. Efforts were made by first responders to revive the man, but tragically, he died on scene, police Constable Tania Visintin said in a news release. This is an absolutely heartbreaking scenario. Our deepest condolences go out to the family and friends of this man. Police said there is surveillance video showing the accident, but are seeking motorists who may have had dashcam footage as well as eyewitnesses. Usually when we hear about a fatal motor vehicle accident it [is] usually, typically a crash with another vehicle, Visintin told 680 News. So the fact that no other vehicle was involved this seems like a freak accident. The victims name has not been released. Accidents are not unheard of at drive-thru windows, as motorists who try to retrieve something from outside the car may lean out an open door without putting their vehicle in park. In 2012, also in Canada, a woman suffered serious injuries in just such a situation when her foot slipped off the brake and the car rolled forward. In 2018, a motorist opened a door at a Jack In The Box drive-thru in St. Louis to get his food. He tried to back up, but accelerated while doing so, hit a tree, and was pinned between the car and tree. He did not survive. This article originally appeared on HuffPost and has been updated. Donald and Melania Trump. Getty Images Melania Trump's former White House aide is said to roundly condemn her ex-boss in a tell-all memoir. Stephanie Grisham, a top Trumpworld figure, calls Melania "the doomed French queen," Politico said. Grisham, who resigned on January 6, wrote that the Trumps' response to the Capitol riot "broke" her. See more stories on Insider's business page. Melania Trump's former top advisor Stephanie Grisham roundly condemns the ex-first lady in her forthcoming tell-all memoir, Politico reported on Monday. Grisham, a longtime Trumpworld loyalist who served in top roles in the White House, including as the press secretary and as Melania Trump's chief of staff and speechwriter, compared the former first lady to Marie Antoinette. Trump was like "the doomed French queen," she wrote, according to Politico. "Dismissive. Defeated. Detached." Critics repeatedly compared Trump to Antoinette, saying Trump appeared out of touch with average Americans, including when she donned a jacket that said "I really don't care, do u?" while visiting the US-Mexico border and when she announced White House renovations during the pandemic. French citizens had viewed Antoinette as a symbol of a bloated, cruel monarchy; she was beheaded during the French Revolution. According to Politico, Grisham wrote that she texted Trump during the Capitol riot on January 6. "Do you want to tweet that peaceful protests are the right of every American, but there is no place for lawlessness and violence?" Grisham said. "No," Trump reportedly replied a minute later. Grisham wrote that the Trumps' response to their loyalists' storming of the Capitol "broke" her and prompted her resignation, according to Politico. As the riot took place, the first lady was overseeing a photo shoot of a rug she'd selected for the White House. Five days later, she released a typo-ridden statement focused more on condemning gossip about her than addressing the rioters - she said she was "disappointed and disheartened with what happened last week" and slammed "salacious gossip, unwarranted personal attacks, and false misleading accusations on me." Story continues It was unclear exactly what "gossip" Trump was referring to, but it was likely a reference to her former friend and top aide Stephanie Winston Wolkoff's op-ed article in The Daily Beast on January 8 calling Trump "Machiavellian" and an "abuser" who bore responsibility for "the destruction of America." Grisham's book, titled "I'll Take Your Questions Now: What I Saw at the Trump White House," is scheduled to be released on October 5 and is reportedly sparking panic in former President Donald Trump's orbit. An anonymous source told Politico: "Stephanie has secrets about Trump that even the first lady doesn't know. Secrets that he doesn't want her to know." Melania Trump's office condemned Grisham in a statement to Politico. "The intent behind this book is obvious," the statement said. "It is an attempt to redeem herself after a poor performance as press secretary, failed personal relationships, and unprofessional behavior in the White House. Through mistruth and betrayal, she seeks to gain relevance and money at the expense of Mrs. Trump." The vague comment about "failed personal relationships" appeared to be a reference to Grisham's 18-month relationship with the former White House official Max Miller. Sources told Politico in July that Miller had slapped and pushed Grisham after she accused him of infidelity. Miller's attorney has denied that Miller ever physically assaulted Grisham. Read the original article on Business Insider MOSCOW (Reuters) - The Russian foreign ministry said on Monday it had demanded detailed information from the Czech Republic's ambassador to Moscow about the detention of a Russian national at Prague airport. It also said the Russian embassy in the Czech Republic had sent a note to the country's foreign ministry in relation to the detention. (Reporting by Vladimir Soldatkin; Editing by Toby Chopra) Rumors and conspiracy theories are like fire: give them oxygen and they spread fast. Until there is an arrest in the case, the murders of Maggie Murdaugh, 52, and her son Paul Murdaugh, 22, will no doubt continue to be a topic of conversation around the state. The killing of the mother and son, members of a wealthy, well-connected South Carolina family, were always going to be a source of fascination. Paul Murdaugh was waiting to go to trial in the boating death of 19-year-old Mallory Beach and investigators have said the murders led to the reopening of an investigation into the 2015 death of Stephen Smith. Since the murders, Alex Murdaugh, Maggies husband and Pauls father, has also reportedly been shot and he has since been asked to leave his law firm for misappropriating large sums of money, suspended from practicing law by the state Supreme Court and on Sept. 6 issued a curious statement. The murders of my wife and son have caused an incredibly difficult time in my life, Alex Murdaughs statement said. I have made a lot of decisions that I truly regret. Im resigning from my law firm and entering rehab after a long battle that has been exacerbated by these murders. I am immensely sorry to everyone Ive hurt including my family, friends and colleagues. I ask for prayers as I rehabilitate myself and my relationships. Americans love a good scandal, and if the scandal involves the rich and powerful, well ... Since June 7, the night the two were found dead at the familys hunting lodge on Moselle Road in Islandton, Colleton County, details have emerged about the family thanks to Freedom of Information Act requests from news organizations including ours. Court depositions, redacted law enforcement documents, audio recordings, and dash cameras have been among the sources of new information related to the familys life before and after the murders. Each new morsel has fueled speculation and the case has so many twists and turns that news outlets including People magazine and the New York Times have written about it. It has been the subject of podcasts, news stories and office gossip. Story continues Meanwhile, the one organization that could tamp down the speculation has chosen to stay mostly silent. The South Carolina State Law Enforcement Division (SLED) website notes that it is committed to providing valuable and beneficial information to the public in a timely manner. But more than three months after mother and son were brutally slain and 17 days before the current deadline to claim the $100,000 reward for information leading to an arrest and conviction expires on Sept. 30, it appears SLEDs definition of timely might differ from others. Now, we understand that ongoing criminal investigations require discretion and as SLED noted in a June 15 press release the organization cannot and will not do anything that could jeopardize the integrity of this investigation or that would violate the due process afforded to all in our constitutional system of justice. Fair enough. But SLED does have a responsibility to operate in a manner which gives the public confidence in its investigations. South Carolinians want to have faith in their institutions, including their law enforcement agencies, but that faith has to be earned. SLED, for instance, has not held a single press conference about the case since the Murdaughs bodies were found. The day after the murders were discovered SLED spokesperson Tommy Crosby told our reporters via telephone that he was not aware of anyone arrested or detained related to the crime but, based on the evidence, SLED does not believe there is a danger to the public. That appears to be one of the very few times SLED attempted to quell the rumors. We dont expect SLED investigators to reveal all, but we do expect the agency to live up to its own commitment of offering valuable and beneficial information to the public in a timely manner. MAIDUGURI, Nigeria (Reuters) - Seventy-five children who were kidnapped from their school in Nigeria's northwestern Zamfara State have been released after their abductors came under pressure from a military crackdown, a state official said on Monday. Gunmen took the students from the village of Kaya on Sept. 1, the latest in a spate of mass kidnappings from schools across the region. More than 1,100 children have been seized since December last year. Authorities say they were abducted by heavily armed gangs of bandits seeking ransoms. A spokesman for the Zamfara State governor said no ransom had been paid for the 75 children, who had been received by the governor at his headquarters. The spokesman sent reporters images of boys and girls in uniform, seated inside what looked like a meeting room. He did not say when they were freed. Zamfara has been one of the states worst-hit in the abduction crisis. On Sept. 3, authorities ordered a phone and internet blackout there while security forces cracked down on the gangs. Since then, the state has been largely cut off from the outside world and while rumours have circulated about what is going on, the military have given little information. Since Sunday night, several Nigerian media outlets have reported that bandits in Zamfara had attacked a military base and killed 12 soldiers. Asked to comment, defence spokesman Major General Benjamin Sawyerr neither denied nor confirmed the reports. "Operations are ongoing in that area and there is total shutdown of communications. Our troops are consolidating on successes recorded so far. Information on ongoing operations will be premature at this stage," he said. In a separate statement on Sunday, Sawyerr said the military were aware of pictures and videos circulating online, purportedly showing the dumping in mass graves of bodies of people killed in the Zamfara crackdown. He said the images were not genuine. "The viral pictures being circulated have nothing in common with the ongoing operations," he said, adding that the armed forces were acting "in strict compliance with the rules of armed conflicts". (Reporting by Maiduguri Newsroom and Camillus Eboh in Abuja; Writing by Estelle Shirbon; Editing by Andrew Heavens) TechCrunch SpaceX launched a Falcon 9 rocket carrying 51 of its Starlink satellites from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California on Monday night at 8:55 PM PDT (11:55 PM EDT). This was the first launch for the Starlink satellite internet constellation from the west coast, and also the first batch of a second stage of Starlink satellite deployment, targeting a new orbital trajectory that will help the network provide service to new regions, including Northern Canada and parts of Northern Europe. In total, SpaceX has now launched around 1,800 Starlink satellites, and it has been providing coverage to customers during its beta program for over a year now. ISLAMABAD (Reuters) - A Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) commercial passenger flight took off from Kabul airport on Monday, bound for Islamabad, a Reuters witness said. The PIA flight is the first commercial passenger flight from Kabul since the foreign troop withdrawal and evacuation process was completed in Afghanistan. Last week the Qatari government flew civilian charters out of Kabul (Reporting by Gibran Peshimam; Editing by David Goodman) ISLAMABAD (AP) Hundreds of Pakistani journalists rallied outside parliament Monday to reject a proposed law that critics say would further curtail media freedom if passed. The protest in the capital of Islamabad, also attended by senior opposition leaders and civil society members, asked the government to refrain from passing the black law." The legislation envisages the establishment of a new regulatory body called the Pakistan Media Development Authority. We reject PMDA. It is aimed at stifling the voice of media," said Nasir Zaidi, a prominent leader of Pakistani journalists. Another journalists union leader, Afzal Butt, vowed to continue protesting the proposed law, which he said Khan's government was using to try and silence the media. Shahbaz Sharif, the leader of the opposition in the National Assembly, vowed that opposition parties would do their best to block the legislation when the bill is moved into the National Assembly. Critics say the proposed law would grant sweeping unchecked powers to the government-controlled regulator by setting up special media tribunals with the power to impose heavy fines on media organizations and journalists who violate a so-called code of conduct or publish content it deems to be fake news. The legislation was introduced by the government of Prime Minister Imran Khan in May. Since then, the government has not been able to move it through parliament because of opposition from the owners of news organizations and journalist unions. Although Pakistan insists it supports freedom of speech, critics say the space for media freedom has shrunk in the Islamic nation, where incidents of attacks on journalists have increased since Khan's government came into power in 2018. President Joe Bidens promise on Thursday to punish certain businesses that dont test workers weekly for COVID-19, or require vaccination as a term of employment, elicited praise from Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf. Im grateful that the Biden Administration is taking strong steps to protect the public, he said. I strongly support the efforts at the federal level to prioritize vaccinations, which further support my administrations efforts to stop the spread of COVID-19 efforts that are working. About two-thirds of adults in Pennsylvania are fully vaccinated, according the Department of Health. The state ranks fifth in the nation for total doses administered. Bidens new rule means employers with 100 or more workers must test weekly or mandate vaccinations. Federal workers and contractors must also get immunized as a term of their employment. Pennsylvanians understand that the best way to fight this virus is through vaccinations and the presidents announcement will further increase our vaccination rates and keep everyone safe, Wolf said. Elsewhere across the state, Pennsylvanias congressional delegation remained mostly quiet on the issue, with a few notable exceptions. Retiring U.S. Sen. Pat Toomey, a Republican, questioned the legality of the mandate in a statement posted to his website Friday. Sean Parnell, the Trump-endorsed GOP candidate running to replace him in 2022, likewise spoke out against the administration on Twitter. Toomey said although he believes vaccination is the right choice for most of America, forcing individuals and employers to do so by government fiat is wrong and will backfire. "But federal government mandates, of dubious legality, will further alienate the skeptical, undermine our institutions, and punish ordinary business owners and their employees, he said. U.S. Rep. Fred Keller, R-12, likewise vowed to use his authority as the ranking Republican on the House Education and Labor Subcommittee on Workforce Protections to fight these totalitarian measures through all available means. Story continues This administration is trampling on the rights of 80 million private sector workers and weaponizing the federal bureaucracy to impose government-sanctioned workplace discrimination on the basis of vaccination status, he said. Employers who dont follow the new mandate face a $14,000 fine per violation, according to Toomey's office. The federal government has no authority to dictate who is permitted to have a job, and Bidens efforts to strong-arm employers into compliance will not stand, Keller said. Across the aisle, most of Pennsylvanias nine Democratic lawmakers made no statement regarding the mandate as of Friday. Except for Congressman Mike Doyle, D-18, who tweeted support for the measure as a way to slow the recent surge of delta variant cases and save lives. Washington Examiner Videos Tags: News, Pennsylvania, State, Coronavirus Original Author: Christen Smith, The Center Square Original Location: Pennsylvania governor praises Bidens vaccine mandates A crane on Springleaze in Mangotsfield, Bristol, where a man in his 70s was killed after being hit by a heavy load. (BPM Media) A man in his 70s has been killed after a hot tub fell from a crane while being lowered into a garden, according to neighbours. The unidentified pensioner was killed on Monday morning in a residential street in the Mangotsfield area of Bristol. Avon and Somerset Police were called to an address and said the man had been hit by the load that fell from the crane. Read more: Man in serious condition after stabbing at music festival Shocked neighbours said on Monday that the man was tragically killed by a falling hot tub. One homeowner, whose house backs onto the garden where the incident happened, said: It was definitely a hot tub. They were lowering it into the garden. I heard a load of shouting and screaming. I dont know whether the man lives there or works for the crane company." A police spokeswoman said: We were called at 9.26am today to assist the ambulance service at a residential address in Mangotsfield after a man was seriously injured by a heavy load which had fallen from a crane. A man in his 70s has died after a heavy load fell from a crane in the Mangotsfield area of Bristol. (BPM Media) A man in his 70s has died after a heavy load fell from a crane in the Mangotsfield area of Bristol. (SWNS) Tragically, the man, aged in his 70s, was pronounced deceased at the scene. His next of kin have been informed and our thoughts go out to them. Police inquiries are ongoing at the scene in conjunction with the Health and Safety Executive [HSE]. An HSE spokeswoman confirmed: HSE is aware of this incident and investigating. Avon Fire and Rescue Service received a call to Springleaze, Mangotsfield, to assist police and paramedics at 9.54am on Monday. A spokeswoman said: Sadly, the man in his 70s was pronounced deceased at the scene. Read more: Motorists anger after Insulate Britain protesters block M25 Crews from Kingswood and Avonmouth supported emergency service colleagues by working to make the equipment safe following police investigations. A man in his 70s has died after a heavy load fell from a crane in the Mangotsfield area of Bristol. (SWNS) A man was killed after a heavy load fell from a crane in Springleaze, Mangotsfield, Bristol. (Google) Our thoughts go out to the mans family and friends at this sad time. A spokeswoman for South Western Ambulance Service NHS Trust said: We were called at 9.20am to an incident in the area of Mangotsfield. Story continues We attended with multiple resources including an air ambulance and the Hazardous Area Response Team. Watch the latest videos from Yahoo UK President Joe Biden delivers remarks on COVID-19 response and the vaccination program, from the South Court Auditorium of the White House, Washington, DC on May 12, 2021. Nicholas Kamm/Getty Images El Paso police arrested a man accused of murdering a Texas lawyer in 2020. Police allege that Joseph Angel Alvarez, 38, shot and killed Georgetta Kauffman. Alvarez reportedly emailed a US military unit about the Kauffman's neighborhood, saying it was a "ritualistic satanic ground to conduct abortions by the manner of magic." Visit Insider's homepage for more stories. El Paso police charged a man accused of murdering a woman and shooting her husband for voting for Joe Biden, according to KDBC News. Authorities arrested Joseph Angel Alvarez, 38, on September 8 - almost a year after the original shootings occurred on November 14, 2020. Police first discovered the body of Georgetta Kauffman at her home in November 2020 after her husband Daniel, who after being shot multiple times, made it to a neighbor's house who called 911. Authorities allege that Alvarez staked out the location ahead of time and discovered a pro-Biden flag and "a doll of Trump hanging" outside of the couple's home. Alvarez also reportedly emailed the 902nd Military Intelligence Group, a US military counterintelligence unit, around the date of the killing, saying that he targeted the Kauffman home because they voted for Biden and demanded that people "stop all murder of babies," according to the El Paso Times. He also allegedly emailed the military unit to say that "pro-choice" people were a part of the "Jewish Satanist" party and that the neighborhood the Kauffman's lived in, Memorial Park, was a "ritualistic satanic ground to conduct abortions by the manner of magic." Alvarez previously worked for a United Airlines contractor, General Aviation Terminal, but was fired after he stalked a co-worker on his day off, according to local news station KWTX. Alvarez is currently being held at the El Paso County Jail. A local judge set his bail to $2.5 million. Read the original article on Insider Bratislava, Slovakia Pope Francis carefully rebuked the anti-migrant politics of Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban on the first day of a papal visit to Central Europe. Speaking at an outdoor Mass in Budapest on Sunday, the pontiff called on Hungarians to "extend their arms to everyone," in a veiled reference to the nationalist government's closed-door policy on immigration. The Mass, held before tens of thousands of people in the capital's Hero's Square, came moments after an hour-long meeting between Francis and the prime minister. The two men are fierce opponents on the topic of immigration. Afghan refugees to find a less-welcoming Europe Pope Francis is an outspoken champion of refugees, once even bringing 12 Syrians home with him to Rome from a trip to Greece in 2016. Prime Minister Orban, on the other hand, has famously built a fence in Hungary to keep migrants out. At the meeting on Sunday, according to state media, Orban even handed the Pope a provocative gift: A copy of a letter from a 13th-century Hungarian king to then-Pope Innocent IV, asking for Rome's help to defeat an onslaught of foreign invaders an apparent reference to migrants in the 21st century. Shortly thereafter, Orban took to Facebook, posting: "I asked Pope Francis not to let Christian Hungary perish." Then, after spending a scant seven hours in Hungary, the pope left. It was perceived as a slight, given that he's spending three days in neighboring Slovakia. But Francis' message of openness to outsiders continued in the Slovak capital of Bratislava on Monday. At a meeting with the country's political and civic leaders, he urged Slovaks to take special care of the vulnerable and said that no one should be stigmatized or suffer discrimination. Pope Francis waves as he leaves the Cathedral of Saint Martin, in Bratislava, Slovakia, September 13, 2021. / Credit: Petr David Josek/AP "Our Christian way of looking at others refuses to see them as a burden or a problem, but rather as brothers and sisters to be helped and protected," he said. "Even as battles for supremacy are waged on various fronts, may this country reaffirm its message of integration and peace." Story continues Despite a demanding schedule on his visit to the two countries, the 84-year-old pontiff has appeared energetic. It is his first trip since recovering from colon surgery this summer. Stars arrive at 2021 Met Gala in incredible fashion Apple issues urgent iPhone software update to patch apparent security flaw Biden says voters will "get Donald Trump" if they vote California Governor Newsom out BRATISLAVA, Slovakia (AP) Pope Francis honored Slovakian Holocaust victims and atoned for Christian complicity in wartime crimes as he sought to promote reconciliation Monday in a country where a Catholic priest was president of a Nazi puppet state that deported tens of thousands of its Jews. Your history is our history, your sufferings are our sufferings, Francis told members of Slovakias small, remaining Jewish community, standing in the shadow of the countrys Holocaust memorial. Even though St. John Paul II made three trips to Slovakia, he never met here with the countrys Jews, evidence of the strained local Catholic-Jewish relations that endured in the post-war decades even with a Polish pope known for his outreach to Jews. As a result, Francis welcome by the community during the solemn 10-day period of repentance stretching from Rosh Hashana to Yom Kippur was a significant step forward and was hailed as historic by local Jewish leaders who said it was chance to look to the future. Francis is on the second day of a four-day pilgrimage to Hungary and Slovakia, his first big international outing since undergoing intestinal surgery in July. The 84-year-old pope has appeared in good form, walking around to greet well-wishers and clearly enjoying the enthusiasm of Slovaks after being cooped up in the Vatican for over a year of coronavirus lockdowns. He was solemn on Monday afternoon, listening intently via headphones providing simultaneous translation as he heard testimony from a Holocaust survivor about the horrors of the Shoah and the enduring pain of the Jewish community. Let us unite in condemning all violence and every form of antisemitism, and in working to ensure that Gods image, present in the humanity he created, will never be profaned," Francis said. Slovakia declared its independence from Czechoslovakia in 1939 and became a Nazi puppet state with politician and Roman Catholic priest Jozef Tiso becoming the countrys president. Story continues Under his rule, the country adopted strict anti-Jewish laws and deported around 75,000 Jews to Nazi death camps where about 68,000 perished. Tiso was sentenced to death and hanged in 1947, and over the years scholars have unearthed archives showing that the Vatican under Pope Pius XII didnt approve of Tisos policies and intervened to halt the deportation of Slovak Jews in 1942, though they resumed two years later after Nazi troops entered Slovakia at Tiso's request. Now, only about 5,000 Jews live in Slovakia, a largely Roman Catholic country of 5.5 million currently ruled by a four-party center-right coalition government. Slovakias Catholic bishops over the years expressed regret for their wartime failings and asked forgiveness from the Jewish community, but an official process of dialogue only began after Slovak representatives from both faiths met with Francis at the Vatican in 2017. Francis praised that encounter as a key moment in the path of Catholic-Jewish reconciliation that he said was necessary to advance, in truth and honesty, along the fraternal path of a purification of memory, to heal past wounds and to remember the good received and offered. The head of the umbrella group of Slovakian Jewish communities, Richard Duda, said at the encounter that Francis visit was historic, and a turning point in relations, and that dialogue was the only way to achieve peaceful coexistence. We hope that the sincerity and availability for an open dialogue will allow us to one day put a final point even on the dark sides of the complicity which, during the terrible world war 80 years ago, marked relations between the people of this land, he said. While Francis visit marked a new step in Catholic-Jewish relations, it also served to remind Slovaks that Catholics also saved lives. A Holocaust survivor, Tomas Lang, cited a Vatican embassy official at the time, Monsignor Giuseppe Burzio, as someone who unceasingly tried to halt the antisemitism of the murderous regime of the time. And a Slovak Orsoline nun, Sister Samuela, told Francis of the several instances of Jewish children and their families who were hidden in Slovak convents and even the Vatican embassy itself. Overall by 2019, 580 Slovaks were honored as Righteous Among the Nations by Israels Yad Vashem Holocaust museum. The site of Francis encounter was significant: Bratislavas Holocaust memorial stands on the site of a synagogue that was destroyed in 1969 by the communist regime to make room for a bridge. The synagogue had stood next to the citys cathedral, and Francis said their proximity showed that Catholics and Jews had long lived in peaceful coexistence and a striking sign of unity in the name of the God of our fathers. Here, in this place, the name of God was dishonored, for the worst form of blasphemy is to exploit it for our own purposes, refusing to respect and love others, he said. In this place, our histories meet once more. Here let us affirm together before God our willingness to persevere on the path of rapprochement and friendship, Francis said. Just last week, the Slovak government formally apologized for the racial laws that stripped Jews of their human and civil rights, prevented their access to education and authorized the transfer of their property to non-Jewish owners. The government took action on the 80th anniversary of the Jewish Code," considered one of the toughest anti-Jewish laws adopted in Europe during the war. Lucia Hidveghyova, a leading Slovak expert on Jewish-Catholic relations, called Francis meeting with the Jewish community very important and the fruit of improving relations that got a major boost after the 2017 Vatican encounter, which resulted in the formation of joint committees. Its true than that in the last five years, the dialogue between them on the official level has moved forward more than in the previous 50 years, she said in a telephone interview. I believe that (by coming) he wants to further encourage the dialogue, she said. Maros Borsky, secretary of the dialogue commission between the Central Union of Jewish Religious Communities and the Catholic Church, said the popes visit can only help improve relations going forward. What happened in the past cannot be fixed, but its necessary to look into the future, Borsky told The Associated Press. ___ Karel Janicek reported from Prague. No police officers will be criminally charged in a shooting outside Security Square Mall in July that left two city officers injured and a murder suspect killed, the Baltimore County States Attorneys Office said this week. The shooting occurred on July 13 as officers from the federal multi-jurisdictional Capital Area Regional Fugitive Task Force were serving an arrest warrant on Justin Powell, 32, who was wanted for a murder in Baltimore City, police said. Police said Powell fired multiple shots at officers, injuring two city detectives, as they attempted to approach his vehicle in the Woodlawn mall parking lot. Baltimore Police identified the injured officers as Detective Anthony Lansey, a 28-year veteran, and Detective Earl Thompson, a 24-year veteran. They suffered non-serious injuries and were released from the Maryland Shock Trauma Center two days after the shooting. The Baltimore County States Attorneys Office on Tuesday identified the officers who fired at Powell as Lansey, Thompson and city police Detective M. Spinnato, whose first name is Michael, according to a city salary database. The states attorney identified a fourth officer who fired as D. Diamond, a deputy U.S. Marshal. The office did not provide a first name. Initially, prosecutors, as well as city and county police and the U.S. Marshals declined to name the officers involved in the shooting. Antonio Gause, senior inspector for the Capital Area Regional Fugitive Task Force, said the federal agency does not publicly release names of officers involved in shooting. City police deferred to questions to the federal agency, and county police, which investigated the shooting, did not respond for comment. Shellenberger identified the officers in a letter to The Baltimore Sun, citing a desire for full disclosure. In a letter formally clearing the officers of wrongdoing, Deputy States Attorney Robin S. Coffin, which said the task force members actions were justified after Powell jumped out of his car and began shooting. Detective Lansey and Detective Thompson each suffered gunshot wounds. ...The Task Force members had no choice but to return fire for the protection of themselves and others in the area. The shooting was justified. Accordingly, this office will take no further action. Story continues City police said previously that Powell was wanted for the fatal shooting of Ali Hines, 38, who was found by police with multiple gunshot wounds in the 1000 block of W. Lanvale St. on June 19. City police had issued a warrant for Powell for the June homicide and for possessing a handgun. Powells grandparents Denise and Mike Powell said Tuesday they are still seeking answers in their grandsons death, and they are frustrated by the lack of communication from authorities since July. We havent heard anything from anyone, Denise Powell said. She said her grandson has two young sons and had been working cleaning offices downtown around the time of his death. Powell said the family is hoping to get her grandsons possessions back, and to get some clarity about the case. The Powells said the family was not informed about which officers from which agency fired upon their grandson or how many officers were involved. They have to be accountable of the actions they took, even if he is criminal, Mike Powell said. The U.S. Marshals Capital Area Regional Fugitive Task Force deputizes officers from local and federal agencies, targeting more serious violent offenders in the D.C. region, with offices in Washington, Northern Virginia, and Maryland, the according to the agencys website. Officers from the task force were involved in another fatal shooting in February 2020, when officers shot and killed Michael Marullo, 33, who was wanted on an attempted murder warrant in Pennsylvania and fled to Baltimore. Though Baltimore Police and Baltimore County officers wear body cameras, members of the task force do not wear cameras. Baltimore Sun reporter Justin Fenton contributed to this article. With a $9 billion tab to the federal government in play, New York state faces choppy waters ahead in rebuilding the exhausted trust fund used to pay unemployment insurance benefits, Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli said recently. In a new report this week, DiNapoli sounded an urgent call to state lawmakers to seek additional federal support or face the prospect of charging employers higher UI rates to replenish the fund and pay the debt owed to Washington, D.C. The massive uptick in unemployment claims across the state quickly depleted the trust funds balance in the early months of the pandemic in 2020. To make good on the claims, the state took out a loan from the federal government. The pandemic put many New Yorkers out of work and forced the state to borrow heavily from the federal government to meet their urgent unemployment claims, DiNapoli said in a statement. As 2021 has progressed, the state has slowly chipped away at its debt to the federal government. In March, the balance hovered $10.2 billion, meaning $1.2 billion has been paid back. DiNapoli said the state is faced with the two-pronged realities of repaying the remaining federal balance and replenishing the existing depleted trust fund. The obligation to pay back this money and rebuild the trust fund balance presents a serious challenge for the state and businesses struggling to recover from the pandemic, DiNapoli said. Action is needed to avoid hiking costs for New York businesses and slowing the state's economic recovery. The state has already taken measures to address the dual challenges, which has resulted in higher payouts from employers. New York states UI rates in 2021 increased to a range of 2.1% to 9.9%. Last year, the states UI rates were 0.6% to 7.9%. Several factors play into the amount employers pay for UI, including length of time as a liable employer and prior tax contributions into the trust fund. While the unexpected swiftness of the pandemic took an immediate toll on the trust funds health a year-and-a-half ago, DiNapoli in his report asserted the state has historically been ill-equipped to deal with sharp increases in UI claims. Story continues In early 2020, months before the pandemic hit, the U.S. Department of Labor singled out 22 states and territories for having UI trust fund balances below recommendations for maintaining solvency. New York, with a balance at the time of $2.65 billion, was on the list. In a list of forward-looking recommendations, DiNapoli in the report encouraged lawmakers to seek further federal relief as mitigation to a slowed economic recovery. Specifically, the federal government could extend interest waivers that expired on Sept. 6, 2021, DiNapoli wrote in the report. This would avoid interest assessments that would begin to be assessed in 2021. Other recommendations in DiNapolis report include monitoring COVID-19 relief programs that could potentially strengthen the trust fund balance. Additionally, DiNapoli is recommending against lawmakers taking out any new debt. For two consecutive years, the states debt limits have been waived. These practices have been cited by bond rating agencies as counter to best practices and detrimental to the states credit rating and fiscal outlook, the report states. Washington Examiner Videos Tags: News, State, New York, Unemployment Original Author: Dave Fidlin, The Center Square contributor Original Location: Replenishing New York's unemployment insurance trust fund a serious challenge, comptroller says Did you know there are some financial metrics that can provide clues of a potential multi-bagger? Firstly, we'll want to see a proven return on capital employed (ROCE) that is increasing, and secondly, an expanding base of capital employed. This shows us that it's a compounding machine, able to continually reinvest its earnings back into the business and generate higher returns. So on that note, Buru Energy (ASX:BRU) looks quite promising in regards to its trends of return on capital. Understanding Return On Capital Employed (ROCE) For those who don't know, ROCE is a measure of a company's yearly pre-tax profit (its return), relative to the capital employed in the business. The formula for this calculation on Buru Energy is: Return on Capital Employed = Earnings Before Interest and Tax (EBIT) (Total Assets - Current Liabilities) 0.14 = AU$7.5m (AU$61m - AU$8.5m) (Based on the trailing twelve months to June 2021). Thus, Buru Energy has an ROCE of 14%. In absolute terms, that's a satisfactory return, but compared to the Oil and Gas industry average of 3.2% it's much better. See our latest analysis for Buru Energy roce Historical performance is a great place to start when researching a stock so above you can see the gauge for Buru Energy's ROCE against it's prior returns. If you'd like to look at how Buru Energy has performed in the past in other metrics, you can view this free graph of past earnings, revenue and cash flow. The Trend Of ROCE It's great to see that Buru Energy has started to generate some pre-tax earnings from prior investments. The company was generating losses five years ago, but now it's turned around, earning 14% which is no doubt a relief for some early shareholders. Additionally, the business is utilizing 47% less capital than it was five years ago, and taken at face value, that can mean the company needs less funds at work to get a return. The reduction could indicate that the company is selling some assets, and considering returns are up, they appear to be selling the right ones. Story continues The Bottom Line On Buru Energy's ROCE In the end, Buru Energy has proven it's capital allocation skills are good with those higher returns from less amount of capital. Given the stock has declined 29% in the last five years, this could be a good investment if the valuation and other metrics are also appealing. So researching this company further and determining whether or not these trends will continue seems justified. Buru Energy does have some risks, we noticed 3 warning signs (and 1 which doesn't sit too well with us) we think you should know about. While Buru Energy isn't earning the highest return, check out this free list of companies that are earning high returns on equity with solid balance sheets. This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. We provide commentary based on historical data and analyst forecasts only using an unbiased methodology and our articles are not intended to be financial advice. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. We aim to bring you long-term focused analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material. Simply Wall St has no position in any stocks mentioned. Have feedback on this article? Concerned about the content? Get in touch with us directly. Alternatively, email editorial-team (at) simplywallst.com. MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia is planning to send food and medicine to Afghanistan soon as humanitarian aid, the RIA news agency cited Russia's foreign ministry as saying on Monday. Foreign countries greeted the make-up of the new government in Afghanistan with caution and dismay last week after the Taliban appointed hardline veteran figures to top positions, including several with a U.S. bounty on their head. (Reporting by Anton Kolodyazhnyy; Writing by Alexander Marrow; Editing by Toby Chopra) Sam Houston High School in Arlington went on lockdown Monday afternoon with no immediate threat to the students after Arlington police said gunshots were fired in the area of the school, off its property. Arlington police tweeted around 2:30 p.m. Tuesday that someone showed up at an area hospital with gunshot wounds after the incident. The school was on lockdown while police investigated the incident and around 2:45 p.m. was working with police on a structured and controlled release, according to a tweet from the department. This content is not available due to your privacy preferences. Update your settings here to see it. Police asked parents to stage on the west side of the school for the release but did not announce if they had anybody in custody. They stressed that there were no active threats to students and that the incident happened off campus. This content is not available due to your privacy preferences. Update your settings here to see it. Police did not immediately reply to a request for additional information. This developing story will be updated as more information becomes available. Associated Press The Justice Department said Tuesday it is curtailing federal agents use of no-knock warrants which allow law enforcement agents to enter a home without announcing their presence and would also prohibit its agents from using chokeholds in most circumstances. The updated policy follows the March 2020 death of Breonna Taylor, who was shot and killed by police in her home during a no-knock warrant and whose death led to months of mass protests over racial injustice in policing and the treatment of Black people in the United States. A no-knock warrant, as its name implies, is an order from a judge that allows police to enter a home without prior notification to the residents, such as ringing a doorbell or banging on the door. Sen. Alex Padilla of California. Shawn Thew/Pool via AP Sen. Alex Padilla said that continued GOP obstruction of voting rights will force Democrats to "revisit" legislative rules. On MSNBC, Padilla took aim at the filibuster, which he has sought to eliminate in the Senate. Democrats have been unable to persuade 10 Republicans to advance voting-rights legislation. See more stories on Insider's business page. Sen. Alex Padilla on Sunday said that if Republicans block the voting-rights compromise legislation being drafted by Democratic lawmakers, then the party will have "no choice" but to look to filibuster reform. During an appearance on MSNBC's "The Mehdi Hasan Show," the California Democrat, who last December was tapped to join the upper chamber to fill the remaining term of now-Vice President Kamala Harris, said that if Democrats fail to muster 10 GOP votes to overcome an filibuster, then the party would have to reexamine how to pass the legislation. Padilla said that a working group that consists of Sens. Joe Manchin of West Virginia, Raphael Warnock of Georgia, Tim Kaine of Virginia, Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota, along with himself and others, sought to work diligently in order to craft a bill that could garner the support of all 50 Democrats and Democratic-leaning independents. "We've taken some during this August recess to appeal to our colleagues on the other side of the aisle," he said. "I know Sen. Manchin keeps reminding everybody how the preference is always to work in a bipartisan fashion. When we can, that's great. But our fundamental voting rights are so important and so critical." He emphasized: "I think if we're not successful in getting 10 Republicans to do the right thing, then we have no choice but to revisit the rules of the Senate ... some outdated rules of the Senate. Whether it's abolishing the filibuster as a whole or somehow creating a carve-out or exemption to allow these measures to go forward for the sake of our democracy. It's too important." Story continues For months, the party's marquee voting-rights measures - the For the People Act (H.R. 1) and the John Lewis Voting Advancement Act (H.R. 4) - have stalled in Congress. The previous version of the For the People Act included provisions to ban partisan gerrymandering, expand early and absentee voting, establish national standards for voter registration, and curb voter purges, among other measures. The bill would also mandate that states offer mail-in ballots and same-day voter registration, policies which are anathema to conservatives. The House passed the previous version of the bill, but it has languished in the Senate - Democrats need 60 votes to advance the legislation and Republicans have so far refused to sign on to H.R. 1 and filibustered the bill in June. For months, Manchin and Democratic Sen. Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona have dismissed calls to nix the filibuster, saying that such an action would only inflame partisan divisions. Even if the compromise bill receives 50 votes, Democrats still need 10 crossover votes. Republicans, who have passed of wave of restrictive voting laws across the country, have accused their colleagues across the aisle of seeking to "federalize" what they feel are election matters that should be within the purview of states. Democrats contend that the GOP-led voting laws have imperiled the voting rights of everyday Americans, while conservatives argue that the bills are designed to shield the voting process from nefarious activity - despite the low rates of significant voter fraud. Since joining the Senate, Padilla, who previously oversaw California's elections as secretary of state, has called for the elimination of the filibuster. In March, after the $1.9 trillion COVID-19 relief package passed through the reconciliation process on a party-line vote, Padilla blasted GOP attempts to stop the bill as a pattern that was becoming politically untenable. "If we continue to see obstruction from our Republican colleagues as we saw through this COVID relief package, then I think the patience is going to wear thin, even on moderate Democrats," he said at the time. When asked by Hasan whether he agreed with his Golden State Senate colleague, Democratic Sen. Dianne Feinstein, who said in June that she didn't view democracy as "being in jeopardy right now," Padilla took a different view. "Democracy is clearly in jeopardy," he said. "What I can say is that a lot of my colleagues that may have been reticent earlier in the year to modify or abolish the filibuster continue to see the obstruction by not just Mitch McConnell but our Republican colleagues across the board." Read the original article on Business Insider CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky and Secretary of Education Dr. Miguel Cardona appeared together on the Today Show Monday, fielding questions from journalists, parents and students about school safety and remote learning at a special Coronavirus and the Classroom town hall. The issue of vaccine mandates, both for teachers and older students, arose multiple times during their morning appearance. Secretary Cardona said that while such orders should be left to local authorities, he supports moves made by districts like Los Angeles Unified in requiring all students 12 and older to be vaccinated if they hope to remain on campus. Its our responsibility to make sure that, across the country, students dont have to deal with disrupted learning again, Cardona said. In those places where they are doing vaccine mandates, I do support their efforts to get the students in, so you know its safe. Both Cardona and Walensky then took questions from the audience in midtown Manhattan during the first day of school in New York City and responded to livestreamed questions from students at schools across the country: Related: Ask the Doctor: Did We Miscalculate the Risk of COVID for Kids? Tanzania's President Samia Suluhu Hassan has appointed a politician dismissed for criticising her predecessor as energy minister in a cabinet reshuffle that also included the nomination of the country's first female defence minister. Former deputy environment minister January Makamba was sacked from the government in 2019 and forced to apologise to then president John Magufuli who died suddenly in March this year. But in a reshuffle announced overnight Monday, Hassan, who has broken from some of her predecessor's policies, welcomed the 47-year-old back to government and put him in charge of the strategically important ministry of energy. Magufuli had accused Makamba of criticising him during telephone conversations with other members of the ruling Chama Cha Mapinduzi (CCM) party and threatened to expel him unless he apologised. Magufuli, nicknamed "the bulldozer" for his authoritarian style, made no secret of the fact that he eavesdropped on the telephone conversations of members of his government. Makamba, whose father is a former secretary general of the CCM, had challenged Magufuli for the party's 2015 presidential nomination and lost. The reshuffle, which also saw Stergomena Tax named as defence minister, the first woman to hold that position, came as Hassan seeks to draw a line under the Covid-sceptic policies of her predecessor by launching Tanzania's first vaccination drive in July. Although some had hoped that Hassan would bring about a new era of political freedom after the increasingly autocratic rule of Magufuli, the arrest of opposition leader Freeman Mbowe has raised fears for the future of democracy in the East African nation. Mbowe was arrested in July and is being tried on terrorism charges, which his Chadema party describes as a politically motivated effort to crush dissent. The ministry of energy is currently overseeing the construction of a controversial hydropower dam project in the Selous Game Reserve and is strategically vital to Tanzania, which has significant natural gas reserves. str-sva/amu/spm Sep. 13Tennessee Education Commissioner Penny Schwinn says her department will continue its remote learning waiver program, which allows some classrooms or schools to switch to virtual learning to fight the spread of COVID-19 but not entire school districts. The approach has been criticized by those who think it has created confusion and endangered students, teachers and staffers across the state. Last week, 40 members of the Tennessee Alliance for Equity in Education wrote a letter to Schwinn seeking clarity on the program. They take issue with a policy that forces school districts to use inclement weather days snow days to shut down entirely to stop the spread of the virus, rather than use virtual learning. Hamilton County closed for two such days last week. "We believe students are best served by in-person learning. However, this pandemic is surging to new heights, with the Tennessee Department of Health reporting that children represent nearly 40% of all positive cases in our state, and Tennessee has recently led the nation in pediatric COVID cases per 100,000," the letter said. "Far too many students and teachers across the state are missing school this fall, with more than 25 districts having closed due to the rising case numbers. Given the current state-mandated limits on virtual learning, when entire school districts close without additional options for learning, they are forced to halt instruction entirely for all students, including the most vulnerable." Members that signed the letter include statewide organizations and local organizations such as La Paz Chattanooga, UnifiEd and the Urban League of Greater Chattanooga. Schwinn told the Times Free Press the department will continue the waiver approach for schools and classrooms, as opposed to allowing waivers for entire districts, to keep students learning in person as much as possible. "I think having that level of flexibility from a scalpel approach as opposed to broad brushstrokes is going to continue to be what we are focused on," she said. "It does mean that we are not able to do entire districts at once because there are a lot of kids who can be in school, there are a lot of parents who want to send their kids to school, and I think on topics like these, it's really important that we think about it in a really small grain size and provide students with the best possible options every single day." Story continues The waiver process, launched at the end of August, allows districts to apply for waivers for schools and classrooms affected by COVID-19 spread, such as student absences and staff shortages. Several districts in Southeast Tennessee have closed this semester due to COVID-19 exposure and spread, including Hamilton County Schools closing Tuesday and Wednesday last week to slow the spread of COVID-19 after the long Labor Day weekend. Districts have to use stockpile or inclement weather days for district-wide closures and cannot hold virtual instruction, leading to questions about the effects of closures on the length of the school year and the use of personal leave for school employees outlined by signees of the letter. Some of the areas where members asked for clarity in the letter include: For districts that have already closed without a waiver, providing clarity on the 180-day instructional threshold given the impact on school closures and stockpile days District flexibility on the use or waiver of sick and personal leave requirements for COVID-19 related staff absences, including quarantine The letter also asks Schwinn to adhere to guidance from the American Academy of Pediatrics that recommends wearing masks inside schools and encourages vaccination for individuals 12 and older. Gov. Bill Lee has issued an executive order overriding local school districts that have attempted to impose universal masking requirements. Lee's order mandates a parental opt-out from any such requirements. Contact Anika Chaturvedi at achaturvedi@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6592. By Michelle Nichols UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - The United Nations is faced with rival claims to Myanmar's seat at the 193-member world body as the ruling junta seeks to cement its coup with international legitimacy by ousting the U.N. ambassador appointed by Aung San Suu Kyi's elected government. Ahead of the annual gathering of world leaders at the United Nations in New York next week, there is also uncertainty over who will fill Afghanistan's seat for the 76th General Assembly session, which no one has yet formally claimed. United Nations credentials give weight to a government. "It is ultimately about legitimacy. It is a ticket to acceptability in the international community. The alternative is pariah status," said Richard Gowan, U.N. director at the Crisis Group think tank. Myanmar's junta has put forward military veteran Aung Thurein to be its U.N. envoy, while Suu Kyi's Ambassador Kyaw Moe Tun has asked to renew his U.N. accreditation, despite being the target of a plot to kill or injure him over his opposition to the coup. U.N. spokesman Farhan Haq confirmed that the world body "has received two sets of communications concerning Myanmar's representation at the 76th session of the General Assembly" starting on Tuesday. But a decision won't be made quickly. Credentials are dealt with by a nine-member committee appointed at the start of each General Assembly session. It routinely includes Russia, China and the United States and traditionally does not meet until October or November. The U.N. committee considers the credentials of all 193-members and submits a report for General Assembly approval before the end of the year. The committee and General Assembly usually operate by consensus on credentials, diplomats said. Until a decision is made on Myanmar's accreditation, Suu Kyi's Ambassador Kyaw Moe Tun will remain in the seat, according to the General Assembly rules. While the junta requested that its foreign minister Wunna Maung Lwin lead a delegation to the high-level U.N. gathering it will likely be Kyaw Moe Tun who addresses the world body on Sept. 27, diplomats said. Story continues The Myanmar military toppled Suu Kyi's government on Feb. 1, detaining her and other leaders. Security forces have killed hundreds of protesters since the coup and a shadow government last week declared a nationwide uprising against the junta. AFGHANISTAN SEAT Comparisons have been drawn between the situation in Myanmar and Afghanistan, where the Taliban seized power last month. However, diplomats said that unlike in Myanmar the ousted government crumbled after President Ashraf Ghani fled. "The situations are comparable in a way. Let's see," Russian U.N. Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia told reporters on Thursday when asked about the U.N. credentials of Afghanistan and Myanmar, noting that it would be up to the committee to discuss. Haq said that no requests for credentials for Afghanistan's U.N. seat for the 76th session had yet been received from either the current U.N. Ambassador Ghulam Isaczai, who was appointed by Ghani, or the Taliban. When the Taliban last ruled between 1996 and 2001 the ambassador of the Afghan government they ousted remained the U.N. representative after the credentials committee deferred its decision on rival claims to the seat. The decision was postponed "on the understanding that the current representatives of Afghanistan accredited to the United Nations would continue to participate in the work of the General Assembly," according to the committee report. The committee also appears to have the option of leaving a seat empty. In 1997 it deferred a decision on rival claims to represent Cambodia and left the seat empty for that session. A coalition government was formed in Cambodia the following year, which then filled the seat. (Reporting by Michelle Nichols; Editing by Mary Milliken and Grant McCool) A Dutch court ruled on Monday that Uber drivers in the Netherlands are effectively under an employment contract, in a fresh blow for the US ride-hailing giant's gig economic model. The judgment, in a case brought by a Dutch union, comes months after a similar UK court ruling on Uber drivers' rights led to the American firm agreeing a world-first union deal in Britain. "The legal relationship between Uber and these drivers meets all the characteristics of an employment contract," and drivers are covered by a collective labour agreement for taxi drivers, the Amsterdam District Court said in a statement. "This means that Uber is obligated to institute a labour contract with drivers... and therefore means these drivers are entitled to backpay in certain circumstances," the court said. The umbrella Dutch labour union FNV dragged Uber to court in December, saying that taxi drivers and Uber shared a labour agreement and Uber drivers often earned less than the minimum wage. Uber, which insists it simply provides a technical platform to link independent drivers and customers, said it would appeal the ruling. "We are disappointed with this decision because we know that the overwhelming majority of drivers wish to remain independent," Maurits Schoenfeld, Uber's Northern Europe general manager, said in a statement emailed to AFP. "Drivers don't want to give up their freedom to choose if, when and where to work." Uber in March in a world first said it was granting its UK drivers worker status, with benefits including a minimum wage, following a Supreme Court ruling. But elsewhere it has strongly resisted such a sea change in its business model, arguing that its drivers are self-employed freelancers. jhe/dk/lth Five teams will begin investigating a possible link between irregular menstrual cycles and the COVID-19 vaccine later this year due to reports of irregular periods after taking the vaccine. Some of the symptoms patients describe include painful periods, irregular menstrual cycles, and heavy bleeding. Some patients who are post-menopausal have reported their first periods in years. So far, there is no direct link between the vaccine and irregular menstrual cycles; however, no one investigated the possibility during the trial of the vaccine. NEW DATA SHOWS BENEFITS OF COVID-19 VACCINE FAR OUTWEIGH RISKS OF SIDE EFFECTS, CDC SAYS Because of this insufficient data, teams at Johns Hopkins University, Harvard Medical School, Boston University, Michigan State University, and Oregon Health and Science University will conduct studies of people of all ages and backgrounds who have not received the vaccine in order to study the cycles before and after the shot. The studies will be backed by the National Institutes of Health and will take approximately a year to complete. Researchers will assess the prevalence and severity of post-vaccination changes to menstrual characteristics including flow, cycle length, pain and other symptoms, said the NIH in a press release. Several projects also seek to unravel the mechanisms underlying the potential effects of COVID-19 vaccines on the menstrual cycle by examining immune and hormonal characteristics in blood, tissue and saliva samples taken before and after COVID-19 vaccination. Having an irregular cycle is not uncommon. Possible reasons include stress, illness, or lifestyle changes. Periods, including the length and flow of a menstrual cycle, can also vary widely. CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER Dr. Hugh Taylor, chairman of the department of obstetrics, gynecology, and reproductive sciences at Yale School of Medicine, said he has heard from his patients about a difference in their cycles after taking the shot. Story continues A lot of people have irregular menstruation for all sorts of reasons," Taylor told the New York Times. "So is this really different in people with the vaccine, or is it just that when people have it, they are linking it to the vaccine? Doctors are still encouraging patients to take the vaccine in the meantime, stating the drug is still effective, safe, and needed in order to end the pandemic. Washington Examiner Videos Tags: News, Coronavirus, Vaccination, women, Health, NIH, Studies Original Author: Misty Severi Original Location: Universities to study if irregular menstrual cycles and COVID vaccines are correlated E! News In her new book, Gabrielle Union opened up about the emotions she felt after Dwyane Wade welcomed a baby with another woman, which happened around the time they were trying to start a family. Sep. 13The Pueblo Planning and Zoning Commission on Wednesday recommended approval of a future development project planned for Downtown and worked on two others that will expand the city's borders to the south and north. The bulk of attention focused on the North Vista Highlands subdivision located north of Vision Hills Parkway and east of Overton Road in north Pueblo. The subdivision, initially approved in 2008, is owned by Gary Burke of Pueblo Sprout Development LLC, an Ohio-based company. Infrastructure work is in progress on the first 1,100-acre section of the development where plans call for the construction of single-family homes and apartment units. A total of 250 lots already are platted and 340 apartment units also are planned there. Residents who live in the area voiced concerns about the density of homes, their property values being diminished by the presence of less expensive homes, stormwater drainage and how the development's proposed metro district would operate. Residents were assured that even with a metro district the subdivision would still have to comply with all City of Pueblo ordinances. Owner representative and founder David Resnick of Castle Rock said the project always called for the building density that was proposed when the planned unit development initially was approved in 2008. He also pointed out that many communities in Colorado have subdivisions with less expensive homes built next to higher-end homes. "As it builds, I am sure there will be a lot of noise from University Hills (residents)," Resnick said. "I know they are not going to like having less expensive homes next to where they live, but they will be for people who cannot afford the homes they (University Hills residents) live in." After hearing testimony and questions from those neighboring residents, the commission recommended Pueblo City Council approve development amendments to allow for a water-saving ground cover on landscape buffer tree lawns as well as an amendment that will allow the formation of a metro district instead of a homeowners association. The board voted 5-1 with Patrick Avalos casting the lone "no" vote. Story continues It will be up to city council to decide the final outcome of the proposed amendments. The commission also gave unanimous approval recommending Pueblo City Council "OK" annexation of the Pueblo Springs Apartments project which encompasses 18 acres south of West 31st Street and east of North Pueblo Boulevard in south Pueblo. The future multifamily housing project will include a first phase of 200 apartment units followed in the future by a second phase of 110 units. "We are planning to go ahead and develop the project as soon as possible which is why we want to annex into the city," said property owner Emery Chukly. The commission also recommended city council approve rezoning for the Phase 2 plan for the Fuel and Iron Project's Holmes Hardware block at 400 S. Union Ave. Denver-based commercial real estate developers Nathan Stern and Zach Cytryn are undertaking a $15.3 million revitalization of the 1915 Union Ave. gem and surrounding property. On Wednesday Stern detailed plans for the 2.12-acre property south of B Street and west of Union Avenue which call for multifamily housing units, a child care center, a community garden and performance spaces. He said the multifamily housing will have between 20 to 32 apartment units. Following questions from the commission about fencing to block access to the railroad tracks, Stern said he will ensure there is site fencing to protect the safety of everyone who visits the property. The rezoning also will require a special use permit from the Pueblo Zoning Board of Appeals. Following the public hearing, Stern told the commission he appreciates "the considerable time and energy" that city staff has dedicated to helping the Fuel and Iron Project advance. Chieftain reporter Tracy Harmon covers business news. She can be reached by email at tharmon@chieftain.com or via Twitter at twitter.com/tracywumps. Heidi Wall cant bear to even look at her unpaid energy bills. The single mother from Citrus Heights lost her job at a private preschool at the start of the pandemic, and started sleeping on the couch to rent out bedrooms in her home to stay afloat. A cancer survivor whos received two stem cell transplants and is immuno-compromised, Wall cant go back to work with the virus still circulating. Unemployment benefits were helping, though she hasnt received a check in two months. The stress and anxiety of knowing she has a large debt, but being unable to pay it off, weighs heavily on Wall. My SMUD bill, I dont know, I have not opened it, said Wall, who stopped paying her utility bill in March 2020. I would assume its around $3,000. Unpaid utility bills in Sacramento have skyrocketed during the pandemic, reflecting another facet of the widespread financial impact of COVID-19 on the ability of residents to pay for basic necessities. About 100,000 Sacramento Municipal Utility District residential customers are behind on paying either part or all of their electric bills, according to CFO Jennifer Davidson. Thats out of roughly 564,000 residential customers SMUD serves, or nearly 18%. That amounts to about $60 to $65 million in debt stemming from unpaid residential bills since April 2020, though it fluctuates frequently. Typically, SMUD sees about $10 million worth of bills that go unpaid each year, though that number can peak to as high as $20 million over the course of the year before the utility helps customers through discounts and repayment plans. Davidson said in a statement that the outstanding amounts are not material enough to have negative effect on SMUDs near or long-term financial strength. Still, it is a staggering number, in line with trends across California and the United States where unpaid bills have ballooned for hundreds of thousands of families, disproportionately impacting low-income neighborhoods and communities of color. Story continues In February, the California Municipal Utilities Association estimated there are more than $300 million in unpaid bills to publicly owned electric utilities like SMUD. National Energy Assistance Directors Association executive director Mark Wolfe estimated last winter that up to $40 billion may be owed to utilities nationwide in unpaid bills by March 2021. Our new arrearage data shows that by then, individual unpaid bills may be as high as $1,500 to $2,000, which is as much as some customers pay for electricity in a year, Wolfe told Utility Dive in December. Since the pandemic began, SMUD has not shut off the power for residential or commercial customers because of unpaid bills, and has suspended late fees. It has also expanded its eligibility for discounts on rates a family of two adults and two kids making less than $4,400 a month qualify, for example. Because of the impact that this pandemic is having on our community, we want to ensure that our most vulnerable customers have access to power during these times, then-CEO and general manager Arlen Orchard said in a May statement last year extending the suspension through January 4. The suspension on disconnecting power for non-payment has been extended through the end of this year, with the utility encouraging customers to make payment arrangements or ask about discount rates. For residents like Wall, having power particularly through the sweltering summer heat was a lifesaver. In 2022, however, thousands will be faced with the prospect of paying past bills that they may not be able to afford. Even before the economic turmoil spurred by the pandemic, energy bills can often be a heavy burden on low-income homes, eating a large chunk of their income. A May 2021 report from UCLA researchers on unpaid residential water and electric bills in Los Angeles found that utility debt is unevenly distributed, with Black, Latinx, and low-income neighborhoods facing the greatest utility debt burden. To help reduce the debt burden, the state Legislature this year created a new financial assistance program with federal COVID-19 relief funds. The California Arrearage Payment Program includes nearly $1 billion in funding available to utility companies to apply for and cover unpaid energy debts owed by customers. Designed to help people with debt incurred between March 2020 and June 2021, nearly $300 million will be available to publicly owned utilities like SMUD. The California Department of Community Services and Development, which oversees the program, is still surveying utility companies to gauge how much to allocate to each utility. But SMUD has already submitted an initial application to the program, and expects to receive funding in the next few months to apply directly to customer bills. Active residential customers who may have their power shutoff because of unpaid bills will be prioritized first, followed by active and inactive residential customers with delinquent balances, and commercial customers with unpaid bills. The program means potentially thousands of SMUD customers seeing their unpaid bill significantly reduced, if not all-together erased. SMUD anticipates restarting its formal collections process in 2022 after we have received and applied funds from the CAPP program and any other funding sources to our customers accounts, Davidson said in a statement, while signing up residents for rate discounts and flexible longterm payment plans. We will also continue to monitor the pandemic and the related financial impacts and continue to act in the best interests of our customers and community, she said in a statement. The Daily Beast via Twitter/@mghnzillaMore than a thousand protesters demonstrated outside of a University of Kansas fraternity house on Monday night in an outcry against sexual assault that former students say has been regularly ignored and dismissed.The No Means No Peaceful Protest outside of the Phi Kappa Psi Greek house was fueled by allegations that a woman was drugged and raped at the frat house on Saturday night by a new undergraduate member. Adam Heffley, interim chief of police for the City of Lawr By Uday Sampath Kumar (Reuters) -Walmart Inc said on Monday it was looking into how a fake press statement announcing a partnership with litecoin, which briefly led to near 30% gains in the cryptocurrency, was issued by news release distributor GlobeNewswire. The fake press release touting the acceptance of litecoin as online payment by the world's largest retailer led to a sudden spike in its prices, but the gains faded quickly after Walmart issued a statement saying the press release was fraudulent. "Walmart had no knowledge of the press release issued by GlobeNewswire and there is no truth to it. Walmart has no relationship with litecoin," a company spokesperson told Reuters. GlobeNewswire published a notice to "disregard" the news release and said it had put in place enhanced authentication steps to prevent a similar incident from occurring in the future. "We will work with the appropriate authorities to request and facilitate a full investigation, including into any criminal activity associated with this matter," GlobeNewswire said in an emailed statement. Separately, the Litecoin Foundation said in a Twitter post it had no information on where the news release had originated. The foundation is a non-profit organization that promotes the cryptocurrency and is run by litecoin creator Charlie Lee, who told Reuters in an email that the hoax was being investigated but little headway had been made. Lee also said he currently owned only five litecoins and had little incentive to issue the fake announcement himself. Referring to a now deleted post by litecoin's verified Twitter handle sharing the fake announcement, Lee said: "It was our mistake for retweeting using @litecoin." "We will make sure to have stricter controls on our social media accounts so that something like this doesn't happen again." Reuters and other news outlets had reported on the partnership. Reuters withdrew its initial story. (Reporting by Uday Sampath and Praveen Paramasivam in Bengaluru; Editing by Arun Koyyur and Anil D'Silva) GOP Rep. Brian Mast. House Foreign Affairs Committee/YouTube A House hearing spiraled out of control when a GOP congressman asked misleading questions. He refused to let Secretary of State Antony Blinken respond and repeatedly shouted over others. "I do not wish to hear from you," GOP Rep. Brian Mast said even after his time was up. See more stories on Insider's business page. A House of Representatives hearing on Monday about the withdrawal of US troops from Afghanistan spiraled into chaos when a Republican congressman used his time to spread misleading information and shout over others even after he was told his speaking time was up. The House Foreign Affairs Committee held the hearing, at which US Secretary of State Antony Blinken testified about the timeframe surrounding the US's withdrawal of troops and the collapse of the Afghan government. When Rep. Brian Mast of Florida was up, he opened his questioning by referring to reporting about a phone call earlier this summer between President Joe Biden and Afghan President Ashraf Ghani. In the July 23 phone call, according to Reuters, Biden said Afghanistan had a "perception" problem indicating "that things are not going well in terms of the fight against the Taliban." "And there is a need, whether it is true or not, there is a need to project a different picture," Biden said, according to Reuters. Mast, a US veteran who lost both his legs in Afghanistan after a 2010 bomb blast, mentioned those comments Monday and falsely cited them as evidence that Biden "worked with the coward exiled president of Afghanistan to manipulate the intelligence about the Taliban." (Ghani fled the country as the Taliban took over the country in August.) Blinken pushed back on that characterization, saying: "What the president said to then-President Ghani in private is exactly what he said in public: that the issue was not whether Afghanistan had the capacity to withstand the Taliban, it's whether it had the will and the plan to do so--" Story continues Mast interrupted him, saying: "So you're saying the transcript was a lie, that it's false, it's incorrect ... he did not work to tamp down the intelligence on the Taliban?" "Absolutely not," Blinken said. "So, the transcript is incorrect?" Mast pressed. "That's your testimony today?" Blinken responded that Congress was already aware of what the intelligence said and its implications, but Mast continued to say that "everybody looking for an explanation about what happened and how everybody got it so wrong, how your administration got it so wrong needs to look at that as the most likely explanation: asking the president to manipulate the intelligence of what was actually going on with the Taliban." The Florida Republican then displayed photos of the 13 US service members who died August 26 after an Islamic State militant detonated a bomb at Hamid Karzai International Airport in Kabul, killing more than 200 people. This content is not available due to your privacy preferences. Update your settings here to see it. The House hearing devolved into chaos shortly after, as Mast said, "I do not believe whatsoever what you're saying about the administration not working to manipulate that intelligence." "Simply put, congressman, what you've said is dead wrong," Blinken said as he started responding, but Mast cut him off. "I do not wish to hear from you," he said. "I'm not yielding you a moment of time. I don't wish to hear your lies." This content is not available due to your privacy preferences. Update your settings here to see it. As Mast continued speaking over Blinken, the committee's chairman, Rep. Gregory Meeks, stepped in to say Mast's time had expired, but Mast kept going. "So has the secretary's," Mast said, but Meeks shot back, "The secretary can answer the question." "I didn't ask him a question," Mast said. "Yes, you did ask him a question," Meeks said. "I don't want to hear from the secretary," Mast said, but Meeks spoke over him and repeated that his time had expired. "He lies to us when he steps in front of the camera - that's what he does," Mast said as Meeks banged his gavel to restore order. This content is not available due to your privacy preferences. Update your settings here to see it. "People need to use common sense, Mr. Secretary," Mast said, before Meeks again cut him off. "The gentleman's time has expired," Meeks said. "We're here to hear from the secretary." "Not to hear lies," Mast said. Blinken at last had a chance to respond when Meeks yielded time to him over Mast's continued objections. "Thank you, Mr. Chairman," the secretary of state said. "Just to respond briefly: What the congressman said is simply wrong. Period. Second, I think virtually every member of this committee has had access to or been apprised of the intelligence assessments throughout the year, and you know what they were, you know what they are. And we will continue to provide those assessments and those briefings in the months ahead. "You've heard the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff say that he has not seen anything that indicated to him or to anyone else that the Afghan government and military would collapse in 11 days," Blinken added. "The director of national intelligence has said that even in the days leading up to the Taliban takeover, the intelligence agencies did not say collapse was imminent. This unfolded more quickly than we anticipated, including in the intelligence community. And I could go on. So what has been said and alleged is simply not true." Despite Blinken's response and Meeks' repeated reminders that his time was up, Mast again jumped in after Blinken's comments, saying without evidence that it "adds up" that the Biden administration manipulated intelligence surrounding the Afghanistan withdrawal. Read the original article on Business Insider COVID-19 vaccine booster shots may be available to all fully vaccinated Americans in a week, but an expert review by international scientists including some at the World Health Organization and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration says we may not need them. The review, published Monday in The Lancet, found vaccines remain highly effective against severe disease, including from the delta variant and other main variants. "Currently available studies do not provide credible evidence of substantially declining protection against severe disease, which is the primary goal of vaccination," said lead author Dr. Ana-Maria Henao-Restrepo, medical officer for vaccine research at WHO. WHO director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said last week that rich countries with large supplies of vaccines should refrain from offering booster shots through the end of the year and make the doses available for poorer countries. Originally, President Joe Biden said a third shot booster dose for people with healthy immune systems would be offered beginning Sept. 20 but walked that back slightly over concerns the announcement got ahead of recommendations from the FDA and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention advisory committees. Who will be eligible and when won't be decided until two key scientific advisory committees meet in coming days. Adrianna Rodriguez Also in the news: The Columbus Blue Jackets announced Monday that recently hired assistant Sylvain Lefebvre opted not to get a COVID-19 vaccine and will not be able to coach this season. Bill Bailey, a custodian at Kentucky's Lee County Elementary, died Sunday from COVID-19. Two weeks ago school instructional aide Heather Antle died from the virus. Two other staffers are hospitalized. Anyone attending an outdoor event with 500 or more people in Washington state is required to wear a face-covering, regardless of COVID-19 vaccination status, under a mandate effective Monday. Meanwhile, Washington state troopers, prison correctional officers, ferry workers and other public sector employees filed a lawsuit Monday to try to overturn Gov. Jay Inslees COVID-19 vaccine mandate. Story continues Four million students in Italy have returned to the classroom after summer break. All teachers and staff must have received at least one vaccine dose, have recovered from COVID in the last six months or tested negative for the virus in the previous 48 hours. And in Romania, almost 3 million students returned to schools, where authorities have mandated children wear protective masks. Britains chief medical officers said Monday that children 12 to 15 should be vaccinated against the coronavirus, despite a ruling by the governments vaccine advisers that the step would have only marginal health benefits. Today's numbers: The U.S. has recorded nearly 41 million confirmed COVID-19 cases and nearly 660,700 deaths, according to Johns Hopkins University data. Global totals: More than 225 million cases and 4.6 million deaths. More than 178 million Americans 53.8% of the population have been fully vaccinated, according to the CDC. What we're reading: After Candace Ayers died of COVID-19 on Sept. 3, her children and husband were heartbroken. They were angry, too. They decided to send a message in Ayers obituary that they hoped would change some doubting minds about vaccinations. Read more here. Keep refreshing this page for the latest news. Want more? Sign up for USA TODAY's Coronavirus Watch newsletter to receive updates directly to your inbox and join our Facebook group. Federal judge temporarily blocks Iowa's ban on school mask mandates Iowa school districts again have the power to enact mask mandates after a federal judge temporarily blocked a law banning them from doing so. U.S. District Court Judge Robert Pratt issued a temporary restraining order Monday blocking the enforcement of the mask mandate ban. Gov. Kim Reynolds signed the law at issue in May. It banned school districts and local governments from issuing mask mandates. The measure has been highly controversial as students return to classes and COVID-19 cases rise, spurred by the more infectious delta variant. Reynolds, a Republican, promised to appeal the ruling. Read more here. Stephen Gruber-Miller, Des Moines Register CDC cautions Americans to avoid travel to more countries The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Monday issued COVID-related travel alerts for another batch of destinations. The CDC raised Albania, Belize, Grenada, Israel, Lithuania, Mauritius, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Serbia and Slovenia to level 4, which signifies "very high'' COVID-19 levels and means travelers should avoid travel. Those who must travel, the CDC travel health notice says, should be be fully vaccinated. Read more here. Florida governor threatens fines for vaccine rules Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has threatened local governments with $5,000 fines per violation for requiring their employees to get vaccinated against the coronavirus that has overrun hospitals across the state. DeSantis said Monday that local municipalities potentially face millions of dollars in fines for implementing a requirement that their employees get a COVID-19 vaccine. Gainesville and Orange County officials say they still are going ahead with the vaccine requirements. Florida has been a national epicenter for the virus this summer: COVID-19 deaths in Florida account for more than 20% of the virus-related deaths across the country last week. Veronica Wolski, anti-vaccine activist, dies of COVID Veronica Wolski, 64, a vocal foe of COVID vaccines and masks, died Monday, lawyer Lin Wood announced. In recent days Wood had promoted a campaign to pressure a Chicago hospital to treat Wolski with ivermectin. The drug, primarily a parasite medicine used on horses and cattle, is occasionally prescribed for humans for parasitic worms, skin conditions and head lice, according to the Food and Drug Administration. The FDA has not authorized ivermectin for preventing or treating COVID-19 in humans or animals. "It is our responsibility to ensure that these medical murders stop NOW and the perpetrators be brought to justice," Wood said on the social media site Telegram. West Virginia Gov. Jim Justice lobbies for jabs amid state infection records West Virginia broke the rolling, seven-day record for new infections in a week on Friday, Saturday and then again Sunday, according to Johns Hopkins University data. Less than 48% of West Virginias adult population is fully vaccinated, the lowest of any state, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Gov. Jim Justice held a press conference Monday that included physicians who urged vaccinations and discussed the dangers and long-term effects of the virus. "You have got to listen to these people," Justice said. "These are really good people and they are really smart and they are trying to save your life every day." New York City public schools return to in-person learning New York City public schools welcomed back students for in-person learning Monday, re-opening schools fully for the first time in more than a year because of the coronavirus pandemic. Schools don't plan on offering remote options in hopes of getting students back in classrooms, despite the delta variant's spread across the country and increases in the number of children infected and hospitalized. New York City will require students and faculty to wear masks. The city mandated employees to get at least their first dose of a COVID-19 vaccine by Sept. 27. The return to normal for students in New York City comes as areas around the country wrestled with new case surges and mandates that both were impacting health care. A hospital in rural New York said it was pausing its maternity services as employees quit instead of getting the COVID-19 vaccine. Booster shots a week away but who will get them? In just a week, COVID-19 vaccine boosters could begin to be available to all fully vaccinated Americans. But exactly who will be eligible and when won't be decided until two key scientific advisory committees meet days before the Biden administration's Sept. 20 start date. That leaves little reaction time for health care system administrators like Dr. Tammy Lundstrom, chief medical officer for Michigan-based Trinity Health, which operates 92 hospitals and 120 continuing care facilities in 22 states. "We have our data team poised, ready to hit the button to help us identify all our patients who are ready for a booster," Lundstrom said. "We're anxiously waiting for guidance, as is everybody." Elizabeth Weise 'Long-haulers' wait for help after months of struggling with symptoms As many as 12 million Americans have taken months to recover from the coronavirus or are still struggling with symptoms. These "long-haulers" suffer from whats called Post-Acute Sequelae of SARS-CoV-2 infection, better known simply as long COVID. Theyre all waiting for help and for a better understanding of just what is making them so miserable. Dr. Stuart Katz is principle investigator of NYU Langones Clinical Science Core, which has been tasked by the federal government with leading the long COVID research activities of clinical sites around the country. "I do very much understand the feeling where your body is feeling a bit out of control and none of the doctors know why," Katz said. Read more here. Karen Weintraub New York hospital won't deliver babies after employees quit instead of getting vaccine A hospital in rural New York will not be delivering babies after employees quit instead of getting the COVID-19 vaccine. Six employees at the Lewis County Health System have resigned and seven more are unwilling to get vaccinated, meaning Lewis County General Hospital will stop delivering babies for the time being, according to reports. "We are unable to safely staff the service after Sept. 24," Lewis County Health System CEO Gerald R. Cayer said at a news conference. The move appears to be temporary. During the pause in maternity services, Cayer said the health system will focus on recruiting nurses to get baby deliveries back up and running. Read more here. Michelle Shen Biden's testing plan calls for discounted COVID-19 tests Consumers could soon get discounted coronavirus tests at Amazon, Kroger and Walmart as part of President Joe Biden's plan to significantly increase testing. The Biden administration said those three major retailers over the next three months will sell rapid, over-the-counter tests "at cost," a discount of up to 35% from retail prices. Biden's strategy calls for spending nearly $2 billion to procure 280 million rapid tests for long-term care facilities, community testing sites, homeless shelters, prisons and other vulnerable populations. Another 25 million free at-home rapid tests would be sent to community health centers and food banks. Companies say federal support to expand testing options is needed as the delta variant drives demand higher and manufacturers scramble to keep pace. Read more here. Ken Alltucker, USA TODAY What might increase vaccine willingness? Study may yield answers. As the U.S. battles COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy amid a surge in cases fueled by the delta variant, a new study co-authored by a New Mexico State University researcher examines how COVID-19 infections in social circles may influence vaccine willingness. In the study, Jagdish Khubchandani, public health sciences professor at NMSU, and a team of researchers conducted a national assessment of COVID-19 vaccine willingness among American adults based on COVID-19 infections, hospitalizations and deaths within their friend and family groups. "In this study, and in our prior studies, we have extensively studied COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy, and some factors repeatedly emerge as predictors of vaccine hesitancy," said Khubchandani, who has conducted multiple studies on COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy since late 2020. "Education, race and political ideology are the major factors, and we need more efforts to reach sections of our society that remain hesitant about the vaccines." Researchers found the rates of vaccine hesitancy differed significantly based on whether participants in the study had a close friend or family member who was affected with COVID-19. Read more here. Carlos Andres Lopez, Las Cruces News This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: No need for booster shots, some experts say: COVID updates Axios Recent data suggests that Moderna's coronavirus vaccine may maintain a higher effectiveness over time than Pfizer's.Why it matters: The effectiveness gap could always disappear with more data, and both vaccines remain very effective against severe disease. But if the gap does hold up, it raises questions about whether the two vaccines should be treated the same way policy-wise.Stay on top of the latest market trends and economic insights with Axios Markets. Subscribe for freeDriving the news: Se This is a huge thing that the nation has paid the price, Windell Ely said. That the people have set aside time and worked and put all their labor in to bring the bones of Stewart back home, where his heart was. Home, the place that, like Joseph, is where he wanted his bones buried no other place in the world. Windell Ely, who is a Vietnam veteran, said it was his duty to bear witness for both the dead and the living. Witness [so] that we never forget how dangerous this life is for all of us. We will never forget the dead, because if we do, then we actually kill them a second time. So, in the end, all thats left when we die from this place are our memories. My memory is of a young hero in my family that gave his life for this country. They fought, they died [so] that all of us could be free today. Weve got to remember the cost of war because its a great cost to have freedom like we have. He said each freedom enjoyed in the U.S. is owed to its military members and thanked the Navy members who attended the funeral for their service. I have a high respect today for you sailors who are seated here right now. I want you to know that. And I just admonish you to have in your heart the knowledge to know that many truly do appreciate you and what youre doing. Japan's government says more than 50% of the population has been fully vaccinated. Japan's vaccine rollouts began in mid-February, months behind many wealthy countries due to its lengthy clinical testing requirement and approval process. Inoculations for elderly patients, which started in April, were also slowed by supply shortages of imported vaccines, but the pace picked up in late May and has since achieved 1 million doses per day. Economy Minister Yasutoshi Nishimura, who is in charge of COVID-19 measures, told NHK public television's weekly talk show Sunday that about 60% of the population is expected to be fully vaccinated by the end of September, on par with current levels in Europe. The government is studying a roadmap for easing restrictions around November when a large majority of the population is expected to be fully vaccinated. That would allow fully vaccinated people and those who test negative to travel, gather for parties or attend mass events. The progress of vaccinations has helped reduce serious cases and deaths among older people, but infections from virus variants spread explosively in August among younger generations still largely unvaccinated, severely straining health care systems. Japan last Friday extended the ongoing state of emergency in Tokyo and 18 other areas until Sept. 30. It had been scheduled to end Sunday. The measures focus on requests for eateries to close early and not serve alcohol. Japan's coronavirus state of emergency has been extended in many parts of the country, including Tokyo and Osaka, through the end of this month. The extension came into force on Monday, in 19 out of the nation's 47 prefectures. Miyagi and Okayama prefectures emerged from the state of emergency and joined six other prefectures in implementing quasi-emergency measures that will also continue through September 30. The government plans to bolster the medical system through such steps as securing more hospital beds for coronavirus patients. It also aims to set up more facilities where COVID-19 patients can receive treatments, including oxygen administration. The government will urge people to refrain from travel across prefectural borders as the next week has two national holidays. Economic Revitalization Minister Nishimura Yasutoshi, who is in charge of the coronavirus response, appeared on Sunday in NHK's TV program. He said daily counts of new infections have been falling, but the number of patients with serious symptoms remains above 2,000, which continues to put significant strain on the medical system. Nishimura added more than 50 percent of Japan's population has received two shots of a coronavirus vaccine. The central government plans to continue pushing vaccine rollouts and other anti-infection measures in cooperation with local governments, so it can lift the state of emergency at the end of this month as scheduled. North Korea has developed yet another weapon that can put most of Japan within striking distance, this one potentially capable of evading missile defenses and delivering a nuclear bomb to a large chunk of the archipelago. The North announced Monday that it had test-fired new-type, long-range cruise missiles over the weekend, according to state-run media. The launches were the countrys first missile tests since March, when it fired off two short-range ballistic missiles. The countrys official Korean Central News Agency said the new missile, which it called a strategic weapon of great significance, had traveled for nearly two hours over North Korean land and air, ultimately hitting targets 1,500 kilometers away. The new weapon is also likely to play into the ongoing debate over Japan acquiring the capability to strike enemy bases. The issue has already been taken up by candidates seeking to replace outgoing Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga in the ruling Liberal Democratic Partys leadership election, which is scheduled for Sept. 29. The new missiles are believed to be nuclear-capable the use of strategic to describe weapons is a common euphemism for being able to carry such warheads though some experts said more analysis is needed. Three years have passed since a massive earthquake struck Hokkaidos eastern Iburi region, killing 44 people, but some hard-hit areas are still suffering from the aftermath of the disaster in the form of depopulation. There are four districts in the town of Atsuma Takaoka, Tomisato, Yoshino, and Horonai where a total of 29 people died due to landslides and other causes. Yet there is growing concern that these scarcely populated towns may disappear as their aging communities pass away. Many residents, most of them older, moved to central Atsuma after they gave up rebuilding their damaged homes. Now the population in the four districts has declined from about 220 before the earthquake to around 120. Reconstruction projects are underway to rebuild areas damaged by the earthquake, which recorded the highest intensity of 7 on the Japanese seismic scale for the first time in Hokkaido. Despite such projects, the prospect of reviving the community is bleak. Looking at a slope near his home that was damaged by a landslide triggered by the 2018 quake, Yutaka Hashimoto, 63, a farmer from the Takaoka district of the town of Atsuma, shares the bleak outlook. New Delhi: Lashing out at Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath for his Abba Jaan remark, Congress leader Kapil Sibal on Monday asked Adityanath whether he want an inclusive UP Or Divide and rule. Our Government wants: An inclusive Afghanistan. With his abba jaan remark. What does Yogiji want: An inclusive UP Or Divide and rule? tweeted Sibal. Our Government wants : An inclusive Afghanistan With his abba jaan remark What does Yogiji want : An inclusive UP Or Divide and rule ? Kapil Sibal (@KapilSibal) September 13, 2021 On Sunday, while launching several development projects in Kushinagar, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister targeted the Opposition parties especially the Samajwadi Party (SP) and alleged that the SP government used to eat up the ration of the poor, letting them die. He added that those who called Abba-Jaan used to benefit one community referring to Akhilesh Yadavs alleged preference towards Muslims. Why did the poor not get the ration before 2017? Because then the people ruling the state and the accomplice mafia used to digest the ration of the poor. Those who called Abba Jaan used to digest the ration and people used to die of hunger. Ration used to reach Nepal and Bangladesh. Today no one can swallow the ration of the poor. If swallowed, they will definitely go to jail, said Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister in Kushinagar. Assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh is scheduled for early next year. In the 2017 Assembly elections, the BJP won a landslide victory winning 312 Assembly seats. The party secured a 39.67 per cent vote share in the elections for 403-member Assembly. Samajwadi Party (SP) bagged 47 seats, BSP won 19 while Congress could manage to win only seven seats. The New York City Department of Housing Preservation and Development (HPD) has completed its latest affordable homeownership program in Brooklyn. Known as the Blake Hendrix project, the initiative introduces 30 new residential properties scattered across 13 different sites in East New York. Properties include 13 new homeownership opportunities and 17 affordable rental units, all reserved for low- and moderate-income households. The homeownership units range from one-bedrooms to three-bedroom accommodations and were designed by DeLaCour, Ferrara & Church Architects. Residents earning between 90 percent and 110 percent of Area Median Income (AMI) are welcome to apply for ownership. Homeownership offers a real sense of security to families, and a foundation for building a better life for their children and their community, said HPD commissioner Louise Carroll. By utilizing city-owned land, the Blake Hendrix development in East New York has created 30 new affordable homeownership and rental opportunities for New Yorkers looking to take root in their neighborhood. Blake Hendrix is the latest cluster of homes to be built through New Infill Homeownership Opportunities Program (NIHOP), which the HPD uses to transform formerly underutilized city-owned land into affordable housing properties. Total development cost for the project hovers around $13 million. The project received $6.1 million in New York City subsidies and $1.1 million from the New York State Affordable Housing Corporation. The Community Preservation Corporation and the Urban Investment Group within Goldman Sachs provides a $3.35 million construction loan through a joint funding partnership that was created to help finance affordable homeownership projects for moderate- and middle-income households in New York City. Shelter Rock Builders, also known as SRBuild, served as general contractor and co-developer. Affordable homeownership is a key piece of the puzzle to closing the wealth gap in our communities. An affordable home helps build equity over generations and provides long-term security and stability to hardworking families, said Robert Riggs, senior vice president and regional director at The Community Preservation Corporation. Were proud to help finance the Blake Hendrix project with our long-time partners at SRBuild, and my thanks to Goldman Sachs, Council Member Barron, and Commissioner Carroll and her team at HPD. Subscribe to YIMBYs daily e-mail Follow YIMBYgram for real-time photo updates Like YIMBY on Facebook Follow YIMBYs Twitter for the latest in YIMBYnews I told them to find people that were not injured and to order those individuals to help those that were injured in getting away from the area, Shang said. I said I would take the rear to ensure that everyone got out. The group started to put distance between themselves and Ground Zero. Before they could get very far there was more rumbling in the area. This time was from the second tower. It was time to seek shelter again. The closest building belonged to a telecommunications company. They found that the floor-to-ceiling glass doors to the office were locked. Terrified employees inside stared back at them as they screamed from outside. In response to the staff not making a move to open the doors, Shang did something that he said he had never done before and never did since. I took my military ID out and slammed it against the glass, Shang admitted. I need to speak with your highest ranking person with authority to let us in. After getting approval from their higher ups, the employees rushed to open the door. Once inside, the doors were re-secured behind them. The Council Bluffs Area Chamber of Commerce celebrated Leadership Council Bluffs Class 33 during the chambers annual mid-year luncheon at the Mid-America Center. Leadership CB members, have participated in 10 full-day sessions and completed a community trustee project while navigating through the COVID pandemic, chamber President and CEO Drew Kamp told the crowd at Thursdays event. ... We appreciate the flexibility and dedication of this class as we navigated through these uncharted waters together. According to the chamber, Leadership CB is designed to identify and develop potential leaders. This program connects individuals from diverse backgrounds to strengthen their leadership skills with a goal of bettering the community. Support Local Journalism Your subscription makes our reporting possible. {{featured_button_text}} This years graduates were: Theresa Edwards, US Bank; John Flaten, Telpner Peterson Law Firm; Katie Fourney, Share Omaha; Josh Kallsen, PowerTech; Gina Klein All Care Health Center; Mia Laustrup, Council Buffs Schools Foundation; Kenneth Mueller, HGM Associates; Susan Opperman, Olsson Associates; Sue Pitts, Iowa Western SBDC; Nikki Rauth, CHI Health Mercy Council Bluffs; Doug Reed, Pottawattamie County Emergency Management; Malena Rousseau, Iowa Western Foundation; Matt Saar, TS Bank; Abby Showers, Heartland Family Service and Cara Trede, Career EdVantage. We have used your information to see if you have a subscription with us, but did not find one. Please use the button below to verify an existing account or to purchase a new subscription. STORRS, Conn. (AP) At most of the largest U.S. public universities, students are under no obligation to be vaccinated against COVID-19. Some schools do require vaccines, but with leniency for those who opt out. Still others have expelled students who do not comply. Gurciullo has a degree in business administration and accounting from the University of Nebraska at Kearney, as well as four years of audit experience. She works for Manning and Associates in Geneva. I have three tax seasons under my belt, Gurciullo said, and am familiar with the tax laws. Gurciullo is working toward her public accountant certification, having completed one of four required exams. I am definitely overjoyed, Gurciullo said of the appointment. Whenever you want something, you fight for it, you go get it and you do get it, its a great feeling. She said there will be much to learn about the treasurers job. Im not saying its going to be easy, Gurciullo said. But Im ready for the challenge and really excited. Gurciullo said she has been looking for a reason to move back to her hometown of Maxwell, where she graduated from high school. This is a great opportunity to come back, Gurciullo said. I feel like Ive been through a lot and I can contribute a lot to this office. Gurciullo said she has a lot of pride in the community of North Platte. Viewed of Thank you for reading! On your next view you will be asked to log in to your subscriber account or create an account and subscribepurchase a subscription to continue reading. The Hill, a newspaper covering Congress, reports that business lobbyists are pleased that they have watered down President Bidens proposed tax increases on corporations and wealthy individuals. One source, identified as a lobbyist with ties to Senate Democrats, tells The Hill, The business community has made progress with certain Democrats on legitimate policy concerns with some of these proposals and their implications on the economy and international competitiveness. What are those policy concerns that have successfully swayed moderate Democrats? The article does not specify. We have the lobbyists assurance that they are legitimate. Though this may come as a shock, there is no actual requirement that lobbyists only advance legitimate policy concerns. They are perfectly free to advocate completely self-interested policy concerns as well. Indeed, this unsavory practice has been known to happen from time to time. Whats more, if the business lobbyists did happen to be pushing bad policy arguments simply because those arguments benefited the people who pay them, they probably wouldnt admit this to a newspaper. Instead, they would likely claim in public that their policy concerns are beneficent, even if they are, in fact, utterly venal. I dont mean to pick on The Hill, a paper that has supplied coverage of the Biden agenda that is in many ways superior to that found in bigger publications. Media catering to Capitol Hill insiders, like The Hill, have at least paid close attention to a significant development that has gained only fleeting notice in broader venues: Moderate Democrats have slashed President Bidens progressive tax agenda. Biden campaigned on a proposal to increase taxes on the wealthy by roughly $3.5 trillion over a decade. Nobody in Washington currently believes he will sign a tax hike anywhere close to that magnitude. The current predictions floating around Politicos tax newsletter is one publication that has used this estimate peg the total at around a trillion, give or take. The most striking thing about the decision by moderate Democrats to scale back Bidens plan by some three-quarters is that we have no idea what the rationale is. According to The Hill, the lobbyists have argued that Bidens plan would slow the U.S. recovery from the coronavirus recession. Its not clear what basis they have for this conclusion. If mainstream economists believe Bidens tax hikes would imperil the recovery, they arent saying so publicly. (As economists like Larry Summers did when they loudly warned that Bidens rescue plan would overheat the economy.) When the conservative American Enterprise Institute ran the numbers on Bidens full tax-increase proposal, it found a negligible effect on economic growth: reducing GDP 0.16 percent over the next decade, increasing GDP by 0.19 percent in the following decade, and reducing it by 0.18 percent over the longer run. All those numbers are so tiny they are rounding errors, tantamount to zero. One of the most persuasive arguments, at least judging from its results, is the lobbying campaign to preserve a notorious loophole called stepped-up basis, or, more colloquially, the angel of death loophole. Heres how this loophole works: Normally, if you sell an asset, like a stock, you pay tax on the profit. If you bought $1,000 worth of GM stock, and sold it for $2,000, youd pay taxes on the $1,000 capital gain. However, if you die and pass the asset on to your heirs, then all the gains that occurred before you die are wiped from the books (hence, angel of death). Your heirs will only pay tax on the gain that occurred after they inherited the asset. This exemption allows half of all capital gains to avoid any taxation, ever. The loophole is considered so ridiculous that conservatives often propose eliminating it as an alternative to increasing the estate tax. (Jeb Bush and Mitt Romney have both advocated eliminating the angel of death loophole.) Biden is proposing to eliminate the loophole, with the exception of a generous $1 million exclusion. (Most capital gains belong to staggeringly wealthy fortunes worth well over $1 million.) Former Democratic senator Heidi Heitkamp is leading a lobbying campaign on behalf of wealthy benefactors looking to save the angel of death loophole. Heitkamp tells The Hill, with a straight face, that the loophole is vital to protect an emerging entrepreneurial class within the Hispanic community and within the African American community, [who] wont be able to take advantage of these tax rules if it is eliminated. Bidens proposal includes protections for family-run businesses. That does not satisfy Heitkamp, who argues (in The Hills wording) that many Americans may think that wealthy and well-connected people will most likely benefit from any exemptions. And so, in the name of Americans who are cynical about well-connected people benefiting from special exemptions, Heitkamp insists we keep in place a notorious loophole that almost exclusively benefits massively wealthy heirs. Heitkampf is also so committed to combating cynicism that she has declined to disclose the identities of her groups donors. We can probably assume that theyre mostly the hard-scrabble Black and Latino small business owners she talks about so movingly. In place of any well-articulated public rationale, the moderate Democrats have instead put forward a transparently disingenuous pretext that their goal is to sign the infrastructure bill as fast as possible. The ten House Democrats, led by Josh Gottheimer, have insisted their goal in opposing the House budget is to get shovels into the ground as quickly as possible. No Labels, the anti-partisan group funded by wealthy financiers, is running ads pretending Gottheimers clique is supporting Bidens agenda, emphasizing the infrastructure bill and making absolutely no mention of the tax dispute. Many reporters have repeated Gottheimers account of his motives at face value. The Hills less-blinkered account, on the other hand, frankly notes, Business interests have Democratic allies in Sens. Joe Manchin (W.Va.) and Kyrsten Sinema (Ariz.) and the group of House moderates led by Rep. Josh Gottheimer (N.J.) all have expressed concerns about the size of the spending plan and potential tax hikes. Since budget rules require any permanent costs be paid for, and Biden doesnt want to increase taxes on households earning less than $400,000 a year, the size of his domestic policy legacy will be determined by how much new taxes on the rich he can get through Congress. His proposal is perfectly ample to finance a historic legacy. A handful of moderate Democrats are starving that legacy very, very quietly. If they had good reasons for their position, you would probably know what they were. Update: Axios Hans Nichols reports that the Congressional Democratic bill is likely to jettison several Biden proposals. Rates on corporate income and capital gains will rise, but less than Biden proposes. An increase in estate taxes now looks unlikely Raising the capital gains rate is facing the most internal opposition, and it could end up staying at its current 23.8%. James Middleton James Middleton/Instagram James Middleton and Alizee Thevenet Who better to speak about James Middleton's intimate weekend wedding than the man who prompted James and his newlywed bride Alizee Thevenet to say "I do"? "It was a very nice and very family ceremony," said Francois Arizzi, mayor of the idyllic hilltop village of Bormes-les-Mimosas who officiated the civil union inside the local town hall. After James confirmed the weekend affair in an Instagram post on Sunday, Mayor Arizzi spoke with local publication Var Matin on Monday, spilling details about the ultra-private nuptials in the south of France. According to Arrizi, "Prince William and Kate [Middleton] were there but they did not want to steal the show from the newlyweds, Alizee Thevenet and James Middleton, who is a very nice boy." In keeping with the casual spirit of the occasion, "Prince William did not have any formal attire but wore a beige and off-white suit," said Arrizi, who said Kate wore "a long dress of a very light green color." "I was able to interact with [William and Kate] in very poor English," the mayor quipped. "We talked about the charms of Bormes-les-Mimosas and its climate, banalities.... It was a simple moment, and I wasn't more impressive than that!" This content is not available due to your privacy preferences. Update your settings here to see it. Arrizi noted that "about 50 people" attended the ceremony, including Kate and James' sister, Pippa Middleton. William and Kate's children Prince George, 8, Princess Charlotte, 6, and Prince Louis, 3 were also in attendance. He explained that the wedding took place in Bormes because Alizee's family has recently acquired a property in the village and also revealed that the wedding party celebrated privately at an undisclosed nearby location after the couple exchanged vows. "Everything was organized with the utmost discretion," said mayor Arizzi. "They arrived by plane in Hyeres [Toulon] before joining Bormes. I was in on the secret, but I could not say anything. They had a security detail and we also reinforced security on our side!" Story continues "The bride and groom were very happy," he continued. "They were able to pose and take photos on the forecourt of the town hall, and the two dogs, who are at the origin of their meeting, were there. They then went to a private domain to celebrate." James Middleton James Middleton/Instagram James Middleton and Alizee Thevenet James, 34, broke the news of his long-awaited nuptials by posting that he had "married the love of my life surrounded by family, friends and of course a few dogs." "Words cannot describe how happy I am ," he added. The couple got engaged in September 2019, but their wedding plans were delayed several times. Kate's younger brother shared in May 2020 that he and Alizee had planned to get married that month but changed plans due to the COVID-19 pandemic. James Middleton James Middleton/ Instagram James Middleton and Alizee Thevenet James and the French financial analyst who is trilingual and grew up in Germany, Indonesia, Chile, France, Belgium and England celebrated one year of being engaged in September 2020 with a trip to Italy. Can't get enough of PEOPLE's Royals coverage? Sign up for our free Royals newsletter to get the latest updates on Kate Middleton, Meghan Markle and more! In August, they also took another major step in their relationship by purchasing a home together in England. "I think buying a house is up there with one of the most stressful experiences in my life," James posted on Instagram shortly afterward alongside a photo of all six of his pups Ella, Inca, Luna, Zulu, Mabel and Nala in front of a fireplace. James Middleton James Middleton/Instagram James Middleton and Alizee Thevenet "It's been a hectic few months moving in to our new home & we couldn't be happier," he added. "We are settling into our life in the country & the dogs their new home." A six-year-old boy who was the sole survivor of a cable car crash in northern Italy earlier this year is at the centre of a custody battle between his maternal grandparents in Israel and his paternal relatives in Italy. Fourteen people, including Eitan Biran's parents and younger sibling, died when the car slammed into a mountainside on May 23 after the cable broke. After the boy was released from a Turin hospital following weeks of treatment for critical injuries, Italian youth court officials ruled that the child could live with a paternal aunt near Pavia, in northern Italy. But the aunt, Aya Biran, told reporters on Sunday that the previous day, Eitan's maternal grandfather had taken the boy on an agreed day visit, then flew him without permission to Israel. She said the youngster had been undergoing both physical therapy and psychotherapy since his hospital release and was due to have follow-up medical visits this week, including one in Turin. "His bed is empty, his toys and clothes were left behind. His new desk, school backpack, notebooks, pencil case and books were ready" for his first day of class on Monday, she said. The aunt said that when the maternal grandfather had come to pick Eitan up for an arranged visit on Saturday morning, it was agreed that the boy would be back by dinner. But the aunt filed a police report on Saturday night when Eitan had not returned, Italian news report said. The maternal grandfather could not immediately be reached for comment. But a sister of Eitan's late mother denied that the boy had been snatched from Italy. "We did not abduct Eitan," Gali Peleg told an Israeli radio station. "We will not use that word. What happened is that we brought Eitan home." She would not say exactly where the boy was, only that he had arrived on Saturday. "We are caring for his emotional state and health," she added. Ms Biran, a doctor with her own children, told reporters that Eitan had Italian citizenship and had been living with his parents in Italy since he was a toddler. It was not immediately possible to confirm if the child also had Israeli citizenship but he reportedly had an Israeli passport. Story continues The aunt in Israel told the radio station that the boy "screamed from excitement when he saw us. He said, 'I'm finally in Israel'". She added that "everything we did was only for the good of the boy". Pavia prosecutors' offices were closed on Sunday and investigators could not immediately be reached for comment on Italian news reports that they were considering opening an investigation into the case. "I am certain and full of hope" that Israeli and Italian authorities will work together "to ensure his return home" to Italy, Ms Biran told reporters. Washington, PA (15301) Today Considerable clouds this evening. Some decrease in clouds late. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. Low near 60F. Winds light and variable.. Tonight Considerable clouds this evening. Some decrease in clouds late. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. Low near 60F. Winds light and variable. Washington, PA (15301) Today Cloudy early with some clearing expected late. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. Low around 60F. Winds light and variable.. Tonight Cloudy early with some clearing expected late. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. Low around 60F. Winds light and variable. General Hospital Days of Our Lives The Young and the Restless The Bold and the Beautiful This Week in Soaps history... September 14-18, 1998 This week on the US Daytime Soaps...Allie used David to elicit sympathy from Jake.Kit turned to Edmund for help.Jack had a flashback that disturbed him. Jack told Mike the story of Christine.Dixie confessed her feelings to Tad, thinking that he was unconscious.Raquel learned that Mateo was in Pine Valley. Raquel and Mateo met face-to-face.Hayley received devastating news. Palmer's car was found sinking in the river.Everyone thought that Palmer had faked his death.Rachel agreed to let Lila sell Mac's art collection.Vicky wanted to know what secret Jake and Marley were keeping.Amanda agreed to work with Cameron to get the Cory money back.Felicia warned Lila not to break Cass's heart.Julia discovered that David was planning to raise Lily's baby as his own so she did her best to protect Lily. When David was convinced that the baby needed to breast-feed to survive, David gave the baby up for just long enough for Julia to sneak Lily and the baby out of the cabin.James and Lucinda joined forces to find their children. Holden learned from the hospital that if Lily didn't have the baby by the time they were going to do the induction, there might be a problem. Holden fought Lucinda and James's plan to work together. James got an idea of where David could be.Margo had a blood test and found out that she was pregnant. While Margo was talking to Susan on the telephone, Emily listened in and learned the news. She called the TV station with a tip that "Detective Love" was pregnant with Eddie Silva's baby. She then made an appointment for Margo at an abortion clinic and sent the packet to Margo.Eddie had a serious discussion with Adam, after which Adam went home. Margo's half-sister moved in with the Hugheses.Brooke said her goodbyes to Grant in the hospital. Brooke and Eric had a second confrontation with Rick and Amber. They learned that Rick and Amber were engaged and planned to keep the baby. After being thrown out of Brooke's house -- again -- Amber went to Stephanie and asked if she could stay there.Lauren tried to pick up Pierce at Mannequins. Bailey used the crystal bell. Ridge had a frustrating evening with Taylor, which ended up with Taylor crying on Pierce's shoulder.Sami was arrested for Franco's murder and was sent to jail.After Hope fell off the end of the train, Stefano rescued her. Hope continued to play the role of Gina, and Stefano was pleased.Bo asked Greta to go to Salem. Billie stumbled on Bo and Greta in the catacombs. Billie befriended Greta, who saw the compact in Billie's purse.Vivian had a ghostly encounter with Jonesy, who warned her that she couldn't trust anyone.Carrie told Mike that she was committed to her marriage with Austin. Austin continued to support Sami, much to Carrie's dismay.Lucas began to wake up.Jax desperately searched for Brenda, but he was told there was no way she could have survived the crash. Brenda's death affected everyone in Port Charles.John, Jerry, and Jasper Jacks were all arrested.Emily received nude photos of herself in the mail.Vanessa guessed Cassie's secret. Instead of keeping her secret, as requested, Vanessa decided she had to tell Dinah.Ben lost hope and decided to leave town, but Blake told Ross the truth. Ross walked out on Blake; later, he learned that Holly had also known the secret and kept it from him. Ross turned himself in to the police.Harley became more involved with the nursery rhyme case; she set herself up as bait.Cassie read her obituary in the paper and received a nursery rhyme.Dinah was suspected. Hart told Dinah that he was going away with Cassie; then he told Cassie that he should stay around for Dinah.Mick mugged Jesse after he borrowed money from Buzz to pay back the loan. Mick took the money then told Jesse that he could have an extension, but he would have to pay twenty percent interest.Kelly offered to buy the Sun from "Rod" (Todd, faking DID).Jessica worried that she might be pregnant.Dorian and Lindsay held their gallery opening.Cristian's picture of Roseanne was displayed at the gallery.Blair drugged Max to get the tape.Drew learned that Barbara had bought back her own gun. Drew was killed, and Bo carried his body to the lodge. Cassie was shot. Barbara arranged to be her nurse. R.J. was questioned in Drew's murder.Kevin takes Eve to Jasmine Island, where he deals with his inner demons in the form of Ryan. Keven begins to remember hidden details from his past.Lucy and Scott search for Kevin which leads them to being held captive by drug dealers in Florida.Karen and Joe forego their plans to elope.Francesca learns of Cole & Olivia's affair while Olivia plans to get herself closer to baby Trey.Tim and Annie scramble to keep Maria's identity (who currently an amnesiac thinking she's a woman named Dana) a secret until Meg & Ben's wedding.As Micheal deals with his sterility diagnosis and Tyus' feelings for Vanessa, Virgina sneaks her way into a sperm bank to acquire some of Tyus' sperm.Katherine was devastated when Jill humiliated her at the party. Ryan and Jack carried Jill out. Katherine learned from Mitchell that Jill's claim might be valid.Victor bought the production company that produced The Leanna Love Show and fired Leanna; next, he swore vengeance on Michael.Victoria enjoyed telling Ashley that she was engaged, knowing that Cole hadn't told her himself. Victoria and Neil planned a night out with Victor and Nikki to share the good news.Olivia confronted Malcolm with her doubts about Callie. Callie was surprised when Trey showed up at the Crow's Nest.Tricia tried to spoil Nina's night out with her date.Grace watched as Tony flirted, then left, with a young girl.Nick invited himself to the parent-teacher night at Cassie's school, much to Cassie's delight.Alice continued to search for her daughter.Michael was kidnapped.Trying to be a bit more fancy with these posts as the week's go on. Hopefully I formatted the cut and all that correctly.... Source 3 and Source 4 Oh yes, we've got this Olivia still as well. Reply Thread Link she's got this Reply Parent Thread Link She's got something, alright. Edited at 2021-09-13 06:42 pm (UTC) Reply Parent Thread Link Just looked up this to see what its about and iseeee . Gregory Smiths brother is in this. I like Greg, hope hes not trash (cause I dont follow him closely- just like him from Zenon, Harriet, and Everwood,etc.) and he needs to be in more things. Edited at 2021-09-13 06:28 pm (UTC) Reply Thread Link I had such a crush on Gregory back in the day Reply Parent Thread Link I had no idea until now that the son from big love was gregory smith's brother Reply Parent Thread Link Well of course I didnt either bc I didnt watch but also didnt just found out he has an actor bro. Edited at 2021-09-13 06:57 pm (UTC) Reply Parent Thread Link Yep and on Big Little Lies too. A terrible actor, whew! Reply Parent Thread Link as far as i know he's cool. he mostly directs shows on the cw now Reply Parent Thread Link i met him (greg) once a long time ago (2005) and i was VERY drunk and he was nice to take a picture with me.i can not remember what i said to him, but my friends said he laughed. sooo... Reply Parent Thread Link i feel so bad for the cast of this film. harry styles fans are already being atrocious Reply Thread Link They are somehow worse than Swift and Evans fans (who are absolute monsters). Reply Parent Thread Link They've been trying to plant fake reviews to "sabotage" it for months now. All because their almost 30 year old fave got a girlfriend. Reply Parent Thread Link lol, I was wondering what the original comment meant! yikes. Reply Parent Thread Expand Link do they want it to fail just bc olivia is the director even tho harry is the lead therefore the official face of said failure? i'm confused. Reply Parent Thread Expand Link Well regardless of if its decent or not it will definitely be a tiny little pop culture moment so all I can say is Im excited for your ruthless comments! Reply Thread Link Triggering Reply Thread Link lol this 'we going to tiff 2022' confirmation. Reply Thread Link I hope this is the Dear Evan Hansen of TIFF 2022 Reply Parent Thread Link They think they'll get critical acclaim huh Reply Thread Link gawsh her dress/blouse is so pretty!!! Reply Parent Thread Link You got to look your best when you fight Giada Reply Parent Thread Link cant wait for everyone pretend this is gonna be an Oscar player with that date lmao Reply Thread Link It looks cool and I hope it does well so the haters lose their minds. Reply Thread Link The press Zoom tour is gonna be fun. Reply Thread Link That synopsis reminds me of Made For Love Reply Thread Link is it not the stepford wives...? Reply Parent Thread Link stepford was full on mind control and a whole new personality. made for love was about connecting minds so you always knew how the other felt. no idea what the hook is for this movie. Reply Parent Thread Expand Link Basically just with mind control instead of complete replacement wives. Someone said the idea was fresh but unless they've radically deviated from the original premise it's definitely a film that will rest more on the acting than the interesting, original plot. It's basically about the same thing all these films are about: misogynistic men who can't deal with women who aren't docile automatons and so come up with a way to control them and the woman who figures it out. Reply Parent Thread Link I read the script (although I heard they changed it up a lot) and found it interesting. That's a long wait though so I'm surprised she posted such a 'long' teaser. I would have expected a photo or poster or something with one year to go. Reply Thread Link [ spoiler ] - Jack and Alice (Harry and Florence) live the perfect 50s dream - she is a housewife he goes to work - Alice notices glitches and her friend is acting weird (this would be olivias character or gemma maybe?) - she finds out that she lives in a simultation and is hooked up to a virtual reality - basically her husband is an incel and theres a firm that helps you kidnap these women and erase their memories - then you can live in the virtual 50s reality and when men were men - in the end of the scrip theres a brutal scene where Alice tries to escape but she can barely walk due to being under for so long but in the end she manages to kill Jack Its been a while and it couldve been a fake scrip/they changed a lot but Reply Parent Thread Expand Link Interested to see what they changed tbh Reply Parent Thread Link Interesting interesting... Reply Thread Link Is the shocking twist going to be that it really takes place in the 2020's and these people are simply living as if it is the 1950's to forget the trauma of the last few years? Reply Thread Link If its not you should make this movie happen then Reply Parent Thread Link Omg that reminds me of the book Running Out of Time where the main character thinks she lives in the year 1840 but it's actually 1996 Reply Parent Thread Link I LOVED this book growing up! Reply Parent Thread Link Live From ASSP Safety 2021 Day 1 The first day of ASSP Safety 2021 went off without a hitch. Despite COVID-19 taking over last years conference, the expo floor was back in action this year in Austin, Texas the first day. After chatting with several different companies, they were pleasantly surprised to see this many people attend. Every booth had guests engaging with vendors. Demonstrations, speakers and more made Day 1 a hit, and theres even more to come on day 2 and 3! Follow OH&S coverage of the show so that you dont miss out at ohsonline.com/live. OH&S was excited to see that Columbia Southern University was constantly driving traffic to its booth to talk about all of its educational opportunities. Make sure that you head over to their booth (1348) to talk to their representatives about how you can start, or continue, your safety education at Safety 2021. Another booth OH&S stopped by was Moldex. The booth (1517) was packed with safety professionals looking to snag a N95 respirator from the company. Moldex is looking to reward those who are wearing their gear on the floor during the show with a $100 each hour. Make sure you are wearing yours. OH&S is also at Safety 2021! Make sure you stop by our booth (1525) to grab the most recent edition of the magazine! If you are unable to attend the show this year, you can follow all OH&S coverage at ohsonline.com/live. Russia has not raised its oil production as much as its increased quota under the OPEC+ deal has allowed in recent months. Estimates show that the leader of the non-OPEC group in the OPEC+ pact has not taken full advantage of the coalitions past two agreements about raising the production ceilings for members. The quotas are proportionate to baselines, which means that the biggest producers, Saudi Arabia and Russia, get the largest increases in their respective oil output when OPEC+ eases cuts. While OPECs top producer Saudi Arabia is strictly sticking to its quota, Russia is estimated to have been pumping below quota since Aprilthe month in which OPEC+ decided to gradually increase collective oil production by 350,000 bpd in each of May and June and by more than 400,000 bpd in July. Then in July, the OPEC+ group decided it would start returning 400,000 bpd to the market every month beginning in August until it unwinds all the 5.8 million bpd cuts. Russia, which gets to pump now 105,000 bpd more every single month, looks to be lagging behind other OPEC+ members in producing at quota, Bloombergs oil strategist Julian Lee writes in an opinion piece. All in all, analysts are speculating and trying to calculate Russias crude oil production based on the opaque data of its energy ministry. The Russian energy ministry reports each month a total figure for oil production for the previous month, without breaking it down between crude oil production and condensatea superlight oilproduction. After years of debates within the OPEC+ group, Russia has won an exemption not to consider its condensate output as part of the production cut agreement. Related: Iraq Secures New Investments In Its Booming Oil Industry The lack of a straightforward official production number for crude oil makes assessments about Russian crude production and its compliance with the OPEC+ deal difficult. Its a guestimate every month how much crude Russia pumps, and it is still a mystery whether it really struggles with ramping up crude production or its condensate output has fallen this summer. For example, in July, Russia saw its oil production rise for the first time in three months as OPEC+ continued to ease the output cuts and planned maintenance at some Russian oilfields ended. Russias crude oil and condensate production combined stood at around 10.46 million barrels per day (bpd) in July, up by 0.3 percent from June, according to Bloomberg estimates based on preliminary data from Russias Energy Ministry. Russian oil production is now estimated to have slightly declined in August, from 10.46 million bpd in July to 10.43 million bpd last month, according to Reuters estimates based on Russian energy ministry data in tons reported in early September. But this more than 10.4 million bpd includes what is estimated to be 800,000 bpd-900,000 bpd in condensate production in Russia each month. Related: 3 Bearish Catalysts For Oil This Fall Condensate output very likely varies seasonally with the natural gas production, Bloombergs Lee notes. If gas giant Gazprom has produced lower volumes of condensates along with natural gas this year, as appears to be the case, this could mean that Russias crude oil production increased in recent months, but was masked by lower total condensate output, Lee argues. Russias oil production this year is expected to be 1 percent lower compared to 2020, in view of the OPEC+ agreement, Energy Minister Nikolai Shulginov said at the beginning of this month. Russia expects its crude oil plus condensate production to return to pre-pandemic levels by May 2022. By then, and even after then, analysts will continue to assess whether Russia is struggling to boost its crude oil production as per the quotas under the OPEC+ agreement. By Tsvetana Paraskova for Oilprice.com More Top Reads From Oilprice.com: The surge of the Delta variant around the globe is set to partially delay oil demand recovery into the next year when robust economic growth and stronger recovery in fuel consumption will see global oil demand averaging 100.8 million barrels per day (bpd) and exceeding pre-COVID levels, OPEC said on Monday, raising its 2022 demand forecast by a shocking 900,000 bpd. Next year, oil demand worldwide is now expected to jump by around 4.2 million bpd compared to 2021, an upward revision of 900,000 bpd compared to last months assessment, OPEC said in its closely-watched Monthly Oil Market Report (MOMR) today. This year, total global oil demand remains unchanged at 96.7 million bpd for the whole of 2021. But the fourth-quarter demand was revised slightly down, by 110,000 bpd from the August estimate of 99.82 million bpd to 99.7 million bpd now, OPEC said in its September report. Oil demand in 3Q21 has proved to be resilient, supported by rising mobility and traveling activities, particularly in the OECD. At the same time, the increased risk of COVID-19 cases primarily fuelled by the Delta variant is clouding oil demand prospects going into the final quarter of the year, resulting in downward adjustments to 4Q21 estimates, the cartel noted. The lower estimates for the last quarter of 2021 mean that some of the demand recovery will be pushed into the first half of 2022, according to OPEC. Related: The Major Problem With EVs No One Is Talking About As vaccination rates rise, the COVID-19 pandemic is expected to be better managed and economic activities and mobility will firmly return to pre-COVID-19 levels. The revisions are based in both the OECD and non-OECD regions, with steady economic developments expected to support the partially delayed recovery in oil demand in various sectors, OPEC said in its 2022 forecast. Demand for 2022 was revised up by 300,000 bpd for OECD and by 600,000 bpd for non-OECD countries compared to last months outlook. Last week, reports emerged that OPEC could cut its 2022 demand forecast, but the organization now says it believes that the Q4 2021 weakness in demand would only delay the recovery to next year. By Tsvetana Paraskova for Oilprice.com More Top Reads From Oilprice.com: The strategic relationship between the House of Saud and the US Administration is worsening by the day, as shown by repeated unexpected changes in president Bidens approach to the Kingdom and its rulers. The US military debacle in Afghanistan, the pictures of which have been widely published, has caused severe stress in the minds of Arab leaders. While Washington repeatedly states that the Afghanistan move is not linked to broader US military and economic involvement in the Middle East (and North Africa), the chaos at Kabul airport has shocked the regimes of Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Egypt, and even Qatar. Washingtons unilateral actions in Afghanistan appear to have severely damaged the fundamentals of US influence in the Persian Gulf. If Afghanistan turns out to be a one-off event, there will be limited negative repercussions for Saudi Arabia, the UAE, and even Egypt, but some Washington insiders believe it is the start of something larger. All eyes are now focused on the US position in Iraq and its active involvement in Syria and Libya. Arab assessments are rather negative, expecting an all-out American military retraction in the coming months. Despite the use of honeyed diplomatic statements by the Biden Administration, the real developments on the ground are worrying. Saudi Arabia and Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman are sure to be on edge in the coming weeks. The US apparent decision to put its long-term strategic relationship with Saudi Arabia under pressure is a surprising one. It has been confirmed that the US has removed its most advanced missile defense system and Patriot batteries from Saudi Arabia in recent weeks. The removal of the defense system was done despite repeated requests made by Saudi officials and royals to keep the weapon systems in place to counter continued air attacks by Yemens Houthi rebels. The Yemeni rebels, who are officially designated as terrorists and widely known to be supported by Iran, have been stepping up their rocket and drone attacks on Saudi civil and commercial targets (airports and oil and gas targets) again. The US unilateral decision to redeploy the anti-missile systems and Patriots from Prince Sultan Air Base outside of Riyadh is remarkable, especially taking into account that most US-Gulf allies are worried about the fall-out of the Afghanistan disaster. Analysts in Riyadh, Abu Dhabi, and Bahrain are also very worried about possible new US plans to even remove large parts of the tens of thousands of American forces in the region, now in place as a bulwark against Iran and possible insurgencies. Bidens focus on his new military power theatre in Asia is the underlying basis for the ongoing troop movements. Most Gulf states, especially Saudi Arabia and the UAE, are especially worried due to the unsuccessful Iran JCPOA talks, leaving Tehran in a position to increase its nuclear programs. Related: Two Ways To Play The 107% Rally In Natural Gas For most Gulf Arabs, but also Egypt, the new Biden moves are a clear continuation of the Obama-Trump strategies, which shows a possible end to the US military and security involvement. Since Biden took office, the US-Saudi relationship has soured dramatically. Bidens pressure (or even perceived attacks) on OPEC to open up the valves as gasoline prices in the US went up, combined with his continuation of the JCPOA discussions have severely cooled Saudi (and Emirati) love for Washington. Bidens push to open up the 9/11 files in the coming weeks, the first batch having already been published, has only added to Saudi discontent. Washingtons obsession with MBS as the mastermind behind the Kashoggi murder has pushed the Kingdoms rulers into a corner. At the same time, US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin, who is on a tour of the Gulf, stated that he has indefinitely postponed his visit to Saudi Arabia. Officials at the Pentagon said that this was due to "scheduling issues", but no Saudi will believe that. The fact that the US SecDef was able to visit Doha, Kuwait, and even Bahrain, but not Riyadh is a clear affront. Saudi Arabia remains the most powerful US ally in the region, and recent US moves in the region are unlikely to go unanswered. Anger in Riyadh could become costly for Washington in the long run. Last week, Saudi Prince Turki Al Faisal, Saudi Arabias former intelligence chief and well-connected in Washington, warned the Biden Administration that the Kingdom and the Middle East need to be reassured of American commitment. He openly criticized a possible withdrawal of Patriot missiles from Saudi Arabia at a time when Saudi Arabia is the victim of missile attacks and drone attacks, not just from Yemen, but from Iran. A lack of trust is emerging that is sure to hold negative results for US and Western interests. Frederick Kempe, president of the Atlantic Council, stated in an opinion piece that the situation in Afghanistan threatens U.S. President Joe Bidens narrative that Washington is once again a reliable ally and partner, following the uncertainties that grew among them during the Trump administration. Bidens move to widespread declassification of documents relating to the September 11, 2001 attacks will also have major repercussions. Even if no anti-Saudi facts emerge, the continuing media and political barrage on the Kingdom is likely to force it to reassess its position. In the coming months, a major geopolitical and economic shift will emerge in the Gulf region. The already weakened US position is clear, and Biden does not appear to be enhancing American interests. Saudi Arabia, the UAE, and others will be looking for new power players, and some are already knocking at the door (Russia, China). While a complete loss of influence in the region is unlikely, the impact of statements coming from Washington has certainly diminished. The Kingdoms ongoing reorientation to the East is being pushed by Washington, opening the doors for Moscow, Beijing, and Delhi. OPEC+ policies will also be impacted by Bidens moves, as the Kingdom, Abu Dhabi, and Moscow hold new power in their hands. A stronger OPEC+ or China (Moscow/India)-GCC relationship will be more costly for Washington than Bidens Administration appears to understand. The Energy-Military-Economic Nexus still exists, but now with other players holding the strings. Ultimately, hydrocarbons still fuel the military and the global economy, and Biden is playing a dangerous game. By Cyril Widdershoven for Oilprice.com More Top Reads From Oilprice.com: Record breaking natural gas and electricity prices in Europe could be the harbinger of increased volatility in global commodity markets, according to Goldman Sachs. European energy pricing dynamics offer a glimpse of what is in store for other commodity markets, with widening deficits and depleting inventories leading to elevated price volatility, the investment banks analysts wrote in a new report carried by Bloomberg. Depleted natural gas inventories and low wind speeds have led to a surge in electricity prices across Europe, putting pressure on governments as consumers protest against soaring power bills ahead of the winter heating season. Electricity prices from the UK to Spain have jumped to all-time highs, people in Spain have taken to the streets, while prices across Europe so high could become a drag on the economic recovery from the pandemic. According to Goldman Sachs, Europes natural gas and electricity prices could rise even further, considering that gas levels in inventories are at a ten-year lowand not filling fast enoughjust ahead of the winter heating season that begins next month. [D]emand destruction is the only option to rebalance markets, of natural gas in Europe, Goldmans analysts said. Should supply continue to be lower than usual and the winter turn out to be colder than usual, Europes gas and electricity prices could jump further from already record levels, Goldman Sachs notes. Related: 3 Bearish Catalysts For Oil This Fall Higher prices from here would ration demand and thus curb energy-intensive industrial production, the investment banks analysts wrote. Power prices in the UK, Germany, France, and Spainsome of the largest economies in Europehave set records over the past week. The U.S. State Departments envoy for energy security, Amos Hochstein, said during a visit to Poland last week that he was concerned with the low natural gas supplies in Europe ahead of the winter season, which could be colder than usual. By Tsvetana Paraskova for Oilprice.com More Top Reads From Oilprice.com: Natural gas prices have hit their highest levels since 2014, outpacing oil and many other commodities. On Monday, natural gas futures were trading up 2.6% to $5.09 per million British thermal units (BTUs), their highest settlement price since February 2014. Natural gas prices are up 117.6% in the year-to-date, while the biggest nat. gas benchmark, the United States Natural Gas ETF, LP (NYSEARCA:UNG) is up 88.6% over the timeframe. The sticker shock is even greater in other key natural gas markets around the globe, with East Asian benchmark futures and European natural gas spot prices have climbed 4-5 times year-ago levels to $18 per MMBtu. Yet, some experts are now saying that this rally is far from over. Stan Brownell, an analyst at Argus Media, and Luke Jackson, an analyst at S&P Global Platts, figure that Henry Hub prices would have to jump to $10 or more to provide an incentive to fulfill domestic natural gas demand. That would mean a doubling of natural gas prices from current levels to levels last seen in 2008 when the U.S. produced about 40% less natural gas Natural Gas (Henry Hub) USD/MMBtu Source: Business Insider International natural gas demand is booming An unusually cold winter in Europe as well as a global rebound from Covid-19 have triggered strong demand and depleted natural gas inventories. Meanwhile, Hurricane Ida has knocked out a considerable amount of gas production, with 77% of oil and gas production still offline in the Gulf of Mexico. According to U.S. government statistics, natural gas inventories are currently 17% lower compared to a year ago and 7.4% below the five-year average. Related: Two Ways To Play The 107% Rally In Natural Gas To catch up to the five-year average storage level by early winter, U.S. natural gas producers need to inject roughly 90.4 billion cubic feet each week from now, about 40% higher than the five-year average weekly buildup clip. The latest data by the Energy Information Administration shows that nat. Gas inventories climbed 52 bcf last week, way below what is required to build enough stockpiles for the winter. Interestingly, the analysts note that U.S. consumption isn't really the driving force behind the strong price action. Indeed, according to data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration, domestic natural-gas consumption through June was in line with 2020 levels. The real culprit here is robust international demand for natural gas as well as a fast-growing U.S. LNG sector. In the first half of the year, the U.S. exported roughly 10% of its natural gas, or 41% more than a year ago. Normally, excess natural gas produced during the summer would go into underground storage. But that domestic stockpiling has been lower than normal, with producers exporting much of it as LNG. Source: U.S. Energy Information Administration Asia and Europe still need to stock up more to prepare for the winter, and much of their supplies will have to come from the U.S. because non-U.S. LNG exporters have mostly been down with maintenance-related snags. For instance, Russia, Europe's most important natural-gas provider, has been slowing its deliveries. Natural gas inventories in Europe are currently a whopping 16% below the five-year average and at a record low for September. Meanwhile, continuous unplanned outages at LNG export facilities in several countries, including Australia, Malaysia, Nigeria, Algeria, Norway, and Trinidad and Tobago, have contributed to increased demand for U.S. LNG. Europe's natural gas spot prices have historically been lower than prices in Asia; however, this year, Europe's natural gas prices are tracking Asia's spot LNG prices more closely to attract flexible LNG supplies from around the world to refill storage inventories. A severe winter in the U.S. could lead to domestic markets having to compete with hungry Asian and European buyers, thus driving prices even higher. The U.S. Henry Hub natural gas benchmark and U.S. LNG spot market prices have been lower than prices for international natural gas and spot LNG this year. This price difference has supported record volumes of U.S. LNG exports. U.S. LNG exports also increased because of new export capacity added in 2020. The final liquefaction units were commissioned at Freeport, Cameron, and Corpus Christi LNG, and the remaining small-scale units were placed in service at Elba Island LNG. The new units increased total U.S. LNG export capacity by a combined 2.7 Bcf/d for a total peak capacity of 10.8 Bcf/d. Similar to 2020, Asia remains the top destination for U.S. LNG exports, accounting for 46% of the total exports during the first half of the year. Asia was followed by Europe, which had a six-month average share of 37%. Exports to Latin America also increased, particularly to Brazil, which is experiencing its worst drought in more than 90 years. A severe winter in the U.S. could easily lead to an even crazier surge in natural gas prices. By Alex Kimani for Oilprice.com More Top Reads From Oilprice.com: Toyota is finally trying to get in on the electric vehicle (EV) revolution. The Japanese automaker has been dragging its feet for years, investing its time, money, and attention to lobbying against the spread of EVs while its rivals gave up the ghost and dove in. Now, Toyota is way behind and trying to catch up with a new investment of more than $13.6 billion into EV batteries. Toyota To Embrace The Electric Vehicle Boom Toyota is the worlds biggest automaker, but even their colossal industry sway couldnt slow the changing of the tides away from gas-powered engines. But they sure tried their hardest to do so. Toyota execs have downplayed or disparaged all-electric vehicles for years, and have yet to launch a single EV outside of China. Instead of focusing on battery-powered cars, Toyota has historically promoted hydrogen fuel cells and hybrids. This new investment thereby marks the end of an era for Toyota, and stands as a major victory for the EV industry. The company is investing 1.5 trillion yen (or $13.6 billion, as previously mentioned) into battery supply and research to be carried out by 2030. Investing in a reliable battery supply chain is paramount, as the EV industry is currently plagued by a shortage and the threat that the sector will run out of batteries entirely is a very real and present danger. In fact, its projected to happen by just 2025 if some major changes arent made in the immediate term, due to the increasingly rapid adoption of EVs and skyrocketing demand for lithium-ion batteries. A Bank of America Global Research report released in July announced: Our updated EV battery supply-demand model suggests the global EV battery supply will likely hit [a] sold-out situation between 2025-26, with its global operating rates reaching above 85%. Related: The Major Problem With EVs No One Is Talking About In fact, the lithium-ion battery sector is bogged down by a litany of problems that could eventually have very real and problematic geopolitical ramifications. These batteries are reliant on rare earth minerals, such as lithium and cobalt, which are finite resources only found in certain areas of the world. As it stands now, China controls up to 90% of the market for some of these essential ingredients. As the worlds hunger for EVs grow, Chinas chokehold on this essential part of the supply chain only intensifies, and Beijing has already shown that it is not afraid to use that power to sway international politics and diplomacy. It has even been speculated that we are headed for a clean energy resource war if superpowers -- most notably the United States and China -- dont play nicely. In the meantime, companies like Toyota are snapping up as many batteries as they can get. The companys chief technology officer Masahiko Maeda has said that Toyotas goal is to secure a supply of 200 GWh of batteries before the end of the decade. We are assuming that we will go beyond the 180 GWh worth of batteries that we are currently considering and will ready 200 GWh worth of batteries or more if the dissemination of BEVs is faster than expected, he was quoted by EV news outlet Electrek. According to their reporting, at an average of 60 kWh per battery pack, it would be enough for the annual production of more than 3 million electric cars per year. This is a huge change in tune for a company that has been outright antagonistic to battery-powered electric vehicles. In fact, even as Toyota moves forward with EVs, making a late bid to become competitive in a largely developed market, the company is concurrently lobbying the United States government to slow down the production and adoption of electric vehicles. Despite Toyotas best efforts, the Biden administration is continuing to push electric vehicles as a key part of its platform and as a central tenet of the infrastructure agreement and spending bill. On Friday U.S. Democrats announced a plan to significantly expand tax credits for EVs, with especially lofty subsidies for union-made models assembled domestically in a move that favors the nations Big Three automakers. Its no wonder that Toyota sent an executive to protest in the U.S. senate as it looks like they will once again fall behind in the overseas EV revolution. By Haley Zaremba for Oilprice.com More Top Reads From Oilprice.com: OPEC saw its crude oil production rise by 150,000 barrels per day (bpd) in August, data from secondary sources in the cartels monthly report showed, but even at higher quotas, the members part of the OPEC+ pact pumped less than estimated by tanker tracking surveys and less than the OPEC overall quota in the agreement. Total crude oil production from all 13 OPEC members averaged 26.76 million bpd in August, according to secondary sources OPEC cited in its closely-watched Monthly Oil Market Report (MOMR) today. The August production was 150,000 bpd higher than the July crude output, as the OPEC+ alliance returns more barrels to the market as per the latest deal reached in July. The increase, however, was lower than estimated in the monthly Reuters survey, which had pegged the rise at 210,000 bpd to average 26.93 million bpd, and even lower than the Bloomberg surveys estimate of a 290,000 bpd rise to average 27.11 million bpd. Despite the higher production, OPEC is actually pumping at some 10 percent below its overall quota for the 10 members bound by the OPEC+ pact, due to outages and technical difficulties in countries such as Nigeria and Angola, Bloomberg noted earlier this month. According to estimates by TASS based on OPECs secondary sources data in the MOMR, the cartel complied with the pact at 121 percent in August, compared to a compliance rate of 115 percent in July. OPECs data showed today the largest single rise in monthly production came from the cartels no. 2, Iraqnot from the top producer Saudi Arabia. Related: Why Hedge Funds Are Turning Bullish On Oil Again Iraq raised its crude oil production by 90,000 bpd to 4.056 million bpd. The Saudis increased output by 69,000 bpd to 9.488 million bpd for the second-largest increase, followed by the United Arab Emirates (UAE), which boosted production by 55,000 bpd to 2.777 million bpd. Nigerias production slumped by as much as 114,000 bpd, OPECs data showed, after Shell declared in mid-August force majeure on exports of the key grade Forcados. Crude oil production in the three OPEC members exempted from the cutsIran, Libya, and Venezuelawas little changed between July and August, according to the secondary sources in OPECs report. By Tsvetana Paraskova for Oilprice.com More Top Reads From Oilprice.com: The head of the UN atomic watchdog has called on Iran to provide explanations for the presence of uranium particles at several undeclared sites and to adhere to its legal obligations with regard to its nuclear program. The lack of progress in clarifying the International Atomic Energy Agencys questions concerning the correctness and completeness of Irans safeguards declarations seriously affects the ability of the agency to provide assurance of the peaceful nature of the countrys nuclear program, IAEA Secretary-General Rafael Grossi told the IAEA board of governors in Vienna on September 13, according to a transcript posted on the agencys website. "I remain deeply concerned that nuclear material has been present at undeclared locations in Iran and that the current locations of this nuclear material are not known to the agency. And I am increasingly concerned that, even after some two years, the safeguards issues outlined above in relation to the four locations in Iran not declared to the agency, remain unresolved," he said. Western powers must decide whether to push for a resolution criticizing Iran and raising pressure on it for stonewalling the IAEA at the meeting of the agency's 35-country board of governors. A resolution could jeopardize the resumption of talks to revive the 2015 nuclear deal between Tehran and world powers, as Tehran bristles at such moves. Under the Iran nuclear agreement, Tehran agreed to restrictions on its nuclear activities in exchange for the lifting of sanctions. But former President Donald Trump pulled the United States out of the deal in 2018, reintroducing painful economic sanctions. Iran responded as of 2019 by breaching many of the deal's core restrictions, like enriching uranium to a higher purity, closer to that suitable for use in nuclear weapons. Grossi reiterated that the IAEAs verification and monitoring activities have been "seriously undermined" since February, after Iran refused to let inspectors access IAEA monitoring equipment. The agencys confidence that it could maintain continuity of knowledge had been declining over time and had recently significantly further declined, he said, adding: This confidence could continue to decline unless the situation were immediately rectified by Iran. During Grossi's first visit to Iran since hard-line President Ebrahim Raisi took office in August, Iranian officials agreed on September 12 to allow international inspectors to service surveillance cameras at its sensitive nuclear sites and to continue filming there. Upon arriving back in the Austrian capital, the IAEA chief said the agreement was "a measure to allow time for diplomacy" while stressing it was not "a permanent solution." Talks between Iran and world powers over limiting Iran's nuclear program in exchange for sanctions relief have been idle since June. By RFE/RL More Top Reads From Oilprice.com: Football FOOTBALL 'A little bit of hatred, with a lot of respect': Husker fans excited to renew Sooner rivalry This Nebraska-Oklahoma game isnt likely to go down as another Game of the Century. It probably wont even be the game of the week. Although the top 10-ranked Sooners still bear some resemblance to Oklahomas juggernaut squad from the epic showdown a half-century ago, Nebraska has painfully fallen into college football irrelevance for the better part of a decade. Still, many Cornhusker fans look forward to Saturday, when two of the sports traditional bluebloods will renew their storied rivalry. Its not that Husker fans are delusional and expect a 30-point win, but the reason you play college football is for games like this, said Matt Honke, who produces a weekly Big Red fan podcast with three childhood friends from Columbus. These schools still mean a lot to college football. Its one of the great rivalries and one of the saddest moments when it went away. Six members of 1971 national championship team make Nebraska Football Hall of Fame Nebraska is celebrating the 50th anniversary of its 1971 national championship by inducting six members of that Husker team into the Nebraska Football Hall of Fame. Indeed, it will be the first meeting between the two teams since 2010, the year Nebraska announced that it was leaving the Big 12 Conference for the Big Ten. The teams actually stopped meeting annually in the 1990s a period in which the football shoe was on the other foot. Nebraska was at the top of college football, while the Sooners were going through times that on paper look remarkably similar to what the Huskers and their loyal fans are enduring now. Despite drama, Tom Osborne pleased to see Nebraska-Oklahoma game remain as scheduled One of Tom Osbornes final and most symbolic acts as Nebraska's Athletic Director was to secure the series with Oklahoma. Sam McKewon spoke with the former Husker coach about Friday's drama. Even if Husker fans arent particularly optimistic about this meeting, the game is rekindling memories of past heydays, when the games outcome almost annually determined conference championships and Orange Bowl bids. Many of those memories for NU fans are haunting ones, games in which Sooners whose names you came to despise delivered yet another gut-punch loss. For several years in a row in the mid-1980s, we lost in heartbreaking fashion to Sooner magic, said Dave Gaspers, one of Honkes partners on the Go Big Redcast. Theres a little bit of hatred, with a lot of respect, mixed in with that rivalry. The hosts of the "Go Big Redcast," from left, Matt "Mac" McGuire, Michael "Boomer" Blum, Matt Honke and Dave Gaspers. But in the biggest moment, the Huskers prevailed: the 1971 battle between No. 1 Nebraska and No. 2 Oklahoma that first put the game on the national map. Saturdays 11 a.m. game in Norman was scheduled to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Game of the Century. Players who were on both sidelines that day will return to take part in weekend festivities. Bill Kosch, who played defensive back for the Huskers in that game, is taking his two sons down to Norman to meet Friday night with the Sooner players he did battle with. Hes looking forward to that part. But with the Huskers still trying to find their footing in season four under coach Scott Frost, the game the next day admittedly has Kosch a little worried. I hope he turns it around, Kosch said of Frost and the Husker program. Its been painfully slow. * * * RICHARD JANDA, THE WORLD-HERALD Johnny Rodgers punt return touchdown in the 1971 game against Oklahoma is still one of college footballs signature moments. Nebraska and Oklahoma first met on the gridiron in 1912, and their second match in 1919 was played in Omaha. Starting in 1928, the schools played for 70 consecutive seasons. Nebraska dominated during those early leather helmet days, racking up a 16-3-3 mark against the Sooners. But Oklahoma then ran off 16 straight wins as Nebraska went into a post-World War II swoon. The lowly Huskers did shock Bud Wilkinsons Sooners in 1959, ending Oklahomas 13-year, 74-game conference winning streak. Its still one of the biggest upsets in Husker football history. But it wasnt until the Game of the Century that the teams became true archrivals. As the nations top two teams dismantled all comers that season, it soon became clear that a major storm was brewing on the Great Plains. THE WORLD-HERALD Nebraskas Johnny Rodgers delivered electrifying plays in the Game of the Century against Oklahoma, in which the Huskers prevailed 35-31. The Thanksgiving Day game in Norman matched the crimson Sooners record-breaking wishbone offense and the scarlet Huskers stingy defense. And before what was then the largest TV audience ever for a college game, it lived up to the hype. Early on, Nebraskas Johnny Rodgers pulled off a spinning, juking, darting punt return that remains one of college footballs signature moments. But the back-and-forth affair wasnt decided until Nebraskas Jeff Kinney, his jersey in tatters, bulled over the goal line with less than two minutes to play. Nebraska prevailed 35-31 and went on to win its second straight national title. Coleman I dont remember what I had for breakfast this morning, but I do remember Johnny Rodgers big run, said Sheila Coleman of Omaha, who grew up attending Nebraska games with her father. I remember my dad talking about it for weeks afterwards. The series arguably reached its pinnacle in the 1970s and 80s. Thats when teams led by legendary coaches Tom Osborne and Barry Switzer engaged in a series of hard-hitting, breathtaking battles in which their national title hopes were frequently on the line. THE WORLD-HERALD Jeff Kinney in the Game of the Century against Oklahoma. For many Husker fans, the most memorable games were also the most painful. So often, the Huskers would be clinging to a late lead, and then it would happen. Some Sooner like Elvis Peacock or Keith Jackson or Buster Rhymes, who you swore was in an OU uniform for at least a decade, would suddenly be running loose in the Nebraska secondary. The final seconds would run down on yet another Sooner shocker, and Switzer would break into a grin as wide as the state of Oklahoma. It was enough to make you want to throw up. I do remember some of those heartbreakers where my dad would get off of the couch, teach me some words and then go off into the garage to blow off some steam, Coleman said. To this day, if Nebraska is doing poorly in a game, my siblings will be texting and someone will say, Are you in the garage yet? RICHARD JANDA, THE WORLD-HERALD Jeff Kinney breaks free for a long run. Osborne lost his first five meetings with Oklahoma before breaking through in 1978. That 17-14 win wasnt secured until Jim Pillen now a candidate for Nebraska governor recovered a fumble by Heisman Trophy winner Billy Sims in the shadow of the NU goal line. Jubilant Husker fans tore down the Memorial Stadium goal posts. I have a piece of the goal post from that game, said longtime season ticket holder Kevin Ordway. There were a lot of heart-wrenching losses and some great wins. People today often talk about how respectful the OU-NU rivalry was, but theres some revisionist history there. During those days, there was likely no one in Nebraska more hated than Switzer. A World-Herald editorial once even called the Sooner coach a jerk. There was no love in our house for Barry Switzer, said Coleman, 58. Shatel: Why would Nebraska even consider dropping the Oklahoma game? On the 50th anniversary of the greatest moment in Nebraska football history, Tom Shatel wants to know why you would go from honoring the past to turning your back to it. But by the 1990s, the series turned sharply in Nebraskas favor. Switzer had stepped down in 1989, his lawless program in scandal. Meanwhile, Osborne was putting together near-unbeatable teams that went 60-3 over five seasons and won three national championships. I remember 69-7, 73-21, Gaspers said, recalling from memory the scores rung up against OU by the 1997 and 1996 Husker teams that were quarterbacked by Frost. I sat through every minute of those. In fact, the Sooners during those years suffered through their biggest football drought since Dust Bowl days. During a seven-season stretch from 1992 to 1998, Oklahoma lost 40 games the same number Nebraska has now lost in seven years under coaches Mike Riley and Frost. The Sooners also had five straight non-winning seasons during that time. The Huskers, facing a daunting schedule this year, are trying to avoid their fifth straight losing season. Although the series had lost some luster, it was still bittersweet for Husker fans in 1996 when the expansion of the Big Eight into the Big 12 ended the annual rivalry. The schools landed in separate divisions of the new league, with the downtrodden Sooners apparently unwilling to entertain the thought of keeping Nebraska as an annual cross-division game. Then with Nebraskas departure for the Big Ten, the game went away completely. REBECCA S. GRATZ, THE WORLD-HERALD Its been more than a decade since Nebraska and Oklahoma last played, which is why so much excitement has built up for the reunion for the 50th anniversary of the Game of the Century. The final meeting between the teams in 2010 was appropriately another high-stakes affair, as Bo Pelinis Huskers coughed up an early 17-0 lead to lose 23-20 in the Big 12 championship game. In many ways, that game marked Nebraskas last appearance on college footballs big stage. The slumbering Nebraska program is now in the midst of its worst stretch since the late 1950s. Still, Husker fans were excited when it was announced in 2012 that the old rivals would meet again in 2021 and 2022. The 44-year-old Gaspers said its still the rivalry that he judges all other sports rivalries by. Did Scott Frost want out of Oklahoma game? Past Bill Moos statements help explain what happened Did Scott Frost actively try to get out of this season's Oklahoma game? Past statements from former Husker A.D. Bill Moos given to The World-Herald help explain what happened. Thats why many fans also found it hard to believe when reports surfaced in March that Nebraska was trying to get out of the game. In response to news reports, NU officials acknowledged that the school had explored finding an opponent to play in Lincoln that weekend but ultimately committed to playing the game. Gosh, how the mighty have fallen when our favorite game is now a game were afraid to play, Ordway said. Hes glad its now game on for Saturday. And hes not the only one. RICHARD JANDA, THE WORLD-HERALD Johnny Rodgers signals to Jerry Tagge that he's open on Nebraska's final drive of the Game of the Century. Honke, who took his 9-year-old son to his first Husker game a week ago, said its important for the next generation to understand Nebraska-Oklahoma and the important place the rivalry holds in college football history. Now the 44-year-old is bound for Norman with some college buddies. And though Oklahoma is understandably a big favorite, Honke isnt heading south without any hope for his Huskers. He and his podcasting buddies who through some unfortunate timing have yet to see a winning football season since launching in 2017 frequently tell their listeners that all the traditional powers have gone through rough patches. It just takes the right coach and right team to get momentum swinging the other way. In Nebraskas case, we still hope its Frost, he said. Theres nothing more I would like to see than a victory in Norman to get that started. Lawler said he still is hearing of health care providers who are having a hard time finding beds for patients both non-COVID and COVID-positive ones who need a higher level of care. One health care provider in south-central Nebraska said she contacted the transfer center Thursday, seeking a bed for a patient who had been intubated but was otherwise stable. She was told the transfer center could not accommodate unstable patients for transfer. She and two other staff members made 17 calls before finding an ICU bed for the patient in Iowa. Khalilah LeGrande, a spokeswoman for the Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services, said in an email that the transfer center is working the way in which it was designed and that the requirements have been clearly outlined to the providers. A spokesman for Bryan Health in Lincoln said the health system is routinely at capacity. At midnight Sunday, the hospital had 51 intensive care patients for its 50 ICU beds. Cory Shaw, Nebraska Medicines chief operating officer, said the health systems capacity situation hasnt changed over the past six weeks. The Nebraska Medical Center keeps a few beds open for emergencies, but to do that it has accepted limited transfers from other facilities. Struggling through several setbacks after lung cancer surgery, Mike Boyle had a question Friday for his daughter who is a physician and a fellow member of the Douglas County Board. His question to Maureen Boyle was: Whens the agenda for Tuesdays County Board meeting coming out? He said he wanted to participate, she said. Mike Boyles mind was still good and his drive to do his part as an elected official was still strong, but his body gave out Monday morning after he was rushed to the Nebraska Medical Center the night before. Boyle died at age 77, ending a long career in public office that saw him come back from being recalled as Omaha mayor in 1987 to serve 24 years on the Douglas County Board. The cause of death was complications from pneumonia that developed during Boyles recovery from the successful cancer surgery in August, Maureen Boyle said. His death came 2 years after that of his wife, Democratic Party leader and longtime Nebraska Public Service Commissioner Anne Boyle. The colorful, emotional, and usually affable Mike Boyle was being remembered by Republicans and fellow Democrats as a politician who wore his heart on his sleeve, fought for the little guy and strove to do his best to serve the public. KALISPELL, Mont. (AP) The U.S. Forest Service has given preliminary approval to a plan for road-building, logging and other forest management measures in Montana's Swan Valley with the goal of reducing fire danger and enhancing habitat for several federally protected species, the agency said. The project area is located on U.S. Forest Service lands on both sides of Montana Highway 83 between the communities of Condon and Swan Lake. Species such as Canada lynx, bull trout and whitebark pine face unprecedented risk from climate change, exotic pathogens and all the associated ecological impacts, and failure to act will most likely result in their continued decline, Flathead National Forest Supervisor Kurt Steele wrote in a draft record of decision published last Friday. Steele added: A warming and drier climate, combined with the legacy effects of fire suppression, requires active vegetation management, and the scientific knowledge applied to this decision has been shown to be an effective prescription to mitigate these risks. A fire at a one of the nations largest beef processing plants appears to have spared the main production area, so the impact on the overall market is likely to be limited. While the blaze was burning at the JBS plant in Grand Island, Nebraska, that normally slaughters about 6,000 cattle a day, industry observers feared there could be a similar impact to when a fire disrupted operations at large Tyson beef plant in Kansas for months in 2019. Even a temporary shutdown in such a large plant will have an effect over the entire industry, said Bill Bullard, CEO of the R-CALF USA trade group that represents farmers and ranchers. The fire halted work at the plant Monday, and officials were still assessing the damage. But JBS spokeswoman Nikki Richardson said the company expects to resume operations at the plant Tuesday because the fire did not affect the main production areas. Firefighters were called to the JBS plant shortly before 10 p.m. Sunday, Battalion Chief Scott Kuehl said, and arrived to find flames in the rendering area. The six-alarm fire kept firefighters at the plant overnight and late into Monday morning as the fire spread into the ceiling and walls. No injuries were reported. Gov. Pete Ricketts called the current session for the purpose of redrawing district boundaries for Congress, the Legislature, the Public Service Commission, the Supreme Court, the University of Nebraska Board of Regents and the State Board of Education. Hilgers said Attorney General Doug Peterson has been asked to give an expedited opinion about whether LB 12 would fit within those parameters. As an attorney, Hilgers said he believes the bill does not fit within the call and that, if the Legislature goes ahead with the bill, it could risk a court challenge. A similar bill was introduced 10 years ago and was considered as part of the redistricting process. However, that process took place during a regular legislative session. Lawmakers are doing redistricting during a special session this year because the pandemic delayed census numbers getting to the states. Sen. Julie Slama of Sterling raised another concern. She noted that LB 12 has an emergency clause, meaning that if it were passed, it would take effect immediately and would require lawmakers to start over on redrawing districts. I like everything hes doing. Hes not backing down from anything, said Pat Sharp, a retired high school teacher from Pender, Nebraska. He has guts and fortitude, said Susan Brown, a retired telephone company worker from Omaha. Former Gov. Kay Orr, one of several key Nebraska Republicans who attended, wouldnt say who of the three impressed her most. She said she arrived with a preference but after hearing them was less sure. When asked if their favorite would change if former President Donald Trump got into the race, most people said they would have to wait and see. Id vote for him in a heartbeat, Brown said. But Nebraska City Police Chief David Lacy, who attended the event in civilian clothes, said he didnt think that the former president was best positioned to reunite the country. One of the loudest rounds of applause from the audience of deep-red Nebraskans came when Ricketts told them he has been talking with fellow GOP governors and Nebraska Attorney General Doug Peterson on a strategy to push back against the egregious overreach of Bidens vaccine mandate. LINCOLN State Sen. Carol Blood of Bellevue on Monday formally launched a bid for the Democratic nomination for governor in 2022. Shes the first Democrat to enter the race to lead a state thats been led by Republicans for the last two decades, and she centered her message on overcoming partisan divides. On the State Capitols steps in Lincoln on Monday, Blood praised the states unique one-house legislative body, in which she serves. It works, she said, because it depends on collaboration among policymakers. Unlike the states cooperative unicameral, Blood said many in Nebraskas government have taken an us vs. them stance similar to what has been seen across the U.S., which she said is killing our democracy. I know we can do better and see opportunities for effective change, she said. We can begin to make things better by building relationships and bridging these divides. We can transform division and contempt into understanding and connection. Jane Kleeb, chair of the states Democratic Party, told The World-Herald that shes not aware of any other Democrats who plan to seek the nomination. Humble organizes Hurricane Ida Relief Fund It is time for Humble and Lake Houston to pay it forward. The city of Humble has organized a Hurricane Ida Relief Fund to assist Golden Meadow a three-square-mile village in Lafourche Parish almost directly south of New Orleans and located practically in the Gulf of Mexico. Little remains unscathed in Golden Meadow, according to media reports, after Hurricane Ida blew through the town Aug. 31. Houses no longer have roofs. Mobile homes are turned on their sides if not ripped up. Electrical power lines are down everywhere. Ida is the second most damaging and intense hurricane to strike Louisiana, just behind Hurricane Katrina. The city of Humble is requesting Humble and Lake Houston residents bring items to a donation drop off at the Humble Civic Center parking lot on Friday, Sept. 17, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., and Saturday, Sept. 18, 8 a.m. to noon. Needed are: batteries (all sizes but especially AA and AAA); tarps; extension cords; cleaners/bleach; cleaning supplies; plastic storage containers; gas cans; and box fans. Items not needed: no clothes; no furniture; no mattresses; and no food or water. Financial donations can be made through the HAAM website donation link, haamministries.org. Designate the donation for Hurricane Ida Relief. The devastation and the devastation caused to Louisiana signal that it is payback time for Humble and Lake Houston in a positive way. When Harvey slammed us, help came from everywhere, recalled Jennifer Wooden, director of the Humble Civic Center which became ground zero for Lake Houstons rescue and relief efforts. We opened the civic center and, within an hour, one meeting room was filled with supplies. Within a couple hours, the center was full of supplies and evacuees. We had almost as many volunteers as evacuees. It was beautiful to see everyone come together, and now we want to do that for our friends in Louisiana, said Wooden. During Harvey, Humble City Manager Jason Stuebe had gathered key city officials including department heads and first responders as well as essential community leaders to assist in the recovery effort. He assembled that same team to respond to Hurricane Ida. I certainly feel that we have that skill set and are ready to respond to the devastation that our Louisiana friends are facing, said Carole Brady who was executive director of Family Promise, a not-for-profit that addresses homelessness, when she joined Stuebes Hurricane Harvey team. Our role in Harvey was to disseminate assistance where there was the greatest need, said Brady. Now, as executive director of HomeAid Houston, the official charity of the Greater Houston Builders Association, Brady has joined with Stuebe, Wooden, Millie Garrison, who is executive director of Humble Area Assistance Ministries, and United City Church of Humble to establish Hurricane Ida Relief. Brady is reaching out to builders and suppliers to assist in purchasing items. Our builders and suppliers are very generous. They will pay it forward, she said. We have been so blessed not to be hit with a major hurricane recently but, when we were, our Louisiana friends and, in fact, communities and organizations from everywhere came to our assistance, said Brady. Now it is our turn. Humble Mayor Norman Funderburk knows how devastating hurricanes are to Golden Meadow. The Funderburk family was living in Golden Meadow when Hurricane Betsy devastated the town in 1965. Before we settled in Humble, we lived for 18 months in Golden Meadow where my dad worked in oil and gas for Gulf Oil, the mayor recalled. I attended 7th and 8th grades there and I can recall Hurricane Betsy, much like Ida, coming right through Golden Meadow. That was my first real experience in a devastating hurricane. Funderburk also recalled two weeks without power. The roof ripped off the school. Devastation everywhere. I just felt, after Ida and Golden Meadow once again being torn up, well, this was a time when we can help our neighbors who have such needs, said Funderburk. Funderburk and Humble residents are particularly interested in paying it forward because they were the recipients of the generosity and kindness of a similar city and circumstance during Hurricane Harvey. Former Humble Mayor Merle Aaron received a message from the mayor of Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio, who had seen the devastation Humble received from Harvey and wanted to help. Cuyahoga Falls residents packed two trucks with bleach, blankets, mops, all the essential items needed after a hurricane, and drove them from Ohio to Humble. The Cuyahoga Falls mayor even came to Humble to help clean up. It is time for us to pay it forward to Mayor Joey Bouziga and the citizens of Golden Meadow, said Funderburk. When the truck or trucks are filled with the generosity and kindness of the citizens of Humble and Lake Houston, former Golden Meadows resident and now Funderburk will be riding shotgun Sunday, Sept. 19, as he told The Tribune, To pay it forward to our Golden Meadow neighbors. The Hurricane Ida Relief Fund is sponsored by the City of Humble, Humble Area Assistance Ministries, United City Church of Humble, and HomeAid Houston. The Tribune is providing media assistance. For more information, contact the Humble City Center, 281-446-4140. John McDonald rescues the most vulnerable of abandoned dogs The sight of Oscar and his littermates was heartbreaking. They were stuffed into a tiny crate and dumped on the side of the road just off FM 2100 and Plum Grove Road near Huffman. Scrawled on a piece of paper were the words perros libres free dogs. They were in such bad shape, recalled John McDonald. Once I got them healthy and crate-trained, the whole litter went to foster families in the Madison, Wisconsin area. McDonald was born in Mexico, grew up in New England and attended college in Ohio, eventually earning his MBA in Arizona. I have lived and worked all over, including three years in China, he said. Eventually, he found his way to Houston and started Jades Legacy in New Caney. The dumped/abandoned/neglected dog problem here is terrible. I couldnt walk away, he said. He humbly describes himself on his website as a Crazy, multilingual, dog-training, dog-rescuing, MBA, Buddhist, rugby-playing, distance-running, music-enthusiast guy who abandoned the corporate grind to work with dogs. He founded Jades Legacy, a 501(c) (3) nonprofit organization with the mission to rescue the most vulnerable of dogs, get them healthy, train them and find them homes. I have a board of directors that review my QuickBooks, he said, and my biggest support is my steering committee. They helped me through a capital campaign to build 10 beautiful indoor/outdoor kennels. I started Jades Legacy a couple years ago, he recalled. I had always rescued and my dog training business generated enough revenue to support the three or four dogs I might have at a time. But the dumped dog and abandoned puppy problem is so prevalent in New Caney where he lives that McDonald found himself going broke trying to help and place all the abandoned dogs that he found. He filed for nonprofit status to accept donations. As for the name, Jades Legacy, it honors a Gordon setter McDonald rescued when he was still working in downtown Houston in the corporate world. Jade was a tough cookie. I had to earn her trust. Once I did, she was such an amazingly sweet and intuitive dog, he said. She obviously was bred as a hunting dog but, for some reason, was neglected. She was skin and bones when I adopted her from Oklahoma. Once we started working on agility, she just blossomed and became a proud, gorgeous setter. McDonald estimates he has rescued more than 100 dogs. Usually, I see them trotting down FM 1485 or stuffed in a crate on the side of the road, he said. I have bought pups from people hanging out in parking lots who, on a whim, were selling the pups to anybody. I often get a text, too, from neighbors who see stray dogs or puppies and give me the location. McDonald says the three dogs he hasnt adopted out are because two of them he fell in love with and the other has a fatal heart condition than cant be fixed. So she is staying here for however long she has, he said. Ironically, puppies are pretty easy to say goodbye to, he said. They are resilient and are adopted quickly by great families. The dogs I always start crying about are the ones I find with heartworm, mange, whatever malady. I nurse them to health for four to five months and so I grow very attached to them. McDonalds attachment to his rescues is understandable. He names each one of them and he has a naming system, too. I have themes, usually from music, movies, television shows, he admitted. I named dogs after characters from Sanford and Son, The Golden Girls, actors from film noir and silent films and from tons of Frank Zappa songs. I have a Mo and Herb right now. And an Ophelia who was named after a song by The Band. McDonald rescued Greta and her six puppies. Now Greta is enjoying her forever home with Larry and Cynthia Shiflet. Which leads us to Greta, which McDonald rescued along with her puppies out in Huffman. Greta, by the way, is named for the legendary screen actress Greta Garbo. Cynthia Calvert Shiflet, owner of the Tribune, and husband, Larry Shiflet, had lost their precious Cash suddenly one late afternoon. We were beside ourselves over his passing, Cynthia recalled. I spent days online looking at shelters, rescue groups and professional dog breeder sites. But nothing was working. Then, in the middle of one night, it occurred to me to call our vet, Cynthia said. I felt they may know of a dog in the area. Larry called them the very next morning and, 10 minutes later, they called back about Greta. Greta was the mom of six, all found by McDonald in a dilapidated house down a lonely old country road. Just an hour later, we met John and Greta in the vets parking lot, said Cynthia. I know he had intended to keep her, but he met us anyway and we brought her home. She is perfect. Small and black, just like our Cash, and so very smart. Greta was heartworm positive, which required several stress-filled months of care and she was in desperate need of a spa day. Her long curly hair stood straight up or out, It was hilarious, said Cynthia. John named the whole family after 1930s movie stars. Hence, we have Greta Garbos namesake. It fits her perfectly. Like everyone who works with McDonald, the Shiflets are amazed at his dedication and devotion. He posts frequently about dogs he has rescued and then finds them all homes, said Larry. Just a quiet yet huge presence in our community. Doing such good work. I often think about Greta alone with six tiny puppies in an abandoned house. Thank God, John found her and we were led to her. McDonald works closely with Lolas Lucky Day, a dog rescue group in Houston that finds homes for rescued dogs in Wisconsin where the animal overpopulation does not exist, according to their webpage. Greta would have gone to Wisconsin too, if not for the Shiflets. Managing a one-man operation isnt easy. If I do another capital campaign, I might be able to build some more, hire some help and take a vacation one day, he said. It has been a long time, with just me, since Ive been able to visit family or go to the beach for a day. Oh, about Oscar, the abandoned puppy that McDonald found on FM 2100, rehabbed, and then sent to Wisconsin for adoption. He received an email from the family that adopted Oscar. The family explained how their special needs son and Oscar were inseparable, said McDonald. They thanked me and sent me really touching photos of the two best friends playing and napping together. McDonald recently built 10 kennels but often is at capacity. He accepts in-kind donations like potty pads, bowls, puppy kibble and the like. McDonald also owns Zen Dogs in New Caney, where he trains and boards dogs; he provides in-home training, too. Whether it happens in-home or at our board and train here, you will get the best from your dog, he said. Sometimes, all it takes is letting a dog be a dog. Reach McDonald at jadeslegacy.org or friend him on Facebook, facebook.com/jades-legacy-119257206141437. ST. PAUL, Minn. The leader of an Illinois anti-government militia group who authorities say masterminded the 2017 bombing of a Minnesota mosque was sentenced Monday to 53 years in prison on several civil rights and hate crimes for the attack, which left a community terrified. Emily Claire Hari, who was previously known as Michael Hari and recently said she is transgender, faced a mandatory minimum of 30 years in prison for the attack on Dar al-Farooq Islamic Center in Bloomington. Defense attorneys asked for the minimum, but prosecutors sought a life sentence, saying Hari hasn't taken responsibility for the attack. Victims also asked for a life sentence for Hari. U.S. District Judge Donovan Frank said the evidence clearly showed Hari's intent was to "scare, intimidate and terrorize individuals of Muslim faith" through a sophisticated and premeditated attack which he said is contrary to United States' founding beliefs that all individuals should be able to practice their religion freely. "Diversity is the strength of this country," Frank said. "Anyone who doesn't understand that doesn't understand the constitutional promise of this country that brings a lot of people here." "Anything less than 636 months would post disrespect to the law," the judge added. Hari made a brief statement before she was sentenced Monday, saying, "For how blessed my first 47 years of life were, I can't complain about what the last three have looked like ... considering my blessed and fortunate and happy life, I can't ask the judge for anything further." She also said the victims who testified during Monday's hearing have been through a "traumatic ordeal" and she wished them "God's richest blessings in Christ Jesus." Hari was convicted in December on five counts, including damaging property because of its religious character and obstructing the free exercise of religious beliefs. Mohamed Omar, executive director at Dar al-Farooq, and others gave victim impact statements on Monday that included asking the judge to impose a life sentence. They described their shock and terror at the attack. Many members were afraid to pray there and some never returned. Mothers were scared to bring their kids to the mosque, which also serves as a charter school and community center. "I felt really scared because I was going to start school in the same building soon and we lived like six blocks away from the mosque," said Idris Yusuf, who was 9 years old when the bombing happened. "I was scared because if these people could do this to our mosque, what's stopping them from coming to Muslim people's homes too." Several men were gathered at Dar al-Farooq for early morning prayers on Aug. 5, 2017, when a pipe bomb was thrown through the window of an imam's office. A seven-month investigation led authorities to Clarence, Illinois, a rural community about 120 miles south of Chicago, where Hari and co-defendants Michael McWhorter and Joe Morris lived. Authorities say Hari, 50, led a group called the White Rabbits that included McWhorter, Morris and others and that Hari came up with the plan to attack the mosque. Prosecutors said at trial that she was motivated by hatred for Muslims, citing excerpts from Hari's manifesto known as The White Rabbit Handbook. McWhorter and Morris, who portrayed Hari as a father figure, each pleaded guilty to five counts and testified against her. They are awaiting sentencing. It wasn't initially clear how the White Rabbits became aware of Dar al-Farooq, but the mosque was in headlines in the years before the attack: Some young people from Minnesota who traveled to Syria to join the Islamic State group had worshipped there. Mosque leaders were never accused of any wrongdoing. Hari's attorneys wrote in court filings that she was a victim of online misinformation about the mosque. Assistant federal defender Shannon Elkins also said gender dysphoria fueled Hari's "inner conflict," saying she wanted to transition but knew she would be ostracized, so she formed a "rag-tag group of freedom fighters or militia men" and "secretly looked up 'sex change,' 'transgender surgery,' and 'post-op transgender' on the internet." Prosecutors said gender dysphoria is not an excuse and said using it "to deflect guilt is offensive." In their request for a life sentence, prosecutors asked for several sentencing enhancements, arguing the bombing was a hate crime led by Hari. They also say Hari committed obstruction when she tried to escape from custody during her transfer from Illinois to Minnesota for trial in February 2019. Hari denies trying to flee. Hari, a former sheriff's deputy and self-described entrepreneur and watermelon farmer, has written self-published books, including essays on religion, and has floated ideas for a border wall with Mexico. She gained attention on the "Dr. Phil" talk show after she fled to the South American nation of Belize in the early 2000s during a custody dispute. She was convicted of child abduction and sentenced to probation. Before her 2018 arrest in the mosque bombing, she used the screen name "Illinois Patriot" to post more than a dozen videos to YouTube, most of them anti-government monologues. Hari, McWhorter and Morris were also charged in a failed November 2017 attack on an abortion clinic in Champaign, Illinois. Plea agreements for McWhorter and Morris say the men participated in an armed home invasion in Indiana, and the armed robberies or attempted armed robberies of two Walmart stores in Illinois. Love 0 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 0 After being released from jail this summer while awaiting a ruling on his deportation case, Cesar Elizarraraz feels blessed to be home in Crystal Lake and planning a backyard wedding with his fiancee. After coming to the United States without authorization as a boy, and getting into trouble as a teenager, Elizarraraz had lived and worked here for decades without an issue, until a recent misdemeanor led to his imprisonment and the threat of being deported. He was issued an indefinite delay of his removal from the United States but he still worries that his plans could end at a moments notice. The 40-year-old has become an example of the issues at stake in the national debate over the jailing of people accused of immigrating illegally. The issue has come to a head in McHenry County, one of three counties in Illinois that jail immigrants. Elizarraraz was held there for nearly two years. Officials supporting detention argue that it ensures that immigrants show up for court hearings to decide whether they may legally stay in the country. Immigrant advocates say jailing people waiting for their cases to be ruled on is cruel and wasteful, and needlessly breaks up stable, hardworking families. This spring, immigrant advocates collected more than 2,000 names on a petition to end the practice in McHenry County. After hours of fierce argument, the McHenry County board voted 15-8 to keep housing detainees in the jail. But this summer, Gov. J.B Pritzker signed into law a measure that prohibits local jails from entering into contracts to hold detainees for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. The Illinois Way Forward Act would end the practice in McHenry, Kankakee and Pulaski counties as of Jan. 1, 2022. On Sept. 1, McHenry County States Attorney Patrick Kenneally filed suit in federal court to overturn the state law, arguing that it unconstitutionally violates federal law that allows such contracts. While Kenneally acted without the county board weighing in, the Kankakee County Board voted to join the suit, though the prosecutor there was not involved. Kenneally maintains the state law unconstitutionally conflicts with federal law, the supreme law of the land, and interferes with federal responsibilities. McHenry County Board Chairman Mike Buehler supported the lawsuit, noting that the board supported continuing the contract. The county board would have to consider how to fill a $7 million hole in its budget next year if the contract ends, he said. I think we can all agree that immigration could use some reform in this country, but this legislation does nothing to effect that change, Buehler said. This (end of local ICE detention) would separate families and force them to travel to other states. McHenry Countys agreement to jail immigrants began in 2003, and the federal government provided some funding to help pay for expansion of the jail. For the fiscal years 2016 to 2020, the McHenry jail housed an average of 240 detainees a day, for which ICE paid it about $8 million a year. Likewise, Kankakee reported that it housed an average of 122 ICE detainees a day for fiscal years 2017 through 2020, taking in $4 million a year. Those numbers fell last year due to detention being reduced as a precaution against COVID-19. Pulaski County officials have opted to end their contract to detain immigrants, ICE disclosed. Three detainees there were released, while advocates called for the release of about 50 more, who were expected to be transferred to other detention centers, the Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights announced. This isnt the first time the counties have challenged state law on immigration. McHenry County Sheriff Bill Prim and Kankakee County Sheriff Mike Downey were among four Illinois sheriffs who filed suit in 2020 challenging the Illinois TRUST Act, which prevents them from detaining anyone based on immigration status without a court order. The sheriffs argued that the TRUST Act puts law enforcement officials in an impossible position by forcing them to choose between federal and state law. At issue were ICE detainers, a request that requires local police to hold for up to 48 hours someone whom ICE reports may be in the country illegally, while federal authorities confirm their immigration status. That suit was dismissed, just as another suit accusing Prim of not following the law was dropped. Fred Tsao, senior policy counsel for the Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights, said that a federal court dismissed the sheriffs suit. In the new case filed by Kenneally, Tsao said detainees should be freed while waiting for rulings on their cases rather than being shipped to jails in other states. We call into question the entire need to maintain a detention system thats costly and inhumane, he said. The Coalition to End the ICE Contract in McHenry County issued a statement that the lawsuit confirms county officials true priorities, money and authority, and underscores their willingness to sacrifice marginalized people for their own gain. The Coalition calls for the end of all forms of immigration detention, the warm welcome of refugees and asylum-seekers, and for a path to citizenship for all undocumented people in the United States, the statement says. The debate comes following a hard-line approach by former President Donald Trump, under whom deportation orders nearly doubled in fiscal year 2019, to 90,000. ICE reported holding more than 25,000 people in detention nationwide as of August. Trumps administration had justified detention as a way to fight crime and combat immigrants failures to appear in court. While some administration officials claimed much higher rates of absenteeism, the absentee rate for completed cases averaged 38% for fiscal years 2011 through 2020, according to the Congressional Research Service. However, a UCLA analysis of all immigration cases, including ongoing matters, found a 17% absentee rate and that those with lawyers missed even fewer hearings. And of those ordered deported in absentia, 15% reopened their cases and had their removal orders rescinded suggesting that many never received notice or faced difficulties in getting to court. Syracuse University also reported that almost 80% of ICE detainees have no criminal record, and many of the others have only minor offenses, including traffic violations. Immigration hearings are civil matters, and any immigrant charged with a crime goes through a separate process and may be held in criminal court. The scope of the issue is growing. In the past five years, the number of pending immigration cases more than doubled, to nearly 1.3 million. As one alternative to detention, ICE had about 118,000 immigrants in Alternatives to Detention programs, such as electronic monitoring, as in Elizarrarazs case. President Joe Biden has promised to reset immigration policy. His administration issued guidelines this year that prioritize cases involving suspected terrorism, border arrests, and those with aggravated felonies who pose a threat to public safety. But the guidelines exclude cases where a crime is over 10 years old and not the reason for a recent apprehension. As for Elizarraraz, he limited his comments about his case on the advice of his attorney. But he confirmed his account as told to Borderless Magazine, that he came from Mexico as a 13-year-old in 1993, with a family friend and his two younger brothers. His father was living in Crystal Lake at the time, and had applied for legal immigration status under President Ronald Reagans 1986 Immigration Reform and Control Act. At age 18, Elizarraraz got involved in a fight, and later pleaded guilty to aggravated battery. After a brief return to Mexico, he ended up living and working in shipping in Crystal Lake, where he has five children and plans to marry their mother this month. His fiancee, Kristin Glauner, was among those who spoke against ICE detention at the county board hearing this spring. After fixing and reselling used cars, Elizarraraz pleaded guilty in 2019 to operating as an unlicensed car dealership, a misdemeanor. ICE reinstated a previous deportation order, and he was held in McHenry jail until his release this summer, with a temporary delay of his removal pending further review. Weve been through hell, he said. In a statement to supporters, Elizarraraz admitted his mistakes getting involved with a gang as a teenager, but said he was able to turn his life around. I ask that I be given the opportunity to be judged based on the person that I am today and not the young lost teenager I was 25 years ago, he said. The system of ICE detentions and deportations continues to paint people like myself with a broad stroke. It is time for a change that humanizes people and keeps them from becoming a target for the sake of profit. In response to questions by the Tribune, an ICE official said the McHenry and Kankakee detentions will continue for now. The agency will review noncitizen detainees at the Pulaski jail on a case-by-case basis for alternatives to detention or transfer to another detention facility. Officials didnt identify the location of those facilities, but they could be inside Illinois this year, then presumably would be outside the state next year if the state law holds up. Love 0 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 0 EDWARDSVILLE Suicide is a public crisis, and people need to be willing to talk about it, to those who are considering it and the survivors of those who have. That was one of the key messages from the first Madison County Suicide Prevention Awareness event held in the Madison County Administration Building on World Suicide Prevention Day. September is National Suicide Prevention Month. Friday's event included officials talking about statistics and people who have suffered the loss of a loved one or were saved through the help of a friend. Herbert Clay, president of the Madison County Mental Health Board, said the community recognizes the "grave challenge" of reducing suicide and is committed to providing necessary resources. "Suicide is a public crisis," he said, adding it is the 10th leading cause of death in the U.S., a fact echoed by other speakers. Madison County Coroner Steve Nonn started his comments by asking for a for a show of hands of those who have lost loved ones to suicide. "Yeah, me too," he said, adding there is a need to create more awareness. "The numbers do tell a shocking story," Nonn said. "Every 40 seconds someone takes their life, according to the World Health Organization. That's an estimated 800,000 people each year, although the WHO says its probably more than 1 million." "This is a national crisis for us as a nation," Nonn said. In the past five years, his office has recorded 200 suicides: 53 in 2017, 49 in 2018, 34 in 2019 and 31 in 2020. Victims have ranged in age from 17 to 91. So far this year, Madison County has had 31 suicides, with its victims ranging between 18 to 84 years old. "So we are a reflection of the nation," he said. "Nobody is immune from this "Families are always overwhelmed and they're shocked," Nonn said. "They are a victim and they blame themselves: 'Why didn't I see this? What could I have done better?'" He said our society must address the "myths" of suicide "the notion that these people were cowards who couldn't face up to their problems, or that they were selfish, 'How dare they do this to us and to me,' and leave their loved ones behind." Another myth, he said, is that people who make a suicide attempt are seeking attention. "What's the grandest one we hear? People who say they're going to commit suicide never do," Nonn said. "Oh yes they do," he said. "I can tell you because we've handled almost 200 of these suicides and almost every one of them, they had talked about suicide in the past. "If somebody's telling you they are thinking about suicide, they are not looking for attention; they are looking for help," Nonn said. "Help them." He said people need to know where to find help, both for themselves and others. "Awareness is the most important part of all of this," Nonn said. "This is why we're here today: to remember these people, to mourn these people, and to do better in the future." Katie Wilson, a suicide survivor, talked about how a friend helped her, and the need to be there for those considering suicide. "In 2016, I went to dinner with a friend," she said. "I came home and I was sitting in my room and said, 'You know what? I'm done. I have nothing left to live for.' "I had graduated from college and had done everything I thought I could do to that point," she said, "I was thinking of all the ways I could end my life. "I also knew there were plenty of things I could do to get help," she said. Wilson said she called a friend and told him to take her to the hospital, "'cause I'm not safe and I need to be somewhere where I'm safe. "He was there for me, and I think that's the really important part of my story," she said. "If you're wanting to be there for somebody who is suicidal, stay with them through the whole thing." She said her family never asked if she was OK, but her friend "who I ended up marrying two years ago" reminds her every day he is glad she's here. Wilson said there are resources available and people need to stay with those they want to help. "If you have to take them to the hospital, do it," she said. "If you have to make the call for them, do it. Because you may be the person who saves her life." Rebecca "Becky" Holmes, of Edwardsville, whose son was a Marine in a combat engineering unit, spoke about her son's suicide after returning from service. She noted that, since 9/11, there have been more than 7,000 combat deaths and 30,000-plus suicides. She held a flyer with a photograph showing 11 Marines from her son's unit. Of the 10 who came back, she said, three are "thriving." Four committed suicide, two attempted suicide and two were "self-medicating." An administrative error on his discharge papers prevented her son from receiving treatment, she said. "He was diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder and something in his paperwork prevented him from getting the help he needed," Holmes said. Collinsville Fire Chief John Bailot talked about the death of his son, who committed suicide in April 2019 while a student at the University of Missouri-Columbia. Bailot, who was living in Ohio at the time, said he was in his office when his wife came in to say their son's academic advisor had told them their son didn't show up for school for two days. Bailot asked someone at the police department to make a call to check on him. Two sheriff's deputies came to their home. "I knew from my experiences that there was only one reason to have two deputy sheriff's at my house," he said, stopping his comments as he became emotional. He said his son took his life at the age of 29. "We had no signs or, if we did, we were blind to them," he said. "And that's part of the problem. "The hardest part besides the loss of my son is people don't really want to talk about it with me," he said. "They don't want to ask me about my son. I want to talk about my son. "If you know a family that has lost somebody by suicide, reach out and talk to them," he said. He said people ask if things are better. They're not, he said, but they are different. Lt. Kurt Litteken, a Collinsville firefighter, spoke about resources for first-responders. He noted they often see tragedy, and although they are supposed to be "really, really tough," it can be difficult for them. Littleken said he started as a volunteer for a private ambulance service in a little town. "I watched two of my friends get in a horrible accident," he said. "One didn't make it. The other, I was in a car with him while we were extricating around him for about 45 minutes." He joined the military and was a combat medic, spending a year in a combat zone before coming to the Collinsville Fire Department with "baggage." "We don't share that information, but we need to," he said. Litteken said firefighters, first responders and law enforcement personnel can get help from the Illinois Firefighter Peer Support at https://www.ilffps.org/ or Illinois Law Enforcement Peer Support https://www.illeops.org/. Madison County VAC Superintendent Brad Lavite and a U.S. Army veteran said he experienced a PTSD episode like so many veterans, but his outcome was different. "I'm still here," Lavite said. People facing a mental health crisis in northern Madison County can contact CenterStone at 618-465-4388; those in southern Madison County can contact Chestnut Health Systems at 618-877-0316. Both numbers are staffed 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Love 0 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 0 A pilot programme to implement the policy of building the capacity of teachers in public schools to effectively teach students with special needs alongside regular students has commenced. The inclusive policy is part of a strategic path for the education of all children with special educational needs and is based on sections of the 1992 Constitution, the National Development Agenda, the Education Strategic Plan and International Commitments. All are targeted as achieving national as well as international goals for creating an environment for addressing the diverse educational needs of Ghanaians. It is being implemented by the Shout Africa Foundation (SAF) and its affiliate, Future of Ghana-Germany, who has partnered the Special Education Division of the Ghana Education Service (GES), through the Ministry of Education. The Minister of Education, Dr Yaw Adutwum, lauded the initiative and commended the foundation for the work they were doing. "I am overwhelmed to see an NGO picking up such a challenge to improve our educational sector for good. We hope this partnership will go a long way to improve upon our educational system now and for the future. We are indeed grateful to Shout Africa Foundation". The President of Shout Africa Foundation, Mr Jimmy Eko-Acquah, said the purpose of the project which would commence officially on October 3, 2021, was meant to improve standards, curricula and a focus on teacher development in the country. He said his organisation believed in the educational system of the country and expressed the hope that it would improve the standards of schools to accommodate students with special educational needs. Appeal The President of Future Ghana-Germany, Mr Tanja Scheffler, appealed to corporate bodies and philanthropists to support the Education Ministry to promote inclusive education. That, he explained, was necessary because some teachers and guardians lacked awareness and information about how to handle children with some disabilities, making them vulnerable to discrimination. "I think the time has come to create more awareness, information and patronage of the subject of disability and inclusion in our societies. We need to work hard to erase discrimination among others moving forward," he said. The programme is sponsored by GIZ-CIM in Ghana and will involve professional trainers from both Ghana and Germany who will share knowledge and build a professional training manual. According to the timetable for the pilot project, there will be interaction and training of teachers in Ghana from October 4 to 8 and inclusive awareness festival on October 9, 2021. October 11, 2021 to April 4, 2022 will be for monitoring and evaluation. The team will also be visiting teachers in their schools to see their input. Source: graphiconline.com Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority. Featured Video Afghan universities will be segregated by gender, and a new dress code will be introduced, the Taliban has said. Higher Education Minister Abdul Baqi Haqqani indicated women would be allowed to study, but not alongside men. He also announced a review of the subjects students would be taught. Women and girls were banned from schools and universities under Taliban rule between 1996 and 2001. The Taliban have said they will not prevent women from being educated or having jobs. But since they seized control on 15 August, they have asked all women, except those in the public health sector, to stay away from work, until the security situation improves. Sunday's announcement of the higher education policy comes a day after the Taliban raised their flag over the presidential palace, signaling the beginning of their administration. They seized control from the elected government a month ago. The policy marks a significant change from the accepted practice before the Taliban takeover. Female students did not have to abide by a dress code, and universities were co-educational, with men and women studying side by side. But Mr Haqqani was unapologetic about that change. "We have no problems in ending the mixed-education system," he said. "The people are Muslims and they will accept it." Some have suggested that the new rules will exclude women from education because the universities do not have the resources to provide separate classes. However, Mr Haqqani insisted there are enough female teachers and that where they are not available alternatives will be found. "It all depends on the university's capacity," he said. "We can also use male teachers to teach from behind a curtain, or use technology." Girls and boys will also be segregated at primary and secondary schools, which was already common throughout Afghanistan. Women will be required to wear hijabs, however, Mr. Haqqani did not specify if additional face coverings would be made compulsory. Source: BBC Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority. Featured Video Between 2018 and 2019, the New Patriotic Party (NPP) government pursued the amendment of Article 55(3) and 243(1) as part of its local government reforms. Unfortunately, the December 17 referendum was called off due to the absence of national consensus on the amendment. Given the impasse that surrounded the joint amendment of the two separate but complementary and mutually reinforcing articles, it has become instructive to clarify the functions and relationship between them. While Article 55 (3) prohibits political parties from participating in local elections and government, Article 243 (1) on the other hand vests the powers of appointment of Chief Executives in the President. Consequently, amending Article 243(1) liberalises the space in executive arm of government and creates more elective positions. On the other hand, the amendment of Article 55(3) will make the election inclusive by enabling political parties to participate in local level elections. This will ultimately mean that there will be more than one political party within the executive arm of government and therefore cure the winner-takes-all (WTA) system in the country. The amendment of the two articles means that political parties will compete for an extra 260 positions in addition to the presidency within the executive arm of government. Clearly, this will end the WTA system in the executive and promote inclusiveness, cooperation and collaboration among political parties. It also has the potential of nurturing smaller parties whose relevance and fortunes continue to diminish under the current system and give them real governing experience at the local level. Amendment Therefore, the successful amendment of the two articles will trigger a transformational reform of the hybrid executive governance regime in a manner that will remove all the barriers to developing a fully liberal democratic multiparty governance system in Ghana. It has the potential to alter the power relations between the central and local governments and devolve more executive, administrative and financial powers and resources of the central government to the regions, districts and communities. Effectively, the introduction of political parties into local government is likely to spark competition for development between the parties at the local level as witnessed at the national level. Regrettably, there are concerns that allowing political parties to participate in local government will not foster national cohesion but rather divide the country at the local level. Whereas these fears may be genuine, there is no evidence to support this assertion. If the parties have not divided the country at the national level, why do we assume they will do so at the local level. In fact, to argue this way will be tantamount to calling for the abolishment of multiparty democracy in the country altogether. Rather, if the experience in parliament is anything to go by, then working together brings collaboration and cooperation which instils trust and confidence among the parties. This will be no different between the multiparty system as witnessed at the national level from the proposed multiparty elections at the local level. Currently, the country has witnessed a split parliament with an opposition Speaker and yet the same parties have not divided the country. Moreover, national cohesion is strengthened by cooperation and collaboration by diverse groups and interests working together. Expectation Admittedly, political parties under the Fourth Republic have not lived up to expectation to warrant their inclusion in local government, hence the understandable aversion and disenchantment manifested towards them. However, this negative and cynical behaviour of political parties is as a result of the failure of the state to properly regulate them, as parties in Ghana do not have a robust regulatory framework or regime. Evidently, the 1992 Constitution, Political Parties Act, 2000 (Act 574) and other pieces of legislation, which are expected to guide their activities have either not been enforced or in some cases woefully inadequate to regulate them. Solution To solve the problems with the parties will entail not only the enforcement of the current legislation but also legal and institutional reforms which will transform them from being election machines to development-oriented institutions. It also means reorienting them for multiparty decentralised local governance from which they have been excluded for the past 61 years. This will certainly not be achieved with the amendment of Article 243(1) alone but together with the amendment of Article 55 (3) and consequential amendments and reform of the local government system and political parties. There cannot be a successful devolution of more power and resources without political parties being part of the decentralised local governance system, which is seen as the training ground for future national leaders. The author is a research officer at the Institute of Democratic Governance (IDEG). Source: graphiconline.com Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority. Featured Video The President, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, has reassured the people of the Oti Region that the government will construct a bridge over river Oti before he completes his tenure. "I am determined, I made a promise and I am going to see to it that its done. If you talk about legacy, this is going to be my legacy for the region, he added. In line with that, he said the Ministry of Finance had already granted a mandate letter to a Dutch company to begin the 1.6-kilometre bridge before the end of the year. The President gave the assurance during a meeting with some chiefs in the region as part of his two-day working visit to the Volta and Oti regions. The river takes its source from the Northern Region, and the bridge will be constructed over a section of the river at Dambai to improve turnaround time for passengers and traders. When a traveller mises the boat, you have to make a long winding detour of about 5 hours in the case of Kete Krachi. Currently, a ferry boat, Freedom and Justice, which replaced an old one in 2012, shuttles between one end of the Dambai section to the main land. It takes about 15 minutes to cross the river with the ferry boat, while other boats use about 30 minutes minimum. Other challenges Following complaints by the chiefs about lack of potable water and erratic electricity supply which they said were affecting their standard of living, President Akufo-Addo said a water project at Dambai would soon start to bring an end to the crisis. He said the government was also considering the construction of a new power station at Bimbilla to supply regular electricity to that part of the country for accelerated development. President Akufo-Addo, however, stressed the need for national unity and called for the support of the people in the region, saying with truth, integrity and hard work, the country would move forward. The President also inspected construction work on the Oti Regional Coordinating Council building. Apology The President of the Oti Region House of Chiefs, Nana Mprah Besemuna III, said even though the New Patriotic Party (NPP) did not win a parliamentary seat in the region, he appealed to the President to continue with his laudable development projects. Nana Besemuna said by the end of the Presidents second term in office the people would have appreciated the good works of the government and vote for the NPP in the next general election. He expressed appreciation for the creation of the region, adding "if it had not been for the creation of the region, we would not have come this far". Road construction The Minister of Roads and Highways, Mr Kwasi Amoako-Atta, said the entire 713-kilometre Eastern corridor road had been awarded to contractors who were on site. "Currently, 31 road projects are ongoing across the eight districts in this region and we will add more, he said. For his part, the Minister of Local Government, Decentralisation and Rural Development, Mr Dan Botwe, said soon the people would witness what he termed as "Akufo-Addo signature projects across the country, especially in the newly created regions. Source: graphiconline.com Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority. Featured Video The prestigious Humanitarian Awards Global (HAG) will come off at the Labadi Beach Hotel on Saturday, September 18th, 2021. The highly anticipated awards ceremony is expected to attract a large number of humanitarians, stakeholders and change-makers who are working in their various fields across the globe to make our world a better place. The ceremony to be held under the theme Celebrating change makers, is organised annually to recognize, honor and celebrate volunteer leaders, NGOs, philanthropists, corporations and professionals with the aim to advance the importance of their incredible contributions to society. The project also provides a platform for humanitarians to tell their stories, share their impact and network with others in the field. As part of this years edition, the category, FRONTLINE COVID 19 HEROES, has been introduced to celebrate the efforts of all persons who in one way or the other have restored hope to our dear nation in the midst of the pandemic on both local and international fronts. The initiative will unearth, celebrate and appreciate outstanding public frontline health workers and other staff from several institutions who led in the fight against COVID-19. Despite the hardships and health risks, thousands of essential frontline workers continue to do their jobs during the COVID-19 pandemic. These unsung health heroes will be celebrated for their selfless contributions to saving lives. Organisers of the event are eager and anticipate the gathering of humanitarians globally. A lot of dignitaries from Ghana and abroad are expected to attend this event as they join to honor our everyday heroes. There will be live band performances from some celebrated artists and other exciting activities to crown the celebration. The event is supported by The Labadi Beach Hotel, Verna Mineral Water, Wigal, Encore Event & De-queens Ushering Agency, Aaliyah Juice, Osabim, myticketgh, Motions Security, Wyse promo & media partners. Humanitarian Awards Global; celebrating changemakers! Source: Peacefmonline.com/ghana Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority. Featured Video A consortium of international and local researchers has begun nationwide stakeholder consultation meetings to validate a three-tier certification protocol for the hatchery and grow-out aquaculture industry in Ghana. In 2017, a one-stop certification protocol for aquaculture establishments (Hatcheries, Grow-outs, and Feed mills) was introduced by the Fisheries Commission. As of 2019, no aquaculture farm (large or small scale) had been certified due to unsuccessful fulfillment of all requirements in the certification protocols, according to a diagnostic study conducted by the Tilapia Seed Project (TiSeed) project in 2020. The 3-year TiSeed project titled Accelerating aquaculture development in Ghana through sustainable Nile Tilapia seed production and dissemination is a 3-year project being implemented has an overall objective to improve productivity and profitability of tilapia cage and pond farming in Ghana. Implementation of the project is led by the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI), supported by the CSIR-Water Research Institute (CSIR-WRI), KIT Royal Tropical Institute in the Netherlands, and WorldFish. Other partners are the Fisheries Commission and two private hatcheries (S-HOINT Ltd. and Crystal Lake Ltd. The TiSeed consortium partners reviewed and partitioned the existing one-stop certification system into a three-tier certification protocol with a focus on ensuring a more practical and step-wise approach to the adoption of good aquaculture practices, food safety standards, and access to international markets. A consequence of the technical assessment resulted in the recommendation to the Fisheries Commission for the facilitation of aquaculture regulatory requirements that can result in the certification of fish farms across the country. It is in this light that the consortium of international and local research institutes and the Fisheries Commission has organized a stakeholder consultative workshop to provide assessment mechanisms, validate proposals, and finalize protocols that must guide the certification of fish farms and hatcheries across the country. According to Dr. Ruby Asmah, a Principal Research Scientist and the Head of the Fishery and Aquaculture Division of CSIR-WRI, the workshops aim to provide information to stakeholders on the work done so far in the area of certification protocol framework development, help with farmers compliance as well as monitor and document progress and lessons learned over time from stakeholders in order to develop a comprehensive working document that can help the certification process. The nationwide stakeholder consultative workshops are being held in Greater Accra, Ashanti, and Northern Regions, with the representation of fish farmers, experts from research and academia, state regulators, and associated stakeholders in the fish farming value chain from all 16 regions of the country. According to Mrs. Mary Nkansa, Acting Head of Fish Health Unit, Fisheries Commission, the general requirements for certification of farms include compliance to food safety, animal welfare, use of hormones source of broodstock, out bounded holding facilities, and packaging for transport storage. The minimum requirement for certification for all tiers requires that the farm meets strict sanitary and hygienic requirements. Waste disposal and treatment must be properly treated and disposed of properly, and the packaging of fish must meet strict hygienic conditions. The requirements for tier 2 and tier 3 are more strict, but the general requirements are that the fish farm must be clean and hygienic. In addition to these, all farms are required to meet legal registration with the FC. As a requirement, Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs) are not allowed for production. Only approved drugs that comply with Food and Agriculture (FAO), World Health Organisation (WHO), and World Organization for Animal Health (OIE) could be used in the farm. Under animal welfare, she advocated the humane handling of all farmed aquatic animals as well as proper records of treatments of diseases and visits by aquatic animal health personnel. To ensure that harvested products remained safe for consumption, farmers were entreated to subject harvested products to what she referred to as cold chain while harvest and post-harvest equipment were to be cleaned and disinfected with approved chemicals. The benefits of certification According to Dr Ruby Asmah, certification of fish farms is expected to standardize the production of fish across the country that complies with international standards for fish production. It is also expected to promote traceability and transparency among entities and stakeholders in the fishing industry as well as promote a credible and robust fishing industry that promotes confidence in the industry. The certification is also expected to ensure increased farm productivity in order to produce safe and quality food, help adherence to permitted residue levels, reduce environmental pollution by fish farmers, place emphasis on biosecurity measures, regulate the use of drugs and chemicals, guarantee workers safety and welfare, resulting in competitive domestic and international trade. Ghana Tilapia Seed Project Speaking to the participants, the Ghana coordinator for TiSeed project, Dr Seth Koranteng Agyakwah of the CSIR, mentioned that there has been series of sensitization workshops for stakeholders in the project study regions ( Bono, Bono East, Ahafo, Ashanti, Eastern, and Volta), genetic characterization of farmed Nile Tilapia, setting up of an aquaculture multi-stakeholder WhatsApp platform, and development and piloting of a mobile application (FISH FARM TRACKER APP) as an efficient approach in dissemination and adoption of technical information to enhance best practice and productivity among fish farmers. He indicated that about 360 small-scale growout farmers and hatcheries have been trained and provided technical assistance since 2019 on good aquaculture practices. In the initial phase of the project, a baseline survey was conducted to assess farmers production characteristics, challenges, and ways to improve and increase profitability. Out of the numerous challenges confronting farmers, three different manuals on the hatchery, pond and cage production, and over 15 extension training materials have been developed for farmers use, according to Dr. Emmanuel Mensah, a research scientist, and a project team member. Assessment on project interventions are already showing positive impacts on improved adoption of good aquaculture practices and increased productivity, according to Dr. Catherine Ragasa, Project Leader and Senior Research Fellow at IFPRI. The project will continue to support farmers with technical assistance, including supporting the establishment of nurseries and more broodstock multiplication centers to ensure farmers access to quality fingerlings. Mr. Sena Amewu, the Research Analyst with IFPRI, highlighted the benefits of fish nurseries within the aquaculture value chain and the need for farmers to embrace and take advantage of numerous benefits from the fish nursery business model, as it is very profitable. More information about the project can be found in https://www.ifpri.org/interactive/tilapia. Mr Matthew Oyih, Director of Aquaculture, Fisheries Commission informed participants of the commitment of the Ghana Government to aquaculture development and steps being taken to support distressed farmers to help them bounce back through the government initiative on aquaculture for food and jobs. Among the support being provided is the supply of quality fish seed and feed. Participants provided very useful suggestions to improve the certification protocol and its potential enforcement. In the coming months, the certification protocol will be finalized, validated, and gazetted by Ghana Standards Authority. A series of training and sensitization about the certification protocol will then follow. This workshop is a crucial first step to validating and implementing the hatchery and fish farm certification system in the country to accelerate its aquaculture development. Source: Peacefmonline.com/ghana Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority. Featured Video Pope Francis has warned the threat of anti-Semitism is "still lurking" in Europe, during a brief trip to Hungary. He was speaking after meeting Hungary's populist and anti-immigrant PM Viktor Orban, with whom he has stark differences on the issue of refugees. Mr Orban has also been accused of an anti-Semitic stance, but he has said this is "simply ridiculous". In a Facebook post, the PM said he had "asked Pope Francis not to let Christian Hungary perish". Pope Francis' meeting with Mr Orban lasted about 40 minutes in the Museum of Fine Arts in Budapest. In his address to Christian and Jewish leaders afterwards, Francis warned of "the threat of anti-Semitism still lurking in Europe and elsewhere". He said: "This is a fuse that must not be allowed to burn. And the best way to defuse it is to work together, positively, and to promote fraternity." Hungary has a large Jewish community - some 100,000 strong. Mr Orban was criticized for his 2017 election campaign that included posters of Jewish financier George Soros, with the words "Let's not allow Soros to have the last laugh!" He rejected calls from the Jewish community to take them down. On a visit to London, the PM denied any anti-Semitism, saying that Mr Soros was simply a rival who favoured the migrant movement. Source: BBC Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority. Featured Video The National Coordinator of the Ghana School Feeding Programme (GSFP), Mrs Gertrude Quashigah, has paid an unannounced visit to some public basic schools in the Greater Accra Region to assess the performance of caterers. Accompanied by the Greater Accra Regional Coordinator of GSFP, Ms Christiana Nkansah, and some staff from the National Secretariat, Mrs Quashigah interacted with headteachers, caterers, teachers and pupils in the schools last Wednesday. Some of the schools visited included Nungua Presby Primary A; Nungua LEKMA 5 & 6 Basic Schools; St Peters Anglican A & B Primary and Kindergarten; and Krowor Central Kindergarten. Satisfaction In a brief interaction with journalists after the tour, the national coordinator expressed satisfaction with the food prepared by the caterers in the schools visited. The national coordinator also joined some of the pupils in their classrooms to have a frank conversation with them in a bid to find out the genuine assessment of the school meal and the general performance of the caterers. She revealed that her outfit had lined up a number of activities nationwide to empower the caterers to up their game. Continuous training Mrs Quashigah noted that the secretariat would continue to train the caterers and cooks to ensure that food served to the pupils were healthy and nutritious. She encouraged the caterers to strictly abide by the GSFP Handy Measures in order to ensure that the children were served with the right quality and quantity of meal. Caterers who fail to go by our handy measures and are feeding the children with poor quality meal will be sanctioned, she cautioned. Mrs Quashigah appealed to assemblies and communities to support the programme by building kitchens for beneficiary schools. Concerns The caterers, however, raised concern about the feeding grant which currently stands at GH1.00 per child. Responding, the national coordinator assured the caterers of the governments commitment to increase the grant. Some of the school heads, who spoke to the media, including Ms Emefa Amoo, the headmistress of St. Peters Anglican A&B Primary, and Mr Angelis Dzakpasu, the headmaster of Nungua LEKMA 6 Basic School. They expressed concern about the quantity of food being served to the pupils. Ms Amoo also noted that her school was set to introduceFruits Day where the children would be provided with fruits at regular intervals. This was applauded by the GSFP national coordinator who prayed for its early implementation. The school heads were also taken through a newly developed COVID-19 chart, supported by UNICEF to guide caterers, teachers and pupils in observing the protocols. UNICEF has also engaged a consultant who is to assist GSFP to develop its national and district operation manuals. Source: graphiconline.com Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority. Featured Video Sammy Gyamfi, the National Communications Officer of the largest opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) has hit back at critics who have spoken against ex-president John Mahama's "Do or Die" comment. This follows calls for former President John Dramani Mahama to apologize for making such a remark. Sammy Gyamfi who was speaking in a one-on-one interview on UTV said there's no need for the former President to apologize because "he said nothing wrong". "Mahamas do or die is a call to vigilance . . . hes done nothing wrong and we will not withdraw. We are now going to move the do or die campaign to another level, compose songs with it and even print cloth. Those who have a problem with this either dont know the character of Mahama as a peaceful person or dont understand the meaning of do or die . . . we dont care . . . we are determined to work within the remit of the law," he indicated. Meanwhile, Sammy Gyamfi has urged party communicators not to talk about the "do or die" comment again and rather "concentrate on the bread and butter issues". Source: Peacefmonline.com Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority. Featured Video After the elaborate launch of the Peoples National Convention (PNC) partys 29th anniversary and its dinner dance, which attracted other parties, particularly those of the Nkrumaist front, no one expected the party to slide in this fast manner. The PNC is making the headlines for the wrong reasons. Since August 28, 2021, the party has been in turmoil. Just last Thursday at the partys headquarters in Accra, a faction led by the partys leader, Mr David Apasera, prevented another faction led by Ms Janet Nabla from entering the office premises. The situation resulted in a scuffle, with the police coming in to calm nerves. Sources within the police advised the factions to deal with it through the legal process as the police was getting tired of being called in every minute to prevent clashes at the PNC headquarters. That might have inspired the leader of the PNC, Mr David Apasera and the national chairman, Mr Moses Dani Baah, to file a suit at the High Court last Thursday, asking the Court to, among other reliefs, declare the Kumasi NEC meeting null and void; restrain Ms Nabla from holding herself as General Secretary of the party and the Greater Accra Regional Chairman of the party, Mr Bala Maikankan, from holding himself as the acting national chairman of the PNC and the two having anything to do with the PNC national office at Abavana Junction, Pig Farm in Accra. Internal wrangling Ostensibly, within a spate of one week, there have been two National Executive Committee (NEC) meetings involving the two groups. Either faction has described the other groups NEC meeting as illegal because there was no quorum, neither was it properly constituted. In one breadth, the General Secretary, Madam Janet Nabla, was declared suspended indefinitely by the Accra NEC while the Kumasi NEC also announced the removal from office of the leader of the party, Mr David Apasera, and the national chairman, Mr Moses Dani Baah. As things stand now, the centre is not holding in the PNC and the founder of the party, the late Dr Hilla Limann, will be weeping in his grave. It is sad that since 1992 when the party garnered its highest votes in the countrys presidential elections in 1992, its fortunes have continued to dwindle. From obtaining 6.7 per cent in the presidential polls in 1992, its performance has reduced to 0.08 per cent in the 2020 presidential election. But I believe that if the party had systems and structures in place, the differences could have been resolved within the party. I attribute this more or less to immaturity and greed on the part of the two factions. Nobody wants to let go their ego. Such is the sad situation that it appears the factions do not want to listen even to the Council of Elders after its chairman, Colonel Luri Bayorbor (retd), called for a ceasefire on the media front. Some have even labelled him as a sycophant. The only option is for the party to call for an emergency congress to elect new leaders who the party faithful believe can work for the good of the party. The delegates must also review its constitution to properly spell out the grievance addressing system to ensure that the procedures and processes are well laid out. As it is now, any group can call for a meeting and declare a position. I was expecting the Regional Chairmen to have met to outline measures to resolve the internal wranglings within the party. Sadly, it appears they have taken sides. It is obvious that the centre is not holding in the PNC and the earlier the parties smoked the peace pipe, the better. After all, these were personalities who seemed united to remove its former chairman, Mr Bernard Mornah, in order to reshape the party. Breaking The Eight The second term of President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo is barely one year old. But the heat for the 2024 general election more than three years away is already gathering momentum. Interestingly, the political parties are yet to organise internal polls to elect constituency, regional, national executives and presidential candidates. However, it appears the battle slogan for the 2024 elections has already been adopted Break the eight-year cycle or Do or Die. While the New Patriotic Party (NPP) is seeking to break the two-term presidency of political parties in government since 1992, the National Democratic Congress (NDC) is asking its followers to do all they can to stop the NPP government from going beyond the traditional eight years. The argument of the NPP is that President Akufo-Addo has done exceedingly well in improving the livelihood of Ghanaians through the social intervention programmes such as Free Senior High School; One District, One Factory; Planting for Food and Jobs; and One Village, One Dam, among others. But the NDC believes the Akufo-Addo government has scammed Ghanaians into believing that their lives were being improved because there is high unemployment, corruption and economic mismanagement. Indeed, there has been press conferences and counter pressers by the two major political parties to justify their claims this week. The issues have centred on the tenure of the administration of both the NPP and the NDC, especially regarding the management of the economy and which party has managed it better. Voters In all of these arguments, the voter, especially the floating voter, is quietly monitoring and listening to assess the situation. In the 2020 presidential elections, President Akufo-Addo garnered 6,730,587 votes representing 51.30 per cent while former President John Mahama secured 6,213,182 representing 47.36 of valid votes cast. The bottom line should, therefore, be communication and appropriately convincing the electorate to vote for either party. As it is now, the choice in 2024 will be between either the NPP or the NDC. We still do not have a third force in our political terrain and considering the confusion engulfing the Peoples National Convention (PNC), the minor political parties will have to merge their splintered fronts into one party to pose a challenge to the duopoly of the NPP and NDC. Source: graphiconline.com Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority. Featured Video The National Chairman of the People's National Convention (PNC), Mr Moses Dani Baah, and the 2020 flag bearer of the party, Mr David Apasera, have sued 18 top executive of the party over their removal from office. The legal action adds to the recent internal wrangling, disunity, accusations and counter accusations that have rocked the PNC. Among other things, the suit - filed at the Accra High Court last Thursday, is seeking an order barring the General Secretary of the party, Ms Janet Nabla, from holding herself out as the general secretary of the PNC. It is also seeking an order restraining Ms Nabla and Mr Bala Maikankan, who was elected as the acting National Chairman of the party at a National Executive Committee (NEC) meeting in Kumasi on September 7 this year, from going to the PNC's National Headquarters or having anything to do with the office. The plaintiffs are also asking the court to declare all decisions at the said NEC meeting on September 7 null, void and of no legal basis. It was at the said NEC meeting that Mr Dani Baah and Mr Apasera were purportedly removed from office as the respective national chairman and leader of the party. Statement of case In their statement of claim, the plaintiffs aver that the said NEC meeting, which led to their removal, was illegal, null and void as the said conveners had no capacity to organise the meeting. It is also their case that the meeting was held in flagrant disregard of the PNC's constitution. The plaintiffs aver that the mandatory quorum for NEC meetings was not met at the September 7, 2021, meeting held in Kumasi to conduct the business of NEC, they argued. Disagreement Currently, it is not clear who holds power in the party because the general secretary has been suspended by a faction of the party, while the national chairman and the 2020 flag bearer have also been removed from power by another faction. The issues started with serious disagreement between Ms Nabla and Mr Dani Baah over some party finances with regard to Election 2020, which spilled into accusations and counter accusations between the two. On August 28 this year, the leadership of the party held a NEC meeting in Accra where Ms Nabla was suspended as the general secretary over what the NEC described as gross misconduct, incompetence and insubordination. The suspension led to the trading of accusations between the divided factions in the party, which spilled into the media space. On September 1 this year, the faction supporting Mr Dani Baah held a news conference at the party's headquarters to introduce a new acting general secretary, but that meeting was disrupted by supporters of Ms Nabla, which needed the police to intervene. It was a week after that incident that the faction supporting Ms Nabla organised the NEC meeting in Kumasi and removed Mr Baah and Mr Apasera from office. Source: graphiconline.com Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority. Featured Video An aspiring Northern Regional Chair of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), Godfred Wumbei alias Yellowman has condemned the recent news conferences by some youth groups declaring their support for former President John Dramani Mahama and minority leader, Haruna Iddrisu's 2024 Presidential ambitions. A pro-Mahama youth group calling itself Coalition of youth groups in the Northern Region recently issued a statement and accused Haruna Iddrisu of sabotaging John Mahama's 2024 Presidential bid. A portion of the statement signed by the group's Secretary, Alhassan Abdul Jalal, read, "We will like to state without any iota of hesitation that all these tensions and factions allegiance that is growing terribly by the day in the NDC are because of the clueless ambition of one man, Haruna Iddrisu, the minority leader of Ghanas Parliament." "We are therefore by this press conference calling the minority leader, Haruna Iddrisu to desist from his treacherous ways and learn that he cannot become president by fighting his brothers. He should know that whatever he has sown shall grow in the nature that he sowed it. And that, John Mahama is a tree that God has planted, so his evil machinations cannot uproot that tree. Never." A pro-Haruna Iddrisu youth group known as the NDC Gbewaa Youth in a counter statement rubbished the allegations against the minority leader. The group endorsed the minority leader's Presidential ambition and urged him to declare his intention to contest the NDC's flagbearership race for the 2024 polls. The Gbewaa youth group Secretary, Adam Mohammed Sisudeen at a news conference in Tamale stated, "Nobody can deter another person from seeking the mandate of the people, the power to choose who becomes a leader is vested in the Ghanaian people. We support him today, we support him tomorrow and we support him forever. He shouldnt hide his ambition. "We are only appealing to Hon. Haruna Iddrisu is not to be discouraged, he should not be deterred and he should continue all the good things he is doing for the party. He has no boundaries in the region because he is the Minority leader, the northern region is under his care and he can visit any constituency to extend his support to the party, he added. This worrying development causing harm to the NDC necessitated the Northern Regional Chair aspirant, Godfred Wumbei's call for a ceasefire on the media warfare. He said, "Stop deepening factionalism in our party especially in the Northern Region. It is causing a lot of damage to our party. Unity is our greatest strength." Godfred Wumbei alias Yellowman is a former NDC Northern Regional Organizer whose hard work contributed to John Mahama's reelection in 2012. Source: King Saha Abdullah, Freelance Journalist Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority. Featured Video A group calling itself, NDC Ashanti Youth, has once again condemned former president John Mahama for lying about government projects in the Ashanti Region. In a press statement, the group alleged that Mahama abandoned a number of projects started by former president J. A Kufuor and John Evans Atta Mills in his tenure and has no moral right to accuse Nana Akufo-Addo of same. John Mahama cannot be accusing any government of something he is guilty of. He has no credibility to talk about such matters and cannot be allowed to run his mouth just to scheme his way back to lead NDC, the group said in a statement. Below is the full statement: Subsequent to our press statement yesterday, a lot of arguments have been advanced that John Mahama did so many projects for Ashanti Region even if did not appoint anyone from the Ashanti region to his Cabinet. In this statement, we lay the records straight that the assertion is a palpable lie and cannot be allowed to stand. The pride of every leader is to leave behind a good legacy. Without a lasting legacy, the name of a leader fades easily and is never remembered by posterity. It is sad to notice a perpetual effort to burry the name of the late Professor JEA mills in a deliberate attempt to attribute all his gains to John Mahama. In fact, this agenda has been rolled out well that the average Ghanaian has nothing left to associate it with the Late Professor. Setting the Records Straight. John Mahama Promises not to abandon projects as he accuses Akufo Addo of the same. The records however point clearly that the projects that John Mahama is complaining about were abandoned by he John Mahama. In the case of Afari Hospital A project was an idea by H.E Kufuor but started by H.E. Mills and unfortunately, JM couldnt complete before he left office. The much talked about Fomena and Kumawu Hospitals were all started by JEA Mills but JM took over and failed to raise the required Letter of Credit needed by the contractors to complete the projects. How can John Mahama then turn around and play the ostrich and blame another government for abandoning these projects when indeed he should be apologizing to Ghanaians. In the case of Sofoline interchange, the project was funded under the Gang of four projects which included Achimota Ofankor, Pokuase-Amasaman and Adenta- Madina and later Dansoman roads. Why did John Mahama fail to complete the Sofoline interchange after his own boss JEA Mills committed so much resources to it. John Mahama cannot be accusing any government of something he is guilty of. He has no credibility to talk about such matters and cannot be allowed to run his mouth just to scheme his way back to lead NDC. Finally, our records show clearly that the Kejetia Market is a project initiated by Otumfour and Professor JEA Mills. Any credits whatsoever must be credited to this duo and not John Mahama. The youth of the Region still maintain that the region was humiliated and neglected for his failure to appoint anyone from the region unto his cabinet. In fact The first Head of state to exclude the region from his cabinet. We also maintain that the projects he taunts about are all fallacies never his projects. He should simply go on retirement and make way for new leadership for the NDC. Kweku Asare Mensah Convener 054 807 9870 Source: Peacefmonline.com/ghana Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority. Featured Video Former President John Dramani Mahama has called Vice President Alhaji Dr Mahamudu Bawumia on phone to console him on the passing of his mother. The Vice President lost his mum, Hajia Mariama Bawumia, on Monday morning in Accra. She is scheduled to be buried in accordance with Islamic customs in Walewale in the North-East Region on Tuesday, September 14. Messages of condolences are trickling in for Dr Bawumia. Mr Mahama, the only living predecessor to the Vice President, stated on Twitter on Monday that he had called to console the entire Bawumia family. I just got off the phone with my brother, Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia, to console him and the entire family on the loss of their mother, Hajia Mariama Bawumia earlier this morning. May Allah grant her a peaceful rest. John Dramani Mahama (@JDMahama) September 13, 2021 Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority. Featured Video The NPP has received with shock and sadness, news of the passing of Hajia Mariama Bawumia, the mother of His Excellency Alhaji Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia, the Vice President of the Republic. The Party accordingly extends its deep sympathies to His Excellency the Vice President and the bereaved family as well as the good people of Walewale for this great loss. Hajia Mariama had not only been a motherly figure and a great source of inspiration to her children but also to the people of North East and Members of the NPP political tradition at large. She passed away peacefully in the morning of Monday, September 13, 2021, in Accra. Indeed, Quran Chapter 2 Verse 156, tells us that, we all belong to Allah, and to Him, we shall return. May Almighty Allah (Subhaana hu wa ta aala) bless and have mercy on her soul, amplify her good deeds, forgive her sins and grant her Jannatul-Firdaws. Assalamu alaikum Signed JOHN BOADU GENERAL SECRETARY Source: Peacefmonline.com Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority. Featured Video Utah Jazz Jordan Clarkson shows off Philippine-inspired custom shoes. (Photo: Jordan Clarkson/Facebook) Not one to shy away from representing his Filipino roots, Utah Jazz star Jordan Clarkson now has a new customized pair of shoes to show love to the Philippines. Behind the brilliance of Maui Lucero, a Canada-based Filipino sneaker artist, a white pair of Nike Zoom Freak 2 turned into an artistic footwear for Clarkson, who showed it off in a social media post with "Puso!" as caption. The design revolves around Clarkson's memorable stint with Gilas Pilipinas and his recent success with the Jazz in the 2020-21 NBA Season. The left shoe showcases the 6-foot-4 guard in Gilas threads and the words "Laban Pilipinas" painted on Nike's patented swoosh, a clear nod to the Clarkson-led national team that competed in the 2018 Asian Games. The right shoe, on the other hand, features a depiction of the reigning Sixth Man of the Year in a Utah Jazz uniform. This content is not available due to your privacy preferences. Update your settings here to see it. For his part, Lucero, who operates as thebrocustom on Instagram, expressed his gratitude to PBA stalwarts Beau Belga, Gabe Norwood and Rey Nambatac, all of whom helped him connect with the Clarkson family. Ohmer Bautista is a sports journalist who has covered local and international sporting events in the Philippines. The views expressed are his own. Watch more videos on Yahoo: Olympus said in a brief statement that it is "currently investigating a potential cybersecurity incident" affecting its European, Middle East and Africa computer network. "Upon detection of suspicious activity, we immediately mobilized a specialized response team including forensics experts, and we are currently working with the highest priority to resolve this issue. As part of the investigation, we have suspended data transfers in the affected systems and have informed the relevant external partners," the statement said. But according to a person with knowledge of the incident, Olympus is recovering from a ransomware attack that began in the early morning of September 8. The person shared details of the incident prior to Olympus acknowledging the incident on Saturday. A ransom note left behind on infected computers claimed to be from the BlackMatter ransomware group. "Your network is encrypted, and not currently operational," it reads. "If you pay, we will provide you the programs for decryption." The ransom note also included a web address to a site accessible only through the Tor Browser that's known to be used by BlackMatter to communicate with its victims. Read more on TechCrunch Brett Callow, a ransomware expert and threat analyst at Emsisoft, told TechCrunch that the site in the ransom note is associated with the BlackMatter group. BlackMatter is a ransomware-as-a-service group that was founded as a successor to several ransomware groups, including DarkSide, which recently bounced from the criminal world after the high-profile ransomware attack on Colonial Pipeline, and REvil, which went silent for months after the Kaseya attack flooded hundreds of companies with ransomware. Both attacks caught the attention of the U.S. government, which promised to take action if critical infrastructure was hit again. Only REvil reemerged but has not yet claimed any further victims. Story continues Groups like BlackMatter rent access to their infrastructure, which affiliates use to launch attacks, while BlackMatter takes a cut of whatever ransoms are paid. Emsisoft has also found technical links and code overlaps between Darkside and BlackMatter. Since the group emerged in June, Emsisoft has recorded more than 40 ransomware attacks attributed to BlackMatter but the total number of victims is likely to be significantly higher. Ransomware groups like BlackMatter typically steal data from a company's network before encrypting it and later threaten to publish the files online if the ransom to decrypt the files is not paid. Another site associated with BlackMatter, which the group uses to publicize its victims and touts stolen data, did not have an entry for Olympus at the time of publication. Japan-headquartered Olympus manufactures optical and digital reprography technology for the medical and life sciences industries. Until recently, the company built digital cameras and other electronics until it sold its struggling camera division in January. Olympus said it was "currently working to determine the extent of the issue and will continue to provide updates as new information becomes available." Christian Pott, a spokesperson for Olympus, said that customer service was not affected, but declined to comment further. Credit: Unsplash/CC0 Public Domain As reefs face threats from climate change, Florida Tech is exploring 3D printing to potentially help sustain this critical but threatened ocean resource. Ocean engineering and marine sciences professor Stephen Wood and research students John Carroll, Sydney Goodman, Gabija Karosas, Alexa Langley, August Neier and Katherine Tyson are proposing to use a 3D printer to make coral structures that would then be placed upon large mounds of concrete in the ocean. The goal is to design a production method in which creating artificial coral reefs is accessible and affordable, and using 3D printing would decrease the time to produce artificial corals. The team is working to build a printer that is much larger than common printers on the market, which will allow them to print life-size corals. To reach their goals, the team assembled a smaller 3D printer to familiarize themselves with the mechanisms and construction of 3D printing. They then designed a full-scale 3D printer to print in ceramic, though there is a future option to print in concrete. Mixing engineering and coral biology, the researchers looked at different 3D-printer parts and filament materials as they would relate to various corals and designs, and they also considered how the printed products would react in the ocean environment. The team also used a sample printer to print small models of corals, which represent the final print concept. While the printed corals may not look identical to the real thing, they will be designed with an important goal in mind: facilitate coral growth. "We may print out the base structure of the coral, like an Elkhorn coral, we could print a good majority of that, so when the little polyps adhere, they could grow off of that," Wood said. When working on artificial reefs, a significant challenge is the use of potentially toxic materials. Previous structures used to attempt coral growth used waste materials, such as tires and PVC plastic, with the hopes of reusing resources. However, the chemicals from the materials hurt growth in the area and the materials themselves did not provide a large or stable enough surface for microorganisms to thrive. The structures also moved around due to their small size and ended up washing up on shorelines. Another challenge faced in artificial reef building is the use of smaller, unsecured structures, such as cinder blocks or other building blocks. While the blocks were often attached to larger mats on the seafloor to keep them together, a storm or monsoon that passed by would scatter them across the ocean floor or bury them in the sand, disrupting any existing coral fragments. While the blocks did facilitate some coral growth, storm surges eventually washed it away. Future project work will include installing electronics and software on the 3D printer that allow for communications between the motherboard and the electronic components of the printer, as well as getting and updating the bill of materials to account for stoneware clay printing. After that, the team will print simple shapes and patterns out of stoneware clay that will attract living coral and deploy ceramic print into the ocean to test longevity effectiveness in environmental restoration and wave attenuation, a function of the distance traveled by the wave as well as the depth, wavelength and wave height. Coral reefs are vital habitats for marine life and key indicators of the ocean's health. These ecosystems provide countless benefits to the ocean and help protect shorelines through wave attenuation. In recent years, coral populations have been impacted by global warming, ocean acidification, coral bleaching, and many other factors. Declining coral populations have placed restoration at the forefront of environmental engineering and marine science. Several artificial reefs have already been deployed for the purpose of replenishing coral reefs, and engineers are continuously discovering new ways to improve existing designs. 3D printing provides promising opportunities to rebuild reefs quickly and efficiently. "The standard 3D printing has a unique way of doing design," Wood said. "Every single thing you could think of can potentially be modeled using a 3D printer, so, it extrapolates out of your imagination." Explore further Crucial action needed for coral reefs Credit: Unsplash/CC0 Public Domain This year, 9/11 holds a dual significance for Americans across the country. It not only marks the 20th anniversary of the tragic events and lives lost since Sept. 11, 2001, but also National Suicide Prevention Awareness Week. For American Muslims who are both victims of increased rates of Islamophobic violence and survivors of suicide attempts, this juxtaposition is especially stark. In the field of public health, Islamophobia is recognized as akin to racism in how it leads to negative physical and psychological health outcomes. But this definition misses the crucial elements of structural violence and social stigma that underlie the hate crimes and microaggressions American Muslims face. These elements are not only the key ingredients in such acts of social violence, but also the same risk factors for individual self-directed violence, which is the definition of suicide. I am the first self-identifying Muslim American to receive federal funding from the National Institutes of Health to conduct grassroots mental health research within the American Muslim community. I identify as a victim of Islamophobic violence and a survivor of a suicide attempt. The hypothesis of my research is that the past two decades of anti-Muslim stigma in the sociopolitical climate of post-9/11 America have created the necessary conditions for young Muslims in America to internalize self-hatred and ultimately attempt suicide. Suicide disparities and risk factors in American Muslims Suicide is a major public health concern worldwide. It is a top 10 leading cause of death in this country and the No. 1 leading cause of death in certain populations. A July 2021 study revealed that American Muslims report two times the odds of a suicide attempt in their life compared to other faith groups. These findings suggest a disparity and indicate that there is a unique set of factors that increases American Muslims' risk of suicide. In general, there are many elements that contribute to suicide risk. Some of these include a past history of mental illness, knowing someone who previously attempted suicide and having access to lethal means like guns. Research studies on suicide risk in American Muslims, however, must specifically account for our distinct experience of being racialized, stigmatized and "othered" in post-9/11 America. Given the unique experience of Islamophobia that Muslims in America face, a scientific focus on these social factors is essential for studies on American Muslims. A 2019 Pew Research Center survey measuring the level of warmth or coldness that U.S. adults felt toward certain religious groups found that Muslims were placed toward the extremes of the cold end of the scale. A 2017 survey from Pew found that half of U.S. adults said Islam is not a part of mainstream society and perceived at least some Muslims as anti-American. These attitudes point to how being a Muslim has been stigmatized in America. There is abundant evidence that stigma is a fundamental cause of health disparities, especially as it relates to suicide among people with minority identities. I argue that the stigma of being Muslim in America results in exposure to Islamophobic violence that can lead to increased suicide risk and disparity. The intersectionality of Muslim American identity But being Muslim is not the only form of stigma and structural violence that American Muslims face. American Muslims are a very heterogenous group with diverse backgrounds as racial minorities and forced and voluntary migrants. Coming from over 77 countries, nearly 80% of us are first- or second-generation immigrants, and the majority are racial and ethnic minorities. It is the combined identities of being a Muslim, a racial or ethnic minority and of immigrant-origin that results in intersectional stigma these identities converge and interact with each other in ways that can negatively affect health. Therefore, a more scientifically accurate understanding of Islamophobia endorses the intersectionality of our stigma as a key variable contributing to suicide risk. Research on American Muslims addresses the dearth of scientific knowledge on culturally specific social factors of suicide. Yet for American Muslims, what factors contribute to our risk for suicide and what protective factors build our resilience are still to be uncovered. Challenges in American Muslim mental health research Prior to 2006, the PubMed research database returned fewer than 70 search results on "Muslim" and "mental health." Major grants for funding research on this topic were nonexistent. The launch of the Journal of Muslim Mental Health that year attempted to fill this crucial research gap. Today, the over 700 search results with the terms "Muslim" and "mental health" still represent less than one-thousandth of a percent of over 320,000 results on mental health overall. Evidently, the study of suicide in American Muslims itself faces disparities. A major barrier to expanding research on American Muslim mental health is access to federal funding. The National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities designates certain groups as disparity populations, which does not include faith groups. While Muslims constitute only 1% of the U.S. population, we are projected to become the world's largest faith group by the second half of this century. Even so, data on American Muslim health is missing due to a lack of research resources and scientific interest. Research on American Muslims relies on select elements of our identities as racial minorities and immigrants to qualify for research funding. But these qualities alone do not fully capture American Muslim lived experiences with Islamophobia and faith-based stigma, prejudice and discrimination. Without data and research on our community, American Muslims may not be considered a disparity group under current classifications and therefore miss critical funding opportunities. Suicide research on American Muslims may advance insights across diverse communities What will America look like by the time we mark the 50th anniversary of 9/11? By 2051, the diversification of the American population will reveal a majority minority racial and ethnic demographic. Already, the majority of youth under 18 are people of color. Forty years from now, first- and second-generation immigrants will encompass over a third of the population. Alarmingly, second-generation immigrants worldwide are considered an at-risk group for suicide. The diverse new generations in America are born into adverse conditions that expose them to race-based trauma and minority stress, or the cumulative negative health effects caused by racism and by being a part of a stigmatized minority group, respectively. The intersectional discrimination that American Muslims already experience today makes a strong case that we are a crucial reference group when it comes to future mental health research on diverse and marginalized communities. The immense value of culturally relevant research on suicide among American Muslims is evident from its substantial potential to apply across different racial, ethnic and immigrant groups. Insights from the American Muslim lived experience may provide science with the tools to make sure suicide in minority communities becomes a thing of the past. Explore further Religious discrimination particularly high for Jews and Muslims, study shows This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article. View of the Dixie Fire from the Allen Telescope Array in Hat Creek, CA. Credit: Alex Pollak The Allen Telescope Array, an ensemble of 42 antennas used in the search for extraterrestrial intelligence (SETI), is once again threatened by wildfires. The scientists and engineers normally on-site have been evacuated as a precautionary measure, and in response to an order from the Shasta County Sheriff's Office. The Dixie Fire, which is currently approximately 12 miles south of the Array, covers just short of a million acres, or an area larger than the state of Rhode Island. It ranks as the second-largest fire in California history, just shy of last year's August Complex fire. Now 59 percent contained, it is one of eight major conflagrations in northern California. It is an unfortunate fact that environments that are suitable for radio telescopesincluding the Allen Telescope Arrayare also frequently places where wildfires are commonplace. Since microwaves, the type of radio signals sought by the Array, are not hampered by Earth's atmosphere, there's no reason to place such instruments on mountain tops, as is done for optical telescopes. But like their mirror-and-lens cousins, radio telescopes are generally located in rural areas. The signals sought by the Allen Array are presumed to be extremely faint, and radio quiet is a necessity. The Hat Creek Radio Observatory, where the Array is located, was established in 1959 and is now run by the SETI Institute. It was deliberately situated in a region of low population density. The surrounding landscape consists of pasture and forest land. On most days there are more cattle near the site than people. According to Alex Pollak, the Array's Science and Engineering Operations Manager, the fire's slow northward march has provoked the need for evacuation. Anticipating the possibility that it might reach the antennas; the observatory staff contacted the U.S. Forest Service's Fire Department to prepare the site against eventual damage. Two teams from the Forest Service, about a dozen people in total, removed brush from near the antennas. Trees in the area were pruned of any branches lower than ten feet above the ground. This is not the first time the Array has been threatened. In the summer of 2014, the so-called Eiler fire reached State Highway 89, approximately two miles from the antennas. The mom-and-pop Circle K restaurant, the only public dining facility in Hat Creek, met its end in that conflagration. The Allen Telescope Array is a unique facility. It is the only radio telescope constructed with SETI as a principal activity. It's 42 telescopes are currently being refurbished with more sensitive receivers and follow-on electronics that will greatly speed the search for signals that would prove the presence of technological societies in other star systems. This upgrade is funded by Franklin Antonio, a co-founder of the California semiconductor company, Qualcomm. As of writing, there are more than 4,000 firefighters battling the Dixie Fire, and the hope is that it will not reach the Observatory. But as Pollak notes, climate change has made "the entire west coast more susceptible to fire. The situation is not getting better." Explore further Nearly 900 buildings destroyed by massive California fire The crew of Inspiration4: Hayley Arceneaux (top left), Sian Proctor (top right), Chris Sembroski (bottom right) and Jared Isaacman (bottom left), in Alabama in July. For the first time on Wednesday, SpaceX is due to send into orbit a crew made up entirely of complete novices, without a professional astronaut on board. The four passengers are supposed to embody the opening-up of space to everyone, giving the mission its name: Inspiration4. A billionaire, Jared Isaacman, is behind the project. It was he who chartered the mission, at his own expense, inviting three anonymous people to join him, via a rather original selection process. Each seat has been assigned to represent a specific value. Jared Isaacman, billionaire pilot Isaacman is the mission commander. The 38-year-old American is the founder and CEO of Shift4 Payments, which offers stores and restaurants a service for processing bank card transactions. He created it when he was 16, from the basement of the family home. Passionate about piloting, he holds a record for flying around the world in a light jet and is qualified to fly several military aircraft. In 2012, he founded a company providing training to US Air Force pilots, called Draken International. A married father of two daughters, he has always been passionate about space exploration. In 2008, he witnessed the takeoff, aboard a Russian rocket in Kazakhstan, of one of the first private tourists to visit the International Space Station, Richard Garriott. It was after that experience that he contacted SpaceX. His seat represents "leadership." US tech billionaire Jared Isaacman in front of the first stage of SpaceX's Falcon 9 rocket, in February 2021 in Hawthorne, California. Hayley Arceneaux, cancer survivor Arceneaux was treated for bone cancer as a child at St. Jude's Hospital in Memphis, Tennessee, for which Jared Isaacman organized a fundraiser. She works there today as a physician assistant. At 29, she will be the youngest American to be sent into orbit around the Earth, and the first person with a prosthesis to go into space. She will be the medical manager for the mission. Her seat represents "hope." Sian Proctor, professor and astronaut candidate Proctor, 51, teaches geology at a small college in Arizona. Born in Guam, her father worked at NASA during the Apollo missions. She participated in an experiment in Hawaii simulating life on Mars, and twice applied to NASA to become an astronaut. In 2009, she was among a few dozen finalists out of more than 3,500 candidates. She will be only the fourth African American woman to go into space. Hayley Arceneaux at a visit to SpaceX in California: the cancer survivor will be the youngest American in space. She will be the pilot of the mission, assisting the commander. She won her seat, which represents "prosperity," by creating an online sales site linked to space, as part of an entrepreneurial competition organized by Isaacman's company. Chris Sembroski, Air Force vet A 42-year-old US Air Force veteran who served in Iraq, Sembroski now works in the aeronautics industry, for Lockheed Martin in Washington state. He was selected after making a donation as part of a fundraiser for St. Jude's Hospital. His seat represents "generosity." His role will be to help in managing the cargo on board, and communications with Earth. 2021 AFP Dozens of critically endangered orangutans in Malaysia have been tested for the coronavirus. Dozens of critically endangered orangutans in Malaysia have been tested for the coronavirus, with vets in protective suits undertaking the tricky task of giving the apes nasal swabs. The antigen tests on 30 of the red-haired creatures in Sabah state on Borneo island were conducted last Tuesday, and all came back negative, wildlife officials said. They were the first virus tests on orangutans in the Southeast Asian country, and were ordered after staff at a rehabilitation centre and wildlife park became infected. "Testing for COVID-19 has been a vital tool in helping us get through this pandemic, and it is similarly important for this orangutan population," said Sen Nathan, assistant director of the Sabah Wildlife Department. "The disease could prove vastly detrimental to their health and set back their rehabilitation." Vets will continue to closely monitor the apes and tests will be conducted regularly, officials said. Animals have become infected with COVID-19 on occasion. At the weekend, a zoo in Atlanta announced that several of its gorillas had tested positive. Domestic cats, dogs and at least one ferret have also been infected. Malaysia is fighting a serious COVID-19 outbreak driven by the highly contagious Delta variant, and has been recording thousands of cases and hundreds of deaths each day. Wildlife officials said antigen tests on all 30 of the red-haired creatures in Sabah state came back negative. Sabah, on the northeastern tip of Borneo and home to vast tracts of jungle and a kaleidoscope of rare animals, has also faced a surge in cases. Bornean orangutans are classified as "critically endangered" by protection group the International Union for Conservation of Nature. Their populations have declined by more than 50 percent over the past 60 years, according to the WWF, as the animals' forest habitat has been progressively cut down to make way for agricultural plantations. Borneo is shared between Malaysia, Indonesia and Brunei. Explore further Ape escape: Indonesian orangutans airlifted back to the wild 2021 AFP Credit: Unsplash/CC0 Public Domain While Wisconsin may be known for its "frozen tundra," an increase in hot, humid summer days is bringing attention to Wisconsin's urban heat islands and their impact on human health. A heat island is an urban area that experiences higher temperatures than the surrounding rural areas because of buildings, roads, and general infrastructure absorbing heat and emitting that heat back into the environment. Understanding this phenomenon and how to mitigate its health impacts on the urban population is the focus of the new collective, Wisconsin Heat Health Network, which began thanks to the efforts of University of Wisconsin-Madison UniverCity Year leadership. "It was a year and half ago that I got a call from [UniverCity Alliance Managing Director] Gavin Luter asking me to give a Weston Roundtable presentation on campus," shared Larry Kalkstein, the president of Applied Climatologists, Inc., and co-founder of the Los Angeles Urban Cooling Collaborative (LAUCC). "We started discussing my work and he thought it might be of interest to the more general population of Southern Wisconsin. So, Gavin convened a group together and we started talking. It exploded basically and right now our group [known as the Wisconsin Heat Health Network] is large." The Wisconsin Heat Health Network, which works to build awareness about heat impacts and climate change, now includes not only UniverCity Alliance staff and Kalkstein, but also leaders from the City of Madison and Dane County, the City of Milwaukee and Milwaukee County, the Wisconsin Department of Health Services, Public Health Madison & Dane County, the UW-Madison Global Health Institute, and the Wisconsin Climate Change Initiative (WICCI). As heat is the number one weather-related cause of death, local leaders and scientists are eager to study its impact and provide scientific-based recommendations for mitigating these risks. As the collaborative works together to develop a plan for dealing with the health impacts, they are utilizing research conducted by principal investigator Kalkstein and Nelson Institute for Environmental Studies graduate student, Elizabeth Berg who works in Department of Agronomy and Nelson Institute Center for Sustainability and the Global Environment (SAGE) affiliate, Chris Kucharik's lab. "A lot of what we've found is consistent with what people in Madison would tell you. We all know we've had extremely rainy summers recently, including bad flooding. We've not been having the dry days, it's the hot humid days that are increasing," Berg said. "While we've been finding that temperatures overall haven't been increasing, we have found that there is an increase in minimum temperatures that occur overnight." Berg explained that this increase in overnight lows is a concern for human health because to recover physically, you need relief from cooler temperatures overnight. Therefore, the increased temperatures during the night make conditions more dangerous for vulnerable populations which include those in urban areas without air conditioning. "The sharp increase of seven to eight degrees in overnight temperatures is more sizable in urban areas," Berg continued. "With the urban heat island effect, the warming largely comes from stored and trapped heat in pavement, and you have heat emanating from the ground. It seems like a sign we aren't just seeing climate change but impacts of urbanization." Kalkstein added, "We don't want to mislead people into thinking that the world is warming at this rate. The fact that the rural areas did not behave like the urban areas is important because if they reacted the same, we could say this is generalized climate change, but since it is the urban areas that reacted more extremely, an increasing urban heat island effect is probably playing a role as well." To better understand what temperature increases are related to climate change and what are related to urbanization as well as which weather patterns are most dangerous to human health, Berg and Kalkstein are looking at data from the past 30 years. Berg is leading the analysis of these data. Part of her work includes looking at weather patterns over time and how underlying air masses have impacted the weather and thereby human health. By breaking down the weather patterns into air masses, Berg says scientists can better understand what air masses are creating the biggest impact. So far, Berg has discovered that it's the days that are extra hot and extra humid that are the most dangerous, and she has discovered that the number of days that fit that pattern are increasing. "We've been looking at serious outcomes, including mortality data," Berg shared. "We are trying to understand if we can predict a mortality increase with certain conditions. The goal in understanding that is, if we identified a model, we could work with the local weather forecasting offices for heat warnings." Berg noted that the best way to tackle heat risks is to have health-based warnings and advisories in place, along with more sophisticated interventions so that cities and counties can help vulnerable people prepare. The idea is to create a more impact-based heat warning system that is tied to what past data and what that tells scientists about the danger to populations in the area. "We are still working on this, but we have so far been able to see robust relationships between increased risk of mortality and heat," Berg confirmed. "For daily mortality going back to 1975, we've been able to see across the metropolitan areas a stronger relationship between heat and death in Milwaukee than Madison. Part of this is a population size thing, Milwaukee is bigger than Madison, but it may be due to demographic differences between these two cities as well. In Milwaukee, we see a 10 percent increase in overall deaths on days that are hot and dry, and 4-5 percent on hot and humid days, but we also observed severe racial disparities, with Milwaukee's Black population facing significantly higher risk on the hottest days than the rest of the population." This research from Berg and Kalkstein has led the Wisconsin Heat Health Network to move forward with a variety of initiatives. From an educational standpoint, the collective is sharing this information with Madison and Milwaukee leaders to bring awareness to the issue and encourage changes that will help to mitigate the risks. These changes include improved assistance for the vulnerable as well as infrastructure solutions such as planting more trees or adding reflective roofing to buildings to help deflect heat. Additionally, the collective is working within the Network to implement a new warning system that would take into account the mortality data in addition to the heat index. The Wisconsin Department of Health Services has submitted a proposal to the Centers for Disease Control so such a system can be developed for Southern Wisconsin. "Right now, if you hear there is a heat warning, it essentially means that the temperatures have met a meteorological threshold that was arbitrarily set," Kalkstein said. "We prefer an approach that deals with an outcome. So, our warning system is based on the algorithms and formulas we developed out of the work that tells us the condition and what mortality we can expect. We're hoping to connect with the National Weather Service once our work is complete about using the heat health warning system as a guidance tool for calling a heat warning." Additionally, in his role as chief heat science advisor for the Arsht-Rockefeller Foundation Resilience Center, Kalkstein is working on a heat wave categorization system. As a part of this project, they've selected four pilot areas to study, and Wisconsin has been selected as one of the pilot locations along with Kansas City, Los Angeles, and Miami-Dade County in Florida. "We are going to take a retrospective look at how heat waves would have ranked in the past, sort of similar to how hurricanes are categorized," Kalkstein said. "So, there are different interventions for each level of the categories, and we think it's important to do this for heat waves. The National Services in Greece are enthusiastic about the system and are considering using it for major urban areas around the country." From Greece to Madison, what started as a simple call between Luter and Kalkstein has grown into a collective with international appeal. "Again, from just a phone call with Gavin to where we are now is just an enormous thing," Kalkstein said. And, while there is more work to do the collaborative is excited for the next steps and to see how the partnerships can help to mitigate the risks of heat in urban areas. "This effort goes to show that there is power to getting a mix of practitioners and academics in the room to talk about what they see as important issues," Luter said. "This is a perfect example of what we hope comes from the UniverCity Alliance beyond the typical UniverCity Year program that most people know about. This speaker series turned into a multi-year engagement that is ongoing. I'm so thankful that this group has worked so hard on this under-appreciated aspect related to climate change: the urban heat island effect. Ultimately, we want to prevent deaths associated with heat, and I think this is the right team to usher in the necessary changes." Explore further Urbanization magnified nighttime heat waves in China Credit: Unsplash/CC0 Public Domain The causes of climate change can be demonstrated using a cheap home or school computer, thanks to a Python program developed by a team at the University of Bath. The program, the only one of its kind, will be demonstrated for the first time on Saturday at the British Science Festivala free, week-long event that celebrates the people and ideas at the heart of science. The event is aimed at both school children and the general public, and this year's festival is being held in Chelmsford, Essex. The Climate Predictor was designed to be run on a Raspberry Pia small computer that can be purchased (along with a keyboard and mouse) for around 50, and the code can be downloaded for free on any home or school computer. While it's a lot less sophisticated than the climate models used by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) to predict climate change, and which require a supercomputer to run, the Python program (a high-level, general-purpose programming language) can still give useful predictions and can trigger insight into the climate crises. Chris Budd OBE, Maths professor at the University of Bath and co-creator of the Python-based Climate Simulator, said the challenge was to develop a program that would allow young people to explore in a simple way what happens to the climate when, for example, Carbon Dioxide is released into the atmosphere through human activity. Users of the program can alter the amount of Carbon Dioxide released over a given period of time and then see what happens to atmospheric temperatures as a result. Professor Budd says he hopes the program will be downloaded onto classroom computers across the land, and that it will help students understand more about why our climate is changing. "Understanding why changes in Carbon Dioxide will lead to climate change will hopefully help lots of people see the reasons why we should change our behavior to reduce our Carbon footprint," he said. "These computer codes make clear the relationship between rising Carbon Dioxide levels and then rising temperature, and show how we can predict what the change in temperature will be if Carbon Dioxide levels do continue to rise." At the festival, Professor Budd and his team will also demonstrate two other programs that can be downloaded. One is a mathematical model that simulates possible tipping points in the climatethat is, points when small changes can lead to accelerated and irreversible impacts. The other focuses on the causes of the ice ages that have occurred over the past million years, and will demonstrate how the changes in the climate during these events can be predicted mathematically. The causes of climate change in times past, and ice ages in particular, are areas of interest for Professor Budd and his team. "By understanding what caused our climate to change in the past, we are much better placed to see how it will change in the future," said Professor Budd. Also presenting the programs at the science festival are Yang Zhou and Tosin Babasola, Maths Ph.D. students at Bath. Both helped develop the Climate Predictor. "Knowing and understanding climate change is important to me and to my generation," said Ms Zhou. "It's exciting to show people how maths can be used to solve important real-life problems. Sometimes, even simple mathslike this Python programcan explain a highly complicated situation." Mr Babasola, whose research focuses on the effects of climate variation on agricultural yield in his home country of Nigeria, added: "This program is an example of how a mathematical model can help us understand the effects of Carbon Dioxide on the world. I love how mathematics can increase our understanding of real-life events and solve the problems that arise from our daily activities." Explore further Breaching tipping points would increase economic costs of climate change impacts Egypt's Nile river valley is one of the areas the World Bank predicts people will leave due to water shortages. Reduced agricultural production, water scarcity, rising sea levels and other adverse effects of climate change could cause up to 216 million people to leave their homes and migrate within their own countries by 2050, the World Bank has warned. The estimate from the Washington-based development lender released Monday updates a 2018 report with new figures from Eastern Europe and Central Asia, North Africa and East Asia and the Pacific to provide a more complete overview of the potential toll from rising global temperatures. "Climate change is an increasingly potent driver of migration," the report said. Shortages of food and water along with rising seas highlight "the urgency for action as livelihoods and human well-being are placed under increasing strain." Juergen Voegele, the World Bank's vice president for sustainable development, said the data give a "global estimate" of the scale of potential migration. Without decisive action, there could be "hotspots" of climate migration that "will emerge as soon as within the next decade and intensify by 2050, as people leave places that can no longer sustain them and go to areas that offer opportunity," Voegele warned. Bank researchers in 2018 released a report on the impact of climate change on migration in South Asia, Latin America and sub-Saharan Africa, and projected 143 million people in those regions could be forced to move by 2050. The updated estimate represents about three percent of the projected population of the regions covered. "It's important to note that this projection is not cast in stone," Voegele said. "If countries start now to reduce greenhouse gases, close development gaps, restore vital ecosystems and help people adapt, internal climate migration could be reduced by up to 80 percentto 44 million people by 2050." 'Rise out of poverty' However the true toll could be far higher, as the data does not include wealthier countries such as those in Europe or North America, nor the Middle East or small island nations. The trend could have significant implications for host countries, which are often unprepared to cope with the influx of new migrants. "The trajectory of internal climate migration in the next half-century depends on our collective action on climate change and development in the next few years," Voegele wrote. "Not all migration can be prevented and... if well managed, shifts in population distribution can become part of an effective adaptation strategy, allowing people to rise out of poverty and build resilient livelihoods." Breaking the data down by region, internal migrants due to climate change could hit 86 million in sub-Saharan Africa by 2050, 49 million in East Asia and the Pacific, 40 million in South Asia, 19 million in North Africa, 17 million in Latin America and five million in Eastern Europe and Central Asia, according to the bank. Water stress The report zeros in on issues of water access in North Africa, which it calls "a main driver of internal climate migration." Population growth has slowed in both coastal and inland areas that are facing shortages of water, including Algeria's northwestern coast, western and southern Morocco and the foothills of the Atlas mountains. The city of Alexandria in Egypt and the eastern and western parts of the Nile river delta "could become out-migration hotspots due to both declining water availability and sea-level rise," the report said. Meanwhile, the region's national capitals are predicted to become "climate in-migration hotspots," the report cautioned. Globally, the bank warned that "climate change impacts will hit the poorest and most vulnerable regions the hardest and threaten to reverse development gains. In some places, questions of habitability will arise." Explore further Warming climate to displace millions in coming decades: World Bank 2021 AFP Credit: CC0 Public Domain Most of the research concerned with hazards like flooding, landslides, or wildfires describes only one hazard at a time, but the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change's latest assessment report states that anthropogenic climate change is increasing the likelihood of compound hazardsevents where more than one hazard interact with multiplicatively destructive consequences. A recent study has found that current urbanization trends in the Himalaya are exposing more and more people to risks from increasingly destructive compound hazards. In a paper published in the journal Science of the Total Environment, a global team of researchers led by Jack Rusk, a Master of Environmental Management student at the Yale School of the Environment, found that only a small proportion of the Himalaya region is susceptible to compounding threats from multiple hazards, yet almost half of the region's population is concentrated in that high-risk area. The paper, entitled "Multi-hazard susceptibility and exposure assessment of the Hindu Kush Himalaya," shows that current patterns of urbanization are putting people in harm's way while less hazardous landscapes remain more sparsely populated. "Our sobering realization is that urbanization processes are concentrating human settlement in these relatively smaller but highly hazardous areas," says Karen C. Seto, Frederick C. Hixon Professor of Geography and Urbanization Science at Yale School of the Environment and a co-author of the study. In mid-elevation valleys in the Hindu Kush region, the same conditions that correspond to multi-hazards are also major sites of urban growth. Compounding hazards in the Himalaya take many forms. For example, climate change is causing more frequent and intense wildfires, which contribute to landslides by destabilizing slopes. Those landslides can dam waterways swelling from increased precipitation and glacial melt, leading to catastrophic flooding when the dam breaks. And high-magnitude earthquakes, like the 2015 Gorkha earthquake in Nepal, can trigger landslides and floods together. The reality of compounding multi-hazards suggests that connections between hazards may be as impactful as any single hazard alone. "It's often stated that the Himalaya is a high-risk environment," says Rusk. "But the difficulty of working across such a large area meant that patterns of risk weren't previously understood. Contrary to studies that describe the entire region as highly hazardous, our study shows that the highest risk areas are relatively small." Understanding these patterns of risk would not have been possible without a big data approach that connected on-the-ground observations of floods, wildfires, and landslides with satellite data collected from high in the atmosphere. Relatively few hazard incidents are documented in the Himalaya, so the team used machine learning techniques to infer patterns in the distribution of hazards from historical hazard information and environmental conditions described by satellite data. For floods, landslides, and wildfires, ten environmental conditions were tested. The results showed that multi-hazard risk was often concentrated in relatively hotter mid-elevation valleys with wet soils. Based on 2019 population estimates, this study shows over 36 million people (49% of the region's population) living in areas highly susceptible to multi-hazards. The migration and mobility patterns shaping urbanization in the region are motivated by factors other than hazard risk, study co-author Sara Shneiderman, associate professor at the School of Public Policy and Global Affairs/Institute of Asian Research and the Department of Anthropology at the University of British Columbia, says. "Urbanization in the Himalaya is driven by social processes as people seek economic, educational, and political opportunities," says Shneiderman. "As people move across the region in search of sustainable livelihoods, they are tending to settle in areas at risk of compounding hazards." To reduce the tragic risks associated with compounding multi-hazards, approaches to risk reduction must continue to evolve. The interdisciplinary team of authors balanced a quantitative modeling approach with the insights of social scientists who live or have worked extensively in the region. Co-author Mark Turin, associate professor in the Institute for Critical Indigenous Studies and the Department of Anthropology at the University of British Columbia and former Yale Himalaya Initiative Director, notes the uniquely broad and interdisciplinary approach taken by Rusk and the research team. "This study brings together transboundary approachespursuing issues as they move across political borderswith innovative transdisciplinary methodologies. I see much potential in integrating granular, site-specific ethnographic knowledge with broader scale computational and machine learning tools in service of complex research questions like those addressed in this paper." Building from this expertise, the paper emphasizes that effective disaster risk reduction must span from very large to very small scales. At the smallest scale, risk reduction strategies should consider the knowledge of individual residents. "Residents in multi-hazard environments," the paper states, "have detailed knowledge of multi-hazard processes, and their knowledge should be central to mitigation planning efforts." At larger scales, Amina Maharjan, Senior Specialist (Livelihoods and Migration) at the International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD) in Nepal, underscores the need for this transboundary study to motivate transboundary collaboration for disaster risk reduction: "Often in this region, disasters cross administrative and international boundaries, so disaster mitigation and risk reduction require a transboundary approachsaving lives and livelihoods are a humanitarian concern for which countries in the region must collaborate without delay." Explore further Scientists cite destructive dangers of climate change, land use in mountain ranges More information: Jack Rusk et al, Multi-hazard susceptibility and exposure assessment of the Hindu Kush Himalaya, Science of The Total Environment (2021). Journal information: Science of the Total Environment Jack Rusk et al, Multi-hazard susceptibility and exposure assessment of the Hindu Kush Himalaya,(2021). DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2021.150039 Forest firefighters work on a wildfire near the town of Jubrique, in Malaga province, Spain, Saturday, Sept. 11, 2021. Firefighting crews in southern Spain are waiting for much-needed rainfall expected on Monday that they hope can help extinguish a stubborn mega-fire that has ravaged 7,400 hectares (18,300 acres) in five days and displaced some 3,000 people from their homes. Credit: AP Photo/Pedro Armestre Firefighting crews near southern Spain's Costa del Sol were hoping for much-needed rainfall Monday to help them extinguish a major wildfire that has ravaged 7,700 hectares (19,000 acres) in five days and forced the evacuations of 2,600 people. Authorities are describing the blaze in Sierra Bermeja, a mountain range in Malaga province, as an extreme "mega-fire" brought on by climate change a catastrophic event that kill, blacken large areas and is difficult to stop. In Spain, that's paired with rural depopulation, leading to poorer management of forests and the accumulation of burnable material. "We are facing the most complex fire known by the forestry extinction services in recent years," Juan Sanchez, director of the southern Andalusia region's firefighting service, told reporters late Sunday. "We have been talking a lot about the consequences of the abandonment of rural areas and climate change," Sanchez added. "We are seeing them today." The scorched area has doubled since Saturday, when authorities said the flames were contained within a perimeter of 40 kilometers (25 miles). But embers ignited another hot spot soon after, causing a new wildfire that eventually joined the previous blaze, experts said Sunday. By Monday morning, the wildfire's perimeter had reached 85 kilometers (53 miles). Forest firefighters prepare their equipment before boarding the helicopter to work on extinguishing a wildfire near the town of Jubrique, in Malaga province, Spain, Monday, Sept. 13, 2021. Firefighting crews in southern Spain are looking at the sky for much-needed rainfall they hope can help extinguish a stubborn mega-fire that has ravaged 7,400 hectares (18,300 acres) in five days and displaced just under 3,000 people from their homes. Authorities are describing the blaze in Sierra Bermeja, a mountain range in the Malaga province, as a sixth-generation fire of the extreme kind brought by the shifting climate on the planet. Credit: AP Photo/Pedro Armestre Spain's weather agency, AEMET, predicted rain in the arealater Monday but it was not clear if the rainfall would be sufficient to quell the flames. About 650 firefighters were working in shifts on the ground, assisted by 51 water-dropping airplanes and helicopters. They were joined on Sunday by 260 members of a military emergency unit. Low visibility due to dust and smoke was blamed for an accident Monday involving a firefighters' helicopter, although none of its 19 occupants were injured. Another 44-year-old firefighter died Thursday while trying to extinguish the blaze. Around 2,600 residents have been evacuated. Those who left areas near the resort town of Estepona were able to return home by Monday, but 1,700 people remained displaced from six villages. Climate scientists say there's little doubt that climate change from the burning of coal, oil and natural gas is driving more extreme events, such as heat waves, droughts, wildfires, floods and storms. A forest firefighter works extinguishing hot spots in a wildfire near the town of Jubrique, in Malaga province, Spain, Saturday, Sept. 11, 2021. Firefighting crews in southern Spain are waiting for much-needed rainfall expected on Monday that they hope can help extinguish a stubborn mega-fire that has ravaged 7,400 hectares (18,300 acres) in five days and displaced some 3,000 people from their homes. Credit: AP Photo/Pedro Armestre Smoke rises over smoking mountains, near the town of Jubrique, in Malaga province, Spain, Monday, Sept. 13, 2021. Firefighting crews in southern Spain are looking at the sky for much-needed rainfall they hope can help extinguish a stubborn mega-fire that has ravaged 7,400 hectares (18,300 acres) in five days and displaced just under 3,000 people from their homes. Authorities are describing the blaze in Sierra Bermeja, a mountain range in the Malaga province, as a sixth-generation fire of the extreme kind brought by the shifting climate on the planet. Credit: AP Photo/Pedro Armestre Forest firefighters work on a wildfire near the town of Jubrique, in Malaga province, Spain, Saturday, Sept. 11, 2021. Firefighting crews in southern Spain are waiting for much-needed rainfall expected on Monday that they hope can help extinguish a stubborn mega-fire that has ravaged 7,400 hectares (18,300 acres) in five days and displaced some 3,000 people from their homes. Credit: AP Photo/Pedro Armestre Forest firefighters work in a wildfire near the town of Jubrique, in Malaga province, Spain, Saturday, Sept. 11, 2021. Firefighting crews in southern Spain are waiting for much-needed rainfall expected on Monday that they hope can help extinguish a stubborn mega-fire that has ravaged 7,400 hectares (18,300 acres) in five days and displaced some 3,000 people from their homes. Credit: AP Photo/Pedro Armestre Smoke rises over smoke filled mountains near the town of Jubrique, in Malaga province, Spain, Monday, Sept. 13, 2021 Firefighting crews in southern Spain are looking at the sky for much-needed rainfall they hope can help extinguish a stubborn mega-fire that has ravaged 7,400 hectares (18,300 acres) in five days and displaced just under 3,000 people from their homes. Authorities are describing the blaze in Sierra Bermeja, a mountain range in the Malaga province, as a sixth-generation fire of the extreme kind brought by the shifting climate on the planet. Credit: AP Photo/Pedro Armestre A seaplane flies over a wildfire near the town of Jubrique, in Malaga province, Spain, Monday, Sept. 13, 2021. Firefighting crews in southern Spain are looking at the sky for much-needed rainfall they hope can help extinguish a stubborn mega-fire that has ravaged 7,400 hectares (18,300 acres) in five days and displaced just under 3,000 people from their homes. Authorities are describing the blaze in Sierra Bermeja, a mountain range in the Malaga province, as a sixth-generation fire of the extreme kind brought by the shifting climate on the planet. Credit: AP Photo/Pedro Armestre Spain has experienced fewer fires so far this year than the average, but the number of big forest firesthose affecting more than 500 hectares (1,200 acres)was 19 in the first eight months of 2021 compared to 14 on average for the same period since 2011. That has also led to a greater area burned: 75,000 hectares (186,000 acres) as of Sept. 5, compared to an average of 71,000 hectares on average in the previous years, according to official data. Elias Bedondo, the Andalusia region's interior minister, said he had no doubt that the wildfire in Sierra Bermeja was "unprecedented" and that it will be studied for future mega-fires. "Here we are learning how to fight and focus on these sixth-generation type of fires," he said. Explore further Spain sizzles in crushing heat as fires blaze 2021 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission. In April 2021, Connor O'Brien and Emil Atz complete "vibration testing" of CuPID to ensure it can withstand the space environment. Credit: Brian Walsh When you help build a satellite the size of a shoebox, you learn pretty much everything about it, says Emil Atz, a Ph.D. candidate in Mechanical Engineering at Boston University. You learn how to write a proposal to fund it, how to place the screws that hold it together, how to test each instrument to ensure it functions properly. And then you learn how to say goodbye. "It's a scary feeling, working on a piece of hardware full-time for four years, and then putting it into the rocket deployer to never see it again," Atz said. "I didn't want to close the door." This September, a rocket will launch from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California, bringing with it Landsat 9, a joint mission of NASA and the U.S. Geological Survey. The rocket will also carry four CubeSatscompact, box-shaped satellites used for space research projects. Compared to standard satellites, CubeSats are inexpensive to launch. Just like when friends split a cab fare, tiny satellites can hitch a ride on rockets carrying several other missions, bringing down the cost for each. One of the CubeSats launching with Landsat 9 is the Cusp Plasma Imaging Detector, or CuPID. No larger than a loaf of bread nor heavier than a watermelon, CuPID has a big job. From orbit about 340 miles (550 kilometers) above Earth's surface, little CuPID will image the boundary where Earth's magnetic field interacts with the Sun's. Atz is part of a team of collaborators from NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, Boston University, Drexel University, Johns Hopkins University, Merrimack College, Aerospace Corporation, and University of Alaska, Fairbanks who made CuPID possible. On a mission Produced by Earth's magnetic field, the magnetosphere is a protective bubble surrounding our planet. "Most of the time, we're shielded pretty well from the Sun's activity, as energy and particles from the Sun go around the Earth," said Brian Walsh, assistant professor of Mechanical Engineering at Boston University and CuPID's principal investigator. But when the Sun is active enough, its magnetic field can fuse with the Earth's in a process called magnetic reconnection. Earth's magnetosphere changes shape and solar radiation comes trickling toward us, potentially putting satellites and astronauts in harm's way. Emil Atz and Kenneth M Simms, engineer at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, wiring elements of the CuPID spacecraft short for Cusp Plasma Imaging Detector in January 2020 at Goddard. Credit: Brian Walsh "With CuPID, we want to know what the boundary of Earth's magnetic field looks like, and understand how and why energy sometimes gets in," Walsh said. While missions like NASA's Magnetospheric Multiscale or MMS mission fly through magnetic reconnection events to see them at a micro scale, CuPID seeks a macro view. Using a wide field-of-view soft X-ray camera, CuPID observes lower-energy, or "soft," X-rays emitted when solar particles collide with Earth's magnetosphere. Building that camera wasn't easy. X-rays don't bend as easily as visible light, so they're much harder to focus. Plus, imaging Earth's magnetic boundary while orbiting Earth is like sitting in the front row of a movie theaterso close, it's difficult to see the full picture. A suitable camera needs to be specially built to capture a wide field of view from relatively close. Sixteen years ago, a team of scientists, engineers, technicians and students at Goddard and Wallops Flight Facility on Wallops Island, Virginia began work on a prototype. Instead of bending the light, their camera reflected or "bounced" the X-rays into focus, passing them through a grid of tightly-packed channels arranged to give it a wide-field view. In 2012, Dr. Michael R. Collier, who led the Goddard contribution to CuPID, and Goddard colleagues Dr. David G. Sibeck and Dr. F. Scott Porter, tested the camera in space for the first time aboard the DXL sounding rocket. "It was so successful that we immediately started working on ways to miniaturize it and put it into a CubeSat," Collier said. In 2015, a predecessor of CuPID flew on a second sounding rocket flight. Soon after, the project was selected by NASA to bring the full satellite with avionics to fruition. Students and scientists have been working on CuPID ever since. High risk, high reward Until California Polytechnic State University developed the first CubeSat in 1999, most satellites were the size of cars or buses and cost hundreds of millions of dollars to develop and launch, said Walsh. Those high costs deterred risk-taking. If a new, experimental tool failed, large sums of money would be lost. "The original goal of CubeSats was to be lower cost, allowing the democratization of space," said Collier. Lower costs mean more room for experimentation and innovation. NASA scientists Michael Collier, David Sibeck, and Scott Porter teamed to develop and demonstrate the first wide-field X-ray camera for studying a poorly understood phenomenon called "charge exchange." Credit: NASA/Chris Gunn "They're higher risk, but also higher reward," Walsh said. The proliferation of small, experimental satellite missions has created more opportunities for students to get involved in hands-on engineering projects. In her first year as a mechanical engineering student at Boston University, Jacqueline Bachrach, a self-described "space kid," enrolled in Walsh's Introduction to Rocketry course. Soon after, she joined his lab and has since taken on an important role in the CuPID mission. "I've learned a lot of important skills, which I may eventually apply to other missions," said Bachrach, now a junior. "Everyone on the project has so much knowledge that they're willing to share. It's been an incredibly valuable experience, especially for an undergrad." The journey ahead The team is already preparing for CuPID's insights into the mysteries of magnetic reconnection. Atz says he is eager to make first contact with the satellite once it's in space and to start transferring data. Students will be involved with that, too. He and Walsh have begun training several undergraduate students, including Bachrach, to track the satellite's health and interpret its data from orbit. "With a big mission, you don't get a lot of opportunities for students to have a heavy hand in contributing," Atz said. "With CuPID, students have been involved almost every step of the way." For the many students and scientists involved in CuPID's more than 15 years of development, the most exciting part is yet to come. Frelcia Bambi is a member of the Congolese team that deploys sound recorders in the rainforest and analyzes the data. Credit: Sebastien Assoignons / Wildlife Conservation Society More than a million hours of sound recordings are available from the Elephant Listening Project (ELP) in the K. Lisa Yang Center for Conservation Bioacoustics at the Cornell Lab of Ornithologya rainforest residing in the cloud. ELP researchers, in collaboration with the Wildlife Conservation Society, use remote recording units to capture the entire soundscape of a Congolese rainforest. Their targets are vocalizations from endangered African forest elephants, but they also capture tropical parrots shrieking, chimps chattering and rainfall spattering on leaves to the beat of grumbling thunder. "Scientists can use these soundscapes to monitor biodiversity," said ELP director Peter Wrege. "You could measure overall sound levels before, during and after logging operations, for example. Or hone in on certain frequencies where insects may vocalize. Sound is increasingly being used as a conservation tool, especially for establishing the presence or absence of a species." For the past four years, 50 tree-mounted recording units have been collecting data continuously, covering a region that encompasses old logging sites, recent logging sites and part of the Nouabale-Ndoki National Park in the Republic of the Congo. The sensors sometimes capture the booming guns of poachers, alerting rangers who then head out to track down the illegal activity. But everyday nature lovers can tune in rainforest sounds, too. "We've had requests to use some of the files for meditation or for yoga," Wrege said. "It is very soothing to listen to rainforest soundsyou hear the sounds of insects, birds, frogs, chimps, wind and rain all blended together." But, as Wrege and others have learned, big data can also be a big problem. The Sounds of Central African Landscapes recordings would gobble up nearly 100 terabytes of computer space, and ELP takes in another eight terabytes every four months. But now, Amazon Web Services is storing the jungle sounds for free under its Open Data Sponsorship Program, which preserves valuable scientific data for public use. Forest elephant cooling down in the Central African Republic. Credit: Ana Verahrami This makes it possible for Wrege to share the jungle sounds and easier for users to analyze them with Amazon tools so they don't have to move the massive files or try to download them. Searching for individual species amid the wealth of data is a bit more daunting. ELP uses computer algorithms to search through the recordings for elephant sounds. Wrege has created a detector for the sounds of gorillas beating their chests. There are software platforms that help users create detectors for specific sounds, including Raven Pro 1.6, created by the Cornell Lab's bioacoustics engineers. Wrege says the next iteration, Raven 2.0, will make this process even easier. Wrege is also eyeing future educational uses for the recordings which he says could help train in-country biologists to not only collect the data but do the analyses. This is gradually happening now in the Republic of the CongoELP's team of Congolese researchers does all the analysis for gunshot detection, though the elephant analyses are still done at ELP. "We could use these recordings for internships and student training in Congo and other countries where we work, such as Gabon," Wrege said. "We can excite young people about conservation in Central Africa. It would be a huge benefit to everyone living there." To listen or download clips from Sounds of the Central African Landscape, go to ELP's data page on Amazon Web Services. You'll need to create an account with AWS (choose the free option). Then sign in with your username and password. Click on the "recordings" item in the list you see, then "wav/" on the next page. From there you can click on any item in the list to play or download clips that are each 1.3 GB and 24 hours long. Explore further AI speeds effort to protect endangered elephants More information: Sounds for research and analysis are available at Sounds for research and analysis are available at registry.opendata.aws/elp-nouabale-landscape/ Prof. Dr. Ulf-G. Meiner (left) and Dr. Chien Yeah Seng (right) from the Helmholtz Institute for Radiation and Nuclear Physics at the University of Bonn. Credit: Volker Lannert/University of Bonn Is the Standard Model of particle physics incorrect at key points? Recently there has been an increase in experimental observations that deviate from the predictions of this widely accepted physical theory. A current study by the University of Bonn now provides even stronger evidence for the existence of "new physics." The final version of the paper is now published in the journal Physics Letters B. Lead author Chien-Yeah Seng will present the results in mid-October at the fall meeting of the U.S. Physical Society. The Standard Model of particle physics describes the building blocks that make up the worldus humans, the grains of sand on the beach, the ocean water in which we cool ourselves, but also the sun that burns down on us. The Model also explains what forces act between these elementary particles, and allows us to understand many physical phenomena. "However, there are also questions that this theory cannot answer," explains Dr. Chien-Yeah Seng, a postdoctoral researcher at the Helmholtz Institute for Radiation and Nuclear Physics at the University of Bonn. "For example, most researchers assume that 95 percent of our universe is made up of dark matter and dark energy, which we cannot detect directly with our measuring instruments. But the existence of these mysterious components cannot be deduced from the Standard Model." Many researchers therefore assume that the Standard Model is not yet the ultimate answer, but must be supplemented or even fundamentally changed. An increasing number of experimental findings also point in this direction, for example those concerning the decay of the so-called kaons. These particles are a component of cosmic rays emanating from stars and galaxies. They are not stable, but decay on average after a few billionths of a second. Small discrepancy between measurement and theory A parameter of the Standard Model called Vus describes this decay. Its value can be extracted mathematically from measurement data of experiments. However, if this is done for different decay paths of kaons, different results are obtained for Vus. "This could be an indication of physics beyond the Standard Model," Seng clarifies. But it is not completely certain. This is because there are basically three possible reasons for this discrepancy: First of all, the measurements in the experiments may be wrong or too inaccurate. Second, perhaps the calculation of the relevant decays under the Standard Model is not precise enough. Or, third, the Standard Model is actually incorrect at this point. "The first explanation is now considered unlikely," stresses Prof. Dr. Ulf Meiner of the Helmholtz Institute. "For one thing, it is now possible to determine Vus experimentally with increasing precision. Second, these measurements have now been repeated many times." Is the theory wrong? Or is the calculation too inaccurate? However, it is still unclear whether the calculations of the decays within the framework of the Standard Model are precise enough to extract Vus. This is because calculating these is only possible to an approximate degree, and only with the use of extremely powerful supercomputers. Besides, even the fastest computers would at present be busy for decades in order to achieve a sufficiently high computational accuracy. "However, we need high accuracy to be sufficiently confident that the discrepancy between the Vus values is indeed indicative of an error in the standard model," Seng stresses. Together with colleagues, the young researcher from Malaysia has now developed a method that can significantly shorten the computing time. "To do that, we broke down the problemaccurately extracting Vusinto many simpler subproblems," he says. "This made it possible to determine the value of Vus from kaon decays much faster and more accurately than before." Evidence of a 'new physics' intensifies The results confirm the discrepancy between the Vus values. The evidence for a "new physics" beyond the Standard Model has therefore become stronger. "We can't be completely sure yet, though," says Seng, who will present his findings in mid-October at the fall meeting of the American Physical Society. "For that, our calculations have to become a bit more precise. But if our results are confirmed, it would certainly be one of the most important findings in particle physics in recent years." Explore further New estimate of muon's magnetic field strength aligns with standard model of particle physics More information: Chien-Yeah Seng et al, High-precision determination of the K3 radiative corrections, Physics Letters B (2021). Journal information: Physics Letters B Chien-Yeah Seng et al, High-precision determination of the K3 radiative corrections,(2021). DOI: 10.1016/j.physletb.2021.136522 Example of the range in individual size/age occupying the same permanent log pile structure within the Mid West region of Western Australia. Credit: Holly Bradley, Author provided Spiny-tailed skinks (Egernia stokesii badia), known as meelyu in the local Badimia language in Western Australia, are highly social lizards that live together in family groupsan uncommon trait among reptiles. They're culturally significant to the Badimia people but habitat degradation and mining has put them under threat of extinction. These sturdy, mottled lizardswhich live in colonies in the logs of fallen trees and branchesare a candidate for what researchers call "mitigation translocation." That's where wildlife are relocated away from high-risk areas (such as those cleared for urban development or mining) to lower risk areas. It might sound simple. But research shows these mitigation translocation decisions are often made on an ad hoc basis, without a long-term strategic plan in place. Not enough pre-planning or follow-up There has been much research into assisted relocation of larger, charismatic mammals and birds. But other animals, such as reptiles with a less positive social image, have been less widely studied. Our recent research has found there is often little pre-planning or follow-up to monitor success of mitigation translocations, even though reptile mitigation translocations do take place, sometimes on a large scale. In fact, fewer than 25% of mitigation translocations worldwide actually result in long-term self-sustaining populations. Mitigation translocation methods are also not being improved. Fewer than half of published mitigation translocation studies have explicitly compared or tested different management techniques. Mitigation translocation studies also rarely consider long-term implications such as how relocated animals can impact the site to which they are movedfor example, if the ecosystem has limited capacity to support the relocated animals. But it's not just about ecosystem benefits. Preservation of species such as meelyu also has cultural benefitsbut mitigation translocation can only be part of the solution if it's done strategically. The meelyu: a totem species As part of Holly Bradley's research into understanding how to protect meelyu from further loss in numbers, she had the privilege to meet with Badimia Indigenous elder, Darryl Fogarty, who identified meelyu as his family's totem. The meelyu or Western Spiny-tailed Skink is significant to the Badimia people and require translocation as part of mine site restoration and mitigation of population loss. Credit: Holly Bradley, Author provided Totemic species can represent a person's connection to their nation, clan or family group. Unfortunately, Darryl Fogarty cannot remember the last time he saw the larger meelyu in the area. The introduction of European land management and feral species into Western Australia has upset the ecosystem balanceand this also has cultural consequences. Preserving totemic fauna in their historic range can be a critical component of spiritual connection to the land for Indigenous groups in Australia. In the past, this spiritual accountability for the stewardship of a totem has helped protect species over the long term, with this responsibility passed down between generations. Before European colonization, this traditional practice helped to preserve biodiversity and maintain an abundance of food supplies. A strategic approach to future meelyu relocations from areas of active mining is crucial to prevent further population lossesfor both ecological and cultural reasons. Good mitigation translocation design If we are to use mitigation translocation to shore up their numbers, we need effective strategies in place to boost the chance it will actually help the meelyu. Good mitigation translocation design includes factors such as: selecting a good site and understanding properly whether it can support new wildlife populations having a good understanding of the animal's ecological needs and how they fit with the environment to which they're moving using the right methods of release for the circumstances. For example, is it better to use a soft release method, where an individual animal is gradually acclimatized to its new environs over time? Or a hard release method, where the animal is simply set free in its new area? having a good understanding of the cultural factors involved. Holly is studying the endangered Western Spiny-tailed Skink (Egernia stokesii badia) and will be working towards improving reintroduction management protocol through determining the abiotic/biotic requirements for colony persistence #CUBElab (stokesii image: M. Bamford) pic.twitter.com/DYSJGOmY1g Curtin University Behavioural Ecology (@Curtin_CUBE) June 18, 2018 A holistic approach A holistic approach to land management and restoration practice considers both cultural and ecological significance. It supports the protection and return of healthy, functioning ecosystemsas well as community well-being and connection to nature. Mitigation translocation could have a role to play in protection of culturally significant wildlife like the meelyu, but only when it's well planned, holistic and part of a long term strategy. This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article. Collection of water samples for eDNA metabarcoding bioassessment. Credit: Till-Hendrik Macher In times of exacerbating biodiversity loss, reliable data on species occurrence is essential, in order for prompt and adequate conservation actions to be initiated. This is especially true for freshwater ecosystems, which are particularly vulnerable and threatened by anthropogenic impacts. Their ecological status has already been highlighted as a top priority by multiple national and international directives, such as the European Water Framework Directive. However, traditional monitoring methods, such as electrofishing, trapping methods, or observation-based assessments, which are the current status quo in fish monitoring, are often time- and cost-consuming. As a result, over the last decade, more and more scientists have come to agree that we need a more comprehensive and holistic method to assess freshwater biodiversity. Meanwhile, recent studies have continuously been demonstrating that eDNA metabarcoding analysis, where DNA traces found in the water are used to identify which organisms live there, is an efficient method to capture aquatic biodiversity in a fast, reliable, non-invasive and relatively low-cost manner. In such metabarcoding studies, scientists sample, collect, and sequence DNA, so that they can compare it with existing databases and identify the source organisms. The eDNA metabarcoding assessments use samples from wateroften streamscollected at the lowest point. One such sample usually contains not only traces of specimens that come into direct contact with waterfor example, by swimming or drinkingbut also collects traces of terrestrial species indirectly via rainfalls, snowmelt, groundwaters, etc. After water filtration the eDNA filter is preserved in ethanol until further processing in the lab. Credit: Till-Hendrik Macher In standard fish eDNA metabarcoding assessments, this "bycatch data" is typically left aside. Yet, from a viewpoint of more holistic biodiversity monitoring, it holds immense potential to also detect the presence of terrestrial and semi-terrestrial species in the catchment. In their new study, reported in the open-access journal Metabarcoding and Metagenomics, German researchers from the University of Duisburg-Essen and the German Environment Agency successfully detected an astonishing quantity of the local mammals and birds native to the Saxony-Anhalt state by collecting as much as 18 liters of water from across a two-kilometer stretch along the river Mulde. In fact, it took only one day for the team, led by Till-Hendrik Macher, Ph.D. student in the German Federal Environmental Agency-funded GeDNA project, to collect the samples. Using metabarcoding to analyze the DNA from the samples, the researchers identified as many as 50% of the fishes, 22% of the mammal species, and 7.4% of the breeding bird species in the region. However, the team also concluded that while it would normally take only 10 liters of water to assess the aquatic and semi-terrestrial fauna, terrestrial species required significantly more sampling. Overview of a freshwater-associated vertebrate community including some of the detected species. Credit: Till-Hendrik Macher Unlocking data from the increasingly available fish eDNA metabarcoding information enables synergies among terrestrial and aquatic biodiversity monitoring programs, adding further important information on species diversity in space and time. "We thus encourage [researchers] to exploit fish eDNA metabarcoding biodiversity monitoring data to inform other conservation programs," says lead author Till-Hendrik Macher. "For that purpose, however, it is essential that eDNA data is jointly stored and accessible for different biodiversity monitoring and biodiversity assessment campaigns, either at state, federal, or international level," concludes Florian Leese, who coordinates the project. Explore further DNA in seawater can reveal fish diversity in the deep ocean More information: Till-Hendrik Macher et al, Beyond fish eDNA metabarcoding: Field replicates disproportionately improve the detection of stream associated vertebrate species, Metabarcoding and Metagenomics (2021). Till-Hendrik Macher et al, Beyond fish eDNA metabarcoding: Field replicates disproportionately improve the detection of stream associated vertebrate species,(2021). DOI: 10.3897/mbmg.5.66557 Credit: Unsplash/CC0 Public Domain Shifting to a new food freezing method could make for safer and better quality frozen foods while saving energy and reducing carbon emissions, according to a new study by U.S. Department of Agriculture's Agricultural Research Service (ARS) and University of California-Berkeley scientists. "A complete change over to this new method of food freezing worldwide could cut energy use by as much as 6.5 billion kilowatt-hours each year while reducing the carbon emissions that go along with generating that power by 4.6 billion kg, the equivalent of removing roughly one million cars from roads," said ARS research food technologist Cristina Bilbao-Sainz. She is with the Healthy Processed Foods Research Unit, part of ARS's Western Regional Research Center (WRRC) in Albany. "These savings could be achieved without requiring any significant changes in current frozen food manufacturing equipment and infrastructure, if food manufacturers adopt this concept," Bilbao-Sainz added. The new freezing method, called isochoric freezing, works by storing foods in a sealed, rigid containertypically made of hard plastic or metalcompletely filled with a liquid such as water. Unlike conventional freezing in which the food is exposed to the air and freezes solid at temperatures below 32 degrees F, isochoric freezing preserves food without turning it to solid ice. As long as the food stays immersed in the liquid portion, it is protected from ice crystallization, which is the main threat to food quality. "Energy savings come from not having to freeze foods completely solid, which uses a huge amount of energy, plus there is no need to resort to energy-intensive cold storage protocols such as quick freezing to avoid ice crystal formation," Bilbao-Sainz said. Isochoric freezing also allows for higher quality storage of fresh foods such as tomatoes, sweet cherries and potatoes that are otherwise difficult to preserve with conventional freezing. Another benefit of isochoric freezing is that it also kills microbial contaminants during processing. "The entire food production chain could use isochoric freezingeveryone from growers to food processors, product producers to wholesalers, to retailers. The process will even work in a person's freezer at home after they purchase a productall without requiring any major investments in new equipment," said WRRC center director Tara McHugh, co-leader of this study. "With all of the many potential benefits, if this innovative concept catches on, it could be the next revolution in freezing foods." UC-Berkeley biomedical engineer Boris Rubinsky, co-leader of this project, first developed the isochoric freezing method to cryopreserve tissues and organs for transplants. Since then, ARS and UC-Berkeley have applied for a joint patent for applying isochoric freezing to preserving food. The research team is now developing the best applications for this technology in the frozen foods industry, especially scaling up the technology to an industrial level. They also are seeking commercial partners to help transfer the technology to the commercial sector. UC-Berkeley mechanical engineer Matthew Powell-Palm, one of the lead authors of the study paper, noted that "isochoric freezing is a cross-cutting technology with promising applications in not only the food industry, but in medicine, biology, even space travel." This research was published in Renewable & Sustainable Energy Reviews. Explore further Researcher explores contact freezing of water at the nanoscale More information: Yuanheng Zhao et al, Analysis of global energy savings in the frozen food industry made possible by transitioning from conventional isobaric freezing to isochoric freezing, Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews (2021). Yuanheng Zhao et al, Analysis of global energy savings in the frozen food industry made possible by transitioning from conventional isobaric freezing to isochoric freezing,(2021). DOI: 10.1016/j.rser.2021.111621 Dr. Alejandro Marangoni and research associate Dr. Saeed Ghazani testing chocolate in a Department of Food Science lab. Credit: University of Guelph The best kind of chocolate is creamy, smooth and melts in your mouth, not in your hands. Now University of Guelph food scientists say they have found a way to create that perfect chocolate that simplifies the traditional "tempering" process of repeatedly heating and cooling chocolate. In a world first, a team led by food scientist Dr. Alejandro Marangoni discovered that adding a key component in cocoa butter fat to melted chocolate helps to hold it together and give it an ideal structure, simply and inexpensively. Their discovery, which appears in the journal Nature Communications, could revolutionize how chocolate is made. Creating chocolate that is glossy and snaps perfectly when broken is not easy. It requires "tempering"a time-consuming process in which chocolate makers slowly heat and cool melted chocolate repeatedly to coax the fatty acid crystals in the cocoa butter into one stable form. "If you've ever eaten bad chocolate, you'll know it right away. It's crumbly and grainy and soft. That is, chocolate that has not been properly tempered," said Marangoni, who holds the Canada Research Chair in Food, Health and Aging. Typically, chocolate makers will employ "seeding" during the tempering process to encourage the chocolate to crystallize. The "seed" is often chunks or grated bits of already-tempered chocolate that act like magnets to attract loose crystals of fatty acids into line. "A good chocolatier can do this by eye. Their experience tells them when the chocolate is ready, and they can make adjustments when it's not. But that can't be done in large-scale chocolate manufacturing," said Marangoni. Chocolate manufacturers use specialized equipment called tempering units, but even those aren't foolproof, and manufacturers often find large variabilities between batches of cocoa butter. Marangoni sought to make the process simpler by finding an ingredient that could more easily help form the correct crystal structure. Along with research associate Dr. Saeed Ghazani, chemistry student Jay Chen and master of science student Jarvis Stobbs, he tested several "minor components" naturally present in cocoa butter and selected a specific molecule, a saturated phospholipid, to "seed" the formation of proper cocoa butter crystals. Adding the phospholipid to melted chocolate and then rapidly cooling it once to 20 C accelerated crystallization without the need for tempering, the team found. The resulting chocolate had an optimal microstructure, with the ideal surface gloss and strength. The researchers were able to confirm their finding by visiting the Canadian Light Source at the University of Saskatchewan, where Stobbs is a plant imaging lead. The facility's synchrotron technology and bright lightmillions of times brighter than the sunallowed the team to get micrograph images of the interior microstructure of their chocolate in full detail and confirm the positive effect their ingredient had on the chocolate structure. "It's exciting that you could just add a phospholipida natural component already present in the cocoa butterto achieve the required tempering," Marangoni said. By potentially eliminating the need for complex tempering machines, he said, "this could revolutionize the industry and allow smaller manufacturers to produce chocolate without a big capital investment on machinery." Explore further How the mold influences a chocolate bar's crystalline structure More information: Jay Chen et al, Tempering of cocoa butter and chocolate using minor lipidic components, Nature Communications (2021). Journal information: Nature Communications Jay Chen et al, Tempering of cocoa butter and chocolate using minor lipidic components,(2021). DOI: 10.1038/s41467-021-25206-1 Credit: Pixabay/CC0 Public Domain In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, we must not squander the clean energy gains that were made through reduced human activity and economic downturn during the periods of lockdown and beyond. That is the message from recent research published in the International Journal of Global Warming. Fatemeh Nadi of the Department of Agricultural Machinery Mechanics at the Islamic Azad University, in Azadshahr, Iran, and Mustafa Ozilgen of the Department of Food Engineering at Yeditepe University, in Istanbul, Turkey, explain how during the ongoing pandemic, prices across the energy sector were pushed down by reduced demand. As such, there may well have been a shortfall in investment into renewable energy projects in the short term during the current period and after the pandemic, they add. That said, at the time of writing this Research Highlight, there is already growing signs that point to price hikes across the energy sector as nations relieve restrictions and endeavor to unlock their economies once more. The team has looked at one particular energy-intensive sector in Iranbakeries. The Iranian baked goods industry is among the most energy-intensive in that sector across the globe with bread production amounting to an annual 15 million tons. The team has developed three different scenarios that could lead to a 45% reduction in energy consumption across bakeries, a rate that amounts to well over 100 megajoules per ton of produce per annum. Their approaches involving adopting wind power and biogas use in baking and in the growing of wheat and flour milling before that. They also suggest a potential greening of the sector amounting to a 70% reduction in carbon dioxide emissions. They add that waste products and waste bread might be fed back into the production cycle for bioethanol for making requisite transportation greener too. To conclude, the team writes how "Sustainability of the baking industry may be improved substantially through implementing three different scenarios: improving the flour production process from farm to factory, replacing fossil fuels with their renewable counterparts, and producing ethanol from the leftover bread." They add that "Such an improvement may be a major attempt toward protecting the clean energy gains of the pre-pandemic era." Explore further Pandemic exacerbates challenges for international energy transition More information: Fatemeh Nadi et al, Effects of COVID-19 on energy savings and emission reduction: a case study, International Journal of Global Warming (2021). Fatemeh Nadi et al, Effects of COVID-19 on energy savings and emission reduction: a case study,(2021). DOI: 10.1504/IJGW.2021.117432 Greenpeace was founded 50 years ago around a kitchen table in Vancouver, Canada. "Insane"that was teenager Barbara Stowe's reaction 50 years ago when her parents and the other founders of Greenpeace decided that they would send a boat to halt US nuclear tests. But their conviction won over Stowe and her brother Robert, who witnessed these pathbreaking meetings in the family home in Vancouver to send a ship to Amchitka in Alaska. "I have to say that my dad, my parents, the Bohlens, Bob Hunter, Ben Metcalfe, they were visionaries, they were empowered with the idea which is somewhat crazy that a single individual or a small group of individuals can actually effect change that can change the world," said Robert Stowe, a 66-year-old neurologist. "For them it was partly an issue of the fact they felt they had to take a stand, regardless of whether or not it would be effective." On September 15, 1971, a crew of 12 Canadians and Americans who had left their country after the Vietnam war, set out from Vancouver Island in an 80-foot boat called the Phyllis Cormack, which was renamed Greenpeace. Their mission was to steam to the Aleutian island of Amchitka and protest, or even prevent, the detonation of an underground nuclear test. The boat didn't make it to Amchitka. US president Richard Nixon delayed the test and the crew were arrested in the Aleutian port of Akutan by the US Coastguard on a technicality. At this time Greenpeacenow one of the best known names worldwidewas called Don't Make a Wave but a name change was decided at a meeting to flesh out the daring and unprecedented mission to Alaska. Now one of the world's best-known brands, Greenpeace earned a reputation for creative and audacious stunts to get its messages across. 'A green peace' "Bill Darnell was leaving the meeting and my dad flashed the peace sign, and Bill said 'make it a green peace'," Robert Stowe said. "Barbara and I were arguing with him at the breakfast table saying 'Come on dad, Greenpeace is no word'. He said 'No I think that's it'. "That's how the name was formed. Initially it was two words, but when we had the buttons (badges) printed, the space between the two words was taken out." Barbara Stowe, a 65-year-old writer, said her first reaction to the Alaska mission was "This is insane. "And then I saw it could be done," she said. "My father said we'll have a rock concert and again I thought it was insane. But when he got Joni Mitchell and raised 17,000 (Canadian) dollars (to rent the boat), I had to start seeing that the impossible could be done and it was really exciting seeing the energy rise." Greenpeace has added warning of nuclear dangers to its long list of campaign issues. 'Pacifism is a discipline' The boat was intercepted by the US Coastguard and the mission foiled but the media coverage and the "mindbomb" paid off for Greenpeace, which has now added global warming to its long list of campaign battles. Robert Stowe said the Quaker principles and unshakeable faith that helped shape the movement had paid rich dividends. "If you have deep conviction that something is wrong and needs to be stopped or changed, and speak from the heart, people will listen to you," he said. "We have maintained our activism over the years although perhaps not as intensely as when we were teenagers," Stowe admitted. "I'm really moved by the action of Greenpeace activists in countries like China or Russia, where they risk long jail sentences." Barbara Stowe underscored the institution's underlying commitment to non-violence. Greenpeace replaced the original Rainbow Warrior after it was sunk by French spies in New Zealand in 1985. "Pacifism is a discipline, difficult to apply when you're young but the minute you use violence it's going to come back against you," she said. When the French secret service "bombed the Rainbow Warrior to the bottom of the Auckland harbour and killed the photographer Fernando Pereira, that gave Greenpeace the biggest boost it ever had, its popularity rose enormously," she said, of the infamous July 10, 1985 operation against the Greenpeace vessel. Explore further Samsung lagging on renewables pledge: Greenpeace 2021 AFP An example of the assignment maps for two individuals: Butterfly A (MOTF003) on the left and Butterfly B (MOTF009) on the right. For each, there are assignment maps for each of the three techniques: Hydrogen isotopes (blue), strontium isotopes (red), and a dual strontium-hydrogen assignment (green). Darker shades indicate areas where the butterfly more likely originated. Dual assignment (green) is consistently more precise (smaller area) than the single-isotope assignments. Therefore, we recommend the use of dual strontium-hydrogen assignment in future studies of monarch butterflies using isotope geolocation. Credit: Megan Reich, University of Ottawa Pre-COVID-19 pandemic, University of Ottawa biology student Megan Reich enjoyed the road trip of a lifetime, crisscrossing the east coast of the United States in search of a specific thrill: Milkweed. Milkweed is the host plant to the monarch butterfly and Megan wanted to compile a diverse sampling of it to run an isotope ratio analysis that would build a map to show how the isotopes vary over landscape. This would help her pinpoint where her monarch samples had hatched and, perhaps, better understand the migratory routes of this endangered insect. Megan's trip took 74 days, traveling 20,000 kilometers over 22 states to collect samples with the help of teachers, state and federal biologists, city employees, campground owners, and farmers. She has now published a research paper demonstrating how mapping strontium isotopes can greatly improve the ability to track these important insects. "As animals feed on the landscape, they gather and preserve the local isotopic signature in inert tissues, and with monarchs it's in their wings. These tissues preserve the isotopic signature of the individual's natal origin," says Megan, a Ph.D. student in the Faculty of Science. "In this study, we show that strontium isotopes, particularly when combined with hydrogen isotopes, can help researchers pinpoint where a monarch butterfly hatched to a more precise area. We then used the new tool by applying it to a sample of monarchs to see where they originated." An isoscape, or map showing the ratio between heavy and light isotopes over the landscape, for strontium isotope ratios. This isoscape was built from strontium isotope ratios analyzed in plants collected from areas marked by white diamonds. Credit: Megan Reich, University of Ottawa Tracking monarchs: A tough task Tracking monarch butterflies, which are small-bodied and traverse thousands of miles over international borders, is an expensive and difficult task. Recovering tagged monarchs is rare. Understanding the migration routes of an insect that transports biomass, nutrients, pollen, genetic information, and ecosystem services across a continent is critical, especially to understand why this butterfly's population numbers have been declining. Importance of isotopes "Isotopes are atoms of the same element that have the same number of protons and electrons but have a different number of neutrons, which makes them have different masses. The ratios between heavy and light isotopes vary spatially on the landscape," explains Megan. "Up until now, mainly hydrogen isotopes have been used for tracing the natal origin of monarch butterflies and have provided critical information relevant to monarch conservation. Unlike a radio collar which could tell you exactly where an animal traveled, hydrogen isotopes can only tell you the general area where the tissue was formed. In this study, we show that strontium isotopes, particularly when combined with hydrogen isotopes, can help researchers pinpoint where a monarch butterfly hatched to a more precise areaabout four times better." Geographic clues to understand monarch decline Ultimately, Megan analyzed 100 monarch butterflies and found the overwintering monarchs likely originated in Texas, demonstrating the ability of isotopes to answer essential questions about animal migration, providing a geographic snapshot and potential clues to understanding population decline. "In the case of monarchs, multiple reasons for the population decline have been suggested, including deforestation and extreme weather events, loss of habitat on the summer breeding grounds, mortality during the southward migration, increased parasitism, and the effects of climate change," says Megan, who collaborated with colleagues at the University of Guelph and the University of Maryland's Center for Environmental Science in this research. "To understand the relative contribution and strength of these drivers, we need a better understanding of monarch migratory connectivity and patterns over time. We have now been able to establish a new, ready-to-use tool for researchers that will aid in the conservation of the monarch butterfly." More information: Megan S. Reich et al, Continuoussurface geographic assignment of migratory animals using strontium isotopes: A case study with monarch butterflies, Methods in Ecology and Evolution (2021). Journal information: Methods in Ecology and Evolution Megan S. Reich et al, Continuoussurface geographic assignment of migratory animals using strontium isotopes: A case study with monarch butterflies,(2021). DOI: 10.1111/2041-210X.13707 First images of SARS-CoV-2. A, B, C, D: Some of the first images presented with false colours published on 13/february/2020 by the NIAD. E: First public-domain model designed in 3D published on 30/gener/2020 by CDC. Source: modified by Andreu-Sanchez, C., Martin-Pascual, M.A., (2021). The attributes of the images representing the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus affect peoples perception of the virus. Credit: PLoS ONE 16(8):e0253738. According to a study by the Instituto de Radio Television Espanola and the UAB conducted during the COVID-19 lockdown, black and white images of SARS-CoV-2 make the virus seem more infectious. The results, published on PLoS ONE, demonstrate that color and three-dimensional images of SARS-CoV-2 in the media has favored the perception of the virus as a beautiful, but not quite realistic or contagious virus. The COVID-19 pandemic has produced an increase in the amount of scientific information provided by the media. In many cases, the information related to this crisis is accompanied by images representing SARS-CoV-2. In a previous study, researchers discovered that despite having access to real images of the virus, the majority of images in the media were colored, three-dimensional illustrations of the coronavirus. In order to discover how the attributes of the images representing SARS-CoV-2 affected viewers' perception of the virus, researchers from the Instituto de Radio Television Espanola and the Universitat Autonoma de Barcelona conducted a study, now available in PLoS ONE, in which different images of SARS-CoV-2 were presented. Participants were asked about parametres such as beauty, scientific nature, realism, peception of infectiousness, fear, and the didactic nature of the images. The study also covered formal characteristics such as color vs. black and white, 2D vs. 3D and photo vs. illustration and how these affect perceptions of the virus. The study concludes that the beauty of the coronavirus images is more likely to be seen in color and three-dimensional images. And these are the images that ared most used when informing about SARS-CoV-2, despite the fact that the real images of coronavirus are black and white, two-dimensional photographs. In this sense, the research discusses the role media has in distributing images that beautify the virus with the aim of informing about the pandemic. Researchers also found a negative correlation between the beauty detected in the images and their didactic value. The more beautiful the images were perceived as being, the less educational they seemed to spectators. The results of this study can be applied directly to the scientific communication sector, in the design of communication plans and protocols in situations in which the behavior of the population as a whole is key. Doctor Miguel Angel Martin-Pascual from the Instituto de Radio Television Espanola and lecturer at the Department of Audiovisual Communication and Advertising at the Universitat Autonoma de Barcelona, as well as autor of this study, considers that "the media has a great responsibility in providing the correct information to its audience, including the images used. There is a need to evaluate whether beautified images of coronavirus not corresponding to real photographs of the same virus is a practice that, far from being educational for the audience, could actually be understood as a way of visually presenting fake news. Presenting beautified images of what according to the director of WHO is considered to be our public enemy number one, should give us something to think about." Doctor Celia Andreu-Sanchez, who also took part in this study as member of the Neuro-Com group of the Universitat Autonoma de Barcelona, explains that "our results lead us to consider the possibility that the viewers' perception of the images representing SARS-CoV-2 could have influenced their behavior as well as their emotional states." She continues to say that this is why "we suggest that scientific communicators take heed of this study when communicating scientific content related to public health in the future, in which the behavior of the population is essential." More information: Celia Andreu-Sanchez et al, The attributes of the images representing the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus affect people's perception of the virus, PLOS ONE (2021). Journal information: PLoS ONE Celia Andreu-Sanchez et al, The attributes of the images representing the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus affect people's perception of the virus,(2021). DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0253738 Crystals of the material hexagonal boron nitride can be etched so that the pattern you draw at the top transforms into a smaller and razor-sharp version at the bottom. These perforations can be used as a shadow mask to draw components and circuits in graphene. This process enables a precision that is impossible with even the best lithographic techniques today. To the right are images of triangular and square holes taken with an electron microscope. Credit: Peter Bggild, Lene Gammelgaard, Dorte Danielsen A new method designs nanomaterials with less than 10-nanometer precision. It could pave the way for faster, more energy-efficient electronics. DTU and Graphene Flagship researchers have taken the art of patterning nanomaterials to the next level. Precise patterning of 2D materials is a route to computation and storage using 2D materials, which can deliver better performance and much lower power consumption than today's technology. One of the most significant recent discoveries within physics and material technology is two-dimensional materials such as graphene. Graphene is stronger, smoother, lighter, and better at conducting heat and electricity than any other known material. Their most unique feature is perhaps their programmability. By creating delicate patterns in these materials, we can change their properties dramatically and possibly make precisely what we need. At DTU, scientists have worked on improving state of the art for more than a decade in patterning 2D materials, using sophisticated lithography machines in the 1500 m2 cleanroom facility. Their work is based in DTU's Center for Nanostructured Graphene, supported by the Danish National Research Foundation and a part of The Graphene Flagship. The electron beam lithography system in DTU Nanolab can write details down to 10 nanometers. Computer calculations can predict exactly the shape and size of patterns in the graphene to create new types of electronics. They can exploit the charge of the electron and quantum properties such as spin or valley degrees of freedom, leading to high-speed calculations with far less power consumption. These calculations, however, ask for higher resolution than even the best lithography systems can deliver: atomic resolution. "If we really want to unlock the treasure chest for future quantum electronics, we need to go below 10 nanometers and approach the atomic scale," says professor and group leader at DTU Physics, Peter Bggild. And that is excactly what the researchers have succeeded in doing. "We showed in 2019 that circular holes placed with just 12-nanometer spacing turn the semimetallic graphene into a semiconductor. Now we know how to create circular holes and other shapes such as triangles, with nanometer sharp corners. Such patterns can sort electrons based on their spin and create essential components for spintronics or valleytronics. The technique also works on other 2D materials. With these supersmall structures, we may create very compact and electrically tunable metalenses to be used in high-speed communication and biotechnology," explains Peter Bggild. Razor-sharp triangle The research was led by postdoc Lene Gammelgaard, an engineering graduate of DTU in 2013 who has since played a vital role in the experimental exploration of 2D materials at DTU: "The trick is to place the nanomaterial hexagonal boron-nitride on top of the material you want to pattern. Then you drill holes with a particular etching recipe," says Lene Gammelgaard, and continues: "The etching process we developed over the past years down-size patterns below our electron beam lithography systems' otherwise unbreakable limit of approximately 10 nanometers. Suppose we make a circular hole with a diameter of 20 nanometers; the hole in the graphene can then be downsized to 10 nanometers. While if we make a triangular hole, with the round holes coming from the lithography system, the downsizing will make a smaller triangle with self-sharpened corners. Usually, patterns get more imperfect when you make them smaller. This is the opposite, and this allows us to recreate the structures the theoretical predictions tell us are optimal." One can, e.g., produce flat electronic meta-lensesa kind of super-compact optical lens that can be controlled electrically at very high frequencies, and which according to Lene Gammelgaard can become essential components for the communication technology and biotechnology of the future. Pushing the limits The other key person is a young student, Dorte Danielsen. She got interested in nanophysics after a 9th-grade internship in 2012, won a spot in the final of a national science competition for high school students in 2014, and pursued studies in Physics and Nanotechnology under DTU's honors program for elite students. She explains that the mechanism behind the "super-resolution" structures is still not well understood: "We have several possible explanations for this unexpected etching behavior, but there is still much we don't understand. Still, it is an exciting and highly useful technique for us. At the same time, it is good news for the thousands of researchers around the world pushing the limits for 2D nanoelectronics and nanophotonics." Supported by the Independent Research Fund Denmark, within the METATUNE project, Dorte Danielsen will continue her work on extremely sharp nanostructures. Here, the technology she helped develop, will be used to create and explore optical metalenses that can be tuned electrically. Explore further Patterning silicon at the one-nanometer scale More information: Dorte R. Danielsen et al, Super-Resolution Nanolithography of Two-Dimensional Materials by Anisotropic Etching, ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces (2021). DOI: 10.1021/acsami.1c09923 , Dorte R. Danielsen et al, Super-Resolution Nanolithography of Two-Dimensional Materials by Anisotropic Etching,(2021). DOI: 10.1021/acsami.1c09923 , dx.doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1021/acsami.1c09923 Over the last decade, rewilding has emerged as a pragmatic way of restoring natural processes and enabling wildlife to comeback across European landscapes. Credit: Staffan Widstrand / Rewilding Europe Scientists from the German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research (iDiv), the Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg (MLU) and Rewilding Europe have developed a new way of evaluating rewilding progress. Its ground-breaking application across seven of Rewilding Europe's operational areas has revealed both positive impact and challenges to upscaling. The practical tool can help to inform decision-making and drive rewilding onwards and upwards. The study was recently published in the scientific journal Ecography. Over the last decade, rewilding has emerged as an immediate, pragmatic, scalable, and cost-effective way of restoring natural processes and enabling wildlife comeback across large-scale European landscapes, supported by trends in human demographics, associated changes in land use, and the ongoing recovery of key wildlife species. To ensure rewilding continues to grow - and to scale it up as quickly and effectively as possible - it is critical that the impact of rewilding can be easily, accurately, and comparably measured. The application of a recently developed way of measuring rewilding progress is a huge step forward in this regard. The paper authored by the doctoral researcher Josiane Segar and colleagues at iDiv, MLU, and Rewilding Europe, together with other European institutions - discusses the first time application of this methodology to seven of Rewilding Europe's operational areas. The results generated reveal that encouraging progress has been made at site level, but that challenges to upscaling also exist. From theory to practice The new paper builds on an article published in the journal Philosophical Transactions B in 2018, which first introduced a three-axis framework for monitoring rewilding. Co-researched and developed by Rewilding Europe, this framework condenses ecological recovery into three key components. trophic complexity: a measure of the complexity of relationships in a food web random natural disturbance: caused by natural events such as wildfire or flooding dispersal: how easy is it for species to spread out across landscapes In 2020, this three-axis framework was used as the basis for evaluating rewilding impact across seven of Rewilding Europe's operational areas. A total of 19 indicators (10 relating to human intervention and nine to ecological health) were selected to measure the ecological impact of rewilding interventions across each of the three framework components, plus an additional socio-ecological component. Baseline values for each of these indicators, which were set to the year that rewilding in each area began, were then compared with values as they stood in December 2020. Changes in these indicators were then used to generate an overall rewilding score for each area. A scoring spectrum The study reveals that the new approach to monitoring impact generated some interesting results. Five of the eight rewilding areas saw an increase in rewilding score over time, while two areas saw decreases (the Rhodope Mountains and Velebit Mountains). The five areas where the score had increased all reported decreases in interventions by humans in the landscape, while four of these areas also reported increases in ecological health. The biggest improvement overtime was reported in the Central Apennines, with a relative increase of 47.1% from 2012 to 2020, and improvements in 14 of the 19 indicators. The Rhodope Mountains reported the largest decrease in rewilding score over time, with a change of -13% from 2011 to 2020. Nuanced interpretation It is important to note that a negative rewilding score for a landscape-scale rewilding area does not mean that rewilding interventions at specific, smaller-scale sites within that area are failing to have a positive impact. Nature also moves to its own rhythms and timescales, which means such interventions, may take decades to generate measurable impact. "In applying the new methodology at the landscape scale, we wanted to look at the potential for upscaling rewilding," explains Josiane Segar. "This bigger picture approach not only took into account the direct, site-specific interventions of Rewilding Europe's operational area teams but also changes happening outside pilot sites. Some or all of these changes may be outside the control of rewilding teams." The Rhodope Mountains rewilding area, for example, has been affected by a trend that has seen land abandonment beginning in the 1990s recently revert back towards agricultural intensification and encroachment as a result of Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) subsidies. This has manifested itself in the plowing of high-biodiversity value grasslands and mosaics into arable fields, as well as an increase in livestock and grazing intensity, both of which have negative implications for rewilding progress. In order to counterbalance this threat, rural policies may need to be better targeted to allow people to make better use of the socio-economic benefits that rewilding can provide. Strengths and weaknesses The new study also compiled key success and threat factors for rewilding progress, based on an assessment by rewilding area teams. "This revealed that the major challenges to rewilding progress are related to policies that promote land-use intensification, such as the European Union's Common Agricultural Policy (CAP), and the persecution of keystone species," says Segar. "Conversely, the most important factors aiding progress related to the appeal of rewilding as a concept and effective communications about rewilding results. Creating new economic opportunities and establishing good working relationships with stakeholders were also judged to be important." Moving forward Today, interest in rewilding is growing rapidly - among scientists, policymakers, businesses, and the public. Yet the application and upscaling of rewilding beyond pilot sites remain limited. This can be partly attributed to a lack of monitoring, with the long-term consequences of rewilding interactions still poorly understood. "Until now there has been very little robust scientific assessment of whether rewilding actually works," says Henrique Pereira, a researcher at MLU and iDiv and co-author of the new paper. "This new study, representing innovation at the intersection of rewilding science and practice, is therefore really important. I expect the methodology underpinning it to be picked up by many other researchers and rewilding practitioners, adapted and used. Beyond the numerical scores, this is a practical tool that can really help to inform decision making and drive rewilding onwards and upwards." Using the new methodology, the rewilding impact will now be measured across Rewilding Europe's rewilding areas every three to five years - this will allow sufficient time for ecological parameters to respond to rewilding interventions and ongoing area management. To complement and ease the task of expert-led assessment, Rewilding Europe's monitoring team are currently developing data-driven, remote sensing approaches to monitoring, in partnership with The Nature Conservancy and several universities. This is particularly important in areas where ground-based measurements are likely to remain unfeasible due to resource restrictions. Above all, the results of the new study show that the ability of rewilding to progress and scale-up is often constrained by pressures that are dictated by factors external to rewilding sites. As such, creating an environment more conducive to rewilding can often only come about through policy change at the national and EU level. "It's clear that rewilding efforts are already beginning to have a positive impact at the local scale," says Josiane Segar. "However, future efforts should be better complemented by policy and advocacy if rewilding is to become scalable across entire landscapes." Explore further Mapping the path to rewilding: The importance of landscape More information: Josiane Segar et al, Expertbased assessment of rewilding indicates progress at sitelevel, yet challenges for upscaling, Ecography (2021). Journal information: Ecography Josiane Segar et al, Expertbased assessment of rewilding indicates progress at sitelevel, yet challenges for upscaling,(2021). DOI: 10.1111/ecog.05836 Provided by German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research About 500 firefighters and 51 water-dropping planes have been tackling the blaze. Light rain gave some breathing room to crews struggling on Monday to battle a "monster" wildfire in Spain that has killed a firefighter and forced roughly 2,600 people from their homes. About 500 firefighters and 51 water-dropping planes have been tackling the blaze, which officials believe was started deliberately last Wednesday in the southern Malaga province, the regional government said. Firefighters were joined on Sunday by some 260 soldiers from the military's emergency brigade as they battled to control the blaze in the Sierra Bermeja mountains. TV footage showed older residents who had been evacuated to the town of Ronda breaking into applause as it began to rain. But firefighters said the rain would not be enough to bring the blaze under control. "The rain will not put out the fire," said regional fire chief Juan Sanchez. "But in places where we have it under control, it will help shorten the time to extinguish it completely." 'Ray of hope' The fire, described by local emergency services as "complex and exceptional", has so far destroyed some 8,000 hectares (20,000 acres). Erratic winds, scorching temperatures and low humidity levels had helped to turn the blaze into a "hungry monster", the region's deputy fire chief Alejandro Garcia said last week. Authorities had on Sunday removed some 1,600 people from six villages as a precaution. Roughly 1,000 people, who had been evacuated from the coastal resort of Estepona when the blaze first began, were on Monday allowed to go back home. "Controlling it today seems like too much to ask but there is a ray of hope," regional environment minister Carmen Crespo told news radio Ser. Two firefighters were injured from falls on Sunday, the regional government said, while a 44-year-old firefighter died on Thursday. His funeral was held on Sunday. Southern Spain is the latest area around the Mediterranean basin to be hit by wildfires this summer, a seasonal phenomenon that climate scientists warn will become increasingly common because of man-made global warming. Large fires have already ravaged parts of Greece, Italy, Turkey, and Algeria. Explore further Crews in southern Spain face 'complex' wildfire for 5th day 2021 AFP Two holes are visible in the rock, nicknamed Rochette, from which NASAs Perseverance rover obtained its first core samples. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech The rocks it has analyzed for sample collection are helping the team better understand a past marked by volcanic activity and water. NASA's Perseverance Mars rover successfully collected its first pair of rock samples, and scientists already are gaining new insights into the region. After collecting its first sample, named "Montdenier," Sept. 6, the team collected a second, "Montagnac," from the same rock Sept. 8. Analysis of the rocks from which the Montdenier and Montagnac samples were taken and from the rover's previous sampling attempt may help the science team piece together the timeline of the area's past, which was marked by volcanic activity and periods of persistent water. "It looks like our first rocks reveal a potentially habitable sustained environment," said Ken Farley of Caltech, project scientist for the mission, which is led by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California. "It's a big deal that the water was there a long time." The rock that provided the mission's first core samples is basaltic in composition and may be the product of lava flows. The presence of crystalline minerals in volcanic rocks is especially helpful in radiometric dating. The volcanic origin of the rock could help scientists accurately date when it formed. Each sample can serve as part of a larger chronological puzzle; put them in the right order, and scientists have a timeline of the most important events in the crater's history. Some of those events include the formation of Jezero Crater, the emergence and disappearance of Jezero's lake, and changes to the planet's climate in the ancient past. What's more, salts have been spied within these rocks. These salts may have formed when groundwater flowed through and altered the original minerals in the rock, or more likely when liquid water evaporated, leaving the salts. The salt minerals in these first two rock cores may also have trapped tiny bubbles of ancient Martian water. If present, they could serve as microscopic time capsules, offering clues about the ancient climate and habitability of Mars. Salt minerals are also well-known on Earth for their ability to preserve signs of ancient life. The Perseverance science team already knew a lake once filled the crater; for how long has been more uncertain. The scientists couldn't dismiss the possibility that Jezero's lake was a "flash in the pan": Floodwaters could have rapidly filled the impact crater and dried up in the space of 50 years, for example. This mosaic image (composed of multiple individual images taken by NASA's Perseverance rover) shows a rock outcrop in the area nicknamed "Citadelle" on the floor of Mars' Jezero Crater. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/ASU/MSSS But the level of alteration that scientists see in the rock that provided the core samplesas well as in the rock the team targeted on their first sample-acquisition attemptsuggests that groundwater was present for a long time. This groundwater could have been related to the lake that was once in Jezero, or it could have traveled through the rocks long after the lake had dried up. Though scientists still can't say whether any of the water that altered these rocks was present for tens of thousands or for millions of years, they feel more certain that it was there for long enough to make the area more welcoming to microscopic life in the past. "These samples have high value for future laboratory analysis back on Earth," said Mitch Schulte of NASA Headquarters, the mission's program scientist. "One day, we may be able to work out the sequence and timing of the environmental conditions that this rock's minerals represent. This will help answer the big-picture science question of the history and stability of liquid water on Mars." Next stop, 'South Seitah' Perseverance is currently searching the crater floor for samples that can be brought back to Earth to answer profound questions about Mars' history. Promising samples are sealed in titanium tubes the rover carries in its chassis, where they'll be stored until Perseverance drops them to be retrieved by a future mission. Perseverance will likely create multiple "depots" later in the mission, where it will drop off samples for a future mission to bring to Earth. Having one or more depots increases the likelihood that especially valuable samples will be accessible for retrieval to Earth. Perseverance's next likely sample site is just 656 feet (200 meters) away in "South Seitah," a series of ridges covered by sand dunes, boulders, and rock shards that Farley likens to "broken dinner plates." The rover's recent drill sample represents what is likely one of the youngest rock layers that can be found on Jezero Crater's floor. South Seitah, on the other hand, is likely older, and will provide the science team a better timeline to understand events that shaped the crater floor, including its lake. By the start of October, all Mars missions will be standing down from commanding their spacecraft for several weeks, a protective measure during a period called Mars solar conjunction. Perseverance isn't likely to drill in South Seitah until sometime after that period. Explore further Mars rocks collected by Perseverance boost case for ancient life Transcription factors Atf1 and Rst2 help stabilize each other and bind to an opened segment of the chromatin structure. Their proximity, a mere 45 base pairs apart, is key to this effect, as demonstrated by the teams experiments. Credit: Tokyo Metropolitan University Scientists from Tokyo Metropolitan University have uncovered a unique mechanism where two transcription factors stabilize each other's binding to DNA in fission yeast. They found that Atf1 and Rst2 help each other stably bind when they were close enough together. They both help transcribe a gene that deals with glucose poor environments but belong to entirely independent activation pathways. New insights like these can help scientists in the fight against cancer. The popular picture of the DNA helix is of a long, winding molecular thread containing all the information required to create and sustain life. What is less known is how it is neatly packaged and stored inside cells: DNA is wound around protein structures known as histones, forming an elegant, tightly packed structure known as the chromatin. In order for molecular processes to actually use that information, the chromatin "opens," making the DNA available for binding by transcription factors, proteins which help translate the DNA sequence made of base pairs (or "letters") into messenger RNA (mRNA). This mRNA is then finally read by a ribosome to produce proteins based on the original blueprint. How transcription factors (TF) bind to the chromatin is a key focus of biomedical research. Many cancers, for example, trace their origins to when this process goes wrong. A team led by Prof. Kouji Hirota of Tokyo Metropolitan University has been studying this process by looking at a simpler organism, the fission yeast, with a focus on how it responds to changes in their environment. Now, they have successfully caught a glimpse into the unique mechanism behind how transcription works in yeast cells responding to a lack of glucose in their surroundings. When yeast cells are starved, it was known that transcription of the fbp1 gene was massively activated by two TFs, Atf1 and Rst2. The team investigated this process in depth and found not only that the activation of both was crucial to the function of fbp1, but that they actually helped stabilize each other. They were able to explicitly show that this was largely thanks to how close these sites were, usually a mere 45 base pairs apart. When extra lengths of DNA were introduced between the sites, the TFs suddenly could not help each other, and the chromatin closed, leaving both factors unbound. Their relative orientation along the twisting grooves of the helix also proved vital. Importantly, this effect was shown to be strong enough to counteract the effects of Tup11 and Tup12, co-repressors which help destabilize the random binding of independent TFs to the chromatin. All this suggests that this reciprocal relationship not only helps the TFs bind successfully, but also prevents either from attaching by themselves. The curious thing is that these TFs are activated by completely independent chemical pathways. The process discovered by the team thus integrates these routes together into a signal "hub." Though a single piece in a complex biochemical puzzle, this finding helps highlight an unappreciated mechanism by which different TFs interact and effectively integrate pathways together. The team hope this new insight can help in the fight against cancer and other related illnesses. Explore further How proteins bind 'hidden' DNA More information: Wakana Koda et al, Reciprocal stabilization of transcription factor binding integrates two signaling pathways to regulate fission yeast fbp1 transcription, Nucleic Acids Research (2021). Journal information: Nucleic Acids Research Wakana Koda et al, Reciprocal stabilization of transcription factor binding integrates two signaling pathways to regulate fission yeast fbp1 transcription,(2021). DOI: 10.1093/nar/gkab758 Provided by Tokyo Metropolitan University A simulation of colliding supermassive binary black holes. Credit: NASA. Galaxies host supermassive black holes, which weigh millions to billions times more than the sun. When galaxies collide, pairs of supermassive black holes at their centers also lie on the collision course. It may take millions of years before two black holes slam into each other. When the distance between them is small enough, the black hole binary starts to produce ripples in space-time, which are called gravitational waves. Gravitational waves were first observed in 2015, but they were detected from much smaller black holes, which weigh tens of times the sun. Gravitational waves from supermassive black holes are still a mystery to scientists. Their discovery would be invaluable to determining how galaxies and stars form and evolve, and finding the origin of dark matter. A recent study led by Dr. Boris Goncharov and Professor Ryan Shannonboth researchers from the ARC Centre of Excellence for Gravitational Wave Discovery (OzGrav)addressed this puzzle. Using the most recent data from the Australian experiment known as the Parkes Pulsar Timing Array, the scientists searched for these mystery gravitational waves from supermassive black holes. The experiment observed radio pulsars: extremely dense collapsed cores of massive supergiant stars (called neutron stars) that pulse out radio waves, like a lighthouse beam. The timing of these pulses is extremely precise, whereas the background of gravitational waves advances and delays pulse arrival times in a predicted pattern across the sky, by around the same amount in all pulsars. The researchers now report that arrival times of these radio waves do show deviations with similar properties, as we expect from gravitational waves. However, more data is needed to conclude whether radio wave arrival times are correlated in all pulsars across the sky, which is considered the "smoking gun." Similar results have also been obtained by collaborations based in North America and Europe. These collaborations, along with groups based in India, China, and South Africa, are actively combining datasets under the International Pulsar Timing Array, to improve the sky coverage. Constraints on inter-pulsar correlations obtained by Goncharov et al. (2021), as red probability contours, and the expected spatial correlation that would have been produced by the gravitational-wave signal from an ensemble of supermassive black hole binaries. Credit: ARC Centre of Excellence for Gravitational Wave Discovery This discovery is considered a precursor to the detection of gravitational waves from supermassive blackholes. However, Dr. Goncharov and colleagues point out that the observed variations in the radio wave arrival times might also be due to pulsar-intrinsic noise. Dr. Goncharov said: "To find out if the observed "common" drift has a gravitational wave origin, or if the gravitational-wave signal is deeper in the noise, we must continue working with new data from a growing number of pulsar timing arrays across the world." More information: Boris Goncharov et al, On the Evidence for a Common-spectrum Process in the Search for the Nanohertz Gravitational-wave Background with the Parkes Pulsar Timing Array, The Astrophysical Journal Letters (2021). Journal information: Astrophysical Journal Letters Boris Goncharov et al, On the Evidence for a Common-spectrum Process in the Search for the Nanohertz Gravitational-wave Background with the Parkes Pulsar Timing Array,(2021). DOI: 10.3847/2041-8213/ac17f4 A close-up of a Devonshire cup coral attached to a raised cave shelf. Diamond Cave, Fair Isle. Credit: Graham Saunders Heriot-Watt divers have documented the hidden life of many of Fair Isle's remote sea caves for the first time. Marine surveys earlier this summer documented around 70 caves on the island, with dive teams battling weather conditions to carry out full biological surveys of four. These included a spectacular 200 meter-long cave on the west of the island known as Diamond Cave. Stunning images from beneath the waves show the characteristic sea cave habitats and species discovered, including corals, sponges and seasquirts. Fair Isle is home to Scotland's only Demonstration & Research Marine Protected Area (MPA), designated in 2016. The data gathered will help to map the sea caves around Fair Isle in more detail and increase knowledge about habitats and species in the community-led MPA, as well as sea caves around Scotland's coastline more widely. The surveys were commissioned by NatureScot and carried out by a team of divers from Heriot-Watt University. Carol Hume, NatureScot Marine Protected Areas Adviser, said: "With so many challenges facing a survey of this kindnot least the weather and remoteness of this special Scottish islandwe were really delighted to reach Fair Isle and complete work with the survey team. To have gathered information for around 70 sea caves is a fantastic achievement and, along with four biological surveys, has given us a much greater understanding of these hidden habitats within the MPA. "While the sea caves have been explored by local residents and divers, this is the first extensive and systematic documentation. It was an extremely special survey to be part of and we were hugely welcomed by the local community for which we're really grateful." Dr. Dan Harries, a marine ecologist at Heriot-Watt University said: "The coastline of Fair Isle is breathtakingly spectacular and it was a privilege to document the sea caves and their inhabitants. "The majority of the sea caves were very shallow, so their walls were heavily scoured: the sand and stones on the bottom swirl around the cave during heavy seas, scrubbing off any life that might cling to the walls. "The caves with deeper floors are where richer communities had established themselves. Some cave walls were decorated with sponges, including the delicate 'lace sponge," others with dense thickets of oaten pipe hydroids, which are related to jellyfish and corals. "The deeper caves were also home to the aptly-named baked bean sea squirt, which looks exactly as you might imagine." The Fair Isle Demonstration and Research MPA is a community-led designation, with the aim of supporting research to expand understanding of the local marine environment, implement impactful conservation measures and illustrate the influence of small communities on policy development. Stewart Thomson, a member of the Fair Isle community, said: "As a participant in the Fair Isle Marine Environment and Tourism Initiative (FIMETI), and a onetime scuba diver, I was very interested in the cave survey team's visit in August. I was pleased that the island was given a talk demonstrating what they were finding, and explaining how and why the various organisms and animals choose to live in such seemingly challenging habitats; and stressing their importance in the wellbeing of marine life. "It is in understanding all aspects of life over and under the sea which is so important in identifying what needs to be done, in order to supervise the proper management of the marine environment, and I know the isle population very much appreciated their efforts, and will support any project which can improve our knowledge of something that we all rely on." The team also carried out surveys to fill in knowledge gaps about Priority Marine Features (PMFs) around Orkney, including horse mussel beds, flame shell beds and seagrass. Explore further Fair Isle Bird ObservatoryWatching the birdwatchers Credit: CC0 Public Domain The Ig Nobel Prizes honor scientific achievements that "should first make people laugh and then make them think". The spoof prizes, first awarded by the US journal Annals of Improbable Research in 1991, have long since acquired cult status among scientists. This year's chemistry award recognizes a study that proves the connection between the air in cinemas and different age ratings. The study was carried out in cooperation between the Max Planck the connection between the air in cinemas and the age rating. The study was carried out in cooperation between the Max Planck Institute for Chemistry and the University of Mainz. In their work, the teams led by Jonathan Williams from the Max Planck Institute for Chemistry (MPIC) and Stefan Kramer, professor at the Institute for Computer Science at the University of Mainz, demonstrated the connection between the concentration of isoprene in the air of cinema and the FSK age rating (Germany's motion picture rating organization). Isoprene is stored in muscle tissue but escapes through our breath during movement. With the systematic data collected and evaluated by Kramer's team, the smell of fear could be visualized in concrete numbers. Evidence of creativity "Through the joint project, we have created a great link between the Atmospheric Chemistry Department at the Max Planck Institute for Chemistry and the Data Mining group at the University of Mainz, which helps us analyze atmospheric data", explains Williams. The scientist, who was born in England - where self-deprecation tends to be used as an art form - is delighted about winning the spoof award. "The prize is a testament to our creativity as scientists and our willingness to see the bigger picture. We like to do experiments that may seem idiosyncratic at first but which end up revealing new phenomena. This is part of the basic research that is the defining element of the Max Planck Society. Our work on measurable fear in cinema air has already set many new studies in motion", says Williams. "In our many years of cooperation with Jonathan Williams from the MPIC, we have always found extraordinary questions for the application and further development of machine learning methods" adds Kramer The Ig Nobel Prizes are presented each year two weeks before the announcement of the real Nobel Prizes at the Sanders Theatre of Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Due to the coronavirus pandemic, this year the award took place digitally on 9 September. Through their collaboration, the researchers have opened the door to an interdisciplinary research direction that combines expertise from the fields of atmospheric chemistry, breath analysis, emotional response analysis, and data mining. Nevertheless, Williams found the nomination for the iconic research award rather surprising. After all, this study represents only a fraction of his actual research work. His main research focus is outdoor atmospheric chemistry. The study entitled "Proof of concept study: Testing human volatile organic compounds as tools for age classification of films" was published in the Open Access journal PLOS ONE in September 2018. As Williams recalls, the cinema study was met with a great response in the media at the time. Many people love the cinema, which means the topic is of interest to the general population. Whether Psycho, Silence of the Lambs, or Saw: many thrillers have burned themselves into society's film memory with their shock moments. "Whether we are scared or laughing, our emotions are in the air", says Williams. This gave him the idea of examining the air as a measurable indicator for age ratings of films. Kramer added to the idea by investigating whether the smells produced by viewers reliably reflect the level of violence, sex, anti-social behavior, drug use, and cursing in the film being shown. Innovative film assessment: Air measurement in the cinema The researchers connected a mass spectrometer to the ventilation system of a cinema auditorium. During 135 film screenings, the researchers measured and analyzed how the composition of the cinema air changes every 30 seconds. They discovered a relationship between the isoprene concentration in the air and the age rating of the film. "Apparently, we involuntarily move back and forth in our seats or tense our muscles when we are nervous and excited. This also causes us to exhale more isoprene", explains Williams. How tense the audience is when watching a film provides a good indication of how stressful the film is for children and adolescents. A continuation of the cinema study is being planned. Williams would now like to investigate whether people leave a chemical fingerprint in the air, not only of their tension but also of other emotional states. Explore further A chemical criterion for rating movies More information: C. Stonner et al, Proof of concept study: Testing human volatile organic compounds as tools for age classification of films, PLOS ONE (2018). C. Stonner et al, Proof of concept study: Testing human volatile organic compounds as tools for age classification of films,(2018). DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0203044 Jorg Wicker et al, Cinema Data Mining, Proceedings of the 21th ACM SIGKDD International Conference on Knowledge Discovery and Data Mining (2015). DOI: 10.1145/2783258.2783404 Journal information: PLoS ONE Credit: Pixabay/CC0 Public Domain The languages of the world are all unique, but also share important similarities. These mostly lie in the grammatical elements each of the approximately 7000 human languages contain, the word parts and rules that speakers can use to build a sentence. Traditionally, linguists either assume that the explanation for these similarities is that all people are born with a blueprint for these grammatical categories in their genetics or that they emerge from other cognitive capacities (for example, all people have an understanding of time so human languages can develop past tense or future tense). A problem with these accounts is that they can only explain part of the grammatical similarities of the world's languages and also that they do not explain where grammar came from. In a new paper recently published in Frontiers in Communication, linguists Stef Spronck and Daniela Casartelli from the University of Helsinki propose a radical new theory: these grammatical similarities are due to the way in which humans talk about language. The authors noted that in many languages sentences that reflect people's speech or thought, known as 'reported speech', can develop new meanings that closely resemble grammatical categories. This means that the sentence 'He said: "I will go"' in some languages can become the main way to express meanings such as 'He was about to go', 'He might go', 'As for him, he will go'. Each of these interpretations have no clear connection with the meaning of reported speech, but use a sentence structure that derives from reported speech. The meanings associated with these non-speech interpretations of reported speech correspond to common grammatical categories in the languages of the world, which linguists call 'aspect', 'modality', 'topic' and others. Similar examples include instances in which the 'saying' sentence on the left used as the main or only strategy to express the meaning on the right: She said 'I will go' means She WANTS to go He believes saying they will go is the only way to express he believes THAT they will go (so the word 'say' is interpreted as the complementiser 'that') It says 'I will go' means It IS ABOUT TO go We say 'You will go' is the only way to express We MAKE you go You say 'we will go' means You FEAR we will go Saying me, I go is the only way to express AS FOR ME, I go Dr. Stef Spronck, one of the authors of the study, says that "observations about expressions of saying being used to express a wide variety of meanings (including those above and others) have been made in the linguistic literature before for individual languages and areas, but our study shows that they in fact occur all around the world in languages that have not been in contact. We propose that such observations can be explained by the hypothesis that saying clauses (reported speech) are an important source for a wide, but also quite regular range of meanings that constitute core parts of grammar and the meaning of some verbs and thus have played a central role in the constitution of language." "Humans talk about other people's thoughts and statements all the time, from the moment we first learn to speak. It determines our cultures, the way we see the world and who we trust. A phenomenon that is so fundamental to human existence likely leaves its trace on languages and our study shows that this goes far beyond simple sentences of reported speech. We propose that in the evolution of language talking about language was a way of forming some of the first complex language structures and that from these structures new types of grammar could develop. This would explain why we see reported speech with so many different functions in our world-wide sample, but at the same time also find the same functions over and over again. Many of these new 'non-speech' functions could be seen as a type of grammatical category. Our hypothesis is not meant to replace traditional cognitive explanations of grammar, but provides a new story for the emergence of grammatical categories, particularly those that are traditionally more difficult to explain." Explore further Study shows that brain activity during speaking varies between simple and complex grammatical forms More information: Stef Spronck et al, In a Manner of Speaking: How Reported Speech May Have Shaped Grammar, Frontiers in Communication (2021). Stef Spronck et al, In a Manner of Speaking: How Reported Speech May Have Shaped Grammar,(2021). DOI: 10.3389/fcomm.2021.624486 Middletown Town Council Member Julia Reischel, who also serves as director of Margaretville Hospitals Opioid Outreach Program, said DuMonds data was not a major cause for concern. Yes, more people are using marijuana since it has been legalized in California, and yes, more children are eating marijuana candy and gummies as they become more prevalent, Reischel said. But overdosing on marijuana is rare, and fatally overdosing almost never happens. DuMond also cited data from a 2012 study on inebriation and traffic stops, written before most of the recent wave of states legalizing cannabis and therefore really isnt relevant to our situation in New York now, Reischel said. Citing the lack of a national standard for THC inebriation the cannabis equivalent of the 0.08% blood-alcohol content threshold for drunken driving DuMond said he hopes most municipalities will wait until more guidance is available from the state. We already have enough problems with the mind-altering substances we already have in this county, he said. Im the one that has to go to the door to the family of the death of their loved one in an impaired driving incident. A ban on cannabis dispensaries wont change whether people are inebriated on cannabis there is already lots of cannabis already consumed in Delaware County, and banning cannabis sales wont change that, Reischel said. Love 0 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 0 New images are shining a spotlight on a game of fetch that's out of this world. Astronomers have captured the most detailed observations yet of the asteroid 216 Kleopatra -- an asteroid with two moons that just happens to look a lot like a dog bone. The new observations were made using the European Southern Observatory's Very Large Telescope in Chile, and the sharp clarity of the images has helped scientists learn more about the mass and 3D shape of the asteroid. This information could shed more light on how the asteroid and its two moons formed. At its closest to Earth, Kleopatra is 124 million miiles (200 million kilometers) away. Two studies including the observations published Thursday in the journal Astronomy & Astrophysics. Once focused on the shape of the asteroid, while the other looked more closely at the asteroid's mass, as well as its moons. "Kleopatra is truly a unique body in our Solar System," said Franck Marchis, lead study author of the 3D shape study, in a statement. "Science makes a lot of progress thanks to the study of weird outliers. I think Kleopatra is one of those and understanding this complex, multiple asteroid system can help us learn more about our Solar System." Local top story Army Corps dredging could make a big difference on Maurice River Bill Barlow, Staff Writer Boats line up at Anchor Marina on the Maurice River. There are fewer marinas on the river now than a decade ago. Locals hope a plan to dredge the mouth of the river will improve the local economy, and the fishing on the river and in the Delaware Bay. Bill Barlow, Staff Writer Traps are stacked up at a marina on the Maurice River. Locals hope a federal dredging plan will revitalize both the economy and the fish and crabs. Bill Barlow, Staff Writer Several marinas along the Maurice River, including this one, have closed as the number of boats and boaters using the waterway has declined. A federal plan would dredge the mouth of the river, said the be the first work there in many years. Bill Barlow, Staff Writer Crabbers try their luck on the bank of the Maurice River. Some marinas have closed on the river, and others have seen business drop. Locals hope a federal dredging plan will revitalize both the economy and the fish and crabs. MAURICE RIVER TOWNSHIP On a sunny Sunday morning at Anchor Marina on the Maurice River, Bob Myers Jr. sits in the shade of a small white building, overlooking a line of boat slips. The marina is on a bend near the mouth of the river, just out of sight from the Delaware Bay, on a slip of land called Matts Landing. Myers grew up in Heislerville, a community of a couple of hundred families nestled close to the marsh between the river and the Delaware Bay. Myers, 41, said he will welcome a plan for the Army Corps of Engineers to dredge the mouth of the river, to clear the silted channel for recreational and commercial fishing boats and other traffic. On a blow-out tide, theyve got about 2 to 3 feet of water. If they could dredge it out for a few more feet that would be good, he said. In a recent interview, U.S. Rep. Jeff Van Drew cited the Maurice River project as an area where federal spending will have a local impact. He said the project will be an important improvement to the economy in the riverside communities. Ed Voigt, a spokesman for the Philadelphia District of the Army Corps of Engineers, said there is about $4 million for maintenance dredging on the river in President Joe Bidens budget proposal, but that has not yet been approved by Congress. He expects the funding to remain intact when there is a final vote. Practically speaking, the amount will probably stick, said Voigt. That does not mean the work will start immediately. He expects the Army Corps to approve a contract by late 2022. As planned, the project will create a channel 7 feet deep and 150 feet wide across Maurice Cove to the rivers mouth, then a 100-foot-wide channel of the same depth to the fixed bridge upriver at Millville, a distance of about 24 miles. The Maurice River supports local fishing, the oyster industry and ship repair industries. The shipyards perform repairs on federally owned assets, including USACE and U.S. Coast Guard vessels, which serve the greater Philadelphia Port Complex, reads the Army Corps description of the proposal. Some of the material dredged from the channel will be used to restore wetlands and fend off erosion, according to a description posted by the Army Corps. The work cant come too soon for Ken Whildin, the mayor of Maurice River Township in Cumberland County. Heislerville is a section of the township, which spans more than 95 square miles between the river and the border of Cape May County, with Millville to the northwest. Whildin said the mouth of the river is silted in. It needs dredging again. Its been neglected for decades now, he said. At low tide, they cant get vessels up the river, he said. The river itself is deep enough, but you cant get through the mouth. He described the river as an important economic engine, both for his community and for Commercial Township on the other bank of the river. Further upriver, there is an extensive wild area, home to numerous osprey and bald eagles, with industry and marinas set closer to the bay. Bill Barlow, Staff Writer Michael Kuntz of Williamstown crabs with a hand line at Matts Landing on the Maurice River. Plans are to clear the mouth of the river under a federal contract. Proponents of the project say it will help the economy, while some believe it will also mean more fish and crabs in the river as well. Our river is accountable for over $100 million a year in various industries, he said. That includes commercial and recreational fishing, as well as boat building and repair. Thats a big deal in an area with few jobs outside of fishing and agriculture. The only real jobs we have is the prisons and the sand plants, Whildin said. Both Southern State Correctional Facility and Bayside State Prison are located in the township. Shipbuilding and canning used to be a major part of the local economy. Whildin sees potential in a new industry. He believes the riverside communities will benefit from the construction of wind farms off the New Jersey coast. The Ocean Wind project is projected to be generating energy by 2035, with 99 turbines off the coast of Cape May and Atlantic counties. More projects are in the works, with the potential of wind turbines along much of the coast. Some beach towns and shore property owners oppose the wind plan. Whildin sees great potential, with the boatyards of the Maurice River strategically placed between the wind port in Salem County and the turbines on the ocean. Ships and crews could need repairs or a closer port, he said. But that cant happen unless the boats can access the river. Whildin said boats sometimes line up at the mouth of the river waiting for the tide to change. Myers said he has never seen that. Even the commercial fishing vessel and sailboats have clearance in the channel at most low tides, he said. Still, he agrees the work is overdue and will be good for the riverside communities. He said representatives of the Army Corps of Engineers came out to the marina to discuss their plans. Myers father used to own the marina, before he sold it a few years ago. Myers said hes worked at the marina and on boats in the river and the bay. He said the waterway has changed in the past decade, and believes the dredging project will help bring things back the way they were. Its been years since there was a major dredging project on the river, Myers said. During Superstorm Sandy in 2012, some of the earthworks and wetlands that protect against erosion washed away, with some of that material washing into the river. A large marshy island in the middle of the river Myers called it a meadow is a fraction of its former size. The Army Corps project will not only deepen the mouth of the river, it will also restore the local ecosystem, he said, including work on restoring the meadows, which he said are an important part of the life cycle for fish and other wildlife. Deeper waterways and restoring the wetlands will provide habitat for a variety of species and help bring back bait fish in the river, he said. That will not only draw larger fish into the river, it will allow it to fulfill its natural role as a nursery for the fish of the Delaware Bay. Bill Barlow, Staff Writer A boat makes its way upstream on the Maurice River on Sunday. Oysters could also make their homes on the muddy river banks, helping protect against future erosion, he said. Thats good for the bay, he said, and for the areas economy. For instance, many boaters like to fish for perch, but they have become very hard to find, so fewer boaters visit the river. He hopes the proposal will help increase the number of perch and other fish species, which will mean more work at the marina. There are fewer boats docked at the marina now than there were before Sandy, he said, and other marinas have shut down entirely. There is one other marina in operation on Matts Landing. It will definitely benefit the area, and bring more sea life, more bait fish and more game species. We used to see a lot more kinds of species on the river, he said. ATLANTIC CITY A 16-year-old Atlantic City boy was arrested Saturday in a robbery at gunpoint, police said. Police Surveillance Center personnel assisted in locating a robbery suspect armed with a handgun Friday, police said in a news release. At 6:23 p.m., a man stopped officers to report that he had been robbed at gunpoint at Tennessee and Central avenues, police said. The victim, 63, of Atlantic City, said a suspect had pointed a gun at him and demanded money. Atlantic City girl shot early Monday morning ATLANTIC CITY A 16-year-old city girl arrived Monday at AtlantiCare Regional Medical Cente When the victim refused, the suspect hit him in the head with the gun, took his money and fled. Using a description of the perpetrator, officers and members of the Surveillance Center identified the suspect as a 16-year-old boy from Atlantic City who had returned to the area. Officers John Bell and Dylan Imbrenda located the suspect and arrested him. He was found in possession of a loaded handgun, police said. The unidentified minor was charged with robbery, aggravated assault, unlawful possession of a weapon, possession of a weapon for an unlawful purpose and possession of a high-capacity magazine. He was taken to the Harborfields Juvenile Detention Facility in Egg Harbor City. REPORTER: Michelle Brunetti Post 609-272-7219 mpost@pressofac.com Get local news delivered to your inbox! Subscribe to our Daily Headlines newsletter. Sign up! * I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy. A large marshy island in the middle of the river Myers called it a meadow is a fraction of its former size. The Army Corps project will not only deepen the mouth of the river, it will also restore the local ecosystem, he said, including work on restoring the meadows, which he said are an important part of the life cycle for fish and other wildlife. Deeper waterways and restoring the wetlands will provide habitat for a variety of species and help bring back bait fish in the river, he said. That will not only draw larger fish into the river, it will allow it to fulfill its natural role as a nursery for the fish of the Delaware Bay. Oysters could also make their homes on the muddy river banks, helping protect against future erosion, he said. Thats good for the bay, he said, and for the areas economy. For instance, many boaters like to fish for perch, but they have become very hard to find, so fewer boaters visit the river. He hopes the proposal will help increase the number of perch and other fish species, which will mean more work at the marina. There are fewer boats docked at the marina now than there were before Sandy, he said, and other marinas have shut down entirely. There is one other marina in operation on Matts Landing. It will definitely benefit the area, and bring more sea life, more bait fish and more game species. We used to see a lot more kinds of species on the river, he said. Contact Bill Barlow: 609-272-7290 bbarlow@pressofac.com Twitter @jerseynews_bill Get local news delivered to your inbox! Subscribe to our Daily Headlines newsletter. Sign up! * I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy. Without ever mentioning Donald Trump by name, former Gov. Chris Christie gave a stinging critique of the Republican Party the former president leads, saying it must focus on the truth and not conspiracy theories and false claims that the 2020 election was stolen. Pretending we won when we lost is a waste of time and energy and credibility, Christie said in a speech Thursday at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in California, part of a speaker series on the future of the GOP. Trump has refused to accept his loss to Joe Biden in last Novembers presidential election, continuing to claim, falsely, that voter fraud set in motion by a Democratic conspiracy denied him a second term. In the wake of Trumps accusations, Republican governors and legislatures in several states have enacted restrictions on voting. Christie, who ran unsuccessfully against Trump in 2016 and has said he wouldnt rule out running again in 2024 even if the former president enters the race for the White House, as he has teased, said Republicans must stop wallowing in the past and free ourselves from the quicksand of endless grievances. Despite Democrats many valiant policy efforts from implementing paid family leave to the child tax credit were still in real danger of building back a post-pandemic economy thats as uneven and unfair as it always has been to people of color at the bottom of the income scale. Not that most Californians believe Republicans, with their shortsighted, pull-yourself-up-by-the-bootstraps ideology, are better equipped to address these issues. After all, it wasnt Newsom whom homeless people angrily chased out of Venice on Wednesday; it was one of his would-be replacements, conservative talk show host Larry Elder. But assuming Newsom prevails in this weeks recall election, it remains to be seen what he can do for the many working class people particularly Latino and Black people who are struggling to make ends meet and, in some cases, are on the verge of eviction. Longtime civil rights leader and labor activist Rev. James Lawson Jr. was sounding the alarm about this in a conversation we had way back in July, just a few days after the UCLA Labor Center was renamed in his honor. He calls it plantation capitalism. The deluge of federal borrowed money unleashed by the start of the COVID crisis a year and a half ago flowed through agencies, states and into counties and municipalities. Nothing seems to calm the nerves of elected officials in a time of uncertainty like having large amounts to spend or distribute. So great has been the funding flood that the little stream left from the American Rescue Plan part of it, when it reached Atlantic City, was still $33 million. Atlantic City Mayor Marty Small Sr. is trying to share some of that COVID relief with city employees who worked during the height of the pandemic from March 20 to Sept. 28 last year. Their $3,500 bonuses would be what is popularly called hazard pay for the added risk of working in person. The mayor also wants to give city taxpayers $500 each, just to help them get through these troubled times. Mayor Small hasnt gone about this the right way, so a lesson in better cooperation with the citys state partners is in order. The substance of what hes doing raises some questions for the public as to the proper use of its money. As for Elizarraraz, he limited his comments about his case on the advice of his attorney. But he confirmed his account as told to Borderless Magazine, that he came from Mexico as a 13-year-old in 1993, with a family friend and his two younger brothers. His father was living in Crystal Lake at the time, and had applied for legal immigration status under President Ronald Reagans 1986 Immigration Reform and Control Act. At age 18, Elizarraraz got involved in a fight, and later pleaded guilty to aggravated battery. After a brief return to Mexico, he ended up living and working in shipping in Crystal Lake, where he has five children and plans to marry their mother this month. His fiancee, Kristin Glauner, was among those who spoke against ICE detention at the county board hearing this spring. After fixing and reselling used cars, Elizarraraz pleaded guilty in 2019 to operating as an unlicensed car dealership, a misdemeanor. ICE reinstated a previous deportation order, and he was held in McHenry jail until his release this summer, with a temporary delay of his removal pending further review. Weve been through hell, he said. In a statement to supporters, Elizarraraz admitted his mistakes getting involved with a gang as a teenager, but said he was able to turn his life around. The harassment was ginned up by high-profile national QAnon profiteers like former Donald Trump national security adviser Michael Flynn and disgraced pro-Trump lawyer Lin Wood. They didnt see Wolski as a human being. They saw her as a patsy who could help them keep their followers riled up, an easy mark to elevate their perverse brands. Wood announced Wolskis death on his Telegram account, which has about 815,000 subscribers, and wrote: Now on Earth, it is our responsibility to ensure that these medical murders stop NOW and the perpetrators be brought to justice. The conspiracies that drove Wolski to resist simple measures that could have protected her from the coronavirus are the same ones that gave birth to the hundreds of domestic terrorists who attacked the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, convinced, without a lick of evidence, that the 2020 presidential election had been stolen. Its the same pack of conspiracies that is leading thousands of Americans to die from a virus rather than receive a safe and effective vaccine. And while its easy to look at people leaping down rabbit holes and figure natural selection will sort things out, those deceived by opportunists with ill intent often cause collateral damage. Why left-wingers are the way they are is a distressing puzzle: supposedly compassionate, yes, but either irrational or selfish or both to the point of outright cruelty, and, over and over again, big-time winners, taking political control of California, for instance. It is mountainously beautiful, the most populous, richest state in the union, but also a collection of impoverished, unsheltered, often alcoholic or drug-addicted, mentally ill, barefoot, emaciated Americans with next to no care. Civilization calls for something better than vast numbers sprawled on San Francisco sidewalks next to their tents and garbage as if Hollywood movie producers were preparing a scene on the states imminent collapse. The decadence is broader than this skid row tragedy, and so civilization also calls for the unlikely Tuesday recall of Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom who abets bad outcomes by following progressive paths with character sadly amiss. The crucial hope is that his ejection could begin the reshaping of essentially a one-party state into more nearly a two-party state in which debate is not ideologically enclosed and theres compromise, adherence to essential principles and the possibility of honorable, reformist effectiveness. Clearly there will be more attacks on Roe v. Wade and one of them is likely to stick. Also ominously looming on the horizon is Mississippis request to let a 15-week abortion ban stand, which the Supreme Court has agreed to hear. There is almost no way that the court can uphold that ban without gutting Roe. Congress can no longer sit on the sidelines. The venue for protection has shifted significantly to the Congress and the administration, said Nancy Northup, chief executive of the Center for Reproductive Rights, which has pushed for the Womens Health Protection Act and is one of the groups that filed a lawsuit against the Texas law. At the moment, the bill stands a better chance of passing in the House than it does in the Senate. But theres good reason to put it to a vote in Congress: We get to see which of the peoples representatives are willing to support a womans constitutional right to seek an abortion and, perhaps more importantly, which do not. Polls have consistently indicated that almost 60% of American adults believe abortion should be legal in all or most cases. Its time for members of Congress to stand up for womens rights and stop the harassment, the legal wrangling, the chipping away at the Roe vs. Wade decision all of which has kept women in numerous states from exercising control over their own bodies. 2021 Los Angeles Times. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC. Love 0 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 0 Ackerland came to Theo's throughout high school and college to study and socialize. Eight months ago on a visit with her family, Grevas came up and said he'd been waiting for her. Then he asked if she wanted to apply for a job. When Grevas took her aside and explained his intentions to sell, she cried. Then she asked questions. And when he announced publicly he was selling the space, she got to work. "I just went to overdrive," she said, "talking to anybody that I could about trying to keep it alive." Grevas described Myah as a go-getter, but she's not the only one looking to buy the shop. There are about eight parties interested in buying the building, five of which have expressed interest in both the business and the building. However, there's no guarantee it will stay the same. In an ideal world Ackerland would buy the whole building, but she said that just won't be possible. She hopes to pay rent to whoever buys the building to keep operating the shop. If no one buys the building, then it's moot. Collinsville Fire Chief John Bailot talked about the death of his son, who committed suicide in April 2019 while a student at the University of Missouri-Columbia. Bailot, who was living in Ohio at the time, said he was in his office when his wife came in to say their son's academic advisor had told them their son didn't show up for school for two days. Bailot asked someone at the police department to make a call to check on him. Two sheriff's deputies came to their home. "I knew from my experiences that there was only one reason to have two deputy sheriff's at my house," he said, stopping his comments as he became emotional. He said his son took his life at the age of 29. "We had no signs or, if we did, we were blind to them," he said. "And that's part of the problem. "The hardest part besides the loss of my son is people don't really want to talk about it with me," he said. "They don't want to ask me about my son. I want to talk about my son. "If you know a family that has lost somebody by suicide, reach out and talk to them," he said. He said people ask if things are better. They're not, he said, but they are different. The Saudi government has long denied any involvement in the attacks. The Saudi Embassy in Washington has it supported the full declassification of all records as a way to "end the baseless allegations against the Kingdom once and for all." The embassy said that any allegation that Saudi Arabia was complicit was "categorically false." The trove of documents are being released at a politically delicate time for the U.S. and Saudi Arabia, two nations that have forged a strategic if difficult alliance, particularly on counterterrorism matters. The Biden administration in February released an intelligence assessment implicating Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman in the 2018 killing of U.S.-based journalist Jamal Khashoggi, but drew criticism from Democrats for avoiding a direct punishment of the crown prince himself. Victims' relatives cheered the document's release as a significant step in their effort to connect the attacks to Saudi Arabia. Brett Eagleson, whose father, Bruce, was killed in the World Trade Center attack, said the release of the FBI material "accelerates our pursuit of truth and justice." Jim Kreindler, a lawyer for the victims' relatives, said in a statement that "the findings and conclusions in this FBI investigation validate the arguments we have made in the litigation regarding the Saudi government's responsibility for the 9/11 attacks. U.S. News looks at student-to-faculty ratio, alumni giving, graduation rates and other factors as criteria. It also accounts for a universitys perception among other university administrators. For the third straight year, UVA is ranked No. 4 nationally among public schools. The three schools ahead of UVA didnt change this year, either: the University of California, Los Angeles is No. 1, followed by the University of California, Berkeley and the University of Michigan. William & Mary rose one spot to No. 10 in the public school ranking. Virginia Tech fell one spot to No. 30. George Mason University fell two places to 67th, a year after it jumped 13 spots. VCU also fell this year after making a big gain last year. Last September, VCU rose seven spots to 77th. This year, it fell eight spots, tying for 85th with the University at Albany and Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge. VCU is 172nd overall. Old Dominion University placed 132nd among public schools. In the ranking of top liberal arts colleges, Washington and Lee University dropped two spots to No. 11. The Lexington private school announced in June that it would keep its name, which honors George Washington and Robert E. Lee. The decision came a year after it began considering a name change. DUNWOODY, Ga. (AP) An explosion rocked an apartment building in suburban Atlanta on Sunday, causing the three-story structure to partially collapse and leaving four people with minor injuries, authorities said. The cause of the explosion was unknown, but a local utility had received a call from a resident about a strong odor of gas shortly before the midday blast, according to DeKalb County Fire and Rescue Deputy Fire Chief Melvin Carter. He said 90% of the building had been searched and officials were in the process of shoring up the rest of the complex so rescuers could continue searching for anyone who might be trapped. Fire Capt. Jaeson Daniels had said two people were unaccounted for and may have been in one of three apartments that had completely collapsed. Rescuers hadn't been able to enter those apartments due to instability of the overall structure. But WSB-TV reported, citing DeKalb fire officials, that the two people were eventually found safe. Biden, who visits Denver on Tuesday before returning to Washington, aimed to link the increasing frequency of wildfires, drought, floods and other extreme weather events to what he and scientists say is a need to invest billions in combating climate change, along with vastly expanding the nation's social safety net. The president argued for spending now to make the future effects of climate change less costly, as he did during recent stops in Louisiana, New York and New Jersey all states that suffered millions of dollars in flood and other damage and scores of deaths after Hurricane Ida. Biden also praised firefighters for the life-threatening risks they take, and discussed the administration's recent use of a wartime law to boost supplies of firehoses from the U.S. Forest Service's primary supplier, an Oklahoma City nonprofit called NewView Oklahoma. In deep-red Idaho, several opposing groups leveraged Bidens visit as a way to show resistance to his administration. GOP gubernatorial candidates, an anti-vaccine organization and a far-right group were among those urging people to turn out against the president. More than 1,000 protesters did so, gathering in Boise before Biden arrived to express displeasure with his coronavirus plan, the election and other issues. If they were ready to get rid of me, it would be pretty easy, Errington said. Voting-rights activists argue that partisan gerrymandering has helped Indiana Republicans gain outsized power in state government. Over the past decade, Republicans have ousted all Democrats from rural legislative districts across the state as theyve built majorities of 71-29 in the House and 39-11 in the Senate. Republicans have used the full legislative supermajorities theyve held since the 2012 elections to advance issues such as expanding state funding of vouchers for students attending private schools, toughening anti-abortion laws and approving the contentious state religious objections law in 2015. Republicans might have to shed some of their rural districts as more than half of the states 92 counties lost residents over the past decade. But the fastest-growing areas are also friendly Republican territory, with all five state House districts that grew by more than 20% being GOP-held seats in suburban Indianapolis. Republican state Rep. Tim Wesco of Osceola, chairman of the House elections committee, said he anticipated some dramatic changes in legislative district maps. Virginias new redistricting commission, concerned about a hastening deadline to produce maps of legislative districts, is scrapping its regional approach that had begun with proposed districts in Northern Virginia and will press on to create statewide maps. As we have done throughout this process, we have spent some time assessing where we are and what is ahead, and with the guidance of our legal counsel, have determined the Commission will be shifting gears as we reach the halfway mark, commission co-chairs Greta Harris and Mackenzie Babichenko said in a joint statement. The commission is now directing mapmakers aligned with Democrats and those aligned with Republicans to produce separate proposed maps of all 100 House districts and all 40 Senate districts for the commission to review at its meeting next Monday. The new commission is building the plane as we are flying it here, Harris said at the beginning of Mondays commission meeting. The commission, made up of eight citizen members and eight legislators, has until Oct. 10 to draft and agree on proposed legislative maps of the House of Delegates and state Senate and until Oct. 25 to do so with proposed U.S. House districts. As an Afghanistan veteran, these past few weeks have been very traumatic. First came the emails and text messages from friends and colleagues (both American and Afghan) in Kabul and other areas controlled by the Taliban, asking me to pray for them. Then came the desperate cries for help, as some of these friends were being left behind. I have prayed and I have cried. Never have I felt such a combination of anger, shame, grief, fear, disgust and frustration. These feelings were amplified tenfold when I received news that Staff Sgt. Ryan C. Knauss was the only U.S. Army soldier killed in the recent suicide attacks outside of Kabul airport. He hailed from my former unit, now under the 1st Special Forces Command at Fort Bragg in North Carolina. The outcome of our sacrifices: a U.S. government-designated terrorist organization (The Haqqani Network) now controlling several key positions in the Taliban cabinet, to include the ministry of interior (signifying a silent purge of American allies in Afghanistan) and the ministry of education (which will train the next generation of terrorists ready to attack America). Today, I am enraged at the incompetence of our senior government, military and intelligence officials. The result can be charted: precipitation changes. In California, two years of deep drought have set up the state for record-breaking wildfires. Already in 2021, more than 1.9 million acres have burned. Firefighters warned that despite their all-out effort, the Caldor fire at Lake Tahoes edge may yet burn all the way to Nevada. Out East, the ever-warming atmosphere retains more water and then dumps it onto communities that are not built to sustain it. Some 41 million Americans, most in the East, live near enough to a floodplain to be in urgent danger from floods. We grow used to these numbers, which once would have terrified us. The Great Mississippi Flood of 1927 left 500 people dead and 700,000 homeless, and it cost the federal government around $1 billion, a full third of the 1927 federal budget. In response to the devastation, tens of thousands of Black Mississippians left their homes and moved north and west. In that historical migration, Americans today might see their future. Our sea-to-shining-sea nation is becoming less and less habitable. Those with means may move farther north, but even in Canada, projected precipitation maps are ominous. Almost no part of the North American continent is safe from fires or floods. He was always extremely polite and patient, and the clients really felt that he had a genuine interest in whatever their legal problem was that they came to see him about, said Jim Haskins. Crouch had high credibility with not only his clients and fellow attorneys but also with the judges, also with the courts, Haskins said. The way he practiced was always with the highest order of professionalism and integrity. He was the Henry County chair of Jimmy Carters presidential campaigns, and one of the first Virginia Democratic activists to join Bill Clintons campaign. He was Clintons campaign coordinator for the Fifth Congressional District, and went onto become a Clinton delegate and whip at the Democratic National Convention. At the age of 45, in 1993, he was recommended by then-Sen. Chuck Robb to serve as U.S. attorney for the Western District of Virginia, which was based in Roanoke. Later that year, Clinton appointed him to that position, where he directed 17 assistant U.S. attorneys. While U.S. Attorneys traditionally leave partisan politics when they serve their terms, their appointments usually are political rewards for their party. Windell Ely said he was reminded of the Old Testament story of Joseph, who told the Israelites to make sure his bones were taken home to the Promised Land after his death. It was no easy task, but Josephs loved ones saw his wishes fulfilled, carrying his body inside a coffin from Egypt, through the Wilderness of Sinai for 40 years, to Israel, where they had to conquer enemies that held the mountain where Joseph was to be buried. This is a huge thing that the nation has paid the price, Windell Ely said. That the people have set aside time and worked and put all their labor in to bring the bones of Stewart back home, where his heart was. Home, the place that, like Joseph, is where he wanted his bones buried no other place in the world. Windell Ely, who is a Vietnam veteran, said it was his duty to bear witness for both the dead and the living. Witness [so] that we never forget how dangerous this life is for all of us. We will never forget the dead, because if we do, then we actually kill them a second time. So, in the end, all thats left when we die from this place are our memories. My memory is of a young hero in my family that gave his life for this country. They fought, they died [so] that all of us could be free today. Weve got to remember the cost of war because its a great cost to have freedom like we have. Most VCU students have complied with the policy 98% of about 28,000 students are immunized or have received an exemption. There have been 139 positive cases in the first three weeks of the semester, according to the universitys dashboard 114 students and 25 employees. The dashboard does not address whether the positive cases were vaccinated or unvaccinated people. VCU employees must be vaccinated, too, and the deadline to report their vaccination is Wednesday. According to the dashboard, 92% of employees are fully vaccinated, partially vaccinated or exempt. Eight percent have not reported their vaccinations. Employees who dont report their vaccination status by Oct. 1 will be subject to termination, the university said. Employees who are unvaccinated and miss a test will receive a warning. If they miss a second test, they will be placed on unpaid leave for up to 30 days or until they comply. If an employee misses three tests or is noncompliant for more than 30 days, he or she will be subject to termination. Carpenter said his desire is for students and employees to follow the rules. Thank you for reading! Please log in, or sign up for a new account and purchase a subscription to continue reading. " " Petri dishes containing sprouting embryos of an agricultural plant called camelina sativa that have received spliced genetic material via the CRISPR-Cas9 process are displayed at the Leibnitz Institute of Plant Genetics and Crop Plant Research in Gatersleben, Germany. These samples will be used for breeding biodiverse hybrids suited to modeled environmental scenarios of the future. Sean Gallup/Getty Images Lately, there's been a lot of buzz about mosquitoes; specifically, the genetically engineered variety. This summer, a team of scientists from the University of California, Santa Barbara and the University of Washington pioneered a method for messing with mosquito vision, making it very difficult for them to find human targets. How did they accomplish such a feat? Using a genetic engineering tool known as CRISPR. "CRISPR was originally a way that bacteria developed to fight viruses," says Raphael Ferreira, a genomics engineer at Harvard Medical School. Often compared to a pair of "molecular scissors," CRISPR uses specialized proteins called Cas short for CRISPR-associated enzymes to cut strands of DNA or RNA at a precise, preprogrammed location. Then, the system can insert or remove the desired gene at that site, and viola: gene-edited organism. CRISPR opens up a world of possibilities, including many such as blinding mosquitoes in the realm of human health. But that's not all it's being used for. "We have so many variants of that technology, it has allowed us to do any type of genetic engineering possible," says Ferreira. Here are some of the wildest ways scientists are applying CRISPR inside (and potentially outside) the lab. Advertisement 1. Growing Spicy Tomatoes and Decaf Coffee Beans Imagine biting into a vine-ripened tomato. What flavors come to mind? Sweet? Acidic, maybe a little savory? How about spicy? Thanks to an international team of geneticists, that might be the future flavor profile of the humble tomato. Researchers in Brazil and Ireland have proposed CRISPR a means of activating dormant capsaicinoid genes in tomato plants, the same genetic sequence that gives chilis their kick. In addition to creating the perfect bloody Mary, the plants promise an economical alternative to traditional peppers, which are notoriously tricky to grow. CRISPR can also offer a boost to your daily breakfast routine or take the boost away. U.K. company Tropic Biosciences is currently developing a coffee bean engineered to grow caffeine-free. That's a big deal, because today's coffee beans have to be chemically decaffeinated, usually by soaking them in ethyl acetate or methylene chloride (also an ingredient in paint remover). This harsh chemical bath strips out both the beans' caffeine and much of their flavor. CRISPR coffee promises a jitter-free cup of Joe, with all the roasty goodness of full-caf. Advertisement 2. Making No-Hangover Wine If you've ever wished you could have a night out on the town without suffering a head-splitting hangover the next morning, you might be in luck. A team of scientists at the University of Illinois have used their genetic scissors to boost the health benefits of a strain of yeast used to ferment wine and they've snipped out the genes responsible for next-day headaches. Saccharomyces cerevisiae, the yeast in question, is a polyploid organism, meaning that it has many copies of each gene (as opposed to the usual two). This feature makes the yeast both highly adaptable and extremely difficult to genetically engineer using older methods, which could only target one copy of a gene at a time. But CRISPR allows genetic engineers to cut across every single version of a gene in one go. Compared to older technologies, "the complexity of what you can do with CRISPR is way beyond," says Ferreira, "It's all about efficiency." Using it, the Illinois team was able to boost the amount of heart-healthy resveratrol in their wine, while leaving the hangover on the cutting room floor. Advertisement 3. All Bull, No Fight When it comes to cattle farming, horns are usually a no-go. On a fully-grown bull, they pose danger to the farmer, the other cattle, and occasionally to the animal itself. Traditionally, farm-raised cattle are dehorned by annihilating the horn-producing cells on the animal's forehead, located on two bony protuberances called horn buds. The buds are destroyed by one of several different painful means: with good old-fashioned knives, or by applying hot irons, electricity, or caustic substances like sodium hydroxide. These practices can sometimes lead to facial disfigurement or eye damage. But CRISPR might just offer a more ethical alternative. Using CRISPR, scientists have engineered a gene for hornlessness in cattle, effectively eliminating the need for horn-removal procedures in those animals. Even more interestingly, some of these gene-edited bulls have been able to pass the trait on to their offspring which is crucial for keeping the trait in population circulation. In scientific circles, this has been seen as a potentially huge success story: so much so that geneticist Alison L. Van Eenennaam of the University of California, Davis wrote an essay in Nature about it, calling horn removal "an animal welfare concern of high priority" and advocating for continued research. Historically, the general public has had less enthusiasm for gene-tweaked crops and livestock, although recent research suggests that those attitudes may be changing. But what if CRISPR were used for something a little less "Charlotte's Web" and a little more "Jurassic Park"? Advertisement 4. Resurrecting Lost Species Perhaps the most far-out use for CRISPR at the moment is its potential to bring entire species back from the dead. And right now, there's serious talk about resurrecting one particular species: the passenger pigeon. Passenger pigeons used to rove the forests of North America in flocks hundreds of millions strong, darkening the skies and thundering through the understory in what conservationist Aldo Leopold described as "a feathered tempest." However, that started to change in the 18th and 19th centuries, as European colonists radiated across the continent. In addition to being ubiquitous, passenger pigeons had the unfortunate quality of being delicious. They were hunted en masse by hungry Euro-Americans, both for food and sport. This probably wouldn't have been as devastating to the birds' total population, except that humans simultaneously destroyed much of their nesting grounds. This brutal combination drove the species into steep decline by the early 20th century. The last known passenger pigeon, a bird named Martha, died in captivity in 1914. Now, scientists are looking to CRISPR as a way to bring these iconic birds back. California-based biotech organization Revive & Restore has a dedicated Passenger Pigeon Project, which aims to reestablish the species by modifying the genome of the closely related band-tailed pigeon. If successful, the group says, they could use this approach to resurrect all kinds of extinct or critically endangered creatures, from the black-footed ferret to the woolly mammoth. Whether or not they should is, of course, still a matter of some debate, but there's no denying that CRISPR has made the stuff of science fiction possible. Now that's interesting: In 2020, Emmanuelle Charpentier and Jennifer Doudna were awarded the Nobel prize in chemistry for pioneering CRISPR technology, making them the sixth and seventh women to ever receive the award. FLORENCE, S.C. RedSilk Media Group will help you build your business brand. RedSilk held a ribbon cutting Friday afternoon celebrating its membership in the Greater Florence Chamber of Commerce. Joining founder and creative director Chandra Chay Pinto Martinez for the ribbon cutting were chamber staff and ambassadors, family and staff. RedSilk Media Group is a business and personal branding service that offers creative and innovative methods of branding. Pinto Martinez started her business in 2006 in her home state of Louisiana. She moved to the Florence area about two years ago and relocated her business here. The business is at 3658 S. Irby St. RedSilk services include photography, videography, advertising and marketing, graphic and website design, podcast development and production, professional development classes, social media marketing and other services. She also provides studio and conference room rentals, which can be purchased on an as-needed basis by the hour or with a monthly membership, Pinto Martinez said. Pinto Martinez said she has a staff of three and seven virtual employees in other states, and they assist small businesses, business professionals, entrepreneurs, nonprofits and religious organizations. Another round of terrific essays at new Inquest website | Main | "Restorative Retributivism" August 12, 2021 Senators Durbin and Booker write to Prez Biden requesting "immediate action" to prevent home confinement cohort from facing return to prison As detailed in this new Hill article, "two top Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee are calling on President Biden to quickly adopt a plan to keep thousands of federal inmates who were transferred to home confinement during the pandemic out of prison." Here is more: Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), the committee's chairman, and Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.), who chairs a subcommittee on criminal justice, are urging Biden in a letter sent to the White House on Thursday to use the "ample executive authority" at his disposal to ensure that those on home confinement are not sent back to prison. "Given the breadth of available executive authority, no person who has successfully transitioned to home confinement should be required to return to federal prison," Durbin and Booker wrote in the letter, which was shared with The Hill. "The uncertainty of the current situation unnecessarily interferes with the efforts of those on home confinement to rebuild their lives and participate in our economic recovery. With the goal of facilitating successful community reentry, we urge you to act immediately to resolve this issue and enable those on release to move forward with their lives." The full two-page letter is available at this link, and here are excerpts: We respectfully request that your Administration take immediate action to ensure that thousands of individuals who have successfully transitioned to home confinement from federal prison during the pandemic are not returned to prison without cause. Your Administration has ample executive authority to immediately provide the certainty these returning citizens deserve as they reintegrate into their communities, reunite with their families, and join in rebuilding our economy.... On January 15, 2021, in the last days of the Trump Administration, the Department of Justice Office of Legal Counsel issued a memorandum opinion entitled Home Confinement of Federal Prisoners After the COVID-19 Emergency (OLC opinion). The OLC opinion incorrectly found that following the emergency period of the pandemic, BOP must recall federal inmates released to home confinement pursuant to the CARES Act and require these inmates to complete their sentences at BOP facilities. In fact, the CARES Act does not require or permit BOP to recall these prisoners. On April 23, 2021, we asked Attorney General Garland to rescind the OLC opinion, and are awaiting his response. However, the opinion does not prevent you from acting. We urge you to use your unfettered pardon power to immediately commute the sentences of those on home confinement pursuant to the CARES Act. These individuals, who were released only after careful vetting by BOP, have successfully transitioned to home confinement. They have reunited with family, obtained jobs, and are abiding by the conditions of their release. Additional executive authorities are also available. BOP can provide relief for certain individuals through prerelease home confinement, under 18 U.S.C. 3624(c)(2), and the Elderly Home Detention Pilot Program, pursuant to 34 U.S.C. 60541(g). For those who do not qualify for those provisions, BOP can recommend, and DOJ should support, compassionate release pursuant to 18 U.S.C. 3582(c)(1)(A). Compassionate release is authorized whenever extraordinary and compelling reasons warrant a sentence reduction, and the once-in-a-century global pandemic that led to these home confinement placements certainly constitutes such an extraordinary and compelling circumstance. Some of many prior related posts: August 12, 2021 at 03:48 PM | Permalink Comments Post a comment H.E. Ms. Pattarat Hongtong, Ambassador of Thailand to India launching 'Namaste Thai Flavours 2021' campaign at Whiz Cafe by MQDC India New Delhi [India], September 13 (ANI/NewsVoir): Magnolia Quality Development Corporation India (MQDC India), in collaboration with the Royal Thai Embassy in New Delhi, on Saturday, 11th September, launched a new campaign "Namaste Thai Flavours 2021". This four-week-long campaign is aimed at celebrating the vibrant blend and bonhomie of the Indian and Thai culture through delectable Thai cuisine at Whiz Cafe by MQDC India, located in the heart of G.K.-2. The launch ceremony for the campaign was inaugurated today by H.E. Ms. Pattarat Hongtong, Ambassador of Thailand to India at Whiz Cafe by MQDC India. Commenting on the event, she said, "I am more than delighted to be able to share the 'Namaste Thai Flavours 2021' campaign that truly celebrates the rich and powerful cultures of both countries through a personal, yet influential, aspect such as food. We are aware of the huge number of people who are Thai food enthusiasts in India and we hope that we are able to reach as many food and culture connoisseurs as possible through the piquant flavours presented at Whiz Cafe by the Chef of the Ambassador. Despite having promoted Thai cuisine in various channels in the past, this is the first-of-its-kind initiated by the Royal Thai Embassy and we hope to be able to continue this campaign in the years to come." In order to celebrate the union of the two rich cultures, MQDC India will be serving especially curated Thai menu for a limited period at its first Indian food venture, Whiz Cafe, located in G.K.-2. Each dish will be prepared by the Chef of the Thai Ambassador and will be served as complimentary lunch to the guests and customers at the cafe on 11th September, 17th September, 24th September and 1st October. On the occasion, Chulamas Jitpatima, Country Director, MQDC India, said, "I am immensely thrilled and extremely grateful to be launching this new campaign, in association with The Royal Thai Embassy and MQDC India. MQDC has always taken pride in its Thai cultural roots and legacy and we are very excited and well prepared with all the right safety precautions just as before, to share the burst of authentic flavours from Thailand with our Indian patrons." Story continues The indicative menu and dates for the availability of the Thai cuisine at Whiz Cafe are as follows: In August 2019, MQDC entered the Indian market with its premium co-working project, Whizdom Club, an inspiration hub with an aim to transform India's co-working segment with innovative facilities and services for students, young professionals, and startupreneurs. Situated at a prime location in New Delhi, the flagship club offers world-class infrastructure along with mentoring and incubation support for budding entrepreneurs. As an 'Inspiration Hub', Whizdom Club is complete with mentorship, community access and ideation, along with a green and sustainable space, all essential to success. In January 2020, Whizdom Club awarded with "Co-Working Amenities of the Year" at Realty+ Co-Working Summit & Excellence Awards 2020 and recently in August 2021, MQDC India has received the Times Excellence Award The club offers variety of workstation options, especially curated spaces designed to cater to the various needs including Whiz Live is a 75-seater, fully fitted-out event space, Whiz Around, an ideation lab that lets users adapt the space to their requirements, Whiz Kid and Whiz Exchange which help promote the culture of community, where people help one another in work and life. In February 2020, MQDC launched Whiz Cafe, its first food venture, an extension of the co-working space. The cafe opens for public at large, offering an array of food options, has now started delivering online and has also reopened for dine-in. In February 2021, MQDC launched its trading vertical AVA (Anti-Viral Allergy Free) products in India. Magnolia Quality Development Corporation Limited (MQDC), established in 2006, is an international property development organization headquartered in Bangkok with offices in Shanghai and New Delhi. Under its founding commitment 'for all well-being', MQDC is known for its commitment to wellness and sustainability, developing residential and mixed-use projects that can provide well-being not only for humans but for all living beings. MQDC brands include Magnolias, Whizdom, The Aspen Tree and Mulberry Grove focussed on sustainability and wellness. MQDC also invests in research to create environment-friendly property developments. This commitment is fulfilled through collaboration between the property development teams and the Research & Innovation for Sustainability Center (RISC). Its portfolio extends from condominiums to mixed-use and 'theme' developments. MQDC's research-based approach can be seen in elements such as 'universal design', 'smart home automation', and eco-materials. Residents at each project enjoy the assurance and protection of its market-leading 30-year warranty. This story is provided by NewsVoir. ANI will not be responsible in any way for the content of this article. (ANI/NewsVoir) The man boarded a train and plugged in a giant old fashioned lamp in the middle of the aisle. (SNWS) A man travelling by train from London to Gloucestershire surprised his fellow passengers when he plugged in an old-fashioned standing lamp in the middle of the aisle. Commuters spotted the lamp on a Great Western Railway service from London Paddington to Kemble on Thursday. Clare Austin, 47, a journalist from Kemble, said: "I was heading home from London after attending the opening of British Beauty Week with a friend and I noticed the lamp as soon as I got on the train. "I was thinking what a nightmare it would be trying to wrestle something that unwieldy home on the train." Read: Small lizard rides from Barbados to UK in womans bra "At some point on the journey, I realised the owner had plugged it in," she said. "The train was quite quiet as it was late in the evening but it certainly proved a talking point with the passengers and definitely brightened up everyone's journey." After she posted a photo online, Stroud musician Robbie Humphries came forward as the owner of the lamp in the picture. He said: "For all those interested, the lamp made it home safely to Stroud and will be illuminating the five valleys for many years to come. "Will also be available for brightening moods and illuminating after dinner engagements." Watch: Rail enthusiasts get married on train from London Euston PML-N President Shahbaz Sharif Lahore [Pakistan], September 12 (ANI): Properties owned by the Leader of Opposition in the National Assembly Shehbaz Sharif's daughter Rabia and son-in-law Imran Ali Yousaf have been attached because they are absconders in the Punjab Saaf Pani Company reference, Pakistan's National Accountability Bureau (NAB) has informed an accountability court. According to Dawn, Senior Special Prosecutor Asadullah Malik submitted a report before the court along with details of the assets attached under Section 88 of CrPC. The assets included shares in M/s Ali and Fatima Developers Pvt Ltd, M/s Ali Processed Food Pvt Ltd, Madina Food Pvt Ltd, Ghausul Azam Developers and multiple floors in Ali Towers and Ali Trade Centre on MM Alam Road, Gulberg, Lahore. Presiding Judge Sajid Ali adjourned the hearing till September 23 and sought arguments on the acquittal applications filed by other suspects in the reference. Dawn further reported that the other suspects in the reference included former Saaf Pani Company chairman and former PML-N MPA Raja Qamarul Islam, former chief executive officer of the company Waseem Ajmal, Masood Akhtar, Waris Ali, Khalid Nadeem Bokhari, Azharuddin and Saleem Akhtar. In the reference, the NAB has alleged that Islam, being chairman of the company, committed corruption in the award of contracts of 84 water filtration plants at higher prices. It said the suspect got the contracts of 102 plants approved from the company's board of directors and forged the documents. The bureau accused Ajmal of violating procurement rules and permitting installation of the water plants in Dunyapur tehsil beyond the scope of the project, the Dawn. Both Islam and Ajmal were arrested by the NAB in June 2018 and later released on bail granted by the Lahore High Court on January 30, 2019. Islam claimed the NAB had arrested him a day after he was awarded a PML-N ticket for the 2018 election against former interior minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan, the disgruntled party leader, from NA-59, Rawalpindi, it further reported. (ANI) Representative image Kabul [Afghanistan], September 13 (ANI): With the messy withdrawal of US and NATO troops from Afghanistan, the Taliban regime is looking to China for major investments in the coming six months in the troubled country, according to media reports. Earlier last week, Taliban spokesperson Zabiullah Mujahid expressed that the group "desires" to join the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC). Citing the sources, Nikkei Asia reported that China has been courting the Taliban since 2018 on possible projects in Afghanistan. "There are verbal agreements between Beijing and Taliban about investments," Nikkei Asia quoted the sources as saying. The sources added, "Once the Taliban government gains global recognition, China will start building infrastructure projects in war-torn Afghanistan." On Wednesday, a virtual meeting of the foreign ministers of Afghanistan's neighbours -- China, Iran, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and Pakistan -- was hosted by Pakistan's foreign minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi. During the meeting, China promised emergency aid of USD 31 million to Afghanistan, including grain, winter supplies, vaccines and medicines. "What China can do now is maintain necessary contacts with the Taliban in the fields of normal economic activities and people-to-people exchanges," reported Chinese state media. Andrew Small, a senior trans-Atlantic fellow with the Asia program at the German Marshall Fund, believes the Taliban's immediate investment requests give China leverage. "Beijing will be happy to dangle promises and engage in talks on the BRI and CPEC extensions, but will not move ahead with anything on the ground until they are confident of political and security conditions," Small told Nikkei Asia. CPEC is a part of China's most ambitious project 'Belt and Road Initiative', aimed at renewing the country's historic trade routes in the coastal countries of south-east Asia. In 2015, China announced the 'China Pakistan Economic Corridor' (CPEC) project which is worth USD 46 billion. With CPEC, Beijing aims to expand its influence in Pakistan and across Central and South Asia in order to counter the influence of the United States. The CPEC would link Pakistan's southern Gwadar port (626 kilometers west of Karachi) in Balochistan on the Arabian Sea to China's western Xinjiang region. It also includes plans to create road, rail, and oil pipeline links to improve connectivity between China and the Middle East. (ANI) Katy (Awkwafina), Jon Jon (Ronny Chieng) and Shang-Chi (Simu Liu) in Marvel Studios' Shang-chi And The Legend Of The Ten Rings. (Photo: Jasin Boland/Marvel Studios) In typical Singaporean foodie fashion, Simu Liu and Ronny Chieng, two of the stars of Marvel's Asian-led movie, Shang-chi And The Legend Of The Ten Rings, engaged in a debate as to what Singaporean dishes they would eat for breakfast, lunch and dinner. In a promotional video posted by Marvel Studios Singapore, Simu and Ronny said they were big foodies. They were asked to choose from an iconic Singaporean menu what they would eat for each meal. Canadian Chinese actor Simu Liu is the titular superhero of the movie, Shang-chi, while Malaysian comedian Ronny Chieng (who considers himself half-Singaporean since he went to school in Singapore), played Jon Jon, an aide of Shang-chi's sister Xia Ling at her underground fighting ring in Macau. For breakfast, they had to choose between congee, chee cheong fun, nasi lemak, and kaya toast. Simu picked congee, while Ronny chose chee cheong fun. "Plain congee is almost like a bowl of rice. There's something so comforting about it and it's so warm and it's so hearty," said Simu Liu. "I'm just gonna go with chee cheong fun because that's the hardest thing to say among all four of them," said Ronny Chieng. For lunch, they were asked to choose between beef rendang, Hainanese chicken rice, and fish head curry. Simu picked chicken rice, while Ronny chose fish head curry. "It's just so damn good. It comes with chicken, it's super flavourful and there's usually a soup as well so it's almost like different courses," Simu said of Hainanese chicken rice. "Fish head curry is surprisingly meatier than you would think," said Ronny. Lastly, for dinner, they had to choose from chilli crab, hotpot, and naan with tandoori chicken. Simu and Ronny picked the same dish: the classic chilli crab. "One of our favourite, favourite meals that we ever shared was... chilli crab," said Simu. "Chilli crab is one of the rarest dishes to find if you find it and you find it done right, you gotta go for it. Chilli crab all day," said Ronny. All that talk of food apparently made Simu hungry, so at the end of the video, Simu asks Ronny to go for a boba with him. Ronny, having grown up in Southeast Asia, corrects him: "In Singapore and Malaysia, we call it bubble tea." You can watch the video here: This content is not available due to your privacy preferences. Update your settings here to see it. Shang-chi And The Legend Of The Ten Rings has received rave reviews from critics (read our review here.) The movie is currently showing in cinemas. In case you were wondering about Ronny Chieng's Malaysian/Singaporean heritage, here are a couple of our past interviews with him: Get more TV and movie news from Yahoo Life on our Entertainment page. To play the younger version of Silvio who will later become Tony's consigliere and manager of the Bada Bing strip club Chase turned to Magaro, who had starred in his 2012 feature directorial debut "Not Fade Away." Steven Van Zandt, who played Silvio in the series, served as an executive producer and music supervisor on that film, giving Magaro a leg up in crafting his take on the character. "I don't think John copied Stevie so much as he just knew 'The Sopranos,'" says Lambert. "He has Silvio's mannerisms down. One of my favorite things in the movie is this moment when John walks in through the door of a warehouse and he does that little shoulder shimmy. He did his homework." Paulie 'Walnuts' Gualtieri Played by Billy Magnussen One of the most quotable characters from the series, Tony Sirico's fastidious and impeccably coiffured capo is also one of the most tempting to impersonate. But in casting the prequel, Chase was adamant that none of the actors simply mimic what their predecessors had done on the show. "That was the mandate," Chase says. "No impressions." PONCA, Neb. -- 2021 marks the centennial year of Nebraska State Parks, and Ponca State Park's Lynn Mellick and other organizers were busy, thinking up 100 activities for the 16th annual Missouri River Outdoor Expo. Taking place at Ponca State Park, 88090 Spur 26E, the popular Outdoor Expo will be held Sept. 18 and Sept. 19. Nearly 1,000 fifth graders from 34 different schools are getting a sneak peek on Sept. 17. "The best way to connect kids with the outdoors is through plenty of hands-on experience," Mellick explained. "I promise they'll have plenty of things to see and do." Among this year's new events will be a chance to crack a geode. A geode is a hollow, spherical-looking rock. If cracked open with a chisel or a hammer, a geode may contain crystal, quartz or other types of minerals inside. Other new activities will include glass-blowing demonstrations, trick kite flying and even leather carving classes in which participants can take their handiwork home. "Everybody likes a little souvenir to bring home," Mellick said. "Kids will have a spark of excitement from the Outdoor Expo. Hopefully, they share this excitement with mom and dad, since the expo truly is fun for the entire family." LANSING, Mich. -- A former Sioux City plastic surgeon has been placed on probation and must pay a fine and restitution for falsifying patient medical records while he practiced in Michigan. Adam Smith had pleaded guilty in a federal court in Michigan in April to one count of making false statements. Six counts of health care fraud 10 additional counts of making false statements were dismissed as part of a plea agreement. Under federal sentencing guidelines, Smith could have been sentenced to up to six months in prison. U.S. District Judge Hala Jarbou on Friday placed Smith on probation for three years, fined him $3,000 and ordered him to pay a $100 assessment and a total of $6,360 in restitution to the Centers for Medicare Services and the Michigan Medicaid program. According to terms of his probation, Smith may not work in any medical field without first informing his probation officer. Smith was indicted in 2019 for actions that took place at his Traverse City, Michigan, practice from 2011 to 2014. He was charged with billing cosmetic surgical procedures not covered by Medicare or Medicaid as medically necessary non-cosmetic procedures and falsifying patient records to cover up the billing fraud. The family of a Alabama man who died of heart issues in Mississippi is asking people to get vaccinated for COVID after 43 hospitals across three states were unable to accept him because of full cardiac ICUs. Ray Martin DeMonia died on Sept. 1 in Meridian, Mississippi. He was three days shy of his 74th birthday and a well-known Cullman, Alabama, native, his family said. Keep scrolling for the latest virus and vaccination numbers from our state and across the nation DeMonia suffered from a cardiac event, and emergency staff at Cullman Regional Medical Center had to bring him to the nearest available bed, which was nearly 200 miles away at Rush Foundation Hospital. In his obituary, DeMonia's family urged people to get vaccinated against COVID-19. "In honor of Ray, please get vaccinated if you have not, in an effort to free up resources for non-COVID related emergencies," the obituary read. "He would not want any other family to go through what his did." DeMonia spent 40 years in the antiques business in Cullman and owned DeMonia's Antiques and Auctions. He also served as auctioneer annually for the Cullman Rotary Club fundraiser auction and the Annual Draw Down Auction for the Hospice of Cullman County. BOSTON (AP) Those vying to become Boston's next mayor fanned out across the city Monday hoping to shake as many hands as possible ahead of Tuesdays preliminary election that will for the first time narrow the list of hopefuls to two candidates of color possibly both women. Acting Mayor Kim Janey, city councilors Annissa Essaibi George, Andrea Campbell and Michelle Wu, and John Barros, the citys former economic development chief, are all competing to be one of the two top vote-getters in the contest. Wu stopped by the citys Jamaica Plain neighborhood Monday while Janey began the day by greeting riders at the Ashmont subway stop in the citys Dorchester neighborhood and planned to reach out to voters later in the day along Blue Hill Avenue, which cuts through some of the citys traditionally Black neighborhoods. Campbell planned an evening rally in the citys South End neighborhood. The other candidates and their supporters also spread out across the city trying to drum up votes. All the candidates are Democrats. Mayoral races in Boston do not include party primaries. The two top candidates on Tuesday will face off against each other on Nov. 2. MINNEAPOLIS (AP) A judge promised Monday to rule as soon as possible on whether to strike a revised version of a ballot question on the future of policing in Minneapolis in the wake of the death of George Floyd. The City Council updated the language last Tuesday, just hours after Hennepin County District Judge Jamie Anderson found that the old language was vague, ambiguous and incapable of implementation and ordered it off the ballot. The proposal has its roots in the defund the police movement, which gained momentum after Floyd's death in Minneapolis police custody last summer sparked protests, civil unrest and a national reckoning on racial justice. The proposal would remove the city charter's requirement that Minneapolis have a police department with a minimum staffing level and replace it with a new Department of Public Safety that could have police if necessary, and whose functions and funding levels would be defined later by the mayor and City Council. It said Qeidi faces accusations including leading a human trafficking network in and outside Libya. He was also accused of killing dozens of migrants, sexual misconduct against female migrants and mistreating migrants for ransom from their families. It was not immediately possible to reach family members or lawyers for the two suspects. Libya has for years been a hub for African and Middle Eastern migrants fleeing war and poverty in their homelands and hoping for a better life in Europe. The oil-rich country plunged into chaos following a NATO-backed uprising that toppled and killed longtime autocrat Moammar Gadhafi in 2011. Traffickers have exploited the chaos and often pack desperate families into ill-equipped rubber or wooden boats that stall and founder along the perilous Central Mediterranean route. Thousands have drowned along the way. Traffickers have been implicated in widespread abuses of migrants, including torture and abduction for ransom. There has been a spike in crossings and attempted crossings, mostly from Libya but also from Tunisia in recent months. Libyas coast guard has intercepted thousands of migrants. Libyan authorities arrested two suspected human traffickers and facilitated the return of more than 50 Egyptian migrants to their home country, officials said. If we saw an obvious threat involving the safety of our students and staff, we would be remiss if we didnt correct that threat, said school board member Monique Scarlett, who requested the district implement a mandate. The COVID-19 virus with all of its variants is a safety hazard the world hasnt seen since 1918. Support Local Journalism Your membership makes our reporting possible. {{featured_button_text}} Pratt's order said Gov. Kim Reynolds and Iowa Department of Education Director Ann Lebo cannot enforce the new law banning local school districts from using their discretion to mandate masks for students, staff, teachers and visitors. He issued a temporary restraining order to be in effect immediately. It remains in effect until the court issues an order for a preliminary injunction. Reynolds released a statement Monday afternoon. Today, a federal judge unilaterally overturned a state law, ignored the decision by our elected legislature and took away parents ability to decide whats best for their child," Reynolds said. "We will appeal and exercise every legal option we have to uphold state law and defend the rights and liberties afforded to any American citizen protected by our constitution." Mike Beranek, president of the Iowa State Education Association, described the order as "welcome relief" in a statement issued Monday. John Lithgow has joined the cast of 'Sharper'. The 75-year-old actor has become the latest star to board the cast of the Apple Original Films and A24 thriller, which is being directed by Benjamin Caron. Julianne Moore, Sebastian Stan, Justice Smith and Briana Middleton will also star in the film, which will begin principal photography in New York City this week. The plot of 'Sharper' is based on 'The Black List' script by Brian Gatewood and Alessandro Tanaka. It is being kept mostly under wraps for the time being but it unfolds within the secrets of the Big Apple from the penthouses of Fifth Avenue to the shadowy corners of Queens. Motivations are suspect and expectations are turned upside down when nothing is as it seems. The movie will premiere in cinemas and globally on Apple TV+. Julianne, Brian and Alessandro are producing with Bart Freundlich, Erik Feig and Jessica Switch for Picturestart. Julia Hammer and Amy Herman are executive producing. Benjamin is a successful TV director whose credits include 'Sherlock', 'The Crown' and 'Wallander'. Austen Hufford writes for the Wall Street Journal about factories and manufacturing, which means a lot of what he writes about is supply chains. Whats a supply chain? Basically, its everything that needs to happen, in a very specific sequence, to turn raw materials into a finished product. So, for instance, that phone in your pocketthe supply chain means mining the aluminum in it, fabricating the silicon chips, transporting all these materials around to the different factories where theyre assembled and combined; it means workers, warehouses, container ships. Its a whole incredibly complex choreography, in which any one step could go badand derail the entire process. Supply chain professionals are used to preparing for the worst, but Hufford says that even they were caught off guard by the COVID pandemic. Among the many crazy things this pandemic has done to the world is what its done to supply chains: Its disrupted them. Dramatically. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement When you think about it, what are similar situations? OK, maybe a hurricane. But in a hurricane, that cuts off one region for three weeks or a few months at most, Hufford says. But this pandemic was global. It impacted every country in the world. It impacted every supply chain in the world. And so even these guys who their job is to imagine the worst? I dont think they really imagined what this would be like. The supply chain chaos has spilled over into all these other parts of the economy, too. To take just one situation, problems with lumber supply led to a slowdown in housing construction, which led to less housing supply, which led to higher home prices, which led to people making different choices about where to live and whether to rent or buy. Advertisement So, you can see how this is a big deal. Suddenly youre talking about huge knock-on effects for our economy. On Mondays episode of What Next, I spoke with Hufford about how COVID ripped our supply chains apart and ask: How long will it take to stitch them back together? Our conversation has been edited and condensed for clarity. Advertisement Seth Stevenson: The supply chain disruptions began much like the novel coronavirus itself: in China. And, like the virus, these disruptions were, at first, seen as a containable problem. Austen Hufford: Basically, as the virus started spreading in Wuhan, it started shutting down production there. Manufacturers primarily viewed the coronavirus story as a China problem. I remember in those early weeks in early 2020, that was the talk of manufacturing: How are we going to get that component that we usually make in China? Whats going to be our alternative? Advertisement Fast forward to March of 2020, and manufacturers thought we were going to be entering a prolonged recession. Essentially, manufacturers pulled out, in many cases, literal recession binders, basically their recession playbook, and said, We think a recession is coming. That means that we need to do everything we can to save costs, to ensure that our company survives in the long run. Advertisement What are the typical plays you run from that recession playbook? You go out and you get additional financing. You call your banks and get as much cash as possible. The second thing you do is you try to cut your expenses. And then, if need be, you may furlough or lay off employees. Advertisement Remember that manufacturers are also workplaces. Theyre also places where people come and socialize and meet each other, and that means they are also places where the coronavirus can spread. And so in those early weeks, there were some factories that shut down because of both recession fears and coronavirus fears. Everyone assumed that this was going to be a really, really bad recession. Advertisement So theyre expecting this typical recession where demand is just going to plummet, and nobodys going to buy anything. Did there come a point where they realized this isnt going the way we thought it was going to go? Within a few weeks, depending on the industry, they started seeing massive demand. I remember speaking to a boat manufacturerthey make small motorboatsand they said that within a few weeks, the phone was ringing off the hook from their dealers saying, Hey, we need more boats. The traffic that were getting in stores is crazy. And basically these manufacturers had to figure out how to go from oh my goodness, were in a recession playbook to oh my goodness, were in an economic boom playbook. Advertisement Is there any good way to quantify this huge societal shift in demand? Advertisement For certain industries, they think that 2021 might be some of their biggest revenue numbers ever, whether its in motorcycles or boats or certain other industries. They never recovered from 2006. 2006 was their peak revenue here in the U.S. And in 2021, some of these companies think theyre going to have even higher revenue than that. And so in some weird way, the pandemic has actually led to the recovery from the last recession. Who would have thought that this world-changing pandemic would actually be the driver thats leading to finally recovering from where we were before the prior recession? Advertisement It seems like the root cause here is a huge shift in the type of demand, where the demand stops and then it restarts with a vengeance, but its for a totally different set of things than demand had previously been for. Advertisement Exactly, one easy way to think about it might be products vs. services, right? The demand for restaurants, for hotels, for travelall the types of servicesbasically evaporated. And then that demand went into all this stuff: home furniture, painting, motorcycles, home appliances, mattresses. In hindsight, its easy to say, well, of course, in a pandemic, people are going to stop traveling, theyre going to stop eating out, theyre going to hunker down at home, and theyre going to want stuff to entertain them or to do around the house. But did anyone predict that at the beginning? Advertisement Advertisement One manufacturer told me that if they say they did, theyre lying. At the time, it made a lot of sense to be pretty conservative in your outlook. It seems like one of the biggest mistakes was canceling orders for supplies. You look at whats happening with the automakers right now. A big cause of that when it comes to computer chips was that the automakers canceled a whole bunch of orders for computer chips. And when you cancel an order, what happens is that youre then last in line when you go to reorder. So you basically lose your spot. And if these manufacturers had kept their orders for a year down the line or six months down the line, they would probably be in a lot better shape when it comes to their supply chains today. Advertisement So it makes sense in hindsight that this would happen in the first few months. Are you surprised at how long this resurgence in demand has sustained itself? I mean, doesnt everyone who wanted an exercise bike or a weed whacker or a boat have it by now? Why is the demand still there? Advertisement I am surprised, but theres a lot of people who, because of the supply chain constraints, still havent gotten what they wanted. Theyre still waiting on their couch. Theyre still waiting on their hot tub or their pool. Advertisement And then theres also the secondary order of things. People say that product demand could be almost contagious. If you go over and you see the new hot tub at your friends house, then guess what? You might want to buy one, too, in a few months. Advertisement And then the third thing is maybe theres a long-term pivot to the home. Maybe all of us are viewing our homes a little bit differently now, and were all willing to invest just a little bit more into making our homes places to live, places to socialize. I have a porch here in Chicago, but I only bought patio furniture last summer. And I never had patio furniture before because I didnt really feel a need to be on my little patio. But now, most mornings I go out there and have a coffee and read a book before starting work. I like to take advantage of that new space. And I think thats true across the board, that people are rethinking their own spaces and investing more into them. Advertisement You wrote a piece that described how all the moving parts of materials and labor come together to make a hot tub. Id love for you to take me through that reporting. So take me through the details of all the challenges that this hot tub company faced and had to overcome. Advertisement Yes, so this company is called Bullfrog Spas and its in Utah. Over the summer of 2020, they start getting an influx of orders. Advertisement A hot tub seems basic. How many parts can it have: 100? 200? Theres 1,800 parts in a single hot tub. And so, as you can imagine, there was a lot of issues. For example, the shell of the hot tubthe actual thing that you sit onbasically starts as a flat acrylic sheet in Kentucky. And this flat sheet then gets driven on a truck to Nevada. In Nevada, a second sheet of a different type of plastic is added. So now you have the acrylic and a different type of plastic that are bonded together, and then from Nevada, that all gets driven to their facility in Utah. At this companys facility in Utah, a different chemical, urethane, which comes from a factory in Georgia is then added to this. And then all of that gets turned into the shape of the hot tub in these giant industrial presses. And so thats just one basic example of how this is a fully U.S. supply chain for this one component, the shell of the hot tub, but thats just three steps. And each one of those steps takes multiple steps before that to get there. Advertisement Advertisement So if you remember, in February of 2021, there were these winter storms that came out of nowhere and shut down a massive chunk of the countrys oil and chemical production in Texas and parts of Louisiana. And I dont think people realized at the time, but it took months for the countrys chemical production to fully recover. To turn production back on in these giant chemical plants isnt easy. And what that meant is that if you were a user of these chemicalsand these things go everywhere, into mattresses, tabletops, any product you have its probably produced by some chemical made somewhere around Texasit meant that these companies were stuck without the products they needed. Advertisement Advertisement If this hot tub company had known somehow that the pandemic was coming, if they had a hot tub time machine, for instance, what do you think they would have done differently to prepare? I think they probably would have invested more in having larger inventories of the raw materials. Because that is another part of this whole story. For the last 30 years, manufacturers in the U.S. and around the world have focused on becoming lean. Manufacturers have focused on reducing the quantity of materials that they store at their plants. And in good times, that works out really well because instead of having a million dollars worth of spare parts in your warehouse, youre able to take that million dollars and invest it in a machine or buy another company. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement But during the coronavirus pandemic, people have realized that there are real dangers to focusing so much on reducing inventories Its not just materials that have been a problem; its labor also. How much of a role has labor shortage played in this? For several years, the so-called manufacturing labor shortage has been a problem. But it now seems like its the worst that has been really ever. Why is that? Why is it so hard to hire right now? In some ways, its a bit of a mystery to people. Everyone has different opinions. Some people say, Oh, its because of the extra unemployment benefits. But I have another theory, though. In certain parts of the country, manufacturing wages are no longer a giant premium compared to other entry-level jobs. I profiled several companies in West Michiganfurniture manufacturers, car part manufacturers. And in certain towns in West Michigan, Wendys is offering $14 per hour starting jobs, but so is the factory that makes furniture. And so in that kind of environment, why would someone come to your factory, which might not be air conditioned, which might mean you have to start at 5 a.m.? In some ways, its a question of compensation. Manufacturers are increasingly no longer paying excess wages compared to other industries in the economy. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Could that change as a result of this whole situation? It might, but what some manufacturers have told me, though, is that they are competing globally. If you raise wages too much, youll basically become noncompetitive with your products, right? If Im buying office furniture, I dont only have companies in West Michigan. I have companies in Atlanta. I have companies making it in China. I have companies making it in South America. And compare that to a restaurant: If Im looking for dinner in West Michigan, Im not going to be driving to Chicago to get dinner. Lets talk about what happens in the future. How do you see this resolving or will this ever resolve? Advertisement Its funny because when I speak to manufacturers, I think a lot of people are really surprised that here we are in September of 2021, 18 months into this, and things havent really been resolved. It makes sense in the first three months and the first six months. OK, this is a global pandemic. Theres going to be some hiccups. But 18 months, that isnt a hiccup. That feels like its a more fundamental reckoning. Advertisement Advertisement Its possible to imagine the pandemic subsiding and people wanting to get back out in the world and to travel and to have experiences. If that happens, could there be a whole new disaster that results from that demand shift? And what would that disaster look like? That is the fear and that is part of the reason why we are still in this position 18 months in. There has been a hesitancy from some manufacturers to fully invest in new operations. Why would you invest in a second factory if the new demand might evaporate in three months? Subscribe to What Next on Apple Podcasts Get more news from Mary Harris every weekday. The Texas Legislatures war on womens health reached its dystopic Catch-22 phase last week, when the U.S. Supreme Court greenlighted the states abortion-abettor bounty-hunter law S.B. 8, despite that laws flagrant and patent unconstitutionality (per Justices Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan, respectively). S.B. 8 was explicitly designed to thwart judicial review, and the Supreme Court saw that and apparently was fine with it. Somewhat lost in the subsequent fog of national and international outrage was Texas other big legislative victory: the passage of S.B. 1, the bill targeting minority voting rights and enabling future episodes of partisan election theft. That voter suppression bill was big news very recently: You may recall Democrats scrambling to flee Texas to try to rob state Republicans of the requisite quorum to pass S.B. 1, but when their parliamentary fireworks inevitably fizzled out, Texans not only found themselves living in the New Gilead, but with diminished power to vote their way out of it to boot. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Subscribe to the Slatest Newsletter A daily email update of the stories you need to read right now. We encountered an issue signing you up. Please try again. Please enable javascript to use form. Email address: Send me updates about Slate special offers. By signing up, you agree to our Privacy Policy and Terms Sign Up Thanks for signing up! You can manage your newsletter subscriptions at any time. Its hardly a coincidence that these two legislative assaults came together. S.B. 1 was being passed as S.B. 8 was going into effect. Texas Republicans are acutely aware that as their numbers contract demographically, they cant continue to rule over racial and ethnic minorities, or pass unpopular laws like S.B. 8, unless those minorities are systematically discouraged from voting. S.B. 1 helps laws like S.B. 8laws that are wildly out of sync with public opinion and pollingto exist. S.B. 1 and S.B. 8 not only are symbiotic, but they also share some frightening symbolic similarities. Both confer some of the states enforcement and police powers upon random citizens seeking to target minorities. S.B. 8 does so by offering $10,000 (at a minimum) bounties to anyone willing to prosecute those who help women obtain an abortion, and S.B. 1 does so by practically ensuring the harassment and intimidation of voters and ballot counters in order to combat nonexistent voter fraud. If you thought the 2020 election was acrimonious, Texas and the states that will soon fall in line behind it have bad news for you in the many Novembers to come. Advertisement Advertisement The Supreme Court has been a willing accomplice in both assaults. A majority let the abortion rule stand by pretending S.B. 8s novel jurisdictional questions could and should render Roe v. Wade moot for the time being. In that case, the majority of the court was in essence saying, Sure, Ill grant you that the house is ablaze, but that fire extinguisher didnt come with instructions. Lets table this for later. (On Thursday, the Justice Department filed suit against Texas to enjoin the law.) As others have pointed out, its impossible to imagine Justices Clarence Thomas, Sam Alito, Neil Gorsuch, Brett Kavanaugh, and Amy Coney Barrett cavalierly permitting random citizens to enforce unconstitutional gun laws against their neighbors. Advertisement Advertisement The object here is to isolate the most vulnerable person at a vulnerable time, and to chill anyone in the vast network of potential helpers and advisers from offering guidance. S.B. 1, for its part, which President Joe Biden has labeled un-American, is a vicious blend of some of the most oppressive and discriminatory ideas any state has dared to entertain with respect to quashing broad voting rights. It imposes stringent restrictions on absentee ballots and voting by mail. It limits the times for voting, complicates registration, and constrains other mechanisms that helped Biden secure votes in 2020. And similar to Texas equally regressive abortion ban, it imposes draconian penalties on those who help others vote. Perhaps the most viscerally galling provision of Texas S.B. 1 is the subsection that mandates the free movement of partisan poll-watchers, setting the stage for physical conflict after, say, a self-deputized patriot gets it into his head (itll almost certainly be a man) that someone moved a box of uncounted ballots where he didnt think it should go and hes going to save Democracy right here and now, dammit. The coming lunacy will rival the lunacy we saw play out in the aftermath of the 2020 election in swing-state recounts. And this time it will all be livestreamed, by statute, so we can all referee from our couches about where ballot boxes should and shouldnt be. Advertisement Advertisement Its been widely noted that one of the cruelest aspects of S.B. 8 is that it sets its sights not on the woman seeking to terminate an unwanted pregnancy, but on anyone who aids and abetsindeed, anyone who intends to aid and abet a pregnant person in considering options. The object here is to isolate the most vulnerable person at a vulnerable time, and to chill anyone in the vast network of potential helpers and advisers from offering guidance. The vigilantism rewarded in S.B. 1 similarly creates dire criminal consequences for those seeking to offer help to vulnerable, confused, non-English-speaking, or disabled voters. While the authoritarian aspects of rewarding vigilante self-help by well-meaning citizens who would take law enforcement into their own hands has been broadly noted, the more troubling turn here is the targeting of vulnerable citizens who simply need help. In a sense we are witnessing two sides of the same coin: empowering and emboldening those who are certain they know what the law is, and isolating and terrifying those who are uncertain and require assistance and clarification. Texas isnt only rewarding vigilantes; its threatening anyone who might get in their way. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement In so doing, Texaswith an assist from the Supreme Courtis also turning fundamental notions of privacy upside down. Roe, you might recall, was rooted in the idea that a pregnant woman and her physician should have the breathing room to make fundamental life decisions outside the scrum of public and political pressure. S.B. 8 all but guarantees that every aspect of a pregnant persons life, from last menstrual period to private consultations with counselors, is on public display. In a paradoxical way, S.B. 8 says that one is entitled to medical privacy and bodily autonomy in all matters except reproduction, and that these choices are to be aired in public and litigated by anyone and everyone. S.B. 1 similarly inserts anyone who calls himself a poll watcher into a private act of voting; it asks that voters run the gantlet of neighbors and activists, in order to be seen and heard at the ballot box. Advertisement On Jan. 6, a marauding legion of Trump supporters formed an ad hoc committee of private attorneys general and violently attempted to overturn the United States election. Rather than viewing that episode as a teachable moment about the particular dangers of empowering inchoate political rage, Republicans in Texas and elsewhere are placating that same angry beast as if that dark day was a negotiation opening. Maybe you took it a bit too far that time, but you were basically right is the message conveyed, in essence. Advertisement Advertisement The net result of arming anti-abortion activists with the legal standing to target the most vulnerable among us may not result in actual violence, given that abortion providers in Texas promptly shut down or stopped offering services at six weeks, which was always the point of the law. But the threat underpinning the legalized self-help and vigilantism couldnt be more clearly implied. That threat was daunting enough to end lawful abortion in Texas overnight. And it is the same threat that is now being wielded over access to the ballot box. Were all going to vote this November and in the foreseeable Novembers that follow, but we now know that many voters will do so feeling they have targets painted on their backs, just like theyre on the backs of vulnerable women and those who offer them assistance. On Aug. 16, the Bureau of Reclamation, a federal agency that is part of the Interior Department, held a press conference announcing that for the first time in the 99 years of governmental record-keeping, it was declaring a water shortage on the Colorado River. Starting in January 2022, farmers, ranchers, and irrigation districts will be forced to use less water, which will hit Arizona particularly hard. The shortage is a product of climate changeextended drought, wildfires, extreme temperatures, flooding and landslides all plague the ecosystembut also human stubbornness regarding the politics of dividing up the water from the Colorado River. Despite a waning flow of water and populations becoming more and more concentrated in cities, the legal framework for sharing the Colorado River hasnt fundamentally changed since it was first written nearly 100 years ago. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement On Fridays episode of What Next: TBD, I spoke with Abrahm Lustgarten, a senior investigative reporter at ProPublica, about how we got here and whether theres a path forward out of this emergency. Lizzie OLeary: For people whove been watching the Colorado for years, like you, this shortage was entirely predictable. Do you ever feel like Cassandra? Abrahm Lustgarten: I like to try to look around corners a little bit with what Im hearing from the climate community and the environment community, and yeah, I get a bad rap for being the bearer of bad news. On one hand, climate changes impacts on the river are surprising: Theyre coming faster, and theyre having greater impact than some people expected. But on the other hand, the river has been in trouble for a long, long time, and thats not a surprise to the people that watch it closely. Advertisement Can you describe some of the images in your head or things you think about when you consider the Colorado River and the Colorado River ecosystem? Its a 1,400-mile-long system. It goes from high in the Rocky Mountains in Colorado, all the way down to the Gulf of California and Mexico. The iconic images are the big dams, the Hoover Dam and Lake Mead outside of Las Vegas, and the Glen Canyon Dam and Lake Powell in Northern Arizona. Those are just desert landscapes of red rocks and cliffs lining this immense pool of water. But in Colorado, the river there is a raging clear stream full of trout running through high mountains with snow melt running into it through gorgeous meadows of green grasses. Its really that idyllic cliche of a big, wild river. Advertisement Advertisement One thing I have been struck by in your reporting is the vastness of who relies on this river system. Who depends on it? Advertisement Forty million Americans, give or take, depend on water from the Colorado River. But that water is also used to irrigate farms that provide an incredible proportion of the fruits and vegetables that get shipped around the country, as well as feed for the cattle that is a really substantial portion of the meat consumed by Americans. In addition to that, the water is routed outside of the Colorado River basin to the city of Phoenix, the cities of Los Angeles and San Diego and Denver, none of which are in the natural geography of the Colorado River. Advertisement I want to back up a little bit and understand the foundations that were laid, frankly, a hundred years ago, for some of where we ended up now. What was/is the legal framework for how the water should be used? There are layers of laws that cover how the river is divided up, but the fundamental and top layer is an agreement between the seven states that share the Colorado River. In this 1922 compact, they essentially used what data they hadwhich was really limitedto calculate how much water they thought would be flowing through the Colorado River on average, and took that amount and divided it proportionally amongst the seven of them. Advertisement Were talking Arizona, California, Colorado, New Mexico, Nevada, Utah, Wyoming, right? Advertisement Yes. So they divided amongst them, not equally, but proportional to what they each agreed was their relative claim on the river and they proceeded forward for the next hundred years, never really changing that amount even as the data improved. And you could see over a greater period of time that the rivers flow was actually substantially less. Thats one of the things that is so head-scratching to me: This agreement was drawn up in 1922 and it hasnt really been changed. Advertisement Theres been talk of changing it off and on over those years. In 2007 the same parties came together and reached an agreement about what they would do if there ever was a serious shortage on the river. They agreed that they would each absorb some cuts, but it wasnt until 2019 that they actually reached a third agreement, which specified exactly how much water Arizona would lose when we have a shortage declaration, and how much California would lose, and so forth. But these are all adjustments to that 1922 compact. They dont fundamentally change that compact. Advertisement Advertisement The 1922 compact overestimated how much water was in the river system to begin with. And now theres even less. On top of that, the rules about divvying up the waterwhether youre a city, an irrigation district, or a rancheressentially operate like dibs or calling shotgun in a car. The phrase that people like to use in the West is first in time, first in right. The water users who arrived first in these places where the water is used and claimed the water when they got there, hold the most senior water rights, and their water rights remain senior no matter who comes after them. Those senior water rights trump junior water rights even to this day, with an exception: The law says that if you dont use those senior water rights to their full extent every year that they could be confiscated and given to somebody with more junior water rights. Advertisement In my reporting, when I was talking to ranchers in Colorado and Wyoming, I found that even if they dont need all the water theyre allowed to take in a given year, they take it all anyway and they dump it out. That way, they can tell the state that they take their water every single year and they dont risk losing their rights. When you multiply that by thousands and thousands of water users, you have a pretty extraordinary inefficiency right there. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Why has this frontier mindset survived to 2021 in the way we think about and legislate water? Part of it is cultural. The culture of the West survives. In the north, in the mountains, its a culture of rugged individualism, and in the south, it is still a bit individualistic and conservative. The rights to the water track to the history of the place, not to how it has evolved in more modern times. [These] cities didnt exist in the mid-1800s, so they have very junior water rights now, even though thats where most of the people are. So literally the largest volume of water goes to the people in places with the deepest historical roots. Advertisement Add to that unprecedented drought for two decades, plus losing water to evaporation and leaky old infrastructure. It doesnt look like the shortage the government declared last month is going away anytime soon. The shortage declaration in August also came with a forecast for what the federal Bureau of Reclamation expects the future water levels to be. They forecast a significant possibility of very, very severe shortages and further drops in Lake Mead by the middle of 2023. That would force an entirely new negotiation that would basically put the river system outside of the sphere that the seven states have so far considered. A new paradigm of shortage, if you will. And its really unclear what happens next. Advertisement Advertisement What are the negotiations between the different states and stakeholders potentially going to look like? Who has the most power in these negotiations? California is a huge player. It uses something like a third of the river, and it uses most of its water rights to grow those fruits and vegetables in southern California, in the Imperial Valley. For a lot of really complicated reasons, and partially because California is that entity that holds the most leverage and the most power, California has largely shielded itself from some of the cutbacks that were starting to see now. Its done that historically, and its managed to perpetuate that into the present moment. That makes California a real powerhouse going into negotiations going forward, but it also puts California in the cross hairs. Nevada, Arizona, and the upper basin northern states have all made really significant sacrifices. Theyve bled, so to speak, through these processes. I think that they all hope and believe that its time for California to feel more of the pain. So a lot of these future discussions, I think, are really going to focus on California. Advertisement Advertisement Are there incentives for these seven states and the cities there to work together, or are there just power struggles? Advertisement Its a little bit of both. The incentive to work together is that should any one party completely decimate this resource, all parties lose out. Everybody needs the water and they have a mutual, beneficial interest in preserving that water. But ultimately these are separate power centers with their separate individual constituencies that they have to serve. Thats what the Las Vegas example tells us. The water levels of Lake Mead are dropping, and as they drop past certain thresholds, the river and the infrastructure there will no longer be able to provide water and power to all of the people who share that resource. But Las Vegas basically said, Should that ever happen, were going to have another way out, and they built what amounts to a drain hole in the bottom of the lake. They built their own pipeline that comes in at a lower level and gives the city of Las Vegas a way to continue to remove water only for itself from Lake Mead, should it no longer be able to flow to Arizona and California downstream. Advertisement Like a lot of climate change related problems, this can feel really intractable. Are there things an individual can do to address this issue? Because of how much water is used to grow alfalfa to feed cattle to provide meat, the research suggests that if Americans stopped eating meat just one day a week, that alone would translate to a savings of water equivalent to the entire flow of the river. Were that ever to happen, that would solve the Wests water problems in its entirety for a long time to come. As someone whos been reporting on this for a long time, do you ever feel hopeful or do you just feel depressed? Advertisement I report on all things climate, and it becomes difficult to separate the water scarcity issues in the Colorado River basin from water scarcity issues across the country from all of the other really significant impacts of climate change. In the big picture, its hard to stay hopeful. But when you drill down into specific issues, I think theres lots to be done that can still make a big difference. I look at the Colorado River basin and theres a lot of water still to work with, and theres so much inefficiency. There is an enormous opportunity to recalibrate how that water is used and make it last a whole lot longer without having the devastating impacts on peoples lives in that region that many people are afraid of now. Future Tense is a partnership of Slate, New America, and Arizona State University that examines emerging technologies, public policy, and society. Bank charges in Spain: how to get the most for your money There are many easily avoided pitfalls associated with banking in Spain With rising electricity and petrol prices in Spain, expats and Spaniards alike are looking for areas to cut unnecessary costs, and the increasing fees from banks is a topic which is rarely far from the news. In fact, the Bank of Spain has reported that it received 2,134 complaints regarding bank charges during 2020, a staggering increase of 91% compared to the previous year. And while banks have free reign over the amount they charge customers for different transactions, it is a well-known fact that preferential treatment is given to those who are paid directly into their account, along with people who avail of credit cards and voluntary insurance. International transfers This is an area where many expats get stung, especially post-Brexit. It is important to note, therefore, that money sent from Spain to a eurozone country cannot be taxed at a higher rate than when transferring money within the same country. Many banks now offer free SEPA transfers as part of their general service up to the amount of 50,000 euros. Mortgages Of all the complaints received by the Bank of Spain in 2020, 891 were related to the collection of maintenance fees on mortgage accounts. While banks are permitted to charge for this service, there is a cut-off point, with home loans contracted before April 29 2012 being completely exempt from this cost, provided that the account in question is used to pay for the monthly mortgage instalments. In all cases, the bank will not be able to modify the current cost of these fees while the mortgage is outstanding. Overdrafts A costly facility in every country, once a customers account has become overdrawn an administration fee of around 35 euros to set the matter straight applies to all banks. If there is an overdraft on your account, the entity will claim its payment, will take the necessary steps to recover the unpaid debt and will pass on the expenses generated by these procedures [to the customer], according to the Bank of Spain. However, this cost can only be charged once for the same debt, even when the default is over a prolonged period of time. Inactive accounts Finally, experts advise that leaving an account which is no longer in use empty of funds is a bad idea. In Spain, draining an account of cash is not sufficient to cancel it, and the customer will most likely be subject to monthly charges until the account is formally closed in writing. However, the Bank of Spain has clarified that it is bad practice for an institution to charge interest on an overdraft that has been created solely with the purpose of covering the costs of an inactive account. Image: Archive Supercable linking Spain and the US brings faster internet speeds The underwater cable running from Bilbao in Spain will create internet connections capable of transmitting millions of photos each second Installed by global internet giant Google, the new 6,000 kilometre-long fibre cable stretching from Spains Bilbao to the United States will not only provide faster search engine speeds, but should also increase the pace of web browsing for every European country. According to Google spokesperson Miguel Escassi, the new supercable forms a data highway with new technology capable of transmitting a whopping 340 terabytes between the US, the UK and Spain in just one second thats the equivalent of 85 million photos or 170,000 hours of video in the blink of an eye. As impressive as the technology is, which involves running the expansive line under water, supercables are actually not a new concept and many of the main international connections already run through Spain. The country has been connected with the United States via another cable since 2018, and is also linked with all of Asia, Australia and South America. Another supercable in the pipeline will connect Spain and Africa. The objective of Spain, with a privileged geographical position, according to Roberto Sanchez, Secretary of State for Telecommunications, is to become the great data host and the great data interconnection point in southern Europe. As well as providing better internet services for private users and businesses alike, the continued improvements generate a vast amount of telecommunication employment in Spain. The country already has one of the most advanced internet services in the world, according to the President, Pedro Sanchez, who claimed in July that Spain has more fibre optic connections than the United Kingdom, France, Italy and Germany put together. Image: Archive Some politicians cannot be trusted to take the side of their own country against Russia. Font size: A - | A + Neither east nor west, but a bridge somewhere in between is how Slovaks often tend to see their country, as seen from opinion polls. This view still occurs frequently despite the fact that Slovakia has been a member of the EU and NATO, and thus integrated into the western world, for about two decades now. Yet part of the political scene, currently mostly some opposition parties, peddle pro-Russian narratives and advocate for a stronger and better relationship with Russia. They always find some sympathetic ears in Slovakia, where a positive attitude towards Russia is generally more widespread than in other parts of Central Europe. One reason is that Slovaks are prevailingly carefree about geopolitics and tend to overlook the risks of such an attitude, noted political analyst and director of the Institute for Public Affairs (IVO) non-governmental think tank, Grigorij Meseznikov. "These may then translate into insufficiently clear pro-Atlanticist attitudes in defence and security matters, and European attitudes in terms of belonging to democratic states," Meseznikov told The Slovak Spectator. "A significant part of Slovakia's population does not realise these risks." Another reason why pro-Russian sentiments are more widespread in Slovakia than in neighbouring countries is because of the concept of pan-Slavism, the idea that ethnic and language proximity can mean more in a relationship with other countries than political classification, Meseznikov explained. In Slovakia, this idea took root in the 19th century, when in the spring of nations some national revivalists promoted it as a way for Slovaks to emancipate themselves as a modern nation. Pan-Slavism has lingered in the collective consciousness ever since. IVO analysts have looked into these attitudes and identified the politicians who engage in this discourse in their publication Who is Playing Russian Roulette in Slovakia?, recently published in English. Extremists and Smer 13. Sep 2021 at 13:24 | Nina Hrabovska Francelova Historic success: Slovak film awarded at Venice Film Festival It is the first time in the history of modern Slovak cinematography a Slovak film has been awarded in Venice. The Slovak film 107 mothers (Cenzorka in Slovak) received an Award for Best Screenplay at the International Film Festival in Venice. The creators of the film, Peter Kerekes and Ivan Ostrochovsky, took the prize on Saturday during the closing ceremony. It is the first time in the history of modern Slovak cinematography a Slovak film has been awarded in Venice. Our film is about mothers, their complicated lives and situations, Kerekes said during his speech, as quoted by the TASR newswire. Therefore, we would like to dedicate this award to mothers. My mother, my wife who is also mother, and to all the mothers in prison 74 in Odessa, he added. Film from Ukrainian prison for women 107 Mothers is the first Slovak feature-length film that was officially chosen for the competitive section Orizzonti. It competed against 18 films at the 78th year of the world's oldest film festival. Kerekes spent six years visiting and filming in a Ukrainian prison for women. Most of the protagonists in the film share their real-life stories, but his film is not a documentary this time. From the many stories of women in Colony 74, I was most inspired by a story of Lesja, who killed her husband out of jealousy and arrived in prison pregnant. The film starts with her giving a birth, the director described, as quoted by TASR. Audiences in Slovakia can see the film during the opening of the film festival Cinematik in Piestany on September 14. The film will go to Slovak cinemas a month later. video //www.youtube.com/embed/vImmdwa6G1s 13. Sep 2021 at 11:06 | Compiled by Spectator staff The Church does not want to control people's conscience, Pope Francis insists. The pope meeting with bishops, priests, religious, consecrated persons, seminarians, and catechists at the Cathedral of Saint Martin in Bratislava (Source: TASR) Font size: A - | A + Pope Francis called on priests not to use words that do not touch people when talking to believers. Speaking during the meeting with bishops, priests and consecrated persons in St. Martin's cathedral in Bratislava, the pope recalled a Slovak proverb when he said that "we need to break the chain of revenge". Dive into real life Slovak bishops and priests are trying to regain Pope Francis's perspective on love for the poor and those living in the peripheries, also with the help of their patrons, like St. Martin, the patron saint of the cathedral, said Bratislava Archbishop Stanislav Zvolensky when welcoming the Pope. "Slovakia is a poem, I told the president," Pope Francis told the congregation. He insisted that religious figures need to dive into the real lives of people. If the Church only looks after itself, it will not go well. The Church should represent freedom and acceptance. It should be humble like Jesus who gave up everything and became poor to enrich us, the pope added. "I want you to form people towards freedom, rather than towards rigid religiousness," he told the priests and bishops, as quoted by the Sme daily. He added that the Church does not desire to control people's consciences. Do not speak too long Speaking to Slovakia's priests, Pope Francis even offered practical advice. He said priests should not talk for too long, ensuring their sermons are no longer than 10 to 15 minutes and avoid using words that do not touch people. His words were followed by applause. "I can see the nuns started clapping. They are the ones suffering from our sermons the most," the pope said with a laugh, as quoted by the Sme daily. 13. Sep 2021 at 11:54 | Compiled by Spectator staff Most of the imported Covid cases were brought from Croatia in summer Covid still prevailed in the young age groups. Font size: A - | A + Our paywall policy The Slovak Spectator has decided to make all the articles on the special measures, statistics and basic information about the coronavirus available to everyone. If you appreciate our work and would like to support good journalism, please buy our subscription. We believe this is an issue where accurate and fact-based information is important for people to cope. Hygienists revealed 4,162 positive cases of coronavirus in July and August. Almost one third were imported from abroad, showed an analysis of the Regional Public Health Authority in Banska Bystrica. The highest occurrence in these months was in the age group between 15 and 19 and then between 20 and 24. The share in the risky group of 65-year-old people and older was low only 354 cases. In regional terms, most cases were detected in the Bratislava Region 962 cases, followed by the Kosice Region 811 cases. One fifth had no symptoms From the overall number of 4,162 cases, 1,132 were imported, which is about 27 percent. Positive people arrived from 25 countries. In the summer months, there were 1,173 cases of Delta variant in total, 397 being imported cases, 48 linked to imported cases. Others did not have a travel anamnesis. About 22 percent had no symptoms, 62 percent had respiratory symptoms such as a sore throat, cough and cold. About 10 percent were either shivering or had a high temperature. Most cases were imported from: Croatia: 214 (72 Delta variant) Spain: 73 (57 Delta variant) Czech Republic: 65 (23 Delta variant) Greece: 56 (16 Delta variant) UK: 45 (28 Delta variant) Cyprus: 27 (12 Delta variant) other countries: one or three cases Source: RUVZ Banska Bystrica 13. Sep 2021 at 17:12 | Compiled by Spectator staff https://sputniknews.com/20210913/afghan-pilots-who-fled-to-uzbekistan-reportedly-transferred-to-us-base-in-uae-1089019534.html Afghan Pilots Who Fled to Uzbekistan Reportedly Transferred to US Base in UAE Afghan Pilots Who Fled to Uzbekistan Reportedly Transferred to US Base in UAE Earlier, The Wall Street Journal reported that a group of Afghan pilots who sought safety in Uzbekistan after the fall of Kabul to the Taliban will likely be... 13.09.2021, Sputnik International 2021-09-13T03:48+0000 2021-09-13T03:48+0000 2021-09-13T03:48+0000 afghanistan uzbekistan us afghanistan pilots /html/head/meta[@name='og:title']/@content /html/head/meta[@name='og:description']/@content https://cdn1.img.sputniknews.com/img/07e5/09/0d/1089019509_0:0:2200:1239_1920x0_80_0_0_3b6cb660a47a27de10d64c3882705392.jpg A group of Afghan pilots and their families who flew to Uzbekistan were transferred to a United States military base in the United Arab Emirates on Sunday, The New York Times reported, citing the office of GOP Representative August Pfluger, said to be in contact with one of the pilots.Two other groups are reportedly expected to fly out on Monday, as part of an arrangement made between the United States and Uzbekistan, to transport some 450 Afghans who arrived in the country from Afghanistan out of fear for their safety.Despite an amnesty pledged by the Taliban* to the pilots, the security forces are still concerned for their safety and that of their families. The Uzbek government was pressured from two sides, both by the militants and the US, with the latter requesting Tashkent let the Afghans depart.Pfluger said that he was in close contact with the wife of one of the pilots, who told her that he eventually landed in the Abu Dhabi International Airport after spending about a month in Uzbekistan. The pilot revealed that he was accompanied by some 175 people on his flight.According to the pilot's wife, he is currently undergoing necessary coronavirus testings before going to the US.While there is a goal for the pilots to be transferred to the United States, it is unclear whether they will end up stateside.The Wall Street Journal estimated that there are some 585 people that flew over to Uzbekistan from Afghanistan awaiting their transfer. Pilots who fled the war-torn nation reportedly used over 40 helicopters and airplanes to travel to Uzbekistan. The exodus from Afghanistan was prompted by a chaotic US troop withdrawal from the country, completed on 31 August, wrapping up nearly 20 years of US military intervention in the nation. Shortly after the US announced the completion of its withdrawal, the Taliban swiftly established control over the country.Earlier in the month, the militants announced the country's new government, which was criticised by the Western countries for failing to be "inclusive", as the Taliban had initially pledged. The militants, however, noted that the newly-announced government was interim, vowing to make new steps towards inclusivity, particularly to find places for women in the government.*The Taliban and al-Qaeda are terrorist organizations banned in Russia and many other states. https://sputniknews.com/20210908/most-difficult-decision-ghani-apologizes-to-afghan-people-over-leaving-kabul-1088883192.html uzbekistan afghanistan Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rosiya Segodnya 252 60 2021 Daria Bedenko Daria Bedenko News en_EN Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rosiya Segodnya 252 60 1920 1080 true 1920 1440 true 1920 1920 true Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rosiya Segodnya 252 60 Daria Bedenko uzbekistan, us, afghanistan, pilots https://sputniknews.com/20210913/appeals-made-to-public-as-brit-actress-who-starred-in-doctor-who-missing-in-california-1089026277.html Appeals Made to Public As Brit Actress Who Starred in 'Doctor Who' Missing in California Appeals Made to Public As Brit Actress Who Starred in 'Doctor Who' Missing in California Friends and family of the British actress, based in Los Angeles, raised the alarm on social media after they failed to hear from her for a number of days. 13.09.2021, Sputnik International 2021-09-13T08:44+0000 2021-09-13T08:44+0000 2021-09-13T08:44+0000 missing doctor who united states actress /html/head/meta[@name='og:title']/@content /html/head/meta[@name='og:description']/@content https://cdn1.img.sputniknews.com/img/07e5/09/0d/1089025750_0:297:2049:1449_1920x0_80_0_0_013d8a6da41f9141d80ff5d8e68e7af0.jpg British actress Tanyaradzwa "Tanya" Fear, who starred in an episode of Doctor Who in 2018, has been reported missing in California. A missing person poster circulating on social media says the actress went missing in the "LA/Hollywood Bowl area". Fear, age 31, was last seen on September 9, according to her manager Alex Cole, cited by Eyewitness News. He said that the actress and director had recently been performing stand-up comedy in the Los Angeles area for two months and the two had discussed work eight days ago. Cole asserted that she had been fine at the time, and it was a "shock" to discover she had disappeared.A Twitter user claiming to be Fear's cousin posted an appeal to the public to help find the woman, who had no family in the US.Tanya Fear, who had also appeared in British shows Cleaning Up and Endeavour, French series Spotless, the 2015 film A Moving Image, and Kick-Ass 2, among other projects, and had recently launched a standup comedy career. The official fan account for Doctor Who also retweeted the Missing Person poster. Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rosiya Segodnya 252 60 2021 Svetlana Ekimenko Svetlana Ekimenko News en_EN Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rosiya Segodnya 252 60 1920 1080 true 1920 1440 true 1920 1920 true Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rosiya Segodnya 252 60 Svetlana Ekimenko missing, doctor who, united states, actress To improve the performance of our website, show the most relevant news products and targeted advertising, we collect technical impersonal information about you, including through the tools of our partners. You can find a detailed description of how we use your data in our Privacy Policy. For a detailed description of the technologies, please see the Cookie and Automatic Logging Policy. By clicking on the "Accept & Close" button, you provide your explicit consent to the processing of your data to achieve the above goal. You can withdraw your consent using the method specified in the Privacy Policy. https://sputniknews.com/20210913/chinese-media-says-us-taiwan-to-be-taught-lesson-if-taipeis-washington-diplomatic-office-renamed-1089035987.html Chinese Media Says US, Taiwan to Be Taught Lesson if Taipeis Washington Diplomatic Office Renamed Chinese Media Says US, Taiwan to Be Taught Lesson if Taipeis Washington Diplomatic Office Renamed The Taiwan issue has snowballed into one of the most acute sources of tension between China and the US in recent months, starting with Biden officials... 13.09.2021, Sputnik International 2021-09-13T14:15+0000 2021-09-13T14:15+0000 2021-09-13T14:27+0000 united states china recognition tensions taiwan renaming /html/head/meta[@name='og:title']/@content /html/head/meta[@name='og:description']/@content https://cdn1.img.sputniknews.com/img/07e5/08/0a/1083568873_0:160:3073:1888_1920x0_80_0_0_f1ebaa6189f8a42f23c2a2d3ea7476ec.jpg A major Chinese newspaper has issued a chilling warning to the United States and Taiwan urging them not to proceed with reported plans to rename Taipeis diplomatic office in Washington.On Saturday, sources said to have been briefed on internal discussions told the Financial Times that the Biden administration was seriously considering a request by Taiwan to change the name of its de facto embassy in the US from the Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office to simply the Taiwan Representative Office.According to the business newspaper, Bidens Asia advisor Kurt Campbell personally backs the idea with the proposal also enjoying wide support in the National Security Council and the State Department.Chinas Embassy in Washington slammed the alleged proposal, with a spokesperson telling FT that the US government must stop any official interaction with Taiwan, refrain from sending any wrong signals to Taiwan independence forces or attempting to challenge Chinas bottom line, and properly and prudently handle Taiwan-related matters, so as not to seriously damage China-US relations and cross-Strait peace and stability.The Global Times explained that a renaming of the diplomatic office would signify Washingtons basic abandonment of its one-China policy, and constitute a significant change surrounding the Taiwan question. The outlet recalled that the Baltic nation of Lithuania recently made similar plans to open a Taiwan Representative Office in Vilnius and an equivalent Lithuania Representative Office in Taiwan.Lithuanias decision sparked a major diplomatic spat, with Beijing recalling its ambassador to Lithuania, and moving to cut trade with the Eastern European nation, which continues to face an economic downturn which began all the way back in 2008 and which has been exacerbated by the halt in food exports to Russia in 2014, plus the coronavirus in 2020.Commenting on the USs reported plans to follow Lithuanias example, the Global Times warned that if Washington proceeds, a wave of name changes of the islands missions among US allies would begin.The outlet cited a number of ways that Beijing can punish Washington and Taipei. These might include recalling the Peoples Republics ambassador to the US, plus severe economic and military measures to combat the arrogance of the US and the island of Taiwan. In addition, China could impose severe economic sanctions against Taiwan or even begin an economic blockade.The newspaper suggested that Beijing must respond forcefully at every step, before the US and Taiwan take new steps toward Taipeis possible formal diplomatic recognition by Washington, which it says could culminate in US troops being stationed on the island and US warships being sailed into its ports.In its report on the possible diplomatic office name change, FT indicated that senior US and Taiwanese officials were set to hold sensitive talks in Annapolis, Maryland, about an hours drive from Washington DC, last Friday, with the Taiwanese delegation including Joseph Wu, the islands de facto foreign minister, who is barred from visiting Washington.Global Times warned that if China does not take the necessary measures, next time, they may publicly hold the meeting even in the US State Department in Washington, DC. As the US will hold [its] Summit for Democracy by the end of this year, if we do not contain the insolence of the US and the Taiwan island, Washington might even really invite [Taiwanese leader] Tsai Ing-wen to participate in the summit.Taiwan TensionsTaiwan became a sudden source of tensions between China and the United States immediately after Joe Biden stepped into the Oval Office in January, after staffers invited Taipeis de facto ambassador to his inauguration. The conflict was exacerbated in the months that followed amid new US weapons sales to Taiwan, and constant US freedom of navigation deployments through the Taiwan Straits, which the Peoples Republic has responded to with its own aerial and naval manoeuvres.Last month, Biden earned fresh ire from Chinese officials after suggesting that, unlike in Afghanistan, the US would rush to the defence of Taipei if it was attacked by bad guys". The White House immediately moved to distance itself from the presidents remarks, saying the US position of strategic ambiguity toward Taiwan remains unchanged.Taiwan, officially known as the Republic of China, severed all ties with mainland China in 1949, in the aftermath of the Chinese Civil War, in which Mao Zedongs communist forces defeated the Kuomintang nationalists and forced them to flee to the island. Beijing and Taipei began to improve economic relations and establish informal diplomatic ties in the 1980s and 1990s, with a view to eventual peaceful reunification of the island with the mainland along the One China Two Systems model. While the Kuomintang now generally favours reunification, Taiwans current ruling party the centre-liberal left Democratic Progressives, are opposed to such a scenario, and have carefully lobbied the US to step up its commitments to Taipei. Chinese President Xi Jinping has made Taiwan reunification a central plank of his leadership agenda.Tensions over Taiwan are only one of several major hot spots in ties between Beijing and Washington, with others include the multi-trillion dollar economic conflict involving trade, tariffs and technology transfers begun by Donald Trump (and which Biden has not cancelled), US meddling in Hong Kong and Xinjiang, and Americas rejection of China's maritime territorial claims in the South China Sea. Last month, Chinese ambassador to the US Qin Gang reportedly told US officials to please shut up if they could not find a constructive way to resolve differences between the two countries. https://sputniknews.com/20210907/conflict-of-interest-among-top-american-officers-makes-us-commitment-to-taiwan-dubious-1088850441.html https://sputniknews.com/20210910/china-scrambles-its-j-16-su-30-fighter-jets-to-repel-us-spy-plane-p-8-near-taiwan---video-1088956639.html https://sputniknews.com/20210813/taiwan-hopes-to-take-part-in-bidens-democracy-summit-amid-fresh-surge-in-cross-strait-tensions-1083598082.html koursk koursk the power and wealth of the People's Republic of China should enable the Chinese state to strengthen its fleet again and again in the Chinese Sea and nearby *** more military equipment, surface ships and submarines, will be numerous in the China Sea and nearby, the less room there will be for the tubs of the regular and private armies of the billionaire mobsters who reign in the Nato zone, and this will correspondingly reduce the influence of the underworld on taiwan 3 J-20 DF41 Or simply do a blitzkrieg under the disguise of large scale ME! Use J-20's, J-16's to eliminate those F-16's, J-10's to eliminate the small naval fleet & monitor JSDF. Type 094 sub & DF-41 will be ready for the US fleet... then Z10/Z20 will transport force to land in Taipei. Will be done in less than 6 hours. Then see what the American dare to do? Start a nuclear war??? 2 3 china Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rosiya Segodnya 252 60 2021 Ilya Tsukanov Ilya Tsukanov News en_EN Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rosiya Segodnya 252 60 1920 1080 true 1920 1440 true 1920 1920 true Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rosiya Segodnya 252 60 Ilya Tsukanov united states, china, recognition, tensions, taiwan, renaming https://sputniknews.com/20210913/danish-party-chair-wants-muhammad-cartoons-as-teaching-material-to-support-free-speech-1089021760.html Danish Party Chair Wants Muhammad Cartoons as Teaching Material to Support Free Speech Danish Party Chair Wants Muhammad Cartoons as Teaching Material to Support Free Speech The so-called Muhammad controversy originated in 2005 when the Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten published cartoons featuring the principal figure in Islam... 13.09.2021, Sputnik International 2021-09-13T06:20+0000 2021-09-13T06:20+0000 2021-09-13T06:20+0000 denmark prophet muhammad cartoon free speech scandinavia controversy /html/head/meta[@name='og:title']/@content /html/head/meta[@name='og:description']/@content https://cdn1.img.sputniknews.com/img/107812/86/1078128688_0:146:1920:1226_1920x0_80_0_0_54fef4de9d33b8282e14474da9362427.jpg Danish Socialist People's Party leader Pia Olsen Dyhr has called for cartoons of Prophet Muhammad to be used freely as teaching material, as she protested against restrictions on free speech.Emphasising the party's zero tolerance for coercion during the party's national congregation in Kolding, Olsen Dyhr ventured that Denmark and the West in general have sacrificed freedom for the sake of safety. In doing so, she referred to the Muhammad cartoons that sparked Denmark's arguably biggest foreign crisis, as well as led to the subsequent ghoulish beheading of a French teacher who showed similar-spirited caricatures printed in Charlie Hebdo magazine to his students.The debate around the cartoons, which were initially published by the newspaper Jyllands-Posten in 2005 and sparked street protests as well as a diplomatic backlash across the Muslim world, flared anew in May this year, when a lecturer at Copenhagen University College wanted to show the drawings in the teaching process. It cost her several threats and regular contacts with the Police Intelligence Service.In Denmark, there are teachers who don't dare to show the Muhammad cartoons in their teaching neither in primary school nor at the university level for fear of violence or threats of violence. The Muhammad cartoons are one example of where we restrict our freedom of speech. There are satirists who have to live underground and fear for their safety because of a single drawing, she added, referring to Swedish artist Lars Vilks and the late Danish cartoonist Kurt Westergaard who were placed under constant police protection and received death threats for what was seen as an affront to Islam.According to the Socialist People's Party leader, this problem can be remedied, or at least partially alleviated by adopting the cartoons as part of the curriculum.That is the crux of the problem today, that a teacher would probably think it was really over the line, because the teachers themselves have to find them and take them into the classroom. By making the drawings part of the curriculum, they can say that it is part of the teaching material and something we have to tell the children about, Pia Olsen Dyhr suggested.Danish Radio's political analyst Jens Ringberg ventured that Pia Olsen Dyhr was challenging her party's value politics, as free speech is broadly seen as a right-wing issue.The so-called Muhammad controversy erupted when the newspaper Jyllands-Posten published cartoons of Prophet Muhammad, a principal figure of the religion of Islam. While the newspaper itself billed this as an attempt to contribute to the debate about criticism of Islam and self-censorship, the publication sparked protests around the world, including violent demonstrations and riots in some Islamic countries and Danish districts with Muslim population, as well as economic boycotts of Denmark. Then-Prime Minister and future NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen famously described the controversy as Denmark's worst international relations incident since World War II. https://sputniknews.com/20201112/norwegian-teachers-afraid-of-showing-muhammad-cartoons-to-students-1081136647.html Hess Why not use the Cartoons of Jesus or Jews to teach "free speech"? Since when do teaching hatred and racism constitutes free speech? It is bigotry. 2 Hess How about sending Danish Politicians to Washington and London to demand free Julian Assange? It would be great effort by Denmark. 1 3 denmark scandinavia Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rosiya Segodnya 252 60 2021 Igor Kuznetsov Igor Kuznetsov News en_EN Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rosiya Segodnya 252 60 1920 1080 true 1920 1440 true 1920 1920 true Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rosiya Segodnya 252 60 Igor Kuznetsov denmark, prophet muhammad, cartoon, free speech, scandinavia, controversy https://sputniknews.com/20210913/deadly-nipah-virus-emerges-in-india-could-become-global-problem-similar-to-covid-media-warns-1089038415.html Deadly Nipah Virus Emerges in India, Could Become Global Problem Similar to COVID, Media Warns Deadly Nipah Virus Emerges in India, Could Become Global Problem Similar to COVID, Media Warns While the average transmission rate of the Nipah virus does not seem to be particularly high, a professor of infectious disease at Stanford University argued... 13.09.2021, Sputnik International 2021-09-13T16:35+0000 2021-09-13T16:35+0000 2021-09-13T16:35+0000 india threat virus transmission /html/head/meta[@name='og:title']/@content /html/head/meta[@name='og:description']/@content https://cdn1.img.sputniknews.com/img/106492/38/1064923896_0:26:3352:1912_1920x0_80_0_0_85bf787414a14a22793b08ed7ff33396.jpg As the recent outbreak of the deadly Nipah virus in India, which already claimed the life of a 12-year old boy in the state of Kerala, NPR warns that this deadly pathogen remains a concern for the whole world.The virus is carried by fruit bats and can be contracted by humans, with the infected humans being potentially capable of spreading the virus to other people, the media outlet points out.Dr. Stephen Luby, a professor of infectious disease at Stanford University, reportedly explained that while there are occasional Nipah superspreaders who infect a lot of people, the average transmission rate of the virus is less than one person per infection.Luby noted, however, that since 70 percent of people who are infected with Nipah virus die, such a strain could represent the worst pandemic humanity has ever faced", and stressed the importance of continuing to invest in strategies to reduce the risk of spillover and to develop countermeasures across a range of high-risk pathogens".While a vaccine for the Nipah virus has yet to be developed, Luby mentioned that there are several promising vaccine candidates out there that have demonstrated high efficacy in animals."Meanwhile, Dr. K. Puthiyaveettil Aravindan, a former professor of pathology at the Government Kozhikode Medical College, has voiced concerns over the future spread of the virus, arguing that Kerala cant be the only hot spot.Aravindan also mentioned the possibility of genetic changes in the virus, which may make the pathogen more transmissible among humans and allow it to make hosts out of new species of bats.He also warned that Nipah virus could potentially become a global problem akin to COVID due to international trade, global travel and climate change that causes bats to seek new habitats, as the media outlet puts it. https://sputniknews.com/20210913/scientists-suggest-studying-impact-of-exotic-fruits-amid-nipah-virus-outbreak-in-india-1089029670.html Nonyank As Big Pharma dances in the halls rubbing their hands with gleeanticipating more record profits for vaccines that crap out in under 30 days, Death and Disease is what they do! 0 Bodrak jackson I was cured from 5 years of Genital Herpes Virus and Itching Blisters on my genital part within 21 days with Doctor Nelson Salim Herbal Medicine. I was recommended to Dr. Nelson through this news site and his information was shared by his previous clients who have been cured from different diseases. I decided to try Doctor Nelson product which I placed an order and within 4 days I received the product on my address through DHL. And with Dr. Nelson instructions I used the product for 21 days after concluding the herbal product, I was advised to go for another Genital Herpes PCR test which I did and to my surprise my result was negative with no trace of the virus on my blood . I highly recommend him to anyone suffering from BONE, CANCER, HEPATITIS, HERPES ZOSTERS, FIBROID, WEAK ERECTION, KIDNEY CYST, COPD, PROSTATE ENLARGEMENT, ERECTILE DYSFUNCTION, HIGH BLOOD PRESSURE AND SUGAR his information; E-mail; drnelsonsalim10@gmail.com Whatsapp / call +212703835488. 0 4 india Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rosiya Segodnya 252 60 2021 Andrei Dergalin Andrei Dergalin News en_EN Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rosiya Segodnya 252 60 1920 1080 true 1920 1440 true 1920 1920 true Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rosiya Segodnya 252 60 Andrei Dergalin india, threat, virus, transmission https://sputniknews.com/20210913/declassified-911-docs-is-biden-seeking-to-poke-mbs--justify-efforts-to-revive-iran-nuclear-deal-1089038058.html Declassified 9/11 Docs: Is Biden Seeking to Poke MBS & Justify Efforts to Revive Iran Nuclear Deal? Declassified 9/11 Docs: Is Biden Seeking to Poke MBS & Justify Efforts to Revive Iran Nuclear Deal? The newly-declassified documents do not support the assumption made by the 9/11 victims' families that the Saudi Arabian government could be complicit in the... 13.09.2021, Sputnik International 2021-09-13T15:39+0000 2021-09-13T15:39+0000 2021-09-13T15:39+0000 9/11: 20 years later saudi arabia joe biden donald trump news world us opinion 9/11 mohammed bin salman /html/head/meta[@name='og:title']/@content /html/head/meta[@name='og:description']/@content https://cdn1.img.sputniknews.com/img/103775/82/1037758281_0:281:4301:2700_1920x0_80_0_0_29d50a80ac2a9abe11c0afa663e09fa6.jpg The FBI released the first document related to the agency's investigation, named Operation Encore, into Saudi nationals' role in the 9/11 terrorist attack. The 16-page file was published in response to Joe Biden's executive order stipulating a massive declassification of the government's 9/11 papers within the next six months.Several years ago, families of the 9/11 victims filed a lawsuit against Saudi Arabia, alleging that the country's government could be aware of or involved in the attack, something that Riyadh resolutely denies. The lawsuit became possible after the US Congress passed the Justice Against Sponsors of Terrorism Act (JASTA) in 2016, allowing American citizens to sue governments for terror attacks. The newly-declassified document has not provided any evidence that senior Saudi officials were in any way complicit in the 9/11 tragedy.Biden's executive order declassification review of documents related to the 9/11 attacks is more than just a fulfilment of his election promise, according to Dr. Yu Ouyang, assistant professor of Political Science at Purdue University Northwest.Moreover, in early August the six Democratic US Senators from the states of New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut announced the introduction of the bipartisan "September 11th Transparency Act of 2021", recalls Dr. Harvey Schantz, professor of political science at State University of New York at Plattsburgh."Majority Leader Charles Schumer, Democrat of New York, a crucial senator for passing Bidens domestic agenda, stated that 'the American people and the 9/11 familiesmust get those answers and they must get them now'," the professor notes.Joe Biden and Mohammed bin SalmanSpeculations about Riyadh's alleged role in the attacks have long stemmed from the fact that 15 of 19 hijackers were Saudi nationals, as well as Osama bin Laden, who claimed responsibility for 9/11 in 2004. However, bin Laden was expelled from Saudi Arabia in 1991 due to anti-government activities. Soon after that, the Saudi government revoked his citizenship; bin Laden's family disowned him as well.The academic believes that the Biden administration's decision to release the 9/11 documents and revisit the Saudi nationals' participation in the heinous attack could be an attempt to tarnish the Kingdom's image for Riyadh's "cozying up to Trump" and "to justify, in a backhanded way, their own policy of detente with Iran, the Saudis' nemesis."Earlier, Biden's White House pointed the finger of suspicion at Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, suggesting that the latter could be involved in the 2018 murder of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi. On 26 February, Washington released an intelligence report "linking" the crown prince with the incident but providing no proof to back the allegations. The crown prince lamented that the killing happened "under his watch" and said that therefore he bears responsibility for the tragedy. He made it clear that he had not been aware of the crime. The Saudi authorities launched an investigation into the Khashoggi killing, and found and prosecuted eight culprits behind it. Khashoggi's son Salah later said that the Saudi judiciary had been fair to his family and that "justice has been achieved".Meanwhile, Mohammed bin Salman has long been known for his sympathy to former President Donald Trump which triggered assumptions that the new administration is seeking to "sideline" the powerful Saudi crown prince, as the Guardian remarked in February 2021. For instance, while Trump used to communicate directly with the crown prince, the Biden administration announced that it would "recalibrate" the US relations with Riyadh, and considered King Salman not Prince Mohammed to be the president's counterpart. Some experts cited by the Guardian even went so far as to suggest that Washington "was trying to exert pressure on the king to change the line of succession and demote Prince Mohammed".Still, Joe Biden's decision to declassify the documents related to 9/11 investigations was welcomed by Riyadh as an opportunity to dot the i's and cross the t's with regard to the terror attack. Just days before the 20th anniversary of the tragedy, the Embassy of Saudi Arabia called upon the US government to release all investigation files to end "baseless" speculations casting a shadow on Riyadh. The kingdom emphasised that any allegation that Saudi Arabia is complicit in the September 11 attacks "is categorically false." wtfud MBS = Morbid Bull-Shit. Saudi are at best Co-conspirators. Keep taking the Red & Blue pills Americans. Drip Feed for Idiot Consumption! When you're ALL corralled in your trailers and tents on the Buffett-Blackstone Plantation you'll understand how the Millions you've displaced in your Faux-War-On-Terror feel. COWARDS. 6 Crookim LoL saying that the Saudis didn't have anything to do with the 9/11 attacks is like MBS denying killing Kashoggi, all a bunch of BS.... 5 9 saudi arabia Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rosiya Segodnya 252 60 2021 Ekaterina Blinova Ekaterina Blinova News en_EN Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rosiya Segodnya 252 60 1920 1080 true 1920 1440 true 1920 1920 true Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rosiya Segodnya 252 60 Ekaterina Blinova saudi arabia, joe biden, donald trump, news, world, us, opinion, 9/11, mohammed bin salman, fbi, declassified documents, jamal khashoggi https://sputniknews.com/20210913/how-chinas-realpolitik-approach-to-venezuela-iran--afghanistan-upends-us-geopolitical-game-1089039446.html How China's Realpolitik Approach to Venezuela, Iran & Afghanistan Upends US' Geopolitical Game How China's Realpolitik Approach to Venezuela, Iran & Afghanistan Upends US' Geopolitical Game China is dealing a blow to Washington's sanctions strategy by stretching a helping hand to developing states labelled by the US as "pariahs" which have been... 13.09.2021, Sputnik International 2021-09-13T16:30+0000 2021-09-13T16:30+0000 2021-09-13T16:30+0000 venezuela pdvsa news world us asia & pacific opinion china iran afghanistan /html/head/meta[@name='og:title']/@content /html/head/meta[@name='og:description']/@content https://cdn1.img.sputniknews.com/img/07e5/04/1d/1082766891_0:156:3001:1844_1920x0_80_0_0_38df8f796ea7a9eaccd9de782192d296.jpg The value of tough US sanctions against Venezuela's oil sector will substantially decline if China steps in to fill the void, energy observers say, citing Bloomberg's September report that China National Petroleum Corp (CNPC), once a major investor in Venezuela, is sending engineers and commercial staff to the South American state.Venezuelan Oil Sector: China is Stepping InVenezuela's oil industry was subjected to crippling restrictions by the Trump administration. Trump started to tighten the screws on the country's energy sector in 2017 by prohibiting the trading of Venezuelan bonds in US markets. Two years later, the US slapped sanctions on the country's energy giant Petroleos de Venezuela, S.A. (PDVSA). The move came shortly after the US-backed attempted coup of 23 January 2019 aimed at toppling Venezuelan President Nicholas Maduro. Washington also went after key trading houses and individuals that propped up Venezuela's oil exports.Eventually, Venezuela's crude production slid from 1.013 million barrels per day in 2019 to as low as 337,000 bpd in June 2020. It then rebounded to 537,000 bpd in June 2021 but still lags behind production levels of over 2.5 million bpd under the late former president Hugo Chavez. To prevent the energy sector's further demise, Maduro announced in March 2021 that he was ready to end the monopoly of state-owned PDVSA and open the oil industry up to foreign investment. The South American country possesses the worlds largest crude reserves, with 304 billion barrels. Still, oil experts suggested at the time that no matter how seductive Maduro's proposal was, Western energy giants would wait until Joe Biden lifts sanctions on PDVSA, something that the US president is not rushing to do.Meanwhile, Bloomberg reported on 1 September that CNPC is taking steps to boost oil production in Venezuela. While CNPC and PDVSA haven't comment on the issue, some energy experts suggest that the Chinese company's return to Venezuela doesn't mean "the beginning of a gigantic production stage." It's more likely that CNPC would return to a production level of over 100,000 bpd in the South American state and export the crude back to China to help PDVSA repay its debt to Beijing, according to them. However, Oilprice.com believes that the Chinese energy ambitions in Venezuela are bigger, especially given Maduro's proposal, soaring oil prices and Beijing's Belt and Road push. The media outlet believes that Beijing could help Caracas revive its crude industry.Iran-China Oil Trade & 25-Year Strategic PartnershiptMeanwhile, the Chinese appear to go even so far as to defy Washington's sanctions, according to a Reuters 22 July report. The media alleged that China Concord Petroleum Co, a logistics company also known as CCPC, played a central role in the oil trade with Venezuela and Iran a country which was subjected to a policy of maximum pressure under Donald Trump. As in Venezuela's case, Team Trump sought nothing short of a regime change in the Islamic Republic.CCPC was added by Washington to a list of entities under sanctions for violating restrictions on handling and transacting Iranian oil in 2019. This did not prevent the logistics firm from acquiring at least 14 tankers in 2020 and continuing oil trade with Tehran and Caracas, according to Reuters. CCPC hasn't provided comments on Reuters' findings while China's foreign ministry made it clear to the media outlet that Beijing "strongly opposes unilateral sanctions and urges the United States to remove the 'long-arm jurisdiction' on companies and individuals."While Reuters is raising the issue of new limits to US sanctions policies, the US Treasury has so far declined to comment about the CCPC's supposed trade with Venezuela and Iran.In contrast to Donald Trump, Biden is unlikely to punish China, deems Thomas W. Pauken II, a Beijing-based Asia-Pacific Affairs commentator and author of US vs. China: From Trade War to Reciprocal Deal.When it comes to Iran, the Biden administration previously expressed a willingness to resume the 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) and lift sanctions under certain conditions. However, in June 2021, the indirect talks between Tehran and Washington were halted ahead of the Iranian presidential election, which saw Iranian "hardliner" Ebrahim Raisi winning the race.Although Iran's economy is facing hardships, with a plummeting rial and growing poverty, Tehran remains firm when it comes to its national interests in the nuclear talks. After Raisi assumed office in early August 2021, Tehran said that it would proceed with negotiations only if they are determined to be in Iran's interests.According to Pauken, the Islamic Republic's confidence could be partially explained by the 25-year Comprehensive Strategic Partnership deal concluded by Tehran and Beijing in March 2021. The agreement brings Iran into the Beijing-led Belt and Road Initiative and reportedly secures about $400 billion in Chinese investments for the Iranian economy. China is also interested in maintaining good economic ties with Iran: like Venezuela, the Islamic Republic is sitting on substantial hydrocarbon reserves."The China-Iran 25-year agreement was a game-changer," says the Beijing-based commentator. "Iran holds plenty of oil and gas reserves but on account of the sanctions they were harmed by it. Beijing provided grand opportunities for Tehran and both nations will profit from it."The commentator does not rule out that "something similar" might happen soon between Beijing and Caracas. This means that China might play a big role in the development of Iran and Venezuela in the future regardless of what Washington will opt to do.China's Pragmatic Approach to AfghanistanThis is not the only front where China's realpolitik comes in contradiction to the US geopolitical game: Beijing has also expressed its willingness to lend a helping hand to Afghanistan following the US-NATO withdrawal from the country.While Washington and EU member states are weighing pros and cons of recognising Afghanistan's new Taliban* government, Beijing announced on 8 September that it would offer $31 million in emergency aid to the Central Asian state. The aid will include grain, winter supplies, medicines as well as three million COVID-19 vaccine doses.For its part, the Taliban pledged to ensure safety for the Chinese embassy and institutions in Afghanistan and expressed a willingness to participate in China's BRI. Moreover, Afghanistan could offer new business opportunities to Beijing, given the Central Asian state's $1 trillion to $3 trillion worth of mineral wealth, which includes lithium, a crucial element for China's electric battery industry.It does not mean, however, that Beijing will embrace the Taliban no matter what, says Pauken. Quite the contrary: China will monitor the situation carefully, according to him.The commentator believes "this is the right approach for realpolitik and a model for other nations to follow." In fact China's realpolitik approach towards Venezuela, Iran, Afghanistan and other nations sets a new precedent ending the hegemony of the Western-led unipolar model, according to the author.*The Taliban is a terrorist organisation banned in Russia and many other states. babai China is the most populous country on Earth, the 2nd lardest economy and the 2nd largest military spender; however, when it comes at irking the US china is a pussy, they have so much to lose. Don't hold your breath on China doing miracles in Venezuela because they won't. 12 Kiwi US invades, destroys, divides and sanctions. While China builds infrastructure and mutually beneficial relationships. 10 13 venezuela china iran afghanistan Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rosiya Segodnya 252 60 2021 Ekaterina Blinova Ekaterina Blinova News en_EN Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rosiya Segodnya 252 60 1920 1080 true 1920 1440 true 1920 1920 true Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rosiya Segodnya 252 60 Ekaterina Blinova venezuela, pdvsa, news, world, us, asia & pacific, opinion, china, iran, afghanistan, iran oil https://sputniknews.com/20210913/immigrants-grab-over-half-of-norways-social-benefits-amid-ballooning-costs-1089021363.html Immigrants Grab Over Half of Norway's Social Benefits Amid Ballooning Costs Immigrants Grab Over Half of Norway's Social Benefits Amid Ballooning Costs Within a single decade, the number of Norwegian municipalities that spend more than half of their social assistance budget on people with an immigrant... 13.09.2021, Sputnik International 2021-09-13T06:11+0000 2021-09-13T06:11+0000 2021-09-13T06:11+0000 news europe immigration norway immigrants social benefits scandinavia /html/head/meta[@name='og:title']/@content /html/head/meta[@name='og:description']/@content https://cdn1.img.sputniknews.com/img/104484/35/1044843590_0:298:3781:2425_1920x0_80_0_0_ab9eec6606057f2270f8922fabee2f02.jpg While fewer than 1 in 5 of Norway's inhabitants (about 17 percent) have an immigrant background, they now receive well over half (58 percent) of all the social financial assistance available in the country, new statistics have indicated.On behalf of the national-conservative Progress Party, Statistics Norway has taken a closer look at the use of social benefits in Norwegian municipalities over the period 2009-2019. This includes all means of temporary support given to people unable to provide for their own subsistence. Over the ten-year stretch, the number of welfare recipients with an immigrant background has increased over 70 percent, while recipients among the general population have become fewer. This coincided with a period of record-high immigration, including the 2015 migrant crisis, the newspaper Nettavisen reported.In 2009, just over NOK 1.8 billion ($210 million) in social assistance was paid to people with an immigrant background. Ten years later, the number had more than doubled to NOK 4 billion ($460 million). This means that people with an immigrant background account for almost the entire increase in social assistance budgets across Norwegian municipalities.In 2009, barely 17 municipalities in Norway spent more than half of their social assistance budget on people with an immigrant background. By 2019, this number had exploded to 123 municipalities. In Vik municipality in Western Norway, immigrants receive a record 89 percent of the available social assistance. In Oslo, three quarters of the social help (75 percent) goes to immigrants.Vik municipality Councillor istein Svik singled out a lower level of education as a common factor for receiving social benefits.Norwegian Labour and Welfare Organisation (NAV) department director Jan Erik Grundtjernlien emphasised the role of the refugee crisis that led to unprecedented number of immigrants to Norway (over 31,000 asylum seekers in 2015), as well as the need for long-term qualifications in order to enter the labour market. Lastly, Grundtjernlien also stressed greater challenges faced by immigrants and their descendants, including increasingly stringent job requirements at the national level.Former Immigration Minister Sylvi Listhaug, who chairs the Progress Party that ordered the survey, argued that increased immigration will lead to increased poverty.The former cabinet minister voiced her fear that the left-of-the-centre red bloc tipped to win today's general election will open the borders, whereupon poverty will hit the ceiling.Citing a budding asylum wave from Afghanistan, Listhaug suggested prioritising local help to people in the immediate area as alternative to immigration, which she argued, leads to major integration problems.We can help 468 fellow human beings in the surrounding areas for the same amount as it costs to bring a single refugee to Norway, she added.Norway's immigrant-background population began to accelerate starting from 2006, having more than doubled since then and nearly reaching 1 million in a country of 5.3 million by 2020. The Norwegian government defines Immigrants as people who have immigrated to Norway themselves, and whose parents were both born abroad. The terms immigrant population and immigrant background, by contrast, include their first- and second-generation descendants as well. kernel.panic999 You couldn't pay me to move to Norway and the economic migrants go there on their own thousands of miles. There must be a reason and I don't think the privilege of working 9-5 is that. 9 See you in the ice the Co of Conan and the surname suffix ko = the Ko of the Muslim holy book, "Ko ran" away and we stole their lands. Now the Muslim Pohjolan come again to steal. Notice the Buddhist statues in Central Asia? Notice how the Buddhist monks wear RED, ORANGE or GREY robes. NOT white or black. Muslims are the thieves. Muslims robbed and murdered the Buddhists of Central Asia. Notice the Dutch, Prince of Orange, the Orange on the Irish flag, the Red on the flags of Russia and many other European nations/houses. Reds and Orange are Buddhists who were forced out of Central Asia by Pohjolan Muslims 7 19 norway scandinavia Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rosiya Segodnya 252 60 2021 Igor Kuznetsov Igor Kuznetsov News en_EN Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rosiya Segodnya 252 60 1920 1080 true 1920 1440 true 1920 1920 true Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rosiya Segodnya 252 60 Igor Kuznetsov news, europe, immigration, norway, immigrants, social benefits, scandinavia https://sputniknews.com/20210913/indian-actor-naseeruddin-shah-says-govt-seeking-propaganda-films-brings-up-nazi-germany-case-1089031461.html Indian Actor Naseeruddin Shah Says Govt Seeking 'Propaganda' Films, Brings Up 'Nazi Germany' Case Indian Actor Naseeruddin Shah Says Govt Seeking 'Propaganda' Films, Brings Up 'Nazi Germany' Case One of the most prominent Muslim actors in the Indian film industry, Naseeruddin Shah, had recently posted a video message on social media slamming some of... 13.09.2021, Sputnik International 2021-09-13T13:59+0000 2021-09-13T13:59+0000 2021-09-13T13:59+0000 afghanistan muslim afghanistan india sputnik bollywood bollywood /html/head/meta[@name='og:title']/@content /html/head/meta[@name='og:description']/@content https://cdn1.img.sputniknews.com/img/07e5/09/0d/1089035477_0:171:3035:1878_1920x0_80_0_0_94c390948ef77759c68753fa76778dfb.jpg Acclaimed Bollywood actor Naseeruddin Shah has said that an attempt is being made by Indian government authorities to prompt the film industry to make "pro-government" films.In an interview with NDTV news service, the three-time National Film Award winning actor said that the film industry is witnessing several changes. "They are being encouraged by the government to make pro-government films, to make films lauding the efforts of the government. They are also being financed, also promised a clean chit if they make movies which are propaganda, to put it bluntly," said the actor, who is a recipient of India's third and fourth highest civilian awards -- Padma Bhushan and Padma Shri. Earlier this month, the noted actor had triggered a row by saying: "Even as Taliban's return to power in Afghanistan is a cause of concern for the whole world, celebrations of the barbarians by some sections of Indian Muslims is no less dangerous." Saying that he faced a backlash for his remarks, the 71-year-old actor clarified that he was only referring to those who openly made a statement in favour of the Taliban. "The past history of Taliban should make us pretty anxious." ."What saddened me was that there are sections of the Muslim community who are in agreement. I also received pats on the back from the rightwing. I don't need any such congratulations or label," he said. The actor rued that while "harmless" statements by Muslim leaders and students were being penalised, statements about "perpetrating violence" against the Muslim community are not being castigated, "let alone taken to task", according to NDTV. afghanistan india Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rosiya Segodnya 252 60 2021 Priya Yadav https://cdn1.img.sputniknews.com/img/07e5/02/01/1081944855_0:29:2048:2077_100x100_80_0_0_fcca548f1670eac15afebf8b8e336044.jpg Priya Yadav https://cdn1.img.sputniknews.com/img/07e5/02/01/1081944855_0:29:2048:2077_100x100_80_0_0_fcca548f1670eac15afebf8b8e336044.jpg News en_EN Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rosiya Segodnya 252 60 1920 1080 true 1920 1440 true 1920 1920 true Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rosiya Segodnya 252 60 Priya Yadav https://cdn1.img.sputniknews.com/img/07e5/02/01/1081944855_0:29:2048:2077_100x100_80_0_0_fcca548f1670eac15afebf8b8e336044.jpg muslim, afghanistan, india, sputnik, bollywood, bollywood https://sputniknews.com/20210913/nhs-rolls-out-game-changer-pilot-blood-test-for-detecting-over-50-types-of-cancer-1089024814.html NHS Rolls Out Game Changer Pilot Blood Test For Detecting Over 50 Types of Cancer NHS Rolls Out Game Changer Pilot Blood Test For Detecting Over 50 Types of Cancer This June, Grail Inc., a biotechnology company, launched its Galleri blood test, designed to detect multiple cancers at an early stage from a single sample... 13.09.2021, Sputnik International 2021-09-13T08:06+0000 2021-09-13T08:06+0000 2021-09-13T08:06+0000 cancer national health service (nhs) britain great britain cancer /html/head/meta[@name='og:title']/@content /html/head/meta[@name='og:description']/@content https://cdn1.img.sputniknews.com/img/104564/24/1045642434_0:180:1920:1260_1920x0_80_0_0_44b540f497f3ab7f956cb63c9935afa6.jpg England's National Health Service (NHS) is launching a pilot scheme for a blood test, developed by the US-based company Grail, that can detect 50 types of cancer at early stages, before symptoms appear, reported UK media. The Galleri test, developed by US biotechnology company Grail Inc. and already available in the US, examines DNA in blood to find out whether any of it comes from cancer cells. The test is touted as detecting cancers that are not routinely screened for, while also determining where the disease is coming from in the body.The test zooms in on chemical changes in fragments of genetic code that leak from tumours into the blood. According to medical experts, in the case of some cancers this starts to occur a long time before symptoms manifest themselves. Pritchard said the test could help the NHS realise its ambition of catching up to 75 percent of cancers at an early stage so that treatment can be started sooner. Research published in June in the journal Annals Of Oncology ran the test on 2,823 people with cancer and 1,254 people without the disease. It was found to correctly identify cancer in 51.5 percent of cases across all stages of the disease. The novel test, which has already been effective at identifying head and neck, bowel, lung, pancreatic, and throat cancers, which are more challenging to pinpoint early, nevertheless cannot detect all cancers. Accordingly, it would not replace NHS screening programmes for breast, cervical, and bowel cancer. Cancer Research UK and King's College London Cancer Prevention Trials Unit are collaborating with Grail in the trial. Professor Peter Sasieni, one of the trial's lead investigators, was cited as saying:With the first results expected by 2023, a successful outcome might see the test available for prescription use from 2024. Thomas Turk That may well be so, BUT NO doc. is allowed to cure cancer! Any cancer cure must be 'officially published' in a Med. Journal to be allowed. HOWEVER. In US in 1984, Dr Robert Good, the leader in immunology, with the worlds first bone marrow transplant, and over 2000 medical research papers published, discovered the natural, enzymatic cure for pancreatic cancer. He was refused publication in all Medical Journals, being informed that his cure didnt fit in with the concepts of that time. NO cancer 'cure' is today published in US! In the UK, the 1939 UK Cancer Act PROHIBITS the publication of any cancer cure. It's an annual 1/3T$ criminal Industry. Cures? Protocols of Russian/Canadian biologist H R Clark, PhD ND who carried out 1/2 million reproducible bio-resonance tests to identify the specific. causative parasites, bacteria, viruses, heavy metals, dyes, molds, radio active compounds etc. and their pathways. cont.. 0 Thomas Turk The electronic Zappers of Drs. Clark, Beck and Rife. Hoxeys herbs.. (the quack who cured cancer. He was arrested over 100 times, more times than any other medical practitioner, but his Texan prosecutor subsequently became his attorney after Hoxey cured his brother of cancer)! Germanys ozone, (that cured Pres. Reagans lung cancer). Dr. Burzynsksis secret formula in Texas. Essiac (that cured Sen. Ted Kennedys sons incurable bone cancer). Jason Winters 3 herb tea (that cured his jaw cancer). Sunderlandia. Curcumin. Cannabis oil. Black elderberry. Vitamin D3, (8000iu/D), Vit C, (10gms/D). Tunnels in 35K old Bosnian Pyramid of the Sun, with its synthetic ceramic 'measured healing energy' boulders. Dr Clark advised use as many of these protocols as practical. 0 2 britain great britain Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rosiya Segodnya 252 60 2021 Svetlana Ekimenko Svetlana Ekimenko News en_EN Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rosiya Segodnya 252 60 1920 1080 true 1920 1440 true 1920 1920 true Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rosiya Segodnya 252 60 Svetlana Ekimenko cancer, national health service (nhs), britain, great britain, cancer https://sputniknews.com/20210913/north-korea-insists-us-be-brought-to-justice-for-atrocities-in-afghanistan-1089028650.html North Korea Insists US Be Brought to Justice for Atrocities in Afghanistan North Korea Insists US Be Brought to Justice for Atrocities in Afghanistan The last US troops left Afghanistan on 30 August after nearly twenty years of war and occupation. The countrys pro-Western government collapsed suddenly in... 13.09.2021, Sputnik International 2021-09-13T10:14+0000 2021-09-13T10:14+0000 2021-09-13T10:35+0000 united states afghanistan war crimes crimes north korea /html/head/meta[@name='og:title']/@content /html/head/meta[@name='og:description']/@content https://cdn1.img.sputniknews.com/img/106146/10/1061461067_0:184:2989:1865_1920x0_80_0_0_be0e8153c9757b2ff498940557934fd8.jpg The US-led war in Afghanistan constituted gross violation of human rights and gave rise to a host of inhumane crimes which must not be left unanswered, North Koreas foreign ministry has said.In a statement on its website Sunday, Pyongyang indicated that the two decade-long US-led counter-terrorism operation in Afghanistan came to an end with the hasty flight of US troops.Pyongyang recalled recent statements by officials in Iran and China regarding the US occupation and the crimes against civilians, including deaths and injuries caused by US drone strikes, and other acts of violence.In another statement related to Afghanistan earlier this month, the foreign ministry pointed to the recently held 31st special session of the United Nations Human Rights Council in Geneva, at which it said many countries pointed out that those responsible for crimes against humanity in Afghanistan, and demanded that they be called to account. They stressed that the US and its allies left no other legacy in Afghanistan but the death of 241,000 people, including 7,792 children, Pyongyang recalled.It is clearly shown that the US and the Western countries, though they advocate protection of human rights, are the stranglers of human rights, mercilessly trampling upon even the right to life, the basic right to human rights, and that they receive unanimous denunciation from the international society, the foreign ministry argued.Tense TiesThe foreign ministrys statement comes amid the continuing deterioration of relations between North Korea and the United States. The country test fired a new type of long-range cruise missile over the weekend, with the test the first of its kind since March. The earlier test followed the US decision to move forward with large-scale military drills with the South Korean military. North Korea views such exercises as rehearsals for an invasion of the Democratic Peoples Republic of Korea (DPRK), the countrys official name.During his presidency, Donald Trump took steps to improve ties with Pyongyang, with the ultimate goal being the demilitarization of the Korean Peninsula and the curbing of North Koreas nuclear programme. Kim Jong-un and Trump established a personal rapport and met several times throughout the latters presidency, but no firm agreements were reached.The Biden administration has faced no such fortune, with the two sides returning to hostile rhetoric, and Pyongyang urging Washington to drop the lunatic theory of [the] threat from North Korea and groundless rhetoric about complete denuclearization.President Bidens comments on the campaign trail criticizing Trump for meeting with Kim, and his characterization of the North Korean leader as a thug, tyrant and dictator prompted North Korean media to blast Biden as an imbecile and a rabid dog that must be beaten to death with a stick.Last month, Kim Yo-jong, Kim Jong-uns sister and vice-director of the information and publicity department of North Koreas ruling Workers Party, warned that US and South Korean preparations for fresh military drills facilitates instability and will prompt Pyongyang to strengthen [its] national defence and strong preemptive capabilities. https://sputniknews.com/20210901/china-calls-for-investigation-of-us-nato-war-crimes-in-afghanistan-following-withdrawal-1083771698.html https://sputniknews.com/20210912/north-korea-launches-long-range-missile-test---report-1089017009.html Alba1970 CIA Zero units are guilty of crimes against humanity they were only accountable to the CIA, guilty of mass executions killing entire villages, rape, murder, torture ... the CIA used there ZERO units to try and subjugate the afghan population hence the Taliban's popularity google/Yandex "CIA ZERO Units" .... America must be punished 9 Question All Agreed 6 12 afghanistan Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rosiya Segodnya 252 60 2021 Ilya Tsukanov Ilya Tsukanov News en_EN Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rosiya Segodnya 252 60 1920 1080 true 1920 1440 true 1920 1920 true Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rosiya Segodnya 252 60 Ilya Tsukanov united states, afghanistan, war crimes, crimes, north korea https://sputniknews.com/20210913/palestinian-prisoners-to-start-hunger-strike-warn-failure-to-meet-demands-will-lead-to-escalation-1089023546.html Palestinian Prisoners to Start Hunger Strike, Warn Failure to Meet Demands Will Lead to 'Escalation' Palestinian Prisoners to Start Hunger Strike, Warn Failure to Meet Demands Will Lead to 'Escalation' The inmates accuse Israel of making their conditions worse after the notorious escape of six prisoners from the Gilboa facility. They say they are humiliated... 13.09.2021, Sputnik International 2021-09-13T08:08+0000 2021-09-13T08:08+0000 2021-09-13T08:08+0000 israel hunger strike prisoners conditions palestine /html/head/meta[@name='og:title']/@content /html/head/meta[@name='og:description']/@content https://cdn1.img.sputniknews.com/img/07e5/09/06/1083805904_0:159:3076:1889_1920x0_80_0_0_e8c4fa786dd5bb53cb3deda9ae0e3934.jpg After five days of intensive search, the manhunt for the six Palestinian prisoners who fled Israel's Gilboa prison earlier this week has yielded results.Four of the six have already been caught and arrested. Two are still on the run but the belief is that they too will soon be caught.Tensions BrewingTheir seizure has already triggered mass protests in eleven locations across the West Bank. Last Friday, mobs of young people set tires ablaze. They attacked Israel's security forces with stones and Molotov cocktails.Earlier in the month, tensions were also felt in several prisons across Israel. Several days ago, a prisoner at the Gilboa prison attempted to pour boiling water on one of the wardens, who managed to move aside at the last minute and thus was not hurt.Other inmates at Ktziot prison have reportedly set seven cells on fire. Similar incidents have also been registered in other facilities across the country.Fighting for RightsIn addition, the Palestinian prisoners' union has also announced it would open a general hunger strike on 17 September, and Qadoura Fares, the head of the Palestinian Prisoner Club in the West Bank, says they will be doing so to "make Israel give them their rights back".Shortly after the escape of the six fugitives, Israel initiated a number of measures in its prisons. All inmates that belonged to the Palestinian Islamic Jihad, with which five of the six were affiliated, were shuffled to different cells. Some have even been sent to other facilities. The move was probably done to prevent more inmates from trying their luck.Reports have also emerged that Israel had limited their canteen service and prevented them from watching TV or using mobile phones.These measures have been denounced as the deterioration of the prisoners' conditions and they saw this as something they wanted to change.Addameer, an NGO that's fighting for the rights of the Palestinian prisoners, has spent a lot of time raising awareness about the inmates' conditions. It pointed out that many of them, especially those from the Gaza Strip, are denied family visits. Some are held in isolation and very often all are denied basic medical treatment.Israel, on the other hand, has always been telling a different story and local media published multiple reports detailing the comfortable conditions of its so-called security prisoners, who serve time in prison on charges of terrorism.According to those reports, inmates are entitled to use a gym that's equipped with advanced machinery. They are provided food catering services and subscriptions to local newspapers. They are entitled to an education, and get a salary from the Palestinian Authority that receives its funds from Israeli taxpayers.Escalation Round the CornerBut for Fares this is barely enough, and he warns that "another escalation is just around the corner," if their demands are not met.Signs of a possible escalation are already in the air. On Friday, Palestinians announced a day of rage against Israeli actions. In addition, militants of the Gaza Strip launched a rocket towards Israel's southern communities. It was intercepted by the Iron Dome Defence System. In response, the Jewish state attacked a number of military sites in the enclave.The country's Defence Minister Benny Gantz held a security assessment and said that Israel was ready for any developments but the question that begs to be answered is whether it really needs another wave of violence with Hamas. Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rosiya Segodnya 252 60 2021 Elizabeth Blade Elizabeth Blade News en_EN Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rosiya Segodnya 252 60 1920 1080 true 1920 1440 true 1920 1920 true Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rosiya Segodnya 252 60 Elizabeth Blade israel, hunger strike, prisoners, conditions, palestine https://sputniknews.com/20210913/pentagon-says-unable-to-confirm-identities-of-daesh-members-killed-in-drone-strike-august-29-1089044268.html Pentagon Says Unable to Confirm Identities of Daesh Members Killed in Drone Strike August 29 Pentagon Says Unable to Confirm Identities of Daesh Members Killed in Drone Strike August 29 WASHINGTON (Sputnik) - The US Department of Defense is not able to confirm the identities of Daesh* militants targeted in the strike carried in late August... 13.09.2021, Sputnik International 2021-09-13T20:45+0000 2021-09-13T20:45+0000 2021-09-13T20:45+0000 drone strikes pentagon daesh militants /html/head/meta[@name='og:title']/@content /html/head/meta[@name='og:description']/@content https://cdn1.img.sputniknews.com/img/07e5/07/06/1083320993_0:46:3477:2002_1920x0_80_0_0_43e029dba9d2d4053d0b0d47dafd9a08.jpg The New York Times recently published video evidence showing Zemari Ahmadi, who worked for a US aid group, may have been mistaken for an Daesh-Khorasan terrorist by American forces before a drone strike killed 10 civilians including seven children in Afghanistan on August 29.The New York Times investigation revealed that Ahmadi, who worked as an electrical engineer for the US non-governmental organization (NGO) Nutrition and Education International, left his home in the morning on August 29 to pick up a colleague and his boss's laptop, which is when the US military suspected a white sedan had left an Islamic State safe house and intercepted communications asking the driver to make several stops.The US military may have mistakenly thought Ahmadi's white Toyota Corolla contained explosives that would be used against the US troops at the Kabul airport after he was seen running work-related errands and loading water containers for his home, according to the Times.Back in late August, the US military was on placed high alert after 13 US service members were killed in an Daesh-K suicide bombing attack at the Kabul airport. In response, US President Joe Biden gave US military commanders full authority to conduct operations against Daesh-K.*The Daesh-Khorasan is a terrorist organization banned in Russia and many other states. TruePatriot The aid worker "might have been mistaken" for a Daesh member? How about the US needed to beat on its chest about how powerful and knowing and effective it was as it was running like a scalded dog, so they murdered a man and many of his children and relative's children. There was no might have, it was out and out terror from the sky and they thought they'd get away with it. It is a war crime and Milley and Austin should already be facing charges over it. 1 peter pero Erfahrungsbericht zur Herpesbehandlung Bei mir wurde seit 2 Jahren Genitalherpes diagnostiziert und ich suche nach einer Heilung. Ich las auf dieser Plattform ein Zeugnis von einer Frau, die mit Doktor Ahmed Usman Herbal Medicine von Diabetes geheilt wurde, nach vielen Diskussionen und einigen Fragen, die er Krautermedizin vorbereitete und nach meiner Adresse fragte. 3 Tage spater erhielt ich das Krauterarzneimittel und mit seinem Prasidium, einschlielich der offiziellen E-Mail-Adresse des Arztes. Ich kontaktierte den Arzt durch sein Schreiben und trank 21 Tage lang Krautermedizin. Nachdem ich die Krautermedizin beendet hatte, ging ich zu einem Test und mein IgG-Ergebnis wurde negativ bestatigt, ohne dass in meinem Blut ein Virus gefunden wurde. Kontaktieren Sie Doktor Ahmed und lassen Sie sich heilen. mailen Sie ihm an; drahmedusman5104@gmail.com oder senden Sie ihm eine WhatsApp-SMS +14436204203 . Er hat pflanzliche Heilmittel gegen Diabetes, Hepatitis, Krebs, Leukamie, Fibrose 0 2 Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rosiya Segodnya 252 60 2021 Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rosiya Segodnya 252 60 News en_EN Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rosiya Segodnya 252 60 1920 1080 true 1920 1440 true 1920 1920 true Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rosiya Segodnya 252 60 Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rosiya Segodnya 252 60 drone strikes, pentagon, daesh militants https://sputniknews.com/20210913/pentagon-wrests-back-control-of-chunk-of-internet-claimed-by-mystery-company-when-trump-left-office-1089034639.html Pentagon Wrests Back Control of Chunk of Internet Claimed by Mystery Company When Trump Left Office Pentagon Wrests Back Control of Chunk of Internet Claimed by Mystery Company When Trump Left Office When former President Donald Trump exited the White House on January 20th ahead of the incoming POTUS, Democrat Joe Biden, an under-the-radar Florida company... 13.09.2021, Sputnik International 2021-09-13T14:40+0000 2021-09-13T14:40+0000 2021-09-13T14:40+0000 pentagon joe biden donald trump united states pentagon us /html/head/meta[@name='og:title']/@content /html/head/meta[@name='og:description']/@content https://cdn1.img.sputniknews.com/img/102624/57/1026245731_0:273:4200:2636_1920x0_80_0_0_817a76b70cb423ff34a88c34dc7ad9b1.jpg The US Department of Defense has reclaimed control over a chunk of the internet equal to about six percent of the entire web, reported The Washington Post. The estimated 175 million IP addresses were retrieved from Global Resource Systems LLC, headquartered in Plantation, Florida a company that seems not to have existed until last September.The Pentagons technical announcement that it was now directing the traffic to its own servers was made on Tuesday, visible mainly to network administrators around the world.Details of what transpired to have been a pilot programme to detect unspecified vulnerabilities and prevent unauthorized use of DoD IP address space were revealed later. Parts of the Internet once managed by Global Resource Systems, said the Pentagon as per The Washington Post, were now being overseen by the Department of Defense Information Network and part of US Cyber Command.It was revealed that the IP address space had never been sold or leased to the obscure company, but rather put under its control for the pilot program accrued out by an elite Pentagon unit, known as the Defense Digital Service (DDS), which reports directly to the secretary of defense. The DDS is tasked with tackling diverse emergency problems for the US military, as well as carrying out experimental work, says the publication. Brett Goldstein, the DDSs director, said in a statement that his unit had authorized a pilot effort publicizing the IP space owned by the Pentagon. This pilot will assess, evaluate and prevent unauthorized use of DoD IP address space. Additionally, this pilot may identify potential vulnerabilities, Goldstein was cited as saying. As little clarification is offered regarding what exactly the pilot program was doing, the mystery that permeated the mission remains. Mysterious Takeover When former President Donald Trump exited the White House on January 20th ahead of incoming POTUS, Democrat Joe Biden, an under-the-radar Florida company took over control of a swathe of the Internet previously owned by the US Defense Department.The transfer of IP addresses was registered at 11:57 a.m. on Inauguration Day, just three minutes before President Joe Biden took office. Over a period of some three months, Global Resource Systems LLC had added nearly 175 million IP addresses previously owned by the Pentagon to the takeover. The move was only visible in the Border Gateway Protocol (BGP). This messaging system informs Internet companies how to route global traffic. It was there that messages started to inform network administrators that previously dormant Pentagon IP addresses were to be now routed to Global Resource Systems.The revelations triggered a swathe of theories, ranging from a vast sell-off of IP addresses in the wake of Trumps exit, to the Pentagon responding to demands to monetise billions of dollars-worth of unused IP address space.Doug Madory had been tracking the development in the networking world and publishing a blog post. In April the ex-Air Force officer suggested the intriguing program was intended to collect intelligence by rerouting information flows. He underscored that such tactics could allow cyberspies to zoom in on weaknesses in the networks of adversaries.Furthermore, Madorys recent analysis of traffic via Internet addresses previously controlled by Global Resource Systems shows them still leading to a computer router in Ashburn, Va., that he says is a hub of Internet connections for government agencies and private companies. koursk koursk for the sake of the general interest, the internet must be a public service *** for this purpose, we trust the Russian and Chinese states more than the NATO space under the thumb of billionaire mobsters 4 Bruce Drake Although the Internet is a public service, it was originally set up for the US Defense establishment over 40 years ago. 4 4 Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rosiya Segodnya 252 60 2021 Svetlana Ekimenko Svetlana Ekimenko News en_EN Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rosiya Segodnya 252 60 1920 1080 true 1920 1440 true 1920 1920 true Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rosiya Segodnya 252 60 Svetlana Ekimenko pentagon, joe biden, donald trump, united states, pentagon, us https://sputniknews.com/20210913/red-cross-head-calls-for-engaging-with-taliban-to-avoid-further-degradation-in-afghanistan-1089022828.html Red Cross Head Calls for Engaging With Taliban to Avoid Further Degradation in Afghanistan Red Cross Head Calls for Engaging With Taliban to Avoid Further Degradation in Afghanistan GENEVA (Sputnik) - The international community needs to develop a concrete policy for interacting with the Taliban* to prevent further escalation of the... 13.09.2021, Sputnik International 2021-09-13T06:43+0000 2021-09-13T06:43+0000 2021-09-13T08:15+0000 international committee of the red cross (icrc) afghanistan humanitarian aid /html/head/meta[@name='og:title']/@content /html/head/meta[@name='og:description']/@content https://cdn1.img.sputniknews.com/img/07e5/09/0d/1089025598_0:134:2759:1686_1920x0_80_0_0_6002b19bda54e04850d4b58b71cb0c8b.jpg "I do believe that a policy of engagement with the Taliban is necessary to prevent further degradation of the situation. I think this may be difficult, and, as always been in such situation, failure is easy, success and stabilization is always more complex, more difficult, more engaging, more tiresome, more complex, and it will be in Afghanistan," Maurer said.The fact that the Taliban leadership in Afghanistan is not internationally recognized can further deepen the humanitarian crisis in the country and aggravate the economic situation, as international organizations and banks cannot finance the unrecognized government, the ICRC chief said.UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric said earlier this month that Geneva would host a meeting on Afghanistan at the level of permanent representatives on September 13 to address growing humanitarian needs in the Central Asian nation. The conference will advocate for a swift "scale-up in funding so the lifesaving humanitarian operation can continue," as well as call for "full and unimpeded humanitarian access."ICRC Satisfied With Taliban Assurances on Organization's Further Work in AfghanistanThe International Committee of the Red Cross is satisfied with the guarantees provided by the Taliban that it will be able to continue its activities in Afghanistan unhindered, ICRC President Peter Maurer said.The ICRC will have "an important moment of trust-building" between the Taliban and the civilian population at large, the chief said, noting the organization sees the desire and readiness for more humanitarian assistance in Afghanistan.Earlier in September, Maurer arrived in Afghanistan for a three-day trip to assess the humanitarian situation in the country. The ICRC head visited medical and rehabilitation centres, supported by the organization, and met with the Afghan authorities.ICRC Says Previous Engagement With Taliban Benefits Current DialoguePrevious engagement between the International Committee of the Red Cross and the Taliban helps the organization maintain dialogue with the current leadership of Afghanistan, Maurer said.He recalled that the ICRC had visited some Taliban members, who are among the group's leaders today, when they were in detention, noting that the humanitarian organization has a longer tradition of engaging with the militants than other actors.According to the ICRC head, there is currently a combination of crises in Afghanistan political, economic and humanitarian that creates such a difficult situation in the country. Maurer noted that the humanitarian one had aggravated in recent years due to increased hostilities, structural poverty and the COVID-19 pandemic.Maurer believes that Afghanistan is experiencing turmoil in the health system, water supply and sanitation systems, partly to the fact that many experts are now forced to leave their homeland with the Taliban coming to power. The takeover has disrupted supply chains of medicines and medical equipment to hospitals that are now on the brink of collapse, and the food security crisis has become more pronounced due to surges in food prices.This combination of factors turned Afghanistan into a super fragile country, Maurer said.*A terrorist group outlawed in Russia and many other countries. TruePatriot How about folks like these just stay out of the mujahideens face and let them do what they need to do without outside interference. Offers can be made, but let them decide if and when any offer is taken up. 1 Bodrak jackson I was cured from 5 years of Genital Herpes Virus and Itching Blisters on my genital part within 21 days with Doctor Nelson Salim Herbal Medicine. I was recommended to Dr. Nelson through this news site and his information was shared by his previous clients who have been cured from different diseases. I decided to try Doctor Nelson product which I placed an order and within 4 days I received the product on my address through DHL. And with Dr. Nelson instructions I used the product for 21 days after concluding the herbal product, I was advised to go for another Genital Herpes PCR test which I did and to my surprise my result was negative with no trace of the virus on my blood . I highly recommend him to anyone suffering from BONE, CANCER, HEPATITIS, HERPES ZOSTERS, FIBROID, WEAK ERECTION, KIDNEY CYST, COPD, PROSTATE ENLARGEMENT, ERECTILE DYSFUNCTION, HIGH BLOOD PRESSURE AND SUGAR his information; E-mail; drnelsonsalim10@gmail.com Whatsapp / call +212703835488 0 2 afghanistan Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rosiya Segodnya 252 60 2021 Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rosiya Segodnya 252 60 News en_EN Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rosiya Segodnya 252 60 1920 1080 true 1920 1440 true 1920 1920 true Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rosiya Segodnya 252 60 Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rosiya Segodnya 252 60 international committee of the red cross (icrc), afghanistan, humanitarian aid https://sputniknews.com/20210913/russias-t-62-tank-reportedly-to-remain-in-service-with-russian-army-until-2030-1089043710.html Russias T-62 Tank Reportedly to Remain in Service With Russian Army Until 2030 Russias T-62 Tank Reportedly to Remain in Service With Russian Army Until 2030 The T-62 tank, originally manufactured in the Soviet Union from 1961 to 1975, will remain a part of the Russian Army, in a limited capacity, until 2030... 13.09.2021, Sputnik International 2021-09-13T20:46+0000 2021-09-13T20:46+0000 2021-09-13T20:46+0000 russia tank russian military /html/head/meta[@name='og:title']/@content /html/head/meta[@name='og:description']/@content https://cdn1.img.sputniknews.com/img/07e5/05/09/1082838504_0:160:3073:1888_1920x0_80_0_0_2d638e2a842a7c41a234839ff0ff3cf3.jpg While the tank was quickly surpassed by more sophisticated and economic tanks developed for the Soviet Army, thousands remain in active service in militaries across the globe.The T-62 will likely remain in service in the Russian Army through 2030. Many have remained in warehouses throughout Russia, with plans to update and export their remaining inventory. The Cold War-era tank has been predominantly deployed throughout the Middle East over the past decade, and has been used by Ethiopia in the Tigray Civil War.The T-62 tank was originally designed by the Soviet Union to replace their T-55 tank, which fell behind the armory of Western tanks, and proved unable to sufficiently support a cannon capable of piercing their frontal armor. The T-62 maintained a similar design to the T-55, but proved to be large enough to carry newer armor-piercing weaponry. Production began in 1961 in Kharkiv and stopped in 1973, with 20,000 units being produced. Production ultimately ceased in 1975 in the Soviet Union.The tank was first featured in the Sino-Soviet border conflict, with the Peoples Liberation Army disabling and capturing one of the tanks. It later turned out that the captured T-62 was studied and used to help design the PLAs Type 69 tank, which was the first battle tank to be independently developed by China. pussymuncher Still a good design with upgrades, I can remember the Israelis using upgraded Sherman's up until at least late 80s early 90s and that's a second world war tank... and not even a particularly good one during that war. 6 GasMonkey They aren't frontline tanks but will give young soliders in their armored divisions much useful seat time. Russia's military has been masterful at repurposing what they have while their front line career guys get upgraded. 3 5 russia Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rosiya Segodnya 252 60 2021 Nevin Brown Nevin Brown News en_EN Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rosiya Segodnya 252 60 1920 1080 true 1920 1440 true 1920 1920 true Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rosiya Segodnya 252 60 Nevin Brown russia, tank, russian military https://sputniknews.com/20210913/scientists-suggest-studying-impact-of-exotic-fruits-amid-nipah-virus-outbreak-in-india-1089029670.html Scientists Suggest Studying Impact of Exotic Fruits Amid Nipah Virus Outbreak in India Scientists Suggest Studying Impact of Exotic Fruits Amid Nipah Virus Outbreak in India Nipah virus, a zoonotic virus like SARS-COV2, was first reported in 1999 during an outbreak among pig farmers in Malaysia. Last month, there was one death... 13.09.2021, Sputnik International 2021-09-13T14:40+0000 2021-09-13T14:40+0000 2021-09-13T14:40+0000 virus fruits kerala india /html/head/meta[@name='og:title']/@content /html/head/meta[@name='og:description']/@content https://cdn1.img.sputniknews.com/img/07e5/09/0d/1089035882_2:0:2048:1151_1920x0_80_0_0_d2515aea1fd077505ad0458bda3eb62b.jpg Indian scientists have recommended studies into the ecological impact of exotic fruits amid a Nipah outbreak in the southern state of Kerala - a virus that can be transmitted to humans from animals. This is the third outbreak of Nipah in the southern state since 2018, when 17 lives were lost.Last week, a 12-year-old died in Kozhikode after being infected with Nipah. After the boy's mother revealed that she had given him Rambutan the fruits were sent to the National Institute of Virology (NIV) Pune for investigation. Sooraj N.P., a researcher at the C.V. Raman Laboratory of Ecological Informatics, DUK, stressed the need to check whether the abundance of exotic fruiting plants attracted fruit bats or caused the increased presence of the bat population in human-inhabited areas, as reported by The Hindu.Although the fruit's role is still not clear, the situation has affected the sale of exotic fruit as it is witnessing a price drop of 30-35 percent. According to experts, the import of exotic plants is regulated under the Plant Quarantine (Regulation of Import into India) Order, 2003, but there is no mechanism to track the long-term ecological impact of the large-scale cultivation of exotic plants like Rambutan. Ecological physicist R. Jaishanker, chair of the School of Informatics, Digital University of Kerala (DUK) told The Hindu while recommending studies on exotic fruits that there is still a lack of analysis of finding the cause of the Nipah virus.The two strains of Nipah Virus that have been reported till now are assumed to have pigs and fruit bats as intermediary hosts. According to scientists, although efforts are being made to contain zoonotic diseases, there is still a lack of analysis in finding the cause. In 2018, after the Nipah outbreak, several studies showed that the virus was first transmitted from fruit bats. However, the route of the transmission remained unknown.Nipah vs Coronavirus According to experts, Nipah is not as transmissible as some other viruses. However, the risk of a new strain with more efficiency and virulence cannot be ignored. Unfortunately, the virus also has a high fatality rate. After being infected with COVID-19, the patient is most infectious before symptoms are visible. In the case of Nipah, the patient starts spreading the virus after becoming symptomatic. According to World Health Organization (WHO), between 40 percent and 75 percent of Nipah virus cases can lead to death. In 2018, during Kerala's first Nipah outbreak, the fatality rate was over 90 percent. On Sunday, Veena George, Health Minister of Kerala state, told reporters that samples of all 68 close contacts of the boy who died due to Nipah last week came out negative, however, the source was yet to be identified. George also stated that sample testing is underway to find the epicentre of the infection. https://sputniknews.com/20210907/nipah-virus-symptoms-found-in-11-people-in-indias-kerala-state--health-minister-1083811641.html kerala Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rosiya Segodnya 252 60 2021 Sushmita Panda https://cdn1.img.sputniknews.com/img/07e5/05/12/1082926186_0:0:2048:2048_100x100_80_0_0_4474d0d7e27a36878eb8727832be74b4.jpg Sushmita Panda https://cdn1.img.sputniknews.com/img/07e5/05/12/1082926186_0:0:2048:2048_100x100_80_0_0_4474d0d7e27a36878eb8727832be74b4.jpg News en_EN Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rosiya Segodnya 252 60 1920 1080 true 1920 1440 true 1920 1920 true Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rosiya Segodnya 252 60 Sushmita Panda https://cdn1.img.sputniknews.com/img/07e5/05/12/1082926186_0:0:2048:2048_100x100_80_0_0_4474d0d7e27a36878eb8727832be74b4.jpg virus, fruits, kerala, india https://sputniknews.com/20210913/sudanese-embassy-dismisses-report-that-khartoum-has-asked-moscow-for-aid-in-exchange-for-naval-base-1089032978.html Sudanese Embassy Dismisses Report That Khartoum Has Asked Moscow for Aid in Exchange for Naval Base Sudanese Embassy Dismisses Report That Khartoum Has Asked Moscow for Aid in Exchange for Naval Base Khartoum and Moscow began talks on the creation of a Russian naval facility at Port Sudan in 2017. In late 2020, Russian officials announced that a logistics... 13.09.2021, Sputnik International 2021-09-13T12:30+0000 2021-09-13T12:30+0000 2021-09-13T12:39+0000 sudan russia logistics naval base military base /html/head/meta[@name='og:title']/@content /html/head/meta[@name='og:description']/@content https://cdn1.img.sputniknews.com/img/07e5/07/0a/1083357341_0:152:3103:1897_1920x0_80_0_0_25f086b71a619bd89877aeabc6892b60.jpg Sudan is not seeking economic aid from Russia in exchange for an agreement on the proposed naval logistics facility in Port Sudan, Onur Ahmad Onur, charge d'affaires of Sudan's Embassy in Moscow, has said.Onur said he believes an agreement on the facility will be signed in the near future, pending some "small changes". The diplomat said these amendments are being discussed by the Russian-Sudanese commission on military cooperation.Earlier, a source in Sudan's military told Sputnik that Khartoum was looking to amend the 2020 agreement on the construction of a Russian Navy logistics facility in Port Sudan, and seeking economic assistance from Moscow in exchange for a five-year lease and the possibility of a long-term lease for up to 25 years.The creation of a Russian Navy logistics facility in Port Sudan has been discussed for years. In June, Sudanese Armed Forces chief of staff Mohamed Osman al-Hussein announced a possible revision of the logistics base agreement that was signed in late 2020. Earlier this year, al-Arabiya reported that Sudan had frozen the base agreement. The Russian Embassy in Khartoum dismissed this reporting.Russian-Sudanese negotiations on the creation of a naval logistics centre go back to 2017, when then-President Omar al-Bashir said that he had discussed the idea with Russian President Vladimir Putin and Russian Defence Ministry Sergei Shoigu. Bashir was ousted in a military coup in April 2019, with a Transitionary Military Council establishing a mixed civilian-military Sovereignty Council, including a civilian prime minister, in late 2019. The 39-month transitional period is presently scheduled to end in November 2022.Russia and Sudan have enjoyed close relations for decades, both under Bashir and his successors. Last month, Moscow stressed that it remains ready to support in every possible way reconciliation between Sudan and South Sudan, the landlocked east African nation formed in 2011 after a decades-long civil conflict. Soon after gaining independence, South Sudan descended into a new bloody civil war, with clashes continuing to this day despite the signing of a peace agreement in 2018.Russia presently operates about two dozen military facilities overseas, with the vast majority of them situated in countries of the former Soviet Union, many of which are Russian allies within the Collective Security Treaty Organisation (CSTO). The Russian naval facility at Tartus and the Khmeimim Air Base in Syria are Russias only major military facilities outside the former USSR. https://sputniknews.com/20210712/sudans-sovereign-council-govt-to-consider-agreement-on-russian-navy-base-foreign-minister-says-1083365099.html https://sputniknews.com/20151219/russian-bases-abroad-1032030941.html Thomas Turk How dare they, without first asking Mad Murika for permission? 0 1 sudan russia Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rosiya Segodnya 252 60 2021 Ilya Tsukanov Ilya Tsukanov News en_EN Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rosiya Segodnya 252 60 1920 1080 true 1920 1440 true 1920 1920 true Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rosiya Segodnya 252 60 Ilya Tsukanov sudan, russia, logistics, naval base, military base https://sputniknews.com/20210913/swedish-opposition-calls-for-terror-laws-against-gang-crime-after-bloodiest-summer-in-modern-1089023793.html Swedish Opposition Calls for Terror Laws Against Gang Crime After Bloodiest Summer in Modern History Swedish Opposition Calls for Terror Laws Against Gang Crime After Bloodiest Summer in Modern History According to the Moderate Party, over the last four years alone, more than 150 people have been killed in more than 1,100 shootings, a development ascribed to... 13.09.2021, Sputnik International 2021-09-13T07:45+0000 2021-09-13T07:45+0000 2021-09-13T07:46+0000 news europe sweden terrorism shooting crime scandinavia /html/head/meta[@name='og:title']/@content /html/head/meta[@name='og:description']/@content https://cdn1.img.sputniknews.com/img/106088/04/1060880449_0:243:4669:2869_1920x0_80_0_0_5a12453cbe26972c9293db38c0bb3cb4.jpg With street shootings in Sweden at a record high, the opposition Moderate Party seeks to use existing anti-terror laws to crack down on gang crime.This summer, a record 36 people have been shot dead in Sweden, prompting a strongly-worded response from the liberal-conservative Moderates.We cannot have it this way, Kristersson said, promising to put and end to mollycoddling with criminals.To curb the trend of growing shootings exacerbated by gang wars and drug smuggling, Kristersson called on authorities to throw the book at criminal gangs by using existing anti-terror laws.According to the Moderate leader, no child should be forced to grow up in a serious criminal environment.Moderates legal spokesman Johan Forsell called the party's new bill against gangs far reaching.According to the Moderate Party, in the last four years alone, more than 150 people have been killed in more than 1,100 shootings. In an earlier programme, the Moderates emphasised that there are 5,000 gang members in criminal networks in vulnerable areas across Sweden who are prepared to shoot others. In addition, there are about 40 criminal clans, several which have come to Sweden solely for the purpose of committing crimes, the party emphasised.Unlike most EU nations, Sweden has seen an uptick in violent crime in recent decades, soaring to the top in terms of fatal shootings per year and trailing only Croatia in a recent survey. The country's Crime Prevention Council (Bra) maintained that this trend was unique and assigned the blame to the criminal environments engaged in drug peddling and other criminal activities, which reportedly account for eight out of ten shootings. Yet another recent report highlighted immigrants' over-representation in crime.Most recently, following a spate of gang shootouts, Erik Nord, the head of the Greater Gothenburg police area, acknowledged a link between mass shootings and immigration, emphasising that basically everyone who shoots or is shot in gang conflicts originates from the Balkans, the Middle East, or North or East Africa. https://sputniknews.com/20210906/immigration-created-barbarism-swedish-politician-blasts-gang-wars-organised-crime-1083804566.html sweden scandinavia Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rosiya Segodnya 252 60 2021 Igor Kuznetsov Igor Kuznetsov News en_EN Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rosiya Segodnya 252 60 1920 1080 true 1920 1440 true 1920 1920 true Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rosiya Segodnya 252 60 Igor Kuznetsov news, europe, sweden, terrorism, shooting, crime, scandinavia https://sputniknews.com/20210913/taliban-reportedly-finds-6mln-gold-bars-in-home-of-self-declared-afghan-president-saleh--1089033621.html Taliban Reportedly Finds $6Mln, Gold Bars in Home of Self-Declared Afghan President Saleh Taliban Reportedly Finds $6Mln, Gold Bars in Home of Self-Declared Afghan President Saleh KABUL (Sputnik) - The Taliban (terrorist organisation, banned in Russia) found about $6 million in cash and at least 15 gold bars in the house belonging to... 13.09.2021, Sputnik International 2021-09-13T12:46+0000 2021-09-13T12:46+0000 2021-09-13T13:15+0000 afghanistan gold /html/head/meta[@name='og:title']/@content /html/head/meta[@name='og:description']/@content https://cdn1.img.sputniknews.com/img/07e4/08/02/1080039854_0:17:1920:1097_1920x0_80_0_0_9b692d0d549e3f37b2d589218c0c8206.jpg The Afghan news agency shared a video circulated earlier on social media, saying it showed Taliban militants demonstrating the assets found in Saleh's residence.A source in the movement confirmed to Sputnik that "huge sums of money" had been found in the house of the vice-president in the failed government of Ashraf Ghani.Neither Saleh nor the members of the anti-Taliban resistance have yet commented on the claims.Amrullah Saleh claimed presidential powers and duties on 17 August 2021, shortly after the Taliban took control of Kabul, forcing President Ashraf Ghani to flee and the Western-backed government to dissolve. Saleh had been serving as the country's vice-president since February 2020. He also was the interior minister in 2018-2019 and served as the head of the National Directorate of Security in 2004-2010.On 10 September, a source close to the resistance forces said that the Taliban took prisoner and then killed Rohullah Saleh, a brother of the self-proclaimed Afghan president.On 15 August, the Taliban entered Kabul and thus completed their takeover of Afghanistan, with the exception of the northern province of Panjshir, which remained the centre of resistance until its fall on 6 September. The next day, the Taliban announced the composition of the interim government. It will be headed by Mohammad Hasan Akhund, who served as a foreign minister during the first Taliban rule. Akhund has been under UN sanctions since 2001.The resistance forces have since vowed to retreat into guerrilla warfare, while their leader, Ahmad Massoud, called on Afghans to rebel against the Taliban. https://sputniknews.com/20210910/taliban-expelled-thousands-from-panjshir-committing-ethnic-cleansing-afghan-resistance-says-1088933776.html NthrnNYker59 LOL.... well, the traitors and collaborators had a fine tutor in corruption ---- the most corrupt nation on the planet, fascist amerika. 15 Tim6311 Well, at least the Taliban is honest enough to declare the find and not steal it themselves. 13 12 Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rosiya Segodnya 252 60 2021 Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rosiya Segodnya 252 60 News en_EN Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rosiya Segodnya 252 60 1920 1080 true 1920 1440 true 1920 1920 true Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rosiya Segodnya 252 60 Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rosiya Segodnya 252 60 gold https://sputniknews.com/20210913/us-court-to-conduct-pre-trial-hearing-in-prince-andrew-sex-assault-claim-amid-legal-wrangling-1089020729.html US Court to Conduct Pre-Trial Hearing in Prince Andrew Sex Assault Claim Amid Legal Wrangling US Court to Conduct Pre-Trial Hearing in Prince Andrew Sex Assault Claim Amid Legal Wrangling Virginia Roberts Giuffre is suing Prince Andrew for allegedly raping and abusing her when she was a minor. She claims she was trafficked out to the British... 13.09.2021, Sputnik International 2021-09-13T05:30+0000 2021-09-13T05:30+0000 2021-09-13T05:30+0000 ghislaine maxwell prince andrew virginia roberts giuffre new york united kingdom united states /html/head/meta[@name='og:title']/@content /html/head/meta[@name='og:description']/@content https://cdn1.img.sputniknews.com/img/07e5/08/08/1083553787_0:161:3069:1887_1920x0_80_0_0_a87f5de43d84dd903b4fe3b0095dae0c.jpg A US District Court in New York is to hold a pre-trial conference today in the civil suit filed by a woman alleging she was trafficked out by the late pedophile Jeffrey Epstein to have sex with Prince Andrew when she was a minor under US law, according to The Guardian. Lawyers representing the accuser, Virginia Roberts Giuffre, and the British royals defence team are currently locked in a dispute over whether the Duke of York was properly served with documents in the case. According to Giuffre's lawyers, the documents were handed over to a Metropolitan Police officer who was on duty at the main gates of the Queens sons residence in Windsor Great Park on 27 August. However, law firm Blackfords, which ostensibly represents the Duke of York in certain UK matters, has raised questions regarding whether the papers were properly served. Furthermore, according to a letter referenced in court documents filed by Giuffre's lawyers and dated September 6, there is an indication that they may challenge the court's jurisdiction in the case. According to Virginia Roberts Giuffres lawyer, David Boies, the disgraced royal could not have been unaware of the civil lawsuit. He added that any other conclusion would be implausible, bearing in mind the fact that am plethora of articles have been written about the lawsuit in media outlets around the world. The suit, filed last month, alleges that Prince Andrew raped and committed sexual assault and battery against Roberts Giuffre, now 38. Boies suggested Mondays pre-trial conference would not result in any substantive decision, however, the hearing would possibly clarify subsequent proceedings. A decision on whether efforts to serve Prince Andrew with documents naming him as a defendant in the rape case had been sufficient or not will be made by Judge Lewis Kaplan of the US District Court for the Southern District of New York. Frivolous Suit Earlier reports in UK media suggested that Prince Andrew has formed a "dream team" of high-powered US lawyers and was "confident" that the sexual assault charges against him would be dismissed. It was also suggested that the royals legal team would not be present at the Monday hearing. The other side are very good at garnering headlines but ultimately it comes down to the law. The Prince's legal team has no intention of validating this frivolous suit by attending Monday's hearing. They are confident they can get Virginia's suit dismissed, the source was cited as saying by the outlet. However, the accusers lawyers reportedly believe they will manage to convince the judge that the papers were successfully served on the royal. Following that, the Duke of Yorks legal team will either have to respond within 21 days or face having a default judgment made against their client, writes the publication. Alleged Sex Trafficking Victim According to Virginia Roberts Giuffre, she and the prince had sex on at least three occasions. The first was reportedly at the London home of British socialite Ghislaine Maxwell, Jeffrey Epstein's former girlfriend, currently in jail, charged with grooming and sex trafficking girls for the financier. The other occasions were purportedly at Epsteins NYC mansion and on the financiers private Caribbean island. Prince Andrew has tried to keep a low profile since November 2019, when he sat down for what has been dubbed a car crash BBC interview to defend his friendship with the late tycoon Jeffrey Epstein. The royal denied Virginia Roberts Giuffres claims during the interview, saying that he had no recollection of ever meeting the woman and suggesting that an existing photo showing the two of them together might have been doctored. Prince Andrews apparent lack of remorse for consorting with a convicted sex offender had generated strong backlash, prompting the Queens son to soon thereafter permanently resign from all his public roles. Jeffrey Epstein died in a New York jail cell in 2019 after being charged with multiple child sex offences. His death was officially ruled a suicide. Proof Reader Critic Yes. And The Old Bailey Crown Court should conduct a pre-trial hearing in Anne Sacoolas case (US diplomat), who killed young Harry Dunn. 4 feketehollo the fool brits opened up the door to extrajudicial proceedings against their own citizens long time ago by the USA, so now it will be hard for them to say that the Royals are exempt. This is what happens to fools and vassals. The monarchy will surely die if the USA is able to preside over the trial of Prince Andrew. 0 4 new york united kingdom Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rosiya Segodnya 252 60 2021 Svetlana Ekimenko Svetlana Ekimenko News en_EN Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rosiya Segodnya 252 60 1920 1080 true 1920 1440 true 1920 1920 true Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rosiya Segodnya 252 60 Svetlana Ekimenko ghislaine maxwell, prince andrew, virginia roberts giuffre, new york, united kingdom, united states https://sputniknews.com/20210913/us-reportedly-deploys-45-vehicle-convoy-in-syria-to-reinforce-illegal-bases-in-war-torn-nation-1089042057.html US Reportedly Deploys 45-Vehicle Convoy in Syria to Reinforce Illegal Bases in War-torn Nation US Reportedly Deploys 45-Vehicle Convoy in Syria to Reinforce Illegal Bases in War-torn Nation Washington and its local allies regularly shuttle vehicles and equipment into and out of the portion of Syria that remains outside the control of the Damascus... 13.09.2021, Sputnik International 2021-09-13T18:31+0000 2021-09-13T18:31+0000 2021-09-13T18:38+0000 united states syria convoy illegal base /html/head/meta[@name='og:title']/@content /html/head/meta[@name='og:description']/@content https://cdn1.img.sputniknews.com/img/07e4/09/13/1080509182_0:0:3071:1728_1920x0_80_0_0_0d116de15d95776910f495bcc35b18f3.jpg The US and its allies have reinforced their illegal bases on Syrian territory, with a large convoy of 45 vehicles entering the country via the illegal al-Waleed border crossing and proceeding to the countryside in Hasakah province, Syrian Arab News Agency reported Monday, citing sources on the ground in the village of al-Sweidyia, Hasakah province.The convoys deployment comes following a report Saturday that a separate convoy carrying logistical equipment and fuel tankers had entered al-Qamishli, Syria from Iraqi Kurdistan. Last week, another convoy was reported to have crossed through al-Waleed and proceeded to the Koniko and Omar oil and gas fields in Deir ez-Zor home to much of the nations energy wealth.Syrian authorities have repeatedly urged the international community to pressure the United States into ending its illegal operations on Syrian territory. Washington and its local Syrian Kurdish allies control up to 90 percent of Syrias oil-producing regions, and much of the war-torn nations food producing area, depriving the country of energy and food security and plundering these resources by trucking them out of the country to be sold abroad. Last year, Russian military intelligence estimated that the US and its allies were earning as much as $30 million a month from its oil plundering activities.Syrian media regularly report on these smuggling activities. American troops entered eastern Syria in 2017 under the pretext of fighting Daesh (ISIS)*, as Damascus was busy defending territories in the countrys north, west and south from an array of terrorist and rebel groups in a foreign-backed civil war.The US deployment in Syria is illegal under international law, but this has not stopped Washington from its activities, although the Biden administration has so far refrained from its predecessors bragging about taking and keeping the countrys oil. About 900 troops, including Green Beret special forces, are estimated to be present in Syria at the moment. Their presence has helped to prevent Damascus from launching an offensive to retake control of its lost territories, presumably out of fear that the deaths of US troops might prompt Washington to launch a massive military operation against Syria in retaliation.In recent weeks, the US withdrawal from Afghanistan and Washingtons agreement with Baghdad to pull all US combat forces out of Iraq before the end of the year has led to questions whether the Pentagon might remove its uninvited footprint from Syria as well. President Donald Trump had previously said publicly that he planned to substantially reduce or even completely withdrawal US troops from Syria. However, late last year, Jim Jeffrey, Trumps former special representative for Syria, boasted that he and members of his staff deliberately obfuscated and covered up the true size of the US military contingent in the war-torn country, and openly ignored Trumps musings about pulling out.US officials have not announced any changes to the mission in northeast Syria, which it claims is aimed at fighting Daesh remnants and preventing the terrorist groups resurgence. Syria and its Iranian allies have accused Washington of assisting or even creating Daesh to give the Pentagon the pretext to continue its operations in the Middle East.* A terrorist group outlawed in Russia and many other countries. https://sputniknews.com/20210826/iraqi-militias-claim-to-attack-eight-us-logistics-convoys-in-24-hours-1083723413.html https://sputniknews.com/20201113/what-withdrawal-senior-official-boasts-about-openly-lying-to-trump-to-keep-us-troops-in-syria-1081158526.html vot tak If the israeloamericans are forced out of iraq, their occupation and zio-mafia stealing of Syria's resources will force the things out of that part of their occupation of Syria. Note: while israeli quisling and american traitor trump claimed to working on getting out of Syria, the israeli quisling did the opposite and expanded the israeloamerican role there. This is how the zionist far right works, they are 100% frauds who lie like hell. Lie 100% of the time. Mount these zionist traitors on a scaffold, and this garbage will soon disappear. 3 vot tak This same kind of fraud is behind israeli quisling trump's ragging about biden retreating from afghanistan. The likudite trump toy would not have pulled out of afghanistan, had the traitor gotten a 2nd term. The pos would have pulled the same govno he pulled in Syria. Under trump, israel's colonials would still be occupying afghanistan. To secore the rare elements away from isis" you know. Christ don't promote this pos war criminal traitor, prosecute the goddamned thing 3 5 Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rosiya Segodnya 252 60 2021 Ilya Tsukanov Ilya Tsukanov News en_EN Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rosiya Segodnya 252 60 1920 1080 true 1920 1440 true 1920 1920 true Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rosiya Segodnya 252 60 Ilya Tsukanov united states, syria, convoy, illegal, base A pair of New Zealand-bred pacers Shes Pukka N ($2.80) and Jacks Shadow N ($4.40) proved too tough in their respective $16,200 featured events on Sunday afternoon (Sept. 12) at Harrah's Philadelphia. In the week's top distaff pace, Shes Pukka N sprinted to a clear lead from post 5 through a :27.1 first quarter before Corey Callahan rated her through a :29.3 second split. That breather proved to be more than enough for the six-year-old Betterthancheddar mare, who used a :55.3 back half to stave off pocket rival Sunny Dee by 1-1/4 lengths in 1:52.2. Betsea finished third after tracking the top pair throughout. Brian Malone trains 21-time winner Shes Pukka N for Peter Venturini. Jacks Shadow N and driver Tim Tetrick employed similar tactics in the featured event for male pacers, backing into pocket rival Tito Rocks through a :56 half before hitting the accelerator up the backstretch and evading that rival by two lengths in 1:50.4. Tyga Hanover, who made a mild first-over bid up the backstretch, leveled off and finished third. Scott DiDomenico trains Jacks Shadow N, a seven-year-old Shadow Play gelding with 26 career wins and nine this season, for the Triple D Stables, Oompa's Farm and Robert Mondillo. Tetrick led all drivers with four wins on the 10-race program. Live racing returns to Harrah's Philadelphia on Wednesday (Sept. 15); post time is 12:25 p.m. (EDT). (Harrah's Philadelphia) When the Some Gave All Foundation was established, there were just four people who conducted a motorcycle ride and festival that featured more than 1,500 participants. The event was created in memory of Marine Corps Sgt. Joshua Frazier of Spotsylvania County, who was killed in Al Ramadi, Iraq, in 2007, and Army National Guardsman Sgt. Nicholas Mason, killed in Mosul, Iraq, in 2004. The Frazier and Mason families combined to host the motorcycle ride that went from Spotsylvania High SchoolFraziers alma materto King George High, where Mason was an alumnus. The strain of hosting the event began to take its toll on Fraziers father, Rick, after the death of his wife, Jana, seven years ago. A combination of the stress of hosting a wide-scale event and increased traffic along the route led to the Some Gave All Foundation announcing last month that this years ride would be the final one after 14 years. The last ride took place on Sunday as about 1,000 motorcycle enthusiasts made the trek from State Route 208 to Lafayette Boulevard and then State Route 3 East before they arrived at King George High. Mott said everything was ready to go until about the end of July, when an unexpected uptick in virtual learning interest resurfaced statewide, likely in response to state mask mandates and increasing COVID-19 cases that caused parents to rethink their childrens plans. But Mott said that because of the contingency plans, they had more teachers ready and therefore were able to support and grant the requests from school divisions even as late as Aug. 30. It became very evident in the last week of July that there was going to be the need to add more students, Mott said, noting that in recent weeks, as Virtual Virginia spaces have been granted to school systems, the program continues to prioritize for three groups of students: those who have medical conditions that require them to learn remotely, the students of military families, and those students who may have transferred to a new school division after mid-July and would have likely missed local deadlines for virtual learning. We dialed things up a bit, Mott said, adding that strong recruiting efforts in early summer ended up paying off in the long run. Locally, some school divisions are taking as many seats as they can get. The department's anti-terror tools also are being used to solve more run-of-the-mill crimes. "The systems that were built with Homeland Security funding in the years after 9/11 are for protecting New York City from the threat of terrorism," Miller said. "We would be remiss, and the federal government fully agrees with this, if we did not use those same tools to fight crime. Our job is to protect life and property and dual use for these tools is a legal and accepted practice." Suspects tracked from 'beginning to the end' NYPD officials were notified of a heist at a luxury retail store in Manhattan on Aug. 20 where $20,000 worth of handbags were stolen. Five men hopped into a stolen Range Rover and fled with the high priced handbags. Investigators used their plate readers to find them hours later on their way to New Jersey using the Lincoln Tunnel. The NYPD also used license plate readers to catch Grafton Thomas after federal prosecutors said he entered into a rabbi's home in Monsey and attacked five people with an 18-inch machete. Thomas was arrested an hour after the attack when license plate readers identified his vehicle crossing the George Washington Bridge into New York City, authorities said at the time. The murder case in state court stalled in late June, when a grand jury declined to indict Thompson. Ogeechee Judicial Circuit District Attorney Daphne Totten, whose office was prosecuting the case, has not said whether she will try again to indict the former trooper. Its so outrageous that we have to call on federal intervention, said Mawuli Davis, an attorney for Thompson's family. Starting Thursday, Bacon plans to set out with his lawyers and civil rights activists on a 60-mile (96-kilometer) march from the scene of the shooting in Screven County to the federal courthouse in downtown Savannah. They expect to finish the trek on Monday. After the grand jury decided against moving forward with charges, Thompson's defense attorney, Keith Barber, said the former trooper was only doing his job to protect the public and acted in self-defense when he shot Lewis. Bacon and other members of Lewis' family have said they feel even more strongly that he was murdered after prosecutors in July showed them dash-camera video of the shooting. They have called on Totten to release that video to the public and to bring the case before a new grand jury. Totten has not said what her office plans to do. She did not immediately return phone and email messages Monday. LONDON (AP) Britain decided Monday to follow other countries in offering coronavirus vaccines to children 12 and up, as the government gambled that expanded vaccination and mild tweaks to social behavior can avert the need for lockdowns in the winter. Vaccinations for children and booster shots for at-risk adults are part of a tool kit to control COVID-19 infections this fall and winter that Prime Minister Boris Johnson will announce Tuesday at a news conference. On Monday, the chief medical officers of England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland recommended that children aged 12 to 15 be given a single dose of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine, despite the governments vaccine advisors saying this month that the step would have only marginal health benefits. Vaccines minister Nadhim Zahawi said the government had accepted the recommendation and would start the vaccinations next week. Other countries including the United States, Canada, France and Italy already offer coronavirus vaccines to children 12 and up, but Britain has held off. It is currently inoculating people 16 and up, almost 90% of those eligible have had at least one vaccine dose. Frankly, we looked at those other locations, but we did not find anyone as welcoming to us as what we found in Ernie and Jonathan, Sisk said of McFaddin and Belcher. Every single time we came to Lebanon to look at the possibilities, they were welcoming and took good care of us and that played into our final decision of where to locate. We could have located anywhere. We feel very thankful and blessed that it is the Lebanon location. Sisk noted the company will be hiring a number of assembly workers at an average wage of $15 per hour plus benefits, with initial employment in the 10-12 range this year, but ramping up to 30-50 employees within three to five years. Those interested in employment, Sisk said, may contact him at jimmys@ceccatocarwash.com. The investment by Ceccato Group of $1.75 million to locate in Lebanon, Virginia is welcome news, said Ninth District Congressman Morgan Griffith. I am happy that Lebanon was selected as the site of Ceccatos first United States-based manufacturing facility, which looks to bring 30 to 50 jobs to the area over the next three to five years. Friedlander was recognized for examining the persecution of all Jews in Europe, going beyond country-focused studies that had preceded him, and for making personal documents accepted in scholarly practice. His authority is special in the sense that he is both a scholar and a victim of the Holocaust. He says that you can study your own experiences in a critical way, said Marjan Schwegman, a Dutch historian who announced the prize. The way he integrates the voices of victims, perpetrators and bystanders in this narrative has changed the way historians write about the history of the Holocaust. The Balzan Foundation awards two prizes in the sciences and two in the humanities each year, rotating specialties to highlight new or emerging areas of research and sustain fields that might be overlooked elsewhere. Recipients receive 750,000 Swiss francs ($815,000), half of which must be used for research, preferably by young scholars or scientists. Jeffrey Gordon, a biologist and director of the Center for Genome Science at the Washington University in Saint Louis, was awarded for founding the field of human microbiome research and revolutionizing its role on human health and disease. Executive Q&A: How Data Privacy Regulations Are Changing Marketing The world of digital marketing and advertising is rapidly changing as data privacy laws restrict old practices for using consumer data. What can enterprises do as new regulations take a bite out of web cookies? We asked Karlsgate founder and CEO Brian Mullin for his advice. As more state and national data privacy regulations come into force, traditional ways of capturing and using consumer data for marketing may become obsolete. We asked Brian Mullin, who has more than 30 years of experience in architecting software solutions for the marketing industry, how the evolving data privacy landscape will have an impact on enterprises in the near future. Upside: How do new privacy laws affect the digital marketing and advertising worlds? Brian Mullin: The world is rapidly changing. New electronic privacy laws are taking effect today, and more changes by 2023 will impact advertising as we know it because privacy compliance will stand in the way of traditional tracking of customer identities. Advertising agencies, publishers, and marketers are going to need to adapt and are already beginning to embrace change, especially over the next year. Can you give a little history -- how did we get here? Consumer identity, including financial, personal, social, and location-based information -- has been shared, traded, and used for the past 25 years through the use of Web cookies and other tracking technologies. Today, processing personal data is a booming multibillion dollar business, yet due to the rapid deployment of new consumer privacy legislation, marketing the way we know it is about to get a major facelift. How is underlying customer data occurring across the Web and/or social media? Data resides in applets called cookies that were invented early on. Today, the process of elimination of third-party cookies by companies such as Google is underway. Personal identifiable information (PII) won't be visible or useable. This creates new imperatives for first party data strategies, done securely. With a farewell to cookies, the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) laws already firmly in place in Europe, and looming U.S. privacy laws on the horizon, marketers are being driven to the brink of change, forced to entirely transform the way they do business. Digital advertising in a fluid and changing regulatory environment is new ground -- not only for marketers but also legal teams scrambling to comply with on-the-fly legislation. Marketers will be pressured by legal teams and presented with a new terrain to negotiate. They will steadily adapt by finding secure alternatives. Where does identity management and security come into play? Improved clarity on restrictions and enforcement norms will aid advertising and marketing activities. Platforms, data processors, and data-sharing arrangements will all come into better alignment with regulations or disappear from the market. Safer, more-compliant mechanisms will be given fertile ground to innovate and grow. As identity management shifts to first-party data, and specifically to authentic data owners, the onus will shift to organizations that have a legitimate relationship with the data subject and data elements that support legitimate interests. This transformation will forever change the way businesses collect, manage, and market identities. This starts with prioritizing the protection of first-party customer data. How will security and cryptography play a role? Protecting the exchange of data between parties will be critical to ensure that privacy and consent can be properly managed. Any weakness in the data security mechanisms of sharing data will lead to risk of breach or identity theft. Advanced cryptography is the first line of defense, but data owners should be aware of the limitations of encryption and hashing techniques. Cryptographic options in common use today can still lead to re-identification of personal data and should be phased out. Far better is to employ a data connectivity network (DCN), which can unify all data-sharing activities under a single set of policies and technology. A DCN that supports identity sharing via crypto-identity can enable zero-trust interactions through cryptographic orchestration. By preventing re-identification, data owners have more control of the stewardship and custody of their data assets. Can we get a rundown of the new privacy laws and changes going into effect soon? In early July, Colorado's governor signed into law the Colorado Privacy Act (CPA), making Colorado the third state to pass comprehensive consumer privacy legislation, following California and Virginia. The CPA will go into effect in mid-2023. This provides consumers with a universal mechanism to easily opt out of the sale of their personal data or its use for targeted advertising. In July, Google extended the phase calendar for the elimination of browser support of web cookies to the end of 2023. This is only additional "borrowed time" for the industry to adjust. Apple's plans for using IDFA (Advertising Identifier Declarations) are also continuing the transformation. One of the greatest fears of humanity is a piece of rock, an asteroid, crashing into Earth that sends humans, the way of the dinosaurs - into extinction. Now, whether dinosaurs went extinct due to an asteroid crashing into Earth is still being debated, there is no gainsaying the fact that they are as dead as the Dodo, so to speak. And a lot of water, among other things, has passed down the Ganges when it comes to talking about asteroids. No, their potential for destruction is still held in fear and that is not about to change, but the difference is that there are some folks at NASA who are actually trying to devise a strategy for the time when an asteroid heads straight for the Earth and threatens to take out all life on it. The idea is to crash a spacecraft into an asteroid as an experiment and do it soon - the mission will launch on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket and it is called the Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART). Before this sets off a round of scare-mongering, let it be clear that there is no asteroid headed for Earth that we know of. However, having said that, there are many things humans don't know. An example being that just a few days ago, a very small asteroid was noticed by astronomers just hours before it shot past the Earth. Almost no warning came. Even if it had crashed, however, it would have done no damage to Earth, except cause some great light effects up in the sky when it burned out on entering the Earth's atmosphere. However, the surprise was unpleasant. Also read: Looking for a smartphone? Check Mobile Finder here. The truth is that there are giant asteroids out there and when one will arrive is clear to no one. However, the folks at NASA have been working on it. The idea is to thwart the asteroid and save humanity. How? By crashing a spacecraft into the asteroid before it smashes into Earth. NASA has something called a Planetary Defence Coordination Office and it is working on a mission to destroy or deflect asteroids heading for Earth. The mission is called the Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART). NASA says, "DART is a planetary defense-driven test of technologies for preventing an impact of Earth by a hazardous asteroid." What DART will do is demonstrate the kinetic impactor technique to change the motion of an asteroid in space. As said above, DART spacecraft will crash into an asteroid to see what happens. Something on the lines of, but not exactly the same as, Armageddon movie, starring Bruce Willis, Liv Tyler and Ben Affleck. And yes, a suitable candidate, a target asteroid, has already been chosen. And no, it is not heading for Earth. The binary near-Earth asteroid (65803) Didymos is the target for the DART demonstration. NASA says, "While the Didymos primary body is approximately 780 meters across, its secondary body (or moonlet) is about 160-meters in size, which is more typical of the size of asteroids that could pose the most likely significant threat to Earth." It is the moonlet that will be targetted by DART. And NASA is going about planning the destruction of Didymos ruthlessly. The asteroid is being intensely observed using telescopes on Earth to precisely measure its properties and then it will send across DART at the most opportune moment for the biggest impact. NASA says, "The DART spacecraft will achieve the kinetic impact deflection by deliberately crashing itself into the moonlet at a speed of approximately 6.6 km/s." What the collision will do is change the speed of the moonlet in its orbit around the main body by a fraction of one percent. This will also change the orbital period of the moonlet by several minutes. This will be observed through telescopes from Earth to gauge exactly how successful the mission was in moving the moonlet or measure the change in momentum imparted to the moonlet. The launch is not far off either. The DART spacecraft launch window begins November 24, 2021 and it will launch aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket. After over a year's worth of cruising it will intercept Didymos' moonlet in late September, 2022, when the Didymos system is within 11 million kilometers from Earth. Yet another billionaire entrepreneur is set to ride into space this week, strapped inside the capsule of a SpaceX rocketship, as part of an astro-tourist team poised to make history as the first all-civilian crew launched into Earth orbit. Jared Isaacman, the American founder and chief executive of e-commerce firm Shift4 Payments, will lead three fellow spaceflight novices on a trip expected to last three days from blastoff at Cape Canaveral, Florida, to splashdown in the Atlantic. Also read: Looking for a smartphone? Check Mobile Finder here. The 38-year-old tech mogul has plunked down an unspecified but presumably exorbitant sum to fellow billionaire and SpaceX owner Elon Musk to fly Isaacman and three specially selected travel mates into orbit aboard a SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule. The crew vehicle is set for blastoff from NASA's Kennedy Space Center atop one of Musk's reusable Falcon 9 rockets, with a 24-hour targeted launch window that opens at 8 p.m. EDT (0000 GMT) on Wednesday. That window will be narrowed, or possibly altered, a few days before, depending on weather. Dubbed Inspiration4, the orbital outing was conceived by Isaacman primarily to raise awareness and support for one of his favorite causes, St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, a leading pediatric cancer center. He has pledged $100 million personally to the institute. But a successful mission would also help usher in a new era of commercial space tourism, with several companies vying for wealthy customers willing to pay a small fortune to experience the exhilaration of supersonic flight, weightlessness and the visual spectacle of space. Setting acceptable levels of consumer risk in the inherently dangerous endeavor of rocket travel is also key, and raises a pointed question. "Do you have to be both rich and brave to get on these flights right now?" said Sridhar Tayur, a professor of operations management and new business models at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, in an interview with Reuters on Friday. BEYOND THE BILLIONAIRE SPACE RACE SpaceX is easily the most well-established player in the burgeoning constellation of commercial rocket ventures, having already launched numerous cargo payloads and astronauts to the International Space Station for NASA. Rival companies Virgin Galactic and Blue Origin both recently celebrated their debut astro-tourism missions with their respective founding executives - billionaires Richard Branson https://www.reuters.com/lifestyle/science/virgin-galactics-branson-ready-space-launch-aboard-rocket-plane-2021-07-11 and Jeff Bezos https://www.reuters.com/article/us-space-exploration-blueorigin-idAFKBN2EQ0EP - each going along for the ride. But those two high-profile flights were suborbital in scale, sending their crews of citizen astronauts to space and back in a matter of minutes. The SpaceX flight is designed to carry its four passengers where no all-civilian crew has gone before - into Earth orbit. There, they will circle the globe once every 90 minutes at more than 17,000 miles per hour, or roughly 22 times the speed of sound. The target altitude is 575 kilometers, or nearly 360 miles high, beyond the orbits of the International Space Station or even the Hubble Space Telescope. Like Blue Origin, the 20-story-tall SpaceX launch vehicle and crew capsule will take off vertically from a launch pad on a flight directed entirely from the ground. Branson's suborbital rocket plane, by contrast, had two highly trained pilots at the controls as it carried its four rear-seat passengers 50 miles high. The Inspiration4 crew will have no part to play in operating their spacecraft, despite some largely honorary titles, though two members - Isaacman and geoscientist Sian Proctor - are licensed pilots. Isaacman, who is rated to fly commercial and military jets, has assumed the role of mission "commander," while Proctor, 51, once a NASA astronaut candidate herself, has been designated as the mission "pilot." She was selected to join the team through an online contest run by Shift4 Payments. Rounding out the crew are "chief medical officer" Hayley Arceneaux, 29, a bone cancer survivor turned St. Jude physicians' assistant, and mission "specialist" Chris Sembroski, 42, a U.S. Air Force veteran and aerospace data engineer. He won a seat in a sweepstake that drew 72,000 applicants and has raised over $100 million in St. Jude donations. The four crewmates have spent the past five months undergoing rigorous preparations, including altitude fitness, centrifuge (G-force), microgravity and simulator training, emergency drills, classroom work and medical exams. Inspiration4 officials stress that the mission is more than a joyride. Once in orbit, the crew will perform medical experiments with "potential applications for human health on Earth and during future spaceflights," the group said in its press materials. Appearing in a promotional clip for a Netflix documentary series on the mission, Arceneaux said a big part of her motivation was to kindle hope in her cancer patients. "I'm getting to show them what life can look like after cancer," she said. Deputy head of Israel Aerospace Industries autonomous systems division, Rani Avni, speaks during an interview with The Associated Press in an IAI facility near the central Israeli city of Lod, Thursday, Sept. 9, 2021. Israel's state-owned Israel Aerospace Industries unveiled Monday a state-of-the-art unmanned vehicle their specialists said will be deployed alongside ground troops to assist in combat situations. Credit: AP Photo/Sebastian Scheiner An Israeli defense contractor on Monday unveiled a remote-controlled armed robot it says can patrol battle zones, track infiltrators and open fire. The unmanned vehicle is the latest addition to the world of drone technology, which is rapidly reshaping the modern battlefield. Proponents say such semi-autonomous machines allow armies to protect their soldiers, while critics fear this marks another dangerous step toward robots making life-or-death decisions. The four-wheel-drive robot presented Monday was developed by the state-owned Israel Aerospace Industries' "REX MKII." It is operated by an electronic tablet and can be equipped with two machine guns, cameras and sensors, said Rani Avni, deputy head of the company's autonomous systems division. The robot can gather intelligence for ground troops, carry injured soldiers and supplies in and out of battle, and strike nearby targets. It is the most advanced of more than half a dozen unmanned vehicles developed by Aerospace Industries' subsidiary, ELTA Systems, over the past 15 years. The Israeli military is currently using a smaller but similar vehicle called the Jaguar to patrol the border with the Gaza Strip and help enforce a blockade Israel imposed in 2007, after the tiny territory was seized by the Islamic militant group Hamas. Gaza is home to 2 million Palestinians who have largely been locked in by the blockade, which is also supported to some extent by Egypt. The border area is the site of frequent protests and occasional attempts by Palestinian militants or desperate laborers to infiltrate into Israel. Israel Aerospace Industries' semi-autonomous four-wheel-drive "REX MKII" is seen at an IAI facility near the central Israeli city of Lod, Thursday, Sept. 9, 2021. Israel's state-owned Israel Aerospace Industries unveiled Monday a state-of-the-art unmanned vehicle their specialists said will be deployed alongside ground troops to assist in combat situations. Credit: AP Photo/Sebastian Scheiner According to the Israeli army's website, the semi-autonomous Jaguar is equipped with a machine gun and was designed to reduce soldiers' exposure to the dangers of patrolling the volatile Gaza-Israel border. It is one of many tools, including drones armed with guided missiles, that have given the Israeli military vast technological superiority over Hamas. Unmanned ground vehicles are being increasingly used by other armies, including those of the United States, Britain and Russia. Their tasks include logistical support, the removal of mines and firing weapons. The tablet can control the vehicle manually. But many of its functions, including its movement and surveillance system, can also run autonomously. "With every mission, the device collects more data which it then learns from for future missions," said Yonni Gedj, an operational expert in the company's robotics division. Critics have raised concerns that robotic weapons could decide on their own, perhaps erroneously, to shoot targets. The company says such capabilities exist but are not being offered to customers. Israel Aerospace Industries' semi-autonomous four-wheel-drive "REX MKII" is seen at an IAI facility near the central Israeli city of Lod, Thursday, Sept. 9, 2021. Israel's state-owned Israel Aerospace Industries unveiled Monday a state-of-the-art unmanned vehicle their specialists said will be deployed alongside ground troops to assist in combat situations. Credit: AP Photo/Sebastian Scheiner Israel Aerospace Industries' semi-autonomous four-wheel-drive "REX MKII" is seen at an IAI facility near the central Israeli city of Lod, Thursday, Sept. 9, 2021. Israel's state-owned Israel Aerospace Industries unveiled Monday a state-of-the-art unmanned vehicle their specialists said will be deployed alongside ground troops to assist in combat situations. Credit: AP Photo/Sebastian Scheiner "It is possible to make the weapon itself also autonomous, however, it is a decision of the user today," Avni said. "The maturity of the system or the user is not there yet." Bonnie Docherty, a senior researcher from the arms division of Human Rights Watch, said such weapons are worrisome because they can't be trusted to distinguish between combatants and civilians or make proper calls about the harm attacks may do to nearby civilians. "Machines cannot understand the value of human life, which in essence undermines human dignity and violates human rights laws," Docherty said. In a 2012 report, Docherty, a lecturer at Harvard Law School, called for fully automated weapons to be banned by international law. The defense magazine Janes said the development of autonomous ground vehicles has lagged behind autonomous aircraft and boats because moving across land is far more complex than navigating water or air. Unlike the open ocean, vehicles have to deal with "holes in the road" and know exactly how much force to apply to overcome a physical obstacle, the report said. The technology in self-driving vehicles also has raised concerns. Electric car manufacturer Tesla, among other companies, has been connected to a series of fatal accidents, including an incident in Arizona in 2018 when a woman was hit by a car driving on autopilot. The Israeli drone vehicle is being showcased at this week's Defense and Security System International arms trade show in London. Explore further Waymo expanding autonomous ride service to San Francisco 2021 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission. A study of heat pump water heaters in Pacific Northwest homes has helped paint a picture of how the advanced technology might contribute efficiency benefits to the nations energy system. Credit: JPL Designs | Shutterstock.com A Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) research team has gained new insights about heat pump water heaters (HPWHs), an energy-efficient technology that extends the benefits of heat pumps to the task of warming domestic water. In a three-year project launched in 2017, the team studied the operation of HPWHs in Pacific Northwest homes and explored the water heaters' load-shifting potentialor the ability to adjust operation to help reduce electrical load on the power grid. Researchers monitored hundreds of water heaters, including conventional units that helped establish a baseline for the study. One of the project's key objectives was to examine the energy use of the HPWHs over time and establish "electrical load shapes" that reflect the peaks, valleys, and patterns of daily electricity use. Such knowledge spotlights potential impacts to the power grid, enhances electricity load forecasting, and informs national efforts to decarbonize and create an efficient future energy system. The arrival of COVID-19 in the United States added a new wrinkle to the research effort. "In March 2020, toward the end of our study, Oregon issued a COVID-19 stay-at-home order and that allowed us to explore water heater profiles when people spent increasing amounts of time at home," says Walter Hunt, a senior research engineer in the PNNL Energy and Environment Directorate's Electricity Infrastructure and Buildings Division. HPWHs: Why so much interest? These advanced water heaters offer large efficiency gains over traditional electric water heaters. HPWHs are similar in appearance to the standard hot water heaters found in many U.S. homes, but operate differently. Rather than employing electric resistance heating elements that directly warm the water in the tank, HPWHs, much like heat pumps used for space heating and cooling, extract heat from the surrounding air and transfer it into the integrated storage tank holding a home's domestic hot water. This approach makes HPWHs significantly more energy efficient than traditional units. Considering that water heating accounts for about one-seventh of the electricity use in a home, improved efficiency translates to significant energy and cost savings, as well as potential environmental benefits. Researchers at PNNL are trying to gain a better understanding of how these water heatersand resulting load shapeswill affect the energy system. The project and its load-shape outcomes The collaborative study included the Bonneville Power Administration (BPA) and Portland General Electric (PGE) and was funded by the U.S. Department of Energy's Building Technologies Office. BPA and PGE identified households across the Pacific Northwest equipped with suitable HPWHs and provided utility perspectives and research support throughout the study. Researchers conducted a site survey with the homeowners, determining the total number of occupants, the days and times when occupants typically were at home, and the specific location and manufacturer of each water heater. This information was critical to establish broader understanding of electricity consumption because it allowed researchers to later develop individual load shapes for each of the characteristics, as well as a combined baseline load shape. The results of the load-shape analysis provided insight into how site characteristics affected water heater load shapes and overall electricity use. The number of people occupying a home, as well as the times they were generally home or away, proved to be significant factors in the load shape. Occupant counts and seasonal impacts of air and water temperature were the key drivers for total energy usage. After Oregon's COVID-19 stay-at-home order was issued, nearly 50 homes in the state continued to participate in the study for several weeks. Under the stay-at-home scenario, researchers found that energy consumption was more consistent over the course of a day, which gives a sense of how a "work from home" posture might affect electricity use and power grid operation. "As end-use behavior evolves and as water heating technology advances, researchers need to re-examine the load shapes of water heaters to understand the impact on the energy system and how water heaters may be used as a grid resource," Hunt says. Hunt and his colleagues published their findings, "Factors Influencing Electrical Load Shape of Heat Pump Water Heaters," in the ASHRAE Journal. Explore further Hot showers, lower power bills with heat pump water heaters More information: Factors Influencing Electrical Load Shape of Heat Pump Water Heaters. Factors Influencing Electrical Load Shape of Heat Pump Water Heaters. www.proquest.com/docview/25151 e=gscholar#:~:text=* %20Occupancy%20schedule%20and%20occupancy%20count,factors%20influencing%20HPWH%20energy%20consumption. South Hills (15301) Today Considerable clouds this evening. Some decrease in clouds late. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. Low near 60F. Winds light and variable.. Tonight Considerable clouds this evening. Some decrease in clouds late. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. Low near 60F. Winds light and variable. Looking for in-depth reporting on labor issues? You're in the right place. Subscribe to The Chief and get stories that cover every side of civil service in New York City and beyond. You can sign up in minutes for immediate access. Landing a contract and contract renewal rates favor experience and reliability, Trostle said. Building knowledge and know-how and a reputation as a reliable grower who can meet demand on a variety of high-demand crops can add value to a producers bottom line in a range of circumstance any given growing season. The key with alternative crops is for producers to experiment with a portion of their land to increase their opportunity by learning how to grow something new, he said. It can be for rotation or just to experiment, but the learning experience of success or failure and improving on what they get right or learning from what they get wrong can lead to new opportunities that might relieve the pressure on an operation when weather or market conditions are working against it. The workshop is designed to educate both landowners and lessees about legal and economic issues related to grazing, hunting and livestock leases. Each person will receive a copy of the Ranchers Agricultural Leasing Handbook. For those unable to attend the in-person workshop, there is an online version of the Ranchers Leasing Workshop program at tx.ag/OnlineRanchersWorkshop. The cost for the online program is $75. Anyone interested in this topic can download the Ranchers Agricultural Leasing Handbook, which contains checklists and sample lease language. A hard copy is available for $25 and may be obtained by contacting Lacrecia Garza at 806-677-5600 or Lacrecia.garza@ag.tamu.edu. Owning Your Piece of Texas workshop Owning Your Piece of Texas: Key Laws Texas Landowners Need to Know is a daylong program that addresses agricultural law issues, including landowner liability, fence law, eminent domain, special use tax valuation and more. The first in-person option of 2021 will be from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the Texas Agricultural Education and Heritage Center, 390 Cordova Road, Seguin. The fee is $75 per person and preregistration is requested at tx.ag/OwnPieceofTX. A series designed for small-acreage landowners will begin Sept. 13 at the Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service office in McLennan County at 4224 Cobbs Drive in Waco. The sessions will run from 5:30-7:30 p.m. and take place on Sept. 13, Sept. 20, Oct. 11, Oct. 18 and Nov. 1. The cost is $29 for the entire five-session series. Participants must preregister at https://tx.ag/SmallAcreageSeries. Participants may attend in person or online. Once registered, additional details will be sent regarding participation options. This series is ideal for the new and existing small-acreage landowners, said Jerod Meurer, AgriLife Extension agriculture and natural resource agent for McLennan County. It covers the basics of ownership to running an operation and everything between. But this is also an opportunity for landowners who may be looking to expand their operation or move in a new direction. Meurer said there has been a steady increase of landowners with small acreage, consisting of 5-25 acres, in Texas. Researchers on Monday took the wraps off a newly discovered Linux and Windows re-implementation of Cobalt Strike Beacon that's actively set its sights on government, telecommunications, information technology, and financial institutions in the wild. The as-yet undetected version of the penetration testing tool codenamed "Vermilion Strike" marks one of the rare Linux ports, which has been traditionally a Windows-based red team tool heavily repurposed by adversaries to mount an array of targeted attacks. Cobalt Strike bills itself as a "threat emulation software," with Beacon being the payload engineered to model an advanced actor and duplicate their post-exploitation actions. "The stealthy sample uses Cobalt Strike's command-and-control (C2) protocol when communicating to the C2 server and has remote access capabilities such as uploading files, running shell commands and writing to files," Intezer researchers said in a report published today and shared with The Hacker News. The Israeli cybersecurity company's findings come from an artifact uploaded to VirusTotal on August 10 from Malaysia. As of writing, only two anti-malware engines flag the file as malicious. Once installed, the malware runs itself in the background and decrypts the configuration necessary for the beacon to function, before fingerprinting the compromised Linux machine and establishing communications with a remote server over DNS or HTTP to retrieve base64-encoded and AES-encrypted instructions that allow it run arbitrary commands, write to files, and upload files back to the server. Interestingly, additional samples identified during the course of the investigation have shed light on the Windows variant of the malware, sharing overlaps in the functionality and the C2 domains used to remotely commandeer the hosts. Intezer also called out the espionage campaign's limited scope, noting the malware's use in specific attacks as opposed to large-scale intrusions, while also attributing it to a "skilled threat actor" owing to the fact that Vermilion Strike has not been observed in other attacks to date. This is far from the first time the legitimate security testing toolkit has been used to orchestrate attacks against a wide range of targets. Last month, U.S. security firm Secureworks detailed a spear-phishing campaign undertaken by a threat group tracked as Tin Woodlawn (aka APT32 or OceanLotus) that leveraged a customized and enhanced version of Cobalt Strike to evade security countermeasures in an attempt to steal intellectual property and trade secrets. "Vermilion Strike and other Linux threats remain a constant threat. The predominance of Linux servers in the cloud and its continued rise invites APTs to modify their toolsets in order to navigate the existing environment," the researchers said. A group of students has filed a civil lawsuit against Creighton University in response to the universitys mandate of the COVID-19 vaccine. The lawsuit filed by four students on Wednesday alleges that Creighton refused to consider or grant religious exemptions in mandating the vaccine for all students. The university announced July 7 that the vaccine would be required for all students attending classes or events on campus. On Aug. 23, a waiver that allowed students to opt out of the vaccine was withdrawn after the Food and Drug Administration approval of the Pfizer vaccine. Students were required to provide proof of vaccination by Sept. 7 to be allowed on campus. Lauren Ramaekers, a Creighton student named as a plaintiff in the suit, is the president of Creightons anti-abortion group, Students For Life. In a press release, Ramaekers said she is opposed to taking the vaccine because of the use of abortion-derived fetal cells in the research and development of the vaccines. Figuring out what to do after completing high school can sometimes be a challenge youths with disabilities are no exception, but Project SEARCH is making it easier for young people with different abilities to find their place in the workforce. Project SEARCH is a one-year, school-to-work program helping the youths gain employment skills and, ideally, a job that fulfills them. Through Project SEARCH, a combination of classroom instruction, career exploration and workplace immersion get participants on the path to success. Michelle Honas, inclusion facilitator for Grand Island Public Schools, said entering the workforce can be challenging. Transitioning from the high school environment to a professional work environment is difficult from the way we greet others, to how we dress, to the types of conversations we can have with typical employees, and the work demands of no homework but proving to employers they have initiative to do the work, she said. The five-day-a-week, one-year program is for students with disabilities, which starts once the student has completed academic requirements. In addition to classroom work, the participants go on a rotation of different types of work immersion to find out where they best thrive. Prime Time Preschool returns this fall to partner with the Grand Island Public Library. This six-week program will be offered through Oct. 16 from 11 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Saturdays at the Grand Island Public Library. Each session is free and open to parents and their children, ages 3-5. Programming begins with storytelling and discussion based on award-winning childrens books. Prime Time is a Humanities Nebraska family literacy program that helps strengthen participants interest and skills in reading and talking about books. A definitive 10-year analysis published by the creators of Prime Time Family Reading found that children who attend Prime Time show a 95%-100% improvement on achievement tests in elementary school and 81% improvement on high school exit exams. The Prime Time Preschool series is bilingual with books read and discussed in both English and Spanish. All sessions are offered without cost to families thanks to generous statewide sponsors including the State of Nebraska, Nebraska Cultural Endowment, National Endowment for the Humanities, the Sherwood Foundation, Carol Gendler and an anonymous foundation. The Grand Island program also is funded by the Kaufmann-Cummings Foundation and Grand Island Public Library. Sen. Carol Blood of Bellevue formally announced her candidacy for the 2022 Democratic gubernatorial nomination on Monday, promising to attempt to "bridge divisions (and) get back to our roots as Nebraskans, friends and neighbors." It's time to end the narrative of "us versus them," Blood said during a campaign announcement on the north steps of the state Capitol with a lineup of Democratic members of the nonpartisan Legislature standing beside her and a barking dog named Bailey adding to the applause from a gathering of supporters. "The unicameral depends on collaborative policymakers, not Rs and Ds," she said. Blood said it is time to "listen to each other (and) stop using labels, half-truths and outright lies (as) weapons in political combat." "We can change our communities for the better and lift all Nebraskans up regardless of who they are, what they look like, how they identify or where they are from," she said. "I'm a true Nebraskan," Blood said. "I was born in McCook and raised in Adams County. I raised my own family in Sarpy County." KEARNEY The University of Nebraska at Kearney continues to expand its global footprint. Representatives from UNK and the National University of Engineering (UNI) in Nicaragua signed an agreement Tuesday that creates a new partnership between the two institutions. Its the first-ever bilateral agreement between UNK and a school in Nicaragua. Were very excited about this partnership and the potential benefits it provides for students, faculty and staff at both institutions. This relationship will further internationalize our campus and community while creating opportunities to collaborate in a variety of academic areas, said Traci Gunderson, an assistant director in UNKs Office of International Education. One of four public universities in Nicaragua, UNI specializes in engineering and architecture. The university, among the most prestigious in the country, has an enrollment of around 10,000 students across its three campuses. The partnership agreement opens the door for cultural exchange programs that allow Lopers to study or teach in Nicaragua and bring UNI students and faculty to Kearney. The battle lines in the war on COVID-19 have been getting blurrier, as infections surge and studies offer changing and sometimes conflicting data on exactly how much protection vaccines provide. Amid the fog, we mustnt lose sight of a crucial truth: Vaccines still work, and theyre still a miracle. Not long ago, the goal seemed clear: If enough people achieved immunity through vaccination or infection, the pandemic would peter out for lack of targets. Now that herd immunity seems ever more distant. The delta variants enhanced transmissibility has raised the bar. The virus still roams freely in places with low vaccination rates. Isolation-weary people are heading out and taking their chances. As school restarts and new variants emerge, the situation is likely to get worse. Meanwhile, the most crucial data points about vaccines how well they protect against hospitalization and death are in flux. Early in the vaccination drive, the chances of an inoculated person dying of COVID-19 appeared to be about one in a million. Delta has probably driven that up somewhat, but a dearth of adequate information makes it difficult to say by how much. My father relished this environment. It was like sports. No homework, when the final bell rang, that was the final score. You either lost money or made money but it was done tomorrow was another day. Same ball field but maybe a slightly different opponent. No two days were ever the same. When the markets were busy it usually meant there was some sort of calamity in the fields. Too much heat, not enough rain or Russia was buying all our crops the action was thick and fast. This put my father in the frame of mind that he wanted to be a part of the business, from beginning to end. That is when we bought our farm 50 years ago. He couldnt get enough of it and given half the chance, we always spent our vacations, days off or school breaks out on the farm my brother, sister and I complaining all the way. We learned some valuable lessons up there all these years. The value of a dollar, where food comes from and the effort it takes to get it on to your table. I will be forever indebted. But the real reason I bring it up is that in the hectic world of trading and finance, if my father were to be alive today, he wouldnt recognize a thing. Policy & Funding 4 States Get Approval for Remaining American Rescue Plan Funds The United States Department of Education (ED) has approved school plans from four states for the use of American Rescue Plan ESSER funds, distributing about $1.84 billion in remaining funds. Each plan included details on how the states using ARP ESSER funds to "safely reopen and sustain the safe operation of schools and equitably expand opportunity for students who need it most, particularly those most impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic." New approvals, announced Monday, include: North Carolina, which received the remaining $1.2 billion of its total $3.6 billion total allocation; Nevada, which received the remaining $358 million of its approximately $1 billion in total funding; Idaho, which received the remaining $146 million of its $440 million total; and Maine, which is receiving the final $137 million of its $411 total allocation. ED distributed about two-thirds of ARP ESSER funds earlier this year and is now working with remaining states to distribute the rest. According to ED: "A total of 49 states, and the District of Columbia, have submitted their ARP ESSER state plans to the Department. The Department is reviewing the plans expeditiously and is in contact with states to ensure their plans meet all necessary requirements in order to access the remaining funds, as outlined in the ARP." I believe that they are well prepared, thorough, professional, and I think they are better prepared than people were before Jan. 6, Schumer said. It also came after Capitol Police arrested a man who had a bayonet and machete in his pickup truck outside of Democratic National Committee headquarters just after midnight on Monday morning. The man, Donald Craighead of Oceanside, California, had a swastika and other white supremacist symbols painted on his truck and told officers he was on patrol. Police said it was unclear if he was planning on attending any upcoming demonstrations. The Capitol Police Board, a three-person panel of congressional security officials, approved the plan Monday to temporarily install the fence around the inner perimeter of the Capitol complex. A similar fence was erected just after Jan. 6 and taken down in July. The board has also issued an emergency declaration that will allow the department to deputize outside law enforcement officers if necessary. We want to reassure everyone these are temporary measures to ensure everyones safety, Manger said in the statement. Harris then told two relatives by phone that she had shot her son because he wouldnt return her card, prompting them to contact police and the boys father, authorities said. Arriving officers said Harris answered the front door and said she shot her son before leading them to the silver revolver shed used, Wood said. Kadens father, who met police at the home, found him unresponsive in the kitchen. He was taken to University of Chicago Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead at 10:51 a.m. Relatives told authorities that Harris, who lacked a criminal background and has a concealed carry license, had been experiencing paranoid behavior, and had been complaining that people were out to get her, Wood told the court. Prosecutors also noted that the confrontation and shooting were captured on a surveillance system inside the home. Harris, 37, works as a $45.90-an-hour laborer for the city Department of Transportation, according to city records. On Friday, the Cook County states attorneys office approved charges against Carter in connection with the April shooting. He faces one count of murder and three counts of attempted murder, according to state police. Carter appeared before a judge for a bond court hearing this weekend and he was ordered held on $1 million bond, of which he would have to pay 10% to be released from Cook County Jail, where he is being held, according to state police. The arrest and subsequent charges may provide a spark of hope for the families of the more than 165 people who have been shot on Cook County expressways so far this year. The number of shootings on state highways which are under the jurisdiction of state police have exploded exponentially in recent years and the cases can be notoriously difficult to solve for myriad reasons. Some expressways, such as the Eisenhower and the Dan Ryan, run through historically high-crime areas; there is relative ease with which to put distance between the shooter and the crime scene through on- and offramps; and it can be incredibly difficult locating witnesses without doors to knock on, experts have said. Local editor's pick alert featured Orangeburg librarys doors closed as move continues; officials hope to open new location in Oct. GENE ZALESKI, T&D Orangeburg County Library Technical Assistant Sylvia Harley packs books into a box as the Louis Street library begins the move to its new location on Russell Street. GENE ZALEKSI, T&D Patterson Pope staff help move books into place at the new Orangeburg County Library and Conference Center on Russell Street. North Carolina-based Patterson Pope has helped the library with the move. The Orangeburg County Library has officially closed its Louis Street doors as it begins the move to the new Orangeburg County Library and Conference Center on Russell Street. It's been pretty intense, Orangeburg County Library Director Anna Zacherl said in describing the move. Weve been in the current location for many years and we have a large collection of materials, she said. The new, $9.2 million facility will include a library, amphitheater and conference center. There will also be much more parking. Library employees have spent the past two months packing and moving items from the old library to the new. Over 115,000 books have been packed, along with about 65 public computers and 30 staff computers. Orangeburg County juggling several projects; libraries nearing completion, other work ongoing ORANGEBURG Orangeburg County has several ongoing projects, all in different stages and with different expected completion dates. We have over 120,000 items in the collection, so it was a tremendous job, Zacherl said. Zacherl said the new library just received the certificate of occupancy from OCain Construction, enabling the rest of the materials to be packed and moved. Programming materials, such as art supplies, story time supplements, and daycare collections that circulate around the county remain to be moved. It will take several weeks more to pack and unpack the rest of the library belongings, Zacherl said. There are lots of moving parts to the services we provide that we use to provide those services at a high standard. And it all needs to come with us to the new location. She noted, Because of COVID, we are still waiting on some final furniture pieces and some final shelving pieces to be delivered and installed. The library's book drop will remain open during the transition. For the next several weeks, however, the community is going to have very limited access to us while we shore up this move, Zacherl said. Its a huge undertaking and we need all hands on deck to get the job done. Were keeping our fingers crossed for October opening. Zacherl said library services will be provided on a case-by-case basis until the transition is complete. She praised the public and private partnerships that have made the new library possible. Over 14 million South Carolina residents visit their community libraries each year, Zacherl said. Libraries are the foundations of our communities, essential to their functioning, enrichment and sustainability, and a key component of our nations infrastructure. They develop and strengthen human capital, she continued. We have a new logo and slogan to accompany this new chapter in the story of the Orangeburg County Library System. We want people to feel like anything is possible when they interact with our libraries. The new slogan will be Innovate, Educate, Elevate ... with OCL. The current library on Louis Street was last remodeled in the 1990s. The Louis Street library is about 22,000 square feet. TheTandD.com: Full access for 6 months for just $1 Support local journalism by becoming a member at www.TheTandD.com The editor's limited time offer is full access to all the website has to offer for just $1 for six months. https://go.thetandd.com/june3 Orangeburg County officials are analyzing the best use of the space but no concrete decisions have been made on how to use the building. They help us through therapy sessions and have changed our lives for the better, Becki Plumer added. They have helped us tremendously. We are so grateful for them, Tommy Plumer added. The fact that they handle everything: Jacks education, therapy, and life skills has been a huge burden taken off our family, and thats what they do for us every day. Holmes agreed with the Plumers in that HOPE is supportive of not only the students with autism but parents as well. They have webinar trainings for parents that are helpful, Holmes said. I know other parents, and its good to have others who share a common bond like we have.. Holmes said her son used to run away a lot and thats another thing HOPE has been able to help him through. Khalen was so fast and would be out the door running away, Holmes said. It eases my mind that the therapists there have really helped him with that, because before I was scared to leave him. Now, I feel like I can go to work and be at peace knowing he is in a safe place and doesnt run anymore. Above all, both families agree that through HOPE, they are able to share experiences they otherwise thought wouldnt be possible. I dont think Lisa and Susan knew what they started 25 years ago, but it has truly made a difference, Becki Plumer said. Him (Jack) being able to perceive things around him and seeing his excitement when he comes home after school is something we never thought we would be able to experience. For copyright information, check with the distributor of this item, The Greenville News. Love 0 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 0 Unsurprisingly, claims of a kinder, gentler Taliban were false. No women, religious minorities, or members of the previous Afghan government are included, and nearly all of the groups top leaders are ethnic Pashtuns. The Shiite Hazara community, which makes up a fifth of the nations population, is entirely unrepresented. The Biden administration has thus far waffled on whether and how it will deal with the Taliban government. Gen. Mark Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told reporters in a press briefing last week that its possible the U.S. will work with the Taliban to fight ISIS-K, but Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin jumped in shortly after those remarks to say he would not want to make any predictions. The Taliban cracked down on a second protest in Kabul that reportedly started off peacefully until Taliban fighters began firing their weapons into the air and beating back activists with clubs. There have not been any reports of fatalities stemming from the protests. But experts see these crackdowns as a warning of whats to come. In the two decades since the Taliban last ruled the country, many Afghan women obtained access to education and the job market for the first time. Now, many fear a return to a repressive system where they are unable to go out in public without male accompaniment and face harsh public beatings and floggings if they violate the governments restrictions. Rachael Larimore is managing editor of The Dispatch. She wrote this for InsideSources.com. A version of this article first appeared at The Dispatch. Love 0 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 1 Angry 0 This subscription will allow existing subscribers of The World to access all of our online content, including the E-Editions area. NOTE: To claim your access to the site, you will need to enter the Last Name and First Name that is tied to your subscription in this format: SMITH, JOHN If you need help with exactly how your specific name needs be entered, please email us at admin@countrymedia.net or call us at 1-541 266 6047. Today Cloudy skies with periods of light rain late. Low 66F. Winds E at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 60%. Tonight Cloudy skies with periods of light rain late. Low 66F. Winds E at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 60%. Tomorrow Cloudy with showers. High 74F. Winds E at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 50%. The total number of coronavirus cases in Wyoming grew by 1,182 over the weekend, with the number of confirmed cases rising by 1,028 and the number of probable cases rising by 154, according to the Wyoming Department of Healths daily update. Additionally, 1,613 new coronavirus recoveries were announced. Numbers to know Active cases: 2,580 (3,676 including probable cases) Hospitalized patients: 217 (down from 219 Sunday) Deaths: 879 (0 announced this week, 21 announced this month) Total vaccine doses received: 564,115 (281,175 Pfizer, 254,640 Moderna, 28,300 Janssen) First vaccine doses given: 227,538 Second vaccine doses given: 200,102 Booster doses given: 2,409 One-time vaccine doses given: 18,662 (Vaccine data is as of Sept. 10.) Are we trending up or down? Support Local Journalism Your membership makes our reporting possible. {{featured_button_text}} Several people who spoke to the Jackson Hole Daily some local, others from far-flung locations said they were proud to be on hand to help usher McCollum home and pay their respects. Just as importantly, they wanted to show their support for McCollums family. Its nice that people are doing this. Im sure it will help the family, said Jack Corboy, who has a home in Teton Village. Its a great loss, to lose a 20-year-old kid. Dina Hearn, meanwhile, stood on a corner with her flag. She and her husband, a retired U.S. Marine who rode in the procession, were in Jackson from Washington state. Its important just to support the family, to support my husband, she said. Its something that we had to do. I couldnt imagine not. Retired Marine Roger Helle and his wife, from Chattanooga, Tennessee, arrived in Jackson on Thursday night. Helle served three tours in Vietnam. A lot of guys, when they came back from Vietnam, it was a totally different thing, he said. And I think if theres one thing we learned from [Operation] Desert Storm, no matter how you feel about the conflict, you stand behind the men and women that serve. Its no easy feat to train a dog to smell and sign for something like a small plant. Finn, who is Wendts personal dog, was among the select few pups who successfully navigated the Working Dogs for Conservation vetting process. The conservation detection dog organization, which has been dispatched to Teton County before, screens about 100 dogs for every one they bring on. Of those, only about a third work out. Ahead of being brought on by Working Dogs for Conservation (which was a package deal when Wendt took the job), Finn was a waterfowl hunting dog. Then she joined her owner in working for a couple of years on a disaster search and rescue team, where was trained to locate human remains. Since coming aboard with Working Dogs for Conservation, shes been trained on a half dozen scents that aid wildlife research, law enforcement and land management: black-footed ferrets, kit fox scat, elephant ivory, shark fins and caviar. Now the good-natured purebred chocolate lab has added perennial pepperweed and saltcedar to her repertoire. If all goes according to plan, shell be back in Jackson Hole during the summer for years to come. The dogs will be used for saltcedar and pepperweed sweeps annually, running from the Jackson Lake Dam all the way to the Elbow boat ramp. Next up, tentatively, is the Deadmans-to-Moose stretch of the river. We plan on having them come back every year, for a long time, Daluge said. If we go a number of years without looking for it, theres the possibility that things will get out of hand again. Love 1 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 0 While conceding that political patronage is a major factor in appointments to State enterprises, retired permanent secretary Arlene McComie says it has to be considered that those people must know what it means to govern. Do you have a news tip? Want to share good news story, or do you have information that should see the light of day? Then we want to hear from you. More here SPECIAL GIFTS: Five pupils who tied for third place in the Secondary Entrance Assessment (SEA) examination pose with special gifts they received in collaboration with Bmobile at the Offices of the Ministry of Education, Port of Spain, yesterday. Each top pupil will receive free broadband-at-home service, in addition to a tablet device and data sims. Photos: JERMAINE CRUICKSHANK Larry H. Miller Dealerships: Three Tucson Larry H. Miller dealerships are taking part in a monthlong food drive for Arizona children and families in need. Employees and community members are invited to drop off non-perishable food items to help fill a vehicle at each of the three Tucson locations. Some of the most needed items include unopened peanut butter and cereal. Donations collected through Sept. 30 will go to the Community Food Bank of Southern Arizonas school pantries program, providing students and their families food to take home from convenient locations. Donation dropoff locations are: Larry H. Miller Dodge Ram Tucson, 4220 E. 22nd St.; Larry H. Miller Chrysler Jeep Tucson, 7800 E. 22nd St.; and Larry H. Miller Volkswagen Tucson, 900 W. Auto Mall Dr. Rancho Rossa Vineyards: Local winery Rancho Rossa Vineyards has released a wine benefiting Reid Park Zoo called Wine of the Wild. The wine is a red blend of cabernet sauvignon and merlot with fresh grapes from Southern Arizona. The labels feature artistic illustrations of six species at the zoo: African elephants, squirrel monkeys, giraffes, flamingos, white rhinos and anteaters. Wine of the Wild can be purchased for $25 a bottle at tucne.ws/rrzoo, with 100% of the profit directly benefiting Reid Park Zoo. The Desert Financial Fiesta Bowl Wishes for Teachers is awarding $2,500 classroom grants to 400 Arizona teachers, with applications open through Sept. 24 at 5 p.m. In the first five years of the program, about 70 teachers from Tucson and Southern Arizona received grants through the program, a news release said. The vision of Desert Financial Fiesta Bowl Charities Wishes for Teachers from the beginning has been to honor, celebrate and support Arizona teachers, said Mike Nealy, Fiesta Bowl executive director. Being able to enhance twice as many classrooms is a continuation of how Desert Financial Fiesta Bowl Charities Wishes for Teachers makes a meaningful difference in the lives of teachers and students across the state. Fill out an application at WishesForTeachers.org. Foundation gives out over $80K The Educational Enrichment Foundation awarded 96 classroom grants to TUSD educators totaling nearly $81,500 to support student projects. The grants will help educators from 49 schools pay for materials and equipment for both in-person and virtual classroom projects. For Star subscribers: Real fears exist that the two big lakes on the drying Colorado River could fall so low that no water could be taken from them, Arizona water director Tom Buschatzke recently told a private conference, reports say. You have people out there that are seeing only their part of it, and theyre in their little echo chamber and their bubble, and were not breaking those echo chambers up enough for people to see the whole picture, he said Sunday, adding later: Stop, everybody, stop. Stop what youre doing. Take your blinders off and lets solve the problem. Senate Minority Leader Tom Begich, in a floor speech Friday, asked his colleagues if they had the will to move forward on a broader fiscal plan. Legislators are elected to lead and provide guidance to their communities, not respond to every whim of every single constituent or every political backer but to actually look at what the future needs to entail and then to act on that," the Anchorage Democrat said. Senate President Peter Micciche, a Soldotna Republican, said he shared Begich's sentiments. We really need to think about what happens to Alaska if we dont solve the problem. I think what happens to Alaska if we dont deliver a fiscal plan will be felt for a very, very long time, he said. Fearing his parents wouldnt approve of his decision to get a COVID-19 vaccine but needing their signature, Andrew signed up for the appointment in secret, and then sprang it on them at the last minute. They said no. Andrew cursed at his mother and father and called them idiots. Andrews dad grabbed him by the shirt collar. He said, Youre not getting this damn vaccine; you need to lower your voice. Watch your tone when you talk to me. It was, it was the first time my dad had ever done something like that he grabbed my shirt and yelled in my face, said Andrew, a 17-year-old student in Hoover, Alabama. In most states, minors need the consent of their parents in order to be vaccinated against COVID-19. Navigating family politics in cases of differing views has been a challenge for students and organizers of outreach campaigns, who have faced blowback for directly targeting young people. President Joe Biden has encouraged every school district to promote vaccines, including with on-site clinics, to protect students as they return to school amid a resurgence of the coronavirus. But several governments and school districts have taken more neutral stances in areas where skepticism of the vaccine remains prevalent. Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Katherine Cooper will weigh the request to block the laws from taking effect as scheduled on Sept. 29 at a Monday afternoon hearing. The lawsuits say the delta variant of COVID-19 makes the need for masks more pressing. The state on Monday reported 2,278 new confirmed cases but no new deaths, bringing the total since the pandemic hit Arizona in early 2020 to 1,050,878 cases and 19,187 deaths. In Pima County, 241 new COVID-19 cases were reported on Monday and no new deaths. Despite the new laws banning mask mandates, at least 29 public school districts in Arizona have enacted their own mask requirements. The districts account for more more than a third of the approximately 930,000 students attending more than 2,000 schools run by public districts In other developments Monday, University of Arizona President Robert Robbins announced the college will begin offering take-home COVID-19 test kits later this week. The tests will be available at nine campus locations. Students and staff give a sample by gargling. They use their cellphone to scan the test so its in the tracking system and then turn the sample in. Robbins believes a lot more people will get tested with this option, thus giving a more accurate picture of the positivity rate in the community. Copyright 2021 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission. What theyre doing is getting creative. Were always thinking outside the box for what can we do thats nutritious, that meets the requirements and that the kids will love, Pearson said. I have an amazing staff across the district. My managers and I meet about every other week, and we look at these things. When they find out that theyre not going to get a particular item, or even a particular ingredient thats critical to a certain recipe, they look at their options. We are constantly reviewing our menus and recipes, Pearson said. For instance, she said, theres a certain ravioli that the students love thats getting hard to come by. But with just a few tweaks and alterations, the students will instead get a chicken alfredo that the food folks hope theyll love just as much. Pearson said there havent been too many problems on the produce side, although students might be alarmed if they knew how scarce french fries are becoming. Even paper goods that has become a real issue, she said. Theyre not getting materials to make paper goods, like napkins. Pathan couldnt accept it. You go to school with other people of different backgrounds and you realize ... what the promise of the United States is, he says. And when you see it not living up to that promise, then I think it instills in us a sense of wanting to help and fix that. He now works as the San Francisco Bay Area director for the nonprofit Islamic Networks Group, where he hopes to help a younger generation grow confident in their Muslim identity. Pathan recently chatted with a group of boys about their summer activities. At times, the boys ate watermelon or played on a trampoline. At other moments, the talk turned serious: What would they do if a student pretended to blow himself up while yelling Allahu akbar, or God is great? What can they do about stereotypical depictions of Muslims on TV? I had always viewed 9/11 as probably one of the most pivotal moments of my life and of the lives of Americans across the board, Pathan says. The aftermath of it ... is what pushed me to do what I do today. That aftermath has also helped motivate Shukri Olow to do what she is doing run for office. Pryor Public Schools signed a memorandum of understanding Friday with Tango Flight, a STEM-focused non-profit organization that works with schools in nine states. Using curriculum developed in collaboration with Wichita State University and the Airbus Foundation, Pryor students will be able to build an FAA-certified aircraft in school starting with the 2022-2023 school year. Help wanted: Broken Arrow Public Schools transportation department is hosting a job fair Monday from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. in the north parking lot of the Broken Arrow Performing Arts Center. Interested applicants are asked to bring a copy of their drivers license and a resume. Mask on: Dove Public Charter Schools, which operates two charter schools in Tulsa, is now requiring masks for all staff, students and visitors in its buildings, regardless of vaccination status. Families can request an exemption in writing for documented medical, religious or personal reasons. Award-winning teacher: Owasso Public Schools Wendy Stokes was named the National Johnson-OMalley Associations Region 3A Teacher of the Year. A Native American literature teacher at Owassos 6th and 7th Grade Center, Stokes will be recognized at the organizations national conference on Sept. 28. The Fintube building, on the north end of the 22-acre property, was demolished to make room for a parking lot for the BMX facility. The Evans building also known as the Oklahoma Iron Works Building sits on the south end of the property and is on the National Register of Historic Places. City officials have repeatedly expressed hope that the historic structure could be incorporated into the redevelopment of the property but the RFP does not require that the building be salvaged. Kamas said the publics input on that aspect of the project will be valuable in determining how the development takes shape. We wanted to leave the door open for flexibility but also recognize that it is this unique historic structure that does and can add value to a project, Kamas said. We hope it will, and we want to bring the tools to the table to provide every resource to keep it, but we also didnt want to constrain teams if they just didnt find it feasible. Each of the public meetings will focus on a slightly different aspect of the project. A 20-year-old murder case was dismissed on this day in 2014 after prosecutors said they would not attempt to retry Michelle Murphy, who was fr Staff Photographer I have worked for the Tulsa World from 1995-2000 and from 2005-present. I graduated from the University of Central Oklahoma with a degree in Photographic Arts/Journalism. I live in Owasso with my wife, Brandi, and daughters, Sonnie and Sarah. Authorities in Ba Ria - Vung Tau Province have allowed four big tourism complexes in two infection-free districts to resume closed services for domestic visitors from Wednesday, while the districts are still subject to social distancing under the prime ministers Directive No. 15. The pilot resumption is part of a plan approved by the provincial deputy chairman, Le Ngoc Khanh, on Sunday as an instruction for the two districts Xuyen Moc and Con Dao, along with Chau Duc and Dat Do, to reopen a number of production and business activities. As the four districts have not recorded coronavirus infections in the community in recent days, the provincial administration has downgraded the social distancing level there to the less stringent Directive No. 15 from September 9. Other districts and cities in the southern Vietnamese coastal province have kept following Directive No. 16 for 14 more days starting from the same date. People in the four safe districts can use personal vehicles to travel between home and their workplace within one district. Enterprises must register workers travel schedules to local authorities and test them for COVID-19 every five days. People engaging in agricultural, forestry, and fishery production can travel freely within one commune or town of the four districts, but must seek approval from authorities to travel from one commune or town to another within the same district. Officials in any two of the four districts have to work together to consider allowing farmers and fishermen to travel between them. The provincial administration has also permitted Ho Tram Strip complex, Melia Ho Tram beach resort, and Binh Chau hot spring resort in Xuyen Moc District, as well as Six Senses Con Dao beach resort in Con Dao District to pilot the resumption of closed services for domestic guests. The districts authorities and functional agencies must appraise the facilities and their proposals on epidemic prevention and control and submit them to the provincial Peoples Committee for approval before implementing the pilot scheme, according to deputy chairman Khanh. Khanhs approval issued on Sunday also gave the green light to the reopening of supermarkets, shopping centers, and retail chains. In addition, traditional markets are allowed to operate, but can only sell essential goods. Restaurants and food establishments can offer takeout service. Construction works can resume, with fewer than ten workers carrying on with each unfinished residential house. The plan will take effect on Wednesday. Ba Ria - Vung Tau has recorded 3,885 local infections, with an average daily rise of 50 cases, since a new outbreak hit Vietnam on April 27. The province started enforcing social distancing measures under Directive No. 16 in all of its districts, cities, and towns on July 19. Like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter to get the latest news about Vietnam! Cloning is in high demand in the competitive world of camel beauty pageants, leaving scientists at a Dubai clinic working round the clock to produce carbon-copy beasts. Not every animal is blessed with sought-after drooping lips and a tall, elegant neck, but technology now allows wealthy clients to replace their most beautiful camel with one just like it. At the Reproductive Biotechnology Center, with views of the UAE city's towering skyscrapers, scientists pore over microscopes while dozens of cloned camels roam outside. "We have so much demand for cloning camels that we are not able to keep up," the centre's scientific director Nisar Wani told AFP. Beauty pageants are not the only driver of the camel cloning industry. Many customers want to reproduce racing camels, or animals that produce large amounts of milk. But "beauty queens" are the most popular order. Gulf clients will pay between 200,000 and 400,000 dirham ($54,500-$109,000) to duplicate a dromedary. The camels are paraded at dusty racetracks around the region and scrutinised by judges, with occasional discoveries of Botox and cosmetic fillers adding a spice of scandal to the high-stakes contests. This picture taken on June 4, 2021 shows a view of cloned camel calves in a pen at the Reproductive Biotechnology Center in Dubai. Photo: AFP Saud Al-Otaibi, who runs a camel auction in Kuwait, said customers' judgement of the animals' looks is key to his business. "The price of the camel is determined according to its beauty, health, and how well known the breed is," he told AFP. When it comes to young animals, "customers are keen on seeing the mother to determine its beauty before buying the camel," he added. No going back Twelve years ago, Dubai claimed the world's first cloned camel. Injaz, a female whose name means achievement in Arabic, was born on April 8, 2009, after more than five years of work by Wani and others. From the minute Injaz was born, there was no going back. "We are now producing plenty, maybe more than 10 to 20 babies every year. This year we have 28 pregnancies (so far), last year we had 20," Wani said with pride. The centre is churning out "racing champions, high milk-producing animals... and winners of beauty contests called Beauty Queens", added Wani, sitting in a lab next to the preserved body of a cloned camel in a glass container. Dr. Nisar Ahmad Wani, Scientific Director of the Reproductive Biotechnology Center, checks on frozen samples at the centers laboratory in Dubai on June 4, 2021. Photo: AFP Known as "ships of the desert", and once used for transport across the sands of the Arab peninsula, camels are symbols of traditional Gulf culture. Now, after being replaced by gas-guzzling SUVs as the main mode of transport, they are used for racing, meat and milk. "We have cloned some she-camels that produce more than 35 litres of milk a day," said Wani, compared to an average of five litres in normal camels. Camel milk is commonly found next to regular milk at supermarkets in the Gulf, while meat products such as camel carpaccio are served in fancy restaurants. 'Saddest moment' Cloning dogs, cows and horses is popular in many countries, although animal rights groups say the process causes undue suffering to the animals that provide the egg cells and carry embryos. With orders flying into the cloning clinics in the United Arab Emirates, the only such facilities in the Gulf, scientists have developed new techniques to keep up with the pace. Female camels only give birth to one calf every two years, including a gestation period of 13 months. But breeding centres use a surrogacy technique to increase the number of offspring, whether from cloning or traditional breeding. Dr. Nisar Ahmad Wani, Scientific Director of the Reproductive Biotechnology Center, examines a sample through a microscope at the centre's laboratory in Dubai on June 4, 2021. Photo: AFP "In this process which we call multiple ovulation and embryo transfer, we super-stimulate the champion females and breed them with champion males," explained Wani. "We collect the embryos from these females after seven to eight days and then we put them in surrogate mothers, which are very ordinary animals." Alternatively, cloned camels can be created by placing DNA from cells in the desired animal's ovaries into eggs taken from the surrogate mothers. "These mothers carry the babies to term, and instead of producing one baby at a time in a year, we can produce many calves from these animals." Cloning is not just for those who want to own elite camels. Sometimes, clients simply want to reproduce a beloved animal after a sudden death. Wani, who started working at the clinic in 2003, said his proudest moment was the birth of Injaz -- and the worst time was her death. "She died this year," he said. "When we came in the morning, she had ruptured her uterus. We tried to save her as much as possible. This was the saddest moment." Vietnams National Assembly has handed over 200,000 COVID-19 vaccine doses donated by Belgium and Slovakia to the Ministry of Health, following Chairman Vuong Dinh Hues trip to Europe. The top legislator's flight landed at Noi Bai International Airport in Hanoi on Sunday, concluding his trip to Europe to attend the fifth World Conference of Speakers of Parliament (WCSP5) in Austria and pay a visit to the European Parliament, Belgium, and Finland from September 5 to 11. During a ceremony at the airport, the National Assembly handed over 200,000 vaccine doses, medical supplies, and financial aid provided by countries and organizations during his business trip to the Ministry of Health and the Vietnam Fatherland Front. These donations are considered one of the highlights during Chaiman Hues working trip, reflecting the results of 'vaccine diplomacy' and cooperation in the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic. Vietnamese National Assembly Chairman Vuong Dinh Hue arrives at Noi Bai International Airport in Hanoi, September 12, 2021. Photo: Nam Tran / Tuoi Tre Accordingly, Belgium and Slovakia gifted the 200,000 AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine jabs and pledged to transfer more shots to Vietnam. Many organizations, businesses, and individuals also provided medical equipment and supplies, as well as COVID-19 test kits, which are worth more than VND1 trillion (US$43.8 million). The Vietnamese community in the Czech Republic and Austria contributed VND365 million ($16,000) to Vietnams COVID-19 prevention fund. The National Assembly hands over donated financial assistance to the Vietnam Fatherland Front during a ceremony at Noi Bai International Airport in Hanoi, September 12, 2021. Photo: Nam Tran / Tuoi Tre During the trip, a number of contracts related to test kit production and COVID-19 vaccine research and production were signed by Vietnamese enterprises and foreign partners. T&T Group signed a contract with a German partner on the transfer of real-time RT-PCR test kit production technology worth EUR80 million ($94.4 million). The enterprise also inked a EUR375 million ($442.7 million) cooperation deal on clinical trials, production, and purchase of 50 million vaccine shots with a Spanish partner. Containers of vaccines donated by Belgium and Slovakia are pictured at Noi Bai International Airport in Hanoi, September 12, 2021. Photo: Nam Tran / Tuoi Tre Like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter to get the latest news about Vietnam! Vietnam has started piloting a seven-day coronavirus quarantine plan for 350 Vietnamese citizens who returned home from the U.S. on Sunday. These people, from Los Angeles and San Francisco, landed at Van Don International Airport in northern Quang Ninh Province on Vietnam Airlines flights VN5413 and VN5415. The passengers have been chosen to take part in the pilot seven-day quarantine plan adopted by the health ministry for people entering Vietnam from abroad. They must be subject to epidemic prevention requirements under this pilot scheme. Those who are 18 years old and above must have negative RT-PCR or RT-LAMP COVID-19 test certificates issued by testing countries within 72 hours before they depart for Vietnam. They are required to have a certificate of full coronavirus vaccination in the form regulated by Vietnams Ministry of Foreign Affairs, with their last vaccine shots given 14 days or more of their entry date. For people under 18, they must have negative RT-PCR COVID-19 test reports and be accompanied by their adult relatives who meet the said requirements. These minors will experience seven-day isolation with their relatives in Quang Ninh before being placed in home quarantine for another seven days. They will have their health monitored until the 28th day after their entry date. On September 4, the same pilot plan was applied to 300 passengers landing in Van Don from Japan on a Vietnam Airlines flight. The national carrier said it will continue its coordination with Quang Ninh Province authorities to organize the next flight for this trial project at the end of this month. The upcoming flight, from Paris to the same airport, is expected to bring home more than 300 Vietnamese citizens from European countries. By Sunday evening, Vietnam had documented 613,375 COVID-19 cases, the health ministry reported. Among the tally of patients, 374,578 have recovered while 15,279 others have died. Except Cao Bang, the coronavirus has spread to 62 out of the countrys 63 cities and provinces, with Ho Chi Minh City topping the list with 298,549 infections and 11,992 deaths. Like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter to get the latest news about Vietnam! The Ministry of Health registered 11,172 coronavirus cases in Vietnam on Monday, along with 11,200 discharged patients and 381 fatalities. Thirty-five provinces and cities confirmed 11,168 domestic cases whereas the country recorded four separate imported infections, the health ministry said. The ministry had logged 12,017 locally-infected patients on Sunday. More than 5,900 of the latest domestic cases were detected in the community, with the remaining found in sectioned-off areas or centralized quarantine facilities. Ho Chi Minh City documented 5,446 local infections, Binh Duong Province 3,651, Dong Nai Province 768, Long An Province 327, Tien Giang Province 161, Tay Ninh Province 142, Can Tho City 68, Hanoi 41, and Da Nang 13. Vietnam has confirmed 620,165 community transmissions in 62 out of its 63 provinces and cities since the fourth and worst virus wave emerged in the country on April 27. Ho Chi Minh City tops the list with 303,475 patients, followed by Binh Duong Province with 160,669, Dong Nai Province with 35,584, Long An Province with 28,486, Tien Giang Province with 12,366, Dong Thap Province with 7,891, Khanh Hoa Province with 7,309, Da Nang with 4,824, Hanoi with 4,053, and Ba Ria-Vung Tau Province with 3,901. By comparison, Vietnam confirmed a combined 1,570 locally-transmitted infections in the previous three waves. The health ministry announced 11,200 recoveries on Monday, taking the total to 385,778. The toll has surged to 15,660 deaths after the ministry documented 381 fatalities on the same day, including 228 in Ho Chi Minh City, 52 in Dong Thap Province, and 32 in Binh Duong Province. Vietnam has logged 624,547 patients since the COVID-19 pandemic first struck it early last year. Health workers have given around 29.2 million vaccine doses, including 1,066,948 shots on Sunday, since vaccination was rolled out on March 8. More than 5.3 million people have been fully vaccinated. Health authorities aim to immunize at least two-thirds of a population of nearly 98 million people against COVID-19 by the first quarter of next year. Like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter to get the latest news about Vietnam! Vietnam's coronavirus outbreak epicentre Ho Chi Minh City will extend its restrictions, local media reported on Monday, as the capital Hanoi and several provinces sought an easing of curbs and the aviation authority proposed domestic flights resume. Ho Chi Minh City authorities said an extension until the end of September was necessary to isolate clusters, speed up inoculations and prevent hospitals being overwhelmed in the city of 9 million people. Although more than 1 million vaccine shots have been administered daily of late, Vietnam vaccination rate of 5.2% of its 98 million population is one of the region's lowest. "Overall, Ho Chi Minh City will still be under restrictions for another two weeks," Dan Tri newspaper quoted city vice chairman Duong Anh Duc as saying. "Although in some districts of the city where the virus is being kept at bay, restaurants are allowed to open for takeaways and people can go out for food." Vietnam has recorded more than 610,000 infections and 15,000 deaths, the majority of those since May. Business hub Ho Chi Minh City accounts for half of those infections and 80% of fatalities. Vietnam had until late April maintained one of the world's best containment records. The current outbreak and movement curbs have impacted its manufacturing-led economy, with industrial output, exports and retail sales all down in August. The prime minister earlier warned of a long coronavirus battle for which lockdown and quarantine measures could not be relied on indefinitely. The capital Hanoi, the southern industrial hub Binh Duong and some provinces in the rice bowl Mekong Delta are seeking to gradually ease curbs, authorities said. The civil aviation authority has proposed to the transport ministry a resumption of domestic flights in three phases, Nguoi Lao Dong newspaper reported, after a months-long suspension. Tomorrow Nine presents its 2022 Upfronts to media buyers across its TV, digital, radio and print platforms. Nine is expected to renew all of its early evening slate from 2021 with some variations (such as celebrities in Lego Masters and a rumoured regional edition of The Block. Nine always prides itself on News & Current Affairs and its been a big year for that. Expect much around its news brands and personalities. Its also time for Nine to commit to new dramas in 2022. Amazing Grace is its sole new drama this year but has not been formally renewed. This follows the end of Doctor Doctor and single seasons of Halifax: Retribution and Seachange -the key here is international sales. A few shows were unable to proceed due to COVID and will fall into 2022, while some are still due this year. On the Rumour front are new shows expected for Yvie Jones & Shaynna Blaze and the arvo numbers for Tipping Point are always worth asking if a local version is possible -if so what slot? Rumour: Snackmasters Australian version of UK series in which two professional chefs tryto replicate a famous snack to a panel of judges. Presenter: Yvie Jones. Country Home Rescue (expected this year) Shaynna Blaze renovates a 120 year old house in Kyneton with her children Carly & Jesse. Confirmed: Celebrity Apprentice, Married At First Sight, Lego Masters, Nine News, Australian Open, Logie Awards, NRL, State of Origin, Space Invaders, Expected to be announced: The Block, Australian Ninja Warrior, Under Investigation, Beauty And The Geek, Hot Seat, Today, Today Extra, A Current Affair, 60 Minutes, RBT, Australian Crime Stories, Paramedics, Emergency, Footy Classified, 100% Footy, Sunday Footy Show, Postcards, Getaway, Travel Guides, Yet to air in 2021: Love Island, Parental Guidance (aka The Parent Jury), Beach House Escape, Celebrity IOU Australia, Million Dollar Murders, Desert Vet, The Weakest Link specials, Australia Behind Bars Carols by Candlelight, Unknown: Amazing Grace, The Weakest Link, Mega Zoo, Country House Hunters, Bondi Vet, The Hundred with Andy Lee, TV Tonight will be Live blogging from 4pm AEST Wednesday. This post updates. The premise of wiping out all the men in the world sounds like a bold -if not necessarily new- concept. Y: The Last Man is based on a comic book series by Brian K. Vaughan and Pia Guerra. While that was published in 2002, a recent NZ series Creamerie, had fun with the same proposition, and others have wiped out most if not all adults (The 100, Between, Jeremiah, The Tribe). In the time of a pandemic, are we ready for a future without half the population? Hell yes, if it means we can have some fun exploring it. Female presidents, armies, media owners, justices who are all mothers -would their decisions differ from the world as we know it? Diane Lane stars as Congresswoman Jennifer Brown who accuses the President (Paul Gross) of being a misogynist. She is also mother to aspiring magician Yorick (Ben Schnetzer) who falls out with his Australia-bound girlfriend, and his paramedic sister Hero (Olivia Thirlby) whose one night stand turns, umm, sour. The ensemble cast includes skilled Agent 355 (Ashley Romans) who is assigned to go undercover in the White House. There are also a number of other characters in what is a pretty involved set-up. But the viewer is in no doubt as to what is coming, given it is shown in a prologue, that Yorick will be last man standing when an inexplicable disruption wipes out all mammals with a Y chromosome -save for Yorick and his pet monkey. Im guessing they will probably tell us why at the end of season one. The scene teased in the trailer in which the men collapse in unison, blood spurting from orifices, is good fun. I just wish more of the episodes had this kind of spirited mayhem. Instead we are subjected to a range of mostly-unlikeable characters in drainer scenes that remind me of an under-produced Stephen King miniseries (you know the ones, some are great, quite a few arent). Some motivations are downright perplexing. Propose to somebody one minute, abuse the crap out of them the next? Ashley Romans, who gets a kick-ass introductory scene, is arguably the exception to the rule. Its almost a shame she isnt the lead, but two X chromosomes rules that out. Theres even a couple of lines of dialogue that feel right at home in 2021: Its going to get worse before it gets better and Were all doing our best. Yikes. While the comic book no doubt moves more swiftly through its plot, Im hoping this series improves with subsequent episodes and lives up to the pitch. Y: The Last Man begins today on Binge. 8:30pm Sunday on FOX Showcase. If you are sick with COVID-19 or suspect you are infected with the virus that causes COVID-19, follow the steps below to help prevent the disease from spreading to people in your home and community. By Stephanie Shreffler The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted society's debt to doctors, nurses and other health care workers. In order to document and share this important work on the front lines, the University of Dayton Libraries recently acquired a new digital collection of 18 oral histories that tell the stories of religious sisters, priests and laypeople who have worked in Catholic health care. The oral histories, part of the U.S. Catholic Special Collection and available for download or listening on eCommons, were conducted by Patricia Patti Ringos Beach, an oncology and palliative care clinical nurse specialist, and Beth E. Heinzeroth White, a pediatric clinical nurse specialist, from late 2019 to mid-2020. The interviewees tell fascinating stories about how Catholic health care has changed from the mid-20th century to the present; the discernment process for those entering religious life; and what Catholic health care will look like in the future as the number of religious brothers and sisters declines. The oral histories also include details about how the COVID-19 pandemic affected the lives of the interviewees. Beach and White answered some interview questions of their own about their goals for the project and what they learned from the sisters: The project Religious Sisters in Health Care: The Conspicuous Love of Jesus looks to the past to define the present and provide a lens to the future. The words of the sisters bring to the bedside caregiver an appreciation of the solid foundation the sisters laid for ongoing ministry and how our own healing ministry can be purposefully kept alive for each and every person under our care. Shreffler: Tell me about your own work in health care. Beach and White: We are both advanced practice nurses who worked as clinical nurse specialists. (Beth specialized in pediatrics and palliative care, Patti in oncology and palliative care.) Shreffler: How did you get the idea for this project? Beach and White: It started with a question: What will happen to Catholic health care when the sisters are no longer around? It was late in our careers that we asked this question. Perhaps it was because we were busy nursing. We were looking at patients and standards of quality care and not thinking of the bigger picture. Little time was spent reflecting upon the mission of Catholic health care. We were not in administrative or managerial positions, so using the mission of Catholic health care as an essential element of health system decisions was not part of our regular work experience. Slowly and then all of a sudden it became apparent to us that there were no more sisters in our facilities. Then, from our staff nurse peers, we heard the comment, Jesus has left the building. We were stunned. The sense of our patient care being different because we practiced in Catholic institutions suddenly was not so obvious. We invited a convenience sample through known contacts to participate in this project. The target population was women from religious orders whose charism specifically identifies health care as part of their mission or whose individual work takes place within Catholic health care. Each sister had extensive experience in the ministry of Catholic health care. Their roles ranged from nurses to chaplains to administrators. In addition, we also interviewed several people who were not religious sisters but active in Catholic health care today. Shreffler: How are you hoping to present this information yourselves? Are you working on an article or a book, for example? Beach and White: We have one article from this work, Our Search for Meaning: Religious Sisters in Health Care; The Conspicuous Love of Jesus, scheduled for publication in the Journal of Christian Nursing in 2022. One of our major goals was to make these rich interviews with formidable and forward-thinking women accessible to the general public. We are very appreciative of the University of Dayton for their efforts and partnership. Shreffler: Do you have other publications or research projects youd like to share with our readers? Beach and White: We are currently working on some fiction books to introduce nursing to younger readers. Our goals are to illustrate the satisfaction and difficulties associated with this career choice. We have published several articles in the nursing literature related to palliative care, pediatrics and oncology. We are also co-authors of two award-winning books: In the Shadows: How to Care for Your Seriously Ill Adult Child ( 2013, Hygeia Media/The Oncology Nursing Society) American Journal of Nursing 2013 Book of the Year (consumer health category). 2013, Hygeia Media/The Oncology Nursing Society) 2013 Book of the Year (consumer health category). Caps, Capes and Caring: The Legacy of Diploma Nursing Schools in Toledo (2018, University of Toledo Press) 2018 Best Local History Book, Bowling Green State University Center for Archival Collections. Shreffler: How did COVID-19 affect your interview process? Beach and White: Very dramatically as you might expect. After face-to-face interviews in early 2020, our plan to sit down and meet with the sisters was changed to Zoom or phone interviews. We are very grateful for the technology that allowed the project to continue to completion because, as you can imagine, the advanced age of the sisters made significant delays extremely problematic. In fact, significant delays could have resulted in much lost information. So I guess we learned to adapt and adjust and to not put things off. Shreffler: What was the most interesting or meaningful thing you learned from the oral histories? Beach and White: Probably one of the strongest takeaways from these oral histories is to always look forward. Religious sisters in health care did not waste much time on what they did not have or could not change or even their past accomplishments; they always looked to the future. They left a legacy and a plan for Catholic health care to survive and thrive, although it definitely looks different in the 21st century. Their advice was to Let God do the worrying. The other very strong message was one of service. They continually asked, What needs to be done? How can I help? And they never forgot the poor and underserved. Theirs was the continuation of the ministry of Jesus Christ in every sense. Browse and listen Browse the collection on eCommons. If you have any questions about the oral histories or are interested in using other items in the U.S. Catholic Special Collection, please contact Stephanie Shreffler at sshreffler1@udayton.edu. Stephanie Shreffler is an associate professor in the University Libraries and the collections librarian and archivist for the U.S. Catholic Special Collection. The family has not been spotted together in Monaco since Charlene flew to South Africa in May. PLS Pool/Getty Images Prince Albert of Monaco brought two of his children on an official visit to Dublin on Friday. He shares Prince Jacques and Princess Gabriella with wife Princess Charlene, a former Olympian. The trip came a day after Charlene was hospitalized in South Africa, where she's been since May. Visit Insider's homepage for more stories. Prince Albert of Monaco brought the 6-year-old twins he shares with his wife Princess Charlene on an official visit to Ireland on Friday, a day after she was rushed to the hospital in South Africa. Accompanied by their children Prince Jacques and Princess Gabriella, Albert toured Trinity College in Dublin, according to the official Facebook account for the Palace of Monaco. On September 2, South African publication News24 reported that Charlene, 43, who has been grounded in her home country of South Africa since May, had suffered a "medical emergency" and was admitted to the hospital overnight. In a statement published by People magazine on Friday, a spokesperson for the palace confirmed the hospitalization occurred on September 1 and was related to complications arising from a serious ENT infection. The former Olympian turned royal previously opened up about her prolonged illness in an interview with News24 in July. "It's been a trying time for me," Charlene told the publication. "What has been extremely difficult for me was when I was instructed by my medical team that I could not return home for my 10th wedding anniversary." "Albert is my rock and strength, and without his love and support I would not have been able to get through this painful time," she added. Despite the kind words and Albert's visit to Charlene in August, as documented on her Instagram, the couple continue to face speculation about their relationship. On September 1, The Times of London reported that rumors were rife among local media in Monaco about the royal couple. Paris Match, a French publication, published a story with the headline asking: "Charlene and Albert on the verge of breaking up?" The publication also reported that they are living "separate lives" and going through a "new crisis." Story continues Speaking to People magazine in an interview published on Wednesday, Albert denied rumors Charlene left "Monaco in a huff" before her extended stay in South Africa. "She didn't leave because she was mad at me or at anybody else," he told the publication. "She was going down to South Africa to reassess her foundation's work down there and to take a little time off with her brother and some friends." Princess Charlene wiped away tears on her wedding day to Prince Albert in 2011. Gareth Cattermole/Getty Images Speaking to ABC News following their 2011 wedding, British historian Robert Lacey described a scene far from a fairytale wedding, one in which Charlene was pictured leaving in tears. Reporting for The Guardian in 2011, journalist Ros Coward wrote that "Charlene clearly had her doubts." However, Charlene later shut down the wedding rumors. Mail Online reports that she told The Times of London Weekend Magazine in 2013: "Everything was just so overwhelming and there were all the mixed emotions because of the rumors, and obviously the tension built up and I burst into tears. And then I burst into tears some more because I was thinking, 'Oh no, now the whole world has seen me cry.'" Bidisha SK Mamata, a British filmmaker and journalist interviewed for a Channel 5 documentary about Monaco's royal family, echoed prior observations. "I always respect honesty, emotional honesty, particularly in women, about how to make it very clear that a fairytale wedding is not a fairytale at all," Mamata told Insider. Representatives for Princess Charlene and Prince Albert did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment. Read the original article on Insider UNG will also hold a Hispanic Heritage Month panel discussion at noon Sept. 22 on Zoom, featuring: Noemi Nolasco, president of Latin American Student Organization (LASO) Nathalia Ingles, president of Latino Student Association (LSA) Thalia Escobedo, College Assistance Migrant Program retention coordinator Alvaro Torres-Calderon, associate professor of Spanish Genesis Castro, network and program manager for Latino Community Fund Andre Gonzales, bilingual mortgage loan originator at Homestar Financial Corporation LASO and the LSA are working along with MSA to host events for Hispanic Heritage Month. Nolasco, who is pursuing a degree in modern languages with a concentration in Spanish language and literature, is eager to gain new perspective from Huerta. "She's somebody that my parents look up to for everything that she's done. Now we're going to hear from her," the junior from Atlanta, Georgia, said. "She will speak her mind. She speaks for what she believes in." Ingles, a junior from Buford, Georgia, is pursuing a degree in communication with a concentration in public relations. She is eager to share her culture. "We're open to anyone and everyone who wants to join these events," Ingles said. "That's one of the things I love about Latino culture. We're so welcoming, and I want to showcase that to UNG." Hispanic Heritage Month begins Sept. 15 to mark the anniversary of the independence of Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras and Nicaragua. Mexican Independence Day follows on Sept. 16 and Chile's is Sept. 18. A variety of new spaces are being built or have opened to benefit students on the University of North Georgia's (UNG) campuses this fall. Construction on the Cottrell Center for Business, Technology & Innovation, which is planned to open in fall 2022 as the new home for the Mike Cottrell College of Business (MCCB), is moving quickly on UNG's Dahlonega Campus. "The Cottrell Center project is progressing well and recently achieved the major milestone of 'topping out,' where the last component of structural steel was installed," Ken Crowe, assistant vice president for facilities, said. "We hope to achieve 'dry in' over the next month, allowing for the interior work to progress without weather delays." A student lounge has opened on the Cumming Campus, and a few updated spaces have enhanced the student experience on the Oconee Campus. Nighthawk Engagement and Student Transitions has added a new adult learner and transfer lounge on the Dahlonega Campus in Room 320 of the Hoag Student Center, as well. These projects are in addition to the Gainesville Campus expansion that provided new space for multiple academic departments and information technology services. As the world struggles to recover from the pandemic, soaring natural gas prices threaten to become a drag on the economies of Europe and elsewhere. Wholesale prices for the fuel are at their highest in years nearly five times where they were at this time in 2019, before people started falling ill with the virus. New York Times reports that The high costs feed into electric power prices and have begun showing up in utility bills, weighing on consumers whose personal finances have already been strained by the pandemic. The price jumps are unusual because demand is typically relatively low in the warmer summer months, raising alarms about the prospects for further increases when demand jumps in the winter. Spanish households are paying roughly 40 percent more than what they paid for electricity a year ago as the wholesale price has more than doubled, prompting angry protests against utility companies. The electricity price hike has created a lot of indignation, and this is of course moving onto the streets, said Maria Campuzano, spokeswoman for the Alliance against Energy Poverty, a Spanish association that helps people struggling to pay energy bills. The pain is being felt across Europe, where gas is used for home heating and cooking as well as electric power generation. Citing record natural gas prices, Britains energy regulatory agency, Ofgem, recently gave utilities a green light to increase the ceiling on energy bills for millions of households paying standard rates by about 12 percent, to 1,277 pounds, or $1,763, a year. Several trends are to blame for soaring prices, including a resurgence of global demand after pandemic lockdowns, led by China, and a European cold snap in the latter part of winter this year that drained storage levels. The higher-than-expected demand and crimped supply are a perfect storm, said Marco Alvera, chief executive of Snam, the large gas company in Milan. The worry is that if Europe has a cold winter, prices could climb further, possibly forcing some factories to temporarily shut down. If it is cold, then were in trouble, Mr. Alvera said. The jump has prompted some to call for an acceleration of the shift from fossil fuels to clean domestic energy sources like wind and solar power to free consumers from being at the mercy of global commodity markets. The reality is we need to switch to renewables faster, said Greg Jackson, chief executive of Octopus Energy, a British utility. On the other hand, the turbulence in prices may also be a harbinger of volatility if energy companies begin to give up on fossil fuel production before renewable sources are ready to pick up the slack, analysts say. In addition, the closure of coal-fired generating plants in Britain and other countries has reduced flexibility in the system, Mr. Alvera said. Gas prices in the United States have risen as well, but they are only around a quarter of those being paid in Europe. The United States has a big price advantage over Europe because of its large domestic supply of relatively cheap gas from shale drilling and other activities, while Europe must import most of its gas. The immediate worry for markets in Europe is that suppliers have not followed their usual practice and used the summer months to fill storage chambers with cheap gas that will be used during the winter, when cold weather more than doubles the consumption of gas in countries like Britain and Germany. Instead, suppliers responded to the cold weather late last winter by draining gas storage facilities. Subsequently, they have been reluctant to top them up with high-priced gas. As a result, European storage facilities are at the depleted levels usual in winter rather than the peaks of fall. The market is very nervous as we move into the winter season, said Laura Page, an analyst at Kpler, a research firm. We have very low storage levels for the time of year. Europe imports around 60 percent of its gas, with supplies coming by pipeline from Russia and to a lesser extent Algeria and Libya. Liquefied natural gas, arriving by ship from the United States, Qatar and elsewhere, usually helps balance the market. This year, though, L.N.G. carriers have been drawn to higher prices in China, South Korea and Brazil, where a drought has caused a drop in power generated by dams. As a result, Italy, Spain and northwest Europe have seen a sharp decline in liquefied natural gas infusions, according to data from Wood Mackenzie, a market research firm. Adding to the tight situation in Europe, Groningen, the giant gas field in the Netherlands that long served as a safety valve for both its home country and western Germany, is being gradually shut down because of earthquakes. Over the last year European gas prices have risen from around $4 per million British thermal units to about $18. Russia, the largest gas supplier to Europe, and Algeria have substantially increased their exports but not enough to ease market concerns. Some analysts question whether Gazprom, Russias gas company, is pursuing a high-price strategy or trying to persuade the West to allow the completion of its Nord Stream 2 pipeline project, which will deliver gas from Russia to Germany. On the face of it, it looks as though some sort of game is being played here, said Graham Freedman, an analyst at Wood Mackenzie. On the other hand, Mr. Freedman said, it could be that Gazprom doesnt have any more gas to export. A spokeswoman for Gazprom said: Our mission is to fulfill contractual obligations to our clients, not to reduce the concerns of an abstract market. She added that Gazprom had increased supplies to near-record levels this year. Construction of the 746-mile pipeline, which runs under the Baltic Sea, was halted last year just short of completion off Germanys shores by the threat of sanctions from the United States. But in a deal with Germany in July, the Biden administration agreed to drop its threat to stop the pipeline. On Monday, the management company for the project said it aimed to have the pipeline operating this year. First Deputy Minister of Defense of the Republic of Azerbaijan - Chief of General Staff of the Azerbaijan Army Lieutenant General Karim Valiyev is on an official visit to the Republic of Turkey, Trend reports citing Azerbaijani Defense Ministry. Within the framework of the visit, it is planned to hold a number of meetings of the Azerbaijani delegation with the military leadership of the Republic of Turkey. During the meetings, the issues of cooperation in the military, military-technical, military-educational and a number of other spheres will be discussed. It should be noted that the First Deputy Minister of Defense of the Republic of Azerbaijan - Chief of General Staff of the Azerbaijan Army pays his first foreign visit to the fraternal Republic of Turkey. The visit will last until September 14. Ulrike Francke, a researcher at the European Council on Foreign Relations (ECFR), commented on the active use of reconnaissance and combat drones in the Karabakh war to the German publication Stern. According to Franke, who is working on issues of German and European security policy, the course of the final hostilities of the Karabakh war was "not so surprising if you carefully analyze what was happening," namely, Azerbaijan's approach to the development of the army. "In recent years, Azerbaijan has spent huge sums of money and modernized its armed forces accordingly," she said. In my opinion, there are several important points in this war. There is the fact of the presence and combination of drones of various types on the battlefield, it is a consequence of the development and proliferation of drones over the past few years. Now we have seen the results in action, which has made many states realize, that they need to invest more in UAV protection," the expert noted. Franke recalled that the final stage of the Karabakh war wasn't the first case of using drones in hostilities, "but this is the first time when two states have used UAVs against each other - and it was something completely new." ECFR analyst clarified that UAVs are an effective means of war only between small states. "The current generations of drones will not play a central role in a hypothetical war between major powers such as the US and China. In this case, other systems will be at play. But if small states are at war with each other, then drones are an important air-based systems. Look at the numbers: Azerbaijan and Armenia together have less than 50 combat aircraft. But if one of the sides adds 100 drones, then its air power increases significantly," she said. The head of the United Nations nuclear watchdog hailed an agreement struck with Iran on Sunday over access to surveillance equipment at Iranian nuclear facilities, saying it allowed space for diplomatic talks, The Times of Israel reports. This has always been seen, for me at least, as a stopgap, as a measure to allow time for diplomacy, International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Director-General Rafael Grossi told reporters at the Vienna airport, after returning from talks in Iran. Iran and the IAEA had announced previously that they had agreed to allow inspectors to service the agencys surveillance equipment, as Tehran has restricted access since earlier this year. Grossi traveled to Iran on Saturday for talks, days after the IAEA had criticized Tehran in a report for a lack of cooperation. He said the agreement on servicing the agencys equipment would be put into practice within a few days, very soon. Grossi added that, thanks to the agreement, the agency would be able to keep the information needed to maintain continuity of knowledge of Irans program. The trend of shoppers going online en masse is driving demand for cold storage facilities in most countries, with Vietnam seemingly among those with a severe short supply. Recently we installed a cold storage with a large capacity for a customer in HCM Citys Thu Duc City, but while carrying out trial operation we found that the voltage there dropped, affecting the storages performance, Le Khoa Huy, deputy director of Hai Long Industrial Refrigeration Company, said. An automated cold store of Hung Vuong Corporation at My Tho Industrial Zone, Tien Giang Province. Photo hungvuongpanga.com Stable power supply is only one of several difficult requirements for enterprises to meet if they want to invest in cold storage supply chains, according to Huy. Analysts concur with Huy, saying cold storage facilities is a highly profitable segment in the logistics industry, but exploiting its potential is not easy for domestic or foreinvestors. The trend of shoppers going online en masse is driving demand for cold storage facilities in most countries, with Vietnam seemingly among those with a severe short supply. Forrester forecasts online retail sales in Asia Pacific will grow from US$1.5 trillion in 2019 to $2.5 trillion in 2024, with a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 11.3 per cent. A study by Mercatus and Incisiv published by https://www.bloomberg.com said global online grocery sales would reach $250 billion by 2025, or more than 60 per cent higher than pre-pandemic estimates. The eGrocerys New Reality survey said online would account for 21.5 per cent of total sales. In Vietnam, nearly half the population has shopped online in recent years. The 2021 E-commerce White Book released by the Vietnam E-Commerce and Digital Economy Agency says the country has the highest number of people shopping on e-commerce platforms in Southeast Asia, at some 49.3 million. The e-commerce retail market grew at 18 per cent last year to $11.8 billion. A report from Google, Temasek and Bain & Company at the beginning of this year said 41 per cent of Vietnamese population use the internet, the highest in the region. Some 94 per cent of new users plan to continue to use the digital services they used during social distancing after the pandemic ceases to be an issue. According to an e-commerce development plan approved by the government last year, revenues should reach $35 billion by 2025, or 10 per cent of total sales. The government expects 55 per cent of the population to shop online. Analysts say all this will create a firm foundation for the development of e-commerce. Vietnamese consumers have been getting much more interested in online shopping in recent months since localities, especially big cities, severely hit by the COVID pandemic have been forced to apply strict social distancing measures, making it very difficult to physically shop for daily-use consumer products. Experts have pointed to another reason for the surge in demand for cold storage in Vietnam: the increasing exports of agricultural products, which have always required the industry to have large cold storage capacity. Of the agricultural exports, seafood tops the list. Many seafood processing plants do have cold storage facilities but their capacity is very small and so they only partly meet demand, with the rest having to be outsourced. Many import and export enterprises complained that the pandemic had worsened the shortage of cold storage space since goods had piled up due to supply chain and logistics disruption. They said goods could not be exported or sold because of limited spending by consumers due to lockdown and social distancing in many countries including Vietnam. Trang Bui, senior director of markets, JLL Vietnam, said during the peak COVID period, 30-50 per cent of seafood export orders were cancelled. This resulted in a sharp increase in inventories, which required more storage space including refrigerated warehousing, she said. Hard-to-meet conditions Obviously, the domestic logistics industry is facing a serious shortage of cold storage space, which has encouraged the development of the cold storage segment. To exploit this profitable segment, some large corporations have in recent years pumped in hundreds of billions of dong in large cold storage properties. In 2019, Vietnam Holding Limited invested VND139.8 billion ($6 million) to become the sole holder of convertible bonds issued by Mekong Capital-backed logistics company ABA Cooltrans, which is the provider of services and solutions in the field of cold storage supply chain, and wants to expand its cold chain logistics solution in Vietnam. In June 2020 THACO Group set up a 4,800sq.m fruit cold storage plant with a capacity of 2,400 tonnes at Chu Lai Port in the central province of Quang Nam. Hung Vuong Joint Stock Company recently installed a VND1.3 trillion cold storage system at the Tan Tao Industrial Park in HCM City with a capacity of 60,000-70,000 tonnes. Some international funds have invested in this segment, including FinExpro in cold storage projects in the Cuu Long (Mekong) River Delta and the International Finance Corporation granting a $70 million loan to ITL Corp to build a cold storage system in HCM City. Analysts say however only such giant companies with deep pockets could enter the segment. Trang of JLL said supply was lacking in the global and domestic markets because it would need much more time and money to build cold storage facilities than other types of logistics properties. Some industry insiders agree with her, saying it takes at least six months to build a storage facility while the construction costs are sometimes two or three times higher than that of a conventional warehouse. But the ground lease usually lasts only 15-20 years. There are also other difficulties in building cold storage properties. They say investors are required to have comprehensive understanding of cold chains and know how to operate them. Besides, they need land with long-term lease and in a location where large vehicles like container trucks can ply, and power supply with voltage stability. On top of all this, certain cold storage facilities - like those used for seafood products - need to be situated at no more than 50 kilometres from ports, while those used for fruit and vegetable products should be near urban areas. Storage properties require staff with great expertise in temperature maintenance since each fruit, vegetable, meat, and fish has its own requirements, they point out. These disadvantages keep investors out and explain why only a few of the thousands of companies operating in the logistics sector are able to set up cold chains, they say. A majority of domestic logistics companies are small or medium-sized with limited resources, meaning cold storages are out of their reach and they have to depend on the leasing market. Rental Cold storage leasing prices have increased rapidly since the beginning of 2020, and now stand at VND1.2-2 million ($52-87) per tonne. Consequently, many exporters of agricultural products have had to turn down new orders. Analysts say cold storage demand will continue to grow strongly for at least the next half decade as global consumers change their shopping behaviours and due to the rapid development of digital technology. As a result, real estate for cold storage will continue to attract the attention of both local and overseas investors, venture capital funds and lenders. Meanwhile, logistics industry insiders have called for policies that would encourage investment in this segment. Source: Vietnam News Country creaking under cold storage supply imbalance Amid challenging times for exports of Vietnamese produce and an increase in e-commerce, the flaws of the inconsistent cold storage supply become more obvious. A flash survey by the American Chamber of Commerce in Vietnam revealed that while many US companies' operations in Vietnam have been affected significantly by the pandemic, the majority do not want to shift production out of Vietnam. The faith of more than half of US companies in Vietnam has been unswayed by the pandemic. The American Chamber of Commerce in Vietnam (AmCham Vietnam) has recently conducted a flash survey on August 23-25 after its earlier survey on August 3-5. The results show that as of August 25, 13 per cent of respondents reported that their companies had ceased operations or had only skeletal staff, with nearly 50 per cent operating at under 50 per cent of normal capacity. Meanwhile, 20 per cent of American companies have already slashed operations by 51-75 per cent due to the pandemic. Meanwhile, 61 per cent of respondents reported roadblocks were the top inter-provincial policy concern, with another 24 per cent reporting lack of understanding of essential products. Inconsistent application of policies among provinces has caused serious disruptions to supply chains and prevented workers from getting to work sites or returning home. Due to the challenges, 20 per cent of respondents have already shifted some production, with another 16 per cent having discussions underway. However, up to 66 per cent of respondents have not even considered shifting production to other countries. This reflects Vietnam's growing importance in the global supply chain of US businesses. According to the flash survey, AmCham Vietnam members reported a sharp uptick in vaccination rates, with almost 50 per cent stating that most or all of their staff had been vaccinated (with at least one dose) versus 25 per cent in a similar survey just three weeks before. Vaccinations remain a key concern affecting the continuity of operations and supply chains, as reported by 80 per cent of respondents, followed by 72 per cent citing restrictions in transportation. Vaccines are also seen as the key element of a roadmap for safe reopening and economic recovery, reported by 85 per cent of respondents. In addition, the most pressing concern of AmCham members and their families, reported by 73 per cent, is worries about poor and disadvantaged, who are impacted even more severely. That was even higher than the 71 per cent responding concern about quality of care if you or a family member developed serious symptoms. The US is Vietnams largest export market and a close partner on global health security, having already provided six million doses of vaccines to Vietnam, while Vietnam is a growing destination both for US investment and exports. AmCham Vietnam represents over 550 corporate members and 2,000 individual business representatives, billions of dollars in investment, more than 30 per cent of Ho Chi Minh Citys exports, tens of thousands of direct and over a million indirect employees throughout Vietnam, and a significant percentage of tax contributions. Together with its Hanoi branch, AmCham Hanoi, AmCham represents over 650 corporate and over 2,500 individual business members. Source: VIR Agricultural by-products are called the "gold mine" of the Vietnam agricultural industry with up to 156 million tons per year. But these lucrative sources have been neglected for many years. The source of agricultural by-products in Vietnam is huge. (photo: IQ) In 2020, Vietnam produced food and foodstuff to meet the consumption needs of over 97 million people in the country and for export, earning over 41 billion USD. In the process of production, preservation, preliminary processing and processing of agricultural products, the proportion of agricultural by-products was estimated up to 156 million tons, according to Tong Xuan Chinh, Deputy Director of the Livestock Production Administration under the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development. This figure included 88.9 million tons of by-products after harvesting from crops and processing agricultural products (56.7%), 61.4 million tons of feces from livestock and poultry (39.1%), 5.5 million tons from the forestry sector (3.5%) and nearly 1 million tons from the fisheries sector (10.6%). The Southeast region and the Mekong Delta have the largest amounts of by-products in the country. According to Chinh, from the perspective of a circular agricultural economy associated with green growth, the by-product must be considered a renewable resource, not a waste. This is an important input source of another circular process to prolong the value-added chain in agriculture. For example, straw is used as raw fodder for grazing cattle, to plant mushroom, to manure plants... The market for collecting, packing, transporting and trading rice straw in the Mekong Delta is growing. However, a significant amount of straw is burned in the fields in some places in the North and Central region, causing air pollution. Chinh also said that many by-products in the cultivation, husbandry, and forestry industries have been used as raw materials, but the proportion is still modest, and added value is not high. The seafood by-product processing industry in Vietnam reached about US$275 million in 2020. If exploiting all the by-products of nearly 1 million tons of the seafood industry by high technology, Vietnam can earn $4-5 billion," Chinh said. In the agricultural industry, each 1 million tons of by-products are processed, $4-5 billion of revenue is created (photo: IT) According to Prof. Dr. Vo Tong Xuan, a leading expert in the field of agriculture, the collection and reuse of agricultural by-products not only helps reduce greenhouse gas emissions but also helps farmers have the opportunity to enrich themselves. For example, longan seeds and lychee seeds have a lot of uses that we have not fully exploited. They can be used as fertilizer or processed into animal feed or even functional foods. But we are wasting precious things, Xuan said. Expert Nguyen Quang Thach affirmed that by-products are the "gold" of agriculture because the output of one industry will become the input of another industry. With 156 million tons per year, this is a huge source of raw materials, a precious resource, and a strength of Vietnam. Mai Thanh Phung - Vice Chairman of the Vietnam Horticultural Association - suggested promoting communication to help farmers and businesses get involved in to turn agricultural by-products into organic fertilizers to reduce Vietnams dependence on imported sources. Some experts said that it is necessary to have policies to attract businesses to invest in this field to create products of high value. For example, dragon fruit skin can be processed into food coloring products; and aquatic by-products can be processed into raw materials for the cosmetic, pharmaceutical, medical, agricultural industries, especially the production of feed ingredients for livestock. In Binh Phuoc province, cashew nut output is about 200,000 tons/year and the by-product from cashew trees is up to 800 tons/year but it has not been used. According to Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Tran Thanh Nam, many by-products are still wasted, but this is a valuable source of raw materials that can increase agricultural value. He saidthat the potential for exploiting by-products agriculture is huge, but there must be accompanying policies. The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development will add this issue to future schemes to promote the participation of businesses, scientists, cooperatives, associations and farmers to create new jobs in the countryside. Tam An Concerns over discarded face masks and the circular economy How to treat used face masks is a new problem emerging during the fight against the Covid-19 pandemic. Do you accept payment with MoMo? Yes is the question one can hear at many restaurants and supermarkets in HCM City. Life has become more comfortable for people as they dont have to carry cash when going out or keep small change to make payments. However, digital payments in general and e-wallets in particular are still not common in other provinces. And in HCM City, e-wallet users have to install Moca to take Grab and AirPay to shop on Shopee because e-wallets are not connected. Most people cannot connect with e-wallets because of the limited number of Points of Sale, which are mostly located in large cities. E-wallets and digital payment services have developed rapidly, especially during the Covid-19 pandemic. A survey by Visa in the third quarter 2020 of 1,000 Vietnamese in urban and rural areas, of various ages, found that 51 percent said they had increased the frequency of using e-wallet. Fifty five percent said they made payments with QR Codes. A report of Boston Consulting Group showed that 49 percent of bank clients in cities in Southeast Asia use e-wallets, and the figure is expected to reach 84 percent by 2025. MoMo, which is leading in the number of users, had 25 million accounts, more than 100,000 POS (point of sale) and total transaction value by the end of 2020, up by 3.5 times compared with the year before. Payoo has 20,000 POS nationwide, and deals with more than 400 types of bills and services from 350 providers. The platform connects 40 banks and has a transaction value growth rate of 60 percent per annum, with VND100 trillion treated via the system annually. In Vietnam there are a high number of existing wallets and fragmentation. There are about 40 e-wallets for 97 million people. Vietnam, a market with nearly 100 million people, a part of the Southeast Asian market with 700 million people and dominated by cash payments, is attractive to big players. MoMo, Moca, ZaloPay, AirPay, Viettel Pay and Payoo are the best known e-wallets in Vietnam. MoMo, Moca and ZaloPay have advantages in payment at the counter. Moca holds Grab service booking. AirPay is the only e-wallet of the e-commerce platform with the highest number of users (Shopee). Payoo is a platform for making payment for services (water, electricity and internet). Every e-wallet has its own advantages, but none is powerful enough to dominate the market. As such, if people want to pay with e-wallets, they have to use at least 2-3 wallets for all basic daily services, from hailing and paying for services to shopping on marketplaces. Nguyen Ba Diep, deputy chair of MoMo, believes that e-wallets will prosper in Vietnam in one or two years. By that time, only 3-5 wallets will exist. New policies needed Reports all show the sharp rise in smartphone users, about 20-30 percent per annum, especially for 5G smartphones. This is a great opportunity for development of e-wallets. To have more e-wallet users, businesses need to build large ecosystems, develop POS networks and use advanced security technology. Meanwhile, e-wallet developers want management agencies to set open policies, because e-wallets are still a new payment mode in Vietnam. Nguyen Ba Diep of MoMo said that not only in Vietnam, but also in the world, the development of technology and fintech proceeds before the legal framework. Concerns of management agencies about the possible negative impact that unprecedented new models may have on society are understandable. However, he said the legal framework for fintechs needs to be more tolerant and acceptable. Truong Cam Thanh, CEO of ZION, the owner of ZaloPay, proposed that the government set up an open mechanism for e-wallets to develop. There is no need to require e-wallets to have bank account connections. For wallets without connections, small-value transactions should be allowed. This would help clients access a new payment simple and convenient method, prompt people change their payment habits and give up cash payment, she said. Thanh predicted that new demands would appear in the near future, including post-paid service, peer-to-peer loans, credit loans, insurance and others. Therefore, its necessary to design sandboxes for businesses to try new products and services, and more effectively access users. Trong Dat Vietnam mobile e-commerce to value $10.2 billion by 2023 E-wallets in Vietnam have strongly benefited from the change in payment habits during the Covid-19 pandemic. HCM City authorities have been considering a plan to grant green and yellow cards to its citizens, but the city has decided to extend social distancing after September 15. Ho Chi Minh City has decided to extend social distancing in accordance with the Prime Ministers Directive No.16/CT-TTg till September 30, said Chairman of the municipal Peoples Committee Phan Van Mai at a press conference on September 13. HCM City Party Committee Secretary Nguyen Van Nen. On the sidelines of a working session with Can Gio district late last week, HCM City Party Committee Nguyen Van Nen talked to the press about the forces from other cities and provinces coming to HCM City to reinforce the citys resources to fight the pandemic. Nen said the Ministry of Health (MOH) and the city share responsibility and views about coping with the pandemic. Officers, medical workers and physicians all are enthusiastic about joining forces to implement measures set by the Government and MOH. He stressed that since the city began implementing the plan to fight the pandemic, medical forces allocated by MOH have come to the city, including MOH Deputy Minister Nguyen Truong Son, to discuss and implement solutions. The Delta variant has been spreading very rapidly, going beyond the capability of the citys medical system. If the reinforcement forces of the MOH had not come, we would not have had the results that we see today, Nen said. The Party Committee and city residents respectfully recognize the help. We are indebted to all of them for help and we have to apologize for our mistakes, he said. Before the working session with Can Gio district, Nen and Son, together with the working group, visited Can Gio Covid-19 Treatment Hospital. Talking to the medical staff, Nen said the city is gathering strength to overcome the current difficult period. This is now the third week of the city's peak campaign of implementing Government Resolution 86. The Can Gio Covid-19 Treatment Hospital has made a significant contribution to the citys fight against the pandemic. According to Nen, to prepare to return to the new normal, its necessary to consolidate the medical system from the grassroots. The municipal authorities and MOH are preparing for a long-term strategy. After a period of tough struggle, we have learned bloody lessons. We need to reinforce the medical system, especially at the grassroots level, so as to be proactive to deal with the pandemic once these support forces leave, Nen said. Lockdown continues The city still wont be able to loosen the social distancing after September 15 and apply the green and yellow cards, HCM City Vice Mayor Duong Anh Duc said at a seminar on controlling the pandemic on September 12 evening on the national television VTV. Duc said that the city would have to extend social distancing in accordance with Prime Minister Directive 16 until the end of September. 16+ measures will still be maintained in some areas, while areas with lower risks, such as Can Gio and Cu Chi districts, may apply Government Directive 16- or 15+ measures. HCM City and some southern provinces are considering issuing green and yellow cards, or applying a similar regime to help people belonging to safe groups to travel and participate in production and activities. The Ministry of Information and Communications (MIC), MOH and relevant agencies are preparing databases and IT solutions, so that the country can use one app after the data synchronization. Duc said green and yellow cards will be automatically updated. However, not everyone can use technology, so the city is consulting with experts on other solutions. According to Duc, one of the important criteria for citizens to get green cards is that they have had two vaccine shots and the second one for at least two weeks. Only after two weeks of getting the second shot are there enough antibodies to protect people. To date, HCM City has given 7.8 million shots and 1.3 million people have had two shots, many of whom are older people or have underlying health conditions. These people belong to high-risk group who are recommended to restrict travel, even when they have had two shots. Prior to that, at a working session in Can Gio district, Nen said HCM City still cannot fulfill the task of controlling the pandemic by September 15 as set by the Governments Resolution 86. Therefore, the city has asked for more time, possibly until the end of September, to reach that goal. Ho Van PM warns against hastiness in reopening after lockdown Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh on September 11 demanded that hastiness be avoided in resuming production and business activities when the battle against the COVID-19 has produced initial positive signs. Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh on September 12 launched a programme to provide computers and telecommunications services for students and pupils with difficult circumstances, especially those living in areas hit by the COVID-19 pandemic. The launching ceremony. Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh on September 12 launched a programme to provide computers and telecommunications services for students and pupils with difficult circumstances, especially those living in areas hit by the COVID-19 pandemic. The launching ceremony was held virtually and connected to 63 provinces and cities nationwide. The program aims to mobilise 1 million computers, and ensure mobile service coverage at all 283 points without mobile Internet connection in localities that are applying social distancing regulations, and 1,910 other places nationwide. According to statistics from the Ministry of Education and Training, as of September 12, online teaching and learning has been deployed in 26 out of 63 provinces and cities across the country. The total number of students joining online studying is estimated at 7.35 million, of them 1.5 million do not have computers. Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh. PM Chinh said the Government is very interested in the safe opening of schools. However, in the context of complicated developments of the pandemic, many students do not have computers for their online study, and in many places, the internet network is unstable or there is no connection, he said. According to the PM, online learning and teaching is a new education method, which require educators, psychologists and teachers to suitably adjust teaching methods and contents. He requested the Ministry of Health to coordinate with the Ministry of Education and Training, relevant sectors and localities to accelerate COVID-19 vaccination for children. Meanwhile, the Ministry of Information and Communications was asked to work with the Ministry of Education and Training, relevant ministries and sectors, and localities to ensure internet connection for online teaching and learning. At the ceremony, over 1 million computers worth 2.5 trillion VND (over 109.6 million USD), and 3 trillion VND (over 131.5 million USD) to provide mobile services, were presented to the progamme./. Source: VNA A person in HCM City receives a shot of a COVID-19 vaccine in June. The city wants to reduce the time between two AstraZeneca shots to speed up its immunisation efforts. VNA Photo Thanh Vu HCM CITY The HCM City Department of Health has sought approval from the Ministry of Health to reduce the time between two AstraZeneca COVID-19 shots from the usual eight to 12 weeks down to six weeks to speed up immunisation. The city has speeded up vaccination for people aged 18 and above, administering around 200,000 doses every day in the last five days. It targets vaccinating its entire adult population by September 15, and giving everyone their second shot by the end of the year. AstraZeneca is the most common vaccine used in HCM City, with over 4.8 million doses given so far, followed by Vero Cell with over 1.9 million. Around 6.5 million people, or around 90 per cent of the citys adult population, have received shots. According to the World Health Organisation, AstraZeneca doses should be given eight to 12 weeks apart since longer intervals have been found to be associated with greater vaccine efficacy. When the first batch of AstraZeneca arrived in Viet Nam frontline medical workers were given the shots within four to six weeks because of their great infection risk, Dr Truong Huu Khanh, former head of the infectious and neurological diseases department at HCM Citys Childrens Hospital No.1. The city is currently Viet Nams COVID epicentre with more than 298,000 cases. It is monitoring the treatment of more than 100,000 patients in hospitals or at home. It will continue its social distancing orders under Directive No. 16, originally mandated until September 15, until the end of this month. But certain districts which have managed to control the pandemic such as Can Gio and Cu Chi might be subjected to fewer restrictions. The city had originally targeted controlling the pandemic by September 15, but Nguyen Van Nen, secretary of its Party Committee, has asked for two more weeks to achieve this goal. Two more weeks would help reduce the number of patients under treatment, and give time for vaccinated people to develop immunity, he added. VNS The doses are on top of New Zealands regular shipments from Pfizer and come a few days after officials announced a similar deal with Spain for more than 250,000 extra doses. New Zealand was slow to get its vaccination program running but has seen demand spike since an outbreak of the delta variant in Auckland last month. That had left the country in danger of running out of doses ahead of a large scheduled shipment in October. New Zealands government has been attempting to eliminate the virus entirely in Auckland by imposing a lockdown but is finding the delta variant hard to stamp out, with another 20 daily community cases reported on Sunday. About 54% of people in New Zealand have had at least one dose and 28% are fully vaccinated. YUCAIPA, Calif. The husband of a California nurse who died of COVID-19 more than two weeks ago has died after battling the disease himself. A family member told news station KTLA-TV that Daniel Macias of Yucaipa died on Thursday, leaving behind five young children, including a newborn girl. He and his wife, Davy Macias contracted COVID-19 after going on a family trip to the beach and an indoor water park. An earlier version of the bill also would have barred companies from adding an addendum to a post, as Twitter began doing to some of Trump's tweets last year, but that language was removed in a last-minute amendment. Social media companies have defended their approach, arguing that they are trying to clamp down on misinformation particularly about the 2020 election and incendiary posts that may provoke violence. The companies have also come under fire from liberals who say they have let misinformation spread unchecked and are still not doing enough to address the issue. The bill also establishes a mechanism for users or the Texas attorney general to sue social media platforms thought to be violating a provision of the law and obtain a court order reinstating the account or post. House Bill 20 is all but certain to face legal opposition from industry groups who challenged a similar law enacted in Florida earlier this year. A federal judge temporarily struck down that law in June, finding that the measure violated social media companies' First Amendment rights. Democrats in both chambers of the Texas Legislature opposed House Bill 20, arguing it would prevent social media companies from removing content they deem to be harmful. Last week, our friend Stephen Comber from the Center of Aviation Photography (COAP) took part in the air-to-air photography event organized by the Aviation-PhotoCrew at the Athens Flying Week in the skies over Tanagra Air Force Base near Athens, Greece. As regular readers will recall, Stephen sent us some glorious air-to-air photos of the Hellenic Air Forces F-4 Phantoms in action which we covered in a previous article. However, another subject he captured during this event, albeit from the ground, was the recently-returned Supermarine Spitfire Mk.IXc (MJ755) known to many of us here simply as the Greek Spitfire. While we covered this aircrafts arrival at Biggin Hill for rebuild in 2018, its restoration, first flight, and dramatic return to Greece (this June) the Athens Flying Week show probably represented the first proper chance for the Greek public at large to see this magnificent aircraft strut her stuff in the air since her days in active service more than six decades ago. Technically belonging to the Hellenic Air Force Museum, Supermarine Spitfire Mk.IXc MJ755 made her first post-restoration flight on January 19th, 2020. The fighter arrived home in Greece on Thursday, May 27th, 2021, following a three-year restoration stint within the Biggin Hill Heritage Hangar at former RAF Biggin Hill near London, England. MJ755 is the only ex-Hellenic Air Force Spitfire extant, and had not flown over Greece since her retirement from military service on December 8th, 1953 naturally her homecoming garnered significant attention, both domestically and overseas! As we have related previously, MJ755 has an interesting history. She rolled off the production line at Supermarines shadow factory in Castle Bromwich during late 1943, arriving with 33 Maintenance Unit at RAF Lyneham, Wiltshire that December. In early 1944 the Spitfire received its first combat assignment, joining the RAFs Middle East Air Force, arriving in Casablanca aboard the SS Fort Liard on March 13th. MJ755 joined the Fighting Cocks of No. 43 Squadron and took part in Operation Dragoon, flying cover for the Allied forces landing in the south of France during mid-August, 1944. No.43 hopped from airfield-to-airfield as the invasion progressed across France, extending into Peretola, Italy in October, 1944, and finishing up in Klagenfurt, Austria at wars end. Following the war, the RAF transferred 77 Supermarine Spitfires, a mixture of Mk.IXs and Mk.XIVs, to Greece to help the nation rebuild the Hellenic Air Force. MJ755 was one of these airframes, arriving at its new home on February 27th, 1947; she joined 335 Squadron at Sides that April. By 1949, MJ755 had been relegated to the Air Force Pilots School at Tatoi Air Base in Dekeleia to serve within the Reserve Pilots Training Center. In 1950, the Spitfire journeyed to Athens for a full overhaul at the State Aircraft Factory, where it also received modifications with the fitment of two cameras for aerial reconnaissance missions. As already noted, her last flight took place on December 8th, 1953. For a while, MJ755 remained ground-bound with the Aircraft Storage Squadron at Hellenikon Air Base, but later returned to Tatoi for gate-guard duties. The Spitfire eventually became a part of the Hellenic War Museum in Athens, sitting on external display for several decades before formal transfer to the newly-formed Hellenic Air Force Museum at Dekeleia in 1995. In 2008, the museum removed MJ755 from display, disassembling the fighter for a planned airworthy restoration effort. However, other than taking the fighter apart and stripping off her paint, little substantive restoration work appears to have taken place until a decade later when financing became available to fund her restoration in England. Once that was in place, progress towards the first flight occurred rapidly. She arrived at Biggin Hill for restoration in early 2018, which we covered HERE, and made her first flight less than two years later. Had it not been for the pandemic, it seems certain that her return home would have taken place last Spring. For her performance at the Athens Flying Week, the hugely experienced British warbird pilot Dan Griffith had the honors, however Hellenic Air Force pilots are expected to take on these duties in the near future as Steven Comber noted: I spoke with Dan Griffith (Spit Pilot) on Tuesday at Headcorn. He said he is selecting and training two pilots from the HAF and they should be completed training in UK & Greece by endow Oct/Mid November by which time he will not be expected to go out there unless they need additional flight training. They will initially train with Dan on the Harvard then transition having most likely used the Spitfire simulator at Goodwood. It was magnificent to see this precious aircraft in the skies over Greece again heres to many years of safe operation to come for MJ755! Many thanks again to Steven Comber for these beautiful photos. To learn more about the Centre of Aviation Photography (COAP)and the aviation adventures they organize, please visit their website HERE. While the pandemic will have 2021 plans in flux for the moment, they are sure to have an amazing lineup of fabulous aviation photography adventures lined up for next year! M&A Booz Allen takes full ownership, control of cyber forensics firm Booz Allen Hamilton has evidently found that it likes what it sees in Tracepoint, nearly eight months after becoming an investor in that commercial cybersecurity company. In a release Monday, Booz Allen said it has exercised an option to acquire the remaining equity in Tracepoint and hence gain full control of the digital forensics and incident response company. Terms of the completed acquisition were not disclosed. The plan is for Tracepoint to be fully integrated into Booz Allens commercial cyber business in early 2022 as the acquirer pushes to create a scaled business in areas such as incident response, enterprise consulting and managed services. While the bulk of Tracepoints customers are in commercial markets, the company also touts having clients in the public sector. Cyber insurance carriers, lawyers and brokers are customers of the two-year-old Tracepoint business Global commercial represents nearly 2 percent of annual revenue for Booz Allen, which has over the past year re-oriented that line of business out of international markets such as the Middle East and more toward cyber in North America. Booz Allen retained Goldman Sachs as financial adviser and King & Spalding LLP as legal adviser. Tracepoint retained Raymond James & Associates as financial adviser and Holland & Knight LLP as legal adviser. COMMENTARY How federal contracting can supercharge sustainability The human and economic costs related to climate change have become nearly impossible to ignore. Natural disasters alone cost the global economy upwards of $390 billion a year. In response, industries, corporations and consumers are radically rethinking strategies to help enable a more circular and low-carbon economy. At the same time, governments are adopting aggressive timelines to curb emissions. The Biden administration recently announced targeted reductions of 50 percent to 52 percent in economy-wide greenhouse gas emissions by 2030. One reason these timelines have become so aggressive is that societies have largely been unable to move the needle when it comes to carbon reduction. A task this large requires more cooperation and coordination than most corporations or individuals are capable of achieving on their own. But climate change isnt the only challenge our society faces in order to become more sustainable. Human rights, digital equity, inclusion and more are all linked to progress thats urgently needed today. With its immense purchasing power, the federal government has the ability to drive holistic sustainable innovations in the private sector, particularly in the technology industry. By creating sustainability standards and including sustainability clauses in requests for proposals, government can realize that potential. The power of scale From this point forward, companies will be judged by more than the profits they generate; they will be measured by the value they create for society. By virtue of the federal marketplace, the government has an opportunity to incentivize its contractors to heed that mandate. And because of its size, it can do so on a larger scale. According to Bloomberg Government, $682 billion was spent on contracts in fiscal 2020a record expenditure for the government. That figure is a sharp reminder that the federal governments buying power is the single biggest tool it has to produce meaningful change at a national and local level. Think about it this way: every time you get in your car, you put your seat belt on. Seat belts save lives, so Congress decided to incentivize their use. It did so by refusing to give states tax money for highways, bridges and other infrastructure unless they met or surpassed a base seat belt use rate. This tactic worked. In 2020, nearly two decades since this campaign began, the national seat belt use rate was at 90.3 percent. If similar programs were created for climate action, adopting long-term sustainability practices would become the norm. The health of our planet is paramount to our future as humans. By signing the Paris Agreement, the U.S. has already put down a marker globally, demonstrating its commitment to a more sustainable future. By requiring contractors to meet sustainability standards in order to win contracts, the government can use its substantial buying power to make sustainability more than just the right thing to doit becomes a direct path to business growth as well. Raising the standard A good incentive has to be quantifiable. Using the Paris Agreement or the Environmental Protection Agencys environmental action plan as a framework, the federal government should be able to identify the types of corporate behavior that can move the needle. For example, measuring the amount of recyclable content used in the devices the government purchases could provide a useful baselineand a target for improvement. Through this process, the government could develop a set of sustainability standards that it could embed in its requests for proposals. This model already exists in other areas, such as cybersecurity, where the governments NIST 800 standards have set a high bar for device manufacturers and technology developers. Similarly, the recent executive order to accelerate cybersecurity advancements will push industry to evolve. These benchmarks have produced greater attention to cybersecurity and faster innovation of new secure technologies across both the public and private sectors. The EPA could use a similar model to incentivize sustainability. Advances in sustainability have historically been slow because private industry needs time to evolve. Developing standards in cooperation with industry can get all stakeholders pulling in the same direction. The governments priorities become the industrys priorities, resulting in more consistent progress. Improving sustainability through government contracts will ultimately have a greater impact on national and global climate action, human rights and digital equity. If new standards are created now to achieve the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, our society will see meaningful results from the public and private sector and adopt a new mentality for climate action. SPACE Millennium's small satellite business & market are both in motion Jason Kim was one year into a stint at Raytheon Technologies segment when the nearly two-decade market veteran got the pitch to return to the company he says he grew up with. Kim spent the 10 years prior to Raytheon at Millennium Space Systems, the small satellite maker Boeing acquired in 2018 and operates as a subsidiary focused on alternative models for space access and business. So why go back to become CEO of Millennium and take it through the next phase of its strategy as a non-fully integrated arm of its blue chip owner? Were still a small company, about 450 people at the moment and growing, and with that small company culture, you really know everybody, you know a lot about each other, and you depend on each other and help each other out, Kim told me in an interview at the SATELLITE 2021 trade show in National Harbor, Maryland. On the surface, there is a slight paradox of Millennium touting its small company identity within a global industrial giant like Boeing. The nearly 20-year-old Millennium is a part of Boeings space and launch business unit. Kim said part of Millenniums attraction is that given its status as non-fully integrated, it can still draw on Boeings financial resources and contribute to the owners larger technology roadmaps through prototyping and other efforts. By the same token, Millennium has the freedom to create its own roadmaps with technologies and techniques brought in from outside the traditional aerospace-and-defense sector. One of the roadmap items Kim mentioned was three-dimensional printing of structures to help develop satellites at larger volumes and faster speeds of 12-to-13 months versus years. The word hybrid also came up frequently in our conversation thread about roadmaps and where they are going. We also see the future in a hybrid of ground processing and onboard processing, which will enable even lower latency communications for decision-makers to go from sensing to actual information, Kim said. Theres a hybrid future of small satellites and large satellites working together, we are investing in technologies to enable safety of flight between the small and large satellites. Safety is becoming a more paramount topic as outer space gets more crowded given the ever-increasing numbers of satellite launches each year, which eventually translates to growth in space debris. Millennium participated in an effort to tackle that problem late last year, when two of its satellites launched via a Rocket Lab vehicle to use tethering technology and bring satellites back to earth from low-Earth orbit. Kim said the idea there is to make so-called LEO orbit more sustainable and the DRAGRACER demonstration last year de-orbited two satellites eight months sooner than previously expected. That is also in keeping with Boeings overall environment and sustainability goals, an umbrella under which Kim said Millennium is additionally working on the development of safer fuels. But where the owner of Millennium particularly comes into play is the production aspect and at scale given how Kim sees the overall small sat market as going more from prototypes to constellations. I can see that happening already with satellite communications, but I also see it with things like missile warning and missile defense, Kim said. In one example, Millennium holds a contract with U.S. Space Force to evaluate sensors for satellites to detect and track ballistic missiles. Kim said the goal there is to help incorporate better capability than geosynchronous orbit, or GEO, and less complexity than low-Earth orbit. That effort called Missile Track Custody Prototype could also serve as an example of the hybrid-type constellation Kim spoke of with large and small satellites working together, particularly as the small sat market further matures. As we move more toward constellation building in addition to prototype development, were standing up high-volume production systems and thats the mind-blowing part, Kim said. Were taking a lot of the production expertise from Boeing and applying that to small satellites to become more efficient, to be more affordable. Thats where youre developing satellites in terms of weeks not months. Microsoft's federal shop folds into Azure cloud business Microsoft is restructuring the team responsible for its federal business and aligning that organization under the Azure cloud segment. In an email to employees last week, the global software giant said the Microsoft Federal unit led by Rick Wagner will become part of the Microsoft Azure engineering organization under the stewardship of Jason Zander. Microsofts pursuit and win (at the time) of the Defense Departments JEDI cloud infrastructure contract taught the company the importance of being able to deliver highly customized solutions to the government, said the email written by Microsoft's Chief Commercial Officer Judson Althoff. Our experience has also taught us the tremendous value of bringing our engineering team and our U.S. federal business unit closer together, Althoff wrote. Doing so allows us to be more responsive to our customers distinct needs and make breakthroughs in terms of our product portfolio. The restructuring becomes effective Oct. 1, the day after Toni Townes-Whitley leaves Microsoft from her current role as president of U.S. regulated industries that includes the bulk of public sector business. ZDnet first reported the restructuring as well as Townes-Whitleys departure. In his email to employees, Althoff said the new organization will help the company deliver innovations that are tailored to the federal governments specific needs. The change also aligns with the company's "One Microsoft" approach for addressing customer needs across boundaries. We should work together across teams and subsidiaries in their interest, Althoff said. However, all signs at this point indicate Microsoft will not make any other changes. Given the U.S. federal governments unique role, presence across several industries, and how we work to serve its needs, these changes apply to the U.S. federal government alone, Althoff wrote. Support Local Journalism Your membership makes our reporting possible. {{featured_button_text}} The program will be housed in the historic Masonic Temple in downtown Waterloo and already has plans to open a second location in the community center at All-In Grocers, a Black-owned store set to open in 2022. Parents interested in enrolling their children should contact organizers through the website 1619FreedomSchool.org. Financial support of the 1619 Freedom School will be directed through CFNEIA, meaning all gifts are tax-deductible. They can be made at the programs website or through the foundation directly at fund.cfneia.org/1619freedomschool. Gifts of cash/check and stock are also accepted through the Community Foundation of Northeast Iowa, 3117 Greenhill Circle, Cedar Falls, IA, 50613. Checks should be made payable to the 1619 Freedom School Fund. CFNEIAs grant to the 1619 Freedom school was directed through the organizations Racial Equity Fund, established in June 2020. It is a funding resource for projects moving communities toward racial equity. Grants from the fund support nonprofits addressing racial justice issues and serving diverse groups of people, programs engaging members of the community in advocacy and promoting racial equity, education and training to help create more inclusive communities, and initiatives that explore solutions to ending racism. WAVERLY While the idea of becoming a constitutional county was pretty quickly shot down in Bremer County last week, support for a more narrow, Second Amendment-focused measure at the state level seemed to generate interest. Gary Shawver, of Wadena, and Mike La Coste, of Waverly, appeared before the Bremer County Board of Supervisors in late August to ask it to consider declaring Bremer a constitutional county. A constitutional county is one that ensures it will neither enact nor enforce any laws that encroach upon the rights of citizens under the U.S. Constitution and the Bill of Rights. The countys sheriff becomes the primary enforcer of both, superseding all three branches of federal and state government as necessary. The idea was clearly not a popular one as every one of the 10 or so residents in attendance at Tuesdays meeting, when the issue was on the agenda for discussion, spoke against it. Supervisor Tim Neil said 100% of the calls and emails hed received were against the idea, which he called a bit of grandstanding. All three supervisors acknowledged that they took oaths to uphold both the federal and state constitutions and took that responsibility seriously, but didnt see the need to go any further. Support Local Journalism Your membership makes our reporting possible. {{featured_button_text}} Although security experts say that average iPhone, iPad and Mac user generally need not worry such attacks tend to be limited to specific targets the discovery still alarmed security professionals. Malicious image files were transmitted to the activists phone via the iMessage instant-messaging app before it was hacked with NSOs Pegasus spyware, which opens a phone to eavesdropping and remote data theft, Marczak said. It was discovered during a second examination of the phone, which forensics showed had been infected in March. He said the malicious file causes devices to crash. Citizen Lab says the case reveals, once again, that NSO Group is allowing its spyware to be used against ordinary civilians. In a blog post, Apple said it was issuing a security update for iPhones and iPads because a maliciously crafted PDF file could lead to them being hacked. It said it was aware that the issue may have been exploited and cited Citizen Lab. MASON CITY At the time that the Colby Motor Co. shut down its plant in 1914, about four years after cars first rolled off an assembly line in Mason City, the business had purportedly managed to sell about a thousand automobiles for anywhere from $1,400 to $1,800. For years now, the Kinney Pioneer Museum, located near the Mason City Municipal Airport, has had what it touts as the only-remaining Colby car, a 1911 Roadster, that wouldve been made near 19th Street Southwest. This summer, museum treasurer John Barron said that he got a call from someone who wanted to know if the Kinney Pioneer Museum would be interested in bolstering the four-wheel piece of Mason City history with a complete Colby engine and transmission. Theyve got the Colby car out there so I thought they ought to have a spare engine so they can get a good look at it, said Lloyd Van Horn who operated the Van Horn Truck Museum in the Mason City area for 18 years. Over time, Van Horns collection has included the only known 1912 American-made Saurer (a Swiss brand), a 1923 Model T Ford factory conversion snowmobile with skis and, eventually, a Colby engine with the transmission. Some he came by through auctions and others through informal negotiations over a three-year timespan. The latter method is how Van Horn acquired the Colby. COPENHAGEN, Denmark (AP) The center-left bloc headed to a victory in Norway's elections Monday as official projections pointed to the governing Conservatives losing power after a campaign dominated by climate change and the future of the countrys oil and gas exploration industry. Egotism erects its center in itself; love places it out of itself in the axis of the universal whole. Love aims at unity, egotism at solitude. Love is the citizen ruler of a flourishing republic; egotism is a despot in a devastated creation. (Schiller) Our greatest strength is our greatest weakness. True in people, true in societies. This country was built by individuals, many who overcame tremendous adversity to achieve success. A nation of immigrants, creating the greatest country the world has ever known. From sea to shining sea American individualism reigns. Twenty years ago Saturday, the USA withstood a catastrophic attack, an attempt to undermine our principles and shake the foundations of our society. We reacted by rallying around our people and our country, by affirming the values we have long held dear. We banded together, showed compassion for our fellow citizens. Individualism intact, we could act for the common good. But is our population now confusing its rights with its responsibilities? Or too in love with the reflection of our cherished views to see a bigger picture? Could many of our current problems actually be our egotism? The Da Vinci Code (2006) Based On: The second book in the Robert Langdon series, 2003's The Da Vinci Code The Plot: When a curator at the Louvre turns up dead with bloody symbols carved into his body, Harvard symbology professor Robert Langdon (Hanks) begins an investigation with the help of the victim's granddaughter, police cryptologist Sophie Neveu (Amelie's Audrey Tautou). Through the use of clues hidden in works by Leonardo da Vinci, they set off to find the Holy Grail, but their plan is thrown for a loop when historian Sir Leigh Teabing (Ian McKellen, 82) reveals a potentially history-altering secret: The Grail is not a chalice but instead Mary Magdalene, who was actually the wife of Jesus Christ and the mother of his child. Langdon and Neveu zip around Paris and London in a race against Opus Dei, who seek to destroy the Grail and keep the Vatican's secret safe. The Setting: Paris, London and Scotland The Artworks Being Decoded: Leonardo da Vinci's Vitruvian Man, Mona Lisa, The Last Supper, and Madonna of the Rocks; the Rosslyn Chapel in Roslin, Scotland; the Louvre Inverted Pyramid The Controversies: Though it's a work of fiction, many readers were outraged by the idea that Jesus and Mary Magdalene had a child together. While it might be hard to imagine that the crowd-pleasing team of Howard and Hanks could create one of the most controversial movies of the decade, the film went on to be banned in a slew of countries, including Syria, Belarus, Lebanon, Sri Lanka, Pakistan and many more. Vatican officials called for a boycott, and the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops Office for Film and Broadcasting rated the movie morally offensive and described it as deeply abhorrent. Even the National Organization for Albinism and Hypopigmentation (NOAH) got in on the action, protesting the depiction of Silas, a villainous albino monk played by Paul Bettany, 50. Watch It: The Da Vinci Code, on Netflix Chairman's Letter to Shareholders Sydney, Sep 10, 2021 AEST (ABN Newswire) - On behalf of the Board of Theta Gold Mines Limited ( ASX:TGM ) ( FRA:3LM ) ( OTCMKTS:TGMGF ), I would like to provide an update on the recent funding transactions. Over $10 million funding led by a reputable German investment consortium has been secured, where $6 million funding was via the issuance of a secured bond (ie, debt) with no dilution to Theta's shareholders. This is very exciting as the Board feels the Company is currently undervalued compared to other gold peers and wishes to keep dilution to a minimum, hence preserving value for our shareholders.During the past several weeks, the Company has released various documents to the market, including a Notice of Extraordinary General Meeting ("NOM") on 26 August and a Transaction Specific Prospectus (the "Prospectus") today. The NOM contains resolutions mostly for shareholders to ratify securities already issued during the previous twelve (12) months period. The Prospectus on the other hand is a required legal document to accompany the current Share Purchase Plan ("SPP") offered to our shareholders at same term as the recently completed placements.Over $10m Funding led by German investor 2Invest AG, and a Share Purchase PlanFollowing the "Funding Package to Accelerate TGME Project" release made on 2 August 2021, the Company received the $6,000,000 from 2Invest AG ("2Invest", listed on FSE: 2INV) and issued fifteen (15) 'Bearer Partial Bonds' (the "Bonds") to 2Invest AG at $400,000 face value per bond. The Bonds has a maturity date set at 31 January 2023, with three (3) coupon payments payable to 2Invest semi-annually in arrears (by 31 January 2022, 31 July 2022 and 31 January 2023 respectively) calculated at 20% per annum. This transaction allows the Company to redeem the Bonds at any time prior to the maturity date without any early repayment penalties.The Company has also received the first of the three tranches equity investment from 2Invest in early August 2021 of $1,000,000; numerous other international and local professional and sophisticated investors invested an additional $1,626,000 on same terms as this equity offer.For the benefit of our existing long term supportive shareholders, Theta has dispatched an SPP, offering those shareholders a choice to invest up to $30,000 per registered name on the same terms as the above offer to the professional and sophisticated investors. The SPP offer is limited to a maximum of $1,500,000 and up to $1,000,000 of that amount is underwritten by 2Invest, therefore no oversubscriptions will be accepted by the Company. A Transaction Specific Prospectus has been issued as per regulatory requirements to accompany the shares and the free attaching options offered under the SPP.Furthermore, due to the Company's placement capacity constraints and subject to relevant resolutions being approved by Theta's shareholders at the Extraordinary General Meeting ("EGM") scheduled for 27 September 2021, 2Invest will invest a further $500,000 on same terms as its initial $1,000,000 equity investment.The upcoming Extraordinary General MeetingA Notice of Extraordinary General Meeting, Proxy Forms along with a Letter to Shareholders ("Cover Letter") were released on 26 August 2021, with numerous resolutions requiring shareholders' resolution on or before the EGM scheduled for Monday 27 September 2021 at 2:00pm (AEST).During July/August, I spent several weeks on site at the TGME mines in South Africa with our management team, led by CEO Mr Mitford Mundell. The team is actively working on the Company's TGME Gold Project. A "TGME Project Development Update" release was made on 11 August 2021 with a summary of activities reported. Our mining team have now gained access to the Beta South, CDM and various other underground mines near the TGME Plant in preparation for potential further resource and ore reserve upgrades, as well as advancing the Definitive Feasibility Study on the current first stage TGME Gold Project. Trial mining has also begun at various underground mines. The Company will provide further operational updates in early October, post to the completion of the SPP and current equity funding which is due to be completed by month end.ABOUT 2INVEST AG2Invest AG ( FRA:2INV ) is a listed company based in Heidelberg, Germany that acquires, holds, manages and sells investments in corporations and partnerships in Germany and abroad. Deutsche Balaton AG ( FRA:BBHK ), Delphi Unternehmensberatung Aktiengesellshaft AG and associated entities ("The Associates") are controlling shareholders in 2Invest AG. The Associates has a multi-million dollar equity portfolio across the ASX and TSX junior mining/resources sector.To access the SPP, please visit:About Theta Gold Mines Limited Theta Gold Mines Limited (ASX:TGM) (OTCMKTS:TGMGF) is a gold development company that holds a range of prospective gold assets in a world-renowned South African gold mining region. These assets include several surface and near-surface high-grade gold projects which provide cost advantages relative to other gold producers in the region. Theta Gold Mines core project is located next to the historical gold mining town of Pilgrim's Rest, in Mpumalanga Province, some 370km northeast of Johannesburg by road or 95km north of Nelspruit (Capital City of Mpumalanga Province). Following small scale production from 2011-2015, the Company is currently focussing on the construction of a new gold processing plant within its approved footprint at the TGME plant, and for the processing of the Theta Open Pit oxide gold ore. Nearby surface and underground mines and prospects are expected to be further evaluated in the future. The Company aims to build a solid production platform to over 100Kozpa based primarily around shallow, open-cut or adit-entry hard rock mining sources. Theta Gold Mines has access to over 43 historical mines and prospect areas that can be accessed and explored, with over 6.7Moz of historical production recorded. loading......... Sydney, Sep 12, 2021 AEST (ABN Newswire) - Vango Mining Ltd ( ASX:VAN ) Executive Chairman Bruce McInnes talks with ABN Newswire about the current drilling program in Western Australia and the short term plans that company has.Targeting an upgraded JORC resource of 1.5 Million ounces, the latest drilling program will see the company in a position to commence mining operations planning, for a 20 year operational mine life.The company has a number of previously mined assets that contain residual gold in oxide, with drilling proving that grades beneath the previously mined pits showing increasing grade with depth.To view the Interview, please visit:About Vango Mining Limited Vango Mining Limited (ASX:VAN) is an exploration mining company with ambitions of becoming a high-grade WA gold miner by developing the 100% owned Marymia Gold Project (Marymia) located in the mid-west region of Western Australia, consisting of 45 granted mining leases over 300km2. Marymia has an established high-grade resource of 1Moz @ 3 g/t Au, underpinned by Trident - 410koz @ 8 g/t Au, with immediate extensions open at depth/along strike. Resource Drilling - Sulphide Development Feasibility Study Perth, Sep 13, 2021 AEST (ABN Newswire) - Wiluna Mining Corporation Limited ( ASX:WMC ) ( FRA:NZ3 ) ( OTCMKTS:WMXCF ) is pleased to announce the completion of Resource development drilling for its Sulphide Development Feasibility Study.Commencing in February 2020, over 175,000m of RC and diamond core has been drilled at the Wiluna Mining Centre in a major program utilising up to 8 rigs, with the program underpinning the Company's Mineral Resource (ASX release dated 5th November 2020), and Resource and Reserve updates that are currently underway as part of the Feasibility Study that is due for completion in the March quarter of 2022.The focus of recent drilling has been threefold: to increase the level of confidence in the Mineral Resource at the Wiluna Mining Centre, increase the confidence in high priority mining areas in the 1 to 5 year mine planning window, and to confirm the Company's Reserves.Infill drilling remains ongoing with 3 rigs currently drilling as part of the Company's ongoing Resource development program with a focus now towards underground mine development and grade control.DRILLING RESULTSThe latest drilling results are from Happy Jack and East Lode and comprise an additional 56 holes for 13,249m, completed since the preceding drilling update announced on 20 July 2021.Wiluna Mining's drilling strategy in the past 18 months has successfully defined thick high-grade intervals at shallow levels, close to previously mined zones with available access for rapid low-cost development (Figure 1*).These results demonstrate that the Wiluna orebody is a very large scale and high-grade gold system.The program was designed primarily to infill areas of Inferred Resource within preliminary stope designs, with the aim to upgrade geological confidence to Indicated Resource category, and to extend potential stoping areas along strike, up-dip and down-dip. The program has targeted growth in the Measured and Indicated Resource categories to 2.5Moz to provide the foundation for a sustained long term production operation. Currently the Measured and Indicated Resource is 2.14Moz @ 5.26g/t (above 2.5g/t cut-off). The additional Inferred Resource at Wiluna is 2.10Moz @ 4.57g/t (above 2.5g/t cut-off).HAPPY JACKHappy Jack zone located centrally within the Wiluna Mining Centre (Figure 1*). Drilling has returned multiple hightenor intercepts within 300m of the surface and close to the existing underground mine development.The program was aimed at infilling the Inferred Resource areas, to upgrade geological confidence to Indicated or Measured categories to facilitate the conversion of these areas to Reserves. However, the program also shows potential for Resource growth where holes have intersected the mineralised shear zone below the current Inferred and Indicated Resource limits (Figures 2 & 3*, and ASX release dated 17 June & 20 July 2021).HJRD00065: 6.37m @ 4.95g/t including 3.88m @ 7.58g/tHJRD00081: 6.65m @ 7.59g/tHJRD00100: 6.04m @ 5.87g/tHJRD00101: 8.31m @ 3.73g/t including 3.10m @ 7.85g/tHJRD00108: 9.34m @ 3.55g/t including 0.34m @ 20.00g/tHJRD00113: 1.72m @ 26.84g/t including 0.83m @ 53.40g/tHJRD00115: 2.00m @ 12.37g/tEAST LODEEast Lode is a historical mining area that has produced greater than 1Moz located at the South Mine Area of the Wiluna Mining Centre (Figure 1*).The Resource remains open over broad areas surrounding the historical mine, which was developed mainly in the 1930's to 1940's and briefly in the early 2000's, with mainly sparse historical drilling and presently Inferred Resource zones. The drilling program has focused on infilling these areas to upgrade the geological confidence from the Inferred to Indicated category, and subsequently to estimate Reserves.The final phase of the drilling has focused on infilling the main East Lode, while simultaneously infilling hanging wall and footwall lodes. These additional stacked lodes show potential for significant Resource growth. Figures 5 & 6 show high-grade intercepts infilling Inferred areas of the preliminary stope design, demonstrating that significant high-tenor mineralisation remains in situ surrounding historically mined stopes.WUDD0073: 6.00m @ 5.16g/t WURD0173: 11.30m @ 3.95g/t including 2.00m @ 7.79g/t and 2.00m @ 6.30g/tWURD0176: 4.00m @ 4.34g/tWURD0184: 4.20m @ 9.11g/tWURD0187: 5.73m @ 4.03g/t including 0.73m @ 6.59g/tWURD0188: 19.00m @ 7.03g/t*To view tables and figures, please visit:About Wiluna Mining Corporation Ltd Wiluna Mining Corporation (ASX:WMC) (OTCMKTS:WMXCF) is a Perth based, ASX listed gold mining company that controls over 1,600 square kilometres of the Yilgarn Craton in the Northern Goldfields of WA. The Yilgarn Craton has a historic and current gold endowment of over 380 million ounces, making it one of most prolific gold regions in the world. The Company owns 100% of the Wiluna Gold Operation which has a defined resource of 8.04M oz at 1.67 g/t au. In May 2019, a new highly skilled management team took control of the Company with a clear plan to leverage the Wiluna Gold Operation's multi-million-ounce potential. Carbon Exchange Tender Sydney, Sep 13, 2021 AEST (ABN Newswire) - NSX Limited ( ASX:NSX ) is pleased advise that NSX has been notified by the Clean Energy Regulator that NSX has been identified as a shortlisted Respondent and has been invited to participate, along with others, in the second stage Request for Proposal process for the Australian Carbon Exchange tender on a competitive basis.NSX had made a submission to the Clean Energy Regulator as part of its request for Expressions of Interest process for Exchange Trading, Unit Registry and Associated Services to operate the proposed Australian Carbon Exchange as part of the first phase of the tender.Managing director, John Karantzis stated that "NSX welcomes being shortlisted by the Clean Energy Regulator. NSX has and is building additional capacity for the operation of exchanges. In conjunction with its joint venture ClearPay, it is also building capability that will be able to accommodate a variety of markets, including Australia's proposed carbon market. NSX looks forward to receiving the Request for Proposal documents in due course."Further information and all requests about the tender process and the proposed Australian Carbon Exchange can be found by going to their website at:About NSX Limited NSX Limited (ASX:NSX) via its wholly owned subsidiary National Stock Exchange of Australia Limited (NSXA) operates the Tier 1 Licensed stock exchange facility for the listing of equity securities, corporate debt and investment scheme units. The company is also involved in trading and settlement activities. Your participation is a key to the success of our democracy. We generally think that means voting, but your opportunity to have a say in who your elected representatives will be starts with the drawing of our district lines. The pool of candidates to represent your interests is drawn from our voting districts and those districts are redrawn every 10 years. This is done to account for changes in New Mexicos population growth and distribution, but its not just a numbers game. Its about people and communities, priorities and values, challenges and solutions and making sure the candidates you get to choose from are familiar with your needs and interests, and best able to represent your interests. In the past, our state Legislature managed the redistricting process, but this time your legislators are asking for your input. The 2021 Redistricting Act established a cross-partisan Citizen Redistricting Committee of seven citizens. I am the chairperson of that committee and, together with my six fellow committee members, we must gather input and perspectives from people in communities across our great state as we prepare to deliver proposed district maps to the Legislature by Oct. 30. Our mission is to propose district lines that are drawn fairly through a transparent, open and participatory process. This includes maps for election of New Mexicos congressional delegation, the New Mexico Senate and House of Representatives and the Public Education Commission. The key word there is participatory! Your Citizen Redistricting Committee already completed an initial round of public meetings attended either in person of virtually by nearly 1,200 community members. That wasnt enough. We want these maps to represent your interests and concerns which means we need to hear from you. Based on data provided by the U.S. Census Bureau and public comments from across the state, we are creating initial draft maps for public consideration. Those maps will be available for every New Mexican to review, consider and comment on. You can attend one of our second round of public meetings in person or remotely by Zoom. You can also submit comments at nmredistricting.org. This website also shows you how to draw maps, and we encourage you to draw maps to show us how you would like for your district to be drawn. We will publish proposed maps and concepts for public input on Sept. 17. We will hold eight public meetings throughout New Mexico and by Zoom from Sept. 28 until Oct. 8 so the public can give us their input about the proposed maps and concepts. Roth IRAs have many great benefits. In last weeks article I discussed the tax-free feature of the Roth IRA, along with the fact that Roths do not require RMDs (Required Minimum Distributions). Roths provide attractive estate planning benefits, so they are great to leave to children or grandchildren. They can reduce taxes during retirement, and the contributions are always accessible without penalties. In my view, the Roth IRA is the most powerful type of investment account. I hope you will work to build and maximize your Roth IRA. Todays article discusses ways you can build a Roth IRA. Open an Individual Roth IRA: This is the most straightforward way. If you have earned income below $198,000 as a married couple, or $125,000 as a single person, you can contribute up to $6,000 per year in a Roth IRA. If you are age 50 or over, you can contribute up to $7,000. Roth IRAs can be opened at many brokerage firms and some banks and credit unions. They can be funded for the current tax year until the tax filing deadline (typically April 15 of the following year). Contribute to a Roth 401(k) or 403(b): Most employers offer retirement plans to their employees, and these were historically traditional 401(k)s or 403(b)s. However, in recent years, most employers began providing a Roth option. I encourage everyone to choose the Roth option. You can contribute up to $19,500 if you are under 50, and up to $26,000 if you are age 50 or over. When you contribute to a Roth 401(k) or Roth 403(b) your contributions are considered income (they are from your salary), so you will pay income tax (that year) on the amount contributed. This is why Roth contributions are categorized as after-tax, and it is also why the amount in your Roth including the earnings over many years will be tax-free when you take withdrawals. Lets use an example. A single woman earns $80,000. In 2020 she contributed $10,000 to her traditional 401(k) at work. Her tax return for 2020 would have shown $70,000 as income. If she started contributing the $10,000 to the Roth 401(k) in 2021, her tax return will show $80,000 as income. Many years later, when she retires, she will pay taxes on all withdrawals from the traditional 401(k). She will not pay taxes on any withdrawals from the Roth 401(k). One important factor is that an investor can contribute to an individual Roth IRA and a Roth 401(k) or 403(b) simultaneously. This allows you to grow the Roth portion of your investments even faster. Also, contributing to a Roth 401(k) or 403(b) does not have income limitations. That only applies to an individual Roth IRA. Mega-Contributions: Some employers are now allowing employees to contribute more than the standard IRS limits ($19,500 for those under 50 and $26,000 if you are 50 and over). These plans allow the employee to contribute more after-tax dollars, up to $58,000 if you are under 50 and $64,500 if you are age 50 and over. You will need to check with your employer to see if its plan allows the additional contributions. The Wall Street Journal recently reported that Vanguard stated that about 40% of its 401(k) plans allow mega contributions, and Fidelity reported that 90% of the plans it administers allow them. This strategy will not work if cash flow is tight in your household. However, if you have significant savings that can cover your living expenses, being able to contribute aggressively to an account that will help you quickly build a Roth IRA is attractive. Convert a Traditional IRA to a Roth IRA: This strategy is getting more attention than ever in 2021, because many people expect taxes to increase. If you agree, then considering converting a portion of a traditional IRA to a Roth IRA (before taxes increase) makes sense. Many years ago, if you had over $100,000 in income, you could not convert to a Roth. That rule is no longer valid. Anyone can convert to a Roth as long as they are willing to pay the taxes on the amount converted in the year of the conversion. Lets assume you have a $100,000 traditional IRA, and you want to convert $50,000 of it to a Roth in 2021. You would fill out the necessary paperwork for the Roth conversion, and the $50,000 would be added to your income for 2021. Although I used an example of $50,000, you can convert any amount. An important rule: If you have started taking Required Minimum Distributions (you are over age 70.5), you must withdraw the full RMD before the Roth conversion. The conversion cannot replace taking the RMD. The best conversion strategy is to look for a window of opportunity when your tax bracket will be low for the year. This may be immediately after retirement, but before starting to receive Social Security benefits. Or it may be a year when your income is lower than normal. Or you may decide that tax brackets are low now (due to the changes in tax brackets passed by former President Donald Trump). The timing on Roth conversions needs to be up to each investor. Keep in mind: If you are already in a very low tax bracket and you expect to continue to be in a very low tax bracket throughout retirement then a Roth conversion may not make sense. Invest in a Roth Solo 401(k): If you are a small-business owner, you may have access to a Solo 401(k). Through a combination of contributions and profit-sharing, this plan may allow you to contribute up to $58,000 for persons under 50 and $64,500 for persons 50 and over. Some brokerage firms provide Roth Solo 401(k)s. Other small-business employer retirement plans include a SEP IRA and a SIMPLE IRA. These are also available in Roth versions. These plans all have their own rules, and details are available online or through the plan administrator. A Back-Door Roth IRA: This strategy only applies to a small group of investors. It can work if your income prevents you from directly funding an individual Roth IRA, and you do not have a traditional IRA. You may have a large 401(k), but not a traditional IRA. The limits for 2021 are $6,000 if you are under 50, and $7,000 if you are 50 or over. The details are too complex for this article, but you can find more information online or by talking with an investment professional. You may have read recently about Peter Thiels $5 billion Roth IRA. Thiel was the founder of PayPal. He reportedly invested $2,000 of PayPals shares before their IPO in 1998, and it grew to $5 billion. It is unknown whether he continued investing $2,000 each year until 2002 when PayPal went public. Members of Congress are now looking into whether this was legal. I suspect we will never have to worry about accruing a billion-dollar Roth IRA. However, by using some of the above strategies, you can build a healthy Roth IRA and minimize your taxes for the future. Donna Skeels Cygan, CFP, MBA, is the author of The Joy of Financial Security. She has been a fee-only financial planner in Albuquerque for more than 20 years, and is the branch manager for the Mercer Advisors office in New Mexico. Contact her at dscygan@gmail.com. Associated Press NEW YORK The early months of the coronavirus pandemic shined a spotlight on essential workers. As cities shut down, thank you signs went up on windows and applause rang out each evening for the workers still out there. At the time, there was hope the pandemic would be short-lived. Instead, the virus spread, evolved and unleashed new challenges. More than 60% of U.S. workers had jobs that couldnt be done from home during the pandemic, according to a Pew Research Center survey. Front-line workers struggled with inconsistent masking policies, fought for hazard pay and campaigned for lasting changes, including a $15 minimum wage and adequate paid sick leave. The arrival of vaccines has brought new trials. Labor advocates fought for paid time off and other policies to help give workers access to the vaccines, while confronting reluctance among many to get the shots. At this latest crossroads, The Associated Press caught up with four of the workers it profiled last year: a nurses assistant, a subway driver, a janitor and a warehouse worker. For all four, the biggest change was getting vaccinated. They have taken tentative steps toward normalcy, hugging family and traveling. But the pandemic continues to define their work and life. The janitor Annette Browns boss called her into the office one day a few months ago. He read emails the medical staff had written, praising Browns dedication to her job as an overnight janitor at a hospital in Maryland. The recognition was hard-won. In the early days of the pandemic, Brown wandered around the hospital in search of leftover N-95 masks because the nurses had priority during a nationwide shortage. A member of the 32BJ SEIU service workers union, she pushed unsuccessfully for hazard pay. By her count, 11 other janitors at her hospital quit during the pandemic. A single mother of two, Brown couldnt consider doing the same. For a year, she spent days guiding her children through remote school before collapsing for three hours of sleep before returning to her overnight shift. This month, she was promoted to supervisor, earning her a $2 hourly raise that bumped her pay to $17.90 an hour. They started showing a bit more respect to the housekeeping staff because they saw us in action and how important our job is, she said. Last year, Brown told the AP what she wanted most was a vaccine. She got hers in February but her fears still linger, especially for her children who will start school in person in the fall. Her east Baltimore neighborhood has one of the citys lowest vaccination rates, at less than 50%, according to Baltimore City health figures. Browns oldest son, 13, is eligible for the vaccine but told her he needs time to think about it. I know for a fact that Im not going to make him get it if he doesnt want to, Brown said. But I feel like its best. The subway driver Transit workers in New York City became eligible for the vaccine in January, but Desmond Hill did not get his until April. The subway conductor worried because of how fast the vaccine was created as well as the politics that went into it. His grandmother and father begged him to get it. He finally rolled up his sleeve at a station where the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, New Yorks mass transit agency, was hosting a vaccination drive. The change of heart came from realizing what kind of job I have and what it requires of me as far as being in contact with thousands of people a day, Hill said. According to the MTA, at least 171 of its workers have died from COVID-19 since the start of the pandemic, the majority of them people of color. By May, just 40% of employees had been vaccinated. The state government finally required MTA workers to get the shots or face weekly testing by Labor Day. Nearly two-thirds of MTA employees have now been vaccinated. Employer support has made a big difference in getting workers vaccinated, according to a survey of almost 9,000 service and retail sector workers by Harvards Shift Project. For instance, the survey found that 68% of workers who like Hill were able to get the vaccine at job sites were vaccinated. In contrast, less than 40% of workers who had no employee support were vaccinated. Hill says getting the vaccine has made a night-and-day difference. Last year, like everyone else, I was afraid of being outside and afraid of being around people, I took lunch breaks in my car, Hill said. Now Im vaccinated and I feel more comfortable. He celebrated with a trip to Las Vegas, and best of all, resumed weekly visits with his grandmother. Shes sitting right beside me, Hill said with a laugh. We had lunch and went on a shopping run. The warehouse worker The pandemic pulled Courtenay Brown into activism. It started in March 2020 when she saw social media posts from fellow Amazon warehouse workers demanding more protection from the virus. Brown, who works at an Amazon Fresh fulfillment center in Newark, New Jersey, jumped in after someone dismissively wrote that Amazon workers should just be grateful for their jobs. Soon, she was recruited by the United For Respect labor advocacy group, and found herself talking to journalists and lawmakers. It was thrilling for Brown, an exuberant storyteller whose childhood included bouts of homelessness. During a news conference last fall, she made headlines when she threw out the phrase turkey apocalypse to describe fears that the holiday season would lead to a surge in infections. But the slow pace of progress was disheartening. Amazon, for instance, never reinstated the hazard pay that was the key demand of the turkey apocalypse news conference. Its one thing to be on the outside of the fight and suffering. Its another thing to be in the fight. You get your hopes up, Brown said. Having no hope isnt as bad as having hope and repeatedly having it crushed. Brown, a Navy vet, got vaccinated as soon as possible at a VA hospital and tried to talk hesitant co-workers into getting the shots. Amazon has held more than 1,100 on-site vaccination clinics. It has also offered bonuses and even a lottery for a car and a $500,000 cash prize to encourage its workers to get vaccinated but so far has stopped short of requiring the shots. Still, the warehouse work itself has taken its toll on Brown, who developed tendonitis and plantar fasciitis over four years on the job. Amazon recently announced that it would ease up on, but not eliminate, its time off task tool that dings workers for taking too many breaks, which labor safety advocates have blamed for the companys injury rates. At this point, though, Brown yearns for a job that wont punish her body. This is the last physical job Ill ever have, Brown said. The health care worker Linda Silva hasnt regained her sense of smell more than a year after contracting COVID-19 while working as a nurses assistant at two hospitals in New York. But shes grateful be alive. A doctor reminded her, A lot of people lost their lives, all you lost is your smell,' she said. Now, Im moving forward. A study by Kaiser Health News and the Guardian found that more than 3,600 U.S. health care workers died of COVID-19 during the first year of the pandemic, two-thirds of them people of color. That study also found that nurses and support staff such as Silva were more likely to die than physicians. After hurting her arm in October, Silva switched jobs to become a contract administrator for her union, 1199 SEIU United Healthcare Workers East. Shes not alone: Hospitals across country have struggled to retain staff. Silva got vaccinated as soon as she could in January. At the time, hospitals, nursing homes and clinics ran into surprising resistance to the vaccine from workers, an ongoing challenge that has prompted a growing number of local governments to impose mandates. About a quarter of health care workers in New York remained unvaccinated when the state government imposed a mandate for them in mid-August. For Silva, the vaccination has brought joy. For weeks at the beginning of the pandemic, she avoided hugging her husband and two sons. Instead, they would put their arms around themselves each day and say, I love you. By May, the rest of her family was vaccinated and celebrated with a trip to Kissimmee, Florida. It was our first time going out and doing something it felt great to be able to get out there, she said. I want to let people know it is very important to take the vaccine. We can get back to more normalcy. Associated Press Writer Angeliki Kastanis contributed to this report. Although the coronavirus attacked society without discrimination last year, it tore through the nations historically marginalized communities with particular ferocity, cutting down healthy people while simultaneously busting up the tenuous economic foundations that sustain them. Then came George Floyd, the unarmed black man whose killing by police fired up protests across the country, generating a sustained wave of outrage against racial discrimination unseen in the U.S. since the civil rights movement decades ago. Those two simultaneous crises may have created a perfect storm for building collective awareness about entrenched social injustice and economic inequity that low-income, minority populations have faced for generations. And that awareness, in turn, may be creating new opportunities to address chronic inequality, something Albuquerque-based nonprofits are now embracing in a collective effort to better assist the citys underserved populations with resources and services to help those communities build back better than before. The initiative, which now includes nearly a dozen organizations, is based on a new concept called Color Theory that aims to unite the citys nonprofit groups in a collaborative process to connect lower-income, minority individuals and neighborhoods with the tools they need to build economic opportunity through entrepreneurship. Its specifically focused on the most vulnerable urban populations, said Josue Olivares, executive director of the Rio Grande Economic Development Corp., which is serving as fiscal sponsor and coordinator for the Color Theory coalition. Were working together to create a collaborative system for connecting marginalized individuals and groups with a broad network of existing organizations and programs set up to assist them, Olivares told the Journal. We want to put those communities out in front to change the system so that more resources are directly allocated to them. All the groups involved recognize that as critical to lift up families and to lift up the local economy in general. The coalition received a $1 million award in August from the W.K. Kellogg Foundation to help build the initiative. The two-year grant will allow the coalition to hire a full-time coordinator, plus two community navigators who will work directly in low-income urban neighborhoods to reach out to individuals and groups to connect them with resources and services. The navigators will focus on targeted areas around the city, such as the International District and the South Valley. The program is for everyone, but our priority is to reach out to three community groups in particular, Olivares said. That includes Spanish-speaking people, immigrants and refugees, and Native Americans living in the urban area. Those are the groups we consider to be the most vulnerable. New coalition Outreach in underserved communities is nothing new. All the organizations involved in Color Theory have been working for years to connect marginalized urban populations with programs and services to build economic opportunity. But pulling disparate organizations together into a central, cohesive umbrella that coordinates their efforts through a single, connected network, is novel, said Navajo Nation member Vanessa Roanhorse, owner of Roanhorse Consultancy and co-founder of the economic development group Native Women Lead. The organizations building the coalition have been doing this for years, Roanhorse told the Journal. Whats novel is that were all working together across our organizations to build community power through community entrepreneurship and economic opportunity. Most of the participating groups have long focused on building entrepreneurship to create jobs and wealth. That includes the South Valley Economic Development Center, the immigrant-oriented group Encuentro, and the Womens Economic Self Sufficiency Team, or WESST. Two newer organizations are also involved: the International District Economic Development Center, which launched in 2019, and Siembra Leadership High School, a charter that started in 2016 to offer youth alternative, hands-on learning focused on entrepreneurship and economic development. The New Mexico Immigrant Law Center and the New Mexico Dream Team, which generally concentrate on public policy, are also participating. Origins Color Theory originally emerged from efforts by WESST, the South Valley development center and Encuentro to improve access to resources for underserved communities through cross coordination. They integrated their online networks so that clients working with one group could also tap into programs and services offered by the other organizations. We were all serving similar populations and working to increase our outreach to Spanish-speaking clients, so it made sense to collaborate, said WESST Executive Director Agnes Noonan. The average person isnt plugged into all the resources in the community, and they get passed from one organization to another, especially when there are language barriers. Over time, their joint efforts broadened to include more organizations with a wide range of programs and services, eventually evolving into Color Theorys comprehensive network of cross collaboration, said Julianna Silva, who previously worked with WESST and is now chief operating officer with the nonprofit Family Friendly New Mexico. The system allows individuals to navigate a broad spectrum of resources through a single point of entry with assistance at every step of the way to meet particular needs, Silva said. The organizations interact with individuals throughout their journey, she said. Clients can start out with one organization and move onto another as we jointly walk them through a collaborative web of support. Thats critical for most low-income individuals, who often have limited time and resources to spend seeking assistance, and doubly so for Spanish speakers with low English proficiency, said Alex Horton, executive director of the International District development center. Entrepreneurs in low-income communities often take a day off from work to get help, and if theyve gone to various organizations and arent getting the assistance they need, they kind of get deflated, Horton said. Were making the whole startup ecosystem much easier for them to access services. Through joint collaboration, the nonprofits can also better identify individual and community needs and work together to meet them. And by placing community navigators directly in communities under the Kellogg grant, the coalition expects to significantly increase outreach. The navigators will spend the majority of their time with boots on the ground to connect with entrepreneurs, Horton said. They can help grow the support system and drive up the number of startups able to launch in those communities. Critical timing Although the Color Theory coalition was emerging prior to the coronavirus, nonprofit leaders say pandemic-induced hardship and heightened awareness of social and racial injustice generated by last years civil unrest could generate more support for their efforts among public decision-makers, philanthropic organizations and private investors. I definitely see a stronger awakening about the need to put action behind words from funders, organizations and people working in marginalized communities, Silva said. Native Women Lead and New Mexico Community Capital, for example, won a $10 million grant in early August through a national competition launched by the Melinda French Gates investment company with support from other philanthropists. The Albuquerque groups will use the money to develop an investment fund for Indigenous female entrepreneurs and offer business training courses. The coalition also applied for a $2.5 million grant through the U.S. Small Business Administrations new Community Navigator Pilot Program. The SBA established it this year under the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021, providing $100 million for small businesses impacted by the pandemic and minority-owned enterprises often marginalized from earlier rounds of federal funding. The Kellogg grant is the first funding weve received to build this coalition, but its just a seed, said Josue Olivares. The pandemic clearly raised awareness about issues of inequity. Hopefully, that will lead to more investments and resources for these communities. Copyright 2021 Albuquerque Journal The Bernalillo County Sheriffs Office considers itself fully staffed, but that hasnt insulated it from high turnover over the past year or concerns that its not assigning enough of its deputies to patrolling the streets. BCSO is budgeted for 325 deputies, and it now has 315. However, there are 19 cadets in the academy. In an interview with the Journal, Detective Aaron Velarde, the president of the Bernalillo County Deputy Sheriffs Association, said he thinks the department doesnt have enough deputies on patrol, given the increase in crime in its jurisdiction, the large number of deputies allocated to specialty units and the increasing response times to calls. When you have four deputies on a shift and you get one major call, thats going to be all four of those deputies tied up, Velarde said. Meanwhile, you have all these other things that are still happening, but were having to either pull units from other area commands to cover or theres a significant time delay in them getting there, or theyre just going to have to wait. Thats not fair to the citizens to have to be placed in that situation when it could be prevented. Sheriff Manuel Gonzales, who is running for mayor, declined repeated requests from the Journal to schedule an interview, ultimately saying that neither he nor anyone else from the agency was available. His spokespeople did not respond to questions about the union presidents claims, but they did provide data and statements. Staffing and the quality of service we provide are always at the forefront of our mind, wrote Deputy Joseph Montiel, a BCSO spokesman. This is the reason why, for many years now, while other departments have struggled with staffing deficits, the Sheriffs Office has remained fully staffed. Increase in departures Over the past couple of years, the agencys staffing level has stayed relatively constant. BCSO provided data that showed there have been from 309 to 315 deputies in the ranks since 2018. But like other law enforcement agencies across the country, the Sheriffs Office has had a higher number of departures in the past year than in previous years. Jayme Fuller, a BCSO spokeswoman, said 26 deputies retired and nine resigned since June 2020 adding up to 35 deputies or 11% of the budgeted force departing. In the 2020 fiscal year, 21 deputies left, and 23 left in fiscal 2019. Fuller cited challenges to retention in law enforcement agencies across the country, saying, The negativity and current rhetoric surrounding law enforcement are likely having a negative impact on people willing to do the job and the quality of life for those in the profession. Although, BCSO is seeing more deputies retire after many years (20+) of service rather than leaving our team for another agency or the profession altogether, Fuller wrote in a statement. Our high staffing levels are a positive reflection of good morale at our agency, especially considering the highly publicized rhetoric and negativity toward police. BCSO does a great job retaining our deputies and creating a culture where they feel supported by the leadership and encouraged by the many opportunities to advance here in their law enforcement careers. Professor Maria Haberfeld, chair of the Department of Law, Police Science and Criminal Justice Administration at John Jay College of Criminal Justice, in New York City, cautioned against comparing law enforcement agencies with one another. For instance, she said, more people could want to join a more rural sheriffs office than a city police department simply because they are attracted to a certain type of policing. Likewise, urban agencies were more likely than smaller departments to have lost a lot of officers over the past year. Theyre more in the spotlight in terms of, you know, having clashes with the public and demonstrations, Haberfeld said. The need to re-imagine our structure is primarily directed more at larger municipal departments than a department that has 10 cops. Haberfeld said that as crime increases across the country, the public might be inclined to call for more of a law enforcement presence. The unincorporated area of Bernalillo County had a stark increase in crime in 2020. Data provided to the Journal from BCSO earlier this year showed there had been an increase across every crime category except for homicides where there was one fewer. Some of the increases such as aggravated assault and larceny were double -digit percentages. Federal task forces One thing Velarde said contributes to the lack of patrol officers is the number of deputies assigned to federal task forces 25, according to BCSO. He said he would expect an agency the size of BCSO to have one or two, but over the years the number has been steadily increasing. Operation Legend a controversial federal initiative brought into the Albuquerque area by the administration of former President Donald Trump relied on local and federal agencies working together on task forces. We had some staff meetings about it early on and voiced our concerns, and we were basically just told that thats how things were going to have to operate for the time being, Velarde said. Fuller said that there are 181 deputies on the Field Services division but that around a third are assigned to specialty units including the Community Action Team (6), Student Support (12), Traffic (5), DWI (4) and the task forces. That leaves 116 deputies on patrol over three area commands 50 in the south, 39 in the north and 27 in the east. She said there are 35 detectives total and about 100 more sworn staffers, including the sheriff, two undersheriffs, three deputy chiefs and many more captains, lieutenants and sergeants that are supervisors in all the various units. BCSO deputies took 118,638 calls for service in 2020 almost 18,000 fewer than the previous year. And response times for Priority 1 calls exceeded 10 minutes with the north area clocking in at just under 11 and a half minutes from the time the call was placed to the time a deputy arrived on scene, the east clocking almost 15 and a half minutes and the south at just over 11 minutes, 45 seconds. Velarde said hes seeing some calls pending for longer and longer times. Back when I started 15 years ago, it was rare to see a call pend for more than 20 minutes, Velarde said. And now, I mean, were starting to see calls pend for, you know, 45 minutes to an hour, or sometimes over an hour. SANTA FE A Santa Fe ethics board has dismissed efforts by Mayor Alan Webber to impose financial disclosure requirements on fraternal organizations that have criticized his handling of clashes over historical monuments and tributes. Webber is seeking a second term in the November election amid disputes over monuments and tributes to New Mexicos Spanish colonial history and armed conflicts of the 19th century. Webber attorney Jeff Herrera argued Thursday that voters have a right to know more about spending by the groups that sponsored a newspaper ad and yard signs that were critical of the mayor, before the election. Board members voted 4-0 to dismiss the complaint on several grounds. Board member Paul Biderman said city campaign disclosure requirements dont apply to groups that arent primarily political organizations, and that allegations of collusion with a rival candidate were misdirected. The incumbent mayor is running against fellow Democrat JoAnne Vigil Coppler, a City Council member, and Republican Alexis Martinez Johnson, who ran for Congress in 2020. Webbers complaint took aim at the Union Protectiva de Santa Fe, an advocacy group for Spanish colonial heritage and pride, along with local chapters of the American Legion and Veterans of Foreign Wars alleging that the groups bankrolled newspaper ads, yard signs and social media spots in coordination with Vigil Coppler. Virgil Vigil, president of the Union Protectiva, said dismissal of the complaint was a victory for free speech as local Hispanic residents defend historical monuments and traditions. He said the groups advocacy campaign was launched before the election season, without addressing whether it actively supports Vigil Coppler. We started this process in June of last year, at that point nobody was running for office, he said. It has to do with respecting the city and the culture. A monument honoring Union soldiers who died fighting Indigenous tribes and Confederate soldiers was toppled by a crowd last year. A counterclaim filed by Union Protectiva accuses the mayor of bullying and using city-sponsored recreational events to promote his reelection. Conflicts over history in Santa Fe have escalated amid a national conversation about public markers paying tribute to historical figures linked to racism, slavery and genocide. AN ILLEGAL TRENTA LINE IN A SHORT SPACE? Donna OBrien emails thats the deal at Washington and Lomas. Folks traveling north on Washington that want to access the only entrance to this Starbucks located on the west side of Washington turn left illegally across Washington. I say illegally as there is a double solid yellow line on Washington from Lomas past the Starbucks. In waiting for traffic heading south on Washington to clear in order to cross, they are causing vehicles behind them to back up to a standstill in the middle of Lomas and remain stuck there even after the traffic light has changed, allowing for Lomas traffic heading west to potentially hit one or more vehicles that are sitting ducks in the middle of Lomas while the person is trying to turn left into Starbucks. And its not a new issue. Back in 2017, Margaret Keller emailed, There is a mess going on at Washington and Lomas with the high volume of traffic going in and out of Starbucks on the northwest corner. Cars are backed up to get in off of Washington; those going north or south on Washington are either stopping to let cars into Starbucks, making it dicey for those behind, or we are dodging cars trying to cut across traffic and of course no one uses a blinker; or we are stuck in the middle of Lomas when the lights are changing. It is an accident waiting to happen, and already it is happening. The city didnt reply then. But it has now. Donna asks, Would it be possible for the city to install some vertical traffic blockers in the double solid yellow lines at least the width of the Starbucks driveway, essentially blocking the entrance from the east side of Washington? This would prevent the backup in the Lomas/Washington intersection. With so many inattentive drivers these days its only a matter of time before someone heading west on Lomas plows into the unexpected vehicle(s) stuck out in the intersection. And Margaret suggested make the entrance off of Lomas as the one-way Enter Only and then use Washington as Exit Only. No and no. Johnny Chandler of Albuquerques Department of Municipal Development says, The intersection of Washington and Lomas is slightly more congested, which is also leading to the slower speeds by drivers. There is enough green time on Washington Avenue for the queue to clear. The Starbucks at Lomas and Washington has been operating for nearly six years. From 2010-2014 that intersection saw an average of 9.6 crashes per year. From 2016-2019 the intersection saw an average of 8.5 crashes per year. This intersection does not warrant any changes of access at this time. As for the double yellow line on Washington, the department will eventually look into removing the lines when the road is due for rehab. Washington Avenue rates as Fair for roadway condition, so this change is quite a few years away. In the meantime we ask drivers to be respectful, understanding that Starbucks is a popular business, and work with each other for ease of access for everyone. RAINS MADE I-40 POTHOLES WORSE: Riley Nelson has two questions first, on eastbound I-40, There are numerous potholes in the two right lanes between Louisiana and Eubank. They are impossible to avoid. Staying left and getting over at the last minute to exit is not an option at rush hour. Kimberly Gallegos with the Albuquerque District 3 office of the New Mexico Department of Transportation says, Our maintenance crews work hard to keep up with the potholes along the interstates and highways. Crews especially pay attention after rainstorms, because its common material is swept out of the pothole during heavy rains and causes the need for them to be filled again. As you know, we have had torrential rains over the summer, and this had caused potholes to worsen. Crews will continue to routinely schedule pothole repairs and keep up with preserving the pavement until re-construction of the roadway takes place. AND THE HIGHWAY RUINED MY STRUTS: Second, Riley emails, I recently had to have my front struts and other structural parts replaced in my 2017 Subaru at 66,000 miles, a repair my mechanic said he had never had to do so early in the life of a vehicle, The cost was more than $1,000. Is there a claims program through DOT to reimburse such repairs due to pothole damage, or do I need to sue the DOT? Gallegos says We do have a tort claim process for damage to vehicles. The one-page form is sent to the states Risk Management Division in Santa Fe, which can be reached at 827-0442. Editorial page editor DVal Westphal tackles commuter issues for the metro area on Mondays. Reach her at 823-3858; dwestphal@abqjournal.com; or 7777 Jefferson NE, Albuquerque, NM, 87109. DEVELOPING... Story will be updated as new information can be verified. Updated 4 times HOUSTON Nicholas strengthened into a Category 1 hurricane Monday as it headed toward landfall along the Texas Gulf Coast and it was expected to bring heavy rain and floods to coastal areas from Mexico to storm-battered Louisiana. Forecasters at the National Hurricane Center in Miami said top sustained winds reached 75 mph (120 kph) a few hours before expected landfall. Although the system was expected to generate only a fraction as much rain as Harvey, a hurricane warning was issued for Port OConnor to Freeport, as well as a hurricane watch from Freeport to the western tip of Galveston Island. A tropical storm warning was issued for Port Aransas to Sabine Pass, as well as a storm surge warning for Port Aransas to Sabine Pass, including Galveston, Aransas, San Antonio and Matagorda bays. A storm surge watch is in effect from Sabine Pass to Rutherford Beach, Louisiana. An automated station in Matagorda Bay registered a sustained wind of 76 mph (122 kph) with gusts to 95 mph (153 kph), the hurricane center reported. About 50,000 customers were without power in Texas on Monday night, according to the utility tracking site poweroutage.us. In flood-prone Houston, officials worried that heavy rain expected to arrive late Monday and early Tuesday could inundate streets and flood homes. Authorities deployed high-water rescue vehicles throughout the city and erected barricades at more than 40 locations that tend to flood, Mayor Sylvester Turner said. This city is very resilient. We know what we need to do. We know about preparing, said Turner, referencing four major flood events that have hit the Houston area in recent years, including devastating damage from Harvey, which flooded more than 150,000 homes in the Houston area. Turner and Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo asked residents to stay off the roads Monday evening to avoid risking their lives or the lives of first responders who might be called to rescue them from flooded roadways. What I need each resident to do is get where you need to be by 6 p.m. and stay there, said Hidalgo, the top elected official in Harris County, which includes Houston. The Houston school district, the states largest, announced that classes would be canceled Tuesday because of the incoming storm. The weather threat also closed multiple COVID-19 testing and vaccination sites in the Houston and Corpus Christi areas, and forced the cancellation of a Harry Styles concert scheduled for Monday evening in Houston. Late Monday night, shortly before landfall, Nicholas was centered roughly 45 miles (75 kilometers) southwest of Freeport. The National Hurricane Center said the storm was moving to the north-northeast at near 10 mph (17 kph) and was expected to continue on that path through the night, moving over extreme southeastern Texas on Tuesday. Forecasters said they expected the storm to turn more toward the northeast at a slower motion by late Tuesday and an even slower eastward track on Wednesday, when it was expected to drift over southwestern Louisiana. Six to 12 inches (15 to 30 centimeters) of rain were expected along the middle and upper Texas coast, with isolated maximum amounts of 18 inches (46 centimeters) possible. Other parts of southeast Texas and south-central Louisiana and southern Mississippi could see 4 to 8 inches (10 to 20 centimeters) over the coming days. Listen to local weather alerts and heed local advisories about the right and safe thing to do, and youll make it through this storm just like youve had many other storms, Abbott said during a news conference in Houston. Nicholas was headed toward the same area of Texas that was hit hard by Harvey. That storm made landfall, then stalled for four days, dropping more than 60 inches (152 cm) of rain in parts of southeast Texas. Harvey was blamed for at least 68 deaths, including 36 in the Houston area. After Harvey, voters approved the issuance of $2.5 billion in bonds to fund flood-control projects, including the widening of bayous. The 181 projects designed to mitigate damage from future storms are at different stages of completion. University of Miami hurricane researcher Brian McNoldy said he expects Nicholas to be magnitudes less than Harvey in every regard. The main worry with Nicholas will be its speed. Storms are moving slower in recent decades, and Nicholas could get stuck between two other weather systems, said hurricane researcher Jim Kossin of The Climate Service. Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards declared a state of emergency Sunday night, ahead of the storms arrival in a state still recovering from Hurricane Ida and last years Hurricane Laura and historic flooding. The system was expected to bring the heaviest rainfall west of where Ida slammed into Louisiana two weeks ago. Across Louisiana, almost 120,000 customers remained without power Monday morning, according to poweroutage.us. In Cameron Parish in coastal Louisiana, Scott Trahan was still finishing repairs on his home from Hurricane Laura, which put about 2 feet of water in his house. He hopes to be finished by Christmas. He said many in his area have moved instead of rebuilding. If you get your butt whipped about four times, you are not going to get back up again. You are going to go somewhere else, Trahan said. Colorado State University hurricane researcher Phil Klotzbach said via Twitter that Nicholas is the 14th named storm of the 2021 Atlantic hurricane season. Only four other years since 1966 have had 14 or more named storms by Sept. 12: 2005, 2011, 2012 and 2020. ___ Associated Press writers Jill Bleed in Little Rock, Arkansas, Seth Borenstein in Washington and Terry Wallace in Dallas contributed to this report. ___ Follow Juan A. Lozano on Twitter: https://twitter.com/juanlozano70 BUCKEYE, Ariz. Two hospitalized toddlers remained in critical condition the day after they were found in unresponsive conditions at a residential pool in a Phoenix suburb, police said Sunday. The Buckeye Police Department says that three children in all were at the pool on Saturday. Hospital officials were ready Sunday to release a 1-year-old child whose health was listed in fair condition, police said in a news release. It wasnt clear how long the children were submerged in the pool, which officials said wasnt fenced. Police say a man was inside the home when the children were in the pool. An investigation is underway. CHARLESTON, S.C. Two of the Souths most picturesque destinations have topped a major travel magazines list of best U.S. cities. Readers of Travel + Leisure ranked Charleston, South Carolina, No. 1 on its list of the top 15 cities in the U.S. Coming in at No. 3 was a coastal Southern neighbor Savannah, Georgia. The magazine wrote that Southern cities continue to steal the hearts of its readers thanks to the wonderful mix of warm hospitality, approachable size, excellent food, and striking architecture. Its the ninth straight year that Charleston has led Travel + Leisures best U.S. cities list. The city that beat out Savannah for No. 2 on this years list was Santa Fe, New Mexico. The list is featured in the magazines October issue. COEUR DALENE, Idaho Northern Idaho has a long and deep streak of anti-government activism that has confounded attempts to battle a COVID-19 outbreak overwhelming hospitals in the deeply conservative region. A deadly 1992 standoff with federal agents near the Canadian border helped spark an expansion of radical right-wing groups across the country and the area was for a long time the home of the Aryan Nations, whose leader envisioned a White Homeland in the county that is now among the worst hit by the coronavirus pandemic. Hospitals in northern Idaho are so packed with COVID-19 patients that authorities announced last week that facilities would be allowed to ration health care. This is extremism beyond anything I ever witnessed, Tony Stewart said of people who refused to get vaccinated and wear masks. Stewart is a founding member of the Kootenai County Task Force on Human Relations, which battled the Aryan Nations for decades and helped bankrupt the neo-Nazi group. Im almost speechless in seeing so many people have lost concern for their fellow humans. Only 41% of Kootenai Countys 163,000 residents were fully vaccinated, well below the state average of about 56%, officials said. Anti-government sentiments are strong in northern Idaho. State Rep. Heather Scott, a Republican from Blanchard in the northern part of the state, refused an interview request, saying reporters were liars. Scott promoted mask-burning protests around northern Idaho and the rest of the state earlier this year. She is also among the lawmakers that have frequently pushed misinformation about COVID-19 on Facebook. Stewart called fierce opponents of vaccines an irrational segment of the population. But not everyone agrees there is a problem. David Hall, 53, who co-owns a restaurant in bustling downtown Coeur dAlene, said Friday he serves hundreds of customers a week and Ive heard of nobody thats been hospitalized. Not a single person who worked for me got it, Hall said of COVID-19. I dont know where (patients) are coming from. One thing Hall does know is news of packed hospitals is bad for business, saying his revenues have dropped. Don Kress, 65, of Coeur dAlene, said he believes that Kootenai Health, the towns major hospital, is overflowing with patients. Its become such a politicized issue, he said of COVID-19. If you take the politics out of it and let common sense prevail, people will get the shot. Northern Idaho has had an anti-government segment of the population for decades. It was the site of the standoff at Ruby Ridge, north of the town of Sandpoint. Randy Weaver moved his family to the area in the 1980s to escape what he saw as a corrupt world. Over time, federal agents began investigating the Army veteran for possible ties to white supremacist and anti-government groups. Weaver was eventually suspected of selling a government informant two illegal sawed-off shotguns. To avoid arrest, Weaver holed up on his land. On Aug. 21, 1992, a team of U.S. marshals scouting the forest to find suitable places to ambush and arrest Weaver came across his friend, Kevin Harris, and Weavers 14-year-old son Samuel in the woods. A gunfight broke out. Samuel Weaver and Deputy U.S. Marshal William Degan were killed. The next day, an FBI sniper shot and wounded Randy Weaver. As members of the group ran back toward the house, the sniper fired a second bullet, which passed through wife Vicki Weavers head killing her and wounding Harris in the chest. The family surrendered on Aug. 31, 1992. The Aryan Nations was not specifically anti-government, but it drew many disaffected people to the area after white supremacist Richard Butler moved there in 1973 from California. Four years after moving to rural Kootenai County, Butler a former aeronautical engineer started a compound. The 20-acre site north of Hayden Lake would become a racist encampment that drew people from across the country. The group held parades in downtown Coeur dAlene and annual summits at the compound. By the 1990s, the Aryan Nations had one of the first hate websites. The Aryan Nations compound and its contents were burned and bulldozed after a lawsuit brought by the Southern Poverty Law Center bankrupted the group in 2000. Now COVID-19 has exacerbated conflicts in Coeur dAlene, a fast-growing resort and retirement community that hugs the shore of a namesake lake and draws celebrities and the rich to gorgeous lakefront homes. High-rise condos have replaced lumber mills near the lakefront, and swanky stores abound. Last year, armed groups patrolled the citys downtown core to protect against non-existent Black Lives Matter protesters. COVID-19 has thrived in this environment. Kootenai Health has 200 beds for medical or surgical patients. On Wednesday, Kootenai Healths doctors and nurses were caring for 218 medical and surgical patients, aided by military doctors and nurses called in to help with the surge. On Friday, the hospital tallied 101 COVID-19 patients, including 35 requiring critical care. The hospital normally has just 26 intensive care unit beds. Jeanette Laster is executive director of the Human Rights Education Institute, which was established in the wake of the Aryan Nations rise in the region. She cautioned that it is incorrect to assume that the neo-Nazi philosophy of the Aryans is related to the anti-government sentiments that now dominate the political agenda. The Aryan Nations was a white supremacist, antisemitic group, she said, while anti-government sentiments are rooted in freedoms guaranteed by the Constitution. I dont feel the majority of our community is hateful, Laster said. This is more about constitutional rights. Distrust of the media and authorities is also an issue, she said. People are begging for accurate information, Laster said. Theres a lot of fear. CANON CITY, Colo. Growing up in rural Michigan, Dawn Ketcham didnt think much of mobile home parks and the people who lived there. I thought they were trailer trash, she said. Then Ketcham moved into the Central Manufactured Home Community, a tight-knit park in Canon City where neighbors bake each other fresh banana bread, watch their grandkids and chat easily on their porches. These people werent trailer trash, Ketcham realized just everyday folks who couldnt afford $450,000 mortgages in other parts of town. And for her first eight years, life was good. Until RV Horizons-Impact Communities, a Cedaredge-based company, bought the park. Suddenly, rent started rising. With a degenerative back condition that leaves her unable to work, Ketcham is slowly losing any wiggle room on her $800-a-month disability budget. A pipe issue left standing water in her yard for months, attracting mice and gnats that flew into her mouth every time she brushed her teeth. Sewage backed up into her bathtub. Theyre just money-hungry little (expletive), Ketcham said. Im not renting property, just a small little piece of land. Residents say this is life at a mobile home park run by RV Horizons-Impact Communities, a company on Colorados Western Slope that stakes its claim as the fifth-largest owner of mobile home parks in the United States. Lawsuits, compliance complaints and protests against the company are piling up and state regulators are taking notice. As of mid-August, there were open complaints filed to the states new Mobile Home Oversight Program at eight of RV Horizons-Impact Communities 18 Colorado parks, according to state data. Regulators, meanwhile, recently subpoenaed records from one of the owners regarding sewage, water and tree issues at an Eckert mobile home park. This is par for the course for David Reynolds and Frank Rolfe, residents in their mobile home parks say. The pair, along with owning RV Horizons-Impact Communities, run a training course on the Front Range on how to get rich in mobile home park ownership. At Mobile Home University, the owners teach attendees to increase rents relentlessly because mobile home owners contrary to their name generally cant afford to move. Remove amenities such as pools or playgrounds. Say goodbye to laundry rooms or vending machines. Affordable Housing is the hottest arena in commercial real estate right now, their website states prominently. With over 20% of Americans trying to live on $20,000 per year or less, the demand for mobile homes has never been higher and the big winners are the owners of the mobile home parks in which those customers reside. While Reynolds and Rolfe profit off their parks, people like Ketcham are paying more than $500 out of an $800-a-month fixed income to rent the land beneath her Canon City mobile home. Earlier this summer, the water went out for six days at homes throughout the park, forcing elderly and disabled residents to lug their own water from across the park. Toilets sat unflushed. This is one of our countrys primary methods of low-income homeownership, said Esther Sullivan, an assistant professor of sociology at the University of Colorado Denver, who wrote a book on manufactured housing. It is incredibly important not just as a source of affordable shelter, but also as a route to the American dream of homeownership for those of less means. Mobile Home University Reynolds and Rolfe have not been shy about how they make their money and they set up Mobile Home University to teach others how to follow in their footsteps. Company representatives declined multiple interview requests from The Denver Post as well as a request to attend a recent three-day seminar. But a review of past interviews, as well as the companys own blog, sheds light on how these two individuals think about the mobile home industry and the residents who reside in their parks. Early on, Rolfe said he assumed that virtually everyone who lived in a mobile home was a drug addict, a hooker, and just the scum of the earth, the mobile home park owner said in a 2016 interview, according to The New Yorker. He later came to realize, the profile notes, that just because the tenants were poor didnt mean they were dangerous or stupid. Reynolds and Rolfe say they own the fifth-largest number of mobile home parks in the country, though its unclear how many they actually own. On their website, the owners at various times say they own 170 parks across 20 states, 250 parks in 25 states, and 280 communities across nearly 30 states. Eighteen of those parks are in Colorado, across a wide swath of the Western Slope, the Four Corners and the Front Range. The first thing they do after they buy a park? Raise rent. Then they raise it again, the owners say on their website. Many investors are able to retire or meet their financial objectives with just one mobile home park, reads one post on the Mobile Home University website. Heres an example: If you have a 100-space mobile home park and raise the rent $50 per month, the increase in net cash flow is $60,000 per year, just in that one attack plan. Mobile home parks are unique beasts in the American housing scene because people often own the homes they live in. They dont, however, usually own the land on which their homes sit. That belongs to the park owners. Owners should keep raising rents, Rolfe preaches, because mobile homes are not, in fact, very mobile. What Ive found, and, again, just as a heartless person, is that the customers are stuck there, Rolfe says in one Mobile Home University video. They dont have any option. They cant afford to move the trailer. They dont have three grand. After increasing rents, Rolfe and Reynolds shut down any amenities that might cost them extra money, such as pools. We dont like amenities of any kind, Rolfe told a Mobile Home University class, according to a 2014 New York Times profile. John Oliver, the host of HBOs Last Week Tonight, skewered Rolfe and Reynolds on a 2019 episode, saying the pair served as a prime example of just how cynical and predatory the (mobile home) industry can be. Sullivan, the CU Denver mobile home housing expert, attended a Mobile Home University seminar while researching her 2018 book Manufactured Insecurity: Mobile Home Parks and Americans Tenuous Right to Place. Many of the attendees were people who used to work at places like Goldman Sachs, she said, searching for that golden goose investment opportunity. The talks were rife with stereotypes of who these (residents) are, Sullivan said. Frank Rolfe is such a colorful character because hes willing to say what other people think, but know better than to say. Sullivan lived in mobile home parks for two years before writing her book, and as she left the conference, she couldnt help but think about the significant money she spent to attend. I just kept thinking about how I paid $2,000 to listen to these people talk about these residents like theyre another piece of their passive-income puzzle, Sullivan said. This is everything to the people in these homes. This is their American dream. Complaints mounting In 2019 and 2020, Gov. Jared Polis signed into law two pieces of legislation aimed at shoring up protections for residents of the states 721 mobile home parks. The legislation also led to the formation of the Mobile Home Park Oversight Program, which gave tenants and landlords a place to mediate disputes without going to court, as well as enforcement measures for state regulators to nudge bad actors in the right direction. There were 10 open complaints across eight RV Horizons-Impact Communities properties in Colorado as of Sept. 3, state records show, including multiple complaints at parks in Eckert, Canon City and Grand Junction. Open complaints are not public record, but residents at some of these parks detailed to The Post their frustration and anger over constant water outages, sewage backups, lack of tree maintenance and alarming rent increases that have many thinking about where they may go when they cant afford to rent the land beneath their homes. Ketcham, who settled a lawsuit against RV Horizons in June, remembers buying crates of tiles to pave a walkway to the front of her home shortly after the new owners bought their park. The crates sat neatly in front of her mobile home when Ketcham received a knock on her door. The parks then-manager had three tickets bearing fines in hand for the crates, saying they looked unsightly, Ketcham said. You have two hours, Ketcham remembers being told. If you dont pay, were evicting you. Ketcham said she couldnt comment on the settlement, but in a complaint filed in July 2020 in Fremont County Court, she alleged that park owners also failed for months to address a defective water line. The issue resulted in standing water and lead to repeated infestations in Ketchams home, according to the lawsuit. RV Horizons also repeatedly charged her above and beyond the contractually agreed upon amounts called for in the lease, she alleged. The rent hikes in Canon City have been consistent with Rolfe and Reynolds strategy: Raise rent as often as you can. Before RV Horizons-Impact Communities brought the park three years ago, residents remember paying $285 a month. Now its up to $507 and homeowners are bracing for another hike this fall. That 78% increase dwarfs the 11.8% increase in rent for the average one-bedroom home in Fremont County between 2018 and 2021, according to rentdata.org. For Shelli Wilson, who lives across the road from Ketcham in the same mobile home park, that rent number is becoming untenable. She makes $800 a month in disability pay and cant work due to back issues she sustained while doing home health care work eight years ago. I barely make it, she said. If it keeps going up, Im gonna be homeless. Unless Im able to sell the trailer but that leaves me to go where and do what? Nate and Melissa Webb still have two open trenches in their yard more than six weeks after plumbing issues under their mobile home left half the park without water for a week. Nate Webb, who hasnt been able to work in a decade due to a rare connective tissue disorder, spent three hours one day helping dig one of the holes after being told the plumbers wouldnt fix it until they could access the problem. I was in pain for two weeks after that, he said recently near his home, using a cane for support. The couple and their two children survive off only Melissas disability claim since Nate has been unable to get money for his condition. One of the trenches still had water sitting in it, and feral cats are now able to crawl into the home through the open hole, Nate Webb said. The couple has since seen bed bugs. My daughter cant play in the yard, he said. (The owners) know about it, and theyre deciding not to do anything. Janet Grover, the Canon City parks manager, said all-new pipes are coming into the park shortly but everything takes forever in mobile homes. Across Colorado, residents at RV Horizons-Impact-owned parks have made similar complaints to state mobile home regulators. In August, state regulators subpoenaed Reynolds for records involving sewer tank, tree maintenance and water system issues at an Eckert mobile home park, according to documents reviewed by The Post. In Durango, residents in 2019 said rent increased from $420 to $630 per month in just over three years at the Apache Mobile Home Park, which is also owned by RV Horizons-Impact Communities. Homeowners there told the Durango Herald that faulty sewage pipes dont get fixed, so every winter, the sewage backs up into yards, bathrooms and kitchens across the park. Problems outside Colorado But issues at parks owned by RV Horizons-Impact Communities extend far beyond Colorados borders. Residents of an Austin mobile home park sued RV Horizons in 2015 over what they called illegal evictions. Those residents ultimately bought the park from Rolfe and Reynolds after years of legal action, protests and organizing efforts. When Rolfe was met by protesters in 2017 at an Austin hotel during a Mobile Home University summit, he said the disrupters were just like locusts, calling the goal of stopping rent increases impossible, according to the Austin American-Statesman. In Iowa, dramatic rent increases and evictions at a mobile home park in Dubuque owned by Impact Communities gained national attention when Sen. Elizabeth Warren, a Massachusetts Democrat running for president at the time, wrote a letter to TPG Capital, which partners with RV Horizons, asking for an accounting of their profits. It also prompted then-U.S. Rep. Abby Finkenauer to call on the Federal Trade Commission to investigate Impact Communities for predatory and unfair business practices. Reynolds and Rolfe are probably the example of one of the most egregious bad actors in terms of mobile home owners, said Cesiah Guadarrama, associate state director for 9to5 Colorado, an economic justice organization. Guadarrama, 26, has lived in a mobile home for the past decade, and like many people of her generation, view homeownership in expensive states like Colorado as a pipe dream. Because other traditional options are limited, this is my first or maybe my only option to buy a home, she said. Wilson, the Canon City resident, worries about others in the park surviving on even less than she. When the water went out for six days this summer the fourth such instance in a year she paid for a few nights in a motel for the Webbs, who had nowhere to go. RV Horizons, she said, never offered. It was really sad, Wilson said, fighting an American flag hanging off her mobile home that had tangled around her head. Because that could be me. DALLAS The CEO of Salesforce said the company will help employees leave Texas, and he did so while retweeting a story linking the offer to concern about Texas new anti-abortion law. Salesforce, which sells customer-management software, joins a small number of companies that have reacted against the Texas law. CNBC reported that the San Francisco-based company told employees in a Slack message it will help them move if you have concerns about access to reproductive healthcare in your state. On Friday night, CEO Marc Benioff retweeted a post about the story, adding, Ohana if you want to move well help you exit TX. Your choice. Ohana is a Hawaiian term for family. The company did not return messages for comment. The Texas law passed the Republican-controlled state Legislature and was signed by Republican Gov. Greg Abbott in May but didnt go into effect until this month. It bans most abortions after six weeks, before many women know whether they are pregnant, and lets private residents sue anyone who helps a woman get an abortion. By a 5-4 vote, the U.S. Supreme Court declined to block the law. This week the U.S. Justice Department sued Texas to block the law. Ride-hailing companies Uber and Lyft, both based in San Francisco, have said they will pay legal fees for any drivers who are sued for taking a woman to an abortion clinic. Dating-app provider Bumble, which is based in Texas, said it will create a relief fund for people affected by the law. Abortion-rights activists have pressured Texas-based companies to criticize the law, but most have remained silent. LONDON A U.S. court will hold a pretrial conference Monday in the civil suit filed by a woman who claims Prince Andrew sexually assaulted her as the two sides argue over whether the prince was properly served with documents in the case. Attorneys for the woman, Virginia Giuffre, say the documents were handed over to a Metropolitan Police officer on duty at the main gates of Andrews home in Windsor Great Park on Aug. 27. But Blackfords, a law firm that said they represent Andrew in certain U.K. matters, have questioned whether the papers were properly served and raised the possibility of challenging the courts jurisdiction in the case, according to a Sept. 6 letter referenced in court documents filed by Giuffres attorneys. We reiterate that our client reserves all his rights, including to contest the jurisdiction of the US courts (including on the basis of potentially defective service), they wrote. A U.S. judge will ultimately determine whether the papers were properly delivered. Judge Lewis Kaplan of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York will hold the first pretrial conference in the case via teleconference on Monday. The prince has repeatedly denied the allegations in the lawsuit brought by Giuffre, a longtime accuser of the late convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. When the suit was filed last month, legal experts suggested it left Andrew with no good options as the second son of Queen Elizabeth II seeks to repair his image and return to public life. If the prince tries to ignore the lawsuit, he runs the risk that the court could find him in default and order him to pay damages. And if he decides to fight, Andrew faces years of sordid headlines as the case winds its way through court. Guiffres attorney, David Boies, said in court documents that it was implausible that Andrew is unaware of the suit. Attorneys at Blackfords, who he has apparently instructed to evade and contest service, have confirmed that Prince Andrew himself already has notice of this lawsuit and is evaluating his chances of success, Boies wrote. And even if Blackfords had not confirmed as much, any other conclusion would be implausible reputable media outlets around the world reported on the filing of plaintiffs complaint, and hundreds, if not thousands, of articles about this lawsuit have been published. The lawsuit is another unwanted story for the royals, reminding the public of Andrews links to Epstein two years after his death. Britains royal family is also still recovering from allegations of racism and insensitivity leveled at them by Prince Harry and his wife, Meghan, earlier this year. WASHINGTON President Joe Bidens sweeping new vaccine requirements have Republican governors threatening lawsuits. His unapologetic response: Have at it. The administration is gearing up for another major clash between federal and state rule. But while many details about the rules remain unknown, Biden appears to be on firm legal ground to issue the directive in the name of protecting employee safety, according to several experts interviewed by The Associated Press. My bet is that with respect to that statutory authority, theyre on pretty strong footing given the evidence strongly suggesting the degree of risk that (unvaccinated individuals) pose, not only to themselves but also unto others, said University of Connecticut law professor Sachin Pandya. Republicans swiftly denounced the mandate that could impact 100 million Americans as government overreach and vowed to sue, and private employers who resist the requirements may do so as well. Texas Gov. Greg Abbott called it an assault on private businesses while Gov. Henry McMaster promised to fight them to the gates of hell to protect the liberty and livelihood of every South Carolinian. The Republican National Committee has also said it will sue the administration to protect Americans and their liberties. Such cases could present another clash between state and federal authority at a time when Bidens Justice Department is already suing Texas over its new state law that bans most abortions, arguing that it was enacted in open defiance of the Constitution. The White House is gearing up for legal challenges and believes that even if some of the mandates are tossed out, millions of Americans will get a shot because of the new requirements saving lives and preventing the spread of the virus. Biden is putting enforcement in the hands of the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, which is drafting a rule over the coming weeks, Jeffrey Zients, the White House coronavirus response coordinator, said Friday. He warned that if a workplace refuses to follow the standard, the OSHA fines could be quite significant. Courts have upheld vaccination requirements as a condition of employment, both before the pandemic in challenges brought by health care workers and since the coronavirus outbreak, said Lindsay Wiley, director of the Health Law and Policy Program at American University Washington College of Law. Where Bidens vaccine requirements could be more open to attack is over questions of whether the administration followed the proper process to implement them, she said. The argument that mandatory vaccination impermissibly infringes on bodily autonomy or medical decision making, those arguments have not been successful and I dont expect that to change, Wiley said. I think the challenges that are harder to predict the outcome of are going to be the ones that are really sort of the boring challenges about whether they followed the right process. Emergency temporary standards under which the rules are being implemented on a fast track have been particularly vulnerable to challenges, Wiley said. But the risks presented by the coronavirus and the existence of a declared public health emergency could put this one on stronger footing than any other ones past administrations have tried to impose that have been challenged in court, she said. Indeed, the question of whether the mandate is legally sound is separate from whether it will be upheld by judges, including by a conservative-majority Supreme Court which has trended toward generous interpretations of religious freedom and may be looking to ensure that any mandate sufficiently takes faith-based objections into account. Vaccination has become politicized and there are many Republican district judges who might be hostile to the regulation for political reasons, said Michael Harper, a Boston University law professor. I could imagine an unfortunate opinion that attempted to justify this political stance by rejecting the use of OSHA against infectious disease rather than against hazards intrinsic to the workplace, Harper wrote in an email. The expansive rules mandate that all employers with more than 100 workers require them to be vaccinated or test for the virus weekly, affecting about 80 million Americans. And the roughly 17 million workers at health facilities that receive federal Medicare or Medicaid also will have to be fully vaccinated. Biden is also requiring vaccination for employees of the executive branch and contractors who do business with the federal government with no option to test out. That covers several million more workers. Republican-dominated Montana stands alone in having a state law on the books that directly contradicts the new federal mandate. The state passed a law earlier this year making it illegal for private employers to require vaccines as a condition for employment. But University of Montana constitutional law professor Anthony Johnstone said the federal rules would trump the state law. That means larger Montana businesses that previously couldnt require their employees to get vaccinated will now likely be required to, including hospitals that are some of the largest employers in the sparsely populated state. Given that the rules are still being drafted and havent been released, experts say the devil is in the details. It remains to be seen exactly what the rule will require employers to do or not do, and how it accounts for things such as other rights that unvaccinated employees may assert, such as the right to a disability accommodation, Pandya said. For example with the growing number of fully remote businesses and workers if the rules are written to include people who dont have workplace exposure, there certainly is room for an issue there, said Erika Todd, an employment attorney with Sullivan & Worcester in Boston. Charles Craver, a labor and employment law professor at George Washington University, said the mandate presented a close question legally. But he said the Biden administration did have a legitimate argument that such a requirement was necessary for employers to protect the safety of workers, customers and members of the public. The thornier question, though, is how employers and courts will sort through requests for accommodations for employees on religious or other grounds. Though such accommodations may include having an employee work from home, you can have a situation where someone has to be present and you cant provide an accommodation because of the danger involved, he added. I would not be a betting person if this went up before the Supreme Court, Craver said. I could even picture the court divided 5-4, and I wouldnt bet which way it would go. ____ Richer reported from Boston. Reporter Iris Samuels contributed to this report from Helena, Montana. Samuels 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. FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. The race for Hopi chairman will be a rematch of the last general election. Tribal council member David Norton Talayumptewa was the top vote-getter in Thursdays primary with 298 votes, followed by current Chairman Tim Nuvangyaoma with 291 votes, according to unofficial results. The two will face off in the Nov. 11 general election. Nuvangyaoma beat Talayumptewa in the 2017 general election by more than 325 votes. Turnout for Thursdays primary was low with 945 votes cast. The ballot didnt feature the candidates for vice chairman because only two people are running, meaning both current Vice Chairman Clark Tenakhongva and Craig Andrews automatically move on to the general election. Andrew Qumyintewa finished a close third in the primary election for chairman, with 286 votes. Former Vice Chairman Alfred Lomahquahu Jr. trailed with 70 votes. The candidates have a few days to submit any challenges before the results can be certified, said tribal registrar Karen Shupla. The tribes top two elected officials dont run on a ticket, but Nuvangyaoma has been campaigning with Andrews. The leaders get much of their authority from the Hopi Tribal Council, which functions like a city government. The chairman presides over meetings but doesnt vote except to break a tie. Talayumptewa, a former U.S. Bureau of Education official, represents Kykotsmovi on the council where he championed a measure to unify the several schools on the reservation under a single district and education board. Theres going to be some consistency to how were teaching them, and its going to improve learning and academic success, he told the AP. Nuvangyaoma counts securing funding for a water project to address arsenic contamination and a detention facility, along with progress on a solar farm, a hotel and leasing a manufacturing facility owned by the tribe among the successes of his administration. He acknowledged the path hasnt been smooth. Weve learned that with hard work and commitment, we can overcome these obstacles, he said in an interview. Both Talayumptewa and Nuvangyaoma have talked in a recent forum and on social media where much of their campaigning has happened about the need for economic development and finding ways to encourage younger Hopis to become involved in the tribal government. One hurdle in running for elected office is a requirement for candidates to speak the Hopi language and demonstrate that ability, Nuvangyaoma said. Before 2017, candidates had to be fluent. Im not ever going to discredit our language, he said. But I think there are constitutional amendments and changes that need to happen in order to bring (in) our professionals that speak education, technology, health care, development, finance, all these languages, technical languages to move Hopi forward. The tribes constitution first was approved in the 1930s. Changes require an election overseen by the U.S. Department of the Interior. Talayumptewa said he wants to maintain the language requirement, establish a language immersion school on the Hopi reservation in northeastern Arizona and actively reach out to young Hopi professionals to help run the government. That is what sets us apart as a Hopi Nation, thats how we practice our traditions, our culture and our religion, he said. I think there are ways to teach the Hopi language to maintain it. NEBRASKA CITY, Neb. Three Republican presidential prospects on Sunday sharply condemned President Joe Bidens handling of the end of the war in Afghanistan, rebuking the administrations conduct of the U.S. withdrawal as weak and as emboldening its adversaries. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, Texas Sen. Ted Cruz and former Vice President Mike Pence attended Gov. Pete Ricketts annual steak-fry fundraiser in Nebraska City, a town in the states southeastern corner and just a few miles from Iowa, traditionally the first state to vote in presidential primaries. The three Republicans, all weighing 2024 campaigns, spoke to more than 1,000 Nebraska party faithful. All praised the U.S. troops who served in the 20-year war prompted by the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, but the trio did little to rekindle the political unity that defined the days and weeks that followed 9/11. They are watching what happens, in China and in Iran and in North Korea and in Moscow, DeSantis said. Those countries feared Donald Trump. They dont fear Joe Biden and they dont respect Joe Biden. Cruz repeatedly called the administrations response to the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan as Americans, Westerners and Afghans with U.S. ties scrambled to exit the country a disaster. Every enemy of America is taking the measure of the man in the Oval Office and everyone, everyone of them has determined that the president is weak and ineffective, Cruz said. Biden and other top U.S. officials expressed surprise last month by the pace of the Talibans takeover of Afghanistan before the planned U.S. exit deadline of Saturday, Sept. 11. On Aug. 26, roughly 170 Afghans and 13 U.S. service members, including Marine Corps Cpl. Daegan William-Tyeler Page, 23, of Omaha, were killed in a suicide bombing by Islamic extremists at the Kabul airport as people flocked there to flee the country. The chaos that followed, and the loss of 13 extraordinary servicemen and women, including a hero from right here in Nebraska, broke my heart because it never had to happen, Pence said. Pence described an Oval Office meeting in which Trump, discussing U.S. withdrawal plans from Afghanistan with the Taliban in early 2020, threatened military strikes if the Taliban allowed harm to Americans. The Biden administration followed the Kabul airport bombing with airstrikes against Islamic extremists. The GOP picnic on the grounds of Arbor Lodge State Historic Park along the Missouri River served as an early stage for Republicans with an eye on the 2024 presidential election, even as Trump hinted at a third campaign. I know what Im going to do, but were not supposed to be talking about it yet, Trump said Saturday, while visiting with New York City police and fire officials, according to The New York Post. But I think youre going to be happy, let me put it that way. DeSantis, a rising Republican figure outspoken in his criticism of Bidens COVID-19 policies, criticized as overreach the presidents sweeping new federal vaccine requirements for private sector employees, health care workers and federal contractors in the face of the surging COVID-19 delta variant. I am fighting back against him, DeSantis said, nodding to legal action being discussed by Republican governors. We are going to be on the front line with a full spectrum response. Several Republican governors, including Ricketts, said last week they were discussing suing the White House over Bidens vaccine requirement. JERUSALEM Israeli aircraft struck a series of targets in the Gaza Strip early Monday while Palestinian militants launched rockets into Israel in the third consecutive night of fighting between the sides. The violence took place shortly before Israels prime minister, Naftali Bennett, was heading to Egypt for a visit expected to focus on Egyptian efforts to broker a long-term truce between Israel and Gazas Hamas rulers in the wake of an 11-day war last May. Those efforts appear to have come to a standstill in recent weeks. Tensions have further risen after last weeks escape from an Israeli prison by six Palestinian inmates. The Israeli military reported three separate rocket launches late Sunday and early Monday, saying at least two of them were intercepted by its rocket defenses. It said it attacked a number of Hamas targets in retaliation. There were no reports of casualties on either side. In other violence, the Israeli army said an assailant attempted to stab a soldier at a busy intersection in the occupied West Bank. It said that soldiers shot the attacker, who was taken to a hospital. No further details were immediately available. In downtown Jerusalem, meanwhile, police said a 17-year-old Palestinian boy stabbed and wounded two people near the citys central bus station. Jerusalem police chief Doron Turjeman said the assailant was shot by an officer. The boy suffered a serious gunshot wound to the chest. Islamist militant group Hamas praised the two attacks, but stopped short of claiming responsibility. Abdulatif Qanou, a Hamas spokesman, said they were meant to pressure Israel into stopping its crimes against our people and prisoners. Last weeks prison break appears to have heightened tensions across the region, with Palestinians staging a number of protests in solidarity with the men. In Palestinian society, nearly every family has seen a member imprisoned by Israel, and the thousands of prisoners held by Israel are widely seen as heroes paying a price for the national cause. Over the weekend, Israel caught four of the six Palestinian inmates, who tunneled out of a maximum security prison on Sept. 6. Palestinian militants reacted to the arrests with rocket fire. Israels search for the last two prisoners is continuing. The Egyptian-mediated efforts to deliver a long-term truce have struggled with the sides unable to agree on a system to renew Qatari payments to needy Gaza families. Israel has demanded guarantees that Hamas does not divert the money for military use. Gaza is an impoverished territory whose population is overwhelmingly comprised of families who fled or were forced from properties in what is now Israel during the war surrounding Israels establishment in 1948. Hamas is pushing for Israel to end a crippling blockade that has devastated Gazas economy, while Israel is demanding that Hamas free two captive Israeli civilians and return the remains of two dead Israeli soldiers. Hamas has controlled Gaza since ousting the forces of the internationally recognized Palestinian Authority in 2007, a year after the Islamic militant group won Palestinian parliamentary elections. Since then, Israel and Hamas have fought four wars and numerous smaller rounds of fighting. On Sunday, Israeli Foreign Minister Yair Lapid on Sunday called for a new approach to end the cycle of fighting with Hamas, describing a plan of international investment in Gazas infrastructure in exchange for pressure on Hamas to halt its military buildup and preserve calm. The policy Israel has pursued up until now hasnt substantially changed the situation, Lapid told a security conference. We need to change direction, he added. Much about his proposal which he said was made in consultation with the United States and other countries has been floated before but never implemented due to the fighting, deep distrust and bitter internal divisions on both sides. Bennett, whom Lapid is to replace in 2023 under a rotation agreement, did not immediately comment on the proposal. Copyright 2021 Albuquerque Journal The University of New Mexicos efforts to build a new hospital tower cleared a major hurdle Friday when a federal agency signed off on insuring mortgage financing for the project. The Federal Housing Administration announced it completed a mortgage insurance transaction with UNM Hospital on $320 million supplemental mortgages to finance the new hospital tower. The Housing and Urban Development-held mortgages will help finance a major expansion of UNMHs adult acute care capacity, according to the FHA announcement. By insuring mortgages for hospitals, FHA allows borrowers to issue bonds at the equivalent of AA or AAA ratings, dramatically reducing interest and borrowing costs. The UNMH team is pleased to continue our collaborative partnership with HUD, said Kate Becker, CEO of UNMH. This will enable us to provide increased access to health care for New Mexicans In 2019, UNMH announced a four-year plan to build a new hospital tower, which will provide an additional 96 inpatient beds and 18 operating rooms, according to UNMHs website. Designs also call for 1,400 additional parking spaces, and additional space for clinical laboratories and therapeutic services, a blood bank and other facilities. The new facility will be located at Yale and Lomas NE, just west of the existing hospital. Completion is expected by late 2024. Editors note: Today, the Journal kicks off Cocina Connection, a once-a-month feature that takes a behind-the-scenes look at a New Mexico-based chef, who, in turn shares some recipes. Its 2:30 on a Thursday afternoon. Chef Marie Yniguez is taking a small break. Leaning against the counter, she lets out a sigh as she wipes her forehead. We sold so much (food) today, Yniguez says from behind a mask. Were blessed and we do it all again tomorrow. Yniguez, dressed in a black Bocadillos T-shirt, and her crew are cleaning up after a busy day at Slow Roasted Bocadillos in Downtown Albuquerque. This is the norm for the Albuquerque resident though its changed a little since the pandemic. Her days are still long, but not to the point of her usual breakneck speed. She now spends quality time with her family as shes become a grandmother. Theres a controlled chaos as the Bocadillos crew is tidying up for the day. Each person has their task mopping, washing dishes, cleaning the stove. Meanwhile, Yniguez preps food for the next day. She takes the slab of meat from the fridge and begins to add salt, pepper and other spices into the rectangular metal pan. She pulls two sheets of foil and covers the pan, then it goes into the oven where it will slow roast overnight at 250 degrees. Its always low and slow, Yniguez says with a gleaming smile. Im the first one in and the last one out. Every day, all of the prepping and cooking is done by me. I dont ever sleep. Working her way around a kitchen is second nature for Yniguez. She grew up learning to cook from her grandmother and mother while living in Hurley. Oftentimes, Yniguez had to make food for herself because her mom was already at work. My mom was working in the copper mines and shed work odd hours, she recalls. If my sister wasnt cooking for me, then I had to do it. Learning how to cook was done early. Its no surprise shes made a fruitful career from creating in the kitchen. Yniguez opened the restaurant in 2009 with her wife, Karla Arvizu. The business name came from a word that she liked. I was working for a tapas place in Arizona and the owner gave me a book, Yniguez says. I came across bocadillos and I just loved the name. I love sandwiches too. The Albuquerque-based chef has also found success on Food Network shows, often winning the competitions. She doesnt do it for the accolades or being recognized. I just want to leave something to my daughter and I want to leave something to my grandson, she explains. You know, it doesnt matter where you come from. You can be somebody and you can make a difference in peoples lives. I go by old-school rules and I treat people well. I may not have a lot of money, but if you need to be fed, Ill feed you. If you need to learn how to cook, Ill have you join me in the kitchen. Im so proud of my grandparents and nobody knows who they are. I just want to leave my mark and create a legacy for my family. Yniguez makes this step by helping the community. Though she was raised in the Northeast Heights and graduated from Manzano High School, she feels her home is in the South Valley. I drive about 15 miles an hour up near Pat Hurley Park, she says. Its always low and slow. When her daughter, Ryan Duran, was in high school at Tierra Adentro Charter School, she complained to Yniguez about the food. Like any superhero would do, Yniguez started packing her a lunch and the school soon contacted her asking if she could provide lunches for 50 kids. That quickly expanded with contracts to more schools and breakfast and lunch for 500 kids. Yniguez had to hire employees to prepare, deliver and serve the food. She eventually made a healthy breakfast and lunch for up to 1,250 charter school kids. Then the pandemic hit and preparing meals for schoolchildren was put on pause. I used to get up at 4 a.m. to get the food ready for the kids, she says. I hope it comes back because thats one way I could help. Bocadlillos current location is near Third Street and Lomas NW inside the Wells Fargo building. It is also a space that Yniguez is familiar with, she worked for a cafe in the same location more than a decade ago. At the age of 32, she suffered a mini-stroke and couldnt work for several months. The day she returned to the cafe she was let go. At that point, she knew she wanted to do her own thing. I thought to myself, If Im going to kill myself doing this, I might as well do it for me, you know, Yniguez says. Thats when I decided to make the move to what Im doing now. Theres no slowing down for the 45-year-old. In April, she built a trailer into a transportable smokehouse called Smokin Freds 46. The turnout of customers has exceeded Yniguezs expectations. Shes also planning a new restaurant located at 500 Roma NW. Its going to be called My Moms. This is the concept, my mom learned how to cook from her mom. I learned to cook from my mom. My daughter learned how to cook from me, she says. Theres something about a moms food that gives you comfort. Thats what I want it to be. The location will also be around the corner from the old jail. I want this to be a place where the hardworking people of Albuquerque can come and get a home-cooked meal, she says. If youre having a hard day, you go there and get some comfort food. Were hoping to get a beer and wine license so that if youre over there having a beer, you can call your sweetie at home and say youre at My Moms. Yniguez plans to use her mothers recipes for the new venture, which is expected to open in November. Chile Rojo Con Carne Serves 4 1 pounds pork, cut into -inch cubes 1 tablespoon vegetable oil tablespoon flour 8 ounces of whole red chile pods, seeded and stemmed 4 cups of warm water 1 teaspoon salt 1 teaspoon granulated garlic teaspoon dried oregano Place chile pods in large bowl; cover with warm water and soak until soft but not falling apart. Transfer to a blender, reserving some of the water to use as needed. Add only enough water to be able to get a smooth puree. While chile pods are soaking, heat a large skillet; add vegetable oil. Over medium heat, add cubed pork and cook until browned. Sprinkle pork with flour and cook an additional 3 minutes. Add the blended red chile sauce, salt, garlic and oregano to pork; stir. Cover and cook pork on low heat until tender, about 1 hours. Season to taste. Serve with fresh tortillas. Mama Olgas Chile Verde con Carne 2 pounds small chunks of beef yellow onion, diced 2 tablespoons minced garlic 2 cups roasted green chile, diced 1 small can of tomato sauce 1 can crushed or diced tomatoes Salt & pepper to taste Heat pot over medium heat. Add the beef cuts and cook until brown, stirring constantly. Once your beef is browned, cover and steam meat until tender. When you steam the meat, the meats natural juices cook the meat tenderly. Continue to open the lid and constantly stir meat. Again, this is critical. Once the meat is tender, drop in the minced garlic and the onions. Cover and continue to let steam. The critical part is to keep stirring the meat! Once the onion is softened, add green chile, 1 can of crushed or diced tomatoes, 1 can of tomato sauce. Add water to the tomato sauce can to the top and pour into the pot. Stir the pot. Then, cover and bring to a boil, constantly stirring. Once at a boil, lower heat to a simmer. Simmer covered for 20 minutes, still stirring frequently. Serve with fresh warm tortillas and some slices of cheese on the side. Recipes from Marie Yniguez Copyright 2021 Albuquerque Journal Jordon Johnson pleaded no contest to vehicular homicide Monday nearly three years after Kelly Chavez was killed in a 2018 Christmas Eve drunken driving crash. Johnson, 26, faces up to 19 years in prison after slamming into Chavezs Jeep on Coors NW as Chavez drove home from his sisters Christmas Eve party. Johnsons sentencing hearing had not been scheduled as of Monday. Chavez, 56, told family members the night of his death that he planned to leave the party early because of all these idiot drunk drivers out there, said his sister, Yvette Chavez Pena. Chavez left the party about 8:30 p.m. and was about four blocks from his home when he was killed, Chavez Pena said Monday in a phone interview. Assistant District Attorney Guinevere Ice said in a 2nd Judicial District Court hearing Monday that Johnson was speeding north on Coors and ran a stop light at Coors and Fortuna NW, striking Chavezs vehicle. Chavez died at the scene. At the time of his arrest, Johnson had a blood-alcohol level of 0.16, Ice said about twice the presumed level of intoxication. Chavez had three adult children and nine grandchildren, but had never met his youngest granddaughter, who was born last year, Chavez Pena said. Instagram Celebrity Family and friends are asking for help to find the former 'Doctor Who' actress after the star who is currently living in Los Angeles has reportedly disappeared for days. Sep 13, 2021 AceShowbiz - Former "Doctor Who" star Tanya Fear has been reported missing in Los Angeles. The actress' friends and family members have launched an appeal for help after Tanya disappeared on Thursday (09Sep21). Fear, also known as Tanyaradzwa, is currently living in L.A. but no one has seen her for days. As well as playing Dr. Jade McIntyre on "Doctor Who" in 2018, Fear also has credits in "Kick-Ass 2" and the TV series "Spotless". "She hasn't been seen since 9th September 2021," an alert reads. "If anyone has any useful information please call (626)-232-8616 #FindTanyaFear." One Twitter user, who claimed to be the missing actress' cousin wrote, "Please please please share if you have mutually in the LA/Hollywood bowl area (sic). My cousin is missing, she has no family in the US and we're all really worried." The "Doctor Who" official fan Twitter account has also shared a Missing Person poster, adding, "Missing Person alert: Tanya Fear who played Jade in 'Arachnids In The UK' went missing on 9/9/2021." According to a relative, the actress was last seen wearing a short-sleeved brown-collared shirt and dark plaid trousers. "Could be flannel shorts too. But they definitely have black and red on them with lines," the family added. Her last social media post was on August 30. She shared pictures of herself doing stand-up comedy in Los Angeles. She was joined by Doug Williams, Denny Love, Chad Mitchell Rodgers, and Malik B. Meanwhile, her last retweet was an inspiring quote by Dolly Parton dated September 7. It read, "I had a gift of rhyme and a big imagination and thats just how I started ... and how Im still a-goin'." Instagram Celebrity The 'Orange Is the New Black' actress reveals on social media that she has been married for a year, describing her husband as 'the best thing that ever happened' to her. Sep 13, 2021 AceShowbiz - Actress Uzo Aduba is married - but it's not exactly breaking news. The "Orange Is the New Black" star wed filmmaker Robert Sweeting last year (20). The secret ceremony was held in New York, but Uzo only shared the happy news with her Instagram followers on Sunday (12Sep21), stealing a quote from one of her favourite films, "When Harry Met Sally". Posting a photo of the happy couple on the big day, she wrote, "When you realize you want to spend the rest of your life with somebody, you want the rest of your life to start as soon as possible." "For some of us, it can feel like we spend our whole lives waiting for our special someone. My heart, my love - I'm so happy my life started last year with you. You're the best thing that ever happened to me." The actress didn't share the wedding date or any other details. While Uzo Aduba rarely talked about her personal life in interviews, she often gushed about her mother, a Nigerian immigrant who survived polio and Igbo genocide during the 1960s. The matriarch passed away in 2020 following a battle with pancreatic cancer. "She was and remains my hero; I am proud to know that it's her blood running through my veins," the actress told her followers when announcing the sad news. Celebrity Mick Brigden who used to work with Mick Jagger and his bandmates as a tour manager has passed away at the age of 73 after suffering an injury while burying his dog. Sep 13, 2021 AceShowbiz - The Rolling Stones have suffered a second major blow in less than a month - their former tour manager has died in a bizarre accident. Mick Brigden, who also worked with Bob Dylan, Van Morrison, Peter Frampton, and Carlos Santana, died at his home in Santa Rosa, California last week (ends10Sep21). The 73 year old was digging a grave for his pet dog when he suffered an injury and was pronounced dead at a nearby hospital. Brigden's wife, Julia Dreyer Brigden, has confirmed the news to local newspaper The Press Democrat. Born in England, Brigden was a protege of concert promoter Bill Graham and he took over the management division of the promoter's Bill Graham Presents organisation and helped launch Wolfgang Records. Following Graham's death in 1991, Brigden and his management partner, Arnold Pustilnik, among others took over the company. He and Pustilnik sold the business in the early 2000s when Brigden opened MJJ Management with guitarist Joe Satriani, who has paid tribute to his late friend and business partner. A statement reads, "It's been a crazy and wonderful 33 years of rock 'n' roll. I've never worked so hard, played so hard, laughed and cried so hard, made so much music and had so many worldwide adventures, and all with Mick by my side." Brigden's death comes just weeks after the passing of Rolling Stones drummer Charlie Watts, who lost his life on 24 August (21). The band continued on with their tour following Charlie's passing. Walt Disney Pictures Movie The Stephen Strange depicter is 'blown away' by the sacrifices that the crew members of 'Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness' made during the filming. Sep 13, 2021 AceShowbiz - Benedict Cumberbatch will always be indebted to the cast and crew of the "Doctor Strange" sequel for the sacrifices they made while making the movie during the COVID pandemic. Unlike production on so many other blockbusters, nothing could stop the Marvel juggernaut and Cumberbatch is proud of the fact everyone got through filming without a real COVID positive, which would have brought the shoot to a grinding halt. "I lost count of how many lockdowns we actually filmed through," he tells The Hollywood Reporter. "With this government-approved gold standard testing and tracing and temperature taking... it worked, and 500-plus crew came back after Christmas, and there was not one single positive test." "We never stopped it. I got taken off, because of someone near me getting a false positive. But that was it. People made such sacrifices. Some of their children were going to school, and they weren't necessarily going to be sleeping in the same part of the house, or even in the same house. I was really, really blown away by that." Benedict Cumberbatch is returning as Stephen Strange in the sequel which was supposed to reunite him with Scott Derrickson who helmed the first film. However, the director eventually decided to leave the upcoming "Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness" and Sam Raimi was brought in as a replacement. According to screenwriter C. Robert Cargill who penned the first film but quit the second one as well, Derrickson left because of creative differences. Scheduling conflict also played a part in his departure as he couldn't imagine another director taking charge of his new horror passion project, "The Black Phone". WENN/Instar Movie The 'Twilight' star, who portrays the tragic royal in a new movie focusing on her life after her split from Prince Charles, also talks about sharing some of the same personality traits with her. Sep 13, 2021 AceShowbiz - Kristen Stewart can't stop thinking about Princess Diana after playing the tragic royal in new movie "Spencer". The actress' latest film focuses on Diana's life after her split from Prince Charles, and Kristen admits to obsessing about Diana in her preparation for the role. "She means a lot to me, but it's all relatively new because I'm from L.A. and didn't grow up in England," the "Twilight" star explains. "Before this, she was not something that was at the forefront of my mind, because I lived so far away from it all. Now I can't stop thinking about her." "I often wonder what she'd think about what's going on in the world right now. To be honest, I've now consumed pretty much all there is to consume in terms of videos and interviews. I've watched everything that you could hear or see. I even go to sleep with it on." Kristen also observed that in spite of their obvious differences, she and Diana shared some of the same personality traits, and the Hollywood star thinks those similarities helped her in the role. She told The Sun on Sunday newspaper, "I'm not a very good actor. I can't fake it. I reveal part of myself. I don't know how people fabricate a performance. It's scary and weird and it's also a bummer." "I don't think I'm good at doing anything that isn't coming from some real place. I've always had to sort of vouch for the characters that I've played in order to love them enough to play them." Despite this, Kristen conceded that her own fame pales in comparison to that of the late Princess. She says, "She was the most famous woman in the world. I have tasted a high level of that, but really kind of nowhere near that monumental, symbolic representation of an entire group of people." Instagram Celebrity A day after he was taken into custody, the 'Look Back at It' hitmaker explains to his fans that he was sent behind bars for 'something' he was 'accused of two years ago.' Sep 13, 2021 AceShowbiz - Rapper A Boogie Wit Da Hoodie had another run-in with the law. On Saturday, September 11, the "Look Back at It" hitmaker was arrested before his scheduled performance at Wireless Festival in London. The rapper, whose real name is Julius Dubose, was booked at Crystal Palace Park. After a video that showed the 25-year-old rapper in handcuffs surrounded by police surfaced online, a spokesperson for the Metropolitan police confirmed, "On Saturday, 11 September, a 25-year-old man was arrested at the Wireless Festival in Crystal Palace Park." "The arrest was made by Met Police officers at the request of Greater Manchester Police," the representative continued. "The man was released on bail to attend a Greater Manchester police station at a later date." Following his sudden arrest, A Boogie took to his Instagram Story to explain to his fans about his absence at the show. "Smh sorry to everyone who came out to see me at Wireless, London police locked me up before I went on stage for something I was accused of 2 years ago," he wrote on Sunday, September 12. "I'm OK and I'll try my best to make it up to you guys." A Boogie Wit Da Hoodie broke his silence after he was arrested. Festival organizers also posted a message announcing the musician would not be taking to the stage and they were looking at rescheduling to Sunday. The message read, "There has been an incident involving A Boogie Wit Da Hoodie. He is safe and we are working to change his set to sometime tomorrow." This was A Boogie's second arrest in less than a year. Back in December 2020, the "Hoodie SZN" artist was arrested on charges of unlawful possession of a handgun and possession of marijuana. A Boogie was sent behind bars after the authorities found and seized a Ruger .380-caliber handgun, a Glock .40-caliber handgun, an H&K 9mm handgun, and a Smith and Wesson 9mm handgun at his residence. Additionally, police secured "hollow point bullets, various high capacity magazines, marijuana, hashish oil edibles and drug paraphernalia commonly associated with the distribution of [drugs]." Music Meanwhile, Canadian heartthrob Justin Bieber, who led the pack of nominees with seven nominations, wins two nods that include Artist of the Year as well as Best Pop. Sep 13, 2021 AceShowbiz - The full winner list for the 2021 MTV Video Music Awards was revealed during the live ceremony that took place at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York on Sunday, September 12. Coming out as the biggest winners of the night were Lil Nas X, Olivia Rodrigo and BTS (Bangtan Boys) who brought home three Moon Persons each. The 22-year-old MC took home the night's biggest award, Video of the Year, for "MONTERO (Call Me By Your Name)". He also snatched the Best Direction and Best Visual Effects for the hit single. As for Olivia Rodrigo, she nabbed Song of the Year and Push Performance of the Year for her hit "Driver's License". In addition, the "High School Musical: The Musical: The Series" star won Best New Artist. BTS, meanwhile, won Group of the Year, Best K-Pop as well as Song of Summer. Trailing behind the three stars was Justin Bieber who won Artist of the Year and Best Pop for his song "Peaches" featuring Daniel Caesar and Giveon. Doja Cat, who hosted and performed at the star-studded event, also took home two trophies, including Best Collaboration for her "Kiss Me More" featuring SZA and Best Art Direction for "Best Friend" featuring Saweetie. Other musicians who ended up with two trophies at this year's MTV VMAs were Billie Eilish and Bruno Mars. Billie nabbed Best Latin for her collaboration with ROSALIA "Lo Vas A Olvidar", and Video for Good for "Your Power". Bruno, on the other hand, won Best R&B and Best Editing for "Leave the Door Open" featuring Anderson .Paak and Silk Sonic. Other winners at the event included John Mayer, Machine Gun Kelly and Travis Scott (II). Full winners of the 2021 MTV Video Music Awards: Instagram Celebrity Police are investigating after vandals smashed the 'Welcome to the Party' rapper gravesite in Brooklyn over the weekend, apparently trying to drag the casket out. Sep 13, 2021 AceShowbiz - Some low-life thugs have done the unthinkable to Pop Smoke's gravesite. The late rapper's crypt at the Green-Wood Cemetery in Brooklyn, New York has been badly damaged by some vandals over the weekend. According to TMZ, an employee was the first to discover Pop Smoke's crypt damaged. Law enforcement sources tell the site that NYPD responded to the report from the cemetery around 2 P.M. on Saturday, September 11. The authorities believe the crypt was damaged sometime between 2:30 P.M. on Friday and 2 P.M. on Saturday. Police are investigating the vandalism, but no arrests have been made. The suspects have not been identified yet as there were no cameras in the area. In photos obtained by the news outlet, the marble plague bearing Pop Smoke's real name Bashar Barakah Jackson was cracked and almost completely broken. An eyewitness also noted that there were drag marks along the ground, indicating the vandals might have gotten into the "Dior" spitter's tomb, apparently trying to pull something out. A black concrete slab, which was seemingly used to separate his body from another right above him, was also taken out of the gravesite. The black rectangular object looked to be part of Pop Smoke's wall enclosure. There was other debris left scattered on the ground near the mausoleum, including what looked like burned and discarded joints, as well as flowers. It is unclear if the casket was still inside or intact. The estimated damage totals $500. The smashed plague has since reportedly been replaced with a blank slab and there was caution tape around the area. Pop Smoke's family has not made a statement regarding the vandalism. The Brooklyn native died aged 20 on February 19, 2020 in an armed robbery in a rented house owned by "The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills" star Teddi Mellencamp and her husband Edwin Arroyave in Hollywood Hills, California. He was found by police with multiple gunshot wounds and was rushed to Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, but was pronounced dead a few hours later. Instagram Celebrity Having been discharged from the hospital after an apparent fentanyl overdose, the comedienne issues a statement on social media in which she mourns the death of her three friends. Sep 13, 2021 AceShowbiz - Kate Quigley has finally broken her silence following Fuquan Johnson's death. Having been discharged from the hospital after an apparent fentanyl overdose, the comedienne issued a statement in which she vowed, "I will be changed forever." In the statement shared on Twitter and Instagram, the 39-year-old first thanked those who reached out to her following the incident. "I feel overwhelmed by the outpouring of kind messages and am incredibly grateful to be surrounded by a strong community of friends, family, colleagues, and fans who have offered their support during this time; and to the team of paramedics, nurses, and doctors who saved my life," she said. Kate went on to mourn the death of her pals. "I am still shocked & devastated by the loss of my friends Fu, Rico, and Natalie. Words cannot describe the pain I am feeling & I will be changed forever by their passings," she lamented. "Fu was a generous, loving soul. He was hilarious, supportive, and incredibly authentic with the most infectious spirit. Rico was always filled with enthusiasm & Natalie was so kind and endearing." "They each made an indelible mark on my life and the lives of their loved ones. I will miss them," she further noted. "My heart goes out to their friends and family, and I ask that you keep them in your thoughts." "There are so many more things i want to say, but I'm not ready. When I am, I will. Until then, all I can say is: Tell your people that you love them every day," she concluded her message. "Stay safe. And please don't take life for granted. I did, and I never will again." Kate, Fuquan, Enrico Colangeli (also known as Rico Angeli) and Natalie Williamson attended the party on Friday night, September 3. The group reportedly took cocaine that had been laced with fentanyl, leaving the three of them dead at the scene on Saturday, September 4 with Kate being transported to the hospital "in critical condition." WENN/Adriana M. Barraza Celebrity In a viral clip shared by The Cut's Senior Fashion Writer Emilia Petrarca, the 'Curb Your Enthusiasm' star can be seen sitting in the front row when attending STAUD's Spring 22 show. Sep 13, 2021 AceShowbiz - Larry David barely enjoyed his time at a New York Fashion Week event. When attending STAUD's Spring 22 show on Sunday, September 12, the "Curb Your Enthusiasm" star and creator was caught plugging his ears as loud music blared. In a video shared by The Cut's Senior Fashion Writer Emilia Petrarca on Instagram, the 74-year-old comedian was seen sitting in the front row. The blasting tunes, however, might be annoying enough for him to ignore some models gracing the runway. In the caption of the footage, Emilia wrote, "Larry David should come to fashion week more often. She then added, "I think he'd really enjoy it." Many Instagram users found the clip amusing. One person in particular wrote, "Put this in a museum." Another added, "Well this is it. There is nothing else that matters." A third then echoed the sentiment, "The only video of NYFW that matters." Someone else joined in the fun by replying, "So goood! Haha." One individual raved, "My fave post of fashion week so far! Love him!" Another simply exclaimed, "THIS IS PERFECT." This is not the first time David was caught on camera plugging his ears in public. When attending the U.S. Open earlier this week, he did the same thing while the other attendees were clapping. He, however, later joined the crowds giving applause to the players. Larry is seemingly not a fan of crowded events. When he got cut from Barack Obama's star-studded bash in August, Larry admitted to The New York Times that he's thrilled upon hearing the news. "I was pretty glum when I finally called back his assistant," he first shared. "When he told me I was eighty-sixed from the party, I was so relieved I screamed, 'Thank you! Thank you!' He must have thought I was insane," the father of two further elaborated. "Then I hung up the phone, poured myself a drink and finished my crossword puzzle." Instagram Celebrity On Saturday, September 11, the school psychologist, who is known for standing up for black community, appeared to tie the knot with two women on Instagram Live. Sep 14, 2021 AceShowbiz - Controversial psychologist Dr. Umar Johnson has sent social media users into a frenzy with his apparent double wedding. On Saturday, September 11, the famed school psychologist appeared to marry two different women at the same time in nuptials which aired live on Instagram Live. On Sunday, the 47-year-old's official Instagram page posted a photo from his wedding. In the image, he wore a classic black suit with a white shirt and a black bowtie, as he was sandwiched between his alleged two brides, who wore matching white dresses. Others details of the wedding are not immediately available as it was used to promote his upcoming training BootKamp in Brooklyn. Footage from the supposed weekend nuptials has also circulated online. In one clip, the two women walked down the aisle side by side. After delivering a speech, Umar was seen getting on his knees as he put on a ring on one of the women's finger. He kissed her hand and she, being nice and all, helped the second woman by offering to hold her flower bouquet while Umar did the same to the second woman. Umar then took turns to hug both women. He later stood between his new wives again and wrapped his hands around them as the crowd cheered. They were all smiles and began dancing excitedly to the music. Needless to say, his apparent double wedding has left many of his followers puzzled. "I beg your pardon," one person asked in disbelief. Clowning the newlyweds, another enthused, "Y'all he's not married! This was just a fashion show." A third commenter called it "Sad," while a fourth said, "This is one raggedy wedding." Some other shaded the women, with one writing, "I pray I'm NEVER this desperate!!" Another implored, "Let us pray for these women." Others, meanwhile, took aim at Umar's plans to open a school for black kids. "Man when the school opening up," one shaded him. Another critic remarked, "Was it held in his unfinished school? Cuz man that looks like a garage or warehouse." Someone else retorted, "And he used all your donations." There were still a few who came to his defense and congratulated him on his weddings. "Congratulations Dr. Umar haters gonna hate," one of the fans said. Umar is a school psychologist, clinical psychologist, author and community activist based in Pennsylvania. He is known for consistently standing up for black community. In 2014, he announced his plan to open a school name Fredrick Douglass Marcus Garvey Academy (FDMG) for black kids. He launched an initiative in which he said to raise $5 million to buy St. Paul's College, Lawrenceville, Virginia and further to convert it into a boarding school for young black African American students. Umar raised the fund completely after 5 years to buy property in Wilmington, Delaware. He said the school has been completed, but they still need to raise around $300,000 for essential repair work before it can open. However, he has been criticized for the project. Some peoples considered him a fraud for his fundraising tactics as they accused him of cheating the philanthropists in the name of fundraising. Umar has insisted that he hasn't spent any of the money he has raised for the school. If Australia's allies were worried that the country might cause them problems at upcoming climate talks in Glasgow, the events of the past week should leave little doubt in their minds. It will. Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison on Thursday all but confirmed a report that his country had pressured the UK into dropping key climate commitments from their bilateral trade agreement, showing no sign of regret or embarrassment at being caught out. And on Monday last week, when a senior UN official warned Australia's climate inaction would eventually "wreak havoc" on its economy, Australia's resources minister, Keith Pitt, dismissed the UN as a "foreign body" that should mind its own business. He even bragged about Australia's plans to keep mining coal "well beyond 2030," while much of the developed world is already well on its way to phasing out the fossil fuel. Australia is becoming increasingly isolated from the rest of the world with its obstinate approach to the climate crisis. Leaders like US climate envoy John Kerry and COP26 President Alok Sharma have been focused recently on the climate challenge of China -- but it's Australia that's emerging as the real pariah of the COP26 talks. "Of all the developed countries, Australia has the poorest standing on climate. It's clear that Australia will just be absent, basically, from the talks," Bas Eickhout, a Dutch member of the European Parliament, told CNN. "They were quite happy with the role the United States played until last year, and now of course they seem to be the last-man standing from the Western countries to block progress," he said, referring to the US' absence in global climate efforts during the Trump years. The UK has also come under criticism for bowing to Australia in the countries' bilateral trade agreement, in which an explicit reference to containing global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius appears to have been taken off the table. But a British official close to the negotiations in the lead-up to COP26 said that the UK had otherwise been consistent in its messaging to the Australian government to take the crisis more seriously. Part of that messaging included denying Morrison a slot to speak at the Climate Ambition Summit in December last year, an event organized by the UK's COP26 presidency, the UN and France. More than 70 leaders attended and spoke, and many announced improved emission-cutting pledges, known as a Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs). Australia had no new NDC to announce, and it still doesn't, having missed a July 31 deadline mandated by the Paris Agreement. "Last December, we had a little bit more run time, so we were holding the bar very, very high, and you really had to earn your stripes to be able to speak," the UK official said. "They're a developed country, they've got huge amount of capacity, and they're being devastated by climate change, quite frankly, and we've been pretty strict on that. They haven't come forward with a long-term strategy." There are growing concerns among some delegates that Australia could stifle progress at COP26 talks in key areas. Sharma, who is also a British MP, has said he wants the world to put an end date on coal at the conference and to push for countries to refocus their commitments to containing global warming to 1.5 degrees above pre-industrial levels. The Paris Agreement obliged signatories to try to contain temperatures to 2 degrees, with a preference for closer to 1.5 degrees, but there has been a growing acceptance among many governments that the world should be aiming for 1.5. Scientists see 2 degrees as a critical threshold for many of the Earth's ecosystems. But the comments in the past week from Australia's leaders suggest they will push back on both coal and 1.5. "We should increase the pressure on partners like Australia," Peter Liese, an EU member of Parliament from Germany, told CNN. He added he would be raising the "challenge" of Australia's climate inaction in the European Parliament as a problem. He also said the logic behind Australia's policy was difficult to understand. "There's a general hesitancy in Australia to commit to ambitious climate targets, and that's quite embarrassing for that country because they suffer already from climate change." Australia experienced devastating wildfires in 2019-20, events that scientists said were made more likely by human-induced climate change. The recent UN state-of-the science climate report found that Australia is already experiencing more heat extremes and higher sea level rises than the global average because of climate change. Heat, sea level rise and drought are all projected to increase in Australia the more the Earth warms. Australia trails China on net zero Australia has pledged to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions by 26% to 28% by 2030, from 2005 levels, a commitment that sits well below those made by the United States, European Union and United Kingdom, among other developed nations. US President Joe Biden, for example, increased his country's pledge in April to reduce emissions by 50% to 52% in the same time frame. The Australian Climate Council, which is independent of the government, has suggested the country should slash emissions by 75% by 2030, compared to 2005 levels, to do its part in containing global warming to 1.5 degrees. Instead of focusing on immediate emissions reductions, the government has framed its climate response around "tech not taxes," saying essentially it will transition to renewables when it becomes cheaper to do so. "Removing the green premium -- the price difference between current technologies and low emissions solutions -- is the key to widespread global adoption and will make net zero achievable for all countries," the Australian Department of Industry, Science, Energy and Resources (DISER), which oversees climate policy, said in a statement to CNN on Monday. It reiterated its plans to continue to export coal to nations that are still developing, including China, India and South Korea. "Australia has an important role to play in meeting that demand," it added. The Australian government in December last year technically "updated" its NDC, as it was obliged to do by the Paris Agreement before a July 31 deadline, but it did not actually increase its target to cut emissions. The point of the deadline was for countries to raise their climate ambitions. DISER told CNN it would release a long-term strategy on climate ahead of COP26. "Australia will spell out its position in due course," it said. The country's current pledges do not even put it on track to meet the requirements to keep global warming within 2 degrees Celsius, let alone 1.5, according to Climate Action Tracker, a group that monitors climate policies around the world. The watchdog said that if the whole world followed Australia's policies, temperatures would rise by between 2 and 3 degrees. And while Australia says achieving carbon neutrality by mid-century would be preferable, it's one of the only developed nations that hasn't actually committed to it. Even China, widely seen as a roadblock to international climate progress, has pledged carbon neutrality by 2060. A spokesperson for the European Union told CNN that the bloc hoped "Australia's ambition to reach net zero 'as soon as possible' can be turned into a 2050 net zero target." Powerful fossil fuel lobbying Part of what's holding Australia back is the power that fossil fuel companies wield in the country. Australia is the world's second-biggest coal exporter, after Indonesia. According to Pitt, the Australian resources minister, coal brought in around $50 billion in exports and more than $3 billion in royalties last financial year, and provides direct jobs for over 50,000 Australians, and supports the jobs of many more. More than 60% of the country's electricity was generated by coal last year. In the UK, it was 1.6% in 2020. A shift to renewables in Australia has begun, but it's been slow. Just 9% of the country's electricity comes from the sun. Australia has the highest amount of solar radiation per square meter of land than any other continent. DISER said that there had been successful "structural changes" to the electricity sector, which has seen a reduction in emissions of 22.5% since it peaked in 2007. Meanwhile, as the UK, US and EU are designing "green recoveries" from the Covid-19 pandemic -- boosting the use of renewables, like wind and solar energy, and setting targets to transition to electric cars -- Australia's plans center on increasing its exploration and use of natural gas, a fossil fuel that contributes to climate change. It "strategy" for electric vehicles doesn't involve any subsidies or put an end date on combustion engine cars. A report published on Thursday by the climate think tank InfluenceMap showed that fossil fuel companies are exerting a strong influence over Australian climate policy through well-funded lobbying, and that Australian businesses that are more vocally climate friendly are less engaged in lobbying the government in practice. "The direction that the Australian government is taking -- for example its recent trade negotiations with the UK -- isn't coming out of a vacuum," InfluenceMap director Ed Collins told CNN. "When it comes to lobbying for Paris-aligned climate policy, corporate Australia is largely missing in action." Collins said that Australia was a clear outlier from its peers in this dynamic. In the United States and Europe, for example, there are big companies actively pushing the government on climate policy. "In Australia, that's not the case -- it's missing those strategically engaged, pro-climate corporate voices." It appears that lobbying fossil fuel companies have hijacked climate policy from the Australian people. Most Australians support more climate action from the government, according to a poll by the Lowy Institute in May. The poll found that 78% of Australians would support a net zero emissions target for 2050. Around the same number support the government subsidizing electric vehicles. And 63% support a ban on new coal mines opening in Australia. Yet of the world's 176 new coal projects, 79 of them are in Australia, according to Fitch Solutions' Global Mines Database. The real lobbying to government for improved climate policy is left largely to activist groups. Lucy Manne, the CEO of 350.org, which is an international organization with an Australian presence, accused the Morrison government of deliberately slowing down climate progress. "This is extremely frustrating, and the government will only see the movement calling for action grow," she said. "The Morrison government risks Australia becoming not just a pariah state on the world stage, but also our economy falling behind. Australia has the potential to become a clean energy superpower and exporter, and the Australian public wants us to be a leader, not a laggard." The-CNN-Wire & 2021 Cable News Network, Inc., a WarnerMedia Company. All rights reserved. HOUSTON (AP) Tropical Storm Nicholas is strengthening just off the Gulf Coast and could blow ashore in Texas as a hurricane as it brings heavy rain and floods to coastal areas from Mexico to storm-battered Louisiana. Forecasters at the National Hurricane Center in Miami say top sustained winds reached 60 mph. It was traveling north at 12 mph on a forecast track to pass near the South Texas coast later Monday, then move onshore along the coast of south or central Texas by Monday evening. Texas Gov. Greg Abbott says the state has placed rescue teams and resources in the Houston area and along the Texas Gulf Coast. Some schools in the Houston and Galveston areas are closed because of the storm. For more information about the tropical storm click here. For the continuing coverage of the weather, click here. Ganeshotsav Film Concept: The Protagonist, Aditya, is coming home from Mumbai for Ganeshotsav. His family is delighted to see him. Festivities and celebratory excitement run high. Amidst all this, Aditya notices how the men in his family are eating first and expecting the ladies of the household to clean up/ finish up after them. This upsets Aditya so much that he starts avoiding meals with his brother and father. When this comes to his fathers notice, his father acknowledges his disdain for this practice and effects a Badlaav for the better. Relevance to #BadlaavHumseHai Concept: With this film, AU Bank address the age-old custom of males of the household eating before the women. In todays day and age, this practice has lost its rationale, and works only as a measure to imply a members importance in the household. With the thought that a family that eats together, stays together, AU Bank ignites a small, do-able, yet significant change in the dynamics of our culture and family values. Indeed, there is no better time or occasion to bring about this change than Ganeshotsav, an opportune time to start something new, and unite people with a common spirit of Badlaav. SCREENXX Awards 2021 Last Date for nomination of Digital Video Content and OTT Platform.. - Monday, September 20, 2021 - ENTRIES OPEN About #BadlaavHumseHai: The genesis of the new Brand Campaign comes from AU Banks flourishing banking business conducted through 500 branches spread across Rajasthan, Gujarat, Maharashtra, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh and other regions with several innovations in products and services. The current campaign embodies a shift that AU Bank has successfully brought about in the Indian banking sector, establishing its status as a challenger of the status quo, for better customer experience. The technological era has reached its apex, and Bihar is marching in lockstep with the ever-evolving global technological revolution. Bihar Govt. wants to encourage investors to invest in Bihar's IT sector and turn it into a major IT hub in Eastern India- Jibesh Kumar, IT minister, Govt. of Bihar Patna (Bihar): The state government has decided to build an IT city on 100 acres of earmarked land in Rajgir, Nalanda. In addition, the State Government has set aside 25 acres of land in Bihta, Patna, for a proposed IT park with cutting-edge facilities, a consistent web network, and continuous quality power accessibility. A state-funded IT tower is also being built to house IT/ITeS and device organizations.With rapid infrastructure development, Bihar is on track to become the country's next IT hub and a great platform for IT/ITeS and electronics companies. Shri Jibesh Kumar, Hon'ble Minister Government of Bihar, Department of Information Technology, said, the department's initiative to encourage entrepreneurs and investors to invest in the IT industry and to establish Bihar as the most privileged investment destination is taking key steps under the 'Invest IT Bihar Campaign' Investment initiative. Inviting applications for rent-free space at Patna's Start-Up Hub at Biscomaun Tower should be considered part of the initiative. We want to encourage investors to invest in Bihar's IT sector and turn it into a major IT hub in Eastern India. Jibesh Kumar, Minister of Information Technology, Government of Bihar The Department of Information Technology, Government of Bihar, has set up 78 Wi-Fi enabled workstations, 33 independent cabins, and a 60-seater call centre in a total area of 12,000 square feet on the 9th and 13th floors of Biscoumaun Tower in Patna. The Department has received over 80 registrations and 48 applications with registration fee in the shape of demand drafts from startups operating in various sectors such as business process outsourcing, knowledge process outsourcing, data analytics, internet of things, and business process management for the allocation of rent-free office space. With the COVID pandemic limiting people's movement and transit around the world, technology has once again proven to be a lifesaver. India experienced the longest curfew in human history. The LOCKDOWN was a necessary step to combat the rapid spread of the deadly corona virus, but implementing a nationwide lockdown in a country with the world's second largest population was a difficult task. In a variety of ways, technology played a critical role in limiting virus spread. In these unprecedented circumstances, the state of Bihar used a variety of techniques to combat the disastrous CORONA virus, which was spreading at a rapid pace. The Bihar government is committed to its goal of creating more job opportunities for youth and empowering Bihar's socioeconomic growth. The Government of Bihar ensured the smooth operation of government bodies by successfully implementing Projects such as E-Office & E-Procurement Mission Mode Projects, which are a few of the Mission Mode Projects under the National e-Governance Plan. By replacing the old manual process with an electronic file system, the E-Office project aimed to improve productivity, quality, resource management, turnaround time, and transparency. The NIC developed the E-Office framework, and DIT Bihar is the nodal department for e-Office implementation in Bihar. Bihar's government has implemented e-office in 30 departments and 15 government PSUs. A plethora of offices began operating remotely with the help of cloud-based computing and web-based applications for meetings and conferences. Events were hosted online, and many seminars were successfully transformed into webinars. The e-commerce industry expanded dramatically as products were ordered online in record numbers across the state. The Government of Bihar's Department of Information Technology has launched an Android-based App (HIT-COVID) to help health workers track home isolated COVID positive patients. The Hon'ble Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi praised the HIT-COVID App for its innovative thinking and implementation. The HIT-COVID app assisted health workers in tracking the health status of home isolated COVID Positive patients, allowing them to provide appropriate medical services to those in need. Bihar has made tremendous progress in all areas of development. In reality, Bihar is one of the top-performing states in terms of GDP growth rate. This Indian state is currently constructing its first information technology (IT) park near the state capital. Bihar has seen tremendous growth in per capita net state homegrown item. The state's NSDP developed at a CAGR of 13.41 percent (in Rs.) between 2015 and 2021 at current costs per capita. To attract investors, policies have been relaxed. Also there is no scarcity of economical skilled workforce in the state. All of this will entice investors to invest in Bihar. The steps taken by the Government of Bihar's Department of Information Technology will lead to Bihar developing its identity as a strong and sustainable IT hub in the region, as well as creating job opportunities for the people of Bihar. Radico Khaitan is one of the oldest and the largest manufacturers of Indian Made Foreign Liquor. With over 75 years of experience in spirits making, Radico Khaitan has evolved from just being a distiller of spirits for others to a leading IMFL company with a highly reputed brand portfolio. Driven by the vision of the promoters, Radico Khaitan started its own brands in 1998 with the launch of 8 PM whisky. Radico Khaitan is one of the few companies in India to have developed its entire brand portfolio organically. The companys brand portfolio includes After Dark Whisky, Contessa Rum, Magic Moments Vodka, Morpheus Brandy, Old Admiral Brandy and 8 PM Whisky. The company has been constantly innovating and has got a strong R&D and research team which understands the needs and requirements of both the current and the next generation audience. SCREENXX Awards 2021 Last Date for nomination of Digital Video Content and OTT Platform.. - Monday, September 20, 2021 - ENTRIES OPEN The challenges faced by the company during the lockdown were many and the business was impacted and there was a temporary halt of the operations. While the demand for the products was there, the COVID-19 restrictions made it difficult for the company to reach out to the end consumer. However, with their robust distribution network, it did not take much time to bounce back and reach out to their consumers once the restrictions imposed were relaxed. In conversation with Adgully, Amar Sinha, Chief Operating Officer, Radico Khaitan Ltd, speaks about the challenges that the company faced during the lockdown, and also shares the future plans and growth strategy for the company. Every industry has been disrupted for the last one year. How has Radico Khaitan managed to navigate during these tough times? What are some of the challenges the liquor industry faced? Due to the nationwide lockdown, our business was impacted initially and there was even a minor halt of operations for a short period of time. Although the demand for the products continued, restrictions made it difficult for people to have access to them. However, with our robust distribution network, it did not take us time to bounce back and reach our consumers. The industry faced multiple challenges, including connecting with the consumers and production deficit. But the brighter side is, this also gave birth to a host of new trends and innovations. The liquor e-commerce toddled, the focus to promote the brands shifted to digital to name a few. As restrictions lifted and normalcy resumed, our month-on-month volumes indicated a positive trend and we are confident of a continued improvement in our numbers as well as overall industry performance. Reaching the product to the last mile has been a challenge in these times. How did you manage your supply chain and distribution? Did you leverage E-commerce to push your products? With restaurants and liquor outlets being shut, the industry faced a challenge with getting the product to the consumers. As one of the largest manufacturers of Indian Made Foreign Liquor (IMFL) in the country, we have a strong and robust supply chain in place that helped us navigate the challenges of the pandemic. The reopening of liquor outlets, post relaxation of rules, brought huge relief in terms of revenue generation. Last mile connectivity was definitely a challenge, caused by the restrictions that were put in place. We found that alcohol e-commerce was an effective way to comply with physical distancing norms and reduce the chances of virus transmission significantly. However, e-commerce in the liquor sector is still in a nascent stage, where we are all collectively learning. While it might take some time for alcohol e-commerce to show effective results, it is expected to become a more preferable and time saving option for consumers in the times to come. The liquor business works by closely working with your dealer networks. During the pandemic how did you manage to stay connected with your business partners and ensure seamless sales happening? Being in the business for over 7 decades gives us an edge over our contemporaries from the distribution standpoint. While the movement of stock from distillery to the dealers was hampered due to the clampdown, our production was taking place uninterruptedly. The effort resulted in ample stock availability in an instant to our dealers/ retailers the moment restriction was eased. We ensured the availability of stock for them at every point. You constantly keep innovating on the product front. Are you planning any new product launches? Product innovation has always been a priority for us, especially over this past decade where we have launched 12 new brands, 11 of which are in the premium category. We plan to launch three new brands in the P&A (prestige and above) category in the next year which are two premium whiskeys as well as one high-end white spirit brand. Apart from the new launches, the company is scaling up existing brands like Jaisalmer Indian Craft Gin, 1965 SOV Rum, Morpheus Brandy, and 8 PM Premium Black Whisky. We have also extended the Verve premium vodka portfolio with addition of two new flavours-Lemon Lush and Cranberry Tease. What was your engagement strategy with your consumers to keep all your brands top-of-mind? The amount of time spent online by people of all age groups across the globe increased manifold while at home post lockdown. We realised that creating and curating engaging digital content in various forms would be the key to drive recall for our brands. Right from the start of the lockdown, Radico Khaitan remained connected to its customers by constantly connecting with them to help them overcome lockdown blues. From organising online music concerts to creating awareness on COVID-19 and announcing contests on social media, we left no stone unturned to keep their customers spirit high. Magic Moments Music Studio partnered with DJ Aqeel in April 2020 for an online musical concert, which received an overwhelming response. One of the major attractions during the show was the one-of-its-kind special VFX effect set. It was done to give the fans a club-like experience while enjoying from the comfort of their homes. The show received unprecedented traction with a reach of almost 1 million consumers. It also associated with Sunburn Home Festival: Chapter 1 for Indias first biggest virtual music festival. The weekend musical extravaganza included special effects showcasing the live experience of a concert and saw a record global reach of 5 million fans. Magic Moments Music Studio has partnered with versatile musician Knox Artiste to launch 4 peppy numbers across multiple genres online. The Dubai-based music producer and rap artist spread magic virtually by releasing the first song Burj Khalifa on his official social media pages on the World Music Day. The song was also released by the brand on its official Instagram handle (@magicmomentsvodka) , Facebook page (@magicmomentsvodka) and YouTube Channel (@magicmomentsremix) for all music enthusiasts to add to their playlists. Our flagship brand, 8 PM Premium Black whiskey, has also been running numerous online engagement activities and influencers programs. Recently, the brand associated with top shot stand-up comedians to promote its special edition puzzle pack that was launched to celebrate the spirit of IPL and the brands entry into the Millionaire club in FY21. Last year, when the worlds movement and celebrations were restricted, we at Radico had taken up the task to not to allow the pandemic affect the spirit of our people. Continuing its momentum to keep the consumers spirit high, Radico Khaitan came up with another power packed initiative for Indias 74th Independence Day. The company launched a gratitude song, Shukriya, under the banner of The Spirit of Victory in the honour of the courageous Indian Army. Through the song, Radico Khaitan paid tribute to the Army for their immense sacrifice throughout and protecting the motherland without fearing for their own lives. The song was written and sung by the very versatile musical artist, writer and composer Padamjeet Sehrawat. There have hardly been any events since March 2020, hence most of the focus shifted to digital. What helped us sail through is the fact that we were prepared to go digital. You have produced several short films with the latest one titled Speed Dial with Shreyas Talpade. Whats the purpose behind producing and releasing these films? Is it a surrogate product for your brand, 8 PM? Speed Dial is the first in a series of short films produced by 8 PM Premium Black Music CDs, as part of the brands strategy to collaborate with creators in the music and entertainment space, given its immense popularity, reach and alignment with the brand. Weve realised that digital content has been a catalyst for us during this past year, where weve been able to successfully connect and engage with our consumers that have been stuck at home. With short films, we are looking to further expand our digital presence and we see great potential in creating short format content that can capture the imagination of our consumers with unique, fun and relatable stories. While the global pandemic has brought economies to a halt and massively disrupted businesses, it has also fuelled start-up dreams and we even saw several Indian start-ups achieve Unicorn status during the pandemic period. The times have never been better for the budding entrepreneurs to give wings to their start-up dreams. The Government, too, has come up with various schemes to support its Vocal for Local drive. A case in point is the Rs 1,000 crore Start-up India Seed Fund announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi during the Start-up India International Summit 2021 held earlier this year. Adgully is turning the spotlight on the entrepreneurs who fought against all odds to bring their dreams to fruition in our special series START-UP STARS. We at Adgully wholeheartedly support the Vocal for Local movement and over the next few months will be featuring all local/ homegrown businesses, brands and Apps. Before starting WOW Skin Science and entering the beauty and wellness market, Manish Chowdhary, Co-Founder, WOW Skin Science, was running his start-up in the information technology segment. Chowdhary loves the sense of freedom and achievement and also the challenge that being an entrepreneur brings you. It was in 2013, that the brand was born from the vision to develop and deliver affordable luxury products in the beauty and wellness space products inspired from nature and infused with nature. The genesis of the company was from his experience with start-ups that failed to take off due to changing market conditions. Eventually, the other co-founder and Manish realised the potential that wellness and beauty had as an industry segment and put all their energies to create this brand. When they started, the idea was to be a wellness brand, but the duo saw a large opportunity in green chemistry and the emergence of the indigenous beauty brands in the country. Then there was an increasing demand for nature-based, organic beauty care products in the market, thats when they organically transitioned into natural products. In conversation with Adgully, Manish Chowdhary, Co-Founder, WOW Skin Science, speaks about how his start-up fulfills the need gap and what is his core business proposition. The product formulations that are nature-based backed by scientific research and traditional beauty recipes, and much more. How did you identify your TG? Did you carry out any feasibility study prior to starting your business? When we started our brand, we did a market research, followed consumer trends and used our gut instinct to identify the consumer group and develop products for them. Our research showed us that there was a latent demand for clean, green products that delivered visible results, and we used that information to put our brand together. We use data science and customer insights to identify our target group. What were the challenges that you faced in your start-up journey and how did you overcome them? When we started working, many of our business strategies were based on gut-instinct and simple trend watching. However, that sometimes did not bring in the desired results. Some of the business decisions during the initial stages did not go in our favour. Thats when we decided to move to data analytics and became a data driven company. This transition has been particularly important for us since it reduced the chances of our failing in our business and marketing strategies. Over the years, we have leveraged technology in a number of ways to understand consumer trends and behaviour. In fact, we see that data analytics as vital to experimental bets for new product ideation and responding to customer needs. We have become a true technology-enabled organization that works around true insights and sheer numbers. Funds/ finance is the prime issue of almost all start-ups. What can the industry and the Government do to address this issue and ease the capital requirements of start-ups? Cash is the key concern for start-ups, especially during the pandemic, when we have seen how venture capital and independent funding have dried up leaving the start-ups cash strapped. This has forced many brilliant businesses to fold and close shop. One of the things that can help new businesses and start-ups is zero-interest, unsecured loans. The other is partial government/ industry grants which can be boosted with loans. Another thing that the government can do is to reduce the corporate income tax burden on the start-ups by reducing tax percentage and offering tax holidays. Prime Minister Modi announced a Startup India Seed Fund earlier this year. How do you see start-ups benefiting from it? The recent announcement by the PMO about the Startup India Seed Fund is really a shot in the arm for the start-up sector. The Rs 1,000-crore seed fund will help entrepreneurs flourish in the country. In fact, we saw many start-ups power Indias drive for becoming self-reliance during the pandemic, when bigger companies had to slow down. So, this fund will definitely benefit them and help entrepreneurs rev up the industry with new age business ideas and solutions. How is digital helping you further your business? We, as a company, have always followed a digital first strategy. In fact, we started as a digital brand, selling online before going into the offline retail space. So, it continues to remain the most important part of our marketing and business strategy. What were your key learnings so far? How do you see the start-up ecosystem progressing in 2021? The most important learning is that when you are starting out, be lean with your operations, have a tight team and leverage technology in a big, big way. We did that. Only when we started getting the kind of market response that we wanted, did we expand our team. Lean team structure, transparent work style works the best when you are starting out. What with the boost from the government with the latest seed fund announcement, we expect the start-up ecosystem to do better than last year. The pandemic did create many entrepreneurs, and those people will get a fillip and grow better with relaxations and markets opening up. What would be your message for the budding entrepreneurs? My business mantra is Fail fast, fix fast. I realised early on that it is important to learn from your failure and move to the next idea as soon as feasible without pondering on the actual failure. Also, it is important to dream big but work lean when you are starting out. Completing 10 years in the communication business, India's fastest growing communication firm, PR Professionals (PRP) launched two new consulting practices- Data Analytics and Investor Relations. The announcement was made on the 10th foundation day of PR Professionals, flagship of the PRP Group. The Investors Relations consulting practice will have service offerings including IPO marketing, management of Investment Roadshows, Analysts Meets, Sell-Side Meetings, Site Visits, Bankers, Hedge Funds and PE Engagements and coverage of equity coverage reports. Data analytics will be a specialised service. A dedicated in-house team will translate client business requirements into insights that are actionable, reliable, feasible and sustainable. Incorporating Analytics into the arsenal will also create cross functional synergy between various verticals including Design, Digital Marketing and PR teams. Machine Learning, Simulation Modeling and Market and Customer Trend Forecasting will help create models to streamline value creation for existing clients and supply chains. Data-driven storytelling and investor relations have become intrinsic to the communication landscape in this new age. The new practices are part of our commitment to adding value to our clients through diversification of our offerings in line with the constantly evolving landscape, Sarvesh Tiwari, Founder and Managing Director, PR Professionals, said. The 10-year long journey wouldn't have been possible without the enduring support of our clients, media experts, and, most importantly, our wonderful team of dedicated professionals. We have always strived to go above and beyond our corporate engagements and sound a clarion call for collaborative efforts by the communication fraternity to unite for the betterment of our society and build a cohesive ecosystem for social and community welfare", Sarvesh Tiwari further added. From a humble beginning 10 years ago to becoming Indias fastest growing PR firm, PR Professionals under the able leadership of Founder and Managing Director, Sarvesh Tiwari, the company has grown by leaps and bounds and earned the trust of its valued clientele across sectors. Founded in 2011 with a small team of three people and a vision of giving back to society, the company now proudly operates across seven time zones, working tirelessly across ten domestic and six offshore offices, and boasts a working strength of 150 associates. In its decade-long journey, PRP has been successfully catering to a diverse clientele, including government and development organizations, multinational corporates, real estate giants, startups, educational institutions, and many prominent brands. Apart from being an excellence-driven communications firm, the firm is the only organization that pledges to work for social welfare. The Covid-19 pandemic is an unprecedented time that has brought untold hardships, especially to the underprivileged section of society. PRP has also adopted a total of 135 children who lost their parents to COVID in a self-funded initiative. The organization is bearing the education expenses of these children till their eldest family member becomes financially independent. It arranged food and ration for around 500 migrant labourers stranded in and around Gurugram, Bihar, Tamil Nadu, and Uttarakhand during the 2020 lockdown. It also voiced the concerns of hundreds of Indians stranded in Japan through media advocacy and ensured that their plight was highlighted before the government. In the past, PRP has been associated with large-scale campaigns, such as 'Make in India' United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification, 'Justice for Nirbhaya', 'WASH', disaster and risk reduction, immunization, tribal nutrition, 'Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao' to name a few. Federal Department of Economic Affairs, Education and Research Bern, 13.09.2021 - Bern, 13 September 2021 Professor Thomas Berger (University of Bern) will receive this years Swiss Science Prize Marcel Benoist for his innovative contribution to Internet-based psychotherapy. This years Swiss Science Prize Latsis, which is awarded to young researchers under the age of 40, goes to Professor Nicola Aceto (ETH Zurich) for his ground-breaking discoveries in the area of cancer research. The Swiss Science Prize Marcel Benoist is considered by researchers to be the Swiss equivalent of the Nobel Prize and laureates are awarded CHF 250,000 for their achievements. This years prize goes to Thomas Berger, Professor of Clinical Psychology and Psychotherapy at the University of Bern. Berger is a pioneer in the design, testing and rollout of digital therapeutic interventions (via apps and websites) to prevent and treat mental health issues and disorders. As a leading international expert in the area of psychotherapy research, he has explored and empirically confirmed the effectiveness of online treatment methods compared to purely conventional forms of psychotherapy. I am incredibly honoured to receive the Swiss Science Prize Marcel Benoist. This is a tremendous endorsement of the work and research undertaken with the support of my amazing research team and collaborative partners. At the same time, it is acknowledgement of our joint efforts to make effective psychological interventions accessible to a large number of people, states Berger enthusiastically. Among other things, the web-based self-help programmes developed by Berger can be used to treat depression and anxiety, the two most common mental disorders in Switzerland. Other online tools offer help with sleep disorders or with psychological distress after illnesses and separations. Berger has also successfully developed blended treatments, which combine online treatments with live therapy sessions. Readily available digital services can greatly improve access to treatment for certain groups of patients, such as those who are absolutely unable or unwilling to see a therapist. Since the start of government measures to tackle the coronavirus situation, however, Internet-based forms of therapy have also become crucial for society as a whole. And demand is on the rise. Thomas Berger and his team are currently working on projects to further improve the effectiveness of self-help and blended approaches to treat depression and anxiety disorders. They are also working with cooperation partners to develop an app for suicide prevention as well as online interventions for vulnerable groups in society, such as refugees, who are particularly difficult to reach through conventional services. Paving the way for new cancer treatments As the winner of this years Swiss Science Prize Latsis, Italian national and associate professor at ETH Zurich Nicola Aceto will receive CHF 100,000 for his ground-breaking discoveries in the area of cancer research. Metastasis, or the spread of cancer cells from the original locus of a tumour to other parts of the body, is often life-threatening, accounting for over 90 per cent of all cancer-related deaths worldwide. Metastasis occurs as a result of circulating tumour cells (CTC), which leave the original tumour and travel via the bloodstream to other organs, where they form secondary malignant growths. Aceto made several important discoveries while researching these circulating tumour cells: He noticed that clusters of CTCs form metastases particularly frequently; such clusters are particularly prevalent in prostate or breast cancer, for example. He deduced from this that the spread of cancer in the body can be reduced if it is possible break down CTC clusters with drugs. Aceto has also managed to isolate viable CTCs from practically all types of cancer. These and other findings have already been applied in clinical trials in patients with metastatic cancer and have contributed to the development of diagnostic and prognostic tools. However, Aceto and his team continue to set ambitious goals for themselves: the Latsis Prize is a great honour for my research group and myself. Particularly, it is also a great motivation to continue our research efforts in the same very ambitious direction, aiming at developing new therapeutic concepts for targeting and suppressing metastasis in patients. Joint award ceremony in Bern The Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF) was responsible for selecting the laureates on behalf of the two foundations. The joint award ceremony for both the Swiss Science Prize Marcel Benoist and the Swiss Science Prize Latsis will take place at Bern City Hall on 4 November. The President of the Marcel Benoist Foundation, Guy Parmelin, will present the awards. He had this to say about the event: "I am extremely pleased that we can present the 2021 Swiss science prizes to two outstanding researchers. Thomas Berger and Nicola Aceto are both making great contributions to our society through their work. They are prime examples of Swiss research excellence. Swiss Science Prize Marcel Benoist 2021 Laureate: Prof. Thomas Berger Thomas Berger (1971) grew up in Konolfingen and studied psychology at the University of Bern. He earned his PhD at the University of Freiburg im Breisgau and also worked as a psychotherapist, including at the Kilchberg Psychiatric Clinic. After working as a senior research assistant at both the University of Geneva and the University of Bern, he was selected for an SNSF scholarship to conduct research at Linkoping University in Sweden. He then returned to the University of Bern to complete his PhD under an SNSF Ambizione grant. In 2013, he was hired by the University of Bern to teach and conduct research as part of an SNSF-funded professorship. In 2018, he was given full tenure at the University of Bern's Institute of Psychology and appointed as head of the Department of Clinical Psychology and Psychotherapy. Thomas Berger has been involved in two major European research programmes and has received several awards for his research, including the Outstanding Early Career Achievement Award from the Society for Psychotherapy Research. About the Marcel Benoist Foundation Each year since 1920, the Marcel Benoist Foundation has awarded prizes for outstanding research that has an impact on human life. These prizes are awarded independently without regard to any specific university. In doing so, the foundation pays tribute to researchers who exemplify the level of excellence of research conducted in Switzerland. Eleven laureates have already gone on to receive the Nobel Prize. The nomination and selection process is handled by the Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF) on behalf of the Marcel Benoist Foundation. The 2021 prize will be awarded in the field of humanities and social sciences. More information can be found at: www.marcel-benoist.ch Swiss Science Prize Latsis 2021 Laureate: Prof. Nicola Aceto Nicola Aceto (1982) was born in Italy and studied medical and pharmaceutical biotechnology at the University of Eastern Piedmont in Novara. He obtained his PhD from the Friedrich Miescher Institute for Biomedical Research in Basel and then worked as a postdoctoral researcher at Harvard Medical School in Boston. On returning to Switzerland he led a research team and held an SNSF-sponsored assistant professorship in oncology at the University of Basel. In 2021 he moved to ETH Zurich where has since led a research team and worked as Associate Professor of Molecular Oncology. Nicola Aceto has already received three ERC grants and earned numerous prizes in his career to date, including the Friedrich Miescher Award for Outstanding Achievements in Biochemistry. About the Latsis Foundation Each year since 1983, the Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF) has awarded the Swiss Science Prize Latsis (formerly known as the National Latsis Prize) on behalf of the Latsis Foundation, which was founded in 1975. The prize honours young researchers up to the age of 40 at Swiss universities for their outstanding contributions. Laureates are chosen through a selection procedure run by the SNSF. The 2021 prize will be awarded in the fields of biology and medicine. More information can be found at: www.fondationlatsis.org Address for enquiries Contact Marcel Benoist Foundation Dr. Aurelia Robert-Tissot, Head of Secretariat Tel.: +41 58 484 49 41 Email: aurelia.robert-tissot@sbfi.admin.ch Prof. Thomas Berger, Laureate, thomas.berger@psy.unibe.ch Latsis Foundation Prof. Denis Duboule, Foundation President Tel.: +41 79 202 86 37 Email: denis.duboule@epfl.ch Prof. Nicola Aceto, Laureate, nicola.aceto@biol.ethz.ch University of Bern Media Relations Tel.: +41 31 684 41 42 E-Mail: medien@unibe.ch ETH Zurich Corporate Communications Tel.: +41 632 41 41 E-Mail: mediarelations@hk.ethz.ch Swiss National Science Foundation (information about selection procedure) Michaela Strinzel Tel.: +41 31 308 21 54 E-Mail: michaela.strinzel@snf.ch EAER Communications Tel. +41 58 462 20 07 E-Mail: info@gs-wbf.admin.ch Publisher Federal Department of Economic Affairs, Education and Research http://www.wbf.admin.ch Federal Department of Economic Affairs, Education and Research Bern, 13.09.2021 - President Guy Parmelin, the head of the Federal Department of Economic Affairs, Education and Research (EAER), held an online roundtable discussion with the Secretary-General of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and several economic affairs ministers from the associations member states. The dialogue was used to identify potential areas for economic cooperation. The Assocation of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) is a regional cooperation comprised of Brunei, Indonesia, Cambodia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam. Switzerland became a sectoral dialogue partner of the association five years ago. The ASEAN economies continue to gain importance and still hold significant growth potential. Last year, the trade volume between Switzerland and the ASEAN member states was around CHF 30 billion. According to the Swiss National Bank, Swiss companies have so far invested a total of CHF 44 billion in ASEAN member states. The dialogue on Monday was the second of its kind, following up on a meeting in 2020. The online meeting focused on the ongoing negotiations on a declaration on cooperation on free trade issues between EFTA countries and ASEAN. Mr Parmelin and the ASEAN economic affairs ministers also discussed digitalisation and e-commerce. ASEAN is looking to take a leading role as a digital organisation and economy with its recently adopted ASEAN Digital Masterplan 2025. Mr Parmelin emphasised the importance of having a general agreement in place for digital commerce in order for all parties to fully exploit the benefits of digital technologies, particularly with regards to legal certainty, non-discriminatory market access and an open internet. Cooperation and support in fighting the COVID-19 pandemic was also an important topic. Address for enquiries EAER Information Service, 058 462 20 07, info@gs-wbf.admin.ch Publisher Federal Department of Economic Affairs, Education and Research http://www.wbf.admin.ch Federal Department of Foreign Affairs Bern, 13.09.2021 - Federal Councillor Ignazio Cassis received the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Yemen, Ahmed Awad bin Mubarak, in Geneva on 13 September. The official meeting focused on the humanitarian situation in Yemen, ceasefire prospects and the resumption of the political process. Under its MENA Strategy 202124 and the Cooperation Strategy for Yemen 201721, Switzerland is working for the protection of the civilian population in Yemen and supporting the UN peace efforts. The head of the FDFA took advantage of the in-person meeting to present Switzerland's priorities under its MENA Strategy 202124 to Minister of Foreign Affairs bin Mubarak. Peacebuilding, alleviating humanitarian suffering, and the protection of the civilian population in Yemen will be the focus of Switzerland's efforts over the next few years. Mr Cassis encouraged Mr bin Mubarak to work for a ceasefire and a political solution to the Yemen conflict. He reiterated Switzerland's willingness to deploy its good offices to support future peace negotiations within the UN between the parties to the conflict. The two foreign ministers also discussed the humanitarian situation in Yemen. The crisis in Yemen is one of the world's worst humanitarian disasters. Mr Cassis stressed how important it is that all parties to the conflict respect international humanitarian law and humanitarian principles. "Unrestricted access to the civilian population must be guaranteed and the current administrative and logistical hurdles removed," he said. Swiss Humanitarian Aid Yemen has been in a state of civil war since 2015 and is one of the poorest countries in the world. Some 71% of the population are dependent on humanitarian aid. Switzerland has been working in Yemen since 2007 to ensure access to water and sanitation, the protection of civilians and respect for international humanitarian law. In 2021, Switzerland's budget for activities in Yemen amounts to CHF 14 million. Since 2017 it has spent a total of CHF 71 million in Yemen. From 2017 to 2019 and again in 2021, Switzerland co-hosted a high-level donor conference for Yemen with Sweden and the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA). This event raised approximately USD 1.7 billion in 2021. Commitment to peace The protracted conflict in Yemen is a consequence of local historical rivalries and the geopolitical tensions affecting the region. Switzerland recognises these dynamics and is engaged in various efforts towards sustainable peace in Yemen. Together with like-minded states, it supports the UN's peace efforts and has repeatedly hosted talks in western Switzerland between the parties to the conflict. These led to the release of over 1,000 prisoners of war last year. In addition, Switzerland supports regional peace policy initiatives around the Arabian Peninsula and in Iran which seek to reduce tensions and build peace and stability in the region in the longer term. The Yemeni Minister of Foreign Affairs Ahmed Awad bin Mubarak visited Geneva on 13 September as part of a tour of several European countries. Address for enquiries FDFA Communication Federal Palace West Wing CH-3003 Bern, Switzerland Tel. Communication service: +41 58 462 31 53 Tel. Press service: +41 58 460 55 55 E-mail: kommunikation@eda.admin.ch Twitter: @SwissMFA Publisher Federal Department of Foreign Affairs https://www.eda.admin.ch/eda/en/home.html Federal Department of Foreign Affairs Geneva, 13.09.2021 - Federal Councillor Ignazio Cassis, head of the FDFA, took part in a UN conference on Afghanistan in Geneva today. The international community convened to discuss the situation in Afghanistan and respond to the country's grave humanitarian needs. In view of the emergency situation, Switzerland plans to allocate an additional CHF 33 million in humanitarian aid. Mr Cassis held bilateral talks on the margins of the conference with various officials, including UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres. On 13 September, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres invited the international community to join him in Geneva for an urgent ministerial conference. The aim of the conference was to raise awareness of the great humanitarian needs in Afghanistan and to secure emergency financial aid for its people. The people of Afghanistan are facing an extremely difficult situation due to the long years of conflict, a severe drought and the COVID-19 pandemic. The current crisis threatens to aggravate the plight of the population. Some 18 million Afghans almost half of the population are now dependent on aid. More than 550,000 people have been displaced since January 2021 alone. One in three people in Afghanistan suffer from food insecurity and over half of the children under five are at risk of acute malnutrition. Mr Cassis welcomed the representatives of the international community on behalf of the host state and announced additional funding for Afghanistan. Humanitarian aid on the ground is to be increased by CHF 33 million. Together with the regular budget for 2022, Swiss aid to Afghanistan and neighbouring countries will amount to CHF 60 million over the next 16 months. Mr Cassis also stressed that financial support alone was not enough: "Those who are in control of Afghanistan's territory are responsible for ensuring that international organisations and NGOs have unfettered access to the population." He added that respect for human rights, in particular the protection of minorities and of women and girls, must be guaranteed. At the conference, Mr Cassis met with UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator, Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, Martin Griffiths, and the Director-General of UN Geneva, Tatiana Valovaya. Discussions focused on emergency humanitarian aid and the future of international development cooperation in Afghanistan. Switzerland's committment Afghanistan is one of the poorest countries in the world and a priority country for Swiss development cooperation. The Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC) runs a cooperation Programme in Afghanistan with an annual budget of CHF 26 million. Switzerland temporarily closed its office in Kabul in August 2021. Switzerland is working closely with the UN, international NGOs and the International Committee of the Red Cross. The SDC will continue its support for Afghanistan's population in the current context. In addition to immediate humanitarian needs, the medium- and long-term outlook must not be forgotten. Switzerland is concerned about the deterioriating security situation in Afghanistan. It calls on all actors involved to respect international humanitarian law and human rights. At the diplomatic level, Switzerland is ready to offer its good offices for the benefit of the Afghan people, either as a host state of future international conferences or to facilitate talks should the parties involved request it. Address for enquiries FDFA Communication Federal Palace West Wing CH-3003 Bern, Switzerland Tel. Communication service: +41 58 462 31 53 Tel. Press service: +41 58 460 55 55 E-mail: kommunikation@eda.admin.ch Twitter: @SwissMFA Publisher Federal Department of Foreign Affairs https://www.eda.admin.ch/eda/en/home.html Federal Department of Foreign Affairs Bern, 13.09.2021 - On Monday 13 September, Switzerland hosted a high-level conference in Bern as part of the South East European International Institute for Sustainable Technologies (SEEIIST) project. Federal Councillor Ignazio Cassis attended the conference alongside seven ministers and representatives from ten countries of south-eastern Europe. The SEEIIST project seeks to develop a regional centre of excellence in south-eastern Europe for biomedical research into cancer therapy. At the event, the head of the FDFA restated Switzerland's readiness to facilitate dialogue between the various partner countries for the creation of such a facility. Switzerland had agreed at the request of the SEEIIST Steering Committee to organise a high-level meeting between the project stakeholders. Some seven ministers and representatives of SEEIIST member countries met in Bern on Monday to discuss the creation of a new research centre in south-eastern Europe. The facility, which will share CERN's founding principles, will be dedicated to nuclear biomedical research. It will specialise in the development of cutting-edge technology for the treatment of certain types of cancer. By supporting the dialogue to create the SEEIIST facility, Switzerland is using science diplomacy to pursue its foreign policy goals. In his speech, Ignazio Cassis emphasised the importance of this kind of diplomacy and explained why the FDFA was keen to support the dialogue. "As an innovative country and home to a large scientific community, Switzerland has the assets and credibility to play this facilitating role," he said. This is also the kind of project which the Federal Council seeks to encourage through its Foreign Policy Strategy 202023. Mr Cassis was joined at the high-level event by the state secretary for education, research and innovation, Martina Hirayama, and the special representative for science diplomacy, Ambassador Alexandre Fasel. Two working groups created At the meeting, SEEIIST asked Switzerland to chair two working groups in which all member countries will be represented. One working group will be in charge of determining the legal status of the research centre. The other will set out the criteria to select a location. CERN and the Paul Scherrer Institute (PSI) are also key contributors to the discussions. Today's meeting was attended by Fabiola Gianotti, director general of CERN, and Professor Leonid Rivkin, deputy director of the PSI. Project bringing together ten countries Proposed in late 2016 by former CERN director general Professor Herwig Schopper, the SEEIIST project received its first official political support from the government of Montenegro in March 2017. A declaration of intent signed at CERN in October 2017 established SEEIIST as a joint regional initiative between Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, the Republic of Kosovo, Montenegro, the Republic of North Macedonia, Serbia and Slovenia. Croatia and Greece are members with observer status. Address for enquiries FDFA Communication Federal Palace West Wing CH-3003 Bern, Switzerland Tel. Communication service: +41 58 462 31 53 Tel. Press service: +41 58 460 55 55 E-mail: kommunikation@eda.admin.ch Twitter: @SwissMFA Publisher Federal Department of Foreign Affairs https://www.eda.admin.ch/eda/en/home.html Success! An email has been sent to with a link to confirm list signup. Chores on the farm take on new meaning when children are young and need continual care. To help professionals and farmers learn more about child ag safety, a Child Agricultural Safety and Health Workshop will be held online the afternoons (Noon-4 p.m.) of Sept. 14, 21, and 28. The interactive workshop is being hosted by the National Childrens Center for Rural and Agricultural Health and Safety, part of the National Farm Medicine Center at Marshfield Clinic Research Institute. Its co-hosted with 10 other agricultural centers funded by the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health. By the end of the workshop, participants will understand the leading causes of injuries to children who are working or playing on farms; describe interventions most likely to be effective in preventing childhood farm injuries and illnesses; and identify their own role in helping farm children grow up happy and healthy. After this workshop is over, you will be able to describe interventions most likely to be effective in preventing childhood farm injuries and illnesses, said Marsha Salzwedel, an expert in child agricultural safety. Every day, about 33 children are seriously injured in ag incidents across the U.S. In addition, one child dies every three days from injuries linked to agriculture. As the experts we have created some resources, and now we are trying to reach anybody who has connection with a lot of farmers, said Melissa Ploeckelman, spokesperson for the Marshfield Clinic. Increasingly of late, parents all across the country seem to be getting pretty upset about how children in both public and private schools are being indoctrinated with Critical Race Theory (CRT). Both the National Education Association (NEA) and the American Federation of Teachers (AFT) have endorsed teaching CRT at all grade levels. Those parents who believe there may be some safe haven at independent schools in the United States should realize that even such prestigious private schools as the Dalton School, the Groton School, the Loomis Chaffee School, Phillips Academy Andover, Phillips Exeter Academy, and the Lawrenceville School (my alma mater), have all endorsed CRT. Donna Orem, president of the National Association of Independent Schools (NAIS), recently posted this broadcast announcement: "The pandemic has taken its toll, but the horrific deaths of Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor, and George Floyd have left communities reeling from trauma, despair, and anger[.] ... The NAIS Board recently adopted a new vision, mission, and values for the organization, with the goal of a more equitable world at its very core[.] ... I believe that it is through our independence and resolve that each school will find a way forward today. As you do this important work, I pledge that NAIS will be here to support you." It's certainly understandable that Americans of every race and sex would find CRT offensive, for it contradicts the most fundamental principles guaranteed in the United States Constitution. CRT diversity, inclusion, and equity (DIE) principles are now even eliminating Advanced Placement courses in history, mathematics, and the sciences at all levels of our educational system. According to Christopher Rufo's analysis in Imprimis, CRT has also infected training programs in many of our local and federal government agencies including the Department of Defense and the Department of State. "This isn't limited to the permanent bureaucracy in Washington, D.C.," Rufo explains, "but is true as well of institutions in the states, even in red states, and it is spreading to county public health departments, small Midwestern school districts, and more. This ideology will not stop until it has devoured all of our institutions." In a recent letter to the editor of The Wall Street Journal, however, veteran history teacher Gavin W. Murdoch suggests that the sudden pandemic-like spread of CRT may be symptomatic of a much bigger problem with our educational system. "I spent twenty-five years teaching my students stuff about history. Because I knew stuff and taught my students stuff, we would compare, contrast, analyze and critique things. Why? Because we knew stuff to think about and examine. Today," Murdoch concludes, "students aren't taught much stuff[.] ... Opinions and ideas are formed without rudimentary knowledge about stuff. They argue from passion, not knowledge[.] ... Without stuff we fall apart." (See "Letters to the Editor," The Wall Street Journal, September 1920, 2020.) What does Murdoch mean when he uses the word stuff? Essentially, he's talking about a very old-fashioned idea parents and teachers used to take for granted the notion that you have to know the content of an academic subject before you can "form your ideas and opinions" about that content. In the case of history, you need to know the names of specific events, people, and places involved as well as the chronology and the causes and effects of those events. In the good old "golden rule" days, we used to call such stuff historical facts things that you can prove actually happened through objective observation and research. If you were born in 1991and had never heard about the surprise attack on Pearl Harbor, you might think such a 1941 event doesn't matter. Sadly, as anybody who has watched some of the street interviews on Watters World knows, there are many young Americans today who think that way. Apparently, they believe that "ignorance is bliss." But that's not a logical statement; it's just an opinion based on ignorance. As the great 18th-century British poet Alexander Pope once put it, "a little learning is a dangerous thing." The tools we all need to learn about any subject include attention, memory, perception, imagination, and logic. That's why the Three Rs (reading, writing, and arithmetic) were so important to our grandparents. They still are today because reading is key to the acquisition of content, writing is key to the communication of content, and logic is key to the analysis and organization of content. Nobody understood all this better than President Abraham Lincoln, who was not only a great communicator but was also an avid student of geometry another subject many college students (as well as members of Congress) know nothing about. Sadly, many Americans seem to have lost the ability to distinguish between subject-matter content and the tools we use to understand that content. One possible reason for that is the development of the so-called "behavioral sciences." It all began in the 1930s when a Harvard University student named Burrhus Frederick Skinner devised an experimental device that allowed him to change the behavior of laboratory animals by using varying schedules of reward (food) and punishment (electric shock). Based on his findings, Skinner hypothesized that his "Skinner box" technique could also be used to change human behavior. Fast-forward to the late 1990s, when University of Chicago academicians Richard Thaler and Cass Sunstein saw a link between Skinnerian behaviorism and economics. Over the next several years, they continued to develop this hunch into a full-blown economic theory. Then, while junior senator Barack Obama was campaigning for the presidency in 2008, Sunstein and Thaler co-authored and published a book titled Nudge: Improving Decisions about Health, Wealth and Happiness. Like Skinner, Sunstein and Thaler believed that all human behavior is intrinsically irrational. Whether it's what we eat or how we spend money, we humans tend to make bad choices. They concluded, therefore, that all Americans can and should be trained to make "good" choices through a system of government-imposed rewards and punishments. Hence, along with a host of other social engineering innovations, we now have SNAP cards, Obamacare, CRT, and constantly changing policies on COVID-19 masking and lockdowns. This is behavioral science on steroids and is frighteningly like the world where George Orwell's protagonist, Winston Smith, lived in 1984. But our world is not science fiction. There are real high-tech "ministries of love" and cancel-culture "memory holes" everywhere. Watch out, America one is coming to your neighborhood soon. Image via Pexels. To comment, you can find the MeWe post for this article here. The rhetoric about and treatment of children over the past 18 months has flung open a window into the soul of Americas ruling class. As Nelson Mandela warned us, There can be no keener revelation of a societys soul than the way it treats its children. To those constructing the new health tyranny, children pose no threat and can be treated as things, not people. The budding tyranny we face was best described by C. S. Lewis: Of all tyrannies, a tyranny exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive. It would be better to live under robber barons than under omnipotent moral busybodies. The robber barons cruelty may sometimes sleep, his cupidity may at some point be satiated; but those who torment us for our own good will torment us without end for they do so with the approval of their own conscience. One of the first things learned about the Chinese Coronavirus in the spring of 2020 was that the younger population was at extremely low risk of either being hospitalized or succumbing to the virus. A published study from Stanford University revealed that the Infection Fatality Rate (the percentage of people who have been infected by a disease and die as a direct or indirect result) for the 0-19 age group is 0.0027% or less than 3 out of 100,000. The typical IFR for the annual flu for this same age group is 2 out of 100,000. Yet, the ruling elites, manipulating the populace by striking unfounded fear throughout all of society, demanded that schools shut down and children be masked and forced to stay indoors. Thus we, as a society, deprived the youngest citizens -- who constitute nearly one-third of the U.S. population -- of educational, emotional, and social development. YouTube screengrab (cropped) As a result, the prevalence of obesity increased from 36% of the youth population to 46%. Suicides and attempted suicides among the young dramatically increased. There has been a 334% spike in intentional self-harm claims among 13-18-year-olds. Overdoses among the young have also increased by 119% as a percentage of all medical claims. This nation has sacrificed our youths lives and future livelihoods in a desperate, incoherent, and flawed attempt to theoretically save the lives of 90% of the population who are under the age of 70 and experience an average covid-19 infection survival rate of 99.8%. Nonetheless, children are still being mandated to wear masks at school, an inane practice that has been definitively shown to cause considerably more physical and emotional harm than good. Further, there is now an incessant drumbeat within government and political circles to mandate the Covid-19 vaccine for all children. Per Dr. Fauci: I believe mandating vaccines for children to appear in school is a good idea. And he expects the FDA to quickly approve their use in children. So uncertain of the potential side-effects of the Covid-19 vaccine in children is the British Government that it has decided not to vaccinate, except in very limited circumstances, those under the age of 18. Stating that the health benefits of universal vaccination dont outweigh the risks for young people. A recent study in the U.K. revealed that teenage boys are six times more likely to suffer heart problems from the vaccine than being hospitalized with covid-19. In Israel a major consortium of doctors issued a letter calling on the government to not mandate the vaccine for the young: the increasingly prevalent opinion within the scientific community is that the vaccine cannot lead to herd immunity, therefore there is currently no altruistic justification for vaccinating children to protect at-risk populations. We believe that not even a handful of children should be endangered through mass vaccination against a disease that is not a danger to them. Furthermore, it cannot be ruled out that the vaccine will have long-term adverse effects that have yet been discovered at this time, including on growth, reproductive system or fertility. [Italics added] In the winter of 2019-20, China unleashed Covid-19 on the world. The political/ruling establishment in the United States wanted to be seen as soundly defeating it. Some scientists, particularly in the government-pharma-public health alliance, told these ruling elites that they knew how it could be done within the context of their political maneuvering. Except they didnt know how it could be done, as lockdowns, masking and distancing didnt work as advertised. So this same cabal, in particular the teachers unions, played politics with childrens lives. And now it has been acknowledged that the vaccines do not prevent the spread of Covid-19 and have potentially serious side effects for the youth. But that has not stopped the incessant drumbeat of mandating the vaccine for ALL age groups in the United States. Thus, devoid of any morality, they have created a wall of children to cower behind. This immorality is the end-product of indifference to children stemming from nearly 50 years of unfettered abortions, which have taken 62 million lives and created a vulgar callousness toward the humanity of a young life. Thus, far too many view Americas children as mere pawns to be indoctrinated in Marxist-inspired ideology and as disposable foot soldiers in the transformation of the United States. A question for the American ruling elites and the federal medical bureaucracy so determined to further destroy the future lives and livelihoods of Americas youth on the altar of politics. Let us say, for the sake of argument, that the young face a lower risk from Covid-19 than the vaccine. If a child catches Covid-19 and dies, then that is a random chance and tragic, and exceedingly bad luck. But no one has done anything to the child. However, if one child, just one child, is vaccinated under the guise of a mandate or incessant government demands and dies of side effects, is not that death the result of a deliberate medical intervention? Is not one a natural tragedy and the other the taking of a life? Or is that acceptable because the life is that of a disposable child? Before March of 2020, virtually all western nations and the World Health Organization had a two-step policy prescription for handling a pandemic. First, trust the people, be truthful, and do not rely on coercion. Second, a nation should try to ensure that life is as normal as possible, except for those who need protection, such as the elderly. All of this was thrown out the window without any identified scientific reason as the change was due entirely to political considerations. The first duty of any government in dealing with any issue whatever is objectivity and truth. There are no legitimate circumstances for governments to lie, distort the truth, or peddle deliberate exaggerations. During the entirety of the pandemic, in an end justifying the means scenario, the government and their sycophant media have not been forthcoming or honest with the people. The result has been what began as a public health crisis is still a public health crisis, but its also an economic crisis, an educational crisis, a moral crisis, and a social crisis on top of that. The last four aspects of this crisis, which are the worst aspects, are entirely manmade in order to manipulate the populace. Modern representative democracies are very fragile. They depend on the existence of a shared political and social culture between both sides of major political debates and shared among the political or ruling class and the citizens who vote for them. This requires a degree of mutual respect and an overriding feeling that the system functions in the interest of both sides of an argument. This nation is rapidly losing its once shared political and social culture and belief in the system as its left-wing dominated ruling elites are hellbent on creating a one-party socialist oligarchy. The treatment of this nations youth, both born and unborn, has fully exposed the callousness, hubris, arrogance, and megalomania of this nations elites. No nation can long survive if its ruling class deliberately manipulates, aborts, and cripples it young to achieve its ends. To comment, you can find the MeWe post for this article here. It is possible to waste many hours, if not days, reading the world press and listening to pundits go on and on about what it is precisely that the Taliban wants. You will not find the answer listening to those fast-talking, talk show hosts on either Fox News or CNN. That is because few from these media organizations have taken the time to do the appropriate research that answers the question, What do the Taliban want? The answer is simple. They want a society of Sunni Muslims ruled according to the principles of Shariah law. In order to understand Shariah law, from an academic point of view, one has to have read the Quran in Arabic, as well as understand the history of the many sayings of Muhammad (the Hadith in Arabic). One must know how the Quran and these sayings have been interpreted by Muslim judges and jurisprudence for at least the last thousand years, and recognize how the five major Islamic legal systems (four Sunni and one Shia) have ordered and ruled the daily lives of Muslims from Morocco to Indonesia. It is a tall order and few Western scholars are up to the mark. But there have been a few who have managed to distill this legal tradition down to its 27 basic principles. In 2009 researcher Sam Solomon, at the request of British Parliamentarian, the Right Honorable Lord M. Pearson of Rannoch, created a simple chart comparing and contrasting Shariah law with that of British law. It is an easy read with a ponderous title, A Comparison Table of Shariah Law and English Law prepared by Sam Solomon and Kathryn Wakeling of CCFON for the Debate on 4th June 2009 Regarding the Oral Question Posed by The Right Honourable Lord M. Pearson of Rannoch. Here is a direct link to the full document which can be accessed online. It takes no more than a half-hour to read it carefully and the rest is, as some scholars would say, commentary. The twenty-seven principles outlined in this paper cover issues such as the legal basis upon which a court system is established, the system of governance, the nature of law, the scope of the law, access to justice, the purpose of the court system, the relationships between religion and the state, categories of crimes and punishments, the nature of treason, and that beloved topic of the woke establishment, gender rights and obligations. Here are some of the most dramatic contrasts between the two legal systems, quoted from the document, comparing Shariah principles and practice with those underlying the British tradition (and in most cases Anglo American common law). According to Islamic courts: Inheritance must be apportioned as per Islamic jurisprudence based on the Quran and the Sunnah in which a males portion is double that of a females, and none is to be given to an unbeliever (kaffir) even if she or he would otherwise be the most legitimately entitled. In the Anglo legal tradition: The deceased estate is divided in accordance with the last valid will of the deceased; otherwise in accordance with statutory rules that do not discriminate on grounds of sex or religion. In the Shariah legal tradition: Polygamy is expected. Men may marry up to 4 free women with no limit on the number of concubines or sex slaves. In the Anglo tradition: Polygamy is the crime of bigamy. The ownership of slaves is a crime. Sexual activity with a person who does not consent involves either rape or sexual assault In the Shariah tradition: Women need written permission to travel and/or a male relative to accompany them. In the Anglo tradition: All citizens are free to come and go as they please unless arrested, imprisoned or excluded from private or Government property. In the Islamic Shariah legal system the following punishments are indicated for the associated crimes: Adultery: 100 lashes and capital punishment (stoning or beheading by the sword or being hanged or shot) False allegation of adultery: 80 lashes, loss of the right of being an upright witness Alcohol consumption of liquor: minimum 80 lashes-may vary but never less than 40 Theft; chopping off the right hand from the wrist Apostasy: capital punishment In the Anglo version of this legal tradition. Life imprisonment is the most serious punishment that is meted out and then only for the most serous crimes such as murder and rape. No corporal punishment is permissible. Article 3 of the European Convention on Human Rights states that: No one shall be subjected to torture or to inhuman and degrading punishment Adultery and the consumption of alcohol may be regarded as sins but they are not crimes. At most they may be grounds for divorce. Apostasy may be regarded as a sin by the religion against which a person has turned but it is not a crime. (One must point out that in the U.S., capital punishment is still legal.) The authority from which Shariah emerges is revealed by Allah, revealed to Muhammad via the Quran and Sunnahapplied by the Shariah courts. The most integrated and complete functioning of a modern Shariah system has been that of Saudi Arabia where these 27 principles have been in place and practice since the 1920s when the Saudis conquered most of Arabia and gave it their tribal name. Not all Muslim countries implement all aspects of Muslim law. Some like formerly British-occupied Egypt and French-occupied Tunisia have been influenced by European legal models, largely resulting from their pre-independence colonization, where for example Britain tried to modify Shariah by imposing aspects of British common law. This is not just theory. Today Shariah law is alive and well in the Islamic world and perhaps in its most pristine form in Saudi Arabia, exemplified in this most recent excerpt from the website of the House of Saud itself: Saudi Royals to abolish public flogging but keep amputation for theft April 24, 2020 The Saudi Royal Family are planning to abolish flogging as a form of punishment, as part of an effort to improve the Kingdoms image and human rights record. When the directive from the Gulf kingdoms Supreme Court is introduced flogging will be replaced by other non-corporal punishments, possibly imprisonment or fines. The decision comes as the latest in a series of changes to outdated laws introduced since Mohammed bin Salmans rise to power. Reforming the Saudi Royal Familys reputation is considered a key factor in attracting investment and tourism, and has become even more of an uphill task since the Khashoggi assassination. The Saudi Royal Family have landed in the headlines a number of times for flogging their subjects, most recently in 2015 when young blogger Raif Badawi was subjected to a public flogging. He was sentenced to receive 1,000 lashes in weekly public whippings, but a global outrage put a stop to his sentence part way through. Some other punishments meted out by the Saudis are viewed as human rights concerns and may also be jeopardised, however at this stage hand amputations as a punishment for theft is likely to be kept and is described as a fair punishment under Islamic law. While Saudi Arabia, which is now threatened by an ever-emboldened Shariah-based theocracy of the Shia variety from Iran, it is trying to show the West that it is evolving. You can be sure that the Taliban in Afghanistan will be establishing a Shariah-based state that makes the Saudis look soft by comparison. As recently as August 19, 2021, The Hindu (a major Indian newspaper) quoted a Taliban leader that the movement is dedicated to imposing Shariah law and does not believe in democracy. Full stop. None of this is news. It is well documented and after having read Solomons report you can go to any good university library and read up on the details of Shariah law and its application in the Islamic world. As we contemplate the failure of the West after 9/11 to label its enemy as Jihad in the service of Shariah, we must listen carefully to the now victorious Taliban for the goal of the Taliban today is the same as it was twenty years ago; not only the creation of an Islamic state in Afghanistan but a world dominated by Shariah. Jihad is their means towards that end and it will not stop at their national borders. That is the real meaning of 9/11. Most Americans have yet to wake up to this simple fact. Image: Library of Congress, via Picryl // no known restrictions To comment, you can find the MeWe post for this article here. Over the last few days, we've seen a couple of interesting stories about the crazy left. First, Bill Maher, the HBO host, admitted something fascinating: When people say to me sometimes, "boy, you go after the Left a lot these days, why?" I'm like "Because you're embarrassing me!'" Wonder how embarrassed Maher will be when he hears this? Members of the National Archives' task force on racism have recommended removing the "charters of freedom" description for America's founding documents, such as the Constitution, arguing that it did not initially grant freedom for all individuals. Approximately 800 National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) employees from across the country attended a town hall meeting of the Archives' Task Force on Racism on May 11, according to FOIA documents obtained by America Rising and shared with Fox News. During the presentation, a museum subgroup recommended that NARA "retire" the term "charters of freedom" as descriptors for the U.S. Constitution, Bill of Rights and Declaration of Independence. "We should retire the term charters of freedom and remove it from our web pages, publications and exhibits because, as we learned, these documents did not result in freedom for everyone," said one presenter, whose name was redacted. Another presenter of the same museum subgroup, whose name was also redacted, said members were tasked with recommending policies and procedures that "ensure that everyone feels welcomed, included and represented at our museums and presidential libraries." That's embarrassing. Every American should be embarrassed and furious that our taxes are paying for this. By the way, it was "these documents" that led to the end of slavery, the right to vote for women, and many other advances in human rights. So these people are ignorant as well as hate the country. Biden needs to call out these people and tell them to cut it out or move to Cuba. Why Cuba? Because this is the garbage about the U.S. that they teach students. PS: You can listen to my show (Canto Talk). Image: David Shankbone. To comment, you can find the MeWe post for this article here. Is China the next superpower? Is the media's depiction of the country as a ten-foot giant really accurate? That's dubious. For all its bluster on the global stage, China is a giant in trouble. Here are some of the reasons we know: Perhaps the biggest problem in China is its erstwhile "one child" policy, which created many single, self-absorbed adults with poor social skills and an entitlement mindset that included no great desire to marry young and bear the financial burden of offspring. China switched to a two-child policy and recently revised it to allow three children per family. But it's too little, too late. The best result is that in about 20 years, the Chinese population will probably be more than halved anyway, instead of something worse, and the elderly will be a great burden on their single offspring and the economy. Already only about 10% of China's young population is getting married, which implies an even more precipitous drop in population in the future. China does not encourage immigration from abroad, so a precipitous drop in population will have a drastically bad impact on a shrinking economy and even on the social life of the average Chinese. Another problem is income disparity, with a vast gulf of differences between a tiny urban elite and the country's many urban and rural poor. It's an even greater disparity in income wealth distribution than exists in the United States. That may be a reason why the CCP has decided to crack down on glorified celebrities and wealthy capitalists and is forcefully trying to redistribute their wealth, especially to the tech working class, who largely have been working a 996 shift, which means working from 9 A.M. to 9 P.M.., six days a week. With such a hard work schedule, it is no wonder that the CCP had to suppress a lying flat movement on the internet, which tried to popularize minimum work, no marriage, living single, and not doing much of anything. This movement sprang up as a passive revolt over the oppressive working conditions in the nation. It is no wonder that with slave laborlike working conditions, Chinese youths have little time to socialize and, with low, wages don't have enough money to comfortably support a family with offspring. The CCP also views foreign influences, and especially the English language, as another corrupting influence on the population. Too many ideas about freedom and a population starts to question why their dictatorial leaders should be there. That is seen as a threat to the country's stability; therefore, the authorities have acted. The Chinese government recently has stopped having exams for the English language in primary schools. Instructors will probably soon no longer teach much English to the average Chinese. You can almost say the CCP is getting paranoid about Western culture corrupting the Chinese population. Already there has been censorship of Western literature, movies, videos, websites, and apps. Meanwhile, video games are limited to three hours a day for children under 18, visas are harder to get for Chinese citizens and foreigners, and probably more censorship of lifestyle is on the way. On the foreign policy front, China has problems, too. Because Chinese fishing fleets fish in the territorial waters of foreign nations, because they make the "Belt and Road" loans to foreign countries for development on unscrupulous terms, and because they build artificial islands in the South China Sea in a bid to nationalize international territory, they are in trouble. They are in even worse trouble because of COVID-19's spread throughout the world, which hasn't improved their global name. Worse still, they threateningly fly military aircraft into Taiwanese airspace, and, in a new development to come of it, many nations have banded together to challenge Chinese hegemony. China's reputation as a potential trusted ally is being quickly eroded, and many companies are leaving China and seeking profitable havens in other countries. In China's rush to outcompete the West by stealing intellectual property and making cheap knockoffs, the Chinese are developing a bad, unethical reputation internationally. That reduces its clout. Amazon has finally stopped selling thousands of counterfeit Chinese goods on the internet, and many stock investors are beginning to pull their money out of Chinese company stocks, fearing more strong-arm censorship tactics from the CCP such as making for-profit tutoring companies illegal. China rushed to make a submarine for the military, but that has been trouble for the Chinese, too. The end product was so noisy that it left an easy-to-locate signal underwater, which makes it rather useless as a stealth weapon in future military conflicts. Its aircraft carriers are also handicapped with flaws that make them marginally useful in times of war. China may be good at knockoffs, but innovation is not its forte. There is no attempt at stimulating intellectual property and patents in research and development. In effect, there is very little national or private incentive for new, innovative companies to start and grow into viable companies, as is the case in Silicon Valley and elsewhere in the USA. Meanwhile, industrialization is polluting the water supply and countryside, farmers are restricted from moving into cities for fear that food shortages will escalate, wealthy celebrities and capitalists are being financially cut down to size or ostracized, there is a housing bubble that threatens to decimate the real estate business and many workers with it, and the average citizen is being terrorized by a social credit system and cell phone surveillance, all designed to create fear in dissenters and rule-breakers. There are many signs of hasty faulty planning and building, which is resulting in high-rise building and bridge defects and even collapses, overflowing dams, and severe flooding conditions that are ruining potable drinking water and disrupting many lives. All of this is just further evidence that China has troubles up the wazoo and will have even more in the foreseeable future. China may still have a favorable balance of trade with other nations, but it seems as though the CCP's unethical attempt to force more traditional communism onto the nation will result in long-duration suffering for the people and an inability to become a respected dominant political player in the international field. The CCP is attempting to further increase centralized top-down government planning, which is always disastrous in the long run and portends failure and misery for China, similar to the final failure of the Soviet Union government. Many failing debt-overloaded businesses are being subsidized by a deficit spending government, so bankruptcies are still few and far between, but the day of financial reckoning is rapidly coming. The United States is in bad shape morally and economically, but the power of money has corrupted the leadership of China to the point where no amount of coercive CCP effort will solve the problems. China's troubles will balloon in the foreseeable future. China is in trouble, and the CCP's strong-arm tactics, censorship, and high housing costs are just making a bad situation worse for the average Chinese citizen. Image: Pixabay, Pixabay License. To comment, you can find the MeWe post for this article here. I've written before about the fact that the leftists at the San Francisco Unified School District were able to use COVID to achieve a long-desired dream: they killed the special academic status of Lowell High School, which had been, for decades, one of the top schools in America. The problem was that Black and Hispanic students were having problems qualifying for admission to Lowell. Rather than raising them up, the leftists dragged Lowell down. And nothing shows this more than the two-page introduction to the new administration at Lowell or the racist material on the website. While I know that most of you don't care about Lowell, the school's boastful handout about its administration as it embarks on a new school year is noteworthy because it is a microcosm of the leftism that has infected just about every school, whether public or private, in America. It is a reminder that the best thing you can do to drag America back from the precipice is to get involved in your local school board. You can see the handout for yourself here. There are a few things to note. From the very first sentence, the new principle makes it clear that what matters is leftism, not academics. "June was full of reasons to celebrate: Juneteenth, San Francisco's 51st Pride and the full reopening of our city!" Oh, yay! Ninth-graders should definitely start their new school year at a new school thinking about Dykes on Bikes. Then there's Kahlila Mae Liverpool, the assistant principal of policy, accountability & safety (as well as being one of two "Instructional & Equity Leaders"). And no, I'm not assuming her gender. Every one of these new administrators includes his pronouns. I guess we should be grateful that none has they/them, zhe/zhis, or rainbow/snake as pronouns. Liverpool's little bio, though, irked me because of the announcement that she got "a Master of Public Administration from San Jose State University." Did you catch that little accent at the end of "Jose"? I'd never seen this before, and I've known about both San Jose and its university my entire life. A visit to the website, though, revealed that this American university has rechristened itself San Jose State University. The woke administration is either under the illusion that it's now operating out of Latin America or it's part of the La Raza movement, which claims that California still belongs to Mexico. And then there's the logo at the bottom of the letter. The school has abandoned any pretense that its goals involve academic excellence, which was Lowell's hallmark for over seven decades. Instead, it's either squishy cheerleading or pure leftism: The text is a little small to read, so allow me to share it with you in a clear font: Student Centered: We put students' needs first Fearless: We persist through challenges United: We celebrate and build each other's strengths Social Justice: We stand with those most vulnerable in our community Diversity Driven: We respect and seek to understand each person And then there's the racism that is now an integral part of the school. If you go to the school's webpage you'll learn that it boasts that "Lowell High School supports the Black Lives Matter movement" and urges people to "support the movement forever." Indeed, Lowell has a resource page to help its students understand things such as "White Supremacy Culture." The whole thing is grossly violative of the Civil Rights Act insofar as it's as racist against Whites as the KKK was against Blacks or the Nazis were against Jews, but that's the norm in American public education. I used to be so proud to be a Lowell grad. I'm now deeply embarrassed and think it would have been better for Lowell had the school board simply disassembled it brick by brick rather than demeaning and destroying it in this way. Everything the left touches, it destroys. Image: Lowell High School (edited). Public domain. To comment, you can find the MeWe post for this article here. One of the strangest things about the Afghanistan debacle is that in spite of extraordinarily harsh criticism worldwide, nobody has resigned, and nobody has been fired. Many assume that this is so because the failure is President Biden's, but in thinking this, they are simply wrong. Consciousness of failure is only one of many reasons for resignations from high government positions. Some resign in protest at what is being done, or to publicly dissociate themselves from it, as Cyrus Vance did in 1980 when President Carter tried to rescue the American hostages in Iran by military force. Others resign to restore public confidence in their office as British foreign secretary Lord Carrington did in 1982 when he failed to foresee Argentina's attack on the Falklands. Some resign because they don't feel able to advocate for a president's policy as a key member of his team ought to be able to. Some use the threat of resignation as leverage against a proposed action they think would be a major mistake, which puts the question to the president: can he risk the political fallout? Some certainly resign because they know they failed badly, but that reason can be just as compelling whether the president was also complicit or not. Yet as far as we can tell, not a single member of the team of people working with the president was moved by any of these different considerations, even when they had all been directly involved in a once-in-a-lifetime foreign policy catastrophe. There are three obvious cases where resignation was and still is unavoidable and for more than one of the reasons I've cited. First, secretary of defense Lloyd Austin. Vast quantities of American weaponry have fallen into the hands of our enemies, and with that much sophisticated secret military technology. Advanced technology gives us a distinct military edge against any country, but some of it will now be available to our deadliest enemies worldwide. This is a military disaster. It was the special responsibility of a defense secretary to make sure it could never happen. It was his duty to evaluate every decision made and every action taken with one eye on preventing any such possibility. As soon as he saw the president considering any action that ran this risk, he was obliged to say: while I am defense secretary, I cannot allow this risk to the nation's military strength. But he didn't, and he still doesn't understand that he should have. Second, secretary of state Antony Blinken. Photo credit: U.S. State Department. By virtue of his office, he was responsible for the safety and welfare of all American citizens living in Afghanistan. Whatever the course of action under consideration by the president, his job was to keep a wary eye on how that action might impact his unique responsibility for the safety of Americans. When it was proposed to get troops out first and everyone else later, that should have set off loud bells in his head. Any secretary of state should have said: while I hold this office, I cannot allow that action to be taken. But he didn't, and he still doesn't understand that this was a grave dereliction of duty on his part. Third, national security adviser Jake Sullivan. The administration's actions in Afghanistan have caused immense damage to the nation's security. The display of weakness and incompetence might embolden our enemies to undertake military adventures they would not otherwise have dared to take. Some of our technological superiority and the security that it afforded us is gone. Our international standing is severely weakened, with our friends feeling that they can no longer trust us. All of this adds up to a national security catastrophe. The responsibility entrusted to Sullivan should have had him evaluating every proposed action with an eye to preventing major damage to the special area of concern that was his. Instead, he sat by passively as a disaster unfolded. In all three cases, high officials to whom had been entrusted specific areas of national policy failed to protect the country's interests in those areas. All should have been alert to dangers that uniquely concerned them and their offices and, if necessary, used the leverage of resignation to avert those dangers. We need to have confidence in these offices, and we can't while these three occupy them. It has been reported that Blinken and Sullivan had reservations about what the president was doing but didn't press those reservations because they knew what the boss wanted. If that is true, then both failed to understand the difference between a personal assistant (AKA an office boy) and a duly appointed officer of the U.S. government who has a specific area of responsibility. Only the first can shrug his shoulders and go with what the boss wants. An officer of the United States is obliged by the nature of his responsibility to the nation (not just the president) to spell out what, given the nature of his office, he can and cannot accept. And he must insist. All three were grossly negligent. But they won't go, because these are small men who cling to office regardless of failure and loss of credibility. No Carringtons here. John M. Ellis is distinguished professor emeritus at U.C. Santa Cruz and the author of The Breakdown of Higher Education: How It Happened, the Damage It Does, and What Can Be Done (Encounter Books). To comment, you can find the MeWe post for this article here. The word "fanaticism" is inadequate to describe the excessive and single-minded zealotry of the modern left. Leftists dogmatically believe in open borders, climate change, identity politics, vilification of the demographic majority, seizure of guns from law-abiding citizens, defunding the police, the Green New Deal, unfettered abortion, and citizenship for illegal aliens. They despise their country with a passion. They abhor religion with a passion. They irrationally hate Republicans, conservatives, moderates, and anyone who disagrees with them. They are vicious opponents of freedom; despite what they claim, they have an unrelenting urge to impose controls and restrictions on the citizenry. The woke left-wing thought police gleefully destroyed or "canceled" the lives of those who dared to deviate from the groupthink. There have been myriad instances of left-wingers being forced out of their employment and shunned from social circles for even the slightest bit of moderation. This is a sinister ploy to shut down potential future critics. There is no diversity here. The pandemic gave them an excuse to impose physical restrictions. There were restrictions on movement, on public or even private gatherings, and on religious congregations. There were no restrictions for "protesters" or rioters. They are on their way to imposing mandates on masks and vaccines. Ask them to explain the rationale behind what they stand for, and you will be subjected to incoherent babbling replete with talking points and virtue-signaling. With their loud voices, they shout in unison to convince people that virtue exists strictly with them. The result is cowardly corporations and individuals crawling when they are asked to bend. This emboldens the tormentor who orders them to crawl. This time, they prostrate themselves. These weaklings go on to make generous donations, perhaps to prevent the mob from protesting outside their property and to be among "the good ones." The consequence is that the left has well-funded advocacy organizations with multiple branches that aggressively push its agenda. Leftists have also managed to dominate academia, which enabled them to brainwash impressionable minds. Hollywood too is a propaganda machine for the far left. These are a flock of angry and zealous sheep. Anger and hate are what bind, drive, and guide them. This is what makes them effective in organizing protests, marches, and even riots. Where does the right stand? The modern right comprises a diverse group of individuals. There are those who want free-market capitalism. Another group wants strict control over borders. Some on the right are war-mongers, while others despise entering into optional wars. There are those who believe in the sanctity of life and are against abortion. There are those who believe in gun rights. There are those who believe in the virtues of the vaccine and others who are anti-vaxxers. Some are religious, while others are not. Then there are those who are disgusted by the modern left and its madness. The modern right comprises individuals who subscribe to any of these principles. There is no thought police on the right. People are not canceled for not subscribing to all principles. What binds the right together is patriotism and nationalism. But these are free thinkers. The consequence of this free-thinking often works against the right. There is frequent division and even vicious infighting. Within the right-wing, there is the MAGA wing, and there is the Ann Coulter wing. The Coulter wing thinks the MAGA wing has given up on its founding principles. The establishment right despises the MAGA wing. The MAGA wing does not approve of the Coulter wing. The Coulter wing is not fond of the establishment right. The libertarian wing leans toward the MAGA wing but is not in full support of all its agenda. A disgruntled Ann Coulter rushes to the far leftleaning NYT to whine about the "failures" of President Trump. This has often caused some on the right to wish they could have discipline like the left. They often think that if the right could be dogmatic and organize to speak in one loud voice, it would have more victories. George Bernard Shaw once said, "The reasonable man adapts himself to the world while the unreasonable one persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore all progress depends on the unreasonable man." In modern times, the "unreasonable" man is welcomed on the right but is rejected with contempt by the left. Think of all the great inventions and discoveries even works of art, literature, and ideas. All of this was possible because someone had dared to be "unreasonable" and dared to express this "unreasonableness" without fear. It is this solitary "unreasonable" voice that often begins like a flickering flame but with support results in illuminating the world, both literally and metaphorically. If we were all conformists who approved only the chimes of our echo chambers, there would be no inventions or discoveries, and we still would be living in the Stone Age. A perfect example is the recent catastrophe in Afghanistan. An "unreasonable" individual would have vehemently called out the lack of a coherent withdrawal strategy. A few more "unreasonable" individuals would have compelled the Harris Biden administration to develop a strategy and carefully but cautiously implement it. Afghanistan would not have fallen, countless lives would not have been lost, and all the time, effort, and money spent on developing Afghanistan would not have been wasted. The right therefore must welcome the nonconformists and all the apparent chaos associated with differences. It is better to have dissenters within and suffer minor setbacks than devolving into a flock of sheep who blindly follow the groupthink and end up in a deep chasm. The left may win the battles, but the right will win the war. Graphic credit: Open clipart vectors, Pixabay License. To comment, you can find the MeWe post for this article here. For decades, Californians have ingested a dreamy concept that living there is enough, in and of itself, just because they're among the 331 million lucky souls who managed to land and stay there. It's classic marketing: "Things don't really have to work in Golden California; it's enough just to be here!" But it isn't, and Californians are increasingly recognizing how many things in their state just don't work. Those things are screwed up by state government that's usually ideologically driven or bureaucratically incapable of getting out of its own way. The Golden State manages its people and resources horribly: The state's Energy grid is already inadequate, hasn't been improved for decades, and regularly plunges its citizens into blackouts that last from hours to days. Residents are urged to have faith in the coming Green New Deal, although current green energy sources are far from being able to keep the grid turned on, and the only nuclear power reactor creating electrical power is slated to be decommissioned soon. Lights out in California? The state's Energy grid is already inadequate, hasn't been improved for decades, and regularly plunges its citizens into blackouts that last from hours to days. Residents are urged to have faith in the coming Green New Deal, although current green energy sources are far from being able to keep the grid turned on, and the only nuclear power reactor creating electrical power is slated to be decommissioned soon. Lights out in California? California's Crime statistics show that residents have suffered sharp increases across a range of nonviolent and violent crimes, and that situation will surely deteriorate further as the effects of "bail reform" laws and early release from state prisons take effect. Throughout the whole state, shoplifters have to steal more than $950 in merchandise to be charged with a crime, so small shopowners might as well close their doors. The formerly beautiful Forests of California are increasingly ravaged by wildfires more intense and massive than they were in earlier years. The state, of course, cries that climate change is to blame (and that too little can be done to change it), but numerous studies including the Little Hoover report in 2018 point out that the state's forests are terribly mismanaged, with underbrush and low timber allowed to accumulate until any small fire becomes a conflagration. Governor Newsom has recently been charged with failure to allocate critical forestry-improving funds. After he'd bragged that over 90,000 forested acres had received fire-mitigating treatment, it was learned that only 12,000 acres actually had received that assistance from Newsom's state government. California's Homeless people increase in numbers every year, now spilling onto the sidewalks and business properties of all major cities and almost all smaller cities. Their lifestyles and personal choices often lead to petty crimes, violent crimes, and accidental fires, but all the state is able to do is keep throwing more billions of dollars at them currently over $1,945 million per year, in poorly-focused efforts, and there's been no real improvement in decades. The state has been incapable of trying new approaches. The state's Public infrastructure, which hasn't been seriously improved since the 1960s, is teetering on the edge of collapse. Abundant litter quite noticeably crops up when a traveler crosses into the state from any other neighboring state. Numerous dams, bridges, tunnels, highways, and ports are "third-world" quality as Victor Davis Hanson surveyed them, yet the state can't find a way to afford serious improvements, and if it did, it wouldn't be able to get around regulatory obstacles to succeed at these chores. California's Educational system, once its pride and joy, is now held hostage by teachers' unions and entrenched bureaucracies to a degree that the state's public schools are now ranked 37th in the U.S. in terms of graduating students from high school, and those students' readiness for higher education. California can't demonstrate any ability to adequately manage these basic elements of caring for its state residents and resources. Governor Newsom has been the person in charge and should therefore be held accountable for this state of affairs. Californians will have to recall Newsom, now, if they actually want to save their state. The Golden State's working- and middle-class business owners and employees are the only ones who can take that step forward. Photo credit: Charlie Nguyen, CC BY 2.0 license. (Image source from: Twitter.com/SVCLLP) Naga Chaitanya And Sai Pallavi Starter Love Story Trailer Unveiled:- Akkineni youngster Naga Chaitanya is all set to test his luck with Love Story, a romantic entertainer and the film has Sai Pallavi as the leading lady. Sekhar Kammula is the director and the shooting portions are completed recently. After a series of delays, the makers of Love Story is announced for the September 24th release. With the release of the film nearing, the makers released the theatrical trailer of Love Story today and it is packed with fun, romance, emotional drama. Naga Chaitanya and Sai Pallavi shine in their roles and they will be seen playing two villagers from a Telangana village in Nizamabad district. Naga Chaitanya and Sai Pallavi are well trained in Telangana accent for the movie and they dubbed for their roles. The trailer looks good enough and is targeted for youth. The performances along with Sekhar Kammula's narration and the background score are the major highlights of the trailer. Love Story trailer keeps good expectations on Love Story and the film's theatrical and non-theatrical deals are closed recently. Top distributors Asian Cinemas are producing Love Story lo Sree Venkateswara Cinemas LLP banner. Naga Chaitanya is currently shooting for Thank You in the direction of Vikram Kumar. The makers will kick-start the promotions of Love Story from next week. We may get a new Samsung Galaxy Note flagship in 2022 after all. This information comes from a well-known tipster, Ice Universe. He claims that someone from the supply chain has evidence that the next-gen Galaxy Note flagship exists. A recent report suggested that the device may not be coming, as Samsung did not register a name for it. Well, we may get one next year after all, as most reports have been suggesting. Samsung did not completely abandon its Note lineup, it seems. We may get a new Galaxy Note flagship next year after all The last Galaxy Note device that launched was the Galaxy Note 20 last year. Samsung never said it has no plans to launch more Galaxy Note devices in the future, but it did confirm that one is not coming in 2021. Advertisement The Galaxy Z Fold 3 is supposed to replace the Galaxy Note this year, basically. That foldable even supports a special S Pen this time around, even though you cant dock it, as you could with the Galaxy Note 20 and a number of earlier models. Even Samsungs Koh Dong-jin said a while back that the Galaxy Note series would be back in 2022. Now, even though that was quite some time ago, it seems like Samsungs plans did not change. Samsung will probably name it the Galaxy Note 22 We still dont know what will the phone be called, or when exactly will it launch. We presume that Samsung will go for the Galaxy Note 22 name, and skip the Note 21. The Galaxy Note 21 would be an appropriate name if it launched this year, so it would be best to skip it altogether. Video Advertisement The Galaxy S22 sales were not as high as Samsung had hoped. Its new foldables, the Galaxy Z Fold 3 and Z Flip 3, are doing really well, though. The lack of a Galaxy Note flagship may affect the companys sales this year, though. Samsung is also planning to announce the Galaxy S21 FE in the near future, to offer consumers more choices. PLEASE NOTE: ALL ONLINE PURCHASES ARE AUTOMATIC RENEWALS UNLESS YOU EMAIL JPAYNE@ANNISTONSTAR.COM OR CONTACT CUSTOMER SERVICE @ 256-235-9253.... Purchase an online subscription to our website for $7.99 a month with automatic renewal. Each online subscription gives you full access to all of our newspaper websites and mobile applications. 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Car Show Director Johnny Capps said the third annual LMLPA carshow had 185 cars, trucks and antique boats register to participate in the show Saturday with 183 people presenting at the event. He said the high numbers of registrants was met with a big crowd. Boosting infrastructures to transform Thessaloniki into a fundamental hub for cruises, investing in northern Greece for the sector, is the project announced by Greek Tourism Minister Vassilis Kikilias during a meeting with the Governor of Central Macedonia Apostolos Tzitzikostas, during the 85th International Fair of Thessaloniki. "The project - said Kikilias in statements reported online by Greek Travel Pages - will push tourists to appreciate the splendid locations and food of the area, giving new economic strength to Thessaloniki and the northern area of the country". The ministry's project provides for the development of a series of tours and itineraries in the area that focus on religion, gastronomy, wine and wellness. The ministry has also planned the promotion of tours of Macedonia at an international level for the low season, as well as the last months of the year, to change the current trend that sees tourists arrive in the area only for about 60 days in the summer. Macedonia will be promoted in 2022 at all the main international fairs. (ANSAmed). Tourism: Greece launches development of Thessaloniki At world fairs, religious, gastronomic, wine, spa itineraries (ANSAmed) - NAPLES, SEP 13 - Boosting infrastructures to transform Thessaloniki into a fundamental hub for cruises, investing in northern Greece for the sector, is the project announced by Greek Tourism Minister Vassilis Kikilias during a meeting with the Governor of Central Macedonia Apostolos Tzitzikostas, during the 85th International Fair of Thessaloniki. "The project - said Kikilias in statements reported online by Greek Travel Pages - will push tourists to appreciate the splendid locations and food of the area, giving new economic strength to Thessaloniki and the northern area of the country". The ministry's project provides for the development of a series of tours and itineraries in the area that focus on religion, gastronomy, wine and wellness. The ministry has also planned the promotion of tours of Macedonia at an international level for the low season, as well as the last months of the year, to change the current trend that sees tourists arrive in the area only for about 60 days in the summer. Macedonia will be promoted in 2022 at all the main international fairs. (ANSAmed). Fires: blaze in southern Spain still out of control At least 7,400 hectares burned, some 1,600 evacuated (ANSAmed) - MADRID, SEP 13 - A fire with "complex and exceptional" characteristics that began on Wednesday in the province of Malaga, in southern Spain, remains out of control, the president of the Andalusia region, Juanma Moreno, wrote on Twitter. The blaze has extended to several municipalities situated in Sierra Bermeja, a mountainous region with characteristics that makes it complicated to control the flames. "There is no rest in Sierra Bermeja. The fight is on, centimeter by centimeter, to contain a devastating blaze", tweeted Moreno. During the day yesterday and after more than72 hours of constant work to contain the flames, the fire became even more complex to control, leading authorities to evacuate additional people along with the 1,000 who had already been told to leave. The evacuees became approximately 2,670, including about 1,000 who were able to return home during the night, according to regional authorities. Overall, some 7,400 hectares of land have already burned, according to reports published by Spanish media. Last night, the director of the regional anti-fire project said that "in recent times" Spain had never seen "such a complicated" blaze. Emergency Military Unit personnel are working alongside Andalusia firefighters. (ANSAmed). Morocco: women elected to lean main cities Rabat, Casablanca, Marrakech picked female candidates (ANSAmed) - RABAT, SEP 13 - Women have been elected in the main cities of Morocco. The effect of the elections held on September 8 is being felt in municipalities. While consultations are ongoing in the past few hours, led by incoming premier Aziz Akhannouch, to form a new cabinet, the results of regional and municipal elections are being uncovered before they are formalized between September 16 and 25. For the first time Casablanca, the economic capital of Morocco, will be led by Nabila Rmili, a doctor and political activist known for her battles in favor of women. She was favored to win the race from the start and was supported by a coalition of three parties that won the election. Rabat also chose a woman, Asmaa Rhlalou and for Marrakech the name of Fatima Zahra Mansouri, of the Progressive party, is a top contender. Mansouri led the city from 2009 to 2015. (ANSAmed). Sisi receives Israeli premier, first time in 10 years Announcement of Egyptian presidency (ANSAmed) - CAIRO, SEP 13 - For the first time in a decade, an Israeli premier has visited Egypt, the Egyptian presidency has announced. President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi met on Monday with Israeli Premier Naftali Bennett in Sharm El Sheik, on the Red Sea, the presidency said. The visit of an Israeli premier to the most populous Arab country was announced as imminent last month, although no exact date had been released. The meeting focused on "a series of bilateral issues in various fields, as well as means and efforts to re-launch the peace process" in the Middle East and "the latest developments of the regional and international scenarios", said on his Facebook page the spokesman of the Egyptian presidency, Ambassador Bassam Radi. The last visit of an Israeli premier to Egypt, also in Sharm El Sheik, dates back to January 6, 2011, a few days before the fall of then-president Hosni Mubarak who received Bennett's predecessor, Benyamin Netanyahu (although Israeli media reported about a secret meeting with Sisi in 2018). Egypt was the first Arab country to make peace with Israel in 1979 after fighting four wars against the Jewish State between 1948 and 1973. Relations between the two countries have improved over the past few years: Egypt has also had a key role in mediating a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas in Gaza in at least three conflicts between the Islamic movement and the Jewish State. (ANSAmed). Thank you for reading! On your next view you will be asked to log in to your subscriber account or create an account and subscribepurchase a subscription to continue reading. A teenager has been arrested on suspicion of murder after an Army veteran was assaulted outside his home. Frank Fishwick, 86, who died in hospital on Saturday morning, has been remembered as an adored father and grandfather by his family, Lancashire Police said. Officers who were were called to The Paddock in Fulwood, Preston, on Friday at around 3pm found him with a facial injury that was later diagnosed as a fractured nose. In a statement, his family described him as an adored father and grandfather who will be sadly missed by family and friends. To view this content, you'll need to update your privacy settings. Please click here to do so. Mr Fishwick was an Army veteran who served with the Royal Engineers and also committed his working life to Leyland Motors, his family said. They added: He was well liked by his friends, offered a helping hand when needed and his humour brought cheer to many. Our thanks are extended to Lancashire Police who are working tireless to bring justice to an unforgivable act of violence. A 19 year-old man from Preston was arrested on suspicion of murder on Sunday. He is currently in custody. Police are asking anyone who witnessed the assault or who has any information they think might help to get in contact. Scotlands only sloths have been revealed for the first time at Edinburgh Zoo. Two-year-old male Moana, nicknamed Mo, and one-year-old female Feira, known as Fe, have been added to the roster of animals at the park. The Linnes two-toed sloths have joined large hairy armadillos Nymeria and Diogo in the Sloths and Armadillos building, which tells the story of wildlife in South America. Moana arrived from Aquazoo Friesland in the Netherlands and Feira arrived from Wilhelma in Germany. Visitors can now spot the Linnes two-toed sloths (RZSS/PA) Erika Oulton, senior animal experiences keeper at Edinburgh Zoo, said: We are thrilled to have welcomed this brand-new species to the zoo and hope visitors will be able to spot Mo and Fe in their incredible new home during their visit. Our Brilliant Birds building has been refurbished to create an amazing space with lots of trees and ropes for our sloths to explore at their own pace. They are settling in well so far, though well be keeping viewing hours limited for the first few weeks while they get used to their new surroundings. The zoo is run by the Royal Zoological Society of Scotland, which said it has been supporting conservation partners in South America, the sloths native home, for more than a decade. The Government will invest 265 million per year to prop up renewable energy production as it tries to ensure that Britains offshore wind production quadruples in the next nine years. It will set aside money for offshore wind projects and support newer technologies, such as tidal power. It is part of the Contracts For Difference scheme, which guarantees energy producers a minimum price for ever megawatt hour of electricity they produce. During the fourth iteration of the scheme, details of which were announced on Monday, the Government will try to secure twice the capacity of the third round. To view this content, you'll need to update your privacy settings. Please click here to do so. This will generate more electricity than the three previous rounds combined, the Government said. The first round of contracts was launched in 2014. In the latest funding, 200 million will go to supporting offshore wind. The UK currently has a little over 10 gigawatts of offshore capacity and the Government has pledged that this will reach 40 gigawatts by 2030. It said that 24 million has been set aside for floating wind turbines unlike most current turbines, which have to be attached to the seabed. Money will also, for the first time since 2015, go to onshore wind and solar projects, mainly in Scotland and Wales. Although only 10 million has been earmarked for these projects, the plan is to encourage 5 gigawatts in new capacity. Energy minister Anne-Marie Trevelyan said: The Contracts for Difference scheme has helped the UK become a world leader in clean electricity generation and lowered prices for consumers. The new plans set out today deliver on the Prime Ministers 10-Point Plan and will support the next generation of renewable electricity projects needed to power our homes and meet our world-leading climate change targets. Businesses bid to be Contract for Difference developers, with those who say they can produce energy the cheapest in each category selected for funding. There are three categories: Established technologies, including onshore wind, solar and hydropower; less-established technologies, such as floating wind turbines, tidal, and geothermal power; and offshore wind. A man who was part of the notorious Rochdale grooming gang has complained about his treatment in Britain at a tribunal hearing to deport him back to Pakistan. Adil Khan, 51, said the Home Office had taken his driving licence from him and he was surviving on benefits. Khan and former taxi driver Qari Abdul Rauf, 52, have been told they are to be sent back to Pakistan for the public good after they were part of a gang convicted of a catalogue of serious sex offences against young girls. Both men are appealing against the decision to deport them following a six-year legal battle after which they lost the right to remain in the UK. Khan got a girl, 13, pregnant but denied he was the father, then met another girl, 15, and trafficked her to others using violence when she complained. He was sentenced to eight years in 2012 and released on licence four years later. At an Immigration Tribunal hearing on Monday to discuss his case, Khan complained about having no rights in the UK. Speaking through a Mirpuri translator, he said: But I cannot exercise any rights in this country as an individual. I cannot do anything for my family, Im just surviving on my sons benefits. I cannot take my son to school if it is raining, we cannot afford a taxi. Khan criticised the Home Offices actions (Kirsty OConnor PA) The police informed me about a month ago that they have cancelled my drivers licence, according to the Home Office instructions. Judge Nehar Bird, chairing the tribunal hearing, told Khan: Mr Khan, this hearing is to decide how to proceed forward in the hearing of your appeal. It is not here to decide whether you should be given a driving licence, whether you should be given money, whether you should be sent to detention. Thats not the purpose of this hearing. This tribunal is here to decide whether the Home Office decision to deport you back to Pakistan is right or wrong, in law. Rauf, a father-of-five, trafficked a 15-year-old girl for sex, driving her to secluded areas to have sex with her in his taxi and ferry her to a flat in Rochdale where he and others had sex with her. He was jailed for six years and released in November 2014 after serving two years and six months of his sentence. The tribunal hearing on Wednesday heard the mens appeal is on two grounds, the first being the issue of statelessness. Both men have certificates issued by the Pakistan government, which they say represents them legally renouncing their Pakistani nationality. But this was done in September 2018, only after they had been deprived of UK citizenship and the validity and legality, under Pakistan law, of the documents is in question. Expert evidence on Pakistani law is being sought by the lawyers of Khan, who has been granted legal aid. The second ground for appeal, which will be heard separately, but one after the other by the same panel of judges, will consider their rights under Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights, arising out of their individual circumstances relating to their private and family life. (Top row left to right) Abdul Rauf, Hamid Safi, Mohammed Sajid and Abdul Aziz, and (bottom row left to right) Abdul Qayyum, Adil Khan, Mohammed Amin and Kabeer Hassan were convicted in a 2012 trial (GMP/PA) Judge Bird adjourned the hearing for a further case review hearing on November 29, ahead of the main appeal hearing, probably next year, some 10 years after they were convicted along with seven others in 2012. Both men had dual UK-Pakistani citizenship, so were liable to be deprived of UK citizenship and deported, after then-home secretary Theresa May ruled it would be conducive to the public good. For two years from early 2008, girls as young as 12 were plied with alcohol and drugs and gang-raped in rooms above takeaway shops and ferried to different flats in taxis where cash was paid to use the girls. Police said as many as 47 girls were groomed. Hospitality and retail workers will be more than 1,000 worse off a year under Tory proposals, Labour has alleged. The party said its own analysis had found the national insurance hike announced by the Conservatives to fund NHS and social care combined with planned cuts to Universal Credit and plans to freeze the income tax personal allowance would take 1,130 away from a hospitality worker. And Labour said many other workers, including those that steered the country through the pandemic, would be impacted with those including social care workers, nurses, teaching assistants and supermarket staff losing more than 1,100 a year. A band 5 nurse would lose 1,159 next year, Labours analysis found, while a social care worker would lose 1,108, a supermarket worker 1,040 and a teaching assistant 1,040. Boris Johnson has insisted that raising national insurance is the right, the reasonable and the fair approach. But Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer has accused the Prime Minister of putting the very wealthiest ahead of working people who have to pick up the bill. Sir Keir will visit Roses Cafe in London on Monday with deputy leader Angela Rayner to meet hospitality and retail workers. He said: The Conservatives plans to impose unfair taxes are an attack on working people and an attack on the key worker heroes who have got our country through the pandemic. The Governments announcement on social care will not fix the crisis in social care, will not clear the backlog in our NHS and will not protect homeowners from having to sell their homes to pay for care. Deputy Labour leader Angela Rayner said key workers needed a pay rise, not a tax rise (Jacob King/PA) As usual with this Prime Minister, it is working people who are going to pay for the cost of his failure. Two-and-a-half-million working families will face a double whammy of a national insurance tax rise and a cut to Universal Credit. This is the same old Tories putting the very wealthiest ahead of working people who have to pick up the bill. Ms Rayner added: Conservative ministers are taking 1,000 out of the pockets of my old workmates working on the frontline of our social care sector. Our key worker heroes need a pay rise, not a tax rise. It is plain wrong that a care worker on the minimum wage will pay more tax for the care they are providing every day without a penny more in their pay packet, while the landlord that they pay rent to every month will not contribute at the same rate. The Prime Minister does not care about working people and he makes that clear time and time again. He is out of touch and out of ideas, leaving working people footing the bill while the very wealthiest in our society are left untouched. The Health Secretary Sajid Javid said raising taxes was a last resort (Jeff Overs/BBC/PA) Labour said its alternative plan would include an immediate increase to the minimum wage to at least 10 per hour, which the party estimated would put 2,000 into the pockets of full-time minimum wage workers. The Health Secretary said on Sunday that raising taxes was the last resort. He said: We should always be trying to keep taxes as low as we possibly can, and making sure that we recognise that when you have tax, any type of tax, youre taking away hard-working peoples money, and every single penny should be spent wisely. He added: I think we should be if we have to spend more somewhere else, I think that we should always be trying first to see where we can make savings to pay for that, not extra tax rises, and tax rise should always be the last resort. Its been right to do it on this occasion, but we should always try to avoid it. But he confirmed that the plan to reverse the 20 uplift in Universal Credit would go ahead. The Biden administration is making $482 million available to aviation industry manufacturers to help them avert job or pay cuts in the pandemic. The taxpayer-funded relief will cover up to half of the payroll costs at 313 companies, according to the Transportation Department, which said Thursday will help save up to 22,500 jobs. Air travel plummeted due to the spread of COVID-19. The delta variant has led to elevated cancellations and diminished travel in recent months. More than 100,000 aerospace jobs have been lost in an industry that had employed about 2.2 million people, according to the Transportation Department. The largest recipient the fund funds announced Monday is Spirit Aerosystems, a Boeing supplier based in Kansas, which stands to get $75.5 million that the government says will help protect 3,214 jobs. Parker-Hannifin Corp. of Ohio, which makes hydraulic systems for planes, will get $39.7 million. The avionics unit of Japan's Panasonic, based in California, will get $25.8 million, and several U.S. subsidiaries of France's Safran S.A. will get a total of $24.8 million. Money for the aerospace companies is coming from a $1.9 trillion package approved by Congress and signed by President Joe Biden in March. The relief is similar to a much larger aid program for U.S. airlines, which have received $54 billion in the past year and a half. The airlines also agreed not to furlough any workers, but they eliminated tens of thousands of jobs anyway by offering incentives for employees to quit or retire early. Critics labeled the airline aid a bailout that amounted to several hundred thousand dollars for each job that was spared 75,000 jobs, by some estimates. Defenders such as American Airlines CEO Doug Parker say that without the government's help, airlines would have been forced to shut down when traffic fell to levels not seen since the 1950s. The Federal Aviation Administration, part of the Transportation Department, recently awarded $100 million to aerospace companies including Boeing, General Electric's aviation division and jet engine maker Pratt & Whitney to make planes less polluting and quieter. A declassified FBI document opens a revealing new window into the bureaus investigation of alleged Saudi complicity in the 9/11 terror attacks, raising fresh questions about whether some kingdom officials may have provided support for the al-Qaida terrorists prior to the hijacking of airplanes that crashed into the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. The long-suppressed 2016 document was released late Saturday night, hours after the close of ceremonies commemorating the 20th anniversary of the attacks. It reveals for the first time multiple communications between some Saudi government officials and key al-Qaida figures prior to Sept. 11, 2001. It also contains new evidence that contradicts the claims by a suspected Saudi intelligence agent that a crucial meeting he had in 2000 with two of the 9/11 hijackers at a Los Angeles restaurant was an unplanned encounter that took place only because he happened to hear them speaking Arabic at a nearby table. This is proof of what weve been alleging for years, said Brett Eagleson, a spokesman for the families of 9/11 victims who are suing the Saudi government for providing support to the hijackers. Why has it taken 20 years for the families to get this document? The document in question is a 16-page electronic communication, dated April 4, 2016, and written by agents involved in Operation Encore, a long-secret FBI probe into the Saudi role in 9/11 whose existence didn't become publicly known until recent years. The probe was officially shut down this year with no new charges against Saudi operatives. This content is not available due to your privacy preferences. Update your settings here to see it. But President Biden, under pressure from the 9/11 families and members of Congress, recently ordered the Justice Department to review the Operation Encore materials and seek to declassify as much as possible. The release of the 2016 FBI report is the first of what is expected to be a number of 9/11 documents that the Trump administration, at the direction of Attorney General William Barr, had previously labeled a state secret whose disclosure would harm national security. The Saudi Embassy in Washington as recently as last week said any allegations that Saudi Arabia was complicit in 9/11 were categorically false, adding that the kingdom welcomed the declassification review ordered by Biden. And the 9/11 Commission said in 2004 that it found no evidence the Saudi government as an institution financed al-Qaida, downplaying allegations that officials there provided logistical support for the hijackers while they were planning for the attacks in the United States. (A lawyer for the Saudi government did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Yahoo News.) The new release does not contain any smoking gun that proves Saudi officials had prior knowledge of the 9/11 attacks. But the document offers potentially significant new circumstantial evidence that lawyers for the 9/11 families clearly believe will be a boon to their lawsuit. At a minimum, Eagleson said, it provides grounds for the families lawyers to ask a federal judge to reopen depositions in the case, allowing them to confront key witnesses with the newly revealed phone records and interviews. (As a civil case, the families lawsuit needs to establish its case for Saudi complicity only by a preponderance of the evidence, a lower standard than the beyond a reasonable doubt standard needed for criminal prosecutions.) President Biden and first lady Jill Biden at a ceremony at the Pentagon on Saturday, the 20th anniversary of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. (Alex Brandon/AP) The document provides a blueprint for how al Qaeda operated inside the US with the active, knowing support of the Saudi government, lawyers for the families wrote in an analysis for their clients over the weekend that was obtained by Yahoo News. Saudi officials exchanged phone calls among themselves and with al Qaeda operatives and then had accidental meetings with the 9/11 hijackers and provided them with substantial assistance to get settled, find flight schools and become acclimated to life in the U.S. Perhaps the most striking new evidence relates to a meeting at a Los Angeles restaurant between Omar Bayoumi, a suspected Saudi intelligence agent with extremist sympathies, and two of the hijackers, Nawaf al-Hazmi and Khalid al-Mihdhar. The meeting took place on Feb. 1, 2000 just two weeks after the future hijackers flew into Los Angeles after attending an al-Qaida planning summit in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. As the FBI document notes, neither al-Hazmi nor al-Mihdhar could speak or read English and would likely have needed substantial assistance merely to ride a city bus. Bayoumi, a purported business student, was a prime target of the FBI probe. He was described as a ghost employee of a Saudi aviation firm who never showed up for work and was strongly suspected of Saudi intelligence ties. According to one bureau source quoted in the declassified report, Bayoumi had a very high status at the Saudi Consulate in Los Angeles; according to another source, he spoke about the need for the Islamic community in the United States to take action as well as about his own participation in jihad. Detained in the United Kingdom after 9/11, Bayoumi denied radical sympathies and initially told FBI agents and later the 9/11 Commission that he met the hijackers at the Mediterranean Gourmet restaurant on Venice Boulevard purely by chance when he approached them after hearing them speaking Arabic at a nearby table. Khalid al-Mihdhar, left, and Nawaf al-Hazmi. (FBI via Reuters) Yet the FBI report reveals an interview with an associate who accompanied Bayoumi that day, Caisin Bin Don, who told the FBIs Operation Encore agents that in fact Bayoumi was waiting for the al-Qaida operatives to arrive all along. Bayoumi entered the restaurant and positioned himself to be looking out the front window, Bin Don is quoted as saying. When al-Hazmi and al-Mihdhar arrived, Bayoumi approached them and invited them to his table, where they spoke for 30 minutes in Arabic. Bin Don doesnt speak Arabic, so he was unable to share with the bureau what they talked about. But as the FBI document notes, after the meeting Bayoumi took the al-Qaida operatives in, providing them with logistic support that included translation, travel assistance, lodging and financing. Anomalous money transfers within Bayoumis bank accounts coincide with transactions wherein Bayoumi provides assistance to the hijackers, the report states. The FBI report also reveals that the restaurant meeting came barely an hour after Bayoumi had a meeting at the nearby Saudi government-funded King Fahad Mosque, whose imam, Fahad al-Thumairy, was an accredited Saudi diplomat. Al-Thumairy was a notorious extremist who, according to newly revealed phone records cited in the FBI document, had multiple contacts with al-Qaida operatives, including several who had been implicated in the so-called millennium plot to blow up Los Angeles airport. The FBI report reveals that shortly before al-Hazmi and al-Mihdhar arrived in the United States after attending the al-Qaida summit in Kuala Lumpur, a phone call from Malaysia or Indonesia instructed an individual whose name remains classified to locate Thumairy. The imam then tasked another individual (whose name also remains classified) with assisting al-Hazmi and al-Mihdhar, describing them as two very significant people and instructing that they be brought to the Mediterranean Gourmet restaurant. The totality of the new evidence shows that the claims that Bayoumi met with the hijackers by chance are baloney, said Ali Soufan, a former FBI agent who investigated al-Qaida for years and now heads a New York-based national security research firm. A woman at the 9/11 Memorial in New York on the 20th anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks. (Amr Alfiky/Reuters) This means Bayoumi knows these two individuals were coming and his job was to help them, said Soufan. Its another piece of evidence connecting people who worked for Saudi Arabia to a support network that helped the hijackers. Its definitely eye-popping." It is a support network that, the FBI report suggests, was much wider than previously thought and included assistance for the hijackers on the East Coast as the date for the 9/11 attacks approached. While the hijackers were still in San Diego, where Bayoumi had set them up with an apartment, he made five phone calls to another suspected operative, Mutaib al-Sudairy, a Saudi Embassy official who was roommates with a known al-Qaida facilitator who had provided equipment for Osama bin Laden. Sudairy later moved to an address in Falls Church, Va., near where al-Hazmi, al-Mihdhar and another of the hijackers, Hani Hanjour, had established residence. Yet another Saudi whom Bayoumi was in almost daily contact with was Osama Basnan, according to the report. Basnan was another known extremist who had once hosted a party at his house for the so-called blind sheikh, Omar Abdel Rahman, the convicted mastermind of the 1993 World Trade Center bombing. Multiple sources report Bassnan [sic] expressed enthusiastic support for bin Laden, describing bin Laden as a great authority figure who would change the world for the benefit of Islam, the report states. Basnans role was first disclosed in a 2002 Newsweek article, which revealed that his wife was receiving regular monthly stipends of $2,000 from the wife of the then Saudi ambassador, Prince Bandar. Basnans wife then turned over the money to Bayoumis wife. The article reported that Basnan had shown up in Houston in April of that year, when then-Saudi Crown Prince Abdullah flew there for a meeting with President George W. Bush. While there, Newsweek reported, Basnan met with a high-ranking Saudi prince with responsibilities for intelligence matters and who was known to bring suitcases filled with cash to the United States. ____ Read more from Yahoo News: We're glad you're here. Enjoy an unlimited number of stories and podcasts, for free, right now. Then sign up to get some of our newsletters, which are also free, right now. Subscribe Online Access for Print Subscribers. Do you have a print subscription with the Argus-Press? If yes, then click here to enjoy complimentary access to our Online Content! It's about time they were required It's a good idea, but it will be divisive I am unsure Health care workers are fine, but not others I will quit my job rather than get a vaccine They're stepping on my freedom Meh, what's one more vaccine? Vote View Results Support local journalism Now, more than ever, the world needs trustworthy reportingbut good journalism isnt free. Please support us by making a contribution. The death toll due to the disease has climbed to 4,42,874 A health worker prepares to inoculate a man with a dose of the Covishield vaccine against the Covid-19 coronavirus at a vaccination camp organised at a railway station in Chennai. (Photo: AFP) New Delhi: India saw a single-day rise of 27,254 new COVID-19 cases, taking the infection tally in the country to 3,32,64,175, while the count of active cases declined to 3,74,269, according to Union Health Ministry data on Monday. The death toll due to the disease has climbed to 4,42,874, with 219 daily fatalities being recorded, the data updated at 8 am showed. The count of daily new cases has remained below 50,000 for 78 consecutive days now, according to the ministry. The tally of active cases has declined to 3,74,269, which comprises 1.13 per cent of the total infections, while the national COVID-19 recovery rate was recorded at 97.54 per cent, the ministry said. A reduction of 10,652 cases has been recorded in the active COVID-19 caseload in a span of 24 hours. Also, 12,08,247 COVID-19 tests were conducted in the country on Sunday, taking the total of such examinations to 54,30,14,076. The daily positivity rate was recorded at 2.26 per cent. This has been below three per cent for the last 14 days, and below five per cent for 97 consecutive days now, the ministry said. The weekly positivity rate was recorded at 2.11 per cent. The figure has been below three per cent for the last 80 days, according to the Health Ministry. The number of people who have recuperated from the disease has surged to 3,24,47,032, while the case fatality rate was recorded at 1.33 per cent. The cumulative number of COVID-19 vaccine doses administered in the country so far under the nationwide vaccination drive has reached 74.38 crore, according to the ministry. India's COVID-19 tally had crossed the 20-lakh mark on August 7, 2020, 30 lakh on August 23, 40 lakh on September 5, 50 lakh on September 16, 60 lakh on September 28, 70 lakh on October 11, 80 lakh on October 29, 90 lakh on November 20 and the one-crore mark on December 19. The country crossed the grim milestone of two crore cases on May 4 and three crore on June 23. The 219 new fatalities include 67 from Kerala and 46 from Maharashtra. A total of 4,42,874 deaths have been reported so far in the country, including 1,38,142 from Maharashtra, 37,504 From Karnataka, 35,168 from Tamil Nadu, 25,083 from Delhi, 22,883 from Uttar Pradesh, 22,551 from Kerala and 18,577 from West Bengal. The Health Ministry stressed that more than 70 per cent of the deaths occurred due to co-morbidities. "Our figures are being reconciled with the Indian Council of Medical Research," the ministry said on its website, adding that state-wise distribution of figures is subject to further verification and reconciliation. Reinforcements from J&K police and CRPF laid siege to a number of localities in Khanyar and began searches for the assailants Police personnel carry the coffin of a police officer who died during an attack on Indian security personnel by suspected militants in downtown Srinagar, at the police headquarters in Srinagar on September 12, 2021. (TAUSEEF MUSTAFA / AFP) Srinagar: A police sub-inspector was shot dead by suspected militants in Srinagar on Sunday afternoon, prompting the security forces to launch a search operation close to the shootout site to catch the assailants dead or alive. The police and witnesses said that gunmen-possibly two in number- emerged from a dark alley and fired on a police (naka) party. The CCTV footage of the incident shows a militant shooting Arshid Ahmad at least twice from behind from point-blank range, they said. He succumbed to his injuries at Srinagars Sher-i-Kas-hmir Institute of Medical Sciences, the officials said. Medical superintendent Dr Farooq Jan said the cop sustained critical wounds and breathed his last soon after doctors began attending on him. Reinforcements from J&K police and Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) laid siege to a number of localities in Khanyar and began searches for the assailants. J&Ks DGP Dilbag Singh said that the militants involved in the killing of the police official in Khanyar area have been identified. Talking to reporters at the of wreath laying ceremony of the slain police official at Srinagars District Police Lines, he said that all the previous modules of militants involved in pistol shooting were wiped out, while it seems that a new group has been formed. I would not like to disclose about the outfit or module behind today's attack but the perpetrators have been identified and will be brought to justice soon, he said. He added that SI Arshid Ahmed was committed to his duties and his loss was a big loss to the police family. Meanwhile, an encounter has been under way since Sunday morning between militants and security forces in Upper Barote area of Thanamandi area of J&K's frontier Rajouri district. The officials in Jammu said that the security forces including the Army and J&K polices counterinsurgency Special Operations Group (SOG) had earlier launched a cordon and search operation in the upper reaches of Rajouri following information about the suspected movement of militants from across the Line of Control (LoC). They said that the operation launched in the forest area of Barote Gali in Manjakote and parts of Thanamandi was going on and that all the exit points have been plugged to stop militants from escaping from the area. The local sources said that the security forces have moved also in Dori Maal and some other villages of Rajouri to ensure militants who are believed to have sneaked into the district from across the LoC recently do not mingle with local population. AAP leader Sanjay Singh said their party had emerged stronger than the Congress in the recent panchayat polls Be it Uttarakhand or Gujarat, where the AAP has entered, the BJP had to change the chief ministers. They changed the chief minister in Uttarakhand several times, said AAP national spokesman Raghav Chaddha. PTI New Delhi/Lucknow: Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal was unanimously elected as the Aam Aadmi Partys national convener for the third time in a row at the partys national executive meeting on Sunday. The decision comes at a time that the AAP is expanding its wings beyond the national capital and is preparing for Assembly elections in six states -- Punjab, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh, Goa and Gujarat -- in the next two years. Delhi will also hold municipal polls next year with the three civic bodies in the city now run by the BJP. Asserting that the AAP will contest all 403 Assembly seats in UP, Rajya Sabha MP and senior AAP leader Sanjay Singh said it would be a mistake to consider his party a minnow as it had emerged stronger than the Congress in the recent panchayat polls. The Arvind Kejriwal-led AAP made it clear it was not in talks with any other party for an alliance in next years UP Assembly polls. Our party is stronger than the Congress in the state. While the Congress won 40 seats in the panchayat polls, we won 83 panchayats. The AAP got over 40 lakh votes in these polls, and 1600 party candidates contested, Mr Singh, the AAPs UP in-charge, told PTI in Lucknow. The Congress was reduced to seven seats in the 403-member UP Assembly in 2017. After coming to power in Delhi, the AAP has emerged as the main Opposition party in Punjab and is trying to expand in other states like Goa, Uttarakhand and Gujarat. We are preparing to contest all 403 seats in UP. We are at present not in talks for an alliance with any other party. Our focus is to strengthen our base and in the past one and a half months, we have made over one crore members, Mr Singh said. The party has named Vidhan Sabha in-charges in 100-150 seats and our leaders are meeting those who want to contest, said the 49-year-old AAP leader from Sultanpur in UP. He said the main issue raised by the AAP in the Assembly elections will be the BJPs nationalism versus the AAPs nationalism. He said: The BJPs nationalism is fake. Its nationalism is full of hatred and communalism. At the same time, the AAPs nationalism is providing good education, good health, free water, free electricity, womens security and happiness, he added. The AAP has already spread its wings in several states. Earlier this year, the party won 27 seats in the municipal polls in Gujarats Surat. It is the ruling party in Delhi, where it won 62 of 70 Assembly constituencies in February 2020. It is also the principal Opposition party in Punjab. On Vijay Rupanis resignation as Gujarat chief minister, AAP national spokesman Raghav Chaddha claimed his partys growing influence in the state had forced the BJP to take this decision. Be it Uttarakhand or Gujarat, where the AAP has entered, the BJP had to change the chief ministers. They changed the chief minister in Uttarakhand several times. After Mr Rupani resigned, Mr Chaddha had tweeted: AAP breaches BJPs citadel, wins 27 seats in Surat, captures the space of Opposition in Gujarat, dislodging ineffective Congress. BJP forced to remove its CM At the AAPs first national executive on Sunday, Pankaj Gupta and N.D. Gupta were unanimously elected as secretary and treasurer respectively. The national executive has elected office-bearers for a five-year tenure. It had elected a new 34-member executive body, which included Mr Kejriwal, on Saturday. The executive members include senior AAP leaders Manish Sisodia, Satyendra Jain, Imran Hussain, Rajendra Pal Gautam, Raghav Chadha, Atishi and Rakhi Birla, among others. Earlier this year, the partys constitution was also amended to allow a person to hold a post more than twice. The party constitution earlier said that no member will hold the same post as an office-bearer for more than two consecutive terms of three years each. After the amendment, made in January 2021, the duration of the term has been raised to five years and the bar on the number of terms for office-bearers was lifted. For damage control, BJPs Leader of the Opposition Suvendu Adhikari later tweeted the newspapers correction Mukul Roy, who returned to the Trinamul Congress after winning a West Bengal Assembly seat on a BJP ticket, tweeted: "Mr @narendramodi is so helpless to save his party that other than changing CMs, he has also had to resort to using pictures of growth & infrastructure seen under @MamataOfficials leadership as his own. Twitter Kolkata: West Bengals ruling Trinamul Congress accused the BJP-ruled Uttar Pradesh government Sunday of theft and duplicity in its propaganda after an English newspaper advertorial featuring chief minister Yogi Adityanath carried photos of Kolkatas famous Maa Flyover and a top hotel on the Eastern Metropolitan Bypass as among his achievements in development work. The TMC lost no opportunity to taunt and ridicule the BJP over the episode. Posting the photo of the advertorial online, chief minister Mamata Banerjees MP nephew Abhishek Banerjee tweeted: Transforming UP for @myogiadityanath means stealing images from infrastructure seen in Bengal under @MamataOfficials leadership and using them as his own! Looks like the DOUBLE ENGINE MODEL has MISERABLY FAILED in BJPs strongest state and now stands EXPOSED for all! Mukul Roy, who returned to the Trinamul Congress after winning a West Bengal Assembly seat on a BJP ticket, tweeted: "Mr @narendramodi is so helpless to save his party that other than changing CMs, he has also had to resort to using pictures of growth & infrastructure seen under @MamataOfficials leadership as his own. State transport minister Firhad Hakim also tweeted: I always knew that imitation is the best form of flattery but #YogiAdityanath takes it to another level! Images of infrastructure under @MamataOfficials leadership being shown as theirs isnt just a gaffe by a hired agency, it is a reflection of the actual state of affairs in UP. RTI activist Saket Gokhale, who recently joined the TMC, tweeted: Lol the image on the bottom left is from Kolkata -- of the Maa Flyover. Zoom in & you can also see the iconic Kolkata yellow Ambassador taxi on the flyover. Transforming UP means spending millions on newspaper ads around India & stealing pics of development in Kolkata? For damage control, BJPs Leader of the Opposition Suvendu Adhikari later tweeted the newspapers correction and claimed: Fake propaganda peddlers latched on to an advertorial error of a newspaper. @myogiadityanath jis govt is a testimony of growth & development. The UP govt doesnt need to borrow (that too image) from a state on the verge of bankruptcy due to mismanagement of its administration. On January 12 this year, the Supreme Court 'stayed' the implementation of the farm laws Later this month, on September 26, the Samyukta Kisan Morcha has called for a Bharat Bandh to seek the repeal of the three controversial farm laws. The question is why is the protest, which began last year, still continuing? It may appear that the presence of tens of thousands of individuals, men and women, at the borders of Delhi at Singhu, Tikri and Ghaziabad, has reached a stalemate. Has it? And if so, why? It is instructive to examine the details. The farmers movement gave the Union government last year a set of eight demands. First, to repeal the law that allowed the tax-free trade of agricultural produce outside of regulated mandis, stop corporates from entering the agriculture sector and provide a guarantee for the Minimum Support Price. Second, to repeal the law allowing contract farming. Third, to repeal the law amending the Essential Commodities Act, decriminalising the hoarding of agricultural produce. Fourth, to withdraw the amendments proposed in the Electricity Ordinance 2020, which would end power subsidies and replace them with a cash subsidy. Fifth, to eliminate the taxes on fuel to align the price of petrol and diesel to international crude prices. Sixth, to repeal the Straw Pollution Ordinance 2020, which criminalises the burning of stubble. Seventh, to stop the Unions legislative encroachment into the domain of states: agriculture is a state subject and not a Union one. And lastly, point number 8, to unconditionally release those jailed in the Bhima Koregaon case and for the CAA protests. On December 30 last year, the Narendra Modi government agreed to drop the amendments in the Electricity Ordinance (Point 4) and to exempt farmers from the stubble burning penalty (Point 6). On January 12 this year, the Supreme Court stayed the implementation of the farm laws. The stay addressed Points 1, 2 and 3. The court then appointed a four-member committee to speak to the farmers and the government and make recommendations. One of the committees members, Bhupinder Singh Mann, withdrew himself saying he stood in support of the farmers. The other three included two agricultural economists who had written in support of the government. The farmers unions refused to meet the committee and it gave its recommendations to the court in a sealed cover six months ago, in March. The stay on the laws has remained. A couple of months ago, on July 4, Piyush Goyals consumer affairs ministry imposed a limit of 200 tons (wholesale) and five tons (retail) on the stocking by traders of all pulses except moong. This was because prices were rising, but this limit meant the government was itself going against the changes it had made to the Essential Commodities Act. Last week, one of the Supreme Court committee members expressed his frustration about their recommendations still remaining in a sealed cover. He also said the government and the court would have to consider the law and order situation which would arise if their report was released. The committee has apparently not favoured the repeal of the laws but, according to this member, Anil Ghanwat, the laws have many defects which need to be addressed. This then is the current situation of the demands for which the farmers are still on protest. Some of their demands have already been met, some have been stayed and in one case the government, without repealing, has itself undone a key law. Earlier this year, the government said it was willing to stay the implementation of the laws for 18 months. What then stops the government from just repealing the laws that are in any case not being implemented? The laws were passed as ordinances in June, passed off as part of the Atma Nirbhar Bharat package, passed in dubious fashion in the Rajya Sabha without a division vote and have seen the biggest and longest mass protest in the world. The Samyukta Kisan Morcha has not withdrawn any of its demands, including, it may be observed, Point 8 which has ostensibly nothing to do with them. And yet they have soldiered on. The conclusion we can draw from this is that they believe in and stand by the things they have asked for. At the very least, we can conclude that the core demand repeal of the three farm laws -- is not negotiable. Till the laws are actually repealed and not just suspended, the farmers will continue the movement against the Union government. Some 600 farmers have already died while on this protest. There is no group that is demanding the implementation of the laws, this is important to note. There is no pressure on the government to implement the laws. It has merely put the laws away in cold storage and is ignoring the protests, hoping that they end from exhaustion or something else on their own, though that does not appear to be happening, and a Bharat Bandh is now on the horizon. So why is it letting the protests continue instead of just doing what is already obvious, and repealing the laws? That is the question. And the only answer one can think of is that this is being done to preserve the image of toughness and 56 inches and all the rest of it. One hopes that this is not the reason, because it says something awful about this nation's leadership, but it is difficult to see what else it could be. New Zealand imposed a national lockdown on August 17 when the first case of Delta variant was found in the community WELLINGTON: New Zealand's largest city of Auckland will remain in strict Covid-19 lockdown for at least another week as a Delta variant outbreak "rumbles along", Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said Monday. Ardern said the city's two million residents needed to abide by stay-at-home orders because of the emergence of several "mystery cases" which had not yet been linked to existing clusters. "These mystery cases are still coming through and the fact we're finding them through surveillance and community testing, rather than contact tracing, is what we're concerned about," she said. New Zealand imposed a national lockdown on August 17 when the first case of the highly transmissible Delta variant was found in the community. But stay-at-home orders were lifted outside Auckland last week as it became apparent that all new cases were emerging in the city. Ardern ruled out lifting Auckland's hard lockdown before September 21 but said the city should then move down an alert level on the country's four-tier coronavirus response system. With 33 new community cases recorded in the city on Monday, Ardern said she was wary of lifting restrictions too early. "(Case) numbers are rumbling along and this has been evident in the last three days," she said. "This doesn't mean our collective efforts in Auckland are not making a difference." New Zealand is pursuing a "Covid zero" elimination strategy -- which has resulted in just 27 deaths in a population of five million throughout the pandemic. It had been free of community cases for six months before the August outbreak, with residents enjoying a near-normal domestic life alongside tight restrictions on international borders. The Delta infection prompted immediate lockdowns because of low vaccination rates, with data this week showing only about a third of the eligible population are fully jabbed. A thank you to APG from The Post BHP HP kW The construction of this complex boat began in 2018, but Subsea Craft, the British company thats developing it, has recently hit a milestone: Victa has entered water for the first time. Janes reported that the vessel underwent its first tests this past weekend, in Portsmouth, Hampshire.What makes Victa revolutionary is that it combines the capabilities of a surface craft with those of a submarine, which basically means that it can move very fast both on the surface of the water and under it, as well as transition seamlessly from one medium to the other. This is particularly important for military operations, where divers need to be inserted and extracted fast and in secret.With a length of 11.95 meters (39 feet), Victa has enough room for two crew members and six divers. A custom diesel engine with a 725(735) output can deliver an impressive speed of up to 40 knots, while the 20electric thrusters allow the craft to be flown at 8 knots when it's submerged. The DDU also boasts a massive range of 250 nautical miles on the surface, and up to 4-hour endurance under water. Besides its impressive speed and range, Victa has a dive transition time of only 120 seconds, going as deep as 30 meters (98.4 feet) under water. Equipped with an advanced onboard open circuit air system that provides enough air for eight people, with an autonomy of four hours, this stealthy vessel is able to conduct secret missions, delivering and retrieving divers close to their operation area.The Victa prototype still has a long way to go. These initial tests will be followed by surface water trials and subsea trials at the beginning of next year. According to Portshmouth.co.uk , once completed, this pioneering surface-submersible will go for no less than 10 million ($13.8 million). Late last month, stories about a massive London barn find started making the rounds. This wasnt technically a barn find as the monster stash had not been forgotten, but it was dubbed this way, because it had been locked away for decades and, presumably, because of the amount of dust and bird droppings it had collected during this time. A warehouse in Tottenham, North London, UK, had been home to 174 cars of all makes and models throughout the years, and the owner had just decided to sell them.It would later emerge that he was selling the collection because the council no longer allowed him to store the vehicles there. London Barn Finds undertook the sale of the entire fleet as it was , minus the dust and bird poop that would be removed later. One Freddie Fison spoke to the media on behalf of the owner, discussing the random assortment of vehicles in there and how the collection was a labor of love.It included vehicles from the 1940s through to the late 2000s, bought randomly: classic cars, campervans and daily drivers. Highlights included a 1975 Mercedes 350SL, a 1973 Porsche 911, a 1989 BMW 635CSI, a 1983 Mercedes 280SL and a 1981 380SL, a 1973 MG MGB, a 1971 Triumph Spitfire MK4, a 1989 Nissan 300ZX and a 1986 Mercedes 300SE.Right from the get-go, it was said that all vehicles had been driven into storage so, technically, they were still functional. It was also said that they would be sold on eBay. What was not mentioned right away was the fact that several of them sold during induring a one-day viewing, and that documentation for many of them was missing.As it turns out, nothing about the planned sale has gone according to plan. The sellers acknowledge this much in their most recent Instagram post, saying that the level of interest in the monster stash has taken them by surprise and that theyre understaffed for this undertaking. They also promise all those who have already placed bids will be contacted, if their offers qualify as winning bids.Meanwhile, commenters are complaining online about the lack of transparency in the process and how they feel like theyre being played with whats happening. Broken communication, lack of transparency and a very confusing process over a questionable lot are all mentioned. The Drive notes that the entire lot was briefly listed on eBay , even though many items in it had already been spoken for after the viewing. Then, theres the question of proper documentation for many vehicles, which the owner is yet to provide.The conundrum is far from solved as of the time of writing, but it does seem like this giant barn find was of the too good to be true variety. The sedan has lost bits of its halo lately, and some of it is undoubtedly down to the fact its performance levels have been matched, or even surpassed by the competition. The glory days when Subaru was leading the world rallying scene now seem very distant, as do the times when the WRX STI was among the must-have posters for every ten-year-old.It's worth keeping in mind that Subaru has only launched the 2022 WRX , with a potential STI version still theoretically available, so there might still be room for improvement as far as performance goes. However, we're not here to talk about the car's acceleration or handling, but something just as important, if a lot more subjective: its design.After the Subaru WRX Concept from 2013 and the Subaru Viziv Performance concept from 2017, two cars everyone seemed to think were previewing the next generation of the WRX model, what we got instead is this 2022 model that only loosely resembles any of them. Remember that botched restoration of a Jesus Christ fresco in Spain by an amateur painter? That's what this feels like. It's as if a wannabe designer was told, "look at those two concepts and try to make something like them," and then everyone went on vacation until it was too late.We might be a little too harsh on the new model, but you have to agree its styling is a little underwhelming, and not just when you compare it to those two show cars. People were expecting a bloody revolution, not the velvet evolution we got instead.Among those disappointed by Subaru's lack of cojones is The Sketch Monkey (TSM), the independent designer best known for taking various cars and, more often than not, making them better. All within the realms of the digital world, of course.TSM's main two gripes with the all-new WRX concern its wheels and that weirdly oversized air diffuser at the back. The main problem with the wheels has nothing to do with the rims themselves, but rather with Subaru's decision to employ those plastic flares on the wheel arches. Yes, they make the car seem more rugged, but they also visually shrink the wheels to oblivion, giving the impression the WRX is on shopping cart rollers.The rear follows the same trend as the front and sides by featuring more dark plastic than we're normally used to. That's not necessarily a bad thing in itself, but even without any design training, even we could tell something was off about that part of the sedan. TSM says it's because of the proportions between the lights and plasticky bits and since we don't have a better explanation (we would have just said "we don't like it" if you asked us), we'll go with that.With the problems identified, we're halfway there to making the 2022 Subaru WRX the handsome sporty sedan it deserves to be. TSM takes care of the other half as well by intervening a little on an image of the new model and while we're still not fully on board with the rear, there's no denying it looks better than it did before the modifications. If only they had Photoshop for real life as well. In other words, someone came up with a set of fake strut spacers for the Toyota Hilux. Instead of trying to sell them under a new brand, that person or group of persons decided to laser-etch ALL-NEW HILUX on their parts and sell them on the internet as if those were Toyota products.The reality is that those parts were fake Toyota does not make strut spacers for the Hilux at all. The part you can see at the top of this story is part of a larger batch of strut spacers that was seized by the Australian Border Force. The parts were bought online, and they were seized upon entering Australia.Toyota Australia warned customers that those parts are unknown to the company and that the company has nothing to do with them. Toyota's representatives warn customers that installing those parts in a Toyota vehicle will cause potential safety, quality, and performance problems.We would like to point out that installing parts like these on any vehicle is dangerous, especially since it involves altering the said vehicle's suspension with components of uncertain quality and untested specifications. Be sure to choose a reputable workshop when modifying your vehicle, regardless of the modifications you intend to perform.Australia's Border Force has also seized counterfeit oil filters that are incapable of filtering oil. They also found spark plugs that might break after a brief exposure in a combustion chamber, as well as wheels that shatter in a low-speed pothole, and brake components that contain asbestos.Asbestos is a carcinogen, and it was banned for use in brakes many years ago, meaning that no reputable company would go near the stuff. The worst-case ever caught by the Australian Border Force is a set of brake pads made of compressed grass clippings.While these counterfeit parts have arrived at Australian shores, do not imagine that you are entirely safe from fakes. Beware of extremely affordable parts that are sold on the internet at a significantly smaller price point than their original equivalents.The worst cases of counterfeit involve fake parts that are sold as originals, including their original price tag. Be sure to get a receipt and an invoice for whatever parts you choose to buy, and make sure they have their original packaging.You can check if a company is a certified distributor or reseller of products by looking up their name on a dedicated zone of the website of the marque you are looking for.A certified distributor of products made by a company will have no problem confirming their claims in writing in an e-mail, and their website will already specify that they are licensed to sell those products in the country. McGregor is one of the many athletes who fly only by private plane. He doesnt own his own jet, but when he flies private, he usually does it in style and makes sure everyone knows about it, by posting about it on his social media. Take for example his most recent flight into New York.The MTV Video Music Awards were held last night in New York, and celebrities came out in droves to attend, present and rejoice at the idea of a proper red carpet ceremony after almost two years of restrictions and only a handful of in-person live events. McGregor was among them: he chartered a private jet and headed into New York to attend the VMAs, where he was also on hosting duties.Of course, he posted a photo of himself outside the jet, showing that, when it comes to his baller game-face , no one had it down better. He also posted a video from inside the jet, where he and his team (and one flight attendant, who was first told to give us some space and was then called back and handed a tumbler of whiskey) held a moment for the victims and heroes of 9/11.McGregor flew into NYC on the 20th year anniversary of the terrorist attack that changed history, and the fact was not lost on him. So he poured out his branded whiskey, Proper Number Twelve, and like millions of people from around the world, said that we will not forget. Hilariously, once he landed into NYC and he made his way to the VMAs, he got himself into a scuffle on the red carpet with Machine Gun Kelly, allegedly over the latters refusal to sign a photo for Conor.The MMA pro did not offer more photos of the jet to allow proper identification of it. In the past, hes flown private on larger aircraft like an A318 and a variety of Bombardier business aircraft, like the Global 5000 and the Challenger 604. Environmental concerns be damned, when youre worth $200 million, you need to live your life accordingly EV This is written by Ford/UAW lobbyists, as they make their electric car in Mexico. Not obvious how this serves American taxpayers. https://t.co/FUUXARHlby Name (@elonmusk) September 12, 2021 The last piece of evidence about that came from Elon Musk, who accused Ford and UAW lobbyists of writing a new electric car incentive proposal that gives EVs $4,500 more if they are produced in American factories by unionized workers.Currently, all electric passenger cars sold by a given company may receive a federal tax incentive of $7,500 up to the limit of 200,000 units. Tesla and General Motors (GM), which have already sold more electric vehicles than that, would be eligible for the federal tax credit again. Apparently, that is not enough.The new rules would set federal tax credits forfor ten years starting in 2022. In the first five years (up to 2027), electric cars sold in the U.S. that respect some price limits would be eligible to receive the $7,500. However, the incentive could be increased by $4,500 if the car came from a unionized factory. Another $500 would be offered to cars with a battery pack made on American soil.After 2027, only electric cars made in the U.S. would be able to receive the $7,500 incentive. The other two rules would remain in place as they are, allowing for the same total federal tax credit of $12,500.The price barriers would be $54,000 for vans, $55,000 for sedans, $69,000 for SUVs and crossovers, and $74,000 for pickup trucks. The H.R. 3684 also wants to establish income limits. Only individuals that make up to $400,000 per year, heads of households that earn less than $600,000/year, or joint fillers that do not exceed $800,000 would be eligible for the credit.At least that was the initial plan. In August, the U.S. Senate approved a non-binding amendment that lowered those values to $40,000 for all vehicles and the individual income restraint to $100,000 per year. Were yet to see what version of the bill the U.S. Congress will approve.It was in this context that Musk tweeted that the Ford and UAW lobbyist wrote the amendment. The bill will not exclude imported vehicles from the federal tax incentive: that has the clear goal of avoiding sanctions from the WTO (World Trade Organization).Another target would be to allow American customers to have access to more EVs produced elsewhere. The ones that did better in sales would push investments in the U.S. because electric cars that wanted to keep receiving the federal tax credit would need to be produced locally from 2027 on.The Mustang Mach-E is manufactured at Fords Cuautitlan plant in Mexico. However, it is not clear how a unionized factory in Mexico would bring more investments to the U.S. The only reason to have that is to avoid accusations that this is a protectionist measure, which would also put the American government at odds with the WTO.Ford and UAW are not best friends as Musks tweet makes them seem. The automaker has been accused more than once by the union of being greedy for moving production to Mexico instead of keeping it in American factories. Nonetheless, Ford does not have a record of fighting unions as much as Tesla On March 25, 2021, the NLRB (National Labor Relations Board) ordered Tesla to reinstate Richard Ortiz. This former employee accused Tesla of firing him for trying to organize a union at the Fremont factory.In the same decision, NLRB ordered Elon Musk to erase a 2018 tweet that asked, why pay union dues & give up stock options for nothing, which looked like a threat of removing stock options as compensation for employees. The company appealed the decision to a federal court, and that tweet still remains online. Ortiz also was not reinstated. He promised to keep trying to unionize Fremont when he is. Musk was not the only one to complain about the rules to incentivize union organizations in factories that still lack them. Honda and Toyota also criticized the proposal as being against American autoworkers based on their choice not to unionize. What they did not do was accuse another car company of writing the rules. Ford has not answered Musks tweet so far. EV Generally agree, but probability of thermal runaway is dangerously high with large pouch cells. Tesla strongly recommends against their use. Name (@elonmusk) September 3, 2021 Thats what Paul Jacobson told investors in a conference call on September 10. According to Reuters, the GM CFO used these terms to explain why GM is still not replacing the defective battery packs, which made the Boltcatch fire multiple times. GM does not expect to do that before November, which means current Bolt EV owners will have to keep protecting themselves for weeks to come.The procedures recommended by GM are not to fully charge the car and to park it in the open, far from anything that can catch fire if the EV faces any problem. The company even offered an update to prevent charging the battery pack to its total capacity in the past. At the time, GM was still investigating what was causing the fires.As we have already shared with our readers, the blazes happened due to a torn anode tab and a folded separator. Engineer Clement Bommier explained on Twitter what impacts each of these defects could have. Unlike what GM said, any of the issues may cause a short circuit and a thermal runaway, as the industry calls similar problems. According to Reuters , GM already said that it will take personal care of its Ultium batteries quality control. These cells will be produced by a joint-venture GM has with LGES, which certainly made the Bolt EV fires a delicate topic between the two partners. Mary Barra is said to have even considered using other battery suppliers for future GM electric vehicles.Jacobson said to the investors that GM and LGES are having high-level conversations about costs. In other words, people like Barra and other top executives at GM are pressing the battery supplier to be upfront and pay for the issues its manufacturing processes brought to Bolt EV owners not to mention the cars reputation at this point. Hyundai is said to have demanded the same from LGES due to the fires involving the Kona Electric. Elon Musk did not miss the chance to poke GM and LGES , which also is a Tesla supplier in China. He said on Twitter that the probability of thermal runaway is dangerously high with large pouch cells. He also wrote that Tesla strongly recommends against their use."Ironically, that did not prevent Tesla from having its battery fire cases. Only in 2021, we have already reported five cases only involving cars from the company. Apart from them, Teslas Victorian Big Battery also caught fire in August. Pouch cells from manufacturers such as SK Innovation have never had similar issues, as far as we know. She's a lover of vintage cars, but Kate Moss suffered a set back when her beloved blue vintage MG broke down earlier this week. The supermodel, 47, was forced to abandon her vehicle on the side of the A361 near Burford. @DailyMailCeleb pic.twitter.com/wDRcpkFks1 Mr. PER. HILTON LATINOAMERICA (@19_comunidad) September 11, 2021 You might not know this, but Kate Moss is somewhat of a classic car collector . She owns a classic MINI, which she has since handed over to her daughter as an 18th birthday present, a 1964 Rolls-Royce Silver Cloud II and a black Hackney Carriage that was once used as a London taxi. As most celebrities, she also owns newer models, like Range Rovers and Mercedes-Benzes, but she does seem to have a soft spot for classics.Her favorite car when shes out at her country home is also her daily, a 1970s MG Midget Mark III. Shes owned it at least since 2007, and shes often seen driving it around her estate in Cotswold in England. The MG Midget, made between 1961 and 1979 is often considered a starter classic for aspiring classic collectors , because its cheap to own and surprisingly cheap to maintain and run, unlike many other classics.Moss proved the exception to that rule last week: it broke down by the side of the road, leaving the model stranded, the Daily Mail reports. According to the tab, the tiny but beautiful MG was abandoned near Burwood, on a stretch of the A361, on the grassy side of the road. Moss had already left when a towing truck came, and a team loaded it up onto a trailer and took it in for repairs. Photos available at the link show that the mechanics first try to see if it could be fixed on the spot, but whatever was wrong with it required transportation to the shop.The Midget was initially a more expensive, badge-engineered version of the Austin-Healey Sprite deluxe model, delivering a top speed of about 90 mph (145 kph) and a 0 to 60 (0 to 97 kph) time in over 18 seconds. Mark III of the sportscar was introduced in 1966 and featured a 1.3-liter (1275 cc) A-Series I4 engine that delivered 65 hp at 6,000 rpm and 72 lb-ft (98 Nm) of torque at 3,000 rpm. There are several such flying tanks of fuel operated by the USAF at the moment, but one of the oldest is the KC-135. Made by Boeing since all the way back in the mid-1950s, it still flies in the skies of the modern world, refueling aircraft that was not even imagined as possible in the years following the Second World War.In all, Boeing made some 732 of these planes since inception, 600 of which were still in service in the 1990s. We even got to see one recently, sitting on a runway shortly after having refueled F-22 Raptors during the jets dissimilar air combat training over Florida.Also on the tarmac are the two KC-135s shown in the main photo of this piece. We are not being told what unit theyre deployed with, but we do know they were captured on camera, looking absolutely massive next to crowds of people lining up to see them, on the runway of the Roland R. Wright Air National Guard Base in Salt Lake City, Utah, at the beginning of August.The planes were on the ground there taking part in the Utah Air National Guards Wingman Day, and were flaunting communication, mission computing and sensor technologies developed by Collins Aerospace For us, seeing them from above, here in our Photo of the Day section, the Stratotankers show the entire might of their 297,000 pounds (134,717 kg) gross weight, but also that of the four turbofan engines that power the massive machines to speeds of up to 580 mph (933 kph). Yes, the new car smell that many have referred to is something that is engineered these days. Nissan, for example, goes through a complex process to make sure that the new vehicles will have an adequate smell.What is adequate and what is not is decided by designated people within each automaker. In the case of Nissan, Peter Karl Eastland is the person who decides what new cars will smell like and what should be changed to make that happen.In the case of the ongoing generation of the Nissan Qashqai , the Japanese brand wanted to ensure a premium ambiance on-board. Peter Eastland's degree in Chemistry with Forensic Science came in handy, but his extremely acute sense of smell also played an immeasurable role. Nissan's lead engineer for odor evaluation claims he discovered his gift at an early age.Perfume companies were the first to hire people who were gifted with an extraordinary sense of smell. Automakers figured out that customer experience also involves odor , so they were among many companies that turned to employ people with this skill.While the traditional scent of a new car was a direct result of the manufacturing process, the current smell of a new car these days is something that is determined in the preliminary stages of the vehicle's development.Nissan explains that everything inside the vehicle must be analyzed to ensure that a fabric, polymers hidden under it, or the adhesives employed onboard do not generate an unpleasant odor. The check is carried out at various temperatures and the process is repeated with every design change.In other words, if Nissan decides to change the fabric onboard their vehicles, at least one of the company's odor evaluation specialists will have to give it a sniff. Nissan also explained that there is a global Nissan standard for scent and all odor evaluation specialists in the company's centers know exactly what that smells like.Nissan has technical centers in Europe, Japan and the USA. The one in Europe is located in the United Kingdom, where Peter Eastland operates, while the one in Japan is in Atsugi. Nissan's technical center in the U.S. is in Farmington Hills, Michigan. Each of these facilities has at least one odor evaluation specialist and now you know what this job title actually means. KW And I got to drive that car for almost 150,000 miles (241,401 km) over about 7 years. It hadV3 suspensions, a tuned exhaust, a cool set of rims, and a splendid Porsche-derived paint job. Over the years I've seen dozens of people converting their wagons to look or drive fast. And that's particularly cool when we're talking about a sporty station wagon that was never offered by the factory. So the news about an "F81" BMW M3 had me hooked right away.West Midlands Police in the United Kingdom has just released a video, simply titled Crushed: show car was made from at least four cars. They've tracked down a BMW M3 Touring, the likes of which was never built by BMW. They quickly realized that the car wasn't all that it seemed. Reportedly, this is a cut-and-shut vehicle that's been built out of four cars. Now, I've heard stories about people welding together two halves to make an Audi S8, but I didn't expect it to be the case here.A lot of users have since commented on the video, noting that this may just be a somewhat simple conversion. But the Police Department goes on to explain that their expert stolen vehicle team had a look at the car. It seems that several parts are from different M3s that were stolen in the West Midlands, an area surrounding the city of Birmingham.What happens next is not for the faint-hearted. We see the car being lifted away into the shredder, where it gets hammered into oblivion. Opinions were mixed between people watching the demise of this unique M3 Touring. Some felt like it should have been taken apart and sold bit by bit at an auction. Others fully agree with it being taken off the streets. But for anyone with even the slightest attraction for cars, watching this car get destroyed felt rather painful. kW Although one might have trouble recognizing it (not just because of the passage of time ), this Pomegranate Koenigsegg Agera RS is the example thats lovingly called Ruthie. If that name doesnt ring any bells, its because in 2017, when it performed the production car speed record runs in Nevada, its nickname probably wasnt official just yet.But we are glad to make our (late) acquaintance as this special Agera RS unit has been dressed up as an art car. Not just because it looks utterly cool in the colorful attire , but mainly because its not for a marketing stunt. Instead, its all for a good deed, as a few entities joined forces to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the Festival of Children Foundation.This neat little present is now labeled as the worlds fastest car. After all, we are dealing with the Koenigsegg that averaged 278 mph (447 kph) after a couple of successful runs in opposite directions, as per the mandate from Guinness World Records. Surely, other cars have since fought to snatch the controversial title , but it could be opined that, just labeling it as the fastest art car ever, is an easy and clever way out of the conundrum from now on.And the cheerful wrap is certainly an effective way to showcase the extreme qualities of the Agera RS . After all, even though Koenigsegg has moved to the Jesko series recently, its still a very impressive hypercar. One complete with the One-Megawatt performance package, if the customer so desired, which lifted the power to exactly 1,000/1,341 horsepower!Better yet, the Koenigsegg x James Jean x Ruthie collaboration can be admired in person, as the Agera RS is showcased this September at Ancillary Studios Ghost Squadron. The studio is located at the South Coast Plaza center in Costa Mesa, California. For his visit to the European country, Skoda has supplied four cars, two Enyaq iV EVs and two Karoq compact crossovers, with the former said to have been adapted to the Vaticans requests.For one, the standard tinted windows were replaced by clear glass to make it easier to see the head of the Catholic Church. An additional handle was installed to improve egress. Finished in black and with a black interior, the Enyaq iV bears the Vatican flag on the right front fender, and displays the official logo of the visit on the side mirror caps.Further highlighting the Popes visit to Slovakia, Skoda has launched a dedicated website, where people from all over the world can send their greetings. All messages will be displayed, via augmented reality, on a virtual 3D model of the Enyaq iV or on a real vehicle.Subsequent to touching down in Slovakia yesterday, Pope Francis was driven to an ecumenical meeting in Bratislava. Today, he will meet the President, local politicians, diplomats, and members of the Church, Jewish community and society, and tomorrow he will fly to Kosice for a meeting with representatives of the Roma community. During his visit to Kosice, an Enyaq iV and a Karoq will be at his disposal. On Wednesday, the pontiff will head to Sastin, a pilgrimage site, and will return to Rome after.This isnt the first time Skoda has supplied vehicles to the head of the Catholic Church . During his two-day visit to Ireland in 2018, part of the World Meeting of Families in Dublin, the automaker provided four Rapid Spaceback compact cars. The Japanese marque even set up a personalized virtual demonstration, which needs to be scheduled, as it is a one-on-one experience with a Honda product expert.The virtual showroom allows anyone to just step in one of three themes to understand the new HR-V. Meanwhile, the virtual demonstration part involves a 30-minute guided view of the HR-V along with live responses to any questions that the customer might have.In the case of the virtual showroom experience, Honda has thought about the HR-V experience in an urban environment, in a rural environment, and what the car will be like from a family's perspective. There are 360-degree images to observe, along with videos and detailed image galleries.Unfortunately, Honda will only run the virtual demonstration of the HR-V from the 20th of September to the 12th of November. We think the idea is cool enough to be expanded to other models in the range. It might have been a solution in the lockdown when people went through complicated procedures before getting to look at a new car before buying it.It is important to note that Honda does not plan to move the sales of its HR-V to the online environment. Instead, the company wants to make its HR-V known to the audience before it reaches showrooms. Customers will still have to get to a dealer to get a real test drive if they desire one.At this point, you might wonder if this virtual showroom experience has a shot of replacing the real thing. Well, we think it is not there yet, but it is not Honda's fault here, as the level of technology we currently have is not prepared for such feats.While some people are fine with the idea of ordering a new car off the internet and just waiting for it to arrive in front of their homes, others still like to go from dealer to dealer.The latter group wants to smell the new cars and test drive their favorites before buying a new vehicle. We are also on that page, but we appreciate Honda's idea with the virtual showroom experience.We hope it may inspire other automakers to improve their websites with their latest models similarly. Who knows, maybe there will come a time when you will be able to look around for your next car from the comfort of your sofa, whenever you like, without having to go to a dealer to see it. From Shadowy Beginnings Cutting The Bronx In Two An Iconic Traffic Nightmare, On Top Of All The Controversy Beneath the surface, this seemingly inconsequential six-and-a-half-mile freeway has a story steeped in more controversy perhaps than any other road in America, and perhaps the world.- Robert Moses is one of the most polarizing American figures of the 20th century. Hes been described as everything including a savant for urban development who turned New York City into a global powerhose. He's also been called a man that intentionally discriminated against disadvantaged Hispanic and African American communities with his urban planning.Moses mission was simple in theory but endlessly complex in practice - to create a bustling public transit system that used a combination of trains, cars, and busses that could whisk people across the then exploding New York Metro Area.Moses plan for the Cross Bronx Expressway was to be the first freeway of its kind in America, the first-ever to be constructed directly across a crowded urban environment.Moses' brainchild would stretch from the western edge of the Throgs Neck Bridge in the eastern section of the borough to the George Washington Bridge and east New Jersey.The labor involved in clearing a path across a central urban area like the Bronx was astronomical, requiring dynamiting through ridges made of solid rock, laying asphalt across valleys, and even diverting several small rivers.The freeway took 15 years, from 1948 to 1963, and cost over $140 million to complete, or $1.2 billion in todays money. One particular one-mile section of the road was the most expensive mile of roadway laid anywhere in the world at that time. This stretch cost $40 million to build, over a quarter of a billion dollars in todays money.- The potentially nefarious intent of Robert Moses grand plan for New York City was not widely discussed until author Robert A. Caro published The Power Broker: Robert Moses and the Fall of New York in 1974.The book shattered Moses public image as a good-natured servant of the people. One chapter of the book detailed how one particular stretch of the Cross Bronx Expressway ran roughhouse on the business and residents of East Treemont, a primarily Hispanic and African American section of the West Bronx.One of multiple once stable and racially diverse New York CIty communities laid to waste by Moses' urban planning. One study funded by Baruch College found that the south Bronx lost an estimated 600,000 jobs from the local economy as a result of the freeway.The CBE Freeway had a secondary consequence of effectively splitting the borough down the middle, with poorer ethnically Hispanic and African-American neighborhoods in the south, and more affluent neighborhoods in the north Bronx. These and other accusations of power-grabbing and racism left a mark on his legacy that stayed with him until his death in 1981, and on to the present day.- Apart from its dubious placement in the middle of a major urban center, the CBE is located at the gateway to a host of different destinations. Making it a primary lifeline for commuters and delivery drivers converging from one of several different locations.Its west end leads to the interchange at U.S Route 1 I-95 through the George Washing Bridge and on to Interstate-80 in New Jersey. This road can be taken all the way to San Fransisco.Picking up Interstate 87 junction at Morris Heights will take you north out of New York City into the bordering county of Westchester. From there, I-87 will carry you to New York States border with Canada.All this converging passenger and shipping traffic coupled with a booming city population has led to the iconic New York City traffic jams that often begin at the CBE and extend in either direction for miles.The CBE is also known as being one of the most accident-prone and dangerous stretches of road anywhere in New York City, ranking fifth in the nation for serious accidents per year in 2019 according to Lipsig, Shapey, Manus & Moverman , a law firm representing auto accident victims in New York City.Those statistics alone would cause any road to grow to infamy. The plethora of other unpleasantness surrounding this little freeways story brings it to a level of shame that leaves a substantial scar on Americas largest city. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration NHTSA The recall includes 4,934 units, with a 100% estimated defect rate, comprising of the 2013-2015 Boxster, 2013-2014 Boxster S, 2015 Boxster GTS, 2014-2015 Cayman and Cayman S, and 2015 Cayman GTS . Depending on the model, they were made between September 2012 to July 2014.According to a bulletin released by the), they might have been equipped with a rear-axle carrier side section, described as representing the connection to the chassis components, thats out-of-specification.Made by Brabant Alucast Services of Germany, the parts installed do not meet the required specification due to a manufacturing defect, and might fail altogether, increasing the risk of a crash due to a potential loss of vehicle control. Drivers could hear a rattling noise coming from the rear of the car, but a warning prior to failure is not ensured.Porsche first became aware of this problem back in March 2020. Subsequently, they conducted further analysis trying to determine the cause, and on August 25, they decided to conduct a voluntary safety recall out of an abundance of caution.Even though it would probably take a while, the fix is relatively simple . The companys authorized technicians will inspect all cars and replace the affected rear-axle carrier side sections with new ones, produced to the original specification, where required.Dealers will be notified of the recall on September 15 and owners are expected to hear from the automaker on or before November 1. The Porsche number for the safety campaign is AMB7 and those who want to get in touch with them at 1-800-767-7243 will have to use it. Please give us some background to the Center for Transportation and the Environment (CTE). CTE develops, promotes and implements advanced transportation technologies, vehicles and fuels that reduce environmental pollution and fossil fuel dependency by providing engineering and planning consulting services. CTEs prototype development and demonstration projects bring technology teams together to develop clean vehicle prototypes. We match these technology teams with fleet operators who are willing to test the vehicles in the markets they are designed to serve. CTE has worked on battery-electric and fuel-cell-electric vehicle technologies for medium- and heavy-duty vehicle applications including transit buses, delivery vans, and Class 6 and Class 8 trucks. Our portfolio also includes transit automation technologies and fleet-scale charging and hydrogen fueling station deployment and demonstration. CTE has 60 staff members, 45% of whom are engineers. What key projects are you working on at the moment? CTE has managed a portfolio of nearly US$700m in research, development, demonstration, deployment and planning projects. Currently, CTE is heavily involved in the deployment of medium- and heavy-duty zero-emission vehicles across the USA, especially in the transit industry. We have worked with over 80 transit agencies around North America to deploy over 300 zero-emission buses. ') } // --> ') } else { console.log ('nompuad'); document.write('') } // --> ') } else { console.log ('nompuad'); document.write(' ') } // --> ') } else if (width >= 425) { console.log ('largescreen'); document.write('') } else { console.log ('nompuad'); document.write('') } // --> On the technology development front, CTE is working on projects to develop advanced zero-emission Class 8 trucks and delivery vans. One of the delivery van projects brings together United Parcel Service (UPS), Unique Electric Solutions (UES), Hydrogenics and the University of Texas, AustinCenter for Electromechanics (UT-CEM) with funding and sponsorship from the US Department of Energy, the California Air Resources Board, the California Climate Investments Program and the Southern California Air Quality Management District to develop a cutting-edge hydrogen fuel-cell-electric delivery van. The project aims to address range and reliability concerns for clean medium-duty vehicles. We are also partnered with New Flyer, Robotic Research and the Connecticut Department of Transportation to develop automated buses capable of operating at SAE Level 4 automation (SAE J3016) on a dedicated right-of-way in the Hartford, Connecticut region. This project aims to advance the development of ADS-integrated transit vehicles to accelerate commercialization of the technology. What are the key challenges to the widespread adoption and implementation of fuel cell technology? CTE is working with fuel cell technologies across a range of vehicle types and infrastructure including development and demonstration of two fuel-cell-electric drayage truck projects; development and demonstration of two fuel-cell-electric delivery van projects; fuel-cell-electric transit bus deployments at seven different transit agencies; development and testing of an electric top loader with a fuel cell range extender; and the commercialization of a prototype liquid hydrogen pump. The key challenges to widespread adoption of fuel cell technologies are upfront cost and a lack of infrastructure and fuel production capacity. Compared to charging infrastructure for battery-electric vehicles, hydrogen fueling infrastructure is expensive. On the other hand, hydrogen infrastructure tends to scale much easier for larger fleets, allowing those upfront costs to be spread out across more vehicles. Despite this scaling ability, sluggish hydrogen infrastructure development and the lack of investment in hydrogen production have hampered the adoption of this technology in the USA. Much of the hydrogen produced today is still produced using natural gas, a fossil fuel. Ramping up green hydrogen production (via electrolysis) and investing in hydrogen infrastructure will go a long way to reducing the overall costs of this technology. How is the center contributing toward the implementation of new, green automotive solutions? Our goal as an organization is to transition the transportation industry to zero-emission technologies. Our four core programs areas align with the path to take technology from conception to commercialization: prototype development and demonstration, smart deployments, fleet transition planning, and education, outreach and advocacy. We support technology providers by securing funding and managing technology research, development and demonstration programs. But we are also very active beyond the technology development stage, working with fleet operators to deploy battery-electric and fuel-cell-electric vehicles and infrastructure in the field. Is electric and hybrid vehicle technology the answer to a sustainable transportation industry? Electric vehicle technology, yes. At CTE, we support a multi-technology approach that keeps the zero-emission end goal in mind without preordaining a winning technology. Deploying these vehicles is not without its challenges, but battery-electric vehicles, fuel-cell-electric vehicles and their respective infrastructures are all necessary for a completely zero-emission transportation future. When it comes to hybrid electric vehicles, we must consider them in the context of the zero-emission end goal. Hybrid vehicle technologies have provided improvements over conventional technologies from an emissions perspective, but they do little to reduce our continued reliance on fossil fuels. Natural gas and hybrid vehicles offered a positive first step toward a sustainable transportation industry, but they are simply not enough to address the negative fallout of a fossil-fuel-based system. What are the current barriers to widespread adoption of fuel cells? Barriers to adoption for battery-electric technologies differ somewhat from the barriers for fuel cell technologies. CTEs experience working with transit agencies to deploy battery-electric buses has shown that it is necessary to adequately plan for the operational changes that come from transitioning from diesel to battery-electric buses. Battery-electric vehicles are not one-to-one replacements for diesel buses because of range limitations and charging times (compared to fueling throughput). These barriers can be overcome with the right planning, but many agencies require some form of technical assistance to do so. The capital costs of zero-emission vehicles are also currently higher than their conventionally fueled counterparts. Without ample federal or state-level funding or innovative financing techniques, larger deployments of zero-emission vehicles can be a significant challenge. How does the center work with automotive developers? CTE works closely with a number of vehicle OEMs, including large traditional automotive manufacturers and newer entrants to the market that focus exclusively on electric and fuel cell vehicle technologies. Our work with these OEMs depends on the project. For prototype development and demonstration projects, CTE builds and manages teams of OEMs, end users, local governments and stakeholders to secure funding for technology development and demonstration and to bring new technologies to the end user in a successful deployment. We have a long track record for this work, having worked with Proterra to support the development of its first electric bus prototype back in the mid-2000s. More recently, we have been working with larger international automotive companies to develop and demonstrate fuel cell trucks and delivery vans. Does legislation help or hinder you? Legislation that supports the development, testing and deployment of zero-emission vehicle technologies is vitally important to our work and to the transportation industry as a whole. The transition to electrically powered vehicle technologies is a paradigm shift for technology developers and for operators. Many of these actors require technical assistance to deploy these new vehicle technologies. One of the many ways legislation supports our work is through the authorization of funding for technical assistance and vehicle and infrastructure procurement. For example, we work with many transit agencies that receive funding through the Federal Transit Administrations Low or No Emission Vehicle Program. This program was initiated through the Fixing Americas Surface Transportation (FAST) Act in 2015 and is dependent on the reauthorization of the FAST Act or another act of Congress. Such programs are critical to the successful deployment and commercialization of zero-emission vehicle technologies. As Western nations debate how best to provide humanitarian aid to Afghanistan without enriching the Taliban, China and Pakistan have already sent planeloads of supplies to the country and are willing to send more, Reuters reports. Why it matters: Afghanistan is mired in a humanitarian and economic crisis, and China's and Pakistan's willingness to help could draw Afghanistan closer into those countries' orbits. State of play: Both China and Pakistan have signaled a willingness to increase their engagement with Afghanistan, Reuters noted. China announced last week that it intends to send $31 million worth of grain, winter supplies medicine, and 3 million COVID-19 vaccines, Al Jazeera reported. Meanwhile, Pakistan last week sent a shipment of supplies, including cooking oil and medicine, while its foreign minister called for Afghanistan's assets to be unfrozen, according to Reuters. The big picture: The United Nations Development Programme warned last week that Afghanistan is approaching universal poverty, and the Afghani currency has plummeted in value since the Taliban took power last month. The Biden administration froze access to Afghanistan's central bank reserves, and the International Monetary Fund and World Bank have suspended funding in the country. Between the lines: The Taliban victory is a strategic win for Pakistan, which long assisted the group and harbored its leaders. China has some concerns about the group's rise to power but also sees economic opportunity in the form of Afghanistan's $1 trillion in untapped mineral deposits, Bloomberg reported. China is our most important partner and represents a fundamental and extraordinary opportunity for us, Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said recently, according to NBC News. It is ready to invest and rebuild our country. It is possible that Afghanistan will join the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC). France's former health minister Agnes Buzyn has been indicted and accused of "endangering the lives of others" during her response to the pandemic, per AFP. She will appeal the charge. Why it matters: Buzyn was health minister when the pandemic exploded in France last year. Buzyn, who was accused Friday of "failing to fight a disaster," is the first French official charged over the coronavirus crisis, Le Monde notes. It comes as President Emmanuel Macron faces scrutiny over his response to the health crisis. Facebook and other social media companies didn't cause America's massive political divide, but they have widened it and pushed it towards violence, according to a report from New York University released Monday. Why it matters: Congress, the Biden administration and governments around the world are moving on from blame-apportioning to choosing penalties and remedies for curbing online platforms' influence and fighting misinformation. Driving the news: Paul Barrett, deputy director of NYU's Stern Center for Business and Human Rights, and his co-authors reviewed more than 50 social science studies and interviewed dozens of academics, policy experts, activists, and current and former industry people. They found that while social media platforms are not the cause of political polarization, they have intensified it. "Social media is the mechanism for spreading the kind of mis- and disinformation that fuels the fire of political polarization," Barrett told Axios. He said social platforms erode trust and democratic norms in ways that have undermined the U.S.' pandemic response and acceptance of the 2020 election results. The other side: Facebook has taken steps to dial back the amount of political content in its News Feed and touted its efforts to fight polarization in a blog post last year. Nick Clegg, Facebook's vice president of global affairs, argued this year that it is not in Facebook's interest to "push users" toward extremist content. Clegg also highlighted studies about polarization to say the results are mixed, including one that found a break from Facebook did not lessen someone's negative feelings about the opposite political party. "What evidence there is simply does not support the idea that social media, or the filter bubbles it supposedly creates, are the unambiguous driver of polarization that many assert," Clegg wrote. Yes, but: Barrett's team said the study Clegg cited shows that staying off Facebook does reduce polarization on policy issues rather than partisan affiliation, and other research indicates Facebook has a heightening effect on polarization. "It's important to overcome the message that Facebook has been trying to project that we really can't tell whether social media use has anything to do with political divisiveness and partisan hatred," Barrett said. "That just doesn't match up with facts." What's next: The report offers several recommendations for both the government and platforms. The government, it says, should: Mandate more disclosure of companies' ranking, recommendation and removal algorithms; Give the Federal Trade Commission new powers to create industry standards; And invest in alternative social media options like a PBS for the internet. The report also recommends that platforms: A Texas state judge issued an injunction on Monday blocking anti-abortion group Texas Right for Life from enforcing the state's new law against Planned Parenthood in Texas. Why it matters: Texas' restrictive new law, which bars abortions after six weeks of pregnancy, incentivizes people to sue anyone suspected of helping a pregnant person obtain an abortion and awards at least $10,000 to plaintiffs who succeed. The injunction, which applies only to Texas Right for Life and its affiliates, prevents them from suing Planned Parenthood for possible violations of the abortion ban. Issued in Austin by Texas District Court Judge Karin Crump, the order will stay in effect until at least April 2022, when a trial on the merits of the case is expected. It replaces a temporary restraining order granted to Planned Parenthood affiliates last week and "is part of a larger and piecemeal approach by abortion rights advocates to try to blunt the effect of the law," CNN writes. What they're saying: "We are relieved that ... our providers and health care workers will now have some protection from frivolous suits as litigation against this blatantly unconstitutional law continues," Helene Krasnoff, Planned Parenthood's vice president for public policy litigation and law, said in a statement. "Desperate Texans are being forced to carry pregnancies against their will or flee the state to seek constitutionally protected care, and brave health care providers and staff across the state are working hard to provide care within the law while facing surveillance, harassment, and threats." "This temporary injunction is an important step, but it is not enough relief," Krasnoff added, emphasizing the group's plan to keep fighting. The other side: "The injunction only prevents the named parties from filing or assisting others in lawsuits against Planned Parenthood abortion facilities," Texas Right for Life said in a statement. They will vie for 33 seats in the municipal council that will elect the next mayor of Armenias second largest city. Gyumri has been run by Samvel Balasanian, a local businessman, for the last nine years. He was allied to the former Armenian government that helped him win reelection in 2016. Although Balasanian has decided not to seek another term in office, a newly created party bearing his name has joined the mayoral race. Its list of election candidates is topped by one of the outgoing mayors relatives, Vardges Sanosian. The latter heads a municipal agency providing utility services. Prime Minister Nikol Pashinians Civil Contract party is expected to be the pro-Balasanian partys main challenger. Civil Contracts mayoral candidate, Hovannes Harutiunian, is the governor of Shirak province, of which Gyumri is the capital. Speaking to RFE/RLs Armenian Service at the weekend, Harutiunian did not say why he agreed to run for a less important position in the state hierarchy. He said only that he made a very difficult decision. Harutiunian also insisted that Civil Contract will not abuse its administrative resources in a bid to install him as Gyumri mayor. The ruling party was accused by its political opponents of committing such abuses in the June 20 parliamentary elections. Its election campaign in Shirak was managed by the current provincial governor. Only one major national opposition group, former President Serzh Sarkisians Republican Party of Armenia, will participate in the Gyumri election. The main opposition Hayastan alliance led by another ex-president, Robert Kocharian, has decided to sit out the vote. Two opposition parties affiliated with Hayastan have also refrained from participating in it on their own. But they will field candidates in local elections that will held in other parts of Armenia in October and November. The Central Election Commission should register all election contenders, among them three Gyumri-based blocs, by September 17. Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian raised the possibility of such a rapprochement when he spoke on August 27 of some positive signals sent by the Turkish government of late and said his administration is ready to reciprocate them. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan responded by saying that Ankara is open to normalizing ties with Yerevan. But he appeared to echo Azerbaijans demands for a formal Armenian recognition of Azerbaijani sovereignty over Nagorno-Karabakh. Pashinian described Erdogans statements as encouraging on September 8. He reiterated Yerevans readiness to embark on a dialogue with Ankara. At the moment no negotiations are being held for the purpose of normalizing relations between the two countries, the Foreign Ministry said in a written statement to RFE/RLs Armenian Service. It said contacts between Armenian and Turkish diplomats are currently limited to participation in multilateral discussions on various issues on the international agenda. The ministry did not comment on the possibility of Turkish-Armenian negotiations in the weeks or months ahead. Armenia and Turkey came close to normalizing bilateral relations in 2009 when their foreign ministers signed two relevant protocols in Zurich, Switzerland in the presence of top U.S., Russian and European Union diplomats. Ankara subsequently linked their ratification by the Turkish parliament to a Karabakh settlement. As a result, Armenias former government formally annulled the protocols in 2018. Armenian opposition leaders and some analysts say Ankara continues to make the normalization of Turkish-Armenian relations conditional on a Karabakh settlement favorable to Baku. They say the Turks also want Yerevan to stop campaigning for a greater international recognition of the 1915 Armenian genocide in the Ottoman Empire. Turkey provided decisive military assistance to Azerbaijan during the six-week war in Karabakh stopped by a Russian-brokered ceasefire last November. Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev again thanked Ankara for that aid when he and Erdogan visited in June the Karabakh town of Shushi (Shusha) captured by the Azerbaijani army. We do not think that the status of Nagorno-Karabakh is resolved. We will continue to keep that on the agenda of the [OSCE] Minsk Group, the U.S. ambassador to Armenia, Lynne Tracy, told reporters in Yerevan. Tracy said Washington is doing everything to support bringing the parties together under the auspices of the Minsk Group co-headed by the United States, Russia and France. U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken similarly stressed the need for a comprehensive and sustainable political settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict earlier this month. We encourage reengagement in substantive negotiations under the auspices of the Minsk Group Co-Chairs as soon as possible, Blinken wrote in a congratulatory message to Armenias newly appointed Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan. The Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry was quick to condemn Tracys remarks, saying that they are undermining the Minsk Groups further activities. A ministry spokeswoman echoed President Ilham Aliyevs repeated claims that Azerbaijans victory in the six-week war put an end to the Karabakh conflict. Aliyev ruled out on July 22 any negotiations on Karabakhs status. He said Yerevan must instead recognize Azerbaijani sovereignty over the Armenian-populated territory through a peace treaty proposed by Baku. Later in July the U.S., Russian and French co-chairs of the Minsk Group issued a joint statement calling for a negotiated, comprehensive, and sustainable settlement of all remaining core substantive issues of the conflict and urging the conflicting parties to resume talks as soon as possible. The mediators made a similar appeal to the parties in April. They said they are ready to facilitate Armenian-Azerbaijani talks focusing on their pre-war peace proposals. Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian cited that statement to dispute Aliyevs claims about the conflicts settlement. Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian ordered Armenian army units and local militias to pull out of those areas one month after a Russian-brokered ceasefire stopped the six-week war over Nagorno-Karabakh last November. Pashinian said that they are located on the Azerbaijani side of Armenias Soviet-era border with Azerbaijan, which had never been demarcated due to the Karabakh conflict. The order, strongly condemned by the Armenian opposition and local government officials, left Azerbaijani forces in control of a 21-kilometer stretch of the main highway connecting Syuniks capital Kapan to another provincial town, Goris. The highway, parts of which are now patrolled by Russian soldiers and border guards, remains Armenias sole transport link with Iran. Pashinian and other government officials assured critics in December that Armenians as well as foreigners will continue to pass through its Azerbaijani-controlled section without any restrictions. Armenias National Security Service (NSS) reported on Sunday that Azerbaijani police units deployed there have started stopping Iranian trucks to check their drivers documents and cargos. It said Armenian and Russian border guards are now jointly trying to resolve the situation. Vahe Hakobian, a senior opposition parliamentarian and former Syunik governor, said on Monday that Azerbaijani officers are also collecting payments from Iranian drivers. One driver, who arrived in Yerevan last week, echoed that claim, citing fellow truckers stuck in Syunik. They say the Azerbaijanis demand $120 from every truck for using the road, he told RFE/RLs Armenian Service. Another Iranian, who also did not want to give his name, said Azerbaijani officers stopped him on the Goris-Kapan road to extort diesel fuel days before setting up their checkpoint. The most interesting thing is that the Azerbaijanis posed as Armenians, he said. The Azerbaijani authorities effectively confirmed later on Monday that they have started taxing Iranian trucks using the mountainous road. The State Customs Committee in Baku said it is enforcing an Azerbaijani law that requires it to levy road and transit fees from all foreign vehicles entering the country. In what may have been a related development, Azerbaijans Defense Ministry said on Sunday that it has sent a letter to the Russian military demanding that it stop vehicles from other countries illegally passing through Azerbaijani territory where Russian peacekeeping forces are temporarily deployed. Earlier this year, Baku condemned Iranian trucks for transporting goods to and from Karabakh without its permission. The Armenian government did not publicly react to the latest development as of Monday evening. Nor did the NSS issue any updates on its purported contacts with the Azerbaijani side. Meanwhile, Hakobian and other lawmakers representing the main opposition Hayastan alliance demanded an emergency session of the Armenian parliament on Azerbaijans actions seen by them as a further grave threat to Armenias security. Hayastans Artsvik Minasian said government officials should address parliament deputies and answer their questions so that we get a clear idea of whats going on there. I also see an economic problem which is no less important, Hakobian said for his part. As you know, over 40 percent of our cargo turnover [with the outside world] is carried out through Iran. The parliaments pro-government speaker, Alen Simonian, promised to consider organizing such a discussion. Azerbaijan already blocked the Goris-Kapan road section controlled by it late last month and kept it closed for two days, citing the alleged stabbing of one of its soldiers. Traffic through the road resumed after talks involving Russian military commanders on the ground. The Iranian Embassy in Yerevan expressed concern over the blockage which disrupted cargo traffic between Armenia and Iran. It expressed hope that the Armenian government will speed up work on alternative routes for Iranian-Armenian trade. The government is financing the ongoing reconstruction of an alternative Syunik road bypassing the border areas. FLAGSTAFF, AZ (3TV/CBS 5) - Federal help will soon be on the way for Flagstaff and other parts of northern Arizona that were impacted by this summer's flooding. On Monday, President Joe Biden declared a disaster in our state and approved federal funds to go to Apache, Coconino, and Navajo counties, which were hard hit in the storms. Many neighborhoods were devastated as record rainfall poured onto burn scars caused by wildfires, sending flash floods into the streets. In July, Governor Doug Ducey declared an emergency at state level, making available up to $200,000 for response efforts in Coconino County. Some state lawmakers also reached out for federal aid, saying more financial help was needed. "We've faced 3 million dollars of public infrastructure damage thus far," said Flagstaff Mayor Paul Deasy at the time. "There's been 1.35 million dollars in private property damages." It's hard to forget the images of the floodwaters roaring through Flagstaff this summer. The current was so powerful it actually carried a car down the road, turning a street into a rushing river. Taylor Landy, who recorded the shocking video, said she initially saw her neighbor's mailboxes get taken out and then saw empty trash cans going down before seeing the Prius being carried away. "I never thought our street would have rushing water that would carry a car," said Landy. Many home were also severely damaged in the floodwaters. Water was pouring in the front door, and all we could do is try to block the door and keep more water from coming in, said Flagstaff resident David Gilley. He captured video of the water nearly waist high right outside his window. Now, Pres. Biden says federal funding will be available to state, tribal, and eligible local governments and some private nonprofit organizations for emergency work and repairs. Bluefield, WV (24701) Today Partly cloudy early followed by cloudy skies overnight. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. Low 61F. Winds light and variable.. Tonight Partly cloudy early followed by cloudy skies overnight. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. Low 61F. Winds light and variable. Theres a (very good) reason Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings was a box office success. First things first, I dont believe in spoilers. So, you wont get any. You should go see the film yourself. The second thing you should know is that Im not usually a Marvel fan. There are exceptions to the rule, but Im definitely a DC girl. When Deadpool said to a villain in his movie, So dark, you sure youre not from the DC Universe? I felt that deep in my soul. DC just generally crafts better villains. I think Marvel often is part of a disconcerting trend of contemporary movies with cheesy lines, cringey cliches and stories that try too hard to make it into the mainstream and horror of horrors, people are actually liking that stuff. Thank God Shang-Chi wasnt like that. The third thing you should know is that Im Black, African-American whatever you want to call it, Im a minority. I know just how rare it is and also how important it is to see people like me on television screens being more than just a sidekick to the white guy or girl or purely comic relief. I know how sad it is when there are no characters who look like me going on super cool missions or getting to be the love interest. At the same time, I think sometimes diversity films end up merely being diversity films. Im not going to name names, but its just frustrating when throughout the whole movie you are reminded of the (very real) political and social reasons that certain movie is important as opposed to getting the opportunity to lose yourself in a well-crafted world. At the end of the day, thats ultimately what representation in the media is about that every child (and adult) ought to have equal opportunity to feel validated and genuinely entertainedat the same time. You ought to be able to forget for two hours imperialism and racism and the very real and terrible forces that daily exert themselves upon the contemporary world. For two hours, there should be other villains to fight. A novel concept, but not everyone can pull it off. Shang-Chi did this flawlessly hats off to the scriptwriters. I climbed the steps to my seat in the theater with a lot of diversity baggage mixed with my general Marvel-malaise, and I was honestly concerned that maybe this film was going to disappoint, but it didnt. Right from the moment the shirtless Simu Liu is seen doing push ups in his bedroom, I just knew it was going to be a good movie. It had serious Creed vibes, and I love Creed. A few minutes later, at the first fight scene, I was hooked. I knew that this movie was going to be fun, funny, sexy, smart, sassy and a very solid addition to the Marvel universe. The cinematography was beautiful. The story line was engaging. For the most part, it wasnt cheesy or corny. It was just plain hilarious. The soundtrack was good. It reminded me of Afrofuturism. The movie was culturally rich and not in a tropey, heavy-handed way. It was inspiring of course its the story, like all superhero stories, of people overcoming obstacles both within and without but it took a really fresh approach to a classic character arc and some of the lines stayed with me long after the movie ended. I want to overcome my fears, too. I want to try to do the impossible, to maximize my potential. This brings me to my one critique of the movie: There were, unfortunately, elements of it that did not inspire. The cursing, for example there were so many curse words. I wouldnt say I curse like a sailor exactly, but I curse like the fisherwoman on the wharf. I dont want to curse like a fisherwoman anymore. I want to tame my tongue, and so I try to consume media that either doesnt curse or at least doesnt do it excessively. But there was a lot of cursing in this movie. On the one hand, it made the characters more relatable, more human and definitely funnier. But on the other hand, I felt like this is the sort of language that has a degrading effect on society and the social mind. At this point, most people are desensitized to things in the media that I think ought to give us pause. And it further upset me that Marvel, which caters largely to youth, would allow these words into their films. Another thing that was a little uncomfortable was that there was a scene very brief with what looked like gambling and scantily clad women all around. On the one hand, this is real life and real life is dark. So, I have to applaud Marvel for finally coming down to earth. But sometimes I just felt that they brought it too down to earth. They have descended into the mud. And the thing is, we want our heroes to rise above all that. Anyway, all things considered, the critiques pale in comparison to my praise. Its a really. good. movie. I actually want to hang out with the characters in real life. Like I said before a solid addition to the Marvel universe. If this franchise keeps going, I just might end up being a Marvel fan after all. rachel.kersey@beaumontenterprise.com twitter.com/ontheREKord The Tejano music scene is remembering Noe "Gipper" Nieto, a Kumbia Kings veteran who died after a two-week battle with COVID-19. Nieto, or "Gip," as friends like A.B. Quintanilla and Chris Perez call him, was an accordionist and producer. He played with Quintanilla in Los Kumbia Kings and then joined him in the Kumbia Kings All Starz following the breakup, according to Tejano Nation. According to his obituary, Nieto was born in Columbus, Georgia, but moved often with his military family. He eventually called San Perlita, a small town in South Texas, home. The 46-year-old recently married Kelly Nieto. Nieto is the father of three children. A.B. Quintanilla's social media pages reflect the loss. "I never had a brother till I met 'Gipper,'" he says online. One post by Quintanilla, the older brother of late Tejano icon Selena, says Nieto battled the infection for two weeks. "He was my best friend and amazing musician and will be truly missed," another post says. Quintanilla family patriarch Abraham Quintanilla also shared his condolences for the Nieto family online and encouraged vaccinations. Chris Perez is also remembering Nieto online. He says the fellow musician was "close" to his heart. The rocker, who was married to Selena at the time of her 1995 death, says he found out about Nieto's death just before going on stage for a Dallas concert. Perez says performing after hearing the news was "tough." Bobby Pulido, another Tejano hitmaker of the 1990s, says online that he's heartbroken by the loss of a "tremendous human being." In addition to sharing his talent with Latin music fans, Nieto also worked with young musicians. San Perlita Independent School District shared that he was a former student who returned as an employee as an instructor for the ACE after school program and "shared his love of music and immense talents with our children." Kim Brent / Beaumont Enterprise The Kirbyville Consolidated Independent School District called a special business meeting on Labor Day to accept the resignation of Superintendent Georgia Sayers. Sayers will be leaving the district to pursue an opportunity at the Region 5 Education Service Center in Beaumont. In a press release, the KCISD School Board acknowledged that they are immensely grateful for all the contributions Ms. Sayers has made to the district during her tenure in the district. Sayers was the assistant superintendent and testing coordinator prior to becoming the superintendent in March of 2020 once Thomas Wallis departed from the position. MINOT, Maine (AP) Investigators are at the scene of a weekend fire that destroyed the Village Trading Post in West Minot, Maine. The fire swept through the business on Saturday and firefighters continued to battle hotspots through the weekend. LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) Nebraska lawmakers launched a special session on Monday to redraw the state's political boundaries, with one proposal that would add a 50th state senator to the Legislature to try to keep rural Nebraska from losing a seat. Sen. Mark Kolterman, of Seward, proposed the measure along with two other rural senators. The bill would expand the Legislature from its current 49 members to 50, as allowed under the Nebraska Constitution. Adding a senator would reduce the ideal number of residents per legislative district, making it easier for lawmakers to preserve rural districts that lost population over the last decade while still adding a district to fast-growing suburban Omaha. The bill's prospects are unclear, and some lawmakers questioned whether they could legally consider it in a special session that's strictly limited to redistricting issues. Lawmakers have asked Nebraska's attorney general to offer a legal opinion. Even so, rural senators said they planned to press the issue as a way to ease pressure on senators by reducing the average number of residents per district. The measure was cosponsored by Sens. Matt Williams, of Gothenburg, and John Stinner, of Gering. I want to help protect the rural senators of the state," said Kolterman, whose district could be merged with another rural district under one of the proposed plans. We are still in a rural state. Agriculture drives the economy. Agriculture is the backbone of this state. Speaker of the Legislature Mike Hilgers said lawmakers could start first-round debate on redistricting bills as early as Friday. Members of the Redistricting Committee have scheduled public hearings Tuesday in Grand Island, Wednesday in Lincoln and Thursday in Omaha. The two-week special session could easily turn contentious as Republicans and Democrats work on new political districts in the officially nonpartisan Legislature. In addition to legislative districts, lawmakers must also approve new boundaries for Nebraska's three congressional districts, the Nebraska Public Service Commission, the courts, the University of Nebraska Board of Regents and the State Board of Education. Republicans hold a majority but don't have enough votes to overcome a Democratic-led filibuster, as they did during the last redistricting in 2011. That's likely to force lawmakers into some sort of compromise. ___ Follow Grant Schulte on Twitter: https://twitter.com/GrantSchulte Alex Wong/Getty Images Texas governor Greg Abbott signed a bill Thursday night that takes aim at large social media companies over what he dubbed "wrongful" political censorship of conservative users on their platforms. Amid claims that these platforms are directly and wrongly targeting the Right, the language in House Bill 20, now law, makes it illegal for social media behemoths with more than 50 million monthly users to ban accounts "for their political viewpoints," per The Texas Tribune. The law also calls for platforms such as Facebook and Twitter to make content moderation policies public and to create systems of appeals for users who believe they've been wrongfully moderated, among other provisions. Any hopes that COVID-19 would fade this month seem to be fading like the summer itself. The disease remains stubbornly persistent, just as it has throughout this ordeal. Whenever we think were making progress or progress is predicted we seem to hit another discouraging setback. Its frustrating, but all we can do is continue the things that we know work testing and vaccines as well as masks and social distancing indoors among strangers. In Southeast Texas, the demand for Covid tests is not relenting, one of the surest indicators of the disease itself. Counties across the region are offering more free or low-cost testing sites, and seeing a steady stream of local residents coming to them. The reports we have been getting show that people are still using (the testing sites) and need it, said Hardin County Judge Wayne McDaniel. Until things slow down and the clinics and pharmacies can catch up, we should continue to have (tests) available. They really have done a good job. McDaniel said his county plans to continue testing at the former Hardin County Hospital and Annex in Kountze until Sunday at least and could keep them open longer if demand continues. Jefferson County has also been offering COVID testing in rural parts of the county successful sites were conducted in Beaumont and Mid-County. On a more positive note, the county has had more than 2,400 people treated with monoclonal infusions, and officials say this has caused a noticeable drop in hospitalization rates and people going to emergency rooms for Covid symptoms. At the national level, President Joe Biden has sharply ramped up federal efforts to beat back this pandemic by requiring vaccines for all federal workers and contractors. Previously, he allowed them to opt out of his vaccine mandate if they were tested often for Covid, but now that option has been dropped. More and more private companies are requiring vaccines for their workers too, as is the Los Angeles public school district, one of the largest in the nation. Gov. Greg Abbott wants the Legislature to decide if school districts and other public entities in Texas can mandate vaccines, and he is probaly hoping that it will affirm his executive order prohibiting those mandates. Theres a slim chance, however, that the House and Senate will remember that they revere the concept of local control and will give cities, counties and schools the option to require these vaccines if they think its vital for their jurisdictions. We hope they do. August was the deadliest month of the pandemic for Jefferson County, with 82 Covid-related deaths among residents. A number like that has got to get everyones attention. We dont want to set another record like that, this far into the pandemic. The way to drive down our fatalities and hospitalizations is with tests for those who have symptoms and vaccines for everyone who hasnt been jabbed yet. These things work, not livestock deworming pills or other quack approaches. Cooler weather may be headed our way in a few weeks, and that will bring more people mixing indoors. When that happens, we dont want to spread the virus more to people who havent been vaccinated or who had Covid long ago and have waning antibodies. As with any ongoing problem, vigilance and preparedness are not just vaguely good ideas. They should be how we operate until this menace is gone. Bedford, PA (15522) Today Rain showers this evening with overcast skies overnight. Low 64F. Winds light and variable. Chance of rain 60%.. Tonight Rain showers this evening with overcast skies overnight. Low 64F. Winds light and variable. Chance of rain 60%. Theres a week till The Kings Man latest movie in the Kingsman franchise hits theaters. Here are some movies to watch in the meantime. You could always do a double feature with the two other movies in the franchise: Kingsman: The Secret Service Kingsman: The Golden Circle Casino Royale Kingsman parodies the classic 1960s spy movies with its outlandish bad guys, gadgets, style, and sex appeal with a tongue in cheek flare. While this Bond movie isnt from the era, it has all of the hallmarks in a modern package. After receiving a license to kill, British Secret Service agent James Bond (Daniel Craig) heads to Madagascar, where he uncovers a link to Le Chiffre (Mads Mikkelsen), a man who finances terrorist organizations. Learning that Le Chiffre plans to raise money in a high-stakes poker game, MI6 sends Bond to play against him, gambling that their newest 00 operative will topple the mans organization. The Ipcress File Bond wasnt the only British spy operating in the 1960s. Harry Palmer was created by novelist Len Deighton and was meant to be a more working class take on being a secret agent. He wears glasses and complains about his pay grade, proving being a spy its not all glitz and glamor. Michael Caine plays him in five movies this is the first and the best. Tasked with investigating the kidnappings and brainwashed reappearances of top scientists, including Dr. Radcliffe (Aubrey Richards), the insubordinate British spy Harry Palmer (Michael Caine) navigates his way through criminals, secret agents, and his superiors (Nigel Green, Guy Doleman). While attempting to bring in the suspect Bluejay (Frank Gatliff), Palmer discovers a mysterious audiotape labeled IPCRESS, an inconspicuous, but ominous, piece of evidence. Sherlock Holmes & Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows The two movies have Holmes and Watson fighting an occult based underground organization in a time when everything was changing large discoveries in science and rapid industrialization marks the time period. Holmes inventions and methods mirror the world around him (with some 2000s movie flare). The first is one of my more liked Guy Ritchie movies. Robert Downey Jr. and Jude Law play off each other really well and they both get their characters. The Man from U.N.C.L.E. Another from Guy Ritchie. Based on the TV series that aired from 1964-1968 with Robert Vaughn and David McCallum, this spy movie has plenty of action and keeps the originals sensibilities. Sadly, the movie was not as popular as the series so we only got one. Cavill is awesome in it. At the height of the Cold War, a mysterious criminal organization plans to use nuclear weapons and technology to upset the fragile balance of power between the United States and Soviet Union. CIA agent Napoleon Solo (Henry Cavill) and KGB agent Illya Kuryakin (Armie Hammer) are forced to put aside their hostilities and work together to stop the evildoers in their tracks. The duos only lead is the daughter of a missing German scientist, whom they must find soon to prevent a global catastrophe. Atomic Blonde A fight filled story about double agents in a locale still coming to terms with how the Russian Revolution changed it. Sensual and savage, Lorraine Broughton is the most elite spy in MI6, an agent whos willing to use all of her lethal skills to stay alive during an impossible mission. With the Berlin Wall about to fall, she travels into the heart of the city to retrieve a priceless dossier and take down a ruthless espionage ring. Once there, she teams up with an embedded station chief to navigate her way through the deadliest game of spies. The first movie from iconic director duo of Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger is a classic spy story set in WWI. Conrad Veidt puts in a career performance and the whole movie has a foreboding atmosphere. It was released in theaters just days before UK went to war with Germany in 1939. Political intrigue surrounds the arrival of a German sub in the Orkney Islands during World War I, where the submarine commander-turned-spy is foiled by a double agent. A U.S. sailor cleans a fighter jet on the flight deck of the aircraft carrier USS Carl Vinson during deployment in the South China Sea Sept. 11, 2021. Updated at 11:25 a.m. ET on 2021-09-14 The commander of a U.S. aircraft carrier deployed in the South China Sea has told BenarNews it aims to ensure the freedom of all nations to navigate in international waters a mission that saw it pass 50 nautical miles from a Chinese survey ship operating in Indonesia's exclusive economic zone (EEZ) this weekend. Global marine traffic records show the USS Carl Vinson (CVN-70) sailing in the Natuna Sea off Indonesia early Sunday near where the Chinese survey ship Haiyang Dizhi 10 has been operating since late August. Unusually, the U.S. super carrier also broadcast its location, a move that analysts say would be intended to show that it is operating freely in international waters. China claims most of the South China Sea for itself. In an exclusive interview with BenarNews on Saturday, the commander of the Carl Vinson Strike Group, Rear Adm. Dan Martin, said: Our operations in the region are really the expression of our willingness to defend both our interests and the freedoms enshrined in international laws. The carrier strike group including the aircraft carrier USS Carl Vinson and three other military vessels entered the South China Sea last week to conduct maritime security operations. Just a few days earlier, the Chinese Maritime Safety Administration announced that all foreign ships including aircraft carriers entering what China considers to be its territorial waters had to notify Beijing and submit to Chinese supervision. Under international law, territorial waters are the 12 nautical miles of sea extending from a countrys terrestrial territory. But China also includes waters around its newly reclaimed artificial islands in its maritime jurisdiction despite protests from other countries in the region. Any coastal state law or regulation must not infringe upon navigation and overflight rights enjoyed by all nations under international law, Martin said. Unlawful and sweeping maritime claims including in the South China Sea pose a significant threat to the freedoms of the seas, including freedom of navigation, overflight and lawful commerce. Were not going to be coerced or forced to cede the international norms, he said. Rear Adm. Dan Martin Peoples Liberation Army on alert U.S. naval and air forces periodically conduct so-called Freedom of Navigation Operations (FONOPs) to challenge Chinas maritime claims in the South China Sea, where a third of global maritime trade transits each year. China has repeatedly denounced these FONOPs. The Global Times, part of Chinas official mouthpiece Peoples Daily, called the USS Carl Vinsons deployment provocative. This is the sixth time a U.S. aircraft carrier has been deployed in the South China Sea this year, but the first time with the advanced capabilities of F-35C stealth fighter and the new CMV-22B Osprey tiltrotor aircraft, the Global Times said. The paper quoted a Chinese military analyst as warning that the Chinese army has been put on alert, and China is fully capable of and confident in dealing with such provocations. However, according to the commander of the Carl Vinson Strike Group, all our interactions thus far with the Chinese navy have been professional and safe. As we sail around, we do have some escorts, but I havent seen any aggressive maneuvering either on the sea or in the air that would give me concerns. A BenarNews review of ship-tracking data showed that as the Carl Vinson passed through the southern part of the South China Sea, it was at one point about 50 nautical miles from the Haiyang Dizhi 10 one of Chinas fleet of survey ships that periodically conduct research in disputed waters. The area where the Haiyang Dizhi was operating Sunday is within the 200 nautical-mile exclusive economic zone of Indonesia. Jakarta does not regard itself as a party to the territorial disputes in the South China Sea, although Beijing claims historic rights to parts of that maritime region overlapping Indonesias EEZ. Indonesia's Maritime Security Agency (Bakamla) said on Tuesday that there had been no violation of shipping rules by the Haiyang Dizhi. Bakamla spokesman Wisnu Pramandita said the Chinese survey ship was seen near the Tuna Natuna Block gas field on Aug. 31. "I don't know how long exactly [it was there]. But it had its AIS [automatic identification system] on and could be monitored. There are no reports of disruptions from the rig. It was probably normal passage, Wisnu told BenarNews. Indonesia requires foreign ships that are passing through the Indonesian Archipelagic Sea Lane (ALKI) to turn on their AIS. Wisnu said Bakamla also monitored the presence of the USS Carl Vinson in the Indonesian EEZ, but said he was not aware of any interaction with the Chinese vessel. Martin said that because of COVID-19 restrictions, its unlikely that the USS Carl Vinson would be able to make any port call on its mission, but the aircraft carriers open-ended deployment should show our partners and allies that we stand with them. He reiterated the U.S commitment to defend South China Sea claimant the Philippines should it come under attack, describing it as our oldest treaty ally in Asia. An armed attack against the Philippine armed forces, public vessels or aircrafts in the Pacific, including in the South China Sea would trigger an obligation under the U.S.-Philippine Mutual Defense Treaty, Martin said. Philippine Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana was in Washington last week to meet U.S. officials. According to a Philippine statement, both sides agreed to work on a bilateral maritime framework that advances cooperation in the maritime domain. Speaking at the Center for Strategic and International Studies think tank last Wednesday, Lorenzana said Manila was seeking to upgrade and update the U.S. alliance. He pressed for a clearer extent of American commitments under the treaty, which was signed by the allies 70 years ago. This story has been updated with comments from the spokesman of Indonesia's Maritime Security Agency (Bakamla). Upper House Speaker Rais Yatim (third from right) witnesses the signing a cooperation pact between Malaysian Prime Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob (far right) and opposition Pakatan Harapan coalition leader Anwar Ibrahim (second from left) at the parliament building in Kuala Lumpur, Sept.13, 2021. Malaysias government on Monday signed a historic cooperation agreement with the main opposition bloc that is expected to ensure the stability of the administration, the third one in 18 months of political tumult. The pact, which was signed on day one of this years first regular parliament session, says the parliament will not be dissolved before August 2022, which suggests Prime Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob, who has a slim majority in parliament, will stay in power at least until then. The federal government and Pakatan Harapan today made history in the country by sealing the Memorandum of Transformation and Political Stability, the PM said, referring to the main opposition coalition headed by veteran politician Anwar Ibrahim. This powerful and solid bipartisan cooperation is in the spirit of the Malaysian Family. Details of the pact are to be released on Tuesday, according to the Prime Ministers Office, but Ismail Sabri said the pact covers six areas, including COVID-19 recovery plan, administrative transformation, parliamentary reform and judicial independence Opposition MP Fahmi Fadzil tweeted that the government and the opposition agreed that parliament will not be dissolved before 31.7.2022. That means political stability is assured for at least 300 days. Malaysia is scheduled to go to the polls in 2023, but Ismail Sabris predecessor, Muhyiddin Yassin, had promised general elections as soon as the pandemic subsided. The pact is a result of a series of negotiations between lawmakers from both sides, which culminated in a joint statement issued on Sunday announcing the agreement. King Al-Sultan Abdullah Riayatuddin Al-Mustafa Billah, who opened the parliamentary session, lauded the efforts toward cooperation as mature. The agreement could also pave the way for significant political reforms, which Ismail Sabri promised on Friday in a bid to get the oppositions support. The reforms he had proposed included laws to prevent members of parliament from switching parties and to limit the PMs term to 10 years. Local news outlet Malaysiakini said it saw a copy and noted these two reforms were included in the agreement. Malaysiakini also said the pact states the Anwar-led Pakatan coalition would support or abstain from the budget vote if it and related bills were negotiated by both sides prior to being presented. Fahmi, the information chief of Anwars Peoples Justice Party, one of the parties that signed the agreement, said the Pakatan coalition would continue to function as the opposition. Pakatan Harapan will not be part of government nor involved directly in policymaking, he said in a series of tweets. We remain His Majestys loyal opposition in parliament, to provide checks and balances on the government to make sure they remain accountable to the people. Ismail Sabri is not a reformer Political analyst James Chin, a professor at Tasmania University, said he is skeptical that the agreement would result in a big change in Malaysian politics. The agreement is a good thing, but it is not going to change politics permanently, Chin told BenarNews. He said Ismail Sabri was only trying to appease the king who had called for political stability. As I have said many times, Ismail Sabri is not a reformer. This only happened because of pressure from the palace, COVID-19, the ensuing economic crisis and the people growing sick of politics. Specific circumstances, Chin said. The king named Ismail Sabri PM last month after former leader Muhyiddin resigned because members of the largest party in his ruling coalition pulled support. Muhyiddin had been named PM by the king after the elected government of veteran politician Mahathir Mohamad collapsed in February 2020 because of infighting following a historic victory in 2018. Muhyiddins coalition government which included the United Malays National Organization was beset by infighting throughout its 17-month tenure. Since UMNOs Ismail Sabri was sworn in Aug. 22, parties in his coalition which now includes Muhyiddins Bersatu party have also traded barbs. Ismail Sabri, like his predecessor, has a narrow majority in parliament, with 114 of 220 lawmakers supporting him. If just four MPs pulled their backing, he would lose majority support. Political analyst Wong Chin Huat said he sees a hung parliament after the next election. This agreement gives major parties a chance to learn how to coexist with each other and compete professionally, said Wong of the Jeffrey Sachs Center for Sustainable Development. He said that if this arrangement works and multi-partisanship is internalized, Malaysians need not worry about their lawmakers party-hopping, or frequent changes of prime ministers in the future. While the deal revealed this evening might not meet all our expectations, all parties involved, including the public, should push for its upgrade in the months to come, Wong told BenarNews. Lets give peace a chance, even if it is not perfect. A Philippine official checks one of the dozens of firearms turned over by former Muslim rebels as part of a decommissioning process in Sultan Kudarat, Maguindanao province, July 9, 2019. Philippine National Police online detectives have been ordered to crack down on the alleged sale and distribution of unlicensed firearms over the internet ahead of next years general election, the countrys top cop announced Monday. An initial police investigation revealed that thousands of disassembled firearm parts and ammunition recovered recently from a warehouse in Bulacan, north of Manila, were reportedly being reassembled and sold to private armed groups via online platforms, police chief Gen. Guillermo Eleazar told reporters in a virtual news conference. He said he has asked the police anti-cybercrime group to trace the source of such weapons and find those involved in the sales. In our aggressive campaign against loose firearms as part of the early security preparations for the 2022 elections, we are not discounting the possibility that some gun-running syndicates are using the online platforms for their illegal activities, Eleazar said. Because of this, I have asked our intelligence group and the anti-cybercrime group to boost information gathering and monitor this modus, he said. Some of the disassembled parts were from weapons that were not properly decommissioned and ended up in the black market, Eleazar said, adding part of the investigation will be to determine how the items went missing from the police and military inventory. Eleazar said military leaders assured police of cooperation in the investigation, noting many of the parts confiscated in the Bulacan warehouse were from .50-caliber and M16 rifles. 2022 election The Philippines will hold a general election next year to choose a successor for President Rodrigo Duterte, to fill 12 of the 24 seats in the Senate, all 316 House seats and thousands of officials from provincial governors to town mayors and councilors. Previous elections have been fraught with violence as some politicians hired private armed groups to intimidate rivals. In 2019, 23 people were killed and 50 injured during mid-term polls and as many as 50 people died in poll-related violence during the 2016 presidential election, according to statistics from the national police. The interior department previously identified about 150 private armies, many of them operating in remote areas, including in the Muslim autonomous region in the countrys south. These guns-for-hire exist because of a long-running gun culture in the Philippines, coupled with the presence of feuding clans in tribal areas along with rival political dynasties trying to outdo each other, according to interior department officials. Criminal Investigation and Detention Group chief Maj. Gen. Albert Ignatius Ferro on Monday announced the arrest of three suspects last week along with the seizure of firearms, ammunition and crystal methamphetamine, the state-run Philippine News Agency reported. He said the suspects were members of a group involved in gunrunning and guns-for-hire activities while praising officers for the operation, according to PNA. Rest assured that we will be in the frontline and ever ready to step further in our battle against criminality, he said. On Sunday, police in the southern Philippines seized more than 650 rounds of 7.62 mm ammunition from a suspected gunrunner in Parang, Maguindanao province. The seized ammunition could have been used in M14 assault rifles and M60 machine guns. If you'd like to leave a comment (or a tip or a question) about this story with the editors, please email us We also welcome letters to the editor for publication; you can do that by filling out our letters form and submitting it to the newsroom. Copyright 2021 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission. PITTSFIELD Carr Hardware is continuing to expand its footprint throughout the Berkshires, announcing plans Monday to acquire Lee Hardware, a longtime family-owned establishment. The sale is expected to close Sept. 27. The business will continue to operate as Lee Hardware True Value with no interruption in service. It will also operate separately from Carr's current store in Lee on 57 Park St., which just a short distance from Lee Hardware at 221 Main St. Management and store personnel will remain the same, and the store will continue to offer the same products, Carr Hardware stated in a news release. Owner Joey Scapin, who has run Lee Hardware since 1991, will remain to ensure the transition to new ownership. Lee Hardware has been in operation since the 1940s. Carr was founded in 1928. "I have enormous admiration for Joey, Courtney and their family's business," said Carr Hardware President Bart Raser. "We have been respectfully competing for 80 years. They run a great community-focused store with strong brands and friendly local folks both of which will continue." "In making this decision, it was important that the qualities I value for my employees, customers and community continue," Scapin said. "I am confident that uniting our family business legacy will do just that." Based in Pittsfield, Carr currently operates stores in Lee, Lenox, Great Barrington, North Adams and Pittsfield, and in Avon and Enfield in Connecticut. This story has been modified to correct the locations of Carr's other stores. A suggestion about mandating vaccines for Richmond town employees prompted pushback from Select Board member Roger Manzolini. "Id be personally offended to be told that I have to inject something into my body. Its just wrong; its against my rights and my liberties. Investigations editor Larry Parnass joined The Eagle in 2016 from the Daily Hampshire Gazette, where he was editor in chief. His freelance work has appeared in the Washington Post, Boston Globe, Hartford Courant, CommonWealth Magazine and with the Reuters news service. Joined at the waste: In Monterey, a love that can't be discarded LEE Members of Lees top board did not misstep legally, a judge says, when they decided to accept a PCB landfill as part of a dramatic reset last year on plans to remove toxins from the Housatonic River. The decision, released Friday by Berkshire Superior Court Judge Michael K. Callan, is a blow to local opponents of the landfill. Judith C. Knight of Great Barrington, their attorney, had argued in a civil suit filed in March that Lee officials violated the state Open Meeting Law, disregarded their own bylaws and exceeded their authority in voting Feb. 4, 2020, to endorse a breakthrough Rest of River settlement. Knight said Monday she respectfully disagrees with the judges decision and plans to speak with her clients this week about a possible appeal. The plaintiffs have 30 days to ask the Massachusetts Appeals Court to hear the case. This is important to the community. Were going to look carefully at all of our options and decide what to do next, Knight said. Callans decision, unless it is appealed, removes one of two current legal challenges to the Rest of River plan outlined last December by the EPA. Early this month, the EPAs decision to allow local disposal of lower-levels of tainted soils was challenged by two environmental groups in oral arguments before the Environmental Appeals Board in Washington, D.C. That court has not yet ruled. In the 2020 settlement, Lee and four nearby towns joined with the General Electric Co., the Environmental Protection Agency and other parties to keep all but the highest levels of materials tainted with polychlorinated biphenyls in the Berkshires, rather than shipping all such chemicals out of state, as the EPA first ordered. Lee residents ask court to void town board's decision to back local PCB dump Four Lee residents want a court to decide whether civic leaders exceeded their authority when they agreed to allow an old quarry to house toxic chemicals without bringing the issue to residents. Callans decision found for the defendants on all counts, saying the plaintiffs failed to make a claim on which relief could be granted. The plaintiffs are Caroline Young, Andrea Wadsworth, James Castegnaro and Clare Lahey, the judges decision said. The original complaint named Robert Jones as a plaintiff, but Young was substituted in after Jones was elected to the Select Board, Knight said. Along with the town itself, the suit named three current or former members of its Select Board: Patricia Carlino, David Consolati and Thomas Wickham. Lee officials are on record saying they acted in the towns interests. At a meeting in January, they rejected calls to overturn their approval. As part of the agreement, Lee is to receive $25 million. The [federal] EPA has mandated the PCB dump. We dont have to like it, but we have to deal with it, Consolati said at the time. We can argue all day whether we have the authority; we have the authority. In the local lawsuit, Knight and her clients claimed that Lee officials violated the Open Meeting Law by going into executive session to discuss a matter that the plaintiffs claimed had already been decided. Callan found that the statute related to open meetings allows private discussion of potential lawsuits. The judge said the suit failed to set out facts to back up its claim that the board abused the exception related to executive sessions. In early March, the state Attorney Generals Office rejected a specific Open Meeting Law challenge related to the decisions made by Lee and boards in the other four local towns to support the settlement. In the Lee case, Callan also rejected the suits claim that the town board violated local bylaws by agreeing to a settlement, when those bylaws limit board discretion to cases that pay out under $1,000. Callan noted that in this case the town is poised to pay out nothing, but, rather, receive $25 million by agreeing to host the landfill, in a former Lane quarry south of Woods Pond. How we got here: A timeline on the Rest of River Here is a timeline of the process leading to the Housatonic Rest of River cleanup settlement agreement.2000: The U.S. District Court in Springfield issues a decree requiring specific actions for 25 Knights suit had argued that the board exceeded its authority to enter into the settlement agreement. Callan, however, determined that Lees bylaws allow a communitys leaders, acting in their corporate capacity, to make such decisions. In a March interview, Knight said that Lees representative town meeting should have made the call to accept more than 1 million cubic yards of tainted soils and sediments at the planned Upland Disposal Facility. The Select Board acted independently without the authority of town meeting, which is a violation of their duty to the town, she said at the time. For them to do this in secret and not put it before town [residents] is shocking. The author and his wife pose at the top of Cadillac Mountain Trail in Acadia National Park, overlooking Bar Harbor, Maine. Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, in defending Texas' near-ban on abortions, says women and girls who are raped won't be forced to give birth because the new law "provides at least six weeks for a person to be able to get an abortion." Dr. Susan Birns is professor emerita at Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts and a member of the Board of Directors of Elizabeth Freeman Center. Mayor Lori Lightfoot plans to take a major step to combat Chicagos growing violence, proposing an ordinance that would allow the city to seize the assets of gang members in civil court. Lightfoot is scheduled to propose the ordinance Monday (Sept. 13) to allow the citys lawyers to file the lawsuits, according to the Chicago Sun-Times. RELATED: Black Chicago Woman Speaks Out About Her Violent Encounter With Police Officer While Walking Her Dog States attorneys in neighboring counties have used the Illinois Street Gang Prevention Act to sue gang members, seeking civil damages and court orders to bar them from associating together and possessing guns, the report notes. Indeed, she says the anti-gang ordinance is not a way to side step Cook County States Attorney Kim Foxx with whom she has clashed over the handling of gun cases, carjackings and other crimes, the Sun-Times writes. We cant wait for anybody else, Lightfoot said, the news outlet writes. We have an opportunity to bring these violent street gangs into civil court, out of the shadows, expose them for what they are and, if were successful, and I think we will be, take their assets and the profit motive for killing our babies. We have to put a marker down that we are using every tool in our toolkit to push back against these violent gangs that are leaving a trail of blood and death and misery in their wake, Lightfoot stated. News County to buy Community Action building Don Sergent / DON SERGENT/dsergent@bgdailynews.com New Warren County Sheriffs Office Deputy John Clark is sworn in by county Judge-Executive Mike Buchanon before Fridays fiscal court meeting. Clark, retired from the Kentucky State Police, is the new school safety coordinator and school resource officer manager for Warren County Public Schools. Aiming to keep pace with the countys growth and the resulting need for office space, Warren Fiscal Court on Friday took steps to increase its real estate holdings. The fiscal court magistrates voted 6-0 to approve the purchase of 1.2 acres and a 9,636-square-foot building at 171 Center St. that had been home to Community Action of Southern Kentuckys Resource & Development Center. Judge-Executive Mike Buchanon is authorized to execute the $1.2 million purchase of property that, according to fiscal court records, is assessed at $1.35 million. Buchanon sees it as a positive move both for the county and for Community Action, a nonprofit agency that has been ailing financially in recent years. We need more office space, said Buchanon. Were bursting at the seams in the courthouse. Buchanon said which offices will move into the building is still being discussed, but he said moves should happen in the next couple months. We intend to take possession in 30 days, he said. Well take two or three weeks to paint and renovate and then move in. The sale of the property ties in with Community Actions recent efforts to right its financial ship. During Don Butlers tenure as interim CASK executive director, the nonprofit received a $500,000 loan from the Kentucky Association of Counties and sold for $250,000 a 5,000-square-foot building on Beauty Avenue next door to the CASK headquarters. Hired as CASKs interim executive director in April 2018, Butler was tasked with returning the nonprofit agency to financial solvency after the tenure of former CASK Executive Director Melissa Weaver. Butler, who retired in 2005 after 20 years with CASK, reduced CASKs workforce and took other belt-tightening measures to address budget deficits. He recently stepped down again as the agency hired Carla Brown as executive director. CASK oversees Head Start for preschoolers and senior centers in the region and also handles the Low-Income Home Energy Assistance program and manages Bowling Greens GO bg Transit bus service. The Center Street building had been home to childrens services and community services offices that have been consolidated into a CASK building at 200 E. Fourth St. Buchanon oversaw Fridays fiscal court meeting in a nearly empty courthouse meeting room. Because of the local surge in COVID-19 cases, five of the six magistrates joined the meeting via teleconference. Buchanon, who has recovered from his own bout with COVID-19, said the next meeting, scheduled for Monday, Sept. 27, will also be held virtually. It is serious, Buchanon said of the surge in COVID-19 cases. We hope the Delta variant will peak out and start going down in the next month or so. In action that illustrates the seriousness of the pandemic, the magistrates voted to grant authority to Warren County Emergency Management to advertise for bids to purchase a 16-body refrigerated remains trailer for use by emergency management and the county coroners office. County Emergency Management Director Ronnie Pearson said the move to purchase the trailer is needed both to address the countys growth and the demands of the pandemic. COVID has contributed to the problem, Pearson said. Weve had a couple of incidents since the pandemic started where we were at capacity at our hospitals and at the coroners office. We dont want to get into that position again. Pearson said the needs of the coroners office were already growing as the county grew but that the COVID-19 outbreak has added to those needs. Pre-COVID, we were able to handle the number of fatalities, Pearson said. Those in hospitals go to a temporary area until the funeral home can get them. COVID has added to the issue. We just want to make sure we dont get overwhelmed. County Coroner Kevin Kirby said the trailer is a wise investment for the county, particularly at this time. The trailer can be used for disasters with mass fatalities, Kirby said. At this time, it can help because were experiencing a lot of COVID deaths. Weve had 11 in just the last week. In other action Friday, Buchanon swore in John Clark as the new director of school safety and school resource officer manager for Warren County Public Schools. Clark spent 25 years with the Kentucky State Police, including five as commander of Bowling Greens Post 3 before retiring in 2019. The husband of long-time WCPS teacher and administrator Nicole Clark, John Clark said the position was a natural fit for him. I knew when I retired that I was going to do something else, he said. I kept my eyes open for opportunities. When this came up, it was really a no-brainer. The position overseeing the school systems 10 school resource officers became available after Clark Arnold stepped down to take a job on U.S. Sen. Rand Pauls staff. Sheriffs Office Capt. Curtis Hargett said Clarks background with KSP makes him a great fit for the position. He oversees all the SROs, so having leadership experience is important, Hargett said. WCPS Superintendent Rob Clayton emphasized the importance of the SRO program that started with county deputies in the high schools and has spread to the middle schools and even some presence in elementary schools. I cant think of any asset more important than our SRO program, Clayton said. The deputies are valuable assets in our schools. Deputy Clark will help us feel that level of comfort to ensure the safety of our students and staff. Call ahead to confirm events. Due to COVID-19, many events have been canceled but hosting organizations might not have updated their entries. Email Blast Success! An email has been sent to with a link to confirm list signup. Error! There was an error processing your request. Daily News Headlines & Events Email Blast Would you like to receive a digest of each day's headlines & events from The Daily News by email? Signup today! The Amplifier Headlines & Events Email Blast Would you like to receive a weekly digest of headlines & events from The Amplifier by email? Signup today! Daily News Hosted Events The Daily News is a proud host of community enrichment events. Join our Daily News Events mailing list to learn about the next event we are planning. Sign up now. Manage your lists Offer a personal message of sympathy... You'll find individual Guest Books on the page with each obituary notice. By sharing a fond memory or writing a kind tribute, you will be providing a comforting keepsake to those in mourning. . From a Guest Book, you may log in with your Google, Facebook, Yahoo or AOL account to leave a message. If you have an existing account with this site, you may log in with that. Otherwise, it's simple to create a new one by clicking on the Create "Sign up" button and following the simple steps on the Sign Up page. The Bowling Green State University College of Arts and Sciences will host a moderated conversation and Q&A session with special guests Laura Coates and Jeffrey Rosen from 5 to 6:30 p.m. Tuesday, Sept. 14, in the Thomas B. and Kathleen M. Donnell Theatre, Wolfe Center for the Arts. The event commemorates Constitution Day, a day dedicated to promoting the study of the U.S. Constitution. The event is free and open to the public. Laura Coates is a CNN host and senior legal analyst, who specializes in the intersection of civil rights and criminal prosecution. A former federal prosecutor, Coates served as assistant U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia, as well as a trial attorney in the Civil Rights Division of the Department of Justice, specializing in the enforcement of voting rights throughout the United States. As a civil rights attorney, she traveled throughout the United States supervising local and national elections and led investigations into allegations of unconstitutional voting practices. In private practice, Coates was an intellectual property litigator with an expertise in First Amendment and media law. She is the host of the daily eponymous show on SiriusXM and the author of forthcoming book Just Pursuit: A Black Prosecutors Fight for Fairness. Coates is a graduate of the Princeton University School of Public and International Affairs and the University of Minnesota Law School. She is a lecturer of law at George Washington University Law School. Jeffrey Rosen is the president and chief executive officer of the National Constitution Center, a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization whose mission is to educate the public about the U.S. Constitution. In addition to leading the National Constitution Center, Rosen is a professor at the George Washington University Law School and a contributing writer of The Atlantic, where he founded a new website devoted to constitutional debate. He also hosts the National Constitution Centers weekly We the People podcast, which invites liberal and conservative scholars to debate historical and contemporary constitutional issues in the news. He is a highly regarded journalist whose essays and commentaries have appeared in The New York Times Magazine, on National Public Radio, in the New Republic and The New Yorker. A leading expert on the Supreme Court and the judicial system, Rosen is the author of seven books, including biographies of Justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Louis D. Brandeis and William Howard Taft and acclaimed books on privacy and security in the age of social media. His book The Supreme Court: The Personalities and Rivalries That Defined America is the bestselling companion book to the PBS series on the Supreme Court. Rosens new book Conversation with RBG: Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg on Life, Love, Liberty, and Law collects 25 years of their conversations, discussing everything from Justice Ginsburgs favorite opinions to their mutual love of opera. Rosen is a graduate of Harvard College; Oxford University, where he was a Marshall Scholar; and Yale Law School. Constitution Day events are made possible by the support of the Bernard Mann Constitutional Law Education Fund. Spearfish, SD (57783) Today Clear skies. Low around 55F. Winds SSW at 5 to 10 mph.. Tonight Clear skies. Low around 55F. Winds SSW at 5 to 10 mph. Aiden Vaught (Spearfish football): Vaught recorded nine tackles on Friday night, while eight of those were solo tackles. He also had one interception. Sturgis Brown Competitive Cheer: The team has had three competitions this year and has improved its average score in each competition. Sam Kooima Lead-Deadwood football: Kooima scored three touchdowns and threw for three more. He ran six times for 60 yards and two touchdowns, completed six of six pass attempts for 92 yards and three touchdowns, and returned a punt 64 yards for a score. Tilli Katon (Lead-Deadwood volleyball): Tilli recorded 11 serving aces in a Sept. 7 victory over Edgemont. Kyra Vandenberg (Belle Fourche cross country): Vandenberg finished fourth in the varsity girls division at the Belle Fourche Invitational. This was the first 5-kilometer and varsity race for the Bronc seventh-grader Kaylin Garza (Belle Fourche volleyball): Garza collected 27 kills, eight blocks, 14 digs, and five aces in matches this past week. Vote View Results Looking for something to do? Heres a list of local community and nonprofit events. Please check with your club or organization to be certain of meetings, outings and classes, as they may be canceled because of bad weather or other reason. If any listing is inaccurate or to submit an event, contact Julie Norwood at 231-592-8358 or julie.norwood@pioneergroup.com. Artworks Gala: 6-9 p.m. Friday, Sept. 17, at Artworks, 106 N. Michigan Ave., Big Rapids. Cost: $60. Contact: 231-796-2420, www.artworksinbigrapids.org/gala. Shred Event: 9 a.m. to noon Saturday, Sept. 18, at Lerner Csernai Fath Financial, 15505 Waldron Way, Big Rapids. Bring your shred in non-returnable bags/boxes. Donations to benefit Manna Pantry of Big Rapids. For more information, visit mannapantry.org/programs-2. Basket Weaving Scarecrow Basket: 9 a.m.-3 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 18, at Artworks 106 N. Michigan Ave., Big Rapids. Cost: $55. Contact: 231-796-2420 Glass Fusion Glass Heart: 10 a.m.-2 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 18, at Artworks, 106 N. Michigan Ave., Big Rapids. Cost: $75. Contact: 231-796-2420. Animal Tales Australian Kangaroo: 10-11 a.m. Saturday, Sept. 18, at Card/Riley Conservation & Wildlife Education Center, 820 Campus Drive, Big Rapids. Learn about Australian Kangaroo with a story and a craft. Cost: Free. Contact: Carrie Weis at weisc@ferris.edu, 231-591-2536. Tuba Bach Festival: 4 p.m. Saturdays, Sept. 11-Oct. 17, outside at Immanuel Lutheran Church, 726 Fuller Ave., Big Rapids. A separate concert will be livestreamed online only, as well as on Sunny 97.3 FM at 4 p.m. Sundays. Visit www.tubabach.org. for links. Mosaic Mirror: 10 a.m.-2 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 25, at Artworks 106 N. Michigan Ave., Big Rapids. Cost: $80 for Sept. 25 and Oct. 2 sessions; $60 for Sept. 25 session only. Contact: 231-796-2420 Swiss Steak Dinner: 4-6:30 p.m. the last Friday of every month, April-October, at the Barryton Senior Center, 71 Northern Ave., Barryton. Includes dinner and dessert. Everyones welcome. Tai Chi: Noon on Wednesdays at Hemlock Park. Improve muscle tone, flexibility, balance and coordination. Newcomers welcome. brpr.org. Mecosta Co. Genealogical Society: Open 5-7 p.m. Wednesdays and 10 a.m.-2 p.m. every second Saturday, at 424 N. Fourth Ave., Big Rapids, next to Recycle. Thousands of obits and hundreds of books with history and genealogy for the Mecosta Co. area. Stop by or call Maureen Nelson at 231-250-5555 to set up an appointment. Mecosta County Sheriff Posse: 7 p.m. the second Thursday of each month at the Mecosta County Jail basement training room, 225 S. Stewart Ave., Big Rapids. This volunteer group is always looking for more members. For more info call 231-250-9241 Lords Table Food Pantry: 3-5 p.m. Wednesdays at Faith Community Church, 610 Green St., Big Rapids. Everyone is welcome. Reed City Food Pantry: 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Tuesdays, beginning Sept. 7, at St. Philip Neri Catholic Church, 831 S. Chestnut St., Reed City. Morley Community Center: The center, at 151 7th St., Morley, hosts weekly pickleball, open gym, indoor garage sales and outdoor market, in addition to monthly ancestry class, craft night and blood drive. For a list of activities, visit morleycenter.org/events or call 231-856-4496. ARTWORKS ONGOING CLASSES, EXHIBITS 106 N. Michigan Ave. in Big Rapids / 231-796-2420 / artworksinbigrapids.org After School Arts: 3:45-5:15 p.m. Wednesdays, Sept. 1-29. Drop-ins welcome on a first come, first serve basis, but registration recommended. Register at Artworks gift shop or by calling 231-796-2420 the Monday before each session. Open Pottery: 5-8 p.m. Tuesdays. Cost: $10 per session, $60 for an eight-session punch card. (Additional firing fees apply. Clay may be purchased in bulk for $20 per 25 lbs.) Call 231-796-2420 to schedule your session. Hand Built Pottery Fall Session: 6-8 p.m. Mondays, Sept. 13, 20, 27, and Oct. 4, 18, 25. Cost: $150. Register by calling 231-796-2420 or online at www.artworksinbigrapids.org/pottery. Beginning Wheel Fall Session: 6-8 p.m. Wednesdays, Sept. 15, 22, 29, and Oct. 5, 12, 26. Cost: $150. Register by calling 231-796-2420 or online at www.artworksinbigrapids.org/pottery. Fundamentals of Photography Beginner Course: 5:30-7:30 p.m. Tuesdays, Sept. 15-Oct. 19. Cost: $75. Register by calling 231-796-2420 or online at www.artworksinbigrapids.org/photography. Exhibit Joyful Journey: 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Monday-Saturday, Aug. 30-Sept. 18. Exhibit features artwork Hope Network and MOISD students. The plant can generate medical-grade oxygen at 500 litres a minute DTDC and its strategic partner, Geopost SA (DPD Group), owned by Frances Le Groupe La Poste, have associated with Narayana Hrudayalaya Charitable Trust and Narayana Hrudayalaya for the successful set-up and inauguration of an oxygen generator plant in Jaipur. The one-of-its-kind oxygen generator plant was inaugurated by DTDC CMD Subhasish Chakraborty, in the presence of top officials from DTDC and Narayana Health. The valuable joint -initiative, installed in the Narayana multi-speciality hospital in Jaipur, is geared to help the country fight the ongoing Covid pandemic. The plant can generate medical-grade oxygen at 500 litres a minute. Chakraborty said, The cutting-edge oxygen generator plant, imported from the US, is a result of joint efforts of DTDC, our strategic partner, Geopost SA (DPD Group) and the able team at Narayana Health. As a part of our CSR program for covid care support, we have made a significant contribution of Rs 1.56 crore to Narayana Hrudayalaya Charitable Trust. DTDC and Geopost SA (DPD Group) also ensured the seamless logistical movement of the oxygen generator plant." Arunesh Punetha, Regional director, Narayana Health said, We are confident that with DTDC Express as our partners, we will be able to touch & positively impact thousands of lives together. Both the organisations will continue to support the people of Jaipur & Rajasthan in tiding over these challenging times. A four-and-a-half-day work week; 25 days annual leave; no emails or WhatsApps after 6pm; side hustles supported by the agency; work from anywhere and a counsellor on call - meet the through-the-line advertising agency of the future. As of 13 September 2021, CWDi will be known as Happy Friday by reinventing the agency model - for staff and clients alike. Craig Naicker, group managing director at Happy Friday. Future-focused Beating the burnout Ahmed Tilly, creative consultant at Happy Friday No meeting Fridays for staff and/or clients A four-and-a-half-day work week (with a view to working towards a four-day week) Side hustle support allowing agency staff to work on their own freelance concerns or personal interests in the interest of generating extra income or simply their own enjoyment A no email or WhatsApp after 6pm rule A Human Library allowing staff with interesting perspectives to make themselves available for conversation or mentorship 25 days annual leave Working from anywhere Adding value for clients As a people-centric creative agency, were big on happiness our peoples happiness and our clients too. Because clients are people, too. And if theyre happy, were happy see how nicely that all works out? #HappyPeopleMakeHappyWork #HappyFriday #TTLMarketing #TTLAdvertising pic.twitter.com/1A9JS0X8kN Happy Friday Creative (@HF_creative) September 9, 2021 Why Happy Friday? A post-Covid model Invigorating the agency model Happy Fridays group managing director, Craig Naicker, says, You are only able to grow a sustainable business when you take care of the people within it.This is the thinking that frames the Happy Friday concept because, for Happy Friday, change begins on the inside. Creative consultant Ahmed Tilly expands, Our new agency concept was a convergence of three things: business success, agency structure and people.Covid acted as a catalyst for the change, but it has been a long time coming. Thinking about how we would survive and even thrive beyond the pandemic helped us see that the industry is broken. People are adversely affected by this. Agencies need a future focus beyond face value with empathy for the people that help the agency survive.Happy Friday will be implementing a series of industry-bending practices that will beat the burnout and encourage stake-holderism among staff. Tilly expands on the reasoning that shaped this thinking: We want to change the perception among agency people that what we do is about hours spent and billed on a linear timeline. We should be generating value for the client and for our staff, because happy people produce great work and are more accountable.For agency staff members, the changes will include:Naicker adds, In a time when everyone is financially stretched, retainers need to be fair, not fat. As an agency, we must be financially invested in the clients business and connect with them. This way, we can create more beneficial fee structures and keep internal stakeholders happy, as they will not have to put in wasted hours. We should be delivering the best commercial value, even on tighter budgets, and we are not a sausage factory.I feel that, in an overwhelming number of instances, leadership styles in the advertising business are outdated. In fact, you might even dare to say they are almost colonial in their ways.It is time for a hard refresh of the way we do things in our industry. And Covid has dramatically accelerated change.Tilly continues, When people are happy, they take care of the business. We are in a position to demonstrate this, not only to our industry but to businesses across the board, and our living case study is Happy Friday.In our industry, burnout is shockingly prevalent. Creative problem solvers are notoriously burnt out and exhausted. The immense pressure that is being put on people to deliver has a major shortcoming: you cant create good work when youre not happy or invested. Agency staff are expected to leave their lives behind them whenever they walk through the door at work. Its time to change that mindset. The whole world is going through a rebirth, and that is the singular opportunity Covid afforded us.Happy Friday was born from collaboration, when CWDi leadership implemented the MD for a Day programme, to gauge what exactly would make agency life better for its employees. The programme opened the floor to staff members, whose suggestions were taken on board, and the name Happy Friday emerged as a favourite, due to the positive feelings it invokes, particularly among hardworking agency staff.Naicker concludes, For us and hopefully the industry at large this concept is a rebirth, not a rebranding. The reinvention of the advertising model goes beyond processes and culture.We are starting at ground level and reinventing every component because its time to find a new way of working for ourselves and for our clients. This is an industry that should be fun for those who operate within it, so Happy Friday is a feeling we want to capture every day. South Africa's beer and liquor industry associations have welcomed the easing of lockdown restrictions as a result of the move to Adjusted Alert Level 2, effective from today, 13 September. Ersler Dmitry via 123RF Call for consultation Improving vaccine uptake The Beer Association of South Africa (Basa) commented that easing of restrictions will provide some reprieve to those businesses that have survived the four alcohol bans, which forced the industry to shut down for 161 days since March last year putting just over 240 000 jobs at risk.President Cyril Ramaphosa announced on Sunday evening that the hours of curfew will now start at 11pm and end at 4am, and on-consumption alcohol sales will be allowed 7 days a week until 10pm, while off-consumption sales are permitted from Monday to Friday between 10am and 6pm.The number of people at gatherings has increased to 250 indoor and 500 outdoor, which the South African Liquor Brandowners Association (Salba) described as a positive step to support the recovery of bars, restaurants and tavern businesses. Salba added however that it remains concerned about the continued prohibition of off-consumption sales on Saturday and Sunday as the government has "failed to justify this decision".Salba chairperson Sibani Mngadi said, We have approached the Ministerial Advisory Council and government representatives at Nedlac. None of them has been able to provide any justification for this or some scientific evidence to support the decision.The association said the restrictions had only encouraged the illicit alcohol industry and further damaged the legitimate enterprises struggling under the weight of these irrational measures. It had also damaged the supply chain.The recent unemployment figures released by StatsSA that South Africa has 15 million unemployed people who cannot be ignored. It is an accumulation of unfortunate decisions to shutdown economic activities over that past year, including four total bans of alcohol sales, said Mngadi.Basa commented that with a Covid-19 fourth wave expected to hit at the beginning of December, any recovery seen in the sector will be eradicated should another ban be enforced by government over the festive season. "With this period also being the busiest time for liquor outlets and establishments, another alcohol ban will no doubt be the final nail in the coffin for thousands of businesses and the jobs they support," the association said.Basa, therefore, continues to call for proper consultation by government before considering any new regulations to stop the spread of Covid-19 over the coming months. "Our industry, and the over 450,000 livelihoods it supports, can simply not afford the president announcing another immediate ban on the legal trade of alcohol without any prior warning or an opportunity to properly engage with government," it said.The alcohol industry reiterated its support for public education and awareness efforts to encourage vaccination and encourage behaviours that prevent infections, such as social distancing, wearing masks, and regular use of sanitisers.Salba CEO Kurt Moore said: It is time to drive the recovery of the economy of our country. We need to sustain the marginal GDP growth of 1.2% announced by Stats SA last month. Critical to the sustainability of the relaxed regulations is our commitment to support the government in improving vaccine uptake.He said the industrys initial focus was to support the vaccination of its employees and will be expanding to support broader societal efforts to reach herd immunity to return the economic activity to some level of normality.We have seen an extraordinary uptake in the vaccination rollout as of 11 September, more than 14,7 million vaccines had been administered. We commend the Department of Health, and we are committed to supporting the efforts to expand immunisation even further through our industry infrastructure and brand properties, said Moore.Mngadi added that Salba members are actively encouraging their employees to take the vaccine, and will work with all stakeholders to promote the vaccine.The Beer Association added: "...We also encourage all South Africans over the age of 18 years to get vaccinated. This is the only way we will be able to fully reopen the economy and resume our normal lives." Africa to see stricter reporting and enforcement on local empowerment All indications are that more stringent reporting and enforcement of local empowerment requirements are on the way across much of sub-Saharan Africa. On the face of it, this prospect might seem likely to pose further challenges for governments efforts to attract investors, but there could be an upside. Better and more detailed reporting on local ownership and empowerment potentially means greater transparency and clarity on what regulators expect from investors. And if there is one condition that gives investors comfort, it is certainty in the business, regulatory and policy environments in which they operate. It seems clear from developments in the local ownership and empowerment landscape across sub-Saharan Africa that there is a trend towards increased reporting obligations and, by extension, enforcement. We saw this in the analysis of regulatory and legislative developments across 14 countries that we did in preparation for the publication of our Local Empowerment in Africa Guide late last year. In the past, regulators mainly wanted companies to report on their performance against local ownership targets at key milestones, such as when a fundamental transaction was on the cards. The trend we are seeing now is towards reporting on a wider spectrum of indicators and in more detail than before, mostly annually, but in some cases more frequently. Reporting on local ownership gains ground In Ethiopia, all investors are required to submit a quarterly progress report on the implementation of their investment projects to the Ethiopian Investment Commission (EIC). If an investor fails to submit a report on time, the EIC has the option to suspend its investment licence. Other jurisdictions with specific local empowerment reporting requirements are Tanzania, where mining companies must submit an annual local content report, and Nigeria, where oil and gas operators must report annually to the Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board. In South Africa, where JSE-listed companies have been required to submit annual compliance reports to the B-BBEE Commission since 2018, other regulators, too, have stepped up their reporting requirements. Among them are the Competition Commission of South Africa and sector regulators such as the Independent Communications Authority of South Africa (Icasa) and the Department of Mineral Resources and Energy (DMRE). Several other sub-Saharan African jurisdictions do not (yet) have specific empowerment reporting requirements, although they do reserve the right, so to speak, to require accountability from investors. For example, Kenyan sector regulators may conduct inspections to establish the extent of compliance with local ownership rules, and in Zimbabwe, the Minister of Indigenisation may require any business to submit an indigenisation assessment for an empowerment assessment rating. Regulators and business could benefit There is method in the additional reporting requirements on localisation and ownership. Regulators are aware of the benefits of increased reporting in helping them better understand what is happening on the ground. Armed with that insight, they can identify where there might be a need for future policy change and legislative amendments. In some cases, this could be used to tighten compliance and clamp down on investors perceived as perhaps not pulling their weight. In others, it might mean possibly amending requirements that in practice have proved to be too onerous. The latter point is important. Regulation is seldom all stick and no carrot, or vice versa. Regulators do not set out to make it difficult for companies to do business and in our experience, they tend to be willing to engage and open to listening to other points of view. Hence, rather than seeing increased reporting obligations as burdensome, companies could use their reports as an opportunity to bring issues of importance to the attention of the regulators. Clear and comprehensive reporting could be as potentially beneficial to business as to the regulatory authorities. Toe the line or else... During our 14-country empowerment analysis, we observed various changes in the way regulators are enforcing compliance with empowerment regulations, particularly with ownership requirements. There is a focus, especially in South Africa, on substantive compliance and genuine empowerment. In South Africa, companies could face fines of up to 10% of annual revenue and criminal sanction if they are found guilty of fronting. Fronting is broadly defined to mean misrepresenting a companys true empowerment status. The regulator, the B-BBBE Commission, is taking a more active role investigating ownership structures to ensure the substance of such structures matches the legal form. It is also more common for regulators in the various countries we reviewed to enforce local ownership through licensing conditions or other approval processes. This is evident for example in the licensing and foreign investment approvals required in Ethiopia, Kenya, Nigeria and South Africa in respect of investment the technology, media and telecommunications sector. The South African Competition Commission has been active in considering the impact of mergers on the level of ownership by historically disadvantaged persons in target firms. This forms part of its public interest mandate. The most recent example is the controversial Burger King decision, in terms of which the Commission blocked ECP Africas proposed acquisition of Burger King South Africa because this would reduce the shareholding of historically disadvantaged persons from 68% to 0%. The Burger King decision, although still likely to be tested in the courts, illustrates the range of tools at the disposal of regulators in ensuring compliance with local ownership and empowerment requirements. If ever there was any doubt that the authorities meant business over B-BBEE, this particular ruling has hammered that point home. While few would argue that there should be consequences when it comes to enforcing local ownership and empowerment requirements, this must be tempered by a consideration of the commercial constraints faced by investors and their ability to contribute to the overall goal of developing industries and economies. Could there be any truth to the article published by The Economist in May 2021, titled "What history tells you about post-pandemic booms", which states, "...people spend more, take more risks - and demand more of politicians"? building brand love and audience; and creating revenue. The article speaks of a "boom" which, throughout history, has been seen to manifest in this way following post-traumatic events. While uncertainty remains in South Africa, it is tricky preparing for a post-Covid-19 future. OFMs approach to this anticipated economic "boom" of sorts is endorsed through its continued Living the Real Good Life brand positioning.talks to escaping the pressures of everyday life by focusing on what matters most to OFMs audience in Central South Africa a place where the freedom to enjoy a more balanced life is not only possible, but is lived through music, engagement, lifestyle, and a strong sense of community.In 2021, this positioning was driven through OFMs 35th birthday year, which the brand leveraged to generate good, wholesome radio experiences while creating steadfast product offerings that supported local business.Since March, the brand has committed to providing positive yet disruptive on-air experiences through its birthday lead campaigns, which were created to address two objectives:Marchscampaign not only reinforced the new look and feel of the OFM brand but encouraged audiences to engage by taking pictures with the newly branded OFM fleet. These vehicles were placed around the region at outside broadcasts, lifestyle events, and activations to stimulate local economies and build brand love.was a daily on-air celebration of music, which performed alongside a product offering generated from the excitement on-air. It was a theme that was heard on radio and taken to market through OFMs Pop-Up Radio offering.Mays, which spoke to one in three of the 26,000 farmers living in the OFM footprint, offered a focused and dedicated platform for all who are proudly represented inside the agri value chain.In June, OFMsinspired audiences across the region to raise R450,000 for. OFM took to the region with live broadcasts, twice a week, to challenge listeners to support a wide range of charities by purchasing a vetkoek for at least R35. The highest price paid for a vetkoek for charity was R10,000. This, and the many contributions from OFMs audience, showcased the caring and real values contained within thebrand positioning.However, the moment of truth presented itself in July when OFM celebrated its official 35th birthday through a brand-building exercise called the. This was a month-long campaign that celebrated music, engaged audiences through curiosity, and uplifted a community with a grand prize of R35,000.These strategically placed exercises and considered touchpoints are used to build the OFM audience and provide real and engaging solutions to stakeholders; this, at a time when they need local support and investment the most.In this shared spirit of Central South Africa, OFM rallies its audience to lead a really good life, made up of many, and often smaller, moments of pure fun, real connection, contribution to others, and moments of meaning.OFM exists to connect and amplify Central South Africans desire to live their best quality of life in every moment, wherever they are. The brand is real, uplifting, proud and caring to all who listen to, and invest in, OFM. This is how OFM has built the trust to become the Sound of Central South Africa over the past 35 years. Vaccine hesitancy is a very real challenge for governments around the world, and in South Africa we are certainly not immune to this trend: only just over 10% of the population has had the jab, despite the fact that anyone over the age of 18 can be vaccinated if they so choose. Timeframes Will the employer consider or does it intend making vaccinations mandatory; For which category of employees would the vaccine be mandatory; The manner in which the employer will comply with the directive; What measures will the employer implement for employees to receive the vaccine when it becomes generally available; How and under what circumstances will employers provide its employees with paid time off to receive the vaccine on condition an employee submits proof of vaccination. Abigail Reynolds Meetings/discussions with employees Age; Comorbidities; Risk of transmission due to the requirements of the position an employee holds; Any applicable current collective agreement in relation to this subject. Fundamentals of vaccination policies Notices informing employees that vaccinations are mandatory and they are required to be vaccinated when it becomes generally available; An employee's right to decline vaccination on constitutional or medical grounds. An employee's right to consult with a representative from either a trade union or health and safety representative from the committee or another workplace based representative; Provide the employee with transport to the vaccination sites where it is reasonably possible for an employer to do so; Permit employee to take sick leave or paid time off in the event he/she should suffer any adverse side effects after receiving the vaccine. Alternatively, assist the employee by making a claim on his/her behalf in terms of the Compensation for Occupational Injuries and Diseases Act. Awareness education for employees The aims should not surpass or undermine any collective agreements on the subject. The aims are an overall view and should be all-encompassing in nature with possible deviation required on a case by case basis in a specific workplace; The aims must be founded on mutual respect and creating a balance between public health imperatives, constitutional rights of employees and the proficient operation of an employer's business. Rejection of vaccination policies by employees Counsel the employee and permit him/her to discuss the matter with a trade union or health and safety representative from the committee or speak to another workplace based employee for assistance or guidance. Direct the employee to undergo further medical evaluation where the objection may be on any medical grounds. Please note that the employee must consent to undergo any additional medical evaluations; and If essential, consider and take reasonable steps to adapt the employee's job role or work environment where necessary and reasonably possible in the following manners: permit the employee to work while based at home; require the employee to self-isolate within the workplace; or issue the employee with an N95 mask and require him/her to wear it at all times while within the workplace. While getting vaccinated is not (yet) a legal requirement, employers can now implement a mandatory vaccination policy in the workplace under specific circumstances and subject to certain constitutional checks and balances. This follows the publication of the amended Consolidation Direction on Occupational Health and Safety Measures in Certain Workplaces on 11 June 2021.While this is an extremely emotional issue, employees working for certain companies may risk losing their jobs if they dont get jabbed.Abigail Reynolds from the boutique law firm Reynolds Attorneys says these are some of the salient points of the Consolidated Direction which are important for employers to know if they are going to insist that all their employees are vaccinated.An employer has 21 days, from the date the directive becomes enforceable (11 June 2021), to amend its workplace plan which must include the following:Employers must meaningfully engage with any trade unions, which have a presence in their workplace, on the mandatory vaccination policy in conjunction with any established health and safety committee within the workplace.Any subsequent policy must be open for inspection by the Department's inspectors, trade unions and the health and safety committee.These are important features to contemplate when considering the implementation and shaping of a mandatory vaccinations policy:The following must be included in a mandatory vaccination policy:Employers are responsible to raise awareness amongst their employees with regards to, inter alia, the nature, advantages and risks associated with the vaccines.The aims of these procedures or guidelines should be:Should an employee refuse to be vaccinated on constitutional or medical grounds, an employer should:The severity of the Covid-19 variant spread is extremely challenging and getting as many people vaccinated as possible is critical. However, with such widespread vaccine hesitancy happening in South Africa, this is becoming a very real challenge. Now that employers can legally insist that employees get vaccinated, we can expect to see our statistics change. However, even with this new mandatory policy, the issue remains emotionally charged and we can expect to see legal cases in future from employees who consider this discrimination, concludes Reynolds. ArcelorMittal will at least triple its iron ore production and invest an additional $800m in Liberia, following an agreement signed last week, to stay for that country for another 25 years. Annual production will increase to 15m tonnes during a first phase of expansion and could rise as high as 30m tonnes, ArcelorMittal executive chairman, Lakshmi Mittal stated at the signing ceremony.The steel and mining company first signed a 25-year deal with Liberia in 2005 and shipped the first iron ore from its Yekepa mine in 2011.It had been aiming to expand output to 15m tonnes much sooner, but those plans were put on hold in 2014 when it declared force majeure on the expansion project because of the Ebola outbreak in West Africa.Liberian President, George Weah, said production would hit 15m tonnes within the next three years and that the government would receive a total of $65m from ArcelorMittal.The project is expected to create 1,000 direct jobs, 2,000 temporary construction-related jobs and about 4,000 indirect jobs, Weah said."The government considers you an important ally in its drive to accelerate the growth of our economy under our national development plan," Weah told Mittal.Liberia, with huge mining and agriculture potential, has attracted billions of dollars in resource investment since the end of a 1989-2003 civil war, but its infrastructure remains underdeveloped and most of its five-million people live in poverty.Weah said the deal, which is an amendment to the existing agreement, still needs to be approved by his cabinet and the parliament. In the latest Health Entry and Stay Conditions for Travellers update (V3.5), South Africa is removed from Seychelles' list of 'restricted countries', which means that passengers from South Africa, vaccinated or not, will be allowed entry to the islands without need for quarantine on arrival. Source: Supplied According to the advisory, entry and stay conditions will not be affected by Covid-19 vaccination status, but visitors are strongly encouraged to be fully immunised before travel. Passengers will need to provide proof of a negative Covid-19 PCR test done within 72 hours of departure and complete a Health Travel Authorisation They will also need to provide proof of valid travel and health insurance to cover Covid-19 related quarantine, isolation or treatment.Visitors from South Africa who meet the above criteria may, whilst they are in Seychelles, stay in any certified tourism establishments with no minimum length of stay in the first establishment. They need not take a routine day five surveillance PCR Test2.Conditions for stay for children up to age 17, regardless of their vaccination status, will be as for the parent/guardian they are accompanying. Visitors who have been in Bangladesh, Brazil, India, Nepal and/or Pakistan, countries which remain on the Restricted List, in the preceding 14 days will however not be permitted entry into Seychelles.The Indian Ocean islands tourism authorities have welcomed the news, with the minister for foreign affairs and tourism, Sylvestre Radegonde professing his delight at the reopening of the market. "The opportunities that this important market offers, primarily for the fly-fishing niche, and beyond that to the South American market. With over 71% of our population fully vaccinated and the vaccination of adolescents 12-18 years well underway, Seychelles is doing what is necessary to keep both its population and its visitors safe."The pandemic and ensuing restrictions have hamstrung travel and from generating 12,000 visitors prior to the pandemic in 2019, arrivals dropped to less than 2,000 last year and to 218 as of 5 September this year.The removal of restrictions is also welcome news to a significant number of Eden Island homeowners living in South Africa who will now be able to return to Seychelles with their families.David Germain, the Tourism Seychelles regional director for Africa and the Americas who is based in Cape Town greeted the announcement with enthusiasm. "This is wonderful news, the arrival of the South African travellers back to our shores is long overdue. Travellers want to stay safe in a pure environment whilst on holiday and what better place than the Seychelles at this time of uncertainty."Tourism operators and their staff have all been trained to minimise and mitigate risk posed by Covid-19, developing standard operating protocols in collaboration with the health authorities, earning Covid-safe certification. In South Africa itself, mass vaccination of the South African public has already begun and is taking place nationwide in the country, and this is instilling confidence in travel," he said.For complete details of requirements, all visitors should consult https://advisory.seychelles.travel/ and https://seychelles.govtas.com/ prior to travel.For any additional enquiries please contact cs.vog.htlaeh@ahp or moc.sellehcyes@ofni The travel ban between South Africa and Mauritius has been lifted. South Africans can now travel to Mauritius on authorised commercial flights without first having to spend 15 days outside of the country. Source: Supplied Mauritius to fully reopen borders in October Visitors who present a negative PCR test taken in the 72 hours before their... "We welcome the decision by the Mauritian government. South Africa remains a proximity and priority market for tourism on the island. We are delighted that we will be able to restart our long-standing relationship after an 18-month ban on travel," says Arvind Bundhun, director of the Mauritius Tourism Promotion Authority (MTPA).Authorised commercial flights from South Africa to Mauritius are scheduled to commence from 1 October 2021, with Air Mauritius and Comair South Africa schedules confirmed. From 1 October, fully vaccinated travellers from South Africa will be allowed to stay at any hotel, resort or accommodation of their choice and move freely around the island.Unvaccinated travellers will have to undergo 14 days quarantine in a state-designated quarantine facility."Mauritius has worked hard to develop and implement protocols that will keep both travellers and citizens as safe as possible from Covid-19 and the effects of the pandemic. Travellers can be assured of governments commitment to the health and safety of all travellers, says Bundhun."South Africans have been longing for the Mauritius they know and love, from white sandy beaches and clear blue seas and skies, to our warm and friendly people, and so much more."Mauritius is ready and we cant wait to welcome South Africans back to our beautiful country," says Bundhun. On Sunday evening President Cyril Ramaphosa announced that South Africa would move from Adjusted Alert Level 3 to Adjusted Alert Level 2 of the lockdown, with an easing in the restrictions on movements of people and gatherings in the country. Source: SAnews.gov.za President Cyril Ramaphosa Steady decline in cases Adjusted Alert Level 2 The hours of curfew will now start at 11pm and end at 4am. Non-essential establishments like restaurants, bars and fitness centres will need to close by 10pm to allow their employees and patrons to travel home before the start of the curfew. All gatherings will be limited to a maximum of 250 people indoors and 500 people outdoors. Where the venue is too small to accommodate these numbers with appropriate social distancing, then no more than 50% of the capacity of the venue may be used. The sale of alcohol from retail outlets for off-site consumption will be permitted between 10am and 6pm from Monday to Friday. Alcohol sales for on-site consumption will be permitted as per licence conditions up to 10pm. Vaccinating the nation Local government elections and the pandemic Gender-based violence This is with effect from Monday, 13 September 2021.This follows a steady decline in new Covid-19 infections.The President said the decrease in the number of new infections across the country spurred the decision to move the country to a lower level of restrictions.While the third wave is not yet over, we have seen a sustained decline in infections across the country over the last few weeks. The average number of daily new infections over the last week is 29% lower than the preceding seven days, and 48% lower than the seven days before that.While the third wave peaked in Gauteng far earlier and declined far faster than in other provinces, there is now a marked decline across all provinces, he said.Ramaphosa said that after thorough consultations, cabinet had decided on the following measures for Adjusted Alert Level 2:The President said the measures are expected to be reviewed in two weeks and warned that infections in the Free State and Northern Cape remain a concern.On the vaccine front, President Ramaphosa announced that the country has secured enough Covid-19 vaccines to cover the entire adult population of South Africa.Ramaphosa said although securing the vaccine doses is an important step; citizens still need to come forward to get the jab.To date, at least 14.6m vaccine doses have been administered with healthcare workers vaccinating one million South Africans every four to five days.We are increasing the pace of vaccination and ensuring that we reach those that are most vulnerable to serious illness. While everyone aged 18 years and older is eligible to be vaccinated, we are concentrating our efforts and resources on those over 60 years of age and those with co-morbidities. To date, over 57% of persons over 60 years of age have been vaccinated. This is a great achievement, but we need to reach them all, he said.Thus far, seven million people are now fully vaccinated.He said vaccines remain the strongest source of protection against severe illness and encouraged all unvaccinated people in South Africa to get the jab at one of the thousands of vaccination sites in the country.There is now overwhelming evidence from hundreds of countries that vaccines are safe and provide strong protection, he said.With the country set to elect new leadership for more than 250 municipalities on 1 November 2021, President Ramaphosa said discussions with political parties were held to reiterate the importance of Covid-19 health protocols and adherence to the National State of Disaster regulations.The President also expressed concern at recent gender-based violence (GBV) incidents reported in the media. A four-and-a-half-day work week; 25 days annual leave; no emails or WhatsApps after 6pm; side hustles supported by the agency; work from anywhere and a counsellor on call - meet the through-the-line advertising agency of the future. As of 13 September 2021, CWDi will be known as Happy Friday by reinventing the agency model - for staff and clients alike. Editorial Intern - Lifestyle Department Remuneration: basic salary Location: Cape Town Education level: Diploma Job level: Student Type: Contract Reference: #Content Company: Highbury Media Have you always dreamt of working in magazines? Is it your goal to see your name in print? Highbury Media is looking for a creative, dynamic and detail-oriented features intern with a passion for all things lifestyle and print media. As a features intern in the lifestyle department, youll have the opportunity to write and contribute towards a number of popular lifestyle publications. From kids content, to careers, fashion, fitness and home decor, our ideal candidate is someone that is obsessed with all things magazines, and can think of nothing more exciting than researching and writing articles while learning about the world of print media.-Research, interview sources and write articles on various topics and for various magazines.-Assist the editors with day-to-day administrative tasks.-Brainstorm content/article ideas that are fresh and relevant and pitch them to the editors.-Assist in the running of magazines through the print cycle.-Assist with the editing of layouts.-Attend and digitally document events on behalf of the magazines.-Tertiary qualification in journalism or English with a strong interest in writing and editing.-Excellent writing, copy-editing and organisational skills.-Proactive and self-disciplined with a strong sense of responsibility.-Able to work accurately under deadline pressure.-Positive, can-do attitude with a desire to learn and improve.-A genuine interest in magazines and should regularly be engaging with magazine content.-A knowledge of google suite, Affinity Publisher and Adobe InDesign would be beneficial. Posted on 13 Sep 12:37 Magazine Graphic Designer Remuneration: R28000 - R32000 per month basic salary Location: Johannesburg Education level: Diploma Job level: Mid/Senior Type: Permanent Reference: #YG#C_GraphicDesigner Company: Cardilogix Job description A copy of your CV. A copy of your portfolio. A link to your online portfolio or links showcasing your work. To conceptualise and through creative thinking using your imaginary design skills, produce outstanding creative work within the scope of the brand and creative brief supplied and present to client. The responsibility vests in the attitude, behaviour, determination and accountability to pursue all avenues in order to ensure that the end product/design craft is of a high standard. By taking ownership, pride and the use of all available resources, the end product/design craft should project a keen attention to detail. Exceptionally fast conceptual skills. A portfolio that demonstrates these skills beyond a shadow of doubt and the results of the activities to prove it. Finely honed design skills and latest techniques graphic designer. Capability to take on campaigns with multi-element tasks which require a concept and a thought through process Previous big name agency exp and matching big brand exp is essential Requirements Must be fully computer literate on Mac in Freehand and Adobe: Photoshop, InDesign etc. Must have strong conceptual skills Raw design talent must be evident Strong on running and meeting tight deadlines You must really, really have a good given design talent Must have a diploma/degree in fine arts/design or similar Previous agency experience essential Preference would be given to candidates with branding agency experience Portfolio imperative to showcase your work Min 5-7 years' experience essential Able to do design, conceptualisation, etc. A creative studio is seeking to hire a talentedto join their team as soon as possible. Full time.Based at our clients offices in Jozi.The search is on in finding the perfect candidate who combines conceptual and creative excellence with experience in design.This is a key role within the agency. You will be a key graphic designer across a number of extremely high profile accounts and will constantly champion excellent creative standards throughout the company.Please only apply if you have the relevant experience as per our job ad. Our client does not have the capacity to train anyone you need to hit the ground running.Your application will be passed to our team of recruitment consultants and should your skills and experience match the recruitment needs of our client, we will be in touch within a 96 hour turn-around time.Should you not hear from us, please treat your application for this job as unsuccessful. Posted on 13 Sep 11:41 Conceptual Designer / Art Director Remuneration: cost-to-company Location: Johannesburg, Ilovo Education level: Diploma Job level: Mid/Senior Own transport required: Yes Travel requirement: Occasional Type: Permanent Reference: #SNR DESIGNER Company: CBR MARKETING SOLUTIONS Job description Bachelors degree required and/or minimum of three to five years experience within a similar agency environment - High Volume environment and tight deadlines. Retail advertising experience preferential. A powerful creative portfolio is required - that demonstrates originality, innovation and problem-solving. Demonstrated ability to manage multiple projects simultaneously, set priorities, utilise resources, identify and address problems, meet deadlines, and stay within scope. Adobe Photoshop Adobe InDesign Adobe Illustrator The following would be a plus: Adobe After Effects Adobe Premiere Strong interpersonal skills; a team player, persuasive negotiator, positive and innovative thinker. Maintain high standards for execution and attention to detail. Highly motivated and a high level of initiative; ability to work independently, in support of the agencys creative goals and the clients business objectives. It is expected that work produced will require a minimal amount of feedback from the Head Of Design You should always be aware of the latest digital and technology trends Seniors at CBR are expected to inspire the more junior members of the team and, more significantly, you will be required to mentor them. Develop and execute conceptual designs across integrated campaigns with a copywriter Understand the clients strategy and business context, and always aim to do work that performs Come up with award-worthy proactive ideas for our clients. Be client-facing and confident in presenting your own work . An exceptional eye for detail. Attention to detail and craft. Creative excellence, proactivity, and innovative thinking ( Application will not be considered without a portfolio ) Requirements Adobe Photoshop Adobe InDesign Adobe Illustrator Adobe After Effects Adobe Premiere We are looking for those who see the picture the moment they first hear the idea, who have spent countless hours mastering their visual craft, and are searching for a new and exciting challenge!!The challenge? Joining CBR Marketing in our never-ending mission to Redefine The Line!Closing date : 30 SEPT 2021If you have not received any communication within two weeks of the closing date, please consider your application as unsuccessful.The following would be a plus:3 years plus experience as a creative designer within a similar industry - high volume and fast paced. Posted on 13 Sep 11:13 Social Media Manager Remuneration: negotiable negotiable depending on experience Location: Cape Town Job level: Mid Travel requirement: Occasional Job policy: Employment Equity position Type: Contract Reference: #SSD005 Company: Superseed Studio Responding to customer queries, comment on social platforms according to strict service-level agreements (one-hour response rate). Build relationships with the online community. Monitor and provide feedback on engagement/conversation via social media channels to leadership. Closely monitor the brands social platforms and use listening tools to champion the brands reputation. Pick up and escalate online incidents with the potential to damage the brands reputation. Write personable, brand-appropriate and grammatically flawless responses to all queries and complaints, following best-practice for customer service via social platforms. Monthly reporting on social media KPI's. Presenting monthly insights across social media channels to the internal team and client. Experience with Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, TikTok. Experience with social advertising campaign setup and management is advantageous. Superseed Digital, based in Cape Town, is looking for a mid-level Social Media Manager to manage and drive community engagement across platforms of an NGO working with adolescent girls and young women (AGYW).The role requires someone fluent in English, isiZulu and Setswana vernacular and understanding of health services, particularly in HIV prevention, Gender-based Violence, and behavioural programmes.Role will see you responsible for driving and managing online engagement in collaboration with the team, distributing NGO resources, and positive sentiment via content-based and social media marketing campaigns to achieve improved online reach with the, but not limited to, AGYW target market.This is not a content creation role.Main responsibilities:Posted on 13 Sep 15:17 Retail DTP Operator Remuneration: to be discussed Location: Johannesburg Education level: Matric Job level: Mid Type: Permanent Reference: #RETAIL DTP Company: Worldwide Positions Job description Requirements Matric Solid retail DTP experience Able to make work print ready MAC Adobe CS, specificaly InDesign Own transport Valid license Full DTP/layout/finished art role within a retail advertising environment.This is not a Graphic Design role. It will be layout and getting retail work print-ready.Please state job ad reference in subject line of application email.Do not send portfolios.Please state job ad reference in the subject line of your application emailPosted on 13 Sep 11:37 Research conducted by the University of California has found that teenage boys are six times more likely to suffer from heart problems caused by the COVID-19 vaccine than to be hospitalized as a result of COVID-19 itself. Wow. A team led by Dr Tracy Hoeg at the University of California investigated the rate of cardiac myocarditis heart inflammation and chest pain in children aged 12-17 following their second dose of the vaccine, reports the Telegraph. They then compared this with the likelihood of children needing hospital treatment owing to Covid-19, at times of low, moderate and high rates of hospitalisation. Researchers found that the risk of heart complications for boys aged 12-15 following the vaccine was 162.2 per million, which was the highest out of all the groups they looked at. This compares to the risk of a healthy boy being hospitalized as a result of a COVID infection, which is around 26.7 per million, meaning the risk they face from the vaccine is 6.1 times higher. Even during high risk rates of COVID, such as in January this year, the threat posed by the vaccine is 4.3 times higher, while during low risk rates, the risk of teenage boys suffering a cardiac adverse event from the vaccine is a whopping 22.8 times higher. The research data was based on a study of adverse reactions suffered by teens between January and June this year. In a sane world, such data should represent the nail in the coffin for the argument that teenagers and children should be mandated to take the coronavirus vaccine, but it obviously wont. In the UK, the government is pushing to vaccinate 12-15-year-olds, even without parental consent, despite the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) advising against it. Meanwhile, in America, Los Angeles County school officials voted unanimously to mandate COVID shots for all children over 12 despite angry objections from parents. Brand new merch now available! Get it at https://www.pjwshop.com/ In the age of mass Silicon Valley censorship It is crucial that we stay in touch. I need you to sign up for my free newsletter here. Support my sponsor Turbo Force a supercharged boost of clean energy without the comedown. Get early access, exclusive content and behinds the scenes stuff by following me on Locals. What a strange and harrowing road weve walked since September 11, 2001, littered with the debris of our once-vaunted liberties. We have gone from a nation that took great pride in being a model of a representative democracy to being a model of how to persuade a freedom-loving people to march in lockstep with a police state. Our losses are mounting with every passing day. What began with the post-9/11 passage of the USA Patriot Act has snowballed into the eradication of every vital safeguard against government overreach, corruption and abuse. The citizenrys unquestioning acquiescence to anything the government wants to do in exchange for the phantom promise of safety and security has resulted in a society where the nation has been locked down into a militarized, mechanized, hypersensitive, legalistic, self-righteous, goose-stepping antithesis of every principle upon which this nation was founded. Set against a backdrop of government surveillance, militarized police, SWAT team raids, asset forfeiture, eminent domain, overcriminalization, armed surveillance drones, whole body scanners, stop and frisk searches, police violence and the likeall of which have been sanctioned by Congress, the White House and the courtsour constitutional freedoms have been steadily chipped away at, undermined, eroded, whittled down, and generally discarded. The rights embodied in the Constitution, if not already eviscerated, are on life support. Free speech, the right to protest, the right to challenge government wrongdoing, due process, a presumption of innocence, the right to self-defense, accountability and transparency in government, privacy, press, sovereignty, assembly, bodily integrity, representative government: all of these and more have become casualties in the governments war on the American people, a war that has grown more pronounced since 9/11. Indeed, since the towers fell on 9/11, the U.S. government has posed a greater threat to our freedoms than any terrorist, extremist or foreign entity ever could. While nearly 3,000 people died in the 9/11 attacks, the U.S. government and its agents have easily killed at least ten times that number of civilians in the U.S. and abroad since 9/11 through its police shootings, SWAT team raids, drone strikes and profit-driven efforts to police the globe, sell weapons to foreign nations (which too often fall into the hands of terrorists), and foment civil unrest in order to keep the security industrial complex gainfully employed. The American people have been treated like enemy combatants, to be spied on, tracked, scanned, frisked, searched, subjected to all manner of intrusions, intimidated, invaded, raided, manhandled, censored, silenced, shot at, locked up, denied due process, and killed. In allowing ourselves to be distracted by terror drills, foreign wars, color-coded warnings, pandemic lockdowns and other carefully constructed exercises in propaganda, sleight of hand, and obfuscation, we failed to recognize that the U.S. governmentthe government that was supposed to be a government of the people, by the people, for the peoplehas become the enemy of the people. Consider that the governments answer to every problem has been more governmentat taxpayer expenseand less individual liberty. Every crisismanufactured or otherwisesince the nations early beginnings has become a make-work opportunity for the government to expand its reach and its power at taxpayer expense while limiting our freedoms at every turn: The Great Depression. The World Wars. The 9/11 terror attacks. The COVID-19 pandemic. Viewed in this light, the history of the United States is a testament to the old adage that liberty decreases as government (and government bureaucracy) grows. Or, to put it another way, as government expands, liberty contracts. This is how the emergency state operates, after all, and we should know: after all, we have spent the past 20 years in a state of emergency. From 9/11 to COVID-19, we the people have acted the part of the helpless, gullible victims desperately in need of the government to save us from whatever danger threatens. In turn, the government has been all too accommodating and eager while also expanding its power and authority in the so-called name of national security. This is a government that has grown so corrupt, greedy, power-hungry and tyrannical over the course of the past 240-plus years that our constitutional republic has since given way to idiocracy, and representative government has given way to a kleptocracy (a government ruled by thieves) and a kakistocracy (a government run by unprincipled career politicians, corporations and thieves that panders to the worst vices in our nature and has little regard for the rights of American citizens). What this really amounts to is a war on the American people, fought on American soil, funded with taxpayer dollars, and waged with a single-minded determination to use national crises, manufactured or otherwise, in order to transform the American homeland into a battlefield. Indeed, the governments (mis)management of various states of emergency in the past 20 years has spawned a massive security-industrial complex the likes of which have never been seen before. According to the National Priorities Project at the progressive Institute for Policy Studies, since 9/11, the United States has spent $21 trillion on militarization, surveillance, and repression. Clearly, this is not a government that is a friend to freedom. Rather, this is a government that, in conjunction with its corporate partners, views the citizenry as consumers and bits of data to be bought, sold and traded. This is a government that spies on and treats its people as if they have no right to privacy, especially in their own homes while the freedom to be human is being erased. This is a government that is laying the groundwork to weaponize the publics biomedical data as a convenient means by which to penalize certain unacceptable social behaviors. Incredibly, a new government agency HARPA (a healthcare counterpart to the Pentagons research and development arm DARPA) will take the lead in identifying and targeting signs of mental illness or violent inclinations among the populace by using artificial intelligence to collect data from Apple Watches, Fitbits, Amazon Echo and Google Home. This is a government that routinely engages in taxation without representation, whose elected officials lobby for our votes only to ignore us once elected. This is a government comprised of petty bureaucrats, vigilantes masquerading as cops, and faceless technicians. This is a government that railroads taxpayers into financing government programs whose only purpose is to increase the power and wealth of the corporate elite. This is a governmenta warring empirethat forces its taxpayers to pay for wars abroad that serve no other purpose except to expand the reach of the military industrial complex. This is a government that subjects its people to scans, searches, pat downs and other indignities by the TSA and VIPR raids on so-called soft targets like shopping malls and bus depots by black-clad, Darth Vader look-alikes. This is a government that uses fusion centers, which represent the combined surveillance efforts of federal, state and local law enforcement, to track the citizenrys movements, record their conversations, and catalogue their transactions. This is a government whose wall-to-wall surveillance has given rise to a suspect society in which the burden of proof has been reversed such that Americans are now assumed guilty until or unless they can prove their innocence. This is a government that treats its people like second-class citizens who have no rights, and is working overtime to stigmatize and dehumanize any and all who do not fit with the governments plans for this country. This is a government that uses free speech zones, roving bubble zones and trespass laws to silence, censor and marginalize Americans and restrict their First Amendment right to speak truth to power. This is a government that persists in renewing the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), which allows the president and the military to arrest and detain American citizens indefinitely based on the say-so of the government. This is a government that saddled us with the Patriot Act, which opened the door to all manner of government abuses and intrusions on our privacy. This is a government that, in direct opposition to the dire warnings of those who founded our country, has allowed the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to establish a standing army by way of programs that transfer surplus military hardware to local and state police. This is a government that has militarized Americans domestic police, equipping them with military weapons such as tens of thousands of machine guns; nearly 200,000 ammunition magazines; a million hollow-point bullets; thousands of pieces of camouflage and night-vision equipment; and hundreds of silencers, armored cars and aircraft, in addition to armored vehicles, sound cannons and the like. This is a government that has provided cover to police when they shoot and kill unarmed individuals just for standing a certain way, or moving a certain way, or holding somethinganythingthat police could misinterpret to be a gun, or igniting some trigger-centric fear in a police officers mind that has nothing to do with an actual threat to their safety. This is a government that has created a Constitution-free zone within 100 miles inland of the border around the United States, paving the way for Border Patrol agents to search peoples homes, intimately probe their bodies, and rifle through their belongings, all without a warrant. Nearly 66% of Americans (2/3 of the U.S. population, 197.4 million people) now live within that 100-mile-deep, Constitution-free zone. This is a government that treats public school students as if they were prison inmates, enforcing zero tolerance policies that criminalize childish behavior, and indoctrinating them with teaching that emphasizes rote memorization and test-taking over learning, synthesizing and critical thinking. This is a government that is operating in the negative on every front: its spending far more than what it makes (and takes from the American taxpayers) and it is borrowing heavily (from foreign governments and Social Security) to keep the government operating and keep funding its endless wars abroad. Meanwhile, the nations sorely neglected infrastructurerailroads, water pipelines, ports, dams, bridges, airports and roadsis rapidly deteriorating. This is a government that has empowered police departments to make a profit at the expense of those they have sworn to protect through the use of asset forfeiture laws, speed traps, and red light cameras. This is a government whose gun violenceinflicted on unarmed individuals by battlefield-trained SWAT teams, militarized police, and bureaucratic government agents trained to shoot first and ask questions laterposes a greater threat to the safety and security of the nation than any mass shooter. There are now reportedly more bureaucratic (non-military) government agents armed with high-tech, deadly weapons than U.S. Marines. This is a government that has allowed the presidency to become a dictatorship operating above and beyond the law, regardless of which party is in power. This is a government that treats dissidents, whistleblowers and freedom fighters as enemies of the state. This is a government that has in recent decades unleashed untold horrors upon the worldincluding its own citizenryin the name of global conquest, the acquisition of greater wealth, scientific experimentation, and technological advances, all packaged in the guise of the greater good. This is a government that allows its agents to break laws with immunity while average Americans get the book thrown at them. This is a government that speaks in a language of force. What is this language of force? Militarized police. Riot squads. Camouflage gear. Black uniforms. Armored vehicles. Mass arrests. Pepper spray. Tear gas. Batons. Strip searches. Surveillance cameras. Kevlar vests. Drones. Lethal weapons. Less-than-lethal weapons unleashed with deadly force. Rubber bullets. Water cannons. Stun grenades. Arrests of journalists. Crowd control tactics. Intimidation tactics. Brutality. Contempt of cop charges. This is a government that justifies all manner of government tyranny and power grabs in the so-called name of national security, national crises and national emergencies. This is a government that exports violence worldwide, with one of this countrys most profitable exports being weapons. Indeed, the United States, the worlds largest exporter of arms, has been selling violence to the world in order to prop up the military industrial complex and maintain its endless wars abroad. This is a government that is consumed with squeezing every last penny out of the population and seemingly unconcerned if essential freedoms are trampled in the process. This is a government that routinely undermines the Constitution and rides roughshod over the rights of the citizenry, eviscerating individual freedoms so that its own powers can be expanded. This is a government that believes it has the authority to search, seize, strip, scan, spy on, probe, pat down, taser, and arrest any individual at any time and for the slightest provocation, the Constitution be damned. In other words, as I make clear in my book Battlefield America: The War on the American People and in its fictional counterpart The Erik Blair Diaries, this is not a government that believes in, let alone upholds, freedom. WC: 2184 Help Our Community Please help local businesses by taking an online survey to help us navigate through these unprecedented times. None of the responses will be shared or used for any other purpose except to better serve our community. The survey is at: www.pulsepoll.com $1,000 is being awarded. Everyone completing the survey will be able to enter a contest to Win as our way of saying, "Thank You" for your time. Thank You! Take The Survey What's Included With a Digital Only subscription, you'll receive unlimited access to our website and e-edition. Our digital products are available 24/7 and are accessible anywhere, anytime. If you have any questions or need further assistance, please call our customer service team at 814-368-3173 or email nfinnerty@oleantimesherald.com. A question in a Brandon Sun story published Saturday regarding the rules around election voters with dementia was left unanswered, until now. Advertisement Advertise With Us A question in a Brandon Sun story published Saturday regarding the rules around election voters with dementia was left unanswered, until now. The Sun asked Elections Canada whether a person who has the power of attorney over a resident of a long-term care home, who may be in unfit condition to make such a decision, can refuse the voter that action. The Sun hadnt received a response by press time. After publication, Elections Canada provided a response: "To the extent the elector satisfies the other conditions required to vote, the power of attorney cannot be used to prevent the person to vote." On Saturday, the Sun received an email from a reader who wished not to be identified but works in a long-term care facility. "This has been an ongoing problem with people with dementia. If they are considered incapable of managing their affairs, they are incapable of voting. If the POA votes for them, they are really voting twice which is illegal. I have worked at LTC for many years and this has always been a problem every election." The original article "Rules around voters with dementia spark concern" can be read online at www.brandonsun.com. kkielley@brandonsun.com Westmans only Green Party of Canada federal election candidate has journeyed a long way to campaign but its familiar terrain. Advertisement Advertise With Us SUBMITTED Shirley Lambrecht of Vancouver Island is running as the Green Party's candidate in Dauphin-Swan River-Neepawa. Westmans only Green Party of Canada federal election candidate has journeyed a long way to campaign but its familiar terrain. Shirley Lambrecht of Vancouver Island is representing the Greens in Dauphin-Swan River-Neepawa in the Sept. 20 federal election. In an interview with the Sun last week, Lambrecht said the area is familiar to her coming from the Regina area and working for SaskTel for many years before moving further west. Originally she had put her name forward in the nomination battle for Cowichan-Malahat-Langford near British Columbias provincial capital of Victoria, but after her friend Lia Versaevel won the race, she arranged with the party to run in Manitoba. "The reason I reached out for that riding is because it has a large agricultural base," she said about running for a B.C. nomination. "A lot of small farms and a lot of neat things going on there. A friend of mine also ran at the same time, so we looked on it as either way, the party wins." Since her platform in the nomination race on Vancouver Island was agricultural-focused and she grew up around farmers during her Saskatchewan childhood, she said that helped draw her to Dauphin-Swan River-Neepawa when the party sought to place her elsewhere as a candidate. At first, it didnt look like she would be able to run there as someone else had expressed in flying the partys banner, but they ended up dropping out and she was able to take the slot. Now shes residing on a farm in the Dauphin area as she runs her first-ever campaign for public office. She said she loved the area already, having vacationed at Clear Lake and Riding Mountain National Park before. "I absolutely love it here," she said. "I instantly felt like I was at home." According to her, she first got interested in the Green Partys message approximately three years ago when she attended a town hall meeting with former party leader Elizabeth May. "Before that town hall meeting, I had all these questions and all these concerns," she said. "I wrote a letter that was four pages long that I was planning on sending to Elizabeth May. "In the course of that meeting, three pages of my questions were answered. I left that meeting feeling like Id found my political home." One of the major things that appealed to her about the party is that its members of Parliament are not whipped on specific issues and are allowed to vote their conscience on any given matter. She believes this helps Greens to better represent their constituents instead of following the party line. Beyond that, the partys environmental and social justice platforms really spoke to her. "That was my segue into the Green Party the concerns over the environment but also the knowledge and the science and that it wasnt just a bunch of people with a bunch of ideas," she said. "It was very grounded in science. I think thats important because a lot of folks dont realize how science-based the Green Party actually is." Farmers across Manitoba, including in Dauphin-Swan River-Neepawa have been hit hard by severe drought conditions this year. Lambrecht said she has lived experience of being in that situation. "We lived through drought," she said of her childhood. "My parents faced that. The crops burned and as far as support (goes), it was minimal. We need to do a much better job of supporting our farmers. I think thats part of our plan and a part of our platform, there needs to be, like any other sector of society ... a safety net, and in my mind, every government from the time I was four years old has done a poor job of supporting farmers. They dont seem to realize this is where our food comes from. "When I look at what else is a priority, when I look at what industries get subsidized in this country, oil gets subsidized (and) food does not." On the subject of the oil industry, she says workers and companies in the sector cant be abandoned and need to be supported as the country transitions to greener energy sources. In the campaigning shes done so far, Lambrecht said shes heard people expressing concerns over climate change and its effects on agriculture. "Ive talked to people and I hate to use the term and the burning issue of the day is the crops," she said. "Where do we go, where is the support when our crops are failing or the yields are very low?" The other major concern being brought up are the complications the COVID-19 pandemic is inflicted on people, like mushrooming debt. Because of the short campaign and concerns over the potential start of a fourth wave of the pandemic, Lambrecht said, she would be doing a lot of her campaigning in online town hall meetings and telephone calls to prospective voters. cslark@brandonsun.com Twitter: @ColinSlark The Wings to War memorial was officially unveiled in Carberry on Saturday at the Carberry Plains Museum. Advertisement Advertise With Us KIMBERLEY KIELLEY/THE BRANDON SUN At 102 years old, Second World War veteran, Ralph Wild (front left), still knows how to have a laugh as he and base Cmdr. of CFB Shilo, Lt.-Col. Chris Wood, share a chuckle at the Wings to War memorial unveiling in Carberry on Saturday. Behind Wild, from left to right, are: Canadian Legion Branch #153 president, Chris Flood; Capt. Peter MacEachen Blood, Royal Artillery exchange officer with 1 RCHA at CFB Shilo; Maj. M. Houle of 3 Canadian Forces Flying Training School in Portage la Prairie; and Capt. William Brandon of the 26th Field Artillery Regiment in Brandon. The Wings to War memorial was officially unveiled in Carberry on Saturday at the Carberry Plains Museum. Three engraved granite benches, surrounded by a row of flags from the different countries the Commonwealth pilots came from who trained at the school, sat in front of about 100 people Saturday. The memorial commemorates the towns former Second World War pilot training school, the Carberry #33 Service Flying Training School, the people who died while training at the school, the ones who served overseas and the ones who never came home. Twenty-four people died training during the war in Carberry, according to the Manitoba Historical Societys website. On hand were local dignitaries and special guests to mark the event. As New Zealanders had a presence at the school for training during the war, the High Commissioner of New Zealand to Canada, Martin Harvey, sent a letter to the town. Mayor of Carberry, Stuard Olmstead, read the letter. "This commemoration is about them; it is about the 5,906 servicemen who trained together here in Carberry, and it is about the ties which have bound us together for so long. May this monument stand as an enduring symbol of the shared sacrifice and bonds of cooperation between our nations, in the past and in the years ahead." Capt. Peter MacEachen Blood, representative of the Queens Council, and Royal Artillery officer on exchange with First Royal Canadian Horse Artillery (1 RCHA) for the British Forces at CFB Shilo, also presented a letter on behalf of the British government in Canada. The letter was from Jonathan Turner, the British Consul General, and was in recognition of the thousands of airmen and airwomen who were trained at the Royal Air Force #33 Service Flying Training School base in Carberry. (KIMBERLEY KIELLEY/THE BRANDON SUN) Ralph Wild. Children of the servicemen who worked and trained at the school during the war, also sat in the audience. The daughters of two airmen from the school, Beverley Weibe and Lori Brooking, officially cut the blue ribbon as part of the unveiling of the memorial. But, it was when 102-year-old Ralph Wild stood up to talk that you could hear a pin drop. With one hand on the podium and the other on his cane, Wild spoke about the events that led him to the Carberry flight school. Wild was born Oct. 27, 1918. He joined the RAF in 1938 and was involved in the Battle of Britain. Eventually, he was sent to Canada with the RAF and travelled across the country by train. Landing in Carberry was a bit of a shock as he recalled the "jolting halt" of the train and looked out the window only to see snow for the first time. That was Dec. 3, 1940. "We had to march from Carberry (train station) to the base. Ill never forget that walk," he told the crowd. After spending time in the war back home in England, Wild recalled the six-inch mattress he slept on in the school in Carberry and the hot and cold water. "Life was heaven," he said, chuckling. But it was the generosity of strangers that made Wild tear up as he remembered the family who billetted him in Winnipeg while he was on leave during his time in Carberry. "I have never met people more neighbourly and generous than Canadians," he said. Eventually, Wild married a Canadian nurse and they had three children. He credits his long life and good health to exercise, eating right, not smoking or drinking and wearing his Sunday best. At 102, Wild still cuts an impressive figure. The Carberry #33 Service Flying Training School is now the site of the McCain potato-processing plant. The school trained 5,902 pilots for the allied war effort from December 1940 to November 1945. During the Second World War, the British Commonwealth Air Training Plan operated 151 schools across Canada and trained 131,553 aircrew (72,835 were Canadian). Those trained aircrew included pilots, wireless operators, air gunners and navigators and other less prominent roles for the Air Forces of Great Britain, Australia, New Zealand and Canada. Carberry was SFTS #33. The site construction cost $850,000. Training aircraft were typically the Avro Anson or Harvard planes. On Saturday, two antique planes, a Cornell and Tiger Moth, from the Commonwealth Air Training Plan Museum in Brandon, were flown overhead by volunteers from the museum as part of the days celebrations. kkielley@brandonsun.com CHARLOTTETOWN - For the first time since the start of the pandemic Prince Edward Island is declaring a COVID-19 outbreak in a school. CHARLOTTETOWN - For the first time since the start of the pandemic Prince Edward Island is declaring a COVID-19 outbreak in a school. Chief medical officer of health Dr. Heather Morrison announced six new cases of COVID-19 in the province Sunday, all in children under the age of 19. "We do have a serious situation with COVID-19 transmission in P.E.I. involving children," Morrison told reporters at a Sunday afternoon briefing. The new infections come in addition to a case announced Saturday involving a student at Charlottetown's West Royalty Elementary School. "Close contacts are being identified and will be required to test and self-isolate, especially those who are not fully vaccinated," Morrison said. "I fully expect we will have more positive cases in the coming days." In-person classes at West Royalty Elementary have been cancelled for the coming week, while classes are cancelled for the next three days at 17 other schools in the area to allow for contact tracing and testing. "At this point we do not know the extent of COVID-19 transmission in our schools or in our province," Morrison said, adding that officials have not determined if the cases are the result of travel outside the province or are examples of community spread. Premier Dennis King also took part in the news conference and said it's important that the right steps are taken quickly to help contain the outbreak. "We know that children under 12 are able to best excel when they are in classroom learning, when they are able to participate in extracurricular activities and when they are able to interact with their family and their friends," King said. "It's important that we do everything we can to catch this as quickly as we can so that we can get back to getting these students back into our classrooms," he added. Morrison said 10 of the most recent 11 COVID-19 cases in the province involve people under the age of 19. "This is not the news any of us want to hear," she said. There are 14 active infections in the province. This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 12, 2021. - By Kevin Bissett in Fredericton. Want to praise someone or get something off your chest? Darts and Pats is the place to do it. A childcare centre in Melbournes southwest and the offices of disability support group in the east of the city have been added as tier-1 exposure sites. The Newport Gardens Early Years Centre on Maddox Road in Newport has been added for two exposures on September 6: between 8.30am and 10am and between 3.15pm and 4pm. The office of AQA Qualcare on Heidelberg Road in Fairfield has also been listed for an exposure that took place between 8.05am and 4.05pm on September 3. Anyone who was at either of these locations at the specified times needs to get tested for COVID-19 and isolate for 14 days regardless of the result. Two apartment complexes were also added as tier-2 locations on Tuesday evening. A bayside apartment building on Esplanade East in Port Melbourne was listed as an exposure site for an eight-day period to Tuesday. While another set of units on Alma Road in St Kilda East has been listed for a five-day period through to Tuesday. Anyone who attended these apartment buildings during that time needs to isolate until they test negative for COVID-19. You can view the details of the more than 1000 Victorian exposure sites at the Victorian governments website Counter-terrorism police have arrested an alleged right-wing extremist accused of possessing a blueprint to 3D-print a gun and making significant preparations to manufacture a firearm. Mitchell Priest, 26, from Orange, has been charged over the digital blueprint banned by NSW firearm laws which was allegedly found on his phone after police raided his home on Friday. Police say Mr Priest had also been importing legal items to be used for manufacturing weapons over 14 months. The investigation into his activities began less than two weeks ago when the Australian Border Force intercepted a package destined for Orange and containing a firearm component. The states top Indigenous health body says the Health Minister Brad Hazzard and the Chief Health Officer are yet to discuss the pandemic response for First Nations communities with peak Aboriginal health organisations. As a COVID-19 outbreak disproportionately affecting vulnerable Aboriginal people continues to spread in western NSW, the Aboriginal Health and Medical Research Council of NSW (AHMRC) has told a parliamentary inquiry it hasnt had a proper meeting with health authorities since the pandemic began 18 months ago. Chief Health Office Kerry Chant and Health Minister Brad Hazzard pictured at an earlier COVID-19 update. Credit:Kate Geraghty More than 1000 cases of COVID-19 have now been recorded across the states west and far west to date, with communities such as Wilcannia where more than 60 per cent of the residents are Aboriginal particularly hard hit. We didnt have a sit down with the Health Minister around this current outbreak, nor have we sat down with the Chief Health Officer to work through the public health response, nor have we sat down with them about the reopening of NSW, said Dr Peter Malouf, its executive director of operations. Queensland has reported two new local COVID-19 cases linked to the Sunnybank cluster on Monday, but authorities believe the situation remains in hand, winding back some restrictions on visits to vulnerable facilities. The two new cases are students at St Thomas More College in the southern Brisbane suburb, also attended by a 13-year-old girl whose mystery case sparked lockdown fears into the weekend. Chief Health Officer Jeannette Young told reporters the students had been among the more than 1000 families linked to the school who had been ordered into home quarantine, but one was infectious in the community for a short period. So there are some additional exposure venues up on the website, Dr Young said at the daily COVID-19 update. But Im fairly confident that that cluster is in hand. Anthony Albanese likes to remind people of where he has come from: public housing, son of a single mum, Sydneys inner west. It is a well-worn narrative. He also likes to spruik himself as a diversity candidate. Kristina Keneallys decision to contest a lower house seat has ignited a debate about ethnic diversity in the Labor Party. Credit:Alex Ellinghausen In fact, he says it will be a first at the next election that theres someone called Albanese running for prime minister. If you look at the names whove run for the highest office in the land, of prime minister, theyve all been people with Anglo-Celtic names across the board, he said a few days ago. Save Log in , register or subscribe to save articles for later. Normal text size Larger text size Very large text size Nick Minchin isnt surprised Australias future submarines are arriving later than expected and $40 billion more expensive. He has seen it all before. As finance minister for six years in the Howard government, Minchin was responsible for the taxpayer-funded company ASC, which built Australias six Collins-class submarines between 1990 and 2003. Shortly after taking over the portfolio, Minchin noticed the original projections for the cost of maintaining and operating the Swedish-designed submarines seemed significantly out of step with reality. By that stage, the submarines were costing taxpayers hundreds of millions of dollars a year to maintain. Nick Minchin was responsible for ASC, the company that built the Collins submarines, in the Howard government. Credit:Glen McCurtayne Minchin asked senior Defence officials how they came up with the estimate. One defence official told the then-finance minister they assumed the cost of maintaining the previous generation of submarines, the Oberons - built in the 1950s and 70s - would be the proper basis for calculating the cost of the Collins. I was staggered by that, no wonder we ran into financial difficulties with Defences estimates of maintaining and operating these things, Minchin tells The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age. The cost of maintaining the Collins submarines has always been significantly beyond any sort of budget that Defence had contemplated. Advertisement We had enormous issues with the Collins. Almost every National Security Committee meeting, Cabinet meeting, Expenditure Review Committee meeting that I was involved in the issue of submarines came in. Now, history is repeating itself. Australias 12 new attack-class submarines Australias largest military acquisition in its history were originally slated to cost between $40 billion and $50 billion. According to the latest projections they will now cost about $90 billion to build and $145 billion to maintain over their life cycle. Despite the fact former prime minister Tony Abbott promised the first of the submarines would be in the water by the mid-2020s, it is now not scheduled to become operational until the mid-2030s. In the current debate on Australias submarine debacle, French-bashing has been all the rage. And with French builder Naval Groups cost blowouts, schedule slippages and dubious commitments on meeting local content requirements its been an easy sport. But its worth asking: would we have arrived at this point regardless of which bidder we chose? After all, Defences acquisition debacles are not confined to French-designed submarines. The transition from the Oberons to Collins was badly botched the first Collins was commissioned to the Royal Australian Navy in 1996, 18 months behind schedule. Despite this, based on international benchmarks, the Collins fleet is now seen as a well-performing fleet in terms of availability. And its not just submarines where there are inherent problems. The government this year announced an 18-month delay to the $45 billion Future Frigate program, meaning the first frigate will not be in service until 2033. In Minchins view, the rot set way back in the 1980s, as a bipartisan view formed that Defences major acquisitions must be built in Australia. Advertisement The real problem goes back to the decision in relation to the Collins where frankly it was driven by industry policy and regional employment policy, rather than strict defence capability criteria. That is really the beginning of our problems with submarines. Why submarines? Submarines, which can travel both underwater and on the surface, have long been a vital military capability for the biggest navies in the world. Modern submarines can operate under the surface undetected for long periods of time, providing an indispensable tool for surveillance as well as a credible threat to sink surface ships with torpedoes or anti-ship missiles. China is estimated to have about 74 submarines, while the United States has 69. North Korea is widely listed as having the most submarines in the world with 75, but the majority are believed to be outdated and regionally inferior. Australia only has the six Collins-class submarines. Chinas growing assertiveness across a number of flashpoints the Taiwan Strait, the South China Sea or East China Sea has increased the chance of conflict breaking out on the high seas. Last years Defence Strategic Update said the prospect of high-intensity conflict in the Indo-Pacific, while still unlikely, is less remote than in the past. It warned the country no longer had a 10-year window to build its defences. With the first future submarine not projected to arrive until 2035, and the frigate just two years earlier, Defences warning is bleak. The proposal for 12 new submarines first appeared in the 2009 Defence White Paper, and was championed by then-prime minister Kevin Rudd. This was the year Beijing announced its expansive sovereignty claims in the South China Sea, which was the beginning of its drive to militarise the disputed waterway by building naval bases on artificial reefs. Rudd says the proposal for the new submarines was a realistic assessment of Chinas evolving strategic posture in our region, particularly the South China Sea. Some doubt the value of submarines, often because they only think of submarines in the context of open warfare, he says. Submarines are worth it for their strategic strike, intelligence collection and special operations support capabilities, as well as anti-ship and anti-submarine warfare. We need the flexibility to respond to all sorts of challenges, and submarines are an essential arrow to that strategic bow. Advertisement After Rudd was deposed a year later, the Labor government never ventured close to choosing a builder. While Rudd has been critical of then-treasurer Wayne Swans gouging of the defence budget in his fruitless pursuit of a budget surplus in the years following the global financial crisis, he says there is no evidence this ever affected the delivery of a new submarines program. Its a nonsense proposition to draw a line from that period to the delays today, since the Liberals could easily have rectified any funding problem in their first economic statement of December 2013, Rudd says. Loading But Australian military strategist Hugh White, a former senior Defence official, says the Rudd and Gillard governments bear a heavy responsibility for failing to proceed with the new submarine project while they were in office. I think the reason they didnt make a decision was that successive defence ministers were uneasy about the very ambitious proposals they were presented with proposals that flowed from the capabilities demanded by the 2009 White Paper, White says. But instead of sending them back for more modest and realistic plans, they sat on them because they lacked the courage to take on the Defence system. Politics gets in the way Tony Abbott put submarines back at the top of the agenda after taking office as prime minister in 2013, but this is where deep-seated problems started to fester. Abbott faced two big questions. Firstly, should we purchase off-the-shelf submarines from another country for a much faster and cheaper build, but less capable in terms of range, endurance and combat system? Or should we start from scratch to build a regionally superior submarine? Secondly, if we are starting from scratch, should the submarines be built overseas? Or should they be built within Australia to maximise local employment and help sustain a local shipbuilding industry? As these debates raged, then-defence minister David Johnston famously declared he would not trust the ASC to build a canoe, which led to the perception the government was seriously considering an overseas build. Abbott favoured going with a Japanese-designed submarine, but this unravelled when he faced the empty chair spill in 2015. In an effort to shore up party room support, particularly from South Australia, Abbott then opted for a competitive evaluation process of which Japan, Germany and France were the three contenders. White says the Abbott government got off to a good start under Johnston, but before he could make a decision Abbott made a unilateral decision to buy the submarines from Japan. This made no sense strategically, commercially or technically. When this became clear, the Abbott government opted for a deeply flawed Competitive Evaluation Process which led to the current mess. Advertisement Rudd contends Abbott was pathologically opposed to supporting Australian manufacturing whether in the automotive sector, or the maritime industry. The damage that wrought cant be overstated, he says. They played games with national security and a huge amount of ground was lost. It wasnt just foolish. It was incompetent. Despite the original problems with the Collins-class submarines, they are now considered to be performing well. Credit:Defence Department Kevin Andrews, who took over from Johnston as Defence Minister in 2014, says the process he put in place was designed to compare the costs of three options: a full off-shore build, an on-shore build and a hybrid build. We had a Rand Corporation study that indicated that a full onshore build for surface vessels in Australia was some 30-40 per cent more expensive than an offshore build. It was widely believed that the premium for submarines was even higher, Andrews says. It was also well known that the build cost fell significantly after the first couple of ships. Hence the desire to compare not only the cost of each bid, but the comparison of offshore, onshore and hybrid builds. Multiple senior sources within the government now concede not enough consideration was given to the hybrid build. According to this line of thinking, the first few boats would have been in the water sooner, but the government could have still entrenched a local capability to build submarines at the back-end of the program. Defence and industry sources say it is now too late to reverse course and go with a hybrid build: Naval Groups shipyards in France are fully occupied building the first Barracuda nuclear submarines and plans are advancing for new aircraft carriers, while the company has already begun construction of the Osborne shipyard in Adelaide. Marcus Hellyer, a senior analyst with the Australian Strategic Policy Institute, says the government should have been seriously considering building the first few submarines in another country back in 2015 and 2016. My view has always been that the Defence budget is there to acquire and support defence capability, it is not an industry program, he says. Over the last five years we have lost the plot collectively about that. At the moment weve reached a point where if it can be done in Australia, it will be in Australia. And both parties have jumped on that bandwagon. Advertisement NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian is under pressure from her MPs to release COVID-19 hotspots from harsh restrictions and for health orders to be applied to suburbs with high case numbers rather than entire local government areas. Liberal MPs including Police Minister David Elliott and member for Seven Hills Mark Taylor are urging the Premier to rethink the lockdown boundaries that are dividing Sydney. Mr Elliott, who is the member for Baulkham Hills, said the suburb of North Rocks should be considered part of the Hills Shire, as it was before council amalgamations. Instead, it is captured by the Parramatta local government area, meaning it is one of the 12 areas of concern enduring stricter lockdown measures and a curfew. It should be considered part of the Hills for the purpose of the hard lockdown, Mr Elliott said. Lawrenceville, VA (23868) Today Partly cloudy skies during the evening giving way to a few showers after midnight. Low around 70F. Winds light and variable. Chance of rain 30%.. Tonight Partly cloudy skies during the evening giving way to a few showers after midnight. Low around 70F. Winds light and variable. Chance of rain 30%. DOYLESTOWN >> Reps. Craig Staats (R-Bucks) and Chris Quinn (R-Delaware) have introduced a legislative package to better protect children in the Pennsylvania child welfare system. The bills are crafted in honor of Grace Packer, a 14-year-old girl who was murdered in Bucks County by her By Nupur Anand and Aftab Ahmed Banks led by State Bank of India (SBI) have called on the Indian government to give debt-laden more time to clear its tax dues and spectrum fees, two bankers and a government official familiar with the matter said. An Indian court last year ordered the mobile carrier, a joint venture between the Indian unit of Britain's Vodafone Group and Aditya Birla Group's Idea Cellular, to pay just over $8 billion to the government to settle long-standing dues. Vodafone has a stake of about 44% in the company and Aditya Birla owns nearly 27%. In June, Vodafone Idea's then non-executive chairman Kumar Mangalam Birla warned that without a government reprieve the Indian mobile carrier's "financial situation will drive its operations to an irretrievable point of collapse". Vodafone Idea's gross debt as of June 30 was 1.9 trillion rupees, comprising of deferred spectrum payment obligations of 1.06 trillion rupees and an adjusted gross revenue liability of 621.8 billion rupees, its latest stock exchange filing in June showed. The adjusted gross revenue is the usage and licensing fee that telecom operators are charged by the Indian government. The mobile operator also reported that it owes 234 billion Indian rupees ($3.18 billion) to financial institutions. Senior officials and representatives of the Indian Banks' Association (IBA) met finance and telecom department officials this month and proposed an immediate breather on the repayment of spectrum dues, the two bankers and the government official, who requested anonymity, told Reuters. "We've had these discussions with the banks but the issue is the finance ministry needs to be comfortable with the measures," the government official said. SBI, IBA, and the finance and telecom departments did not respond to Reuters requests seeking comment. The company is facing a repayment of 5-10 billion rupees of non-convertible debentures around January, one of the bankers said. declined to comment. Vodafone Group did not immediately reply to an email seeking comment. An Aditya Birla Group spokesman declined to comment. had cash and cash equivalents of 9.2 billion rupees at the end of June, a transcript of a company conference call published on its website said. "All eyes are on New Delhi right now as banks are getting increasingly nervous," another banker with exposure to Vodafone Idea said. The bankers have also proposed providing some relief to Vodafone by restructuring its dues, one government official and two bankers said. Birla stepped down as chairman early last month after appealing for the government bailout. The government has been considering a broader package to help a telecom industry disrupted by the 2016 entry of Mukesh Ambani-controlled Reliance Jio, which shook up the market with its free voice and cut-price data plans. ($1 = 73.6380 Indian rupees) (Reporting by Nupur Anand in Mumbai and Aftab Ahmed in New Delhi; Editing by Alexander Smith) (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.) Dear Reader, Business Standard has always strived hard to provide up-to-date information and commentary on developments that are of interest to you and have wider political and economic implications for the country and the world. Your encouragement and constant feedback on how to improve our offering have only made our resolve and commitment to these ideals stronger. Even during these difficult times arising out of Covid-19, we continue to remain committed to keeping you informed and updated with credible news, authoritative views and incisive commentary on topical issues of relevance. We, however, have a request. As we battle the economic impact of the pandemic, we need your support even more, so that we can continue to offer you more quality content. Our subscription model has seen an encouraging response from many of you, who have subscribed to our online content. More subscription to our online content can only help us achieve the goals of offering you even better and more relevant content. We believe in free, fair and credible journalism. Your support through more subscriptions can help us practise the journalism to which we are committed. Support quality journalism and subscribe to Business Standard. Digital Editor API Holdings, the company that owns digital healthcare brand PharmEasy, has announced five independent directors to its board, announcing the appointments for corporate governance norms. The new board members are: Vineeta Rai, a former IAS officer who once worked as the Revenue Secretary of India; Subramanian Somasundaram, who retired as the CFO of Titan Company; angel investor Ramakant Sharma, who is the founder and COO of Livspace; and Dr Jaydeep Tank, a gynaecologist based in Mumbai and who is the secretary general of FOGSI. Deepak Vaidya, who has decades of experience in pharmaceuticals, micro-finance, healthcare and private equity, is among the apointees. We are delighted to welcome such eminent personalities to our Board. The diversity will help us provide integrated, digital healthcare solution across the length and breadth of India benefiting all stakeholders, said Siddharth Shah, co-founder & CEO, API Holdings. The API board now has 12 members, including five independent directors. F&B-focused SaaS platform FUDR has raised $140,000 from US-based accelerator Expert Dojo and angel investor Aditya Sanghi. He will be joining the board. The company has also been selected in the summer cohort 2021 run by Expert Dojo. Started in Feb 2020, the company currently works with over 500 F&B outlets across 50 cities to help them generate an annualised GMV of $3 million. It is growing at 25 per cent MoM, adding 300 new F&B brands monthly. The SaaS platform helps small, medium cafes and casual dining restaurants reach and retain customers through omnichannel engagement and pass benefits of the D2C model. The platform is a no-code model where F&B brands can manage digital menus, ordering, payments and re-targeting programmes as they have access to guest data, which they otherwise don't get from large food-tech partners. Aayush Khandpur, co-founder CEO, FUDR, says, We are currently in a high growth phase. A chance to rub shoulders with tech founders from across the globe and interact with successful investors and founders as part of the Expert Dojo programme is exactly what we need at this stage. The sheer quality of mentoring from CXOs of Fortune 500 and masterclasses by industry leaders with over two decades of experience will set us up to achieve our ambition of onboarding over 20,000 restaurants and 30 million end users pan India in the next 18 months. The company will be part of the 3-month accelerator program that will help it to unlock a global ecosystem of channel partners, investors and prospective customers. This will also give the company a chance to learn and implement global best practices on cash flow management, product, growth and fundraising. In the current cohort, startups from countries like the US, Canada, Italy, Netherlands and Jordan would also be graduating from the program. Commenting on FUDR joining Expert Dojo, Brian Mac Mahon, founder CEO, Expert Dojo, says, As an American growth accelerator, we have firsthand seen how this model grows and we will bring this playbook to FUDRs strategy. We believe that FUDR will grow to become the go to digital link for F&B establishments in India. The on Monday told the that it has attached properties worth Rs 4.79 crore of a former director of and is probing his transactions of diversion of home buyers money made through shell A bench of Justices UU Lalit and Ajay Rastogi was told by Additional Solicitor General Sanjay Jain, appearing for ED, that the attached properties were proceeds of crime of Prem Mishra, who was a director in the reality firm and he raised the amount by diverting home buyers money from with the help of fake invoices, bills and sham transactions. The court appointed forensic auditor Pawan Kumar Aggrawal disputed the claims of ED and said that Rs 10.26 crore was outstanding against Prem Mishra and it is recorded in the forensic audit and the 2019 judgement of the court. The top court asked Jain to furnish a copy of the ED's status report and the attachment order of properties of Mishra to the forensic auditor, so that he could collate the details and submit a report later this week. The bench directed that an official concerned of ED will also render assistance to Aggrawal on collating the relevant details with regard to Mishra. Senior advocate Vikas Singh, appearing for Mishra, said that if the proceedings are to go before the court then he should not be asked to appear before the Jain objected to the submission saying that his PMLA proceedings will continue as a case has been registered. Meanwhile, NOIDA authority also moved the top court seeking recall of June 10, last year order by which the court had capped the interest at 8 per cent to be charged by authority on the outstanding dues of land against the exorbitant 15 to 23 per cent. The hearing remained inconclusive and would continue on September 20. On September 3, the top court had warned the flat buyers of who are not clearing their dues as per the payment plan to not be in any kind of delusion as their units can be cancelled and will be considered as unsold inventory. It has observed that the home buyers are under the impression that the court is facilitating construction of their stalled flats and managing funds and they are at a convenience to pay their dues, whenever they like. On August 13, the top court had said that there are two categories of home buyers--first category is of 9,538 home buyers who have neither registered so far in the Customer Data maintained by the office of the Receiver, nor have made any payments, subsequent to the judgment of the Court in July-2019. It had noted, in its order, that there is a second category of 6,210 home buyers, who have registered themselves in the Customer Data but have not made any payment since the judgment of this court in July 2019. The NBCC had earlier told the top court that at present, 10 projects in Noida and 12 projects in Greater Noida are under execution involving 45,957 units with sanctioned project cost of Rs 8025.78 Crores. On August 14, the top court had initiated a process to cancel bookings of over 9,538 Amrapali project flats, which are unclaimed or booked in the name of fictitious people or are benami property, to fund stalled projects. The apex court in its July 23, 2019 verdict had cracked the whip on errant builders for breaching the trust reposed by home buyers and ordered the cancellation of the registration of the Amrapali Group under real estate law RERA, and ousted it from prime properties in the NCR by nixing the land leases. Amrapali Group directors Anil Kumar Sharma, Shiv Priya and Ajay Kumar are behind bars on the top court's order. (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 resume operations in the first quarter of 2022 and have over hundred aircraft in five years, the Kalrock-Jalan consortium said in a statement on Monday. The airline will be headquartered in Delhi and operate its first flight on the Delhi-Mumbai route, it added. The National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT), on June 22, approved the Kalrock-Jalan plan to revive the airline, which shut operations in April 2019. The consortium has hired around 150 employees and is in discussion with aircraft lessors. Process for revalidation of the airlines operating certificate is under way and the consortium is also in talks with airports for night parking facilities and slots. The consortium will, however, have to seek additional time from the NCLT for implementing the revival plan as the 90-day period stipulated in the June 22 order will end this month. Also, even as the revival plan is facing a legal challenge from employee unions and Punjab National Bank, the consortium is confident of meeting the timeline. 2.0 aims at restarting domestic operations by Q1-2022 and short haul international operations by Q3-Q4 of 2022. Our plan is to have 50 plus aircraft in three years and over 100 aircraft in five years. This also fits perfectly well with the short-and long-term business plans of the consortium. The aircraft are being selected based on a competitive long-term leasing solution, said Murari Lal Jalan, the consortiums lead member. Jalan will take up the post of non-executive chairman. will now be headquartered in Delhi-NCR with its senior management working from the corporate office in Gurugram. However, Jet Airways will continue to have a strong and significant presence in Mumbai, said acting CEO Sudhir Gaur. The airlines training centre will continue to function out of Mumbai. Pilots and cabin crew would have to undergo refresher training upon joining the airline. In the case of pilots, this includes ground classes and simulator training. The airline is in discussion with both and and is initially looking to induct around 20 aircraft, according to industry sources. will resume domestic operations by the first quarter of 2022, an investor consortium, whose resolution plan was approved by India's bankruptcy court earlier this year, said on Monday. Once India's biggest private carrier, Jet stopped flying in April 2019 after running out of cash, owing billions to lenders and leaving thousands without jobs. The defunct airline had said in June that the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) approved a resolution plan submitted by a consortium of London-based Kalrock Capital and UAE-based businessman Murari Lal Jalan. The bankruptcy court's go-ahead came several months after Jet's creditors had given their approval in October last year to the resolution plan submitted by the consortium. " 2.0 aims at restarting domestic operations by Q1-2022, and short haul international operations by Q3/Q4 2022," Murari Lal Jalan, Lead Member of the Jalan Kalrock Consortium and the proposed Non-Executive Chairman of said. Jet, which operated a fleet of more than 120 planes serving dozens of domestic destinations and international hubs such as Singapore, London and Dubai, said it has already hired over 150 full-time employees and is looking to onboard another 1,000 employees in FY 2021-22 across categories. Shares of Jet Airways hit their upper circuit and were trading at 84.40 rupees a piece. (Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) After the first attempt to appoint legal advisor for the initial public offering (IPO) of Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC) failed, the government has amended the fee structure for law firms to make the offer attractive. The Department of Investment and Public Asset Management (DIPAM) has introduced milestone payments by amending its request for proposal (RFP) for engagement of legal advisors for the Earlier, the legal advisors were supposed to get their fee after successful and satisfactory completion of the transaction. Now, the successful law firm will receive 50 per cent of the fee after filing of the Draft Red Herring Prospectus (DRHP) and the remaining half of the fee post listing of LICs shares on the exchanges. Interested law firms can quote their fee which can be a minimum Re 1. The changes come after the government did not receive adequate response from law firms for assisting in the The government has floated a new RFP to appoint a legal advisor, and has specified that the time limit for validity of the financial bids shall be three years implying that the law firm will assist LIC and the government for three years from the time of placing the bid. The previous bid document had stated bidders cannot prescribe any time limit for validity of the financial bid, keeping the timeline of their work open-ended. Law firms will have to submit their bids by September 16. Legal advisers are required to submit a proposal in a consortium with an international law firm with similar experience and expertise in public offerings in capital markets. The international law firm, with whom domestic law firms would tie up, should have the experience of managing Indian capital market transactions as advisers or underwriters. The selected law firm will have to prepare the DRHP, Red Herring Prospectus and the final prospectus for filing with the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) and the stock exchanges. It will also have to draft responses to queries related to the IPO received from Sebi, exchanges, depositories, Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (Irdai) until the completion of all activities relating to public offering. Australia will support India's by tracking it through Cocos Keeling island, Deputy Head Australia Space Agency Anthony Murfett said on Monday. Speaking at the International Space Conference organised by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), Murfett said the space cooperation between the two countries is on an upswing and the space agencies of India and Australia have recently updated their Memorandum of Understanding. "We are going to be supporting this by tracking through Australia's territory on the Cocos Keeling islands," he said. Earlier this year, ISRO chief K Sivan had said the space agency is also in talks with the Australian counterpart to have a ground station at the Cocos Keeling islands for the Satellites in orbit cannot pass along their information to the ground stations on Earth if it does not have a clear view of the ground station. A data relay satellite serves as a way to pass along the satellite's information. There are blind spots due to which there is a possibility of not receiving signals, sources said. The data relay satellite tracking from Cocos Keeling island is expected to help address the issue. Gaganyaan is India's ambitious human space mission aimed at taking three Indians to Lower Earth Orbit (LEO). (Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) US President will host the first-ever in-person summit on September 24 which will be attended by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Prime Minister Scott Morrison of Australia and Japanese premier Yoshihide Suga, the announced on Monday. The four leaders would discuss deepening their ties and advancing practical cooperation on areas like combatting COVID-19, addressing the climate crisis and promoting a free and open Indo-Pacific, the Press Secretary Jen Psaki said. In March, President Biden hosted the first-ever summit of the leaders in the virtual format that vowed to strive for an Indo-Pacific region that is free, open, inclusive, anchored by democratic values, and unconstrained by coercion, sending a subtle message to China. President Joseph R. Biden, Jr. will host the first-ever Leaders Summit at the on September 24. President Biden is looking forward to welcoming to the White House Prime Minister Scott Morrison of Australia, Prime Minister of India, and Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga of Japan, Psaki said. The Biden-Harris administration has made elevating the Quad a priority, as seen through the first-ever Quad Leaders-level engagement in March, which was virtual, and now this Summit, which will be in-person, she said. Hosting the leaders of the Quad demonstrates the Biden-Harris administration's priority of engaging in the Indo-Pacific, including through new multilateral configurations to meet the challenges of the 21st century, she said. According to the White House, the Quad Leaders will be focused on deepening their ties and advancing practical cooperation on areas such as combatting COVID-19, addressing the climate crisis, partnering on emerging technologies and cyberspace and promoting a free and open Indo-Pacific. The Quad summit will take place amidst China's aggressive behaviour in the resource-rich South China Sea. Beijing claims almost all of the 1.3 million square mile South China Sea as its sovereign territory. China has been building military bases on artificial islands in the region also claimed by Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines, Taiwan and Vietnam. In November 2017, India, Japan, the US and Australia gave shape to the long-pending proposal of setting up the Quad to develop a new strategy to keep the critical sea routes in the Indo-Pacific free of any influence. (Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The World Health Organisation's (WHO) approval for Bharat Biotech's COVID-19 vaccine, Covaxin, is expected this week, sources said on Monday. Bharat Biotech has submitted its Phase 3 clinical trials data that demonstrated 77.8 per cent efficacy to the Subject Expert Committee (SEC) of the Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation (CDSCO). Earlier in June, a pre-submission meeting for WHO Emergency Use Listing Procedure (EUL), which provides advice before the submission of the final dossier, was also held. Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya had also earlier met WHO Chief Scientist Dr Soumya Swaminathan and held discussions over the approval of Bharat Biotech's Covid-19 vaccine Covaxin. Marianne Simao, a WHO assistant director general for vaccines, also said that the UN health agency's assessment of this vaccine was quite advanced and officials hoped for decision by mid-September. Covaxin was developed by Hyderabad-based Bharat Biotech in association with the Indian Council of Medical Research and the National Institute of Virology. Covaxin, which has been developed in collaboration with the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), contains a whole virion inactivated SARS-CoV-2 vaccine, which is produced in Vero cells. The vaccine is stable at 2 degrees Celsius to 8 degrees Celsius (refrigerated) and is shipped in a ready-to-use liquid formulation that permits distribution using existing vaccine supply chain channels. The WHO has approved COVID-19 vaccines by Pfizer-BioNTech, AstraZeneca, Johnson and Johnson, Moderna and Sinopharm. Within this week we should be able to get WHO Emergency Use Listing (EUL) for Covaxin...Hopefully, the vaccine should be given international recognition so that people travelling abroad have less difficulty: Dr NK Arora, Chairman, COVID working group pic.twitter.com/6D3pWD2nz9 ANI (@ANI) September 13, 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.) India on Monday reported a net decrease of 10,652 in active cases to take its count to 374,269. Indias share of global active cases now stands at 1.99 per cent (one in 50). The country is seventh among the most affected countries by active cases. On Sunday, it added 27,254 cases to take its total caseload to 33,264,175 from 33,236,921 an increase of 0.1%. And, with 219 new fatalities, its Covid-19 reached 442,874, or 1.33 per cent of total confirmed infections. With 5,338,945 more Covid-19 vaccine doses being administered on Sunday, Indias total count of vaccine shots so far reached 743,837,643. The count of recovered cases across India, meanwhile, reached 32,447,032 or 97.54 per cent of total caseload with 37,681 new cured cases being reported on Monday. Now the seventh-most-affected country by active cases, third by deaths, second by total cases, and first by recoveries, India has added 236,554 cases in the past 7 days. India now accounts for 1.99% of all active cases globally (one in every 50 active cases), and 9.55% of all deaths (one in every 10 deaths). India has so far administered 723,784,586 vaccine doses. That is 2236.15 per cent of its total caseload, and 53.31 per cent of its population. Among Indian states, the top 5 in terms of number of vaccine shots administered are Uttar Pradesh (91770706), Maharashtra (72586329), Gujarat (56048346), Rajasthan (54565497), and Madhya Pradesh (54338959). Among states with more than 10 million population, the top 5 in number of vaccine shots per one million population are Kerala (961138), Uttarakhand (883149), Gujarat (877505), Delhi (858137), and Karnataka (745015). Backwards from here, the last 1 million cases for India have come in 27 days. The count of active cases across India on Monday saw a net reduction of 10,652, compared with 6,595 on Sunday. States and UTs hat have seen the biggest daily net increase in active cases are Tamil Nadu (74), Puducherry (16), Bihar (5), Gujarat (3), and Madhya Pradesh (2). With 37,687 new daily recoveries, Indias recovery rate stands at 97.54%, while fatality rate remained unchanged at 1.33%. The Indian states and UTs with the worst case fatality rates at present are Punjab (2.74%), Uttarakhand (2.15%), and Maharashtra (2.12%). The rate in as many as 16 is higher than the national average. Indias new daily closed cases stand at 37,906 219 deaths and 37,687 recoveries. The share of deaths in total closed cases stands at 0.57%. Indias 5-day moving average of daily rate of addition to total cases stands at 0.1%. Indias doubling time for total cases stands at 845.7 days, and for deaths at 1401.4 days. Overall, five states with the biggest 24-hour jump in total cases are Kerala (20240), Tamil Nadu (1608), Andhra Pradesh (1190), Karnataka (803), and West Bengal (751). Among states with more than 100,000 cases, the five with worst recovery rates at present are Kerala (94.39%). India on Monday conducted 1,208,247 to take the total count of tests conducted so far in the country to 543,014,076. The test positivity rate recorded was 2.3%. 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 Dadra & Nagar Haveli-Daman & Diu (14.74%), Goa (13.8%), Kerala (13.13%), Sikkim (12.64%), and Maharashtra (11.6%). Five states with the highest TPR by daily numbers for tests and cases added are Kerala (17.51%), Mizoram (6.94%), Manipur (6.51%), Meghalaya (3.85%), and Himachal Pradesh (2.66%). 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 (1415404), J&K (1024549), Kerala (933687), Karnataka (670408), and Telangana (646076). The five most affected states by total cases are Maharashtra (6497877), Kerala (4375431), Karnataka (2961735), Tamil Nadu (2633839), and Andhra Pradesh (2029985). Maharashtra, the most affected state overall, has reported 5 new cases to take its tally to 6497877. Kerala, the second-most-affected state by total tally, has added 20240 cases to take its tally to 4375431. Karnataka, the third-most-affected state, has reported 803 cases to take its tally to 2961735. Tamil Nadu has added 1608 cases to take its tally to 2633839. Andhra Pradesh has seen its tally going up by 1190 to 2029985. Uttar Pradesh has added 21 cases to take its tally to 1709547. Delhi has added 22 cases to take its tally to 1438233. Two teenagers were killed after a four-story building collapsed in north Delhi's Sabzi Mandi area on Monday, officials said. Police said a 72-year-old man, who was also trapped under the debris, was rescued and rushed to a nearby hospital for treatment. It is suspected that three to four more people are trapped under the debris, a senior police officer said. The elderly man, who has been identified as Ramji Das, sustained head injury, police said. The two more children -- both boys aged seven and 12-year-old -- who were trapped under the rubble were also rescued and sent to hospital. "Both of them are brothers and were declared brought dead at the hospital, the officer said. N S Bundela, Joint Commissioner of Police (Central) said two children were rescued and taken to hospital where they were declared brought dead. "They were passing by the road with their mother when the building collapsed and the two bothers got trapped under the debris. "A case will be registered in the matter and legal action will be taken accordingly," he said. A car parked nearby was severely damaged as the debris from the building fell on it. The locals who gathered at the spot to help with rescue operations were later removed from the area. Teams of local team, MCD, NDRF among others are at the spot to undertake rescue operation. Seven fire tenders were rushed to the spot for rescue operations, officials said. The Delhi Fire Service received a call about the incident at 11.50 am, said Atul Garg, the director of DFS. Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal said he is closely monitoring the situation. "The incident of in Sabzi Mandi area is very sad. The administration is engaged in relief and rescue work. Through the district administration, I am myself monitoring the situation," he tweeted in hindi. AAP MLA from Timarpur Dilip Pandey also took twitter and said local administration along with party workers are engaged in rescue operations. "Very unfortunate incident, 75-year-old building of Laxman Prasad ji collapsed in Malkaganj. On the spot, QRT team of Delhi government, fire brigade team and local administration, we and AAP workers are engaged in rescue work. "Two people were evacuated safely. About 7-8 more people feared to be trapped inside," he tweeted in hindi. The ground floor of the building was being used for commercial purpose while the rest was residential. #UPDATE | Teams of local police, MCD, NDRF among others are present to undertake rescue operation. We need time to assess number of people stuck under debris. One person rescued so far. He sustained head injury &has been sent to hospital: NS Bundela, Joint CP, Central Range,Delhi pic.twitter.com/pUxqzOYT4L ANI (@ANI) September 13, 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.) is experiencing yet another Covid outbreak caused by the delta variant, with dozens of infections detected in the southeastern province of Fujian less than a month after the nations last flare-up was contained. The cluster was detected thanks to routine testing in local schools, where two students tested positive on Friday. Their father, who returned from Singapore in early August, was also found to have been infected. Officials believe he is the likely source of the latest outbreak in the region, a manufacturing hub for sneakers, clothing and electronic components, which now stretches to more than 60 people in three cities. The man did three weeks of quarantine and took 10 tests with no signs of infection before returning to the community, underscoring how difficult it can be to identify every case. Chinas so-called Covid Zero policy relies on aggressive testing and contact tracing to quickly spot and isolate the pathogen anytime it penetrates the worlds second-largest economy. The virus quickly took off in Fujians schools and factories. At least 19 of the infected people are under the age of 12, a group that Chinas blistering campaign has yet to reach. The countrys top health regulator sent a task force over the weekend to the city of Putian, where most of the cases have been found thus far. Other patients were detected in the port cities of Quanzhou and Xiamen. For anyone hoping to see light at the end of the Covid-19 tunnel over the next three to six months, scientists have some bad news: Brace for more of what weve already been through. Outbreaks will close schools and cancel classes. Vaccinated nursing home residents will face renewed fears of infection. Workers will weigh the danger of returning to the office as hospitals are overwhelmed, once again. Almost everyone will be either infected or vaccinated before the pandemic ends, experts agree. Maybe both. An unlucky few will contract the virus more than once. The race between the waves of transmission that lead to new variants and the battle to get the globe inoculated wont be over until the has touched all of us. I see these continued surges occurring throughout the world, said Michael Osterholm, director of the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy at the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis, and an adviser to U.S. President Joe Biden. Then it will drop, potentially somewhat precipitously, he said. And then I think we very easily could see another surge in the fall and winter of this year, he added. With billions of people around the world yet to be vaccinated and little chance now of eliminating the virus, we can expect more outbreaks in classrooms, on public transport and in workplaces over the coming months, as economies push ahead with reopening. Even as immunization rates rise, there will always be people who are vulnerable to the virus: Newborn babies, people who cant or wont get inoculated, and those who get vaccinated but suffer breakthrough infections as their protection levels ebb. Customers have their vaccination status checked outside a bar in San Francisco on Aug. 24. Photographer: David Paul Morris/Bloomberg The next few months will be rough. One key danger is if a vaccine-resistant variant develops, although it is not the only risk ahead. In the coming months, Bloomberg will explore the pandemics long-term impact on economies and markets, the pharmaceutical industry, travel and more. Were going to see hills and valleys, at least for the next several years as we get more vaccine out. Thats going to help. But the challenge is going to be: How big will the hills and valleys be, in terms of their distance? Osterholm said. We dont know. But I can just tell you, this is a forest fire that will not stop until it finds all the human wood that it can burn. Covid Compared to Other Pandemics The five well-documented influenza pandemics of the past 130 years offer some blueprint for how Covid might play out, according to Lone Simonsen, an epidemiologist and professor of population health sciences at Roskilde University in Denmark. She is an expert on the ebb and flow of such events. While the longest global flu outbreak lasted five years, they mostly consisted of two to four waves of infection over an average of two or three years, she said. Covid is already shaping up to be among the more severe pandemics, as its second year concludes with the world in the middle of a third wave and no end in sight. Its possible that the virus known as SARS-CoV-2 wont follow the path set by the pandemics of the past. After all, it is a different, novel and potentially more transmissible pathogen. And with a death toll of more than 4.6 million people so far, its already more than twice as deadly as any outbreak since the 1918 Spanish flu. Despite brutal initial waves and relatively high vaccination rates, countries including the U.S., U.K., Russia and Israel are flirting with record numbers of cases. Immunization is helping to moderate incidences of severe cases and deaths, but surging infections mean the virus is reaching the young and others who remain unvaccinated, leading to rising rates of serious disease in those groups. Nations where vaccination has been sparse including Malaysia, Mexico, Iran and Australia are in the midst of their biggest outbreaks yet, fueled by the contagious delta strain. With the virus still spreading out of control in vast swathes of the planet, another novel variant could quite feasibly emerge. History shows the commonly held belief that viruses automatically get milder over time to avoid completely wiping out their host population is wrong, according to Simonsen. Although new mutations arent always more severe than their predecessors, pandemics can in fact get more deadly during the pandemic period, as the virus is adapting to its new host, she said. Brace for More Covid Surges Early in the Covid outbreak, there was good reason to hope that vaccines would provide long-term protection, much like childhood shots that stop diseases such as polio. Coronaviruses have a proof-reading mechanism that fixes the in-born errors caused when the virus replicates, reducing the likelihood of variants emerging when the virus is transmitted from one person to another. The number of global cases has been so vast, however, that mutations are occurring anyway. With the pandemic, we have this enormous force of infection, said Kanta Subbarao, director of the WHO Collaborating Center for Reference and Research on Influenza at the Peter Doherty Institute for Infection and Immunity in Melbourne. That has counterbalanced the ability of the virus to proof-read. As a result, Covid could be like the flu, requiring regular vaccine top-ups to remain effective as the virus evolves. Some researchers say SARS-CoV-2 is poised to become completely resistant to the first generation of vaccines. A study from Japan, which has yet to be published or peer-reviewed, suggests that potentially dangerous mutations in the delta variant are already being picked up in a global database used to track such developments. Reports of current strains breaking through vaccinations or triggering higher fatality rates have not held up to rigorous scrutiny thus far. This is a scenario we hope wont happen, Simonsen said. My God, we would have to do it all again. Other even grimmer possibilities for the coming months include the emergence of a novel influenza virus or another making the leap from animals into humans. As long as there are animal reservoirs of coronavirus there is still the possibility that another zoonotic coronavirus could emerge in the future, Subbarao said. There is that in the background, the risk of still dealing with this one when another one emerges. Will Covid End? What seems clear is that the pandemic will not be over in six months. Experts generally agree that the current outbreak will be tamed once most people perhaps 90% to 95% of the global population have a degree of immunity thanks to immunization or previous infection. The key element should be vaccination, they say. Without vaccination, one is like a sitting duck, because the virus will spread widely and find most everybody this autumn and winter, said Simonsen. South African Mines Join Vaccination Effort A miner receives a Covid-19 vaccine at Anglo American Platinum Ltd.'s Tumela mine in Amandelbult, South Africa, on Aug. 12. Photographer: Waldo Swiegers/Bloomberg More than 5.66 billion doses of vaccine have been administered around the world, according to Bloombergs vaccine tracker. But the success of rollouts in some regions, such as the European Union, North America and China, masks the failure in others. Most countries in Africa have only given enough vaccine to cover less than 5% of their populations with a two-dose shot. India has administered enough to cover only about 26%. The pandemic will end at different times in different places, just as previous outbreaks have, said Erica Charters, associate professor of the history of medicine at Oxford University and the coordinator of a project on how epidemics end. Governments will have to decide how much of the disease they are comfortable living with, she said. Approaches vary. While some countries are still shooting for zero Covid cases, the world is unlikely to eradicate the virus completely. Nations like Denmark and Singapore, which have managed to keep cases relatively contained, are already moving toward a post-pandemic future with fewer safety restrictions. Others, such as the U.S. and U.K., are opening up even as infection numbers near records. Meanwhile, China, Hong Kong and New Zealand have vowed to keep vigilantly working to eliminate the virus locally. As a result, they are likely to be among the last places to leave behind the disruption wrought by walling out the pandemic. Covid Control Measures in Beijing A masked restaurant worker with a thermometer in central Beijing on Aug. 8. Photographer: Gilles Sabrie/Bloomberg The end process is not going to be uniform, Charters said. The pandemic is a biological phenomenon, but its also a political and social phenomenon. Even now we have different approaches to it. Its likely to be messy, leaving a lasting legacy for years to come. Until then, most of us will need to brace for many more months in the pandemics grip. We have to approach it with our eyes wide open and with a great deal of humility, Osterholm said. Anybody that thinks we're going to be over this in the next few days or a few months is sorely mistaken. For anyone hoping to see light at the end of the Covid-19 tunnel over the next three to six months, scientists have some bad news: Brace for more of what weve already been through. Outbreaks will close schools and cancel classes. Vaccinated nursing home residents will face renewed fears of infection. Workers will weigh the danger of returning to the office as hospitals are overwhelmed, once again. Almost everyone will be either infected or vaccinated before the pandemic ends, experts agree. Maybe both. An unlucky few will contract the virus more than once. The race between the waves of transmission that lead to new variants and the battle to get the globe inoculated wont be over until the has touched all of us. I see these continued surges occurring throughout the world, said Michael Osterholm, director of the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy at the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis, and an adviser to U.S. President Joe Biden. Then it will drop, potentially somewhat precipitously, he said. And then I think we very easily could see another surge in the fall and winter of this year, he added. With billions of people around the world yet to be vaccinated and little chance now of eliminating the virus, we can expect more outbreaks in classrooms, on public transport and in workplaces over the coming months, as economies push ahead with reopening. Even as immunization rates rise, there will always be people who are vulnerable to the virus: Newborn babies, people who cant or wont get inoculated, and those who get vaccinated but suffer breakthrough infections as their protection levels ebb. The next few months will be rough. One key danger is if a vaccine-resistant variant develops, although it is not the only risk ahead. In the coming months, Bloomberg will explore the pandemics long-term impact on economies and markets, the pharmaceutical industry, travel and more. Were going to see hills and valleys, at least for the next several years as we get more vaccine out. Thats going to help. But the challenge is going to be: How big will the hills and valleys be, in terms of their distance? Osterholm said. We dont know. But I can just tell you, this is a forest fire that will not stop until it finds all the human wood that it can burn. Covid compared to other pandemics The five well-documented influenza pandemics of the past 130 years offer some blueprint for how Covid might play out, according to Lone Simonsen, an epidemiologist and professor of population health sciences at Roskilde University in Denmark. She is an expert on the ebb and flow of such events. While the longest global flu outbreak lasted five years, they mostly consisted of two to four waves of infection over an average of two or three years, she said. Covid is already shaping up to be among the more severe pandemics, as its second year concludes with the world in the middle of a third wave and no end in sight. Its possible that the virus known as SARS-CoV-2 wont follow the path set by the pandemics of the past. After all, it is a different, novel and potentially more transmissible pathogen. And with a death toll of more than 4.6 million people so far, its already more than twice as deadly as any outbreak since the 1918 Spanish flu. Despite brutal initial waves and relatively high rates, countries including the U.S., U.K., Russia and Israel are flirting with record numbers of cases. Immunization is helping to moderate incidences of severe cases and deaths, but surging infections mean the virus is reaching the young and others who remain unvaccinated, leading to rising rates of serious disease in those groups. Nations where has been sparse including Malaysia, Mexico, Iran and Australia are in the midst of their biggest outbreaks yet, fueled by the contagious delta strain. With the virus still spreading out of control in vast swathes of the planet, another novel variant could quite feasibly emerge. History shows the commonly held belief that viruses automatically get milder over time to avoid completely wiping out their host population is wrong, according to Simonsen. Although new mutations arent always more severe than their predecessors, pandemics can in fact get more deadly during the pandemic period, as the virus is adapting to its new host, she said. Early in the Covid outbreak, there was good reason to hope that vaccines would provide long-term protection, much like childhood shots that stop diseases such as polio. Coronaviruses have a proof-reading mechanism that fixes the in-born errors caused when the virus replicates, reducing the likelihood of variants emerging when the virus is transmitted from one person to another. The number of global cases has been so vast, however, that mutations are occurring anyway. With the pandemic, we have this enormous force of infection, said Kanta Subbarao, director of the WHO Collaborating Center for Reference and Research on Influenza at the Peter Doherty Institute for Infection and Immunity in Melbourne. That has counterbalanced the ability of the virus to proof-read. As a result, Covid could be like the flu, requiring regular vaccine top-ups to remain effective as the virus evolves. Some researchers say SARS-CoV-2 is poised to become completely resistant to the first generation of vaccines. A study from Japan, which has yet to be published or peer-reviewed, suggests that potentially dangerous mutations in the delta variant are already being picked up in a global database used to track such developments. Reports of current strains breaking through vaccinations or triggering higher fatality rates have not held up to rigorous scrutiny thus far. This is a scenario we hope wont happen, Simonsen said. My God, we would have to do it all again. Other even grimmer possibilities for the coming months include the emergence of a novel influenza virus or another making the leap from animals into humans. As long as there are animal reservoirs of coronavirus there is still the possibility that another zoonotic coronavirus could emerge in the future, Subbarao said. There is that in the background, the risk of still dealing with this one when another one emerges. How Will Covid End? What seems clear is that the pandemic will not be over in six months. Experts generally agree that the current outbreak will be tamed once most people perhaps 90% to 95% of the global population have a degree of immunity thanks to immunization or previous infection. The key element should be vaccination, they say. Without vaccination, one is like a sitting duck, because the virus will spread widely and find most everybody this autumn and winter, said Simonsen. More than 5.66 billion doses of vaccine have been administered around the world, according to Bloombergs vaccine tracker. But the success of rollouts in some regions, such as the European Union, North America and China, masks the failure in others. Most countries in Africa have only given enough vaccine to cover less than 5% of their populations with a two-dose shot. India has administered enough to cover only about 26%. The pandemic will end at different times in different places, just as previous outbreaks have, said Erica Charters, associate professor of the history of medicine at Oxford University and the coordinator of a project on how epidemics end. Governments will have to decide how much of the disease they are comfortable living with, she said. Approaches vary. While some countries are still shooting for zero Covid cases, the world is unlikely to eradicate the virus completely. Nations like Denmark and Singapore, which have managed to keep cases relatively contained, are already moving toward a post-pandemic future with fewer safety restrictions. Others, such as the U.S. and U.K., are opening up even as infection numbers near records. Meanwhile, China, Hong Kong and New Zealand have vowed to keep vigilantly working to eliminate the virus locally. As a result, they are likely to be among the last places to leave behind the disruption wrought by walling out the pandemic. The end process is not going to be uniform, Charters said. The pandemic is a biological phenomenon, but its also a political and social phenomenon. Even now we have different approaches to it. Its likely to be messy, leaving a lasting legacy for years to come. Until then, most of us will need to brace for many more months in the pandemics grip. We have to approach it with our eyes wide open and with a great deal of humility, Osterholm said. Anybody that thinks we're going to be over this in the next few days or a few months is sorely mistaken. US special Presidential envoy for climate change, on his first day of India visit met the minister for power, new & renewable energy R K Singh and minister for environment, forest & Bhupender Yadav. Kerry launched the 'Climate Action and Finance Mobilisation (CAFM) Dialogue' with the Indian government. He said the three part focus of the dialogue would be finance mobilisation, clean energy development and climate adaptation measures. Speaking at the event where he signed the CAFM Dialogue with Yadav, Kerry said a robust India-US Climate and Clean Energy Agenda 2030 Partnership would set an example for the world "on how swift climate action with inclusive and resilient economic development can bring the world closer to the climate goals and build stronger economies for both." He said, "Agenda 2030 is a core pillar of the US-India relationship and the CAFMD is one of the two main tracks of the Agenda 2030 partnership." The Agenda 2030 partnership was launched at the April 2021 Leaders Summit on Climate between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and US President Joe Biden. Kerry said the three focal points of the CAFM would firstly include a 'climate action pillar" which will develop proposals that can contribute to curbing emissions. "In the power sector, this would translate to a roadmap to achieve the 450 GW renewable energy target, across transportation, buildings and industry," the special envoy said. The second is finance mobilisation, under which the two countries will collaborate on attracting capital and enhancing the enabling environment to deploy 450 GW of renewable energy capacity, investment in innovative clean energy technologies, and promote bilateral clean energy investment and trade. The third part would focus on climate adaptation and resilience. We are going to collaborate to build capacity to measure and manage climate risks in those other sectors of the economy. We are also going to be active on the protection of forests which is a major responsibility, Kerry said. The announcement comes close to the heels of the UK government announcing a $1.2 billion package for public and private investment in green projects and renewable energy in India. It also announced a Climate Finance Leadership Initiative (CFLI) India partnership, which aims to mobilise private capital into sustainable infrastructure in India. These investments will support Indias target of 450GW renewable energy by 2030, the British High Commission (BHC) informed in a public statement, last week. Commenting on India's clean energy plans, Kerry said the target of 450 Gw of renewable energy is one of the most powerful goals in the world. "You have already reached about 100 GW. We are absolutely confident that the 450 Gw as a goal can and will be reached and we look forward to partnering with India. I look forward to seeing this ambition hopefully given its proper due credit at COP in Glasgow," Kerry said. India's Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) policy in the space sector is getting revised opening up huge avenues for foreign companies to invest in the country, a top government official said on Monday. Secretary in the Department of Space (DoS) and Chairman of (ISRO), K Sivan, said there is enormous scope for foreign companies to tie-up with their Indian counterparts in the space sector. "We have seen lot of interest from foreign companies", he told an international space conference and exhibition, being held over digital platform, organised by the Confederation of Indian Industry, in association with Antrix, ISRO and NSIL. "Our space FDI policy is getting revised and the revised policy will open up huge avenues of opportunities for foreign companies to invest in India", he said. "This will ensure sustained engagement between Indian and overseas companies which would greatly benefit both". Chairman-designate of the Indian National Space Promotion and Authorization Center (IN-SPACe), Pawan Goenka, said he was very impressed with what India's space scientists have achieved in advancing technology with a modest budget. IN-SPACe, under DoS, is the national level autonomous nodal agency for promotion, handholding, sharing of ISRO facilities, expertise and technology and also for authorising and monitoring private sector's space activities in India. Goenka noted that India's share in the USD 440 billion global space economy is less than two per cent though the country is a leading space-faring nation. He said there is a lot of untapped opportunities for Indian companies to supply outside the country. "I believe that's not happening in a big way. I need to understand why it's not happening". Meanwhile, more than 40 space startups and industries are in consultation with the space agency for support related to various domains of space activity such as development of satellites, launch vehicles, develop applications and provide space-based services. Sivan said: "We have been looking into each of the (more than 40) industry proposals. The applications are being processed for further action". (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 cumulative tally in crossed the 65-lakh mark on Monday with the addition of 2,740 new cases, the lowest since February 9, while 27 patients succumbed to the infection, a daily toll not seen since March 8, a health department official said. The official said with these additions, the tally of COVID-19 cases climbed to 65,00,617, while the increased to 1,38,169. The number of daily cases and fatalities witnessed a significant dip as compared to Sunday, when the state had reported 3,623 COVID-19 cases and 46 deaths. On February 9, had reported 2,515 new COVID-19 cases, while 22 deaths were registered on March 8. The count of recovered patients outnumbered the new infections. As many as 3,233 patients were discharged from hospitals in the last 24 hours, pushing the number of recovered cases to 63,09,021 and leaving the state with 49,880 active cases, the official said. The state has 2,99,192 people in home quarantine and another 1,883 in institutional quarantine, he said. The official said Maharashtra's COVID-19 recovery rate stands at 97.05 per cent, while the fatality rate is 2.12 per cent. The cumulative number of tests conducted in the state rose to 5,60,88,114, of which 108,216 tests, the lowest in recent times, were done in the last 24 hours, the official said. In Maharashtra, as many as 11 districts - Dhule, Nandurbar, Parbhani, Nanded, Akola, Amravati, Nagpur, Wardha, Bhandara, Gondia and Chandrapur (rural areas) and seven municipal corporations - Malegaon, Dhule, Parbhani, Nanded, Akola, Amravati and Chandrapur (urban areas) did not report any fresh COVID-19 cases, he said. The official said Ahmednagar district reported the highest 569 new infections, followed by Mumbai district at 345, while Satara dsistrict reported the highest nine fatalities in the state in the last 24 hours. Among the eight regions of Maharashtra, the Pune region reported the highest 967 new COVID-19 cases, followed by 681 in the Nashik region. Among other regions, the Mumbai region reported 663 new cases, Kolhapur 282, Latur 90, Aurangabad 34, Nagpur 16 and the Akola region seven infections. According to the official, among the 27 fresh fatalities from eight regions, the highest 11 were reported from Mumbai region, followed by 10 from the Pune region. Significantly, Aurangabad, Akola and Nagpur region did not report any fresh fatalities, while the Kolhapur region reported three deaths, the Nashik region two and the Latur region one. He said Mumbai witnessed 345 new COVID-19 cases and six deaths, while Pune city reported 130 cases, but no fresh fatality. Among 49,880 active cases in the state, Pune district has the highest at 13,102, according to the official. He said among the 63,09,021 recovered patients across the state so far, the highest - 10,97,740 - were from Pune district. figures for are as follows: Total cases 65,00,617; new cases 2,740; total deaths 1,38,169; total recoveries 63,09,021; active cases 49,880; total tests 5,60,88,114. (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 water level which has been rising in the Godavari due to continuous heavy rainfall led to banks being breached in Nashik district on Monday. The torrential rain has disrupted normal life and led to a flood-like situation in Nashik, bringing life to a standstill. Earlier, on Sunday, Regional Meteorological Center, Mumbai informed through Twitter, "With the formation of a depression over north-west Bay of Bengal & adj. Odisha coast and its expected west-northward movement, Monsoon active over Konkan belt and adjoining ghat areas of Madhya " The India Metrological Department also predicted heavy rainfall for today at isolated places over (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.) Newly sworn-in Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel on Monday held a high-level meeting with top officials to review the flood-like situation in some parts of the Saurashtra region and instructed the authorities to airlift stranded people in rain-hit Jamnagar district. battered parts of the Saurashtra region on Monday, leading to the death of three people in and Jamnagar as rivers overflowed and low-lying areas got flooded, prompting the authorities to issue alerts and deploy NDRF and SRDF teams for evacuation and relief. Bhupendra Patel, who was elected unopposed by the BJP MLAs as the next CM on Sunday after the resignation of Vijay Rupani a day before, took oath as the 17th chief minister at the Raj Bhavan in Gandhinagar. Prior to the swearing-in ceremony, Bhupendra Patel first met Deputy Chief Minister in the Rupani government Nitin Patel at the latter's residence in Ahmedabad city. Bhupendra Patel then reached Gandhinagar and met Rupani at the latter's residence in the morning and held discussion on various issues, said a release by the state government. Before taking oath, Bhupendra Patel, as CM-designate, instructed the Jamnagar district authorities to make necessary arrangements to airlift around 35 stranded persons of three villages, which were inundated and cut off from other parts of the district due to incessant rain on Sunday. According to Jamnagar district's disaster management wing, the Indian Air Force (IAF) has been requested to airlift people stranded in some of the villages of Kalavad and Jamnagar talukas. After taking the oath of office and secrecy on Monday afternoon, the CM immediately chaired a meeting in Gandhinagar to review the flood-like situation in some parts of Saurashtra region, especially and Jamnagar district, said a government release. Bhupendra Patel called the Jamnagar district collector and asked him to expedite rescue operations with the help of NDRF ( Disaster Response Force) and shift stranded people to safer places, said the release. The CM also instructed the collector and Rajkot Municipal Commissioner to move people living in low-lying areas to safer places. The Rajkot authorities informed the CM that as many as 1,155 people have already been evacuated. The CM asked the senior officials to deploy three teams of the NDRF in Rajkot and two in Jamnagar to help stranded people, the release said. Meanwhile, IAF helicopters were pressed into service in Jamnagar and Rajkot to airlift people, district authorities said. Lodhika taluka in Rajkot received 435 millimetres of rainfall in a 10-hour period since 6 am on Monday, while Visavadar taluka in Junagadh got 364 mm, Kalavad in Jamnagar 348 mm, Rajkot taluka 305 mm, Dhoraji in Rajkot 202 mm, Kotdasangani in Rajkot 190 mm, Gondal in Rajkot 162 mm, State Emergency Operation Centre (SEOC) officials said. A woman and two men drowned after their cars were washed away in in two separate incidents in Kalavad in Rajkot and Jam Jodhpur in Jamnagar districts, respectively, officials said. Several teams of the NDRF and the State Disaster Response Force (SDRF) were rushed to Rajkot, Junagadh and Jamnagar, they said. Around 20 people were airlifted by IAF helicopters from various villages in Jamnagar district and 30 others rescued as well, Collector Sourabh Pardhi said. Rajkot Collector Arun Mahesh Babu informed that IAF choppers were preparing to airlift 22 people from three villages in his district. "So far, we have relocated a total 1,155 people to safe places in the district, and the process continues. A team of the NDRF from Bhatinda in Punjab and two teams of SDRF from Banaskantha and Vadodara will be here to help in rescue operations," Babu said. Pardhi said two teams of the NDRF and one of SDRF were carrying out rescue operations in affected areas in Jamnagar. An SEOC official said a part of the highway between Jamnagar and Kalavad was blocked due to flooding, while six state highways in Jamnagar, Amreli and Porbandar districts and 58 village roads in different districts were affected. Meanwhile, the India Meteorological Department has forecast widespread rainfall across till Wednesday, including "heavy to very heavy rainfall with isolated extremely heavy rainfall in a few places in the districts of Saurashtra during the next four days". Parts of south and other districts may also receive heavy to very heavy rainfall during this period, the IMD 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.) Banking regulator (RBI) on Monday cautioned people not to share account login details, personal information, copies of documents, card information, PIN, password and OTP with unidentified persons or agencies. "Such details should not be shared through unverified/unauthorised websites or applications. In case they receive any such requests, customers are requested to get in touch with their bank/branch," said the RBI. The central bank has been receiving complaints about customers falling prey to frauds being perpetrated in the name of updation. The usual modus operandi in such cases include receipt of unsolicited communication, like calls, SMSs and emails by customer urging him/her to share certain personal details, account/login details/card information, PIN and OTP or install some unauthorised/unverified application for updation using a link provided in the communication. Such communications are also reported to carry threats of account freeze/block/closure. Once customer shares information over call/message/unauthorised application, fraudsters get access to customer's account and defraud him/her. "It is also clarified that while the regulated entities are required to undertake periodic updation of KYC, the process of periodic updation of KYC has been simplified to a large extent," said the RBI. "Regulated entities have been advised that in respect of customer accounts where periodic updation of KYC is due and pending as on date, no restrictions on operations of such account will be imposed till December 31 for this reason alone unless warranted under instructions of any regulator/enforcement agency/court of law. (Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The Assembly on Monday passed a bill to dispense with the Entrance-cum-Eligibility Test (NEET) and provide for admission to medical courses based on Class XII marks to ensure social justice, as the death by suicide of a medical aspirant fearing outcome of the test he was to take echoed in the House with the main opposition AIADMK targeting the government over the incident. Chief Minister introduced the Bill and all parties, including the main opposition AIADMK and its ally PMK, besides others like Congress, supported the bill, which seeks to provide for admission to UG courses in medicine, dentistry, Indian medicine and homeopathy on the basis of marks obtained in the qualifying examination, (Class XII). The opposition BJP staged a walkout, protesting against the government move. Earlier, as soon as the House convened, Leader of the Opposition K Palaniswami referred to the death by suicide of 19-year old Dhanush in his native Salem district on Sunday and targeted the government on the matter. He said that though the DMK had promised "cancelling" NEET, it was not done and several students had not prepared well. Some of his remarks were expunged by Speaker M Appavu. Palaniswami sought a job for a person from the family, besides cash assistance. The opposition party MLAs, who came to the House wearing black badges, staged a walkout, led by Palaniswami. On Sunday, hours before he was to appear for NEET for a third time, 19-year old Dhanush, belonging to a village near Salem, died by suicide, fearing the outcome of the test he was to take. The incident triggered a blame game with the AIADMK holding the DMK regime responsible for the death and the state government targeting the Centre. Stalin, replying, said NEET was conducted for the first time in when Palaniswami was the Chief Minister and it was not held even when the late J Jayalalithaa was the CM. Recalling the death by suicides of students, including S Anita in recent years, he said all these happened when Palaniswami was the CM. The student, Dhanush, who took the extreme step, could not clear the exam twice when the AIADMK was in power. Stalin also targeted the AIADMK over rejection of Bills enacted during its regime in 2017 to get the state exempted from the ambit of NEET and also for hiding it from the House. Stalin introduced the Bill and appealed to all to support it for social justice, indicating that the present initiative would be fully different from what was done before during the AIADMK regime. The Bill, referring to recommendations of a high-level committee, said the government has decided to enact a law to dispense with the requirement of NEET for admission to UG Medical degree courses and to provide admission to such courses on the basis of marks obtained in the qualifying examination, through "Normalisation methods", to ensure "social justice, uphold equality and equal opportunity, protect all vulnerable student communities from being discriminated and bring them to the mainstream of medical and dental education and in turn to ensure a robust public health care across the state, particularly the rural areas." Stalin, who welcomed the support of the main opposition party to his government's move on NEET, recalled that in the past, when the DMK was in the opposition, it supported the then AIADMK government on the issue of jallikattu, the bull-taming sport. BJP's Nainar Nagenthiran insisted NEET had its benefits like increased pass percentage and led his party's walkout protesting against the bill. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Children aged 12 to 15 should be offered a COVID vaccine, the UK's chief medical officers (CMOs) have decided on Monday. The medical officers said their recommendation to the government was made after considering "what effect this will have on transmission in schools and effects on education". "It's a useful tool to reduce the disruption," they said. According to the decision, healthy children should be offered a single dose of the Pfizer/BioNTech and the rollout should begin "as soon as possible". The move means around 3 million children could be eligible for the jab, which is expected to be given through schools. It follows the Joint Committee on and Immunisation (JCVI) decision against such a rollout purely on health grounds, leaving the final call in the hands of the CMOs after considering wider implications. The CMOs note in their letter to UK Health Secretary Sajid Javid: Overall however the view of the UK CMOs is that the additional likely benefits of reducing educational disruption, and the consequent reduction in public health harm from educational disruption, on balance provide sufficient extra advantage in addition to the marginal advantage at an individual level identified by the JCVI to recommend in favour of vaccinating this group. They therefore recommend on public health grounds that ministers extend the offer of universal with a first dose of Pfizer/BioNTech COVID-19 to all children and young people aged 12 to 15 not already covered by existing JCVI advice. If government ministers accept this advice, the CMOs say they would want the JCVI to give a further view on whether, and what, second doses to give to children and young people aged 12 to 15 once more data on second doses in this age group has accrued internationally. The CMOs said the UK has benefited from having data from the US, Canada and Israel, which have already offered vaccines universally to children and young people aged 12 to 15. It will now be up to the government in the four devolved UK nations England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland to decide whether to accept the recommendation of the four CMOs. If they agree, children will be offered the Pfizer/BioNTech jab. The is likely to be given in schools and parents will be asked to give consent. The CMOs said, "on balance", the benefits in reducing disruption and the harm it caused, including to mental health, provided "sufficient extra advantage" to warrant extending to healthy children in this age group. Their recommendation that only one dose be given for now is related to the very rare risk of a condition called myocarditis, or inflammation of the heart muscle. The risk is tiny after one vaccine dose and slightly higher after two, with 12 to 34 cases seen for every one million second doses. (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.) Realigning the weight of in the US-India energy partnership, the US Special Presidential Envoy for Climate Change, John Kerry, on his first day in India launched the Climate Action and Finance Mobilisation Dialogue (CAFMD) with the government. He said the three-part focus of the dialogue would be on finance mobilisation, development, and climate adaptation measures. Kerry also met the Minister for Power, New & Renewable Energy R K Singh and Minister for Environment, Forest & Bhupender Yadav. The two nations are revamping their strategic partnership to focus on sectors, such as biofuels and hydrogen, after the Joe Biden administration took charge. This is a shift from the partnership efforts under Donald Trump that focused more on shale exploration. Speaking at the event where he signed the CAFMD with Yadav, Kerry said a robust India-US Climate and Clean Energy Agenda 2030 Partnership would set an example for the world "on how swift climate action with inclusive and resilient economic development can bring the world closer to the climate goals and build stronger economies for both". He said, "Agenda 2030 is a core pillar of the US-India relationship and the CAFMD is one of the two main tracks of the Agenda 2030 partnership." In line with the same, the realigned Strategic Clean Energy Partnership (SCEP) was jointly launched last week. An official statement said SCEP was launched in accordance with the US-India Climate and Clean Energy Agenda 2030 Partnership announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President Biden at the 2021 Leaders' Summit on Climate held in April. Kerry said the CAFMD will take these joint efforts forward. The three focal points of the CAFMD would firstly include a 'climate action pillar", he said, which will develop proposals that can contribute towards curbing emissions. "In the power sector, this would translate into a road map to achieve the 450-gigawatt (Gw) renewable energy target," said the special envoy. The second is finance mobilisation, under which the two countries will collaborate on attracting capital to deploy 450 Gw of renewable energy capacity, investment in innovative clean energy technologies, and promote bilateral clean energy investment. The third part would focus on climate adaptation and resilience. We are going to collaborate to build capacity to measure and manage climate risks. We are also going to be active in the protection of forests, said Kerry. The announcement comes close on the heels of the UK government announcing a $1.2-billion package for public and private investment in green projects and renewable energy in India. Commenting on India's clean energy plans, Kerry said the target of 450 Gw of renewable energy is one of the most powerful goals in the world. "You have already reached about 100 Gw. We are absolutely confident that the 450-Gw goal can and will be reached. I look forward to seeing this ambition hopefully given its proper due at the 2021 United Nations Conference (COP26) in Glasgow," said Kerry. In his meeting with the special envoy, R K Singh urged the US government to join the International Solar Alliance. "The minister informed the envoy about the bids for green hydrogen and electrolysers that are being planned. The minister requested the US side to send their companies to participate in the bids," said a statement from the Ministry of Power. Kerry's visits and agendas signed under these meetings follow the US-India Strategic Energy Partnership (SEP), which was launched in April 2018. The original partnership included power and energy efficiency, responsible oil and gas, renewable energy, and sustainable growth in 2019. With the addition of 'emerging fuels', SEP was rechristened SCEP. As part of SCEP, a US-India hydrogen task force was launched in June and a new India-US task force on biofuels announced last week. The two countries have also signed up for the transformation of the US-India gas task force. This will entail emphasis on the intersectionality between bioenergy, hydrogen, and renewable fuels with natural gas. on Monday assured that is no longer a major concern for the economy. She said that from October 15 the government would kick-start a credit outreach programme. The move is likely to give impetus to economic recovery during the festive season and also ensure availability of credit for sectors like export. The credit outreach programme is likely to be similar to the credit outreach programme launched in 2019, through which banks held loan melas across 400 districts and reportedly disbursed around Rs 4.9 trillion. Addressing a select group of CII members at Chennai, the expressed satisfaction that is no longer a major concern, and that the Bank-NBFC (Non-Banking Financial Company -MFI (Microfinance)channel has been de-clogged and from 15th October there would be a special drive to reach out credit to those who need it. To tide over the pandemic and subsequent economic crisis, the Apex Bank had already pumped in through measures like open market operations over the last year. This has resulted in a higher average surplus of over Rs six trillion in the banking system. Sitharaman added that the announced disinvestment plan was on track. The government is planning to raise Rs 1.75 trillion from stake sale in public sector companies and financial institutions during the current financial year. She said that the government is working on ramping up health infrastructure, including in the tier two and tier three cities, by supporting the private sector, while it is ramping up the vaccination drive. The country has so far provided at least one dose of vaccine to at least 74.38 crore people. She further shared that the Development Finance Institution announced in the budget would be operational soon. Welcoming continuous feedback and inputs from industry, the said that the ongoing dialogues with industry has enabled the Government to take a series of actions, as the pandemic situation evolved. Earlier while sharing CIIs perspective on the Indian economy, T V Narendran, President CII said that the first quarter GDP growth of 20.1 per cent firmly establishes the setting in of the recovery. He further elaborated that CII expects a GDP growth of at least 9.5 per cent for this fiscal, provided vaccination continues to gather pace and there are no further severe waves of the pandemic. Narendran applauded governments initiatives towards preparedness for the third wave and interventions aimed at catalysing private investments, such as the Production Linked Incentives and the National Monetisation Pipeline. He urged the Government to continue frontloading its committed capital expenditure to support the demand recovery and for the virtuous cycle of private investments to set in. Industry leaders from companies like the Hinduja Group, Cavinkare, Daimler India Commercial Vehicle, Apollo Hospitals, 3M India, Star Health Insurance, Saint Gobain India, Tractors and Farm Equipment and Chettinad Group participated in the event. The has upheld the order of restricting input for services used by industries facing inverted duty structure under the goods and services tax (GST) regime. The order may affect cash flow of pharma, fertiliser, footwear and textile industries. In this connection, the apex court quashed the Gujarat high court judgement. The two lower courts had earlier given contradictory judgements. While the had upheld the Rule 89 (5) inserted by the government under the CGST Act on restricting such input as valid. It was contrary to Gujarat high court order which had struck down the rule. Inverted duty structure means that companies face higher GST rates on raw materials than on finished goods. While the GST Council has addressed the issue of inverted duty structure for many industries including telecom, it still persists for textiles, footwear, pharma and fertilizer industries. The government had brought in the rule in 2018 by amending an earlier one that allowed all kinds of credits, regardless of whether the taxes were paid on goods or on services. While finding anomalies in a formula for computing input given in the rule, the refrained from reading it down but asked the GST Council to reconsider it, pointed out Abhishek Jain, tax partner EY. "The industry players would hope that the government would reconsider the anomalies and recraft the formula in a better manner," he said. Jain said the apex court has removed the doubts that arose after the contradictory views by the high courts of Madras and Gujarat. Parag Mehta, partner, NA Shah Associates, however, said with the judgement, the impacted industries will have a scenario with substantial amounts blocked in input tax and no possibility of refund leading to working capital issues. Highlighting the importance of trust between the government and industry, Union said on Monday that it was essential to leverage opportunities thrown up by the Covid-19 pandemic and take the country one generation ahead. The trust between the two sides was reflected in the governments actions, Sitharaman said while addressing members of the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) in Chennai. has come under criticism recently for various reasons. Earlier this month, RSS mouthpiece Panchajanya called anti-national in a report while referring to the IT companys failure to fix the glitches in the income-tax portal. The RSS later distanced itself from the report. Recently, Sitharaman said it was not right to call anti-national. In another instance, Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal had said during an industry interaction in August that some companies, including the Tata group, had acted against national interest and that local businesses shouldnt just think of profit. The Tatas had opposed some of the proposed rules in the e-commerce policy. Sitharaman, however, encouraged continuous feedback and inputs from India Inc, and said discussions with industry had enabled the government to take a series of actions as the pandemic situation evolved. On the governments strategy for handling the pandemic, the said that on the one hand, the focus was on ramping up vaccination, but on the other hand, the government was working to upgrade health infrastructure, including in Tier-2 and Tier-3 cities, by supporting the private sector. India has so far administered at least one dose of Covid vaccine to 744 million people. Sitharaman assured that was no longer a major concern. She added that the bank-NBFC-MFI channel had been de-clogged, and from October 15 there would be a special drive to reach out to those who need credit. Finance Minister on Monday said that the trust between government and industry is critical for leveraging the opportunities thrown up by the COVID-19 pandemic while assuring that the proposed DFI, the National Bank for Infrastructure Financing and Development (NaBFID), will become functional soon. This trust is also reflected in the government's actions, she said while addressing members of industry chamber CII here. Elaborating on the government's strategy for handling the pandemic, the minister said that on one hand the focus is on ramping up vaccination as that was the biggest protection against the pandemic while on the other hand the government is working on ramping up health infrastructure, including in the tier 2 and tier 3 cities, by supporting the private sector. The Finance Minister expressed confidence that the announced disinvestment plan is on track. Sitharaman in her 2021-22 Budget speech, had announced a big-ticket privatisation agenda, including privatisation of two public sector banks and one general insurance company. The budgeted Rs 1.75 lakh crore from stake sale in public sector companies including strategic sale of IDBI Bank, BPCL, Shipping Corp, Container Corporation, Neelachal Ispat Nigam Ltd, among others. She also assured that the Development Finance Institution (DFI) announced in the budget would be operational soon. Liquidity is no longer a major concern, and that the Bank-NBFC-MFI channel has been de-clogged and from October 15 there would be a special drive to reach out credit to those who need it, she said. Parliament earlier this year passed a Bill to set up a Rs 20,000 crore DFI with a view to mobilise Rs 111 lakh crore required for funding of the ambitious national infrastructure pipeline (NIP), which has over 7,000 greenfield and brownfield projects. There were at least three or four attempts in the past to have alternative investment funds (AIFs), but gradually either they changed their nature of business or became reluctant to take long-term risk. (Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Chief Minister M.K. Stalin on Monday tabled a Bill seeking the withdrawal of National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (NEET) for the state. The DMK led by its President Stalin had come to power in the state promising that it would cancel This is the second time a bill for such a purpose is being tabled in the Assembly. A similar bill was passed by the assembly during the AIADMK regime which did not get the President's assent. Tabling the Bill, Stalin said the DMK has been opposing from the beginning and after coming to power, has started the legal fight against it. He sought the support of the opposition parties for the Bill. Stalin said the government is trying to bring the admission process for medical seats based on 12th standard marks. According to him, the Bill provides for 7.5 per cent reservation in medical colleges for students who had studied in government schools. Stalin said the government will try to get the assent of the President for the Bill after it is passed in the Assembly. Former Chief Minister and the Leader of Opposition, K. Palaniswami said AIADMK will extend its support to the Bill. There has been severe opposition to the in by students and the political parties. On Saturday, a 19-year old Dhanush, a medical seat aspirant, was found dead at his home at Kooliyur village in Tamil Nadu's Salem district. Police sources said the deceased Dhanush was to appear for his third attempt in the national entrance test on Sunday. Dhanush had cleared his Class 12 exam in 2019 and was preparing for the exam on Sunday. However, he was found lying dead when his parents went to wake him up early in the morning. Police rushed to his home and the body was taken to the government general hospital at Mettur. A case has been registered and police are investigating the matter. --IANS vj/skp/ (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.) Afghan businessmen have rejected Pakistan's demand to conduct bilateral trade in the Pakistani in the future. A number of people have reacted to a report in a Pakistani newspaper that said business deals in should be based on Pakistani rupees, Pajhwok Afghan News reported. Daily Jang, a Pakistani newspaper in a report quoted the country's Finance Minister Shawkat Tareen as saying that faced a shortage of dollar reserves and that would be the reason would make transactions in Pakistani rupees. The report said that Tareen made the statements after Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank suspended payments to Afghanistan. After these reports, Afghans launched a social media campaign titled 'Afghani is our national identity,' Pajhwok Afghan News said. Most of the social media activists shared slogans, such as: "We are residents of Afghanistan, Afghani is our national identity and using Afghan currency is our national responsibility". Social media user, Abdul Kareem in a tweet said, "I will build my country myself, so I will use the currency of my own country. Every transaction in Afghanistan should be in Afghan currency." Many pro- people too reacted against Pakistan's demand to conduct bilateral business in the Pakistani Hammad Afghan, one of them, in a tweet said, "If you want to enlighten your future and make a rich Afghanistan, you should promote our national currency (Afghani)." Sheikh Abdul Hamid Hammasi, also a pro- Afghan, said: "If anyone values national identity and Afghanhood, then they should use Afghan currency for transactions..." He said that the should make it clear to all officials and businessmen that they would be punished if they used Pakistani rupees. A number of other people held similar views and said those using foreign currencies should be punished, the report added. Meanwhile, the Taliban are yet to react to Pakistan's proposal. (Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) In a bid to implement a hardline Islamic curriculum in Afghanistan, the on Sunday said that university subjects that defy Islamic laws will be removed from higher education. "Each subject that is against Islamic laws will be removed," said Acting Minister of Higher Education Shaikh Abdul Baqi Haqqani in a press conference, reported TOLOnews. Haqqani mentioned that mixed classes between girls and boys are not acceptable and some changes will be brought to the curriculum.- A week ago, private universities and other higher education institutions were reopened but the classes were divided by gender. Meantime, university students have even raised questions about the current state of education in Abdul Rahim, a university student said that he is worried about his future, teachers and students are not present in the university, reported TOLOnews. also announced that they will launch a program to send students abroad to pursue higher education. (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.) Not even a month has passed after the completion of the US drawdown from Afghanistan, US commanders who led the war in are struggling to decipher how the country collapsed to the and cautioned a possible "civil war". Last Sunday, a top US General had admitted the "collapse" of the Afghan army, in the face of the offensive, happened at a much faster rate. The United States' role in has come under scanner after the Taliban's swift takeover of Kabul, following an offensive that saw the quick fall of the US-trained Afghan army. "The collapse of the Afghan army happened at a much faster rate and (was) very unexpected by pretty much everybody," General Mark Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff had said. Milley had further warned that conditions for a future "civil war" could develop in following the US troops' withdrawal. In the aftermath of the US exit from Afghanistan, CNN interviewed several US commanders who led the war in the troubled country, in a bid to comprehend what went wrong in Afghanistan. "The 20-year war in Afghanistan was -- for the results that we have achieved -- not worth the cost," said Karl Eikenberry, a former commander in Afghanistan. In the CNN report, the US commander revealed how political decisions hurt the ability of service members to succeed. Also, they wondered whether the Pentagon misrepresented the Afghan military's abilities to the public. Moreover, US commanders described their resentment about the way politicians scaled back resources for Afghanistan to fuel the war in Iraq. "My first impulse is to say, yes, it was worth it, but I no longer am certain of that," said former general McNeill, who led coalition forces in the early 2000s. "Before I go to my grave, I hope to have that question answered." Post the messy withdrawal of Americans from Afghanistan, former acting CIA Director Michael Morell last week said "jihadists" were "absolutely inspired" by the US's exit and the Taliban's win in Afghanistan. "I think that the winning the war in Afghanistan, and then the way our exit happened, has absolutely inspired jihadists all over the world," Morell said in an interview with CBS. "The Taliban is saying, we just didn't defeat the United States, we defeated NATO. We defeated the world's greatest military power, ever. So there's a celebration going on," 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.) By Rajendra Jadhav MUMBAI (Reuters) -India has cut base import taxes on palm oil, soyoil and sunflower oil, according to a government notification, as the world's biggest buyer tries to cool near-record price rises. The reduction in taxes could bring down prices of the edible oils in India and boost consumption, effectively increasing overseas buying by the south Asian country. The base import tax on crude palm oil has been slashed to 2.5% from 10%, while the tax on crude soyoil and crude sunflower oil has been reduced to 2.5% from 7.5%, the government said in a notification late on Friday. The base import tax on refined grades of palm oil, soyoil and sunflower oil cut to 32.5% from 37.5%. After the cuts, crude palm oil, soyoil and sunflower oil imports will be subject to a 24.75% tax in total, including a 2.5% base import duty and other taxes, while refined grades of palm oil, soyoil and sunflower oil would carry a 35.75% tax in total. India fulfils more than two-thirds of its edible oil demand through imports and has been struggling to contain a rally in local oil prices for the last few months. The country imports palm oil mainly from top producers Indonesia and Malaysia, while other oils, such as soy and sunflower, come from Argentina, Brazil, Ukraine and Russia. The reduction in taxes would bring down edible oil prices ahead of key festivals, when edible oil demand rises in the country, said Govindbhai Patel, managing director of trading firm G.G. Patel & Nikhil Research Company. New Delhi cut import taxes on palm oil, soyoil and sunflower oil, but kept import duties intact on crude rapeseed oil at 38.5%, said B.V. Mehta, executive director of the Solvent Extractors' Association of India. "There is a need to bring down import tax on rapeseed oil as well since the price has nearly doubled in a year," Mehta said. (Reporting by Rajendra Jadhav; Editing by William Mallard and Raju Gopalakrishnan) (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.) Millions of people stuck for years in the employment-based Green Card backlog in the US, including a sizable number of Indians, can hope for a lawful permanent residency in America by paying a supplemental fee if a new House bill is passed into law. The move, if included in the reconciliation package and passed into law, is expected to help thousands of Indian IT professionals who are currently stuck in an agonising Green Card backlog. A Green Card, known officially as a Permanent Resident Card, is a document issued to immigrants as evidence that the bearer has been granted the privilege of residing permanently in the US. According to the committee print released by the US House of Representatives Judiciary Committee, which has jurisdiction over immigration, an employment-based immigrant applicant with a priority date that is more than 2 years before can adjust to permanent residence without numerical limits by paying a supplemental fee of USD 5,000. The fee is USD 50,000 for the EB-5 category (immigrant investors). The provisions expire in 2031, the Forbes magazine reported. For a family-based immigrant who is sponsored by a US citizen and with a priority date that is more than 2 years before, the fee for getting a Green Card would be USD 2,500. The supplement fee would be USD 1,500 if an applicant's priority date is not within two years but they are required to be present in the country, according to the committee print. This fee would be in addition to any administrative processing fee paid by the applicant. However, the bill does not contain permanent structural changes to the legal immigration system, including eliminating country caps for green cards or increasing the annual quotas of H-1B visas. Before becoming law, the provisions would have to pass the Judiciary Committee, the House of Representatives and the Senate and be signed by the president, the report said. According to a report in CBSNews, if successful, the legalisation plan would allow undocumented immigrants who came to the US as children, Temporary Protected Status (TPS) beneficiaries, farmworkers and other pandemic-era essential workers to apply for permanent US residency, or green cards. Reacting to the bill, David J Bier, Immigration policy analyst at Cato Institute, said, "employment-based applicants can adjust if they have waited 2 years from their priority date... this is almost like abolishing the EB caps for adjustment applicants who can pay $5K. Awesome!" "For EB5, it's $50K fee. Even those who can't afford the fees or who are abroad would benefit from freeing up this cap space for others. It's unfair that the bill maintains the country caps as is, so Indians and Chinese will be the only EB applicants required to pay the $5K/50K," he said in a series of tweets. He said that the base caps for diversity, family, and #H1B all remain the same. "Since H1B is the feeder for most EB, that's basically like keeping the EB cap the same. No reforms to #H2A, #H2B, or other work programs, so nothing to help unskilled workers/address the border," he said. "Basically, this bill will help a few legal immigrants abroad indirectly, but the main purpose is integration of existing immigrants. That's a noble cause, but the immigration/migration part of immigration reform is just left out. No new pathways for workers, same system," he tweeted. US Congressmen, including Indian-American Raja Krishnamoorthi had last month urged their Congressional colleagues to support their move to employment-based Green Card backlog as part of budget reconciliation. A group of 40 US lawmakers, led by Krishnamoorthi, had written to Speaker of House Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, saying the budget reconciliation package provides relief to these individuals stuck in the employment-based Green Card backlog, thereby strengthening the economy in the process. They argued that under current law, the American economy is unable to access the full talent pool of high-skilled workers already present and working in the United States today indeed, the very scientists, inventors, health care workers, entrepreneurs, and other professionals that give the US its edge over its global competitors today. This is because there is effectively a Green Card ban on high-skilled immigrants from India, China, and other countries with large populations of workers eager to remain in America and power forward our economy and social safety net programs for generations to come, they said. This arbitrary cap is keeping some of the world's most talented individuals from permanently calling America home, encouraging them to take their inventions, expertise, and creativity to other countries instead. Most workers in the employment-based Green Card backlog are already in the United States on temporary nonimmigrant visas, such as the H-1B visa for workers in specialty occupations, that are renewable but greatly restrict beneficiaries from reaching their full potential. Right now, no more than seven per cent of employment-based green cards are available to individuals from a single country, which has created a decades-long backlog for would-be immigrants from India and China. Indian nationals face a particularly daunting backlog of 80 years, and an anticipated 200,000 will die before achieving lawful permanent resident status, the lawmakers said. H-1B holders are unable to change jobs or start their own businesses -- despite the fact that they have been shown to boost overall productivity, wages, and new patents, they said. The temporary nature of the H-1B visa forces beneficiaries to live in a constant state of uncertainty, preventing them from becoming entrepreneurs, buying homes, employing more Americans, or otherwise fully establishing themselves as permanent fixtures within the American economy. (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.) UK Prime Minister is expected to meet with US President at the end of this month, during the General Assembly (UNGA). One senior diplomatic source told the newspaper that the meeting was expected to take place at the White House but this had not been "100 per cent confirmed," UK media reported. The 76th UN General Assembly (UNGA) is opening on September 14. The high-level week will start on September 21 and will last until the 27th. Johnson is expected to hold bilateral talks with Biden during his four-day trip to the US for the UNGA, The Times said, adding that the prime minister will try to mend relations with Washington. Downing Street had asked Biden's administration to have the meeting coincide with the UNGA trip, the newspaper specified. Sources told The Times that there is "a suspicion in Washington that Johnson doesn't want to be too tough on Beijing" and Biden will use the opportunity during talks with Johnson to get the prime minister to support the US, which sees "China as the great strategic challenge of the 21st century." One senior diplomatic source told the newspaper that if London wants to have an influence on issues like Russia, China and climate change, it will not be able to do so alone. (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.) As congressional Democrats speed ahead this week in pursuit of President Joe Biden's USD 3.5 trillion plan for social and environmental spending, a Democratic senator vital to the bill's fate says the cost will need to be slashed to USD 1 trillion to USD 1.5 trillion to win his support. Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., also cautioned there was no way Congress will meet the late September goal from House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif, for passage given his current wide differences with liberal Democrats on how much to spend and how to pay for it. I cannot support USD 3.5 trillion, Manchin said Sunday, citing in particular his opposition to a proposed increase in the corporate tax rate from 21 per cent to 28 per cent and vast new social spending. We should be looking at everything, and we're not. We don't have the need to rush into this and get it done within one week because there's some deadline we're meeting, or someone's going to fall through the cracks." Democrats have no votes to spare if they want to enact Biden's massive Build Back Better agenda, with the Senate split 50-50 and Vice President Kamala Harris the tiebreaker if there is no Republican support. Democratic congressional leaders have set a target of Wednesday for committees have the bill drafted. Pressed repeatedly about a price tag he could support, Manchin said, It's going to be USD 1, USD 1.5 (trillion). He suggested the range was based on a modest rise in the corporate tax rate to 25 per cent, a figure he believes will keep the US globally competitive. The numbers that they're wanting to pay for and the tax changes they want to make, is that competitive? Manchin asked. I believe there's some changes made that does not keep us competitive. But Sen. Bernie Sanders, the Vermont independent who chairs the Senate Budget Committee and is helping craft the measure, noted that he and other members of the liberal flank in Congress had initially urged an even more robust package of USD 6 trillion. He described Manchin's proposal as a nonstarter. I don't think it's acceptable to the president, to the American people or to the overwhelming majority of the people in the Democratic caucus, Sanders said. He added: "I believe we're going to all sit down and work together and come up with a USD 3.5 trillion reconciliation bill which deals with the enormously unmet needs of working families. The current blueprint proposes billions for rebuilding infrastructure, tackling climate change and expanding or introducing a range of services, from free prekindergarten to dental, vision and hearing aid care for older people. Manchin voted last month to approve a budget resolution that set the figure, though he and Sen. Kyrsten Sinema, D-Ariz., have expressed reservations about the topline amount. All of it would be paid for with taxes on corporations and the wealthy. Congressional committees have been working hard this month on slices of the 10-year proposal in a bid to meet this week's timeline from Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., to have the bill drafted. Pelosi is seeking a House vote by Oct. 1, near the Sept. 27 timeline for voting on a slimmer infrastructure plan favored by moderate lawmakers. Manchin, who in an op-ed earlier this month urged a strategic pause on the legislation to reconsider the cost, described the timing as unrealistic. He has urged Congress to act first on the nearly USD 1 trillion bipartisan infrastructure bill already passed by the Senate. But liberal Democrats have threatened to withhold their support until the USD 3.5 trillion spending bill is passed alongside it. Neither side in their remarks on Sunday news programs revealed how they hoped to quickly bridge the divide among Democrats. There's no way we can get this done by the 27th, if we do our job, Manchin said. There's so much differences that we have here and so much there's so much apart from us where we are. ... I'm working with people. I'm willing to talk to people. It makes no sense at all. Manchin spoke on CNN's State of the Union, NBC's Meet the Press and ABC's This Week. Sanders was on CNN and ABC. (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.) Oil prices climbed on Monday to a one-week high in a second straight session of gains as concerns over U.S. supplies following damage from Hurricane Ida supported the market, along with expectations for higher demand. Brent crude rose 48 cents, or 0.7% to $73.40 a barrel, and U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude also added 49 cents, or 0.7%, to $70.21 a barrel. Both were at their highest since Sept. 3 earlier in the session. About three-quarters of the U.S. Gulf's offshore oil production, or about 1.4 million barrels per day, has remained halted since late August - roughly equal to what OPEC member Nigeria produces. "To compound matters, more oil refineries in Louisiana have resumed operations, raising demand for crude oil," ANZ analysts said in a note. Royal Dutch Shell Plc, the largest oil producer in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico, on Thursday cancelled some export cargoes due to damage to offshore facilities from Hurricane Ida, signalling energy losses would continue for weeks. However, the number of rigs in operation in the United States grew in the latest week, energy service provider Baker Hughes said, indicating production may rise in coming weeks. Beyond the impact of Ida, market attention will focus this week on potential revisions to the outlook for 2022 from the Organization of the Petroleum Operating Countries (OPEC) and the Energy Agency (IEA). OPEC will likely revise its forecast lower on Monday, two people familiar with the matter said. Money managers raised their net long U.S. crude futures and options positions in the week to Sept. 7, the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) said on Friday. The speculator group raise its combined futures and options position in New York and London by 1,035 contracts to 279,610 during the period. (Reporting by Naveen Thukral; Editing by Kenneth Maxwell) (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.) UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres on Monday announced a USD 20 million allocation to support humanitarian operation in Afghanistan, saying the "de facto" authorities in the war-torn country have "pledged" to cooperate to ensure assistance is delivered to the people. "The people of need a lifeline. After decades of war, suffering and insecurity, they face perhaps their most perilous hour. Now is the time for the community to stand with them," Guterres said at a humanitarian conference on convened in Geneva. At the global conference, Guterres announced a USD 20 million allocation from the UN's Central Emergency Response Fund to support the humanitarian operation in Cautioning that "time is short and events move quickly in Afghanistan," Guterres appealed to the community to extend that "lifeline to the people of Afghanistan - and do everything we can - and everything we owe - to help them hold on to hope." The convened the High-Level Ministerial event on the humanitarian situation in Afghanistan to highlight the acute needs in the country and underscore the urgent funding support and actions required by partners to support the people of Afghanistan. As Afghans urgently need food, medicine, health services, safe water, sanitation, and protection, UN agencies and non-governmental partners have launched a flash appeal seeking USD 606 million for the remainder of the year to bring vital relief to 11 million people. He told the conference that he had asked UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator Martin Griffiths to travel to Kabul last week to meet the leadership of the Griffiths had met with co-founder Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar and the militant outfit's leadership in Kabul to engage with the authorities on humanitarian issues. "The de facto authorities pledged to cooperate to ensure assistance is delivered to the people of Afghanistan. Our staff and all aid workers must be allowed to do their vital work in safety without harassment, intimidation or fear," Guterres said. Last week, the announced a hardline interim government led by Mullah Mohammad Hasan Akhund, chief of the Taliban's powerful decision-making body 'Rehbari Shura'. He will be the Acting Prime Minister while Baradar will be his deputy in the "new Islamic government. At least 14 members of the Cabinet, including acting Prime Minister Mullah Akhund, are listed on the UN Security Council's terrorism blacklist. The UN chief said that in order to continue the life-saving efforts in Afghanistan, four things are required right away - funding; help to boost humanitarian access; need to safeguard the rights of women and girls in Afghanistan and need to ensure that the humanitarian response saves lives but also saves livelihoods. On funding, Guterres said, we need more. We need it quickly. And we need it to be flexible enough to adapt to the fast- changing conditions on the ground." He urged for help from the international community to boost humanitarian access, including the airbridge with Kabul and other hubs in Afghanistan. "The Humanitarian Air Service established an airbridge from Islamabad into Kandahar, Mazar and Herat, with operations running since the end of August. This work must continue. Much more is needed."He added that "we need to be able to move aid workers and humanitarian supplies in and out of the country."Emphasising that one of the bright spots of Afghanistan today is the new generation of women leaders and entrepreneurs, educated and flourishing over the last two decades, Guterres said Afghan women and girls want to ensure that gains are not lost, doors are not closed and hope is not extinguished. This is central to the future of the country and every Afghan. Expressing concern that the people of Afghanistan are facing the collapse of an entire country "all at once", Guterres said Afghanistan faces a development emergency and progress of the two last decades must be protected. "In doing so, we must ensure that local economies remain functional; that people can stay in their communities and in their homes; that they have access to basic services, basic income and social protection. Guterres said the conference is not simply about what "we will give to the people of Afghanistan. It is about what we owe. (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 Biden administration is expanding its effort to find and reunite migrant families who were separated at the US- border under President as part of a zero-tolerance policy on illegal crossings. A federal task force is launching a new program Monday that officials say will expand efforts to find parents, many of whom are in remote Central American communities, and help them return to the United States, where they will get at least three years of legal residency and other assistance. We recognize that we can't make these families completely whole again," said Michelle Bran, executive director of the administration's Family Reunification Task Force. "But we want to do everything we can to put them on a path towards a better life. The new program, which includes a contract with the Organization for Migration to help with the often-complex task of getting expelled migrants back to the US, is a reflection of just how difficult it has been for President Joe Biden's administration to address a chapter in US immigration history that drew widespread condemnation. The task force has reunited about 50 families since starting its work in late February, but there are hundreds of parents, and perhaps between 1,000 and 2,000, who were separated from their children and have not been located. A lack of accurate records from the Trump administration makes it difficult to say for certain, Bran said. It is it a huge challenge that we are absolutely committed to following through to meet and to do whatever we can to reunify these families," she said as she outlined the new program in an interview with The Associated Press. The Trump administration separated thousands of migrant parents from their children in 2017 and 2018 as it moved to criminally prosecute people for illegally crossing the southwest border. Minors, who could not be held in criminal custody with their parents, were transferred to the Department of Health and Human Services. They were then typically sent to live with a sponsor, often a relative or someone else with a connection to the family. Amid widespread outrage, Trump issued an executive order halting the practice of family separations in June 2018, days before a federal judge did the same and demanded that separated families be reunited in response to a lawsuit filed by the American Civil Liberties Union. More than 5,500 children were separated from their families, according to the ACLU. The task force came up with an initial estimate closer to 4,000 but has been examining hundreds of other cases. Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas held a virtual call with reunited families last month. He made it very clear that an apology is not enough, that we really need to do a lot more for them and we recognise that," Bran said. The new program includes a web portal that will allow parents to contact the US government to begin the process of reunification. The site and an outreach campaign to promote it will be in English, Spanish, Portuguese and several indigenous languages of Central America. Most of the parents are believed to be in Guatemala, Honduras, and Brazil. They often lack passports and the means to travel to their own country's capital, let alone return to the US to try to gain entry at the border. Once parents who were separated from their children are located, the US will work with the Organization for Migration to help people get passports and other documents and return to the United States, where they will get work permits, residency for three years and some support services. Lee Gelernt, deputy director of the ACLU's immigrant rights project, welcomed the Biden administration's expanded efforts as an important first step," though he believes migrants should get more than three years of residency. Ultimately, we need the families to be given permanent legal status in light of what the government deliberately did to these families," Gelernt said. The ACLU is in talks with the government to provide some compensation to the families as part of settlement talks. Bran said the administration recognizes that we need to find a better, longer-term solution to provide families with stability," but that it will take more time, and perhaps action from Congress, to achieve that goal. The contract with the IOM, an inter-governmental organization, and the expanded effort to find migrant parents and help them reach the US are initially planned to run for a year but could be extended if necessary. We'll continue looking for people until we feel that we've exhausted the options," she said. (Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Shares of (RIL) slipped 2 per cent at Rs 2,382.85 on the BSE in the intra-day trade on Monday amid profit taking after the company's telecom arm Reliance Jio delayed the launch of its affordable smartphone, JioPhone Next, which was developed in partnership with Google, owing to the ongoing semiconductor shortage globally. The phone will now be available "more widely" around the Diwali festive season in India as against the porposed date of September 10, 2021. The stock of the country's most valuable company, in terms of market capitalisation, had hit a record high of Rs 2,479.85 on September 6, 2021. Despite todays decline, the stock has outperformed the market by surging 11 per cent in the past one month, when compared to a 5 per cent rise in the S&P BSE Sensex. Jio and Google announced on Thursday, September 9, 2021, that they have made considerable progress towards launching the much-awaited JioPhone Next, the made-for-India smartphone being jointly designed by the companies. "Both companies have begun testing JioPhone Next with a limited set of users for further refinement and are actively working to make it available more widely in time for the Diwali festive season. This additional time will also help mitigate the current industry-wide, global semiconductor shortages," Jio and Google said in media release. JioPhone Next is built with exciting features like the Google Assistant, automatic read-aloud and language translation for any on-screen text, a smart camera with India-centric filters and much more. The companies remain committed to their vision of opening up new possibilities for millions of Indians, especially those who will experience the internet for the very first time, the release added. Meanwhile, according to media reports Relaince's Jio and UK's British Petroleum (BP) have tied up with EV ride-hailing platform BluSmart to set up electric vehicle charging infrastructure (for PV and 2-W) in India. In the first phase, Jio-BP will set up EV charging stations in Delhi-NCR with minimum capacity of 30 vehicles at each station. Jio-BP aims to expand its petrol pump network to 5,500 in the next five years from the current network of just over 1,400 petrol pumps. Shares of hit a 52-week high of Rs 3,447.85 after they rallied 20 per cent on the BSE in the intra-day trade on Monday, in an otherwise subdued market. The stock of the industrial machinery company was quoting higher for the third straight trading day, zooming 51 per cent during the period. In comparison, the S&P BSE Sensex was down 0.16 per cent at 58,213 points at 12:46 pm. In the past five weeks, the market price of the company has more-than-doubled or has surged 108 per cent from the level of Rs 1,660 on August 9, 2021, after high networth individuals (HNIs) and renowned fund managers Madhusudan Kela and Sunil Singhania bought a stake in via open market. On August 10, Madhusudan Kela bought 44,700 shares of at price of Rs 1,618.9 per share through a bulk deal on the BSE, while Sunil Singhanias investment firm Abakkus Asset Manager bought 125,000 shares of the company at Rs 1,617 apiece through a bulk deal, exchange data shows. Meanwhile, Udayant Malhoutra and Wavell Investments Private, the promoters of Dynamatic Technologies have collectively sold 250,000 equity shares, representing 3.94 per cent of the stake in the company, via open market, according to disclosures made by the company. Dynamatic Technologies manufactures precision engineering products that find application in tractors, earth moving and material handling equipment, automobiles, and aerospace & defence. Apart from automotive, hydraulics and aerospace & defence divisions, the company also has foundries located in Chennai and Germany. The companys strong market position on account of its established relationships with renowned customers across industries and strong technological capabilities across geographies (India, the UK and Germany) supports its business prospects. Nifty futures on SGX traded 79 point lower at 17,361 around 8.40 am, indicating a weak start for the benchmark indices on Monday. Here are the top stocks to track in today's session: Reliance Industries: The largest Indian company's telecom arm Jio has delayed the launch of its ultra low-cost smartphone it is developing with Google, to Diwali, possibly due to semiconductor shortages that the industry is facing. Zomato: The online food delivery platform has decided to stop its grocery delivery service from September 17 mainly on account of gaps in order fulfillment leading to poor customer experience, marking its exit from the segment for the second time since last year. Bharti Airtel: International rating agency S&P maintained Bharti Airtel's credit rating of "BBB-", and upgraded outlook to stable from negative, indicating the company's improved financial status and ability to pay back debt. Infosys: IT services major formally launched its 'Equinox' suite of solutions to help enterprises transform their online and in-store functions and deliver personalized omnichannel commerce experiences for B2B and B2C buyers. Vedanta: Billionaire Anil Agarwal's flagship company is seeking a premium of at least $1 over the government-mandated price for the natural gas it plans to produce from its Assam block. Punjab National Bank: The state owned lender said its board has approved raising up to Rs 6,000 crore by issuing bonds. The decision was taken at the meeting of the board of directors. Indiabulls Housing Finance: The NFBC has received the CCI approval to divest its mutual fund business to Groww for Rs 175 crore. Divestment of the mutual fund business is aimed at focussing on its retail estate asset management business, as it is not the core focus area of the company. LIC Housing Finance: The NBFC said it has allotted over 4.5 crore preference shares to promoter LIC for over Rs 2,335.5 crore. The company has allotted 4,54,00,000 equity shares on a preferential basis to Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC), the housing finance firm said. Shakti Pumps: The pump manufacturer said it has installed and commissioned the northeastern region's first high-altitude solar pump project in Mizoram. Cosmo Films: The packaging solution provider said it has made a foray into the pet care business with the launch of its platform ZIGLY. ZIGLY is the country's first tech-enabled integrated pet care platform with an experience centre in New Delhi, Cosmo films said. Arvind SmartSpaces: The realty firm has raised around Rs 85 crore equity capital from HDFC Capital's real estate fund and its promoters by issuing preferential shares. Srei Infrastructure Finance: The Kolkata based NBFC is focusing on deleveraging its balance sheet and reducing stress on its books through recoveries and sell-down of portfolios, according to its annual report. It is in the midst of raising equity capital from foreign investors. BHEL: The company successfully implemented +800 kV, 6,000 MW Ultra High Voltage Direct Current (UHVDC) link between the western region grid (Raigarh, Chattisgarh) and the southern region grid (Pugalur, Tamil Nadu). JMC Projects (India): CARE has upgraded the rating of long term bank facilities & non-convertible debentures of the company as 'AA-'; Stable from 'A+'; Stable. Further, it has upgraded the rating of short term bank facilities of the company as 'A1+' from 'A1'. Dilip Buildcon: Subsidiary Bangalore Malur Highways has received the financial closure from the National Highways Authority of India. Shyam metalics and Energy: The company entered in to agreement for sale of shares in subsidiary/step down subsidiary and associate company with Dorite Tracon Pvt Ltd and Shyam Sel & Power Ltd. JSW Steel: Moody's Investors Service changed the outlook on JSW Steel to positive from stable. The ratings agency also affirmed the companys Ba2 Corporate Family Rating and its Ba2 Senior Unsecured Debt Rating. Further, it has assigned Ba2 rating to the companys proposed U.S. dollar senior unsecured notes. Similarly, Fitch Ratings has assigned ratings of BB- and Recovery Ratings of RR4 to the proposed notes. Prakash Industries: The company has been declared as successful bidder in respect of Bhaskarpara Coal Mine in the 12th tranche of auction of coal mines. Dilip Buildcon rose 1.14% to Rs 518.10 after the company's wholly-owned subsidiary executed a concession agreement with the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) on 10 September 2021 for a road project in Karnataka. The company's wholly owned subsidiary, Sannur Bikarnakette Highways, has executed the concession agreement for four-laning of 45.01 km long Sannur to Bikarnakette section under Bharathmala Pariyojana on hybrid annuity mode in the state of Karnataka (Package-II). The bid project cost of the contract is 1137 crore. The completion period of the project is 24 months and operation period 15 years from commercial operations date (COD). Separately, the company announced that its wholly owned subsidiary, Bangalore Malur Highways, has received the financial closure letter dated 9 September 2021 from NHAI for a project in Karnataka. The project calls for 4 laning of Bangalore to Malur Section of Bangalore Chennai Expressway on hybrid annuity mode under Bharatmala Pariyojna, in the state of Karnataka (Phase-l Package-l). The bid project cost of the contract is Rs 1160 crore. The completion period of the project is 24 months and operation period 15 years from COD. Dilip Buildcon's consolidated net profit tanked 41.1% to Rs 29.74 crore on a 16.1% surge in net sales to Rs 2,438.27 crore in Q1 June 2021 over Q1 June 2020. Dilip Buildcon is one of the leading full-service infrastructure company with construction capabilities in roads & bridges, mining, water sanitation, sewage and dams with a presence in over 19 states. Powered by Capital Market - Live News (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Granules India slipped 1.19% to Rs 324.35 after the company said that it is voluntarily recalling one batch of naproxen sodium 220mg tablets at a retail level due to a minor CGMP deviation. CGMP refers to the Current Good Manufacturing Practice regulations enforced by the USFDA. CGMPs provide for systems that assure proper design, monitoring, and control of manufacturing processes and facilities. Adherence to the CGMP regulations assures the identity, strength, quality, and purity of drug products by requiring that manufacturers of medications adequately control manufacturing operations. Granules USA, Inc., a wholly-owned foreign subsidiary of the company located in New Jersey, NY, has recalled one batch has 11.4 million units of naproxen tablets out of which 0.9 million units that were released into the market. "Financially, this does not have a material impact on the company," Granules India said in a statement. G. N. Prashanth, senior vice president & head- corporate quality assurance - Granules India, said: "Granules manufactured and released a batch using active pharmaceutical ingredient (API) from an alternate source prior to the final approval of a filed prior approval supplement. We have since received the authorization to use the API for this ANDA. There was absolutely no harm done at a patient level because the API used in the batch is from an FDA approved source." Granules has not received any reports of adverse event that have been confirmed to be directly related to this recall as of the date. Granules India is a vertically integrated fast growing Indian pharmaceutical company headquartered at Hyderabad. It is present in the manufacturing of entire value chain - from Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients (APIs), Pharmaceutical Formulation Intermediates (PFIs) and Finished Dosages (FDs). The company's products are being distributed to over 300+ customers in regulated and semi-regulated markets with a global presence extending to over 75+ countries with offices across India, U.S. and U.K. The drug company posted a 7.9% rise in consolidated net profit to Rs 120.2 crore on a 15.5% increase in net sales to Rs 849 crore in Q1 FY22 over Q1 FY21. Powered by Capital Market - Live News (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Equity indices were trading with modest losses near the day's low amid selling pressure in morning trade. The Nifty slipped below the crucial 17,300 level briefly. IT and metal were in demand while banks and financial shares witnessed selling. At 10:29 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, was down 254.93 points or 0.44% at 58,050.11. The Nifty 50 index was down 67.55 points or 0.39% at 17,302.70. In broader market, the S&P BSE Mid-Cap index was down 0.17% while the S&P BSE Small-Cap index was up 0.18%. The market breadth, indicating the overall health of the market, was negative. On the BSE, 1427 shares rose and 1514 shares fell. A total of 183 shares were unchanged. COVID-19 Update: Total COVID-19 confirmed cases worldwide stood at 222,625,116 with 4,630,376 deaths. India reported 374,269 active cases of COVID-19 infection and 442,874 deaths according to the data from the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Government of India. In the last 24 hours, India recorded 27,254 new cases. The country's recovery rate currently stands at 97.54% with 37,687 recoveries in the last 24 hours taking the total recoveries to 3,24,47,032. Economy: India's Index of Industrial Production (IIP), rose 11.5% on a year-on-year basis in July 2021. But slowed down as against 13.5% in June. Slowdown in IIP on a sequential basis was on the back of deceleration manufacturing, along with mining despite easing pandemic-related restrictions. For July 2021, the quick estimates of IIP, with base 2011-12 stands at 131.4, a statement by the Statistics and Programme Implementation Ministry said. The IIP for the mining, manufacturing and electricity sectors for July stood at 104.6, 130.9 and 184.7, respectively. Buzzing Index: The Nifty Metal index was up 0.41% at 5,788.55, rising for third trading day. The metal index added 1.4% in three trading sessions. NALCO (up 1.74%), Coal India (up 1.72%), Hindalco Industries (up 1.2%), Ratnamani Metals (up 0.82%) and Vedanta (up 0.81%) were top gainers in metal space. Stocks in Spotlight: Arvind SmartSpaces rose 1.39% to Rs 149.10 after the company raised funds aggregating to Rs 85 crore from marquee investors. The board of directors of Arvind SmartSpaces (ASL) at its meeting held on the 10 September 2021 approved the allotment of 68.5 lakh equity share aggregating to about Rs 85 crore to HDFC Capital Affordable Real Estate Fund-1 (H-CARE 1) and the promoters of ASL at the price of Rs 124 per share. Shalby added 0.86%. The hospital-chain inaugurated its first orthopedic & joint replacement franchise at Udaipur in Rajasthan under Shalby Orthopedic Centre of Excellence (SOCE) on 12 September 2021. This is Shalby Hospital Ahmedabad's first orthopedic speciality franchise hospital in India. It will offer Out Patient Department (OPD) as well as In Patient Department (IPD) services to patients. Powered by Capital Market - Live News (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The low-cost air carrier announced that it has commercially agreed a settlement with CDB Aviation, another major lessor of MAX aircraft. "This will add to already announced settlement with Avolon, a major lessor of MAX aircraft to grow its fleet of 737 MAX aircraft. The airline expects to start operations of MAX aircraft around the end of September 2021, subject to regulatory approvals," the company said in a statement. The 737 MAX was grounded worldwide in March 2019 after two fatal crashes in five months killed several people. In August, India's Directorate General of Civil Aviation cleared 737 MAX aircraft to fly with immediate effect, after nearly two-and-a-half years of regulatory grounding. On 26 August 2021, SpiceJet announced that it entered into a settlement with Avolon, allowing the airline's 737 MAX aircraft to start to return to service. The airline expects to start operations of MAX aircraft around the end of September 2021. Spicejet's consolidated net losses widened to Rs 731.12 crore in Q1 June 2021 (Q1 FY22), higher than net loss of Rs 600.52 crore in Q1 June 2020 (Q1 FY21). Consolidated net sales surged 121.20% to Rs 1,083.24 crore in Q1 FY22 as against Rs 489.60 crore in Q1 FY21. SpiceJet is India's low-cost airline that operates a fleet of Boeing 737s, Bombardier Q400s & freighters and is the country's largest regional player operating 63 daily flights under UDAN or the Regional Connectivity Scheme. Shares of Spicejet added 0.36% to Rs 69.90 on BSE. Powered by Capital Market - Live News (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Bharatiya Janata Party leader and Ghatlodia MLA Bhupendra Patel took oath as the 17th Chief Minister of on Monday. Union Home Minister Amit Shah congratulated the new Chief Minister of soon after the ceremony. CMs of BJP ruled states, including Haryana CM Manohar Lal Khattar, Madhya Pradesh CM Shivraj Singh Chouhan, Goa CM Pramod Sawant were also present at the ceremony. It is believed that Patel holds a strong influence in the Patidar community in which the BJP has banked upon to win the upcoming elections. Union Home Minister Amit Shah congratulates the new CM of Gujarat, Bhupendra Patel after the sworn-in ceremony. CMs of BJP ruled states, including Haryana CM Manohar Lal Khattar, Madhya Pradesh CM Shivraj Singh Chouhan, Goa CM Pramod Sawant were also present in the ceremony. pic.twitter.com/BR0v9CxZNp ANI (@ANI) September 13, 2021 "I have conveyed my congratulations to him (Gujarat CM Bhupendra Patel). I have full faith that under his leadership, the party will move forward, as will the development of the state. Gujarat will become a role model for all states. In the upcoming Assembly polls, BJP will win Gujarat under the leadership of Bhupendra Patel. I will keep on working as a party worker and will follow his (Patel) instructions," said Patel's predecessor after the ceremony. Prime Minister Narendra Modi congratulated Bhupendra Patel on taking oath as CM of Gujarat. "I've known him for years & have seen his exemplary work, be it in the BJP Organisation or in civic administration and community service," PM tweeted. Fondly addressed as 'Dada' by his supporters, Bhupendrabhai Rajnikanthbhai Patel is now the 17th Chief Minister of Gujarat. The announcement of the 59-year-old BJP leader's name as the Chief Minister-elect at a legislative party meeting of the BJP on Sunday came as a surprise for many as the low-profile MLA was not seen to be among the top contenders for the post. Born in Ahmedabad, Patel is a first-time MLA from the Ghatlodia seat, a post previously held by Anandiben Patel, who is currently serving as the Governor of Uttar Pradesh with an additional charge of Madhya Pradesh. He had won his maiden seat by a margin of 1,17,000 votes in 2017, the largest margin in that poll defeating Congress candidate Shashikant Patel. He grabbed more than 72 per cent of the vote share in the Ghatlodia constituency during the 2017 assembly polls. Patel is, however, not a new face in and has served as the Ahmedabad municipal councillor. Patel, who holds a diploma in civil engineering, also served as the chairman of the Standing Committee of Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation and Ahmedabad Urban Development Authority (AUDA). With Assembly polls in the state scheduled to be held in 2022, BJP went with Patel, a Patidar face for the Chief Minister. He is also a trustee at Patidar organizations Sardar Dham and Vishwa Umiya Foundation. The Patidars are a dominant caste in Gujarat with a sizeable control over the electoral votes. The community also dominates the political economy with a stronghold over education, realty and cooperative sectors. The party is counting on Patel to navigate the party through tough waters during the upcoming assembly elections in 2022. In the 2017 state election, the BJP won 99 of the state's 182 Assembly seats, Congress got 77 seats. (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 Samyukt Kisan Morcha, the confederation of farmer pressure groups, on Saturday ended its five-day protests in the constituency of the Haryana chief minister, M L Khattar, after the state government assured a probe into the August 28 police action, and two contractual jobs to the family of the deceased farmer, Sushil Kajal. According to political experts, the outcome of the protests has not only brought victory to the farmers but also served the cause of the ... Dear Reader, Business Standard has always strived hard to provide up-to-date information and commentary on developments that are of interest to you and have wider political and economic implications for the country and the world. 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Digital Editor The (ED) has arrested Rajiv Saxena, who is also an accused in the Rs 3,600-crore VVIP choppers deal case, over money-laundering linked to an alleged bank fraud, officials said Monday. They said Saxena will be produced before a court here to seek his custody. Saxena, an alleged middleman in the choppers deals case, was based in Dubai and was deported by India from the UAE on January 31, 2019 and arrested by the agency in the case. The deal was scrapped by India in 2014 after allegations of payment of kickbacks surfaced. The agency had earlier said "Saxena is a hawala operator who runs accommodation entry business in Dubai through numerous companies, known as Matrix group companies, and has laundered proceeds of crime in the cases of AgustaWestland chopper scam (linked to purchase of VVIP choppers by India) and Moser Baer bank fraud case." Saxena created structures for laundering proceeds of crime generated by accused of both cases either for the kickbacks in AgustaWestland case or defrauding banks by mis-utilising the loans given to Moser Baer India Ltd and its subsidiaries, the ED had alleged. His role was under investigation in a number of other cases, it had said. (Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) By Paresh Dave OAKLAND, Calif. (Reuters) -Android app makers suing to stop Alphabet Inc's from siphoning up to 30% of their sales received little reassurance about their chances on Friday as a judge allowed a comparable fee charged by Inc to stand. Developers including "Fortnite" maker Epic Games in the last year took aim at the two biggest mobile app stores, run by and The critics view the fee as needlessly high, costing developers collectively billions of dollars a year, and a function of the two big tech companies having monopoly power. Google's trial is at least a year away, time both sides could use to hone arguments based on the decision, legal experts said. In a ruling on Friday following a trial between Epic Games and Apple, U.S. District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers required Apple to let developers tell customers about ways to pay outside of its App Store, leading Apple shares to fall 3.3%. Alphabet dropped 1.9%. Google's Play store employs rules similar to the ones struck down in the Apple case, limiting developer communications with their customers, and Tom Forte, an analyst at D.A. Davidson, said could be at risk, too. He also noted the remaining risk of new regulatory action by lawmakers. But Gonzalez Rogers allowed to stand requirements that developers bemoan even more. Those rules, including that in-app payments be made on Apple's own system, allow the company to collect its 15-30% fee. Apple General Counsel Katherine Adams told reporters that her company was "extremely pleased." Epic Chief Executive Tim Sweeney wrote on Twitter that, "Today's ruling isn't a win for developers or for consumers." Vanderbilt Law School professor Rebecca Haw Allensworth said she agreed Gonzalez Rogers' findings were discouraging for the case against Google, while Valarie Williams, an antitrust partner at law firm Alston & Bird, said Google "will likely be encouraged by the ruling." The judge said the Apple restrictions allow users to rest assured that the apps they buy for the most part are free of viruses and pornography and that what they paid for will be delivered. "App distribution restrictions increase security in the 'broad' sense by allowing Apple to filter fraud, objectionable content, and piracy during app review while imposing heightened requirements for privacy," Gonzalez Rogers wrote. Apple's fee leads to "extraordinary profits," according to her ruling. But if she forced Apple to ease restrictions, the company might struggle to gain any remuneration for providing a platform to developers, she said. Apple's selling point to consumers about having strong security and a centralized system also would be undermined, the judge added. Its 30% rate, she said, was set "almost by accident when it first launched the App Store" rather than as a result of market power. Google has made similar arguments of privacy and security benefits as justification for its rules and fee, and it has long followed Apple's lead on commission levels, Google documents revealed in lawsuits show. With Google's smaller share in the U.S. mobile app market, plaintiffs may have to reframe arguments to succeed against Google. Gonzalez Rogers said Epic's challenge of any commission at all was an unreasonable position versus Apple, and that Epic failed to offer clear evidence of the iPhone maker being a monopolist. Tweaked arguments may not be enough. The case against Google has been more difficult from the start. Google makes it possible to install apps from other sources, taking away from the monopoly argument. It also historically has been more lenient in enforcing some of its policies. Google, Epic and attorneys for other developers suing the Play Store operator declined to comment. Utah's attorney general, which is helping lead a related lawsuit by U.S. states, said it is reviewing the judgment. (Reporting by Paresh Dave; Additional reporting by Akanksha Rana in Bangalore and Stephen Nellis; Editing by Peter Henderson 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.) Electronics is expected to defend its top spot in global semiconductor sales in the third quarter of the year, on the back of a strong memory demand. Samsung, the world's largest memory supplier, was projected to log $22.32 billion in semiconductor sales in the July-September period, up 10 per cent from a quarter earlier, and maintain its lead against Intel Corp., according to the latest McClean Report from market researcher IC Insights. Intel was estimated to collect $18.78 billion in semiconductor sales in the third quarter, down 3 per cent from a quarter earlier. The US tech titan was the only one among the top 15 semiconductor firms to report negative sales growth. Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing (TSMC), the world's No. 1 foundry firm, was tipped to keep the third spot in the third quarter with sales of $14.75 billion, up 11 per cent from a quarter earlier. South Korea's SK hynix was predicted to stay in the fourth position with sales of $10.13 billion in the third quarter, up 10 per cent from a year earlier, followed by the US memory giant Micron Technology Inc., whose sales were forecast to expand 10 per cent quarter-on-quarter to $8.46 billion, reports Yonhap news agency. For the third quarter, IC Insights expected semiconductor sales from the top 15 suppliers to increase 7 per cent from the previous quarter to reach $111.52 billion. "Semiconductor sales are forecast to remain robust through the end of the year, which supports IC Insights' current forecast of 24 per cent growth for worldwide semiconductor sales this year," it said. --IANS wh/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.) Bengaluru (Karntaka) [India], September 13 (ANI/NewsVoir): Edtech startup Edsanta Education has partnered with Nettur Technical Training Foundation (NTTF), a premier institution in technical training and education, to offer an AI powered E-learning platform for NTTF's students. The new digital NTTF platform powered by 'ELITE' by Edsanta will incorporate NTTF's curriculum and empower students to identify their career paths, skill gaps and overcome them with highly relevant learning content. Nettur Technical Training Foundation (NTTF) is a premier institution that offers a wide range of industry integrated programs for Diploma and Post-Graduate level. Founded in 1963, the institution has always focussed on offering vocational training and education to the youth in India. It has gained support from the Central government of India and gained popularity among many State governments. It operates from 16 centres and delivers high standards of corporate and vocational training with an impressive industry-connect. In order to offer a much more cohesive learning experience for the students, NTTF has launched Digital NTTF, a tech-inspired simulated digital service that aims to upskill the youth and create a clear career path for them. The new digital platform will be available in over 60 locations of NTTF, accessible by 600 faculty and 55,000 students across seven diploma programmes that are a part of NTTF's curriculum. Commenting on the partnership, Rohan Krishna, CEO and Co-founder, Edsanta Education, said, "Learning must go on! - is no longer a slogan or an option but a reality - a necessity. The world is discussing the indispensable requirement in today's competitive, fast-paced, technology-driven society to either reskill or upskill. Many reports point towards today's graduates changing jobs up to 10 or even more times during their lifetime. It is regarded that half of the graduates that employers are looking at don't have the right skills. At Edsanta, our aim is to empower students for a successful career. Our AI powered platform ELITE is customizable as per each student's requirement. Every student has an independent learning style, and technology has to bridge this efficiently. Digital NTTF is about making content available online and offer a personalised learning journey and guidance for every student and faculty." Ammin Rajqotwala, Chairman, Edsanta Education, added, "NTTF has been one of the most sought-after vocational training institutions in India. With the Digital NTTF launch, we look forward to a transformational shift to cooperative & collaborative learning. Digital learning is often viewed as the habitat of young, digital native institutions, and with the Digital NTTF initiative, the 60-year-old institution plans to empower its global ecosystem further." Commenting on the partnership, Dr. N Reguraj, Managing Director at NTTF, said "NTTF was started with an aim to make a difference to thousands of youth and working professionals through vocational training that is delivered in close collaboration with the industry. We want to take it a step further by offering a seamless digital platform that helps them learn, skill and reskill." Adding to the above, B V Sudharshan, Deputy Managing Director at NTTF, said, "NTTF has always been ahead of time and quick in finding ways to address new challenges. Digital NTTF is the new 'avatar' for NTTF which will help our students to learn effectively. It is critical to nourish students and help them upskill by taking the right approach from the beginning and equipping them with the best learning and upskilling technology." Elite by Edsanta Education offers over 300,000+ curated content for over 120 subjects spread across seven diploma programs and 200+ additional skills. Elite empowers just-in-time learning. Edsanta Education is an education technology product company pioneering to become a global leader connecting learners to highly relevant learning resources, mentors and jobs. They help users globally stay employable and relevant by upskilling and reskilling to bridge the skill gap. For more details, please visit - (https://elitelearning.io) elitelearning.io). NTTF - an educational foundation established in the year 1959 - is the living symbol of Indo-Swiss co-operation; aimed at promoting purposeful Technical Education for the youth of India. NTTF assists industries, through its special collaborative initiative for producing quality skilled manpower, by establishing training Centre in partnership with industry associations. NTTF is an IMS Certified Training Institute ("ISO 9001, ISO 14001 & BS OHSAS 18001"). NTTF today operates in more than 60 locations pan India and employs 800+ faculty members and has delivered core training programs for over 55,000 students who are readily employable and well qualified trainees. All the courses and related curriculum are Industry-focused and updated based on the advice by a council of eminent personalities representing Academics and industry. NTTF has a state-of-the-art infrastructure for training. Besides the conventional and the latest CNC Machines, NTTF has an expertise in setting up "Centre of Excellence in Automation" and also the "Centre of Excellence in industry 4.O, Industrial IoT, Additive Manufacturing/3D Printing". This story is provided by NewsVoir. ANI will not be responsible in any way for the content of this article. (ANI/NewsVoir) DISCLAIMER (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) New Delhi [India], September 13 (ANI/NewsVoir): We are living in much reformed and better India now, which is clear from the evidence where young students like Kanav Dewan, a student of Modern School Barakhamba road, have taken up the charge to spread awareness about much common but less spoken about disease Thalassemia. Thalassemia an incurable, inherited blood disorder is characterized by less oxygen-carrying protein and less red blood cells in the body. Cure for the same depends upon the degree of severity and the kind. This was alarming for Kanav who then started working towards one Project which Is Thallessemia awareness. As with so many other charitable endeavors, this began after an incident that happened close to home. "When our close family friend's child got diagnosed with thalassemia, some people were just rushing about to donate blood, and others were making frantic calls to find out what exactly this blood disorder meant. Everyone felt so helpless," recalls Kanav Dewan, 17. It was then that Dewan, back then in Class 8 and his elder brother in Class 10, decided to spread awareness about this illness. Given the grim situation and the vulnerability of those inflicted by this ailment, such an initiative is heart-warming. He coordinates with the blood banks in the city to ensure that patients in need continue to get access to blood transfusions on time. He especially visits blood donation camps organized by the Rotary Blood Bank. "It is a great place for outreach as people anyway come here to donate blood. I tell them exactly how their donation can help thalassemia patients and where they can reach for help in case they know of any child inflicted with this disease." Dewan also distributed food packets to families of thalassemia patients, in case any of them lost their jobs in the pandemic and could afford to put food on the table. From Tuglakhabad to Noida, he's been doing the rounds in urban villages here, disseminating information that may be vital. "We work at places where there are less means of other awareness factors." There is this very interesting anecdote wherein I was explaining how this disease is most common in communities with consanguineous marriages! Since this was in Haryana where the khap panchayats do not allow weddings within the same set of surnames, they were absolutely thrilled that our generation agreed with their cultural norms! On a lighter note we explained how matching horoscopes was not as important as checking the medical history of the boy and the girl! This story is provided by NewsVoir. ANI will not be responsible in any way for the content of this article. (ANI/NewsVoir) DISCLAIMER (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) New Delhi [India], September 13 (ANI/NewsVoir): TNW-The Natural Wash, a personal care brand for skin, hair, and body care products, is all set to launch its own app on its 2nd birth anniversary. The app will enable the customers to select their pick from more than 50+ products, and categories such as skin, hair, lip and body care. It will be accessible on Google playstore and the Apple app-store and is expected to cater to the needs of the patrons extensively. The brand aims to reach a bigger audience and cover the ground extensively with an intent to serve its customers more diligently with premium quality products at an affordable price. Using organic ingredients rather than manufacturing chemical-based products, the brand emphasizes on using natural elements bound in age-old processes to offer a one-of-its-kind range to the people. TNW-The Natural Wash ensures that products are not only cost-effective but also accessible to common people. Since the company's 2nd birth anniversary was on 11th September, the brand is trying to showcase their vision to their customers. To make the day special and memorable for their employees and customers, TNW-The Natural Wash organized an Instagram live music concert. It was for the very first time a beauty care brand had organized a live music concert on the social media. The brand is also aiming to make their customers feel one with their brand, thus putting out a sale scheduled from 16th to 19th of September. This sale will include special discounts and a buy 1 get 1 free scheme for customers to shop to their heart's content. This sale is the brand's biggest beauty care sale for the year. Speaking on the occasion, Akshit Goel, Managing Director, TNW-The Natural Wash, said, "We, at TNW-The Natural Wash, are very excited about achieving this milestone. We believe the credit goes out to the entire team for embracing this idea and transforming it into reality. I would like to congratulate and thank each and every TNW-The Natural Wash family member for making the concept come to life. Our motto is to earn customer-satisfaction, and acquire more customers rather than just being focused on profits, and with this motto the company never sacrifices the quality of their products and brings excellent quality with the utmost purity. " In future, The brand will be offering special discounts to its app users exclusively. In addition to this, for the convenience of consumers, TNW-The Natural Wash will accept online payments via debit card, credit card, and UPI, as well as cash on delivery. The firm is also working on establishing an easy instalment system on the app, which will make customers' buying experience smoother and one to remember. TNW-The Natural Wash is a personal care brand for skin, hair, lip, and body care products. Founded in 2019 at the tender age of 21 by Akshit Goel and Shivangi Goel, the brand focuses on capturing the essence of earth and natural abundance with the help of innovative processes backed by an elaborated scientific approach. TNW-The Natural Wash delves deep into the rawness of nature and offers its customers a well-formulated range of personal care products. For more information, please visit: (https://www.thenaturalwash.com). This story is provided by NewsVoir. ANI will not be responsible in any way for the content of this article. (ANI/NewsVoir) DISCLAIMER (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) St. Johnsbury, VT (05819) Today Cloudy with rain ending overnight. Low 54F. Winds light and variable. Chance of rain 100%. Rainfall near a quarter of an inch.. Tonight Cloudy with rain ending overnight. Low 54F. Winds light and variable. Chance of rain 100%. Rainfall near a quarter of an inch. Become A Subscriber A subscription opens up access to all our online content, including: our interactive E-Edition, a full archive of modern stories, exclusive and expanded online offerings, photo galleries from Caledonian-Record journalists, video reports from our media partners, extensive international, national and regional reporting by the Associated Press, and a wide variety of feature content. Mazda may have been giving its CX-5 compact SUV continuous updates every year be it in the form of new colors , more advanced features , or ... A person is apprehended after being in a pickup truck parked on the sidewalk in front of the Library of Congress' Thomas Jefferson Building, as seen from a window of the U.S. Capitol, Thursday, Aug. 19, 2021, in Washington. Officials evacuated a number of buildings around the Capitol and sent snipers to the area after officers saw a man holding what looked like a detonator inside the pickup, which had no license plates. The man was identified as Floyd Ray Roseberry, 49, of Grover, North Carolina, according to two people briefed on the matter. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon) FILE - In this Aug. 30, 2021, file photo provided by the U.S. Air Force, soldiers, assigned to the 82nd Airborne Division, prepare to board a U.S. Air Force C-17 Globemaster III aircraft at Hamid Karzai International Airport in Kabul, Afghanistan. (Senior Airman Taylor Crul/U.S. Air Force via AP, File) FILE - In this Aug. 5, 2021, file photo Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., prepares to chair a hearing in the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, as lawmakers work to advance the $1 trillion bipartisan bill, at the Capitol in Washington. Manchin said Thursday, Sept. 2, that Congress should take a strategic pause on more spending, warning that he does not support President Joe Biden's plans for a sweeping $3.5 trillion effort to rebuild and reshape the economy. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite, File) FILE - This combo of file photos shows at left, Socialist mayor of Paris Anne Hidalgo announces her candidacy for the upcoming presidential election in France next year, Normandy, France, Sunday, Sept. 12, 2021, and at right, French far-right National Rally leader Marine Le Pen gives a press conference, at the National Assembly, in Paris, Monday, Oct. 7, 2019. Two politicians have formally declared their intentions to seek to become Frances first female president in next years spring election. National Rallys Marine Le Pen and Paris Socialist mayor, Anne Hidalgo, both officially launched their campaigns Sunday, Sept. 12, 2021 in what were widely expected moves. (AP Photo/Michel Euler/Thibault Camus) Republican Senate leader Phil Berger speaks Tuesday, Aug. 24, 2021, in Raleigh, N.C., as Senate Republicans advanced a measure that would limit how teachers can discuss racial concepts inside the classroom. Berger hopes the measure will shed light on possible "indoctrination" of public-school children and teachings of "critical race theory." He revised House Bill 324 last month to add five prohibited concepts and clarify that such ideas could still be taught as long as educators did not promote the beliefs by forcing pupils to personally adopt them. (AP Photo/Bryan Anderson) Glen, NH (03838) Today Cloudy with periods of rain. Low near 60F. Winds WNW at 15 to 25 mph. Chance of rain 90%.. Tonight Cloudy with periods of rain. Low near 60F. Winds WNW at 15 to 25 mph. Chance of rain 90%. Thank you for reading! Please log in, or sign up for a new account and consider subscribing for only $7 per month to get access to more articles and news as it happens. Josh Griffin, a graduate assistant with the Carter Centers Human Rights Program, participated in the 2020 March on Washington for racial justice in the wake of the murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis. Standing at the foot of the steps of the Lincoln Memorial, Griffin heard inspiring words from several speakers, including the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.s son Martin III and 12-year-old granddaughter Yolanda Renee King. Thats when I knew I had to fight this good fight and get in good trouble, said Griffin, using a phrase made famous by U.S. Rep. John Lewis, the civil rights leader who had died just weeks earlier. You know, John Lewis was only 23 when he spoke (at the March on Washington) in 1963, said Zach Schreiner, a former U.S. Peace Corps volunteer and current social activist. You come to the realization that it doesnt matter who you are or how old you are or what your level of education is, or anything like that. Inaction at a time of injustice is (complicity with) that violence. You are admitting you are OK with that injustice if you sit on the sidelines and dont do anything. You have got to act. You have to. Schreiner and Griffin were discussing the power of peaceable assembly as part of a series of online roundtables presented by The Carter Center. Other entries in the series focused on poetry and photography as means of communicating messages on topics such as social justice and climate change. Schreiner said the 1963 march during which King Jr. made his iconic I Have a Dream speech wasnt the culmination of the Civil Rights Movement, it was only one of the starting conversations about how people of different races can coexist in the United States. Marches like the ones in 1963 and 2020, as well as the one coming up on Aug. 28 of this year, serve multiple purposes, he said. Mass events help validate individuals sense that certain incidents or practices or policies arent fair and demonstrate to those at home how many people are willing to show up to make this declaration, he said. Scheiner and Griffin attended the 2020 march together. Griffin, who is biracial, said, Much of my existence has been shaped by racism and bigotry. I refuse to sit down, and I refuse to stay silent, and I refuse to live a passive life. At the 2020 march, a long list of names of Black people who had been killed by police was read out to the crowd. How many more names will it take you who are watching to get involved? Griffin asked. Related Resources Learn more about the Center's Human Rights Program Learn about the Center's Graduate Assistantships and how to apply Photo: Facebook Jagmeet Singh is focusing on what hes calling Justin Trudeaus empty promises as the New Democratic Party leader travels in northern Ontario to start the last week of campaigning. In a stop in Sioux Lookout, about 230 kilometres northwest of Thunder Bay, Singh says the Liberal leader has not tackled the housing crisis and under Trudeaus watch home prices and other costs for Canadian families have continued to increase. Singh also criticized the Liberals' progress on emission levels. Singh says, for a government, its not what you say that matters, its what you do. The NDP leader will later be campaigning in Neskantaga First Nation, which had a boil water advisory issued more than 25 years ago. Trudeau promised in 2015 to lift all drinking water advisories by this March, but his government has since acknowledged it would not meet that goal. When major climate tipping points start falling later this decade, what will our children and grandchildren say should have been the one most important issue in this election? The 160 page Conservative platform is long enough that relatively few voters will read it. It was created after party resolutions on climate change were voted on earlier this year. The proposed words "We recognize that climate change is real. The Conservative Party is willing to act", was rejected by 54% of the Conservative delegates. Does this sound like a party serious about the climate emergency? The platform contains their climate plan which is heavy on partnering and light on leadership. The Conservatives say they will partner with the provinces. As their party is strongest in Alberta will they be partnering with Jason Kenney who is currently pushing for coal mining in the Rockies? They also promise to partner with the Americans. If the U.S. elects a President Ted Cruz or Donald Trump Jr in three years, will he be our climate partner? In 1997, Canada signed on to the Kyoto Protocol. It was an international treaty designed to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Stephen Harper, our last Conservative prime minister and most famous conspiracy theorist, disagreed. In 2002, he stated that it was "a socialist scheme to suck money out of wealth-producing nations". He killed Canadian participation in the treaty. Mr Harper would go on to muzzle our climate and environmental scientists because a) he had the power of the state and b) his many anti-science actions (e.g. cancellation of the Experimental Lakes) were indefensible. During the 2003 Conservative Party leadership convention, Don Orchard and Peter McKay agreed in writing that there would be no merger with the Canadian Alliance Party. With that agreement, Mr McKay became the leader of the party and promptly merged with the Alliance Party anyway. The current Conservative Party of Canada was created on the foundation of dishonesty. The only thing worse than trusting a Conservative to make good climate policy for Canada, would be trusting a (U.S.) Republican partner. Randall Northwood, Penticton Andusia secures first Swedish RDF shipment 13 September 2021 Andusias first RDF bulk shipment to Sweden has been signed. This trial shipment represents the first movement of new business as it exported 3100t of RDF from Chatham Docks, UK, to Sweden. With Andusia acting as the aggregator for the movement, this deal confirms the first RDF export of many to the new location. The brand new MV Scot Ranger vessel, showcasing a box-shaped single decker design is the equivalent width to 5.2 trucks, with a hold capacity of 240,000ft. With three shipments in the pipeline for the rest of 2021 and the opportunity to ship 18,000t next year, Andusia continues to grow its export business. In addition, Andusia reports it has now exported just over 1.6Mt of RDF and SRF in its 9.5 years in the alternative fuel industry. This waste has not only been diverted from UK landfill but has generated electricity and heat for local residents in northern Europe and Scandinavia. Published under Claudius Peters completes Schretter & Cie silo system 13 September 2021 Claudius Peters announced that one of its latest silo projects is now in commercial operation. In cooperation with our customer Schretter & Cie GmbH & Co KG, Claudius Peters has designed and realised a new silo plant that is customised to fit in the landscape at the Vils cement plant in Austria. In the first step, Claudius Peters Projects GmbH delivered an aeroslide conveying system from the cement mill to the existing silos including state-of-the-art silo bottom aeration systems. The slip system has been tailor-made for the challenging climate and soil conditions. Within the second step, a concrete silo group consisting of 3 x 3500m was constructed with expansion chamber (EC) technology, equipped with truck loading facilities. This created a cost-efficient silo solution, instead of expanding the existing octagon silo plant, said Claudius Peters. Each of the silos can be operated at a loading capacity of 250tph by a mobile loader with a travelling range of 10m. Published under Chatham, VA (24531) Today Partly cloudy this evening followed by mostly cloudy skies and a few showers after midnight. Low 67F. Winds light and variable. Chance of rain 30%.. Tonight Partly cloudy this evening followed by mostly cloudy skies and a few showers after midnight. Low 67F. Winds light and variable. Chance of rain 30%. Cystic fibrosis was one of the first diseases I was aware of. Rosemary Simpson had it, and our mothers were best friends. So, I played by myself on the days Rosemary lay on a slanted wooden board, and our mothers pounded her back to loosen the mucus in her lungs. Once, when I had bronchitis, my mother did the same to me. Beat her fists up and down my back. Something she'd learned from Rosemary's mother. But, we were both aware of the difference. Rosemary was the youngest of four children. Her oldest sister was the only child without cystic fibrosis. Her mother buried her two brothers when they were teenagers, and finally Rosemary. Before her 14th birthday. Many people aren't very aware of this disease. Cystic fibrosis is an inherited chronic disease that affects the lungs and digestive system of about 30,000 children and adults in the United States (70,000 worldwide). A defective gene and its protein product cause the body to produce unusually thick, sticky mucus that not only clogs the lungs and leads to life-threatening lung infections, but also obstructs the pancreas and stops natural enzymes from helping the body break down and absorb food. Since it's a gene defect, lung transplants are useless. In the 1950s, few children with cystic fibrosis lived to attend elementary school. Today, advances in research and medical treatments have further enhanced and extended life for children and adults with CF. Many people with the disease can now expect to live into their 40s and beyond, although there is still no cure. Early diagnosis and treatment dramatically improve the prognosis for CF according to Dr. Joel Ledbetter, a pediatric pulmonologist at Children's Hospital. Tennessee has been conducting newborn screenings for CF since 2008, and there is a great advantage when we can begin treatment before the child gets ill, he says. If too much time passes before diagnosis, there can be lung damage, as well as malnutrition. King Birnbaum has battled this disease his whole life. He is a warrior, no doubt. And he has a mighty army behind him. His parents, Ginger and Alex, and his sister, Emma Virginia, are the sort of folks you want on your team. Or in your battalion. They arent passive or accepting or making the best of this disease. They are making change. Difference makers, they are not strangers to Capital Hill. And major drug companies know their names. Most folks dont know about Trikafta, but a heck of a lot of folks do, thanks to the Birmbaums. Its a new drug that promises to be life-changing for people with cystic fibrosis, and this family has done all in its power to bring it to fruition, including affecting change in Washington, D.C. With FDA approval of this drug, which should benefit over 90 percent of people with CF, cystic fibrosis is referred to as the greatest story in medicine. Trikafta is not a cure, but its an incredible milestone, one the Birnbaums have been praying for. And Ginger was desperate to get this tiny pill in her boys hands. King has tolerated Trikafta well so far! My prayers had been that not only would the medication be approved for those under the age of 12, that our insurance company would approve it, that King could get it in his hands relatively fast, but that he would also tolerate it physically and emotionally. We have a couple of hiccups to sort out, but overwhelmingly the pros outweigh the cons, Ginger said. Grateful that her son finally has this long-awaited drug in his hands, she is not taking any sort of respite; her battle is far from over. King needs a cure, and there are still people (close to 10 percent) without effective treatment at the cellular level. Now its getting this drug in their hands I dream about! Ginger said as she and her family readied themselves for a long distance hike to benefit CF. The Cystic Fibrosis Foundations inaugural Xtreme Hike is underway, and the 12-mile hike took place at Prentice Cooper State Forest yesterday, raising funds for CF. Twelve miles of diverse elevation and terrain is challenging and a far way to go for sure, but it is no hill for a stepper. Kings team page is FIGHTCF.CFF.org/go. * * * Ferris Robinson is the author of three childrens books, The Queen Who Banished Bugs, The Queen Who Accidentally Banished Birds, and Call Me Arthropod in her pollinator series. Making Arrangements is her first novel. Dogs and Love - Stories of Fidelity is a collection of true tales about mans best friend. Her website is ferrisrobinson.com and you can download a free pollinator poster there. She is the editor of The Lookout Mountain Mirror and The Signal Mountain Mirror. A woman on Market Street said a man threatened her with a power tool. Police arrived on scene and spoke with the man she alleged threatened her. It was not a man, but a woman. No power tool was found. Witnesses on scene stated that the woman was just yelling at everyone. Police transported the woman back to her residence at Patten Towers. * * * A man on Michael Lane said his Honda Accord had been broken into at his residence. He said less than $5 in change was taken as well as his car keys. He reported that his car was unlocked and no damage was observed. This is the third time the man's vehicle has been broken into and change stolen. Complainant said he leaves his vehicle unlocked and keys in the vehicle every night. No camera footage is available. He wanted a report created for documentation. * * * A woman on 6th Avenue said her car alarm was going off and wanted police to search the area. The police were unable to locate any suspicious activity. * * * A woman on Standifer Gap Road said an older pickup truck attempted to leave the apartment complex and struck the gate. She confronted the black male who became highly agitated and sped off. Prior to the truck speeding off, the woman was able to take a picture of the suspect's license plate. Police ran the license plate in the system and the woman was able to identify the man as the driver of the truck through his driver's license picture. Police saw the portion of the gate that moves up and down was knocked off the pole and lying on the ground. Police spoke to the property manager of the apartment complex who said she would talk to the maintenance man and let police know if they wanted to press charges. * * * Police spoke with a city of Chattanooga Public Works employee on Shallowford Road who said when he pulled up to the levee he noticed a burgundy red 1999 Silverado near the city tractors. When he took a closer look, he noticed a white male, skinny, short hair, T-shirt, blue jeans, pumping gas from the tractors directly into a tank in the back of his Silverado. The employee began approaching the man but he quickly got into his vehicle and fled the scene. Police placed a bolo for the vehicle and will follow up if any new information comes to light. * * * Police saw a silver 2007 Honda Accord parked on the 1200 Block of Poplar Street near the intersection of Cypress Street Court, facing the wrong direction with the windows halfway down. Nearby residents said the car has not moved for two days and, due to recent rain and the windows being down, they believe the car is abandoned or stolen. When police queried the tag, it was not reported stolen. Police placed an orange sticker on the windshield for the owner to move or properly park the vehicle. Police will follow up in 48 hours and check the status of the car. * * * An officer responded to a delayed wire fraud at Arcade Beauty at 3720 Amnicola Hwy. An employee said one of Arcade Beauty's offices located in Dixon, Il. received two fraudulent/phishing emails that were presumed to be from Willamette Falls Paper Company. The email was sent to the cost accounting and statistic manager in Dixon, Il. The email basically asked her to update their bank information before processing the two invoice payments. The suspect sent new bank information. The employee said two payments of $204,623.49 were sent from Chattanooga to their office in Dixon, Il. The employee said she only realized that Arcade was a victim of wire fraud because Willamette Falls called them this week reminding them about the payments that they were expecting. She said their bank has been notified about this incident and that someone from Arcade Beauty was in the process to file an IC3 (Internet Crime Complaint) form with the FBI. The officer contacted the investigator and he said they will follow up on this case. Copies from the emails and other information were turned to the Chattanooga Property Division and shall be released to the investigator. * * * An officer responded to CHI Memorial at 2051 Hamill Road where a man said he left his pistol under the driver seat in his car when he got there around 11 a.m. and he left the vehicle locked. When he got back to vehicle around 1:30 p.m. he discovered the gun was gone but there was no damage. He said he looked around to see if anyone was watching when he left his vehicle parked and he didnt see anyone. He checked with security and there are no cameras. He did not have the serial for the gun at this time but he will call back later when he gets it so the gun can be entered into NCIC. * * * An employee at the Home Depot at 7421 Commons Blvd. said a white male attempted to steal a Ryobi string trimmer. The employee stopped the man after he had passed all points of sale. The employee was able to recover the items stolen. * * * A man on Market Street said someone stole his tag off his vehicle. He's not sure when it happened. The tag was entered into NCIC. * * * A man on Cloverdale Circle said someone stole the catalytic converter off a leased vehicle from Enterprise. * * * A woman on Mercer Street called police to say someone stole the catalytic converter off her car. She's not sure when it happened. * * * The manager of the Sonesta Select Hotel at 2210 Bams Dr. said a guest was causing a problem in the parking lot. Once on the scene, the officer located a man in a state of undress near one of the hotel entrances. He was highly intoxicated and had locked himself out of his room. The officer was able to get him another room key, escort him to his room and strongly suggest that he remain there until morning. * * * An officer reported a car was located at 4909 St. Elmo Ave. A vehicle search was conducted due to the fact it fled earlier in the evening and there was marijuana on the floorboard. In the vehicle the officer found a small amount of marijuana (1.1g) and a grinder. The vehicle was printed and several prints were pulled from the vehicle. The marijuana, grinder and prints were turned into property. The car was towed to United and Enterprise was notified of where it was towed to. * * * A man on Chance Trail told police he saw unknown people around his car. He could not see the individuals and they left before officers arrived on scene. He said nothing was stolen but his car windshield wiper may have been slightly moved. Contact was also made with a second person who said there had been reports of car break-ins around the area recently. A search of the area could not find the suspicious parties. * * * Police were called to 6787 Bonny Oaks Dr. for a broken down car in the roadway. Upon arrival, the officer found a white 2009 Chevy Impala in the lane of travel with the flashers on. The car was unoccupied and locked. Police searched the area for a possible vehicle owner. There was a passerby who stated they spoke to a black man who was with the car who said they ran out of gas. Police made all attempts to located a possible owner. Police then called for a tow to remove the vehicle from the roadway. Reliable Towing then towed the vehicle away. * * * A man on Mcabee Lane said there were people trying to break into his house. He heard voices outside his window. He must have scared them off because the officer was unable to find anyone or any signs of people outside his house. * * * Police responded to a theft in progress at 600 Ashland Terrace. The store clerk said the suspects took items and left in a blue sedan. Police were coming up the road and passed the vehicle that had just left the gas station matching the description. The clerk told police that one of the women had put stuff in her black purse. Police did not find the items on her or in her bags. Police let the parties go. After reviewing footage the parties noticed they were being watched and pulled the items out of the bag and put them on the shelf before leaving the store. The clerk wanted the group trespassed. * * * A woman on Market Street said her cellphone had been stolen by another woman she knows. The phone number she provided did not match the cellphone that the other woman had in her possession. She would later state the cellphone that she believes to be stolen did not belong to her. There is no evidence or a victim for the complaint. * * * As police were conducting routine patrol in the 5844 block of Brainerd Road, police noticed a homeless woman in front of Conn's HomePlus storefront. Police identified the person as someone they have contacted in the same location, and told her she could not stay there. Police asked for identification, and the suspect provided her license, at which point she was identified. She acknowledged that police have told her in the past that she could not stay on the property, but said she thought police had to give her paperwork. The woman said she would leave the property and not return. Police told the woman if she ended up on this property again, there would be legal action taken. * * * A man on Airport Road was kicked off a bus by Greyhound staff for not wearing a mask when required to on the bus. He was en route to Florida but was not allowed back on the bus. Police were able to get the man a reissued ticket for the 2:30 bus to Florida. We spend much of our everyday lives going through the motions: Waking up, making breakfast, getting cleaned up, fixing the bed. Going to work, whether that means riding in the car (or a bus or a train) or just moving to the next room and the computer for another day at the home office. Driving to the grocery store and collecting whats on the shopping list. Turning on the TV and seeing if theres anything worth watching. Sometimes, however, important tasks or projects arise, ones that cant be carried out without some intentionality. It might be the need for a major, unexpected purchase; the necessity to reset plans that have been in place for a while, or the realization that an important project cant be delayed any longer. Something must be done, but where do you start? I enjoy reading the Old Testament book of Nehemiah, which tells about the trusted cupbearer for King Artaxerxes of Persia. A brother had told Nehemiah about the sorry state of once-proud Jerusalem, its wall broken down and gates burned. Even though he had spent most or all of his life in Persia as an Israelite exile, Nehemiah still viewed the ancient city as his homeland. Grieving over its devastation, he resolved something had to be done. How Nehemiah proceeded can serve as a template for any complex endeavors we need to undertake. Piggybacking on some points made recently by radio pastor Alistair Begg, heres a synopsis of the process Nehemiah followed: Prayerful preparation. Its often said, When all else failspray. However, Nehemiah resorted to prayer beforehand, to ensure that he wouldnt fail. When I heard these things, I sat down and wept. For some days I mourned and fasted and prayed before the God of heaven (Nehemiah 1:4). The passage then recaps the cupbearers eloquent prayer, including corporate confession of the Israelites rebellious sins and a request for success when he approached the Persian king with his concerns. Common sense. Even though he desperately wanted to leave ASAP for Jerusalem, Nehemiah knew such an impulsive move wouldnt sit well with King Art. Instead, he elected to just go about his duties, providing wine for the king as usual, and waited for his highness to make the first move. I had not been sad in his presence before, so the king asked me, Why does your face look so sad when you are not ill? This can be nothing but sadness of heart. Given an opening, Nehemiah explained, Why should my face not look sad when the city where my fathers are buried lies in ruins, and its gates have been destroyed by fire? To which Artaxerxes responded, What is it you want? (Nehemiah 2:1-3). Even then, before blurting out what he desired to do, Nehemiah returned momentarily to step 1 and prayed for Gods direction and blessing on his request. Wise man. Too often we make our move and then think, Oops, forgot to pray first. All right, um, God, please bless my decision? And we wonder why sometimes our best-laid plans go awry. Careful thought. Once Nehemiah had told the king about his intent to return to Jerusalem to see about doing an extreme makeover, and received the kings go-ahead, the valued cupbearer already had a clear plan of action in mind, including where to obtain the necessary materials and resources. It wasnt just a pipedream Nehemiah had even considered the kinds of pipes he would need. (Okay, what he needed was a supply of timbers, not pipes, along with official documents to ensure his safe travel.) Sensible action. Once he arrived at Jerusalem, Nehemiah discovered the citys condition was not as bad as he had thought it was worse. Initially, he revisited steps 1-3, prayerfully assessing the extent of the damage and then formulating a specific strategy before presenting his ideas to the city officials who had remained there. Then I said to them, You see the trouble we are in: Jerusalem lies in ruins, and its gates have been burned with fire. Come, let us rebuild the wall of Jerusalem. I also told them about the gracious hand of my God upon me and what the king had said to me. They replied, Let us start rebuilding. So they began this good work (Nehemiah 2:17-18). The rest of the book tells of the opposition Nehemiah and the builders faced, and how they took courage and stayed on task, amazingly completing the reconstruction in 52 days. During the entire time, his and others prayers continued to seek Gods strength, wisdom and blessing on their labors. Are you confronting a major challenge at work or in your home? Are you facing a critical decision that could have a huge impact on your future? You might consider following Nehemiahs process of prayerful preparation, common sense, careful thought and then, sensible action. Its one that has been utilized countless times to great success. * * * Robert J. Tamasy is a veteran journalist, former newspaper editor and magazine editor. Bob has written, co-authored and edited more than 15 books. These include the newly published, Marketplace Ambassadors; Business At Its Best: Timeless Wisdom from Proverbs for Todays Workplace; Tufting Legacies, The Heart of Mentoring, and Pursuing Life With a Shepherds Heart. A weekly business meditation he edits, Monday Manna, is translated into more than 20 languages and sent via email around the world by CBMC International. The address for his blog is www.bobtamasy.blogspot.com. His email address is btamasy@comcast.net. The Tennessee Department of Education, in partnership with the Niswonger Foundation, on Monday announced the launch of the states new AP Access for ALL program, which is providing online advanced placement courses this school year for nearly 1,200 high school students representing 102 school districts across Tennessee. AP Access for ALL is a grant program created by the Tennessee Department of Education and administered by its partner the Niswonger Foundation to provide students across the state with access to virtual AP courses, eliminating financial barriers and supporting student enrollment in AP coursework not currently offered at their home high school. Since June, AP Access for ALL has successfully onboarded over 75 percent of school districts that include high schools to participate in the program. Of the 102 participating districts, 21 districts are in counties classified as at-risk or distressed and 38 are rural districts. Students in these participating districts, many of whom previously had no access or only limited access to advanced placement courses, can now choose from 14 different advanced placement courses and earn free college credit while in high school. One of the most important things we can do for our high school students is help them explore potential postsecondary and career pathways and ensure they have access to robust academic coursework that helps them be successful in life after graduation, said Commissioner Penny Schwinn. Thanks to partners like the Niswonger Foundation, the AP Access for ALL program will have a huge impact on the state for years to come by training our teachers and advancing their skillsets, and importantly, providing students in school districts all across the state with opportunities for AP coursework that they have never been able to access before. In Houston County, which is designated as economically at-risk, students at Houston County High School have not previously had access to advanced placement courses. Now, through AP Access for ALL, 32 Houston County High School students are enrolled in AP Human Geography, Psychology, Statistics, and Art History. At Jackson Central-Merry High School, traditional advanced placement courses are not offered. However, this semester, 22 students are now enrolled in eight different advanced placement courses through AP Access for ALL, including AP Art History, Biology, Environmental Science, Human Geography, Language and Composition, Psychology, Statistics, and US History. Additionally, 143 students in Metro Nashville Public Schools are enrolled in AP Access for ALL courses, along with 102 students in Shelby County Schools and 72 students in Hamilton County Schools. "With classes in session, AP Access for ALL is off to a fast start and is now creating new pathways for students to enter college prepared and confident, said Dr. Nancy Dishner, president and CEO of the Niswonger Foundation. We are excited to partner with Commissioner Schwinn and the Department of Education on this program and look forward to seeing how access and opportunity through AP Access for ALL will continue to grow and support Tennessee students and families for years to come. While these courses are virtual, many schools are providing time and computer labs for their students to complete coursework at school during their school day. Additionally, all AP Access for ALL courses are taught by certified and trained Tennessee teachers. We have spent the last few months planning the details of this program, preparing systems and infrastructure, onboarding districts, and training teachers, said Gina Pavlovich, director of Niswonger Online and AP Access for ALL. Now, as students have returned to school and AP Access for ALL courses have begun, we are seeing the impact of access as students gain real experience with college coursework and are preparing for postsecondary success. Last summer, the Niswonger Foundation conducted online teacher training for more than 80 Tennessee educators and, in partnership with the College Board, sponsored AP Summer Institute training for nearly 150 teachers at UTC. Fifty-three Tennessee educators are currently teaching AP Access for ALL online courses this fall. AP Access for ALL has made gains to advanced placement access during its initial semester, and Tennessee Department of Education and Niswonger Foundation leaders are hoping to expand the program even more next spring and in coming years. Student enrollment for the spring semester opens in November and free AP training will once again be available for Tennessee educators in Summer 2022. Funding for AP Access for All is through the federal Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief and Governor's Emergency Education Relief funds. For a full list of participating counties, courses offered, and more information, visit tnapaccessforall.org. For additional information about Tennessees advanced placement courses, click here. Alan was a gentle giant who contributed greatly to his community, profession, and the built environment. Many will remember the well designed but small mobile office that he and partner Carroll Henley worked out of on Signal Mountain when they began designing unique contemporary homes and offices mostly on the mountain.. Because of their strong work ethic and commitment to quality design it wasnt long before they moved into a larger professional office building they designed downtown. Eventually they added Bill Wilkerson to the shingle as their reputation for superior design took off. Alan clearly represented a dying breed of architects who actually designed buildings with their hands and minds rather than the click of a mouse on the computer; using artistic talent versus typing skills. His building designs were strong and powerful, like a rock as if sculpted or chiseled out of stone. Alans firm is arguably one of the best design firms to exist since the period of famed architect R H Hunt. As an outstanding architect he leaves behind museums, libraries, hospitals, office buildings, schools, and parks for all to enjoy and appreciate. Alan was quick to compliment and support others for their work or actions which is why he will always be remembered as one of Chattanoogas finest architects. Vance Travis, Architect Georgia state health officials reported on Monday there have been 128 additional deaths due to the coronavirus. The current total is 20,705.There are 13,292 new cases as that total reaches 1,164,634 confirmed cases of coronavirus.Hospitalizations are at 76,300, which is an increase of 372 from the day before.Here are the numbers by county, last updated Friday:Catoosa County: 7,565 cases, up 102; 73 deaths; 282 hospitalizationsChattooga County: 3,251 cases, up 111; 70 deaths, up 1; 214 hospitalizations, up 1Dade County: 1,658 cases, up 16; 15 deaths; 66 hospitalizationsWalker County: 8,681 cases, up 127; 90 deaths, down 1; 324 hospitalizations, up 2Whitfield County: 18,078 cases, up 171; 261 deaths, up 1; 853 hospitalizations, up 1 The owner of a longstanding Chattanooga investment firm has sued three former principals of the company, saying they secretly began operating a rival firm while continuing with him as staff members. Warren Barnett is suing Chris Hopkins, George Thompson Bryant and Jennifer Hairston in Circuit Court. Mr. Hopkins has since filed a counter complaint, saying that the three employees felt it necessary to start their own investment company "due to the ongoing and pervasive unethical , unprofessional and unlawful conduct of Barnett and Company through its principal, Warren Barnett." He claimed that the actions of Mr. Barnett put the stability of Barnett & Company and its clients at risk. Mr. Hopkins said after undergoing a heart transplant in April 2019 he was forced to return to work two weeks early because Mr. Barnett "had gotten so intoxicated at a work event, he had embarrassed and humiliated himself, and greatly upset the staff at Barnett & Company." It was claimed that Mr. Barnett misused company funds, causing the firm to periodically become insolvent. It says he violated a 2019 agreement with the Securities and Exchange Commission and made false statements and representations on loan documents. The counter suit says Mr. Barnett used Barnett & Company's FedEx account to send substantial bi-weekly cash payments to a female allegedly living in Louisiana. She was also provided with a vehicle, it was stated. Mr. Hopkins claimed he worked "tirelessly" through the pandemic and loaned the company $497,000 to keep it from folding. He said he "could not continue, in good conscience, to operate in a capacity to expose third parties to financial risk and ruin due to the actions of Warren Barnett." The counter suit claimed that Warren Barnett "was often intoxicated and drunk at Barnett & Company offices and during company events, and engaged in harassing and unprofessional behavior" while at the office. The suit says Mr. Hopkins helped grow the company and was given a $200,000 salary. It says Mr. Barnett was paid $600,000. It says Mr. Barnett in 2015 invested in five Hilton Head properties that were "saddled in debt." The counter complaint said Mr. Barnett "received public praise and recognition for the charitable contributions that were made by Barnett & Company. This resulted in Warren Barnett developing an insatiable desire to maintain a heightened social status and to continue to be viewed as a wealthy individual and owner of a financially thriving investment firm." The firm was giving away at least $200,000 per year, it was stated. It was claimed at Barnett & Company was forced in 2018 to enter into some high-interest loans and by 2019 the financial condition of the firm "had reached dire straits." It says the SEC launched an investigation of the firm in August 2019 and in September issued a deficiency letter. The SEC found that Barnett & Company "defrauded former clients and breached its fiduciary duty because it failed to refund to those clients unearned pre-paid advisory fees." Instead, it said some company funds went to country club memberships for Mr. Barnett. Mr. Barnett pledged to the SEC that he would sell his investment properties in behalf of the company and would undertake no additional high-interest loans. It says due to the financial straits that Barnett & Company was unable to renew its errors and omissions issue policy and had to drop out of the Charles Schwab advisory group. The suit by Warren Barnett says, "Under cover of the global COVID-19 pandemic, and while employed by Barnett & Company, defendants Christopher Andrew Hopkins, George Thompson Bryant, and Jennifer Kay Hairston plotted to form, and did form, Apogee Wealth Partners, LLC, in direct competition with their employer. "While society was sheltering in place, they quietly operated Apogee Wealth Partners, LLC in direct competition with Barnett & Company for 10 months before their betrayal was discovered. Barnett & Company seeks relief for the defendants' breaches of their contractual and legal duties and injunctive relief to prevent them from profiting further from their treachery." It says the three employees set up Apogee Wealth Partners and began operating it without the knowledge of Mr. Barnett. The suit says they were all under non-compete agreements. It says they were receiving full pay from Barnett & Company, while stating on documents they were devoting 40 percent of their time to it. If youve ever watched an episode of Foxs MasterChef and wondered what it takes to be on a reality cooking competition, its a lot to digest. Famed chef Gordan Ramsay has led the show for over 10 years, along with other guest celebrity chefs. MasterChef has become its own entity, with the junior version spinoff and new hopefuls every year. That said, getting onto the show comes with more than a few rules to follow. 9. Personality and psychiatric evaluations are mandatory for MasterChef hopefuls Host/judge Gordon Ramsay, judge Aaron Sanchez, and judge Joe Bastianich | FOX Image Collection via Getty Images In todays reality landscape, it seems as though the contracts are getting lengthier by the day. A former MasterChef contestant, Jessie Glenn, revealed a few of the ins and outs. For instance, if she wanted to be on the show, shed undergo a formal psychiatric evaluation and a personality test, but they dont show the results. They asked me to agree to be subjected to physical and mental distress, to agree to have my medical history used in any way that they wanted and to use it in perpetuity, to agree that my family would likely not be contacted in the case of an emergency, she said via Salon. 8. MasterChef employs cast wranglers According to AV Club, former contestant Elise Mayfield said they followed a strict schedule and had curfews. All of it was upheld by cast wranglers. They were there making sure they knew where we were at all times and that we knew where we were at all times, she said. There was a schedule; the first day was lots of introductions and learning the curfew and itinerary. We all ended up at the bar and grill that night around dinnertime, and everybody was having drinks, and it was basically like weird adult spring break. 7. The audition process is lengthy Mayfield said she didnt hear official word for many, many months. She also said, the audition process is many months long. In the end, she said it took about four months of communications before she set off for LA. 6. Contestants cant re-heat food for the MasterChef judges According to the MasterChef FAQ page, contestants cant re-heat any food they bring to audition. They must also bring their own utensils with a three-minute warning to plate. I came in with two insulated lunch bags. One of them was an aluminum foil takeout container, and I had a socka clean sock full of rice that I had heated up in the microwave, along with these glove warmer things. So I had that and a heated bag of rice in the insulated lunch bag, Mayfield said. 5. You also meet with a private investigator Glenn said theres also a private investigator who probes into your life. I flew back home to Portland, Oregon, the same day I left and felt wild, violated, and alive. The blood and pee samples I had to send to them from the lab after I got home felt like no big deal after the professional interrogation, Glenn said. 4. They tell you what to wear Believe it or not contestants arent the ones who choose their clothing, according to Mayfield. You know, we had been there for almost a week and then, all of a sudden, it is game time and you are in your outfit that youve been told to put on; you are going to wardrobe and hair and makeup, she said. 3. You cant disclose where you are while filming Like many Hollywood contracts, contestants sign confidentiality agreements. This prevents anyone from talking about the show until it airs. I had disappeared for almost two months, and then I wasnt able to talk about where I had been, so it was a little like I was in the CIA, Mayfield said. 2. Food served to judges is cold According to MasterChef Australia judge George Calombaris, contestant dishes are ice cold. This is because of how much time passes before the food gets to the judge. In fact, judges typically sneak bites off-camera while its still hot. 1. Contestants are paid, but also pay a MasterChef fee Several reports in the early MasterChef years reported how much contestants are paid for their time on the show ($500-$600 per week). However, Glenn revealed there was a little more to it. They asked for a clause that could have kept me from working at my own media publicity company and to remove my own company website on their request, she said. They asked me to agree to pay a 15 percent management fee to a company called One Potato Two Potato (OPTP) owned by Gordon Ramsay. This fee would then apply to any income or even gifts I received in any context potentially related to the show. I asked if OPTP would do any other career management. No, they said. Its been a difficult year for the Brown family. After a devastating wildfire decimated their Washington state ranch, the Alaskan Bush People stars returned home to take stock of the damage. But not long after, tragedy struck again when patriarch Billy Brown died suddenly at age 68. With Billy gone, the Browns must find a way to move forward on the new season of their reality TV series, which premieres September 19 on Discovery. The Brown family mourns Billy Brown in new Alaskan Bush People teaser The Browns rise from the ashes of a wildfire to face the loss of their beloved Billy Brown on a new season of #AlaskanBushPeople. The new season, which the family has dedicated to Billy, premieres on @discovery and @discoveryplus Sept. 19. Learn more: https://t.co/5z1gerMPrv pic.twitter.com/ASCvutHGv1 Alaskan Bush People (@AlaskanBushPPL) September 3, 2021 The new season of Alaskan Bush People is dedicated to Billy, who died February 7, 2021, after experiencing a seizure. A trailer for the upcoming episodes that was shared on Twitter shows Billys family coming to terms with the loss of their beloved family member. The video includes audio of Billys son Gabe Browns panicked 911 call after his fathers seizure, as well as voiceovers from other members of the Brown family, who wonder how and if theyll ever be able to complete their fathers dream of achieving total freedom. Dad always told us one day wed have to carry on without him, but we werent ready for him to go, son Bam Bam Brown says. We all have to find our peace with whats happened somehow, Billys widow Ami Brown says as her husband is laid to rest. Billy Brown will appear in the new episodes of Alaskan Bush People Billy Brown and Ami Brown | Frederick M. Brown/Getty Images While Billy has died, he will appear in the new episode of his familys reality series. At one point in the trailer, he urges his family to get back to their wild roots. Im ready to start thinking like we used to think, you know, lets get some craziness out there, he says as footage shows the family building a zipline on their property. But now that their father is gone, the Brown children find themselves at a crossroads. Some are even considering returning to Americas last frontier. I find myself hearing the call of Alaska, Snowbird Brown says. Its hard answering, Do I want to move back? (The Brown family left Alaska for Washington after mom Ami was diagnosed with lung cancer.) In the teaser, we also see the family make a return pilgrimage to their Alaskan homestead, dubbed Browntown. Rain Brown says her father is in her heart, even if he isnt by her side This season of Alaskan Bush People is nothing like we would have hoped, Billys daughter Rain admitted on Instagram. But that doesnt mean viewers shouldnt tune in. I do think its very beautiful, she wrote. She added that although her father was no longer physically present, she hoped his legacy lived on through his family. This new season is dedicated to our da, and the wonderful inspiration he was, she wrote. In this new season we face the struggles of carrying on with him in our hearts instead of by our side and work harder than ever to fulfill his family dream. Alaskan Bush People Season 13 premieres Sunday, September 19 at 8 p.m. ET on Discovery. Episodes will also stream on discovery+. Check out Showbiz Cheat Sheet on Facebook! RELATED: Alaskan Bush People Update: Did Bear Brown Really Quit the Show? Belfast premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) on Sept 12. Director Kenneth Branagh wrote the screenplay and directed the movie, which was inspired by his own childhood in Belfast, Ireland. And it received an overwhelmingly positive response from the TIFF audience. Videos from the TIFF Belfast Q&A show the moment Branagh was brought to tears over the films first reactions. Kenneth Branagh attends the Belfast premiere during the 2021 Toronto International Film Festival on Sept. 12, 2021 | Emma McIntyre/Getty Images Kenneth Branaghs Belfast was a hit at TIFF Branaghs Belfast received the biggest crowd response out of any of the films during the festival, according to Variety, which also hosted the premieres of Dear Evan Hansen, The Eyes of Tammy Faye, Kristen Stewarts Spencer, and more. Branagh and star Jamie Dornan took part in the Belfast Q&A after the premiere. And the Thor director revealed he started writing Belfast in the beginning of the coronavirus (COVID-19) lockdown. I started writing this on March 23, but it had been brewing for a long time. Lockdown teaches you, whether you like it or not about the things that were precious, that were simple he said before choking up with tears. You thought you were at a place in your life where the very simple thing is youre very happy, Branagh went on. And then, in a minute it was very difficult to deal with everything that came up. And people have had this in their lives a million times. He continued: The beginning of lockdown sort of ignited that feeling. And I just wanted to chart the way in which you couldas far as I understood it in that situationnavigate your way through all of that uncertainty. And how you could try and do it as a 9-year-old kid who had loving family and movies and a great, big life on the street. The lockdown sent me back there. Kenneth Branagh got choked up speaking about the origins of BELFAST. #TIFF21 pic.twitter.com/iXGNvziDwl Max Gao #TIFF21 (@MaxJGao) September 12, 2021 RELATED: Dear Evan Hansen Movie Cut 4 Songs From the Broadway ShowDirector Explains Why What is Belfast about? Belfast was filmed in black-and-white and stars Dornan and Outlanders Caitriona Balfe. They play the parents of 9-year-old Buddy (played by Jude Hill), who is effectively Branaghs younger self. The film is set in 1960s Northern Ireland. Its a politically tumultuous time in history for the Irish city, and Dornan and Balfes characters wonder if moving away from their home will give their family a better future. The cast also includes Dame Judi Dench, Ciaran Hinds, and more. The film marks Hills film debut, and his performance is already receiving high praise. Dornan and Balfes performances as Pa and Ma are also being hailed as their career bests. And Dench and Hinds performances are also getting Oscar buzz, as are Branaghs directing and writing. RELATED: Outlander Star Caitriona Balfe Announces Surprise Baby Boy Did She Film Season 6 While Pregnant? Kenneth Branaghs Belfast film includes a Marvel reference Branagh has run the gamut of Hollywood jobs. He acts, directs, writes, and makes short films. And hes gotten Oscar nominations for all of these things. One of the films Branagh directed was Thorthe Marvel movie that made Chris Hemsworth and Tom Hiddleston household names. And he included a Thor shout out in Belfast. In Belfast, Buddy has a deep love of movies. As a result, his familys TV set and the neighborhood movie theater become big set pieces for the film. There are several movie and TV references made. And Branagh included a Marvel Comics reference by including a shot of Buddy reading a vintage Thor comic. According to Variety, the moment was met with cheers from the audience. Belfast debuts in theaters nationwide on Nov. 12. Charli DAmelio was once an ordinary girl from Connecticut, but in 2020, she became the most followed person on TikTok. Now she is a bonafide social media star. DAmelio was thrust into fame at a young age, and that no doubt comes with many challenges. However, taking care of her mental health has been difficult at times. As she shares on Hulus The DAmelio Show, she has trouble finding a good therapist. Charli DAmelio | Rich Fury/KCA2021/Getty Images for Nickelodeon Charli DAmelio has opened up about her struggles with fame Ever since she became popular, DAmelio has been open about some struggles she has with fame. For example, on 2 Chix, her podcast with sister Dixie, DAmelio has talked about receiving mean messages whenever she posts anything. She even once said, Its extremely difficult to continue posting a platform where people that are watching your videos dont actually, like, want to see you and a lot of the feed back is negative. DAmelio continues to open up on The DAmelio Show. Throughout the series, viewers could see DAmelio try to deal with a world in which she is constantly watched and judged. In one episode, she even had a breakdown. Charli DAmelio reveals she cannot find a good therapist Exclusive: Sisters Charli and Dixie DAmelio open up about sharing their mental health struggles on #TheDAmelioShow.https://t.co/ewRNS1Rmoz Us Weekly (@usweekly) September 8, 2021 RELATED: Charli DAmelios TikTok Fame Used to Make Her Sister Dixie Embarrassed During episode 7 of The DAmelio Show, DAmelio talked about her experiences with therapy, which is commonly used for people dealing with mental health issues and emotional problems in their lives. I think therapys great. I think for some people, it works really well and its very, very helpful, she said. I have struggled finding a good [therapist], which is why Im not going to one right now. But, hopefully, one day I will be able to find a therapist that I like and I work well with and can help me. In another part of the episode, DAmelio revealed to her friends an unnerving experience she had with one therapist. DAmelio explained, So I got on the call, and we started talking about whateverlike, my emotions and stuff. And then he drops this thing. Yeah, my daughters a huge fan of you. I was just like Oh, no way. He was like, Yeah, you might be struggling, but you make my daughter really happy. According to DAmelio, the comment the therapist made felt weird and awkward. She said during a confessional, I appreciate your daughterI really dobut shes not going to help the chemical imbalance in my brain. In any case, DAmelio does encourage fans to seek therapy if they need it. Charli DAmelio has achieved some of her wildest dreams RELATIONSHIP STATUS = OFFICIAL! The Charli, @charlidamelio's fave drink- a medium cold brew w/ whole milk & caramel swirl- is now on the menu! DD Perks Members, earn 100 bonus points on a medium of The Charli when you order ahead on the Dunkin' app through 9/4. pic.twitter.com/Fu15g4bL3a Dunkin' (@dunkindonuts) September 2, 2020 RELATED: Charli DAmelio Uses This 1 Excuse With Her Parents to Get Out of Cleaning Her Room Although fame comes with many challenges, it has also allowed DAmelio to achieve some of her wildest dreams. For example, DAmelio is a huge Jennifer Lopez fan, and in 2020, she was able to meet her idol. Lopez even wrote DAmelios profile for Time Magazines Next 100 list. When Charli dances, she connects, Lopez wrote. Shes the biggest new teenage star right now, and its not simply that she dances on TikTok. Shes the best at it. When she dances, people want to be like her. Her authenticity comes through the screen. DAmelio has also been able to partner with brands she loves to earn money. Last year, her go-to coffee brand, Dunkin Donuts, partnered with her to release a drink called The Charli. Her father, Marc, told Elle about how the family feels about fame, I constantly check with everybody and myself: Are we happier today than we were before we started this? And right now I think we are. Overall it has ups and downs, but we realize how lucky we are, how blessed we are, and what an incredible ride this is. I want them to enjoy it. Several celebrities in Hollywood once worked for other A-listers before becoming household names themselves. For instance, Jennifer Garner babysat for talk show host Stephen Colbert while still a struggling actor. The two even joked and had a sweet moment reminiscing about their earlier encounter before she became a megastar. DArcy Carden of The Good Place also had a similar meeting with one of her costars. The actor recently revealed that she used to be a nanny for her Barry costar Bill Hader. DArcy Cardens profile DArcy Carden | Matt Winkelmeyer/Getty Images for Critics Choice Association Born Darcy Beth Erkan, Carden studied in San Ramon Valley High School and graduated from Southern Oregon University with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Theater. After Carden was invited to an improv sketch show, her interest grew, and she progressed with the improv team Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre and even toured with them. In 2014 she landed a role in Comedy Centrals Broad City playing Gemma, which she held onto until 2019. She also had guest roles in Inside Amy Schumer, Veep, and Crazy Ex-Girlfriend. She also appeared in iSteve and The To-Do List before playing Jessica in Other People. In 2016 Carden landed her breakthrough role in The Good Place, playing live virtual assistant Janet alongside Kristen Bell, Jameel Jamil, and Ted Danson. The actor received critical acclaim for her portrayal of Janet in the show and even got nominated for a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series and a Critics Choice Television Award for Best Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series. In 2018 Carden landed a recurring role in HBOs Barry, playing Natalie Greer alongside Bill Hader. Carden was nominated for a Screen Actors Guild Award along with her fellow cast members in the show for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series. In 2019 she landed a role in Greener Grass, Let It Snow, and Bombshell. She also had a role in Bonding and Robot Chicken. The following year the star was cast in a recurring role in Mapleworth Murders. Carden nannied for Hader before she was famous Ever since she appeared in The Good Place, DArcy Carden has been a busy person as she has moved from one production to the next. One of her recent popular roles was in Barry, starring alongside Community actor Hader. Interestingly, Hader and Carden have a history that extends beyond the show. In a 2018 interview with Seth Meyers, Carden revealed their relationship, saying she worked for the renowned actor (Hader) way before she broke into the Hollywood scene. Carden revealed that she worked for Hader babysitting his eldest two daughters full time. The actor also told the talk show host that she and Haders children have a close relationship. Carden also revealed that she was an extra on Saturday Night Live and that she changed her name during high school after she learned that her favorite bands frontman had a similar name save for an apostrophe. So she decided to alter her name to what it is today. DArcy Carden improvd more on The Good Place Carden played the human-AI Janet, who viewers got to see several versions varying from a good Janet to a bad one. With a background in improv, The Good Place showrunners allowed Carden to play around with her character, with the actor saying that the producers allowed her to do more with Bad Janet. She said, they let me do a little bit more with Bad Janet than we did with any of the other characters, which was a blast. Carden also estimated that her character on The Good Place had an upward of 20 versions that even she couldnt keep track of. RELATED: The Good Place: DArcy Carden Says This Part of Playing Bad Janet Felt Kinda Shi*ty Josh Flagg was so smitten with Tracy Tutors dog he adopted one from the same breeder but his pup was extremely expensive in more than one way. The Million Dollar Listing Los Angeles broker kept kidnapping Tutors dog so he finally adopted his own adorable Goldendoodle, George. However, Flagg reports that George, who he spent close to $30,000 to adopt, managed to eat the drywall in his home and urinate on a $40,000 rug. Josh Flagg says George was fired from his dogwalker Flagg spilled about George on the Berning in Hell podcast. By the way, my dog is a psycho, he said. He ate the baseboard in my house this morning. Adding, His name is George. [But] he ate another dog! He was actually just fired from his dog walker. Josh Flagg from Million Dollar Listing Los Angeles and husband Bobby Boyd attend Nikki Haskells 80th Birthday |Patrick McMullan/PMC via Getty Images I just got home right before the podcast, Flagg said. And the dog walker I had to talk to. And he goes, I have to fire George. I go Why? He goes, He bit another dog today. Im like, Impossible. George is the sweetest, fluffiest animal.' But the dog walker insisted he couldnt control George. And literally this dog had 30 weeks of training, Flagg exclaimed. The dog should have been able to come back from the trainer and f**king like programmed a website. I thought this dog was going to be so smart. Like, write Javascript, right? Josh Flagg spent about $30,000 to adopt this Million Dollar Listing dog This dog literally is so dumb, Flagg continued. He ate the drywall yesterday. He is right now chewing on my foot. And Im really considering sending him back. What dog gets fired? He ate the drywall! Who eats drywall? RELATED: Million Dollar Listings Josh Flagg Thinks Half of the Selling Sunset Cast Members Arent Agents Host Hannah Berner joked that George was trying to poison himself to get out. Like literally Im so pissed, Flagg added. He f**king pissed on a $40,000 rug. Im so unhappy about it. Im really unhappy because this dog was really close to $30,000. If this dog was like I rescued him at the shelter and he was like $300 for a vaccination or a shot and were good to go, I wouldnt be so pissed. But this dog, I was sold a bad bill of goods, he said. He doesnt even know his name! Did George trick Josh Flagg into adopting him? Flagg was so in love with Tutors dog he went to the same breeder in Alabama to adopt George. Unfortunately, hes having a different experience. My friend Tracy who is on the show has a dog, which is from the same breeder and is, by the way, perfect, he said. And I went to Alabama to get this dog. I flew there didnt like the first dog. Flew home. Flew out again. And then this dog was so well behaved, he recalled about George. Beautiful, such a sweet dog. I didnt realize he was the devil. Flagg laughed thinking how the breeder probably laughed as he flew away with George calling him a sucker. RELATED: Million Dollar Listing: Josh Flagg Shades Fredrik Eklund Says Hes Not Friends with Him Anymore By the way, he was returned by another dog owner, Flagg said. Now I know why. They said the family was allergic. Then I was thinking about it, this is the most hypoallergenic dog its now all coming together. Power Book III: Raising Kanan is a family affair. Though the series centers Kanan Starks (Mekai Curtis) coming-of-age story, the people who shaped Kanan into the man we knew in Power have also come into focus. Kanans drug queenpin mother Raquel Raq Thomas (Patina Miller) is cutthroat and vivacious. She runs her drug business with her brothers, Lou Lou (Malcolm Mays) and Marvin (London Brown). While Marvin is desperately trying to prove to Raq that hes valuable, Lou Lou thrives in his work, but hes ready for something different. Now that the Thomas have gone to war with rival dealer Unique (Joey Bada$$) what just happened to Lou Lou? [Spoiler alert: This article contains spoilers for Power Book III: Raising Kanan Episode 108 The Cost of Business] Malcolm Mays as Lou Lou in Power Book III: Raising Kanan | Starz RELATED: Power Book III: Raising Kanan: Is Kanans Uncle Marvin Actually Breeze? Lou Lou has been conflicted with his life on Power Book III: Raising Kanan Since Marvin is a recovering addict known for his schemes and plots that arent really well planned or thought out, Lou Lou is Raqs right-hand mand and the future of the Thomas drug empire. However, as weve seen, Lou has been torn between his life on the streets and the one he desires in the music industry. Mays has hinted that Lou Lou doesnt really feel settled in his current role. We know that Lou-Lou deeply cares about Raq and Jukebox, and his family and he has a code for what he does, Mays told TV Line. When you see that, youre going to have more empathy for him. Its like the moment Tony Montana said, No women, no kids, he became endearing because he cared about something. Youre going to see Lou-Lou become more torn about the life he has now and where he wants to be. Y'all think Lou is just in the market for a new jacket? #RaisingKanan pic.twitter.com/C1KdEtlvs9 Raising Kanan (@RaisingKanan) September 13, 2021 RELATED: Power Book III: Raising Kanan: Mekai Curtis Studied 50 Cent to Transform Into Kanan Stark What happened to Lou Lou in Power Book III: Raising Kanan Episode 8? In a previous episode after Lou Lou failed to take out Uniques right-hand man, Worrell (John Clay III), Unique confronted the effortlessly cool drug dealer in an attempt to get him to turn. When Lou Lou didnt budge, Unique warned him and offered a faux apology about what was to come. At the end of episode 108, we watched Lou enjoy a drink and some Isley Brothers amid a quiet evening as his home. Hed just taken over half of Crown Caminos (Quincy Brown) record label. Worrell and the rest of Uniques boys firebomb the home, trapping Lou Lou before spraying the house with a hail of bullets. Though Lou Lou gets a few shots out, he eventually collapses amid the smoke. Marvin arrives at the home minutes later breaking down the door in a desperate attempt to save his baby brother. He stumbles to carry Lou Lou out into the night, screaming for help. Unfortunately, things arent looking too good for the Power Book III: Raising Kanan fan favorite. RELATED: Power Book III: Raising Kanan: Did Kanan Kill Ghosts Father? Is Lou Lou really dead in Power Book III: Raising Kanan? Though Marvin was able to carry Lou Lou out of his burning home, its not looking too good for the stoic drug dealer who Raq desperately wanted to take over her business. Not only was he trapped inside of the home for some time, its likely that he was also shot by a spray of bullets. Mays has also taken to Instagram with a major clue to suggest that this is the end for his character. The 31-year-old shared photo of a slate with his and his characters name on it via Instagram. He captioned the photo, its been a blessing Lou Lou was also nowhere to be seen in the preview for the upcoming episode, but Raq and Marvin, who are currently on the outs are. All signs point to Lou Lous death, but the Power Universe is also known for its twists and turns so fans are still holding on to a morsel of hope. Power Book III: Raising Kanan is the third installment in the Power Universe, it centers on the coming of age story of Kanan Stark (Mekai Curtis), the character made famous by Curtis 50 Cent Jackson in the first installment of Power. Set in the 90s in Queens, we watch Kanan navigate his teen years while trying to infiltrate himself in his drug queenpin mother Raquel Raq Thomas (Patina Miller) business. One of the most powerful drug dealers in Queens, Raq runs her business with her brothers Lou Lou (Malcolm Mays) and Marvin (London Brown). But as Raq prepares to go to war with a rival drug dealer, will her brothers turn against her? Power Book III: Raising Kanan with Patina Miller as Raq, London Brown as Marvin, Malcolm Mays as Lou Lou | Starz RELATED: Power Book III: Raising Kanan: The Character Symphony Bosket Could Be Connected to Ghost Raq and Unique have gone to war on Power Book III: Raising Kanan As the first season of Power Book III: Raising Kanan comes to an end, things are heating up. The bad blood between Raq and Unique (Joey Bada$$) has intensified leading to an all-out war. The block is hot, as Raq said in a recent episode and there is no way that everyone is going to come out alive. Considering his track record its also likely that Kanan is going to mess up again, big time. RELATED: Power Book III: Raising Kanan: Mekai Curtis Studied 50 Cent to Transform Into Kanan Stark Will Marvin and Lou Lou turn against Raq on Power Book III: Raising Kanan? From the moment that Power Book III: Raising Kanan began, it was clear that though the three siblings share the business and that Raq is the middle sibling and only woman; she runs the organization. Though Lou Lou is her right hand, Marvin, the eldest doesnt do too well with too much responsibility so Raq keeps him on a tight leash. Now that the Thomas organization is at war with Uniques, its looking increasingly likely that Raqs brothers might turn on her. Marvin is desperate to prove himself, but he doesnt think things through. My Uncle Horace is a lot like Marvin, 50 Cent told TV Line. Hes the kind of person who can handle altercations and do aggressive things, but he gets in his own way. My Uncle Horace made a lot of crazy decisions and moves in business that still dont make sense when I hear the stories. Hes been like that my entire life. Meanwhile, Lou Lou is looking to get out of the drug game for a life in the music industry. This is something that Raq doesnt approve of and its causing Lou Lou to be distracted which isnt something the family can afford since theyre at war. So far, it looks like both brothers are standing tall with Raq, but were not sure how long that will last. There's a new poison on the streets and Kanan's name is all over it #RaisingKanan Raising Kanan (@RaisingKanan) September 7, 2021 RELATED: Power Book III: Raising Kanan: Will the Show Crossover With Power Book II: Ghost? Power Book III: Raising Kanan fans are convinced that Marvin could be Breeze One of the major clues that indicated the Thomas drug organizations eventual demise is the rise of Breeze. From what we know about the Power Universe, Breeze took Kanan under his wing and taught him everything he knew. The men ran their organization together eventually mentoring, James Ghost St. Patrick (Omari Hardwick) and Tommy Egan (Joseph Sikora). It was Breeze who gave James the nickname Ghost and Ghost repaid him by shooting him in the back of the head to take over his empire. So far, Breeze is a huge missing piece in Raising Kanan, but fans are thinking he might be hiding in plain sight. During a recent interview, Brown gave an interview that hinted that Marvin could be Breeze. My character basically introduces Kanan into this lifestyle that Power fans know him for, he told journalist Landon Buford on Instagram. And the fact that my sister is in charge because I was irresponsible with it when I was in the position. So, that creates a little beef between us and a bit of a power struggle. In the relationship with my daughter [Juke Box], we dont see eye to eye just on the father-daughter type of thing. So, the only person that my character can use his authoritative energy on is young Kanan. Its clear with their gas station scheme the men have no trouble connecting in business. We know when Breeze came he was the only person and thus the kingpin, one Redditor explained. I think both Unique and Raqs sides will basically kill each other off to a standstill and Breeze will show up in the finale where hell help Raqs side and theyll become the new head of Jamaica queens unopposed. Like many actors, Shailene Woodley has had a lot of different hairstyles, including wigs, in her various projects. When filming the Divergent sequel Insurgent, the director wanted Woodley to wear a wig, but she refused. However, Woodley took a different stance when it came to a later movie. Shailene Woodley wouldnt wear a wig for Insurgent Insurgent is based on a book by Vanessa Roth. In the novel, Woodleys character Tris has a shoulder-length haircut. For the first movie, Divergent, the star had longer hair that fit with her character. However, by the time the second movie got the green light, Woodleys hair had changed, due to another project. When filming began, Insurgent director Robert Schwentke requested Woodley to wear a wig to fit her characters aesthetic. But she had a different look in mind. When promoting the Divergent Blu-Ray/ DVD release, Woodley told BuzzFeed that viewers would be seeing her pixie cut and not the long hair her character donned in the Divergent film. She said, I talked to the director because I didnt want to wear a wig. I think wigs always look wiggy, especially in an action movie. Were running so much and doing so much. I think technically, a wig would have looked quite s. Woodley began rocking the super-short look for The Fault In Our Stars, which she filmed between the Divergent and Insurgent films. So she planned to keep the look for the second film in the Divergent franchise. I think its cool to have a young heroine with short hair, she continued, calling the aesthetic modern. But her next film was a different story. Woodley did wear a wig for Snowden Snowden tells the tale of Edward Snowden, played by Joseph Gordon-Levitt, a whistleblower who outs the government using a Rubiks cube for its surveillance program. Under the direction of Oliver Stone, Snowden carries heavy points about the current security programs and sparked serious debates about patriotism. Woodley plays the titular characters girlfriend Lindsay Mills, who he meets on a dating website. It is noteworthy that the movie is based on the real-life of Edward Snowden, a former computer intelligence consultant who leaked sensitive information to the public, and his now-wife, Lindsay Mills. Because Mills has brown hair, the producers decided to have Woodley wear a wig to make her look like the real-life Mills. Also, a reasonable explanation is that at the time, Woodley still had her prominent pixie cut, and seeing as the movie Snowden was a biopic, she had to wear a wig to resemble the real-life person her character was based on. Woodley dons the wig for the first half of the film. Later on, when her character and Edward are seen living in Hawaii, her natural hair is visible as if abandoning the earlier aesthetic. Woodley on her character in Snowden Shailene Woodley attends the Snowden New York premiere on September 13, 2016. | Jim Spellman/WireImage As Woodley began promoting the film ahead of its 2016 release, she maintained her long brunette locks. Woodley told the Today hosts it was exciting to play a real person. Theres a certain amount of pressure that Ive never experienced before, she added. You want to do a great job and you want to give a great performance. But also you want to make sure youre protecting the integrity of who that human being is. Woodley notes she didnt meet Linsday until three months into filming, when Mills finally came to set. I think its probably an overwhelming trippy experience to watch someone pretend to be you without knowing you, she posited. RELATED: Shailene Woodley: How Much is the Divergent and Big Little Lies Star Worth? Netflixs drama series, Virgin River is based on Robyn Carrs book series of the same name. The show chronicles the life of Mel Monroe (Alexandra Breckenridge), a nurse who leaves her life behind in Los Angeles for a fresh chapter in the small town of Virgin River. Amid her healing process, Mel falls for Jack Sheridan (Martin Henderson), a retired Marine who owns the towns bar. Now, as fans await the Virgin River Season 4, there are hints that Jacks ex-wife Mandy could be making an appearance. Martin Henderson as Jack Sheridan in Virgin River | Netflix RELATED: Virgin River: Jack Might Not Be the Father of Charmaines Babies When will Virgin River Season 4 premiere? Though Virgin River is one of the most popular shows on Netflix, Season 4 has not been given the green light on the streaming service just yet. However, that doesnt mean that Netflix doesnt have something up its sleeves. As we know season 3 ended in a slew of cliffhangers. Just as Jack was proposing to Mel, she revealed her pregnancy and her doubts about her babys paternity. In addition to their drama, Charmaine (Lauren Hammersley) has hastily married Todd (Patrick Sabongui), her controlling beau, Brady (Ben Hollingsworth) has also been arrested for shooting Jack, and Preacher (Collin Lawrence) has been drugged and left for dead. While Netflix has remained silent on a new season, Virgin River Season 4 may already be in the works. SpoilerTV reported via Express, that Virgin River Season 4 has begun filming in Vancouver and will end in November 2021. RELATED: Virgin River: Fans Might Not Find out Who Shot Jack for a Long Time Will Jacks ex-wife show up in Virgin River Season 4? Since it looks like we will be getting a fourth season of Virgin River, fans should buckle up for even more drama including the possible appearance of Jacks ex-wife Mandy. As we know, Mel didnt even know that Jack had been previously married until his sister Brie (Zibby Allen) accidentally spilled the beans in season 3. Theres not much to tell, Jack told Mel when she confronted him about it. We got married right out of high school, I joined the Marines and she filed for divorce when I shipped off to Iraq. The whole marriage lasted less than three months. Its not something I ever think about. However, its interesting to note that Jack only mentioned that Mandy filed for divorce. He never said that the paperwork was completed. Its possible that Jack is still a married man. Moreover, Henderson has hinted at Mandy popping up on the show. Mandy showing up in Virgin River would complicate things even more, he told TV Line. Its possible with this show. We wont know more until Virgin River Season 4 is greenlit by Netflix. RELATED: Virgin River: Why Are so Many Characters From Robyn Carrs Books Missing From the Show? Will Jack and Mel breakup in Virgin River Season 4? At present, following Mels pregnancy revelation and with the possibility of Jacks ex-wife appearing in Virgin River, the nurse and bar owners relationship is on fragile ground. Jack also has the added stress of the impending birth of his twins with his former girlfriend, Charmaine (Lauren Hammersley). With so much happening, we wouldnt be shocked if Jack and Mel called it quits in Virgin River Season 4. If its not Jacks baby, Jack and Mel are naturally going to have some tough times ahead, Breckinridge told E! News via Hello! It would be immensely difficult. That would be extremely challenging, especially for Jack. If hes gonna stick around, if hes devoted to Mel, thats gonna be hard to have a baby thats her dead husbands baby. Thats just, like, asking a lot. If Jack is also still legally married to Mandy that would also be disastrous. Shown are four Cherokee Phoenix homecoming T-shirts from 2018-21. The Cherokee Phoenix is accepting design ideas from Cherokee artists for its 2022 T-shirt until 11:59 p.m. CST on Dec. 31. Cherokee Nation citizen Lawrence Panther, a fluent Cherokee speaker, is teaching a Cherokee language class this fall at the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville. The class is a first for the university and brought into the curriculum by Indigenous Studies Program Director Sean Teuton, also a CN citizen. Graveside Service will be 11:00 a.m., Saturday, September 18, 2021 at the Rose Hill Cemetery. Service will be under the direction of Sevier Funeral Home. Richard (Ricky) Paul Pace was born on June 30, 1957 in Chickasha, OK. He passed away Tuesday, August 31, 2021 at his home in Chickasha, OK Mohammad el-Halabi believes the truth will set him free. The former Gaza director of World Vision has now spent more than half a decade in prison, and according to his lawyer, the Israeli government has offered him plea deal after plea deal. He could potentially go home if he would only confess that funding for the Christian humanitarian aid organization was diverted to support terrorism. But Halabi has refused. He is saying he will not admit to things he never did, Maher Hanna, who represents Halabi, told CT. He will not pollute the image of World Vision just to get a personal discount and go home to be with his children. Hanna, himself a Christian, said this is one of the remarkable things about this case that has not been noted in the international headlines: A Muslim man who worked for a Christian organization is refusing, under severe pressure and at great personal risk, to betray one of the largest evangelical charities in the world and harm its future work. We should admire that position that Muhammad is taking for himself. Its a high Christian value, Hanna said. Close observers and insiders say Halabis trial looks like it will conclude this fall. The Israeli court could reach a verdict as early as this month. The case has been making its way through the Israeli justice systemtediously and obscurelysince Halabi was arrested by the state security service while attempting to pass through the Erez checkpoint between Gaza and Israel on June 15, 2016. Halabi was subsequently accused of using his position with World Vision to aid Hamas, the Palestinian Islamist militant group that has governed Gaza since 2007. Israeli officials allege he was diverting funds meant to feed and educate children to instead help Hamas prepare another surprise attack on Israel. If the accusations against him are true, Halabi is responsible for what TheGuardian reported would have been the biggest aid money heist in history. Founded in 1950, World Vision is one of the worlds largest charities, operating in nearly 100 countries, with an annual budget exceeding $3 billion. It sometimes hires non-Christian administrators, such as Halabi, and receives lots of support from international governments and secular institutions. But World Vision also has clear Christian commitments and a mission to follow our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ in working with the poor and oppressed and promote human transformation, seek justice, and bear witness to the good news of the Kingdom of God. When Halabi was arrested, serious suspicion fell on the humanitarian work the group was doing in Gaza. Evangelical donors in the USa significant part of World Visions supportstarted asking tough questions. Some governments, including those in Australia and Germany, immediately halted funding for World Vision projects. World Vision leaders took the allegations seriously. The organization did not immediately put out a strong statement in Halabis defense, but instead expressed its commitment to cooperating with authorities and said, World Vision is committed to the highest standards of accountability, and conducts regular internal and external financial audits. The group suspended its Gaza programs indefinitely in August 2016. Then it contracted one of the worlds largest multinational law firms to conduct an external, independent forensic investigation. After examining over 280,000 emails and documents, interviewing 180 people, and forensically examining every aspect of the Gaza operation between 2011 and 2016, the law firm delivered a 264-page report. A person with firsthand knowledge of the investigation said, The investigation did not find even a hint of funds being diverted to Hamas or any schemes or collusions involving other World Vision employees or third parties. Investigators also couldnt find any material evidence suggesting [Halabi] was affiliated with, or worked for, Hamas. Although the law firm made suggestions for improving financial controlsa normal outcome of any financial reviewthe investigators actually found Halabi was diligent in assuring World Vision avoided any entanglement with Hamas, even inadvertently. That report was finished in 2017; prosecution against Halabi continued for another four years and counting. Additional reporting from the US Agency for International Development and the Australian and German governments corroborated the results of the independent audit, finding zero evidence of diverted funds. Without credible accounting evidence, sources familiar with the prosecution told CT that the case against Halabi rests on the testimony of one former World Vision employee and a fellow prisoner who claims he heard Halabi confess to the crime. However, the prosecutionciting national security concernshas presented most of its case in closed hearings. At the several open hearings that have been held, no evidence of guilt appears to have been presented. Hanna has also not been allowed to see all the evidence against his client, and when he was shown some documents, he wasnt allowed to see the originals, make copies, or take notes. Representatives at the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights have condemned the secretive process, saying it is not worthy of a democratic state. Hanna said it is like being thrown into the ocean with ones hands and feet tied. Nevertheless, he says Halabis innocence has been established beyond a reasonable doubt. The charges against him are ridiculous, he said. They limited me from accessing important material because it would just be embarrassing if they allowed me to see it all or put it out in the public. Now Halabi waits for the courts to reach a verdict, trusting that the truth is enough to set him free. His father, Khalil el-Halabi, said Mohammed is confident because he is innocent. They offered him several deals to get out of prison in three or five years, to be released to hug his wife and children in Gaza again, the elder Halabi told CT, but he has always told them the truthI am innocent, my work was humanitarian, I served the poorest families in Gaza. Khalil said he has been encouraged that as his son refuses to tarnish the reputation of a Christian aid organization, Christian communities in Gaza, Bethlehem, and Jerusalem have shown Halabi their support. Catholic and Orthodox churches rang their bells during his court sessions and still today, many Christian brothers send gifts to his children and messages of solidarity to his family, he said. Sara Bach, a World Vision supporter from Hildesheim, Germany, said it does not matter to her whether Mohammed el-Halabi is Muslim or not. She supports World Vision because it has embraced causes and policies that address real world issues and injustices for the poor and vulnerable. The human suffering in the Palestinian territories is one cause she doesnt think evangelicals should ignore. For more than half a decade now, though, World Visions work in Gaza has remained suspended while the Muslim former director sits in prison and rejects plea deal after plea deal. That means that the case isnt just against a single man, said Bach. Children and families are suffering because of the loss of trust and support from World Vision in Gaza. Thats a real tragedy. Christian leader warns persecution could be far worse if Biden pulls out of Iraq Email Print Img No-img Menu Whatsapp Google Reddit Digg Stumbleupon Linkedin Comment President Joe Biden's plans to withdraw U.S. troops from Iraq by the end of the year could lead to increased persecution of Christians and other religious minorities, the president of the Congress of Christian Leaders has argued. Rev. Johnnie Moore, a former commissioner of the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom and an evangelical communications executive, recently spoke with conservative commentator Glenn Beck on his podcast and discussed the situation for Christians in the Middle East. The interview comes over a month after Biden announced that the U.S. will end its combat mission in Iraq by the end of the year but will continue to train and advise the Iraqi military. Considering all the despair surrounding the pullout of U.S. forces in Afghanistan this year and the rise of the Taliban in that country, Beck asked Moore, should we be trying to convince those people [in Iraq] ... get out right now? Im always hesitant to say Get out right now.' But these are decisions for these people to make, Moore responded. But Im telling you if I were sitting there in northern Iraq, watching the exact same people in Washington, D.C., do the exact same thing with another country ... So if Im a Christian or Yazidi or another threatened community sitting in Iraq, yeah, I would be getting out of there as quickly as I could," he continued. Moore, the author of Defying ISIS: Preserving Christianity in the Place of Its Birth and in Your Own Backyard, warned that "we could see" what took place in Afghanistan "all over again." "But once this genie is out of the bottle, you thought ISIS was bad five or six years ago, you haven't seen anything yet," he said, referencing the Islamic State terrorist group that killed and enslaved thousands after it conquered large swaths of territory in Iraq and Syria in 2014. According to estimates, there were about 1.5 million Christians in Iraq in 2003, and the number has reduced to fewer than 250,000. Even after the defeat of the Islamic State in Iraq in December 2017, many of Iraqs Christians havent found their homeland liveable. They have either not returned home or have continued to leave the country. Following the drawing down of U.S. troops in Afghanistan, the Taliban quickly seized control of much of the country, taking the capital Kabul last month and forcing the government to flee. Afghanistans newly formed interim government includes more than a dozen leaders who are designated terrorists and ex-Guantanamo detainees. The U.S.-based persecution watchdog International Christian Concern warned last week that as the Taliban is cracking down on protests and journalists, concerns are being raised among religious minorities of increased oppression and persecution because the Taliban have promised strict enforcement of Sharia law. Almost all Afghan Christians estimated to be between 8,000 and 12,000 are converts from Islam and remain largely closeted and hidden from the public eye due to severe persecution. Their status as converts makes Afghan Christians direct targets for persecution by both extremist groups and society in general, ICC reports. In Afghanistan, leaving Islam is considered extremely shameful and converts can face dire consequences if their conversion is discovered. The fears are not unfounded, given the new leadership. Prior to the Talibans takeover of the country, Afghanistan was one of the hardest places in the world to be a Christian, ICCs Regional Manager for South Asia William Stark said in a statement. With the Taliban now in complete control and likely to return the country to the oppression of the 1990s, it will be nearly impossible to be a Christian in Afghanistan. Let Us Worship draws thousands to National Mall to pray for ongoing divides: 'Total God setup' Email Print Img No-img Menu Whatsapp Google Reddit Digg Stumbleupon Linkedin Comment Drawing thousands to the National Mall in Washington, D.C. Sunday, Christian artist Sean Feucht led worship as part of his ongoing tour of American cities in a larger weekend event he called a divine setup. Coinciding with the 20th anniversary of the 9/11 terror attacks, the 38-year-old worship leader told the Christian Broadcasting Network that he hoped for a date in October. However, the National Park Service could only offer him this last weekend. "They came back to me and said, 'Actually we can't give you a date in October. The only dates we have available are September 11 and 12.' And I knew in that moment this was a total God setup," Feucht said. On Sunday, before the Let Us Worship event began at 5 p.m., Feucht and his team led prayer at the U.S. Supreme Court, the Lincoln Memorial and White House with the goal of filling the nation's capital with worship and prayer. The D.C. event kicked off 21 days of prayer for the nation. The previous night, Sept. 11, President Donald Trump addressed the crowd in an 8-minute recorded message in which he urged Americans to pray. He spoke of the 13 fallen soldiers recently killed in Afghanistan. "I just feel like we're in the middle of a leadership crisis in America. ... I think everyone would understand that. I think having the former president give an address where he calls America to pray, honor the fallen, honor the military, which I don't feel like has been done in a great way from this current administration," Feucht told CBN News. "We need somebody of that caliber, of that level to call America to pray, but also to give us some reassurance that we're not in this thing alone." In remarks to the crowd gathered on the National Mall Sunday, U.S. Senator Josh Hawley, R-Mo., described what was happening in the nations capital as the sounds of revival. Gesturing to the U.S. Capitol behind him, the senator said that though bad news sometimes comes from that place, we have the best news of all. God has dreams for America that arent fulfilled yet, he declared, adding theres more to come. The best is yet to come because we serve a King who is on the throne and His Kingdom is ever-advancing. When it comes to our country, He is just getting started, Hawley contended. The senator went on to share from the book of Judges, highlighting the story of when Gideon hid from his enemies, and the angel of the Lord showed up and called him a mighty man of valor. Relating that story to current events in the United States, Hawley continued that it may feel like the U.S. is under siege and that Christians should hide and remain quiet when the reverse is true. I think the Lord is saying to us, Rise up, mighty men and women of valor. Rise up for this time.' Rise up, the Lord is on the move! And the Lord is going to release a revival over this nation, and its going to be released through you ... when we take our stand in the strength of the Lord, he said. Pastor Jentzen Franklin, who leads the Free Chapel in Gainesville, Georgia, spoke of the dire social breakdown as a result of sin, conditions especially unignorable in several major U.S. cities. Theres only one solution to the pollution problem of drugs and alcoholism and sexual abuse and immorality, and pain and depression and suffering, and hopelessness, and fear and desperation," Franklin said. "Theres only one solution for COVID-19. After its all said and done, we need the Holy Spirits wind from elsewhere to sweep through our cities, to sweep through our homes, to sweep through and clean out the pollution of sin, the pollution of fear and worry and torment and depression and hopelessness and despair." Franklin referenced the valley of dry bones in Ezekiel 37, noting that the bones were dead, dry and divided. The condition of those bones reminded him of the current state of the Church in the United States. Were divided, were dry and were dead, he said soberly. We need a wind from elsewhere, he reiterated. As God told Ezekiel to prophesy to the wind after asking Him if the dry bones could live, so too must the Church declare for such a wind of Gods Spirit. There is coming a wind from elsewhere that restores the years that the locust and the cankerworm have taken away, he said. The Let Us Worship movement began last year amid the COVID-19 pandemic and has held public worship events in outdoor arenas in dozens of cities. Nigerian pastor macheted to death, body found by search party Email Print Img No-img Menu Whatsapp Google Reddit Digg Stumbleupon Linkedin Comment Unknown assailants in Nigerias Kaduna State macheted to death a pastor from the Evangelical Church of Winning All whose body was later found by a search party, as the troubling trend of deadly attacks on Christians carry on unabated in that country, according to a report. The slain pastor has been identified as the Rev. Silas Ali of ECWA in Kaduna States Zango Kataf Local Government Area who left his home to go to Kafanchan area on Saturday, Nigerias Punch news outlet first reported Sunday. Ali was apparently attacked around Kibori community, near Asha-Awuce area, where a search party discovered his body that was described as having been macheted to death. Kaduna States Commissioner for Internal Security and Home Affairs, Samuel Aruwan, confirmed the pastors murder, saying security agencies had started an investigation. Kaduna State Governor Nasir El-Rufai described the killing as cruel and sent his condolences to the pastors family and the ECWA Church, The Guardian Nigeria reported. While the assailants have not been identified, thousands of Christians have been killed in Nigeria Christians are killed by radicalized Fulani herders in the farming-rich Middle Belt of Nigeria and by Islamic extremists in the countrys northeast. In July, a civil society group, International Society for Civil Liberties and Rule of Law, or Intersociety, released a report estimating that at least 3,462 Christians had been killed and at least 3,000 Christians had been abducted in just 200 days. The report also estimates that no fewer than 300 churches and 10 priests had been attacked. Many have accused the Nigerian government of inadequately responding to protect its citizens. The Nigerian Government has continued to face sharp criticisms and strong accusations of culpability and complicity in the killings and supervision of same, Intersociety said in the report. The countrys security forces have so fumbled and compromised that they hardly intervene when the vulnerable Christians are in danger of threats or attacks, but only emerge after such attacks to arrest and frame up the same population threatened or attacked. Nigeria, Africas most populous country, is ranked No. 9 on Open Doors 2021 World Watch List for Christian persecution worldwide due to an extreme level of Islamic oppression. Jihadi attacks in West Africa have been on the rise since the beginning of 2021, and Nigeria is targeted more than any country in the region, the United States-based Christian persecution watchdog group International Christian Concern reports. Islamic terrorist groups have killed thousands in the region in recent years as they seek to impose a caliphate and Islamic Sharia law. Christians have been specifically targeted and disproportionately been affected by this violence. The responses by the government are clearly not enough, since perpetrators of such violence are able to continue attacking Christians, and other Nigerians, with impunity, Illia Djadi, Open Doors senior analyst on freedom of religion and belief in sub-Saharan Africa, said, according to ICC. The Global Terrorism Index ranks Nigeria as the third country most affected by terrorism in the world. It reports that from 2001 to 2019, over 22,000 were killed by acts of terror. Mark Jacob, a Nigerian barrister, and former Attorney General of Kaduna State, said last month that selected killings of Christians, particularly in the Middle Belt region of Nigeria had been going on, and he has been part of several mass burials of Christians. Email Whatsapp Menu Whatsapp Google Reddit Digg Stumbleupon Linkedin Comment I love it when unintentional truths slip out even when a politico tries to suppress it. EWTN reporter Owen Jensen asked White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki to explain a self-professing Catholic presidents devotion to abortion. Her response was so typical yet so revealing. Why does the President support abortion when his own Catholic faith teaches abortion is morally wrong? Jensen asked. As predictable as day turning into night, Psaki responded like a devout pro-abortion activist. She couldnt defend Joe Bidens extreme position and conflict with Catholicism, so she went with the dogma of the religion both she and the president adhere to fake feminism. If you break down her response, you find that she inadvertently and repeatedly affirmed what we know to be true. Women exist Well, he believes that its a womans right, its a womans body, and its her choice, Psaki began her reply. Well, thank you. Can the rest of the gender-spectrum Left get on board? Lets celebrate that shes acknowledging women, and they are definable by their biological differences their bodies. Of course, the pre-born body inside of her body is not her body, but thats too scientific for the me-first, me-only crowd. She didnt say uterus owners or birthing people, but women. You know, people who are female one of two binary biological distinctions that the American Medical Association wants to eliminate from birth certificates. Who needs to know whether youre a male or female? Medical professionals apparently dont. The CDC, more aptly called the Centers for Dialogue Control, is on the Democratic Partys erase-women bandwagon too, as the taxpayer-funded agency now refers to mothers as pregnant people. Apparently, Psaki veered off track by admitting that women exist. Abortion empowers abortionists Who, then, does he believe should look out for the unborn child? the reporter follows up. He [Biden] believes that its up to a woman to make those decisions, uhhh, with her doctor. In a day and age that pretends to promote equality, the woman possesses all the power while the abortionist possesses all the profits. The man who was 50% involved in creating the new life has no say. But the male abortionist (most abortionists are men) has all the sway. So, her answer is basically, in fake feminist phraseology: No one is looking out for the unborn child clump of cells. But they are making sure that my body, my taxes pay for those decisions. Abortion aborts equality Psaki continued her condescending response: Youve never faced those choices, nor have you ever been pregnant. Wait. Stop the presses. There are so many things wrong with this statement if you listen with wokeness. She didnt ask him which pronouns he prefers. She assumed he is a he. In all seriousness, how does she know that hes never been pregnant? Its not a trick question. Its easy if biology is your basis instead of politics being your bias. Men dont have babies. Ever. However, she highlights the huge divide that is abortion-on-demand: inequality. The pro-abortion argument is that men dont get pregnant, therefore men have no say. So, I guess slavery abolitionists like William Wilberforce had no right to fight an injustice they personally never experienced. Never mind that seven men in black robes at the U.S. Supreme Court got to have their say when they gave us the violence of Roe in the first place in 1973. Thats just acceptable patriarchy. What about the fact that the majority of legislators who pass pro-abortion bills are men? The real inequality is that a man cannot kill or hire someone to kill his child (born or unborn). Of course, any law legalizing anything like that would be reprehensible. Roe is no different. Gender supremacy reigns when it comes to abortion. A man, by law, is completely and utterly powerless to save the life he has co-created. Anyone who has ever heard a man plead to save his child (see this heartbreaking video) can never see abortion as making women and men equal. Abortion kills But for women out there who have faced those choices, this is an incredibly difficult thing, Psaki adds, revealing that choice has heavy moral weight. Why is it an incredibly difficult thing? Perhaps because abortion kills, at least, one human life (sometimes even the mother)? Perhaps because ending the life of an innocent and defenseless human being causes a moral dilemma? Perhaps because seeing ones biology as the enemy naturally causes turmoil inside? Millions of women who face an unplanned pregnancy dont choose the violence of abortion. Many have been compassionately helped by our nations 3,000+ pregnancy help centers, over 450 maternity homes and many adoption agencies that are staffed by women whove faced those same choices. These are places that help mothers make life-affirming choices for themselves and their babies. These are places that offer support during and for years after pregnancy. These are places that celebrate fatherhood and offer parenting classes and resources, because being equipped is much better than being exploited. Parenthood is full of many joys and difficulties, whether planned or unplanned. But its even more incredibly difficult for millions of women and men who look back at their irreversible decision to have their child aborted an unrepeatable life erased because they bought the lie the abortion industry and its political allies keep selling. Originally published at the Radiance Foundation. After criticism, Jesse Duplantis says ministry donated $100K in generators to Ida victims Email Print Img No-img Menu Whatsapp Google Reddit Digg Stumbleupon Linkedin Comment Louisiana televangelist Jesse Duplantis hit back at critics who charged that he and his ministry werent doing enough to help his storm-ravaged community of St. Charles Parish, where Hurricane Ida left most residents without power. Duplantis' Covenant Church is located in Destrehan, St. Charles Parish, where nearly every home and structure was touched by Idas heavy winds and rain, and officials believe power might not be restored in the area until the end of September, Fox 8 reported. We were really devastated by this storm, Parish President Matthew Jewell told the network while comparing the damage to that of Hurricane Katrina. Its going to be a long restoration process. St. Charles Parish was one of the areas hardest hit by Hurricane Ida. Duplantis, who also leads Jesse Duplantis Ministries, and his wife, Cathy, were forced to defend themselves in a video message on Facebook Tuesday, after people accused his church of doing nothing to help his community as they suffer through the aftermath of the hurricane. Were helping people literally all over everywhere, Duplantis insisted. The problem is when you come and look at our ministry you cant see any of that because we had oak trees down, breaking this and we had to get all that stuff out. Thank God for people that came and helped us do all of those things. Youre hearing all kinds of rumors that were not doing this, were not doing [that], thats all a bunch of malarkey. I could use another word, but you understand what Im talking about, he continued before revealing that his ministry had already donated some $100,000 worth of generators and he had plans to do even more. I made up my mind that were going to be a blessing and are a blessing. Weve already given away $100,000 worth of generators so God has been so good. Not trying to brag about that, he said. We want to do more, and we are going to do more. I mean, Ive never seen so many trees, Cathy. The 72-year-old televangelist explained that 160 mph gusts of wind from Hurricane Ida did some damage to the roof of his home which he is getting fixed. He also said he's been giving spiritual and physical food to the community that many of his critics have omitted to highlight. Not only have we been giving out spiritual food but weve been giving out physical food, all those kinds of things. But you know, people dont want to hear that because you gotta touch the heart of an individual, Duplantis said. He encouraged people to donate to his ministry so he could help people get into homes. He noted that during Hurricane Katrina, he was able to donate some $3 million in donations to assist people in need. Brandi Abate, who said she lives in St. Rose, not far from Duplantis' home, challenged his claims later that day in an extended post on Facebook. Jesse. I am a child of God I am also in your community. Ive passed your church and home several times and have seen absolutely no activity. No prayer services on the front lawn. No ice, water, foo, or for Heavens sake these generators you speak of. Im not condemning your words but I am questioning your actions, she said, before adding that other churches in the area with fewer resources have been busy helping their neighbors. Much smaller churches are in the trenches with us while you sit in that tax free monstrosity. Outside of your podcasts and Facebook staged videos Ive not seen nor heard from you or your church staff. Ive not been lended(sic) a hand or even consolation that things will be ok. Ya know who did? The pastor I just met at St Rose Community Church. Ya know who else did? Our Sheriffs office. Mt. Zion church. Our council people. Our parish president. Our senator!!! But you? No sir. Not a word, she continued. Louisianas death toll from Hurricane Ida rose to 26 on Wednesday, just days after the reported number of deaths was believed to be 13. According to the Louisiana Department of Health, the causes of the additional deaths was due to drowning, lack of oxygen, heat exhaustion, carbon monoxide poisoning, and other storm-related events. Controversial Episcopal bishop John Shelby Spong, who advocated for LGBT affirmation, dies at 90 Email Print Img No-img Menu Whatsapp Google Reddit Digg Stumbleupon Linkedin Comment Theologically liberal Episcopal Church Bishop John Shelby Spong, an outspoken advocate of progressive views on LGBT issues and biblical interpretation, has passed away at age 90. St. Pauls Episcopal Church of Richmond, Virginia, where Spong served as a pastor, announced that he died in his sleep on Sunday morning. It is with great sadness that we announce the death of the Rt. Rev. John Shelby Spong. He died peacefully in his sleep at his home on Sunday morning, the church stated in an email. The Westar Institute, which hosted a critical biblical scholarship gathering known as the Jesus Seminar, honored Spong, a longtime supporter of the organization. His work and witness have inspired and freed many Westar members and a generation of thoughtful people. May his memory be a blessing, tweeted the Institute. News has come to us that Westar scholar Bishop John Shelby Spong died peacefully in his sleep at his home this morning. His work and witness have inspired and freed many Westar members and a generation of thoughtful people. May his memory be a blessing.https://t.co/nMrgdGvStPpic.twitter.com/cWd9PpMIFw Westar Institute, Home of the Jesus Seminar (@WestarInstitute) September 12, 2021 According to the Westar Institute, Spong was born in 1931 and initially identified as a fundamentalist Christian while growing up in North Carolina. He later rejected such views as being detrimental to faith. He was ordained into the priesthood in 1955 and consecrated as a bishop for the Episcopal Diocese of Newark, New Jersey, in 1976. Spong held the position of bishop until 2000. Spong authored several books, including Living in Sin? A Bishop Rethinks Human Sexuality (1988), Born of a Woman: A Bishop Rethinks the Birth of Jesus (1992) and Why Christianity Must Change or Die: A Bishop Speaks to Believers in Exile (1998). As the Christian Courier's Wayne Jackson reports, Spong became known for his support of progressive sexual ethics in the 1980s. Specifically, he advocated for the Church to accept sex outside of marriage and the blessing of same-sex relationships. In 1989, Spong made headlines when he ordained an openly gay priest despite opposition from traditionalist Episcopal Church bishops. Spong also openly embraced the theory of evolution and denied many of the key teachings of the Bible, including the virgin birth and the historical existence of Judas Iscariot. [Judas] was a totally fictional character, a totally literary character created by [the] early Christian Church in the ninth decade for [the] sole purpose of shifting blame for Jesus death away from Romans who were certainly responsible for it, and placing that blame on the backs of the Jewish people, Spong reportedly claimed in a 2016 lecture. Many, including Jackson, have critiqued Spong's work over the years, arguing against the bishops claims about the Bible and morality. Though Spong claims to have studied the Bible with great intensity, his writings reveal an abysmal lack of knowledge of the sacred text. His ignorance is exceeded only by his arrogant disrespect for the time-tested volume, wrote Jackson. Not everything that parades under the name Christian is deserving of that appellation. And there is no better example of that maxim than that of John Shelby Spong, the rogue priest who has made a career of bashing the Son of God and disgracing that sacred name before an uninformed public. In recent years, the Episcopal Church has taken a progressive stance on issues of sexuality, particularly regarding LGBT issues. In 2012, the bishops of the Episcopal Church amended the definition of marriage to accommodate same-sex marriages. Six years later, the Episcopal Church began requiring all dioceses to perform same-sex marriages, even if the diocese bishop remained opposed. Bishops who have refused to allow same-sex marriages have faced disciplinary action. National Archives says harmful language' alert covers all documents, not just US Constitution Email Print Img No-img Menu Whatsapp Google Reddit Digg Stumbleupon Linkedin Comment Following criticism, the U.S. National Archives Records Association has clarified that the harmful language" alert recently introduced on its website for the U.S. Constitution is a blanket notice that also applies to pages featuring other historical documents in its database. Conservative radio host Todd Starnes stirred controversy last week when he shared a screenshot of the NARA website, revealing that the U.S. Constitution is now accompanied by a harmful language" alert. In response, the NARA received immense pushback on social media. This alert is not connected to any specific records, but appears at the top of the page while you are using the online Catalog (https://t.co/dwGmbXhjFP). To learn more about why the alert about harmful language appears in our Catalog, please go to https://t.co/E3uoAKaF5J US National Archives (@USNatArchives) September 7, 2021 The criticism prompted NARA to issue a response, asserting that This alert is not connected to any specific records, but appears at the top of the page while you are using the online Catalog. NARAs records span the history of the United States, and it is our charge to preserve and make available these historical records, the federal agency explained in a statement. As a result, some of the materials presented here may reflect outdated, biased, offensive, and possibly violent views and opinions. In addition, some of the materials may relate to violent or graphic events and are preserved for their historical significance. NARA's statement added that some items may reflect racist, sexist, ableist, misogynistic/misogynoir, and xenophobic opinions and attitudes; be discriminatory towards or exclude diverse views on sexuality, gender, religion, and more; include graphic content of historical events such as violent death, medical procedures, crime, wars/terrorist acts, natural disasters and more; [and] demonstrate bias and exclusion in institutional collecting and digitization policies. NARA was established by Congress in 1934 to preserve and protect documentation of American heritage. The agency vowed to [work] in conjunction with diverse communities, [and] seek to balance the preservation of this history with sensitivity to how these materials are presented to and perceived by users. Earlier this year, NARA released a task force report on racism. The report determined that the National Archives Rotunda in Washington, D.C., which houses the founding documents of the U.S., reflects structural racism because it lauds wealthy White men in the nations founding while marginalizing BIPOC, women, and other communities. The task force also criticized the structural nature of racism that permeates all aspects of work and workplace culture at NARA. The report cited the May 2020 death of African American George Floyd in police custody as the reason why NARA decided to discuss systems of racial inequality in our customer-facing operations and internally within our workplaces." The task force also defined reverse racism as a fallacy and impossible, as the power structure of the United States has historically benefitted white people and continues to do so today. Defining structural racism as the overarching system of racial bias across institutions and society, the report concluded that the phenomenon unequivocally impacts how NARA staff interact with records, colleagues, and customers. According to Freedom of Information Act records obtained by Fox News, approximately 800 NARA employees attended a town hall meeting of the task force on May 11. At the meeting, a presenter from a museum subgroup told a story about a black congressional staffer who objected to the charters of freedom label assigned to the historical documents. It happened during a tour of the Rotunda led by the congressional office, the presenter said. During this tour, the leader referred to the Declaration of Independence, Constitution and Bill of Rights as the charters of freedom, which many of us often do. It was at this point that one of the tour members, a black congressional staffer, turned to him and said, Those are not my charters of freedom. I tell this story because it demonstrates the importance of the work of the task force, the presenter continued. We never want our exhibits, programs or educational materials to make people feel alienated or excluded. Additionally, the subgroup recommended a reimagining of the Rotunda, alleging that it fails to tell the whole story of slavery. Pakistan: Muslim gunmen open fire on church, Christians homes Email Print Img No-img Menu Whatsapp Google Reddit Digg Stumbleupon Linkedin Comment A group of heavily armed Muslim men fired bullets indiscriminately at a church and Christians' homes, wounding at least four Christians, including a six-month pregnant woman, in Pakistans Lahore city, according to a report. The shooting took place in the Shamsabad locality of Sherakot area in Lahore city, Punjab Province on Sept. 6, Morning Star News reported. Asif Masih, one of the wounded Christian residents, was quoted as saying that he heard shouts followed by bursts of gunfire from fully automatic assault rifles after he returned home from work that afternoon. When I was telling my kids to get inside, I saw a group of heavily armed men firing indiscriminately at a church located on the street, he said. They then trained their weapons on the homes of neighboring Christians and fired volleys of bullets at them. The gunmen saw him looking and opened fire on him, wounding him in both thighs. I barely managed to drag myself into my house and locked the gate, but they did not stop firing, Masih said. I could hear them shouting that they would not spare Christians living in the area and would also burn down our church. The gunmen also wounded three women, identified as Nirma Bibi, Maria Kashif and Samina. One of the injured women is six months pregnant, Masih said. She was hit in the leg by one of the several bullets fired at their gate, but fortunately her family members were able to secure her inside. While the area residents called police at 2:30 p.m., officers didn't arrive until 8 p.m., Masih said. Our entire street has been riddled with bullets, and people have been injured, but the police have not included the sections related to terrorism in the FIR [First Information Report], he added. Moreover, I had stated in my application to the police that the accused had continuously threatened to burn the church and harm us, but even these facts were missing in the formal FIR. According to Morning Star News, two of the gunmen were identified as Dilshad Dogar and Chand Khencha, who fired hundreds of bullets from Kalashnikov (AK-47) rifles and other weapons. The police complaint claims that the firing arose out of a dispute between a Christian, Asghar Masih and Dogar. Ask them why Dogar and his accomplices opened fire on the homes of Christians and injured innocent people like us if they had just a personal dispute with an individual? Dogar was quoted as saying. The police have been protecting the accused since day one because they are Muslims, and we are poor Christians. Attorney Javed Gill, a senior leader of the Christian Lawyers Association of Pakistan, said there were conflicting reports about the motive for the firing. Several residents have claimed that the accused were opposed to the presence of a church in the locality and had been pressuring them to stop worship there, while some are saying that the incident was an outcome of a dispute over a girl, Gill was quoted as saying. Nonetheless, even if it was a dispute between two people, how can anyone justify the targeting of the entire Christian neighborhood with automatic weapons? Muhammad Azeem, the in-charge of the Sherakot Police Station, was quoted as saying that three men had been arrested and raids were being conducted to arrest the other accused, but he refused to answer questions about the delay. An estimated 1.6% of Pakistans 17 million people are Christian, both Catholic and Protestant. Around 97% of the Pakistanis are Muslim, predominantly Sunni. International persecution watchdog group Open Doors USA ranks Pakistan at 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. Talibans attacks on religious freedom could threaten American liberties Email Print Img No-img Menu Whatsapp Google Reddit Digg Stumbleupon Linkedin Comment Throughout the past several weeks, weve all witnessed the horrific scenes in Afghanistan. Weve seen heartbreaking images of Afghan citizens clinging desperately to U.S. military aircraft as they fear being left behind to face the stunning Taliban takeover, followed by the humanitarian disaster of thousands of Americans trapped behind enemy lines. The tragedy unfolding in Afghanistan raises some serious questions: Whats the state of Americas military leadership? What does it say about our national security? What will Americas role as a world leader look like in the future? These are all pressing issues that must be addressed. But theres another equally critical question our foreign policy experts should consider: What does the Afghanistan crisis say about the state of religious freedom abroad, as well as here at home in the U.S.? The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) documented for years the precarious condition of religious freedom in Afghanistan. But after the Talibans takeover, any small hope for religious liberty in the country disappeared almost overnight. Reports from the international human rights community quickly surfaced, noting a renewed persecution of Christians, subjugation of women and oppression of any religious minority who defies the Talibans rule. As millions of Afghans lose their rights and any hope of lasting freedom to the Talibans tyranny, all Americans especially our nations leaders must recognize that a foreign policy that doesnt put religious freedom at the center is one thats ultimately doomed to fail. Below, well explore why making religious freedom a foreign policy priority is essential not just to Americas strength abroad, but also critical in protecting this First Freedom on our shores. Why foreign policy should include religious freedom as a priority Assessing the state of religious liberty in Afghanistan, the United Nations has already warned that ethnic and religious minorities are also at risk of violence and repression, given previous patterns of serious violations under Taliban rule and reports of killings and targeted attacks in recent months. For Americans, this is a sobering reminder that religious liberty is something special, unique and worth defending. Lets not forget: Living out ones faith peaceably and without the fear of government repression is something that we consider a right. But for hundreds of millions of people across the globe, its a privilege to profess or act according to their faith to the point that they risk losing their lives for doing so. Thats why advancing religious freedom should be a core part of our foreign policy. Failing to incorporate this First Freedom in our international affairs and strategy would be to deny one of the central values and principles that America represents. Millions of people worldwide look to the U.S. as a safe haven, especially those who face persecution due to their religious beliefs. More than two centuries after our nations founding, we endure as one of the worlds leading protectors of the unalienable right of all to live out their faith. But Americas longstanding reputation as a beacon of freedom isnt merely based on being a refuge or a sanctuary where people can flee to find shelter from oppression. A big part of what makes America exceptional on the global stage is our commitment to making religious liberty one of our nations greatest exports. Indeed, maintaining our stature as a world leader demands that we not selfishly reserve for ourselves these fundamental liberties. Being a force of freedom around the world requires military might, diplomatic savvy, strong presidential leadership and many other factors. But alongside these, Americas foreign policy leaders and ambassadors must ensure that other nations also respect religious freedom as a God-given, unalienable human right a prerequisite necessary for any country to be truly free. A wave of hate and hostility on its way to America? While the Talibans takeover is expected to lead to heinous restrictions and crackdowns on Afghan citizens, the reality is that religious oppression isnt limited only to Afghanistan. Religious liberty and people of faith are under heavy attack at a global scale. In 2020, the Pew Research Center reported government restrictions on religion reached the highest point in over a decade. From 2007 to 2017, the data showed a 30% spike in countries worldwide with severe religious restrictions. Just last year, former U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo highlighted that over two-thirds of people around the world live in places that are extremely challenged with the absence of religious freedom. And its undeniable theres been a rippling effect in even the freest of nations. America itself is feeling the aftershocks of a worldwide rise in religious hostility. Pew reports that governmental restrictions on religious activity in the U.S. have more than doubled from 2007 to 2017. With attacks on religious freedom at an all-time high, its of critical importance for the U.S. to take proactive leadership to safeguard religious freedom worldwide. Because by doing so, were simultaneously ensuring that we are protecting the First Freedom of all Americans right here at home. Originally published at First Liberty. DOJ files lawsuit against Texas abortion law; pro-life groups say Biden admin. lacks jurisdiction Email Print Img No-img Menu Whatsapp Google Reddit Digg Stumbleupon Linkedin Comment As the Biden administration files a lawsuit against Texas over its law banning abortions after six weeks gestation, pro-life groups are slamming the president for acting as a puppet of the radical abortion agenda. On Thursday, the U.S. Department of Justice filed a lawsuit against the state of Texas in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas, Austin Division. Accusing the state of acting in defiance of the Constitution, the lawsuit claims, It is settled constitutional law that a State may not prohibit any woman from making the ultimate decision to terminate her pregnancy before viability. Yet Texas has done just that, it continued. The United States therefore seeks a declaratory judgment that S.B. 8 is invalid under the Supremacy Clause and the Fourteenth Amendment, is preempted by federal law, and violates the doctrine of intergovernmental immunity. The Wall Street Journal first reported Wednesday that the Biden administration is preparing to sue Texas over its new law banning most abortions. Texas SB 8, also known as the Texas Heartbeat Act, became law on Sept. 1 after several courts, including the U.S. Supreme Court, declined to block the measure from going into effect. The law bans abortions after a baby's heartbeat can be detected, usually around six weeks gestation. Additionally, it allows private citizens to sue doctors who perform illegal abortions and individuals who help women obtain illegal abortions. Pro-life groups reacted unfavorably to the news that the Biden administration was planning to take legal action against Texas over SB 8. In a statement, Texas Right to Life Vice President Elizabeth Graham predicted that any lawsuit filed by the Biden administration would fail. Joe Biden has a long record of failures with protecting the unborn and pregnant women, she asserted. He is a puppet of the radical abortion agenda, and his DOJ will quickly find that they do not have jurisdiction to stop the Texas Heartbeat Act. Earlier this week, Attorney General Merrick Garland indicated that the U.S. Department of Justice was exploring all options to challenge the law, vowing to continue to protect those seeking to obtain or provide reproductive health services pursuant to our criminal and civil enforcement of the FACE Act. Garland added, The FACE Act prohibits the use or threat of force and physical obstruction that injures, intimidates, or interferes with a person seeking to obtain or provide reproductive health services. Chelsey Youman, state director of Human Coalition Action Texas, agreed with Graham that the Biden administration did not have a strong legal case against SB 8. In a statement shared with The Christian Post, Youman said, If violating the FACE Act is all the DOJ has to come up with to block the Texas Heartbeat Act, thats good news! SB 8 is a peaceful and constitutional law that uses civil lawsuits to protect innocent children from death by abortion. The FACE Act, which prohibits physical force or threats to keep women from entering abortion clinics, does not apply in this context. While Texas SB 8 has received strong condemnation from Democrats and pro-abortion activists, the American public is divided on the law. A poll released by Rasmussen Reports earlier this week found that a plurality of Americans (46%) support the measure while 43% oppose it. At the same time, 46% of Americans expressed support for President Joe Bidens push to launch a whole-of-government effort to ensure that women in Texas have access to safe and legal abortions. The Susan B. Anthony List cited the public opinion poll in a statement condemning the Biden administrations court challenge against the pro-life law. Biden Democrats anti-life, anti-democracy attack on Texas and other pro-life states proves how out of touch they are with the American people, said SBA List President Marjorie Dannenfelser. The Texas Heartbeat Act is a response to 50 years of Supreme Court interference in states legitimate interest in protecting life and their right to debate and pass laws reflecting their peoples values, she added. Biden, [House Speaker Nancy] Pelosi and their radical allies want to permanently stifle that debate and impose abortion on demand up until the moment of birth, paid for by taxpayers. As the executive branch takes legal action against Texas, top congressional Democrats have signaled an intent to codify Roe v. Wade, the 1973 Supreme Court decision that legalized abortion nationwide, into federal law. Pelosi announced last week that upon returning from recess, the House will bring up Congresswoman Judy Chus Womens Health Protection Act to enshrine into law reproductive health care for all women across America. The legal battle over Texas SB 8 comes as the Supreme Court is slated to rule on the constitutionality of Mississippis 15-week abortion ban. A decision in favor of the state of Mississippi, which is asking the justices to reverse a lower court ruling striking down the law, would significantly weaken the precedent set by Roe v. Wade. The lawsuit filed against Texas Thursday repeatedly cites the precedents set by Roe v. Wade and the subsequent court decision Planned Parenthood v. Casey as reasons why the Texas law is unconstitutional. The Supreme Court is scheduled to hear oral arguments in the case of Dobbs v. Jackson Womens Health Organization in its upcoming October term. In a previous interview with CP, Diane Ferraro of the pro-life organization Save the Storks suggested that the courts decision to hear the case involving the Mississippi pro-life law will help open the door for them to hear other cases. Larry Elder responds to media ignoring racial attack Email Print Img No-img Menu Whatsapp Google Reddit Digg Stumbleupon Linkedin Comment African American California gubernatorial candidate Larry Elder has responded to the corporate medias lack of interest in reporting that a white woman in a gorilla mask pelted an egg at him, raising allegations of a double standard. Elder, a Republican, is one of several candidates seeking to unseat California Gov. Gavin Newsom, a Democrat, in a recall election taking place next week. Elder had an egg thrown at him by a white woman wearing a gorilla mask as he made a campaign stop in the Venice neighborhood of Los Angeles Wednesday. The attack was captured on video. While the egg did not hit Elder, the attack sparked a confrontation between the woman and his security team. White liberal in gorilla mask throws an egg at Larry Elder as he campaigns for the California recall. pic.twitter.com/XvEuqRV7hD The First (@TheFirstonTV) September 8, 2021 The candidate reacted to the incident in an appearance on Fox News Tucker Carlson Tonight on Thursday. I was at a homeless encampment in Venice, he recalled. It was a very ugly, angry scene. In the interview Elder asserted that the media has a double standard when it comes to attacks on black politicians: If I were a Democrat, obviously, this would be called systemic racism, theyd be calling it a hate crime. I dont like to play that game. Los Angeles County Sheriff Alex Villanueva suggested that a double standard exists when it comes to attacks on racial minorities, asking on Twitter Thursday, How is this not a hate crime? He answered his own question by declaring that woke privilege means a white woman can wear a gorilla mask and attack a black man without fear of being called racist. QUESTION: How is this not a hate crime? ANSWER: Because woke privilege means a white woman can wear a gorilla mask and attack a black man without fear of being called a racist. Where is the outrage from our politicians?#Hypocrisy#WokePrivilege@LarryElder@GavinNewsompic.twitter.com/h6vnXQ2Uzd Alex Villanueva (@LACoSheriff) September 9, 2021 According to NewsBusters, a conservative media watchdog, the flagship morning television programs on the three broadcast news networks expressed little interest in reporting on the assault. It received scant coverage on ABC and CBS while NBC did not mention it at all. A report on ABCs Good Morning America mentioned that during his tour of the homeless encampment, several homeless people [chased] him away and someone [threw] an egg in his direction. A report on CBS This Morning noted that Elder was heckled by homeless advocates, one of whom threw an egg at the candidate during an L.A. campaign stop. Neither network pointed out that the woman who threw the egg had a gorilla mask on. In the past, comparisons of African Americans to primates have been considered racist. A Fox News analysis of media coverage following the egg attack revealed that ABCs World News Tonight, NBC Nightly News, and CBS Evening News didnt find time for the story on Wednesday and The Washington Post appeared to skip the attack on Elder too. The Fox News piece highlighted a similar lack of interest in the story from left-leaning cable news networks: MSNBC didnt mention the egg incident through 8 a.m. ET Thursday morning, but found time to claim Elder pushes white supremacy. The attack on elder received brief mentions on CNN, but largely ignored the network through Thursday morning. Elder also drew attention to the medias lack of coverage of the historic nature of his candidacy. If elected, Elder would become the first African American governor in the history of California. He noted that a negative New York Times article about his candidacy never once mentioned that Im black, never once mentioned that I would be the first black governor of California. Ive never made a big deal about that. I dont want people to vote for me or against me because Im black. But on the very same page of The New York Times, there was a big article about the first female governor of New York, he added. Elder concluded that they cared about the first when it was a female Democrat but couldnt give a rip about the first when it was a black Republican. The RealClear Politics average of polls taken in the past three weeks shows that Californians favor keeping Newsom in office by a double-digit margin of 15.7%. The polling data reflects the fact that despite the bipartisan unhappiness with Newsoms performance in office that led to the recall election in the first place, California remains an overwhelmingly Democratic state. Newsom was elected by 24% in 2018 and President Joe Biden won the state by 29% in the 2020 presidential election. In the recall election, voters will answer two questions: whether they want to remove Newsom from office and which of the declared candidates they want to replace him. If a majority of Californians vote to remove Newsom from office, the replacement candidate with the most votes will become governor and remain in office at least until Newsoms term expires in 2023. If the recall effort succeeds, Newsom will become the second California governor in the past two decades to be ousted from office in a recall. In 2003, Democratic Gov. Gray Davis was removed from office and replaced with actor Arnold Schwarzenegger, who ran as a Republican and remained in office until 2011. Christian college continues fight to keep single-sex dorms, showers protected from Biden's LGBT policy Email Print Img No-img Menu Whatsapp Google Reddit Digg Stumbleupon Linkedin Comment The College of the Ozarks, a private Christian college in Point Lookout, Missouri, is continuing to fight a government policy prohibiting discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity after a judge dismissed its lawsuit. The United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit has agreed to expedite arguments in the case and schedule a hearing date in November. The college says the government policy is a violation of their First Amendment rights. In their complaint filed in April, officials at College of the Ozarks asked a judge to set aside a Feb. 11 memorandum from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development that administers and enforces the Fair Housing Act to prohibit discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity. The college argued that it was issued without observance of procedure required by law, and is contrary to law, arbitrary, capricious, in excess of statutory jurisdiction, and contrary to constitutional rights. The directive, argues the college, requires private religious colleges to place biological males into female dormitories and to assign them as females roommates. It imposes an immediate and binding legislative rule under the Fair Housing Act, prohibiting all regulated entities, including the College, from discriminating on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity both in occupancy of their dwellings and in policies governing those dwellings, the college explains. Additionally, the rule further prevents them from telling students that they can only be placed in dorms based on their biological sex. For decades, the College has prohibited male students from living in female dormitories, and vice versa, regardless of whether those students identify with their biological sex. The College likewise separates intimate spaces such as showers and bathrooms in its dormitories, college officials said. The College regularly makes statements communicating these same policies, including this month as it arranges student housing for the fall. But Defendants failed to take into consideration the College or other entities with similar student housing policies in promulgating the Directive. U.S. District Judge Roseann A. Ketchmark, appointed to the bench by former President Barack Obama, dismissed the case in June, arguing that College of the Ozarks failed to show an actual or imminent harm that would give it standing to sue. Plaintiff has not shown in its verified complaint that it has sustained, or is in immediate danger of sustaining, a concrete and particularized harm that is actual or imminent, not conjectural or hypothetical, Ketchmark wrote. Plaintiff has not alleged it is being investigated, charged, or otherwise subjected to any enforcement action pursuant to the Memorandum; any application or enforcement of the FHA, HUD regulations, or the Memorandum to discrimination because of sexual orientation or gender identity; or the FHA, and HUDs implementing regulations. Plaintiff has not plausibly alleged any indication that such potential situation is imminent, she added. The Religious Accountability Project, an activist organization that empowers queer, trans and nonbinary students at more than 200 taxpayer-funded religious colleges and universities that actively discriminate on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity/expression, has filed a separate lawsuit against the Department of Education challenging the Title IX exemption for religious colleges. While Title IX prohibits discrimination on the basis of sex in education, the Biden administration has interpreted the statute to include discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity as a form of sex discrimination. According to Inside Higher Ed, one of the plaintiffs in that lawsuit is a former student at College of the Ozarks. The student filed a Title IX complaint with the Department of Education alleging that the colleges policies and practices, including its housing policies, discriminated against LGBT students. Paul Southwick, a lawyer with the Religious Accountability Project, is calling for his case to be adjudicated. We know there are transgender students right now who need the housing protection that the government has promised to provide through the Fair Housing Act, Southwick said. So it is ripe, and it is timely. Methodist Health System grants COVID-19 vaccine exemption to employees after legal pressure Email Print Img No-img Menu Whatsapp Google Reddit Digg Stumbleupon Linkedin Comment A network of medical centers in North Texas has agreed to grant four employees an exemption to its mandate that all employees receive the COVID-19 vaccine for religious reasons after receiving a demand letter from a conservative legal group. The Liberty Counsel sent a letter to Methodist Health System on Tuesday on behalf of healthcare workers who are opposed to getting vaccinated against COVID-19 due to the development of the vaccine being associated with aborted fetal cell research. On Wednesday, Liberty Counsel announced that MHS had given three of the employees immediate exemptions and that a fourth employee was expecting to receive an exemption soon. The nonprofit urged other employees to step forward to request a similar exemption. In a statement, the counsel quoted from a message by MHS given to three employees, explaining that the initial denial of an exemption had been reversed. The Exemption Committee re-analyzed some of the exemption requests that were submitted and had been initially denied ... and has reversed its initial decision and has now approved your exemption, stated MHS, as quoted in the statement. Liberty Counsel Founder and Chairman Mat Staver said he was happy for these health care workers who received religious accommodations. However, many more have been denied by the sham committee designed to force employees to take these shots. What kind of an employer acts this way toward these health care heroes? Staver asked. On July 29, the Dallas, Texas-based MHS announced that its approximately 10,000 employees would be required to be vaccinated against COVID-19 by Oct. 1. The highly contagious Delta variant is causing another spike in the number of COVID-19 infections in North Texas," MHS leadership stated in the announcement. "We believe the best way to keep our hospitals and communities safe is to achieve a fully vaccinated workforce." MHS encouraged employees who may have objections on medical or religious grounds to apply for an exemption by Sept. 10, so it could be reviewed by the deadline. On Sept. 7, the Liberty Counsel sent a complaint letter to MHS leadership on behalf of four employees who claimed that they were unlawfully denied an exemption. MHS cannot compel any employees compliance with MHSs mandatory COVID-19 vaccination policy against the employees sincerely held religious beliefs, read the letter, in part. Moreover, it is unlawful for MHS to deny any employees request for religious accommodation either because other religious adherents have beliefs different from the employees or because of the employees past personal health decisions, whatever the employees theological reasons for those decisions. COVID-19 vaccine mandates have been a source of controversy for healthcare workers in Texas. Over 150 nurses and staff at the Houston Methodist Hospital's health system, which consists of seven hospitals and more than 26,000 workers, lost their jobs for refusing to abide by the hospital system's demand they get vaccinated or receive a medical or religious exemption by a June deadline. Last month, a lawsuit was filed on behalf of 62 former employees of the Houston Methodist medical system, alleging they were wrongfully dismissed because they did not receive the COVID-19 vaccine. The lawsuit was filed about two months after another lawsuit challenging Houston Methodist Hospital's vaccine mandate was dismissed. Email Whatsapp Menu Whatsapp Google Reddit Digg Stumbleupon Linkedin Comment Of all tyrannies, a tyranny sincerely exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive. C.S. Lewis Last week, President Biden, the leader of the free world, stepped up to the White House podium and announced a series of unilateral, federal actions to compel more Americans to get a COVID vaccine. It was a historic speech for a variety of reasons and none of them good. At the heart of the forthcoming mandate is the requirement for all private (note: private) businesses with over 100 employees to require workers to either be vaccinated or undergo COVID tests at least weekly. This mandate, which will be issued and enforced by the Department of Labor, comes with an aggressive enforcement mechanism: up to $14,000 in fines per violation. One expert in vaccine law called the plan the most substantial federal vaccine mandate in the countrys history. The forthcoming order will no doubt face serious legal challenges in court and rightly so. Now, its entirely reasonable for Americans to hold a variety of different views on the COVID vaccines. But, regardless of your personal view on the importance of being vaccinated, all Americans should oppose this tyrannical, morally-fraught, and misguided overreach by the Biden administration. Here are four reasons why this announcement is deeply concerning and two ways Americans can respond. Concern #1: Bidens remarks were divisive Within minutes of coming to the podium, President Biden began using the worlds most significant bully-pulpit to, well, bully millions of Americans (full speech transcript here). He complained that Many of us are frustrated with the nearly 80 million Americans who are still not vaccinated, even though the vaccine is safe, effective, and free. Once this rhetoric began, it didnt abate. In fact, throughout the speech Biden repeatedly scolded the 80 million unvaccinated Americans, painting them in dark and divisive tones. He claimed this is a pandemic of the unvaccinated, casting himself and his mandates as a type of white knight, swooping in to defend the pure, vaccinated members of our nation from the filthy, unvaccinated hordes. Portraying the unvaccinated as some sort of villain, he promised: Were going to protect vaccinated workers from unvaccinated co-workers. Protect the vaccinated? Really? One cant help but note a serious, logical question: If the vaccines are effective, how are the unvaccinated putting the vaccinated at risk? Continuing to vent his frustration and attack millions of well-meaning Americans who have made a choice that a COVID vaccine is not the right course of action for them at this time, Biden placed the entirety of the blame for the continuing nature of the pandemic on the unvaccinated. He said, A distinct minority of Americans supported by a distinct minority of elected officials are keeping us from turning the corner. This is dark, dangerous, and divisive language. He is making an us vs. them distinction, with the them the unvaccinated somehow morally responsible and personally at fault for the fact that we arent at COVID-zero (an unattainable goal regardless). In a threatening, ominous fashion Biden warned, Weve been patient, but our patience is wearing thin. And your refusal has cost all of us. Make no mistake, there is a deeply lamentable yet growing class divide between the vaccinated and the unvaccinated in our nation. The unvaccinated are increasingly being viewed as backwards troglodytes, or second-class citizens, unworthy of free and fulsome participation in our countrys civic life. Just look at New York Citys vaccine passport. This rhetoric from our Commander-in-Chief yesterday is like pouring an accelerant on the fire of division already burning across our nation. No good can come of it. Concern #2: Bidens threats were despotic Not only was his rhetoric divisive, but his political threats were despotic. Biden made it clear that he intends to trample over the minority of Americans who have chosen not to be vaccinated, saying, We cannot allow these actions to stand in the way of protecting the large majority of Americans who have done their part and want to get back to life as normal. That is a chilling statement. We cannot allow these actions. What are these actions? Again, its nothing more than the free choice of millions of Americans, either informed by their faith, or by their conscience, or by their natural immunity from already having COVID, etc., to not get vaccinated. To claim that we cannot allow Americans to freely make their own healthcare choices in light of such a complicated dialogue about COVID and the vaccine is tyrannical. But to make matters worse, he then went after the duly-elected governors in states that have taken a more hands-off approach, like Gov. Ron DeSantis in Florida. In what was perhaps the most despotic, dictatorial, and troubling statement of the speech, President Biden said: My plan also takes on elected officials and states that are undermining you and these lifesaving actions. Right now, local school officials are trying to keep children safe in a pandemic while their governor picks a fight with them and even threatens their salaries or their jobs. Talk about bullying in schools. If theyll not help if these governors wont help us beat the pandemic, Ill use my power as President to get them out of the way. Let that sink in. Biden is threatening to use his power to get governors who disagree with his approach out of the way. Those are the words of a dictator, a despot, a tyrant not the words of the leader of the free world. Concern #3: The mandate is unethical While his rhetoric was divisive, and the threats against his political opponents despotic, the substance of the speech is even more concerning. The core of this mandate, the forthcoming emergency rule from the Department of Labor to force private businesses with more than 100 employees to require a vaccination or weekly negative tests, is unethical. It goes against a rightly-ordered moral understanding of human rights and individual agency. This mandate is unethical for a variety of reasons, but primarily because it tramples over the fundamental principle of bodily autonomy and individual agency when it comes to personal health care choices. Yes, the vaccine by and large seems safe and one can make a reasonable case that getting vaccinated is an arguably good choice. But it should be just that: a personal choice. And while this mandate doesnt absolutely require individuals to get vaccinated to continue working to provide for their family, it coerces them under the threat of missing work, or even losing their jobs, in the event that they do test positive for COVID. Furthermore, this mandate ignores the importance of conscience rights, faith-based objections, and our civil liberties. Concern #4: The mandate is unconstitutional Finally, the mandate is unconstitutional because there is no basis in Article II of the Constitution, which creates the Executive Branch and delineates its power and authority, to compel private businesses to take these actions. The President, and by extension, the Executive Branch agencies, like the Department of Labor, are not legislative bodies. They have no power let me repeat, no power to make laws. Their job is to faithfully execute the laws duly enacted by our legislative body: Congress. Thus, like the CDCs attempted unconstitutional eviction moratorium, which the Supreme Court blocked, claiming that it strains credulity to believe that this statute grants the CDC the sweeping authority that it asserts, it more than strains credulity to think Biden has the constitutional authority to coerce private businesses, at the threat of hefty fines, to force their employees to get a COVID vaccine. So, how should American citizens respond? Americans should immediately resist Private business owners should refuse to enforce this mandate and dare the federal government to take them to court over it. Employees everywhere should immediately reach out to their employers and encourage them to take this stand. Consumers should support the companies that refuse to comply, and vote with their wallet against those who do, taking their business elsewhere. John Wesley Reid, editor-in-chief for the Standing for Freedom Center, said: Private-sector employers, President Biden has just given you a golden opportunity to prove your leadership. If your employees want to get vaccinated, support their choice. If your employees dont want to get vaccinated, support their choice. If the Federal government says they have no choice, remind the government that your employees dont work for them. Stand up, show ownership, be a protector, be a leader, and remember that this great country was literally founded on telling the government NO! Second, Americans should remember their unalienable rights As indelibly enumerated by that famous line from the Declaration of Independence: We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. This mandate is a violation of all three of these unalienable rights. It threatens your life, by compelling you against your will to receive a medical procedure, an injection of chemicals, into your body that may not be the best choice for your health. It threatens liberty, by extending the reach of the Leviathan of government into the private business practice, coercing compliance at the threat of a massive fine. Finally, it threatens the pursuit of happiness. Remember, within the pursuit of happiness is the understanding that it includes the right to labor and the fruits of your labor as a free American. This order threatens that right the right of all free men and women to work and provide for themselves and their families. One cant help but notice how fast it went from 15 days to flatten the curve to three jabs to feed your family So, lets remember that our unalienable rights come from God, not the government. And when they are threatened, we dont give in or give up without a fight. Rather, like our Founding Fathers of old, we say: Come and take them. A closing quote from C.S. Lewis Its amazing how much C.S. Lewis is truly a man out of time. By that, we mean that Lewis understood the reality of our fixed, fallen human nature so well that he reads not just as a critic of his time but like a prophet for time immemorial. He was particularly gifted when it came to putting his finger on mankinds almost limitless ability for self-justification, even of the most oppressive actions. Here he is, with a quote from decades ago (found in God in the Dock) that might as well have been penned in response to yesterdays announcement: Of all tyrannies, a tyranny sincerely exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive. It would be better to live under robber barons than under omnipotent moral busybodies. The robber barons cruelty may sometimes sleep, his cupidity may at some point be satiated; but those who torment us for our own good will torment us without end for they do so with the approval of their own conscience. They may be more likely to go to Heaven yet at the same time likelier to make a Hell of earth. This very kindness stings with intolerable insult. To be cured against ones will and cured of states which we may not regard as disease is to be put on a level of those who have not yet reached the age of reason or those who never will; to be classed with infants, imbeciles, and domestic animals. Originally published at the Standing for Freedom Center. Evangelical families in Mexico lose access to water, services for refusing to deny their faith Email Print Img No-img Menu Whatsapp Google Reddit Digg Stumbleupon Linkedin Comment Two evangelical families in central Mexico have been threatened with being cut off from essential services or expelled from the community if they continue to refuse to deny their faith and pay a fine illegally levied against them, according to a report. The families of Nemesio Cruz Hernandez and Eligio Santiago Hernandez, who are from the First Baptist Church in the La Mesa Limantitla area in Hidalgo states Huejutla de los Reyes Municipality, were threatened during a community meeting on Monday, the U.K.-based group Christian Solidarity Worldwide reported. At the meeting, the evangelical families were forbidden to even speak as they were threatened. On Aug. 3, community leaders, identified as Jose Marcos Martinez and Julio Alvarado Hernandez, had made similar threats and instructed them to stop holding worship services in the home of Bartolo Martinez Hernandez, who was also fined for allowing services in his house. In January 2019, many evangelical families were forced to sign an agreement renouncing their faith. While eight families signed it, the families of Cruz Hernandez and Santiago Hernandez refused to do so. The community leaders then blocked the two families access to water, sewer services, government benefit programs and the community mill for over a year until they were forced to sign an extra-legal agreement on Jan. 15, 2020, in which they renounced their right to hold religious services. The agreement said each family would be ordered to pay an illegal fine of $3,000 ($57,700 Mexican pesos). State authorities paid part of the fine, but the families have continued to be threatened with forced displacement in several follow-up meetings throughout 2020 and this year, CSW said, adding that the amount of the fine is based on the costs incurred by community leaders in their efforts to halt any investigation into crimes or human rights violations associated with the case. In Mexico, such extra-legal agreements are often used in lieu of appropriate justice mechanisms when the rights of religious minorities are violated. The states officials must intervene as a matter of urgency, CSWs Head of Advocacy, Anna-Lee Stangl, said. If the state government refuses to protect the rights of religious minorities, the federal government must intervene. Stangl added: The government, at both state and federal levels, must address the culture of impunity which has allowed violations like these to go unchecked for far too long, ensuring that families like those of Mr. Cruz Hernandez and Mr. Santiago Hernandez are free to practice any religion or belief of their choosing without being forced to pay illegal fines or facing pressure to renounce their beliefs under threat of criminal actions including the cutting of basic services and forced displacement. This is not a one-off incident of Christian persecution in Mexico, which has risen due to drug cartel violence, persecution by traditionalist Catholics and violent discrimination by anti-Christian left-wing groups, Open Doors USA previously reported. Last year, Mexico was [No. 52 on Open Doors USA's World Watch List]. Its jumped up a bunch, Open Doors USA President and CEO David Curry told The Christian Post in an earlier interview. That would most certainly be around the issues of violence and drug cartels. Traditionalist Catholics often persecute Mexican Christians, too, he said. In this way, they resemble many small, rural groups of people practicing ancient folk religions around the world. Open Doors calls this kind of persecution clan violence. These rural indigenous groups see Christian churches as an outside force. They can harass and bother churches and believers who might be in the community, Curry said. Its within these four states in Mexico: Chiapas, Hidalgo, Guerero, Oaxaca. Its very localized. CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) For the first time in 60 years of human spaceflight, a rocket is poised to blast into orbit with no professional astronauts on board, only four tourists. SpaceXs first private flight will be led by a 38-year-old entrepreneur whos bankrolling the entire trip. Hes taking two sweepstakes winners with him on the three-day, round-the-world trip, along with a health care worker who survived childhood cancer. Theyll ride alone in a fully automated Dragon capsule, the same kind that SpaceX uses to send astronauts to and from the International Space Station for NASA. But the chartered flight won't be going there. Set to launch Wednesday night from Kennedy Space Center, the two men and two women will soar 100 miles (160 kilometers) higher than the space station, aiming for an altitude of 357 miles (575 kilometers), just above the current position of the Hubble Space Telescope. By contrast, Virgin Galactics Richard Branson and Blue Origins Jeff Bezos briefly skimmed space during their short rides in July Branson reached 53 miles (86 kilometers) while Bezos hit 66 miles up (106 kilometers). As the private flight's benefactor, Jared Isaacman, sees it: This is the first step toward a world where everyday people can go and venture among the stars." A look at the spaceflight, dubbed Inspiration4: BILLIONAIRES QUEST Isaacmans idea of fun is flying fighter jets and keeping up with the Air Force Thunderbirds. He quit high school and started his own payment-processing company, Shift4 Payments in Allentown, Pennsylvania. He segued into aviation, founding Draken International for tactical aircraft training. While he wont divulge what hes paying for the flight, Isaacman acknowledges the worthwhile debates over whether the wealthy should spend their fortunes fixing problems on Earth, versus sightseeing in space. But he contends investing in space now will lower costs in the future. Because its so expensive, space has been the exclusive domain of world superpowers and the elite that they select, he told The Associated Press last week. It just shouldnt stay that way. When he announced the flight in February, he pledged $100 million to St. Jude Childrens Research Hospital and aims to raise another $100 million in donations. LUCK OF THE DRAW Isaacman offered one of the four capsule seats to St. Jude, which offered it to physician assistant Hayley Arceneaux, a former patient who now works at the Memphis, Tennessee, hospital. Now 29, Arceneaux was 10 when diagnosed with bone cancer, and had much of her left thigh bone replaced with a titanium rod. Shell be the first person in space with a prosthesis, proud to pave the way for those who arent physically perfect. Shell also be the youngest American in space, beating the late Sally Ride, who became the first American woman in space in 1983 at age 32. Contest winners claimed the final two seats. Sian Proctor, 51, a community college educator in Tempe, Arizona, and former geology instructor, beat out 200 other Shift4 Payments clients with her space-themed artwork business. Also a pilot, she was a NASA astronaut finalist more than a decade ago. Chris Sembroski, 42, a data engineer and former Air Force missileman from Everett, Washington, entered an open lottery by donating to St. Jude. He didnt win, but a friend from his college days did and gave him the slot. TRAINING LIKE ASTRONAUTS Its been a whirlwind since all four came together in March. They hiked up Washingtons Mount Rainier in the snow, sampled brief bursts of weightlessness aboard modified aircraft and took intense, rapid spins in fighter jets and centrifuges. I know that my prosthesis can now handle 8 Gs of force, Arceneaux told the AP. Her only compromise: SpaceX had to adjust her capsule seat to relieve pain in that knee. Although the capsule is fully automated, the four spent time in the SpaceX capsule simulator rehearsing launch, reentry and other critical operations. We definitely had some Apollo 13-like simulation rides home where virtually everything was broken, and everybody made it back. So I think we passed all the tests, Isaacson said. While acknowledging the risks, the four are impressed with SpaceX's focus on safety and reusability. But Sembroski said his wife, a schoolteacher, will hold off celebrating until splashdown. PRIVATE VS NASA MISSION This is SpaceXs first private flight and the company is running the show -- NASA isn't involved. So SpaceX is providing its own facilities for private passengers to sleep, eat and hang out before launch, and to get into their white-with-black-trim flight suits. The leased launch pad used by SpaceX is the same one used by Apollo moonwalkers, shuttle astronauts and all three previous NASA crews. And at missions end, theyll splash down off the Florida coast just like their predecessors. The pandemic is again limiting spectators: St. Jude is scaling back its launch delegation, with actor Marlo Thomas, whose father Danny Thomas, founded St. Jude, canceling her trip to Florida with husband, talk show host Phil Donahue. THREE DAYS ALOFT Isaacman and SpaceX settled on three days as the sweet spot for orbiting the Earth. It gives him and his fellow passengers plenty of time to take in the views through a custom bubble-shaped window, take blood samples and conduct other medical research, and drum up interest for auction items to benefit the hospital. While roomy for a capsule, the Dragon offers virtually no privacy; only a curtain shields the toilet. Unlike the space station and NASAs old shuttles, there is no galley or sleeping compartments, or even separate work areas. As for food, theyll chow down on cold pizza following liftoff. Theyre also packing ready-to-eat, astronaut-style fare. SPACE TOURISM ON THE RISE Space tourism has never been hotter. Branson and Bezos rode their companies rockets into space to fulfill lifelong dreams but also advance ticket sales. Too busy to launch himself, SpaceX founder Elon Musk has two tourist flights to the space station coming up in the next year the first as early as January and also a private moonshot in the works. The businessmen shelling out $55 million apiece to fly SpaceX to the space station wont be the first to pay their own way there. Seven wealthy clients of Virginia-based Space Adventures rode Russian rockets to the space station from 2000 to 2009. Isaacman traveled to Kazakhstan in 2008 to watch one of them soar: Richard Garriott, the video game-developing son of the late NASA astronaut Owen Garriott. While once opposed to space tourism, NASA is rooting for these newcomers. I cant wait for them to fly and fly safely and fly often, said NASAs commercial spaceflight director, Phil McAlister. ___ The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institutes Department of Science Education. The AP is solely responsible for all content. They say everything is bigger in Texas but from a museum dedicated to toilet seats to a large fire hydrant donated by the Walt Disney Company, things may be quirkier, too. Below, we highlight some of the most off-the-wall attractions and destinations in the Lone Star State. Austin may now be known as a growing and thriving tech hub, but for years, residents and others have called for keeping Austin weird. Nowhere is that exemplified more than The Cathedral of Junk, a chaotic framework of improvised trusses mixed in with native Texas vegetation. You can find the remnants of everything from circuit boards and lawnmowers to car parts and eating utensils, cobbled together into an imposing architectural masterpiece. The owner, Vince Hannemann, began creating his eclectic structure more than 30 years ago. It's free to tour and can even be rented out for events like parties and weddings. 30-foot eyeball structure in Dallas Courtesy of The Joule Someone (or something!) may be watching you in Dallas. This 30-foot structure of an eyeball by Tony Tasset sits outside The Joule hotel in downtown Dallas. Simply called "Eye," the fiberglass eye was purchased by Joule Hotel owner Tim Headington as part of the hotel's expansive art collection. The 30-foot tall eyeball was modeled after the artist's own eye, and was made from 8,000 to 9,000 pounds of fiberglass, 9,000 pounds of steel, resin and paint. Tony Tasset created the giant eye sculpture in 2007, and it made its way to Dallas in 2013 when it was installed at The Joule's outdoor exhibition and event space across the street from the hotel. Truck Yard This oddball museum has toilet seats galore adorned with cassette tapes, shells, magnets, light switches, flags and just about anything else you can imagine. Creator Barney Smith, who made over 1,400 art pieces out of toilet seats over the course of many decades, opened the original museum in 1992 in a large garage in his backyard. The museum located in The Colony has garnered widespread adulation from local residents and visitors alike. Open daily, the museum can be used for events like birthdays and corporate events. Courtesy of the Fire Museum of Texas Donated by the Walt Disney Company in 1999 as part of the re-release of the animated movie "101 Dalmatians, this 24-foot-tall Dalmatian-spotted structure is one of the tallest of its kind.The structure sits at the Fire Museum of Texas. But why Beaumont? The city was selected among 300 that applied for the honor to become home to the hydrant. It was assembled at Disneyland in Anaheim, California, and weighs 4,500 pounds and can blast 1,500 gallons of water a minute. The fire hydrant is constructed of fiberglass and reinforced with 1,000 feet of steel. Another fun fact: the Dalmatian spots on the hydrant are copyrighted by Walt Disney. Though it held the prestigious title of worlds largest fire hydrant for a time, it was ultimately surpassed by a larger one. A smattering of towns and cities across the U.S. are named after the famed French capital, but its Paris, Texas, that stands out. The town has erected a 65-foot-tall replica of the Eiffel Tower. And just so you wont forget which Paris youre in, a 10-gallon red cowboy hat completes the experience. Courtesy of Marriott Marquis The Marriott Marquis Houston in downtown Houston is home to the world's largest Texas-shaped rooftop lazy river. Complete with views of the city skyline, the lazy river is part of Altitude Rooftop & Pool, which brings a lively resort-like experience to the hotel. As part of the rooftop experience, guests can float in the lazy river, relax in the rooftop infinity pool, grab a photo-worthy cocktail or enjoy the poolside live music. Courtesy of the National Museum of Funeral History. Not just for the morbid, this museum focuses on the culture of funerals around the world, from ornate coffins to a collection of hearses. Learn about the funerals of presidents, popes, pop stars and more at this museum in Houston. Open since 1992, this 30,500-square-foot museum has the largest collection of funeral service memorabilia. There are 16 permanent exhibits, including an examination of cremation, embalming, fantasy coffins from Ghana and much more. A new exhibit looks at Jazz Funerals of New Orleans, focusing on the late 1800s through today. Courtesy of the National Museum of Funeral History. Todays jazz funerals adhere to a strictly defined parade structure, said Bob Boetticher, Sr., chairman of the National Museum of Funeral History, in a press statement. Once the funeral wake ends, the band accompanies the family from the funeral home or church. It leads its way to the cemetery, sometimes using a horse-drawn hearse. The group, also known as the first line, play somber funeral dirges and traditional spiritual hymns. BERLIN (AP) Germany is seeing its first three-way contest for the chancellery, with the environmentalist Greens joining the country's two traditional big parties in fielding a candidate. Chancellor Angela Merkel said nearly three years ago that she wouldn't seek a fifth four-year term. That set up the first election since West Germany's inaugural vote, in 1949, in which there is no incumbent seeking re-election. The center-left Social Democrats already picked their candidate, Olaf Scholz, in August 2020. The Greens nominated Annalena Baerbock in March. Armin Laschet emerged as the candidate of Merkel's center-right Union bloc in April after a bruising internal battle. OLAF SCHOLZ, 63 Scholz is currently finance minister and vice chancellor, the latest in a string of top posts that have allowed him to tout his experience. He has a terse, no-nonsense style typical of his home city of Hamburg, where he once worked as a lawyer. He's unflappable and unshakably self-confident, but no master of rhetoric: He once earned the nickname Scholzomat for what critics said was a habit of constantly repeating the same phrases regardless of the question. He served a turbulent stint as the Social Democrats' general secretary in the early 2000s, as then-Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder struggled with dissent over welfare-state trims and economic reforms. Scholz first served in the national government from 2007-9 as Merkel's labor minister, during the global financial crisis. Germany kept down unemployment, notably by using a government-backed salary support program to keep people on companies' payrolls. The same device served it well during the coronavirus pandemic. Scholz became Hamburg's mayor in 2011. He hosted the 2017 Group of 20 summit, remembered largely for widespread rioting by hard-left protesters. Scholz had previously dismissed worries about the event. The following year, he was elevated to the No. 2 job in Merkel's government after his party reluctantly ditched a pledge to go into opposition. As finance minister, Scholz was a driving force behind moves to place a global minimum tax of at least 15% on large companies and led efforts to cushion the pandemic's financial impact. But he also drew criticism over the collapse last year of payment processing company Wirecard. Scholz ran for the Social Democrats' leadership in 2019 but was spurned by members in favor of a left-leaning duo. Still, the long-struggling party had no hesitation in turning to him as its candidate to succeed Merkel. ___ ANNALENA BAERBOCK, 40 By far the youngest contender, Baerbock is also the only one with no government experience. She said when she was nominated: "I stand for renewal, others stand for the status quo. Baerbock studied political science and international law in Hamburg and London, and has been a lawmaker in Germany's national parliament since 2013. A successful trampolinist in her youth, she has said that sport taught her the courage to keep pushing my limits, try new things. She and Robert Habeck, who is also on the traditionally left-leaning party's centrist wing, have led the Greens since early 2018. Under the unusually harmonious duo, the party has largely buried its left-right divisions and seen its poll ratings climb. The two leaders decided in March that Baerbock would make its first run for the chancellery. A native of western Germany, Baerbock has been based for years in the rural eastern state of Brandenburg, where her party entered the regional government in 2019. Baerbock didn't fare well under intense scrutiny early in this year's campaign. She had to correct details in a resume and belatedly declared payments from her party, which she says she wasnt immediately aware had to be declared, to parliamentary authorities. A flap followed over allegations that she copied from others in a hastily put-together new book. Baerbock denied any wrongdoing but said she would have done better to use a list of sources. ___ ARMIN LASCHET, 60 Laschet has been the governor of North Rhine-Westphalia state, Germany's most populous, since dislodging a center-left regional government in 2017. His supporters often point to that success in a traditional stronghold of the left. A miner's son, Laschet still lives in his native city of Aachen, on the border with Belgium and the Netherlands. He says that growing up in the heart of the continent made him a convinced European. He has had an up-and-down political career, joining the German parliament in 1994 but losing his seat in 1998. From 1999-2005, he was a member of the European Parliament, before becoming his state's minister for the integration of immigrants the first such position in Germany. He won the leadership of his party in North Rhine-Westphalia at the second attempt in 2012. Laschet is largely a centrist in Merkel's mold, backing her welcoming stance toward refugees and other migrants. Still, he has been keener than the outgoing chancellor to relax restrictions during the pandemic and is treading a fine line between offering continuity and promising renewal. He won the leadership of Merkel's Christian Democratic Union party in January, beating conservative darling Friedrich Merz in a contest delayed repeatedly by the pandemic. In April, he outmaneuvered Bavarian governor Markus Soeder, who had much better poll ratings, to claim the nomination to run for chancellor after a lengthy standoff. Laschet has a jovial image. He has frequently been seen in Carnival outfits and last year won the Order Against Brutal Seriousness, an honor bestowed annually on celebrities who display a sense of humor. But that trait hurt him after deadly floods in his home state in July, when he was seen laughing in the background as Germany's president delivered solemn remarks. ___ Follow APs coverage of Germanys election at https://apnews.com/hub/germany-election HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) About 300 refugees from Afghanistan are expected to arrive in Connecticut in the coming weeks and months as immigrant advocacy groups work to find permanent homes for them in the state, U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal and advocates said Monday. Blumenthal, a Connecticut Democrat, and resettlement workers anticipate that refugees will begin arriving in large numbers in communities across the U.S., perhaps as early as next week, after clearing security checks and other vetting. Some 50,000 Afghans are expected to be admitted to the United States under a program called Operation Allies Welcome, including translators, drivers and others who helped the U.S. military during the 20-year war and who fear reprisals by the Taliban, who seized power last month. We owe these Afghan allies the safety and escape they need from murder and torture they face, and their families face, in Afghanistan, Blumenthal said at a news conference with advocates in New Haven. They sided with us. They went into combat with our troops. They protected them and our diplomats. They now have targets on their backs. Blumenthal said he is pushing Congress to approve financial aid for resettlement services, including housing, job placement, clothing and other needs. He said the cost could be in the hundreds of millions of dollars. Nearly 130,000 people were airlifted out of Afghanistan in one of the largest mass evacuations in U.S. history. Many of them are still in transit, undergoing security vetting and screening in other countries including Germany, Spain, Kuwait and Qatar. Thousands of other Afghans are being screened at eight military installations in the U.S. The Pentagon has said all evacuees are tested for the coronavirus upon arriving at Dulles International Airport outside Washington. And tens of thousands of people in Afghanistan are still trying to leave the country, including American citizens and green card holders, Blumenthal said. Chris George, executive director of the New Haven-based Integrated Refugee & Immigrant Services, one of two major resettlement agencies in Connecticut, said the federal government has not done enough to bring home U.S. citizens and green card holders still stuck in Afghanistan, including 45 from the New Haven area who are clients of his agency. They tried to get out through the airport, and they were beaten and bruised and terrified in the process, George said. "Theyve been hunkering down in safe houses in Kabul, in hiding, running out of food and, I have to be honest, running out of hope. They feel like they are bargaining chips in some high stakes game of international diplomacy, he said. Some of them are even feeling like hostages. George's comments came on the same day Congress began holding hearings on the Biden administration's much-criticized handling of the U.S. military withdrawal from Afghanistan. Resettlement agencies will be in charge of finding permanent homes for the refugees after they are vetted. George said churches, synagogues, mosques, Rotary Clubs and colleges across the state have stepped forward in efforts to help Afghan refugees start new lives in Connecticut. His organization has already rented several apartments for refugees ahead of their arrival. Integrated Refugee & Immigrant Services has been helping resettle Afghan refugees in Connecticut for years, George said, including about 10 families in the past two months. George estimated that nearly 1,000 additional refugees, mostly from Afghanistan, could be coming to the state over the next year. BRUSSELS (AP) European Union auditors said Monday that the 27-nation blocs program for deporting migrants is not working well but they warned that any attempts to force countries to take their citizens back by coercion could be counterproductive. The EU has been deeply divided over how best to manage the arrival of unauthorized migrants since well over 1 million people entered in 2015, most of them Syrians and Iraqis arriving in Greece in search of sanctuary in Europe. But most EU nations agree that the focus should be on stopping migrants from entering in the first place by sealing deals with countries they came from or transit through, and on deporting more who are not entitled to stay. In a new report, the European Court of Auditors said of about 500,000 people who have been ordered to leave the EU since 2008, only 29% were finally deported. But just 19% barely one in five who entered from outside continental Europe have been sent back. Chief auditor Leo Brincat told reporters that effective deportations are an essential part of a comprehensive migratory policy. But he said the current EU return system suffers greatly from inefficiencies that lead to the opposite of the intended effect. The report noted the EU is divided over whether to use coercive measures like withholding development aid or sanctions or employ political and economic incentives to encourage other nations to cooperate on migrant management. In particular, the commission has warned that it would use its visa policy to encourage countries to take their citizens back. In July, after many Iraqi migrants crossed from Belarus into EU member Lithuania, the commission threatened to impose visa restrictions on Iraqi diplomats and officials. The move was meant to stimulate Iraq to improve its cooperation in accepting the return of its citizens who are refused entry into Europe, according to the commission. Flights from Iraq into the Belarusian capital of Minsk once numbering four a week abruptly stopped. But Brincat said the bottom line, if you ask me, is that you cannot force cooperation by threatening a country to fall into place. It has to be a give and take arrangement, and there has to be one important component between both sides: the element of trust. Brincat urged the commission to rapidly develop incentives to encourage outside countries to take their people back, but said that visa restrictions will continue to be used on several occasions. ___ Follow all AP stories on global migration at https://apnews.com/hub/migration. LAGOS, Nigeria (AP) Nearly 70 students who were abducted from their school in northern Nigeria have regained their freedom after two weeks in captivity, Zamfara state Gov. Bello Matawalle said Monday. The students from the Government Day Secondary School were rescued with the help of some of the gunmen who had repented, he said. They were reunited with their families late Sunday. Heavily armed men had descended on the school on Sept. 1, the latest attack in a wave of school kidnappings in northern Nigeria that prompted the government to shut down all primary and secondary schools in Zamfara state. Police have said that 73 students were abducted and that five were rescued a day later. Authorities were able to rescue the students with the help of some of the gunmen who had repented. Using some of the bandits that repented, we were able to know where they were keeping these children. We worked closely with them for about 10 days and yesterday, at about 2 a.m., the commissioner of police alongside others took off to the location where these children were rescued, Matawalle said. According to UNICEF, Nigeria has seen at least 10 abductions over the past year in which 1,436 students have been taken. About 200 students are still being held and 16 children have died in the attacks. School kidnappings have taken place in nine different states, and targets have included everyone from preschoolers to university students. Authorities have blamed the abductions on bandits who are believed to be motivated by the ransoms paid for the children's release. However, some students held by the bandits have said they also have been threatened to not return to school when they are freed. That has raised fears that they may be linked in some way to the Islamic extremist group Boko Haram, whose name in the Hausa language translates as Western education is forbidden. Zamfara state police spokesman Mohammed Shehu told The Associated Press that he had no details of the rescue operation because he was not in the state where authorities blocked telecommunications access. The phone blackout and other measures including the restriction of late-night movements and vehicular traffic, closure of weekly markets and ban on transportation, were announced in the state amid a joint security operation targeted at the gunmen. The steps followed security reports that some of the gunmen were collaborating with locals who often act as their suppliers and informants. After the measures were introduced, Zamfara governor said last week that the gunmen were begging for amnesty which he declined. We have ensured that whatever God has directed us to do, we did. So, what we are doing now is to leave them to answer to God. What we are doing now is to fight with them day and night, he said. LONG BEACH, Calif. (AP) President Joe Biden put Democrats approach to the coronavirus pandemic on the line Monday, casting the California recall that could remove Gov. Gavin Newsom from office as an opportunity for voters to show the nation that leadership matters, science matters. The eyes of the nation are on California because the decision youre going to make isn't just going to have a huge impact on California, its going to reverberate around the nation, and quite frankly, not a joke, around the world, the Democratic president said at a rally in the Southern California city of Long Beach. The closing pitch from Newsom and his most prominent Democratic ally came a night before voting concludes in the race that could remove the first-term governor from office. He is just the fourth governor in U.S. history and the second in California to face a recall. Californians removed Democratic Gov. Gray Davis in 2003 and replaced him with Republican Arnold Schwarzenegger. Bidens appearance underscored the importance to Democrats of keeping the governors office in the nations most populous state, where many progressive policies originate. Newsom and other prominent Democrats have cast the race as a battle The results of the race ending Tuesday will send signals about how voters are poised to react to Democrats who adopted aggressive pandemic policies in next years midterm elections, when control of Congress and half the nations governorships are at stake. Gavin will be a governor who will help us finish the job," Biden said, regarding the pandemic. Just a half hour south from where Biden spoke, Republican front-runner and talk radio host Larry Elder was urging his supporters not to let up on getting out the vote among fellow Republicans, friends and neighbors in the races final 24 hours. The party needs a strong Election Day showing to catch up to Democrats who performed better in early voting, mostly by mail. Nearly 8 million Californians already have cast mail-in ballots. Make sure you have your friends vote, vote, vote, and try and get 10 more friends to vote and hit every call, make every call, knock on every door, were gonna win this thing if we turn out the vote, Elder said from a hotel ballroom in the Orange County city of Costa Mesa. He then went through his standard stump speech of what he deems Newsom's failures on public education, water and wildfires, and crime. Newsom has likened Elder as a California-version of former Republican President Donald Trump, branding him as in some ways even more extreme. Biden echoed that note, referring to Elder not by name but as the closest thing to a Trump clone Ive ever seen. Biden handily won California, though Trump earned more than 6 million votes in the state. California has more than 22 million registered voters. California Republican Party Chairwoman Jessica Millan Patterson called it baffling and insulting that Biden engaged in a political event when some Californians remain stuck in Afghanistan. Its clear protecting those they were elected to serve comes second to politics, she said in a statement. Amateur Republican political organizers upset with Newsoms approach to crime, homelessness and immigration launched the recall drive in early 2020, but the coronavirus pandemic got it to the ballot. Newsom was the first governor in the country to issue a statewide stay-at-home order that shuttered many businesses for months and kept kids out of classrooms. Theres no front that I can think of where this man has done a good job not on schools, not on homelessness, not in the way he shut down this state, Elder said earlier Monday. Voters are being asked two questions: Should Newsom be recalled, yes or no, and who should replace him? The results of the second question only matter if a majority wants to remove Newsom. Recent polls from the Public Policy Institute of California and others showed Newsom defeating the recall. Lead recall organizer Orrin Heatlie said neither Biden nor Trump should be weighing in on the contest because it's about California issues. Meanwhile, he said Trump's statement Monday calling the election rigged risks diminishing Republican turnout. When people aren't confident, if they don't have faith that their vote is going to count, then they're not going to waste their time to cast their ballot," Heatlie said. There has been no confirmed evidence of widespread fraud. Elder's campaign website links to a website called Stop CA Fraud" where people can sign a petition demanding a special election to investigate the election, even though the election hasn't concluded. Before the rally, Biden toured wildfire damage in Northern California. He praised Newsom's leadership on responding to climate change, which is contributing to California's wildfires becoming bigger and more destructive. Elder and Republicans say Democratic leaders have failed to appropriately manage California's forests, leaving more fuel for fires to burn through. Other prominent candidates in the race are Republicans Kevin Faulconer, Kevin Kiley and John Cox, and Democrat Kevin Paffrath. ___ Ronayne reported from Sacramento. Associated Press journalist Alexandra Jaffe contributed from Long Beach. ___ Catch up with AP's recall coverage: https://apnews.com/hub/california-recall BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) A three-day symposium in Bismarck to discuss the history and revitalization of the American bison has been postponed due to the coronavirus, event organizers said Monday. The Dakota Bison Symposium had been scheduled Thursday through Saturday. Many of the national speakers have recently decided against traveling to North Dakota, where one in every 253 people tested positive for COVID-19 in the last week, according to Johns Hopkins University researchers. It is also one of the worst states in the country for rate of virus vaccinations. OUAGADOUGOU, Burkina Faso (AP) Burkina Fasos slow and insufficient humanitarian response to the countrys escalating attacks is forcing people to choose between violence or hunger, the Norwegian Refugee Council warned on Monday. Surging violence linked to al-Qaida and the Islamic State in the war-weakened West African nation has forced more than 275,000 people from their homes since April double those displaced in the previous seven months, according to government statistics. Yet a lack of government capacity and a critical gap in funding is preventing aid groups from responding in time and putting civilians at greater risk, said the agency. Its unacceptable to see that families who have endured horrific violence and hunger are now being left behind because of the failure of humanitarian organizations and authorities to respond effectively together, Manenji Mangundu, director of the Norwegian Refugee Council in Burkina Faso told the Associated Press. The government is struggling to register the increasing number of displaced people yet has been unwilling to let humanitarians step in, resulting in newly displaced families waiting weeks to receive food or shelter, and tempting many to return home despite the threat of attacks, he said. Jihadi violence has wracked the once peaceful nation for five years, displacing more than 1.4 million people and forcing nearly 3 million into severe hunger. The violence shows no signs of abating. Recent months have seen some of the deadliest fighting since the conflict began. At least 160 people were killed in June during an attack in Solhan village in the Sahel region, according to residents and 341 people were killed in August, more than three times the number killed the same time last year, according to the Armed Conflict Location & Event Data Project. Since the start of the crisis, humanitarian groups say the government has wanted to maintain control over the response, reluctant to let aid groups help with the registration process which is slowing things down. The government has also made it harder for the media to report on the situation, by banning journalists from visiting displacement sites. The government appears to be prioritizing its wish to lead the response over the well-being of its population, said Alexandra Lamarche, senior advocate for West and Central Africa for Refugees International. The governments efforts to control the response, and restrict and censor the media, does not change the troubling fact that the countrys humanitarian crisis continues to worsen, she said. The government did not respond to requests by AP for comment. The minister of humanitarian action, Helene Marie Laurence Ilboudo Marchal, has previously said the media ban was implemented to protect the dignity of displaced people. While the government grapples with the humanitarian crisis, the countrys ill-equipped and undertrained army is struggling to stem attacks and say the jihadis are gaining ground. A high ranking officer told the AP during a visit to Dori town in July that fighting jihadists has been a real challenge, as they are now everywhere. The AP is not using his name because he was not authorized to speak to the media. Even though theyre not winning militarily, theyre winning by economically destroying the country, he said. The deteriorating security situation has sparked widespread unrest. Protests in July demanding the government take stronger action, prompted President Roch Marc Christian Kabore to fire his ministers of defense and security and appoint himself minister of defense. Last month the defense ministry announced it would overhaul its counterterrorism strategy, including implementing military changes and focus on humanitarian assistance, however it did not provide details. Meanwhile, displaced civilians say theyre struggling to survive. Abderamane Tamboura fled Solhan during the attack in June, but months later said he hasnt received any support. We dont have food, and no aid organization or government has helped us so far, the 30-year-old father of two told the AP by phone from the northern province of Yagha. (The) humanitarian situation is getting worse, we are starving here, he said. SPRINGFIELD, Va. (AP) A northern Virginia man has been charged with child endangerment after a 2-year-old died while riding unrestrained on his lap when his car crashed earlier this year. Fairfax County Police said Monday that they charged the 41-year-old Woodbridge man with child endangerment, reckless driving and driving without a license. Havana (AP) Cuba on Monday issued its most detailed report to date from prominent local scientists criticizing allegations that U.S. and Canadian diplomats were subject to mysterious attacks while posted on the island and developed health issues. The report by the 20-member panel from Cuba's Academy of Sciences questioned whether the variety of reported symptoms could even be referred to as a single syndrome and said that some of the proposed explanations violated basic laws of physics. But they acknowledged and expressed frustration that they have not been able to examine much of the evidence cited by U.S. researchers. More than two dozen U.S. and a dozen Canadian embassy workers in Havana reported falling ill in 2016 and 2017, leading U.S. officials at one point to assert they had been victims of sonic attacks and prompting a shutdown of most U.S. Embassy operations, which continue to this day. Canada too sharply reduced its diplomatic personnel in Havana in 2017. But researchers in both countries have been unable to agree on what might have caused the illnesses, even as similar cases have since been reported in Germany, Austria, Russia and China and recently even in Washington. U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris last month briefly delayed a trip to Vietnam after at least two cases were reported there. Some but not all of those affected report hearing a loud piercing sound and feeling intense pressure in the face. Pain, nausea, and dizziness sometimes follow. While administration officials have speculated that Russia may be involved a suggestion Moscow has denied scientists arent yet certain about who might have been behind any attacks or if the incidents were actually attacks. The Cuban report noted that U.S. scientists themselves has dismissed many of the suggested explanations said that many of the illnesses may have been due to preexisting conditions or to problems that occur normally in any population. A report released in December by a U.S. National Academy of Sciences committee found that directed, pulsed radio frequency energy appears to be the most plausible explanation for the illnesses among American diplomats in Cuba and China. That study did not name a source for the energy and did not say it came as the result of an attack. The Cuban document called that conclusion puzzling because the report cites no direct evidence for the involvement of (radio frequency) in the events in Havana or elsewise. No known form of energy can selectively cause brain damage (with laser-like precision) under the conditions described for the alleged incidents in Havana, it said. The report said the only explanation so far that cannot be dismissed is the possibility of psychological suggestion leading to symptoms. The authors included neuroscientists, physicists. psychologists and otorhinologists. CAIRO (AP) The leaders of Egypt and Israel met Monday as part of the first official trip to Egypt by an Israeli prime minister in over a decade, and rising tensions in the Gaza Strip were at the top of their agenda. Gaza is sandwiched between Israel and Egypt, and both countries have enforced a border blockade of the territory to varying degrees since 2007, when the Islamic militant group Hamas took control there. The meeting between Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi and Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett signaled a warming in a relationship that had been security-focused but somewhat cool under Bennetts predecessor, Israeli hard-liner Benjamin Netanyahu. El-Sissi and Bennett met in the Red Sea resort town of Sharm el-Sheikh, according to an official statement from the Egyptian presidency. Egypt's state television showed both leaders sitting side by side in front of both of national flags, with the Israeli army's chief of staff and Egypt's foreign minister and the head of its intelligence service also in attendance. It was the first official visit by an Israeli premier since 2010, when then Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak hosted a summit with Netanyahu, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. Less than a year later, Egypt was rocked by a popular uprising that toppled Mubarak. El-Sissi told state television that he and Bennett discussed maintaining the cease-fire in the Gaza Strip, in addition to Ethiopia's dam on one of the Nile River's tributaries, which Egypt sees as a threat to its water supply. The Israeli premier, in a statement following the meeting, said he thanked el-Sissi for his country's role in stabilizing Gaza and its help with Israeli missing and captives from Israel's conflict with Hamas. Over nearly a decade, Israeli officials have held covert meetings with their Arab counterparts, some of which were only announced after the fact. Egypt in 1979 was the first Arab country to reach a peace agreement with Israel, but only after the two countries fought four wars between 1948 to 1973. The meeting is a boost for Bennett, who took office in June and is still trying to establish his foreign-policy credentials. His predecessor, Netanyahu, billed himself as a global statesman but never was able to hold a public meeting with the Egyptian president. Egypt has often served as a mediator between Hamas and Israel in the four wars they have fought, most recently in May, when it brokered a cease-fire that has largely brought the fighting to a stop. Egypt has been trying to make that into a long-term truce, but those efforts appear to have run into trouble in recent weeks. Hamas has demanded a lifting of the blockade, which has devastated Gazas economy. Israel wants Hamas to free two captive Israeli civilians and to return the remains of two dead soldiers killed in a 2014 war. In recent weeks, in a sign of rising tensions, Hamas has staged a number of violent demonstrations along the Israeli border and launched dozens of incendiary balloons across the frontier, setting off a series of wildfires in southern Israel. Earlier this month, el-Sissi also held talks with King Abdullah II of Jordan and Abbas in Cairo, where they stressed support for the elusive two-state solution to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. The three leaders said the Palestinians have a right to an independent state, with east Jerusalem as its capital, a plan that Israel staunchly opposes. But Israel has praised el-Sissis government for its help over the years, and in turn allowed Egyptian forces greater freedom near the border to fight Islamist insurgents in the Sinai peninsula. Egypts government usually walks a careful line with its own citizens, who deeply oppose Israels policies toward the Palestinians. As Egyptian and Israeli officials quietly collaborate on security, the Egyptian government is rarely strongly critical of Israel in public. However, the government gives free rein to prominent personalities aligned with the government to denounce Israel or portray it as the enemy in the media. Most recently, the escape of six Palestinian inmates from a maximum-security Israeli prison elicited praise from many Egyptians. Over the weekend, Israel caught four of the fugitives. In response, Palestinian militants in Gaza launched several rockets into Israel, prompting retaliatory Israeli airstrikes. Saeed Okasha, a political analyst with Al Ahram Center for Political and Strategic Studies, said the relationship between el-Sissi and Israel's new leader remains untested. There are no grudges between Egypt and Bennett. Egypt is willing to listen to a new Israeli voice especially in light of regional tensions, he said. ___ Associated Press writers Ilan Ben Zion and Joe Federman in Jerusalem contributed to this report. ___ This story has been corrected to show that this is the first official visit by an Israeli prime minister to Egypt in over a decade, rather than the first public meeting between Egyptian and Israeli leaders in over a decade. HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) Bill McSwain, the top federal prosecutor in Philadelphia under former President Donald Trump, will run for Pennsylvania governor, he announced Monday, joining a crowded Republican field that may get bigger yet. McSwain's announcement his first run for public office was not a surprise. He had written to Trump in July, seeking the former president's endorsement for governor and, before that, had told party figures for months that he intended to run in next year's election. In a campaign video released Monday, McSwain took on Democratic Gov. Tom Wolfs handling of the pandemic, saying we will have no forced closings and no state dictates and otherwise sounded familiar Republican notes on nationalized culture war issues, cutting taxes and "law and order." He leaned heavily on his background in law enforcement and service in the U.S. Marine Corps. I will fight with all the commitment I learned as a Marine and a prosecutor to restore law and order, freedom and economic opportunity, he said. In an interview on WPHT-AM radio in Philadelphia on Monday, McSwain said a major theme of his campaign is "restoring people's freedom and sticking up for peoples individual rights. McSwain, 52, lives in Chester County and went back to private law practice after more than three years as the U.S. attorney for the eastern district of Pennsylvania, which includes Philadelphia. He also served several years as an assistant U.S. attorney in Philadelphia during George W. Bush's presidency. He has worked for two large Philadelphia-based law firms Drinker Biddle & Reath and, currently, Duane Morris and has degrees from Yale and Harvard. McSwain has tried to make the case that he is best positioned to beat the Democrats likely nominee, state Attorney General Josh Shapiro. And while McSwain comes from the heavily populated suburbs of Philadelphia, it's not at all clear that his service as U.S. attorney there bought him name recognition. His backers like to point out that Republicans in Pennsylvania have a tradition of nominating candidates for governor who are former prosecutors, including three Dick Thornburgh, Tom Ridge and Tom Corbett who got elected. However, he will first have to get through the Republican field, which includes former U.S. Rep. Lou Barletta, the former four-term congressman who was the partys nominee for U.S. Senate in 2018. Several Republican state senators also have considered running. The governor's office is opening up with Wolf term-limited, and electing a Republican could give the GOP complete control over the reins in the statehouse, where Republicans have large majorities in the state House and Senate. As U.S. attorney, McSwain battled Democrats in Philadelphia over law enforcement policy, accusing city officials of being too lenient when they prosecuted violent crime and defying the rule of law through the city's sanctuary city policy. He also went to court successfully to fight plans to open a medically supervised drug-injection site. McSwain is coming off an episode in July where Trump speaking at the Conservative Political Action Conference in Dallas said he had a letter from McSwain that claimed that Trump's attorney general, Bill Barr, would not let McSwain investigate fraud in last November's presidential election. McSwain's letter said he was given a directive to pass along serious allegations to the state attorney general for investigation," although he gave no examples. Barr denied to The Philadelphia Inquirer that he ordered McSwain not to investigate allegations of election fraud. Rather, the order came from a top deputy to Barr and instructed McSwain to share information with Shapiros office, not stand-down from investigating, Barr told the Inquirer. McSwain "told me that he had to do this because he was under pressure from Trump and for him to have a viable candidacy he couldnt have Trump attacking him, Barr said. So McSwain tried to thread the needle by saying things that were technically true without giving support to Trumps stolen election narrative," Barr said. McSwain later insisted the letter was true. But McSwain has not publicly chastised Trump over the former president's baseless claims about election fraud or blamed Trump for inciting supporters to storm the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6. Asked about McSwain's claims, Shapiro's office has said it had a close working relationship with the U.S. attorney's office, and had not heard of any election-related concerns from McSwain or received a direct referral from McSwains office. ___ Follow Marc Levy on Twitter at https://www.twitter.com/timelywriter. LOS ANGELES (AP) The California recall election that could remove first-term Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom from office wraps up Tuesday. Nearly 8 million mail-in ballots the form of voting most Californians use already have been returned out of 22 million sent to registered voters. The contest unfolded this summer as the nation's most populous state saw a surge in coronavirus infections from the highly contagious delta variant and the return of masks and other restrictions in many places. There have been raging wildfires, crime rates have risen and a homeless crisis persists unabated. Republicans are hoping for an upset in a heavily Democratic state, where the GOP hasnt won a statewide election since 2006. Newsom has been defending his record on the virus and warning that Republican front-runner Larry Elder, a conservative talk radio host, would undermine California's progressive values. The election is being watched nationally and the outcome could influence the 2022 elections, when a closely divided Congress will be in play. How did California arrive at this point? Here are some answers: WHAT IS A RECALL ELECTION? California is one of 20 states that have provisions to recall a sitting governor, 19 through elections. The state law establishing the rules goes back to 1911 and was intended to give more power to voters by allowing them to remove elected officials and repeal or pass laws by placing them on the ballot. Recall attempts are common in the state, but they rarely get on the ballot and even fewer succeed. The only time a governor was recalled was 2003, when Democrat Gray Davis was removed and voters replaced him with Republican Arnold Schwarzenegger. A federal judge in late August rejected a lawsuit that sought to block the recall on grounds it violated the Constitution by creating a situation where a sitting governor could lose the recall but still get more votes to stay in office than the winning replacement candidate receives. WHY IS THERE A RECALL DRIVE AGAINST NEWSOM? The answer is simple and complicated. The simple part: Californians grew angry during the pandemic. Whipsaw stay-at-home orders by Newsom, crushing job losses from business closures, shuttered schools and the disruption of daily life soured just about everybody. Many of lifes routines were cut off at some point if not altogether, whether it was trips to the beach or lunches at a favorite taco joint. The complicated part: In a state with nearly 40 million people, there are many grievances, including Californias wallet-sapping taxes, rising food and gas prices, the threat of water rationing to contend with a long-running drought, a homeless crisis and the continuing menace of wildfires. As governor, Newsom is a ready target for that resentment. He also is being hit by fallout from a multibillion-dollar fraud scandal at the state unemployment agency while weathering public shaming for dining out maskless with friends and lobbyists at an exclusive restaurant last fall as he toldresidents to stay home. HOW DOES THE ELECTION WORK? There are two questions: Voters are being asked if Newsom should be removed, yes or no, and then who should replace him. They will choose from 46 replacement candidates. If a majority of voters approve Newsoms removal, the candidate who gets the most votes on the second question becomes governor. With dozens of candidates dividing those ballots, its possible a winner could get 25% or less of the vote. Statistics compiled by Political Data Inc., a firm that gathers voting information for Democrats, independents and academics, found that nearly 8 million voters have returned mail-in ballots, which would equal about a 35% turnout rate with voting continuing through Tuesday. Senior citizens are voting in their usual high numbers, while younger voters have been less enthusiastic so far. WHO ARE THE REPLACEMENT CANDIDATES? There are 46 names on the ballot, but former Congressman Doug Ose withdrew because of health reasons after it had been printed. The 24 Republican candidates include Elder; former San Diego Mayor Kevin Faulconer; businessman John Cox, who was defeated by Newsom in 2018; reality TV personality and former Olympian Caitlyn Jenner; and Assemblyman Kevin Kiley. There are nine Democrats, 10 independents, two Green Party members and one Libertarian. No Democrat with political stature ran the best-known is real estate agent and YouTube personality Kevin Paffrath. Most of the candidates are largely unknown and have not mounted credible campaigns. WHAT ARE THE CANDIDATES PROMISING? Elder, whom polls have leading the field, has promised to bring a fresh eye and common sense to the Democratic-dominated state and has said he would swiftly lift state mask and vaccine mandates. Kiley has said he would immediately end the pandemic state of emergency, which would automatically wipe out all state and local orders issued under it. Faulconer has proposed ending the state income tax for individuals making up to $50,000 and households up to $100,000 as part of a plan to make the state more affordable for the middle class. Cox sought attention by campaigning with a 1,000-pound (450-kilogram) Kodiak bear, which he said represented the need for beastly changes in the state, and is calling for a historic tax cut. Jenner received significant attention when she entered the race but has run a very low-key campaign and is barely registering in polls. WHAT IS NEWSOM SAYING ABOUT THE RECALL? He steered around questions of a possible recall for months, saying he wanted to focus on the coronavirus, vaccinations and reopening schools. In March, he launched an aggressive campaign and began running ads attacking the recall and doing national TV and cable interviews. The main committee opposing the recall had raised nearly $70 million through the end of August. Newsom, who was elected in a 2018 landslide, has acknowledged that people were anxious and weary after a difficult year of restrictions. Recently, he has defended his record during the pandemic arguing his decisions saved thousands of lives while warning that a Republican victory would undermine the state's progressive values and possibly have a ripple effect nationwide. Democrats say the effort to remove him is being driven by far-right extremists and supporters of former President Donald Trump. The recall is backed by state and national Republicans, but organizers argue they have a broad-based coalition, including many independents and Democrats. Lately, Newsom has focused his attacks on Elder, calling him more extreme in many ways than Trump. Elder dismisses such criticism as a political ploy to divert attention from Newsoms record on crime, homelessness and the pandemic. The governor spent much of 2020 on the defensive. But he has benefitted from a record budget surplus that allowed him to tour the state to announce vast new spending programs, including $12 billion to fight homelessness; checks of up to $1,100 each for millions of low and middle-income earners who struggled during lockdowns; and $2.7 billion for free kindergarten for all of the states 4-year-olds. HOW PRECARIOUS IS NEWSOMS HOLD ON HIS JOB? In the depths of the pandemic, Newsoms popularity was tumbling and he appeared imperiled, with widespread unrest over long-running school and business closures. Many business owners were infuriated by what they saw as Newsoms heavy-handed restrictions that had some open and close several times. Others rebelled against mask mandates. Earlier this year, a reopened economy and the astounding windfall of tax dollars helped Newsom recover. However, when Newsom fully reopened the state on June 15, virus cases were near record lows. Since then, cases have been climbing, particularly among the unvaccinated. Los Angeles County, which accounts for a quarter of the states population, reimposed an indoor mask mandate in public places, even if people are vaccinated. California also is requiring K-12 students to wear masks when they go back to classrooms. Such an order could hurt Newsom, especially among those who felt he didnt do enough to reopen schools last year. However, recent polling indicates Newsom is in a strong position to hold his job. He has advantages over his GOP rivals: Democratic voters outnumber Republicans nearly 2-to-1, and the party controls every statewide office and dominates the Legislature and congressional delegation. President Joe Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Barack Obama have called on voters to reject the recall. Republicans last won a statewide election in 2006, when Schwarzenegger was reelected. ___ See APs complete coverage of the California recall election: https://apnews.com/hub/california-recall NEW YORK (AP) Walmart denied any partnership with the digital currency Litecoin after a fake news release led to a brief flurry of inaccurate reports from national news outlets and social media users on Monday. A news release claiming a partnership between Walmart and Litecoin is not real, according to Walmart spokesperson Molly Blakeman. Charlie Lee, creator of Litecoin and managing director of the Litecoin Foundation, confirmed the release was fake. The false announcement was temporarily featured on a major press release wire and in outlets including Reuters, CNBC and Yahoo Finance, before being deleted and corrected. It wasnt immediately clear who created it. Here's a closer look at the facts. CLAIM: Walmart on Monday announced a major partnership with the digital currency Litecoin. THE FACTS: The nations largest retailer is not partnering with Litecoin, despite a bogus news release claiming as much, Blakeman told The Associated Press by phone. Walmart added in a statement on its website that it has no relationship with Litecoin. Lee, who created Litecoin, confirmed the release was fake in an email to the AP. A Litecoin employee mistakenly tweeted the false claim on Monday from the currency's verified account after seeing the bogus announcement on GlobeNewswire, a major distributor of news releases, Lee explained. The employee later realized his error and deleted the tweet, Lee said. The release touted the false headline Walmart Announces Major Partnership With Litecoin. It fabricated quotes from Walmart's CEO and the creator of Litecoin to falsely claim Walmart would allow customers to pay with the digital currency starting Oct. 1. After the release was published, Twitter users pointed out that Walmart hadn't announced the partnership on its own corporate website, nor did the contact email in the release match the company's actual website address. Though this announcement is fake, Walmart is looking to hire an expert in digital currencies and blockchain, Blakeman said. The false news release briefly tripped up national news outlets, Twitter users and cryptocurrency buyers. The price of Litecoin jumped from about $175 early Monday to about $233 within seconds of the press release being published. The price fell just as fast a few minutes later. GlobeNewswire, which briefly featured the release on its site before removing it, is conducting an investigation into what happened, said Dave Pleiss, vice president of investor and public relations for Intrado, which owns the press release wire. This has never happened before and we have already put in place enhanced authentication steps to prevent this isolated incident from occurring in the future, Pleiss said. GlobeNewswire is an Associated Press client that distributes press releases to APs network of customers. ___ This is part of APs effort to address widely shared misinformation, including work with outside companies and organizations to add factual context to misleading content that is circulating online. Learn more about fact-checking at AP. NEW YORK (AP) Fox News Media is reviving the long-running TV series COPS for its Fox Nation streaming service as part of a pitch to entice police, firefighters and other first responders to sign up for the service. Fox Nation will debut four episodes of the show's 33rd season on October 1, with additional episodes appear weekly on Friday nights. On Sept. 3, just two days after Texas banned abortions, Vivek Bhaskaran, the chief executive of an Austin-based online survey software company, quickly assembled the handful of female employees that are based in the city. In a virtual town hall that lasted about 15 minutes, he told the women that regardless of insurance, the company would cover out-of-state abortion services. "I'm not a politician; I can't change anything. But I'm still responsible for my employees in Texas, and I have a moral responsibility to them," said Bhaskaran, CEO of QuestionPro. For the past several years, Texas has been selling itself as a tech haven attracting start-ups and tech companies such as Oracle, Hewlett-Packard Enterprises, and even Elon Musk, Tesla's billionaire co-founder and CEO, who has moved to the state. Big Tech companies such as Facebook, Amazon, and Apple all have grown their presence in the state, opening new warehouses, data centers, and production facilities. But Texas's recent swerve to the right on abortion, voting restrictions as well as a ban on coronavirus vaccine mandates has many workers and industry leaders like Bhaskaran worried about retaining workers and recruiting top tech talent to the state. In August, Texas had 33,843 tech job openings - the second highest in the U.S. after California - according to a report from the Computing Technology Industry Association. That's up 56% from a year earlier. "We already find it extremely challenging to attract tech workers," said Bhaskaran, noting there are more jobs than talent in the industry. "This seems like an extremely unnecessary conversation we're going to have to have" with potential recruits. The new abortion law in Texas, which went into effect earlier this month, bans abortions at six weeks and allows private citizens to sue people or services that perform or aid in an abortion. Reporting parties could receive at least $10,000 as well as recover legal fees if they win their cases. In response, the U.S. Department of Justice sued the state over the law, trying to block it. Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, R, on Thursday also signed a bill that would prohibit large tech companies from blocking or restricting people or their posts based on their viewpoint, setting the stage for a legal battle with the tech industry. Abbott also slammed President Joe Biden's vaccine mandate for private companies, calling it a "power grab." Texas led the nation in population growth in 2020 attracting 373,965 residents, according to estimates from the U.S. Census Bureau. While experts say it's too early to tell whether the new laws will cause any massive change in worker migration, they note that right-wing measures could lead to a pause of left-leaning tech workers considering moving to the state. "You might see a slow down," said Richard Alm, a writer in residence at Southern Methodist University's Cox School of Business in Dallas who studies Texas' economy. "This has potential to impact the supply of labor if workers are less willing to relocate to Texas." After Abbott signed the abortion bill into law, many tech workers were quick to react on social media platforms such as Twitter to air their concerns, frustration, and fears. For some tech industry workers who recently relocated to the state, the abortion law is making them consider moving elsewhere. That's the case for Valerie Veteto, a copywriter, who has freelanced for San Francisco tech companies including Salesforce, Patreon and Lyft. She moved to Austin from San Francisco in September 2020, drawn by the city's vibe, creativity, live music scene and the low cost of living. But a few months later, when Texas' power grid failed during a winter storm, leaving millions without power, heat and water, Veteto began questioning her choice. "That was a moment that chipped away at my confidence of living here. Then obviously what's going on currently, it sealed the deal," she said. She and her boyfriend are now planning to relocate to New York City. Some professionals in the tech industry say they're worried about what the passage of the abortion law says about the direction Texas is headed in terms of other major social issues. "It scares the living daylights out of me," said Deep Barot, a Texas native and San Francisco-based angel investor in biotech, software and cryptocurrency companies. "This is an abortion law, but what's next?" The issue boils down to one question, said Alm from SMU: Can employers retain and attract top tech talent despite the state's new restrictive laws? David Panarelli, a user experience designer for an e-commerce company in San Diego, said he and his wife had considered moving to Texas but both are concerned with how officials have handled issues like immigration, the pandemic, and masking guidelines. The abortion law reaffirmed their fears, he said. "If I'm in a situation where I have to make an extremely irreversible decision, I don't want anyone making that decision for me," he said. "It's not about women. It's about human rights." Crystal Wiese, QuestionPro's director of marketing, said the reaction from the people on the virtual town hall was mostly silence. "There was a reassuring feeling, but it's not the kind of conversation you expect to have with your CEO." Some Texas-based tech companies were quick to respond to what essentially is an abortion ban, recognizing that it could have significant repercussions on recruitment and retention of talent in the future. Marc Benioff, CEO of Salesforce, said in a tweet on Friday that he would be willing to move his employees if they wanted to relocate without providing further details. A Salesforce employee who declined to be named said the company told workers via an internal chat that if they had concerns about access to reproductive health care in their states, Salesforce would help relocate them and their immediate families. Dallas-based Match, which operates dating apps, said its CEO Shar Dubey is creating a fund to help cover the cost of abortion services for employees who have to travel outside of the state. "I immigrated to America from India over 25 years ago and I have to say, as a Texas resident, I am shocked that I now live in a state where women's reproductive laws are more regressive than most of the world, including India," Dubey said in a memo to employees earlier this month. "Surely everyone should see the danger of this highly punitive and unfair law." Michael Dell, chairman and CEO of Dell based in Round Rock, Texas, sent a note to employees on Sept. 8, addressing the latest Texas laws, saying the company believes in "the right to free, fair and equitable access to voting" and that its goal is to give employees "more coverage" when it comes to health "not less." The company declined to say whether it is planning anything specific related to Texas' abortion and voting laws. HPE still believes that its policies and benefits will attract workers "no matter where they're located," said spokesman Adam Bauer. But he said the company can't predict if and how this will impact recruiting in the future. Kat Scott, a San Francisco-based developer advocate for the open-source foundation Open Robotics, said if the law is not removed quickly, it will have a lasting impact on people's impression of the state. "It's going to be extremely difficult to recruit women or young people," she said. - - - The Washington Post's Tatum Hunter and Chris Alcantara contributed to this report. JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) Indonesias elite counterterrorism squad has arrested a convicted militant and suspected leader of an al-Qaida-linked group that has been blamed for a string of past bombings in the country, Indonesia police said Monday. Abu Rusdan was seized late Friday in Bekasi near the capital of Jakarta, along with three other suspected members of Jemaah Islamiyah, police spokesman Ahmad Ramadhan said. He is currently known to be active among the unlawful Jemaah Islamiyah network's leadership, Ramadhan told the Associated Press. Indonesian authorities consider Rusdan to be a key figure in the Jemaah Islamiyah, which the U.S. has designated a terrorist group. The shadowy Southeast Asian network is widely blamed for attacks in the Philippines and Indonesia including the 2002 bombings in the Indonesian resort island of Bali that killed 202 people, mostly foreign tourists. Ramadhan described the arrests as part of a broader nationwide crackdown on the group. Police are still searching for other suspected members, followed tips that the group was recruiting and training new members in Indonesia. Born in Central Java, Rusdan, 61, was sentenced to jail in 2003 for sheltering Ali Ghufron, a militant who was later convicted and executed for carrying out the Bali bombings. After his release from prison in 2006, Rusdan traveled Indonesia giving speeches and fiery sermons that received tens of thousands of views on YouTube. In one recorded sermon, he praised as the land of jihad Afghanistan the country where he had previously trained with other militant groups. Indonesia's police counterterrorism unit, known as Densus 88, has swept up 53 alleged members of the Jemaah in the past weeks, across 11 different provinces. An Indonesian court banned the group in 2008 and a sustained crackdown by the country's security forces with support from the U.S. and Australia has helped to weaken the militant network. A spokesman for Indonesias National Intelligence Agency, Wawan Hari Purwanto, said in a video statement early this month that following the Taliban takeover in Afghanistan, officials have stepped up their efforts at early detection and prevention particularly toward terrorist groups that have links to the Talibans ideology and networks." Indonesia's counterterrorism crackdown has been ongoing for months already. In the past year, Indonesian officials say counterterrorism forces have captured dozens of militants and suspected members of the Jemaah, including its alleged military leader, Zulkarnaen, who had been wanted for more than 18 years. Militant attacks on foreigners in Indonesia have been largely replaced in recent years by smaller, less deadly strikes targeting the government, mainly police and security forces, inspired by Islamic State group tactics abroad. JERUSALEM (AP) Israeli aircraft struck a series of targets in the Gaza Strip early Monday while Palestinian militants launched rockets into Israel in the third consecutive night of fighting between the sides. The violence took place shortly before Israel's prime minister, Naftali Bennett, was heading to Egypt for a visit expected to focus on Egyptian efforts to broker a long-term truce between Israel and Gaza's Hamas rulers in the wake of an 11-day war last May. Those efforts appear to have come to a standstill in recent weeks. Tensions have further risen after last week's escape from an Israeli prison by six Palestinian inmates. The Israeli military reported three separate rocket launches late Sunday and early Monday, saying at least two of them were intercepted by its rocket defenses. It said it attacked a number of Hamas targets in retaliation. There were no reports of casualties on either side. In other violence, the Israeli army said an assailant attempted to stab a soldier at a busy intersection in the occupied West Bank. It said that soldiers shot the attacker, who was taken to a hospital. No further details were immediately available. In downtown Jerusalem, meanwhile, police said a 17-year-old Palestinian boy stabbed and wounded two people near the city's central bus station. Jerusalem police chief Doron Turjeman said the assailant was shot by an officer. The boy suffered a serious gunshot wound to the chest. Islamist militant group Hamas praised the two attacks, but stopped short of claiming responsibility. Abdulatif Qanou, a Hamas spokesman, said they were meant to pressure Israel into stopping its crimes against our people and prisoners. Last week's prison break appears to have heightened tensions across the region, with Palestinians staging a number of protests in solidarity with the men. In Palestinian society, nearly every family has seen a member imprisoned by Israel, and the thousands of prisoners held by Israel are widely seen as heroes paying a price for the national cause. Over the weekend, Israel caught four of the six Palestinian inmates, who tunneled out of a maximum security prison on Sept. 6. Palestinian militants reacted to the arrests with rocket fire. Israel's search for the last two prisoners is continuing. The Egyptian-mediated efforts to deliver a long-term truce have struggled with the sides unable to agree on a system to renew Qatari payments to needy Gaza families. Israel has demanded guarantees that Hamas does not divert the money for military use. Gaza is an impoverished territory whose population is overwhelmingly comprised of families who fled or were forced from properties in what is now Israel during the war surrounding Israel's establishment in 1948. Hamas is pushing for Israel to end a crippling blockade that has devastated Gaza's economy, while Israel is demanding that Hamas free two captive Israeli civilians and return the remains of two dead Israeli soldiers. Hamas has controlled Gaza since ousting the forces of the internationally recognized Palestinian Authority in 2007, a year after the Islamic militant group won Palestinian parliamentary elections. Since then, Israel and Hamas have fought four wars and numerous smaller rounds of fighting. On Sunday, Israeli Foreign Minister Yair Lapid on Sunday called for a new approach to end the cycle of fighting with Hamas, describing a plan of international investment in Gazas infrastructure in exchange for pressure on Hamas to halt its military buildup and preserve calm. The policy Israel has pursued up until now hasnt substantially changed the situation, Lapid told a security conference. We need to change direction, he added. Much about his proposal which he said was made in consultation with the United States and other countries has been floated before but never implemented due to the fighting, deep distrust and bitter internal divisions on both sides. Bennett, whom Lapid is to replace in 2023 under a rotation agreement, did not immediately comment on the proposal. NEW YORK (AP) A new attorney for Britain's Prince Andrew said Monday that the royal had not been properly served with a copy of a new lawsuit filed by a woman who says she was coerced into having sex with him at age 17, and that he intends to challenge jurisdiction in the case. Hollywood attorney Andrew Brettler went on the offensive against Virginia Giuffre, telling a judge in New York that her claim was baseless, non-viable and potentially unlawful." Andrew has repeatedly denied the allegations in the lawsuit brought by Giuffre, who said that as a teenager living in Florida she was one of many girls and young women sexually abused by the convicted sex offender and millionaire Jeffrey Epstein. In her lawsuit and in interviews, Giuffre says she traveled to London with Epstein in 2001 and had sex with Andrew, after a night of dancing, at the home of British socialite Ghislaine Maxwell. Giuffre has said Epstein paid her $15,000, then arranged for her to have two more sexual encounters with the prince in New York and the U.S. Virgin Islands. The Associated Press does not typically identify people who say they are victims of sexual assault unless they choose to come forward publicly, as Giuffre has. Andrew has denied the allegations, saying in an interview that he doesnt remember ever meeting Giuffre, though at least one photograph appears to show them together. Andrew has said he was at a loss to explain the image, which appears to show his hand on the womans side, and suggested it could have been doctored. Brettler told the judge that the lawsuit against Andrew who is the Duke of York is barred by an earlier settlement agreement that remains under seal "releases the duke and others from any and all potential liability. He added that Andrew intends to ask Britain's High Court to weigh in on the matter. We have significant concerns about the propriety of this lawsuit, said Brettler, whose clients include several celebrities accused of sexual misconduct. Giuffre previously settled a lawsuit against Maxwell over her allegations. Maxwell is now awaiting trial in the U.S. on charges that she helped recruit young victims for Epstein to abuse. That case does not involve Giuffre or Andrew. Epstein killed himself weeks after his arrest in 2019. Brettler on Monday made a procedural argument on Andrew's behalf at the first pretrial conference in the case, saying Monday that Giuffre's legal team hadn't taken the proper steps required to start the case, including providing Andrew with a copy of the lawsuit. Attorneys for Giuffre say the documents were handed over to a police officer on duty at the main gates of Andrews home in Windsor Great Park on Aug. 27. U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan didn't immediately rule on the matter, but told the lawyers whatever bureaucratic hurdles regarding service of the lawsuit would be ultimately resolved and that the case would be litigated. I think we are making this a lot more complicated than it really is, the judge said. Lets cut out all the technicalities and get to the substance." DOVER, Del. (AP) A Democrat-led House committee will take no disciplinary action against a Democratic lawmaker who used a racist and sexist slur to refer to sex workers, officials said Monday. Following a closed-door meeting of the House Ethics Committee on Friday, committee members unanimously agreed that Rep. Gerald Brady of Wilmington did not violate legislative rules of conduct and that no further action will be taken, according to a statement by House Majority Leader Valerie Longhurst, D-Bear. While it is manifestly the business of this committee to ensure the decorum of House proceedings and to punish unlawful and unethical conduct that reflects upon the integrity of the House, there is no precedent for policing the lawful expression of opinions or a members choice of words in what he believed to be correspondence with a private citizen, said Longhurst, the committee chair. Determining which ideas and manners of expression are beyond the pale is first and foremost the province of voters, she added. The First Amendment of the United States Constitution protects freedom of speech and it would run contrary to those principles to punish the expression of an idea simply because society finds the idea itself offensive or disagreeable. The statement was accompanied by a memorandum in which attorneys for the Democratic and Republican caucuses noted that there was no precedent for disciplining a lawmaker for speech outside of legislative proceedings, and that the prospect of such disciplinary action raises First Amendment concerns. Launching an ethics investigation every time a legislator expresses an opinion or chooses language that another legislator or member of the public finds offensive, (sic) could be a slippery slope, the attorneys wrote. Longhurst nevertheless said Bradys remarks should never be tolerated. Brady, who is executive director of the Delaware AFL-CIO, made the comments in a June 27 email he inadvertently sent to an advocate for decriminalizing prostitution. Thinking he was forwarding an email from the advocate to another person from whom he was seeking input, Brady instead mistakenly hit reply and sent his comments to the advocate. Is the dude basically saying, if we provide free (oral sex) for Uncle Pervie there will be few rapes and few (a slur for Chinese women) will be shipped in CONEX containers to the Port of Wilmington?? Brady wrote from his official government email address. Amid public backlash and calls for Bradys resignation, Democrat House leaders ordered him to complete sensitivity training and to reach out to members of the Asian-American community in an effort to regain their trust. A week later, Brady announced that he would not seek reelection after his current term expires. I cannot in good conscience ask the voters to put their faith in me again after I betrayed theirs, he said at the time. That was not sufficient for some critics. Rep. Madinah Wilson-Anton, a Newark Democrat, filed a complaint against Brady with the Ethics Committee, alleging that he had engaged in conduct which the House determines (i) brings the House into disrepute or (ii) reflects adversely on the members fitness to hold legislative office. If we do not hold our own members accountable for their actions, we cannot claim to have values that differ from theirs, wrote Wilson-Anton, who asserted that hateful language is violent language. If Delawareans cannot trust us to hold our own accountable they cannot trust us to govern in their best interests, she added. Brady said in a prepared statement that the committees decision does not mean that his words werent wrong. I have spent the past several weeks contacting colleagues, constituents, community members and members of the Asian American community to offer my apologies and to open a dialogue with them, he said. I have participated in a sensitivity training course as prescribed, and I have remained in contact with the instructor to incorporate the lessons I have learned going forward. SEOUL, South Korea (AP) North Korea said Monday that it successfully tested newly developed long-range cruise missiles over the weekend, the first known testing activity in months, underscoring how the country continues to expand its military capabilities amid a stalemate in nuclear negotiations with the United States. The state-run Korean Central News Agency reported that the missiles showed they can hit targets 1,500 kilometers (930 miles) away on Saturday and Sunday. State media published photos of a projectile being fired from a launcher truck and what looked like a missile traveling in the air. The North hailed its new missiles as a strategic weapon of great significance wording that implies they were developed with the intent to arm them with nuclear warheads. North Korea says it needs nuclear weapons in order to deter what it claims is hostility from the U.S. and South Korea and has long attempted to use the threat of such an arsenal to extract much-needed economic aid or otherwise apply pressure. The North and ally China faced off against South Korea and U.S.-led U.N. forces in the 1950-53 Korean War, a conflict that ended in an armistice that has yet to be replaced with a peace treaty. The international community is bent on getting the North to abandon its nuclear arsenal and has long used a combination of the threat of sanctions and the promise of economic help to try to influence the North. But U.S.-led negotiations on the nuclear issue have been stalled since the collapse of a summit between North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and then-U.S. President Donald Trump in 2019. At that time, the Americans rejected Kim's demand for major sanctions relief in exchange for dismantling an aging nuclear complex. North Korea ended a yearlong pause in ballistic tests in March by firing two short-range missiles into the sea, continuing a tradition of testing new U.S. administrations to measure Washingtons response. Kims government has so far rejected the Biden administrations overtures for dialogue, demanding that Washington abandon its hostile policies first a reference to the U.S. maintaining sanctions and a military alliance with South Korea. The United States keeps about 28,000 troops in South Korea to help deter potential aggression from North Korea, a legacy of the Korean War. There hadnt been any known test launches for months since March, as Kim focused his efforts on fending off the coronavirus and salvaging an economy damaged by sanctions, bad flooding in recent summers, and border closures amid the coronavirus pandemic. Experts have warned that the economic situation is dire, although monitoring groups have yet to detect signs of mass starvation or major instability. The report of the tests comes before U.S. President Joe Bidens special representative for North Korea, Sung Kim, was to meet his South Korean and Japanese counterparts in Tokyo on Tuesday to discuss the stalled nuclear diplomacy with North Korea. South Korea's military is analyzing the North Korean launches based on U.S. and South Korean intelligence, the Joint Chiefs of Staff said in a statement. South Korean Foreign Minister Chung Eui-yong said after a meeting with Australia's foreign and defense ministers that the resumption of testing activity illustrates an urgent need for reviving diplomacy with the North. The U.S. Indo-Pacific Command said it was monitoring the situation with allies and that the North Korean activity reflects a continuing focus on developing its military program and the threats that poses to its neighbors and the international community. Japan said it was extremely concerned. While the cruise missiles were clearly aimed at sending a message to Washington, the tests may indicate that the North is struggling with more provocative weapons systems and might not garner much of a response, said Du Hyeogn Cha, an analyst at Seouls Asan Institute for Policy Studies. China, the North's staunchest ally, didnt comment on the missiles when asked. A spokesperson for its Foreign Ministry, Zhao Lijian, only urged all parties concerned to exercise restraint, move in the same direction, actively engage in dialogue and contact to reach a political settlement. Kim doubled down on his pledge to bolster his nuclear deterrent in the face of U.S. sanctions and pressure at a congress of the ruling Workers Party in January. He issued a long wish list of new sophisticated equipment, including longer-range intercontinental ballistic missiles, nuclear-powered submarines, spy satellites and tactical nuclear weapons. KCNA said the missiles tested over the weekend traveled for 126 minutes above North Korean territory before hitting their targets. "In all, the efficiency and practicality of the weapon system operation was confirmed to be excellent, it said. It appeared that Kim wasnt in attendance to observe the tests. KCNA said Kims top military official, Pak Jong Chon, observed the test-firings and called for the countrys defense scientists to go all out to increase the Norths military capabilities. Japanese Chief Cabinet Secretary Katsunobu Kato said North Korean missiles of such range would pose a serious threat to the peace and safety of Japan and its surrounding areas. He said Tokyo was working with Washington and Seoul to gather information on North Koreas latest tests but said there was no immediate indication that the weapons reached inside Japans exclusive economic zone. Kims powerful sister last month hinted that North Korea was ready to resume weapons testing while issuing a statement berating the United States and South Korea for continuing their joint military exercises, which she said was the most vivid expression of U.S. hostile policy. The allies say their drills are defensive in nature, but they have canceled or downsized them in recent years to create space for diplomacy or in response to COVID-19. The latest tests came after Kim threw an unusual parade last week that was a marked departure from past militaristic displays, showcasing anti-virus workers in hazmat suits and civil defense organizations involved in industrial work and rebuilding communities destroyed by floods. Experts said the parade was focused on domestic unity as Kim faces perhaps his toughest test, with his economy in tatters. ___ Associated Press writers Hyung-jin Kim in Seoul and Mari Yamaguchi in Tokyo contributed to this report. LAGOS, Nigeria (AP) Assailants attacked a prison in north-central Nigeria with explosives and gunfire at midnight, killing two security officers and leaving 240 inmates still missing on Monday, authorities said. Interior Minister Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola said two other security officers remained missing after the violence at the correctional facility in Kogi state. A task force has been set up to recapture the inmates, he added. PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) During the weekend, Oregon surpassed 300,000 confirmed and presumptive COVID-19 cases since the start of the pandemic, the state health authority reported on Monday. Although COVID-19 related hospitalizations have declined since Friday, 93% of Oregon's hospital beds for adults are full and there are just 62 adult intensive care unit beds available in the state. Between Friday and Sunday, health officials say there were 32 deaths due to COVID-19. To date, the state's death toll since the start of the pandemic is 3,446. Oregon is in the midst of its worst COVID-19 surge since the start of the pandemic which health officials say is fueled by unvaccinated people and the highly transmissible delta variant. The latest projections from the Oregon Health & Science University, released last week, shows that while hospitalizations have peaked, the current COVID-19 surge is far from over. The new forecast predicts that hospitals across the state will remain under severe strain for the next two to three months. In addition, the health officials have reported sharp increases in daily deaths associated with COVID-19. This grim trend follows several weeks of record, or near record, daily cases and hospitalizations, Oregon Health Authority Director Patrick Allen said on Wednesday. Oregonians should be prepared to see this tragic toll escalate dramatically in coming days and weeks. Health officials and Gov. Kate Brown continue to urge people to get vaccinated. Currently 67% of the states adult population are fully vaccinated. But in some parts of the state seven of Oregons 36 counties 50% or less of the adult population remain unvaccinated. In an attempt to ramp up vaccination efforts staff and volunteers in K-12 schools, health care workers and state employees in Oregon are required to be fully vaccinated by Oct. 18. - Sara 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. (The Conversation is an independent and nonprofit source of news, analysis and commentary from academic experts.) Shelley Inglis, University of Dayton (THE CONVERSATION) President Joe Biden has hailed the end of the U.S. engagement in Afghanistan as a historic achievement, with 120,000 people evacuated by air. Behind the widely viewed scenes of chaos at the Hamid Karzai International Airport, a massive effort of volunteers and nongovernmental organizations used social media to help identify, locate and advocate for Afghans desperate to leave the country, using social media. It has been characterized as a digital Dunkirk in reference to the mass evacuation of Allied soldiers by sea during World War II. Nonetheless, the president and his administration have weathered considerable criticism about the execution of the long-planned withdrawal, much of it focused on the complex and frustrating process for Afghan allies who needed visas in order to leave the country and head to the U.S. In mid-July, U.S. Embassy staff in Kabul raised the alarm about the Talibans advances, recommending that the administration take action to speed up the protection of Afghan allies by granting them whats called a special immigrant visa, also known as the SIV. Had the visa process worked better, more Afghan allies might have been able to flee possible deadly retaliation by the Taliban. The SIV program is obviously not designed to accommodate what we just did, in evacuating over 100,000 people, U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin explicitly acknowledged in a press conference at the end of the airlift. And the perilous situation of Afghans who want to flee now, but cant, is a reminder that populations face terrible danger in conflict zones across the globe but arent able to make their way to safety in other countries. Refugee protection SIVs allow Afghan and Iraqi interpreters and translators for the U.S. military whose work placed a target on their backs to come live in America. In 2009, a distinct Afghan SIV program was established by the U.S. and was originally designed to provide 7,500 visas over five years. The quota does not include family members who are entitled to come to the U.S. For years, advocates have raised concerns about serious delays with processing visas up to 3 years at one point. Some advocacy groups even sued the federal government to break the logjam. With the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Trump administration slowed the review process even more. That move was part of a larger policy to allow fewer refugees into the country. A question of planning A backlog of 17,000 cases in the Afghan SIV program faced the Biden administration in January 2021. Throughout the spring, advocates urged the administration to take more urgent steps to expand the programs focus and get Afghan allies to the U.S. faster and in greater numbers. It was not until mid-July 2021 that Operation Allies Refuge was launched by President Biden to evacuate SIV applicants who were in later stages of the process. By the end of July, Congress authorized the approval of 8,000 additional visas for the applicants, waived the onerous pre-approval medical examination requirements and removed other restrictions. In early August, the administration expanded protection to a larger category of people known as P2 such as those who worked for nongovernmental organizations and media outlets in Afghanistan supported by the U.S. But by Aug. 13, evacuation of SIV applicants was deemphasized to make way for U.S. citizen evacuation from Afghanistan. Government insiders and advocates criticized the U.S. State Department at that time for delays in processing SIV applications and failure to coordinate with the Pentagon to get applicants into the Kabul airport. Other options Defense Secretary Austin also acknowledged that the SIV program was designed to be a slow process. Immigration experts have pointed out that the Biden administration had a number of other options, based on prior experiences with Haitians and Cubans as well as Vietnamese, Iraqi Kurd and Kosovar Albanian refugees, to expand and speed up refugee protection. Afghans are eligible, for example, for quicker forms of refugee protection, such as humanitarian parole, which allows individuals who face dangerous conditions in their home country to gain emergency entry into the U.S., though the status is temporary and without benefits. Using the regular U.S. Refugee Admissions Program would have required raising the quotas and dealing with its own backlog. In the end, many of the 100,000 or so Afghans who were trying to get SIVs or other forms of protection were evacuated to other countries, to whats called lily pad sites, for further security screenings before entry into the U.S. Left behind The estimates of individuals remaining in Afghanistan who are at risk for Taliban persecution are staggering and difficult to confirm. Before the evacuation ended, advocates claimed that 65,000 SIV-eligible applicants and their families remained, while eligible P2 applicants and their families were estimated in a range from almost 200,000 to, potentially, millions. These numbers do not account for Afghans who worked at the forefront of nation building, including for the government, womens and human rights organizations, the media and the United Nations mission. Even before the fall of Kabul, Afghans were the second-largest refugee population globally, after Syrians. And what these people especially women and girls face is currently extremely precarious. A new government is taking shape that represents the hard-line Taliban leadership of the past. While the Taliban have sought to reassure the international community that they will allow Afghans to leave the country and respect human rights, recent violence against womens rights protesters and reports of human rights abuses belie the posturing. The ISIS-K attack on the Kabul airport indicates how fragile Taliban security could be. Law and security scholars have warned against global recognition of a terrorist-controlled government. [The Conversations Politics + Society editors pick need-to-know stories. Sign up for Politics Weekly._] Amid a growing humanitarian disaster involving hunger and extreme poverty, the United Nations estimates that half a million more Afghans might seek refugee status by the end of 2021. While declaring an end to U.S. military deployments to support nation building, President Biden has asserted his commitment to make human rights central to his foreign policy. Minimizing the militarys role should be welcome to experts who contend that it is the U.S.-led war on terror that failed in Afghanistan, not nation building. How exactly this helps Afghans who want to flee but havent been able to yet isnt clear. And how to ensure the wide-scale protection of populations facing mass atrocity and human rights violations without the threat of U.S.-led coalition military power also remains uncertain in Afghanistan and anywhere else across the globe. This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article here: https://theconversation.com/perilous-situation-for-afghan-allies-left-behind-shows-a-refugee-system-thats-not-up-to-the-job-166442. KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) Police in Kansas City are searching for a killer after security guards found a man fatally shot in the citys Old Westport neighborhood. The guards reported hearing gunshots around 3 a.m. Sunday in the area of Westport Road and Broadway Boulevard, police said in a news release. When they went to investigate, they found a man in the street with gunshot wounds. The man was pronounced dead at the scene. CANBERRA, Australia Australias capital city of Canberra will remain locked down for a second month after the local government reported 22 new coronavirus infections. The Australian Capital Territory locked down Aug. 12 after a single case linked to a Sydney outbreak of the virus delta variant was detected. Territorial Chief Minister Andrew Barr said Tuesday that Canberras lockdown will be extended until Oct. 15. Canberra is surrounded by New South Wales state, where Australias delta outbreak began when a limousine driver tested positive June 16. He was infected while transporting a U.S. cargo flight crew from Sydneys airport. Sydney is Australias largest city and has been locked since June 26. Before delta came to Canberra last month, the city of 430,000 people had not recorded a single case of coronavirus community infection since July 10, 2020. ___ MORE ON THE PANDEMIC: UK to vaccinate 12-to-15-year-olds despite opposition from some scientists School starts for 1 million New York City kids amid new vaccine rules Northern Idahos anti-government streak hampers COVID fight West Virginia sets 2 daily records for positive virus cases See AP coverage at https://apnews.com/hub/coronavirus-pandemic. ___ HERES WHAT ELSE IS HAPPENING: CULLMAN, Ala. As hundreds of mostly unvaccinated COVID-19 patients filled Alabama intensive care units, hospital staff in north Alabama contacted 43 hospitals in three states to find a specialty cardiac ICU bed for Ray Martin DeMonia, his family writes in his obituary. The resident of Cullman, Alabama, was finally transferred to Meridian, Mississippi, about 170 miles (274 kilometers) away. The 73-year-old antiques dealer died Sept. 1 because of the cardiac event he suffered. Now, his family is making a plea. In honor of Ray, please get vaccinated if you have not, in an effort to free up resources for non-COVID related emergencies, his obituary reads. After describing the search for an ICU bed for DeMonia, the obituary adds: He would not want any other family to go through what his did. ___ GREAT FALLS, Mont. Great Falls High School in Montana is moving to remote learning for the rest of the week due to an increase in coronavirus cases among students and staff. School officials said Monday that more than 35 people have tested positive for the virus. Moving to remote learning will allow for quarantine or isolation times for students and staff to lapse and give sanitation crews time to disinfect more than 40 classrooms. Student athletic activities will continue as scheduled, but there will be a mask requirement when students and coaches are in close proximity. Other school districts have switched to remote classes because of outbreaks. ___ DENVER Colorado Gov. Jared Polis is urging the Food and Drug Administration to quickly authorize booster shots for the Pfizer coronavirus vaccine as well as permit children ages 5 to 11 to be vaccinated. Polis said Monday that foot-dragging by U.S. health officials has cost lives. In his words, The FDA needs to get out of their ivory tower and realize there is a real life pandemic. In August, Pfizer said it had started the application process for a third dose of its vaccine for everyone age 16 and older. It asserts that peoples antibody levels jump fivefold to tenfold after a third dose, compared to their second dose months earlier. The White House has begun planning for boosters later this month, if both the FDA and the CDC agree. Advisers to the FDA will weigh evidence about an extra Pfizer shot Friday. The U.S. already offers an extra dose of the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines to people with severely weakened immune systems. ___ CHARLESTON, W.Va. The number of coronavirus infections and people hospitalized for COVID-19 in West Virginia have set new highs as Gov. Jim Justice scolds residents who continue to balk at getting vaccinated. At least 40% of the states people older than 12 have not received all doses. The governor said Monday that this is a pandemic of the unvaccinated. He has balked at issuing either a vaccination or mask mandate. Officials said Monday that confirmed virus cases statewide totaled about 8,860 last week, breaking the previous weekly high of about 8,200 set in early January. A record 852 people were in hospitals Monday for COVID-19, the disease that can be caused by the virus. The previous high of 818 was set Jan. 5. ___ GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip Gazas Hamas authorities say they are destroying 50,000 doses of coronavirus vaccine, blaming Israeli delays made the shots invalid. The Hamas-run Health Ministry said Monday that the vaccine doses sent by the Palestinian Authority arrived at the coastal enclave via an Israeli commercial crossing Thursday. The ministry says the single-dose version of Russias Sputnik V vaccine was found to be invalid and unfit for usage. It accuses Israel of leaving them waiting for long hours in improper shipping and cooling conditions. There has been no immediate comment from Israel, which had facilitated the delivery of previous vaccine shipments. Gaza is home to nearly 2 million people, and the ministry says that so far a little over 354,000 are vaccinated, ___ ORLANDO, Fla. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has threatened local governments with $5,000 fines per violation for requiring their employees to get vaccinated against the coronavirus that has overrun hospitals across the state. DeSantis said Monday that local municipalities potentially face millions of dollars in fines for implementing a requirement that their employees get a COVID-19 vaccine. Gainesville and Orange County officials say they still are going ahead with the vaccine requirements. Florida has been a national epicenter for the virus this summer, with COVID-19 deaths in Florida accounting for more than 20% of the virus-related deaths across the country last week. ___ BANGOR, Maine Maine is starting the week with more than a dozen outbreaks of COVID-19 in schools, and many schools are testing to mitigate the risk. As of Friday, 384 of Maines 720 public and private schools had signed up with Concentric, a branch of Boston-based Ginkgo Bioworks, for pool testing of students. The Bangor Daily News reports that the program calls for student tests to be pooled and sent to a lab in Massachusetts. If theres a positive test for a school, then individual students will be tested. The school outbreaks come amid a surge in infections tied to the delta variant, which is spreading in Maine. ___ NEW YORK Classroom doors are swinging open for about a million New York City public school students in the nations largest experiment of in-person learning during the coronavirus pandemic. The start of the school year Monday coincides with several other milestones in the citys pandemic recovery that hinge on vaccine mandates. Nearly all of the citys 300,000 employees will be required to be back in their workplaces as the city ends remote work. Most will either need to be vaccinated, or undergo weekly COVID-19 testing. The city was also set to start enforcing rules requiring workers and patrons to be vaccinated to go indoors at restaurants, museums and entertainment venues. ___ OLYMPIA, Wash. Washington state troopers, prison correctional officers, ferry workers and other public sector employees have filed a lawsuit to try to overturn Gov. Jay Inslees COVID-19 vaccine mandate. The Northwest News Network reports the lawsuit filed by more than 90 workers on Friday in Walla Walla County says the mandate is unlawful and unconstitutional. The lawsuit says the penalty of being fired for not getting the vaccine is arbitrary and capricious, especially for employees who can work from home or have natural immunity from having previously contracted COVID-19. An Inslee spokesperson, Mike Faulk, said the office had not yet reviewed the lawsuit. Inslee issued his vaccine mandate last month. It requires most state employees, on-site contractors and volunteers, as well as private health care and long-term care workers, to be fully vaccinated by Oct. 18. Inslee later expanded the mandate to include workers in educational settings from preschool through higher education. While Inslee did not offer a testing alternative in lieu of the vaccine, workers subject to the mandate can apply for religious or medical exemptions. ___ BUCHAREST, Romania Almost 3 million students returned to schools Monday in Romania after a summer break and face restrictions as COVID-19 infections rapidly rise in the country. Authorities have mandated that children wear protective masks inside schools and implemented social distancing to try to curb the spread of the virus. The resumption of the school year takes place, unfortunately, under the spectrum of the pandemic, President Klaus Iohannis said Monday. It is important to strictly follow the measures set by the authorities to protect us and our loved ones. Throughout the pandemic, Romanian students have faced long, periodic schools closures with lessons moved online. While authorities want to avoid a repeat of remote learning, schools will be forced to move lessons online if an area surpasses an infection rate of 6 per 1,000 residents. In recent weeks, daily COVID-19 infections in Romania a country of 19 million, which has the second-lowest vaccination uptake in the European Union at 27% have risen dramatically from around 300 a day a month ago to more than 2,500 infections a day last week. Romanias education ministry says about 61% of education workers have been vaccinated. ___ ROME Italy will begin administering a third dose of the COVID-19 vaccine to people who are considered at greater risk for exposure to the virus or at higher risk for developing a severe form of the illness. The office of the Italian general leading the governments COVID-19 vaccination program announced the decision after a meeting on Monday with the health minister. Those who have compromised immune systems will be the first group to receive the booster shots starting on Sept. 20. Which of the more fragile populations will next get a booster vaccine is being worked out with Italys regions. A day earlier, the governor of Lazio, the region which includes Rome, said Lazio will shortly start contacting transplant recipients to get a third COVID-19 vaccine dose. As of Monday, some 74% of people in Italy 12 or older and thus eligible for COVID-19 vaccines are fully vaccinated. ___ ROME Some 4 million students in Italy have returned to the classroom after summer break, with the Italian government determined to avoid any replay of remote learning. Schools in 10 of the nations 20 regions began the academic year on Monday. Students in the Alpine Alto Adige region started classes last week, and other regions, including Campania in the Naples area, begin the school year later this week. Italian students in the last 1 1/2 years have seen relatively little in-classroom time. Starting this month, all teachers and administrative staff must have a Green Pass. That means they received at least one vaccine dose, have recovered from COVID-19 in the last six months or tested negative for the virus in the previous 48 hours. Education Minister Patrizio Bianchi says school reopening went smoothly on Monday, with 93% of teachers presenting Green Passes, and some others provided certification that they cannot be vaccinated for health reasons. One critical area is transport. Many regions and cities have warned there arent enough buses, including local public transport, to avoid crowding during the trips to and from school. ___ LONDON Britains chief medical officers say children aged 12 to 15 should be vaccinated against coronavirus, despite a ruling by the governments vaccine advisors that the step would have only marginal health benefits. England Chief Medical Officer Chris Whitty and his counterparts in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, said Monday that the children should be given a single dose of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine. They have yet to decide on a second dose. The government has said it will follow the medical officers recommendations. Expanded vaccinations are expected to be part of a tool kit for dealing with the coronavirus in the fall and winter that Prime Minister Boris Johnson is due to announce on Tuesday. Earlier this month Britains Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunization said the vaccine should be given to 12- to 15-year-olds with underlying health conditions. But it did not back a rollout to healthy children in that age group, saying the balance of benefit and risk was unclear. However, it said there might be wider societal factors to consider, such as on education or children acting as sources of transmission. Countries including the United States, Canada, France and Italy already offer coronavirus vaccines to people aged 12 and up. UNITED NATIONS The U.N. humanitarian chief says $1.2 billion has been promised to help Afghans facing a growing humanitarian crisis in the country and millions in the region, calling the pledges an important step toward helping the needy. Undersecretary-General Martin Griffiths announced the total in pledges at the closing of a high-level ministerial meeting in Geneva on Monday that was seeking $606 million until the end of the year to help 11 million people. Griffiths says the $1.2 billion includes funding for that appeal as well as the regional response to the Afghan crisis, which U.N. refugee chief Filippo Grandi spoke about from Kabul. Griffiths is urging donors to turn the pledges into cash contributions as fast as possible, saying that the funding will throw a lifeline to Afghans who lack food, health care and protection. He says the meeting showed solidarity with the Afghan people but adds that Afghanistan faces a long and hard road ahead and this is far from the end of the journey. ___ MORE ON AFGHANISTAN: UN seeks $606 million for Afghanistan after Taliban takeover Taliban: Women can study in gender-segregated universities Kabul flag shop that started in Soviet era retools yet again ___ HERES WHAT ELSE IS HAPPENING: WASHINGTON The Pentagon says all flights of Afghan evacuees into the United States have been halted for another seven days. Thats at the request of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, due to measles cases at three different U.S. bases. Pentagon spokesman John Kirby said Monday that three cases of measles were diagnosed among Afghans arriving at Dulles International Airport in Virginia, one at Fort McCoy in Wisconsin and one at Fort Pickett in Virginia. The U.S. initially halted the U.S.-bound flights on Friday when the measles cases were first discovered. Kirby said the seven-day extension of the pause in flights begins Monday and that all efforts are being made to do contact tracing to determine who at any of the bases may have been exposed. He said patients are being housed separately and are getting medical care. Kirby said all evacuees are receiving any necessary immunizations including for measles when they arrive in the U.S. He said they soon will be getting the immunizations at bases in Europe and the Middle East where evacuees are held prior to their flights to the U.S. The seven-day extension further complicates what has already been a difficult and frustrating process for evacuees fleeing Afghanistan and trying to get to the U.S. As many as 10,000 evacuees are at a temporary processing site at Ramstein Air Base in Germany, where there is a 10-day limit on their stay in the country. ___ GENEVA The U.N. human rights chief says her office has received credible allegations of reprisal killings by the Taliban of former Afghan security forces, as well as instances in which officials in the previous government and their relatives were arbitrarily detained and later turned up dead. Michelle Bachelet, speaking on Monday to the Human Rights Council, warned of a new and perilous phase for Afghanistan as she criticized the Taliban for a disconnect between their words and actions. She cited multiple allegations of Taliban house-to-house searches looking for officials from the previous government and people who cooperated with U.S. security forces and companies. Such searches took place in at least a half-dozen cities, Bachelet said. U.N. staffers have also reported increasing attacks and threats, she added, without providing specifics. My office has received credible allegations of reprisal killings of a number of former ANSF (Afghan National Security Forces) personnel, and reports of officials, who worked for previous administrations and their family members being arbitrarily detained, she said. In some cases, the officials were released, and in others, they were found dead. Bachelet also highlighted deeply troubling information about Taliban raids on offices of some advocacy groups. In contradiction to assurances that the Taliban would uphold womens rights, over the past three weeks women have instead been progressively excluded from the public sphere, she told the 47-member council as it opened its autumn session. She said girls aged over 12 have been barred from attending school in some places in Afghanistan, and Womens Affairs departments had been at times dismantled. ___ MADRID Spains Foreign Ministry says the country will make a 20 million euro ($23.6 million) contribution to humanitarian efforts to assist Afghans, with nearly a third of it to be spent this year. Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Albares announced Spains donation at a U.N.-sponsored donor conference on Afghanistan taking place in Geneva on Monday. Albares said that the goal should be to avert the drama of a humanitarian crisis of great proportions, according to a statement by his ministry. The donors conference is designed to drum up emergency funds for beleaguered Afghans who could soon face widespread hunger after decades of conflict. ___ COPENHAGEN, Denmark Denmark said at the Geneva donor conference on Afghanistan it is giving 240 million more kroner ($38.1 million) to the ailing country. Meanwhile, neighboring Norway pledged Monday an extra 100 million kroner ($11.5 million) to be sent via different organizations of the United Nations and the International Red Cross, among others. More than 18 million people in Afghanistan now need protection and life-saving assistance. Half of all children are at risk of acute malnutrition, said Norwegian Foreign Minister Ine Eriksen Soereide. In Denmark, Foreign Aid Minister Flemming Moeller Mortensen called the situation in Afghanistan heartbreaking and the situation only looks seems to worsen in the coming months as the winter approaches. The Danish money also would be channeled through U.N. agencies and Danish organizations working in the region. The United Nations hosted a donors conference to drum up emergency funds for beleaguered Afghans who could soon face widespread hunger after decades of conflict. ___ DUBAI, United Arab Emirates Frances foreign minister has expressed disappointment in Afghanistans newly formed Taliban government, saying the group so far has failed to live up to its promises of offering a more moderate and inclusive style of leadership. Speaking alongside his Qatari counterpart during a visit to Doha on Monday, Jean-Yves Le Drian says the response we have seen from Kabul so far is not up to our expectations. Le Drian said France and the rest of the international community will continue pressing the Taliban not to harbor terrorists, to allow the secure delivery of humanitarian aid and to protect the rights of women, among other demands. We have heard the statements made (by the Taliban), though we are waiting for actions, Le Drian told reporters. Words are not enough. Qatar, a tiny Gulf Arab state that has hosted a Taliban office in its capital for years and played an outsized role in the evacuation of U.S. and foreign forces from Afghanistan, sent a high-level diplomatic delegation to the country on Sunday. Qatars Foreign Minister Mohammad bin Abdulrahman Al Thani said Qatari officials used those discussions to encourage the Taliban to engage with the international community and avoid isolation by preserving the hard-won gains of Afghan people, particularly women, over the years. NEW BERN, N.C. (AP) A North Carolina man who threw a brick through a courthouse window during a protest related to George Floyd's death has been sentenced to more than a year in prison. Alexander Pridgen of Greenville was sentenced to 15 months at a hearing Monday in federal court in New Bern. PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) Rhode Island General Treasurer Seth Magaziner plans on running for governor, he said Monday. The formal announcement is scheduled for Tuesday at the under-construction Henry J. Winters Elementary School in Pawtucket, his campaign said in an emailed statement. As co-chair of the Rhode Island School Building Task Force, the Democrat helped develop a program that has already allocated funding to replace and transform 176 schools in the state. He plans on launching his campaign by outlining his vision for the economic future of Rhode Island, with a focus on education, innovation, infrastructure and inclusion, according to the statement. The announcement will be followed by visits to small businesses in North Kingstown. Magaziner joins Rhode Island Secretary of State Nellie Gorbea and Dr. Luis Daniel Munoz in the race for next year's election. Both are Democrats. Gorbea made her announcement in May. Current Democratic incumbent Gov. Daniel McKee is also expected to run. HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) Democratic Gov. Tom Wolf on Monday withdrew his nominee to be Pennsylvanias top elections official, accusing state Senate Republicans of turning the confirmation process into a partisan charade. Wolf said Republican leaders were seeking a record number of hearings to confirm his acting secretary of state, Veronica Degraffenreid, and said she has been the victim of desperate and baseless smears by the top-ranking GOP leader. Wolf nominated Degraffenreid to head the Department of State in March, calling her a nationally respected elections administration expert with experience heading up voting operations in North Carolina. She ascended to the head of the department after Secretary of State Kathy Boockvar abruptly resigned in February because her agency had failed to advertise a proposed constitutional amendment. Wolf says the highest-ranking state senator, Republican Sen. Jake Corman of Centre County, has accused Degraffenreid of hiding something without giving her an opportunity to respond. In response, Corman issued a statement saying the Senate was not obligated to honor Wolfs request to withdraw her from consideration and the GOP caucus is considering how to proceed with her nomination. The governor said he was convinced Senate Republicans plan on using her confirmation as an opportunity to descend further into conspiracy theories and work to please the former president by spreading lies about last years election. There were no irregularities, no conspiracies and no fraud that occurred, Wolf said. He said Degraffenreid will continue in the secretarys role on an acting basis. Wolfs move comes as Republicans in Pennsylvanias state Senate are pushing forward what the GOP calls a forensic investigation of last years presidential election, scheduling a Senate committee meeting for Wednesday to vote on subpoenas that they say will seek communications and other election records from the Pennsylvania Department of State. Legislative Republicans maintained their significant majorities last November in an election that many of them have complained about at the urging of former President Donald Trump, who lost Pennsylvania as part of his reelection defeat. Corman and other Republicans also have repeatedly distorted the actions of judges and state officials in the months leading to the 2020 general election, perpetuating the baseless idea that Democrats won through widespread fraud. Corman said he had valid questions about the Department of States performance, including the failure to advertise the amendment, actions related to voter security and the language of constitutional amendments. He said the agency has administered recent elections in a way that is deeply partisan. Wolf said legislative Republicans have peddled election lies and misinformation for a year. They have threatened county election officials with subpoenas of election systems that would do nothing but destabilize our election system and cost taxpayers millions of dollars all in service of protecting Donald Trumps feelings about his election loss, Wolf said in a release. WASHINGTON (AP) Secretary of State Antony Blinken pushed back Monday against harsh Republican criticism of the handling of the military withdrawal from Afghanistan, saying the Biden administration inherited a deal with the Taliban to end the war, but no plan for carrying it out. In a sometimes contentious hearing Monday before the House Foreign Affairs Committee, Blinken sought to blunt complaints from angry GOP lawmakers about the administrations response to the quick collapse of the Afghan government and, more specifically, the State Departments actions to evacuate Americans and others. Blinken echoed White House talking points blaming the Trump administration for the situation that President Joe Biden inherited in Afghanistan. Republicans savaged the withdrawal as a disaster and a disgrace. And while some Democrats allowed that the operation could have been handled better, many used their questions to heap criticism on former President Donald Trump. The State Department has come under heavy criticism from both sides for not doing enough and not acting quickly enough to get American citizens, legal residents and at-risk Afghans out of the country after the Taliban took control of Kabul on Aug. 15. Some seeking to leave remain stranded there, although Blinken could not provide a number. This was an unmitigated disaster of epic proportions," said Rep. Michael McCaul of Texas, the top Republican on the committee. He said the abrupt withdrawal along with leaving some Americans and Afghans behind had emboldened the Taliban and other U.S. adversaries. I can summarize this in one word: betrayal. His GOP colleague Steve Chabot of Ohio was even more blunt. This is a disgrace, he said. The chairman of the committee, New York Rep. Gregory Meeks, urged his colleagues to keep politics out of their criticism. But he acknowledged that there had been problems. Could things have been done differently? Absolutely," he said. Republican congressman Adam Kinzinger of Illinois, who has been ostracized by many in the GOP for his criticism of Trump, placed blame for the situation on both Trump and Biden. The Trump administration failed in the setup and the Biden administration failed in the execution, Kinzinger said. In the first of two days of congressional testimony, Blinken tried to calmly deflect allegations of unpreparedness by noting that the Biden administration had inherited a U.S.-Taliban peace deal from its predecessor, along with a languishing program to grant visas to Afghans who had worked for the U.S. government. Blinken, who had publicly predicted in June that a complete Taliban takeover would not happen from a Friday to a Monday, also tried to preempt criticism of the prediction by noting that no one in the U.S. government expected the Afghan government to fall as quickly as it did. Even the most pessimistic assessments did not predict that government forces in Kabul would collapse while U.S. forces remained, Blinken said in prepared remarks released ahead of his appearance. He also defended the evacuation effort, saying it succeeded despite near insurmountable odds. The evacuation was an extraordinary effort under the most difficult conditions imaginable by our diplomats, military, and intelligence professionals, he said. In the end, we completed one of the biggest airlifts in history, with 124,000 people evacuated to safety. But Republicans, in particular, have been demanding answers as to why American citizens were left behind in the chaotic days and weeks before the military completed its withdrawal on Aug. 30. In a preview of GOP questions, the Republican National Committee released a statement earlier Monday with the banner headline Fire Blinken, demanding that he be held to account for what it described as a litany of failings. Blinkens disastrous handling of Afghanistan and weak leadership put American lives in danger, including the lives of Americans still trapped in Afghanistan, the GOP committee said. Blinken is very close to Biden and his job as America's top diplomat is almost certainly safe, but criticism of the administration's handling of the Afghanistan withdrawal has not been limited to Republicans. Numerous Democrats have also questioned the policy and expressed concern about stranded Americans, green card holders and Afghans who could face retaliation from the Taliban because of their work or ties to the U.S. government over the past 20 years. State Department officials have acknowledged that the congressional hearings could be contentious and possibly ugly, but many remain convinced the U.S. military and other officials did the best they could under extremely trying circumstances including the evacuation of the U.S. Embassy in Kabul and the crush of thousands of desperate people at Kabul's airport seeking to leave the country. Sifting through the slop of social media can be a daunting task when trying to find critical information on Tropical Storm Nicholas. The system is expected to make landfall early this week and bring a deluge to Greater Houston and the rest of Southeast Texas. By mid-week, authorities predict parts of Houston will see upwards of 10 inches of rain. Most people flock to their favorite news outlets to get up-to-date information on the storm. But where do those seasoned reporters get their information? Chron compiled a list of the social media accounts to follow for critical information on Tropical Storm Nicholas. Whether you're a veteran Houstonian used to the throes of hurricane season or a newcomer experiencing it for the first time, these are the best accounts for monitoring extreme weather: Mr. Hurricane Harvey himself. Lindner is the director of flood operations at the Harris County Flood Control District and resident meteorologist. His unwavering, just-the-facts delivery of critical information during Hurricane Harvey in 2017 made him the ultimate go-to for any information on flooding throughout Harris County. Space City Weather has been delivering hype-free weather forecasts since 2015. The trio posts thoughtful and insightful forecasts on a daily basis, in English and Spanish. If you want a break from forecasters standing in the rain to tell you it's raining, these are your people. National Weather Service for Houston and Galveston The big show. Don't let the name fool you our local NWS outpost in League City covers all of Greater Houston, and then some. Any official watches, warnings or advisories come from meteorologists there. Offices of emergency management Most city and county governments have offices of emergency management offering information on weather impacts at the street-level. Here are a few: Do you have any accounts to add to our list? Let me know via email or on Twitter: @jayrjordan A. Officials knew the mandates were coming for years; they should have phased in the increase. B. There's no master plan to justify the millions extra they are collecting. C. It's Save Our Waters Week; this shows officials care about the environment. D. Vote them all out of office. Vote View Results Kyndryl is the new name for IBMs managed infrastructure services business, which will spin off as a separate company by the end of 2021. Initially, little will change for customers except perhaps the logo on their invoice but in time Kyndryls split from IBM will allow both businesses to innovate and to work with new partners. What does Kyndryl do? Essentially, Kyndryl does exactly what the managed infrastructure services unit of IBMs Global Technology Services segment did: outsource the management of enterprises IT infrastructure, whether it came from IBM or another vendor. Kyndryl is organizing itself into six global managed services practices, and a customer advisory practice that will combine managed services, advisory services, and implantation. The six global practices will each manage a different aspect of technology: Applications, data and AI Cloud Core enterprise and zCloud, IBMs mainframe-as-a-service offering Digital workplace Network and edge Security and resiliency What does Kyndryl mean? Kyndryl claims its name is derived from the words kinship and tendril. It is meant to evoke new growth and working together, and definitely not to hint at some kind of medication or a character in an online fantasy role-playing game. What does Kyndryls split mean for IBM? IBM will still be one of the biggest technology businesses in the world. Post-split, its largest operating segment will be Cloud and Cognitive Software, which brought in $23 billion in revenue in 2020, followed by Global Business Services, its consulting unit, at $16 billion. Global Technology Services, the segment from which Kyndryl is being spun out, will shrink to around $7 billion in revenue derived from the remaining Technology Support Services business unit. How big is Kyndryl? Kyndryl may be a little short in the vowel department, but it starts life with 4,600 customers (including 75 of the Fortune 100), over a quarter of IBMs 350,000 staff, activities generating $19 billion in annual revenue and an order backlog (aka long-term maintenance contracts from all those customers) of around $62 billion. Where that puts it in the rankings depends on what youre measuring. IBM says Kyndryl will be the largest managed infrastructure services provider, twice the size of any other, but IT channel publication CRN says Kyndryl will be only the fifth-largest solutions provider, behind Accenture, whats left of IBM, DXC Technology, and Tata Consulting Services. Is Kyndryl hiring? Like crazy! Although it inherited around 90,000 IBM staff, Kyndryl hired over a dozen top executives in 2021, and has 1,509 lower-level job openings posted at time of writing, more than 300 of them in the US, with other significant concentrations in Hungary, Brazil, the Czech Republic, Poland, and Costa Rica. Half the openings are for technical specialists, with more than 100 openings in each of systems architecture and sales. Who works at Kyndryl? Most staff at Kyndryl are simply changing email addresses, carrying on doing the same work for clients as they did at IBM before the split. Indeed, Kyndryl has gone out of its way to reassure customers that their key points of contact and support, and the other team members they work with, will not change and that the company will even continue to work with experts in other divisions of IBM as it did before. But the company is bringing in new blood for many of the most senior roles, either hiring in from other companies, or poaching from other divisions of IBM. CEO Martin Schroeter is ex-IBM: He left the company in June 2020, before the spin-off was announced, and came back to lead Kyndryl, then known as NewCo, in January 2021. He was previously senior vice president of global markets at IBM, and before that its CFO. The next senior appointments, in March, were Group President Elly Keinan, another former IBMer who took time out to work in venture capital after 33 years at the company, and Chief Marketing Officer Maria Bartolome Winans, who came to the spin-off directly from her role as CMO for IBM Americas. Global Head of Corporate Affairs Una Pulizzi was a new hire in April, previously in a similar role at GE, while General Counsel Edward Sebold was chief legal officer for IBMs Watson Health division. Early May 2021 saw the poaching of more senior IBMers. Chief Transformation Officer Nelly Akoth was previously with IBM Global Business Services; Leigh Price moved from one leadership role in strategy and corporate development to another; and Vineet Khurana became controller at Kyndryl after five years in three different CFO roles at IBM. It wasnt until the second half of May that Kyndryl began to name its top technical staff: CIO Michael Bradshaw is new to IBM, having previously served as CIO at NBC/Universal and as CIO for Mission Systems and Training at Lockheed Martin. CTO Antoine Shagoury is a former CIO of US bank State Street and of stock exchanges in London and the US. Most recently, he worked at strategic advisory partnership Ridge-Lane. Other senior Kyndryl hires from outside IBM include: Vic Bhagat, a former CIO for Verizon Enterprise Solutions, EMC, and several units of GE, as the head of its customer advisory practice Chief Human Resources Officer Maryjo Charbonnier, formerly with Wolters Kluwer CFO David Wyshner, who previously headed up finance at XPO Logistics, a supply chain management outsourcer, and before that helped Wyndham Worldwide split into separate companies COO Harsh Chugh, most recently CFO at SaaS provider PlanSource Whats next for IBM? Customer needs for application services and infrastructure services are diverging, and so spinning off Kyndryl will allow IBM to focus on growing its open hybrid cloud platform and AI capabilities, IBM CEO Arvind Krishna said in October 2020. The split turns IBM from a services-led company to one making more than half its revenue from software and solutions. But until that growth takes hold, Kyndryl and IBM will remain close, as they will begin their separate lives as one anothers largest customers. Ransomware hackers today are getting smarter and more sophisticated. The new object of their desire is often your backups, and the only way to protect them is to keep them inherently secure. This is why security must begin at the point of data. As detailed in our previous blog, a Zero Trust Architecture (ZTA) trusts nothing and assumes that all users, devices, and applications are untrustworthy and may have already been compromised. Trust nothing. Verify everything. The strategy is to reduce the risk of intrusion and limit the ability of hackers to remove your last line of defense, your backup data. With Zero Trust, only authenticated users are granted access to data, permissions are limited, and all system interfaces are secure. Zero Trust and Intrusion Risk Intrusion risk control is a critical component of the Rubrik Zero Trust Data Management architecture, incorporating three important methodologies: Multi-factor Authentication (MFA) Granular Role-based Access Controls Secure Command-Line Interface Lets take a closer look at these secure data protection techniques for user and employee risk management and see how Rubrik puts them into practice. Rubrik Multi-Factor Authentication Following the principles outlined by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), Zero Trust requires that user identity be verified beyond a simple username and password. Should a user fall prey to a phishing attack, for example, their compromised credentials could allow an attacker to access privileged systems, including your backup systems, and threaten the organizations ability to recover from a ransomware attack. Rubrik is at the forefront of the data protection industry with native Multi-factor Authentication (MFA). Using a Time-based One-Time Password (TOTP) method to implement MFA, the TOTP algorithm automatically generates an authentication code that changes after a certain period. In the event that an attacker was to obtain a user's login passwordbecause that passcode is one-time and time-basedthey would not be able to easily access the backup system and compromise backup data. At Rubrik, MFA is available for local, Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP) and Single Sign-On (SSO) accounts. Rubrik integrates with SAML 2.0 Identity Providers (IdP) for SSO authentication, enabling users to access multiple applications with a single set of credentials. Rubrik users can register their device for two-step verification and utilize freely available applicationsmost of which also support MFAsuch as Google Authenticator, RSA SecurID, Microsoft Authenticator, or Cisco Duo Security. Rubrik Simply install your preferred application on your iOS or Android phone, load the app (no internet connection required), scan the QR code that appears, and enter in the one-time passcode to verify setup. Watch this demo to see it in action. In addition, administrators have the option to enforce two-step verification for all users, or for a certain set of users. Note that if youre utilizing an SSO provider, you should implement both SSO and MFA. The two are not mutually exclusive. By enabling TOTP, attackers cannot gain access to your backup data, even if your active directory is compromised and attackers obtain stolen username and password credentials or try to bypass SSO via your local accounts. Utilizing both SSO and MFA adds additional security. Granular Role-Based Access An additional form of data governance and prevention comes from Role-based Access Control (RBAC). RBAC restricts access based on an individuals role within an organization, with different roles having different access privileges. Limiting access based upon role can greatly reduce the risk of data breaches. Employees are only granted access to perform their specific job duties, and nothing more. This is the principle of least privileged access. Even if a user is successfully authenticated, if they are not assigned to perform a specific task as defined by policy (based on factors such as authority, responsibility, and job competency) then they are not granted access rights. Rubrik makes it easy to assign granular RBAC permissions and integrate with Active Directory. MFA first verifies user identity, then the policy engine grants least privilege access based on the user's specific role. In this way, RBAC enhances the user verification of MFA. In the case of an attacker stealing credentials from a user with approved access to your data, RBAC can drastically reduce the impact of account compromise, especially when it comes to ransomware. With Rubrik, for example, even if a hacker theoretically is able to access the Rubrik system with the desired set of stolen user credentials, factory reset commands are proactively disabled. This provides an important additional security measure. Similarly, if an individual Rubrik node or cluster reset is required, it requires contacting Rubrik Support and providing Rubrik with verifiable credentials. Secure Command-Line Interface Rubrik was built to secure and protect system interfaces. This includes protection for Command Line Interface (CLI) via the one-time passcode functionality. With the addition of TOTP for CLI, an additional layer of security prevents web security vulnerabilities such as OS command injection attacks from allowing an authenticated attacker to remotely execute arbitrary code on Rubrik-managed systems. As the leader in Zero Trust Data Management, Rubrik continues to enhance platform security to keep backup data protected so you can successfully recover from ransomware attacks, and never pay a ransom. See how Yuba County was able to recover from a ransomware attack, paying $0 in ransom, recovering 100% of backups within 7 days, all using Rubrik Zero Trust Data Management solutions. For more information visit us at Rubrik.com Sorry, no valid subscriptions were found for this Publication. Please select from an option below to start a subscription. SUBSCRIBE TODAY! 24 Hour Access For the past five years, members of the media have blamed Donald Trump for hijacking the narrative of American politics. His outsize threat to democracy drove journalists obsession; his personal dysfunction propelled an outrage machine. According to data from mediaQuant, a media tracking firm, Trump received the equivalent of $5.6 billion in free media during the 2016 presidential campaignmore than Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders and Ted Cruz combined. The Internet Archive logged every mention of every candidate for president on cable TV news in the seven months leading up to that election; Trump was mentioned 1,172,235 times, Clinton 623,325. The numbers were even starker heading into the 2020 race. And throughout his tenure in the Oval Office, Trump received breathless, around-the-clock coverage. Last year, after the votes were counted (with scarcely a hiccup), political reporters looked ahead to the end of the Trump administration and a promised return of decency to the White House. The beginning of 2021 marked a chance for a reset and even, perhaps, redemption. Trump, the nihilist reality-TV star who had flown from Queens to Palm Beach, was being replaced by Joe Biden, a plainspoken guy who rides the train from DC to Delaware. But the insurrection at the Capitol on January 6, a deadly event stoked by Trump during his final days in office, warranted urgent, focused reporting. Journalists traced the lead-up to the attack and its aftershocks, including the congressional response. There were investigations into the communication between government officials and police, of the domestic terrorists at the scene and their networks across the country. As the weeks went by, when political reporters might have been covering Trumps election lossand impeachmentand then his slinking off to Mar-a-Lago forever, he instead remained front and center. Damned if political journalism didnt blow the opportunity to refocus. After Biden took office, coverage of January 6 soon devolved into an excuse for the political reporting class to sustain Trump-scorn content, even as they purported to be covering his successor. According to an April report from the Pew Research Center, which examined news coverage of Bidens first sixty days in office, nearly half of the print, digital, and broadcast stories on Biden included a mention of Trump. That trend turned out to be slightly more pronounced among left-wing outlets than their conservative counterparts. If youre a regular viewer of the prime-time shows on cable, those findings may seem soft. Anchors droned on about Trumps unwillingness to quash the insurrection and his conversations with the MyPillow guy; Jared and Ivanka distancing themselves from her fathers sins; the comings and goings in Palm Beach. This rote material may have appealed to core viewers but had little to do with producing valuable journalism. Cynics, especially on the right, have tried to tie ongoing Trump coverage to the collapse of ratings and subscriptions that followed his exit. Since Trumps ignominious departure, the big cable networks have lost between 30 and 50 percent of their prime-time viewership; Web audiences for politics have plummeted. But Ive never bought into the media-money conspiracies, in which producers and executives are determined to put Trump on the air to keep the ad dollars rolling in. Reporters dont work that way; if anything, they tend to turn passive-aggressively from whatever the business side wants. Besides, if it were that simplecorporate political journalism is broken because the business model skews toward the sensationalfixing it would be relatively easy. Uncouple the money from the coverage. Nonprofit political journalism would unfold into a golden age. The fact that we have not seen thatthe good intentions and excellent reporting of newsrooms such as The 19th and ProPublica notwithstandingtells us that the problems are more fundamental, ingrained into how individual political reporters see the story and how their managers decide which scoops to celebrate. And its rooted in who gets promoted and who cashes the contributor checks from MSNBC and CNN. In reality, key failings of the political press are not simply the fault of Trump. The blame also lies with us. Rote Trump coverage may appeal to core cable TV viewers, but it has little to do with producing valuable journalism. If the insurrection foiled our initial shot at a new, Trump-free approach to covering politics, the instincts of the press doomed it. As the Biden administration got rolling, the pace of White House coverage eased, as did reporters fixation on the presidency, yet Trump remained a character in major stories. covid proved a prime example. During Bidens first months in office, vaccines became widely available across the United States, but not everyone showed up to get one. A primary culprit, we were told, was Trump, whose hesitancy to take the pandemic seriously while he was in office continued to dominate well after he was gone. As did his crackpot theories about how the virus was spread, including the notion that migrants coming across the southern US border were somehow to blame for the summer covid surge. Yes, there were legitimate arguments to be madeabout Trumps influence on right-wing media and his role in amplifying disinformationbut the Trump family was out of Washington, poolside, and had been vaccinated. (Everyone should go get your shot, Trump told the Conservative Political Action Conference in February.) Our national crises, hardly limited to inadequate healthcare and income inequality and medical-industry skepticism among people of color, were reportedfor instance, in an MSNBC piece about attempts to tie low vaccination rates to mistrust of Bidenas the failures of Trumpism. The sense of outrage hasnt subsided in coverage of other subjects: the collapse of Afghanistan, the climate emergency, the faltering economy. Each of those stories represents a media opportunity to explore what it looks like when a global empire stumbles into retreat. Yet political coverage has continued holding on to Trump, claiming that he hasnt fully loosened his grip on us. Im for a post-maga America, with the Trump era residing permanently within a history book and not in a newspaper, but we dont yet live in that America, CNNs S.E. Cupp wrote in the Chicago Sun-Times. Believe me, no one wants to be past Trumpism more than I do. It has been one of the ugliest eras of modern American history, the lasting effects of which are nowhere near complete. And its because the story is unfinished that we must continue covering it. There lies the central tension of political journalism todayin which Biden, the good, honorable son, operates in the shadow of Trump, the family fuck-up. Conservatives and many centristsnearly half the countryview that premise as absurd. Since 2015, Republicans trust in media has dropped sharply; according to Gallup, by 2020 it had fallen from 32 to 10 percent. Thanks at least in part to Trumps bullying of the press, anti-media sentiment has now become central to the GOP identity. People on the left are displeased, too, with a news ecosystem seemingly more interested in propping up the powers that be than in chronicling the fights for change in streets across the country. Many Black and Latino Americans are wary of a mainstream media that doesnt look like them and doesnt seem to care about their lives. That leaves a narrower, more monolithic audience for major outletswhite, older, based in coastal liberal enclaveswhich makes news organizations increasingly dependent on a single demographic. Many people, especially those on social media, say they want to move on from Trump. Yet news outlets carry forth regardless. By the late summer, political reporters were speculating about Trumps prospects in 2024. The next race for the White House was underway. Political journalism has been listening only to the loudest voices for too long. At the Columbia Journalism Review, we have sought since Trumps early candidacy to pull our industry away from its worst tendencies. That effort continues with this issue, which takes stock of how the political press is meeting this crucial moment of transition. We begin by looking back over the past five years through the eyes of political journalists who started their careers during the Trump era, in both local and national newsrooms. Their experiences reflect the intensity of political news of late, the shortcomings of so-called objective reporting, and the care that young people in our profession place on getting a story right. Their peers at Teen Vogue have spent the past several years developing a strong political consciousness, transforming the magazine from a straightforward celebrity-filled fashion glossy to a voice of the far left, with pieces on Karl Marx and rent abolition that run alongside coverage of Gigi Hadid. As Clio Chang writes, Teen Vogues contradictions have jumped off the page recently, in conflicts public (see: Alexi McCammonds ill-fated appointment as editor) and private (as the staff confront their corporate bosses at Conde Nast). Adam Piore reports on tensions at the Wall Street Journal, which has always had a conservative opinion section, but has lately shifted to the right in its news pages, too. Top editors scrutinize story topics and language to ensure that the papers core audienceold white menwont be turned off; reporters struggle to rationalize the Journals defense of Trumpism. Elsewhere in the issue, Mehdi Hasan, a host at NBCUniversal, has no trouble telling it like it is; Jon Allsopwho chronicles the journalism world every morning in the CJR newsletter The Media Todaydescribes a fierce debater in the classically British mold who has brought his combative style to an American audience. Hasan asks powerful guests how they sleep at night, then waits for an answer. Whether his appeal will last in the relative calm of the Biden era is another question, but its refreshing to see him make well-informed moral arguments on TV. Averi Harper, deputy political director at ABC, tells Alexandria Neason that the churn of politics has never stopped. There is not a part of my life that I can say politics does not touch, Harper says. And as a woman, and a Black woman at that, that impacts me differently than it would some of my white colleagues or my male colleagues. And I think it is important that we acknowledge that. Stephania Taladrid describes the frustrations of following Latin America news that revolves mainly around Washington politics. Osita Nwanevu gets honest about preaching to the choir when writing political screeds online. Hunter Walker observes the inertia of the White House press corps. Sam Sanders implores journalists to connect hard news with cultural analysis. Matt Bors looks to the future of political cartooning. And E. Tammy Kim turns to Real Change, an advocacy newspaper in Seattle that reports on inequity by drawing attention to unhoused people living in the shadow of Amazon. Running through all these pieces is a sense that journalism is grappling with a shift in how news consumers engage with politics. Back in 2015, on the day after Trump announced his plans to run for president, Don Lemonwho would later become one of his most strident criticshighlighted how entertaining Trump was. Whats not to like? he said. People want to see Donald Trump. You want to watch him. Contrasting Trump with Jeb Bush and Hillary Clintonboth of whom, Lemon observed, committed the cardinal sin of being boringhe declared: At least theres someone interesting in the race. That ethos would come to define the next five years of our democracy, and our political press. But now that Trump is out of office, as Julia Ioffe wrote in her terrific newsletter, Tomorrow Will Be Worse, many feel a yawning sense of emptiness and disappointment at what the ebbing Trump tide left behind. Quoting someone she identified as a prominent White House reporter on the difficulty in weaning off Trump, Ioffe found that, after covering his White House: Now everyone is exposed and everyone is dogshit. For too long, political journalism has listened mainly to the loudest talkers. Its time, finally, to hear from other voices. Has America ever needed a media watchdog more than now? Help us by joining CJR today Kyle Pope is the editor in chief and publisher of the Columbia Journalism Review. Its the question every claim professional and trial attorney claims to know but not fully understand. In addition to paying for medical expenses, death benefits, funeral costs and/or indemnity benefits for lost wages resulting from a compensable injury, workers compensation insurance carriers also expend considerable dollars for case management costs, medical bill audit fees, independent medical exam (IME) fees, expert fees, rehabilitation benefits, third-party vendor costs, nurse case management fees, workers compensation case attorneys fees, and the like. They pay significant attorneys fees on permanency awards and incur other expenses in conjunction with the handling and adjusting of workers compensation claims. Which of these benefits are recoverable in workers compensation subrogation remains a point of considerable confusion and contention, and an article which discusses the nuances of this issue can be viewed HERE. Subrogation professionals, lawyers, judges, and administrative judges are all equally confused on the law in this area, and very little clear guidance one way or the other can be found. This issue has been decided in only a handful of jurisdictions. Judges like things that fit neatly into legal categories and clearly established rules. Where such things are not available, the best argument usually wins. For that reason, the chart below provides definitions, explanations, and arguments which can be used when the issue of which benefits can be subrogated has not been nearly established already. We must be the ones to establish it. The first place to look is the underlying workers compensation subrogation statute and its wording. While rarely determinative of the issue, it can frequently provide hand and footholds which can enable us to craft persuasive legal and public policy arguments as to why costs other than medical expenses and indemnity benefits should be reimbursable under a states workers compensation subrogation law. Take for example the Texas statute which reads as follows: the net amount recovered by a claimant in a third-party action shall be used to reimburse the carrier for benefits , including medical benefits that have been paid for the compensable injury. V.T.C.A. Labor Code 417.002. The question becomes whether such things as case management costs and medical bill audit fees are considered benefits or medical benefits which have been paid for the compensable injury. Each state should be evaluated and argued differently because each states statute is different. Another interesting and cogent argument is an analogy to the right to a future credit. When a recovery by an employee is made, the carrier is given a credit toward future benefit payments. A close look at this law reveals that medical-legal costs should be costs against which a carrier can press a credit, implying that they constitute compensation under California law and should be recoverable by a workers compensation carrier. Adams v. W.C.A.B., 18 Cal.3d 226 (1976). Arguments in each state should be fashioned from the only tools available statutory language and common sense. In North Carolina, for example, the workers compensation statute provides for reimbursement to the carrier of all benefits by way of compensation or medical compensation expense paid or to be paid. N.C.G.S.A. 97-10.2. Further legal archaeology reveals the definition of compensation as follows: The term compensation means the money allowance payable to an employee or to his dependents as provided for in this Article, and includes funeral benefits provided therein. N.C.G.S.A. 97-2. North Carolina case law reveals no further clarification on exactly what medical compensation expenses refer to, but the door seems open wide enough to include some of the case management costs referenced above, yet not quite wide enough to include interest. Buckner v. City of Asheville, 438 S.E.2d 467 (N.C. App. 1994). A few states have decided the issue, and not always in the subrogation industrys favor. For example, Illinois has totally ignored the cost savings to the claimant of such case management fees and expenditures. It has declared such items unrecoverable because such medical rehabilitative services provided by the claim coordinator at the insurance companys direction were presumably provided for the benefit of the carrier and were not reimbursable necessary medical or rehabilitative services. Cole v. Byrd, 656 N.E.2d 1068 (Ill. 1995). The expense at issue was the medical rehabilitation coordinator services of a licensed professional nurse provided by Professional Rehabilitation Management (PRM). Allocated vs. Unallocated Fees, Costs, and Expenses Fees and costs for services such as nurse case management, medical bill audits, vocational rehabilitation, utilization reviews (independent review of the medical treatment plan requested by the employees doctor to determine if the treatment is medically necessary and, therefore, covered by workers compensation), independent medical reviews, nurse case workers, are generally referred to as Allocated Loss Adjustment Expenses (ALAE). ALAE are attributed to the handling of a specific workers compensation claim, as opposed to Unallocated Loss Adjustment Expenses (ULAE) which constitute general overhead of an insurance company, such as claims adjuster salaries and benefits. ALAE, along with ULAE, represent a carriers estimate of the money it will pay out in claims and expenses. Some commercial liability policies contain endorsements, which require the policyholder to reimburse its insurance company for loss adjustment expenses (ALAE or ULAE). The terms nurse case management and utilization review are often inappropriately conflated. Nurse case management is the coordination and organization of medical care in order to expedite the employees return to work. It is usually the responsibility of the nurse case manager. Utilization review on the other hand, is the review of actual medical services being provided to the employee to determine if it is medical necessity and appropriate for the injury. The utilization review is conducted by a nurse who has a utilization review physician available for medical opinions and guidance. Recovery of Case Attorneys Fees In addition to the above-referenced allocated fee and costs, workers compensation carriers also pay significant amounts in attorneys fees to lawyers representing injured employees when a workers compensation disability claim is settled or compromised. Such fees are sometimes paid out of the employees settlement and other times awarded independently and paid by the carrier apart from the settlement amount. Whether such attorneys fees can and should be reimbursed to the carrier as part of its workers compensation subrogation lien when a third-party case settled is equally as confusing and unclear in most states. The fee paid to an attorney for representing an injured employee in a workers compensation claim varies by state and is usually governed by state laws or regulations. In most states, the attorney represents the employee on a contingent basis. While not technically compensation, such fees are often paid directly out of the disability benefits paid to the employee, and in such cases should be considered part of the carriers subrogation lien. In New York, for example, a workers compensation judge is responsible for establishing the fee to be awarded to the employees attorney. This fee is deducted from the benefits awarded to the injured employee. Workers Compensation Law (WCL) 24, and Title 12 NYCRR 300.17. In Texas, an employees attorney is paid fees by the carrier out of the income benefits received by the employee. This means out of the benefits the employee received in a settlement or an award after a contested case hearing, not including the value of medical benefits or any undisputed benefits paid without the lawyers help. The amount of attorney fees must be approved by the Division of Workers Compensation and are determined by the attorneys time and expenses. Once the Division approves the attorneys fees, the insurance carrier is ordered by the Division to deduct the fee amount from the employees benefits, up to 25% of the recovery amount. Tex. Labor Code 408.221(b), 28 Tex. Admin. Code 152.5 (2019). When attempting to recover for costs or expenses beyond the basic indemnity and medical benefit payments, a subrogation professionals first strategy should be to look at the law of the particular state involved, to determine exactly what the subrogation statute allows the carrier to recover. For example, if it allows for recovery of benefits or compensation paid, then the definitions of those terms in other areas of the workers compensation law should be determined, and an argument fashioned that those definitions include case management type fees and expenses. If that proves to be a dead end, a logical argument should be made that by discouraging the spending of such amounts, the subrogation lien will increase, and the recovery of the injured worker will decrease. Such expenditures assist in holding down the cost of workers compensation insurance premiums, and every incentive to hold down liens and reduce fraud will make workers compensation systems more cost-effective and affordable for businesses. As a last resort, simply include these reasonable costs in the lien totals provided to plaintiffs lawyers, putting the burden on them to affirmatively challenge such expenses. A court may be asked to decide, and voila; we have precedent, good or bad. Where the recovery of such costs is not proscribed, it is reasonable to expect reimbursement of expenses and costs which fall within the definition of the amount recoverable under the applicable workers compensation subrogation statute or which benefit the employee by keeping the benefits total to its absolute minimum. If the totals are not questioned, there is no foul. If they are, remember the words of Mark Twain, Whatever you say, say it with conviction. For questions about workers compensation subrogation in all 50 states, please contact Gary Wickert at gwickert@mwl-law.com BRIDGEPORT, Conn. (AP) A Connecticut man was sentenced Friday to 10 years in prison for setting fires including the 2019 blaze that destroyed a well-known Shakespearean theater in a shoreline town. Christopher Sakowicz told the judge at his sentencing that wants to work as a welder following his release from prison, Hearst Connecticut Media reported. I want to take the bad and use it for good. I want to work on the buildings I destroyed, Sakowicz said. Sakowicz, 20, of Stratford, pleaded guilty in June to setting the fire that burned the American Shakespeare Theatre in Stratford to the ground on Jan. 13, 2019. The theater, built in 1955, was modeled after Londons Globe Theatre. Its stage was graced by the likes of Katharine Hepburn, Christopher Plummer and James Earl Jones. A group of theater and business professionals said last year that it is hoping to rebuild the theater. Defense lawyer Joseph Bruckmann told the judge that Sakowicz has a long history of mental illness. He had issues that were beyond his control, Bruckmann said. In addition to the prison time, Bridgeport Superior Court Judge Kevin Russo ordered Sakowicz to undergo psychiatric treatment and be placed on 15 years of special parole. Two other teens were charged in connection with the theater fire and other blazes. Police said the teens admitted on Snapchat that they set the theater fire and posted an incriminating video that was circulated around their school, Bunnell High School. Copyright 2021 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. MADRID (AP) Soldiers are being deployed in southeastern Spain to join the battle against a major wildfire that is burning for a fourth day. It has destroyed more than 6,000 hectares (15,000 acres) of forest and prompted fresh evacuations, bringing the total number of residents displaced to around 2,000. Authorities on Sunday preventively removed residents from the town of Jubrique, population 500, and announced they would also evacuate the 400 inhabitants of Genalguacil. Over 1,000 more had been already evacuated before the weekend from other areas surrounding the resort town of Estepona, popular among tourists and foreign expats. A military unit was traveling from the military base of Moron, in southern Spain, to join more than 300 firefighters and 41 water-dropping aircraft battling the flames. Infoca, the Andalusia regions agency in charge of firefighting efforts, described Sunday as a key day for bringing the blaze under control. That was despite the timid progress seen on Saturday, when authorities said that better weather conditions had helped them stabilize the perimeter of the blaze, allowing them to focus on four hot areas. Infoca released aerial pictures showing towering plumes of smoke emerging from a rugged terrain that it said made the crews access on the ground difficult. A combination of hot and dry temperatures with strong winds created a perfect storm turning the blaze that started late on Wednesday into a hungry monster, as a regional official described it earlier this week. A 44-year-old firefighter died Thursday while trying to extinguish the blaze. Authorities say they have evidence of arson. Wildfires are common in southern Europe during the hot, dry summer months, but have been particularly numerous around the Mediterranean this year, worsened by the intense August heatwaves. In Spain, over 75,000 hectares (186,000 acres) of forest and bush areas have burned in the first eight months of the year, according to official data from Spains Ministry of Ecological Transition. Copyright 2021 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. NEW ORLEANS (AP) Bob Lessnau, the Audubon Zoos curator of animals, rode out Hurricane Ida with 35 staff members at the Uptown New Orleans institution. When the power went out, generators provided emergency electricity. It was a tense few hours, as the wind and rain roared past. You just have to wait it out, with the anticipation and the anxiety that builds, Lessnau said. Yet all the animals survived at both the zoo and at the Audubon Aquarium of the Americas on the downtown riverfront and one even gave birth during the storm. No reopening date has been set for either attraction. Lessnau said the zoo animals were secured inside enclosures for Ida or at least most were. At the height of the Aug. 29 hurricane, a Barasingha deer escaped through a collapsed fence. Lessnau said staff members set out to retrieve the animal, but it was too hazardous to be out in the elements. After the wind eased, staff found the deer hunkered down in some brush. A native of Nepal, the creature is known as a swamp deer. So, Lessnau said, it is at home in south Louisiana conditions. As staff surveyed the zoo grounds, they discovered downed trees and branches but little other conspicuous damage. Lessnau said that one of the first priorities was to be sure that all of our code red dangerous animals were accounted for and secure. The designation includes everything from lions to rhinoceroses. After that, the crew examined the animals outdoor pens, which were intact. Within 48 to 72 hours of Idas departure, Lessnau said, the animals were returned to their outdoor environments. Power was restored to the zoo relatively quickly, but theres been at least one mini-blackout since, he said. Asked how the animals reacted to the storm, Lessnau said he thinks they have a perception of changes in their environments, but none of the creatures seemed to exhibit evidence of stress. Theyve adapted to the New Orleans environment, he said. They probably do better than most people. Lessnau was quick to thank the zoos animal keepers and maintenance workers, who set their private lives aside to ensure the safety of their wards. And all of this on top of a pandemic, he said. I applaud our staff for enduring during this challenging time. At the aquarium, a 17-person emergency crew also weathered Hurricane Ida. The heavy winds caused minor damage to some windows surrounding the Amazon Exhibit, but otherwise the striking building survived, as did the collection of water creatures inside. Though commercial power failed at the aquarium during the storm, as it did throughout southeast Louisiana, emergency generators compensated, sustaining the aquatic displays. We were extremely happy about how all of the systems worked, said Katie Smith, the Audubon Institutes vice president of marketing. There was no loss that Im aware of, Smith said. On the contrary, a cownose ray gave birth Aug. 29 to a pup, which was _ naturally _ named Ida. News of the survival of all the many species at the aquarium will be a particular relief to New Orleanians who recall the catastrophe that befell the attraction during Hurricane Katrina in 2005. Circumstances in the flooded city forced the emergency staff to abandon the building, which resulted in the death of most of the collection. To avoid the possibility of a similar occurrence, the Freeport-McMoRan Audubon Species Survival Center, a facility for propagating threatened animals, located on the west bank of New Orleans, shipped 24 cownose rays and one zebra shark to the Mississippi Aquarium and the Institute of Marine Mammal Studies in Gulfport Mississippi. The management of the Survival Center evacuated the marine species on Sept. 3 because the facility was then operating on limited generator power in the aftermath of the Aug. 29 storm. Evacuation is an emergency option in response to conditions after a hurricane, but the Audubon Institute does not transport animals away from the potential path of tropical weather. Storms can shift and we do not want to unnecessarily stress the animals in our care, Smith said. Staying at our facilities is the best option. Smith said theres no timetable for reopening the zoo or aquarium to the public at this time. She predicts the aquarium will be ready to receive guests sooner than the zoo. Copyright 2021 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. I rarely read fiction and almost never read collections of short stories, but I just finished a book of short stories by an author who was born to a Laotian family in a refugee camp in Thailand and grew up in Toronto. The book, How to Pronounce Knife by Souvankham Thammavongsa, made a real impression on me. Marijo Krogman, 86, Clinton, died Sunday, September 12th. Mass will be celebrated at 10:00 AM Saturday, September 18th at Prince of Peace. Visitation from 9:00 AM until the time of the Mass Saturday. Pape Funeral Home is assisting. Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, September 13) Education Secretary Leonor Briones on Monday declared that last years distance learning was successful as over 24.6 million public school students return to online classes due to the rise in COVID-19 cases in the country. "Today, we are opening the School Year 2021-2022 as we celebrate last years victory. The challenges we are facing now are even tougher than those we battled last year," Briones said during the virtual school opening program. "We open classes today in celebration of our victories and successes," she added. The Philippines is among the five countries that have not reopened schools since the COVID-19 pandemic started, the United Nations Children's Fund earlier reported. If the Duterte administration would continue to halt in-person classes, this could lead to trillions of pesos in lost productivity in the decades ahead, the National Economic and Development Authority warned. READ: NEDA: Prolonged school closures could lead to trillions in losses In a Palace briefing on Monday, Presidential spokesperson Harry Roque said the proposed pilot run of face-to-face classes received "positive reaction" from President Rodrigo Duterte, but he has yet to finalize his decision. Briones said the challenges were part of the process, stressing that the government prepared learning facilities and provided teachers and non-teaching staff with salary hikes, benefits, and devices. Meanwhile, Education Undersecretary Revsee Escobedo said the Department of Education is extending the enrollment period until September 30. "Magpapalabas tayo ng memorandun na kung saan ang DepEd ay tatanggap ng enrollees hanggang Sept. 30, 2021. Umaasa tayo na sa buwan na ito, mahihigitan natin ang numero ng enrollment natin noong School Year 2020 to 2021," Escobedo said. [Translation: We will issue a memorandum stating that DepEd will accept enrollees until Sept. 30, 2021. We hope that this month, we will surpass our enrollment number in School Year 2020 to 2021.] Around 26.2 million learners enrolled last school year. Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, September 13) Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarra confirmed on Monday he will be signing an immigration lookout bulletin order against eight persons involved in the Senate's probe into the alleged misuse of the government's COVID-19 response funds. While Guevarra admitted he was "not sure" about their involvement or connection to a top medical supplier supposedly involved in dubious deals, he noted that the request came from the Senate. "The DOJ will issue an immigration lookout bulletin order (ILBO) against anyone upon receipt of a proper request from a person in interest, more so from a co-equal branch of government," the secretary told reporters. The announcement came after Senate Blue Ribbon Committee members recommended former presidential adviser Michael Yang's inclusion in the country's immigration watchlist. Yang reportedly has links to Pharmally Pharmaceutical Corp., a local company that allegedly cornered the biggest supply contracts for medical supplies from the government. The senators adopted the motion after Yang did not show up in the panel's hearing on the Health department's handling of COVID-19 response funds on Monday. Atty. Raymond Fortun told the panel that Yang's doctor directed his client to remain on bed rest for five days, citing "hypertensive urgency." The lawyer likewise revealed early into the hearing that he was supposed to meet up with the Chinese businessman, but was told he would stay home upon his doctor's orders after his blood pressure supposedly went up. "The fact that there is still a warrant of arrest and that technically he is now in the custody of our Sergeant-at-Arms, that is sufficient basis for him not to be able to fly out," Sen. Francis "Kiko" Pangilinan told fellow lawmakers. The Senate committee issued late last week an arrest warrant against Yang, citing his "evasiveness" during the probe, which also tackled the government's procurement of COVID-19 supplies during the onset of the pandemic. Despite the controversies surrounding him, Yang has been consistently defended by President Rodrigo Duterte. The chief executive has also stood by Pharmally amid questions from senators on the multi-billion peso contracts it bagged from government despite its relatively small capital. CNN Philippines senior correspondent Anjo Alimario contributed to this report. Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, September 13) The tension between the two warring factions of the PDP-Laban has weighed down the country's business environment, and at the same time, increases the chances of the opposition to win the presidency next year, think tank Fitch Solutions said. The group said it scaled down its short-term political risk index (STPRI) score for the Philippines from 64.8 to 64 out of 100. The STPRI "assesses pertinent political risks to investment climate stability over a shorter time frame, up to 24 months forward," it said. It said lowering the score reflects its expectations for disruptions, adding that this will further be slashed if the Philippines faces delays in the passing of the 2022 national budget. "We at Fitch Solutions view the infighting within the Philippines governing PDP-Laban party ahead of 2022 elections as detrimental to the countrys near-term policy-making outlook," Fitch Solutions said. "With the two camps at loggerheads over leadership of the party and who should receive party backing for the presidential and vice-presidential elections, there is a risk that policy making processes will slow as attention is turned to political jostling rather than measures to speed up the Philippines economic recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic and longer-term reforms," it said. READ: Comelec: No need yet to intervene in PDP-Laban rift Officials of the PDP-Laban have been on a head-to-head battle -- ousting officers from the rival faction and claiming they are the legitimate party officers. RELATED: Cusi-led PDP-Laban urges Comelec to declare Pacquiao group 'illegitimate' RELATED: Pacquiao-led PDP Laban group ousts Duterte as party chairman Energy Secretary Alfonso Cusi leads one PDP-Laban faction, while Senator Manny Pacquiao heads the other. The faction led by Pacquiao named Senator Aquilino "Koko" Pimentel III as party chairman, replacing President Rodrigo Duterte. The Pacquiao camp said in late August that the lawmaker may pursue his plan to run for president next year. The Cusi-led faction, on the other hand, officially endorsed the tandem of Senator Bong Go and Duterte as its presidential and vice presidential bets for the 2022 elections. "Political distractions and infighting within the governing coalition could hamper efforts to reopen and support the economy. Focus will likely shift away from the need to boost the Philippines vaccine uptake rates and address supply issues, while we highlight the potential for delays to the passing of the 2022 budget before year-end," Fitch Solutions said. "Longer-term reforms that would benefit the next president could also stall. These include proposed reforms to ease restrictions on foreign ownership in the utilities and retail sectors, as well domestic hiring requirements, which could be key to reinvigorating investor interest in the Philippines," it added. According to Fitch Solutions, the conflict within the ruling party also opens an opportunity for the opposition to secure the top post. "The infighting within PDP-Laban raises the prospects for opposition candidates winning the presidency," it said. Senator Panfilo Lacson and Senate President Vicente Tito Sotto III have confirmed their intention to run as president and vice president, respectively, in the 2022 elections. Vice President Leni Robredo, meanwhile, has yet to make a decision. Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, September 13) Senior Citizens Party-list Rep. Rodolfo Ordanes on Monday urged the House of Representatives to grant 124-year-old Francisca Susano, the oldest living person in the Philippines and probably in the world, a 1-million cash gift. In filing House Resolution No. 2207, Ordanes said the grant should be given in recognition of the supercentenarian's "monumental achievement" and to assist Susano and her family especially during the COVID-19 pandemic. "In view of the honor that Mrs. Susano brings to our country and for inspiring every Filipino to strive and overcome old age, we should give her the proper recognition and aid she deserves," he said. Susano was born in Kabankalan City in Negros Occidental on Sept. 11, 1897, before the country became independent from Spanish rule. Ordanes said reaching such an age is an "unprecedented" feat, "especially considering the various economic, social, and health challenges that senior citizens face today." The Guinness Organization is now verifying the documents needed for her to be officially declared as the world's oldest living person. Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, September 13) Financial assistance will not be given to areas that will be placed under granular lockdown once the government starts the pilot implementation of the COVID-19 alert level system in Metro Manila, Interior Undersecretary Epimaco Densing said Monday. "Ang decision po is really food pack. Before kasi puro LGU (local government units) lang yan eh, ngayon kasama na si national government because this is a national strategy right now," Densing told CNN Philippines' The Source. [Translation: The decision is really to distribute food packs. Before, only the LGUs would implement that, but now, the national government is involved because this is a national strategy right now.] A granular lockdown refers to a smaller-scale quarantine enforced in villages, streets, or houses tagged as "critical zones," or high-risk for COVID-19 by the local government unit. Under the alert level system, a granular lockdown will last for a "standard" 14 days. RELATED: EXPLAINER: What you need to know about the COVID-19 alert level system in NCR Densing said in the distribution process, 50% of the supply of food packs, which will ideally last for two weeks for affected households, will be shouldered by the national government to assist the different localities. "Aside from the food packs, national government will provide logistics, PPEs. Unfortunately, wala ho tayong financial assistance (we don't have financial assistance) but food packs for 14 days," he added. In a government briefing, Department of Social Welfare and Development spokesperson Glenda Relova said food packs will be given by the LGU for the first week while the DSWD will be in charge of the distribution on the second week or in the succeeding weeks if the lockdown is extended. Densing said residents that will be covered by the granular lockdown may be given a 12-hour notice to buy their household necessities. However, areas with clustered infections "can be locked down immediately." "The beauty of this is it's flexible. Lets say one street of 10 houses will be locked down. Ipagpalagay natin, pag nagkaroon ng testing, nag-active case finding (If for example there will be testing and active case finding), they find out later on that four houses of the 10 are really not affected, the granular area will be scaled down to a smaller level," Densing explained. From September 16 to 30, Metro Manila will undergo the pilot run of the COVID-19 alert level system, with the Department of Health declaring which will be placed under Alert Levels 1 to 4 and the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases declaring which will be under the strictest Alert Level 5 or hard lockdown. It is not yet clear whether areas that will be placed under Alert Level 5 will still receive cash aid, but Densing said this alert level equates to the strictest enhanced community quarantine previously placed in COVID-hit regions. The IATF will issue the alert level system's final guidelines in the afternoon, Densing said. Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, September 13) COVID-19 cases will continue to increase in Metro Manila, even after it recorded an all-time high tally of new cases over the weekend, the OCTA Research Group said Monday. Speaking to CNN Philippines' The Source, OCTA Research fellow Guido David said the whole country has not yet reached the peak of cases and daily nationwide infections may even hit 30,000 within the month. "Unfortunately we have to be honest with the data, we don't think we have reached the peak yet," David said. "We reached an all-time high of about 26,000 and it was not just an all-time high in the Philippines, it was also an all-time high in the National Capital Region where we have 9,000 new cases on Saturday and it was also an all-time high in several LGUs in Metro Manila." The Philippines breached the 26,000-mark on Saturday, its highest ever daily count as total infections went above 2.2 million. Metro Manila, on the other hand, recorded 9,061 cases. READ: PH breaks record for highest single-day tally of new COVID-19 cases with 26,303 more infections When the country recorded 21,411 new cases on Sunday, David said this included more than 5,000 new cases from Metro Manila, which recorded an 18% growth rate. "Because growth rate is still positive, and it has stayed there, then it means cases will still continue to accumulate," he said about Metro Manila's COVID-19 situation. David recently said Metro Manila has a reproduction number of 1.42. The reproduction number represents the number of people who can get the virus from an infected person and has to be less than one to confirm a downward trend in cases, he noted. Guido added that based on preliminary data, even with the continued rise in cases in Metro Manila, "there will be less ICU cases and hospitalizations" as more and more people are getting vaccinated. "I can't say that we have seen that yet because hospitals are still full at this time but maybe the rate of hospitalization has decreased. This is something that we have to unpack from the data once we look into that," he noted. Meanwhile, Guido said that with a 15% average weekly growth rate in the Philippines, which is equivalent to 3,000 additional cases per week, new infections could reach 30,000 before the end of the month. "Right now we are averaging 20,000 or a little close to 21,000 and if we add another 3,000 by next week, we will be averaging maybe 23,000 to 24,000," David said. "And if we have another 3,000 or 4,000, we will be getting close to 30,000." Scaling up interventions and doing more randomized testing will likely bring down cases, David said. He noted that he has yet to see how the pilot alert level system from Sept. 16 to 30 in Metro Manila will affect the current COVID-19 situation. "Even with a more effective strategy that will reduce reproduction number, hopefully we can see the peak before the end of September, and cases will start to decrease by end of September towards October. This is what we want to see," David said in a separate briefing. Meanwhile, the COVID-19 watchdog also sees an increase in cases in Batangas, Rizal, Tarlac, and Quezon. David said daily infections have however decreased in many other provinces. CNN Philippines' Carolyn Bonquin contributed to this report. Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, September 13) Presidential spokesperson Harry Roque, reacting to calls for him to step down after lashing out at the head of a doctors' group, on Monday said only President Rodrigo Duterte has the power to fire him. "Nasa Presidente po 'yan (That's up to the President). Unfortunately, only the President can fire me," Roque said, when asked for his reaction to the statement of Dr. Maricar Limpin that he should be removed from his position. Limpin, the president of the Philippine College of Physicians, was at the receiving end of the spokesperson's ire during a meeting with the pandemic response task force last week. In an interview with CNN Philippines on Friday, Limpin called for Roque's resignation following his outburst, which she said reflects badly on the President. READ: Head of doctors' group seeks Roque's removal, apology to all health workers for outburst A video, which went viral on social media platforms, showed Roque berating Limpin when the physician made an emotional appeal to put the National Capital Region under a hard lockdown as personnel of hospitals are now exhausted due to rising COVID cases driven by the highly contagious Delta variant. Roque even claimed that the group "never said anything good about government response." Limpin said Roque's outburst was "really uncalled for" and "unprofessional." "We were there as representatives of the health care workforce. Therefore, if he has to apologize, he has to apologize to the whole of the healthcare workforce dahil ang ginawa [what he did] is against all of us in healthcare sector," she said. Roque apologized if he offended anyone because of the manner in which he spoke, but stood by his message. Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, September 13) Supporters of Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte believe she is not only fit to become the country's next chief executive, but will also be a better leader than her father, President Rodrigo Duterte. "Talagang may sariling pag-iisip po sya, number one. Number two po, naniniwala po kami sa kanyang strong will and also we believe she is a refined version of her father," said Anthony del Rosario, vice-chairman of the Hugpong Para kay Sara (HPS), a citizen movement launched on Monday to convince the presidential daughter to reconsider her plans. [Translation: One, she really has her own mind. Number two, we believe in her strong will and we believe she is a refined version of her father.] Del Rosario is a former governor of Davao del Norte and and also secretary-general of Hugpong ng Pagbabago (HNP), the mayor's regional political party. Sara said on Sept. 9, she is not running for president in the 2022 elections after her father officially declared he is gunning for the vice-presidency. "Gusto po natin na si Mayor Sara talaga ang tumakbo bilang presidente," Del Rosario said, hoping that they could muster enough public support to change not only her mind, but even that of her father's. [Translation: We want Mayor Sara to run for president.] "Through this organization (HPS), through the members, we hope we will be able to convince the President to reconsider his plans for 2022," he added. During its launch held in Makati City's Frabelle Corporate Plaza, the group also virtually swore in what is said were "about 10,000 officers, members and still growing" of the HPS chapters nationwide and overseas. 'Version 2.0' Other HPS convenors supported Del Rosario's stance on why Sara will be "version 2.0," when asked to be compared to President Duterte. "Despite all (of President Duterte's) efforts na pagandahin ang bayan natin, may mga pagkukulang pa rin, kaya po ito ang pagpupunan natin. At kung anong mali ang nakikita natin, itutuwid po natin yun," HPS president Allan Yap said. [Translation: Despite all efforts to improve the country, there are lapses and this is what we need to fill. And whatever wrong things we see, we will correct that.] "And her being independent-minded, she will be able to correct kung ano pa yung mga kulang sa administrasyon na 'to [whatever this administration lacks]," Yap added, "She represents both 'yung sentiments ng administration and the opposition." Deputy House Speaker and party-list representative Bernadette Herrera said their group believes in the "continuity" of the Duterte leadership since "six years will never be enough." "Hindi naman perpekto lahat ng gobyerno. May mga weakness din siempre na nangyari sa panahon ni (President Duterte) and naniniwala kami that she (Sara) can improve this further, when she becomes the president of our country," Herrera said. [Translation: No government is perfect. There are weaknesses that happened and we believe that she can improve this further, when she becomes the president of our country.] Mayor Duterte has yet to issue an official statement in response to her supporters' call but on her Facebook page, she commented, "Maraming salamat sa inyong pagtitiwala. Kasama ninyo ako sa pagmamahal sa ating Pilipinas," while re-posting the link of the livestream of the HPS event. [Translation: Thank you very much for your support. I am with you in our love for the Philippines.] Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, September 13) The country received two million Sinovac vaccine doses on Monday, vaccine czar Carlito Galvez Jr. said. This is part of the 22 million Sinovac shots recently ordered by the national government. Galvez Jr. said 12 million doses from the Chinese manufacturer are expected to be delivered in September, while 10 million are set to arrive in October. Those are on top of the 26 million vials purchased by the national government from the Chinese vaccine maker, bringing total Sinovac procurement to 48 million shots. He said the two million Sinovac shots will be distributed to priority regions, such as Calabarzon, Central Luzon, Bicol Region, Davao Region, and other areas experiencing a surge in COVID-19 cases. The country has so far received 56.7 million doses of various vaccine brands, either through procurement or donations. Over 15 million Filipinos have completed their vaccination, while 20.8 million have received their first dose. Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, September 13) It was a star-studded first online voting dry run of the Commission on Elections. Hollywood A-listers and athletes served as "candidates" in the online ballots prepared by American firm Voatz, Inc., which saw actress Angelina Jolie elected president, Batman star Christian Bale as vice president, and Korean boy group BTS as one of 11 party-list winners. The mock election was the first of three test runs of internet voting held Sept. 11-13, with results canvassed two hours after polls closed. Of 669 volunteers, 348 voted on mobile, website, and assisted kiosks for two days for a 52.01% turnout. "This looks promising because traditionally, we never go beyond 50% when it comes to voters who actually voted for overseas voting," Comelec Director for Overseas Voting Bea Wee-Lozada said in a Monday briefing. CNN Philippines signed up for a test voter slot two weeks ago. Personal data such as name, address, mobile number, email, were verified twice. A voter also has to upload a passport photo and live selfie in the Voatz platform. Voting opened at 8 a.m. of Saturday, with foreign celebrities like Justin Bieber, Mariah Carey, Lady Gaga, LeBron James, Aerosmith, and The Beatles as candidates. A "none of the above" option has been included per position for those abstaining, and there's a prompt whenever a voter chooses too many candidates per post. A plebiscite-type question was also included, where "yes" votes won in terms of making COVID-19 vaccinations mandatory. Security Voatz CEO & co-founder Nimit Sawhney said common problems were outdated and malware-infected gadgets as well as slow internet connection, which made it hard for some test voters to proceed. The developer also noted 487 security threats during the voting period. However, Voatz said safeguards are in place as it disputed findings of researchers from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) that their blockchain-based app is prone to hacking. The company said the MIT findings were "very theoretical" and none of them successfully broke into the Voatz system. "We did not see anybody successfully break into the system or any of the mobile applications," Sawhney also said of the trial voting run with Comelec. "We feel very confident about the detection and the sensing of these threats." Convenience The poll body said it is targeting to use the online voting system for some 1.5 million overseas Filipino voters in the 2025 midterm election. "I think it is efficient in a sense that it did not take much of the time as compared to how you would do voting traditionally," Comelec Director for Overseas Voting Sonia Bea Wee-Lozada said. "(For) seafarers who may not be on land during the time of the voting period, the internet voting system will be very much convenient and efficient for them. Also, for our overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) who may not be able to take day off to visit the embassies," she added. A 15- to 30-day voting period may be considered for OFWs if Congress allows internet voting through the passage of a new law. Currently, Filipinos abroad cast their ballots by personal appearance before Philippine consulates and embassies or by mail-in voting, where they pay for the return postal fees. RELATED: OFW voters given more time to transfer voter records to PH Penn State's Air Force ROTCs chapter of the Arnold Air Society announced it will host the annual 24-hour Prisoners of War/Missing in Action Remembrance Ceremony Friday on Old Main lawn. Beginning at 4 p.m., a release said the opening ceremony will include members of the American Legion performing a 21-gun salute and a performance of taps. According to the release, there will also be a missing man table ceremony, featured speakers and a performance from Penn State Air Force ROTCs acapella group. The event is free and open to the public, the release said. In case of severe weather, the ceremony will take place inside the Freeman Auditorium within the HUB-Robeson Center, according to the release. 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If you have any questions or need further assistance, please call our customer service team at 319-283-2144 or email circ@oelweindailyregister.com. 09/13/2021 Photo (c) Lawrence Glass - Getty Images Pandemic-related supply-chain issues continue to plague businesses large and small. From restaurants to boat dealers, companies are complaining they cant get needed products and parts. Consumers are also noticing. A scan of recent reviews posted to ConsumerAffairs shows frustration with shortages and extended delivery times for a wide range of products. William, of Aliquippa, Pa., bought a Husqvarna lawn tractor he didnt really want because of limited options. I was unhappy with it from the start, William wrote in his review. First off it rattles like an old tin can. No doubt some loose part that I will be able to fix, but not a good impression when I just spent north of $3,000 on it. Many people building houses are also running into frustrating delays. Christopher, of Durham, N.C., posted on ConsumerAffairs that his town home was supposed to be completed in June. I cannot get a clear estimate on completion (current estimate is October; completion has been moved back 3 times now) partially due to the sewer system hook-up issues which I am told requires specific parts (of which there is a "shortage" of) to be compliant to town regulations, Christopher wrote in his review. Even Amazon has been affected by a narrowed supply chain, reporting an uncharacteristic slowdown in second-quarter sales. Shortages may last for a while Reuters reports shortages of metals, plastics, and even liquor bottles are now commonplace, and these shortages have far-flung consequences. In one case, a tent manufacturer has had no problem making tent panels, but it cant finish its products because of a shortage of aluminum tent poles and zippers for the flaps. Scott Price, president of UPS International, says business leaders were caught off guard by the bottlenecks in the supply chain. In an interview with Business Insider, Price said businesses may respond by regionalizing their supply chains, using factories closer to main production facilities. Businesses and the consumers that support them could face months or even years of supply chain issues, according to experts. Thats because the COVID-19 pandemic may not end any time soon. John Rutledge, an economic adviser to the Reagan administration, told CNBC that even a small number of infections can close a major port. He notes what happened last month at Chinas Ningbo-Zhoushan port, the third busiest in the world, as an example. 80% Website jessandunnotis-writer.com uses latest and advanced technologies like: JQuery. It supports HTTPS and GZIP compression. The main html page has a size of 229258 bytes (223.88 kb uncompressed) and 45234 bytes (44.17 kb compressed). This CoolSocial report was updated on 2021-09-13, you can refresh this analysis whenever you want. 100% Website net-news-express.de uses latest and advanced technologies. It is very popular on the web, it's within the 1 million most visited websites of the world at position 123927 by Alexa. It supports HTTPS. The main html page has a size of 234073 bytes (228.59 kb uncompressed). This CoolSocial report was updated on 2021-09-13, you can refresh this analysis whenever you want. 60% Website wangtat-telecom.com uses latest and advanced technologies. It supports HTTPS. The main html page has a size of 8456 bytes (8.26 kb uncompressed) and 44 bytes (0.04 kb compressed). This CoolSocial report was updated on 2019-10-15, you can refresh this analysis whenever you want. Stay up to date on COVID-19 Get Breaking News Sign up now to get our FREE breaking news coverage delivered right to your inbox. Carolyn Hackler of Crossville passed away Sept. 10, 2021. She was 79. She will be missed terribly by her three children, many grandchildren and brothers and sisters. A remembrance service will be held at a later date. Monday, 13 September 2021 1 Kings 17:5-9 So he went and did according to the word of the Lord. He went and lived by the brook Cherith that is east of the Jordan. And the ravens brought him bread and meat in the morning, and bread and meat in the evening, and he drank from the brook. And after a while the brook dried up, because there was no rain in the land. Then the word of the Lord came to him, Arise, go to Zarephath, which belongs to Sidon, and dwell there. That difficult time in your life has the power to transform you! Elijah was at a brook called Cherith in whose banks he hid during the early part of the three-year drought. The brook dried up and God sent him to Zarephath. I believe that these two places had significance in Elijahs life and are places we will find ourselves in during different seasons of life. Cherith means cut off. Its a place north of Samaria. Its a desolate place in the rocky wilderness. This is a place where Elijah would have had to learn to depend on God to meet all his needs. Zarephath means smelting place, refiner. A place where metals were put into the furnace and tested in order to purify them and to make weapons. Here Elijah had to learn to trust God and draw on his strength to perform miracles (for the widowto keep the oil and flour flowing and to bring her dead son to life). In both Cherith and Zarephath Elijah had to trust that God knew what he was doing. That God had a purpose and plan for him to be there. When we are in the midst of our desert seasons we can often start to worry about when and where the job, the financial provision, the answer to prayer, the healing will come. Oftentimes anxiety comes and visits, fear stays over for tea and depression watches Netflix with us in these seasons. These are not easy seasons. But they have the potential to refine us. They show us what is really in our hearts and in whom we trust. They have the potential to purify us and make us ready to be used by God. We often put Elijah on a pedestal as the super propheta status unreachable for mere 21st century Christians. Yet nothing is further from the truth. Elijah was just a guy who was faithful to God and responded to his desert seasons well. For the iPhone app and more from John North and Ambassadors For Christ International, click here. By Cynthia Hubert Carla Cruz Medinas pursuit of a science education has been fraught with obstacles. She was the first in her family to attend a university. As a woman of color from Mexico, she has been a minority in most of her courses. Her finances have been strained. But she has persisted and excelled. This month, the California State University recognized Cruz Medinas efforts with the highest student recognition of student academic accomplishment in the CSU system, the Trustees' Award for Outstanding Achievement. The CSU each year recognizes one student from each of the systems 23 campuses with the awards, which honor scholars who overcome adversity, have financial need, demonstrate superior academic performance, and participate in community service. Scholarships range from $6,000 to $15,000. Cruz Medina, a graduate student in Biology, was 8 years old when her family moved to Sacramento from Guanajuato, Mexico, in 2005. My mother always encouraged us to get an education, she said. She realized how important education and financial independence can be, especially for a woman. I wanted to be capable of making my own way in the world. After graduating from Grant Union High School, Cruz Medina attended the University of California, Los Angeles, where she earned a bachelors degree in Spanish and Biology. There werent many people who looked like me in her program, she said, which made me question whether I belonged. She chose Sacramento State to pursue her masters and at first felt a bit lost. I didnt really know anyone from my background who had entered a masters program, she said. I didnt even know what questions to ask of an advisor. In short order, though, Cruz Medina grew comfortable as a Hornet. Even though there arent a lot of people of color in my program, I still feel a sense of community, she said. Its such a nurturing environment. The University and the professors really care about you and your education. Cruz Medina has excelled not only in the classroom but outside of it. She founded an organization, Pacers United, that helps seniors at her high school alma mater apply for college and financial aid. She also works as a research assistant with Environmental Studies Professor Michelle Stevens to restore wetland and riparian acreage at Bushy Lake along the lower American River. Carla is a shining example of what it means to be a Hornet, President Robert S. Nelsen said. She is an excellent scholar with a big heart. Biology Professor Timothy Davidson, who served as Cruz Medinas advisor, called her highly motivated, curious, and enthusiastic about advancing her own goals and helping others. She is among the most collaborative, positive, and community-minded students Ive worked with, Davidson said. She genuinely cares about others and our community, which explains why she is so well-regarded by her classmates and professors. As she advances in her education, Cruz Medinas focuses are on ecology, conservation, and biostatistics. She hopes to parlay her knowledge into a career promoting fair treatment of all people in the development and implementation of environmental regulations and policies. My dream job would be an intersection of conservation and environmental justice, she said. Im very passionate about those things. She believes that the CSU Trustees' Award will help her achieve her goals. As a first-generation college student, a woman, and a person of color, I know that finances are a huge barrier to earning a degree, Cruz Medina said. Its something we dont talk about enough. This scholarship will help me receive an education without having to go into immense debt. It will help ease my financial burden. That means a lot. Share This Story email copy url url copied! Related Topics: Academic Excellence NEW YORK (AP) Downtown businesses in the U.S. and abroad once took for granted that nearby offices would provide a steady clientele looking for breakfast, lunch, everyday goods and services and last-minute gifts. As the resilient coronavirus keeps offices closed and workers at home, some are adapting while others are trying to hang on. Some businesses are already gone. The survivors have taken steps such as boosting online sales or changing their hours, staffing levels and what they offer customers. Others are relying more on residential traffic. Many business owners had looked forward to a return toward normalcy this month as offices reopened. But now that many companies have postponed plans to bring workers back, due to surging COVID-19 cases, downtown businesses are reckoning with the fact that adjustments made on the fly may become permanent. In downtown Detroit, Mike Franks cleaning business was running out of money and, it seemed, out of time. Frank started Clifford Street Cleaners eight years ago. Pre-pandemic, monthly revenue was about $11,000, but by last December, when many downtown offices had to close, revenue had dropped to $1,800, Frank said. Frank had to borrow money from his wife to pay the bills. It got down to, I was almost ready to go out of business. Instead of shutting down, Frank adapted. He converted part of his store into a small market with toothpaste, laundry detergent, shampoo, bottled water, soft drinks and other essentials. He also delivered clean laundry and goods from the store. Eventually, some foot traffic returned. With the combination of retail sales and dry cleaning, revenue is back up to about $4,100 per month, he said. Thats enough to keep him afloat, and the figure is improving each month. In Lower Manhattan, 224 businesses closed their doors in 2020 and 2021, according to the Alliance for Downtown New York. About 100 have opened. Theres no question, its hard for business districts like ours, we miss our workers, said Jessica Lappin, president of the Alliance for Downtown New York. Nobody misses them more than local businesses. Lappin predicts office workers will come back, but it might be two or three days a week, on different days or in shifts. Just in the way we had to adjust so dramatically to being at home all the time, there is an adjustment to coming back, she said. A block from Wall Street, Blue Park Kitchen used to have lines out the door each weekday as office workers waited to buy one of the grain bowls Kelly Fitzpatrick served as a healthy lunch option. Things are completely different, she said. Online orders now account for 65% of the business although they are less profitable because the online apps take a cut. Higher-margin catering orders remain non-existent and Blue Park has reduced its staff by nine workers. At our peak in July 2021 (before the delta variant surge), we had about 65% of peak pre-COVID business, Fitzpatrick said. Fitzpatrick has seen more offices reopen and hopes more companies return in October, before the slower holiday months of November and December. Nearby, Aankit Malhotra took over Indian restaurant Benares with his brother in 2019. When the pandemic hit, overnight, their core banking clientele vanished. No one came in for the $13 three-course lunch special the restaurant was known for. Previously, lunch accounted for 95% of Benares business. Now, Benares has about 10 lunch orders a day, down from 100. But locals, grateful that the restaurant kept its pre-pandemic hours of 10:30 a.m. to 11 p.m. every day, are keeping the brothers afloat. Business is back to around 70% of pre-pandemic levels, helped by delivery and dinner meals. The clientele has changed from workers to younger people and families from nearby Battery Park City. Its nice to see not just corporate people downtown. Its becoming more of a family-oriented place. Jorge Guzman, assistant professor of business management at Columbia University, said the shift of economic activity away from downtowns is likely to last. There has been a boom in entrepreneurship in non-downtown New York areas like Jamaica, Queens, and the South Bronx. Downtowns are not going to die, exactly. Its not like Midtowns going anywhere. But its going to be a little bit more of a mix, more residential and mixed-use concepts. Across the Atlantic in London, office workers have been slowly trickling back to their desks since the government lifted COVID-19 lockdown restrictions on July 19. The U.K. saw a peak of delta cases in July, but the numbers fell sharply in about two weeks. Recently, however, cases have been climbing again. The number of commuters is nowhere near pre-pandemic levels, making it tough for small businesses in Central Londons financial district to survive. It was amazing, it was good, it was busy before the pandemic, said Rado Asatrian, who has worked as a barber at the Man-oj hair salon in the financial district for six years. Before COVID-19 , he usually had 10 to 15 customers a day, but now its down to three or four. Now, its just so empty, said Asatrian. He said he is considering moving to a busier location, switching careers, or moving abroad. In some downtowns, while the workers are still remote, the tourists are back and providing a boost to businesses. In Atlanta, Kwans Deli and Korean Food is doing just about as much summertime business as it did before the pandemic, said Andrew Song, whose family owns the restaurant. At the height of the pandemic, Kwans had lost about 80% of its business, reduced its hours and cut staff. But the deli has bounced back thanks to tourists from the Georgia Aquarium and events at a nearby convention hall. Still, the delta variant surge is creating uncertainty about the fall. Song said he has heard that some businesses have relocated permanently or downsized. Its sort of hard to imagine what it will look like with office regulars not returning or being more remote, he said. In Nashville, Lyle Richardson, chief operating officer for restaurant operator A. Marshall Hospitality, said he has seen the citys restaurant industry ravaged by the coronavirus epidemic. He sits on the board of the Tennessee Hospitality Association trade group and estimates that hundreds of restaurants have had to close. Those who stayed open made adjustments. Richardson stopped serving lunch at one restaurant, Deacons New South, to focus on dinner after office workers went remote. But he kept his other restaurant, Pucketts Grocery & Restaurant, open from 7 a.m to 11 p.m. to attract the tourists flocking back to the city. The normalcy we called pre-COVID, that no longer exists, he said. We have to be prepared, on our toes, to adapt. Back in Detroit, business at Cannelle by Matt Knio, a downtown bakery and sandwich shop, has rebounded above 2019 levels after a precipitous drop-off early in the pandemic. Baseball and football crowds are back, and outdoor dining and takeout remain popular. If businesses are subject to more restrictions when the weather gets colder, Knio believes he can rely on the lessons learned so far in the pandemic to get by. I think we know our way around now, and how to deal with it, he said. Well be able to do takeout and curbside pickup. ___ Krisher reported from Detroit. AP Writers Kelvin Chan in London, Sudhin Thanawala in Atlanta and Video Journalist Mike Householder in Detroit contributed to this report. LOS ANGELES (AP) In a blitz of TV ads and a last-minute rally, California Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom urged voters Sunday to turn back a looming recall vote that could remove him from office, while leading Republican Larry Elder broadly criticized the media for what he described as double standards that insulated Newsom from criticism and scrutiny throughout the contest. The sunny, late-summer weekend was a swirl of political activity, as candidates held rallies, continued bus tours and cluttered the TV airwaves with advertising offering their closing arguments in advance of the election that concludes Tuesday. Newsom who is expecting President Joe Biden on Monday for a capstone get-out-the-vote rally in Long Beach was in a largely Hispanic area on the northern edge of Los Angeles, where he sought to drive up turnout with the key voting bloc. Elder also was in Los Angeles, where he was joined by activist and former actress Rose McGowan, who repeated her claims from recent days that Newsoms wife, Jennifer Siebel Newsom, attempted to persuade her in 2017 not to go public with her allegations of sexual misconduct against Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein. Siebel Newsoms office described the allegations as a complete fabrication. In a brief interview with The Associated Press, Newsom characterized McGowans claims as a last-minute classic hit piece from one of Elders supporters. The governor called Elder desperate and grasping, saying McGowans claims about his wife just shows you how low things go in campaigns these days. He echoed his earlier criticism of Elder, saying the conservative talk show host and lawyer doesnt believe that women have the right to their own reproductive freedoms, hes devoutly opposed to Roe v. Wade, doesnt believe theres a glass ceiling, doesnt believe in pay equity laws. During her appearance, McGowan spoke warmly of Elder and lambasted Hollywood Democrats who she said traumatized her life. She now lives in Mexico. Do I agree with him on all points? No, McGowan said. So what. He is the better candidate. He is the better man. The last-minute exchange highlighted growing tensions in the election, which largely grew out frustration with Newsoms pandemic orders that shuttered schools and businesses during the pandemic. Voting concludes Tuesday. Recent polling shows Newsom is likely to hold his job. As Newsoms first partner, Siebel Newsom, an actress turned documentary filmmaker, has championed gender equality and societys treatment of women and families. McGowan, 48, who is known for her role in the Scream movie franchise, was one of the earliest of dozens of women to accuse Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein of sexual misconduct, making her a major figure in the #MeToo movement. Elder, who could become the state's first Black governor, targeted some of his sharpest remarks at what he described as skewed media coverage. Earlier this week, his walking tour of homeless encampments in LAs Venice Beach neighborhood was cut short after a woman bicyclist wearing a gorilla mask threw an egg toward Elder and then took a swing at a member of his entourage. The confrontation set off strong reactions on Twitter, with conservatives charging the incident wasnt immediately branded a racist attack because Elder is a conservative. If he was a Democrat it would have been a major story, Elder said. He also said McGowans accusations largely have been ignored by the media, but argued that if similar charges had been made about him thats all you guys would be talking about. This is a double standard, he said. Im sick of it. Emails posted on Twitter by McGowan showed she had contact with Newsoms wife, which her office confirmed but said their communication was as fellow survivors of sexual assault and in Jennifers former capacity leading the Representation Project, an organization that fights limiting gender stereotypes and norms. One of McGowans key claims is that during a 2017 phone conversation, Newsoms wife referenced a law firm that was working with Weinstein and asked her what the firm could do to make you happy. McGowan said Sunday she didnt recognize the firms name at the time. I had no idea who that was. So, I just said nothing and hung up on her. That was my last contact with her, she said. The election will determine whether Newsom can complete his first term or will be tossed out of office more than a year early. Voters are being asked two questions: Should Newsom be recalled and, if so, who should replace him? If he gets a majority vote on the first question, the second question with the names of 46 replacement candidate is irrelevant. Otherwise, the highest vote-getter among the replacement candidates would become governor. AKRON, Ohio (AP) Five people, including three children, died in an early morning house fire that left three adults and another child injured Monday in northern Ohio, authorities said. Two adults and three children were killed, according to the Summit County Medical Examiners Office. Three adults and a child who were injured were taken to the hospital, Akron fire Lt. Sierjie Lash told the Akron Beacon Journal. Their conditions weren't known. Authorities haven't released the names or ages of the victims. The three Akron students who died attended different city schools -- one at an elementary building, another at a middle school and the third in high school, district spokesperson Mark Williamson confirmed in an email. Another child who was taken to the burn unit of a childrens hospital is a student at a different elementary school, he said. That hospital doesn't publicly share details about patient conditions. Akron Public Schools Superintendent Christine Fowler-Mack said grief counselors were mobilized as needed. We cannot express our shared grief, in words, Fowler-Mack said in an emailed statement. "Our best efforts now are focused on connecting with our students and staff who will be affected by this. According to WJW-TV, Akron firefighters arrived on the scene and found relatives and neighbors trying to get family members out of the home. The cause of the fire is under investigation. As hundreds of COVID-19 cases have already been reported this year in Connecticut schools, Gov. Ned Lamont said Friday he would be open to the idea of local districts imposing vaccine mandates for students. Im certainly open to school districts having that authority, he said during an event in Darien, touring businesses affected by flooding. Though the governor said a 65 percent vaccination rate among residents aged 12 to 18 means were getting there voluntarily, Lamont said, At some point, that may not be good enough. The city of Los Angeles, home to the second-largest school district in the United States, announced Thursday that all eligible students will be required to be vaccinated against COVID-19. Connecticut has announced a similar mandate for teachers, and Lamont said Friday if vaccination rates dont increase among school-aged children, the state might need to step in. My hunch is the state will have to be working with the superintendents, but were not there yet, he said. Superintendents may not be able to institute vaccine mandates without the states approval, according to Department of Education spokeswoman Laura Stefon. Absent some legislative action or executive order, school districts cannot condition students attendance on receipt of the COVID-19 vaccine specifically, she said. Lamont did not say how the state would implement any sort of student vaccination requirement, whether by supporting a vaccine mandate bill in the General Assembly that would apply to all schools or by giving individual school systems the authority to require vaccines. Lamont has made no move in either direction and is unlikely to do so by executive order, which could face legal challenges. The governors comments came at a time of transition for coronavirus orders. Lamonts emergency powers expire Sept. 30, and its still unclear whether the legislature will extend that authority. The states data shows hundreds of COVID cases have already been reported at Connecticut public and private schools since reopening in recent weeks. In the past week, 386 cases have been reported statewide among students and 97 cases were reported among staff. Of those, about 16 percent involved students or staff who were vaccinated, according to the data, which includes cases reported from Sept. 2 to Wednesday. That is nearly twice the number of infections recorded last October, when the state began publishing COVID infections in schools. At the time, many schools were operating on a hybrid model with some remote learning. The states outdoor and indoor mask mandates were still in effect and more infectious variants of the disease were not yet predominant in Connecticut. Despite the increase in cases, Connecticut health systems have not seen an increase in pediatric COVID hospitalizations. We have not seen a huge surge in pediatric admissions to date, said Dr. Tom Balcezak, medical director at Yale New Haven Health, which runs hospitals in Greenwich, Bridgeport and New Haven. Balcezak said there was not a single individual in any of our hospitals under 20 (years old) with COVID. Hospitals in other states are seeing a boom of younger COVID patients, he said. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released a report Thursday, showing a five-fold increase overall in the number of people under the age of 17 hospitalized with COVID in 14 states and Connecticut was among them. Though the CDC report did not break down the number of pediatric COVID hospitalizations by state, Balcezak said Connecticut is not seeing the increase other states are experiencing. We have not seen an uptick in pediatric admissions, he said, with the caveat: I anticipate we may see that. The CDCs report does indicate that vaccines are effective among school-aged children. Among adolescents aged 12 to 17 years, the only pediatric age group for whom a COVID-19 vaccine is currently approved, hospitalization rates were approximately 10 times higher in unvaccinated compared with fully vaccinated adolescents, the CDC wrote. More than 74 percent of Connecticuts population is now at least partly vaccinated, according to CDC data, far higher than the national average, which sits a little under 63 percent. But weekly vaccine administrations in Connecticut have remained far below their peak of more than 315,000 in early April. The states most recent week of data showed a little over 46,000 doses administered, a slight drop after weekly vaccinations had been mostly rising through mid-July and August. On Friday, the state announced an additional 625 cases, with 2.73 percent of all COVID tests in the last 24 hours returning positive results. The state also announced an additional 10 hospitalizations for a total of 364 COVID patients in Connecticut. The state said more than 72 percent of them are not fully vaccinated. While 10 communities, including the towns of Canaan, Salisbury and Lyme, are now reporting more than 80 percent of residents have received at least a first dose, vaccination rates remain low in other parts of the state, with many reporting less than 60 percent of residents have received a shot. That includes the major cities of Bridgeport, Hartford and Waterbury, state data shows. With vaccinations against COVID-19 still stalling in some areas of Connecticut, its unclear how President Joe Bidens mandate that large businesses require their employees to be vaccinated or face weekly testing will affect the state. The mandate, announced Thursday, would require businesses with more than 100 employees to have their workers inoculated or submit to weekly testing. Weve been patient, but our patience is wearing thin, Biden warned the unvaccinated in his remarks. And your refusal has cost all of us. But how much of an impact that mandate will have on Connecticut, where vaccination rates are relatively high, is unknown. Whenever theres a medical mandate, theres always pushback, right? said Tuvana Rua, an associate professor of management at Quinnipiac Universitys school of business. In her view, the mandate is necessary, citing the delta variant surging around the country, clusters of cases related to schools reopening and increasing cases of COVID in children. Given that children under the age of 12 can not yet receive the vaccine, I think it is our responsibility to protect the next generation, Rua added. Many Connecticut defense attorneys, impatiently waiting for jury trials to resume after more than six months without trials because of the coronavirus pandemic, are concerned about how prospective jurors can be convinced to walk into courthouses and whether the jury pool will be diverse. The attorneys also see a looming problem with jurors and witnesses possibly wanting to wear masks during trials. The presiding judges would make such decisions. I wont participate in a trial where jurors are wearing masks and I cant gauge their reactions to the testimony, said defense attorney Richard Silverstein, who has tried hundreds of cases. I cant try a case where witnesses are wearing masks, Silverstein added. He said he needs to see their faces in order to judge their credibility. In Stamford, criminal defense attorney Lindy Urso, who filed suit against Gov. Ned Lamont in April after the governor issued an order making mask-wearing mandatory around the state, said he couldnt be unhappier about trying a case with jurors or witnesses wearing masks in the courtroom. John Nickerson / Staff Coincidentally, Urso has been told that one of his clients, Johnel Telemin, who is accused of shooting and killing mother of five Maxine Gooden in Stamfords Leone Park in 2015, may be the first case to go to trial in the Stamford courthouse since the building was closed due to the coronavirus pandemic. The trial could happen as early as November. I am 100 percent opposed to conducting a trial where the witnesses and jurors faces are covered, because jury selection is very much an art and gut-based process and a lot of the information you get is gleaned from the facial expressions of jurors made in response to our questions, Urso said. I ask questions and look for reactions. Contributed Stamford Lead Public Defender Barry Butler sees the situation differently. I think we can discern a lot about people by what they say. The content of answers is what is important, Butler said. The defender does agree there is value in reading expressions. What I told my ethics class (at Fairfield University) the other day, is occasionally when they shut down their video during a Zoom meeting and only their names pop up, it is difficult for me to gauge their responses by looking at the countenances of their faces. Having them live in class it is easier to see their responses, the eyebrows raised, the curiousness on their faces. Judicial timetable Richard A. Robinson, chief justice of the state of Connecticut, issued a statement Sept. 10 titled, Its time for jury trials to resume. He said the Connecticut judicial branch plans to resume trials in November and will summon potential jurors for these trials beginning later this month, meaning by late September. Tyler Sizemore / Hearst Connecticut Media file photo But some attorneys say this timetable isnt feasible. Attorney Arthur Laske III, whose office is in Fairfield, noted the logistical challenges posed by COVID-19 protocols, starting with the initial gathering of prospective jurors called to the courthouses. How are you going to put 300 people in a room? Laske asked. What Mr. Robinson said is not very practical, he said. Realistically, I think the people in the trenches are expecting that trials wont happen until sometime next year. Id love to be trying cases tomorrow. But as for a November date for resumption of trials, I think there are real questions as to whether that will happen. Ive told my clients theyll be lucky to get their trials going in early to mid-summer of next year, Laske said. However, Judge James W. Abrams, the chief administrative judge for civil matters, based in New Haven Superior Court and co-chairman of the statewide Jury Restoration Working Group, maintains its quite possible trials could begin in late November. But he added this timetable could be achieved only if the states COVID-19 testing positivity rate remains around one percent. Contributed Thats not a safe assumption, Abrams said of the positivity rate. But he said if this rate does hold steady, Then I am confident well see jury verdicts in 2020. I think well be able to do it in at least one courthouse in each judicial district. Safety and social distance Abrams cited the new safety protocols outlined in Robinsons announcement. Social distancing guidelines will prevent us from using the traditional jury box, Robinson said. We are developing alternate arrangements to hear evidence, against the backdrop of every courthouse being different. Nor will jurors congregate in the deliberation room to reach a verdict; a different arrangement will be used. Abrams explained: Jurors will be spread throughout the courtroom rather than sitting together in the jury box to hear testimony. He said that when jurors deliberate on a verdict, they will be in the courtroom rather than going into a deliberations room. Chris Ware / Hearst Connecticut Media file photo Danbury States Attorney Stephen Sedensky agreed that it is important that a witness face be seen by the jury, but he also said he thinks it is feasible and necessary that jury trials start sometime. I think it is important to get the process started, knowing there will be a learning curve as we go and adapting as we learn, he said. Further, he said, It remains to be seen at this point what the specific procedure will be for witnesses. I hope appropriate protocols that allow for a witness face to be seen without a mask will be in place. Robinson also announced in his statement that a new COVID-19 exception form is being included with summonses for jury duty. Jurors should not worry if they have comorbidities, are in a high-risk group or have preexisting conditions, Robinson said. Obviously, we dont want to put jurors in a perilous position or create health hazards for others. The COVID-19 exception form begins by telling the prospective juror: Jury service is one of the most important civic duties you can perform. Your participation as a juror is a vital part of our justice system and we thank you for your service. Viktoria Sundqvist / Hearst Connecticut Media The letter for the exception form informs the prospective juror that the state is committed to providing a healthy and safe environment for all who enter the courthouse. We are taking every available precaution to keep you safe during jury service. Social distancing and face covering guidelines will be strictly followed and enforced. Disinfectant sanitizer will be readily available and regular cleaning of high touch point surfaces and areas will be undertaken. The form directs the prospective juror, if you still believe you are unable to serve as a juror due to a COVID-19 related reason, to check one of several boxes. These include: I am a caregiver providing support for someone needing to take extra precautions against contracting COVID-19, or I am a medical professional caring for COVID-19 patients or I am not able to wear a mask. The uppermost box is for those in a group categorized by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention as needing to take extra precautions against contracting COVID-19. Those who check that box are directed to log onto the CDC website. The CDCs list of preexisting conditions carrying increased risk of severe illness from COVID-19 includes a variety of diseases. Concern for risk Several items on that list have drawn the attention and concern of attorneys in the Office of Public Defenders in the New Haven Judicial District. New Haven Public Defender Beth A. Merkin, who oversees that office, noted sickle cell disease, type 2 diabetes and asthma are included as underlying medical conditions posing an increased risk of severe illness from COVID-19. We all know those preexisting conditions affect people of color at a much higher rate, Merkin said. Our concern is that people of color will be more likely to opt out of jury service. How will that affect the diversity of our jury pool? Merkin said people of all racial groups are probably anxious about reporting for jury duty. Many people are very, very worried about whatever quarantine decisions theyve made and they wont want to even set foot in this courthouse. How are we going to get jurors to come into this building and feel safe? How can they listen to testimony without being distracted by fears of COVID? Hearst Connecticut Media Butler said everyone should have the right to wear a mask if they want to, but he worries that COVID will reduce the diversity of jurors. He pointed to court rules allowing people to opt out of duty because of their higher risk of infection or death from the virus. But, he said, the state has to try to hold trials. Its part of getting back to normal. People have a right to a jury trial and we cant just have people wait and wait, he said. We might as well try to get it started and see how it works. If there are huge problems we will make adjustments. If you dont have trials, you wont know what works and what doesnt. Sedensky, however, said he also has seen the juror form and thinks the number of people who may have concerns will not be enough to affect the composition of the potential jury pool. Those with concerns will be spread out across many backgrounds so our basic jury pool composition will remain relatively the same, Sedensky said. Once we get started, the actual realities of the situation may be different. My experience has been that the citizens of the Danbury area realize the importance of jury duty. At the same time, we want our jurors to be safe and feel safe in carrying out their service. Abrams, whose Jury Restoration Working Group is giving suggestions about how to proceed with new trials to Patrick Carroll III, the states chief court administrator, also said: Whats paramount is the safety of the jurors we bring in, and the safety of the other participants. Moreover, Robinson said in his statement: Jurors will understandably expect that safeguards and precautions be in place from the time they step into the courthouse to the time they leave. Frankly, I would require no less, knowing that my own family members are often called for and report to do jury duty. Robinson said the safety precautions might include holding trials remotely via computer feeds. He noted, The gold standard for all jury trials including the individual questioning of jurors by the attorneys in front of a judge is to have the proceedings done in person. However, we will also leave open the possibility of virtual jury trials, given the COVID-19 environment. As we all know, flexibility during a pandemic is paramount. Abrams said virtual trials are not off the table. But were focused on in-person. The watchword is flexibility. Viktoria Sundqvist The federal court system in Connecticut is ahead of the state courts in resuming trials. During the week of Sept. 21, U.S. District Judge Victor Bolden presided over the first trial, a civil rather than a criminal case, in Bridgeport. My understanding is that it went very well, said Stefan Underhill, the chief judge for the federal district courts in Connecticut. The hardest part was jury selection, Underhill said. Usually (pre-COVID) we bring in a large number of people, about 40 to 50, and choose them in the courtroom. But Judge Bolden whittled it down remotely. He Zoom-screened the initial 64 people about their health conditions and other issues. Then we brought a manageable number (19) to the courthouse. Underhill said eight jurors were seated for the trial. They wore masks at all times, Underhill said. Everybody did, including the lawyers and the judge. The only exception was that the judge permitted the witnesses to remove their masks while testifying. But they wore clear face shields and they were behind Plexiglas. The witnesses testified from the jury box; the jurors and lawyers were spread out in the courtroom. Nobody was near anybody else. An adjacent courtroom was used for deliberations. Sedensky, the Danbury states attorney, said he had been worried about potential jury pools until several weeks ago. But then I read about the recent jury trial in federal court in which most of the jurors were willing to sit, he said. Granted, the federal court space is bigger that Danburys, but if the court, via its protocol, can make the prospective jurors feel safe, I think we will keep a good percentage. Masks on Middletown attorney Russ Palmer said he agrees that with masks on, people wont be able to see their faces to determine who is credible and who isnt. At Superior Court in Middletown, proceedings can be seen on a television monitor with the judge and court reporter participating virtually. The defendant, defense attorney and marshal are the only ones in the courtroom, all socially distanced, he said. In the New London and Norwalk courthouses, everyone is in the same room, but wearing masks and at least 6 feet apart, Palmer said. He is eager to see how jury deliberations and the sharing of exhibits will be conducted once cases resume. When told about Silversteins strong objection to jurors being masked, Underhill said: I know lawyers like to gauge their reactions. But I dont think its essential for presenting the evidence. Its more important for jurors to be able to assess the credibility of witnesses through their facial expressions. Merkin said she wouldnt refuse to participate if jurors kept their masks on but Id strongly prefer that they not wear masks. She noted they will be protected by the Plexiglas separating them from the witnesses. Id hope I wouldnt have to cross-examine a witness who is wearing a mask, she said. But we have to balance our clients right to have a trial versus some imperfections. If your client wants some movement on his or her case, youre in a difficult dilemma. Indeed, Silverstein said there are hundreds of defendants awaiting trials on criminal charges. Ive been put on hold for eight months. Were digging ourselves a hole that I dont think well get out of for five years because of the backlog. When he goes to court, Urso, the Stamford attorney, wont wear masks made for the purpose, and in protest wears a T-shirt that has been roughly cut a few inches from the neck opening that mostly covers his nose and mouth. Asked whether he thinks its feasible to begin trials as early as late November, Urso said he did not. Given the level of hysteria created by the actions of the state, no. I cant see it, he said. Defense lawyers also are worried about the delays in civil cases. Laske said, Insurance companies know that unless you can bring a case to trial, theres no threat to them. For 30 years Ive been telling them: If you dont like my demands, Ill go to a jury to get it. Now thats a hollow threat. Insurance companies know theres no risk. The jury system is the great equalizer. Without it, theres no leverage on our part and justice suffers. Jury service is essential to the courts, Underhill said. Its almost never convenient but its guaranteed in the Constitution. Robinson called jury trials the backbone of our system of justice. He added, Pandemic or not, we need civic-minded citizens to step forward and perform the critical public duty of serving on a jury even more so during these difficult times. Reporters John Nickerson, Kendra Baker and Cassandra Day contributed to this story. Contact Randall Beach at randall.beach@hearstmediact.com TROUTDALE, Ore. (AP) An explosion in a pickup truck killed a man in Troutdale, Oregon early Monday, authorities said. Police and firefighters responded to calls at 2:19 a.m. Monday reporting a loud explosion and vehicle fire at a home on the 600 block of Southeast 42nd Circle, the Multnomah County Sheriffs Office said. The Gresham Fire Department extinguished the fire and the sheriffs office said a person was located inside the burned vehicle. He was pronounced dead at the scene. The body was taken to the county Medical Examiner's Office. The case and manner of death are yet to be determined. Investigators are not yet releasing the identity of the man, the sheriff's office said. Special agents from the Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco Firearms and Explosives Seattle branch are assisting the Multnomah County Sheriffs Office and other agencies in the investigation. Investigators are trying to determine what caused the explosion, which is believed to have originated inside the vehicle, according to the sheriff's office. No other injuries were reported and the sheriff's office said there is no threat of additional explosions. We woke up with a big explosion and things were falling in the house, so I thought the house was falling down, neighbor JoAnn Robinson told KGW-TV. The siding on Robinsons home is covered in holes from debris. No further information can be released at this time, the sheriff's office said. Troutdale is east of Portland near the Columbia River. 3 1 of 3 Monroe Volunteer FD / Contributed Show More Show Less 2 of 3 Monroe Volunteer FD / Contributed Show More Show Less 3 of 3 MONROE A town home was deemed temporarily uninhabitable after smoke and heat damaged it from an early-morning blaze on Friday, according to fire officials. Monroe, Stevenson and Stepney fire companies were dispatched to an Old Colony Road home in the Great Oak Farm complex around 5:30 a.m. for a report of a fire in the laundry room that was spreading throughout the home. JERUSALEM (AP) The Italian relatives of a 6-year-old boy who was the sole survivor of a cable car crash in northern Italy said Monday they are working to secure his return from Israel as Italian authorities opened a probe into his possible kidnapping. Eitan Biran is at the center of a bitter custody battle between his maternal grandparents in Israel and his paternal relatives in Italy. His Italian relatives claim the boy was flown without their permission to Israel over the weekend. Eitan and his parents were living in Italy at the time of the accident. Fourteen people, including Eitans parents and younger sibling, died when the cable car slammed into a mountainside on May 23 after the cable broke. After he was released from a Turin hospital following weeks of treatment for critical injuries, Italian juvenile court officials ruled the child could live with a paternal aunt near Pavia, in northern Italy. Pavia Mayor Mario Fracassi said Monday evening the Pavia prosecutor has opened a probe into Biran's possible kidnapping, Italian news agency LaPresse reported. He gave no additional details. Aya Biran, Eitan's aunt, told reporters Sunday that the boys maternal grandfather Shmulik Peleg had taken him on an agreed-upon day visit, then flew him without permission to Israel. Italian daily Corriere della Sera said the grandfather drove Eitan in a rented car to Lugano, Switzerland, where they boarded a chartered flight to Tel Aviv. The boy's relatives in Israel have denied Eitan was abducted and insist they are working in the boys interest. His uncle in Italy, Or Nirko, went on a Hebrew media blitz Monday, saying that Eitans home was in Italy and that his family was doing everything to ensure his safe return. The grandfather brutally tore him away" from his family in Italy, Nirko told Israels Channel 13. He said Eitan speaks some Hebrew, but his primary language is Italian. He doesnt have friends in Israel. Theres nothing that fixes him to the place. Hes been going to school in Italy for four years, Nirko told Israels 103FM radio station. The one place he calls home as of today is the home of me and my wife Aya and our two daughters. Nirko said the family was in contact with the Israeli ambassador to Italy and Israeli and Italian authorities. Italys foreign minister, Luigi Di Maio, asked by reporters on Monday about the boys case, said: Were looking into what happened in order to then intervene. Christian Abraham / Hearst Connecticut Media BRIDGEPORT One person was hurt in a shooting early Monday on James Street, according to officials. Officers responded to the 100 block of James Street, near Harral Avenue, around 2:20 a.m. after ShotSpotter gunfire activations in the area, and 911 calls from residents reporting shots fired and one person shot, said Scott Appleby, the citys director of emergency communications and emergency management. BRIDGEPORT The citys broken Congress Street drawbridge a symbol of urban decay since the late 1990s is inching closer to being replaced and returned to service. City Engineer Jon Urquidi said the design for the downtown bridge is now 100 percent complete and the process of obtaining various construction permits is underway. Another remnant of the citys past, the former bridge to Pleasure Beach destroyed by fire in 1996, is awaiting demolition permits from the state Department of Energy and Environmental Protection, Urquidi said. An examination of two years of bridge inspections in Bridgeport showed that the more than 90 structures that pass over waterways and roads are in good overall shape, including those connected to Interstate-95 and Route 8. These are good numbers; there is nothing out of the ordinary, said Kevin Nursick, a spokesman for the state Department of Transportation, referring to the inspection reports. There are no safety concerns. One bridge spanning the Yellow Mill Channel on Route 1 was rated in poor condition and is now undergoing needed repairs. Rehabilitation of the bridge began in early 2020 and the $10.3 million project is scheduled to be completed in June 2022, according to the DOT. Yellow Mill is a good example, Nursick said. That required a more comprehensive approach so you dont get to the point where you have to shut a bridge down. Bridge work The Congress Street bridge, a moveable span over the Pequonnock River, became stuck in the upright position in 1997, separating the citys downtown from the East Side and forcing motorists to detour to other bridges some distance away. For many, the bridge became a stark reminder of the hard times that had beset once thriving industrial hubs such as Bridgeport, which decades ago hosted a waterfront steel plant, a massive Remington arms plant and a brass factory, just to name a few. I think it would be great and its long overdue, said state Rep. Antonio Felipe, D-Bridgeport, referring to restoring the Congress Street bridge. Its about connectivity between neighborhoods, Felipe noted. There is not much in the state thats disconnected like that. It will make us a fuller city and give people more to do. Lauren Coakley Vincent, president of the Downtown Special Services District, said fixing the Congress Street bridge is good news. I think its a helpful addition in terms of adding other ways to get in and out of the downtown, Vincent said. The design will make possible bike paths and walking paths and car traffic, everything from electric scooters. It will add that value. Coakley said being forced to use other bridges is inconvenient at best. For residents who avoided downtown because it was not that easy to get in and out, we hope this will make it much easier to pop into downtown, Coakley said. We see it as an asset for downtown residents who want to explore the East Side or East End. About half of the estimated $24 million replacement cost is expected to be paid by the state, which committed $3.7 million in the waning days of former Gov. Dannel Malloys administration. Federal lawmakers a few years ago secured permission to replace the bridge with a fixed structure by declaring the section of the Peqonnock River to be non-navigable. The decision eliminated the need to build a far more expensive moveable bridge. Meanwhile, plans to remove the remnants of the burned Pleasure Beach bridge are well underway, city officials said. The peninsula and beach was a popular tourist attraction from 1892 to 1958, offering an amusement park, a large carousel and other attractions. A bridge to the property was built in 1927 to carry cars and people. The city has been operating water taxis from Seaview Avenue since 2014 to provide access to the beach, which is about a half mile walk from the Pleasure Beach pier. There are no plans to rebuild the bridge. bcummings@ctpost.com BRIDGEPORT Do you have an idea for a new business, but lack the expertise and the capital to get started? A coalition of institutions is launching a competition to provide $500 to $5,000 grants to the top 10 entries in what is being dubbed The Bridgeport Business Challenge Think of it as a tamer version of the Shark Tank reality show on ABC. Its basically a competition for either start-up businesses that are brand new or existing businesses that want to expand in some kind of way, said Lauren Coakley Vincent, who heads the Downtown Special Services District that markets and promotes that neighborhood. The grants will come from a pot of $50,000. The district is one of 15 sponsors, including the Bridgeport City Council, which is contributing $25,000 worth of federal coronavirus relief aid for the initiative. Mike Roer, of the nonprofit Entrepreneurship Foundation Inc. and operator of a downtown bookshop, is credited with the idea. The foundation has for several years hosted semi-annual business plan competitions for Connecticut college students and Roer suggested something similar for people looking to open a small business in the city. The purpose of the Bridgeport Business Challenge is to grow the local economy and provide new jobs through new or recent startups, said Roer said in a statement. Most new jobs are created by small companies. Bridgeport City Councilman Scott Burns, who is also involved in the effort, said, Part of the thinking had to do with people had their routine job, and then it disappeared because of COVID and then, theyre like, Lets give it a shot and try something new. Proposals are due Oct. 13 at Back-Offices.com/Bridgeport. Before that, however, the coalition is sponsoring events to help applicants fine tune and present their ideas. There will be a Sept. 14 information session at 6 pm. at the University of Bridgeports Cox Student Center, then a Sept. 29 training session on completing the application from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. at MOCO a co working space on State Street. Finalists will be notified Oct. 15 and then, Oct. 19, from 6 p.m until 8 p.m. will be able to participate in an online practice pitch session before doing the real thing Oct. 20, 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. A panel of judges who will divvy up the $50,000. Its intended to offer certainly the experience of applying and pitching in front of a room full of stakeholders and investors, Vincent said. But, she added, the hope is to also help participants build connections to resources. Its not a ton of money and people have to commit to it and go to the workshops and do the work, Burns said. But theyre going to get a lot of advice from some really good people Anyone with questions can email Roer at Roer@EntrepreneurshipFoundation.org or visit entrepreneurshipfoundation.org/bpt. SHELTON - Paul Wilson, walking through what had become ground zero, remembers being speechless as he stood on the site where the World Trade Centers twin towers had stood only hours before. It was Sept. 11, 2001, and Wilson, along with fellow Shelton volunteer firefighters Mike Ullrich, Nick Meresko, Dave Sekelsky, Sr., and James Leonard, had made the trek to lower Manhattan to aid their brothers in what started as search and rescue but became recovery. When we finally got to lower Manhattan later that evening, we parked several blocks away and the dust and debris was everywhere, Wilson, who was 30 at the time and a volunteer firefighter with Echo Hose Hook and Ladder Company 1, recalled. When we got out of the car none of us spoke, we just looked around and tried to absorb exactly what was going on. Wilson, now the departments deputy chief, had spent the day watching the scene unfold on television as terrorists hijacked airplanes and flew them into the towers and the Pentagon. Some 3,000 people died. Once we heard about the events that were unfolding, several members responded to their respective fire stations as we were not sure what was really going on, Wilson said. We spent all day at the firehouse, like everyone else, watching the news and calling our loved ones. The five Shelton firefighters then hit the road to lower Manhattan. When they arrived, Wilson said they walked down West Avenue where they were assembled with several of their fire departments from New York, Connecticut, and New Jersey. The groups waited for an assignment. After what felt like an eternity, we were assigned to FDNY Battalion 50, Team K, Wilson added. We began to walk to ground zero, and when we arrived, it was so much worse than what we saw on TV. The smell, the sounds of firefighters PASS (personal alert safety system) devices sounding in the visual was just absolutely incredible. One of the Shelton teams assignments was to check the American Express building on the corner of West Ave. and Vesey Street. The crew were told to check for any obvious building integrity issues from the first through 12th floors. There wasnt much glass that was intact on the first few floors, and the dust was several inches deep with many different pieces of debris throughout the entire building, Wilson recalled. When we got to the 12th floor, we were able to access a balcony that overlooked the sight of the World Trade Center itself. Even at the height you were at, we could continue to hear the emergency PASS devices sounding of the firefighters below in the pile of rubble, Wilson said. You could see where all the hundreds of firefighters covering the pile looking for their fallen brothers. Wilson said it took hours to complete their assignment. When they finally returned to their staging area, the Shelton firefighters aided in unloading the mass of equipment that was arriving. Unfortunately, we only spent about 16 hours down there before we were told to return to Shelton, Wilson said. The incredible part of the entire experience was as we walked out and passed other firefighters in the FDNY; they were asked where we were from. When we told them they would say nothing but give us a hug and continue walking on. Looking back 20 years later, Wilson said he only wishes he had stayed as long as he physically could have. Hes sure the other men who made the trip with him feel the same way, he said. For me having the opportunity to be part of that experience, Wilson added, I have come to understand that you were never guaranteed any more time on Earth, and we should enjoy every minute that we have with our families, our friends and try to be someone that you would be proud of. brian.gioiele@hearstmediact.com Schools back in session, and from Greenwich to Guilford, the controversial masks are on and the political gloves are off. Anti-diversity curriculum activists are eager to erase all mention of racism from the states classroom blackboards (and white boards and SmartTVs, and well, you get it). But what if diversity curriculum opponents are actually working to undermine their childrens future earning capacity? First, some scene setting: Right now teachers in 52 public high schools across the state are beginning to teach a Black and Latino studies course that will become a mandated elective offering at all 431 public high schools in Connecticut beginning next fall. At the same time, anti-diversity candidates are running for office in school board elections throughout our region. Tensions over DEI initiatives in the Easton-Redding-District 9 school district led to the resignation of the districts first Black superintendent in June, and in July members of the State Education Resource Center were unable to complete a presentation on the new Black and Latino studies elective at a Trumbull school board meeting when anti-diversity audience members began shouting them down. Im using the phrase anti-diversity rather than anti-CRT for a reason. Focusing on the obscure academic framing of critical race theory is a clever rhetorical ploy crafted by national players like the Heritage Foundation to rile up parents who fear the unknown. And its working. Some parents fear that examining our countrys complicated story of egalitarian ideals and racist realities will cause white children to feel ashamed. As the mother of an African American son, I would just ask those parents to consider how actually experiencing racism makes brown and Black children feel. But perhaps the easiest argument to counter is the one that may seem most reasonable to parents who do not see themselves as inherently anti-diversity: that focusing on DEI will crowd out more practical educational priorities like reading, writing and especially STEM skills. Nitza Diaz, a curriculum expert who worked as a consultant to help SERC develop the new Black and Latino studies course curriculum, notes that todays employers are looking for 21st century competencies: inquiry-based learning, critical thinking and cultural competency or the ability to understand and respect differences of experience, histories, values and beliefs across cultures. Were teaching the whole child; were not teaching widgets, Diaz said. Parents insisting that reading, writing and arithmetic should be the only focus of are likely picturing their children entering a workforce that no longer exists. The late 19th century push for universal public education was spurred by industrial employers who needed a workforce with basic reading and math skills. But those skills will not be enough for our children to succeed in a workplace that increasingly relies on diverse teams to optimize innovation and profit. According to Stamford-based Gartner, for example, diverse teams have measurably higher employee performance and HR professionals know this. Or consider data from McKinsey showing that a commitment to diversity enhances the bottom line by a lot. When McKinsey analysts monitored profit margins for thousands of companies across multiple sectors over a five-year period, they found that those with more women and racial and cultural minorities in their executive ranks dramatically outperformed less integrated employers. In fact, companies with the most diverse leadership achieved profit margins almost 50 percent higher than their sector counterparts with the least diverse executive teams. Some of the countrys largest employers, including Adidas, Google, JP Morgan Chase and Amazon, plan to significantly increase their minority hiring over the next few years. Companies that arent focused on diversity initiatives are likely be left behind in the marketplace, as will job seekers who lack the educational foundations needed to implement diversity-focused business strategies. I do have some sympathy with parents who fear that their children are learning to embrace a perspective that differs from their own understanding of the world. But evidence suggests younger millennial and Gen Z job seekers are already thinking about diversity as an issue that needs to be leveraged at the organizational level. According to a recent survey: 86 percent of job seekers say they factor an employers reputation on DEI in their job search. 70 percent of employees expect their company to be transparent about DEI initiatives and results. 62 percent of job applicants say they would turn down an offer from a company that did not support DEI. Whether you envision your child as a future HR executive, engineer or entrepreneur, parents would profit from taking a more careful look at the numbers. As SERC consultant Diaz points out, Independent schools are already teaching this. Thats because many elite schools understand that cultural competency will make their students more valued by future employers. Why wouldnt parents whose children attend public school want their children to have the same advantage in the job market of the future? Lisa Pierce Flores is a Newtown resident, instructor at Fairfield University, author of The History of Puerto Rico, and past editor of The American Mosaic academic database. Connecticut residents watching the dystopian nightmare unfolding in Texas can breathe a sigh of relief: Abortion will remain safe and legal here. Abortion that keystone of reproductive rights was written into state law more than 30 years ago, and so the Supreme Court cannot negate it. In 1990, when Roe v. Wade seemed untouchable, the majority of the Connecticut General Assembly had the foresight to codify abortion into state statute just in case Roe were ever imperiled. And now it is. So, as we post Facebook memes of The Handmaids Tale with messages offering veiled visits to your aunt in Connecticut, we should pause to think about the power of state government. Across the nation, states are now vulnerable to losing the protections afforded by Roe, simply because their state governments did not take the precaution our General Assembly took so long ago. Significantly, Connecticuts decision to put abortion into state statute was a bipartisan vote taken long before the Republican Party took its sharp right-hand turn. Then, legislators on both sides of the aisle saw abortion for the personal choice it is. In so doing, they created a firewall between the rights of Connecticut people seeking abortion and what would, generations later, be a conservative U.S. Supreme Court determined to undo decades of sensible, life-saving legislation. Connecticuts law actually takes Roe a step further: Women and all people seeking abortion services in our state are guaranteed safe and legal abortion regardless of their insurance coverage. We also rejected the restrictions other states enacted, including parental notification, mandatory ultrasound and waiting periods, to name but a few. Conn. Gen. Stat. 19a-602(a) says, The decision to terminate a pregnancy prior to the viability of the fetus shall be solely that of the pregnant woman in consultation with her physician. And there you have it: the firewall. It must be noted that in addition to the statute, Connecticut has several powerful, well-run and effective reproductive rights organizations, including NARAL Pro-Choice Connecticut and Planned Parenthood. These and other advocacy groups partnered with Connecticut legislators this past session to pass Public Act 21-17: An Act Concerning Deceptive Advertising Practices of Limited Services Pregnancy Centers, which prevents so-called crisis pregnancy centers from dishonest practices that prey upon vulnerable people. Its another example of the power of state legislatures to protect the rights of all citizens. Not only is Connecticut a leader in womens reproductive rights, but it was also the birthplace of the movement. The landmark decision Griswold v. Connecticut, 381 U.S. 479 (1965), set the stage for Roe v. Wade by recognizing a married couples right to privacy. It overthrew the ancient Comstock Law, which outlawed the right to use birth control, and Griswold guaranteed protect[ion] from governmental intrusion. Although dated now by its assumption that only married women would need (or deserve) such protections, how poignant do the words of then-Justice William O. Douglas sound to our ears in light of current events? Writing for the majority, Douglas said, Would we allow the police to search the sacred precincts of marital bedrooms for telltale signs of the use of contraceptives? The very idea is repulsive to the notions of privacy surrounding the marriage relationship. Repulsive indeed. But now, the U.S. Supreme Court has upheld what the Texas General Assembly has done and, in so doing, has given carte blanche to vigilantes, religious fanatics and self-appointed moral police. What can we do from our safe perch up north? Express your outrage, whatever your gender or gender expression. Realize that abortion is a personal choice that helps keep people out of poverty. Donate to legitimate pro-choice campaigns. Support womens organizations with your time, talent and resources. March on Oct. 2 to protest the Supreme Court decision. And most importantly, vote for pro-choice candidates at every level of government. You never know when you may need them. Christine Palm is the state representative from the 36th General Assembly district covering Chester, Deep River, Essex and Haddam. She is the former communications director for the Permanent Commission on the Status of Women. Credit unions present Children's Miracle Network Hospitals with a check prior to the 48th running of the Credit Union Cherry Blossom Ten Mil Run Sunday, Sept. 12. (CUNA Photo) Credit unions presented Childrens Miracle Network (CMN) Hospitals with a check for $180,059 Sunday morning just before the 48th running of the Credit Union Cherry Blossom Ten Mile Run. Credit unions raised the funds through Credit Union Miracle Day, a nationwide effort to support the work of CMN Hospitals. Credit unions have been proud to partner with the Credit Union Cherry Blossom Run for nearly two decades because of the great work they do supporting Childrens Miracle Network Hospitals, said CUNA President/CEO Jim Nussle. It might not be the time of year were used to, but the weather was beautiful, and it was wonderful to see thousands of runners out there on the streets of D.C. in support of a great cause. Nussle and Maryland/District of Columbia Credit Union Association President/CEO John Bratsakis, presented the check to CMN Hospitals the morning of the race. Credit unions have raised $10 million for CMN hospitals over the last 20 years. Credit unions are responsible for securing sensitive data and information for millions of people daily. Hackers, however, have doubled down on their skillset and targets, making the financial industry their top priority. How daunting is it to know that without proper security, the sensitive data of millions are subject to becoming victims of identity theft? Below are eight facts you should be aware of regarding this growing reality: In 2020, California had the greatest number of identity theft reports at 147,382, followed closely behind by Illinois at 135,038 and Florida at 101,367: These states are some of the most populated in the country, making the likelihood of identity theft even more significant. According to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), around nine million US citizens have their identities stolen every year: There are many factors that couldve impacted this, from weak passwords to data breaches, unsecured data is the primary reason for stolen identities. According to the US Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS), 1.1 million Americans had their identities used in 2014 to fraudulently open bank, credit card, or utility accounts: As financial institutions make up 35% of all data breaches and the industry is deemed the most-breached sector, this is significant because it emphasizes the need for airtight security platforms within the industry to combat fraudulent activity. The main types of identity theft include government benefits applied for/received, credit card fraud, new accounts, and much more: An estimated 59 million Americans receive government welfare, and another 200 million US citizens have credit cards. Due to the prevalence of these two sources and the digitalization of government departments & credit card companies, an environment of possible digital fraud and theft is created. Just about 50% of identity theft victims were below the age of 50: People aged 18-49 are some of the most socially active, making it likelier that this group may experience identity theft. About 1% of people , aged at least 16, were identity theft victims by criminals, using their personal information to open a bank account or take control of an existing account or credit card: Given this is one of the first times in someones life they will get some sort of identification and acquire financial devices such as a credit card, this creates a digital paper trail that is rife for identity theft. Identity theft victims are 43% likelier to live in an affluent suburb: According to data from the US Department of Housing & Urban Development and the US Census, 52 percent of US citizens live in the suburbs. This makes suburbs one of the most likely places identity theft will occur in the country. Federal authorities only apprehend 0.14% of identity theft criminals: Interesting enough, around 45% of violent crime and 16% of property crime suspects were arrested. It may not be much of a stretch to conclude identity thieves are likelier to get away with such crimes than others. Amid these facts, you can get a picture of what identity theft victims have to offer cybercriminals. Victims are between the ages of 16-49, live in the suburbs, have bank accounts, credit cards, utility accounts, or government benefits. As we can see, so many Americans become trapped in identity theft, meaning its a critical issue that has yet to be resolved. If you dont know the signs or your credit union has not implemented the proper security measures, you and your customers could likely become the next victims. If you go WHAT: "Coffee with the Chief" events FIRST EVENT: 8:30 to 10:30 a.m. Wednesday at the Peotone Fire Protection District station, 7550 W. Joliet Road in Peotone. SECOND EVENT: 8:30 to 10:30 a.m. Friday at the Manhattan Fire Protection District station, 100 Park Road in Manhattan. WHY: Residents are invited to learn more about the districts' proposed consolidation. DETAILS: No registration or RSVP is required. Soldiers have been deployed in southeastern Spain to join the battle against a major wildfire that is burning for a fourth day, invigorated by stray embers that sparked a new hot spot Mr. Stoney Glenn Grant, age 63, of Dalton, GA, departed this life, Tuesday September 14, 2021 at the local hospital. He was born October 24, 1957 in Dalton, GA, a son of the late Roy and Juanita Gentrey Grant. He is survived by his wife of 44 years, Angela Grant of the residence; son and dau Ashland, KY (41101) Today Cloudy skies during the evening with areas of fog developing after midnight. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. Low around 65F. Winds light and variable.. Tonight Cloudy skies during the evening with areas of fog developing after midnight. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. Low around 65F. Winds light and variable. The desire to defy the years at least in the music business is unstoppable. Over the past few days two groups whose heyday was 40-plus years ago announced they are getting back together. One, Genesis, is to go on tour, reprising its hits from the 1970s. It will be rather a struggle. Phil Collins told the BBC: 'I can barely hold a [drum] stick in this hand. There are certain physical things that get in the way.' So the 70-year-old, who has recently had back surgery, is handing over the drum kit to his son Nicholas. The Swedish group ABBA have also declared they are getting together again. Their approach is more innovative. Not only are they releasing an entirely new album, Voyage, their first in almost 40 years, but they are going to appear as digital versions of their younger selves, created by George Lucas's studio (which brought you all those Star Wars special effects). These avatars are to be known as 'ABBAtars'. Obviously, it would be impossible for the Abba members Benny, Bjorn, Agnetha and Anni-Frid to be as they were in their prime, just as Phil Collins cannot sweep back the years and hit those drums as he did. Or at least, not if the human condition remains as it has always been: subject to the inevitable ravages of time. Which, it turns out, is something the world's richest man, Jeff Bezos, wants to change. It has just been revealed that Amazon founder Jeff Bezos (pictured) has put a slice of his estimated $200 billion fortune into Altos Labs, a venture aimed at 'ultimately prolonging human life' [Stock image] Elixir It has just been revealed that the founder of Amazon has put a slice of his estimated $200 billion fortune into a new venture called Altos Labs. This will, according to a piece in MIT Technology Review, be 'pursuing biological reprogramming technology, a way to rejuvenate cells in the lab to revitalise entire animal bodies, ultimately prolonging human life.' This is going to be a multi-national venture with laboratories not just in the U.S. but also Japan and Cambridge in the UK, which is already a centre for stem-cell research. According to MIT Technology Review, 'Altos is luring professors by offering sports-star salaries of $1 million a year or more, plus equity . . . One researcher who confirmed accepting a job offer from Altos, Manuel Serrano, of Barcelona's Institute for Research in Biomedicine, said the company would pay him five to ten times what he earns now.' Spanish researchers have been in the vanguard of a rejuvenation method that involves adding four proteins, known as 'Yamanaka factors', to the cells of mice. This had the effect of making those cells regress to a younger form. Another Spanish scientist in this field, Juan Carlos Izpisua Belmonte, achieved what were described as 'signs of age reversal' in mice, and led him to term this 'a potential elixir of life'. Golden oldies: Swedish group ABBA (pictured) are back together and releasing a new album. They are going to appear as digital versions of their younger selves, known as 'ABBAtars' Mice, clearly, are not humans. And the experiments have had setbacks: a number of the rodents developed grotesquely disfiguring 'teratoma' tumours. But Bezos would not have got involved unless he saw this as having beneficial application to our species. Perhaps this was what he had in mind when, in his farewell letter as CEO to Amazon shareholders in July, he said (quoting the British biologist Richard Dawkins): 'Staving off death is something you have to work at . . . if living things don't actively work to prevent it, they would eventually merge with their surroundings and cease to exist as autonomous human beings.' Or, as it says in the Book of Common Prayer: 'Ashes to ashes, dust to dust'. Bezos is not the only Silicon Valley multi-billionaire to be driven by the idea of reversing the ageing process. In 2016 Peter Thiel, the co-founder of PayPal, joined Bezos in funding Unity Biotechnology, dedicated to the development of 'therapeutics to slow, halt or reverse diseases of ageing'. Three years before that, the founders of Google, Larry Page and Sergey Brin, invested $750 million in Calico Life Sciences, similarly devoted to tackling the human ageing process. None of these ventures has yet come up with the goods. But would it be desirable if they did? On the face of it, the answer would be 'Yes'. Certainly in the view of affluent West Coast Americans, where vast efforts are made by both sexes to appear much younger than their chronological age. Terrifying Success in biologically reversing the ageing process would be bad news for the legion of plastic surgeons in that part of the world, but surely it would be outweighed by the joy of billions assuming it was affordable who never again had to worry about infirmity, or indeed, getting older? I don't think so. If you stop to think about what living for hundreds of years let alone immortality would mean, the prospects are as terrifying as they are tantalising. It's not just a question of an infinitely expanding population Bezos has an answer to that, which I will come to but the nature of our humanity. What would life mean, if it had no end? Down the centuries, novelists have recognised this. The satirist Jonathan Swift had his character Gulliver visit Luggnagg where certain individuals were born 'with a red circular Spot in the Forehead, directly over the Left Eyebrow which was an infallible Mark that it should never dye'. These immortals, Gulliver was told, were called Struldbruggs. Enraptured, Gulliver exclaimed: 'Happiest beyond all comparison are those excellent Struldbruggs, born exempt from that universal Calamity of human Nature . . . without the Weight and Depression of Spirits caused by the continual Apprehension of Death'. Genesis is set to hit the road on a new tour, but Phil Collins (pictured), 70, revealed he can no longer play the drums like he used to But then Gulliver discovers the truth: that these immortals are so cut off from other humans, by virtue of outliving them by many centuries, that 'they lye under the Disadvantage of living like Foreigners in their own Country'. And in The Makropulos Affair, the Czech science fiction writer Karel Capek had a 337-year-old character called Emilia, who complained bitterly that 'No one can love for 300 years . . . and then everything tires one. And then you find out that there is nothing at all'. This theme the boredom of living for eternity was also picked up by the Anglo-American novelist, Susan Ertz, who wrote: 'Millions long for immortality who don't know what to do with themselves on a rainy Sunday afternoon'. Mortality In the case of multi-billionaires, I suppose there is the desire to live long enough to enjoy their vast fortunes to the full. They, at least, wouldn't have to worry that the cash would run out before they did (because be assured, eternal life would mean instant destruction of the business model of the pensions industry). Czech science fiction writer Karel Capek had a 337-year-old character called Emilia, who complained bitterly that 'No one can love for 300 years... and then everything tires one. And then you find out that there is nothing at all'. The likes of Jeff Bezos, in any case, are not the sort who are capable of being bored: he has a terrifying drive unlikely ever to be satisfied in a normal lifespan. Bezos's main post-Amazon project is space exploration, under the brand Blue Origin: it was in this pursuit that in July, along with a small group including his brother, he entered sub-orbital space on the vehicle New Shepard. In fact, he has long believed that humanity will exhaust Earth's resources and must therefore colonise space. Bezos, while a student at Princeton, became a devotee of one of the university's physicists, Gerard O'Neill, who set out a vision of human space settlements. The vast majority of us, I fancy, would not be drawn to life on some space station, however well stocked with products supplied by a weightless Amazon delivery service. Life on a real other Earth-like planet now that would be another matter. Bezos's main post-Amazon project is space exploration, under the brand Blue Origin: it was in this pursuit that in July, along with a small group including his brother, he entered sub-orbital space on the vehicle New Shepard (pictured) The closest equivalent planet to our own yet identified by astronomers is known as Kepler-452b. It has a sun like ours, from which it gets energy just 10 per cent higher than that we receive, and is in an orbit just 20 days longer than our 365. There is a difficulty, however: it is 1,400 light-years from us. Which means that at the speed of the fastest of the current generation of space probes, it would take more than 26 million years to reach it. So, take your elixir of life, Mr Bezos, and enjoy that journey. The rest of us will settle for mortality. When it comes to Australian beauty, brands don't come more cult than Nude by Nature thanks to its hugely popular mineral make-up range that is loved by celebrities and influencers alike. Now, the fan favourite has taken its clean approach to makeup and used that same ethos to create a new range of natural skincare products that are set to shake up the Aussie beauty industry. The Nude by Nature clean skincare range is made up of nine high performance products created using 100% potent, natural ingredients. Aussie cult brand Nude by Nature has launched a new clean, skincare range The nine product range is vegan and made up of 100% potent, natural ingredients and the skincare line is dermatologically tested, cruelty free and made here in Australia If you're not currently using clean skincare then now is the time to start. It's one of the biggest beauty trends of the moment and shows no signs of slowing down and for good reason: clean skincare works. The new Nude by Nature products, which include cleansers, a toner, moisturisers, an exfoliant and oils, are all vegan, ethically sourced and made here in Australia. The range is also suitable for all skin types, even the most sensitive and all formulas are free from toxins thanks to a clean, preservative system that keeps the formulas potent with a 100% natural blend of botanicals. There are also no parabens, silicones or sulphates or other filler 'nasties' so often used in skincare ranges, which just don't nourish your skin. Our top 3 picks from the new Nude by Nature clean skincare range Revitalising Eye Cream, $32.95 1) Revitalising Eye Cream, $32.95: A little miracle worker! If your peepers are in need of a glow up then this replenishing cream smooths the delicate skin around the eye area, while softening the appearance of fine lines and wrinkles. Clinical tests indicate the cream visibly reduces the appearance of fine lines by 58%* Plus, it also improves the appearance of dark circles and puffiness under the eyes. Daily Moisturising Lotion, $39.95 Bioactive Rosehip Oil, $34.95 2) Daily Moisturising Lotion, $39.95: Moisturiser is the absolute staple of any skincare regime and this lightweight, hydrating lotion offers intense moisture to deliver smooth, naturally radiant skin. 9/10 people say the product instantly hydrates the skin and 9/10 say skin feels soft and supple after use** If you only use product, this should be it. Your skin will thank you. 3 ) Bioactive Rosehip Oil, $34.95: A healthy glow in a bottle! This super nourishing facial oil promotes skin health and delivers a glowing and youthful complexion. Who doesn't want that? Clinical tests confirm the oil provides 24hr Hydration*** and helps to reduces fine lines and wrinkles If you're discerning about the make-up you use and the foods you eat you should definitely be looking critically at the products and the ingredients you are using on your skin. And if you think that clean ingredients don't work, think again, because Nude by Nature skincare is clinically proven and dermatologically tested. Sydney Dermatologist Dr. Annika Smith Daily Mail Australia chatted to Sydney Dermatologist Dr Annika Smith about some of the unique ingredients in the new Nude by Nature range; PhycoDerm in the Revitalising Eye Cream, 'contains a combination of marine extracts in a glycerin base, that serve to nourish and hydrate the eye contour region' Kahai Oil features in the Daily Moisturising Lotion and Restoring Night Cream, Dr Smith says that Kahai Oil 'is naturally rich in essential fatty acids, containing high amounts of linoleic and oleic acids, which serve to nourish and hydrate the skin'. The Bioactive Rosehip Oil includes Rosa Canina Seed Oil, which is 'rich in essential fatty acids and antioxidants to hydrate and protect the skin'. The new Nude by Nature clean skincare range has already had rave early reviews from beauty influencers who have already tried the products. If you're interested in kickstarting a clean skincare regime this is the range you've been waiting for. Take the Nude by Nature interactive quiz to find out which products are suitable for your skin type. To find out more about the Nude by Nature clean skincare range click here. *Results based on clinical testing of 32 women after 8 weeks. **Results based on clinical testing of 31 women after 28 days. ***Results based on clinical testing of 33 women. From a cup that looks like it disappears into the table to a door that leads to a secret portal, social media users have been sharing the mind-bending photos that look like a 'glitch in the matrix'. The illusion snaps from across the globe were collated in an online gallery by Bored Panda, and include a car that seemed to be floating. Other snaps show a very pixelated pup loking through a door that appeared as if it belonged in a 1980s computer game. In another photograph, a building seemed to melt into nothing with one side looking like a mirror. Where's the rest of my drink? This photo showed a clear plastic beverage cup that looked as if it was disappearing into the desk The entrance of the underwater observatory in Switzerland, Lake Zug, looks incredibly like The Truman Show door... Furry confusing! This pixelated doggo looked on patiently through a door that no doubt makes the other side appear just as trippy Anyone would be forgiven for thinking this was an architect's mock up of a future room, but in fact, it's an office lobby with chairs that look unnervingly computerised A car from another dimension? This debris left over from a crash in Tallinn, Estonia, looks just like a car poking out from another universe This incredible scene depicts a moment in time not likely to happen oftena harsh line between weather patterns that divides the world into two Despite looking like the boundary of a simulation, this is in fact a triangular building with a very shiny face A flood that later washed away left behind these amazing cloud-like frozen ice blankets suspended in the air This car's remains look exactly like their floating 2 feet off the ground all thanks to a dark stain to the right of it This Eastern Colorado farmland is actually completely flat, but windblown snow has given it the illusion of being 3D No, the world hasn't shifted slightly to the right, this is actually the mosque Jama Masjid, in Ahmedabad built in 1424 A Hawaiian phenomenon called Lahaina Noon, where the sun shines directly overhead, make these bollards appear as if they've been made by CGI So boats float now? Thankfully not, instead, the difference in air temperatures can bend the light to anyone standing on the coast This car park tree with another, bigger tree directly in front of it has created the perfect cartoon This isn't some bad programming in The Sims, but some terrible planning and construction in real life So close yet so far! This candle wick looks as if it malfunctioned in a computer glitch and forgot which part was supposed to be burning This apple, cut and peeled with a serrated knife looks completely pixelatedwhere its skin meets its flesh Although the idea of millionaire heiresses might conjure up visions of care-free party girls drenched in champagne, the truth of some of history's wealthiest debutantes is often more tragic than glamorous. From a 12-year-old child bride who inherited modern day Mayfair and Belgravia to a woman whose cruel marriage led to her dying of a broken heart, the lives of heiresses from the 17th century onwards have been explored in a new book. Written by journalist and biographer Laura Thompson, who has penned critically acclaimed books on Agatha Christie, Nanacy Mitford and Lord Lucan, Heiresses: The Lives of the Million Dollar Babies reveals ill-fated women who faced a constant battle to control their own lives. Frequently finding themselves the target of men eager to secure their vast fortunes, women were married off as young as six, while others had to be taken abroad to avoid kidnap. Another had to send her own children away because her debt-ridden ex-husband was constantly trying to snatch them for ransom, and it's suspected that he may even have murdered her in the end to get his hands on a 50,000 inheritance. Here Femail takes a look at the scandalous goings-on that shaped their lives... MARY DAVIES Drugged by a priest who illegally married her to his brother Mary Davies was born in London in 1665, the year the Great Plague began to sweep across England, to parents Alexander Davis and Mary Tregonwell Mary was born in London in 1665, the year the Great Plague began to sweep across England, to parents Alexander Davis and Mary Tregonwell. Her great-uncle Hugh Audley had made his fortune during the Civil War, a lawyer who profited off of lending money to both sides. He owned land all over England, but his greatest asset was Ebury Manor. Upon his death he had no children, and had decided to leave his fortune to his great-nephews Thomas and Alexander Davies. When Alexander died of the plague in 1665, his fortune was left to his only child - six-month-old Mary. She would become heiress to some of the most valuable land in the world with the manor bordering what is now Bayswater Road and Oxford Street, and the River Thames. Heiresses: The Lives of the Million Dollar Babies, by Laura Thompson, explores ill-fated women who suffered kidnap, forced marriages, and the threat of confinement in an asylum With an appetite for heiress brides among the gentry, Mary was sent to France to evade kidnap, but by the age of seven her ambitions mother was displaying her to potential buyers in Hyde Park. The minimum marriage age of sixteen was not enforced in law until 1929 and so by the age of 12, Mary was married at the church of St Clement Danes in the Strand, to Sir Thomas Grosvenor. Grosvenor was a Cheshire landowner who was nine years her senior and he paid 9,000 to marry her, while her dowry was the 1000-acre Manor of Ebury She was not obliged to live with Grosvenor, who would later become an MP and the local mayor, at his home at Eaton in Cheshire until the age of 15. Mary spent twenty years with her husband and gave birth to eight children. Forty years of political upset ended when Catholic James II was sent into exile and replaced by William III after the Glorious Revolution of November 1688 - but the deposed king still had many English supporters. Among them was Lady Mary, who became a convert to Roman Catholicism, while her husband remained anti-popish and loyal to the new king. Grosvenor died at the age of forty in 1700 while Mary was pregnant with her last child, and the heiress was said to be lost without him. The day before his funeral she met Father Lodowick Fenwick - a Benedictine monk who convinced her to travel around Europe with himself and his sister. After sharing her new friendship with the trustees of her inheritance, among them her mother, they attempted to seize her money, her children and have her committed to an asylum due to her Jacobean beliefs. They were unsuccessful and Mary soon made her way to Paris, where she took several suitors -including Fenwick's brother Edward - before travelling to Italy for the Papal Jubilee with the chaplain. When the pair returned to the Hotel Castile in Paris, Father Fenwick arranged a courtship between Edward and Mary. 'It is obvious that from day one the Fenwicks had a well-worked plot to ensnare this woman', writes Thompson. 'The priest played his careful part, and set the scene for the sexy brother.' Soon after her move back to France, Mary fell ill with a mysterious condition and while Thompson suggests her initial illness was genuine, it was used by the Fenwicks to ensnare her in their duplicitous plot. They hired a doctor to administer Mary with emetics suitable for a horse, drugged with laudanum which had been sprinkled over her food and repeatedly bled with leeches. After waking up from an unconscious state, Mary was informed that she and Edward had been married by Father Fenwick - but that she simply couldn't remember the ceremony taking place. Incredibly, Mary was able to contact her mother in England and flee to her home in Millbank - but soon Fenwick turned up, claiming she was insane, and demanding the rights to her properties and 30,000. A two year court case in which Mary tried to prove she had not willingly married Edward ensued. The Spiritual Court of the Dean and Chapter of Westminster soon pronounced their marriage a sham, but a retrial in 1703 saw a jury at Westminster Hall rule in Fenwicks favour. Despite his win, Edward never claimed his land or money and a year later, the ruling was overturned and the marriage annulled on grounds that Mary had been 'of unsound mind' at the time of the wedding. While her mother once again tried to regain custody of Mary, Thomas Grosvenor's sons stepped in and Mary was cared for by Grosvenor's family until her death in 1730. Seven years before her death, Grosvenor Square was laid out on Mary's land while some of her fields would be the area surrounding Buckingham Palace and others dotted around Hyde park. ANGELA BURDETT-COUTTS 'Queen of the poor' who housed prostitutes with Charles Dickens Baroness Burdett-Coutts was born in 1814 to Sir Francis Burdett, a politician and Sophia Coutts - whose father Thomas founded the prestigious London bank of the same name Baroness Burdett-Coutts was born in 1814 to Sir Francis Burdett, a politician and Sophia Coutts - whose father Thomas founded the prestigious London bank of the same name. Thomas had three daughters with his wife Elizabeth and when he died in 1822 the banker left his fortune to his second wife Harriet Mellon - an actress he wed at the age of 80 who was 40 years his junior. She was left instructions to distribute it to the family member she felt was most worthy, and after 15 years she chose his granddaughter, Angela. Her father, Sir Francis, was a liberal politician who gained fame as an advocate of universal suffrage and he had insisted that all of his five daughter receive an education. Harriet's decision was swayed by Angela's 'modest demeanour, fitting to the Victorian-female ideal' and she was given her 1.8 million fortune at the age of 23 in August 1837. She was also entitled to half of the shares in the Coutts banking house. Also inheriting Thomas' home in Stratton Street, Angela became one of the richest women in Europe and was thought to be the wealthiest heiress in England. Due to her new found riches the heiress was overwhelmed with letters from eager suitors, so much so that she and her governess Hannah Meredith had to come up with a signal to end the meeting when a bachelor proposed. Angela became one of the richest women in Europe and was thought to be the wealthiest heiress in England at the age of 23 She was even stalked for two years by Richard Dunn, a bankrupt Irish barrister desperate to get his hands on her fortune. But there was one man who caught her eye, the Duke of Wellington - whom she proposed to at the age of 33 when he was seventy-eight, however he declined, certain that he was too old for her. Her life's work began when she met Charles Dickens, soon after she inherited her fortune. He was one of many high profile guests who visited Angela, including Queen Victoria. While their relationship was never romantic, the pair shared an intimate friendship, and Angela was the author's inspiration for the character Agnes Wickfield in David Copperfield. One of her first endeavours was offering sizeable donations to the Ragged Schools, a project started in 1818 by a Portsmouth shoemaker to educate the very poorest children. In 1846, she and Dickens came up with the idea for a home for prostitutes in Shepherd's Bush, which opened a year later as Urania Cottage, after Angela noticed sex workers pacing from Piccadilly to Green Park from her bedroom window. In order to protect her reputation, Angela donated the money to fund the home under the pseudonym 'Lady Unknown. The home managed to rehabilitate thirty women of the 56 who had passed through their doors by 1853. 'How remarkable she was. It was a singularly rare Victorian woman who actually looked upon prostitutes, who did not turn her head away, or close the curtains, or tell herself that if their existence was not acknowledged then they did not exist', writes Thompson. In 1871, Angela - who was hailed the Queen of the Poor by her fans - became one the first women to be made a Baroness 'in her own right' before becoming the first female Freeman a year later Other projects of the heiress include donating resources to Florence Nightingale in the Crimea as well as financing a new development for the poor called Columbia Square in Bethnal Green. She set up sewing schools and financed silk weavers in Spitalfields and when the cholera epidemic of 1867 hit, arranged for an aid programme of 20,000 for victims. Angela eventually became President of the Ladies Committee of the RSPCA and gave financial support to explorer David Livingstone's 1858 Zambezi expedition. Since the early 1860s, her relationship with Dickens became more distant, but before his death in 1870, the author travelled to Paris where he gave a not to Hannah Browne saying that he lived over again the years that lie behind us. In 1871, Angela - who was hailed the Queen of the Poor by her fans - became one the first women to be made a Baroness 'in her own right' before becoming the first female Freeman a year later. Nine years later, at the age of 66, Angela finally announced to her engagement - to a 29-year-old actor called William Ashmead Bartlett. Her friend Queen Victoria was said to have proclaimed that Lady Burdett really must be crazy, later writing in her journal: That poor foolish old woman Lady Burdett-Coutts was presented on her marriage with Mr Bartlett forty years younger than herself. 'She looked like his grandmother and was all decked out with jewels not edifying! Her husband, who later became Tory MP for Westminster, remained married to Angela until her death in 1906 and continued working to support her causes. CATHERINE TYLNEY LONG The devoted wife whose cruel husband tormented her Catherine Tylney Long, born in 1789, was a 'bright and savvy' new money heiress whose vast fortune came from trade Catherine Tylney Long, born in 1789, was a 'bright and savvy' new money heiress whose vast fortune came from trade. Hailed the 'Regency It Girl', Catherine inherited her money at just 16 and would have had accumulated a 'Kardashian-level following on Instagram' had she been born today. She was the daughter of James Tylney-Long and Lady Catherine Sydney Windsor and resided at Wanstead, her property in Essex, which would become the subject of a cartoon titled Worshippers at Wanstead depicting her hoards of fans. When Sir James' only son died in 1805, Catherine inherited his fortune and estate, which comprised of the 360,000 Palladian mansion, Draycot House in Wiltshire, thousands of acres over various counties and at least 40,000 a year. After moving to Mayfair to learn the ways of a society lady, she attended a party held by the future George IV where she met the Duke of Clarence, later King William IV. He was besotted with Catherine. While Lady Windsor was thrilled at the prospect of the Duke's proposal, the handsome and badly behaved William Wellesley Pole, son of the 3rd Earl of Mornington, caught her eye instead. Described as 'immensely sexy and well travelled', Catherine fell instantly for Pole - who had already lived with a seamstress in Ipswich and had racked up debt gambling and drinking. Men with a taste for money: How men bartered with juvenile heiresses for wealth and status Margaret Beaufort, heiress to the fortune of the 1st Duke of Somerset, was married aged six in 1450 to the son of her guardian, who was keen to get his hands on her money. The marriage was annulled and five years later Henry VI married her off to his half-brother Edmund Tudor. A year later she was the widowed mother of the future King Henry VII at twelve-years-old. The minimum age of sixteen was not enforced in law until 1929. Elizabeth Percy, the only child of the 11th Earl of Northumberland was married to a son of the Duke of Newcastle at 12. When she was widowed two years later, aged fourteen, she married the MP Thomas Thynne. By 15, Thynne had been murdered Swedish count who had taken an interest in the Percy fortune. Elizabeth Malet was fourteen when she was abducted by the Earl of Rochester 1665. While his initial attempt was unsuccessful, two years later, this time with Elizabeths consent, the couple married in a clandestine ceremony at Knightsbridge Chapel . The revised Marriage Act of 1823 specified that a man who married a minor under 21 without consent would have no access to her money. Advertisement Ignoring advice from her mother and sister, Catherine married Pole at the age of 23 at St Jamess, Piccadilly in 1812. 'His sexual prowess was the stuff of excitable gossip', writes Thompson. 'To be frank about it, the most likely explanation for Catherines decision to marry him is that they had slept together she was rumoured to have sneaked him into Draycot, the Wiltshire family home and that she became unwilling to relinquish this beguiling new experience.' The marriage came with a prenup and Pole, who soon became an MP, was entitled to his wifes property and her earnings - including Wanstead House. But the relationship turned sour quickly, with Pole denying Catherine's sister of the 15,000 each left to them in their fathers will and soon becoming 'more careless of his wifes feelings'. He was soon spending vast amounts on clothes and renovating the house and asked for additional money from his wife's own protected income, which she agreed to. The couple had a son in 1813, and while Catherine was thrilled about her baby, her husband described the newborn as an 'ugly little wretch. By his mid 30s, Pole began to 'despise' her and boasted that he had slept with a thousand and three women and in 1815, asked Catherine to sign a will leaving him 50,000 if she died in childbirth. In 1818 she learned that Pole had a secret love child, who was born around the time as her own baby, and she agreed to pay her husbands mistress 500 a year to leave England for France with her child. But very soon the mistress returned and continued her affair with Pole, meanwhile his spending had spiralled out of control - with Catherine's husband spending 300,000 in 1818-20. As his debts stacked up, Pole escaped prosecution because he was an MP - but when he retired in 1820, he was declared bankrupt and fled to France where he sold more of Catherine's assets to try and pay what he owed. Despite all this - Catherine was still in love with Pole and travelled to Paris with their three children. Public opinion was largely in favour of Catherine, with those who attended an auction at Wanstead declaring Pole a husband who had 'in some dozen years only, dissipated the accumulated riches of ages, without dignity, and sunk into comparative poverty, without pity. Ultimately, Wanstead was demolished so Pole could sell the bricks and timber to clear his debts while Catherine's home in Tylney Park in Hampshire was also sold off. Soon the couple moved to Italy, where Pole decided to ditch his original mistress and embark on a relationship with his married cousin Helena Bligh. When she fell pregnant and had an abortion Bligh left her husband for Catherine's husband, writing to his wife to tell her about their relationship. Somehow - Pole convinced Catherine that Bligh had fled a cruel marriage and suggested that the two women become friends, which they did temporarily, travelling as a trio to Florence. When the truth was out, Catherine demanded Bligh leave their hotel - but soon she would return to join the couple in Paris. A devastated Catherine eventually wrote to her father-in-law, insisting: My dear Lord, this must end... I have borne it till I can bear it no longer. There is a point where submission becomes a weakness, and resistance is felt a duty. I have reached it... Pole reacted by calling Catherine a 'damned bitch and accused her of turning his parents against him. As Catherine's health declined, Pole began to 'use the children as weapons' and she eventually returned to Britain with her kids under the condition she paid her husband 4,000 a year. Her solicitors told Catherine to seek a divorce and reclaim what was left of her assets while Pole returned to England with his cousin, who was now pregnant with his baby. The last year of the heiresses life was 'quite ghastly', spent attempting to escape Pole who would break into her home trying to abduct her children - eventually having to move them from her care for their protection. In September 1825, she visited her children one last time at her home in Richmond, where she was being cared for by her sister. She died the following day, aged thirty-six. 'The cause, according to her doctor, was the broken heart cited by Catherine herself (or, more prosaically, the cumulation of years of anguish)', writes Thompson. 'However: given that Pole believed he would inherit 50,000 on her death, murder has to be a possibility. Catherines weakened state and stomach cramps are certainly compatible with poisoning.' Shortly after Catherine's death, for the first time in legal history, a father was deprived of his children on the grounds of unfitness and Catherine's kids became Wards in Chancery and were cared for by their aunts. ELLEN TURNER The young heiress abducted and married for her fortune Ellen Turner was the child of William Turner, a wealthy mill owner in Chester, Ellen held the title of the richest heiress in the kingdom At just 15, Ellen Turner was one of the most eligible heiresses of the 19th century. The child of William Turner, a wealthy mill owner in Chester, Ellen held the title of the richest heiress in the kingdom and was a prime target for kidnappers - so much so that her father placed her in a private Christian boarding school in Liverpool. In 1826, she would be lured out of the school by thirty-year-old Edward Gibbon Wakefield, a clever and ambitious lawyer who was extremely keen to bag an heiress bride. With the help of his brother William and their young stepmother Frances Davis, the brothers came up with a plan to get their hands on Ellen's vast fortune. Initially, Frances came up with the idea of courting Ellen and marrying her legally, but gradually decided that it would be easier to kidnap her and force her into wedding Edward. Frances lived nearby to Ellen's father, and after learning her whereabouts, prepared the Wakefield brothers to carry out their kidnapping. In March, a letter was delivered to Ellen's school telling her that her mother had fallen very ill and she should travel home in the carriage that would be waiting for her outside. Despite noticing that the servant driving the carriage wasn't her father's, Ellen went with her kidnappers and was taken to a hotel in Manchester and told that her father had fallen into great debt and needed to escape his lenders. He said that his own uncle was among those who lent William Turner money and that Ellen's father had come up with a plan to absolve himself of debt by marrying his daughter. According to The Times, he told her it now remained for her to determine whether she would accede, or her papa would be turned out of doors!. Desperate to save her father, Ellen agreed to travel with the brothers to Gretna Green where they were married, shortly moving Ellen to Calais telling her he had an 'urgent appointment'. William was informed by the school that his daughter was missing, but had no idea what had happened until receiving a letter from Wakefield a few days later telling him Ellen was married. After eight days missing, Ellen's relations arrived in Calais, where they battled with Wakefield to see their daughter - who he said was in love with him and had been a willing participant in the marriage. William's solicitor delighted Ellen by informing her that the marriage was not legal, and Ellen managed to flee France for England in the safe hands of her family. But Wakefield didn't go down without a fight. His trial garnered huge public attention, and Wakefield was still fighting to clear his name, insisting that their feelings had been mutual. After managing to get his trial delayed, he pretended to be a heartbroken lover, sending Ellen books, portraits and love poems to convince the jury that she was once in love with him too. In March 1827, the trial went ahead with Ellen giving powerful testimony about th lies that had led her to wed Edward. After just twenty minutes of discussion the jury found him guilty and sentenced to three years in jail. Despite his conviction, Wakefield went on to have an impressive political career in Canada and New Zealand. He died in 1862. Ellen married one of her prosecution team, Thomas Legh but died in childbirth aged 19. Heiresses: The Lives of the Million Dollar Babies by Laura Thompson, Apollo, is available for 25 Hollywood darling Kristen Bell has been enjoying the last of the Los Angeles summer in a trendy set from an Australian fashion label. The notoriously private Frozen star, 41, wore a $251 shirt and $221 shorts from Faithfull the Brand for a family portrait with husband Dax Shepherd, 46, and their daughters, Delta, six, and Lincoln, eight, whose faces were obscured with emojis. The striped set, which is available to order in navy and yellow from the brand's website and upscale clothing platforms including Revolve, quickly drew praise from fans, with many calling it the perfect summer outfit. 'Ok, the set!' US blogger Sarah Nicole Landry wrote. Hollywood darling Kristen Bell (pictured with husband Dax Shepherd and their daughters Delta, left, and Lincoln, right) has been enjoying the last of the Los Angeles summer in a trendy set from Australian fashion label, Faithfull the Brand 'Love this and love your ensemble,' stylist Nicole Chavez added. It seems shoppers are already racing to mimic the look, with the shirt already sold out in sizes medium and large. Founded in Bali in 2012 by Australian Sarah-Jane Abrahams and Norwegian Helle Them-Enger, Faithfull has attracted a legion of celebrity fans since launching nine years ago. In July 2020, the womenswear label saw one of its dresses sell out hours after it was worn by the Duchess of Cambridge. The striped set is available to order in navy and yellow from the brand's website and upscale clothing platforms including Revolve Faithfull co-founders Helle Them-Enger (left) and Sarah-Jane Abrahams (right) with blogger Olivia Lopez at a swimwear show in Miami, Florida on July 18, 2015 Kate, 39, donned the $199 'Marie-Louise' frock for a visit to East Anglia's Children's Hospice, 30 minutes' drive from her Norfolk home of Anmer Hall on June 25. Creative director Ms Them-Enger and CEO Ms Abrahams told Vogue Australia the dress sold out 'almost immediately' after it was seen on Britain's future queen. The duo said they had no idea the royal owned one of their pieces until they were tagged in photos of the hospice visit on Instagram. Kate Middleton arrives at East Anglia's Children's Hospice on June 25, 2020, in the $199 Marie Louise midi-dress from Faithfull the Brand Ms Them-Enger and Ms Abrahams said they were both incredibly 'flattered and thrilled' by the royal's public endorsement. 'Our Instagram is inundated with tagged imagery of the duchess wearing our dress and we have received so many [direct message] and email inquiries of how customers can now gt a hold of this piece,' they said in an email to Vogue. 'There is still uncertainty of how the Duchess got a hold of our dress and it completely took us by surprise; we are beyond happy she is a fan and wears Faithfull so well.' A mum has sparked outrage after sharing a picture of the lunchbox she packed for her picky toddler at daycare, with hundreds criticising her for including popcorn, cut-up carrot and nuts. The Australian woman, called Tamika, posted on Facebook, where she wrote: 'This is lunch and snacks for my picky toddler (13 months old) at daycare tomorrow. 'She will have protein for dinner,' Tamika added. A mum has sparked outrage after sharing a picture of the lunchbox she packed for her picky toddler at daycare, with hundreds criticising her for including popcorn and nuts (pictured) Poll Do you think the lunchbox is unsafe for a 13-month-old child? Yes No Do you think the lunchbox is unsafe for a 13-month-old child? Yes 615 votes No 277 votes Now share your opinion The lunch and snack box included some popcorn, cut-up carrots and cucumber, dried bananas, raisins and nuts, along with a cheese strip. It wasn't long before dozens of other mums weighed in and said it was 'dangerous' to give such a young child popcorn and raw carrot, and she wouldn't be allowed to bring nuts into daycare. 'Popcorn isn't recommended under five years of age, and it's especially not recommended to a 13-month-old,' one commenter posted. Another added: 'Popcorn, whole nuts and raw carrot really is the trifecta of very high risk choking foods for a young toddler'. Previously, parenting organisation Tiny Hearts shared the foods including a cherry, popcorn, a grape, a coin and other toys that serve as choking hazards (pictured) Some rushed to defend the woman and said 'you should all be ashamed of yourself, leave the lunchbox alone'. Others shared their own experiences with popcorn, and just how terrifying it can be for kids. 'I watched my child choke on popcorn right in front of me (she was fully supervised),' one mum wrote. 'It's the makeup of popcorn that's the problem, not how the child chews. It is light and it's carried into the airways very quickly. The added bits on the outside of popcorn aid with the choking, which is why adults can so easily choke on it too.' She added: 'Some kids might be fine with it, but others might die like my child almost did. Awareness is the key, because if I'd have known it wasn't recommended for young children, she wouldn't have been eating it'. A mother also issued a grave warning to parents after her three-year-old nearly died from choking on popcorn (pictured: Cheree's daughter Sophie in hospital) This warning comes after a mother issued a warning to all parents after her three-year-old daughter 'nearly died' from eating popcorn. Cheree Lawrence, 34, from Brisbane, said her little girl Sophie was rushed to the emergency room after she started 'choking' in front of the TV. 'I didn't think twice about give my three-year-old popcorn... She had eaten popcorn before; all my kids have grown up having popcorn in their lunchbox,' she told FEMAIL. 'I had no idea how dangerous it is for young children to aspirate on, or that children under five shouldn't have popcorn at all.' By the time the concerned mother and daughter got to the hospital, Cheree said Sophie's wheeze was becoming 'quite scary'. 'She also had a high-pitched whistling sound when breathing,' she said. The mother said her daughter's symptoms persisted for weeks but they were sent back home with steroids, antibiotics and Ventolin. Five weeks later, Sophie was taken into emergency surgery, where the piece of popcorn that she had aspirated was removed. 'The popcorn had caused some damage to her lung because it sat there for five long weeks and slowly started breaking down,' Cheree said. 'To this day, Sophie [who's now five years old] still has asthma associated with the popcorn and is on two types of medication to assist her.' It was revealed yesterday that Kate Middleton's brother James had tied the knot with Alizee Thevenet in an intimate ceremony in France. The entrepreneur, 34, who is the younger brother of the Duchess of Cambridge, revealed he had wed the 32-year-old French finance expert on Saturday 'surrounded by family and friends'. Alizee, who has lived and worked in London for several years, is currently a director at TreasurySpring, a fin tech firm that uses digital pipelines to connect cash rich firms to institutional borrowers. She's the daughter of retired diplomat Jean-Gabriel Thevenet, who lives in Paris and is currently pursuing a career as a writer and poet, and shared a close relationship with both parents. Her father is very fond of his daughter's new husband, previously describing Alizee as deliriously happy with James. Kate Middleton has a new sister-in-law, French finance expert Alizee Thevenet, 32, who speaks three languages and grew up around the world with her diplomat father James shared a photo of his stunning French bride Alizee walking the dogs in nothing more than a pair of boots and a bikini, pictured Alizee shares a close relationship with her mother (pictured) and her father is very fond of his daughter's new husband, previously describing Alizee as deliriously happy with James My daughter Alizee is very happy with James, they are very much in love, Mr. Thevenet told MailOnline in March 2019 when news of the couple's relationship first broke. James is a very charming man, he said. I am very happy that Alizee is together with James. I know she is very happy. We keep our fingers crossed for them.' The finance guru is fluent in three languages having lived in six countries - Germany, Indonesia, Chile, France, Belgium and England as the Thevenet travelled the world. But Alizee has been settled in the UK for several years, graduating with a masters degree in investment and finance from Queen Mary, University of London. The entrepreneur, 34, who is the younger brother of the Duchess of Cambridge , revealed he had wed the 32-year-old French finance expert on Saturday 'surrounded by family and friends' James Middleton's wife Alizee Thevenet, 32, is a French finance expert who has lived and worked in London for several years after travelling the world with her diplomat father as a child . James shared a snap of her enjoying some red wine and cheese in their rustic home earlier this year The finance guru is fluent in three languages having lived in six countries - Germany, Indonesia, Chile, France, Belgium and England as the Thevenet travelled the world. She is pictured relaxing on holiday last year Before then she did her undergraduate degree in accounting and finance in Brussels. On her Linkedin profile, she descries herself as having a 'high work ethic and dedication to success' as well as 'always being open to new ideas'. The blonde beauty has worked at London-based Fintech startup TreasurySpring for the past two years. Alizee has a keen interest in sailing and watersports and shares James' love of dogs, with the pair often sharing snaps of them out and about with the entrepreneur's beloved pets. Her father revealed how his daughter Alizee is named after the sub-tropical trade wind known as the Alize in French. He said: My daughter is named after my first love which is wind-surfing and the Alize wind that fills the sails. The couple are pictured attending the wedding of Lady Gabriella Windsor and Mr Thomas Kingston at St George's Chapel, Windsor Castle in 2019 Alizee has a keen interest in sailing and watersports and earlier this year James a series of snaps of his bride relaxing on a boat enjoying a holiday in Italy It is clear they are more loved up than ever as they look ahead to their wedding, with James gushing over his wife in a touching Instagram post shared this month. He posted a series of holiday pictures from a couple's getaway in Sicily James has previously described how Alizee had helped to transform his life following crippling depression. The couple met at the private South Kensington Club in 2018 when Jamess cocker spaniel, Ella, bounded over to Alizee. They were first seen together at the Henry van Straubenzee Memorial Funds Christmas Carol Service at St. Lukes Church The following month, they were spotted vacationing in St. Barts along with James's sister Pippa and her husband James Matthews. The couple were last pictured together at the Bvlgari Magnifica Gala dinner at Spencer House in St James', London, in June. James shared a snap of the stunning financier through his business account Ella Co, showing Alize on the beach playing fetch with his adorable pooch James and Alizee recently snapped up a property in Berkshire village of Bucklebury, for 1.45 million. Its a four-bedroom Grade II listed period farmhouse with beams and leaded windows in a village on the Bucklebury fringes. It means Kates family are all now near-neighbours, with parents Carole and Michael living in a 4.7 million Georgian manor house in the village, while her sister Pippa recently bought Bucklebury Farm Park, a petting zoo which is a favourite of Prince George, Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis. After more than a year of dating, the couple announced their engagement in September 2019. James is believed to have proposed during a trip in the Lake District. Alizee was seen in a picture shared on his Instagram with a stunning sapphire ring on her finger. The finance guru shares James' love of dogs, with the pair often sharing snaps of them out and about with the entrepreneur's beloved pets The secret ceremony took place in the French village of Bormes-les-Mimosas on the famous Cote d'Azur. Prince William and Kate both attended the event, along with James' other sister, socialite Pippa, and her businessman husband James Matthews. His parents Carole and Michael Middleton, and his beloved dogs, Luna and Mabel, are also thought to have attended. It comes after James revealed last year that he and Alizee had been forced to postpone their wedding twice because of the coronavirus pandemic. The couple, who met in 2018 and who announced their engagement in 2019, had originally planned to get married in May last year. Princess Charlene of Monaco has shared pictures of her twins spending time in Monaco with their aunt Princess Caroline as the royal remains in South Africa while recovering from a sinus infection. The 43-year-old wife of Prince Albert shared a series of adorable snaps to Instagram showing Gabriella and Jacques, six, at Monaco's annual dog show at the Espace Fontvieille exposition in Monte Carlo. Gabriella was seen in a wheelchair with a pink cast on her leg. She reportedly sprained her leg after a bad fall while playing at her school Francois d'Assise-Nicolas Barre, last week. In the pictures, Princess Gabriella and Hereditary Prince Jacques are seen with Princess Caroline, 64, and her daughter Charlotte Casiraghi-Rassam, 35, and her cousin Melanie-Antoinette de Massy, 36. Princess Charlene of Monaco has shared pictures of her twins spending time in Monaco with their aunt Princess Caroline as the royal remains in South Africa while recovering from a sinus infection In the pictures, Gabriella and Hereditary Prince Jacques are seen with Princess Caroline, 64, and her daughter Charlotte Casiraghi-Rassam, 35, and her cousin Melanie-Antoinette de Massy, 36 Charlene's (pictured with her family) last formal engagement was on January 27 when she joined Albert for the Sainte Devote Ceremony in Monte Carlo. She has not been seen at home since 'Spending time with their auntie HRH Princess Caroline and their cousins at the annual dog show,' Charlene wrote. The pictures show the twins delighted to be stroking dogs and playing with their cousins and aunt. Princess Caroline, who recently debuted natural grey hair opted for a clean white shirt look, while Charlotte donned a navy A-line skirt. It comes as a friend said Charlene, who hasn't been seen in Monaco since January, sees herself as a 'protector of the heirs' and not a royal. Speaking to People Magazine, a source close to the former Olympic swimmer said: 'She sees herself as the protector of the heirs, as opposed to the princess of Monaco'. The 43-year-old wife of Prince Albert is shared a series of adorable snaps to Instagram showing Gabriella and Jacques, six, at Monaco's annual dog show at the Espace Fontvieille exposition in Monte Carlo Gabriella was seen in a wheelchair with a pink cast on her leg. She reportedly sprained her leg after a bad fall well playing at her school Francois d'Assise-Nicolas Barre, last week The pictures show the twins delighted to be stroking dogs and playing with their cousins and aunt. Princess Caroline, who recently debuted natural grey hair opted for a clean white shirt look, while Charlotte donned a navy A-line skirt The friend added Charlene 'only felt fully part of the family' after welcoming the twins which gave her 'a kind of security'. 'She's incredibly involved and protective ... in a very loving and providing kind of way, shunning other activities to be with them and making sure that they're kind of living a semi-normal life,' they added. Charlene has spent the past several months in South Africa being treated for an ear and throat infection she contracted in May, following a sinus lift and bone graft procedure she had undergone prior to her arrival in preparation for dental implants. How Charlene and Albert made solo outings in South Africa and Monaco during seven months apart January 27 - Charlene is pictured with Albert for the Sainte Devote Ceremony in Monaco. March 18 - Charlene is pictured at the memorial for the late Zulu monarch, King Goodwill Zwelithini at the KwaKhethomthandayo Royal Palace in Nongoma, South Africa April 2 - Charlene posts an Instagram picture of herself, Albert and their twins Jacques and Gabriella for Easter. It is unknown where the image was taken. May 8 - Albert, Jacques and Gabriella attend a Grand Prix event in Monaco without Charlene May 10 - Albert attends Monaco Gala Awards in Monaco without Charlene May 18 - Charlene shares her first picture from her conservation trip in South Africa June 1 - Prince Albert II, Jacques and Gabriella attend event at Oceanic Museum in Monaco June 3 - New photos emerge of Charlene on her conservation trip June 5- Charlene puts on a united front as she shares a photo with her family to mark her niece's fifth birthday with her brother's family and Albert and the twins in South Africa June 7 - Albert and the twins attend the World Rugby Sevens without Charlene June 17 - Prince Albert attends Red Cross Summer concert in Monte Carlo with his sister Princess Caroline of Hanover June 18 - Prince Albert appears alone Monte Carlo TV Festival June 24 - Charlene's foundation releases a statement saying the royal is unable to travel and is undergoing procedures for an ear, nose and throat infection July 2 - Charlene and Albert mark their 10th anniversary separately. 'This year will be the first time that I'm not with my husband on our anniversary in July, which is difficult, and it saddens me,' Her Serene Highness Princess Charlene said in a statement. July 3 - Albert appears with glamorous niece Charlotte Casiraghi at the 15th international Monte-Carlo Jumping event, which is part of the Longines Global Champions Tour of Monaco, July 27 - Prince Albert attends Olympics alone in Tokyo August 13 - Charlene undergoes a four-hour operation. The reason is not announced August 25 - Charlene shares photos of Prince Albert, Gabriella and Jacques visiting her in South Africa August 31 - Speculation mounts in the media about couple's relationship Advertisement As a result, the mother-of-two missed her 10 year wedding anniversary and is not expected to return to the principality until October at the earlierst, after undergoing a 'four-hour operation under general anaesthesia' in August - although it was not made clear whether this was linked to the sinus infection. Despite Charlene being admitted to hospital earlier this month after a 'sudden collapse' rumours are rife that a rift with Prince Albert, rather than health issues, is what's keeping her away from Monaco. Meanwhile, Prince Albert has been preparing for his wife's return home after spending most of 2021 apart. In a previous interview with People, he said Charlene was ready to come home and has been joking that she wants to clandestinely hop on a ship to make her way to Monaco. Earlier this week, he told the magazine: 'She didn't leave Monaco in a huff! She didn't leave because she was mad at me or at anybody else She didn't go into exile. It was absolutely just a medical problem which had to be treated.' He added that his wife had planned to travel to South Africa to reassess her foundation's work and to spend time with her brother and friends. Albert admitted he 'probably should have addressed' the rumours sooner, but was 'concentrating on taking care of the kids' and believed they would just 'go away'. 'Of course it affects her, of course it affects me,' he told the magazine. 'Misreading events is always detrimental... We're an easy target, easily hit, because we're in the public eye a lot.' The Princess has missed out on countless public engagements and family events due to her extended stay in South Africa, including her children's return to school this week. On Monday, after a trip to Ireland with their father, Prince Jacques and Princess Gabriella joined the 5715 pupils starting their school year at FANB. Sporting the school's red polo shirts, the twins wore face coverings as they entered the building ahead of their 10am start. Last week it was announced that the royal had been admitted to hospital in in the port city of Durban in the southeastern KwaZulu-Natal province after collapsing at home. 'Her Serene Highness (HSH) Princess Charlene of Monaco was rushed to hospital by ambulance late Wednesday night after collapsing due to complications from the severe ear, nose, and throat infection she contracted in May,' her foundation said in a statement. 'The Princess' medical team is currently evaluating her but have confirmed that the Princess is stable,' it said. Chantell Wittstock, director of the Princess Charlene of Monaco Foundation and Charlene's sister-in-law, later said that 'she has been released. She was released this morning'. 'Doctors are still establishing exactly what happened,' she said. Her latest health scare was 'part of the recovery,' Wittstock said. 'She has been in a lot of pain.' Charlene and Albert reunited last month for the first time in months after the monarch and their children flew to South Africa, but photographs of the pair embracing were branded 'awkward' by a body language expert. In recent weeks, lifestyle magazines across Europe have speculated feverishly that the royal couple could be headed for divorce. French magazine Madame Figaro stated the images 'failed to convince the Monegasques' amid reports Charlene is looking for a house in Johannesburg. According to The Telegraph, the magazine asked: 'How long can she remain away from her children, her duties?' 'How long will the fight against rhinoceros poaching remain the Princess of Monaco's top priority? 'How long will Albert II of Monaco go on bearing this affront, which is becoming ridiculous?' Historian Philippe Delorme said that 'lots of people got the impression it was an arranged marriage' between Charlene and Albert, adding: 'Albert chose a wife who resembled his mother, and Charlene clearly felt very ill at ease in this Grace Kelly role they wanted her to play' Princess Charlene of Monaco shared an awkward hug when she was finally reunited with her husband and children after almost three months apart The mounting speculation about the couple's marriage comes after Charlene shared professional photographs of her reunion with Prince Albert online, saying she was 'thrilled' to have her family back. She shared a series of photos cuddled up with her kids in South Africa with the caption: 'I am so thrilled to have my family back with me (Gabriella decided to give herself a haircut!!!) Sorry my Bella I tried my best to fix it,' referring to her daughter's choppy fringe. However a body language expert told FEMAIL Charlene showed 'no emotional bond' towards her husband Prince Albert in the images. Judi James said that rather than being the loved-up reunion photo one would expect of a couple surrounded by split rumours, the royals' poses suggested 'no signs of connection between awkward-looking Albert and Charlene'. Last Monaco outing together: Charlene and Albert were last pictured together at an official event together in January at the Sainte Devote Ceremony in Monaco. Albert has made a few visits to South Africa since Charlene has been in South Africa since at least March, with media reports suggesting she is looking for a house there. The prince, who already supports two illegitimate children, is alleged to have been in a relationship with a Brazilian woman which resulted in a daughter in 2005. Princess Charlene's trials and tribulations in the Monaco royal family 1987 - Bea Fiedler, a German topless model, claims her son Daniel was the prince's son. 1992 - An American national files a paternity lawsuit against the Prince, claiming that he was the father of her daughter, Jazmin Grace. 2000 - Princess Charlene meets Prince Albert at the Mare Nostrum swimming competition in Monte Carlo 2005 - In May, a former flight attendant claims that her youngest son, whom she named Alexandre Grimaldi-Coste, was Prince Albert's child. She states that his parentage had been proven by DNA tests requested by the Monegasque government. On 6 July, a few days before he was enthroned on 12 July, the Prince officially confirms via his lawyer Lacoste that Alexandre was his biological son. 2006 - After a DNA test confirmed the child's parentage, Albert admitted, via statement from his lawyer, that he is Jazmin Grace's father. 2010 - Princess Charlene and Prince Albert announce their engagement 2011 - Princess Charlene was said to have bolted two days before the royal wedding after hearing Prince Albert had a third love child during their relationship. It was alleged that Charlene tried to flee home to South Africa three times before her 'arranged marriage', at one point taking refuge inside her country's embassy in Paris. Monaco officials were said to have coaxed her back by brokering a deal between the Prince and his reluctant bride that she provide him with a legitimate heir. After that she would be free to leave of her own free will. During the wedding, Charlene was in floods of tears, while her husband looked on impassively. Later in the year, Princess Charlene confessed she felt 'very lonely' in Monaco 2012 - Princess Charlene was reported to be 'depressed' at her failure to provide her husband with a legitimate heir. 2014 - Pregnancy was announced in May. In December Charlene gave birth to twins Princess Gabriella and heir to the throne Prince Jacques. 2017 - Princess Charlene visits Africa, tells media: 'I am African and this is my heritage. It will always be. It's in my heart and in my veins.' 2019 - In a rare interview, Princess Charlene confessed it is 'sometimes hard to smile' and said the year had been 'very painful'In another interview, she said she found motherhood 'exhausting' 2020 - Charlene debuts a shocking half-shaved hairstyle. It is announced Prince Albert of Monaco will appear in court in the new year to fight explosive claims he fathered a third love child with a secret girlfriend before marrying his now wife Princess Charlene. 2021 - January 27 - Charlene is pictured with Albert for the Sainte Devote Ceremony in Monaco. It is the last time she has been seen in Monaco this year. Advertisement The claim, which his lawyers dismissed as a 'hoax', is particularly painful as he was dating Charlene at the time, having met in 2000. However, Charlene has publicly supported her husband, and the palace have reiterated she is only in South Africa because she's unable to fly. On August 13, the Monaco palace released a statement saying Charlene was to undergo surgery. It read: 'Princess Charlene will undergo an operation today, Friday, August 13, for four hours under general anaesthesia.' The princess will not return to Monaco until at least the end of October. Princess Charlene, who has been well enough to conduct interviews from South Africa and has been seen out and about, has used the time to promote her anti-poaching initiative, Chasing Zero. Charlene's last formal engagement was on January 27 when she joined Albert for the Sainte Devote Ceremony in Monte Carlo. She has not been seen at home since. Instead she has been keeping followers updated through social media posts and media interviews, in which she has spoken candidly about missing her children and described her husband as 'her rock'. Speaking to South Africa Radio 702's host Mandy Wiener, the royal said: '[It's] very frustrating, terribly frustrating. I can't wait to get back to them, I can't wait to see my children.' Charlene revealed: 'It's the longest period I've actually been away from Europe, let alone my children, but I'm FaceTiming them most days and they've been here and will be returning to see me again after my procedure. 'It's an amazing opportunity [to be here] but I'm very sad I can't be with my children this summer in Europe.' She added that she was initially only supposed to be in her native South Africa for ten to 12 days for a conservation trip with her Princess Charlene of Monaco foundation. However, the royal had a problem 'equalising her ears' and was told by a doctor that she was suffering from a serious sinus infection. 'It's taken time to address the problem that I'm having,' explained Charlene. 'I cannot go into full detail, but I cannot force healing so I will be grounded in South Africa until the end of October. 'The reason being I cannot fly above 3,000 metres otherwise I'll have a problem with my ears. 'I feel well, I feel good, it's just obviously a waiting game for me, but I've had a great opportunity to understand a little bit more about South Africa, the environment, the needs and it's been wonderful to be back in South Africa, and I think at this time it's crucial that people are aware of certain things via my foundation.' Charlene joined the video interview from bush country in the KwaZulu-Natal region. She has also shared videos released by the Monaco royal palace to mark her and Albert's 10th wedding anniversary, which took place in July. The couple spent the milestone thousands of miles apart. But royal sources have suggested the princess has 'no plans' to return soon. A palace source told Paris Match: 'The Princess has, for the time being, in reality, no intention of returning.' The separation is also affecting Charlene's relationship with the people of Monaco. Stephane Bearn uses an impeccably sourced piece in the latest Paris Match to discuss the torturous separation. He describes subjects in Monaco becoming increasingly angry about their runaway Princess, as they criticise everything from Charlene's mood swings to her appearance. 'In Monaco, since the departure of Charlene, tongues have loosened,' Mr Bearn writes. 'In the whirlwind of a hard-nosed court, her fine shine is rubbing off. Her sad looks are regarded as haggard. Friends of Princess Charlene of Monaco, 43, pictured, have said the royal, who has been away from her family for several months, is a 'tough cookie' 'Disappointed Monegasques talk about her anger, her whimsical moods, which are as changeable as her hair.' He added: 'The Palace had to invoke a suffering Princess so often that the Monegasques today find it hard to believe. By crying wolf, the mother of Jacques and Gabriella would have discredited and isolated herself.' During her trip, Charlene also debuted a dramatic new shaved hairstyle. She showcased the 'French crop' hairdo - featuring a longer strip on top of the head and dramatically shaved back and sides - in snaps shared on her charity's Instagram page in late May. The royal first stepped out with a dramatic half-shaved head in December 2020 but has since gone even shorter and bolder with the cut. Charlene and Albert's marriage has been plagued with rumours from the start. The couple met at the Mare Nostrum swimming competition in Monte Carlo in 2000, announced their engagement in 2010. Former Olympic swimmer Charlene reportedly tried to flee Monaco for her native South Africa on three separate occasions before the royal wedding after discovering Albert had allegedly fathered a love child - his third - while they were together. Monaco officials were said to have coaxed her back by brokering a deal between the Prince and his reluctant bride, saying she could leave once she had provided him with a legitimate heir. One source said at the time: 'Charlene will provide an heir, then if things don't go well, she will receive a generous divorce settlement once she's served a decent amount of time.' Charlene, 43, who was last seen in Monaco in January, shared professional photographs of a reunion with her family on Instagram last month (pictured) Mummy's boy: Princess Charlene poses with her son Jacques, who is heir to the Monaco throne. She said she was delighted to be back with her family. The family were last together at the start of June, when Albert and the children flew out to South Africa to be with Charlene Charlene was seen in floods of tears on her wedding day in 2011. Just one year after their wedding, it was reported that Charlene was 'depressed' at her failure to provide her husband with a legitimate heir. Her pregnancy was announced in May 2014, and in December that year she gave birth to twins Princess Gabriella and heir to the throne Prince Jacques. In the 10 years since, Charlene has rarely spoken publicly of her experience. In 2017, the Princess made an emotional return to Africa, where she spoke about how much the continent means to her. 'I am African and this is my heritage. It will always be. Its in my heart and in my veins,' she told Eyewitness News. Last year she admitted life was 'very painful', saying: 'I have the privilege of having this life, but I miss my family and my friends in South Africa and I'm often sad because I cannot always be there for them.' It's been a tumultuous start to the year for the royal, after news emerged that her husband is facing a paternity suit over a love child born in the early years of their relationship. Play time! Twins Jacques and Gabriella climb a tree in one of the photos shared on Instagram The 34-year-old claimant who cannot be named for legal reasons says she had a passionate affair with Albert, leading to the birth of their daughter whose name is also classified on July 4, 2005. Albert received a handwritten letter from the child, who is now 15, in September last year reading: I don't understand why I grew up without a father, and now that I have found you, you don't want to see me. Legal papers were also filed, as lawyers for the claimant called on Albert to undergo a DNA test just as he did before finally being identified as the father of two illegitimate children born in the 1990s and early 2000s. In January, Charlene spoke publicly for the first time since the allegations, telling Point de Vue: 'When my husband has problems, he tells me about it. I often tell him, "No matter what, no matter what, I'm a thousand percent behind you. I'll stand by you whatever you do, in good times or in bad." The mother-of-two went on to say she also often tells her husband she will 'protect him' and will 'always be by his side.' Charlene, who was raised in South Africa and represented the country at the 2000 Sydney Olympics, travelled to Thanda Safari in KwaZulu-Natal in January to learn more about being done by the Princess Charlene of Monaco Foundation South Africa to help save rhinos from poachers. The princess took part in conservation operations including rhino monitoring and tracking, deployment with the Anti-Poaching Unit, educational wildlife photography sessions, and a White Rhino dart and dehorning exercise. A husband revealed he was at 'breaking point' with his new wife on Married at First Sight UK after she slammed his looks for the third time. Veterinary nurse Morag, 31, from Essex, married new husband Luke, 36, at the start of the E4 series and the two travelled to Switzerland for their honeymoon. However the couple got off to a rocky start, with Morag openly telling him he needed to 'be more manly' and the 'sexual connection' just wasn't there between them. On tonight's episode, the couple attempted to connect physically for the third time but Morag 'upset' Luke by talking about his 'image problem.' The groom confessed: 'It's infuriating. I don't know what to do. I've got a breaking point. I'm close, if I'm being honest.' Luke Dawson, 36, has revealed he was 'at breaking point' with his new wife Morag, 31, on Married at First Sight UK after she slammed his looks for the third time Appearing on the programme tonight, Morag said: 'Last night me and Luke tried having our first serious conversation. 'I tried to tell Luke what turned me on and he got upset. He turned over in the bed and didn't like what I had to say. 'We need to have these hard-hitting conversations and if he is going to turn away and not be interested in what I have to say, we're not going to get any where.' Meanwhile Luke explained: 'I took [the expert's] their advice, tried to start talking openly. It came straight back to the image issue we had on day one.' On tonight's episode, the couple attempted to connect physically for the third time but Morag 'upset' Luke by talking about his 'image problem' The topic has long been a roadblock for the couple after Morag confessed Luke 'wasn't what she ordered' on the night of the wedding. Speaking to the camera, she said: 'He wouldn't be my typical guy I would go for so I'm not exactly jumping for joy. When I first saw him, I was taken aback.' 'I can't say I want to rip his clothes off tonight. I didn't exactly get what I ordered.' And on the honeymoon, Morag told Luke he 'wasn't manly enough' for her. The topic has long been a roadblock for the couple after Morag confessed Luke 'wasn't what she ordered' on the night of the wedding Morag said: 'Me and Luke get on well and I really like his personality. But he is still being really reserved which is the complete opposite of what I normally go for. 'And as shallow as it sounds, his wardrobe is really starting to turn me off too.' As the holiday progressed, Morag still wasn't feeling the relationship grow. She said: 'I'm a touchy feely person but we don't touch each other. I need that. It's going to be really hard talking to Luke about it. But I'm not feeling it.' Meanwhile on the honeymoon, Luke was left in floods of tears after Morag said he 'wasn't manly enough' for her Morag brought up the topic over breakfast, telling her new husband he was 'the boy from the valleys' and 'cheeky and funny', but said she wanted a 'sexual' connection. She told him: 'How do you expect me to fancy you if you're just acting like my mates? 'I feel like you are not treating me like your wife and I just need you to be a bit more manly. I want to fancy you but I need more man than boy.' Luke was shocked, explaining: 'To be called not a man is a low blow. To me being a man is being loyal, having your back supporting you. Your type of manliness confuses me. She was criticised by viewers who slammed her as 'cruel' after she told the groom he 'was not her normal type' 'I wanted someone to like me for who I am.' Morag continued: 'You're not my normal type. I spend a lot of time around people who care about what they actually look like. I need more on the outside at the minute.' 'I literally go for the same type of guy all the time, I go to the gym everyday and these gym heads around me. You're the opposite to that.' Many of those watching were left stunned by Morag's comments to Luke, and said she had been 'deeply offensive' Many of those watching were left stunned by the discussion, with one writing: 'So brutal Morag, "be more manly" to a bloke with confidence issues about how he looks, us women aren't all a******* Luke!' Another commented: 'Poor Luke, imagine being a gentleman and treating your wife nicely and being told you're not manly enough?! I'm sorry Morag, jog on babes.' A third wrote: 'Nah that's just rude. Just say he's not your type instead of saying he's not manly enough. WTF.' A booking system used by an airline to ensure customers can avoid sitting next to children has been branded 'a disaster' by TV presenter Matthew Wright, who believes it could be abused by 'perverts'. Appearing on This Morning, the presenter discussed Japan Airlines' new seating tool to help adults identify which seats are occupied by children with Holly Willoughby and Philip Schofield. The company shares an overview of the aircraft with customers when they pre-book seats, showing with an icon over those where children are sitting. According to the airline's website: 'Passengers travelling with children between eight days and two-years-old who select their seats on the Japan Airlines website will have a child icon displayed on their seats on the seat selection screen. 'This lets other passengers know a child may be sitting there.' However, according to Matthew Wright, in his opinion, the system is a bad idea, as it is open to abuse by 'perverts', although he wrongly described the system as identifying all under 12s, rather than babies and toddlers. Speaking on This Morning earlier today, the show's co-host Holly Willoughby said: 'Japan Airlines has introduced the perfect solution they say for any travellers who would rather avoid sitting near children by highlighting which seats have been booked by under-12s. TV presenter Matthew Wright appeared on This Morning to discuss Japan Airline's booking policy - which he branded a 'disaster' Japan airlines shows where children are sitting on planes on its booking system, in a move implemented previously, but discussed on today's episode of This Morning Presenters Philip Schofield and Holly Willoughby said they hadn't thought about Matthew's perspective when discussing the issue earlier 'So when you pre-book your seats, they offer an aerial view of the plane showing which seats have already been taken. 'They'll have an icon of shows booked by those under the age of 12.' Matthew said: 'Do you see a problem? I can see a problem. Let's say you're a pervert, and you want to spend 12 hours talking to children.' This Morning co-host Philip Schofield replied: 'Oh my God.' Matthew continued: 'You want to spend 12 hours on a long haul flight, talking to a child, you can go on Japanese airlines, find out where the child is, book a seat next to them. It's an absolute disaster. A disaster.' Matthew Wright said 'perverts' could take advantage of the situation by booking seats next to children on flights Radio host Nick Ferrari was also involved in the debate about whether Japan Airline's booking system is a good idea Nick Ferrari said he would rather be able to book seats away from loud businessmen and woman on flights Philip said: 'Well our heads didn't go there, that's for sure, but we were talking this morning about it, and saying...you spend extra money on making sure you get your proper allocated seat...then a late check in family come in, how does that work?' Commentator and radio presenter Nick Ferrari, who was also part of the discussion, added: 'I saw this story, and in a previous life many years ago, I used to have to shuttle across the Atlantic quite a bit. 'Can I do it the other way, can I book seats where I'm not next to a business man or business woman who spends their entire flight tap, tap, tapping away at their laptop, drinking whiskey, and then snoring rather loudly next to me?' The scion of the Romanov dynasty Prince Rostislav has tied the knot to his Greek property consultant girlfriend in a lavish ceremony in Paris. The great great nephew of the last tsar of Russia, 34, married his partner Foteini Georganta, with whom he shares a son, eight, called Leon, in a white tie ceremony in France on Saturday. The artist wed his property consultant fiance at the Russian orthodox Alexander Nevsky cathedral in the city, before throwing an ultra-luxurious reception at a hotel nearby. Snaps shared online of the event show the bride in a floor length white satin gown and a custom made tiara from Russian jewelry label Axenoff. The scion of the Romanov dynasty Prince Rostislav has married his Greek property consultant girlfriend in a lavish ceremony in Paris The artist wed his property consultant fiance at the Russian orthodox Alexander Nevsky cathedral in the city The couple were married in the orthodox ceremony in the cathedral, which is famously where Piccasso married his first wife Olga Khokhlova. A host of flower girls and page boys donned white and green outfits for the occasion, and could be seen following the bride into the church. At one stage of the ceremony, priests held golden crowns above the bride and grooms heads as they were formally wed. Later, guests in white tie tuxedos and tails treated to a lavish wedding reception at a hotel in Paris. Attendees were serenaded by a group of musicians including a harpist while enjoying cocktails in the grounds of the grand house (left and right) Flower girls and a page boy at the event wore green and white outfits which perfectly coordinated with the flowers on display The back of the bride's simple white satin dress and her lengthy veil were carried by flower girls into the event Foteini wore a veil over her face for much of the ceremony, and carried a small posey of white and green flowers Later, guests gathered outside the cathedral in Paris as they waited the arrival of the newlyweds (pictured) Grand Duchess Xenia fled Russia after her tsar brother was killed and settled in UK Grand Duchess Xenia of Russia Tsar Nicholas II - who was related to the British royal family - was executed along with his wife and children in 1918 following the Russian Revolution the year before. His sister, Grand Duchess Xenia Alexandrovna, recorded in her diary and letters increasing concern about her brother's rule. After the fall of the monarchy, she fled Russia, eventually settling in the United Kingdom with her husband and their seven children. She lived on the British royal family's Windsor estate until moving to the Wilderness House in 1937, while using Prestbury House as her offices. She lived there until her death on 20 April 1960. It is from here that Grand Duchess Xenia and her staff had to deal with the claims of impostor Anna Anderson who fraudulently said she was the Grand Duchess Anastasia (the fraud was only proven in 1991 after DNA analysis). Advertisement Attendees were serenaded by a group of musicians including a harpist while enjoying cocktails in the grounds of the grand house. They were then invited to dine on tables covered in white flowers and greenery. Later, guests could be seen waltzing across a grand dancefloor as they danced the night away. Prince Rostislav's great-grandmother was Grand Duchess Xenia, the sister of Nicholas II, the last Tsar of Russia. The Romanovs enjoyed a life of seemingly endless prosperity and ruled of a sixth of the surface of the Earth in the early 20th century. Nicholas II ruled from 1894 until he was forced to abdicate after the February Revolution of 1917. He and his family were imprisoned by the Bolsheviks and executed the next year. It was a time of social upheaval, war and brewing discontent that would ultimately lead to the fall of the 300-year-old Romanov dynasty. While his heritage is steeped in Russian history the Prince first visited the country in 1998 for the Nicholas' funeral, held 80 years after his death. Rostislav, known as Rosti, was born in Chicago in the US, with his parents moved to London where he grew up. The prince previously told lifestyle website Russia Beyond that he identifies as both Russian and British, the best of both countries.' The family moved to Rye, where they settled in an 18th-century home. He was later educated at a private school in Dorset. He visited Russia for the first time as a 13-year-old to attend the re-interment of Tsar Nicholas IIs remains. However it was not long after the trip that Rostis father fell sick and ultimately passed away in 1999. Rosti took the role as head of the household, telling Tatler he felt he needed to be strong at the time. Several guests shared snaps as they strolled around the grounds of the lavish venue at sunset (pictured) The tables were decorated with white and green flowers (left) while those attending the event dined on steak tartare and salmon en croute (right) Speaking to the magazine in 2018: 'I never showed my emotions to my family because I thought emotions were weak.' He began challenging his feelings into art, thus beginning his career as a painter. He now tours the world with his art and has held exhibitions for his paintings in galleries and event around Europe and the U.S. Groups of guests dined in a huge banquet hall decorated with large floral table displays (pictured) Later, attendees at the event took to the dancefloor where they could be seen waltzing across a huge ballroom His landscapes are reported to sell for around 6,000 have been exhibited across the globe. He remains in contact with the Romanovs as vice-president of the Romanov Family Association. In September 2019, the artist announced his engagement to Foteini, with a friend telling the Daily Mail: 'They have been together for a long time and they are delighted.' Five children in northern California have been orphaned after both of their unvaccinated parents died of COVID-19 complications. Davy Macias, 37, a nurse with Kaiser Permanente in Oakland, California, contracted COVID-19 while seven months pregnant and died shortly after delivering her youngest daughter while intubated. Now her husband, Daniel, 38, has died as well, leaving their five children including their unnamed newborn baby girl without parents. A family friend shared the 'incredibly sad news' on a GoFundMe page for the children, writing this weekend: 'Daniel lost his fight with COVID yesterday afternoon. There aren't words to explain the loss of both him and Davy. Keep the kids in your thoughts and prayers. They gained two angels but still have a long road ahead of them.' She also added: 'The kids are in good spirits, not understanding the gravity of what is happening.' Daniel Macias, 38, and Davy Macias, 37, have both died of complications of COVID-19. Neither was vaccinated They leave behind five children, who are now orphaned but are 'not understanding the gravity of what is happening' Davy, a nurse with Kaiser Permanente in Oakland, California, contracted COVID-19 while seven months pregnant Neither Davy nor Daniel was vaccinated against COVID-19 when they both contracted the virus last month. Davy was hospitalized with the virus and unconscious when her baby was delivered at 32 weeks. 'My mom and I went to see her one last time on that bed... that's an image that's going to stay with me,' Davy's sister, Vandana Serey, told KABC. 'She touched everybody's life. When she's there, she's an advocate for all of her patients. It's always for the benefit of the patient and the babies. She's a great and an amazing woman.' On August 26, she succumbed to illness, never getting the chance to hold her new baby. Daniel, a middle school math teacher, remained for two weeks after his wife died, 'fighting to stay here with his babies,' according to the GoFundMe page. Serey said that he managed to send her a text message from the hospital before he passed. 'He was trying to breathe and said, if anyone is not vaccinated, I suggest you do now,' she said. By September 6, he was no longer testing positive for COVID, 'but the damage has been done,' a family friend said. On September 9, he too passed away. Davy was unconscious when her baby was delivered at 32 weeks, and she succumbed to illness in August 'Baby Macias is doing fantastic. She has gained a whole pound since last week and she is alert and has even cracked a little smile,' the family said Friends and family are grieving the losses, with over $202,000 raised on GoFundMe. 'Davy was the best,' wrote one of Davy's colleagues.. 'She was such a joy to see at work, always willing to help, always so kind and positive, and she always brought us food. 'She has spoken up and defended me when I needed it. I will miss her greatly. I will be continually praying for her husband and her little ones. Davy, thank you for your kindness and joy. I will always treasure my memories of you.' 'Davy was a GREAT mother who adored her children,' wrote another colleague on Facebook. 'She was an EXCELLENT nurse who cared for others. Her Kaiser, family, and friends have lost a good one. She was an overall good person. I feel blessed to have know and worked beside her.' Meanwhile, the couple's newborn is thriving. 'Baby Macias is doing fantastic. She has gained a whole lb since last week and she is alert and has even cracked a little smile,' the family said. While Davy was unvaccinated, she did speak out about being 'cautious' in a Facebook post in January, in which she also detailed the stress of being a nurse during the pandemic. Shortly before his death, Daniel texted his sister-in-law from the hospital: 'If anyone is not vaccinated, I suggest you do now' Davy's colleagues have been singing her praises, pouring in words of support on Facebook and a GoFundMe page that has raised over $202,000 While Davy was unvaccinated, she did speak out about being 'cautious' in a Facebook post in January 'Ive been an OB RN for 11 years. This month Ive floated almost every shift to a COVID unit. I floated to covid med surge and covid ICU, too many COVID shifts for my liking, but at the end of the day, I am grateful,' she wrote. 'Im grateful for my family that I get to come home to and Im grateful for our health. Although my exposure is at an all time high, I pray every day that God continues to watch over my family. Im grateful for the kick-a** nurses I get to work along side.' She went on to discuss the loss she had seen as people died of the virus. 'COVID does not discriminate and its a scary place in the hospitals right now. Nurses are tired, we have anxiety before going to work, we sit in our cars and we cry after our long shifts,' she wrote. 'We mourn for the patients and the families. We dont sleep for a few nights after our shifts because the cries of the grieving family still linger in our thoughts. 'Please be safe and just a little extra cautious until we get through this pandemic!' she concluded. Three out of four of whom in the US are unvaccinated. The CDC has recommended the vaccine for pregnant women, and pointed out that COVID-19 can be particularly dangerous for them. COVID-19 can cause pregnant women to deliver prematurely, and one doctor told GMA that her hospital has seen more stillbirths among COVID-positive pregnant patients. She was the first to make the shift to an in-season show launching a see-now-buy-now movement, and now Rebecca Minkoff is taking her ingenuity one step further. Instead of debuting her latest offerings with a traditional runway presentation during New York Fashion Week, Rebecca held a private event to launch her "I Love New York" capsule collection and unveiled her first-ever NFTs. 'My tentacles are always percolating on the tech side of stuff and so when I began reading about how serious the art world was getting with NFTs, I was like I want to be the first American designer to do this,' Rebecca told the Daily Mail. She was the first to make the shift to an in-season show, launching a see-now-buy-now movement, and now Rebecca Minkoff is taking her ingenuity one step further Instead of debuting her latest offerings with a traditional runway presentation at Spring Studios, Rebecca joined the NFT market 'When I saw Gucci did a $5,000 digital Gucci bag, I wanted to see if we can transact in this market place. 'And I think people spent a year inside, being in this metaverse, and so now they're used to living there so how do we participate?' Lining the walls at the Sunken Living Room in Spring Studios was a series of dynamic images by Cass Bird. Next to each image was a barcode that led the viewer to an auction for that piece of work. Rebecca credits her ability to be a trailblazer in the industry on her willingness to take risks without the fear of it not working out. Like a true entrepreneur, the designer believes if a business decision doesn't pan out, she at least learns something from it. 'My tentacles are always percolating on the tech side of stuff and so when I began reading about how serious the art world was getting with NFTs, I was like I want to be the first American designer to do this,' she told the Daily Mail She credits her ability to be a trailblazer in the industry on her willingness to take risks without the fear of it not working out 'The proceeds of the 10 NFTs being sold on Opensea go to a grant for female founded companies in New York City impacted by the pandemic,' shared Rebecca. In addition to flexing her tech-savvy muscles, Rebecca's empowering women in the process. 'The proceeds of the 10 NFTs being sold on Opensea go to a grant for female founded companies in New York City impacted by the pandemic,' she shared. The theme is pegged to this year being the 20th anniversary of Rebecca's I Love New York shirt. 'The collection is all about I Love New York and excess.' 'It's all about I love New York, and it's my 20th anniversary since I had my I love New York shirt so that's why the theme On Tuesday, September 14 consumers will also have the ability to shop the digital merchandise for sale via Dematerialized. 'You can get your digital outfits, you can get the NFTs and then we're selling the actual merchandise from the collection.' The brand's fall collection celebrates outerwear, textures and layering, all elements the Rebecca Minkoff shopper (bohemian with a touch of rock) loves. In addition, the label's collaboration with shoe brand Sperry is coming out soon and their latest fragrance launches October 1. As the cult hit Sex Education returns... The excruciating reality of having a sexpert for a mum British journalist Rowan Pelling has been writing and broadcasting about sex for 25 years now; first as editor of the Erotic Review magazine, then as a sex columnist for various publications. An 11-year-old girl helped save a puppy from a house fire after spotting smoke coming out of her neighbor's home and quickly calling 911. Mackenzie Jenkins was in her yard in Cape Coral, Florida, on Saturday, September 4, when she heard smoke alarms going off inside the house as well as their eight-month-old dog, Fiona, barking. 'I came outside to play on my swing and then I saw smoke coming out of the roof, and the front door and the bedroom window,' she told WINK. Scroll down for video Quick thinking: Mackenzie Jenkins, 11, from Cape Coral, Florida, helped save her neighbor's eight-month-old puppy, Fiona, after calling 911 to report their house was on fire Destruction: The young hero said she was outside playing on her swing when she heard the smoke alarms going off in her neighbor's home as well as Fiona barking The elementary school student sprung into action and called 911 to report the fire, likely saving the dog's life. The Cape Coral Fire Department knew to search for a dog thanks to the information Mackenzie had provided to dispatchers over the phone. 'I was scared. I was mostly scared about Fiona because I didnt want her to die,' she explained to the news station. While Fiona was unresponsive when firefighters first located her, Lee County Emergency Medical Services (EMS) cooled the puppy and gave her oxygen. Hero: The Cape Coral Fire Department knew to search for a dog thanks to the information Mackenzie had provided to dispatchers over the phone Saved: While Fiona was unresponsive when firefighters first located her, Lee County EMS cooled the puppy and gave her oxygen until she was up and walking again Full of pride: Mackenzie's grandfather Michael Jenkins said he is 'very proud' of her By the time the fire was put out, the dog was up and walking around again. Mackenzie's neighbors weren't home at the time, and firefighters thanked her for her quick response to the emergency. 'They just said that they were happy that I saved the house and the dog, because the fire could have gotten worse if I didnt call in the next five minutes,' she said. Mackenzie's grandfather Michael Jenkins told WINK he is also 'very proud' of her. The firefighters gave Mackenzie a Community Recognition Coin for her heroic actions that saved her neighbor's dog and prevented further damage to their home. Award: Firefighters gave Mackenzie a Community Recognition Coin for her heroic actions that saved her neighbor's dog and prevented further damage to their home Paying tribute: The Cape Coral Fire Department shared photos of Mackenzie posing with her award on its Facebook page after the rescue The Cape Coral Fire Department also paid tribute to Mackenzie on its Facebook page after the rescue while sharing photos of her posing with her award. 'When firefighters were able to make entry, they knew to search for a dog thanks to the information provided by Mackenzie,' the post explained. The blaze resulted in about $95,000 worth of damages, but Mackenzie's neighbors are just grateful that everyone made it out alive, including their puppy. The house fire was ruled accidental and is believed to have been started from an e-cigarette that was charged on a nightstand in the master bedroom, officials told NBC2. The blaze caused about $95,000 worth of damages, but Mackenzie's neighbors are just grateful that everyone made it out alive, including their puppy. A man who went viral last week for lecturing a group of teenage girls on a public beach about their choice of swimwear and comparing their bikinis to 'pornography' has been fired from his job at a Colorado construction company. Logan Dorn was captured on camera after he approached the nine teen girls, whom he did not know, and told them to cover up in Fort Collins, Colorado. 'Take young eyes into consideration. They don't need to see pornography right in front of them. You're flaunting your stuff,' he told them. Video of the moment quickly went viral, with Logan accused of harassing the young women with a misogynistic tirade and he simply dug his heels in, admitting that 'a righteous anger' came over him and he won't apologize for confronting the teens. But now Mighty Hand Construction, where he worked, has announced on Facebook that he has been terminated, and that his actions don't 'reflect our values.' Yikes: A group of teenagers filmed the moment that a strange man approached them at the beach to lecture them about their swimsuits and compare their bikinis to 'pornography' What they wore: The nine women wore bikinis to a public beach in Fort Collins, Colorado (one is taking the photo) 'Today information was brought to our attention that one of our employees, Logan Dorn, was accused of harassing a group of individuals over the weekend in Northern Colorado,' the company wrote on Facebook. 'We began an investigation this morning which has resulted in the immediate termination of Mr. Dorn. 'Mighty Hand Construction does not condone Logans behavior in the videos, nor do his actions reflect our values as a company. Mighty Hand strives to be a place of business where all are treated with utmost respect and acceptance, and actions by our employees which go against those values will not be tolerated.' Logan remains unapologetic, and has since posted several videos insisting he was right and blasting the 'hate and lies' aimed at him. 'I will continue to stand for Jesus and the gospel,' he wrote. 'I will continue to fight for truth, righteousness, purity, and hold the line.' He had faced widespread condemnation after approaching a teen named Mia and her eight friends on a public beach. In a viral TikTok clip, Logan can be heard asking: 'Why do you dress that way?' Other people's business: Logan tells them they should consider children when getting dressed and implies that God will judge them harshly Whatever: The women are clearly put off by his lecture, in turn laughing at him and telling him to go away Not wanting to engage, one of the young women replied: 'Please leave us alone. Kindly.' 'That's a thong and that's a bra,' he told her. 'Please go away... don't look at me,' one of the women replied. 'You look around and you're the only thing that sticks out,' he answered. Logan continued to argue, telling the women that 'there's free will in America, there's freedom of speech' though he didn't seem concerned with their freedom to wear bikinis on a public beach. 'If men of God don't stand up, then our society's gonna go down the drain because there's no morality,' he said. The women were clearly put off by his lecture, in turn laughing at him and telling him to go away. One referenced a bible verse that reads, in full: 'And if your eye causes you to sin, pluck it out and cast it from you.' 'If men of God don't stand up, then our society's gonna go down the drain because there's no morality,' he says Modesty police: A woman in his party lectures the young women too. She insists is 'not judging' the women in bikinis, but wants them to think about what they wear to the beach He continued to preach to them, however, as the young women laughed and repeatedly asked him to leave them alone. 'There's gonna come a day when you're gonna come face to face with God,' he said. Finally, after some back and forth, a woman in his party helped him away, but turned to lecture the young women herself. She insisted she was 'not judging' the women in bikinis, but wanted them to think about what they wear to the beach. 'It does matter what you guys wear, not because of what he says, but because you need to value yourself,' she says. The videos have quickly gone viral, with the first racking up 6.6 million views. Commenters have cheered on the young women, who have since posted a follow-up commenting on his actions. 'The fragile masculinity, off the charts,' said Mia (left) in a follow-up video They pointed out that they were on a public beach and that there were other women wearing similar bikinis but they were the only all-female group, which they think made then an easy target for the man. They also noted that he didn't seem at all concerned with a man wearing a Speedo nearby. 'We should have thrown sand at him! I'm so sorry. We didn't think about it,' one of the young women, Maddie, said in response to commenters who'd suggested they do so. 'The fragile masculinity, off the charts,' added Mia. Logan posted his own video sharing 'his side' of the story, which ultimately came down to him defending the actions seen in the video as righteous. 'My side of the story is, I was at a reservoir or a lake and I was with family members, all different ages, from my age to college age, all the way down to ... a two-year-old girl,' he said. At one point, someone in his family said they wanted to move because there were 'college-aged women showing too much' nearby. Follow his rules! Logan posted his own video sharing 'his side' of the story, which ultimately came down to him defending the actions seen in the video as righteous 'Right then and there, I felt just a righteous anger come over me, and also just a boldness by the Holy Spirit just to go and confront these ladies and to speak to truth that, hey what you're wearing is not OK for a nine-year-old boy or a six-year-old boy,' he said. 'Being introduced to pornography at a young age, it destroyed me and I [had] in that moment just a righteous anger to defend and protect young eyes,' he went on. 'I just started to speak truth that hey, what you're wearing is not OK, that you can't find your worth in your body, that the physical never satisfies, that there's gonna come a day when you're face to face with God... you know, things of that nature. 'I'm not gonna apologize, I'm gonna continue to stand on the truth, I'm gonna continue to stand on the word of God,' he said. 'Our society is on such a downcline [sic] of morality, pornography and lust is at an all time high,' he added. Logan has turned comments off on his video, though Mia's videos have been flooded with support for the young women. Married at First Sight UK viewers have branded contestant Megan Wolfe as 'fake' and claimed she's only staying in the programme 'for more airtime' after cheating on her husband Robert Voysey. Megan and Robert enjoyed a day at Brighton Pier during tonight's show on E4, with both agreeing to put the former's cheating scandal behind them after she kissed fellow star Jordon Mundell at the first dinner party of the series. However, viewers suggested Megan's 'redemption act' was fake and for the cameras, rather than about making it up to her new husband. One less than impressed person wrote on Twitter: 'I don't believe a word Megan says, feels like an act.' Married at First Sight UK viewers have branded contestant Megan Wolfe (pictured) as 'fake' and claimed she's only staying in the programme 'for more airtime' after cheating on her husband Robert Voysey Megan and Robert (pictured) enjoyed a day at Brighton Pier during tonight's show on E4, with both agreeing to put the former's cheating scandal behind them after she kissed fellow star Jordon Mundell at the first dinner party of the series Another said: 'Megan knows she's coming across awful so she's now "acting" nice.' A third person added: 'I don't believe that Megan has a change of heart. She's still playing Bob.' A fourth unimpressed viewer wrote: 'Megan's there for the airtime, she is not into Bob. I'm not buying it.' Tonight, the couples took part in Yes Week, where one spouse was given control over what the married pair's would do for the day. However, because of Megan and Robert's awkward situation, they were told to pick out an activity together - with both deciding they needed a fun-filled day out. They headed to Brighton Pier to enjoy the fairground rides and seemed to be getting on much better than the days prior. Reaction: However, viewers suggested Megan's 'redemption act' was fake and for the cameras, rather than about making it up to her new husband 'We're much closer to romance than we ever have been, because I have to have that solid friendship first,' Megan explained to the cameras. Earlier, Robert, known as Bob, had reflected on his marriage and revealed that the previous night's cheating confession had been 'one of the worst days of his life'. 'I felt utterly embarrassed, degraded, felt like I wasnt wanted. Shes been disloyal in a marriage,' he said. However, Bob's response to Megan's kiss with another contestant saw her admit that it was 'the most attractive thing shes seen him do in this whole process' because of his 'raw' and 'dignified' reaction. Megan said she hoped to seek her husband's forgiveness because she felt 'very much in the wrong' and that it was a 'huge lapse in judgement'. Tonight, the couples took part in Yes Week, where one spouse was given control over what the married pair's would do for the day They headed to Brighton Pier to enjoy the fairground rides and seemed to be getting on much better than the days prior Bob confessed that he was keen to see where the next week would take their marriage, later saying he had a 'slim bit of hope' that they could 'fix' their relationship. On Thursday's episode, viewers were left shocked after Jordon and Megan confessed they kissed at the first dinner party of the series, leaving their new spouses devastated. Sixteen singletons, with seven females and nine males making up the eight couples, walked down the aisle during the new series of the hit show, which continued tonight at 9pm on E4. Earlier, Robert (pictured with his wife) had reflected on his marriage and revealed that the previous night's cheating confession had been 'one of the worst days of his life' While Jordon, 28, from Cardiff, was paired with model Alexis by the experts, Megan, 26, married fun-loving Bob, but neither felt the spark with their partners. During Thursday's explosive episode, the couple admitted they had actually shared a kiss at an event they attended with their spouses, leaving Bob and Alexis devastated. Many of the viewers were left horrified by the revelation, and criticised Jordon and Megan for their behaviour online. Married at First Sight UK viewers slammed Jordon and Megan as they confessed they kissed at the first dinner party of the series, leaving their new spouses devastated (pictured left, Jordon and his wife Alexis) One person commented: 'Jordon is so gross to me, every time he comes on my screen I can just smell the misogyny and I just wanna...' Another wrote: 'Vulgar attracts vulgar. Megan and Jordon can get in the bin. Watch Megan blame all this on Bob too...She's horrid.' On Thursday, the married couples took part in the first commitment ceremony where they are expected to reveal all and decide whether to stay or leave the experiment. Bob confessed he was struggling with his relationship with Megan, and was left in tears once again. While Jordon, 28, from Cardiff, was paired with model Alexis by the experts, Megan, 26, married fun-loving Bob, but neither felt the spark with their partners (pictured right, Megan with her husband Bob) He said he wanted to dedicate all of his energy into making the marriage work, adding: 'The conversation with Meghan was hard...it's hard enough as it is without me throwing in the bullshit.' Meanwhile Jordon and Alexis said they felt 'over the drama' as they prepared for the evening event. Alexis said: 'Me and Jordon are in a good place. I've seen a change in him over the last few days.' However little did Alexis know that Jordon was keeping an explosive secret from her. Many of the viewers were left horrified by the revelation, and criticised Jordon and Megan for their behaviour online He confessed he had already cheated on his partner with another man's wife, saying: 'Last night at the dinner party, we found ourselves alone at one point and we shared a kiss. 'It's a real tense situation to be in. It's thrown a spanner in the works and my head is all over the place.' He added: 'I came here to meet someone, if I step on a few toes then so be it. The test now is to speak to her and see where her head is at.' Jordon approached Megan about chatting the situation over, with both revealing they 'didn't regret' the kiss. Megan told him: 'It was definitely a good kiss wasn't it?' At the same time, both Megan's husband Bob and Jordon's wife Alexis said they hoped to continue trying to make their marriages work. Jordon approached Megan about chatting the situation over, with both revealing they 'didn't regret' the kiss However as the commitment ceremony approached, Jordon revealed to Luke he had removed his ring, saying the marriage was 'terrible.' He said: 'Something else is on my mind at the moment so that's why I'm thinking about what to do. It's crazy how it's happened. 'I had enough and I was ready to leave but now [I'm ready to pursue this] with Megan.' Megan told the camera: 'Last night has detonated that and now it feels like there is chaos everywhere. I don't know where my head is at or how I move forward now. 'It was Alexis who first said, you too are really similar. It's weird because it doesn't feel like I've cheated on someone. But I know for a lot of people that is exactly what this is.' As Megan and Bob were invited to sit together on the sofa, she confessed she was 'nervous' about the commitment ceremony. Megan said: 'The more I spoke to him, the more I felt like I couldn't sense who he was.' As Megan and Bob were invited to sit together on the sofa, she confessed she was 'nervous' about the commitment ceremony and her words left him in tears Bob was left in tears on the sofa as he revealed he often hid behind a persona to cover up his insecurities. After being asked about the dinner party, she said: 'This is hard. I'm not someone who puts time into something that's not for me.' Megan said: 'I'm getting to a point where I feel this is really difficult and potentially wasting both of our times.' Her words left Bob in floods of tears but ultimately, both decided to stay in the experiment longer. Finally, Alexis and Jordon arrived on the sofa, with the bride saying: 'I don't give up, it's not in my nature to.' Jordon told the experts: 'We've been through a long journey and it hasn't been a great one.' Bob was unable to contain the emotion after Megan said she felt the marriage was a 'waste of time' He said: 'Day one of honeymoon is where it went wrong. My normal type is blonde. If someone asks for something, I will be honest. That created tension straight away.' His words left Alexis in floods of tears, and she confessed: 'I've worked so hard to be confident in who I am and what I look like. 'It was constant digs. He digged out my career, what I looked like...he had no time for me at all.' Jordon said he had thought she was 'going to hit him' during one argument. Alexis was shocked, saying: 'Don't you dare say you didn't know if I was going to hit you. You can't even look at me in my face because you know you're lying.' Alexis accused her new husband Jordon of being a 'liar' on the programme before he confessed to kissing Megan She walked off the stage, calling Jordon 'a liar', adding: 'I'm not dealing with that.' Jordon said: 'I'm not perfect but I don't deserve this level of aggression.' Conversation moved to the dinner party, with Alexis saying the event had been 'bittersweet' for her. After the discussion, Alexis said she wanted to leave the experiment - however Jordon made a confession. He said: 'Last night after the party I found myself having a conversation with Megan. We're very similar in a lot of ways and we shared a kiss. The group were left shocked by the confession of adultery, with Bob immediately bursting into tears and branding Jordon and Megan 'vile' 'She said the relationship between her and Bob wasn't working. She said she has been trying and Bob hasn't been doing anything back.' After initially saying he wanted to stay to pursue a relationship with Megan, he said he no longer wanted to pursue things with Megan because of the way she had treated Bob. The group were left shocked, with Bob immediately bursting into tears and branding the pair 'vile.' He told Megan to 'crack on', saying: 'I'm really feeling emotionally, an absolute mug. I can't stand them now. 'Jordon I don't know what to say, thanks for telling me. You're disgusting.' Alexis said: 'To do something while I was still in a committed marriage...it's disgusting. More fool on you Megan. No girl code at all.' Bob told Jordon: 'I just want to say one thing. Thankyou for telling me, if you were planning to stay and do that to me, then you are scum. 'But you've told me so one part of you is a good guy.' Megan said she wanted to apologise to Bob, saying: 'I'm sorry with all my heart. Alexis, I apologise to you but I did feel like we had the conversation before actions were made. 'We all came here looking for love. And for a moment, I believed there was a connection with Jordon. I made a mistake. And I'm sorry you were collateral damage in that Bob.' While Jordon and Alexis decided to leave the process, Megan chose to stay with Bob. Bob described the affair as 'a stab in the heart', adding: 'There will never be a friendship between me and Jordon. I don't like snakes in my life, and that's what he is.' People who are under prolonged stress are significantly more likely to have high blood pressure and heart problems, another study has found. Researchers followed 400 Americans for more than a decade and monitored the levels of stress hormones in their urine. They found that the risk of cardiovascular events, including a heart attack or heart disease, surged by 90 per cent every time these levels doubled. And the chance of developing hypertension, the medical name for high blood pressure, rose by up to 30 per cent. High blood pressure can damage the heart, major organs and arteries over time, increasing the risk of a host of serious conditions. When a person is stressed, the body produces hormones like cortisol which put them into 'fight or flight' mode. The primal defence response sees the heart beat faster and blood pressure go up to increase oxygen flow to the muscles. Once stress has passed, these normally go back to normal. But unhealthy habits linked to stress, like eating unhealthily, getting too little sleep and drinking too much alcohol, can cause long-term high blood pressure. The study found the risk of high blood pressure rose up to 30 per cent every time the levels of stress hormones doubled. Work, relationships and finance can all push up stress hormone levels, studies show (stock) Estimates suggest just over a quarter of adults in the UK have high blood pressure or 14.4million people. In the US nearly half of adults, or 108million, are thought to have the condition. Researchers from Japan's Kyoto University regularly tested participants urine for four stress hormones - norepinephrine, epinephrine, dopamine and cortisol. They collected four samples over 14 years, between July 2004 and June 2018. At each follow-up, participants were also checked for high blood pressure and cardiovascular events including chest pain, having a heart attack or stroke or the need for any artery procedures. The results published in the journal Hypertension showed that rising levels of stress hormones were associated with a greater risk of hypertenson and heart problems. Lead author Kosuke Inoue said: 'The next key research question is whether and in which populations increased testing of stress hormones could be helpful. 'Currently, these hormones are measured only when hypertension with an underlying cause or other related diseases are suspected. 'However, if additional screening could prevent hypertension and cardiovascular events, we may want to measure these hormone levels more frequently.' The study was carried out in conjunction with the University of California as part of the Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis (MESA). About half of participants were female, and were aged between 48 and 87 years old. More than half of people involved were Hispanic, while a quarter were white and 22 per cent were black. Advertisement The pace of new COVID-19 infections is continuing to decelerate as the country starts nearing the end of the fourth wave of the pandemic. On Sunday, the U.S. recorded 33,807 new cases of COVID-19 with a seven-day rolling average of 144,316, according to data from Johns Hopkins University. This means that although the overall number of cases has risen in the last month, the growth rate has significantly slowed to the lowest since early July. New infections increased 10 percent from the 130,221 average reported on August 15, compared to the same time last month when cases rose 322 percent over a four-week period. Nearly half of U.S. states and the District of Columbia have seen Covid infections either decline or hold steady over the last two weeks, a DailyMail.com analysis of the data shows. Deaths currently are on the rise with 279 virus-related fatalities recorded on Sunday with a seven-day rolling average of 1,655, which is a 156 jump from the average of 644 reported four weeks ago. The pace has also risen and, at the same time last month, there was only a 98 percent increase in COVID-19 deaths over a four-week period. However, experts say that fatalities are a lagging indicator and often don't start to decline until two or three weeks after cases do. It comes as cumulative vaccination rates continue to increase in many states with five- Connecticut, Maine Massachusetts, Rhode Island and Vermont - revealing they have vaccinated at least two-thirds of all residents. On Sunday, the U.S. recorded 33,807 new cases of COVID-19 with a seven-day rolling average of 144,316, a 10% increase from the 130,221 average reported on August 15, a decline from a growth-rate of 322% last month Deaths have risen with 279 recorded on Sunday and a seven-day rolling average of 1,655, which is a 156% from the average of 644 reported four weeks ago, but deaths are a lagging indicator Nearly half of U.S. states and the District of Columbia have seen Covid infections either decline or hold steady over the last two weeks Experts say that the slowdown of the fourth wave - fueled by a surge of the Delta variant - can be attributed to a few factors. One reason is that as more people have contracted COVID-19 over the last month, the virus has run out of people to infect. Another is that vaccination rates have boosted, both due to a fear of Delta and an increasing number of mandates. As of Monday, 27 states and the District of Columbia have fully vaccinated at least half of all residents, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Of those states, five have fully-vaccinated two-thirds of their populations. Vermont currently leads the pack have fully vaccinated 68.6 percent of its residents. Connecticut closely follows at 67.1 percent and Maine (66.8 percent), Massachusetts (66.8 percent) and Rhode Island (66.1 percent) round out the top five. All five also have among the lowest COVID-19 case rates in the nation with Connecticut recording the lowest seven-day average of 106.5 cases per 100,00 people, CDC data. But while the Northeast is doing well, other states are continuing to fill hospital beds, mostly with unvaccinated patients. More than half of states have fully vaccinated at least half of all residents and five states - Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, Rhode Island and Vermont - have vaccinated two-thirds Overall, hospitalizations have declined with 96,870 Americans receiving inpatient care for COVID-19, according to the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). Of those patients, a little more than a quarter - 24,946 - are in intensive care units (ICUs). In West Virginia, a total of 810 patients are currently hospitalized with the virus, as the state nears its highest-single day total of 818 set in January 2021. However, the state has set two other records as of Saturday, the latest date for which data is available, with 254 patients in the ICU and 161 on ventilators. West Virginia currently has the lowest vaccination rate in the nation with just 39.9 percent of resident fully vaccinated against Covid. 'Back when we started down this pathway with the Delta variant, I came to you and said that we really needed to buckle up, because this thing could run rampant all across our state,' Gov Jim Justice said during a press briefing on Friday. 'Well it surely has.' According to Dr Clay Marsh, West Virginia's COVID-19 czar, 85 percent of hospitalized COVID-19 patients have not been vaccinated. This includes 90 percent of ICU patients and between 91 and 93 percent of those on ventilators. 'We've reached that level of hospital bed capacity, taken up by people infected with COVID-19, about 100 days quicker than we did during our last surge in December 2020,' Marsh said during the press briefing. In West Virginia, 810 patients are currently hospitalized with COVID-19, a near-record-high, and 254 patients in the ICU, the highest single-day total since the pandemic began Idaho is reporting a record-high 613 patients hospitalized with the virus and 163 in the ICU as hospitals say they are overwhelmed by the surge Meanwhile, hospitals in Idaho remain overwhelmed by a surge of COVID-19 patients. Data from the state's Department of Public Health shows that a record-high 613 residents are receiving inpatient care for the virus. Of those patients, 163 are occupying ICU beds, just 10 less than the record 173 set on August 31. Similarly to West Virginia, Idaho has one of the lowest rates of fully vaccinated residents at 40.1 percent compared to the national average of 53.8 percent. 'It's really hard to be a physician at the front lines, doing this every single day and living in a state where the vaccination rate is so low,' Dr Meghan McInerney, the medical director of the ICU at Saint Alphonsus Regional Medical Center in Boise, told ABC News. The hospital is currently treating 45 COVID-19 patients, a dramatic rise from the just five receiving care in spring 2021. Doctors told the network that patients deny that they have COVID-19 even as they lay dying. 'Don't tell me I have Covid. I don't believe in Covid,' patients have told Dr Carolyn McFarlane, a hospitalist at Saint Alphonsus. 'There is an almost adversarial tone to things when we ask, 'Did you get vaccinated?'' she told ABC News. 'It creates a rift in the tone of the room, because it's a feeling of: "Well you're going to treat me differently because I didn't get vaccinated," and that is far from the truth.' A nursing home where almost every resident was fully vaccinated suffered a COVID-19 outbreak, though damage from the virus was limited due to the shots, a new study finds. A French research team, led by scientists from Hopital Charles Foix in Ivry-sur-Seine, investigated a 17-case outbreak at a nursing home in Biscarrosse, France - 167 miles west of Toulouse - from January and February 2021. The facility houses 74 seniors, of which 70 were fully vaccinated - or 95 percent of residents - and two were at least partially vaccinated. Only two of those living at the nursing home were unvaccinated, and one of them was the only person to die from the virus. There were also only two hospitalizations out of all who contracted COVID-19. The researchers believe their investigation shows that fully vaccinated people can contract Covid, but even the elderly - who are among the most vulnerable to the virus - can recover with little complications if they are vaccinated. Seventeen cases of COVID-19 were tied to an outbreak at a nursing home in France that had fully vaccinated more than 90% of residents. Despite the population being vulnerable to the virus, only one death occurred and it was an unvaccinated resident. Pictured: An elderly Australian man is tested for COVID-19 in Melbourne on July 2 The nursing home outbreak began after a resident contracted the virus from a visitor who was positive for Covid, according to the study published in JAMA Network Open. The first patient tested positive after the visitor also tested for the virus, and then two days later began to exhibit symptoms. In total, 14 fully vaccinated residents, two partially vaccinated residents and one unvaccinated person ended up contracting the virus. Each person was discovered to have contracted the Alpha variant, the Covid mutation that was identified in England in September 2020. Of the 17 patients, eight developed what the researchers categorized as a 'severe disease', including the two hospitalizations and one death. 'This cohort studys findings suggest that an outbreak of COVID-19 can occur among fully vaccinated NH residents,' the researchers wrote. 'The study found evidence of transmission among vaccinated residents, but few individuals who were infected developed severe disease and one patient, who was unvaccinated, died. ' The report confirms what many scientists believe about the virus and vaccination. Fully vaccinated people are less likely to contract the virus, but still can and could even spread Covid in some cases. The vaccine is effective at preventing hospitalization and death, though, which it did for residents in the French nursing home. Exact data on breakthrough cases are not kept and every state reports them differently, so it is impossible to know what percent of cases in the U.S. are among fully vaccinated people. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention stopped reporting full data on breakthrough cases in May, and only reports those that end in hospitalization and deaths. Breakthrough cases account for a small share of overall hospitalizations and deaths in every state, however. It's worth noting that the French research comes from a time before the Delta variant became dominant in the world. Delta was first detected towards the end of 2020, but did not create its first massive outbreak until it caused case spikes across India in May. The variant then quickly spread across the world, and is now the dominant strain in many countries across the world - including the U.S. and France. Scientists believe the variant has an increased ability to cause breakthrough infections among vaccinated people, and vaccinated people also have the same ability to spread the virus as the unvaccinated. The director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said she is hoping that COVID-19 vaccines will be available for children under age 12 by the end of the year. In an appearance on NBC's TODAY on Monday, Dr Rochelle Walensky said there isn't a definitive timeline, but that officials from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) are working to approve the shots in younger children. 'We're waiting for the companies to submit the data to the FDA, we're anticipating that will happen in the fall,' she told host Savannah Guthrie. 'We will look at that data from the FDA, from the CDC, with the urgency that we all feel for getting our kids vaccinated and we're hoping by the end of the year.' It comes as Covid cases among children reached a record-high in recent weeks with 20,000 kids being hospitalized as well. However, most pediatric cases are not severe and virus-related fatalities among children are rare with pediatric deaths making up just 0.1 percent of all COVID-19 deaths. Dr Rochelle Walensky (pictured) told the TODAY show that she hopes COVID-19 vaccines will be available for children under the age of 12 by the end of the year More than 250,000 children tested positive for the virus in the week that ended in September 2. The early weeks of the school year have been especially devastating with more than 1,000 schools nationwide having classes disrupted due to the virus. Pictured: a girl in New York City arrives for the first day of school on September 13 Were hoping by the end of the year. -@CDCDirector Rochelle Walensky on when kids under 12 might be eligible for the COVID-19 vaccine pic.twitter.com/YpyWSO3LrW TODAY (@TODAYshow) September 13, 2021 Pfizer and BioNTech have hinted tat they plan to file for emergency use authorization for kids age five to 11 this month. Moderna is also conducting vaccine trials in young children but has not stated when it plans to file with the FDA. During her interview, Walensky said she hopes to see high vaccination rates in schools before schools rollback mitigation measures. 'I think what we really need to see is very high vaccination rates and ery low rates of disease in the community,' she said. COVID-19 infections among children reached a record high during the week that ended September 2, according to data from the American Academy for Pediatrics (AAP), with 251,781 positive cases. The youth also made up more than 25 percent of total infections recorded last week, also a pandemic high. Schools have been a driving force for infections among children, with more than 1,000 schools in 35 states have already had to close to deal with a surge in cases. However, American parents are split 50/50 on whether or not they will immunize their children. Some doctors have also suggested that kids do not needed to get vaccinated due to their low risk of severe disease and death. But Walensky said officials are working as fast as they can to approve use of the vaccines. 'We want to move quickly,' she said. 'We anticipate moving quickly, but we also want to have the efficacy data and the safety data that [the] FDA will require so we know as soon as it is available that it will be merited to science,' she said. Dr Scott Gottlieb, former head of the FDA, who is now a board member for Pfizer - producer of the most popular Covid vaccine in the U.S. - also believes vaccines could become available to children as early as October. In the meanwhile, Walensky recommended people around children get vaccinated in order to protect them. 'The best thing we can do for our kids is surround them by people who are vaccinated,' she continued. Americans aged 17 or 18 (solid gold bar) and aged 12 to 15 (dashed gold bar) have the lowest vaccination rates of any age group in America Walensky also said that she supports masking in schools to prevent the spread of COVID-19. Host Hoda Kotb asked the CDC director if there is anything that parents should have a 'real worry about' when it comes to universal masking. 'We have not seen any science that defends that point of view,' Walensky told TODAy. She also said that data suggest that when students and staff wears masks, there are fewer days lot due to school closures. 'We have seen data after data that have demonstrated that schools that are not masking are closing because they're having outbreaks,' she added. 'Schools from Georgia we saw last year had 37 percent less closure, less outbreaks, when they use masks. 'I would say that data actually absolutely show that masking decreases outbreaks in schools.' At least 1,700 medical workers in San Diego County have filed for COVID-19 vaccine mandate exemptions. Last week, President Joe Biden announced a new series of mandates including a requirement that all health care employees get vaccinated against the virus. However, the White House said that Americans will be allowed to request an exemption on 'narrow and specific' religious grounds. A new survey conducted by the San Diego Union-Tribune found that thousands of workers in the county are asking that they be excluded from the mandate for religious reasons. No major denomination opposes vaccines, but religious exemption claims are on the rise across the U.S. as more healthcare workers say they don't want to be forced to get the shot. At least 1,700 healthcare workers in San Diego County have asked for COVID-19 vaccine mandate exemptions due to religious reasons. Pictured: Occupational Health Nurse Maureen Finnegan (left) gives Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine shot to Dr Heather Pierce, a pediatric hospitalist at Rady Children's Hospital in San Diego, December 2020 It comes after President Joe Biden announced a new series of mandates including a requirement that all medical employees get vaccinated last week (above) The Union-Tribune reached out to medical providers across the state and asked how many religious exemption request they received from employees. Sharp HealthCare, the largest health system in the county, said it received more than 700 requests. UC San Diego Health told the newspaper it has received 610 exemption requests and Scripps Health says it has received more than 400. That means at least 1,710 requests have been made out of the 53,000 workers employed by the three health systems. Palomar Health, a much smaller health system with 4,200 staff members, says just 22 requests have been filed. Neither Kaiser Permanente San Diego nor Rady Children's Hospital-San Diego responded to the Union-Tribune's request for figures. Brett McClain, executive vice president and chief operating officer of Sharp Healthcare, said most of the request cite stem cells. 'I'd say 90-plus percent of our religious exemptions are citing Christian reasons around the stem cells,' McClain told the newspaper. 'The rest are along the lines of: "I'm in control of my body."' None of the three Covid vaccines - Pfizer-BioNTech, Moderna or Johnson & Johnson - approved in the U.S. contained aborted fetal cells However, fetal cell lines, which are laboratory-grown cells based on aborted fetal cells that were collected in the 1970s and 1980s, were used for research and development of the shots. The cells are cultured, allowing them to grow for many years, and have been used to create vaccines for several diseases such as hepatitis A, rubella and rabies. Malia Wylie, a medical assistant in an orthopedics department of a San Diego hospital, told the newspaper that she just received a religious exemption. 'In my religion, what my conscience tells me is to go forth the way I would like to have my body as a temple,' she said. 'I don't believe in the fetal cells that they have made these vaccines with. The ingredients, I don't fall in line with them. Wylie told the Union-Tribune that she identifies as a non-denominational Christian. She declined to provide the name of the church she attends regularly but said officials at her church support the decision. Going for your flu jab the moment it becomes available seems to be the sensible thing to do. But what if waiting a month or two could actually provide you with better protection against the virus? Thats the intriguing proposition being investigated by doctors in Leicester. In a study involving 400 healthcare workers, they are looking at whether the flu vaccine is more effective when given in November, some two months after the typical September start to the vaccination programme each year. The idea is that immunity to the virus may wane over time, with even a few weeks making a difference so holding off on getting vaccinated will mean peoples defences are stronger in the depths of winter, when flu is at its peak. This years flu immunisation programme is being billed as the biggest in the UKs history, with more than 35 million eligible for a free jab As study leader Dr Manish Pareek, a consultant in infectious diseases at Leicester Royal Infirmary, explains: There is some evidence that suggests the effectiveness of the flu vaccine may decrease towards the end of the flu season if the vaccine is given too early. We want to see if there is a time to give the flu vaccine that confers the best protection throughout the flu season. Flu normally circulates in the UK between October and May, with cases peaking in January and February. And while the number of cases last winter was low because of coronavirus, flu claims 17,000 lives a year in England on average and there are concerns that this year will be particularly bad. Plummeting numbers of flu cases during the pandemic have been explained by measures such as masks and hand-washing also reducing the spread of the flu. Plus, a process called viral interference, in which infection with one virus temporarily blocks a second virus from taking hold, may have protected those who had the coronavirus from catching flu. This is because interferon, a protective protein made by the immune system when we are attacked by a virus, also wards off all other viruses. This years flu immunisation programme is being billed as the biggest in the UKs history, with more than 35 million eligible for a free jab. Plummeting numbers of flu cases during the pandemic have been explained by measures such as masks and hand-washing also reducing the spread of the flu This includes, for the first time, secondary school children up to Year 11 as well as all 50 to 64-year-olds. The aim, says Health Secretary Sajid Javid, is to build a wall of protection amid fears that flu could bounce back this winter, putting the NHS under extra pressure. There are concerns that the low prevalence of flu last winter led to a drop in our natural immunity against the virus. Also, the fall in global flu cases may have made it harder to make an effective vaccine, as the jab is reformulated each year to protect against the particular strains likely to be circulating in the forthcoming winter. Just getting the jab may not be enough, however when we get it may also be important. Several studies have suggested that the vaccine gradually becomes less effective. A 2017 study by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in the U.S. found protection against catching flu peaked at 14 days after vaccination, then fell by up to 11 per cent a month. Immunity waned more rapidly for some strains of flu than others and in some cases all protection was lost after five months or so, reported the journal Clinical Infectious Diseases. In UK terms, this means someone who has their jab in September, when the vaccination campaign begins, may have poor protection in February, when the flu season is at its peak. To find out more, Dr Pareek is studying healthcare workers, half of whom had their flu jab in September 2020 and half of whom were vaccinated in November 2020. All gave regular blood samples, starting at the time of vaccination and ending in May, to check whether levels of infection-fighting antibodies fell over time. The study will be run again this winter and this time cases of flu will be monitored as well as antibody levels. Dr Pareek told Good Health that if later vaccination does result in a significant drop in flu cases, it could lead to the national flu vaccination programme being pushed back. However, there is the added concern that any such later vaccination could lead to some people being jabbed too late for maximum protection and so there is a balance to be struck, says Dr Pareek. There is a natural tendency for people to put things off until the last minute, so you might find that they leave vaccination until it is too late to get much protection before the flu hits. This is because it takes time for the flu jab to work. The vaccine primes the immune system to make antibodies that look for the flu virus in the blood. But antibody production is complex and takes two to three weeks to build sufficient levels. Delaying the start of the vaccination programme could also cause logistical problems, with the same number of people having to be immunised in a shorter time. As Dr Simon Clarke, a microbiologist at the University of Reading, points out: The flu season doesnt really get going until January, but we have got to be careful because if the flu season starts earlier than usual, a large number of people could be left unprotected. Of course, any change to the vaccination programme wont be immediate and anyone due to have the vaccine this winter should not wait. Being vaccinated is more important than trying to time it exactly, says Ian Jones, a professor of virology at the University of Reading. Older people, in particular, should get their vaccine when they are called that is by far the safest option. There may be another benefit to having your flu jab. According to a recent study, the jab may also protect against some of the severe effects of Covid. The study of almost 75,000 Covid patients across the world found those who had been vaccinated against flu were less likely to develop stroke, sepsis (a potentially fatal overreaction of the immune system to an infection) and deep vein thrombosis (a dangerous blood clot in a vein, usually in the leg) than those who hadnt had a flu jab. Their odds of going to A&E and being admitted to intensive care were also lower, it was reported at the European Congress of Clinical Microbiology & Infectious Diseases in July. The flu jab may provide some protection against Covid by boosting the innate immune system general defences we are born with, say the researchers, from the University of Miami. A group of senior U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) officials - including two who announced they will soon resign - have authored a report disagreeing with the White House's plan to roll out COVID-19 vaccine boosters next week. In a report published in in The Lancet on Monday, the 18 officials write that there is no evidence supporting the need for boosters because fully vaccinated people still have high levels of protection against hospitalization or death. Instead, they say, vaccine doses should be donated to areas with lower vaccination rates to prevent the emergence of more COVID-19 variants. Although the administration is ready to roll out boosters starting September 20, President Joe Biden said last week that any decisions - including when to authorize boosters and who should receive them - will be left up to the FDA and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The group of FDA authors of the new report include Dr Marion Gruber and Dr Philip Krause, who plan to step down in the coming months due to disagreements over the rollout of vaccines. Dr Philip Krause (left) and Dr Marion Gruber (right) were both among 18 FDA officials who published a report opposing the White House's proposed plans to roll out COVID-19 vaccine boosters. Both also plan to resign in protest in the coming months. 'Although the idea of further reducing the number of COVID-19 cases by enhancing immunity in vaccinated people is appealing, any decision to do so should be evidence-based and consider the benefits and risks for individuals and society,' the officials wrote in the report. 'COVID-19 vaccines continue to be effective against severe disease, including that caused by the Delta variant. 'Most of the observational studies on which this conclusion is based are, however, preliminary and difficult to interpret precisely due to potential confounding and selective reporting.' Like many other vaccines, the Covid jabs have declining efficacy over time. The Delta variant, which is now the dominant variant in the U.S. and across the world, is also believed to have an increased ability to cause breakthrough cases. According to a study by the Mayo Clinic - which was cited by White House officials as data supporting the need for boosters - the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine is only 42 percent effect against the variant and the Moderna vaccine is 76 percent effective. The White House plans to roll out vaccine boosters next week, though the shots are unlikely to receive regulatory approval before then, halting the plan. Pictured: A woman in Tel Aviv, Israel receives a vaccine booster shot on August 30 The same study finds that the vaccines are 75 percent effective at preventing hospitalizations or deaths from the virus, though. Whether the waning effectiveness of the vaccines is because of features of the Delta variant in particular, or just a decreasing effectiveness over time in general, could not be determined. But as long as the vaccines are effective at preventing severe disease and death, that's the most important factor, the officials wrote. 'Even if boosting were eventually shown to decrease the medium-term risk of serious disease, current vaccine supplies could save more lives if used in previously unvaccinated populations than if used as boosters in vaccinated populations,' they wrote. Vaccinating others abroad could also prevent the creation of variants which eventually find their way to the U.S., like the Delta variant that originated in India. The vaccines also have rare, but potentially dangerous side effects, though, and every time a person receives a shot there is a chance they suffer one of the symptoms. Receiving boosters a person does not need could be opening them to unneeded risk. 'There could be risks if boosters are widely introduced too soon, or too frequently, especially with vaccines that can have immune-mediated side-effects (such as myocarditis, which is more common after the second dose of some mRNA vaccines, or Guillain-Barre syndrome, which has been associated with adenovirus-vectored COVID-19 vaccines,' the report reads. The officials are not entirely writing off boosters, though, saying that there could be need for them in the future, just not now. 'Boosting might ultimately be needed in the general population because of waning immunity to the primary vaccination or because variants expressing new antigens have evolved to the point at which immune responses to the original vaccine antigens no longer protect adequately against currently circulating viruses,' they wrote. The letter could prove to be yet another setback for the White House's attempt to get vaccine booster shots out. Last month, health officials announced the those who received the Pfizer-BioNTech or Moderna vaccine would be eligible for a third shot eight months after receiving their second, starting September 20. The move was pending approval from the regulators like the FDA, though, and it appears they will not be approved by the planned roll out date next Monday. Gruber and Krause were frustrated by the decision from the White House to make the public announcement for the shots before approval, leading to the pair - who are crucial to the FDA's process of approval of vaccines - announcing they will soon resign. Gruber is the director of the Office of Vaccines Research and Review at FDA's Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research (CBER). Krause is the deputy director of CBER. The office is responsible for regulating 'biological products for human use under applicable federal laws,' according to the FDA. In essence, the office is largely responsible for making final decisions regarding things like vaccines, and making sure they are safe for human consumption. Gruber is one of the most important figures in the approval of vaccines. Now with senior officials choosing to publicly oppose the measure, the White House's plans could be in turmoil. Walgreens Boots Alliance's COVID-19 test registration system exposed the personal data of potentially millions of people. First reported by Recode, this includes the names, dates of birth, gender identities, phone numbers, addresses and emails of anyone who was tested at the drugstore chain for the virus since last year. The data was allegedly open web for potentially anyone to see and for the multiple ad trackers on Walgreens' site to collect, according to the report. What's more, the results of the COVID-19 tests could also be taken from the exposed data, in some cases.= Walgreen's online COVID-19 test registration system exposed the names, dates of birth, gender identities, phone numbers, addresses and emails. Pictured: A person enters a Walgreens store in San Francisco, April 2021 Alejandro Ruiz, a consultant for IT company Interstitial Technology PBC, told Recode he discovered the exposure in March 2021 after one of his relative was tested for COVID-19 at a Walgreens. He said he reached out to the drugstore via email, phone and a web form regarding technical or security questions but he never hear back. 'Any company that made such basic errors in an app that handles health care data is one that does not take security seriously,' Ruiz told Recode. According to the report, the problem lies in the online registration system that patients must use if they want to schedule an appointment for a COVID-19 test. After a patient fills out the form, they are assigned a distinct 32-digit ID number. The patient is taken to a page with a URL that contains this ID and on which he or she is told an appointment has been requested and a confirmation email will be sent if the appointment is confirmed. Security experts told Recode that the problem is that anyone with the URL can see a patient's information. The patient does not need to log in nor do they need to answer security questions to access the information. What's more, the URLs for the appointment request page on Walgreens' site are all the same aside from a 32-digit ID number, This means IDs can be guessed or that hackers can use to bots to generate an infinite number of combination to find an active page. 'The technical process that Walgreens deployed to protect people's sensitive information was nearly nonexistent,' Zach Edwards, founder of analytics firm Victory Medium, told Recode. The security experts did stress that because the ID for each patient has so many digits and there are so many ombinations, it would be hard to find one active page - but not impossible. Additionally, third-party trackers, which are own by giants including Facebook and Google, could be reaping the information by collecting the patient IDs. Recode said it reached out to Walgreens to tell the company about Ruiz's findings and to give the company time to fix the error, which it has yet to do. 'We regularly review and incorporate additional security enhancements when deemed either necessary or appropriate,' Walgreens said in a statement. 'We continually evaluate our technology solutions in order to provide safe, secure, and accessible digital services to our customers and patients.' Growing numbers of Vodafone's Pay As You Go customers are wrongly being told they are in arrears with the network. Despite most having never held a monthly contract with the firm, which means they cannot be in debt, their accounts are telling them otherwise. One customer, Mandy, said she has been told she is 108.30 in arrears, despite never having a contract phone and never receiving any other communication from Vodafone to suggest she owed it money. She said: 'I was mortified to be in arrears as I am a PAYG customers that has never had any debts. Growing numbers of Vodafone's Pay As You Go customers are being told they are in arrears 'I complained to Vodafone who said they are looking into it. I just want it off my account.' When contacting the network provider about this, it admitted a mistake on Mandy's account but would not clarify why so many others have had the same problem. A Vodafone spokesperson said: The incorrect balance and information on Mandys account have been corrected and we can confirm that she has always been on Pay As You Go. 'We apologise to Mandy for the inconvenience caused by our mistake - we have topped up her account with 20 of credit as a gesture of goodwill. Other Vodafone customers have taken to online forums and social media to complain they are receiving similar notifications with some being told they are in arrears by hundreds of pounds. One wrote on a Vodafone forum: 'I am a PAYG customer. My dashboard tells me I am in arrears of 452.91 and it went up by 50 on the day I started making enquiries about it. 'I've tried Customer Service several times, Vodafone's complaints team three times and visited my local Vodafone shop twice. 'Everyone says I don't owe anything but the dashboard clearly states that my "account is in arrears" and when I click through to "make payment" the debt is given as 452.91. 'No one can explain it. I cannot ignore this but Vodafone don't seem interested and won't give me any explanation.' This Twitter user said he has been told he is in 'substantial arrears' but no one can explain why Another customer said they have never been a contract customer but have been charged This Vodafone customer replied to a thread saying her and her husband were also in 'arrears' Whilst Vodafone does not seem to be actively seeking the funds from customers, those affected have claimed they are concerned about a potential impact on their credit score. Others have said they are worried their phone could stop working without warning. Several people have added they are finding it difficult to get an answer as to what is happening and how to resolve it. However, according to a response by a Vodafone customer service member to a complaint on its website, those affected should contact the network on 191, via Live Chat or through Vodafone Social Media Team's Complaints. For those who are still unable to resolve the issue, they are encouraged to follow the Vodafone Complaint Code, here. Ministers face further scandals on the scale of London Capital & Finance unless they tackle investment fraud with the Online Safety Bill, MPs have warned. LCF an unregulated seller of 'mini-bonds' left 11,600 investors facing losses of more than 200m when it collapsed two years ago. The firm and its directors are being investigated over suspected fraud. Many savers were drawn to the ill-fated scheme by online advertisements, which LCF paid Google 20m to display. Warnings: MPs are demanding that online advertising be included in the scope of the Online Safety Bill currently going through Parliament It has prompted MPs on the Treasury committee to call on the Government to crack down on advertising for financial products to help prevent similar disasters in future. They are demanding that online advertising be included in the scope of the Online Safety Bill currently going through Parliament, so that internet firms will be forced to check the credentials of advertisers behind promotions. It echoes the Mail's Stamp Out Investment Fraud campaign, which also calls for financial fraud and bogus adverts to be covered by the bill. Mel Stride, the committee's chairman, said: 'The collapse of LCF severely impacted many investors and highlighted considerable regulatory failings. However, it is not yet clear whether the Government will include fraudulent advertisements within the scope of the bill. To prevent fraud in the future, this is an issue that must be addressed.' The Mail's campaign is backed by regulators and industry giants such as Lloyds Bank, HSBC, Aviva and Hargreaves Lansdown, yet Culture Secretary Oliver Dowden has so far refused to widen the legislation's scope. But the Treasury committee says ministers need to 'intervene urgently' to prevent further scandals like LCF. They say the Financial Conduct Authority, the City watchdog, should be able to expand its remit and that internet platforms should be legally obliged to take down scam adverts. Ministers insist the Online Safety Bill is not the right way to tackle scam ads. Rolls-Royce has agreed to sell its 23.1 per cent stake in aero-engine manufacturer AirTanker Holdings for 189million. The British engineering giant said the sale to Equitax Investment Management would enable it to pay off some of its debts, which have ballooned as a result of the pandemic. Rolls-Royce, which will continue to hold a 23.5 per cent stake in AirTanker Services, wants to raise 2billion to fix its balance sheet. Roll-Royce is under pressure to raise 2bn to pay off its debt after the pandemic AirTanker Holdings is a joint venture between Airbus, Babcock, and Thales, and it is the owner of 14 A330 refuelling jets. The AirTanker Services business, which Rolls-Royce will continue to hold a stake in, operates the 14 jets that are mainly used by the Ministry of Defence. Rolls-Royce will continue to provide servicing and maintenance for the fleet of its engines that power the Voyager aircraft to support the Royal Air Force. President of Rolls-Royce Defence Tom Bell said: Through our continued ownership position in AirTanker Services, the Royal Air Force can rely on us to support its mission critical operations with our Trent 700 derivative engines. The sale of our shareholding in AirTanker Holdings is another important step towards achieving our group target to generate at least 2bn from disposals, as announced last year, to help rebuild our group balance sheet in support of our medium-term ambition to return to an investment grade credit profile. The engineering giant will continue to hold a 23.5% stake in AirTanker Services The 189million deal includes the repayment of shareholder loans and accrued and deferred interest of approximately 47m, and is expected to complete by the end of the first quarter of 2022. Rolls has been under pressure from US-based activist shareholder Causeway Capital, which last month demanded a board shake-up. In response, Rolls-Royce issued a robust defence of its Power Systems business amid suggestions from its biggest shareholder that the division should be sold off. Rolls-Royce shares were flat at 109.4p at 11am today. The private equity firm gunning for one of the UKs biggest defence companies looks likely to mount a separate bid for Unilevers black tea business. Advent International is already attempting a controversial 2.6billion purchase of Ultra Electronics, a provider of submarine-hunting technology to the Royal Navy. And it has now teamed up with Singapores Government Investment Corporation (GIC) to make a 4billion joint offer for Unilevers black tea brands, including PG Tips and Lipton, Sky News reported. Advent International and Singapores Government Investment Corporation are reportedly set to make a joint 4bn offer for Unilevers black tea brands, including PG Tips and Lipton The consumer goods giant effectively hung a for sale sign over the division in January 2020 when it launched a review of its future. Advent is not the only private equity firm interested in buying it, with Carlyle, Cinven, Clayton Dubilier & Rice and KKR also said to be sniffing around. And other potential bidders include Twinings owner Associated British Foods and Pepsi. Advent has previously teamed up with GIC on other deals including a takeover of Swedish biotech group Sobi. Private equity firms have this year embarked on a huge spending spree, snapping up British companies across the board and triggering fears for jobs. Advents bid for Ultra has proved highly controversial due to the defence contractors prolific work for the Royal Navy. Ultra Electronics provides sonar capabilities that are used to hunt submarines, while its control systems are used by the UKs Trident nuclear missile submarines. Kwasi Kwarteng, the Business Secretary, intervened in the deal last month, when he launched a probe into its implications for national security. Advent, which has been criticised for buying British defence firm Cobham and then breaking it up, insists its takeover poses no risks to the UK. A leading fund manager has sounded the alarm over an exodus of mining firms from the London stock market. BHP one of the largest companies in the UK with a value of 109billion last month unveiled plans to shift its primary listing to Australia in a move that will see it leave the FTSE 100. It is feared that rival Rio Tinto could follow suit dealing a further blow to London. Mining giant BHP one of the largest companies in the UK with a value of 109bn last month unveiled plans to shift its primary listing to Australia, a move that will see it leave the FTSE 100 City veteran and former Aviva fund manager David Cumming said the UK must fight to keep London as a major financial centre. The 59-year-old, who left Aviva in June amid a shake-up at the group, said BHPs shareholders should have put up more of a fight. Cumming said: If I was at Aviva, I would have said something. Its the biggest mining company in the world, Im surprised there hasnt been a bit more resistance to them beetling off to Australia. Thats a big loss to the London market in my view. Legal & General was the only significant BHP shareholder to raise an objection to the shift to Australia saying it was disappointed. Speaking to the Sunday Telegraph, Cumming added: We certainly dont want Rio Tinto to go the same way. You want to keep London as a global financial centre. Rio is another Footsie heavyweight miner but it too has a hefty amount of its business in Australia and a dual listing. Rio has been under pressure to shift some of its power away from London after it blew up two 46,000-year-old Aboriginal rock shelters last year. The disaster triggered a boardroom clearout, a parliamentary inquiry and pummelled Rios reputation though it has so far refused to bow to pressure to quit London. This is in part because 76 per cent of its investors hold shares in the UK-listed firm. Cumming, who began his career at Royal London Mutual, has previously said: Id rather have BHP closer to London than Deliveroo [the takeway app]. Workers at GKNs last remaining British car parts factory have announced all-out strikes in protest against the Birmingham sites closure. The engineer, which was bought by corporate raider Melrose in 2018, claims the Erdington plant is loss-making and shedding business due to the switch towards electric vehicles. The factory is due to close in 2022, threatening more than 500 jobs, with its work likely to be sent offshore to Poland or France. GKN, which was bought by corporate raider Melrose in 2018, claims the Erdington plant is loss-making and shedding business due to the switch towards electric vehicles But critics including West Midlands mayor Andy Street say the move flies in the face of Melroses stated aim to make GKN a UK manufacturing powerhouse and have urged the firm to reconsider. Unite, the union that represents workers, said staff were planning to go on continuous strikes from September 27. The disruption will affect customers including Jaguar Land Rover, Nissan and Toyota, which use components from the plant. Sharon Graham, Unites general secretary, said: GKNs cynical attempt to close its plant is a disgrace. We will not stand by and let this employer offshore British jobs without a fight. A Virginia man's family vacation to his homeland of Kabul took a terrifying turn last month when Taliban fighters swept into the capital and started going door-to-door, threatening innocent civilians like him who had been working to provide mental health services to Afghans. With the government collapsed and commercial flights suspended, Wais Aria, 39, his wife, and four children packed up and set out for Kabul Airport on August 22. He was so desperate to catch a flight that he smiled through the pain when a Taliban soldier blocking the entrance beat him with a machine gun. 'I did not want my children to be scared or notice that I was hurt,' Aria, who moved to the US from Kabul in 2017, told DailyMail.com in an exclusive interview. 'We needed to push forward.' They returned to the airport for four straight days before finally making it through, cramming onto a military plane with 450 fellow escapees and taking off just five hours before a suicide bomber detonated an explosive near the gates of the airport, killing more than 170 people who were standing in their footsteps. Wais Aria is pictured with his wife Kubra, daughters Sara, 10, and Safa, six, and son Mustafa, 13, at their home in Alexandra, Virginia after escaping Kabul last month Aria shared footage of the family's journey back to the US after they were finally able to cram onto a military plane with 450 fellow escapees on August 26 (pictured) Aria returned home with his family to Alexandria, Virginia late last month, still in shock and fearful for relatives left behind. 'President Biden says he just ended a 20-year war in Afghanistan and that our nation is safe,' said Aria. 'In my belief, the war is not ended in Afghanistan. The war has just started.' During the interview, Aria was joined by his wife Kubra and children, ages four to 14, in their modest home on the southern outskirts of the city. The children are returning to school with the trauma of last month affecting them in varying ways. The father said his four-year-old daughter repeatedly walks in and out of the bathroom, and enters the kitchen in the middle of the night, aimlessly opening and shutting the refrigerator door. 'I try to ask her if you feel pain, you feel bad, you need something, but she does not respond,' he said. 'She doesn't want to talk.' He said he took his children to a shopping mall 'just to keep them busy.' 'I've also had flashbacks at night,' he noted. 'All the memories come back into my mind. I have nightmares. There's a battle. 'I feel someone choke me and I could not breathe. I'm using pills to help sleep.' In Afghanistan, Aria founded TABISH in 2009, a nonprofit group working to help children recover from psychological trauma from the war. But the father of four now finds himself struggling to help his own family cope. The family traveled to Afghanistan in June after schools let out for the summer. Aria and his wife, both of whom grew up in the war-torn country, were staying with relatives in Kabul. The father-of-four, 39, and his son Mustafa recalled their traumatic escape from their home country after Taliban forces took control of the capital, in an exclusive interview with DailyMail.com The Aria family was vacationing in Kabul last month when the US withdrew troops from Afghanistan and Taliban forces swooped in days later, prompting them to pack up and set out for their airport (pictured) The family managed to secure a spot on the plane after making four trips to the airport. The flight took off just five hours before a suicide bomber detonated and killed more than 170 people Their 14-year-old son Mustafa would entertain his parents, cousins, uncles, aunts, and grandparents by performing songs on his harmonium. When Taliban rolled into town, the music stopped. The family sheltered in place, too scared to go out. Their return flight to the US on August 29 was canceled. Aria tried searching for third-party tickets online only to find flights for $10,000 apiece. When they learned the US was evacuating people from the airport, just 10 miles away, they packed their things and hopped into a taxi. Mustafa left his harmonium behind, fearful it would draw scrutiny. His mother hid the family's passports, green cards and other personal papers in her clothing. They exited the taxi just a few hundred yards from the airport, where crowds were pressed up against a Taliban checkpoint, the first of two before they'd reach American soldiers screening people at the gate. Taliban soldiers were ordering crowds to go away, firing machine guns into the air, and striking stragglers with the butts and straps of their weapons. Mustafa said the gunfire caused people to scramble. 'The first day, it was crowded, really crowded when the Taliban did warning shots,' the teen told DailyMail.com. 'It was like a domino effect. People would fall into each other. Me and my dad stood up front, so when the pushing happened again, we could push back and the domino effect would stop.' His father said he lied to one of his kids who panicked. 'My youngest son screamed when the Taliban started shooting that first day, and I told my son: "Don't worry, it's not shooting, it's just fireworks like you see in D.C." 'The next day, he said: "Daddy, we are going to fireworks?" I said, "yes, we are going to fireworks." He did not cry again.' Before the family could reach US soldiers at the gate, they had to go through two Taliban checkpoints (pictured on August 17) where fighters were ordering crowds to go away, firing machine guns into the air, and striking stragglers with the butts and straps of their weapons Aria recalled being slammed in the back and shoulders with Taliban soldiers' guns. Pictured: Taliban fighters patrolling the streets on Saturday, September 11 It was more difficult to block his children from seeing the violence unfold when Taliban soldiers slammed the father in the back and shoulder with their guns. But Aria refused to show his children the bruising beneath his shirt. 'I lied to my family, my wife and my children,' he said. 'When I was beaten by machine gun in my shoulder; it looked very dark and black. 'I smiled to my children, but I had pain in my heart. I don't want to remove my clothes in front of my children. I try to keep it hiding.' But the fear and heat caused his children to collapse several times. 'My big and little sister passed out many times,' Mustafa said. 'My fuel was done and I almost passed out too. But I had some energy drinks and I drank one. And my mom gave my (11-year-old) sister some water and some food so she'd feel better.' Aria said the sight of his oldest daughter, Sara, passing out on the ground almost caused him to give up on their mission to reach the airport. 'When I asked her how she was feeling, she could not talk,' he said. 'I couldn't look at my daughter. It was a very bad time. I felt that if I fell, who take care of my daughter?' Returning to his family's home in Kabul that night, he discussed giving up. But his brother, a social worker, encouraged him to carry on. 'My family, my brother, pushed me and they convinced me and imposed on me that you have to leave the country,' Aria recalled. 'My brother said it would be a risk for you and us, so please try to go and do your best to protect your children.' Mustafa recalled seeing his sisters pass out 'many times' from fear and the stifling heat as they waited to get through the airport Wais (pictured with wife Kubra) and his family - who moved to the US in 2017- finally returned home on August 26, but he says the kids are now returning to school while dealing with the trauma of their ordeal On the fourth day, Mustafa said, his father got an email from the US embassy advising evacuees to report to a separate entrance, the north gate, at midnight. They waited there through the night, before his father learned of yet another entryway. 'When we went there, the Taliban told us we were late,' Mustafa said. Hours later, they were allowed to walk through. After a 45-minute walk, they reached US marines who searched them for weapons. They boarded a bus and were taken to an airport ramp where he said they waited for another nine hours, making a fort out of discarded blankets to shield them from the blazing sun. Early Thursday, August 26, a plane landed. 'It's time for departure,' Mustafa recalls a marine telling them. They were packed onto a flight with no seats, huddled into a cabin so tightly packed that they could barely move. 'There was no space to turn your face, or just to walk,' Aria said. 'There were no seats, no food. They just announced we only have one washroom and you can use that only in emergency. 'When they started departure, everyone fall down on each other,' he said. 'I was exhausted mentally and physically. I thought to myself, don't worry, now you are safe. Accept this situation, this is just temporary. At least I escaped form that situation. There was a chance for me to be alive.' 'When I got into the plane, I felt pretty happy,' Mustafa said. 'I already got out of Afghanistan, that's how I felt when I stepped onto the plane.' It was only after they landed in Doha, Qatar that they learned of the deadly attack that killed the civilians and 13 US service members. 'We were in the same place,' Aria said. 'The explosion happened just five hours after we left, so our chances of being there was high. It was scary.' After a layover in Qatar, they flew to Germany then on to Washington, D.C. Hundreds of people gather near an evacuation control checkpoint during ongoing evacuations at Hamid Karzai International Airport, in Kabul Wednesday, August 25 Families evacuated from Kabul walk through the terminal before boarding a bus after they arrived at Washington Dulles International Airport in Virginia last week 'It was very hard moment for me when I arrived in the US,' the father said. 'It was unbelievable. I tried to understand myself that now you are in a safe place, now you're in a place where you can tell what you need and people will protect you. 'But mentally I was not here. I felt it was a dream.' Despite the chaos, Biden would later hail the decision to withdraw all remaining troops from Afghanistan, ending the 20-year war that the US launched a month after the September 11, 2001 terror attacks. Back on American soil, Aria watched the president's speech with despair and dread. He said the withdrawal has made way for a new era of Taliban rule, and once again made Afghanistan a safe haven for terrorists, including an offshoot of ISIS that claimed responsibility for last month's suicide bombing. He also expressed concern with what he said was lax screening at Kabul Airport, which he fears allowed terrorists to escape with counterfeit documents along with thousands of other people who fled. But his immediate concern was for his family and former colleagues, who worked with him at the now-defunct TABISH, a Farsi word meaning sunrise. 'Since I came here, I talked with my brother and he explained to me the situation is worse than before,' Aria said. He said the Taliban has just begun cracking down on people who cooperated with the US government and other Western entities, as well as those who are pursuing humanitarian work that goes against their strict interpretation of Islamic law. His brother also spoke about rising poverty and unemployment, how social workers like him lost their jobs and were hiding out, barely leaving their homes. 'I told my brother to please take care of yourself and your children, and to keep a low profile, don't communicate with people or tell them about your work or that your brother is in the US,' he said. 'I'm very concerned about my family in Afghanistan, my coworkers,' he continued. 'I'm the one that got this chance to come out, but the rest of my team, my in-laws, my sister and brother, coworkers who spent more than 10 years together. 'Most are psychologists, mental health providers. They are not American citizens. They are Afghan citizens. The majority are women, who unfortunately cannot come out from their home. They keep hiding themselves in different places. 'They want to leave, but how?' he asked. 'I promised them I would try my best, if I could, to find any places to help them get out. At the moment, there is no hope.' Tori Spelling raised eyebrows when she unveiled her new glam look earlier this month, but now DailyMail.com can reveal that what's online appears far different from reality. The 48-year-old posted edited photos of herself posing with pal Snooki and looks all dolled up with her blond locks and makeup done. DailyMail.com has obtained exclusive unedited photos from that night out at Catch LA, where the actress appears unrecognizable compared to what she posted. People who were at the event posted the unedited shots to Instagram, where both Tori and Snooki look far different without the heavy filters. DailyMail.com has obtained unedited photos from Tori Spelling's night out at Catch LA, where the 48-year-old appears unrecognizable in a selfie with Snooki On her Instagram page, Tori shared an edited snap of herself and Snooki that looks far different than the unfiltered selfie Justin Jedica, who is known as the Human Ken Doll, also posted what appears to be an unfiltered photo Another unedited snap shows Snookie posing while Tori walks along in the background Justin Jedica, who is known as the Human Ken Doll, also posted what appears to be an unfiltered photo. Tori was immediately compared to Khloe Kardashian as fans took to the comment section of the selfie she posted with Snooki to remark on the similarities. In the caption Tori said: 'My Messy Bestie actually we are the duo you never knew you needed. @snooki you might be my twin flame (but shorter) love the way we empower each other to be our authentic selves. Xo.' One user wrote, 'Kardashians surgeon?', while another added, 'Whoa thought you were khloe kardashian for a minute.' Tori addressed the speculation over how different she looks of late, as fans have suggested she's had a facelift and had her nose done. The Beverly Hills 90210 alum doesn't deny that her look has changed, but she did dispute the plastic surgery rumors, and instead chalks up to her new makeup artist and cellular regeneration therapy. 'First of all, I have an amazing makeup artist now,' Tori explained of her transformation during an appearance on SiriusXM's Radio Andy's Jeff Lewis Live show on Thursday. 'Her name is Hailey Hoff and with contour and she does makeup like no one else. And my face, I look completely different. I look like I've had a nose job. Like, it's straight now.' 'It's all contouring,' she said of the makeup technique. In addition to contouring, the mother-of-five also credits her facial change on exosome therapy, a type of regenerative medicine treatment that reduces inflammation, causes cells to regenerate, and modifies the body's immune response. 'It could be the exosomes, too, because they said my skin looks flawless, so maybe I'm looking younger,' Tori said. 'They said I looked Snooki's age. She's 33. I'm like, 'I'll take that.' 'It's exosomes, I'm telling you,' Lewis responded before adding, 'It is the fountain of youth.' 'First of all, I have an amazing makeup artist now,' Tori explained of her facial transformation during an appearance on SiriusXM's Radio Andy's Jeff Lewis Live show on Thursday Tori Spelling looked just like Khloe Kardashian when she headed to West Hollywood's Catch earlier this month and the internet noticed The 90210 star seemed to copy Khloe's style by wearing a denim jumpsuit similar to one worn by the reality TV star Tori and her pal Laura Rugetti were also seen heading to dinner at the upscale West Hollywood restaurant in matching denim outfits. Last week Tori said she's 'honored' by all the comparisons. 'She's gorgeous!' Tori told TMZ as she left the Malibu Chili Cook-Off last Monday. Asked if she was intentionally going for the Khloe look, Tori replied, 'No, but I'm honored to get that compliment.' Tori and Khloe have been friends for years, and Khloe has even used the TV vet for her Good American ads on social media. Tori also appeared on Khloe's talk show Kocktails With Khloe in 2016. This is not the only time Tori has looked like Khloe. In an Instagram post from Thursday morning Spelling is seen with her hair in a half spout, a look the KUWTK star loves. And she added over-the-knee boots, a signature of Koko's. Meanwhile, Tori was spotted with her husband Dean McDermott at the Malibu Chili Cook-Off amid rumors of marital trouble. Dean was doing all the heavy lifting, hauling several large stuffed animals they won during the event hosted the Boys & Girls Club of Malibu. Tori flaunted her midriff in an Adidas crop-top, ripped blue jeans, Converse sneakers, and she wore an Atari trucker cap over her platinum-blonde extensions. Tori was spotted with her husband Dean McDermott at the Malibu Chili Cook-Off amid rumors of marital trouble. Dean was doing all the heavy lifting, hauling several large stuffed animals they won during the event hosted the Boys & Girls Club of Malibu Spelling flaunted her midriff in an Adidas crop-top, ripped blue jeans, Converse sneakers, and she wore an Atari trucker cap over her platinum-blonde extensions In June, Tori seemed to confirm that the couple's relationship was strained when she admitted on Jeff Lewis Live that they were no longer sleeping in the same bed or even the same room. 'Right now my kids and dogs sleep in my bed,' she said when asked by Jeff if she and Dean were currently sharing the same bed. 'So he's in the guest room?' Lewis quizzed her. 'He's in a room,' Tori clarified. She said the children and pets had begun sleeping with her when her husband traveled to Canada for six months to film the police comedy Pretty Hard Cases, and sop far they hadn't gone back to their previous arrangement 'Since he left - this is not good, you guys - but since he left, he was gone for six months filming in another country, they all stayed with me,' Tori said. 'So I currently still have four in the bedroom with me who have yet to go back to their rooms.' In July, Dean, who married Tori in 2006, was seen for the first time without his wedding ring while stopping to pump some gas. Police officers pulled over a fake delivery driver who was posing as a Just Eat courier in order to ferry drugs around the capital. The Met Police shared the image of the 17-year-old rider, who was wearing a Just Eat jacket and had the Just Eat branded bag on the back of his bike, after he had been stopped in Shoreditch in central London on Friday night. The teenager was found to be in possession of hundreds of pounds, bags of suspected cannabis and a phone which had ties to a drug dealing network. Just Eat told MailOnline that, while they will look into the incident, the branded jackets and bags are widely available for anyone to purchase online. The company said this is because their business model includes self-employed riders and third-party contractors as well as restaurants who kit out their own delivery drivers. An online search reveals branded kit for Just Eat, Deliveroo and Uber Eats are all available to buy on the internet. Police arrested a 17-year-old cyclist who they suspect was posing as a Just Eat rider to ferry drugs around the capital after he was stopped in Shoreditch and found with drugs and cash As well as 520 in cash and bags of cannabis, the teen had a phone with ties to drug dealing After enquiries by MailOnline, the Met confirmed that the rider was not working for Just Eat or as a Just Eat delivery driver but was using the uniform as 'a front' to deal drugs in London. The tactic became more common when the country's streets became deserted during lockdown and the demand for home-delivered meals soared. The force said the 17-year-old was seen by special constables on patrol riding a bicycle along Great Eastern Street towards Shoreditch High Street just after midnight on Saturday. The officers attempted to stop him and, despite attempts to make off, he was immediately detained. Officers said they noticed a strong smell of cannabis and he was searched. The force say officers found him in possession of a quantity of what is believed to be cannabis found in individual bags as well as 520 and a mobile phone containing information to suggest his involvement in drug dealing. He was arrested for possession with intent to supply class B drugs and failing to stop for police. Chief Insp Chris Scammell, from the Central East Command Unit, said: 'This was an excellent piece of police work with our volunteer officers from the special constabulary stopping this boy after their suspicions were aroused and seizing drugs and cash. 'It's solid work like this that has a real impact on keeping our communities safe. An internet search shows anybody can buy kit from Just Eat, Deliveroo and Uber Eats online 'Enquiries have confirmed that the boy arrested does not work for a food delivery service and we believe he was using this as a front to organise drug deals.' The tactic of posing as a food courier to deliver drugs has been previously reported as early as 2019 but it wasn't until the pandemic that it became a widespread problem. Last year, at the height of lockdown, Interpol issued an alert to warn authorities that drug dealers were posing as food couriers. It said it had received reports from police in the UK, Ireland, Malaysia and Spain identifying delivery drivers transporting drugs such as cocaine, marijuana, ketamine and ecstasy. Interpol said the modus operandi showed how dealers adapted as country-wide lockdowns sharply increased demand for home delivered food and delivery drivers became a common sight on otherwise deserted streets. As well as being available on eBay, a range of Uber Eats gear is also available on their website The Children's Society has previously raised concerns that drugs gangs were forcing children and young adults to rob couriers of their jackets and bags. The charity said police had in the past carried out drugs searches and found the branded bags inside dealers' properties. Following his arrest the boy was taken into custody and subsequently released under investigation while further enquiries are carried out. A Just Eat spokesman told MailOnline: 'We have a zero tolerance approach to any criminal activity and will always work closely with the police and authorities to tackle crime.' A puppy born with upside-down front paws has learned to walk again after undergoing corrective surgery. In May, an animal rescue group based out of Dallas, Texas, brought Siggi, a 13-week-old a rat terrier with a rare birth defect to the Oklahoma State University College of Veterinary Medicine. The college had previous experience with a similar condition in early 2019 when its Veterinary Teaching Hospital successfully operated on a foxhound puppy named Milo whose front paws were also turned upside down. Media coverage of the procedure, and Milo's successful recovery prompted the group to turn to OSU to fix Siggi's condition, which meant she could only muster a crawl on her front elbows. In May, surgeons at the Oklahoma State University performed a corrective procedure on Siggi (pictured), a 13-week-old rat terrier, who was born with her front paws turned upside down As a result of her condition Siggi was only able to muster a crawl using her front elbows 'As with Milo, Siggis problem looked like it was in the paws but it was actually in her elbows,' Dr. Erik Clary a small animal surgeon with the hospital said in a news release. 'For reasons not fully understood, these patients elbows come out of joint early in life and the result is severe rotation of the lower front limbs and an inability to walk. At most, they might muster a crawl that seems most uncomfortable and is poorly suited for a dogs life.' Siggi only weighed four pounds at the time, and unlike Milo, had an additional problem with her front legs. After a CT scan, it was revealed Siggi also had a deformity in part of her lower elbow, complicating the surgery. Siggi's surgery required veterinarians to break her leg bones and reorient them into the proper position In addition to her twisted paws, Siggi also had a deformity in her elbow bones After the surgery Siggi's legs were secured in place with pins and splints Iggy spent roughly the next six weeks in the splints to give her elbow bones time to heal 'The CT helped us plan a more complex procedure that would require an intentional break high up in her ulna bone to de-rotate the limb,' Clary said. Siggi's surgery was performed on May 12, and the puppy's elbows were secured with splints and an orthopedic fixator device, while her bones healed. When she returned to the hospital on June 29 for a checkup, veterinarians were able to deliver the good news. 'With that checkup, we confirmed the bone healing with X-ray exam and then removed Siggis splint for good,' Clary said. With the help of a rehabilitation program developed by her foster caretaker, Siggi was able to learn to walk properly for the first time Still a puppy, Siggi is now able to run around and play properly, her surgeons happily reported Surgeons at OSU had performed a similar procedure in 2019 on Milo (pictured) a foxhound puppy who was also born with his paws turned upside down Six months after his surgery and Milo was able to walk property for the first time as well Next came the step of teaching Siggi to walk properly for the first time in her life. 'She proved to be a fairly quick learner,' Clary said, noting that her foster owner Lorraine with the rescue group Dallas DogRRR had developed a rehabilitation regiment that, 'now has Siggi doing many things that puppies like to do, including chasing a ball in the yard.' Clary credited the university's media team for getting the word out about Milo, and letting people know that there options for dogs with a condition as severe as Siggi's. 'One of the reasons Siggi came to us was just the prior work with Milo just being able to get the message out that there are possibilities for dog with even what seems to be a very serious condition,' Clary said. A Florida mother has been charged with battery and child abuse after allegedly helping her son and one of his friends beat up another child on Wednesday afternoon. Ashley Ruffin, 30, was accused of grabbing the child by his hair and arm during the fight at a sport complex at Indian Trails Middle School, near Orlando. Witnesses said she held the child back so her son and his friend could beat him, and at one point brandished a taser, according to Flagler County Sheriff's Office. The school's resource officer spoke with the boys involved in the fight, and the victim said Ruffin got involved after a fight between two groups of kids, police said. In a Facebook post the sheriff's office wrote: 'The victim stated he was sitting with his friends when two kids approached him. 'He said one of them started hitting him and he got up and pushed him to the ground, and then other boys started hitting him and thats when his friends started coming over to help him. 'The victim also stated that sometime during the fight, he believes one of the boys mother grabbed him and held him while the boys beat him.' But mother-of-three Ruffin posted a video to her Facebook page over the weekend, where she insisted the police allegations were 'biased'. She claims she was trying to break up the fight and would never hurt a child. She also posted pictures of her arrest to TikTok. Ashley Ruffin, 30, was arrested and charged with battery and child abuse charges after she allegedly helped her son and his friend fight another child The mother-of-three posted footage of her arrest on a Tik Tok account Ruffin says she spent the night in jail after she was arrested and was released on her own recognizance on September 10 after one court hearing 'Im in so much pain because I would never hurt a child and I had to spend a night in jail undeservedly, away from my new baby,' Ruffin said in the video. She insisted that the fight came after the other child had attacked her son the Thursday before, after an altercation during a P.E. class. Ruffins husband, Miguel Aviila, posted a video online which he claims shows the other boy punching his son in the hallway while he lies on the ground. Both Ruffin's son and the other boy were suspended as a result of the fight on the Thursday. A spokesman for the local police department claim they were not made aware of the video of the earlier fight until it was posted by Aviila, Flagler Live reports. Ruffins husband, Miguel Aviila, posted a video online which he claims shows the other boy punching his son in the hallway while he lies on the ground. Ruffin claims the other boy attacked their son the following Wednesday in retaliation for the earlier fight, and she was trying to break up the fight after arriving to pick him up from school. She said: 'I grabbed him by his backpack to pull him off and everybody just thinks that Im some superwoman, like, these kids are big, the kids taller than me, Im only 53, and Im pulling him off.' Ruffin added: 'I wish you were in my shoes. What would you do if your kid was getting beat inside of a school?' Aviila claims that the charges against his wife were made up, because the other boy's family found they were intending to press charges over the previous attack. He said: 'They decided to make up some allegations when all we did was break up the fight. Ashley was released with no bond or anything no probable cause. 'For everyone saying their piece about the situation, go ahead. The truth will surface.' Ruffin released a tearful apology video explaining her side of the story saying she wanted to break up the fight rather than instigate anything The fight is believed to be in retaliation of an earlier incident that involved Ruffin's son and another child at Indian Trails Middle School in Palm Coast, Florida Ruffin now faces a felony child abuse and a misdemeanor battery charge. She was released on her recognizance after her first appearance in court on September 10, with another appearance for an arraignment set for October 11. Flagler County Sheriff Rick Staly said: 'There is zero excuse for an adult, especially a parent, to be physically involved in a juvenile dispute. 'Kids need to have leadership from their parents and taught how to handle disputes properly.' He added: 'I doubt she will receive a mother of the year award.' A Nicaraguan political activist is in critical condition in a Costa Rica hospital after he was shot three times, police said on Sunday. Joao Maldonado, who led demonstrations against the government of President Daniel Ortega in southwestern Nicaragua's Jinotepe municipality in 2018, was shot twice in the chest and once in the arm on Saturday evening. The 32-year-old was driving a vehicle in Escazu, six miles west of Costa Rica's capital San Jose, when a gunman aboard a motorcycle opened fire and then fled. Nicaraguan political activist Joao Maldonado survived an assassination attempt in Escazu, Costa Rica, on Saturday. The 32-year-old was driving a vehicle when a gunman aboard a motorcycle shot him three times and then fled with an accomplice. No arrests have been made A police spokeswoman said the attack's motive was unknown, but Yefer Bravo of Unidad de Exiles Nicaraguan in Costa Rica accused Nicaragua President Daniel Ortega of orchestrating failed assassination plot and hiring the fugitive assassins Antonio Escalante, who was riding with Maldonado, was grazed by a bullet. He said Maldonado managed to drive to a local hospital. 'I only saw a guy who got off a motorcycle and started shooting at us,' Escalante said. Maldonado's wife Nadia Robleto said he had undergone emergency surgery as of result the two gun shot wounds he suffered on the chest and another on the arm. A police spokeswoman said the attack's motive was unknown, but Yefer Bravo of Unidad de Exiles Nicaraguan in Costa Rica accused Ortega of hiring the fugitive assassins. 'We continue to fight despite the distance and the threats,' Bravo said. 'Clearly those two guys were hired to execute him because they have been silencing the voices in my country and now we resist from exile.' Bullets pierced through Yoao Maldonado's car during the failed assassination attempt Saturday Joao Maldonado has been living in Costa Rica since August 2018, was had been organizing a protest against Nicaragua President Daniel Ortega's government for Sunday in San Jose Maldonado, who has been living in Costa Rica since August 2018, had been organizing a protest against Ortega's government for Sunday in San Jose. The demonstration went ahead, but turnout was low. 'This year many of the countries in the region are commemorating 200 years of independence, but we especially say that Nicaraguans continue in the fight for freedom and justice,' Maldonado said in a video statement Friday. 'In Nicaragua we are currently going through a great crisis in the medical aspect, what the dictatorship is doing is totally serious with regard to the management of the coronavirus and people continue to die on a large scale.' A Nicaraguan government official did not immediately respond to a request for comment. More than 80,000 Nicaraguans have requested refuge in neighboring Costa Rica since the 2018 protests. Numbers had increased in the past three months as Ortega's government clamped down on opposition politicians and activists. At least seven of the 35 detainees were expecting to challenge him for the presidency in the November elections. Advertisement California highway authorities were forced to close all lanes of Interstate 5 in Southern California as firefighters battled a wildfire just 40 miles northwest of Los Angeles. The fire broke out Saturday afternoon in mountainous terrain near Castaic in northern Los Angeles County at 5pm and grew to 450 acres - more than half a square mile - prompting the California Highway Patrol to close a stretch of the busy freeway. Two firefighters sustained burn injuries tackling the blaze, but details about their conditions were not immediately available. Both were transported for treatment. The fire remained completely uncontained, but firefighters were making 'good progress' with the help of water-dropping helicopters and an aggressive ground attack, the U.S. Forest Service said at 7pm. Shortly after 9pm, the CHP reopened two lanes of the freeway in each direction while deputies in the Sheriffs Santa Clarita Valley station reported that the threat to structures appeared to have been 'mitigated.' The highway was eventually reopened on Sunday as the blaze moved on. This aerial picture shows the wildfire burning off Interstate 5, just north of Castaic on Saturday, prompting the California Highway Patrol to close a stretch of the busy freeway The Santa Clarita Valley Sheriff's station tweeted updates on the fire at 5p.m. local time yesterday when it was seen and reported by the U.S. Forest Service The wildfire happened next to Castaic, an unincorporated community that's 40-miles northwest of Los Angeles A vehicle passed by the burning Route fire, a brush wildfire off Interstate 5 north of Castaic, Calif on Saturday. The wildfire near Castaic Saturday has led to the closure of a part of the major freeway in Southern California, officials told local media. Details about how the fire started were not immediately available. Meanwhile, most residents of a Northern California mountain town devastated by the huge Caldor Fire south of Lake Tahoe will be allowed back Sunday to inspect the damage. Most of Grizzly Flat's homes, as well as the school, post office, church and fire station were destroyed in the first days of the fire. Firefighters were diverted from battling the 342-square-mile wildfire to fight multiple overnight lightning fires when thunderstorms swept across the state Thursday night into Friday. The thunderstorms dropped light rain to slightly dampen the drought-stricken north, fire officials said. This aerial photo taken on Saturday was provided by the U.S. Forest Service Lassen National Forest and shows the Great Basin Team 1 Air Attack operations on the Dixie Fire on the Horton Ridge in Plumas County Thousands of people were under evacuation orders in July as the Dixie Fire blossomed to burn down nearly 900,00 acres. It is currently 59 percent contained and has destroyed at least 400 structures A firefighter lights a backfire to stop the Caldor Fire from spreading near South Lake Tahoe, California in a picture taken on September 1 The Caldor Fire is still active and has burned more than 216,000 acres of land, destroying 922 buildings Up to a half-inch of rain fell on portions of the Dixie Fire, which began in mid-July and has burned through huge swaths of the northern Sierra Nevada and southern Cascades. However, fire officials said the rain is drying fast and vegetation is becoming more flammable. The second-largest fire in California history has burned 1,500 square miles (3,885 square kilometers) of land and more than 1,300 homes and other buildings. It was 65 percent contained. Hot weather conditions were reported in Southern California over the last days of August, prompting authorities to close Angeles National Forest until September 17. California has already exceeded the acreage burned at this point last year, setting up a new record. Now its entering a period when dry weather and high winds raise the risk of new fires. A pregnant woman was shot and killed outside of her baby shower Sunday while trying to break up a fight between her ex and her new boyfriend. Shanice Young, 31, was shot in the head outside of West 128th Street and Frederick Douglass Boulevard in Harlem at about 1.15am, according to the New York Police Department. She was allegedly eight months pregnant and carrying gifts from her baby shower into her building with the help of her boyfriend when her ex showed up, according to the New York Daily News. Police have not named the men who were allegedly involved in the incident. '[The gunman] came in chasing the boyfriend,' building super Jose Morales, 46, told the Daily News. 'They ran through here and out the other side and they ran downstairs.' The shooting took place Sunday morning at W128th St and Frederick Douglass Blvd in Harlem Her current partner and her ex took the fight outside, where Young was shot after she tried to intervene, according to police. The NYPD says Young was transported to Harlem Hospital Center where she was pronounced dead. The police department is still investigating the shooting and no arrests have been made as of Sunday afternoon. The Daily News describes her as a mother of two, while sources told WPIX that she was a mother of four. 'She was just a beautiful person,' Morales said. 'It's so sad, I wish it would have never happened.' Friends told the Daily News that Young moved into the building about a year ago to take care of her sibling and sick mother, who later died of cancer. They say Young raised her younger sibling and her own children for the past year. The latest shooting comes amid a surge of gun crime in New York this year. The number of shootings is up 3.8 percent year-on-year, with 1,086 incidents in 2021 in the year to September 5, compared to 1,046 in the same period last year. The number of shooting victims is is 1.7 percent, at 1,305 compared to 1,283 in 2020. Rape, felony assault, larceny and car theft are all also up throughout the city compared with last year. Felony assault has seen an increase of 5.5 percent, with 770 more cases in the same time period. Overall crime is down, driven by a decline in murder and robbery compared to 2020 - but rape, shooting victims and felony assaults are all up throughout New York City Overall crime is now dropping, but it was on the upswing in May, June and July - which made for a summer of headline-grabbing incidents that led to Mayor Bill de Blasio blaming the courts for not processing criminals fast enough. 'In fact, the number of overall index crimes reported in the city through the end of August is the lowest tally for the first eight months of any calendar year since the start of the modern CompStat era nearly three decades ago,' the police department said last week, referring to current system for tallying crime numbers. During one of his daily remote press conferences last month, de Blasio revealed that in the first half of 2021, there were only 18 trial verdicts across the five boroughs, compared to 405 during the same time in 2019. State courts outside New York City have produced 118 trial verdicts during the first eight months of the year. 'That isn't good enough,' the mayor said, after heaping praise on the New York City Police Department for making a record number of gun-related arrests, and highlighting the work of community activists. A spokesman for the court system accused the mayor of 'gaslighting' the public with his accusation. 'Yet again, the mayor demonstrates his glaring lack of understanding of the criminal justice process in this state,' said Lucian Chaifen, director of communications for the Office of Court Administration, in a statement. 'His gaslighting rhetoric regarding court operations in an attempt to shift the public safety discussion continues.' The spokesperson argued that the court system has been back at full strength since May, and rebuked prosecutors and defense attorneys for not being prepared to try their cases. But Chaifen acknowledged that because of social distancing requirements, only three trials can now be held simultaneously in each county, compared to up to a dozen before the pandemic. Two Florida middle school students have been ordered to remain at a juvenile detention center after allegedly planning to carry out a mass shooting mirroring the 1999 Columbine massacre. Phillip Byrd, 14 and Connor Pruett, 13, who are eighth-grade students at Harns Marsh Middle School in Lehigh Acres, near Fort Myers, appeared in front of a judge on Sunday morning. The judge ordered the two to be held for at least 21 days in a juvenile detention center. School administration took it seriously when they found Byrd and Pruett with a map of the school marked up to show each of its security cameras. After alerting Lee County police, detectives discovered that the boys were thoroughly studying the Columbine shooting, attempting to learn how to build a pipe bomb and researching how to buy guns on the black market. Police also searched the boys homes and found guns, ammunition and several knives. But Byrds mother Carrie Tuller broke down in tears as she defended her son in court on Sunday. Hes just a little boy, she said. He didnt think this was really serious. He didnt think they were serious. Eighth-graders Phillip Byrd, 14, (left) and Connor Pruett, 13, (right) will be held for 21 days in a juvenile detention center after allegedly attempting to carry out a mass shooting mirroring the 1999 Columbine massacre The two boys appeared in front of a judge on Sunday morning Connor Pruett, 13, (left) and Phillip Byrd, 14, are facing charges of conspiracy to commit a mass shooting The boys were detained on Thursday for a mental health evaluation and taken into custody on Saturday. They are being charged with conspiracy to commit a mass shooting. Both were ordered to have no contact with school staff or students and required to stay off school grounds. They will remain at a juvenile detention facility and their next court date is Sept. 27 at 9am, according to local news station WINK. Following the boys arrest, Lee County Superintendent Kenneth Savage tweeted, To the heroes @HarnsMarshMS, THANK YOU! Your actions saved lives and for that @LeeSchools are forever grateful. All honor to @SheriffLeeFL and staff-students that intervened. A tip-off from a fellow student led to a discovery of map of the school with markings on it showing the school's security cameras and other 'disturbing evidence' including guns and several knives found at the suspects' homes. Pictured: Deputies searching one of the homes Sherriff Marceno said that he is certain that police intervention prevented another deadly school shooting from taking place. Pictured: Weapons investigators allegedly found at the students' homes Pictured: Knives allegedly found by police during a search at the two eighth-grader's homes Pictured: Boxes of ammunition found at one of the boys' homes Pictured: Guns allegedly found at the students' homes. Sherriff Marceno said legal investigators will be looking into a risk protection order, which restricts access to firearm for those who pose a danger to themselves or others Max Schachter, whose son Alex was 14 when he was murdered in the 2018 Parkland shooting, commended the actions that prevented another tragedy like the one that took his child. He tweeted, @DrKenSavage @LeeSchools my son was murdered in the Parkland school shooting. Please thank Principal Alex Dworzanski for his attention to the safety and security of @HarnsMarshMS students yesterday. Great job! The alleged shooting plot was discovered after students tipped off an eight-grade teacher on Wednesday, claiming that one of their classmates had a gun in their book bag. The school resource officer and administration were alerted to the potential threat which led to an investigation from deputies. Lee County Sheriff Carmine Marceno (pictured) said the students took an interest in the Columbine High School shooting and were 'extensively studying' the incident They did not find a weapon in the student's book bag, but found the school map showing each of the building's security cameras. Lee County Sheriff Carmine Marceno said police also discovered other 'disturbing evidence' following a search at the suspects' homes including guns, ammunition and several knives. In a news conference, Sheriff Marceno said: 'Detectives learned the students took an interest in the Columbine High School shooting. 'They were extensively studying to learn more about the incident and the shooters. 'Detectives also learned the students were attempting to learn how to construct pipe bombs and how to purchase firearms on the black market.' The Columbine High School massacre was a school shooting and attempted bombing that occurred on April 20, 1999, in Columbine, Colorado. The two shooters, twelfth-grade students Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold, aged 18 and 17, murdered 12 students and one teacher and then subsequently committed suicide. It was the deadliest mass shooting at a US high school until 2018 when 17 people were killed in a shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida - which is located approximately 120 miles away from Lehigh Acres. The middle school students were allegedly planning a mass shooting at Harns Marsh Middle School in Lehigh Acres, Florida (pictured) Following the boys arrest, Lee County Superintendent Kenneth Savage tweeted his thanks to the police who foiled the alleged mass shooting plot Max Schachter, whose son Alex was 14 when he was murdered in the 2018 Parkland shooting, also commended the police in a tweet Sheriff Marceno said that he is certain that police intervention prevented another deadly school shooting from taking place, saying: 'This could have turned disastrous. We were one second away from a Columbine here.' He continued: 'I'm certain that my team of dedicated deputies and detectives acted promptly, investigated thoroughly and prevented a very violent and dangerous act from being carried out. 'This could have been the next Parkland massacre, but we stopped them in the planning stages.' The sheriff said the two middle school students are 'well known' to police as deputies had responded to calls to their homes nearly 80 times combined. Sherriff Marceno said legal investigators will be looking into a risk protection order, which restricts access to firearms for those who pose a danger to themselves or others. At the news conference on Thursday, Superintendent Dr. Ken Savage thanked Sherriff Marceno and his team for their 'quick response and actions to protect our students and staff.' 'As soon as students reported the potential threat, the teacher notified administrators, who immediately brought in the school resource officer,' he said. 'Together they emptied the classroom and investigated. Students were safe at all times.' He continued: 'I commend the students who came forward to report the potential threat and the quick action by our staff and SROs to prevent harm to our campus.' ABC News Breakfast presenter Lisa Millar has broken her silence on the vile online abuse that hounded her off Twitter. Last week it was revealed the high-profile TV host shut down her social media account after left-wing trolls accused her of showing a bias towards Scott Morrison's government. Millar said the unrelenting attacks had peaked over the past two months, with critics incensed after she allegedly smiled before a segment about former PM John Howard. 'It reached new heights of ridiculousness in the fortnight before I quit, when I came in for criticism for allegedly smiling while introducing a 20-second clip of John Howard speaking about Afghanistan,' she told The Australian's Media Diary. ABC TV breakfast presenter Lisa Millar (pictured here with New Breakfast co-host Michael Rowland) pulled the plug on her Twitter account last week after being targeted for 'vile' abuse by online trolls 'Soon after, I quietly deactivated my account for 30 days. I wasn't making a big deal of this. I wasn't aggro against the trolls. 'I decided to take control of a worsening situation, and minimise my exposure by removing myself from the platform altogether.' Millar initially planned to take a 30 day break from the site, but has since said she will not return until it is 'safe for women'. Millar joined the ABC in the 1990s and worked as a US correspondent before replacing News Breakfast host Virginia Trioli full-time in August 2019. Miller, her close mate and 7.30 host Leigh Sales and Insiders host David Speers were the three most trolled ABC employees over the past 12 months. Millar, a Walkley Award-winning Queenslander, is the daughter of former National Party MP Clarrie Millar. The family connection has bizarrely sparked claims from social media critics that she shows a Coalition-bias. Left-wing trolls have piled on the abuse at every opportunity, claiming Millar gives an easy ride to Liberal premiers and MPs at the expense of Labor politicians. Lisa Millar (pictured left) joined the ABC in the 90s and had spells as USA correspondent before replacing News Breakfast host Virginia Trioli (right) full-time in August 2019 But others have also savagely attacked her personal appearance. One Twitter account, @lefty_human, posted a pic of Hollywood actor Joaquin Phoenix as The Joker, with the caption: 'Lisa Miller's make-up.' 'Have been watching the ABC for a few years, Lisa Millar is the most biased and unintelligent announcer they have had,' tweeted Michael Todd. 'The way she has behaved in the past 3 months is atrocious. Literally nobody can stand her sorry. She is the female Barnaby Joyce.' 'We say it yet again. Please @breakfastnews find Lisa Millar another job,' tweeted Lee Stonehouse 'We just can't watch it anymore. 'We need some kind of balance when she's interviewing Labor politicians.' After users spotted she had shut down her account, the vitriol intensified with her name trending nationally as critics again took aim at her alleged political bias. Left-wing trolls piled on abuse at every opportunity, claiming Lisa Millar (pictured here with co-host Michael Rowland) gives an easy ride to Liberal MPs at the expense of Labor politicians However many leapt to Millar's defence after discovering she had switched off her account, including co-host Michael Rowland. 'She was on the receiving end of some truly vile and distressing personal attacks,' Mr Rowland said. 'We all cop criticism here. No one is perfect. 'But the stuff Lisa was subjected to was next level. Those responsible should be ashamed.' Veteran left-wing firebrand journalist Mike Carlton heaped praise on Millar. 'Extraordinary. I have known Lisa Millar since the 90s, when I last worked at ABC radio,' he tweeted on Wednesday. 'She is a thoroughly professional journalist and a thoroughly nice person.' Former Labour Party candidate turned ex-NSW Liberal Party state director Remo Nogarotto also paid tribute to Millar's talent. 'I had occasion to interact professionally with Lisa during her time in London,' he said on Wednesday. Veteran left-wing firebrand journalist Mike Carlton was one of many to heap praise on Ms Millar (pictured) 'Well researched, hard without being dogmatic and respectful of the right to an alternative view. 'The gutless and bilious attacks on her are emblematic of the lack of civility in public discourse today.' Twitter fan 'Daniel' added: 'Maybe our Twitter uses should be more pragmatic rather than allowing their political allegiances to drive them to personal attacks and abuse. 'Honestly, making excuses for this vitriol because you don't like her reporting. It's ridiculous.' An ABC spokesman last week denounced Millar's attackers after confirming she had switched off her account. 'Lisa has decided to deactivate her Twitter account for the time being after several months of sustained, personal attack,' the spokesman said. 'Using social media platforms to abuse and bully people is repugnant and unacceptable. 'Women often seem to be particularly targeted by this sort of behaviour. It should not be tolerated on any level.' The oldest living World War II veteran celebrated his 112th birthday with a celebration outside his home organized by the National World War II Museum in New Orleans. On Sunday, a small crowd reunited in front of Army veteran Lawrence Brooks' house to commemorate his latest trip around the sun and his service to the country. Surrounded by golden, white and black balloons, Brooks stood outside his porch and listened to the cheers and 'Happy Birthday' wishes, as he energetically waved to the crowd. Although he is blind in his right eye and suffers from low blood-pressure, his hearing is in perfect conditions and he is otherwise healthy, the New York Post reported. The museum has made celebrating Brooks' birthday an annual tradition, beginning with his 105th birthday in 2014. 'We absolutely love Mr. Brooks,' museum vice president Peter Crean told NOLA.com in 2019. 'We've told him, 'As long as you keep having birthdays, we are going to keep having birthday parties for you here.' We consider him 'our veteran,' ' he added. (FILE) Lawrence Brooks, the oldest living WWII veteran greeted a crowd sending him 'Happy Birthday' wishes at a celebration organized by the National World War II to commemorate his life and service Brooks served in the 91st Engineering Battalion of the US Army between 1940 and 1945, spent most of his time in the Pacific Theater In 2019, when he was asked about his secret to his success in life he said he 'loved people.' Because of the pandemic, his last two birthdays have been celebrated following social distancing guidelines outside of his residence, but in 2019, his birthday bash was celebrated at the museum. It is the third consecutive year that the Victory Belles, the National WWII Museum's trio performing music from the 1940s, has serenaded Brooks. This year they performed Louis Armstrong's When The Saints Go Marching In for him. He has said that his favorite part of his birthday celebrations are the kisses he gets from the Belles. 'I do like the Victory Belles. They're sweet girls,' Brooks said. Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards also shared a photo with Brooks and sent him a Happy Birthday wish on Twitter. Dozens of other social media users followed with the good wishes and congratulations for the war veteran. Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards also sent his good wishes to Brooks on Twitter Brooks waves to the small crowd that reunited in front of his home in New Orleans to celebrate his birthday Brooks has never suffered of any major illnesses like cancer, and until a couple of years ago, he was able to walk around his neighborhood. After breaking his hip in 2019, the veteran started using a walker. He now spends most of his time in the porch of the house he shares with his daughter. 'He sleeps later than he used to, and he has more pain because of his hip,' 'But he likes to eat and loves to get out and see people,' said Vanessa Brooks to NOLA.com in 2019. A fellow churchgoer of Brooks from St. Luke's Episcopal Church told the museum about Brook's longevity and veteran status and since then he has become a local celebrity. Brooks credits his kindness and connection with people as the reason behind his long life. 'I don't know why I've lived this long,' 'But I think it has a lot to do with always being nice to people,' he said. World War II veteran Lawrence Brooks holds a dog tag honoring him as the oldest living World War II veteran Mr. Brooks 112th Birthday Happy 112th birthday, Mr. Brooks! Watch to see him singing along! Posted by Victory Belles on Sunday, September 12, 2021 Brooks became the oldest living WWII veteran in 2019, after Germany's Gustav Gerneth, who survived being a Russian prisoner of war, died at the age of 114. He served in the predominantly African-American 91st Engineering Battalion of the US Army between 1940 and 1945, spent most of his time in the Pacific Theater. He rose to private first class after being deployed. He was first drafted in 1940 at the age of 31 - at a time when all men had to register for Selective Service until 45 - and participated in the famous 1941 Louisiana Maneuvers war games, which were used to test and evaluate the Army in the months before the US entering World War II. After returning from the war, Brooks had to face the challenges of Jim Crow laws in Louisiana. He also survived Huracan Katrina in 2005, in which he lost his wife. Brooks holds a photo of him taken in 1943, during his 110th birthday celebration at the National World War II Museum in New Orleans in 2019 'I don't know why I've lived this long,' 'But I think it has a lot to do with always being nice to people,' Brooks said After his year-long obligation was fulfilled, he was discharged on November 7, 1941. But when the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor in December 7, 1941, Brooks was recalled into service. In 1942, he then spent 48 days traveling from New York to Australia on the Queen Mary, which had to zigzag through both the Atlantic and the Pacific in an effort to avoid German U-boats and Japanese submarines. At the time, the 91st was used more for physical labor than soldiering, leading to Brooks acting as an orderly for three white officers, driving them around, getting their meals and cleaning their uniforms, among other tasks. Despite not having to brandish a gun while serving, Brooks still faced life-threatening situations. The museum has actually made celebrating Brooks' birthday an annual tradition, beginning with his 105th birthday in 2014 Brooks was born Sept. 12, 1909, and served in the predominantly African-American 91st Engineer Battalion, which was stationed in New Guinea and then the Philippines during World War II The Victory Belles hold the hands of World War II veteran Lawrence Brooks as they sing him happy birthday celebrating his 110th birthday at the National World War II Museum in New Orleans in 2019 In New Guinea, an incendiary bomb destroyed the tent that he lived in with seven other soldiers. Fortunately, they were out watching a movie at the time. And, during a return flight from Australia, he found himself helping to dump bails of barbed wire overboard in an effort to lighten the aircraft's load when an engine cut out. In an oral history interview with the museum, Brooks said: 'There was the pilot, the co-pilot and me and just two parachutes. I told them, 'If we have to jump, I'm going to grab one of them.' When he came back from the war, Brooks settled in New Orleans and worked as a fork life operator until he retired at the age of 70 in 1979. Brooks married twice and has five children - two of whom he outlived -, five stepchildren, 13 grandchildren and 22 great-grandchildren. He became the oldest living US veteran of World War II when Richard Overton, of Austin, Texas, died in December 2018 at age 112. Advertisement Hilary Clinton and her former aide Huma Abedin are proving that true friendships stand the test of time, as they reunited this weekend in New York City on the 20th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks. On Saturday, Clinton, 73, and Abedin, 45, were spotted exiting Italian eatery Via Carrota in Greenwich Village, a few hours after the Clintons joined the Bidens and the Obamas at a ceremony at Ground Zero. In exclusive images obtained by DailyMail.com, the former Secretary of State was seen donning a somber black jacket over a black dress, in addition to blue-framed eyeglasses. Hilary Clinton and her former aide Huma Abedin reunited this weekend in New York City on the 20th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks Clinton was seen exiting Via Carrota in New York City on Saturday, donning a somber black ensemble, a few hours after the Clintons joined the Bidens and the Obamas at a ceremony at Ground Zero for the 20th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks In exclusive images obtained by DailyMail.com, both Clinton and Abedin were seen abiding by the NYC indoor mask mandate, both donning black protective masks as they exited Via Carrota in Greenwich Village Both Clinton and Abedin were seen abiding by the NYC indoor mask mandate, both wearing black protective face masks as they exited the restaurant. Clinton's longtime aide and close friend opted for a bright, pleated blue dress, pairing it with white sneakers, a yellow crossbody handbag and black sunglasses. Abedin's long, dark brunette hair was styled in loose waves and left to hang around her shoulders. Their lunch date occurred days after a new crime drama about Bill Clinton's affair with Monica Lewinsky was released on FX, and two months before Abedin is set to publish a 'candid' tell-all book detailing her marriage to disgraced ex-Rep Anthony Weiner. Abedin is set to publish a 'candid' tell-all book detailing her marriage to disgraced ex-Rep Anthony Weiner in November Clinton's unch date with her former aide occurred days after a new crime drama about Bill Clinton 's affair with Monica Lewinsky debuted on FX Hilary Clinton appeared unbothered by the FX series, which rehashes all of the scandalous - and no doubt painful - details of former President Clinton's affair with Lewinsky The series stars actress Beanie Feldstein in the role of Lewinsky, and tracks the events that led to Clinton's impeachment on December 19, 1998, including sordid details about his relationship with his White House intern, who was 22 at the time The FX show, Impeachment: American Crime Story, is set to rehash all of the scandalous - and no doubt painful - details of former President Clinton's affair with Lewinsky, who serves as a producer on the series. It stars actress Beanie Feldstein in the role of Lewinsky, and tracks the events that led to Clinton's impeachment on December 19, 1998, including sordid details about his relationship with his White House intern, who was 22 at the time. Abedin's book, titled 'Both/And: A Life in Many Worlds,' will be released Nov. 2 and also include details surrounding her work on Clinton's failed 2016 bid for the White House. A western Sydney mayor has defended the thousands of beachgoers who flocked to the water over the weekend - but hit out at the 'double standard' of his own residents facing heavy fines for gathering in their local park. Locked-down Sydneysiders living within 5km of their local beach were in no mood to stay home as temperatures soared to 30C. Residents in Canterbury-Bankstown though are still living under a harsh 9pm-5am curfew with a two-hour limit on how long they can exercise each day. The LGA's mayor Khal Asfour - who claims NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian has still refused to meet with him to discuss his concerns - said the rules should be the same for everyone. Sunbathers gathered on Bondi Beach on Sunday to soak up the warm weather, sparking outrage among Covid-fearing residents 'I don't begrudge people going to the beach if they live within 5km,' he told the Today show. 'The chief health officer even said yesterday we are safe outdoors and the virus isn't running lose on the beaches.' But he said those living in one of 12 LGAs where the virus is spreading the most rapidly can't even visit their local park without having the 'cavalry brought in'. 'It's the double standards - the hypocrisy,' Mr Asfour said. 'We can't go to our lovely parks, the recreational areas by the Cooks River or the Georges River. 'I think that is what really angers people. We still have these harshest measures on us. We have the curfew that the deputy premier even agrees doesn't work.' He said he hadn't heard from the state leader since a Zoom meeting he held with local community leaders. 'I haven't heard anything from her, not a word, not a phone call. And it is really disheartening when we are on the ground here going through this,' he said. Pictured: An empty street in Merrylands in Sydney's west. Canterbury-Bankstown Mayor Khal Asfour hit out at the 'double standard' of his own residents facing heavy fines for gathering in their local park, while those in the eastern suburbs can take to the beaches in force Mr Asfour said those living in one of 12 LGAs where the virus is spreading the most rapidly can't even visit their local park without having the 'cavalry brought in' The unseasonably warm weather over the weekend meant beaches from Manly in the north to Cronulla in the south were jam-packed with crowds of sun-seekers. Many followed Covid protocols by visiting with just one friend and wearing a mask, but cops reminded others to follow public health orders - as the number of new coronavirus cases hit 1,262. But the images enraged those trapped in the 12 hotspot local council areas living under a tougher lockdown. They are subject to a 9pm to 5am curfew and have no opportunity to lounge on the sand for hours at a time under 'recreation' allowances - let alone the fact any beach is much farther away than the permitted 5km. Police patrolled Sydney's beaches on Sunday morning to ensure no one was gathering in groups of more than two. Pictured: Bondi Beach Austere images of the west showed streets that would have been vacant if it wasn't for the heavy police presence deployed to ensure people don't leave their homes for non-essential reasons. The images of eastern suburbs residents enjoying the warm weather sparked rage among those in the city's south-west, but chief health officer Kerry Chant urged people to stay calm. 'I think we've got to temper...' she began at Sunday's Covid press conference when asked about how busy the beaches were, before changing tack. 'I realise that many people who are living in south-western Sydney and Western Sydney don't have access to that because of the restrictions. Police roamed the shore and reminded people to wear face masks, and made sure no one was outside their 5km limit 'However, we do have to understand... in outdoor environments, if people are keeping away from each other, are probably the safest environments.' She encouraged beachgoers not to congregate in large groups to avoid sparking 'spot fire' outbreaks of coronavirus. 'What we want to do is extinguish as many spot fires as we have and I don't want to be having to put an additional burden on our public health resources in responding to outbreaks in those areas,' Dr Chant said. Home quarantine will be introduced for returning Australians and foreign tourists as the government looks to reopen international borders. NSW Tourism Minister Stuart Ayres described hotel quarantine as 'no longer fit for purpose' with most Australians vaccinated. His government is instead leading the charge to transition the country into a system where people arriving from overseas will isolate at home. The 80 per cent vaccination threshold will have borders open for the first time since March last year, with airlines scrambling for guidance from the government about how many passengers can arrive and how they will be quarantined. Home quarantine is set to be introduced for returning Australians and foreign tourists as the government looks to reopen international borders States hitting 80 per cent vaccination rates will see international borders reopen, with Aussies overseas looking to reunite with their families in time for Christmas Premier Gladys Berejiklian said NSW was 'close' to trialling the scheme to have it up and running by the time borders reopen as early as November. 'We look forward to sharing those details soon,' she said in her 'final' daily Covid press conference yesterday. Only fully vaccinated people arriving in Australia will be able to home quarantine, with arrival caps and safety requirements still to be confirmed. The initial plan is only for Australian residents, but Mr Ayres wants Sydney in particular to open up for tourists and people travelling for business. 'It would be a travesty if fear prevented us from capturing one of the biggest tourism opportunities in our history,' he said. Mr Ayres criticised the highly scutinised hotel quarantine system, saying facial and location identifying technology could track arrivals just as well at home. The government are asking the states to present their plans for introducing home quarantine as international travel looks to resume from November Fully vaccinated Aussies returning home will be able to skip hotel quarantine and serve out a shorter period from home The states have been asked to provide plans to the federal government for their respective home quarantine systems, with the Prime Minister Scott Morrison identifying NSW as the first state ready to install the policy. 'Successful pilots, like the one NSW is considering for some cohorts, will be a key contributor to our national movement towards increasing home quarantine,' he wrote in a letter to Ms Berejiklian. The NSW premier said the plan was to get all Australians overseas home by Christmas, whether permanently or for long overdue visits. 'That is my intention, not only for families to be reunited by increasing entrance through Sydney Airport but I would also hope by that stage that internal borders are gone in Australia,' she said. 'I would like to think that by Christmas, not only will we be welcoming home more Australians, thousands every week from overseas to reunite for Christmas, but also that we don't have these internal state borders that we have now.' Qantas is pushing to recommence international travel from November, but only offering tickets to fully vaccinated passengers. Religious leaders are lobbying the NSW Government to allow unvaccinated churchgoers into places of worship. Churches are able to reopen to people who have received two Covid jabs once the 70 per cent vaccination milestone is reached. Places of worship must adhere to social distancing requirements, a strict one person per four square metre rule, and worshippers cannot sing. Members must show proof of vaccination to enter the service, but religious leaders are 'concerned' about what will happen to unvaccinated churchgoers. Sydney religious leaders are lobbying Gladys Berejiklian to allow unvaccinated worshippers into churches (pictured, All Souls Anglican Church in Leichhardt, Sydney) Catholic Archbishop of Sydney Anthony Fisher, Anglican Archbishop of Sydney Kanishka Raffel, and other leaders want people who haven't been vaccinated to be able to access church services. Mr Raffel said that religion is 'something that is really essential for people' calling for worship to be treated as similar to shopping or going to the doctor. 'When it comes to faith communities, it tends to be very important, so we do think there's a case to say it's a bit more like shopping or going to the doctor than going to the footy or going to the movies,' he told Sunrise on Monday morning. 'It's our nature as churches to have our doors open to welcome all people. We have a commitment to that, so we're talking to the government at the moment about how that's going to work out.' Archbishop Fisher said he argued to the government that church was not just recreation but an essential service. 'We explained that all our faiths are inclined to allow all comers to worship, that many pastors and faithful would be uneasy with restricting worship to the fully vaccinated, and that doing so could prove very divisive,' he told the Sun-Herald. St George North Anglican Church minister Phil Colgan told The Pastor's Heart podcast last week that he would resists bans on unvaccinated parishioners. Anglican Archbishop of Sydney Kanishka Raffel has called for religious services to be classed as 'essential' like shopping and doctors appointments (pictured, St James Church, Sydney) 'Even if it is consistent and churches are treated the same as cinemas I still question whether the government has the right to impose on churches something we don't accept,' he said. 'I think it's really important to note that all of our acceptance of government limitations to date I consider to have been voluntary, that the government doesn't have the right to forbid people meeting as Christians, and we have chosen to accept and comply - rightly in my view. 'But there might come a time, like with a vaccine passport for me, where I would say "the government requires that but we are now going to stand up and say no", even though it is consistent with what they're requiring for cinemas and so forth. 'I can't ever see a time when I would deny someone access to fellowship on the grounds of their vaccination status.' Health Minister Brad Hazzard has said that the vaccine mandate may be removed once NSW reaches 80 per cent of the population being fully vaccinated. 'As vaccination goes up to well and truly beyond 70 per cent of the population, the situation will be reviewed by the public health team,' he said. The religious leaders are worried about what will happen to unvaccinated churchgoers, once service can resume (pictured, a dose of AstraZeneca being administered) Sydneysiders are now allowed to gather outdoors in groups of five if they are fully vaccinated. The new rules on outdoor gatherings came into effect for millions on Monday, marking the beginning of the end of a hard lockdown that has lasted almost 12 weeks in the city. People living outside of the 12 hotspot local councils are now able to meet outdoors with up to five adults plus any children under 12 for as long as they want. Residents living in the hotspot councils - who are subject to a 9pm-5am curfew - will be able to gather outdoors with their household for two hours a day as long as everyone is aged over 18. 'To be perfectly frank, these steps are baby steps, recognising the serious situation we are in, it's important that we are allowing those interactions, that human interaction in an outdoor space,' Ms Chant said. Advertisement Boris Johnson's Covid 'winter plan' to avoid lockdowns was backed by Professor Neil Ferguson today - as experts warned the UK must learn to 'accept' 100 deaths a day. The PM is set to unveil his blueprint for coping with an expected seasonal surge tomorrow, relying on extra jabs starting with the elderly and most-vulnerable to steer the country clear of any further shutdowns. Medics are also expected to give the go ahead for 12-15 year olds to be vaccinated. Mr Johnson is shelving the idea of Covid passports for nightclubs and major events in the face of Tory fury - although they will be kept 'in reserve' - and travel restrictions will also be overhauled to ditch the traffic light system and costly PCR tests. Many of the draconian powers taken by the government at the start of the crisis will also be scrapped as the premier tries to restore his libertarian credentials. However, masks and ordering people to work from home will be kept in the 'toolbox' of measures that can be deployed. Speaking on BBC Radio 4's Today programme, Prof Ferguson said the level of immunity now present in the UK population meant that tackling a surge in transmission might not 'require full lockdown'. He said the effect of not going ahead with vaccine passports in England - although they are being introduced in Scotland from October 1 - 'won't be huge'. Meanwhile, Sir Jeremy Farrar, a member of the Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies and director of the Wellcome Trust, has urged an 'honest debate' about the trade-offs between opening up society and victims of the disease. 'Politicians across the world are sort of pretending you can have your cake and eat it: 'You can have zero deaths, no control measures, vaccinate if you want to or not vaccinate and it will all end.' I just don't think that's realistic,' he reportedly told the German podcast Pandemia. 'I think [in the UK] around a hundred deaths a day, throughout the year, 30,000 deaths a year, in the current situation with the current vaccines, current treatments, current capacity within the system, I think is a level that would have to in the end be acceptable.' A winter plan to help England keep on top of Covid this winter is set to be revealed by Boris Johnson (pictured) tomorrow. Prof Neil Ferguson said the level of immunity now present in the UK population meant that tackling a surge in transmission might not 'require full lockdown' Plans for vaccine passports for nightclubs and major events were sensationally scrapped yesterday - much to the delight of hospitality chiefs - but they could be brought back British government cancels 1.2billion contract with French vaccine-maker Valneva to supply 190m Covid jabs French vaccine company Valneva revealed today the British government had ended their Covid jab supply agreement due to a 'breach of obligations'. The biotech firm has been manufacturing the vaccine at its plant in Livingston, West Lothian, which Boris Johnson visited in January. Some 100million doses of the vaccine were put on order after the UK increased its request by 40million back in February. The Government had the option of ordering an additional 90million doses to be supplied between 2023 and 2025. But No10 has now terminated its 1.2billion agreement over allegations of a breach of the supply agreement, which the firm 'strenuously' denies. In a statement, Valneva said: 'Valneva SE, a specialty vaccine company, today announced it has received a termination notice from the UK Government (HMG) in relation to the Supply Agreement for its Covid vaccine candidate, VLA2001. 'The contract provides HMG with the right to terminate. 'HMG has alleged the company is in breach of its obligations under the supply agreement, but the company strenuously denies this.' Neither party explained the nature of the breach. Advertisement In a round of interviews this morning, Work and Pensions Secretary Therese Coffey suggested the work from home guidance could return under plans to combat a possible surge in coronavirus during the winter. She told BBC Breakfast that some options such as more home working and paying statutory sick pay from day one rather than day four, were still on the table. 'These are the sensible measures I think that we're going to keep,' she said. Asked about masks, she said: The Prime Minister will be setting out the Covid winter plan tomorrow. I think my approach, and I see that with a lot of employers organisations, is about having a situation-specific approach.' Health Secretary Sajid Javid said yesterday that vaccine passports would not be introduced this month, after a revolt by Tory MPs and business leaders. But Mr Coffey stressed they have not been 'ruled out forever'. She told BBC Breakfast: 'As Sajid Javid set out yesterday, although the formal decision is still to be made, but having reflected and looked at the details of the proposal that it's not deemed necessary at this moment in time. 'But they haven't been ruled out forever. It's reflecting the fact that a lot of young people have come forward and got their vaccinations over the summer.' Ministers believe the plan is sufficient to all-but rule out any national lockdowns - which Mr Johnson is said to be 'dead set' against. Mr Javid said yesterday that he was 'not anticipating' any more lockdowns, saying 'I just don't see how we get to another one (lockdown).' But he left the door open for the toughest of restrictions, saying it would be 'irresponsible to take everything off the table'. In an early glimmer of hope for the holiday season, the Health Secretary suggested that families would be able to spend Christmas together this year - after celebrations were dramatically cut short in 2020 due to the spread of the Kent variant. The announcements set to be unveiled at a press conference tomorrow and to MPs before the Commons rises on Wednesday come after a week of frenzied speculation about the conditions that would be imposed on Britons as the country 'lives with Covid' this winter. The plan will warn that vaccine passports could be required if the NHS faces being overwhelmed. It will set out details of when and how passports could be introduced, and will warn that other restrictions, such as mandatory mask-wearing, may have to be reintroduced if the pandemic continues. Changes such as compulsory home working and reintroducing social-distancing are not being ruled out. It was unclear last night how decisions would be made to reimpose restrictions. But, according to the Telegraph, Mr Johnson will make clear this week he is 'dead set' against another national lockdown. He will instead urge people to 'learn to live with Covid', the paper reports. According to the Sun, Mr Johnson will rely on the Covid vaccine to limit the spread of Covid. Third doses of the jab are to be rolled out in autumn in a similar way to the first vaccine drive - starting with the most elderly and vulnerable. The Government will also launch a massive 'flu shot blitz' which will be supported by a large-scale advertising campaign urging people to get both jabs, the Sun adds. Children aged 12-15 will also be offered a single Covid shot, pending approval from scientific advisers, the Telegraph reports. While national measures will also be set out, changes to international travel are also expected. The travel traffic lights system is due to be scrapped, according to the Telegraph, with just a 'red list' for the worst Covid-hit countries kept in its place. The number of countries on the red list will also be drastically reduced, the paper adds. And, according to the Telegraph, PCR tests will not be required for fully vaccinated travellers. It comes as yesterday, another 29,173 cases were recorded, as well as 56 deaths within 28 days of a positive test. A senior government source told The Telegraph of the argument Mr Johnson would make: 'This is the new normal. We need to learn to live with Covid. 'The vaccines are a wall of defence. The autumn and the winter do offer some uncertainty, but the Prime Minister is dead set against another lockdown.' But while the changes will come as a positive for some, others have urged the Government to limit the number of Covid rules this winter. Mark Harper, chairman of the Covid Recovery Group of Tory MPs, meanwhile said that while he was pleased with the news that vaccine passports would be scrapped, he wanted a permanent end to any plans for such a scheme. Yesterday he tweeted: 'I welcome Savid Javid confirming that vaccine passports are not going ahead now. Britain's Covid outbreak shrank today, with cases falling by 21 per cent while the number of deaths also declined 'I'm pleased he has listened to the compelling case against them. They shouldn't be kept in reserve. They are pointless, damaging and discriminatory.' Vaccine passports allow people access to venues if they have had both Covid jabs. They will be introduced in Scotland for clubs and large venues next month. In a national research programme in April, revellers were allowed into clubs so data could be gathered on how events could be permitted to reopen safely. But following a Tory backlash against vaccine passports, Mr Javid said yesterday the idea had been shelved for England. He told the BBC's Andrew Marr Show: 'I've never liked the idea of saying to people you must show your papers to do what is just an everyday activity. 'We've looked at it properly, and whilst we should keep it in reserve, I'm pleased to say we will not be going ahead with plans for vaccine passports.' He said that while he was 'not anticipating' any more lockdowns, it would be 'irresponsible to take everything off the table'. His announcement on the passports came a week after vaccines minister Nadhim Zahawi told the same show the end of September was the right time to start the vaccine passport scheme for sites with large crowds. Travellers from red list countries forced into quarantine hotels suing Government for alleged human rights breach Travellers from red list countries who have been forced to quarantine in UK hotels are suing for up to 200million for an alleged breach of human rights. Lawyers claim those who were fully vaccinated and later tested negative for Covid were 'unlawfully deprived of their liberty'. They want the Government to refund fees of around 2,000 per person for double-jabbed and Covid-negative travellers and pay out compensation. Around 100,000 people who arrived from red list countries have been forced to quarantine in hotels for ten days since February. Many have complained of 'prison-like' conditions. Tom Goodhead, of law firm PGMBM, which is spearheading the action, said: 'The Government hasn't yet realised that this policy is a fundamental breach of people's human rights. Law-abiding citizens who have been double-vaccinated should be free from quarantine. 'The idea that they need to pay for the privilege of their own imprisonment is outrageous.' He said other European countries had refused to introduce hotel quarantine measures over human rights concerns. Red list travellers have to take tests on day two and day eight of their hotel quarantine. The claim will be lodged in the High Court in London today. Advertisement Deputy Labour leader Angela Rayner said: 'Days ago, the vaccine minister stood before Parliament to confirm the introduction of Covid passports now they've been scrapped. 'This is the culmination of a summer of chaos from ministers. They need to get a grip before winter.' Mr Javid told Times Radio the passports were 'a huge intrusion into people's lives', adding: 'We don't think it is necessary at this point. 'We're keeping it in reserve, but we're not going to go ahead.' The hospitality sector welcomed the news that the passports will not be introduced in England. Michael Kill, chief executive of the Night Time Industries Association, said: 'We hope businesses will be able to plan for the future with some degree of certainty... and rebuild a sector that has consistently been at the sharp end of this pandemic.' He added that the Government had 'grossly underestimated some logistical and ethical challenges'. Sacha Lord, night time economy adviser for Greater Manchester and co-founder of the Parklife festival, said the plans were 'untenable and illogical' and aspects were 'discriminatory and legally questionable'. He added: 'We can now move forward without vague regulations.' It comes as Britain's Covid outbreak shrank on Sunday, with cases falling by 21 per cent while the number of deaths also declined. Department of Health figures show 29,173 daily cases were recorded across the UK today, compared to 37,011 last week - a reduction of more than a fifth - while Covid deaths fell from 68 to 56. In Scotland, more than 1,000 Covid patients are in hospital and 5,912 new cases were recorded in the past 24 hours. Though the latest figures north of the border show no deaths, the Scottish Government says registry offices are generally closed at weekends. Meanwhile, six further deaths of patients who had previously tested positive for Covid in Northern Ireland were registered - while another 1,031 positive cases of the virus were also confirmed in the region. Universities branded 'mega rip-off' after announcing plans to continue remote lectures despite charging annual fees of 9,250 By Eleanor Harding and Julie Henry for the Daily Mail Universities were yesterday branded a 'mega rip-off' after announcing a third academic year of remote lectures despite charging annual fees of 9,250. Nineteen of the 24 Russell Group of leading universities, including Oxford and Cambridge, said a portion of learning would remain online in the new term. Covid restrictions have been scrapped but some lectures will still be delivered remotely, depriving youngsters of face-to-face contact with lecturers and fellow students. Some Freshers are also having to live more than an hour from campus or are under pressure to defer places because of accommodation shortages. Nineteen of the 24 Russell Group of leading universities, including Oxford and Cambridge, said a portion of learning would remain online in the new term Last night, campaigners called for tuition fee refunds and urged teenagers to boycott online-heavy courses. It comes after Education Secretary Gavin Williamson warned last week there is 'no excuse' to use online learning as a cost-cutting measure. A Mail survey has found most of the Russell Group are bringing back face-to-face learning, but offering a 'blended' model where some tuition stays online. For some institutions, it means large lectures a staple of campus life are being delivered remotely. At University College London, students have been told: 'Most small group teaching including seminars, workshops, laboratory and studio practicals will be in person and most of your lecture-based large group teaching will be online.' Warwick University plans to deliver 'most seminars in-person on campusand to deliver lectures online' while Exeter said 'some lecture-based teaching sessions may move online as our students found that this was more inclusive than traditional lectures'. Leeds also plans a mix of face-to-face and online teaching, with large lectures delivered remotely. Meanwhile, Oxford said 'most' teaching would be 'in-person' but would be 'enhanced' by online tuition in 'some instances'. Cambridge said while 'small-group teaching' and 'as many lectures as possible' would be in-person, web sessions would be used 'where there is a strong reason'. Cambridge said while 'small-group teaching' and 'as many lectures as possible' would be in-person, web sessions would be used 'where there is a strong reason' However, Southampton stressed it was delivering all its teaching 'in-person and on campus' and Birmingham said 'lectures will typically go ahead in person in the normal way'. Mr Williamson warned vice-chancellors last week that students should be taught 'in-person and alongside other students'. He insisted: 'I do not expect to see online learning used as a cost-cutting measure'. Last night, former Government adviser Chris McGovern claimed: 'Universities are trawling them in, grabbing their fees and then forgetting that they have a responsibility to deliver a good education. 'It's a brass-necked, mega rip-off. The Consumer Rights Act needs to be extended to provide refunds for any shoddy and second rate educational provision by universities.' Remote learning first emerged in March last year during the national lockdown, with students only allowed back to campuses in full this summer. Many universities believe it is necessary to keep some learning online in case the pandemic takes off again. Others say online learning has been proved to benefit students. Meanwhile, several universities are finding it difficult to find accommodation for all the students they accepted this year. Bristol recently told new students they might have to live in Bath more than an hour away due to local halls being full. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has called Senator Joe Manchin 'patronizing' for referring to her as a 'young lady' as the two Democrats spar over his objections to the party's massive spending bill. Manchin appeared on CNN's State of the Union on Sunday to explain his concerns with President Joe Biden's $3.5 trillion plan for social and environmental spending, denying Ocasio-Cortez's allegation that he has 'weekly huddles' with Exxon executives. 'I don't know that young lady that well, I really don't. I met her one time between sets here, but that's it. We've not had any conversations. She's speculating and saying things,' Manchin said. In a series of tweets, Ocasio-Cortez fired back at Manchin, a moderate West Virginia Democrat whose vote is crucial in the evenly divided Senate. 'In Washington, I usually know my questions of power are getting somewhere when the powerful stop referring to me as Congresswoman and start referring to me as young lady instead,' tweeted the left-wing New York Democrat. 'Imagine if every time someone referred to someone as young lady they were ask [sic] responded to by being addressed with their age and gender? Theyd be pretty upset if one responded with the old man, right? Why this kind of weird, patronizing behavior is so accepted is beyond me!' she added. Senator Joe Manchin has fired back at Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, calling her claims that he has 'weekly huddles' with Exxon executives 'totally false' Ocasio-Cortez took to Twitter claiming that her fellow Democrat was 'killing people' with his objections to Biden's social and environmental spending plan The public feud between Manchin and Ocasio-Cortez began last week, when the senator aired his concerns about the spending bill in an op-ed last week. Ocasio-Cortez took to Twitter claiming that her fellow Democrat was 'killing people' with his objections. 'Manchin has weekly huddles w/ Exxon & is one of many senators who gives lobbyists their pen to write so-called 'bipartisan' fossil fuel bills,' the New York Democrat wrote. 'Sick of this 'bipartisan' corruption that masquerades as clear-eyed moderation.' Manchin fired back at the firebrand progressive when CNN host Dana Bash asked him about her claims, saying: 'I keep my door open for everybody. That's totally false.' 'Those type of superlatives, it's just awful. And continue to divide, divide divide,' Manchin said. Pressed on whether he opposes Biden's spending plan because of donor influence, Manchin fired back: 'I'm opposed to it because it makes no sense at all.' Manchin's support is crucial for Democrats if they want to enact Bidens massive 'Build Back Better' agenda, with the Senate split 50-50 and Vice President Kamala Harris the tiebreaker if there is no Republican support. With congressional committees working toward the target of Wednesday set by party leaders to have the bill drafted, Manchin made clear his view, in a series of television interviews, that there was 'no way' Congress would meet the late September goal from House Speaker Nancy Pelosi for passage. But the moderate Democrat continues to snub his party's plan to not pass a separate infrastructure package without the progressive reconciliation package. 'No, I could not support $3.5 trillion,' Manchin told NBC's Chuck Todd on Meet the Press. Democratic Senator Joe Manchin doubled-down on Sunday saying he won't back his party's $3.5 trillion reconciliation package as progressives say they won't vote through the $1.2 trillion infrastructure bill without its passage 'If I was writing it from scratch, I'd be looking at, first of all, adjusting the tax code,' Manchin continued. 'I've always said that. I said basically the 2017 tax code was weighted unfairly to the wealthy. We need to change that. That's why I agreed to go to reconciliation.' 'But I'm not going to go to a situation or shoot myself in the foot and not be competitive globally. I think the corporations should be paying. There shouldn't be anyone escaping not paying their fair share. I think the IRS should be able to do its job, all of those things,' he added. 'I cannot support $3.5 trillion,' Manchin said, citing in particular his opposition to a proposed increase in the corporate tax rate from 21 percent to 28 percent and vast new social spending. 'We should be looking at everything, and were not. We dont have the need to rush into this and get it done within one week because theres some deadline were meeting, or someones going to fall through the cracks,' he said. Pressed repeatedly about a total he could support, Manchin said, 'It's going to be $1, $1.5 (trillion).' He later suggested the range was based on a modest rise in the corporate tax rate to 25%, a figure he believes will keep the U.S. globally competitive. 'The numbers that theyre wanting to pay for and the tax changes they want to make, is that competitive?' Manchin asked. 'I believe theres some changes made that does not keep us competitive.' But Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders, who is developing the budget bill, noted that he and other members of the liberal flank in Congress had initially urged an even more robust package of $6 trillion. 'I dont think it's acceptable to the president, to the American people, or to the overwhelming majority of the people in the Democratic caucus,' Sander said of Manchin's price range 'I dont think it's acceptable to the president, to the American people, or to the overwhelming majority of the people in the Democratic caucus,' Sanders said of Manchin's $1.5 trillion range. He added: 'I believe were going to all sit down and work together and come up with a $3.5 trillion reconciliation bill which deals with the enormously unmet needs of working families.' The current blueprint proposes billions for rebuilding infrastructure, tackling climate change and expanding or introducing a range of services, from free prekindergarten to dental, vision and hearing aid care for seniors. Manchin voted last month to approve a budget resolution that set the figure, though he and Senator Kyrsten Sinema, an Arizona Democrat, have expressed reservations about the topline amount. All of it would be paid for with taxes on corporations and the wealthy, the authors claim. Congressional committees have been working hard this month on slices of the 10-year proposal in a bid to meet this week's timeline from Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer to have the bill drafted. Pelosi is seeking a House vote by Oct. 1, near the Sept. 27 target for voting on a slimmer infrastructure plan favored by moderates. Manchin, who in an op-ed earlier this month urged a 'strategic pause' on the legislation to reconsider the cost, described the timing as unrealistic. He has urged Congress to act first on a nearly $1 trillion bipartisan infrastructure bill already passed by the Senate. But liberal House Democrats have threatened to withhold their support for the infrastructure bill until the $3.5 trillion spending bill is passed alongside it. Neither side on Sunday revealed how they hoped to quickly bridge the divide among Democrats. 'There's no way we can get this done by the 27th, if we do our job,' Manchin said. 'There's so much differences that we have here and so much - theres so much apart from us where we are. ... I'm working with people. I'm willing to talk to people. It makes no sense at all.' Manchin spoke on CNNs State of the Union, NBCs Meet the Press and ABCs This Week. Sanders was on CNN and ABC. Infectious diseases experts are reassuring the public crowded beaches aren't a Covid risk as rules on outdoor gatherings are relaxed. NSW Health Minister Brad Hazzard's assertion that going outside to socialise was safe has the backing of epidemiologists, as radio and television personalities complain. Professor Peter Collignon, from the Australian National University, said the risk of catching Covid outdoor was extremely low. 'Being outside is probably 20 to 50 less of a risk than being inside, so yes you can transmit Covid outdoors but it's very uncommon,' he told Sunrise. 'There's no doubt that outside air, fresh air, is much safer than being indoors and the more time you're outdoors relative to indoors, in fact it probably lessens your risk.' Scroll down for video Infectious diseases experts are reassuring the public crowded beaches aren't a Covid risk as rules on outdoor gatherings are relaxed. NSW Health Minister Brad Hazzard's assertion that going outside to socialise was safe has the backing of epidemiologists, as radio and television personalities complain (pictured is Sydney's Coogee Beach on Sunday) From Monday, fully-vaccinated Sydney residents living outside Covid hotspots will be allowed to gather for a picnic in a group of five within their local government area, or within 5km from home outside their LGA. 'If you're going to do things, that's where you first take off the restrictions: you allow people to meet outdoors because the risk is so much lower, particularly for vaccinated people,' Professor Collignon said. On Sunday, Mr Hazzard defended people gathering on the beach after aerial images showed crowds at Bondi and Coogee. 'The fresh air, we know, is the safest place to be at the present time,' he said. Dr Nick Coatsworth, a former deputy chief medical officer, concurred that being outside was safe. 'It is extraordinarily difficult to catch Covid when you are outdoors in groups,' he told the Today show. Professor Peter Collignon, from the Australian National University, said the risk of catching Covid outdoor was extremely low Despite infectious diseases experts deeming outdoor gatherings to be safe, WS-FM broadcaster Amanda Keller said this was insensitive to people who lived in hotspot council areas in western Sydney. 'That's an insensitive response. It's a little insensitive to people who don't have the option to do that,' she said. Sunrise co-host Natalie Barr agreed with Keller. 'You've got millions of people across the west of Sydney saying, "I can't go to the beach, we've been restricted to an hour or two outside, why can't we go outside if it's safe?".' But Professor Collignon said people in hotspot areas of western and south-west Sydney were better off spending more time outdoors instead of crowding inside with those they lived with. Despite infectious diseases experts deeming outdoor gatherings to be safe, WS-FM broadcaster Amanda Keller said this was insensitive to people who lived in hotspot council areas in western Sydney 'If you're a family in south-west Sydney and one of the workers is an essential worker, if you come home to your family and you're indoors all the time, you're much more likely to spread it than if you've got some time you're spending outdoors,' he said. Keller, who lives near Coogee Beach, was confused about the rules allowing people to gather outside on the sand. 'There aren't limits on the time you can exercise but you're not supposed to lie on the beach and sunbake with groups of friends which is what I think was happening,' she said. While Coogee isn't in a hotspot council area, it falls with the Randwick LGA which is home to 266 active cases as the neighbouring City of Sydney area has 536 active cases. Under existing Covid rules, residents outside hotspot areas are allowed to exercise or gather for recreation anywhere in their LGA or 5km from home if they are outside their LGA. Now they can also do this with a group of up to five people if they can prove to police, during a spot check, that they have had two doses of a Covid vaccine. In hotspot areas, individuals are no longer time limited exercising alone. But from Monday, they can exercise outside with members of their household or with one other person from outside their home for up to two hours a day provided everyone in the group, aged 16 and over, was fully vaccinated. Premier Gladys Berejiklian declined to open public pools before 70 per cent of the state's working age and adult population was fully vaccinated. 'Unfortunately, there are a lot of decisions that are very difficult to take,' she said. 'There are waterways right across Sydney. We have to take the health advice, especially until we get to 70 per cent double dose.' So far, 46.2 per cent of those aged 16 and over in NSW are fully vaccinated while 78.5 per cent are double jabbed. On Monday, New South Wales announced 1,257 new Covid cases and seven deaths. A man has found a way around Sydney's lockdown ban on visits to barbershops by creating an outdoor salon while fishing at the beach. Hairdressers, beauty salons, spas, nail, waxing and tanning salons and tattoo parlours are among the establishments closed since Sydney's current lockdown took effect in late June. While waiting for a bite, the man was seen trimming a fellow fisherman's hair at a Sydney beach last weekend The man appeared to be a professional barber who 'had all the tools'. Visits to barbers and hair salons are not permitted in Greater Sydney during the current lockdown While fishing at a Sydney beach, a man was seen trimming hair in a makeshift al fresco barbershop. The videographer said the man appeared to be a professional barber who 'had all the tools'. NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian has been regularly asked about when hairdressing salons would be permitted to re-open at the state's daily Covid updates. In early August she suggested 'personal care services' such as hairdressers might be able to re-open by August 29, but was later forced to backtrack after the NSW cabinet rejected the proposal. Now Sydney's salons are preparing to open again once the state hits the target of 70 per cent of the eligible population fully vaccinated, expected to be in mid-October. One of the salons caught up in the start of Sydney's current long-running outbreak, Joh Bailey at Double Bay, plans to allow five customers at a time into the venue once it is allowed to re-open, while other customers will be visited 'in-home' in order to meet demand. Sydney's salons and barbershops are preparing to open again once the state hits the target of 70 percent of the eligible population fully vaccinated, expected to be in mid-October Joh Bailey Hairdressing Salon at Double Bay after it was reported as a high exposure site at the start of Sydney's Delta outbreak in June Marilyn Koch, the co-founder of iconic Sydney hair salon Joh Bailey, said they will be opening their doors to five customers at a time in line with the government cap. But they have a clever plan to shampoo, blow dry and style as many customers as possible come Freedom Day. Vaccinated Joh Bailey stylists will make home visits to vaccinated customers in an initiative dubbed 'Love is in the Hair'. 'Our clients are desperate,' Joh Bailey co-founder Marilyn Koch told Daily Mail Australia. '(Getting to the hairdresser is) all everybody talks about. I get messages every single day - hundreds of them.' Mandatory face masks, check-in. limits on numbers of customers and a registered Covid safety plan will all be required once venues are permitted to re-open. The barber's beachside salon likely stretches the definition of outdoor recreation. From today people in Greater Sydney, including the Blue Mountains and Wollongong, can attend an outdoor gathering of up to five people for exercise or outdoor recreation so long as all those at the gathering aged 16 years or over are fully vaccinated. Proof of vaccination must be carried at all times and produced if requested by police. The five-person limit on these gatherings does not include children aged 12 or under. Gladys Berejiklian has backflipped on plans to no longer lead daily Covid-19 press conferences just hours after the Opposition Leader vowed to speak in her place. Despite announcing she was phasing out the daily 11am ritual, the Premier made her usual appearance in front of media at 11am on Monday. Ms Berejiklian was supposed to have held her final daily press conference on Sunday, instead announcing live-streamed meetings would be replaced by video updates provided by health officials. Her change of heart comes after Chris Minns, the leader of the NSW Opposition, announced he would hold his own press conference at 11am alongside the Shadow Minister for Health. Mr Minns has been highly critical of Ms Berejiklian's decision to put an end to the daily live pandemic updates - so he decided to hold one himself to answer any questions or comments the public would have. The change of heart comes after the leader of the NSW Opposition Party (pictured, Chris Minns with wife Anna) announced he would speak alongside the Shadow Minister for Health in her place Seven News' chief reporter Chris Reason asked Ms Berejiklian this morning if she had a 'change of heart' over the press conferences. 'Are you back to doing daily conferences?' he asked. Ms Berejiklian denied that it was anything unusual, saying she was always going to hold a media conference to talk about new freedoms. Five vaccinated people can hold an outdoor picnic in some parts of Sydney beginning on Monday. 'I was always scheduled to do today, because of the key milestones we announced,' she insisted. Mr Minns, the MP for Kogarah in Sydney's south, accused the Premier of 'choosing when to be accountable' after she revealed on Friday that she was winding down the conferences. Ms Berejiklian had cited 'learning to live with Covid' for choosing the week when cases are likely to peak in NSW to make such a drastic change to public health messaging. Gladys Berejiklian has backflipped on plans to no longer hold daily Covid-19 press conferences after the leader of the NSW Opposition Party announced he would speak alongside the Shadow Minister for Health in her place 'All of us have to start accepting that we need to live with Covid because Covid will be around for three or four years,' she said on Friday morning. Mr Minns vowed to be as punctual as Ms Berejiklian, and to livestream the press conference on his social media so the public has easy access. 'Now more than ever we need to be hearing daily from the government,' Mr Minns said. 'NSW is weeks away from cases peaking, hospitalisations and ICU numbers peaking, the roadmap out for western Sydney. We need to be hearing from the Premier every day... Government accountability isnt optional.' Ms Berejiklian has promised daily case numbers will be shared in a video message 'indefinitely', but said she would only front the live conferences when she 'had something important to say'. She denied an Independent Commission Against Corruption investigation into her former partner, ex-Wagga Wagga MP Daryl Maguire, factored into her decision to cancel conferences. Mr Minns vowed to be as punctual as Ms Berejiklian, and to livestream the press conference on his social media so the public has easy access 'I don't have anything to add on that matter. It would be inappropriate to comment on those ongoing investigations and I have nothing further to say,' she said when probed on Sunday. She refused to comment on whether she would be required to give evidence at the hearing. Ms Berejiklian has maintained her innocence since Mr Maguire was probed over a $5.5 million funding grant he nabbed for his electorate. Mr Minns is also spearheading calls for the government to reinstate NSW Parliament, insisting that MPs are essential workers. He said it should be a priority to Ms Berejiklian to ensure Parliament is sitting again as soon as a Covid-safe way to do so has been established. The father-of-three previously vowed not to 'play politics' during the pandemic, but some have accused him of doing just that with his 11am conference announcement. 'Please don't make it about political point scoring,' one person said. 'Fill the gap with leadership - that will get you much further. You can keep people informed.' The father-of-three previously vowed not to 'play politics' during the pandemic, but some have accused him of doing just that with his 11am conference announcement Mr Minns capitalised on the 11am space left by Gladys Berejiklian and announced his own press conference But others commended him for 'stepping up to the plate' when the Premier has seemingly 'failed' to do so. 'I will not play politics in a pandemic,' Mr Minns said. 'But I also believe the next election will be about the kind of future we build after the pandemic is over. 'NSW Labor stands for economic opportunities and improving the quality of life for working families. The 41-year-old MP for Kogarah in southern Sydney, became leader of the NSW Labor Party after Jodi McKay resigned in a tearful press conference in May after struggling to connect with voters during her two years in the top job. He secured his position after former leader Michael Daley, 55, dropped out of the leadership race to avoid a messy and protracted struggle that would have distracted and divided the party for weeks or even months. 'He's a good-looking fresh face with fresh ideas at a time NSW Labor desperately needs both,' one Labor source told Daily Mail Australia. Labor, like all opposition parties, has struggled for air during the pandemic as governments hog the limelight with daily press conferences in which they announce huge decisions that affect residents' lives more than ever before. After thieves stole a hoard of valuable artefacts from a local museum, staff no doubt thought they'd never see them again. However, it would appear that one of those involved in the crime 26 years ago had a crisis of conscience, after one of the items an Anglo-Saxon brooch was sent in the post to police. The bronze-gilt square-headed jewellery was taken from Rutland County Museum in Oakham in 1995 with eight other brooches and a Roman gold ring. An Anglo-Saxon brooch which was stolen and now 26 years later sent anonymously by post to the Metropolitan Police The bronze-gilt square-headed jewellery was taken from Rutland County Museum in Oakham in 1995 with eight other brooches and a Roman gold ring Rutland County Council has asked people to be on the lookout for other stolen items Only the ring was recovered afterwards until one brooch was sent to the Met Police anonymously last year. The Art Loss Register identified it was a match with its record of an artefact stolen from the museum. The brooch belongs to Oakham School and was on loan to the museum. Rutland County Council has asked people to be on the lookout for other stolen items. Councillor Lucy Stephenson said: 'The theft of these important artefacts was a huge loss to the county, and we are so pleased to have one of the items returned. 'They belong on public display so that people have the opportunity to learn about our rich and unique local history.' A beloved skateboarder who tragically died after falling off his board on the Gold Coast has been remembered by loved ones as a 'free spirit'. Raphael Vieira was riding at Pizzey skatepark, in Miami, on Tuesday when he suffered a serious brain injury after falling and hitting his head. Mr Vieira, from Brazil, was rushed to hospital and placed into the intensive care unit, but despite doctors' best efforts he could not be revived. The tragedy came just four weeks after his 25th birthday. Mr Viera's childhood friend Luah Carmo, who is also now living in Australia, said Raphael's family made the decision to donate his organs to help save others lives. Raphael Vieira (pictured) tragically died after suffering head injuries while skateboarding in the Gold Coast on Tuesday With his family stuck on the other side of the world due to the Covid-19 pandemic, Ms Carmo has launched a GoFundMe page to cover the costs of Mr Vieira's funeral and cremation. 'Doctors performed numerous procedures and tried to contain the brain pressure with all possible resources but unfortunately our big guy's brain injury was too severe,' she wrote in the campaign. 'The doctors tried their best but nothing could be done to bring him back to consciousness. 'Faced with this event, the family opted for an incredible gesture and have decided to donate his organs.' A single organ donor in Australia can save up to seven lives, according to DonateLife. Mr Vieira, originally from Curitiba, moved to Australia in 2017 and was a keen surfer and motorbike rider, according to his social media profiles. Tributes have begun pouring in online for the Brazilian expat, known affectionately to loved ones as 'Rapha'. Friends in South America shared a photo of the message 'Rapha, forever in our hearts' etched into the sand in Portuguese at a local beach. 'One of the best vibe guys I've ever met, rest in peace brother,' one friend wrote. Bruno Felipe said he woke up with a strange feeling on Thursday morning only to discover hours later his friend had passed away. The Brazilian national was rushed to hospital after suffering a head injury at Pizzey Skatepark (pictured) in Miami Mr Vieira, known as 'Rapha' to loved ones, frequently posted of his adventures in Australia on social media 'I wish I could have written to you when I heard. I thought I was so strong with goodbyes, [but] I've seen myself crying nonstop since I received the news,' he wrote on Facebook. 'Man, I'm very sad about what happened, but I promise you that this will pass and the good memories will be remembered.' 'How huge his heart was and how light his energy was, he had no evil. As your father said, "Rapha has always been a free spirit." And you always really were, right?' 'I want to thank you for your friendship, for the learning you left here, for your way and for your light. Man, I'm sure your passage was light, calm and full of peace. Now you're up there looking at us. I'm sure that in the next life, we'll meet again.' Relatives shared a poem by Saint Augustine titled 'Death is Nothing' about people who pass away wanting their loved ones to refrain from sadness and instead remember they are still with them. 'All of us in the family believe that Raphael would like us to follow our lives according to this poem,' his mother wrote. Mr Vieira had been living in the Gold Coast after moving to Australia in 2017. He is pictured during a trip to Sydney Loved ones in Brazil have shared a photo of a tribute inscribed on the beach Portuguese, which translates in English to: 'Rapha forever in our hearts' A GoFundMe page has been launched to help Mr Vieira's family cover the cost of his funeral and cremation 'Raphael, love of our lives, you are and will always be here with us! We love you infinitely!' His brother said Rapha will forever be in our mind and hearts 'forever' while his aunt said she was still in shock he was gone. 'I can't believe it. Go in peace beloved nephew. You will be greatly missed. We love you,' she said. Ms Carmo said the fundraiser, which has already raised more than $14,500 since it was set up on Sunday, would also go towards paying some of Mr Vieira's medical bills. 'The good news is that the health insurance that Rapha had will cover most of the medical expenses but not the entry into the emergency, which was $1,401.90,' she said. 'We would appreciate anything that can help us to promote a passage full of peace and love for this amazing guy, who shared his journey with us.' In 2020, 1,270 Australian were saved through an organ transplant due to 463 deceased donors. The tragedy comes ten months after Sunshine Coast man Chris Pinto died after suffering critical head injuries while riding at Mudjimba skate park in November. Advertisement At one centimetre per minute, this thing moves at a snails pace. It is one hell of a snail, however. More than 500ft long and the width of a house, this is the 2,000-ton creature that is currently eating its way beneath some of our prettiest countryside to make space for the worlds most expensive railway. And this monster will be chewing away, around the clock, for the next three years. At ten miles long, the Chilterns tunnel for the HS2 London-Birmingham rail link is not only longer than most sections of the London Underground at 30ft across, it is considerably wider than any rival, including the Channel Tunnel. Thats because it will also be the fastest stretch of rail tunnel in the land, and speed determines the width of a tunnel. At 200mph, the trains would simply suck the air out of anything narrower. Robert Hardman visits the longest HS2 Tunnel near Denham, Buckinghamshire, with Florence the tunnelling boring machine The ring sections outside the precast factory at the South Portal as the HS2 construction effort continues The drilling end of the HS2 Tunnel in Denham in Buckinghamshire which is part of a 1.6 billion site Views from inside the HS2 tunnel which is part of the 140-mile line from London to Birmingham The South Portal Chiltern Tunnels. The London-Birmingham line is broken in to four sections with different builders for each The HS2 route map - which shows how trains will stop at both Euston and the new Old Oak Common stations in London Whats more, unlike most tunnels, it has a perfect telephone and internet signal. I know that because I am down here to meet the drilling team as they prepare to celebrate the first milestone literally. At some point today or tomorrow, this gargantuan earth-chewer called Florence will reach the one-mile mark. Whats more, she has an identical twin named Cecilia which is a few weeks behind and pursuing a route, in parallel, through the chalky-flinty substructure of the Chiltern Hills. For this is not actually one tunnel but two one bore for northbound traffic, and one for trains going the other way. So its really 20 miles of tunnel. Just a short walk from this awesome engineering exercise, another one is also under way. The first piles are now going into the ground to erect what will be Britains longest railway bridge, a two-mile viaduct feeding the high-speed trains in and out of the tunnel and over the Colne Valley. Not only is the HS2 project the costliest bit of infrastructure Britain has ever undertaken, it is also one of the most unpopular. Numerous action groups are still going strong after years of protest. They point angrily at both the bill (now estimated at between 98 billion and 106 billion for the whole line) and the effect on the countryside. Just this year, the project cost the Government what should have been a slam-dunk by-election win, when the Liberal Democrats snatched the true-blue Buckinghamshire seat of Amersham and Chesham. HS2 runs right through the middle of the constituency and the locals are furious that they must endure a decade of major traffic disruption to build a railway which will bring no direct benefits to the area. Panels under construction for use on the roof of the HS2 tunnel which will see new trains run from London to Birmingham Robert Hardman is picture inside the HS2 Tunnel at the drilling end with Shannon O'Keeffe who is working on the project Robert Hardman visits the longest HS2 tunnel in Denham which is currently part of a massive construction effort The ring sections outside the precast factory at the South Portal The 140-mile line from London to Birmingham currently accounts for 44.6 billion of the total cost of the project However, once you enter this extraordinary building site, one thing is abundantly clear: there is now no going back on HS2. The 140-mile line from London to Birmingham which currently accounts for 44.6 billion of the total is broken in to four sections with different builders for each. The shortest section, known as C1, is the 14-mile leg running from the London suburbs up through the Chilterns towards the late Roald Dahls home village of Great Missenden. Run by a multi-national consortium called Align, this is also the most complex stretch as it includes the longest tunnel and longest bridge on the entire line. Yet, until you get on this 1.6 billion site, you have no idea that something the size of an international airport has suddenly sprung up alongside the M25 near Denham, Buckinghamshire. The engineers have done a clever job of hiding the sheer bewildering scale of it from public view. You really do need a map. There is not only all the machinery which goes with digging 20 miles of tunnel. The contractors have also built a giant factory the size of an Amazon warehouse right here to make the components. The drilling end of the HS2 Tunnel in Denham which is part of a mammoth construction effort The entrance to the HS2 tunnel in Denham which is currently under construction by a huge team of engineers A view travelling down the HS2 tunnel in Denham which has been visited by Mail journalist Robert Hardman The entrance to the HS2 tunnel in Denham, Buckinghamshire The drilling end of the HS2 Tunnel in Denham which is currently under construction For this entire project actually combines two operations: digging and tiling. Each time the machine has gobbled up another couple of yards of the Chilterns it has to shore up the sides of the tunnel with huge wall tiles. For each tunnel is really just a ten-mile tube of interlocking concrete rings. Every ring is roughly 6 ft long, 30 ft wide and made up of seven segments. Each computer-designed, oven-cooked segment looks like a massive grey tortilla chip, weighs nine tons and will be slotted into place by a robot. And there will need to be 112,000 of them in total. Instead of making these elsewhere and then shifting a million tons of concrete by road, a decision was taken to build a factory on the spot. Whats more, the contractors have just built another whopper alongside it to produce all the building blocks for the viaduct. Alongside the factories are huge hangars for storing all the raw materials, with enormous diggers shovelling sand and cement into a giant hopper to mix the fibre-reinforced concrete. A young Tonka toy fan would happily spend all day watching this open-mouthed. Nearby is another huge plant for processing the 3 million cubic metres of soil coming out of the ground as the machines eat through the hills. This is being laid over nearby grassland. Its enough to build a whole new Chiltern hill. Robert Hardman with tunnel worker Karine at the drilling end of the HS2 Tunnel in Denham Views from inside the construction project as Robert Hardman visits the longest HS2 Tunnel in Denham Views from inside the HS2 Tunnel which is currently under construction The HS2 tunnel will enable high-speed trains to run between London and Birmingham Needless to say, I have to undergo some thorough health and safety briefings before I am allowed anywhere near any of this stuff. The tunnellers call themselves miners and observe standard mining protocols, including a numbered brass disc for everyone going down the hole. We all have to carry an emergency breathing kit strapped to our shoulder. Tunnel worker Karine at the HS2 tunnel in Denham It is now such a long trip from the office to the coalface or the chalkface in this case that we hitch a ride on one of the maintenance waggons. These look like a cross between a Thunderbirds vehicle and a tug that drags aircraft around airports. Every few hours, one of these machines will lug another cargo of concrete segments up to the frontline for slotting into a newly dug stretch of tunnel. And with every fresh yard of tunnel, the engineers have to build another yard of ventilation duct, of cables, of soil extraction pipe, of concrete floor and so on. So a great deal of kit has to keep coming in, alongside the soil heading the other way. While daylight recedes in the distance, I can see a gentle curve to the tunnel. The drilling machine looms far away. It is more like a submarine on wheels. You approach it from the rear, where it carries a mass of tanks and tubes. This is the grout-batching machine which makes the glue for the wall tiles. You edge past crates carrying all the new cables and pipes and reach what tunnel chief Shannon OKeefe calls the intestines. This houses the various power plants, fire-proof refuge shelters and, crucially, the small canteen for each 17-man shift. This lot are boring for Britain but they are an international bunch. And they are not all men. The duty engineer, Karine, 26, is one of several women on the project. I love all the innovation, she says, explaining that this operation has plenty of new tunnelling gizmos. I ask how this compares to the Channel Tunnel and she laughs. I wasnt born when they built that. Things have changed quite a bit. Among the miners on this shift are Jack Bonner Senior and Jack Bonner Junior, a father and son from Donegal. Jack Senior worked on the Channel Tunnel back in the 1980s. What does he regard as the main difference? Well, they certainly didnt have a canteen down there, he laughs. The drilling end of the boring machine Florence at the HS2 Tunnel Views from inside the HS2 Tunnel which is currently being built by a huge team The tunnel openings at South Portal, with both Cecilia and Florence TBMs inside Further up in the heart and lungs of the machine the control room I meet another Irish-born veteran of the Channel Tunnel. Brendan Carneys official title is pilot which must make for amusing party chat when he tells people his top speed. He is the man who drives this thing. Thats my compass, he says, pointing to a row of screens that keep him on track to a fraction of a millimetre. Because I have arrived during a brief maintenance break, the actual drill bit known as the shield is not rotating. Not that Id be able to see it anyway as it is clamped to the chalkface. Brisbane-born Shannon, 36, explains that it is a huge disc armed with three different sorts of tungsten carbine teeth: rippers, grippers and rolling wheels. The first two are self-explanatory while the latter fracture and shatter any rocks which get in the way. While the shield does the grinding at the front, 14 hydraulic rams press themselves against the concrete ring sections to push the whole machine forwards. And thus, Florence and Cecilia heave their way forth beneath Buckinghamshire. Chiltern Tunnel Boring Machine Florence at the Herrenknect factory in August 2020 Tunnel segments sit on a low loader as HS2 unveil their new tunnel boring machine on May 13, 2021 in Rickmansworth Shannon plans all the tunnelling three months in advance. His next big moment will come when the horizontal tunnelling operation links up with the vertical dig to drop a giant ventilation shaft down below Chalfont St Peter. By then, the tunnel will be nearly 300 ft below the surface. Its a curious world down here. Its always night, the temperature never changes nor does the view and it goes so slowly that nothing much seems to happen. But Shannon loves it. Youre doing and seeing things which no one else will ever see, he says. His one sadness, he reflects, is that when its all finished and the trains are running, people will barely notice his handiwork. Its ten miles long, he says. But people will be in and then out the other side in three minutes. Ministers have warned companies that they should increase their wages rather than complain about the shortage of foreign labour. The pandemic and Brexit have combined to cause a staffing crisis in restaurants, cafes, warehouses and factories as fewer foreign workers have been looking for work in the UK. But firms have been criticised for offering poverty wages to prospective staff while lobbying for immigration rules to be relaxed. Labour minister Paul Scully, pictured, said employers in affected industries should increase wages to encourage British people to apply for their empty vacancies Crop pickers are flying people from the Caribbean to fill roles that had previously been filled by those from the EU. Pictured here, seasonal workers from Romania, in September 2017 in Pulborough, Sussex Meanwhile, driving schools for lorry drivers have been flooded with applicants after retailers were forced to raise salaries to over 50,000 amid a national shortage. The hospitality sector is missing 210,000 staff, or 10 per cent of its total workforce, according to trade body UKHospitality. And unemployment has risen during the pandemic to just over 1.6million. Critics have blasted bosses who expect British workers to accept low pay and tough working conditions, which would otherwise be taken by migrant workers. Now ministers are demanding firms raise wages and make jobs more attractive to UK workers. Paul Scully, the minister for the labour market, said: We want to see employers make long-term investments in the UK domestic workforce instead of relying on labour from abroad. Businesses should be looking at how to make employment more attractive, including through wage increases and offering training. Last week Thomas Heier, the boss of restaurant chain Wagamama, complained about staff shortages, despite paying a head chef in London less than the real living wage. While Andrew Opie of the British Retail Consortium said UK workers do not want to do those roles for whatever reason. But an audit by the Daily Mail found that several companies suffering from staffing shortages are advertising roles below the real living wage of 9.50 per hour outside London, or 10.85 in the capital. Prospective team members at Pret A Manger in London receive the minimum wage of 8.91 per hour, while team leaders will be paid between 10.01 and 10.35. Caffe Nero will pay all new baristas just 8.91, and McDonalds pays 8.91 per hour or 9 in London. Costa was this week forced to increase wages for its baristas in its cafes from a starting wage of 8.91 to 9.36 per hour as it struggled to hire 2,000 extra staff. Wagamama, part of the 1billion giant The Restaurant Group, is hiring kitchen porters in London on wages of 8.96 per hour, and head chefs who will run a kitchen for 10.45. As a result, many workers have left the industry and have taken jobs in logistics as drivers for supermarkets or in warehouses, which are booming thanks to the growth of online shopping. Wages at Amazon, which is hiring 12,000 staff in the UK as part of a major expansion, start at 10 per hour, and 11.10 in London. The firm is trying to throw off the reputation that their warehouse staff are poorly paid and forced to work in dire conditions. A massive 650billion will be spent on major construction projects over the next decade, supporting 425,000 jobs each year, Boris Johnson and Rishi Sunak will announce today. SpaceX's Crew Dragon is scheduled to jettison the first all-civilian space flight to enter the Earth's orbit on September 15. After blastoff at Cape Canaveral, Florida, Inspiration 4's four-man crew will circle the globe once every 90 minutes at more than 17,000 miles per hour, or roughly 22 times the speed of sound, for three days before splashdown in the Atlantic on Saturday. Richard Branson and Jeff Bezos have backed space missions without professional astronauts onboard, however, both of these flights were 'suborbital' and lasted just a few minutes. Mission commander Jared Isaacman, the American founder and chief executive of e-commerce firm Shift4 Payments, will be joined by three fellow spaceflight novices on the trip which is expected to blastoff at Cape Canaveral, Florida, on Wednesday and splashdown in the Atlantic on Saturday. Isaacman, 38, has paid out an unspecified sum to fellow billionaire and SpaceX owner Elon Musk to fund the historic journey. The crew vehicle is set for blastoff from NASAs Kennedy Space Center atop one of Musks reusable Falcon 9 rockets, with a 24-hour targeted launch window that opens at 8 pm EDT on Wednesday. Pictured are 'Specialist' Chris Sembroski, 42 (far left), 'Commander' Jared Isaacman, 38 (second from left), 'chief medical officer' Hayley Arceneaux, 29 (second from right) and 'pilot' Sian Proctor, 51 (far right), who are all scheduled to become the first civilians to enter the Earth's orbit without a professional astronaut onboard this upcoming Wednesday The crew vehicle is set for blastoff from NASAs Kennedy Space Center atop one of Musks reusable Falcon 9 rockets, with a 24-hour targeted launch window that opens at 8 pm EDT on Wednesday. Pictured is SpaceX CEO Elon Musk speaking at a press conference held in January at the space center about a successful test of the Falcon 9 rocket and Crew Dragon capsule A Falcon 9 rocket is pictured carrying a SpaceX Crew Dragon spacecraft - this time manned by two professional astronauts on board - in May of 2020 Dragon Resilience - the crew's ride into space and back home - is shown on September 12 waiting for the Wednesday launch in the hangar of launch complex 39A That window could be narrowed, or possibly altered, a few days before, depending on weather. Dubbed Inspiration4, the orbital outing was conceived by Isaacman primarily to raise awareness and support for one of his favorite causes, St. Jude Childrens Research Hospital, a pediatric cancer center to which he has pledged $100 million personally. A successful mission would help usher in a new era of commercial space tourism, with companies vying for wealthy customers willing to pay a small fortune to experience the supersonic flight, weightlessness and the visual spectacle of space. 'While a historic journey awaits us in space, I hope this mission reinforces how far inspiration can take us and the extraordinary achievements it leads to here on Earth.' tweeted Isaacman of the groundbreaking mission. A successful mission would help usher in a new era of commercial space tourism, with companies vying for wealthy customers willing to pay a small fortune to experience the supersonic flight, weightlessness and the visual spectacle of space The four crewmates have spent the past five months undergoing rigorous preparations, including altitude fitness, centrifuge (G-force), microgravity and simulator training, emergency drills, classroom work and medical exams Setting acceptable levels of consumer risk in the inherently dangerous endeavor of rocket travel is also key, and raises a pointed question. 'Do you have to be both rich and brave to get on these flights right now?' said Sridhar Tayur, a professor of operations management and new business models at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, in an interview with Reuters on Friday. SpaceX is easily the most well-established player in the burgeoning constellation of commercial rocket ventures, having already launched numerous cargo payloads and astronauts to the International Space Station for NASA. Rival companies Virgin Galactic and Blue Origin both recently celebrated their debut astro-tourism missions with their respective founding executives - billionaires Branson and Bezos - each going along for the ride. But those two high-profile flights were suborbital in scale, sending their crews of citizen astronauts to space and back in a matter of minutes. The SpaceX flight is designed to carry its four passengers where no all-civilian crew has gone before - into Earth's orbit. There, they will circle the globe once every 90 minutes at more than 17,000 miles per hour, or roughly 22 times the speed of sound. The SpaceX flight is designed to carry its four passengers where no all-civilian crew has gone before - into Earth's orbit. There, they will circle the globe once every 90 minutes at more than 17,000 miles per hour, or roughly 22 times the speed of sound The Inspiration4 crew will have no part to play in operating their spacecraft, despite some largely honorary titles, though two members - Isaacman and geoscientist Sian Proctor - are licensed pilots. Pictured is the Inspiration 4's launching apparatus The target altitude is 575 kilometers, or nearly 360 miles high, beyond the orbits of the International Space Station or even the Hubble Space Telescope. Like Blue Origin, the 20-story-tall SpaceX launch vehicle and crew capsule will take off vertically from a launch pad on a flight directed entirely from the ground. Bransons suborbital rocket plane, by contrast, had two highly trained pilots at the controls as it carried its four rear-seat passengers 50 miles high. The Inspiration4 crew will have no part to play in operating their spacecraft, despite some largely honorary titles, though two members - Isaacman and geoscientist Sian Proctor - are licensed pilots. Isaacman, who is rated to fly commercial and military jets, has assumed the role of mission 'commander,' while Proctor, 51, once a NASA astronaut candidate herself, has been designated as the mission 'pilot.' Proctor was selected to join the team through an online contest run by Shift4 Payments. Rounding out the crew are 'chief medical officer' Hayley Arceneaux, 29, a bone cancer survivor turned St. Jude physicians assistant, and mission 'specialist' Chris Sembroski, 42, a U.S. Air Force veteran and aerospace data engineer. Sembroski won a seat on the historic flight in a sweepstake that drew 72,000 applicants and has raised over $100 million in St. Jude donations. Jared Isaacman (top left), who is rated to fly commercial and military jets, has assumed the role of mission 'commander,' Sian Proctor (bottom left), 51, once a NASA astronaut candidate herself, has been designated as the mission 'pilot.' Rounding out the crew are 'chief medical officer' Hayley Arceneaux, 29, (pictured top right) a bone cancer survivor turned St. Jude physicians assistant, and mission 'specialist' Chris Sembroski (bottom right), 42, a U.S. Air Force veteran and aerospace data engineer The four crewmates have spent the past five months undergoing rigorous preparations, including altitude fitness, centrifuge (G-force), microgravity and simulator training, emergency drills, classroom work and medical exams. Inspiration4 officials stress that the mission is more than a joyride. Once in orbit, the crew will perform medical experiments with potential applications for human health on Earth and during future spaceflights, the group said in its press materials. Appearing in a promotional clip for a Netflix documentary series on the mission, Arceneaux said a big part of her motivation was to kindle hope in her cancer patients. 'Im getting to show them what life can look like after cancer,' she said. Universities were yesterday branded a mega rip-off after announcing a third academic year of remote lectures despite charging annual fees of 9,250. Nineteen of the 24 Russell Group of leading universities, including Oxford and Cambridge, said a portion of learning would remain online in the new term. Covid restrictions have been scrapped but some lectures will still be delivered remotely, depriving youngsters of face-to-face contact with lecturers and fellow students. Some Freshers are also having to live more than an hour from campus or are under pressure to defer places because of accommodation shortages. Covid restrictions have been scrapped but some lectures will still be delivered remotely. Pictured, Trinity College, Oxford A Mail survey has found most of the Russell Group are bringing back face-to-face learning, but offering a blended model where some tuition stays online. Pictured, Corpus Christi, Cambridge Last night, campaigners called for tuition fee refunds and urged teenagers to boycott online-heavy courses. It comes after Education Secretary Gavin Williamson warned last week there is no excuse to use online learning as a cost-cutting measure. A Mail survey has found most of the Russell Group are bringing back face-to-face learning, but offering a blended model where some tuition stays online. For some institutions, it means large lectures a staple of campus life are being delivered remotely. At University College London, students have been told: Most small group teaching including seminars, workshops, laboratory and studio practicals will be in person and most of your lecture-based large group teaching will be online. Warwick University plans to deliver most seminars in-person on campusand to deliver lectures online while Exeter said some lecture-based teaching sessions may move online as our students found that this was more inclusive than traditional lectures. Leeds also plans a mix of face-to-face and online teaching, with large lectures delivered remotely. Meanwhile, Oxford said most teaching would be in-person but would be enhanced by online tuition in some instances. Cambridge said while small-group teaching and as many lectures as possible would be in-person, web sessions would be used where there is a strong reason. However, Southampton stressed it was delivering all its teaching in-person and on campus and Birmingham said lectures will typically go ahead in person in the normal way. Mr Williamson warned vice-chancellors last week that students should be taught in-person and alongside other students. He insisted: I do not expect to see online learning used as a cost-cutting measure. Many universities believe it is necessary to keep some learning online in case the pandemic takes off again Last night, former Government adviser Chris McGovern claimed: Universities are trawling them in, grabbing their fees and then forgetting that they have a responsibility to deliver a good education. Its a brass-necked, mega rip-off. The Consumer Rights Act needs to be extended to provide refunds for any shoddy and second rate educational provision by universities. Remote learning first emerged in March last year during the national lockdown, with students only allowed back to campuses in full this summer. Many universities believe it is necessary to keep some learning online in case the pandemic takes off again. Others say online learning has been proved to benefit students. Meanwhile, several universities are finding it difficult to find accommodation for all the students they accepted this year. Bristol recently told new students they might have to live in Bath more than an hour away due to local halls being full. The new head of a Cambridge college yesterday said the university should try to reflect society better by taking up to 93 per cent of students from state schools. For decades, private school pupils have been given around 40 per cent of places at Oxford and Cambridge despite only making up 7 per cent of the child population. Former Channel 4 news chief Dorothy Byrne, 69, president of the all-female Murray Edwards College, said: Private school students need to get over their obsession with getting into Oxford and Cambridge. Queensland has recorded two new community cases of Covid-19 as Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk expressed renewed concern about freight drivers bringing the Delta variant to the state. Both of the new cases are linked to the St Thomas More College cluster at Sunnybank. The boy and girl, both 15, from different households have been in home quarantine, though one student was briefly infectious while in the community. 'We aren't concerned about the two new local community cases because they are students from Sir Thomas More, linked to the Sunnybank cluster but have been in their home isolation,' Ms Palaszczuk said. 'We saw how well it worked in the Indooroopilly cluster when everyone did the right thing,' Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk said of the 1,000 people who went into quarantine as a result of a positive case at St Thomas More College, Sunnybank in Brisbane Two new cases announced in Queensland on Monday were linked to the St Thomas More College cluster at Sunnybank, Brisbane Ms Palaszczuk thanked the 1,000 people in families associated with the school for going into 14 days isolation. 'We saw how well it worked in the Indooroopilly cluster when everyone did the right thing,' she said. Queensland Chief Health Officer Dr Young said concerns remained in relation to exposure sites in Logan and south Brisbane after a number of truck drivers from NSW were infectious in the community in those areas. 'We still have some concerns about the numbers of freight drivers who been infectious in our community,' she said. 'There are quite a list of exposure venues that I would really like anyone who lives in Brisbane or Logan to really have a look at, and ensure you haven't been to any of those exposure venues at those times.' Nine freight drivers had now entered Queensland while infectious with the virus. Queensland Chief Health Office Dr Jeannette Young said she remained concerned about freight drivers entering Queensland from NSW while infectious as border restrictions in the 'bubble' zone eased from Monday morning A student who is resident in Queensland crosses into NSW to attend school at Coolangatta-Tweed Heads after the border bubble was reinstated, with students, essential workers and certain other categories allowed to cross back and forth from today 'There is a lot of virus in NSW and we are very concerned that can come back into Queensland,' Ms Palaszczuk said. 'With the freight drivers, we're picking that up - or NSW is picking it up in the first instance - because they're getting tested every three days. 'I think there is a lot more virus in NSW but they can't cope with the testing.' It was revealed yesterday the school cluster was likely caused by a man who crossed into Queensland from NSW on an essential worker pass, infecting a man who lives at Moorooka in south Brisbane. He then passed the virus onto his children, one of whom was the 13-year-old student at St Thomas More, and the children's mother. Dr Young said restrictions on visitors to aged care, hospitals and prisons would be lifted now it appeared the latest cluster was under control. LATEST QUEENSLAND EXPOSURE SITES Close contact sites: St Thomas More College, cnr Troughton Rd & Turton St Sunnybank, 8am 5pm, Thursday, September 9 GP Discount Pharmacy, Shop 33, Pinelands Plaza, 663 Beenleigh Road Sunnybank Hills, 9.30am 9.45am, Thursday, September 9 Pinelands Bakehouse, 663 Beenleigh Rd Sunnybank Hills, 9.35am 9.55am, Thursday, September 9 Hot Bake Cafe Acacia Ridge, 1150 Beaudesert Road, Acacia Ridge 12.35pm 12.50pm, Thursday, September 9 KFC, Food Court, Level 2, Westfield Garden City, cnr Logan and Kessels Rd Upper Mount Gravatt, 5.20pm 5.35pm, Thursday, September 9. Also 5.20pm 6.05pm for sit down dining in the Food Court. St Thomas More College, cnr Troughton Rd & Turton St Sunnybank, 8am 5pm, Friday September 10 Night Owl Salisbury BP, 304 Evans Road Salisbury, 11am 11.15am, Friday September 10 7-Eleven, 508 Vulture Street, Brisbane East 3.35pm 3.50pm, Friday September 10 Casual contact sites: Coles, Pinelands Plaza, cnr Beenleigh Rd & Pinelands Rd Sunnybank Hills 9.20am 9.45am, Thursday, September 9 Storage Choice Self Storage, 840 Beaudesert Rd Coopers Plains 5.15pm 5.45pm, Thursday, September 9 Brisbane Flower Market, 385 Sherwood Rd Rocklea, 9am 9.15am, Friday September 10 Advertisement Queensland Police Deputy Commissioner Steve Gollschewski said an investigation was currently underway to check that the essential workers had the correct border passes and met all other exemptions to come into the state. 'Were investigating the circumstances but it will take us a little while to do that,' he said. He said a number of people seeking to enter Queensland as essential workers had been turned around at the border because they had not had one dose of a Covid vaccine, which Queensland mandated from August 20. Meanwhile, Ms Palaszczuk said the reinstated Queensland-NSW border was so far working well. 'We're happy with how that's going at the moment... a lot more people will be able to come into Queensland and vice versa as long as they've had their vaccine, and schools can go back as well,' she said. As of today, people will be allowed to travel across the border for school, for work that cannot be done from home, essential shopping, health care or to care for someone who is vulnerable, provided they have the correct border pass and one dose of a Covid vaccine. NSW has recorded 1,257 new Covid-19 cases and seven deaths overnight with outdoor gathering restrictions eased despite a surge in cases in Sydney's west. Western and south-western Sydney suburbs remain the two biggest areas of concern with Greenacre, Auburn, Yagoona, Liverpool, Punchbowl and Guildford flagged as the worst hit areas. Speaking at a press conference on Monday, premier Gladys Berejiklian warned case numbers were also soaring in the inner suburbs. 'We have seen also an increase in cases as we mentioned yesterday and the day before in the inner city areas of Glebe add Redfern,' she said. 'We ask communities in those areas to please come forward and get vaccinated, but also to make sure they're sticking to the COVID restrictions.' Ms Berejiklian delivered the new figures at the daily Covid-19 press conference despite announcing the live-streamed events would be replaced by video link updates provided by health officials from the beginning of the week. The premier was understood to have delivered her last conference on Sunday and her sudden appearance the following day prompted speculation she had backflipped on her decision. Though she assured reporters nothing had changed and said, 'I was always scheduled to do today because of the key milestones we announced.' NSW has recorded 1,257 new Covid-19 cases and seven deaths overnight Western and south-western Sydney suburbs remain the two biggest areas of concern with Greenacre, Auburn, Yagoona, Liverpool, Punchbowl and Guildford flagged as the worst hit areas Speaking at a press conference on Monday, premier Gladys Berejiklian warned case numbers were also soaring in the inner suburbs (pictured, graph of cases in NSW since start of outbreak on June 16) 'Obviously today is the first day many people have freedoms they didn't have before and I want to stress that nothing has changed from my comments from last week.' Rule changes have been made on outdoor gatherings across Sydney and a state border bubble with Queensland has been opened, allowing people in northern NSW who aren't locked down to travel into the Sunshine state. Vaccinated people with a Queensland border pass can travel north of the border to provide compassionate care or essential shopping if they come from 12 northern NSW local government areas that came out of lockdown on Saturday. The border pass is not available for social reasons, like attending weddings or funerals or visiting family or friends. Up to five fully vaccinated adults who live outside 12 Sydney Covid-19 hotspots areas can gather outdoors within five kilometres of their home. Vaccinated households that live in those 12 local government areas of concern will be able to gather outdoors for recreation for one hour, outside curfew hours and within five kilometres of home. Meanwhile, 12 to 15-year-olds in NSW can now book in for Pfizer or Modena Covid-19 vaccines with GPs or vaccine clinics as part of the staggered plan to get school students back to face-to-face learning later this month. Of the new deaths, one was a Dubbo man in his 90s, an inner suburbs man in his 80s, a south-western suburbs woman in her 60s and a north-west NSW man in his 80s. The new cases come as new rules changes are made to outdoor gatherings across Sydney and a state border bubble is created with Queensland allowing people in northern NSW who aren't locked down to travel north of the border 'We have seen also an increase in cases as we mentioned yesterday and the day before in the inner city areas of Glebe add Redfern,' premier Gladys Berejiklian said (pictured, police checkpoint at Waverley) A south-western suburbs man in his 90s, an inner west woman in her 90s, and another man in his 80s are also among the new deaths. NSW has been warned of a 'challenging' two months ahead with peaks in Covid-19 cases and hospitalisations expected. There are currently 1,189 patients being treated in hospital, including 222 in intensive care, of which 94 require ventilation. There are nearly a thousand cases of Covid-19 in western NSW with authorities particularly concerned about the northwestern town of Walgett. NSW Health's Jeremy McAnulty said 12 new locally acquired cases in the state's west had brought the total there to 978, with five in Bathurst, four in Dubbo, two in Bourke and one in Walgett. Walgett is one of the most socially disadvantaged areas in the state with an Indigenous population of 30 per cent of the total. 'We're concerned people who have been in Walgett or live in nearby communities, where there might have been a contact travelling to and from Walgett, (need) to be particularly vigilant and come forward for testing,' Dr McNulty said on Monday. He expressed similar concerns about Coonamble, where 34 per cent of people are Indigenous. Residents from the 12 LGAs of concern can leave their homes with members of their household for up to two hours at a time (pictured, local shops at Bankstown) Also from Monday, up to five fully vaccinated adults who live outside 12 Sydney Covid-19 hotspots areas can gather outdoors within five kilometres of their home There was also a significant increase in cases over the weekend in the Illawarra Shoalhaven area as well as in the Central Coast and Hunter. Of the total 1,257 new cases for the entire state to 8pm on Sunday, 78 are from Nepean Blue Mountains, 27 are from Illawarra Shoalhaven, 18 are from Hunter New England district, 16 are from the Central Coast and two are from Southern Local Health District. The state's sewage surveillance program has recently detected fragments of the virus at the Yass and Eden treatment plants in the southern NSW, at Tamworth, the in Hunter New England, on the mid-north coast, at the Gerroa treatment plant in Illawarra Shoalhaven and the Brooklyn treatment plant in northern Sydney. More than 46 per cent of residents aged 16 and over have received two doses of the vaccine while 78.5 per cent have received one. The state is on track to begin reopening once it reaches its vaccination target at 70 per cent by mid-October. Concerns have been raised that a vaccination status won't matter after the state passes its 80 per cent vaccination target. NSW has been warned of a 'challenging' two months ahead with peaks in Covid-19 cases and hospitalisations expected Deputy Premier John Barilaro revealed vaccine passports for venues will only be mandatory when the state's Covid-19 jab rate is between 70 and 80 per cent. Once the 80 per cent double dose rate is hit, businesses can decide to let unvaccinated patrons enter if they wish, he suggested. Ms Berejiklian weighed in on the topic and warned anti-vaxxers to 'not assume' they will be given the same freedoms as their vaccinated counterparts. 'Don't assume that at 80 per cent double-dose vaccination that unvaccinated people are going to have all those freedoms,' she said. 'I want to make that point very clear. For those of you who choose not to be vaccinated, that's your choice, but don't expect to do everything that vaccinated people do even when we hit 80 per cent.' The premier warned reaching the vaccination target would take a united effort and that residents who slacked off should not be rewarded. 'I don't want people to think they can sit back, let everybody else do the hard work and then turn up when it's 80 per cent and get everything else that vaccinated people are,' she said. 'That's not the right message.' About 78 per cent of the over-16 population in NSW has received their first dose of a Covid-19 vaccine while around 45 per cent are fully vaccinated 'As I said, private businesses, private organisations, may make the decision that they don't want to welcome unvaccinated people. 'Our expectation is those who are vaccinated will enjoy overseas travel. We'll start welcoming home fully-vaccinated Australians coming through Sydney Airport, but don't assume you can sit back [and not get vaccinated but] ... participate in everything.' There were 1,262 new locally acquired Covid-19 cases and seven deaths, including a man in his 20s, recorded in NSW on Sunday. The seven deaths reported in the 24 hours to 8pm on Saturday included a man in his 20s from western Sydney and six people from south-western Sydney in their 40s, 50s, 70s and 80s. There are 1,206 COVID-19 patients in NSW in hospital, with 220 in intensive care and 92 ventilated. About 78 per cent of the over-16 population in NSW has received their first dose of a Covid-19 vaccine while around 45 per cent are fully vaccinated. Serial killer Fred West may have left as many as 20 bodies across the country, a new TV documentary has revealed. Witness and work time sheets lodged by the multiple killer suggest he operated far beyond the Gloucester area where he murdered at least 12 women. The new evidence suggested he worked in London, Wales, Nottingham, Birmingham, Bristol and Southampton prompting fears he may have killed a number of other victims and buried their bodies in secret graves. Fred and Rose West are believed to have killed at least 12 woman, although a new documentary suggests the rogue builder had at least 20 additional victims Psychologist Dr Donna Youngs, pictured, said the new evidence produced by the documentary team re-writes what is known about Fred West Researchers working on the ITV documentary Fred and Rose West: Reopened, obtained time sheets West handed former employers during his work as a builder. Evidence from a new witness and work time sheets indicate serial killer Fred West may have operated far beyond the Gloucester area. An investigation team for new ITV documentary Fred And Rose West: Reopened obtained time sheets West handed in to his former employers when he worked for them as a builder. Investigative Psychologist Dr Donna Youngs, who is an expert on the case said: 'For me this rewrites the Fred West story in a way. That's what I've not been able to make any sense of, because there has been not enough missing girls in the Gloucester area, but here we have the possible ways he was operating beyond Gloucester.' Former detective Colin Sutton said: 'It's a scary thought. All these locations would have to be looked at for a period in excess of 20 years, missing young women who fit the profile of a Fred West victim. To do that, to do all that for a whole police squad, I'm not sure the resourcing is there to do it.' One witness, Janette Rathbone said she had been followed home by West and had a lucky escape. She said: 'I wanted people to believe me. Nobody believed me. I mean, that night my mum and dad were laughing with the policeman, they didn't believe me.' One document uncovered by the documentary team was written by West's 'appropriate adult' Janet Leach, outlines details of two rural locations where two additional victims may be buried. The two-part series, which will be broadcast at 9pm on Wednesday and Thursday shows how Mr Sutton's team using cadaver dogs and ground penetrating radar to search Fingerpost Field in Kempley, Gloucestershire, where the bodies of West's first victim Ann McFall and his first wife Rena West were found 27 years ago. The cadaver dog, who is trained to identify decomposed flesh, indicates that two locations are worthy of further indications. Mr Sutton said: 'The handler is of the view that we should excavate those sites as soon as possible and I am absolutely on board with that. It's a really significant find, a significant piece of work by the cadaver dog. Because the indications that I saw the dogs make were just so very strong.' The documentary suggests that West may have killed 20 more women. West's lawyer Howard Ogden told the documentary: 'Dealing with Fred led me to believe that others had been killed. Sadly this is something of a tip of an iceberg and inevitably there are others who are yet to be found.' West took his own life in 1995 before he was brought to trial. Police have shut down a street kitchen feeding the homeless during lockdown because it was not properly registered. Footage volunteers posted online shows police and local council officers arrive and order the stall in the Melbourne CBD to pack up and leave. An officer asks one of the volunteers to show the permit it needs to operate in the area, and is told they have and 'email from ages ago' from the council. A member for the council then comes down after being requested by the volunteer, who also tells him to pack up the tables and move along as they don't have a permit. A man from the Australian Communist Party argued with police over a street kitchen for the homeless on Sunday, with police moving the communist along who failed to show a permit 'You have been directed by the City of Melbourne to remove your furniture otherwise I will call for more units,' a policewoman said. 'You've got two minutes to act, please remove your furniture.' 'We will have a quick discussion first,' the man filming says, before the policewoman replies: 'You have nothing to discuss'. The group claimed to have cooked there 'every week for two years' and that police were looking for an excuse to shut them down. 'After much brain effort Victoria Police managed to find a 'reason' to shut the kitchen down last Sunday,' the post read. Police repeatedly asked the group to show a permit for the setup before calling in the local council to convince the group to pack up and leave 'A Melbourne Council law against placing "furniture" in a public place (which supposedly counts the gazebos and tables we use to keep the food and other essentials we distribute dry and off the ground). 'Seeing as it was 20 mins until the kitchen usually ends and we'd almost run out of food anyway (over 200 meals served), we weren't too fussed about just packing up. 'We're not going to stop serving the people though. We will be back this weekend.' The kitchen was operated by the Community Union Defence League, a group linked to the Australian Communist Party, with factions across the country. City of Melbourne Council attended the street kitchen in the city's CBD to tell the group of communists to move along They said they offered free food to the homeless and set up in major cities around Australia. They describe themselves as being 'guided by Marxist Leninism' and their goals are to 'establish a revoluationary community organisation' in Australia. The post received hundreds of comments, with many thanking their fellow 'comrades' for the work. One man said he has been 'battling the same thing in Adelaide'. Daily Mail Australia has contacted the City of Melbourne Council for comment. In a statement Victoria Police said: 'Patrolling police came across a group of people gathered at several marquees in Melbournes CBD at 5pm on 5 September. 'It was determined the group did not have a current council permit and they were asked to remove the marquees, which they eventually did. 'One man was fined for not having a work permit under the current CHO directions.' Syracuse professor Jenn M. Jackson made controversial remarks regarding 9/11 A professor at Syracuse University has drawn strong reactions for a tweet calling the attacks on September 11, 2001 a strike against 'heteropatriarchal capitalistic systems'. Jenn M. Jackson, an assistant professor of political science, made the remarks in a series of tweets on Friday, a day before the 20th anniversary of the attacks that killed 2,977 people. 'We have to be more honest about what 9/11 was and what it wasn't. It was an attack on the heteropatriarchal capitalistic systems that America relies upon to wrangle other countries into passivity,' wrote Jackson, who uses they/them pronouns. 'It was an attack on the systems many white Americans fight to protect,' they added. 'It was an attack on the heteropatriarchal capitalistic systems that America relies upon to wrangle other countries into passivity,' wrote Jackson of the attacks on September 11, 2001 Jackson and their literary agent did not immediately respond to inquiries from DailyMail.com on Sunday night. Jackson's tweets, which have since been set to private, came as the professor remarked on how they were 'really disturbed by how many white pundits and correspondents talk about' 9/11, according to the Daily Wire. Jackson criticized the notion 'that 9/11 was the first time that Americans ever felt fear.' 'White Americans might not have really felt true fear before 9/11 because they never felt what it meant to be accessible, vulnerable, and on the receiving side of military violence at home. But, white Americans' experiences are not a stand-in for "America,"' they wrote. 'Plenty of us Americans know what its like to experience fear and we knew before 9/11. For a lot of us, we know fear *because* of other Americans,' Jackson continued. The remarks drew strong reaction and mockery from critics, some of whom accused Jackson of sympathizing with or even endorsing the deadly attacks. 'Of course, because if Osama bin Laden was about anything, it was striking down heteropatriarchy' tweeted journalist Matt Taibbi. Television journalist Megyn Kelly responded with strong language, tweeting: 'As an S.U. poli-sci grad, I just wanted to say, Ms. Jackson, you can F right the hell off.' 'Wonder what @JennMJacksonPhD thinks about ISIS and Boko Harams atrocities in West Africa and the Sahel,' pondered Kyle Matthews, executive director of the Montreal Institute for Genocide and Human Rights Studies. 'Thank you Osama, the feminist,' another person tweeted. Many of the angry reactions to Jackson's comments were too crude for publication. Jackson's personal website describes the professor as 'a queer genderflux androgynous Black woman, an abolitionist, a lover of all Black people, and an Assistant Professor at Syracuse University in the Department of Political Science.' Jackson's personal website describes the professor as 'a queer genderflux androgynous Black woman, an abolitionist, a lover of all Black people' The Syracuse Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs lists Jackson's courses as Gender and Politics, Black Feminist Politics, Advanced Qualitative Methods, and Introduction to American National Government. Jackson's out-of-office email response said that they are on research leave for the fall term, but will return to the classroom in Spring 2022. Jackson also published a regular column for Teen Vogue, though the professor does not appear to have contributed to the publication since February. The professor is also the author of the academic book Policing Blackness. Jackson's next book, Black Women Taught Us, is due to be published next year by Random House. Andrew's legal team run the risk of incurring the wrath of respected judge Lewis A Kaplan Plans by Prince Andrew's lawyers to boycott today's court hearing in his sexual assault civil case risk angering a New York judge, reports suggest. Legal papers finally delivered to the Duke of York's Windsor home were not properly served, his team claimed over the weekend, meaning lawyers are considering not taking part in the pre-trial hearing. Andrew is being sued by Jeffrey Epstein victim, Virginia Roberts, who claims she was sexually assaulted by the Duke. He vehemently denies the allegation. But while the prince's team are said to have signalled their intent not to participate in the telephone conference today, Judge Lewis Kaplan has ordered that both parties in the case 'are directed to confer regarding an agreed scheduling order', according to the Telegraph. Judge Kaplan is looking to lay out a timetable for management of the case and if Andrew's lawyers refuse to dial in for the hearing, it may be seen as being in defiance of his order. Prince Andrew, Virginia Roberts, aged 17, and Ghislaine Maxwell at Ghislaine Maxwell's townhouse in London, Britain, in 2001. Prince Andrew was served at his home in Britain with paperwork for the bombshell sexual assault lawsuit It comes after legal papers were finally accepted by the security chief at Andrew's Windsor home over the weekend after weeks of 'avoiding' officials, court documents dramatically revealed. The clock is now ticking on the Duke of York, who has 21 days to respond or he will face a default judgment. But Andrew's lawyers claimed the papers were not properly served and hope to get the case thrown out on a technicality. In a legal filing, his solicitor Gary Bloxsome said the document Miss Roberts signed in 2009 may make her action invalid. It is the first indication of how the prince and his lawyers intend to fight the case after weeks of silence. On Friday, a new affidavit was also lodged in New York from a London-based 'corporate investigator and process server', Cesar Augusto Sepulveda, who was employed to personally serve Andrew with court papers relating to the US action. He records how he first went to Royal Lodge, Andrew's Windsor mansion, on August 12 and was met by Metropolitan Police officers guarding the gate who told him they 'could not raise anyone in charge'. They said they had been 'instructed not to allow anyone attending there for the purpose of serving court process on the grounds of the property'. And they added that no documentation would be forwarded on, leaving the server with the strong impression they had been 'primed'. But Mr Sepulveda returned on August 27 and was told he could now leave his papers and they would be forwarded. In other court documents, Roberts' lawyer David Boies detailed the extensive efforts they went to in order to serve Andrew. They said that on August 12, four days after filing the lawsuit, he sent copies of the summons and the complaint to five different lawyers from three law firms who they had 'reason to believe' represented the Duke. On the same day Boies' team emailed the same documents doy.office@royal.uk, the Duke of York's public email, and got a response acknowledging the email. On August 18, a copy of the complaint and summons was sent to Blair Berk, the Los Angeles lawyer who reportedly represents Andrew. The next day Clare Montgomery of Matrix Chambers in London replied that she was 'not authorized' to accept service on behalf of the Duke. On August 26, Boies said that his lawyers sent Andrew a copy of the summons and the complaint at Royal Lodge via a same-day courier service. They also sent a copy by regular post in the UK and via FedEx, which was sent on August 16 and was delivered on August 20. According to Boies these measures ensure they have 'properly served' the summons according to the rules of the Hague Convention on the Service Abroad of Judicial Documents, to which the US and UK are parties. Virginia Roberts (left) claims she was forced to have sex with Andrew when she was 17. Prince Andrew (right in April) has denied the allegations and has not been charged Timeline of another dramatic month in the Prince Andrew case August 9 : Virginia Giuffre files a civil case in New York claiming Prince Andrew sexually abused her aged 17 : Virginia Giuffre files a civil case in New York claiming Prince Andrew sexually abused her aged 17 August 10 : Andrew arrives at Balmoral with his ex-wife Sarah Ferguson, and is joined by Eugenie the next day : Andrew arrives at Balmoral with his ex-wife Sarah Ferguson, and is joined by Eugenie the next day August 10 : US lawyers were allegedly trying to hold him up on his horse to serve him papers before he left. August 12: Dame Cressida Dick says she has told Met Police detectives to review the claims against Andrew August 13: Ms Giuffre's lawyer says Andrew will be served papers in person under the Hague Convention August 14: Epstein's telecoms specialist says he will swear on oath that he saw Andrew groping Ms Giuffre August 15: Andrew's friends say he is 'cheerful and relaxed' over the case in and will remain silent August 16: A source close to the US probe into Jeffrey Epstein says they view Andrew as a 'person of interest' September 7 : Andrew leaves Royal Lodge in Windsor and travels nearly 500 miles to Balmoral in Scotland : Andrew leaves Royal Lodge in Windsor and travels nearly 500 miles to Balmoral in Scotland September 10: A court document filed by Virginia Roberts' legal team says Andrew was served with the paperwork on August 27. A court document filed by Virginia Roberts' legal team says Andrew was served with the paperwork on August 27. September 13 : First telephone conference in the case is scheduled at Manhattan Federal Court in New York : First telephone conference in the case is scheduled at Manhattan Federal Court in New York December 8 : Deadline for Andrew to be served with court papers in person under the Hague Convention Advertisement The serving has now been ratified under civil procedure rules as required by the Supreme Court of England and Wales. There was no comment from the Duke of York's legal team last night. They are now trying to access the sealed document Miss Roberts signed via the US courts because they believe it may prevent the case from progressing. The initial hearing is at 9pm UK time on Monday in a conference call before a Manhattan judge. Miss Roberts' representatives have indicated they will fight the move by the prince's team, saying there is 'no evidence' he was ever intended to be covered by the previous legal agreement. The 38-year-old, who is arguably Epstein's most high-profile victim, has repeatedly accused the Queen's son of having sex with her three times when she was aged 17 in London, New York and the British Virgin Islands. Last month she launched a surprise legal move lodging a civil claim against the prince for rape, sexual assault and battery. Andrew, 61, has refused to comment on the case but has previously strongly denied her claims. Miss Roberts alleges she was scouted and groomed as a schoolgirl by Epstein and his then-girlfriend, Ghislaine Maxwell, before being used by the billionaire financier as an underage 'sex slave'. In 2009 she reached a confidential settlement in Florida with the financier that may contain clauses which prevent her from taking action against individuals she has accused of being co-conspirators of the tycoon. One of those was high-profile US lawyer Alan Dershowitz, who previously represented Epstein. He was accused of sexual assault by Miss Roberts in 2019. But last month she reportedly dropped the claim because of the Epstein settlement, which released him from liability. Her withdrawal was described in a joint court filing last month as 'a compromise' that should not be viewed as an admission by either party of the validity or invalidity of the claims about the settlement agreement. Mr Dershowitz has lodged a request with the Manhattan court dealing with the action against Andrew to have the original agreement unsealed, as he believes it may help to get the case against the prince thrown out. The Harvard law professor said yesterday: 'We strongly suspect that Virginia and her lawyers may have committed fraud on the court by filing a lawsuit against Prince Andrew after dismissing the battery case against me. 'The same reasons for dismissing the case against me seem to apply to Prince Andrew. These documents should get the charges against Prince Andrew thrown out. It's an airtight defence for Prince Andrew and a potential fraud on the court.' Prince Andrew with his ex-wife Sarah Ferguson leaving Windsor to drive to the Queen's Balmoral estate in Scotland Wednesday Prince Andrew walking with Jeffrey Epstein in Central Park, New York City in 2011 after the friends left Epstein's home in Manhattan But Miss Roberts' lawyer, David Boies, has said there was 'no evidence Prince Andrew was intended to be covered by the release'. Mr Boies said he was unable to comment on the details of her settlement with Epstein, citing its confidentiality, but added: 'What I can say is that there is no evidence that Prince Andrew was intended to be covered by the release. 'And, indeed, Prince Andrew has never himself asserted that he was intended to be covered by the release.' In a letter obtained by ABC News in the US, Mr Bloxsome described the methods used by Miss Roberts' legal team as 'objectionable'. In correspondence with a judge, he said: 'They have made several public, indeed well-publicised, attempts at irregular service of these proceedings in this jurisdiction, in at least one case accompanied by a media representative.' Mr Bloxsome maintained that under British law, a valid request for assistance from UK court officials must come from a judicial or diplomatic officer in the US. US district judge Kaplan must now decide whether Andrew has been officially served. If he does, the prince will be given a deadline to respond. The Queen's former doctor has slammed 'unsafe' online GP appointments, it was revealed yesterday. Sir Richard Thompson said virtual consultations introduced to curb the spread of Covid are no longer necessary. As it emerged that some patients are now paying for private consultations in a desperate bid to see a doctor, Sir Richard called for 'as many as possible' face-to-face appointments as many Britons are now vaccinated. His comments come after Greater Manchester's senior coroner ruled that a lack of face-to-face assessments had contributed to at least five deaths and warned of more to come. Sir Richard, who was the Queen's private doctor for 21 years and a former president of the Royal College of Physicians, said seeing a patient can provide 'vital clinical cues'. 'It's sad so many appointments have gone online because you can miss important health information you cannot get from a virtual consultation and this can be unsafe,' he told the Sunday Express. Sir Richard Thompson said virtual consultations introduced to curb the spread of Covid are no longer necessary [Stock image] Some patients have turned to private healthcare in order to see a doctor. June Gray, 69, a jewellery seller from Ipswich, Suffolk, paid 95 for a face-to-face GP appointment for her son, who suffers from Crohn's disease. 'The GP was from my son's normal NHS practice,' she told The Sunday Times. 'He was as surprised as my son to see one of his own patients. 'He kindly refunded his fee and sent my son to hospital for blood tests.' Last week, the UK's second largest private healthcare provider, Spire, reported 81 per cent more revenue from self-funded patients in the second quarter of the year compared to in 2019. Chief executive Justin Ash said people are 'paying to get off waiting lists'. Overall, the number of NHS patients waiting for routine operations has grown to 5.61million, with nearly 300,000 waiting longer than a year from referral to first treatment. A glamorous bride-to-be who spectacularly scrapped her wedding to her long-term boyfriend in mysterious circumstances has announced their nuptials are back on. Eighteen months ago, Sarah Carter - the former mayor of Maribyrnong in Melbourne's inner west - announced that she was cancelling her wedding to advertising director Aaron Lipson. Ms Carter revealed that she had received a phone call from a third party with some bad news. But time heals all wounds and the local councillor revealed on Sunday that her relationship with Mr Lipson had taken a turn - for the better. Ms Carter posted a picture of a sparkly engagement ring on Instagram, tagged Mr Lipson and wrote: 'Worth the wait. Getting hitched'. High-profile mayor Sarah Carter last year ended her engagement to advertising executive boyfriend Aaron Lipson after receiving a call from a third party. The wedding is now back on Ms Carter posted an image of a three stone engagement ring to Instagram on Sunday - celebrating her impending nuptials Another view of the ring posted to Instagram in Ms Carter's engagement announcement on Sunday The congratulations flowed in from the likes of Federal Labor MP Terri Butler and state MP Katie Hall. Ms Carter first announced her engagement to Mr Lipson last year after an eight month relationship. She described him as the 'most amazing man I've ever chanced upon' and herself as the 'luckiest gal in the world'. But a third party phoned her to reveal some bad news while she was basking in the glow of well-wishers. Days after her announcement, she took to Facebook to tell her friends and family her plans to marry Mr Lipson were no more. 'The wedding is off,' she wrote in the second post. 'Thank you to the woman for telling me, best to know now. 'I'm obviously terribly embarrassed.' Those feelings have no doubt faded. When Daily Mail Australia called Ms Carter for comment on her new wedding plans this week, she said she was 'just moving on with my life'. Initial announcement: Above is how Ms Carter announced her first engagement to her boyfriend of eight months, advertising guru Aaron Lipson Ms Carter, an accomplished councillor who has enjoyed an admirable political career in local government since being first elected to Maribyrnong City Council in 2008, is pictured in front of the Capitol building in Washington D.C The mayor of Maribyrnong in Melbourne's inner-west is pictured with former Labor leader Bill Shorten Ms Carter announced she was 'getting hitched' and her engagement ring was 'worth the wait' in a post to Instagram this on Sunday The councillor was elected to the suburban Melbourne council in 2008 and became mayor in 2011. She held the mayoral role last year and remains on the local council after handing over the title in late 2020. Her political interests include gender equity and social justice. Following last year's scandal she said she was going through the 'highest of highs and the lowest of lows in a very short space in time and am just trying to get through it with family and friends'. Now she has a wedding to plan. Former Channel Seven host Andrew O'Keefe allegedly scratched and spat at a woman during an argument at a Sydney home last week. The 49-year-old ex-Deal or No Deal star has been charged with multiple domestic violence offences and spent a night in jail following the incident in the exclusive harbourside suburb of Point Piper on Wednesday. Mr O'Keefe allegedly visited the woman's home and the pair had an argument during which he became aggressive and then allegedly spat at the woman and scratched her arm, police sources revealed to The Daily Telegraph. He then felt dizzy and short of breath and was transported to hospital for assessment but was later arrested and spent Friday night at Surry Hills Police Station. O'Keefe was charged with assault occasioning actual bodily harm, common assault, contravening an AVO, and resist officer in execution of duty. The former Deal or No Deal host was granted bail in Parramatta Bail Court on Saturday, commenting to Channel 10 reporters on his way out of the courtroom: 'Well I'm just getting back from last time... two strikes and you're out in this country' The new charges were levelled two months after a string of assault charges involving one of his ex-lovers were dropped in court. After Friday night in a cell, O'Keefe was granted bail in Parramatta Bail Court on Saturday, commenting to Channel 10 reporters on his way out of the courtroom: 'Well I'm just getting back from last time... two strikes and you're out in this country'. 'I spent a night in hospital, I spent a night in jail, despite an agreement with police that would not happen. 'There is a dispute about facts, a significant dispute about the facts (of what happened on Wednesday).' He will appear in court again later this week. Ex-Channel 7 host Andrew O'Keefe has been charged with assault and breaking an AVO Two months ago Mr O'Keefe was charged with slapping, kicking and spitting on another lover in a row over an ice pipe she claimed he was carrying at a party. He appeared before Sydney's Waverley Local Court on June 25, charged with three counts of assaulting a woman with whom he had a relationship for two years. Two of the charges, which occurred at their home in Randwick, were dismissed on mental health grounds - although his lawyers indicated he would have otherwise pleaded guilty to them. A third assault charge related to an alleged incident at Kangaroo Valley earlier this year and was withdrawn by prosecutors. The court heard Mr O'Keefe, who suffers bipolar and substance abuse disorders, was in a 'hyper-manic' state when he assaulted the woman at their home on January 30 after the couple attended a birthday party in Surry Hills. Two months ago Mr O'Keefe was charged with slapping, kicking and spitting on his doctor girlfriend in a row over an ice pipe she claimed he was carrying at a party (pictured with his lawyer leaving Waverley court in June) Magistrate Hudson found Mr O'Keefe had been in a 'hyper-manic' bipolar state at the time of the offending, was remorseful and contrite. He has had dozens of psychological and psychiatric appointments and weeks-long stays receiving mental health treatment since the incident. The court heard Mr O'Keefe's family had an extensive history of mood disorders. His rock star uncle Johnny O'Keefe spent two months of almost every year at the Ryde Psychiatric hospital, the court heard. An apprehended violence order was left in place between the former couple. When Daily Mail Australia asked Mr O'Keefe outside court if his television career was over, he said: 'I'm not sure if I'm over or if TV's over.' A young Vietnamese-Australian lawyer has blasted the Labor Party for crushing her dreams to become a federal MP representing her local community - as she reveals her challenging upbringing in Sydney's south-west. Tu Le looked set to represent the Labor stronghold of Fowler in the city's west until frontbencher Kristina Keneally declared she wanted the seat for herself - even though she lives 44km away on an island on the wealthy Northern Beaches. Senator Keneally will be approved as the candidate by the National Executive this week, meaning 30-year-old Ms Le will have to wait a little longer to become a politician and may have to consider running for the state parliament instead. In a long and moving Facebook post on Monday morning, the migration lawyer - who was raised in poverty in south-west Sydney by Vietnamese immigrant parents - slammed Labor for overlooking her and called for greater ethnic diversity in parliament. Tu Le (pictured with Fowler MP Chris Hayes) looked set to represent the Labor stronghold of Fowler but her chance was taken away by former NSW premier, Kristina Keneally She also attacked local community groups who had come out in support of Senator Keneally after it became clear the shadow home affairs minister would win pre-selection. 'I'm calling this out because it is downright WRONG for our leaders to use their positions of power for their own personal gains,' Ms Le wrote. 'Whether it's in the highest offices of this country or at the community level, we should NEVER accept this behaviour from those who represent us.' Ms Le said she doesn't 'hold it against' those who did not support her and quoted the Buddha, saying: ''Holding onto anger is like drinking poison and expecting the other person to die''.' She attacked Labor for relying on 'superficial connections to our diverse communities' and said the party needs more diversity among its politicians. 'Some politicians only come to our festivals and events (especially before an election) for photo-ops, while ''wearing a sari and eating some Kung Pao chicken to make themselves look good'', she said, quoting Labor MP Ann Aly who had supported her. 'It feels like they seek our support only when looking for fundraising and membership opportunities. It's 2021, and this is no longer acceptable. 'DIVERSITY AND INCLUSION is not a tick the box exercise. Kristina Keneally (pictured with husband Ben at the Parliament House Mid Winter Ball in 2019) has confirmed she will run in a culturally diverse safe Labor seat in western Sydney 'Our parents and grandparents may have come to this lucky country, put their heads down, worked hard and tried to blend in. 'But our generation has grown up in this sunburnt country. The values of equal opportunity and a fair go were instilled in us through our education. 'We weren't made to blend in, we were taught to stand OUT and stand UP for what we believe in,' she added. Ms Le, whose parents came to Australia for a better life after the Vietnam War, said she 'never expected a free ticket to Parliament' but complained she was 'collateral damage' to an internal struggle which made it unlikely Senator Keneally would retain her senate spot. 'That's just the nature of politics and I hold no personal grudges,' she wrote. 'But I know a lot of young people, especially those in my community who usually couldn't care less about politics, are enraged by what has happened. 'You have probably felt agitated before but weren't sure what to do about it. 'My message to you is: use your anger as a call to action. If you feel you can no longer sit back, drop me a line. If we keep sitting back and staying quiet, that's on us. 'Together, we will use this spark to create a wildfire.' Lawyer Tu Le, 30, had hoped to represent her community in Parliament but Senator Keneally will be selected instead In a previous social media post, Ms Le described her challenging upbringing in south-west Sydney. 'For the better part of my life, I felt ashamed about living in a flat, not knowing what it was like to have a white picket fence and backyard with a hills hoist,' she wrote. 'I recall feeling confused that I could get extra UAI points for my HSC because I came from a disadvantaged public school. I don't ever recall feeling disadvantaged because of who I was or where I lived. For far too long, political parties have relied on superficial connections to our diverse communities Tu Le 'Not until I left my bubble and started university. That's when I truly understood my parents' pressure to succeed at school. 'Education was my ticket to freedom. Freedom from poverty, freedom of opportunity. I could be who I wanted to be and give back to the country that gave us so much when we left everything behind us in Vietnam. 'Naturally, I became a lawyer. I wasn't a fan of blood,' she said, explaining why becoming a doctor was not an option. Alongside her job helping exploited migrants as Program Director at Migrant Employment Legal Service, Ms Le is a youth leader at the Vietnamese Buddhist Youth Association. On Tuesday morning Ms Le told ABC radio she only found out she was being overlooked from reading the news and said her community was angry with the move. 'Well, it all happened very quickly. So I've had a bit of a whirlwind of a week. And I actually found out from the media, I think it was Wednesday night when the first article came out. So I hadn't been contacted by anyone about this,' she said. Ms Le said people in her electorate who had not even heard of leader Anthony Albanese were suddenly engaged in politics because of what happened to her. Retiring Fowler MP Chris Hayes had backed Ms Le to take over, calling her the 'appropriate choice', but his preference has been ignored. Due to a history of branch-stacking in the seat, locals are not allowed to pre-select candidates who are instead chosen directly by the NSW Labor right faction. Senator Keneally was set to lose her place in the senate because fellow right faction member Deborah O'Neill received strong support to take top spot on Labor's NSW Senate ticket at the next election. A Labor source told Daily Mail Australia said it was a no-brainer to put former NSW premier Keneally in the lower house in a safe Labor seat over Ms Le. 'They would be crazy to lose Kristina over a 30-year-old unknown quantity with no political experience,' the source said. 'For a 30-year-old to be granted a safe seat would be extremely rare.' Ms Le (right) is pictured with Labor leader Anthony Albanese. She will have to wait a little longer to become a politician A close ally of Ms Keneally said she has strong links with the local community in Fowler - which takes in Liverpool and Fairfield - due to her time as premier. 'They want some-one with experience who will give them a seat at top table, especially if Labor wins government,' the source said. Senator Keneally - who led Labor to the worst defeat of a sitting government in NSW history as premier in 2011 - said she will move 44km from her $1.8million home on Scotland Island on Sydney's Northern Beaches to live in the Fowler electorate. A total of 19 per cent of the residents in the electorate - are Vietnamese and Ms Le wanted to Labor to prove it was truly a multicultural party by selecting a Vietnamese candidate. Ms Le said she was gutted to be elbowed out by Ms Keneally who was parachuted into the senate by then leader Bill Shorten in 2018 when sitting senator Sam Dastyari quit after controversy over links to Chinese donors. One local community advocate told the ABC that Senator Keneally would not be welcome because she does not represent the disadvantaged area. 'I don't think Kristina Keneally represents the community in Fairfield,' said Winnie Dunn, general manager of Sweatshop Literacy Movement. 'It's predominantly Assyrian and Vietnamese communities, and because she's from the North Shore I just think that disconnect will be overwhelmingly difficult for her to bridge.' Mr Hayes's brother Gerard, who runs the Health Services Union, also slammed the move, telling the ABC: 'Why are we losing our base? Because we do stuff like this.' Senator Keneally bought her home (pictured) on Sydney's Scotland Island for $1.8million in 2017 Senator Keneally said she would move out of her Northern Beaches home (pictured) and live in Fowler And one federal Labor MP described Senator Keneally's bid as 'Labor at its worst'. But in a statement on Friday the 52-year-old senator, who was born in Las Vegas to an American father and an Australian mother, defended her decision to run despite Mr Hayes throwing his support behind Ms Le. 'Since Chris announced his retirement, I have been approached by ALP branch members urging me to consider nomination for the seat of Fowler,' she said. 'I am humbled by this encouragement. 'Serving this community, living in this community, and fighting for them is what I want to do.' Opposition Leader Anthony Albanese also defended the move, saying Labor was leading the way on multicultural and gender representation in parliament, even citing his own Italian background. 'Labor has incredible cultural diversity in our ranks,' he told reporters in Sydney. He said previous candidates for prime minister all had Anglo-Celtic names in contrast with his Italian surname. 'I'm putting myself forward, very proud of my background and very proud to lead a party that has advanced multiculturalism.' A move to the lower house would mean Senator Keneally - who is Labor's deputy leader in the upper house - will step down from the party's leadership team but it would open up the possibility of her becoming party leader in future. It comes after she faced uncertainty over whether she would retain her spot in the senate. With the left's Jenny McAllister taking second position on the ticket, Senator Keneally would likely have been relegated to the hard-to-win third spot. Labor has not won three seats in NSW at a regular half-Senate election since Kevin Rudd swept to power in 2007. Justice Amy Coney Barrett dismissed concerns that the Supreme Court has become a vehicle for enforcing right-wing policies and blamed the media for how it reports on cases in a speech Sunday. 'My goal today is to convince you that this court is not comprised of a bunch of partisan hacks,' Barrett said to an audience at Kentucky's University of Louisville. The Supreme Court became a hotbed for controversy last week when it declined to block a restrictive new law in Texas that prevents women from getting an abortion if they are more than six weeks pregnant, a point when many don't even know they are. The 5-4 ruling prompted a fierce response from Democrats in government and a Justice Department lawsuit against Texas. Justices Sotomayor, Kagan and Breyer - the court's three liberals - issued scathing dissenting opinions in which they accused their conservative counterparts of burying 'their heads in the sand' with an 'unconstitutional' decision. But on Sunday, Barrett blamed the media for how it reports on the Supreme Court, the Louisville Courier Journal reports. 'The media, along with hot takes on Twitter, report the results and decisions,' Barrett said. 'That makes the decision seem results-oriented. It leaves the reader to judge whether the court was right or wrong, based on whether she liked the results of the decision.' U.S. Supreme Court Associate Justice Amy Coney Barrett speaks to an audience at the 30th anniversary of the University of Louisville McConnell Center in Louisville on Sunday She insisted that 'judicial philosophies are not the same as political parties.' 'To say the courts reasoning is flawed is different from saying the court is acting in a partisan manner... I think we need to evaluate what the court is doing on its own terms.' The Trump appointee conceded that she's not immune to personal disagreements with court decisions she helped propel. 'But it's not my job to decide cases based on the outcome I want,' she said. She added that Justices must be 'hyper vigilant to make sure theyre not letting personal biases creep into their decisions, since judges are people, too.' Barrett was speaking at the 30th anniversary of the university's McConnell Center, founded by the Senate minority leader himself to provide scholarships to Kentucky students. Several supporters of abortion rights demonstrated on Sunday outside the Seelbach Hotel, where the private event was held. Abortion rights supporters protested outside the hotel where Barrett was speaking on Sunday A protester dressed as a handmaiden, stands outside the Seelbach Hotel She was asked about the Supreme Court's 'shadow docket,' which came under scrutiny after the Texas decision was announced just after midnight with little explanation for its rationale. Barrett said it would be 'inappropriate' for her to comment on the case as it could possibly come before the court again. The justice was introduced at the event by McConnell, who praised her for her 'middle America' roots and not trying to 'legislate from the bench.' Barrett was born in Indiana and is the only current justice who didn't attend Harvard or Yale. McConnell played a key role in pushing through her confirmation in the last days of the Trump administration following the death of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. She was confirmed by the Senate in a 52-48 vote last year, a little over a month after Ginsburg's death. Democrats opposed her nomination, arguing that the process was rushed and that the winner of the 2020 presidential election should have been able to choose Ginsburg's replacement. McConnells decision to move forward with Barrett's nomination was a contrast to the position he took in 2016, when he refused to consider President Barack Obamas choice to fill the seat left vacant by the death of Justice Antonin Scalia in February of that year. The court's three liberal justices issued scathing dissenting opinions in the Texas ruling in which they accused their conservative counterparts of burying 'their heads in the sand' McConnell blocked hearings for then-judge Merrick Garland, now Bidens attorney general, saying the choice should be left to voters in an election year. Barrett, 49, also spoke about her introduction to the court in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic, saying it 'certainly is a different experience.' The court has for more than a year been hearing arguments by telephone though it recently announced a return to the courtroom in October. Barrett described the court as a 'warm, collegial place.' She said that after she was confirmed a colleague brought Halloween candy for her children. The first mother of school-age children on the high court also spoke about balancing her job and family life. 'I have an important job, but I certainly am no more important than anyone else in the grocery store checkout line,' Barrett said, describing how her relationship with her children - who are not 'particularly impressed' with her high-profile post - helps her stay grounded in her 'regular life' where she is busy 'running carpools, throwing birthday parties, being ordered around.' When asked what advice she would give to young women who would like to pursue a career in public service, the justice said she would like young women to know it is possible to raise a family and be successful. Premier Gladys Berejiklian has hit back after being questioned over the timing of her citywide lockdown and provided a harsh reality about the Delta strain of Covid-19. The NSW Premier was grilled by a reporter attending her Covid press conference on Monday as the state recorded 1,257 new cases of the virus overnight. The reporter asked Ms Berejiklian why she waited two days to lock all of Sydney down following a super-spreader event in West Hoxton held on June 19. Premier Gladys Berejiklian (pictured) has hit back after being questioned over the timing of her state-wide lockdown and provided a harsh reality about the Delta strain of Covid-19 The reporter said NSW Health knew it had failed to contain the subsequent outbreak on June 24, and asked the premier when she had first received advice that the city's west and southwest should be locked down. 'I think I have answered that question many times before, as has Dr Chant,' Ms Berejiklian responded. 'I think you'll recall that day when we had two press conferences. It was within hours of getting that advice.' The premier said she wanted to make it 'very clear' the Delta strain of the virus was different to anything ever experienced before. 'I know a lot was said about when we locked down, was it too hard or too slow or too fast,' she continued. 'But all of our major decisions have been based directly on the health advice in a shorter time frame as possible with a sense of urgency and immediacy.' Ms Berejiklian reiterated the highly-contagious of coronavirus had the ability to wreck havoc on unvaccinated populations. Ms Berejiklian was asked why she waited two says to enforce a citywide lockdown after NSW Health knew it had failed to contain a super-spreader event in West Hoxton on June 24 (pictured, empty parks in Merrylands in Sydney's Covid-hit west on Sunday) Ms Berejiklian has defended the decision to lock down Greater Sydney on June 26 and said she had acted on the health advice provided to her (pictured, crowds of residents on Bondi Beach) 'It spreads rapidly. It denies us freedoms. I would never have assumed someone in my position would have to make the decisions we have had to make on behalf of the people of the state,' she said. The premier said NSW residents would look back on these trying months at Christmas time and feel grateful for the 'thousands of lives saved' by Covid-19 restrictions and the state's vaccination program. However reporters continued to challenge the premier over the timing of the advice provided to lock down Covid-hit areas of Sydney's west and southwest. A reporter said health authorities had become aware of the West Hoxton party on June 21 and realised additional attendees had been in the community for five days on June 24. Ms Berejiklian was asked how long after this realisation did the decision come to enforce stay-at-home orders across the rest of Sydney. Ms Berejiklian reiterated the highly-contagious of coronavirus had the ability to wreck havoc on unvaccinated populations at her Covid update on Monday (police in Bankstown on Sunday) 'Quite immediate. We react to the health advice as soon as we receive it,' she said. The premier added she could have waited an extra hour or extra day to enforce stay-at-home orders but decided to hold a second press conference instead. 'As soon as we got upstairs Dr Chant provided us with additional advice and we reacted within hours,' she said. Ms Berejiklian made the announcement Sydney's city and eastern suburbs would be locked down on June 25 with Greater Sydney to follow the next day. The premier said she was made aware 'early on' of how difficult the Delta strain would be to contain and commended the efforts of public health officials. Ms Berejiklian said she would continue to defend the work of contact tracers and health officials and described the Delta variant as a 'game-changer'. A parliamentary inquiry revealed NSW Health knew it had failed to contain a super-spreader event in Sydney's southwest on June 24 (pictured, residents in Rushcutters Bay Park) 'I don't know anywhere in the world, please point to me anywhere in the world where countries haven't struggled with it,' she said. 'The only difference for us is we had a largely unvaccinated population when Delta hit and that's why our public health measures have had to be so harsh.' It comes after a parliamentary inquiry revealed NSW Health knew it had failed to contain a super-spreader event in Sydney's southwest on June 24. The first known case of Covid-19 was detected on June 16 in a limousine driver believed to have caught the virus while transporting an international flight crew. Three days later a woman attended the West Hoxton party after becoming infected with the virus at a Bondi Junction nail salon. At least 51 known cases of coronavirus have been linked to the party with 30 attendees infecting another 21 close contacts. Up to five fully vaccinated adults who live outside 12 Sydney Covid-19 hotspots areas can gather outdoors within five kilometres of their home (pictured, residents in Bondi) It comes as NSW records 1,257 new cases of Covid-19 and seven deaths overnight. Rule changes have been made on outdoor gatherings across Sydney and a state border bubble with Queensland has been opened, allowing people in northern NSW who aren't locked down to travel into the Sunshine state. Up to five fully vaccinated adults who live outside 12 Sydney Covid-19 hotspots areas can gather outdoors within five kilometres of their home. There are currently 1,189 patients being treated in hospital, including 222 in intensive care, of which 94 require ventilation. More than 46 per cent of residents aged 16 and over have received two doses of the vaccine while 78.5 per cent have received one. Advertisement The mother of a Florida woman who has been missing since her fiance returned from a cross-country trip without her said the last time she spoke over the phone with her daughter was on August 25 - and cast suspicion on the texts received from her adventure-seeking girl over the next five days. Nicole Schmidt of Long Island, New York, said she texted Gabby Petito on August 27 and 30, but now says she isn't sure if her daughter was on the other end of the exchange because it wasn't verbal and she didn't share any photos of herself, Schmidt told Fox News. 'It was just a text. I did not verbally speak to her,' she said. 'I can't say much, but she's no longer with the van. I don't want to say anything more than that but for people looking for her, I want them to look for her now, not look for that van anymore.' Petito's fiance, Brian Laundrie, has remained mum on her whereabouts, hiring an attorney and refusing to speak publicly about what happened, according to Petito's family. Gabby Petito of Blue Point, 22, and her boyfriend, Brian Laundrie, set out on their road trip in early July, first driving from Laundrie's home state of Florida to Petito's in New York. Then, the pair set out West toward Salt Lake City. She was reported missing by her family on Saturday, and last posted on her Instagram account in Ogden, Utah, two weeks ago (photo pictured) The above map illustrates the places Petito and Laundrie visited since the start of the trip leaving New York on July 2 to when she last spoke to her family on August 25 from Grand Teton National Park Fiance Brian Laundrie (pictured left) has since returned home to Florida with the pair's camper van, according to missing Gabby Petito's father Joseph Petito, and has hired a lawyer Petito, 22, who grew up in Blue Point, N.Y., was last seen on August 24 checking out of a hotel with Laundrie in Salt Lake City, Utah. The following day she made her final call to her family, telling them that she and Laundrie had traveled to Grand Teton National Park in Wyoming. Her last Instagram, posted on August 25, shows her visiting the Monarch Wall in Ogden, Utah with the caption 'Happy Halloween'. The pair were heading from Ogden to Yellowstone National Park, just north of Grand Teton. The couple embarked on their trip on July 2 from Blue Point, where they traveled for Petito's brother's graduation on June 17. Laundrie returned to their home in North Port, Florida, where the couple moved two years ago, driving the couple's 2012 Ford Transit van, which police confirmed recovering. However, it is not clear when he arrived, what he did when he got there or who he told, if anyone, about Petito's disappearance. She was reported missing by her mother to New York authorities on Saturday night. '[It's like] drowning with your hands tied behind you,' Petito's father, Joseph Petito, told Newsday of his daughter's disappearance. 'You can't describe it. There's nothing you can do. You can't control anything.' The Suffolk County Police Department opened an investigation after her Schmidt filed a missing persons report just before 7pm on Saturday, the agency wrote in a press release. The Suffolk County Police Department opened an investigation after her mom Nichole Schmidt reported her missing just before 7pm on Saturday, the agency wrote in a press release 'I can't say much, but she's no longer with the van,' Schmidt told Fox News of her daughter. 'I don't want to say anything more than that but for people looking for her, I want them to look for her now, not look for that van anymore' Petito was seen in a YouTube video having a snack in the van as they made way on their cross-country journey The couple started their trip on July 2 after Petito attended her brother's graduation in New York on June 17. They planned to reach Portland, Oregon, and visit a family friend for Halloween Neither Petito's family nor her boyfriend Laundrie could be reached for comment. Petito was described as 5-feet5, around 110 pounds, with several tattoos, including one on her forearm reading 'let it be'. She and Laundrie moved to North Port, Florida, two years ago from Blue Point, where she grew up and attended Bayport-Blue Point High School. Her dad moved to Vero Beach, Florida, in June to be closer to his daughter. He described her as 'very, very free spirited'. 'Clothes didn't impress her. Cars didn't impress her. Experiences - that's what impressed her.' The couple started their trip on July 2 after Petito attended her brother's graduation in New York on June 17. They planned to reach Portland, Oregon, and visit a family friend for Halloween. The pair had documented their conversion of a 2012 Ford van into a camper and their life traveling in it on YouTube and Instagram, and were developing a social media presence under the name 'Nomadic Statik.' Per their Instagram accounts, the pair began their trip on July 2 and traveled to Kansas' Monument Rocks, Colorado Springs, Great Sand Dunes National Park, Zion National Park and Bryce National Park in Utah and Canyonlands National Park since July 2. 'Downsizing out life to fit into this itty bitty van was the best decision we've ever made,' Laundrie wrote on Instagram in early July. 'Sacrificing space to wake up in nature everyday has been no sacrifice at all.' Vanished without a trace: Timeline of Gabby Petito's trip and disappearance July 2: Gabby Petito and Brian Laundrie set out on their road trip from Blue Point, New York in Suffolk County on eastern Long Island July 5: The couple stopped at Kansas' Monument Rocks July 8: Their next stop was Colorado Springs July 10: Petito updated her Instagram with photos of her walking at Grand Sand Dunes National Park July 16: Petitos smiling in a photo from the couples next stop at Zion National Park July 20: Petito informed her Instagram followers that they were at Cedar Breaks July 21: The next stop was Bryce Canyon National Park July 26: Petito posted a photo relaxing in a tub at Mystic Hot Springs July 30: The couple stopped at Canyonlands National Park Mesa Arch August 12: They couple took a hike at Arches National Park August 13: Laundrie posted an Instagram photo from their next destination in Moab, Utah August 24: The couple were seen checking out of a hotel in Salt Lake City, Utah August 25: Petitos family spoke to her for the last time over the phone and she said she was in Grand Teton National Park August 27, 30: Petitos mom Nicole Schmidt had a text exchange with who she thought was Petito, but didnt hear from her over the phone to confirm Unknown date: Laundrie returned to the couples home in North port, Florida, without Petito September 11: Schmidt reported her daughter missing after not hearing from her for nearly two weeks Advertisement Neither Petito's family nor her boyfriend Laundrie could be reached for comment at press time. The Suffolk County Police Department opened an investigation after her family reported her missing just before 7 pm on Saturday, the agency wrote in a press release '[My daughter] was last physically seen on August 24th when she checked out of a hotel with her boyfriend salt Lake City, Utah,' said Gabby Petito's father, Joseph Petito, on Facebook. '[Brian Laundrie] has since returned home and retained a lawyer, and is uncooperative currently.' The engaged couple had documented their conversion of a 2012 Ford van into a camper and their life traveling in it on YouTube and Instagram Neither Petito's family nor her boyfriend Laundrie could be reached for comment at press time. The pair are pictured together in Canyonlands National Park in Utah The Suffolk County Police Department opened an investigation after her family reported her missing just before 7 pm on Saturday, the agency wrote in a press release. In an Instagram post on July 16, Petito wrote, 'The past two nights camping in Zion have been so cool, literally. We hiked up here in about 100 and it was so nice coming back to our campsite, watching the sky fill with dark clouds, and view the lightning storm in the nice cool air of the light rain.' Petito and Laundrie had turned back from Utah in late August to evade wildfire smoke, Nicole Schmidt said, and had planned to go to Yellowstone National Park next. Schmidt said she would remain vigilant and keep up the search for her daughter. 'I just want people to keep looking and not stop until we find her,' Schmidt told Newsday. 'She's out there somewhere... We won't stop until we find her.' Schmidt's husband and son TJ have posted two missing persons posters on their Instagrams as well as a picture of Petito, appealing for her safe return. Both warned they were unable to 'comment any further because there is an active investigation.' Since Petito's disappearance, her family has launched a GoFundMe that has accrued $5,000 in just six hours. They have also started a social media campaign on Facebook, simply called 'Find Gabby,' where a number of national park visitors have claimed to recognize the pair's van. 'While we are working with the FBI, multiple law enforcement agencies, and outside resources to pursue any and all leads the family will need funds and resources to travel and pay for expenses related to an investigation and search on the other side of the country, any help is appreciated,' reads the body of the fundraiser. 'Downsizing out life to fit into this itty bitty van was the best decision we've ever made,' Laundrie wrote on Instagram in early July. Petito is an artist, a vegetarian and a yoga enthusiast, according to her Instagram page. She was reported missing on Saturday evening, and her family has not heard from her since August 25 'I love the van,' Petito said in the couple's YouTube video, which was posted three weeks ago On the eve of the 20th anniversary of 9/11, MSNBC host Jonathan Capehart announced that he believed that Trump supporters are more of a threat than the Taliban or ISIS. Capehart called out 'MAGA and the domestic threat', which he said was far 'more worrisome than any foreign threat', during an appearance at PBS NewsHour on Friday. The Washington Post columnist and news host went on to describe the last several years as 'one giant step forward, and then two giant steps back.' 'One giant step forward was the election of Barack Obama as president of the United States, first black president. But a huge step back was the election of Donald Trump as president. Another huge, huge step forward, the election of Joe Biden as president of the United States,' Capehart said. ''But another huge step back, to my mind, one was the fact that, even though Donald Trump lost the election, he got 15 12 million more votes than he did in 2016. So it just highlights the divisions within the country,' he added. Capehart (pictured) called out 'MAGA and the domestic threat' on Friday John Yang, center, who was hosting the interview, asked Capehart if he meant 'that other forces have changed politics more since 9/11 than 9/11' Capehart specifically cited the January 6 Capitol siege as a turning point in where MAGA supporters of former president Donald Trump violently invaded the Capitol Building in Washington DC in an effort to disrupt a joint session of Congress that was busy counting electoral votes in Joe Biden's favor. 'And then the ultimate step back, January 6. My colleague Carlos Lozada said this morning on television that how ironic it is that, on September 11, there were reports that the plane that went down in Shanksville was headed to the Capitol, headed to crash into the Capitol,' Capehart continued. 'And yet, at almost 20 years later, the Capitol was ransacked by domestic terrorists who lay siege to the U.S. Capitol at a time when the members of Congress were certifying the last election.' John Yang, who was hosting the interview, asked Capehart if he meant 'that other forces have changed politics more since 9/11 than 9/11.' 'Oh, I think so. I think MAGA and the domestic terror threat is much more worrisome than any foreign threat we could face.' Social media reactions towards the MSNBC host was largely negative, with most users expressing frustration with Capehart's take on MAGA politics and Islamic fanaticism. 'The most worrisome threats are ignorant MSNBC pundits, like this fool. Jonathan Capehart: MAGA threat more worrisome than ISIS or Taliban 20 years after 9/11,' another user wrote Social media reactions towards the MSNBC host was largely negative 'Should we not focus on ISIS & Al Qaeda now? Cmon man!' Charles Marino tweeted 'So frustrating when people with zero national security experience talk about threats in numerical ratings or use expressions like 'more worrisome' in an effort to politicize threats. Should we not focus on ISIS & Al Qaeda now? Cmon man!' Charles Marino tweeted. 'The most worrisome threats are ignorant MSNBC pundits, like this fool. MSNBC's Jonathan Capehart: MAGA threat more worrisome than ISIS or Taliban 20 years after 9/11,' another user wrote. 'Me: 'Siri, please tell me that @MSNBC will finally stop working to minimize the domestic and global threat of Islamist fanaticism, in the wake of 9/11+20.' Siri: 'Sorry, Jon, they're doubling down,' a third offered in response to Capehart, while noting the 20th anniversary to the 9/11 attacks. Tear gas is released into a crowd of protesters during clashes with Capitol police at a rally to contest the certification of the 2020 U.S. presidential election results by the US Congress 'Oh, I think so. I think MAGA and the domestic terror threat is much more worrisome than any foreign threat we could face' Capehart continued More than one talking head has offered similar hot takes, in comparing the 9/11 attacks to the January 6 Capitol riots, something families of victim's call nothing more than an effort to 'score political points.' 'It's a shame,' said Jim Riches, whose son died at the World Trade Center, according to Fox News. 'Are they kidding me? 3,000 people died, plus we have more people dying from the air that was down there They're comparing it to score points politically. The families are really [angry]. When I talk to them, when they compare it to that, they find that outrageous.' Meanwhile, the Taliban has been at odds with ISIS-K, the Islamic State arm in Afghanistan, after the Taliban took over the capitol of Kabul amidst the mass withdrawal of US troops. ISIS is a sworn enemy to both the Taliban and the United States. Australian children as young as five could be vaccinated against Covid-19 in weeks and babies as early as next year. Pfizer will seek regulatory approval for its vaccine to be used to immunise children aged 5 to 11 and is working on smaller doses for younger kids and babies. The Therapeutic Goods Administration in Australia will assess the American pharmaceutical giant's application and monitor trial results. Ugur Sahin, chief executive of Pfizers manufacturing partner BioNTech, last week said these trials were 'looking good'. Pfizer also hopes to gain approval for infants to be vaccinated with its serum by the end of the year, with the smaller jabs to be rolled out in early 2022. Harry Goodison, 12, (pictured) receives his Pfizer vaccine at the Heidelberg Repatriation Hospital, Melbourne. Pop-up vaccine hub are to be set up in schools and Covid-hit areas The TGA approved 1.2 million Australians aged 12 to 15 for both Moderna and Pfizer with several states starting to immunise them from Monday. Health Minister Greg Hunt said Australia will have enough supplies of the vaccines to ensure everyone of all ages was vaccinated next year. 'We always presumed that if trials produced evidence to safely open to children of all ages, that we would have first and second doses for them,' he said. Deputy chief medical officer Sonya Bennett said it was too early to tell when and how younger children would be included in the vaccine rollout. 'Firstly and importantly is the safety and efficacy, and so we'll be watching any trials with interest, and following from that would be a recommendation,' she said. Lucas Walsh, 12, receives a Pfizer COVID vaccination at the Heidelberg Repatriation Hospital in Melbourne Trials are being done to seek approval for the Pfizer vaccine to be administered to children aged 5 to 11 with hopes that infant trials will be underway by the end of the year 'The two reasons for a recommendation would be for individual protection of children and/or population prevention around transmission, which is why we've always concentrated in that older age group. 'We know that that's where a lot of the transmission occurs and is at greatest risk, but we'll certainly be monitoring the outcomes of those trials.' As Pfizer supplies were limited, the vaccination of 12 to 15-year-olds was considered to be a lower priority than older Australians as the benefits of the vaccine were greater to those in higher age brackets. Deliveries of 60 million Pfizer, 15 million Moderna, and 51 million Novavax doses are expected next year, and 35 million doses of Pfizer and Moderna will arrive in the next three months. Lieutenant General John Frewen, the vaccine rollout chief, said allowing over-60s to get the Moderna vaccine instead of AstraZeneca would be considered once the rollout to children began. 'We will be looking at that as the next priority to open up, but right now, we're just keen to get the 12 to 15-year-olds through,' he said. The TGA approved 1.2 million Australians aged 12 to 15 for both Moderna and Pfizer with several states starting to immunise them from Monday Prime Minister Scott Morrison (pictured) said that deliveries of the vaccines from other countries were a 'family-sized dose of hope' Prime Minister Scott Morrison said parents and their children could get vaccinated together at pharmacies thanks to an additional one million doses of the Moderna vaccine arriving from Europe. He said this delivery was a 'family-sized dose of hope'. 'I want to thank Moderna for their support to these arrangements, as well as Norway and Sweden who have helped facilitate this deal over the course of these last few weeks,' he said. The Australian Technical Advisory Group on Immunisation previously said younger children should be added to the vaccine rollout when it becomes available to them as the benefits of the vaccine far outweigh the risks. Extremely rare side effect of the Moderna vaccine include myocarditis, which is inflammation of the heart muscle and pericarditis, inflammation of the outer lining of the heart. Jewish worshippers in Melbourne have been warned not to gather illegally to mark what is the most holiest religious holiday in Judaism. Yom Kippur will take place on Wednesday, sparking fears ugly scenes that marred Jewish New Year celebrations just last week will be repeated. The 'Day of Atonement' is considered the most important holiday in the Jewish faith and marks the culmination of the 10 Days of Awe - a period of introspection and repentance that follows Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year. Police speak to worshippers (pictured) at a Jewish New Year's celebration near the Adass Israel Synagogue in Ripponlea, Melbourne, on Tuesday The tense standoff between Victorian police and worshippers (pictured) spilled into abuse and claims of anti-Semitism as police moved in to disperse the gathering. Police later issued a statement saying 'all adults' in attendance would receive a $5,452 fine A gathering celebrating Jewish New Year in Melbourne ended with fiery scenes and police moving in to shut down the event and issuing $5,452 fines to 'all adults' who attended (men near the synagogue in Ripponlea, pictured) It was that celebration by a group of up to 30 Melburnians, including children, last week that caused outrage among the wider community. Six people were fined $5,452 each for breaching public health orders after a tense stand-off outside a Ripponlea synagogue on Tuesday. Active Covid cases in Melbourne hit a new record in the current outbreak on Monday with 473 new cases amid fears of widespread lockdown fatigue. On Monday, Victoria Police told Daily Mail Australia it was continuing to engage with the Jewish community in the hope of avoiding another confrontation. 'We understand that the majority of the community are doing the right thing by adhering to the Chief Health Officer directions to limit the spread of the virus while a significant number of the community remain unvaccinated,' a spokeswoman said. 'However there is the minority who thinks they can blatantly disregard community safety and our advice to them is clear dont do it.' Police will increase patrols around likely meeting points on Wednesday across Melbourne's inner east in the hope of stopping any illegal gatherings before they occur. Daily Mail Australia has been told sections of the Jewish community have contacted Victoria's health department in the hope of being granted an exemption to the lockdown to gather on the day. It is understood a who's who of Melbourne's business community has reached out to the Andrews Government, including several doctors, who have backed the request. Daily Mail Australia had not received a response from the Victorian Health Department on Monday afternoon. Victorian police faced an increasingly defiant group of worshippers on Tuesday afternoon and evening before dispersing two gatherings on Glen Eira Avenue, Ripponlea. Worshippers are pictured in a lane behind the synagogue A group of mask-wearing men pass police near one of the gatherings on Tuesday night (pictured) The main illegal gathering occurred at Adass Israel Synagogue in Glen Eira Avenue, Ripponlea in inner Melbourne during a Jewish New Year celebration Force command told Daily Mail Australia it was keen to support 'the observance of all religious holidays and ceremonial days in a safe manner'. 'Our focus is to ensure community safety for all Victorians, and we will continue to act on intelligence and information gathered targeting those organising such events and inciting breaches of CHO directions,' it stated. Last week's gatherings had been condemned by the Jewish Community Council of Victoria. 'The actions of a few do not represent the vast majority of our community who have celebrated Rosh Hashanah at home only with the people with whom they live, and just like the wider community, continue to follow the rules,' they said in a statement. A television cameraman was injured during last week's stand-off between those illegally gathering and police. Footage later emerged showing worshippers climbing over a roof to attend an illegal gathering. The footage had been widely circulating in WhatsApp groups across the city before going viral. The video showed a man in traditional dress climbing onto a roof before scaling down a ladder and into another building. The condemnation by the Jewish community was welcomed by Premier Dan Andrews. 'I understand this has been a difficult year for lots of people if you break the rules we will be in lockdown longer,' he said at the time. 'I have not seen the footage and I do not want to cast aspersions on any groups or any section of our community. 'The Jewish community called out that behaviour and were very quick to do it and I am very grateful to Jewish leaders for doing that.' Police come face to face with worshippers from Jewish New Year celebrations in the vicinity of the orthodox Adass Israel Synagogue in Glen Eira Avenue, Ripponlea on Tuesday night Police shut down the illegal gathering on Tuesday night after waiting for the attendees to disperse during the day Victorian police speak with worshippers outside an illegal gathering to celebrate Jewish New Year at Ripponlea on Tuesday night Melbourne Lord Mayor Sally Capp said she was astounded at the event. 'I don't know what planet these people live on,' she said. 'We are a city that has been in lockdown for more days than any other city around the world. 'It seems that there are some people that are determined to be selfish and to flout the restrictions. 'It is just not fair that some members of the community feel that they can flout the rules and get away with it. 'We are grateful to the police and the community for raising these issues so that we can get on top of them and we can really help people remain unified around our ultimate quest to open and to stay open.' More than $300,000 in fines was handed out following an engagement party that was held in breach of Covid rules in Caulfield North last month. In that video, the groom-to-be made jokes about the restrictions to laughter from the crowd. The family spokesman and godfather of Australia's 'miracle boy' AJ Elfalak is championing a court case which seeks to challenge NSW Covid public health orders. Alan Hashem was the first to raise the alarm on social media when three-year-old AJ disappeared from his family home in Putty, 150km northwest of Sydney, last Friday. The toddler was miraculously found alive just 500m from where he was last seen four days later - after spending three nights in the icy cold, wet wilderness. Mr Hashem used his far-reaching anti-vaccine community to spread the message - with some of his friends travelling from locked-down Sydney to help in the search. He has since deleted his Facebook page and any reference to AJ's disappearance, sparking concerns among some who are convinced there is more to the story. AJ Elfalak (pictured) went missing on September 3 and was found three days later, covered in cuts and bruises Celebrations were underway from about 1pm on Monday - an hour after word spread that AJ had been found alive. Pictured: Alan Hashem riding up to the home on the side of a car An Instagram page linked to Mr Hashem, who is the founder of the Our Voices Matter movement which is against Covid vaccination, has been a driving force in the Supreme Court motion against mandatory jabs in NSW. A directions hearing took place last week and was livestreamed on YouTube, with 50,000 people tuning in, hoping to get some clarity about vaccine mandates. AFL Lawyers, who have brought the motion before the courts, hope to challenge 'the legality and constitutionality of the NSW Government's Public Health Orders in response to the Covid-19 pandemic, which are impacting millions,' a statement reads. 'We say Minister [Brad] Hazzard and Dr [Kerry] Chant have exceeded their delegated powers by civilly conscripting workers to take a vaccine.' This aerial image shows the distance between AJ's home and the area where he was found - complete with the dense bushland and dangerously steep terrain in between Mr Hashem revealed CCTV footage of the time AJ disappeared was mysteriously 'wiped' In essence, they want to ensure employees can turn up to work without getting the jab. Some industries have mandated the jab to get back to work in NSW following a widespread outbreak which has infected more than 40,000 people since June. AFL Lawyers argues this effectively 'strips citizens of their basic human rights, including their right to work'. Mr Hashem has been vocal in his support of the motion to his thousands of followers, adding that he is 'extremely encouraged that Australians are standing up for their freedoms'. Mr Hashem has thrown his support behind a court case questioning the legitimacy of public health orders and vaccine mandates He's urged his supporters to donate to a fundraiser supporting the court case. A minister's right to make orders under the Public Health Act will likely be a central feature of the case when it next returns to court. It is understood the state hopes to have the matter dismissed. The court heard that the minister's ability to make the orders under the Public Health Act would be a central feature of all three cases. Mr Hashem insists he is not part of an 'anti-vax' movement, and instead is a 'freedom movement about transparency and the right of choice'. The radio silence since little AJ was found safe and well has not gone unnoticed by his followers, some of whom questioned why he would delete his Facebook profile. There are still questions about the missing CCTV footage from the time AJ disappeared. Mr Hashem was concerned that security footage that would have captured what happened to AJ had allegedly been wiped from his monitoring system. Mr Hashem insists he is not part of an 'anti-vax' movement, and instead is a 'freedom movement about transparency and the right of choice' Pictured: AJ Elfalak, age three At the time, he indicated someone had 'a lot of explaining to do' and was standing firm in his belief that little AJ had been abducted. 'How did he leave, who did he leave with? Did anything sinister happen? These are questions that need to still be answered and we will not stop until we actually find the truth,' he said last Monday, the day AJ was found. The question on the lips of many, including locals who assisted in the search, is why the CCTV was installed in such a remote area in the first place. Many have argued that the home, which was sold to AJ's mother Kelly and two of her associates, Michael and Katia Mallouhi, for just $30,000 in 2016, doubles as the 'headquarters' of Mr Hashem's anti-vax group. It is not clear why her husband Anthony is not on the deed for the home. The $30,000 Ms Elfalak paid for the home is more than ten times less than the property sold for when it last went under the hammer in October 2014 for $320,000. Health Minister Greg Hunt has accused Daniel Andrews of 'seeking conflict' with his dig at the Federal Government over the vaccine rollout. The Victoria premier on Sunday learned during a press conference that his state would get an extra 400,000 Pfizer and Moderna vaccines in September. He said it was 'fantastic news' but took a swipe at Scott Morrison, saying: 'Maybe if they had been ordered last year they would be arms already.' Mr Hunt fired back on Monday, saying Mr Andrews was trying to 'divert' attention and criticise the Prime Minister. 'There was a major announcement. For whatever reason, there may have been a desire to divert. They've achieved that outcome,' he told 3AW radio. 'We're always working with all of the states. And from time to time, some of them will, as you know, seek a conflict. 'And so, the goal here was clearly to move from the announcement to another topic. 'The announcement is actually about supporting Victorians and saving and protecting lives with the blitz in the north west. 'And if you're listening in the north west, if you're listening anywhere in Victoria, please come forward to be vaccinated.' The Federal Government only ordered 10million Pfizer doses last year before upping this to 40million in April when health advice around the AstraZeneca vaccine changed. It has also brought in a further 5.5million after deals with the UK, Poland and Singapore. One million Moderna vaccines have also been bought from the EU, adding to Australia's existing supply of 10million which start to arrive later this month. The agreements have allowed the Commonwealth to send an extra 400,000 Pfizer and Moderna doses to Victoria in September - to help with the state's outbreak after Sydney was given an extra Pfizer 500,000 doses in August. Dan Andrews couldn't help but take a shot at Scott Morrison after finding out live during his daily press conference Victoria was getting a huge shipment of vaccines On Sunday Mr Andrews was asked about the Prime Minister's announcement and replied 'good,' before clarifying he had no idea the vaccines were on the way and they were in addition to other doses he announced. 'I am delighted to know that, that is fantastic news! Get them into arms! That is what I'm about,' he added. On Monday Victoria Health Minister Martin Foley confirmed that the state government had not been told about the size of the vaccine allocation until after Mr Morrison announced it publicly. 'I wrote to the Federal Minister on Saturday, the Prime Minister made his announcement on Sunday morning, the Federal Minister rang me on Sunday afternoon, and he wrote to me this morning, confirming it. That's the timeline,' he said. Minister Hunt insisted the Victorian government had been told but the message had not been passed up to the premier. '[Vaccine rollout boss] General Frewen was able to work with his counterpart in Victoria, and there was advice about the Victorian numbers,' he said. 'It's unfortunate that the only person who wasn't aware was the Premier. But we move on.' 'I was working with Martin Foley last week, late in the week, and we said that there'd be a package across three fronts announced on the weekend of doses for the state, doses for pharmacies, and doses for GPs,' he added. When he found out about the good news on Sunday, Mr Andrews said: 'It's hard to know what to expect, I didn't expect hundreds of thousands of doses that should've come to Victoria went to Sydney, but this is fantastic news. 'Maybe while I've been talking to you there's been a missed call on my phone. 'I don't know, let's not argue about who said what to whom. Let's get jabs in arms and that is what I'm focused on. Always have been.' Mr Andrews was asked by a reporter if he had just found out the vaccines were coming to his state, to which he replied 'yes', before saying: 'Maybe if they had been ordered last year they would be arms already!' Mr Morrison (pictured on Sunday) announced 400,000 extra vaccines would go to Victoria Mr Andrews was referring to the emails that were leaked this week between the Federal Government and representatives from Pfizer that appeared to show ministers stalling on a Pfizer deal. On June 30 last year a Pfizer representative contacted the Health Department to request the meeting, saying the American company had 'the potential to supply millions of vaccine doses [around the world] by the end of 2020'. Mr Hunt left it to Health Department First Assistant Secretary Lisa Schofield to respond and three days later she said that she - not the minister - would attend a virtual meeting on July 10. The US and Britain signed deals to buy millions of doses from Pfizer in July but no-one from Mr Hunt's office met the company until August 4. Australia finally signed a deal for a measly 10 million doses in November. The first doses arrived in February, two months after the US and Britain had already rolled them out. Mr Andrews referenced the failure of the federal government to fully supply Australia with vaccines earlier, while also reiterating Mr Morrison's reported bias towards his home state of NSW. The Victorian Premier has labelled Scott Morrison the 'Prime Minister for NSW' in the past. He demanded 340,000 vaccines be distributed to Victoria earlier this week, tearing into Mr Morrison's 'secret' and 'under the table' handling of the rollout. 'I signed up to the national plan to vaccinate our nation, not a national plan to vaccinate Sydney,' Mr Andrews said last week. 'We have seen hundreds of thousands of vaccines that should have come and should now be in the arms of Victorians going into Sydney and into GP practices in NSW. Epidemiologists are concerned the current trend could see Victoria's rate overtake that of NSW, with the state on track to record over 1,000 cases per day in the coming weeks 'This was not announced. This was done without anyone knowing, and the Commonwealth have got caught doing it so it needs to stop. 'There needs to be a make good. There needs to be a reckoning where additional doses come to Victoria.' Mr Morrison referenced the Victorian supply during a press conference on Sunday, saying they were prioritising the state as its outbreak deepens. 'Victoria is currently dealing with the continued surge in cases just like we saw in NSW some time ago,' he said. 'Residents in particular in Melbourne's north and west will benefit from additional vaccines and the rapid expansion of vaccination sites across the region.' Victoria recorded 392 cases of coronavirus on Sunday amid concerns the outbreak is taking off faster than Sydney's and will soon top 1,000 a day. Just 107 of the new cases were linked to the outbreak with 285 still under investigation by overwhelmed contact tracers. They were diagnosed from 48,063 tests and 36,534 vaccine doses were administered on Saturday. A disabled man has taken to TikTok to vent about a disability support worker who was sent to drive him to get a Covid vaccine but was sick with the flu herself and refused to wear a mask. In the clip uploaded on Friday, the Queensland man explained the worker didn't reveal she had been ill with the flu for a week until she had already arrived at his home - and had not been tested for Covid. 'I'm immunocompromised, I've been in the ICU twice because of the flu... on top of that they highly recommend you don't get your vaccine if you could have another viral infection,' the man explained. After instructing her she needed to wear a mask near him when talking, he explained the woman replied she couldn't because she was having trouble breathing while wearing one. 'Well if you're that sick you shouldn't have come here,' he said. 'Why are people so blase about sickness and flu in Australia? You can't be like that when you're working with vulnerable people with disabilities.' He added the support worker had also refused to get a Covid vaccine herself because she was 'concerned about what it would do' and had not had a flu booster jab in more than a year. 'If you're going to be a disability or a health care worker, you have to adhere to the guidelines, care about the people you work for, and think about it instead of yourself.' 'And if you can't handle a jab in the arm with a vaccine cause of your conspiracy theory pot smoking buddies, then don't work in healthcare just f*** off.' Viewers commenting on the video were furious at the woman's seemingly indifferent attitude. 'I'm angry for you. How selfish is she? Why does she think it's ok to put you at risk like that,' one person said. The man revealed he'd already been in the ICU with the flu previously (pictured left) and urged the community to 'think about vulnerable people' 'So she didn't think about that? Isn't it her job to think of that?' another said. 'Please make a complaint. It doesn't matter if it's a cold or Covid. If you are working with vulnerable people you need to do the right thing,' added a third. Vaccines are 'strongly recommended' by the government for disability support workers but they have stopped short of making them compulsory. Unless working in one of the 12 hotspot LGAs in Sydney were support workers are required to have at least one Covid vaccine dose by August 30. The rule does not apply for those working outside the 12 LGAs of concern or if a medical exemption has been granted by a GP. Queensland announced they would provide Pfizer vaccines for disability support workers as a priority. A principal who sparked a Covid outbreak by encouraged students to attend school during lockdown for their mental health has been shamed by health authorities as he and the school face huge fines. Fitzroy Community School principal Timothy Berryman repeatedly encouraged parents to send their children to the school while Victoria was in lockdown. Victorian Health Minister Martin Foley said an investigation into the 'alternative' school in North Fitzroy would decide what sanction it should receive. 'Our first priority is the wellbeing of those kids and their family and the staff,' he said at Monday's coronavirus press conference. 'This school has some history when it comes to sailing pretty close to chief health officer orders. Fitzroy Community School Principal Timothy Berryman wrote to parents: 'Please feel free to send your child to school if you feel that this is best for them or best for your family balance' 'Our compliance people - after the priority of responding to the outbreak is dealt with - will investigate the matter and based on whatever outcomes they come up with, take appropriate action.' The independent primary school was identified yesterday by Victorian deputy chief health officer Dan OBrien as the source of an outbreak affecting 31 students and staff as of Monday. Mr Foley would not be drawn on whether Mr Berryman and the school would face fines of thousands of dollars or possible deregistration of the school or Mr Berryman. 'I think everyone should follow the chief health officer's orders. And that where you don't, there are consequences,' he said. 'Not the least being kids get sick. Families get sick.' Up to 60 children were attending classes each day and more than 180 people were close contacts, making the school a Tier 1 exposure site. At least 30 students and staff tested positive at Fitzroy Community Centre at Fitzroy North, Melbourne Philip O'Carroll, co-founder of the Fitzroy Community School, speaks to media in Melbourne on Monday Mr Berryman told parents he could not 'in good conscience' continue to request they kept their children at home. 'Please feel free to send your child to school if you feel that this is best for them or best for your family balance,' the email seen by The Age read. 'I do not write this lightly, as this does breach government imposed directives for schools.' He argued children should come to school to protect their mental health and transmission of Covid in children was negligible. Mr Berryman was later warned that his encouragement to parents was in breach of health directive at the time but in late July, he continued to suggest they send their children to the school. 'I am again offering you all the option of sending your children to school,' he wrote. Mr Berryman told The Herald-Sun that his son, 11, contracted coronavirus but that he was otherwise well. 'None of the kids who have Covid are sick,' he said. 'We have to accept that kids catch Covid at school. This will happen but it doesnt make the kids desperately sick.' Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews would not commit to a date when students would be able to return to school in the state at Sunday's Covid-19 update On the 'information' section of the school's website are links to numerous articles about the dangers of lockdowns to the mental health of children and the minimal risk of Covid-19 to younger people. On its homepage, the school states that it has its 'own unique style of operation'. 'Our school has a relaxed atmosphere and good outcomes at the same time. Children are keen on learning and keen on coming to school.' A local who lives near the school wrote in social media that the school, as part of the local community, had an obligation to follow health rules 'for themselves and all those around them'. 'Did the school follow DHHS directives for remote learning? Did they have adequate Covid protocols for staff and students?' they wrote. 'Were symptomatic staff or students present at the school during the last week, and how was this addressed? 'Bloody disgusting that the school was not following the health directives,' wrote another person on the Vic Exposure Sites Facebook group. The school was founded in 1976 by Philip O'Carroll and Faye Berryman in their home on Brunswick Street, North Fitzroy, from where it still operates. It also has a second campus on Normanby Avenue in Thornbury. Darcy Wain, 15, receives a Pfizer vaccination at the Royal Exhibition Building Covid-19 Vaccination Hub in Melbourne Premier Dan Andrews has yet to set a date when Victorian students might return to school. He said on Sunday the plan for a return to face-to-face schooling would be released in another week. It's not clear as yet whether all school years would return to class at the same time, nor what restrictions would be placed on students attending classes. The decision is reportedly dependent on Burnet Institute modelling, with scenarios drafted by the Victorian Department of Education awaiting chief health officer Brett Suttons approval based on the modelling. From Monday, children aged between 12 and 15 years will be able to book a Covid-19 Pfizer vaccine. Bookings will be available through GPs and Commonwealth Vaccination Clinics. Chief medical advisor Dr Anthony Fauci has said that he supports vaccine mandates for air travel and public schools. 'I would support that if you want to get on a plane and travel with other people, that you should be vaccinated,' said Fauci in a promotional video for the Skimm This podcast, which will air on Thursday. Fauci asserted that for herd immunity to become a reality in the country, the 'overwhelming portion of the population' needed to get vaccinated. 'If we do it in the next six months, it'll happen in the next six months. If we do it in the next two months, it'll happen in the next two months,' he said. He also expressed his support for a vaccine mandate in public schools, citing that schools have required for students to get vaccinated against infectious diseases for 'decades and decades.' 'I don't know what school you went to, but the school that I went to, you had to be vaccinated for measles, mumps, rubella, polio or otherwise you couldn't go to school. 'So it is not something new to mandate vaccine for school children,' Fauci said. Dr Anthony Fauci said on a promotional video for a podcast that he supported vaccine mandates for air travel and public schools in the US. He added that schools have required for students to get vaccinated for 'decades and decades' Fauci's remarks come after former FDA chief and Pfizer board member Scott Gottlieb said that the vaccine could get emergency approval for children ages 5 to 11 in a matter of weeks Airlines have already issued vaccine mandates for their crew, and Fauci said he would support a federal vaccine mandate for passengers who want to board planes On Sunday, former FDA chief Scott Gottlieb, who now sits on the board of directors at Pfizer, said that the emergency use approval process for vaccinating children between the ages of 5 and 11 could be done in a matter of weeks. Fauci had previously said that President Biden's decision to require that all companies employing more than 100 people must insist on either proof of vaccination or regular COVID tests was merely 'moderate.' He said on Friday that he would have backed more intense options. 'The president is being somewhat moderate in his demand, if you want to call it that,' Fauci told CNN. 'There are some people who really don't want to get vaccinated but they don't want to lose their job. 'You've got to give them an off lane. And the off-lane is that if you get tested frequently enough and find out you're positive you won't come to work and you won't infect other people. 'It really is somewhat of a compromise there. 'Myself, I would make it just vaccinate or not - but he is trying to be moderate in what he was pronouncing,' he added. Although no federal vaccine mandate has been issued for air travel, several US airlines have already announced they will be requiring vaccination from employees There are currently more than 40 million COVID-19 infections in the US, the majority of the the Delta variant Companies who refused to follow Biden's vaccine mandate could face penalties of up to $14,000 for each violation, The Washington Post reported. The measure could affect 80 million workers, or two thirds of the private workforce in the US. Fauci's remarks come at a time of profound national division about the vaccine and mask requirements to participate in public life issued by the military, public schools, universities and businesses across the country. On Thursday, Representative Don Beyer, a democrat, introduced the Safe Travel Act, a bill seeking to require every airline or train service in the US to ask for negative COVID-19 test results or vaccination from passengers, employees and affiliates. Although no federal vaccine mandate has been issued for air travel, several US airlines have already announced they will be requiring vaccination from employees. Last week, United Airlines said that employees who refused to get the vaccine will be terminated and those given a religious exemption will be placed on temporary unpaid leave. Hawaiian Airlines is giving their staff until November 1 to receive their second shot, if they are getting a two-dose vaccine. Southwest will 'continue to strongly encourage' employees to get vaccinated, but it won't issue a vaccine mandate. American Airlines will not require employees to show proof of vaccination, but offered workers who got vaccinated by the end of August one extra day of vacation in 2022 as incentive. Amtrak has announced that all employees must be vaccinated by November 1 and new employees must show proof of vaccination starting October 4. COVID-19 cases of the highly contagious Delta variant spiked during the summer across the US The Biden administration's bid to reach the unvaccinated Americans has Republican governors threatening lawsuits. In Florida, Gov. Ron DeSantis won an agitated legal battle against a Leon County Circuit after a court reinstated DeSantis' ban on mask mandates. Parents sued the state on August26 after DeSantis issued the ban, and what unfolded was a back-and-forth battle between the Gov. and school districts who kept enforcing mask use. Thirteen of Florida's 67 school districts currently have mask requirements. In retaliation, the state has begun to withhold funds equivalent to monthly salaries of school board members in Alachua and Broward counties, and have begun looking in for other counties that are not playing ball. In Texas, attorney general Ken Paxton filed a lawsuit against six noncompliant school district that have remained enforcing mask mandates after Gov. Gregg Abbott's ban on mask mandates. President Biden said that the percentage of the population that remains unvaccinated has a huge impact. The US has recorder close to 650,000 deaths related to COVID-19 since the pandemic started Millions of pensioners and unemployed Australians are about to get the biggest increase to their payments in seven years. The federal government is boosting welfare payments from September 20 to catch up to the rising cost of living. Pensions will rise by 1.6 per cent and JobSeeker and other payments will rise by 1.4 per cent as they are linked to the Consumer Price Index. After this increase, the maximum single age pension rate will rise to $967.50 per fortnight and couples will receive an another $22.40. The federal government is boosting social security payments including the age pension and JobSeeker payments from September 30 This is up $14.80 from the previous payments. It will take the annual pension to a single to $25,155 and $37,923 for a couple. Those receiving JobSeeker and other social security payments receiving a 1.4 per cent increase will get up to an additional $11.90 per fortnight. Pensions and other security payments are adjusted twice per year, with this change being the largest increase since 2014. Social Services Minister Anne Ruston said the welfare boost took into account rising financial pressures such as health and utility costs. 'We are ensuring pensioners maintain their purchasing power in the economy, which is bouncing back strongly,' she said. 'This change puts money in the pockets of all Australians who rely on our social security system and, in particular, older Australians.' Almost 5.3 million Australians will receive these increased payments including those on the age pension, disability support payment and JobSeeker payments Ian Yates, chief executive of seniors organisation Council of the Aging, applauded raising pensions to reflect increased living costs. 'The increase will be very welcome and it underlines the strength of the pension indexation arrangements,' he said. 'People living just on the pension always do it tough this is a very modest standard of living. 'Pensioners who are struggling the most are those in the private rental market, and that has got worse during the pandemic.' There are almost 5.3 million Australians who will benefit from the increased payments. About 2.58 million of those are on the age pension, 756,000 on a disability support pension, and 977,500 receiving JobSeeker payments. President Joe Biden will be in California on Monday to survey the damage from recent wildfires and campaign for a fellow Democrat facing a recall election. This comes after the president approved a disaster declaration to the state and ordered federal assistance to help the recovery efforts Sunday night. The White House said that Biden will be in the state capital of Sacramento to take a look at the damage. Biden will also visit Idaho and Colorado in what is his first presidential travel west of Oklahoma and his first visit to the Golden State, according to the LA Times. President Joe Biden (pictured at Sunday Mass in Wilmington) will be in California on Monday to survey the damage from recent wildfires and campaign for a fellow Democrat facing a recall election President Joe Biden will be in California on Monday to survey the damage from recent wildfires and campaign for a fellow Democrat facing a recall election The president had committed to campaign for embattled Gov. Gavin Newsom, who faces a recall election Tuesday, weeks ago. However, the event with Newsome will now fit in between official business to survey yet another series of wildfires to devastate the nation's largest state. More than 6,800 wildfires large and small have blackened an estimated 1.7 million acres (689,000 hectares) within California alone this season, stretching available firefighting forces and equipment dangerously thin. The blazes have been stoked by extremely hot, dry conditions that experts say are symptomatic of climate change during a summer fire season shaping up as one of the most destructive on record The blazes have been stoked by extremely hot, dry conditions that experts say are symptomatic of climate change during a summer fire season shaping up as one of the most destructive on record. Biden said last week that wildfires, hurricanes and floods were hitting every part of the United States, with more than 100 million Americans affected this summer alone, as he pressed for investments to boost infrastructure and fight global warming. Biden made fighting climate change a key plank of his 2020 presidential campaign and a top priority of his administration, but some of his goals rely on getting the U.S. Congress to pass multitrillion-dollar legislation on infrastructure and other priorities. This month, Biden declared an emergency in California and ordered federal assistance to boost responders' efforts to battle the Caldor fire This month, Biden declared an emergency in California and ordered federal assistance to boost responders' efforts to battle the Caldor fire. "Additional designations may be made at a later date if requested by the State and warranted by the results of further damage assessments", the White House said on Sunday. The Caldor fire, burning since mid-August, is 65% contained. It has led to 5 injuries and damaged 81 residential, commercial and other structures while destroying over a thousand such structures, according to authorities. Southwesterly winds are forecast through most of the coming week which could fan the growth of fires in the West Zone, the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (Cal Fire) said late on Sunday. Biden made fighting climate change a key plank of his 2020 presidential campaign and a top priority of his administration, but some of his goals rely on getting the U.S. Congress to pass multitrillion-dollar legislation on infrastructure and other priorities Biden will wrap up the day in Long Beach for an election-eve event with California Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom, who faces a recall vote the next day. His eleventh-hour pitch Monday in California comes the day before voters head to the polls to decide whether to recall Newsom and then replace him with Republican and talk-show host Larry Elder, whos seen as the leading GOP alternative to Newsom, or any of the dozens of other candidates on the ballot. According to CNN, it would take an 'historic polling miss' for Newsom to lose the recall. Donald Trump has called President Joe Biden's Afghanistan troop withdrawal 'incompetent' and warned that a US absence will allow China and Russia to reverse-engineer American military equipment that was left behind. Trump told 'Full Measure' host Sharyl Attkisson that Biden's handling of the withdrawal could endanger the country while helping its enemies. 'How can they take this equipment? I guarantee that China, Russia already have our helicopters, they're taking them apart to find out exactly how they're made,' he said during Sunday's interview. 'They're the best in the world by far. And they're taking them apart so they can make the exact same equipment. They're very good at that. It's a disgrace.' The former president added that he doubted whether the war in Afghanistan was truly over, while citing the widespread refugees who have poured into the United States, where they are often resettled without any vetting process. 'How can they take this equipment? I guarantee that China, Russia already have our helicopters, they're taking them apart to find out exactly how they're made,' Trump said 'I don't know because you have people going all over the world and being dropped all over the world right now, and nobody knows who the hell they are,' Trump told Attkisson (pictured) 'I don't know because you have people going all over the world and being dropped all over the world right now, and nobody knows who the hell they are, Sharyl,' Trump said. 'These aren't the interpreters that we took. These were people that rushed into the planes, and they were so interested in trying to make it sound like 'Oh, they're doing a good job.' These people, many of these people are going to be terrorists. Okay? They're going to be terrorists. They were very powerful. They were very energetic in getting onto the aircraft.' When asked about his thoughts on the processes in place for resettling Afghan refugees in the US and across the world, the former president said there isn't enough in the way of background checks or vetting of said refugees, as thousands flee the war-torn country. 'They're not doing that and you can't because there is no documentation in that country. There's virtually no documentation. They didn't vet them,' Trump said. 'They didn't even try to vet them. They're trying to vet them now, but it's a little bit late. They're dropping them all over the world. And most of them will be coming to the United States.' 'And in that group will be many terrorists, many, many terrorists. We've done their job. The hardest thing was getting out of the country, coming in for terrorists. We've brought terrorists into our country, and they coming very much so, I mean, they're going to be flown in, but they're also coming through our Southern border. It's a disgrace.' According to Fox News, the US has provided roughly $83 billion worth of equipment and training to Afghani security forces since the start of the war in 2001. Taliban soldiers gather with weapons and machinery in Panjshir province northeastern of Afghanistan, Wednesday, Sept. 8 Taliban forces rally to celebrate the withdrawal of US forces in Kandahar, Afghanistan, 01 September 2021 The military left behind 27 Humvees, USA Today reports, along with as many as 70 MRAPs, Mine Resistant Ambush Protected vehicles built to withstand blasts from improvised explosive devices, valued at around $1 million apiece. USA Today reports that the US military left behind 73 aircrafts while withdrawing troops from Afghanistan, some of which were not operational. Meanwhile, White House officials confirmed that soldiers operated Apache helicopters while at the Kabul airport. Many of the aircrafts were flown to foreign countries by Afghani pilots, or simply abandoned by the military altogether. Attkisson asked Trump if he is still briefed on intelligence regarding Afghanistan and national security, to which he replied if he wants information, he gets it. Taliban forces stand guard at a roadside Afghan women hold placards during a pro-Taliban rally outside the Shaheed Rabbani Education University in Kabul, Afghanistan, September 11 'They're the best in the world by far,' Trump said of Russia and China. 'And they're taking them apart so they can make the exact same equipment. They're very good at that. It's a disgrace' 'I get if I want. I get what I want. I hear what's going on. By the way, you don't need intel briefings. All you have to do is read the news or turn on the television,' Trump said. Trump also noted the bombing deaths of 13 American service members, 11 Marines, one Navy sailor and one Army soldier being among the dead at Kabul airport last month. 'It's the most incompetently handled withdrawal in history. There's never been anything like this, where we gave them $85 billion worth of brand new, beautiful equipment. Most importantly, we lost 13, and many wounded, of our soldiers.' 'And over 200 people were killed. But we lost these 13 incredible souls, these incredible warriors, and probably more to follow; some very, very badly wounded soldiers. It's the most incompetently handled thing. We had that in such good control. They wouldnt have done a thing.' Three removalists who travelled to central western NSW from Sydney despite testing positive to Covid-19 have pleaded guilty in court. Twins Roni and Ramsin Shawka, 28, and Maryo Shanki, 21, travelled from West Hoxton in southwest Sydney to Molong in central-west NSW and stopped in Figtree, South Bowenfels and Orange. The removalists travelled to Molong in July despite discovering they were COVID-positive en route, police allege. All three men pleaded guilty on Monday in Orange's Local Court to not complying with a Covid-19 notice direction. Pictured: Roni (left) and Ramsin (right) Shawka, have pleaded guilty to breaching public health orders after travelling to regional NSW after testing positive to Covid-19 The removalist crew (vehicle pictured) were already in Orange when NSW Health called to inform Roni that he had tested positive to the highly contagious Indian Delta strain The Shawkas and their colleague Maryo Shanki, 21, faced Orange's Local district court on Monday over the work trip. Seen here is a map of their route Police escorted the men and their vehicles back to Greater Sydney where they were forced to isolate for two weeks. Days later a southwest the Shawka brothers' mother died after contracting Covid-19. The twins were forced to sit in a ute outside her Green Valley property while police conducted investigations inside the house. NSW Police Minister David Elliott said the removalists had put regional communities at greater risk of the pandemic. 'We know that the delta variant is highly transmissible, and it is unfathomable to think that, with all the public information and health warnings, people could so blatantly ignore the health orders,' he said in July. The men have been listed for sentence before the same court on November 24. Ramsin and Roni's mother (pictured together) tragically died days later after contracting Covid-19 Startling footage has captured the moment a man destroyed a sign on a residential street that claimed Covid-19 was 'made in China'. The video shared on TikTok next to the caption 'say no to racism' showed the man cutting the metal sign in half before smashing it to pieces with a hammer in Glen Waverley in Melbourne's eastern suburbs. The sign read 'Made in China - Covid-19' - a reference to the pandemic's origin in the Chinese city of Wuhan in late 2019. 'A friend told me someone posted a sign insulting Chinese people - saying coronavirus is from China,' the man told the camera. 'We have to remove it.' He spent about a minute cutting the sign into three pieces with an electric saw before using the hammer to knock it to the ground. The video drew widespread support on the viral video site, with commenters praising the man for standing up to discrimination. 'I would literally do the same thing,' one person wrote. 'Can't believe this is happening in 2021. Hope the cowards responsible for this are held accountable,' another said. 'No matter where [the virus] is from, it shouldn't lead to racism - that's never forgivable,' one commented. A man has been filmed destroying a sign on a Melbourne residential street that claimed Covid-19 was 'made in China' The video drew widespread support on TikTok, with commenters praising the man for standing up to discrimination The video follows China accusing Australia of failing to stop anti-Asian discrimination. Australia's relationship with China has soured after Prime Minister Scott Morrison called for an independent inquiry into the origins of the Covid-19 pandemic. A Lowy Institute survey in March found one in five Chinese-Australians claim to have been attacked or physically threatened. Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Wang Wenbin said he was 'deeply concerned' and called on Australians to 'own up' to the racial divide. 'For quite some time, there has been continuous discrimination in Australia against people of Asian origins, including overseas Chinese, which poses serious threats to the safety and legitimate rights and interests of Chinese citizens in Australia,' he said. A Lowy Institute survey in March found one in five Chinese-Australians claim to have been attacked or threatened. Pictured: People in face masks in Sydney 'The Chinese government previously issued a travel advisory and an alert for Chinese students going to study in Australia, hoping that Chinese citizens in Australia will take precautions for their own safety. 'At the same time, we hope that the Australian side will own up to the problem, make their people better citizens, solve the problems of racism and discrimination at home and safeguard the safety and legitimate rights and interests of Chinese citizens in Australia.' Last June, Chinese authorities urged its students and other citizens not to travel to Australia due to a rise in racist attacks. A woman has suffered serious injuries after being stabbed in the neck and stomach by a stranger while sunbathing on a beach, with a teenager in custody. Officers were called to an area off Blacks Beach Road in Mackay, Queensland about 12.20pm on Monday after reports the 23-year-old woman had been injured. The woman had been sunbaking at the beach when she was confronted by a man unknown to her, police said. He allegedly stabbed her multiple times in the neck, arms, legs, and head with a knife before fleeing the scene. The woman managed to attend a nearby residential construction site to seek help. She was rushed to hospital in a serious condition, however her injuries are believed to be non-life-threatening. A 16-year-old male has been taken into custody by police with the teenager now assisting with their inquiries. The residential construction site off the beach (pictured) was a swarmed by officers on Monday afternoon after the attack Police previously issued an alert for a white male, aged in his 20s with long black hair who was wearing a white t-shirt with black shorts and was last seen running through the residential area of Blacks Beach. Two paramedic crews and at least four police patrol cars rushed to scene after reports of the 'alleged wounding'. Detective Inspector Tom Armitt said there had been no interaction between the two before the attack. 'She's then sought help and (gone) to a local construction site and received some help from the builders,' Det Insp Armitt told The Daily Mercury. 'It appears it's a random attack,' he said. 'She states that she did not know who the male was, there was no prior interaction and she has not seen him before.' Anyone with information is urged to contact Crime Stoppers. It's been the catchphrase of leaders across Australia through the pandemic, but The Project's Waleed Aly has argued it's not the job of a politician to 'follow the health advice'. During an appearance on the ABC's Insiders program on Sunday, Aly argued that leaders should instead 'take health advice, consider it and place it in its proper context'. It comes after New South Wales Premier Gladys Berejiklian announced the state's roadmap to freedom and revealed what life would look like after almost four months in lockdown. Aly said while he didn't think it was a 'bad plan' he disagreed with leaders making policy decisions based solely on health advice, without considering other important factors. The Project's Waleed Aly (pictured) said it was not the job of a politician to follow health advice but to 'place it in its proper context' on the ABC's Insider program on Sunday Aly said it was ultimately up to the nation's leaders to decide what consequences they were able to justify when easing Covid-19 restrictions. 'One of the more maddening aspects of our pandemic politics is that we've watched leader after leader get up and say 'we're just following the health advice', he said. 'We as a country have said that's great, that's exactly what you should do. But actually, that's not the job of a politician. 'A politician's job is not to follow the health advice. 'Their job is to take health advice, consider it and place it in its proper context with a whole suite of other non-health imperatives, then come to a decision.' Under the NSW plan, inoculated residents will enjoy visits to the pub, hair salons, restaurants, cafes and retail shops once restrictions are lifted around mid-October. Churches and places of worship will be permitted to run in-person services with weddings and funerals to resume with a limit on the number of guests. The government will not restore all individual freedoms, with many restrictions set to linger semi-permanently or until a 90 per cent double-vax rate is reached. Inoculated residents in New South Wales will enjoy visits to the pub, hair salons, restaurants, cafes and retail shops once restrictions are lifted around mid-October once 70 per cent double-vaccination rates are hit (pictured, locals gather for a picnic on Monday) Mr Aly said it was ultimately up to Australia's leaders to decide what consequences they were willing to live with when it came to the easing of Covid-19 restrictions (pictured, NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian at Monday's Covid press conference) Aly suggested a 'ridiculous' scenario where NSW could record zero deaths and hospitalisations if a permanent lockdown was enforced. 'No one thinks that's a good idea. There's a health argument for that but it becomes a bad idea when you consider other factors,' he said. The host reiterated that 'health advice was not policy advice' and said it was the role of a health advisor to give politicians all of the potential outcomes for each decision. 'And then it is up to politicians to decide what consequences they are willing to live with on behalf of the people,' the host explained. Aly said there was no health advice that could give an 'acceptable' number of Covid-related hospitalisations or deaths. 'That's not a health advice question, that's a political and ethical question. 'What the leader has to do is take the advice very seriously that says 'our hospitals will be overrun', is that or is that not an acceptable outcome and then we make a decision.' The clip - which was posted by ABC's Insiders to Twitter on Sunday - has already garnered more than 300,000 views. Social media users were divided on Mr Aly's unexpected stance on the state roadmap with some saying they disagreed with his sentiments. The clip - which was posted by ABC's Insiders to Twitter on Sunday - has already garnered more than 300,000 views Social media users were divided on Mr Aly's unexpected stance with some saying they disagreed with his sentiments Up to five fully vaccinated adults who live outside 12 Sydney Covid-19 hotspots areas can gather outdoors within five kilometres of their home from September 13 (pictured, locals at Centennial Park on Monday) 'Wow. Waleed is completely off the mark. Lost for words,' one woman wrote. 'In a health crisis the governments job is to follow the health advice. During the bushfires I didn't wait around for the politics to place out... I evacuated as I was asked to on the advice of the fire captains. Sorry Waleed,' another said. 'In the middle of a health crisis, the statement "the politician's job is not to follow health advice" is absolutely ludicrous,' a third commented. It comes as rule changes have been made on outdoor gatherings across Sydney and a state border bubble with Queensland has been opened, allowing people in northern NSW who aren't locked down to travel into the Sunshine state. Vaccinated people with a Queensland border pass can travel north of the border to provide compassionate care or essential shopping if they come from 12 northern NSW local government areas that came out of lockdown on Saturday. Up to five fully vaccinated adults who live outside 12 Sydney Covid-19 hotspots areas can gather outdoors within five kilometres of their home. Chinese tech firm Huawei has 'infiltrated' a Cambridge University research centre, critics have claimed. There are calls for an 'urgent inquiry' into the UK's dependency on China as it is revealed three out of four of the directors at the Cambridge Centre for Chinese Management (CCCM) have ties to Huawei. According to the Times, the CCCM's chief representative is also a former senior Huawei vice-president who has been paid by the Chinese government. The university insists that one former Huawei executive has never delivered services to the centre while the firm itself has said any suggestion of impropriety is absurd. Critics have claimed that the Huawei ties is demonstration that the university has allowed the CCCM to be infiltrated by the Chinese company which has been banned from joining Britain's 5G network. Johnny Patterson, policy director of the Hong Kong Watch campaign group, told the newspaper the university should investigate the relationship between Huawei and the CCCM. Critics called for an inquiry after it was revealed three of the four directors at the Cambridge Centre for Chinese Management (pictured inside Judge Business School) have ties to Huawei Meanwhile, Ian Duncan Smith described Cambridge University as 'one of the worst offenders' when it came to relying on money from China. He told the Times that British companies and universities had grown 'far too dependent on Chinese money' in recent years and added: 'The government needs to urgently set up an inquiry into the UK's dependency on China across a range of institutions and companies.' Conservative MP Tom Tugendhat, who is head of the China Research Group and chairman of the foreign affairs select committee, told the newspaper: 'Perceived academic influence is clearly an issue and just as universities would never take money from tobacco companies to investigate links with cancer so institutions need to be very careful about where they accept their money.' Earlier this year, it was revealed that 20 leading universities collectively accepted more than 40million in funding from China. The Cambridge Centre for Chinese Management forms part of the university's judge business school and describes itself as 'an academic research institute dedicated to the study of the management practices and strategies of Chinese enterprises'. The centre's website describes how its 'chief representative in China' is Yanping Hu who is a former senior vice president at Huawei. Chinese tech giant Huawei is banned from the UK's 5G network amid security concerns The Times reports that in response to a freedom of information request, Cambridge University said that Hu 'is not currently and has never provided anything towards or delivered any services to Cambridge Judge Business School or the Cambridge Centre for Chinese Management'. The newspaper claims additional references to Hu were removed from the website after their enquiries were made. The centre was founded by Prof Christopher Loch, Prof Peter Williamson, Dr Eden Yin and Tian Tao who is described on the site as a senior adviser for Huawei Technologies. The site also describes how he has written a book on the company titled Huawei: Leadership, Culture, and Connectivity which analyses the company's growth. According to the Times, Williamson has written articles for Chinese state papers and backed Huawei when critics have hit out at the company. Meanwhile Yin, who , co-authored a paper with Tian, Huawei: How Can We Lead The Way? Former Conservative leader Sir Iain Duncan Smith (pictured) has previously accused Jesus college at Cambridge University of becoming a 'mouthpiece for the Chinese Communist Party' Huawei said: 'We are incredibly proud of our relationships with UK universities and any suggestion of impropriety is absurd and demonstrates a fundamental misunderstanding of academic partnerships with businesses from around the world.' The university is facing mounting scrutiny over its ties to China with Jesus College being found to have taken a 155,000 grant from Huawei and later ruled positively on the telecom giant. The college also received a 200,000 grant from the Chinese government in 2018. In July, it was reported that a professor at the college said students should avoid discussions of human rights abuses in China because it would lead to 'unhelpful' and 'contentious' outcomes. Former Tory leader Sir Iain Duncan Smith has since accused the college of becoming a 'mouthpiece for the Chinese Communist Party'. An estimated 1 million people or more - most of them Uighurs - have been confined in re-education camps in Xinjiang in recent years, according to researchers. Chinese authorities have been accused of imposing forced labour, systematic forced birth control and torture, and separating children from incarcerated parents. Earlier this year, the Chinese Research Group found that twenty leading UK universities have collectively accepted more than 40 million in funding from Huawei and selected state-owned Chinese companies in recent years. The research found that Imperial College London has accepted between 3.5million and 14.5million from Huawei while the company gave 1.1mimllion to Lancaster University for research. York University and King's College London were also among the institutions to receive money from the Chinese tech giant. Cambridge University has been contacted for comment. A central NSW man with the Nazi flag and a map of the state on his bedroom wall has been arrested by counter-terrorism police over a plan to make a 3D gun. The 26-year-old will face a Dubbo magistrate on Monday charged with breaching the firearms act, following his arrest in Orange on Friday. His home was searched by counter-terrorism police after a brief investigation into the importation of firearm components by an alleged supporter of ideologically motivated violent extremism. A 26-year-old man from Orange has been arrested after counter-terrorism police searched his home on Friday (pictured, a Nazi flag hung in the man's room) A search of his phone allegedly uncovered a digital blueprint to manufacture a firearm - an offence carrying a maximum of 14 years in prison. The investigation began less than two weeks ago, when customs officers found a firearm component inside a package addressed to the Orange man. The man has allegedly been importing 'legally obtained items' since mid-2020 with the view to manufacturing firearms, police said on Monday. 'The Joint Counter Terrorism Team acted early to prevent him manufacturing a firearm, even though he allegedly made significant preparations to be able to do so,' Australian Federal Police's counter-terrorism commander, Stephen Dametto, said in a statement. The JCCT combines officers from the AFP and NSW police with investigators in spy agency ASIO and the NSW Crime Commission. 'The potential for 3D printers to print firearms, or their components, is something police are constantly monitoring, and we will take action if we have evidence a person intends to manufacture a firearm,' Commander Dametto said. Images released by police show a bedroom with a Nazi flag hanging on a wall alongside a map of NSW, a guitar case and an overflowing washing basket. He was charged with breaching the firearms act after police allegedly found a 3D blueprint to manufacture a firearm (pictured, the Orange resident being arrested) The man had been allegedly importing components of a firearm, being motivated by ideologically violent extremism (pictured, the Orange resident being arrested) NSW Police said homemade firearms were often crudely manufactured or assembled. 'These types of firearms add another layer of risk in terms of the safety of the community as they are unstable, and many are unable to maintain integrity once fired,' Detective Superintendent Mick Sheehy, from the NSW Police counter-terrorism command, said in a statement. 'We will not hesitate to take action if we believe there is a possibility that a firearm could land in the wrong hands.' About 450 U.S.-trained Afghan pilots who fled to Uzbekistan after the Taliban seized control of Afghanistan, are now being flown from the Uzbek camp to the United Arab Emirates, a pilot told Reuters. Afghan pilots at the Uzebek camp feared being sent back to Afghanistan and being killed by the Taliban, although the terror group claimed they would not carry out reprisal killings after seizing control of the country in August. The pilots, the most reviled members of the Afghan military in the eyes of the Taliban due to their pivotal role in airstrikes against Taliban fighters, are being transported out of Uzebekistan in the coming days in several waves over the next day or so, according to the New York Times. They left under a U.S. deal that came despite Taliban pressure for the return of the pilots and aircraft. After the fall of Kabul last month, jihadist forces have commandeered 48 of the 167 aircraft in the Afghani Military's fleet. Forty-six Afghani aircraft, including Blackhawk helicopters and attack planes, are currently on Uzebek soil - the pilots flew them out of the country to safety when Kabul collapsed last month. U.S.-trained members of the Afghani Air Force leave Uzbekistan, headed for the United Emirates, on September 12. The Air Force members fled their country mid-August, taking a sizeable portion of their military's aerial fleet along with them Afghan pilots at the Uzebek camp feared being sent back to Afghanistan and being killed by the Taliban, although the Taliban say they will not carry out reprisal killings after seizing control of the country in August. They are pictured queueing to leave Uzbekistan on September 12 About 450 U.S.-trained Afghan soldiers sheltered at an Uzebek camp just across the border of Afghanistan (pictured) for about a month More then 450 Afghans are being transported out of camp in Uzebekistan (pictured) in the coming days in several waves over the next day or so Since 2010, the Times reported, $8.5 billion has been contributed to the Afghan Air Force and its special mission wing by the United States' Defense Department. 'Im very happy theyre getting out, but this was not a smooth process, Texas Representative August Pfluger, a Texas Republican who became involved in the transfer when he was contacted by a constituent married to one of the pilots, said to the Times. 'The pilots were the most lethal part of the Afghan military, and its very important to do whatever we can to protect them.' That constituent, 33-year-old Jerri, allegedly met the pilot when he was training on U.S. soil at an Air Force Base in Lackland, San Antonio. She told the Times that her husband messaged her on Sunday, saying that he had landed at the Abu Dhabi International Airport, and that there were about 175 people on his flight. 'I feel so much better,' said Jerri, a hairstylist in from Angelo, Texas, who would not share her name with the Times for fear of retaliation against her husband's family living in Kabul. 'I havent felt this relieved in a long, long time.' A Taliban fighter walks past an aircraft and an assortment of other military and civilian vehicles at the airport in Kabul last month An A-29 attack plane is surrounded by kit left behind by western forces as they retreated from Kabul airport Over the last few months, the jihadists have captured 10 major airfields from Bagram to Mazar-i-Sharif, and today took to the skies in a $6 million Black Hawk helicopter in their fight against the resistance in the Panjshir Valley. Taliban chiefs are reported to have ordered their troops to hunt down pilots from the disbanded Afghan Air Force, who received expensive training from the US and its allies to fly high-tech warplanes and choppers. Without those pilots, flying such sophisticated aircraft is near-impossible for an amateur - but several videos of airborne terrorists suggest they must have recruited some renegade wingmen. Hamid Karzai International Airport in Kabul was seized on last month by triumphant jihadists who were seen clambering into the cockpit of a $14 million Hercules transport jet - albeit clearly tilting over, suggesting its wheels were bust. The Afghan Air Force was operating 167 aircraft, including 108 helicopters and 59 planes, according to an official U.S. government inspection on June 30. A Taliban fighter poses in the cockpit of a C-130 Hercules transport plane that was left behind during the evacuation A Taliban fighter takes a picture of a damaged MD 530 helicopter that was abandoned at Kabul airport by retreating troops Before Kabul fell, Uzbekistan confirmed that 46 Afghan aircraft, including 24 helicopters, had arrived in the country in order to prevent them from falling into the hands of the Taliban. The commander of the US evacuation mission, Gen. Frank McKenzie, said American troops disabled 73 aircraft before finally leaving the country on Monday night. Photos showed propellers and guns removed from planes and helicopters, while other aircraft lay with their fuselages directly on the tarmac, having had their wheels stripped away rendering them inoperable. That leaves as many as 48 aircraft seized by the Taliban, although it is unclear what the breakdown is in terms of planes and helicopters, or what condition these aircraft might be in. Many were built in the 1980s and will need constant servicing and parts to make sure they are airworthy, let alone capable of combat. Nevertheless, if the Islamists have that many operational aircraft, it gives them more air power than 10 of the 30 Nato members, namely: Albania, Bosnia, Estonia, Iceland, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Montenegro, North Macedonia and Slovenia. The family of a 54-year-old dog breeder who was almost mauled to death by her beloved bullmastiff has lashed out at a reporter, screaming: 'You're lucky that dog's not here!' The pet - which reportedly weighed more than 80kg and was likened to the size of the Shetland pony grazing in the front paddock - sunk his teeth into the mother's face out the front of her home in Pheasants Nest, an hour south-west of Sydney, on Friday. Her daughter, who is in her 20s, tried to save the mum but the vicious canine bit into her thigh so deeply that onlookers said her tendons and bones were exposed. The beast only stopped when a brave neighbour stabbed him repeatedly with an iron bar in a move a local man said almost certainly saved her life. When approached by Daily Mail Australia, the woman's son screamed across the lawn that his mother was still at Liverpool Hospital and the pet in question was dead. The female victim's son (pictured) become angry when approached by Daily Mail Australia Pictured: The family home in Pheasants Nest, south-west of Sydney, where a woman was almost mauled to death by her bullmastiff Dressed in a black hoodie, he yelled 'you're lucky that dog's not here,' and gestured inside the family home where a chorus of dogs could be heard barking madly. 'You know what happened here the other day and you want to walk in here?' he bellowed, storming across the yard. While it was previously reported that the family refused to hand over security footage when asked by police, the furious man claimed that was simply not true. 'The cops wanted me to get [the footage] right then and there, but I didn't give it to them because of what happened - I wanted to see my mum,' he said. 'I've got f***ing puppies here and I'm busy,' he continued, referring to his family's dog breeding business. 'You're f***ing lucky that dog isn't here.' The 54-year-old woman is still in hospital, according to her son (pictured, left and right) who is seen out the front of the family home Bloody scenes out the front of the home (pictured) after the attack on Friday morning Inspector Dave Williamson from Narellan Police Station later confirmed the footage had been collected for review, but said the situation was 'extremely unfortunate'. 'The family are dog breeders and they've got a reputable business, but they're dealing with live animals and dogs are pack animals,' he said. 'It's a tragic circumstance and situation.' Initial reports said the dog was an American Staffordshire Terrier - a notoriously violent breed responsible for multiple attacks, including a tragedy in July when a five-month-old baby was mauled to death on the NSW Central Coast. But Daily Mail Australia can now confirm the dog was in fact a bullmastiff, which can grow up to 70cm tall, weigh more than 60kg, and are traditionally kept as guard dogs. Anyone who owns a staffy in NSW is required to report the animal to the council, ensure it's de-sexed and display warnings out the front of their home if the pet is aggressive - but no such requirements exist for bullmastiffs. Wollondilly Shire Council confirmed a ranger had been sent to the address and detained the dog (pictured, stock image of a bullmastiff) The dog latched on to her face, before he lashed out at the woman's daughter (pictured, medics working on the victims at the scene) ARE BULLMASTIFFS DANGEROUS? The bullmastiff is a cross between an English mastiff and bulldog. The breed was originally used as a guard dog to protect animal farms from thieves. They are known for ferociously protecting their family and home. Bullmastiffs are very large dogs with healthy adults standing at about 70cm tall and weighing more than 60kg - which means they can do a lot of damage if they turn violent. Trainers say these dogs must be trained to socialise when they're young, otherwise they can become aggressive towards strangers. Source: Pet Comments Advertisement When asked if one of the dogs barking inside the family home was the pet that mauled his mother, the man fired up, saying: 'No that's not the f***ing dog.' 'The dog's dead.' A petition to save the bullmastiff was created by concerned Australians on Change.com on Monday, but a spokesperson from Wollondilly Shire Council confirmed the dog was put down. A neighbour, who did not want to be identified for fear of ramifications within the tight-knit community, told Daily Mail Australia the brave people who intervened and saved the mother's life are struggling to cope with what they saw. 'The people who were there on the scene are fairly traumatised by it,' he said. 'If it wasn't for some people stepping in, the dog probably would have killed the woman.' Another neighbour looked pained when she said she heard the screaming as the grizzly scene unfolded. A heroic woman, who chose to remain anonymous, said she had driven into her driveway on Friday morning when she heard calls for help and saw the a woman being attacked in the front yard. 'My neighbour's daughter was there trying to stab the dog with a knife, I tried to kick the dog off, but it was latched onto her upper thigh,' the woman told The Sunday Telegraph. The bullmastiff was reportedly around 80kg and the size of a pony (pictured, a pony grazing on the family's property) The 54-year-old woman was airlifted to hospital following the horrific dog attack in the Macarthur region of Pheasants Nest on Friday morning The neighbour searched for a hose, but instead grabbed a knife to try to cut the vicious dog's throat to stop the attack - which was enough for the neighbour to chase the dog away, and for the woman to shout for help. A resident who was driving by the house saw what was happening and quickly dialled triple-zero. The neighbour and the injured daughter managed to drag the older victim to another side of the fence and lay her down, but remained concerned the dog would return and kill them. 'I grabbed all the towels off the line to tourniquet her leg, that wound on her leg man and the wound on her neck was so bad, I thought "I don't want to watch her die",' she said. The neighbour said while the victim's daughter had suffered deep cuts on her leg, she was more worried for her mother. Emergency services found the two seriously injured women at the home, while the man escaped with minor injuries (pictured, the dog being led away from the scene) Daily Mail Australia has learnt the offending dog, which has since been put down, was a bullmastiff (stock image) A female police officer later arrived on the scene, and the neighbour shouted: 'Don't come in there's a dog that is mental, shoot it.' The officer grabbed her gun and walked around the back, but the dog never returned. An ambulance inspector arrived on the scene shortly after and treated the injuries suffered by the victims. The 54-year-old woman was airlifted to Liverpool hospital, while her daughter was driven to hospital shortly after. Shocking video has emerged of the moment a man attacked two police officers in the street in Sydney's west. The footage appeared on the Humans of Bankstown Facebook page and shows a man kneeing and punching the two female officers. The incident occurred near the Hoyts Cinema on Jacobs Street, Bankstown just before midday on Monday, when two senior constables on patrol in the area saw a man standing in the middle of the road. A man in a red hoodie can be seen violently kneeing a female police office in the head while a fellow female officer goes to her aid Police were attempting to move on the man, who had been standing in the middle of Jacob Street Terrace, Bankstown just before midday on Monday The officers approached the man to move on from the middle of the street when he suddenly attacked them. 'The man allegedly punched and kicked both officers, who used OC spray in an attempt to subdue him, before he ran from the area and boarded a train,' NSW Police said in a statement. Filmed from a parked car, the man in a red hoodie can be seen violently kneeing a female police office in the head while a fellow female officer goes to her aid. The second officer then gets on her police radio to call for help. The man is then seen running away in the distance as the policewoman who was attacked hunches over feeling her face. This afternoon police arrested a 43-year-old man at Yagoona and took him to Bankstown Police Station. He then allegedly assaulted a third officer, a 32-year-old male senior constable, while in custody. The male officer - and the two female officers from the Bankstown Police Transport Command, aged 30 and 32 - all attended Bankstown Hospital for treatment. 'Charges are expected to be laid and inquiries into the incident are continuing,' NSW Police said. Police urged anyone with information about the incident to contact Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000. A 33-year-old man who stabbed another man 17 times with an illegal butterfly knife he bought online has been found guilty of murder. Levi John Stephen Elliott denied intending to kill or harm anyone when he swung the weapon that slashed Adam Woodward outside the Brisbane leagues club in 2018. But a Brisbane Supreme Court jury has rejected his version, finding him guilty of murder on Monday after 10 days of hearing evidence and just hours of deliberating. Adam Woodward (pictured) sustained 17 stab wounds including a fatal laceration to his neck Jurors accepted the Crown's case that the now-33-year-old Elliott went to the Brothers St Brendan's Leagues Club on August 24, 2018 - the day before his birthday - armed with the knife, knowing Mr Woodward was there. Prosecutor Caroline Marco told the trial Elliott's real purpose was to use the weapon against 35-year-old Mr Woodward if a fight eventuated between them. 'It is the prosecution case Levi inflicted those wounds intending to kill Adam or at least to cause him grievous bodily harm,' Ms Marco said. Referring to footage from inside the venue shown during the trial, Ms Marco claimed Elliott antagonised Mr Woodward from two minutes after his arrival at the club. The incident occurred outside Brothers St Brendan's Leagues Club in Brisbane, a location where both men had previously had altercations with each other She also argued Elliott left after challenging Mr Woodward to a fight. The jury was told both men had a history of hostility towards one another and had previously had altercations at the club. Witnesses told the trial about a physical altercation between the pair outside, but no one saw the butterfly knife in Elliott's hand until the fight was over. Mr Woodward suffered 17 knife wounds including the fatal laceration to his neck that transected his jugular vein causing massive haemorrhaging before collapsing his left lung. Levi Elliott was found guilty by Brisbane Supreme Court for the murder of Mr Woodward (pictured), who sustained other life-threatening wounds to his face, neck, right arm and shoulder He also sustained other life-threatening wounds to his face, right arm, neck and shoulder. The jury rejected Elliott's version that he acted in self-defence after 'being a smart-arse' inside the club in the hope Mr Woodward would leave, but instead left first. Elliott said he was just outside when he felt surrounded, before hearing loud footsteps coming quickly up behind him and finding Mr Woodward on top of him. Mr Elliott (pictured) claimed he acted in self-defence in the incident Elliott told the trial he cut his fingers as he grabbed the butterfly knife from his pocket, using it 'defensively ... not striking in any precise way'. 'I was in fear,' he added. 'I was trapped ... I just defended myself.' Justice Glenn Martin is expected to hand down Elliott's sentence on Monday afternoon. The disgraced politician at the centre of a parliamentary sexting scandal who was also accused of rape by a sex worker has lifted the lid on their 'titillating and exciting' dalliance. Michael Johnsen revealed the sordid details for the first time on Tuesday saying he met up with the woman three times to have sex - once in a bush, another time at her house and even under a bridge. The former NSW National MP, who was unceremoniously dumped by his party, admitted he 'a red blooded male' who wanted to 'play the field' after his marriage of 30 years broke down but vehemently denied the allegations of sexual assault. Police and the Director of Public Prosecutions in August ruled there was 'insufficient admissible evidence' to charge Mr Johnsen over the allegations of rape. Disgraced MP Michael Johnsen was accused of rape by a sex worker after his 30-year marriage to Zenda Casey broke down (pictured together) 'It was titillating and exciting I was finding myself again after thirty years of marriage. I married at the age of 21 and had never played the field,' he told the Daily Telegraph. 'I'm a red blooded male, sorry if I get turned on. But rape? It just didn't happen.' He said he got in contact with the woman through Locanto personal ads and they met three times in three weeks. 'The first at the Yellow Rock lookout in the Blue Mountains when she claimed I raped her yet she agreed to a second encounter at her home in the Blue Mountains, and the third, under a bridge,' Mr Johnsen said. His encounters with the woman in her 30s sensationally became public back in March after Labor MP Trish Doyle revealed the allegation under parliamentary privilege. She told the floor a sex worker had met an unnamed MP in 2019 following an advertisement on a classifieds website. Labor MP Trish Doyle (pictured) used parliamentary privilege to allege an unnamed politician had forced a woman into penetrative sex at a secluded Blue Mountains lookout, west of Sydney Ms Doyle claimed had met the sex worker in her Blue Mountains electorate after meeting her through the website Locanto and paying her $200 for oral sex in September 2019 Mr Johnsen (pictured) admits he's a floored and 'imperfect human' who made many mistakes Ms Doyle revealed that the woman had gone to police last year to allege that she had been raped by the MP during a paid encounter in the Blue Mountains. She told Parliament that the politician had paid $200 for oral sex but the woman alleged he had gone further than that. Mr Johnsen later outed himself as the parliamentarian in question in order to strongly deny the allegation. The scandal which rocked parliament only deepened days later when tawdry text messages between Mr Johnsen and the sex worker were published. ABC revealed that on September 24, 2019, the woman reportedly texted Johnsen a topless photo while he was sitting in the Legislative Assembly. Johnsen replied: 'Hmmm ... not fair. I'm sitting in the chamber with a h**d on now! Xxx'.' GONE: Michael Johnsen is seen playing with his phone just moments after he texted a sex worker telling her he had a 'h**d on' over a topless photo she sent him Parliamentary video obtained by Daily Mail Australia shows Johnsen playing with phone just three minutes after that text was allegedly received by the woman. Two days later, on September 26, Johnsen reportedly texted her: 'I'm in QT (Question Time) and f*** I'm horny and want you so bad - need you. 'I want you and can't wait to f*** you over and over again.' The woman has also claimed he sent her a video of himself masturbating in a toilet cubicle but Mr Johnsen has denied the claims and said such a video does not exist. He has also refuted the sex worker's claims he offered to pay $1000 to have sex in his parliamentary office, after he sat through a Budget estimates hearing. Mr Johnsen admits he's a floored and 'imperfect human' who made many mistakes. But says he claims the allegations of sexual assault were a 'stitch up' by the Labor Party to remove him from his marginal Upper Hunter seat and spark a by-election. He also claims the sex worker's allegations were triggered by a controversial social media post he made asking 'how many Black Lives Matter protesters also demonstrated in favour of full term abortions?' accusing the racial equality movement of being hypocritical. He said the ordeal has caused him 'deep anguish and anxiety' but he's now ready to move on after starting a new relationship with an education sector worker Karla. Mr Johnsen also hasn't given up on politics considering another run in the future. Nicola Sturgeon today claimed she has an 'unarguable mandate' to hold a second referendum on Scottish independence as she accused Boris Johnson of lacking 'basic humanity'. The SNP leader said her party's victory at the Holyrood elections in May means she has the right to 'implement the manifesto we put before the country' which included a fresh ballot on splitting from the UK. She said she wants to hold a re-run of the 2014 referendum 'Covid permitting, by the end of 2023'. The First Minister said she would seek 'co-operation, not confrontation' with the UK Government as she tries to secure a vote. A formal referendum can only take place if it is given the green light by Mr Johnson but he has made clear he is not in favour of holding another ballot, arguing the first was supposed to be a once in a generation event. Ms Sturgeon risked worsening her war of words with the Prime Minister as she attacked the Government over its decision to remove a 20 a week uplift to the value of Universal Credit. She said going ahead with the cut next month would show a 'lack of care' for struggling families and would 'expose an absence of basic humanity'. Ms Sturgeon's fresh push for an independence referendum comes despite polls suggesting most Scots don't want one any time soon. Polls have shown Scots are divided down the middle on whether to leave the Union, but backing for independence has dropped sharply from the height of the pandemic. A survey last week found just 31 per cent support a vote on the crucial issue in the next two years. Nicola Sturgeon today demanded Boris Johnson 'cooperates' in holding another independence referendum - despite polls suggesting most Scots don't want one any time soon Ms Sturgeon and Mr Johnson are engaged in a battle of wills over the SNP's ambitions, with the previous referendum in 2014 having been billed as 'once in a generation' Polls have shown Scots are divided down the middle on whether to leave the union, but backing for independence has dropped sharply from the height of the pandemic Delivering the closing speech of the SNP conference, she said: 'Judged by any standard of democracy, our victory in May represents an unarguable mandate to implement the manifesto we put before the country. 'And that is what we intend to do. It is called democracy. During the election we said that tackling the pandemic would come first and it will. 'We said we would pursue the most ambitious programme for government ever put before the people of Scotland we are doing exactly that. 'And we said that when the covid crisis has passed, we would give the people of Scotland the choice of independence and we will.' The Scottish Government has now resumed its planning for what an independent Scotland could look like. Ms Sturgeon said she wanted to work with the UK Government on holding a second referendum so Scots can decide who should be making key decisions about their future, Holyrood or Westminster. 'That is the choice we intend to offer the Scottish people in a legal referendum within this term of Parliament - Covid permitting, by the end of 2023,' she said. 'I said earlier that my approach to government and to politics will be, as far as possible, co-operation not confrontation. 'The experience of the pandemic and the challenges we face as a result reinforces my view that this is the right approach. 'So it is in that spirit of co-operation that I hope the Scottish and UK governments can reach agreement - as we did in 2014 - to allow the democratic wishes of the people of Scotland to be heard and respected. But, this much is clear: Democracy must - and will - prevail.' A recent Opinium survey showed Scots are split down the middle on independence, with 51 per cent backing breaking away and 49 per cent supporting the Union. The poll also showed that only one third of respondents, 31 per cent, supported holding a vote within the next two years. Downing Street immediately dismissed Ms Sturgeon's demands for another referendum. The Prime Minister's Official Spokesman said: 'Our view is, as set out, that now would simply not be the time to be dealing with this. 'The public are looking to governments and leaders across the UK to lead us on dealing with this ongoing pandemic and recovering the economy.' Ms Sturgeon also used her conference speech to take aim at Mr Johnson over the Government's decision to remove a 20 a week uplift to the value of Universal Credit. The Government has insisted the pandemic-linked increase was only ever supposed to be temporary but ministers are under growing pressure to keep the extra cash in place. Ms Sturgeon said: 'To even contemplate a cut like this displays a lack of basic understanding of the reality of life for those on the breadline - or maybe its actually a lack of care. 'But to go ahead and implement this cut would expose an absence of basic humanity and moral compass.' Ms Sturgeon said that 'if this deeply cruel cut does happen, the only conclusion it will be possible to reach is that Boris Johnson simply has no shame'. An Opinium survey showed just under a third of Scots are in favour of holding a fresh referendum within the next two years A recent Panelbase poll for the Sunday Times suggested that 48 per cent of Scots supported leaving the UK During an interview with Sky News yesterday, it was suggested to Ms Sturgeon that rather than being concerned about Covid-19, she was waiting until it was politically advantageous to hold a second ballot. She admitted that any politician would 'factor those kind of judgments into those decisions', adding: 'I am very confident that when this question is next to put people in Scotland will vote yes.' She added: 'My primary consideration is to do what's right for the country, when is it right.' Following around six months of consistent polling showing majority support for separation last year - with one poll going as high as 58 per cent in favour - the tide has seemingly turned in 2021. A recent survey by Panelbase for the Sunday Times found 48 per cent of the 1,287 respondents supported leaving the UK while 52 per cent were in favour of the Union. The chief executive of the Scotland in Union campaign group, Pamela Nash, said: 'This is Groundhog Day yet again at SNP conference, with nationalist politicians only interested in talking about the constitution. The First Minister has clearly run out of ideas. 'If Nicola Sturgeon was serious about believing in co-operation, she would focus on making devolution work and using Holyrood's powers to build a recovery for everyone. Instead, she is blindsided by her obsession with breaking up our country.' House Democrats are plotting a huge tax raid on the wealthy, businesses and investors to raise $2.9billion to cover the cost of President Joe Biden's domestic plans, leaked documents reveal. The plans are a major rollback of Donald Trump's tax cuts and will see the corporate rate hiked from 21 per cent to 26.5 per cent according to the draft proposal circulating among Democrats on the House Ways and Means Committee. Democrats are also expected to propose a 3 per cent surtax on individual income above $5million, which alone will raise $127billion. House Democrats are plotting a huge tax raid on the wealthy, businesses and investors to raise $2.9billion to cover the cost of President Joe Biden's domestic plans They are also considering raising the minimum tax on U.S. companies' foreign income to 16.5 per cent from 10.5 per cent and the top capital gains tax rate to 28.8 per cent from 23.8 per cent. The raid is not as aggressive as Biden had proposed earlier in the year but will still hit Americans hard, the plans obtained by Business Insider reveal. Individuals who earn over $400,000 will receive a top tax rate of 39.6 per cent while married couples taking in more than $450,000 together will also be taxed at the same rate. The capital gains increase, which taxes profits from assets, will target those earning above $400,000 despite the White House previously saying it would only apply to those earning more than $1million a year. The plans are a major rollback of Donald Trump's tax cuts and will see the corporate rate hiked from 21 per cent to 26.5 per cent Businesses with incomes lower than $400,000 will see their tax rate fall to 18 per cent and the hike only applies to firms taking in more than $5million. The Wall Street Journal first reported the outline of the proposal, citing a congressional aide. A spokesman for the House Ways and Means Committee, which is responsible for tax policy, did not immediately respond to a request for comment. In a statement, White House spokesman Andrew Bates said House Democrats are making 'significant progress towards ensuring our economy rewards work and not just wealth by cutting taxes for middle class families; reforming the tax code to prevent the offshoring of American jobs; and making sure the wealthiest Americans and big corporations pay their fair share.' The overall package of tax changes, summarized in a four-page document circulating among lobbyists and congressional aides on Sunday, was estimated to raise $2.9trillion in new revenue, largely covering the costs of President Joe Biden's $3.5trillion domestic investment plan. The huge 10-year spending plan addresses Biden's main priorities on education, climate change, immigration and expands the social safety net. The package also includes $80billion more in additional funding for the Internal Revenue Service specifically devoted to tax enforcement of high income taxpayers, which could raise as much as $200billion in additional revenue. Tobacco and nicotine will see further taxes to raise an estimated $100billion, while $16billion will be raked in by changing the rules to 'treat cryptocurrency the same as other financial instruments'. Firms will also be prevented from shifting profits abroad to tax havens in a bid to avoid paying their share in the US. The plans are a significant unwinding of the cuts implemented under Trump in 2017. White House spokesman Andrew Bates said the proposal 'makes significant progress toward ensuring our economy rewards work and not just wealth'. He added it satisfies Biden's promise to repeal Trump's tax cuts without targeting lower-income households. One New South Wales region has been plunged back into lockdown just two days after restrictions were eased after just one coronavirus case was discovered. At least 6,500 residents in the town of Yass, south-west of Sydney near Canberra, will enter a two week lockdown after a local case of Covid-19 was confirmed on Monday afternoon. Stay at home orders will come into effect at 12.01am Tuesday. Health officials have been on high alert for several days after an increase in Covid-19 fragments was detected in sewage at the Yass treatment plant. The region of Yass in the NSW southern tablelands will go back into lockdown for at least two weeks after a local case emerged. 'Urgent investigations and contact tracing are underway', NSW Health said. Health officials are also working hard to to identify venues of concern and exposure sites. Stay at home orders apply to residents in the Yass Valley Council area or anyone who has been there on or after September 9. They also apply to the nearby town of Murrumbateman. Residents can only leave home for five essential reasons and must wear a face mask in all indoor or outdoor areas, other than a place of residence. 'This includes when you are on a street, in a park, at the shops or at work. There are limited exceptions, such as where you are in a vehicle with members of your household or your nominated visitor (singles bubble), when exercising, when eating or drinking, and in emergencies,' NSW Health said. Valid reasons to leave home include shopping for essential goods and services, medical care or compassionate needs, work or tertiary education, or attending a wedding or funeral. Fully vaccinated residents are also permitted to attend an outdoor gathering of up to five people for exercise or outdoor recreation. Residents in the town of Yass have been urged to come forward for testing after confirmation of a positive Covid case 'It's disappointing and frustrating, that we've just come out of stay-at-home orders, having to now go back into it at midnight tonight,' Yass mayor Rowena Abbey told NCA NewsWire. 'But obviously, we need to be on top of where people have potentially been and where this positive person has been, and make sure that the community stays safe.' NSW Health has urged residents with the mildest of symptoms to come forward for testing. A drive-through testing clinic will be open at Walker Park from 8am-4pm for the rest of the week. The Yass Hotel will be forced to shut its doors again, two days after it reopened for the first time in a month Located in the NSW southern tablelands, Yass is 280 km south-west of Sydney and an hour's drive from Canberra. It was one of the NSW regions that exited a month-long lockdown on Saturday. NSW Deputy Premier John Barilaro previously warned that regional communities could be shut down again for a minimum of 14 days if just a single case of coronavirus emerged locally. 'It is important that we protect the communities. One case is one case too many in the regions,' he said last week. Israel could send back a six-year-old boy who was 'kidnapped' from Italy in a private jet by his Israeli family after being orphaned in an Italian cable car disaster. Specialist legal advice said the government was obligated to return Eitan Biran to Italy because he should not have been flown out of the country without the permission of his legal guardian. His paternal aunt Aya Biran-Nirko was named his legal guardian following the tragedy but the decision has sparked a bitter custody battle with his maternal aunt and grandfather who insist Eitan should be raised in Israel. He miraculously survived a cable car crash in the Alps on May 23, but his mother, father, younger brother and great-grandparents all lost their lives. Eitan's grandfather Shmuel Peleg allegedly flew him from Italy to Israel on a private jet on Saturday after taking him out on an agreed day visit and failing to return amid the bitter custody battle. Lawyers for the Israeli government have concluded the deceit violated the Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction and that the boy should be returned to his legal guardian, Biran-Nirko, in Italy. The legal opinion was leaked to Israel's Channel 12 and has not yet been published by the justice or foreign ministries. Eitan (pictured bottom with family) miraculously survived the tragedy in the Alps on May 23, but his mother, father, younger brother and great-grandparents all lost their lives Emergency workers surround the wreckage of a cable car that fell from the Stresa-Alpine-Mottarone line, May 23 Legal guardian Aya Biran-Nirko (pictured) sent several unanswered messages to Eitan's grandfather on Saturday after he failed to return with the child. She received a response saying 'Eitan has returned home' to Israel Biran-Nirko was informed the six-year-old had been flown out of the country by a message from Peleg saying 'Eitan has returned home'. It is thought Peleg flew Eitan out of the country on a private jet because he had been ordered to hand over the child's Italian passport by August 30, but failed to do so meaning authorities would have raised the alarm if the travel documents were used. The Pelegs have fiercely rejected any suggestion they kidnapped Eitan, telling an Israel radio station 'we will not use that word'. Italian prosecutors opened an investigation into the alleged abduction on Saturday. Hours later the Israeli government said its legal position would favour returning Eitan to Italy because the way he was flown out of the country likely constituted a kidnapping, the Israel's Channel 12 reported. The legal advice said the alleged kidnapping violated the Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction and the boy should be returned to his legal guardian in Italy as soon as possible. It added an Italian court had ultimate jurisdiction to decide Eitan's fate if the two sides of the family were unable to reach a shared custody agreement. Eitan's legal guardian, Biran-Nirko, a mother of two doctor who he has lived with since he was discharged from hospital in Turin in June, has said she is 'waiting for him to come home' and the family 'are very worried about his health.' 'This is another tragedy for him.' She said the boy has been undergoing both physical therapy and psychotherapy since his hospital release and was due to have follow-up medical visits this week, including one in Turin. Mr Biran said: 'His bed is empty, his toys and clothes were left behind. His new desk, school backpack, notebooks, pencil case and books were ready [for his first day in class on Monday].' He lost his mother Tal, 26, father Amit, 30, two-year-old brother Tom and great-grandparents Itshak and Barbara Cohen, 82 and 70, in the crash. Six-year-old Eitan Biran (pictured bottom) from Israel, has no memory of the cable car crash in Italy that killed his entire family, doctors revealed Eitan miraculously survived the tragedy (pictured: site where cable car crashed to the ground) in the Alps, but his mother and father, younger brother and great-grandparents were all killed Biran-Nirko's lawyer Armando Simbari branded the alleged abduction 'an international kidnapping'. 'Biran-Nirko was granted custody by two courts who wanted Eitan to have continuity in his life', he said. Simbari also voiced concerns over Peleg's conviction for 'physically abusing' his wife and described the grandfather's demands as 'aggressive'. He said his client hoped international treaties between Italy and Israel would see the bitter custody dispute resolved. In Italy, Aya Biran told reporters the boy has Italian citizenship and had been living with his parents since when he was a toddler in Italy before the accident. It was not immediately possible to confirm if the child also had Israeli citizenship, but he reportedly had an Israeli passport. The Italian foreign ministry has not commented on the case. The Corriere della Sera newspaper quoted a paternal uncle, Or Nirko, as saying on Saturday that the Pelegs had the boy's Israeli passport and had failed to give it to the paternal relatives despite an Italian court order that they should do so by August 30. Mr Nirko was quoted as saying that the boy's maternal grandparents had contended that if he stayed in Italy, 'Eitan would have grown up without ties to his [Israeli] identity'. According to the paternal relatives, the maternal family had challenged in Italian courts the custody arrangement that let Eitan live with Biran-Nirko. Well-wishers put up a sign reading 'a hug for little Eitan from all of us' after he was orphaned in a tragic cable car crash and then allegedly kidnapped and taken from Italy to Israel Peleg's daughter and Eitan's aunt Gali has hit back at claims the six-year-old was kidnapped, telling Israeli station Radio103FM: 'We did not kidnap Eitan and we will not use that word. 'We brought Eitan back home. Eitan shouted with emotion when he saw us and said: 'Finally I am in Israel'. He kept on saying we are his true family.' Gali Peleg added: 'We had to do it after we received no information on his health of mental condition. 'If the judge had not scheduled meetings [with the child], we would not have seen him.' Tal Peleg-Biran is pictured left with her sister Gali Peleg. Ms Peleg revealed in August her family would be taking legal action so Eitan could have a 'normal' life in Israel It comes after she revealed in August her family would be taking legal action so he could have a 'normal' life in Israel. Mrs Peleg said at the time: 'He was abducted by relatives who don't know him at all and were not close to him in any way. The family there won't take him to a park or out to eat, things we have done so he feels he has a family.' She claimed her sister Tal Peleg-Biran, 26, valued Jewish and Israeli identity and this would be eroded while in Italy. Mrs Peleg added: 'In a few years he'll look back and see where he grew up and who his parents were, and it's important to me that he sees that we were always there for him. He already lost one family and does not need to lose another.' She added that her family had only been allowed to see the child briefly, claiming he 'breaks into tears' when she leaves. Biran-Nirko's lawyers at the time called the allegations 'surreal', adding: 'We sincerely cannot understand the reason for such acrimony and falsehood.' Reports had earlier revealed that doctors believe the boy was suffering from post traumatic amnesia after tests ruled out any neurological damage. In a statement translated from Italian, doctors said: 'Eitan's conditions are significantly improving both from the point of view of thoracic trauma and from the point of view of abdominal trauma.' The NYPD is searching for a man (pictured) acussed of kicking a woman in the chest on a subway station escalator on Thursday night, causing her to fall several feet Survelliance cameras captured the chilling moment when a woman was kicked in the chest on a Brooklyn subway station escalator, causing her to fall several feet. New York City police say the 32-year-old was attacked after she confronted a man for shoving past her on the escalator at the Atlantic Avenue-Barclays Center Station around 7.15pm on Thursday. According to the Daily News, the woman told her attacker to 'say excuse me.' He responded 'I did' and kicked her in the chest. The victim fell backwards to the bottom of the escalator as the suspect continued up the escalator and out of the station. Police say the woman suffered cuts and bruises to her back, arms, legs, right knee and right thigh and trauma to her left ankle, noting that she refused medical attention at the scene. New York City police say the 32-year-old woman was attacked after she confronted a man for shoving past her on the escalator at the Atlantic Avenue-Barclays Center Station at 7.15pm The woman told her attacker to 'say excuse me.' He reportedly responded 'I did' and kicked her in the chest The victim fell backwards to the bottom of the escalator as the suspect continued up the escalator and out of the station The NYPD released photos of the suspect on Sunday night and are asking for the public's help in identifying him. Anyone with information regarding the suspect's identity or whereabouts is asked to call the NYPD's Crime Stoppers Hotline at 1-800-577-TIPS (8477). The attack comes as crime continues to surge in New York City. For example, just last Friday police arrested a 37-year-old man in connection to a string of Manhattan groping attacks. The victim's ages ranged from 11 to 31. The groping attacks involved a man on a scooter who casually rode up to his victims on his bike before groping their breasts and speeding away. The groping victims have ranged in age from 11 to 31 The attacks involved a man on a scooter who casually rode up to his victims on his bike before groping their breasts and speeding away. The suspect has been connected to at least six of nine reported groping incidents. The alleged groper's arrest followed a violent Labor Day Weekend in New York City where nine people were shot. They included a 21-year-old immigrant cab driver who was caught in the crossfire of a shootout in Harlem in the early hours of Sunday morning and died three days later. A 21-year-old immigrant cab driver was caught in the crossfire of a shootout in Harlem in the early hours of Sept. 5 and died three days later NYPD investigate a multiple shooting in the Bronx over Labor Day weekend that left one dead and another in stable condition in the hospital In an unrelated incident, two men were brutally attacked with a glass bottle and a screwdriver while being called homophobic slurs at a Brooklyn bodega early morning on September 4. The two male victims, aged 36 and 28, were trying to buy food at a store at 1559 Broadway in Bushwick, Brooklyn at 2.10am, according to the NYPD. They were approached by two unknown men who engaged them in a verbal dispute and made 'anti-gay statements,' according to police. The men attacked the victims with a glass bottle and a screwdriver before stealing an iPhone and cash and running away on foot. The suspects above allegedly attacked two men with a screwdriver and a glass bottle, hurled a homophobic slur at one of them, and stole cash and an iPhone before fleeing the scene The incident happened Sept. 4 at 2.10am at a store at 1559 Broadway in Bushwick, Brooklyn According to dtata released by NYPD, overall crime in the city dropped by 5.4 percent in August and 0.92 percent in the week leading to September 5, as compared to the same period last year. Felony assaults and shooting incidents dropped in August by 3.7 percent and a whopping 30.7 percent, respectively. Through September 5, the same crimes rose by 5.5 percent and 1.7 percent, respectively. However, sex attacks are up 26.2 percent this year, with 3,278 incidents reported in the year to September 5, compared with 2,597 in the same period last year. Rape was up by 8.5percent in August and 4.5 percent through September 5. Crime in the Big Apple has decreased overall in August as compared to the same month last year, according to NYPD statistics However, certain crimes rose through September 5, including rape, felony assaults and shooting incidents Meanwhile, New York Police Department Commissioner Dermot Shea has called for reform amid the crime surge, arguing that the 'soft on criminals experiment' has been a disaster. 'This city is built on public safety,' Commissioner Shea said during an August interview with Spectrum News. 'We're probably about two years into this soft-on-criminals 'experiment' if you will, 'let's empty out the jails, and show me a New Yorker that at this point and time thinks this experiment has worked. It's been a disaster.' Shea said he hopes New York's new governor, Kathy Hochul, will make necessary changes to increase safety across the city. 'Common sense is what we need. Reforms are good, but let's do reforms that are calibrated in such a way with the input of law enforcement,' he argued. 'It's time to fix these laws and get back to where we all need to be.' New Zealand has extended its Covid lockdown as the country tries to stamp out cases of the Delta variant. The capital Auckland will spend at least another week in the strictest restrictions after 33 Delta cases there on Monday, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said, marking its longest shut-down of the pandemic so far. Meanwhile the rest of the country will remain in Level 2 restrictions - meaning mandatory mask-wearing and social distancing measures - until at least Monday, despite recording zero cases. Ms Ardern said the country's strict 'zero Covid' strategy - with harsh lockdowns used even for a handful of cases - had helped bring the latest outbreak under control but that 'we haven't quite finished the job yet'. She admitted there 'is not widespread transmission of the virus in Auckland' but said a handful of cases not linked to any known outbreaks are causing concern, because it means not all cases have been discovered yet. Most New Zealanders remain vulnerable to infection, because the country has fully vaccinated just a third of its population. Auckland will stay in full lockdown for at least another week after 33 cases of Covid were found there on Monday - the city's longest shut-down of the pandemic so far Jacinda Ardern said the rest of the country will remain at Level 2 restrictions - with businesses open but social distancing in place - until next week despite no cases being detected Of the 33 cases discovered on Monday, one of them - a woman from the suburb of Middlemore - had no connection to any known outbreak. She tested positive after going into hospital for an unrelated condition, and seven of her family members have also tested positive since. 'The detection of mystery cases unlinked to the current outbreak is concerning,' immunologist Dr Dianne Sika-Paotonu of University of Otago Wellington said. 'Community transmission appears to continue, and it will be important to identify and break new transmission paths for the virus quickly. The unlinked cases highlight the need for everyone to remain vigilant.' Ms Ardern said ministers have agreed in principle that Auckland should move to Level 3 restrictions - meaning people are allowed to socialise in bubbles and move around their local areas - but that the move will only be signed off next week. Offices, schools and public venues would still remain closed. New Zealand has been widely praised for its Covid strategy, which saw borders shut quickly and harsh lockdowns brought in to stamp out cases before they spread. It has meant the country's case and death totals have remained low - with just 3,593 infections throughout the whole of the pandemic, and 27 deaths. The strategy has also meant that life has remained relatively normal for most people between the periods of lockdown. However, as Covid has mutated and become more infectious the strategy has become harder to sustain, with outbreaks of the Delta variant proving difficult to eradicate entirely. Auckland (pictured) has now been in strict lockdown since August 17 as the city tries to stamp out cases of the highly-infectious Delta variant of Covid In neighbouring Australia, which employed a similar 'zero Covid' approach for most of the pandemic, the strategy has been all-but abandoned in favour of a vaccination drive - with unlocking linked to the number of people jabbed, not case figures. New South Wales, which is at the epicentre of the country's outbreak, has directly linked the easing of restrictions to vaccination rates. Parts of south east Asia which were largely spared the worst ravages of Covid last year due to their strict lockdown regimes have also been hit much harder during the Delta wave of Covid. In a tactic admission of the shortcomings of her 'zero Covid' strategy, Ms Ardern has been rushing to buy more doses of vaccines from other countries while urging people to get jabbed as soon as possible. On Sunday, she announced that 500,000 doses of Pfizer had been purchased from Denmark meaning more vaccination appointments will become available. 'There is now more than enough vaccine in the country to vaccinate at the world leading rates we were hitting earlier in the month, and I strongly encourage every New Zealander not yet vaccinated to do so as soon as possible,' she said. 'If you've booked a first vaccine but it's not till October, jump online again. You'll likely find that spots have opened up at new sites and much sooner than October. Please take them.' Ancient artifacts - including a weapon part crafted thousands of years ago - were found in the belly of a 750-pound alligator killed in Mississippi. Outdoorsman John Hamilton said he made the hunt of a lifetime after capturing the 13-foot beast, and later learning its stomach contents included a Native American spear part dating back as far as 6000 BC. What a hunt, Hamilton said on his Facebook page September 6 after making the catch. Thats not all an expert who examined the unearthed contents said the alligators stomach was also housing a mysterious fishing contraption known as a plummet, which dates back to 1700 BC. Red River Processing, which dissected the swamp creature, said the gator produced the shock of the year. A member of a Mississippi hunting team poses with a 750-alligator, which was later revealed to be hosting at least two ancient artifacts - dating back thousands of years - in its stomach Contents included a dart point dating back as far as 6000 BC and a plummet from 1700 BC Mississippi Department of Environmental Qualitys James Starnes, who examined photos of the finds, said one object dates back to the Early Archaic period of about 5000-6000 BC, The Clarion Ledger reported. Starnes, the departments director of surface geology and surface mapping, said although the piece resembles an arrowhead, its actually the tip of an early weapon. Its purpose was to help increase the speed of a launched spear. That's an atlatl dart point, Starnes told the outlet. People think all heads are arrowheads, but those (arrowheads) would be the little bitty points. The 13-foot alligator was captured in Eagle Lake, Mississippi, and transported for processing Less surprisingly, the harvested alligator also had bone fragments and feathers in its stomach A second prehistoric artefact discovered in the alligators stomach was identified by Starnes as a plummet dating back to 1700 BC. The purpose of the iron object was not clear. The plummets, we really have no idea what they were used for, Starnes said. These things had some significance, but we have no idea. We can only guess. Red Antler Processing, which harvested the animal, said it had been cutting into alligators recently to see what the stomach contents contained. The trend started in April after a South Carolina butcher opened up the stomach of a 12-foot, 445-pound land alligator and discovered some unexpected objects. Corday's said in a Facebook post that it found five dog tags, a bullet jacket, a spark plug, turtle shells, and several bobcat claws inside the gator. Earlier this year, a South Carolina butchery found dog tags and a bullet casing in a gator's belly A Mississippi Department of Wildlife, Fisheries and Parks employee told The Clarion Ledger said hard objects help alligators digest foods. 'Alligators, like other animals such as birds and other reptiles, are known for ingesting grit and rocks to help with digestion,' alligator program coordinator Ricky Flynt told the outlet. 'We know alligators and crocodiles do that.' Hunting the reptiles is legal in some states, including Mississippi, South Carolina, Texas, Florida, Georgia, Alabama, and Arkansas. It's designed to stop wrinkles in middle-age but Botox could also protect people from catching Covid, according to a French study. Researchers said that out of their almost 200 patients who got the treatment up to July last year, only two had signs of being ill. For comparison, they suggested 4.4 per cent of the French population had already been infected with the virus. But experts described the study as being 'extremely poor' and insisted that it proved nothing about whether Botox had any promise in the fight against Covid. More than one million Britons get Botox injections every year, and the procedure is even more common in the US. French scientists have suggested botox can stop a Covid infection. But experts in England have said their study was 'extremely poor'. Stock photo The toxin, one of the most dangerous known to science, helps to reduce wrinkles because it relaxes muscles in the forehead. But it is also used for medical reasons, and given to patients suffering migraines and involuntary muscle contractions to help soothe symptoms. Some 193 patients were involved in the study, of which three quarters were women (146). They were in their fifties, on average. They had all received Botox for medical ailments, the Montpellier University Hospital team revealed. How could botox fight off SARS-CoV-2? Some researchers have claimed that botox may be able to stop a Covid infection. But there is still no concrete evidence that the treatment can stop a viral infection. French scientists said when Botox is administered it binds to a chemical acetylcholine which allows muscles to contract. They claim this could also stop Covid cases because the virus is thought to use the receptors this chemical binds to to invade cells. They pointed to other scientific papers that suggest nicotine blocks this receptor to back up their theory. Previous research had suggested smokers were less likely to suffer severe Covid if they were infected. The French researchers admit that more work is needed to establish how Botox may be able to stop an infection with the virus. Advertisement All volunteers were followed for three months after they received the injections to see whether or not they caught the virus. None of the participants ever tested positive for Covid, although there were two suspected cases. A 53-year-old woman developed tell-tale symptoms after returning from a trip to Las Vegas, but she tested negative. A 70-year-old woman also fell ill but she was never tested. Neither patient was hospitalised, experts wrote in the Journal of Stomatology, Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery. The team said: 'Our results show a significant difference between the number of infected individuals in the general population and the number of patients injected with Botox who showed signs of Covid.' They admitted that the region where the patients were picked from was 'not one of the worst-affected' areas in France, 'quite the opposite'. To suggest Botox may be thwarting Covid, the team pointed to a 64-year-old woman from Lozere in southern France who got the treatment. They claimed she did not catch the virus despite it infecting everyone else in her village. They also pointed to a 46-year-old woman who did not get Covid after her daughter tested positive for the virus. They do not say how old the daughter was or whether they lived together. Botulinum toxin works by stopping the release of the neurotransmitter acetylcholine, paralysing muscles. Dr Dominique Batifol, lead author of the study, and other contributors to the paper suggested this could stop a Covid infection. They pointed to other papers which have suggested nicotine blocks the receptor that acetylcholine binds to, to back up their theory. Previous research had suggested smokers were less likely to suffer severe Covid if they were infected, but the evidence on the matter has been mixed since. The team admitted more research was needed to determine how Botox may stop a Covid infection. Professor Willem van Schaik, director of the institute of microbiology and infection at the University of Birmingham, criticised the study. He told MailOnline: 'This paper cannot be used as evidence, not even as weak evidence, that Botox can protect against Covid. 'The gold standard to determine whether a treatment is effective in treating or preventing Covid is to perform a randomised clinical trial in which you compare the treatment with a placebo. This paper describes no such thing.' Professor van Schaik added: 'The rest of the paper does not give much in terms of a mechanistic explanation of Botox on infection by SARS-CoV-2 (the virus that causes Covid) and is highly speculative.' He said on Twitter: 'Extremely poor papers on Covid continue being published in peer-reviewed journals.' 'Gamble' of Freedom Day contributed to 4,000 deaths, he will say today Some 130,000 fatalities in the UK have been linked with the coronavirus 'We will not accept an NHS unprepared for a pandemic, without vital PPE to protect the health and lives of health and care workers,' Dr Chaand Nagpaul will say today Chronic neglect of the NHS and a lack of preparedness before the Covid pandemic struck added to the UK's Covid death toll, the British Medical Association chair will say today. Britain has recorded more than 130,000 coronavirus-related fatalities, giving it one of the worst death tolls in the western world. Dr Chaand Nagpaul, the union's council chair, will explain that flawed Government thinking also fuelled the crisis. The health service was 'patently' under-staffed and under-resourced and 'unprepared for a pandemic', while the Government has been 'consistent only in its inconsistency'. In a speech at the BMA's virtual annual representative meeting later, he will say that the deaths occurred against a backdrop of an NHS that was inadequately resourced and not ready for a virus outbreak. This included too few beds, a lack of PPE and staff, as well as an insufficient testing capacity. The UK has seen 134,200 people die within 28 days of testing positive for Covid, the latest official daily figures show. Meanwhile, separate surveillance figures show the coronavirus has been mentioned on nearly 160,000 death certificates since the pandemic struck. Some 4,000 deaths alone can be linked with the 'gamble' of July 19's Freedom Day on July 19 when nearly all remaining Covid restrictions were eased in England. It comes as the NHS waiting list for routine operations, such as routine hip and knee replacements, hit 5.6million in July the most since records began in 2007 after the number rose continuously during the pandemic. Health Secretary Sajid Javid had warned the figure could hit 13million by the end of the year without immediate action. No10 announced a massive 36bn for the NHS and social care to fund nine million more checks, scans and procedures by the end of 2025, as part of the 'biggest catch-up programme in the health service's history'. NHS bosses warned the cash will not be enough to clear the backlog, while critics said the extra funding on the top of the NHS's annual budget will be 'gobbled up' by the health service. Some 10,268 deaths from all causes were recorded in England and Wales in the week ending August 27, according to the Office for National Statistics. Covid was linked to 668 fatalities (red bar), meaning 9,600 were not related to the virus (pink bar). The death numbers for the most recent week are 12.1 per cent higher than the five-year average for this time of year (blue line). The 668 Covid fatality figure is the highest recorded since March 26, when 719 deaths were recorded. Deaths dropped as low as 84 in the week to June 11. There were more than 8,000 weekly Covid deaths at the peak of the second wave in January Britain has recorded more than 130,000 coronavirus-related fatalities, giving it one of the worst death tolls in the western world. This equates to 1,972 Covid deaths per million people, while figures were much lower in Germany (1,103), Canada (716) and India (318). However, Italy (2,152) and the US (1,982) recorded some of the highest death rates Dr Nagpaul, who is also a GP in North London, is set to say: 'We will not accept a return the old pre-pandemic NHS, which was so patently under-staffed and under-resourced, where nine in 10 doctors are afraid of medical errors daily. 'We will not accept an NHS running at unsafe bed occupancy and without spare capacity. HOW LONG IS THE NHS WAITING LIST IN ENGLAND? One in ten people in England are stuck on the NHS waiting list for routine operations, extraordinary figures revealed last week as queues hit another record high. Latest NHS data showed that 5.6million people across the country were waiting for elective surgery in July the most since records began in 2007 after the number rose continuously during the pandemic. Waiting lists spiralled after Covid forced hospitals to cancel routine operations and turn over whole wards to patients suffering from the disease. Social distancing and extra Covid precautions have made it even harder to start chipping away at the record waiting lists. Record numbers of patients are now turning to private health rather than waiting for help from the NHS, figures show, with one private provider seeing patient numbers rise by 80 per cent on the back of the pandemic. The waiting list includes people waiting for operations like knee, hip and joint replacements, as well as cataracts surgery. The number who've waited more than a year to start treatment stood at 293,000 last month, almost three times as high as the same time last year when 83,000 had been on the list for this long. And more than 1.7million people have been waiting more than 18 weeks for surgery, outside the period in which the NHS aims to see every patient. The Royal College of Surgeons said behind these 'eye-watering' statistics were patients 'waiting in pain' that was leaving them unable to work or carry on with their daily lives. Top medics said the NHS was already 'running on empty' as it heads into winter which is its busiest period. Advertisement 'We will not accept an NHS unprepared for a pandemic, without vital PPE to protect the health and lives of health and care workers. 'We will not accept an NHS in crisis every summer, let alone every winter. 'We will not accept a nation bereft of public health staff, facilities and testing capacity, with ministers then paying billions to private companies who were unable to deliver.' NHS England data shows one in 10 nursing roles were vacant by the end of June. And 84 per cent of beds were occupied on average in the first quarter of the year. Some hospitals were so overwhelmed at various points throughout the pandemic that they were forced to cancel routine operations. And there was huge PPE shortages at the beginning of the Covid pandemic, with insufficient stocks across the UK, some of which was out of date. And contracts worth billions of pounds were given to private companies largely without a competitive bidding process to secure the best price. Dr Nagpaul will say: 'Since July 19, 37,000 people have been hospitalised and 4,000 have died. 'Ministers call this living with Covid but for too many they are suffering or dying with Covid. 'The sad truth is that many of these infections could undoubtedly have been prevented through simple mandatory measures Wearing a mask does not stop you buying a pint of milk or getting on a train.' He will accuse the government of being 'consistent only in its inconsistency'. 'When cases soared in June the Prime Minister announced there was "nothing in the data to delay ending all restrictions" only to U-turn days later based on the exact same data.' He also has concerns about how far the 36billion additional funding for the NHS and social care will stretch, as it continues to deal with the pandemic and a backlog of cases The Government plans to raise 12billion extra a year for the NHS and adult social care through a 1.25 per cent rise in national insurance next spring. The NHS will get most of the share for the first three years, with 5.3billion allocated to social care, 500million of which will be spent on workforce training and recruitment. Ministers say social care will get more money after the first three years, as an 86,000 cap on the costs an individual will pay for social care in their lifetime comes into force in October 2023 and requires funding. A Department of Health and Social Care spokesman said: 'We have backed the health service at every turn, with an extra 29billion to support health and care services on top of our historic settlement for the NHS in 2018. The number of patients waiting for routine hospital treatment hit 5.6million in July, the highest figure since records began in 2007. And health chiefs have warned the backlog is going to get much worse before it gets better, with projections that it could soar up to 13million by the end of the year if no action is taken The health and social care budget reached 212.1million in 2020, according to the King's Fund. Some 148.7million of the sum was planned funding, while the remaining 63.4million was dished out to cope with the Covid crisis. For the second half of 2021 and first half of 2022, minister plan to spend a total of 181.4million on the health service, 22.4million of which will be linked to Covid recovery 'This will see the NHS budget rise by 33.9billion by 2023/24. 'At the same time, we are backing the NHS with a further 36billion for health and social care and a ring-fenced 8billion to tackle backlogs and help the NHS deliver an extra nine million checks, scans and operations for patients across the country.' The Institute for Fiscal Studies says the extra cash will equate to a 3.9 per cent rise in the NHS's budget by 2025, compared to funding it received in 2019. It comes as Boris Johnson is set to reveal at a press conference tomorrow a winter roadmap to manage an expected surge in cases, hospitalisation and deaths. He is expected to say booster doses for the elderly and most vulnerable, along with vaccines for healthy 12 to 15-year-olds, will help the country avoid future lockdowns. The Government's power to impose lockdowns is expected to be scrapped, along with the travel traffic light system and mandatory Covid tests for UK arrivals. But the Prime Minister is expected to say masks may become mandatory and people may be told to work from home if the NHS begins to buckle. Britain's most senior police officer has accused technology firms of failing to do enough to protect users against harm in a speech on counter-terrorism today. Metropolitan Police commissioner Dame Cressida Dick said vulnerable people can now be radicalised in a matter of weeks if targeted by extremists online. And Dame Cressida said social media firms are not doing enough to stop this harm taking place, insisting that they 'have the power and resources' to do more. The 60-year-old, who was granted a two-year extension at Scotland Yard last week, was speaking today at the 20th Annual World Summit on Counter Terrorism. Metropolitan Police commissioner Dame Cressida Dick, pictured at New Scotland Yard in April She said: 'The tech companies and social media platforms have become much better at working alongside law enforcement and governments to help protect people against a huge range of online threats, and I pay tribute to them for that. 'But there is still more they can and must do. They have the power and resources to make real difference. But they are not doing enough to protect people against the harm that takes place on their platforms.' She used the example of using end-to-end encryption to keep messages secret hampering law enforcement. 'Police colleagues here in the UK have spoken at length about end-to-end encryption becoming ubiquitous across the world's most popular social media platforms. 'This is just one example of how this wonderful capability that we all have now to communicate in different ways is also not only damaging to society but preventing law enforcement agencies the world over from protecting their citizens. 'How are we supposed to protect children from online sexual exploitation? Or defend ourselves against the next terrorist threat if we don't even have the power to have evidence held on servers outside our jurisdiction?' Dame Cressida was speaking today at the 20th Annual World Summit on Counter Terrorism Dame Cressida called for greater international co-operation among law enforcement bodies and governments to engage tech companies. She told the audience at the International Institute for Counter-Terrorism in Israel and listening online: 'How we react to challenges posed by supranational organisations will be pivotal to tackling the terrorist threat, and whether that means new regulations and regulatory bodies, or greater collaboration from those who have the power to change things, we cannot allow the status quo to continue.' Some extremists aim to radicalise young or vulnerable people online to carry out less complicated attacks using knives or vehicles rather than higher-risk bomb plots. Dame Cressida told delegates: 'In the past, perhaps recruiting children or those with mental ill-health would have been an unacceptable risk when trying to execute a complex bomb plot. 'But when you're simply trying to push vulnerable people over the edge towards crude, direct action such as a random knife attack, the opposite is true.' She told the audience that children and vulnerable people can be radicalised in a matter of weeks if successfully targeted by extremists online. 'These low sophistication attacks inspired by the proliferation of online extremist material can reduce the process of radicalisation and attack planning from years to weeks, dramatically narrowing the window we in law enforcement have to identify and neutralise the threat.' More young people in the UK have been lured into terrorism, with 13% of terror suspects arrested in the year to March 31 being under 18, more than triple the proportion in the year before. Police also saw the number of terrorism arrests for all age groups except children fall during the pandemic. Dame Cressida said that while the number of referrals to Prevent, an anti-radicalisation scheme, fell by half during the first lockdown in 2020, they have now risen to higher than usual levels and law enforcement have 'a record level of casework'. She said: 'Covid-19 has created an environment, in the UK certainly, in which extremists may find it easier to identify and target and potentially radicalise vulnerable people. 'It has done so by exacerbating pre-existing inequalities, by stoking distrust in authority, and inspiring a new wave of conspiracy theories that have more easily reached the mainstream. 'Not only that, but longer term impacts such as unemployment and financial uncertainty caused or exacerbated by the pandemic are exactly the problems in people's lives that extremists can latch on to when they are looking to radicalise. 'If you add to that the increased social isolation people have endured over the last 18 months and a reduction in support services such as mental health provision and social care during the long periods of so-called lockdown, that is a potent mix which is of real concern.' Advertisement A giant sheet of fabric was draped down the Arc de Triomphe in Paris on Sunday as work started to wrap the monument in a tribute to late artist Christo. After weeks of preparations, the final stage of the art installation has begun, with a silver-blue sheet of recyclable polypropylene unfurled from the top of the imposing war memorial at the top of the Champs-Elysees. Over the next few days, the entire Arc will be wrapped in 270,000 square feet of fabric - the signature of Bulgarian-born Christo, who died last year - and the finished project will remain on display from September 18 - October 3. He had dreamed of sheathing the 50-metre-high monument since renting a nearby apartment in the 1960s. But despite completing other major public works during his lifetime, including wrapping the oldest bridge in Paris in 1985 and the German parliament in 1995, the Arc de Triomphe project never materialised before his death. The completion of his vision - and that of his co-designer and wife, Jeanne-Claude - has been overseen by his nephew Vladimir Javacheff in coordination with the Pompidou museum and French authorities. Workers begin the process of wrapping up the Arc De Triomphe monument in silver-blue fabric on September 12, 2021, in Paris Christo Vladimirov Javacheff passed away at 84 on May 31, 2020, and had long dreamed of wrapping the Arc de Triomphe A view from the top of the Arc shows workers clipping their harnesses into place as they prepare to descend with the sheets Workers atop the Arc began unfurling the sheet on the morning of September 12 Dressed in orange suits and safety equipment, the workers drew the sheets down the sides of the Arc from rigging attached to its crest Over the next few days, the entire Arc will be wrapped in 270,000 square feet of fabric - the signature of Bulgarian-born Christo, who died last year The project will be on show from September 18 to October 3 Workers were connected to the top of the rigging via safety harnesses and slowly inched their way down the sides of the monument as they unfurled the sheet The entirety of the monument will be wrapped and will give one of Paris' most recognisable pieces of architecture a pulsating, fluctuating effect 'Today is one of the most spectacular moments of the installation,' said Javacheff. 'The wrapped Arc de Triomphe starts to take form and approach the vision that was a lifelong dream for Christo and Jeanne-Claude.' It is due to be completed on Saturday, after which the protective barriers will be removed and the public allowed to get up close to the transformed monument before it is removed on October 3. The project has been funded entirely by the late artist's estate and has not incurred the use of any public funds. Money for the project was raised through the sale of Christo's preparatory studies, drawings, and collages of the project as well as scale models, works from the 1950s and 1960s, and original lithographs on other subjects. It is a fitting tribute to the late artist and his wife, but not everyone has welcomed the project. Christo's nephew, Vladimir Javacheff, is overseeing the installation and has co-ordinated the project with the Pompidou museum Money for the project was raised through the sale of Christo's preparatory studies, drawings, and collages of the project as well as scale models, works from the 1950s and 1960s, and original lithographs on other subjects 'People are going to want to touch the Arc de Triomphe,' Christo said before he died The project has been funded entirely by the late artist's estate and has not incurred the use of any public funds The workers tasked with unfurling the sheets down the side of the monument took their opportunity to enjoy their day suspended high above the streets of Paris Architect Carlo Ratti, a friend of Christo's, said it was wrong to waste so much fabric at a time when the fashion industry is responsible for such high levels of carbon emissions Architect Carlo Ratti, a friend of Christo's, wrote an editorial in Le Monde this weekend saying it was wrong to waste so much fabric at a time when the fashion industry is responsible for such high levels of carbon emissions. For Christo, though, who left sketches and photo montages of his plans, the vision was that the Arc would become 'like a living object stimulated by the wind and reflecting the light'. 'People are going to want to touch the Arc de Triomphe,' he said. The monument, which was built by Napoleon to commemorate fallen soldiers during his military campaigns, has been recently restored after being defaced by anti-government 'yellow vest' rioters in December 2018. As well as the polypropylene fabric, the project will use 3,000 metres of red rope, all of which can be recycled. Born on June 13, 1935 in Bulgaria, Christo left his home in 1957, living in several countries before arriving in Paris, where he met his future wife Jeanne-Claude. He died of natural causes at his home in New York in May last year. The Arc de Triomphe, with the flame at the tomb of the unknown soldier still alight, will be accessible throughout the 16-day exhibition. Other notable monuments that have been wrapped by Christo include the Reichstag, Germany's parliamentary building in Berlin, and Pont Neuf, the oldest standing bridge across the Seine in Paris. Another of Christo's famous works was 'The Wall', a huge installation of 13 thousand painted empty oil barrels, piled up to a height of 85 feet and a length of 223 feet at the Gasometer in Oberhausen, Germany. Christo's 'Wrapped Reichstag' in 1995 - Christo completely covered the German parliament in his signature wrapping style Pont Neuf is Paris' oldest standing bridge across the Seine and was also the subject of Christo's wrapping technique in 1985 Another of Christo's famous works was 'The Wall', a huge installation of 13 thousand painted empty oil barrels, piled up to a height of 85 feet and a length of 223 feet at the Gasometer in Oberhausen, Germany By Sunday evening, most of the wrapping appeared to have been completed, but the project will open to the public on September 18 This photo taken on the evening of September 12 shows the wrapped monument as the sun sets on Paris A 'real-life Tarzan' who lived in the Vietnamese jungle for 40 years has died of liver cancer aged 52 - eight years after he returned to the 'civilised world'. Ho Van Lang succumbed to the illness last Monday after surviving 41 years in the jungle with his father who fled into the wilderness in 1972 when US bombing during the Vietnam War killed half his family. The pair re-established contact with Vietnamese society in 2013 and believed the Vietnam War was still raging on when they entered a village and sought medical help for Lang's father Ho Van Thanh. After 2013, Lang began living a relatively modern lifestyle, but some friends and observers believe the stresses and poor diet of te 'civilised' world had a detrimental effect on his health. Lang's friend Alvaro Cerezo said that living a 'modern' life probably had fatal consequences for him after he started eating processed foods and sometimes drinking alcohol. Cerezo said: 'I'm so sad to see him go, but for me his passing is also a liberation because I know he was suffering in the last months. 'He was a beautiful human being, to forget him will be impossible, I will miss him everyday. 'But I didn't like seeing him living in civilisation. I was always concerned that he and his body wouldn't be able to handle such a drastic change.' The father-son duo lived for decades in the forest of what is now known as the Tra Bong District before they were found by locals looking for firewood. The 'real-life Tarzan' Ho Van Lang, who lived in the Vietnamese jungle for 40 years has died of liver cancer aged 52 - eight years after he returned to the 'civilised world' Found: Ho Van Lang, 52, was found in 2013 after living in the jungle of Vietnam since he was two years old The pair returned civilisation in 2013 after father Ho Van Thanh's health deteriorated (pictured getting checked by a doctor) Family: Ho Van Lang, left, and Ho Van Thanh, right, moved to the jungle when their relatives were killed by a mine during the Vietnam War Ho Van Lang's remarkable life: 1955: Vietnam War starts 1972: Ho Van Lang and his father Ho Van Thranh flee to the Vietnamese jungle 1975: Vietnam War ends 2013: Lang and his father are found by locals collecting firewood. Authorities encourage the pair to re-enter civilisation as Thranh's health deteriorates 2017: Thranh dies 2021: Lang dies from liver cancer Advertisement Authorities say Lang's older brother Ho Van Tri encouraged the pair to return to civilisation when Thanh's health began to deteriorate in 2013. He died of an unknown cause in 2017. The family elder Thanh once lived a normal life with his family in the hamlet of Tra Kem before the Vietnam war. After fleeing, the pair survived in the wilderness by foraging fruit and cassava from the forest and planting corn. They wore loincloths made out of tree bark, and lived in a timber hut raised five metres above the ground. When the foragers saw the two 'jungle men' from a distance acting abnormally, they alerted local authorities. Officials set up a team to track them down, and found them in August 2013 after a five-hour search. The father could speak a little of the minority Cor language, but the son knew only a few words. The pair then underwent medical check-ups as a first step to being reintegrated into mainstream society. Lang made an emotional return to his former home in July 2016. Wild: Ho Van Thanh and his son Ho Van Lang lived in a jungle tree house, pictured left and right Possessions: Bystanders inspect the clothes made from bark which the two men wore in the forest A sickly Ho Van Thranh is carried on a stretcher out of the jungle in the Tra Bong District by locals in 2013 Weak: Ho Van Thanh is pictured being stretchered through the jungle after they were discovered Lang had lived a remarkable life and made headlines across the globe - but his friend Alvaro Cerezo, an explorer who returned to the jungle with Lang to live there for a week together, believes discovering 'modern life' probably had fatal consequences for the real life Tarzan. Cerezo said: 'I'm so sad to see him go, but for me his passing is also a liberation because I know he was suffering in the last months. 'He was a beautiful human being, to forget him will be impossible, I will miss him everyday. 'But I didn't like seeing him living in civilisation. I was always concerned that he and his body wouldn't be able to handle such a drastic change. 'He had spent all his life living in the jungle and then came to live in the "civilised world" where he started eating processed foods and sometimes even drinking alcohol.' Cerezo met Lang two years later through his work with Docastaway - an organisation which helps people who want to escape from civilisation and spend a few days or weeks completely alone on a desert island. During their friendship, Cerezo recorded on camera some of Lang's most vulnerable, emotional and beautiful moments, including his time in the jungle, adapting to civilised life and returning to the wild. Cerezo also wrote a book about Lang's life, and has now compiled a montage of footage he took when the pair lived together deep in the jungle. He said: 'Two years after he was brought back to civilisation, I went to look for Ho Van Lang at his village to see if he would teach me some new survival techniques that I could apply on the desert islands. 'I always say that the best survival "teachers" are to be found among the tribes.' Ho Van Lang succumbed to the terminal illness last Monday after surviving 41 years in the jungle with his father. The pair reportedly thought the Vietnam War was still raging on until they were brought back to civilisation in 2013 when Lang's father Ho Van Thanh became sick Lang lived with his father for decades in the forest of what is now known as the Tra Bong District before they were found by locals collecting firewood Lang and his father returned to civilisation in 2013 when Thanh's health began to deteriorate in 2013 Cerezo said eating processed foods and sometimes even drinking alcohol probably had drastic effects on his health Cerezo added: 'But after spending less than a day with him I realised he was one of the most endearing people I have ever met. 'The connection between us was immediate because Lang never imagined someone would be interested in his survival skills, and he was so happy to show me them all. 'He got so excited that he decided to take me deep into the jungle and show me the place he had lived all his life. 'We spent one week living at his jungle-home in the same way he had during the past four decades. 'He was the most fascinating person I ever met and extremely sweet at the same time. When we were surviving together in the jungle, everything that would take me hours to achieve, he could do it in seconds. 'He was a little kid with the skills of a super human.' Lang had lived a remarkable life and made headlines across the globe - but his friend Alvaro Cerezo, an explorer who returned to the jungle with Lang to live there for a week together, believes discovering 'modern life' probably had fatal consequences for the real life Tarzan Cerezo met Lang two years later through his work with Docastaway - an organisation which helps people who want to escape from civilisation and spend a few days or weeks completely alone on a desert island A former first lady of Australia has copped brutal backlash after asking why sun-seekers in Sydney are not getting locked up for being outside. Therese Rein, the wife of former Labor Prime Minister Kevin Rudd, responded to a tweet about how 'insanely busy' Balmoral Beach on Sydney's Lower North Shore was over the weekend, with harsh Covid lockdown restrictions still in place. The multi-millionaire 63-year-old, who lives in a waterfront mansion with Mr Rudd on Queensland's Sunshine Coast that comes with a 12-metre pool and a cinema room, demanded to know: 'Why are they not being arrested?' Furious Twitter users pointed out it's not illegal to be outside with other members of the same household, with 'singles bubble' partners or for exercise and recreation - if within 5km of home and for those who live outside the LGAs of concern. Therese Rein, the wife of former Labor Prime Minister Kevin Rudd, (pictured together in 2018) copped a brutal backlash online after asking why Sydney sunseekers are not being locked for being outside The 63-year-old who was once awarded a medal for her dedication to human rights demanded to know 'why are they not being arrested?' New rules from Monday have eased the restrictions even further allowing up to five fully-vaccinated to locals to meet up outdoors for picnics. While it's possible to catch Covid outside, it is extremely rare - with people generally having to be in close proximity - less than two metres - for a 'significant' period of time. 'Imagine sitting in your mansion in Queensland with Kevin07 calling for people interstate to get arrested for going to the beach,' one commenter said. Others wrote: 'Because they're not criminals hun' and 'because we don't arrest people for being in a public place that they are permitted to be in'. 'I know this is challenging for a lot of people to understand. But, after lengthy research into the details of current restrictions, it appears that it is not technically illegal to be outside,' another said. Ms Rein lives in this mansion on Queensland's Sunshine Coast. It boasts a 12-metre pool and a cinema room Beachgoers sit and swim at Balmoral Beach (pictured) amid ongoing social restrictions due to the pandemic in Sydney on Sunday Thousands of sun-starved Sydneysiders who've been living under stay-at-home orders for more than 13 weeks descended on the city's beaches over the weekend as temperatures climbed to 30C. Beaches from Manly in the north to Cronulla in the south saw jam-packed crowds with photos from Bondi and Coogee in the eastern suburbs looking more like snaps taken before the Covid pandemic hit. The nearby Woollahra Council was even forced to rope off Camp Cove at Watson's Bay and Redleaf beach at Double Bay, after massive crowds swarmed the popular harbourside spots. A Twitter user described the weekend scenes at Sydney' Balmoral Beach as 'insanely busy' (pictured on Sunday) The backlash was immediate from angry Twitter users blasting the former first lady of Australia Many followed Covid protocols by visiting with just one friend and wearing a mask, but police were out in force reminding sunseekers to follow public health orders - as the number of new coronavirus cases continues to hover between 1200 to 1500 each day. Photos showed officers approaching scantily-clad Bondi residents to tell them to wear face coverings while they were not swimming, surfing, walking, or jogging. Sydney residents face $500 fines for not wearing a mask 'in all indoor or outdoor areas, other than a place of residence'. But infectious disease professor Peter Collignon said the risks associated with outdoor transmission are actually extremely scarce - about 20 to 30 times lower than indoors. Police patrolling Coogee Beach on Sunday to ensure sunbathers weren't defying Covid-19 restrictions But despite the barrage of criticism levelled at Ms Rein (pictured with Kevin Rudd in 2018) for her hand-cuff happy comments about beachgoers, many on social media agreed with the respected rehabilitation counsellor and social entrepreneur Police in uniform making sure no one travelled beyond 5km of home to lie on the beach on Sunday morning (pictured, Bondi) 'Essentially, if you are outdoors and particularly if you keep your distance of two metres, you're very unlikely to get the virus. If you're outdoors and you're closer than that [for significant periods], then wear a mask,' he told Daily Mail Australia. 'I think we shouldn't discourage people from going outdoors. It is safer to spend time with your family outdoors than it is indoors. 'Secondly, there's an emotional and psychological cost of staying inside for so long.' But despite the barrage of criticism levelled at Ms Rein for her hand-cuff happy comments about beachgoers, many on social media agreed with the respected rehabilitation counsellor and social entrepreneur. A number of social media users agreed with Ms Rein saying there is a 'double standard' when it comes to Sydney Covid restrictions 'There's still a curfew in western Sydney with helicopter fly-overs at dusk!! Unbelievable double standard,' one person wrote. Others accused Liberal Party Premier Gladys Berejiklian of 'giving up'. Another wrote: 'Death doesn't care who you are... this pathogen has been unleashed now... these people will find out soon enough.' A hero tradie has revealed how a topless sunbather came within millimetres of dying on a beach after an unprovoked knife attack. Kaitlin Jones, 23, had been sunbaking on Blacks Beach, 15km north of Mackay, at midday on Monday when she was allegedly attacked by a stranger. She suffered multiple stab wounds all over her body before the attacker fled the scene, leaving her covered in blood and begging for her life. Ms Jones, a hairdresser, crawled to the top of a nearby sand dune where she managed to stand and scream for help as her blood dripped on to the sand. Her rescuer said if the blade had landed an inch from where it had, the young beachgoer could have died. A 16-year-old boy has since been charged over the incident. Kaitlin Jones (pictured) was covered in multiple stab wounds, each about 2cm to 2.5cm wide. But amazingly, the knife had bounced off her chest bones, saving her life The 23-year-old woman had been sunbaking on Blacks Beach (pictured), 15km north of Mackay, around midday on Monday when a stranger allegedly launched the ferocious knife attack The noise alerted carpenter Gavin Odgaard, 58, working on a nearby building site, who then sprinted to her side while workmates called police. 'She was yelling "Help! Help! I need help!" and the urgency of her voice just spurred me into action,' he told Daily Mail Australia. 'She had blood running down the side of her face, down her legs, arms, and she had a blood soaked towel pressed against her chest. 'The first thing she said was: "I've been stabbed, I've been stabbed - I don't want to die, I don't want to die..." 'It didn't become apparent just how serious it was until I was within 8-10 meters and I could see all her injuries.' The dad-of-two is a trained first aider and tended injuries on her face, head, neck, chest and legs to stem the blood flow while they waited for emergency services to arrive. Kaitlin Jones (left) told Mr Odgaard that her fiance Dylan Jay Gorham (right) was a miner on night shift who was asleep in their nearby home while she had gone to the beach The victim's screams alerted carpenter Gavin Odgaard, 58, (pictured) working on a nearby building site, who then sprinted to her side while workmates called police He said Ms Jones was covered in multiple stab wounds, each about 2cm to 2.5cm wide, but amazingly the knife had bounced off her chest bones, saving her life. Just a few millimetres deeper or to the side and the savage stab wounds could have been fatal, he said. 'There was no sign of the weapon but clearly it was a rather large knife that had been used,' he said. 'Luckily I think it hit the breastbone and didn't get through the ribcage or it could have been a lot worse. 'I could tell the injuries hadn't hit any arteries and her lungs hadn't been punctured, but she was covered in blood, including a wound on her head above her temple. Local hairdresser Kaitlin Jones (pictured) crawled to the top of a nearby sand dune where she managed to stand and scream for help. She was covered in multiple stab wounds, each about 2cm to 2.5cm wide but amazingly the knife had bounced off her chest bones, saving her life The victim suffered multiple stab wounds all over her body before the attacker fled the scene (pictured), leaving her covered in blood and fearing she would die at the remote spot 'I just tried to reassure that she was going to be okay - but you never know with knives.' Mr Ordgaard said Ms Jones had been sunbathing topless at the time of the attack. He said she told him she had spotted someone walking past her on the lonely beach several minutes before the attack. Minutes later she suddenly saw a male standing over her before launching the random attack. 'She'd noticed him walk by,' said Mr Odgaard. 'Then she said within five minutes or so later, she found him over her, stabbing her. 'It was just a random selection of victim. They make that stuff for horror movies - but apparently it happens in real life too. Carpenter Gavin Odgaard, 58, was working on a nearby building site on the beachfront (pictured) when he heard her screams who sprinted to her side while workmates called police 'She had been sunbaking topless on her back on the sand, so I don't know if this has somehow provoked it, but it's just bizarre.' Ms Jones told Mr Odgaard that her fiance Dylan Jay Gorham was a miner on night shift and was asleep in their nearby home while she had gone to the beach. She thanked the carpenter for his crucial help as she was helped into an ambulance but he shrugged off the praise. 'It's all just instantaneous and you do what you have to do,' he said. 'Afterwards I got a bit trembling and agitated, but I'm really happy that she seems to be well. 'It would have been terrible if she had died.' Ms Jones was taken to Mackay Base Hospital in a serious condition but is not believed to have life-threatening injuries. Gavin Odgaard said the victim told him she had spotted someone walking past her on the lonely beach (pictured) several minutes before the attack Queensland Police later charged a local 16-year-old boy in connection with the attack after he was allegedly spotted on CCTV running through nearby holiday apartments close to the scene Detective Inspector Tom Armitt added: 'It appears it's a random attack.' Just after midnight on Tuesday, local police said a 16-year-old boy had been charged in connection with the attack. 'Detectives from Mackay Criminal Investigation Branch have charged a 16-year-old male with acts intended to cause grievous bodily harm after an alleged stabbing at Blacks Beach yesterday,' said Queensland Police. 'The juvenile has been refused bail and will appear at the Mackay Childrens Court on September 14.' CBI director general Tony Danker will argue that ministers should focus on encouraging investment when they make 'big choices' Business chiefs are today warning that Boris Johnson's massive 12billion tax raid will have 'consequences' for economic growth. CBI director general Tony Danker will argue that ministers should focus on encouraging investment when they make 'big choices'. In a speech in Manchester, Mr Danker is set to warn that the government cannot keep expecting companies to 'carry the load'. 'I am deeply worried the Government thinks that taxing business perhaps more politically palatable is without consequence to growth. It's not,' he will say. A return to 'business as usual' economic policy after the pandemic would be a mistake, Mr Danker is to caution - pointing out that the UK is lagging behind many international competitors on driving investment in the industries of the future. The intervention comes after a government impact assessment of the huge national insurance hike, intended to prop up the NHS and fund a social care revolution, found it could hit 'family formation' and jobs. Tory MPs have been alarmed at the dramatic package, with fears it is a 'gift' to Labour in Red Wall seats. A YouGov poll in the wake of the announcement suggested that Conservative support had dipped sharply. Chancellor Rishi Sunak (pictured in Downing Street today) is trying to rebuild the public finances after the pandemic Mr Danker will say: 'The lack of detail and pace from the Government on some of the big economic choices we must make as a country are the biggest concerns for business.' He will call for a series of measures including rewards for firms which invest, new individual training accounts to make it easier to access support, speeding up major infrastructure projects and replicating the successes of offshore wind in hydrogen and other emerging industries as well as rebalancing economic regulation. He will add: 'This autumn requires big choices that will define a decade. 'Brexit, Covid, climate change all demand that the UK forges a new growth story to compete in the world, and believe me this will be a competition, for new markets, new skills and technological advantage. 'One of the great risks of the Budget, the Spending Review, and the Global Investment Summit all set for this autumn; as well as our net-zero strategy, infrastructure strategy, and skills policy is that we are too complacent, too proud about what we've done so far. 'The 2021 reality is quite different. Over the last two years, every country's strategy to win the future has shifted dramatically. Every country is choosing to invest in the future. 'Investing by the UK. That must be our mantra now, so that the decade ahead does not repeat the low growth, zero productivity of the decade past, and Government holds the key to unlocking it all. 'After the pandemic, we in business believe that we should pay our fair share to tackle the debts of Covid. That is why many business leaders accepted the jaw-dropping six-point corporate tax increase announced in March. But there is a real risk now that the Government will keep turning to business taxes to carry the load. 'Choosing national insurance for social care funding is the latest example. I am deeply worried the Government thinks that taxing business perhaps more politically palatable is without consequence to growth. It's not.' A Treasury spokesperson said: 'Throughout the pandemic we supported businesses through our 400billion Plan for Jobs, which includes 80billion in loans, 25billion in grants, 16billion in business rates relief and our 68.5billion furlough scheme. A YouGov poll in the wake of the NI announcement suggested that Conservative support had dipped sharply 'We've also shown we are committed to supporting business investment, extending the Annual Investment Allowance increase for another year and introducing the super-deduction, the biggest two-year business tax cut in modern British history. 'The impact of the pandemic means we have had to make the tough but responsible decision to raise taxes, we've asked both individuals and businesses to pay a bit more as we get our public finances back on a sustainable path.' Keir Starmer tried to keep pressure on the government today by visited a cafe in Bermondsey, talking to retail workers about the National Insurance hike. Sandra Williams, a shop worker, told the Labour leader: 'It's going to be hell of a struggle for most of us. 'You can imagine that there's been no increase in wages and people are already just scraping by. 'Some people are just going to feel like it's not worth them working.' A South Carolina town's newly constructed 9/11 memorial was vandalised with the word 'Taliban' on Saturday, which was the 20th anniversary of the attack. Paul Nichols, Founder and CEO of Upstate Granite Solutions the Greenville, S.C. company responsible for the granite monument of the twin towers says someone spray-painted the name of the fundamentalist organization on two sides of the monument sometime late Saturday night. 'We spent the time and money on this monument in order to bring our community together and unite over the memory of those who died on the attacks 20 years ago, as well as, those first responders who willingly laid down their lives to serve others,' Paul told WSPA. Upstate Granite Solutions employees were able to remove the damage on Sunday, however company leaders are still upset about the incident. A granite monument of the twin towers on display in Greenville, S.C. was spray-painted with the word 'Taliban' on the 20th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks An Upstate Granite Solutions employee, identified on social media as Tim (pictured), helped clean the graffiti off of the monument on Sunday morning 'We're not going to change our viewpoint and our stance, but I think we need to be willing to hear why other people are hurt about this, so we can come together as a community,' Kelly Nichols, who is also affiliated with the company, told WYFF. She says the memorial was intended to show the Greenville community that 'there's still something to believe in in America,' as well as demonstrate how much the company cares and supports military members and first responders. 'This wasn't meant to be divisive. This was meant to unify us,' Kelly added. Upstate Granite Solutions began working on the memorial which features two granite slabs designed to look like the World Trade Center's North and South towers more than a month ago, the Independent reported. Each 'tower' weighs about 4,000 pounds and stands 13 feet tall. It also includes a light beam that can be seen from 25 miles away. It is also surrounded by American flags. Construction had been just completed on Wednesday. The monument (pictured) features two granite slabs designed to look like the World Trade Center's North and South towers. It also includes light beams that can be seen from 25 miles away Each 'tower' weighs about 4,000 pounds and stands 13 feet tall. The monument is surrounded by American flags The Nichols say they have received an outpour of support from the community in wake of the vandalism. 'I received a message from a community member saying that the monument had been vandalized,' Paul explained. 'Apparently during the night on Saturday night, someone came through and spray painted the base of the monument and one of the towers with spray paint.' The company filed a report with the Greenville County Sheriff's Office, which is now investigating the incident. 'After they completed their report we were able to get the spray paint removed with chemical cleaners,' Paul explained. '[It] takes more than a little spray paint to destroy our spirit of patriotism.' The act of vandalism comes less than two weeks after the United States withdrew from the now-Taliban controlled country of Afghanistan. President Joe Biden has faced opposition from Republicans over the decision. Members of Congress, including Biden's fellow Democrats as well as opposition Republicans, have planned hearings since the Taliban seized control of the country last month after a rapid advance. Taliban forces stand guard at a roadside Afghan women hold placards during a pro-Taliban rally outside the Shaheed Rabbani Education University in Kabul, Afghanistan, Sept. 11 Taliban soldiers gather with weapons and machinery in Panjshir province northeastern of Afghanistan, Wednesday, Sept. 8 Taliban forces rally to celebrate the withdrawal of US forces in Kandahar, Afghanistan, Sept. 1 Secretary of State Antony Blinken is set to testify twice this week about the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan, as lawmakers kick off what could be a long series of high-intensity hearings about the chaotic end to America's longest war. Legislators have prepared a long list of questions for the veteran diplomat about the rapid collapse of the U.S.-backed Afghan government and the Biden administration's scramble to evacuate more than 142,000 people, including Americans, at-risk Afghans and others wishing to flee the Taliban. Some Republicans have even called on Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris and Blinken all to resign. Meanwhile, Democrats say they wanted the hearings to address not just the seven months that Biden was president before the country's capital of Kabul was captured by the Taliban but the entire 20 years of U.S. involvement in Afghanistan- under four presidents from both parties. Advertisement Britain's most expensive beach hut has gone on the market for more than double the price of an average home at 575,000 - despite having no toilet, electricity or running water. The tiny 13ft by 10ft timber cabin sits on the Mudeford sandbank in Christchurch Harbour, Dorset, well-known for being home to some of the most expensive beach huts in the country. The wooden cabins have always commanded premium prices but they are now selling for more than people pay for a four-bedroom house in many parts of the country. Just last month one hut sold within hours of being listed for 350,000. It is thought the final sale price was well above this figure due to the amount of potential buyers vying for it as people move away from big cities amid the work from home revolution during the pandemic. Hut 180 sleeps six people and has a fitted kitchen with an integrated fridge freezer and a water heater run via solar panels on the roof and an oven power by a gas bottle. The seating area can be converted into two double beds and there is a set of steps leading to a mezzanine level where two more people can sleep. Pictured: The green beach hut, number 180, at Mudeford Sandbank in Dorset Pictured: The beach hut on Mudeford Sandbank with the red arrow pointed at it Hut 180 sleeps six people and has a fitted kitchen with an integrated fridge freezer and a water heater run via solar panels on the roof and an oven power by a gas bottle The seating area can be converted into two double beds and there is a set of steps leading to a mezzanine level where two more people can sleep The tiny 13ft by 10ft timber cabin sits on the Mudeford sandbank in Christchurch Harbour, Dorset, well-known for being home to some of the most expensive beach huts in the country There is no toilet or shower, with washing facilities in a communal shower block next door to it. Cars are not allowed at Mudeford and the only way of getting there is via a 20-minute walk, a train ride or a short ferry trip across the harbour. But its remote and exclusive location is what makes it so desirable among rich people wanting a holiday home. There are about 360 huts on the Mudeford sandbank and the prices for them have increased over the past 20 years due to demand outstripping supply. In 2002 the humble huts were selling for 73,000. The following year one broke the six-figure mark for the first time, selling for 100,000. By 2005 they were up to 135,000. There was a dip in the market due to the credit crunch of 2008 but prices were up to 170,000 by 2012. By 2014 the price increased to 270,000, then 300,000 in 2018. As it is not possible to take out a mortgage on it, the wooden bolthole will be sold to a cash buyer. There is no toilet or shower, with washing facilities in a communal shower block next door to it Hut 180 sleeps six people and has a fitted kitchen with an integrated fridge freezer and a water heater run via solar panels on the roof and an oven power by a gas bottle The seating area can be converted into two double beds and there is a set of steps leading to a mezzanine level where two more people can sleep The hut boasts sea views looking out to the Isle of Wight from the front and Christchurch Harbour to the back Pictured: The green beach hut, number 180, at Mudeford Sandbank in Dorset The hut boasts sea views looking out to the Isle of Wight from the front and Christchurch Harbour to the back. Andy Denison, of estate agents Denisons, described the cabin as one of the 'finest located huts' at Mudeford. He said: 'The property enjoys an elevated position with glorious uninterrupted front and rear views of the beach and harbour. 'This truly high spec hut has recently undergone major improvements. The home comfortably sleeps six with two doubles on the ground floor and a double on the mezzanine. 'We have had a few big surprises recently. There have been huts that have sold for well and above their asking prices. There are people who want that way of life and they can afford to have it.' Members of the public have reacted with astonishment to the asking price. Kim Muckley posted on social media: 'This is crazy money. You could buy an entire house for this price. How can this be right?' Tim Baber is a former owner of a beach hut at Mudeford. His family cashed in on theirs in 2002 when it sold for 120,000. The 65-year-old said: 'When we sold ours I didn't think the prices would go any higher but I was quickly proved wrong. Most people who are going to sell their huts have sold out by now and so you don't get that many that come back on the market. 'When one does become available I would guess that the estate agents have between 15 to 20 names on a waiting list and so the sale becomes something of a telephone auction with the richest person outbidding all the others. Desirable: Locals believe the high prices could be down to the limited number available and the secluded, idyllic location There are about 360 huts on the Mudeford sandbank that is so remote it requires a 20 minute walk to get to, a ride on a land train or a short ferry ride across Christchurch Harbour (pictured) and none of the wooden huts have electricity or toilets 'In a lot of cases they are bought by people who work in the City spending their big bonuses. We sold ours to a guy from London who was a BBC manager.' The new owners will also have to stump up about 4,500 a year to the local council in fees. Buyers are attracted to the spit's remote location as cars are banned. Because it is not possible to secure a mortgage for the beach huts, would-be owners have to be cash buyers. They also have to stump up about 4,500 a year to the local council in fees. In 2002 the humble huts were selling for 73,000 but by the following year, one broke the six-figure mark for the first time, selling for 100,000. By 2005 they were up to 135,000, but following the credit crunch in 2008 they dropped back to just 90,000. This drop didn't last long though and by January 2012 a hut was on the market for 145,000 and just six months later one sold for 170,000. The prices of Britain's most expensive beach huts on the exclusive Mudeford Sandspit in Dorset (pictured) are on course to break through the 400,000 barrier due to the huge demand for them by rich staycationers looking to get away this summer Would-be owners have to be cash buyers and have to stump up 4,500 a year to the local council in fees. Pictured: Mudeford In July 2014 one was up for 225,000 and a few weeks later another went on for 270,000. By January 2018 a hut had sold for 295,000 and another hit the 300,000 mark in March that year. Last year there was a bidding war over a hut that sold for 325,000. Mudeford beach hut owner Stephen Bath, former managing director of Bath Travel, said the high prices could be explained by the limited number available and the secluded, idyllic location. He said: 'There have only been about 10 huts added to the spit in 60 years so it is a question of supply, compared to Bournemouth where there are 1,500 huts and Brighton where there are 2,000. 'These are enormous huts with amenities which you can live in for eight months of the year and it is a beautiful, peaceful location with the sea on one side and the harbour on another. 'You feel like you are on a little island. 'Obviously, the uncertainty over foreign travel will also help drive up prices with people growing fed up of government regulations.' The UK's 'most expensive' beach hut sells for 330,000 after bidding war breaks out to buy wooden cabin in Dorset for more than the average house price in England Britain's 'most expensive beach hut' sold last year after receiving offers of 330,000 following an intense bidding war. The wooden cabin at Mudeford Spit in Christchurch Harbour, Dorset, was listed for sale for the same asking price as a five bedroom detached house in Hull last June. Four potential buyers put in offers on the 12ft by 10ft hut - two of them without even viewing it. The final sale price smashed the record amount paid for a beach hut on the exclusive sandy peninsula. A second hut, that was also listed for 325,000, sold for just under that amount after being on the market for just a few days. In 2018 another property on Mudeford became the country's most expensive beach hut after selling for 295,000. The average price of a house in the UK is 231,185, according to recent Government data from January this year. The wooden cabin at Mudeford Spit in Christchurch Harbour, Dorset, was listed for sale for the same asking price as a five bedroom detached house in Hull last Friday Cars are banned from the remote spit which has to be reached by a ride on a novelty land train, a short ferry crossing or a 30 minute walk The huts at Mudeford have no mains electricity or running water and shower facilities are in a shared communal block. Cars are banned from the remote site which has to be reached by a ride on a novelty land train, a short ferry crossing or a 30-minute walk. But its isolated position is what attracts wealthy people to buy the cabins which can sleep up to six people each. The demand for them has never been greater due to people being put off travelling abroad last summer. Andy Denison, of Christchurch-based Denisons estate agents, said: 'The demand for the beach huts at Mudeford is the highest I have ever known it right now. It has gone crazy. The interior of the 325,000 currently on sale. The huts at Mudeford have no mains electricity or running water and shower facilities are in a shared communal block The demand for them has never been greater due to people being put off travelling abroad this summer 'We have sold two. One was on for 275,000 but the other had an asking price of 325,000 and it went for just under that. 'We took on another one last Friday for 325,000, we arranged for two viewings that afternoon. 'Since then we have had four parties putting in offers. Negotiations are ongoing but it will sell for over that asking price which will be a record. 'These people are cash buyers from out of the area who want to enjoy the English seaside this year and maybe rent the hut out to other holidaymakers as well. 'It is all down to the increase in staycations. People are throwing in the towel on foreign holidays this year, they are very wary of them. 'The cost of flights and hotels is starting to get expensive and people don't know what it will be like in the resort when they get there in terms of being restricted in hotels and restaurants.' There are about 360 beach huts at Mudeford, all of which are privately owned. Pictured: The beach hut's loft There are about 360 beach huts at Mudeford, all of which are privately owned. The hut that was being fought over was in an 'excellent' position on the spit, with uninterrupted views of the Isle of Wight to the front and Christchurch Harbour. It has a small kitchen that has a fridge freezer and a cooker run on Calor gas and hot water from a pump powered by solar panels on the roof. The front half of the hut has the lounge area that doubles as a bedroom which can sleep four people. A small set of wooden steps leads to a small sleeping area in the loft space for two more people. It also has a chemical toilet and double glazed windows and double doors that lead out to a small decking where there is a barbecue. As well as the eye-watering purchase price, the owners have to pay annual rates to Bournemouth Christchurch and Poole Council of about 4,500 a year. Owners can only sleep in the huts from March to October but can visit any time of year. The father of Virginia Roberts has called on Prince Andrew to be jailed because he 'needs to know what it's like to be held accountable'. Sky Roberts, who lives on a five-acre ranch in Summerfield, Florida, said the Royal 'thinks he can do whatever he wants' and should face justice for allegedly sexually assaulting Ms Roberts when she was a teenager. Andrew vehemently denies the allegation. A pre-trial hearing in her civil action is set to take place today in New York but Andrew's lawyers are considering boycotting it, claiming the legal papers were not properly served. Mr Roberts, who once worked as a maintenance man at Mar-a-Lago, Donald Trump's luxury hotel in Palm Beach, wore a cowboy hat and beige shirt with a horse design across the front as he spoke to Good Morning Britain from Florida today. 'I would like to see him go to prison for at least a little while. He needs to know what it's like to be held accountable for his actions,' said the 65-year-old. He added: 'He needs to be held accountable. This is not the times of William Wallace when royals can just do whatever they want. 'The times have changed. Prince Andrew thinks it's still those times where he can do whatever he wants.' The father of Virginia Roberts has called on Prince Andrew to be jailed because he 'needs to know what it's like to be held accountable' Virginia Roberts, then aged 17, is pictured with Prince Andrew and Ghislaine Maxwell in London in 2001. Prince Andrew was served at his home in Britain with paperwork for the bombshell sexual assault lawsuit Virginia, now 38, claims the prince assaulted her three times when she was under the age of 18 and a victim of sex trafficking. She alleges the assault's took place in London at Ghislaine Maxwell's house, in New York and on Jeffrey Epstein's private island. She was born in 1983 to Sky, an odd-job man and 'horse-loving cowboy', and Lynn, a bank worker who already had a two-year-old son Daniel from a previous marriage. The family lived in Sacramento, California but moved to Loxahatchee in Palm Beach County, Florida, when Virginia was just four years old. While Virginia's early years on her father's small ranch were 'idyllic' according to aunt Carol, everything changed when she was 12 and was molested by a family friend. Virginia (pictured aged seven with her father) was born in 1983 to Sky, an odd-job man and 'horse-loving cowboy', and Lynn, a bank worker Virginia returned to live with her parents after a year when the molester, a neighbor, moved out of the area. In an interview with The Mail on Sunday in 2011, Virginia said the fallout from the molestation caused her parents to temporarily split. At 15, Virginia's world changed when she met Ghislaine Maxwell at Trump's Florida resort Mar-a-Lago where the teenager worked along with her father, folding towels at the pool. Ghislaine, Virginia has said in court papers, recruited her into Epstein's harem of young 'masseuses' whose primary job was to satisfy the financier's twisted sexual fantasies. Ghislaine, the daughter of press baron Robert Maxwell, has branded such claims against her as 'untrue' and 'obvious lies'. Trump later wrote a highly complimentary letter of recommendation for Mr Roberts in 2003 when he left the job. Trump said Roberts was a 'most valuable employee' and signed it with his distinctive signature. He also noted that Roberts, who was relocating to Colorado, would be 'eligible for rehire' were he to return to Florida. The document shows another connection between Epstein and Trump who were reportedly each other's 'wingmen'. The two partied together in the 1990s and Trump has called Epstein a 'terrific guy' but they are believed to have fallen out because Epstein was accused of sexually assaulting a girl at Mar-a-Lago. Sky Roberts says the Royal 'thinks he can do whatever he wants' and should face justice for allegedly sexually assaulting Virginia Trump later wrote a highly complimentary letter of recommendation for Mr Roberts in 2003 when he left the job Mr Roberts said today: 'I'm very proud of my daughter to step up and put this civil suit against him. 'He knows what he's done wrong and it's like I've been reading this past week, even trying to serve him papers, he was instructing his guards to tell them not to accept his court papers. 'An innocent man doesn't do that, only a guilty man does that.' While the prince's team are said to have signaled their intent not to participate in the telephone conference today, Judge Lewis Kaplan has ordered that both parties in the case 'are directed to confer regarding an agreed scheduling order', according to the Telegraph. Judge Kaplan is looking to lay out a timetable for management of the case and if Andrew's lawyers refuse to dial in for the hearing, it may be seen as being in defiance of his order. Andrew's legal team run the risk of incurring the wrath of respected judge Lewis A Kaplan It comes after legal papers were finally accepted by the security chief at Andrew's Windsor home over the weekend after weeks of 'avoiding' officials, court documents dramatically revealed. The clock is now ticking on the Duke of York, who has 21 days to respond or he will face a default judgment. Mr Roberts, who is now retired, called on Andrew to 'stop lying' about his alleged relationship with Virginia and face justice. He said: 'I've read a lot of things like Prince Andrew saying he's never met Virginia but everyone around the globe has seen the picture of Prince Andrew with his arm around my daughter and Miss Maxwell right behind him 'That's not a photoshopped picture, that's a real picture. 'He's got to stop lying about this and step up. If he's telling his guards that he can't even accept papers, an innocent man doesn't do that.' The father added that he hugely regrets having taken Virginia to meet Epstein when she started working for him as a massage therapist. He said: 'I met Jeffrey Epstein when she first was going to start working for him but it was supposed to be massage therapy. 'I thought that might be a good job to learn. When I met him he was just in jeans in front of his mansion and seemed like a regular guy 'I had no idea what was going on. As a father, if I knew anything that was going on, I would have stopped it. 'It's huge regret to me. I loved my daughter when she was born, I love her now and I've loved her all the times in between.' In 2015, Mr Roberts was forced to apologize after claiming his daughter met the Queen while on a tour to London with Epstein. In a statement sent to MailOnline, he said: 'I want to clear up that many years ago Virginia stated to me she was to meet the Queen's son Prince Andrew and not the Queen herself. I'm sorry for any misunderstanding.' It comes as Andrew's lawyers claim the papers were not properly served and hope to get the case thrown out on a technicality. In a legal filing, his solicitor Gary Bloxsome said the document Miss Roberts signed in 2009 may make her action invalid. It is the first indication of how the prince and his lawyers intend to fight the case after weeks of silence. On Friday, a new affidavit was also lodged in New York from a London-based 'corporate investigator and process server', Cesar Augusto Sepulveda, who was employed to personally serve Andrew with court papers relating to the US action. Virginia Roberts (left) claims she was forced to have sex with Andrew when she was 17. Prince Andrew (right in April) has denied the allegations and has not been charged with any criminal offence He records how he first went to Royal Lodge, Andrew's Windsor mansion, on August 12 and was met by Metropolitan Police officers guarding the gate who told him they 'could not raise anyone in charge'. They said they had been 'instructed not to allow anyone attending there for the purpose of serving court process on the grounds of the property'. And they added that no documentation would be forwarded on, leaving the server with the strong impression they had been 'primed'. But Mr Sepulveda returned on August 27 and was told he could now leave his papers and they would be forwarded. In other court documents, Roberts' lawyer David Boies detailed the extensive efforts they went to in order to serve Andrew. They said that on August 12, four days after filing the lawsuit, he sent copies of the summons and the complaint to five different lawyers from three law firms who they had 'reason to believe' represented the Duke. On the same day Boies' team emailed the same documents doy.office@royal.uk, the Duke of York's public email, and got a response acknowledging the email. Timeline of another dramatic month in the Prince Andrew case August 9 : Virginia Giuffre files a civil case in New York claiming Prince Andrew sexually abused her aged 17 : Virginia Giuffre files a civil case in New York claiming Prince Andrew sexually abused her aged 17 August 10 : Andrew arrives at Balmoral with his ex-wife Sarah Ferguson, and is joined by Eugenie the next day : Andrew arrives at Balmoral with his ex-wife Sarah Ferguson, and is joined by Eugenie the next day August 10 : US lawyers were allegedly trying to hold him up on his horse to serve him papers before he left. August 12: Dame Cressida Dick says she has told Met Police detectives to review the claims against Andrew August 13: Ms Giuffre's lawyer says Andrew will be served papers in person under the Hague Convention August 14: Epstein's telecoms specialist says he will swear on oath that he saw Andrew groping Ms Giuffre August 15: Andrew's friends say he is 'cheerful and relaxed' over the case in and will remain silent August 16: A source close to the US probe into Jeffrey Epstein says they view Andrew as a 'person of interest' September 7 : Andrew leaves Royal Lodge in Windsor and travels nearly 500 miles to Balmoral in Scotland : Andrew leaves Royal Lodge in Windsor and travels nearly 500 miles to Balmoral in Scotland September 10: A court document filed by Virginia Roberts' legal team says Andrew was served with the paperwork on August 27. A court document filed by Virginia Roberts' legal team says Andrew was served with the paperwork on August 27. September 13 : First telephone conference in the case is scheduled at Manhattan Federal Court in New York : First telephone conference in the case is scheduled at Manhattan Federal Court in New York December 8 : Deadline for Andrew to be served with court papers in person under the Hague Convention Advertisement On August 18, a copy of the complaint and summons was sent to Blair Berk, the Los Angeles lawyer who reportedly represents Andrew. The next day Clare Montgomery of Matrix Chambers in London replied that she was 'not authorized' to accept service on behalf of the Duke. On August 26, Boies said that his lawyers sent Andrew a copy of the summons and the complaint at Royal Lodge via a same-day courier service. They also sent a copy by regular post in the UK and via FedEx, which was sent on August 16 and was delivered on August 20. According to Boies these measures ensure they have 'properly served' the summons according to the rules of the Hague Convention on the Service Abroad of Judicial Documents, to which the US and UK are parties. The serving has now been ratified under civil procedure rules as required by the Supreme Court of England and Wales. There was no comment from the Duke of York's legal team last night. They are now trying to access the sealed document Miss Roberts signed via the US courts because they believe it may prevent the case from progressing. The initial hearing is at 9pm UK time on Monday in a conference call before a Manhattan judge. Miss Roberts' representatives have indicated they will fight the move by the prince's team, saying there is 'no evidence' he was ever intended to be covered by the previous legal agreement. The 38-year-old, who is arguably Epstein's most high-profile victim, has repeatedly accused the Queen's son of having sex with her three times when she was aged 17 in London, New York and the British Virgin Islands. Last month she launched a surprise legal move lodging a civil claim against the prince for rape, sexual assault and battery. Andrew, 61, has refused to comment on the case but has previously strongly denied her claims. Miss Roberts alleges she was scouted and groomed as a schoolgirl by Epstein and his then-girlfriend, Ghislaine Maxwell, before being used by the billionaire financier as an underage 'sex slave'. In 2009 she reached a confidential settlement in Florida with the financier that may contain clauses which prevent her from taking action against individuals she has accused of being co-conspirators of the tycoon. One of those was high-profile US lawyer Alan Dershowitz, who previously represented Epstein. He was accused of sexual assault by Miss Roberts in 2019. But last month she reportedly dropped the claim because of the Epstein settlement, which released him from liability. Her withdrawal was described in a joint court filing last month as 'a compromise' that should not be viewed as an admission by either party of the validity or invalidity of the claims about the settlement agreement. Mr Dershowitz has lodged a request with the Manhattan court dealing with the action against Andrew to have the original agreement unsealed, as he believes it may help to get the case against the prince thrown out. The Harvard law professor said yesterday: 'We strongly suspect that Virginia and her lawyers may have committed fraud on the court by filing a lawsuit against Prince Andrew after dismissing the battery case against me. 'The same reasons for dismissing the case against me seem to apply to Prince Andrew. These documents should get the charges against Prince Andrew thrown out. It's an airtight defence for Prince Andrew and a potential fraud on the court.' Prince Andrew with his ex-wife Sarah Ferguson leaving Windsor to drive to the Queen's Balmoral estate in Scotland Wednesday Prince Andrew walking with Jeffrey Epstein in Central Park, New York City in 2011 after the friends left Epstein's home in Manhattan But Miss Roberts' lawyer, David Boies, has said there was 'no evidence Prince Andrew was intended to be covered by the release'. Mr Boies said he was unable to comment on the details of her settlement with Epstein, citing its confidentiality, but added: 'What I can say is that there is no evidence that Prince Andrew was intended to be covered by the release. 'And, indeed, Prince Andrew has never himself asserted that he was intended to be covered by the release.' In a letter obtained by ABC News in the US, Mr Bloxsome described the methods used by Miss Roberts' legal team as 'objectionable'. In correspondence with a judge, he said: 'They have made several public, indeed well-publicised, attempts at irregular service of these proceedings in this jurisdiction, in at least one case accompanied by a media representative.' Mr Bloxsome maintained that under British law, a valid request for assistance from UK court officials must come from a judicial or diplomatic officer in the US. US district judge Kaplan must now decide whether Andrew has been officially served. If he does, the prince will be given a deadline to respond. The Taliban has been forced to deny that deputy leader Mullah Baradar is dead after wild rumours emerged that he was killed during a gunfight with his political rivals. The Taliban insisted today that Baradar is in Kandahar province meeting with the group's supreme leader Mawlawi Hibatullah Akhundzada to discuss Afghanistan's future now the US has withdrawn. But the social media rumour-mill believes he was actually killed in a gun battle in Kabul's presidential palace on Friday that broke out during a meeting with the powerful and ruthless Haqqani family. The Taliban has so-far produced a handwritten note and an audio recording as evidence that Baradar is alive - which has only served to increase speculation further. The Taliban has been forced to deny wild rumours that deputy leader Mullah Baradar was shot dead during a confrontation in Kabul last week (pictured, Taliban guards in Kabul) Taliban spokesman Mohammad Naeem released the audio recording on Monday. In it, a man claiming to be Baradar accuses 'media propagandists' of spreading false rumours about him - insisting 'I and all my colleagues are OK'. 'There had been news in the media about my death,' Baradar said in the clip. 'Over the past few nights I have been away on trips. Wherever I am at the moment, we are all fine, all my brothers and friends. The only evidence the Taliban has produced is a handwritten note (pictured) and an audio recording, sparking more rumours 'Media always publish fake propaganda. Therefore, reject bravely all those lies, and I 100 percent confirm to you there is no issue and we have no problem.' The recording was posted to Twitter hours after a handwritten note was also circulated, insisted that Baradar is alive. The note - which was not signed by Baradar but by a deputy, Mawlawi Musa Kaleem - denied there had been a shoot-out at the palace and said Baradar is in Kandahar. Muhammad Suhail Shaheen, one of the group's most-senior spokesmen who is based in Kabul, also rubbished the rumours. 'Reports about Mullah Baradar Akhund being injured or killed are baseless and are not true, I categorically refute them,' he said. Rumours about Baradar's safety began circulating last week when the Taliban announced its new government and named him as deputy prime minister, despite the widespread belief that he would take the top job. That led to speculation that he had been demoted due to in-fighting between Taliban founding members and the Haqqani Network - a powerful faction of the Taliban whose family members secured top positions in the new administration. Speculation about Baradar's health was driven into overdrive at the weekend after he was absent from a high-level summit with Qatar (pictured), amid reports of political in-fighting Speculation then intensified when Taliban leaders met with senior delegates from Qatar in Kabul on Sunday, with Baradar conspicuously absent from the meeting. Three members of the Haqqani family were at the summit along with other members of the new Afghan government - led by Prime Minister Mohammad Hasan Akhund. Baradar is one of the Taliban's founding members and served as deputy to its first supreme leader Mullah Omar, who died in 2013 from tuberculosis. After Omar's death, Baradar took over as leader of the political wing of the Taliban and is one of the group's most-senior figures. But he is thought to be in conflict with the Haqqani family, leaders of the fearsome Haqqani Network which is affiliated with the Taliban but also has links to terror groups opposed to the Islamists - such as ISIS-K. Two members of the clan - Sirajuddin and Khalil - now hold senior positions in the new government, taking the roles of interior minister and refugee minister. Anna Haqqani also holds a role as a high-level negotiator, and was present during the meeting with Qatari diplomats. Baradar, one of the Taliban's founding members (file image), has been seen in public only a handful of times since arriving back in Afghanistan last month Adding further fuel to the rumours is the fact that the Taliban previously covered up the death of leader Mullah Omar for two years. It was only after Afghan intelligence revealed his death in 2015 that the Taliban publicly confirmed it. The Taliban's supreme leader, Hibatullah Akhundzada, was also rumoured to have died for several years before the group recaptured Afghanistan. Since then, the Islamists have claimed he is alive and in the country - somewhere in Kandahar province. Akhundzada rarely appears in public, perhaps explaining why the Taliban have been reluctant to release images of Baradar if the pair are meeting. Norway on Monday entered the final day of a parliamentary election that has been dominated by the issue of climate change and a transition away from oil and gas production. The industry has been a key factor in creating Norway's exceptional wealth, but fears about climate change have put the future of the industry at the top of the campaign agenda. The centre-left Labour opposition led by Jonas Gahr Stoere is widely expected to replace Erna Solberg's Conservative-led government that has ruled for eight years, but his reliance on other parties to form a coalition and secure a parliamentary majority could create a significant policy clash. While Stoere has been vocal about Labour's intention to maintain Norway's oil and gas industry - a vital contributor to Norway's GDP and biggest exporter - the Green Party's policy centres around shutting down all of the nation's oil production by 2035. Norway is currently the third largest exporter of natural gas in the world, behind Russia and Qatar only, and supplies between 20 and 25 per cent of the EU demand. The centre-left Labour opposition led by Jonas Gahr Stoere is widely expected to replace the current Conservative government but will need to rely on other parties to form a coalition Erna Solberg's Conservative-led government has ruled for eight years but is behind in the polls North Sea oil and gas has helped make Norway one of the wealthiest countries in the world, but fears about climate change have put the future of the industry at the top of the campaign agenda Ironically, the two major parties contesting Norway's election share relatively aligned stances on the central issue of oil and gas. Stoere and Solberg have both announced intentions to maintain oil and gas production indefinitely, a move designed to give oil firms the time needed to adapt their engineering prowess to gradually transition focus towards green technologies such as offshore wind turbines. 'I believe that calling time on our oil and gas industry is the wrong industrial policy and the wrong climate policy,' Stoere told reporters on Sunday after casting his ballot on the first day of the election. The industry supplies a huge number of jobs in Norway, and is a key cornerstone of Solberg's campaign which points to rising employment levels. 'Our policies are working, employment is going up, so we should continue them,' Solberg told reporters after voting in her hometown of Bergen. Stoere says his government would aim to cut Norway's CO2 emissions in line with the 2015 Paris Agreement, but at the same time work to avoid job losses in oil and gas production. 'The International Energy Agency's Net Zero report in May had already made it plain that there was no room for oil and gas. This really is the climate election,' said Arild Hermstad, the Green's deputy leader. Green Party candidate Ulrikke Torgersen poses for photos outside the Petroleum Museum in Stavanger, Norway. Stavanger is one of Norway's hubs for oil and gas production, but Torgersen's Green Party wants to completely shut down the industry by 2035 However, the Green Party - with whom Stoere may be forced to partner in search of a majority government - have centred their manifesto around the issue of climate change, promising to eliminate Norway's oil production by 2035. It comes after a report released by the International Energy Agency (IEA) earlier this year stated that there is no hope of achieving net zero carbon emissions by 2050 unless oil, gas and coal production ceases completely. 'The International Energy Agency's Net Zero report in May had already made it plain that there was no room for oil and gas, and so the IPCC (The UN's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change) report really hit home,' said Arild Hermstad, the Green's deputy leader. 'This really is the climate election.' The IPCC report published in August said global temperatures are likely to rise by more than 1.5C above pre-industrial levels in the next two decades, and led to a considerable increase Green Party memberships almost overnight. Fatih Birol, the IEA's executive director and one of the world's foremost energy economists, told the Guardian: 'If governments are serious about the climate crisis, there can be no new investments in oil, gas and coal, from now from this year. 'More and more countries are coming up with net zero commitments, which is very good, but I see a huge and growing gap between the rhetoric [from governments] and the reality.' Pictured: pie charts detailing the extent to which Norway's oil and gas industry contributes to the nation's GDP and exports. Norway is currently the third largest exporter of natural gas in the world, behind Russia and Qatar only, and supplies between 20 and 25 per cent of the EU demand Stoere (centre) hopes Labour, the Centre Party and the Socialist Left will between them win a majority and form a government, meaning he would not need to rely on the Green Party to build his coalition (pictured: Conservative, Labour and Centre party leaders) Stoere hopes Labour, the Centre Party and the Socialist Left will between them win a majority and form a government, meaning he would not need to rely on the Green Party to build his coalition. But if this does not materialise, Stoere and Green Party leader Une Aina Bastholm will be forced to hold serious negotiations to iron out their differences in climate focus. The majority of Norway's internal energy supply is generated from hydropower and there are numerous incentives for sustainable living. But fossil fuels still account for 40% of its exports, while the oil and gas industry employs more than 200,000 people about 7% of the total workforce. Much of Norway's 1 trillion sovereign wealth fund has been developed thanks to the mining and exporting of fossil fuels. Hermstad recognises the challenges that will come with the transition away from oil and gas production, but is resolute in his belief that it is a necessary change to make. 'People worry for their work, for their standard of living. As long as the Conservatives are guaranteeing that oil jobs will continue, those calling for an end to drilling look like the threat,' he said. 'They actually argue that because we produce cleanly, it will be better for the environment for Norway to continue. 'It's not true. But people like to hear it.' Fossil fuels still account for 40% of Norway's exports, while the oil and gas industry employs more than 200,000 people about 7% of the total workforce 'People worry for their work, for their standard of living. As long as the Conservatives are guaranteeing that oil jobs will continue, those calling for an end to drilling look like the threat,' said Hermstad. Meanwhile, the growing gap between the rich and poor is the other key focus of the election. The proportion of Norwegian children persistently living in low-income households grew from 3.3% in 2001 to 11.7% in 2019, according to Statistics Norway, while house prices have outpaced salaries, rising six-fold in 30 years. As part of his election campaign, Stoere has pledged to address inequality by offering tax relief to low and middle-income families and hiking rates for the rich. 'Equal rights and equal opportunity have to be secured,' he told Reuters. '[Inequality] has been increasing over the last years. So fairer distribution is a foundation of our policy and that will be felt.' An explosion - which was preceded by a strong smell of gas nearly levelled an Atlanta-area apartment complex Sunday, leaving four people with non-life threatening injuries. The blast happened about 1:30 p.m. as police were in the process of evacuating residents of Arrive Perimeter apartments due to gas-like odors. The front side of the three-story structure was basically blown off by the blast, Dekalb County Deputy fire Chief Melvin Carter told reporters at the scene. We had reports of an explosion with multiple entrapments, he said. We had a lot of structural damage, and structural instability to the building. Fire Capt. Jaeson Daniels had said two people were unaccounted for and there were concerns they might have been in one of three apartments that completely collapsed. Dozens of firefighters rushed to a Dunwoody, Georgia, complex Sunday that partially exploded The pair was later found safe. Dozens of fire crews responded to the blast in Dunwoody, about 17 miles north of Atlanta, which happened hours after an apartment resident lodged a complaint about a gas-like odor. Officials said four people suffered minor injuries, and one was taken to hospital for treatment. No one was killed, but four residents were taken to hospital with non-life threatening injuries Neighboring structures also sustained damage, and debris from the explosion littered the area. About 90 percent of the building had been searched and officials were in the process of shoring up the rest of the complex so rescuers could continue searching for anyone who might be trapped, Carter said. A helicopter and drones circled above the structure as the local Red Cross began canvassing residents to see who might need help finding accommodations. The partially collapsed building and several others nearby were evacuated. Police had been in the process of evacuating residents of Arrive Perimeter apartments due to gas-like odors when the blast happened, sending a portion of the complex tumbling down Residents were told that Monday was the earliest they could return to their homes. Brandon Winfield, 28, who lives in a building next to the one that collapsed, said he felt lucky that he avoided injury since he had driven by the site minutes before the explosion. The collapse reminded him of a terrible accident that happened when he was a teenager, severing his spinal cord while participating in motocross. I'm alive. I'm alive, he said. I've dodged two bullets. Arrive Perimeter apartments, about 17 miles north of Atlanta, is shown before the explosion Chantel Jefferson, a 21-year-old Amazon driver, had parked her van directly outside the building and was gathering packages to take inside when she heard a huge explosion and trees and debris began falling on her vehicle. People came running out of the building, screaming and bleeding from their injuries. I was just inches away from it. I would have gotten blown up, she said. I'm just happy I didn't make it in there. The cause of the blast has not yet been confirmed, and officials are continuing to investigate. More than 300,000 people arriving in England and Northern Ireland from amber list countries during the devastating second wave of Covid may have flouted quarantine rules. Figures obtained under the Freedom of Information Act show a third of the one million people travelling from medium-risk destinations between March and May were passed to investigators. The Government introduced new rules for travellers into Britain this year to slow the spread of the virus and stop new variants from abroad arriving in the country and causing havoc. People arriving from red list countries have to quarantine in state-approved hotels for 10 days at a cost of 2,285 and take three tests - one before the return and two on days two and eight of return. Those who are unjabbed coming from amber list destinations are forced to self-isolate for 10 days at home and take three tests. However, the double-jabbed only have to take two tests. Call handlers employed by the Department of Health and Social Care were then tasked with contacting the arrivals to check they were following draconian self-isolation and testing rules. Cases where the contact ended the call, refused to co-operate, indicated they would break the quarantine or testing rules, or could not be contacted after three attempts were referred to investigators at the Border Force Criminal Justice Unit and the police. Officers were then required attempt to visit the contact at home to check they were following the rules. However, the Government could not tell the BBC how many of these were found to have broken the rules or could not be traced. Labour's shadow home secretary Nick Thomas-Symonds said the figures 'confirm our worst fears' about the Government's 'lax border policy' and accused the Home Office of 'gross negligence'. More than 300,000 people arriving in England and Northern Ireland during the second wave of Covid may have broken quarantine rules (file photo) Under the rules, people arriving from red list countries have to quarantine in state-approved hotels for 10 days at a cost of 1,750 (file photo) Just one in 200 Covid deaths during first half of 2021 occurred among the fully vaccinated, official data reveals Fully-vaccinated people made up just one in 200 Covid deaths in England in the first half of this year, official data revealed today. The Office for National Statistics (ONS) identified 256 'breakthrough deaths' among the 51,281 Covid fatalities that occurred between January 2 and July 2. More than 76 per cent of these patients were clinically extremely vulnerable to the virus, and had underlying conditions or weak immune systems. The average age of a 'breakthrough death' when a person caught and succumbed to Covid despite having maximum immunity from two jabs was 84. Today's ONS report is the latest to highlight the immense impact the vaccines have already had on reducing coronavirus deaths. However, most of the fatalities in the six months of the research occurred during the height of the second wave, before the vaccines had become widely available. The majority of elderly and vulnerable Britons were not fully vaccinated until spring, which skews the findings. More recently, fully vaccinated people have started to make up a greater proportion of Covid deaths but this is due to how successful uptake of the jabs has been. More than 90 per cent of at-risk people are fully-jabbed, and because no vaccine is perfect, a small number continue to die. Advertisement Yvette Cooper, Labour MP and chair of the Home Affairs Committee, told the broadcaster: 'We've been concerned throughout that there just weren't proper follow-ups on the checks that were done, and as a result you just had these huge gaps in the home quarantine system and that's what made it easier for the Delta variant to spread.' However, Huw Merriman, Tory chairman of the Transport Committee, defended the Government and said he doubted if authorities could 'check every single person who was quarantining at home'. A Government spokesman told MailOnline: 'The Home Office looks to visit all individuals referred to us by NHS Test and Trace who are required to isolate at home following international travel. 'We visit over 99 per cent of the cases referred to this service by NHS Test and Trace.' It comes as Boris Johnson today warned that Covid restrictions such as vaccine passports will be 'kept in reserve' in case of a winter surge - as experts said the UK must learn to 'accept' 100 deaths a day. As he prepares to unveil his blueprint for coping with an expected seasonal surge tomorrow, the PM insisted he is 'confident' that lockdown can be avoided even though drastic action cannot be ruled out. He stressed the importance of booster jabs starting with the elderly and most-vulnerable to steer the country clear of any further shutdowns. Medics are also expected to give the go ahead for 12-15 year olds to be vaccinated. Mr Johnson is shelving the idea of Covid passports for nightclubs and major events for now in the face of Tory fury, while travel restrictions will also be overhauled to ditch the traffic light system and costly PCR tests. Many of the draconian powers taken by the government at the start of the crisis will also be scrapped as the premier tries to restore his libertarian credentials. However, masks and ordering people to work from home will be kept in the 'toolbox' of measures that can be deployed. Visiting a British Gas training academy with Chancellor Rishi Sunak today, Mr Johnson was pushed on whether he could rule out any more lockdowns. 'We've got to do everything that's right to protect the country,' he said. 'But the way things are going at the moment we're very confident in the steps that we've taken. He went on: 'What we want to do is avoid vaccine passports, if we possibly can. 'That's the course we're on but I think you've got to be prudent and you've got to keep things in reserve in case things change.' Speaking on BBC Radio 4's Today programme, Prof Ferguson said the level of immunity now present in the UK population meant that tackling a surge in transmission might not 'require full lockdown'. He said the effect of not going ahead with vaccine passports in England - although they are being introduced in Scotland from October 1 - 'won't be huge'. Meanwhile, Sir Jeremy Farrar, a member of the Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies and director of the Wellcome Trust, has urged an 'honest debate' about the trade-offs between opening up society and victims of the disease. 'Politicians across the world are sort of pretending you can have your cake and eat it: 'You can have zero deaths, no control measures, vaccinate if you want to or not vaccinate and it will all end.' I just don't think that's realistic,' he reportedly told the German podcast Pandemia. 'I think [in the UK] around a hundred deaths a day, throughout the year, 30,000 deaths a year, in the current situation with the current vaccines, current treatments, current capacity within the system, I think is a level that would have to in the end be acceptable.' A winter plan to help England keep on top of Covid this winter is set to be revealed by Boris Johnson (pictured) tomorrow. Prof Neil Ferguson said the level of immunity now present in the UK population meant that tackling a surge in transmission might not 'require full lockdown' Plans for vaccine passports for nightclubs and major events were sensationally scrapped yesterday - much to the delight of hospitality chiefs - but they could be brought back British government cancels 1.2billion contract with French vaccine-maker Valneva to supply 190m Covid jabs French vaccine company Valneva revealed today the British government had ended their Covid jab supply agreement due to a 'breach of obligations'. The biotech firm has been manufacturing the vaccine at its plant in Livingston, West Lothian, which Boris Johnson visited in January. Some 100million doses of the vaccine were put on order after the UK increased its request by 40million back in February. The Government had the option of ordering an additional 90million doses to be supplied between 2023 and 2025. But No10 has now terminated its 1.2billion agreement over allegations of a breach of the supply agreement, which the firm 'strenuously' denies. In a statement, Valneva said: 'Valneva SE, a specialty vaccine company, today announced it has received a termination notice from the UK Government (HMG) in relation to the Supply Agreement for its Covid vaccine candidate, VLA2001. 'The contract provides HMG with the right to terminate. 'HMG has alleged the company is in breach of its obligations under the supply agreement, but the company strenuously denies this.' Neither party explained the nature of the breach. Advertisement In a round of interviews this morning, Work and Pensions Secretary Therese Coffey suggested the work from home guidance could return under plans to combat a possible surge in coronavirus during the winter. She told BBC Breakfast that some options such as more home working and paying statutory sick pay from day one rather than day four, were still on the table. 'These are the sensible measures I think that we're going to keep,' she said. Asked about masks, she said: The Prime Minister will be setting out the Covid winter plan tomorrow. I think my approach, and I see that with a lot of employers organisations, is about having a situation-specific approach.' Health Secretary Sajid Javid said yesterday that vaccine passports would not be introduced this month, after a revolt by Tory MPs and business leaders. But Mr Coffey stressed they have not been 'ruled out forever'. She told BBC Breakfast: 'As Sajid Javid set out yesterday, although the formal decision is still to be made, but having reflected and looked at the details of the proposal that it's not deemed necessary at this moment in time. 'But they haven't been ruled out forever. It's reflecting the fact that a lot of young people have come forward and got their vaccinations over the summer.' Ministers believe the plan is sufficient to all-but rule out any national lockdowns - which Mr Johnson is said to be 'dead set' against. Mr Javid said yesterday that he was 'not anticipating' any more lockdowns, saying 'I just don't see how we get to another one (lockdown).' But he left the door open for the toughest of restrictions, saying it would be 'irresponsible to take everything off the table'. In an early glimmer of hope for the holiday season, the Health Secretary suggested that families would be able to spend Christmas together this year - after celebrations were dramatically cut short in 2020 due to the spread of the Kent variant. The announcements set to be unveiled at a press conference tomorrow and to MPs before the Commons rises on Wednesday come after a week of frenzied speculation about the conditions that would be imposed on Britons as the country 'lives with Covid' this winter. The plan will warn that vaccine passports could be required if the NHS faces being overwhelmed. Travellers from red list countries forced into quarantine hotels suing Government for alleged human rights breach Travellers from red list countries who have been forced to quarantine in UK hotels are suing for up to 200million for an alleged breach of human rights. Lawyers claim those who were fully vaccinated and later tested negative for Covid were 'unlawfully deprived of their liberty'. They want the Government to refund fees of around 2,000 per person for double-jabbed and Covid-negative travellers and pay out compensation. Around 100,000 people who arrived from red list countries have been forced to quarantine in hotels for ten days since February. Many have complained of 'prison-like' conditions. Tom Goodhead, of law firm PGMBM, which is spearheading the action, said: 'The Government hasn't yet realised that this policy is a fundamental breach of people's human rights. Law-abiding citizens who have been double-vaccinated should be free from quarantine. 'The idea that they need to pay for the privilege of their own imprisonment is outrageous.' He said other European countries had refused to introduce hotel quarantine measures over human rights concerns. Red list travellers have to take tests on day two and day eight of their hotel quarantine. The claim will be lodged in the High Court in London today. Advertisement It will set out details of when and how passports could be introduced, and will warn that other restrictions, such as mandatory mask-wearing, may have to be reintroduced if the pandemic continues. Changes such as compulsory home working and reintroducing social-distancing are not being ruled out. It was unclear last night how decisions would be made to reimpose restrictions. But, according to the Telegraph, Mr Johnson will make clear this week he is 'dead set' against another national lockdown. He will instead urge people to 'learn to live with Covid', the paper reports. According to The Sun, Mr Johnson will rely on the Covid vaccine to limit the spread of Covid. Third doses of the jab are to be rolled out in autumn in a similar way to the first vaccine drive - starting with the most elderly and vulnerable. The Government will also launch a massive 'flu shot blitz' which will be supported by a large-scale advertising campaign urging people to get both jabs, the Sun adds. Children aged 12-15 will also be offered a single Covid shot, pending approval from scientific advisers, The Daily Telegraph reports. While national measures will also be set out, changes to international travel are also expected. The travel traffic lights system is due to be scrapped, according to the Telegraph, with just a 'red list' for the worst Covid-hit countries kept in its place. The number of countries on the red list will also be drastically reduced, the paper adds. And, according to the Telegraph, PCR tests will not be required for fully vaccinated travellers. It comes as yesterday, another 29,173 cases were recorded, as well as 56 deaths within 28 days of a positive test. A senior government source told The Telegraph of the argument Mr Johnson would make: 'This is the new normal. We need to learn to live with Covid. 'The vaccines are a wall of defence. The autumn and the winter do offer some uncertainty, but the Prime Minister is dead set against another lockdown.' But while the changes will come as a positive for some, others have urged the Government to limit the number of Covid rules this winter. Mark Harper, chairman of the Covid Recovery Group of Tory MPs, meanwhile said that while he was pleased with the news that vaccine passports would be scrapped, he wanted a permanent end to any plans for such a scheme. Yesterday he tweeted: 'I welcome Savid Javid confirming that vaccine passports are not going ahead now. Britain's Covid outbreak shrank today, with cases falling by 21 per cent while the number of deaths also declined 'I'm pleased he has listened to the compelling case against them. They shouldn't be kept in reserve. They are pointless, damaging and discriminatory.' Vaccine passports allow people access to venues if they have had both Covid jabs. They will be introduced in Scotland for clubs and large venues next month. In a national research programme in April, revellers were allowed into clubs so data could be gathered on how events could be permitted to reopen safely. But following a Tory backlash against vaccine passports, Mr Javid said yesterday the idea had been shelved for England. He told the BBC's Andrew Marr Show: 'I've never liked the idea of saying to people you must show your papers to do what is just an everyday activity. 'We've looked at it properly, and whilst we should keep it in reserve, I'm pleased to say we will not be going ahead with plans for vaccine passports.' He said that while he was 'not anticipating' any more lockdowns, it would be 'irresponsible to take everything off the table'. His announcement on the passports came a week after vaccines minister Nadhim Zahawi told the same show the end of September was the right time to start the vaccine passport scheme for sites with large crowds. Deputy Labour leader Angela Rayner said: 'Days ago, the vaccine minister stood before Parliament to confirm the introduction of Covid passports now they've been scrapped. 'This is the culmination of a summer of chaos from ministers. They need to get a grip before winter.' Mr Javid told Times Radio the passports were 'a huge intrusion into people's lives', adding: 'We don't think it is necessary at this point. 'We're keeping it in reserve, but we're not going to go ahead.' The hospitality sector welcomed the news that the passports will not be introduced in England. Michael Kill, chief executive of the Night Time Industries Association, said: 'We hope businesses will be able to plan for the future with some degree of certainty... and rebuild a sector that has consistently been at the sharp end of this pandemic.' He added that the Government had 'grossly underestimated some logistical and ethical challenges'. Sacha Lord, night time economy adviser for Greater Manchester and co-founder of the Parklife festival, said the plans were 'untenable and illogical' and aspects were 'discriminatory and legally questionable'. He added: 'We can now move forward without vague regulations.' It comes as Britain's Covid outbreak shrank on Sunday, with cases falling by 21 per cent while the number of deaths also declined. Department of Health figures show 29,173 daily cases were recorded across the UK today, compared to 37,011 last week - a reduction of more than a fifth - while Covid deaths fell from 68 to 56. In Scotland, more than 1,000 Covid patients are in hospital and 5,912 new cases were recorded in the past 24 hours. Though the latest figures north of the border show no deaths, the Scottish Government says registry offices are generally closed at weekends. Meanwhile, six further deaths of patients who had previously tested positive for Covid in Northern Ireland were registered - while another 1,031 positive cases of the virus were also confirmed in the region. Universities branded 'mega rip-off' after announcing plans to continue remote lectures despite charging annual fees of 9,250 By Eleanor Harding and Julie Henry for the Daily Mail Universities were yesterday branded a 'mega rip-off' after announcing a third academic year of remote lectures despite charging annual fees of 9,250. Nineteen of the 24 Russell Group of leading universities, including Oxford and Cambridge, said a portion of learning would remain online in the new term. Covid restrictions have been scrapped but some lectures will still be delivered remotely, depriving youngsters of face-to-face contact with lecturers and fellow students. Some Freshers are also having to live more than an hour from campus or are under pressure to defer places because of accommodation shortages. Nineteen of the 24 Russell Group of leading universities, including Oxford and Cambridge, said a portion of learning would remain online in the new term Last night, campaigners called for tuition fee refunds and urged teenagers to boycott online-heavy courses. It comes after Education Secretary Gavin Williamson warned last week there is 'no excuse' to use online learning as a cost-cutting measure. A Mail survey has found most of the Russell Group are bringing back face-to-face learning, but offering a 'blended' model where some tuition stays online. For some institutions, it means large lectures a staple of campus life are being delivered remotely. At University College London, students have been told: 'Most small group teaching including seminars, workshops, laboratory and studio practicals will be in person and most of your lecture-based large group teaching will be online.' Warwick University plans to deliver 'most seminars in-person on campusand to deliver lectures online' while Exeter said 'some lecture-based teaching sessions may move online as our students found that this was more inclusive than traditional lectures'. Leeds also plans a mix of face-to-face and online teaching, with large lectures delivered remotely. Meanwhile, Oxford said 'most' teaching would be 'in-person' but would be 'enhanced' by online tuition in 'some instances'. Cambridge said while 'small-group teaching' and 'as many lectures as possible' would be in-person, web sessions would be used 'where there is a strong reason'. Cambridge said while 'small-group teaching' and 'as many lectures as possible' would be in-person, web sessions would be used 'where there is a strong reason' However, Southampton stressed it was delivering all its teaching 'in-person and on campus' and Birmingham said 'lectures will typically go ahead in person in the normal way'. Mr Williamson warned vice-chancellors last week that students should be taught 'in-person and alongside other students'. He insisted: 'I do not expect to see online learning used as a cost-cutting measure'. Last night, former Government adviser Chris McGovern claimed: 'Universities are trawling them in, grabbing their fees and then forgetting that they have a responsibility to deliver a good education. 'It's a brass-necked, mega rip-off. The Consumer Rights Act needs to be extended to provide refunds for any shoddy and second rate educational provision by universities.' Remote learning first emerged in March last year during the national lockdown, with students only allowed back to campuses in full this summer. Many universities believe it is necessary to keep some learning online in case the pandemic takes off again. Others say online learning has been proved to benefit students. Meanwhile, several universities are finding it difficult to find accommodation for all the students they accepted this year. Bristol recently told new students they might have to live in Bath more than an hour away due to local halls being full. A murder investigation has been launched after a man was killed and two women injured in a shooting in south London. Paramedics raced to the scene in Ferry Mews in Brixton, after the 27-year-old man was shot just before 9pm on September 12. Despite the efforts of the emergency services, the man was pronounced dead at the scene. Police officers stand at the scene after the 27-year-old man was shot just before 9pm on September 12 A woman aged 29, was taken to hospital with injuries that are not life-changing and later a third woman, aged 26, took herself to a hospital in south London with superficial wounds. There have been no arrests and enquiries into the circumstances remain ongoing. In a statement a Metropolitan Police spokesperson said: 'At 20:57hrs on Sunday, 12 September, police were alerted by the London Ambulance Service to reports of a shooting in Ferrey Mews, SW9. 'Officers attended with paramedics and found two people with gunshot wounds. 'Despite the efforts of the emergency services, a 27-year-old man was pronounced dead at the scene a short time later. A woman aged 29, was taken to hospital with injuries that are not life-changing and a third woman, aged 26, took herself to a hospital in south London A police van parked at the scene as officers carry out investigations into the shooting in south London 'His next of kin have been informed.' Anyone who witnessed the incident or who has information about what took place should call 101 or tweet @MetCC, giving the reference 7163/12SEP. Information can also be provided to Crimestoppers, anonymously, on 0800 555 111. Advertisement Fury has erupted tonight after ministers confirmed plans to vaccinate all children over 12 across the UK from next week - with experts and parents warning it may lead to unvaccinated pupils being 'bullied' and could even 'tear families apart'. Vaccines minister Nadhim Zahawi confirmed the plans to offer a single Pfizer jab to healthy 12 to 15-year-olds during a speech to the House of Commons tonight. But he reiterated that the final decision whether to have the jab would be down to children - and not their parents. However, amid fears the policy could lead to family arguments, he told MPs: 'Whatever decision is made, they (children) must be supported. No-one should be stigmatised, no one should be bullied for making a decision.' Mr Zahawi also reiterated the safety of the vaccine for children, saying the decision to offer the jab to 12 to 15-year-olds had followed advice from the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI). He said the decision had also been 'unanimously approved' by the UK's four chief medical officers - including England's Chief Medical Officer Professor Chris Whitty. 'We will now move with the same sense of urgency we've had at every point in our vaccination programme,' he added. Meanwhile, Health Secretary Sajid Javid said in a Tweet tonight: 'I have accepted the unanimous recommendation from the UK Chief Medical Officers to offer vaccination to those aged 12 to 15. 'This will protect young people from catching COVID-19, reduce transmission in schools and help keep pupils in the classroom.' It comes as parents, experts and teaching unions today warned of tension in schools after the UK signed off on plans to offer Covid jabs to healthy 12 to 15-year-olds which will see children get the final say on whether they are vaccinated. Around 3million under-16s are due to start getting their jabs from next week after Professor Whitty endorsed the move today, claiming it would help prevent outbreaks in classrooms and further disruptions to education this winter. Doses will be largely administered through the existing school vaccination programme and parental consent will be sought. But children will be able to overrule their parents' decision in the case of a conflict if they are deemed mature and competent enough, which has caused fury. Angry parents fumed against the move to leave the decision with young children who 'can't even decide what they want for tea, never mind' a vaccine, which carry small risks of side effects such as heart inflammation. Professor Simon Clarke, a microbiologist at the University of Reading who is in favour of jabbing children, warned that giving youngsters the final say could lead to pupils being bullied by their peers into taking the jab. He told MailOnline: 'It will cause rows I think... You may end up in a situation where a minority, it will probably be the unvaccinated, get bullied and excluded by other children.' Earlier headteachers revealed they had already received letters from pressure groups threatening legal action if schools take part in an under-16 vaccination programme. The teachers' union NAHT demanded urgent reassurance medics will be responsible for concerns about consent and vaccination rather than being left to schools, which could lead to tension with parents. Children's rights campaign group UsforThem said it needed a 'cast-iron guarantee' from the Government that all parents would get the final say on whether their child is vaccinated. Professor Whitty revealed today that children will be able to override their parents' decision if they pass a 'competence assessment' by the medical professional charged with administering the vaccine. Under decades-old medical law used for other routine vaccines, youngsters get the final say if they are judged to have sufficient intelligence to be able to fully understand and therefore consent to vaccination. The scientific community has been split over vaccinating healthy children against Covid because the virus poses such a low risk to them. No10's own advisory panel said earlier this month that immunising healthy under-16s would only provide 'marginal' benefit to their health, and not enough to recommend a mass rollout. The decision was left with Professor Whitty and chief medical officers in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, who looked at the wider benefits to society, including keeping classrooms open. Outlining the decision to press ahead with the move in a Downing Street press conference, Professor Whitty said there were 'certainly no plans' at the moment to vaccinate children under the age of 12. Children won't be given a second dose until more data on the rare complication myocarditis becomes available. Dr Renee Hoenderkamp, an NHS GP and mother, accused officials of 'giving up on science' by pressing ahead with the school roll-out despite No10's advisory panel ruling that jabs provide only 'marginal' benefit to children's health. Meanwhile, the UK today recorded 30,825 positive Covid tests, down by a quarter on last week's count. Hospital admissions fell by around 14 per cent in England, but deaths rose by around 36 per cent to 61. Vaccines minister Nadhim Zahawi confirmed the plans to offer a single Pfizer jab to healthy 12 to 15-year-olds during a speech to the House of Commons tonight Earlier this month the JCVI said it could not recommend Covid jabs for healthy 12 to 15-year-olds because the direct benefit to their health was only marginal. It also looked at the risk of health inflammation - known as myocarditis - in young people given the Pfizer vaccine, which was still very small but slightly more common after a second dose Latest estimates from a symptom-tracking app suggested under-18s had the highest number of Covid cases in the UK (blue line) last week. Schools in England, Wales and Northern Ireland started going back on September 1. The data is from the ZOE Covid Symptom Study Figures from Public Health England show cases in children aged 10 to 19 spiked by 42 per cent in a week from 478.3 per 100,000 to 681.4 in the week ending September 5. This was nearly six times higher than the 114 cases per 100,000 in over-80s down 1.2 per cent from the week before and 145.8 in 70- to 79-year-olds which remained flat Public Health England today published of a guide (pictured) to Covid-19 vaccination for children and young people Mr Zahawi reiterated that the final decision whether to have the jab would be down to children - and not their parents. Pictured: Library image of a paediatrician preparing a vaccine for a child during the coronavirus pandemic Around 3million under-16s are due to start getting their jabs from next week after Chris Whitty endorsed the move today, claiming it would help prevent outbreaks in classrooms and further disruptions to education this winter. Professor Whitty held a press conference with JCVI chief Professor Wei Shen Lim (left) and MHRA boss Dr June Raine The chief medical officers said that even though Covid poses a small risk to children's health, the negative impacts of school closures on their life prospects and mental wellbeing tipped the balance in favour of vaccination. They have recommended under-16s initially only be offered a single dose of the Pfizer vaccine, which has shown to be up to 55 per cent effective at preventing infection from the Delta variant. A decision on second doses is still to be determined when more data is available internationally, with a decision expected by the spring term at the earliest. Officials will weigh up the risk of heart complications, which are slightly more common after the second shot. Jabbing 12 to 15-year-olds will slash school absences by a third and prevent 30,000 infections: The findings which tipped the balance in favour of vaccinating kids What factors did the CMO's consider? The CMOs' central consideration was the significant disruption to education that students have faced during the pandemic. They considered the knock-on effect of school closures on children's physical and mental health, as well as their 'life prospects'. The CMOs added that pupils who are eligible for free school meals such as if their parents receive income support and universal credit missed 30 per cent more school days than other pupils due to Covid-related absences. This suggests children from disadvantaged areas may have more to gain from vaccination, they said. But because there has been lower vaccine uptake among deprived areas, a vaccination rollout to younger children could increase the disparities between socio-economic groups. Additionally, they noted there would be less economic impact if youngsters were vaccinated, as fewer parents would have to stay home and look after their children, but this was not modelled. What will the impact be? Experts based their calculations on what would happen if 60 per cent of healthy 12 to 15-year-olds get the jab in September and calculated what impact this would have between mid October and the end of March 2022. Based on their central estimates, Covid infections in the age group will drop 33 per cent from 89,000 to 59,000. And the number of school days missed due to someone isolating while infected with the virus would drop by 31 per cent, from 320,000 to 220,000. This equates to a fall from 125 students isolating with Covid per 1,000, to 84 pupils per 1,000. And the average proportion of students absent at any one time due to a positive PCR test is expected to drop by around one third, from 0.13 per cent to 0.09 per cent. Overall, the jabs would prevent 30,000 infections in 12 to 15-year-olds and reduce the number of missed school days by 110,000. The experts noted their estimates does not account for how infection rates among school-aged children could change going forward. And their figures may underestimate the impact of schools returning with fewer restrictions than previously in place. Their calculations also do not include any small amount of time outside of class to get a jab, or any longer time off required if a child has side effects. How many children are expected to come forward to the jab? The Government stressed its estimates of uptake among healthy children aged 12 to 15 is 'extremely uncertain'. It based its calculations on 60 per cent of the newly eligible group around 1.3million coming forward, but said this could be an underestimate. The latest data from the ONS School Infection Survey, which asks parents about their hesitancy to children being vaccinated, found just 14 per cent of parents to secondary-age school children to be hesitant. Some 86 per cent said they definitely or probably would consent to their child being jabbed. What vaccine will children be given, and how many doses? Youngsters will be given the Pfizer jab, which numerous studies and real-world analyses have shown to be safe in children. Children will only be given a single dose. This is because officials say there is not enough reliable data on the medium-term safety of two doses in youngsters. A rare heart inflammation condition known as myocarditis is slightly more common after the second dose, which is why the CMOs have held back on recommending two doses for now. When will the jabs be rolled out? The announcement from the Department of Health and Social Care assumes the programme will be rolled out in September, so the effect of the vaccines on Covid cases will be seen from October 18 onwards. The rollout is expected to begin next week. Who gets the final say - children or parents? The vaccine will largely be given in schools and parents will be asked to give consent. But if a parent says no then the child can overrule their decision, so long as they are deemed competent to decide. Under decades-old medical law, children aged 12-15 who are deemed mature enough get the final say. Capacity to consent for those under 16 is decided based on whether an individual is deemed 'Gillick competent'. The test has been used since 1985 for other routine vaccines. Gillick competence refers to children who are judged to have sufficient understanding and intelligence to be able to fully understand and therefore consent to medical treatment or vaccination. It is done on a case-by-case basis and a medical professional will decide if a child is capable of weighing up the pros and cons of vaccination. Advertisement The programme in the UK has until now been limited to children with serious underlying health conditions and youngsters who live with extremely vulnerable relatives. Paul Whiteman, general secretary of the union NAHT, said schools must now get assurances that medical teams will handle the pressing questions and concerns raised by parents about the rollout to avoid tension. He said: 'Now that a decision has been made, it is essential that the Government immediately confirms that the process surrounding vaccinations will be run and overseen entirely by the appropriate medical teams. 'Where parents have questions, including about important matters such as consent, these must be handled by those same medical teams. 'There must be no delay in confirming this otherwise school leaders will be put in an impossible position of facing questions to which they simply do not have the answers.' Mr Whiteman added: 'School leaders are being put in an invidious position, stuck between parents, pupils and pressure groups, all while simply working to carry out their national duty. 'Schools must be allowed to focus on their core task of providing education to pupils. We would expect detailed guidance to be published by government clarifying all this without delay.' It came after headteachers said they were already facing backlash following the announcement. Geoff Barton, general secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders (ASCL), said: 'Many of our members have been receiving letters from various pressure groups threatening schools and colleges with legal action if they take part in any Covid vaccination programme. 'This is extremely unhelpful and we would ask those involved in this correspondence to stop attempting to exert pressure on schools and colleges. 'The question of whether or not to offer vaccinations to this age group has clearly been thoroughly considered and the decision on whether or not to accept this offer is a matter for families.' Dr Mary Bousted, joint general secretary of the National Education Union (NEU), claimed the decision from the chief medical officers had come to late. 'While we recognise that a decision on vaccinating children needed careful evidential judgement, it would have been better if a decision could have been made earlier during the summer holidays,' she said. 'It will now be well into the autumn before the impact of the vaccination programme will be felt. Schools must be given timely and clear guidance for the next steps.' She added: 'It is incumbent on the Department for Education (DfE) to make clear and usable procedures for the necessary parental consent. This is not the time for yet more incoherent guidance from Government.' Professor Whitty and the CMOs in the devolved nations were asked to look at the 'broader' societal benefits of vaccinating schoolchildren at the start of the month after the Government's advisers ruled against the move. The Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) said immunising healthy under-16s would only provide 'marginal' benefit to their health, and not enough to recommend a mass rollout. But it advised the Government to seek further advice from its chief medical officers about the wider benefits of vaccination on the pandemic, which was beyond the scope of its review. In their advice to the Government, the UK's CMOs said they were recommending vaccines on 'public health grounds' and it was 'likely vaccination will help reduce transmission of Covid in schools'. They added: 'Covid is a disease which can be very effectively transmitted by mass spreading events, especially with Delta variant. 'Having a significant proportion of pupils vaccinated is likely to reduce the probability of such events which are likely to cause local outbreaks in, or associated with, schools. 'They will also reduce the chance an individual child gets Covid. This means vaccination is likely to reduce (but not eliminate) education disruption.' They admitted the rollout will likely only stop about 30,000 infections among 12 to 15-year-olds between now and March. But the vaccines will prevent tens of thousands more from having to self-isolate and miss school as a result, they claim. Modelling of the winter term estimated that without the vaccines there could be about 89,000 infections among 12 to 15-year-olds, compared to 59,000 with the rollout. Without vaccination they warn of 320,000 school absences by March, whereas this could be reduced to 220,000 with the jabs. Dr Hoenderkamp blasted the decision on Twitter, adding: 'What disrupts school is policy; change policy don't inject kids with a treatment they don't need and may harm them. 'Stop testing healthy kids. Only send home a sick child. Vaccine achieves nothing; kids can still catch and transmit covid and will get sent home when they do!' The CMOs think a single dose will reduce significantly the chance of a young person getting Covid and passing the virus on, with studies showing the Pfizer vaccine is 55 per cent effective at blunting infection in adults after one dose. But they have asked for the JCVI now to look at whether second doses should be given to children and young people aged 12 to 15 once more data comes through internationally. This will not be before the spring term. Mother-of-three Amanda Duncan, from Birkenhead in Merseyside, said today's announcement made 'no difference' to her because her children would not be getting the vaccine. She said: 'My kids can't even choose what they want for tea never mind anything else. Over my dead body will my boys get it.' Liz Cole, the co-founder of children's rights campaign group UsforThem, said she needed a 'cast-iron guarantee' that parents would get the final say on whether their child is vaccinated. 'The CMO was very clear in his letter that there should be no stigmatisation of children or parents regarding their choice to take up, or not take up this offer, she added. 'There can be no scintilla of pressure applied to children to take up a vaccine particular where the risk-benefit is so finely balanced.' Professor Clarke told MailOnline he welcomed the decision to roll the vaccines out to healthy under-16s. 'While most people who are vulnerable to serious disease from Covid-19 are now double jabbed, having a large amount of virus circulating freely among young people is dangerous, particularly when we don't know how waning immunity levels and potential new mutations of the virus could change things for the worse. 'We should remember that vaccinating young people to protect older or more vulnerable people is already common, including with newly-developed vaccines. The CMOs admitted the rollout will likely only stop about 30,000 infections among 12 to 15-year-olds between now and March. But the vaccines will prevent tens of thousands more from having to self-isolate and miss school as a result, they claim. Modelling of the winter term estimated that without the vaccines there could be about 89,000 infections among 12 to 15-year-olds, compared to 59,000 with the rollout. Without vaccination they warn of 320,000 school absences by March, whereas this could be reduced to 220,000 with the jabs WHAT ARE THE PROS AND CONS OF VACCINATING CHILDREN? Pros Protecting adults The main argument in favour of vaccinating children is in order to prevent them keeping the virus in circulation long enough for it to transmit back to adults. Experts fear that unvaccinated children returning to classrooms in September could lead to a boom in cases among people in the age group, just as immunity from jabs dished out to older generations earlier in the year begins to wane. This could trigger another wave of the virus if left unchecked, with infection levels triggering more hospitalisations and deaths than seen during the summer. Avoiding long Covid in children While the risk of serious infection from Covid remains low in most children, scientists are still unsure of the long-term effects the virus may have on them. Concerns have been raised in particular about the incidence of long Covid the little understood condition when symptoms persist for many more weeks than normal in youngsters. A study released last night by King's College London showed fewer than two per cent of children who develop Covid symptoms continue to suffer with them for more than eight weeks. Just 25 of the 1,734 children studied 0.01 per cent suffered symptoms for longer than a year. Cons Health risks Extremely rare incidences of a rare heart condition have been linked to the Pfizer vaccine in youngsters. Data from the Centers for Disease Control and Protection (CDC) in the US where 9million 12- to 17-year-olds have already been vaccinated shows there is around a one in 14,500 to 18,000 chance of boys in the age group developing myocarditis after having their second vaccine dose. This is vanishingly small. For comparison, the chance of finding a four-leaf clover is one in 10,000, and the chance of a woman having triplets is one in 4,478. The risk is higher than in 18- to 24-year-olds (one in 18,000 to 22,000), 25- to 29-year-olds (one in 56,000 to 67,000) and people aged 30 and above (one in 250,000 to 333,000). But, again, this is very low. Britain's drug regulator the MHRA lists the rare heart condition as a very rare side-effect of the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines. They said: 'There have been very rare reports of myocarditis and pericarditis (the medical term for the condition) occurring after vaccination. These are typically mild cases and individuals tend to recover within a short time following standard treatment and rest.' More than four times as many hospitalisations were prevented as there were cases of myocarditis caused by the vaccine in 12- to 17-year-olds, the health body's data show. Jabs should be given to other countries Experts have also claimed it would be better to donate jabs intended for teenagers in the UK to other countries where huge swathes of the vulnerable population remain unvaccinated. Not only would this be a moral move but it is in the UK's own interest because the virus will remain a threat to Britain as long as it is rampant anywhere in the world. Most countries across the globe are lagging significantly behind the UK in terms of their vaccine rollout, with countries in Africa, Southeast Asia and South America remaining particularly vulnerable. Jabs could be better used vaccinating older people in those countries, and thus preventing the virus from continuing to circulate globally and mutate further, than the marginal gains to transmission Britain would see if children are vaccinated, experts argue. Professor David Livermore, from the University of East Anglia, has said: 'Limited vaccine supplies would be far better used in countries and regions with large vulnerable elderly populations who presently remain unvaccinated Australia, much of South East Asia and Latin America, as well as Africa.' Advertisement Schools already threatened with legal action if they roll out Covid vaccines to kids Headteachers are already receiving letters threatening legal action if their schools take part in the Covid vaccine programme, a union has said. Geoff Barton, the general secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders (ASCL), said today: 'Many of our members have been receiving letters from various pressure groups threatening schools and colleges with legal action if they take part in any Covid vaccination programme. 'This is extremely unhelpful and we would ask those involved in this correspondence to stop attempting to exert pressure on schools and colleges. 'The question of whether or not to offer vaccinations to this age group has clearly been thoroughly considered and the decision on whether or not to accept this offer is a matter for families.' Professor Chris Whitty today approved plans for the jabs to be rolled out to 12 to 15-year-olds alongside the national flu vaccination programme. It is not yet clear whether children will be able to overrule their parents to get the vaccine, although ministers have suggested this will be the case. Parents have been quick to vent their frustration at the proposals, however, with some saying they won't let their children get the jab. Unions have called on the Government to confirm that questions about vaccinating pupils will be handled by medical teams. The general secretary of the National Association of Head Teachers (NAHT), Paul Whiteman, said: 'Now that a decision has been made, it is essential that the Government immediately confirms that the process surrounding vaccinations will be run and overseen entirely by the appropriate medical teams. 'Where parents have questions, including about important matters such as consent, these must be handled by those same medical teams. 'There must be no delay in confirming this otherwise school leaders will be put in an impossible position of facing questions to which they simply do not have the answers.' Advertisement 'A new flu vaccine is created every year, and once it is tested for safety and efficacy, as has happened with Covid jabs, it is rolled out to the general population. 'In the UK children get the new flu vaccine every year from age four, mainly to prevent them catching and spreading flu to older adults, who are most vulnerable to dying from flu. 'All children should be vaccinated against rubella, or German measles. Rubella is a mild illness for children, but a serious risk to pregnant women and their unborn children. Boys are vaccinated at secondary school against human papillomavirus, HPV, not primarily for their own benefit but to prevent the spread of the virus that causes cervical cancer in women. 'Vaccines always have side effects and risks, but the scientific evidence shows the risk to individuals and wider society of not being vaccinated is a greater risk. Yes, there are risks of side effects from the jab for children. But parents should remember that sadly some children have been made seriously ill, and died, after catching the coronavirus. Not getting vaccinated can also have side effects, but we call these disease. By cutting chains of transmission through vaccination to 12-15 year olds, we will be making it safer for more people of all ages.' After seeking advice from a range of experts, including medical colleges, the CMOs said they consider education 'one of the most important drivers of improved public health and mental health'. They added: 'The effects of disrupted education, or uncertainty, on mental health are well recognised. There can be lifelong effects on health if extended disruption to education leads to reduced life chances. 'Whilst full closures of schools due to lockdowns is much less likely to be necessary in the next stages of the Covid epidemic, UK CMOs expect the epidemic to continue to be prolonged and unpredictable. 'Local surges of infection, including in schools, should be anticipated for some time. Where they occur, they are likely to be disruptive.' The NHS in England had already been asked to prepare to roll out vaccines for all 12 to 15-year-olds in the event that the CMOs recommend the programme. But there are fears that giving children the ability to overrule their parents could lead to conflict. Headteachers are receiving letters from pressure groups threatening legal action if schools take part in Covid vaccination programmes, a union has said. Geoff Barton, general secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders (ASCL), said: 'Many of our members have been receiving letters from various pressure groups threatening schools and colleges with legal action if they take part in any Covid vaccination programme. 'This is extremely unhelpful and we would ask those involved in this correspondence to stop attempting to exert pressure on schools and colleges. 'The question of whether or not to offer vaccinations to this age group has clearly been thoroughly considered and the decision on whether or not to accept this offer is a matter for families.' Others have called for the Government to spell out exactly where the final decision will lie. Paul Whiteman, general secretary of school leaders' union NAHT, said: 'Now that a decision has been made, it is essential that the Government immediately confirms that the process surrounding vaccinations will be run and overseen entirely by the appropriate medical teams. 'Where parents have questions, including about important matters such as consent, these must be handled by those same medical teams. 'There must be no delay in confirming this otherwise school leaders will be put in an impossible position of facing questions to which they simply do not have the answers.' The Royal Society of Paediatrics and Child Health, which was consulted about today's recommendation, said it backed the move. In a statement released on the back of the announcement this afternoon, the College said: 'Evidence from the UK and around the world has repeatedly shown us that children are highly unlikely to become seriously ill because of infection with COVID-19. 'However, since even before the first lockdown, the College has been extremely concerned about the indirect effects of the virus on children and young people, primarily because of many of the infection control measures in place. 'The most important consequences of these have been the disruption to school attendance and children's extra-curricular activities and the effect of this on their mental health and wellbeing. It has also reduced their access to health services delivered in school and the role schools play in wider health issues such as child protection. 'Reduced access to school has disproportionately impacted children from more deprived socio-economic groups and could have lifelong repercussions.' Professor Russell Viner, an expert in child health at University College London and member of the Government's Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies, admitted that the direct benefit of vaccination to children was small. But he said that he was in favour of the move because so much data had accrued internationally showing the jabs were safe for young people. He said: 'Vaccinating 12-15 year olds remains a very marginal balance in medical terms, although with over 10 million teenagers vaccinated worldwide we are now much clearer about safety in this age-group. 'The pandemic has wrought a great deal of harm in the lives of our children and young people, including poorer mental health and disruptions to education and socialisation. 'The CMOs were able to take these broader issues into account and decided that on balance we as a society should offer vaccines to all teenagers. 'This is a good decision for young people and for broader society. It is also a testament to strong UK decision-making, recognising the critical importance of independent scientific decision-making without fear of political influence, but also factoring in key societal issues missing from a narrow focus on medical harm and benefits.' The JCVI has already recommended that children and young people aged 12 to 17 with specific underlying health conditions, and children and young people who are aged 12 years and over who are household contacts of people who are immunocompromised are offered two doses of a vaccine. But in guidance published this month, the JCVI resisted growing pressure to recommend jabs for healthy under-16s, despite the likes of the US, France, Spain, Italy, Canada, and the Netherlands, all pressing ahead with the move. The scientists said the virus posed such a low risk to children aged between 12 and 15 that the benefit to their health of immunisation would be marginal. The JCVI did, however, recommend the jabs for 200,000 more children with chronic heart, kidney, lung and neurological conditions in that age group. A total of 350,000 children aged 12 to 15 were already eligible for the vaccine before today's announcement. The expert panel said that youngsters under 16 with severe conditions have a one in 10,000 chance of falling seriously ill with Covid compared to the one in 500,000 risk for healthy children. It said that a very rare heart complication associated with the jabs meant the benefits of vaccination 'only marginally' outweighed the risks in healthy under-16s, but not enough to recommend a mass rollout. The JCVI said it had investigated the extremely rare events of inflammation of the heart muscle, known as myocarditis, after Pfizer or Moderna vaccines. While the condition can result in short periods of hospital observation, followed by typically swift recoveries, the JCVI has concluded the medium to long-term outcomes are still uncertain and more follow-up time is needed to get a clearer picture. Should we jab 12-year-olds? Experts say it's 'unethical' to vaccinate children to protect adults from Covid and claim kids may get 'better immunity' if they catch virus naturally - but others warn of school closures and lockdowns Scientists are at war over whether the UK should be routinely vaccinating children. Experts pushing back against the plans argue that it would be 'ethically dubious' to jab children solely to protect adults, because Covid itself poses such a tiny risk to youngsters. Others believe it is better for children to catch Covid and recover to develop natural immunity than to be reliant on protection from vaccines, which studies suggest wanes in months. Professor Paul Hunter, an epidemiologist at the University of East Anglia, told MailOnline: 'It is one thing to say have a vaccine to protect your health, but quite another thing to persuade you to have a vaccine to protect my health. One is entirely ethical and the other is dubious.' And Professor David Livermore, a medical microbiologist at the same university, said natural infection could be a 'a better first step in the lifelong co-existence' with the virus than rolling out the jabs. But the move to jab healthy kids for Covid has been backed by several experts who warn that letting the virus rip through schools could result in more disruptions to education and force lockdown restrictions to be rolled back. Dr Simon Clarke, a microbiologist at Reading University, told MailOnline today that he would feel comfortable vaccinating children so long as their parents consented. He said the wider benefits to keeping schools open and infection rates low outweighed any small risks of side effects from the jabs. In a letter written to the Education Secretary earlier this month, a group of scientists said the wider effects curbs would have on children's learning, health and wellbeing meant it was 'reckless' to send secondary children to classes unvaccinated. Children have only a small risk of becoming seriously ill with Covid and a vanishingly small chance of death, while the jabs are associated with rare cases of myocarditis in young people. Professor Hunter said today he was against vaccinating children. He told MailOnline: 'The issue around whether we should be vaccinating 12 to 15-year-olds is whether there is enough vaccine to go around people who are vulnerable worldwide.' Professor Hunter added that as the direct benefit of vaccines to children was small because Covid is a mild illness for the overwhelming majority of them. He said he would prefer to see the doses shipped to developing nations which are struggling to get first doses to vulnerable people. And he raised doubts about whether it was ethical to vaccinate children against a mild disease in the first place. 'If we are going to be vaccinating these children it has got to be in their interest, not in ours,' he said. 'It is one thing to say have a vaccine to protect your health, but quite another thing to persuade you to have a vaccine to protect my health. One is entirely ethical and the other is dubious.' Professor David Livermore, a medical microbiologist at the University of East Anglia, said last week that the world will need to live with Covid for years if not decades so having a generation of children with natural immunity would help prevent cases spiralling later down the line. He said natural infection could be a 'a better first step in the lifelong co-existence' with the virus than rolling out the jabs. Dr Simon Clarke (left), a microbiologist at Reading University, told MailOnline today that children should be vaccinated 'with their parents' consent' because the benefits outweighed the risk of side-effects. He pointed to other countries where the jab has been rolled out to the age group with no safety issues. SAGE adviser Professor Calum Semple has said children should be inoculated in order to avoid further disruption to their education He added: 'There is no direct reason to vaccinate children and adolescents against Covid. They are extremely unlikely to suffer severe disease if infected. 'Rare but serious side effects have been associated with the vaccines, including blood clots and myocarditis. For older adults and the vulnerable, these are small hazards compared with those from Covid infection, and being vaccinated is obviously prudent. 'But for children the risk/benefit ratio is far less clear, and may reverse. The JCVI initially were against vaccinating children on this logic and have provided no clear reason for a change of view. 'Taking these three points together I can see no good reason to vaccinate under-18s, let alone 12-year-olds.' And Professor Tim Spector, an epidemiologist at King's College London, told MailOnline vaccinating children would 'use up' Britain's supply of jabs designated for boosters for the clinically vulnerable this winter. Professor Spector said while vaccinating would reduce cases 'in an ideal world', in the immediate term it could take up supply intended for booster shots to older, more vulnerable people who's own immunity from vaccines given earlier in the year may be on the wane. He added: 'With vaccinating children you are going to reduce numbers of infections, but if you do that that means you use up your boosters and so you risk more deaths and hospitalisations at the other end of the spectrum. 'In the ideal world I would be in favour of doing both [booster shots for the elderly and vaccines for over-12s] but I definitely think we should be giving boosters to kids that have had natural infections.' But an equal number of scientists say that vaccinating children would have indirect benefits to them, such as keeping them in education and avoiding future lockdowns which took a toll on young people's mental health. Scientists were at war over vaccinating children against Covid today. Professor David Livermore (left) says it is 'plausible' that immunity from natural infection could last longer for children but Professor Devi Sridhar (right) says the virus could rip through the country again A group of 12 scientists on Independent SAGE - a group which has attacked the Government for not being strict enough in controlling the virus - wrote to Education Secretary Gavin Williamson today to call for children to receive the vaccine for exactly that reason. In the letter published in the BMJ they argued that policies in England mean there will soon be a large population who are 'susceptible' to the virus mixing in crowded spaces with 'hardly any mitigations'. They said children have suffered 'significant harms' on their education and wellbing in the pandemic and added: 'Allowing mass infection of children is therefore reckless.' Earlier school reopenings in Scotland and the US have shown that a lack of 'adequate mitigations' is likely to lead to the virus spreading among children, which could further disrupt learning with significant absences due to student and staff illness, they said. 'England's policies mean that we will soon have a large susceptible population with high prevalence of infection mixing in crowded environments with hardly any mitigations.' Other signatories include members of the Parent SafeEdForAll group and the National Education Union. Dr Clarke told MailOnline: 'As long as the data that exists is that there is no greater harm from giving children jabs then children should get vaccinated, with the caveat that there is parental choice. 'There have been suggestions that the Americans, the Irish, care less about their children than we do of course they don't. They are very sensitive about this issue as well. 'I see no evidence that there is a problem with vaccinating children.' He said the decision not to inoculate children before they returned to school was a 'missed window of opportunity' because the jabs could have reduced transmission of the virus. SAGE adviser Professor Calum Semple, from Liverpool University, echoed the scientist's views, saying that without vaccines children faced yet more 'disruption' to their education in the new academic year. The Liverpool University expert told BBC Radio 4's Today programme: 'If you treat children the same way you do with adults, where if you have got double vaccination you no longer need to isolate, that would then allow us to have schools carrying on without such disruption. 'I think we need to look at vaccinating these children not just as an individual benefit but a benefit to the root, a benefit to the whole of society and school and the education system.' Border chaos has spread to Manchester Airport as passengers complained of 'ridiculous' queues and mocked the rota managers at the site as the airport was branded 'still Britain's worst'. Images shared on social media show frustrated travellers in facemasks standing in tortuously long lines and unable to socially distance, while arrivals tweeted that last night just two passport booths were open despite eight flights all landing at the same time. One person complained: 'Who did the rota at Manchester Airport Customs tonight? 8 holiday flights in at the same time and 2 counters are open. Sarcastic vibes all around. #manairport #manchesterairport'. Another vented: '#manchesterairport absolute joke here this morning, I paid for fast track, they say ohhhh it's closed! The queue is ridiculous for security. Another Manchester Airport fail. Looking forward to flights from Leeds or Liverpool again. Avoid Manchester at all costs! #useless'. Others called the airport 'horrific' and jibed 'some things never changed' - with one adding: 'Ronaldo travelling to Bern with #mufc squad (not that there was any doubt of that). Doubt he was subjected to the Manchester Airport queues. Still Britain's worst airport.' A Manchester Airport spokesman told MailOnline: 'We are aware of reports that some passengers had to queue for an extended period at the border yesterday evening. 'Immigration checks are the remit of UK Border Force (UKBF) and we will continue to work closely with them to ensure that the border is adequately resourced. 'Security waiting times have also increased above what we would normally expect at some points this morning, due to a combination of factors. No passengers have missed flights but we are monitoring the situation closely to ensure the best possible experience. 'We apologise to customers for any inconvenience and thank them for their patience.' A Home Office spokesman said: 'Manchester Airport has reported no significant delays owing to immigration or Border Force today. 'Border Force is Constantly reviewing its rosters and capacity and flexibly deploys our staff across the airport to improve waiting times. We are working very closely with Manchester Airport and its airlines and we are all committed to making sure all passengers can have a safe and hassle-free journey.' Heathrow has been subject to the worst border chaos, with passengers sharing wearily familiar pictures of snaking lines at immigration for the past two weeks. MPs and travel industry leaders have called on Home Secretary Priti Patel, Transport Secretary Grant Shapps and Border Force chief Paul Lincoln to take urgent action to fix the embarrassing scenes, but the Home Office has continued to insist people must be prepared to wait. Border chaos has spread to Manchester Airport as passengers complained of 'ridiculous' queues and mocked the rota managers at the site as the airport was branded 'still Britain's worst' Images shared on social media show frustrated travellers in facemasks standing in tortuously long lines and unable to socially distance, while arrivals tweeted that last night just two passport booths were open despite eight flights all landing at the same time Heathrow has been subject to the worst border chaos, with passengers sharing wearily familiar pictures of snaking lines at immigration for the past two weeks Heathrow calls for rule changes to revive the UK's struggling travel industry as it slips down the list of Europe's busiest airports Heathrow has called for changes to travel rules to help the struggling travel industry recover, as the UK's biggest airport revealed passenger numbers were 71 per cent lower in August compared to before Covid-19 struck. Since 2019, the airport has plummeted from first to 10th place in the list of Europe's busiest airports, with Heathrow pinning the blame on the complicated, expensive and constantly shifting rules for UK arrivals for the glacial recovery in the country's travel sector. Expectations are growing that there will be a simplification of those travel rules, after Health Minister Sajid Javid said on Sunday that he wanted to 'get rid of' expensive PCR tests for travellers as soon as possible. Prime Minister Boris Johnson will this week set out his plans to manage the pandemic in the winter months. Heathrow is backing a shift from a three-tier to a two-tier system with countries labelled as 'green' or 'red', and only the latter requiring hotel quarantine. Fully-vaccinated travellers would be able to travel freely, the system being used by many European countries, while those not vaccinated would take pre-departure or arrival tests using lateral flow tests, which are cheaper than PCR tests. The airport said major airlines supported the idea, as it warned of the consequences of not improving the current system. 'If ministers fail to take this opportunity to streamline the travel rules then the UK will fall further behind as trade and tourists will increasingly by-pass the UK,' Heathrow chief executive John Holland-Kaye said. The airport also called on the government to ensure it had adequate staff at the border after reports of hours-long queues in recent weeks. Advertisement Travel industry figures have warned the scenes of snaking queues are blighting the UK's global reputation while running the risk of a spike in Covid cases - further jeopardising the already crisis-hit tourism sector and stifling business with post-Brexit Britain. Heathrow has called for changes to travel rules to help the struggling travel industry recover, as the UK's biggest airport revealed passenger numbers were 71 per cent lower in August compared to before Covid-19 struck. Since 2019, the airport has plummeted from first to 10th place in the list of Europe's busiest airports, with Heathrow pinning the blame on the complicated, expensive and constantly shifting rules for UK arrivals for the glacial recovery in the country's travel sector. Expectations are growing that there will be a simplification of those travel rules, after Health Minister Sajid Javid said on Sunday that he wanted to 'get rid of' expensive PCR tests for travellers as soon as possible. Prime Minister Boris Johnson will this week set out his plans to manage the pandemic in the winter months. Heathrow is backing a shift from a three-tier to a two-tier system with countries labelled as 'green' or 'red', and only the latter requiring hotel quarantine. Fully-vaccinated travellers would be able to travel freely, the system being used by many European countries, while those not vaccinated would take pre-departure or arrival tests using lateral flow tests, which are cheaper than PCR tests. The airport said major airlines supported the idea, as it warned of the consequences of not improving the current system. 'If ministers fail to take this opportunity to streamline the travel rules then the UK will fall further behind as trade and tourists will increasingly by-pass the UK,' Heathrow chief executive John Holland-Kaye said. The airport also called on the government to ensure it had adequate staff at the border after reports of hours-long queues in recent weeks. It came as Transport Secretary Grant Shapps appeared to confirm that the traffic light system for travel could be scrapped or at least simplified. He also suggested that ministers will look to 'reduce' the number of tests double-jabbed travellers must take when travelling abroad. It comes amid fresh calls for the government to allow double-vaccinated people to travel without having to undergo tests. Former transport secretary Lord McLoughlin told The Telegraph: 'I'd like to know why they don't think it is a runner when there is going to be a vaccine passport system in the UK later on this year.' Meanwhile, a probe has found UK airlines gave holidaymakers wrong and contradictory advice about Covid travel testing rules. In some cases it would have meant travellers being denied boarding, leaving them out of pocket for the entire cost of their flight or holiday. In seven of 15 telephone calls that consumer champion Which? made to agents for British Airways, easyJet, Jet2, Ryanair and Tui they were given confusing or incorrect information. If a traveller does not meet the entry requirements and cannot board their flight, they have no recourse to a refund. The UK and devolved Governments set the rules on testing for people's return to the UK, and foreign governments in other countries determine the rules for UK passengers' arrivals. However, when Which? contacted a number of major UK airports, all confirmed that it is up to airlines' ground staff to enforce these rules and decide if someone should be allowed on a flight. All the airlines Which? contacted outlined that it is a passenger's responsibility to ensure they meet the requirements for boarding, and that if they do not, they can be turned away from their flight with no recourse to a refund. Posing as passengers, Which? phoned the customer service lines for BA, easyJet, Jet2, Ryanair and Tui three times each and asked the same four questions about testing requirements when flying to mainland Portugal. At the time of the research, passengers travelling to mainland Portugal were required to take a test, regardless of previous infection or vaccination status. Only PCR tests - not lateral flow tests - were accepted for entry to Portugal, and only children up to the age of two were exempt. The consumer watchdog's mystery shoppers were given incorrect or contradictory information in seven of the 15 calls. Twitter user Andrew Cooper took this photo at Heathrow Terminal 5, which has seen issues for weeks Transport Secretary Grant Shapps appeared to confirm that the traffic light system for travel could be scrapped or at least simplified. He also suggested that ministers will look to 'reduce' the number of tests double-jabbed travellers must take when travelling abroad 'He needs to explain what's going on': Border Force chief on 140,000-a-year was made an OBE amid Heathrow chaos Paul Lincoln: Director General, Border Force Paul Lincoln Mr Lincoln has had a long career in the civil service, which included serving in the Ministry of Defence and Cabinet Office. Immediately prior to this appointment, he was Director General of the Crime, Policing and Fire Group (CPFG), which included overseeing reforms to the police and fire services, according to his official biography. Before that, he was Acting Director General of the Office for Security and Counter-Terrorism (OSCT) in the Home Office, covering terrorism and organised crime. Mr Lincoln has been the Home Office's Gender Equality Champion, and in 2020 spoke about how the civil service could use data to ensure diversity targets were being met. Home Office accounts for the financial year 2020-21 reveal he had his salary bumped up from 130,000-135,000 to between 135,000 and 140,000. In May, quizzed about long queues at Heathrow, he said new Covid health checks at the border meant it took five to ten minutes to process every passenger. In June, he was made an OBE for services to border security in the Queen's Birthday Honours list. In July, it was announced he will leave his role as director general and be replaced by Tony Eastaugh, a former national counter-terror gold commander. Advertisement In four of the calls - two to BA and two to Tui - agents provided information that would have seen passengers turned away from their flight. Only two agents - one from Jet2 and one from Tui - were able to answer all the questions correctly. Two Tui reps and one BA rep told the undercover researchers that vaccinated travellers did not need to take a test prior to their flight, with one of the Tui agents adding that children under 12 were exempt. Another BA rep said children under four were exempt from tests. These answers were incorrect at the time of calling, and customers taking the advice would have been denied boarding, leaving them out of pocket for the entire cost of their flight or holiday. One mystery shopper was also told by a BA rep that they did not need to take any documentation on holiday as long as they uploaded their test data to BA in advance. The advice may have been sufficient to board the flight, but it is unlikely to have allowed the passenger entry into their destination country. Just two airline reps - for Jet2 and Tui - answered all of the questions with the correct information. Six of the agents Which? spoke to - two BA reps, two easyJet reps, one Jet2 rep and one Ryanair rep - said they had never heard of lateral flow tests, despite these having been a common travel requirement for some time and of the same type distributed by the NHS for rapid coronavirus testing at home. When the undercover researchers managed to speak to reps for Ryanair, they were told variously to 'Ask the country', 'Check the Government website', 'Call the embassy' or 'Visit Ryanair's website'. Every easyJet agent Which? contacted recommended that customers call airports for information, and incorrectly claimed that airport staff - not easyJet ground staff - check passengers' Covid documents. Another easyJet agent gave one of the mystery shoppers a number they claimed was a Covid-19 advice line, but that actually turned out to be HM Revenue & Customs' coronavirus helpline for businesses and the self-employed. Which? said it strongly advises travellers against contacting their airline for Covid-19 travel advice, and to instead consult the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO) website, which is the best source of information on testing requirements and travel rules. Which? Travel editor Rory Boland said: 'When airlines are responsible for deciding whether a passenger can board their flight or not, it's essential that their staff have a thorough and accurate understanding of the rules. Otherwise, passengers could be left out of pocket for the entire cost of their flight or holiday if they follow the wrong advice. 'The most reliable place to look for information on testing requirements for travel to your destination is the FCDO's website - here you'll find the most up-to-date information regarding entry requirements, traffic light changes, and other critical information before you travel.' A British Airways spokesman said: 'Our colleagues are trained to advise our customers that they are required to check they meet the entry and testing requirements of the country they're visiting. We also provide information in emails and on ba.com. 'While we don't believe the issues raised in Which?'s three calls are representative of the hundreds of thousands we handle, we've reminded colleagues to keep referring customers to gov.uk to avoid unintentional confusion.' An easyJet spokeswoman said: 'We continually review the information we equip our agents with and provide them with ongoing and extensive training, and so we continue with this to ensure that agents are providing accurate and consistent advice to customers. 'However, we always remind customers that ultimately it is their responsibility to ensure they meet entry requirements and will continue to advise customers to check the local government requirements prior to departure.' A Jet2 spokeswoman said: 'Our contact centre teams are dealing with an unprecedented number of inquiries, whilst at the same time dealing with ever-changing travel advice from the UK Government, which often comes with little or no notice. 'We would like to thank Which? for bringing this to our attention. Although we provide consistent messaging for our teams to use, alongside regular training, we will take steps to address this feedback.' A Ryanair spokesman said: 'This is more fake news from Which? All Covid-19 travel requirements are fully set out on Ryanair's website, and are emailed to all passengers 24 hours prior to travel. We do not expect our call centre agents to be experts on the multiple Covid travel restrictions, which apply across 40 different countries.' Tui said: 'This research highlights the complexity of frequently changing entry and testing requirements. 'We always strive to provide the best service possible for our customers, and our agents are trained and updated with new information on an ongoing basis. 'Extra training to support fight-only queries is being provided, and, to help customers further, detailed and current entry requirement information is available on our dedicated Covid hub.' A 'huge number' of Delta employees rushed out to get vaccinated after the company's decision to enforce $200 on workers who refused the shot. The new policy will take effect November 1, and staffers using the airline's health insurance will face a $200 premium each month if unvaccinated at that point, CEO Ed Bastian announced late last August in a memo sent across the company. 'The average hospital stay for COVID-19 has cost Delta $50,000 per person. This surcharge will be necessary to address the financial risk the decision to not vaccinate is creating for our company,' the memo reasoned. Following the declaration, nearly 4,000 Delta employees out of an approximate 20,000 who had yet to get vaccinated have since been spurred to get the jab, the company's Chief Health Officer, Dr. Henry Ting, said Thursday, during a media briefing presided over by the Infectious Diseases Society of America. Nearly 4,000 Delta employees out of an approximate 20,000 who had yet to get vaccinated have since been spurred to get the jab after a memo from the CEO threatened workers with monthly fines Vaccination rates have increased following the emergence of the COVID-19 virus' Delta variant The Delta variant surge in August had brought daily COVID-19 cases up to nearly 300,00, and although cases began to dip in September, the nation experienced another dramatic uptick 'Just within the two weeks of the announcement, we've seen nearly 20 percent - or one-fifth - of that 20,000 decide to get the vaccine,' Ting said. Ting remarked that the sudden uptick reflected a 'huge number' of staff that were influenced to get the jab - especially taking into account the hesitancy of those 20,000 initial holdouts - even though it's only about a 4 percent jump. Before Bastian's declaration, approximately 74 percent of Delta's workforce had received the vaccine. Now, that number has increased to 78 percent. 'That last 4 percent is very different from the first 4 percent,' Ting attested, referencing unvaccinated staff's initial reluctance to get the shot. The new policy will take effect November 1, and staffers using the airline's health insurance will face a $200 premium each month if unvaccinated at that point Ting also pointed out that Delta did not observe any turnover or resignations as a result of the new guidelines set on employees. The airline has also mandated that all new hires be vaccinated, a decision that, according to Ting, has not deterred candidates applying for Delta's thousands of open job positions. Airlines issuing the mandate are fueling a national debate on whether or not companies and government are overreaching, amid fears vaccine approval has been rushed. United announced that the carrier will fire employees who refuse to follow their mandate, going as far as to placing those who refuse to get the jab due to religious or medical reasons on unpaid or medical leave, respectively. The airline has also mandated that all new hires be vaccinated, a decision that has not deterred candidates applying for Delta's thousands of open job positions Hawaiian is giving staff until November 1 to receive their second shot, if they are getting a two-dose vaccine. The airline will only allow exemptions from its vaccine mandate on the basis of religious or medical reasons, while low-cost carrier Frontier said its employees can opt out of the vaccine through weekly testing. Southwest, on the other hand, will 'continue to strongly encourage' employees to get vaccinated, however, its stance on requiring employees to get the jab has not changed, CEO Gary Kelly said in an internal memo obtained by CNN. 'Obviously, I am very concerned about the latest Delta variant, and the effect on the health and Safety of our Employees and our operation, but nothing has changed,' Kelly said. Before the shift in company policy, approximately 74 percent of Delta's workforce had received the vaccine. Now, that number has increased to 78 percent In a similar case, American Airlines will not require employees to show proof of vaccination, but will offer workers who get vaccinated by the end of August one extra day of vacation in 2022 as incentive. 'We certainly encourage it everywhere we can, encourage it for our customers and our employees, but we're not putting mandates in place,' American Airlines CEO Doug Parker said in a New York Times podcast interview. Outside the airline industry, the US military, high-profile hospitals and US universities have issued vaccine requirements, and many more have joined the trend after the Pfizer vaccine was given full approval on August 23. Companies such as Google, Netflix, Microsoft, Twitter and Facebook have also issued companywide mandates to curb the spread of COVID. A multitude of carriers are now issuing vaccine mandates, especially after the Pfizer vaccine was given full approval on August 23 These mandates come amid Biden's new, aggressive approach to quelling the Covid-19 pandemic - which, according to the White House, will affect two-thirds of the American workforce. The strategy involves six steps aimed at boosting the US vaccination rate, which fell over the summer as a new wave fueled by the Delta variant plunged health care systems in areas with largely unvaccinated populations back into disarray. The Delta variant surge in August had brought daily COVID-19 cases up to nearly 300,00, and although cases began to dip in September, the nation had experienced another dramatic uptick on Thursday. The CDC reported more than 163,000 new cases, and nearly 1,650 new deaths About 73.4 per cent of Americans over the age of 12 have at least one vaccine dose, but less than 63 per cent are fully vaccinated - far short of the threshold to reach herd immunity. Biden's approach plans to mandate all federal employees and federal contractors get vaccinated. President Joe Biden slammed the 80 million Americans who have yet to get a COVD vaccine shot, asking them 'what more is there to wait for' It also requires vaccinations for more than 17million healthcare workers at Medicare and Medicaid-participating facilities, and requires all businesses with 100 or more employees to tell their workers to get vaccinated or submit to weekly COVID testing. The rule will be enforced by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), a regulatory arm of the Labor Department, for companies with more than 100 employees. Biden ordered the agency to implement an Emergency Temporary Standard that would penalize companies that don't comply up to $14,000. But because there's no national system in place to track vaccination status, enforcement will likely depend on employees reporting violations to OSHA. Federal workers who fail to get the shot within 75 days can face disciplinary action, which White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki warned Thursday rises to termination. 'Hopefully it doesn't come to that,' she said at her daily news briefing. She added that the rule would likely mean employees need to be fully vaccinated with two doses of the shot but it remains unclear if that's certain. While private businesses that employ less than 100 people are exempt from Biden's rule, the White House has signaled strong support for private-sector vaccine mandates. Workers not under OSHA protections also can't be affected. According to the agency's site that includes people who are self-employed and people in industries whose hazards are regulated by another federal agency like the Mine Safety and Heath Administration or the Department of Energy - though the latter now falls under Biden's order for federal employees. As far as when the mandate starts, the White House said OSHA will likely issue a rule 'in the coming weeks'. Shocking mobile phone footage captured the moment a brawl erupted outside a pub in Essex. A group of men were seen congregating outside Yates, in Colchester, Essex, in the early hours of Saturday morning, before they became embroiled in a violent fight with a team of bouncers. A spokesman for Essex Police said two men - aged 19 and 22 - were arrested and a man in his 30s suffered a suspected fractured eye socket, broken nose and broken hand. A man in a white T-shirt starts throwing punches at a bouncer, who is then pulled away by a man in a black shirt and thrown to the ground in the middle of the road. A man in a black t shirt lies motionless on the ground after being punched by a security guard outside Yates, in Colchester, on Friday night. The incident came after revellers were caught on camera throwing punches towards the bouncers The man in the white T-shirt continues throwing punches at another of the bouncers as the fracas spills onto the road. Another man in a white T-shirt joins in and is taken to the ground by one of the bouncers, while one of the group continues throwing punches at the bouncer. Two more security guards rush over to assist their colleague - backed up by the bouncer who was thrown to the floor. As the melee spreads, a security guard punches a man in a black shirt and appears to knock him unconscious as he lays motionless on the ground. The fighting continues before a security guard manages to trap one of the men in a headlock and other members of the public rush over. As the fighting stops, the man who was knocked to the ground can be seen receiving attention and there appears to be blood on the ground next to him. The video ends with the two men in white T-shirts, one with his arms in the air, remonstrating with the security guards. A man in a white T-shirt is shown throwing punches at a bouncer who is then pulled away by the man in a black shirt and thrown to the ground in the middle of the road After a man is knocked to the ground, the fighting comes to an end with one of the bouncers trapping a reveller in a headlock. Two men in white T-shirts are then seen remonstrating with the bouncers as the violence ends A video of the brawl was shared on Twitter and has been viewed more than 30,000 times. People on social media were quick to condemn the violence, with one user saying they 'miss lockdown.' A spokesman for Essex Police said: 'Two men have been arrested in connection with an assault in Colchester in the early hours of Saturday (11 September). 'We were called to Head Street shortly before 1.45am to reports a man had been assaulted. 'The victim, a man in his 30s, had sustained a suspected fractured eye socket, a suspected broken nose, and a suspected broken hand. 'Two men from Colchester aged 19 and 22 were arrested on suspicion of GBH with intent and ABH. 'They have both since been released under investigation. 'If you have any information you can submit a report online at https://www.essex.police.uk or use the 'Live Chat' button to speak to an online operator between 7am-11pm. Please quote incident 94 of 11 September. 'You can also call us on 101 or contact Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.' Donald Trump joked on Saturday he would 'love' to be mayor of New York City, claiming he could clean it up and help stop crime in no time if he rose to the position once held by his former personal attorney Rudy Giuliani. The former president also hinted again while visiting with police officers in New York on the 20th anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks that he may make another White House bid in 2024. 'If you decide not to run for president if you decide not to, would you consider running for mayor of New York City?' one person at the event at a police precinct and fire department in New York City on Saturday asked. 'Well that's an interesting question,' Trump chuckled and was met with a round of laughs from the room. 'I would love that.' 'I'd tell you, we could straighten it out. I'd say, "Fellas, good luck, go to town." They'd be announcing in one week, "There's no crime in this city. There's no crime. What the hell happened?" I'd say, "That was the easiest job I've ever [had]."' 'That would be such an easy job,' he added. 'But I appreciate that question, that's cool.' Former President Donald Trump joked at a 9/11 remembrance event at a precinct in New York City on Saturday that he would 'love' to be mayor of New York The former president insisted he didn't want to give any 'positive' indication that he would run for mayor in New York because it would spread as truth. Trump spent his whole life in New York, building his empire there. But while president, he changed his residency to Florida, claiming New York isn't the same as it once was. He resides in Palm Beach at his Mar-a-Lago resort with wife Melania and 15-year-old son Barron, who now goes to private school in the Sunshine State. Trump's eldest daughter Ivanaka Trump also moved down to Miami, Florida with her husband, Jared Kushner, and three young children at the end of her father's four-year term. Trump has not yet announced a 2024 bid for president, often citing campaign finance laws as the reason he has avoided jumping in or revealing anything publicly. He does, however, often say that people will be 'happy' with his decision, making it obvious that he will run again for the White House. 'Are you going to run again, Mr. President?' an officer asked Saturday. 'Oh, that's a tough question,' he joked. 'Actually, for me, it's an easy question.' 'I know what I'm going to do. But, we're not supposed to be talking about it yet from the standpoint of campaign finance laws, which frankly are ridiculous OK, if you want to know the truth. But we have to live with it.' 'But I think you're going to be happy,' Trump said. 'Let me put it that way OK. I think you're going to be very happy.' The former president, however, hinted again toward a White House run in 2024, claiming he can't announce yet due to campaign finance laws The former president then launched into a series of listing his accomplishments as president. As Trump visited the precinct in New York City, Biden was joined by former Democratic Presidents Barack Obama and Bill Clinton at the traditional name-reading ceremony at the site of the collapsed Twin Towers. Former Republican President George W. Bush, who was president at the time of the horrific terrorist attacks, spoke Saturday at a memorial service near Shanksville, Pennsylvania where one of the four hijacked planes crashed when passengers on board fought the al Qaeda terrorists. Trump's spokeswoman Liz Harrington said that the former president 'had the option to attend' the ceremony in downtown New York City with Biden, Obama and Clinton 'but decided to honor the day with different stops.' Before the visit to the precinct in New York, the former president virtually addressed the Let us Worship evangelical event held on the National Mall in Washington, D.C. on the 20th anniversary of 9/11. 'As a lifelong New Yorker, it was extraordinary to witness the strength and resilience of people of that incredible city and it is indeed an incredible city,' he said in the prerecorded remarks. Calling women at work 'love' or 'hun' is demeaning but it's acceptable to use 'mate' for a male colleague, a judge has ruled at a tribunal involving a funeral firm manager who was sacked for using inappropriate language towards female staff. Mike Hartley had claimed he was a victim of the Me Too movement when he was fired from Blackpool-based funeral firm D Hollowell & Sons Limited in January of this year. A Manchester tribunal heard how he regularly called women 'sweet', 'love', 'chick' and 'honey', which he argued was the same as calling male counterparts 'mate' or 'lad'. However the tribunal found it was inappropriate to compare the two, as the way he addressed men did not undermine them in the way his names for women did. 'Calling someone "mate" or "lad" is not a "pet" name in our opinion, it is a nickname,' Employment Judge Pauline Feeney said. 'They are not demeaning... however, chick, babes, bobs, honey, hun and sweetie are all demeaning and infantilising ways of referring to women.' The final straw came when he called a colleague 'Rachie boobies' after making a comment about looking up her skirt, leading her to file a sexual harassment complaint which led to his dismissal. The hearing heard how Mr Hartley began working as a driver and bearer for D Hollowell & Sons Limited in 2017 where he was promoted to client liaison and HR manager the following year. In 2019, colleague Rachel Anderton complained about him making 'insulting' and 'very inappropriate' comments. The panel heard Mr Hartley requested to add her on Facebook 'immediately' after meeting her, asked her what her 'vital statistics' were when enquiring about uniform size and called her pet names such as 'honey', 'babe' and 'chick' numerous times. During one funeral appointment, Miss Anderton asked the self-described 'happily married man' if he could look under a Moses basket and as he did so, he asked: 'What, am I looking up, your skirt?', the tribunal was told. The panel, held remotely, heard this 'shocked' and 'upset' her. The panel was told he would walk into the office saying 'honey, I'm home!', called her 'good girl' and said she was 'curvy in all the right places'. On another occasion, Mr Hartley had walked into her office and called her 'Rachie boobies' which he later explained was a 'Freudian slip' as he had meant to call her 'Rachibobs', the panel heard. After Miss Anderton reported him, Mr Hartley was suspended from work due to the sexual harassment allegation. During an investigatory meeting, he apologised for making her feel uncomfortable and argued he was only trying to be 'warm' and 'welcoming', but the panel heard he 'categorically denied' the skirt incident. The final straw came when he called a colleague 'Rachie boobies' after making a comment about looking up her skirt, leading her to file a sexual harassment complaint which led to his dismissal (Pictured: D Hollowell & Sons Limited) Numerous colleagues were interviewed which revealed multiple counts of inappropriate behaviour from offering massages to clients to choosing interview candidates based on whether they were 'hot' and 'fit', the panel heard. One colleague said Mr Hartley was a 'lad's lad' who 'liked banter' - a description he himself agreed with, the tribunal was told. In January 2020, Mr Hartley was brought in for a disciplinary hearing where he argued he always uses pet names for people inside and outside work but not for those older than him as 'he respects his elders'. Mr Hartley admitted saying a comment along the lines of 'I'm not looking up your skirt' and was sacked but he appealed this decision. The tribunal was told Mr Hartley had argued his colleagues were colluding against him and compared it to a 'witch hunt' but the decision to fire him for gross misconduct was upheld. Timothy Leeson, a former police officer who conducted the appeal hearing, accused him of a 'lack of respect for younger women'. Mr Hartley then brought his claims of sex discrimination and unfair dismissal to the employment tribunal. He said the MeToo movement had influenced the decision to find him guilty. The panel found he had been unfairly dismissed as the investigation into his behaviour was not carried out properly. However, it found that the company was right to fire him anyway, and refused to award him compensation. It rejected his claim that he had been sexually discriminated against. Judge Feeney, said: 'As the manager his comments were totally unacceptable. The incidents with Miss Anderson were plainly sexual harassment. 'He had made inappropriate and disgusting comments to Miss Anderton. 'We have no doubt that had a female made similar (or more accurately equivalent) comments to a male of the same nature, or to a female within a sexual context as was the case here, that they also would have been dismissed.' Boots announced will now refund customers for late Covid tests as it announced a change in policy after being named on a list of firms refusing cash back on delayed PCR results. Travellers arriving in Britain from countries on the green and amber list must pay for PCR tests within two days of landing. Non-vaccinated people who have come from amber list nations must also have a test on day eight or face a 2,000 fine. Boots was one of several firms whose terms and conditions said these tests are non-refundable even if they are never delivered - despite the Consumer Rights Act allowing customers to claim for money back if a service is not as described. But following press reports of the scandal, a spokesman told MailOnline today: 'We can confirm that we will offer a full refund if our Day 2 and Day 2 & 8 Covid-19 Testing Services are not fulfilled in time or in full, through no fault of the customer.' Travellers arriving in Britain from countries on the green and amber list must pay for PCR tests within two days of landing. File photo of someone receiving a PCR test Richard Claughton and his wife, who are both NHS workers, paid 150 for a pair of day two tests after a trip to Spain in July. Only one test arrived, which was late and damaged beyond use. But Boots refused to refund them, claiming that, according to its terms and conditions: 'The service is deemed to have been provided in full by Boots and ReCoVa-19 by providing the customer with their booking reference number.' The company told the Guardian that rather than giving a refund, it would replace any missing or faulty kit free of charge. But in the Claughton's case this would have meant the test results arriving after the official quarantine period had ended. Trustpilot, a consumer website, says another firm called is warning reviewers that Another testing firm, Atruchecks, has been bombarded with poor reviews on Trustpilot, with customers complaining of tests not being delivered, misleading pricing and poor customer service. In response, the company has threatened to take legal action against those who leave negative feedback. All reviews since June have rated it 'bad', citing the non-delivery of testing kits, misleading pricing and unresponsive customer service. Francesca Simon, author of Horrid Henry, paid the company Rightangled 94 for test that - if it comes back as negative - allows travellers to leave quarantine early. She also purchased a day eight test. The kits were delivered but she did not receive her results until the quarantine period had ended. Rightangled said she not entitled to a refund as it was not liable for delays at its laboratory. Gary Rycroft, a partner at lawyers Joseph A Jones & Co, said terms and conditions that rule out refunds for services that never materialise may be illegal. Health and Social Care Secretary Sajid Javid said: 'It is completely unacceptable for any private testing company to take advantage of holidaymakers and we are taking action to clamp down on cowboy behaviour. 'I requested a review from the Competition and Markets Authority to address exploitative behaviour in the private testing market and ensure the government is doing everything it can to crack down on excessive pricing and inaccurate claims. 'Through our regular reviews and spot-checks, we have identified even more providers that were messing around with costs and have now removed 91 providers from Gov.uk and corrected inaccurate prices of 135 private providers who will be removed from the list if they advertise misleading prices again. 'From September 21, in order to ensure travel test providers are performing to a high legalised standard, there will be tough new penalties for companies that fail to follow the law, including fixed fines of up to 10,000. 'I am reviewing the recommendations from the Competition and Markets Authority and will outline further changes shortly to ensure consumers are given the best tests at the very best prices.' Boots was one of several firms whose terms and conditions say these tests are non-refundable even if they are never delivered. It now says it will refund customers It comes as the government is poised to announce that double-jabbed travellers will no longer have to take PCR tests after returning to the UK. Officials are working towards scrapping the requirement for green and amber list countries before the half-term holidays next month, providing a huge boost for millions of holidaymakers and the beleaguered travel industry. Travellers will no longer need Covid tests before leaving for Britain, while the unpopular PCR tests currently required on the second day after arrival will be replaced by cheaper lateral flow tests. The move will slash the cost of family holidays by hundreds of pounds. Currently, the PCR test can cost more than 100, while the NHS offers free lateral flow tests. The plan will be discussed this week by Boris Johnson, Chancellor Rishi Sunak, Health Secretary Sajid Javid and Cabinet Office Minister Michael Gove who form the so-called Covid-O committee. The change would also tackle fears that some PCR firms are profiteering and could provide an incentive for people to be vaccinated, as the new rules would only apply to those who have been double jabbed. The leadership of Heathrow are among senior travel industry figures urging the Government to 'streamline' the rules for international travel after warning it has gone from being Europe's busiest airport in 2019 to number 10 on the list, behind rivals in cities such as Amsterdam, Paris and Frankfurt. It wants the amber list to be scrapped, and a two-tier system introduced. Under the airport's proposals, fully vaccinated arrivals from green list locations would no longer be required to take a test, whereas those who are not fully vaccinated would need to take lateral flow tests pre-departure and post-arrival. Only those who test positive would need to take a more expensive PCR test. Hotel quarantine would be retained for arrivals from high-risk red list countries. The Government is believed to be preparing to overhaul its traffic light system. Heathrow chief executive John Holland-Kaye said: 'The Government has the tools to protect the UK's international competitiveness which will boost the economic recovery and achieve its 'global Britain' ambitions. 'If ministers fail to take this opportunity to streamline the travel rules then the UK will fall further behind as trade and tourists will increasingly bypass the UK.' A larrikin potato farmer struggling through Victoria's Covid lockdown has jokingly called for a 'Donald Trump-style wall' to keep Melburnians out of his idyllic coastal community. Residents in the glamorous Mornington Peninsula are fed-up with having to abide by the same harsh lockdown restrictions as Metropolitan Melbourne, despite being over 100km away. The community is calling for the Andrews Government to reclassify the popular getaway for the rich and famous, scattered with wineries and rich agricultural land, as a regional area so it can escape the gruelling stay-at-home orders of the big smoke. Health authorities lifted lockdown restrictions for regional Victoria last week, but did not include the Mornington Peninsula in the reopening - despite some areas much closer to the capital being granted freedom. Residents in the glamorous Mornington Peninsula are fed-up with having to abide by the same harsh lockdown restrictions as Metropolitan Melbourne, despite being over 100km away (pictured, Sorrento) Residents in the the popular getaway for the rich and famous want to be reclassified as a regional area to escape the stay-at-home orders (pictured, Mills Beach on the peninsula) Richard Hawke, a sixth-generation potato who runs the Hawke's Farm Gate said: 'We are following the same rules as metropolitan Melbourne but we're on a farm,' he told A Current Affair. 'It defies logic a little bit but I guess their reasoning is that they can't stop people coming down here. 'I wish there was a magic boom gate which could stop people from coming down and enable us in the Mornington Peninsula to open up. 'One of Donald Trump's walls,' he joked. A nearby winemaker said his once thriving business has been devastated by the shutdown. 'Although we are thankful for all the support we have received, it only represents about 0.8 of a per cent of our expenses we have had in the last year,' 10 Minutes by Tractor winery owner Martin Spedding said. 'It needs to change and recognise what the Mornington Peninsula is an agricultural and rural area.' Adding to the community's frustration is that Victoria's second-largest city Geelong, on the western side of Port Phillip Bay, only 75km away from Melbourne was classified as regional and allowed to reopen The town of Mornington (pictured during a previous lockdown) is seen relatively quiet with cafes open for take away and people socially distancing The popular beach town of Rye (pictured) is seen completely empty during a previous lockdown Health authorities lifted lockdown restrictions for regional Victoria last week but did not include the Mornington Peninsula in the reopening (pictured, Mornington Pier) Adding to the community's frustration is that Victoria's second-largest city Geelong, on the western side of Port Phillip Bay, only 75km away from Melbourne was classified as regional and allowed to reopen 'We're an hour and a half away from Melbourne and they've opened Geelong and that's only an hour away,' local resident Kelly said. 'We're going broke down here and people need to work. 'We're a fair distance from everybody so we should be able to open.' Last month Mornington Peninsula Mayor, Despi O'Connor, wrote a letter to Premier Daniel Andrews pleading with him for a 'more tailored approach to ease restrictions' and noted they community only had one Covid case in the past 10 months. A view of the Melbourne skyline from across the Port Phillip Bay on the Mornington Peninsula - with the area suffering the same gruelling lockdown as the state capital The coastal community is famous for its beaches and scattered with wineries and agricultural land (pictured, Portsea Young Lifesavers) But during the past 30 days that figure has now shot up to 15 active cases with many locals blaming outside visitors. Victoria on Monday recorded a further 473 transmissions as the worrying sign the Delta outbreak continues to surge. 'We haven't heard back from the Premier at this point,' Councillor O'Connor said. 'I think the restrictions are going to depend on where everything is at the time because it's likely when we do open up we're going to get cases and our healthcare system is going to have to deal with that. 'Visitors to this area have been a real problem right from the start. We've had visitors down here right through this.' Joe Biden's reunification task force launched a new program Monday that aims to find and give three years of legal residency to illegal immigrants who were separated from their children and deported under Donald Trump's administration. The federal task force, officials say, will expand efforts to find parents of children who are still in the U.S. after the adults they arrived with were deported even though most of these parents are now in remote Central American communities. It's part of a larger effort by the Biden administration to bolster reunification of migrant families who were separated under Trump's hard-line immigration policies. Since starting its work in late February, the task force has reunited about 50 families. Estimates show, however that there could be between 1,000-2,000 more yet-to-be-located parents who were separated from their children under Trump. Biden's team blames inaccurate or incomplete record-keeping during the previous administration for the lack of information on how many parents and children need reunification. The task force, after bringing illegal crossers back into the U.S. and offering up three years of residency, will also offer other assistance. 'We recognize that we can't make these families completely whole again,' said Michelle Brane, executive director of the administration's Family Reunification Task Force. 'But we want to do everything we can to put them on a path towards a better life.' Between 1,000-2,000 parents separated from their children when illegally crossing into the U.S. during Donald Trump's presidency will now be offered 3 years of U.S. residency. Here immigrant families prepare for processing in La Joya, Texas on August 13, 2021 Biden's reunification task force is upping its efforts to locate migrant parents, many in remote Central American communities, and bring them to the U.S. to be with their children The new program, which includes a contract with the International Organization for Migration to help with the often-complex task of getting expelled migrants back to the U.S., is a reflection of just how difficult it has been for President Joe Biden's administration to address a chapter in U.S. immigration history that drew widespread condemnation. 'It is a huge challenge that we are absolutely committed to following through to meet and to do whatever we can to reunify these families,' Brane said as she outlined the new program to The Associated Press. The Trump administration separated thousands of migrant parents from their children in 2017 and 2018 as it moved to criminally prosecute people for illegally crossing the southwest border. Minors, who could not be held in criminal custody with their parents, were transferred to the Department of Health and Human Services. They were then typically sent to live with a sponsor, often a relative or someone else with a connection to the family. Amid widespread outrage, Trump issued an executive order halting the practice of family separations in June 2018, days before a federal judge did the same and demanded that separated families be reunited in response to a lawsuit filed by the American Civil Liberties Union. More than 5,500 children were separated from their families, according to the ACLU. The task force came up with an initial estimate closer to 4,000 but has been examining hundreds of other cases. Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas held a virtual call with reunited families last month. 'He made it very clear that an apology is not enough, that we really need to do a lot more for them and we recognize that,' Brane said. The new program includes a web portal that will allow parents to contact the U.S. government to begin the process of reunification. The site and an outreach campaign to promote it will be in English, Spanish, Portuguese and several indigenous languages of Central America. Most of the parents are believed to be in Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico and Brazil. They often lack passports and the means to travel to their own country's capital, let alone return to the U.S. to try to gain entry at the border. Once parents who were separated from their children are located, the U.S. will work with the International Organization for Migration to help people get passports and other documents and return to the United States, where they will get work permits, residency for three years and some support services. Lee Gelernt, deputy director of the ACLUs immigrant rights project, welcomed the Biden administrations expanded efforts as 'an important first step,' though he believes migrants should get more than three years of residency. Teen migrants walk in line inside the detention camp in Tornillo, Texas on December 13, 2018 'Ultimately, we need the families to be given permanent legal status in light of what the United States government deliberately did to these families,' Gelernt said. The ACLU is in talks with the government to provide some compensation to the families as part of settlement talks. Brane said the administration recognizes that 'we need to find a better, longer-term solution to provide families with stability,' but that it will take more time, and perhaps action from Congress, to achieve that goal. The contract with the IOM, an inter-governmental organization, and the expanded effort to find migrant parents and help them reach the U.S. are initially planned to run for a year but could be extended if necessary. 'Well continue looking for people until we feel that weve exhausted the options,' she said. Former first lady Melania Trump reportedly knew about the January 6 riot earlier than previously thought, and refused to make a public statement denouncing it minutes after supporters of her husband broke into the US Capitol building. She instead prepared for a photo shoot with a rug she selected, according to an excerpt from former White House Press Secretary Stephanie Grisham's new book released Monday, promised to be a bombshell tell-all from the only person to serve as a top aide in both the Trump administration's West and East Wings. At 1:25 p.m. that day, shortly after MAGA rioters breached the Capitol, she sent Melania a text asking if she wanted to condemn violent demonstrations, Grisham writes in the excerpt obtained by Politico. 'Do you want to tweet that peaceful protests are the right of every American, but there is no place for lawlessness and violence?' she asked. 'No.' Melania replied a minute later, according to the book. Grisham said the response 'broke' her. She quit the White House soon after in protest. Grisham said Melania Trump's refusal to condemn the violence at the Capitol 'broke' her. She resigned from the White House in protest after the events of January 6 She was serving as the first lady's chief of staff at the time. The former Trump family confidante said her opinion of her once-good friend shifted to see her more as 'the doomed French queen' Marie Antoinette - 'Dismissive. Defeated. Detached.' The timing of Grisham's text to Melania also seems to call the White House's timeline of events that day into question. An hour later on January 6 at 2:24 p.m., former President Donald Trump lambasted his Vice President Mike Pence on Twitter, claiming he 'didn't have the courage to do what should have been done to protest our Country and our Constitution.' Meanwhile, angry Trump supporters were chanting 'Hang Mike Pence' in the halls and outside. Security video from that day shows Pence and his family being rushed out of the Capitol just two minutes later. But the White House claimed Trump wasn't aware Pence was in danger. Grisham's account seems to contradict the White House's claims that former President Donald Trump did not know Vice President Mike Pence was in danger an hour later when he posted a tweet criticizing him Grisham's memoir, titled 'Ill Take Your Questions Now: What I Saw in The Trump White House,' will be published on October 5 by Harper Collins. Despite the book's name Grisham did not give a single press conference in her eight-month tenure as White House press secretary. Grisham also writes she was 'shocked' that Melania shared the former president's view the 2020 election was stolen. The book will be published October 5 'Something bad happened,' Melania told her in regards to the election, and allegedly refused to listen to Grisham's denials of a grand conspiracy to boot Trump from office. Melania finally released a statement condemning the Capitol riot on January 11. 'I implore people to stop the violence, never make assumptions based on the color of a persons skin or use differing political ideologies as a basis for aggression and viciousness,' she wrote. But in addition to condemning the violence, the former first lady also chose to denounce 'salacious gossip, unwarranted personal attacks, and false misleading accusations on me from people who are looking to be relevant and have an agenda.' A few days earlier on January 8 her former close friend Stephanie Winston Wolkoff published a scathing op-ed lamenting her 'blindness' to 'the depth of her deception and lack of common decency.' Later on after the attack, Grisham writes, she asked Melania about setting up a traditional inauguration tea with incoming first lady Dr. Jill Biden. The event had been a longstanding tradition for incoming and outgoing first ladies. Melania allegedly shrugged the suggestion off and told her to 'see what the West Wing does.' Melania and Jill's tea never took place. DailyMail.com has been told Grisham 'knows where all the skeletons' in the Trump White House are. 'She is going for it, telling her truth, and letting the chips fall where they may,' a source close to the publication told DailyMail.com. 'She knows all the skeletons that are in various closets and she's opening doors. But she also has been warned that the Trumps are going to strike back hard.' Grisham also writes that Melania shrugged off her suggestion of scheduling an inauguration tea with incoming first lady Dr. Jill Biden. Melania Trump broke the longstanding tradition and the Trumps did not meet with the Bidens on inauguration day at all Grisham was once very close to Melania Trump. The two women would text often and Melania Trump brought Grisham back to the East Wing, keeping her in the Trump White House, after Mark Meadows had her pushed out as press secretary when he became chief of staff. Since leaving the White House Grisham has stayed quiet, and there were no indications she would write about the Trumps, unlike former aides like Kellyanne Conway, who is also writing about the former president. 'She's kept a low profile deliberately since resigning from the White House. She wanted to process her experience and what it meant. Now she's looking at her experience from a distance and wants people to know what the Trump White House was really like, especially since he's considering a run again,' the publication source said. Grisham compared Melania Trump to 'doomed French queen' Marie Antoinette Grisham began working in Trump's presidential campaign in 2015 as a press wrangler. She followed the Trumps to the White House, joining Melania in the East Wing to over see her communications From June 2019 through April 2020, Grisham served as White House press secretary, before moving back to the East Wing as Melania's chief of staff. A former West Wing colleague of Grisham's told Axios, which first reported the book's release: 'When I heard this, all I could think about was Stephanie surrounded by a lake of gasoline, striking a match with a grin on her face'. Her 'top secret' memoir was kept under wraps until its news broke with just a month to go until the release. A statement sent to Politico by Melania's office blasted Grisham personally and professionally. 'The intent behind this book is obvious. It is an attempt to redeem herself after a poor performance as press secretary, failed personal relationships, and unprofessional behavior in the White House. Through mistruth and betrayal, she seeks to gain relevance and money at the expense of Mrs. Trump,' her office wrote. Sales of mince pies are being brought forward as shoppers stock up on packs for the freezer amid fears of shortages at Christmas. The Central England Co-op says shoppers are already keen on buying festive foods and so they have answered the call by putting festive products on shelves now. The retailer said it has rolled out the products following customer enquiries in-store and via social media on when the festive treats would be available. Market research conducted by the chain found customers are keen to enjoy a mince pie now, but 'they also want to stock up ahead of any potential food shortages'. They are also keen to enjoy a 'more normal' Christmas after the disappointment for many of last year's celebrations being cancelled due to Covid-19 restrictions. Sales of mince pies are being brought forward by the Co-op, which issued this publicity image Market research conducted by the retailer found customers are keen to enjoy a mince pie now Supermarkets have warned that gaps on shelves are likely to get worse in the run-up to Christmas amid a shortage of workers in the food industry, particularly delivery drivers. Meat processors have even suggested festive favourites, such as pigs in blankets, gammon and fresh turkeys could be in short supply. Natalie Smith, of Central England Co-op, said: 'For months now our colleagues have been inundated with requests for when our Christmas products will be on sale, especially mince pies. 'While we know that hearing about anything festive related this early is not for everyone, for some they cannot wait so we have decided to give people what they wanted and put them on sale early. The Central England Co-op says shoppers are already keen on buying festive foods 'I have no doubt that mince pies and anything else Christmas related will fly off the shelves now that it is available, especially during these uncertain times when people need and deserve a boost.' Packs of mince pies have also been spotted at some Asda and Iceland outlets. Iceland saw a spike in searches for 'Christmas' and 'Mince Pies' on its website from as early as July. During August there were some 200 to 250 searches per day for 'mince pies'. Its trading director, Andrew Staniland, said: 'Christmas is always a huge time of year for Iceland. Supermarkets have warned that gaps on shelves are likely to get worse in the run-up to Christmas. Pictured above are empty shelves at a Co-op store in July 'Our mince pies are incredibly popular and we expect 2021 to be no different.' John Lewis has launched its Christmas shop four months early after searches for its festive products surged. Online searches for Christmas products have already doubled on last year's record high - with a rise of 105 per cent. The most searched for products included Christmas trees, lights and wreaths. Advertisement Could these 24 countries move off the red list and go green? Argentina Bangladesh Bolivia Chile Colombia Dominican Republic Ecuador Egypt Eritrea Ethiopia Indonesia Kenya Lesotho Malawi Mozambique Myanmar Namibia Oman Pakistan Paraguay Peru Rwanda South Africa Uruguay Advertisement Up to 24 countries including Turkey and Egypt could be moved from the red travel list to the green list this week, travel experts have told MailOnline. The Government is expected to announce changes to the UK traffic light system this Thursday in the latest review, amid reports the regime could be scrapped altogether by next month. Paul Charles, CEO of the PC Agency travel consultancy, told MailOnline: 'With no new Variants of Concern since early May, and with the UK having higher levels of Delta infection than most other countries, there is no reason to keep so many countries on the red list. 'It can be sharply reduced in size to help Global Britain, as well as the travel sector, recover strongly. There is no scientific basis anymore on which to prevent travel and enforce hotel quarantine from a vast swathe of the existing list.' Ministers introduced new rules for travellers into Britain this year to slow the spread of the virus and stop new variants from abroad arriving in the country and causing havoc. People coming from red list countries have to quarantine in state-approved hotels for 10 days at a cost of 2,285 and take three tests - one before the return and two on days two and eight after arrival. Those who are unjabbed coming from amber list destinations are forced to self-isolate for 10 days at home and take three tests. However, the double-jabbed only have to take two tests. People coming from green list countries don't have to quarantine and have to provide evidence of two negative Covid tests - one before returning to the UK and one on day two. However, Whitehall officials are said to be developing a new system based on Covid vaccination status rather than the prevalence of the virus in other countries, The Telegraph reports. A source told the paper: 'It's about whether you are vaccinated or not, rather than the country you are travelling to. 'What it means is that green and amber disappear and only vaccination status will count for where you travel. For a vaccinated person, just as now all countries apart from red are 'green'.' This means that amber and green destinations could be removed, although the red list will remain in place. It is unlikely that the test requirement will be removed entirely, despite calls for tests to be reduced in price after a recent study found them to cost families an extra 300 on average. But Ministers are poised to allow double-jabbed travellers to avoid expensive PCR tests on their return, saving families hundreds of pounds. The review could come as early as this week but officials say a formal checkpoint will take place by October 1. It comes as figures obtained under the Freedom of Information Act show more than 300,000 people arriving in England and Northern Ireland from amber list countries during the devastating second wave of Covid may have flouted quarantine rules. Up to 24 countries could be added to the green travel list this week including Turkey and Egypt, with the number of red destinations 'significantly shrunk', travel experts have suggested. The Government is expected to announce changes to the UK traffic light system this Thursday in the latest review, amid reports the regime could be scrapped altogether by next month Whitehall officials are said to be developing a new system based on Covid vaccination status rather than the prevalence of the virus in other countries (pictured, Transport Secretary Grant Shapps) Transport Secretary Grant Shapps appeared to confirm that the traffic light system for travel could be scrapped or at least simplified. He also suggested that ministers will look to 'reduce' the number of tests double-jabbed travellers must take when travelling abroad Just one in 200 Covid deaths during first half of 2021 occurred among the fully vaccinated, official data reveals Fully-vaccinated people made up just one in 200 Covid deaths in England in the first half of this year, official data revealed today. The Office for National Statistics (ONS) identified 256 'breakthrough deaths' among the 51,281 Covid fatalities that occurred between January 2 and July 2. More than 76 per cent of these patients were clinically extremely vulnerable to the virus, and had underlying conditions or weak immune systems. The average age of a 'breakthrough death' when a person caught and succumbed to Covid despite having maximum immunity from two jabs was 84. Today's ONS report is the latest to highlight the immense impact the vaccines have already had on reducing coronavirus deaths. However, most of the fatalities in the six months of the research occurred during the height of the second wave, before the vaccines had become widely available. The majority of elderly and vulnerable Britons were not fully vaccinated until spring, which skews the findings. More recently, fully vaccinated people have started to make up a greater proportion of Covid deaths but this is due to how successful uptake of the jabs has been. More than 90 per cent of at-risk people are fully-jabbed, and because no vaccine is perfect, a small number continue to die. Advertisement Figures show a third of the one million people travelling from medium-risk destinations between March and May were passed to investigators. Call handlers employed by the Department of Health and Social Care were then tasked with contacting the arrivals to check they were following draconian self-isolation and testing rules. Cases where the contact ended the call, refused to co-operate, indicated they would break the quarantine or testing rules, or could not be contacted after three attempts were referred to investigators at the Border Force Criminal Justice Unit and the police. Officers were then required attempt to visit the contact at home to check they were following the rules. However, the Government could not tell the BBC how many of these were found to have broken the rules or could not be traced. Labour's shadow home secretary Nick Thomas-Symonds said the figures 'confirm our worst fears' about the Government's 'lax border policy' and accused the Home Office of 'gross negligence'. Yvette Cooper, Labour MP and chair of the Home Affairs Committee, told the broadcaster: 'We've been concerned throughout that there just weren't proper follow-ups on the checks that were done, and as a result you just had these huge gaps in the home quarantine system and that's what made it easier for the Delta variant to spread.' However, Huw Merriman, Tory chairman of the Transport Committee, defended the Government and said he doubted if authorities could 'check every single person who was quarantining at home'. A Government spokesman told MailOnline: 'The Home Office looks to visit all individuals referred to us by NHS Test and Trace who are required to isolate at home following international travel. 'We visit over 99 per cent of the cases referred to this service by NHS Test and Trace.' It comes as Boris Johnson today warned that Covid restrictions such as vaccine passports will be 'kept in reserve' in case of a winter surge - as experts said the UK must learn to 'accept' 100 deaths a day. As he prepares to unveil his blueprint for coping with an expected seasonal surge tomorrow, the PM insisted he is 'confident' that lockdown can be avoided even though drastic action cannot be ruled out. He stressed the importance of booster jabs starting with the elderly and most-vulnerable to steer the country clear of any further shutdowns. Medics are also expected to give the go ahead for 12-15 year olds to be vaccinated. Mr Johnson is shelving the idea of Covid passports for nightclubs and major events for now in the face of Tory fury, while travel restrictions will also be overhauled to ditch the traffic light system and costly PCR tests. Many of the draconian powers taken by the government at the start of the crisis will also be scrapped as the premier tries to restore his libertarian credentials. However, masks and ordering people to work from home will be kept in the 'toolbox' of measures that can be deployed. Visiting a British Gas training academy with Chancellor Rishi Sunak today, Mr Johnson was pushed on whether he could rule out any more lockdowns. 'We've got to do everything that's right to protect the country,' he said. 'But the way things are going at the moment we're very confident in the steps that we've taken. He went on: 'What we want to do is avoid vaccine passports, if we possibly can. 'That's the course we're on but I think you've got to be prudent and you've got to keep things in reserve in case things change.' Speaking on BBC Radio 4's Today programme, Prof Ferguson said the level of immunity now present in the UK population meant that tackling a surge in transmission might not 'require full lockdown'. He said the effect of not going ahead with vaccine passports in England - although they are being introduced in Scotland from October 1 - 'won't be huge'. Meanwhile, Sir Jeremy Farrar, a member of the Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies and director of the Wellcome Trust, has urged an 'honest debate' about the trade-offs between opening up society and victims of the disease. 'Politicians across the world are sort of pretending you can have your cake and eat it: 'You can have zero deaths, no control measures, vaccinate if you want to or not vaccinate and it will all end.' I just don't think that's realistic,' he reportedly told the German podcast Pandemia. 'I think [in the UK] around a hundred deaths a day, throughout the year, 30,000 deaths a year, in the current situation with the current vaccines, current treatments, current capacity within the system, I think is a level that would have to in the end be acceptable.' A winter plan to help England keep on top of Covid this winter is set to be revealed by Boris Johnson (pictured) tomorrow. Prof Neil Ferguson said the level of immunity now present in the UK population meant that tackling a surge in transmission might not 'require full lockdown' Plans for vaccine passports for nightclubs and major events were sensationally scrapped yesterday - much to the delight of hospitality chiefs - but they could be brought back British government cancels 1.2billion contract with French vaccine-maker Valneva to supply 190m Covid jabs French vaccine company Valneva revealed today the British government had ended their Covid jab supply agreement due to a 'breach of obligations'. The biotech firm has been manufacturing the vaccine at its plant in Livingston, West Lothian, which Boris Johnson visited in January. Some 100million doses of the vaccine were put on order after the UK increased its request by 40million back in February. The Government had the option of ordering an additional 90million doses to be supplied between 2023 and 2025. But No10 has now terminated its 1.2billion agreement over allegations of a breach of the supply agreement, which the firm 'strenuously' denies. In a statement, Valneva said: 'Valneva SE, a specialty vaccine company, today announced it has received a termination notice from the UK Government (HMG) in relation to the Supply Agreement for its Covid vaccine candidate, VLA2001. 'The contract provides HMG with the right to terminate. 'HMG has alleged the company is in breach of its obligations under the supply agreement, but the company strenuously denies this.' Neither party explained the nature of the breach. Advertisement In a round of interviews this morning, Work and Pensions Secretary Therese Coffey suggested the work from home guidance could return under plans to combat a possible surge in coronavirus during the winter. She told BBC Breakfast that some options such as more home working and paying statutory sick pay from day one rather than day four, were still on the table. 'These are the sensible measures I think that we're going to keep,' she said. Asked about masks, she said: The Prime Minister will be setting out the Covid winter plan tomorrow. I think my approach, and I see that with a lot of employers organisations, is about having a situation-specific approach.' Health Secretary Sajid Javid said yesterday that vaccine passports would not be introduced this month, after a revolt by Tory MPs and business leaders. But Mr Coffey stressed they have not been 'ruled out forever'. She told BBC Breakfast: 'As Sajid Javid set out yesterday, although the formal decision is still to be made, but having reflected and looked at the details of the proposal that it's not deemed necessary at this moment in time. 'But they haven't been ruled out forever. It's reflecting the fact that a lot of young people have come forward and got their vaccinations over the summer.' Ministers believe the plan is sufficient to all-but rule out any national lockdowns - which Mr Johnson is said to be 'dead set' against. Mr Javid said yesterday that he was 'not anticipating' any more lockdowns, saying 'I just don't see how we get to another one (lockdown).' But he left the door open for the toughest of restrictions, saying it would be 'irresponsible to take everything off the table'. In an early glimmer of hope for the holiday season, the Health Secretary suggested that families would be able to spend Christmas together this year - after celebrations were dramatically cut short in 2020 due to the spread of the Kent variant. The announcements set to be unveiled at a press conference tomorrow and to MPs before the Commons rises on Wednesday come after a week of frenzied speculation about the conditions that would be imposed on Britons as the country 'lives with Covid' this winter. The plan will warn that vaccine passports could be required if the NHS faces being overwhelmed. Travellers from red list countries forced into quarantine hotels suing Government for alleged human rights breach Travellers from red list countries who have been forced to quarantine in UK hotels are suing for up to 200million for an alleged breach of human rights. Lawyers claim those who were fully vaccinated and later tested negative for Covid were 'unlawfully deprived of their liberty'. They want the Government to refund fees of around 2,000 per person for double-jabbed and Covid-negative travellers and pay out compensation. Around 100,000 people who arrived from red list countries have been forced to quarantine in hotels for ten days since February. Many have complained of 'prison-like' conditions. Tom Goodhead, of law firm PGMBM, which is spearheading the action, said: 'The Government hasn't yet realised that this policy is a fundamental breach of people's human rights. Law-abiding citizens who have been double-vaccinated should be free from quarantine. 'The idea that they need to pay for the privilege of their own imprisonment is outrageous.' He said other European countries had refused to introduce hotel quarantine measures over human rights concerns. Red list travellers have to take tests on day two and day eight of their hotel quarantine. The claim will be lodged in the High Court in London today. Advertisement It will set out details of when and how passports could be introduced, and will warn that other restrictions, such as mandatory mask-wearing, may have to be reintroduced if the pandemic continues. Changes such as compulsory home working and reintroducing social-distancing are not being ruled out. It was unclear last night how decisions would be made to reimpose restrictions. But, according to the Telegraph, Mr Johnson will make clear this week he is 'dead set' against another national lockdown. He will instead urge people to 'learn to live with Covid', the paper reports. According to The Sun, Mr Johnson will rely on the Covid vaccine to limit the spread of Covid. Third doses of the jab are to be rolled out in autumn in a similar way to the first vaccine drive - starting with the most elderly and vulnerable. The Government will also launch a massive 'flu shot blitz' which will be supported by a large-scale advertising campaign urging people to get both jabs, the Sun adds. Children aged 12-15 will also be offered a single Covid shot, pending approval from scientific advisers, The Daily Telegraph reports. While national measures will also be set out, changes to international travel are also expected. The travel traffic lights system is due to be scrapped, according to the Telegraph, with just a 'red list' for the worst Covid-hit countries kept in its place. The number of countries on the red list will also be drastically reduced, the paper adds. And, according to the Telegraph, PCR tests will not be required for fully vaccinated travellers. It comes as yesterday, another 29,173 cases were recorded, as well as 56 deaths within 28 days of a positive test. A senior government source told The Telegraph of the argument Mr Johnson would make: 'This is the new normal. We need to learn to live with Covid. 'The vaccines are a wall of defence. The autumn and the winter do offer some uncertainty, but the Prime Minister is dead set against another lockdown.' But while the changes will come as a positive for some, others have urged the Government to limit the number of Covid rules this winter. Mark Harper, chairman of the Covid Recovery Group of Tory MPs, meanwhile said that while he was pleased with the news that vaccine passports would be scrapped, he wanted a permanent end to any plans for such a scheme. Yesterday he tweeted: 'I welcome Savid Javid confirming that vaccine passports are not going ahead now. Britain's daily Covid cases today fell by a quarter in a week, official figures showed - but deaths jumped more than a third 'I'm pleased he has listened to the compelling case against them. They shouldn't be kept in reserve. They are pointless, damaging and discriminatory.' Vaccine passports allow people access to venues if they have had both Covid jabs. They will be introduced in Scotland for clubs and large venues next month. In a national research programme in April, revellers were allowed into clubs so data could be gathered on how events could be permitted to reopen safely. But following a Tory backlash against vaccine passports, Mr Javid said yesterday the idea had been shelved for England. He told the BBC's Andrew Marr Show: 'I've never liked the idea of saying to people you must show your papers to do what is just an everyday activity. 'We've looked at it properly, and whilst we should keep it in reserve, I'm pleased to say we will not be going ahead with plans for vaccine passports.' He said that while he was 'not anticipating' any more lockdowns, it would be 'irresponsible to take everything off the table'. His announcement on the passports came a week after vaccines minister Nadhim Zahawi told the same show the end of September was the right time to start the vaccine passport scheme for sites with large crowds. Deputy Labour leader Angela Rayner said: 'Days ago, the vaccine minister stood before Parliament to confirm the introduction of Covid passports now they've been scrapped. 'This is the culmination of a summer of chaos from ministers. They need to get a grip before winter.' Mr Javid told Times Radio the passports were 'a huge intrusion into people's lives', adding: 'We don't think it is necessary at this point. 'We're keeping it in reserve, but we're not going to go ahead.' The hospitality sector welcomed the news that the passports will not be introduced in England. Michael Kill, chief executive of the Night Time Industries Association, said: 'We hope businesses will be able to plan for the future with some degree of certainty... and rebuild a sector that has consistently been at the sharp end of this pandemic.' He added that the Government had 'grossly underestimated some logistical and ethical challenges'. Sacha Lord, night time economy adviser for Greater Manchester and co-founder of the Parklife festival, said the plans were 'untenable and illogical' and aspects were 'discriminatory and legally questionable'. He added: 'We can now move forward without vague regulations.' It comes as Britain's Covid outbreak shrank on Sunday, with cases falling by 21 per cent while the number of deaths also declined. Department of Health figures show 29,173 daily cases were recorded across the UK today, compared to 37,011 last week - a reduction of more than a fifth - while Covid deaths fell from 68 to 56. In Scotland, more than 1,000 Covid patients are in hospital and 5,912 new cases were recorded in the past 24 hours. Though the latest figures north of the border show no deaths, the Scottish Government says registry offices are generally closed at weekends. Meanwhile, six further deaths of patients who had previously tested positive for Covid in Northern Ireland were registered - while another 1,031 positive cases of the virus were also confirmed in the region. Universities branded 'mega rip-off' after announcing plans to continue remote lectures despite charging annual fees of 9,250 By Eleanor Harding and Julie Henry for the Daily Mail Universities were yesterday branded a 'mega rip-off' after announcing a third academic year of remote lectures despite charging annual fees of 9,250. Nineteen of the 24 Russell Group of leading universities, including Oxford and Cambridge, said a portion of learning would remain online in the new term. Covid restrictions have been scrapped but some lectures will still be delivered remotely, depriving youngsters of face-to-face contact with lecturers and fellow students. Some Freshers are also having to live more than an hour from campus or are under pressure to defer places because of accommodation shortages. Nineteen of the 24 Russell Group of leading universities, including Oxford and Cambridge, said a portion of learning would remain online in the new term Last night, campaigners called for tuition fee refunds and urged teenagers to boycott online-heavy courses. It comes after Education Secretary Gavin Williamson warned last week there is 'no excuse' to use online learning as a cost-cutting measure. A Mail survey has found most of the Russell Group are bringing back face-to-face learning, but offering a 'blended' model where some tuition stays online. For some institutions, it means large lectures a staple of campus life are being delivered remotely. At University College London, students have been told: 'Most small group teaching including seminars, workshops, laboratory and studio practicals will be in person and most of your lecture-based large group teaching will be online.' Warwick University plans to deliver 'most seminars in-person on campusand to deliver lectures online' while Exeter said 'some lecture-based teaching sessions may move online as our students found that this was more inclusive than traditional lectures'. Leeds also plans a mix of face-to-face and online teaching, with large lectures delivered remotely. Meanwhile, Oxford said 'most' teaching would be 'in-person' but would be 'enhanced' by online tuition in 'some instances'. Cambridge said while 'small-group teaching' and 'as many lectures as possible' would be in-person, web sessions would be used 'where there is a strong reason'. Cambridge said while 'small-group teaching' and 'as many lectures as possible' would be in-person, web sessions would be used 'where there is a strong reason' However, Southampton stressed it was delivering all its teaching 'in-person and on campus' and Birmingham said 'lectures will typically go ahead in person in the normal way'. Mr Williamson warned vice-chancellors last week that students should be taught 'in-person and alongside other students'. He insisted: 'I do not expect to see online learning used as a cost-cutting measure'. Last night, former Government adviser Chris McGovern claimed: 'Universities are trawling them in, grabbing their fees and then forgetting that they have a responsibility to deliver a good education. 'It's a brass-necked, mega rip-off. The Consumer Rights Act needs to be extended to provide refunds for any shoddy and second rate educational provision by universities.' Remote learning first emerged in March last year during the national lockdown, with students only allowed back to campuses in full this summer. Many universities believe it is necessary to keep some learning online in case the pandemic takes off again. Others say online learning has been proved to benefit students. Meanwhile, several universities are finding it difficult to find accommodation for all the students they accepted this year. Bristol recently told new students they might have to live in Bath more than an hour away due to local halls being full. Video footage captured the dramatic moment a suspected thief was pinned to the ground by a police dog after attempting to flee officers. Police were at the scene amid reports of three men getting out of a van wearing gloves and carrying crowbars late at night on September 4, and the suspects were handcuffed and being searched when one of them ran away. Bodycam footage shows the suspect, clad in an Adidas tracksuit, run along the street as Sergeant John Simpson and six-year-old German shepherd, PD Gunner, chase after him. The three suspects are lined up after officers received reports of three men getting out of a van wearing gloves and carrying crowbars in Coventry on September 4 One of the suspects, who is wearing an Adidas tracksuit, tries to flee officers and runs along the street Sgt Simpson is heard shouting to a colleague to 'grab him' as he sprints down the street in pursuit of the suspected thief. He warns the suspect to 'stand still' before releasing PD Gunner from his lead and shouting to the canine: 'Get him! Get him son!' Just seconds later, the suspect, who is identified as 'Mr Adidas' by the police officer, is heard swearing and screaming in pain as PD Gunner holds him down on the pavement. Now pinned to the ground, the suspect continues to shout: 'Get that f***ing dog off. The dog's on my leg!' Sgt Simpson then instructs the canine to release the man and immediately PD Gunner lets go of the suspect who is being held by another officer. PD Gunner, who was born into West Midlands Police breeding scheme, was later praised by Sgt Simpson who told him: 'There's a good lad. You're a good boy.' Officers found two crowbars and a huge machete on the driver's seat following the incident on September 4. The suspect is heard swearing and screaming in pain as PD Gunner holds him down Six-year-old German shepherd, PD Gunner, was born into West Midlands Police breeding scheme Police officers found two crowbars and a huge machete on the driver's seat following the incident The 25-year-old suspect, who was found in possession of the van keys, was taken to hospital for treatment for a minor dog bite. All three men - the others aged 24 and 28 - were arrested on suspicion of possessing an offensive weapon. They have been released under investigation while officers conduct more enquiries. Seen for the first time since his father's world imploded with the murders of his younger son and wife, revelations of drug addiction, embezzlement and a bizarre drive-by shooting, this is 'Buster' Murdaugh, sole surviving heir to his father's South Carolina legal dynasty. These exclusive pictures obtained by DailyMail.com show Richard Alexander 'Buster' Murdaugh Jr. and a family member at the family's Edisto Island property in South Carolina. Buster, 25, refused to answer DailyMail.com's questions when approached but did acknowledge that he had spoken to his father in recent days. He would not say when he saw his father last, what he thought would happen next or answer any questions about Murdaugh's injuries or recovery. He said, 'I have no interest in commenting on any of y'all's questions.' Speculation as to Buster's whereabouts has been rife in the days since his father called 911 to claim that he had been shot while attempting to fix a tire just seven miles from the family's hunting estate of Moselle. Exclusive DailyMail.com photos show Richard Alexander 'Buster' Murdaugh Jr. at the family's Edisto Island property in South Carolina It's the first sighting since his father Alex Murdaugh was involved in a drive-by shooting, accused of embezzling and revealed he had a drug addiction Buster, 25, refused to answer DailyMail.com's questions when approached but did acknowledge that he had spoken to his father in recent days He was seen with a woman believed to be a family member arriving at the family beach home early Friday afternoon Dressed casually in flip-flops, chinos and a white T-shirt bearing the logo Blue Heaven, Buster packed up belongings and loaded them into a waiting Cadillac Buster said when approached for comment, 'I have no interest in commenting on any of y'all's questions' Neighbors at the waterside enclave recalled the Murdaughs as a family who 'kept themselves to themselves' during their summers at the beach home (pictured) According to Murdaugh's account a truck passed him then circled back outside St John Baptist church on Old Salkehatchie Road next to where he was parked up. Murdaugh told officers that the driver wound down his window and shot at him. The shocking turn of events has catapulted the family back into national headlines following the brutal slaying of Buster's mother, Maggie, 52, and younger brother, Paul, 22, on June 7. Buster is seen with his mother Maggie, 52, who was found shot dead in June It was Alex Murdaugh, 53, who discovered his wife and son's bodies near dog kennels on the property and called 911 shortly after 10pm that evening. According to investigators mother and son were killed between 9 and 9.30pm. Paul suffered fatal shotgun wounds to the head and torso. His mother was killed with a semi-automatic rifle. Murdaugh was visiting his sick father in hospital on the night of the shooting Randolph Murdaugh III died three days later after a long battle with cancer. What little information has emerged since, has only served to deepen the mystery surrounding the events on the Islandton estate in June and Murdaugh's more recent road-side shooting. South Carolina Law Enforcement Division (SLED) have remained tight-lipped and no suspects in either event have been named nor descriptions given. However, on Monday it was revealed that officers are now retracting a police report from the shooting that initially said there were no visible injuries to Murdaugh. Soon after he reported himself shot it emerged that Murdaugh had been accused of misappropriating millions of dollars from private law firm Peters Murdaugh Parker Elztroth Detrick (PMPED) of which he was a partner. Hot on the heels of news that he had been pushed out of the firm which has now called in forensic accountants to dig into the alleged embezzlement, Murdaugh issued a public statement in which he claimed that he was an opioid addict, apologized for the hurt he had caused and announced he was entering rehab. He has now lost his license to practice law. Throughout this turmoil older son Buster has remained entirely hidden. The last time Buster was seen was during the rainy funeral service for his brother Paul and mother Maggie on June 11. He's seen receiving a hug On June 7, Alex Murdaugh (right) discovered his son Paul and wife Maggie (center) dead at the dog kennels on the family property According to investigators mother and son were killed between 9 and 9.30pm. Paul suffered fatal shotgun wounds to the head and torso. His mother was killed with a semi-automatic rifle Moselle Hunting Lodge where Maggie and Paul Murdaugh were gunned down June 7. Their bodies were discovered by Murdaugh by the dog kennels Now DailyMail.com can reveal that he and a woman believed to be a family member arrived at the family's beach home early afternoon Friday. Working diligently and conversing little the two began packing up belongings and loading them into a waiting Cadillac. They carried multiple grocery bags of possessions, including toilet-paper, soft furnishings, a woven laundry basket and tall houseplant. Dressed casually in flip-flops, chinos and a white T-shirt bearing the logo Blue Heaven, Buster occasionally checked his cell phone as he walked up and down the back stairs of the pale grey clapboard house. Buster has been named along with his father in a wrongful death-suit brought by the family of Mallory Beach. The 19-year-old was killed in a fatal boating accident in February 2019 when Paul, 'intoxicated' and 'belligerent' ploughed his father's boat into a piling in Archers Creek after an afternoon of drinking at an oyster roast. Paul was one of six teenagers described by police as 'grossly intoxicated' that night. He was awaiting trial on three felony counts of boating under the influence, including boating under the influence resulting in death, a charge which carries a maximum penalty of 25 years in prison. He had been released on a $50,000 bond pending his trial. All charges were dismissed two months after his death but the wrongful death suit being brought by Mallory's mother, Renee, is still being pursued. Buster is named as it was his license that Paul used to purchase the alcohol that night a practice which, lawyers for Beach allege, was both common and done with Buster's knowledge. Speculation as to Buster's whereabouts has been rife in the days since his father called 911 to claim that he had been shot while attempting to fix a tire just seven miles from the family's hunting estate of Moselle Buster has been named along with his father in a wrongful death-suit brought by the family of Mallory Beach Crime scene tape is visible on the stretch of Old Salkehatchie Road where Alex Murdaugh reported having been the victim of a drive by shooting Saturday Last week DailyMail.com revealed that Murdaugh's insurance company Philadelphia Indemnity have refused to pay out on two personal injury policies to the tune of $6million. According to court records seen by DailyMail.com Indemnity found that they had 'no obligation' to defend or indemnify Murdaugh or his older son for a host of reasons. The company stated that Murdaugh, 'had knowledge or should have had knowledge that his minor son illegally purchased and consumed alcohol on a regular basis by using or displaying the driver's license of his adult son, Murdaugh Jr.' They continued, 'It was foreseeable that Murdaugh's son would purchase alcohol for consumption by other minors and would then become intoxicated.' Attorneys for Beach have since filed yet more paperwork in the wrongful death suit stating their intention to come after Murdaugh's two properties the hunting lodge and the Edisto Island beach house at which Buster busied himself Friday afternoon. Neighbors at the waterside enclave recalled the Murdaughs as a family who 'kept themselves to themselves' during their summers at the beach home. One who knew Maggie described her as simply, 'wonderful.' Marine Le Pen vowed to target 'Talibanized zones' and 'narco-estates' as she kicked off her French presidential election campaign on Sunday. The 53-year-old far-right leader blasted 'arrogant' incumbent Emmanuel Macron while promising to restore law and order in France. 'There will be no place in France where the law does not apply,' she told flag-waving supporters. 'We will eradicate gangs and mafias and all those, Islamists or not, who want to impose rules and ways of life that are not ours.' Foreshadowing another major theme of the campaign, she painted the choice Macron and herself as one 'between globalism and nationalism'. Marine Le Pen kicked off her French presidential campaign on Sunday, vowing to tackle T'alibanised zones' in battle to protect cultural identity Le Pen also took aim at 'arrogant' Emmanuel Macron, saying the choice between them was one 'between globalism and nationalism' She also made overtures to the many thousands who stage weekly protests against the Covid 'health pass', which requires people to show proof of vaccination or a negative test to get served in restaurants, take long-distance trains and a host of other services. Le Pen, who is campaigning as the defender of French 'liberty', called it 'a disproportionate violation of the right to freedom'. Le Pen is likely to be the candidate taking on Macron in the final round of France's election, which is due to take place in April next year. Polls show the pair neck-and-neck during the first round of voting - each garnering around 20 per cent of the vote each - but Macron winning overall once other candidates are eliminated. But Le Pen has increased her support since 2017, when she was beaten by Macron, raising the prospect of a major upset once the final votes are tallied. Also throwing her hat into the ring on Sunday was Anne Hidalgo, the Spanish-born socialist mayor of Paris, pledging more spending on education, housing and health. 'I want all children in France to have the same opportunities I had,' she said, crediting the French school system with helping her overcome the 'class prejudice' she suffered as the child of Spanish immigrants. She grew up the daughter of an electrician father and seamstress mother on a housing estate in Lyon. Hidalgo enters the race as a polarising figure whose campaign to squeeze cars out of Paris has divided residents. Also announcing her campaign to take on Macron on Sunday was Anne Hidalgo, the Spanish-born mayor of Paris, who pledged to increase spending on education and healthcare She has emphasised her record as a capable manager who steered Paris through a series of crises, from a string of terror attacks to the 'yellow vest' riots of 2018 and 2019 and the fire that ravaged Notre Dame cathedral. Polls currently suggest Hidalgo would garner only seven to nine percent in the first round of voting for president in April if picked to represent the Socialists. She is hoping to boost that score by tapping into the growing climate activism of France's younger generation. She could also gather more support from a spectrum of left-wing parties after other candidates have been eliminated. Both Hidalgo and Le Pen accused Macron of 'arrogance' - a claim that underpinned the yellow vest revolt - and stressed their commitment to women's rights. Le Pen vowed to make the streets safe for women to walk 'at any time of day or night and in any neighbourhood'. Hidalgo said she would push for gender pay equality. Le Pen's combative rhetoric masks disquiet in her National Rally after its poor showings in regional elections in June. Analysts have warned of potential voter fatigue with Le Pen after two failed campaigns. And Le Pen could be hobbled by a rival far-right candidacy from controversial TV pundit and author Eric Zemmour. Zemmour, who has built up a loyal following with diatribes against migration and the Muslim headscarf, is rumoured to be planning to use a forthcoming book tour to throw his hat in the ring. Macron meanwhile, received a key endorsement from the right: his former prime minister Edouard Philippe. 'My support for the president of the republic will be total in 2022,' Philippe told TF1 television on Sunday evening. A woman has been brutally knocked to the ground by a police horse along with her bottle of beer on a notorious party strip, shocking footage shows. Several mounted police officers were patrolling Perth's Northbridge precinct early Sunday when they were called to respond to a brawl in nearby James Street. Footage shows the woman, who wasn't involved in the fight, trying to get out of the way of police before getting caught up in the crossfire when she accidently gets in the horse's path. Late night revellers watched on in horror as the woman, managing to hang onto her bottle of Peroni, was bowled over by the police horse in the terrifying collision. The late night reveller (pictured) was knocked to the ground after getting in the way of a police horse - but managed to cling to her beer She stumbles back several metres before falling over backwards, hitting her head on the bitumen and spilling the contents of the glass bottle she was holding. 'Jesus Christ, are you alright?' a concerned onlooker is heard asking the dazed but conscious woman. The mounted police officer is seen rushing to the woman's side to render assistance. 'Are you okay?' the officer is heard asking her. WA Police have launched an internal review into Sunday morning's incident between mounted police and a late night reveller (pictured) The woman only suffered minor injuries. She received first aid but declined an offer of further medical assistance from paramedics before heading home. Western Australia Police has launched an internal review into the incident, which sparked a shocked and divided reaction online. Many jumped to the defence of the mounted police and slammed the woman for getting in its way. The brawl was one of a spate of incidents mounted police responded to in the popular party precinct on the weekend. Advertisement Tropical Storm Nicholas is churning toward the Texas coast, threatening to bring heavy rain and floods to coastal areas of Texas, Mexico and storm-battered Louisiana. Forecasters at the National Hurricane Center in Miami said a hurricane watch was issued for the central portion of the Texas coast, from Port Aransas to Freeport, with much of the state's coastline now under a tropical storm warning. A hurricane watch means sustained winds of at least 74mph are possible within 48 hours of the watch being issued. Nicholas - the 14th named storm of 2021 - is expected to approach the middle Texas coast late Monday and could bring heavy rain that could cause flash floods and urban flooding for much of the week. Tropical Storm Nicholas is tracking through the western Gulf of Mexico and is poised to bring a threat of flooding rainfall, gusty winds and storm surge to the western U.S. Gulf Coast The central portion of the Texas coast, from Port Aransas to Freeport, was under a hurricane watch early Monday morning The red-shaped area shows the potential path of Tropical Storm Nicholas. As of Monday morning, the cyclone was about 40 miles southeast of the mouth of the Rio Grande Nicholas over several days is expected to produce total rainfall of up to 16 inches in Texas and southwest Louisiana, and up to 20 inches in coastal Texas Winds of at least 74mph are possible from Port Aransas to Freeport, Texas Nicholas was centered roughly 70 miles southeast of the mouth of the Rio Grande River, and 225 miles south of Port OConnor, Texas, as of Monday morning. Several schools in the Houston and Galveston area were closed because of the incoming storm. Nicholas over several days is expected to produce total rainfall of up to 16 inches in Texas and southwest Louisiana, with isolated maximum amounts of 20 inches, across portions of coastal Texas through midweek. Other parts of Texas and southwest Louisiana could see 5 to 10 inches of rain over the coming days. Texas Gov. Greg Abbott said the state has placed rescue teams and resources in the Houston area and along the Texas Gulf Coast. 'This is a storm that could leave heavy rain, as well as wind and probably flooding, in various different regions along the Gulf Coast. We urge you to listen to local weather alerts, heed local warnings,' Abbot said in a video message. This satellite image provided by NOAA shows Tropical Storm Nicholas in the Gulf of Mexico on Monday. Nicholas is expected to produce storm total rainfall of up to 16 inches, with isolated maximum amounts of 20 inches, across portions of coastal Texas into southwest Louisiana Palm trees blow in the wind ahead of Tropical Storm Nicholas Monday in Corpus Christi, Texas. Some areas can experience winds as high as 65 mph Storm surge is seen ahead of Tropical Storm Nicholas at the Emerald Hotel in Corpus Christi, Texas. Hurricane conditions are possible for Port Aransas to Sargent late Monday night, according to the National Hurricane Center A person rides their bike down Ocean Drive ahead of Tropical Storm Nicholas Monday in Corpus Christi, Texas Shop owners in Galveston, Texas, line their doors and windows with sand bags and wooden boards to keep flood water out as Tropical Storm Nicholas approaches the island Nicholas is headed toward the same area of Texas that was hit hard by Hurricane Harvey in 2017. That storm made landfall in the middle Texas coast then stalled for four days, dropping more than 60 inches of rain in parts of southeast Texas. Harvey was blamed for at least 68 deaths. Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards on Sunday night declared a state of emergency ahead of the storm's arrival in a state still recovering from Hurricane Ida and last year's Hurricane Laura and historic flooding. Texas Gov. Greg Abbott warned on Sunday that Nicholas could bring heavy rain, wind and possible flooding to different parts of the Lone Star state 'The most severe threat to Louisiana is in the southwest portion of the state, where recovery from Hurricane Laura and the May flooding is ongoing. In this area heavy rain and flash flooding are possible. However, it is also likely that all of south Louisiana will see heavy rain this week, including areas recently affected by Hurricane Ida,' Edwards said. The center of the storm was forecasted to hit south or central Texas on Monday night or early Tuesday. Its maximum sustained winds were clocked at 65mph and it was moving north at 12mph early Monday. Gradual strengthening is possible until it reaches the coast overnight or early Tuesday. The storm was expected to bring the heaviest rainfall west of where Hurricane Ida slammed into Louisiana two weeks ago. Although forecasters did not expect Louisiana to suffer from strong winds again, meteorologist Bob Henson at Yale Climate Connections predicted rainfall could still plague places where the hurricane toppled homes, paralyzed electrical and water infrastructure and left at least 26 people dead. 'There could be several inches of rain across southeast Louisiana, where Ida struck,' Henson said in an email. Nicholas could bring heavy rain that could cause flash floods and urban flooding for much of the week in coastal Texas and Louisiana This map indicates that Lake Charles, Louisiana, could dump torrential amounts of rain. The city saw multiple wallops from Hurricane Laura and Hurricane Delta in 2020 A hurricane watch (orange band) was issued for the central portion of the Texas coast, with much of the state's coastline now under a tropical storm warning (red area) The combination of a dangerous storm surge and the tide will cause normally dry areas near the coast to be flooded by rising waters moving inland from the shoreline Rescue officials watch over the beach in Galveston, Texas on September 12 as Tropical Storm Nicholas approaches A man surfs on the beach on Galveston Island as Tropical Storm Nicholas churns towards the Gulf Coast on Sunday Across Louisiana, just over 110,000 customers remained without power early Monday, according to the utility tracking site poweroutage.us. The storm is projected to move slowly up the coastland which could dump torrential amounts of rain over several days, said meteorologist Donald Jones of the National Weather Service in Lake Charles, Louisiana. 'Heavy rain, flash flooding appears to be the biggest threat across our region,' he said. While Lake Charles received minimal impact from Ida, the city saw multiple wallops from Hurricane Laura and Hurricane Delta in 2020, a winter storm in February as well as historic flooding this spring. 'We are still a very battered city,' Lake Charles Mayor Nic Hunter said. He said the city is taking the threat of the storm seriously, as it does all tropical systems. Homes destroyed in the wake of Hurricane Ida are shown September 2 in Grand Isle, Louisiana. Ida made landfall August 29 as a Category 4 storm southwest of New Orleans, causing widespread power outages, flooding, massive damage and more than two dozen deaths Abilio Viegas attempts to fix his flooded van on South Street on September 2 in Newark, New Jersey. The remnants of Tropical Storm Ida caused flooding and power outages throughout New Jersey as the Northeast was hit by record rain and tornadoes 'Hope and prayer is not a good game plan," Hunter said. In Cameron Parish in coastal Louisiana, Scott Trahan is still finishing repairs on his home damaged from last years Hurricane Laura that put about 2 feet of water in his house. He hopes to be finished by Christmas. He said many in his area have moved instead of rebuilding. 'If you get your butt whipped about four times, you are not going to get back up again. You are going to go somewhere else,' Trahan said. Colorado State University hurricane researcher Phil Klotzbach said via Twitter that Nicholas is the 14th named storm of 2021 Atlantic hurricane season. Only four other years since 1966 have had 14 or more named storms by Sept. 12: 2005, 2011, 2012 and 2020. A Los Angeles Times columnist has sparked outrage after saying black Republican gubernatorial candidate Larry Elder is pushing for a 'white supremacist worldview' and that he poses a 'very real threat to communities of color.' Jean Guerrero appeared on CNN's 'Reliable Sources' to talk about the California governor recall election taking place on September 14. At one point, host Brian Stelter asks Guerrero about Elder, who has been subject of criticism by Los Angeles Times opinion writers for his conservative agenda. Stelter asked whether Elder was able to run a 'Trump playbook' in the state to get around the often negative media coverage of him and reach voters. Guerrero agreed and claimed that Elder 'has been essentially running his campaign on Fox News.' 'He's refused to talk to non-partisan media outlets and to journalists who are critical of him, has refused to answer difficult questions, often uses the few interviews that he does give as an opportunity to give a performance on social media, denouncing those journalists, playing the victim,' Guerrero said. Los Angeles Times columnist Jean Guerrero described conservative African American political pundit Larry Elder as a 'white supremacist' in his bid to win against current Democratic Governor Gavin Newsom in Californias upcoming recall election. In late August, Elder dismissed a column published in the LA Times that called him 'the Black face of white supremacy' and said in response that the liberal press is 'scared to death' by the prospect that a 'black guy from the hood who went to public school, might break the stranglehold that the Democrats have had on Black and brown voters here in California.' Guerrero criticized Elder for 'refusing to engage' with the substance of the criticism. 'He has been able to reach the minority of voters in California who embrace his white supremacist worldview. He's co-opted this line by my fellow columnist from the headline calling him 'the Black face of White supremacy' but he refuses to engage with the actual substance of our reporting,' Guerrero said. Guerrero then added that Elder 'poses a very real threat to communities of color.' 'You know, the idea that his views were shaped by a well-known white supremacist named Jared Taylor who he repeatedly quoted in early writings, that he plans to reverse all the state's progress on immigrant rights and social justice and that he poses a very real threat to communities of color for all of the reasons we've reported in the past,' Guerrero said. Stelter responded that 'clearly, the LA Times opinion folks have been very much against Elder.' Guerrero's comments caused backlash on Twitter, with users hitting out at her description of a black candidate as a 'white supremacist.' LA Times columnist Jean Guerrero sparked outrage on Twitter after saying Larry Elder is pushing 'white supremacist worldview' and poses 'real threat to communities of color' One viewer wrote on Twitter: 'A white woman calling a black man a white supremacist? Like Larry Elder or not, if you don't, say that you don't like him and why. But this has got to be a joke, unless the complete definition of a white supremacist has change that drastically.' Some viewers also hit out at Stelter for not challenging Guerrero's remarks. One wrote: 'Did Guerrero seriously imply that she and the LA Times are non-partsan, and then turn around and say Elder (a black man) holds white supremacist views? And Seltzer never challenges her. This is why I stopped watching CNN.' Another wrote: 'The lack of self awareness at the pure irony of three affluent white people calling a black man a white supremecist (sic) is stunning even for @brianstelter and @CNN.' Elder, who has repeatedly faced racism claims by the liberal media because of his political views, slammed the LA Times for the coverage of his campaign. 'I anticipated that would happen. This is why a lot of people don't go into politics because of the politics of personal destruction,' Elder told Fox News late last month. 'This is not the first time the L.A. Times has attacked me, there is another writer who all but called me a Black David Duke,' he added. 'They are scared to death.' Elder, who could become the state's first Black governor, targeted some of his sharpest remarks at what he described as skewed media coverage throughout the length of his campaign. In July, a UC Berkeley Institute of Governmental Studies poll co-sponsored by the LA Times found that 18 percent of likely voters preferred to vote for Larry Elder when asked to pick their first choice among the candidates hoping to take the helm as Californias next governor Earlier this week, his walking tour of homeless encampments in LA's Venice Beach neighborhood was cut short after a woman bicyclist wearing a gorilla mask threw an egg toward Elder and then took a swing at a member of his entourage. The confrontation set off strong reactions on Twitter, with conservatives charging the incident wasn't immediately branded a racist attack because Elder is a conservative. If he was a Democrat 'it would have been a major story,' Elder said. He also said McGowan's accusations largely have been ignored by the media, but argued that if similar charges had been made about him 'that's all you guys would be talking about.' 'This is a double standard,' he said. 'I'm sick of it.' PICTURED: A woman wearing a gorilla mask follows conservative talk show host and gubernatorial recall candidate Larry Elder as he walked along streets lined with tents of unhoused people, in the Venice neighborhood of Los Angeles Moments later, the woman took a swing at a man who appeared to be part of Elders team. The man was hit by at least one other heckler just before Elder was escorted into the SUV. Meanwhile, Elder was in Los Angeles on Sunday, where he was joined by activist and former actress Rose McGowan, who repeated her claims from recent days that Newsom's wife, Jennifer Siebel Newsom, attempted to persuade her in 2017 not to go public with her allegations of sexual misconduct against Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein. McGowan, 48, who is known for her role in the 'Scream' movie franchise, was one of the earliest of dozens of women to accuse Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein of sexual misconduct, making her a major figure in the #MeToo movement. During her appearance, she spoke warmly of Elder and lambasted Hollywood Democrats who she said traumatized her life. She now lives in Mexico. 'Do I agree with him on all points? No,' McGowan said. 'So what. He is the better candidate. He is the better man.' Rose McGowan (front), a leading figure in the #MeToo movement, accused the wife of Larry Elder's (back) opponent, Governor Gavin Newsom, of trying to silence her about movie producer Harvey Weinstein Siebel Newsom's office described McGowan's allegations as a 'complete fabrication.' In a brief interview with The Associated Press, Newsom characterized McGowan's claims as a 'last-minute classic hit piece' from one of Elder's supporters. The governor called Elder desperate and grasping, saying McGowan's claims about his wife 'just shows you how low things go in campaigns these days.' However, emails posted on Twitter by McGowan showed she had contact with Newsom's wife, which her office confirmed but said their communication was 'as fellow survivors of sexual assault and in Jennifer's former capacity leading the Representation Project, an organization that fights limiting gender stereotypes and norms.' One of McGowan's key claims is that during a 2017 phone conversation, Newsom's wife referenced a law firm that was working with Weinstein and asked her what the firm could do 'to make you happy.' Vice President Kamala Harris (left) stands on stage with California Governor Gavin Newsom (center) and his wife Jennifer Siebel Newsom (right) McGowan said Sunday she didn't recognize the firm's name at the time. 'I had no idea who that was. So, I just said nothing and hung up on her. That was my last contact with her,' she said. The election will determine whether Newsom can complete his first term or will be tossed out of office more than a year early. Voters are being asked two questions: Should Newsom be recalled and, if so, who should replace him? If he gets a majority vote on the first question, the second question with the names of 46 replacement candidate is irrelevant. Otherwise, the highest vote-getter among the replacement candidates would become governor. A pool of water located close to the Dead Sea in the biblical region of Moab - modern day Jordan - has mysteriously turned blood red. Water from the red lagoon just inside the Jordanian border is being sampled by workers from Jordan's Ministry of Water and Irrigation to determine the cause of the unsettling phenomenon which is as yet unexplained. The images have sparked a furore on social media, with blood red waters carrying much significance in the Old Testament as one of the 10 plagues God cast upon the Pharaoh of Egypt to free the Jews from slavery. According to the biblical tale, God turned the waters of the River Nile into blood, which killed the fish and prevented the Egyptians from drinking the foul water, in the first of 10 plagues that came as the Pharaoh's punishment for refusing to free his Jewish slaves. The eastern shores of the Dead Sea where the blood red pond is located also happens to be where the two legendary cities of Sodom and Gomorrah stood before they were supposedly destroyed by God for their 'wickedness'. A pool of water located close to the Dead Sea in the biblical region of Moab - modern day Jordan - has mysteriously turned blood red Water from the red lagoon just inside the Jordanian border is being sampled by workers from Jordan's Ministry of Water and Irrigation to determine the cause of the unsettling phenomenon which is as yet unexplained The eastern shores of the Dead Sea where the blood red pond is located also happens to be where the two legendary cities of Sodom and Gomorrah stood before they were supposedly destroyed by God for their 'wickedness (pictured: Sodom and Gomorrah afire, by Jacob Jacobsz) The story of Sodom and Gomorrah Sodom and Gomorrah were cities whose destruction by God for their 'wickedness' is referenced throughout the Old and New Testament and the Koran. In the Genesis account, God reveals to Abraham that Sodom and Gomorrah are to be destroyed for their grave sins. Abraham pleads for the lives of righteous people living there, especially the lives of his nephew, Lot, and his family. God agrees to spare the cities if 10 righteous people can be found within them. Finding only Lot and his family as righteous among the inhabitants, the angels warn Lot to quickly evacuate the city and not look back. God destroys the cities with sulfur and fire, but Lot's wife does not follow the angels' orders. She looks back upon the city and is turned into a pillar of salt. Source: Britannica Advertisement The head of the Water and Agriculture Committee of the Al-Karak Council, Fathi Al-Huwaimel, said that the authorities have been contacted to work on identifying the source of the water. But although the cause of the mysterious crimson waters remains unknown for now according to Jordan's ministry spokesperson Omar Salameh, a few theories have been posited as to why a lagoon isolated from fresh water could suddenly change colour. Director of Agriculture in the Southern Jordan Valley, Yassin al-Kasasbeh, told Roya News that this phenomenon is found in ponds close to seas due to the presence of a certain type of a bacteria and red algae that love salinity, which changes its colour with the presence of sunlight. But this does not explain why the water suddenly turned red while other pools have not displayed the same phenomenon, particularly given that the region experiences near year-round sunny skies. Other officials told Israel Today that the presence of iron oxide in the water could account for the strange colour change, but again did not give an explanation as to how the iron oxide would have been introduced to the pool, and why the colour change happened so rapidly. Meanwhile, Sakhr Al-Nusour, the head of the Jordanian Geologists Syndicate, told the Al Ghad news that the red colour could have been caused by the addition of substances by humans. This viewpoint was shared by many Jordanians who accused the government of covering up a source of pollution or their use of the pool as a dumping ground for waste chemicals. As a large body of salt water, the shores of the Dead Sea glitter with crystallized sodium chloride The Dead Sea is a salt lake located in the Judean desert of southern Israel, bordered by Jordan to the East. With its origin dating back to some four million years ago, it is one of earths saltiest bodies of water and is the lowest point on earth. Its high level of salinity - well over 30% - means its waters are incredibly rich in minerals and the health benefits of bathing in the Dead Sea have long been touted, though it is so salty that the water cannot support marine life. It has been found that people with respiratory diseases, such as cystic fibrosis, have appeared to benefit from increased atmospheric pressure in the region, while the temperature, humidity and water's minerals make it a perfect environment to treat skin problems. It's also been suggested that Dead Sea mud pack therapy relieves pain in patients with osteoarthritis of the knees. However, the Dead Sea has shrank dramatically in recent years, most likely due to climate change. It is now roughly 31 miles long and 9 miles wide at its widest point, but i t is estimated that the Dead Seas water level has dropped by more than 131ft since the 1950s, and is now reducing by around two ft per year. Last year, the Alexander River ran blood-red due to blood from slaughterhouses in the West Bank flowing into the river, according to the Society for the Protection of Nature in Israel. Its high level of salinity means its waters are incredibly rich in minerals and the health benefits of bathing in the Dead Sea have long been touted, though it is so salty that the water cannot support marine life HISTORY OF THE DEAD SEA The Dead Sea carries considerable biblical and religious significance. During the Biblical period, different sects of Jews used to live in caves near the Dead Sea, most notably the Essesnes, who are thought to have left the impressive Dead Sea Scrolls in the caves of Qumran. The scrolls are a collection of more than 25,000 ancient manuscript fragments, among which can be found the oldest known copies of books of the Hebrew Bible. They were first found in the Qumran Caves near the Dead Sea in 1946 and their discovery was described by biologist Oded Rechavi of Israel's Tel Aviv University as 'one of the most important archaeological discoveries ever made'. The scrolls are now being painstakingly pieced back together by archaeologists. The scrolls are a collection of more than 25,000 ancient manuscript fragments, among which can be found the oldest known copies of books of the Hebrew Bible. They were first found in the Qumran Caves near the Dead Sea in 1946 The Dead Sea Scrolls are being pieced back together using DNA 'fingerprints' lifted from the animal skins on which they were written some 2,000 years ago. Pictured: a scroll fragment Sodom and Gomorrah, the famous cities mentioned in the Book of Genesis, are believed to have been on the Dead Sea's southeastern shore, while Ein Gedi, now a nature reserve near the Dead Sea, is mentioned in the Bible as the place where King David - the man who famously killed Goliath - hid from Saul. Meanwhile, in the modern era, scientists from Israel and Germany discovered in 2011 that the floor of the Dead Sea contains fissures which allow fresh water to bubble up from below the sea bed. Despite the water's salinity making the environment inhospitable to marine life, many species of bacteria and archaea live on the sea floor and feed off the minerals that rise up through the fissures, while the area's atmospheric pressure, warmth and mineral rich water makes it a go-to destination with mythical healing qualities. Boris Johnson is set to delay the introduction of some post-Brexit checks on EU imports amid fears they could cause food shortages over the Christmas period, it was claimed today. The UK is supposed to be introducing a fresh wave of checks and requirements on imports of animal origin and certain foods from next month. But the roll-out could now be pushed back by six months in what would be the second time the checks have been delayed. Boris Johnson is set to delay the introduction of some post-Brexit checks on EU imports, it was claimed today The EU imposed its post-Brexit checks on UK imports in full from January but Britain has opted for a gradual shift to the new arrangements for goods coming from the continent. The Government decided back in March of this year to delay introducing some of the checks. Business chiefs fear the extra paperwork could combine with the ongoing shortage of HGV drivers to result in food shortages. They are also concerned that the added red tape could lead to shoppers facing higher prices in supermarkets. Whitehall officials told The Telegraph that a decision to delay the introduction of the checks is now highly likely. It is thought a further delay of six months is one of the options being considered. Any decision to push back the roll-out of the new checks is likely to reignite concerns in Whitehall over prolonging uncertainty for businesses. One senior business figure told the newspaper: 'I wouldn't be surprised if they delayed, given the pressure it is going to put on supply chains coming into the country.' The UK is supposed to be introducing a fresh wave of checks and requirements on imports of animal origin and certain foods from next month. The Port of Dover is pictured in April 2021 The expected move on the checks on EU imports to the UK comes amid a rumbling row between the two sides over the movement of goods from GB to Northern Ireland. Earlier this month Brussels and Britain agreed to extend a truce over the introduction of some checks in Northern Ireland. Talks remain ongoing on finding permanent solutions to disruption caused by the Northern Ireland Protocol but little progress is being made. Boris Johnson could meet Joe Biden at the White House when he goes to America for the UN general assembly, it emerged today. The PM is due to travel to New York later this month for the annual gathering of world leaders. And there is speculation he will take the opportunity to hold a bilateral meeting with the US president. The talks could potentially take place at the White House in Washington DC, although No10 insisted that details of the itinerary have not been finalised. Face-to-face discussions could help clear the air between the two leaders after the chaotic Afghanistan withdrawal. Boris Johnson could meet Joe Biden at the White House when he goes to America for the UN general assembly (pictured together at the G7 in Cornwall this summer) The talks could potentially take place at the White House in Washington DC, although No10 insisted that details of the itinerary have not been finalised Mr Biden was blamed by many Tories for the decision to leave so quickly, with the subsequent collapse of the Afghan government then forcing an emergency airlift of Western citizens and local allies from Kabul. The UK appealed for Mr Biden to push back his August 31 deadline for all US troops to depart, but was rebutted on security grounds. There have also been claims that Mr Johnson was kept waiting for 36 hours when he requested a call with the president - although he was the first foreign leader spoken to. Mr Johnson is also likely to push Mr Biden on how much America will contribute to an international climate change fund, being put together to coincide with the COP26 summit in Glasgow later this autumn. A diplomatic source told The Times that having 'whinged in public' about Afghanistan Mr Johnson needed to build bridges. 'The reality is that the UK went along with the Taliban negotiations under Trump that led to the withdrawal date being set,' the source said. 'Whether we like it or not America is still the leader of the free world and if we want to have influence on issues like Russia, China and climate change we can't do it on our own.' Bomb-sniffing dogs that were left behind at Kabul airport during the chaotic US withdrawal now work for Taliban contractors who rescued them from cages. Dozens of dogs were discovered in US forces and Afghan police zones of the airport by employees of a company contracted to handle site security. The workers are now training the dogs before putting them back to work as the airport gradually reopens following a month-long shut down after the Taliban swept to power on August 15. While it is unclear who the dogs belonged to, many were found in the section of the airport that was used by American forces, and some were trained to sniff out explosives, their new handlers say. The animals are among the remnants of the two-decade American intervention which ended with the hurried airlift of more than 120,000 people from Kabul in August. Dozens of dogs left behind during last month's chaotic evacuation of Afghanistan have found a new home, and new handlers, in a makeshift training centre at Kabul airport The dogs, found in Kabul Airport following the US withdrawal on August 30, are thought to be trained to sniff out explosives The dogs are being cared for by handler Hewad Azizi, who works for a company handling security at the airport, who started searching for abandoned animals as the chaotic US-led evacuation came to an end on August 30 The dogs were found in cages in US forces and Afghan police zones of the airport after the US-led evacuation ended The dogs are now being fed, cared for and trained by Hewad Azizi, who works for a company handling security at the airport, and his colleagues at the security company's training centre, housed in two converted shipping containers separated by a weed-strewn strip of earth. He said he went out looking for abandoned dogs as soon as the last US soldier left. 'When I saw [the soldiers leaving] I went to save the dogs,' Azizi said at the training centre, which faces hangars that were used for US planes and military equipment. He found 30 - half of them in the area that was controlled by US forces. More were found in zones that belonged to former Afghan police. The dogs are now being fed, cared for and trained by Azizi and his colleagues at the security company's training centre, housed in two converted shipping containers separated by a weed-strewn strip of earth. The United States pulled its final troops out of Afghanistan on August 30, ending America's longest war just ahead of the anniversary of the September 11, 2001 attacks that prompted the US-led invasion. Hours after the last soldier left, animal rights group PETA said in a statement that 60 bomb-sniffing dogs and 60 other 'working dogs' were left behind by the US forces. The group appealed to President Joe Biden 'to take immediate action', warning that the dogs were 'suffering in the heat without adequate access to food or water'. At least 30 dogs were found in the airport following the US withdrawal on August 30 - half of them in the area that was controlled by US forces with more were found in zones that belonged to former Afghan police The dogs are now being fed, cared for and trained at the airport security company's training centre, housed in two converted shipping containers separated by a weed-strewn strip of earth The Pentagon has denied abandoning dogs in cages at the airport during the chaotic evacuation of Kabul in August, but the new handlers claim to have found the animals in a US forces zone Kabul animal rescuer Pen Farthing's evacuation of nearly 200 dogs and cats Former Marine Paul 'Pen' Farthing ran a campaign to get nearly 200 dogs and cats out of Afghanistan after they got stuck when the Taliban swept to power in August. They were evacuated on a MoD flight out of the Afghan capital on August 28. British soldiers helped load the animals on to a privately chartered plane as they prepared to return to the UK. The 100 dogs and 70 cats were in a 'very good condition' in quarantine kennels across the UK, with hundreds of people looking to adopt them. He also managed to get 68 staff at his animal welfare charity Nowzad out of the country in 'Operation Ark'. The campaign drew stark criticism for wasting troops' time during an evacuation which turned into a race against time for families fleeing the Islamists before they imposed their brutal rule. Advertisement The Pentagon quickly denied that US military personnel abandoned some of their dogs at the airport. 'To correct erroneous reports, the US military did not leave any dogs in cages at Hamid Karzai International Airport, including the reported military working dogs,' Pentagon spokesman John Kirby tweeted. Azizi and his colleagues are not sure about the identity of the previous owners. All they are focusing on now is how to put them back to work when the airport returns to normal. 'We have done training with them to find out what they are used for exactly,' he explained, adding that they have realised 'they are bomb dogs'. Azizi's favourite dog, Rex, a dark brown Malinois, is one of the recent discoveries. Every day, he takes Rex for a walk in a small deserted area a few metres away from three old Afghan Air Force planes. In a small stretch of land littered with bullet cases and empty bags of US military meal rations, he hides a box that smells like explosives and sends Rex to find it. Seconds later, Rex returns with the box and is given a ball to play with as a reward. 'We train them to see how we can use them,' explained Mohamad Mourid, a supervisor at the centre which operates under the umbrella of GAAC, the UAE-based company handling ground and security operations at the airport since last year. 'We feed them, give them water, and clean them.' Soon the dogs will be put to work as the airport, which shut for repairs after the evacuations, gradually reopens. The dogs new handlers are focused on putting the dogs, thought to be able to sniff out explosives, back to work at the airport as commercial flights resume The dogs handlers have been testing the animals' ability to sniff out explosives, planting items that smell like bombs in a wasteland of littered h bullet cases and empty bags of US military meal rations The dogs were found in cages in US Forces and former Afghan police zones of the airport after the chaotic evacuation of Kabul came to an end on August 30 President Biden's younger brother Jim and son Hunter are accused of using his union ties to land clients when they ran an investment firm, according to a new book. It describes how they allegedly used the then senator's name to drum up business for Paradigm Global Advisors, which they ran in the mid-2000s 'Dont worry about investors, ' Jim Biden reportedly told staff on his first day at the company. 'Weve got people all around the world who want to invest in Joe Biden.' The story of their time at Paradigm Global Advisors is told by Ben Schreckinger in 'The Bidens: Inside the First Family's Fifty-Year Rise to Power.' It includes allegations of Hunter's drug use at the time and claims they used the family name in their business dealings. 'Jims job,' one of his former business partners told Schreckinger, 'is to ensure the lifestyle is good for the family.' Lawyers for the two men dispute many of the alleged conversations in the book and they are not accused of any criminal wrongdoing in their business dealings. The new account claims their takeover of the firm was part of a plan to find a proper job for Hunter in 2006 so that his role as a lobbyist would not cause problems for Biden while he prepared a run for the Democratic presidential nomination. Anthony Lotito, a business partner, later alleged in court lings that Jim had called him saying that Hunter's position with William Oldaker, a campaign counsel and treasurer for his father, could be a liability. Hunter and Jim denied that any such call was made. Jim Biden is photographed with his older brother at an ice cream store in West Virginia during Joe Biden's second run for president in 2008. It was at about this time that Jim was working with Hunter Biden at Paradigm Global Advisors Former Paradigm executives said James and Hunter Biden used the former senator and VPs ties to labor unions to land investments 'The Bidens: Inside the First Family's Fifty-year Rise to Power' by Ben Shreckinger is published by Twelve Books on Sept. 21 Either way, the three of them pursued Paradigm, which was founded by James Park, who had been married to a daughter of religious leader Sun Myung Moon. Jim and Hunter put together a bid for $21 million, using family allies for financing, and with a plan to make Biden's son chief executive, says the book. The company's former chief compliance officer, who spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of retaliation, described the day they took over. He said they arrived with another family member, Beau Biden, 'and a couple of large men,' and ordered him to fire the firm's president. 'Jim had a plan,' says an excerpt printed by the New York Post. It was then he allegedly told the executive that people all around the world wanted to invest in Joe Biden. 'In case the chief compliance ofcer did not get the picture, Jim painted it more vividly for him: "We've got investors lined up in a line of 747s lled with cash ready to invest in this company." 'Beau was then in the middle of his rst attorney generals race. His face turned red with anger, the executive recalled. "This is not why we are making this investment," Beau told his uncle. '"This can never leave this room. And if you ever say it again, I will have nothing to do with this."' The book adds that a lawyer for Jim and Hunter said no such episode ever took place. While Beau Biden had followed his father into politics, the book says Hunter Biden followed his uncle as a 'Biden family breadwinner,' and the pair sought to enlist Joe Biden's political allies. A few months after they took over the company, Democrats took control of the Senate and Biden became chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee. Over the past few years, several accusations of Joe Biden's relatives attempting to profit from his public standing have arisen. The new book details the period when Jim Biden (pictured with wife Sara)was running Paradigm with his nephew Hunter 'The United States was near the height of its global power and prestige. Few people had more say over the running of this globe-spanning empire than Joe did,' wrote Schreckinger. However, the pair quickly realized their new firm was far less valuable, with fewer assets under its management, than they had believed. They ditched Lotito and made Park a new, reduced offer of $8 million, which he accepted. Park stayed on to help run the business. 'The chief compliance ofcer said the collaboration was complicated by the fact that Park and Hunter were avid users of cocaine, both during work and after-hours,' according to the book. 'The executive said Hunter once offered him the drug, but he declined. 'I gured that wasn't right for a compliance ofcer to be doing drugs,' he said. 'The executive also said that after work, Park and Hunter would sometimes go to a nearby hotel to do coke and party. He would get notications that cash had been withdrawn from a company account from an ATM on the route between the two.' Lotito sued Jim and Hunter, saying they had unfairly kept him in the dark as they acquired the firm and wielded their 'family's clout as a cudgel.' 'The Bidens refused to pay the bill, repeatedly citing their political connections and family status as a basis for disclaiming the obligation,' his complaint alleged. 'The Bidens threatened to use their alleged connections with a former United States Senator to retaliate against counsel for insisting that his bill be paid, claiming that the former senator was prepared to use his inuence with a federal judge to disadvantage counsel in a proceeding then pending before that court.' The case was eventually settled. But at that time, the Biden's were trying to recruit Chuck Provini, an investment industry veteran, as their new president. '"Joe Biden needs to distance himself from this," they told him, "Would you consider the job?" 'Jim and Hunter assured Provini that Joes labor connections would help them land investments from union pension funds,' wrote Schreckinger. '"I was told because of his relationships with the unions that they felt as though it would be favorably looked upon to invest in the fund," Provini told me.' He also sued the pair and the case was settled. 'The chief compliance ofcer said that his new bosses understood political relationships better than they understood the mechanics of hedge funds,' added the book. 'He recalled one week where a succession of reghters paraded into the ofce over the course of a few days and asked to speak with him. They would offer explanations like, "Were friends of Joe, and we want to invest in the fund."' They would drop off checks for a few thousand dollars each and it later emerged that Jim had allegedly been doing the rounds at a nearby firefighters convention. But the checks were too small to meet that minimum investment of the fund. Again, a lawyer for Jim and Hunter said no such thing happened. Both uncle and nephew have been accused in the past of using their family name to further their business interests. Republicans have pored over Hunter Biden's role with Burisma, a Ukrainian energy company at a time when Vice President Biden was helping conduct the Obama administrations foreign policy with Ukraine. Advertisement Dozens more migrants arrived in Kent today after crossing the English Channel with babies among those on board, as figures revealed nearly 2,000 arrived in the last week - setting a new record for the year so far. Several young children were among a group seen arriving in Dungeness, while immigration officers tended to a woman who had been taken ill after she was brought ashore on a stretcher by police and members of the RNLI. Along the coast at Dover, a further group of migrants were brought into the marina on a Border Force vessel. The crossings come amid reports of cooler and slightly overcast weather today with breezy but clear conditions at sea. A total of 1,959 people crossed the Channel from France in the week to September 10 - the highest total for any seven-day period in 2021 - and at least 14,400 people have now crossed to the UK on board small boats this year. Figures for the most recent seven-day period, the week to September 12, show 1,876 people arrived. The total for 2021 is already about 6,000 higher than the number of people who made the crossing in 2020, which was 8,410. The Government is facing huge pressure to reduce the numbers, with Priti Patel promising to pay France 54.2million to tackle the problem, although a 28.2million payment in November failed to stop the crossings. The Home Secretary is also planning to spend 200million on a fleet of patrol boats to replace Border Force's five ageing cutters, which detect illegal immigration and smuggling. A woman carries a child after group of migrants were brought into Dungeness today by an RNLI lifeboat A RNLI boat with migrants onboard is met by Border Force officers and police at the beach in Dungeness today Police officers and members of the RNLI carry a person from a boat after migrants arrive at Dungeness today Migrants walks on the beach alongside Border Force officers in Dungeness today as Channel crossings continue A group of migrants including children are helped up a pebbled beach by Border Force officers at Dungeness in Kent today Immigration Enforcement officers and the RNLI assist a group of migrants after they were brought into Dungeness today A migrant walks along the beach holding a child at Dungeness in Kent today as the Channel crossings continue Members of the RNLI and Immigration Enforcement officers assist a group of people brought into Dungeness today A group of migrants walk along the beach at Dungeness in Kent today after arriving on an RNLI lifeboat Immigration Enforcement officers and members of the RNLI assist a group of migrants at Dungeness today The 50 migrants at Dungeness were brought in at about 2pm and were seen clinging onto the railings of the lifeboat. Police kept a watchful eye as they disembarked one by one and made their way up the shingle beach. Border Force officers could be seen escorting them along the pebbled beach to be processed. Meanwhile at Dover - where migrants are usually brought in after crossing on small boats - one group was detained by 8am. A man wearing a lifejacket appeared very uneasy on his feet as he was escorted up the gangway by Immigration Enforcement. Some 20 migrants were brought in on Border Force rigid hulled inflatable boats at around 11am. Border Force cutter Hunter docked shortly afterwards with around 40 migrants on board as the smaller black rigid hulled inflatable boats continued to simultaneously bring others into harbour. Many of today's arrivals were draped in light blue blankets for warmth as conditions at sea turned choppy and windy. At least 100 migrants are believed to have arrived today but the Home Office is yet to confirm this. It comes after officials revealed today that UK authorities rescued or intercepted 75 migrants in four boats yesterday. French authorities also prevented 42 people from reaching the UK on three boats. A graph showing the number of migrants crossing the Channel on small boats since 2019. The figure has increased each year A woman is helped through the water and onto the beach at Dungeness today after arriving on an RNLI boat Police officers carry a person from a boat after a group of migrants were brought into Dungeness today A RNLI boat with migrants onboard arrives at Dungeness today as people continue to cross the Channel in small boats An officer from Immigration Enforcement escorts a child along the beach at Dungeness today Police officers and members of the RNLI carry a person from a boat after an arrival of migrants at Dungeness today A man carries a child on the beach today after a group of migrants were brought into Dungeness by an RNLI lifeboat A RNLI boat with migrants onboard arrives at the harbour in Dungeness today as small boat crossings continue Police officers carry a person from a boat after migrants are brought into Dungeness by an RNLI lifeboat today An officer from Immigration Enforcement carries a child along the beach after migrants were brought into Dungeness today The latest figures take the total to make the crossing in September to 2,034 in 57 boats. So far this year, 14,461 migrants have arrived compared to 2020's record total of 8,410. Dan O'Mahoney, Clandestine Channel Threat Commander, said: 'This unacceptable rise in dangerous crossings is being driven by criminal gangs and a surge in illegal migration across Europe. 'We're determined to target the criminals at every level, so far, we have secured nearly 300 arrests, 65 convictions and prevented more than 10,000 migrant attempts. But there is more to do. 'The Government's New Plan for Immigration is the only credible way to fix the broken asylum system, breaking the business model of criminal gangs and welcoming people through safe and legal routes.' Meanwhile, Border Force officers are set to use X-ray medical technology to confirm the age of migrants arriving here after a string of high profile cases in which would-be asylum seekers falsely claimed to be under 18. One spent six weeks as a Year 11 pupil at a school in Ipswich in 2018 before the local authority discovered he was years older. Immigration Enforcement officers and members of the RNLI assist migrants from an RNLI lifeboat at Dungeness today People are helped by Border Force officers at the harbour in Dungeness today following another set of arrivals in Kent A RNLI boat with migrants onboard ps met by Border Force officers and police at Dungeness today Border Force officers and police at Dungeness meet a boat carrying migrants at Dungeness today A RNLI boat with migrants rescued from the English Channel arrives at Dungeness today Police officers and members of the RNLI carry a person from a boat after more migrants arrived at Dungeness today An Immigration Officer tends to a woman who has been taken ill as migrants are brought into Dungeness today An RNLI boat with migrants rescued from the English Channel arrives at the beach in Dungeness today Migrants walk across the beach after they were brought into Dungeness by an RNLI lifeboat today A RNLI boat, with migrants rescued from the English Channel is met by Border Force officers and Police at Dungeness today At present, social workers simply study the appearance, behaviour and language of those claiming to be children to assess whether they are telling the truth. But according to a Government document seen by The Mail on Sunday, x-rays of teeth and wrist bones could be used to provide a more accurate picture of a young person's age. The UK is one of only a few countries not to use scientific methods to check the ages of asylum seekers. Officials are now said to be looking for a private sector firm to carry out assessments at several sites. The document says: 'The initial estimate is for a requirement of approximately 1,000 assessments a year. However, this will fluctuate, potentially significantly. 'It is understood that the use of X-rays are the most common form of imaging techniques for these purposes, but other methods would not be precluded if they can be demonstrated to be viable and effective and the exact type of X-ray is still to be determined.' A group of migrants are brought into Dungeness by an RNLI lifeboat following a small boat crossing in the Channel today Migrants stand on a beach in Dungeness today after arriving on the Kent coast by an RNLI lifeboat Members of the RNLI assist a group of migrants as they walk across the beach in Dungeness today An Immigration Officer tends to a woman who has been taken ill following an arrival of migrants at Dungeness today A group of migrants are brought in to Dungeness today by the RNLI following a small boat incident in the Channel The RNLI brings in a group of migrants at Dungeness today following a another small boat crossing in the Channel An Immigration Officer tends to a woman who has been taken ill as migrants are brought into Dungeness today Home Office research has found up to 54 per cent of migrants claiming to be children were over 18. Ahmed Hassan, an Iraqi asylum seeker who planted a bomb on the London Underground in 2017 that partially exploded, injuring 23 people, pretended to be 16. But a judge who jailed the Iraqi for 34 years in 2018 said he was satisfied he was over 18. The British Dental Association has vigorously opposed the use of dental X-rays to determine whether asylum seekers have reached the age of 18, stressing they are an inaccurate method for assessing age. The association also says it is 'inappropriate and unethical to take radiographs of people when there is no health benefit for them'. Migrants rescued from the English Channel by UK Border Force officials arrive at the harbour in Dover today A migrant rescued from the English Channel by Border Force officers arrives at the harbour in Dover today Migrants arrive at the harbour in Dover after being rescued from the English Channel by UK Border Force officials Migrants are brought in to Dover today by a Border Force patrol boat following a small boat incident in the Channel Migrants rescued from the English Channel by UK Border Force officials arrive at the harbour in Dover today Migrants are brought in to Dover today by a Border Force patrol boat following a small boat incident in the Channel Migrants rescued from the English Channel by UK Border Force arrive at the harbour in Dover today Migrants rescued from the English Channel by UK Border Force arrive at the harbour in Dover today A man who is among a group of migrants arriving at Dover today is brought in to the marina on the Kent coast A group of migrants are brought in to Dover today by a Border Force patrol boat following a small boat incident in the Channel Migrants are brought in to Dover today by a Border Force patrol boat following a small boat incident in the Channel Migrants are brought in to Dover today by a Border Force patrol boat after crossing the English Channel A man is brought into Dover today by a Border Force patrol boat following a small boat incident in the Channel Migrants sit on a boat as they are brought in to Dover today by a Border Force patrol boat Migrants rescued from the English Channel by Border Force officials arrive at the harbour in Dover today Yesterday Alp Mehmet, chairman of the Migration Watch UK think-tank, said: 'Adult migrants claiming to be children has long been an issue at the border, with an over-readiness to accept the word of claimants. 'We are among very few European countries that don't use scientific evidence in verifying age. 'It has been a major hole in our defences that traffickers have been only too ready to exploit. If this is now going to change, it is a welcome development.' A Home Office spokesman said: 'We are seeing an unacceptable rise in dangerous and unnecessary small boat crossings. That's why we continue to explore all options available to bring these numbers down.' Advertisement Some of California's cutest surfers hit the waves to raise money for their orphaned friends in need. The 16th annual Surf Dog Surf-A-Thon at was held at Del Mar Dog Beach Sunday afternoon to raise money for pets at Helen Woodward Animal Center. The dogs, alongside their owners, competed in front of a panel of judges consisting of surf pros and aficionados. Sporting tuxedos, sunglasses, mohawks and other festive costumes, the competitors - championing for the title of Best in Surf - were judged on the length of their creativity, ride, wave technique, enthusiasm and confidence on the board. Surfing dogs participated in the 16th Annual Surf Dog Surf-A-Thon at Del Mar Dog Beach in California on Sunday Derby the surfing dog (in tuxedo) competed at Sunday's competition which aimed to raise money for orphaned pets at Helen Woodward Animal Center Kioni Russell Gallahue and his surfing partner Derby pose prior to competing in Sunday's festivities Michael Willis and his surfing partner Bridget compete at the 16th Annual Surf Dog Surf-A-Thon at Del Mar Dog Beach. Willis said: 'We wanted to have as much fun as we could. It feels good to participate to help humans giving back. It felt like riding on top of the world' The Helen Woodward Animal Center offers 14 unique program aimed at helping animals The funds raised from Surf Dog Surf-A-Thon registration and event spornshorhsip will be used towards helping the Helen Woodward Animal Center care for rescued dogs 'It's all really showing that animals help us and we help them, and really using that to create as many programs as we have to bring that beautiful love of animals and people who love animals to the world,' Jessica Gercke with Helen Woodward Animal Center told CBS 8. 'It's just really lovely to see people out here and how happy they are, and I think we've needed a day like this for a long time.' Micheal Willis, who surfed with his dog, told the TV station he was glad they participated in the event. Jessica Gercke, with Helen Woodward Animal Center, said the event 'really shows that animals help us and we help them' Three dogs were seen sharing one surf board during the competition Surfing dogs Derby (L) and Teddy compete at the 16th Annual Surf Dog Surf-A-Thon A group of participants pose for a photo at Del Mar Dog Beach The dogs are tasked with showing off their best talents. The dog pictured above caught frisbees while surfing Homer Henard and his surfing partner Skyler (dog) were among several competitors to hit the waves on Sunday afternoon 'We did good,' Willis said. 'We wanted to have as much fun as we could. It feels good to participate to help humans giving back. It felt like riding on top of the world.' The Helen Woodward Animal Center offers 14 unique program aimed at helping animals. The funds raised from Surf Dog Surf-A-Thon registration and event spornshorhsip will be used towards helping the shelter care for rescued dogs. Kioni Russell Gallahue and his surfing partner Derby exit the water after competing at the 16th Annual Surf Dog Surf-A-Thon A dog sporting sunglasses comptetes at the annual doggie surf competition A woman poses on a surf board with her two dogs Kioni Russell Gallahue and his surfing partner Derby (L) and Homer Henard with his surfing partner Skyler (R) pose for a photo at Del Mar Dog Beach One competitor sported a sailor's outfit Michael Willis and his surfing partner Bridget compete at the 16th Annual Surf Dog Surf-A-Thon at Del Mar Dog Beach Competitors, such as the dog pictured above, were judged on the length of their creativity, ride, wave technique, enthusiasm and confidence on the board A dog and owner compete in the doggie surf competition A group of dogs compete in Sunday's Annual Surf Dog Surf-A-Thon Dan Nykolayko assists surfing dog Faith were smong the event participants Three dogs surf together during Sunday's competition Surfing dog Teddy waits for his turn to compete at the 16th Annual Surf Dog Surf-A-Thon A masseur who sexually assaulted four women while giving them naked massages has been jailed for three years. Callum Urquhart, from Bristol but recently living in Arbroath, Scotland, was convicted of six charges of sexual assault following a trial at Salisbury Crown Court. Sentencing the 38-year-old at Winchester Crown Court, Judge Angela Morris told him: 'None of these women had agreed to receive anything apart from a conventional massage and on each occasion, they were vulnerable and exposed. 'You exploited the situation for your own sexual gratification.' She said that one of the victims had sent Urquhart a personal message warning him 'that you can't behave like that without gaining their consent' to which he had replied saying he 'promised to take it on board'. The judge added: 'You are assessed of posing a serious risk of harm to women by way of inappropriate sexual behaviour towards them.' As well as the prison sentence, Urquhart was made subject to a sexual harm prevention order banning him from advertising or engaging in paid or unpaid massage services. Callum Urquhart, from Bristol but recently living in Arbroath, Scotland, was convicted of six charges of sexual assault following a trial at Salisbury Crown Court Sentencing the 38-year-old at Winchester Crown Court, Judge Angela Morris told him: 'None of these women had agreed to receive anything apart from a conventional massage and on each occasion, they were vulnerable and exposed' Rob Welling, prosecuting, said that Urquhart, who was not formally trained, would carry out the massages at the women's homes, as well as at his own, in incidents which date back to 2018. He said the victims had been left 'ashamed', 'confused' and 'angry' at the assaults. He described how the first victim had booked the massage to be carried out at her home. Mr Welling said: 'She became completely naked and he placed a towel over her private parts. The defendant would lift the towel off in an unnecessary fashion in the course of the lengthy massage. 'The defendant touched her around the area of her naked groin on numerous occasions.' Mr Welling added that Urquhart would also rub his own groin against his victim's hand. As well as the prison sentence, Urquhart was made subject to a sexual harm prevention order banning him from advertising or engaging in paid or unpaid massage services He said: 'She became increasingly panicked as the massage progressed to the point where she wanted desperately to get rid of him and she texted her sister and partner who got (a neighbour) to come and pretend to fix the boiler and managed to get rid of him.' In a statement read to the court, the victim said: 'This incident has caused me great personal, emotional and psychological trauma and to cause me to question my own judgment. I still have flashbacks.' Mr Welling said that the defendant 'crossed the boundaries' set by the second victim on numerous occasions and he also 'crouched in an awkward way' to rub himself against her. She said in her statement: 'I felt embarrassed and ashamed, I told myself I was OK because I hadn't been raped. He asked how far up my leg he could go then ignored my instructions.' The third victim said: 'I was angry and feeling violated and being taken advantage of.' Mr Welling said the fourth victim 'left a very forthright and blunt review for him, telling him what she thought of his professionalism and how the massage had gone.' Heathrow Airport is demanding the British Government end all testing for fully-jabbed travellers as it struggles to recuperate business lost to the Covid-19 pandemic. It also wants the amber list to be scrapped after August figures revealed it had gone from being the busiest travel hub in Europe in 2019 to the tenth - behind rival cities such as Amsterdam, Paris and Frankfurt. Last month saw 2.2 million passengers travel through the London airport, up from 1.5 million in July, a 48% increase, and the busiest month of the pandemic so far. However the numbers are still a far cry from the pre-pandemic era, which saw 7.7 million passengers in August 2019 - meaning numbers are still down by 71%. Heathrow urged the Government to 'streamline' the rules for international travel, including the scrapping of the amber list and the introduction of a two-tier system. Under the airport's proposals, fully vaccinated arrivals from green list locations would no longer be required to take a test, whereas those who are not fully vaccinated would need to take lateral flow tests pre-departure and post-arrival. Only those who test positive would need to take a more expensive PCR test. Heathrow Airport (pictured) wants the amber list to be scrapped after August figures revealed it had gone from being the busiest travel hub in Europe in 2019 to the tenth - behind rival cities such as Amsterdam, Paris and Frankfurt Hotel quarantine would be retained for arrivals from high-risk red list countries. Current rules require all those entering the UK to pay for a PCR coronavirus test on or before the second day after their arrival, no matter what their vaccination status. Those arriving from countries on the Governments amber list also have to take a pre-departure test, which can be a PCR or lateral flow test. The test is not required for green list countries, while those travelling from red list nations must pay to stay in UK quarantine hotels for ten days. Heathrow chief executive John Holland-Kaye said: 'The Government has the tools to protect the UK's international competitiveness which will boost the economic recovery and achieve its 'global Britain' ambitions. 'If ministers fail to take this opportunity to streamline the travel rules then the UK will fall further behind as trade and tourists will increasingly bypass the UK.' It comes after the Mail on Sunday revealed the Government is poised to announce that double-jabbed travellers will no longer have to take expensive PCR Covid tests when returning to the UK. Officials are reportedly working towards scrapping the requirement for green and amber list countries before the half-term holidays next month, providing a huge boost for millions of holidaymakers and the beleaguered travel industry. Travellers will no longer need Covid tests before leaving for Britain, while the unpopular PCR tests currently required on the second day after arrival will be replaced by cheaper lateral flow tests. The move will slash the cost of family holidays by hundreds of pounds. Currently, the PCR test can cost more than 100, while the NHS offers free lateral flow tests. The plan will be discussed this week by Boris Johnson, Chancellor Rishi Sunak, Health Secretary Sajid Javid and Cabinet Office Minister Michael Gove who form the so-called Covid-O committee. British Airways chief executive Sean Doyle today said Government policy is 'the biggest single enabler' of airlines recovering from the virus crisis The Mail on Sunday revealed the Government is poised to announce that double-jabbed travellers will no longer have to take expensive PCR Covid tests when returning to the UK The change would also tackle fears that some PCR firms are profiteering and could provide an incentive for people to be vaccinated, as the new rules would only apply to those who have been double jabbed. Travellers will still be required to adhere to the testing rules of the country to which they are travelling but most EU countries have abandoned the requirement for PCR tests for the fully vaccinated. Details for those under the age of 16 arriving in the UK are still being finalised but the intention is for them to be subject to the same system. Current test rules would remain in place for those not double jabbed. There has been mounting anger about the cost of PCR tests, with a family of four often having to spend 600 or more. The Competition and Markets Authority last week reported widespread complaints of dodgy pricing practices to unfair terms to failure to provide tests on time or at all. MPs have demanded answers from the Border Force chief as long queues have plagued Heathrow in recent weeks (pictured) Oxford University academic Ayushi Aruna Agarwal and Eshita Sharma, a Twitter user, both complained of long queues last week It comes after Heathrow chairman and CEO Sean Doyle said last week that the traffic light system was not fit for purpose. He said: 'We had the traffic light system over the summer. There was some progress made. But I think it's not fit for purpose. It needs to be simplified. It needs to be adapted in the same way that we see in Europe and in the US.' Meanwhile Gatwick CEO Stewart Wingate called for testing to be removed altogether for travellers who have been double jabbed. 'Other countries have done this and their aviation sectors are recovering much faster with bookings in Europe recovering twice as fast as in the UK,' he said. A wider overhaul of the rules is scheduled to take place by October 1. It comes after Tory MPs demanded answers from the head of Border Force last week over the Heathrow queuing scandal as pressure mounted on Priti Patel to fix the 'carnage' at immigration during yet another week of huge waits. Paul Lincoln, the agency's director general, has not commented publicly on the issue in recent weeks, while there are increasing calls for his boss, the Home Secretary, to take meaningful action. Mr Lincoln, a career civil servant who has also served in the Ministry of Defence and Cabinet Office, had his salary bumped up from 130,000-135,000 to between 135,000 and 140,000 in the last financial year, accounts show. 'They need to explain what's going on': Border Force chief on 140,000-a-year was made an OBE amid Heathrow chaos Paul Lincoln: Director General, Border Force Paul Lincoln Mr Lincoln has had a long career in the civil service, which included serving in the Ministry of Defence and Cabinet Office. Immediately prior to this appointment, he was Director General of the Crime, Policing and Fire Group (CPFG), which included overseeing reforms to the police and fire services, according to his official biography. Before that, he was Acting Director General of the Office for Security and Counter-Terrorism (OSCT) in the Home Office, covering terrorism and organised crime. Mr Lincoln has been the Home Office's Gender Equality Champion, and in 2020 spoke about how the civil service could use data to ensure diversity targets were being met. Home Office accounts for the financial year 2020-21 reveal he had his salary bumped up from 130,000-135,000 to between 135,000 and 140,000. In May, quizzed about long queues at Heathrow, he said new Covid health checks at the border meant it took five to ten minutes to process every passenger. In June, he was made an OBE for services to border security in the Queen's Birthday Honours list. In July, it was announced he will leave his role as director general and be replaced by Tony Eastaugh, a former national counter-terror gold commander. Advertisement He has overseen a summer of Heathrow border chaos dating back to at least May, when some passengers reported three-hour waits at passport gates. In July, it was announced he will soon leave his current role, a month after being made an OBE for services to border security. Former Tory leader Sir Iain Duncan-Smith and James Gray, MP for North Wiltshire, called on senior officials including Mr Lincoln to explain what is causing the 'unacceptable' queues. 'They should explain what's happening and why there are delays,' Mr Duncan-Smith told MailOnline. 'They are running a public service and they should be open to the public. 'Number one they've got to explain what the problem is and why they weren't able to cope. Then we can work out what to do about it.' Mr Gray said: 'The Home Affairs Select Committee needs to get these people in front of them so we can find out exactly what's going on. It's their responsibility. 'The current situation is complete carnage - there's no bit of it that's acceptable. 'I cannot believe that all these people are self-isolating, I cannot believe there are not enough staff, and I cannot believe Heathrow isn't kicking and screaming about this.' Travel industry figures have warned the chaotic scenes were blighting the UK's global reputation while running the risk of a spike in Covid cases further jeopardising the already crisis-hit tourism sector and stifling business with the post-Brexit UK. Oxford University academic Ayushi Aruna Agarwal tweeted last week: 'Hello from the immigration line at London Heathrow. 'They plan to make us spend 5 hours in close proximity with people from all over the globe here and then self-isolate for 10 days. Great plan.' A second passenger, Eshita Sharma, posted: 'Welcome to UK with a veeeeeeery [sic] long queue and no water (or tea). 'My immigration bubble at Heathrow terminal 2. Should have brought a tent, a sleeping bag, and a mirror to see myself age in real time.' The Home Office blamed the queues on the need to check Covid documents - in addition to families with young children not being able to use e-gates because the facial recognition technology does not work with under-12s. But travellers have insisted their Covid-related paperwork has barely been checked by Border Force guards because most of the work is done by airlines. Travel journalist Simon Calder told MailOnline: 'All the evidence I am seeing is that the outsourcing of paperwork checks to airlines, ferry firms and train operators means minimal checks coming into the UK. 'Because the airline has to check the UK-bound 'fit to fly' and passenger locator form which can't be completed until a post-arrival test is booked the Border Force, in my experience, is simply wanting to verify identity. 'Personally I don't have a problem with this last week in Berlin I was checked and re-checked by Ryanair staff before my flight to Stansted, and on arrival I was through in one minute flat. 'But as a result it's a stretch claiming that the long queues at Heathrow are down to extra checks.' A Home Office source told MailOnline that while carriers did carry out checks Border Force guards 'also had a role in scrutinising documents', including passenger locator forms. On Tuesday, Mr Johnson will set out his plan to combat Covid-19 this winter, when a rise in cases is predicted. He is expected to say that vaccines will remain the first line of defence and downplay the prospect of another lockdown by repealing several Government powers including the ability to close sectors of the economy, curtail events and gatherings, and detain infectious people. Advertisement An image of Joe Biden with a group of kids wearing pro-Trump gear circulated on social media after his trip to Shanksville, Pennsylvania on Saturday to commemorate the 9/11 terrorist attacks. Two young girls standing to the right of the president were wearing Trump hats, one was blue with the former president's slogan 'Make America Great Again,' and the other was red with 'Trump' in white. A third child to Biden's left was donning a red shirt with Trump's face on it with the words 'I'll be back' along with the former president's bold, recognizable signature. Biden took a picture with nine children at the Shanksville Volunteer Fire Department on Saturday where a hijacked plane heading toward Washington, D.C. crashed in a field when passengers fought back against the terrorists. It was determined the target of Flight 93 was either the White House or U.S. Capitol. The original image appears to be from a Facebook post from Jana Musser, a Shanksville woman thought to be a mom of one of the children in the image. She posted with the picture: 'We may not always see eye to eye, but we can all come together to be United.' Some felt the picture of Biden with the kids was commercial, claiming he was 'punk'd,' while others said it was an obvious signal toward unity on the most somber day in America. President Joe Biden was pictured with two kids wearing MAGA hats and another wearing a Trump shirt during a group photo in Shanksville, Pennsylvania on Saturday Phil Kerpen, president and founder of conservative nonprofit American Commitment, praised the picture: 'Sincerely, I love that Biden took this picture,' he tweeted along with the image. 'And I guarantee these kids thought it was awesome too, even the ones in the Trump hats' Film producer Errol Webber tweeted: 'Joe Biden got punk'd by Trump kids. This is GREAT!' Jack Posobiec, senior editor of conservative news site Human Events, tweeted: 'This is even more humiliating than him getting booed at the WTC memorial' The original image appears to be from a mom of one of the kids in the image along with the caption: 'We may not always see eye to eye, but we can all come together to be United' The fire department president posted an apology for if people were offended by the 9/11 post including images of Biden visiting the Shanksville Volunteer Fire Department on Saturday Biden visited Shanksville Volunteer Fire Department on Saturday in his stop there after a memorial service for those who died in the plane crash there in the 9/11 terrorist attacks 'There seems to be some controversy over our post for 9/11,' the department posted on its Facebook page on Sunday in a message from Shanksville Volunteer Fire Department president Seth Scholl. 'First I'd like to say if anything on our page is offensive, I apologize,' Scholl wrote. 'Our functions here at SVFD are open to any and all, we do not send out invitations. We welcome any and all community members and guests who travel to our little town.' 'We have no control over who shows up, or comes to visit and pay their respects. We also remain politically unaffiliated. Thank you for your understanding.' Documentary film producer Errol Webber tweeted on Sunday of the image: 'Yesterday in Shanksville, PA, Joe Biden got punk'd by based Trump kids. This is GREAT!' 'This is even more humiliating than him getting booed at the WTC memorial,' tweeted Jack Posobiec, senior editor of conservative news site Human Events. Phil Kerpen, president and founder of conservative nonprofit American Commitment praised the picture. SVFD made a post with several images, including a few of Biden's visit The Facebook post showed an image of Biden speaking with fire fighters 'Sincerely, I love that Biden took this picture,' he tweeted along with the image. 'And I guarantee these kids thought it was awesome too, even the ones in the Trump hats.' Biden addressed the picture shortly after it was taken on Saturday, telling press he wanted to 'lead by example.' He told reporters in Shanksville that he took pictures with kids in Trump hats and t-shirts while also giving an across-the-aisle compliment for former President George W. Bush in expressing hope that the U.S. could become more united. 'Are we going to, in the next four, five, six, ten years, demonstrate that democracies can work, or not?' he asked. 'We actually can, in fact, lead by the example of our power again.' He also said: 'I thought that President Bush made a really good speech today. Genuinely good speech, about who we are. The core of who we are is not divided.' At the event, First Lady Jill Biden was captured passing out Bud Light and IC Light - a local Pittsburgh brew - to the first responders. Biden visited all three sites of the 9/11 terrorist attacks on the 20th anniversary on Saturday Ground Zero in New York City, the Pentagon and Shanksville. The memorials come just weeks after the president was lambasted for his disastrous withdrawal from Afghanistan that resulted in 13 U.S. service members' deaths and left hundreds of Americans stranded in the country. The U.S. troop presence in Afghanistan began after the 9/11 attacks and Biden said he didn't want to pass the war onto a fifth president. Biden received criticism for not speaking publicly at the World Trade Center or Pentagon and only releasing a pre-recorded video from the White House to commemorate 20 years since the horrific attack. At the fire department in Shanksville, however, the president had a long and impromptu chat with press gathered for the trip where he praised former President George W. Bush's speech in Shanksville earlier that day. President Biden and first lady Jill Biden visited a cross made out of steel from the north tower World Trade Center The Taliban is carrying out reprisal attacks against former soldiers and government workers, the UN has been told - as video emerged showing Islamist fighters forcing young men into car boots in the capital Kabul. Michelle Bachelet, speaking at the Human Rights Council on Monday, said she has seen 'credible reports' that Taliban fighters are searching house-to-house to track down anyone who helped the former government or US. 'Officials who worked for previous administrations and their family members [are] being arbitrarily detained,' she said. 'In some cases, the officials were released, and in others, they were found dead.' As she spoke, footage appeared online showing men - some of whom appear to be Taliban fighters - forcing at least four men into car boots. Footage has emerged of men who appear to be Taliban fighters bundling other men into car boots in the Afghan capital of Kabul According to Iran International correspondent Tajuden Soroush, the footage was filmed in the Salang Wat district of Kabul and the men are ethnic Panjshiris. The Panjshiris have a long history of fighting against the Taliban, and are one of several Tajik minorities who are frequently persecuted by the group. It is unclear exactly why these young men were being detained, but it comes just after the Taliban claimed to have conquered the Panjshir Valley - where an alliance of warlords was holding out against Islamist rule. UN staffers have also reported increasing attacks and threats, she added, without providing specifics. Ms Bachelet also highlighted 'deeply troubling information' about Taliban raids on offices of some advocacy groups. 'In contradiction to assurances that the Taliban would uphold women's rights, over the past three weeks women have instead been progressively excluded from the public sphere,' she told the 47-member council as it opened its autumn session. She said girls aged over 12 have been barred from attending school in some places in Afghanistan, and Women's Affairs departments had been at times dismantled. The Taliban has publicly insisted that its rule of Afghanistan will be more moderate than it was during the 1990s, when its brutal interpretation of Sharia law saw women stripped of their rights along with public floggings and executions. It is unclear why the men were being detained, but reports on social media suggest they are ethic Panjshiris - a group often persecuted by the Taliban Meanwhile UN human rights tsar Michelle Bachelet told the human rights council that she has 'credible reports' of reprisal killing taking place by Taliban fighters But near-daily stories have emerged of horrors that Afghan people - particularly women and ethnic minorities - are being subjected to under their rule. At the weekend, footage emerged which appeared to show Taliban fighters beheading an Afghan soldier before holding his head aloft while chanting. Other footage has shown militants beating and whipping people on the streets as reports emerged of targeted killings and fighters going door-to-door searching for blue US passports. Journalists have also complained of being kidnapped and beaten, though the Taliban insists it wants a free press to operate within the country. The beheading footage emerged just days after Taliban militants executed the brother of one of the Afghan resistance fighters' leaders. The man was the brother of Amrullah Saleh, the former Afghan vice president who became one of the leaders of anti-Taliban opposition forces in the Panjshir valley. The news that Saleh's brother Rohullah Azizi was killed came days after Taliban forces took control of the provincial centre of Panjshir, the last province holding out against them after the took control of the rest of Afghanistan last month. The Taliban has pledged to preserve women's rights and prevent reprisal killings, but already dozens of reports have emerged of atrocities being carried out (file image) 'They executed my uncle,' Ebadullah Saleh told Reuters in a text. 'They killed him yesterday and would not let us bury him. They kept saying his body should rot.' The Urdu language account of the Taliban information service Alemarah said that 'according to reports' Rohullah Saleh was killed during fighting in Panjshir. Saleh, a former head of the National Directorate of Security, the intelligence service of the Western-backed government that collapsed last month, is at large though his exact location remains unclear. The National Resistance Front of Afghanistan, which groups opposition forces loyal to local leader Ahmad Massoud, has pledged to continue opposing the Taliban even after the fall of Panjshir's provincial capital Bazarak. The news of Rohullah Saleh's execution comes after the UN warned the Taliban have started carrying out 'reprisal killings'. The UN envoy for Afghanistan Deborah Lyons said there had been 'credible allegations' of targeted killings 'despite the many statements granting general amnesties'. She added Afghan security officials and people who worked for the previous administration were at risk. The bizarre shooting of South Carolina legal scion Alex Murdaugh comes just three months after his wife, Maggie, and his son (not pictured) were found shot dead Legal scion Alex Murdaugh did have visible injuries after he was shot in the head, law enforcement officials in South Carolina now admit, retracting the original report filed by Hampton County police which indicated the troubled lawyer was unharmed after the shooting. Murdaugh, 53, who hails from one of South Carolina's most prominent legal families, was shot in the head on September 4 while changing a car tire by the side of a road in Hampton County. Murdaugh was alone at the time of the incident, but managed to dial 911 after being struck by the bullet. He was subsequently airlifted to hospital where he underwent treatment before being released. Initially, the report filed by Hampton County Sheriff's officer, identified only as Sergeant S. White, said that Murdaugh did not have any visible injuries after being shot in the head. Alex Murdaugh, 53, (pictured with his deceased wife and son Paul) suffered a gunshot wound on a rural road in Hampton County, South Carolina, Saturday Hampton County police admitted they made a mistake during the initial investigation of the shooting, indicating in a police report that Murdaugh had no visible injuries after he was shot at the side of this South Carolina road In the report, White had checked off 'No' next to 'Victim Visible Injury.' What's more, a section marked 'Further Explanation' was left blank. However, Hampton County Sheriff's Office has since retracted that report, saying deputies made a mistake during the filing process, while admitting that Murdaugh did in fact have visible injuries. Agents say Murdaugh was grazed by the bullet. In the initial, official report, Sergeant S. White checked 'No' next to 'Victim Visible Injury' - which officials subsequently said was in error Days before Murdaugh was shot, the attorney had been ousted from his law firm amid allegations he had misappropriated more than $1million in company money, according to a statement released by the firm following the incident. He then had his license to practice law revoked by the South Carolina Supreme Court last week, indefinitely. Three generations of Murdaughs have served as solicitor for the state's 14th Circuit Court. It's been a turbulent few months for Murdaugh, to say the least, who discovered the dead bodies of his wife, Maggie, and twenty-two-year-old son, Paul - both shot to death - at the family's hunting lodge on June 7. Murdaugh was changing the tire on his car on this rural road in Hampton County when someone shot him from a passing car, according to his attorney Police indicate in their report the shooter as 'Person, Unknown Untracked' with race, sex, age and ethnicity all unknown At the time of the their deaths Paul was facing charges over the death of friend Mallory Beach, 19, who died in a boat crash back in February. Paul was said to be steering the vessel and was allegedly intoxicated at the time. The double homicide of Maggie and Paul Murdaugh made national headlines back in June, given both its grizzly nature and the family's prominence in the South Carolina community. However, with no suspects named, nor leads divulged by South Carolina Law Enforcement Division the case had fallen from public attention, until Murdaugh's shock shooting earlier this month. Following the incident, Murdaugh admitted himself into rehab for opioid addiction, according to his attorney, after being released from the hospital just two days after the shooting. 'The murders of my wife and son have caused an incredibly difficult time in my life,' Murdaugh said in a statement. 'I have made a lot of decisions that I truly regret.' Murdaugh's attorney, Jim Griffin, says his client is using the incident as an opportunity to 'finally' confront his addiction, reported ABC News 4. Griffin added that it was a shock to hear Murdaugh had been shot and he does not believe his wound was self-inflicted, due to his client's positive outlook concerning his recovery earlier that day. It is alleged that the gunman shot him after the truck initially drove past Murdaugh without incident and then made a U-turn The double homicide of Maggie and Paul Murdaugh made national headlines back in June - after Murdaugh says he discovered them both shot to death at the family's hunting lodge - given both its grizzly nature and the family's prominence in the South Carolina community He also noted that police did not recover a gun from Murdaugh at the crime scene. Griffin added that his client had an entry wound, exit wound, skull fracture, and minor brain bleeding. According to Griffin, Murdaugh pulled over that day after noticing a warning-signal for low tire pressure and after having trouble steering. Murdaugh attests that a pick-up truck then passed him, before pulling a U-turn a few hundred yards later, and pulling up to his vehicle. Griffin said Murdaugh and the truck's occupants then had a brief interaction concerning Murdaugh's car trouble. Murdaugh then briefly turned his attention away from the other car, at which point he heard a gunshot, and the car sped off. Griffin said Murdaugh did not recognize the occupants of the vehicle, but was able to describe their appearance to police. Meanwhile, the report describes the shooter as 'Person, Unknown Untracked' with race, sex, age and ethnicity all unknown. No suspects in the shooting have been identified. The case remains open. Advertisement Britain's daily Covid cases today were down by a quarter on last week but deaths jumped by a third, official data showed. Department of Health bosses posted 30,825 positive tests within the last 24 hours, roughly 10,000 fewer than on last Monday. England is yet to suffer a Scotland-style spike in infections, which experts feared would be sparked once children returned to classrooms after the summer holidays. But schools in England have been back for less than a fortnight and the country was hit by a heatwave which saw temperatures reach as high as 30C earlier this week, meaning people spent more time outdoors where the virus finds it harder to spread. Another 61 Covid deaths were also recorded, which was up 35.6 per cent from the same time last week when 45 were recorded. Fatality figures lag behind cases by three weeks because of how long it can take for the infected to become severely ill. Latest hospitalisations figures for England show admissions have fallen by 14 per cent in a week, after 647 people were admitted to wards suffering from the virus on September 11. No UK-wide data was available. It came as Professor Chris Whitty and the chief medical officers from the other devolved nations today announced all children over the age of 12 should be offered one dose of a Covid vaccine. Around 3million under-16s are due to start getting their jabs from next week, with health chiefs claiming it would help prevent outbreaks in classrooms and further disruptions to education this winter. Parents, experts and teaching unions warned of tension in schools after the UK signed off on the plans, which will see children get the final say on whether they are inoculated. Meanwhile, latest vaccination figures show 14,955 first doses were dished out yesterday, the lowest number since the roll out began, and 52,615 second doses were administered. As many as 48.4million Britons or 89.1 per cent of over-16s have already received one dose, and 44million or 81 per cent have received two doses. ENGLAND: The above graph shows Covid cases spotted in England by date reported. It shows that infections in the country are falling amid a September heatwave allowing people to spend more time outdoors SCOTLAND: The above graph shows Covid cases in Scotland by date reported. It reveals cases in the country are now also falling after spiralling to their highest levels since the pandemic began WALES: The above graph shows Covid cases in Wales by date reported. It shows that infections in the country are staying flat less than a fortnight after schools returned NORTHERN IRELAND: The above graph shows Covid cases in Northern Ireland by date reported. It revealed cases may be beginning to drop in the country less than a fortnight after schools returned Professor David Livermore, a microbiologist at the University of East Anglia, said that since late July cases have hovered between 25,000 and 40,000 'without a convincing trend'. 'There was evidence of a spike in Scotland, perhaps associated with children returning to school,' he told MailOnline, 'but there is no evidence yet of this being recapitualted in England'. 'What is clear is that England's "Freedom Day" didn't drive a large resurgence and that stronger residual restrictions in Scotland, notably masks, don't seem to have done any good.' Around 3million children are due to start getting their jabs from next week after Chris Whitty endorsed the move to routinely vaccinate over-12s. Doses will be largely administered through the existing school vaccination programme, and parental consent will be sought - but children will be able to override their parents in the case of a conflict. Angry parents fumed against the move to leave the decision with young children who 'can't even decide what they want for tea, never mind' a vaccine, which carry small risks of side effects. Just one in 200 Covid deaths during the first half of 2021 occurred among the fully-jabbed Fully-vaccinated people made up just one in 200 Covid deaths in England in the first half of this year, official data revealed today. The Office for National Statistics (ONS) identified 256 'breakthrough deaths' among the 51,281 Covid fatalities that occurred between January 2 and July 2. More than 76 per cent of these patients were clinically extremely vulnerable to the virus, and had underlying conditions or weak immune systems. The average age of a 'breakthrough death' when a person caught and succumbed to Covid despite having maximum immunity from two jabs was 84. Today's ONS report is the latest to highlight the immense impact the vaccines have already had on reducing coronavirus deaths. The Office for National Statistics looked at 51,281 Covid fatalities that occurred between January 2 and July 2 in England. These were broken down by vaccination status, which revealed 458 cases died 21 days after their second dose. Further analysis determined that only 256 of these had tested positive at least 14 days after their second dose However, most of the fatalities in the six months of the research occurred during the height of the second wave, before the vaccines had become widely available. The majority of elderly and vulnerable Britons were not fully vaccinated until spring, which skews the findings. More recently, fully vaccinated people have started to make up a greater proportion of Covid deaths but this is due to how successful uptake of the jabs has been. More than 90 per cent of at-risk people are fully-jabbed, and because no vaccine is perfect, a small number continue to die. Advertisement Professor Simon Clarke, a microbiologist at the University of Reading who is in favour of jabbing children, warned that giving youngsters the final say could lead to children being bullied by their peers into taking the jab. He told MailOnline: 'It will cause rows I think, if they insist on full consent from parents before vaccination. You may end up in a situation where a minority, it will probably be the unvaccinated, get bullied and excluded by other children.' Headteachers revealed they were already receiving letters from pressure groups threatening legal action if schools take part in an under-16 vaccination programme. Amid fears about a conflict with parents, the teachers' union NAHT demanded urgent reassurance that medics will be responsible for questions and concerns about consent and vaccination rather than being left to schools. Professor Whitty and his counterparts in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland said a secondary school rollout will help prevent outbreaks in classrooms and further disruptions to education this winter. The programme in the UK has until now been limited to children with serious underlying health conditions and youngsters who live with extremely vulnerable relatives. Under-16s will initially only be offered a single dose of the Pfizer vaccine, which has shown to be up to 55 per cent effective at preventing infection from the Delta variant. A decision on second doses is still to be determined when more data is available internationally, with a decision expected by the spring term at the earliest. Officials will weigh up the risk of heart complications, which are slightly more common after the second shot. The chief medical officers said that even though Covid poses a small risk to children's health, the negative impacts of school closures on their life prospects and mental wellbeing tipped the balance in favour of vaccination. Professor Whitty and the CMOs in the devolved nations were asked to look at the 'broader' societal benefits of vaccinating schoolchildren at the start of the month after the Government's advisers ruled against the move. The Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) said immunising healthy under-16s would only provide 'marginal' benefit to their health, and not enough to recommend a mass rollout. But it advised the Government to seek further advice from its chief medical officers about the wider benefits of vaccination on the pandemic, which was beyond the scope of its review. In their advice to the Government, the UK's CMOs said they were recommending vaccines on 'public health grounds' and it was 'likely vaccination will help reduce transmission of Covid in schools'. They added: 'Covid is a disease which can be very effectively transmitted by mass spreading events, especially with Delta variant. 'Having a significant proportion of pupils vaccinated is likely to reduce the probability of such events which are likely to cause local outbreaks in, or associated with, schools. 'They will also reduce the chance an individual child gets Covid-19. This means vaccination is likely to reduce (but not eliminate) education disruption.' They admitted the rollout will likely only stop about 30,000 infections among 12 to 15-year-olds between now and March. But the vaccines will prevent tens of thousands more from having to self-isolate and miss school as a result, they claim. Modelling of the winter term estimated that without the vaccines there could be about 89,000 infections among 12 to 15-year-olds, compared to 59,000 with the rollout. Without vaccination they warn of 320,000 school absences by March, whereas this could be reduced to 220,000 with the jabs. The CMOs think a single dose will reduce significantly the chance of a young person getting Covid and passing the virus on, with studies showing the Pfizer vaccine is 55 per cent effective at blunting infection in adults after one dose. But they have asked for the JCVI now to look at whether second doses should be given to children and young people aged 12 to 15 once more data comes through internationally. This will not be before the spring term. Earlier this month the JCVI said it could not recommend Covid jabs for healthy 12 to 15-year-olds because the direct benefit to their health was only marginal. It also looked at the risk of health inflammation - known as myocarditis - in young people given the Pfizer vaccine, which was still very small but slightly more common after a second dose Latest estimates from a symptom-tracking app suggested under-18s had the highest number of Covid cases in the UK (blue line) last week. Schools in England, Wales and Northern Ireland started going back on September 1. The data is from the ZOE Covid Symptom Study Boots is refusing to refund customers for late PCR results Boots is among a series of government-approved Covid testing firms that are refusing to refund customers for late PCR results in a potential breach of consumer law. Travellers arriving in Britain from countries on the green and amber list must pay for PCR tests within two days of landing. Non-vaccinated people who have come from amber list nations must also have a test on day eight or face a 2,000 fine. Shockingly, Boots is one of several firms whose terms and conditions say these tests are non-refundable even if they are never delivered - despite the Consumer Rights Act allowing customers to claim for money back if a service is not as described. Richard Claughton and his wife, who are both NHS workers, paid 150 for a pair of day two tests after a trip to Spain in July. Only one test arrived, which was late and damaged beyond use. But Boots refused to refund them, claiming that, according to its terms and conditions: 'The service is deemed to have been provided in full by Boots and ReCoVa-19 by providing the customer with their booking reference number.' The company told the Guardian that rather than giving a refund, it would replace any missing or faulty kit free of charge. But in the Claughton's case this would have meant the test results arriving after the official quarantine period had ended. Advertisement After seeking advice from a range of experts, including medical colleges, the CMOs said they consider education 'one of the most important drivers of improved public health and mental health'. They added: 'The effects of disrupted education, or uncertainty, on mental health are well recognised. There can be lifelong effects on health if extended disruption to education leads to reduced life chances. 'Whilst full closures of schools due to lockdowns is much less likely to be necessary in the next stages of the Covid-19 epidemic, UK CMOs expect the epidemic to continue to be prolonged and unpredictable. 'Local surges of infection, including in schools, should be anticipated for some time. Where they occur, they are likely to be disruptive.' The NHS in England had already been asked to prepare to roll out vaccines for all 12 to 15-year-olds in the event that the CMOs recommend the programme. But there are fears that giving children the ability to overrule their parents could lead to conflict. Headteachers are receiving letters from pressure groups threatening legal action if schools take part in Covid vaccination programmes, a union has said. Geoff Barton, general secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders (ASCL), said: 'Many of our members have been receiving letters from various pressure groups threatening schools and colleges with legal action if they take part in any Covid vaccination programme. 'This is extremely unhelpful and we would ask those involved in this correspondence to stop attempting to exert pressure on schools and colleges. 'The question of whether or not to offer vaccinations to this age group has clearly been thoroughly considered and the decision on whether or not to accept this offer is a matter for families.' Others have called for the Government to spell out exactly where the final decision will lie. Paul Whiteman, general secretary of school leaders' union NAHT, said: 'Now that a decision has been made, it is essential that the Government immediately confirms that the process surrounding vaccinations will be run and overseen entirely by the appropriate medical teams. 'Where parents have questions, including about important matters such as consent, these must be handled by those same medical teams. 'There must be no delay in confirming this otherwise school leaders will be put in an impossible position of facing questions to which they simply do not have the answers.' Kabul airport has reopened to commercial flights with a Pakistan Airlines service landing today, two weeks after America's chaotic withdrawal. It was the first international commercial flight since the Taliban retook power last month, offering some hope to Afghans still desperate to leave the country. The capital's airport was left trashed after US-led forces finished a chaotic evacuation of more than 120,000 people, and the Taliban have since scrambled to get it operational with technical assistance from Qatar and other nations. On Monday morning, a Pakistan International Airlines jet touched down in Kabul, before making a return flight to Islamabad. Around 70 people were on the flight to the Pakistani capital, mostly Afghans who were relatives of staffers with international organisations such as the World Bank, according to airport ground staff. People wait to board a Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) flight from Kabul to Islamabad today as commercial flights gradually resume following the chaotic US withdrawal last month A man is patted down before entering Kabul International Airport today ahead of a PIA flight out of the Afghan capital Traffic resumed outside Kabul airport today as the first commercial flight out of the capital to Islamabad carried the first people out of the country by air since the end of the US-led evacuation on August 30 'I am being evacuated. My final destination is Tajikistan,' said a 35-year-old World Bank evacuee, who did not want to give her name. 'I will come back here only if the situation allows women to work and move freely.' A 22-year-old university student said he was taking a one-month trip to Pakistan. 'It's like a vacation. I am sad and happy. Sad about the country, but happy to leave for some time,' he said. The resumption of commercial flights will be a key test for the hardline Islamist group, who have repeatedly promised to allow Afghans with the right documents to leave the country freely. As passengers prepared to board, airport staff went about their duties, although working under the new regime is marred by fear and confusion for women. 'I don't know if we will be killed or not for working here,' one of two women handling the security scanning machine said. Many NATO nations admitted that they had run out of time to evacuate thousands of at-risk Afghans before the withdrawal deadline - agreed between the United States and the Taliban. Around 70 people were on the flight to the Pakistani capital, mostly Afghans who were relatives of staffers with international organisations such as the World Bank, according to airport ground staff Passengers pile into Kabul airport today ahead of the first commercial flight to leave the country since early August Airport security watches as passengers return today to Kabul airport, which was left trashed in the US-led evacuation last month The resumption of commercial flights will be a key test for the hardline Islamist group, who have repeatedly promised to allow Afghans with the right documents to leave the country freely A PIA spokesman said at the weekend that the airline was keen to resume regular commercial services, but it was too soon to say how frequently flights between the two capitals would operate. Jawad Zafar, the head of operations at PIA, said today: 'This is a great moment for me after a long time since the change of the establishment in Kabul.' AFP staff observed only a handful of people on the flight from Islamabad to Kabul. Qatar Airways operated several charter flights out of Kabul last week, carrying mostly foreigners and Afghans who missed out on the evacuation. An Afghan airline resumed domestic services on September 3. 'This is a big moment. We are very excited,' said one airport employee. 'It's a hopeful day. Maybe other airlines will see this and decide to come back.' Women have returned to work in the airport as it sees the first commercial flights out of the country since the Taliban swept to power in mid-August Security workers check a passenger's belongings ahead of a flight from Kabul to Islamabad today Around 70 passengers went through airport checks today ahead of their flight to Islamabad in Pakistan It comes after two charter evacuation flights were allowed to leave the country last week, with at least 13 Brits among those repatriated. Passenger halls, air bridges and technical infrastructure were badly damaged in the days after the Taliban rolled into Kabul on August 15, when thousands of people stormed the airport in the hope of fleeing. Tens of thousands of Afghans fear reprisals for helping foreign powers during the 20-year US-led occupation, but the Taliban insist they have granted a general amnesty to everyone - including the security forces they fought against. The Taliban have promised a milder form of rule this time, but have moved swiftly to crush dissent, including firing in the air to disperse recent protests by women calling for the right to education and work. It comes after two charter evacuation flights (pictured on September 10) were allowed to leave the country last week, with at least 13 Brits among those repatriated This was the first large-scale departure flight since the final US troops left on August 31 - an evacuation flight from Kabul to Qatar with just over 100 foreigners on board UN chief Antonio Guterres on Monday called for the international community to provide desperately needed aid to Afghans, and to support women and others whose rights appear threatened by the Taliban. 'After decades of war, suffering and insecurity, they face perhaps their most perilous hour,' he said at the UN's European headquarters in Geneva. 'Afghan women and girls want to ensure that gains are not lost, doors are not closed and hope is not extinguished.' The UN rights chief Michelle Bachelet also criticised the new interim government today, saying she was 'dismayed by the lack of inclusivity of the so-called caretaker cabinet, which includes no women and few non-Pashtuns'. She added there was 'well-founded' information showing the Taliban had gone against their commitment to a more moderate brand of government, pointing in particular to 'credible allegations of reprisal killings' of former members of the Afghan national security forces. Meanwhile, Taliban co-founder and now deputy prime minister Abdul Ghani Baradar released an audio statement saying he was alive and well after news of his supposed demise went viral on social media. Passenger halls, air bridges and technical infrastructure were badly damaged in the days after the Taliban rolled into Kabul on August 15, when thousands of people stormed the airport in the hope of fleeing Far from his home state of Florida, Gov. Ron DeSantis railed against President Biden, not the Democrats challenging him in next year's gubernatorial race, at a political fundraising event in Nebraska over the weekend. 'If you watch Biden, he always has to talk about Florida loves talking about things that we're doing down there,' DeSantis said Sunday. 'If he spent a little less time talking about Florida and more time doing his job as commander in chief, we might not have 13 service members who were killed in action in Afghanistan because of his ineptitude and dereliction of duty. DeSantis was joined by other Republican heavyweights rumored to be considering a 2024 presidential run, Sen. Ted Cruz and former Vice President Mike Pence. 'My message from Florida is this: When Joe Biden violates the Constitution, when Joe Biden attacks the jobs of Floridians and Americans, when Joe Biden targets the livelihood of Florida families and American families, I am fighting back against him,' DeSantis said at Gov. Pete Ricketts' annual steak-fry fundraiser on Sunday in Nebraska City, just a few miles from first-in-the-nation caucus host state Iowa. DeSantis' Nebraska appearance is one of at least 12 out of state trips he's taken since May, as he basks in his newfound popularity and sets himself up well-positioned for a potential run in 2024 should Trump sit out the race. 'When Joe Biden targets the livelihood of Florida families and American families, I am fighting back against him,' DeSantis said in Nebraska over the weekend DeSantis claimed that America's greatest adversaries neither fear nor respect President Biden after the US' chaotic withdrawal from Afghanistan DeSantis claimed that America's greatest adversaries neither fear nor respect President Biden. 'They are watching what happens, in China and in Iran and in North Korea and in Moscow,' DeSantis said. 'Those countries feared Donald Trump. They don't fear Joe Biden and they don't respect Joe Biden.' The Florida governor has become a darling of the right with his hands-off pandemic approach. Over the summer he banned mask and vaccine mandates across the state. DeSantis' Nebraska appearance is one of at least 12 out of state trips he's taken since May, as he basks in his newfound popularity and sets himself up well-positioned for a potential run in 2024 should Trump sit out the race. But last week, the Florida governor threw cold water on the idea he was looking ahead to 2024. 'All the speculation about me is purely manufactured,' he said in a Florida press conference last week. 'I just do my job and we work hard I hear all this stuff and honestly it's nonsense.' DeSantis has traded barbs with the president all summer. Biden said last month he would sue states that blocked school mask mandates, and DeSantis replied that Biden should worry more about Afghanistan burning. 'I mean, you gotta wonder, where are your priorities that you're so obsessed with this issue and so obsessed with taking away parents' rights?' he said on Fox News' Hannity. 'And you're letting Afghanistan burn, our border burn, and so many other things in our country fall to pieces', he said. The Florida governor claimed in Nebraska that Biden 'is so mad that in the state of Florida, we protect the rights of parents to be able to send their kindergartners to school without having to wear a mask for eight hours a day. That is something that he thinks is such a bad thing. But I think I understand why he is so concerned about Florida, because we're leading on the issues that matter and we represent a brick wall when it comes to Biden's agenda.' DeSantis did not bring up his own reelection campaign, but predicted Republicans would 'do very well' in 2022 thanks to Biden. 'We're going to do very well in 2022. Thank you, Biden, for being such a lousy president, waking up half of America.' DeSantis also hit back against the Biden administration's sweeping new vaccine mandates, where companies with over 100 employees must require their workers to get vaccinated or be tested for Covid-19 once a week. 'I am fighting back against him,' DeSantis said, nodding to legal action being discussed by Republican governors. 'We are going to be on the front line with a full spectrum response.' Cruz, R-Texas, in his Nebraska appearance, described the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan as US forces withdrew a 'disaster.' 'Every enemy of America is taking the measure of the man in the Oval Office and everyone, everyone of them has determined that the president is weak and ineffective,' Cruz said. Thirteen US service members were among the over 170 who lost their lives in a suicide explosion on Aug. 26. 'The chaos that followed, and the loss of 13 extraordinary servicemen and women, including a hero from right here in Nebraska, broke my heart because it never had to happen,' Pence said in his address. Potential GOP contenders for 2024 are in limbo until Trump makes a formal announcement on whether he'll run in 2024, though the former president's most recent hints make a third Trump candidacy look more likely. 'I know what I'm going to do, but we're not supposed to be talking about it yet,' Trump said Saturday, while visiting with New York City police and fire officials, according to The New York Post. 'But I think you're going to be happy, let me put it that way.' Rochdale grooming gang member Adil Khan A man who was part of the notorious Rochdale grooming gang has complained about his treatment in Britain at a tribunal hearing to deport him back to Pakistan. Adil Khan, 51, said the Home Office had taken his driving licence from him and he was 'surviving' on benefits. Khan and former taxi driver Qari Abdul Rauf, 52, have been told they are to be sent back to Pakistan for the public good after they were part of a gang convicted of a catalogue of serious sex offences against young girls. Both men are appealing against the decision to deport them following a six-year legal battle after which they lost the right to remain in the UK. Khan got a girl, 13, pregnant but denied he was the father, then met another girl, 15, and trafficked her to others using violence when she complained. He was sentenced to eight years in 2012 and released on licence four years later. At an Immigration Tribunal hearing on Monday to discuss his case, Khan complained about having no rights in the UK. Speaking through a Mirpuri translator, he said: 'But I cannot exercise any rights in this country as an individual. I cannot do anything for my family, I'm just surviving on my son's benefits. 'I cannot take my son to school if it is raining, we cannot afford a taxi. 'The police informed me about a month ago that they have cancelled my driver's licence, according to the Home Office instructions.' Khan and former taxi driver Qari Abdul Rauf (right), 52, have been told they are to be sent back to Pakistan for the public good after they were part of a gang convicted of a catalogue of serious sex offences against young girls Judge Nehar Bird, chairing the tribunal hearing, told Khan: 'Mr Khan, this hearing is to decide how to proceed forward in the hearing of your appeal. 'It is not here to decide whether you should be given a driving licence, whether you should be given money, whether you should be sent to detention. 'That's not the purpose of this hearing. 'This tribunal is here to decide whether the Home Office decision to deport you back to Pakistan is right or wrong, in law.' Rauf, a father-of-five, trafficked a 15-year-old girl for sex, driving her to secluded areas to have sex with her in his taxi and ferry her to a flat in Rochdale where he and others had sex with her. He was jailed for six years and released in November 2014 after serving two years and six months of his sentence. The tribunal hearing on Wednesday heard the men's appeal is on two grounds, the first being the issue of 'statelessness'. Both men have certificates issued by the Pakistan government, which they say represents them legally renouncing their Pakistani nationality. But this was done in September 2018, only after they had been deprived of UK citizenship and the validity and legality, under Pakistan law, of the documents is in question. Expert evidence on Pakistani law is being sought by the lawyers of Khan, who has been granted legal aid. The second ground for appeal, which will be heard separately, but one after the other by the same panel of judges, will consider their rights under Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights, arising out of their individual circumstances relating to their private and family life. Judge Bird adjourned the hearing for a further case review hearing on November 29, ahead of the main appeal hearing, probably next year, some 10 years after they were convicted along with seven others in 2012. Both men had dual UK-Pakistani citizenship, so were liable to be deprived of UK citizenship and deported, after then-home secretary Theresa May ruled it would be 'conducive to the public good'. The Rochdale grooming gang's abuse was dramatised in a BBC programme called Three Girls (above) For two years from early 2008, girls as young as 12 were plied with alcohol and drugs and gang-raped in rooms above takeaway shops and ferried to different flats in taxis where cash was paid to use the girls. Police said as many as 47 girls were groomed. Last year the M.E.N. revealed how one terrified victim bumped into Khan while shopping in Asda in Rochdale. She ran from the supermarket in tears and reported him to the authorities because he was with another young child. She told a friend: 'Oh my God, he's been in Asda. I've never been so scared in all my life. I feel like my heart just stopped beating.' The young woman - who cannot be named as a victim of a sex crime but who was portrayed in BBC drama about the scandal, Three Girls - confided in former GMP detective Maggie Oliver. Oliver worked on the police investigation but later resigned in disgust at how victims were treated and turned whistleblower and campaigner. Advertisement Russian President Vladimir Putin was today overseeing huge military exercises within striking distance of Europe, including a beach invasion by the world's largest hovercraft. Some 2,000 servicemen and more than 200 pieces of military equipment featured in the drill, as troops stormed ashore in a war game in Kaliningrad, on the Russian border with the European Union. Elsewhere, Putin attended military exercises, which are being jointly held with Belarus, Armenia, India, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and Mongolia, at the Mulino range in the Nizhny Novgorod region in his role as commander-in-chief of Russia's armed forces. Nine ranges in Russia, including in the Baltic Sea, and five in Belarus are hosting the joint military exercises which are worrying Ukraine. In Kaliningrad, footage showed the huge landing exercise involving the Baltic fleets and others on the Zubr-class LCAC, the world's largest hovercraft. Intended to sealift assault units from vessels to shores, the Soviet-designed hovercraft can also transport and plant naval mines. Russia, Belarus and others are staging huge military exercises, which included a beach invasion by the world's largest hovercraft (pictured) Russian President Vladimir Putin (right) was today overseeing huge military exercises at the Mulino range in the Nizhny Novgorod region Nine ranges in Russia, including in the Baltic Sea, and five in Belarus are hosting the joint military exercises which are worrying Ukraine In another video, Russian helicopter gunships were seen in action in the Zapad-2021 large-scale drills evolving 200,000 troops intended to highlight Russia's military readiness to the West - and neighbouring Ukraine There are just 10 such hovercrafts active at present, two with the Russian navy, four with the Greek navy and four with the Chinese navy. Before the troops landed, a squad of attack ships launched an artillery barrage along the coast to neutralise defences. The landings by paratroopers and marines were supported by Su-30SM multirole fighters and Su-24 frontline bombers of the Baltic Fleet. In another video, Russian helicopter gunships were seen in action in the Zapad-2021 large-scale drills evolving 200,000 troops intended to highlight Russia's military readiness to the West - and neighbouring Ukraine. The 'helicopter carousel' attacks by Mi-35s and Mi-24s were aimed at inflicting continuous fire damage on communications, command posts and communication routes of the areas occupied by the 'enemy'. Tanks fire during the Zapad-2021 joint military drills at the Mulino army base in the Nizhny Novogorod region, some 350 kilometres east of Moscow Tanks and helicopters are seen during drills at the Mulino army base in the Nizhny Novogorod region on Monday Helicppters fly in formation during military exercises on Monday Russia is staging the Zapad-2021 military drills in conjunction with Belarus, Armenia, India, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and Mongolia L-R: Chief of the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces Valery Gerasimov, Russian President Vladimir Putin, Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu and Presidential Plenipotentiary Envoy to Volga Federal District Igor Komarov A Russian BM-21 truck-mounted 122mm multiple rocket launcher fires during the drills The drills are due to end on 16 September but Russia has announced that its forces will not all return to their military bases until mid-October, the defence ministry said, without providing an explanation for the delayed return. The massive drills plus an announcement of closer ties between Russia and dictatorship Belarus have spooked Ukraine. Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba warned: 'The scenarios practiced there represent serious risks [to Ukraine]. 'We understand that if Russia absorbs Belarus in one way or another, we will have 1,000 kilometres of additional danger to our sovereignty and territorial integrity.' His predecessor Pavlo Klimkin warned that Russia was seeking to almost encircle Ukraine with forces, and called for a plea for help from NATO. The exercises are on-going across a swathe of Russia from the Baltic to the borders of Ukraine, while separate drills are underway in the Arctic. In exercises in the Arctic, Russian nuclear-powered submarine Oryol was shown firing a Granit anti-ship cruise missile in the Barents Sea, where waters were closed to non-naval vessels during the high-latitude war games. The massive drills plus an announcement of closer ties between Russia and dictatorship Belarus have spooked Ukraine The exercises are on-going across a swathe of Russia from the Baltic to the borders of Ukraine, while separate drills are underway in the Arctic A barrister has been suspended for sexually assaulting two fellow female legal workers on a drink-fuelled night out. Duncan Maxwell-Stewart was so intoxicated he began dancing on the tables of a bar before sexually assaulting the two women, a disciplinary hearing was told. The lawyer invited one of the women onto the dance floor before lifting her skirt up and 'revealing her underwear'. He later groped the bottom of a junior solicitor who was also on the night out, who he had met just three times before. A disciplinary tribunal for The Bar and Adjudication Service has now judged he sexually assaulted the women and suspended him from practising for a year. He also lost his tenancy at both his London and Leeds Chambers. Duncan Maxwell-Stewart was so intoxicated he began dancing on the tables of a bar, a disciplinary hearing was told. Pictured: Library image The hearing was told Mr Maxwell-Stewart, who has practised as a barrister for 14 years after being called to the Bar in 2007, had gone out for drinks with an unnamed friend on Friday, February 14 last year. The Leeds-based lawyer had made informal plans to meet with two women, who had gone out for drinks themselves after eating a meal together. The panel heard they all met together in a bar at 'about midnight' - when Mr Maxwell-Stewart was already 'very drunk'. After buying a round of cocktails he and one of the women - described only as Person A - went to dance together. While dancing the panel heard Mr Maxwell-Stewart - who had recently split from his wife - 'lifted the hem' of Person A's skirt 'up to her hip', revealing her underwear. It heard she felt 'immediately uncomfortable' and made excuses to leave and return to the bar. Upon returning to the bar, the tribunal heard the drunken barrister began to 'dance on the tables', which made Person A 'realise how drunk he was'. In the early hours Mr Maxwell-Stewart suggested he and Person A get another drink 'upstairs' together. But the panel heard there was no bar upstairs, and he stood in 'very close proximity' to Person A - making her feel 'uncomfortable'. Upon returning to the downstairs bar, Mr Maxwell-Stewart next positioned himself 'close' to the second woman, identified as Person B. The panel heard he proceeded to 'grope the woman's bottom', leaving her 'immediately shocked' and not knowing 'what to say or do'. The two women went outside for a cigarette shortly afterwards and decided to leave together after telling each other what had happened. The tribunal heard Person A had to return to the bar to collect her bag and coat and had to pass close to Mr Maxwell-Stewart to do so. The tribunal was told: 'As she passed, Mr Maxwell-Stewart took hold of her jumper, untucked it and put his hand up inside her clothing to start 'fiddling with [her] bra strap'. 'She said that this happened for 5-10 seconds.' Meeting her friend outside the bar, the panel heard Person A was 'crying' and Person B 'angry'. The panel heard they all met together in a bar at 'about midnight' - when Mr Maxwell-Stewart was already 'very drunk'. Pictured: Library image Person A told the tribunal: 'If Duncan had not been a barrister at Chambers, I would have been more frank with him when we were upstairs and asked him to leave me alone. 'In the past when a stranger has made me feel uncomfortable I would confront them immediately. 'However, I tried to defuse the situation by suggesting that we went downstairs for a drink.' Both victims reported the incidents to their managers and a grievance process against Mr Maxwell-Stewart began soon afterwards. Mitigating, Mr Maxwell-Stewart's representatives said the barrister's marriage had recently broken down and he had shown 'genuine remorse' for his drunken behaviour. His Honour Judge Jonathan Carroll said: 'Mr Maxwell-Stewart's admitted conduct amounts to an admission by a barrister of committing the criminal offence of sexual assault upon two separate victims over whom he has the benefit of a very substantial power imbalance. 'In our judgment, having regard to the purposes of sanctioning to maintain the highest standards of the Bar and to preserve professional and public confidence in the discipline system, deterrence is a highly relevant further purpose to be served by further sanction in cases of sexual offending in a professional context.' He was suspended from practising for 12 months and ordered to pay 600 in costs to the Bar Standards Board. However, he remains on the Barrister's register. Shock jock Howard Stern slammed podcaster Joe Rogan for using Ivermectin when he contracted COVID, doubling down on his comments from last week that the vaccine should be 'mandatory' and that unvaccinated people shouldn't burden hospitals. The Sirius XM host criticized Rogan's off-label use of Ivermectin - an anti-parasite drug used mainly on horses and cows - when multiple COVID-19 vaccines are readily available. 'I heard what Joe Rogan was saying, 'what are you busting my balls [for]? I took horse de-wormer and a doctor gave it to me.' Well a doctor would also give you a vaccine, so why take horse de-wormer?' Stern, 67, said on Monday. Rogan, 54, announced he had COVID on September 1 after playing a series of shows in Florida, which is undergoing a spike in cases due to the highly contagious Delta variant. He said he was treated with a hodgepodge of medicines including monoclonal antibodies, prednisone, and Ivermectin. Howard Stern, 67, criticized Joe Rogan's use of Ivermectin for COVID-19 as he doubled down in calling for vaccines to be 'mandatory' on his Sirius XM radio show Podcaster Joe Rogan, 54, announced he had COVID earlier this month His announcement came after he played a series of shows in Florida, which is suffering from record cases and deaths as the more contagious Delta variant spreads The Centers for Disease Control has warned that Ivermectin is not approved to treat or prevent COVID, despite a spike in sales during the pandemic. The medication is used to treat river blindness and intestinal strongyloidiasis in humans, and topical formulations are used to treat head lice and rosacea, but large concentrations meant for animals can result in overdoses. It's not known if Rogan, who signed a $100 million deal with Spotify last year, is vaccinated, but the host has previously decried vaccine mandates as being one step closer to a 'dictatorship' and said that young people shouldn't have to get jabbed. 'I'm not an anti-vax person,' Rogan said on his show in April, according to CNN. 'In fact, I said I believe they're safe and I encourage many people to take them. My parents were vaccinated. I just said I don't think if you're a young healthy person you need it.' Stern started out in radio in 1986 as a shock jock, with a reputation similar to Rogan's Rogan signed a $100 million deal with Spotify last year. It is not known if he's vaccinated, though he's questioned the need for vaccine mandates and for vaccinating the young Stern voiced little sympathy for unvaccinated 'imbeciles,' suggesting that they should skip medical care if they get coronavirus despite readily available vaccines. 'We have no time for idiots in this country anymore,' Stern said on Monday. 'Don't take the cure, but don't clog up our hospitals with your COVID when you finally get it. Stay home, don't bother with science, it's too late. Go f*** yourself, we just don't have time for you.' 'You notice, in every single case, all this anti-science s*** goes right out the window when people end up in the emergency room and they can't breathe,' Stern continued, according to Mediaite. Conservative hosts Marc Bernier, Phil Valentine and Dick Farrell all died of COVID last month after decrying the vaccine and other pandemic safety protocols. Stern has previously mocked the hosts on his show. 'There's never been one that said "I'm so glad I refused. I'm so happy that I can't breathe. This is a wonderful way to die, it was worth it because I didn't take the vaccine,'" Stern said. Stern called for the vaccine to be mandatory on his show last week, and expressed surprise at the media blitz that followed. Former White House press secretary Stephanie Grisham, who spent most of her four years in the Trump administration working for First Lady Melania Trump, has changed her opinion on her once-good friend. In a bombshell tell-all that's coming out early next month, Grisham compares the ex-first lady to 'the doomed French queen' Marie Antoinette - 'Dismissive. Defeated. Detached.' Grisham was the only person in the Trump administration to serve as a top aide in both the White House's West and East Wings. Former White House press secretary Stephanie Grisham compared former First Lady Melania Trump (right) to Marie Antoinette (left) in an excerpt of her forthcoming book Grisham (left) was the only person in the Trump administration to serve as a top aide in both the White House's West and East Wings DailyMail.com has been told Grisham 'knows where all the skeletons' in the Trump White House are. 'She is going for it, telling her truth, and letting the chips fall where they may,' a source close to the publication told DailyMail.com. 'She knows all the skeletons that are in various closets and she's opening doors. But she also has been warned that the Trumps are going to strike back hard.' The book will be published October 5 Since leaving the White House, Grisham has stayed quiet, and there were no indications she would write about the Trumps, unlike former aides like Kellyanne Conway, who had a known book deal about the Trump White House. 'She's kept a low profile deliberately since resigning from the White House. She wanted to process her experience and what it meant. Now she's looking at her experience from a distance and wants people to know what the Trump White House was really like, especially since he's considering a run again,' the publication source said. Her 'top secret' memoir was kept under wraps until its news broke with just a month to go until the release. The title is 'I'll Take Your Questions Now: What I saw at the Trump White House.' It comes out October 5. A former Trump senior administration official predicted Grisham's tome could be the best book to come out of the Trumps' time in the White House. 'I fully expect this to be the best and most unfiltered book about the administration so far,' the official told DailyMail.com. 'She simply doesn't care what people think about her going forward. She isn't pandering to the anti-Trumpers, or the MAGA crowd. She just wants to tell people what she saw.' 'It should be fascinating,' the official added. Others believed Grisham was out for revenge. 'As a former colleague of Stephanie's it is very clear that this book is about one person, herself,' another former colleague told DailyMail.com. The source said Grisham and the first lady had a 'very professional relationship.' 'Mrs. Trump always supported her, protected her, and stood by her as a woman and working mother,' the official said. 'The intent behind this book is clear to everyone. Its an attempt to redeem herself after her embarrassing performance as press secretary, blame others, and make money,' the source added. A former West Wing colleague of Grisham's told Axios, which first reported the book's release: 'When I heard this, all I could think about was Stephanie surrounded by a lake of gasoline, striking a match with a grin on her face'. Grisham's book also revealed that the former first lady reportedly knew about the January 6 riot earlier than previously thought, and refused to make a public statement denouncing it minutes after supporters of her husband broke into the US Capitol building. She instead prepared for a photo shoot with a rug she selected. At 1:25 p.m. that day, shortly after MAGA rioters breached the Capitol, Grisham sent Melania a text asking if she wanted to condemn violent demonstrations, Grisham wrote in the excerpt obtained by Politico. 'Do you want to tweet that peaceful protests are the right of every American, but there is no place for lawlessness and violence?' she asked. 'No.' Melania replied a minute later, according to the book. Grisham said the response 'broke' her. She quit the White House soon after in Capitol riot. She was serving as the first lady's chief of staff at the time. The timing of Grisham's text to Melania also seems to call the White House's timeline of events that day into question. An hour later on January 6 at 2:24 p.m., former President Donald Trump lambasted his Vice President Mike Pence on Twitter, claiming he 'didn't have the courage to do what should have been done to protest our Country and our Constitution.' Meanwhile, angry Trump supporters were chanting 'Hang Mike Pence' in the halls and outside. Security video from that day shows Pence and his family being rushed out of the Capitol just two minutes later. But the White House claimed Trump wasn't aware Pence was in danger. Grisham's account seems to contradict the White House's claims that former President Donald Trump did not know Vice President Mike Pence was in danger an hour later when he posted a tweet criticizing him Grisham's memoir, titled 'I'll Take Your Questions Now: What I Saw in The Trump White House,' will be published on October 5 by Harper Collins. Grisham did not give a single press conference in her eight-month tenure as White House press secretary. Grisham also writes she was 'shocked' that Melania shared the former president's view the 2020 election was stolen. 'Something bad happened,' Melania told her in regards to the election, and allegedly refused to listen to Grisham's denials of a grand conspiracy to boot Trump from office. Melania finally released a statement condemning the Capitol riot on January 11. 'I implore people to stop the violence, never make assumptions based on the color of a person's skin or use differing political ideologies as a basis for aggression and viciousness,' she wrote. But in addition to condemning the violence, the former first lady also chose to denounce 'salacious gossip, unwarranted personal attacks, and false misleading accusations on me from people who are looking to be relevant and have an agenda.' A few days earlier on January 8 her former close friend Stephanie Winston Wolkoff published a scathing op-ed lamenting her 'blindness' to 'the depth of her deception and lack of common decency.' Later on after the attack, Grisham writes, she asked Melania about setting up a traditional inauguration tea with incoming first lady Dr. Jill Biden. The event had been a longstanding tradition for incoming and outgoing first ladies. Melania allegedly shrugged the suggestion off and told her to 'see what the West Wing does.' Melania and Jill's tea never took place. Grisham also writes that Melania shrugged off her suggestion of scheduling an inauguration tea with incoming first lady Dr. Jill Biden. Melania Trump broke the longstanding tradition and the Trumps did not meet with the Bidens on inauguration day at all Grisham was once very close to Melania Trump. The two women would text often and Melania Trump brought Grisham back to the East Wing, keeping her in the Trump White House, after Mark Meadows had her pushed out as press secretary when he became chief of staff. Grisham began working in Trump's presidential campaign in 2015 as a press wrangler. She followed the Trumps to the White House, joining Melania in the East Wing to over see her communications From June 2019 through April 2020, Grisham served as White House press secretary, before moving back to the East Wing as Melania's chief of staff. A statement sent to Politico by Melania's office blasted Grisham personally and professionally. 'The intent behind this book is obvious. It is an attempt to redeem herself after a poor performance as press secretary, failed personal relationships, and unprofessional behavior in the White House. Through mistruth and betrayal, she seeks to gain relevance and money at the expense of Mrs. Trump,' her office wrote. A healthy mother-of-two died from blood clots on her brain caused by the AstraZeneca vaccine, a coroner has ruled. Alpa Tailor, 35, fell ill just over a week after getting her first dose of the coronavirus jab in March. St Pancras Coroner's Court heard that Ms Tailor was complaining of a headache before she suffered stroke-like symptoms including including slurred speech and a facial droop. According to The Mirror, she was rushed to hospital on April 8 and quickly diagnosed with the then new condition known as vaccine-induced immune thrombocytopenia and thrombosis (VITT). It affects around one in 50,000 people under the age of 50 who have had the first dose of the AstraZeneca jab. Ms Tailor had surgery to relieve pressure on her brain and whilst doctors initially thought she had responded well to treatment, on April 22, medics discovered she was suffering from massive brain hemorrhaging. Tragically, the devoted mother - who had the jab to 'protect her family' - then died and a post-mortem examination found she had suffered multiple brain clots. A healthy mother-of-two died from blood clots on her brain caused by the AstraZeneca vaccine, a coroner has ruled. Alpa Tailor, 35, fell ill just over a week after getting her first dose of the coronavirus jab in March Thrombocytopenia is a condition where the patient has a low count of cells that help the blood clot, known as platelets. Thrombosis occurs when blood clots block veins or arteries, and is a major cause of strokes and heart attacks. Speaking after the inquest, Ms Tailor's husband Anish told The Mirror: 'The death of our beloved Alpa has left a huge void in our hearts and our lives, we will all truly miss her unconditional love. Alpa was a wonderful wife, loving mother, amazing daughter, sister and friend. Life has changed for us in an unimaginable way.' Ms Tailor was treated at the National Hospital for Neurology and Neurosurgery in Queen Square in Central London. The institution is part of University College London Hospitals. Jonathan Hyam, the neurosurgeon who performed Ms Tailor's surgery, said that whilst he was 'quite optimistic' for the mother's prognosis around a week after she underwent surgery, he added that he was 'really surprised' when he found out that she had died.' Professor Marie Scully, a consultant haematologist at UCLH, said that the blood clot condition associated with the AstraZeneca jab was then completely unknown. Senior coroner Mary Hassell said she had 'no hesitation' in saying that the mother died because of the vaccination she received. In August, a study revealed that blood clots caused by the AstraZeneca vaccine can kill up to a quarter of the small number of patients who are affected According to the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency, as of September 1 there have been 416 cases of VITT and 72 deaths. In August, a study revealed that blood clots caused by the AstraZeneca vaccine can kill up to a quarter of the small number of patients who are affected. The complication prompted health chiefs to recommend that all under-40s get a Pfizer or Moderna vaccine instead. The side effect is thought to affect just one in 50,000 under-50s who are given the British-made jab. Of those, 23 per cent died VITT. President Joe Biden went after 'Trump clone' Larry Elder, the leading Republican who could take the place of Democratic California Gov. Gavin Newsom, if things go badly for the party in Tuesday's recall race. 'You either keep Gavin Newsom as your governor or you get Donald Trump,' Biden warned at a rally on the campus of Long Beach City College Monday night. On Tuesday, voters in California will decide whether to keep Newsom, or replace him with someone else, with polls showing Elder, a prominent conservative radio show host, as the most likely alternative. Biden, who spent time with Newsom surveying fire damage in the Sacramento area before flying to Long Beach, recalled to the crowd how he got to run against the 'real Donald Trump' last year. 'This year, this year, the leading Republican,' Biden said. 'Is the closest thing to a Trump clone that I've ever seen in your state.' 'He's leading the other team. Can you imagine him being governor of this state?' the president asked. 'You can't let that happen. There's too much at stake.' The 78-year-old Biden coughed through the delivery of his remarks, apologizing at one point for needing to take a sip of water. President Joe Biden appeared at a campaign rally in Long Beach Monday night for California's Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom, who is facing a recall election Tuesday President Joe Biden (left) greets California Gov. Gavin Newsom (right) onstage at Long Beach City College Monday night The most likely Republican to take Gov. Gavin Newsom's place is conservative radio show host Larry Elder, captured campainging in Monterey Park, California on Monday Both Biden and Newsom, who introduced the president at the rally site, warned that Elder could bring an anti-science agenda to the state, as the country still reels from the Delta surge of the COVID-19 pandemic. 'For these Republican governors, it's not about public health, the health of the people, it's about politics,' Biden complained. He added that some of the most anti-vaxx Republican governors in the country also come from states where vaccine mandates for children going into schools - for diseases like measles and mumps - are some of the most strict. 'Just look at the hypocrisy,' Biden uttered. 'Talk about inconsistency.' Beyond the pandemic, Biden warned what could happen to abortion rights, pointing to the controversial Texas law that bars abortions after six weeks. 'Women are to be respected and their rights protected,' Biden urged. Both Biden and Newsom also pointed to comments Elder made in 2000 when he wrote in a column, 'women know less than men about political issues, economics, and current events.' 'We have someone on the other side of this ballot who thinks women aren't as smart as men,' Newsom said to boos from the crowd. The doting Democrats both brought up their wives, first lady Jill Biden and California's first lady Jennifer Siebel Newsom - who was one of the openers Monday night - when hitting back at Elder's dig. 'Tell my wife Jennifer Siebel Newsom that!' Newsom said. 'Thinks that there is no glass ceiling, doesn't believe in pay equity laws. Thinks women complain too much about sexism. Think minorities complain to much about racism,' Newsom continued as more boos came from the crowd. Biden then turned to climate change after spending the afternoon surveying the charred California landscape. 'You would be protecting California from another Trump climate denier,' Biden said. 'The last place you want somewhere like that is the governor's office in California.' President Joe Biden urged Californians to vote 'no' in Tuesday's recall race or else 'you get Donald Trump' President Joe Biden compared the top Republican in the recall race, conservative radio show host Larry Elder, to former President Donald Trump President Joe Biden (left) is joined by California Gov. Gavin Newsom (center) and his wife Jennifer Siebel Newsom (right) onstage at the conclusion of the Long Beach rally California Gov. Gavin Newsom is seen riding in the Beast alongside President Joe Biden to Monday's Long Beach rally. They were heckled by protesters gathered outside Protesters greeted President Joe Biden and California Gov. Gavin Newsom with profane signs in Long Beach on Monday night President Joe Biden gives a thumbs up to the crowd gathered at Long Beach City College Monday night Democrats want Californians to vote 'No' in Tuesday's recall election, which would keep Gov. Gavin Newsom in his job Both Biden and Newsom also mocked Elder for saying that the minimum wage shouldn't exist. 'I can't believe this guy. There shouldn't be a minimum wage?' a bemused Biden said from the rally stage. A number of pro-Trump and anti-vaccine protesters were kept outside the rally's perimeter and heckled Biden's motorcade as it drove in. As Biden spoke demonstrators could be heard in the distance shouting 'recall Newsom.' Newsom's campaign put on a show of confidence to reporters on election eve. 'There's no scenario where we lose tomorrow,' Newsom campaign adviser Sean Clegg told reporters. 'I may have a lot of Clegg on my face tomorrow, but I don't see a scenario where we're not talking about a victory for the governor,' he jokingly added. Recent polling shows Newsom breaking away from the threat of being replaced by a Republican. FiveThirtyEight.com's compilation of polls showed on Monday that 57.5 per cent of California voters wanted Newsom to stay in office, while 40.8 per cent planned to vote for his removal. A month ago, polls were essentially tied among Californians who planned to vote 'no' on the recall, which would allow the Democrat to remain, and those who planned to vote 'yes,' to oust him. The second question on the recall ballot asks Californians to choose a Newsom replacement. Elder has remained the top choice, despite saying that he believed white slave owners could be owed reparations for slavery - a remark that got national attention. 'Speaking of stuff in the you-can't-make-it-up-file, did you see the video that just came up?' Newsom asked, pointing to Elder's reparations comments. 'This is 2021 and a candidate for California governor said that!' Newsom exclaimed. 'Does it surprise any of you that we have someone on the other side of this that is to the right of Donald Trump? To the right of Donald Trump,' Newsom repeated. HERE TO HELP: President Joe Biden (right) was greeted by California's Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom (left) who faces a recall election Tuesday President Joe Biden made formal remarks about climate change after taking an aerial tour of wildfire demage in California alongside Gov. Gavin Newsom Meanwhile, former President Trump was setting the table earlier Monday to contest the election result pointing to California's use of mail-in ballots. 'Does anybody really believe the California Recall Election isnt rigged? Millions and millions of Mail-In Ballots will make this just another giant Election Scam, no different, but less blatant, than the 2020 Presidential Election Scam!' Trump wrote in a statement Monday. California is the largest blue state in the nation. In 2020, Biden won the state over Trump by 29.2 points and by more than 5 million votes. However, the state has recalled a Democratic governor once in the past and replaced him with a Republican. In 2003, Democratic Gov. Gray Davis was recalled and replaced by actor Arnold Schwarzenegger. That's why national Democrats have flooded the state in the final weeks. Vice President Kamala Harris and Sens. Elizabeth Warren and Amy Klobuchar, have already made the trek out west to stump for Newsom, encouraging Democrats not to allow a 'Trump Republican' into California's governor's mansion. Harris' appearance in California was delayed due to the terror attack outside of Kabul's airport in August, which killed 13 American servicemembers. She traveled to the Bay Area and appeared with Newsom on Wednesday. Biden linked up with Newsom earlier in the day with a friendly greeting on the tarmac in Sacramento. Newsom then guided Biden on a tour of the California Governor's Office of Emergency Services before an aerial tour of fire damage in the area. 'I was joking with the president,' Newsom said. 'This has been my office basically the last 18 months wiht COVID and wildfires.' Biden spoke about the urgent action needed to combat climate change. 'We have to act more rapidly and more firmly and more broadly than today,' the president said. 'We cant afford to let anything slip further. It really is a matter of what the world will look like.' Biden talked about the New Yorkers who died in their Queens basement apartments as the city flooded from the remnants of Hurricane Ida. 'People dying in basements,' Biden said. 'Folks, there's so much we can do.' 'And some of my more conservative ... some of my less believing friends in this notion of global warming are all of the sudden having an altar call,' Biden said. 'They're seeing the Lord,' he added. Biden and Newsom took Marine One to survey damage created by the Caldor fire. 'We are dealing with extremes the likes of which we've never dealt with in our state's history,' Newsom said in his introduction of the president. 'The hots are getting a lot hotter, the drys are getting dryer and as you saw on the East Coast of the United States where people were literally drowning in their cars, the wets are getting a lot wetter.' President Joe Biden attends a briefing at the National Interagency Fire Center in Boise, Idaho Monday during the first stop on his two-day west coast swing - his first as president President Joe Biden (right) sits alongside Idaho Gov. Brad Little (left), a Republican, at the National Interagency Fire Center The president repeated many of the same concerns about climate change he had made throughout the day - while asserting he believed he'd get Congress to pass both the bipartisan infrastrucure package and the $3.5 trillion spending bill, the latter of which contains a number of climate change provisions but has a price tag that is being balked at by Democratic moderates. 'We have the bipartisan infrastructure bill that's been passed. It's bipartisan. And I believe we'll get done the so-called reconciliation bill that has another several trillion dollars in it,' Biden said. On the $3.5 trillion dollar amount, Biden pointed out that's the amount of spending over 10 years and represents just 1.5 per cent of the predicted, future $366 trillion GDP. He also said 90 per cent of the bill is paid for - as it hikes taxes on the uber rich. 'Folks, we have to think big, thinking small is a prescription for disaster. we're going to get this done. This nation is going to come together. And we are going to beat this climate change,' Biden said. Earlier, Biden met with federal and state fire officials at the National Interagency Fire Center in Boise, Idaho including the state's Republican Gov. Brad Little. 'I'm here to hear what's on your mind and what more I should be doing, my administration should be doing to try to help,' Biden said at the National Interagency Fire Center. Biden's visit marked the first time a president had come to the Idaho facility. 'You know the time of the year when the air fills with smoke and the sky turns a little orange, but that time of year is getting earlier, every year,' Biden said, linking the elongated fire season to climate change. President Joe Biden (right) arrives in Boise, Idaho and greets Mayor Lauren McLean (left) Kevin Reed (left), 52, of Boise, Idaho and Michael Christopher (right), 59, of Eagle, Idaho, join protesters outside the National Interagency Fire Center in Boise as they gather for President Joe Biden's visit on Monday A protester holds up a 'BIDEN SUCKS' surgical mask at the Idaho Statehouse in Boise Monday, as the president traveled to the deep red state to talk about wildfires The 'BIDEN SUCKS' surgical mask is tossed into a fire outside the Idaho Statehouse in Boise on Monday In both Idaho and California, wildwires have become a year-round problem. 'We can't continue to try to ignore reality,' Biden said. 'And the reality is, we have a global warming problem.' There are a number of climate change provisions in Biden's $3.5 trillion budget bill that is still being debated on Capitol Hill. The spending package can be passed through the process of Senate reconciliation, allowing it to pass with only Democrats, but centrist Democratic Sens. Kyrsten Sinema and Joe Manchin have yet to commit their votes. Biden will make a stop in Colorado on his way back to Washington Tuesday. After a rocky few weeks for the first-term president amid the U.S.'s disastrous from Afghanistan, Biden was trying to showcase that the federal government can work. His visit to Idaho, a red state, attracted pro-Trump and anti-vaccine mandate protesters outside the National Interagency Fire Center and outside the state capitol. He talked about how he used the Defense Production Act last month to boost firehose production, to better prepare the country's firefighers to fight wildfires. QAnon supporters have been targeting a Chicago hospital with a coordinated campaign to force them to treat a patient with Ivermectin. Veronica Wolski, the QAnon supporter who was hospitalized two weeks ago after contracting COVID-19 and inspired a protest demanding that she be treated with Ivermectin, has died. A spokesperson for AMITA Health Resurrection Medical Center in Chicago has confirmed that Wolski passed away in the intensive care unit early Monday morning. She was 64. QAnon supporter Veronica Wolski, 64, died early Monday from COVID-related pneumonia, two weeks after being hospitalized and demanding Ivermectin. Wolski is pictured wearing an oxygen mask in the hospital, left Pro-Trump lawyer Lin Wood released a statement confirming Wolski's death, which he called a 'medical murder' Wolski died at AMITA Health hospital in Chicago after succumbing to pneumonia According to the Cook County Medical Examiners Office, Wolski's cause of death was pneumonia resulting from COVID, with a thyroid disorder as a contributing factor, reported Chicago Tribune. Her manner of death was determined to have been natural. Pro-Trump lawyer Lin Wood released a statement on the social media platform Telegram that Wolski 'saw the face of God' at 12.44am on Monday. 'My faith tells me that as she knelt before her Creator, He said: 'Well done, my good and faithful child, well done.' Wood argued that Wolski's death from COVID was a 'medical murder' and called for 'perpetrators' to be brought to justice through non-violent civil disobedience. 'We pray for ALL the are captives to medical tyranny in our country and around the world,' Wood wrote.' It must end.' Wolski was known for posting anti-vaccine and QAnon conspiracy theories from a bridge in Chicago on social media. She was hospitalized about two weeks ago after contracting COVID and demanded to be given Ivermectin, which is used to treat infections in horses and cattle caused by parasites. She was refused, according to social media posts by Wolski that were reviewed by Vice. AMITA Resurrection Hospital in Northwest Chicago has faced an organized campaign of harassment, including hundreds of phone calls, emails and in-person protests, for denying Wolski the Ivermectin. Ivermectin is not authorized or approved by the FDA for prevention or treatment of COVID-19, and the FDA, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, American Medical Association and the drug manufacturer have warned against using it to treat COVID-19. Wolski was known for posting anti-vaccine and QAnon conspiracies from a bridge in Chicago on social media L. Lin Wood, one of the attorneys who filed lawsuits in favor of Trump's claims of voter fraud in the 2020 election, is one of the people behind the pro-Ivermectin movement Over the weekend, Wolskis supporters attempted to get the hospital to discharge her, with Wood, the right-wing lawyer, telling a hospital official over the phone that they would be 'guilty of murder' if they refuse to release her. During another incident, which was caught on video, one of Wolski's supporters made a failed attempt to enter the hospital to perform a welfare check on her. AMITA Health released a statement last week, saying that the hospital's first priority 'is the health and safety of our patients. Our physicians and clinicians follow the full guidance of the FDA and the CDC in the treatment of COVID-19.' The National Institutes of Health's COVID-19 Treatment Guidelines Panel has determined there is insufficient data to recommend Ivermectin for treatment of any viral infections. The group The People's Bridge sent out a flyer claiming a doctor who initially agreed to give Wolski Ivermectin backtracked because the hospital sided with public health experts and saying that Wolski had been hospitalized for two weeks with 'Covid pneumonia.' Wood, one of the attorneys who filed lawsuits in favor of former President Donald Trump's baseless claims of voter fraud in the 2020 election, is one of the people behind the movement, which claimed that Wolski had a legal right to try the Ivermectin prescription. The campaign said supporters should use slogans like 'Ivermectin Now,' 'Feed Veronica' and 'CRIMES AGAINST HUMANITY' at the protest. Wood and former national security adviser Michale Flynn have posted on Telegram in support of Wolski's quest to be treated with Ivermectin 'He informed me that Ivermectin was not on the Amita protocol and [Wolski] would not receive it,' Wood said when he tried to contact the doctor, according to his own Telegram post. 'When I tried to respond, he was rude, talked over me, and hung up on me.' She was also supported on Telegram by Michael Flynn, the former national security adviser to President Trump who often appears at QAnon events. Both Flynn and Wood are banned from Twitter. Calls for Ivermectin poisoning saw a 163% increase to a total of 1,143 throughout the U.S. this year, according to the American Association of Poison Control Centers AMITA Health previously acknowledged being targeted by protesters but declined to address their efforts. Though used in horses and barn animals, people can use Ivermectin to combat parasites and skin diseases, but not COVID-19. Ivermectin can be used in humans, but in much smaller doses than what is used for animals. The anti-parasite drug has not been shown to be affective against COVID Large doses of this drug, however, can cause serious harm to humans if ingested, doctors warned. Calls for Ivermectin poisoning saw a 163% increase to a total of 1,143 throughout the U.S. this year, according to the American Association of Poison Control Centers. At the end of August, there were a total of 459 calls regarding Ivermectin to poison control centers. The FDA had urged people to stay away from the drug in a tweet last month, writing, 'You are not a horse. You are not a cow. Seriously, y'all. Stop it.' The prescription has become subject for debate ever since podcast host Joe Rogan started using it to treat COVID-19 last week, claiming doctors had told him to do so. The FDA has repeatedly warned Americans not to use Ivermectin to combat COVID-19 President Biden's executive order requiring all federal workers to be vaccinated does not extend to members of Congress, their staff or the federal courts. The president on Thursday signed sweeping orders, one of which required Covid-19 vaccinations for all federal workers, dropping the previous option of regular testing. Another order forced businesses with over 100 workers to get vaccinated or tested for coronavirus at least once a week. The federal workforce mandate covers 2.1 million workers and the private business order covers over 80 million employees and it will require employers with 100 or more employees to give employees paid time off to get vaccinated. Any business that violates the new rule will face substantial fines, up to $14,000. He also required all workers in healthcare settings that receive Medicaid or Medicare reimbursement to get vaccinated, which will apply to 17 million healthcare workers. But the federal workforce order only extended to the executive branch, not the legislative or judicial branches of government. Biden last week signed two sweeping orders, one requiring all federal workers to be vaccinated and another requiring businesses with over 100 employees to require vaccines or weekly testing for Covid-19 Congress is exempt from President Biden's executive order requiring all federal workers to be vaccinated House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said in August that once the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccination had full FDA authorization, that could open the door to a vaccine requirement for Congress members and staff. Last April, she had said Congress couldn't impose a vaccine mandate because it was a 'matter of privacy.' 'We cannot require someone to be vaccinated. That's just not what we can do. It is a matter of privacy to know who is or who isn't,' Pelosi, D-Calif., said. The Pfizer vaccine gained full authorization on Aug. 23, but so far no such requirement has materialized. In August, a group of 19 Democrats wrote to Capitol attending physician Dr. Brian Monahan asking him to consider a vaccine requirement or two Covid tests per week for every member of Congress and their staff. There are not clear numbers on how many members of Congress and staff have not yet been vaccinated, but the figure is thought to be low. Meanwhile, federal employees and contractors will have 75 days to get vaccinated. The American Federation of Government Employees, the largest union of federal workers, said they would bargain over the order. 'Workers deserve a voice in their working conditions,' the group said in a statement. 'Neither of these positions has changed. We expect to bargain over this change prior to implementation, and we urge everyone who is able to get vaccinated as soon as they can do so.' And the National Federation of Federal Employees, another government workers union, said they didn't receive advance notice of the executive order. White House press secretary Jen Psaki last week dismissed questions about the unions not being consulted. The Department of Health and Human Services and the Department of Veterans Affairs already mandate vaccines for their employees. The military also has issued a vaccine mandate. Advertisement Photographers from across the UK have captured stunning images that show Britain's relationship to the sea. Entries include an aerial shot of a fishing trawler in Whitstable, Kent at night and the stunning evening coastline off of Aberdeenshire. In another shot, young people are seen jumping in mid air as the sun is seen behind them in Moray, Scotland. One image shows off the stunning array of stars in the night sky behind a boat in Dungeness, Kent. The Ultimate Sea View competition is run by the Shipwrecked Mariners' Society, which supports fishermen and mariners going through financial hardship. Captain Justin Osmond RN said of the competition in July: 'Our industry often suffers from being out of sight and out of mind, but it truly is essential in keeping us going as an island nation and enabling us to go about our daily lives. 'The photography competition allows us to showcase and celebrate our relationship with the sea and having received a record-breaking number of entries last year, we are more excited than ever to see everyone's fantastic and unique images over the course of this summer'. The overall winner of the competition will receive a 500 voucher to purchase camera equipment. The stunning evening coastline off of Aberdeenshire, Scotland is seen above with the darkness of the shoreline and the man and boy seen fishing in the background. The picture, called Evening Cast, was taken by photographer Ian Finlayson. It is a highly commended image in the Coastal Views category Young people are seen jumping in mid air as the sun is seen behind them in Moray, Scotland. The picture, called Hopeman Happiness, was taken by Jacky Pratt. It is the winner for the People and Recreation category This picture, called Old Rope, was taken at Newgale, Pembrokeshire by Chris Mole. It is the winner for the Industry category in the competition This picture, called Pinnace And Barges Rot In Their Graveyard In The Medway Mud, by David Stearne is the winner in the category Ships & Wrecks This image showing the starry night sky was taken on Dungeness by Susan Pilcher. The Ultimate Sea View competition is run by the Shipwrecked Mariners' Society Entries include an aerial shot of a fishing trawler in Whitstable, Kent at night. 'The Fisherman's Wake', an aerial shot of a fishing trawler taken at Whitstable in Kent by Michael Marsh, is the Overall Winner A surfer is seen above in this photograph, called Wave Rider, which was taken at Thurso by James Gunn. It is highly commended in the People and Recreation category A Chicago mother allegedly shot and killed her 12-year-old son as she raged about losing a memory card on Saturday. Fallon Harris, 37, shot her son, Kaden Ingram, twice in the head mid-morning on Saturday, after the boy told her he did not know where the memory card was, according to Cook County State Attorney Eugene Wood. The incident allegedly unfolded on a home security system at their south Chicago home. A family member called the police after finding Kaden lying in their kitchen with multiple bullet wounds to his head, unresponsive. He was brought to the University of Chicago Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead. He is now one of the 60 shooting victims in the city over the weekend. Harris is now being charged with first-degree murder, and is being held without bail as she waits for a mental health evaluation. Her family members say she has faced mental health issues over the past few months, and prosecutors claim she was 'paranoid' at a preliminary hearing on Sunday. Harris faces a life sentence if convicted. Fallon Harris, 37, was charged over the weekend with first-degree murder after she allegedly shot her 12-year-old son, Kaden Ingram (right), in a fit over a missing memory card At the hearing, Wood alleged that the incident began at around 10.15am on Saturday, when Harris confronted her son about the whereabouts of a digital memory card she had taken out of her car. It is unclear what was on the memory card. When Kaden told his mother he did not know where the card was, Harris allegedly pointed a silver revolver at Kaden's head and fired a non-fatal shot. Audio evidence recovered from the home security system revealed that the first shot left Kaden 'conscious and crying,' Wood said, according to the Daily Beast. While he was lying on the floor, Harris allegedly answered a phone call, before returning and once again demanding Kaden turn over the memory card. He once again told his mother he did not know where the memory card was, and Harris allegedly fired a second and fatal shot at his head - an incident Wood said was clearly caught on camera. At that point, Harris allegedly called two family members and admitted that she shot her son over the missing memory card. Those relatives then called the police and the boy's father, who met officers at the crime scene. When they arrived, Wood said Harris confessed to the shooting and showed them the weapon. She had a concealed carry license and owned two guns, officials said. Ingram's father said he enjoyed professional wrestling, anime, video games and history Harris had been an employee of the Chicago Department of Transportation who had been displaying 'paranoid behavior' in the months before the fatal shooting, officials said on Sunday, and following her arrest, Wood said Harris broke down in tears and asked: 'Can I talk to my momma?' She was denied bail on Sunday, and Judge Mary Marubio signed a health care order allowing her to be evaluated. Family members had reportedly been concerned about Harris' mental health before, and encouraged her to meet with a therapist - which she did for the first time on Friday, according to the Chicago Sun-Times. 'We didn't know that this was going to transpire,' said her estranged husband, Lavell Ingram, who is also Kaden's father. 'We had told her to get help. I guess it finally reached its boiling point.' He said he remained close to Harris for the sake of their son. 'She loved [Kaden] more than anything in the world,' he said. 'I don't even think she understands what happened.' 'I'm losing a young god,' Ingram said of his son. 'I'm losing a young genius. 'I'm losing everything I had in this world. Everything.' Ingram said Kaden loved professional wrestling, anime, video games and history. But he was just one of at least 60 people who were shot in 40 shooting incidents across the city between Friday evening and 11.59pm on Sunday, the Chicago Police Department announced on Monday. Other victims include four people who were shot in a drive-by on Saturday night and six people who were shot as they walked to their vehicles just after 9.30pm on Sunday, according to WTTW. The weekend prior, six people were killed and at least 61 others were wounded in shootings, ABC 7 Chicago reports. Citywide, shooting incidents are up 9 percent from the same time last year, Chicago Police Department data shows, and murders are up 4 percent. French President Emmanuel Macron's former bodyguard has appeared in court on charges of assaulting two young anti-capitalist demonstrators during a 2018 protest. Alexandre Benalla wore a borrowed police helmet at the time of the alleged assault, an incident that caused deep embarrassment for Macron, who had promised an 'exemplary republic.' The president who had made integrity in office a cornerstone of his 2017 election campaign, was forced to fire Benalla after a video emerged showing him striking a young man and grabbing a young woman by the neck at a May Day protest in Paris. The former bouncer, now aged 30, was wearing a police helmet, even though he had only been given leave to attend the protest as an observer. The presidency was accused of a cover-up for failing to report Benalla to the police until French daily Le Monde revealed the existence of the video two months after the incident. 'Benallagate' ballooned into the first major test for Macron, who swept to the presidency with a pledge to restore faith in public authorities. Alexandre Benalla (pictured), French President Emmanuel Macron's former bodyguard, has appeared in court on charges of assaulting two young anti-capitalist demonstrators during a 2018 protest Benalla (centre) has denied the charges, saying he acted 'by reflex' to help officers arrest unruly protesters His government survived two no-confidence votes in parliament, but a Senate investigative panel that questioned key Macron aides found 'major flaws' in the administration's handling of the affair. Benalla was charged with assault as well as unauthorised interference in police matters. Wearing a dark suit and a face mask, he made no statement to the dozens of journalists waiting as he arrived at the Paris courthouse. He has denied the charges, saying he acted 'by reflex' to help officers arrest unruly protesters. 'Mistakes were made obviously, by me of course, but I can put up with a lot. And I'm far from being the only one responsible for this shipwreck. I'm the scapegoat for the people in power,' he wrote in a 2019 book, 'What They Don't Want Me To Say.' Also on trial is Benalla's friend Vincent Crase, the former security head of Macron's centrist party, who was also filmed roughing up protesters at the demo. The presidency was accused of a cover-up for failing to report Benalla (second from right) to the police until French daily Le Monde revealed the existence of the video two months after the incident 'Benallagate' ballooned into the first major test for Macron, who swept to the presidency with a pledge to restore faith in public authorities. Pictured: Benalla (right) on the day of the protest Two police officers, accused of illegally providing Benalla with surveillance footage in a bid to claim his actions were justified, will also be in the dock. Benalla started working as a bodyguard for Macron in 2016 during what many considered his dark horse bid for the presidency, winning over the politician and his wife Brigitte with his boundless energy. He was promoted to a senior security role after Macron's May 2017 victory, becoming a trusted confidant and right-hand man seen at Macron's side in countless photos. 'He got noticed as someone who could fix all the practical problems very efficiently,' a former senior campaign official said. 'He thought of everything, he was our Swiss Army knife.' He also secured perks usually reserved for top administration officials, including an apartment near the Elysee Palace and access to the National Assembly and its private gym and library. After the scandal broke, Benalla also admitted carrying a handgun during outings with Macron, even though he was only authorised to have it within Macron's party headquarters, where he was nicknamed 'Rambo'. Also on trial is Benalla's friend Vincent Crase (pictured), the former security head of Macron's centrist party, who was also filmed roughing up protesters at the demo Benalla (left) was promoted to a senior security role after Macron's (right) May 2017 victory, becoming a trusted confidant and right-hand man seen at Macron's side in countless photos It remains unclear, however, how the young man from a working-class neighbourhood of Evreux, a sleepy town in Normandy, got hold of the police helmet he is seen wearing during the May Day assault. Benalla also caused headaches for Macron after his dismissal. Investigators found that he continued to use diplomatic passports for trips to Africa and Israel, where he was trying to build up a consulting business. He is suspected of using faked documents to obtain one of the passports, a charge he has denied. Benalla will also face a charge of illegally carrying a gun, based on a picture of him at a restaurant that appears to show him with a Glock. He has said it was probably a water gun. An equality watchdog has urged firms to anonymise CVs and promote shared parental leave to tackle the gender pay gap. The Chartered Management Institute (CMI) and the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) also said companies should advertise jobs at all levels as open to flexible working from day one. It is mandatory for organisations with 250 or more employees to publish their gender pay gap every year, but, due to the Covid-19 outbreak, enforcement has been suspended and is due to resume next month. A report published on Monday said there are fears that action around the gender pay gap could be de-prioritised by businesses, despite evidence that women have been disproportionately disadvantaged during the pandemic. The Chartered Management Institute (CMI) and the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) also said companies should advertise jobs at all levels as open to flexible working from day one Women are more likely to be in sectors shut down by coronavirus, lost their job or been furloughed, and are taking on the majority of housework and childcare, said the report. Latest figures show that just over 5,000 employers out of the 12,500 affected have reported their gender pay gap figures. CMI chief executive Ann Francke said: 'As businesses scrambled to adapt to the impact of the pandemic, the suspension of gender pay gap reporting may have been understandable, but the evidence is now clear that women's earnings and career prospects have been disproportionately affected by Covid. CMI chief executive Ann Francke said: 'As businesses scrambled to adapt to the impact of the pandemic, the suspension of gender pay gap reporting may have been understandable, but the evidence is now clear that women's earnings and career prospects have been disproportionately affected by Covid' 'There has never been a more urgent time for awareness of the gender pay gap to be put back front and centre of policy-making. 'This new guidance is a significant step forward in outlining the practical steps businesses need to take to directly address the gender pay gap within their organisation. 'With the widespread move to more flexible working, this could provide more opportunities for women, but there are also real risks of women being left out of decision-making and a reduction in the support that helps women progress their career.. EHRC commissioner Suzanne Baxter saud: 'The pandemic has had specific effects on women in the workplace and, if we want to continue the progress that has been made towards workplace equality, then action to address the causes of pay gaps needs to be a key priority. 'That is why we have teamed up with CMI to give employers a toolkit with the necessary information and practical steps they need to produce meaningful, time-bound action plans.' The Biden administration is asking offenders who were sent home from prison because of the pandemic to submit applications to have their sentences commuted, it emerged on Monday. The idea would mean that potentially thousands of nonviolent offenders would not have to return to incarceration when the pandemic is over. The White House said President Biden was committed to reducing incarceration and helping people reenter society As he has said, too many Americans are incarcerated and too many of those incarcerated are Black and Brown,' said White House Deputy Press Secretary Andrew Bates. 'That is why the president is exploring the use of his clemency power for individuals on CARES Act home confinement. 'The administration will start the clemency process with a review of non-violent drug offenders on CARES Act home confinement with four years or less to serve.' Earlier, Politico reported that drug offenders, released to home confinement under the pandemic relief bill known as CARES, with four years or less on their sentences, had been asked to begin the clemency process. The Biden administration is reported to be considering commuting sentences for some nonviolent offenders sent home from prison during the pandemic Thousands of prisoners have been sent home since the spring of 2020, under the pandemic relief bill known as CARES. Politico reported that non-violent drug offenders, with less than four years left to serve, have been asked to begin 'While we are excited to hear the Biden administration is actively seeking clemency petitions for non violent drug offenders, we pray he will not carve up CARES Act recipients into small subsets,' said Amy Povah, a former prisoner and clemency advocate, told the news outlet. 'No other president in history has been handed a 'dream come true' opportunity to easily identify a large group of individuals who have already been vetted and successfully integrated into society, many of whom are now gainfully employed, found housing, and are healing the family unit that was injured due to tough-on-crime sentencing policies that previous administrations have acknowledged are horribly unjust.' The Bureau of Prisons has released thousands of nonviolent federal prisoners to home confinement since early 2020 amid concerns about the spread of COVID-19. Prisoner groups say their rate of reoffending is low. The result was a campaign urging the administration not to send the inmates back, a campaign that included businesses who relied on offenders to fill jobs during a national labor shortage. 'This is your opportunity to provide second chances to thousands of people who are already safely out of prison, reintegrating back to society, reconnecting with their loved ones, getting jobs and going back to school,' said a letter sent by 20 advocacy groups, including Amnesty International and the American Civil Liberties Union. The move comes after The White House last month confirmed that Biden was 'exploring' the idea of shortening sentences for those locked up for drug crimes. 'We are working hard every day to reform our justice system in order to strengthen families, boost our economy and give people a chance at a better future,' White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki told reporters during one of her August daily briefings. 'The president is deeply committed to reducing incarceration and helping people successfully reenter society. 'And he said too many people are incarcerated - too many are black and brown - and he's therefore exploring multiple avenues to provide relief to certain nonviolent drug offenders, including through the use of his clemency power.' The White House position on North Korea 'hasn't changed,' despite Pyongyang's announcement that it had tested a new long-range cruise missile over the weekend, and will leave the door open to diplomacy, according to spokeswoman Karine Jean-Pierre. 'We remain prepared to engage in diplomacy with DPRK toward our objective of a complete denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula. So that hasn't changed,' Jean-Pierre told reporters on Monday. 'Our offer remains to meet anywhere, anytime without preconditions. So, that hasn't changed -- our diplomatic efforts,' the press secretary continued. North Korea said on Monday it had successfully launched new long-range cruise missiles for its first missile test in six months. It is unclear whether DPRK yet has the technology to build warheads small enough to be carried by a cruise missile, but leader Kim Jong Un said earlier this year that is the goal. In the test, the North Korean missiles hit targets nearly 1,000 miles away on Saturday and Sunday before falling into the country's territorial waters. US officials, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said initial indications were that North Korea had carried out such a test. Both the US and neighboring South Korea are looking into the launch claims. North Korea said on Monday it had successfully launched new long-range cruise missiles for its first missile test in six months People watch a TV screen showing a news program showing a North Korean handout photo that says, "North Korea's long-range cruise missiles tests," in Seoul, South Korea, Monday, Sept. 13, 2021. The North hailed its new missiles as a 'strategic weapon of great significance' which implies they were developed with the intent to arm them with nuclear warheads The North hailed its new missiles as a 'strategic weapon of great significance' which implies they were developed with the intent to arm them with nuclear warheads. North Korea has ramped up its nuclear weapons program in order to deter what it sees as hostility from the US and South Korea. In August, South Korea and the US conducted joint military drills that prompted the ire of North Korea. Kim Yo Jong, the powerful sister of North Korea's leader, called the drills the 'most vivid expression of the US hostile policy.' The United States keeps about 28,000 troops in South Korea to help deter potential aggression from North Korea, a legacy of the Korean War. Last month, the State Department also approved a sale of precision-guided weapons worth about $258 million to South Korea. Chief nuclear negotiators from the United States, South Korea and Japan are due to meet this week in Tokyo to explore how to resume efforts to persuade North Korea to give up its nuclear weapons. Biden's administration has said it is open to diplomacy to achieve this, but has shown no willingness to ease sanctions on North Korea. Nuclear negotiations have been in limbo since the collapse if a summit from Kim Jong Un and President Trump in 2019. North Korea ended a two-year pause in ballistics tests in March, continuing its tradition of testing the waters with new administrations to measure their response. The U.S. military's Indo-Pacific Command (INDOPACOM) said the activity highlighted North Korea's 'continuing focus on developing its military program and the threats that poses to its neighbors and the international community.' Twitter did not violate election laws by blocking users from sharing a New York Post article on Hunter Biden in October 2020, an Federal Election Commission (FEC) ruling from last month revealed Monday. The decision to throttle the story was a commercial decision that Twitter 'credibly explained' to the body, rather than for a political purpose, and so it was permissible, the New York Times reports. A document outlining the decision's 'factual and legal analysis' reportedly said the move was in line with existing Twitter policies related to hacked materials. However, CEO Jack Dorsey admitted hours after the block that the move was 'unacceptable.' An official ruling will be made public likely later this month. A Republican National Committee complaint from October 16 criticized Twitter's purge as 'the most brazen and unprecedented act of media suppression in this countrys history' and accused Twitter of working on behalf of the Biden campaign. But even Dorsey shied away from the site's aggressive policing after outrage over the move. Hunter Biden walks to Marine One outside the White House on May 22. His father President Joe Biden won the presidential election less than two weeks after the New York Post's bombshell report One of the photos allegedly from Hunter Biden's laptop shows him smoking a cigarette, others show him with what appears to be a crack pipe In a 180-degree turn from its original decision, Twitter began allowing users to share the article within a day. Dorsey admitted the initial reaction to the story was a 'total mistake' in a March hearing before the House Energy and Commerce Committee. Besides the Hunter Biden story, the FEC also dismissed allegations that Twitter violated the law by 'shadow banning' Republicans and adding fact checks to some Trump tweets. Those claims were 'vague, speculative and unsupported by the available information,' the FEC decision reportedly says. The article was published less than four weeks ahead of the heated presidential election between then-President Trump and current President Biden. The New York Post cover breaking their Hunter Biden story - the same one throttled by Twitter on October 14 On October 14, The New York Post published a blockbuster report based on Hunter Biden's emails that were purportedly found on a hard-drive of a computer left at a Delaware repair shop. Copies of messages were given to the newspaper by Trump's personal attorney, Rudy Giuliani after ex-Trump White House strategist Steve Bannon made reporters aware of them. The emails seemingly detailed some of Hunter Biden's business dealings in Ukraine, suggesting he and his father, the Democratic nominee, were using their name for profit. Bombshell emails reportedly show Hunter introduced then-Vice President Biden to a top executive at Burisma, a Ukrainian energy firm, roughly a year after Hunter accepted a position on its board with a lucrative $50,000-per-month salary, the New York Post reported. Another item on the laptop was a raunchy 12-minute video that appears to show Hunter engaging in a sex act with an unidentified woman while smoking crack, the outlet also stated in the article. The elder Biden had repeatedly claimed he never had anything to do with his only living son's overseas business dealings. Twitter initially blocked the unverified article from being shared because it was suspected to have broken its policy on hacked content. That same night, Dorsey tweeted, 'Our communication around our actions on the @nypost article was not great. And blocking URL sharing via tweet or DM with zero context as to why were blocking: unacceptable.' Twitter CEO called blocking the article's circulation a 'mistake' in a March congressional hearing The same day the article was blocked, Dorsey went into damage control and conceded that blocking the article with no context or explanation was 'unacceptable' But despite quickly reversing course and allowing people to share the story, Twitter continued to block the New York Post from its own account on the site until the offending posts were deleted. Twitter said it allowed the initial reversal because the 'once-private' information in the article is now 'widely available' in the press and on other platforms. By the end of October the social media giant had relented after a two-week standoff and allowed The New York Post to regain access. 'Our policies are living documents. We're willing to update and adjust them when we encounter new scenarios or receive important feedback from the public,' the company said in a statement. 'One such example is the recent change to our Hacked Materials Policy and its impact on accounts like the New York Post,' Twitter added. 'In response, we're updating our practice of not retroactively overturning prior enforcement. Decisions made under policies that are subsequently changed & published can now be appealed if the account at issue is a driver of that change. We believe this is fair and appropriate,' the statement continued. 'This means that because a specific @nypost enforcement led us to update the Hacked Materials Policy, we will no longer restrict their account under the terms of the previous policy and they can now Tweet again,' the company said. An associate professor at Boston University fell 20 feet to his death on Saturday when he slipped through a badly-rusted staircase near a subway station that had been closed to pedestrians for at least a year. Dr. David K. Jones, an associate professor in the Department of Health Law, Policy and Management at the School of Public Health, was pronounced dead on the scene near the JFK/UMass T station in Dorchester on Saturday. It remains unclear how he wound up on the staircase, which had been closed for 20 months because it is unsafe. His death was confirmed by Dr. Sandra Galea, dean of the school, in a statement on the university's website. 'In truth, I have no words to describe the devastation of this news,' she wrote. Jones, 40, had joined the School of Public Health in 2014 and distinguished himself as 'an exemplary member of our community,' Galea said, serving as the founding editor in chief of the Public Health Post and receiving several honors, including the BU School of Public Health Excellence in Teaching Award. He is survived by his wife, Sarah Sacuto, and their three children. Dr. David K. Jones, 40, died after he fell 20 feet through a badly-rusted staircase on Saturday The staircase, near the JFK/UMass T station in Dorchester is missing six steps David Procopio, a Massachusetts state police spokesman said in a statement to the Boston Globe on Monday that the state troopers were alerted about a body under the staircase at around 1.30pm Saturday. He said Jones' body 'had been observed under a set of stairs a short time earlier by a passerby who called police.' They later discovered that Jones was lying on the ground under a stairway that connects Old Colony Road to the Columbia Road overpass. There, detectives 'observed a gap in the stairs above the victim, who had already been determined to be deceased.' A preliminary investigation, Procopio said, 'revealed that the stairs had been deemed unsafe and closed for approximately 20 months.' He told the Globe he was not sure whether there were signs warning pedestrians to keep off the staircase on Saturday afternoon, but 'there was a wire fence blocking the bottom entrance to the stairs and a jersey barrier,' as well as 'chain link fencing' and another jersey barrier at the Columbia Road entrance. The signs were back on Monday, the Globe reports, and a cement block was placed at the entrance to act as a barrier. The entrances were also blocked off with fencing and wiring. Five-foot tall fencing obstructed the Old Colony entrance, and the area surrounding the staircase for a while before Jones' death, and in recent days, resident Richard Saunders said, it was extended to at least six-feet tall. But the gaping hole in the middle of the heavily-rusted staircase was still visible, with at least six missing steps, and a number of fallen steps were scattered across the ground. It is unclear when the steps fell, but a Google Street View image from November 2020 showed there were four missing steps. The Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority has warned residents not to use the staircase nearly 40 times since January 2020, writing in a tweet in March that the stairs were inaccessible and pedestrians should find other ways to access the T station while 'necessary repairs are being made.' Tall fencing was put up around the staircase and signs warning pedestrians not to trespass were seen on Monday There was a wire fence blocking the bottom entrance to the stairs and a jersey barrier But residents in the area told the Globe the staircase has been blocked off for years, with Richard Saunders, who lives down the road from the T stop saying the entrance has been blocked off for as long as he could remember. And an old MBTA sign posted on the fence Monday said the staircase would be closed 'until fall 2020.' 'If you're not paying attention to what you're doing, this could have happened to anybody,' Saunders said. 'You can't really notice whether the stairs are there or not unless you really, really look hard.' Genesia Eddins, another resident, also told the Globe that the staircase had been falling apart for years. 'I think the conditions speak for itself,' she said, 'They're basically disintegrating under us.' An investigation into the incident is now underway. His wife posted on Facebook that he had gone out for a run and 'never returned home' Jones, right, is survived by his wife, Sarah Sacuto, and their three children He has worked as an associate professor at Boston University (pictured) since 2014 Sacuto posted a tribute to her husband following his death, saying he went for a run and 'never returned' Jones' wife, Sarah Sacuto posted on Facebook following his death that he went for a run and 'never returned' home. 'He accidentally accessed a flight of stairs near the JFK UMass Boston metro stop that was rusted through. He fell from 20 feet up and most likely died instantly. 'The void he leaves behind is unspeakable,' she said. 'He was the most loving, kind considerate person I knew. He was the best father. He loved to dance to Phish, be outdoors and run. He loved unconditionally and was the proudest father to his kids. 'I loved him,' she wrote. A GoFundMe set up for the family raised nearly $70,500 by Monday afternoon. It describes Jones as 'beloved beyond words.' And on a Facebook page set up in his memory, 'In Memory of David Kline Jones,' friends and family members shared their memories of him. Candice Wendt, for example, wrote that Jones 'was a close family friend for five years while we lived in Ann Arbor, Michigan' and his and Sarah's 'home felt like a second home for me.' 'Even though I was a young insecure mom at home at the time, David treated me an someone with an intellect and whose interests and talents mattered to him,' she wrote. 'This is not something I was used to from men at church. 'Davids friendship is precious and If I had known our recent meeting would be the last, I would have given him a big hug and told him how much I love him and how much he has blessed my life.' Laura Tietjen also wrote that she and her husband knew David as he grew up in New York City. 'David was funny, and adventurous, and kind, and thoughtful,' she shared. 'When I had a boy of my own he gave him his toys which showed my son how to be generous. 'When my daughter was agonizing whether or not to attend McGill he talked not only to me but to her, telling her about his experience and offering his advice. And he did the same when my son was agonizing over accepting an offer to BU 'I was thrilled to be invited to dance via Zoom at his birthday party, found such joy in his adventures with his children that he posted on Facebook, marveled at his grace, wisdom, and steadfastness as he navigated this past year,' Tietjen concluded. 'He was truly a wonderful man and I am grateful to have known him and so proud of his accomplishments. But most of all I admire him for being such a loving son, father, and husband.' Friends and family members shared their memories of Jones on Facebook Many people noted that he was a loving father and husband Jones has been described as being passionate about his work, publishing a book from Oxford University Press in 2017 entitled Exchange Politics: Opposing Obamacare in Battleground States. 'He cared deeeply about bridging research and policy, and conducted work in places as far as France and the Mississippi Delta,' Galea wrote in her statement. 'And above all, David was a wonderful human being, living with integrity and a deep commitment to all we do. 'I have loced all my interactions with David,' she said. 'I cannot really imagine what it means to not have David as part of our community.' Galea said the school would host a gathering on Monday for faculty and staff in its Founders' Room and via Zoom to pay tribute to Jones. Space would also be set up for his students during his regularly scheduled class on Tuesday. 'Our thoughts are with David's family and all his loved ones,' Galea wrote. 'May we all live with intentionality and grace in honor of David's memory.' Advertisement The family of a missing van-life woman's fiance refused to let authorities interview their son when the van that the couple had traveled in before she disappeared was seized from their property late on Saturday night. Gabby Petito of Long Island, 22, was reported missing by her family on September 11 after they hadn't heard from her in 13 days. She had been traveling on a cross-country trip with her boyfriend Brian Laundrie since July. She last spoke to her family on August 25, and her last known location was at Grand Teton National Park. Laundrie returned to their home in North Port, Florida, where the couple moved two years ago, driving the couple's 2012 Ford Transit van, which police confirmed recovering late on Saturday night. He has remained mum on her whereabouts, reportedly hiring an attorney and refusing to speak publicly about what happened. Asked about Laundrie at the press conference, however, both parents said, 'We can't comment on that.' North Port police also told Dailymail.com that officers have tried to speak with missing Gabby Petito's fiance at the house but his parents refused to let them. But their lawyer, Steven Bertolino, issued a statement for the first time today to DailyMail.com, saying 'This is an extremely difficult time for both the Petito family and the Laundrie family. 'I understand that a search has been organized for Miss Petito in or near Grand Teton National Park in Wyoming. On behalf of the Laundrie family it is our hope that the search for Miss Petito is successful and that Miss Petito is re-united with her family. On the advice of counsel the Laundrie family is remaining in the background at this juncture and will have no further comment.' Forensic experts are now poring over the 2012 model van for fingerprints and any other possible clues. 'We have the vehicle, we took it away very late Saturday night into Sunday,' said North Port Police spokesman Josh Taylor. 'We take it, we process it for evidence fingerprints, any evidentiary value that we think is possible. 'So we have that vehicle. We are continuing to try to piece the things together. The situation is obviously very fluid.' He confirmed Laundrie has still not talked with police. 'We have not talked with him, we would love to talk to him,' said Taylor. 'He is under no obligation to talk to us and he has not. And we don't even know yet if a crime happened.' Asked if police had turned up at the home of Laundrie's parents to speak with him, Taylor replied: 'Of course.' He added: 'We did not actually talk to him. We talked to his parents. And they did not want to make him available to do that.' The North Port police said in a statement they are 'actively assisting in this case in conjunction with the Suffolk County Police Department where she was reported missing'. A statement added: 'We currently have no definitive information that a crime took place here in North Port. With that said, the circumstances are odd. 'The vehicle she was traveling in was located here in North Port. So, we are actively gathering local details and any evidence to assist in finding needed answers. If you know anything about this case please contact us at 941-429-7382.' Laundrie's father, 62-year-old Christopher Laundrie, was seen mowing his lawn on Monday, and refused to comment on his son's whereabouts. Gabby Petito's parents are trying to stay optimistic as they broke their silence Monday, with the mom saying 'I believe she's gonna come home.' Nicole Schmidt, of Long Island, New York, gave a teary-eyed interview to reporters on Monday afternoon as she held a picture of her daughter and said: 'We are looking for her. We are not focusing on anything else, but finding her... I believe she's gonna come home.' Petito's stepfather, James, added: 'If anyone else has any information, if anyone has seen her, we ask that they call the tip lines and just please, just give any information you have,' as he joined his anguished wife at the press conference in Bohemia, Suffolk County. 'We just want her home safe with us.' Fiance Brian Laundrie (pictured left) has since returned home to Florida with the pair's camper van, according to missing Gabby Petito's father Joseph Petito, and is not cooperating with police in their investigation Laundrie's father, 62-year-old Christopher Laundrie (pictured), was seen mowing his lawn on Monday, and refused to comment on his son's whereabouts Above is the Laundrie family home in North Port, Florida, where Brian Laundrie returned in the couple's van without Petito after their trip 'I can't say much, but she's no longer with the van,' Schmidt told Fox News of her daughter. 'I don't want to say anything more than that but for people looking for her, I want them to look for her now, not look for that van anymore' Nicole Schmidt, of Long Island, New York, gave a teary-eyed interview to reporters in Bohemia on Monday afternoon about her daughter Gabby Petitio, who has been missing since August 24 Schmidt says that she believes her daughter will return home Schmidt said the last time she spoke over the phone with her daughter was on August 25 - and cast suspicion on the texts received from her adventure-seeking girl over the next five days. She said she texted Petito on August 27 and 30, but now says she isn't sure if her daughter was on the other end of the exchange because it wasn't verbal and she didn't share any photos of herself, Schmidt told Fox News. She said, 'It was just a text. I did not verbally speak to her,' she said. 'I can't say much, but she's no longer with the van. I don't want to say anything more than that but for people looking for her, I want them to look for her now, not look for that van anymore.' Asked about her doubts over the texts at the press conference, Schmidt again said, 'I can't comment on that.' She also declined to share the content of those texts. Schmidt said Petito would contact her at least three times a week. 'We would FaceTime, call, text, frequently. She kept me updated on this whole trip... The first couple of days [she went missing], I believe she was in a place with no service. It was day 8 and 9 that I really became concerned and figured she couldn't be off the grid for that long.' She added: 'I don't know if I believe she's in danger for a particular reason, I just believe she's in danger because she's not in touch with us and she could be alone somewhere, she could be stranded somewhere in the wilderness. 'And she needs help. And I know we're not out there, but I hope everyone's looking for her. I hope that the hikers and the rangers and the campers and everybody has her face and they're looking for her actively.' Petito's father Joe, who lives in Vero Beach, Florida, is also pleading for help bringing his daughter home and addressed the public on Monday when speaking with the New York Post. He said to 'focus on finding her. I can't implore that enough. All of the crap afterward will sort itself out. Please find her. I beg you.' He added that on August 21, she let him know on FaceTime that they had lost power during a stop in Salt Lake City. 'Everything was good. She had lost power to wherever she was at. She couldn't get on the WiFi for whatever reason,' Petito said. Throughout the past week, neither parent heard from her and so 'we got pretty alarmed and tried to do the missing-person report,' he said. He urged people across the country to be on the lookout for anything that seems 'fishy.' 'The hard part is that it's the van life. They can go anywhere they wanted, unfortunately, in this situation. It's the entire damn country,' he said. Gabby Petito of Blue Point, 22, and her boyfriend, Brian Laundrie, set out on their road trip in early July, first driving from Laundrie's home state of Florida to Petito's in New York. Then, the pair set out West toward Salt Lake City. She was reported missing by her family on Saturday, and last posted on her Instagram account in Ogden, Utah, two weeks ago (photo picture The above map illustrates the places Petito and Laundrie visited since the start of the trip leaving New York on July 2 to when she last spoke to her family on August 25 from Grand Teton National Park Petito, 22, who grew up in Blue Point, New York, was last seen on August 24 checking out of a hotel with Laundrie in Salt Lake City, Utah. The following day she made her final call to her family, telling them that she and Laundrie had traveled to Grand Teton National Park in Wyoming. Her last Instagram, posted on August 25, shows her visiting the Monarch Wall in Ogden, Utah with the caption 'Happy Halloween'. The pair were heading from Ogden to Yellowstone National Park, just north of Grand Teton. The couple embarked on their trip on July 2 from Blue Point, where they traveled for Petito's brother's graduation on June 17. She was reported missing by her mother to New York authorities on Saturday night. '[It's like] drowning with your hands tied behind you,' Petito's father, Joseph Petito, told Newsday of his daughter's disappearance. 'You can't describe it. There's nothing you can do. You can't control anything.' The Suffolk County Police Department opened an investigation after her Schmidt filed a missing persons report just before 7pm on Saturday, the agency wrote in a press release. The Suffolk County Police Department opened an investigation after her mom Nichole Schmidt reported her missing just before 7pm on Saturday, the agency wrote in a press release Petito was seen in a YouTube video having a snack in the van as they made way on their cross-country journey The couple started their trip on July 2 after Petito attended her brother's graduation in New York on June 17. They planned to reach Portland, Oregon, and visit a family friend for Halloween Neither Petito's family nor her boyfriend Laundrie could be reached for comment. Petito was described as 5-feet5, around 110 pounds, with several tattoos, including one on her forearm reading 'let it be'. She and Laundrie moved to North Port, Florida, two years ago from Blue Point, where she grew up and attended Bayport-Blue Point High School. Neighbor Keith Graves, 52, said Petito had moved in eight months ago. 'I've never seen anything out of place with those two,' Graves told MailOnline. 'The only thing that stood out was that a tow crew came and took the white van away.' Her dad moved to Vero Beach, Florida, in June to be closer to his daughter. He described her as 'very, very free spirited'. 'Clothes didn't impress her. Cars didn't impress her. Experiences - that's what impressed her.' The couple started their trip on July 2 after Petito attended her brother's graduation in New York on June 17. They planned to reach Portland, Oregon, and visit a family friend for Halloween. The pair had documented their conversion of a 2012 Ford van into a camper and their life traveling in it on YouTube and Instagram, and were developing a social media presence under the name 'Nomadic Statik.' Per their Instagram accounts, the pair began their trip on July 2 and traveled to Kansas' Monument Rocks, Colorado Springs, Great Sand Dunes National Park, Zion National Park and Bryce National Park in Utah and Canyonlands National Park since July 2. 'Downsizing out life to fit into this itty bitty van was the best decision we've ever made,' Laundrie wrote on Instagram in early July. 'Sacrificing space to wake up in nature everyday has been no sacrifice at all.' Vanished without a trace: Timeline of Gabby Petito's trip and disappearance July 2: Gabby Petito and Brian Laundrie set out on their road trip from Blue Point, New York in Suffolk County on eastern Long Island July 5: The couple stopped at Kansas' Monument Rocks July 8: Their next stop was Colorado Springs July 10: Petito updated her Instagram with photos of her walking at Grand Sand Dunes National Park July 16: Petito's smiling in a photo from the couple's next stop at Zion National Park July 20: Petito informed her Instagram followers that they were at Cedar Breaks July 21: The next stop was Bryce Canyon National Park July 26: Petito posted a photo relaxing in a tub at Mystic Hot Springs July 30: The couple stopped at Canyonlands National Park Mesa Arch August 12: They couple took a hike at Arches National Park August 13: Laundrie posted an Instagram photo from their next destination in Moab, Utah August 21: Petito's father orders a meal for the couple via Uber Eats after they lose WiFi connectivity in a power outage in Salt Lake City, Utah August 24: The couple were seen checking out of a hotel in Salt Lake City August 25: Petito's family spoke to her for the last time over the phone and she said she was in Grand Teton National Park August 27, 30: Petito's mom Nicole Schmidt had a text exchange with who she thought was Petito, but didn't hear from her over the phone to confirm Unknown date: Laundrie returned to the couple's home in North port, Florida, without Petito September 11: Schmidt reported her daughter missing after not hearing from her for nearly two weeks Advertisement Neither Petito's family nor her boyfriend Laundrie could be reached for comment at press time. The Suffolk County Police Department opened an investigation after her family reported her missing just before 7 pm on Saturday, the agency wrote in a press release '[My daughter] was last physically seen on August 24th when she checked out of a hotel with her boyfriend salt Lake City, Utah,' said Gabby Petito's father, Joseph Petito, on Facebook. '[Brian Laundrie] has since returned home and retained a lawyer, and is uncooperative currently.' The engaged couple had documented their conversion of a 2012 Ford van into a camper and their life traveling in it on YouTube and Instagram Neither Petito's family nor her boyfriend Laundrie could be reached for comment at press time. The pair are pictured together in Canyonlands National Park in Utah The Suffolk County Police Department opened an investigation after her family reported her missing just before 7 pm on Saturday, the agency wrote in a press release. In an Instagram post on July 16, Petito wrote, 'The past two nights camping in Zion have been so cool, literally. We hiked up here in about 100 and it was so nice coming back to our campsite, watching the sky fill with dark clouds, and view the lightning storm in the nice cool air of the light rain.' Petito and Laundrie had turned back from Utah in late August to evade wildfire smoke, Nicole Schmidt said, and had planned to go to Yellowstone National Park next. Schmidt said she would remain vigilant and keep up the search for her daughter. 'I just want people to keep looking and not stop until we find her,' Schmidt told Newsday. 'She's out there somewhere... We won't stop until we find her.' Schmidt's husband and son TJ have posted two missing persons posters on their Instagrams as well as a picture of Petito, appealing for her safe return. Both warned they were unable to 'comment any further because there is an active investigation.' Since Petito's disappearance, her family has launched a GoFundMe that has accrued $5,000 in just six hours. They have also started a social media campaign on Facebook, simply called 'Find Gabby,' where a number of national park visitors have claimed to recognize the pair's van. 'While we are working with the FBI, multiple law enforcement agencies, and outside resources to pursue any and all leads the family will need funds and resources to travel and pay for expenses related to an investigation and search on the other side of the country, any help is appreciated,' reads the body of the fundraiser. Laundrie's father Chris was seen sweeping outside the home on Monday 'Downsizing out life to fit into this itty bitty van was the best decision we've ever made,' Laundrie wrote on Instagram in early July. Petito is an artist, a vegetarian and a yoga enthusiast, according to her Instagram page. She was reported missing on Saturday evening, and her family has not heard from her since August 25 'I love the van,' Petito said in the couple's YouTube video, which was posted three weeks ago A British father from Liverpool has been arrested at gunpoint by police in Holland who believed he was a Mafia boss. Identified only as Mark L, the 54-year-old father was in the country to watch the Dutch Grand Prix when police ambushed him at a restaurant last Wednesday. They then proceeded to blindfold him before they whisked him to a maximum-security prison. Officers were convinced the Liverpudlian was Sicilian Mafia boss Matteo Messina Denaro, 59, who is wanted for bombings in 1993 which killed 10 people and injured 93. Officers were convinced Liverpudlian Mark L was Sicilian Mafia boss Matteo Messina Denaro, 59, who is wanted for bombings in 1993 which killed 10 people and injured 93 Identified only as Mark L, the 54-year-old father was in the country to watch the Dutch Grand Prix when police ambushed him at a restaurant last Wednesday. Pictured: Matteo Messina Denaro Mark L was eventually released on Saturday and police admitted they made a mistake in arresting him. His lawyer, Van Kleef, told local news according to The Mirror: 'I would fall off my chair if this was Italy's most wanted mobster. 'The moment he opened his mouth I could hear his English accent. Imagine one moment you are having a bite to eat and the next you are sat in a maximum-security Dutch prison.' Denaro was sentenced in absentia to life in prison in May 2002 for his role in the bombings of 1993 which killed eight people including two prosecutors and injured 93. Early-morning gamblers at a Florida casino were sent running from their slot machines Monday after part of a fire suppression system exploded during servicing, officials said. The sudden blast at the popular casino in Hollywood injured 26 people, with six of the wounded requiring hospitalization, but none of the injuries were considered life threatening, the Seminole Classic Casino reported. Contract workers were performing routine, six-month maintenance on the building's fire suppression system, which uses a compressed non-flammable gas to extinguish the flames, when the explosion occurred. A fire suppression system exploded at the Seminole Classic Casino in Hollywood Florida Monday morning, injuring 26 people The explosion occurred during routine maintenance of the system, which uses compressed gas, sending debris flying onto the casino floor below The incident took place shortly before 10 am, when one of the lines they had recently reconnected to a tank containing the gas ruptured after they turned the system back on, Local 10 reported. 'It had been reconnected with a gas canister,' Seminole Tribe spokesperson Gary Bitner told the station. 'Its actually fire suppression equipment that uses gas to put out a fire.' It is housed on the second floor of the building in an equipment room along with the casino's servers and offices, and the explosion caused serious damage to the surrounding area in addition to sending fiberglass, drywall and other debris flying into the casino area below, according to the South Florida Sun Sentinel. There were about 100 patrons and employees in the building at the time of the explosion, Bitner said, and witnesses described it as a loud noise. 'It was an extremely loud explosion,' Keith Richards, who was inside playing blackjack told Local 10. 'Like a transformer burst. It was a very loud sound. You see all those fibers falling from the drywall.' Six of the wounded required hospitalization, but none of the injuries were considered life threatening The remaining 20 of the injured were treated on scene for eye irritation, scrapes and bruises 'There was a big explosion in the wall and then something, I dont know, it got all dark like smoke, getting all the fiber from the walls. I dont even know what is that,' another witness told WSVN. One of the injured suffered blunt force trauma to the head, and was taken to Memorial Regional Hospital. There were about 100 employees and patrons in the building at the time of the explosion Seminole tribe officials said the casino would remain closed for the foreseeable future The 20 who were not hospitalized were treated on the scene for minor injuries such as eye irritation, scrapes and bruises. No dangerous chemicals were involved in the explosion, but the casino will remain closed for the foreseeable future, tribe officials reported. 'We were very lucky that the injuries were mainly minimal,' Bitner told the Sun Sentinel. 'And obviously were going to make sure we understand exactly what happened so it never happens again.' Sydney's Covid-19 outbreak may have already peaked after almost 12 weeks of lockdown, according to usually pessimistic epidemiologists. NSW recorded 1,257 cases on Monday, down from 1,262 on Sunday and 1,599 on Saturday, as its vaccination rate reached nearly 47 per cent. Deakin University chair of epidemiology Catherine Bennett said the reproduction rate in NSW - the number of people each infected person passes the virus onto - had now dropped to 1 after spending most of the outbreak at 1.3. Sunseekers at Bondi Beach on Sunday morning. Epidemiologists have raised hopes Sydney's Covid-19 outbreak may have already peaked after almost 12 weeks of a strict stay-at-home lockdown 'I think weve got a really good sign that we are now seeing this curve flatten,' she told the ABC. NSW's rolling seven-day average also dropped slightly to 1,395 from 1,430 in a promising sign the state is getting on top of the spread. Premier Gladys Berejiklian last week said modelling shows NSW's rise in daily cases would peak this week, though the number of Covid-19 patients in hospital will increase until about mid-October and ICUs peak until early November. Professor Bennett said the rising vaccination rate in the most virus-hit parts of Sydney was making a difference. Almost 85 per cent of residents in Blacktown in the city's west have received their first dose, Ms Berejiklian said last week. 'Were starting to see that real effort to lift the vaccination rate translate to better protection in the community and that then translates to a much higher level of control,' Professor Bennett said. NSW recorded 1,257 locally-acquired cases on Monday - down from 1,599 on Saturday - as the the state's double-dose vaccination rate hit 47 per cent University of South Australia epidemiologist Professor Adrian Esterman said he was optimistic the spread of cases was slowing in NSW, but it is too early to know if the outbreak has reached its peak. 'It has all the sign of a peak, but the numbers are not there to tell me it is a peak - but I am very optimistic,' he said. Ms Berejiklian on Monday said officials were 'seeing a stabilisation' in some of Sydney's 12 local government areas of concern. But she warned case numbers were now soaring in the city's inner suburbs. Health officials predict NSW's rise in daily cases will peak 'in the next week or so', while the number of Covid-19 patients in hospital will increase until about mid-October. Pictured is NSW Chief Health Officer Kerry Chant on Sunday About 47 per cent of the over-16 population in NSW are fully vaccinated against Covid-19 'We have seen also an increase in cases as we mentioned yesterday and the day before in the inner city areas of Glebe and Redfern,' she said. 'We ask communities in those areas to please come forward and get vaccinated, but also to make sure they're sticking to the Covid restrictions.' There are 1,189 Covid-19 patients being treated in hospital, including 222 in intensive care, of which 94 require ventilation. Sydneysiders can now gather outdoors with up to five people as the first set of restrictions are rolled back across the city. The new rules on outdoor gatherings came into effect for millions on Monday, marking the beginning of the end of a hard lockdown that has lasted almost 12 weeks in the city. Those living outside of the 12 hotspot local councils are now able to meet outdoors with up to five adults plus any children under 12 for as long as they want. Residents living in the hotspot councils - who are subject to a 9pm-5am curfew - will be able to gather outdoors with their household for two hours a day as long as everyone is aged over 18. Regardless of location, residents must be fully vaccinated and must do their outdoor activity within 5km of their homes. Michael Gove made racist and homophobic comments and joked about paedophilia in speeches made when he was in his 20s, it emerged yesterday. He also described Prince Charles as a 'dull, wet, drippy adulterer' in talks at the Cambridge Union. The offensive remarks, made while he was a student at Oxford and after his graduation while he was working as a journalist, were supposed to be humorous. He referred to people colonised by the British as 'fuzzy wuzzies' and joked that former Tory minister Sir Leon Brittan was a paedophile. He also made a string of sexual jokes at the expense of Lucy Frazer, a former president of the Cambridge Union who is now a Tory justice minister, according to recordings of the talks uncovered by The Independent. Michael Gove made racist and homophobic comments and joked about paedophilia in speeches made when he was in his 20s, it emerged yesterday Mr Gove, who has been tipped for promotion to Foreign Secretary or Home Secretary in an expected reshuffle, claimed gay people 'thrive primarily upon short-term relations'. Elsewhere, the Cabinet Office minister described Margaret Thatcher's policies as a 'new empire' where 'the happy South stamps over the cruel, dirty, toothless face of the Northerner'. Mr Gove made the comments, which were met at the time by cheers, and shouts of 'shame', at three evening debates at the Cambridge Union in the winter of 1987 in February 1993 and in December 1993. He was working on a now-defunct BBC politics programme in 1993, and also performed on Channel 4's short-lived comedy programme Stab in the Dark. He also described Prince Charles as a 'dull, wet, drippy adulterer' in talks at the Cambridge Union In February 1993, Mr Gove made a number of comments about then European commissioner Sir Leon Brittan (left), implying that the former home secretary was sexually interested in young boys. He also made a string of sexual jokes at the expense of Lucy Frazer (right), a former president of the Cambridge Union who is now a Tory justice minister In 1987, when Mr Gove was in his final year at Oxford University and president-elect of the Union, he said: 'It may be moral to keep an empire because the fuzzy-wuzzies can't look after themselves.' He added that 'Eton took the cream of the colonial system, it took fettered foreigners and it turned them into gentlemen'. 'Fettered' is a term that is used to describe people, often slaves, who have been restrained with chains. In February 1993, Mr Gove made a number of comments about then European commissioner Sir Leon, implying that the former home secretary was sexually interested in young boys. Elsewhere, the Cabinet Office minister described Margaret Thatcher's policies as a 'new empire' where 'the happy South stamps over the cruel, dirty, toothless face of the Northerner' Sir Leon was targeted by Scotland Yard's disgraced Operation Midland VIP sex abuse inquiry before being cleared. He died in 2015. In December 1993 Mr Gove made a speech at the Cambridge Union in support of the motion 'this house prefers a woman on top'. He boasted that Miss Frazer was 'actually capable of tempting me into bed with her'. He then said she had done 'remarkably well' to come from 'the back streets of the slums of Leeds'. Wendy Chamberlain, the Liberal Democrat chief whip, told The Independent: 'The Prime Minister should consider whether this is the type of person that deserves to be sat around the Cabinet table. 'However, given Boris Johnson's own history of disgraceful remarks, I expect this will be another shameful issue he lets go unchallenged.' Mr Gove and Miss Frazer declined to comment. A source said the comments were made in jest in a forum that encouraged controversy. Democrats are tearing into Justice Amy Coney Barrett on Monday after the newest member of the Supreme Court dismissed concerns that the body was comprised of 'partisan hacks' and blamed the media for how it reports on cases in a speech in Kentucky Sunday. 'Justice Amy Coney Barrett should not be gaslighting the American people,' Rep. Ted Lieu of California wrote on Twitter. 'She voted to allow an extreme Texas anti-abortion law to take effect even though it violates the law of the land. And she did it by hiding behind the Courts shadow docket. Her actions screamed partisanship.' Barrett said to an audience at the University of Louisville's McConnell Center, 'My goal today is to convince you that this court is not comprised of a bunch of partisan hacks.' She was speaking at a celebration for the McConnell Center's 30th anniversary. The center was founded by Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, who introduced her at the event. Some Democrats think that alone is more proof that President Biden should pack the court - a persistent rallying cry among progressives. 'Amy Coney Barrett said the Supreme Court isnt partisan, after being introduced by Mitch McConnell at a venue named after him. More proof we must expand the court,' The Democratic Coalition executive director Scott Dworkin said on Twitter. U.S. Supreme Court Associate Justice Amy Coney Barrett speaks to an audience at the 30th anniversary of the University of Louisville McConnell Center in Louisville on Sunday Rep. Ted Lieu of California, a progressive, criticized Barrett's remarks and compared them to her siding with Texas's Republican-led government on the state's restrictive new abortion law Michael Stern, a USA Today opinion columnist, agreed 'fully.' 'We have a limited window to make that happen,' Stern replied. 'Expanding the Court is something that could happen now - if all Democrats in the Senate get on board.' At least one Senate Democrat is irked by Barrett's comments. 'Not partisan hacks? Then explain 80-0 partisan 5-4 record for big donors. And explain judicially conservative principles rolled over to get those wins for donors who put you on the Court,' Rhode Island Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse said. The Supreme Court became a hotbed for controversy last week when it declined to block a restrictive new law in Texas that prevents women from getting an abortion if they are more than six weeks pregnant, a point when many don't even know they are. The 5-4 ruling prompted a fierce response from Democrats in government and a Justice Department lawsuit against Texas. Justices Sotomayor, Kagan and Breyer - the court's three liberals - issued scathing dissenting opinions in which they accused their conservative counterparts of burying 'their heads in the sand' with an 'unconstitutional' decision. But on Sunday, Barrett blamed the media for how it reports on the Supreme Court, the Louisville Courier Journal reports. 'The media, along with hot takes on Twitter, report the results and decisions,' Barrett said. 'That makes the decision seem results-oriented. It leaves the reader to judge whether the court was right or wrong, based on whether she liked the results of the decision.' In addition to Lieu, Democrat Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse also went after Barrett's speech She insisted that 'judicial philosophies are not the same as political parties.' 'To say the courts reasoning is flawed is different from saying the court is acting in a partisan manner... I think we need to evaluate what the court is doing on its own terms.' But Barrett's critics on the left are pointing out the optics of denying partisanship while speaking at an event for the Republican who rushed her confirmation through the Senate. 'Partisan hack Amy Coney Barrett doesn't want to be called a partisan hack,' mocked former Hillary Clinton adviser Peter Daou. Florida Democrat Pam Keith, who ran for Congress unsuccessfully and now runs Fight 4 Florida's Future, a group aimed at turning the battleground state into a Democratic stronghold, said any judge endorsed by the conservative Federalist Society is a 'partisan hack.' 'Think of the Federalists Society as the Klan in Brooks Brothers suits. Their mission is to put fancy, high-falutin words to bogg-standard conservative white male supremacy,' Keith said. 'Theyre kinda like Ivy League Proud Boys.' Other Democrats, including a former Hillary Clinton aide, criticized and mocked Barrett Veteran television anchor Dan Rather also mocked the circumstances of Barrett's speech on Twitter. 'Were apparently playing the Things you cant make up game this morning. So Supreme Court Justice Amy Coney Barrett (speaking at a center named after Mitch McConnell, introduced by Senator McConnell) worries that the Court is seen as "a bunch of partisan hacks,"' Rather said. Yale Law School Professor Scott Shapiro expressed his discontent visually, writing 'Supreme Court Justice Amy Coney Barrett expressed concerns Sunday that the public may increasingly see the court as a partisan institution' - accompanied by a photo of Barrett with former President Donald Trump. During her Sunday speech the Trump appointee conceded that she's not immune to personal disagreements with court decisions she helped propel. 'But it's not my job to decide cases based on the outcome I want,' she said. She added that Justices must be 'hyper vigilant to make sure theyre not letting personal biases creep into their decisions, since judges are people, too.' Barrett was speaking at the 30th anniversary of the university's McConnell Center, founded by the Senate minority leader himself to provide scholarships to Kentucky students. Several supporters of abortion rights demonstrated on Sunday outside the Seelbach Hotel, where the private event was held. Abortion rights supporters protested outside the hotel where Barrett was speaking on Sunday A protester dressed as a handmaiden, stands outside the Seelbach Hotel She was asked about the Supreme Court's 'shadow docket,' which came under scrutiny after the Texas decision was announced just after midnight with little explanation for its rationale. Barrett said it would be 'inappropriate' for her to comment on the case as it could possibly come before the court again. The justice was introduced at the event by McConnell, who praised her for her 'middle America' roots and not trying to 'legislate from the bench.' Barrett was born in Indiana and is the only current justice who didn't attend Harvard or Yale. McConnell played a key role in pushing through her confirmation in the last days of the Trump administration following the death of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. She was confirmed by the Senate in a 52-48 vote last year, a little over a month after Ginsburg's death. Democrats opposed her nomination, arguing that the process was rushed and that the winner of the 2020 presidential election should have been able to choose Ginsburg's replacement. McConnells decision to move forward with Barrett's nomination was a contrast to the position he took in 2016, when he refused to consider President Barack Obamas choice to fill the seat left vacant by the death of Justice Antonin Scalia in February of that year. The court's three liberal justices issued scathing dissenting opinions in the Texas ruling in which they accused their conservative counterparts of burying 'their heads in the sand' McConnell blocked hearings for then-judge Merrick Garland, now Bidens attorney general, saying the choice should be left to voters in an election year. Barrett, 49, also spoke about her introduction to the court in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic, saying it 'certainly is a different experience.' The court has for more than a year been hearing arguments by telephone though it recently announced a return to the courtroom in October. Barrett described the court as a 'warm, collegial place.' She said that after she was confirmed a colleague brought Halloween candy for her children. The first mother of school-age children on the high court also spoke about balancing her job and family life. 'I have an important job, but I certainly am no more important than anyone else in the grocery store checkout line,' Barrett said, describing how her relationship with her children - who are not 'particularly impressed' with her high-profile post - helps her stay grounded in her 'regular life' where she is busy 'running carpools, throwing birthday parties, being ordered around.' When asked what advice she would give to young women who would like to pursue a career in public service, the justice said she would like young women to know it is possible to raise a family and be successful. Former President Donald Trump was already laying the groundwork to complain that Republicans were robbed in California's recall election Tuesday. 'Does anybody really believe the California Recall Election isn't rigged? Millions and millions of Mail-In Ballots will make this just another giant Election Scam, no different, but less blatant, than the 2020 Presidential Election Scam!' Trump said in a statement sent out Monday. Recent polling has shown that California's Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom will likely stay in his job - after Democrats nationalized the race, making it about Trump and abortion rights. Former President Donald Trump has already been laying the groundwork to proclaim that California's recall race was rigged President Joe Biden is campaigning for Newsom in the state today. He follows Vice President Kamala Harris, a former California senator, who stumped for Newsom in the Bay Area Wednesday and Sens. Elizabeth Warren and Amy Klobuchar, who made the trip the weekend before. FiveThirtyEight.com's compilation of polls showed on Monday that 57.5 per cent of California voters wanted Newsom to stay in office, while 40.8 per cent planned to vote for his removal. A month ago, polls were essentially tied among Californians who planned to vote 'no' on the recall, which would allow Newsom to remain, and those who planned to vote 'yes,' to oust him. The second question on the recall ballot asks Californians to choose a Newsom replacement. The top choice remains conservative radio show host Larry Elder. Elder got himself unwanted attention when he suggested to conservative pundit Candace Owens that slave owners could be owed reparations. Before Monday's statement, Trump had previously floated that the California recall race could be rigged. Newsom knocked Trump in am interview with the Sacramento Bee Friday. President Joe Biden (right) greets California's Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom (left) Monday. Biden will participate in a Monday night rally on behalf of Newsom ahead of Tuesday's recall 'There is a thread within the Republican Party that, if they don't get what they want, they are willing to assault the core tenets of an election in ways that have far reaching consequences,' Newsom told The Bee. 'It's very, very damaging and baseless, absolutely baseless.' California is the largest blue state in the nation. In 2020, Biden won the state over Trump by 29.2 points and by more than 5 million votes. However, the state has recalled a Democratic governor once in the past and replaced him with a Republican. In 2003, Democratic Gov. Gray Davis was recalled and replaced by actor Arnold Schwarzenegger. Jet skis have been seen in the Channel apparently rehearsing how to shepherd small boats back towards France in a bid to stop migrants reaching the UK. A clip shows three jet skis surrounding an inflatable dinghy before one rides alongside the boat, seemingly in an effort to turn it around. Introducing the footage on GB News, former politician Nigel Farage said the dinghy had 20 volunteers inside, and claimed the exercise showed Border Force were trialling a way to turn boats back to France. Mr Farage described the video as having been taken by 'one of my spies on the Kent coast' on Monday morning. The channel's Home Affairs & Security Editor, Mark White, agreed with Farage, saying the clip 'does show that Priti Patel appears to be serious, at least in trying to implement this turn back policy in a limited fashion'. The video came as dozens more migrants arrived in Kent today after crossing the English Channel with babies among those on board, with figures revealing nearly 2,000 people had arrived in the last week - setting a new record for the year so far. Jet skis have been seen in the Channel apparently rehearsing how to shepherd small boats back towards France in a bid to stop migrants reaching the UK A clip shows three jet skis surrounding an inflatable dinghy before one rides alongside the boat, seemingly in an effort to turn it around Introducing the footage on GB News, former politician Nigel Farage said the dinghy had 20 volunteers inside, and claimed the exercise showed Border Force were trialling a way to turn boats back to France Several young children were among a group seen arriving in Dungeness, while immigration officers tended to a woman who had been taken ill after she was brought ashore on a stretcher by police and members of the RNLI. Along the coast at Dover, a further group of migrants were brought into the marina on a Border Force vessel. The crossings come amid reports of cooler and slightly overcast weather today with breezy but clear conditions at sea. A total of 1,959 people crossed the Channel from France in the week to September 10 - the highest total for any seven-day period in 2021 - and at least 14,400 people have now crossed to the UK on board small boats this year. Figures for the most recent seven-day period, the week to September 12, show 1,876 people arrived. The total for 2021 is already about 6,000 higher than the number of people who made the crossing in 2020, which was 8,410. The Government is facing huge pressure to reduce the numbers, with Patel promising to pay France 54.2million to tackle the problem, although a 28.2million payment in November failed to stop the crossings. The Home Secretary is also planning to spend 200million on a fleet of patrol boats to replace Border Force's five ageing cutters, which detect illegal immigration and smuggling. A woman carries a child after group of migrants were brought into Dungeness today by an RNLI lifeboat A RNLI boat with migrants onboard is met by Border Force officers and police at the beach in Dungeness today Police officers and members of the RNLI carry a person from a boat after migrants arrive at Dungeness today Migrants walks on the beach alongside Border Force officers in Dungeness today as Channel crossings continue A group of migrants including children are helped up a pebbled beach by Border Force officers at Dungeness in Kent today Immigration Enforcement officers and the RNLI assist a group of migrants after they were brought into Dungeness today A migrant walks along the beach holding a child at Dungeness in Kent today as the Channel crossings continue Members of the RNLI and Immigration Enforcement officers assist a group of people brought into Dungeness today A group of migrants walk along the beach at Dungeness in Kent today after arriving on an RNLI lifeboat Immigration Enforcement officers and members of the RNLI assist a group of migrants at Dungeness today The 50 migrants at Dungeness were brought ashore at about 2pm and were seen clinging onto the railings of the lifeboat The 50 migrants at Dungeness were brought ashore at about 2pm and were seen clinging onto the railings of the lifeboat. Police kept a watchful eye as they disembarked one by one and made their way up the shingle beach. Border Force officers could be seen escorting the arrivals along the pebbled beach to be processed. Meanwhile at Dover - where migrants are usually brought in after crossing the Channel on small boats - one group was detained by 8am. A man wearing a lifejacket appeared very uneasy on his feet as he was escorted up the gangway by Immigration Enforcement. Some 20 migrants were brought in on Border Force rigid hulled inflatable boats at around 11am. Border Force cutter Hunter docked shortly afterwards with around 40 migrants on board as the smaller black rigid hulled inflatable boats continued to simultaneously bring others into harbour. Many of today's arrivals were draped in light blue blankets for warmth as conditions at sea turned choppy and windy. At least 100 migrants are believed to have arrived today but the Home Office is yet to confirm this. The arrivals come after officials revealed today that UK authorities rescued or intercepted 75 migrants in four boats yesterday. French authorities also prevented 42 people from reaching the UK on three boats. French police patrol the beach along the Slack dunes in Wimereux, France on Monday Pictured: French police patrol the beach along the Slack dunes in Wimereux, France on Monday Pictured: French police patrol along the Slack dunes in Wimereux, France on Monday A graph showing the number of migrants crossing the Channel on small boats since 2019. The figure has increased each year A woman is helped through the water and onto the beach at Dungeness today after arriving on an RNLI boat Police officers carry a person from a boat after a group of migrants were brought into Dungeness today A RNLI boat with migrants onboard arrives at Dungeness today as people continue to cross the Channel in small boats An officer from Immigration Enforcement escorts a child along the beach at Dungeness today Police officers and members of the RNLI carry a person from a boat after an arrival of migrants at Dungeness today A man carries a child on the beach today after a group of migrants were brought into Dungeness by an RNLI lifeboat A RNLI boat with migrants onboard arrives at the harbour in Dungeness today as small boat crossings continue Police officers carry a person from a boat after migrants are brought into Dungeness by an RNLI lifeboat today An officer from Immigration Enforcement carries a child along the beach after migrants were brought into Dungeness today The latest figures take the total number of people to make the crossing in September to 2,034 in 57 boats. So far this year, 14,461 migrants have arrived compared to 2020's record total of 8,410. Dan O'Mahoney, Clandestine Channel Threat Commander, said: 'This unacceptable rise in dangerous crossings is being driven by criminal gangs and a surge in illegal migration across Europe. 'We're determined to target the criminals at every level, so far, we have secured nearly 300 arrests, 65 convictions and prevented more than 10,000 migrant attempts. But there is more to do. 'The Government's New Plan for Immigration is the only credible way to fix the broken asylum system, breaking the business model of criminal gangs and welcoming people through safe and legal routes.' Meanwhile, Border Force officers are set to use X-ray medical technology to confirm the age of migrants arriving here after a string of high profile cases in which would-be asylum seekers falsely claimed to be under 18. One spent six weeks as a Year 11 pupil at a school in Ipswich in 2018 before the local authority discovered he was actually years older than he had claimed to be. Immigration Enforcement officers and members of the RNLI assist migrants from an RNLI lifeboat at Dungeness today People are helped by Border Force officers at the harbour in Dungeness today following another set of arrivals in Kent A RNLI boat with migrants onboard ps met by Border Force officers and police at Dungeness today Border Force officers and police at Dungeness meet a boat carrying migrants at Dungeness today A RNLI boat with migrants rescued from the English Channel arrives at Dungeness today Police officers and members of the RNLI carry a person from a boat after more migrants arrived at Dungeness today An Immigration Officer tends to a woman who has been taken ill as migrants are brought into Dungeness today An RNLI boat with migrants rescued from the English Channel arrives at the beach in Dungeness today Migrants walk across the beach after they were brought into Dungeness by an RNLI lifeboat today A RNLI boat, with migrants rescued from the English Channel is met by Border Force officers and Police at Dungeness today At present, social workers study the appearance, behaviour and language of those claiming to be children to assess whether they are telling the truth. But according to a Government document seen by The Mail on Sunday, X-rays of teeth and wrist bones could be used to more accurately determine a person's age. The UK is one of only a few countries not to use scientific methods to check the ages of asylum seekers. Officials are now said to be looking for a private sector firm to carry out assessments at several sites. The document says: 'The initial estimate is for a requirement of approximately 1,000 assessments a year. However, this will fluctuate, potentially significantly. 'It is understood that the use of X-rays are the most common form of imaging techniques for these purposes, but other methods would not be precluded if they can be demonstrated to be viable and effective and the exact type of X-ray is still to be determined.' A group of migrants are brought into Dungeness by an RNLI lifeboat following a small boat crossing in the Channel today Migrants stand on a beach in Dungeness today after arriving on the Kent coast by an RNLI lifeboat Members of the RNLI assist a group of migrants as they walk across the beach in Dungeness today An Immigration Officer tends to a woman who has been taken ill following an arrival of migrants at Dungeness today A group of migrants are brought in to Dungeness today by the RNLI following a small boat incident in the Channel The RNLI brings in a group of migrants at Dungeness today following a another small boat crossing in the Channel An Immigration Officer tends to a woman who has been taken ill as migrants are brought into Dungeness today Home Office research has found up to 54 per cent of migrants claiming to be children were in fact over 18. The British Dental Association has vigorously opposed the use of dental X-rays to determine whether asylum seekers have reached the age of 18, stressing they are an inaccurate method for assessing age. The association also says it is 'inappropriate and unethical to take radiographs of people when there is no health benefit for them'. Migrants rescued from the English Channel by UK Border Force officials arrive at the harbour in Dover today A migrant rescued from the English Channel by Border Force officers arrives at the harbour in Dover today Migrants arrive at the harbour in Dover after being rescued from the English Channel by UK Border Force officials Migrants are brought in to Dover today by a Border Force patrol boat following a small boat incident in the Channel Migrants rescued from the English Channel by UK Border Force officials arrive at the harbour in Dover today Migrants are brought in to Dover today by a Border Force patrol boat following a small boat incident in the Channel Migrants rescued from the English Channel by UK Border Force arrive at the harbour in Dover today Migrants rescued from the English Channel by UK Border Force arrive at the harbour in Dover today A man who is among a group of migrants arriving at Dover today is brought in to the marina on the Kent coast A group of migrants are brought in to Dover today by a Border Force patrol boat following a small boat incident in the Channel Migrants are brought in to Dover today by a Border Force patrol boat following a small boat incident in the Channel Migrants are brought in to Dover today by a Border Force patrol boat after crossing the English Channel A man is brought into Dover today by a Border Force patrol boat following a small boat incident in the Channel Migrants sit on a boat as they are brought in to Dover today by a Border Force patrol boat Migrants rescued from the English Channel by Border Force officials arrive at the harbour in Dover today Yesterday Alp Mehmet, chairman of the Migration Watch UK think-tank, said: 'Adult migrants claiming to be children has long been an issue at the border, with an over-readiness to accept the word of claimants. 'We are among very few European countries that don't use scientific evidence in verifying age. 'It has been a major hole in our defences that traffickers have been only too ready to exploit. If this is now going to change, it is a welcome development.' A Home Office spokesman said: 'We are seeing an unacceptable rise in dangerous and unnecessary small boat crossings. That's why we continue to explore all options available to bring these numbers down.' Jacinda Ardern has extended New Zealand's travel ban on Australia as Auckland remains in an ultra-strict lockdown for at least another week. The Kiwi prime minister said NZ's largest city will stay in a level four lockdown until September 21 after recording 33 new Covid cases on Monday. The rest of the country will stay at level two restrictions including mandatory masks and social distancing, until at least Monday - despite zero cases outside Auckland. Auckland is in the world's toughest lockdown with even takeaway and delivery food banned and travel in and out prohibited. Jacinda Ardern (pictured) has extended New Zealand's travel ban with Australia as Auckland's strict level four lockdown is lengthened by another week While the outbreak is ongoing, flights between the city and Australia are banned, even with quarantine. The quarantine-free Trans-Tasman bubble was cancelled months ago after Sydney's Covid outbreak began. 'Its clear there is no widespread transmission of the virus in Auckland, but so long as we have new cases emerging, there are risks,' Ms Ardern told a news conference. 'The fact that we are finding them through surveillance and community testing, rather than through contact tracing, that is what were concerned about because that does present risk.' Ms Ardern said level four lockdowns remain the best method for controlling the outbreak. 'We dont want to risk the sacrifices everyone has made, and all the hard work youve put in, by moving to alert level three too quickly,' she said. Under the city's level four lockdown, quarantine-free travel to and from Australia has been suspended. Pictured: Women walk through Bondi, in Sydney's eastern suburbs, on Monday One flight is scheduled from Sydney to Auckland on Wednesday, but it is limited to travellers with an exemption to enter New Zealand and is not available for public booking. Those departing Australia from NSW, which is also fighting a Delta outbreak, must have not entered a Covid hotspots in the past two weeks and are required to submit a negative test prior to boarding the flight. They will also need to quarantine for 14 days after touching down across the Tasman. Ms Ardern said the country's zero-Covid strategy - with harsh lockdowns used even for a handful of cases - helped bring the latest outbreak under control but that 'we haven't quite finished the job yet'. She admitted there 'is not widespread transmission of the virus in Auckland' but said a handful of cases not linked to any known outbreaks are causing concern, because it means not all cases have been discovered yet. Most New Zealanders remain vulnerable to infection, because the country has fully vaccinated just a third of its population. Of the 33 cases discovered on Monday, one of them - a woman from the suburb of Middlemore - had no connection to any known outbreak. There were 33 new locally-acquired Covid cases in Auckland (pictured) on Monday as the city braces for another week under strict level four restrictions Kaiwaka Cheese Shop owner Kristel Faber says she is glad to be back serving customers in Northland, which is just outside Auckland and therefore back at level 2 restrictions She tested positive after going into hospital for an unrelated condition, and seven of her family members have also tested positive since. 'The detection of mystery cases unlinked to the current outbreak is concerning,' immunologist Dr Dianne Sika-Paotonu of University of Otago Wellington said. 'Community transmission appears to continue, and it will be important to identify and break new transmission paths for the virus quickly. The unlinked cases highlight the need for everyone to remain vigilant.' Ms Ardern said ministers have agreed in principle that Auckland should move to Level 3 restrictions - meaning people are allowed to socialise in bubbles and move around their local areas - but that the move will only be signed off next week. Offices, schools and public venues would still remain closed. Police and navy personnel check cars coming in and out of Auckland with all but the most essential travel banned New Zealand's Covid strategy saw borders shut quickly and harsh lockdowns brought in to stamp out cases before they spread. It has meant the country's case and death totals have remained low - with just 3,593 infections throughout the whole of the pandemic, and 27 deaths. The strategy has also meant that life has remained relatively normal for most people between the periods of lockdown. However, as Covid has mutated and become more infectious the strategy has become harder to sustain, with outbreaks of the Delta variant proving difficult to eradicate entirely. In yesterday's extract from his eye-popping memoirs, GYLES BRANDRETH recalled unforgettable encounters with the Duchess of Cornwall and a future head of MI5. Today, in the third and final extract, he explains how his indulgent parents gave him boundless self-confidence... There is a photograph in one of the family albums of me, aged ten, in my playroom on Christmas Day, 1959. Beneath it my father has written: A few of my presents. There are at least 60 presents on display. Yes, anything I wanted as a child, I was given. That I was the long-longed-for son after three much older daughters made all the difference to how I was treated. I was the miracle child, the golden wonder. My wife says my father was still banging on about it when she first met him, 20 years after I was born. I was spoiled, of course and there are moments of bad behaviour that have haunted me ever since. For example, to this day I cannot take the Victoria Street exit from Victoria Tube station in London without reliving (and regretting) the afternoon in 1955 when we went on a family outing to see a new film called A Kid For Two Farthings. GYLES BRANDRETH: To this day I cannot take the Victoria Street exit from Victoria Tube station in London without reliving (and regretting) the afternoon in 1955 when we went on a family outing to see a new film called A Kid For Two Farthings I did not know much about the film, except that it starred Celia Johnson (one of Mas favourites) and was about animals (so my sisters were keen). As we came out of the underground, we saw two cinemas facing us across the road: one was showing A Kid For Two Farthings; the other was showing Laurence Oliviers new film of Shakespeares Richard III. Thats the film I want to see, I announced. I was seven years old. I dont know if I threw a tantrum or just burst into tears. Either way, I got my way. We all went to see Richard III. Its a shaming story. So why did I behave like this? Because I was pampered and indulged and accustomed to getting my own way. At Christmas in 1959, we went to see Ben-Hur which starred Charlton Heston, then the highest-paid, most sought-after movie actor in the world. Some years later, in the 1980s, I met Mr Heston on the sofa at TV-am. We were about to go on air and I sat down next to him and put my cup of coffee on the table in front of me. As I put it down, Mr Heston picked it up and began to drink from it. At a party late one night (at a funfair at the home of the publisher Robert Maxwell, of all places), he told me exactly what he thought of me, punched me in the face and knocked me to the ground He meant no harm. He simply assumed that everything that came within his orbit was for him. Thats how I was as a little boy. I hadnt played Moses like Charlton Heston, but my parents had brought me up as one of Gods great gifts to the world and I behaved accordingly. They treated me as the special one and so my sense of entitlement knew no bounds. Since, I have learnt that a boundless sense of entitlement can be dangerous. When I was 19, I took a fancy to a girl aged 22 and pursued her night and day despite the fact that she was married to my friend. I wanted her, so I felt I should have her and she seemed quite keen at the time. Her husband, understandably, was not amused. At a party late one night (at a funfair at the home of the publisher Robert Maxwell, of all places), he told me exactly what he thought of me, punched me in the face and knocked me to the ground. And yet, a boundless sense of entitlement can be advantageous, too. It means you aim for things you might not otherwise aim for, believing that everything you want will simply fall into your grasp. In fact, I rather think that anything I have really wanted, I have had. AT MY junior school, the Lycee Francais, in South Kensington, I had rather assumed I was the darling of the class. Not so. My energy and enthusiasm were welcomed, but my concentration was poor, my application a bit hit and miss, and my relentless, frenetic showing-off detrimental to both my popularity and my potential. I was the class clown who never stopped talking. It was a serious issue that I needed to address. The teachers at the Lycee, the headmaster reported to my parents, had a nickname for me: Le bavard [the chatterbox]. My parents did not share any of this with me at the time, or if they did I dont remember it. I am quite distressed to discover it now. The London mansion flats we rented in and around South Kensington were spacious, but never grand. The furniture was serviceable. If you can remember the television series Rumpole Of The Bailey, and can picture the flat the Rumpoles lived in, you will know exactly what my parents succession of flats was like. I dont think we had a cleaning lady. We had a carpet sweeper, I recall, that distributed more fluff than it collected, and a squeegee mop with a broken handle held together with one of Pas old pyjama cords. All that I have been ever since, I started being at Bedales. My wife finds this a bit depressing. Gyles Brandreth at New College, Oxford, 1968 We didnt have a washing machine. My sisters and I took the laundry to the launderette once a week (curiously, I enjoyed watching the washing go round and round: I studied my reflection in the porthole and pretended I was looking into a film camera and adjusting my features for my close-up). I must have gone on playdates, but I dont remember many. I dont see my childhood in terms of my family and friends. I see it mostly in terms of me me alone, and me busy. So busy. What on earth was I doing? I was living in my own world in my vast playroom. Walking the streets of West London as though I owned them. I have a distinct memory of riding my tricycle along the pavement, aged four and unaccompanied, all the way from the second-hand clothes shop at one end of Lower Sloane Street to the colourful flower barrow on the corner of Sloane Square at the other. I could go faster than either the milkman or the rag-and-bone men on their horse-drawn carts. I always saluted them as I raced past. They always saluted back. It seems they, too, knew I was somebody special. I also went to church a lot as a little boy usually on my own. People find this hard to believe nowadays, but I travelled quite freely around London as a child. Children did. From the age of five, I went to the corner shop alone to buy 20 Craven A for Pa; from the age of six, I used to travel to school alone every day by underground. Just after my seventh birthday, in April 1955, I went on my first solo holiday abroad. My parents dropped me off at the British European Airways terminal in Cromwell Road and, somehow, eight hours later, in my school cap and coat, with my ticket, passport and name tag in a plastic bag tied around my neck, I found myself 700 miles away. The challenge was arriving in Zurich and catching a train to Thun in the middle of Switzerland. At seven, I spoke perfect French, but I had landed in the German-speaking part of Switzerland. I dont remember the detail of that day, but I do recall the trauma. Of course, I made it, safely, and all in one piece, and thats the point. In at the deep end is not a bad rule in life. Why I have phallic swagger Not that long ago, when I was writing my biography of Prince Philip, I met Brett Kahr, noted Freudian psychologist, to discover what it does to you if you are a boy born into a family of older sisters like Prince Philip. Or, indeed, like me. Philip was the only boy, literally a beautiful blue-eyed boy, born into a household of devoted, doting women, said Brett, smiling genially. And you were a beautiful blue-eyed boy, too, Gyles, werent you? He was the fifth child, you were the fourth, but you were both the longed-for son. So, after all those girls, here is a boy, and what do boys have that girls do not have? A penis. And the admiration and devotion of the women, especially the sisters, will have given you what might be termed a certain phallic swagger, self-assurance and self-confidence, a certain cockiness. I think that might explain everything, dont you? Advertisement UP TO the age of ten, I was a choirboy at two churches. I regarded this as work, and it was paid. At Holy Trinity, Brompton, we got two shillings for a wedding and half a crown for a funeral. At matins on a Sunday morning, we pint-sized trebles would scan the congregation, carefully assessing the frailty of the worshippers, and then, when back on our knees in the choir stall, we would beseech God to gather up the most vulnerable at His earliest convenience and put another Sung Mass for the Dead our way. Week in, week out, I am happy to report, the Almighty answered our prayers. Apart from that, I was a pre-teen Laurence Olivier groupie. I had an LP record of his Hamlet and recited all the great speeches in unison with him. Everyone else was listening to Little Richard, Bill Haley, Elvis Presley, Tommy Steele, Cliff Richard and Adam Faith. I barely knew their names. I owned only one pop record: Hes Got The Whole World In His Hands. It was a No 1 hit in 1958 and I asked for it as a tenth birthday present. I realise now that I totally misread the song: its a spiritual song, and God is the one with the whole world in His hands. When I sang it in my playroom, I thought it was Gyles who had the whole world in his hands. In many ways, I did. My parents took me to see so much: plays (in the top balcony seats), Gilbert and Sullivan operas and musicals. If there was one I especially loved such as My Fair Lady or Oliver! or Follow That Girl I would make sure I was given the LP or the EP of the show and, shut up alone in my playroom, I would play it again and again, hour after hour. I was very happy on my own. By the time I was 11, I could do every one of Professor Higginss numbers from My Fair Lady, with the precise Rex Harrison timing. Did I have friends? I must have had, but I dont think they meant much to me. I did like Ekarath Panya, who was in my class at the Lycee. He was a Prince of Laos (I think his grandfather was king). I had mastered a couple of Yul Brynners numbers from the musical The King And I, and I fear I may have cultivated Ekarath for the wrong reasons. Ive always been a sucker for royalty. He came to my fancy-dress parties in national costume, looking as you would hope a dignified young prince would look. He was quite reserved, but we got on well. And then, one term, he did not come back to school. We were told there had been a coup in Laos and, along with the rest of his family, the poor boy had been beheaded. My MOTHER, Alice, was a stay-at-home housewife, and we had happy times together while Pa was at work. The girls were away at school: it was just Ma and me and tea (always Marmite and tomato sandwiches). At bedtime she introduced me to the worlds created by Kenneth Grahame and A. A. Milne. The worlds my father introduced me to were less cosy. While Ma was reading me nursery rhymes, Pa who had once wanted to be an actor was performing dramatic monologues at my bedside, complete with melodramatic gestures. By the time I was six, I knew some impressive chunks of Miltons Samson Agonistes. I am sure it is those bedtime stories and poems that gave me my lifelong love of language. If I was going to write a verse about my parents it would begin a little differently from Philip Larkins: They tuck you up, your mum and dad . . . I am what Ma and Pa made me. My wife has managed to make a few improvements along the way, but, fundamentally, I am my parents creature still locked inside my own childhood, still living with my childhood dreams and fears. Michele often says to me (a little despairingly): Gyles, youre almost 75 and youre still trying to please your parents, arent you? I suppose I am. I owe them everything. It is the least I can do. Adapted by Corinna Honan from Odd Boy Out by Gyles Brandreth, published on September 16 by Michael Joseph at 20. Gyles Brandreth 2021. To order a copy for 18 (offer valid until September 25, 2021; UK P&P free on orders over 20), visit mailshop.co.uk/books or call 020 3308 9193. Thousands of struggling workers and vulnerable people hit hard by NSW's Covid lockdown will get a $287 million lifeline. The funding is designed to financially support at-risk employees who may need to get tested and isolate and support backpackers who haven't worked in 11 weeks. Volunteers providing emergency food supplies, promoting vaccination and testing services, and helping multicultural communities will also get a funding boost. Temporary visa holders, or those with no visa at all, can claim a $400 hardship payment handed out by the Red Cross if they are struggling. NSW Government is providing a $287milllion support package to pay vulnerable workers to stay home and get tested if they come in contact with the virus The funding is designed to financially support at-risk employees who may need to get tested and isolate for periods of time, and also offer assistance including emergency food supplies Payments of $320 to support anyone unable to work while they await Covid test results will be expanded across NSW, not just Sydney, to anyone over 17 with no sick or annual leave. 'The expansion and extension of the emergency hardship payment will provide assistance to people across all of NSW who are under severe financial strain but are not eligible for other support payments and grants,' Deputy Premier John Barilaro said. 'The test and isolate payment will help people to test early and isolate if they have Covid symptoms. 'This payment will help take the pressure off if an individual does not have access to leave entitlements or other support payments. The package will provide support to people across different sectors in different parts of the state, both metropolitian and regional NEW NSW COVID SUPPORT PAYMENT The emergency hardship, one-off payment of $400 administered by the Red Cross which has been expanded to temporary visa/no visa holders in NSW who are facing severe financial hardship and are not eligible for other government income. The test and isolate payment of $320 which has now been expanded state-wide. It is available for eligible workers aged 17 and over, who have symptoms of COVID-19, to get tested and isolate until a negative result is returned. The payment is available to NSW workers who do not have sick, carer's or pandemic leave. Community supports grants which have been expanded across NSW to help organisations deliver emergency food relief, promote vaccination and testing services, and provide culturally appropriate support and care to diverse communities. Advertisement 'Grants for culturally and linguistically diverse groups have also been expanded to connect multicultural communities with essential services throughout the pandemic.' People can apply for the support payments through the Service NSW website or app, under the test and isolate support payment section. The money and services including testing kits, vaccinations and emergency food supplies will be distributed via the Red Cross. NSW Treasurer Dominic Perrottet said the payment is the latest in the $7.7 billion handed out by NSW to support its residents through the pandemic. 'As lockdown continues, we want to make sure support is provided where it's needed and no communities are forgotten,' he said. 'We're providing those under severe financial strain money in their bank accounts to help them through the lockdown and we're supporting workers to test early and isolate so we can save lives and livelihoods across the state. 'We're also supporting multicultural organisations which are best placed to connect migrant communities with vital health services to ensure our vaccination rate keeps climbing as that's really key to our state's recovery.' NSW is expected to end lockdown at 70 per cent vaccination in mid-October, with pubs, restaurants and other businesses to open for fully vaccinated residents across the state. The South Carolina Law Enforcement division confirmed to DailyMail.com they have officially opened an investigation into claims of Alex Murdaugh's misappropriation of funds from Peters Murdaugh Parker Elztroth & Detrick Alex Murdaugh is the subject of a criminal investigation over allegations that he misappropriated funds from the private law firm of which the South Carolina legal scion was a partner, DailyMail.com can reveal. South Carolina Law Enforcement Division (SLED) issued a statement in which they announced that they have opened an investigation into Murdaugh late Monday afternoon. In making the announcement SLED Chief Mark Keel said, As Chief of SLED, I continue to urge the public to be patient and let this investigation take its course. The announcement follows last weeks revelation that Murdaugh had allegedly misappropriated millions of dollars from Peters Murdaugh Parker Elztroth & Detrick (PMPED). He was pushed out of the firm, deprived of his license to practice law and has since issued a public apology of sorts and stated that he has entered rehab for opioid addiction following a bizarre roadside shooting incident last Saturday. SLEDs announcement of their investigation into Murdaugh is the latest development in a story that began three months ago with the brutal slaying of Murdaughs wife, Maggie, 52, and younger son Paul, 22, on the familys hunting estate of Moselle, in Islandton, South Carolina. On June 7, Alex Murdaugh (right) discovered his son Paul and wife Maggie (center) dead at the dog kennels on the family property It was Murdaugh who made the frantic 911 call shortly after 10pm June 7 in which he told the dispatcher that he had returned home to the gruesome scene of his dead wife and sons bodies near dog kennels on the property. In what appeared to be a nod to growing impatience over the lack of any suspect or information on either Maggie and Paul or Alexs shootings, Chief Keel noted, Investigative decisions we make throughout this case and any potentially related cases must ultimately withstand the scrutiny of the criminal justice process. As with all cases SLED is committed to conducting a professional, thorough and impartial criminal investigation, no matter where the facts lead us. EXCLUSIVE: Surviving heir to South Carolina legal dynasty Buster Murdaugh, 25, is seen for the first time since father Alex's world imploded after murder of wife and younger son, embezzlement accusations and drive-by shooting Seen for the first time since his father's world imploded with the murders of his younger son and wife, revelations of drug addiction, embezzlement and a bizarre drive-by shooting, this is 'Buster' Murdaugh, sole surviving heir to his father's South Carolina legal dynasty. These exclusive pictures obtained by DailyMail.com show Richard Alexander 'Buster' Murdaugh Jr. and a family member at the family's Edisto Island property in South Carolina. Buster, 25, refused to answer DailyMail.com's questions when approached but did acknowledge that he had spoken to his father in recent days. He would not say when he saw his father last, what he thought would happen next or answer any questions about Murdaugh's injuries or recovery. He said, 'I have no interest in commenting on any of y'all's questions.' Speculation as to Buster's whereabouts has been rife in the days since his father called 911 to claim that he had been shot while attempting to fix a tire just seven miles from the family's hunting estate of Moselle. Exclusive DailyMail.com photos show Richard Alexander 'Buster' Murdaugh Jr. at the family's Edisto Island property in South Carolina It's the first sighting since his father Alex Murdaugh was involved in a drive-by shooting, accused of embezzling and revealed he had a drug addiction Buster, 25, refused to answer DailyMail.com's questions when approached but did acknowledge that he had spoken to his father in recent days He was seen with a woman believed to be a family member arriving at the family beach home early Friday afternoon Dressed casually in flip-flops, chinos and a white T-shirt bearing the logo Blue Heaven, Buster packed up belongings and loaded them into a waiting Cadillac Buster said when approached for comment, 'I have no interest in commenting on any of y'all's questions' Neighbors at the waterside enclave recalled the Murdaughs as a family who 'kept themselves to themselves' during their summers at the beach home (pictured) According to Murdaugh's account a truck passed him then circled back outside St John Baptist church on Old Salkehatchie Road next to where he was parked up. Murdaugh told officers that the driver wound down his window and shot at him. The shocking turn of events has catapulted the family back into national headlines following the brutal slaying of Buster's mother, Maggie, 52, and younger brother, Paul, 22, on June 7. Buster is seen with his mother Maggie, 52, who was found shot dead in June It was Alex Murdaugh, 53, who discovered his wife and son's bodies near dog kennels on the property and called 911 shortly after 10pm that evening. According to investigators mother and son were killed between 9 and 9.30pm. Paul suffered fatal shotgun wounds to the head and torso. His mother was killed with a semi-automatic rifle. Murdaugh was visiting his sick father in hospital on the night of the shooting Randolph Murdaugh III died three days later after a long battle with cancer. What little information has emerged since, has only served to deepen the mystery surrounding the events on the Islandton estate in June and Murdaugh's more recent road-side shooting. South Carolina Law Enforcement Division (SLED) have remained tight-lipped and no suspects in either event have been named nor descriptions given. However, on Monday it was revealed that officers are now retracting a police report from the shooting that initially said there were no visible injuries to Murdaugh. Soon after he reported himself shot it emerged that Murdaugh had been accused of misappropriating millions of dollars from private law firm Peters Murdaugh Parker Elztroth Detrick (PMPED) of which he was a partner. Hot on the heels of news that he had been pushed out of the firm which has now called in forensic accountants to dig into the alleged embezzlement, Murdaugh issued a public statement in which he claimed that he was an opioid addict, apologized for the hurt he had caused and announced he was entering rehab. He has now lost his license to practice law. Throughout this turmoil older son Buster has remained entirely hidden. The last time Buster was seen was during the rainy funeral service for his brother Paul and mother Maggie on June 11. He's seen receiving a hug According to investigators mother and son were killed between 9 and 9.30pm. Paul suffered fatal shotgun wounds to the head and torso. His mother was killed with a semi-automatic rifle Moselle Hunting Lodge where Maggie and Paul Murdaugh were gunned down June 7. Their bodies were discovered by Murdaugh by the dog kennels Now DailyMail.com can reveal that he and a woman believed to be a family member arrived at the family's beach home early afternoon Friday. Working diligently and conversing little the two began packing up belongings and loading them into a waiting Cadillac. They carried multiple grocery bags of possessions, including toilet-paper, soft furnishings, a woven laundry basket and tall houseplant. Dressed casually in flip-flops, chinos and a white T-shirt bearing the logo Blue Heaven, Buster occasionally checked his cell phone as he walked up and down the back stairs of the pale grey clapboard house. Buster has been named along with his father in a wrongful death-suit brought by the family of Mallory Beach. The 19-year-old was killed in a fatal boating accident in February 2019 when Paul, 'intoxicated' and 'belligerent' ploughed his father's boat into a piling in Archers Creek after an afternoon of drinking at an oyster roast. Paul was one of six teenagers described by police as 'grossly intoxicated' that night. He was awaiting trial on three felony counts of boating under the influence, including boating under the influence resulting in death, a charge which carries a maximum penalty of 25 years in prison. He had been released on a $50,000 bond pending his trial. All charges were dismissed two months after his death but the wrongful death suit being brought by Mallory's mother, Renee, is still being pursued. Buster is named as it was his license that Paul used to purchase the alcohol that night a practice which, lawyers for Beach allege, was both common and done with Buster's knowledge. Speculation as to Buster's whereabouts has been rife in the days since his father called 911 to claim that he had been shot while attempting to fix a tire just seven miles from the family's hunting estate of Moselle Buster has been named along with his father in a wrongful death-suit brought by the family of Mallory Beach Crime scene tape is visible on the stretch of Old Salkehatchie Road where Alex Murdaugh reported having been the victim of a drive by shooting Saturday Last week DailyMail.com revealed that Murdaugh's insurance company Philadelphia Indemnity have refused to pay out on two personal injury policies to the tune of $6million. According to court records seen by DailyMail.com Indemnity found that they had 'no obligation' to defend or indemnify Murdaugh or his older son for a host of reasons. The company stated that Murdaugh, 'had knowledge or should have had knowledge that his minor son illegally purchased and consumed alcohol on a regular basis by using or displaying the driver's license of his adult son, Murdaugh Jr.' They continued, 'It was foreseeable that Murdaugh's son would purchase alcohol for consumption by other minors and would then become intoxicated.' Attorneys for Beach have since filed yet more paperwork in the wrongful death suit stating their intention to come after Murdaugh's two properties the hunting lodge and the Edisto Island beach house at which Buster busied himself Friday afternoon. Neighbors at the waterside enclave recalled the Murdaughs as a family who 'kept themselves to themselves' during their summers at the beach home. One who knew Maggie described her as simply, 'wonderful.' What has been decided? The UK's four chief medical officers (CMOs) have agreed that children aged 12 to 15 should be offered a first dose of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine. Why are they doing this? The main reason is to try to prevent outbreaks leading to disruption in learning and school closures, rather than concerns about children's health. Having a significant proportion of pupils vaccinated is likely to reduce the probability of local outbreaks associated with schools, the CMOs said. How will it work? The NHS in England has been asked to prepare vaccines for all 12 to 15-year-olds, to be administrated largely through the school vaccination programme. Vaccinations will be given in suitable areas such as school halls by immunisation teams that often include nurses, healthcare support workers and administrative staff. The UK's four chief medical officers (CMOs) have agreed that children aged 12 to 15 should be offered a first dose of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine The CMOs said they would want the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation to give a view on whether children should receive a second dose once more data becomes available internationally. Is it safe? The risk is very small, with the majority of children who have had the jabs worldwide not suffering any major side-effects. Studies have found a small link between the vaccines and inflammation of the heart, known as myocarditis. Research suggests the risk is higher in boys after a second dose. Experts have said the recommendation to jab 12 to 15-year-olds is a 'good decision' that could 'benefit healthy children'. What is the evidence? Clinical evidence shows a single dose cuts the risk of catching the Delta variant of Covid-19 by 55 per cent and has a much higher effect on preventing severe illness and death. It also cuts transmission. The Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health said evidence had shown children are 'highly unlikely' to become seriously ill with Covid-19, but it had been 'extremely concerned' about the indirect effects of the virus, including disruption to school attendance. How many will get the jab? around three million could be eligible. Will parents have to give consent? It is understood that parental consent will be sought in the first instance. But vaccines minister Nadhim Zahawi said children in this age group could override their parents' wishes 'if they're deemed to be competent to make that decision, with all the information available'. It is understood that parental consent will be sought in the first instance. But vaccines minister Nadhim Zahawi said children in this age group could override their parents' wishes 'if they're deemed to be competent to make that decision, with all the information available' Since the 1980s children under 16 have been able to consent to their own treatment if they're believed to have enough intelligence, competence and understanding to appreciate what's involved. Chief medical officer Chris Whitty said in most cases children and parents 'come to the same decision'. Advertisement A huge crowd of protesters have gathered outside the 2021 Met Gala in Manhattan just as a host of A-listers arrive for the biggest night in the fashion calendar. Multiple arrest have been made as dozens of NYPD officers clashed with the BLM protesters outside New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art on Monday. Police can be heard yelling at demonstrators lining the streets to 'Move back!' in cellphone footage of the event, while the protesters chant 'Black Lives Matter'. A huge crowd of protesters have gathered outside the 2021 Met Gala in Manhattan just as a host of A-listers arrive for the biggest night in the fashion calendar Police detain demonstrators attending a Black Lives Matter (BLM) protest at the Met Gala 2021 at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City, New York A Black Lives Matter protester is arrested by New York City police outside the Met Gala on Fifth Avenue in New York, New York A Black Lives Matter protester is arrested by New York City police outside the Met Gala on Fifth Avenue in New York, New York A biker stands atop a traffic stop across The Metropolitan Museum of Art during the Costume Institute Benefit celebrating the opening of In America: A Lexicon of Fashion as BLM protesters close off 5th Ave A copy of the flyer from the protest indicates that the protests were initiated by an 'autonomous group of NYC abolitionists who believe that policing does not protect and serve communities.' 'The NYPD has a total financial allocation of $11 billion per year. This money goes towards racist policing that destroys Black and brown communities while people who are struggling do not get the resources they need. CARE, not COPS, is the answer,' the flyer read. It is still unclear how many protestors were arrested. The gala's theme this year is a celebration of the Costume Institutes newest exhibition, 'In America: A Lexicon of Fashion.' The exhibit will open to the public in the Anna Wintour Costume Center on September 18th. The gala usually takes place on the first Monday in May, but was delayed due to Covid-19 fears until tonight. The 2020 event was cancelled entirely due to the pandemic. Black Lives Matter protesters clash with New York City police outside the Met Gala on Fifth Avenue in New York, New York, USA, 13 September 2021 Black Lives Matter protesters clash with New York City police outside the Met Gala on Fifth Avenue in New York, New York, USA, 13 September 2021 A woman gets arrested during a 'Defund the Police' protest outside the Metropolitan Museum of Art during the MET Gala in New York on September 13 A woman is detained during a protest outside The Met as celebrities arrive for the gala Advertisement All over-50s in the UK will be offered a booster jab by Christmas as part of the Government's plan to keep Covid under wraps this winter - with Boris Johnson warning: 'The pandemic is far from over'. Ministers are later expected to announce plans for a UK-wide booster jab programme - a scheme they hope will be the key line of defence in preventing a national lockdown this winter. Over-50s will be offered a Pfizer/BioNTech jab at least six months after they received their second dose of the vaccine under the scheme, according to the BBC. As part of the wider winter plan, compulsory masks, working from home and some social distancing could also be reintroduced, but only if the NHS is under threat from Covid. Vaccine passports will be retained as an option, just 48 hours after Health Secretary Sajid Javid said they would not be going ahead. No 10 even refused to rule out another lockdown, saying draconian measures may be needed as a last resort. It comes as ministers confirmed that single shot Pfizer jabs would be offered to children aged 12-15 within weeks - though it will be down to children to decide whether they want the vaccine or not. Speaking ahead of the announcement, Mr Johnson said: 'The pandemic is far from over, but thanks to our phenomenal vaccine programme, new treatments and testing we are able to live with the virus without significant restrictions on our freedoms. 'I will set out a clear plan for the autumn and winter, when the virus has a natural advantage, to protect the gains we have made.' It comes after ministers confirmed plans to vaccinate all children over 12 across the UK from next week - with experts and parents warning it may lead to unvaccinated pupils being 'bullied' and could even 'tear families apart'. Vaccines minister Nadhim Zahawi confirmed the plans to offer a single Pfizer jab to healthy 12 to 15-year-olds during a speech to the House of Commons. But he reiterated that the final decision whether to have the jab would be down to children - and not their parents. However, amid fears the policy could lead to family disputes, he told MPs: 'Whatever decision is made, they (children) must be supported. No-one should be stigmatised, no one should be bullied for making a decision.' Mr Zahawi also reiterated the safety of the vaccine for children, saying the decision to offer the jab to 12 to 15-year-olds had followed advice from the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI). He said the decision had also been 'unanimously approved' by the UK's four chief medical officers - including England's Chief Medical Officer Professor Chris Whitty. 'We will now move with the same sense of urgency we've had at every point in our vaccination programme,' he added. Meanwhile, Health Secretary Sajid Javid said in a Tweet tonight: 'I have accepted the unanimous recommendation from the UK Chief Medical Officers to offer vaccination to those aged 12 to 15. 'This will protect young people from catching COVID-19, reduce transmission in schools and help keep pupils in the classroom.' It comes as parents, experts and teaching unions last night warned of tension in schools after the UK signed off on plans to offer Covid jabs to healthy 12 to 15-year-olds which will see children get the final say on whether they are vaccinated. Around 3million under-16s are due to start getting their jabs from next week after Professor Whitty endorsed the move yesterday, claiming it would help prevent outbreaks in classrooms and further disruptions to education this winter. Doses will be largely administered through the existing school vaccination programme and parental consent will be sought. But children will be able to overrule their parents' decision in the case of a conflict if they are deemed mature and competent enough, which has caused fury. Angry parents fumed against the move to leave the decision with young children who 'can't even decide what they want for tea, never mind' a vaccine, which carry small risks of side effects such as heart inflammation. Professor Simon Clarke, a microbiologist at the University of Reading who is in favour of jabbing children, warned that giving youngsters the final say could lead to pupils being bullied by their peers into taking the jab. He told MailOnline: 'It will cause rows I think... You may end up in a situation where a minority, it will probably be the unvaccinated, get bullied and excluded by other children.' The developments in the Government's Covid winter plan comes as it was revealed: That the NHS 'is short of 50,000 doctors' as bleak winter looms, with BMA bosses raising fears that the health service will struggle to cope over coming months after a slump in the number of medics; Bookings have started for the winter flu vaccine ahead of the winter flu season; There was also fury after ministers confirmed they would start a programme to vaccinate all over-12s from next week, but said they would leave the final decision up to children and not their parents; A major study published in the respected Lancet journal found no evidence to support Covid booster jabs for general population; And UK's daily Covid cases fell by a quarter in a week with 30,825 positive tests as deaths jump by 36% to 61 but hospitalisations in England fall by 14% All over-50s across the UK will be offered a booster jab by Christmas as part of a plan to keep Covid under wraps this winter, with Boris Johnson (pictured left) warning: 'The pandemic is far from over'. Ministers are later expected to announce plans for a booster jab programme - a scheme they hope will be the key line of defence in preventing a national lockdown this winter. Over-50s will be offered a Pfizer/BioNTech jab at least six months after they received their second dose of the vaccine, according to the BBC. It comes as Nadhim Zahawi (pictured right) confirmed that single shot Pfizer jabs would be offered to children aged 12-15 within weeks. Ministers are later expected to announce plans for a UK-wide booster jab programme - a scheme they hope will be the key line of defence in preventing a national lockdown this winter. Pictured: Library image The Government's UK-wide roll-out of a Covid jab for children: A Q&A What has been decided? The UKs four chief medical officers (CMOs) have agreed that children aged 12 to 15 should be offered a first dose of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine. Why are they doing this? The main reason is to try to prevent outbreaks leading to disruption in learning and school closures, rather than concerns about childrens health. Having a significant proportion of pupils vaccinated is likely to reduce the probability of local outbreaks associated with schools, the CMOs said. How will it work? The NHS in England has been asked to prepare vaccines for all 12 to 15-year-olds, to be administrated largely through the school vaccination programme. Vaccinations will be given in suitable areas such as school halls by immunisation teams that often include nurses, healthcare support workers and administrative staff. The CMOs said they would want the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation to give a view on whether children should receive a second dose once more data becomes available internationally. Is it safe? The risk is very small, with the majority of children who have had the jabs worldwide not suffering any major side-effects. Studies have found a small link between the vaccines and inflammation of the heart, known as myocarditis. Research suggests the risk is higher in boys after a second dose. Experts have said the recommendation to jab 12 to 15-year-olds is a good decision that could benefit healthy children. What is the evidence? Clinical evidence shows a single dose cuts the risk of catching the Delta variant of Covid-19 by 55 per cent and has a much higher effect on preventing severe illness and death. It also cuts transmission. The Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health said evidence had shown children are highly unlikely to become seriously ill with Covid-19, but it had been extremely concerned about the indirect effects of the virus, including disruption to school attendance. How many will get the jab? Around three million could be eligible. Will parents have to give consent? It is understood that parental consent will be sought in the first instance. But vaccines minister Nadhim Zahawi said children in this age group could override their parents wishes if theyre deemed to be competent to make that decision, with all the information available. Since the 1980s children under 16 have been able to consent to their own treatment if theyre believed to have enough intelligence, competence and understanding to appreciate whats involved. Chief medical officer Chris Whitty said in most cases children and parents come to the same decision. Advertisement Earlier headteachers revealed they had already received letters from pressure groups threatening legal action if schools take part in an under-16 vaccination programme. The teachers' union NAHT demanded urgent reassurance medics will be responsible for concerns about consent and vaccination rather than being left to schools, which could lead to tension with parents. Children's rights campaign group UsforThem said it needed a 'cast-iron guarantee' from the Government that all parents would get the final say on whether their child is vaccinated. Professor Whitty revealed yesterday that children will be able to override their parents' decision if they pass a 'competence assessment' by the medical professional charged with administering the vaccine. Under decades-old medical law used for other routine vaccines, youngsters get the final say if they are judged to have sufficient intelligence to be able to fully understand and therefore consent to vaccination. The scientific community has been split over vaccinating healthy children against Covid because the virus poses such a low risk to them. No10's own advisory panel said earlier this month that immunising healthy under-16s would only provide 'marginal' benefit to their health, and not enough to recommend a mass rollout. The decision was left with Professor Whitty and chief medical officers in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, who looked at the wider benefits to society, including keeping classrooms open. Outlining the decision to press ahead with the move in a Downing Street press conference, Professor Whitty said there were 'certainly no plans' at the moment to vaccinate children under the age of 12. Children won't be given a second dose until more data on the rare complication myocarditis becomes available. Dr Renee Hoenderkamp, an NHS GP and mother, accused officials of 'giving up on science' by pressing ahead with the school roll-out despite No10's advisory panel ruling that jabs provide only 'marginal' benefit to children's health. Meanwhile, the UK last night recorded 30,825 positive Covid tests, down by a quarter on last week's count. Hospital admissions fell by around 14 per cent in England, but deaths rose by around 36 per cent to 61. The chief medical officers said that even though Covid poses a small risk to children's health, the negative impacts of school closures on their life prospects and mental wellbeing tipped the balance in favour of vaccination. They have recommended under-16s initially only be offered a single dose of the Pfizer vaccine, which has shown to be up to 55 per cent effective at preventing infection from the Delta variant. A decision on second doses is still to be determined when more data is available internationally, with a decision expected by the spring term at the earliest. Officials will weigh up the risk of heart complications, which are slightly more common after the second shot. The programme in the UK has until now been limited to children with serious underlying health conditions and youngsters who live with extremely vulnerable relatives. Paul Whiteman, general secretary of the union NAHT, said schools must now get assurances that medical teams will handle the pressing questions and concerns raised by parents about the rollout to avoid tension. He said: 'Now that a decision has been made, it is essential that the Government immediately confirms that the process surrounding vaccinations will be run and overseen entirely by the appropriate medical teams. 'Where parents have questions, including about important matters such as consent, these must be handled by those same medical teams. Earlier this month the JCVI said it could not recommend Covid jabs for healthy 12 to 15-year-olds because the direct benefit to their health was only marginal. It also looked at the risk of health inflammation - known as myocarditis - in young people given the Pfizer vaccine, which was still very small but slightly more common after a second dose Latest estimates from a symptom-tracking app suggested under-18s had the highest number of Covid cases in the UK (blue line) last week. Schools in England, Wales and Northern Ireland started going back on September 1. The data is from the ZOE Covid Symptom Study Figures from Public Health England show cases in children aged 10 to 19 spiked by 42 per cent in a week from 478.3 per 100,000 to 681.4 in the week ending September 5. This was nearly six times higher than the 114 cases per 100,000 in over-80s down 1.2 per cent from the week before and 145.8 in 70- to 79-year-olds which remained flat Public Health England last night published of a guide (pictured) to Covid-19 vaccination for children and young people Mr Zahawi reiterated that the final decision whether to have the jab would be down to children - and not their parents. Pictured: Library image of a paediatrician preparing a vaccine for a child during the coronavirus pandemic Around 3million under-16s are due to start getting their jabs from next week after Chris Whitty endorsed the move last night claiming it would help prevent outbreaks in classrooms and further disruptions to education this winter. Professor Whitty held a press conference with JCVI chief Professor Wei Shen Lim (left) and MHRA boss Dr June Raine Jabbing 12 to 15-year-olds will slash school absences by a third and prevent 30,000 infections: The findings which tipped the balance in favour of vaccinating kids What factors did the CMO's consider? The CMOs' central consideration was the significant disruption to education that students have faced during the pandemic. They considered the knock-on effect of school closures on children's physical and mental health, as well as their 'life prospects'. The CMOs added that pupils who are eligible for free school meals such as if their parents receive income support and universal credit missed 30 per cent more school days than other pupils due to Covid-related absences. This suggests children from disadvantaged areas may have more to gain from vaccination, they said. But because there has been lower vaccine uptake among deprived areas, a vaccination rollout to younger children could increase the disparities between socio-economic groups. Additionally, they noted there would be less economic impact if youngsters were vaccinated, as fewer parents would have to stay home and look after their children, but this was not modelled. What will the impact be? Experts based their calculations on what would happen if 60 per cent of healthy 12 to 15-year-olds get the jab in September and calculated what impact this would have between mid October and the end of March 2022. Based on their central estimates, Covid infections in the age group will drop 33 per cent from 89,000 to 59,000. And the number of school days missed due to someone isolating while infected with the virus would drop by 31 per cent, from 320,000 to 220,000. This equates to a fall from 125 students isolating with Covid per 1,000, to 84 pupils per 1,000. And the average proportion of students absent at any one time due to a positive PCR test is expected to drop by around one third, from 0.13 per cent to 0.09 per cent. Overall, the jabs would prevent 30,000 infections in 12 to 15-year-olds and reduce the number of missed school days by 110,000. The experts noted their estimates does not account for how infection rates among school-aged children could change going forward. And their figures may underestimate the impact of schools returning with fewer restrictions than previously in place. Their calculations also do not include any small amount of time outside of class to get a jab, or any longer time off required if a child has side effects. How many children are expected to come forward to the jab? The Government stressed its estimates of uptake among healthy children aged 12 to 15 is 'extremely uncertain'. It based its calculations on 60 per cent of the newly eligible group around 1.3million coming forward, but said this could be an underestimate. The latest data from the ONS School Infection Survey, which asks parents about their hesitancy to children being vaccinated, found just 14 per cent of parents to secondary-age school children to be hesitant. Some 86 per cent said they definitely or probably would consent to their child being jabbed. What vaccine will children be given, and how many doses? Youngsters will be given the Pfizer jab, which numerous studies and real-world analyses have shown to be safe in children. Children will only be given a single dose. This is because officials say there is not enough reliable data on the medium-term safety of two doses in youngsters. A rare heart inflammation condition known as myocarditis is slightly more common after the second dose, which is why the CMOs have held back on recommending two doses for now. When will the jabs be rolled out? The announcement from the Department of Health and Social Care assumes the programme will be rolled out in September, so the effect of the vaccines on Covid cases will be seen from October 18 onwards. The rollout is expected to begin next week. Who gets the final say - children or parents? The vaccine will largely be given in schools and parents will be asked to give consent. But if a parent says no then the child can overrule their decision, so long as they are deemed competent to decide. Under decades-old medical law, children aged 12-15 who are deemed mature enough get the final say. Capacity to consent for those under 16 is decided based on whether an individual is deemed 'Gillick competent'. The test has been used since 1985 for other routine vaccines. Gillick competence refers to children who are judged to have sufficient understanding and intelligence to be able to fully understand and therefore consent to medical treatment or vaccination. It is done on a case-by-case basis and a medical professional will decide if a child is capable of weighing up the pros and cons of vaccination. Advertisement 'There must be no delay in confirming this otherwise school leaders will be put in an impossible position of facing questions to which they simply do not have the answers.' Mr Whiteman added: 'School leaders are being put in an invidious position, stuck between parents, pupils and pressure groups, all while simply working to carry out their national duty. 'Schools must be allowed to focus on their core task of providing education to pupils. We would expect detailed guidance to be published by government clarifying all this without delay.' It came after headteachers said they were already facing backlash following the announcement. Geoff Barton, general secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders (ASCL), said: 'Many of our members have been receiving letters from various pressure groups threatening schools and colleges with legal action if they take part in any Covid vaccination programme. 'This is extremely unhelpful and we would ask those involved in this correspondence to stop attempting to exert pressure on schools and colleges. 'The question of whether or not to offer vaccinations to this age group has clearly been thoroughly considered and the decision on whether or not to accept this offer is a matter for families.' Dr Mary Bousted, joint general secretary of the National Education Union (NEU), claimed the decision from the chief medical officers had come to late. 'While we recognise that a decision on vaccinating children needed careful evidential judgement, it would have been better if a decision could have been made earlier during the summer holidays,' she said. 'It will now be well into the autumn before the impact of the vaccination programme will be felt. Schools must be given timely and clear guidance for the next steps.' She added: 'It is incumbent on the Department for Education (DfE) to make clear and usable procedures for the necessary parental consent. This is not the time for yet more incoherent guidance from Government.' Professor Whitty and the CMOs in the devolved nations were asked to look at the 'broader' societal benefits of vaccinating schoolchildren at the start of the month after the Government's advisers ruled against the move. The Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) said immunising healthy under-16s would only provide 'marginal' benefit to their health, and not enough to recommend a mass rollout. But it advised the Government to seek further advice from its chief medical officers about the wider benefits of vaccination on the pandemic, which was beyond the scope of its review. In their advice to the Government, the UK's CMOs said they were recommending vaccines on 'public health grounds' and it was 'likely vaccination will help reduce transmission of Covid in schools'. They added: 'Covid is a disease which can be very effectively transmitted by mass spreading events, especially with Delta variant. 'Having a significant proportion of pupils vaccinated is likely to reduce the probability of such events which are likely to cause local outbreaks in, or associated with, schools. 'They will also reduce the chance an individual child gets Covid. This means vaccination is likely to reduce (but not eliminate) education disruption.' They admitted the rollout will likely only stop about 30,000 infections among 12 to 15-year-olds between now and March. But the vaccines will prevent tens of thousands more from having to self-isolate and miss school as a result, they claim. Modelling of the winter term estimated that without the vaccines there could be about 89,000 infections among 12 to 15-year-olds, compared to 59,000 with the rollout. Without vaccination they warn of 320,000 school absences by March, whereas this could be reduced to 220,000 with the jabs. Dr Hoenderkamp blasted the decision on Twitter, adding: 'What disrupts school is policy; change policy don't inject kids with a treatment they don't need and may harm them. 'Stop testing healthy kids. Only send home a sick child. Vaccine achieves nothing; kids can still catch and transmit covid and will get sent home when they do!' The CMOs think a single dose will reduce significantly the chance of a young person getting Covid and passing the virus on, with studies showing the Pfizer vaccine is 55 per cent effective at blunting infection in adults after one dose. But they have asked for the JCVI now to look at whether second doses should be given to children and young people aged 12 to 15 once more data comes through internationally. This will not be before the spring term. Mother-of-three Amanda Duncan, from Birkenhead in Merseyside, said yesterday's announcement made 'no difference' to her because her children would not be getting the vaccine. She said: 'My kids can't even choose what they want for tea never mind anything else. Over my dead body will my boys get it.' Liz Cole, the co-founder of children's rights campaign group UsforThem, said she needed a 'cast-iron guarantee' that parents would get the final say on whether their child is vaccinated. 'The CMO was very clear in his letter that there should be no stigmatisation of children or parents regarding their choice to take up, or not take up this offer, she added. 'There can be no scintilla of pressure applied to children to take up a vaccine particular where the risk-benefit is so finely balanced.' Professor Clarke told MailOnline he welcomed the decision to roll the vaccines out to healthy under-16s. 'While most people who are vulnerable to serious disease from Covid-19 are now double jabbed, having a large amount of virus circulating freely among young people is dangerous, particularly when we don't know how waning immunity levels and potential new mutations of the virus could change things for the worse. 'We should remember that vaccinating young people to protect older or more vulnerable people is already common, including with newly-developed vaccines. The CMOs admitted the rollout will likely only stop about 30,000 infections among 12 to 15-year-olds between now and March. But the vaccines will prevent tens of thousands more from having to self-isolate and miss school as a result, they claim. Modelling of the winter term estimated that without the vaccines there could be about 89,000 infections among 12 to 15-year-olds, compared to 59,000 with the rollout. Without vaccination they warn of 320,000 school absences by March, whereas this could be reduced to 220,000 with the jabs WHAT ARE THE PROS AND CONS OF VACCINATING CHILDREN? Pros Protecting adults The main argument in favour of vaccinating children is in order to prevent them keeping the virus in circulation long enough for it to transmit back to adults. Experts fear that unvaccinated children returning to classrooms in September could lead to a boom in cases among people in the age group, just as immunity from jabs dished out to older generations earlier in the year begins to wane. This could trigger another wave of the virus if left unchecked, with infection levels triggering more hospitalisations and deaths than seen during the summer. Avoiding long Covid in children While the risk of serious infection from Covid remains low in most children, scientists are still unsure of the long-term effects the virus may have on them. Concerns have been raised in particular about the incidence of long Covid the little understood condition when symptoms persist for many more weeks than normal in youngsters. A study released last night by King's College London showed fewer than two per cent of children who develop Covid symptoms continue to suffer with them for more than eight weeks. Just 25 of the 1,734 children studied 0.01 per cent suffered symptoms for longer than a year. Cons Health risks Extremely rare incidences of a rare heart condition have been linked to the Pfizer vaccine in youngsters. Data from the Centers for Disease Control and Protection (CDC) in the US where 9million 12- to 17-year-olds have already been vaccinated shows there is around a one in 14,500 to 18,000 chance of boys in the age group developing myocarditis after having their second vaccine dose. This is vanishingly small. For comparison, the chance of finding a four-leaf clover is one in 10,000, and the chance of a woman having triplets is one in 4,478. The risk is higher than in 18- to 24-year-olds (one in 18,000 to 22,000), 25- to 29-year-olds (one in 56,000 to 67,000) and people aged 30 and above (one in 250,000 to 333,000). But, again, this is very low. Britain's drug regulator the MHRA lists the rare heart condition as a very rare side-effect of the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines. They said: 'There have been very rare reports of myocarditis and pericarditis (the medical term for the condition) occurring after vaccination. These are typically mild cases and individuals tend to recover within a short time following standard treatment and rest.' More than four times as many hospitalisations were prevented as there were cases of myocarditis caused by the vaccine in 12- to 17-year-olds, the health body's data show. Jabs should be given to other countries Experts have also claimed it would be better to donate jabs intended for teenagers in the UK to other countries where huge swathes of the vulnerable population remain unvaccinated. Not only would this be a moral move but it is in the UK's own interest because the virus will remain a threat to Britain as long as it is rampant anywhere in the world. Most countries across the globe are lagging significantly behind the UK in terms of their vaccine rollout, with countries in Africa, Southeast Asia and South America remaining particularly vulnerable. Jabs could be better used vaccinating older people in those countries, and thus preventing the virus from continuing to circulate globally and mutate further, than the marginal gains to transmission Britain would see if children are vaccinated, experts argue. Professor David Livermore, from the University of East Anglia, has said: 'Limited vaccine supplies would be far better used in countries and regions with large vulnerable elderly populations who presently remain unvaccinated Australia, much of South East Asia and Latin America, as well as Africa.' Advertisement Schools already threatened with legal action if they roll out Covid vaccines to kids Headteachers are already receiving letters threatening legal action if their schools take part in the Covid vaccine programme, a union has said. Geoff Barton, the general secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders (ASCL), said yesterday 'Many of our members have been receiving letters from various pressure groups threatening schools and colleges with legal action if they take part in any Covid vaccination programme. 'This is extremely unhelpful and we would ask those involved in this correspondence to stop attempting to exert pressure on schools and colleges. 'The question of whether or not to offer vaccinations to this age group has clearly been thoroughly considered and the decision on whether or not to accept this offer is a matter for families.' Professor Chris Whitty yesterday approved plans for the jabs to be rolled out to 12 to 15-year-olds alongside the national flu vaccination programme. It is not yet clear whether children will be able to overrule their parents to get the vaccine, although ministers have suggested this will be the case. Parents have been quick to vent their frustration at the proposals, however, with some saying they won't let their children get the jab. Unions have called on the Government to confirm that questions about vaccinating pupils will be handled by medical teams. The general secretary of the National Association of Head Teachers (NAHT), Paul Whiteman, said: 'Now that a decision has been made, it is essential that the Government immediately confirms that the process surrounding vaccinations will be run and overseen entirely by the appropriate medical teams. 'Where parents have questions, including about important matters such as consent, these must be handled by those same medical teams. 'There must be no delay in confirming this otherwise school leaders will be put in an impossible position of facing questions to which they simply do not have the answers.' Advertisement 'A new flu vaccine is created every year, and once it is tested for safety and efficacy, as has happened with Covid jabs, it is rolled out to the general population. 'In the UK children get the new flu vaccine every year from age four, mainly to prevent them catching and spreading flu to older adults, who are most vulnerable to dying from flu. 'All children should be vaccinated against rubella, or German measles. Rubella is a mild illness for children, but a serious risk to pregnant women and their unborn children. Boys are vaccinated at secondary school against human papillomavirus, HPV, not primarily for their own benefit but to prevent the spread of the virus that causes cervical cancer in women. 'Vaccines always have side effects and risks, but the scientific evidence shows the risk to individuals and wider society of not being vaccinated is a greater risk. Yes, there are risks of side effects from the jab for children. But parents should remember that sadly some children have been made seriously ill, and died, after catching the coronavirus. Not getting vaccinated can also have side effects, but we call these disease. By cutting chains of transmission through vaccination to 12-15 year olds, we will be making it safer for more people of all ages.' After seeking advice from a range of experts, including medical colleges, the CMOs said they consider education 'one of the most important drivers of improved public health and mental health'. They added: 'The effects of disrupted education, or uncertainty, on mental health are well recognised. There can be lifelong effects on health if extended disruption to education leads to reduced life chances. 'Whilst full closures of schools due to lockdowns is much less likely to be necessary in the next stages of the Covid epidemic, UK CMOs expect the epidemic to continue to be prolonged and unpredictable. 'Local surges of infection, including in schools, should be anticipated for some time. Where they occur, they are likely to be disruptive.' The NHS in England had already been asked to prepare to roll out vaccines for all 12 to 15-year-olds in the event that the CMOs recommend the programme. But there are fears that giving children the ability to overrule their parents could lead to conflict. Headteachers are receiving letters from pressure groups threatening legal action if schools take part in Covid vaccination programmes, a union has said. Geoff Barton, general secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders (ASCL), said: 'Many of our members have been receiving letters from various pressure groups threatening schools and colleges with legal action if they take part in any Covid vaccination programme. 'This is extremely unhelpful and we would ask those involved in this correspondence to stop attempting to exert pressure on schools and colleges. 'The question of whether or not to offer vaccinations to this age group has clearly been thoroughly considered and the decision on whether or not to accept this offer is a matter for families.' Others have called for the Government to spell out exactly where the final decision will lie. Paul Whiteman, general secretary of school leaders' union NAHT, said: 'Now that a decision has been made, it is essential that the Government immediately confirms that the process surrounding vaccinations will be run and overseen entirely by the appropriate medical teams. 'Where parents have questions, including about important matters such as consent, these must be handled by those same medical teams. 'There must be no delay in confirming this otherwise school leaders will be put in an impossible position of facing questions to which they simply do not have the answers.' The Royal Society of Paediatrics and Child Health, which was consulted about yesterday's recommendation, said it backed the move. In a statement released on the back of the announcement this afternoon, the College said: 'Evidence from the UK and around the world has repeatedly shown us that children are highly unlikely to become seriously ill because of infection with COVID-19. 'However, since even before the first lockdown, the College has been extremely concerned about the indirect effects of the virus on children and young people, primarily because of many of the infection control measures in place. 'The most important consequences of these have been the disruption to school attendance and children's extra-curricular activities and the effect of this on their mental health and wellbeing. It has also reduced their access to health services delivered in school and the role schools play in wider health issues such as child protection. 'Reduced access to school has disproportionately impacted children from more deprived socio-economic groups and could have lifelong repercussions.' Professor Russell Viner, an expert in child health at University College London and member of the Government's Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies, admitted that the direct benefit of vaccination to children was small. But he said that he was in favour of the move because so much data had accrued internationally showing the jabs were safe for young people. He said: 'Vaccinating 12-15 year olds remains a very marginal balance in medical terms, although with over 10 million teenagers vaccinated worldwide we are now much clearer about safety in this age-group. 'The pandemic has wrought a great deal of harm in the lives of our children and young people, including poorer mental health and disruptions to education and socialisation. 'The CMOs were able to take these broader issues into account and decided that on balance we as a society should offer vaccines to all teenagers. 'This is a good decision for young people and for broader society. It is also a testament to strong UK decision-making, recognising the critical importance of independent scientific decision-making without fear of political influence, but also factoring in key societal issues missing from a narrow focus on medical harm and benefits.' The JCVI has already recommended that children and young people aged 12 to 17 with specific underlying health conditions, and children and young people who are aged 12 years and over who are household contacts of people who are immunocompromised are offered two doses of a vaccine. But in guidance published this month, the JCVI resisted growing pressure to recommend jabs for healthy under-16s, despite the likes of the US, France, Spain, Italy, Canada, and the Netherlands, all pressing ahead with the move. The scientists said the virus posed such a low risk to children aged between 12 and 15 that the benefit to their health of immunisation would be marginal. The JCVI did, however, recommend the jabs for 200,000 more children with chronic heart, kidney, lung and neurological conditions in that age group. A total of 350,000 children aged 12 to 15 were already eligible for the vaccine before yesterday's announcement. The expert panel said that youngsters under 16 with severe conditions have a one in 10,000 chance of falling seriously ill with Covid compared to the one in 500,000 risk for healthy children. It said that a very rare heart complication associated with the jabs meant the benefits of vaccination 'only marginally' outweighed the risks in healthy under-16s, but not enough to recommend a mass rollout. The JCVI said it had investigated the extremely rare events of inflammation of the heart muscle, known as myocarditis, after Pfizer or Moderna vaccines. While the condition can result in short periods of hospital observation, followed by typically swift recoveries, the JCVI has concluded the medium to long-term outcomes are still uncertain and more follow-up time is needed to get a clearer picture. Should we jab 12-year-olds? Experts say it's 'unethical' to vaccinate children to protect adults from Covid and claim kids may get 'better immunity' if they catch virus naturally - but others warn of school closures and lockdowns Scientists are at war over whether the UK should be routinely vaccinating children. Experts pushing back against the plans argue that it would be 'ethically dubious' to jab children solely to protect adults, because Covid itself poses such a tiny risk to youngsters. Others believe it is better for children to catch Covid and recover to develop natural immunity than to be reliant on protection from vaccines, which studies suggest wanes in months. Professor Paul Hunter, an epidemiologist at the University of East Anglia, told MailOnline: 'It is one thing to say have a vaccine to protect your health, but quite another thing to persuade you to have a vaccine to protect my health. One is entirely ethical and the other is dubious.' And Professor David Livermore, a medical microbiologist at the same university, said natural infection could be a 'a better first step in the lifelong co-existence' with the virus than rolling out the jabs. But the move to jab healthy kids for Covid has been backed by several experts who warn that letting the virus rip through schools could result in more disruptions to education and force lockdown restrictions to be rolled back. Dr Simon Clarke, a microbiologist at Reading University, told MailOnline last night that he would feel comfortable vaccinating children so long as their parents consented. He said the wider benefits to keeping schools open and infection rates low outweighed any small risks of side effects from the jabs. In a letter written to the Education Secretary earlier this month, a group of scientists said the wider effects curbs would have on children's learning, health and wellbeing meant it was 'reckless' to send secondary children to classes unvaccinated. Children have only a small risk of becoming seriously ill with Covid and a vanishingly small chance of death, while the jabs are associated with rare cases of myocarditis in young people. Professor Hunter said yesterday he was against vaccinating children. He told MailOnline: 'The issue around whether we should be vaccinating 12 to 15-year-olds is whether there is enough vaccine to go around people who are vulnerable worldwide.' Professor Hunter added that as the direct benefit of vaccines to children was small because Covid is a mild illness for the overwhelming majority of them. He said he would prefer to see the doses shipped to developing nations which are struggling to get first doses to vulnerable people. And he raised doubts about whether it was ethical to vaccinate children against a mild disease in the first place. 'If we are going to be vaccinating these children it has got to be in their interest, not in ours,' he said. 'It is one thing to say have a vaccine to protect your health, but quite another thing to persuade you to have a vaccine to protect my health. One is entirely ethical and the other is dubious.' Professor David Livermore, a medical microbiologist at the University of East Anglia, said last week that the world will need to live with Covid for years if not decades so having a generation of children with natural immunity would help prevent cases spiralling later down the line. He said natural infection could be a 'a better first step in the lifelong co-existence' with the virus than rolling out the jabs. Dr Simon Clarke (left), a microbiologist at Reading University, told MailOnline yesterday that children should be vaccinated 'with their parents' consent' because the benefits outweighed the risk of side-effects. He pointed to other countries where the jab has been rolled out to the age group with no safety issues. SAGE adviser Professor Calum Semple has said children should be inoculated in order to avoid further disruption to their education He added: 'There is no direct reason to vaccinate children and adolescents against Covid. They are extremely unlikely to suffer severe disease if infected. 'Rare but serious side effects have been associated with the vaccines, including blood clots and myocarditis. For older adults and the vulnerable, these are small hazards compared with those from Covid infection, and being vaccinated is obviously prudent. 'But for children the risk/benefit ratio is far less clear, and may reverse. The JCVI initially were against vaccinating children on this logic and have provided no clear reason for a change of view. 'Taking these three points together I can see no good reason to vaccinate under-18s, let alone 12-year-olds.' And Professor Tim Spector, an epidemiologist at King's College London, told MailOnline vaccinating children would 'use up' Britain's supply of jabs designated for boosters for the clinically vulnerable this winter. Professor Spector said while vaccinating would reduce cases 'in an ideal world', in the immediate term it could take up supply intended for booster shots to older, more vulnerable people who's own immunity from vaccines given earlier in the year may be on the wane. He added: 'With vaccinating children you are going to reduce numbers of infections, but if you do that that means you use up your boosters and so you risk more deaths and hospitalisations at the other end of the spectrum. 'In the ideal world I would be in favour of doing both [booster shots for the elderly and vaccines for over-12s] but I definitely think we should be giving boosters to kids that have had natural infections.' But an equal number of scientists say that vaccinating children would have indirect benefits to them, such as keeping them in education and avoiding future lockdowns which took a toll on young people's mental health. Scientists were at war over vaccinating children against Covid yesterday. Professor David Livermore (left) says it is 'plausible' that immunity from natural infection could last longer for children but Professor Devi Sridhar (right) says the virus could rip through the country again A group of 12 scientists on Independent SAGE - a group which has attacked the Government for not being strict enough in controlling the virus - wrote to Education Secretary Gavin Williamson yesterday to call for children to receive the vaccine for exactly that reason. In the letter published in the BMJ they argued that policies in England mean there will soon be a large population who are 'susceptible' to the virus mixing in crowded spaces with 'hardly any mitigations'. They said children have suffered 'significant harms' on their education and wellbing in the pandemic and added: 'Allowing mass infection of children is therefore reckless.' Earlier school reopenings in Scotland and the US have shown that a lack of 'adequate mitigations' is likely to lead to the virus spreading among children, which could further disrupt learning with significant absences due to student and staff illness, they said. 'England's policies mean that we will soon have a large susceptible population with high prevalence of infection mixing in crowded environments with hardly any mitigations.' Other signatories include members of the Parent SafeEdForAll group and the National Education Union. Dr Clarke told MailOnline: 'As long as the data that exists is that there is no greater harm from giving children jabs then children should get vaccinated, with the caveat that there is parental choice. 'There have been suggestions that the Americans, the Irish, care less about their children than we do of course they don't. They are very sensitive about this issue as well. 'I see no evidence that there is a problem with vaccinating children.' He said the decision not to inoculate children before they returned to school was a 'missed window of opportunity' because the jabs could have reduced transmission of the virus. SAGE adviser Professor Calum Semple, from Liverpool University, echoed the scientist's views, saying that without vaccines children faced yet more 'disruption' to their education in the new academic year. The Liverpool University expert told BBC Radio 4's Today programme: 'If you treat children the same way you do with adults, where if you have got double vaccination you no longer need to isolate, that would then allow us to have schools carrying on without such disruption. 'I think we need to look at vaccinating these children not just as an individual benefit but a benefit to the root, a benefit to the whole of society and school and the education system.' Dogs are not only man's best friend many are also a police officer's most trusted partner in crime-fighting. But among these four-legged heroes of law enforcement, who often risk their lives to protect human colleagues, a few stand out. And now those who have shown exceptional service have been recognised in the inaugural Thin Blue Paw awards. Organised by police dog welfare charity the Thin Blue Paw Foundation and supported by Animal Friends pet insurance, there are five categories for dogs including 'top crime-fighting duo' and 'rising star' and one for officers, too. Charity co-founder Kieran Stanbridge said: 'There are approximately 1,500 police dogs working across the UK, and every day they put their lives on the line alongside their handlers to fight crime, save lives and keep the public safe.' The winners, who are taking part in an award ceremony today at Knebworth House in Stevenage, Hertfordshire, are: NALA AND PC SEAN FOSTER: Lifetime Achievement Nala's cool demeanour was vital during her seven years with Northamptonshire Police. In 2016 the German shepherd tracked down two suspects hiding under a caravan despite being struck in the face with a crowbar. Dogs who have shown exceptional service have been recognised in the inaugural Thin Blue Paw awards. Above: Nala's cool demeanour was vital during her seven years with Northamptonshire Police. She has won a lifetime achievement award A month before her retirement in May, she caught and held a man following a car chase despite him trying to choke her. Nala, nine, started with street work in 2014 before joining the force's firearms support team. Her handler PC Sean Foster said: 'Tracking people whether it was suspects on the run or missing people was Nala's forte. She always showed such dedication.' She will spend her retirement at the home he shares with wife Paula and their children. He said: 'You fall in love with your dog. She became a part of our family.' Chief Constable Nick Adderley said: 'Their contribution to the force has been immeasurable.' BART AND PC KELLY WALKER: Top crime-fighting duo Bart showed his dedication when he continued tracking a knifeman despite cutting his paw badly. The dog, a Dutch herder, and handler PC Kelly Walker, were called to a domestic violence incident in North Wales in May when a man assaulted his partner and threatened an off-duty police officer with a large knife before taking his victim with him. BART AND PC KELLY WALKER: Bart showed his dedication when he continued tracking a knifeman despite cutting his paw badly. The dog, a Dutch herder, and handler PC Kelly Walker, were called to a domestic violence incident in North Wales in May when a man assaulted his partner and threatened an off-duty police officer with a large knife before taking his victim with him PC Walker, 37, said: 'While he [Bart] was tracking he put his paw through a pane of glass and sliced his toe in half. 'But he carried on searching and protecting me. He wouldn't give up, despite his injury, which just goes to show how tenacious he is.' Bart, seven, and PC Walker are part of the Cheshire and North Wales Police Dog Unit and have been together since 2017. The officer, who is mother to Thomas, nine, and step-mother to Jayden, 19, said of Bart: 'He's so loyal, determined and fearless.' STARK AND PC PAUL HOPLEY: Outstanding bravery Stark, four, was slashed with a machete more than 20 times but refused to let go of the suspect. The rookie police dog with the West Midlands force needed stitches for gashes to his face but was back at work within a month. The dog and handler PC Paul Hopley had been called to an allotment in Handsworth, Birmingham, in December following reports of suspicious activity. Stark, four, was slashed with a machete more than 20 times but refused to let go of the suspect. The dog and handler PC Paul Hopley had been called to an allotment in Handsworth, Birmingham, in December following reports of suspicious activity Stark, a Belgian malinois and German shepherd cross, found someone lurking in the dark and gave chase. PC Hopley, 49, said the suspect 'was raining blows', adding: 'He hit him well over 20 times. I thought he was going to kill him. 'He didn't yelp, he didn't run back to me for protection. He was a young, inexperienced dog but he stayed on task.' A teenager was later given a detention and training order for possessing a bladed weapon and causing unnecessary suffering to a service animal. Eagle-eyed Calli's a lifesaver Calli has won the Lifesaver award for spotting a man trying to take his own life. The German shepherd, who turns two in November, had only worked for Kent Police for seven months when in June she and PC Megan West were sent to find a man threatening to kill himself. Calli has won the Lifesaver award for spotting a man trying to take his own life. The German shepherd, pictured, who turns two in November, had only worked for Kent Police for seven months when in June she and PC Megan West were sent to find a man threatening to kill himself PC West, 28, of Stockbury, said: 'It was dense woodland. Calli stopped and stood completely still, her eyes fixed into the distance off a path. 'I couldn't see a thing but she started barking furiously. I spotted a figure in the distance... but then realised he was suspended from a tree.' The man survived and met them weeks later to give his thanks. PC West said: 'I would never have found him that day if Calli hadn't been with me. She's my crewmate.' Elvis the drug hound dog Elvis the Labrador's role tackling county lines drug gangs helped him win the Rising Star award. As well as detecting drugs and the weapons gang members often carry, the City of London Police dog, pictured, also has to protect the large banks and businesses in the Square Mile. Elvis the Labrador's role tackling county lines drug gangs helped him win the Rising Star award. His handler, PC Colin Nash, who has worked with the two-year-old since March last year, said: 'In the City, people come in carrying drugs, so a lot of our work involves working at train stations and searching vehicles His handler, PC Colin Nash, who has worked with the two-year-old since March last year, said: 'In the City, people come in carrying drugs, so a lot of our work involves working at train stations and searching vehicles. 'Elvis has a phenomenal nose. He has around an 85-90 per cent success rate of finding something when he indicates. He's one of the best.' PC Nash, 54, added: 'Once he indicated and we searched a man and found 42 wraps of cocaine in his underpants. 'Another time he led us to an older gentleman and we found half a kilo of cannabis in his bike panniers.' An Afghan sniper who worked alongside British Special Forces was murdered in front of his family yesterday by the Taliban. Noor was traced to his sisters home on the edge of the Afghan capital Kabul and shot three times in the chest and again as he lay on the ground by two gunmen. He had been a member of a British-trained Afghan unit known as CF333, many of whom were rescued in the airlift from Kabul airport that followed the Taliban takeover. It is unclear if he applied for relocation. Noor, former sniper with Afghan elite unit who worked alongside UK Special Forces The murder is the latest in a series of revenge killings by the Taliban who have gone from house to house hunting those who worked with Western forces. Pictured, crowds of people wait outside the airport in Kabul, Afghanistan The murder prompted shock and anger from members of the British military, with former Colonel Ash Alexander-Cooper, OBE, a commander of specialist operations with the SAS, tweeting: For those leaders still unsure, this is not a game, N was executed by the Taliban in cold blood just a few hours ago. His crime ? Years of loyal and professional service, mentored by British units. There is no amnesty. Abandoned by us, this murder will not be the last. Noor is said to have been shot dead while his wife and five children, all under the age of nine the youngest just ten days old were at the entrance of the house. This is the reality of the new Taliban, Mr Alexander-Cooper said. Talk of inclusivity, diversity and amnesty is a joke and some are falling for it. Wake up. The murder is the latest in a series of revenge killings by the Taliban who have gone from house to house hunting those who worked with Western forces. Noors friend, Rafi Hottak, a former frontline interpreter said: Noor had been threatened many times and feared for his life. This is the reality of what is happening to those who supported the British and her allies. News of the murder came as it was revealed that a former frontline interpreter with UK troops escaped Afghanistan with the help of Japan. Mohammad Khan was left behind when the RAFs Kabul mercy flights ended at the end of last month. He is the first ex-translator with British forces known to have successfully made it across the border into one of Afghanistans neighbours since the Taliban seized control. He had qualified for relocation to Britain but claims to have been turned back by UK soldier amid the chaos at the airport. His case is set to be the first test of the UKs promise to help former translators who qualify for relocation if they make it to a third country. The 35-year-old crossed the border into Pakistan with his wife and three children at the weekend after a fear-filled two-day journey by road through Taliban checkpoints. Last night he was at a hotel in Islamabad hoping British diplomats would help him and his family reach the UK. Mohammad said Japanese officials he had worked with Tokyo-backed aid programmes helped orchestrate his escape and, unlike the British, had been in regular contact with him. They helped us prepare and then organised for us to cross the border into Pakistan, said Mohammad, It was wonderful to finally know that we were safe. Soldiers with the 4th Battalion, 31st Infantry Regiment, 2nd Brigade Combat Team of the 10th Mountain Division, disembark from a plane upon returning home from deployment in Afghanistan, at Fort Drum, New York I was very afraid and did not hear from the British after they left. I was eligible to come to the UK and went to the airport and spent 24 hours near the gates speaking with a British soldier telling him I was a brother interpreter then there was a rush and I was one of those beaten by the Taliban. Mohammad had originally been turned down for relocation because, he said, he had been sacked for taking time away to attend his engagement party but the decision was changed and he was told he was eligible for sanctuary in July. His case is one of hundreds highlighted by this newspapers award-winning Betrayal of the Brave campaign. Everyone knew I had worked for the British, he said. There were many spies pointing at us [interpreters] and we could not hide for ever. He said he is desperate now to go to the UK where he has friends and family. Advertisement The surface features of a southern live oak leaf, a breast organoid and the neurons of a juvenile starlet sea anemone are among the incredible close-ups that made the finals of Nikon's 47th 'Small World' competition. The Japanese firm's annual microphotography competition for images of tiny subjects taken down a microscope showcased the world's breath-taking flora, fauna and more in a detail not visible to your naked eye. First prize was awarded to the southern live oak leaf with a microfluidic device containing 300,000 networking neurons taking second and the rear claw, leg and windpipe of a louse coming third. The surface features of a southern live oak leaf (pictured, by Jason Kirk, which won first place) including its appendages (trichomes, in white) and pores (stomata, in purple) a breast organoid and the neurons of a juvenile starlet sea anemone are among the incredible close-ups that made the finals of Nikon's 47th ' Small World ' competition The Japanese firm's annual microphotography competition for images of tiny subjects taken down a microscope showcased the world's breath-taking flora, fauna and more in a detail not visible to your naked eye. Pictured: a close-up of a breast organoid showing contractile myoepithelial cells (blue) crawling on secretory breast cells (red) The neurons surrounding the mouth and tentacles of a live, juvenile starlet sea anemone, Nematostella vectensis are shown in this image, which took 16th place Sebastien Malo's submission of the veins and scales on a butterfly (Morpho didius) wing magnified 20 times took 11th place Illinois resident Saulius Gugis submitted this photograph of a table salt crystal under 10 times magnification, which took 18th place MEET THE JUDGES The judging panel of Nikon's 47th 'Small World' photomicrography competition included: Nsikan Akpan , Health and Science Editor at New York Public Radio , Health and Science Editor at New York Public Radio Hank Green , Science Fiction Author and Internet Creator , Science Fiction Author and Internet Creator Robin Kazmier , Science Editor at PBS NOVA , Science Editor at PBS NOVA Alexa Mattheyses , Associate Professor of Cell, Developmental and Integrative Biology at the University of Alabama, Birmingham , Associate Professor of Cell, Developmental and Integrative Biology at the University of Alabama, Birmingham Hesper Rego , Assistant Professor of Microbial Pathogenesis at the Yale School of Medicine Advertisement The winning photograph was a stunning close up of the surface of a southern live oak live which was taken by one Jason Kirk, a microscopist from the Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, Texas. 'Using various lighting techniques and design tools, Jasons final image is a masterful example of the dynamic relationship between imaging technology and artistic creativity,' said a Nikon spokesperson. Mr Kirk captured his award-winning shot using a custom-made microscope system that allowed him to combine colour-filtered transmitted light on one side of the leaf with diffuse reflected light on the other. He captured around 200 individual images of the leaf's exterior and then stacked them together in order to create the stunning image. The image highlights three key features of the leaf, the first of which are the trichomes fine outgrowths that protect plants from extreme weather, insects and microorganisms shown in white. In purple, meanwhile, Mr Kirk has highlighted the stomata the tiny pores that regulate the flow of gases in and out of a plant and in cyan the vessels that carry essential water throughout the leaf. 'The lighting side of it was complicated. Microscope objectives are small and have a very shallow depth of focus. I couldnt just stick a giant light next to the microscope and have the lighting be directional,' said Mr Kirk. 'It would be like trying to light the head of a pin with a light source that's the size of your head. Nearly impossible.' Mr Kirk said that he edited the colour temperature and hue of his winning submission in post-production in order to better illustrate the various elements of the oak leaf. The first-place winner also contributed the 11th place entry with colleague Carlos P. Flores Suarez a photography of vasculature in the retina of a mouse. Alongside taking close-up images of subjects found in his backyard, Mr Kirk counts among his hobbies the customizing of microscopes. 'I've learned a lot from the scientific community, having spent 20 plus years in this field doing microscopy at a fairly high level,' Mr Kirk explained. 'But I've also learned a lot from the people in the hobbyist environment. Small World is a great combination of the two groups, and you don't often get an opportunity to see that,' he added. Second place in the competition was awarded to Esmeralda Paric and Holly Stefen of Australia's Macquarie University for her image of a microfluidic device containing hundreds of thousands of networking neurons that were extracted and cultured before being seeded and converted using one of two viral treatments. Her shot shows the two different populations, separated but bridged (pictured), which were maintained for 30 days, immunostained and then tile imaged Third place in the competition was awarded for snap of the rear leg, claw, and respiratory trachea (windpipe) of a hog louse, Haematopinus suis, captured by one Frank Reiser of the Nassau Community College in New York City (pictured) Seventh place was awarded for this close-up of the head of a tick, submitted by Tong Zhang and Paul Stoodley of the Ohio State University Jan van IJken of Amsterdam's shot of a water flea (Daphnia) carrying embryos took 9th place in the competition Oliver Dum of Bendorf's shot, under 40 times magnification, of the proboscis of a housefly, Musca domestica, was awarded fifth place 'Nikon Small World was created to show the world how art and science come together under the microscope,' said Nikon Instruments' Communications Manager, Eric Flem. 'This years first place winner could not be a better example of that blend. I continue to be amazed by the level of talent we see every year, and this years winning gallery is no exception,' he added. 'As imaging technology continues to progress, the 47th annual competition has provided us with some amazing captures of scientific research and creativity from across a multitude of disciplines.' The first-place winner also contributed the 11th place entry with colleague Carlos P. Flores Suarez a photography of vasculature in the retina of a mouse, pictured This 40 times magnified shot by Billie Hughes of Bangkok's Lotus Gemology of a calcite crystal inclusion in a spinel gemstone was awarded 19th place This shot of a Arachnoidiscus diatom a form of single-celled algae by Bernard Allard took 15th place Felice Placenti of Siracusa, Italy, secured 13th place in the competition with this image of pollen grains stuck to cotton fabric This close-up of a stunning snowflake landed Waban, Massachussets, resident Joern Hopke 14th place in the Nikon contest Second place in the competition was awarded to Esmeralda Paric and Holly Stefen of Australia's Macquarie University for her image of a microfluidic device containing hundreds of thousands of networking neurons that were extracted and cultured before being seeded and converted using one of two viral treatments. Her shot shows the two different populations, separated but bridged, which were maintained for 30 days, immunostained and then tile imaged. In third place, meanwhile, was a snap of the rear leg, claw, and respiratory trachea (windpipe) of a hog louse, Haematopinus suis, captured by one Frank Reiser of the Nassau Community College in New York City. Fourth place went to Paula Diaz of the Pontificia Universidad Catolica de Chile's image of the sensory neuron from an embryonic rat Pictured are filamentous strands of Nostoc cyanobacteria captured inside a gelatinous matrix, which took 17th place for Martin Kaae Kristiansen of Aalborg, Denmark The 3D vasculature of the somatosensory cortex in an adult mouse brain, photographed by Andrea Tedeschi of the Ohio State University, was awarded 6th place Pictured: Amy Engevik of the Medical University of South Carolina took 8th place for this cross section of a mouse intestine Pictured: 20th place went to Alison Pollack of San Anselmo, California, for her shot of the Slime mold Arcyria pomiformis Advertisement They may seem like something out of The Avengers film franchise, but these ambitious concepts of revolutionary warships are actually part of the Royal Navy's vision of what the British fleet could look like in the future. Detailed proposals for four potential vehicles, created by young engineers, have been released, including a stealth submarine carrier and a huge flying drone station which would be attached to a helium balloon and based in the stratosphere. The idea is that attack drones shaped like conventional airplanes could then be launched from the station 'at a moment's notice' before shooting down towards Earth and potentially gliding just beneath the water in a stealth mode and smashing into an enemy ship. The Royal Navy hasn't disclosed anticipated costs of bringing to life the newly-revealed concepts, which have been described as one expert involved in British defence and security operations as very much 'in the realm of speculative thinking'. They have been put forward by young engineers from industry and academia as part of a challenge posed by the UK Naval Engineering Science and Technology (UKNEST), aimed at helping the Royal Navy to develop ideas for an autonomous fleet that could shape how it operates over the next 50 years. But several of them would not look out of place in Avengers: Endgame, Avengers: Infinity War or some of the other films in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, a movie franchise that has made almost $23 billion (16.6m) and is the most successful of all time. The Royal Navy has released concepts for four vessels - 'Fast Strike', 'Underwater Platform', 'Carrier Vessel' and 'Surface Combatant' Looking more like a strange unidentified marine mammal than a Royal Navy vessel, the 'underwater platform' with a design inspired by brain coral would patrol the seas releasing 'Hex Blocks' Pictured, the Royal Navy's concept for a huge flying solar-powered drone station based in the stratosphere - the second layer of the Earth's atmosphere Several of the Royal Navy ideas would not look out of place in Avengers: Endgame, Avengers: Infinity War or some of the other films in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Pictured is the Helicarrier featured in 2012's The Avengers The Sanctuary II (pictured) was a massive warship commanded by Thanos that featured in both Endgame and Infinity War WHAT THE ROYAL NAVY'S AUTONOMOUS FLEET COULD INCLUDE - UNDERWATER PLATFORM: Underwater flagship vessel - FAST STRIKE: Flying drone station based in the stratosphere - CARRIER VESSEL: A floating launch pad for aerial vehicles - SURFACE COMBATANT: A floating vessel that deploys underwater rechargeable drones Advertisement 'In a future scenario if we find ourselves unable to compete traditionally in terms of mass, we must think differently if we are to regain operational advantage,' said the Second Sea Lord for the Royal Navy, Vice Admiral Nick Hine. 'The young engineers who worked on this project are thinking radically and with real imagination and [this] reflects how the Royal Navy is thinking too.' The navy, which comes under the Ministry of Defence, said it is also on track to build automated deployable mission modules known as Persistent Operational Deployment Systems (PODS) in the next 10 years. Dr Sidharth Kaushal, a research fellow at the Royal United Services Institute (RUSI), told Sky News that some of the proposals are 'eminently rational' while others were 'much more in the realm of very, very speculative thinking'. 'Both the Chinese and the Americans use [stratospheric balloons] for surveillance, and it's not a long stretch to seeing them weaponised,' he said. 'But having [a vehicle] launched from a stratospheric balloon, sort of entering the water... and then deploying weapons... that all seems a bit far-fetched to me.' There are concepts for four vessels called 'Fast Strike', 'Underwater Platform', 'Carrier Vessel' and 'Surface Combatant'. Fast Strike comprises a massive helium balloon powered by solar energy that would sit in the stratosphere, the second layer of the Earth's atmosphere 'for many years', the concepts show. Attack drones shaped like conventional airplanes would be launched 'at a moment's notice' from the vessel's base, according to the Royal Navy. These unmanned 'fast-strike vehicles' would nosedive at 'hypersonic speeds for a fast response' before expanding a set of wings for maximum control and levelling out. They would glide just above the water's surface, or just below the water in 'submerged stealth' mode so they couldn't be seen, before smashing into an enemy ship. 'Fast strike' consists of a massive helium balloon floating in the upper stratosphere that deploys attack drones from its base station Pictured, the attack drones released from the base station of the massive helium balloon. They would nosedive at 'hypersonic speeds for a fast response' before expanding a set of wings for maximum control and levelling out at ground level Underwater Platform, meanwhile, has the appearance of a vast marine mammal and would be 'minimally manned' as it patrols the seas. The underwater flagship vessel has a design that mimics brain coral a type of coral that's so-called for its spheroid shape and grooved surface resembling a brain. Underwater Platform would release devices called 'Hex Blocks' that carry mission-specific payloads such as weapons and ammunition, humanitarian aid or surveillance technology. Hex Blocks could also carry electromagnetic pulse (EMP) devices, which emit a pulse that can damage or destroy enemy electronic systems in the vicinity. The 'shape-shifting' Hex Blocks could also attach to others to arrange themselves into 'strings' for a 'faster directional transit'. Concept for the 'Underwater Platform' that would emit Hex Blocks as a form of attack or merely to deliver aid to other Royal Navy vessels 'Danger': Hex Blocks (pictured) would carry mission-specific payloads such as weapons and ammunition, humanitarian aid, surveillance technology or electromagnetic pulse (EMP) devices The 'shape-shifting' Hex Blocks could also attach to others to arrange themselves into 'strings' for a 'faster directional transit' Pictured, brain coral in the Bahamas, from which Royal Navy designers have taken their inspiration for Underwater Platform The third concept vessel, called Carrier Vessel, is depicted as a stark, black, rectangular ship that would sail on the water's surface. The top of the vessel is a launch pad for unmanned aircraft and satellites manufactured on-board. It would also be equipped with a ramp for take-off of heavy aircraft. It would be packed with quantum sensing technology, 'morphing hulls', wind turbines shaped like a double helix and stations for laser and hologram projections. A kite could also be deployed by its sides for 'eco mode' when it's downwind, so it can be carried along by the wind rather than expending power. The top deck could allow 'multiple methods of launch' depending on the size of the vehicle, such as an unmanned aircraft that could carry weapons. The craft could release its own small drones that could re-attach for reuse. Autonomous underwater vehicles (AUV) and maintenance parts could also be 3D-printed on board. Small modular life support 'habitability pods' would let Royal Navy personnel come in and out of the Carrier Vessel. Carrier Vessel, a black, rectangular ship that would sail on the water's surface, would deploy other vessels from its launch pad Autonomous underwater vehicles (AUV) and maintenance parts could also be 3D-printed on board the sleek Carrier vessel (pictured) 'Carrier Vessel' could be a floating launch pad for multiple vehicles, such as this unmanned aircraft that could carry weapons. The craft could release its own small drone for the top that could re-attach later for reuse Lastly, Surface Combatant would also glide on the water's surface, emitting 'habitability pods' to let Royal Navy personnel enter. Tucked under the trimaran wings and main hull of the Surface Combatant would be underwater drones that offer a stealthy offensive capability. The drones could operate at and below sea level, powered by water jet propulsion. They could potentially get their power from underwater renewable energy charging points, or even plankton and other biomaterial that's converted using on-board energy converters. Surface Combatant would also glide on the water's surface, emitting 'habitability pods' to let Royal Navy personnel enter. Drone ships would be stowed under trimaran wings and under the main hull One of the drone's striped nose is just visible in this concept image of Surface Combatant. The Royal Navy said the drone would provide the vessel with an offensive capability The drones could potentially get their power from underwater renewable energy charging points, or even plankton and other biomaterial that's converted using on-board energy converters Other conceptual ideas for the Royal Navy include the increased use of artificial intelligence 'to assist with low-level planning'. Fiona McIntosh, UKNEST young engineer, said all of the concept designs had been previewed in a presentation to senior Royal Navy officers. 'The collaborative nature of the project, coupled with us being unconstrained in the ideas and technologies we discussed, really helped us base our concept on technologies we thought would be key to innovation over the coming decades,' she said. 'It was encouraging to see that the designs had some similar features and the groups had envisioned similar technologies being utilised by the future fleet. 'Hopefully well see some of our ideas incorporated into future platforms.' If you're still looking to lose those lockdown pounds, you might do worse than a seven-hour spacewalk which burns off up to 3,000 calories, according to NASA. Astronauts Akihiko Hoshide of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency and Thomas Pesquet of the European Space Agency got their orbital exercise in on Sunday. The spacewalk which began at 08:15 ET (13:15 BST) was to help prepare the International Space Station (ISS) for a power boost in the form of new solar arrays. The pair installed a new support bracket on the outside of the orbiting laboratory, near the living spaces, on the inward port side of the 'P4' truss structure. The bracket will support the third of six new 'roll-out' solar arrays so-called because they are transported into orbit furled up like a stored carpet. The first of the new arrays was successfully deployed on the station back in June. Alongside the installation of the support bracket, the astronauts also found the time for a 'get ahead' task replacing part of one of the ISS's three airlocks. The excursion represented Mr Pesquet's sixth spacewalk and Mr Hoshide's fourth and the 244th to construct, maintain and upgrade the space station overall. Scroll down for videos Astronauts Akihiko Hoshide of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency and Thomas Pesquet of the European Space Agency got their orbital exercise in on Sunday. Their spacewalk which began at 08:15 ET (13:15 BST) was to help prepare the International Space Station (ISS) for a power boost in the form of new solar arrays. Pictured: Mr Hoshide works to install a support bracket on the ISS's 'P4' truss structure, near the space station's living spaces The excursion represented Mr Pesquet's sixth spacewalk and Mr Hoshide's fourth and the 244th to construct, maintain and upgrade the International Space Station (pictured) overall Alongside the installation of the support bracket, the astronauts also found the time for a 'get ahead' task replacing part of an airlock on the International Space Station (pictured) HOW A SMOKE ALARM ON THE ISS CAUSED NASA TO DECLARE A 'SPACE EMERGENCY' NASA also provided an update on Sunday regarding reports of a smoke alarm going off in the Russian Zvezda module on Wednesday last week. Investigation by Russian cosmonauts appears to have traced the issue to a malfunctioning piece of equipment which has since been turned off. 'Everything is returned back to normal, and they haven't had any recurrence of any issues,' NASA's ISS Program deputy manager Dana Weigel said. 'So everything is stable and great onboard.' Advertisement The solar arrays on the ISS have been supplying power to the station now for 20 years no mean feat, given that they were only rated for 15 and are beginning to show signs of degradation thanks to long-term exposure to the space environment. According to NASA's ISS Program deputy manager, Dana Weigel, the solar arrays are eroded in part by thruster plumes, derived both from the station itself as well as from the crew and cargo vehicles that visit it on supply runs. 'The other factor that affects our solar arrays is micrometeorite debris. The arrays are made of a lot of small power strings, and over time those power strings can degrade if they're hit by debris,' she told CNN News. According to NASA, the new solar arrays which will be placed in front of the existing ones will boost the station's available power from 160 to 215 kilowatts. 'The exposed portion of the old arrays will still be generating power in parallel with the new arrays, but those new Iris arrays have solar cells on them that are more efficient than our original cells,' said Ms Weigel. 'They have a higher energy density and together in combination may generate more power than what our original array, when it was new, did on its own.' Like their existing counterparts, the new arrays have been built to last 15 years yet there is a chance that they will similarly have a longer working life in practice. The upgrade will also provide a test of the design of the new array, which is also planned for use in the moon-orbiting Gateway station which NASA hopes to use as 'a half-way house' for humanity's return to the moon in the coming years. During their spacewalk, astronauts Akihiko Hoshide (JAXA) and Thomas Pesquet (ESA) installed a new support bracket on the outside of the orbiting laboratory, near the living spaces, on the inward port side of the 'P4' truss structure (pictured, top right) According to NASA, the new solar arrays which will be placed in front of the existing ones will boost the station's available power from 160 to 215 kilowatts. Pictured: one of the new roll-out solar arrays which are being installed on the ISS The bracket installed on Sunday's spacewalk will support the third of six new 'roll-out' solar arrays (depicted in this artist's impression, overlapping the original arrays) so-called because they are transported into orbit furled up like a stored carpet Sunday's spacewalk had originally been intended to take place on August 24 and would have involved US astronaut Mark Vande Hei instead of Mr Pesquet. However, NASA was forced to announce the postponement of the exercise the day before it was due to take place, citing a 'minor medical issue'. Mr Vande Hei subsequently revealed on Twitter that had pinched a nerve in his neck. 'Thanks for everyones concern,' he wrote. 'The support from family, friends, and NASA leadership has been fantastic.' While he was ultimately unable to undertake the planned work himself and is still recovering from his injury Mr Vande Hei was able to provide support to his colleagues during the spacewalk from inside the space station. Whether an artist, scientist, or film director, trailblazers in particular fields often have a critically-acclaimed 'hot streak' where they produce a series of outstanding work in short succession. Now, scientists at Northwestern University in Illinois claim to have pinpointed the secret formula that often triggers a pioneer's best work. Using a form of artificial intelligence (AI) called deep learning, they mined data related to thousands of artists, film directors and scientists to identify a magical formula for success. Hot streaks directly result from years of 'exploration' (studying diverse styles or topics), immediately followed by years of 'exploitation' (focusing on a narrow area to develop deep expertise), they claim. They define a hot streak as a burst of high-impact works clustered together in close succession as achieved by artists such as Vincent Van Gogh and Jackson Pollock, or film directors like Peter Jackson or Alfred Hitchcock. 'Starry Night' (1889) by Vincent Van Gogh a post-impressionist painter. The painting was created during what researchers call Van Gogh's 'hot streak' between 1888 to 1890 The researchers used algorithms for image recognition to mine data from 800,000 visual arts images collected from museums and galleries, which cover the career histories of 2,128 artists, including Vincent Van Gogh. This saliency map visualises the important pixels that the model used to predict Van Gogh's post-impressionism art style THE CAREER 'HOT STREAKS' LOOKED AT BY RESEARCHERS ART - Vincent Van Gogh (1888 to 1890) - Jackson Pollock (1947 to 1950) FILMS - Alfred Hitchcock (1958 to 1963) - Peter Jackson (2001 to 2003) SCEINCE - John B Fenn (1985 to 2002) Advertisement The new study was conducted by researchers from Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University, Illinois. 'Neither exploration nor exploitation alone in isolation is associated with a hot streak. It's the sequence of them together,' explained study leader Dashun Wang. 'Although exploration is considered a risk because it might not lead anywhere, it increases the likelihood of stumbling upon a great idea. 'By contrast, exploitation is typically viewed as a conservative strategy. If you exploit the same type of work over and over for a long period of time, it might stifle creativity. 'But, interestingly, exploration followed by exploitation appears to show consistent associations with the onset of hot streaks.' As an example in the world of art, the researchers point to the 20th century American abstract artist Jackson Pollock, best known for his 'drip technique', involving paint being dripped or poured on to the canvas. But before developing his famed drip technique, Pollock dabbled in drawing, print making and surrealist paintings of humans, animals and nature. 'Reflection of the Big Dipper' (paint on canvas, 1947) by Jackson Pollock, an influential American painter well known for his unique style of drip painting But before developing his famed drip technique, Pollock dabbled in drawing, print making and surrealist paintings of humans, animals and nature. Pollock is pictured here in his Springs studio in East Hampton, New York State, on August 23, 1953 According to the study authors, a period of 'exploration' followed by 'exploitation' of his new drip technique set up Pollock for a 'hot streak'. In Pollock's case, this was a three-year period from 1947 to 1950, during which he created all his drippy, splattered masterpieces that he is still famous for today. The theory doesn't just apply to artists. For example, New Zealand film director Peter Jackson hit a hot streak when he made The Lord of the Rings trilogy, released between 2001 and 2003. Before his hot streak, however, Jackson worked on diverse types of films including biography and horror-comedy none of which were quite as successful. A gallery assistant poses in front of a painting entitled 'Mural, 1943' by Jackson Pollock at the Royal Academy of Arts in London on September 20, 2016 In science, meanwhile, American chemist John Fenn hit a career high fairly late on in life. During his hot streak, Fenn intensively focused on electrospray ionization, which eventually won him the Nobel prize in chemistry in 2002 at the age of 85. 'Before his hot streak, Fenn worked on numerous different topics from excitation on hot surfaces to dimers,' the study authors point out. For the new study, Wang's team used algorithms for image recognition to mine data from 800,000 visual arts images collected from museums and galleries, which cover the career histories of 2,128 artists, including Pollock and Van Gogh. For film directors, the team collected data sets from the Internet Movie Database (IMDb), which included 79,000 films by 4,337 directors, including Peter Jackson and Hungarian Marta Meszaros. For scientists, the team analysed the career histories of 20,040 scientists by combining publication and citation datasets from the Web of Science and Google Scholar. Peter Jackson (left) directs Sir Ian McKellen during the making of 'The Lord Of The Rings: The Return Of The King' (2003) Wang and his collaborators quantified a hot streak within each career based on the impact of works produced, measured by auction price, IMDB ratings and academic paper citations. Then, they correlated the timing of hot streaks with the creative trajectories of each individual. Looking at careers four years before and after the hot streak, the researchers examined how each individual's work changed around the beginning of a hot streak. The team found that when an episode of exploration was not followed by exploitation, the chance for a hot streak was significantly reduced. Similarly, exploitation alone that was not preceded by exploration also did not guarantee a hot streak. But when exploration was closely followed by exploitation, the researchers noted the probability of a hot streak consistently and significantly increased. On average, a hot streak lasts about five years, but after that, individuals return to 'normal' and no longer follow any pattern of exploration or exploitation, the researchers found. American Chemist, John B.Fenn poses with his prize during the Nobel Prize Award Ceremony at the Concert Hall on December 10, 2002 in Stockholm, Sweden 'We were able to identify among the first regularities underlying the onset of hot streaks, which appears universal across diverse creative domains,' Wang said. 'Our findings suggest that creative strategies that balance experimentation with implementation may be especially powerful.' In 2018, Wang and his colleagues published a paper in Nature, characterising hot streaks in artistic, cultural and scientific careers. At the time, they called a hot streak 'a specific period during which an individual's performance is substantially better than his or her typical performance'. After establishing that these hot streaks do occur, Wang was motivated to discover what triggers them. He found a clue while visiting the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam, which contains the largest collection of Van Gogh's paintings and drawings in the world. Van Gogh experienced an artistic breakthrough between the years 1888 and 1890, during which he painted his most famous works, including The Starry Night, Sunflowers and Bedroom in Arles. Before that, however, his work was less impressionistic and more realistic, often featuring depictions of natural landscapes and people. 'Self-Portrait with Bandaged Ear' (1889) - a self-portrait by Vincent Van Gogh painted a year prior to his death in 1890. The Dutch artists famously severed his left ear 'Beach at Scheveningen in Stormy Weather' by Vincent Van Gogh painted in 1882 prior to his 'hot streak' period During this early period, he also tended to use somber earth tones rather than the bright, sweeping colors, for which he is best known. 'If you look at his production before 1888, it was all over the place,' Wang said. 'It was full of still-life paintings, pencil drawings and portraits that are much different in character from the work he created during his hot streak.' With this new understanding about what triggers a hot streak, institutions can intentionally create environments that support and facilitate hot streaks in order to help their members thrive, the team claim. The study has been published today in the journal Nature Communications. Without immediate action to combat climate change, 216 million people could be forced to migrate to other parts of their country by 2050. A new report from the World Bank modeled the impact of rising sea levels, water scarcity and declining crop productivity on six regions, concluding that climate migration 'hotspots' will emerge as soon as 2030. The poorest parts of the world will be hit hardest, researchers said: Sub-Saharan Africa alone would account for 86 million of the internal migrants, with 19 million more in North Africa, the report showed, South Asia would be home to 40 million internal migrants, and another 49 million in East Asia and the Pacific. Such movements will put significant stress on both sending and receiving areas, straining cities and urban centers and jeopardizing development gains, the report said. Scroll down for video As a result of climate change more than 200 million people will be forced to relocate in their own country by 2050, according to the World Bank. Pictured: Drought victims at the refugee camp in Bati, on the southwestern edge of Ethopia's Danakil Desert For instance, sea-level rise threatens rice production, aquaculture and fisheries, which could create an out-migration hotspot in Vietnam's low-lying Mekong Delta. But the Red River Delta and central coast region, where those people are likely to flee, face their own threats, including severe storms. Conflicts and health and economic crises such as those unleashed by the COVID-19 pandemic could compound the situation, the bank said. And the number of climate migrants could be much higher since the report does not cover most high-income countries, Middle Eastern nations, small island states, or people migrating to new countries. The number of climate migrants could be much higher since the World Bank report doesn't cover most high-income countries, Middle Eastern nations, small island states, or people migrating to new countries. Pictured: Haitian refugees walk toward boats that will take them to Colombia An AI map created by researchers at the University of Southern California shows nearly 13 million Americans will be forced by climate change to move further inland by the end of the century An AI map developed in 2020 by researchers at the University of Southern California suggests that, in the US, nearly 13 million Americans will be forced to move internally by the end of the 21st century. Many will relocate inland from coastal areas to land-locked cities such as Atlanta, Houston, Dallas, Denver and Las Vegas. Already, climate change is responsible for 37 percent of the planet's heat deaths each year, according to a May 2021 study published in Nature Climate Change. That's equal to about 9,700 people in 732 cities. 'These are deaths related to heat that actually can be prevented. It is something we directly cause,' Ana Vicedo-Cabrera, an epidemiologist at the University of Bern's Institute of Social and Preventative Medicine, told the Associated Press in May. World Bank's lead environment specialist Kanta Kumari Rigaud said the Earth was 'already locked into' a certain amount of global warming and that climate migration was a present reality not a future problem But it's only a sliver of climate's overall toll on human mortality more people die from other extreme weather amplified by global warming, like hurricanes, floods, wildfires, and droughts. Kanta Kumari Rigaud, the World Bank's lead environment specialist and co-author of the new report, said the Earth was 'already locked into' a certain amount of global warming and that climate migration was a present reality not a future problem. 'We have to reduce or cut our greenhouse gases to meet the Paris target, because those climate impacts are going to escalate and increase the scale of climate migration,' Rigaud added. According to The New York Times, without major changes, nearly 20 percent of the globe will be a 'barely livable hot zone' by 2070. Rigaud and the other authors say their findings should be seen as an urgent wakeup call to regional and national governments to act now to reduce greenhouse gases, close development gaps and restore ecosystems. Doing so, they said, could reduce that migration number by 80 percent, to 44 million people. A billionaire, physician, college professor and former Air Force missileman are set to participate in the first all-civilian trip to space when they board a SpaceX rocket Wednesday and launch into orbit. The mission, called Inspiration4, was purchased by billionaire Jared Isaacman, 38, who is the founder of Shift4 Payments. Isaacman announced the big purchase in February, along with news that he would be giving seats away to three random people. He will not reveal the exact cost of the trip but has said it was less than $200 million. 'We have really tried to make it accessible to everyone,' Isaacman told DailyMail.com in an interview earlier this year 'Everyday people are able to join the mission, whereas only super powers have sent people into outer space.' The complete crew was revealed in March, which includes Hayley Arceneaux, 29, a physician assistant at St. Jude's Children's Research Hospital and cancer survivor, Sian Proctor, 51, a community college educator in Tempe, Arizona and Chris Sembroski, 41, a former Air Force missileman from Everett, Washington. Lift-off is scheduled for Wednesday, September 15 at 8pm ET from launch pad 39A, at NASA's Kennedy Center in Florida. The crew will then spend three days at an orbit of 360 miles above Earth, which is farther than the International Space Station (ISS). There, they will circle the globe once every 90 minutes at more than 17,000 miles per hour, or roughly 22 times the speed of sound. The 'Inspiration4' mission caps a summer that saw billionaires Richard Branson and Jeff Bezos cross the final frontier, on Virgin Galactic and Blue Origin spaceships respectively, a few days apart in July. Scroll down for videos A billionaire, physician, college professor and former Air Force missileman are set to participate in the first all-civilian trip to space when they board a SpaceX rocket Wednesday and launch into orbit Issacman grew up in New Jersey and started dabbling in computer technical support and repair when he was just 14 years old. Two years later, he was offered a full time position and dropped out of high school to take the job - he later earned a GED. In 2005, Issacman founded a retail payment processing company named United Bank Card, which was later renamed Harbortouch, a point-of-sale payment company based in Pennsylvania. He was the founding CEO and retained that role in 2015 with the company having 'been profitable for over a decade. The mission, called Inspiration4, was purchased by billionaire Jared Isaacman, 38, who is the founder of Shift4 Payments. Issacman grew up in New Jersey and started dabbling in computer technical support and repair when he was just 14 years old Issacman will pilot the craft and serve as spacecraft commander By 2020, the company had been renamed Shift4 Payments, Isaacman became the CEO, and the company was processing $200 billion in payments annually. Issacman will pilot the craft and serve as spacecraft commander. Arceneaux, who is from Tennessee, was the first winner of a seat aboard the craft, who will become the youngest American in space and the first to make the journey with a prosthesis. At the age of 10, Arceneaux was treated for bone cancer and had surgery at St. Jude to replace her knee and get a titanium rod in her left thigh bone. Hayley Arceneaux, 29, who is from Tennessee, was the first winner of a seat aboard the craft, who will become the youngest American in space and the first to make the journey with a prosthesis At the age of 10, Arceneaux was treated for bone cancer and had surgery at St. Jude to replace her knee and get a titanium rod in her left thigh bone 'My battle with cancer really prepared me for space travel,' Arceneaux said in a February interview with The Associated Press. 'It made me tough, and then also I think it really taught me to expect the unexpected and go along for the ride.' She wants to show her young patients and other cancer survivors that 'the sky is not even the limit anymore.' Proctor was revealed as a winner this past March. She is an entrepreneur, educator, trained pilot and active voice in the space exploration community. She was selected as the top entrant of an independently judged online business competition that attracted approximately 200 entries and was conducted by the eCommerce platform Shift4Shop. Sian Proctor, 51, is an entrepreneur, educator, trained pilot and active voice in the space exploration community She was selected as the top entrant of an independently judged online business competition that attracted approximately 200 entries and was conducted by the eCommerce platform Shift4Shop And an independent panel of judges chose her space art website dubbed Space2inspire. 'It was like when Harry Potter found out he was a wizard, a little bit of shock and awe,' Proctor said last week. 'It's like, 'I'm the winner?' Proctor, who studied geology, applied three times to NASA's astronaut corps, coming close in 2009, and took part in simulated Mars missions in Hawaii. She was born in Guam, where her late father worked at Nasa's tracking station for the Apollo moonshots, including Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin's. She plans to teach from space and create art up there too. 'To me, everything that I've done has brought me to this moment.' The last seat was awarded to Sembroski, who donated and entered the lottery but was not picked in the random drawing earlier this month his friend was. The last seat was awarded to Chris Sembroski, who donated and entered the lottery but was not picked in the random drawing earlier this month his friend was. His friend declined to fly for personal reasons and offered the spot to Sembroski Sembroski is a former US Air Force missileman His friend declined to fly for personal reasons and offered the spot to Sembroski, who worked as a Space Camp counsellor in college and volunteered for space advocacy groups. 'Just finding out that I'm going to space was an incredible, strange, surreal event,' he said in March. Sembroski will serve as the Mission Specialist and will help manage payload, science experiments, communications to mission control and more. The crew's training has lasted months and has included experiencing high G force on a centrifugea giant arm that rotates rapidly. Pictured is the redesigned SpaceX Dragon Crew capsule, which now features a glass dome at the top for the crew to look out at space The crew's training has lasted months and has included experiencing high G force on a centrifugea giant arm that rotates rapidly Over the three days of orbit, their sleep, heart rate, blood and cognitive abilities will be analyzed. Tests will be carried out before and after the flight to study the effect of the trip on their body They have also gone on parabolic flights to experience weightlessness for a few seconds and completed a high altitude, snowy trek on Mount Rainier in the northwestern US. Over the three days of orbit, their sleep, heart rate, blood and cognitive abilities will be analyzed. Tests will be carried out before and after the flight to study the effect of the trip on their body. The idea is to accumulate data for future missions with private passengers. The stated goal of the mission is to make space accessible for more people, although space travel remains for the moment only partially open to a privileged few. 'In all of human history, fewer than 600 humans have reached space,' said Isaacman. 'We are proud that our flight will help influence all those who will travel after us.' Woolly mammoths could be brought back from extinction within six years in the form of elephantmammoth hybrids, a new scientific project has claimed. Having once lived across much of Europe, North America and northern Asia, the iconic Ice Age species went into a terminal decline some 10,000 years ago. The demise of the creatures which could grow to some 1112 feet tall and weigh up to 6 tonnes has been linked to warming climates and hunting by our ancestors. Now, a US-based bioscience and genetics company, Colossal, has succeeded in raising $15 million (10.8 million) in funding to bring back this prehistoric giant. The program not the first to imagine mammoth 'de-extinction' is being pitched as a way to help conserve Asian elephants by tweaking them to suit life in the Arctic. The team also claimed that introducing the hybrids into the Arctic steppe might help restore the degraded habitat and fight some of the impacts of climate change. In particular, they argued, the elephantmammoth mixes would knock down trees, thereby helping to restore Arctic grasslands which keeps the ground cool. It would also help these environments better sequester greenhouse gases. Colossal is the brainchild of the Texan tech entrepreneur Ben Lamm and the pioneering but controversial Harvard Medical School geneticist George Church. Woolly mammoths (pictured in this artist's impression) could be brought back from extinction within six years in the form of elephantmammoth hybrids, researchers have claimed To create an elephantwoolly mammoth hybrid, researchers would take DNA from ancient specimens and combine them with artificial elephant stem cells to create a hybrid embryo. This would be brought to term in either a surrogate mother or an artificial womb Colossal is the brainchild of Texan tech entrepreneur Ben Lamm and Harvard Medical School geneticist George Church. Pictured: Mr Lamm (left) posing with Professor Church (right) CRISPR-Cas9 BASICS CRISPR-Cas9 is a tool for making precise edits in DNA. The technique involves a DNA cutting enzyme and a small tag which tells the enzyme where to cut. By editing this tag, scientists are able to target the enzyme to specific regions of DNA and make precise cuts, wherever they like. It has been used to 'silence' genes effectively switching them off. However, the system can also be used to add in new genetic code at precise locations along the genome. Advertisement 'Our goal is to make a cold-resistant elephant, but it is going to look and behave like a mammoth,' Professor Church told the Guardian. 'Not because we are trying to trick anybody, but because we want something that is functionally equivalent to the mammoth.' The hybrid species, he explained, would 'enjoy its time at -40C [-40F], and do all the things that elephants and mammoths do, in particular knocking down trees.' 'Our goal isnt just to bring back the mammoth, but to bring back interbreedable herds that are successfully re-wilded back into the Arctic region,' Mr Lamm said. Whether Asian elephants would actually care to try to breed with the hybrid creatures, however, is something that would remain to be seen. 'We might have to give them a little shave,' quipped Church. To create an elephantmammoth hybrid, the researchers at Colossal would first need to sequence the genome of the woolly mammoth from a well-preserved, specimen such as one recovered after having being frozen in permafrost. They would then compare the ancient genome with that from modern Asian elephants in order to identify the parts of the DNA that code for the mammoth's cold-climate adaptations like hair, insulating fat layers and cold tolerant blood. This useful genetic material would then be added to Asian Elephant stem cells themselves created by modifying the animals' skin cells using the CRISPR-Cas9 gene editing tool and implanted into an Asian Elephant egg cell. This egg would then be stimulated into an embryo and brought to term in either a surrogate elephant mother or, alternatively, in an artificial womb. Woolly mammoths are one of the best understood prehistoric animals known to science because their remains are often not fossilised but frozen and preserved which also means that we can study their DNA. Pictured: 'Yuka', the best-preserved woolly mammoth that was found in Siberian back in 2010. Experts believe the Yuka was 68 years old when it died The practicalities and ethics of brining back extinct species like the woolly mammoth has been debated for more than a decade. Assuming it is possible, however, some experts have expressed scepticism that creating elephantmammoth hybrids is the best way to restore the Arctic tundra. 'The idea that you could geoengineer the Arctic environment using a heard of mammoths isnt plausible,' evolutionary biologist Victoria Herridge of the Natural History told the Guardian. 'The scale at which youd have to do this experiment is enormous,' she added. 'You are talking about hundreds of thousands of mammoths which each take 22 months to gestate and 30 years to grow to maturity.' 'While we do need a multitude of different approaches to stop climate change, we also need to initiate solutions responsibly to avoid unintended damaging consequences,' said ecologist Gareth Phoenix of the University of Sheffield. 'Thats a huge challenge in the vast Arctic where you have different ecosystems existing under different environmental conditions.' Adding elephantmammoth hybrids to the equation could bring unexpected consequences, he warned. 'We know in the forested Arctic regions that trees and moss cover can be critical in protecting permafrost. 'So removing the trees and trampling the moss would be the last thing youd want to do,' he cautioned. Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak announced he is starting a space company called Privateer making him the latest, and maybe most unlikely, newcomer to the billionaire space race. The venture was revealed on Twitter in a cryptic tweet published at 10pm ET Sunday, which reads: 'A Private space company is starting up, unlike the others.' Wozniak also shared a video with the news, which focuses on people working together, rather than one company pushing to tackle space travel, along with ideas that the firm will be eco-friendly. The one-minute video does not provide any details about the venture, only ending with 'the sky is no longer the limit.' However, the video caption on YouTube says more information will be revealed at the Advanced Maui Optical and Space Surveillance Technologies (AMOS) Conference that will take place from September 14 through the 17th. Scroll down for videos Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak announced he is starting a space company called Privateer making him the latest, and maybe most unlikely, newcomer to the billionaire space race Wozniak is a computer scientist best known as one of the founders of Apple and the inventor of the Apple II computer. He met the late Steve Jobs, co-founder of Apple while in college and the pair teamed up to form Apple Computer on April 1, 1976, which is now just Apple and ran by CEO Tim Cook. Wozniak is not going at the new venture alone, but is working with former Apple engineer and Ripcord founder Alex Fielding. The pair have worked together on numerous occasions in the past, specifically co-founding Wheels of Zeus in 2002 a company that developed GPS smart tags. Wozniak is a computer scientist best known as one of the founders of Apple and the inventor of the Apple II computer Wozniak also shared a video with the news, which focuses on people working together, rather than one company pushing to tackle space travel, along with ideas that the firm will be eco-friendly Privateer has a website, but only includes a broken contact form. The private company, however, appears to have a goal of 'working to keep space safe and accessible to all humankind,' but what the entails has yet to be revealed. 'Together we'll go far,' according to Privateer Space's teaser video. 'We'll look out for one another. Solve problems together. This isn't a race, it isn't a competition or a game. We are not one person, one company, one nation. We are one planet.' 'We are explorers. We are dreamers, risk-takers, engineers, and star gazers. We are human, and it's up to us to work together to do what is right and what is good. So here's to taking care of what we have, so the next generation can be better together.' Wozniak has now joined the already saturated private space company business, which includes billionaires Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos and Richard Branson all of which are racing to own the cosmos. Wozniak has now joined the already saturated private space company business, which includes billionaires Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos and Richard Branson (pictured) all of which are racing to own the cosmos. Branson launched into space on July 11 Bezos (pictured), Blue Origin founder, made a similar journey 10 days later, when he, his brother Mark and two others ventured 66 mile above Earth. Branson, founder of Virgin Galactic, was the first to soar to the edge of space, when he launched on July 11 and spent eight minutes 50 miles above Earth's surface. He and his crew reached speeds of Mach 3 on their way to the edge of space. After a short spell during which they experienced weightlessness, the craft then pointed downwards and made its way back to the ground. Bezos, Blue Origin founder, made a similar journey 10 days later, when he, his brother Mark and two others ventured 66 mile above Earth. SpaceX CEO and founder, Musk, has yet to venture into space himself, but is sending the first all-civilian crewed mission into orbit on Wednesday. Musk has, however, purchased his own ticket to ride into space with Virgin Galactic The other two crew members included 18-year-old Oliver Daemen - the word's first paying customer to buy his flight - and 82-year-old Wally Funk, who passed NASA's space program in the 1960s but never made it to space because the women's flight was canceled. The 10-minute journey cost $5.5billion - $550million per minute. SpaceX CEO and founder, Musk, has yet to venture into space himself, but is sending the first all-civilian crewed mission into orbit on Wednesday. Musk has, however, purchased his own ticket to ride into space with Virgin Galactic. Apple released an emergency software patch on Monday to fix a security vulnerability that researchers said could allow hackers to directly infect iPhones and other Apple devices without any user action. The exploit was captured by spyware researchers at the University of Toronto's Citizen Lab who said the flaw is a new exploit from the world's most infamous hacker-for-hire firm, NSO Group, which was used to directly infect the iPhone of a Saudi activist. The flaw affected all Apples operating systems, the researchers said. It was the first time a so-called 'zero-click' exploit had been caught and analyzed, said the researchers, who found the malicious code on September 7 and immediately alerted Apple. Citizen Lab called the iMessage exploit FORCEDENTRY and said it was effective against Apple iOS, MacOS and WatchOS devices. That process name was used in an attack with NSO Groups Pegasus spyware on an Al Jazeera journalist in July 2020. Apple released an emergency software patch on Monday to fix a security vulnerability that researchers said could allow hackers to directly infect iPhones and other Apple devices without any user action They said they had high confidence the Israeli company NSO Group was behind the attack, adding that the targeted activist asked to remain anonymous. 'We're not necessarily attributing this attack to the Saudi government,' said researcher Bill Marczak. In a software update, Apple issued a patch aimed at the Pegasus exploit but did not mention NSO Group. Apple instead described the exploit as 'Processing maliciously crafted web content may lead to arbitrary code execution. Apple is aware of a report that this issue may have been actively exploited.' The exploit was captured by spyware researchers at the University of Toronto's Citizen Lab who said the flaw is a new exploit from the world's most infamous hacker-for-hire firm, NSO Group, which was used to directly infect the iPhone of a Saudi activist Although Citizen Lab previously found evidence of zero-click exploits being used to hack into the phones of al-Jazeera journalists and other targets, 'this is the first one where the exploit has been captured so we can find out how it works,' said Marczak. Security experts have previously stated that the average iPhone, iPad and Mac user should not worry about this attack, as they tend to be highly targeted, the discovery is still alarming to security professionals. Malicious image files were transmitted to the activist's phone via the iMessage instant-messaging app before it was hacked with NSOs Pegasus spyware, which opens a phone to eavesdropping and remote data theft, Marczak said. It was discovered during a second examination of the phone, which forensics showed had been infected in March. He said the malicious file causes devices to crash. NSO Group did not immediately respond to an email seeking comment. In a blog post, Apple said it was issuing a security update for iPhones and iPads because a 'maliciously crafted' PDF file could lead to them being hacked. The tech giant said it was aware that the issue may have been exploited and cited Citizen Lab. Apple didnt immediately respond to questions regarding whether this was the first time it had patched a zero-click. Researcher John Scott-Railton said the news highlights the importance of securing popular messaging apps against such attacks. 'Chat apps are increasingly becoming a major way that nation-states and mercenary hackers are gaining access to phones,' he said. 'And its why its so important that companies focus on making sure that they are as locked down as possible.' The researchers said it also exposes - again - that NSOs business model involves selling spyware to governments that will abuse it, not just to law enforcement officials chasing cyber criminals and terrorists, as NSO claims. It was the first time a so-called 'zero-click' exploit had been caught and analyzed, said the researchers, who found the malicious code on September 7 and immediately alerted Apple 'If Pegasus was only being used against criminals and terrorists, we never would have found this stuff,' said Marczak. Facebooks WhatsApp was also allegedly targeted by an NSO zero-click exploit In October 2019, Facebook sued NSO in U.S. federal court for allegedly targeting some 1,400 users of the encrypted messaging service with spyware. In July, a global media consortium published a damning report on how clients of NSO Group have been spying for years on journalists, human rights activists, political dissidents - and people close to them, with the hacker-for-hire group directly involved in the targeting. Amnesty International said it confirmed 37 successful Pegasus infections based on a leaked targeting list whose origin was not disclosed. One involved the fiancee of Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi, just four days after he was killed in the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul in 2018. The CIA attributed the murder to the Saudi government. The recent revelations also prompted calls for an investigation into whether Hungary's right-wing government used Pegasus to secretly monitor critical journalists, lawyers and business figures. India's parliament also erupted in protests as opposition lawmakers accused Prime Minister Narendra Modis government of using NSO Groups product to spy on political opponents and others. France is also trying to get to the bottom of allegations that President Emmanuel Macron and members of his government may have been targeted in 2019 by an unidentified Moroccan security service using Pegasus. Morocco, a key French ally, denied those reports and is taking legal action to counter allegations implicating the North African kingdom in the spyware scandal. With New York Fashion Week, the Met Gala and the MTV Video Music Awards all going off, many of the Kardashian-Jenner clan have made their way to Manhattan over the past few days. And on Sunday the family's so-called momager, Kris Jenner, was spotted making her way out of the Ritz-Carlton hotel, where she was greeted by some adoring fans gathered on the bustling street. The Southern California native, 65, flashed a big beaming smile when she walked out the front doors to an awaiting vehicle, as people snapped photos, shot video, and yelled out her name. Glowing: Kris Jenner, 65, flashed a beaming smile and waved to adoring fans as she made her way out of the Ritz-Carlton hotel in New York City on Sunday Jenner opted for a stylish, youthful look decked out in well-tailored black slacks and a long black a Burberry trench coat over a white button-down shirt. She matched the outfit perfectly with black patent leather shoes, sunglasses, and a large high-end bag that, now doubt, was full of all of her essentials. The entire ensemble was rounded out with her dark brown tresses styled short, like she has worn in recent years, and with a part on the left. Stylin': Jenner opted for a stylish, youthful look decked out in well-tailored black slacks and a long black a Burberry trench coat over a white button-down shirt In the big city: The so-called momager will likely attend the famed Met Gala on Monday The television personality and businesswoman appeared to be genuinely grateful for all the adoring attention from the fans. And just before making her way to her destination she gave a few waves as the hotel doorman helped usher her out. Earlier on Sunday, Jenner took to her Instagram page and posted a few photos of herself decked out in the outfit she wore to Paris Hilton's star-studded engagement party the night before. Hot in the city: Earlier on Sunday, Jenner took to Instagram and posted a few photos of herself decked out in the hot pink suit she wore to Paris Hilton's engagement party the night before Bling: The so-called momager accessorized with an unmistakeable diamond necklace 'What a beautiful night, New York! Styling: @dolcegabbana, makeup: @etienneortega and hair: @leajourno',' she wrote alongside a couple of snaps seemingly taken inside her hotel room. She turned more than a few heads dressed in a hot pink suit, with a beige blouse underneath the blazer, matching sequined heels, and accessorized with a glittering white handbag and an unmistakeable diamond necklace. Jenner arrived to the engagement party with her longtime partner, Corey Gamble, by her side. Hilton and fiance, businessman Carter Reum, have been dating since 2019, and they got engaged in February of this year when her venture capitalist beau proposed while celebrating her 40th birthday with family on a private island. Khloe Kardashian posed in a trio of snaps to promote her partnership with fast fashion brand SHEIN. The 37-year-old reality star was seen modeling a slinky mesh dress adorned with sepia-toned photo portraits while teasing the finale of the #SHEINx100Kchallenge, for which she is serving as a judge. After announcing her partnership with the Gen-Z beloved Chinese retailer, Khloe incurred much backlash as the brand has been lambasted for knocking off smaller designers and other unethical practices. SHEIN: The Good American founder was seen modeling a slinky dress fashioned by the 'fast fashion' brand SHEIN as she continues to promote her partnership with them despite backlash 'The finale of the #SHEINx100Kchallenge airs today at 2PM PST. I have had such an amazing time filming with SHEIN and all of the talented designers! Tune in to see which incredible designer will win the $100,000 grand prize on the @sheinofficial App!' her posted read. In a trio of images Khloe modeled a figure hugging gown that fell off the shoulders, while standing in front of a colorful stage fashioned by the brand for the designer challenge. Her blonde hair was left down in loose mermaid waves with two small braids at the front and she sported expert glam that included a shimmery copper lid. The project runway-inspired challenge was created in honor of Fashion Week, with emerging designers showcasing their collections virtually in the hopes of winning prize money and having their collection available for purchase on Shein. Celebrity judge: She wore a dress adorned with photo portraits while teasing the finale of the #SHEINx100Kchallenge, for which she is serving as a judge Backlash: First announcing the partnership back in August, Khloe incurred backlash for buddying up with the fast fashion brand whose been dragged for 'unethical' practices Other judges in addition to Khloe include famous stylist Law Roach, designer Christian Siriano, beauty entrepreneur Jenna Lyons and InStyle Magazine's style director Laurel Pantin. When Khloe first announced her involvement in August she was dragged for partnering up with the brand. It has been known to rip off smaller designers, and also fits the general 'unethical' mold of fast fashion, due to its environmental impacts. The site adds nearly 1,000 new pieces to their site daily with a price point of about $10. 'Is this a joke??? After shein knocks off small designers,' read one comment. 'Shein is one of the most unethical fast fashion brands,' wrote another user, while another comment read: 'Fast fashion is bad for the environment - not cute.' Criticism: The irony of the brand announcing a challenge to support small designers when they have been criticized for ripping off these very artists fueled many of the comments regarding Khloe's involvement; August 22 Another pointed out the irony of the brand championing a small designer challenge. 'Lmaooooo Shein supporting small designers?! All they do is rip of small independent designers to make fast fashion tat.' On Khloe's most recent post one person wrote 'not this brand collab the bar has never been lower.' Roach and Siriano also faced criticism for their involvement in the project. Siriano said he would be 'deleting negative comments' while Roach wrote: 'My Tribe please just watch this when it airs and you will see why I choose to do this!!! I promise you will be proud of me.' As Roach who dresses the likes of Zendaya continued to promote the finale on his own Instagram, Sunday he also faced more criticism. More backlash: Roach and Siriano also faced criticism for their involvement in the project 'This brand is infamous for stealing designs from smaller brands and especially POC designers. I'm having a hard time understanding why you would want any association with them,' read one comment. Another user said 'Unethical to be profiting on clothes made in sweatshops.' A Shein representative told Page Six Style: 'Shein takes these issues very seriously and respects the intellectual property rights of artists and designers. We have policies and procedures in place to monitor and swiftly rectify any issues.' The statement continued to say that the challenge was 'developed to specifically support small independent talents and give them opportunity to grow their revenue streams, gain exposure, and tap a massive Gen Z audience across the globe.' Speaking on behalf of the judges it was said that all of them 'support emerging, small and independent designers.' The grand prize winner was a woman named Sashagai whose brand is called Flaws Of Couture. Her collection can now be purchased on the site. Jennifer Lopez was snapped on Sunday stepping out in New York City with beau Ben Affleck, as they returned to the U.S. after attending the Venice Film Festival in Italy. The 52-year-old beauty donned a baggy white coat over a grey top with dark denim jeans and white heeled boots as she smiled for a sea of adoring fans snapping pics of the star in Union Square. The multitalented entertainer accessorized with black sunglasses and a white purse as she smiled in the Big Apple, where she was promoting her DSW line. The latest: Jennifer Lopez, 52, was snapped on Sunday stepping out in New York City with beau Ben Affleck, 49, as they returned to the U.S. after attending the Venice Film Festival in Italy The Hustlers star and her beau were seen in the Bronx earlier Sunday, where they stopped by a bookstore called the Lit Bar, where the A-list actor, 49, took a cigarette break outside and waved to fans. According to TMZ, the Jenny From the Block songstress visited the establishment for the beginning of National Hispanic Heritage Month, as she has a new program called Limitless Labs that promotes Latinas in business. Affleck was filming the Love Dont Cost a Thing artist on the outing at the bookstore, which was also attended by Goldman Sachs execs David Solomon and Dina Powell. The celeb couple is back from an Italian getaway over the weekend for the film festival, as Affleck at one point had to spring into action when an overzealous fan approached him and Lopez for a selfie while at the airport. Warm welcome: The 52-year-old beauty donned a baggy white coat over a grey top with dark denim jeans and white heeled boots as she smiled for a sea of adoring fans snapping pics of the star in Union Square In the exchange, Affleck pushed away the man before his security detail intervened to separate the actor and the fan. The power couple at the film festival had made their first red carpet walk in more than 18 years as they attended a screening of Affleck's The Last Duel, as they had made their last walk during the debut of their panned film Gigli back in 2003. Afflecks ex-wife Jennifer Garner was seen riding a bicycle in Los Angeles on Sunday. She wore a helmet and a grey top with blue shorts on the sweltering day in the City of Angels. The star waved to fans as she exited a vehicle on the outing The Hustlers star waved at fans as she took in the large crowd Taking a break: He wore shades as he took his cigarette break The Hustlers star was in the Bronx earlier Sunday, stopping by a bookstore called the Lit Bar The Jenny From the Block songstress visited the establishment for the beginning of National Hispanic Heritage Month Attentive: J-Lo sported a smile on her face as she chatted with the other attendees Chatting up a storm: Jennifer added her two cents All ears on her: The other speakers listened to the star Lopez, pictured with Casillas Guzman and David Solomon, has a new program called Limitless Labs that promotes Latinas in business Lopez posed with the Goldman Sachs team at the event Stunning: J.Lo made an appearance at the MTV VMAs on Sunday night After a lengthy wait, The Real Housewives of Melbourne is set to return to screens for season five on Sunday, October 10. And ahead of the launch, Foxtel have released a trailer for the upcoming 10-episode season - where they debuted their four new cast members in all their glory. Former CNN news anchor Anjali Rao, yoga teacher Cherry Dipietrantonio, fashion guru Simone Elliott and 'champagne educator' Kyla Kirkpatrick are all set to stir up the drama this season. Coming soon: The Real Housewives of Melbourne is set to return to screens for season five on Sunday, October 10 - with four brand new cast members. Pictured: The cast (L-R): Janet Roach, Gamble Breaux, Cherry Dipietrantonio, Kyla Kirkpatrick, Anjali Rao, Simone Elliott and Jackie Gillies They will join returning housewives Gamble Breaux, Jackie Gillies and Janet Roach, following the shock departure of original cast members and fan favourites Gina Liano and Lydia Schiavello. A preview for the launch episode teased how the new and old cast members will interact for the first time. 'I do drink!' Cherry is seen saying in her yoga studio, to which Gamble replied: 'You're going to need to.' Breaking news! Former CNN news anchor Anjali Rao, 47, is one of four ladies who will be joining the show this season Love in the city: Yoga instructor Cherry Dipietrantonio, 40, met her husband Andre in Bali when she was only 18, moving to Melbourne to start a family At a tense cocktail party, Janet is seen exclaiming: 'You're just a lying piece of...' to someone in the room - leaving Jackie gasping in shock. The new cast are certainly set to cause some conversation this season. Former CNN news anchor Anjali Rao, 47, had a successful journalism career in Hong Kong for 20 years, before moving to Australia with her now ex-husband Brett Gullan, who was born in Melbourne. The mother-of-one decided to join The Real Housewives of Melbourne because she sees the news as 'the most real of reality television'. Yoga instructor Cherry Dipietrantonio, 39, met her husband Andre in Bali when she was only 18, moving to Melbourne to start a family. Tense trailer: At a tense cocktail party, Janet is seen exclaiming: 'You're just a lying piece of...' to someone in the room - leaving Jackie Gillies (pictured) gasping in shock The yoga instructor follows a philosophy of mindfulness, but she's not afraid of the other women 'taking the p**s' out of her career choice. 'I think it's quite interesting because I tend to surround myself with similar people you know, people that are into mindfulness,' Cherry explained. 'They tend to be people who are very compassionate and understanding. So, how fabulous to be thrown into a situation that's completely the opposite! Sink or swim, right?' As CEO of three champagne-related companies, Kyla Kirkpatrick, 43, has apparently never had time to watch The Real Housewives of Melbourne. Here she is! Kyla Kirkpatrick, who is the CEO of three champagne-related companies, is set to cause drama in the new season Joining: Fashion guru Simone Elliot said she wanted to join the show 'to represent the women who are pursuing their career ambitions, achieving academic credentials, raising their families, juggling, hustling, leading, and managing' The self-proclaimed Champagne Dame has an 80-hour work week, but she also squeezes in quality time with her six-year-old, Arlington-Rose. Meanwhile, Simone Elliot is a businesswoman and a mother-of-two. She said she wanted to join the show 'to represent the women who are pursuing their career ambitions, achieving academic credentials, raising their families, juggling, hustling, leading, and managing.' The new season of The Real Housewives of Melbourne premieres Sunday, October 10 on Foxtel Dhakota Williams, the daughter of slain gangland figure Carl Williams, has tested positive for Covid-19. The 20-year-old confirmed her diagnosis on Instagram, telling her 36,000 followers she had lost her sense of taste and smell. 'Day four of Covid. I cannot taste or smell anything and I hate it so much!' she wrote. Positive result: Dhakota Williams (pictured), the daughter of slain gangland figure Carl Williams, has tested positive for Covid-19 'Does anyone have tips on how to get my sense of smell and taste back?' she asked. Daily Mail Australia has contacted Dhakota for comment. Fatigue is one of the most commonly reported symptoms of coronavirus, followed by a headache and a cough. A high temperature, continuous coughing and loss of taste and smell are also symptoms of the virus. Unwell: The 20-year-old confirmed her diagnosis on Instagram (pictured), telling her 36,000 followers she had lost her sense of taste and smell Dhakota was nine years old when her father, drug kingpin Carl Williams, was bludgeoned to death at Barwon Prison by fellow inmate Matthew Charles Johnson in 2010. Williams was a key figure in Melbourne's infamous gangland war, which claimed the lives of 36 criminal figures between 1998 and 2010. He was jailed for 35 years in 2007 for ordering the murders of three rivals, and more time for conspiring to kill a fourth. Tips: 'Does anyone have tips on how to get my sense of smell and taste back?' Dhakota asked His death in 2010 followed an investigation revealing Victoria Police was paying $8,000 per year for his daughter's school fees. It was later revealed Carl was an informant and had given information regarding a handful of unsolved murder investigations. Carl wrote several long letters to his wife and others from jail in the months before he was murdered, which have since been made into a book titled Life Sentence. She rocketed to fame after collaborating on I Love It with Icona Pop in 2012. And Charli XCX left very little to the imagination on Sunday as she arrived for the 2021 MTV Video Music Awards in New York. Making a statement in a racy sheer black ensemble, the 29-year-old popstar was bound to turn heads as she rocked the red carpet. Wow! Charlie XCX left very little to the imagination in a racy sheer black ensemble as she arrived for the MTV VMAs in New York on Sunday The Cambridge-born songstress posed up a storm as she worked a number of angles for the camera. She flaunted her figure in the partly transparent number and her luscious raven tresses showed off a curly bouncy blow dry. Charli, real name Charlotte Emma Aitchison, pulled out all the stops for the evening's look, completing her makeup with winged eyeliner. Show-stopping: The 29-year-old popstar was bound to turn heads as she rocked the red carpet Beauty: Charli, real name Charlotte Emma Aitchison, pulled out all the stops for the evening's look, completing her makeup with winged eyeliner Confident: The Cambridge-born songstress posed up a storm in the partly transparent number Even though Charli is not nominated for any awards during the star-studded ceremony at the Barclays Centre, she was announced as a presenter last week. Justin Bieber and Megan Thee Stallion are leading the slew of nominees, with the former up for seven accolades and the latter six. Back at the 2014 Music Video Awards, a successful collaboration of Charli's was nominated for four awards. Vital role: Even though Charli is not nominated for any awards during the star-studded ceremony at the Barclays Centre, she was announced as a presenter last week The song Fancy, which the star featured on alongside Iggy Azalea, was put forward in the following categories: Video of the Year, Best Female Video, Best Art Direction and Best Pop Video. The star's music career is only going from strength-to-strength after revealing in March that she's working on her fifth studio album. Last week, she released Good Ones as the lead single from the upcoming record. A Bachelor star has shut down 'lockdown police' on Instagram after being falsely accused of breaching Covid health orders by exercising at the beach in Sydney. Sogand Mohtat, 32, a former civil engineer-turned-influencer, had shared photos to Instagram on Sunday of herself soaking up the sun after going for a swim. But an overzealous critic accused her of simply enjoying a lazy day at the beach, and called her a hypocrite because she'd previously slammed lockdown protesters. 'F**k off': Bachelor star Sogand Mohtat has shut down 'lockdown police' on Instagram after being falsely accused of breaching Covid health orders by exercising at the beach in Sydney 'Wow! How hypocritical are you! It was only a couple weeks ago you were so outraged at people protesting out "in the fresh air" yet here you are doing the exact same thing - going against health orders,' one troll wrote. 'Sunbathing whilst we are hitting 1,400 cases daily is not essential, darling. How pathetic!' Sogand shut down the troll, responding: 'I went for a swim and sat in the park away from the crowd with a mask on. F**k off.' People are allowed to leave their homes to buy food, to exercise and for outdoor recreation. If you live within five kilometres of a beach, like Sogand does, it is perfectly legal to exercise there. 'Afternoon dip': Sogand, 32, a former civil engineer-turned-influencer, had shared photos to Instagram on Sunday of herself soaking up the sun after going for a swim Legal: People are allowed to leave their homes to buy food, to exercise and for outdoor recreation. If you live within 5km of a beach, like Sogand does, it is legal to exercise there Response: A critic accused her of enjoying a lazy day at the beach, and called her a hypocrite because she'd previously slammed lockdown protesters. Sogand told the troll to 'f**k off' Sogand made it to the final seven of her season of The Bachelor in 2019, before being eliminated in the eleventh episode. Last March, she revealed her experience on the show gave her a 'drinking problem' and resulted in her losing her job as a civil engineer. She made the admission on Instagram, posting a short video of herself downing a whole glass of wine and writing: 'Although the show left me unemployed with a slight drinking problem, it was all worth it in the end.' Personal toll: Sogand made it to the final seven of her season of The Bachelor in 2019, before being eliminated in the eleventh episode. Last March, she revealed her experience on the show gave her a 'drinking problem' and resulted in her losing her job as a civil engineer That same month, Sogand also revealed her career as a civil engineer often intimidated men and made it difficult for her to date. 'The amount of times I've had conversations with guys and as soon as I say "I'm a civil engineer", their face goes weird,' she told The Daily Telegraph. 'The funny thing is, I only did it because I enjoy doing mathematics. I don't even enjoy working in the industry. 'If a guy is intimidated by that, I don't want him in my life.' She's been off work for six months after giving birth to her second child. And Sylvia Jeffreys couldn't be happier to be back in front of the camera when she returned to co-hosting duties at Today Extra on Monday. 'I've had a long shower and a hot coffee so it's basically my birthday,' joked the 35-year-old after being welcomed back by co-host David Campbell. A welcome return: Sylvia Jeffreys apparently couldn't be happier to be back in front of the camera when she returned to co-hosting duties at Today Extra on Monday. Pictured with co-host David Campbell She also joked that she felt 'free as a bird' following her half year maternity leave with sons Henry, five months, and Oscar, 19 months. 'I'm feeling very good and all the better for seeing all your beautiful faces in real life this morning,' quipped the journalist. 'And I'm never going home again. It's too nice wearing make-up.' Excited: 'I've had a long shower and a hot coffee so it's basically my birthday,' joked the 35-year-old Sylvia announced her return to the hosting post last Friday. And joining her during the live cross via Zoom was her adorable one-year-old son Oscar, who stole the spotlight from her with a hilarious awkward gaffe. During the interview, the 19-month-old toddler mistakenly called co-host David Campbell 'dadda'. Whoops! Sylvia Jeffreys' son Oscar mistakenly called Today Extra host David Campbell 'dadda' during their live appearance on Friday 'Wrong network, buddy,' the TV presenter laughed, referring to Sylvia's husband Peter Stefanovic, who is the breakfast host of Sky News Australia's First Edition. Sylvia also clarified to her boy: 'that's not dadda', before joking that his minor mistake was 'disconcerting'. Little Oscar continued to baby babble throughout the chat, and at one point continued to call out 'wee wee' as pictures of his parents and younger brother Henry were shown. Funny: 'Wrong network, buddy,' the TV presenter laughed, referring to Sylvia's husband Peter Stefanovic. Sylvia also clarified to her boy: 'that's not dadda' before joking that his minor mistake 'disconcerting'. Pictured is David Campbell with co-host Belinda Russell Funny nickname: Little Oscar continued to baby babble throughout the chat and called out 'wee wee' as pictures of his parents and younger brother Henry were shown. Sylvia explained: 'He is seeing a picture of Henry on the scene and that is what he calls Henry, Wee Wee' Sylvia explained: 'He is seeing a picture of Henry on the scene and that is what he calls Henry, Wee Wee, which is also his word for Wiggles so it is very confusing around here.' Elsewhere, she also told her colleagues that the 'hardest thing' about being a parent with two very young sons in lockdown was having no access to their family in Queensland. 'I think the hardest thing for us is not having the grandmas around because they will both in Queensland, and my dad as well, and we are separated from of course my brother and my sister. 'It is really challenging': Sylvia, who will return to Today Extra on Monday, told her colleagues that the 'hardest thing' about being a parent to two very young sons while in lockdown was having access to their family in Queensland. Pictured is Sylvia, Pete and second son Henry 'So not being able to see them in Queensland is really challenging,' she said. But she said the silver lining has been being able to have plenty to time to 'bond' with her sons. After the interview Sylvia shared an Instagram post of looking a little confused at seeing himself on TV as they re-watching their appearance on Today Extra, before excitedly jumping around. What's going on here? After the interview Sylvia shared an Instagram post of looking a little confused at seeing himself on TV as they re-watching their appearance on Today Extra 'Oscar seems pretty satisfied with his performance,' she wrote. 'But, no, @davidcampbell73 is not 'Dadda' and, yes, we can put @thewiggles back on now. MVP in that segment was Henry, who slept soundly. 'Can't wait to see the team in real life on Monday. Have a happy and safe weekend, everyone,' she added. How it started: They began dating in 2013 after meeting at Nine and were engaged in 2016 while on holiday in France Sylvia and Peter are proud parents to five-month-old Henry and 19-month-old Oscar. They began dating in 2013 after meeting at Nine and were engaged in 2016 while on holiday in France. The couple tied the knot at the Ooralba Estate in Kangaroo Valley on April 1, 2017. Former Home and Away star Luke Mitchell and his wife, Rebecca Breeds, have spent $2.3million on a new family home in Cronulla, Sydney. The 36-year-old actor, who now plays Danny Cooper in The CW series The Republic of Sarah, settled on the property in April, according to CoreLogic records. The house is only a short distance from Shelley Beach, reports realestate.com. Homecoming: Home and Away stars Luke Mitchell (left) and Rebecca Breeds (right) have purchased a $2.3million home in Cronulla, Sydney The couple are familiar with the area as they own a $1.425million investment nearby. Despite their success in Hollywood, the pair left the U.S. and returned to Australia earlier this year. In 2019, Luke spoke about his family plans with Rebecca, whom he met when they were co-stars on Aussie soap Home and Away. New digs: The 36-year-old actor, who now plays Danny Cooper in The CW series The Republic of Sarah, settled on the property in April He was asked during an interview with BW Magazine about the possibility of having kids, but said they were focused on 'riding this wave of our career at the moment'. Despite still living in America at the time, Luke admitted he missed Australia. 'I miss the beach, fresh air, green grass and the laid-back lifestyle,' he said. 'You get used to living over there [in the U.S.] but when you come back home you realise how lucky we are to be Australian.' Screen star: After landing the role of Todd 'Romeo' Smith on Home and Away, Luke's career has gone from strength to strength and he mostly stars in U.S. productions these days He went on to say he'd always consider Sydney home, and that he and Rebecca - who starred in the CBS series Clarice - wanted to move back at some stage. After landing the role of Todd 'Romeo' Smith on Home and Away, Luke's career has gone from strength to strength and he mostly stars in U.S. productions these days. His TV credits include The Tomorrow People, Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. and Blindspot. Luke proposed to Rebecca in 2012 and they married year later in Kangaroo Valley. Watch The Republic of Sarah exclusively on Stan in Australia. She enjoyed a whirlwind getaway to Italy last week to attend the Venice Film Festival with her multimillionaire Hollywood agent husband, Patrick Whitesell. And now Pia Whitesell has made a quick-stop trip to the Big Apple to attend New York Fashion Week. The former Home and Away star, 37, turned heads at the Staud show in a stunning dress from the label. Belissimo! Pia Whitesell showed off her cleavage in a designer dress as she attended New York Fashion Week over the weekend after a whirlwind trip to Venice with her multimillionaire husband Patrick Her A-line cut midi dress featured a built-in corset and low-cut neckline. The stone-coloured frock highlighted her tiny waistline and a generous amount of cleavage. The mother-of-two teamed the dress with a pair of white strappy stilettos from Bottega Veneta. The Chilean beauty flaunted her glowing complexion by wearing minimal makeup and had her glossy locks coiffed in loose waves. Bella! Pia landed in New York on Sunday after attending the Venice Film Festival over the weekend with her husband Patrick Pia landed in New York on Sunday after attending the Venice Film Festival over the weekend. On Saturday, the actress and her husband were sightseeing in beautiful Venice, looking blissful and relaxed in a series of Instagram images. In one picture, the star showed off her famous figure in another low cut dress that flaunted her cleavage. The flirty gown clung to her form and featured a muted colour palette and an abstract design. Pia, who was carrying a white, quilted Chanel bag, simply beamed in the photos, with all the bliss of a newlywed. Day out: On Saturday, the actress and her husband were sightseeing in beautiful Venice, looking blissful and relaxed in a series of Instagram images She also took a picture of Patrick, who smiled widely as he took a phone call while seated aboard a canal boat. On Friday, the pair enjoyed a date night at the Venice Film Festival and put on a very loved-up display on the red carpet. Pia posted a sweet selfie of the pair on the way to the event and captioned the post: 'Venice Film Festival with mi amore [my love]'. Wow! In one picture, the star showed off her famous figure in a low cut dress that flaunted her cleavage. Pia was also carrying a white, quilted Chanel bag She added in part of her post: 'So grateful to be able to travel from LA and to even be here!' Pia is living at Patrick's Malibu beach house, after she relocated to Los Angeles from Sydney to be with her new husband. She travelled abroad with her sons, Isaiah, 18, and Lennox, 13. Amore: On Friday, the pair enjoyed a date night at the Venice Film Festival and put on a very loved-up display on the red carpet She added: 'So grateful to be able to travel from LA and to even be here!' She announced her engagement to Patrick, who is the executive chairman of the Endeavor Talent Agency, on November 28. They married in secret months later. Patrick's clients include Ben Affleck, Christian Bale, Matt Damon, Michelle Williams, Idris Elba, Jake Gyllenhaal, Hugh Jackman, John Krasinski, Jude Law, Ryan Reynolds and Denzel Washington. Advertisement Celebs went for sexy and sophisticated as they filled the front rows at Tom Ford's Spring/Summer 2022 show for New York Fashion Week on Sunday. Eiza Gonzalez and Jennifer Hudson oozed glamour in texture-forward jewel-tone looks while Julianne Moore turned up the heat in a leggy black blazer dress. And on the runway stunners like Gigi Hadid and Joan Smalls donned dazzling 70s styles which looked fit for a night out at Studio 54. Ford girls: Eiza Gonzalez and Jennifer Hudson oozed glamour in texture-forward jewel-tone looks while Julianne Moore turned up the heat in a leggy black blazer dress at Tom Ford's Spring/Summer 2022 fashion show in New York on Sunday Dancing queen: On the runway stunners like Gigi Hadid and Joan Smalls donned dazzling 70s styles which looked fit for a night out at Studio 54 Moore, 60, put her best foot forward in a double-breasted coat-dress with shiny gold buttons, square shoulders and a deep neckline that teased her bare chest. Making the most of her frock's thigh-grazing hem, she donned sexy black tights along with crisscrossing heels. The Boogie Nights actress tied things together with a black croc-skin clutch, tossing her deep auburn locks over her shoulder in textured waves while playing up her eyes with bronze shadow. Inside the event - which was held at the David H. Koch Theater in Lincoln Center - Julianne crossed paths with Jennifer Hudson, 40. Stunning: Moore, 60, put her best foot forward in a double-breasted coat-dress with shiny gold buttons, square shoulders and a deep neckline that teased her bare chest Twice as nice: Moore, 60, smiled while snapping a photo with Hudson, 40 Pretty in purple: The Respect star looked stunning in a lush array of purples, teaming a violet-hued satin and velvet coat with a soft grape-colored top, a shiny, patent leather skirt and blue velvet shoes Queen: Adding another luxurious note, Hudson pushed her raven waves out of her face with a jeweled headband The Respect star looked stunning in a lush array of purples, teaming a violet-hued satin and velvet coat with a soft grape-colored top, a shiny, patent leather skirt and blue velvet shoes. Adding another luxurious note, Hudson pushed her raven waves out of her face with a jeweled headband. The American Idol alum played off the purple theme with a rich plum-hued lip and thick, fluffy eyelashes for makeup. Elsewhere at the show was Saweetie, 28, who arrived with Estee Lauder exec John Demsey. Va-voom: The My Type songstress looked like a classic bombshell while busting out of a black camisole precariously held together with laces. Tempering the look were low-slung trousers on bottom On the arm of... She was accompanied by Estee Lauder exec John Demsey Classic: Saweetie - who was recently named an ambassador for one of Lauder's flagship brands, MAC - had her hair in chin-length Marilyn Monroe waves and rocked a retro looking cherry red pout The My Type songstress looked like a classic bombshell while busting out of a black camisole precariously held together with laces. Tempering the look were low-slung trousers on bottom. Saweetie - who was recently named an ambassador for one of Lauder's flagship brands, MAC - had her hair in chin-length Marilyn Monroe waves and rocked a retro looking cherry red pout. Also gracing the event was Eiza Gonzalez, 31, who looked ready to hit the dance floor in a sumptuous suede suit. The turquoise ensemble featured a single-button jacket worn without a shirt to tease her chest. Texture: Eiza Gonzalez, 31, looked ready to hit the dance floor in a sumptuous suede suit Jewel: The turquoise ensemble featured a single-button jacket worn without a shirt to tease her chest Big wig: Vogue queen-pin Anna Wintour arrived in a hurry, donning an elegant cream dress with floral embroidery framing a collared neckline On bottom, paper bag-style pants with deep pockets offered some practical luxury along with classic black heels. The Mexican beauty slicked her dark hair back and donned smoky bronze eyeshadow. Vogue queen-pin Anna Wintour arrived in a hurry, donning an elegant cream dress with floral embroidery framing a collared neckline. Elevating the look, she donned python-skin boots and her perennial sunglasses. Camila Coelho looked like the ultimate party girl in a hot pink mini dress which offered an eyeful of skin courtesy of clashing leopard and zebra patterned lace. What a doll! Camila Coelho looked like the ultimate party girl in a hot pink mini dress which offered an eyeful of skin courtesy of clashing leopard and zebra patterned lace Style: Pom Klementieff donned a little black dress and zebra jacket while Russell Westbrook looked retro in silky purple pants and a snug sage V-neck sweater Dolling things up further, she added purple tights and pink satin heels with bows on the toes. Pom Klementieff donned a little black dress and zebra jacket while Russell Westbrook looked retro in silky purple pants and a snug sage V-neck sweater. While the audience was brimming with style, the runway was even glitzier. Ford packed his 70s-centric looks with colorful sequins and silk, letting light bounce off of each and every outfit like a disco ball. All that glitters: Ford packed his 70s-centric looks with sequins and silk, letting light bounce off of each and every outfit like a disco ball Go with the flow: Slinky silhouettes like long line jackets and slouchy trousers lent to maximum movement Slinky silhouettes like long-line jackets and slouchy trousers lent to maximum movement, while tie-up tops and sequined bikinis leaned towards the playful side of sexy. But there was no restraint when it came to accessories, as Ford lavished his looks with rhinestone chockers, pearl bangles, and bejeweled hairclips. Striking an optimistic tone in his show notes reported by Vogue, Ford wrote: 'Photogenic clothes today by their very nature mean that they are not at all timid My clothes this season are simple in cut but not in impact.' 'Mostly, I think that this is a hopeful collection and at a moment when we all need hope. We need that now more than ever.' Channel 10's headquarters in Pyrmont, Sydney, has become a Covid hotspot after an employee on the premises tested positive to the virus on Sunday. The station, which broadcasts Studio 10 and 10 News First, is now operating with skeleton staff after close contacts of the confirmed case were ordered to stay home. TV Blackbox has confirmed the person who tested positive was a worker at Channel 10's in-house restaurant, Saunders Street Cafe. Covid scare: Channel 10's headquarters in Pyrmont, Sydney, has become a Covid hotspot after an employee on the premises tested positive to the virus on Sunday Network staff received an urgent memo on Sunday instructing them to get tested and self-isolate if they visited the cafe at any time last Thursday or Friday. The studio has been deep cleaned since the Covid scare, and production of Studio 10 and 10 News First is continuing as normal. A 10 spokesperson told TV Blackbox on Monday: 'Network 10 can confirm that a staff member has tested positive to Covid-19. 'The health, safety and welfare of all staff and the community is our number one priority. 'All close contacts of the staff member have been identified. They have been advised to get tested and isolate for 14 days regardless of the result.' Warning to staff: The station, which broadcasts Studio 10 and 10 News First, is now operating with skeleton staff after close contacts of the confirmed case were ordered to stay home. Pictured: Studio 10 host Sarah Harris, who has not been identified as a close contact They continued: 'Network 10 continues to work to the NSW Health guidelines and strict protocols remain in place. 'The studio and office have been deep cleaned. Network 10 is providing all staff with all the support and assistance possible.' Meanwhile, Studio 10 panelist Angela Bishop confirmed on Monday's show that the network had 'trimmed back crew this morning' in light of the Covid case. Positive case: TV Blackbox has confirmed the person who tested positive was a worker at 10's in-house restaurant, Saunders Street Cafe. Pictured: Channel 10's Pyrmont studios Confirmed: A 10 spokesperson told TV Blackbox on Monday: 'Network 10 can confirm that a staff member has tested positive to Covid-19.' Pictured: 10 News First anchor Sandra Sully, who has not been identified as a close contact 'Unfortunately we've had a brush with Covid here, so we are following all the health guidelines and some of our team are off getting tested and isolating,' she said. NSW recorded 1,257 new Covid cases and seven deaths on Monday, with outdoor gathering restrictions eased despite a surge in cases in Sydney's west. There are currently 1,189 patients being treated in hospital, including 222 in intensive care, of whom 94 require ventilation. Retired NRL star Sam Burgess couldn't hide his emotions as he discussed his failed marriage to ex-wife Phoebe during a bombshell interrogation on SAS Australia. During Monday night's launch episode, the former South Sydney Rabbitohs player, 32, confessed he had previously been unfaithful to Phoebe, also 32, and added that he knew he had 'embarrassed' her during their four-year marriage. 'I don't think I was the greatest husband at times,' he said to the camera. 'I embarrassed my wife. I'd had an affair with a girl, a woman in Melbourne. That's true. Breaking his silence: Retired NRL star Sam Burgess couldn't hide his emotions as he discussed his failed marriage to ex-wife Phoebe during a bombshell interrogation on SAS Australia 'I was away on tour, and regretfully that happened. Which would have been... it would have been a tough place for Phoebe to be.' In 2018, Sam was embroiled in a sexting scandal which involved a Melbourne woman who claimed he had cheated on his wife the year prior. In the immediate aftermath of the scandal in September 2018, Phoebe, who was then pregnant with her second child, pulled out of a public appearance but was otherwise publicly supportive of her husband in the weeks that followed. However, the couple ended their marriage shortly after Christmas the same year, three months after he was cleared of any involvement in an NRL 'sexting' affair. Confession: During Monday night's launch episode, the former South Sydney Rabbitohs player, 32, admitted he had previously been unfaithful to Phoebe, 32, and said he had 'embarrassed' her during their four-year marriage Despite reconciling briefly in early 2019, the couple called it quits for good in October the same year. News of the separation came just days after Sam - who shares daughter Poppy, four, and Billy, two, with Phoebe - announced his retirement from all sporting competitions with immediate effect on October 30, 2019, due to a shoulder injury. Sam said he 'couldn't accept' hearing the decision from his surgeon, and so tried to go back and play. 'I was away on tour, and regretfully that happened. Which would have been... would have been a tough place for Phoebe to be,' he said 'It was a bit of a knife to the heart,' he explained on Monday's episode. 'I couldn't accept it. I knew two games in I couldn't do my job anymore, so I retired. It was s**t.' Chief instructor Ant Middleton then asked if Sam had then gone on a 'path of destruction' following the demise of his marriage and the end of his career, to which he replied: 'I didn't know how to manage it. 'I'm not great with managing emotional. Anything to do with my team, myself, press - I don't mind about that. 'When it became emotional stuff with losing my kids, not seeing my kids every day, my marriage breakdown and that put pressure on my ex-wife... I didn't like that. Another loss: The separation came two days after Sam announced his retirement from all sporting competitions with immediate effect on October 30, due to a shoulder injury Response: Chief instructor Ant Middleton asked if Sam had then gone on a 'path of destruction' following the demise of his marriage and the end of his career, to which he replied: 'I didn't know how to manage it' 'I hated that I'd caused pain for other people that I couldn't manage.' He continued: 'I turned to drinking, taking drugs - I thought I could manage that. Then got pulled [up on a] DUI with drugs in my system, which was all over the press again, which stopped me seeing my kids again. I just checked myself into rehab.' In May this year, Sam avoided a conviction despite pleading guilty to three driving charges following a February 22 police traffic stop where he tested positive for cocaine. It came two months after Sam's conviction for intimidating his ex-wife Phoebe's father Mitchell Hooke in the aftermath of the couple's messy break-up was overturned by a judge. Children: Sam and Phoebe share two children together; Poppy, four, and son Billy, two Sam later said that going to a four-week long rehab centre had 'saved his life', revealing he had stopped drinking completely in an attempt to change his path for the better. Following the interrogation, Sam concluded by saying he hoped his time on SAS Australia would help him see 'a bit deeper inside myself'. 'I have this theory of life that it's peaks and valleys, ups and downs. Sometimes you don't know when the peaks are at the top, and you don't know how far the valley might go. 'Maybe this could be the start of me climbing my way out of the valley.' SAS Australia continues Tuesday at 7.30pm on Channel Seven Claire Foy has won a Creative Arts Emmy. On the drama series side, Foy was honoured for The Crown and her reprisal of Queen Elizabeth II, the role that won the Briton a lead actress Emmy in 2018. The 2021 Creative Arts Emmy Awards were held this weekend at LA Live in Los Angeles across three ceremonies. Bravo: Claire Foy has won a Creative Arts Emmy. On the drama series side, Foy was honoured for The Crown and her reprisal of Queen Elizabeth II, the role that won the Briton a lead actress Emmy in 2018. Seen in 2018 Her stunning show: The Crown (Season 2) TV Series in 2017 showing Claire There are so many categories each year at the Emmys and it is not impossible to hand them all out during the televised ceremony. The Television Academy holds an event one week earlier to announce the winners of the Creative Arts awards. All of the guest acting categories were announced. Good job CBV: Courtney B Vance won for his role in Lovecraft Country. Seen Sunday He landed it: Derek Hough, winner of the Emmy for outstanding choreography for variety or reality programming for the Paso Doble-Uccen / Tap Dance - Let's Fall in Love for the Night routines in Dancing with the Stars and girlfriend Hayley Erbert They make a good team: Debbie Allen and Hough pose for a portrait during the third ceremony of the Television Academy's 2021 Creative Arts Emmy Awards at the L.A. LIVE Event Deck on Sunday A team: from left, Hudson Hickman, Debbie Allen, Sam Haskell, Maria S. Schlatter and Joe Lazarov, winners of the Emmy for outstanding television movie for Dolly Parton's Christmas on the Square As were the categories for hair, makeup, costumes, cinematography, production design, and others. Courtney B Vance, Maya Rudolph and Dave Chappelle also won guest actor Emmys at Sunday's creative arts awards ceremony. Vance won for his role in Lovecraft Country. Double date: from left, Drew Scott, Zooey Deschanel, Linda Phan, and Jonathan Scott attend the second ceremony of the Television Academy's 2021 Creative Arts Emmy Awards Rudolph and Chappelle won comedy series guest acting trophies as hosts of Saturday Night Live. For Rudolph, it was a repeat of her victory in the category last year, for the same show. Rudolph said she felt 'honoured' to be 'part of a legacy' with her Emmy Awards wins. The 49-year-old actress won the Comedy Guest Actress and accolade at Sunday's third installment of the Creative Arts Emmys for her hosting of Saturday Night Live, shortly after taking the Outstanding Character Voice-Over Performance for Big Mouth at the second segment, which made her the first person in 20 years to win twice consecutively in the same category, twice. Happy days: Rudolph said she felt 'honoured' to be 'part of a legacy' with her Emmy Awards wins. The 49-year-old actress won the Comedy Guest Actress and accolade at Sunday's third installment of the Creative Arts Emmys for her hosting of Saturday Night Live, shortly after taking the Outstanding Character Voice-Over Performance for 'Big Mouth' at the second segment And that's not all because Maya also became the third Black woman ever to win back-to-back Emmys, an achievement she was particularly proud of. She told reporters backstage at the Los Angeles event: 'Wow that's amazing. I feel honoured to be part of something like that. I feel like this Emmy is very fitting in that it's for something that feels like such a personal achievement. 'It's for hosting my childhood love and dream and at a place in my life I finally realized it's what I do best, and what makes me happiest when I perform. She made it: Marlee Matlin appears on stage during night one of the Television Academy's 2021 Creative Arts Emmy Awards on Saturday She showed off her legs: Lisa Edelstein poses in the press room on night one of the Creative Arts Emmy Awards 'I feel really honoured that I'm part of a legacy as the third woman of colour to achieve that.' Maya has met with Vice President Kamala Harris, and admitted the politician was 'lovely and cool' about her depiction of her on 'Saturday Night Live'. She said: 'We did meet during a fundraiser before the election over Zoom. 'She was quite aware that I was playing her and was so lovely and cool, and it was so exciting to talk to her and to meet her, and to get a chance to be a part of her orbit. She made the Saturday event: Paris Jackson poses in the press room in a stunning black dress 'But she's so cool, she was great about it, and I think that's always the mark of someone who knows that they're impenetrable and they're doing something great in the world because she knows I'm doing it with love and she's so fantastic that someone is impersonating her.' Regina King was the most recent Black actor to win back-to-back Emmys for her work in 'American Crime' in 2015 and 2016, while Uzo Aduba previously enjoyed consecutive wins for 'Orange is the New Black'. The last person to win twice in the same category was 'Frasier's Jean Smart in 2000 and 2001. In the short-form comedy or drama series, the winners were JB Smoove for Mapleworth Murders and Keke Palmer for Keke Palmer's Turnt Up with the Taylors. They got the gold: Emmanuel Acho and Morolake Akinosun, winners of the Emmy for outstanding short form nonfiction or reality series for Uncomfortable Conversations with a Black Man They made the event: Christine Lahti, left, and Thomas Schlamme attend the third ceremony of the Television Academy's 2021 Creative Arts Emmy Awards at the L.A. LIVE Event Deck on Sunday The creative arts awards were presented in non-televised weekend ceremonies that will be part of a special set for Saturday on FXX. The awards are precursors to the main Emmys ceremony airing on Sunday, September 19, on CBS. Also at the Creative Arts Emmys was Selling Sunset star Chrishell Stause who looked stunning in a pink dress and Paris Jackson who went with a black gown. The second New York Fashion Week for 2021 wrapped up on Sunday. And actress Hailee Steinfeld was among the many high-profile celebrities who made the rounds and got a taste of the new collections from an array of fashion designers from all over the world. Over the weekend, after attending the Thom Browne show, the Pitch perfect star slipped into a daring ensemble, which offered more than a hint of her midriff and cleavage, and made her way to a popular Italian restaurant in Downtown Manhattan. Daring: Hailee Steinfeld, 24, slipped into a revealing ensemble when she headed out for dinner in New York City over the weekend After dinner, Steinfeld was spotted leaving Cipriani wearing a black top that was attached along the chest with only a small piece of fabric. She also wore black pants and that hugged her womanly curves and a pair of blingy heels. The Los Angeles native rounded out her evening look by carrying a gorgeous black handbag and had her dark brown tresses styled long and flowing past the middle of her back and a part in the middle. Confident: The Pitch Perfect star's top was attached by only a small piece of fabric Making the round: Steinfeld was spotted leaving the Italian restaurant Cipriani Saturday night after attending the g the Thom Browne fashion show as part of New York Fashion Week On Sunday, Steinfeld opted for brown ensemble, consisting of a rustic brown, button-down shirt that she tucked into cargo pant, and stiletto-heeled boots. She accessorized with large-framed sunglasses and again wore her locks long, voluminous, and with a center part. During the day, she went back inside her home and then returned to the busting streets with her beloved pet pooch, Martini, and the duo proceeded to make way around the SoHo neighborhood in the downtown region. Casual stroll: On Sunday, Steinfeld opted for brown ensemble, consisting of a rustic brown, button-down shirt that she tucked into cargo pant, and stiletto-heeled boots Fashionista: Steinfeld has been attending NTFW shows, which ended on Sunday Four-legged family ember: Steinfeld also took beloved pet pooch Martini for a walk Steinfeld's rising star could get even brighter with the release of the upcoming superhero miniseries, Hawkeye, on November 24, as well as the third and final season of Dickinson, which is scheduled to drop on November 5. In Marvel's Hawkeye, Steinfeld plays Kate Bishop alongside Jeremy Renner, who's reprising his role as Clint Barton from the film series. It is being directed by the British female duo Bert & Bernie and Rhys Thomas, and also stars Vera Farmiga, Fra Fee, Tony Dalton, Zahn McClarnon, Brian d'Arcy James and Alaqua Cox. Steinfeld's rising star could get even brighter with the release of the upcoming superhero miniseries, Hawkeye, on November 24 Finale season: The acclaimed actress also stars in the third and final season of Dickinson, which is scheduled to drop on November 5 Former Block star-turned-radio host Jess Eva candidly admitted she often wets herself in the studio on Monday. She made the admission on her Triple M Sydney's Moonman in the Morning show while discussing incontinence with SAS Australia star, Jana Pittman. 'I am a big advocate of free the wee,' Jess said. 'I wee myself here in the studio. I go to have a little wrestle with Mooney then I go ''I'm weeing, I'm weeing''.' Candid: Former Block star Jess Eva revealed she 'wets herself in the studio all the time' during an interview with SAS Australia's Jana Pittman about incontinence on her Triple M Sydney's Moonman in the Morning show on Monday Jess said she often has to go to the toilets and 'dry shampoo' her underwear in order to finish the show. Olympian Jana, who had a baby six months ago, bravely spoke of her incontinence after scenes emerged of her wetting herself on the tough reality series. 'In all truth I thought it was really important,' she said. 'There are so many women out there that deal with incontinence.' Important issue: Olympian Jana, who had a baby six months ago, bravely spoke of her incontinence after scenes emerged of her wetting herself on the tough reality series 'This needs to be shown [on TV]. The men will think I'm gross but the women might think I'm a hero,' she added. Jess told Daily Mail Australia in June that she wets herself '90 per cent of the time' on her Triple M breakfast show. She said she suffers from the condition following the birth of her two children - Fred, six, and Matilda, four. Confession: Jess said she often has to go to the toilets and 'dry shampoo' her underwear in order to finish the show following the accidents 'I whoosh myself at the drop of a hat. 90 per cent of the time I wee myself during Moonman in the Morning after I laugh or I cough or I sneeze,' she said. 'Sometimes I just dry shampoo my undies, and then go back into the studio because that's the only thing I can find!' Jess, who shares her children with husband Norm Hogan, said the way her babies were born didn't particularly help with her condition. Family: Jess said she started suffering incontinence following the birth of her children Fred, six, and daughter Matilda, four, who she shares with husband Norm Hogan. All pictured 'Fred had a head the size of a beach ball, so that was the beginning of the end,' she added. '...and then Tildy came out a little bit sideways. 'So even if I'm walking down to the supermarket and I have to cough, I have to stop, hold my legs and hope for the best.' Jess added that she has absolutely no shame in discussing the topic, and hopes that more mums will speak out about it in the near future. Megan Fox, Machine Gun Kelly, Kourtney Kardashian and Travis Barker headed out for dinner following the 2021 MTV Video Music Awards on Sunday. The Transformers star, 35, and the rocker, 31, toned down their looks as they tried to relax after leaving the Barclays Center in Brooklyn on Sunday night - after the rocker had engaged in a brawl with Conor McGregor earlier in the night. Despite the fracas earlier in the evening, the duo looked relaxed as they met up with their friends Kourtney, 42, and Travis, 45, at an afterparty in New York City following the raucous events earlier on. Catching up: Megan Fox, Machine Gun Kelly, Kourtney Kardashian and Travis Barker headed out for dinner following the 2021 MTV Video Music Awards on Sunday Megan opted for something slightly more conservative than her show look, a sheer beige dress that left little to the imagination. After the show she changed into a silvery ribbed mini dress that highlighted her cleavage and had a cut-out panel to showcase her toned tummy. She wore simple silver open-toe heels that strapped around her ankles to elevate her 5ft4in height, and she carried along a matching silver clutch. MGK had changed back into a sequined violet shirt with a lavender undershirt and purple pants, which he wore earlier in the evening when he accepted the moon person for Best Alternative Video for My Ex's Best Friend. He also wore black shoes decorated with silver studs. Chic: The Transformers star, 35, and the rocker, 31, toned down their looks as they tried to relax after leaving the Barclays Center in Brooklyn on Sunday night - after the rocker had engaged in a brawl with Conor McGregor earlier in the night Clash! According to TMZ, MMA fighter Conor asked Machine Gun Kelly for a photo on the red carpet. But when he got brushed off, the two exchanged words Covered up: He was faced with the wrath of Conor before cooling off at dinner Sparkler: After the show she changed into a silvery ribbed mini dress that highlighted her cleavage and had a cut-out panel to showcase her toned tummy Later, the lovebirds were ambushed by fans looking for a photo as they headed out to dinner. Joining them were Kourtney and Travis, who had also changed out of their award-show attire. The Keeping Up With The Kardashians star had worn a sultry off-the-shoulder black leather dress that laced up the front. Fond chat: Despite a cagey start to the night, he looked wholly more relaxed at dinner Chatting away: Kourtney chatted fondly to the duo during the meal In depth: They looked engrossed in conversation during the meal She had changed into a pale blue floral print blouse with black straps and a set of black leather pants with red open-toe heels. Travis was the most casual of the bunch. He appeared to have simple put on a shirt repping the UK punk band Subhumans. The Blink-182 drummer held his love's hand as they parted the crowd. Colorful: MGK had changed back into a sequined violet shirt with a lavender undershirt and purple pants, which he wore earlier in the evening Big moment: He had the same outfit on when he accepted the moon person for Best Alternative Video for My Ex's Best Friend Crowded: Later, the lovebirds were ambushed by fans looking for a photo as they headed out to dinner Bombarded: Several people had LPs thrusted out in hopes of getting an autograph Low key: Joining them were Kourtney and Travis, who had also changed out of their award-show attire Splash of color: The Keeping Up With The Kardashians star had worn a sultry off-the-shoulder black leather dress that laced up the front, but she had changed into a pale blue floral print blouse with black straps Back in black: She also wore sleek black leather pants with crimson open-toe heels Simple: Travis was the most casual of the bunch. He appeared to have simple put on a shirt repping the UK punk band Subhumans Passing through: The duo strutted their stuff in all star style The couple were spotted having a relaxed conversation inside the restaurant. The spot didn't appear to be too busy, so they didn't have much difficult chatting. At one point, MGK and Megan appeared to clink their glasses together in a toast. The relaxed setting was a far cry from earlier in the evening, when the rocker almost got into a fist fight with MMA fighter Conor McGregor on the red carpet. On their own: The spot didn't appear to be too busy, so they didn't have much difficult chatting Cheers! At one point, MGK and Megan appeared to clink their glasses together in a toast According to TMZ, MMA fighter Conor McGregor asked Machine Gun Kelly for a photo on the red carpet. But when he got brushed off, the two exchanged words. Security had to step in to separate them, and Megan stepped in to keep her boyfriend out of the fight. McGregor was walking with the aid of a cain during the confrontation, as he's still recovering from a brutal break in his tibia that he suffered while fighting Dustin Poirier for UFC 264 on July 10. Finale: Travis had drummed with MGK earlier in the evening for their song Papercuts, the final performance of the night Fierce words: The relaxed setting was a far cry from earlier in the evening, when the rocker almost got into a fist fight with MMA fighter Conor McGregor on the red carpet After dinner, MGK kept the night going when he met up with his good friend Pete Davidson. It wasn't clear if Megan was still with him or if she had turned in for the night, but the musician seemed to be having a great time with the SNL star. Pete had noticeable bags around his eyes and a thin beard, and he had his hair dyed platinum blond. He wore a navy blue graphic T-shirt with dark jeans, plus white sneakers with thick rope-like laces. Pete smoked a cigarette while chatting with his pal, whom he met in 2017 on the set of Wild 'N Out. Old pals: After dinner, MGK kept the night going when he met up with his good friend Pete Davidson Late night: Pete had noticeable bags around his eyes and a thin beard, and he had his hair dyed platinum blond A fan appeared to hand Pete a Funk Pop doll, possible in hopes that he would autograph it. In a 2019 Coveteur interview, the King Of Staten Island star shared that he and MGK grew closer as friends when they starred in the Motley Crue movie The Dirt. 'And then we became the bestest of the friends,' he said at the time. He recounted how he proved he was a fan of MGK's the first time they met by rapping ever bar of his song Breaking News. Shooting his shot: A fan appeared to hand Pete a Funk Pop doll, possible in hopes that he would autograph it Going strong: Pete and MGK have been friends since meeting on Wild 'N Out in 2017, but they got closer after starring together in the Motley Crue movie The Dirt in 2019 Emma Husar hopes her appearance on SAS Australia will prove to her detractors just how strong she really is after she facing a 'flashing' scandal in parliament. The former federal Labor MP has claimed political operatives made up sexual harassment claims to ruin her career. Husar alleges people within the party leaked false allegations she exposed herself to MP Jason Clare in a 'Sharon Stone' move in Canberra in 2017. Tough: Emma Husar (pictured) hopes her appearance on SAS Australia will prove to her detractors just how strong she really is Appearing on Monday's premiere episode, the 41-year-old faced a gassing challenge where she coughed and spluttered while choking on fumes - but she was determined to see it through. She explained in the accompanying interview: 'I was slut shamed viciously and relentlessly out of my job. 'Being accused in the parliament of flashing my colleague and his infant son whilst I wasn't wearing underwear, in what the media called the "Sharon Stone". Doing it: Appearing on Monday's premiere episode, the 41-year-old faced a gassing challenge where she coughed and spluttered while choking on fumes - but she was determined She explained on the show: 'I was slut shamed viciously and relentlessly out of my job. Being accused in the parliament of flashing my colleague and his infant son whilst I wasn't wearing underwear, in what the media called the "Sharon Stone". That really disempowered me' 'That really disempowered me, it took away my agency.' Husar added: 'Screw you to every person who has ever underestimated me, ever doubted my integrity or my ability to do anything '. The 'Sharon Stone' refers to a scene in the 1992 film Basic Instinct where Stone's character flashes her nude crotch at police during an interrogation. Husar added: 'Screw you to every person who has ever underestimated me, ever doubted my integrity or my ability to do anything ' After the 'flashing' claim and other allegations of workplace bullying were published by Buzzfeed in 2018, Husar announced she would not stand for re-election in 2019. The former MP for Lindsay in Sydney's west said she was traumatised by the incident, comparing it to the alleged rape of Brittany Higgins in Parliament House. 'This is a human rights violation. I had the right to go to work, the right to be treated with respect. I had the right to be given fair consideration, natural justice processes and procedural fairness that everyone else is entitled to,' she said. Career: After the 'flashing' claim and other allegations of workplace bullying were published by Buzzfeed in 2018, Husar announced she would not stand for re-election in 2019. She fought tears when she announced her decision Apology: Husar said if she did not receive an apology from Labor leader Anthony Albanese (pictured) she would sue the party for sexual harassment and discrimination, the Sydney Morning Herald reported in May 'And also, to not have my sex, my gender, any of that weaponised and used against me for political gain this is why they are reluctant to do anything because it's a political problem. Same as in Brittany's case.' Husar said if she did not receive an apology from Labor leader Anthony Albanese she would sue the party for sexual harassment and discrimination, the Sydney Morning Herald reported in May. Buzzfeed and Ms Husar settled out of court on July 2019. The media outlet retracted the story and apologised for not seeking comment from her before publishing. SAS Australia continues Tuesday at 7.30pm on Channel Seven Kate Beckinsale has shared an update with her fans after being rushed to a Las Vegas hospital on Friday when her 'back went out'. Taking to Instagram on Monday, the actress, 48, shared a photo of herself in her hospital bed, writing: 'Feeling a lot better. Thank you so much for your kind messages and love.' The A-lister lay on a white pillow and lifted her left wrist up to the camera so that her IV drip was visible. Update: Kate Beckinsale, 48, has shared an update with her Instagram fans after being rushed to a Las Vegas hospital on Friday when her 'back went out' Back issues: The A-lister has been shooting the film Prisoner's Daughter in Las Vegas and sources told TMZ at the time that the actress suffered back issues Kate's hospital wristband could also be seen. Despite her painful weekend, the star looked typically radiant following her back injury. Kate wore her hair loose and wasn't wearing so much as a spot of make-up. The A-lister has been shooting the film Prisoner's Daughter in Las Vegas and sources told TMZ at the time that the actress' 'back went out' around 10:30 in the morning on Friday, necessitating a trip to the hospital. Vegas vacation: Beckinsale was staying at The Signature at MGM Grand, though it's unclear if she was injured there or while filming Beckinsale was staying at The Signature at MGM Grand, though it's unclear if she was injured at the hotel or while filming. The Love & Friendship star documented her Vegas trip Thursday on Instagram with a playful photo of herself in a lacy white dress. She wore a black bustier underneath and had on fishnet stockings and black combat boots that added a grungy look to the outfit. Beating the heat: Kate has been documenting her numerous Covid-19 tests and Vegas' 104F-degree heat while shooting Prisoner's Daughter with Brian Cox, Tyler Ritter and Ernie Hudson Kate also topped it off with a jeweled headband featuring a black flower just above her brow. 'Oops #Vegas,' she captioned the post. Kate has been documenting her numerous Covid-19 tests and Vegas' 104F-degree heat while shooting the film which also features Succession's Brian Cox, Tyler Ritter and Ghostbuster's actor Ernie Hudson. The thriller is being helmed by Thirteen and Twilight director Catherine Hardwicke. Cox stars as the ex-convict Max, who struggles to reconnect with his daughter (Beckinsale) and grandson after he's back on the outside. Back to work: The film and TV star has plenty of projects in the works, including the 10-episode dark comedy Guilty Party, in which she plays a disgraced journalist But his attempts at a reunion are jeopardized after his past violent deeds come back to haunt him. The film and TV star has plenty of projects in the works, including the 10-episode dark comedy Guilty Party. Kate is executive producing and staring in the Paramount+ series, which premieres October 14, as a disgraced journalist named Beth Baker. Her character tries to resuscitate her career by investigating the case of a young mother serving life in prison for maiming and murdering her husband, even though she claims she's innocent. Isla Fisher was previously attached to play the role but she had to back out due to pandemic-related circumstances, according to Deadline. Advertisement Following her racy performance as the opening act at the 2021 MTV Video Music Awards on Sunday night, Madonna was sure to turn heads once more as she hit an after party in New York City. The 63-year-old chanteuse - who received a standing ovation as she took the stage at Barclays Center on Sunday following her surprise bondage-inspired performance - went for an even quirkier vibe than she did on stage, donning a white wedding veil with a sexy black leather bodysuit. Spotted leaving a party hosted at 1 Oak, she covered her face with the lacy veil and chunky sunglasses, adding delicate white gloves to the look following her sizzling performance earlier in the evening. Here comes the bride: Following her racy performance as the opening act at the 2021 MTV Video Music Awards on Sunday night, Madonna was sure to turn heads once more as she hit an after party in New York City The Ray Of Light songstress wore fishnet tights, black strapped heels and buckets of chains, rings, and necklaces, with bejeweled crucifixes hanging from her ears. She wore her honeyed mane in plaits and donned a nude lip to complete the look. Madonna had caused quite the frenzy as she stripped off a Burberry trench coat to reveal a BDSM-inspired PVC look, before welcoming the crowd to the annual show to mark MTV's 40th year. earlier in the evening. The award show opened with the trailer for Madonna's concert movie Madame X that showed her taxiing through Times Square in a trench coat. Stepping out: The 63-year-old chanteuse donned a white wedding veil with a sexy black leather bodysuit Bridal vibes: Spotted leaving a party hosted at 1 Oak, she covered her face with the lacy veil and chunky sunglasses, adding delicate white gloves to the look Wow! Her bondage look earlier in the night set tongues wagging all over Acclaimed: Madonna received a standing ovation as she took the stage at Barclays Center on Sunday following her surprise performance earlier that evening Ray Of Light: The songstress wore fishnet tights, black strapped heels and buckets of chains, rings, and necklaces, with bejeweled crucifixes hanging from her ears Golden gal: She wore her honeyed mane in plaits and donned a nude lip to complete the look Her voice began to play on screen. 'I came to New York City with nothing but 35 dollars and a pair of dance shoes. I was 19 and terrified. 'Forty years ago, another underdog arrived in New York City hoping to create something revolutionary. An all music channel premiered in the middle of the night and called itself MTV,' she continued. 'We found each other and from from then on changed my life, changed music and created a new art form. That's why there's only one place to be tonight,' she signed off before she walked on stage encased in fog. The queen has arrived: The famed entertainer kicked off the show with a surprise appearance in a racy BDSM-inspired look and welcomed the crowd after walking out to Vogue Making an entrance: The show opened with the trailer for her movie Madame X before she appeared on stage Causing a stir: The racy ensemble for the evening included fishnets and a french maid inspired leather and PVC leotard, with a driver's cap and Christian Louboutin heels Stripping down: She was seen opening her Burberry trench coat to reveal and erotica-inspired outfit As she took the stage to cheers the likes of Billie Eilish and Hailey Bieber gave her a standing ovation, before she ramped up the energy by stripping off her trench coat to reveal her look. The racy ensemble for the evening included fishnets and a french maid inspired PVC leotard, with a driver's cap, gloves and Christian Louboutin heels. As she spoke in the microphone images of her most memorable music videos and looks flashed on the big screen. 'They said we wouldn't last, but were still here motherf***ers. Happy 40th MTV. Welcome to the 2021 MTV VMAs,' she said before strutting off the stage and flashing her backside. Theatrics: As she took the stage to cheers the likes of Billie Eilish and Hailey Bieber gave her a standing ovation, before she ramped up the energy by stripping off her trench coat to reveal her look Lifelong buddies: The famed crooner has had an enduring relationship with MTV and has snagged 20 Moon Person trophies during her career Madonna has had an enduring relationship with MTV and has snagged 20 Moon Person trophies during her career. And she also performed her hit song Like A Virgin at the networks' first ever VMAs back in 1984. After her head-turning appearance, Justin Bieber took the stage with The Kid Laroi to perform their hit song Stay. Madame X: The show opened with the trailer for her new concert movie Madame X Owning it: 'I won this b***' she wrote as she shared snaps from Madame X which played at the very top of the award show The show was hosted by Doja Cat and big winners for the night included Lil Nas X for Video Of The Year and Olivia Rodrigo for Song Of The Year. The in-person award show followed safety protocol amid the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic which included mask wearing for audience members, and Barclays worked with local health and safety officials. The event was held at Barclays for the first time since 2013 and saw some of music's best and brightest walk the red carpet. A list of performers included Camila Cabello, Doja Cat, Kacey Musgraves, Lil Nas X, Machine Gun Kelly, Shawn Mendes, Olivia Rodrigo, Chloe Bailey of Chloe x Halle fame, Twenty One Pilots, The Kid LAROI, Jack Harlow, Ozuna and Tainy. Backstage: In an Instagram shot of her backstage she was seen in her attire The moment: Reminiscing on her shocking appearance she shared images to social media Paul Walker's daughter Meadow has paid tribute to the late Fast and Furious actor on what would have been his 48th birthday. The 22-year-old dug out a sweet childhood throwback of the pair from when she was little and shared it with fans on the star's birthday on Sunday. Meadow was just 15 years old when Paul died nearly eight years ago, aged 40, in a car crash in 2013. 'Daddy, I love you': Paul Walker's daughter Meadow, 22, was seen paying tribute to the late star on what would have been his 48th birthday In the throwback photo, Paul can be seen looking relaxed as he kicked back on a white wooden chair while nestling into daughter Meadow who was looking up to the camera and smiling. Alongside the adorable snap, Meadow simply posted: 'Happy birthday daddy, I love you.' Fans rushed to comment on the post, that has been liked over half-a-million times on the social media platform, and sent Meadow their well wishes, while remembering her famous father. 'You have a protective angel,' shared one follower, as another commented: 'With you always.' Sweet: The model declared her love for her famous father in the adorable throwback she shared on Paul's birthday on Sunday (12 September) A third wrote: 'Happy birthday legend, the legacy continues,' while another posted: 'Happy birthday my favourite @paulwalker, you will always be in our hearts. Promise.' Meadow, who has made a name for herself as a model in the fashion world, is often seen remembering dad Paul on social media and following his death, she has established a non-profit in his memory. The non-profit, named The Paul Walker Foundation, is aimed at marine science. Paul found fame as part of the Fast and Furious franchise alongside fellow actors Vin Diesel and Michelle Rodriguez. He was in middle of the filming Fast and Furious 7 at the time of his death, with Paul's brothers Caleb and Cody later standing in for him as filming wrapped. All grown up: Meadow, who has made a name for herself as a model, has honoured her dad by setting up a non-profit foundation in actor Paul's name following his death Heartbreak: Fast and Furious star Paul died aged 40 in a car crash in 2013 while he was filming for the much-loved movie franchise's seventh movie Vin Diesel, who is Meadow's godfather, has said that she too could feature in the much-loved movie franchise - insisting nothing has been ruled out as plans are put in motion for Fast and Furious 10. In June, the movie talent spoke candidly of his relationship with Meadow and revealed he feels 'very protective' over the young catwalk star. Speaking to Extra, Vin said: 'She's the first person on Father's Day to wish me Happy Father's Day. To see her with my children is one of the most beautiful things. 'There are moments when I see her playing with [his daughter] Pauline and it hits me so deep cause I can only imagine what my brother sees when he sees that. Sweet: Meadow is often sharing throwbacks of herself and Paul together on social media, while remembering the late actor Adorable: Meadow was just 15 when Paul died and has kept a close relationship with his co-star Vin Diesel, who is her godfather 'I feel very protective. It goes beyond the movie.' The same month, he was seen attending the film premiere of the latest Fast and Furious movie - the ninth film in the franchise, titled F9. On the red carpet, Vin told People that he was missing his late co-star. He said: 'Some of my best moments in life were going to the premiere and the person, the face that I have at every one of these massive premieres, it was my brother Pablo.' 'He had come from so far. We surprised the world with this small little film about brotherhood and we would dream about the future... I know he's here too,' Vin said. Meadow had also attended the film premiere in Hollywood, Los Angeles. Close: Vin (R) and Paul (L) had been extremely close during filming and Vin revealed how much he missed his co-star as he attended the Fast and Furious 9 premiere in Hollywood in June (pictured above in 2011) Strong bond: Vin also spoke of how he feels 'very protective' over Paul's daughter Meadow (pictured above Vin, his daughter Similce Diese, centre, and Meadow in 2019) In August, she confirmed her engagement to boyfriend Louis Thornton-Allan. She revealed she is set to wed the actor in a cute clip she shared to Instagram that saw her excitedly showing off her engagement ring while swimming in a luxury pool. Louis is studying acting at the prestigious Stella Adler school in New York City and recently starred in a music video for Blu DeTiger's song Vintage. The pair confirmed they were dating just a month before Louis' proposal during a desert excursion. Meadow simply captioned her ring video: '<3 <3 <3 <3.' Carol Vorderman has candidly spoken about her older brother and how he 'suffered abuse' over his appearance as a child due to being born with a severe cleft lip. The former Countdown star, 60, shared her brother Anton's story in a moving video posted to Instagram on Sunday, where she praised her sibling for overcoming his bullies and making it his mission to help others born with the same condition. Anton set up the Cleft Lip and Palate Association, which Carol has been a patron of for the last 20 years, and getting emotional, she was seen gushing over how 'wonderful' her brother is. Emotional: Carol Vorderman was seen close to tears in a video she shared to Instagram on Sunday as she praised her brother for overcoming bullies who taunted him for his cleft lip Raising awareness of the charity and the work that they do, Carol shared a nearly three-minute long video with her followers on social media. She captioned it: 'My brother was born with cleft and is WONDERFUL. 'My brother has helped many babies with cleft who were placed in orphanages and get back with their Mums.' She began the clip by sharing her brother's story and said: 'My brother was born in the 1950s with severe cleft lip and palate and over the course of his life had 24 operations on his face. Proud: The TV presenter was seen sharing older brother Anton's story as she revealed how he made it his mission to help babies in Eastern Europe with the same condition (pictured above in 2019) 'He's eight to nine years older than me, he didn't like to go out because of how he looked when we were growing up in Wales.' Revealing their close bond, Carol explained how her dad 'abandoned' her, not her brother or sister, when she was two-weeks old and brother Anton was always there for her. 'I used to call him "my little daddy" because, long story, our father had abandoned me, he refused to meet me when I was two weeks old. I don't know why, still to this day,' she said. 'My brother used to stay in and we were very poor, he was always kind and yet he suffered a lot of abuse because of how he looked.' Carol told fans how her brother had overcome his bullies, as she continued: 'And he grew, and still is, one of the kindest, most generous, most loving, funny, successful people I know. 'He is wonderful': Carol was overcome with emotion as she recalled how her brother Anton, who is eight years older than her, refused to go out because of how he looked Charity work: She explained how Anton set up a charity, the Cleft Lip And Palate Association, for babies born in Romania who are put into an orphanage as their mums struggle to feed them due to their condition (pictured together on GMB in 2019) 'He's always laughing, he loves people, people love him. Everybody loves my brother and I suppose the reason I am telling you this... I've been a patron of the Cleft Lip and Palate Association for 20 years and it's not the same in Eastern Europe.' Helping hand: CLAPA, which Carol has been a patron of for 20 years, teaches mums how to feed their children with a cleft lip or palate properly to prevent them being placed into an orphanage (pictured with Anton in May 2004) Family: Carol grew up in Wales with big brother Anton, their sister Trixie and their mother Edwina Jean (pictured with Carol and Anton above in 2005) Highlighting the work her brother's charity carries out, Carol said: 'A number of years ago he found that in Romania, Bulgaria, when babies are born with cleft they are often taken from their mothers and put into orphanages for the rest of their little lives. 'And that was because of how the palate was they couldn't suck and they couldn't feed, there's a special way of feeding babies with severe cleft. So, [my brother] set up a charity to train specialist nurses, who would then train the mothers on how to feed these babies.' Welling up, an emotional Carol revealed: 'And in the first two years of his charity, they managed to get over 40 children out of orphanages and back with their mums, which makes me want to cry - because that's my brother, that's who he is.' Summing up her brother Anton, Carol said: 'He is wonderful.' The presenter's celebrity pals were quick to comment on her video, with Steps star H - real name Ian Watkins - posting: 'Wonderful post xx.' Melanie Sykes added: 'Just beautiful xxxx,' while Claire Sweeney left a series of red heart emojis. Sweet: Carol described her brother as the 'kindest, most generous and successful' person she knows, as she spoke candidly about him on social media Strong bond: Carol's mother Jean passed away in 2017 following a three-month battle with terminal cancer (pictured above Jean, Anton and Carol in 2004) Carol is often seen championing the charity on social media and threw her support behind CLAPA during Cleft Awareness Week in May last year. She tweeted: 'My brother Anton was born with a severe cleft lip and palate and he was my everything, he looked after me when I was growing up....he's had 24 operations in total. 'And he's always smiling in spite of the bullying just because of how he looked.' Carol was inspired to share her family's story after hearing how British activist Jono Lancaster, 35, was abandoned at birth by his biological parents because of his genetic disorder. The Love My Face charity founder was born with Treacher Collins syndrome - a 'rare genetic disorder characterized by distinctive abnormalities of the head and face', according to the National Organization for Rare Disorders. After coming across a post shared on Instagram by LadBible that featured Jonathan, Carol said his story was 'significant' to her family and how it had struck a chord with her. Candi: Carol felt compelled to share her brother's story after hearing how British activist Jonathan Lancaster was abandoned by his biological parents at birth because of his condition She told fans: 'I've just watched this wonderful man on a post from @ladbible about how he was abandoned by his parents because of how he looked and how his life is so happy now he's in his thirties.' 'His story has really struck home here because my brother was born with severe cleft back in the 1950s and I want to tell you about HIM in the next post,' she added prior to sharing her video detailing Anton's story. Carol grew up in Wales with brother Anton, their sister Trixie and mum Jean, who died in 2017, aged 88, following a three-month battle with terminal cancer. Jean - real name Edwina - had battled three different forms of cancer over the last 12 years, with Carol previously revealing her parent had been treated for skin cancer and kidney cancer, as well as having an ovarian tumour removed. The duo had a close relationship, with Carol previously revealing it was mum Jean who encouraged her to join Countdown after seeing an advertisement in the paper. Remembering her mum on Mother's Day last year during her live radio show, Carol was heard getting all emotional on air as she told listeners: 'I just want to say, I lost my mum three years ago and she lived with me for over thirty years. And I loved her very much. My heart will be with her tomorrow. 'Im going to have to go now because Im getting all upset. But stay safe most of all, sending love to everyone.' Lara Worthington enjoyed a day out at the US Open in New York with her friend Phoebe Tonkin on Sunday. The model, 34, dressed up for the occasion, wearing a high fashion outfit that showed off her slender figure. She opted for a pair of black, wide-legged trousers, along with an eye-catching shirt. Fun: Lara Bingle enjoyed a day out at the US Open in New York with her friend Phoebe Tonkin on Sunday. Both pictured The top featured an ornate, long-sleeved shirt with black edging and an abstract green and gold design. Lara added a blue cap over her bob haircut and appeared to have on minimal makeup. She was joined by actress Phoebe, 32, who wore a pair of leather trousers and the same blue cap. Wow! The model, 34, dressed up for the occasion, wearing a high fashion outfit that showed off her slender figure A look: The top featured an ornate, long-sleeved shirt with black edging and an abstract green and gold design Phoebe added a white tank top over which she had on a loose brown leaf print shirt that blew in the wind. The friends hammed it up for the camera, dancing about and beaming before cuddling up for a selfie. The Worthington clan recently returned to the US after a long stint in Australia. Cute: The friends hammed it up for the camera, dancing about and beaming before cuddling up for a selfie Before heading to New York, Lara, her husband Sam and their brood were in Los Angeles, where the cover girl shared a rare picture of herself cuddled up to her hubby during a dinner with friends. It's unclear when exactly Lara and Sam returned to US. The family first moved back to Australia in January, after spending the better part of a decade living in New York and Los Angeles. Ant McPartlin's ex-wife Lisa Armstrong has taken a swipe at the star and his team in a shocking Instagram comment. When PR guru Simon Jones, who represents Ant and Dec, Little Mix, Louis Tomlinson among a host of megastars, shared a message of pride regarding the presenters' NTAs win, the make-up artist, 44, posted a bitter comment underneath. In response to Simon gushing over Ant's 20 National Television Award wins, Lisa penned: 'And you don't care who you screw over in the process... well done', leading to a firm and dignified response from Simon about the jibe. Hitting out: Ant McPartlin's ex-wife Lisa Armstrong has taken a swipe at the star and his team in a shocking Instagram comment Lisa, who has found love again with boyfriend James Green, was married to Ant, who married the couple's former employee Anne-Marie Corbett last month, for 12 years and were a couple for 23 years. They confirmed their split in 2018, following Ant's stint in rehab the previous year where he sought treatment for painkiller addiction. There has been much mud-slinging over the years with Lisa often taking to Twitter to vent her fury over the split and she has now taken to Simon's Instagram, following Thursday night's National Television Awards. His initial message read: '20 years! So so proud of my amazing friends @antanddec for winning Best TV Presenter at the #NTAs @officialntas for the 20th year in a row!.. Hitting out: When PR guru Simon Jones, who represents Ant and Dec, Little Mix, Louis Tomlinson among a host of megastars, shared a message of pride regarding the presenters' NTAs win, the make-up artist, 44, posted a bitter comment underneath 'And proud to say I have been with them at the awards every year of those 20 wins. Weve been on an brilliant journey so far and long may it continue.' In response to her message, he then wrote: 'Lisa, please dont come on to my Instagram with your negativity and false accusations... 'It really is about time you moved on and got on with your life, and stopped unfairly blaming other people for your mistakes.' Winners: In response to Simon gushing over Ant's 20 National Television Award wins, Lisa penned: 'And you don't care who you screw over in the process... well done' Following rehab, Ant took a year out from TV and he and Lisa parted ways, with their divorce being finalised in April 2020. Last year, Ant was reported to have handed over 31 million to Lisa, including their 5m home in West London, after an 'eight-hour negotiation'. Lisa is understood to have felt that Ant 'got away with a lot' following their split. A source close to the couple said: 'Ant has been very generous in terms of the financial settlement but Lisa is totally the opposite of someone who is motivated by money. She doesn't care about that she earns her own.... 'But she has been so hurt by all of this'. Then: Lisa, who has found love again with boyfriend James Green, was married to Ant, who married the couple's former employee Anne-Marie Corbett last month, for 12 years and were a couple for 23 years (Ant and Lisa pictured in 2001) Ant and Anne-Marie tied the knot at Heckfield in Hampshire last month in a lavish, star-studded ceremony. During his speech at their reception the TV presenter told 100 guests: 'This beautiful woman saved my life.' They got together after he was involved in an accident, crashing his Mini while over the drink-drive limit in April 2018. Their relationship was slammed by Lisa, who tweeted: 'To think she was MY friend. My friend and OUR PA who I let into our home.' She then went on to reveal that she did not know about the romance and had only found out about the new relationship after reading about it in the media. Jimmy Nicholson has revealed he listed his girlfriend Holly Kingston as 'Margot' in his phone because of her uncanny likeness to actress Margot Robbie. The pilot had to come up with a codename for Holly after she won the show, while they dated in secret and waited for the finale episode to air. On Sunday, Jimmy explained in an Instagram Stories post that he later changed her name in his phonebook to 'Mark' because 'Margot' seemed too obvious. Lookalike! Jimmy Nicholson has revealed he listed his girlfriend Holly Kingston as 'Margot' in his phone because of her likeness to actress Margot Robbie. On Sunday, he said on one of their dates (left) she reminded him of Margot in a scene from the film Wolf of Wall Street (right) 'Holly reminded me of Margot Robbie from a scene in Wolf of Wall Street on this date,' he wrote alongside a photo of the date in question. 'So I saved her as Margot whilst we were together in secret, but was told it may be too much of a giveaway.' Once he changed it to Mark, it stuck, Jimmy said, adding that he was now keeping it that way. Obvious! On Sunday, Jimmy explained in an Instagram Stories post that he later changed her name in his phonebook to 'Mark' because 'Margot' seemed too obvious Staying: Once he changed it to Mark, it stuck, Jimmy said, adding that he was now keeping it that way. 'She will forever be Mark now,' he joked in the post, alongside a photo of his contact 'She will forever be Mark now,' he joked in the post, alongside a photo of his contact log. On Friday, the couple took the next step in their relationship, with Holly, 27, moving into Jimmy's new Sydney home in North Bondi. Jimmy, 31, shared a loved-up photo of the pair to Instagram outside of the property, and was in a celebratory mood, holding onto a bottle of Dom Perignon Champagne. Similar: 'Holly reminded me of Margot Robbie from a scene in Wolf of Wall Street on this date,' he wrote. 'So I saved her as Margot whilst we were together in secret, but was told it may be too much of a giveaway' A casually dressed Jimmy could not wipe the smile off his face as he posed for a selfie alongside glamorous Holly. The blonde beauty also held onto what appeared to be a housewarming gift. 'All smiles to have settled on the new digs. Guess who my roommate is?' Jimmy captioned the post. Emmerdale star Mark Jordon has shared a sweet family snap with his rarely-seen eldest daughter Poppy and youngest son Jesse. The former soap star, 56, who shares his newborn son Jesse with co-star Laura Norton, 37, posed with two of his children and his actress partner. Mark, who played Daz Spencer on the show, shared the photo to commemorate his daughter's 21st birthday. Family photo: Emmerdale star Mark Jordon has shared a sweet family snap with his rarely-seen eldest daughter Poppy and youngest son Jesse Mark flashed a beaming smile as he posed beside Laura who was cradling Jesse, while Poppy also flashed a grin for the family snap. Poppy looked every inch the glowing birthday girl in a pretty white polka dot dress, which she styled with a gold chain necklace. Alongside the image, Mark wrote: 'My incredible daughter is 21 her love of her new brother is emotionally inspired. 'My thanks for the beautiful friendship she's formed with my love @laura_norts is beautiful. Aw! The former soap star, 56, shares his newborn son Jesse with co-star Laura Norton, 37 'Every second of every day I value the gift I've be given to named Dad to Poppy Jordon . ' Mark's co-stars soon left there own sweet messages for Poppy on her 21st birthday. Fiona Wade posted: 'Beautiful family!! Happiest birthday Poppy can't believe your 21!! Gorgeous girl have the best day! Love you all .' Amy Walsh shared: 'Happy birthday Pops xxxxxx' Mark's on-screen daughter Daisy Campbell wrote: 'Happy bday poppy lots of love .' Couple: The soap star couple, who have been engaged since June 2018, took to Instagram to announce the happy news and reveal they had called their son Jesse The couple welcomed their first child together in February. The soap star couple, who have been engaged since June 2018, took to Instagram to announce the happy news and reveal they had called their son Jesse. Sharing a series of stunning snaps of the newborn, Laura, penned: 'So, on Friday Jan 29th at 1.30am we managed to bring this little champ into the world. Congratulations! The couple welcomed their first child together in February 'It was the most incredible, surreal experience I have ever had and probably ever will and my tiny mind is blown. He is perfect and we're all so happy to welcome him to the fam. Jesse Jordon we're all head over heels IN LOVE with you. '@daddyjordon you were the BEST birthing partner would absolutely not be in one piece without you and @roh_birthcentre are amazing!! All the girls but espesh Amy our midwife who is some sort of super hero.' Mark also celebrated the arrival of his son as he shared a selection of images taken at the Royal Oldham Hospital over the weekend. Mum and dad: The soap star couple, who have been engaged since June 2018, took to shared the happy news to Instagram Sharing a sweet image of Laura with Jesse, he penned: 'So proud to announce that on Friday 29th Jan at 1.30am @laura_norts gave birth to our beautiful baby boy. 'Weighing 8lb 10oz , both returned home that day. Huge thank you to the wonderful midwifes @roh_birthcentre. Welcome to the world Jesse Jordon. Laura and Mark's Emmerdale co-stars were quick to send their congratulations and well wishes after news of Jesse's arrival was revealed. Sammy Winward, play plays Katie Sugden penned 'so in love with him already and the proudest friend on earth', while Fiona Wade, who portrays Priya Sharma in the soap, added: 'Sooo beautiful darling! So incredibly happy for you guys'. New mama: The Emmerdale actress, 37, looked radiant as she cradled her newborn son in one of the stunning snaps shared to announce his arrival Adorable: Baby Jesse was born on Friday, with Mark revealing his little boy weighed 8lb 10oz Happy news: Laura said having her baby boy was 'the most incredible, surreal experience' Melanie Hill, who was Avril Kent in Emmerdale, wrote: 'Congratulations you two love birds!! X can't wait to meet the little nipper'. And Anthony Quinlan, who plays Pete Barton on the show, said: 'Absolute little belter. Congratulations and much love to u all'. The couple announced they were expecting last August, with Mark insisting he knew his partner was pregnant even before they took a test in June. 'In my heart I knew before looking at the test. We both looked at the result and there was so much joy, but for a weird moment we were both deadly silent', Mark said, while the actress added: 'I had tears in my eyes, we're over the moon!' Growing family: Mark, who is also dad to Joseph, 22, and Poppy, 19, with his ex-wife Siobhan Finneran, proudly shared a picture of his fiancee Laura and newborn son Support: Several of the new parents co-stars wished them well in the Instagram comments Mark, who already shares Joseph, 24, and Poppy with his ex-wife Siobhan Finneran, admitted the couple tend to 'go with the flow of things', while Laura revealed they planned to get a puppy just two weeks before finding out she's pregnant. Their baby was due on Mark's birthday on January 25, with Jesse deciding to make an appearance just a few days later on Friday 29. On becoming a mother, the brunette told OK! magazine: 'It's something I've always hoped would happen. I hope my instincts kick in. I feel very calm and safe knowing that I've seen what an amazing father Mark and how brilliant his kids are.' 'Busy weekend': Mark also shared a few snaps from his time at the Royal Oldham Hospital Oh baby! Last September, the Emmerdale actress showed off her bump for the first time since announcing her pregnancy and chatted about delaying her wedding plans on Loose Women The thespians, who have been in a relationship for five years, first met when Shoot to Kill actor Mark joined Emmerdale in 2014. Laura has portrayed factory worker Kerry in the soap since 2012, while her man made his first appearance as Daz in 2014, a role he played until January 2019. Last September, the soap duo revealed they've been forced to put their wedding plans on hold as a result of the coronavirus pandemic. Speaking on Loose Women Mark said: 'We had hoped it would be this year. I went off on a tour and we were planning everything and we were like, ''As soon as the tour is done we can scoot off.'' In action: The thespians, who have been in a relationship for five years, first met when Mark joined Emmerdale in 2014 (pictured as Daz Spencer and Kerry Wyatt in the show) 'And now this pandemic has happened. And now something else [Laura's pregnancy] has happened.' Their baby news certainly came as a nice 'surprise' for actor Mark, who was cleared of assaulting a pensioner in August 2019. In July 2018, the father-of-two was accused of assaulting Andrew Potts by biting him on the face outside the Farrars Arms in Oldham. A jury found him not guilty of affray, unlawful wounding and assault by beating, after Mark denied the charges and claimed he was acting in self-defence. She's best known for dishing out relationship advice as one of the experts on Married At First Sight. And on Monday, Mel Schilling revealed she will be putting her years of experience to good use in her first-ever book, The C Word. Sharing the announcement to Instagram, the 49-year-old love guru is seen posing in front of her laptop wearing a pair of reading glasses. Expert: Married At First Sight expert Mel Schilling revealed she's writing her first-ever book, The C Word on Monday, sharing the news to Instagram 'Kicking off the week with a day of writing my book,' she wrote alongside the image. Part memoir, part self-help book will be about helping women build courage, confidence and competence. Daily Mail Australia understands that Mel will be also launching an online group coaching program of the same name next month. The C Word will be published by Murdoch Books and available for Australians in July next year and in September for UK fans. Announcement: 'Kicking off the week with a day of writing my book,' she wrote. Part memoir, part self-help book will be about helping women build courage, confidence and competence It comes just days after Mel was spotted leaving her Sydney hotel after completing 14 days of mandatory quarantine having just returned from the UK, where she was filming the British version of the series. The expert is back in Australia, ready to start filming season nine of MAFS Australia which will air in February next year. Meanwhile, MAFS producers are breathing a sigh of relief after the Covid lockdown had them scrambling to find alternate locations to film the weddings. The NSW government recently announced that weddings can go ahead, albeit with a maximum of only 11 guests. Safety first! The expert is back in Australia, ready to start filming season nine of MAFS Australia which will air in February next year Casting for MAFS' ninth season is under way in Sydney, but production has been postponed due to the coronavirus pandemic. The show is typically filmed from late August to December, but the 2022 season will most likely begin filming later this month and conclude in March. Nine has maintained the series will be ready on time, but the schedule will be drastically tightened when it goes into post-production. Brynne Edelsten quit SAS Australia after just six hours. Following Monday's episode, the 38-year-old socialite said she is not a quitter, and a knee injury was to blame. 'I injured my knee and was struggling to put weight on it, so I wasn't going to push myself to continue when I knew I couldn't or that I could risk doing more damage,' she told The Herald Sun on Monday. Sore: Brynne Edelsten (pictured) quit SAS Australia after just six hours. Following Monday's episode, the 38-year-old socialite said she is not a quitter, and a knee injury was to blame However, she admitted she wasn't quite fit enough to handle the course. 'While my body was really stronger than I was used to, it just wasn't strong enough for what they do. I wasn't fit enough for what they do,' she added. 'I don't think most people are fit enough. No matter how much I wanted to do it mentally, my body just couldn't keep up.' Hard: 'I injured my knee and was struggling to put weight on it, so I wasn't going to push myself to continue when I knew I couldn't or that I could risk doing more damage,' she told The Herald Sun on Monday Brynne folded under the pressure during Monday's premiere episode, when she was forced to do press-ups while carrying a heavy backpack. 'I can't do it!' she declared, wobbling on her shaky arms and legs and buckling to her knees multiple times. 'If you can't do it, get up and give me your arm band!' the instructor barked, and Brynne did just that. Too much: 'While my body was really stronger than I was used to, it just wasn't strong enough for what they do. I wasn't fit enough for what they do,' she added Over it: Brynne folded under the pressure during Monday's premiere episode, when she was forced to do press-ups while carrying a heavy backpack 'I've lived a very high life, but there are also times I have struggled. I am mentally strong but I don't have physical strength,' Brynne said afterwards. 'Even though I am disappointed at leaving, I know I need to, because my body is not strong enough to keep doing these things. 'I have no regrets about his, if anything it encourages me to try and work to see what I can do in the future,' she added. SAS Australia continues Tuesday at 7.30pm on Channel Seven British actress Tanya Fear's mother Yvonne Marimo has issued a desperate plea to her daughter, four days after she was reported missing. Speaking out on Monday, Yvonne emotionally stated: I want my daughter to be safe. I would appeal to her directly that, if she is reading this, to please get in touch with someone just to let us know that you are ok. We havent been able to reach anyone from the U.S Embassy in London yet and we are very keen to hear from them to find out whats going on in Los Angeles. It comes hours after somebody reported spotting Tanya three days after she was first pronounced missing in LA. Messages and updates are being relayed through the dedicated Twitter page #FindTanyaFear. Hurt: British actress Tanya Fear's mother Yvonne Marimo has issued a desperate plea to her daughter, four days after she was reported missing (Tanya and Yvonne pictured in an Instagram post from November) It was initially reported that Tanya, who previously had a role in Doctor Who in 2018, was last seen in the Hollywood Bowl area of LA on Thursday, September 9, and it has now been revealed she was seen at Trader Joe's on Sunday, September 12. An update posted on a Twitter page dedicated to the search read: 'UPDATE: Tanya was last seen on 12th September at Trader Joe's on 7310 Santa Monica Blvd (close to N. La Brea Ave). Anyone in that area please keep your eyes open! Thank you!' One of the authors behind the Twitter page explained she was last seen by those known to her on Thursday, while the sighting on Sunday was from a stranger attempting to assist in the search. They then shared updated posters detailing the latest information. Starring role: Tanya is known to UK audiences for her role as of Dr Jade McIntyre in Doctor Who Reaching out: A map shows the different sightings of Tanya Ms Marimo and other members of Tanyas family are now applying for visas to travel to the USA and set up their own search along side that of the LAPD. She said: I am devastated by this situation, and I appeal to anyone with information to please come forward to bring our daughter home safely. Tanya has been living in Los Angeles for six years on and off. She left her Hollywood Bowl apartment without her mobile phone or purse on September 9th and was reported missing by a friend. Her family in the UK contacted the Foreign Office and LAPD officer called round to her home but she was not it in. Her uncle, Jonathan Marimo, also made a plea for her to get in contact or for anyone with information to come forward A further statement from the family shared on Monday read: 'Family of Tanya Fear are asking the LAPD to investigate the disappearance of the British actor... Reaching out: A further statement from the family shared on Monday read: 'Family of Tanya Fear are asking the LAPD to investigate the disappearance of the British actor' New: Tanya's friends and family have released updated missing posters 'Tanya Fear left her Hollywood Bowl apartment on Tuesday the 9th of September without her cell phone and purse.... 'She was reported missing by a friend. After Tanya's family in the UL contacted the UKL foreign office, a local LAPD officer was deployed to visit Tanya's house but the actor was not home. She was last seen by friends on Thursday 9 September 3021 at 10pm LA time... 'Tanya's Uncle said: "We are deeply worried about Tanya's wherabout, she is a bubbly, intelligent young woman who studied at Christ hospital boarding school and King's College University in London. Jonathan Marimo, Tanya's family now want to launch thier own search and are applying for visas to travel to LA. Her mother said: 'I am devastated about this situation and I appeal to anyone with information to please come forward to bring our daughter bbadck home safely'. Missing: It comes after Tanya was reportedly spotted three days after she was reported missing in LA by her friends and family, as they continue their feverish hunt In the original post, a friend of Tanya's wrote on Twitter: 'My friend Tanya has gone missing in the LA/Hollywood Bowl area. 'She hasn't been seen since 9th September 2021. If anyone has any useful information please call (626)-232-8616 #FindTanyaFear. Would appreciate if those in the area or with reach in that area RT'. Another Twitter user who said they were Tanya's cousin wrote: 'Please please please share if you have mutually in the LA/Hollywood bowl area. My cousin is missing, she has no family in the US and we're all really worried.' UPDATE: An update posted on a Twitter page dedicated to the search read: 'UPDATE: Tanya was last seen on 12th September at Trader Joe's on 7310 Santa Monica Blvd (close to N. La Brea Ave). Anyone in that area please keep your eyes open! Thank you!' Clarification: One of the authors behind the Twitter page explained she was last seen by those known to her on Thursday, while the sighting on Sunday was from a stranger attempting to assist in the search Career: Tanya is known to UK audiences for her role as of Dr Jade McIntyre in Doctor Who The Doctor Who Twitter official fan Twitter account also shared the Missing Person poster, writing: 'Missing Person alert: Tanya Fear who played Jade in 'Arachnids In The UK went missing on 9/9/2021. [with thanks to @BAdWilf for the heads up]'. Tanya is known to UK audiences for her role as of Dr Jade McIntyre in Doctor Who. Tanya, who is also known as Tanyaradzwa, was raised in London and currently lives in Los Angeles. She is described as being 5'3, 140lbs with brown eyes and curly black afro hair. They then shared updated posters detailing the latest information A user who said they were Tanya's cousin wrote: 'Please please please share if you have mutually in the LA/Hollywood bowl area. My cousin is missing, she has no family in the US and we're all really worried' Alert: The Doctor Who Twitter official fan Twitter account also shared the Missing Person poster On her Sundance page, Tanya writes about her career: 'I started my filmmaking journey as an actress in films like Kick Ass 2 and television like Doctor Who and Netflix's Spotless. 'In 2020 I wrote and directed a series of short films called SHOOT YOUR SHOT about a girl who falls in love with Drake during COVID 19, we were featured in Women and Hollywood and on Tongal... 'My films are often funny, irreverent and socially conscious.' Post: Tanya's most recent Twitter post was on August 30 where she shared a snap of herself on stage at a stand-up comedy show Tanya's most recent Twitter post was on August 30 where she shared a snap of herself on stage at a stand-up comedy show. She wrote: 'My first show @hahacafecomedy was SO MUCH FUN! Still cant believe I got to share the stage with LEGENDS! More to come baby!!!' Some of her other acting credits include Kick-Ass 2 along with the TV series Spotless and Cleaning Up. MailOnline has contacted representatives of Tanya Fear for comment. James Bond has two new allies in the form of agents Paloma and Nomi. A new promotional video introduces fans to 'cocky' Nomi [Lashana Lynch] and 'intense' Cuban agent Paloma [Ana De Armas] ahead of the No Time To Die release. 007 Director Cary Joji Fukunaga kicks off the clip by revealing the 'two brand new agents', who will assist Bond [Daniel Craig] on his next mission. Spying on you! James Bond has two new allies in the form of agents Paloma (pictured) and Nomi During a piece to camera, Fukunaga says: 'We have two brand new agents in this film who are allies to James Bond.' The video then cuts to a scene from the upcoming film where Lashana's character meets Bond for the first time, as she tells him: 'The world's moved on commander Bond. While he questions: 'Are you a double 0?', and she replies 'two years'. Film: A new promotional video introduces fans to 'cocky' Nomi [Lashana Lynch] (pictured) and 'intense' Cuban agent Paloma [Ana De Armas] ahead of the No Time To Die release Exciting! 007 Director Cary Joji Fukunaga kicks off the clip by revealing the 'two brand new agents', who will assist Bond [Daniel Craig] on his next mission Discussing her character, Lashana says: 'Nomi is highly skilled, slightly cocky.' While cutting back to the trailer, Nomi tells Bond: 'You get in my way, I will but a bullet in your knee... the one that still works.' Ana then tells viewers about her character, and says: 'Paloma is a Cuban agent, she's intense, I had many action scenes. Thank god I had an amazing stunt team.' Glamorous: Ana then tells viewers about her character, and says: 'Paloma is a Cuban agent, she's intense, I had many action scenes. Thank god I had an amazing stunt team' Changing times: The video then cuts to a scene from the upcoming film where Lashana's character meets Bond for the first time, as she tells him: 'The world's moved on commander Bond' Ana adds: 'I really wanted to get it right, and look like I knew what I was doing' Ana adds: 'I really wanted to get it right, and look like I knew what I was doing.' Lashana admits she had military training before embarking on filming.' While Lashana says: 'No time to die represents change. We see so many different examples of women being strong in this movie. Being bad a** at that.' While Lashana says: 'No time to die represents change. We see so many different examples of women being strong in this movie. Being bad a** at that' Smouldering: Paloma is introduced to Bond as a Cuban agent Trained up! Lashana admits she had military training before embarking on filming' During the final trailer for No Time To Die - which was released last month - Craig, 53, is seen coming face-to-face with captured nemesis Ernst Stavro Blofeld, played by Christoph Waltz. It appears that the old foes may even be forced to form an uneasy alliance. 'James, fate draws us back together. Now your enemy is my enemy,' says Blofeld. 'How did that happen?' Bond replies with his trademark smirk: 'Well, you live long enough.' Betrayal? No Time To Die picks up after 2015's Spectre, with the loyalty of love interest Madeleine Swann (Lea Seydoux) now seemingly called into question Confusion: In the footage, Bond is interrogated at MI6's London HQ on whether his beau is one of the enemy, to which he darkly replies: 'I don't know her at all.' Mind games? 007 is told by the film's villain Blofeld (Christoph Waltz) of Madeleine's alleged betrayal: 'When her secret finds its way out... it'll be the death of you' The high-octane trailer shows Bond staking out the enemy with an assault rifle, firing the famous machine gun turrets on his Aston Martin and soaring through the skies in a plane piloted by female double-0 agent Nomi, played by Lashana Lynch. Cuban star Ana as CIA operative Paloma, is also seen high-kicking an attacker. The main villain in Craig's fifth appearance as Bond is Safin, played by Oscar-winner Rami Malek complete with facial scars and an unsettling white mask. Facing his demons: Continuing his attempted manipulation of the world famous spy, Blofeld then tells Bond they're not as different as he thinks Mission: Meanwhile, Bond tells his MI6 team: 'If we don't do this there'll be nothing left to save,' as they fearlessly scale buildings and fire machine guns Plot: In No Time To Die, Bond has left active service and is enjoying a tranquil life in Jamaica before the CIA ask him for help 'We both eradicate people to make the world a better place,' Safin purrs to Bond at one point. 'I just want to be a little tidier.' Secrecy also surrounds 007's love interest Madeleine Swann, played by Lea Seydoux, after the couple escaped together at the end of 2015's Spectre. Holding a mysterious folder, she warns Bond: 'You don't know what this is?' and he looks uncharacteristically nervous. Bond is later seen burning a note reading 'forgive me'. All steam ahead: The new trailer comes after MGM film chief Michael De Luca assured fans earlier this month that they would not be postponing the film's release Paloma (Ana De Armas) in Cuba in No Time To Die The high-octane trailer shows Bond soaring through the skies in a plane piloted by double-0 agent Nomi, played by Lashana Lynch (pictured) Fittingly for a production delayed by the Covid pandemic, the tone seems grim and apocalyptic. 'If we don't do this,' Bond growls at the end of the trailer, 'there will be nothing left to save.' Fans only have to wait until the end of this month to see if their hero as is traditional saves the world and gets the girl. The world premiere takes place at the Royal Albert Hall on September 28. Appearance: A message on the film's official Twitter account announced the world premiere of No Time To Die will take place on September 28 at the Royal Albert Hall in London Erin O'Connor has been diagnosed with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) at the age of 43. Although most cases of ADHD are diagnosed when children are six to 12 years old, the supermodel said she still welcomed getting the diagnosis later in life as it's helped her understand aspects of her personality. ADHD is a condition that affects people's behaviour, and those with the condition can seem restless, may have trouble concentrating and may act on impulse. 'Now I understand my personality': Erin O'Connor, 43, has revealed she's been diagnosed with ADHD at the age of 43 - despite most people getting diagnosed in childhood She told Stella magazine: 'I've discovered that I'm ADHD, which is new. In retrospect, it's very helpful to be able to piece it together and understand certain things in my personality and growing up. I'm actually currently resitting my Maths GCSE. Erin added that it means a great deal to understand how her brain functions and stores information, Erin said she can now become a more straightforward learner. Although she is still modelling, Erin - who shares sons Albert, seven, and Eddie, two, with partner Stephen Gibson - is more selective of the jobs she takes on these days because she doesn't find posing for pictures particularly 'stimulating' anymore. She admitted she's not overly invested in being the recipient of someone else's creativity either, referring to the photographers and fashion directors who orchestrate shoots. Delighted: The model, 43, has welcomed the news she has the neurodevelopmental disorder because it has aided her in understanding herself better Despite this, the catwalk beauty is enjoying working in an era when models of her age and older are just as in demand, as ever as she always knew hers could be a short career. Calling modelling a 'fleeting' industry, she admitted it's difficult to plan for the future, which is something she's always been aware of. 'You don't drop off a cliff after the age of 25, you continue to grow, and have a better understanding of who you are and how you want to express yourself so actually, what's strange is that it wasn't happening before,' she said. Successful: The catwalk beauty is enjoying working during a time when models of her age and older are just as in demand, as ever as she always knew hers could be a short career (pictured in 1999) Erin was previously diagnosed with PTSD in addition, as a result of the criticism she faced over her slender figure. The West Midlands native revealed that people's opinions of her size had a devastating impact on her mental health at the height of her career in the 90s. As reported by the Daily Mail's Sebastian Shakespeare column, she said: 'I did a lot of crying and soulsearching because I was publicly used as a means of getting news and shocking headlines.' 'After years of being subjected to daily opinions on my body, it was quite traumatic. I definitely suffered. 'I was diagnosed with post-traumatic stress after holding a very public, politicised space,' she concluded. Alice Evans was seen playfully poking fun at her estranged husband Ioan Gruffudd's nose in a tongue-in-cheek post she shared to Instagram on Sunday. The actress, 50, split from Liar star Ioan, 47, earlier this year, and has addressed the pair's acrimonious split several times on social media, following Ioan filing for divorce in March. In her latest post, Alice shared a black and white photo of Ioan cuddling one of the couple's daughters on the sofa and couldn't help but make a jibe at her ex. Ouch: Alice Evans was seen playfully poking fun at her estranged husband Ioan Gruffudd's nose in a tongue-in-cheek post she shared to Instagram on Sunday The sweet snap captures the adorable moment between the father and daughter, with Ioan appearing in the photo shirtless and with a side profile. Alice, who is known for not holding back on her social media page, captioned the post: 'A thing of beauty. I know.' 'The only thing we all worry about secretly is: will she get his nose? Shhhh,' she teased. Alice later took to Instagram once again to insist her comment was all in good humour and she had only been joking about Ioan and his nose. Split: The Vampire Diaries actress split from Liar star Ioan earlier this year, with Ioan filing for divorce in March and citing 'irreconcilable differences' 'Will she get his nose?' Alice was seen jokingly sharing her worries over her daughter inheriting estranged husband Ioan's nose 'I was joking about the husband, honest,' she said alongside a close-up shot of herself as she teased once more: 'I mean look [at] this - she would TERRIFY you!!!!' Alice was also seen light-hearted asking for applications for her 'second husband'. She said alongside another selfie: 'Mood? Black snd white and im doin alright. If you want to apply for the part if second husband please let me know below. (sic)' Alice continued: 'I just want a nice chap who is a raging democrat abs likes to talk and talk and talk about anything. ( interest in fashion, foreign languages and civil aviation would obviously help! )' She added: '(Im only half kidding..)' Only kidding: Alice then insisted she was joking in another post she shared online where she was then seen poking fun at a black and white snap of herself Poking fun: The mum-of-two told fans she was 'joking about the husband, honest' Moving on: Alice was then seen jokingly calling for applications for a 'second husband' Ioan filed for divorce from Alice in March, citing irreconcilable differences as the reason behind their split. The document, which was filed in Los Angeles Superior Court on March 1, revealed the former couple separated on New Year's Day - a month before they went public with their relationship status. At the time, they had shared a joint statement that read: 'As you can imagine, this is an incredibly difficult time for our family and we remain committed to our children. Thank you for respecting our privacy.' It's reported the divorce papers state the exes are in a 'collaborative process and intend to resolve all issues including spousal support by written agreement'. Alice, meanwhile, had addressed the pair's split in a shock statement shared to Twitter in January in which she claimed Ioan had 'mentally tortured' her. The mum-of-two also accused her estranged husband of 'winding the s**t up me' as she posted a vitriolic video about their 'collaborative divorce' talks. She said: 'I have been served with a petition for divorce and it's came out of the blue and I won't cry. But we've been 20 years together, we have two amazing kids. I don't know why. 'At the moment we're doing something called collaborative divorce which is somewhere between a really kind way of doing divorce and a phenomenal scam. 'Because in one way it's "okay, let's hear what you would want and take it to the court afterwards" and in another way it's like, people in the acting business will know when an agent says to you "we just can't find you the roles." 'It's a bit like, I'd like my daughter to stay with me on Saturday nights, "it's just not within our possibilities."' TV and film star Alice then insisted Ioan had misled her with collaborative divorce, adding: 'And then I read nothing is binding in collaborative, absolutely nothing. 'So if I want my daughter to stay one more night in my house, the court hasn't said anything so I can do it. So my husband is winding the s**t up me, saying what he says is the law, well we haven't got to the law yet. Speaking out: Alice has been vocal about the divorce on social media and hit back at those criticising her for speaking out so publicly about the split Family: She and actor Ioan are parents to two daughters Ella and Elsie (pictured above) 'Lawyers aren't the law. Lawyers are there to f*** the law. That's what I always said. Anyway I may have some more thoughts later.' Alice was also seen hitting back at criticism over speaking about details of her divorce with Ioan so publicly and the impact it may have on their children. She shares two daughters Ella, 12, and Elsie, eight, with Ioan. Alice hit back stating that the girls had no idea about the couple's public profile and 'probably never will'. She wrote: 'You know what they ARE upset about though? That their Dad walked out and abandoned them out of the blue. Without explanation.' Alice and Ioan met on the set of 102 Dalmatians in 2000, when Alice was in a relationship with Pablo Picasso's grandson Olivier. She and Ioan became engaged six years later after she gave him an ultimatum about their relationship, and they tied the knot in an intimate ceremony in Mexico in September 2007. Ioan hasn't publicly addressed the couple's divorce. MailOnline contacted representatives for the actor for comment at the time. He famously played James Bond in the Nineties. And Pierce Brosnan proved he still looked just as good two decades on as he enjoyed a trip to the beach in Hawaii on Sunday. The actor, 68, went shirtless for the outing and sported a pair of black swimming trunks while he went for a dip. Looking good: Pierce Brosnan went shirtless as he enjoyed a trip to the beach and soaked up the sun in Hawaii on Sunday The former 007 also donned a pair of white knee-length shorts for some of the trip. Pierce, who owns a home in Hawaii with his wife Keeley Shaye Smith, completed his look with a pair of sunglasses. The Mamma Mia star purchased a home in the oceanfront estate of Kauai in 2002 and he and his wife have been splitting their time between there and their home in Malibu ever since. He previously told Closer magazine: 'We have a wee cottage out there on the North Shore, and it sits on [five] acres.' Out and about: The actor, 68, went shirtless for the outing and sported a pair of black swimming trunks while he went for a dip It comes after Pierce recently took his $100million Malibu, California mansion off the market, a little less than a year after listing it in September 2020, according to the New York Post. The actor developed the Southeast Asian-inspired compound after snapping up two adjacent properties for a combined $7.35 million in 2000, per property records. If sold for asking price it would have been one of the more expensive properties in the already-upscale Broad Beach area, which is home to the likes of fellow Hollywood legends Danny DeVito and Dustin Hoffman. Casual: The former James Bond star also donned a pair of white knee-length shorts for some of the trip Iconic: Pierce famously played James Bond in the Nineties and hasn't lost his charm (pictured in Die Another Day with co-star Rosamund Pike) Covering over an acre, the estate is home to two residences with five bedrooms and 14 bathrooms total. The main property, which took over a decade to craft, is called the Orchid House and covers nearly 12,500 square feet. Pierce and wife Keeley have listed the home several times before, even advertising the spot as a $120,000 a month rental back in 2004. The couple now spend most of their time in Hawaii with Pierce telling the Wall Street Journal: 'I love Malibu. It has my heart,' while noting that their 'home is very much here in the islands.' He's been spending time in Chinchon, a South-Eastern Spanish town outside of Madrid, while he films a new movie. And Tom Hanks revealed a new look on Sunday as he showed off his freshly-dyed white hair while heading to work on Wes Anderson's currently untitled new movie. The actor, 65, still looked as handsome as ever as strolled out of his hotel in a pale yellow buttoned-up shirt. Silver fox: Tom Hanks debuted freshly-dyed white hair as he headed out to film Wes Anderson star-studded new film project in Spain on Sunday The silver fox looked dapper in his ensemble, adding a pair of large glasses and sweeping his tresses into a crew cut style. Adhering to current health and safety guidelines, the Sully star wore a protective face covering as he prepared to climb into a waiting chauffeur driven car. The actor's precautionary measure was a necessary one, with both Hanks and his wife Rita Simons having both recovered from COVID-19 after contracting the potentially deadly virus during a trip to Australia in 2020. Handsome-as-ever: The actor is known for his salt and pepper locks (pictured right in 2020) but dyed his hair fully white for the new role Dapper: The silver fox looked dapper in his ensemble, adding a pair of large glasses and sweeping his tresses into a crew cut style The acting professional seemed to be running his lines en route to the filming location, as he carried a script into the car. The small township provided the picturesque backdrop as work continues on the new film. While little is known about the project, Hollywood visionary Wes selected the heritage site as the home of his latest project, which is understood to have a 'romantic' theme. Hard at work: The acting professional seemed to be running his lines en route to the filming location, as he carried a script into the car With work expected to continue for several months in the historic municipality, other stars including Liev Schreiber, Rupert Friend and Anderson himself were seen familiarising themselves with its steep, winding streets. Many of Anderson's regular collaborators are reuniting with him for his new project, including Bill Murray, Jason Schwartzman, Tilda Swinton and Adrien Brody. According to THR.com, principal photography for the film is scheduled to be completed by the end of September. Meanwhile, Anderson's pandemic-delayed film The French Dispatch will be hitting screens in October after getting its debut in Venice. She got engaged last week while ringing in her birthday surrounded by friends. And Brooke Burke looked incredible in a blue patterned satin top as she stepped out with her new fiance Scott Rigsby, 52, on Sunday as they continued to celebrate. The TV host, 50, looked radiant as she enjoyed a romantic lunch with her beau during their Italian holiday. Stunning: Brooke Burke looked incredible in a blue patterned satin top as she stepped out with her new fiance Scott Rigsby, 52, on Sunday as they continued to celebrate She paired the satin ensemble with a black pair of denim shorts and white open toe sandals. Scott looked casual in a white polo shirt and orange and green patterned shorts. The happy couple enjoyed a glass of red wine with their lunch as Brooke put her arm around her future husband. It comes after the star posed with Scott for a slew of snaps which she shared on her Instagram in a gushing post. Cute: It comes after the star posed with Scott for a slew of snaps which she shared on her Instagram in a gushing post The beauty looked stunning in a yellow kimono dress as she cuddling into her beau, she donned silver necklaces and went make-up free. Flashing her large diamond ring in another snap the pair giggled as they posed in front of a stunning sea view. Scott looked relaxed and opted for comfort in a grey T-shirt and baby blue shorts. The happy couple also posed for a snap with friends on the back of a lavish yacht. Brooke captioned the snaps: 'Travel far enough you meet yourself and find each other.' Romantic: The TV host, 50, looked radiant as she enjoyed a romantic lunch with her beau during their Italian holiday Style: She paired the satin ensemble with a black pair of denim shorts and white open toe sandals Sweet: The happy couple enjoyed a glass of red wine with their lunch as Brooke put her arm around her future husband The engagement news comes two years after the pair began dating, following her breakup with second husband Dave Charvet in April 2018. Brooke was positively glowing as she posed with a glass of wine in hand on board a luxury yacht. Letting her natural beauty shine, she wore her hair in its natural texture while showing off her toned and trim figure in a tiny peach bikini. Happy: The beauty looked stunning in a yellow kimono dress as she cuddling into her beau, she donned silver necklaces and went make-up free And while the Dancing With The Stars alum was stunning, it was hard to look away from her giant diamond ring. Brooke and Scott shared champagne as they celebrated their love. Scott popped the question last week while ringing in Brooke's birthday surrounded by friends. The pair have been dating since 2019. Pose: The happy couple also posed for a snap with friends on the back of a lavish yacht Their relationship began while Burke was still hashing out her divorce from Dave Charvet. Brooke and the Baywatch star split in March of 2018 but did not finalize terms with until two-years later. The duo were wed from 2011 to 2020. Before Charvet, Brooke was married to plastic surgeon Garth Fisher from 2011 to 2005. She shares two daughters - Neriah, 21, and Sierra, 19 -with Fisher and two daughters - Heaven, 14, and Shaya, 13 - with Charvet. Steve Jobs' daughter Eve looked in good spirits as she enjoyed a boat trip with friends in Lake Como, Italy on Monday. The model, 23, cut a casual figure for the day as she donned a white mini dress which she wore over a black bikini top. Letting her blonde locks fall loose down her shoulders, Eve also donned a pair of white trainers while she carried a turquoise bag. Fun in the sun: Steve Jobs' daughter Eve (right) looked in good spirits as she enjoyed a boat trip with friends in Lake Como, Italy on Monday The daughter of the Apple co-founder was seen boarding a small boat with three other pals. The social media figure appeared fresh faced on the outing as she spent some quality time with her pals. Eve is the youngest daughter of Steve Jobs and his wife Laurene Powell Jobs; she has four older siblings, including her half-sister Lisa Brennan-Jobs. Holiday: The model, 23, cut a casual figure for the day as she donned a white mini dress which she wore over a black bikini top While the Jobs family have an estimated net worth of $20 billion, Eve did not inherit anything from her father. His oldest daughter Lisa received an inheritance after his death, but the majority of his fortune went to his wife, who does not plan on passing it down to her three kids. Last year, Eve began her modelling career with an Instagram post promoting the cosmetics company Glossier. The photoshoot took place in a bathtub, with Jobs holding up a bottle of lip gloss. Along with her burgeoning modelling career, Eve is also an accomplished equestrian. Trip: The daughter of the Apple co-founder was seen on a small boat with three other pals She is ranked the fifth-best showjumper under the age of 25 and has competed alongside the likes of Mary-Kate Olsen, Jessica Springsteen, and Georgina Bloomberg in the Hamptons Classic. Back in January, Eve confirmed she was dating Kardashian family friend Harry Hudson in a series of photos shared to her Instagram account. She was also a student at Stanford University and was slated to graduate this year. Her parents met at the school in 1989 when Jobs gave a lecture at the Stanford Graduate School of Business, where Powell Jobs was studying. After they wed, they had their son, Reed, 29, and daughter, Erin, 25, followed by Eve. Jobs also had an older daughter, Lisa Brennan-Jobs, 42, from a previous relationship. History: Eve's parents met at the school in 1989 when Jobs gave a lecture at the Stanford Graduate School of Business, where Powell Jobs was studying Jobs was worth $10.2 billion when he died in October 2011, though the bulk of his money actually came from his stake in The Walt Disney Co. not Apple. His oldest daughter Lisa received an inheritance after his death, but the majority of his fortune went to his wife, who does not plan on passing it down to her three kids. Powell Jobs, who has a net worth of $35.4 billion, told The New York Times that the family's fortune will end with her, saying there is 'nothing fair' about inherited wealth. Talented: Eve has competed in show jumping alongside the likes of Mary-Kate Olsen, Jessica Springsteen, and Georgina Bloomberg in the Hamptons Classic Relationship: Back in January, Eve confirmed she was dating Kardashian family friend Harry Hudson in a series of photos shared to her Instagram account Ends with her: Laurene Powell-Jobs inherited the majority of Steve Jobs' billions when he died in 2011 (pictured in 2010) Nope: Powell-Jobs, who is now worth $35.4 billion, previously revealed that her children Reed, Erin, and Eve (pictured as children) will not be inheriting her fortune 'I inherited my wealth from my husband, who didn't care about the accumulation of wealth,' she said. 'I am doing this in honor of his work, and I've dedicated my life to doing the very best I can to distribute it effectively, in ways that lift up individuals and communities in a sustainable way. 'I'm not interested in legacy wealth buildings, and my children know that,' she added. 'Steve wasn't interested in that. If I live long enough, it ends with me.' It was a big weekend as the Television Academy's 2021 Creative Arts Emmy Awards were underway in Los Angeles at LA Live. And it served as a great opportunity for a double date for two famous home improvement experts and their lucky ladies. Jonathan Scott was seen with girlfriend Zooey Deschanel as his twin bother Drew took Linda Phan at the Sunday event. Double date: from left, Drew Scott, Zooey Deschanel, Linda Phan, and Jonathan Scott attend the second ceremony of the Television Academy's 2021 Creative Arts Emmy Awards In July Zooey said thinks it's hard for stars to find love because of 'preconceived notions' about them. The 41-year-old actress - who has been dating Jonathan for two years - can understand why celebrities can find it hard to date someone who isn't also famous because life in the public eye can be difficult to comprehend. Asked why she thinks celebrities find dating difficult, she told Extra: 'I think people have preconceived notions of well-known people. I think it's really hard to shake those preconceived notions, especially if they're dating somebody who doesn't know firsthand the things that go along with notoriety.' While Zooey and co-host Michael Bolton are helping stars find love on The Celebrity Dating Game, the New Girl actress insisted it wouldn't be something she'd be keen to do if she wasn't in a relationship. Asked if she'd be a contestant if she was single, she said: 'No, definitely not. I loved hosting it, but no.' Bravo: Claire Foy has won a Creative Arts Emmy. On the drama series side, Foy was honoured for The Crown and her reprisal of Queen Elizabeth II, the role that won the Briton a lead actress Emmy in 2018. Seen in 2018 Her stunning show: The Crown (Season 2) TV Series in 2017 showing Claire The brunette beauty recently praised Jonathan as the 'nicest person in the world'. She gushed: 'I just think Jonathan is just the nicest person in the world. So, I'm just really lucky. I just try to be as nice back as, you know, he is. And it works.' Zooey - who has Elise Otter, five, and Charlie Wolf, three, her ex-husband Jacob Pechenik - recently explained she bonded with Jonathan over their shared views for saving the environment. She said: 'It's really inspiring how passionate he is about green energy and solar power. He's always working to try to figure out solutions for those problems, and really wants to support people who are being innovative on those levels. Good job CBV: Courtney B Vance won for his role in Lovecraft Country. Seen Sunday 'I remember actually when we first met, he sent me his documentary and I was like, wow, we are so aligned on this level. Because we both really care about this one issue, but have different areas that we focus on.' At the Creative Arts Emmys there were several big winners. Claire Foy was honoured for The Crown and her reprisal of Queen Elizabeth II, the role that won the Briton a lead actress Emmy in 2018. The 2021 Creative Arts Emmy Awards were held this weekend at LA Live in Los Angeles across three ceremonies. There are so many categories each year at the Emmys and it is not impossible to hand them all out during the televised ceremony. The Television Academy holds an event one week earlier to announce the winners of the Creative Arts awards. All of the guest acting categories were announced. He landed it: Derek Hough, winner of the Emmy for outstanding choreography for variety or reality programming for the Paso Doble-Uccen / Tap Dance - Let's Fall in Love for the Night routines in Dancing with the Stars and girlfriend Hayley Erbert They make a good team: Debbie Allen and Hough pose for a portrait during the third ceremony of the Television Academy's 2021 Creative Arts Emmy Awards at the L.A. LIVE Event Deck on Sunday A team: from left, Hudson Hickman, Debbie Allen, Sam Haskell, Maria S. Schlatter and Joe Lazarov, winners of the Emmy for outstanding television movie for Dolly Parton's Christmas on the Square As were the categories for hair, makeup, costumes, cinematography, production design, and others. Courtney B Vance, Maya Rudolph and Dave Chappelle also won guest actor Emmys at Sunday's creative arts awards ceremony. Vance won for his role in Lovecraft Country. Rudolph and Chappelle won comedy series guest acting trophies as hosts of Saturday Night Live. For Rudolph, it was a repeat of her victory in the category last year, for the same show. Rudolph said she felt 'honoured' to be 'part of a legacy' with her Emmy Awards wins. The 49-year-old actress won the Comedy Guest Actress and accolade at Sunday's third installment of the Creative Arts Emmys for her hosting of Saturday Night Live, shortly after taking the Outstanding Character Voice-Over Performance for Big Mouth at the second segment, which made her the first person in 20 years to win twice consecutively in the same category, twice. Happy days: Rudolph said she felt 'honoured' to be 'part of a legacy' with her Emmy Awards wins. The 49-year-old actress won the Comedy Guest Actress and accolade at Sunday's third installment of the Creative Arts Emmys for her hosting of Saturday Night Live, shortly after taking the Outstanding Character Voice-Over Performance for 'Big Mouth' at the second segment And that's not all because Maya also became the third Black woman ever to win back-to-back Emmys, an achievement she was particularly proud of. She told reporters backstage at the Los Angeles event: 'Wow that's amazing. I feel honoured to be part of something like that. I feel like this Emmy is very fitting in that it's for something that feels like such a personal achievement. 'It's for hosting my childhood love and dream and at a place in my life I finally realized it's what I do best, and what makes me happiest when I perform. She made it: Marlee Matlin appears on stage during night one of the Television Academy's 2021 Creative Arts Emmy Awards on Saturday She showed off her legs: Lisa Edelstein poses in the press room on night one of the Creative Arts Emmy Awards 'I feel really honoured that I'm part of a legacy as the third woman of colour to achieve that.' Maya has met with Vice President Kamala Harris, and admitted the politician was 'lovely and cool' about her depiction of her on 'Saturday Night Live'. She said: 'We did meet during a fundraiser before the election over Zoom. 'She was quite aware that I was playing her and was so lovely and cool, and it was so exciting to talk to her and to meet her, and to get a chance to be a part of her orbit. She made the Saturday event: Paris Jackson poses in the press room in a stunning black dress 'But she's so cool, she was great about it, and I think that's always the mark of someone who knows that they're impenetrable and they're doing something great in the world because she knows I'm doing it with love and she's so fantastic that someone is impersonating her.' Regina King was the most recent Black actor to win back-to-back Emmys for her work in 'American Crime' in 2015 and 2016, while Uzo Aduba previously enjoyed consecutive wins for 'Orange is the New Black'. The last person to win twice in the same category was 'Frasier's Jean Smart in 2000 and 2001. In the short-form comedy or drama series, the winners were JB Smoove for Mapleworth Murders and Keke Palmer for Keke Palmer's Turnt Up with the Taylors. They got the gold: Emmanuel Acho and Morolake Akinosun, winners of the Emmy for outstanding short form nonfiction or reality series for Uncomfortable Conversations with a Black Man They made the event: Christine Lahti, left, and Thomas Schlamme attend the third ceremony of the Television Academy's 2021 Creative Arts Emmy Awards at the L.A. LIVE Event Deck on Sunday The creative arts awards were presented in non-televised weekend ceremonies that will be part of a special set for Saturday on FXX. The awards are precursors to the main Emmys ceremony airing on Sunday, September 19, on CBS. Also at the Creative Arts Emmys was Selling Sunset star Chrishell Stause who looked stunning in a pink dress and Paris Jackson who went with a black gown. Phoebe Burgess has appeared to respond to her ex-husband's bombshell revelation that he was unfaithful to her during their marriage on Monday night's SAS Australia. Around the time the episode aired, the influencer, 32 - who shares daughter Poppy, four, and Billy, two, with Sam - shared a screengrab of a book she was reading titled: 'Charmed and dangerous: A woman's guide to reclaiming a healthy relationship'. While she made no reference to Sam or the confession, the timing of the post appeared to correlate with the retired NRL star's surprise announcement. Response: Phoebe Burgess has appeared to respond to her ex-husband's bombshell revelation that he was unfaithful to her during their four-year marriage on Monday night's SAS Australia Daily Mail Australia have contacted a representative for Phoebe for further comment. The doting mum also shared a string of photos of her two young children on her Instagram account in the same evening. One was of her little daughter Poppy getting horse riding lessons, which she captioned: 'Lessons. Baby girl and muffin.' Message: At a similar time the episode aired, the influencer, 32 - who shares daughter Poppy, four, and Billy, two, with Sam - shared a screengrab of a book she was reading titled: 'Charmed and dangerous: A woman's guide to reclaiming a healthy relationship' Family: The doting mum also shared a string of photos of her two young children. One was of her little daughter Poppy getting horse riding lessons, which she captioned: 'Lessons. Baby girl and muffin,' while another was of a cute activity the children had taken part in A second showed she had put miniature animals and hair clips in ice cubes, which she had given to her children as an activity so they could 'smash through' and find the prize. During Monday's episode of SAS Australia, former South Sydney Rabbitohs player Sam, 32, confessed he had previously been unfaithful to Phoebe and said that he knew he had 'embarrassed' her during their four-year marriage. 'I don't think I was the greatest husband at times,' he said to the camera. 'I embarrassed my wife. I'd had an affair with a girl, a woman in Melbourne. That's true. Breaking his silence: Retired NRL star Sam Burgess couldn't hide his emotions as he discussed his failed marriage to ex-wife Phoebe during a bombshell interrogation on SAS Australia 'I was away on tour, and regretfully that happened. Which would have been... it would have been a tough place for Phoebe to be.' In 2018, Sam was embroiled in a sexting scandal which involved a Melbourne woman who claimed he had cheated on his wife the year prior. In the immediate aftermath of the scandal in September 2018, Phoebe, who was then pregnant with her second child, pulled out of a public appearance but was otherwise publicly supportive of her husband in the weeks that followed. However, the couple ended their marriage shortly after Christmas the same year, three months after he was cleared of any involvement in an NRL 'sexting' affair. Despite reconciling briefly in early 2019, the couple called it quits for good in October the same year. News of the separation came just days after Sam announced his retirement from all sporting competitions with immediate effect on October 30, 2019, due to a shoulder injury. Sam said he 'couldn't accept' hearing the decision from his surgeon that he should retire, and so tried to go back and play. 'I was away on tour, and regretfully that happened. Which would have been... would have been a tough place for Phoebe to be,' he said 'It was a bit of a knife to the heart,' he explained on Monday's episode. 'I couldn't accept it. I knew two games in I couldn't do my job anymore, so I retired. It was s**t.' Chief instructor Ant Middleton then asked if Sam had then gone on a 'path of destruction' following the demise of his marriage and the end of his career, to which he replied: 'I didn't know how to manage it. 'I'm not great with managing emotional. Anything to do with my team, myself, press - I don't mind about that. 'When it became emotional stuff with losing my kids, not seeing my kids every day, my marriage breakdown and that put pressure on my ex-wife... I didn't like that. Another loss: The separation came two days after Sam announced his retirement from all sporting competitions with immediate effect on October 30, due to a shoulder injury Response: Chief instructor Ant Middleton asked if Sam had then gone on a 'path of destruction' following the demise of his marriage and the end of his career, to which he replied: 'I didn't know how to manage it' 'I hated that I'd caused pain for other people that I couldn't manage.' He continued: 'I turned to drinking, taking drugs - I thought I could manage that. Then got pulled [up on a] DUI with drugs in my system, which was all over the press again, which stopped me seeing my kids again. I just checked myself into rehab.' In May this year, Sam avoided a conviction despite pleading guilty to three driving charges following a February 22 police traffic stop where he tested positive for cocaine. It came two months after Sam's conviction for intimidating his ex-wife Phoebe's father Mitchell Hooke in the aftermath of the couple's messy break-up was overturned by a judge. Children: Sam and Phoebe share two children together; Poppy, four, and son Billy, two Sam later said that going to a four-week long rehab centre had 'saved his life', revealing he had stopped drinking completely in an attempt to change his path for the better. Following the interrogation, Sam concluded by saying he hoped his time on SAS Australia would help him see 'a bit deeper inside myself'. 'I have this theory of life that it's peaks and valleys, ups and downs. Sometimes you don't know when the peaks are at the top, and you don't know how far the valley might go. 'Maybe this could be the start of me climbing my way out of the valley.' SAS Australia continues Tuesday at 7.30pm on Channel Seven British actress Tanya Fear has been found alive in Los Angeles, four days after going missing from her home. The 31-year-old Doctor Who actress was located around 11am Monday by the LAPD and taken to a hospital so she can be 'assessed', her family said. It is not clear exactly where Tanya was found, though the discovery came hours after someone reported seeing her at a Trader Joe's on Santa Monica Boulevard. She had gone missing from her home the Hollywood Bowl area of LA on September 9, which is around a mile and a half from the Trader Joe's store. A Twitter account run by Tanya's family shared the good news, but gave no further details about where she was located, how she was found, or what caused her to wander away from her house without her phone or purse. Investigators say no criminal investigation has been launched and no foul play is suspected, but have refused to give further details for 'privacy reasons'. British actress Tanya Fear has been found alive in Los Angeles after having been reported missing last week, police have said (Tanya and Yvonne pictured in an Instagram post from November) Tanya - whose film credits also include Kick-Ass 2 and Spotless - had moved to LA just two months ago from London and had been settling into life in the city, including taking part in stand-up gigs at a famous comedy store. A statement released by her family after she was discovered said: 'It is with great pleasure and relief to report, that Tanya has been found safe by police today. 'We understand she is not physically harmed, but as a precaution is being assessed at a local hospital. 'We wish to thank the police, members of the public for their efforts in locating Tanya, as well as the outpouring of concern and support over the last several days. 'Tanya's family are relieved and extremely grateful.' A Twitter account run by Tanya's family and friends also confirmed this evening that Tanya had been found by police Speaking to MailOnline, Tanya's mother Yvonne Marimo said: 'Our family is overjoyed and relieved to confirm that Tanya has been found. A family friend is currently with her. As a family and members of Tanyas circle we would love to thank you the LA community for their active efforts on the ground looking for her. To the global community we want to thank you for sharing her image, posters and stories. Together we have our girl back. Thank you. It comes after Tanya's mother issued a desperate plea to her daughter, four days after she was reported missing. Speaking out on Monday, Yvonne emotionally stated: 'I want my daughter to be safe. I would appeal to her directly that, if she is reading this, to please get in touch with someone just to let us know that you are ok. 'We haven't been able to reach anyone from the U.S Embassy in London yet and we are very keen to hear from them to find out what's going on in Los Angeles.' It comes hours after somebody reported spotting Tanya three days after she was first pronounced missing in LA. Messages and updates are being relayed through the dedicated Twitter page #FindTanyaFear. Starring role: Tanya is known to UK audiences for her role as of Dr Jade McIntyre in Doctor Who It was initially reported that Tanya, who previously had a role in Doctor Who in 2018, was last seen in the Hollywood Bowl area of LA on Thursday, September 9, and it has now been revealed she was seen at Trader Joe's on Sunday, September 12. An update posted on a Twitter page dedicated to the search read: 'UPDATE: Tanya was last seen on 12th September at Trader Joe's on 7310 Santa Monica Blvd (close to N. La Brea Ave). Anyone in that area please keep your eyes open! Thank you!' One of the authors behind the Twitter page explained she was last seen by those known to her on Thursday, while the sighting on Sunday was from a stranger attempting to assist in the search. They then shared updated posters detailing the latest information. Reaching out: A map shows the different sightings of Tanya Ms Marimo and other members of Tanya's family are now applying for visas to travel to the USA and set up their own search along side that of the LAPD. She said: 'I am devastated by this situation, and I appeal to anyone with information to please come forward to bring our daughter home safely.' Tanya has been living in Los Angeles for six years on and off. She left her Hollywood Bowl apartment without her mobile phone or purse on September 9th and was reported missing by a friend. Her family in the UK contacted the Foreign Office and LAPD officer called round to her home but she was not it in. Her uncle, Jonathan Marimo, also made a plea for her to get in contact or for anyone with information to come forward A further statement from the family shared on Monday read: 'Family of Tanya Fear are asking the LAPD to investigate the disappearance of the British actor... Reaching out: A further statement from the family shared on Monday read: 'Family of Tanya Fear are asking the LAPD to investigate the disappearance of the British actor' New: Tanya's friends and family have released updated missing posters 'Tanya Fear left her Hollywood Bowl apartment on Tuesday the 9th of September without her cell phone and purse.... 'She was reported missing by a friend. After Tanya's family in the UL contacted the UKL foreign office, a local LAPD officer was deployed to visit Tanya's house but the actor was not home. She was last seen by friends on Thursday 9 September 3021 at 10pm LA time... 'Tanya's Uncle said: 'We are deeply worried about Tanya's wherabout, she is a bubbly, intelligent young woman who studied at Christ hospital boarding school and King's College University in London. Jonathan Marimo, Tanya's family now want to launch thier own search and are applying for visas to travel to LA. Her mother said: 'I am devastated about this situation and I appeal to anyone with information to please come forward to bring our daughter bbadck home safely'. Missing: It comes after Tanya was reportedly spotted three days after she was reported missing in LA by her friends and family, as they continue their feverish hunt In the original post, a friend of Tanya's wrote on Twitter: 'My friend Tanya has gone missing in the LA/Hollywood Bowl area. 'She hasn't been seen since 9th September 2021. If anyone has any useful information please call (626)-232-8616 #FindTanyaFear. Would appreciate if those in the area or with reach in that area RT'. Another Twitter user who said they were Tanya's cousin wrote: 'Please please please share if you have mutually in the LA/Hollywood bowl area. My cousin is missing, she has no family in the US and we're all really worried.' UPDATE: An update posted on a Twitter page dedicated to the search read: 'UPDATE: Tanya was last seen on 12th September at Trader Joe's on 7310 Santa Monica Blvd (close to N. La Brea Ave). Anyone in that area please keep your eyes open! Thank you!' Clarification: One of the authors behind the Twitter page explained she was last seen by those known to her on Thursday, while the sighting on Sunday was from a stranger attempting to assist in the search Career: Tanya is known to UK audiences for her role as of Dr Jade McIntyre in Doctor Who The Doctor Who Twitter official fan Twitter account also shared the Missing Person poster, writing: 'Missing Person alert: Tanya Fear who played Jade in 'Arachnids In The UK went missing on 9/9/2021. [with thanks to @BAdWilf for the heads up]'. Tanya is known to UK audiences for her role as of Dr Jade McIntyre in Doctor Who. Tanya, who is also known as Tanyaradzwa, was raised in London and currently lives in Los Angeles. She is described as being 5'3, 140lbs with brown eyes and curly black afro hair. They then shared updated posters detailing the latest information A user who said they were Tanya's cousin wrote: 'Please please please share if you have mutually in the LA/Hollywood bowl area. My cousin is missing, she has no family in the US and we're all really worried' Alert: The Doctor Who Twitter official fan Twitter account also shared the Missing Person poster On her Sundance page, Tanya writes about her career: 'I started my filmmaking journey as an actress in films like Kick Ass 2 and television like Doctor Who and Netflix's Spotless. 'In 2020 I wrote and directed a series of short films called SHOOT YOUR SHOT about a girl who falls in love with Drake during COVID 19, we were featured in Women and Hollywood and on Tongal... 'My films are often funny, irreverent and socially conscious.' Post: Tanya's most recent Twitter post was on August 30 where she shared a snap of herself on stage at a stand-up comedy show Tanya's most recent Twitter post was on August 30 where she shared a snap of herself on stage at a stand-up comedy show. She wrote: 'My first show @hahacafecomedy was SO MUCH FUN! Still can't believe I got to share the stage with LEGENDS! More to come baby!!!' Some of her other acting credits include Kick-Ass 2 along with the TV series Spotless and Cleaning Up. MailOnline has contacted representatives of Tanya Fear for comment. The two charges Jenn Harley was hit with following a June domestic violence incident with her now ex-boyfriend Joseph Ambrosole have been dropped. The ex of Jersey Shore star Ronnie Ortiz-Magro was slapped with one felony count of assault with a deadly weapon and one misdemeanor count of battery in the state of Nevada last month, but prosecutors have now dismissed the two criminal accounts, according to TMZ. On June 19, Harley got into a heated altercation with Ambrosole, whom she allegedly pointed a gun at while threatening 'I'll shoot you n****' and 'I'll kill you right f****** now,' following a night of heavy drinking. Dropped: The two charges Jenn Harley was hit with following a June domestic violence incident with her now ex-boyfriend Joseph Ambrosole have been dropped The reason behind the charge dismissal remains unclear, the site added. At the time the counts occurred, Harley's attorney Michael Cristalli told TMZ that the charges are 'unsubstantiated.' Cristalli continued to have his client's back and maintained her innocence as he said: 'there is going to be overwhelming mitigated evidence that exists [showing] Jenn did not commit any crime.' The incident in question culminated with her allegedly hurling racial slurs and brandishing a gun at Ambrosole after a night out on the town. Law enforcement detailed the evening to the publication at the time, and spoke about the drama that allegedly went down between the pair at Crazy Horse 3 in Las Vegas which continued back at home. The night in question: On June 19 Harley got into a heated altercation with Ambrosole whom she allegedly pointed a gun at while threatening 'I'll shoot you n****' and 'I'll kill you right f****** now,' following a night of heavy drinking; pictured June 18 The duo reportedly argued over her alcohol consumption as well as the location of where they would park their vehicle, and their riff continued into the establishment where they were asked to leave by club security. The fight continued throughout the course of the drive home where Harley's anger allegedly intensified to the point where she got a bit physical and even tossed his phone out the window. After pulling over to look for the phone, Harley reportedly got into the driver's seat and left him stranded, forcing him to find his own way back home at which point things turned more violent. Authorities said that Ambrosole explained that when he arrived to their residence, they continued to exchange words, at which point Harley threatened him with the firearm, before fleeing the home. Happier times: The pair who are now said to be exes are pictured in Las Vegas just one month before the incident She was eventually tracked down by police, who booked her on charges of domestic violence and assault with a deadly weapon which she now faces in court. Just one month after the incident which occurred on the same weekend Ortiz-Magro got engaged her rep Gina Rodriguez told TMZ that Harley had checked into a 28-day program of her own volition for alcohol. 'Jenn Harley has decided to check into a Las Vegas rehab facility to seek treatment for her alcohol dependency. She made the decision to get help because she wants to be the best parent she can be for her children,' the statement read. Harley is mom to an 11-year-old son named Mason from a previous partner and a three-year-old daughter Ariana who she shares with the Jersey Shore vet. Treatment: Just one month after the incident her rep told TMZ that Harley had checked into a 28-day program of her own volition for alcohol; pictured May 24 And their on-off relationship from 2017 to 2019 was also rife with issues including numerous physical altercations, cheating allegations, and domestic violence arrests on both sides. In 2018 she showed up to a Vegas hotel unannounced where filming for Season 2 of Jersey Shore: Family Vacation was taking place, at which point she 'lunged, spit and shoved Ronnie,' prompting hotel security to get involved and the police to be called. Just weeks later she was arrested for domestic battery after she was said to have hit him in the face and dragged him with a car which caused him to sustain injuries. She did not face charges however due to insufficient evidence and denied the situation, flipping it on him, but she was arrested another time for domestic battery in 2019. She had an explosive row with Gatsby during Sunday night's TOWIE. But beaming Chloe Brockett appeared to put all the drama behind her on Monday when she was spotted with actress Kimberly Hart-Simpson in Manchester. The 20-year-old looked typically stylish in a khaki co-ord as she headed for dinner at The Ivy. Forgetting the drama: TOWIE's Chloe Brockett donned a khaki co-ord for an evening out in Manchester on Monday... after slamming Gatsby for fuelling rumours about her fling with James Lock Chloe appeared in be in high spirits as she laughed and chatted with pal Kimberley after the pair enjoyed an evening at the luxe eatery. Her wide smile was touched up with a slick of nude lipstick and she wore her jet-black locks straight and loose. The reality star ventured to the north-west for meetings, but later informed fans via Instagram that she was heading back home to Essex. Dinner reunion: Beaming Chloe appeared to put all the drama behind her when she was spotted with actress Kimberly Hart-Simpson Good mood: Chloe appeared in be in high spirits as she laughed and chatted with pal Kimberley after the pair enjoyed an evening at the luxe eatery Stylish: The 20-year-old's wide smile was touched up with a slick of nude lipstick and she wore her jet black locks straight and loose The night of good food comes after Chloe and Liam Blackwell - better known as Gatsby - came to blows over him 'gossiping' and fuelling rumours about her fling with James Lock. The explosive scenes, which aired during Sunday night's instalment of TOWIE, left Chloe defending herself to Bobby Norris on TOWIE: The Official After Party. Chloe admitted she'd never had a 'weirder scene' in her life and it was 'annoying' because she had to 'back herself.' Heated: The night of good food comes after Chloe and Liam Blackwell - better known as Gatsby - came to blows over him 'gossiping' and fuelling rumours about her fling with James Lock She continued: 'I didnt expect it to get as heated because I feel like me and Gatsby werent best mates but we also didnt hate each other.' Elsewhere, Chloe also joked that she gave the TOWIE cast 'something to talk about' regarding her fling with Lockie - and she has no regrets. She admitted that she would rather 'be the one spoken about' after her fling appeared to be the talk of TOWIE during the first instalment of the 29th series. Talk of Essex: Chloe joked that she gave the TOWIE cast 'something to talk about' regarding her fling with Lockie - and she has no regrets 'I took one for the team, gave them all something to talk about,' she said. Chloe reiterated that she had no regrets over hooking up with the hunk and referred to the drama as being 'central to the show.' This is despite Lockie's ex Yazmin Oukhellou being far from happy. Comeback: Chloe referred to the drama as being 'central to the show' - despite Lockie's ex Yazmin Oukhellou (pictured) being far from happy The former flames were together for two years but their relationship ended following an 'explosive row' in Dubai. In a teasing preview for next week's episode, Yaz is set to make her TOWIE comeback, which is bound to cause up a stir. Chloe finished her interview by insisting that what she had with Lockie was simply a 'summer fling' and they still get along. 'I feel like everyone just jumps on the bandwagon and is like, "oh theyve slept together that must mean they want to be in a relationship," and its just not the case,' she vented. Jackie 'O' Henderson has revealed her ex-husband Lee is still struggling after he suffered an adverse reaction to his Covid vaccine. Lee, who was married to Jackie for 18 years, was recently hospitalised with an extremely rare heart complication following his second Pfizer jab. 'He's not good at all, actually,' Jackie, 46, told her co-host Kyle Sandilands on Tuesday's Kyle And Jackie O Show. 'He's not good at all': Jackie 'O' Henderson, 46, (right) gave an update on her ex-husband Lee's (left) health on Tuesday's Kyle And Jackie O Show, after he was hospitalised with rare heart complication as a side effect of his second Pfizer jab 'He'll probably die, will he?' Kyle joked. 'He won't die. You, know. No one's dying from that side effect,' Jackie scoffed. Kyle joked that Lee, who shares ten-year-old daughter Kitty with ex-wife Jackie, will use his illness to get out of his shared parenting duties. 'He'll milk it from you': Co-host Kyle Sandilands (pictured) joked that Lee, who shares ten-year-old daughter Kitty with ex-wife Jackie, will use his illness to get out of his shared parenting duties 'He'll milk it from you too... oh s**t yeah, I would if I was him. I'd be like, "Oh I'm too sick to have [Kitty] again this weekend. Oh, I won't be able to take her this weekend",' Kyle mused. 'No, I don't think so, giggled Jackie, adding: 'He's not that kind of dad!' Jackie explained that she'd offered to give Lee her full support during his recovery. 'Whatever you need. I'm here': Jackie explained that she'd offered to give Lee her full support during his recovery. Jackie is pictured with daughter Kitty, 10, who she shares with Lee 'I said, 'Listen, whatever you need. I'm here. You know?'' Jackie explained. Kyle joked: 'Oh, well there's your mistake right there! You should have just said, "listen, a**hole. It's your go! No matter what, it's your go".' Lee, a photographer from England, experienced the same complication as Seven News reporter Denham Hitchcock, who was hospitalised last month with pericarditis - a rare condition when the sac-like tissue surrounding the heart becomes inflamed. Health scare: Lee, a photographer from England, experienced the same complication as Seven News reporter Denham Hitchcock, who was hospitalised last month with pericarditis - a rare condition when the sac-like tissue surrounding the heart becomes inflamed While he's yet to publicly comment on his condition, Jackie told NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian on The Kyle And Jackie O Show last Friday that Lee had been hospitalised and was 'in a bad way'. 'You'd be aware what has happened to Denham Hitchcock, and my ex-husband has had the same thing. He's been in hospital and really, really in a bad way after the second Pfizer,' Jackie said on her radio program. Jackie added that it was 'up to [Lee] to report' his adverse reaction to the Covid-19 vaccine because the hospital doesn't automatically do it. 'A bad way': While he's yet to publicly comment on his condition, Jackie told NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian (pictured) on the Kyle And Jackie O Show last Friday that Lee had been hospitalised and was 'in a bad way' Ms Berejiklian, who was a guest on the KIIS FM breakfast show, said she wasn't aware of Lee's condition but emphasised that health authorities do put out a statement whenever someone has an adverse reaction to the jab. Jackie, who received the AstraZeneca vaccine, acknowledged that in many cases doctors aren't 'a hundred per cent sure' pericarditis is caused by the jab. She also stressed that she is 'pro-vax'. Former couple: The former couple amicably separated in late 2018 and are understood to have recently finalised their divorce. Lee is not believed to have any underlying health conditions Lee is not believed to have any underlying health conditions. He is a martial arts enthusiast who is known to keep fit and active. Jackie and Lee amicably separated in late 2018 and are understood to have recently finalised their divorce. Lee's side effect comes after Denham Hitchcock, a father of one, was hospitalised and diagnosed with pericarditis - inflammation of sac-like tissue that surrounds the heart - after he rolled up his sleeve for a Covid vaccine on the Gold Coast. Making headlines: Lee's side effect came after Denham Hitchcock (pictured), a father of one, was hospitalised and diagnosed with pericarditis - inflammation of sac-like tissue that surrounds the heart - after he rolled up his sleeve for a Covid vaccine on the Gold Coast Advertisement Diane Kruger unveiled her massive diamond ring following reports she became engaged to her longtime love Norman Reedus. There was no missing Diane's new bling as the actress, 45, stepped out in Newport, Rhode Island on Saturday morning. The actress appeared to be on her own as she stepped out into the sunshine looking great in a floral print pajama-inspired ensemble with chic black sandal flats. Bling bling! Diane Kruger unveiled her massive diamond ring following her reported engagement to Norman Reedus as she stepped out in Newport, Rhode Island on Saturday Diane shielded her eyes with a pair of white retro sunglasses and wore her glossy blonde hair down in loose waves. She carried her essentials inside a luxurious Louis Vuitton purse. The actress carried her red encased cell phone with her manicured hands as she stepped out into the street. There was no sign of her reported fiance, Walking Dead actor Norman. Off the market: The actress is reportedly engaged to her long-time love Norman People reported in late August that the couple were engaged following four years and one child together. Kruger and Reedus unveiled their romance in 2017 after meeting on the set of their 2015 film Sky. They welcomed a daughter, whose name has not yet been revealed, in 2018. In addition to their daughter, Reedus also has a 21-year-old son named Mingus Lucien whom he shares with his supermodel ex Helena Christensen. Dreamy: Kruger sported a floral print, pajama-inspired ensemble for the occasion Classic touch: She carried her essentials inside a luxurious Louis Vuitton purse Diane, meanwhile, was previously married to French film star Guillaume Canet and was also in a ten-year-long relationship with actor Joshua Jackson. In 2017 she told Vulture their breakup, which became public in 2016, had been 'a long time coming.' While Diane and Norman have kept the identity of their daughter shrouded in secrecy, they do occasional offer glimmers of their life as a family on social media. In June, the actress gushed about her partner while posting several sweet snaps of him with their daughter in honor of Father's Day. Love story: Kruger and Reedus unveiled their romance in 2017 after meeting on the set of their 2015 film Sky; pictured 2018 'We (heart emoji) U Papa. Happy Fathers Day to the one with the sweetest heart,' she posted in the caption. Kruger and Reedus were first spotted together in December 2015, sparking speculation that Kruger was cheating on Jackson, though Kruger later admitted her and Jackson had split much earlier than they had previously revealed. 'Also we broke up many months before we said we were broken up, so by the time I made that decision, it didn't feel like it was so urgent anymore. You don't break up overnight after 10 years, you know what I mean?' Kruger said. 'Happy Father's Day': In June, the actress gushed about her partner while posting several sweet snaps of him with their daughter in honor of Father's Day They were spotted kissing in February 2017, but it wasn't until nearly a year later that they made their red carpet debut at the Golden Globes in January 2018. Reedus is currently filming the final season of AMC's The Walking Dead, where he has played Daryl Dixon since the first season. Kruger will next be seen in the action-packed thriller The 355, which is slated for release in theaters on January 7, 2022. She also stars in First Love, which is currently in post-production and expected to be released later this year, starring with Jeffrey Donovan and Diane Venora. The Rolling Stones were reportedly forced to miss the funeral of their drummer Charlie Watts due to Covid-19 restrictions. Sir Mick Jagger, 78, Keith Richards, 77, and Ronnie Wood, 74, were unable to attend the small private ceremony in Devon which took place last week. According to The Sun, the group have remained in Boston amid pandemic rules where they are rehearsing for their rescheduled world tour which begins on September 26 in St Louis, Missouri. Restrictions: The Rolling Stones were reportedly forced to miss the funeral of their drummer Charlie Watts due to Covid-19 restrictions (L-R, Charlie Watts, Mick Jagger, Keith Richards and Ronnie Wood) Charlie's funeral was said to have taken place with minimal fuss, according to his family's wishes. The musician died on August 24 aged 80 with a statement saying he had 'passed away peacefully in hospital surrounded by his family'. It had been announced on August 5 that Charlie would not take part in the upcoming tour due to a recent emergency surgery and had been replaced with Steve Jordan. He said in a statement: 'After all the disappointment with delays to the tour caused by Covid, I really dont want the many Stones fans in the States to have another postponement or cancellation. Ceremony: Sir Mick Jagger, 78, Keith Richards, 77, and Ronnie Wood, 74, were unable to attend the small private ceremony in Devon which took place last week (pictured together in 2014) 'I have therefore asked my great friend Steve Jordan to stand in for me.' MailOnline has contacted representatives for The Rolling Stones for comment. The band lead an outpouring of grief following the news of Charlie's passing, with Ronnie sharing a picture of the pair with the caption: 'I love you my fellow Gemini ~ I will dearly miss you ~you are the best'. Rolling Stones frontman Mick shared a poignant photo of a smiling Charlie on both Twitter and Instagram, without a caption, while guitarist Keith posted a Twitter photo of the Rolling Stones' drum kit with a 'closed' sign hanging from it. Travel: The group have remained in Boston amid pandemic rules where they are rehearsing for their rescheduled world tour which begins on September 26 in St Louis, Missouri (pictured in 2005) Ronnie's wife Sally, 43, shared a slew of throwback pictures of the drummer that she captioned: 'We love you Charlie. The whole world will miss you xx '. Charlie joined the then-fledgling band in 1963 after meeting Mick, Keith and Brian Jones while playing in rhythm and blues clubs. Along with Mick and Keith, Charlie featured on every one of the band's studio albums. He was widely regarded as one of the greatest drummers of all time. His London publicist, Bernard Doherty, confirmed his passing in a statement, saying: 'It is with immense sadness that we announce the death of our beloved Charlie Watts. 'He passed away peacefully in a London hospital earlier today surrounded by his family. Heartbreaking: The group were left devastated by Charlie's passing aged 80 but they are said to believe he would have wanted them to carry on with their tour 'I will dearly miss you': Mick, Ronnie and Keith shared poignant tributes to Charlie after the Rolling Stones rocker passed away Poignant: Keith shared a poignant Twitter photo of the Rolling Stones' drum kit with a 'closed' sign hanging from it 'Charlie was a cherished husband, father and grandfather and also as a member of The Rolling Stones one of the greatest drummers of his generation. 'We kindly request that the privacy of his family, band members and close friends is respected at this difficult time.' In 2004, Charlie was treated for throat cancer at London's Royal Marsden Hospital and he was given the all-clear after a four-month battle with the disease, involving six weeks of intensive radiotherapy treatment. The drummer was diagnosed after discovering a lump on the left side of his neck. Doctors performed a biopsy which confirmed the tumour was malignant and he was diagnosed with throat cancer in June that year. History: Alongside frontman Sir Mick and guitarist Keith, Charlie (pictured centre) was among the longest-standing members of the Stones, which has seen a shifting line-up of musicians including Mick Taylor, Ronnie and Bill Wyman His spokesman said at the time that Charlie's treatment had 'not interfered with any tour or recording plans for the group, who have been 'relaxing between work commitments''. Following his recovery, the band began work on their 22nd studio album, A Bigger Bang. Charlie, who reportedly gave up smoking in the 1980s, said during an interview with Rolling Stone magazine at the time that he felt 'very lucky' doctors had caught the cancer early. Statement: Charlie's publicist Bernard Doherty said: 'Charlie was a cherished husband, father and grandfather and also as a member of The Rolling Stones one of the greatest drummers of his generation' It comes after Mick Brigden, a music tour manager who traveled the world with artists including The Rolling Stones and Bob Dylan, died earlier this month aged 73. The UK native injured himself while digging a grave for his pet dog on the property of his Santa Clara home in Northern California last week. He was taken to a local hospital, and eventually succumbed to his injuries and passed away on September 5, according to The Press Democrat. Treading lightly on Tanna We go on a new ecotourism adventure tour in North Tanna Information on Labour issues are available all year around. This is the Labour Departments Administration office in Port Vila. David Carroll, a Chattanooga news anchor and radio host, is on ChattanoogaRadioTV.com. You may contact him at radiotv2020@yahoo.com As the lights faded atop the Fisher Pavilion stage and the first kick drums hit I looked up to the late-summer sky to see something unlike anything I had ever witnessed in my life. The sky, often gray and muddy, was visibly light purple, with fluffy clouds scattered in a seemingly perfect ye Dancehall artist Masicka shared more greatness with fans this weekend when he unveiled the Gold plaque for his 2020 feature on German rapper Bonez MCs Big Body Benz. The gold certification was awarded to the Gifted deejay this year, by the BMVI (The German Federal Music Industry) after the song sold more than 200,000 units in the country. The track was released on Bonez MCs album Hollywood, which has also received Gold certification. Masicka shared the moment he unboxed the award in a short clip on Instagram with his over 700K followers yesterday. In his caption, the Top Striker tagged the German performer and wrote, Gold out ina the world #438. His fans and fellow industry players celebrated the accomplishment in the comments, from producers Seanizzle and Dunwell to fans sending in their congratulations. Bonez MC responded YEAH BRO FINALLY !!, while 1Syde loyalists flooded the comments with fire and applause emojis, as well as reassuring words like Living legend mi g, dem cyaah stop yuh blessings. Another fan who mixed his congrats with a snide comment said, Ah so me wah unbox the album tomorrow, hinting at Masickas long-delayed debut album 4.3.8 which was due earlier this year. Another fan who tagged a friend under the post wrote, please ask this man weh eh album deh. Masicka had responded to fans complaints about the projects pending release nearly a month ago on Instagram Live. He assured fans the album was complete and encouraged them to be as vigilant about buying the album. The greatness take time. Album a forward, stop worry unu self, album complete. Mek sure uno push up the credit card dem, ya hear? All who a bawl fi album, Masicka said. Ah jus fi sign off some likkle things and get some things together, the deejay added. A whole heap of new video too. So the fans just gwan wait. He also hinted at a laundry list of collaborations and some things [fans] nah go expect. Different Type, the first single off 4.3.8 was released in May and has since racked up 3.8M views on YouTube. Skip to main navigation For Release: Monday, September 13, 2021 DEC Announces Berry Hill Fire Tower in Chenango County Now Open to Visitors Restoration of Historic Fire Tower Now Complete and Structure is Open to Recreation New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) Commissioner Basil Seggos today announced that Berry Hill fire tower in the town of McDonough, Chenango County, is now open for recreation after the completion of a wide range of interior and exterior upgrades to enhance safety and accessibility. "New York's fire towers are beloved by visitors both interested in their history and the spectacular views they provide," said Commissioner Seggos. "With this restoration complete, renewed access to the Berry Hill fire tower will afford visitors of all ages the opportunity to connect to the past, while enjoying the rural landscape in Central New York State." Berry Hill is the only fire tower open for recreation on public lands in Central New York, and at an elevation of 1,960 feet, is one of the highest points in Chenango County. The tower is a 59-foot, three-inch tall International Derrick tower, originally erected in 1934 by the Civilian Conservation Corps for fire protection. The viewshed from the fire tower stretches across Broome, Cortland, Delaware, Madison, Oneida, Onondaga, Otsego, and Tioga counties. The upgrades were supported by $125,000 from NY Works and include projects to improve accessibility and restore the tower to enhance safety and recreation opportunities. Site upgrades include resurfaced driveway and parking areas; accessible stone dust path from the upper parking area to the base of the tower; accessible picnic table, bench, and informational kiosk; new roof and renovated porch and siding on the observer cabin; and removal of all communications equipment. Upgrades to the tower's exterior include new stairwell safety fencing, new metal grate treads and wooden landings on the stairwell, and new paint on the entire tower. Interior tower cab upgrades include a new entrance hatch and wooden floor, renovated map table, and all new windows. For nearly a century, observers watched the forests of New York State from more than 100 fire towers perched atop the highest peaks, searching for the first signs of fire to report to Forest Rangers by phone. In the early 1970s, the state began using air surveillance to monitor fires. Fire towers were phased out beginning in the 1980s, and over time, the towers and their associated observers' cabins began to deteriorate. The towers were either dismantled or closed to the public for safety. Today, volunteer-based initiatives across the state are working to help protect New York's fire towers. These initiatives recognize that the towers represent the state's history and heritage of forest protection and are a resource with the potential to attract visitors. Berry Hill fire tower served as an active fire look-out station until the end of the 1988 season. In 1993, it was placed on the National Historic Lookout Register (US#54). The 1999 McDonough State Forest Unit Management Plan identified an objective of rehabilitating the fire tower to allow for public access. Before making the structural improvements, it was necessary to remove and relocate communications equipment from the fire tower. Through an agreement with DEC, the New York State Chapter of the Forest Fire Lookout Association will provide volunteer stewardship services at Berry Hill. Volunteers will help maintain the facility and provide educational information to visitors. On days when a steward is on-site, motor vehicle access to the upper parking area may be permitted and the observer cabin will be open for visitation. The site also features an information kiosk, bench, and picnic table for visitors to enjoy. Off-road parking is available for approximately eight vehicles at the base of the fire tower's driveway. The driveway is about 1,000 feet long and open for pedestrian access with a moderate uphill climb. The fire tower is open for public access year-round, from sunrise to sunset. Berry Hill fire tower is located near McDonough State Forest and Bowman Lake State Park (leaves DEC's website). The Finger Lakes Hiking Trail crosses through both the forest and park and extends past the entrance to Berry Hill along Tower Road. Thank you for reading! Please purchase a subscription to read our premium content. If you have a subscription and are still unable to access our content, please link your digital account to your print subscription If you have a subscription, please log in or sign up for an account on our website to continue. The same group of nuns had earlier protested against rape accused Bishop Franco Mulackkal, demanding his arrest. (DC File) Kottayam: A group of nuns in Kerala's Kuruvilangad convent staged a walkout from Sunday's holy mass, protesting against anti-muslim comments made by the priest during the service. The development comes amid the recent controversy sparked by Pala Bishop's 'narcotics jihad' comments, wherein he alleged that Christian girls were largely falling prey to "love and narcotic jihad" in Kerala. The nuns accused that the priest, Father Rajeev, made anti-muslim remarks in line with the comments made by Pala Bishop Joseph Kallarangatt, and told them not to buy products from Muslim-owned shops and not eat foods like biryani. The same group of nuns had earlier protested against rape accused Bishop Franco Mulackkal, demanding his arrest. As the ruling CP(I)M and main opposition Congress have contended the Pala Bishop's controversial remarks, BJP and the church have rallied behind the bishop, backing his allegations. Amaravati: Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy on Monday requested the Centre to help repatriate several workers belonging to the state who were being 'ill-treated' by their employers in Bahrain. In a letter to External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar, the Chief Minister said several Indian workers were being ill-treated by their employers and had sought assistance to return to their home towns. "Among the impacted workers, a sizeable number of workers belong to the state of AP," Jagan said. He said the state government would extend all possible support to the Centre to repatriate the affected workers from Bahrain. He wanted the External Affairs Ministry officials to co-ordinate with either the Resident Commissioner in New Delhi or the CMO in Amaravati for any assistance. There are at least 400 drinking water tanks fed by the canals, catering to the needs of lakhs of citizens in tens of villages in Krishna and West Godavari districts. (PTI Photo) Amaravati: The Andhra Pradesh Mission for Clean Krishna-Godavari Canals has not taken off, two years after its ambitious launch, due to a variety of reasons. "The Mission has been aborted even before take-off," a top official said. The vision of the Mission was rejuvenating canals and drains in the Krishna and Godavari Delta Systems by stopping water contamination and improving the quality as lakhs of people in Krishna and West Godavari districts depend on the canal water for drinking. Besides, the water is also a source for irrigation in the districts with a vast ayacut under the command. The Mission was conceived in September 2019 as the canals in the Deltas have been facing a serious threat due to discharge of increasing quantities of sewage, trade effluents and other pollutants as a consequence of rapid urbanisation and industrialisation. The quality of water in Krishna and Godavari canals is categorised as C', implying it could be used as drinking water source, with conventional treatment and disinfection. Also, the water contains a high level of coliform bacteria. The Mission has set certain goals for protecting and restoring the canals and drains in the two Delta Systems to maintain ecological flows by ensuring solid and liquid wastes are treated as per norms and industrial wastes do not contaminate the water. The government engaged a private agency for preparing a detailed project report for canal rejuvenation and appointed an IAS officer as Mission Director to oversee the project. And then, it gave up the Mission, without assigning any reason. The Mission required an initial funding of Rs 100 crore for preparing the DPR and starting the sub-projects but the government did not sanction a rupee. Apart from allocation of a certain amount in the state Budget, the government wanted to use funds from the AP Pollution Control Board, earmarked for control of water pollution, and also tap the corporates for grants under Corporate Social Responsibility. The government also wanted the public to 'donate' money for the "betterment of canals and drains of Krishna and Godavari Delta Systems." "Nothing, simply nothing, happened. The Mission has been aborted even before take-off," a top official told PTI. There are at least 400 drinking water tanks fed by the canals, catering to the needs of lakhs of citizens in tens of villages in Krishna and West Godavari districts. Eluru city draws water for drinking mainly from the Eluru canal that originates in Vijayawada city, with the water flowing out of river Krishna. Major towns like Machilipatnam and Gudivada also draw water for drinking from the Krishna canals. Close to 3.80 lakh acres of ayacut under the Krishna Eastern Delta is also dependent on water from the canals. The Vijayawada Municipal Corporation has prepared a detailed project report under the Mission to clean up the three major canals Eluru, Ryves and Bandar that originate in the city as they are "polluted beyond description." The project was estimated to cost Rs 406.79 crore, including extensive beautification of the bunds, but here again no money was made available for the project, leaving it abandoned. AP Water Users Associations Federation president Alla Gopala Krishna Rao pointed out that people in about 600 villages in Krishna and West Godavari districts were badly affected because of the pollution in canals. "We have been saying for long that the canals need to be cleaned up by regulating the outfall drains in Vijayawada. But nothing has worked out so far, he said. The proposed Inland Waterways project from Kakinada to Chennai provided some hope of cleaning up the canals but that too did not work out, Rao, a former member of the state Water Resources Apex Committee, lamented. Pointing to electoral battles, the Lok Sabha and the Assembly polls, he said despite 'political acrimony' he found the state and its people warm and welcoming. (PTI) Chennai: Tamil Nadu Governor Banwarilal Purohit on Sunday said he took certain positions "as per the word of the statute" and thanked the people for their love and for accepting him as part of the larger society. Though there were issues that tested "everybody's patience and perseverance," the end result was always positive for all, Purohit said in a statement. "As custodian of the Constitution in the State's context, I took certain positions as per the word of the statute. But I am very happy to place on record that the people of all walks of life -from the streets of Tamil Nadu to the hallowed chambers of politics- understood the correct position and lent their support to my decisions in whatever manner. All this goes as a permanent reference in my memory-file,..in gratitude," he said in the statement released by the Raj Bhavan. After he took over in 2017 October, Purohit's tour of districts and his meetings with officials saw stiff opposition from the DMK, which was then the main opposition party. Also, in appointments to the posts of state-run vice-chancellors too, he had faced criticism from parties. The DMK had staged black flag demonstrations against him alleging his actions like tour of districts and meetings with officials infringed on the rights of the state. During such occasions, Purohit defended himself saying he acted according to the law. Purohit said, "As Chancellor of the state government universities, I took certain decisions in the larger interest of consolidating the system of higher learning, and received full cooperation from all quarters without exception. For that as well, I will remain indebted to all." He said that the nearly four year tenure gave him an opportunity to get introduced in full to the state's rich cultural, religious and historical traditions. Bidding adieu, Purohit, who days ago took over as Governor of Punjab and administrator of the union territory of Chandigarh, said his mind is "filled with a sense of gratitude" to Tamil Nadu where he found "unmitigated love and appreciation" from people, the bureaucracy, the academia, and "most importantly the political community across a wide spectrum." "I express my most sincere gratitude towards all the people in all walks of life to have accepted me as an integral part of the larger society in Tamil Nadu." Pointing to electoral battles, the Lok Sabha and the Assembly polls, he said despite "political acrimony" he found the state and its people warm and welcoming. R N Ravi, a former top IPS official who served Nagaland as its Governor has been named the Governor of Tamil Nadu. Purohit continues to be TN Governor, till assumption of office by Ravi. Since this is a young one, we will keep it in the zoo for a month or two and see if it has the capabilities to hunt and fend for itself. If it is capable of fending for itself, it would be sent and released in the Kawal Tiger Reserve. Representational image/By arrangement HYDERABAD: A leopard, which had been giving sleepless nights to the residents of Chinna Shankarampet in Medak district, was captured late Saturday night. The captured leopard was sent to the Kakatiya Zoological Park in Warangal for further observation. Forest officials who captured the cat said they had received several complaints from farmers in the area whose cattle and goats had fallen prey to the leopard. Farmers told us that they were scared for their lives, because of the wild cat. When we caught the animal, we saw that it was a young one as it was only about one-and-a-half year old. We shifted it to the Kakatiya Zoo, where it will be kept under observation, Gnyaneshwar G, district forest officer (DFO), Medak, told this correspondent. He further added that the animal was not injured during its capture, but it would still require some amount of observation to decide whether it could be released into the wild again. This particular animal was sighted in the area quite a number of times as it lived in the caves of Nemaligutta, which is across the farmers fields. It lived there with two more leopards. They come out of the cave only for food and water. We have kept all the saucer pits full and it has rained copiously. So, we can assume that it came out for food. Now, since this is a young one, we will keep it in the zoo for a month or two and see if it has the capabilities to hunt and fend for itself, he said. If it is capable of fending for itself, it would be sent and released in the Kawal Tiger Reserve area, where the scope for man-animal conflict is minimal. Many major political parties including the Congress, CPI(M), the CPI, the CPI (ML) New Democracy and Telangana Jana Samiti have already declared support to the bandh. PTI HYDERABAD: As many as 75 organisations including trade unions in Telangana extended support to the Bharat Bandh on September 27 called by Samyukta Kisan Morcha (SKM) to protest against the Centre's three farm laws. The decision was taken at Telangana State Convention organised by All India Kisan Sangharsh Coordination Committee (AIKSCC) at Sundarayya Vigyana Kendram here on Sunday. State leaders of all major trade unions including CITU, AITUC, IFTU, AICTU, BLTU and unions of unorganised workers such as Telangana Domestic Workers Union and Hyderabad Cab Drivers Association declared their full support to the bandh. Women organisations including POW, AIDWA, NFIW, AIDFW and Telangana Women and Transgender JAC have also declared support to the bandh. Organisations representing various sections of society including Dalits, minorities, Adivasis, and backward castes joined hands, along with 10 student and youth organisations to support the bandh. The convention declared an action programme to reach out to all sections leading up to the Bharat Bandh. Union leaders will reach out to affiliated trade bodies across sectors such as lorry transport associations, cinema hall and petrol bank owners, auto drivers, street vendors, and hotel associations. Many major political parties including the Congress, CPI(M), the CPI, the CPI (ML) New Democracy and Telangana Jana Samiti have already declared support to the bandh. Be it Uttarakhand or Gujarat, where the AAP has entered, the BJP had to change the chief ministers. They changed the chief minister in Uttarakhand several times, said AAP national spokesman Raghav Chaddha. PTI New Delhi/Lucknow: Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal was unanimously elected as the Aam Aadmi Partys national convener for the third time in a row at the partys national executive meeting on Sunday. The decision comes at a time that the AAP is expanding its wings beyond the national capital and is preparing for Assembly elections in six states -- Punjab, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh, Goa and Gujarat -- in the next two years. Delhi will also hold municipal polls next year with the three civic bodies in the city now run by the BJP. Asserting that the AAP will contest all 403 Assembly seats in UP, Rajya Sabha MP and senior AAP leader Sanjay Singh said it would be a mistake to consider his party a minnow as it had emerged stronger than the Congress in the recent panchayat polls. The Arvind Kejriwal-led AAP made it clear it was not in talks with any other party for an alliance in next years UP Assembly polls. Our party is stronger than the Congress in the state. While the Congress won 40 seats in the panchayat polls, we won 83 panchayats. The AAP got over 40 lakh votes in these polls, and 1600 party candidates contested, Mr Singh, the AAPs UP in-charge, told PTI in Lucknow. The Congress was reduced to seven seats in the 403-member UP Assembly in 2017. After coming to power in Delhi, the AAP has emerged as the main Opposition party in Punjab and is trying to expand in other states like Goa, Uttarakhand and Gujarat. We are preparing to contest all 403 seats in UP. We are at present not in talks for an alliance with any other party. Our focus is to strengthen our base and in the past one and a half months, we have made over one crore members, Mr Singh said. The party has named Vidhan Sabha in-charges in 100-150 seats and our leaders are meeting those who want to contest, said the 49-year-old AAP leader from Sultanpur in UP. He said the main issue raised by the AAP in the Assembly elections will be the BJPs nationalism versus the AAPs nationalism. He said: The BJPs nationalism is fake. Its nationalism is full of hatred and communalism. At the same time, the AAPs nationalism is providing good education, good health, free water, free electricity, womens security and happiness, he added. The AAP has already spread its wings in several states. Earlier this year, the party won 27 seats in the municipal polls in Gujarats Surat. It is the ruling party in Delhi, where it won 62 of 70 Assembly constituencies in February 2020. It is also the principal Opposition party in Punjab. On Vijay Rupanis resignation as Gujarat chief minister, AAP national spokesman Raghav Chaddha claimed his partys growing influence in the state had forced the BJP to take this decision. Be it Uttarakhand or Gujarat, where the AAP has entered, the BJP had to change the chief ministers. They changed the chief minister in Uttarakhand several times. After Mr Rupani resigned, Mr Chaddha had tweeted: AAP breaches BJPs citadel, wins 27 seats in Surat, captures the space of Opposition in Gujarat, dislodging ineffective Congress. BJP forced to remove its CM At the AAPs first national executive on Sunday, Pankaj Gupta and N.D. Gupta were unanimously elected as secretary and treasurer respectively. The national executive has elected office-bearers for a five-year tenure. It had elected a new 34-member executive body, which included Mr Kejriwal, on Saturday. The executive members include senior AAP leaders Manish Sisodia, Satyendra Jain, Imran Hussain, Rajendra Pal Gautam, Raghav Chadha, Atishi and Rakhi Birla, among others. Earlier this year, the partys constitution was also amended to allow a person to hold a post more than twice. The party constitution earlier said that no member will hold the same post as an office-bearer for more than two consecutive terms of three years each. After the amendment, made in January 2021, the duration of the term has been raised to five years and the bar on the number of terms for office-bearers was lifted. The CM has directed officials to prepare a master plan for protecting the two lakes from any environmental damage, while at the same time ensuring that development of the city is not hit. DC Image HYDERABAD: The state government has decided to seek more time from Telangana High Court for making its stand clear on whether or not to abolish G.O. 111. Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao held a review meeting on this matter at Pragathi Bhavan late on Sunday. Incidentally, the High Court had on August 26 set Monday, September 13, as deadline for state government to make its stand clear on G.O. 111 by way of filing a report in the court. However, as the report is not yet ready, the state government has decided to seek more time from High Court, as it needs to discuss the issue at length keeping various factors into consideration before taking a final decision on G.O. 111. The G.O. had been issued in 1996 to prevent undue industrialisation and heavy construction activities in 84 villages around Osmansagar and Himayatsagar, so as to protect the two lakes from pollution, effluents, garbage and debris. These lakes had once been the major source of drinking water supply to the twin cities. Meanwhile, the CM has directed officials to prepare a master plan for protecting the two lakes from any environmental damage, while at the same time ensuring that development of the city is not hit. Officials informed Chandrasekhar Rao that G.O. 111 covers an area spread over 1.32 lakh acres or 538 sq. km, which is almost equal to area falling within GHMC limits. The Chief Minister stated that as a comprehensive master plan with adequate green zones, sewarage network, drinking water pipelines, and wide roads has to be prepared; no hasty decision can be taken on G.O. 111. That is why the state government has decided to seek more time from Telangana High Court for taking a final decision. Nations never really fail. They get overtaken or subsumed or recede or sometimes even disappear. It is States that fail. The confusion persists because in common parlance we use the terms State and Nation interchangeably, when it should not be the case. Because they are as different as cheese and chalk. A State is an organised political community, living under a government and that is a sovereign political entity in public international law; a society having exclusive domain over a territory. A State, in most contexts is virtually synonymous with a government whose writ extends over a people and/or a territory. A nation state is a state that coincides with a nation. The term nation is a complex concept that has a variety of definitions. There are two widely accepted explanations of a nation. To some, nation refers to a shared cultural experience, such as Islam or Communism or at one time even Christianity. An organisation with no physical borders yet sharing a common bond because of shared beliefs. Kurds are a nation despite being spread across many states. In simple language, a state is one with a clearly defined and accepted border, while a nation can transcend borders. Modern India is a state of shared hopes and aspirations, as much as one of a shared perspective of history. Sometimes nationality is based on the basis of a shared or similar homeland. Indians have a State binding their diversity together, while Europe is still striving for one. We have known of failed states. History is strewn with them. The USSR probably was the greatest and most powerful of the states that failed. But the Russian nation thrives. History is mostly about the rise and fall of great and some not-so-great nations. Thats because at one time we mostly had nations whose borders kept waxing and waning. When their borders extended, they were deemed great. About a thousand years ago, arguably the greatest nation in Europe was Lithuania. The writ of the Lithuanian rulers extended over much of modern Ukraine, Poland, Germany, Russia and Sweden. Today it is just a tiny newly independent Baltic nation state. Remember Macedon and Alexanders all-conquering host? When Sweden dominated Europe, Russia hardly existed. It was the depredations of the Swedes and the Germanic states that led to the emergence of Alexander Nevsky and to the beginning of Muscovite Russia, that still is a great nation. India did not stop being a nation after the collapse of the Mauryan or Gupta or Mughal empires. It still perseveres as a nation state united by a set of values and aspirations, and even shared perspective of history. This shared perspective enables an Indian to view an Ashokan inscription with as much proprietary pride as the Taj Mahal. The only continuing civilisational nation states since the dawn of history are China and India. According to the economist Angus Maddison, from the year 0 to 1700, China and India were the worlds largest economies, each accounting from 20-25 per cent of the worlds GDP. After their descent over the next 250 years to about five per cent each of the worlds GDP in 1950, they are on the rise again. What would one say about the period of decline? Did the two nations fail? There is little dispute that the central authority in both countries weakened and even passed into the hands of foreigners. In Why Nations Fail: The Origins of Power, Prosperity and Poverty, Professors Daron Acemoglu (Harvard) and James A. Robinson (MIT) come up with an eloquent, profusely researched and extremely scholarly analysis of these repeated failures. Their book begins quite dramatically with the description of the entirely different situations of the two halves of the town of Nogales portioned by a fence to be parts of the United States and Mexico. The Nogales in Arizona thrives, while the Nogales in Sonora languishes. The climate is alike. The lay of the land is alike. The populations too are alike. Why? The answer to this lies in the way the two different societies formed during the early colonial period. An institutional divergence took place then, with the implications lasting into the present day. One system evolved to milk the land for the colonial masters in Europe, while the other evolved due to the colonisation by the settlers and for their benefit. Suggesting that if the United States did not free itself in 1783 it might have evolved differently. Like India, perhaps? Speculation aside, the book tells us that while economic institutions are critical for determining whether a country is poor or prosperous, it is politics and political institutions that determine what economic institutions a country has. Some states are structured around extractive political institutions where the institutions serve to satisfy the aspirations of a narrow elite alone. Colonialism was clearly an extractive political system. But does India still have an extractive political system? Many an economist will argue that the data suggests just this. When we see the evolving politics through this prism, we have an answer for the growth of family or clan-dominated political parties on one side, and the notable expansion of the upper classes and the growing power of family-owned businesses. Standing in sharp contrast to the nations dominated by extractive political institutions are the nations based on inclusive political and hence economic institutions. This is amply evidenced by why and what happened in England that made it the centre of the Industrial Revolution. The precursor to this was the Glorious Revolution of 1688 as a result of the overthrow of King James II which began modern English parliamentary democracy. The Bill of Rights of 1689 became one of the most important documents in Britains political history and ever since then the monarchy never held absolute political power. The consequent development of pluralistic political institutions opened new vistas of education and unleashed long dormant creative powers stifled for long by a system that conferred monopolistic extractive powers to a small class. Historical turning points such as this can lead to far-reaching consequences. The death of Mao Zedong and the rebirth of Deng Xiaoping from the living dead held in Shaunggui, a unique institution for the detention of senior Communist Party leaders in China, would easily be another. Perhaps, one day, history may become more charitable towards P.V. Narasimha Rao, who heralded the dismantling of the centrally planned state and the industrial controls central to it with just a single plainly worded administrative order. This combination of photos provided by the North Korean government on Monday, Sept. 13, 2021, shows long-range cruise missiles tests held on Sept. 11 -12, 2021 in an undisclosed location of North Korea. (Korean Central News Agency/Korea News Service via AP) Seoul: North Korea says it successfully test fired newly developed long-range cruise missiles over the weekend, its first known testing activity in months, underscoring how it continues to expand its military capabilities amid a stalemate in nuclear negotiations with the United States. The Korean Central News Agency said Monday the cruise missiles, which had been under development for two years, demonstrated an ability to hit targets 1,500 kilometers (932 miles) away during flight tests on Saturday and Sunday. The North hailed its new missiles as a strategic weapon of great significance that meets leader Kim Jong Un's call to strengthen the country's military might, implying that they were being developed with an intent to arm them with nuclear warheads. North Korean state media published photos of a projectile being fired from a launcher truck and an apparent missile with wings and tail fins traveling in the air. South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff said the military was analysing the North Korean launches based on U.S. and South Korean intelligence. The U.S. Indo-Pacific Command said it was monitoring the situation with allies and that the North Korean activity reflects a continuing focus on developing its military program and the threats that poses to its neighbours and the international community. Kim during a congress of the ruling Workers' Party in January doubled down on his pledge to bolster his nuclear deterrent in the face of U.S. sanctions and pressure and issued a long wish list of new sophisticated assets, including longer-range intercontinental ballistic missiles, nuclear-powered submarines, spy satellites and tactical nuclear weapons. Kim also said then that his national defense scientists were developing intermediate-range cruise missiles with the most powerful warheads in the world. North Korea's weapons tests are meant to build a nuclear and missile program that can stand up to what it claims as U.S. and South Korean hostility, but they are also considered by outside analysts as ways to make its political demands clear to leaders in Washington and Seoul. The North's resumption of testing activity is likely an attempt at pressuring the Biden administration over the diplomatic freeze after Kim failed to leverage his arsenal for economic benefits during the the presidency of Donald Trump. North Korea ended a yearlong pause in ballistic tests in March by firing two short-range ballistic missiles into the sea, continuing a tradition of testing new U.S. administrations with weapons demonstrations aimed at measuring Washington's response and wresting concessions. But there hadn't been any known test launches for months after that as Kim focused national efforts on fending off the coronavirus and salvaging his economy. KCNA said the missiles tested over the weekend traveled for 126 minutes along an oval and pattern-8 flight orbits above North Korean land and waters before hitting their targets. The test launches showed that the technical indices such as the thrust power of the newly developed turbine-blast engine, the missiles' navigation control and the end guided hit accuracy by the combined guided mode met the requirements of designs. In all, the efficiency and practicality of the weapon system operation was confirmed to be excellent, it said. It appeared that Kim wasn't in attendance to observe the tests. KCNA said Kim's top military official, Pak Jong Chon, observed the test-firings and called for the country's defense scientists to go all out to increase the North's military capabilities. Kim's powerful sister last month hinted that North Korea was ready to resume weapons testing while issuing a statement berating the United States and South Korea for continuing their joint military exercises, which she said was the most vivid expression of U.S. hostile policy. She then said the North would boost its pre-emptive strike capabilities while another senior official threatened unspecified countermeasures that would leave the allies facing a security crisis. The allies say the drills are defensive in nature, but they have cancelled or downsized them in recent years to create space for diplomacy or in response to COVID-19. Talks between the United States and North Korea have stalled since the collapse of a summit between Trump and Kim in 2019, when the Americans rejected the North's demand for major sanctions relief in exchange for a partial surrender of its nuclear capabilities. Kim's government has so far rejected the Biden administration's overtures for dialogue, demanding that Washington abandon its hostile policies first. The latest tests came after Kim threw an unusual parade in capital Pyongyang last week that was a marked departure from past militaristic displays, showcasing anti-virus workers in hazmat suits and civil defense organizations involved in industrial work and rebuilding communities destroyed by floods instead of missiles and other provocative weaponry. Experts said that the parade was focused on domestic unity as Kim now faces perhaps his toughest test with North Korea wrestling with U.S.-led economic sanctions over its nuclear weapons, pandemic border closures that are causing further strain to its broken economy, and food shortages worsened by floods in recent summers. WELLINGTON: New Zealand's largest city of Auckland will remain in strict Covid-19 lockdown for at least another week as a Delta variant outbreak "rumbles along", Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said Monday. Ardern said the city's two million residents needed to abide by stay-at-home orders because of the emergence of several "mystery cases" which had not yet been linked to existing clusters. "These mystery cases are still coming through and the fact we're finding them through surveillance and community testing, rather than contact tracing, is what we're concerned about," she said. New Zealand imposed a national lockdown on August 17 when the first case of the highly transmissible Delta variant was found in the community. But stay-at-home orders were lifted outside Auckland last week as it became apparent that all new cases were emerging in the city. Ardern ruled out lifting Auckland's hard lockdown before September 21 but said the city should then move down an alert level on the country's four-tier coronavirus response system. With 33 new community cases recorded in the city on Monday, Ardern said she was wary of lifting restrictions too early. "(Case) numbers are rumbling along and this has been evident in the last three days," she said. "This doesn't mean our collective efforts in Auckland are not making a difference." New Zealand is pursuing a "Covid zero" elimination strategy -- which has resulted in just 27 deaths in a population of five million throughout the pandemic. It had been free of community cases for six months before the August outbreak, with residents enjoying a near-normal domestic life alongside tight restrictions on international borders. The Delta infection prompted immediate lockdowns because of low vaccination rates, with data this week showing only about a third of the eligible population are fully jabbed. India's second-largest software services firm Infosys on Monday said it will announce its financial results for the September quarter on October 13. "A meeting of the Board of Directors of the company will be held on Tuesday and Wednesday, October 12 and 13, 2021...to approve and take on record the audited consolidated financial results of the company and its subsidiaries as per Indian Accounting Standards (INDAS) for the quarter and half year ending September 30, 2021," a regulatory filing said. The financial results and proposal for interim dividend, if any, will be presented to the board on October 13, 2021, for their approval, it added. The board will also consider the declaration of interim dividend if any, the filing said. The company will hold investor/analyst calls on October 13, 2021, to discuss the financial results for the quarter ending September 30, 2021, and business outlook, it added. Check out the latest DH videos here: Jet Airways is set to start its operations from the next financial year, the company said in a statement after being grounded since 2019. The airline was taken to the insolvency tribunal, the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT), for resolution during which Murari Lal Jalan led Jalan Kalrock consortium bought the airline. Murari Lal Jalan, lead member of the Jalan Kalrock consortium and the proposed Non-Executive Chairman of Jet Airways said, Jet Airways 2.0 aims at restarting domestic operations by Q1-2022, and short haul international operations by Q3/Q4 2022. Our plan is to have 50+ aircraft in three years and 100+ in five years, which also fits perfectly well with the short-term and long-term business plan of the consortium." The airline has already hired over 150 employees and plans to induct more than a thousand in this financial year. The airline's new Accountable Manager and acting CEO of Jet Airways, Captain Sudhir Gaur said, In its new avatar, Jet Airways will now be headquartered in Delhi NCR with its senior management working from the Corporate Office at Gurugram. However, Jet Airways will continue to have a strong and significant presence in Mumbai where it will work from its Global One office in Kurla. Jet Airways also has a state-of-the-art training centre located at Global One, which will be retained and used for in-house training for the Jet Airways team. Check out the latest DH Videos here: SpiceJet said on Monday it has entered into a settlement with CDB Aviation, a major lessor of Boeing 737 Max aircraft. The airline had stated on August 26 that it has agreed to a settlement with Avolon, another major lessor of this aircraft. In a statement on Monday, the budget carrier said that it expects to start operations of Max aircraft around the end of September 2021, subject to regulatory approvals. India's aviation regulator DGCA on August 26 lifted the ban on Boeing 737 Max planes' commercial flight operations after almost two-and-half years. On March 13, 2019, all Boeing 737 Max planes were grounded in India by the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) after the crash of an Ethiopian Airlines 737 Max plane on March 10 near Addis Ababa which had left 157 people, including four Indians, dead. Read | Section of SpiceJet employees go on strike at Delhi airport over salary issues Currently, in India, only SpiceJet airline has Boeing 737 Max aircraft in its fleet. The airline said on Monday that it has commercially agreed a settlement with CDB Aviation and "this will add to already announced settlement with Avolon and grow its fleet of 737 MAX aircraft". In its order dated August 26, 2021, the DGCA said that since the orders issued by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and the European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) in October and November last year, it "has been closely monitoring the global trend with regard to un-grounding" of 737 Max planes. A total of 34 airlines across the world have operated 1.22 lakh flights using 345 Max aircraft, since the plane was ungrounded late last year, without "untoward reporting", India's aviation regulator said. Therefore, the DGCA stated that the operation of Boeing 737 Max planes in India are permitted "only upon satisfaction of applicable requirements for return to service". Jarakabande Lake, once the refuge of animals in the eponymous reserve forest situated in northern Bengaluru, does not exist anymore. And the credit for this goes to the Revenue Department's ingenious officials who split the six-acre lake land valued at nearly Rs 100 crore into four parts and doled it out to various individuals. In the past three years, Forest Department officials made representations to several government agencies, including the Karnataka Tank Conservation and Development Authority (KTCDA) and the Revenue Department, to restore the lake land but to no avail. In 1988, the government handed over 115 city lakes to the Forest Department but took back all except five in 2010. Jarakabande Lake, spread over five acres and 36 guntas on the edge of Jarakabande Reserve Forest, was among the five lakes whose custodianship was not taken out of the department. The lake was part of Survey Number 101, which is spread over 59 acres and 25 guntas, in JB Kaval, Yelahanka. In 2013, officials said, revenue (RTC) records were "tampered with" when the state government and the Forest Department were omitted from the mutation records as the owner and custodian, respectively, in columns 9 and 11. "As per the Revenue Act, no lake land can be given to private parties. And it should not be used for any purpose other than storing water or as a wetland," a forest officer told DH and called for punishing the revenue officer responsible for the scam under section 31 of the Karnataka Tank Conservation and Development Authority Act. Another official who dug up the history of Jarakabande Lake said it was a classic case of land-grab. "There are many such cases in South Bengaluru. Revenue records were changed in a fraudulent manner, and the lake bed or buffer zone was turned into a housing layout with luxury plots, he said. A senior official in the KTCDA said they had been writing to the Bengaluru Urban deputy commissioner for the last two years requesting that the records be set right. "We raised the issue at a meeting of the state-level apex committee as well. The committee has directed the district revenue officials to set the record straight," the official told this newspaper. Bengaluru Urban Deputy Commissioner J Manjunath, who has launched encroachment clearance drives in recent times, said that the lake land had been marked as 'B' Kharab in private land. "The issue has to be examined in detail and only then can we take action. I have directed the tahsildar to look into it," he said. Check out latest DH videos here Bollywood actor and action hero Ajay Devgn left for the Maldives on Sunday to start shooting for Discovery's cult franchise 'Into the Wild with Bear Grylls starring the renowned survival expert Bear Grylls. The exact location of the shoot is not yet known. Before the 'Golmaal' star, British TV personality Grylls has hosted two Indian film personalities, Rajinikanth and Akshay Kumar. Both episodes were filmed in Karnataka's Bandipur Tiger Reserve and National Park. Grylls, 47, has also hosted Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the world-famous Jim Corbett National Park in Uttarakhand for an episode of 'Man vs Wild'. Grylls is a former Lieutenant Commander in the Royal Naval Reserve and a world-famous survival instructor and expert. He is also the youngest-ever Chief Scout of the United Kingdom and Overseas Territories. Devgn (52) has won two National Film Awards and four Filmfare Awards. He also owns Ajay Devgn FFlims, which produces and distributes films. Check out latest videos from DH In a makeshift training centre at Kabul airport, dozens of dogs that were left behind during last month's chaotic evacuations from Afghanistan have found a new home -- and new handlers. While it is unclear who the dogs belonged to, many were found in the section of the airport that was used by American forces, and some were trained to sniff out explosives, their new handlers say. They are among the remnants of the two-decade American intervention which ended with the hurried airlift of more than 1,20,000 people from Kabul as the Taliban returned to power. Also read: UN seeks $600 million to avert Afghanistan humanitarian crisis Handler Hewad Azizi, who works for a company handling security at the airport, said he went out looking for abandoned dogs as soon as the last US soldier left. "When I saw (the soldiers leaving) I went to save the dogs," he told AFP at the training centre, which faces hangars that were used for US planes and military equipment. He found 30 -- half of them in the area that was controlled by US forces. More were found in zones that belonged to former Afghan police. The dogs are now being fed, cared for and trained by Azizi and his colleagues at the security company's training centre, housed in two converted shipping containers separated by a weed-strewn strip of earth. The United States pulled its final troops out of Afghanistan on August 30, ending America's longest war just ahead of the anniversary of the September 11, 2001 attacks that prompted the US-led invasion. Hours after the last soldier left, animal rights group PETA said in a statement that 60 bomb-sniffing dogs and 60 other "working dogs" were left behind by the US forces. The group appealed to President Joe Biden "to take immediate action", warning that the dogs were "suffering in the heat without adequate access to food or water". The Pentagon quickly denied that US military personnel abandoned some of their dogs at the airport. "To correct erroneous reports, the US military did not leave any dogs in cages at Hamid Karzai International Airport, including the reported military working dogs," Pentagon spokesman John Kirby tweeted. Azizi and his colleagues are not sure about the identity of the previous owners. All they are focusing on now is how to put them back to work when the airport returns to normal. "We have done training with them to find out what they are used for exactly," he explained, adding that they have realised "they are bomb dogs". Azizi's favourite dog, Rex, a dark brown Malinois, is one of the recent discoveries. Every day, he takes Rex for a walk in a small deserted area a few metres away from three old Afghan Air Force planes. In a small stretch of land littered with bullet cases and empty bags of US military meal rations, he hides a box that smells like explosives and sends Rex to find it. Seconds later, Rex returns with the box and is given a ball to play with as a reward. "We train them to see how we can use them," explained Mohamad Mourid, a supervisor at the centre which operates under the umbrella of GAAC, the UAE-based company handling ground and security operations at the airport since last year. "We feed them, give them water, and clean them." Soon the dogs will be put to work as the airport, which shut for repairs after the evacuations, gradually reopens. Afghan women should not be allowed to work alongside men, a senior figure in the ruling Taliban said, a position which, if formally implemented, would effectively bar them from employment in government offices, banks, media companies and beyond. Waheedullah Hashimi, a senior figure in the Taliban who is close to the leadership, told Reuters the group would fully implement its version of sharia, or Islamic law, despite pressure from the international community to allow women the right to work where they want. Since the movement swept to power last month, Taliban officials have said women would be able to work and study within the limits laid down by sharia. But there has been widespread uncertainty about what practical effect that will have on their ability to keep their jobs. When the Taliban last ruled Afghanistan from 1996-2001, women were barred from employment and education. Read | India will stand by Afghans as it did in past: EAM Jaishankar The issue is of major importance to the international community and could impact the amount of aid and other assistance that is given to Afghanistan, which is in the throes of economic crisis. "We have fought for almost 40 years to bring (the) sharia law system to Afghanistan," Hashimi said in an interview. "Sharia ... does not allow men and women to get together or sit together under one roof. "Men and women cannot work together. That is clear. They are not allowed to come to our offices and work in our ministries." It was unclear to what extent Hashimi's comments reflected the new government's policies, although they appeared to go further than public comments made by some other officials. In the days following the Taliban's conquest of Kabul, Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid told reporters that women were an important part of the community and they would work "in different sectors". He also specifically included women employees in a call for government bureaucrats to return to their jobs. All-men cabinet However, the cabinet appointments announced on Sept. 7 did not include any women and there have been widespread reports of women being sent back home from their workplaces. Hashimi said the ban on women would also apply to sectors like media and banking, where women have become increasingly prominent since the Taliban fell in 2001 and a Western-backed government was installed. Contact between men and women outside the home will be allowed in certain circumstances, for example when seeing a male doctor, he added. Women should also be allowed to study and work in the education and medical sectors, where separate facilities can be set up for their exclusive use. "We will of course need women, for example in medicine, in education. We will have separate institutions for them, separate hospitals, separate universities maybe, separate schools, separate madrassas." On Sunday, the Taliban's new education minister said women could study at university, but must be segregated https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/taliban-say-woman-can-study-university-classes-must-be-segregated-2021-09-12 from men. Women have staged several protests Afghanistan, demanding that the rights they won over the last two decades be preserved. Some rallies have been broken up by Taliban gunmen firing shots into the air. Improved women's rights - more noticeable in urban centres than deeply conservative rural areas - were repeatedly cited by the United States as one of the biggest successes of its 20-year operation in the country that officially ended on Aug. 31. The female labour participation rate stood at 23% in 2020, according to the World Bank, up from effectively zero when the Taliban last ruled. Watch latest videos by DH here: An international commercial flight left Kabul on Monday, the first since the Taliban retook power last month, offering some hope to Afghans still desperate to leave the country. The capital's airport was left trashed after US-led forces finished a chaotic evacuation of more than 120,000 people, and the Taliban have since scrambled to get it operational with technical assistance from Qatar and other nations. On Monday morning, a Pakistan International Airlines jet touched down in Kabul, before making a return flight to Islamabad. Around 70 people were on the flight to the Pakistani capital, mostly Afghans who were relatives of staffers with international organisations such as the World Bank, according to airport ground staff. "I am being evacuated. My final destination is Tajikistan," said a 35-year-old World Bank evacuee, who did not want to give her name. "I will come back here only if the situation allows women to work and move freely." A 22-year-old university student said he was taking a one-month trip to Pakistan. "It's like a vacation. I am sad and happy. Sad about the country, but happy to leave for some time," he said. The resumption of commercial flights will be a key test for the hardline Islamist group, who have repeatedly promised to allow Afghans with the right documents to leave the country freely. As passengers prepared to board, airport staff went about their duties, although working under the new regime is marred by fear and confusion for women. "I don't know if we will be killed or not for working here," one of two women handling the security scanning machine told AFP. Many NATO nations admitted that they had run out of time to evacuate thousands of at-risk Afghans before the withdrawal deadline -- agreed between the United States and the Taliban. A PIA spokesman said at the weekend that the airline was keen to resume regular commercial services, but it was too soon to say how frequently flights between the two capitals would operate. Jawad Zafar, the head of operations at PIA, told AFP on Monday: "This is a great moment for me after a long time since the change of the establishment in Kabul." AFP staff observed only a handful of people on the flight from Islamabad to Kabul. Qatar Airways operated several charter flights out of Kabul last week, carrying mostly foreigners and Afghans who missed out on the evacuation. An Afghan airline resumed domestic services on September 3. "This is a big moment. We are very excited," said one airport employee. "It's a hopeful day. Maybe other airlines will see this and decide to come back." Passenger halls, air bridges and technical infrastructure were badly damaged in the days after the Taliban rolled into Kabul on August 15, when thousands of people stormed the airport in the hope of fleeing. Tens of thousands of Afghans fear reprisals for helping foreign powers during the 20-year US-led occupation, but the Taliban insist they have granted a general amnesty to everyone -- including the security forces they fought against. The Taliban have promised a milder form of rule this time, but have moved swiftly to crush dissent, including firing in the air to disperse recent protests by women calling for the right to education and work. The UN rights chief criticised on Monday the new interim government, which is drawn exclusively from loyalist ranks and counts no women. Michelle Bachelet told the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva she was "dismayed by the lack of inclusivity of the so-called caretaker cabinet, which includes no women and few non-Pashtuns". She added there was "well-founded" information showing the Taliban had gone against their commitment to a more moderate brand of government, pointing in particular to "credible allegations of reprisal killings" of former members of the Afghan national security forces. Meanwhile, Taliban co-founder and now deputy prime minister Abdul Ghani Baradar released an audio statement saying he was alive and well after news of his supposed demise went viral on social media. Check out the latest DH videos here: Prime Minister Imran Khan-led Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf and Opposition Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz on Monday emerged as the two major parties and having a close fight in the polls conducted in the 39 Cantonment Boards across the country, a key contest at the local level ahead of the 2023 General Elections, according to media reports on Monday. Polling was held on Sunday in the Cantonment Boards in Pakistan. The polling began at 8 am and continued until 5 pm without any break, according to the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP). Cantonment Boards are semi elected bodies tasked to take care of civic work in cantonments. Though the result has not been declared officially, media reports showed the ruling Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) emerging on the top, closely followed by Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) of former premier Nawaz Sharif. Geo News reported that according to the preliminary, unofficial results, PTI obtained 63 seats, closely followed by PML-N which won 59, while independent candidates bagged 52 seats. However, Dunya News reported that PTI got 60 seats while independents secured victory on 55 seats. Both channels reported that among other parties, Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) got 17 seats, Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) 10, Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) seven and Awami National Party (ANP) and Balochistan Awami Party (BAP) got two each. PTI won the most number of seats in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) 18 followed by 28 in Punjab, 14 in Sindh and three in Balochistan, Geo News reported. PML-N won big in Punjab, bagging 51 seats, managing only five in KP, three in Sindh and none in Balochistan. PPP was surprisingly unable to defeat PTI in Sindh, instead tying with them for 14 seats. The remaining three seats were won in KP, meaning none were won in either Punjab or Balochistan. Independent candidates scored big in Punjab, bagging 32 seats. They secured nine in KP, seven in Sindh and four in Balochistan. MQM won all of its 10 seats in Sindh, whereas JI won five in Sindh and two in Punjab. ANP won two seats in KP, whereas BAP won two in Balochistan. There are 219 wards in 42 Cantonment Boards in the country, but polling was not held in Kamra, Cherat and Murree Gallies cantonments because either the candidates were elected unopposed or polling postponed. All leading political parties including the ruling PTI, PML-N and Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) as well as various nationalist and religious parties contested the key elections, which was the third major electoral contest since the 2018 general elections. Also read: Pakistan now accuses India of training Islamic State, comes out with new dossier on 'atrocities' in J&K Earlier, the PTI won general elections held in Gilgit-Baltistan in 2020 and Pakistan-Occupied Kashmir (PoK) this year. Since all parties contested individually, the outcome will provide them a fair barometer to monitor the popular mood and prepare accordingly for the next general elections scheduled to be held in 2023. Earlier, the ECP rejected a plea by the PTI to deploy the Army inside and outside the polling stations for maintaining law and order and instead it asked to deploy police and paramilitary Rangers and Frontier Constabulary (FC) troops for keeping peace. Meanwhile, PTI's leader and information minister Fawad Chaudhry said that the PTI "proved" it is the "only party" that enjoys support across the country and in every constituency. "The real contest today was with the independents. (Pakistan) Peoples Party and Noon League's (PML-N) standing has been exposed," he said. By Alisa Odenheimer Israel is making preparations to ensure it has sufficient vaccine supply in case a fourth round of Covid-19 shots is needed, the countrys top health official said on Sunday. We dont know when it will happen; I hope very much that it wont be within six months, like this time, and that the third dose will last for longer, Health Ministry Director General Nachman Ash said in an interview with Radio 103FM. Israel, which has mainly used the Pfizer Inc.-BioNTech SE vaccine, has so far inoculated about 2.8 million people with a third dose after beginning a drive to administer booster shots in August. Health officials have said the effects of the initial Covid-19 shots weaken five months after inoculation, making boosters necessary. The US and UK also plan to start offering booster shots later this month, while Europe is also considering third doses. That comes as the World Health Organization pleads for a moratorium on third shots. Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said last week that governments should wait at least until the end of this year so that poorer countries can get better access to vaccines. Also Read | What will the next six months of the Covid-19 pandemic bring? In addition to those who have received boosters, about another 2.7 million of the 7 million eligible Israelis have had two jabs and about 500,000 have had just one shot. Almost 1 million people havent had any vaccine doses. The country, once a front-runner in the global race to move on from Covid-19, became a pandemic hot spot in early September. Following the spread of the delta variant over the summer, Israel had the worlds highest per-capita infection rate in the week through Sept. 4, according to figures compiled by Johns Hopkins University. Ash said last week that the booster shots appear to have halted the surge in infections. The rate of severe cases per 100,000 of the population among unvaccinated people is far higher than among those who have received two vaccine doses, showing that even with waning immunity, shots provide some protection against serious illness. Asked about a report that Israel had promised Pfizer that it would use the companys vaccine exclusively, Ash said that the government had made no such undertaking. He said that people over the age of 18 getting their first shots are currently being given the Moderna Inc. vaccine. Check out latest DH videos here Japan's Foreign Ministry urged its citizens on Monday to stay away from religious facilities and crowds in six Southeast Asian nations, warning of a possible attack. The ministry said it had obtained information that there are increased risks such as suicide bombings. The warning applies to Japanese citizens in Indonesia, the Philippines, Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand and Myanmar. The advisory was met with puzzlement in several of those nations, which said they had no knowledge of such a threat, or details from Japan as to the source of its information. Tanee Sangrat, spokesman for Thailand's Foreign Ministry, said Japan had not revealed the origin of the warning and that the Japanese Embassy had no further details other than to say it was not specific to Thailand. Thai security agencies have no information of their own about a possible threat, said deputy police spokesman Kissana Pathanacharoen. Similarly, the Philippine Department of Foreign Affairs said it was not aware of any information about an elevated threat level, while Indonesian Foreign Ministry spokesman Teuku Faizasyah denied that any warning was even sent to Japanese citizens there. In the short advisory, Japan urged its citizens to pay close attention to local news and information and use caution "for the time being, but did not give a specific timeframe or other details. Japan's Foreign Ministry refused to provide the source of the information or say whether it was shared with other countries. It said the advisory had been sent to its embassies in the countries concerned to be distributed to Japanese citizens. Check out the latest DH videos here: By Michelle Cortez For anyone hoping to see light at the end of the Covid-19 tunnel over the next three to six months, scientists have some bad news: Brace for more of what weve already been through. Outbreaks will close schools and cancel classes. Vaccinated nursing home residents will face renewed fears of infection. Workers will weigh the danger of returning to the office as hospitals are overwhelmed, once again. Almost everyone will be either infected or vaccinated before the pandemic ends, experts agree. Maybe both. An unlucky few will contract the virus more than once. The race between the waves of transmission that lead to new variants and the battle to get the globe inoculated wont be over until the coronavirus has touched all of us. I see these continued surges occurring throughout the world, said Michael Osterholm, director of the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy at the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis, and an adviser to US President Joe Biden. Then it will drop, potentially somewhat precipitously, he said. And then I think we very easily could see another surge in the fall and winter of this year, he added. Read | Has Covid changed the way we eat? With billions of people around the world yet to be vaccinated and little chance now of eliminating the virus, we can expect more outbreaks in classrooms, on public transport and in workplaces over the coming months, as economies push ahead with reopening. Even as immunisation rates rise, there will always be people who are vulnerable to the virus: Newborn babies, people who cant or wont get inoculated, and those who get vaccinated but suffer breakthrough infections as their protection levels ebb. The next few months will be rough. One key danger is if a vaccine-resistant variant develops, although it is not the only risk ahead. In the coming months, Bloomberg will explore the pandemics long-term impact on economies and markets, the pharmaceutical industry, travel and more. Were going to see hills and valleys, at least for the next several years as we get more vaccine out. Thats going to help. But the challenge is going to be: How big will the hills and valleys be, in terms of their distance? Osterholm said. We dont know. But I can just tell you, this is a coronavirus forest fire that will not stop until it finds all the human wood that it can burn. Covid compared to other pandemics The five well-documented influenza pandemics of the past 130 years offer some blueprint for how Covid might play out, according to Lone Simonsen, an epidemiologist and professor of population health sciences at Roskilde University in Denmark. She is an expert on the ebb and flow of such events. While the longest global flu outbreak lasted five years, they mostly consisted of two to four waves of infection over an average of two or three years, she said. Covid is already shaping up to be among the more severe pandemics, as its second year concludes with the world in the middle of a third wave and no end in sight. Its possible that the virus known as SARS-CoV-2 wont follow the path set by the pandemics of the past. After all, it is a different, novel and potentially more transmissible pathogen. And with a death toll of more than 4.6 million people so far, its already more than twice as deadly as any outbreak since the 1918 Spanish flu. Also Read | Centre submits fresh guidelines in Supreme Court on Covid-19 death certificates Despite brutal initial waves and relatively high vaccination rates, countries including the US, UK, Russia and Israel are flirting with record numbers of cases. Immunisation is helping to moderate incidences of severe cases and deaths, but surging infections mean the virus is reaching the young and others who remain unvaccinated, leading to rising rates of serious disease in those groups. Nations where vaccination has been sparse including Malaysia, Mexico, Iran and Australia are in the midst of their biggest outbreaks yet, fueled by the contagious delta strain. With the virus still spreading out of control in vast swathes of the planet, another novel variant could quite feasibly emerge. History shows the commonly held belief that viruses automatically get milder over time to avoid completely wiping out their host population is wrong, according to Simonsen. Although new mutations arent always more severe than their predecessors, pandemics can in fact get more deadly during the pandemic period, as the virus is adapting to its new host, she said. Brace for More Covid Surges Early in the Covid outbreak, there was good reason to hope that vaccines would provide long-term protection, much like childhood shots that stop diseases such as polio. Coronaviruses have a proof-reading mechanism that fixes the in-born errors caused when the virus replicates, reducing the likelihood of variants emerging when the virus is transmitted from one person to another. The number of global cases has been so vast, however, that mutations are occurring anyway. With the pandemic, we have this enormous force of infection, said Kanta Subbarao, director of the WHO Collaborating Center for Reference and Research on Influenza at the Peter Doherty Institute for Infection and Immunity in Melbourne. That has counterbalanced the ability of the virus to proof-read. As a result, Covid could be like the flu, requiring regular vaccine top-ups to remain effective as the virus evolves. Some researchers say SARS-CoV-2 is poised to become completely resistant to the first generation of vaccines. A study from Japan, which has yet to be published or peer-reviewed, suggests that potentially dangerous mutations in the delta variant are already being picked up in a global database used to track such developments. Reports of current strains breaking through vaccinations or triggering higher fatality rates have not held up to rigorous scrutiny thus far. This is a scenario we hope wont happen, Simonsen said. My God, we would have to do it all again. Other even grimmer possibilities for the coming months include the emergence of a novel influenza virus or another coronavirus making the leap from animals into humans. As long as there are animal reservoirs of coronavirus there is still the possibility that another zoonotic coronavirus could emerge in the future, Subbarao said. There is that in the background, the risk of still dealing with this one when another one emerges. How will Covid end? What seems clear is that the pandemic will not be over in six months. Experts generally agree that the current outbreak will be tamed once most people perhaps 90 per cent to 95 per cent of the global population have a degree of immunity thanks to immunisation or previous infection. The key element should be vaccination, they say. Without vaccination, one is like a sitting duck, because the virus will spread widely and find most everybody this autumn and winter, said Simonsen. More than 5.66 billion doses of vaccine have been administered around the world, according to Bloombergs vaccine tracker. But the success of rollouts in some regions, such as the European Union, North America and China, masks the failure in others. Most countries in Africa have only given enough vaccine to cover less than 5% of their populations with a two-dose shot. India has administered enough to cover only about 26 per cent. The pandemic will end at different times in different places, just as previous outbreaks have, said Erica Charters, associate professor of the history of medicine at Oxford University and the coordinator of a project on how epidemics end. Governments will have to decide how much of the disease they are comfortable living with, she said. Approaches vary. While some countries are still shooting for zero Covid cases, the world is unlikely to eradicate the virus completely. Nations like Denmark and Singapore, which have managed to keep cases relatively contained, are already moving toward a post-pandemic future with fewer safety restrictions. Others, such as the US and UK, are opening up even as infection numbers near records. Meanwhile, China, Hong Kong and New Zealand have vowed to keep vigilantly working to eliminate the virus locally. As a result, they are likely to be among the last places to leave behind the disruption wrought by walling out the pandemic. The end process is not going to be uniform, Charters said. The pandemic is a biological phenomenon, but its also a political and social phenomenon. Even now we have different approaches to it. Its likely to be messy, leaving a lasting legacy for years to come. Until then, most of us will need to brace for many more months in the pandemics grip. We have to approach it with our eyes wide open and with a great deal of humility, Osterholm said. Anybody that thinks we're going to be over this in the next few days or a few months is sorely mistaken. Check out latest DH videos here International advocacy organisation Global Citizen, in partnership with Wizcraft, on Monday announced that Mumbai, India will be represented in the Global Citizen Live broadcast - a combination of festivals, events, and performances airing from locations on six continents on September 25. The event, billed as a day of "global unity", will call on world leaders, philanthropists and corporations to "defend the planet and defeat poverty, to take action on climate change, famine, and vaccine equity," a statement from the organisers read. Renowned personalities participating from Mumbai include megastar Amitabh Bachchan, spiritual leader Sadhguru, actors Anil Kapoor, Farhan Akhtar, Hrithik Roshan, Ayushmann Khurrana, Arjun Kapoor, Ananya Panday, Bhumi Pednekar, Janhvi Kapoor, Dia Mirza, Kiara Advani, Riteish Deshmukh, Sara Ali Khan, Sonakshi Sinha, and musicians Badshah, Amit Trivedi, Ajay- Atul and Tanishk Bagchi. The event will be held at the Gateway of India. Aaditya Thackeray, Minister of Tourism and Environment, Maharashtra said the Global Citizen Festival will boost awareness about climate change. "When it comes to climate change, we are running out of time to reverse the damage caused. I am confident that the Global Citizen Festival will steer a mass movement on the world stage to fight climate change now," Thackeray said in a statement. Global Citizen and Wizcraft first joined hands in 2016 for the Global Citizen Festival India, which took place in Mumbai. Recently, the organisations also came together for Vax Live: The Concert to Reunite the World, which urged global citizens to provide support to people when the Covid-19 cases were on the rise in India in April. "Five years ago, we held our first Global Citizen festival in Mumbai. We were amazed at the reaction and warm reception we received from the hundreds of thousands of global citizens, the city of Mumbai and the Maharashtra state. Global Citizens across India are an essential part of our movement, and we are proud to return to Mumbai for Global Citizen Live," Liza Henshaw, COO, Global Citizen said. Andre Timmins, Co-Founder Wizcraft said they are thrilled and honoured to work with the Global Citizen team again. "The historic moment that we created together in November 2016 with Global Citizen Festival India moved our country to a new level of advocacy and an understanding of how one voice, one action can make a difference. "We are so pleased to have the opportunity to be working with the team again to bring Mumbai and India to the world with this momentous special edition in September. There is an exciting show being planned at our beautiful and iconic Gateway of India, for Global Citizens everywhere," Timmins further said. Also joining hands to support the initiative for the third successive time is Venkateshwara Hatcheries' Venkys, as lead partners for the Global Citizen Live Campaign in India. Check out latest videos from DH: The Ministry of Civil Aviation (MoCA) and Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) have granted conditional exemption from Drone Rules, 2021 to the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) and Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay (IIT-B). The permission has been granted to ICMR for conducting experimental Beyond Visual Line of Sight (BVLOS) vaccine delivery in Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Manipur, and Nagaland upto a height of 3000 meters using drones. Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay (IIT-B) has received drone use permission for research, development and testing of drones in its own premises. This exemption shall be subject to the terms and conditions of the said airspace clearance and shall be valid for a period of one year from the date of approval of the said airspace clearance or until further orders, whichever is earlier, a press statement said on Monday. Union Minister for Civil Aviation Jyotiraditya Scindia on Saturday had launched the first of its kind Medicines from the Sky project at Vikarabad in Telangana state under which drugs and vaccines will be delivered using drones. On 25 August 2021, the Ministry of Civil Aviation notified the liberalised Drone Rules, 2021 to usher in an era of supernormal growth while balancing safety and security considerations in drone operations. Check out latest videos from DH: The Supreme Court on Monday expressed its displeasure over the Union government's refusal to file a detailed affidavit, disclosing use of Israel's software by its agencies or not, for alleged snooping of citizens, saying the beating around the bush would not help in the matter. A bench of Chief Justice N V Ramana and Justices Surya Kant and Hima Kohli reserved its order on interim directions to be issued on a batch of petitions for independent probe into use of spyware, while telling Solicitor General Tushar Mehta that he has two-three days time to re-think over the stand taken by the Centre. Mehta, at the outset, said the government, after having considered the issue, was of the view that use of a particular software can't be debated by filing an affidavit as it involved question of national security and might alert a potential terrorist or terror organisations to develop counter measures. Maintaining that the government has nothing to hide, he reiterated its previous stand that a committee of domain experts, unconnected to the government, may be asked to examine the matter. Read | Won't file detailed affidavit: GoI to SC on Pegasus row "Whether a particular software was used or not can't be a subject matter of affidavit, since it has its own pitfalls," he said. The court, however, said that it had already on August 17 clarified that it does not want government to disclose anything which compromises national security. "We were only expecting a limited affidavit since there are petitioners before us who say their rights (of privacy) have been infringed.you had to say whether it was done lawfully or unlawfully," the bench said. The court cited a statement by the Minister concerned before Parliament. Had an affidavit been filed, we would have known where we stand on the subject and if any inquiry has been ordered, the bench pointed out, adding beating around the bush would not help. Senior advocate Kapil Sibal, appearing for journalist N Ram submitted that it is unbelievable that the government said it would not tell the court about the use of spyware. "Government says filing an affidavit is detrimental to national security but it is in fact detrimental to the process of law. It has already accepted use of Spyware in Parliament," he said. Senior advocate Shyam Divan, appearing for another petitioner asked the court to direct Cabinet Secretary to file a disclosure affidavit as the government should be concerned if an external agency used the Spyware and if it was by government agency itself, then it was absolutely unconstitutional. Representing another petitioner, senior advocate Rakesh Dwivedi said the court should itself constitute a committee of experts to examine the matter. Senior advocate Meenakshi Arora demanded setting up an SIT. Senior counsel Colin Gonsalves said a retired or sitting judge of the Supreme Court should head the probe, and the government, which is a wrongdoer, can't be relied upon with the task. He also claimed that the government has been using these malware in a widespread manner as a Parliamentary committee report. On July 18, an international investigative consortium reported that many Indian ministers, politicians, activists, businessmen and journalists were among the 50,000 numbers that were potentially targeted by the Israeli company NSO Groups phone hacking software. A batch of petitions including those by advocate M L Sharma, CPI(M) MP John Brittas, N Ram, former IIM professor Jagdeep Chokkar, Narendra Mishra, Paranjoy Guha Thakurta, Rupesh Kumar Singh, S N M Abdi and Editors Guild of India were filed for independent probe into matter. Watch latest videos by DH here: Tamil Nadu Assembly on Monday passed a bill to exempt students of the state from appearing in the National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (NEET) for admissions into medical and dental courses, four years after a similar bill passed in the Assembly was rejected by the Union Government. The Bill says admission to undergraduate medical courses will be held based on the marks scored by students in their plus-two exams as was the case before NEET came into existence in 2017. The Bill will now be sent to the President for his assent, even as the BJP government at the Centre strongly supports the conduct of NEET. Tamil Nadu Admission to Undergraduate Medical Degree Courses Act, 2021 was supported by all political parties, including principal Opposition AIADMK, barring the BJP, whose legislators staged a walkout. Tabling the Bill, Chief Minister M K Stalin declared that the DMK governments legal battle against NEET has begun. The notion that NEET will improve the standard of medical education is wrong. Competitive exams alone cannot judge students, Stalin said, adding that NEET has taken the lives of in Tamil Nadu, the land of social justice". As Stalin tabled the Bill, MLAs from the principal Opposition party, AIADMK, staged a walkout led by their leader Edappadi K Palaniswami who accused the DMK of failing students by giving a false promise that NEET will be done away. However, AIADMK members returned to the House for the passage of the bill. Also read: Tamil Nadu passes bill on Right to Sit for those working in establishments It is evident from the Commission's report that NEET is not an equitable method of admission. The experience of the past four years of NEET has shown that the exam has shattered the hopes and dreams of Tamil Nadu students aspiring for admissions to medical and dental courses, particularly, students from the socially and economically backward classes, the Bill said. Stalin added that the Justice Rajan committee concluded that NEET places students from economically weaker sections at a disadvantageous position. Rejecting allegations by Palaniswami on NEET, Stalin told the Assembly that NEET was never held in Tamil Nadu as long as J Jayalalithaa and M Karunanidhi were alive. The first exam was held in 2017. The then AIADMK government never took any step to stop the conduct of the exam, Stalin charged. The Commission was appointed by the DMK government to study the impact of NEET on students from economically backward sections of the society. The Bill was passed a day after a 19-year-old died by suicide hours before he was to attend the exam. The Bill said the experience of the past four years of NEET has shown that the exam has shattered the hopes and dreams of Tamil Nadu students aspiring for admissions to medical and dental courses, particularly, students from the socially and economically backward classes. The extra examination which students are compelled to face, other than the qualifying examination has caused a huge financial burden to the students from socially and economically backward classes. It festers inequality, as it favours the rich and more privileged class of society who are able to afford special coaching, apart from pursuing Class XII. It virtually barricades the underprivileged social groups from medical and dental education, the Bill said. The Bill said admissions to medical courses based on plus-two marks will ensure social justice, uphold equality and equal opportunity, and protect all vulnerable student communities from being discriminated against. The Commission also concluded that if NEET continues for a few more years, the health care system of Tamil Nadu will be very badly affected and there may not be enough doctors for being posted at Primary Health Centres or Government Hospitals and that the rural and urban poor may not be able to join the medical courses. NEET is a highly emotive issue in Tamil Nadu with 14 young students ending their lives either due to fear of appearing for the exam or due to not landing in a medical college despite scoring high marks. While the DMK blames the AIADMK for allowing the exam in Tamil Nadu, the tables have turned now. AIADMK, the principal Opposition party, pinned the blame for the 19-year-olds death squarely on the ruling party which promised to abolish NEET once it came to power. Check out the latest DH Videos here: India on Monday stressed on creating an enabling environment in Afghanistan for the international community to send humanitarian aid for the people of the war-torn country, even as it refrained from making a specific pledge in response to an appeal by the United Nations. The UN urged the world to raise $606 million to respond to the unfolding humanitarian situation in Afghanistan, where the Taliban returned to power through a military campaign across the country taking advantage of the withdrawal of troops by the United States and its NATO allies. UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres announced a $20 million allocation from the UNs Central Emergency Response Fund to provide humanitarian aid to the country. The US pledged $64 million to support the UN to respond to the crisis in Afghanistan. Today, I wish to underline that in the face of a grave emerging situation India is willing to stand by the Afghan people, just as in the past, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar said, virtually addressing a meeting convened by the UN Secretary General on the humanitarian situation in Afghanistan. To ensure that this happens speedily and effectively, we believe that the international community must come together to create the best possible enabling environment. The UN warned that the food supplies could run out in Afghanistan by September 30 and, according to an estimate by the World Food Programme, nearly 14 million people in the country were already on the brink of starvation. Among the challenges that the current situation poses is that of efficient logistics. It is therefore essential that humanitarian assistance providers are accorded unimpeded, unrestricted and direct access to Afghanistan, Jaishankar said as he represented the Government of India in the meeting. Once relief materials reach that country, the world will naturally expect a non-discriminatory distribution of humanitarian assistance across all sections of the Afghan society, the External Affairs Minister said. Only the United Nations has the capacity to monitor such endeavours and reassure donors. As the picture becomes clear in respect of the legitimate concerns I am confident that the world will step forward and assist the Afghan people in their hour of need. He also referred to Indias $3 billion investment in the development projects in Afghanistan over the past 20 years. The United Nations Development Programme recently assessed that there is an imminent threat of poverty levels rising from 72 to 97% in that country, Jaishankar noted. The UN Under-Secretary for Humanitarian Affairs, Martin Griffiths, told the conference that the Taliban had provided assurance that the workers of the aid agencies would be provided freedom of movements and safe passage in Afghanistan. But Linda Thomas Greenfield, the US envoy to the UN, said that the aid agencies could do their job only if the Taliban upheld its promises. She also said that all the aid operations needed to be independently monitored, reported upon and made secure. Watch latest videos by DH here: Covid is on its way to becoming just another virus A fire broke out in the parking area of a housing complex in Maharashtra's Thane city on Monday, gutting eight vehicles, a civic official said. No person was injured in the incident that took in the residential complex located on Pokhran Road No. 2, Thane Municipal Corporation's regional disaster management cell (RDMC) chief Santosh Kadam said. The fire broke out in one of the vehicles at around 4.30 am and spread to other vehicles parked there, he said. Four cars and as many two-wheelers were destroyed in the blaze, the official said. After getting the message, local firemen and a team of the RDMC rushed to the spot and doused the blaze in about one-and-a-half hours, he said. The cause of the fire was yet to be ascertained, he added. Check out DH's latest videos The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has summoned AAP National Secretary Pankaj Gupta in a money laundering case next week, prompting the Arvind Kejriwal-led party to describe it as a "love letter" from BJP's "frontal organisation" and accuse it of attempting at "character assassination" after failing to "electorally assassinate" them. The AAP sought to project the ED notice as an after-effect of BJP's uneasiness over the AAP's growing popularity in states like Punjab, Uttarakhand, Goa and Uttar Pradesh, where Assembly elections will take place early next year. Sources said the agency has asked Gupta to appear "in person" before its investigators on September 22 in connection with cases filed against Punjab MLA and former AAP leader Sukhpal Singh Khaira, who is facing allegations related to donations of around $1 lakh which was raised on AAP's behalf by Khaira in the United States as well as those drug trafficking and fake passport. Khaira was elected to Punjab Assembly on an AAP ticket in 2017 but left it to form Punjab Ekta Party (PEP). He re-joined Congress in June. The ED notice posted on Twitter by AAP leader Raghav Chadha did not mention in which case Gupta has been summoned. Delhi Chief Minister Kejriwal led the AAP fightback with a tweet, "in Delhi they tried to defeat us with IT Department, CBI, Delhi Police - but we won 62 seats. As we grow in Punjab, Goa, Uttarakhand, Guj - we get an ED notice! The people of India want honest politics- these tactics of BJP will never succeed, they will make us stronger," Kejriwal tweeted. In Delhi they tried to defeat us with IT Dept, CBI, Delhi Police - but we won 62 seats. As we grow in Punjab, Goa, Uttarakhand, Guj - we get an ED notice! The people of India want honest politics- these tactics of BJP will never succeed, they will make us stronger https://t.co/JjWy7MQfH4 Arvind Kejriwal (@ArvindKejriwal) September 13, 2021 AAP described the ED notice to Gupta as an attempt to stifle its growth as the BJP has been scared of its electoral success and growing popularity of its leader Kejriwal. In an unending quest to persecute AAP the ENFORCEMENT DIRECTORATE has been pressed into service this time by a rattled BJP that fears the rise of Arvind Kejriwal.#ModiFearsKejriwal https://t.co/NOfAgAcez1 pic.twitter.com/DTg9nFlb69 Raghav Chadha (@raghav_chadha) September 13, 2021 Chadha said the AAP has received a "love letter" from BJP's "favourite agency", which is acting as a "frontal organisation" of the saffron party. Addressing a press conference here, Chadha said, "when they cannot electorally assassinate AAP, they are trying to at character assassination. The BJP and Modi are scared of the rising graph of the AAP and popularity of Kejriwal. All agencies are now unleashed after us. The ED is acting like a frontal organisation. BJP will soon start appointing office bearers like President and General Secretary for ED." The ED should be given an office space just beside the BJP headquarters, he said mockingly as he alleged that the central investigating agencies have now become "political revenge seeking departments" of the BJP and it was happening whenever elections are near. "When the surveys showed that AAP will be doing good in the upcoming Assembly elections and the Congress is not doing good, the BJP has pressed into service all agencies seeking political revenge and character assassination...The BJP has realised that AAP is not like dead Opposition Congress," he said. He said the AAP is not scared of the BJP tactics and would courageously face the investigators as it has nothing to hide. Watch latest videos by DH here: With the controversy over "love and narcotic jihad" remark by Pala Bishop Joseph Kallarangatt refusing to die down, the Congress and the BJP on Monday engaged in a fresh round of verbal sparring, trading charges against each other over the issue. Addressing devotees during a church celebration at Kuravilangad in Kottayam district last week, the Bishop had said that as part of the "love jihad", non-Muslim girls, especially those belonging to the Christian community, were largely being converted "after trapping them in love, exploiting and misusing them for destructive activities like terrorism." While the Congress charged the BJP with trying to derive political mileage by dividing society along religious lines, using the Bishop's statement, the BJP leaders met the senior priest at his diocese in Pala expressing solidarity with him and alleged that the Congress and CPI(M) were taking positions favouring extremist elements creating troubles, instead of addressing the concerns raised by him. Read | Political war continues over 'narcotic jihad' remark Alleging that that "deliberate attempts" were being made to destroy the communal harmony of the state through various social media platforms, Leader of the Opposition in the Kerala Assembly V D Satheesan shot off a letter to Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, urging him to launch a probe into the efforts by the forces trying to divide people sowing seeds of communalism through Facebook, WhatsApp and Telegram, using fake IDs. Talking to reporters in Malappuram, he accused the ruling Left of remaining a "mute spectator" over the issue. In an apparent reference to the Bishop's allegations, the senior Congress leader also said that if any community organisations or their leaders had complained or expressed concern about any particular incident, it should also be investigated. Strongly backing the Bishop over his remarks, BJP's national executive member P K Krishnadas and State Vice President A N Radhakrishnan met the senior priest at the Pala diocese on Monday and accused the CPI(M) and Congress of "whitewashing" the activities of "extremist forces" in the state. Instead of launching an investigation and taking appropriate legal action if any extremist forces engage in "Love and narcotic jihad" in the state, as alleged by the Bishop, the Chief Minister and the LoP took steps favouring such forces, Krishnadas alleged. Talking to various television channels, Goa Governor P S Sreedharan Pillai said he had discussed the matter with the Pala Bishop and the concerns raised by the priest has to be addressed. Pillai, who enjoys cordial relations with various church groups in the state, indicated that he would take up the matter with the Centre. In his letter to the Chief Minister, Satheesan, said it was a matter of grave concern that efforts are being made, both covertly and openly, to destroy the religious harmony and social cohesion of Kerala. He alleged that there was a conscious effort to create large-scale divisions, rivalries and mistrust among different religions in the state. "Social media platforms are used for this. Messaging apps such as WhatsApp and Telegram, as well as Facebook and YouTube, are being misused by some to carry out misinformation campaign", he said and urged the Chief Minister to seriously investigate and punish such "elements". "We support all good efforts to preserve the peaceful atmosphere, religious harmony and social cohesion of Kerala", he said. KPCC president K Sudhakaran urged the state government to convene an all-party meet and a meeting of community religious leaders to resolve the issues and end the BJP's "political exploitation" by creating tension between communities. Meanwhile, the Nair Service Society (NSS), an outfit of Kerala's forward Nair community, on Monday expressed concern over the incidents of forced religious conversion taking place in many parts of Kerala after luring girls into the trap of love. In a statement, NSS general secretary G Sukumaran Nair said both the state and the central governments should take steps to curb those engaging in such inhuman anti-national activities. He, however, said it is not correct to give any religious or communal colour for such activities. Nair also called for collective efforts by all sections to end the tendency of putting the country into danger by creating religious hatred and division in society. Meanwhile, Joseph Perumthottam, the Archbishop of the Changanasserry archdiocese of the Syro-Malabar Church, today supported the Pala Bishop, urging the government to end the menace of "narcotic terrorism" in Kerala. In an article in the Church organ 'Deepika' daily, he said many families have collapsed after their girls who fell into the trap of love were misused for drug trafficking, religious terrorism, smuggling and prostitution. He said with the Taliban taking control of Afghanistan, the possibility of Kerala becoming a hub of drug smuggling is very high and urged the government to take steps to end "narcotic terrorism" in the state. The controversial "love and narcotic jihad" remarks by Kallarangatt triggered ripples in Kerala's political circles as the BJP accused the CPI(M) and the Congress of supporting jihadis, while the latter warned against "Sangh Parivar agenda" to destroy Christian-Muslim harmony in the state. Amid mounting criticism, the Pala Diocese, under the the prominent Syro-Malabar Church, on Saturday had come out with an explanation, saying that the Bishop did not intend to hurt anyone and his remarks were not against any particular community. Urging all communities to view seriously the actions of fringe elements indulging in radical and anti-social activities using the names and symbols of religion, the diocese also shared the message of going forward unitedly ending all misleading propaganda. While the Congress had said the bishop crossed limits, the BJP supported him by urging the society to discuss the statement. Condemning Bishop Kallarangatt's statement, the CM on Friday said those who hold responsible positions should refrain from making statements causing divisions in society. Watch latest videos by DH here: On the first death anniversary of Lok Janshakti Party (LJP) founder and former Union Minister Ram Vilas Paswan, his son and LJP Chief Chirag Paswan tried to iron out differences by inviting leaders from all parties in Patna except Chief Minister Nitish Kumar who skipped the programme. Leaders from various parties gathered on this occasion except Nitish Kumar or any top Janata Dal (United) leader who chose to skip this event. This has fuelled speculation about the JD(U) leaders maintaining a distance from Chirag Paswan. It is speculated that Nitish Kumar wants to maintain a distance from LJP's Chirag Paswan under any circumstances. The big question is whether relations can turn so sour in the course of political enmity that old relations are sidelined. Chirag's uncle and Union Minister Pashupati Paras of the LJP (Paras) faction attended this programme and paid tributes to his brother Ram Vilas Paswan. He said that even if he had not been invited, he would still have come. Though Nitish Kumar paid tributes to Ram Vilas Paswan, he did not attend the event hosted by Chirag Paswan. Political experts are viewing this feud from different viewpoints. Political critic Ajay Kumar says, "Even if Nitish Kumar had attended this programme, he would not have suffered any political loss but instead he would have benefited. This is the beginning of a wrong tradition in politics." Manoj Chaurasia, who knows the politics of Bihar from close quarters, says, "Nitish Kumar's absence from this event gives a clear indication that he is not interested in mending ties between the JD(U) and the LJP but wants to further maintain a distance from LJP." He said the JD(U) became the third-largest party in the 2020 Bihar Assembly elections. JD(U) leaders hold the LJP responsible for their party's poor performance so Nitish Kumar does not seem to be in any mood to forgive LJP leader Chirag Paswan. "JD(U) believes that Chirag's strategy and politics are responsible for reducing the party's position in Bihar," says Manoj Chaurasia. On the other hand, by attending this event, BJP leaders have expressed that even though LJP (Paras) Chief Pashupati Kumar Paras has been made a Union minister, the saffron party will continue to support Chirag Paswan as well. Chirag has been continuously targeting Chief Minister Nitish Kumar and even alleged that the JD(U) was involved in breaking the LJP into two factions. Political experts consider this gesture as revenge by the LJP. The LJP has split into two factions, one led by Chirag Paswan and the other by Pashupati Paras. Both the factions claim to represent the real LJP. Prime Minister Narendra Modi wrote a two-page letter on the first death anniversary of Ram Vilas Paswan and BJP leaders participated in the programme organized in Patna. This indicates that the BJP will remain on friendly terms with Chirag Paswan. It will be interesting to see the strategy planned by the JD(U) and LJP against each other in the coming days. Check out the latest DH videos here: Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath's use of the word 'Abba Jaan' (father in Urdu) during a public meeting in Kushinagar district has stoked a massive controversy, with opposition leaders decrying what they said an attempt to "communally polarise" the forthcoming Assembly polls. Adityanath had made the remarks in an apparent reference to alleged appeasement policy adopted by the rival political parties. "2017 ke pahle kya sabhi ko ration milta tha?....Abba Jaan kehne wale sara ration hajam kar lete the," (did everyone get ration before 2017?...Those who say Abba Jaan used to digest all the ration), Adityanath said while speaking at the meeting on Sunday. The reference, apparently was to the alleged preference given to the Muslims by the previous regimes of the Samajwadi Party and BSP in the state. The remarks drew a sharp rebuke from the opposition party leaders, who termed it 'communal' and demanded action against the chief minister. "BJP has nothing to show to the people.....the state government has done precious little for the common people and as the polls get nearer, the saffron party leaders are trying to divide the people along communal lines,", said a senior SP leader. BJP leaders, however, defended the remarks saying that Adityanath was only trying to make it clear that the state government did not differentiate on the basis of religion. Recently, Adityanath, in a sarcastic remark, called the SP patron Mulayam Singh Yadav as the SP president Akhilesh Yadav's 'Abba Jaan'. Adityanath's jibe came when his attention was drawn to Akhilesh's remarks that he (Akhilesh) was a "more devout" Hindu than the BJP leaders. "If it is so then why did his (Akhilesh) Abba Jaan declare that even a bird would not be able to enter Ayodhya?," Adityanath had said while referring to the assertion of Mulayam, who was then the chief minister of UP when the karsevaks threatened to demolish the Babri Masjid in Ayodhya in 1990. A furious Akhilesh had warned Adityanath to be careful in his choice of words. "The CM should be careful in choosing his words....I will too start saying things about him (Adityanath) if he does not stop," he had said. Check out the latest DH Videos here: While huge crowds turning up for funerals of militants in the Valley had become a norm till Covid-19 pandemic began in 2020, on Sunday, thousands of people participated in the last rites of a police officer killed by ultras. Sub Inspector (SI) Arshid Ashraf Mir of remote Kalmoona, Vilgam in north Kashmirs frontier Kupwara district, was shot dead by a pistol-borne militant when he had taken a person who had been detained for a medical check-up to a medical facility at Khanyar in old city Srinagar. Also Read Police officer shot dead by militants in Srinagar Reports and eyewitnesses said as the body of Mir reached his native place people in hordes came out to mourn the killing. People were shocked. Everyone mourned his death as women were wailing when the body reached the village, an eyewitness told DH over phone. He was the son of the soil and we are in shock and grief over his killing. Even if a militant is killed, we mourn. After all, it is a human being who loses his life and his family has to bear the brunt for whole life, he added. A post-graduate in Botany, the slain officer, had been an outstanding student during his studies and got appointed just two years back in the police. At his funeral, his father Mohammad Ashraf Mir had one question to his killer: I want to know the fault of my son. What wrong he could have done in his two years of service? Senior Mir, who is devastated by the death of his elder son, yearns to see his killers brought to justice. Before the Covid-19 pandemic began last March, huge crowds had been turning up for funerals of militants in Kashmir. But most of the times, the funerals of policemen killed on duty were attended by family, friends and relatives only due to the fear of militants. An estimated 70,000 Kashmiris work in the police department and despite being a much-hated institution in the popular imagination, it finds acceptance in a deeply layered society. Strong family ties, personal relationships with members of the public, and a strong community sense ensures sympathy and support to Kashmiris serving in the police. A senior police officer said that the impact of killing policemen has been leading to resentment among the public against the militants. No one is happy when an unarmed policeman is killed. Militants do not own attacks where they think their promoted narrative would suffer setback due to public sentiment, he said. The officer said the public support, though not as desired, was still extended to the police. There are also people who appreciate our work despite negative perceptions. Many militants cousins and fathers or brothers are in the police, which is a stark reality, he added. Check out the latest DH Videos here: The recent spurt in militant activities in Rajouri and Poonch districts of Jammu region indicate that Pakistan was trying to revive militancy in the twin border districts. In the last three months, five major encounters have been reported in Rajouri district in which seven militants and three army soldiers were killed. In neighbouring Poonch district, five militants were killed along the Line of Control (LoC) while trying to infiltrate while sticky bombs were also recovered for the first time there last month. The August 13 attack on the house of a BJP leader in the heart of Rajouri town in which his two-year-old nephew was killed and seven family members injured, was another indication of return of the militancy in the region. Sources said sleeper cells of militants are also active and trying to reactivate their over-ground workers (OGWs) in the twin districts which share border with Pakistan-occupied-Kashmir (PoK) with Bhimber, Mirpur, Kotli and Rawlakote on the other side. All this indicates that the militant handlers of Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), Hizbul Mujahideen, Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) and some smaller outfits which are mostly their offshoots are trying to revive militancy in Rajouri and Poonch districts, they said and added militant commanders operating in Kashmir were desperately trying to re-establish their network in Rajouri and Poonch. Also read: Massive turnout at police officer's funeral reminder of Kashmirs complex reality A senior police officer said Muslim-majority districts of Jammu region -- Pir Panjal (Rajouri, Poonch) and Chenab region (Doda, Kishtwar) -- were on the radar of Pakistan to revive a lethal phase of militancy in the region. In mid1990s, the region was one of the most disturbed places in J&K as Pakistan had succeeded in motivating youth there to pick up arms. There is still a sense of belongingness with the Kashmir cause among the people of the region and Pakistan wants to convert it into an armed struggle like the 1990s, he revealed. The officer said the Mughal Road which connects Rajouri-Poonch with the valley had become a major concern for the security forces and intelligence agencies. Militants infiltrating from Pakistan into Rajouri and Poonch find it easy to reach the Valley via Mughal Road. As a large number of trucks move on this road, it becomes easier for militant handlers to even transport weapons he added. Check out the latest DH Videos here: Buoyed by its success in facilitating Talibans return to power in Afghanistan, Pakistan on Sunday sought to turn up the heat on India by publishing a dossier on Kashmir and accused Prime Minister Narendra Modis government in New Delhi of running five training camps for the Islamic State. Ahead of the United Nations General Assembly, Pakistan came out with a 131-page dossier compiling its oft-repeated allegations against India about atrocities, war crimes, extrajudicial killings, arbitrary arrests and torture as well as rapes and molestation of women in Jammu and Kashmir. Prime Minister Imran Khans government not only reiterated its allegations against the Government of India and its armed forces on human right violations in J&K, but went on to allege that New Delhi was training the Islamic State terrorists in camps in Gulmarg, Raipur, Jodhpur, Chakrata, Anupgarh and Bikaner. Read: How Pakistan won the war in Afghanistan The activities of the Islamic State (IS) or the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) in South Asia and Central Asia returned under scanner in the region, after one of its offshoot Islamic State Khorasan Province or the ISIS-K was accused by the United States of carrying out an attack near the Hamid Karzai Airport in Kabul on August 27. It killed over 110 people, including US soldiers as well as the Afghans, who had thronged the airport and the adjoining areas, scrambling to fly out in the wake of the Talibans takeover in Afghanistan on August 15 last. New Delhi has not yet officially responded to the dossier published by Islamabad. A source in New Delhi, however, dismissed the dossier as nothing but yet another example of Pakistans baseless propaganda against India. The source also rubbished it as preposterous and outlandish Pakistans new allegation against the Modi Government about training the IS terrorists in India. Khans National Security Advisor Moeed Yusuf joined Pakistan Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi and Human Rights Minister Shireen Mazari to release the dossier in a news-conference in Islamabad. Yusuf said that the dossier on Indias "atrocities" on J&K was a tribute by Pakistan to Syed Ali Shah Geelani, who had passed away in Srinagar on September 1 after leading the separatist movement against India in J&K for decades. Qureshi said that most of the information in the dossier had been sourced from documents released by the international human rights organisations and media. He said that Pakistan would share the dossier with the international community to "expose" India, particularly its "atrocities and human rights violations" in J&K and its "support" to terrorist organisations. We expect the United Nations to compel the Government of India to allow free access to Special Procedure Mandate Holders of the UN Human Rights Council for independent investigations of human rights violations, said the Pakistani Foreign Minister. The Prime Ministers of Pakistan and India are expected to address the UN General Assembly in New York on September 24 and 25. The dossier published by Pakistan accused 1,178 officers and personnel of the security forces of India of committing 3,432 cases of war crimes in J&K. Another source in New Delhi told DH that Islamabads new allegation about the Modi Governments "role in supporting" the IS was intended to embitter Indias relations with the US and Russia. Islamabad in the past blamed India for several terror attacks in Pakistan, including the recent ones, which maimed and killed citizens of China, ostensibly to take advantage of the slide in New Delhis relations with Beijing over the military stand-off in eastern Ladakh. Check out the latest DH videos here: The rescue operations after the Air India Express flight crash at Kozhikode International Airport in Kerala last year received much appreciation owing to the involvement of local people. But now there are reasons to raise eyebrows over the rescue operations, as the investigation report into the crash pointed out that the airport fire and rescue crew engaged in the rescue operation lacked skills even to open the cockpit emergency exit door. Several such serious safety lapses and non-compliance of recommendations of a similar mishap at Mangaluru in 2012 have been highlighted in the Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau's investigation report on the Boeing 737-800 aircraft crash at Kozhikode on August 7. There were even attempts to suppress the lapses. The crash of the flight from Dubai under the Vande Bharat Mission claimed 21 lives and injured 165, many of whom are yet to recover completely. Aviation sector sources said that while non-adherence of SOP by the pilot have been highlighted as the probable cause for the flight crash, the investigation team headed by Captain S S Chahar, a formerly designated examiner, also highlights several other lapses like the lack of adequate training of the Aircraft Rescue and Firefighting (ARFF) personnel. According to the investigation report, it was found that the ARFF personnel at the airport had not undergone aircraft familiarisation training on B737 aircraft and were not aware of how to open the cockpit emergency exit door. It is evident from the statement of witnesses and personnel involved in the fire and rescue activity that considerable effort and time were spent to gain access to the cockpit for rescuing the pilots, the report says. The report also points fingers at an attempt to mislead the investigation. The head of the fire department, as well as the ARFF crew, told the investigation team that no familiarisation training for ARFF personnel was given. However, records of Aircraft Familiarisation Training were later provided to the investigation team stating that training was being regularly conducted over the years. This is contrary to the written statements and depositions by the head of the fire department and fire crew earlier, the report says. The investigation team also pointed out that the Kozhikode and Mangalore airports that share similar weather phenomena, topography and operational constraints were still not having Runway Centreline Lights despite many earlier accidents and incidents, including the 2012 mishap at Mangalore. Kozhikode International Airport director R Mahalingam told DH that the recommendations of the investigation report were being implemented. Operation of wide-bodied aircraft to Kozhikode, which was suspended following the mishap, might be restored only after fulfiling the requirements. However, land acquisition for the expansion of the airport is still unresolved due to differences between the AAI and the local people. Check out the latest DH videos here: While the row over 'narcotic jihad' remark of a bishop in Kerala was aggravating with political parties allegedly trying to take advantage of the communally sensitive issue, four nuns have staged protest against a Christian priest for allegedly making anti-Muslim remarks. Nuns of a convent at Kuravilangad in Kottayam district, who earlier staged demonstration seeking action against rape accused Jalandhar bishop Franco Mulakkal, had raised their voice against the alleged hate speech of a priest. The nuns lead by Anupama K told reporters that the priest said during a service in the chapel at the Sr Francs Mission convent that the community members should boycott commercial enterprises run by Muslim community members. The nuns said that they raised objection against the speech and walked out of service. Read | 'Narcotic Jihad': Govt 'mute spectator', says Congress Meanwhile, the row over 'narcotic jihad' remark of bishop of Pala in Kottayam district, Mar Joseph Kallarangatt, witnessed further political developments on Monday with a delegation of BJP leaders calling on the bishop offering support and BJP leader turned Goa governor P S Sreedharan Pillai and BJP Kerala state president K Surendran too backing the bishop. Congress leaders alleged that the BJP was trying to take political advantage by creating a communal divide and accused the left-front government of not initiating any steps to curb it. Opposition leader V D Satheesan alleged that the left front could be having dubious political motives in remaining as spectators of the ongoing communally-toned debates over the 'narcotic jihad' remark. Congress leaders also flayed the Goa governor as well as Union Minster of State for External Affairs V Muraleedhran for backing the bishop for the communally sensitive remark. Though police petitions were filed against the Pala bishop for the communally sensitive remark that jihadis were trying to destroy non-Muslims through 'love jihad' and 'narcotic jihad', the police was yet to register any case. A police official in Kottayam said that preliminary probe into the petitions were progressing and only on the basis of that a decision would be taken on whether to register a case or not. Watch latest videos by DH here: Hailing Tamil as the "language of Gods," the Madras High Court has said temple consecrations across the country should be done reciting Tamil hymns composed by saints like Azhwars and Nayanmars, besides others like Arunagirinathar. A bench of Justice N Kirubakaran, since retired, and Justice B Pugalendhi, in a recent order also said that in our country "it is made to believe that Sanskrit alone is Gods' language." In various countries and religions, different types of beliefs were in existence and the places of worship also change according to the culture and religion. "In those places, only the local language was stated to be used for doing heavenly service. However, in our country, it is made to believe that Sanskrit alone is God's language and not any other language is equivalent. No doubt, Sanskrit is an ancient language with enormous ancient literature. The belief is spread in such a way that only if the Sanskrit Vedas are recited, the Gods will listen to the prayers of the devotees," the bench said. The court was hearing a petition seeking consecration of a temple in Karur district in the state seeking direction to government authorities, including the Commissioner, Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowment to conduct consecration/ Kudamuzhukku/ Nanneerattu function of Arulmigu Pasupatheshwara Swamy Tirukovil by chanting Thirumuraikal, Tamil Saiva Manthiram (hymns) and also songs of Saint Amaravathi Aatrangarai Karurar. "Tamil is not only one of the earliest ancient languages of the world but also a 'language of Gods'. It is believed that Tamil language is born out of pellet drum which fell from Lord Shiva while he was dancing. Another School of thought is that Lord Muruga created Tamil language." "As per mythology, Lord Shiva presided over the first academy (First Tamil Sangam). It is believed that Lord Shiva played 'Thiruvilayadal' to test the knowledge of Tamil poets. The above would only mean that Tamil language is connected with Gods. When it is connected with Gods, it is a Godly language. Such a Godly language has to be used while performing Kudamuzhuku," the court said. The judges noted every language spoken by the people is God's language. "Man cannot create language. The languages are in existence for centuries together and passed on from one generation to the other generation. There can only be an improvement in the existing language and there cannot be any creation of language," they added. "The petitioner seeks for performing Kudamuzhuku in a particular temple by reciting Tamil verses. However, it is not only for that temple but throughout the country, all the temples should be consecrated by reciting Tamil Thirumurai and other hymns composed by Saints like Alwargal and Nayanmargal, apart from Pattinathar, Arunagirinathar etc," the bench noted. In an apparent reference to the two Dravidian parties-- the DMK and the AIADMK, the court said "even the policy makers who have been ruling the state from the year 1967 onwards are also interested in making use of Tamil in all the fields." If Tamil hymns cannot be used in the temples located in Tamil Nadu, they can be used nowhere else. The court pointed out at the saying that Tamil has been developed by Alwars (Vaishnavite saints) and noted that even as on today, at the holy Tirumala Hills in Tirupathi, during the Tamil month of Margazhi (December-January), only "Thirupavai", rendered by Vaishnavite saint Andal is recited in praise of the presiding deity. "Even according to Bhagavat Geetha, Lord Krishna stated that he manifests himself in the month of Margazhi. Thus, God Thirumal would like to hear Tamil Thirupavai during the month of Margazhi which he is fond of. When Vaishnavism gave importance and prominence to Tamil hymns, Saivism equally gave importance to Tamil, due to the availability of many kinds of literature, especially Bakthi literature." "If God could not understand Tamil, how was it possible for die-hard devotees who were committed to worshiping of Lord Shiva, Lord Thirumal, Lord Muruga etc., to have composed so many hymns in praise of them. Therefore, the theory that God understands only one language cannot be believed," the court said. The court further said that as far as the scientific evidence available Sanskrit language is concerned, the age is first Century BC. Though it is stated the language is in existence for more than 3000 years and passed on orally, it is only hypothetical as proof is not available. However, it is also one of the ancient languages which is required to be preserved. "However, Tamil has got scientific evidence to prove its antiquity. Therefore, it cannot be said that only one language alone is God's language and other languages are not," it said. Sadly the estampages of Tamil inscriptions taken by the British are not properly preserved and many of them are lost or damaged. It is also stated that many precious palm leaf manuscripts containing Tamil literature were burnt or thrown into river, the court said. It credited Tamil scholar U Ve Swaminatha Iyer for being responsible for retrieving and preserving the palm leaf manuscripts and Tamil materials. "But for him, many of the precious valuable literature could not have been saved," the bench said. Check out DH's latest videos Employees working in shops and establishments in Tamil Nadu, especially those in textile and jewellery showrooms, can now claim their Right to Sit while at work. The Tamil Nadu Assembly on Monday passed a bill that makes it mandatory for establishments to provide seating facilities to all employees. With the passage of the Bill, Tamil Nadu will be the second state in India to legalise Right to Sit after Kerala. The Bill which was tabled last week was passed by voice vote in the Assembly on Monday. Also read: CM M K Stalin introduces Bill seeking exemption from NEET for Tamil Nadu students The bill to amend the Tamil Nadu Shops and Establishments Act, 1947, was moved by Minister for Labour Welfare and Skill Development C V Ganesan. The Bill noted that persons employed in shops and establishments in the State are made to stand throughout their duty time resulting in varied health issues. Considering the plight of the employees who are on their toes throughout their duty time, it is felt necessary to provide seating facility to all the employees of the shops and establishments, the Bill said, adding that the issue was placed before the State Labour Advisory Board meeting on September 4, 2019, which was approved. Also read: Explained | Why is Tamil Nadu seeking exemption from NEET? The Tamil Nadu Shops and Establishments (Amendment) Act, 2021 envisages providing suitable seating arrangements for all employees so that they make take advantage of any opportunity to sit in the course of their work and thereby avoid on their toes situation throughout the working hours. Thousands of employees in textile and jewellery showrooms stand for long hours as they cater to customers. The lack of seating arrangements for them has been a major issue that has been highlighted every now and then. Check out latest videos from DH: An audit by a central agency has found the use of Pusa bio-decomposer, a microbial solution for stubble management, highly effective, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal said on Monday, and urged the Centre to ask neighbouring states to distribute it for free among farmers. The Delhi government had experimented with the solution, prepared by scientists at the Indian Agricultural Research Institute here last year and, had also got a survey done by the Development Department to ascertain its effectiveness. Farmers in 39 villages had used the bio-decomposer on 1,935 acres of land to convert stubble into manure, he said. "The results were encouraging. We approached the Centre's Commission for Air Quality Management (CAQM) with the survey report so it can be implemented in other states as well. The commission asked us to get an audit conducted by a third party," Kejriwal said at an online press conference. The city government engaged WAPCOS, a consultancy firm of the Union Ministry of Jal Shakti, to conduct the audit. The agency included 79 farmers of 15 villages in four districts in the survey. "The central agency has clearly stated in its report that the farmers in Delhi are happy with the use of the bio-decomposer. The results are very encouraging," Kejriwal said. Ninety per cent of the farmers claimed that the solution turned stubble into manure in 15-20 days. Also, the content of carbon in the soil increased by 40 per cent, nitrogen 24 per cent, bacteria seven times and fungi three times. Sprouting of wheat also increased by 17-20 per cent due to improved soil fertility, the chief minister said. "Around 50 percent of the farmers acknowledged that the use of the bio-decomposer reduced the consumption of Diammonium Phosphate, a fertilizer, from 46 kg per acre to around 40 kg per acre and the wheat production increased by 8 percent," he said. The chief minister said stubble burning in neighbouring states in October is a major factor behind the high level of air pollution in Delhi, but "farmers are not at fault". "Governments are at fault because they had to offer a solution and they could not provide one," Kejriwal said, adding Delhi has the answer to the problem. "We appeal to the Centre to ask the states to distribute the bio-decomposer free of cost among farmers to stop them from burning stubble," he said. Kejriwal said he would call on the Union environment minister with the audit report and request his personal intervention in the matter. Former Union environment minister Prakash Javadekar had last year said Pusa bio-decomposer will be tried out in some areas of Punjab, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh, and if the technique is found successful, it will be expanded to more areas. Farmers say there is a small window of 10-15 days between paddy harvesting and sowing of wheat and they burn stubble as it is a cheap and time-saving method to manage the straw and prepare their field for the next crop. Last year, the share of stubble burning in Delhi's PM2.5 pollution had risen to 40 per cent on November 1. Watch latest videos by DH here: With a topical message of 'Stay Strong Afghanistan', Solapur-based youth Anand Bansode has scaled Mount Elbrus. Mount Elbrus is the highest and most prominent peak in Russia and in Europe. Bansode now has the rare distinction of being the only one from Maharashtra to have scaled this majestic peak twice. Mount Elbrus is a very challenging mountain, Bansode told DH over the phone from Solapur, on his return. The first time he scaled Mount Elbrus was on July 17, 2014, while now he has done it again on August 17, 2021 - thanks to his team - 360 Explorer. Mount Elbrus is situated in the western part of the Caucasus and is the highest peak of the Caucasus Mountains. Mount Elbrus stands 18,510 feet tall - and the mountains of Elbrus comprise two summits, both of which are dormant volcanic domes. Anand, now 35, had a tough journey during his mountaineering career, but he made it possible through sheer determination and hard work. "While we were climbing, we came across what was happening in Afghanistan. I just wrote the message - 'Stay Strong Afghanistan'....perhaps it was apt...It is a unique country and I have some friends there," said Anand, who works on sustainable development goals (SDGs). Despite having an inferiority complex about his physique and not being able to communicate properly, he had the dream of climbing the highest peak in the world, Mount Everest. Anand achieved his dream with his immense willpower while living in poverty and gazing into the eyes of his poor parents and emerged into the list of the people who climbed Mount Everest. In 2015. he was on his fifth phase of the 'World Peace Seven Summit Expedition' in Alaska (USA) for climbing the highest mountain in North America when he got a message from India that his father had passed away. His father was the one who made him climb all the mountains. His father used to work as a mechanic and repaired punctured tyres his whole life. On his return to India, Anand had a cervical injury that confined him to bed for several months. Several of his vertebrae were damaged and doctors told him that he would not walk again. Anand was broken physically, mentally and financially. It was the darkest time in his life but his girlfriend Akshaya stood by him and they decided to get married while he was in the same condition. In January 2016, without any ceremony, both got married by reading the Indian Constitution preamble at one of the orphanages in Solapur. But the fear of his physical disability stopped his mountaineering activities. He somehow lost his weight and overcame his fear in 2020. Today, this Solapur lad has become an inspirational speaker, trainer and even gave a speech at the United Nations headquarters in 2017. He has played the Indian national anthem on guitar on top of four mountains. He has also entered the Limca Book of Records, India Book of Records and High Range Book of World Records. Check out the latest DH Videos here: It was late in the evening. I was standing on the banks of the River Cauvery in Biligundlu, near Hogenakkal Reserve Forest. Beautiful, majestic Arjuna or Terminalia arjuna trees (Holematthi in Kannada, Neer Matthi in Tamil) adorned the banks. Rocky outcrops lined with grasses formed a small island around which water flowed glistening in the evening sun. With gentle wing beats, a river tern approached, scanning the water, its brilliant yellow beak lit by the evening sun. I followed the tern with my binoculars. The tern plunged into the river, caught a fish, and flew away. I was walking along the riverine forest to document flora and fauna along the Cauvery. That was two decades ago. Earlier this year, our team began travelling along the Cauvery to study riverine birds, focusing on the globally threatened river tern and black-bellied tern. Our journey began near Mettur Dam and its massive Stanley reservoir. We recorded birds and habitat at every half a kilometre at the bank of Cauvery. In contrast to my earlier experience, unpleasant scenery stretched along the river. Hardly any natural banks remained along this stretch. Natural vegetation remained in small pockets, while non-native eucalyptus, subabul, prosopis, water hyacinth, and Ipomea carnea proliferated the banks. Sewage flowed into the river in many places, and many solid waste management units were situated along the river. Chicken wastes were generously dumped to feed the gaping hungry mouths of African catfishes in several aquaculture ponds. Numerous brick kilns, factories, burial grounds, and dumping yards thronged the banks, where electronic and plastic wastes were burned. They say, "civilisations are born at the river bank." Walking a few kilometres along the river, we can see how they were buried as well. We mapped features within one kilometre on either side of the river using Google Earth and field survey for about 400 km in the Tamil Nadu part of the Cauvery and 150 km along the northern distributary, Kollidam. Our findings were appalling and worrying. There were 21 barrages and dams, about 95 water pumping stations, some pumping units drilled right in the middle of the river, and water siphoned off day and night through pipes to faraway places. Nearly 50 large sewage drains, about 480 brick kiln factories, 74 sand mining locations (old and active, big and small), 20 eucalyptus plantations along the banks or even in river beds (especially from Karur to Tiruchirappalli). All this in only half the length of the Cauvery River. Recently, the Karnataka High Court dismissed the PIL against the Cauvery Calling project, even saying that "planting trees in barren land is not a crime" and going on to appreciate the effort initiated by Isha Outreach Foundation. As an ecologist working along the Cauvery, this order is more disturbing than the sights I witnessed along the river. If we want to clean and restore this river, there is a lot more to do rather than mere tree planting along the banks. We are not talking about planting a few hundred tree saplings; the target is to plant 242 crore trees in a third of the Cauvery basin. Social activist Nityanand Jayaraman has clearly articulated the detrimental impact of this kind of planting for various other habitats, such as the arid and semi-arid regions where planting trees would deplete groundwater. A riverine ecosystem consists of trees, scrubs, grasses, sedges, marshy areas and various other microhabitats and not just trees. Studies by scientists from the Ashoka Trust for Research in Ecology and the Environment (ATREE), Bengaluru, have already shown that tree planting along rivers will not save the river, just as tree planting in some ecosystems can have negative impacts on hydrology. It is important to focus on stopping sand mining and deforestation in the catchment areas and on ecological restoration of the riparian and floodplain ecosystem, which includes many different components such as sandbanks, riparian grasslands and swampy vegetation, shrubby and riverine natural vegetation. Blind, large-scale tree planting along the entire river will have disastrous impacts on all these natural attributes, destroying riverside habitats of species such as terns, waders, crocodiles, and otters. People engaged in large-scale tree planting do not understand ecological restoration. Restoration requires a clear understanding of what plant species should be planted, and where. For instance, we should not convert riverine grasslands, sandbanks, and riparian vegetation into tree plantations. Every habitat is unique. Nature education and outreach are important for nature conservation. Scientific concepts and research outputs should be communicated to everyone - from schoolkids to policymakers - preferably in the language they understand. What the recent Karnataka HC order indicates is that it is time scientists, subject experts, and educators also seriously reach out to the members of the judiciary. We need to create awareness about the difference between mere tree planting and ecological restoration and the basic biology of wildlife like peafowl and domestic animals, such as cows. The only hope for the common citizen in a democratic country is our judiciary. It is imperative that they are well informed about our precious natural world's key issues and concepts. Kaatrum Kadalum Punalume Nan (I am the wind, I am the sea, I am the river) sang the great Tamil poet Subramania Bharathi. To conserve and protect nature, it is important to feel oneness between us and nature. On ground nature conservation needs everyone's help, participation, and action. Organisations such as Isha Outreach Foundation, with a spiritual bent, can sensitise the public to respect the water itself and create an emotional connection to rivers and other water bodies. The 1,900 temples and 60 major industries marked on Google Earth along the Kaveri and Kollidam rivers can be their target groups. Since Isha Foundation is a reputed organisation and people do dance to their tune, this could result in a cleaner river. Community groups with relevant expertise can take up other aspects such as ecological restoration in catchment areas and floodplain ecosystems, integrated watershed management, sand-mining mafias, better sewage treatment, and solid waste management along the river by stronger regulations and implementation of laws in force. This may not be as easy as planting trees along the banks and returning to our homes, not bothering even to monitor whether the saplings survived or not. Conscientious persons who care about the dying, crying Cauvery would follow sensible and scientific methods to revive it. Tree planting is easy; cleaning up the other mess is not. (The writer is an Ecologist with Nature Conservation Foundation (NCF), Mysore, working on threatened birds and their habitats) Disclaimer: The views expressed above are the author's own. They do not necessarily reflect the views of DH. Theres no dispute that Ganesha is the most worshipped Hindu deity. Whether one is a Shaivite or Vaishnavite, Jain or Buddhist, Ganesha appeals to all. And aside from idols, the Elephant God is now also artistically depicted on lamps, calendars and pendants, and he adorns T-shirts, keychains, candle-holders, coffee mugs, etc. Drawings and sketches of him in new forms and designs show an explosion of human creative imagination. His birthday Ganesh Chaturthi is also the most widely celebrated of our festivals. But is Ganeshas popularity only in India? Is it only amongst Indians in India and those outside India in countries such as Singapore, Malaysia, the US and UK, Germany, Australia, etc., where there are large Indian populations? Sculptures of Ganesha have been found across the world, from Asia to the Americas, though in some places, his depictions differ from what Indians in India are used to seeing. In Thailand, hes worshipped as Phra Phikanet, a deity of fortune and the remover of obstacles. The logo of the Department of Fine Arts, Thailand, is Lord Ganesha. Thailand also boasts of having the largest standing bronze idol of Ganesha. In Cambodia, he is known as Prah Kenes. Prior to the Khmer period, i.e., before the ninth century, Ganesha was flat-bellied, standing, and without the snake and mouse, but later, during the 12th century, the idol was seated, with the big belly and a snake around the neck. Even in Tibetan Buddhism, hes represented as the deity of wealth, but he also is represented in Tantric Form as the fierce and red Maha Rakhta. The tantric form is also found in Indonesia, where Ganesha can be seen adorned with skull ornaments, right from the headdress to the pedestal. Indonesia, though a Muslim-majority country, reveres Ganesha. In Indonesian culture, Ganesha was born with the elephant head. In 1998, the country issued a 20,000-Rupiah currency note with an emblem of Ganesha. Perhaps the only currency in circulation in the modern era that carries an emblem of a god. Several South and South-East Asian countries had trade links with India. Hence, Ganesha also become a traveller along with the peoples of these countries. Mongolia, China and Japan also embraced Ganesha once, but today he flourishes only in Japan. In Mongolia, he was called Totkhar-our Khaghan, and in China he was Kuan-shi tienor Ho Tei, the large-bellied God of Happiness. In Japan, hes known as Kangi-ten, Vinayaka-ten, Binayaka-ten, Ganapatei, etc. Kangi-ten is often represented as an elephant-headed male and female pair. The Japanese even today worship Ganesha and Ganesha Chathurthi is celebrated with much fervour and devotion, just like in India. One can understand Ganeshas popularity in South and South-East Asia, China, Japan and even Persia. He was popular throughout Central Asia, in Iran and Syria, and in Afghanistan, wherefrom Gandhari, the wife of Kaurava king Dhritrashtra, came. The foray of Islam in Afghanistan is only 1300 years old. It was only around the 10th century that the Hindu Shahi kings who ruled Afghanistan were defeated by Mahmud Ghazni and the Islamic empire started. Most of the temples and monasteries in the Hindu-ruled land were destroyed. Only some remnants remain today. Even to this day, Ganesha idols belonging to 4-5th century are currently housed and guarded at Dargah Pir Ratan Nath Ji Mandir, Kabul. With the current situation in Afghanistan, will the people preserve him or will he preserve the people? But how did Ganesha reach the Americas? How, indeed, did Indians? Had Indians explored the Americas thousands of years ago? Have we wrongly credited Christopher Columbus with having discovered America? The Mayan civilization, which comprised south-eastern Mexico, all of Guatemala and Belize, and the western portions of Honduras and El Salvador, started around 2600 BC and collapsed around 900 AD, has many references to Hindu culture and Hindu gods. Mexicos famed Mayan archaeological site Chichen Itza has similarities to Indian temples. For one, Chichen Itza has 1,000 columns -- just like the 1,000 pillars in the temples of Rameshwaram, Madurai, Srirangam, Chidambaram, Warangal, etc. Similarly, alien figurines have also been found in ancient Indian temples. Did Indians have contacts with the Mayan civilization? According to Mayan legend, the Pyramid of the Magician, as its now called, at Uxmal, Yucatan Peninsula, Mexico, was built by the magician god Itzamna in one night. Sounds familiar? The Palace of Maya, built by the Pandavas at Indraprastha, was built by Mayasura in one night. Statutes of Ganesha, Shiva, Hanuman are said to have been excavated at Uxmal, Campeche, Gautemala, Honduras, Peru and El Salvador, areas that encompassed the Mayan civilisation. What is it about the elephant-headed, pot-bellied, snake-for-a-belt, mouse-riding Hindu god that has endeared him to so many cultures around the world? Sergei Loznitsa's extraordinary reconstruction of Joseph Stalin's funeral in the documentary State Funeral (available on Mubi.com) is a study of many things. Filmed across the Soviet Union for over forty hours, the material offers a disturbing insight into the intimate relationship between dictators and the societies that produce them. It throws up clues about why large numbers of people remain indifferent to horrific crimes committed by dictatorships. History bears out that continued and shrill ideological propagandawhether of the Left or the Rightcreates interdependence between people and the very same dictators at whose hands the people suffer, directly or indirectly. State Funeral is an artefact of the past as much as it is an observation of the contemporary. Though confined to the last rites of Stalin, on a broader level, the film offers us troubling and prescient insights into the psychology of societies in the thrall of dictators. Unaccompanied by voiceover narration or talking heads, the footage captures faces of thousands of mourners lined up in an orderly procession, filing past Stalin's coffin. Many of them gazing into the camera and weeping, an array of apparatchiks delivering deadening speeches, deifying the dead leader and the party. Footage of scenes of ceremonial mourning in town after town, city after city, loudspeakers carrying emotional voices urging people to gather in town squares produces a surreal atmosphere. The people gathered seem, at times, not human but zombies or puppets strung on strings. In her review of the film, Sheila O' Malley writes, "for those who find it hard to comprehend why, for example, North Koreans erupted into a frenzy of public mourning in 2011 after the death of Kim Jong Il, who wonder whether or not all that weeping and wailing was really real, understanding how propaganda works is essential." The history of crimes committed by Stalin and the Soviet Communist Party has been publicly known for some time now. With the exception of party loyalists, few question the authenticity of these accounts. Such revelations have made airy dismissals of incarceration, fake trials, killings and starvation deathsonce labelled "bourgeois propaganda"less easy. A note at the end of the documentary gives an idea of the extent of these crimes: "According to historical research, over 27 million Soviet citizens were murdered, executed, tortured to death, imprisoned, sent to Gulag labour camps, or deported during Stalin's rule. A further estimated 15 million starved to death." But State Funeral is not about Stalin's crimes. It is about the soulless cultures produced by totalitarian regimes and embodied in their leaders. The film nudges viewers to contemplate the deeper societal conditions that facilitate the emergence of dictators. Once such figures take hold of popular imagination, their legacies tend to endure long after the progenitors are gone. The film asks one to consider how the psychological effects of continuous exposure to propaganda can be undone. It asks one to think about the hypnotic spells demagogues cast on people, leaving a lasting imprint on the minds of people. In an interview at the end of State Funeral, Loznitsa makes several significant observations. "The thought I wanted to express in this film is simple," he says: "Stalin is allegorical of all these people, who have a little Stalin in them, who share all these outlooks, and who compose little bricks of this apparatus of totalitarian human destruction." People, Loznitsa goes on to suggest, follow like "mice follow the piper, the one who plays the pipe, to their doom." A systematic erasure of individual conscience is an important way of producing a collective hypnosis-like state. Dictatorships, past and present, have dehumanised people. There are many ways to render a person non-human. The core of this debilitating agenda lies in intimidating and subjecting dissidents to the harshest penal strictures. This includes long years in prison following flimsy or trumped-up charges. In his book, Between Two Fires: Truth, Ambition, and Compromise in Putin's Russia, journalist Joshua Yaffa writes about Perm-36, a notorious Gulag prison launched in 1943 to jail those Stalin perceived as enemies of the state. The Gulag camps, Yaffa observes, "amounted to a death sentence." Nor is there anything special about Stalin's brand of authoritarianism. Dictatorships are global, and dictatorial tendencies can take hold even in democracies. "In that sense, this film is not about the past. It is about how seductive this form of power is in general, including for the masses, who are magnetised by this form and are, at the same time, sacrificial animals to this form," says Loznitsa in the interview. In India, there has been an alarming escalation in the number of people imprisoned for political reasons. Most of them, implicated in the Bhima Koregaon and northeast Delhi violence cases, face outlandish charges under the draconian Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act. The seriously ill, elderly prisoners, are routinely denied bail sought on medical grounds and disallowed from visiting their families on losing loved ones. The most recent victim of such cruelty, Father Stan Swamy, a tribal rights activist, died in police custody this July. Despite urgent pleas, the Jesuit priest, suffering from Parkinson's disease and cancer, was repeatedly denied bail. Sometimes, by analysing the darkness surrounding dictatorships through the prism of the individual personalities of dictators, we overlook larger patterns. While individuals do play a critical role in moulding politics and society, peoples' (active or passive) willingness to endorse or look away from violations of other peoples' rights fosters the conditions for dictatorship. (Monobina Gupta is the author of 'Left Politics in Bengal' and 'Didi: A Political Biography') Disclaimer: The views expressed above are the author's own. They do not necessarily reflect the views of DH. Check out the latest DH videos here: The Supreme Court on Monday ruled that a deceased government employee's daughter who got divorced after the death of the staff would not be entitled to a compassionate appointment. A bench of Justices M R Shah and Aniruddha Bose allowed an appeal filed by the Director of Treasuries in Karnataka against the High Court's direction to the state government to grant compassionate appointment to V Somyashree, whose mother P Bhagyamma, employed as second division assistant at Mandya District Treasury, died on March 25, 2012. While going through the Karnataka Civil Services (Appointment on Compassionate Grounds) Rules 1996, the top court noted that there is no provision for a compassionate appointment for a divorced daughter as per norms prevailing at that time. Only unmarried daughter and widowed daughter, dependent upon the deceased female government servant at the time of her death and living with her can be said to be eligible for appointment on compassionate ground, it pointed out. The word divorced daughter was added subsequently to the rules by an amendment in 2021. In the instant case, the court noted when the employee died on March 25, 2012, Somyashree was her married daughter and her marriage was subsisting. However, after her mother's death, she obtained divorce by mutual consent on September 12, 2012. A Mandya court granted the decree of divorce by its judgment on March 20, 2013. Immediately on the very next day, i.e. on March 21, 2013, she applied for an appointment on compassionate ground, which suggested that she got the divorce only to get an appointment on compassionate ground. Otherwise, as a married daughter, she was not entitled to the appointment, the court pointed out. Check out the latest DH videos: Karnataka Higher Education and Skill Development Minister CN Ashwath Narayan told the Legisalative Council on Monday that the state government's main focus is not the creation of jobs, but training candidates. Narayan was responding to a question by Congress MLC BK Hariprasad, who asked about increasing unemployment rate in Bengaluru. Surveys by private portals have shown that cities like Pune and Hyderabad are way ahead in terms of employment generation compared to Bengaluru, Hariprasad said. "Only 4 per cent of people in Bengaluru get employment opportunity. The city is falling behind in job creation," he said, questioning the government on the efficacy of its skill training programmes. To this, Narayan said his department's focus was on skilling and not job creation, inviting criticism. "If the government is not interested in job creation, what is the point of skill training," Hariprasad asked in retort. Meanwhile, even with the government's several skill training programmes, there have not been adequate number of placements, Narayan admitted. To bridge the gap between training and placements, the government will make use of its "Skill Connect" portal and ensure more placements, he assured. The Covid-19 situation also affected training with several centres unable to function properly, Narayan pointed out. As for Bengaluru's unemployment rate, the city has had a faster recovery compared to other cities from the pandemic-induced financial slowdown, he asserted. According to government data, till date a total of 492 jobs fairs have been conducted in the state through which 65,583 candidates have secured jobs. Check out the latest DH Videos here: A Taxi Action Plan announced by Infrastructure Minister Nichola Mallon has been welcomed by SDLP Foyle MLA Sinead McLaughlin. The proposals include a number of new steps to support the taxi industry as it rebuilds following the Covid-19 pandemic. Among the proposals are plans to wipe DVA fees for new taxi drivers in 2021/22, a taxi fare review with a consultation launching next week and the wiping of DVA fees for one taxi meter test required to implement a fare change. Welcoming the proposals, Ms McLaughlin said: The SDLP has stepped up once again for the taxi industry and I am delighted that our SDLP Minister has announced further proposals in a taxi action plan to help the industry. This comes after the SDLP Minister provided almost 17 million in support for the taxi industry during this pandemic. Today, in government, the SDLP is going further to help the industry with a plan to get new drivers into the sector. We have all seen the impact the pandemic has had on the taxi industry and it is clear that our Minister has listened to the needs of drivers and worked with the industry to find a solution for them to rebuild effectively as we emerge from the Covid-19 pandemic. Taxi drivers are an important part of life here, people rely on them to get to school and work, to important appointments, to visit friends and family and to socialise. Ms McLaughlin concluded: They will play a key role as we look forward to rebuilding our economy and society. Deepika Padukone named Asias Most Influential Woman in TV & Film, has the highest combined social media following in Asia Front runner and consistent game-changer, Deepika Padukone, stylishly dons many hats and adding to her illustrious list of accolades, has recently been named Asias Most Influential Woman in Film/TV as per latest Gala Bingo reports. Gala that boasts of over 137 clubs across UK, recently released their list of influential women from across the globe based on a variety of ranking factors ranging from social media following to google searches and media mentions. The study identified the most influential names from the worlds 100 biggest countries from various streams including music, tv and films, beauty, politics and business. View this post on Instagram A post shared by Deepika Padukone (@deepikapadukone) In a detailed report on each continent and industry, Deepika Padukone emerged on the top with the highest combined social media following of a staggering 139 million (at the time of the report release) under 'Asia's Most Influential Women.' Under the 'TV and Film' section, the star had the most searches in criteria like Engagement Rate (Insta), Impressions Per Tweet, 3 million Google searches and most Media mentions. With this, Deepika Padukone joins names like Arianna Grande, Kim Kadarshain, Adele and Celine Dion, among others. Its no surprise then that she is the reigning Indian Queen of International endorsements, becoming the first Indian global brand ambassador for brands like Levis, Nike, Tissot and Chopard. The actress also recently signed her second Hollywood film, a romantic comedy for STXFilms and Temple Hill which she will produce under her Ka banner. Deepika Padukone is also all set to launch her very own global lifestyle brand, influenced by her Indian origin and backed by science. Kashmera Shah: How can someone as invincible as Sidharth Shukla no longer be with us? Actor and Bigg Boss 13 winner Sidharth Shukla was a true star. He won our hearts not just by his acting chops and good looks, but also with his personality, his devotion towards his mother and his love for his best friend Shehnaaz Gill. When it was reported that Sidharth breathed his last after a massive cardiac arrest, the news broke millions of hearts. It took some time for the industry, his fans and loved ones to even process the fact that he is no longer with us. View this post on Instagram A post shared by Kashmera Shah (@kashmera1) Kashmera Shah, who spent some time with the actor in the BB house, is still not able to accept his untimely demise. In a recent interview with Hindustan Times, the actress was quoted saying, I cannot bring myself to accept that he is no more. How can someone as invincible as Sid no longer be with us? She shared that while she is happy to have met him, she is also angry about it because now she knows what it will be like to not have him around. View this post on Instagram A post shared by Kashmera Shah (@kashmera1) Kashmera further stated that she does not want to think of him as gone. Instead, she wants to think that he is away on shoot or in some reality show like reverse Bigg Boss, from where he can see us but we cant see him. She went on to add, He lived like a king, left like a king and now lives in our memory forever as an undefeated king. I cannot say RIP for him because for me he is still around smiling. Well, Sidharth may not be amongst us anymore, but he will continue to live on in our hearts and memories for a long time. Randeep Hooda remembers his shelved film on the 124th anniversary of the Battle of Saragarhi To mark the 124th anniversary of the Battle of Saragarhi, actor Randeep Hooda recalled his shelved film in honour of the Saragarhi martyrs. Taking to his Instagram handle, Randeep shared a picture of his character from the film along with a picture of his visit to the gurudwara made as a memorial. Along with the photos, Randeep penned a caption lauding "the greatest last stands in the armed history of the world." View this post on Instagram A post shared by Randeep Hooda (@randeephooda) "Some movies never get made but the stories live on forever...In 1897 on the Northwest Frontier (present day #afghanistan) 21 #Sikhs stood up against 10000 #afghanistani tribesmen.. it was a certain inevitable death but the decision to take a stand in spite of the odds and not show their backs to the enemy marks this 6.5 hrs fierce battle to death as one of the greatest last stands in the armed history of the world. #gurudwara has been made in their memorial.. this one is in near #goldentemple #amritsar," he wrote. Randeep did not reveal the reason why the film got shelved. View this post on Instagram A post shared by Randeep Hooda (@randeephooda) Known for going through rigorous transformation for his films, as per reports, Randeep kept his hair uncut for three years for this film, and even after the film got shelved, Randeep retained his Sikh avatar for a long time. He finally had to cut his hair for his Hollywood debut action-thriller Extraction. However, before getting his hair cut, Randeep had apologized for it in the Golden Temple. Meanwhile, on the work front, Randeep was last seen in Prabhudheva's Radhe: Your Most Wanted Bhai that starred Salman Khan and Disha Patani in lead roles. He will soon be seen in the web series Inspector Avinash, and the film Unfair and Lovely. Candy: Ronit Roy- Richa Chadha starrer is a huge hit amongst audience, here's proof Candy starring Ronit Roy and Richa Chadha has opened to raving reviews from audiences and scores high on IMDB with a rating of 9.3. Starring Ronit Roy and Richa Chadha, and directed by Ashish R Shukla, the show has earned a rating of 9.3 on IMDB, making it one of the highest-rated shows. The thriller, set in Rudrakand, started streaming on Voot Select on 8th September, wowing the OTT audience. Revolving around how a murder impacts those in power and brings them under the radar of law, the eight-episode series is packed with diverse elements from drugs, corruption, redemption and monsters to cops, masters, and students. View this post on Instagram A post shared by Voot Select (@vootselect) Richa essays the role of the policewoman Ratna Sankwar, while Ronit plays a character named Jayant Parekh. The show also features Manu Rishi Chadha, Riddhi Kumar and Gopal Dutt in pivotal roles. Candy has been lauded by the critics as an an engaging thriller with unpredictable twists, worth binge-watching, full of twists galore, and a good mix of drama, mystery and intrigue. Ever since the show began streaming on Voot, audiences and critics have been showering praise on it on social media. Taran Adarsh, tweeted, #Candy - the new murder-mystery on @VootSelect - is thrilling, captivating... The script is a big plus, which keeps you hooked till finale... The edge-of-the-seat thriller - embellished with drama + twists + first-rate performances [@RonitBoseRoy, @RichaChadha] - is a must watch! Sreedhar Pillai praises the show and writes, #Candy seems to be an outstanding mystery thriller on @VootSelect - a completely dramatic dose 4 Indian audience with amazing cliffhangers to hold you on till finale.The sharply written thriller filled with interesting twists & stellar performances of @RichaChadha & @RonitBoseRoy A user on Twitter wrote, Shashank Baranwal tweeted, #Candy on @VootSelect is a must watch for all. After Illegal and Asur, this is again one of the best series from @VootSelect and @RonitBoseRoy, running short of words to praise your acting and performance. Loved it. Brilliant. OTT viewers, watch it. Another user commented, @RichaChadha is really great in #Candy. I highly recommend to watch this #CandyOnVootSelect. Sonal Raj tweeted, Im glad to see Richa Chadha here!!! Must watch guys, dont miss. #CandyOnVoot. Rohit Singh enthused, Watch this Candy series. You will definitely be happy after watching this web series. #CandyOnVoot. Furthermore, the talk and the buzz around the series is not only limited to social media but the show has stood up to the hype created. Both Ronit and Richa are pleased with the response their show has garnered from the audiences. For someone who always loves to experiment with her character and movies, Richa says, Voot Selects Candy is an opportunity for me to play a distinct character of a cop with such a vivid graph. Its been challenging to play a badasss policewoman. Ronit says, Candy is a really enthralling and exciting story that holds a great amount of mystery, fear, hope and suspense. Ive had the privilege to have worked with many talented actors and directors and this one is no different. Thanks to our creative heads and director Ashish Shukla who have made every character nuanced and extremely engaging. This is the first time Ive had the chance to play such a layered character. I'm really looking forward to this one. Stay tuned as the series will unwrap the sin. If you havent watched the murder mystery CANDY, Watch the show on Voot Select. Subscriber content preview SEATTLE An old triplex at 5619 Seaview Ave N.W., on the shoreline just west of the Ballard Locks, has sold for $2.2 million, according to King County records. The seller was a local family that had owned the property for decades. The buyer was Seaview Avenue LLC, which is associated with a local investor. No new plans have been filed. . . . Subscriber content preview FEDERAL WAY A recently leased Starbucks building at 33650 21st Ave. S.W. in Federal Way sold late last month for $4.2 million, according to King County records. The seller was Confluent Development LLC, which acquired the apparently vacant property in 2019 for $1.5 million, then renovated it for the new tenant. . . . Harrisonburg, VA (22801) Today Isolated thunderstorms early, then cloudy skies after midnight. Low 63F. Winds light and variable. Chance of rain 30%.. Tonight Isolated thunderstorms early, then cloudy skies after midnight. Low 63F. Winds light and variable. Chance of rain 30%. Adani and ReNew Power share major part of SECI's 1.2 GW wind auction ReNew Power, Adani Renewable Energy, Green Infra Wind Energy (Sembcorp), Anupavan Renewables (EverGreen) and Azure Power emerged winners in Solar Energy Corporation of Indias (SECI) auction for 1,200 MW (Tranche-XI) interstate transmission system (ISTS)-connected wind power projects. Adani Renewable Energy, which quoted Rs2.70/kWh, won a capacity of 450 MW, followed by ReNew Power securing a capacity of 300 MW Green Infra Wind Energy (180 MW) and Anupavan Renewables (150 MW) each quoting Rs2.69/kWh, while Azure Power 120 MW quoted Rs2.70/kWh. SECI proposes to sell power procured from these projects to distribution companies (DISCOMs) in Madhya Pradesh. The DISCOMs will procure power through Madhya Pradesh Power Management Company, which is the authorised representative for signing the power sale agreement on behalf of the DISCOMs. The developer will be responsible for acquiring the land required for setting up the project. SECI will not be accountable for the land acquisition. Only certified wind turbine models listed in the Revised List of Models and Manufactures issued by the ministry of new and renewable energy will be allowed for deployment under the programme. SECI had floated the tender in May this year. The lowest tariff of Rs2.69/kWh is nearly 2.9 per cent lower than the lowest tariff of Rs2.77/kWh quoted in the tranche X auction. In March this year, Adani Renewable Energy, Ayana Renewable Power, Evergreen Power, and JSW Future Energy won 1.2 GW of wind projects in the SECIs auction to select developers for ISTS-connected wind projects (Tranche X) in the country. Adani Renewable Energy had won 300 MW of wind projects quoting Rs2.77/kWh, while, Ayana Renewable Power (300 MW), Evergreen Power (150 MW), and JSW Future Energy (450 MW) had quoted Rs2.78/kWh. The lowest tariff quoted in a wind auction remains at ?2.44/kWh. The tariff was discovered in SECIs auction of 2 GW of ISTS-connected wind projects under Tranche-III in February 2018. Ford to stop manufacturing in India, close its 2 plants Ford Motor Co has decided to stop manufacturing in India, after taking a $2 billion hit in a market dominated by Asian rivals and local peers. The US auto major failed to attract buyers for its cars despite some efforts to cater to local tastes and demands. Ford, which has been in India for 25 years, managed to gain less than 2 per cent of the market share. Instead, Ford has been left with accumulated operating losses of more than $2 billion in 10 years, and with weak demand for its new vehicles, it does not see a path to profitability in the Indian market. "Despite (our) efforts, we have not been able to find a sustainable path forward to long-term profitability," Ford India head Anurag Mehrotra said in a statement. "The decision was reinforced by years of accumulated losses, persistent industry overcapacity and lack of expected growth in India's car market," he said. Ford is shutting down manufacturing operations in India - at Sanand in Gujarat and Maraimalai Nagar in Tamil Nadu mainly because it has failed to utilise plant capacity. The two plants have a combined capacity of 4,00,000 units annually, but Ford has only managed to produce 80,000 cars (20 per cent of the capacity), with half of them for the export market. Despite investing significantly in India, Ford has accumulated more than $2 billion of operating losses over the past 10 years and demand for new vehicles has been much weaker than forecast, Jim Farley, Ford Motor Companys president and CEO, stated in the release. The Sanand plant has been built to meet Fords global standards, and this made production at the facility comparatively costly considering local market demands. It was here that Ford manufactured its most popular models Ford EcoSport and Ford Endeavour. The Maraimalai Nagar facility was more cost-effective for the local market, but the facility was catering to Fords dated India line-up, with low demand. Ford lost its edge as it failed to bring in competition after the EcoSport. Ford, however, will continue to have a presence in India and will increase its business solutions team that will support Ford globally, the team will focus on engineering, technology, and business operations. The company also said that India will retain Fords second-largest salaried workforce globally and in addition to Ford Business Solutions, Ford India will continue engine manufacturing until Q2 2022 for export. Ford said, the closure will affect about 4,000 employees and that the company will work with the employees, unions and all stake holders to plan a fair settlement. While the move to shut local production is destined to hit existing owners, Ford said it is committed to continue full support operations with service, aftermarket parts and warranty services. Dealers too will be operational as the network would still exist to support the CBU business. Ford will now focus on importing niche models, such as the Mustang, which it announced and also other vehicles like the Bronco, as well as other EVs and even the Ranger pickup truck. Ford had, in October 2019, entered into a collaboration with Mahindra & Mahindra for continuing production in India. However, that deal collapsed after a year. The carmaker could still form a joint venture with yet another carmaker in India, but has not announced any plans yet. Ford follows other US auto makers such as General Motors and Harley Davidson, which have already left India. Total to invest $27 bn in energy projects in Iraq's Basra region French energy giant Total Energies and the Iraqi ministries for oil and electricity along with the country's National Investment Commission have signed major agreements, worth $27 billion, covering several projects in the Basra region, designed to enhance the development of Iraq's natural resources and to improve the countrys electricity supply. As per the agreements, Total will build four giant energy projects in southern Iraq involving investments of around $27 billion, the country's oil minister Ihsan Abdul Jabbar said. Total will initially invest approximately $10 billion in various projects related to oil and gas as well as electricity generation in the Basra region. Total will invest in installations to recover gas that is being flared on three oil fields and as such supply gas to 1.5 GW of power generation capacity in a first phase growing to 3 GW in a second phase, and, on the other hand, will also develop 1 GWac of solar electricity generation capacity to supply the Basra regional grid. The agreements include construction of a new gas gathering network and treatment units to supply the local power stations, with Total Energies also bringing its expertise to optimise oil and gas production of the Ratawi field, by building and operating new capacities. Jabbar said the first phase will include a $3 billion investment by the French group in a project to inject sea water into oilfields to enhance crude recovery. Total, he added, will also provide $2 billion to build a processing plant for gas produced at the southern fields of West Qurna 2, Majnoon, Artawi, Tuba and Luhais. It is expected to produce 300 million cubic feet of gas per day (mcf/d) and double that after a second phase of development, Jabbar said. The oil minister said that the gas produced from Total's project in the south will help Iraq to cut its gas imports from Iran, with the domestically produced gas also cheaper than the Iranian gas. The cost of the gas imported from Iran is around $8 per million Btu and the gas that will be produced from Total's project would be $1.50 per million Btu cheaper, Jabbar said. Besides, the French company will construct and operate a photovoltaic power plant with a capacity of 1 GWp to supply electricity to the grid in the Basra region. These projects represent a total investment of approximately $10 billion (100 per ent share). These agreements signal our return through the front door to Iraq, the country where our company was born in 1924. Our ambition is to assist Iraq in building a more sustainable future by developing access to electricity for its people through a more sustainable use of the countrys natural resources such as: reduction of gas flaring that generates air pollution and greenhouse gas emissions, water resource management and development of solar energy, said Patrick Pouyanne, TotalEnergies' chairman and CEO. Total started its activities in Iraq in the 1920s with the discovery of Kirkuk field. In the 1970s, Total brought the Buzurgan and Abu Ghirab fields on stream. The company currently has a 22.5 per cent interest in the Halfaya oil field producing approximately 20,000 barrels per day (Totals share) in 2020. Total sells lubricants in Iraq through distributors on the local retail market. Iraq, a country rich in natural resources, is experiencing electricity shortages while it faces a sharp increase in demand from the population. Emergency aircraft landing facility opened on Satta-Gandhav stretch of NH-925A in Rajasthan's Barmer National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) has developed a 3 km section of Satta-Gandhav stretch of NH-925A - from 41/430 km to 44/430 km - as an Emergency Landing Facility (ELF) for Indian Air Force, which is part of newly developed two-lane paved shoulder of Gagariya-Bakhasar and Satta-Gandhav section having total length of 196.97 km, built at a cost of Rs765.52 crore, under Bharatmala Pariyojana. Defence minister Rajnath Singh and minister for road transport and highways Nitin Gadkari on Wednesday inaugurated the Emergency Landing Field (ELF) and also witnessed aircraft operations on Emergency Landing Field (ELF) on NH-925 0n 09/09/2021 at Gandhav Bhakasar Section (NH-925) South of Barmer (Rajasthan). This is the first time that National Highway was used for emergency landing of aircrafts of IAF. This project will improve connectivity between villages of Barmer and Jalore districts located on international border. The stretch, being located in the western border area, will facilitate the vigilance of the Indian Army as well as strengthen the basic infrastructure of the country. Apart from this Emergency Landing Strip, 3 helipads (size 100 x 30 metres each) have been constructed in Kundanpura, Singhania and Bakhasar villages in this project, according to the requirements of the Air Force/Indian Army, which will be the basis for strengthening the Indian Army and security network on the western international border of the country. The ELF was constructed in a time span of 19 months. The work for this ELF commenced in July 2019 and was completed in January 2021. The work was carried out by GHV India Pvt Ltd under the supervision of IAF and NHAI. During normal time, the ELF will be used for smooth flow of road traffic. But during the operations of ELF for Indian Air Force, the service road will be used for smooth flow of road traffic. It has been constructed in 3.5 km length.This landing strip will be able to facilitate landing of all types of aircrafts of Indian Air Force. Constructed at a distance of 40 km from the Indo-Pak international border, the ELF features an Air Traffic Control tower of plinth size 25m x 65m constructed with double storey cabin fully furnished with attached wash room facility. For the safety of local villagers during the operation, 1.5 metre fencing is provided as per suggestion/requirement of IAF. Development of roadways as key infrastructure has led to construction of high quality highways and expressways that could be utilised as runways along with some modifications and construction of limited additional infrastructure for operation of various types of aircraft during emergency. US Retreat Pushes Afghanistan Back Into The Dark Ages Not just that, the US and its allies have taken home enough of the lesser Talibans so that liberal democrats in those countries can nurture refugee-driven unrest, to challenge and destabilise governments there. It took 20 years and a democrat President, Joe Biden, for the United States to own up the illegitimate child of the US-Pakistan alliance, Taliban. And, by abandoning the elected Afghan government and leaving a weak Afghan army to the mercy of the Pakistan-backed insurgents, the Afghan people have now been pushed back into the dark ages. The American administration has partially succeeded in legitimising the Talibans authority over Afghanistan. Taliban also inherited billions of dollars worth US defence equipment and infrastructure that the US left behind. Not just that, the US and its allies have taken home enough of the lesser Talibans so that liberal democrats in those countries can nurture refugee-driven unrest, to challenge and destabilise governments there. Taliban has already grabbed most of the fire power of Afghan forces, including military bases, US-supplied combat aircraft, helicopters, guns, ammunition and other modern military equipment as they overran Afghan forces who failed to defend provincial capitals and even the national capital Kabul. Pentagon, however, claims that all those military equipment that the US forces left behind in Afghanistan are without fir power. The United States either failed in its strategy or deliberately created a puppet force in Afghanistan that often turned out to be corrupt as well, thereby helping Taliban to gain an upper hand. Biden now has only to defend his action before the world which he will be able to force on the onlookers with support from close Nato allies and Taliban backers like China, Pakistan and most of the Islamic world. Bidens defence that the United States does not want to fight a war in Afghanistan that the Afghan people do not want is itself testimony for the US desire to see the Taliban taking control of the country. What else would explain the hasty withdrawal of US forces from Afghanistan and Taliban's blitzkrieg in the war-torn region. "If anything, the developments of the past week reinforce that ending US military involvement in Afghanistan now was the right decision," Biden said as US forces withdrew. "American troops cannot and should not be fighting in a war and dying in a war that Afghan forces are not willing to fight for themselves." "How many more American lives is it worth?" asked the Democrat president. And, despite the hasty pull-out, he said, "there was never a good time to withdraw US forces". Biden also claimed to have inherited a deal negotiated with the Taliban under former President Donald Trump where the US had agreed to withdraw from Afghanistan by May of this year. On Sunday, a day before the Taliban officially entered the Afghan capital Kabul and declared victory, President Ashraf Ghani fled the country. The militants' return to power takes the region back to the dark ages where the people have to obey the diktats of the so-called guardians of Islamic culture. A majority of the Afghan people who hoped that the involvement of the United States and its allies would help bring the Taliban nightmare to an end are now left to fend for themselves. Many tried to escape and thronged the Kabul airport when it was under the control of the US forces. While hundreds of Afghans escaped to countries like Qatar, the United Kingdom, Germany and other western countries in military cargo flights, some who were desperate to escape the clutches of the Taliban hanged on to moving military transporter aircraft. Video footage showed at least two of them falling off a flight. Images provided by `Defense One on 15 August 2021 showed hundreds of Afghans fleeing Kabul onboard an American C-17 cargo plane. For several others finding an exit route itself is an arduous task in a land-locked region that is also mostly mountainous. Perhaps, the United States underestimated the fact the will to win a war is more important than military equipment. The Taliban insurgents, with smaller numbers, less sophisticated weaponry and no air power, proved a superior force. It is equally strange that even after President Joe Biden announced in April that he was withdrawing all US troops, the intelligence agencies did not foresee a Taliban offensive that would decimate Afghan forces that has no backing. The only hope for Afghans is the popular resistance to the Taliban takeover building up across Afghanistan. Video footages share in social media showed hundreds protesting in the streets waving the national flag. Reports said a majority of residents in Jalalabad were resisting the replacement of Afghanistans national flag in the city by the Taliban banner. At least two people have been reported killed and 12 injured in a shoot-out during the protests in Jalalabad. Now it has taken more assertive form with the resistance group Northern Alliance giving a tough fight to Pak-Afghan Taliban in the Panjshir Valley on the Pakistan-Afghanistan border. Govt hikes support prices for Rabi crops for marketing season 2022-23 Government on Wednesday announced an increase in the Minimum Support Prices (MSP) of Rabi crops for Rabi Marketing Season (RMS) 2022-23, to ensure remunerative prices to the growers for their produce. The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) chaired by the Prime Minister Narendra Modi approved the increase in the minimum support price (MSP) for all mandated Rabi crops. The highest absolute increase in MSP over the previous year has been recommended for Lentil (Masur) and Rapeseeds and Mustard (Rs400 per quintal each) followed by gram (Rs130 per quintal). In case of safflower, there has been an increase of Rs114 per quintal, in comparison to last year. The differential remuneration is aimed at encouraging crop diversification, says a cabinet release. The increase in MSP for Rabi crops for RMS 2022-23 is in line with the Union Budget 2018-19 announcement of fixing the MSPs at a level of at least 1.5 times of the all-India weighted average cost of production, ensuring a reasonably fair remuneration for the farmers. The expected returns to farmers over their cost of production are estimated to be highest in case of wheat and rapeseed and mustard (100 per cent each), followed by lentil (79 per cent), gram (74 per cent), barley (60 per cent), safflower (50 per cent). The government has been making concerted efforts over the last few years to realign the MSPs in favour of oilseeds, pulses and coarse cereals to encourage farmers shift to larger area under these crops and adopt best technologies and farm practices, to correct demand-supply imbalance. Additionally, the centrally sponsored National Mission on Edible Oils-Oil Palm (NMEO-OP), recently announced by the government, will help in increasing the domestic production of edible oils and reducing import dependency. With the total outlay of Rs11,040 crore, the scheme will not only aid in expanding area and productivity of the sector, but also benefit the farmers by increasing their income, besides generating additional employment. The umbrella scheme "Pradhan Mantri Annadata Aay SanraksHan Abhiyan' (PM-AASHA) announced by the government in 2018 will aid in providing remunerative return to farmers for their produce. The umbrella scheme consists of three sub-schemes, ie, Price Support Scheme (PSS), Price Deficiency Payment Scheme (PDPS) and Private Procurement and Stockist Scheme (PPSS) on a pilot basis. Govt approves agreement on recruitment of Indian citizens to work in Portugal A government-to-government between Government of India and the government of the Portuguse Republic will now allow Indian citizens to seek employment in Portugal. The union cabinet, chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday approved the signing of an agreement on the recruitment of Indian citizens to work in the Portuguese Republic between the two governments. With the conclusion of this agreement, Portugal and India will have a formal arrangement for recruitment of Indian workers. The agreement would set an institutional mechanism for partnership and cooperation between India and Portugal on sending and accepting Indian workers. Under the agreement, a joint committee will be set up to follow up its implementation. Signing of this agreement with Portugal will add new destination for Indian migrant workers in an EU member nation, especially in the context of many Indian workers returning to India following the Wuhan virus pandemic. It will provide new opportunities for skilled Indian workers and professionals. Indian workers would have enhanced job opportunities to work in Portugal. The government-to-government mechanism proposed in the agreement will ensure that the movement of workers happens smoothly with the maximum support from both sides CSIR-NAL announces successful maiden flight of Hansa New Generation aircraft Hansa New Generation (NG) aircraft, designed and developed by CSIR-National Aerospace Laboratories (NAL), Bangalore a constituent lab of CSIR, successfully made its maiden flight on 3 September 2021. The aircraft took off from HAL airport at 2 09 PM, flew at an altitude of 4,000 ft, and gained a speed of 80 knots before making a successful landing after about 20 minutes. Capt Amit Dahiya, test pilot, who has flown the maiden flight, expressed happiness and said all the flight parameters were found normal and it was a text book flight. Hansa-NG features a glass cockpit with cabin comfort, high efficient digitally controlled engine, electrically operated flaps, long endurance, low acquisition and low operating cost. CSIR-NAL has already received 72 letters of intent from various flying clubs and the aircraft will be certified within the next 4 months before it gets inducted into service. The flight was monitored in telemetry by senior officers and scientists / engineers from Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), Centre for Military Airworthiness and Certification (CEMILAC) and CSIR-NAL. Shekhar C Mande, secretary, DSIR and director general of CSIR, while congratulating Team NAL said that this successful milestone was the culmination of efforts of the CSIR-NAL design team, flight test crew and DGCA with support from ASTE. He further mentioned that CSIR-NAL has already identified a private partner and series production will start soon. He applauded the efforts of Abbani Rinku, project director, Hansa and Team NAL for the tireless efforts which has made this possible. India, US sign project agreement for air-launched unmanned aerial vehicle Indias ministry of defence and the US Department of Defence last week signed a Project Agreement (PA) for joint production of Air-Launched Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (ALUAV) under the Joint Working Group Air Systems in the Defence Technology and Trade Initiative (DTTI). The PA for ALUAV, which falls under the Research, Development, Testing and Evaluation (RDT&E) memorandum of agreement between the defence ministry and the US Department of Defence, was first signed in January 2006 and renewed in January 2015. The agreement is a significant step towards deepening defence technology collaboration between the two nations through co-development of defence equipment. The main aim of DTTI is to bring sustained leadership focus to promote collaborative technology exchange and create opportunities for co-production and co-development of future technologies for Indian and US military forces. Under DTTI, Joint Working Groups on land, naval, air, and aircraft carrier technologies have been established for focus on mutually agreed projects in respective domains. The PA for co-development of ALUAV has been overseen by the Joint Working Group on Air Systems and is a major accomplishment for DTTI. The PA outlines the collaboration between Air Force Research Laboratory, Indian Air Force, and Defence Research and Development Organisation towards design, development, demonstration, testing and evaluation of systems to co-develop an ALUAV Prototype. The Aeronautical Development Establishment (ADE) at DRDO and the Aerospace Systems Directorate at the Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL), along with the Indian and US Air Forces, are the principal organisations for execution of PA. The agreement was signed by the co-chairs of the Joint Working Group Air Systems under DTTI, Assistant Chief of Air Staff for Plans Air Vice Marshal Narmdeshwar Tiwari from the Indian Air Force and Director, Air Force Security Assistance and Cooperation Directorate Brigadier General Brian R. Bruckbauer from the US Air Force. Auto sales up 14.5% to 1.38 million units in August Combined retail sales of vehicles in the country rose 14.48 per cent to 13,84,711 units in August 2021 compared to 12,09,550 units sold in the same month last year, according to data released by the Federation of Automobile Dealers Associations (FADA). While retail sales of all categories of vehicles witnessed a rise on a year-on-year basis, August 2019 retail volumes were down 14.75 per cent compared to a regular monthly sales in the pre-pandemic times. Two-wheeler sales in August rose 6.6 per cent to 9,76,051 units from 9,15,126 lakh units in the year-ago period, while passenger vehicle sales increased 38.71 per cent to 2,53,363 units from 1,82,651 units. Auto dealers are facing the most challenging phase of their business career as Covid-19 after-effect continues to play spoil-sport. While until last year, when demand was a challenge, supply is becoming a bigger problem currently due to shortage of semi-conductors, even though there is high demand for passenger vehicles, said Vinkesh Gulati, president, FADA. The commercial vehicle segment witnessed a jump of 97.94 per cent at 53,150 units compared to 26,851 units sold in the same month last year. Tractor sales for the month were up 5.5 per cent at 71,737 units against 67,999 units in August 2020. With OEMs drastically cutting down productions due to unavailability of semi-conductors & ABS chips, shortage of containers and high metal prices, customers for the first time may not get a vehicle of their choice and lucrative schemes during this festive season. Ultra-frequent price increase is also keeping entry-level buyers at bay, the industry body said in a release. According to FADA, customers, especially at the bottom of the pyramid, are shifting their priority to saving instead of spending. This will hence keep demand for 2-wheelers a concern, it said. With educational institutions slowly opening up, FADA sees a ray of hope for an increase in demand for two-wheelers in the coming months. FADA expects near term outlook to remain a mixed bag with passenger cars witnessing demand-supply mismatch and two-wheelers facing a demand crunch. The inaugural Rowdy Swanson Memorial Bull Riding event will tale place at 2 p.m. on Sept. 18, 2021, at the Claude Gill Arena in Duncan. Jarrel Swanson, father of the late Rowdy Swanson, said all proceeds will benefit a scholarship endowment set up at Oklahoma State University in Rowdys honor. ADA [ndash] Robanette Horton, 76, of Ada, Oklahoma passed away Monday, September 13th, 2021 in Ada. Private family services will be held at a later date. For up-to-date service information, please follow us on Facebook at Estes Phillips Funeral Home. Gardai said they have been receiving reports from people who have fallen victim to Advance Fee Fraud which relates to on-line websites offering un-secured loans. This can affect both an individual and those in the business world. There are a number of websites offering un-secured loans which target the more vulnerable. This is sometimes very attractive because it offers loans which are processed quickly and without fuss. After the victim applies online, he/she will receive a call or communication within a very short time (often minutes) informing them that their loan application has been approved and the victim will then be provided with details of the amount of the loan and the monthly repayment. The victim is then asked to send a small amount of money to the lender in ADVANCE of the loan amount being issued. Different reasons are given for this advance fee, for example, as an up-front fee or to pay for Personal Protection Insurance on the loan amount. Unfortunately, when this is done no loan monies are ever issued and the advance fee is lost. WHAT CAN YOU DO? NEVER apply for a loan from an entity that is not authorised by the Central Bank. ALWAYS check the official Central Bank website to see if the firm is authorised by the Central Bank. The register of authorised firms can be accessed at http://registers.centralbank.ie/ Please be alert for such scams and never transfer money in this manner. A number of TDs and senators have responded to an article in the Irish Mail on Sunday which commented on their appearance at a Fianna Fail think-in last week. The event was held at the Slieve Russell hotel last week to discuss an internal report on the party's identity and recent election performances. In an article by Niamh Walsh in the Irish Mail on Sunday, the writer described the party as "failing to keep up appearances." It mostly focused on female representatives with jibes about their clothes, suggesting one Louth senator, Erin McGreehan, should have "run an iron" over her dress. It suggested TD Mary Butler looked like she had been "tango-ed" dressed in orange, adding that, "a circus tent is a more appropriate place for that orange suit." Referring to Offaly TD Barry Cowen, the article said: "And please don't get me started on the fellas. Actually do. Barry Cowen schlepped in, blazer open, belly bulging, button-up Bar. I wouldn't let these lads take charge of the chicken coop, never mind lead a political rebellion." Senator Fiona O'Loughlin was also targeted in the article. It read: "Spare a thought for Senator Fiona O'Loughlin, in a jersey dress, who looked like she was headed for a country hooley in the Lavey Inn, not a serious political pow-wow." Responding to the comment on Twitter, Barry Cowen said: Politicians put themselves out there, thankless job sometimes,abuse unfortunately goes with the territory. I tolerate it but its a thinning line for many.We all know there is not enough women in politics. Articles like this dont help the cause of increasing their participation pic.twitter.com/hgrUHgYnJK September 12, 2021 Erin McGreehan was certainly aggrieved and tweeted: I dont know what is wrong with another human being that they could be so blatantly horrible to another human being.I am very upset by this.Im not going to pretend words dont matter.they do.words & actions & attitude are everything& it is how people should be judged. pic.twitter.com/Y9J5s1rscm Senator Erin McGreehan (@ErinMcGreehan) September 12, 2021 Mary Butler responded: Tomorrow is another day! Im looking forward to visiting many @HSELive Care Centres in North Tipperary. Ive no doubt the residents of the care centres Im visiting wont care what Im wearing. https://t.co/VzB21TMljy Mary Butler TD (@MaryButlerTD) September 12, 2021 Senator Fiona O'Loughlin said: Really pathetic piece in @irishMailSunday. Im certainly not the perfect size/shape and whilst conscious of dressing appropriately , am certainly far too busy to be obsessed about it. At a time where we are trying to encourage more women to get into politics, this is poor taste. https://t.co/T9nK9cuAw0 Senator Fiona OLoughlin (@Fiona_Kildare) September 12, 2021 The article was widely condemned across social media in the wake of its publication. North Andover, MA (01845) Today Partly cloudy this evening followed by increasing clouds with showers developing after midnight. Low around 65F. Winds light and variable. Chance of rain 50%.. Tonight Partly cloudy this evening followed by increasing clouds with showers developing after midnight. Low around 65F. Winds light and variable. Chance of rain 50%. There are many furniture manufacturers and even more furniture importers in the landlocked country of Mongolia. Rivalry is fierce and quality is varied in this competitive furniture market. However, one stands a head above the competition: Ganbros, led by Ms. Odonchimeg Adilbish. Marrying the durability to last a lifetime with a design language that is as pleasing as it is ergonomic defined Ms. Adilbishs entrepreneurial voyage in the furniture manufacturing landscape for nearly two decades, enabling Ganbros to become one of Mongolias most prominent furniture manufacturers. Humble beginnings Back in the 1990s, imported goods were synonymous with high quality products in a Mongolia that was freshly parting ways from the half a century of socialism and Soviet influence. This notion had been so widespread and influential that even today it is not uncommon to see people going abroad to shop for furniture in Europe and North America. In the 17 years that Ganbros furniture has been in business, we are still trying to tackle this misconception, says Ms. Adilbish, explaining her businesss transition from an importer to a manufacturer. We are but one example that Mongolian businesses have the potential to produce high quality products domestically, she notes, showing a catalogue of furniture that now decorates many of the highly-valued and prestigious office buildings, estates and residences in the capital city of Ulaanbaatar. An affinity for quality, aesthetics and safety has propelled the business from a simple importer to an established furniture manufacturer. Ms. Adilbishs company enjoys ever-expanding cooperation with renowned manufacturers from famous European brands located in countries such as France, Italy and Germany, acquiring valuable lessons and know-how, tailoring and refining their products, and even trialling modern furniture incorporating traditional Mongolian elements. Changing times, crisis averted However, everything changed in 2020, as the Covid-19 pandemic reached Mongolia. Businesses across the country suffered shrinking demands and tightening restrictions on their operations. Shortages of raw materials, declining sales and rising prices had come very close to shutting down Ganbros as Ms. Adilbish exhausted her options to revive the business that represented her lifelong labour and aspirations. We, as with the rest of the world, expected the pandemic to pass quickly. When it didnt, with sharply declining sales and other emerging challenges continuing for many months, we could no longer sustain our business, reflects Ms. Adilbish. We were at the end of our tether. The EBRDs Women in Business programme funded by the Women Entrepreneurs Finance Initiative (We-Fi) became the miracle that Ms. Adilbish and Ganbros needed so desperately in those trying times. Through the programme, Ms. Adilbish was matched with local consultant Oshmi NGO, who helped Ganbros to audit its existing operational systems and to implement appropriate long-term strategic planning and financial management. Not only did the programme save us, but it has also opened up many new opportunities, she notes. The support and business expertise provided by the programme has allowed Ganbros to keep bankruptcy at bay and transform itself from a national furniture manufacturer into a regional competitor with a foothold in Russian and Chinese markets. We are expecting to exceed our sales targets, with a pilot project to export into Chinese and Russian markets by the year 2023, says Ms. Adilbish with pride. The story of the furniture manufacturer Ganbros is but one of many successful Mongolian businesses. With support from the EBRDs Women in Business programme, women like Ms. Adilbish are encouraged to expand their businesses, helping to diversify the local entrepreneurial scene and add value by generating employment. The Women in Business programme in Mongolia began in 2020 to encourage womens entrepreneurship and its further development, and to provide assistance in creating a supportive environment for women-led businesses. To date, the programme has provided advisory services to 17 SMEs in just over a year. EBRD provides 25 million loan to October Dry Port Company for construction of Egypts first dry port. First public-private partnership project in the sector and first under EBRD Green Cities programme in Egypt. Technical assistance to New Urban Communities Authority and 6th of October City to address environmental challenges and increase gender inclusion. The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) is supporting the construction of the first inland dry port in Egypt, in 6th of October City, west of Cairo, with a 25 million loan to October Dry Port Company, a special-purpose vehicle established by a consortium of El Sewedy Electric, Schenker Egypt and SLP Logistics. The development and construction of the 6th of October Dry Port is the first public-private partnership (PPP) project in the sector and the first under the EBRD Green Cities programme in Egypt. Egypts first inland dry port will function as an extended gateway to the deep sea ports located in the northern and eastern regions of the country, thus supporting the existing port infrastructure and logistics market. The 6th of October Dry Port will help to make logistics more efficient as it will become the final destination of cargo and will provide efficient customs inspection and clearance procedures. This will reduce congestion in the sea ports and create economies of scale through the use of intermodal rail services at the sea ports. It will also improve the overall reliability and cost-efficiency of the logistical processes for the dry ports future clients. Once operational, the 6th of October Dry Port will contribute to a reduction in road congestion, accidents and CO 2 emissions by transferring some of the container traffic from road to rail. Nandita Parshad, EBRD Managing Director for Sustainable Infrastructure, said: The 6th of October Dry Port PPP is a true milestone for both Egypt and the EBRD, marking the countrys first inland dry port PPP and triggering 6th of October Citys initiation into the EBRDs flagship Green Cities programme. It is a shining example of how we can simultaneously increase the capacity of the existing port infrastructure and logistics services while pushing forward the green agenda. Ahmed El Sewedy, President and CEO of Elsewedy Electric, said: We are very pleased with the successful signing of this flagship project, a new milestone in our long-term relationship with the EBRD. The project will be the first dry port PPP in the sector and is the outcome of the fruitful engagement between ourselves, the Egyptian government and the EBRD. Through the EBRD Green Cities programme, technical assistance worth up to 350,000 will be provided to the New Urban Communities Authority and 6th of October City to prioritise and address environmental challenges and to increase gender inclusion, through the development of a Green City Action Plan. Egypt is a founding member of the EBRD. Since the start of the Banks operations there in 2012, the EBRD has invested more than 7.7 billion in 132 projects in the country. US$ 70 million loan to support the modernisation of Armenias power supply network Measures to address environmental priorities in the two largest cities of Yerevan and Gyumri Large-scale digitalisation of the electricity metering system to enhance network reliability The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) is providing a loan of US$ 70 million, including a B-loan from the Netherlands Development Finance Company (FMO), to Electric Networks of Armenia (ENA), the countrys sole electricity distribution company and long-standing client of the Bank. The funding will support the large-scale modernisation of the power distribution network in Armenia. The Asian Development Bank (ADB) is co-financing this project with a US$ 35 million loan. The loan aims to strengthen ENAs distribution infrastructure, with a focus on the regions as well as the countrys two largest cities, Yerevan and Gyumri, both of which are part of the EBRD Green Cities programme. ENA will address specific environmental priorities identified in the Cities Green City Action Plans (GCAPs), such as the reduction of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and the integration of renewables into the power system. The financing will support Armenias digital transition through the large-scale implementation of automatic control and smart metering systems, enhancing the power networks reliability and flexibility and significantly improving systems performance. The digital economy is one of the pillars of the EBRDs Strategic and Capital Framework. The project is expected to improve energy efficiency, reduce technical and commercial losses and GHG emissions and remove technical barriers to the installation of small and medium-sized renewable projects (especially solar and wind), thus improving the overall reliability of the countrys power supply and helping both Yerevan and Gyumri to meet their climate goals. ENA is owned by Tashir Group, a large, diversified group of industrial and construction companies. Nandita Parshad, EBRD Managing Director, Sustainable Infrastructure Group, said: This is an important milestone for the development of a stable and reliable power system in Armenia and a model for private grid operators in other countries. ENA will become a strategic platform for scaling up renewables, thus supporting its 2021-30 Nationally Determined Contributions and its greenhouse gas emissions reduction targets under the Paris Agreement Dimitri Gvindadze, EBRD Head of Armenia, said: This multi-stage energy infrastructure modernisation project includes several key elements system digitalisation, improved energy efficiency and reliability of supply. The project is important in the context of the EBRD's work to develop Armenia's clean energy generation capacity, including utility-scale solar power generation. The effective implementation this investment program is aimed at further enhancing the quality of our customer service, a priority for Electric Networks of Armenia. We are pleased to be working with the Asian Development Bank and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development on the second phase of this program," said ENA General Director Karen Harutyunyan. The EBRD has been working together with ENA for over a decade and has committed more than US$ 100 million to supporting the company. The funds have been crucial in financing energy-efficiency measures, including the upgrade and modernisation of low-voltage infrastructure to reduce network losses and the installation of meters to improve the quality of supply. The EBRD is the leading institutional investor in Armenia, active in all sectors of the economy. Since the start of its operations in the country in 1992, the Bank has invested 1.56 billion in 191 projects in its financial, corporate, infrastructure and energy sectors, with 91 per cent of investments going to the private sector. Plans for a new wastewater project in east Cork are progressing, with Irish Water saying it has now published Compulsory Purchase Orders (CPOs) for the Midleton Local Infrastructure Housing Activation Fund (LIHAF) Wastewater Project. The utility is working in partnership with Cork County Council to deliver the project which it says will facilitate the development of essential housing in the greater Midleton area. This project is currently in the design stage and consists of approximately 6.8 kilometres of new wastewater pipeline and associated pumping stations which will facilitate the delivery of new housing developments in the Water Rock community. The detailed design of the project is well advanced, and the preferred route has been selected. Irish Water is currently liaising with all the landowners in the Water Rock, Carrigtohill and Midleton areas at this time finalising wayleaves and locations where Compulsory Purchase Orders (CPOs) will be required.The CPOs for the required lands to progress the Midleton LIHAF Wastewater Project was advertised in recent days. Planning permission has already been granted for a new pumping station in Water Rock and a planning application for a second pumping station in the Midleton North area is to be submitted in early 2022, subject to the CPO process being complete. Debbie Holden, Irish Water Project Manager said This is another great step towards development of essential new housing and businesses in the Water Rock area. Irish Water has been liaising closely with several other agencies who have planned development in the area including Cork County Council, the OPW, Iarnrod Eireann and EirGrid. By improving the required wastewater infrastructure, Water Rock will thrive both socially and economically in the years to come. Irish Water said that subject to the satisfactory completion of the statutory processes and procurement, it estimates that works will commence in the second half of 2022 and be complete by the end of 2023. GARDAI investigating a robbery at a shop in Ballinhassig last week are trawling through CCTV of routes between Ballinhassig and Cork city. It follows searches of five properties on the southside of the city on Thursday night, just hours after the incident. No arrests have been made and now gardai are hoping that CCTV footage will help lead them to the perpetrators of the incident. At approximately 3.55pm on Thursday afternoon, two masked men entered the Post Office section of a shop in Ballinhassig and demanded a sum of money. One man was armed with a shotgun and the second man was armed with a machete. According to gardai, the men fled the scene in a grey Citroen C3 vehicle, which is believed to have been driven by a third male. There were no injuries were reported during the incident. The suspected offenders drove in the direction of Spur Hill / Liberty Hill. At approximately 4.20pm, the grey Citroen C3 vehicle was located alight in a field near Spur Hill. Gardai are appealing to anyone who may have witnessed this incident to come forward. Anyone who was on Spur Hill in Ballinhassig between 3.45pm and 4.30pm on Thursday afternoon is asked to contact investigating gardai, while those who may have camera (including dash cam) footage are asked to make it available to gardai. Anyone with any information is asked to contact Bandon Garda Station on 023 885 2200, the Garda Confidential Line on 1800 666 111, or any Garda station. Instantly delete email threats for Office 365 365 Threat Monitor scans all emails as they reach your users' mailboxes to detect ransomware, phishing and spam. Receive real-time phone alerts, get real-time security breach updates and instantly delete threats with just one click - for free! Learn More. Imagine reading a headline in tomorrow's news stating that your neighbor's identity was stolen and their life savings cleaned out by criminals who entered through their 'smart' washing machine. Ridiculous, you say? Well, have you checked your own home Wi-Fi network lately? You might have several connected household gadgets and other internet of things (IoT) devices tethered wirelessly through a misconfigured router with no firewall settings. Is the firmware current? Are security patches up to date? Still not convinced this is a serious problem? Then consider this glaring example of how dangerous an outdated device can be. In June, Western Digital My Book NAS owners worldwide found out that their devices were mysteriously factory reset and all their files were deleted. My Book Live and My Book Live Duo are personal cloud storage devices. When the WD product users attempted to log in via the web dashboard, the devices responded that they had an "invalid password." WD My Book owners could no longer log into the device via a browser or an app. My Book Live and My Book Live Duo products experienced data loss due to a security incident, according to the Western Digital website. WD informed customers that the company would cover the costs of eligible users with qualifying products to recover their data using the data recovery services (DRS) provided by a Western Digital-selected vendor. The company promised to cover the costs of shipment of the qualifying product to the DRS vendor and for the data recovery service. Any recovered data would be sent to the customer on a My Passport drive. Western Digital confirmed that "some My Book Live devices are being compromised by malicious software." The company also confirmed reports this has led to a factory reset that erased all data on some customer devices. The My Book Live device received its final firmware update in 2015. The June 2021 statement from Western Digital suggested users disconnect their My Book Live devices from the internet to protect the data on their device. The My Book Live vulnerability shows there is still a long way to go in IoT security. Much attention has been paid that such devices are not hardened or built according to best practices, according to John Bambenek, threat intelligence advisor at Netenrich. "In this case, we see that devices are being built that are meant to outlast their vendor's support commitments; so not only are they vulnerable, but consumers cannot protect themselves either. Whether it is data loss, ransomware, or DDoS, these issues will keep recurring until vendors commit to protecting their customers," he told TechNewsWorld. Flawed Business Model Original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) take no responsibility for this fiasco, as their aging connected devices are no longer for sale. However, most customers are not aware that these devices actually have an expiry date, and consumers are not alerted to the dangers of continuing to use unpatched firmware, with countless outdated connected devices waiting to be infiltrated by opportunistic attackers, suggested Asaf Ashkenazi, COO at connected devices security firm Verimatrix. "OEMs should either transform their business model to sustain a long-lasting software update service or install more sophisticated tech that would make hacking these devices much more difficult," he told TechNewsWorld. Ashkenazi is not outright blaming problems like the Western Digital fiasco on the OEM industry. The problem is with the business model. No standards exist to regulate how IoT devices should be maintained and secured. "Unfortunately, I do not see anything that is addressing the standardizing of security on these IoT devices. Maybe the government or consumer protection, or some companies will decide to build a consortium that will say who is responsible," he said. A need definitely exists for more transparency in terms of the level of support for the software on these devices. Nothing can be done to deal with the problem until the industry decides to pick up that challenge, he added. Education and Consumer Pressure It will take an educational awareness effort to make consumers mindful of the dangers inherent in buying insecure IoT devices. That can then translate into enabling consumers to consider device security as part of their buying decision, suggested Ashkenazi. Most consumers are now clueless that devices endemic to their household can be connected to the internet through their wireless routers. If they have a device that connects to the network, they need to make sure that the device's software is updated, he added. "When the software is no longer updated, the device can be dangerous to use.," he warned. The goal, as Ashkenazi sees it, is to first protect consumers. Then he hopes that consumers will put enough pressure on manufacturers that companies will start to say how long they are going to support the software. Apple, Google, and some other big companies are saying that for certain devices. But for a lot of the other devices, the companies after six months or so stop supporting them. Consumers continue using these abandoned devices because they otherwise appear to be working fine, he said. Fuzzy Responsibility Consumers must be just as meticulous as enterprise businesses when it comes to cybersecurity. Enterprise security teams understand that vulnerabilities come in all shapes and sizes, observed Yaniv Bar-Dayan, CEO and co-founder at Vulcan Cyber, a SaaS provider of enterprise cyber-risk remediation. "In the case of the Western Digital My Book Live devices, threat actors took advantage of a daisy-chained set of circumstances to wipe the data from exposed hard drives. Consumers should have known to keep the drive firmware patched, and to only connect the drives to the internet when needed. However, where does the responsibility fall? On the consumer or on Western Digital? There is not a clear-cut answer," he told TechNewsWorld. One of the main problems with IoT security at the present is that the rush to market often deprioritizes security measures that need to be built into our devices. This issue has made many IoT devices low-hanging fruits for criminals interested in stealing sensitive data and accessing exposed networks, noted Stefano De Blasi, threat researcher at Digital Shadows. "Additionally, criminals can exploit vulnerable products by leveraging their computing power and orchestrate massive IoT botnet campaigns to disrupt traffic on targeted services and to spread malware," he told TechNewsWorld. Cybersecurity Blind Spots IoT security, or the lack of it, suffers from industry shortcomings. The primary issue is that traditional vulnerability management tools do not scan past the operating system. Thus, they do not detect any security issues or vulnerabilities in the firmware layer, according to Baksheesh Singh Ghuman, global senior director of product marketing and strategy at connected devices security firm Finite State. "The secondary issue involves device manufacturers, who are often in charge of performing device security despite commonly lacking the appropriate security controls to scan for firmware layer vulnerabilities," he told TechNewsWorld. It's important for manufacturers to conduct a thorough analysis for vulnerabilities of any kind, and if they discover any, inform potential users about available firmware upgrades and patches, he recommended. "It is a very reactionary process, unlike the automated proactive process found in enterprise vulnerability management practices. As a result of these factors, firmware vulnerabilities are often ignored and become cybersecurity blind spots which draw the attention of threat actors," said Ghuman. IoT Security Complicated Depending on the industry and application, providing a patch is not always available. In the case of consumers, patching is a twofold process, according to Ghuman. First, the device manufacturer needs a standard upgrade process in place to push upgrades/patches to their devices. The second step requires the spread of consumer awareness about the need to upgrade and patch vulnerabilities. "This is quite challenging because it requires constant reminders and education regarding cybersecurity hygiene," said Ghuman. Device manufacturers can take a few steps to prevent more episodes like the Western Digital dilemma, he suggested. Those include: Making sure there is a product security group present within their organization; Incorporating firmware layer vulnerability management as part of their overall product development and product security programs, so that they can detect firmware layer vulnerabilities before they are distributed; Proactively scan for exploitable vulnerabilities in their firmware and, if discovered, quickly develop patches; and Having a standard and secure firmware upgrade process in place which pushes patches as they become available. Inevitable Targeting The consumer move to a preference for digital-first interactions will grow the potential threat landscape that can be targeted by attackers, observed Tyler Shields, CMO at JupiterOne. More apps, more data in the cloud, more digital experiences, mean more targets of both opportunity and chance. "There will be a continued increase in data compromise as we move more and more of our daily life into the cloud. We have really only just begun to see the expansion of digital experiences and the attacks that will grow alongside them," he told TechNewsWorld. Security has always been offset by ease-of-use. The cybersecurity vendor community must drive toward creating easy-to-use cybersecurity experiences that deliver an acceptable level of security to the technologies that the consumers demand, according to Shields. A good example of this is the move to single sign-on and password-less authentication. Users have failed to maintain proper passwords for decades, and that situation will never change. Therefore, innovation must build an easy-to-use alternative that provides appropriate security with a much better user experience. "Enterprises have to find the right balance of technology innovation alongside security for traditional models," he said. Jack M. Germain has been an ECT News Network reporter since 2003. His main areas of focus are enterprise IT, Linux and open-source technologies. He is an esteemed reviewer of Linux distros and other open-source software. In addition, Jack extensively covers business technology and privacy issues, as well as developments in e-commerce and consumer electronics. Email Jack. Stay up to date on COVID-19 Get Breaking News Sign up now to get our FREE breaking news coverage delivered right to your inbox. Sponsored By: St Anthony's Hospital In this Tuesday, July 13, 2021, file photo, Missouri Gov. Mike Parson answers media's questions in Kansas City, Mo. Parson is considering calling a special legislative session to challenge President Joe Biden's plan to require COVID-19 vaccination or testing for many workers. (Shelly Yang/The Kansas City Star via AP, File) Families evacuated from Kabul, Afghanistan, walk through the terminal before boarding a bus after they arrived at Washington Dulles International Airport, in Chantilly, Va., on Sunday, Aug. 29, 2021. According to agencies in Kansas City, as many as 625 refugees could be resettled in the Kansas City metro area. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana) One day before its next major event, Apple has released iOS 14.8, iPadOS 14.8, watchOS 7.6.2 and macOS Big Sur 11.6. All four are minor updates that dont add new features to their respective operating systems but include important security fixes. As such, Apple recommends all users download them as soon as they can. Depending on the update, it addresses as many as two issues. One relates to the CoreGraphics framework in iOS, iPadOS and macOS, while the other stems from Apples WebKit browser engine. In both instances, the company says its aware of at least one report where the vulnerabilities may have been actively exploited to execute arbitrary code. One of the flaws was discovered by the University of Toronto's Citizen Lab and is linked to the Pegasus spyware. According to The Washington Post, the flaw has been in use on iOS, watchOS and macOS since at least February. Citizen Lab advises all Apple users to update their devices immediately. On an iPhone or iPad, you can manually check for iOS 14.8 and iPadOS 14.8 by opening the Settings app on your device, tapping General and then Software Update. On macOS, meanwhile, open the System Preferences menu and then click on Software Update. Update 4:19 PM ET: Added more information about one of the flaws. Social media platforms like Facebook have played a major role in exacerbating political polarization that can lead to such extremist violence, according to a new report from researchers at New York Universitys Stern Center for Business and Human Rights. That may not seem like a surprising conclusion, but Facebook has long tried to downplay its role in fueling divisiveness. The company says that existing research shows that social media is not a primary driver of harmful polarization. But in their report, NYUs researchers write that research focused more narrowly on the years since 2016 suggests that widespread use of the major platforms has exacerbated partisan hatred. To make their case, the authors highlight numerous studies examining the links between polarization and social media. They also interviewed dozens of researchers, and at least one Facebook executive, Yann Le Cun, Facebooks top AI scientist. While the report is careful to point out that social media is not the "original cause" of polarization, the authors say that Facebook and others have intensified it. They also note that Facebooks own attempts to reduce divisiveness, such as de-emphasizing political content in News Feed, show the company is well aware of its role. The introspection on polarization probably would be more productive if the companys top executives were not publicly casting doubt on whether there is any connection between social media and political divisiveness, the report says. Research shows that social media is not a primary driver of harmful polarization, but we want to help find solutions to address it, a Facebook spokesperson said in a statement. That is why we continually and proactively detect and remove content (like hate speech) that violates our Community Standards and we work to stop the spread of misinformation. We reduce the reach of content from Pages and Groups that repeatedly violate our policies, and connect people with trusted, credible sources for information about issues such as elections, the COVID-19 pandemic and climate change. The report also raises the issue that these problems are difficult to address because the companies refuse to disclose how their platforms work. Among the researchers recommendations is that Congress force Facebook and Google/YouTube, to share data on how algorithms rank, recommend, and remove content. Platforms releasing the data, and independent researchers who study it, should be legally protected as part of that work, they write. Additionally, Congress should empower the Federal Trade Commission to draft and enforce an industry code of conduct, and provide research funding for alternative business models for social media platforms. The researchers also raise several changes that Facebook and other platforms could implement directly, including adjusting their internal algorithms to further de-emphasize polarizing content, and make these changes more transparent to the public. The platforms should also double the number of human content moderators and make them all full employees, in order to make decisions more consistent. Steve Wozniak has started a company called Privateer Space. The Apple co-founder announced the private space firm on late Sunday. Unfortunately, other than to promise his company would be unlike the others, Woz didnt provide many details on the venture. A Private space company is starting up, unlike the others. https://t.co/6s8J32mjuF Steve Wozniak (@stevewoz) September 13, 2021 A teaser Privateer released on YouTube mentions the startup was co-founded by former Apple engineer Alex Fielding. Wozniak and Fielding have collaborated frequently over the years. Back in 2002, they co-founded a company called Wheels of Zeus (WoZ), which worked on GPS smart tags. Wozniak later sat on the board of directors of Ripcord Networks, the robotics startup Fielding founded after Wheel of Zeus shut down in 2006 . The actor will be the face of FPBL's marketing campaigns across various platforms Fino Payments Bank Limited (FPBL), a fintech for emerging Indian customers will now work with actor Pankaj Tripathi as its brand ambassador. During the two-year engagement effective 1st September 2021, Pankaj Tripathi will be the face of Fino Payments Banks marketing campaigns across various platforms. He will work with the brand in promoting its products and services representing through Finos ever-present and friendly neighbourhood local banker Hamesha available! This is Finos first ever opportunity to have a brand ambassador, a milestone in itself, said Rishi Gupta, MD & CEO, Fino Payments Bank. We are extremely pleased to have Pankaj Tripathi, a celebrated artist, as our brand ambassador. Pankajs personality resonates with our brand values and we believe the association will go a long way in not only achieving the desired top-of-the-mind brand recall but also in bringing about a paradigm shift in consumer behaviour towards the adoption of digital banking. Sharing his thoughts on associating with Fino Payments Bank, Pankaj Tripathi said, When I heard about Finos Fi-kar No-t approach I was instantly connected to it as that is how I have lived my life. I owe my success perhaps to this way of thinking and thats why I immediately agreed to associate with the brand. I want to thank Fino Payments Bank and the agency for choosing me as the face of Fino brand that I could so relate to. I wish them the best of future. The most important step on who would personify the brand, is the match between the brands attributes and those of the celebrity, said Anand Bhatia, CMO, Fino Payments Bank. Pankaj Tripathi brings to the table a pan India connect and an appeal that is in sync with Fino Payments Banks values of being grounded, real, sincere, honest, competent and hardworking. His clear focus on creating social awareness through his endorsements connects well with Finos socially inclusive business, making him a perfect brand fit. He is a self-made man, just like our self-made bank. Pankaj Tripathi will be the face of Finos first Fikar Not campaign conceptualised to allay the fears, especially confidence issues associated with the banking process. Fino believes its customers should not have any Fikar or worry when doing banking. In fact FI-kar NO-t is in its name! Bridging India and Bharat brand connect Pankaj Tripathis success story of a small-town guy making it big on his own blends well with the aspirations of Finos target group. FPBLs target segment, the emerging India customer is someone who has low levels of financial literacy, technology use, lacks financial inclusion and typically does not have access to basic banking services. Finos merchants serve the banking and financial needs of this segment by offering assisted services through the phygital delivery model. They not only address the pain points of the customers but also help them migrate from offline activity to online activity. On this front, Pankajs rich repertoire of rustic, familiar and relatable characters across Hindi and regional films ring a bell! Read more news about (internet advertising India, internet advertising, advertising India, digital advertising India, media advertising India) With geo-political uncertainty post Talibans take-over of Afghanistan, India reportedly having spent $2 billion for infrastructure in the war-torn nation over the years, and Indias hostile neighbors, China and Pakistan supporting Taliban, India is closely watching the situation on its borders. In a candid chat with Kailashnath Adhikari, MD, Governance Now, GVL Narasimha Rao, Member of Parliament, Rajya Sabha, Bhartiya Janta Party has said that India has been maintaining a close watch on Afghanistan and cannot have any kind of diplomatic relations with a militant regime. India will continue to see what is best in its strategic and security interests and will evolve a policy and plan accordingly. We can never have formal relations or cut with a regime like Taliban which is a terrorist regime in my own words .. we cannot accept any kind of diplomatic relations with a country like that .... but certainly with our own people living in Afghanistan and also have invested a lot of money in the development of Afghanistan India will continue to see what is best in its strategic and security interests and will evolve a policy and plan accordingly, said Rao. He was in a webcast as part of the Visionary Talk series held by the public policy and governance analysis platform. On being asked that why the world cannot come together to put a stop to suppressive rule and countries like China and Pakistan are willing to talk to the Taliban, the BJP spokesperson said, unfortunately, China was the first country to come forward and give legitimacy to the Taliban even before the interim govt was formed there. Few countries that look at narrow and short term interest and countries that support Taliban will also suffer consequences in the long run. But we hope an international consensus emerges which restrains the Taliban interim govt from going berserk and will be compelled to conform to certain norms of international governance he said. On international diplomacy, Rao said, Pakistan has been silenced .we are today in the grey list of financial action task force and Pakistan could possibly get blacklisted soon. We have not only succeeded in controlling terrorism domestically but also brought the issue to the international discussion table. He said with the emergence of the Taliban govt in Afghanistan, the issue acquires fresh significance and govt of India will certainly make it the top agenda at the national and international level to ensure that Indias borders remain completely safe and secure from any kind of attack. Speaking on issues of governance, the BJP MP spelled out what he called major governance success stories of BJP led government and said massive legislative changes like the abolition of Article 370, Triple Talaq, constitutional status to National Commission for Backward Classes have long term consequences for Indias polity and growth. Next, he said, the real development of the core of this country post-independence has only happened in the last 7 years. We have done saturated development. For people deprived of basic amenities like gas services and connections, bank accounts, and toilets at home, these were provided for the first time on a war footing and accomplished in the last 7 years. Due to a completely, spotlessly clean and corruption-free government at the Centre in the last 7 years, despite allegations by the opposition people of the country gave a huge vote mandate ( to BJP) in 2019. Further, he said that with zero tolerance the mainland, Maharashtra and South India have not seen a single terror attack when the country had seen series of terrorist attacks between 2004 -2014. While speaking on the economy, Rao said the Indian economy has rebounded faster than most other economies in the world and the country is well poised to achieve its target of 5 trillion dollars well on time which in the medium term and needs to look beyond 2030. During Covid -19 period the government, he said has used the time to formulate and implement series of reforms that stand in good stead. Automobiles and infrastructure, particularly infrastructure have seen 100 million dollars investments coming in, and both sectors reflecting very good performance. Rao said core industries are showing a strong rebound to galvanize India to grow faster than expected. Read more news about (internet advertising India, internet advertising, advertising India, digital advertising India, media advertising India) As CPS Energy executives look for ways to escape the city-owned utilitys financial bind, its trustees are taking aim at a program that provides home energy efficiency upgrades and conserves power citywide. CPS Save for Tomorrow Energy Plan, or STEP, is a constellation of nearly three dozen programs designed to reduce the amount of electricity needed to power the city. When it launched in 2009, the goal was to make businesses and homes more efficient so CPS could avoid the need for a new power plant. Now, three of the utilitys five trustees Ed Kelley, John Steen and Willis Mackey say they are willing to consider letting STEP expire next year. Though still a STEP supporter, Mayor Ron Nirenberg, a member of the CPS board, has said hes willing to look at the programs future, too. Its funded through next July. With all the financial stress were experiencing as a company because of the pandemic, because of the winter storm, its difficult for me to think about continuing business as usual, Steen said. It makes me think about STEP ... and whether this enterprise could use that money to shore us up. Since 2009, CPS has spent about $800 million on STEP at an annual cost of $66 million. The discussion is picking up steam as CPS is carrying about $120 million in customers past-due bills after curtailing disconnections for nonpayment early in the pandemic. Its also battling in court to reduce about $1 billion in unexpected charges for wholesale natural gas and electricity it bought during Februarys winter storm. Savings Customers pay between $3.50 and $4 on their monthly bills to help fund the STEP program, which provides rebates to those who purchase energy efficient appliances or install solar panels. Also through STEP, CPS pays customers who get a smart thermostat and allow the utility to remotely raise their home temperature a few degrees when energy demand is high. For eligible low-income households, CPS pays to improve homes energy efficiency by adding new insulation, energy-saving light bulbs and low-flow shower heads, among other upgrades. An average of about 3,500 ratepayers have had such home upgrades each year since STEP began. Since 2009, STEP has reduced power demand in San Antonio by 926 megawatts, enough electricity to power 185,000 homes on a summer day, according to CPS. In 2018, ratepayers avoided using 1.4 terawatt-hours of power because of STEP initiatives. If CPS had to generate that much power, it would have emitted 770,000 extra tons of carbon that year, according to a 2019 analysis of the program by energy consulting firm ICF. Through the first 10 years STEP was in place, it saved CPS $553 million, ICF said. Our programs in their current form benefit a broad cross section of the community, said Rudy Garza, the utilitys chief customer engagement officer. When were growing at 2 percent in customer numbers but were only growing 1 percent in load, were slowing the decision point of having to maybe build another power plant. After STEPs first 10 years, CPS extended the program from January 2020 through the start of this year. In January, it extended the program into next year as CPS staffers worked to craft a longer-term update. Garza said staff will probably present an analysis to board members early next year so they can decide STEPs future. On ExpressNews.com: Business stalwart Ed Kelley to leave CPS Energy board; new trustee sought to guide utility STEPs sharpest critic Blasting STEP is nothing new for Kelley. Over his decade-long tenure on the board, he has frequently criticized the program. In a July meeting, he called it one of the most ridiculous programs Ive ever seen. Were going to lever this company up to the point that its going to be irreversible, he said of costs associated with the efficiency initiatives. Ive said it over and over: Were not a charity. Were not a social agency. Kelley, a longtime USAA Real Estate executive and former chairman of the San Antonio Chamber of Commerce, argues that CPS shouldnt pay customers to buy less of its product. Last month, he compared the utilitys program to an automaker that needs to build a factory to keep up with increasing sales but uses the cash to fix up customers old vehicles instead of selling them a new one. We need to go back and ask ourselves if something we did 12 years ago, do we now have to do it forever? Kelley said. Thats what happens to government programs. You get em started and they never stop. And thats whats happening here. Kelleys second five-year term on the board ends Jan. 31. Trustees are in the process of selecting a nominee to replace him. Their selection is subject to approval by the City Council. Climate focus As the focus on preventing climate change has intensified, utilities nationwide have relied on efficiency and conservation programs like STEP to curb emissions and defer construction of new generating plants. The 52 largest U.S. utilities one of which is CPS offered 900 efficiency programs in 2018, an increase of 300 from 2015, according to the Alliance for an Energy Efficient Economy. The American Public Power Association, to which CPS belongs, urges its members to deploy energy efficiency measures at their utilities. Nirenberg said he still staunchly supports STEP. The STEP program is a proven cost-saver, the mayor said in a statement. STEP reduces energy demand and emissions while benefiting lower-income residents in particular. But he called for the analysis of STEP to prove its value. Were going to see, and our customers are going to tell us, that this is the kind of program that we want to continue to invest in, Nirenberg said during CPS Aug. 30 board meeting. Im more than willing to go into this next period eyes wide open, and request, and demand, the data that supports this program if we extend it beyond that period. Though Kelley has usually been the only member opposing STEP, that changed last month. During the late-August meeting, Steen and Mackey sided with him in saying it may be time to end the program in 2022. Steen is a lawyer and former Texas secretary of state; Mackey is a retired public school administrator. Financial squeeze CPS expenses have risen sharply. As the utilitys executives recently previewed for trustees a rate increase request, they cited rising costs to attract and retain employees and rising costs of materials, such as copper and steel, required for keeping up with customer growth. The proposed rate increase could raise bills from 9.6 percent to 10.6 percent. About 1.7 percent of that would be to fund STEP through July. The rate increase, if approved by the City Council, would boost residential customers bills by between $10 and $15 per month. On ExpressNews.com: CPS Energy customers could see rate increase of up to $15 per month Steen and Kelley suggested that ending STEP would allow CPS to offset at least part of the rate increase. CEO Paula Gold-Williams and other CPS executives have said STEP isnt the reason for a rate increase. Theyre two mutually exclusive issues, Garza said. Shifting dollars away from the energy efficiency and conservation program could intensify CPS need to invest in new power generation. To Kelley, however, a power plant that increases revenue by selling electricity onto the statewide grid is a better asset than a collection of programs that reduce demand for power. One of his complaints about STEP is that after spending hundreds of millions of dollars, CPS doesnt have an asset on the utilitys balance sheet to show for it. If CPS had spent $800 million on a power plant, he said, it would have that asset to produce revenue. If you take $750 million, $800 million out of our balance sheet ... your liabilities didnt change, you didnt reduce debt. So what did change? Your net worth went down, Kelley said during the July board meeting. You couldve built a power plant, or you couldve done a huge solar plant, a huge wind plant. ... We just wrote checks to people and got zero on the balance sheet. The discussion led to a heated exchange between Gold-Williams and Kelley. She said STEP does produce assets such as smart thermostats and more energy efficient housing stock but the assets are owned by customers, not the utility. CPS debt is increasing because all the costs across the business are going up, Gold-Williams said, adding that the utility hasnt had a rate increase since early 2014. So when you have that much pressure on your top line, and all your costs going up, thats what primarily is causing the gap, she said. diego.mendoza-moyers@express-news.net Courtesy photo There will be dancing in the aisles this week when Earth, Wind and Fire hits town. Dancing in the park, too, thanks to Ballet San Antonio. Heres a look at the weeks arts and entertainment highlights: Book: Have You Got Anything Stronger is the sequel to actress Gabrielle Unions bestselling 2017 memoir, Were Going to Need More Wine. It picks up where that one left off, discussing the birth of her daughter and the social upheaval of the last few years, but also looks back in a conversation with her Bring It On character Isis. On sale Tuesday. For a few years in the mid-1980s, Gilbert Buster Grant and a few neighborhood buddies made amplified magic as Wyzard, a South Side band that helped San Antonio live up to its reputation as the Heavy Metal Capital of the World. The groups only recording Future Knights, an obscure 1984 EP later renamed Knights of Metal, was made just a few weeks after Grant screamed into a microphone for the first time, back when he and his bandmates were just in their late teens. Only about 600 copies were ever made. Nearly 40 years later, the EP is making some serious noise in the collectors market. Grant said hes seen the record listed online for anywhere from $2,800 to $5,000. Former Wyzard guitarist Michael Valenzuela sold a copy two years ago to a collector in Germany for $3,200 and another last year to a collector in Switzerland for $3,500. ValueYourMusic, an online archive of music auction sales, shows the Wyzard EP sold for $2,250 last November and for $1,825 and $1,650 in March. On ExpressNews.com: The first Texas rap record likely was made by a San Antonio DJ better known as radio personality Alberto Alegre Call it a coveted piece of San Antonio heavy metal history. Billy Calzada /Staff photographer In the 80s, the Alamo City was ground zero for Americas heavy metal explosion, hosting and promoting bands large and small, from Iron Maiden to S.A. Slayer, when most of Texas and the nation was just waking up to all the headbanging. And judging by what some are willing to pay for this little-known record, that metal alchemy is as timeless and it is priceless. Wyzard never toured Europe, never played out of Texas, said Grant, 57, who has since been in more than a dozen bands and shared the stage with the likes of Kiss, Blue Oyster Cult and Joan Jett. But (our album is) one of the most expensive collectibles youll ever try to purchase out of Texas metal. Wyzard formed in 1983, when San Antonio bands such as S.A. Slayer, Byfist and Seance, along with Austins Watchtower and Houstons Helstar, were laying the groundwork for Texass burgeoning metal scene one brain-bleeding scream and guitar solo at time. When Valenzuela and Grant hit on the idea to jam together, the longtime friends from the Palm Heights neighborhood teamed up with bassist John Alvarado and drummer Rene Cox, fellow friends who lived just a few streets away. We all grew up in the same neighborhood. This wasnt North Siders. This was Mexicanos, Indios, said Grant, who was born Gilbert Guzman. The foursome pounded out raw metal in Grants garage, where sunlight through a hole in the ceiling mingled with incense to make the perfect spotlight. Grant wailed falsettos like Danish rocker King Diamond, while Alvarado and Valenzuela kept up with whatever drum tempos Cox banged out that day. Valenzuelas cousin Yvette Martinez liked what she heard and became the bands manager. Soon Wyzard was playing keg parties that clogged the neighborhood streets and rocking downtown venues such as the Villa Fontana and Cameo Theatre. After a trip to California, Martinez came back with a record offer. In the summer of 1983, Wyzard recorded a handful of songs at B.O.S.S. Studios, which once rocked Broadway right across the street from Kiddie Park. On ExpressNews.com: Wonderland mall opened 60 years ago in 1961, a year of cosmonauts, the Cold War and the Bay of Pigs Wyzard initially released its four-song EP in 1984 as Future Knights. It featured the title track and the songs Renegade, Crystal City and Knights of Metal. Future Knights original pressing was 100 copies, 25 of which went to radio stations and other promotion. A few months later, Wyzards management re-released the record as Knights of Metal with the same four songs and cover art. Knights of Metal was slated for 1,000 copies, but only 500 were made. Between it and Future Knights, fewer than 600 copies of the EP exist. Ruben Soriano, now a photographer in Austin, whipped up the cover art, a drawing of a skeletal knight astride an armored steed. The back cover features solo shots of the leather-clad band members along with a photo of the group around the headless winged statue still standing at Miraflores Park. The back covers grand proclamation: Originated in, San Antonio, the HEAVY METAL capitol of Texas. (AND TOMORROW THE WORLD) At least one metal expert agrees with that assessment. That record represents what has become really this kind of national phenomenon of 80s Texas metal, said Robert Chavez, host and creator of the San Antonio-based video show Robbs MetalWorks, now in its 25th year. A few years ago, Chavez moderated a panel about San Antonios metal roots with Grant and a few other local musicians at the Institute of Texan Cultures. Chavez said Wyzards lone EP, which a friend gave him 20 years ago, still resonates with old-school metal fans, both as nostalgia and a good record. If the songs sucked then people wouldnt care, he said. Other factors contribute to the Wyzard albums collectibility. It has the cachet of being mastered by Warner Bros. and mixed by Bill Metoyer, who has worked with bands such as Slayer and Armored Saint in the early days of Metal Blade Records. And then theres Wyzards own short but storied history. After hitting the studio, Valenzuela said, Wyzard went from playing for about 500 people to opening for W.A.S.P. with 4,000 fans in attendance. The band toured Houston and other Texas cities. Back at home, Wyzard got airplay on 99.5 KISS, a hard-rock haven overseen by Joe Anthony and Lou Roney, and staff recommendations at Hogwild Records. On ExpressNews.com: San Antonio hair salon Toxic Salon turning out wild dye color, mohawks, wolf cuts for the goth, emo, punk sets But the spell was broken once the music became more about business and less about fun. When Wyzard tried to march out on its own, management yanked their gear, claiming a breach of contract, Valenzuela said, literally pulling the plug on the band the night before Thanksgiving 1985. As a band, we were almost like family, said Valenzuela, 56. When the managers came along, for them it was business. And we never saw that aspect. The Wyzard family has lost two of its members. Cox, the bands drummer, died in 2017 at age 52. And Valenzuelas brother Marc Anthony Garcia, who briefly played guitar with the band after its EP release, died in 2019, also at age 52. On ExpressNews.com: Illness forcing San Antonio-area record collector to find a new home for his 113,000 vinyl albums and singles Today, Grant is going on four decades of hard rock singing and recording. He just wrapped a new EP with his latest project, Livin Dark Daze. Meanwhile, Alvarado, 56, still fires up the frets in a Mercyful Fate tribute band, though he spends most of his working hours as a truck driver. And while Valenzuela reunited with Grant about eight years ago in Grants band Age of Reason, he also focuses on his own auto-related day job as a finance manager for a Mercedes-Benz dealership in Boerne. Incidentally, you can still experience Wyzards lone record without the four-figure price tag. Grant sold his only copies to other labels to make reissues, which average about $25 per CD on eBay. He also offers a digital copy on his website bustergrantmusic.com for $3.99. And it can be found online, too. But if you want that original vinyl sound, youll just have to dig deep for a copy on the secondary market. Valenzuela owns the EP masters and said he has no intention of repressing the record or selling the masters. He also wont part with any more copies, despite being offered as much as $20,000 for his remaining stash of 50-odd Knights of Metal records. He fears flooding the market, so to speak, would just diminish the value and mystique of this rare EP. So Im just trying to hold on to them for as long as I can, he said. And who would want to mess with that kind of magic? rguzman@express-news.net | Twitter: @reneguz Editor's Note: This story was updated Sept. 14 with the suspect's identification and additional details San Antonio police have arrested an armed man who they say barricaded himself in a stolen car for hours Monday in the Medical Center area. Police have identified the man as 44-year-old Jose Angel and said he will face unauthorized use of a vehicle and criminal mischief charges. Police said they first spotted the vehicle near West Avenue and followed the car as they waited for a second team to pull the driver over. According to police, the man noticed the officers and drove a short distance until he parked behind a condominium complex in the 8600 block of Datapoint Drive. On ExpressNews.com: New Braunfels man has been arrested in connection with deadly hit-and-run After officers positioned their cars behind the driver, Angel reversed into one of the patrol vehicles before realizing he was blocked in, police said. Police said a female passenger inside the car exited the vehicle but Angel refused to get out. The man threatened to injure himself and displayed a firearm during the incident, police said. Negotiators and the SWAT team were called in to help. After several hours, Angel eventually surrendered at around 2:30 p.m. Angel was also wanted on an outstanding warrant. The female passenger was not charged. malak.silmi@express-news.net WASHINGTON (AP) Secretary of State Antony Blinken pushed back Monday against harsh Republican criticism of the handling of the military withdrawal from Afghanistan, saying the Biden administration inherited a deal with the Taliban to end the war, but no plan for carrying it out. In a sometimes contentious hearing Monday before the House Foreign Affairs Committee, Blinken sought to blunt complaints from angry GOP lawmakers about the administrations response to the quick collapse of the Afghan government and, more specifically, the State Departments actions to evacuate Americans and others. Blinken echoed White House talking points blaming the Trump administration for the situation that President Joe Biden inherited in Afghanistan. "We inherited a deadline. We did not inherit a plan, he said, maintaining that the administration had done the right thing in ending 20 years of war. We made the right decision in ending Americas longest-running war," said Blinken, who will testify on Tuesday before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. Republicans savaged the withdrawal process as a disaster and a disgrace. And while some Democrats allowed that the operation could have been handled better, many used their questions to heap criticism on former President Donald Trump. The State Department has come under heavy criticism from both sides for not doing enough and not acting quickly enough to get American citizens, legal residents and at-risk Afghans out of the country after the Taliban took control of Kabul on Aug. 15. Some seeking to leave remain stranded there, although Blinken could not provide an exact number. He said roughly 100 U.S. citizens remain along with about several thousand green card holders. This was an unmitigated disaster of epic proportions," said Rep. Michael McCaul of Texas, the top Republican on the committee. He said the abrupt withdrawal along with leaving some Americans and Afghans behind had emboldened the Taliban and other U.S. adversaries. I can summarize this in one word: betrayal. His GOP colleagues Steve Chabot of Ohio and Lee Zeldin of New York were even more blunt. This is a disgrace, Chabot said. This was fatally flawed and poorly executed, said Zeldin. I believe that you, sir, should resign. That would be leadership. The chairman of the committee, New York Rep. Gregory Meeks, urged his colleagues to keep politics out of their criticism. But he acknowledged that there had been problems. Could things have been done differently? Absolutely," he said. Republican congressman Adam Kinzinger of Illinois, who has been ostracized by many in the GOP for his criticism of Trump, placed blame for the situation on both Trump and Biden. The Trump administration failed in the setup and the Biden administration failed in the execution, Kinzinger said. Blinken tried to calmly deflect allegations of unpreparedness by noting that the Biden administration had inherited a U.S.-Taliban peace deal from its predecessor, along with a languishing program to grant visas to Afghans who had worked for the U.S. government. Blinken, who had publicly predicted in June that a complete Taliban takeover would not happen from a Friday to a Monday, also tried to preempt criticism of the prediction by noting that no one in the U.S. government expected the Afghan government to fall as quickly as it did. Even the most pessimistic assessments did not predict that government forces in Kabul would collapse while U.S. forces remained, Blinken said in prepared remarks released ahead of his appearance. He also defended the evacuation effort, saying it succeeded despite near insurmountable odds. The evacuation was an extraordinary effort under the most difficult conditions imaginable by our diplomats, military, and intelligence professionals, he said. In the end, we completed one of the biggest airlifts in history, with 124,000 people evacuated to safety. But Republicans, in particular, have been demanding answers as to why American citizens were left behind in the chaotic days and weeks before the military completed its withdrawal on Aug. 30. In a preview of GOP questions, the Republican National Committee released a statement earlier Monday with the banner headline Fire Blinken, demanding that he be held to account for what it described as a litany of failings. After the more than five-hour hearing concluded, the GOP committee doubled down on its demand. Todays hearing makes Blinkens failures and lies abundantly clear," RNC chairwoman Ronna McDaniel said. "Biden has no choice but to fire Blinken, hold him accountable, and take responsibility for the disaster he created. Some Republicans appeared to have be spoiling for a fight with the generally unflappable Blinken. Rep. Bryan Mast of Florida accused Blinken of lying when he denied that intelligence had been manipulated to support Biden's desire to withdraw U.S. troops. I do not believe a word you have said, he told Blinken. In a rare show of temper, Blinken replied: Simply put, what you said congressman, is dead wrong." Blinken is very close to Biden and his job as America's top diplomat is almost certainly safe, but criticism of the administration's handling of the Afghanistan withdrawal has not been limited to Republicans. Numerous Democrats have also questioned the policy and expressed concern about stranded Americans, green card holders and Afghans who could face retaliation from the Taliban because of their work or ties to the U.S. government over the past 20 years. State Department officials have acknowledged that the congressional hearings could be contentious and possibly ugly, but many remain convinced the U.S. military and other officials did the best they could under extremely trying circumstances including the evacuation of the U.S. Embassy in Kabul and the crush of thousands of desperate people at Kabul's airport seeking to leave the country. A California-based public relations firm is offering its Texas-based employees $10,000 to help them move out of the state in response to a new Texas law that cuts off abortions once a fetal heartbeat is detected. Bospar, a tech public relations agency out of San Francisco, made the announcement last week. Companies and businesses with employees in Texas have a choice right now: offer employees control of their own reproductive health or risk them leaving, Sarah Freeman, a Bospar senior account executive based in Austin, said in a news release. On ExpressNews.com: Texas abortion by the numbers: How SB8 impacts residents Bospar does not have an office in Texas but some of its employees work remotely in Texas. Its employees have been working from home since 2015. The company is offering six Texans the relocation plan. Bospar said some of them are considering moving out of the state. Curtis Sparrer, the company's co-founder, said the plan will be offered to any employee working in states that pass restrictive abortion laws. "As a gay man who grew up in Texas where people would tell me what I could do with my body, I have tremendous amounts of sympathy and empathy for the women in Texas right now," Sparrer told the Express-News. "Our staff is nearly 80 percent women, and we just knew we had to take a stand." On ExpressNews.com: Gov. Greg Abbott said Texans have 'at least' six weeks to get an abortion. It's more like 10 days. For the most part, Sparrer said the public's response has been overwhelmingly positive. "It felt like we were entering the schoolyard for a fight but unsure how it would turn out," the Dallas native said. "But lots of people have stood behind us and our women said they felt supported, so we are very happy for that." Salesforce, another California-based company, also said last week that it would offer financial assistance to its employees looking to leave Texas after the abortion law went into effect Sept. 1. taylor.pettaway@express-news.net GENEVA (AP) The United Nations drummed up more than $1.2 billion in emergency pledges Monday for helping 11 million Afghans facing an escalating humanitarian crisis in their homeland and millions more elsewhere in the region as the U.N. human rights chief voiced concerns about the Talibans first steps in establishing power in the beleaguered and impoverished country. At the first high-level conference on Afghanistan since the Taliban took power a month ago, Western governments, big traditional donors and others announced pledges that went beyond the $606 million that the United Nations was seeking to cover costs through the end of the year for protecting Afghans from looming humanitarian disaster. U.N. humanitarian chief Martin Griffiths announced at the close of the ministerial meeting that more than $1.2 billion in humanitarian and development aid had been pledged. He said this included the $606 million sought in a flash appeal but also a regional response to the Afghan crisis that U.N. refugee chief Filippo Grandi spoke about after arriving in Kabul on a previously unannounced visit. He wrote on Twitter that he would assess humanitarian needs and the situation of 3.5 million displaced Afghans, including over 500,000 displaced this year alone. Officials at the U.N. refugee agency, UNHCR, have expressed concerns that more Afghans could take refuge into neighboring Pakistan and Iran, which both already have large numbers of Afghans who fled their country during the past decades of war. Griffiths urged donors to turn Mondays pledges into cash contributions as fast as possible, saying the funding will throw a lifeline to Afghans who lack food, health care and protection. He said the meeting showed solidarity with the Afghan people but added that Afghanistan faces a long and hard road ahead and this is far from the end of the journey. It is feared Afghanistan could further plunge toward famine and economic collapse after the chaos of the past month, which saw the Taliban oust the government in a lightning sweep as U.S. and NATO forces exited the 20-year war. The people of Afghanistan need a lifeline, U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said at the opening of the conference. After decades of war, suffering and insecurity, they face perhaps their most perilous hour. Now is the time for the international community to stand with them. And let us be clear, this conference is not simply about what we will give to the people of Afghanistan. It is about what we owe. He said one in three Afghans dont know where their next meal will come from, the poverty rate is spiraling and basic public services are nearing collapse. A severe drought is jeopardizing the upcoming harvest, and hunger has been rising. The U.N.s World Food Program says Afghans are growing increasingly short of cash to buy food, the majority of which like wheat flour is imported. Frozen foreign exchanges and a paralyzed state budget have stripped people of the money they need just as food and fuel prices have risen. As with many other U.N.-led donor conferences, some countries injected more funds, while others highlighted commitments already made. German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas announced plans for Germany to pour 500 million euros ($590 million) into Afghanistan and its neighboring countries, but specifics were not immediately provided. Denmark said it would give an extra $38 million and Norway promised $11.5 million. At the same time, officials suggested aid in the future could be affected by how the Taliban rules. Linda Thomas-Greenfield, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, said the U.S. was committed to providing humanitarian assistance for and supporting Afghans, and would add $64 million in new assistance for U.N. and partner organizations. That brings the U.S. total for Afghanistan to $330 million in this fiscal year, she said. We need oral and written commitments made by the Taliban about operating rights of humanitarian agencies and the treatment and rights of minority groups, women and girls to be upheld, she said by video message. Words are not good enough. We must see action. The international community is unified in this message. Germanys Maas, speaking to the Human Rights Council also in Geneva, said the world has a moral obligation to help Afghans. But he also said the level of the Talibans respect for human rights, particularly of women and girls, would be a benchmark for us and our partners in determining our future engagement with a new Afghan government. He criticized the Talibans decision to exclude other groups from their recently announced interim government, saying it was not the right signal for international cooperation and stability. The world has been watching closely to see how Afghanistan under a Taliban government might be different from the first time the Islamic militants were in power from 1996 to 2001. During that era, the Taliban imposed a harsh rule by their interpretation of Islamic law. Girls and women were denied an education and were excluded from public life. Initially after seizing power Aug. 15, the Taliban promised inclusiveness and a general amnesty for former opponents. But many Afghans remain deeply fearful, particularly because of early Taliban moves. The group formed an all-male, all-Taliban government despite saying initially they would invite broader representation. Taliban police officials have beaten Afghan journalists and violently dispersed womens protests. The U.N. human rights chief, Michelle Bachelet, warned of a new and perilous phase for Afghanistan as she upbraided the Taliban for a disconnect between their words and actions. Speaking to the rights council, she said her office has received credible allegations of reprisal killings by the Taliban of former Afghan security forces as well as instances in which officials in the previous government and their relatives were arbitrarily detained and later turned up dead. Bachelet cited multiple allegations of Taliban forces conducting house-to-house searches looking for specific officials in the previous government and people who cooperated with U.S. forces and companies. She said that over the last three weeks, women have been progressively excluded from the public sphere, in contradiction to Taliban assertions to respect womens rights. ___ Associated Press writer James Keaten reported this story in Geneva and AP writer Edith M. Lederer reported from the United Nations. AP writers Munir Ahmed in Islamabad and Rahim Faiez in Istanbul contributed to this report. Eds: This story was supplied by The Conversation for AP customers. The Associated Press does not guarantee the content. Iqbal Akhtar, Florida International University (THE CONVERSATION) The land we now call Afghanistan has been a place of constant migration through its mountainous passes. Its linguistic, cultural and religious diversity is a result of millennia of trade along the Silk Road. More than a dozen ethnic groups are mentioned in the countrys constitution. Afghanistans fall to the Taliban means that some minorities are again at heightened risk of persecution. As a religion and politics scholar focused on the Khoja Shiite Muslim communities originally from India but now scattered across the globe I have studied the precariousness of being a religious and ethnic minority in the region. Among the Afghans who have the most to lose today, I would argue, are groups with a different interpretation of Islam particularly the Shiite Hazara community, the nations third-largest ethnic group, who have faced discrimination for more than a century. In July 2021, nine Hazara men were killed by Taliban fighters in southeastern Afghanistan, according to a report by Amnesty International echoing previous periods under the Taliban when the Hazara were targeted. Rich history The Hazaras roots in South Asia go back centuries. Their ancestors are said to include Mongol troops, and recent genetic analysis has confirmed partial Mongol ancestry. Today, the Hazara comprise 10%-20% of the national population of Afghanistan, where their traditional homeland is in a central region called Hazarajat. This makes them an important minority in a country of 38 million. There are also significant Hazara communities in Pakistan, as well as a Western diaspora in such countries as the United States and the U.K. Many Hazara outside Afghanistan fled during the violence of the past five decades, from a coup in 1973 and the Soviet invasion to the Talibans rise and the U.S.-led war. Frequent targets While most Hazara are Muslim, the majority belong to the minority Shiite tradition. Most Muslims around the world follow the Sunni tradition, which recognizes Muhammads companion Abu Bakr as his rightful successor. Shiite Muslims like the Hazara, however, believe that the prophets cousin and son-in-law, Ali, should have succeeded Muhammad after his death in A.D. 632. In Afghanistan, as elsewhere, tensions between the majority Sunni Muslim population and Shiite Muslims has been a source of steady conflict. The Hazara continue to be targeted and brutally murdered by the Taliban in Afghanistan and its associates in Pakistan. Islamic State-affiliated groups have also targeted Shiite communities in South Asia, including the Hazara. The community has long been among Afghanistans poorest and faces daily harassment, including in finding jobs. Not just religion The Taliban idealize a particular vision of Islamic purity and seek to impose it through their strict rules. To understand the Taliban only as Muslim extremists, however, is to miss the political and economic reality of why and how they operate in Afghanistan. Afghanistan produces the vast majority of the worlds opium, which is used to make heroin, and the Taliban control much of those profits. Violence in the name of religion also helps the group expand its territory and enforce control. From this perspective, minorities like the Hazara pose a twofold threat to the Taliban. First, their different traditions challenge the Talibans authority to claim religious truth. Their presence is a testament to an indigenous, pluralistic tradition of Islam that has accommodated multiple faiths over centuries, despite periods of brutal persecution. For example, the famous Bamiyan Buddha statues in the heart of Hazara territory were respected for centuries by the surrounding community, until they were destroyed by the Taliban in 2001. Second, Afghanistan is a weak state where many tribes and communities cooperate or compete for power. Long-standing ethnonationalist conflict makes it in the Talibans interests to keep dissent to a minimum. The Hazaras security represents something bigger: the possibility of a pluralistic and multiethnic nation. Since the American withdrawal, however, thousands of Hazara who withstood years of hardship and violence have sought refuge in Pakistan. For now, they and other minorities fear a period of increased oppression and dislocation under the Taliban. [This week in religion, a global roundup each Thursday. Sign up.] Read all six articles in our Understanding Islam series on TheConversation.com, or we can deliver them straight to your inbox if you sign up for our email newsletter course. The Conversation is an independent and nonprofit source of news, analysis and commentary from academic experts. The Conversation is wholly responsible for the content. Jay R. Jordan / Jay Jordan, Staff A man found dead outside a north Houston house late Friday had reportedly been peeking into a woman's bedroom when she shot him through the wall with a rifle, police said. Houston Police responded to a call shortly after 11 p.m. in the 890 block of Irvington Boulevard to find the man's body at the side of the house with gun shot wounds to the torso, said Lt. R. Willlkens. Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton said Friday he has sued six school districts, including Spring and Galveston ISDs, for implementing mask mandates in defiance of an order from Gov. Greg Abbott prohibiting such requirements. Paxton said in a statement that his office filed six lawsuits against the following districts: Richardson, Round Rock, Galveston, Elgin, Spring and Sherman ISDs. The Texas Education Agency has said in guidance that it will not enforce Abbotts order until other pending litigation is resolved. Not only are superintendents across Texas openly violating state law, but they are using district resources that ought to be used for teacher merit raises or other educational benefits to defend their unlawful political maneuvering, Paxton said. If districts choose to spend their money on legal fees, they must do so knowing that my office is ready and willing to litigate these cases. I have full confidence that the courts will side with the law not acts of political defiance. Public health officials including Dr. Anthony Fauci have endorsed mask mandates as a way to prevent the spread of COVID-19. The emergence of the delta variant has led to a sharp increase in hospitalizations and deaths across the country. President Joe Biden has criticized Republican officeholders who have vowed to fight newly announced federal mask rules. I am so disappointed that, particularly, some Republican governors have been so cavalier with the health of these kids, so cavalier with the health of their communities, he said. Were playing for real here. This isnt a game. The Associated Press contributed to this report. This is a breaking news story. alejandro.serrano@chron.com NOAA Padre Island National Seashore said in a Facebook post Monday morning it will temporarily close in response to Tropical Storm Nicholas. The popular beach destination near Corpus Christi said it made the decision because of the threat of a storm surge and the potential for flash flooding. The closures include all campgrounds, beaches and all other amenities. San Anotino welcomed Pope John Paul II with mariachi music and a Stetson cowboy hat 34 years ago on Sept. 13. The then-67-year-old arrived on a scorching Sunday morning and remained in the Alamo City for a historic 22-hour visit. The pope appeared at six events after landing in the city on Sept. 13, 1987, and was spotted by thousands in five popemobile parades, including one in front of the Alamo. The late popes outdoor mass at Westover Hills drew more than 350,000 people armed with coolers, cameras and folding chairs. The mass at the 144-acre site remains a record for the largest single gathering in Texas history. On ExpressNews.com: 16 years ago, San Antonio tried to steal the New Orleans Saints after Hurricane Katrina At least 500 people became ill under the blazing sun as John Paul read his homily. Forty people had to be taken to area hospitals. The pope spoke about the needs along the U.S.-Mexico border and called San Antonio a crossroads, saying it was the citys duty to show mercy to people moving northward from Mexico. PHILIP BARR/EXPRESS-NEWS FILE PHOTO Out of sight from admiring Catholics, John Paul reportedly visited then-Mayor Henry Cisneros ailing infant son, named John Paul Anthony in honor of the pope and the city of San Antonio. Not everyone was happy about the Popes visit. Images captured by photographers showed San Antonio police attempting to take signs away from a pair of Taiwanese people as they protested Catholicism outside the home of Archbishop Patrick Flores, where the pope spent the night. On his way to Kelly Air Force Base, where John Paul left for Phoenix, a band or choir waited on nearly every block as the papal parade passed. JOE BARRERA, JR./SAN ANTONIO EXPRESS-NEWS The pope's trip was not without a price. The overall cost of the San Antonio visit was $2.6 million. The emotional price had gone higher when workers who had labored for weeks watched as the 12-story twin altar towers adorned with elaborate banners collapsed in a windstorm two days before the visit. Information from Express-News archives was used in this report. Timothy.Fanning@express-news.net ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) The leader of an Illinois anti-government militia group who authorities say masterminded the 2017 bombing of a Minnesota mosque was sentenced Monday to 53 years in prison for an attack that terrified the mosque's community. Emily Claire Hari, who was previously known as Michael Hari and recently said she is transgender, faced a mandatory minimum of 30 years for the attack on Dar al-Farooq Islamic Center in Bloomington. Defense attorneys asked for the minimum, but prosecutors sought life, saying Hari hasnt taken responsibility for the attack. No one was hurt in the bombing, but more than a dozen members of the mosque community gave victim impact statements Monday about the trauma it left behind. U.S. District Judge Donovan Frank said evidence clearly showed Hari's intent was to scare, intimidate and terrorize individuals of Muslim faith." Diversity is the strength of this country, Frank said. Anyone who doesnt understand that doesnt understand the constitutional promise of this country that brings a lot of people here. Anything less than 636 months would (be) disrespect to the law," the judge added. Hari made a brief statement before she was sentenced, saying, For how blessed my first 47 years of life were, I cant complain about what the last three have looked like ... considering my blessed and fortunate and happy life, I cant ask the judge for anything further. She also said the victims who testified during Monday's hearing have been through a traumatic ordeal and she wished them God's richest blessings in Christ Jesus. Frank said he was prepared to recommend Hari go to a women's prison, but said the Bureau of Prisons would decide. Hari was convicted in December on five counts, including damaging property because of its religious character and obstructing the free exercise of religious beliefs. Members of the mosque asked the judge on Monday to impose a life sentence, describing their shock and terror at the attack. Some were afraid to pray there afterward and have not returned. Mothers were scared to bring their kids to the mosque, which also serves as a charter school and community center. I felt really scared because I was going to start school in the same building soon and we lived like six blocks away from the mosque, said Idris Yusuf, who was 9 when the bombing happened. I was scared because if these people could do this to our mosque, whats stopping them from coming to Muslim peoples homes too? Afterward, community members said they saw 53 years as justice for an attack that has rattled worshippers for more than four years. We were looking for life (in prison), but this is something we can settle for today, said Khalid Omar, a community organizer and Dar Al Farooq worshipper. Several men were gathered at Dar al-Farooq for early morning prayers on Aug. 5, 2017, when a pipe bomb was thrown through the window of an imams office. A seven-month investigation led authorities to Clarence, Illinois, a rural community about 120 miles (190 kilometers) south of Chicago, where Hari and co-defendants Michael McWhorter and Joe Morris lived. Authorities say Hari, 50, led a group called the White Rabbits that included McWhorter, Morris and others and that Hari came up with the plan to attack the mosque. Prosecutors said at trial that she was motivated by hatred for Muslims, citing excerpts from Haris manifesto known as The White Rabbit Handbook. McWhorter and Morris, who portrayed Hari as a father figure, each pleaded guilty to five counts and testified against her. They are awaiting sentencing. It wasn't initially clear how the White Rabbits became aware of Dar al-Farooq, but the mosque was in headlines in the years before the attack: Some young people from Minnesota who traveled to Syria to join the Islamic State group had worshipped there. Mosque leaders were never accused of any wrongdoing. Haris attorneys wrote in court filings that she was a victim of online misinformation about the mosque. Assistant federal defender Shannon Elkins also said gender dysphoria fueled Hari's inner conflict, saying she wanted to transition but knew she would be ostracized, so she formed a rag-tag group of freedom fighters or militia men and secretly looked up sex change, transgender surgery, and post-op transgender on the internet. Prosecutors said gender dysphoria is not an excuse and said using it to deflect guilt is offensive. Prosecutors asked for several sentencing enhancements, arguing the bombing was a hate crime led by Hari. They also say Hari committed obstruction when she tried to escape from custody during her transfer from Illinois to Minnesota for trial in February 2019. Hari denied trying to flee. Hari, a former sheriffs deputy and self-described entrepreneur and watermelon farmer, self-published books including essays on religion, and has floated ideas for a border wall with Mexico. She gained attention on the Dr. Phil talk show after she fled to the South American nation of Belize in the early 2000s during a custody dispute. She was convicted of child abduction and sentenced to probation. Before her 2018 arrest in the mosque bombing, she used the screen name Illinois Patriot to post more than a dozen videos to YouTube, most of them anti-government monologues. Hari, McWhorter and Morris were also charged in a failed November 2017 attack on an abortion clinic in Champaign, Illinois. Plea agreements for McWhorter and Morris say the men participated in an armed home invasion in Indiana, and the armed robberies or attempted armed robberies of two Walmart stores in Illinois. DENVER (AP) Colorado Gov. Jared Polis on Monday urged the Food and Drug Administration to quickly authorize booster shots for the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine as well as vaccinations for children ages 5 to 11, saying the state is prepared to launch its own booster shot program. The FDA needs to get out of their ivory tower and realize there is a real-life pandemic, and should expedite booster-shot approvals for the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines, the Democratic governor told a news conference. A booster dose raises the levels of antibodies to protect against COVID. In August, Pfizer said it had started the application process for a third dose of its vaccine for everyone ages 16 and older. The White House has begun planning for boosters later this month, if both the FDA and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention agree. Advisers to the FDA will weigh evidence about an extra Pfizer shot Friday. The U.S. already offers an extra dose of the Pfizer or Moderna vaccines to people with severely weakened immune systems. Polis credited the Donald Trump administrations Operation Warp Speed for dispensing with bureaucracy to quickly incentivize vaccine development. He said its time the Joe Biden administration did the same for booster shots and young childrens vaccines as the nations schools have reopened with the delta variant raging. This is a moment where similar leadership is needed by the Biden administration to make sure that the FDA does not succeed in using ivory tower circular reasoning to further delay the life-saving booster, Polis said. Polis said Monday that Colorado is ready to formally launch a booster-shot program as soon as Sept. 20, beginning with residents and staff of senior residential facilities and frontline workers, pending FDA and CDC approval. Some Colorado residents with weakened immune systems have already gotten the booster shot. As for COVID-19 vaccines for children, those 12 and over are eligible. But with schools reopening and the delta variant causing more infections among kids, many parents are anxiously wondering when younger children can get the shots. The FDAs vaccine chief, Dr. Peter Marks, told The Associated Press Friday the agency will rapidly evaluate COVID-19 vaccinations for younger children as soon as it gets the needed data. Pfizer is expected to turn over its study results by the end of September. Marks said he was very, very hopeful that vaccinations for 5- to 11-year-olds will be underway by years end. The American Academy of Pediatrics has cited deltas growing threat to children in urging a faster decision. - This story has been corrected to state that Pfizer started its application process for a third dose of the vaccine for U.S. approval in August. VISTA, Calif. Its a bright, cloudless morning in this heavily Latino, working-class exurb of San Diego. A Were Hiring sign hangs in the window of a run-down McDonalds on the corner of a major thoroughfare, Civic Center Drive. One side of the restaurant exterior serves as a homeless encampment, strewn with debris, while just down the street, construction has ramped up again in a trendy revitalized area with new storefronts and restaurants mixed in with the old. Conservative talk show host Larry Elder, who shot to the top of the GOP pack of candidates vying to replace California Gov. Gavin Newsom since entering the recall race in July, is furiously trying to make his closing arguments to voters at the first of three stops Friday in Southern California. Polls over the last week show Newsom opening up a comfortable lead in the final stretch, and media reports are already declaring him the victor. Elders unabashedly conservative views are out of step with voters in this solidly blue state and thus he became the perfect Newsom foil, the early obituaries contend. But Elder, the quick-witted and often combative black Republican, is still out there throwing punches. Hes well aware that some of the same polls giving Newsom a 13- to 21-point lead also show weakness that voter turnout is lagging among Latinos, who make up a nearly a third of Californias voters and have helped propel Democratic victories across the state for decades. The COVID pandemic and Newsoms strict lockdown policies hit Latinos and their small businesses especially hard. An Emerson College survey in mid-July showed these voters as the only racial group favoring the recall doing so by a whopping 13 percentage points with more recent surveys indicating they are evenly split and failing to turn in their ballots in large numbers. While sitting at a table outside Marisco del Pacifico, a popular local eatery, owner Esteban Sanchez told Elder hes struggling to find enough waiters and other employees to keep the restaurant afloat even after surviving the worst of the pandemic closures. Its one of the busiest restaurants in this town, but he cant find workers, chimed in Frank Lopez, a former Vista City Council member. Elder quickly offered sympathy from his own familys experience. His father was a janitor and a cook who eventually opened a cafe in the Pico-Union area of Los Angeles. A lot of restaurants have told me they have to cut hours, cut days because theyre short of staff and if you serve somebody a bad meal it will hurt your business, so rather than do that, theyre cutting down [on their hours], he said in his usually blunt, rapid-fire clip. Of course, the profits go down when hours go down. Its outrageous. Newsom shut down the state to the point that a third of all small businesses are now gone forever, and many of them were owned by Latinos and blacks and Asian Americans, he said. He should not have done that, and he left his own winery open. Its the polar opposite message Newsom has been driving home in the final weeks of the recall as the sitting governor has leaned into the strict pandemic policies that helped fueled the drive to oust him. As Elder and other Republicans have promised to overturn Newsoms restrictions, the first-term governor is casting the recall decision as a matter of life and death literally. Last week in Oakland, Newsom warned that California would turn into Florida or Texas without his leadership, two states whose unemployment numbers have fared much better during the pandemic but where new COVID cases are now far higher. On Monday, President Biden, fresh from implementing new vaccine requirements for federal workers and private businesses with more than 100 employees, will campaign with Newsom in Long Beach. The Biden appearance follows Vice President Kamala Harris time stumping with Newsom in San Leandro on Wednesday. Republicans have questioned why Newsom would want Harris and Biden, with their plummeting poll numbers nationally, out with him on the campaign trail. But both remain popular in California. A Public Policy Institute of California poll, conducted in late August, during the administrations chaotic Afghanistan withdrawal, showed that 58% of Californians approve of the way Biden is handling his job, compared to 53% who feel the same way about Newsom. Perhaps the most effective Democratic endorsement of all an ad featuring former President Obama warns that the recall vote could be the difference between protecting our kids or putting them at risk; helping Californians recover or taking us backwards. The efforts to nationalize the election seem to be paying off. Democratic voters have already cast nearly twice as many votes as Republicans, and pro-recall organizers are sounding the alarm for supporters to return their ballots. Proponents are urging Republicans not to let their distrust in the all-mail voting system cause them to wait until the last minute to turn in their ballots, as they did in the 2020 presidential contest. Many Democratic-controlled counties have offered fewer in-person polling places than in previous elections, so long lines are expected on the last day of voting, Sept. 14. Yet, over the last week, there has been a tangible GOP air of defeat, and the Republican blame game has already begun. Centrist GOP strategists point the finger at the party for failing to rally behind San Diego Mayor Kevin Faulconer, a pro-choice moderate, and allowing Elder to run away with the vast majority of their voters support. Faulconers spokesman, John Burke, publicly lashed out at Elder on Friday. What changed between July and now? he tweeted, referring to a new poll showing the no on recall side leading by 21 points. One thing: @LarryElder. Hes been a gift to @GavinNewsom. California Republicans can do better. In July, after Elder entered the race and started surging, the California GOP backed away from delivering an endorsement for one Republican candidate, which was widely expected to favor Faulconer. But others maintained that the party had no choice but avoid an endorsement because Faulconer would have suffered an embarrassing and debilitating loss. These consultants think that if they can get the party insiders behind him, that will mean a path to victory, Carl DeMaio, a popular San Diego radio host and recall organizer, stated back in July. Having a bunch of insiders from the Sacramento swamp try to force-feed this grassroots movement a bad candidate is the path to destroying the recall. DeMaio, who frequently refers to Faulconer as Mr. Vanilla on his radio show, argues that Elder breathed new life into the pro-recall movement when he threw his hat in the ring in early July. Faulconer never caught fire and is now hovering in the single-digits, along with 36-year-old Assemblyman Kevin Kiley and businessman and perennial candidate John Cox. In fact, the second-highest vote-getter in most polls is not Faulconer but the lone Democratic candidate in the race, political novice Kevin Paffrath, a 29-year-old real estate broker who hosts a YouTube channel about personal finance. Democratic strategists dismiss the idea that any Republican had a serious chance of replacing Newsom, although they believe that Elder has made a bigger win easier for the governor to achieve. In a state where registered Democratic voters outnumber Republicans nearly 2-to-1, veteran Democratic consultants claim the math was never going to add up to a Republican win without a larger-than-life figure like Arnold Schwarzenegger in the race. Schwarzenegger, a Republican, won the last California recall in 2003, ousting then Democratic Gov. Gray Davis. Its an argument Garry South, a longtime Democratic strategist who ran Davis political campaigns, has been making for months. Now that Democrats are paying attention, he predicts a crushing, double-digit recall defeat. This is not about enthusiasm, its about numbers and math doesnt give a sh-- about enthusiasm, he told RCP Thursday. This thing is over. The reason the Faulconer team is so upset, South said, is that their candidate has come out of the recall as damaged goods with even worse long-shot odds in the 2022 gubernatorial contest. If youre Kevin Faulconer, and you end up with 5% of the vote, how do you reboot and tell people that youre the best candidate for the Republicans to run against Newsom in 2022? he asked. Recall organizers are far from capitulating, and argue Newsoms reputation has suffered most of all. Anne Dunsmore, the campaign manager and finance director of Rescue California, one of the main recall organizers, is working to keep the focus on Newsom in the final days. Dunsmore rattles off a litany of leadership failures during Newsoms two-year tenure, including one of the highest unemployment rates in the nation, spiking crime, massive unemployment fraud, lying about the states fire prevention efforts, disruptive school closures, failing to dramatically reduce homelessness and his infamous flouting of his own COVID lockdown rules during the French Laundry dinner last November. No matter how much Newsom wins or loses by, Dunsmore said, she considers the recall an overwhelming success. If you would have told me a year ago that Joe Biden and Kamala Harris would be out here campaigning for this guy, and recall opponents would end up spending $80 million to defeat our effort, I would have laughed, she said. Democrats, no matter, how you look at it, have to say [Newsom] is damaged goods. Thieves have stolen 40 GPS tractor kits from farms across East Anglia and Hertfordshire in an organised crime wave estimated to have cost farmers about 500,000. Thefts of high-tech global positioning system (GPS) equipment were reported on 7 September in Norfolk, Suffolk and neighbouring Hertfordshire. Norfolk-based farm manager Andrew Francis, who runs the 9,100-hectare Elveden estate, raised the alarm on social media after he was targeted. "Be wary. Seven tractors broken into last night. Built in screens and GPS equipment taken. All 7 currently out of action", he said on Twitter. It follows a recent joint UK-German police operation which infiltrated a Lithuanian crime group and retrieved 80 GPS tractor kits 23 of which were stolen in the UK. The high-tech equipment is an essential part of modern farming, without it harvests can be delayed and some farmers left unable to work. According to figures by NFU Mutual, the cost of claims for GPS thefts almost doubled last year to 2.9m, as worldwide demand for the kits fuelled the crime wave. Rebecca Davidson, rural affairs specialist at the rural insurer, warned farming businesses that organised crime gangs were now armed with new tactics and targets. "As the economic impact of the pandemic bites, we are very concerned that rural theft may escalate significantly," she said. Criminal gangs continue to target farmyards for high-value GPS systems, quad bikes and tractors with the cost of agri vehicle theft remaining at over 9m - only a 2% drop in cost from 2019. Theres no doubt that when we work together with police, farmers, communities and other rural organisations to tackle rural crime it can make a real difference." DC Chris Piggott co-ordinates the agricultural vehicle crime unit at the National Vehicle Crime Intelligence Service (NaVCIS), which supports operations across the UK to tackle organised agricultural machinery crime. He said GPS theft was an international crime, with countries across the globe experiencing thefts and attempts to sell stolen equipment back into the farming sector. "There are also homegrown-criminals stealing GPS systems as people turn to criminal activity to make a quick buck," he added. Demand for GPS equipment is fuelling this type of crime and we are urging people to think twice before purchasing second-hand items online. Although police have shut some bogus sellers down, they are emerging again under false names and purporting to be UK sellers. Anyone considering a purchase should get photos showing serial numbers before parting with any money and check with the manufacturer that it is not recorded stolen." How can I increase GPS security? To protect GPS systems from thieves, NFU Mutual and NaVCIS have issued farmers and growers the following advice: Activate PIN security on GPS kit with your own unique number if available If your system is not pin enabled, mark your postcode to deter thieves and trace your property back to you Keep tractors and combines with GPS fitted stored out of sight when possible Remove GPS kit when possible from tractors and other machinery and store it securely when not in use Record serial numbers and photograph your kit Check serial numbers of second-hand kit offered for sale The Royal Agricultural Society of England (RASE) has applauded three farmers for their agricultural excellence as part of the Bledisloe Awards. The society's annual awards saw the Excellence in Practical Farming Award go to Tim May of Kingsclere Estates, Basingstoke. Tim is a 2011 Nuffield scholar on sustainability and champions regenerative farming and the introduction of livestock. He upholds the Triple Bottom Line theory. Meanwhile, the National Agricultural Award was presented to Ian Pigott, who is the founder of Open Farm Sunday, FACE and the Farm School. The Hertfordshire farmer has made vast contributions to bridging the communications gap between farmers and the public. Ian also practices regenerative and no till agriculture, and is seen as an industry-wide leader of innovation. Finally, the Bledisloe Gold Medal for Landowners was presented to the Raveningham Estate, who have exemplified the high standards of modern rural estate management. The Norfolk-based estate have excelled in conservation, solar and biomass schemes and is also a past winner of the RASE Woodland awards. The RASE awards were hosted by the Barnston Estate in Farndon, Cheshire. Manager Edward Barnston congratulated all three winners. He said they had "demonstrated their innovative approaches to agricultural excellence and pursuit of the triple bottom line." Im delighted to pass the baton of the Bledisloe Gold Medal on to Sir Nicholas Bacon of the Raveningham Estate, a deserved recipient of this prestigious award, Edward added. Exporters will be flying the flag for British pork and beef at a major Chinese exhibition this week as the UK continues to seek new markets post-Brexit. On Wednesday, the 19th China International Meat Industry Exhibition 2021 (CIMIE) will take place at the Qingdao Cosmopolitan Exposition bringing buyers from all across Asia. CIMIE is seen as the most professional meat industry show in China attracting more than 1,000 exhibitors as well as 300,000 visitors from all over the world. AHDB will have a stand at this years event, but due to Covid-19 travel restrictions it will be managed by AHDBs representative Holly Chen who supports the organisation in China. The aim is to target importers and processors to build on the UK's export figures for pork and support new market access for British beef. According to latest data from HMRC, in the first six months of 2021, 83,000 tonnes of pork was shipped to China valued at nearly 150 million. AHDB Head of Asia Pacific Jonathan Eckley said China was a 'hugely important' market for Britain's pork exporters. "CIMIE provides an opportunity to establish and maintain relationships with key importers and processors with the ultimate goal in adding value to the UK meat sectors. During an incredibly challenging year for exports, its imperative that we not only identify new markets in Asia but continue to build on the opportunities in existing markets. It comes as recent trade figures show that increased demand from China helped boost UK pork exports during the first six months of this year. According to HMRC, a total of 177,638 tonnes of pork had been exported around the world, bringing a 304 million boost to the sector. While total shipments were slightly down on last years figures, exports to countries outside of the EU increased 30% compared to the same period last year worth 220m. The lions share went to China, with 83,000 tonnes shipped between January and June, worth almost 150 million. Mr Eckley said: "While the EU remains an important trading partner for the UK, it is imperative that we continue to identify and open a broad portfolio of markets further afield. "Our ongoing relations with markets such as Asia is providing a hugely important boost for our red meat sectors here in the UK. The Fauquier Times is honored to serve as your community companion. To say thank you, we are excited to offer 4 weeks FREE Digital & Print access to all subscribers new and returning alike. We are dedicated to continuing providing reliable, high quality journalism. This is possible with the trust and support of our subscribers in the community we are proud to serve. Category Select Category Apparel/Garments Textiles Fashion Technical Textiles Information Technology E-commerce Retail Corporate Association Press Release SubCategory Select Sub-Category HONG KONG, Sept 11, 2021 - (ACN Newswire) - A major fashion extravaganza, CENTRESTAGE ELITES, was held last night (10 September) at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre. The three-day CENTRESTAGE event, organised by the Hong Kong Trade Development Council (HKTDC), kicked off with CENTRESTAGE ELITES as its exclusive opening event, bringing together renowned Hong Kong designers Calvin Chan and Joyce Kun's brand The World Is Your Oyster, as well as acclaimed Korean designer Lee Mooyeol's brand, YOUSER, in a joint fashion show featuring their 2022 spring/summer collections. For the first time, the CENTRESTAGE ELITES show was boosted by extended reality (XR) elements.CENTRESTAGE, which runs from 10 to 12 September, is Asia's premier fashion event, offering a promotional platform for fashion brands and designers to showcase their talent. Last night's gala drew an impressive attendance of industry insiders, celebrities and fashionistas including Hins Cheung, Alfred Hui, Jason Chan, Venus Wong, Joey Wong JW, Phil Lam, Panther Chan, ANSONBEAN, Ben Chiu, Amy Lo, Karl Ting, Dickson Yu and more. The show was livestreamed with additional augmented reality (AR) effects to enhance the online viewing experience. Click here to view the show. https://tinyurl.com/2wz364akCENTRESTAGE, which closes tomorrow (Sunday), features more than 200 participating brands from 24 countries and regions. The fair welcomes fashion buyers and public visitors at the same time. Across the three days of the fair, attendees can participate in 30 events including fashion shows, a fashion summit and lucky draw sessions.Fair detailsDate: 10 to 12 September 2021 (Friday to Sunday)Venue: Hall 1A-D, HKCECDate: CENTERSTAGE opening hours10-11 Sept (Fri-Sat) 11am-8pm12 Sept (Sun) 11am-6pmFree admission for trade visitors aged 18 and overFree admission for public visitors aged 12 and overWebsites:- CENTRESTAGE: www.centrestage.com.hk- Hong Kong Young Fashion Designers' Contest (YDC): www.fashionally.com- CENTRESTAGE in Town: https://centrestage.hktdc.com/ex/centrestageintown/en- CENTRESTAGE ELITES: https://bit.ly/3jXk1Y8- Photo download: https://bit.ly/38Y19C9Media enquiries:HKTDC's Communication & Public Affairs DepartmentSnowy Chan, Tel: +852 2584 4537, email: snowy.sn.chan@hktdc.orgAgnes Wat, Tel: +852 2584 4554, email: agnes.ky.wat@hktdc.orgAbout HKTDCThe Hong Kong Trade Development Council (HKTDC) is a statutory body established in 1966 to promote, assist and develop Hong Kong's trade. With 50 offices globally, including 13 in Mainland China, the HKTDC promotes Hong Kong as a two-way global investment and business hub. The HKTDC organises international exhibitions, conferences and business missions to create business opportunities for companies, particularly small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), in the mainland and international markets. The HKTDC also provides up-to-date market insights and product information via research reports and digital news channels. For more information, please visit: www.hktdc.com/aboutus. Follow us on Twitter @hktdc and LinkedIn.Source: HKTDCCopyright 2021 ACN Newswire . All rights reserved. Werbehinweise: Die Billigung des Basisprospekts durch die BaFin ist nicht als ihre Befurwortung der angebotenen Wertpapiere zu verstehen. Wir empfehlen Interessenten und potenziellen Anlegern den Basisprospekt und die Endgultigen Bedingungen zu lesen, bevor sie eine Anlageentscheidung treffen, um sich moglichst umfassend zu informieren, insbesondere uber die potenziellen Risiken und Chancen des Wertpapiers. Sie sind im Begriff, ein Produkt zu erwerben, das nicht einfach ist und schwer zu verstehen sein kann. The HKTDC, represented by Deputy Executive Director Benjamin Chau (R), and the Thai Ministry of Commerce's Department of International Trade Promotion, represented by Trade Commissioner and Consul Chanunpat Pisanapipong (L), ratified a renewed memorandum of understanding at CENTRESTAGE, Asia's premier fashion event organised by the HKTDC. The agreement was witnessed by Bernard Chan (centre), Convenor of the Executive Council, HKSAR, and Chairman of the Hong Kong - Thailand Business Council. A fashion parade showcasing the creativity of Thailand's home-grown designers and labels was held today at CENTRESTAGE. HONG KONG, Sept 11, 2021 - (ACN Newswire) - With business travel continuing to be restricted due to the global pandemic, Hong Kong is exploring ways to foster stronger economic ties with its trading partners. The Hong Kong Trade Development Council (HKTDC) and the Thai Ministry of Commerce's Department of International Trade Promotion (DITP) today ratified a memorandum of understanding (MOU) at CENTRESTAGE, Asia's premier fashion event organised by the HKTDC. The MOU, which renews one signed in 2018, aims to promote trade and business activities, enhance the exchange of trade-related information, and strengthen the economic partnership between Hong Kong and Thailand.HKTDC Deputy Executive Director Benjamin Chau said: "The HKTDC and DITP are pleased to cooperate in organising exchange, training and marketing activities such as trade fairs, seminars and forums to facilitate communication and cooperation between the business communities of Hong Kong and Thailand. Under the renewed MOU, small-and-medium enterprises (SMEs) and start-ups in selected target industries of Hong Kong and Thailand will be encouraged to participate or feature in online platforms (www.thaitrade.com and www.hktdc.com), mobile applications and trade fairs of the DITP and HKTDC to promote their products and services to international markets."The target industries include decorative arts and crafts, houseware, furniture, toys, gems and jewellery, garment and fashion accessories, food and beverage, pet supplies, cosmetics and personal care, gifts and premium, stationery, spa products, medical devices and supplies, electronics and information communications technology, printing and packaging, as well as natural and organic products. Service industries such as healthcare, finance, infrastructure and real estate services, design and marketing, and film and animation are also covered.Mr Chau continued: "To help SMEs and start-ups capture the opportunities arising from the shift to online business, the two organisations will also enhance collaboration in the digital economy, such as in e-commerce promotions, webinars, virtual trade fairs and showcases, and online business matching activities, in order to provide enterprises with technology support and solutions to improve their capabilities. With the surge of online business activities under the pandemic, it is important for enterprises to make good use of technology to capture business opportunities.""To promote Thailand's exports during the pandemic, Mr Jurin Laksanawisit, Thailand's Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Ministry of Commerce, has progressive policies to enhance Thailand market access to the world. By providing multiple levels of SME training and new trade promotion techniques called "Mirror - Mirror" which enables Thai entrepreneurs to exhibit their products at international trade fairs without attending in person. We are very happy to strengthen our cooperation with the HKTDC. We also look forward to our businesses taking part in a wider scope of HKTDC activities", said Chanunpat Pisanapipong, Trade Commissioner and Consul of Thailand's DITP.Thailand is Hong Kong's 10th-largest trading partner, with bilateral trade totalling US$17.3 billion in 2020. Hong Kong exports to Thailand amounted to US$6.3 billion last year while the city imported US$11.1 billion worth of goods from the country.CENTRESTAGE (10-12 September), currently running at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre (HKCEC), features more than 200 fashion brands from 24 countries and regions. The debut Thai Pavilion, organised by the DITP, showcases 17 Thai fashion brands that participate in a Thailand fashion start-up incubation project called QUARTED. The pavilion symbolises increased collaboration between the DITP and HKTDC in promoting Thai fashion brands in Hong Kong.Running concurrently with CENTRESTAGE, the HKTDC Hong Kong Watch & Clock Fair and Salon de TE (8-12 September) are being held at the HKCEC.Photo download: https://bit.ly/3nmbobIMedia enquiries:HKTDC's Communications & Public Affairs DepartmentSnowy Chan, Tel: +852 2584 4537, Email: snowy.sn.chan@hktdc.orgAgnes Wat, Tel: +852 2584 4554, Email: agnes.ky.wat@hktdc.orgAbout the HKTDCThe Hong Kong Trade Development Council (HKTDC) is a statutory body established in 1966 to promote, assist and develop Hong Kong's trade. With 50 offices globally, including 13 in Mainland China, the HKTDC promotes Hong Kong as a two-way global investment and business hub. The HKTDC organises international exhibitions, conferences and business missions to create business opportunities for companies, particularly SMEs, in the mainland and international markets. The HKTDC also provides up-to-date market insights and product information via research reports and digital news channels. For more information, please visit: www.hktdc.com/aboutus. Follow us on Twitter @hktdc and LinkedIn.Source: HKTDCCopyright 2021 ACN Newswire . All rights reserved. The physical elements of the 40th HKTDC Hong Kong Watch & Clock Fair and the ninth Salon de TE drew to a successful close today. World Brand Piazza presented 12 renowned international brands. Experts shared their insights into industry prospects, trends and watch investment at the Hong Kong International Watch Forum, Asian Watch Conference and "Global Luxury Watch Investment and Market Outlook in Mainland China" seminar. HONG KONG, Sept 12, 2021 - (ACN Newswire) - The 40th HKTDC Hong Kong Watch & Clock Fair and the ninth Salon de TE, jointly organised by the Hong Kong Trade Development Council (HKTDC), Hong Kong Watch Manufacturers Association Ltd and the Federation of Hong Kong Watch Trades and Industries Ltd, drew to a successful conclusion today. This year, the twin fairs at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre not only welcomed industry buyers but also opened their doors to the general public during the whole fair period for the first time. The five-day physical fairs attracted around 4,900 industry buyers and more than 23,600 public visitors to shop for timepieces.This year, online version of the watch fairs was launched for the first time and will run until 19 September. To date, more than 1,100 online business meetings have been arranged, enabling global watch and clock traders to engage in business discussions via video conferencing. As of 12 September, the online fairs had recorded more than 2,400 buyers browsing products and conducting business discussions online.Fairs help exhibitors promote their brands and develop retail businessBenjamin Chau, Deputy Executive Director of the HKTDC, said: "The Watch & Clock Fair and Salon de TE returned as special editions this year to help generate business opportunities for industry players. Opening the five-day fairs to the public for the first time also provided an excellent opportunity for watch and clock traders to reach out to retail customers and boost the industry's retail businesses. According to our on-site survey, public visitors who were interviewed spent an average of HK$1,059 per person at the fairs."Many exhibitors agreed that the fairs had helped them tap into the retail market. Philip Lau, General Manager of Chit Tat Clock and Watch Company Limited, said he had met with five buyers from European and US buying offices in Hong Kong. His company offered wholesale prices to attract local consumers and received a better-than-expected response. "These consumers have high purchasing power and strong confidence in the quality of our watches. We estimate that our sales turnover at the fair will be around HK$200,000-300,000," Mr Lau said.Another exhibitor, Gary Ching, Co-founder of ANPASSA Watch Company, said that within just a few hours of the opening of the fairs, two watch retailers had expressed interest in ANPASSA's watches and started discussing cooperation. "We also attracted the attention of many local consumers. We expect our on-site sales to reach HK$500,000-600,000, which demonstrates that our watches have great potential in the local market."Online trading builds business opportunities; smart watches grow in popularityTo gauge various trends in the watch and clock industry in 2022, the HKTDC conducted an on-site survey during the fairs, interviewing more than 540 exhibitors and buyers. The survey showed that the majority of respondents considered the recovering purchasing power of customers (42%) and e-tailing (35%) as presenting the biggest opportunities for their businesses. Additionally, 41% of the exhibitors surveyed said they were already engaged in e-tailing, while 47% said they intend to develop an e-tailing business in the next two years to capture more orders.In addition, 50% of interviewed respondents were positive on the industry outlook and expected their overall sales to increase. In terms of different markets, 68% of respondents viewed the Mainland China market most favourably, followed by the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) region (49%) and India (46%).As for product trends, smart watches (50%) were expected to be the most popular watch category in 2022, followed by mechanical watches (16%), and digital analogue watches (12%).The fairs attracted smart watch manufacturers to source for parts and components. Ricky Tsang, Managing Director of Eternal Keen Investment Limited, said his company specialises in the production of smart wearables, including smart watches. "I have found three potential suppliers at the fair. The value of my annual purchases of parts and components is US$20 million, and I plan to purchase parts and components worth US$1 million from new suppliers I met at the fair," Mr Tsang said.Fair websites:- Hong Kong Watch and Clock Fair: https://hkwatchfair.hktdc.com- Salon de TE: https://hkwatchfair.hktdc.com/te- Photo download: https://bit.ly/38Y9wO7Media enquiries:HKTDC's Communications & Public Affairs DepartmentJanet Chan, Tel: +852 2584 4369, Email: janet.ch.chan@hktdc.orgAngel Tang, Tel: +852 2584 4544, Email: angel.hc.tang@hktdc.orgAbout HKTDCThe Hong Kong Trade Development Council (HKTDC) is a statutory body established in 1966 to promote, assist and develop Hong Kong's trade. With 50 offices globally, including 13 in Mainland China, the HKTDC promotes Hong Kong as a two-way global investment and business hub. The HKTDC organises international exhibitions, conferences and business missions to create business opportunities for companies, particularly small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), in the mainland and international markets. The HKTDC also provides up-to-date market insights and product information via research reports and digital news channels. For more information, please visit: www.hktdc.com/aboutus. Follow us on Twitter @hktdc and LinkedIn.Source: HKTDCCopyright 2021 ACN Newswire . All rights reserved. MANILA, Sept 11, 2021 - (JCN Newswire) - With the competition among enterprises being at an all-time high, even under the current circumstances, the potential of AI and RPA is not fully realized, which makes the Philippines one of the best places to sprint to the front of the competition.The 28th edition of World AI & RPA Show - Manila is set to take place virtually on 16 September 2021 to understand the possibilities of tomorrow and usher in a new age of economic growth driven by AI-based emerging technologies.Notable speakers include the likes of Lito Villanueva, Executive VP and Chief Innovation & Inclusion Officer, Rizal Commercial Banking Corporation; Peter Leong, AI Specialist, Singapore Polytechnic; Yu Ka Chan, Senior Regional Manager, Cloud Engineering, Oracle ASEAN & more.The event will feature keynotes presentations, product showcases, panel discussions, tech talks and fireside chats to find solutions to problems and trends in the AI space.The event will focus on eye-opening topics such as:- Preparing for the next evolution of AI as a driver for business success- Building the business strategy for AI across the enterprise- Aligning organizational structure to deploy at scale- RPA and AI implementation: Challenges and Opportunities- Leveraging Intelligent Automation to tackle issues of compliance and big data- Improving CX with AI and RPA, and much more.The show will feature a groundbreaking collaboration of experts such as:- Simon Johnson, Asia Head of Claims Advisory and Operations, Marsh Asia- Peter Lee, Head of Customer Loyalty, Payment and Big Data, PLUS Malaysia- Kathleen Mackay, Chief Digital Officer, Revenue NSW - Department of Customer Service- Andy Chun, AI Pioneer, Regional Director - Technology Innovation, Prudential Corporation Asia- Lcol Francel Margareth Taborlupa, IS Officer, National Task Force Against Covid 19- Reynaldo (Rey) Lugtu, Founder & CEO, Hungry Workhorse- Edmund Situmorang, CTO, Sinarmas Group; to name a few."Optimization of digital technologies further promotes stakeholders' collective pursuit towards creating sustainable and inclusive prosperity. At the end of the day, no one should be left behind," states Lito Villanueva, Executive VP and Chief Innovation & Inclusion Officer, RCBC"AI amplifies the human potential and transforms every industry," states Peter Leong, AI specialist, Singapore Polytechnic"The event also includes AI and RPA-specialized technology providers to help companies identify major areas of interest and solutions to them. The event will also include AI and RPA technology providers who will help organizations to identify significant areas of concern and adequate solutions to these issues," says Mithun Shetty, CEO of TresconThe show will be hosted on the virtual events platform Vmeets to help participants network and conduct business in an interactive and immersive virtual environment. Participants will also be able to engage with speakers in Q&A sessions and network with solution providers in virtual exhibition booths, private consultation rooms and private networking rooms.World AI & RPA Show is officially sponsored by Gold Sponsors - Oracle and Denodo; Bronze Sponsor - BCS Technology.To get your complimentary passes, visit: World AI & RPA Show - ManilaAbout World AI & RPA ShowWorld AI Show is a thought-leadership-driven, business-focused, global series of events that takes place in strategic locations across the world. It connects top AI experts, enterprises, government representatives, data scientists, technology leaders, startups, investors, researchers, academicians, and global AI innovators - to discuss the impact of AI on commercial applications and the revolutionary ways it can transform businesses and government functions.About TresconTrescon is a global business events and consulting firm that provide a wide range of business services to a diversified client base that includes corporations, governments and individuals. Trescon is specialized in producing highly focused B2B events that connect businesses with opportunities through conferences, roadshows, expos, demand generation, investor connect and consulting services.For further details about the announcement, please contact:Media, PR & Corporate Communications+91 81059 75937media@tresconglobal.comSource: tresconCopyright 2021 JCN Newswire . All rights reserved. 27 abstracts showcasethe Company's innovation in the areas of immuno-oncology, oncogenic pathways, and DNA damage response (DDR) in gastrointestinal, genitourinary, and thoracic tumors Not intended for UK-, US- or Canada-based media Merck, a leading science and technology company, today announced research from Company-sponsored, investigator-sponsored, and collaborative studies including two oral and two mini-oral presentations at this year's World Conference on Lung Cancer, September 8-14, 2021, and the European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO) Congress, September 16-21, 2021. "Analyses presented from ongoing and completed trials at both of these meetings have the potential to make a difference for patients by meaningfully informing treatment decisions in challenging tumors such as lung and bladder cancers," said Danny Bar-Zohar, Global Head of Development for the Healthcare business of Merck. Select presentations include: BAVENCIO (avelumab) Real-world evidence will be presented supporting the continued need for first-line treatments for advanced urothelial carcinoma. Data from an investigator-sponsored study of avelumab in combination with neoadjuvant chemotherapy to treat muscle-invasive bladder cancer will be presented for the first time. BAVENCIO has been approved in multiple countries as a first-line maintenance treatment of metastatic UC that has not progressed with first-line platinum containing chemotherapy based on a statistically significant overall survival benefit in a Phase III clinical study. ESMO 2021 Title Lead Author Presentation Date/Time Real-world study assessing physician rationale for initiating first-line (1L) immuno-oncology (IO) therapy for patients with aUC. M. Ajmera 706P Available on demand: Thursday, September 16 at 8:30am CEST. Real-world (RW) treatment (Tx) patterns and clinical outcomes in patients (pts) with metastatic urothelial carcinoma (mUC) receiving first line (1L) Tx: results from IMPACT UC. MA. Bilen 701P Available on demand: Thursday, September 16 at 8:30am CEST. Treatment pattern and overall survival among patients with locally advanced or metastatic urothelial carcinoma Results from a complete nationwide unselected real-world registry study in Denmark from 2010 to 2017. JB. Jensen 707P Available on demand: Thursday, September 16 at 8:30am CEST. Avelumab as the basis of neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NAC) regimen in platinum eligible and ineligible patients (pts) with non-metastatic muscle invasive bladder cancer (NM-MIBC). NM. Chanza 659MO Mini-oral session: Genitourinary tumours, non-prostate. Saturday, September 18, 6:12-6:17pm CEST. Channel 2. Tepotinib Data for oral MET inhibitor tepotinib at IASLC 2021 World Conference on Lung Cancer (WCLC 2021) and ESMO include: Data from the VISION trial the largest study of patients with MET ex14 skipping NSCLC prospectively enrolled based on liquid and/or tissue biopsy (n=275) New results demonstrating robust and durable efficacy, and manageable safety First-time results in key age subgroups including patients >75 years. ex14 skipping NSCLC prospectively enrolled based on liquid and/or tissue biopsy (n=275) A trial-in-progress update from the ongoing INSIGHT 2 study in EGFR-mutant NSCLC with MET amplification. ESMO 2021 Title Lead Author Presentation Date/Time Efficacy and safety of tepotinib in patients with advanced age: VISION subgroup analysis of patients with MET exon 14 (METex14) skipping NSCLC. MC. Garassino 1254P Available on demand: Thursday, September 16 at 8:30am CEST. Tepotinib plus osimertinib for EGFR-mutant NSCLC with resistance to first-line osimertinib due to MET amplification: INSIGHT 2. Y-L. Wu 1366TIP Available on demand: Thursday, September 16 at 8:30am CEST. Health utility with tepotinib in patients (pts) with MET exon 14 (METex14) skipping non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). N. Reinmuth 1255P Available on demand: Thursday, September 16 at 8:30am CEST. WCLC 2021 Title Lead Author Presentation Tepotinib in patients with MET exon 14 (METex14) skipping NSCLC as identified by liquid (LBx) or tissue (TBx) biopsy. E. Felip P45.03 Tepotinib plus an EGFR TKI in patients with EGFR-mutant NSCLC and resistance to EGFR TKIs due to MET amplification (METamp). C-K. Liam P51.01 Berzosertib (M6620) For the leading asset in the Company's DDR inhibitor program, a first-time look at the ongoing Phase II study of ATR inhibitor berzosertib in patients with relapsed platinum-resistant small cell lung cancer (SCLC) will be presented. ESMO 2021 Title Lead Author Presentation Date/Time Phase 2 study of berzosertib (M6620) topotecan in patients with relapsed platinum-resistant SCLC: DDRiver SCLC 250. A. Thomas 1666TIP Available on demand: Thursday, September 16 at 8:30am CEST. ERBITUX (cetuximab) ERBITUX continues to demonstrate, in a number of studies, its significant role as the backbone of treatment in metastatic colorectal cancer. ESMO 2021 Title Lead Author Presentation Date/Time Comparison of cetuximab every 2 weeks versus standard once-weekly administration for the first-line treatment of RAS wild-type mCRC among patients with left- and right-sided primary tumor location. S. Kasper 415P Available on demand: Thursday, September 16 at 8:30am CEST. Tumour mutation profiles and circulating tumour cells in metastatic colorectal cancer patients treated with FOLFIRI cetuximab. A prospective ancillary study of the UNICANCER PRODIGE-28 trial. H. Blons 387MO Mini-oral session: Gastrointestinal tumours, colorectal. Saturday, September 18, 5:35-5:40pm CEST. Channel 4. Bintrafusp Alfa (M7824) ESMO 2021 Title Lead Author Presentation Date/Time Long-term follow-up of patients with human papillomavirus (HPV)-associated malignancies treated with bintrafusp alfa, a bi-functional fusion protein targeting TGF- and PD-L1. J. Strauss 957O Proffered paper session: Investigational immunotherapy. Friday, September 17, 1:40-1:50pm CEST. Channel 4. Adverse event management during treatment with bintrafusp alfa, a bifunctional fusion protein targeting TFG- and PD-L1: treatment guidance based on experience in clinical trials. J. Gulley 1689P Available on demand: Thursday, September 16 at 8:30am CEST. Merck is a science-led organization dedicated to delivering transformative medicines with the goal of making a meaningful difference in the lives of people affected by cancer. Our oncology research efforts aim to leverage our synergistic portfolio in oncogenic pathways, immuno-oncology, and DNA Damage Response (DDR) to tackle challenging tumor types in gastrointestinal, genitourinary, and thoracic cancers. Our curiosity drives our pursuit of treatments for even the most complex cancers, as we work to illuminate a path to scientific breakthroughs that transform patient outcomes. Learn more at https://www.merckgrouponcology.com. About BAVENCIO(avelumab) BAVENCIO is a human anti-programmed death ligand-1 (PD-L1) antibody. BAVENCIO has been shown in preclinical models to engage both the adaptive and innate immune functions. By blocking the interaction of PD-L1 with PD-1 receptors, BAVENCIO has been shown to release the suppression of the T cell-mediated antitumor immune response in preclinical models. In November 2014, Merck and Pfizer announced a strategic alliance to co-develop and co-commercialize BAVENCIO. BAVENCIO Approved Indications The European Commission (EC) has authorized the use of BAVENCIO as monotherapy for the first-line maintenance treatment of adult patients with locally advanced or metastatic urothelial carcinoma (UC) who are progression-free following platinum-based chemotherapy. BAVENCIO in combination with axitinib is indicated for the first-line treatment of adult patients with advanced renal cell carcinoma (RCC). BAVENCIO is also authorized by the EC for use as a monotherapy for the treatment of adult patients with metastatic Merkel cell carcinoma (MCC). In the US, BAVENCIO is indicated for the maintenance treatment of patients with locally advanced or metastatic urothelial carcinoma (UC) that has not progressed with first-line platinum-containing chemotherapy. BAVENCIO is also indicated for the treatment of patients with locally advanced or metastatic UC who have disease progression during or following platinum-containing chemotherapy, or have disease progression within 12 months of neoadjuvant or adjuvant treatment with platinum-containing chemotherapy. BAVENCIO in combination with axitinib is indicated in the US for the first-line treatment of patients with advanced RCC. Additionally, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) granted accelerated approval for BAVENCIO for the treatment of adults and pediatric patients 12 years and older with metastatic MCC. This indication is approved under accelerated approval based on tumor response rate and duration of response. Continued approval for this indication may be contingent upon verification and description of clinical benefit in confirmatory trials. BAVENCIO is currently approved for patients in 50 countries for at least one use. BAVENCIO Safety Profile from the EU Summary of Product Characteristics (SmPC) The special warnings and precautions for use for BAVENCIO monotherapy include infusion-related reactions, as well as immune-related adverse reactions that include pneumonitis and hepatitis (including fatal cases), colitis, pancreatitis (including fatal cases), myocarditis (including fatal cases), endocrinopathies, nephritis and renal dysfunction, and other immune-related adverse reactions. The special warnings and precautions for use for BAVENCIO in combination with axitinib include hepatotoxicity. The SmPC list of the most common adverse reactions with BAVENCIO monotherapy in patients with solid tumors includes fatigue, nausea, diarrhea, decreased appetite, constipation, infusion-related reactions, weight decreased and vomiting. The list of most common adverse reactions with BAVENCIO in combination with axitinib includes diarrhea, hypertension, fatigue, nausea, dysphonia, decreased appetite, hypothyroidism, cough, headache, dyspnea, and arthralgia. About Tepotinib Tepotinib is an oral MET inhibitor that inhibits the oncogenic MET receptor signaling caused by MET (gene) alterations. Discovered and developed in-house at Merck, tepotinib has a highly selective mechanism of action, with the potential to improve outcomes in aggressive tumors that have a poor prognosis and harbor these specific alterations. Tepotinib was the first oral MET inhibitor to receive a regulatory approval anywhere in the world for the treatment of advanced NSCLC harboring MET gene alterations, with its approval in Japan in March 2020 under the brand name TEPMETKO. Tepotinib was approved in the United States in February 2021 for the treatment of adult patients with metastatic NSCLC harboring mesenchymal-epithelial transition (MET) exon 14 skipping alterations under the brand name TEPMETKO. This indication is approved under accelerated approval based on overall response rate and duration of response. Continued approval for this indication may be contingent upon verification and description of clinical benefit in confirmatory trials. Tepotinib is currently under regulatory review by the European Medicines Agency (EMA). About Berzosertib Berzosertib is an investigational, potent and selective inhibitor of the ataxia telangiectasia and Rad3-related (ATR) protein that blocks ATR activity in cells. Berzosertib is the first ATR inhibitor evaluated in a randomized clinical trial in any tumor type, and it is the lead candidate in Merck's DNA Damage Response (DDR) inhibitor portfolio. It is currently being investigated in a number of internal and external studies with early phase I/II data in small cell lung cancer, ovarian cancer, and various solid tumors. Berzosertib, formerly known as VX-970, was licensed from Vertex Pharmaceuticals in 2017. Berzosertib is not approved for any use anywhere in the world. About ERBITUX (cetuximab) ERBITUX is an IgG1 monoclonal antibody targeting the epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR). As a monoclonal antibody, the mode of action of ERBITUX is distinct from standard non-selective chemotherapy treatments in that it specifically targets and binds to the EGFR. This binding inhibits the activation of the receptor and the subsequent signal-transduction pathway, which results in reducing both the invasion of normal tissues by tumor cells and the spread of tumors to new sites. It is also believed to inhibit the ability of tumor cells to repair the damage caused by chemotherapy and radiotherapy and to inhibit the formation of new blood vessels inside tumors, which appears to lead to an overall suppression of tumor growth. Based on in vitro evidence, ERBITUX also targets cytotoxic immune effector cells towards EGFR-expressing tumor cells (antibody-dependent cell-mediated cytotoxicity [ADCC]). ERBITUX has already obtained market authorization in over 100 countries worldwide for the treatment of RAS wild-type metastatic colorectal cancer and for the treatment of squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck. Merck licensed the right to market ERBITUX, a registered trademark of ImClone LLC, outside the U.S. and Canada from ImClone LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Eli Lilly and Company, in 1998. About Bintrafusp Alfa Bintrafusp alfa (M7824), discovered in-house at Merck, is currently in clinical development through a strategic alliance with GSK. All Merck Press Releases are distributed by e-mail at the same time they become available on the Merck Website. Please go to www.merckgroup.com/subscribe to register online, change your selection or discontinue this service. About Merck Merck, a leading science and technology company, operates across healthcare, life science and electronics. Around 58,000 employees work to make a positive difference to millions of people's lives every day by creating more joyful and sustainable ways to live. From advancing gene editing technologies and discovering unique ways to treat the most challenging diseases to enabling the intelligence of devices the company is everywhere. In 2020, Merck generated sales of 17.5 billion in 66 countries. Scientific exploration and responsible entrepreneurship have been key to Merck's technological and scientific advances. This is how Merck has thrived since its founding in 1668. The founding family remains the majority owner of the publicly listed company. Merck holds the global rights to the Merck name and brand. The only exceptions are the United States and Canada, where the business sectors of Merck operate as EMD Serono in healthcare, MilliporeSigma in life science, and EMD Electronics. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210912005050/en/ Contacts: Julissa Viana julissa.viana@emdserono.com +1 781 206-5795 MELBOURNE, Australia and BOLOGNA, Italy, Sept. 13, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Telix Pharmaceuticals Limited (ASX: TLX, Telix, the Company) today announces that it has entered into an exclusive commercial distribution agreement with Bologna-based RADIUS S.r.l. (Radius) for Telix's prostate cancer investigational imaging product Illuccix (Kit for the preparation of 68Ga-PSMA-11 injection) for the Italian market. This agreement builds on the support Radius has provided Telix in distributing 68Ga-PSMA-11 for magisterial use in Italy. Under the terms of the agreement, Radius will be the exclusive commercial distributor of Illuccix in Italy, an EU5 country, for a period of three years from the national approval date. Radius is the market leader in the supply of gallium generators across Italy, a position which enables Radius to provide a secure supply of the 68Ga necessary for launching Illuccix. Radius also has the advantage of being a supplier and service provider for cyclotrons and radiotherapy suites across Italy. Radius CEO, Dr. Mauro Mei stated, "This commercial partnership with Telix will enable us to open the door to state-of-the-art PSMA imaging for the 39,000 men diagnosed with prostate cancer each year in Italy. Given that PSMA imaging represents the latest standard of care for prostate cancer imaging, having recently been included in European1 and U.S.2 clinical practice guidelines, we are delighted to be adding Illuccix to our nuclear medicine portfolio and look forward to bringing this product to Italian men in need, upon receipt of regulatory approval." Telix EMEA President Richard Valeix added, "As we prepare for the European launch of Illuccix we are pleased to have entered into this agreement with Radius. Italy is an important market and we look forward to working with Radius to bring this highly anticipated imaging agent to Italian men, living with prostate cancer, once regulatory approval is received. Partnering with such a capable and patient-centric leader in nuclear medicine aligns with Telix's mission of helping patients with cancer live longer, better quality lives." About Prostate Cancer in Italy In 2020, prostate cancer was the most commonly diagnosed cancer in men in Italy, with approximately 39,000 new cases being diagnosed, exhibiting a significantly higher incidence in men than either lung cancer (28,000 new cases) or bowel cancer (26,000 new cases). Prostate cancer was also a leading cause of cancer death in men, with almost 7,000 men dying from the disease in Italy in 2020. Almost 150,000 Italian men were estimated to be living with prostate cancer in 2020.3 About Radius S.r.l. Founded in 2003, Radius deals with innovative and state of the art solutions and technology in Italy, with exclusivity, for three main areas: Nuclear Medicine, Radiotherapy and Preclinical Research. With its headquarters in Budrio About Telix Pharmaceuticals Limited Telix is a biopharmaceutical company focused on the development of diagnostic and therapeutic products using Molecularly Targeted Radiationand follow Telix on Twitter. Telix's lead investigational product, Illuccix (TLX591-CDx) for prostate cancer imaging, has been accepted for filing by the U.S. FDA,4 and is under priority evaluation by the Australian Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA).5 Telix is also progressing marketing authorisation applications for Illuccix in the European Union6 and Canada.7 None of Telix's products have received a marketing authorisation in any jurisdiction. Telix Media Contact Dr. Stewart Holmstrom Telix Pharmaceuticals Limited Director Corporate Communications Email: stewart.holmstrom@telixpharma.com 1 European Association of Urology 2020. 2 Trabulsi EJ et al. J Clin Oncol. Jan 2020. 3 Globocan 2020. 4 ASX disclosure 24/11/20. 5 ASX disclosure 14/04/21. 6 ASX disclosure 1/05/20. 7 ASX disclosure 16/12/20. gategroup announces appointment of Christoph Schmitz as new Chief Executive Officer Zurich, September 13, 2021. gategroup, the leading global airline catering and food services provider, today announced that Xavier Rossinyol will step down as Chief Executive Officer effective November 1, 2021 to pursue new challenges outside of the airline industry. He will be succeeded by Christoph Schmitz, gategroup's Chief Financial Officer since January 2015. Xavier Rossinyol joined gategroup in April 2015 and led the company through a strong growth phase with record year-on-year financial results; and navigated the complex COVID-19 pandemic. Between 2015 and 2019, gategroup grew its revenues from CHF3bn to 5bn, enlarging its customer base to 300+ global customers and expanding its footprint to 200+ locations and its presence to 60+ countries. In the course of this expansion, the group incorporated Servair in 2017 and LSG Europe in 2020 developing strategic partnerships with Air France and Lufthansa. From a near-global air travel shutdown in 2020, gategroup took decisive action to protect its employees, customers, and other stakeholders. With the support from the shareholders, lenders and bondholders, it completed a comprehensive financial restructuring of the group in 2021 and accelerated the expansion into adjacent, non-aviation markets, drawing on its core competencies. "Under Xavier's leadership, gategroup has truly become a global food-focused company and the world leading inflight caterer, being recognized for providing the most innovative culinary and retail offering tailored to individual customer needs in any market they operate, consistently and efficiently. gategroup is uniquely positioned today for the return of travel and to serve new customers beyond aviation", said Timo Vatto, Chairman of the Board of gategroup. Christoph Schmitz joined gategroup as Chief Financial Officer and member of the Executive Management Board in January 2015 with over 20 years of experience as a CFO at multinational companies. In his capacity as Group CFO, Christoph has been involved in all key strategic projects of the group. He led the public-to-private ownership transition in 2016, the acquisitions of Servair and LSG Europe, the changes of ownership in 2018 and 2019, and the restructuring initiatives in 2021 to secure the group's financial position and build a stronger, more diversified portfolio for the future. In addition, Christoph has led a significant consolidation of the group's IT infrastructure and applications landscape achieving material efficiency gains. "Christoph's contribution has been instrumental to drive the market consolidation strategy and secure the financing to enable gategroup weathering the crisis. The Board is confident that under Christoph's leadership, the gategroup team will resume and accelerate on its growth path", said Timo Vatto. "I would like to congratulate Christoph to his appointment as gategroup's CEO. He has been a key driver of the group's achievements over the last 7 years with his talent, leadership, strategic thinking, commitment, and team focused approach. I want to thank our customers, partners, suppliers and banks for their support all along. Special thanks to the Shareholders and the Board of Directors. And a forever thanks to the leadership team and to all employees. All what we have achieved is thanks to them and our teamwork - my most personal and professional respect. I am convinced that a new era of success starts for gategroup under the strong leadership of Christoph", said Xavier Rossinyol. Xavier Rossinyol will remain with gategroup through January 2022, supporting the transition. Media inquiries communications[at]gategroup.com About gategroup gategroup is the global leader in airline catering, retail-on-board and hospitality products and services. gategroup provides passengers with superior culinary and retail experiences, leveraging innovation and advanced technology solutions. Headquartered in Zurich, Switzerland, gategroup delivers operational excellence through the most ex-tensive catering network in the aviation industry, serving more than 700 million passengers annually from over 200 operating units in over 60 countries/territories across all continents. In 2019, gategroup reached CHF 4.9 billion in revenues generated by approximately 43,000 employees worldwide. For further information, please visit www.gategroup.com Forward-Looking Statements This publication contains forward-looking statements and other statements that are not historical facts. The words "believe", "anticipate", "plan", "expect", "project", "estimate", "predict", "intend", "target", "assume", "may", "will" "could" and similar expression are intended to identify such forward-looking statements. Such statements are made on the basis of assumptions and expectations that we believe to be reasonable as of the date of this publication but may prove to be erroneous and are subject to a variety of significant uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed in forward looking statements. Among these factors are changes in overall economic conditions, changes in demand for our products, changes in the demand for, or price of, oil, risk of terrorism, war, geopolitical or other exogenous shocks to the airline sector, risks of increased competition, manufacturing and product development risks, loss of key customers, changes in government regulations, foreign and domestic political and legislative risks, risks associated with foreign operations and foreign currency exchange rates and controls, strikes, embargoes, weather-related risks and other risks and uncertainties. We therefore caution investors and prospective investors against relying on any of these forward-looking statements. We assume no obligation to update forward-looking statements or to update the reasons for which actual results could differ materially from those anticipated in such forward-looking statements, except as required by law. Note: In the event of any discrepancy or inconsistency between any translated versions of this publication, the English version shall prevail. DGAP Voting Rights Announcement: Steinhoff International Holdings N.V. Steinhoff International Holdings N.V.: Release according to Article 40, Section 1 of the WpHG [the German Securities Trading Act] with the objective of Europe-wide distribution 13.09.2021 / 07:05 Dissemination of a Voting Rights Announcement transmitted by DGAP - a service of EQS Group AG. The issuer is solely responsible for the content of this announcement. DISCLOSURE OF SUBSTANTIAL HOLDING NOTIFICATION Steinhoff International Holdings N.V. (the 'Company') The AFM (the Netherlands Authority for Financial Markets) has informed the Company on 11 September 2021 that a substantial holdings notification related to Steinhoff International Holdings N.V. had been received by the AFM. Date of transaction: 9 September 2021 Person obliged to notify: Citigroup Inc. Issuing institution: Steinhoff International Holdings N.V. Registration Chamber of Commerce 63570173 Place of residence: Amsterdam Distribution in numbers Type of share Number of shares Number of voting rights Capital interest Voting rights Manner of disposal Settle-ment Put option 62 516 529.00 62 516 529.00 Potential Potential Indirectly (Citigroup Global Markets Limited) Physical delivery Call option 46 887 418.00 46 887 418.00 Potential Potential Indirectly (Citigroup Global Markets Limited) Physical delivery Ordinary share 7 445 247.00 7 445 247.00 Real Real Indirectly (Citigroup Global Markets Limited) N/A Swap 9 169 176.00 9 169 176.00 Potential Potential Indirectly (Citigroup Global Markets Limited) In cash Distribution in percentages Type Total holding Directly real Directly potential Indirectly real Indirectly potential Capital interest 2.95% 0.00% 0.00% 0.17% 2.78% Voting rights 2.95% 0.00% 0.00% 0.17% 2.78% The above notification has been disclosed in the relevant register on the AFM website: https://www.afm.nl/en/professionals/registers/meldingenregisters/substantiele-deelnemingen/details?id=115574 The Company has a primary listing on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange and a secondary listing on the JSE Limited. Stellenbosch, 13 September 2021 13.09.2021 The DGAP Distribution Services include Regulatory Announcements, Financial/Corporate News and Press Releases. Archive at www.dgap.de LONDON (dpa-AFX) - FirstGroup plc (FGROY.PK, FGROF.PK, FGP.L), a provider of transport services in the UK and North America, said Monday that its overall trading performance year to date has been in line. The company also maintained management's expectations for the current financial year 2021. In its trading update ahead of its Annual General Meeting today, the company said First Bus passenger volumes reached 65% of pre-pandemic levels on average in recent weeks. This is expected to increase further as the autumn terms for schools and then universities get fully underway. Passenger mileage in non-core Greyhound operation has been just over half of pre-pandemic levels in recent weeks. Further, as previously announced, Chief Executive Matthew Gregory and Non-Executive Directors Martha Poulter and Steve Gunning will step down from the Board at the end of AGM. David Martin, Chairman, will become interim Executive Chairman until a permanent Chief Executive is appointed following the comprehensive search process which is underway. FirstGroup Chairman David Martin said, 'Trading is in line with our expectations year to date, and we continue to support our passengers and other stakeholders as travel patterns evolve. While we complete the search for a new Chief Executive, my focus is on ensuring we continue to drive value from our strong positions in UK bus and rail, progress our plans to resolve our non-core Greyhound operation and complete the return of value to our shareholders following the sale of the North American contract businesses.' 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. NEUILLY-SUR-SEINE (dpa-AFX) - Rolls Royce Holdings plc (RYCEF.PK, RR.L, RYCEY.PK) announced the agreed sale of its 23.1% shareholding in AirTanker Holdings Limited to Equitix Investment Management Limited for cash proceeds of 189 million pounds. Rolls Royce said the sale is another important step towards achieving Group target to generate at least 2 billion pounds from disposals. The company will continue to be a 23.5% shareholder in AirTanker Services Limited. AirTanker Holdings Limited, a joint venture with Airbus, Babcock, and Thales, owns 14 A330-200 Voyager aircraft. The Voyager aircraft support air-to-air refuelling, air transport and ancillary services for the UK Ministry of Defence. 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. Industry leader with expertise in building successful biotechnology companies COPENHAGEN, Denmark and BOSTON, Sept. 13, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Muna Therapeutics ("Muna"), pioneering the development of first-in-class small molecule therapeutics for neurodegenerative diseases, today announced the appointment of Dr. Donald Nicholson, as independent Chair of its Board of Directors. Dr. Nicholson has deep experience across both biotech and large pharma. He was previously the CEO of Nimbus Therapeutics and was responsible for major transactions with Gilead, Celgene and Genentech. Prior to this, he spent 25 years at Merck, where he held various strategic, leadership and operational roles across diverse therapeutic areas including inflammation, immunology and neuroscience, amongst others. Dr. Nicholson began his career at Merck Frosst in Montreal as a senior research biologist and advanced through various positions of increasing responsibility, including vice president and site head of the Merck Neurosciences Research site in San Diego, vice president of immunology and infectious diseases and vice president and worldwide discovery head for the Bone, Respiratory, Immunology and Endocrine franchise based in New Jersey. He is Chair of the Board of Directors at NodThera, Disc Medicine and Jnana Therapeutics, and Board Director at Kymera Therapeutics (KYMR) and Generation Bio (GBIO). Rita Balice-Gordon, Chief Executive Officer of Muna Therapeutics, said: "We are delighted to welcome Dr. Nicholson as independent Chair at Muna. He brings to Muna a wealth of experience in biopharma and biotech, insights into building high-functioning companies and boards, and a commitment to advancing therapies for patients with neurodegenerative diseases. We look forward to working with him and the Board as we move forward." Morten Graugaard Dssing, prior Chair of the Board of Directors of Muna Therapeutics said: "We are very pleased to welcome Dr. Nicholson to our Board of Directors as independent Chair. He brings to Muna his exceptional experience and leadership to support our mission to advance and strengthen our therapeutic pipeline." Donald Nicholson, incoming independent Chair of the Board of Directors of Muna Therapeutics said: "I am delighted to be joining Muna as Chair of the Board. Muna's innovative approach to neurodegenerative disease therapeutics as well as its stellar leadership and scientific teams inspire great confidence in its future success." Dr. Nicholson has co-authored more than 150 publications in peer-reviewed scientific and medical journals and is internationally recognized for his contributions to the field of apoptotic cell death. He received his doctorate in biochemistry from the University of Western Ontario and trained as a Medical Research Council postdoctoral fellow at the University of Munich in Germany. He is the recipient of multiple academic and professional honors. Muna Therapeutics previously raised US$ 73 million (EUR 60 million) in a Series A financing round co-led by Novo Holdings, Sofinnova Partners, Droia Ventures and LSP Dementia Fund, with Polaris Partners, Polaris Innovation Fund, Sanofi Ventures, V-Bio Ventures and VIB joining the round. The recent raise will help Muna progress its innovative small molecule candidates to the clinic, further develop its innovative drug discovery platform as well as expand its US presence. About Muna Therapeutics Muna Therapeutics is a private biopharmaceutical company founded in 2020 and based in Copenhagen, Denmark and Leuven, Belgium. Muna discovers and develops therapies that slow or stop devastating neurodegenerative diseases including Alzheimer's, Frontotemporal Dementia and Parkinson's. These disorders impact memory, movement, language, behavior and personality resulting in disability and death of millions of patients around the globe. We focus our groundbreaking science on identifying new medicines to preserve cognition and other brain functions and enhance resilience to neurodegenerative diseases. Our name reflects this focus: Muna means 'to remember' in Old Norse. www.munatherapeutics.com MUMBAI, India, Sept. 13, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- The Leela Palaces, Hotels and Resorts, owned and managed by a Brookfield Asset Management-sponsored private real estate fund, has been voted the World's Best Hotel Brand for the second consecutive year by Travel + LeisureUSAWorld's Best Awards 2021. The Leela is the epitome of true Indian luxury infused with a distinct aesthetic that celebrates India's rich art, cuisine and culture that is engrained in its offering of India's heritage to the world. This honour is a recognition of the brand's consistency in pursuing excellence and its commitment towards curating authentic luxury experiences with the graciousness of Indian hospitality. Travel + Leisure USA's World's Best Awards are a renowned benchmark of excellence for travel and hospitality companies globally. They honour the finest travel experiences in the world selected by Travel + Leisure's global readership of discerning travellers. Readers rate their experiences and evaluate hotels across the world on characteristics such as rooms, location, service, cuisine, and value. "We are truly humbled and excited to be voted The World's Best Brand by the readers of Travel + Leisure USA for the second consecutive year. This is a testament to recognition The Leela brand enjoys and an appreciation of the hard work and dedication of our teams who go above and beyond every day, to deliver an impeccable luxury experience and make every guest's stay a memorable one," said Mr. Anuraag Bhatnagar, Chief Operating Officer, The Leela Palaces, Hotels and Resorts. "Being recognized as 'The World's Best Hotel Brand' for the second year in a row is a tremendous achievement for The Leela hospitality business. Congratulations to the entire Leela team that has ensured highest delivery of services despite the challenging time the world has witnessed this past year," said Ankur Gupta, Managing Partner Brookfield Asset Management. "These awards are also a recognition of the appreciation that Indian hospitality enjoys globally, and the limitless potential of the travel and tourism industry in India. Brookfield is committed to growing The Leela hospitality business both domestically and internationally, while retaining its authentic Indian luxury offering." To read more, visit: https://www.travelandleisure.com/worlds-best/hotel-top-brands. About The Leela Palaces, Hotels and Resorts: Headquartered in Mumbai, The Leela Palaces, Hotels and Resorts operates ten award-winning properties in major cities and leisure destinations across India. These include the flagship hotel in the capital city of New Delhi, Bengaluru, Chennai, Udaipur, Jaipur, Gurugram, East Delhi, Goa, Mumbai and now Gandhinagar. The Leela celebrates each hotel through its unique location, art, culture and cuisine with thoughtful services, celebratory rituals and immersive experiences. The Leela Palaces, Hotels and Resorts has been voted the World's Best Hotel Brand by Travel + Leisure, USA, World's Best Awards for two consecutive years in 2020 and 2021. The brand is well poised to embrace the next phase in its growth trajectory with upcoming projects which include business hotels in Bhartiya City Bengaluru and Hyderabad. An epitome of true Indian luxury hospitality, The Leela is committed to providing guests with unforgettable stays in settings that capture the essence of India. The brand has a marketing alliance with US-based Preferred Hotels & Resorts and is a member of the Global Hotel Alliance. For more information, please visit our website www.theleela.com and connect with us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. Media Contact: Anjali Mehra +918800466085 Anjali.mehra@theleela.com Photo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1623981/The_Leela_Palace_New_Delhi.jpg Logo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1441809/The_Leela_Logo.jpg WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - Oil prices rose over 1 percent on Monday amid concerns over U.S. supplies due to the impact of Hurricane Ida. About three-quarters of the offshore oil production in the Gulf of Mexico, or about 1.4 million barrels per day, has remained halted since late August. Last week's EIA data showing declines in crude oil, gasoline and distillate stockpiles in the U.S. also supported oil's advance. Benchmark Brent crude futures climbed 83 cents, or 1.1 percent, to $73.75 a barrel, while U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures were up 89 cents, or 1.3 percent, at $70.61. Hurricane Ida had a larger impact on oil production than on refinery demand, causing a net 'bullish' impact on U.S. and global storage levels, Goldman Sachs said in a report. The investment bank described the hit to U.S. output as 'historically large' and expects almost 40 million barrels of crude production to be lost, with challenges restarting the Mars stream likely until mid-October. Later today, OPEC is scheduled to release its latest monthly assessment of worldwide supply and demand. Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX Werbehinweise: Die Billigung des Basisprospekts durch die BaFin ist nicht als ihre Befurwortung der angebotenen Wertpapiere zu verstehen. Wir empfehlen Interessenten und potenziellen Anlegern den Basisprospekt und die Endgultigen Bedingungen zu lesen, bevor sie eine Anlageentscheidung treffen, um sich moglichst umfassend zu informieren, insbesondere uber die potenziellen Risiken und Chancen des Wertpapiers. Sie sind im Begriff, ein Produkt zu erwerben, das nicht einfach ist und schwer zu verstehen sein kann. Toronto, Ontario--(Newsfile Corp. - September 13, 2021) - Western Troy Capital Resources Inc. (TSXV: WRY.H) ("Western Troy" or the "Company") announces a proposed non-brokered private placement for aggregate gross proceeds of up to $135,875 comprised of up to 905,833 units at a price of $0.15 per unit (each such unit being comprised of one common share and one warrant) (the "Offering"). Each warrant will entitle the holder to purchase one common share for $0.20 at any time within 12 months after closing. All securities issued pursuant to this private placement will be subject to a four (4) month hold period. Completion of the Offering is subject to receipt of all required regulatory and NEX approvals. Closing is expected to occur in September 2021. The proceeds of the private placement will be used for exploration on the Warrens property and for general working capital purposes. A small drill program has been started at Warrens and results should be received by year end. In addition, the Company announces that incentive stock options to purchase up to 150,000 common shares of the Company have been granted to a consultant of the Company pursuant to the Company's stock option plan and subject to any regulatory approval. Each stock option is exercisable at $0.16 for a period of three years from the grant date. This news release does not constitute an offer to sell or a solicitation of an offer to buy any of the securities in the United States. The securities have not been and will not be registered under the United States Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the "U.S. Securities Act") or any state securities laws and may not be offered or sold within the United States or to U.S. Persons as defined under applicable United States securities laws unless registered under the U.S. Securities Act and applicable state securities laws or an exemption from such registration is available. Contact Information: Western Troy Capital Resources Stephen Dunn, CEO Tel: 416-361-2827 Email: dunnsteve@protonmail.com CAUTIONARY STATEMENT: Neither the TSX Venture Exchange (including the NEX Board) 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. This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of applicable Canadian and U.S. securities laws and regulations, including statements regarding the future activities of the Company. Forward-looking statements reflect the current beliefs and expectations of management and are identified by the use of words including "will", "anticipates", "expected to", "plans", "planned" and other similar words. Actual results may differ significantly. The achievement of the results expressed in forward-looking statements is subject to a number of risks, including those described in the Company's management discussion and analysis as filed with the Canadian securities regulatory authorities which are available at www.sedar.com. Investors are cautioned not to place undue reliance upon forward-looking statements. To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/96401 Calgary, Alberta--(Newsfile Corp. - September 13, 2021) - Trican Well Service Ltd. (TSX: TCW) ("Trican" or the "Company") is pleased to announce that it will expand its fleet of next generation, low emissions fracturing equipment by upgrading a second set of existing pumping equipment ("the fleet") with CAT Tier 4 dynamic gas blending ("DGB") engines. The conversion to Tier 4 DGB engines will provide industry leading reductions in emissions and lower fuel costs for our customers. The Company will be upgrading 48,000 hydraulic horsepower ("HHP") from conventional diesel engines to the Tier 4 DGB engines, bringing Trican's total Tier 4 fleet to 84,000 HHP. The Tier 4 DGB engine displaces 85% of diesel with clean burning natural gas, reducing CO2 and particulate matter emissions. Combined with Trican's idle reduction technology, the fleet will lower overall fuel consumption and emissions, key components in Trican's commitment to Environmental, Social and Governance ("ESG") initiatives. The Company is in advanced discussions with several customers on multi-year contracts that meet Trican's required return metrics. These customers have made commitments to improve the sustainability of their operations and see the deployment of Tier 4 DGB powered hydraulic fracturing fleet as a critical part of their strategy to achieve their ESG goals. CAPITAL BUDGET UPDATE The cost of the upgrade for the second low emissions fleet is expected to be approximately $28 million with $18 million in capital to be spent in 2021. Accordingly, the Company's 2021 capital budget has been increased to $58 million. The remaining $10 million will be incurred in 2022 with deployment of the equipment anticipated in the spring of 2022. The Company anticipates that its capital program will be funded from cash on hand and free cash flow if required. FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS Certain statements and other information contained in this press release constitute "forward-looking information" and/or "statements" within the meaning of applicable Canadian securities legislation (collectively "forward-looking statements"), including, but not limited to, statements regarding the timing for completion of the upgrades, performance of the Tier 4 engine technology and securing multi-year contracts that meet the Company's required return metrics. All statements in this press release other than those relating to historical facts or current conditions are forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are often, but not always, identified by the use of words such as "anticipate", "achieve", "estimate", "expect", "intend", "contemplate", "plan", "planned" "intend", "continue", "propose", "might", "may", "will", "shall", "project"', "should"', "could", "would", "believe", "predict", "forecast", "pursue", "potential", "capable", and other similar terms and phrases. These forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties, and other factors (many of which are beyond our control) that may cause actual results or events to differ materially from those anticipated in such forward-looking statements. We believe the expectations reflected in these forward-looking statements are reasonable, but no assurance can be given that these expectations will prove to be correct. Therefore, the forward-looking statements included in this press release should not be unduly relied upon. These forward-looking statements speak only as of the date of this news release. Except as required under applicable Canadian securities legislation, Trican disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements in this press release as a result of new information, future events or otherwise. Additional information regarding Trican, including Trican's most recent Annual Information Form, is available under Trican's profile on SEDAR (www.sedar.com). ABOUT TRICAN Headquartered in Calgary, Alberta, Trican provides a comprehensive array of specialized products, equipment and services that are used during the exploration and development of oil and gas reserves. Requests for further information should be directed to: Bradley P.D. Fedora President and Chief Executive Officer E-mail: investors@trican.ca Scott Matson Chief Financial Officer E-mail: investors@trican.ca Phone: (403) 266-0202 Fax: (403) 237-7716 2900, 645 - 7th Avenue S.W. Calgary, Alberta T2P 4G8 Please visit our website at www.tricanwellservice.com To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/96372 New ready-to-use, interactive space unites the intranet with Microsoft Teams, bringing small business owners a simple and engaging all-in-one communications platform for a hybrid workplace LONDON, Sept. 14, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- As SMEs (small and medium-sized enterprises) grapple with a myriad of challenges to keep their companies running successfully, Powell Software introduces Together , the small business intranet accessible from Microsoft Teams that helps meet their productivity, communication and collaboration needs. Together is a secure, all-in-one space, deployable in minutes, that allows workers and their employers to collaborate in a single simple, intuitive interface. It unites the intranet with Teams so that employees can find everything they need on one convenient platform. Watch a demo here . "Workers are often drowning in a multitude of digital tools which also often leaves IT teams frustrated with having to implement and manage them all," said Matthieu Silbermann, Chief Product Officer at Powell Software. "This all leads to inefficiency as SMEs, often with limited resources and no dedicated departments, such as in-house IT, HR or marketing, battle with effective employee communications. This can result in information overload and poor productivity." In fact, employee engagement ranks at the top of the list of priorities when it comes to digital workplace strategy, according to nearly 50% of the respondents in a recent survey conducted by Powell Software in partnership with Stitch DX. "Further, over 50% of remote workers are worried about workplace exclusion as more people work remotely or in a hybrid way on a permanent basis," Silbermann continued. "Powell Software's Together, which unites the entire company, leverages the power of Microsoft Teams, which millions of users have already adopted, to help employees work better remotely and feel part of the company culture." To address this challenge, Powell Software's Together brings internal communications to life and gives employees immediate access to information that: Connects employees in a hybrid environment : HR teams can promote and maintain social connections through innovative features tailored to the hybrid workplace. With Together's Virtual Coffee Machine and Water Fountain features, employees can connect socially with their co-workers, fostering an engaging, inclusive corporate culture. : HR teams can promote and maintain social connections through innovative features tailored to the hybrid workplace. With Together's features, employees can connect socially with their co-workers, fostering an engaging, inclusive corporate culture. Puts HR information at employees' fingertips : The HR Hub contains all the pertinent information employees need whether they're working in the field, in the main office, or remotely. Workers can quickly access information, including current internal job openings, onboarding information, news, events, and tools such as expense reports and leave requests. : The HR Hub contains all the pertinent information employees need whether they're working in the field, in the main office, or remotely. Workers can quickly access information, including current internal job openings, onboarding information, news, events, and tools such as expense reports and leave requests. Supports hybrid working : With FlexDesk, remote employees can easily reserve their desk or meeting space in advance of when they're coming in to the office. : With FlexDesk, remote employees can easily reserve their desk or meeting space in advance of when they're coming in to the office. Features department pages : Together features an easily accessible space for each department to share ideas, information, resources and to work on projects. : Together features an easily accessible space for each department to share ideas, information, resources and to work on projects. Allows for swift IT support : IT tools enable workers to open a technical support ticket or find the latest software updates. : IT tools enable workers to open a technical support ticket or find the latest software updates. Provides company information at a glance: Keep documents such as a glossary of terms, frequently asked questions, and a directory of contacts within easy access for employees. Because Together is integrated with Teams, the scalable solution can be deployed in minutes to the entire organisation. Accessible from the Teams application, a browser or a mobile device, the employer's hub is always up-to-date and can be upgraded seamlessly to another version as needed. In addition, Together leverages Microsoft's security to keep all data safe. A demo of Powell Software's Together is available here or to learn more, visit https://powell-software.com/en/together-communication-collaboration/. About Powell Software Powell Software is a global Digital Workplace platform, headquartered in France, with offices across Europe, North America, Australia, the Middle East, Asia, and Africa. Its mission is to help companies meet the challenges of the hybrid workplace while promoting inclusivity for employees with collaboration tools that are easily accessible to all. Powell Software's solutions are trusted by a global network of over 400 customers and 50 partners of all sizes. The company has won awards from leading global industry analysts Gartner and Clearbox and was named gold medalist in Info-Tech's 2021 Digital Workspace Data Quadrant Awards. Its technology podcast, Welcome to the New Normal, launched in 2021 as a space to explore the latest technology and the future of work. Follow Powell Software on LinkedIn or Twitter . Photo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1612907/Together_Powell_Software_Employee_Experience.jpg Eleos Health, a Boston, MA- and Tel Aviv, Israel-based digital health startup, closed a $6M seed funding round. This round was led by aMoon Fund with participation from lool ventures, and Gandyr Group, alongside Arkin Holdings, Geingels and former c-suite and executives from Google, MIT Media Lab, and Pegasystems. The ninth Secretary of the US Department of Veterans Affairs, Dr. David Shulkin has joined the companys board. The company intends to use the funds for the expansion of sales, marketing, and solution delivery teams needed to meet the demand for enterprise software deployments across providers and payors. Founded in 2020 by Alon Joffe, Dror Zaide and Alon Rabinovich, Eleos provides automated healthtech solutions that accelerate clinicians decision making via an AI-powered Speech-to-Insights system to ensure the provision of personalized and time and cost-effective care. Its VoiceAI technology securely runs in the background of behavioral health sessions, analyzing hundreds of data parameters within each session, to provide new actionable insights that enable clinicians to make data-informed decisions. To date, Eleos has already deployed its solution with over a dozen provider organizations such as Solvista Health, Achieve, Yeshiva University and ReachLink who are all proactively addressing the growing burnout of staff. FinSMEs 13/09/2021 TreeFrog Therapeutics, a Bordeaux, France-based biotech startup focused on developing stem cell-derived cell therapies for millions of patients, closed a $75m (64M) Series B financing round, bringing the total funding to date to $83m (70m). The round was led by Bpifrance Large Venture, part of the French Public Investment Bank, joined by U.S. investment firm Leonard Green & Partners L.P., global pharmaceutical company Bristol Myers Squibb, and European venture capital team XAnge. In conjunction with the financing, independent board member Frederic Desdouits, PhD, has been appointed chief executive officer. Kevin Alessandri, PhD, co-founder, will relocate in early 2022 to Boston, MA, to lead the newly created U.S. subsidiary, TreeFrog Therapeutics Inc. As part of the Series B financing, Laurent Higueret (Bpifrance Large Venture) and Peter Zippelius (Leonard Green & Partners) will join the board, while Girish Pendse (Bristol Myers Squibb) will join the board as observer. The board will be chaired by Jean-Luc Treillou (co-founder). Led by new CEO, Frederic Desdouits, PhD., TreeFrog Therapeutics is a startup company aiming to provide access to cell therapies via C-StemTM, a high-throughput cell encapsulation technology allowing for the mass-production and differentiation of stem cells in industrial bioreactors. Since its incorporation in November 2018 in Bordeaux, France, TreeFrog Therapeutics has experienced growth, raising over 10M ($11.7M) in 2019. In January 2020, TreeFrog Therapeutics joined the FrenchTech120, an elite program for the fastest-growing technology companies in France. The company intends to use the funds to deploy biomimetic C-StemTM technology for clinical-grade manufacturing, grow and advance to the clinic a comprehensive pipeline of cell therapies, and finance the opening of technological hubs in Boston, MA, and Kobe, Japan. The teamcurrently 50+ employeesmoved into a brand-new production facility of 13,000 square foot in June 2020. Dr. Desdouits joins the company as CEO, after several years as CEO of PCAS, a Euronext Paris listed company, and managing director at Seqens CDMO, a world leader in small molecules manufacturing. Previously, he was executive vice president, Corporate Licensing, Acquisition and Market Intelligence, and director of U.S. Pharmaceuticals, Pierre Fabre Group. Dr. Desdouits also co-founded and served as managing partner at Bionest Partners, a consulting and transaction boutique specialized in healthcare and biotechnology. FinSMEs 13/09/2021 Wisetack, a San Francisco, CA-based technology company that brings buy now, pay later to in-person services like home and auto repair, raised $45M in Series B funding. The round, which brought the total amount raised to date to $64M since founding in 2018, was led by Insight Partners, with participation from existing investors Greylock Partners and Bain Capital Ventures. The company will use the funds to accelerate growth, including supporting further expansion into verticals such as auto repair, elective medical, dental and veterinary, legal services, and more. Led by Bobby Tzekin, CEO, Wisetack helps in-person businesses offer financing to consumers. Through its suite of APIs, the company embeds financing options into software platforms that businesses are already using in their day-to-day operations. FinSMEs 13/09/2021 Unlimited website access 24/7 Unlimited e-Edition access 24/7 The best local, regional and national news in sports, politics, business and more! With a Digital Only subscription, you'll receive unlimited access to our website and e-edition. Our digital products are available 24/7 and are accessible anywhere, anytime. Minim, popular of creating intelligent networking products under the Motorola brand has officially Motorola MH7020 Home Wi-Fi Mesh System in India. This comes with a companion mobile app, motosync, and the Motorola MH7020 mesh system combined with the motosync app promise exceptional coverage, network security, performance, and control at the competitive price. The Motorola Whole Home Wi-Fi with Intelligent Tri-band technology has a dedicated channel for Wi-Fi back haul, assuring the fastest Internet speeds possible. With high-power Wi-Fi amplifiers, the Motorola Whole Home Wi-Fi System will offer up to 5,000 square feet of coverage, eliminating Wi-Fi dead spots in your home. The Motorola MH7020 mesh system comes with a mobile app, formerly known as MotoManage. Indian consumers will be directed to a free upgrade to the new motosync app offering lifetime access to premium features for a seamless and secure, connected experience. The motosync app helps you monitor your home Wi-Fi from anywhere and: Safeguard your network with advanced threat detection and security alerts Stop unwanted devices from joining your network Optimize network performance with speed and signal strength scans Keep your family safe with parental controls The Motorola MH7020 is available on Amazon India and Flipkart, priced at: Rs. 7,999 for MH7020 (1-pack): Mesh-Ready Wi-Fi Router Rs. 13,999 for MH7022 (2-pack): 1 Whole Home Wi-Fi Router and 1 Whole Home Wi-Fi Satellite Rs. 19,999 for MH7023 (3-pack): 1 Whole Home Wi-Fi Router, 2 Whole Home Wi-Fi Satellites Commenting on the launch, Prashanth Mani, Executive Director, Motorola Asia Pacific, said: We at Motorola always believe in delivering innovation that matters to consumers. India represents over 22 million broadband users and is growing rapidly, while the number of Wi-Fi product offerings are limited. Indian consumers need more choice to improve their home networks, and the Motorola brand, which is trusted for industry leading technology, exceptional product quality and excellent performance, is an ideal choice. With class-leading hardware coupled with the motosync app that offers parental controls, data tracking, and advanced management options, we expect Motorola MH7020 to be one of the leading Wi-Fi mesh systems in the India market. A Georgia Man was arrested on a drug charge during a traffic stop on Interstate 65 in Baldwin County on Friday, according to the Baldwin County Sheriff's Office. Vauchon Cojoe, 26, of Stone Mountain, Ga., is charged with trafficking in marijuana, according to jail records in Baldwin County. The BCSO says it was about 1 p.m. Friday when a deputy with the special operations unit stopped an SUV for traffic violations on I-65. During the stop, the sheriff's office says, the deputy smelled a strong odor of marijuana coming from the vehicle. The deputy found approximately 90 pounds of high-grade marijuana in moving boxes. The BCSO says the driver, Cojoe, stated he was headed to the New Orleans area to sell the marijuana. Cojoe was booked into the Baldwin County Sheriffs Corrections Center. He currently has no bond. A two-vehicle traffic crash occurred at approximately 3:09 a.m. Sunday has claimed the life of an Ohio woman, according to the Alabama Law Enforcement Agency. Ciara Cole Ohara, 30, of Cincinnati, was fatally injured when a 2002 Freightliner driven by, David H. Leon, 45, of San Benito, Texas, struck the 2006 Lexus ES driven by Ohara, ALEA said in a news release. Ohara was pronounced deceased at the scene. The crash occurred on Interstate 65 near mile marker 38, approximately seven miles north of the Bay Minette city limits. Troopers with the ALEA's Highway Patrol Division continue to investigate. MOBILE, Ala. (WALA) -- A domestic dispute between two juveniles sends a girl to the hospital and a male juvenile is now accused of the crime. It happened last night just before 9 o'clock in the 300 block of Azalea Road. A viewer, who called 911, sent in video to us -- which shows the female juvenile, who appears unresponsive, laid out in the middle of the roadway while the male juvenile tries move her. According to Mobile Police -- the girl fell off the SUV after an argument. She was transported to the hospital -- the extent of her injuries unknown. MPD arrested the male juvenile on scene. He now faces charges of domestic violence and reckless endangerment - but investigators say more charges could be pending the outcome of the investigation. GREENVILLE, SC (FOX Carolina) Governor Henry McMaster responded Thursday after President Joe Biden announced that employers with more than 100 workers are required to be vaccinated or tested for COVID-19 each week. Keep the conversation about local news & events going by joining us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. Recent updates from The News-Post and also from News-Post staff members are compiled below. Welcome to my genealogy blog. Genea-Musings features genealogy research tips and techniques, genealogy news items and commentary, genealogy humor, San Diego genealogy society news, family history research and some family history stories from the keyboard of Randy Seaver (of Chula Vista CA), who thinks that Genealogy Research Is really FUN! Copyright (c) Randall J. Seaver, 2006-2021. Gettysburg, PA (17325) Today Scattered thunderstorms this evening followed by occasional showers overnight. Low 66F. Winds light and variable. Chance of rain 60%.. Tonight Scattered thunderstorms this evening followed by occasional showers overnight. Low 66F. Winds light and variable. Chance of rain 60%. Thank you for reading! We hope that you continue to enjoy our free content. New York, NY, Sept. 12, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- UNITED NATIONS, New York, September 13, 2021 - The United Nations Global Compact, the worlds largest corporate sustainability initiative, will next week host Uniting Business LIVE, a three-day online event from 2022 September at the start of the high-level opening week of the 76th UN General Assembly. Uniting Business LIVE includes the Private Sector Forum on Monday, the Global Impact Forum and Young SDG Innovators Summit on Tuesday and the SDG Business Forum (co-hosted by the UN Global Compact, the UN Department of Social and Economic Affairs and the International Chamber of Commerce) on Wednesday. UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres and UN Global Compact CEO & Executive Director Sanda Ojiambo will be joined by dozens of CEOs and private sector leaders including Paul Polman, Co-founder and Chair of IMAGINE; Clarke Murphy, CEO of Russell Reynolds & Associates; Sandra Wu, Chairperson and CEO, Kokusai Kogyo; Ajay Banga, Executive Chairman of Mastercard; Albert Bourla, CEO of Pfizer; Rich Lesser, CEO of Boston Consulting Group; Francesco Starace, CEO and General Manager, Enel; Phuti Mahanyele-Dabengwa, CEO, Naspers; Patrick Chalhoub, CEO, Chalhoub Group; Arundhati Bhattacharya, CEO and Chairperson, Salesforce India and Magnus Billing, CEO, Alecta. Heads of State confirmed to speak include Pedro Sanchez, Prime Minister of Spain; Mette Frederikesen, Prime Minister of Denmark; Stefan Lofven, Prime Minister of Sweden and Erna Solberg, Prime Minister of Norway; Commodore Josaia V. Bainimarama, Prime Minister of the Republic of Fiji. Other government speakers include Yemi Osinbajo, Vice President of Nigeria; Princess Noura Al-Saud of Saudi Arabia; Ville Skinnari, Minister for Development Cooperation and Foreign Trade of Finland; Amadou Hott, Minister of Economy, Planning and Cooperation of Senegal; Lord Ahmad, Minister of State, United Kingdom. Reggae star Rocky Dawuni will perform at the closing of the Private Sector Forum. SDG Advocate and acclaimed British screenwriter, producer and film director Richard Curtis will open the Global Impact Forum. UN speakers include Amina J. Mohammed, UN Deputy Secretary-General; Liu Zhenmin, Under-Secretary-General, UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs; David Beasley, Executive Director, World Food Programme; Henrietta Fore, Executive Director, UNICEF; Pamela Coke Hamilton, Executive Director, ITC; Cristina Duarte, Special Adviser on Africa; Kelly Clements, Deputy High Commissioner for Refugees; Ramesh Rajasingham, Acting Assistant Secretary-General, UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs; Ulrika Modeer, UN Assistant Secretary General and Assistant Administrator, UN Development Programme. Taking place in the run up to the major UN Climate Summit, COP26, in Glasgow in November, this years Uniting Business LIVE will focus on driving corporate ambition and action to help tackle climate change and reach the Sustainable Development Goals as businesses look to build back better from the pandemic. This includes the launch of the Ocean Stewardship Coalition to scale the collective global impact of sustainable ocean business to help deliver the Sustainable Development Goals and a net-zero resilient economy. This years Uniting Business Live will also mark the launch on Monday of the UN Global Compacts new strategy for Africa to advance corporate sustainability and responsible business practices across the continent while also exploring the crucial role of SMEs in a rapidly evolving landscape of entrepreneurship, innovation and technology. The launch of the new Africa Strategy will be celebrated by Kenyan afro-pop band Sauti Sol and supported by Generation Unlimited, a multi-stakeholder, multi-sector public private youth partnership to meet the urgent need for expanded education, training and employment opportunities for young people. The CIO of PIMCO, Scott Mather and CFO of Enel, Alberto De Paoli will convene the UN Global Compact CFO Taskforce to discuss the impact of private investment on the SDGs. Uniting Business LIVE will kick off on Monday, 20 September, with the Private Sector Forum which will explore the private sectors role in strengthening global food systems and sustainable energy production. On Tuesday, 21 September, the Global Impact Forum will showcase four key initiatives to mobilize corporate action on the Global Goals: SDG Ambition, Young SDG Innovators, Target Gender Equality and the Climate Ambition Accelerator. The Young SDG Innovators Summit, also taking place on Tuesday, will offer a virtual platform for next generation leaders. On Wednesday, 22 September, the SDG Business Forum, co-hosted by the UN Global Compact, the UN Department of Social and Economic Affairs and the International Chamber of Commerce, will showcase how companies are using their influence to lead the recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic, and examine new leadership initiatives that have emerged during the crisis. Other confirmed speakers at Uniting Business LIVE include Alexandra Cousteau, Filmmaker and Environmental Activist; Tashnuva Anan Shishir, Bangladeshi News Anchor & Transgender Rights Activist; Marco Lambertini, Director General, WWF; Viacheslav Fetisov, United Nations Environment Programme National Goodwill Ambassador for Russia; Mr. Alberto Carrillo Pineda, Managing Director, Science Based Targets initiative; Antonio Nunez, CEO Nestle Colombia; Serena Ibrahim, Founder and Executive Director, Youth Against Corruption; David W. Craig, Co-Chair of Task Force for Nature-Related Financial Disclosure (NRFD) and CEO, Refinitiv; Damilola Ogunbiyi, Special Representative for Sustainable Energy for All; Dr. Vibha Dhawan, Director-General, TERI; Agnes Kalibata, Special Envoy for the 2021 Food Systems Summit; Roberto Suarez Santos, Secretary-General, International Organisation of Employers. ++ENDS++ Notes to Editors Media Accreditation Media coverage is encouraged. For full programme and to register to attend please visit: https://unglobalcompact.swoogo.com/unitingbusinesslive21/Home Follow the conversation on social media #UnitingBusiness For interview requests, please contact: media@unglobalcompact.org Alex Gee: +447887 804594, gee@unglobalcompact.org About the UN Global Compact As a special initiative of the UN Secretary-General, the United Nations Global Compact is a call to companies everywhere to align their operations and strategies with Ten Principles in the areas of human rights, labour, environment and anti-corruption. Our ambition is to accelerate and scale the global collective impact of business by upholding the Ten Principles and delivering the Sustainable Development Goals through accountable companies and ecosystems that enable change. With more than 13,000 companies and 3,000 non-business signatories based in over 160 countries, and 70 Local Networks, the UN Global Compact is the worlds largest corporate sustainability initiative one Global Compact uniting business for a better world. For more information, follow @globalcompact on social media and visit our website at unglobalcompact.org CARMEL, Calif., Sept. 12, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Innovative Payment Solutions, Inc (OTCQB:IPSI) (Innovative or the Company), today announced it will be featured as a presenting company at the H.C. Wainwright 23rd Annual Global Investment Virtual Conference. The conference is being held as a virtual conference on September 13-15, 2021. William Corbett, CEO of Innovative, will provide an overview of the Company's business during the presentation. If you are an institutional or retail investor, and would like to listen to the Companys presentation, please click on the following link (www.hcwevents.com/annualconference) to register for the conference. You may also listen to the company presentation online at: https://journey.ct.events/view/15da3e52-9d12-4c59-acac-7cad734093ce, starting on September 13 at 7:00 am EST and archived for 90 days. Over 750 corporate presentations and panels are available live and on-demand on September 13, 2021, starting at 7:00 A.M. (ET). Event: H.C. Wainwright 23rd Annual Global Investment Conference (Virtual Conference) Date: September 13-15, 2021 Time: 7:00 am (Eastern Time) Location: Virtual Conference Company Webcasting Link: https://journey.ct.events/view/15da3e52-9d12-4c59-acac-7cad734093ce 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 statements of historical fact contained in this press release are forward-looking statements. In some cases, 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 annual meeting and information regarding the planned ecosystem. 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 expectations include, among others, our ability to accelerate and expand 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. About H.C. Wainwright & Co. H.C. Wainwright is a fullservice investment bank dedicated to providing corporate finance, strategic advisory and related services to public and private companies across multiple sectors and regions. H.C. Wainwright & Co. also provides research and sales and trading services to institutional investors. According to Sagient Research Systems, H.C. Wainwrights team is ranked as the #1 Placement Agent in terms of aggregate CMPO (confidentially marketed public offering), RD (registered direct offering) and PIPE (private investment in public equity) executed cumulatively since 1998. For more information visit H.C. Wainwright & Co. on the web at www.hcwco.com For investor inquiries please call (866) 477-4729 or email investors@ipsipay.com. English Lithuanian The Novian IT infrastructure and software services group had aggregated revenue of EUR 9.9 million in the first half of this year, a decrease of 6.3% compared to the same period last year. The groups aggregated EBITDA was EUR 0.6 million and fell 21%. The Novian groups operating profit for the six-month period was EUR 0.32 million and decreased 23.5% compared to the first half of 2020, when it was EUR 0.41 million. This year Novian is distinguishing itself with ambitious projects in the technologies and software services business areas ranging from the installation and maintenance of hyperconverged IT infrastructure platforms at Lithuanian Railways main technology unit to the creation of a modern information system for public procurement. We welcome such multifaceted challenges that make us grow faster too, since implementing complex projects with modern and effective solutions is part of what Novian is all about, says Evaldas Rekus, the CEO of Novian. He notes that the results for the first half of the year were impacted by uneven market demand and fluctuations in the value of the US dollar, and that currently the groups companies have returned to their usual rhythm. Financial performance was also influenced by work to increase the share of long-term managed services agreements, which give clients stability and clarity about IT service costs for several years in advance. While at this stage for us that means bigger investments to promote those services and a shifting of some revenue to future periods, having contracts for several years will ensure stable revenue of that type, Evaldas Rekus says. The corporate sectors share of revenue has grown from 33% in 2019 to 44% in the first half of this year and the financial sectors has risen from 17% to 23%, while the share of revenue from the public sector has shrunk from 44% to 28%. At the start of the year we continued to refine the groups operating areas with a focus on integrated services and gave a lot of attention to the joint activities of the merged companies Novian Systems and Acena, the CEO says. Considering the markets needs for digitalization, he says, the Novian group offers relevant software, business analytics and process automation solutions as well as critical IT infrastructure managed services, and is implementing digitalization projects of diverse scale. Novian is unique in the region in its ability to conduct large-scale digitization projects and adapt digitized material for further use. Currently Novian Technologies, together with the other Novian group companies Andmevara Services OU and Zissor, is implementing projects to digitize documents and upload them to relevant systems in Lithuania, Estonia and Moldova. The geography of the groups activities in the first half of the year included over 30 countries. As in the first half of last year, the share of revenue earned aboard was 32%. Novian Technologies completed important projects in Lithuania and Kyrgyzstan Novian Technologies, the main Novian company working in the technologies area, had revenue of EUR 7.2 million in the first half of 2021, or 8.5% less than in the same period last year. The companys operating profit was unchanged at EUR 0.48 million. Also operating in the groups technologies area are Andmevara Services OU of Estonia and Andmevara SRL of Moldova. The first half of this year is notable for the number of large projects completed and new ones started. One of the most interesting is at Lithuanian Railways, where we will upgrade and maintain extremely critical hyperconverged IT infrastructure. We also see a growing need on the market for digitization services and many organizations that are keen to extend the lifetime of computer hardware. We are building significant international partnerships. And we have resumed travel and work for clients in Africa and other foreign countries business processes are gradually returning to their earlier, pre-pandemic course, Novian Technologies CEO Gytis Umantas says. Worth noting among this years most important projects are the completed installation of a high-performance computing cluster at Vilnius Universitys Faculty of Mathematics and Informatics, the completed first phase of a GovCloud installation project, and modernization of the Kyrgyz postal system. Together with Andmevara Services OU and Zissor, digitization of documents is underway at Vilniaus Vandenys and Vilniaus Silumos Tinklai. Work to digitize tens of millions of pages for the National Archives of Estonia and the Cadastral Archive of Moldova is also ongoing. Novians technologies area companies have earned the largest portion of their revenue this year from the corporate sector, at 50%, which is up from 36% in 2019. The share of their revenue from the financial sector has risen to 25% from 20%, while the public sectors share of revenue has fallen to 21% from 39%. Lithuania accounted for 69% of revenue in this business area, while in the first half of 2020 the level was 70%. Projects have been carried out in 32 countries this year. The technologies companies are focusing heavily on critical IT infrastructure, cloud computing, modern digital workspaces, and other technological solutions. Novian Systems to modernize the central public procurement information system Novian Systems, Novians main company in the software services area, had revenue of EUR 1.5 million in the first half of this year, or 3.6% less than in the same period last year. Its operating loss for the period, at EUR 70,000, was up from EUR 19,000 in the first half of 2020 (following the merger of Novian Systems and Acena at the end of 2020, operating results reflect their aggregated figures.). Andmevara AS of Estonia also operates in the Novian groups software services area. We are pleased to be contributing to projects of such importance to Lithuania as the creation of the modern public procurement information system Saule, for which we will use the latest solutions. We are also seeing increased demand for rapidly built solutions based on cutting-edge technologies, says Paulius Vaitkevicius, the Head of Business Development at Novian Systems. He notes that the groups companies in this area also offer data analytics, robotics, and artificial intelligence solutions. The Novian companies working in the programming area have conducted projects in 8 countries this year. Of their revenue, 76% was earned in Lithuania, up from 72% in the first half of last year. While the public sector was the source of most revenue again this year, since 2019 its revenue share has fallen from 64% to 56%. The corporate sectors share of revenue is little changed at 24%, while the financial sectors share has grown from 4% to 16% and the academic sectors share has decreased from 6% to 2%. Projects of special note in the reporting period include development of the ESKIS Taxpayer Electronic Education, Consulting and Information Service as well as the implementation of automation solutions for a municipal waste collection system at Visagino Bustas and for handling milk collection waybills at the Pienas LT agricultural cooperative. Zissor continued the digitization of publications The Norwegian company Zissor, a provider of media monitoring software and digitization services, had revenue of EUR 484,000 in the first half of the year (65.2% more than in the first half of 2020), while its operating profit was EUR 102,000, or 7.8 times the amount in the same period last year. The company earned the largest part of its revenue, 44%, in the UK, with 18% in Sweden and 13% in Norway, and also conducted projects in Germany and elsewhere. Noteworthy among Zissors projects is the digitization of the archives of the Norwegian newspaper Vesteralen, in which Zissor digitized the newspapers entire archive of 200,000 pages for the years 1921-2010. Additionally, in collaboration with Visiolink, work is underway to digitize German newspapers the project involves converting PDF pages to articles and pictures and generating XML codes. Zissor is also digitizing the Danish newspaper Ingeniren. The Novian groups companies operate in the Baltic countries, Norway and Moldova. The Novian group of businesses is owned by INVL Technology, a company that invests in IT businesses. The person authorized to provide additional information: Kazimieras Tonkunas INVL Technology Managing Partner E-mail k.tonkunas@invltechnology.lt Attachment New York, Sept. 13, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Solar PV Tracker Market Overview: According to a comprehensive research report by Market Research Future (MRFR), Solar PV Tracker Market Research Report, Type, Tracking type, Drive system, End-User and Region - Forecast till 2028 the market to grow at 18% CAGR from 2021 to 2028 (forecast period). Key Players List of the Notable players of the global solar PV tracker market are Convert Italia (Italy) Arctech Solar (India) Exosun (U.S.) Ideematec (Germany) First Solar (U.S.) Grupo Clavijo (Spain) Mahindra Susten (India) NClave (Spain) NEXTracker (U.S.) Scorpius Trackers (India) Solar Steel (Spain) Soltec(U.S.) STi Norland (Spain) PV Hardware (U.S.) Sun Action Trackers (U.S.) SunLink (U.S.) SunPower (U.S.). Get Free Sample PDF Brochure https://www.marketresearchfuture.com/sample_request/5874 Increased Solar Power Installations Around the World The worldwide energy industry is shifting from relying entirely on fossil fuel plants, such as coal and oil, and toward renewable energy sources, such as solar, wind, and geothermal, for power generation. One of the primary concerns about renewable energy resources has always been their poor power generation capability in comparison to traditional sources. For example, a coal power plant equipped with cutting-edge equipment can achieve an efficiency of 35% under optimal working conditions, whereas hydropower plants can achieve far greater efficiency of 95%. Even with the most recent advancements in solar technology, the greatest efficiency of a solar panel in laboratory circumstances is 24 percent. This value reduces even more in real-world working situations, hovering around 15% -18% depending on the type of technology and operating locations. This is a key disadvantage of a renewable energy source, particularly solar energy, which also has the issue of not being able to generate power at night. Using a solar tracker with PV systems is one method of boosting the efficiency of solar power generation. When compared to fixed solar panels, a solar tracker's primary goal is to keep the solar panel under the best possible insolation from the sun. This is a game-changer in the solar business since experiments have shown that solar trackers can enhance operational efficiency by up to 15% to 30% over a standard fixed panel setup, depending on the location of operation. There are various types of solar tracking systems in the market. Browse In-depth Market Research Report (180 pages) on Solar PV Tracker https://www.marketresearchfuture.com/reports/solar-pv-tracker-market-5874 Another primary goal of a solar tracker is to consume less energy and maximize operational efficiency. This is mostly due to the fact that solar trackers are distinct energy-consuming entities that are attached to solar panels to improve their performance. Furthermore, it is critical that solar trackers provide operational stability across a variety of operating conditions, as any influence on tracker system performance can have a significant impact on solar panels or power system performance as a whole. The increasing installation of solar power systems around the world will have a significant impact on the expansion of the solar PV tracker. Solar power generation is greatly wanted by governments for satisfying their electricity requirements, as panel prices have been historically low, and feed-in-tariff rates have achieved parity with conventional power generation sources. Solar trackers are becoming increasingly popular among solar power plant operators due to their ability to increase operational efficiency by 15% to 30%. High Installation and Maintenance Cost On the negative side, the expensive installation and maintenance expenses may limit the market growth. In recent years, there has been a growing preference for effective solutions over evaluating cost factors when making a purchasing choice, which may help to offset a market slowdown in the coming years. Market Segmentation The global solar PV tracker market has been segmented based on power generation type and tracking system type. Based on power generation type, the global solar PV tracker market has been segmented into parabolic through, power towers, linear Fresnel, and dish/engine type. Based on tracking systems type, the global solar PV tracker market has been segmented into fixed tilt, single axis, and dual axis tracking systems. Regional Analysis APAC to Lead the Global Market The Asia Pacific energy industry is predicted to create several potential prospects for the solar PV tracker market. The depletion of natural energy supplies such as oil and coal, as well as other fossil fuels, is producing enormous development potential as the demand for alternative energy sources grows. The increased demand for solar PV systems in the APAC region may aid in the market's rise here. North America to Follow APAC The solar PV market in North America is expected to expand at a rapid pace in the next years. Technological advancements in this region are expected to support the growth of the solar PV tracker market in North America. The increasing number of solar PV system installations can help to expand the market in the region. Segmentation of Market covered in the research: Solar PV Tracker Market Research Report by Solar Power Type, by Tracking type, Drive system, By End-User, Forecast till 2028 To Buy: https://www.marketresearchfuture.com/checkout?currency=one_user-USD&report_id=5874 About Market Research Future: Market Research Future (MRFR) is a global market research company that takes pride in its services, offering a complete and accurate analysis with regard to diverse markets and consumers worldwide. Market Research Future has the distinguished objective of providing the optimal quality research and granular research to clients. Our market research studies by products, services, technologies, applications, end users, and market players for global, regional, and country level market segments, enable our clients to see more, know more, and do more, which help answer your most important questions. Follow Us: LinkedIn | Twitter TORONTO and KNOXVILLE, Tenn., Sept. 13, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Solar Alliance Energy Inc. (Solar Alliance or the Company) (TSX-V: SOLR) is pleased to announce the appointment of Mr. Rob Roberti as the Companys new Chief Financial Officer and Mr. Brian Timmons as a new independent member of the Board of Directors, effective today. Mr. Roberti is a collaborative and strategic executive who brings significant value to Solar Alliance, said CEO Myke Clark. Mr. Robertis experience in large renewable energy development, project finance, corporate finance and M&A transactions is a perfect fit for our current growth trajectory. Building a strong, capable team that can take advantage of the opportunities in front of us is critical and Mr. Roberti will help take Solar Alliance to the next stage in our evolution. Mr. Roberti brings more than 20 years of corporate finance, project finance, M&A experience and renewable energy development to Solar Alliance. Prior to joining Solar Alliance, Mr. Roberti was the CFO and a founding executive of Cordelio Power, where he led bond financings totaling CAD $1.7 billion and completed the restructuring of acquired entities. Prior to Cordelio Power, Mr. Roberti was the SVP Power Generation at Capstone Infrastructure where he was responsible for over 550 MW of clean and renewable energy generation. He was also CFO of Clean Power Income Fund, and previously Treasurer, where he led both the company's IPO and subsequent successful sale. Mr. Roberti holds a Bachelor of Commerce from the University of Toronto's Rotman School of Management and holds the CPA, CA, and CFA designations. Solar Alliance is also pleased to appoint Mr. Brian Timmons to the Board of Directors. Mr. Timmons is a Fellow of the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants, with over 30 years of experience in senior positions within companies across a range of industries, including fund management, investment banking (in Irish Life Assurance Co. and AIB Capital Markets PLC respectively), healthcare technology, bioscience, alternative energy and resource companies, e-commerce, telecoms and software IT. Mr. Timmons also maintains a close business relationship with Solar Alliances largest shareholder. Mr. Timmons is a solid addition to our board of directors and will bring increased capital markets and corporate finance expertise to our team. Building a strong, independent board of directors is imperative for our future growth. This appointment also illustrates the support our company enjoys from our largest shareholder, who sees the long-term value in Solar Alliance and is eager to support our team moving forward, concluded Clark. The Company would like to thank Christina Wu for her contributions as CFO since early 2020. Ms. Wu will remain a consultant to the Company in order to ensure a smooth transition in the CFO role. The Company also announces that, subject to regulatory approval, it has granted an aggregate of 1,050,000 incentive stock options (Options) to certain directors and/or officers in accordance with the Companys stock option plan. All such Options have an exercise price of $0.22 per share and a 5-year term. Myke Clark, CEO For more information: Solar Alliance Sales (865) 309-4674 info@solaralliance.com Investor Relations Myke Clark, CEO 416-848-7744 mclark@solaralliance.com About Solar Alliance Energy Inc. (www.solaralliance.com) Solar Alliance is an energy solutions provider focused on residential, commercial and industrial solar installations. The Company operates in Tennessee, Kentucky, North/South Carolina and Illinois and has an expanding pipeline of solar projects. Since it was founded in 2003, the Company has developed $1 billion of renewable energy projects that provide enough electricity to power 150,000 homes. Our passion is improving life through ingenuity, simplicity and freedom of choice. Solar Alliance reduces or eliminates customers' vulnerability to rising energy costs, offers an environmentally friendly source of electricity generation, and provides affordable, turnkey clean energy solutions. Statements in this news release, other than purely historical information, including statements relating to the Company's future plans and objectives or expected results, constitute Forward-looking statements. The words would, will, expected and estimated or other similar words and phrases are intended to identify forward-looking information. Forward-looking information is subject to known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause the Companys actual results, level of activity, performance or achievements to be materially different than those expressed or implied by such forward-looking information. Such factors include but are not limited to: uncertainties related to the ability to raise sufficient capital, changes in economic conditions or financial markets, litigation, legislative or other judicial, regulatory and political competitive developments and technological or operational difficulties. Consequently, actual results may vary materially from those described in the forward-looking statements. Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release." 10 clinical sites selected to participate in the FDA Phase 2 clinical study evaluating ketamine for the treatment of Parkinsons Disease Initiated investigational new drug (IND) application to proceed to a Phase 2 clinical study for KETABET to treat depression Completed Phase 2 clinical study protocol for ketamine to treat ALS for IND submission to the FDA Near completion of research programs to advance novel microneedle patches for the delivery of psychedelics Selected U.S.-based CDMO to develop and supply proprietary ketamine products for FDA Phase 3 clinical studies and commercialization Positioned ketamine focused product pipeline for potential Phase 3 clinical studies and commercial supply in 2022 TORONTO, Sept. 13, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- PharmaTher Holdings Ltd. (the Company or PharmaTher) (OTCQB: PHRRF) (CSE: PHRM), a clinical-stage psychedelics biotech company, is pleased to provide a product pipeline update and anticipated milestones for Q4-2021 and 2022 including ongoing FDA Phase 2 clinical study programs, microneedle patch delivery programs for psychedelics, and clinical, commercial manufacturing and supply for its proprietary ketamine and microneedle patch products. Fabio Chianelli, Chief Executive Officer of PharmaTher, said, I am very pleased with the progress of our clinical programs for ketamine as a potential treatment for Parkinsons disease, ALS and depression. Our research programs for microneedle patch delivery are nearing completion and preparations for FDA Phase 1 and 2 clinical studies are on track. To support these and future programs, we are securing manufacturing and supply of our proprietary ketamine products and microneedle patches for planned FDA Phase 2 and 3 clinical studies and commercialization in 2022 and beyond. We remain focused on achieving our milestones in Q4-2021 and building a solid foundation that will allow us to become a leader in the development and commercialization of novel ketamine-based products. In addition, our intradermal delivery of ketamine and psychedelics via our proprietary microneedle patches position us for potential next-generation therapeutic solutions for mental health, neurological and pain disorders. FDA Phase 2 Clinical Study Programs For the rest of 2021, PharmaTher will focus on advancing three promising developments through FDA Phase 2 clinical studies: Ketamine for Parkinsons Disease The FDAs approval to proceed with a Phase 2 clinical trial to evaluate the safety, efficacy and pharmacokinetics of ketamine in the treatment of levodopa-induced dyskinesia in patients with Parkinsons disease triggered clinical program execution. The Company has completed its clinical trial start-up activities and selection of essential vendors including project management, central laboratory, clinical supply kits and logistics, data management and biostatistics, and clinical site management and monitoring. Clinical trial drug product (ketamine) and active placebo (midazolam) have also been obtained. More importantly, the Company has selected ten (10) clinical sites in the U.S. to participate in the Phase 2 clinical study. Patient screening has begun and the Company expects patient enrollment to support the delivery of clinical results in Q4-2021. For further detail about the study (ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT04912115), titled A Multi-Center, Phase II, Randomized, Double-Blind, Prospective, Active Placebo-Controlled Trial of Sub-Anesthetic Intravenous Infusion of Ketamine to Treat Levodopa-Induced Dyskinesia in Subjects with Parkinson's Disease, please visit https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT04912115?term=PharmaTher&draw=2&rank=1 . If the Phase 2 clinical study is positive, the Company will request a meeting with the FDA to discuss its plan and obtain an agreement to move to a Phase 3 clinical study under the 505(b)2 regulatory pathway in the first half of 2022. KETABET for Treatment-Resistant Depression The Company has finalized the Phase 2 clinical study protocol to evaluate KETABET for treatment-resistant depression. The Company is working with its scientific and clinical advisor, Dr. Maurizio Fava, MD, with the aim to complete the IND and file it with the FDA in early October. With the overlap of the clinical operations from the Parkinsons disease study, the Company has already activated start-up activities and identified potential clinical sites to screen and enroll patients for the proposed Phase 2 clinical study in Q4-2021. The aim is to share initial clinical results by the end of this year. Assuming the Phase 2 clinical study is positive, the Company will request a meeting with the FDA to discuss its plan and obtain an agreement to move to a Phase 3 clinical study under the 505(b)2 regulatory pathway in the first half of 2022. KETABET is the Companys patented combination formulation of FDA-approved ketamine and betaine as a potential next-generation treatment for neuropsychiatric disorders. More than 300 million people suffer from major depressive disorder and of those, 100 million are resistant to available treatments worldwide. KETABET research has shown potential enhancement of the antidepressant effect while having the potential to significantly reduce the known negative side effects of ketamine.1 Side effects such as hallucinations, confusion, memory loss and abuse liability compromise the compliance and potential therapeutic value of ketamine. Ketamine for Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS or Lou Gehrigs Disease) The Company has been granted orphan drug designation by the FDA for ketamine to treat ALS and along with its clinical advisors, has finalized the Phase 2 clinical study protocol. The IND application for this study is in process and will be filed with the FDA in October 2021 with patient enrollment targeting Q1-2022. PharmaTher has an exclusive license agreement with the University of Kansas for the intellectual property protecting the potential use of ketamine to treat ALS. Preclinical research has shown that the administration of ketamine preserves muscle function in advancing ALS and could potentially increase life expectancy when given in the early stages of muscle decline. Proprietary Microneedle Patch Delivery Programs for Psychedelics PharmaTher is working with its research and development partners to advance next-generation microneedle patches for the delivery of psychedelics: Hydrogel-Forming Microneedle Delivery Technology for Ketamine PharmaTher has exclusive worldwide development and commercial rights for the delivery of ketamine, esketamine and KETABET using a patented hydrogel-forming microneedle patch. The Company is working with Professor Ryan Donnelly under a research agreement with The Queens University of Belfast to develop the microneedle patch for the delivery of ketamine and KETABET. Foundational research is almost complete and final research results will become available in December 2021. To date, initial proof of concept with ketamine and KETABET is very encouraging. The Company is currently preparing for validation and tech transfer activities to support Phase 1 and Phase 2 clinical studies in 2022. Development progress will be made available as they arise for the remainder of the year. The Companys microneedle patch leverages the successful proof of concept achieved in delivering esketamine, the S(+) enantiomer of ketamine, via the microneedle patch, which may overcome the drawbacks associated with ketamine administration in an intravenous or nasal spray format.2 Details of the research can be found in a published paper titled Hydrogel-forming microneedle arrays as a therapeutic option for transdermal esketamine delivery. GelMA Microneedle Delivery Technology for Psychedelics The Company is working with the Terasaki Institute under a research agreement to finalize the development of a proprietary microneedle delivery technology comprised of a biocompatible and biodegradable gelatin methacryloy (GelMA) composite for use with psychedelics such as psilocybin, DMT, MDMA and LSD. The GelMA patch delivery technology is the driving force of the Companys psychedelics microdosing program. The research program is almost complete and successful proof of concept with psilocybin and LSD has been achieved. Full research results will be made available in November 2021. The Company is currently preparing for validation and tech transfer activities to support Phase 1 and Phase 2 clinical studies in 2022. Clinical and Commercial Manufacturing and Supply Initiatives Proprietary Ketamine PharmaTher is focused on building a specialty ketamine-based product pipeline. The Company has selected a U.S.-based GMP contract development and manufacturing organization (CDMO) with extensive experience in the development, production and supply of clinical and commercial controlled substance sterile products. PharmaTher will work with the CDMO to develop the Companys proprietary ketamine drug product(s) to support future clinical studies and global commercial supply. It is expected that the proprietary ketamine drug products will be available for FDA Phase 3 clinical studies and commercialization in H2-2022. Proprietary Microneedle Patch The Company entered into a co-development agreement with TSRL, Inc. to jointly develop the patented hydrogel-forming microneedle patch delivery technology. This allows the Companies to control the manufacturing and supply of microneedle patches for their respective clinical and commercial drug programs. PharmaTher is focused on incorporating psychedelics and TSRL is focused on incorporating antiviral medications in a microneedle patch with the potential to improve the safety (i.e. fewer side effects), efficacy (i.e. bioavailability, optimized dosing regimen including continuous system delivery) and compliance (i.e. storage, distribution and self-administration) of these compounds that currently must be taken orally, inhaled, injected and intravenously. Recent activities included the tech transfer for scale-up and manufacturing of clinical supplies to a GMP contract research lab and a pre-IND meeting with the FDA that achieved agreement with the agency on proposed 505(b)2 product development plans. The Company aims to validate non-clinical and clinical production of the microneedle patch by October 2021 and begin non-clinical and clinical manufacturing supply at the end of 2021. The Company expects to enter into Phase 1 and 2 clinical studies in 2022 to evaluate its microneedle patch in delivering ketamine, KETABET, psilocybin, DMT, MDMA and LSD. About PharmaTher Holdings Ltd. PharmaTher Holdings Ltd. (OTCQB: PHRRF) (CSE: PHRM) is a clinical-stage psychedelics biotech company focused on the research, development and commercialization of novel uses, formulations and delivery methods of psychedelics, including ketamine, to treat mental health, neurological and pain disorders. PharmaTher is currently conducting an FDA approved phase 2 clinical study with ketamine to treat Parkinsons disease and is developing novel microneedle patches for the intradermal delivery of psychedelics. Learn more at: PharmaTher.com and follow us on Twitter and LinkedIn . For more information about PharmaTher, please contact: Fabio Chianelli Chief Executive Officer PharmaTher Holdings Ltd. Tel: 1-888-846-3171 Email: info@pharmather.com Website: www.pharmather.com Neither the Canadian Securities Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider have reviewed or accept responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. Cautionary Statement This press release contains 'forward-looking information' within the meaning of applicable Canadian securities legislation. These statements relate to future events or future performance. The use of any of the words "could", "intend", "expect", "believe", "will", "projected", "estimated", "potential", "aim" and similar expressions and statements relating to matters that are not historical facts are intended to identify forward-looking information and are based on PharmaTher Holdings Ltd. (the "Company") current belief or assumptions as to the outcome and timing of such future events. Forward-looking information is based on reasonable assumptions that have been made by the Company at the date of the information and is subject to known and unknown risks, uncertainties, and other factors that may cause actual results or events to differ materially from those anticipated in the forward-looking information. Given these risks, uncertainties and assumptions, you should not unduly rely on these forward-looking statements. The forward-looking information contained in this press release is made as of the date hereof, and Company is not obligated 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 laws. The foregoing statements expressly qualify any forward-looking information contained herein. Factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those anticipated in these forward-looking statements are described under the caption "Risk Factors" in Company's management's discussion and analysis for the period of May 31, 2021 ("MD&A"), dated September 7, 2021, which is available on the Company's profile at www.sedar.com. This news release does not constitute an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy, and shall not constitute an offer, solicitation or sale in any state, province, territory 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, province, territory or jurisdiction. References: WORCESTER, Mass., Sept. 13, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Massachusetts Rehabilitation Commission, MassMATCH and Easterseals have announced they will be hosting a virtual event, AT Expo and Training, on Friday, Sept. 17, powered by virtual event platform vFairs. The event will offer people with disabilities a forum to explore new assistive technologies. The AT Expo and Training is open to people with disabilities of all ages, their family members, professionals working with individuals with disabilities, and anyone interested in learning about assistive technology. The event will include virtual training sessions and a virtual expo with vendors specializing in assistive technology, all within an accessible platform. Through the vFairs platform, AT Expo and Training will offer a variety of assistive technology within the event platform. Accessibility support provided by vFairs will be available in the event's lobby, lounge, and exhibition hall. Features include color contrast, text size adjustment and page narration. Additionally, support will be offered within webinar and breakout sessions, thus ensuring more attendees with disabilities can engage and interact with sessions and vendors with ease. "Working with vFairs has been an absolute pleasure. They have worked tirelessly to ensure that the AT Expo and Training has all the accessibility features needed to make our event a success. I'm so excited to be able to offer our participants not only an accessible platform but also one that makes you feel like you are there at the event. In a time where everything is virtual it feels good to offer a platform that not only is easy to navigate but also provides an interactive experience," said Michele Boutelle, Assistive Technology Regional Center Manager at Easterseals. "We are very happy to be working with Massachusetts Rehabilitation Commission, MassMatch, and Easterseals to deliver an accessible event platform that provides an engaging online experience for people with disabilities," said Muhammad Younas, vFairs CEO. "Helping people around the world access equal opportunities has always been a core value at vFairs, and we're honoured to be part of AT Expo and Training." Event registration is open now. Media Contact: Brianne Snell vFairs brianne@vfairs.com Related Images Image 1: AT Expo Landing Page Preview of the AT Expo landing page with accessibility features shown in the navigation menu. This content was issued through the press release distribution service at Newswire.com. Attachment New York, Sept. 13, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Reportlinker.com announces the release of the report "Argentina Biopower Analysis - Market Outlook to 2030, Update 2021" - https://www.reportlinker.com/p06149516/?utm_source=GNW The report discusses the renewable power market in the country and provides forecasts up to 2030. The report highlights installed capacity and power generation trends from 2010 to 2030 in the countrys biopower market. A detailed coverage of renewable energy policy framework governing the market is provided in the report. The report also provides company snapshots of some of the major market participants. The report is built using data and information sourced from proprietary databases, secondary research, and in-house analysis by team of industry experts. Scope The report analyses Argentinas biopower market. The scope of the research includes - - A brief introduction on global carbon emissions and global primary energy consumption. - An overview of the countrys renewable power market, highlighting installed capacity trends (2010-2030), generation trends (2010-2030), and installed capacity split by various renewable power sources. - Detailed overview of the countrys biopower market with installed capacity and generation trends, and major active and upcoming biopower projects. - Deal analysis of the countrys biopower market. - Key policies and regulatory framework supporting the development of renewables. - Snapshots of some of the major market participants in the country. Reasons to Buy - The report will enhance your decision-making capability in a more rapid and time sensitive manner. - Identify key growth and investment opportunities in countrys biopower market. - Facilitate decision-making based on strong historic and forecast data for biopower market. - Position yourself to gain the maximum advantage of the industrys growth potential. - Develop strategies based on the latest regulatory events. - Identify key partners and business development avenues. - Understand and respond to your competitors business structure, strategy and prospects. Read the full report: https://www.reportlinker.com/p06149516/?utm_source=GNW About Reportlinker ReportLinker is an award-winning market research solution. Reportlinker finds and organizes the latest industry data so you get all the market research you need - instantly, in one place. __________________________ New York, Sept. 13, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Reportlinker.com announces the release of the report "Brazil Biopower Analysis - Market Outlook to 2030, Update 2021" - https://www.reportlinker.com/p06149515/?utm_source=GNW The report discusses the renewable power market in the country and provides forecasts up to 2030. The report highlights installed capacity and power generation trends from 2010 to 2030 in the countrys biopower market. A detailed coverage of renewable energy policy framework governing the market is provided in the report. The report also provides company snapshots of some of the major market participants. The report is built using data and information sourced from proprietary databases, secondary research, and in-house analysis by team of industry experts. Scope The report analyses Brazils biopower market. The scope of the research includes - - A brief introduction on global carbon emissions and global primary energy consumption. - An overview of the countrys renewable power market, highlighting installed capacity trends (2010-2030), generation trends (2010-2030), and installed capacity split by various renewable power sources. - Detailed overview of the countrys biopower market with installed capacity and generation trends, and major active and upcoming biopower projects. - Deal analysis of the countrys biopower market. - Key policies and regulatory framework supporting the development of renewables. - Snapshots of some of the major market participants in the country. Reasons to Buy - The report will enhance your decision-making capability in a more rapid and time sensitive manner. - Identify key growth and investment opportunities in countrys biopower market. - Facilitate decision-making based on strong historic and forecast data for biopower market. - Position yourself to gain the maximum advantage of the industrys growth potential. - Develop strategies based on the latest regulatory events. - Identify key partners and business development avenues. - Understand and respond to your competitors business structure, strategy and prospects. Read the full report: https://www.reportlinker.com/p06149515/?utm_source=GNW About Reportlinker ReportLinker is an award-winning market research solution. Reportlinker finds and organizes the latest industry data so you get all the market research you need - instantly, in one place. __________________________ DANVILLE, Calif., Sept. 13, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Eighth Icon Holdings, after operating for less than a year, has changed its name to Cheech and Chong's Cannabis Company effective immediately. The company is responsible for managing Cheech and Chong, the original iconic weed duo in the cannabis industry by producing Tommy Chong's Cannabis and Cheech's Stash wholesale flower brands in California. Jonathan Black, CEO, states, "Our team is prepared for the challenge and committed to representing Cheech and Chong's cannabis across the United States and around the world. This name change allows for clear representation of what our company is executing." Tommy Chong weighs in, "Excited to see the progression of the company, timing is right!" Cheech Marin adds, "As we move towards federal legalization, the new name reflects our mission and progress made." "Along with the name change, we are proud to announce we have also closed our first round of funding," states President and Chairman of the Board, Danny Keith. Currently, Cheech and Chong's Cannabis Company is producing high-quality flower products across multiple categories in the state of California, including: prerolls, jarred eighths, and mylar bagged half ounces. The two brands are being distributed into over 90 accounts as of press time, with expansion into over 150 by year-end. About Cheech and Chong's Cannabis Company Cheech and Chong's Cannabis Company, and its entities, is an emerging cannabis company focused on distribution, delivery, products and brands operating across the U.S. The Company is actively developing infrastructure to support the proliferation of its assets initially through its acquisition of the exclusive rights to the Cheech and Chong Cannabis brands. Website: www.cheechandchongscannabis.com For press inquiries on behalf of Cheech and Chong's Cannabis Company, please contact 1.909.906.3339 or via email ir@cheechandchongscannabis.com For press inquiries on behalf of Tommy Chong, please contact James Weir of the Anderson Group agpr@andersongrouppr.com For press inquiries on behalf of Richard "Cheech" Marin, contact Yvette Shearer of Shearer PR yvette@shearerpr.com Related Files Forward Looking Statements.pdf Related Images Image 1 This content was issued through the press release distribution service at Newswire.com. Attachment ST. LOUIS, Sept. 13, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Betsy H. Cohen is pleased to announce the release of Welcome to the U.S.A.-You're Hired! A Guide for Foreign-Born People Seeking Jobs, published by Constead Press. This book launches on Citizenship Day, Sept. 17, 2021, because having a job is the basis for individual and national economic success. The book demystifies the tactics necessary to find and land meaningful work so that the new Americanand Americawill thrive and succeed. As thousands of new Americans take an oath to become U.S. citizens on Citizenship Day, Sept. 17, they do so with the goal of contributing to America. For foreign-born people in this country, finding work and succeeding in America organizations will allow them to take full advantage of the American Dream. This book, the only one of its kind, provides guidance on how to build and develop the American job search network, how to prepare for different interview types, how to discuss job offers and how to succeed in American organizations. The case studies and advice make this an engaging and informative guide. In her role as Executive Director of the St. Louis Mosaic Project, a program of the World Trade Center-St. Louis within the St. Louis Economic Development Partnership, Betsy Cohen has helped hundreds of foreign-born job seekers network toward employment that matches their talent and expertise. This includes partners who accompany a relocated spouse, international students, immigrants who relocate to a new city in search of a better life, and refugees. "Over the years, I found myself answering many of the same questions from foreign-born job seekers - from how to format a U.S. style resume, whether an Americanized name should be used, the importance of networking and how to overcome cultural workplace styles, and when to seek assistance from an immigration attorney. I posted advice on these topics on social media, and many immigrants asked that I put the information and tips in a book," said Cohen. Welcome to the U.S.A.-You're Hired! is available on Amazon and other online retailers. Volume orders and more information are available at www.WelcomeYouAreHired.com. Print ISBN: 978-1-7375453-0-9, softcover 6 x 9 inches, Publication Date Sept. 3, 2021 228 Pages $19.99 eBook ISBN: 978-1-7375453-1-6 $17.99 About the Author Betsy Cohen is the Executive Director of the St. Louis Mosaic Project, a program of the World Trade Center-St. Louis within the St. Louis Economic Development Partnership. The organization's goal is to attract and retain international people to St. Louis for their skills and cultures. Betsy has worked with hundreds of international students, relocating immigrants, international executives, and foreign-born work-authorized job seekers. She holds an MBA from the Harvard Business School and a BA in Economics from Wellesley College. Author Contact: Betsy Cohen 314-283-7624 betsy@WelcomeYouAreHired.com https://www.WelcomeYouAreHired.com Related Images Image 1: Welcome to the U.S.A.-You're Hired Book cover This content was issued through the press release distribution service at Newswire.com. Attachment RALEIGH, N.C., Sept. 13, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The preserved skeletons of two well-known dinosaur species acquired by the Friends of the NC Museum of Natural Sciences will soon have a new home at the SECU DinoLab! A groundbreaking ceremony held at the Museums Nature Research Center in downtown Raleigh kicked off the construction of the paleontology conservation lab for the Dueling Dinosaurs exhibit featuring a Tyrannosaurus rex and Triceratops. During the event, SECU Foundation announced its support for the initiative with a $2 million challenge grant to the Friends of the NC Museum of Natural Sciences. The Dueling Dinosaur fossils were found buried together in Montana, frozen in time as they battled for survival. They are among the most complete skeletons ever discovered of the two dinosaurs. The fossils will be professionally restored and conserved in the SECU DinoLab, a glass-walled laboratory to be located on the first floor of the Museums Nature Research Center adjacent to the SECU Daily Planet. Visitors will witness the gradual uncovering of the skeletal remains in real time with discovery details and interactive educational resources shared online and broadcast to the world. Eric Dorfman, Director & CEO of the NC Museum of Natural Sciences shared his appreciation for SECU Foundations support. He said, The NC Museum of Natural Sciences is proud to work with SECU Foundation for the Dueling Dinosaurs project. Through the Foundation, members of SECU have shown the power of the collective by supporting and participating in publicly accessible science and education. The Museum could not ask for a better neighbor. Jo Anne Sanford, SECU Foundation Board Chair, remarked, SECU Foundation is no stranger to the innovative educational initiatives that have brought the Museum and our state to the forefront. The Foundations initial support for the Friends of the NC Museum of Natural Sciences came in 2009 with a $4 million grant for the iconic silver globe the SECU Daily Planet, which opened in 2012. Like the SECU Daily Planet, the SECU DinoLab will provide exciting educational benefits as well as significant, positive economic impacts. Dueling Dinosaurs will be a new icon for our state and will undoubtedly expand interest in the field of paleontology for educators and students in North Carolina and beyond. The SECU DinoLab will be a unique facility a space allowing for research on one of the most important paleontological discoveries of our time, along with a laboratory specifically designed to allow researchers to share their results with audiences locally and worldwide, remarked Jason Barron, Chair of the Friends of the NCMNS Board of Directors. The Friends of the NC Museum of Natural Sciences is humbled by the honor of being a part of this one-of-a-kind experience, and profoundly grateful to SECU Foundation for making it all possible. About SECU and the SECU Foundation A not-for-profit financial cooperative owned by its members, SECU has been providing employees of the state of North Carolina and their families with consumer financial services for 84 years. The Credit Union also offers a diversified line of financial advisory services including retirement and education planning, tax preparation, insurance, trust and estate planning services, and investments through its partners and affiliated entities. SECU serves over 2.6 million members through 273 branch offices, 1,100 ATMs, 24/7 Member Services via phone, a website, www.ncsecu.org and a Mobile App. Members can also follow and subscribe to SECU on Facebook and YouTube. The SECU Foundation, a 501(c)(3) charitable organization funded by the contributions of SECU members, promotes local community development in North Carolina primarily through high impact projects in the areas of housing, education, healthcare and human services. Since 2004, SECU Foundation has made a collective financial commitment of over $216 million for initiatives to benefit North Carolinians statewide. In addition to the website, highlights are also available on the SECU Foundation Instagram page. Contact: Jama Campbell, Executive Director Office: 919-839-5562 | secufoundation@ncsecu.org A photo accompanying this announcement is available at https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/aeb7ef4f-6301-4323-a3cc-d2cd6822eb17 Dallas, Texas, Sept. 13, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The past two years have presented numerous challenges for many higher education institutions. In October of 2019, only months before facing unprecedented changes due to the global COVID-19 pandemic, the Parker University campus in Dallas was hit by a large tornado that destroyed half of its buildings. Following the extensive destruction on campus, the Skiles Group, a national general contracting and lean construction management firm out of Richardson, Texas, hit the ground running to effectively complete construction on the Parker University campus as soon as possible. Now, after months of anticipation, Parker University is proud to announce that the South Building is complete, and students are now able to access the location that features state-of-the-art technology and the latest industry innovations to help revolutionize their educations. Some of the South Building's unique new features include more than 25,000 square feet of learning space filled with electronic resources. Students revealed they wanted course reserves, bookstore necessities, dining options, learning spaces, and technology included in the renovation. The South Building, which was once a location for offices, is now a structure for students that offers a customizable learning environment. The Center for Teaching and Learning offers students a learning resources hub with programming, bones, models, tutoring support, collaborative study areas, and much more. Technology-wise, the buildings modern simulation lab utilizes virtual reality (VR) clinical simulations with task trainer mannequins for students to practice physical examination skills, communication, and other educational scenarios across numerous Parker University degree programs. The anatomy resource lab features a fully immersive VR environment using four 86-inch modern digital anatomy touch tables, personal devices, wall monitors, and VR headsets. The diagnostic imaging lab was designed to incorporate digital anatomy, diagnostic sonography, radiographs, MRIs, and CT scans into a clinical grand round case review experience. The clinical skills lab provides multi-dimensional views with cameras to magnify instructor and patient movement for display on wall monitors throughout the room for adjusting and examination. In addition, the Force Sensing Table Technology (FSTT) lab has six tables for immediate and objective feedback on students abilities to deliver a chiropractic adjustment. Parker University represents the future of higher education by delivering an exceptional learning experience for students. The new South Building revolutionizes student learning and sets the new standard in the educational community to serve students and prepare them for the future. With a physical space that matches already successful online and digital resources, Parker University serves as an example for providing an enriching experience that is personalized and effective. About Parker University Parker University, the fourth-fastest growing college in Texas and the fastest-growing college in Dallas, was founded in 1982 by Dr. James William Parker (formerly Parker College of Chiropractic). Today, Parker University has more than 1,800 students and 34 academic programs, including its famed chiropractic program, as well as masters degrees in neuroscience, clinical neuroscience, strength and human performance, and functional nutrition. Currently, Parker Universitys chiropractic cohort is the second largest of any campus in the world. Parker University has been recognized as a Great College to Work For and as a recipient of the 2021 FutureEdge 50 Awards. Attachment Gloucester, MA (01930) Today Partly cloudy this evening followed by increasing clouds with showers developing after midnight. Low around 65F. Winds light and variable. Chance of rain 50%.. Tonight Partly cloudy this evening followed by increasing clouds with showers developing after midnight. Low around 65F. Winds light and variable. Chance of rain 50%. CHICAGO Six people were shot one of them fatally and another critically injured on Chi All you had to do was look at his face to figure out that his day didnt go well. Were talking about Fabio Quartararo and his 8th place with a bitter aftertaste at the Aragon GP. And, besides this, he also had to deal with winner Pecco Bagnaias 16 seconds. Numbers that the French rider cant ignore, as he fought starting from the very first lap with his Yamaha. After the warm-up, I had good feelings. In fact, I was hoping to be fighting for the podium, he said. Then, after the start, I realized that it would be difficult to stay up front. I tried to fight to bring home this position, and Im happy with what I did at the end of a race that was certainly not easy. Fabios really disappointed, even if he tends to downplay it. Its not a disaster, also because the sensations were different, compared to last year. A year ago, I struggled for the entire weekend while, this time, only on Sunday afternoon, since the goal was to fight for the podium this morning. Quartararo explained what happened. There was something wrong with the rear. I had strange sensations. I dont want to point the finger at the tires but, after a few laps, I felt something abnormal and not regular. Never, before today, had I encountered these sensations. From turn fifteen to one, just to give you an example, I lost almost four tenths and couldnt overtake, plus I didnt have any grip. We have to figure out and analyze in detail what happened, since I had been fast all weekend. Despite the regret, Fabio wants to remain positive. Today, I tried to fight, giving everything I had inside of me, also because Im fighting for the World Championship. Unfortunately, I lost some points, but these are things that can happen. Before the Sachsenring, I was only ten points ahead while, when I arrived in Aragon, it was over sixty. Unfortunately, I lost some along the way today, but I think its normal in a championship as hard fought as this one. You cant always earn points, even if the goal is to win. His last comment was about the spectators. Although Im French, I thank the spectators for their support. Its nice to have fans in the stands and feel their affection. Support local journalism We are making critical coverage of the coronavirus available for free. Please consider subscribing so we can continue to bring you the latest news and information on this developing story. GREENWICH Students, faculty, and staff at Greenwich High School banded together Friday to participate in the annual September 11th National Day of Service and Remembrance by sponosoring a food drive dedicated to helping those less fortunate in the Greenwich community. With the help of the Roots & Shoots Club and the Neighbor to Neighbor Club, the entire community at Greenwich High collected more 1,300 items of food that will be donated to benefit the Neighbor to Neighbor food pantry in town. The food drive returned in 2021 after it was canceled last year due to COVID-19. GHS students earn honors from College Board The College Board announced that 19 Greenwich High School students have been designated as College Board National Recognition Program Scholars, based on academic achievements and outstanding performance on the PSAT and/or AP exams. We are very proud of these seniors, said Judith Nedell, GPS guidance program coordinator and AVID district director. I am pleased to represent the faculty and staff of GHS in congratulating our students on this accomplishment. We encourage each of them to continue their excellent work, and use their talent and drive toward continued academic and personal success. The College Board, which administers the PSAT and SAT among its activities, recognizes academic excellence through its National Recognition Programs. Students selected for this prestigious honor can cite it on their college and scholarship applications. In turn, colleges use the listing of this honor as a way of identifying students from underrepresented groups who have excelled on their PSAT/NMSQT, PSAT 10, or AP Exams and in their classwork. Honored as College Board National African American Recognition Program scholars are: Kwame Boateng; Ashby Remak; and Skyler Scavo. Kiana Jennings was honored as a College Board National Indigenous Recognition Program scholar. The College Board National Hispanic Recognition Program scholars are: Santiago Borrego Garcia Cancho; Jordan Cervantes; Carlos Cornejo; Isabelle Harper; Dominique Isaacs; Sophia Jansen; Isabella Lattuada; Sebastian Lopez; Ashby Remak; Carolina Rivera; Victoria River; Javier Serra; Natalia Stieglitz; Noah Weinberg; and Alastair Wilson. Holy Cross announces spring Dean's List The College of the Holy Cross in Worcester, Mass., announced that more than 1,450 students were named to the Spring 2021 Dean's List. The following local students were among the honorees: Grace Polistina of Greenwich, majoring in psychology; Margaret Telling of Greenwich, majoring in economics; Isabella Marciano of Greenwich, majoring in history; and Christina Marciano of Greenwich, majoring in environmental studies. UTampa student earns Deans List honors Brooke Bayerbach, of Greenwich, earned Deans List honors at the University of Tampa in Tampa, Fla., for the Spring 2021 semester. Students must maintain a GPA of 3.75 or higher to be eligible for the Deans List. Emerson names local students to Dean's List Two local students have been named to the Dean's List for the spring 2021 semester at Emerson College in Boston. The honored students are Ramsey Frank of Greenwich, a media arts production major in the Class of 2024; and Diana Bravo of Old Greenwich, a journalism major in the Class of 2022 The requirement to make Dean's List is a grade point average of 3.7 or higher for that semester. GREENWICH The Board of Selectmen has unanimously signed Greenwich on to an updated hazard mitigation plan put together by the Western Connecticut Council of Governments. By joining the updated plan, Greenwich will maintain access to certain grants from the Federal Emergency Management Agency. The development of the plan, as well as the boards consideration of it, was put together long before the remnants of Hurricane Ida recently caused damage across town, particularly in the Pemberwick area. But the storms impact was on the minds of the board members when they made their unanimous vote Thursday morning. This will be the primary document the town uses to guide future actions in grant applications through FEMA, said Nicole Sullivan, an associate planner for WestCOG. These projects and programs are not mandates, by any means. By adopting the plan, the town remains eligible for FEMA grant opportunities such as flood mitigation assistance, hazard mitigation grant program and the building resilient infrastructure communities program, she said. The previous version of the plan was approved in 2016; the update will last until 2026. According to Sullivan, a hazard mitigation plan is required for a municipality to access resiliency grant funding from FEMA. The update includes plans for mitigation against coastal and inland flooding as well as for hurricanes, dam failures, winter storms, wildfires, drought and earthquakes. It includes several proposals already underway within town, including coastal resiliency improvements, better protection and resiliency for the Grass Island Waste Treatment Plant, flood mitigation in Byram and a climate change study. It was put together by WestCOG with consultants, and its members must approve it. While developing the plan update, they met with town officials, Sullivan said. I know this has been a very hard couple of years, especially with COVID, so we really appreciate everyones participation, Sullivan said. The final step is municipal adoption, which was completed with the boards vote. However, Selectperson Jill Oberlander expressed concern at the meeting that the public had not been given adequate time to review the plan, which she attributed to the pandemic. She suggested that public input be gathered on the plan in the next year, to which all agreed. One item remains to be resolved: designating the municipal coordinator for the plan in Greenwich. That person is in charge of monitoring the successful implementation of the updated plan at the local level. When the plan was developed, that job was filled by Emergency Management Director Dan Warzoha. However, Warzoha died in August and the position has not yet been filled. Chief of Police James Heavey is the acting director, but the town is looking to appoint an interim director in the position, said First Selectman Fred Camillo. Once the interim official is in place, Camillo said the town would post the position for a permanent replacement. That should hopefully be coming soon, Camillo said. Right now its Chief Heavey and hes been working hard at it. Its kind of fluid right now. Also, Oberlander made a change in the plan, with the support of Camillo and Selectwoman Lauren Rabin, to add language about efforts to improve fire coverage in the northwest section of town and to include it in the plan as an ongoing dialogue within town. The notes has dropped the northwest fire protection and the plan for a firehouse in northwest Greenwich from the Greenwich specific hazard mitigation plan, Oberlander said. The notes indicate the town has determined the cost benefit ratio of this action does not warrant its implementation, and I dont agree with that statement. I dont think its reflective of the community-wide response needs. Camillo agreed that this was something that should be in there because it is an ongoing conversation between his office and the Greenwich Fire Department administration. A full copy of the hazard mitigation plan and a specific appendix for Greenwich is available online at westcog.org/. The Western Connecticut Council of Governments is an agency providing transportation, enivronmental, economic and other planning services to 18 municipalities: Bethel, Bridgewater, Brookfield, Danbury, Darien, Greenwich, New Canaan, New Fairfield, New Milford, Newtown, Norwalk, Redding, Ridgefield, Sherman, Stamford, Weston, Westport and Wilton. kborsuk@greenwichtime.com TOLEDO, Ohio (AP) A man who vowed support for a terrorist group and planned an attack on an Ohio synagogue was sentenced to 20 years in federal prison on Monday, federal prosecutors said. Damon Joseph, 23, of Holland, Ohio, pleaded guilty in May to attempting to provide material support for the Islamic State terrorist group and attempting to commit a hate crime, the Department of Justice said. NORTH VERSAILLES, Pa. (AP) Authorities are asking for help from the public in their search for a teenage suspect who opened fire at a popular Halloween attraction in western Pennsylvania over the weekend, killing one 15-year-old youth and wounding another. Allegheny County police said 15-year-old Steven Eason of Wilmerding was shot in the chest and stomach and died after the shooting reported at about 8:15 p.m. Saturday at the Haunted Hills Hayride in North Versailles. Detectives said Eason had gone to the attraction with a group of friends and saw the other 15-year-old, whom they knew casually, involved in a confrontation with the suspect. They went to his aid, and the suspect drew a handgun and fired three times, hitting Eason and the other youth, before fleeing toward the parking lot. Police said there were 50 to 100 people in the immediate area at the time of the shooting. Investigators don't yet know what prompted the confrontation. The other 15-year-old victim was shot in the shoulder and was listed in stable condition at a hospital, police said. The suspect, described as 15 to 17 years old, is being sought, and detectives are asking anyone who witnessed the shooting or has cellphone video of it to contact homicide investigators. Central Catholic High School, where Eason was a student, expressed deep sorrow" on its Facebook page and said counselors would be available for students during regular school hours and by email. The principal, Brother Tony Baginski, called Eason a dedicated student, a talented member of the track team and a blessing to have" at the school. He will be deeply missed by all of us at Central Catholic and we offer our condolences and prayers to his family and friends," he said in a statement, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reported. The Penn Hills school district also said counselors would be available for students needing support following the shooting that led to an injury of a PHHS students and the death of a Central Catholic student." The Haunted Hills Hayride, which says a portion of the proceeds from the event go to benefit the Autism Society of Pittsburgh, said in a statement Monday evening that its heartfelt thoughts and prayers" go out to the families of the victims of what it called the senseless act of violence." The safety of all persons associated with our family fun-oriented event has always been a priority since we started 22 years ago," the statement said. After meeting with staff and an outpouring of support," officials said they would resume the scheduled dates of operation, since we cannot let an isolated bad act stop the good of what the Haunted Hills Hayride provides." As the summer months come to an end, tech companies are starting to pile up the calendar with events and product launches. Xiaomi is all set to hold a big event on Wednesday, September 15 where well get to see the latest smartphones, tablets and other products in the makers pipeline. With that in mind heres a breakdown of what to expect at the event. Xiaomi 11T and 11T Pro The star(s) of the show will be the brand new Xiaomi 11T series. Were expecting a vanilla and Pro model and they will mark the first premium Xiaomi phones launched on the global stage without the Mi branding which has been cut off as confirmed by Xiaomi last month. Xiaomi 11T (image: @_snoopytech_) Both phones are expected to pack 120Hz refresh rate displays which are presumed to be of the AMOLED variety. The chipset department should hold a major difference with the 11T using MediaTeks Dimensity 1200 while the 11T Pro should arrive with Qualcomms Snapdragon 888 instead. Xiaomi 11T Pro (image: @_snoopytech_) A prior leak from August detailed the 11Ts camera setup: a 64MP OmniVision OV64B main sensor, a Sony IMX355 ultrawide shooter and an unnamed 3x 'telemacro' camera. The 11T Pro could opt for a similar setup but with a 108MP Samsung HM2 sensor at the helm. Xiaomi 11T Pro will also charge up to 120W speeds via USB-C while the 11Ts charging speeds are still unknown. Both 11T models will receive up to three Android version upgrades and four years of security updates throughout their lifetime. European pricing for the Xiaomi 11T is rumored to start at 746/634 for the 8/128 GB model while the 8/256 GB configuration is expected to come in at 778/661. The 11T Pro will likely go for 896/759 in its 8/128GB trim and 929/785 for the 8/256GB variety. Global debut of Xiaomi Pad 5 series Last month, Xiaomi reentered the Android tablet sphere with its Xiaomi Pad 5 and Pad 5 Pro two 11-inch slates with 120Hz IPS LCDs and powered by the Snapdragon 860 and 870 chipsets respectively. The only caveat was that both were exclusive to China but it seems Wednesdays event will change that and international users will be able to purchase the Xiaomi Pads. Xiaomi Pad 5 Xiaomi Pad 5 Pro Check out our detailed coverage of the Xiaomi Pad 5 series here. Xiaomi 11 Lite 5G NE Xiaomi has always offered balanced budget friendly devices in its portfolio and a new Lite model is also on the way. As officially confirmed earlier this week, the Xiaomi 11 Lite 5G NE (New Edition) will also launch on September 15. Based on the information we were able to gather so far this will be a Xiaomi Mi 11 Lite 5G but with a Snapdragon 778G chipset instead of the Snapdragon 780G. Xiaomi Mi 11 5G Lite It seems the global chipset shortage is affecting Xiaomis plans and thus created the need for the 11 Lite 5G NE. Everything else from the 6.55-inch AMOLED screen with a 90Hz refresh rate to the 64 triple camera setup and 4,250 mAh battery with 33W charging will remain unchanged from the 11 Lite 5G. Pricing for the NE is expected at around 359 for the base 6/64GB model. A cash incentive will be given to car owners and mayors who participate in a recall of dangerous airbags. Gov. Lou Leon Guerrero said she plans to use about $300 million of Guams American Rescue Plan funds to build a new Guam Memorial Hospital, even if Congress gives Guam $345 million for a hospital as part of the federal budget. So that gives us $645 million, toward a hospital replacement project that is estimated to cost about $743 million, Leon Guerrero said during a press conference Monday. Guam Del. Mike San Nicolas has said federal infrastructure funding for a new hospital, which currently is being considered for the territories as part of the Fiscal 2022 budget, could free up Guams ARP funding for other recovery purposes. The governor on Monday acknowledged that some people are advocating that the $300 million in ARP funding be spent on the people. I am. I am giving the $300 million back to our people in a very worthy investment, and thats building a hospital, she said. Our hospital only has five more years of life. Government consultant Matrix Design Group is examining the options of building a new government hospital and medical campus either in Mangilao or in Tamuning, near the existing GMH. The governor has said the military, which owns the Mangilao property, could grant GovGuam a lease for its use by the end of this year. Leon Guerrero said her plan is to build a new hospital at the lowest cost to Guam residents. That is plan, and I am going to make that plan happen, she said. Im trying to get as much grants and money, through federal partners, so that we dont have to have such a high debt. A man wanted by police in connection with an Aug. 18 shooting in Harmon has been arrested, according to Guam Police Department spokesman Sgt. Paul Tapao. On Sunday, police received information about Justin Michael Duenas, 31, and they were able to find him in the Toto area, Tapao said. Duenas was arrested in connection with attempted murder, aggravated assault, conspiracy, reckless conduct, guilt established by complicity, use of a deadly weapon in the commission of a felony, illegal possession of a firearm without valid identification, criminal trespass, criminal mischief and resisting arrest. He was booked and confined at the Department of Corrections. In addition, police learned that 27-year-old Jorjette Ray Garrido had been helping Duenas avoid arrest, Tapao said. Garrido was arrested in connection with hindering apprehension. She was booked and released. Last week, police arrested Jensen Belga Develles, 27, who was also wanted in connection with the shooting. Develles was charged in Superior Court with attempted murder, aggravated assault, theft by receiving and possession of a firearm without a firearms identification card. On Aug. 18, a man reported he was at a home in the Harmon area playing darts with a friend when Duenas and Develles entered the residence with handguns, according to the magistrates report filed in Develles case. Duenas reportedly shot the man in the chest, the report stated. A fight broke out, and as the man and Duenas struggled over the gun, Develles shot at him and his friend. The man and his friend left the residence and went to Guam Regional Medical City. A man was charged for sexually assaulting a woman known to him. On Sept. 9, officers of the Guam Police Department responded to a criminal sexual complaint at a residence in Asan. Officers met the woman who accused Joaquin Peter Castro Nededog of sexually assaulting her, according to the magistrates complaint filed by the Office of the Attorney General. Nededog repeatedly asked the woman to have sexual intercourse inside the Asan residence, to which she refused. Nededog then became agitated, proceeded to grope the womans chest and buttocks and rip the womans clothes and jewelry, the complaint stated. The woman tried to exit the residence, but Nededog blocked the door. Nededog continued to grope the woman, the complaint stated. She later calmed Nededog and left the residence. Nededog grabbed a stick and threatened the womant that he would kill everyone she lived with; the complaint stated. Officers took photos of the womans ripped clothing while verifying with her family member that her clothes werent ripped before entering Nededogs residence. Joaquin Peter Castro Nededog was charged with: Gov. Lou Leon Guerrero said she might sign an executive order allowing schools to return to face-to-face instruction as soon as Monday. The governor on Aug. 27 signed an executive order, prohibiting in-person instruction for grades K-12, in response to a surge in community COVID-19 infections and hospitalizations. Although there is no evidence that COVID-19 is being spread in the schools, the governor moved education online in an abundance of caution. The executive order also further limited the size of social gatherings, to no more than 10 vaccinated people indoors and 25 outdoors. The plan was to reopen school campuses on Sept. 13, but Leon Guerrero said she decided to delay the reopening by one week. Provided they are ready to open safely, the islands private schools likely will resume in-person instruction on Sept. 20, according to the governor, with Guam Department of Education schools reopening the following week. The situation remains flexible, according to the governor. If the numbers are not stabilizing, the plan to reopen schools will be revisited, she said. Guam DOE officials have said they are examining different alternatives for how to reopen campuses, including possibly splitting students into two cohorts, which attend classes on campus on alternate days. Guam Department of Public Health and Social Services officials have said DOE is implementing safety protocols in the classrooms, but Public Health is concerned about student interaction when students first arrive on campus, during meals, and when they are ready to go home. A Tourism Attraction Rescue Plan, which would provide at least $60 million in funding assistance to businesses in the tourism industry, is being requested by senators of the 36th Guam Legislature. Resolution 162 was introduced last Friday to officially make the request to Gov. Lou Leon Guerrero, and has bi-partisan sponsorship from Sens. Frank Blas Jr., Tony Ada, Chris Duenas, James Moylan and Joe S. San Agustin. It asks that the $60 million be taken from the American Rescue Plan or CARES act money provided to Guam, or from any other federal or local pandemic assistance for the island. I along with the co-sponsors of the resolution met with business owners to talk about the state of the industry and what needed to be done to be sure that they are ready to welcome and entertain tourists when they are able to visit us again, said Blas, the primary sponsor of the resolution. Unfortunately, the industry has taken a huge and devastating hit because of the pandemic, and if we want to remain a viable and competitive destination when travel restrictions are lifted, we have got to do what we can now to ensure that we are operative before they come. According to representatives who have met with the senators, the Guam Visitors Bureau, the Guam Economic Development Authority, the Guam Hotel and Restaurant Association and the Guam Chamber of Commerce, they were briefed on the need for a Tourist Attraction Rescue Plan and expressed support for the initiative, a release from Blas office states. Prior to the pandemic, the tourism dollars accounted for 60% of the islands economy while welcoming over 1.6 million visitors, the release states. Just 46,670 visitors for fiscal year 2021 were reported as of July. With a 93.8% decrease in tourists and over 90% of revenue lost, it continues to adversely impact the employment of over 20,000 island residents, the release states. Yigo resident Istor Mori sits the in the observation area after receiving his first dose of the Moderna vaccine at the Micronesia Mall in Dededo, Aug. 17. Gov. Lou Leon Guerrero, Lt. Josh Tenorio, second from left, and military leaders, are presented with a wreath during the Rotary Club of Northern Guam 9/11 Wreath Laying Ceremony at Two Lovers Point in Tamuning, Sept. 11, 2021. The Project Gutenberg eBook of The Scandalized Martians, by Arnold Marmor This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and most other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org . If you are not located in the United States, you will have to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this eBook. Title: The Scandalized Martians Author: Arnold Marmor Release Date: September 13, 2021 [eBook #66290] Language: English Character set encoding: UTF-8 Produced by: Greg Weeks, Mary Meehan and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net *** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE SCANDALIZED MARTIANS *** The Scandalized Martians By Arnold Marmor David Fry wanted to make an epic movie in the realistic school. The trouble was, his ideas wouldn't pass the censorshere or anyplace else! [Transcriber's Note: This etext was produced from Imagination Stories of Science and Fantasy June 1954 Extensive research did not uncover any evidence that the U.S. copyright on this publication was renewed.] David Fry was a realist. And also slightly crazy. Maybe that helped in this buggy business but David Fry overdid it. "I want her nude," he screamed. "Naked." "Impossible," I informed him as calmly as I could. "Naked," he bellowed. "The Breen office won't allow it and you know it." "I defy them. Those radicals! It'll be my most realistic picture. A milestone in film making." "It won't get the seal of approval." "So what? I don't need it." "Every state will ban it." "Nevada won't ban it." "Besides, you couldn't get Harriet Desmond to strut around in the raw." "Oh, no?" "No." "Her option comes up in three months." "So what? You're a director. You have nothing to do with it. That's Dwight Howard's department. Look, David, I'll have her in a slip or a bathing suit." "Ronnie," he said, shaking his head. "I like you. You're a writer but I like you anyway. I feel that the audience will get the proper impact only if she's naked." "It'll be an impact all right." "You write the script the way I tell you. I don't want to argue anymore. I like you, Ronnie." "If you want a sexy script I'll make it sexy without being lewd." "Sexy? Don't be vulgar. I want a down to earth picture like the French and Italians make. I want to surpass them with my realism." "David, what good would it do if I did write the scenario your way? The scene would never be shot." "Enough," he screamed. He clutched his chest. "I feel an attack coming on. Leave me. Get out." Dwight Howard was chief production man at Silver Studios. He listened gravely as I spilled my heart out to him. "He's a great director," Dwight Howard said. He was a large man with tiny ears, liquid blue eyes, and the cigars he smoked cost a buck a stogie. "Sure," I said. "A great goofy director. He's nuts just like all directors." He grinned at me. "Directors believe all writers are crazy and writers believe all directors are crazy." "You want me to write the script his way? You want that scene shot with Harriet Desmond nude?" "No, no. Of course not. The whole idea is too ridiculous for words." He sighed. "I'll have a talk with him." David Fry resigned the following day. Tortured and abused actors and actresses celebrated for three days and three nights. Dwight Howard didn't have to accept the resignation as Fry was bound to Silver Studios by an iron clad contract. But a director's work gets sloppy if his heart isn't in it. So out went David Fry, the realist. Nobody in Hollywood heard from Fry in seven months. And nobody seemed to care. One night, as I came home from a party, I was greeted by the screaming of the telephone. I held the receiver to my ear. "Maternity hospital," I said. "Ronnie." It was David Fry. "Oh. Hello. How's everything?" "Fine. Great. I've got to see you." "Well...." "I'll hop right over." He hung up and I sighed. I built myself a solid drink and got comfortable. He showed up twenty minutes later. He was thinner, more nervous than before. He flopped on a divan. "You wouldn't believe it," he said. "Believe what?" "I want to do a picture. A science picture about a trip to Mars." "It's been done. And more than once." "With real Martians?" I blinked. "I'll get you a drink." "No. I want a clear head. Hear me out. I've met them." "Who?" "Martians. A whole gang of them. Real honest to goodness Martians. It's fantastic. But it's true. They landed in the San Fernando Valley." "That figures." "I've got my home there. They asked for directions to Hollywood. You know what? They came to revolutionize the industry." "Maybe they're Commies?" "You should see their equipment. Fantastic. I talked them into staying over at my place. They dismantled their ship and have it stored away. I want you to do the screen play. It'll be great." "They... er... weren't detected flying over?" "They use an anti-radar beam." "Oh." "They can speak every language under the sun." "Look, David. I'm tired and I want to go to bed. So be nice and go sober up." "You don't believe me?" "No. In plain language, no." He extracted a square shaped box from a pocket. "See this gadget? I can make myself disappear." "Do that." And he did. "Yow!" I screamed. He reappeared. I staggered to the liquor cabinet and made myself a double triple whiskey and soda. "Well?" There was a look of triumph on his face. "They give you that?" "A present." "I've got nothing doing for a week. I'll be there tomorrow morning." "No. Tonight. You're liable to blab about it." "Don't you trust me?" "No. I know you went to see Dwight Howard about me." "Then why do you want me to write the story?" "I feel you owe me that. You're honest in some ways. Well?" "Right. I'll pack a grip if I'm staying over." "Do that. I've got my car downstairs." David Fry's home was a Spanish-style ranch which consisted of a herd of cattle and horses. The Martians looked like us except they had no necks and no finger or toe nails. Their leader was a giant of a Martian with the name, Dooma. They wore slacks and sport jackets which Fry had bought for them. They seemed pleasant enough. I got some sleep and woke that afternoon. Dooma, Fry, and myself sat in the front room and talked over the story we were to do. "We can't trust anyone," Fry said, "so you and I will play the earthlings in it. We'll land on Mars and discover life on the planet. Dooma and his crew will play the Martians. Real type casting." "What about sets?" I asked. "Plenty of background on Mars," Dooma said. "What?" I exploded. "Sure," Fry said. "We'll go to Mars and shoot most of the picture there. Has anyone ever done that before?" "Sure," Dooma said. "I mean anyone on earth," Fry said. "I don't like it," I said. "We'll bring you back," Dooma said. "I still don't like it." "And we'll do that nude scene," Fry said. "We'll have a couple of Martian girls taking a bath nude." "Oh, no," Dooma said. "That's out." "But why?" Fry wanted to know. "The Martian Censors. They won't go for it." I grinned. "There too?" "But I want to film life in the raw," Fry said. Dooma shook his head. "Out of the question." "We'll do it my way," Fry snarled, "or we won't do it at all." Dooma stood up. "Well if that's the way you feel about" "Now wait a minute," I said. "Hold on. David, we've got a great thing here. Don't mess it up." "I'm the director," Fry screamed. "Nobody is going to tell me my business." "Is everybody in Hollywood like him?" Dooma asked me. "Some of them are worse." "I realize we made a grave mistake." "I made the mistake of taking you into my home," Fry shouted. "I treated you like human beings. And this is the thanks I get." "I won't hear another word." Dooma turned and marched out. "Now see what you've done?" I was as mad as a wet hen. "What have I done? All I wanted to do was make a great picture." "You insulted him. Why, he's liable to go back to Mars and talk them into invading us." "That idiot. What does he know about making pictures?" Activity brought me to the window. I looked out and saw the Martians putting their ship together. Fry came up behind me. The ship blasted off and the Martians went back home. "They were hammy actors anyway," Fry rationalized. *** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE SCANDALIZED MARTIANS *** Haiti - FLASH : A two-headed transitional government for 24 months (text of the agreement) On Saturday September 11, Prime Minister Ariel Henry and representatives of different political parties and sectors of civil society signed the "agreement for peaceful and effective good governance" https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-34722-haiti-flash-the-radical-opposition-sdp-signs-the-agreement-for-peaceful-governance-with-pm-henry.html Me Andre Michel Spokesman for the radical opposition known as the "Democratic and Popular Sector" (SDP), Edmonde Supplice de la Fusion, Saurel Yacinthe from INITE, are some of the representatives of political organizations of the opposition who signed this agreement which in fact contains almost all of their demands ... It is in fact an agreement for a two-headed transitional government for a period of 24 months, of which already several parties and political actors who have not signed it denounce the character outside the laws and the Constitution. According to the Commission for the Search for a Solution to the Haitian Crisis (CRSHC) the course is now set on the creation of a monitoring office composed of 21 members including 13 from the CRSHC, 3 representatives of civil society, 3 representatives of political parties and 2 members of the popular sector and the establishment of the National Transitional Council composed of 52 members including 27 members of the social sectors and 25 members of parties, groups and political poles which will be responsible, among other things, to choose a President and a Prime Minister who will have to lead the transition for a period of 24 months. Download the full agreement and all the details (PDF, 10 pages + annexes) : https://www.haitilibre.com/docs/accord-30-08-2021.pdf The CRSHC invites all Haitians to read the Agreement of August 30, 2021 (signed September 11) and to append their signature online if they wish, to support this agreement. To view and sign the agreement online : https://crshc.ht See also : https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-34722-haiti-flash-the-radical-opposition-sdp-signs-the-agreement-for-peaceful-governance-with-pm-henry.html SL/ HaitiLibre Haiti - Earthquake : Farmers need immediate investment To harvest enough, farmers need an immediate investment, but the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) is "hampered by low levels of funding for this essential work," the organization underline. "About 980,000 inhabitants of the departments of Haiti affected by the 7.2 earthquake that hit the Great South on August 14 are facing acute food insecurity (IPC Phase 3 or more, for the period September 2021 - February 2022) FAO reported, specifying that the figure included 320,000 people in Emergency (IPC Phase 4). The Organization drew this figure from an analysis of a population of 2.18 million people, which revealed 29% without need, 26% in stress, 30% in crisis, 15% in emergency. Although Haiti "has long been vulnerable on several fronts, the earthquake exacerbated the problems, destroying markets, rural roads, storage and processing facilities, dairies and irrigation systems [...] Tropical storm Grace, which hit Haiti days after the earthquake, caused further damage," explained Jose Luis Fernandez, FAO representative in Haiti, He recalls that "The winter planting season should begin in October. However, the ability of farmers in the Great South to cultivate has been severely affected. To harvest enough, farmers need investment immediately, but we are hampered by the low level of funding [...]" In this situation, FAO is asking for $20 million to cover the most urgent needs. The sum should be sufficient to restore the livelihoods of 32,000 rural households, where 160,000 people live. Of these households, 15,000 will receive seeds and funds to await harvest, 10,000 will receive small livestock and 7,000 will benefit from the restoration of damaged infrastructure. In addition, veterinary teams will be deployed in the affected areas and work will be carried out to reactivate sea fishing and fish farming. HL/ HaitiLibre Haiti - Politic : 200 illegal Haitian migrants intercepted in Mexico, returned to Guatemala At dawn on Saturday September 11, around 200 Haitian migrants out of a total of nearly 400 who entered Mexico illegally via the Suchiate river, were captured during a strong operation by the National Institute of Migration (INM) and of the National Guard (GN) in San Nicolas Lagartero (located in the municipality of Tapachula in the state of Chiapa) and deported to Guatemala without any immigration protocol... Haitians, men, children, pregnant and breastfeeding women, entered Mexico irregularly by the Suchiate River guided by a smuggler. They crossed the forests, avoided the roads and took bypass paths to San Nicolas Lagartero, at the entrance to the municipal capital of Tapachula, where 500 officers from INM and the GN National Guard were waiting for them. Almost half of the Haitian group managed to escape, but the first to be captured were the families who did not put up resistance. Haitians were transported in vans and buses to the Talisman border, in the municipality of Tuxtla Chico, about 15 kilometers from Tapachula, under strong security. On the spot, a hundred immigration officers, in 2 rows, forced Haitians to take this human "corridor" to Guatemalan territory, along the El Carmen border, without reception or health protocol. The Haitians entered the neighboring country under the indifferent gaze of three Guatemalan soldiers, without being asked for papers or their state of health being checked or registered by the authorities. Recall that for more than a month, the Government of Mexico, through the INM, has implemented operations, often violent https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-34658-haiti-mexico-muscular-interception-of-migrants-dozens-of-haitians-arrested-video.html and installed checkpoints on the highway from Ciudad Hidalgo (a town on the border with Guatemala) to Tapachula to stop Haitian migrants who are trying to reach this city. See also: https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-34658-haiti-mexico-muscular-interception-of-migrants-dozens-of-haitians-arrested-video.html S/ HaitiLibre Haiti - News : Zapping... A police officer kidnapped On Sunday September 12, 2021, police officer Wilnor Louis was kidnapped by unidentified armed individuals. The kidnappers would demand a very strong ransom for his release... Senator Delva calls to stand up against the deal In a note "[...] The office of Senator Garcia Delva congratulates all the political parties which have chosen to ignore the 'pepe' Agreement of Prime Minister Ariel Henry and his acolytes [...] While it remains vigilant, the office of the senator reaffirmed his position, calling on all the forces of the Nation to stand up against the agreement without a body, which takes place behind the Constitution and the law [...]" See also : https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-34730-haiti-flash-a-two-headed-transitional-government-for-24-months-text-of-the-agreement.html Bahamas : 41 Haitians on a desert island On September 9, during a joint operation, the Royal Bahamas Defense Force (RBDF) with the Operation Bahamas Turks and Caicos (OPBAT) and the authorities of the Immigration found a group of 41 illegal Haitian migrants on Little Inagua (an uninhabited island in the National Park). The Haitians were transported to Matthew Town, Inagua, for the migratory consequences... PNH : Big need in the Nippes During a visit by the authorities on Saturday, September 11, 2021, to the Departmental Directorate of Nippes of the Haitian National Police (PNH), officials explained their needs for means and equipment to keep the troops mobilized, and the construction of a new permises for the departmental direction which for the moment is housed in the old dilapidated permises of the customs too small for the police force. Quebec and the Haitian judicial system Thursday, September 9, at the invitation of Me Extra Junior Laguerre, President of the Bar of Montreal, the Consul General of Haiti in Montreal, Fritz Dorvilier, participated in the virtual conference opening the judicial year of Quebec. The communications, relating to the modernization, accessibility and diversity of the Quebec judicial system, were instructive and Consul Dorvilier hopes that Quebec will contribute to the modernization of the Haitian judicial system. A first... Valendy Thesnor, 29, a doctoral student in chemistry and teacher of medicinal chemistry at the State University of Haiti (UEH), becomes the first person to represent Haiti at the international final of the "My thesis in 180 seconds". The young woman will fly to Paris (France) at the end of September where the international final takes place. Last June, Valendy already won the Haitian edition of this competition by obtaining both the Audience Award and the Jury Prize, for the presentation of his thesis in phytochemistry. HL/ HaitiLibre By William Schwartz | Published on 2021/09/12 So the big bombshell is quickly acknowledged. The generally prim and proper Hye-jin got so drunk she kissed Chief Hong. The silent treatment doesn't actually go on for that long, since Chief Hong, in his hypercompetence, detects the change in Hye-jin's behavior and confronts her about it. The subtextual plot is all about renegotiating their friendship in light of this event. But the textual plot that dominates most of the energy here is once again a vignette about an individual townsperson. Advertisement Specifically Joo-ri (played by Kim Min-seo-V), the bratty teenage daughter of coffee shop owner and faded musician Choon-jae (played by Jo Han-chul). I was impressed how, despite her generally obnoxious behavior, Joo-ri continuously remains a figure of sympathy throughout the episode. Joo-ri actually has a surprisingly cogent explanation for why she holds her father in disdain. Joo-ri thinks he idolizes her departed mother too much and should meet someone new. The obvious parallel with Hye-jin resenting her own father for eventually moving on is directly commented upon. But despite both Hye-jin and Chief Hong both participating heavily in Joo-ri's story, and offering strong opinions on whether Joo-ri should get corrective orthodontic surgery, ultimately the choice is left to Joo-ri. There's also an extremely effective transition as a public singing context also intersects with this story, and Hye-jin and Chief Hong must modulate their roles accordingly to account for an evolving situation. The result is that this episode hits a lot of issues distinctive to South Korea, but not exclusive to it. There's Joo-ri's idolization of an idol group, her personal struggle with beauty standards, and then the entire notion of a public singing contest to begin with. While quaint, singing contests are a lifeblood for rural communities. The movie "Born to Sing" likewise remains one of my unsung favorites as an overlapping omnibus movie describing the various ways the individual South Koreans who participate in such contests tend to see them. "Hometown Cha-Cha-Cha" continues to be a distinct love letter to South Korea's more out-of-the-way communities. Gradually we're also seeing this with the steady introduction of new characters involved in the broadcast of a travel food variety show. This, itself, is an extremely South Korean idea, albeit not exclusively, that's interesting enough to feel exotic while also relatable enough to emphasize that the denizens of Gongjin aren't really that different from us- or immediately, from a big city woman like Hye-jin. Review by William Schwartz ___________ "Hometown Cha-Cha-Cha" is directed by Yoo Je-won, written by Sin Ha-eun, and features Shin Min-a, Kim Seon-ho, Lee Sang-yi, Gong Min-jung, Seo Sang-won-I, Woo Mi-hwa. Broadcasting information in Korea: 2021/08/28~Now airing, Sat, Sun 21:10 on tvN. Login or sign up to follow actresses, movies & dramas and get specific updates and news Login Sign Up Email Password Password Username Your E-mail will only be used to retrieve a lost password. Stay logged in Help Korean Movie | 2021 Drama Directed by Yuya Ishii () 128min | Release date in South Korea: 2021/10 Synopsis Tsuyoshi (Sosuke Ikematsu), who recklessly flew to Korea with his son believing in the words of his brother Toru (Joe Odagiri), who said he was doing well as a business in Seoul, is on the verge of throwing himself on the unfamiliar streets of Seoul because his brother was scammed by his partner. Then Toru seduces Tsuyoshi, who was frustrated by saying that he had a brilliant business item, and heads to Gangneung, and meets three siblings Sol (Choi Hee-seo), Bom (Kim Ye-eun), and Jung-woo (Kim Min-jae) who are filled with stories on the train to accompanies him. A fate that happened in a life full of bad luck! When were desperate for miracles, we meet! What's Included With a Digital Only subscription, you'll receive unlimited access to our website and e-edition. Our digital products are available 24/7 and are accessible anywhere, anytime. If you have any questions or need further assistance, please call our customer service team at 574-583-5121 or email cgrace@thehj.com. Editor: Well, I was under the impression that we the people of America were free t Dr. Al Olszewski, who has declared his intent to run for Congress, talks Friday to the North Central Pachyderm Club in the Duck Inn Vineyard room. Dr. Al Olszewski, who recently announced his run for Montana's second congressional seat, made a stop at the Duck Inn in Havre Friday to speak to the North Central Pachyderms Club and ask for the support of its members. During his speech to the group, Olszewski indicated his support for more restrictive immigration and refugee vetting policies and decried the influence of religious nonbelievers in America. Before talking about any of that, however, he took some time to speak about the then-upcoming anniversary of the 9/11 attacks on the U.S. He said he remembers that on that day he was heading to what is now known as Logan Health in Kalispell to preform surgery when he heard over the radio that a plane had hit one of the towers. Olszewski said he thought it may have been a horrible accident until he arrived in the surgeons' lounge to see on television the second plane hit. He said it felt like a punch to the back of the head as it happened, and as the situation sank in it became a punch to the gut. "It was sickening to know that this was not an accident," he said. Olszewski said that the next day, Americans forgot about party and put their country first, taking comfort in then-President George W. Bush's vow that those responsible would be found. Unfortunately, he said, the implementation of the Patriot Act came soon afterwards, an infringement on Americans' liberties, supposedly for the sake of safety. He compared the Biden Administration's recent mandate that all employers with more than 100 workers require them to be vaccinated or test for the virus weekly to the Patriot Act, saying it was another infringement upon Americans' liberties, calling the Thursday speech by President Biden where he announced this mandate a lecture. "He said he's growing tired of those of us who believe we have a right to self-determination," he said. "... I'll tell you that my patience is already gone with him." He also heavily implied that this speech was an attempt to pit American's against each other and deflect their attention away from America's disastrous withdrawal from Afghanistan. Olszewski said the withdrawal and subsequent advancement by the Taliban made 9/11 feel like yesterday. 20 years of strife, and we just walked away, he said. The language of war was also used when he transitioned into talking about the political conflicts in the U.S. "We are in a battle for the soul of our country and for our constitutional republic," he said. "... We're in a battle to see if, once and for all, the government can take total control of us. What are we going to do about it? What are you going to do?" He said the government of the United States belongs to its people and those in power are trying to flip that dynamic. The majority does rule, he said, but the minority has rights that are being trampled, but he added that the minority can create a mass movement to overwhelm the left's "blitzkrieg." Olszewski said he hopes to be part of that fight against the "hard-left" in Congress and praised Montana's current representative, Republican Matt Rosendale, for his efforts in that fight. He said he knows some people are expressing a desire for unity but doesn't know if it's possible for Americans to do that at this point. The left's agenda, hew said, must be pushed back on, which is what he aims to do. Olszewski voiced distaste for undocumented immigrants and refugees and said that they are bringing diseases to the United States and causing outbreaks. Among the few specific policy positions he voiced support for was that of a border wall, which he said should have narrow gates and long lines of people who want to be Americans first. He also decried the influence of religious nonbelievers in the U.S., describing them as power hungry and implying they were unfit to lead politically. "Liberty means nothing to them," he said. Olszewski indicated that belief in God is intrinsic to being conservative. Olszewski also voiced his opposition to the infrastructure bill making its way through Congress, saying America must live within its means. He also said one of his priorities as a congressman would be to increase election security and that the current distrust in the system has lead to less peaceful transitions of power. Olszewski blamed the lack of peace during transitions of power on anarchists and anti-fascists but made no mention of the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol building by supporters of then-President Donald Trump. Olszewski promised the Pachyderms that if he becomes their congressman they will not regret supporting him. "I won't disappoint you and a won't embarrass you," he said. When asked about his opponent in the primary, former U.S. Secretary of the Interior Ryan Zinke, he said he is at a disadvantage when it comes to name recognition for the moment. He said a poll conducted by his campaign found that around half of Montanan's knew his name, which is pretty good, but around 80 percent knew Zinke, so there is ground to cover. He said he has put together an excellent team, and he's doing his best to raise money, and it seems to be working. Olszewski said his campaign in its opening months has raised almost as much as his last two political races did in total. He said former President Donald Trump's recent endorsement of Zinke is also not as dire a hit to his campaign as some might think. He said after the announcement of that endorsement it only seemed like people were sending him larger campaign contributions because they knew the fight would be harder. When asked about Montana's new congressional district, which has yet to be officially drawn, Olszewski said he is worried about democrats attempting to gerrymandering the district to pack liberal areas together. Havre/Hill County Historic Preservation Officer Becki Miller, holding ornament, presents the 2021 Christmas ornament featuring Wahkpa Chu'gn Buffalo Jump to former jump manager Anna Brumley, pink sweater, Saturday in the site's interpretive center. The Havre/Hill County Historic Preservation Commission presented the first of its 2021 Christmas ornaments to Anna Brumley and the staff of the Wahkpa Chu'gn Buffalo Jump in an event that drew a significant crowd Saturday. The commission honors one historic location in the area each year with an ornament depicting the building or site being honored, and this year's honors Wahkpa Chu'gn. The ornament's design is based on a sketch by Alberta-based Artist Jim Marshall, who made the Jump's mural displayed off U.S. Highway 2 by Havre Inn and Suites. The commission's Historic Preservation Officer, Becki Miller, presented the first of the ornaments to Anna Brumley, whose late husband John Brumley was instrumental during his childhood in the establishment of the jump as a historic site. Miller said the commission wanted to honor the site and the people who work there for their efforts to preserve the area's history including the Brumleys. "John would be very pleased and Jim Marshall would be thrilled," Anna Brumley said upon receiving the ornament. "... Thank you all so much." She said it was great to see the site recognized by the commission and she knows her husband would have been happy, too. "It's wonderful, just wonderful," she said. Miller said the commission has had this "hidden gem of the Hi-Line" on their list of sites they been wanting to honor for many years and while they voted for the site before John Brumley's death, she's glad they have a chance to honor his memory along with the site he helped create. "Sometimes we forget about historical sites that are in our own backyard," she said. "... We wanted to bring recognition to it and Brumley's work." The Wahkpa Chu'gn site is a prehistoric bison kill site and camp used by Native American people over the last 2,000 years. People of the Besant, Avonlea, and Old Women's/Saddle Butte archaeological complexes are represented in the site area. John Brumley is credited with finding the archaeological site of Wahkpa Chu'gn - meaning little or middle river in Assiniboine and referring to the Milk River. In 1961, while still a youth, Brumley became intrigued by the newly formed Milk River Archaeological Society, and decided to prove himself to the group by finding the bison kill site. He found artifacts at the site during a dual hunt - for rabbits and for the site - and brought them to the society. He went on to study archaeology and pursued that endeavor in Canada before returning to Havre 20 years ago and taking over the site as curator of archaeology for the H. Earl Clack Museum, which oversees Wahkpa Chu'gn. Anna Brumley managed the buffalo jump. The couple retired in 2017 and moved to Arizona. John Brumley died July 20, 2020. A celebration of life for him, including a tour of Wahkpa Chu'gn following the ornament presentation, was held Saturday. Havre Daily News/Patrick Johnston The commission has produced 100 of the Wahkpa Chu'gn ornaments, which will be on sale at the Havre Area Chamber of Commerce and the H. Earl Clack Memorial Museum for $20. All the proceeds from the sale go toward the commission's historic preservation efforts in the area. This is the 11th year that the historic preservation commission has offered ornaments. Last year, St. Jude Thaddeus Catholic Church was the most popular, selling 250 ornaments. Past year ornaments are still available including Hill County Court House, the Episcopal Church, Donaldson Hall at MSU-N, Fort Assinniboine/Northern Ag Research Center, Kiwanis Chapel, Clack Elevators, Burnham Schoolhouse, and the Carnegie Public Library. These are only available at the Chamber. Yesterday, an agreement was reached between the dignitaries and notables of the town of al-Yadouda in the western countryside of Daraa, on the one hand, and representatives of the security committee of the Damascus government and the Russians on the other, according to which settlement operations will be carried out for tens of wanted local militants, defectors, and those wanted for compulsory in al-Yaduda, which will start as of from Monday, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. T/S ANHA AN entrepreneur from Kidmore End has come up with a scheme to offset the impact of the coronavirus pandemic on childrens literacy skills. Oli Barrett has found that turning on the subtitles during a television programme can double a childs chances of becoming a proficient reader. He says the average child watches 11.8 hours of TV a week, meaning that by turning on the subtitles a child would read the equivalent of all the Harry Potter, Earthsea, His Dark Materials, The Chronicles of Narnia and The Lord of the Rings series of books in a year. He has co-founded Turn on the Subtitles (TOTS) with his friend Henry Warren to encourage national broadcasters, schools and parents to support childrens literacy skills. Mr Barrett, 42, who has two children, said he came up with the idea for TOTS after reading a literacy study on the benefits of subtitles about six years ago. He said: I read a very short piece talking about a trial which showed that a group of children using subtitles were more proficient readers and that led me to do some more research. I shared the facts around and started telling people about it. I read more and more and thought, You know what this idea is so powerful it cant just finish with me telling my friends about it. One of the people he told about the research was Mr Warren, with whom he has been friends for 10 years after meeting on a scheme called Tenner, the UKs largest schools enterprise challenge, which Mr Barrett also co-founded. Mr Warren, a technology entrepreneur from Bishops Stortford, agreed to co-found TOTS as he has three young children himself and the idea resonated with him. He said: Lockdown meant that, despite my best efforts, the children were watching way more television than they should. TOTS is one of those no-brainer ideas that can really help us as parents. Its a bit like sneaking vegetables into dinner the children dont notice but you know youre doing them the world of good. The men started planning the campaign in 2019 and since then Sky, WarnerMedia and ViacomCBS Networks have partnered up and have turned on the subtitles on more than 500 of their most popular episodes of childrens programmes. Mr Barrett, who used to work in childrens television, said: Three of the worlds biggest companies are encouraging this theyve really got behind it. Thats hugely exciting. Netflix and Amazon Prime have been encouraged to run pilots where shows automatically have subtitles on and YouTube Kids has launched several literacy channels. Mr Barrett said: If creators dont put subtitles on automatically its difficult to turn them on so YouTube is also encouraging their creators to do their own. The businessman, who lives with his wife Verity, 42, also an entrepreneur, and two young daughters, received help with the research by approaching the National Literacy Trust, a charity dedicated to helping disadvantaged children with literacy skills. He said: I am a big believer in what schools, parents and big companies can do to make a difference. Brilliant companies and campaigns are already encouraging people to read books and Ive seen so many different investments support young people to do that but this campaign seemed like a blindingly obvious way to fill the gap. We aim at children aged from six to 10 but it can help across all ages. Weve spoken to 20,000 schools. Financial support for the campaign was provided by online educational publisher Twinkl, international educational publisher Pearson and award-winning digital publisher GCSEPod. A study by GCSEPod and Nesta, an innovation agency, took place during last winter which involved 225,000 children watching videos with the subtitles on and the same number with no subtitles. Only one in every 100 children with subtitles on chose to turn them off meaning but 98.1 per cent of those without subtitles kept them off. Mr Barrett said: The lesson from that research is that the default subtitles really matter. Theres a school of thought that says, Couldnt children just turn them on themselves if they want? but research shows they dont do that, which is why this small change matters. As well as getting broadcasters involved, Mr Barrett asked celebrities to help spread the word. Stephen Fry, the actor and broadcaster, said: Top scientists have proved that turning on subtitles of TV programmes can double the chances of a child becoming good at reading. Lenny Henry, the comedian and actor, said: Just turn on the subtitles extraordinary. Research has shown they can double the chances of a child becoming good at reading. Other names to support the campaign so far include former US President Bill Clinton, Countdowns Rachel Riley, actor Sanjeev Bhaskar and presenter Sandi Toksvig. In December Prime Minister Boris Johnson made a statement in the Commons calling the campaign excellent. Mr Barrett, who received an MBE in 2013 for services to business and entrepreneurship, said: Its great that weve had the Prime Minister showing support but the critical bit is spreading the word to parents and teachers. We wrote to Stephen Fry before the first lockdown and we were so grateful to him for his support. He was the host of QI and the voice of Harry Potter books and I like to think that its magical and people dont know the secret. In terms of the other celebrities, I think something about the simplicity of the campaign and how it benefits young people encouraged them to get involved. Mr Barrett, who attended Bradfield College and then Leeds University, said the big change was using the power of broadcasters and tech companies. He said: The default setting for subtitles is that they are off so we started by speaking to people at the BBC, Disney, Amazon, Channel 4 to raise awareness it has been a very busy couple of years. We want to encourage the BBC and Netflix to think about their default settings. Mr Barrett has the subtitles on in his own home to help his daughters as well as helping him and his wife if they mishear part of a show. He said: Im really proud that my eldest daughter loves reading but she does have the subtitles on when she watches cartoons and she complains if anyone tries to turn them off. She enjoys her reading and Id like to think that the subtitles helped with that. I dont think screen time should replace reading and I think its important for parents to still read to their children. Verity and I have subtitles on for ourselves as we dont want to miss things and whether its because of our hearing or the way the show is produced the subtitles help. It benefits the hard of hearing as well as those who live in busy and loud households. This is a chance to turn the subtitles on by default. Though the campaign has already achieved a lot in three years, there is no slowing down for TOTS. Mr Barrett said: We want to continue to spread the word and hope that parents will want to support the campaign. He began working in childrens television with the launch of Bob the Builder. He then created Tenner, the UKs largest schools enterprise challenge, in which pupils start with 10 and are tasked with making money. More 250,000 have succeeded. Mr Barrett also co-founded a number of other organisations including Volunteer It Yourself, a social venture supported by Wickes, which has helped thousands of young people to fix their own youth clubs; Rainmakers, an innovation and incubation company; and StartUp Britain, which was funded by the private sector and led to the creation of PitchUp Britain, with John Lewis and Sainsburys, and PopUp Britain, with the opening of shops around the UK. He also co-created and led 11 international trade missions, including WebMission and the Clean and Cool Mission to help companies succeed overseas. He is now a regular conference and awards host for events across education, technology and entrepreneurship as well as being on the advisory boards of Tech London Advocates, One Million Mentors and Troubadour Theatres. A NEW season of weekly folk nights gets under way at Nettlebed village club on Monday. First up are Scottish five-piece Breabach, who last year celebrated their 15th anniversary a month before the start of the first coronavirus lockdown. The band have previously been named live act of the year at the Scottish Trad Music Awards, having also been nominated for best group at the annual BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards. Folk nights organiser Mike Sanderson said: Breabach are dynamic and fun, with songs, tunes and step dance accompanied by double bagpipes and bass, fiddle, flute and guitar. Tickets cost 17 in advance or 18 on the door. On September 20, folk veteran John McCusker will be celebrating his 30th anniversary as a professional musician, accompanied by Ian Carr, Sam Kelly, Helen McCabe and Toby Shaer. Mr Sanderson said: John has long been renowned for his skill in transcending musical boundaries. As a live and studio guest, he has shared stages with the likes of David Gilmour, Paul Weller, Paolo Nutini, Teenage Fanclub, The Proclaimers, Graham Coxon, Ocean Colour Scene and Eddi Reader. Since 2008 he has been a member of Mark Knopflers band, playing arenas around the world, including a double bill with Bob Dylan at the Hollywood Bowl and 20 nights at the Royal Albert Hall. Tickets cost 18 in advance or 19 on the night. Doors open shortly before 8pm. To book, call 01628 636620 or visit www. nettlebedfolkclub.co.uk Free access for current print subscribers As a home delivery subscriber, you get free unlimited digital access to premium content on HenryHerald.com, including local news, local sports, obituaries, legal notices, local features, and the e-edition. All you need is your print subscription account number and your last name. Don't know your subscription number? Email access@henryherald.com with your delivery address. Activate your account now. WEST LAFAYETTE About 300 Purdue University students or employees face disciplinary action for failing to comply with the schools mandatory COVID-19 testing for those who havent provided proof of vaccination. A total of 84 students on campus have been notified a second time that they havent completed required surveillance testing three weeks into the semester, Purdue officials said. A third violation could result in suspension from the university as soon as this week. About 210 employees have received an initial written warning for not being tested. Ultimately, they could face termination. About 82% of the roughly 55,000 students and employees have submitted vaccination proof, according to university. Indiana University has mandated that all students and employees receive COVID-19 vaccinations unless they are granted exemptions or face dismal from classes or their jobs. The latest figures released by IU show 88% compliance; school officials havent released any information about disciplinary actions. hed hed We're always interested in hearing about news in our community. Let us know what's going on! Submit Uniontown, PA (15401) Today Cloudy skies during the evening with areas of fog developing after midnight. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. Low 63F. Winds light and variable.. Tonight Cloudy skies during the evening with areas of fog developing after midnight. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. Low 63F. Winds light and variable. During the Dismantling Global Hindutva conference held from 10th to 12th September 2021 in the USA, speakers with leftist and fanatic ideologies spread mental terrorism and hatred against Hindu Dharma. Hindu loyalists should make united efforts to stop such hatred, deliberately spread against Hindutva. For this purpose, Hindu Janajagruti Samiti (HJS) held Hindutva Raksha Baithak (meeting for protection of Hindutva). Every year, HJS organises the All India Hindu Convention, and the said meeting was held as a part of this Convention. It was unanimously resolved by the participating thinkers, writers, the chiefs of pro-Hindu organisations that every conspiracy hatched against Hindutva should be opposed promptly and at all levels. The future course of united action was also decided in the meeting. The Hindutva Raksha Baithak was held through Google meet at 8.30 p.m. on 12.09.2021 and more than 60 Hindu loyalists including chiefs of pro-Hindu organisations, Saints, advocates, thinkers, writers, etc participated from India as well as from Nepal, Sri Lanka, and Bangladesh. It was unanimously decided to take action against those, who helped to organise the anti-Hindu Dismantling Global Hindutva conference, its organisers, sponsors, speakers, and the other organisations which extended support to them. It includes staging agitations all over the world by various pro-Hindu organisations; lodging complaints with the police; meeting and submitting the memorandum to local MLAs-MPs, Union Ministers, the Foreign Minister, the President, etc; to refute accusations made against Hindutva at thought level; sending letters to American Consulate for protection of Hindu students studying abroad; opposing such conferences through social media, etc. The meeting was attended by many dignitaries such as Mr Madhav Bhattarai, the former Rajguru, Nepal; Mr M Satchithanandan, the President Shiv Senai, Sri Lanka; advocate (Pujya) Ravindra Ghosh, the President of Bangladesh Minority Watch; Dr. (Pujya) Yudhishthirlalji Maharaj of Shadani Darbar; Pujya Shivanarayan Sen of Shaastradharma Prachar sabha, West Bengal; Mr Pramod Mutalik, the President of Shriram Sena; Mr Sushil Pandit of Roots in Kashmir; Mr Radhakrushnan, Shiv Senas Tamil Nadu State-Chief; Dr. Neel Madhav Das of Tarun Hindu from Jharkhand; Mr Rahul Kaul of Youth for Panun Kashmir; H.B.P. Ramakrushna Veer Maharaj of Warkari Paeek Sangh; Mr Ishwarprasad Khandelwal, the President of Lashkar-e-Hind; Mr. Beneel Somasundaram of Annapurna Foundation, Kerala; Acharya Ashok Kumar, an Astrologer from Bihar; Deepak Goswami from Rajasthan, etc. Pujya Nilesh Singbal, the Dharmapracharak of HJS for North-East India first explained the purpose of the meeting. In his introductory address, Mr Ramesh Shinde, the national spokesperson of HJS gave details of the fight given so far against the Dismantling Global Hindutva conference. Chetan Rajhans, the national spokesperson of Sanatan Sanstha did compeering of the program. In his concluding guidance, Sadguru (Dr.) Charudatta Pingale, the national Guide of HJS said that after the 9/11 terrorist attack on America, everyone started looking at Muslims with suspicion. This anti-Hindu conference was held to create similar views against Hindus. Hindus should, therefore, become alert. Such attempts should be given apt replies at an ideological and intellectual level with proper study. Our duty is only to take action since divine mission always has the grace of God and gets success in the end. Mr Neel Madhav Das, the founder of Tarun Hindu from Jharkhand said in the meeting that primarily, Christian missionaries are behind this anti-Hindu conference and the communists and fanatic Muslims have joined hands with them to eradicate Hindutva. Hindus should unite and strive for establishing Hindu Rashtra. Mr Sushil Pandit from Roots in Kashmir and a senior thinker said that the Hindus, who are ignorant of the truth of this conference, can fall prey to such misrepresentation of facts. We should, therefore, tell the truth to those Hindus and create awareness in them. Earlier, the mass media was totally in the hands of the opposition. The situation has, however, changed now; therefore, Hindus should be educated on Hindu Dharma, culture, and lifes perspective. The accusations made by the adversaries should be given apt replies based on proof, logic, and study. A suburban Milwaukee woman is accused of causing the death of her 6-year-old son who prosecutors say died after more than a year of abuse and neglect Anchor/Multimedia Journalist Hello! I am the weekend anchor as well as a reporter for Your News Now! You can reach me with news tips (or just to say hello!) at khonigford@wlio.com. Now Open 13 September 2021 AC Hotel Atlanta Perimeter officially opens today, located in the bustling Perimeter Center of Dunwoody, Ga. Owned by Chattanooga-based Vision Hospitality Group and managed by Humanist Hospitality, a wholly owned subsidiary of Vision, the 156-room hotel is just a short drive from Buckhead and Downtown Atlanta, across the street from the popular Perimeter Mall. Located in the center of the hotel, AC Lounge serves as a communal, multi-use space for guests to end the day or begin the evening. The menu offers snacks, Spanish-inspired small plates, local craft beer, wine and signature cocktails, including the ACGT Gin and Tonic. For breakfast, guests are encouraged to indulge in the hotel's European-inspired menu of sweet and savory egg tarts, hand-shaved prosciutto, flaky croissants imported from France and fresh-brewed coffee and tea from AC Kitchen. Atop of the hotel is Bar Peri, which is the first rooftop in the area, offering tapas-style small plates, innovative cocktails, and high-end service complemented by unparalleled skyline views of the city. AC Hotel Atlanta Perimeter is equipped with 156 guest rooms, including five different room types. Each room comes fully equipped with AC signatures, including KORRES bath products and the trademark "Between the Woods" AC scent, along with access to complimentary Wi-Fi and a fitness center with top-of-the-line equipment. AC Hotel Atlanta Perimeter also offers a total of 1,041 square feet of event space. The hotel has two private breakout rooms, accessible for a variety of small to midsize meetings and gatherings. Appointment 13 September 2021 Coco Collection is delighted to announce the appointment of Maurice Van Den Bosch as the General Manager of Coco Bodu Hithi resort. An Australian-Dutch citizen with a diverse background within the hospitality industry, Maurice joins the team at Coco Bodu Hithi with over 20 years of experience in hotel management. Maurice most recently led the pre-opening team at Le Meridian Maldives Resort & Spa. His experience in managing resorts in the Maldives began in 2017 as the Resort Manager of Ozen by Atmosphere. He later joined Atmosphere Kanifushi as the General Manager, before being promoted to Vice President of Operations for Atmosphere Hotels & Resorts in 2019. Back home in Australia, Maurice also worked in food & beverage management and event management in multiple hotels including Novotel Pacific Bay Resort and Ayers Rock Resort. Drawing upon the uni que selling points of Coco Bodu Hithi, Maurice will be focusing on elevating the guest experience and streamlining resort operations in the wake of these challenging times. Press Release 13 September 2021 As the new Global Head of CWT Meetings & Events, the multi award-winning corporate meetings & events management service, London-based Ian Cummings leads a global team of meetings & events professionals, delivering strategic global programs (SMM), creative live, virtual and hybrid events from major global programs to intimate incentive trips through to complex global conferences and exhibitions for some of the worlds largest global companies. Advertisements Following nine years at CWT M&E in country, regional and global roles, Ian takes the reins at a historical time for the industry and world at large. We caught up with him to talk highs, lows, climate change and how he tends to put people before process. What gets you excited about the events industry? I love the vibrancy of the meetings & events industry, its creativity and most of all its ability to connect people, and bring smiles to faces, helping them to always learn and grow. And when it comes to incentives creating those moments in peoples lives that they will remember forever How powerful is that?! Whats going to turn the industry on its head? A powerful and constantly evolving combination of creativity and emerging technology will continue to enhance the experiences we can offer. But the single biggest change we are witnessing is the mindset shift related to sustainability, the horrendous impact of climate change and how the M&E industry must change to be a force for good across the globe. We must leave locations in better shape than when we arrived, support local and micro economies and change our mindset from one of consumption to contribution. Best client achievement? There are far too many from all of our teams to call out one, but there is nothing more satisfying than over delivering on a client brief and creating moments that attendees will never forget. But doing an incentive trip for over 2,200 delegates to Shanghai from Europe with a week-long program of activities was right up there as one of the best client achievements ever. Biggest triumph of your career? Two of my proudest moments have been winning back-to-back Global Agency of the Year awards in 2018 and 2019 at the C&IT industry awards. This was the culmination of a 5-year journey with an incredible team of people who bought into a shared vision that we could be recognised as the best of the best, across the globe. Biggest disaster? The biggest disaster for the travel and events industry can only be the COVID-19 pandemic. There are plenty of positive learnings to come from it but to see our industries all but collapse is something we all never hope to witness again. Words or phrases you never want to hear again? LWOP, Furlough and the new normal! What should change in the industry and what should it be replaced with? The RFP process has become over exhaustive and cumbersome and in some cases its being done as an exercise every 3 years with no major intention to change. However much agencies put work into responding, the decision then often gets delayed. In worst case scenarios a full debrief for non-awarded agencies doesnt occur. Id replace it with a much more simplified process thats based on people and teams you want to work with. M&E is a people business and commoditising it through RFP and price doesnt do it justice. What would your career be in a parallel universe? I would have loved to have had a career in sports, excelled, then supported charities and the development of under-privileged kids, moving into commentating and then ambassador roles using sport to spread change for good. People connect so well through sport and music with borders and boundaries being reduced to zero purely for love of the sport or sound. Press Release 13 September 2021 HENDERSONVILLE, Tennessee, and MILWAUKEE The Baird/STR Hotel Stock Index dipped 3.4% in August to a level of 4,911. Year to date through the first eight months of 2021, the stock index was up 7.4%. Advertisements Hotel stocks continued their streak of relative underperformance in August as investors remained focused on the impact of the Delta variant and the likely changes to post-Labor Day business travel trends, said Michael Bellisario, senior hotel research analyst and director at Baird. The near-term trajectory of the recovery has flattened; however, investors appear to have priced in near-term downside scenarios, in our opinion, and they continue to look to 2022 and 2023 when the broader travel environment should be more normal versus today. August performance, still shaped by continued strong demand from the American leisure traveler, came in lower than the July peak but still at a healthy level overall, said Amanda Hite, STRs president. With the summer of travel behind us, all eyes are now on the fall season, which traditionally has been buoyed by corporate group demand. Unfortunately, the Delta variant has already caused major meetings cancellations, and it seems that the industry will have to wait a bit longer for that segment to return at a significant level. Whereas last year leisure travelers continued to generate room demand well into the fall, we expect softer demand this year with schools back in-person. In August, the Baird/STR Hotel Stock Index fell behind both the S&P 500 (+2.9%) and the MSCI US REIT Index (+1.8%). The Hotel Brand sub-index fell 5.4% from July to 8,506, while the Hotel REIT sub-index increased 2.5% to 1,221. Photo: STR About the Baird/STR Hotel Stock Index and Sub-Indices The Baird/STR Hotel Stock Index was set to equal 1,000 on 1 January 2000. Last cycle, the Index peaked at 3,178 on 5 July 2007. The Indexs low point occurred on 6 March 2009 when it dropped to 573. The Hotel Brand sub-index was set to equal 1,000 on 1 January 2000. Last cycle, the sub-index peaked at 3,407 on 5 July 2007. The sub-indexs low point occurred on 6 March 2009 when it dropped to 722. The Hotel REIT sub-index was set to equal 1,000 on 1 January 2000. Last cycle, the sub-index peaked at 2,555 on 2 February 2007. The sub-indexs low point occurred on 5 March 2009 when it dropped to 298. The Baird/STR Hotel Stock Index and sub-indices are available exclusively on Hotel News Now. The indices are cobranded and were created by Robert W. Baird & Co. (Baird) and STR. The market-cap-weighted, price-only indices comprise 20 of the largest market-capitalization hotel companies publicly traded on a U.S. exchange and attempt to characterize the performance of hotel stocks. The Index and sub-indices are maintained by Baird and hosted on Hotel News Now, are not actively managed, and no direct investment can be made in them. As of 31 August 2021, the companies that comprised the Baird/STR Hotel Stock Index included: Apple Hospitality REIT, Ashford Hospitality Trust, Chatham Lodging Trust, Choice Hotels International, DiamondRock Hospitality Company, Hersha Hospitality Trust, Hilton Inc., Host Hotels & Resorts, Hyatt Hotels, InterContinental Hotels Group, Marriott International, Park Hotels & Resorts, Inc., Pebblebrook Hotel Trust, RLJ Lodging Trust, Ryman Hospitality Properties, Service Properties Trust, Summit Hotel Properties, Sunstone Hotel Investors, Wyndham Hotels & Resorts, and Xenia Hotels & Resorts. This communication is not a call to action to engage in a securities transaction and has not been individually tailored to a specific client or targeted group of clients. Research reports on the companies identified in this communication are provided by Robert W. Baird & Co. Incorporated, and are available to clients through their Baird Financial Advisor. This communication does not provide recipients with information or advice that is sufficient on which to base an investment decision. This communication does not take into account the specific investment objectives, financial situation or need of any particular client and may not be suitable for all types of investors. Recipients should consider the contents of this communication as a single factor in making an investment decision. Additional fundamental and other analyses would be required to make an investment decision about any individual security identified in this release. About Baird Putting clients first since 1919, Baird is an employee-owned, international wealth management, asset management, investment banking/capital markets, and private equity firm with offices in the United States, Europe and Asia. Baird has approximately 4,500 associates serving the needs of individual, corporate, institutional and municipal clients and more than $350 billion in client assets as of December 31, 2020. Committed to being a great workplace, Baird ranked No. 32 on the 2021 Fortune 100 Best Companies to Work For list. Baird is the marketing name of Baird Financial Group. Bairds principal operating subsidiaries are Robert W. Baird & Co. Incorporated in the United States and Robert W. Baird Group Ltd. in Europe. Baird also has an operating subsidiary in Asia supporting Bairds investment banking and private equity operations. For more information, please visit Bairds website at www.rwbaird.com. Supplier News 13 September 2021 MIAMI As hotel companies across the industry accelerate their digital transformation, more of them are turning to Hapi the hospitality industrys leading platform for fast and cost-effective connectivity between technology systems to ensure their new platforms are integrated property and sharing data across the technology stack in real time. Hapi is now partnered with more than 8,000 hotels across the globe and is quickly becoming the de facto API standard for connectivity, allowing hotel companies to pull, centralize and normalize data from Property Management Systems across their portfolio into events streams that are connected to internal systems and tech partners. From here, hoteliers at both property level and corporate level can access and action data, creating opportunities for advanced innovation and improving all aspects of the guest experience. Most recently, Hapi introduced Hapi Connect, the only solution to securely integrate hotels data at scale into Salesforce Cloud environments in real time. The past 18 months have given hoteliers time to pause and reflect on what their businesses need to do to remain relevant long into the future, and the clear conclusion is that the industry must adopt new technologies to help us run more efficient businesses and have a greater impact on our guests, said Luis Segredo, co-founder and CEO of Hapi. While adopting new solutions is a good first step, hoteliers know these systems will not be effective if theyre not connected and sharing data with the myriad other systems required to run a hospitality business. This is where Hapi comes in, and were proud to be the conduit empowering the industrys digital transformation. As Hapis customer base grows, so does the need for new team members to oversee development and manage new accounts. The company recently appointed Brian Erdman to VP of Platform Services, where he will manage the product and development teams as Hapi adds new features and functionality. Erdman joins Hapi from Hyatt Hotels, where he spent more than 15 years on the IT team in roles such as Enterprise Architecture Manager and Manager of Global Property Systems. At Hyatt, Erdman completed architecture reviews for all substantive changes to existing core systems and implemented a new API gateway, migrating all mobile app traffic and ancillary systems. In addition to Erdman, Hapi over the past month has brought aboard new team members development, product management, customer success and implementation. And the growth doesnt stop there. As Hapi furthers discussions with several leading hotel companies, leadership is looking to add more talent to the team. We're tackling big problems and we need great people to join us, Segredo said. Were in search of the industrys most talented individuals to help modernize the hospitality technology stack. While Hapi is based in Florida, home to one of the fastest growing tech hubs in the US, team members are spread across the globe, from the United States, Germany, the Czech Republic, Poland, Russia, Argentina and other areas. Hapi is a truly global company and is in search of the best talent no matter where the individuals are located, Segredo said. Visit Hapis About Us page to learn more about the company or connect with leadership to express interest in joining the team. Press Release 13 September 2021 Sandals Resorts International (SRI), the parent company of the Caribbean's leading luxury all-inclusive resort brands Sandals Resorts and Beaches Resorts, announces the introduction of Sandals Vacation Assurance, the industry's most comprehensive vacation protection program featuring an industry-first guarantee of a free replacement vacation including airfare for guests impacted by COVID-19 related travel interruptions. Advertisements According to SRI Executive Chairman Adam Stewart, the new Sandals Vacation Assurance Program is designed to take the worry out of travel, giving guests certainty that their investment in an all-inclusive luxury vacation is safeguarded from interruptions outside of their control. "We want to put the fun and joy of planning and anticipating a great vacation back into travel. While we recognize the real concerns that may weigh on our guests' minds, we're taking extraordinary measures to remove worry from the equation so travelers can delight in the entire travel journey - from booking to departure," said Stewart. All current and new reservations made now through December 31, 2021, for travel until December 31, 2022, will automatically receive the Sandals and Beaches Vacation Assurance Protection at no charge. Benefits of the Sandals and Beaches Vacation Assurance Program: Replacement Vacation if a trip is interrupted while on vacation INCLUDED Replacement airfare credit for US travelers, up to $500 per person on the replacement vacation - INCLUDED Quarantine stays of up to 14 nights at no charge if required INCLUDED COVID-19 testing to meet any government requirement from the comfort of the resort INCLUDED Comprehensive Travel Protection Plan Insurance is on US - INCLUDED Cancel anytime reservation policy, without penalties or added fees - 31 days or more for a 100% refund or within 30 days for a future travel date A Vacation Assurance Hotline should guests or travel advisors have any questions related to travel protocols or anything else related to COVID-19 Assurance of industry-leading Platinum Protocols of Cleanliness, implemented at all Sandals Resorts and Beaches Resorts, to ensure heightened health and safety measures throughout their stay The Sandals Vacation Assurance protection program complements the health and wellbeing procedures of the Sandals Platinum Protocols of Cleanliness which were introduced last year and detail the hundreds of daily actions taken to fully safeguard the entire guest journey. Stewart added, "Throughout our 40-year history, and especially during difficult times, we have always put guests first. Combined with our proven track record of health and safety, our new Sandals Vacation Assurance Program is the guarantee our guests can count on. It's another example that we will do whatever it takes to continue to earn their trust so they can focus on what truly matters: quality time in our beautiful Caribbean with the ones they love most." Certain restrictions apply. For more information, visit https://www.sandals.com/book-with-confidence/. Supplier News 13 September 2021 Event Temple, the industry leading Group Sales CRM and Event Management platform, has today announced a strategic partnership with McLaren Technologies, Asia Pacifics leading provider of cloud based technology solutions for hotels, resorts and visitor-based environments. Committed to providing customers with an industry-leading sales and customer success experience, the two companies will work collaboratively to serve hotels and hospitality groups in the Asia Pacific region. To date, this is Event Temples largest strategic partnership agreement expanding the companys reach to include 45 new countries. Through the agreement, Event Temple is inheriting an experienced hospitality technology team who will be assisting with market outreach, sales, and customer service. We are proud to partner with Event Temple, said Matthew White, McLaren Technologies Managing Director. Event Temples modern, intuitive sales platform enables hoteliers to increase their efficiency and streamline their operations. Their customer-centric approach has built consumer trust resulting in thousands of users worldwide. We are excited to help them continue to grow and support their clients based in the APAC region. The two companies signed the agreement after a year-long vetting process. Strength of network along with alignment on the future of hospitality technology were determining factors in the strategic agreement. McLaren Technologies currently serves over 500 hotels and resorts across 27 countries in the Asia Pacific, Middle East and Africa and has sales, deployment and support capability across the region. We are excited to be working with McLaren Technologies as a strategic partner in the Asia Pacific market, said Bob Graham, Event Temple CEO. Matthew White and the McLaren team have a breadth of experience in both hospitality and technology resulting in a wide network of hotels and hospitality groups in the region. After a thorough vetting process and evaluation, Mr. White was able to not only demonstrate the strength of their network through multiple large-scale enterprise deals but also their commitment to our clients. The McLaren team understands providing industry leading support is integral to our business model and will be offering 24/7 service based out of Australia and Singapore. The companies view the strategic partnership as a way to assist hoteliers heading into industry recovery through the adoption of modernized sales and catering software. McLaren Technologies will represent the Event Temple brand throughout the customer journey and play a key role in the company's success in APAC. We see our partners as an extension of our company and are strategically working with partners who are able to support our continued international growth, Graham continued. Our partnership with McLaren significantly expands Event Temples reach into the APAC market and, together, we can provide hotels with the innovative sales technology necessary to accelerate recovery and stimulate growth. This is the most recent in a string of international announcements including the companys expansion to EMEA and the chain-wide signing of globally renowned Amrath Hotels. To learn more about Event Temple or request a demo visit: www.eventtemple.com About Event Temple Event Temple is a modern, cloud-based Hotel and Venue Sales and Catering software company that provides the industry with an easy to use, integrated solution at an affordable price. Our scalable enterprise software is ideal for hotels with no meeting spaces looking to grow their RevPAR, all the way to entire hotel chains. Event Temple helps drive revenue growth while boosting efficiency and productivity by providing properties with a suite of sales tools including prospecting and lead management, e-proposals and contracts, event management and more, all in a sleek, intuitive platform. Event Temple is the industry's fastest growing Hotel Sales and Catering CRM built specifically for hotels, with thousands of users in over 25 countries. About McLaren Technologies McLaren Technologies is one of the Asia Pacifics leading providers of cloud-based technology solutions for hotels, resorts and visitor-based environments. McLaren delivers a range of best in class products, solutions and services from the worlds foremost providers of hospitality technology. Supporting customers across the Asia Pacific, the Middle East and Africa the McLaren team includes a highly skilled team of Engineers, Product Specialists and support personnel and are experts in successful project delivery. For more information about McLaren contact [email protected] or visit www.mclarenint.com Opinion Article 13 September 2021 In todays highly competitive online travel marketplace, it is vital that hotels understand who their consumers are and what their decision-making process entails when making hotel bookings. However, the science behind the decision-making process involved in booking a hotel is by no means a straightforward matter. Its driven by a range of important factors, including the customer profile, their personal preferences, and whether hotels meet these criteria. Navigating through these factors to increase direct sales can be a tough nut to crack for many hotels competing online. So what makes your hotel stand out to people booking their next holiday? Where do prospective guests book their hotel stays and why? Read on to find the answers to these questions. So, how does the hotel booking process start? Choosing a hotel is not a 100% rational choice, it is also an emotional one. Therefore, its extremely important to understand who your target guests are and how your business mix resonates with them. Hotel Bookings - What is the Guest's Decision-making Process? Photo: GuestCentric Systems So lets assume a family of four is planning their leisure trip. Peter and Maria are a young couple with two children. They have already chosen a destination, and the flight must be no longer than two hours. With only accommodation left to book, they are looking for a family-friendly hotel with beach and cultural activities. Maria, who is now in charge of booking the familys stay, follows the 3 steps below: 1. Researches Hotels via an OTA Google research shows that when travelers start planning their trips, only 16% have decided which hotel to stay at. This isnt the case for Maria, who at this stage also doesnt know any hotels in the chosen holiday destination. For this reason, she decides to go to an OTA to see all their options. After selecting the destination and the dates, she adds two filters: 1. Price range according to their budget and 2. The hotels score is based on guest reviews. What should your hotel do to grab her attention? In order for your hotel to be visible in the search results list, it is crucial that your availability is up-to-date. Your hotel score also plays an important role since it might be a discriminatory variable. After carefully checking some hotels, their photos, room options, and reviews, Maria consolidates a shortlist of six properties. She proceeds to gather more information about these hotels, in order to make the best decision and leaves the OTA to find it. 2. Takes a Closer Look at Shortlisted Hotel Websites A study by Fuel and Flip.to reveals that a staggering 87% of guests will visit a hotels website before making a reservation. Maria will start searching for her top 6 hotels on Google by copy-pasting your hotel name from the OTA. How can you make your Hotel Website Easier to Find? Is your hotel website listed in the first organic position for your hotel name on Googles Search Engine Results (SERP) page? Is your hotel name consistent across all OTAs and your hotel website? Is your Google My Business updated? These are very important factors to take into account to ensure your hotel website is easily accessible. Hotel Bookings - What is the Guest's Decision-making Process? Photo: GuestCentric Systems Unable to find two of her shortlisted hotels in the first positions on Googles SERP, and discovering that the third website is not marked as secure with HTTPS in the domain, Maria eliminates these three hotels from her shortlist. She then begins to compare the remaining hotel websites including yours. 3. Visits & Compares YOUR Hotel Website with the Competition Lets not forget, Maria is a working mom of two and certainly doesnt have all the time in the world to treasure-hunt for information that fits the familys vacation criteria. When Maria lands on your hotel website for a closer look, she will search for information quickly and arbitrarily. Slow loading pages, broken links, and messy navigation are all major turn-offs that will both frustrate Maria and make her abandon your website in a hurry. How do you Keep Her Hooked on Your Hotel Website? At this stage, it is very important that your hotel website is user-friendly and cuts to the chase when displaying information that will drive Marias decision to book. Remember, she will quickly review whether your amenities, location, commodities, activities, surroundings, events, and room types are a match for her and her family. If your hotel is a family-friendly one, this information should echo across your hotel website. Be sure to highlight everything from family rooms, extra beds/cots, babysitting services, and family activities, etc should be clearly highlighted across all areas of your hotel website. What Other Information is Maria Looking for, that Will Drive Her Decision to Book Your Hotel? Apart from the obvious information that resonates with the family holiday plans, Maria will also evaluate the hotel and make a decision based on the look and feel of your hotel website, the special offers your hotel can deliver, and what other guests have to say about your hotel. Lets take a closer look at these decision-drivers, and how you can ensure they inspire Maria to book: 1. The Look & Feel of Your Hotel Website According to research by Fuel, images are the number 1 decision-making factor when visitors are navigating through a hotel website. The visual elements of your website will significantly influence Marias decision to book, because visual content appeals to the emotions, and accommodates the quick, instinctive way people navigate websites and choose to book. For these reasons, it is crucial that your hotel website has good-quality and updated images. Hotel Bookings - What is the Guest's Decision-making Process? Photo: GuestCentric Systems An extensive study by Leonardo shows that guest room images are the most viewed category of media on a hotel website, out of over 500,000,000 media items. Therefore, your rooms page should make Maria instantly feel like she is looking at home away from home for her and her family. Seeing quality photos of the entire hotels interior and exterior, with young and happy families enjoying the property, will also inspire Marias appetite to escape to your hotel. Several studies show that websites with images that include facial characteristics are more positively received by users than images with no humans. In addition, photos should be real because Maria can tell if you are using stock photos. To stand out, your hotel website should humanize your Hotel Brand with photos that showcase the guest experience. According to a study by HRS.com and eResult, photos actually are the most important factor in choosing a hotel for 78% of travelers. 2. What other Guests have to Say about Your Hotel Nielsons research shows that 70% of people will trust a recommendation from someone they dont even know, while 92% of people are more likely to trust non-paid recommendations than any other form of advertising. To make Marias life easier, your hotel website should boldly showcase good reviews from your customers. This will not only give Maria a good impression of your brand, but you will also save her the extra step to TripAdvisor to read more reviews. Hotel Bookings - What is the Guest's Decision-making Process? Photo: GuestCentric Systems 3. The Best Deals & Special Offers The booking decision is getting closer, and finding a good deal is extremely important to Maria. The more positive benefits she perceives, the greater the chance she will make a purchase decision on your hotel website. Does your hotel have an exclusive deal available on your website? What is the added value to your target audience? Is your price / added value better on your website than on the OTAs? These are important questions you need to address. Finally, the Booking Process After researching your website and discovering your hotel has a special package for families that do not exist on OTAs or any other channel, Maria is ready to book. Our research of over 1,000 hotels within our portfolio shows that 97% of online visitors will abandon a hotel website at the transaction stage. Therefore, its vital to ensure you dont create any obstacles to her decision to book your hotel. Below are some important factors to review: Is your booking engine reliable, easy to book, and clear? Do you offer Maria some options (like different meal plans and flexible cancellation policy) but not an infinite scroll of possibilities that will confuse her? Can she book easily, with just a few steps? Hotel Website Design - What it Says about your Business Photo: GuestCentric Systems Do you have shopping activation widgets that create a sense of urgency? Stating, for example, that you only have 5 rooms left? Hotel Website Design - What it Says about your Business Photo: GuestCentric Systems If your booking engine ticks the boxes above, congratulations! Maria just booked on your website and she is ready to have some great family time off at your hotel! Conclusion Maria, and indeed all the consumers, evaluate options before making a decision based on information received. This evaluation process is particularly difficult when we are talking about hotels, as hospitality service is intangible in nature. However, to make a decision and choose a hotel, consumers look at your hotel characteristics, quality, price, facilities, reputation, location, reputation not only on OTAs but also on your website. The consumers weigh all these attributes, they connect emotionally with your hotel, they have a good or bad experience on your website, they perceive whether or not you value them. Your hotel needs to target its own market segment, whether it be families (like the example in this article), millennials and younger crowds, corporate professionals, or adventurers and thrill-seekers to name just a few of many possibilities. Dont try to target everyone, because that way, youre not targeting anyone. Since choosing a hotel involves a mix of emotional and rational decision-making factors, you should take both into account when delivering information, photos, and deals. Deliver the information your target wants to see in an easy way, create an emotional connection with them, make them feel they are making a very good choice by booking your hotel on your website. For anyone hoping to see light at the end of the Covid-19 tunnel over the next three to six months, scientists have some bad news: Brace for more of what weve already been through. Outbreaks will close schools and cancel classes. Vaccinated nursing home residents will face renewed fears of infection. Workers will weigh the danger of returning to the office as hospitals are overwhelmed, once again. Almost everyone will be either infected or vaccinated before the pandemic ends, experts agree. Maybe both. An unlucky few will contract the virus more than once. The race between the waves of transmission that lead to new variants and the battle to get the globe inoculated wont be over until the coronavirus has touched all of us. I see these continued surges occurring throughout the world, said Michael Osterholm, director of the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy at the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis, and an adviser to U.S. President Joe Biden. Then it will drop, potentially somewhat precipitously, he said. And then I think we very easily could see another surge in the fall and winter of this year, he added. With billions of people around the world yet to be vaccinated and little chance now of eliminating the virus, we can expect more outbreaks in classrooms, on public transport and in workplaces over the coming months, as economies push ahead with reopening. Even as immunization rates rise, there will always be people who are vulnerable to the virus: Newborn babies, people who cant or wont get inoculated, and those who get vaccinated but suffer breakthrough infections as their protection levels ebb. The next few months will be rough. One key danger is if a vaccine-resistant variant develops, although it is not the only risk ahead. In the coming months, Bloomberg will explore the pandemics long-term impact on economies and markets, the pharmaceutical industry, travel and more. Were going to see hills and valleys, at least for the next several years as we get more vaccine out. Thats going to help. But the challenge is going to be: How big will the hills and valleys be, in terms of their distance? Osterholm said. We dont know. But I can just tell you, this is a coronavirus forest fire that will not stop until it finds all the human wood that it can burn. Covid Compared to Other Pandemics The five well-documented influenza pandemics of the past 130 years offer some blueprint for how Covid might play out, according to Lone Simonsen, an epidemiologist and professor of population health sciences at Roskilde University in Denmark. She is an expert on the ebb and flow of such events. While the longest global flu outbreak lasted five years, they mostly consisted of two to four waves of infection over an average of two or three years, she said. Covid is already shaping up to be among the more severe pandemics, as its second year concludes with the world in the middle of a third wave and no end in sight. Its possible that the virus known as SARS-CoV-2 wont follow the path set by the pandemics of the past. After all, it is a different, novel and potentially more transmissible pathogen. And with a death toll of more than 4.6 million people so far, its already more than twice as deadly as any outbreak since the 1918 Spanish flu. Despite brutal initial waves and relatively high vaccination rates, countries including the U.S., U.K., Russia and Israel are flirting with record numbers of cases. Immunization is helping to moderate incidences of severe cases and deaths, but surging infections mean the virus is reaching the young and others who remain unvaccinated, leading to rising rates of serious disease in those groups. Nations where vaccination has been sparse including Malaysia, Mexico, Iran and Australia are in the midst of their biggest outbreaks yet, fueled by the contagious delta strain. With the virus still spreading out of control in vast swathes of the planet, another novel variant could quite feasibly emerge. History shows the commonly held belief that viruses automatically get milder over time to avoid completely wiping out their host population is wrong, according to Simonsen. Although new mutations arent always more severe than their predecessors, pandemics can in fact get more deadly during the pandemic period, as the virus is adapting to its new host, she said. Early in the Covid outbreak, there was good reason to hope that vaccines would provide long-term protection, much like childhood shots that stop diseases such as polio. Coronaviruses have a proof-reading mechanism that fixes the in-born errors caused when the virus replicates, reducing the likelihood of variants emerging when the virus is transmitted from one person to another. The number of global cases has been so vast, however, that mutations are occurring anyway. With the pandemic, we have this enormous force of infection, said Kanta Subbarao, director of the WHO Collaborating Center for Reference and Research on Influenza at the Peter Doherty Institute for Infection and Immunity in Melbourne. That has counterbalanced the ability of the virus to proof-read. As a result, Covid could be like the flu, requiring regular vaccine top-ups to remain effective as the virus evolves. Some researchers say SARS-CoV-2 is poised to become completely resistant to the first generation of vaccines. A study from Japan, which has yet to be published or peer-reviewed, suggests that potentially dangerous mutations in the delta variant are already being picked up in a global database used to track such developments. Reports of current strains breaking through vaccinations or triggering higher fatality rates have not held up to rigorous scrutiny thus far. This is a scenario we hope wont happen, Simonsen said. My God, we would have to do it all again. Other even grimmer possibilities for the coming months include the emergence of a novel influenza virus or another coronavirus making the leap from animals into humans. As long as there are animal reservoirs of coronavirus there is still the possibility that another zoonotic coronavirus could emerge in the future, Subbarao said. There is that in the background, the risk of still dealing with this one when another one emerges. How Will Covid End? What seems clear is that the pandemic will not be over in six months. Experts generally agree that the current outbreak will be tamed once most people perhaps 90% to 95% of the global population have a degree of immunity thanks to immunization or previous infection. The key element should be vaccination, they say. Without vaccination, one is like a sitting duck, because the virus will spread widely and find most everybody this autumn and winter, said Simonsen. More than 5.66 billion doses of vaccine have been administered around the world, according to Bloombergs vaccine tracker. But the success of rollouts in some regions, such as the European Union, North America and China, masks the failure in others. Most countries in Africa have only given enough vaccine to cover less than 5% of their populations with a two-dose shot. India has administered enough to cover only about 26%. The pandemic will end at different times in different places, just as previous outbreaks have, said Erica Charters, associate professor of the history of medicine at Oxford University and the coordinator of a project on how epidemics end. Governments will have to decide how much of the disease they are comfortable living with, she said. Approaches vary. While some countries are still shooting for zero Covid cases, the world is unlikely to eradicate the virus completely. Nations like Denmark and Singapore, which have managed to keep cases relatively contained, are already moving toward a post-pandemic future with fewer safety restrictions. Others, such as the U.S. and U.K., are opening up even as infection numbers near records. Meanwhile, China, Hong Kong and New Zealand have vowed to keep vigilantly working to eliminate the virus locally. As a result, they are likely to be among the last places to leave behind the disruption wrought by walling out the pandemic. The end process is not going to be uniform, Charters said. The pandemic is a biological phenomenon, but its also a political and social phenomenon. Even now we have different approaches to it. Its likely to be messy, leaving a lasting legacy for years to come. Until then, most of us will need to brace for many more months in the pandemics grip. We have to approach it with our eyes wide open and with a great deal of humility, Osterholm said. Anybody that thinks we're going to be over this in the next few days or a few months is sorely mistaken. President Ronald Reagan liked to say government was the problem, and private enterprise was the solution. Americans have bought in, lock, stock and barrel. We trust business leaders more than government or media, and we expect our workplaces to reflect our values and give our lives meaning, according to the latest Edelman Trust Barometer survey. Our shattered society, fractured by an epidemic of misinformation and disinformation, is leading to corporatocracy. TOMLINSONS TAKE: Working from home may not be good for employers Ive written before about how Americans trust their bosses more than their political leaders or any form of media. But after the COVID-19 pandemic, 61 percent of those surveyed said they trust business leaders the most. Only 53 percent trust government, and 51 percent believe traditional media. With great faith, though, comes great expectations. More than 85 percent of the 33,000 people surveyed in 28 countries said they expect CEOs to publicly speak out about the issues they care about. Nothing matters more to them than remaining safe from COVID-19. Almost 60 percent said they want CEOs to prioritize employee safety and impose pandemic protocols, including requiring masks and vaccinations. More than half want routine job skills training and regular communication with the top dog. Fifty percent want a diverse workforce representative of their community. Workers may no longer have faith in their democratically-elected leaders, but they definitely want more democracy in the workplace. More than 60 percent of employees say they want a seat at the table in strategic decision-making, and 50 percent say they are more likely to speak up or protest compared to a year ago. A more specific Edelman survey reveals that employees expect more personal fulfillment from their jobs than ever before. While in the past, you worked to live, todays employees live to work. More than 70 percent of 7,000 workers in seven countries, including the United States, told Edelman that a prospective employer must reflect their values, perform meaningful work, and provide an opportunity to address social problems. Six of 10 Americans said their employer reflects their personal values, and they would leave if the CEO or business took a stand on social issues they opposed. Two-thirds of people between the ages of 18 and 34 said they chose their employer based on corporate values and beliefs. Three-quarters said they would take action to produce or motivate urgently necessary changes within my organization. Forty percent promised to take the issue public, either by whistleblowing, leaking documents or participating in a strike. More than a third of Americans said they have quit a company because it remained silent on a societal or political issue that I believed it had an obligation to publicly address. Edelmans results demonstrate how our identity is wrapped up in our careers more so than any other generation. With managers struggling to find skilled labor, companies must deliver not only a paycheck, but a sense of meaning and purpose. Past generations sought fulfillment elsewhere. Workers joined unions to improve workplaces rather than relying on managers. Others joined political parties, campaigning for candidates and policies. Many found meaning in religion and charity work. In the 1950s, more than a third of American workers were members of a union. Today, its barely 10 percent. Rather than see the CEO as an adversary at the contract negotiation table, workers expect him or her to be a benevolent leader who shares their values. Political party affiliation has also shrunk over the decades, with 40 percent of Americans calling themselves independent. The days when a significant portion of Americans attended regular political party meetings and directly lobbied politicians are long gone. Participation in organized religion, meanwhile, is at an all-time low. Less than half of Americans belong to a religious group. Over the past two decades, the percentage of Americans who do not identify with any religion has grown from 8 percent in 1998-2000 to 13 percent in 2008-2010 and 21 percent over the past three years, Gallup polling reported. TOMLINSONS TAKE: Artificial intelligence tools for monitoring employees come with complications Cynics might say that U.S. capitalism has finally succeeded in producing wage slaves committed to a corporatocracy that rules Washington via campaign contributions. Optimists might argue that workers are leveraging their skills to force corporate management to build a better world for everyone. Both have some element of truth, of course. But I cannot help but notice a correlation between our rising factionalism, intolerance and unhappiness and our greater reliance on our employers for fulfillment. The most encouraging sign is that 20 percent of workers say the COVID-19 pandemic has inspired them to leave their jobs and seek a more balanced life. I wish them luck. Tomlinson writes commentary about business, economics and politics. twitter.com/cltomlinson chris.tomlinson@chron.com Sign up for news, insights on the impact of COVID-19 on the energy industry. Sign up By subscribing, you agree to our Terms of Use and acknowledge that your information will be used as described in our Privacy Notice. Gasoline prices in Houston rose slightly, bucking the national trends. Average gasoline prices in Houston rose less than a penny a gallon over the past week to an average $2.72, down 6.3 cents from a month ago, but 91.3 cents a gallon higher than a year ago, according to the fuel price tracking website GasBuddy. Nationally, prices fell 1.9 cents to $3.15 a gallon, down 2.8 cents from a month ago and $97.7 higher than a year ago. The rise in Houston gasoline prices stems simply from gas stations competing for business, according to Patrick De Haan, head of petroleum analysis for GasBuddy. (There is) little reason behind it. It is just competitors adjusting prices, De Haan said. HURRICANE IDA: Why U.S. oil supply took such big hit from Ida Gasoline prices across most of the nation decreased with sagging demand and the continued recovery of oil companies bouncing back after temporary shutdowns from Hurricane Ida, according De Haan. That could soon change, however, as Tropical Storm Nicholas has formed in the Gulf Coast and is expected to have a significant impact in Southeast Texas. With Tropical Storm Nicholas threatening another key area of refineries in Houston with significant rain, we could see the decline in prices hit the pause button, De Haan said. Back-to-back storms could make things more challenging, but the current lag in demand could provide a buffer. While Nicholas appears to be a minor storm, the Texas Gulf Coast could see a deluge of water - the same issue that caused some significant damage in Ida's wake to refineries in Louisiana, De Haan said. As gasoline demand has now fallen for four straight weeks, there is more breathing room even if some capacity does temporarily go offline, De Haan said. It's too early to tell, clearly, but motorists should be aware." The oil and gas industry, still reeling from Hurricane Idas punch two weeks ago, faced another blow from Tropical Storm Nicholas. Nicholas, which lumbered ashore Monday night in South Texas, could drench the Houston area with as much as 20 inches of rain, the National Weather Service said, threatening the nations largest concentration of refineries and petrochemical plants. The industrys second storm-related disruption so soon after Ida could disrupt refineries, ports and offshore drilling and production, pushing prices higher for oil and refined products such as gasoline, analysts said. The price of West Texas Intermediate, the U.S. benchmark, settled 73 cents higher Monday at $70.45, the first time in almost six weeks it crossed that threshold. The price of oil has risen nearly $2 since Ida slammed into Louisiana on Aug. 29, leaving several petrochemical plants without power and forcing oil producers to evacuate and shut down offshore platforms. About half of the nations oil production in the Gulf of Mexico is still offline, according to the Interior Department. Nicholas could delay efforts to restart, analysts said, potentially slashing Gulf production by at least 500,000 barrels a day in September as a result, Norwegian research firm Rystad Energy said. Royal Dutch Shell, for example, said last week that it might not meet contractual obligations to deliver oil and gas from the Gulf because of damage to some offshore facilities from Ida. On Monday, the Hague-based oil major said it had already evacuated some nonessential workers from its Perdido offshore platform. Analysis: What Hurricane Ida means for oil and gas industry In total, 63 oil platforms about 11 percent of the 560 operating in U.S. waters in the Gulf were still evacuated as of Sunday, according to the Interior Department. Hurricane Idas impact is lasting more than the market expected, said Nishant Bhushan, an oil markets analyst with Rystad Energy, adding that increased production over the weekend could soon be turned around if Nicholas turns into a hurricane. Onshore, Nicholas rainfall threatens Texas refineries with a deluge of water from rain and storm surge that could boost gasoline prices. The average price of regular gasoline in Houston barely moved over the past week; at $2.72 a gallon on Monday, it was 6 cents less than a month ago, according to fuel price-tracking website GasBuddy. With Tropical Storm Nicholas threatening another key area of refineries in Houston with significant rain, we could see the decline in prices hit the pause button, said Patrick De Haan, GasBuddys head of petroleum analysis. Most refineries along the coast, such as Exxon in Baytown and Beaumont, Motiva in Port Arthur and Citgo in Corpus Christi, as well as liquefied natural gas operations, were operating normally Monday but keeping an eye on Nicholas and preparing for severe weather, the companies said. LyondellBasell said it is testing power generators and communications systems, moving and anchoring equipment that could become projectiles in high winds and placing sandbags around control rooms and substations. Westlake said it told employees to follow the travel advice of local officials. Nearby ports, which are vital to the economy of several cities along the coast, took the threat of a strengthening storm seriously. The Port of Houston, one of the nations busiest, halted operations Monday for incoming ships and will remain closed until Tuesday morning, officials said. Ports in Corpus Christi, Freeport and Galveston also were closed to inbound traffic Monday, the Coast Guard said. Meanwhile, CenterPoint Energy, the Houston utility that delivers electricity to more than a million customers locally, said it has completed testing its systems and has more than 3,200 employees and contractors ready to work 16-hour shifts to respond to potential flooding and outages. The company said workers helping to restore power in Louisiana have returned to Houston to respond to any damage from Nicholas. The Electric Reliability Council of Texas, which manages the states power grid, said Monday it has reduced planned maintenance-related outages in the areas most likely to be affected by Nicholas and instructed power companies to implement their emergency procedures in preparation for the storm. The biggest threat continues to be flooding, said Kenny Mercado, CenterPoint Energys executive vice president of electric utility. As always with severe weather, we encourage our customers to prepare to be without power and have an emergency plan in place, especially those who depend on electricity for life-sustaining equipment. Looking at Fariha Dhanani, there are no signs that her thyroid has been completely removed. While most patients who opt for this type of surgery have a tell-tale scar across the neck, Dhanani opted for a different procedure that left no trace: The surgeon removed her thyroid through her mouth instead of her neck. If a scar is on your arm or leg, its out of sight, out of mind, Dhanani said. But a scar on the neck would always be present, a constant reminder whenever she looked in the mirror. Thats something Dhanani has been able to avoid. On RenewHouston.com: A common heart defect. A local scuba diver. An operation to save her. I dont have to worry about it, she said. About two years ago, Dhanani was diagnosed with Graves disease, an autoimmune disease that causes a persons thyroid to overproduce hormones. Her symptoms included anxiety, hand tremors and fluctuations in weight. But for some time, Dhanani assumed they were simply the side effects of owning a restaurant. I was running a restaurant, all aspects of it, she said. My heart racing, hands shaking, I thought it was anxiety, and I just ignored it. Then, it got worse especially after she was robbed at gunpoint. When Dhanani went to her primary care doctor to talk about it, the physician ordered a full check of her hormones. Thats when she found out that my thyroid levels were way off, Dhanani recalled. In a way, she was relieved to know there was a physical cause for her symptoms. But then there was another scare, Dhanani said. How bad was it? And, she wondered, what could she do to make it better? Dhanani went to an endocrinologist, who walked her through a few options. She could take a medication, which could result in other side effects. Radioactive iodine was another option but was recently linked to an increased risk of cancer and death. Dhanani was most concerned that certain medications could limit her ability to conceive a child for up to two years. The endocrinologist said another option was surgery. So Dhanani did what many people do: I Googled it, she said. Thats the first thing you do. She saw that other individuals with Graves disease had undergone surgery and then wore turtlenecks or scarves to conceal their scars. Dhanani scheduled a visit with Dr. Raymon Grogan, associate professor of surgery at Baylor College of Medicine and chief of endocrine surgery at Baylor St. Lukes Medical Center. Instead of reaching the thyroid through the neck, he explained that there was another possible approach. Problems with traditional approaches The typical thyroid removal process is called the Kocher incision, named for Theodor Kocher, the physician who invented it in the 1890s. For 100 years, its basically been the same incision, Grogan said. It really hasnt changed. Thats what weve always done. Over the years, the only modification has been the size of the incision, reducing the initial 10 to 15 centimeter incision to about 6 centimeters in the 1980s then again to 2 centimeters after the introduction of laparoscopic surgery, he explained. Regardless of how small, there was still a scar. On RenewHouston.com: How one Houston doctor provides hope for families across the nation The issue has always been that a neck incision cannot be hidden, Grogan said. No matter what clothing youre wearing, its always there and visible. And the scar isnt always welcome. This incision is a daily reminder of the fact that youve had cancer or some other medical condition, he said. Every time you brush your teeth, every time you brush your hair, theres a reminder in the mirror. In the late 1990s and early 2000s, surgeons tried to move the incision away from the neck, operating through the armpit or chest wall. This made the surgery more complicated and prolonged recovery. Plus, there was still a scar. The problem is that the incisions are quite far from where we are operating, Grogan said. It caused increased pain in some cases and increased risk of infection. You still had scars. You were just trading where the scar was located. The approach never really caught on in the U.S., Grogan said. Then, around 2012, there was a proposal to make the incision through the mouth. A new site for the procedure The first idea was to make an incision in the floor of the mouth. After some experimentation, the procedure was deemed too complicated and abandoned. Then another entry site was considered in the oral vestibule, a space between the skin and lower teeth. It turned out it was feasible, Grogan said. Surgeons could raise a flap of skin and muscle and be close to the thyroid, making it an easier procedure. Its technically less challenging than the chest wall and armpit procedures and it reduces pain and swelling, Grogan said. Dr. Angkoon Anuwong was a pioneer with the technique, called the transoral endoscopic thyroidectomy vestibular approach. He perfected the procedure to eliminate concerns about nerve damage. He figured out how to do it with minimal complication, Grogan said. Still, the medical community was reluctant to make a change, due to concerns about infection rates, since the mouth is a nonsterile cavity. Grogan was aware that the procedure was controversial when he went to Thailand to see Anuwong perform the surgery. At the time, Grogan had started practice in Chicago and also founded the North American Thyroid Cancer Survivorship Study, an ongoing effort to improve the quality of life for thyroid cancer patients. I was interested in ways of pushing endocrine surgery forward, both from an academic and clinical perspective, he said. And at the time, I was also looking for ways to improve quality of life for thyroid cancer survivors. In Bangkok, Anuwong had performed hundreds of operations successfully. I went over there to understand how easy or complicated this was, Grogan recalled. When I was there, I was amazed at how feasible it appeared as an operation. He was eager to offer the option in the U.S. I was convinced, Grogan said. It was what I was looking for a way to advance surgery and also improve quality of life. Scarless surgery It was extremely difficult to push this forward, he said. And I basically was reinventing the operation from scratch in the U.S., because no one was doing it. I had to figure it out by myself. A couple other U.S. surgeons were on the same track. They advised each other whenever there were stumbling blocks and shared advances. Grogan performed 20 of the operations in Chicago before joining Baylor and bringing the procedure with him to Texas. In Houston, it was still relatively new, he said. They were very supportive of innovation in surgery here at Baylor. Grogan has now performed about 200 of the operations in the city. Weve had very good outcomes, he said. Patients are extremely satisfied and theres no scar. He lets his patients choose whether to opt for the traditional approach, or to operate through the mouth. Dhanani remembers when he laid out all the options for her. He explained the various risk factors, as well as the benefits. He also told her that the timing was up to her. I was like, Lets do it now, Dhanani recalled. I went ahead and did it, and Im really happy with the results. After about a week of swelling, she fully recovered from the procedure. Now, she takes the medication levothyroxine to replace the hormones her thyroid would have produced. Its something I will have to deal with my whole life, Dhanani said. But the small pill on her nightstand is better than the symptoms she experienced before. Dhanani no longer works at the restaurant. She is spending time with her husband and their newborn daughter instead. Not being plagued with anxiety or coping with trembling hands has made it possible to enjoy their time together. And Dhanani is grateful to not have a scar, a constant reminder of those years. I dont see why you wouldnt want to do it this way, she said. To me, it makes so much sense. This is the way to go for sure. Lindsay Peyton is a Houston-based freelance writer. Something old, something new -- that was the spirit in downtown Houston Saturday night, as the Houston Symphony Society and Houston Symphony League attempted the city's most ambitious pandemic social gathering to date, "Opening Night Concert and Gala: An Evening with Renee Fleming." In order to safely gather inside Jones Hall again, protocol changes were made. The challenge was, could they be implemented without sacrificing the magic of an event that has traditionally hosted a packed house of 1,600 patrons? Not to mention a seated dinner for high-level donors? And shuttle services between venues? Houston Symphony has pulled off seemingly impossible feats before. In September 2020, the organization became the country's first orchestra to perform live and in-person. At that time, only 75 guests were admitted into Jones Hall. Check-in times were staggered. Masks were required. Ushers stood watch to enforce social distancing. City Kitchen delivered charcuterie trays and adult beverages from Spec's Wine, Spirits & Finer Foods to individual homes. All-in-all, it was an impressive, historic and fiscally successful night -- more than was $518,000 raised. Still, it just wasn't the same. OPENING NIGHT 2020: Houston Symphony becomes one of the first to perform in-person as opening night gala raises $518K But on Saturday night, chairs Robin Angly and Miles Smith mixed the best of pre-pandemic togetherness with new-normal caution. Symphony leadership called it a "low- to no-touch experience." "This is only temporary," one usher said of the pop-up bar setups on stair landings leading up to the mezzanine level. This replaced the Green Room, an intimate, stage-adjacent space where season ticket-holders typically enjoy champagne and nibbles before performances and during intermission. Minutes before the concert, a voice announced via loudspeaker: "Masks are required during the entire performance. Should your mask slip at any time, an usher will ask you to raise it. Should your mask slip a second time, an usher will escort you from the venue." Everyone complied. Some nodded in approval. Then, the music began. Conductor Steven Reineke opened with the "Star-Spangled Banner;" on the 20th anniversary of the Sept. 11 terror attacks; audience members sang along and applauded longer than usual. Next, Fleming floated onto the stage, a vision in mint green silk and heaps of diamonds, pearls and emeralds on loan from Tenenbaum Jewelers. "And the people stayed home. And read books, and listened, and rested, and exercised, and made art, and played games, and learned new ways of being, and were still," Fleming said, reading from Kitty O'Meara's poem "And the People Stayed Home," a piece set to song by composer John Corigliano. The program also featured renditions of George Frideric Handel's "Dank sei Dir, Herr;" Reynaldo Hahn and Chason Goldschmitz's "L'heure Exquise" from Chansons grises; Hahn's "Si mes vers avaient des ailes;" selections from Aaron Copland's "The Tender Land Suite;" "Musette svaria sulla bocca viva" from Ruggero Leoncavallo's "La Boheme;" "Io son lumile ancella," from Francesco Cilea's "Adriana Lecouvreur;" "Carousel Waltz" by Richard Rodgers and Don Walker; "Winter/Love and Love Alone" from John Kander and Joseph Thalken's "The Visit;" Hello, Young Lovers" from Rodger's "The King and I;" and Adam Lippa's "The Diva," a duet originally created for Fleming and Vanessa Williams that has since been reimagined as a solo. Two standing ovations later, several hundred black-tie attendees were shuttled to the Corinthian for a seated, three-course dinner. This is when most masks came off, and the evening's $600,000 raised was celebrated. Funds benefit the Symphony's education and outreach programs, which serve more than 200,000 Houstonians annually. Some of this year's funds are earmarked for the organization's music and wellness initiatives. Through partnerships with local hospitals, Symphony musicians help increase the quality of life for patients, families and caregivers through bedside visits and in-hospital performances. HOUSTON CHRONICLE: Symphony musicians host private concerts for ICU patients at Houston Methodist While opening night festivities may have looked a little different this year, they sounded the same -- if not better. amber.elliott@chron.com ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) A Florida man has been arrested on several indecent exposure charges at various toll booth workers over a week's span. The Florida Highway Patrol said in a statement that the man was booked into the Osceola County Jail on Saturday. BOUNTIFUL, Utah (AP) Police in Utah say an Idaho man was arrested Sunday after he rammed a police car with his truck and tried to hit two other police vehicles while fleeing a hit-and-run crash. Fifty-one-year-old Cory Adams of Shoshone was arrested by police and SWAT officers in a cul-de-sac in Bountiful, Utah, about 11 miles (18 kilometers) miles north of Salt Lake City, KUTV reported. JERUSALEM (AP) Palestinian militants launched a rocket into Israel from the Gaza Strip on Sunday night, the Israeli military said, adding that the rocket was intercepted. The launch came at a time of heightened tensions following an escape by six Palestinian militants from an Israeli prison last week and lingering hostilities from an 11-day war last May. BRIGHTON, Colo. (AP) A man convicted of vehicular homicide for hitting a car during a Facebook livestream that showed him speeding on a Colorado highway has been sentenced to 15 years in prison. The Adams County District Attorney's Office says 44-year-old Bryan Kirby was sentenced on Friday. A jury convicted Kirby in July; he was also convicted of reckless manslaughter and leaving the scene of an accident causing death. ANDOVER, Mass. (AP) A New Hampshire man was killed and three others were injured in a three-vehicle crash in Massachusetts early Sunday morning, state police said. The crash happened around 2 a.m. on Interstate 93 in Andover near the New Hampshire state line. A man has been sentenced to 40 years in prison in the brutal 2017 stabbing death of a father of four who thought he was going to meet a potential buyer for his used car, according to a news release from the Harris County District Attorneys Office. Terrell Derrick Funches, 23, and Dalena Nguyen, 19, have both pleaded guilty to murder and were separately sentenced to 40 years in prison for the slaying of Altaf Hussain Malik, who was in his early 40s and from Richmond. Funches was sentenced Friday. Nguyen, who was a juvenile at the time of the crime, was certified to stand trial as an adult. She was sentenced in June 2021, officials said. BACKGROUND: Teen to be tried as adult in capital murder case This was a cold-blooded and calculated attack that resulted in the tragic death of a husband and father who was simply trying to sell a used car, something people do every day of the week, District Attorney Kim Ogg said in a statement. By making a plea deal, we can ensure that both of these killers stay behind bars for decades. Funches defense lawyer was not immediately available for comment. Maliks family thought he had gone to Sams Club at Bellaire Boulevard and Texas 6 in Chinatown on the evening of Dec. 5, 2017 to sell his blue Audi A8 to a potential buyer. He had advertised the vehicle on Craigslist, officials said at the time. His body was found two days later covered in trash bags in a dumpster outside of an apartment complex at 3109 Truxillo St. in Third Ward, according to detectives from the Fort Bend County Sheriff's Office and the Houston Police Department. He had been stabbed about 60 times. Around the time of the killing, Funches and Nguyen had Googled how to dispose of a body, according to court records. The pair never disclosed a motive for the killing in court proceedings. Assistant District Attorney Lisa Calligan, who prosecuted the case, said Malik was a loving husband and father who was selfless and kind. Its heartbreaking to know his life ended so senselessly, she said. gabrielle.banks@chron.com Jay R. Jordan / Jay Jordan, Staff A man was fatally shot Sunday night while attempting to rob a couple at their apartment complex in Sharpstown. Houston police arrived after 9:05 p.m. at 5959 Bonhomme Road, where a man said he had just shot an armed robber, according to an officer on the scene. A plan is moving ahead for cleaning up the toxic waste buried on a peninsula in the San Jacinto River, marking a step forward in one of the most closely watched federal hazardous waste cleanup efforts in the region. Decades ago, a paper mill dumped its waste along the river east of Houston. Then land sank and the path of the river moved. Some of the waste is now under water, on the north side of the Interstate 10 bridge. Another portion is south of the bridge and still buried on dry land. The material under water is of particular concern because of the potential threats it poses. The waste contains dioxins, which can cause cancer, and furans. Its covered by a temporary cap, but that cap could be damaged and potentially release the toxic waste into the river. That northern, underwater portion has proved a challenge for federal officials trying to assess and figure out how to clean it up safely. Theyre still working on that. A plan for removing the waste to the south was more straightforward and finalized in April. On HoustonChronicle.com: Why the San Jacinto waste pits still haven't been cleaned up after more than a decade Earlier this month, federal environmental regulators issued a final order for the International Paper Co. to begin carrying out that plan, excavating up to 10 feet across from an area about 20 acres in size and replacing the soil, according to planning documents. International Paper Co. was described in the order as the successor to Pasadena-based Champion Papers, which sent waste to be dumped there in 1965 and 1966. The cost of the work was estimated to be nearly $10 million, with penalties of up to $59,017 a day for any violations of the order. International Paper is committed to protecting public health and the environment, company spokesperson Amy Simpson wrote in an email. We continue to work with the EPA and other stakeholders to perform the remediation of the southern impoundment at the San Jacinto River Waste Pits, as described in the administrative order. Construction is expected to begin in the fall of 2022 at the earliest, according to the Environmental Protection Agencys website. Thats because of time needed to develop a work plan, hire contractors and avoid digging it out during hurricane season. Jackie Medcalf, founder of the Texas Health and Environment Alliance, which has long served as a community advocate pushing for proper cleanup of the site, wrote in an email to the Chronicle that they were glad to see the work moving forward. Still, she wrote, they will continue to watch carefully for the EPA to hold polluters accountable. emily.foxhall@chron.com Local hospitals and clinics, many of which are close to capacity largely due to unvaccinated COVID-19 patients, are bracing for Tropical Storm Nicholas as it nears Houston Monday. Texas Childrens Hospital is no stranger to inclement weather, said Dr. Brent Kaziny, the medical director of emergency management for Texas Children's Hospital. However, the hospital faces a new set of challenges as the storm rolls in during the highest levels of pediatric COVID cases since he pandemics beginning. On HoustonChronicle.com: Texas pediatric COVID hospitalizations hit record high Its obviously been a little different during this COVID pandemic, Kaziny said. Usually one of the things that we really try to aim to do is decompress hospitals prior to the arrival of the storm and really discharge as many patients as we can to their homes or other safe locations. On Sunday, 3,175 people were reported as testing positive for COVID-19 in the Greater Houston Area. While the number is down from last weeks 3,489 new cases, it is still well above last months levels of 2,870 new cases per day. While positive cases and hospitalizations are both down locally with the number of people hospitalized for COVID in the greater Houston area dropping by 7.2 percent from last Sunday to this Sunday this current wave of COVID infections remains the largest surge the city has seen since the pandemic first came to Houston in Mach, 2020. Now hospital staff have to be more mindful of how they organize sleeping arrangements for people in the facility to ensure there are no potential exposures. And its not just patients they have to account for. Staff will be staying at least one night possibly more to avoid the danger of navigating flooded roads, Kaziny said. In severe storms in the past, the hospital has worked with the Coast Guard and other agencies to transfer patients using high water vehicles. Kaziny hopes it doesnt get to that point this time around. Usually, hospitals dont see an increase in admissions until after the storm, said Roberta Schwartz, executive vice president of Houston Methodist Hospital. During the event we will have very few people show up at our door, and then immediately after the event we get the influx of people, Schwartz said. So we are asking folks to please call their doctors today, get prescriptions filled, call dialysis centers and get yourselves rescheduled. On Monday afternoon, Houston Methodist examined its surgery and outpatient schedules and physician office practices to make decisions about each one of those areas. In many cases the hospital tried to discharge as many patients as possible on Monday, Schwartz said. Thats hard to do with those who are already in the ICU, including those who have COVID, she said. On HoustonChronicle.com: Houston Methodist doctors experience increased hostility amid ivermectin, COVID misinformation Several hospital administrators said staffing shortages have made this weather event more challenging than those in the past. Schwartz said the shortages dont start and stop with this event, and that the hospital has been managing them throughout the pandemic. I dont anticipate that will be an issue for us, Schwartz said Monday. We have great staffing going into tonight. St. Lukes Health has stocked its facilities with food, linens, and additional power and water source and has put in place plans to implement ride out teams in the event a facility is required to shelter in place. Some hospitals have had to suspend certain services. The Memorial Hermann Health System as a precaution suspended Life Flight operations from its north, south, east and west bases, said Tom Flanagan, the hospitals vice president of life flight, trauma services and disaster management. He said the hospitals are ensuring they have the necessary medical supplies, food, water and generator power to continue operating through the storm. Our biggest concern right now is obviously our employees and physicians being able to get in for the change of shift, he said. Hospital staff in hard-hit areas might be forced to stay put until relief staff can safely travel to each campus, he said. Memorial Hermann command centers will be closely monitoring the situation. Were not anticipating any major disruptions and certainly our level of staffing will remain (the same), Flanagan said. All Memorial Hermann Imaging Centers, Memorial Hermann Sports Medicine & Rehabilitation locations, and all other Memorial Hermann Urgent Care were closed as of 5 p.m. Monday. Many other testing clinics and testing sites closed early Monday and have plans to close Tuesday. Kelsey-Seybold Clinic will close all its locations on Tuesday. Its COVID-19 testing centers will close Monday at 5:00 p.m., and its Sleep Center will be closed Monday evening through Tuesday. Harris Health System closed all of its outpatient clinics at 3 p.m. Monday and will remain closed Tuesday. This includes all primary care and specialty clinic locations, the Ambulatory Surgical Center at Lyndon B. Johnson Hospital, Riverside Dialysis Center and all infusion and radiation therapy services. Harris Health System Clinics will resume regularly scheduled appointments Wednesday at noon. Patients with affected appointments will be contacted to reschedule. Houston Health Department-affiliated COVID-19 testing and vaccination sites will be closed Tuesday Baylor College of Medicine started putting up some of its floodgates Monday, and closed campus at 6 p.m. with plans to reopen Wednesday. The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center opened its incident command structure to prepare for and monitor the effects of Tropical Storm Nicholas on the Houston area. All MD Anderson locations are open for normal operations, including patient appointments, but the hospital encourages patients to monitor the weather and to take extra safety precautions. rebecca.carballo@chron.com; julian.gill@chron.com Dr. Josh Septimus can feel the tension. Septimus, a Houston Methodist primary care physician who oversees all six of the hospitals same-day clinics, said some COVID patients become angry when his staff refuses to treat them with ivermectin. The medication is only approved for certain parasitic infections, such as river blindness or scabies, but not the virus. Patients are flooding his clinics with requests for the drug, he said, leading to hostility toward physicians assistants and nurse practitioners who by policy cannot prescribe it. We have had patients threatening us if we decline to prescribe ivermectin, he said. There are people who have just completely lost faith in mainstream medicine. And in those communities, theres anger at the public health establishment. Ivermectin is at the center of the latest craze over unproven COVID treatments that so far do not show any meaningful benefits for patients battling the virus. Researchers are still studying whether the drug can help COVID patients in the future. But right now, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention warn against using it, citing the risk of severe side effects. On HoustonChronicle.com: COVID patient dies at Memorial Hermann during family's legal push for ivermectin treatment Outpatient ivermectin prescriptions have soared since mid-July, with a simultaneous increase in calls to poison control centers about ivermectin exposure, according to the CDC. Some people who ingested the drug reported serious damage to their nervous system. Ivermectin has become part of the canon of anti-science disinformation that were seeing from the political right, said Dr. Peter Hotez, dean of the National School of Tropical Medicine at Baylor College of Medicine. There is no strong evidence that it works either as a treatment or preventative measure for COVID. Dr. Faisal Masud, the medical director for critical care at Houston Methodist, said families have been demanding the drug for their loved ones fighting COVID in the ICU. Before the drug became popular, demands for specific medications were "very rare," he said. That is baffling and its disappointing, he said. It creates a rift between the medical team and the family. And you dont want that. You want everybody on the same page. The desire for ivermectin led one family last week to file a lawsuit against Memorial Hermann. A 74-year-old man, described as the backbone of his family, obtained a prescription for the drug at Houstons VA Medical Center following a positive COVID test, a family member said. He was later admitted to Memorial Hermann Sugar Land. A Fort Bend County judge on Sept. 3 issued a court order to force the hospital to administer the drug, but doctors refused, the family said. The man died three days later. The VA said it is reviewing the case but could not comment on the prescription. Memorial Hermann could not comment on specifics of the case. Experts point to multiple factors that trigger peoples desire to resort to drugs like ivermectin. The increased reliance on the internet in lieu of medical doctors is one issue, said Dr. Eric Storch, professor and vice chair of psychology in the Menninger Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at Baylor College of Medicine. The level of political divisiveness also plays a role, he said. Theres become this suspiciousness within our system that oftentimes is sort of falling on partisan lines, he said. Another thing is people are really reaching out for answers especially when theres this fear and anxiety in the air. On HoustonChronicle.com: Dr. Peter Hotez's battle against the 'anti-science confederacy' is a lifetime in the making High-profile conservative media figures such as Laura Ingraham and Tucker Carlson have touted the drug as a possible COVID treatment. Well-known podcaster Joe Rogan, who attracts a massive audience, recently said he used ivermectin with a number of steroids to treat COVID. Masud said some COVID patient family members refer to celebrities they see using it. But they are demanding something that no reasonable doctor would ever be comfortable prescribing, he said. That creates a trust issue between doctors and patients at a time when that connection is paramount, he said. Families cannot see their loved ones who have COVID and therefore must rely more heavily on the doctors decisions, he said. What starts as skepticism evolves into paranoia. Then it turns into aggression. The verbal, the psychological, and in some cases physical threats is unprecedented, Masud said. And you need to remember that all of my doctors including the physical therapists, respiratory therapists are exhausted. Septimus said the patients in his primary care practice do not display the level of hostility as patients in same-day clinics, where doctors often see people for the first time. COVID HELP DESK: With boosters on the horizon, is it possible to be over-vaccinated? His patients usually respond with a "thank you" when he explains why he will not treat them with ivermectin, he said. But that is not the experience of many of my younger colleagues who do not have that long trust built up, where those patients get very angry and demand and complain. Experts say some ivermectin advocates misunderstand early lab studies that showed some benefits against COVID. More recent, comprehensive tests on humans have not been promising. There is a ton of stuff you can put in a test tube with the virus that inhibits viral growth, said Dr. James McDeavitt, executive vice president and dean of clinical affairs at Baylor College of Medicine. McDeavitt and other researchers acknowledge that further study of ivermectin is warranted. But Masud and Septimus view the level of misinformation as an urgent problem. We are also people, Masud said. We are scared. We are frustrated. We also want this to end. Threatening doesnt do any good. If doctors dont show up, who is going to suffer? julian.gill@chron.com On the day she was fired in June, the woman who oversaw Houstons downtown LGBTQ pride festival and parade began tampering with the nonprofits records, according to a lawsuit filed by the current leadership of Pride Houston. Former executive director and president Lorin Lo Roberts is also accused of sharing confidential information and violating her non-compete agreement by making vendor and sponsor deals in the months after she was terminated, according to the lawsuit. Pride officials said she misused funds and duped the organizations board of directors. Because of her exclusive access to certain Pride Houston documents and property, the true extent of the damage caused by (defendant) Roberts is currently unknown, the suit says. On HoustonChronicle.com: Pride Houston parade and festival isnt happening in 2021 Roberts said through her lawyer that the allegations are untrue. The spat between Roberts and the festival leadership has dragged out all summer, resulting most recently in a renewed injunction instructing Roberts to keep her distance until the matter comes to trial. The temporary injunction by state District Judge Scot Dollinger notes that both sides previously agreed Pride Houston should have access to its own data, records and accounts. The judges order that has been renewed several times over the summer prevents Roberts from using or controlling the organizations accounts and mandates that she provide control of them to Pride Houston. She must also cease to communicate on the organizations behalf with 1,900 sponsors, according to a court document. Kendra Walker, Pride Houstons executive vice president and treasurer, said in August that the organization was still waiting to get access to information, including months of credit card statements. However, the group did receive four Wells Fargo statements regarding a line of credit Walker said Roberts had failed to disclose. Roberts lawyer said she has complied with the judges orders. Shes given them everything that theyve asked for with one exception being the Wells Fargo bank account financial information has not been mailed to her, Jennings said in August. According to the lawsuit, in addition to breaches after Roberts termination, she used organization funds while she was with the nonprofit to cover a trip to Washington, D.C., to pursue a job with another organization, and canceled a board of directors meeting to hide the travel. This was a purposeful and willful misuse of Pride Houston Inc., funds from donors, disruption of the boards activities, and violation of her non-compete/non-solicitation agreement, the new leadership said in court filings. Roberts lawyer told the Houston Chronicle the D.C. trip was work related. She subsequently said via email that Roberts did not travel to D.C. in December 2020, as the lawsuit alleged. Walker, the current vice president of the group, said the trip to Washington the group was concerned about was in December 2019. Members of the board knew Roberts had traveled to D.C. for an interview, but not that she had used an organization credit card to pay for travel until officials reviewed bills, Walker said. GUIDE: Here are 17 Houston drag queens that you need to know The lawsuit says that when the 2020 pride parade was being planned, Roberts lied to the board of directors stating that permitting had been secured from the City of Houston. Court documents also said that Roberts falsely told the board of directors that a permit had been secured for the 2021 celebration. That is completely false, Jennings said of the parade-related allegations. Roberts lawyer said there was documentation indicating the city offered an alternate route for the event and that Roberts had told the board that they could get permitting with the new route. A March 2020 letter addressed to Roberts from Susan Christian, the director of the Mayors Office of Special Events, was submitted as an exhibit. It says, We have provided to you the alternate location of Sam Houston Park which is the only available option in this area of Downtown and we suggested other possible locations to your team. It does not address the issue of permitting for the 2020 event. Regarding the 2021 celebration, Jennings also said in an email that Roberts did present plans for that event in June, prior to her firing. The 2021 legal fight is not the first time the organization has sued its former president.. In 2017, Pride Houston sued its former president over concerns the outgoing leadership had failed to turn over Pride Houstons assets to Roberts, court records show. That case was dismissed by mutual agreement, according to court records. leah.brennan@chron.com NASA astronauts have a unique perspective on hurricanes. Many have experienced the devastation firsthand as they live in the Houston area and train at NASA's Johnson Space Center. Some have also seen these storms from roughly 250 miles above the Earth. NASA astronaut Megan McArthur recently shared photos of Hurricane Larry that she took from the International Space Station. She spoke about hurricanes with the Houston Chronicle on Friday during a call from space. I know about hurricanes pretty up close and personal," McArthur said. "We lost our home in 2008 to Hurricane Ike, and so dealing with all of that aftermath is something that I remember quite clearly. Hurricane Ike made landfall on Galveston Island exactly 13 years ago -- at 2:10 a.m. September 13, 2008. It was a strong Category 2 hurricane with 110 mph sustained winds. On Monday, Tropical Storm Nicholas was approaching Texas. It was expected to bring total rainfall of 8 to 16 inches to the Houston area. LIVE UPDATES: Houston ISD, other districts close due to weather McArthur said she shared the image of Hurricane Larry to help people understand the seriousness of these storms and to take the appropriate precautions. At one point, Hurricane Larry strengthened into a Category 3 storm over the Atlantic Ocean. It made landfall Friday as a Category 1 hurricane near South East Bight in the Newfoundland and Labrador province of Canada. Warmer ocean and air temperatures, rising sea levels and other effects of climate change are expected to fuel stronger hurricanes. The flooding from storm surge could be higher, rainfall could be heavier and winds could be stronger. The percent of storms that reach Category 4 or Category 5, with sustained winds of at least 130 mph, is expected to increase. From her vantage, McArthur said the Earth's atmosphere looks thin and fragile compared to the size of Earth and the vast blackness of space. She emphasized the importance of protecting it. "Thats what is keeping us safe on our own spaceship Earth," she said. "So its very important to do what we can to protect it." Astronauts. Private astronauts. Civilian crew. A new group of people is buying or winning its way into microgravity. And with its emergence comes a big question: What do we call these individuals? Those in the space community have a broad range of reactions, ranging from Does it matter? to Do they deserve the prestigious title of astronaut? LAUNCHING FROM TEXAS: With Jeff Bezos on board, Blue Origin launches first crewed spaceflight from West Texas Theres also an understanding that the public could dictate the answer. These terms dont exactly roll off the tongue, said Andrew McKenzie, associate professor of linguistics at the University of Kansas. A kids not going to want to grow up dreaming to be a civilian crew. Space tourist is not a good Halloween costume. Such questions are pertinent this summer because there has been a surge in human spaceflight. Billionaires Jeff Bezos and Richard Branson have flown on their own suborbital vehicles. And this week, four people are headed into orbit on a privately funded SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule. This Inspiration4 mission, with a five-hour launch window beginning Wednesday at 7:02 p.m. CDT, will be the first time a spacecraft circles the Earth without a professional astronaut or cosmonaut onboard. They may not be regular people, but theyre certainly additional people who are not employed by the government as full-time astronauts, said George Nield, who was the Federal Aviation Administrations associate administrator for commercial space transportation from 2008 to 2018. And theyre getting to go into space. That is a huge step toward what many people have talked about for years, which is opening up space to more and more people. Inspiration4 / John Kraus Inspiration4 mission The Inspiration4 flight is being paid for by 38-year-old Jared Isaacman, founder and CEO of Shift4 Payments, an integrated payment processing and technology solutions company. According to Forbes, Isaacman had a net worth of $2.4 billion as of Friday. The price paid for this flight has not been disclosed, but a 2019 report from the NASA Office of Inspector General suggests that NASA is paying $55 million per seat on trips to the International Space Station. Rather than going to the International Space Station, the Inspiration4 crew will embark on a multiday journey orbiting the Earth and conducting research experiments on human health and performance. Their flight will launch from NASAs Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The crew recognizes they are standing on the shoulders of all who came before them to explore space, an Inspiration4 spokesperson said in an email. This mission is a steppingstone on the journey toward the commercialization of space exploration and making everyday spaceflight a reality. Isaacman, the missions commander, is using Inspiration4 to raise awareness and funds for St. Jude Childrens Research Hospital. Hayley Arceneaux, a physician assistant at St. Jude and a pediatric cancer survivor, was chosen as the flights medical officer. Chris Sembroski, who works as an aerospace industry employee at Lockheed Martin and will serve as a mission specialist on the flight, gained his seat through a sweepstakes that raised money for St. Jude. Sian Proctor, a geoscientist and science communication specialist who was previously a NASA astronaut finalist, won her seat through a contest promoting Shift4 Payments e-commerce platform called Shift4Shop. Proctor is the missions pilot, though the vehicle is fully autonomous. Their flight is being called the first all-civilian mission to orbit. In this context, civilian suggests the crew members arent government employees or professional astronauts. INTERNATIONAL SPACE STATION: An orbiting home and lab for two decades But civil space has long been used to describe NASAs domain differentiating it from national security space that includes activities by the military and civilian has described its astronauts not on active military duty. At the time of Apollo 11 the U.S. press made a big deal of the fact that the first lunar mission was commanded by a civilian (Neil Armstrong, who left the Navy prior to Apollo 11), so the term civilian astronaut has an important history in the politics of astronautics, Jonathan McDowell, an astronomer with the Center for Astrophysics, a Harvard and Smithsonian collaboration, said on his website planet4589.org. According to McDowell, who uses the dictionary definition of civilian as not on active duty in the armed services, there have been 15 all-civilian orbital flights. The first was Soyuz TMA-3 in 2003 with a Russian cosmonaut, NASA astronaut and European Space Agency astronaut launching on a Russian Soyuz spacecraft. Non-military government employees are also civilians, he said, and attempting to change the language to say that they arent is pernicious and stupid. Robert Pearlman, founder and editor of space history news site collectspace.com, suggested calling the Inspiration4 crew an all-amateur crew. Amateur is defined by Merriam-Webster as one who engages in a pursuit, study, science, or sport as a pastime rather than a profession, though Pearlman acknowledged that it tends to have a more negative connotation. Right now, there is a desire to call yourself an astronaut because of the history and legacy that holds, Pearlman said. Theres going to come a time, maybe relatively soon, that everyone will know someone who went to space. And at that point it will no longer be seen as special, so they wont want to be called astronauts. Inspiration4 / John Kraus Greek origins The term astronaut was derived from Greek words meaning star and sailor. NASA adopted this term through common use and preference by its early team members, according to the book Suddenly Tomorrow Came A History of the Johnson Space Center. Today, it gives the NASA astronaut designation to individuals after theyre selected as astronaut candidates and have completed their training. This training takes about two years. Both Blue Origin and Virgin Galactic said its customers will be called astronauts, though Virgin Galactic said it generally refers to the market as the private astronaut market. These companies are offering suborbital flights, which is a quick jaunt into space that does not circle the globe. Houston-based Axiom Space, which is planning its first mission to the International Space Station next year, calls its customers sovereign/national astronauts (this includes professional astronauts from other countries) and private astronauts. The Axiom crew will ride on a SpaceX Crew Dragon, but the mission is being planned and managed by Axiom. The use of the term astronaut is intentional because Axiom crews train in a rigorous, multimonth curriculum at space agency and transportation partner facilities, fly with experienced astronauts in command, live and work aboard a destination in orbit in the form of the ISS, and bring comprehensive research and educational outreach portfolios, Axiom spokesman Beau Holder said in an email. The Inspiration4 crew has likewise completed extensive training on topics including the rocket and spacecraft, emergency preparedness, operating in microgravity and getting in and out of their spacesuits. Inspiration4 / John Kraus Prestige But people flying into space with one of these newer companies have largely purchased their ticket or won it through a sweepstakes they werent selected through an ultracompetitive process as NASA astronauts are. Since the 1960s, the agency has selected only 350 people to train as astronaut candidates. The term astronaut does have a special meaning to society, said James R. Hansen, the author of First Man: The Life of Neil A. Armstrong and professor emeritus of history at Auburn University. It sort of dilutes the significance and the meaning of the term. When Dennis Tito purchased his ride into space on a Russian Soyuz spacecraft in 2001, NASA referred to him and subsequent travelers who booked flights through the space tourism company Space Adventures as a spaceflight participant. I can imagine there being some slight shade associated with that decision to call him a spaceflight participant, said Jason Davis, editorial director at the Planetary Society, a nonprofit that seeks to get more people engaged with space. This was before the agency more fully embraced opening low-Earth orbit to more people and commercial companies. WHATS YOUR PASSION? An entrepreneurs question leads to space enterprises Today, NASA uses the term private astronaut for space station crew members who arent NASA or international partner astronauts/cosmonauts and directly support the agencys efforts to create a robust low-Earth orbit economy. However, it still uses spaceflight participant to describe space station crew members who fly with the Russian space agency Roscosmos and are not a cosmonaut, NASA astronaut or space station international partner astronaut. Language evolves, and this question will likely sort itself out. Companies might trademark their own words, or the public might opt for terms that support their feelings around this new era of human spaceflight. Perhaps privonauts for private astronauts or egonauts if theyre less supportive of wealthy individuals buying seats into space, said McKenzie, the associate professor of linguistics. Until then, the space community will continue engaging in one of its favorite pastimes. A lot of this is just arguing semantics, Davis said, and if there is one thing the space community loves to do consistently, its argue about semantics. andrea.leinfelder@chron.com twitter.com/a_leinfelder If Gov. Greg Abbott and other Texas officials wont listen to good sense to the pleas of parents afraid for their kids, the pleas from health experts to follow science, the pleas of exhausted doctors and nurses to do more to stop COVID from spreading maybe theyll listen to dollars and cents. Theres something besides human life thats increasingly at risk as Texas stumbles and bumbles through its COVID-19 response. To borrow a phrase: its the economy, stupid. The failure to vaccinate and enact other safety measures is costing Texans billions of dollars, according to economist Ray Perryman, CEO of the Perryman Group in Waco. He told the editorial board recently that Texas is losing about $186,000 per year for each person out of work due to the pandemic, with potential losses reaching nearly $13.4 billion per year. Employers and the state are losing revenue as the pandemic drags on. Mask-wearing and vaccinations will help the economy continue its recovery, Perryman said. To be truly pro-economy weve got to listen to the doctors and the virologists, he said, noting the stress the latest spike has put on schools, hospitals and families. Despite these concerns, there has been massive resistance by policymakers to sensible and basic protective measures, such as appropriate masking requirements and measures to encourage higher vaccination rates, he said in a recent report. Last year, after the shutdown-induced precipitous economic drop in the first few weeks of the pandemic, Texas opened up more than some states but still had capacity restrictions and a mask mandate. In 2020, Abbott mostly acted responsibly, charting a middle course. Now, as the Republican primary next Spring inches closer, each week seemingly brings another outrageous decision to refuse simple strategies that will get us through. Not only has he refused to implement a statewide mask mandate, he has zealously obstructed local officials and school superintendents from doing so, leading to needless litigation, infighting and energy that could go into fighting the real foe: a deadly pandemic thats already killed more than 57,000 Texans. Earlier in the summer, the proverbial light at the end of the tunnel seemed nearer, with case numbers low and consumer confidence growing. From Mothers Day to the Fourth of July, there was this little tiny window of hope, Beverly Hatcher, president of the Golden Triangle Minority Business Council, told us last week. With delta raging, it feels far away. The NRA canceled its annual meeting, originally set for last weekend at the George R. Brown Convention Center, because of high case numbers and hospitalizations. Say what you will about the NRA and we have said a lot Houston restaurants, stores and hotels lost out on the business of tens of thousands of visitors from across the country. The Chronicles Amanda Drane reported recently that Houston restaurant reservations, which were at pre-pandemic levels in early July, steadily declined in late July and August as the delta variant surged. Restaurants reported more takeout and delivery business late in the summer and declining revenues as the latest spike took over. People are tired, Hatcher said. Small business owners the ones who havent yet had to close down are hanging on by a thread and badly need help. They need financial support and our leaders need to be drum majors for mask-wearing and getting vaccinated. Politicians, with our help, have created a dichotomy pitting economic health and public safety against one another in a zero sum game. But we cant have one without the other. We cant have healthy businesses if workers are at home with sick kids. Consumers cant have the confidence to dine in busy restaurants or shop at crowded stores if the virus is surging, nearly half the state isnt fully vaccinated and people arent wearing masks. Being responsible about Texas COVID response doesnt mean a state-mandated shutdown, which is indeed harmful to the economy. At this point, weve learned a lot about this virus. We know which simple protocols can stop the spread. We just have to use them. For weeks, the South has been the global epicenter of the pandemic, according to vaccine expert Dr. Peter Hotez. He told the editorial board Friday that the reason northeastern states have avoided the worst of the delta surge is no mystery. Its high vaccination rates and more buy-in on masks. Economists caution against making broad state-by-state comparisons of economic strength. States entered the pandemic with different levels of growth, wide-ranging unemployment rates and varying demographic landscapes. Some states with great health care access have older populations. Texas, which shamefully maintains the lowest insured rate in the nation, is blessed with a relatively young population. Three northeastern states (New Jersey, New York and Massachusetts) and two southern states (Mississippi and Louisiana) fill out the top five states in COVID death rate per 100,000 residents since the start of the pandemic. More recently, however, with vaccines readily available, death rates in Texas and Florida spiked far worse than in California and Massachusetts, two states with leaders and residents taking vaccinations and the virus more seriously. It was always a myth that we could separate public health from the economy, Hotez said. If were fully going to get back to pre-pandemic life, then weve got to get the epidemic under control. To do that, he said, about 85 percent of the total population, children included, needs to be vaccinated. Currently, 62.7 percent of the U.S. population has received at least one dose, and 53.4 percent are fully vaccinated. Our governor and other conservatives speak often of their support for small businesses and this states pro-business mentality. There are plenty of more important reasons to battle this virus beyond economic vitality, but if our economy is to ever fully rebound, vaccines and masks are the way. Regarding Biden's vaccine rules ignite instant, hot GOP opposition, (Sept. 10): In response to Bidens announcement, Rep. Dan Crenshaw tweeted that mandates are cheap governance. Im glad to see that Dan Crenshaw is now concerned about cheap governance. I hope that he convinces his friends in the Texas Legislature to quit focusing on policing transgender persons bathroom choices, ensuring that teachers don't talk about Critical Race Theory and attacking tech companies over censorship. I look forward to hearing from the state and national Republican Party about how we can bring Texas into the 21st century with a functioning power grid, updated infrastructure and science-based approaches to public health that keep our economy growing for everyone's benefit. John Baker, Houston Conservatives are railing against Biden's vaccine mandate, but should they? In 2020 former President Trump said on national television that we were at war with this virus; not Biden, but Trump. In a war, it's all hands on deck but currently were not doing that. Some citizens are actually aiding this enemy by refusing to wear a mask or by not getting vaccinated, claiming its their constitutional right to do so. If this were a war with bullets flying you can rest assured that a Republican president and Congress would not hesitate to violate our civil freedoms to defend our nation, implementing a national military draft. During the Vietnam War draft some did refuse to serve when drafted, including a former president, but several million did not. Why did most of us serve when drafted? Because we saw it as a duty of being a U.S. citizen. But in 2021, all that matters is what the individual wants, rather than what our nation and neighbors need. Require a mask or vaccination oh no, you can't violate our rights for that war. Around 47,434 American soldiers died during the 11-year Vietnam War. To date, the war against COVID, which has been going on for less than two years, has claimed at least 658,000 American lives. If any of us think we are not at war with this virus think again and think about what the death toll may be in another two years if we all don't start fighting this enemy. Paul Pieri, Houston After watching. President Biden address the nation regarding his mask mandates, Im sure he will manage the recent COVID surge with the same precision and aplomb as he did the Afghanistan troop withdrawal. Bob Fowler, Point Blank Zero emission bus fleet Regarding Metro commits to zero emission bus fleet, but gives itself years to transition from diesel, (Aug. 26): Last month Houston Metro voted to begin purchasing only zero-emission buses by 2030. The Environmental Defense Fund applauds Metros bold decision to prioritize a healthier, safer and cleaner world for our kids. The move to procure a zero-emission fleet is a necessary one in the self-proclaimed energy capital of the world, where a warming climate and extreme weather are now the norm. In the face of a hotter world, we cannot just turn our air-conditioners up. Electrifying buses is crucial for slashing harmful emissions from transportation, all while reducing costs. Houston has a persistent problem with unhealthy levels of ground-level ozone, or smog. The switch to electric buses will not only address the tailpipe pollution that leads to poor air quality in Houston communities, it will also dramatically decrease those harmful ozone and smog pollutants from Metros buses. Houstons action demonstrates the leadership needed to deliver on a safer climate, healthier air and smarter cities. Mayors are especially suited to marshal resources and direct departments to take similarly urgent action, as Mayor Turner has done. Leaders in Houston are listening, and the time is ripe for organizations, grassroots groups and other community organizers with ideas to come to the table. The conversation must go bigger, so every decision leads us forward. Theres no time to waste. Colin Leyden, Texas Political Director, Environmental Defense Fund Gov. Greg Abbott on Monday signed a bill into law that limits the ability of defendants to be released on cashless bail and provides judges with more information about their criminal histories when setting bail. The Republican-backed legislation was named after Damon Allen, a state trooper who was gunned down in 2017 while conducting a routine traffic stop. At a bill-signing ceremony in Houston on Monday morning, Abbott was joined by Allens widow, Kasey Allen, as he vowed that the new law would keep dangerous criminals behind bars and fix the broken bail system that allows defendants to walk free as they await trial. A Houston Chronicle investigation found that in 2020, more than 18,000 Harris County defendants were charged with new felonies and misdemeanors while out on bond, three times as many as in 2015. You have revolving-door releases of dangerous criminals back out onto streets who then go commit even more crimes, Abbott said. The Damon Allen Act makes it harder for dangerous criminals to be released from jail on bail. Abbott, a former civil district court judge in Harris County, made clear the bill was aimed at Houston, where he said there is a serious crime issuemore so than any other part of the state of Texas. He did not take questions from reporters after his remarks. TEXAS TAKE: Get political headlines from across the state sent directly to your inbox Democrats and civil rights groups that opposed the bill argue it will do little to curtail violent crime, as most people accused of murder while out on bond in Harris County had secured their release by paying bail, the Chronicle investigation found. The bills restrictions apply only to no-cost and low-cost bonds, meaning those who can afford to post bail will still be able to do so under the new law. The law would not have prevented Dabrett Black, the man charged with Damon Allens murder, from posting the $15,500 bond he had used to get out of jail after allegedly assaulting a deputy in Smith County earlier that year. But the Justice of the Peace who set Blacks bail later said he lacked information about Blacks criminal history, including a previous charge for assaulting an officer in 2015, that may have prompted him to set a higher bail amount. The new law would provide that information to judges and magistrates. Texas Constitution limits reach of reforms Republicans had also pushed for a constitutional amendment that they said would bolster the bail bill by allowing judges to deny bail outright if a defendant is accused of certain violent and sexual crimes. The Texas Constitution allows almost all defendants the right to be released on bail, expect for those charged with capital murder or certain other repeat offenses. The measure died after failing to secure the support of two-thirds of the Texas House, the required threshold for constitutional amendments. If approved by the Legislature, the amendment would have been subject to a statewide vote. The Bail Project, a nonprofit that bails defendants out of jail and advocates for the end of cash bail, said the bail law expands cash bail to the benefit of the bail bond industry and will only keep those in jail who cannot afford to post bail. This legislation will further entrench racial and economic disparities in Texas criminal legal system without addressing the safety concerns of communities, the organization said in a statement Monday. Nonprofits like The Bail Project would have been barred from helping certain defendants bail out of jail under a previous version of the bill, which allowed only religious groups and family members to bail more than three defendants out of jail within a six-month period. Republican House members stripped that provision, arguing that it seemed designed to steer defendants toward the for-profit bail bond industry and could leave the bill vulnerable to a legal challenge. State Sen. Joan Huffman, a Houston Republican and author of the legislation, has said many nonprofit bail donations come from out-of-state individuals who have no stake in our state or in our communities. Huffman has also suggested she may try to revive the nonprofit bail restrictions during a future legislative session. More scrutiny for judges Abbott and the other Republicans who appeared at Mondays bill signing including Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick and state Rep. Reggie Smith, who carried the bill in the House focused their fire on Harris County criminal court judges, accusing them of setting excessively low bail conditions that allow defendants to easily bond out. Today, unfortunately, as the governor said, we have many judges that ran as socialists, Patrick said. And they dont believe in protecting law enforcement. They dont believe in protecting our citizens. And its time we hold them accountable Weve had too many dangerous people let out of jail on bond who have gone on to kill again and commit serious crimes. The new law, most of which will take effect in January, establishes a statewide public database that will provide details about each defendants case and bail conditions, while identifying the judge or magistrate who set the bail. Supporters of the bill have touted that provision as a way of holding judges accountable if they are accused of setting low bail for a defendant who then commits a crime after bonding out. Under a key provision of the law, defendants will no longer be able to secure their release through no- or low-cost bonds if they are charged with a violent crime or if they are charged with a felony or a handful of other charges, including assault, while already out on bond. That portion of the law will take effect in early December. Criminal justice experts say Harris Countys massive backlog of criminal cases, which spiked after Hurricane Harvey and during the coronavirus pandemic, has left more defendants free as they await trial. Smith, R-Sherman, said some of the spike in crime from defendants out on bail stems from those delays, which have ground jury trials to a crawl even an outright halt in some courts. Opponents of the bail law argue it will exacerbate the backlog in Harris County and elsewhere by keeping defendants in jail who cannot afford to post bail, while continuing to allow those who can afford to pay bail to secure their release. If there are not consequences, Im not aware of a community that will respect the law, Smith said. And if youre not trying jury trials, and if defense lawyers and defendants do not know that their day in court is coming, then at what point will anyone have respect for the law? jasper.scherer@chron.com WASHINGTON As Republicans gear up to fight a $3.5 trillion spending package Democrats aim to pass this fall, theyre relying on a Texas congressman who has become the partys go-to guy to fight taxes. Thats what Grover Norquist, perhaps the nations leading anti-tax advocate, calls U.S. Rep. Kevin Brady, a Republican from The Woodlands who is making what may be his last stand in Congress, a cap on the retiring Republicans 24-year career spent pushing for low taxes and light regulations. Whenever there's a tax fight defense or offense, Brady was one of the first guys youd work with, Norquist said. Brady chaired the Ways and Means Committee as it drafted former President Donald Trump's income tax rewrite in 2017. Now he is a leading figure in the GOPs effort to tank the Biden budget that would undo key elements of those tax reforms by raising taxes on the wealthy and corporations. Brady is particularly leaning on Texas Democrats and calling publicly for their support as Republicans seek to peel off just enough moderates from the other party to sink the bill. The tax hikes Democrats are proposing, which by some estimates could total more than $140 billion in new taxes on oil and gas companies, will hit Texas, and especially Houston, harder than just about any other part of the country, he says. BORDER POLITICS: Texas Republicans Supreme Court win raises more doubt about Bidens immigration policy You only need four votes in the House to block these crippling tax hikes. Four of those votes are here in Texas, among Democrats who run for Congress as moderate, Main Street Democrats, Brady said in an interview with Hearst Newspapers. If the White House and Speaker Pelosi were coming for the auto industry, every lawmaker in Detroit would fight those tax hikes tooth and nail. Some Democrats are already starting to voice doubts about the spending package, even as party leaders press on. U.S. Reps. Henry Cuellar of Laredo, Vicente Gonzalez of McAllen and Lizzie Fletcher of Houston all signed a letter to House leadership raising concerns over some of the same new tax provisions. U.S. Rep. Stephanie Murphy, a Florida Democrat on the House Ways and Means Committee, said this week she would vote against the bills moving through the committee, saying the process has been too rushed, driven by politics rather than policy. TEXAS TAKE: Get political headlines from across the state sent directly to your inbox U.S. Sen. Joe Manchin, a West Virginia Democrat, has urged the party to hit pause. Texas Democrats have not yet gone that far, pointing out that they have yet to see the text of the spending bills and still dont know what will end up in the final package. Leery of targeting oil and gas Fletcher said she and her staff have been in a very constant dialogue with Democrats on the Ways and Means Committee who are crafting the tax provisions. Rep. Brady hasnt talked to me about it. If he had, he would know I have been working on these issues since this process began, Fletcher said. I cannot think of a day I havent been on the phone with my constituents or my colleagues talking about some of the various proposed pay-fors that are floating around out there. In a statement, Gonzalez said there is still a lot unknown about the package and said this is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to invest in our future and enhance the quality of life for millions of Americans. But he also voiced some reservations about the taxes on oil and gas. While I am eager to work with leadership and the current administration to address the challenges of our changing climate, we must get this right, Gonzalez said. Targeting Americas energy industry will not only harm our energy independence and supply, but it will force us to turn to other countries dirtier, less efficient oil and gas. Lets not forget in Texas alone, oil and gas supports over 2.5 million jobs, provides more than $251 billion in wages and contributed more than $411 billion to the states economy in 2019. We must not leave these workers behind. In 2020, Republicans had success in Texas warning of the damage Bidens proposals would have on the oil and gas industry, holding off Democrats advances in an increasingly competitive state and even making surprise headway into long-blue districts in South Texas. The state is more purple than before and Republicans like Congressman Brady are returning to bread-and-butter political issues to make sure Republicans can hold the line in 2022, said Brandon Rottinghaus, a political scientist at the University of Houston. Persuadable voters are moved by pocketbook issues, so talking about low taxes and protecting oil and gas jobs can shift the needle for Republicans in suburban districts where they have struggled to maintain control. Environmental advocates, however, say the tax hikes are an important part of the packages effort to shift America to clean energy, a move that a growing number of Texans support, in part because of how cities like Houston have become prime examples of the effects of climate change. Key for Bidens energy goals The spending package aims to meet Bidens goals of generating 80 percent of electricity from clean energy and lowering greenhouse gas emissions by 50 percent by 2030. This would be by far the largest step any country and certainly the U.S. has taken to tackle climate change, said Luke Metzger, executive director of Environment Texas, an environmental advocacy group based in Austin. Global warming is causing both loss of life but also extreme harm to our economy costing us billions of dollars in needing to repair destroyed homes and businesses, to harden defenses against extreme storms. Doing nothing is not an option. Thats going to cost billions or trillions of dollars to our economy. Polling suggests Texas voters are increasingly supportive of green energy. A January survey by the Hobby School of Public Affairs at the University of Houston found Texans overwhelmingly favor expanding solar power plants (69 percent) and wind turbine farms (63 percent). A substantial number of respondents also wanted to reduce coal mining (50 percent) and fracking (42 percent). Just 19 percent and 27 percent favored expanding coal mining and fracking, respectively. But Bradys warnings about oil and gas are just a piece of the broader messaging about the costs of the spending package that Republicans he leads on the Ways and Means Committee have been pushing. Biden has vowed not to raise taxes on families earning less than $400,000 and Democrats have so far remained focused on raising taxes on the wealthy and corporations. But Brady says changes to other tax provisions could cost small businesses, farmers and others. Hes been highlighting to people who gets hurt, how many people get hurt and thats why youre seeing Democrats begin to walk away, Norquist said. Brady is obviously the leading edge of making that case, said Frank Clemente, executive director of Americans for Tax Fairness, a progressive group pushing the spending bill. Hes kind of relentless, he kind of puts them he forces moderate Democrats who are afraid of the tax issue into a corner. Its a big PR machine that hes kind of the tip of the spear on. ben.wermund@chron.com The claim: In Afghanistan, all of the Americans who have wanted to come out have come out. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y. Schumer made claim on Sept. 3 as he discussed the rushed evacuations from Afghanistan after the U.S.-backed Afghan government and military fell to the Taliban. PolitiFact rating: False. the State Department has acknowledged that there are still somewhere around 100 American citizens who want to leave Afghanistan. Schumers office later said that he had misspoken. Discussion Schumer made the statement during an interview with a Syracuse ABC affiliate. Therell be a job for congressional oversight there always is, Schumer said. But at the moment, actually, Im still focused on trying to get some of those brave Afghans out. The Americans all of whom have wanted to come out have come out, praise God. But there are a lot of Afghans who risked their lives for our soldiers and others. Many got out, some didnt. And Im still working on trying to get some of them out. Schumer was wrong. On Sept. 7, Secretary of State Antony Blinken said that there are still somewhere around 100 American citizens who want to leave Afghanistan. Blinken was speaking from a news conference in Doha, Qatar, and he said the U.S. was working on additional flights to evacuate people from Afghanistan. On Sept. 6, U.S. Rep. Ronny Jackson, R-Texas, said four U.S. citizens from his district were part of the first successful ground evacuation since the U.S. left Kabul. Meanwhile, the current count of Afghans who want to leave but havent been able to evacuate yet is uncertain. However, as of late August, there were an estimated 250,000, according to estimates by nonprofits cited by the New York Times. Schumers office acknowledged his mistake. He misspoke and he regrets the confusion his comments have caused, Schumers office said in a statement to PolitiFact. He intended to say, as he has been saying, that the U.S. will get everyone out that wants to get out. And he will keep working with the Biden administration to help everyone who wants to get out. Subscribing to our services is a three step process. First you have to create an account and then you have to pick if you want to subscribe to digital and or print. Some people only want to be a digital subscriber to get access online and others want to also receive the print edition. If you are already a print subscriber and want online access, it is free, you simply have to create an online account and then attach your print subscription account number to the online account you create. Superintendent James Brosnan says some of the equipment in the advanced manufacturing technology classroom is higher than the industry standard. The improved ventilation is much more efficient. New workstations in the AMT shop have everything students need in one spot. The AMT classroom was also reimagined. The new smartboards come with hundreds of programs. Instructor Josh Meczywor put each of the standing desks together. In the IT shop there is a new coat of paint and new ceilings. Automotive was perhaps the grungiest of the shops just by the nature of the subject. The Tea Room now has an expanded classroom space. PreviousNext McCann Tech Unveils School Building Upgrades New teachers Mike Thoresen, Emily Turner, Kristen Jagiello, and Christian Chenail are welcomed by the School Committee. NORTH ADAMS, Mass. The Northern Berkshire Vocational School Committee took a tour of McCann Technical School and saw the many improvements made in the building over the summer. After the regularly scheduled committee meeting Thursday, Superintendent James Brosnan lead the tour and spotlighted some of the aesthetic and functional improvements. "There have been a lot of improvements over the summer, and I know you will all be impressed by what you see this evening," Brosnan said. The first stop on the tour was the school's entryway. Brosnan pointed out the leveled concrete and sidewalks that are now Americans with Disabilities Act compliant. "The first thing you see is the front entranceway so it makes a dramatic and safe opening for school," he said. He then pointed up to the ceiling spotlighting perhaps the centerpiece of the school projects, the overhauled energy recovery ventilation system running through the building "This summer every occupied space in the building had an ERV and new ventilation put in," he said. "It was a monster job." He said eight students were involved in the project over the summer and they worked alongside the contractor. "They loved it," he said. "They learned a lot." Brosnan lead the group into the advanced manufacturing technology shop and again pointed up to the new ductwork and improved system. He said the system is much quieter and efficient. In the actual classroom, Brosnan said the workstations have been reorganized. "Everything they need and everything they are going to need they have right in a cabinet," he said. He said in the AMT classroom and lab, which has also been reorganized, students are working with equipment that is, in some cases, higher than the industry standard. In the computer-assisted drawing classroom, instructor Joshua Meczywor previewed the new smartboard-equipped classroom that allows students to collaborate and save presentation materials directly to their computers. He said they can now simulate design meetings in the room. Brosnan said they have just tapped into the surface of what the smartboards can do. He said the school has two more boards on the way. In the shop, Meczywor showed the School Committee the new fleet of standing desks that allow students to move around a bit while they work. "Our advisory board talked a lot about ergonomics and that is a big movement in our industry so if a student does not want to sit all day they can stand up," he said. "They go pretty high." Meczywor said when they need to discuss something, all of the desks can drop to the same level with the push of a button. He said they also have implemented gaming headsets at each workstation and students can interact in a classroom server. He said he encouraged student interaction and this allowed them to do so during the pandemic. He said the Freshmen exploratory class is the most productive he has had and noted a few students have admitted the school workstations are better than their own gaming rigs. He said the workstations, which can all be monitored and controlled form his desk, are more advanced than the industry standard. The next stop was information technology and Brosnan said the yellow walls have been repainted and the entire classroom was reorganized "It opens up the space and cleans the area," he said. "Students like it and it increases capacity." Brosnan was especially excited about automative and admitted it had been the dingiest of the shops. "Students are coming in who want to be in the automotive industry," he said. "Now they are looking at this space and saying this is an environment I can learn in. This was the grungiest place we had. Not because of neglect, just 40 years of nothing." The shop is freshly painted and Brosnan said was deeply cleaned. He said new workstations are on the way. "This is one of the bigger projects that had a bang and makes everyone feel good," he said. In the Tea Room, Brosnan said a back wall that used to be the boys change room was blown out to make more classroom space. He pointed to a newly poured floor in the storage space and new chairs. Brosnan didn't venture a guess of the total investment. He said ESSER, or federal Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief, funds were used to overhaul the ventilation system. The school was also able to pull from grants and existing funds to complete various projects. "This school is ready to go and ready to serve people in a nice environment they will appreciate," he said. "Alums, some of the chairs and the places where you sat are gone, sorry. But these will be here for another 50 years." The actual School Committee meeting lasted all of 15 minutes. Principal Justin Kratz said the school year started off without a hitch. "We have only been back a few days, and it feels like we have been back a month already," he said. "... It has been really awesome and the kids are excited to be here." The School Committee also welcomed a group of four new teachers: Mike Thoresen Titles: advanced manufacturing Instructor Emily Turner: acience Kristen Jagiello: English Physical education and health: Christian Chenail. "The organization is the people and the students have quality instruction in the classroom and I cant think of better people to do that," Brosnan said "Congratulations and welcome to the team." Thoresen and Chenail are alumni. Brosnan wished longtime employee Maureen Senecal a happy retirement. "What you have done for this school and for me and everybody else is beyond words," he said. Senecal, who works in the superintendent's office, has been with McCann for more than 39 years. Interim leadership of the museum will be shared by Chief Engagement Officer Hilary Dunne Ferrone, Chief Experience Officer Craig Langlois, and Chief Operating Officer Miriam Kronberg. Jeff Rodgers Steps Down as Berkshire Museum Executive Director PITTSFIELD, Mass. Jeff Rodgers stepped down as Executive Director of the Berkshire Museum on Sept. 10, 2021, after two and a half years in the position. "Thanks to the hard work of many, the museum has made tremendous progress. We are financially secure, deferred maintenance issues have been addressed, and we have just celebrated the re-opening of our second-floor galleries and learning spaces after extensive renovations," Rogers said. "The strength of the museum's current position makes my decision easier." Rodgers was the provost and chief operating officer of the South Florida Museum in Bradenton, Fla. Rodgers was appointed in 2019 . Prior to the appointment, Board of Trustees President Ethan Klepetar expressed gratitude on behalf of the board for Rodgers' contributions. "Jeff has led the museum in a steady, thoughtful manner that has set the organization on a path to a brighter future, and his creative insights have laid the groundwork for exciting improvements in development today," he said. "He has built a strong leadership team around him which will now confidently share interim leadership of the museum as the staff continue to create innovative new programs and experiences for our community and carry on partnerships Jeff has built with other community organizations that have strengthened the Berkshires cultural community." The Berkshire Museum's Board of Trustees will engage a search firm to assist with a national search for a new director. Interim leadership of the museum will be shared by Chief Engagement Officer Hilary Dunne Ferrone, Chief Experience Officer Craig Langlois, and Chief Operating Officer Miriam Kronberg. In the penultimate series of TV sitcom Silicon Valley, chastened startup geek Richard Hendricks pivots his troubled company Pied Piper to focus on inventing a new, decentralised internet. The fictional company even dedicates a section of its website explaining its mission to rid the Web of a slew of unwanted side effects fake news, data collection, and constant surveillance to name a few. I thought of Hendricks audacious plan when talking recently to Anshu Sharma, CEO of Skyflow, a Silicon Valley startup about his plan to fix a similar area for the internet and Web in the shape of privacy. Sharma has an interesting CV. Educated in the Bengali city of Kharagpur, India, he came to the US to take a Masters in Computer Science before joining Oracle for nine years, initially hacking code and rising to group product manager for SaaS before leaving for Salesforce in 2008 to become VP of product management. In 2014, he learned new tricks as a partner at Storm Ventures funding enterprise SaaS newcomers. Malaysias parliamentary speaker Azhar Arizan Harun announced on September 8, the new government led by prime minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob will continue to restrict media outlets from attending parliament when it resumes on September 13. The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) and its affiliate, the National Union of Journalists Peninsular Malaysia (NUJM) urge the Malaysian government to allow equal access to the in-house parliamentary proceedings. Malaysias parliament resumed session on September 13 and will sit until October 1, with only 16 media outlets allowed to attend. It is unclear how media outlets were chosen or ruled out from being eligible to attend parliament. Malaysias parliament also restricted journalists from attending in-person last year and more recently in the July special session, citing the risk of Covid-19 infection. This is the first parliamentary session since the resignation of prime minister Muhyiddin Yassin on August 9 and the appointment of Ismail Sabri as the new prime minister on August 20. According to Malaysias constitutional monarch, King Al-Sultan Abdullah, Sabri was appointed rather than elected due to the countrys Covid-19 outbreak. Over the last month, Malaysias Covid-19 case numbers have continued to surge despite 65 per cent of Malaysian adults being fully vaccinated and four months of restrictions. In a joint statement, the NUJM, Centre for Independent Journalism Malaysia (CIJ) and the Gerakan Media Merdeka (GERAMM) called on the Malaysian government to allow media organisations to self-regulate and allow parliamentary press organisations to make a plan to share parliamentary media coverage. The statement said: We call upon the Speaker to explain the reasoning if any on why selected media companies are specifically not allowed to physically cover the proceedings They need to justify their reasons by allowing access to selected media and for fairness, should only allow coverage for official media instead. The IFJ said:In a time of political instability, it is essential that the Malaysian government allows equal access to parliament to prevent unbiased reporting and ensure a strong independent media. The IFJ urges the new government to allow Malaysias media organisations to decide how they will share access to covering Malaysias parliament. Mark Cuban gave every entrepreneur something they need right now: a pep talk. In a keynote at the U.S. Small Business Administration's National Small Business Week Virtual Summit 2021, the Shark Tank star and owner of the Dallas Mavericks gave four tips for entrepreneurs to succeed during the pandemic and beyond, from dealing with cybersecurity threats to artificial intelligence. "Running a small biz is never easy, but we chose this life," he said. 1. Be agile It's no secret that pivoting has gotten a lot of businesses through the pandemic. While no one could have seen Covid-19 coming, Cuban said, continuing to adapt to it is what helps you keep going: "Learn new things because learning is your skill set." 2. Communicate honestly and authentically Last week, Cuban said, a company he is involved with got hacked. Someone clicked on a bad link, fell victim to a phishing scam, and the company lost $500,000 from its Shopify account. So what do you do in a situation like that? "You have to be honest, you have to communicate, and you have to go back to work," he said. He advised the company to be transparent with everyone affected while working to deal with the problem. In challenging times, you might have supply chain issues, anxiety about the pandemic, or employee issues (as does everyone else), but people will respect you the most if you're authentic and honest with them about what's going on, Cuban said. If they respect you, they'll want to work with you again, he added. 3. Love your product Sales is hard, but it's also fundamental to every business, Cuban said. The tricks to making one more cold call when you feel like you just can't sell anymore are to tell yourself that every no brings you nearer to a yes, and to love your product. If you have that love and think what you're selling will improve the lives of others, you can easily find the necessary motivation--and provide a positive model for other employees and salespeople in your company. 4. Keep up with the future Thankfully, smoking inside the office went out of fashion years ago, but now that many people are working from home, can you ban smoking at home during business hours? The largest Japanese brokerage firm, Nomura, implemented a new policy prohibiting employees from smoking during the workday, even when they are working from home. According to the Financial Times, some employees feel like this is an attempt to get rid of smoking breaks. But, whatever the reason, it's super weird and super intrusive. But, could you do it with your business in the US? If it's not prohibited by law, go right ahead. Legislatures haven't made laws detailing all the dumb things you shouldn't do, and, for the most part, prohibiting employees from smoking while working at home has not been prohibited. Of course, it gets a bit sticky because 29 states have smokers' rights laws. Employment attorney Jon Hyman, a partner with Wickens Herzer Panza, says you probably "could" except in states that prohibit discrimination against smokers. Still, he askes, how are you going to enforce it. "Unless you're installing cameras in an employee's home to watch how they are spending their time, how will know if an employee lights up during working hours. And, if you are going to go so far as to install those cameras and actively monitor?" Employment attorney Daniel A. Schwartz, a partner with Shipman & Goodman LLP, concurs: "Policies like this one seem within the realm that employers can do. Most state laws only prohibit employers from regulating smoking outside working time. As such, employers need to consider whether they "should" do this versus "can."" So, as a general rule, you can, but these two employment attorneys both would not advise their employees to do so. It's a job hunter's market. The "Great Resignation" is in full swing. If you follow Nomura's example, what will happen to your recruitment and retention strategies? Granted, there are fewer smokers per capita in the US than in Japan, but at 17.25 percent of adults, that's a pretty large number of people. But, it's not just the smokers that such a policy would turn off. I don't smoke, yet, I wouldn't want to work for a company that wants to tell me what I can or cannot do in my own home. I would find it far too invasive. And as Attorney Hyman points out, how will you monitor this? Smoking wastes time and costs companies money, but this is a cure worse than the disease. There is no question that smoking is bad for you. You're even allowed to charge smokers more for their health insurance if you have a wellness plan--but that doesn't actually help people quit smoking. Treating smokers who take time to smoke differently than people who step away, get a snack, check the mail, or do a load of laundry, is unlikely to increase productivity. And, if your remote workers are salaried exempt (not eligible for overtime payments), you should only be looking at their success and not how many times they step away from their work. You'd probably be better off supporting smokers who want to quit. The one reasonable thing about a smoking ban Indiana Jones fans have reacted to unverified reports that Phoebe Waller-Bridge is being considered to take over the franchise from Harrison Ford. Ford has played daring archaeologist-adventurer Dr Henry Indiana Jones Jr for four films 1981s Raiders of the Lost Ark, 1984s Temple of Doom, 1989s The Last Crusade and 2008s Kingdom of the Crystal Skull and is reprising the role in another forthcoming sequel. Waller-Bridge is also set to appear in Indiana Jones 5, playing one of Joness sidekicks. However, a report by The Mail has claimed that the Fleabag star could take over the lead role from Ford, with her character becoming a female version in the same mould. The report cited unnamed sources as saying that studio boss Kathleen Kennedy was looking to make big, bold changes, adding: It would be a huge statement, and a great role for Phoebe. A spokesperson for Kennedy declined to comment on the rumour. However, regardless of the truth of the claim, fans of the franchise made their thoughts about the casting known on social media. I think she would be awesome, wrote one commenter. This made me squeal.. literally squeal, wrote another Twitter user. Others were more critical about the prospect, with one person simply writing: NO NO NO NO NO. Phoebe Waller-Bridge is a very talented actress, so why is Kathleen Kennedy trying to get her to replace an iconic male character? wrote someone else. Let her play her own original person instead of rebooting everything. Indiana Jones is Harrison Fords gig. Indiana Jones 5 is expected to be released in July 2022. Little Ellen, a new animated series, focuses on a seven-year-old version of Ellen DeGeneres. The show is one of four programmes included in a deal between the talk show host and HBO Max. Produced for children, Little Ellen explores the world through the eyes of a hilarious and unpredictable seven-year-old Ellen DeGeneres, according to a description released by the streaming service. Similarly to her real-life counterpart, Little Ellen lives in New Orleans (DeGeneres is from Metairie, a suburb of New Orleans), where she takes big risks and makes big mistakes, but shes always able to laugh at herself and bounce back when things dont go as planned. DeGeneres is an executive producer on the show, which will consist of 40 episodes lasting roughly 11 minutes. The first eight instalments are available on HBO Max in the US. A review by the Los Angeles Times called the show fairly conventional, but very appealing and easy to recommend. The real-life DeGeneres is currently hosting the 19th season of her talk show, which will also be its last. Last year, The Ellen DeGeneres Show was the subject of an internal investigation over claims that it was a toxic work environment. DeGeneres has since apologised on air for things that shouldnt have happened, telling viewers: My intention is to always be the best person I can be. And if I've ever let someone down, if I've ever hurt their feelings, I am so sorry for that. Little Ellen is streaming on HBO Max in the US, with a UK release date yet to be announced. Viewers of Good Morning Britain have likened Richard Madeley to Alan Partridge as the presenter returned to guest-host the show. Madeleys presenting style has been compared to Steve Coogans comedy creation in the past, with his mannerisms and tone sometimes inadvertently echoing the fictional Norfolk-based DJ. Appearing on GMB earlier today (13 September), Madeley discussed his summer holiday to France, with his wife Judy Finnigan. After co-host Susanna Reid asked whether he had had a good time, Madeley replied that his wife hadnt spoken to him for two days when they were away after a blunder with the packing. I think Id have been in less trouble if Id had an affair, he joked. On social media, fans were quick to remark about the similarities with Alan Partridge. Madeley full on Partridge this morning, wrote one viewer. Still not sure where Richard Madeley stops and Alan Partridge begins, wrote another. Whenever Richard (Partridge ) Madeley co hosts GMB , I sit there waiting for him to shout AHAAAA. He never does, joked someone else. Another Twitter user wrote: I dont understand how Richard Madeley gets more and more like Alan Partridge as every year goes by. Good Morning Britain airs every weekday on ITV from 6am. Friends of Doctor Who actor Tanya Fear are appealing for help after she went missing in California. The British performer, who also goes by Tanyaradzwa, was last seen on Thursday (9 September) in the Hollywood Bowl area of Los Angeles. Fears disappearance was confirmed by her manager Alex Cole, who said that her family had reported the incident to the police. This was confirmed by a police spokesperson, although no additional details were given. Cole said that the actor best known for playing Dr Jade McIntyre in the 2018 Doctor Who episode Arachnids in the UK has been in LA for around two months and had been performing stand-up comedy in the area. Fears last Instagram post from 30 August showed her performing on stage at the HaHa Comedy Club. Her manager added that they had last spoken to Fear who also had roles in Kick-Ass 2 and Endeavour eight days ago to discuss work and that she had seemed fine, with news of her disappearance coming as a shock. Fear in 2017 (Nick Harvey/Shutterstock) In an appeal poster shared online, Fear is described as being 53 in height, weighing 140lbs and having brown eyes, black hair and a curly afro. Last seen on 9/9/21 in the Hollywood Bowl Area. IF SEEN PLEASE CALL (626)232-8616, the poster reads. Her cousin tweeted that Fear had been wearing a short-sleeved brown collared fitted top with a few buttons at the top and black and red flannel trousers or shorts. The image was widely shared on social media, with comedian Aisling Bea appealing for help and writing that Fears loved ones are very worried. Lovesick star Antonia Thomas retweeted the poster, writing: Have you seen Tanya? Chinese universities are battling with an enormous influx of parcels as students return to campus because of coronavirus rules that make it difficult for them to transport personal belongings themselves. Photographs of drop-off points shared to social media show hundreds of rows of boxes waiting to be claimed as well as parcels piled high outside university buildings. Administrators at Jian Qiao University in Shanghai explained that the tidal wave of parcels their campus experienced came about as a result of Covid-19 rules that make it difficult for private vehicles to approach student housing, according to The South China Morning Post. Students are believed to have had their belongings shipped to them or else have bought new items to furnish their rooms while the campus remains sealed off to prevent a virus outbreak. The resulting parcel ocean blocked roads throughout the area, the paper reported. Student took to social media site Weibo to express their disbelief with the enormous piles of boxes surrounding their university. When I arrived at the pickup station, I was shocked by the number of parcels. It was laughable, one wrote. Theres no place to put your feet, another wrote, adding that trying to claim parcels was like entering a battlefield. Other universities in China have also experienced influxes of parcels. Chen Sheng, a deliver manager in the city of Ningbo, responsible for sending packages to eight colleges in the Zhejiang province, told the Ningbo Evening News that he had sent off at least 5,000 parcels a day in September more than double the usual amount. A fourth-year student at Zhejiang Wanli University told the paper that he sent his things to the university because delivery services are inexpensive and more convenient than moving things myself. China has responded to Covid-19 outbreaks with localised testing and lockdowns. In August, millions of residents including in Beijing were confined to their homes after the Delta variant reached more than 20 cities. North Korea said on Monday it had successfully launched its first strategic long range cruise missile as part of a series of tests, stoking international concern over what analysts say is likely to be a weapon with nuclear potential. In the tests staged over the weekend, the North Korean missiles travelled and hit targets at a distance of 1,500km (930 miles), according to the state-run Korean Central News Agency (KNCA) a range that would make it capable of hitting much of Japan. The US military expressed concerns over the missile tests, saying they posed threats to the countrys neighbours and beyond. This activity highlights DPRKs continuing focus on developing its military programme and the threats that poses to its neighbours and the international community, the US Indo-Pacific Command said in a statement, referring to the Norths official name, Democratic Peoples Republic of Korea. Japan said it was extremely concerned following the tests. Katsunobu Kato, Japans chief cabinet secretary, said North Korean missiles of such range would pose a serious threat to the peace and safety of Japan and its surrounding areas. He said Tokyo was working closely with Washington and Seoul to gather information on North Koreas latest tests, but said there was no immediate indication that the weapons entered Japans exclusive economic zone. The North Korean state media reports said the missiles were fired following two years of research, that they changed their trajectories and flew in pattern-8 flight orbit for two hours before hitting the target and falling into the Norths territorial waters. North Korea hailed the cruise missiles strategic significance, boasting that the country now possess[es] another effective deterrence means for more reliably guaranteeing the security of our state and strongly containing the military manoeuvres of the hostile forces. North Korea is banned from developing and testing ballistic missiles by a series of resolutions from the United Nations Security Council. The cruise missile tests are allowed but remain a matter of concern among observers as the North continues to expand its military capabilities amid prolonged deadlock in nuclear talks with the United States. This was North Koreas first missile test since March, when it launched a new tactical short-range ballistic missile. Seoul residents watch a news show featuring a North Korean handout photo captioned, North Koreas long-range cruise missiles tests (AP) South Koreas military said that they were conducting a detailed analysis of the North Korean launches based on intelligence inputs from both South Korea and Japan. Calling the tests provocative, Leif-Eric Easley, associate professor of international studies at Ewha Womans University in Seoul, said North Korea calling it a strategic weapon implies an intention to fit a miniaturised nuclear warhead on it. If that is the case, then the test is deserving of an international effort to strengthen sanctions. However, Pyongyang may be calculating that Washington will take a weaker approach, given strained US relations with China and Russia and those countries general opposition to increasing sanctions, Prof Easley said. The test launch came ahead of US president Joe Bidens nuclear envoy Sung Kims scheduled visit to Tokyo to meet his Japanese and South Korean counterparts this week. Prof Easley said the meeting was to focus on creative ways of diplomatically engaging Pyongyang. But now a trilateral statement is needed that mentions sanctions and defence co-operation while calling on North Korea to practise military restraint, resume dialogue, and accept humanitarian assistance for alleviating the suffering of its people, he added. Ankit Panda, an international security expert and author of a book on Kim Jong-uns nuclear capabilities, said: This would be the first cruise missile in North Korea to be explicitly designated a strategic role... a common euphemism for a nuclear-capable system. The missile test followed a military parade that was attended by Mr Kim last week to celebrate the 73rd anniversary of the countrys foundation. It was seen at the time by analysts as a significantly less assertive display by a nation which often uses such parades to show off its military power. Mr Kim did not attend the latest test launch but it was staged in the presence of his close aide Pak Jong Chon, according to state media reports. In January, during a congress of the ruling Workers Party, Mr Kim doubled down on his pledge to bolster his nuclear deterrent in the face of US sanctions. He boasted of new sophisticated assets, including longer-range intercontinental ballistic missiles, nuclear-powered submarines, spy satellites and tactical nuclear weapons. Mr Kim also said then that his national defence scientists were developing intermediate-range cruise missiles with the most powerful warheads in the world. Amid rumours that he could be dead, the leader of Al-Qaeda has appeared in a video released on the 20th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks. In an hour-long speech, Ayman al-Zawahiri who succeeded Osama bin Laden following his death in 2011 praised al-Qaeda attacks, including one that targeted Russian troops in Syria in January, according to the SITE Intelligence Group, which monitors jihadist websites. The footage, produced and reportedly released by Al-Qaedas official media arm As-Sahab, offers the first new glimpse of Mr al-Zawahri since rumours that he had died from illness first emerged late last year. But rather than dispel talk of his death, the video could actually fuel further speculation with the events referenced within his speech only offering proof that he was alive until January, according to the monitoring group. While Mr al-Zawahiris speech noted the US militarys withdrawal from Afghanistan after 20 years of war, first confirmed in February 2020 under the Doha agreement, he made no mention of the Talibans takeover of Afghanistan and the capital Kabul last month. The omission appears conspicuous by its absence given that, according to SITEs director Rita Katz, Al-Qaeda is celebrating celebrating the Talibans takeover as their biggest victory since 9/11. Mr al-Zawahiri did, however, mention an attack which targeted Russian troops on the edge of the northern Syrian city of Raqqa on 1 January this year several weeks after rumours of his death first re-emerged in November. While rumours of his death have re-circulated every few years, experts have said that Mr al-Zawahiri is not in good health, the Times of Israel reported. Al-Qaedas leadership did not comment on the reports of his possible death when they first emerged in November, from analysts including from the founder of New Lines magazine Hassan Hassan, who cited sources close to the group. According to Ms Katz, intelligence agencies have, as of yet, offered no proof or solid assessments that he is dead. The footage on Saturday came as supporters of rival terror group Isis challenged Al-Qaeda to prove Mr al-Zawahiri is still alive, Ms Katz said, amid a concerted online propaganda push by jihadists aligned with both groups to mark the anniversary of 9/11. The day before the video featuring him was released, SITE reported that Al-Qaedas media arm also published an 852-page book, supposedly written by Mr al-Zawahiri, on the history of political corruption in Muslim history. While the Taliban reportedly released many of Al-Qaedas senior operatives from imprisonment at Bagram Air Base when it took over the US military compound last month, US president Joe Biden has appeared to seek to downplay the threat posed by the group. Look, lets put this thing in perspective here," Mr Biden said in a speech on 20 August, five days after Kabul fell to the Taliban amid the Nato withdrawal. What interest do we have in Afghanistan at this point with al-Qaeda gone? We went to Afghanistan for the express purpose of getting rid of al-Qaeda in Afghanistan, as well as getting Osama bin Laden. And we did. But this week, US defence secretary Lloyd Austin warned that Al-Qaeda may attempt to regenerate in Afghanistan, telling reporters that the US has put the Taliban on notice that we expect them not to allow that to happen. The Taliban has officially announced that women in Afghanistan will not be allowed to attend classes at the university level with men and institutions will have to segregate classes based on gender with the syllabus due for review. The move has sparked fears women will be alienated from the education system as rights activists and students point out universities may not have the resources to carry out these changes. The ultra-conservative regime had earlier said that co-education will be banned under the new government. On Saturday, the new higher education minister of the Taliban government, Abdul Baqi Haqqani, officially announced the change and laid out a series of rules that will govern womens access to higher education in Afghanistan. Speaking at a press conference, Mr Haqqani said women and men will no longer study in the same class. We have no problems in ending the mixed-education system, he told reporters. Female students will also only be allowed to be taught by women professors. He added that the subjects being taught at universities would be reviewed. Earlier, the Taliban announced that the women attending universities will have to follow a strict Islamic dress code and wear an Abaya (robe) and Niqab (face cover that only leaves space for the eyes). Many universities that opened this month in the war-torn country followed the pre-emptive rules and divided classes with curtains. Taliban's acting Higher Education Minister Abdul Baqi Haqqani gives a press conference in Kabul (Anadolu Agency via Getty Images) Attempting to put across a more progressive veneer, the minister said the situation this time had changed greatly from the last Taliban rule -- where women were barred from education completely. Compared to the past the number of educational institutions have increased dramatically, Mr Haqqani said. This gives us hope for a future, prosperous and self-sufficient Afghanistan... we will continue from where they were left. Rights activists and female students have expressed worries that the new rules may still end up alienating women from the education system in Afghanistan, and eradicate the progress made in the last two decades. Krishma Feda, an attorney and womens rights activist in Nangarhar province, told The Independent that the segregation rules will end up being a discouragement for universities and female students. The number of girls in public and private universities is lower than of men, so most faculties are unable to separate classes. They want to teach the female students by female lecturer, but universities dont have enough female lecturers to solve this problem immediately, she said. The responsibility of government is providing environment for everyone of this society, not establishing restrictions, she says. Ms Feda also argues that the Talibans claims of providing rights to women according to Islamic Sharia law is also a guise for pushing their own stringent code. Islam gives us many rights, she said, adding that the Taliban are making laws by their own choices for females that will be never acceptable. Many Muslim countries let boys and girls study together. I did my higher education in a public university with the boys and I did not see any problem in this environment, she added. Where are the female professors? Where will you hire women from if you dont let them study? Aqilah Ebrahimi, a postgraduate student The Taliban minister in his address said people will accept the end of co-education. The people are Muslims and they will accept it, Mr Haqqani added while announcing new rules. However, female students say their freedom is being curtailed with these rules. I studied here for one and half years in Kabul and in my class of 60-70 students, 25-30 were women, says Aqilah Ebrahimi, a postgraduate student, as she worries about her future and her sisters who is pursuing her undergraduate degree. Now everyone is waiting to see whether they will be able to attend universities or not. Mr Haqqani also insisted in the presser that there were enough female teachers to teach female students and, where they were not available, alternatives could be found without breaching rules. It all depends on the universitys capacity, he said. We can also use male teachers to teach from behind a curtain, or use technology. However, Ms Ebrahimi also echoes the concerns of other activists. Where are the female professors? she asks, Where will you hire women from if you dont let them study? Ms Ebrahimi says by ending co-education, the Taliban government is ending the prospects of women having a job or work in a normal world. You can divide classes but no companies hire only women, she says. How will we work without having to interact with men at all? Your colleagues and bosses could be males. As a student who has studied both at an Afghan University earlier and an Indian university, Ms Ebrahimi says not letting girls study with the opposite gender is going to have a lasting impact on them. I studied in an all-girls school but when I got to college, I felt shy in interacting with boys, it was a big problem. There should be no discrimination between genders, people should be able to study and work with each other. But the Taliban have this mindset against women, they think women should not interact with any man outside their family... I just dont understand that. She says her resolve for moving to another place has been cemented by the new rules. Taliban regime is not good for women, and also for society, because women make the half of the society, she adds. A New York cybersecurity company is to set up a new technology centre in Belfast creating 100 jobs. Agio provides artificial intelligence tech for the financial services sector. Nineteen of the roles a team of tech engineers have already been filled. The additional roles, which will be filled over the next five years, will be a mix of home-based positions and jobs located at Agios new tech centre at Urban HQ. Stormont business support agency Invest NI has offered 650,000 to support the project, which will generate 4.5 million worth of annual salaries to the economy. The move represents somewhat of a homecoming for Agios chief revenue officer, Garvin McKee, who is originally from Northern Ireland. Weve got great customer feedback on their experience with our Belfast engineers, he said. We are confident that a Northern Ireland base will continue to add excellent talent to our service organisation. L-R Garvin McKee, Agio Chief Revenue Officer, Kevin Holland, Invest NI CEO, and Gordon Lyons, NI Economy Minister, chatting outside of Invest NI in Belfast. Minister Lyons announces New York company Agio to create 100 jobs. PA Photo. Picture date: Monday September 13 2021. See PA story ULSTER Jobs. Photo credit should read: Liam McBurney/PA Wire The company operates a follow the sun model so it can provide a 24/7 service to customers from employees based at locations around the world. Mr McKee made clear that the investment was not influenced by Brexits Northern Ireland Protocol, as the services sector in which Agio operates is not covered by that trading arrangement. Economy Minister Gordon Lyons welcomed the announcement at Invest NI HQ in Belfast on Monday morning. He said Agio will add to the growing cluster of FinTech companies operating in Northern Ireland. Agios investment here will add to our pool of expertise, and will lead to the creation of 100 high-quality technology jobs over the next five years, he said. Investment such as this will play an important role in building our economic recovery. Invest NI chief executive Kevin Holland said: Weve been working with Agio since 2019 to showcase our local tech talent through introductions to universities, colleges and existing investors. I am delighted that this has led to investment in Northern Ireland. It is clear that technology will play a significant part in Northern Irelands growth, and this project will make an important contribution to the ICT sector as we move forward post-pandemic. A record high percentage of college students claimed to have used marijuana in 2020, according to a study. Roughly half of university students reported consuming cannabis in 2020. Along with the spike in marijuana use comes a drop in the percentage of students reporting that they consumed alcohol during the same period, according to findings from Monitoring The Future, a report from the National Institute on Drug Abuse Since 1980, the government group has looked at drug consumption among people ages 19 to 22. For the latest installment, they spoke to 1,550 young people between March and November 2020, the first six months of the pandemic. Among the many discoveries about peoples drug habits, the most notable was that 44 per cent of university students said they used cannabis in 2020. Back in 2015, 38 per cent of students said they had. The studys senior investigator has suggested that the pandemic contributed to the changes. The Covid-19 pandemic dramatically changed the way that young people interact with one another and offers us an opportunity to examine whether drug taking behavior has shifted through these changes, Director of NIDA, Dr Nora Volkow, said in a statement. Moving forward, it will be critical to investigate how and when different substances are used among this young population, and the impact of these shifts over time. According to the report, admissions of daily or near daily cannabis use went up. Five years prior, it was at 5 per cent, while in the most recently study, it was 8 per cent. Concurrently, the use of alcohol went down. In 2019, the amount of people using it stood at 62 per cent. It dropped to 56 per cent in 2020. College students who reported being drunk within the past month went from 35 per cent to 28 per cent. Binge-drinking levels sank to 24 per cent from 32 per cent. For the purposes of the study, binge-drinking is defined as having five or more alcoholic drinks in one day, once every two weeks. While the study does not speculate on why these levels have changed, experts have attempted to explain the findings. John Schulenberg, a psychology professor at the University of Michigan, said the dip in alcohol usage might be explained by younger people connecting alcohol with socialising. We clearly see that young people use alcohol as something to be taken at parties and gatherings. With the pandemic, those werent happening, so the alcohol intake and binge-drinking dropped, he said, according to The Washington Post. Dr Volkow also suggested that the boredom and stress caused by the pandemic also contributed. The pandemic seems to have actually made marijuana into an alternative to escape the monotony of isolation, she told the Post. The Independent contacted NIDA for further comment. North Korea said it successfully tested its first strategic new long-range cruise missile over the weekend, stoking renewed concerns among US allies in South Korea and Japan by boosting arsenal capabilities that can strike targets in east Asia. The new missile is capable of hitting targets at a distance of 1,500km (930 miles), according to the state-run Korean Central News Agency (KNCA) a range that would make it capable of hitting much of Japan. The test launch came just a day ahead of a meeting between chief nuclear negotiators of the US, Japan and South Korea to work out a plan to break the stand-off with North Korea. Chinas foreign minister will also visit Seoul. The Met Gala or Metropolitan Museum of Art Costume Institute Benefit, as its officially known is arguably the social event of the year. A black-tie extravaganza that takes place on the first Monday in May every year, the party signals the opening of the Costume Institutes a department of the museum which boasts a collection of more than 33,000 costumes and accessories annual show with a parade of well-dressed guests posing on the grand entrance stairs to the museum. This year, the Met Gala took place on Monday 13 September after it was delayed due to the pandemic, while last years event was cancelled altogether. The gala might be a charity event, and primarily be about raising funds, but that doesnt mean just anyone gets to attend. Since 1995, the guest list has been carefully presided over by American Vogue editor Anna Wintour and this year is no different. Heres everything you need to know about the Met Galas guest list, from who is attending this year to how you can get an invite. Best Met Gala Dresses Of All Time Show all 26 1 /26 Best Met Gala Dresses Of All Time Best Met Gala Dresses Of All Time Diana Vreeland, 1981 The legendary former Vogue editor attends the Met Gala in a black polka dot gown. Rex Features Best Met Gala Dresses Of All Time Bianca Jagger, 1993 Celebrating the 'Diana Vreeland: Immoderate Style' exhibition. Rex Features Best Met Gala Dresses Of All Time Naomi Campbell, 1995 The model attended with Francesco Scavullo to celebrate the Metropolitan Museum of Art Costume Institute's 'Teatre de la Mode' exhibition. Rex Features Best Met Gala Dresses Of All Time Iman, 2003 The Somali-American model attended with husband David Bowie. Rex Features Best Met Gala Dresses Of All Time Nicole Kidman, 2003 The Australian actress wore Gucci to the Gala, which she attended with actor Adrien Brody. Rex Features Best Met Gala Dresses Of All Time Anna Wintour, 2003 The American Vogue editor arrived for the celebrations with Tom Ford. Rex Features Best Met Gala Dresses Of All Time Scarlett Johansson, 2004 The actress wore Calvin Klein. Rex Features Best Met Gala Dresses Of All Time Sarah Jessica Parker, 2006 The Sex and the City star attended with Alexander McQueen, wearing one of his iconic heritage check designs. Rex Features Best Met Gala Dresses Of All Time Elizabeth Hurley, 2006 The British actress wore Elie Saab couture. Rex Features Best Met Gala Dresses Of All Time Kate Bosworth, 2007 The actress wore Prada. Rex Features Best Met Gala Dresses Of All Time Cameron Diaz, 2007 The actress wore Dior by John Galliano. Rex Features Best Met Gala Dresses Of All Time Victoria Beckham, 2008 The fashion designer opted for a vintage Giorgio Armani gown while David Beckham wore an Armani tuxedo. Rex Features Best Met Gala Dresses Of All Time Kate Hudson, 2009 The Hollywood actress wore Stella McCartney. Rex Features Best Met Gala Dresses Of All Time Kate Moss, 2009 The British icon attended with Marc Jacobs, donning one of his metallic designs. Rex Features Best Met Gala Dresses Of All Time Alexa Chung, 2010 The TV presenter and model wore an androgynous suit by Philip Lim. Rex Features Best Met Gala Dresses Of All Time Taylor Swift, 2010 The singer donned a sequinned white gown by Badgley Mischka. Rex Features Best Met Gala Dresses Of All Time Sienna Miller, 2010 The British actress attended with boyfriend at the time, Jude Law, wearing a navy Pucci gown. Rex Features Best Met Gala Dresses Of All Time Diane Kruger, 2010 The actress wore Calvin Klein. Rex Features Best Met Gala Dresses Of All Time Kendall Jenner, 2014 The reality TV star made her Met Gala debut in a bespoke Topshop gown. Rex Features Best Met Gala Dresses Of All Time Cara Delevingne, Rihanna, Stella McCartney, Kate Bosworth and Reese Witherspoon, 2014 The five beauties all wore gowns by Stella McCartney. Rex Features Best Met Gala Dresses Of All Time Miley Cyrus and Zoe Kravitz, 2015 For the opening of the China: Through the Looking Glass exhibition, which was the subject of the documentary The First Monday in May, the two US starlets both donned gowns by Alexander Wang. Rex Features Best Met Gala Dresses Of All Time Beyonce, 2015 The singer sparkled in a sheer Givenchy gown. Rex Features Best Met Gala Dresses Of All Time Kim Kardashian West, 2015 Arriving with husband Kanye, the reality TV star wore a gown by Roberto Cavalli. Rex Features Best Met Gala Dresses Of All Time Lady Gaga, 2015 The 'Joanne' singer wore Balenciaga. Rex Features Best Met Gala Dresses Of All Time Gigi Hadid The model wore a gown designed by Tommy Hilfiger. Rex Features Best Met Gala Dresses Of All Time Rihanna, 2017 The singer wore Comme des Garcons. Rex Features How much does a ticket cost? Tickets go for $30,000 (23,000), while tables cost 275,000 (211,000). Only those who have pass Wintours approval will get an opportunity to attend the $3.5m (2.69m) event. While this is a monumental amount of money, as a fundraising event, its for a good cause. All of the money from ticket sales is donated to the Costume Institute, which is the only department of the Met Museum that has to fund itself. In 2018, it was reported that just over 12m was raised. So, can anyone who can afford a ticket go? Unfortunately not. Unlike other charity events, the Met Gala is invitation only and there is a waiting list to get a ticket. According to The New York Times, invitations are typically based on a persons status. So, if youre the latest model, muse or major talent in the world of fashion, film or music, youre pretty much guaranteed the opportunity to buy a seat. While companies can buy entire tables at the event, Wintour still has the final say over every invitation, so brands cant always choose who sits at their table. How many people attend the Met Gala? In 2017, it was reported that 550 people attended the event. However, that was a more intimate affair with the theme: Rei Kawakubo/Comme des Garcons: Art of the In-Between. In 2018, the Heavenly Bodies exhibition was the biggest the Costume Institute had produced to date, with around 58,600 square feet, stretching over three galleries. Who is invited this year? The tradition is that every year a number of designers and celebrities are selected to co-chair the event alongside Wintour. For 2019, Wintour selected singer Lady Gaga, tennis champion Serena Williams, singer Harry Styles and Gucci designer Alessandro Michelle as her co-chairs. It is rumoured that Gaga or Styles will perform on the night. Along with the co-chairs, the event also has a host committee which is made up of the a number of well-known names. This years hosts are actor Timothee Chalamet, musician Billie Eilish, poet Amanda Gorman, and tennis star Naomi Osaka, while honorary chairs are Tom Ford, Adam Mosseri, and Anna Wintour. Others invited included Serena Williams, Channing Tatum, Maisie Williams, and Lil Nas X. Every year, on the first Monday of May one of the most significant events in the fashion calendar takes place the Met Gala. Last March, it was announced that 2020's Met Gala had been postponed indefinitely due to the coronavirus pandemic, having previously been scheduled to take place on Monday 4 May. It was later cancelled. Despite the fact that this years Met Gala was also postponed, it will now take place on Monday 13 September. While in the past the Metropolitan Museum of Art Costume Institute Benefit as the Met Gala is officially known has attracted the likes of supermodels, Hollywood A-listers and fashion royalty, it has also seen a number of real royals grace its famous grand entrance stairs. Princess Beatrice the elder daughter of Prince Andrew, Duke of York, and Sarah Ferguson, Duchess of York joined the likes of Kim Kardashian West, Rihanna and Blake Lively at 2018s event, which had the theme Heavenly Bodies: Fashion And The Catholic Imagination. For the occasion, 30-year-old Beatrice wore a violet Grecian-style ball gown courtesy of Alberta Ferretti. 10 times the royals attending the Met Gala Show all 10 1 /10 10 times the royals attending the Met Gala 10 times the royals attending the Met Gala Princess Diana, 1996 Princess Diana attended the 1996 Met Gala alongside friend and former Harper's Bazaar editor Liz Tilberis. The royal wore a navy blue camisole dress from John Gallianos debut couture collection for Dior and a pearl, diamond and sapphire choker around her neck. AFP/Getty Images 10 times the royals attending the Met Gala Princess Lee Radziwill, 2001 Lee Radziwil, the younger sister of Jackie Kennedy, attended the Met Gala in 2001 wearing a flowy white gown with intricate embroidery. Getty Images 10 times the royals attending the Met Gala Andrea Casiraghi, 2006 Andrea Casiraghi - the elder son of Caroline, Princess of Hanover - attended the Met Gala in 2006 with his now wife, Tatiana Santo Domingo. Getty Images 10 times the royals attending the Met Gala Queen Rania of Jordan, 2007 Queen Rania of Jordan made an appearance at the Met Gala in 2007 wearing a navy silk gown featuring a wide black belt. Getty Images 10 times the royals attending the Met Gala Charlotte Casiraghi, 2016 Charlotte Casiraghi - the daughter of Caroline, Princess of Hanover - attended the event in 2016 wearing a tiered floor-length dress by Gucci. The colourful gown featured an ombre effect from canary yellow to fuschia pink and purple. Getty Images 10 times the royals attending the Met Gala Princess Maria-Olympia of Greece, 2016 Socialite Princess Maria-Olympia of Greece attended the Met Gala in 2016 wearing a cream strapless mini-dress by Balmain with pointed thigh-high boots. 10 times the royals attending the Met Gala Queen Rania of Jordan, 2016 In 2016, Queen Rania of Jordan was the definition of elegance as she attended the Met Gala in a black and white feathered Valentino gown. Getty Images 10 times the royals attending the Met Gala Princess Elisabeth Von Thurn Und Taxis, 2016 Princess Elisabeth Von Thurn Und Taxis - the daughter of Princess Gloria von Thurn und Taxis - attended the Met Gala in 2016 wearing a gold mini-dress by Mary Katrantzou. The royal accessorised her look with a metallic choker, matching handbag and feather ear piece. Rex Features 10 times the royals attending the Met Gala Princess Elisabeth Von Thurn Und Taxis, 2017 Princess Elisabeth Von Thurn Und Taxis also attended the Met Gala the following year wearing a pale pink overcoat designed by Simone Rocha. The garment was covered in 3D floral embellishment and paired with red square toe heels. Rex Features 10 times the royals attending the Met Gala Princess Beatrice, 2018 For her first time attending the Met Gala in 2018, Princess Beatrice wore a purple floor-length gown designed by Alberta Ferretti. The dress featured sheer sleeves, a high neck and embellishments across the bodice. Beatrice accessorised the look with a beaded headband and gunmetal silver clutch bag. Getty Images But she wasnt the first royal to attend the glamorous event. In 1996, Princess Diana made her mark at the Met Gala wearing a navy slip dress designed by John Galliano for Dior and a seven-strand pearl necklace with sapphires and diamonds. Other royals from across the globe have also attended the gala over the years, including Queen Rania of Jordan, Princess Maria-Olympia of Greece and Monacos Charlotte Casiraghi. Click through our gallery to see all the royals who have attended the Met Gala. The first Monday of May traditionally marks one of the most significant fixtures in the fashion calendar the annual Met Gala. Held at the Metropolitan Museum of Art's Costume Institute, each guest invited to attend the event is carefully chosen by Vogue editor-in-chief Anna Wintour. While this year's Met Gala was due to take place in May, it was postponed due to the coronavirus pandemic. Now, it will take place on Monday 13 September. Whenever the Met Gala is held, there are certain guidelines that guests will be expected to follow should they want to stay in Wintour's good books. From an age restriction to a ban on selfies, here are five of the unexpected rules put into place at the Met Gala: No selfies One would think that all who attend an event as glitzy as the Met Gala would be forgiven for taking the odd photograph to capture special moments of the occasion. Met Gala 2018: Heavenly Bodies Show all 50 1 /50 Met Gala 2018: Heavenly Bodies Met Gala 2018: Heavenly Bodies Rihanna went all in on the Catholicism theme wearing custom Maison Margiela AFP/Getty Met Gala 2018: Heavenly Bodies Madonna poses alongside Jean Paul Gaultier, the designer of her gothic Met Gala gown AFP/Getty Images Met Gala 2018: Heavenly Bodies Supermodel Bella Hadid wears a glossy latex corset by Chrome Hearts Official x Gareth Pugh, topped with a sculptural cape Getty Met Gala 2018: Heavenly Bodies Katy Perry incorporated the theme with oversized wings, a Versace chainmail dress and thigh high boots Getty Met Gala 2018: Heavenly Bodies Black Panther's Chadwick Bosemanan wears an all-white Versace outfit with religiously inspired embellishments, gold shoes, and a cape Getty Images Met Gala 2018: Heavenly Bodies Priyanka Chopra wears Ralph Lauren Getty Met Gala 2018: Heavenly Bodies Solange Knowles opted for a structural black Iris van Herpen dress and a halo headpiece with a black du-rag Met Gala 2018: Heavenly Bodies Lily Collins wears a black Givenchy gown and coordinating gothic makeup Getty Met Gala 2018: Heavenly Bodies Kate Bosworth wears an ethereal Oscar de la Renta gown topped with a mantilla veil Getty Met Gala 2018: Heavenly Bodies Vogue editor Anna Wintour wears a custom Chanel gown featuring a halter neck and intricate beading Getty Met Gala 2018: Heavenly Bodies Frances McDormand wearing a Versace gown and Philip Treacy headpiece, Pierpaolo Piccioli, and Anne Hathaway sporting a Valentino Couture red ballgown AFP/Getty Met Gala 2018: Heavenly Bodies Ariana Grande poses alongside Vera Wang, the designer of the singer's debut Met Gala gown Rex Features Met Gala 2018: Heavenly Bodies Nicki Minaj wears a red Oscar de la Renta gown and bejeweled headpiece PA Met Gala 2018: Heavenly Bodies Blake Lively wears Versace to the Met Gala PA Met Gala 2018: Heavenly Bodies Sarah Jessica Parker and Andy Cohen wear Dolce & Gabbana Getty Met Gala 2018: Heavenly Bodies Kim Kardashian stunned in a liquid gold Versace dress with cross embroidery Reuters Met Gala 2018: Heavenly Bodies Jennifer Lopez wears a bejewelled Balmain gown with cross detailing while Alex Rodriguez opted for a polished black suit PA Met Gala 2018: Heavenly Bodies Tracee Ellis Ross wears a bright pink gown with a matching jacket by Michael Kors Rex Features Met Gala 2018: Heavenly Bodies Amal Clooney wears a Richard Quinn corset dress and navy trousers while husband George Clooney opted for a traditional black tuxedo REUTERS Met Gala 2018: Heavenly Bodies Lana Del Rey wears an elaborate Gucci gown and bird halo headpiece REUTERS Met Gala 2018: Heavenly Bodies Sean 'Diddy' Combs wears a Musika Frere suit while Cassie opted for Thom Browne with Chopard earrings Getty Met Gala 2018: Heavenly Bodies Miley Cyrus wears plunging black dress by Stella McCartney and Sydney Evan custom hoops with a large cross Getty Met Gala 2018: Heavenly Bodies Cynthia Erivo opted for a Valentino gown, Sophia Webster shoes and bejewelled brows Getty Met Gala 2018: Heavenly Bodies Power couple Helen Lasichanh and Pharrell Williams both dressed in Chanel for the annual gala PA Met Gala 2018: Heavenly Bodies Winnie Harlow wears an all-white Tommy Hilfiger dress with a dramatic train PA Met Gala 2018: Heavenly Bodies Donatella Versace, who was co-host for the event, opted for an ornate navy and gold dress of her own design AFP/Getty Met Gala 2018: Heavenly Bodies Elon Musk wears a white tuxedo and Tesla pin, while Grimes opted for a black dress and Tesla choker AFP/Getty Met Gala 2018: Heavenly Bodies Lily Aldridge and Rosie Huntington-Whiteley walked the red carpet together, both wearing Ralph Lauren Collection gowns AFP/Getty Images Met Gala 2018: Heavenly Bodies Atlanta-based trio, Migos, wear sequinned Versace suits EPA Met Gala 2018: Heavenly Bodies Contributing Editor of Vogue Thailand, Nichapat Suphap, wears custom Peter Dundas AFP/Getty Met Gala 2018: Heavenly Bodies Anya Taylor-Joy wears a gold tapestry Dolce & Gabbana dress PA Met Gala 2018: Heavenly Bodies Janelle Monae wears a monochrome Marc Jacobs gown with a crystallised head wrap and Stephen Jones hat PA Met Gala 2018: Heavenly Bodies Rapper Cardi B opted for a custom Moschino gown alongside designer Jeremy Scott REUTERS Met Gala 2018: Heavenly Bodies Eiza Gonzalez wears a black Prabal Gurung gown with a white cape AFP/Getty Met Gala 2018: Heavenly Bodies Cara Delevingne wears a dramatic all-black Dior Haute Couture dress and beaded veil REUTERS Met Gala 2018: Heavenly Bodies Lewis Hamilton wears an all-white ensemble designed by Tommy Hilfiger AFP/Getty Images Met Gala 2018: Heavenly Bodies Rita Ora wears an all-black embellished ensemble by Prada EPA Met Gala 2018: Heavenly Bodies Amanda Seyfried wears a romantic Renaissance-style gown by Prada AFP/Getty Met Gala 2018: Heavenly Bodies Amber Heard paired a Carolina Herrera scarlet gown with a gold halo headpiece REUTERS Met Gala 2018: Heavenly Bodies Lena Waithe made a powerful pride statement with a sparkly rainbow cape worn over a sleek black suit PA Met Gala 2018: Heavenly Bodies Kylie Jenner wears a black Alexander Wang gown with semi-sheer heels and micro sunglasses PA Met Gala 2018: Heavenly Bodies 2 Chainz (kneeling) proposed to Kesha Ward on the red carpet, both wearing custom Versace AP Met Gala 2018: Heavenly Bodies Doutzen Kroes wears a colourful Sies Marjan dress AFP/Getty Met Gala 2018: Heavenly Bodies Supermodel Gigi Hadid wears a Versace gown with stain glass window-inspired detail PA Met Gala 2018: Heavenly Bodies SZA wears a frothy Atelier Versace gown and a headpiece by Chrishabana AFP/Getty Met Gala 2018: Heavenly Bodies Diane Kruger accessorised her Prabal Gurung gown with a custom Philip Treacy head piece REUTERS Met Gala 2018: Heavenly Bodies Andrew Garfield wears a velvety pink tuxedo jacket by Tom Ford PA Met Gala 2018: Heavenly Bodies Paris Jackson and Miley Cyrus both opted for gowns by designer Stella McCartney PA Met Gala 2018: Heavenly Bodies Vanity Fairs contributing editor, Amy Fine Collins, wears a custom design by Alice + Olivias Stacey Bendet Eisner AFP/Getty Met Gala 2018: Heavenly Bodies Emilia Clarke wearing a Dolce & Gabbana gown Getty However, in 2015, it was reported that use of social media had been banned from the event, in order to clamp down on celebrities spending the majority of the evening on their phones. "The use of phones for photography and social media will not be permitted inside the gala," a notice sent to all guests stated. The apparent selfie ban at the Met Gala didn't stop reality star Kylie Jenner from taking a large bathroom selfie at the event in 2017. No under 18s allowed In 2018, it was revealed that the Met Gala had decreed a new age restriction. This meant that high-profile individuals under the age of 18 were no longer allowed to attend the event. "I can't go, because I'm not old enough," 16-year-old model and dancer Maddie Ziegler told The Hollywood Reporterwhen asked whether she would be present on the coveted Met Gala red carpet. While it was initially suspected that the new age restriction had been introduced due to the 2018 Met Gala theme "Heavenly Bodies: Fashion and the Catholic Imagination", a spokesperson for the event confirmed that the decision had been made because "it's not an appropriate event for people under 18". No smoking inside the museum In 2017, celebrities including Bella Hadid, Dakota Johnson and Marc Jacobs were pictured smoking cigarettes in the bathroom at the Met Gala. That same year, it was reported that board members and donors of the event had expressed their dismay over guests smoking at the event, with one saying it was "disrespectful to the art collection". According to Page Six, following the complaints, guests at the 2018 Met Gala were informed that it was "illegal to smoke in the museum". It was allegedly mentioned on the event's invitations that smoking at the event was strictly banned. In 2003, a ban on smoking indoors in New York City in locations including office buildings, bars and theatres was enforced by then-mayor Michael Bloomberg. No onion breath Following the Met Gala red carpet, guests at the event are treated to a cocktail hour and a formal dinner. According to The New York Post, certain food items are purposely omitted from the menu at the request of Wintour herself. A former Vogue employee told the publication that parsley is banned to avoid the risk of the herb getting stuck in people's teeth. Neither onion or garlic is served at the event, so as to avoid any bouts of bad breath, whilst bruschetta isn't offered to guests in case of any food spillages on extravagant ensembles. In 2016, model Karlie Kloss had her floor-length Met Gala gown cut into a mini dress for the after-party following a red wine spill on the white fabric. The strict seating arrangements Wintour is very particular about where her Met Gala guests sit on the night of the event. In the 2016 documentary The First Monday in May, which details the degree of planning that goes into the occasion, the director of special projects at Vogue, Sylvana Ward Durrett, explained that a lot of "power-brokering" goes into the seating plan. "A lot of thought goes into who sits next to who, if they sat together last year, if they've sat next to each other at other events, so much goes into it, it's shocking," Ward Durrett said. According to Ward Durrett, spouses are never seated next to each other. "The whole point of these things is to meet new people, and to be interested in what others are doing. What's the point if you come here to hang out with your husband?" she added. Afghan women are sharing photographs of themselves in traditional clothing on social media after the Taliban proposed new rules on womens education and dress this weekend. On Sunday 12 September, the Talibans higher education minister, Abdul Baqi Haqqani, announced that the countrys universities will be segregated by gender and an Islamic dress code will be made compulsory. According to Reuters, Haqanni said hijab religious veils would be mandatory for women, but he did not specify if this meant a hijab which covers only the head, or a niqab which also covers the face. The announcement comes after a demonstration by women who support the Taliban at Kabuls Shaheed Rabbani Education University on Saturday. During the pro-Taliban rally, hundreds of women were photographed wearing black niqabs and carrying small Taliban flags. Their appearance has sparked a social media campaign from other Afghan women, who insist that black burqas and the niqab are not part of Afghan culture. On Sunday, historian and gender specialist, Dr Bahar Jalali, posted a picture of herself on Twitter wearing a traditional Afghan dress. While the dress is modest it is floor length with full-length sleeves and a high neck it is also colourful and the entire head, hair and hands are visible. The skirt and arms are crafted from a bottle green silk, and the torso is pink and maroon with green and purple embroidery. The tweet, which has since been liked more than 15,000 times, quickly inspired other Afghan women to share photographs of their own dresses. Traditional Afghan outfits comprise of a long-sleeved dress with a full skirt, known as a kamiz or firaq, and loose trousers called partug. Black attire, Burqa, and Niqab are not and never been part of the Afghan Culture, Zahra Sultani, an Afghan refugee in Canada said, alongside a picture of herself and three other women. Heres a few different types of traditional Afghan attire for women. Its colourful, modest, practical, and more importantly beautiful, she said. In the photograph, she wears a deep purple and pink outfit embroidered with flowers and a statement silver necklace. The other women also wear traditional outfits in bold colours such as green, red and pink. One Afghan journalist, Waslat Hasrat-Nazimi, also shared a photograph of herself wearing a traditional headpiece. Unlike the black niqabs worn by women at the demonstration on Saturday, her headpiece is colourful and adorned with gold tassels and metallic sequins. In the picture she wears it with a blue and orange kamiz and a matching gold necklace. Me wearing traditional Afghan attire in Kabul. This is Afghan culture and this is how Afghan women dress, she said. UK labour councillor Peymana Assad also took part, tweeting a picture of herself in a colourful outfit. Our cultural attire is not the dementor outfits the Taliban have women wearing, she said. The latest announcement from the Taliban comes after the all-male regime announced in August that women would be allowed to work and study but within the framework of Islam. On Sunday, Haqqani said those attending university will only be taught by other women. When there is really a need, men can also teach (women) but in accordance with sharia, they should observe the veil, he said, suggesting that universities could ask women to wear the niqab. One of Britains biggest companies was involved in negotiations to pay Robert Mugabe hundreds of thousands of dollars shortly before his re-election, according to new evidence. Leaked documents allegedly suggest British American Tobacco (BAT) was linked to a conspiracy to pay between $300,000 and $500,000 to the former Zimbabwean leaders Zanu-PF party to get three men released from jail in return. At the time, BAT was paying Forensic Security Services (FSS), a South African private security contractor, to carry out secret surveillance on rival companies, according to a joint investigation by BBC Panorama, the Bureau of Investigative Journalism and the University of Bath. FFS allegedly paid a local firm to spy on a Savanna Tobacco factory - owned by the husband of Mugabes niece - in 2012 but the company was caught and three directors were charged in connection with illegal surveillance, the investigation claims. According to the joint investigation, an internal memo shows BAT was told to donate the huge sum of money to Zanu-PF to have the men released. One man working on behalf of BAT, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told BBC Panorama he bribed a number of Zimbabwean government officials to secure a meeting to discuss the mens case. An internal memo seen by those involved in the investigation revealed a Zimbabwean official suggested that, given the upcoming elections, a donation to Mugabes party would help the situation. The three men were released days later and the charges were officially dropped after two months. However, the investigation did not uncover any evidence that BAT paid the alleged bribe, and the company has denied all of the allegations. It is not the first time BAT has been caught up in allegations of corruption. British American Tobaccos offices in London (Toby Melville/Reuters) In 2015, another Panorama investigation uncovered evidence suggesting the company had been bribing senior politicians and civil servants in Africa in a bid to sabotage anti-smoking laws. And in 2017 it was revealed the business and its subsidiaries were being investigated by the Serious Fraud Office amid suspicions of corruption. British American Tobacco strongly denied the allegations made in the BBC Panorama and Bureau of Investigative Journalism probe. A spokesperson for the company said: We emphatically reject the mischaracterisation of our conduct by some media outlets. Acting responsibly and with integrity underpins the foundations of our culture and values as a company. BAT is committed to the highest standards of corporate conduct and transparency wherever we operate. BAT has long been committed to fighting the global criminal trade in illicit tobacco. As part of those efforts, BAT has sought to assist national law enforcement agencies in providing support and, in the past, intelligence on suspected illicit operators. These efforts in combating illicit trade have been aimed at helping law enforcement agencies in the fight against the criminal trade in tobacco products with the aim of countering the seriously detrimental effects that illicit trade has on society. The allegations being made regarding BATs anti-illicit trade activities have been covered extensively in various news media over several years. In 2016 BAT made public that it was investigating allegations of misconduct and was liaising with the UK Serious Fraud Office (SFO). BAT fully co-operated with the SFOs subsequent investigation. In January 2021 the SFO announced that, following extensive investigation and a comprehensive review of the available evidence, it had closed its investigation into BAT, its subsidiaries and associated persons, without charge. BBC Panoramas Dirty Secrets of the Cigarette Business will air on BBC One at 7.30pm on Monday. The government should stop increasing taxes on businesses and jobs, as it risks derailing the economys recovery from the pandemic, the head of the Confederation of British Industry is expected to say in a speech on Monday. Tony Danker, director general of the CBI, will call on the government to rethink the tax burden it is placing on businesses or face a self-defeating halt to investment in the UK. While companies across the country had been ready to shoulder some of the costs arising from Covid-19, the government is now going too far with its latest plan to increase national insurance contributions, Mr Danker is expected to say in a speech at the Alliance Manchester Business School. After the pandemic, we in business believe that we should pay our fair share to tackle the debts of Covid, his speech will note. That is why many business leaders accepted the jaw-dropping six-point corporate tax increase announced in March. But there is a real risk now that the government will keep turning to business taxes to carry the load. Choosing national insurance for social care funding is the latest example. And I am deeply worried the government thinks that taxing business perhaps more politically palatable is without consequence to growth, Mr Danker is expected to say. Its not. Raising business taxes too far has always been self-defeating as it stymies further investment. Instead, the government should flip its approach and rather than tax businesses more heavily, it should reward those who choose to invest in the future of the UK economy. The speech comes ahead of the Conservative and Labour party conferences and this autumns Budget, which is set to cement the governments plans to increase national insurance contributions by 1.25 percentage points, an increase of around 10 per cent for workers on lower incomes. Under government plans this will become a separate health and social care levy in future tax years. According to the think tank, the Institute for Fiscal Studies, this will bring the UKs tax take to its highest-ever sustained share of the economy. Businesses also pay national insurance contributions on their workers salaries, and the step has provoked a backlash among industry groups who believe the tax hike is coming amid too many other pressures on employers in the wake of the pandemic and as the furlough scheme comes to an end. The response from the social care sector has been mixed, too. Several experts have questioned how much of the levy will go towards care costs rather than being diverted to the NHS. Mike Padgham, chairman of the Independent Care Group, described Mr Johnsons announcement as a damp squib and told The Independent last week, that he feared the extra funding would get swallowed up by the NHS. Its not clear how the money is going to be ring-fenced for adult social care so it gets to local authorities on the frontline, he said. Mr Danker is also set warn against short-term signals, such as consumer spending, offering too sunny a picture of the long-term problems facing the UK economy. Looking forward, its clear that consumption is likely to rage in the short run. Consumers have saved and will spend. So, watch the news in coming months and youre likely to feel that things are going well. But unless investment catches up, rather than falls behind, that story will be short-lived. British ports look set to miss imminent Brexit deadlines, after confused advice from government and amid a global supply chain crunch risking hundreds of millions in lost taxes for the exchequer. The government is under fire from ports for a lack of guidance about where different kinds of goods will need to be brought into the country just three months before physical checks are due to be introduced. Port operators also say they are struggling to physically build the infrastructure needed for these checks because of global supply chain shortages for building materials and labour. A government spokesperson stressed that businesses should prepare for new checks, but declined to give a timeframe by which they should do so. The first physical checks, including in-person checks on animal products and security checks on other goods are due to come in on 1 January. Other paperwork, such as export health certificates for milk, are still supposedly scheduled for October, and these two deadlines were previously shifted from July and April respectively. Last week, The Independent revealed legislation to allow a delay for certificates for meat imports had already been laid before parliament. Now, two major port operators, who asked not to be identified, told The Independent they were in the dark about how to meet shifting government demands, and said they now believe it will be impossible to build the necessary infrastructure by the end of the year. From 1 January, ports and nearby administration hubs called Border Control Posts are meant to be ready to process a host of physical checks on foods and animal and plant products. This is a huge operation, industry groups warn, as it will entail considerable new bureaucracy for the nearly 28 billion worth of EU foods imported to the UK each year. Meanwhile, other customs checks will need to be carried out at separate sites known as inland border facilities. Further delays to these processes means fewer taxes are likely to be collected on goods. The governments decision not to impose full customs procedures from 1 January, 2021, would cost at least 800m, Jim Harra, the most senior civil servant in HMRC, told MPs. That was before deadlines due in April and July were shifted to October and January. There are also wider negative implications for the public purse from a reduction in net trade with the EU. This was equivalent to a loss of around 0.5 per cent of GDP in the first three months of this year, the Office for Budget Responsibility estimated. The EU, meanwhile, introduced full customs requirements on exports from Great Britain from 1 January, 2021. However, despite the economic imperative, port operators and a UK government official familiar with border preparations, speaking on condition on anonymity, have described a picture of chaotic official guidance and mounting cost pressures in the face of global shortages of materials from steel to cement. The situation is so severe, some leading retailers and port operators now expect deadlines in January and October to be moved well into next year. So far, a senior member of the business community said, the government has consistently prioritised the flow of goods, including food, over customs procedures. With shortages of some foods and acute supply chain disruption already widely reported, the same official familiar with border planning cited above said it was unlikely the government would take any steps that might further challenge food supplies. One major food retailer said they did not believe that shortages could be over by Christmas, as the PMs spokesperson suggested last week, if, as planned, the additional checks are introduced in January. A Number 10 spokesperson said: Businesses should continue to prepare for new import checks and we are working closely with port authorities, devolved administrations, and traders to prepare for these checks. They added: We intend to have facilities operational for the introduction of physical checks and we are working at pace with our partners to deliver this. The spokesperson did not, however, specify a date for the introduction of physical checks. One port operator complained of building check points, only to have to demolish them weeks later, following a change to security advice from government. They and another operator added that the governments port infrastructure fund was oversubscribed and will not cover the costs of building works. Other industry groups whose members import food, including the British Meat Processors Association (BMPA), said that the government had still not laid out which check points would oversee imports of which foodstuffs. The lack of clarity throws businesses ability to map out the logistical support for their supply chains into doubt. Peter Hardwick, policy advisor for the BMPA, said: There may be ports in the UK which are not considered to be official points of entry for products of animal origin but at the moment we have not been told which ports are for which products. He added that he believed Border Control Points were some way off being fully up and running. Meanwhile the government has on several occasions revised its requirements of each port, including slashing the amount of cut flowers several ports should prepare to process, while increasing the levels of poultry. Its like theyre putting their fingers in the air to get numbers, one operator said. The confirmation from industry of severe delays to get customs infrastructure ready for major trade deadlines comes after The Independent revealed last week that the government had laid legislation in order to delay red tape on imports of chilled meat from the EU to the UK. Now, industry bodies and port operators are questioning whether all such requirements known as Sanitary and Phytosanitary checks should all be delayed for a third time. Meanwhile, a government website designed to give updates to the public and industry about inland border facilities shows no confirmation of planning approval, or timelines for completing building work at a host of sites, as it is meant to do. Tim Morris, chief executive of the UK Major Ports Group, told The Independent: For the port operators developing border facilities on site to allow the rapid flow of trade its been a really frustrating process. Weve experienced shortfalls in government funding and continual changes in requirements from Departments and agencies. Mr Morris said ports were doing all they could do get facilities ready in time, but if the government doesnt stop moving the goal posts now and start providing more clarity on a level playing field for cost recovery then readiness for 1 January could be at risk. Local politicians and a Welsh government source said that a range of sites required to facilitate customs checks had not yet received planning permission. Welsh ports are crucial hubs for trade between Great Britain, Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland. A planned facility in Dover has also been delayed. It was slated to be finished by mid-2021 but in March, Kent County Council said it should be finished by early 2022. HMRC has yet to submit a new application detailing updated plans to Dover Council. Local Green Party leader Sarah Gleave said there was very little sign of building at the site. Defra is still in negotiations to purchase land for its site. Close Health Secretary refuses to rule out another lockdown Sajid Javid today refused to rule out the possibility of future lockdowns, telling the BBC it would be irresponsible for any health minister in the world to do so. Asked if a winter shutdown was likely, Mr Javid acknowledged that no one wants to see another lockdown but said it would be careless for him to say that this or that is 100 per cent ruled out. It comes after Boris Johnson declined to rule out a face-mask mandate and vaccine passports as part of a plan B to tackle a potential infection surge this winter. Elsewhere, data obtained through FoI requests by the PA news agency shows the Scottish government wasted a total of 4,448 doses of Covid vaccine in the week ending 1 August, and a massive 34,026 between February and July. The Scottish government responded by saying that given the scale of the Covid-19 vaccination programme, some vaccine wastage has been unavoidable for a variety of reasons, which allegedly include issues with storage, expired doses and specific clinical situations where there may be some dose loss. The average person doesnt need a COVID-19 booster yet, an international group of scientists including two top U.S. regulators wrote Monday in a scientific journal. The experts reviewed studies of the vaccines' performance and concluded the shots are working well despite the extra-contagious delta variant, especially against severe disease. Even in populations with fairly high vaccination rates, the unvaccinated are still the major drivers of transmission" at this stage of the pandemic, they concluded. The opinion piece, published in The Lancet, illustrates the intense scientific debate about who needs booster doses and when, a decision the U.S. and other countries are grappling with. After revelations of political meddling in the Trump administrations coronavirus response, President Joe Biden has promised to follow the science. But the review raises the question of whether his administration is moving faster than the experts. The authors include two leading vaccine reviewers at the Food and Drug Administration, Drs. Phil Krause and Marion Gruber, who recently announced they will be stepping down this fall. Among the other 16 authors are leading vaccine researchers in the U.S., Britain, France, South Africa and India, plus scientists with the World Health Organization which already has urged a moratorium on boosters until poor countries are better vaccinated. In the U.S., the White House has begun planning for boosters later this month, if both the FDA and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention agree. Advisers to the FDA will weigh evidence about an extra Pfizer shot Friday at a key public meeting. Georgetown University's Larry Gostin said the paper throws gasoline on the fire in the debate about whether most Americans truly need boosters and whether the White House got ahead of scientists. Its always a fundamental error of process to make a scientific announcement before the public health agencies have acted and thats exactly what happened here, said Gostin, a lawyer and public health specialist. The FDA did not respond to requests for comment Monday morning. The U.S. already offers an extra dose of the Pfizer or Moderna vaccines to people with severely weakened immune systems. For the general population, the debate is boiling down to whether boosters should be given even though the vaccines are still offering high protection against severe disease possibly in hopes of blocking milder breakthrough infections among the fully vaccinated. Last week, CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky said new data showed that as delta surged, the unvaccinated were 4.5 times more likely than the fully vaccinated to get infected, over 10 times more likely to be hospitalized and 11 times more likely to die. Still, government scientists are also weighing hints that protection is waning among older adults who were vaccinated early last winter. The writers of Monday's commentary reported reviewing worldwide studies since delta began surging, mostly of U.S. and European vaccines. The team concluded none of these studies has provided credible evidence of substantially declining protection against severe disease. Because the body builds layers of immunity, gradual drops in antibody levels don't necessarily mean overall effectiveness is dropping "and reductions in vaccine efficacy against mild disease do not necessarily predict reductions in the (typically higher) efficacy against severe disease, they wrote. The more the virus spreads, the more opportunity it has to evolve into strains that could escape current vaccines. The Lancet reviewers suggest there could be bigger gains from creating booster doses that better match circulating variants, much like flu vaccine is regularly updated, than from just giving extra doses of the original vaccine. There is an opportunity now to study variant-based boosters before there is widespread need for them, the scientists wrote. ___ The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institutes Department of Science Education. The AP is solely responsible for all content. The leader of the militant Hezbollah group said Monday the first tanker carrying Iranian fuel to Lebanon has arrived in a Syrian port and the diesel will be shipped to Lebanon by tanker trucks later this week. The arrival of the tanker comes nearly a month after Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah said the group will start bringing fuel from Iran in an attempt to ease a crippling fuel crisis that Lebanon has been experiencing for months. The delivery, organized by the Iran-backed group, violates U.S. sanctions imposed on Tehran after former President Donald Trump pulled America out of a nuclear deal between Iran and world powers three years ago. The arrival of the Iranian tanker carrying fuel destined for Lebanon comes days after a new government was formed ending a 13-month deadlock. Lebanon's new Prime Minister Najib Mikati has not commented on the deal to import fuel from Iran. Nasrallah said in a televised speech Monday night the group chose to have the tanker dock in a Syrian port to avoid embarrassing the Lebanese state and risking sanctions on Lebanon. Syria, also under U.S. sanctions, has been mostly relying on oil supplies from its strong ally Iran, which sent thousands of Iran-backed fighters, including Hezbollah members, to back President Bashar Assads forces in the 10-year conflict there. Nasrallah said the tanker arrived in the Syrian port of Banias early Sunday and the process of unloading the fuel began the same day. He added that the Syrian government has mobilized dozens of tanker trucks to transport the diesel to the eastern Lebanese town of Baalbek by Thursday. Nasrallah said three other tankers carrying diesel and one carrying gasoline will arrive in the coming weeks. He said diesel will be donated for a period of one month to institutions including public hospitals, nursing homes, orphanages, water stations and the Lebanese Red Cross. Nasrallah added that others who will get fuel at low prices are private hospitals, medicine and serum factories, bakeries and cooperatives that sell food products. Nasrallah said Hezbollah will be supplying gas stations linked to the group around the country. We are not competing (with the state) but we want to add the flow of fuel to the market, he said. An Israeli-French-American Holocaust survivor and historian and a U.S. scientist specializing in gut bacteria were among the recipients this years Balzan Prizes, recognizing scholarly and scientific achievements, announced on Monday. Saul Friedlander, who has taught at both the University of California, Los Angeles and Tel Aviv University was awarded the prize for Holocaust and Genocide Studies for his work broadening the perspective on the history of the Holocaust. Friedlander, 88, was born in Prague in 1932 in a non-religious Jewish family, which fled to France after the German occupation in March 1939. His parents hid him in a Catholic boarding school near Vichy where they were later captured and sent to Auschwitz. With his parents agreement, Friedlander was baptized as a Catholic and later, out of his own conviction, considered becoming a priest. After he learned in 1946 that his parents had been killed at Auschwitz, Friedlander reclaimed his Jewish identity. He later said, for the first time, I felt Jewish. Friedlander received the Pulitzer Prize in general non-fiction in 2008 for The Years of Extermination: Nazi Germany and the Jews, 1939-1945, the second volume in his history of Jews in Hitlers Germany. He was named a MacArthur Fellow in 1999, after the publication of the first volume covering the period from 1933-39 and has also been awarded the Dan David Prize recognizing outstanding achievement in interdisciplinary research. Friedlander was recognized for examining the persecution of all Jews in Europe, going beyond country-focused studies that had preceded him, and for making personal documents accepted in scholarly practice. His authority is special in the sense that he is both a scholar and a victim of the Holocaust. He says that you can study your own experiences in a critical way, said Marjan Schwegman, a Dutch historian who announced the prize. The way he integrates the voices of victims, perpetrators and bystanders in this narrative has changed the way historians write about the history of the Holocaust. The Balzan Foundation awards two prizes in the sciences and two in the humanities each year, rotating specialties to highlight new or emerging areas of research and sustain fields that might be overlooked elsewhere. Recipients receive 750,000 Swiss francs ($815,000), half of which must be used for research, preferably by young scholars or scientists. Jeffrey Gordon, a biologist and director of the Center for Genome Science at the Washington University in Saint Louis, was awarded for founding the field of human microbiome research and revolutionizing its role on human health and disease. Prior to Gordons pioneering work in the 1990s, just 20 papers were published every decade on the microbiome, or the estimated 2 kilograms (4.4 pounds) of microbiota living in each adult, including on the skin, in the nose and gut, according to Jules Hoffman, a Nobel Prize winner in medicine who announced the award. That expanded to 4,000 papers a decade after 2000 and is now up to 80,000 every 10 years. It has become a very hot topic in science, Hoffman said. Gordon has expanded his research in the last decade to malnutrition, a primary reason for disease in children under 5, including the possibility of combating the deleterious impact of malnutrition through fecal microbiome transplants, Hoffman said. Italian physicist Alessandra Buonanno and French physicist Thibault Damour were recognized for work that was instrumental in the detection of gravitational waves, which has helped to promote a type of astronomy that uses gravitational waves as new, powerful messengers of the universe,'' the Balzan prize committee said. Buonanno, 52, is director of the Max Planck Institute for Gravitational Physics in Potsdam, Germany, and holds a research professorship at the University of Maryland, College Park and honorary professorships at the Humboldt University in Berlin and the University of Potsdam. Damour, 70, has been a professor of theoretical physics at the Institut des Haute Etudes Scientifique in Bures-sur-Yvette France since 1989. The Balzan Committee has not yet reached consensus on the prize for Art and Archaeology of the Ancient Near East, but officials said they hope to do so before the prizes are presented in Rome on Nov. 18 by Italys president, Sergio Mattarella. Next years prizes will be awarded in moral philosophy, ethnomusicology, biomaterials for nanomedicine and tissue engineering and glaciation and ice-sheet dynamics. The Metropolitan Police have launched a murder inquiry after a shooting in south London left one man dead and two women injured. The incident took place on Ferry Mews in Brixton on Sunday evening. Paramedics were called just before 9pm to two people, a man and woman, with gunshot wounds. The man, who was aged 27, was declared dead at the scene, while the woman, aged 29, was taken to hospital. Her injuries are said to not be life-changing. Later on, a third woman, aged 26, took herself to a south London hospital with superficial wounds caused by the same incident. Murder detectives are now investigating the shooting and have asked for anyone with information to contact them by calling 101 and giving the reference number 7163/12SEP. Anyone who wishes to remain anonymous can instead call Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111. A senior officer serving with the Metropolitan Police has been charged with 19 counts of voyeurism. Neil Corbel, a 40-year-old detective inspector, is accused of committing the string of crimes within the Greater London, Manchester and Brighton areas. They are alleged to have taken place within a three-year period, between January 2017 and February 2020. Mr Corbel who has been suspended from the force was not on duty at the time of the alleged offences, Scotland Yard said. The officer, from the Mets Continuous Policing Improvement command, was charged by postal charge requisition on 11 August, the Met said on Sunday. He is set to appear at Westminster Magistrates Court on Monday. The Mets Directorate of Professional Standards has been informed, the force said. Additional reporting by PA The Duke of Yorks lawyers will not attend a pre-trial hearing in the sex assault claim filed against him on Monday, it has been reported. His team claimed over the weekend that the legal papers finally delivered to the Andrews home in Windsor were not properly served. The Dukes UK lawyers also reportedly oppose participating in any legal proceedings on the grounds that doing so would amount to accepting US jurisdiction in the case. The Telegraph reported that the same tactic was likely to be used by Andrews newly appointed US-based attorney. Virginia Roberts Giuffre filed a lawsuit against Andrew in August. She accused him of sexually abusing her, when she was 17, at the home of socialite Ghislaine Maxwell in London and at properties owned by the disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein. Lawyers for Ms Giuffre say that they served Andrew with court summons last month when the papers were handed over to a Metropolitan police officer on duty at the main gates of his home in Windsor. But Blackfords, a law firm that represents Andrew, are trying to question whether the court papers were indeed properly served. Andrew vehemently denies the charges of sexual abuse. Gary Bloxsome, a lawyer with Blackfords, wrote in a leaked letter obtained by ABC News, that [Giuffres lawyers] have made several public, indeed well-publicised, attempts at irregular service of these proceedings in this jurisdiction, in at least one case accompanied by a media representative. In the September 6 letter, he added: These have included attempted personal service of our client at his home, the instruction of a private process server, and attempts to email the proceedings not only to this firm, but to barristers (who are not authorised to conduct litigation) who are known to have acted for the Duke. Mr Bloxsome argues that the papers should be served via a British court official, acting as an intermediary between Ms Giuffres lawyers and Andrew. Laywers acting for Ms Giuffre contend that Andrew has been served with the court papers in multiple methods that comply with English law. Aside from delivering the papers to a Metropolitan Police officer outside Andrews Windsor residence, a copy of the summons has been emailed to his Royal Household office email address and to his lawyers. It has also been sent to his Windsor home by a courier service. Despite Andrews legal team signaling that they dont intend on participating in the pre-trial telephone conference, Judge Lewis Kaplan has ordered that both sides in the case are directed to confer regarding an agreed scheduling order, The Telegraph reported. The telephone conference will be used by Judge Kaplan to lay out a timetable for management of the case and if Andrews lawyers fail to dial in for the hearing, it may be seen as being in defiance of his order. A spokesperson for the Duke of York declined to comment. Britains most senior police officer has warned of a new generation of extremists as increasing numbers of children are drawn into terrorist activity. Dame Cressida Dick, commissioner of the Metropolitan Police, told an international summit that children now make up 13 per cent of terror suspects arrested in the UK after the figure tripled in a year. Terrorists, certainly for the UK, have a new target audience in the young and the vulnerable, she told the World Summit on Counter-Terrorism on Monday. Theres a new generation of extremists, and the reach of the internet has meant that in the UK we have seen increasing numbers of children lured towards terrorist activity. Dame Cressida said that extremist content online was having a very significant effect by mobilising children and vulnerable people, and called for tech companies and social media platforms to increase efforts to limit its spread. She called technology the most significant change to terror threats over the past 20 years, beyond individual terrorist groups like Isis and international conflicts. The internet has eroded the physical barriers that would once have restricted terrorists, she added. It has globalised extremism, proliferated the spread of poisonous ideologies internationally and made it possible for anyone with an internet connection to reach into the lives of people halfway round the world. The speech came days after a boy who set up an online far-right group called the British Hand at the age of 14 was sentenced for terror offences. Among the groups members on the encrypted Telegram messaging app was another teenager, Matthew Cronjager, who has been convicted of planning terror attacks. Several children have previously been prosecuted over attack plots, including a 17-year-old boy who was jailed for preparing acts of neo-Nazi terrorism in November. Matthew Cronjager, 18, was convicted of preparing acts of terrorism and disseminating terrorist publications (CTPNE) Paul Dunleavy had researched how to convert a blank-firing gun into a live weapon, and provided advice and encouragement to fellow extremists online. In January 2020, Jack Reed, then 17, was jailed for preparing acts of terrorism after detailing plans to firebomb synagogues and other buildings in the Durham area as part of what he believed was an upcoming race war. The UKs youngest-known terror offender was sentenced in February after recruiting members for a neo-Nazi group. The boy, who cannot be named for legal reasons, was 13 when he committed his first offence and became part of an international online network of far-right extremists. Dame Cressida said police were also increasingly seeing people with mental health issues being drawn to terrorism when at their most vulnerable. She said that terrorists have learned that sophisticated, networked plots like 9/11 and the 7/7 bombings are more likely to be detected and now aim to inspire smaller, low-sophistication attacks by pumping out vast quantities of propaganda targeting those they identify as being susceptible to influence. In the past, perhaps, recruiting children, or those with mental ill health, would have been an unacceptable risk when trying to execute a complex bomb plot, the senior officer said. The cover of Jack Reed's handwritten terrorist manifesto (Counter Terrorism Policing North East) But when youre simply trying to push vulnerable people over the edge towards crude, direct action such as a random knife attack, the opposite is true. In July, the Independent Reviewer of Terrorism Legislation said it was necessary to speak about autism after diagnoses were cited in a high number of court cases, including those involving children. Jonathan Hall QC said that autism was a relevant factor for people being drawn into terrorist violence, alongside other cognitive difficulties and family backgrounds. He questioned whether criminal prosecution was the right outcome in all cases, such as those over the possession of material likely to be useful to a terrorist. Dame Cressida warned that terrorist propaganda was designed to resonate with people, exacerbate grievances and attract those looking for acceptance and belonging. She said the tactic had resulted in rocketing cases labelled as mixed, unstable or unclear idelogy, rather than fixed jihadist or extreme right-wing mindset. Of the 31 terror plots foiled since March 2017, 18 were classified as Islamist, 11 extreme right-wing and plots, and two left, anarchist or single-issue terrorism. Dame Cressida said the coronavirus pandemic was worsening online radicalisation and could have far-reaching consequences. It has done so by exacerbating pre-existing inequalities, by stoking distrust in authority and inspiring a new wave of conspiracy theories, which have more easily reached the mainstream, she added. Longer-term impacts like unemployment and financial uncertainty caused or exacerbated by the pandemic are exactly the problems in peoples lives that extremists can latch onto when they are looking to radicalise. If you add to that the increased social isolation that people have endured over the last 18 months, and the reduction in support services such as mental health provision and social care during long periods of so-called lockdown, that is a potent mix, which is of real concern. Booster Covid jabs for adults are going ahead, Boris Johnson has said, despite government advisers having yet to publish recommendations. Some members of the Joint Committee for Vaccinations and Immunisations (JCVI) have criticised extending third jabs beyond the most elderly and vulnerable as unnecessary. But, quizzed on a visit to the East Midlands, the prime minister said: Thats going ahead thats already been approved. Mr Johnson had been expected to unveil some sort of booster programme as the central part of a toolbox of Covid-fighting measures to be outlined in a document on Tuesday. He will tell Britons in a press conference at Downing Street that mandatory facemasks could be reintroduced, and work from home guidance reinstated, if a third wave of coronavirus infections surges this winter. The prime minister will also make clear that compulsory vaccination for large events has not been ruled out forever, despite fierce opposition from Tory backbenchers. His official spokesperson today told reporters that Covid passports were being kept in reserve as an option and that future lockdowns would be introduced only as a last resort. However, the key strategy will be to implement a vaccine booster campaign and extend first jabs to 12 to 15-year-olds, to curb infections in schools, if medical officers approve it. The JCVI reached agreement on boosters at a meeting last Thursday and their advice has been passed to ministers, but not yet published. Last week, Professor Andrew Pollard, the JCVI chair, came out against third vaccines for most adults in the UK, arguing there is a moral duty to share jabs with the developing world and save lives. He echoed the criticism of Sarah Gilbert, the professor who developed the Oxford-AstraZeneca jab, who said only the elderly and most vulnerable needed a third dose. Of the 100 million vaccines the UK has pledged to send overseas by the middle of 2022, only 9 million have been delivered so far. But Mr Johnson said he had no doubt that booster jabs would be a good thing also urging the 10 per cent or so who still have not had a single jab to please go and get one. On vaccine passports to enter night clubs and other crowded venues a plan dumped by the government on Sunday he confirmed they would be kept in reserve. What we want to do is avoid vaccine passports, if we possibly can. Thats the course were on but I think youve got to be prudent and youve got to keep things in reserve in case things change, Mr Johnson said. They are both right the prime minister said, of health secretary Sajid Javid who announced the axeing of the plan and Nadhim Zahawi, the vaccines minister, who insisted last week that it must go ahead. He also backed Priti Patel, the home secretary who appeard to have broken the ministerial code again, this time by arranging a business meeting for a billionaire Tory donor. Asked, in Leicester, if she had done anything wrong, the prime minister replied: No, shes doing an excellent job as home secretary and will continue to do so. And he again failed to quell speculation about a looming Cabinet reshuffle, saying only: I think people in this country are focused on bouncing through from Covid and the plan for jobs. The UK government has ended its Covid vaccine deal with Valneva, according to the French company. It had put in an order for 100 million doses, after requesting 40 million more in February. But Valneva said the deal has now been terminated. The government served notice over allegations of a breach of the agreement, which the French pharmaceutical company strenuously denies. The Valneva jab is still in the clinical trial phase. The French firm said it could be approved for use, subject to trial results and a decision from the UK medicines regulator, towards the end of this year. Valneva said on Monday it had received a termination notice from the UK government (HMG) in relation to the Supply Agreement for its Covid-19 vaccine candidate, VLA2001. A company statement said: The contract provides HMG with the right to terminate. HMG has alleged that the Company is in breach of its obligations under the Supply Agreement, but the Company strenuously denies this. It added: Valneva has worked tirelessly, and to its best efforts, on the collaboration with HMG including investing significant resources and effort to respond to HMGs requests for variant-derived vaccines. Valenva said it would increase its efforts with potential other customers to ensure its vaccine candidate can be used to tackle the Covid pandemic. The jab is being produced at a site in the Scottish town of Livingston. Following Valnevas statement on Monday, Scotlands health secretary, Humza Yousaf, said: Two things I would like to give a reassurance on: first and foremost, even if this contract is terminated we have enough supply even for a booster programme moving forward. I want to give absolute confidence to anybody listening that we have the supplies necessary to continue to vaccinate, and particularly with a booster programme, hopefully, on the horizon shortly. He told BBC Good Morning Scotland: The second thing, of course, is this is a blow for the facility in Livingston. We are very keen and will be reaching out to the company to try to get security and secure a future for that facility in Livingston; we hope that would be with Valneva. Additional reporting by Press Association Democracy will prevail to allow another vote on Scottish independence, Nicola Sturgeon will insist, as she urges Boris Johnsons government to work in the spirit of cooperation on the countrys future. The SNP leader, who has previously said a mandate for a second vote was beyond question, will use her conference speech tomorrow to stress that it is not up to the Westminster government to decide on Scotlands future. Last week, the SNP leader said the Scottish government would restart work on a plan for independence after it was put on hold by the Covid pandemic, saying she intended to deliver one before the end of 2023. However, Boris Johnson remains firmly opposed to a second vote and Alister Jack, the Scotland secretary, suggested last month that a referendum would be considered if opinion polls consistently showed 60 per cent of Scots wanted a new vote. My approach to government and to politics will be, as far as possible, cooperation not confrontation, Ms Sturgeon will say on Monday to mark the close of the SNP conference. The experience of the pandemic and the challenges we face as a result reinforces my view that this is the right approach. So it is that spirit of cooperation that I hope the Scottish and UK governments can reach agreement as we did in 2014 to allow the democratic wishes of the people of Scotland to be heard and respected. She will add: But, this much is clear. Democracy must and will prevail. Until recently no-one seriously challenged the right of the people of Scotland to choose whether or not they wished to become independent. As an independent country, co-operation between Scotland and our friends across the rest of the UK will continue, but it will be on a better basis: Scotland will be an equal partner. In an interview with Sky News on Sunday, the Scottish first minister also insisted she was confident the country would vote Yes in a second vote but would only hold a referendum when the time is right. She added: Ultimately, of course, as with many things in the life of government, it will be a matter of judgement and its important that I get that judgement right because Im very, very serious and have been for 18 months, when I say the biggest responsibility, the most serious responsibility on my shoulders, is steering the country through the biggest health crisis in a century. The SNP conference also backed the Scottish government plans for the timing of another independence referendum at the earliest possible moment after the Covid crisis. Party members endorsed that timescale, backing a motion by 535 votes to 10 which sets out plans for another vote as soon as it is safe to hold a proper, detailed, serious national debate on independence. Earlier, however, Ms Sturgeon faced criticism from her predecessor and former first minister Alex Salmond, who told Times Radio the lack of a second independence referendum had left the country in a time loop. UK news in pictures Show all 50 1 /50 UK news in pictures UK news in pictures 11 September 2021 Arsenals Takehiro Tomiyasu attempts to control the ball during the Premier League match at The Emirates Stadium PA UK news in pictures 10 September 2021 People paddle board during a misty morning in Ullswater, the second largest lake in the Lake District, Cumbria PA UK news in pictures 9 September 2021 Troops from Wiltshire based 4 Armoured Close Support Battalion Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers during final inspection at Wellington Barracks in London, ahead of providing troops for the Queens Guard PA UK news in pictures 8 September 2021 Workers cross London Bridge during the morning rush hour in London Reuters UK news in pictures Mixing it up: Painting it up press view in London A gallery employee poses for photographers next to a painting entitled Prairie by British artist, Louise Giovanelli during the exhibition 'Mixing it up: Painting it up' at the Hayward Gallery in London EPA UK news in pictures 6 September 2021 Traders in the Ring at the London Metal Exchange, in the City of London, after open-outcry trading returned for the first time since March 2020, when the Ring was temporarily closed due to the pandemic PA UK news in pictures 5 September 2021 People enjoy the warm weather on Sandbanks beach, Poole PA UK news in pictures 4 September 2021 Demonstrators from Animal Rebellion and Nature Rebellion protest in Trafalgar Square in London. PA UK news in pictures 3 September 2021 South Africa's Ntando Mahlangu (centre) wins the Men's 200 metres T61 Final ahead of second placed Great Britain's Richard Whitehead at the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games PA UK news in pictures 2 September 2021 A young common seal on the beach at Horsey Gap in Norfolk, as hundreds of pregnant grey seals come ashore ready for the start of the pupping season. PA UK news in pictures 1 September 2021 Goldfinches fighting over food in a garden in Strensham, Worcestershire PA UK news in pictures 31 August 2021 Gold Medallist Sarah Storey of Britain celebrates on the podium Reuters UK news in pictures 30 August 2021 Extinction Rebellion protesters hold a a tea party on Tower Bridge in London EPA UK news in pictures 29 August 2021 A police office tussles with a demonstrator on Cromwell Road outside the Natural History Museum during a protest by members of Extinction Rebellion in London PA UK news in pictures 28 August 2021 Members of the British armed forces 16 Air Assault Brigade walk to the air terminal after disembarking a Royal Airforce Voyager aircraft at Brize Norton, Oxfordshire POOL/AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 27 August 2021 Fabio Quartararo crashes during a MotoGP practice session at the British Grand Prix, Silverstone Circuit Action Images via Reuters UK news in pictures 26 August 2021 An Extinction Rebellion activist holds a placard in a fountain surrounded by police officers, during a protest next to Buckingham Palace in London Reuters UK news in pictures 25 August 2021 Gold Medallist Great Britains cyclist, Sarah Storey, celebrates after winning the Womens C5 3000m Individual Pursuit Final at the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games. It was her 15th Paralympic gold Reuters UK news in pictures 24 August 2021 A demonstrator dressed as bee during a protest by members of Extinction Rebellion on Whitehall, in central London PA UK news in pictures 23 August 2021 Former interpreters for the British forces in Afghanistan demonstrate outside the Home Office in central London AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 22 August 2021 Police officers form a line in front of the entrance to the Guildhall, London, where protesters have climbed onto a ledge above the entrance during an Extinction Rebellion stage a protest PA UK news in pictures 21 August 2021 People take part in a demonstration in solidarity with people of Afghanistan, in London Reuters UK news in pictures 20 August 2021 People zip wire across the sea from Bournemouth pier towards the beach. PA UK news in pictures 19 August 2021 Supporters of Geronimo the alpaca gather outside Shepherds Close Farm in Wooton Under Edge, Gloucestershire PA UK news in pictures 18 August 2021 Former Afghan interpreters and veterans hold a demonstration outside Downing Street, calling for support and protection for Afghan interpreters and their families PA UK news in pictures 17 August 2021 Military personnel board the RAF Airbus A400M at RAF Brize Norton in Oxfordshire, where evacuation flights from Afghanistan have been landing Reuters UK news in pictures 16 August 2021 Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer takes part in a minute's silence at Wolverhampton police station for the victims of the Plymouth mass shooting last week PA UK news in pictures 15 August 2021 2Storm, a ten-metre tall puppet of a mythical goddess of the sea created by Edinburgh-based visual theatre company Vision Mechanics, makes its way alongside the seafront at North Berwick, East Lothian, during a performance at the Fringe By The Sea festival PA UK news in pictures 14 August 2021 A woman and two young girls look at floral tributes in Plymouth where six people, including the offender, died of gunshot wounds in a firearms incident PA UK news in pictures 13 August 2021 Forensic officers in the Keyham area of Plymouth where six people, including the shooter, died of gunshot wounds in a firearms incident on Thursday evening PA UK news in pictures 12 August 2021 Children ride horses in the River Eden in Appleby, Cumbria, during the annual gathering of travellers for the Appleby Horse Fair PA UK news in pictures 11 August 2021 Stella Moris (left) reacts after talking to the media outside the High Court in London, following the first hearing in the Julian Assange extradition appeal, n London, following the first hearing in the Julian Assange extradition appeal. The US government has won the latest round in its High Court bid to appeal against the decision not to extradite Julian Assange on espionage charges PA UK news in pictures 10 August 2021 Students react after they receive their A-Level results at the Ark Academy, in London Reuters UK news in pictures 9 August 2021 The final athletes from Great Britain arrive home including Jason Kenny, Laura Kenny and Katie Archibald (front left-right) at Heathrow Airport, London following the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games PA UK news in pictures 8 August 2021 Great Britain's Laura Kenny during the closing ceremony of the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games at the Olympic stadium in Japan PA UK news in pictures 7 August 2021 People from the Glasgow Southside community take part in the Govanhill Carnival, an anti-racist celebration of pride, unity and the contributions immigrants have made to the community in Govanhill, at Queen's Park, Glasgow PA UK news in pictures 6 August 2021 Chijindu Ujah of Britain, Zharnel Hughes of Britain, Richard Kilty of Britain and Nethaneel Mitchell-Blake of Britain celebrate winning silver as they pose with Asha Philip of Britain, Imani Lansiquot of Britain, Dina Asher-Smith of Britain and Daryll Neita of Britain after they won bronze in the women's 4 x 100m relay during Olympic Games Day 14 Getty UK news in pictures 5 August 2021 A protester places flowers on a photograph of an executed man during a demonstration organised by supporters of the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI) to protest against the inauguration of Iran's new president Ebrahim Raisi in central London AFP via Getty UK news in pictures 4 August 2021 England's Joe Root looks on as India's KL Rahul doesn't make it to a catch during day one of Cinch First Test match at Trent Bridge, Nottingham PA UK news in pictures 3 August 2021 Great Britain's Laura Kenny and Jason Kenny with their silver medals for the Women's Team Pursuit and Mens Team Sprint during the Track Cycling at the Izu Velodrome on the eleventh day of the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games in Japan PA UK news in pictures 2 August 2021 Great Britains Charlotte Worthington competes during the Womens BMX Freestyle Final at the Tokyo Olympics PA UK news in pictures 1 August 2021 EPA UK news in pictures 31 July 2021 James Guy, Adam Peaty and Kathleen Dawson celebrate winning the gold medal in the mixed 4x100m medley relay final at the Tokyo Olympics AP UK news in pictures 30 July 2021 Great Britain's Bethany Shriever and Kye Whyte celebrate their Gold and Silver medals respectively for the Cycling BMX Racing at the Ariake Urban Sports Park on the seventh day of the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games in Japan PA UK news in pictures 29 July 2021 Team GB's Mallory Franklin during the Womens Canoe Slalom Final on day six of the Tokyo Olympic Games. She went on to win the silver medal Getty UK news in pictures 28 July 2021 Canoers on Llyn Padarn lake in Snowdonia, Gwynedd. It was announced that the north-west Wales slate landscape has been granted UNESCO World Heritage Status PA UK news in pictures 27 July 2021 A view of one of two areas now being used at a warehouse facility in Dover, Kent, for boats used by people thought to be migrants. PA UK news in pictures 26 July 2021 A woman is helped by Border Force officers as a group of people thought to be migrants are brought in to Dover, Kent, onboard a Border Force vessel, following a small boat incident in the Channel PA UK news in pictures 25 July 2021 Vehicles drive through deep water on a flooded road in Nine Elms, London AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 24 July 2021 Utilities workers inspect a 15x20ft sinkhole on Green Lane, Liverpool, which is suspected to have been caused by ruptured water main PA Mr Salmond, who is now leader of the Alba Party, said: Listeners and viewers will remember that Bill Murray film, Groundhog Day. The poor man was caught up in a time loop and it took him weeks to get out of it. Unfortunately Nicola has placed Scotland in a referendum time loop and it's taken six years and we're making no progress whatsoever. Now the Bill Murray film was a comedy. This is tragedy. This is Groundhog Scotland, Groundhog referendum. Mr Salmond, whose new party failed to win a single seat at the Holyrood elections in May, also criticised the new SNP/Green Party coalitions record on education, health, the economy, local government and the pandemic as at its very kindest mediocre. When the immediate cloud of the pandemic lifts they shall be judged on that and probably harshly. We must not have independence judged with it, Mr Salmond told members gathered at the Alba Partys conference. Mr Salmond, who appeared to contradict his own insistence that Alba members make their case by talking up Alba not running down the SNP, also announced plans to publish an alternative prospectus for Scottish independence. He cited the Wee Blue Book, written by Wings Over Scotland campaigner Stuart Campbell, as having stood out as winning converts to the national cause when support for independence rose by 15 per cent ahead of the first referendum. The wee Alba book will be sent to 100,000 homes ahead of the council elections next year, Mr Salmond said, adding that the party would have to fundraise to afford their publication. It came after Ms Sturgeon announced this week that the civil service would restart work on a prospectus for Scottish independence. Sir Keir Starmer has accused Boris Johnson of hitting low-paid families with a double whammy of a universal credit cut and a hike in tax, as the party warns that some key workers will be more than 1,000 worse off. Launching a fresh attack on the governments recently announced manifesto-busting plans to hike national insurance, Labour claimed the government was putting the very wealthiest ahead of working people. It comes amid Tory unease over Mr Johnsons decision to increase national insurance contributions by 1.25 percentage points while standing by plans to reduce universal credit payments to pre-pandemic levels. According to a Labour analysis, the party said these policies combined with plans to freeze the income tax personal allowance represented an attack on the key worker heroes Britain relied on throughout the Covid crisis. The partys analysis suggested a social care worker could lose 1,108 next year while a Band 5 nurse was set to lose 1,159. Sir Keir and deputy Labour leader, Angela Rayner, will highlight the impact of the cuts on Monday during a meeting in London with hospitality and retail workers also affected by the changes. The Conservatives plans to impose unfair taxes are an attack on working people and an attack on the key worker heroes who have got our country through the pandemic, the Labour leader said. The government announcement on social care will not fix the crisis in social care, will not clear the backlog in our NHS and will not protect homeowners from having to sell their homes to pay for care. As usual with this prime minister, it is working people who are going to have to pay for the cost of his failure. Two and half million working families will face a double whammy of a national insurance tax rise and a cut to universal credit. This is the same old Tories putting the very wealthiest ahead of working people who have to pick up the bill. Their warning comes as a separate Treasury analysis, reported in the Sunday Telegraph, suggested the 1.25 percentage point hike in national insurance may have an impact on family formation, stability or breakdown as individuals, who are currently just about managing financially, will see their disposable income reduce. It added the behaviour effects of the manifesto-busting increase in tax in the form of a new health and social care levy are likely to be large. Speaking on Monday, Rishi Sunak, the chancellor, however, will set out that 425,000 jobs a year are to be supported over the next four years through a combination of public- and private-sector infrastructure investment. Setting out how 650bn will be implemented in infrastructure projects over the next decade, Mr Sunak will say: We put a plan in place to protect jobs and businesses in their hour of need and I am immensely proud that it is working. Todays announcement of 425,000 jobs supported per year over the next four years shows that we are sticking to that plan as we level up opportunities across the country. But this isnt just about numbers our Plan for Jobs is also about giving people the hope and opportunity to meet their potential as we emerge from the pandemic and the economy recovers. A government spokesperson said: Weve taken decisive and historic action, with our Health and Social Care Levy due to raise 12bn a year for the NHS and social care. It is a progressive tax with those earning more paying more. We have always been clear that the uplift to Universal Credit was temporary. It was designed to help claimants through the economic shock and financial disruption of the toughest stages of the pandemic, and it has done so. Universal Credit will continue to provide vital support for those both in and out of work and its right that the Government should focus on our Plan for Jobs, supporting people back into work and supporting those already employed to progress and earn more. Boris Johnsons pledge to level up the country will mean nothing if the government presses ahead with plans to end the 20-per-week uplift to universal credit, union boss Frances OGrady is set to warn. In a keynote speech to the Trade Union Congress (TUC) annual conference, the general secretary will highlight the looming cut amid growing discontent at Westminster, including from backbench Conservative MPs. It comes after Sajid Javid, the health secretary, reiterated on Sunday that the government plans to press ahead with removing the uplift, insisting it will be ended as planned at the end of this month. Just last week, reports suggested an internal Whitehall analysis showed there could be a catastrophic impact of removing the support, including rising homelessness, poverty and foodbank use. Ministers tells us they are going to level up Britain, Ms OGrady will tell the TUC conference in London on Monday. But levelling up means nothing if they freeze workers pay, slash universal credit, and the number of kids in poverty soars. Insisting that Covid must be a catalyst for real change, she will say: If levelling up means anything, it must mean levelling up living standards. We need an economy that treats everyone with dignity, that rewards hard work, that helps working families and communities thrive. The TUC general secretary will also call on ministers to better prepare the country for future economic shocks, including the threat posed by the climate crisis, as she warns: Covid is not going to be a one-off. In her speech, she will highlight the dangers posed to workers through future pandemics, technological disruption and climate change, saying: Looking ahead over the next five, ten, twenty years, its clear that economic shocks will grow and intensify in the UK and around the world. She will add: Covid is not going to be a one-off. Years of austerity took their toll. And meant we fought this pandemic with one hand tied behind our backs. The UK must be better prepared for crises in the future and theyre coming. Climate chaos is here already and the longer we put off getting to net zero, the more disruptive it will be. In an age of anxiety, working people are crying out for security. We must build an economy that can withstand the shocks and help working families face the future with confidence. After a spate of recent disruption to supply chains and stark warnings that food shortages in supermarkets and restaurants are permanent, Ms OGrady will also demand better conditions for workers. The Confederation of British Industry (CBI) group has previous warned the labour shortages behind the gaps on shelves and restaurant ensues could last up to two years, without urgent government intervention. Ministers may scratch their heads about how to protect supply chains and fill vacancies, Ms OGrady will say. Well, heres a novel idea lets make that industry deliver decent conditions, direct employment and a proper pay rise. An Alabama man died of cardiac arrest almost 200 miles away from his home after he was turned away from more than 40 hospitals that had their ICUs fully occupied with Covid-19 patients. The family of Ray Martin DeMonia who died on 1 September, three days before his 74th birthday has now appealed for people to take their Covid-19 vaccines so it eases pressure on the healthcare system and frees up resources for non-Covid-related emergencies. His family said that when DeMonia suffered a heart attack at the end of last month they contacted 43 hospitals across three states but were unable to find a single available ICU bed. They eventually found him a spot at Rush Foundation Hospital in Meridian, Mississippi, which is more than 200 miles away from his home in Alabama. In an obituary for DeMonia, the family urged others to please get vaccinated. The family wrote: He would not want any other family to go through what he did. His family added that DeMonia, a resident of Cullman, Alabama, was well known for running DeMonias Antiques and Auctions, where he spent 40 years in the antique business and travelled the country gathering antiques and sharing his wealth of knowledge. Alabama has been among the US states facing a surge in Covid-19 hospitalisations. Scott Harris, head of the Alabama Department of Public Health, told the media that even though Alabamas increase in hospitalisations appears to have stabilised, he maintained that there are still more patients who need ICU care than there are available beds. Mr Harris told reporters: We continue to have a real crisis in Alabama with our ICU bed capacity. He added that there were about 60 more ICU patients than there were open beds in the state last week. Danne Howard, deputy director of the Alabama Hospital Association, said that the state was in a dire situation. She said: I cant predict whats going to happen tomorrow, but were certainly not rending in the right direction. Were not throwing in the towel, but it is a dire and serious situation, she said. According to data compiled by the Washington Post, nearly 2,800 people in the state were hospitalised with Covid-19 on Sunday and that includes 768 in the ICU. Just 40 per cent of Alabama citizens are fully inoculated against Covid-19, the latest data shows. The state has the fourth-lowest vaccination rate among all states in the country. Meanwhile, DeMonias family said that he had suffered a stroke in April last year but they were able to find care within three hours at a Birmingham hospital that was Covid-free. DeMonia himself eventually also got vaccinated. His family said that Ray was a great, great man, liked and respected by many. The US has registered more than 40.6 million Covid-19 cases and more than 655,800 deaths. With the surge in the Delta variant, several states have been battling hospital bed crises in recent months. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Alabama has one of the highest rates of new Covid-19 cases in the country with roughly 541 per 100,000 people testing positive for the virus in the last seven days. The CDC says that in that period, 259 people died. President Joe Biden is also going to announce new steps to slow the spread of Covid-19 before the UN General Assembly meets, according to surgeon general Dr Vivek Murthy. He didnt specify what those steps would be. The next General Assembly session opens on Tuesday. Upscale fashion brand Balenciaga has been accused of cultural appropriation by fashion and history experts over a pair of sweatpants priced at $1,190 (860). The grey sweatpants appear to have the top of a pair of boxers peeking out above the waistband. TikTok user mr200m__ posted a video of the sweatpants from what appeared to be a store on 2 September, saying this feels racist ... theyve woven the boxers inside the trouser. Associate professor of Africana Studies at California State University, Marquita Gammage, told CNN that the sweatpants exploit Black culture with the hopes of securing major profits. Dr Gammage wrote in Cultural Appropriation as Agency Reduction, published in 2018 in the International Journal of Africana Studies, that Black culture is misappropriated in a way that erodes its ingenuity, functionality, and beauty. It also delegitimized Black experiences of injustice for capital gain, Dr Gammage argued. Sagging pants jeans, or sweatpants lowered to sit below the waist to show the waistline of the boxers has been popularized within hip hop culture, but Dr Gammage told CNN that it has also been used to criminalize Blacks, especially Black males as thugs and a threat to American society. Balenciaga mens Trompe-LOeil sweatpants in red triggers immediate concern given the grotesque similarity to the iconic African American hip hop aesthetic worn by Black Americans for decades that has resulted in the imprisonment and death of Black men, Dr Gammage told CNN. The trousers have commercial cultural appropriation written all over them; branded with the name Balenciaga. The chief marketing officer for Balenciaga, Ludivine Pont, told the outlet: In many of our collections, we combine different wardrobe pieces into a single garment, such as denim jeans layered over tracksuit pants, cargo shorts merged with jeans and button-up shirts layered over t-shirts. These Trompe LOeil trousers were an extension of that vision, she added. In 2007, the city of Shreveport, Louisiana passed an ordinance banning saggy pants. On February 5, 2019, 31-year-old Anthony Childs was seen running by a police vehicle, holding on to his sagging shorts. A violation of the ordinance was punishable by at most a $100 fine and as much as eight hours of community service, The Washington Post reported in 2019. The ordinance was removed by June 2019 following outrage over Mr Childs death. A similar law banning sagging pants was repealed in Opa-locka, Florida in 2020. Sagging attire has been consequential for African Americans; yet companies like Balenciaga seek to capitalize off of Blacks and Black cultural styles while failing to challenge systematic racism that criminalizes Blacks and Black clothing trends, Dr Gammage told CNN. Black culture is so often sampled, but rarely ever cited. And beyond giving credit where credit is overdue, the payout for those who have created and selflessly shared their genius, creativity, risk-taking, and innovation, rarely if ever comes, fashion designer Stella Jean told CNN. A father in California has died of Covid-19 two weeks after his wife passed away from the respiratory disease, leaving their five children orphaned, according to The Sacramento Bee. Daniel Macias, 38, who worked as a maths teacher in Yucaipa, San Bernardino County, and his pregnant spouse Davy Macias, 37, a delivery nurse, are both believed to have been unvaccinated and to have contracted the disease during a summer visit to a water park in Orange County, according to Ms Macias brother Vong Serey. Ms Macias died on 26 August after giving birth to a newborn daughter while on a ventilator as she battled the coronavirus. She never got to meet her child and the infant was never named as the family had hoped Mr Macias would recover in time to be able to choose one himself. Tragically, he too passed away on 9 September. Its absolutely heartbreaking, sister-in-law Terri Serey told news channel KTLA. We were really pulling for Daniel after Davy died. We wanted him to wake up and name his baby girl. I dont know anyone who loved their kids as much as they did, and they made sure they told them every day. The baby and the couples four other children, aged seven, five, three and two, are currently being cared for by their grieving grandparents. Speaking to local San Luis Obispo newspaper The Tribune, Mr Serey paid tribute to his sister, who had worked at Kaiser Permanente hospital in Fontana throughout the pandemic, saying: Shes a registered nurse, and she was also a frontline worker from the very beginning until the very end, when she was admitted for Covid. The only reason I can think why my sister was unvaccinated was because she was unsure of the outcome of the vaccine. Of his late brother-in-law, Mr Serey said: His last words before he was intubated were, if you havent got the shot, go do so, because you dont want to be like me. Mr Macias was employed as an eighth grade teacher at William Jehue Middle School, as his mother had been before him, and a statement issued by his employer, the Rialto Unified School District (RUSD), said he would be remembered as a compassionate, kind-hearted, fun-loving and generous teacher as well as a devoted family man. We share the grief with his families and Jehue staff. It is a challenging time but Mr Macias left a legacy of education excellence for countless students, the RUSD statement reads. Our thoughts and condolences are with the Macias family. Our staff and students are just heartbroken with the loss of Mr Macias, said Carolyn Eide, the schools principal, describing him as very intelligent, able to look at complex situations, break them down to solutions that made sense. His legacy will live on in the students, the thousands of students that he taught quality instruction to, added RUSD spokeswoman Syeda Jafri. It is something we have to look at in the sense of life is very short and its very unpredictable. This pandemic is not over and this is a virus that does not discriminate. Vong and Terri Serey have since organised a GoFundMe page for the children that had already raised over $200,000 as of Monday 13 September from members of the public desperately moved by their story and keen to reach out and offer support. In her most recent update to the page on Saturday, Ms Serey reported that three truckloads of clothing and groceries had arrived for the children and wrote: I cannot thank everyone enough for their support, kind words, donations of food, clothes and baby supplies, as well as monetary donations. The US has suffered over 41m cases of Covid and 600,000 deaths since the outbreak of the pandemic last year, with California the hardest-hit state in the union, recording 4.58m cases and 67,199 fatalities. US Capitol Police have arrested a man who was carrying a bayonet and machete in his pickup truck near the Democratic National Committee headquarters in Washington DC. Donald Craighead, 44, had painted a swastika on he truck told a police officer he was on patrol and then began talking about white supremacist ideology, US Capitol police said. According to a police statement, an officer from the Special Operation Division noticed a Dodge Dakota pickup truck, with a swastika and other white supremacist symbols painted on it, outside DNC headquarters at around midnight on Sunday. USCP Officers Arrest California Man with Bayonet & Machete: https://t.co/0mhsoOC8vX pic.twitter.com/9SR1NXsJV6 U.S. Capitol Police (@CapitolPolice) September 13, 2021 The truck did not have a license plate, and had a picture of an American flag where the plate should have been. The officer pulled over the truck along the 500 block of South Capitol Street, and noticed several knives including a bayonet and machete in the truck. Both weapons are banned in Washington DC and Mr Craighead, of Oceanside, California was arrested for possession of prohibited weapons. Picture released by US Capitol Police of a bayonet and machete inside a vehicle stopped near the Capitol on 13 September, 2021 (US Capitol Police / Twitter) The truck appears to have been fitted with antlers at the front and had an American flag where the license plate was supposed to be (USCP) US Capitol Police have been on high alert ahead of a rally on September 18 in support of the more than 600 rioters who were arrested during the attack on the Capitol. The rally is set to be the largest gathering of Trump supporters in DC since January 6. Capitol Police are determined not to be caught out by surprise again, after being outnumbered and overwhelmed on January 6, and have been preparing for further violence. The day before the January riots, an unknown assailant left pipe bombs outside the DNC and Republican National Committee headquarters. Last week, the FBI released new video footage of the pipe bomb suspect sitting on a park bench in the hopes of identifying them. US Capitol Police chief Tom Manger praised the officer who arrested Mr Craighead. This is good police work plain and simple, Mr Manger. We applaud the officers keen observation and the teamwork that resulted in this arrest. The Capitol Police said its Investigations Division is continuing its investigation on the suspect. At this time, it is not clear if he was planning to attend any upcoming demonstrations or if he has ties to any previous cases in the area, it said. Two students at a middle school in Lee County, Florida, have been arrested and charged with an alleged shooting plot inspired by the 1999 Columbine attack on a school in Colorado. Authorities said the 14-year-old and 13-year-old boys, from Harns Marsh Middle School, were arrested and charged on Thursday with conspiracy to commit a mass shooting. Both are being held in a juvenile detention centre. Lee County Sheriff Carmine Marceno said investigators believed the boys had planned an attack on the school involving pipe bombs, and had produced a map marked with CCTV cameras. School administrators concerned that a firearm had been concealed in a book bag found the map, Mr Marceno said. While no weapons were found in the bag, investigators found that both boys were involved in a plot to carry out a school shooting, which he said was inspired by the shooting in Columbine in 1999. Detectives learned that the students took an interest in the Columbine High School shooting, said Mr Marceno on Thursday. They were extensively studying to learn more about the incident and the shooters. Detectives also learned that the students were attempting to learn how to construct pipe bombs, and how to purchase firearms on the black market, he added. When investigators searched the homes of both boys on Thursday, a number of firearms and weapons were found, according to Mr Marceno. It included a gun and knifes. Mr Marceno said those responsible for threats real or fake will be held accountable, and that the boys were well known to the Lee County Sheriffs Office. Both were taken for a mental health evaluation on Thursday. Im certain that my team of dedicated deputies and detectives acted promptly, investigated thoroughly, and prevented a very violentact, the sheriff added. At a hearing on Sunday, according to The Washington Post, a mother of one of the boys claimed that her son was "just a little boy and that the alleged plot was not serious. It is not clear if either had legal representation. School principle Alex Dworzanski told WBBH of Fort Myers that the school was safe, and that he commend the students who came forward to report the threat and the quick action of the staff. The safety of our students and staff is at the core of what we do. Family members and police are searching for a New York woman who was travelling across the United States with her partner before being reported missing. Her partner returned home without her and no one has heard from her in weeks. Gabby Petito, 22, of Blue Point, Long Island, was last seen on 24 August when she checked out of a Salt Lake City hotel with her partner of two and half years, Brian Laundrie. She was reported missing by her family on the evening of 11 September, said police. Ms Petito and Mr Laundrie had been documenting their travel experiences as van-lifers across the US on a YouTube channel called Nomadic Statik. She would regularly FaceTime her mother, but her mother grew worried when she hadnt heard from her for days and notified the authorities. On Wednesday, North Port Police in Florida revealed Mr Laundrie was a person of interest in the case. They said Mr Laundrie had returned to Florida alone in the van on September 1, 10 days before his girlfriend was reported missing. Here is everything we know about the case: Last contact In a press release, Suffolk County Police Department explained that Gabbys family were last in contact with her at the end of August. According to her mum, Gabby would FaceTime around three times a week. Her mum received text messages on 26 and 27 August from her daughter's phone but said she could not be sure they were from her daughter. I dont know if it was technically her or not, because it was just a text. I didnt verbally speak to her, she said in an interview with CBS News. Gabby Petito and Brian Laundrie (Instagram/GabsPetito) Prior to the last communication, Ms Petito is believed to have been in Grand Teton National Park in Wyoming. Ms Petitos mother Nicole Schmidt told Fox News the pair were heading for Yellowstone National Park next, but Ms Petito did not arrive. The first couple of days when I wasnt getting responses, I believed she was in a place with no service. It was like day eight and nine that I really became concerned, Ms Schmidt said. Her mother Nicole Schmidt told the Daily Mail that on September 10 she tried texting Brian and his mother Roberta Laundrie on September 10 but they had did not respond. Gabrielle Petito was reported missing to the Suffolk County Police Department by her family on 11 September around 6.55pm. Mr Laundrie has since returned to his Florida home without Gabby. Police have since recovered the couples 2012 Ford Transit van. Police in Florida, where the couple had lived previously, said the circumstances of her disappearance appeared odd. The North Port Police Department is actively assisting in this case in conjunction with the Suffolk County Police Department where she was reported missing, said the department in a statement. The Suffolk County Police Department is investigating the disappearance of a Blue Point woman who went missing while travelling. Utah police revealed officers were called to an incident involving Ms Petito and her boyfriend just two weeks before she was last seen or heard from. Moabs chief of police Bret Edge told Fox News: Our officers did respond to an incident involving Brian Laundrie and Gabrielle Petito on 12 August 2021, however neither Brian or Gabrielle were the reporting party. He said officers conducted an investigation and found insufficient evidence existed to justify criminal charges. In the last post to her Instagram account on August 25, Ms Petito wrote Happy Halloween' (Instagram/GabsPetito) Person of interest On Wednesday, North Port Police named Brian Laundrie as a person of interest in the case. As of now Brian Laundrie has not made himself available to be interviewed by investigators or has provided any helpful details, the Florida police department said in a statement. We know Brian returned here to North Port on September 1st - 10 days before her family reported her missing on September 11th. We have no information that a crime occurred here in North Port. Brian Laundrie is a person of interest in this case, the statement said. North Port Police Chief Todd Garrison said: As a father, I can imagine the pain and suffering Gabbys family is going through. We are pleading with anyone, including Brian, to share information with us on her whereabouts in the past few weeks. The lack of information from Brian is hindering this investigation. The answers will eventually come out. We will help find Gabby and we will help find anyone who may be involved with her disappearance, Mr Garrison said in a statement. They released several images of the Ford Transit van the couple had been travelling in, and appealed for sightings. So far, we have received hundreds of tips which are being vetted through multiple agencies, the statement said. The van has a Florida license plate QFTG03 and asked people to call a national hotline set up by the FBI on 1-800-CALLFBI (225-5324). North Port Police are leading the investigation with assistance from the FBI. Suffolk County Police in Long Island, New York, where Ms Petitos mother reported her missing, is also working on the investigation. North Port Police released photographs of the van they seized from Mr Laundries home (North Port Police) Mental health crisis On Wednesday, police in the small Utah town of Moab revealed they responded to reports of a domestic violence incident involving the couple. A witness called the Moab City Police Department at about 4:45pm on August 12 to say he feared the worst after witnessing the couple come to blows in their van. Attending officer Daniel Robbins said the couple appeared to have been going through a mental health crisis, according to a police incident report obtained by The Independent. The officer reported that the couple both suffer from a mental illness which caused them to argue more, and they had not been taking medication during their cross-country trip in a converted Ford Transit van. That time spent created emotional strain between them and increased the number of arguments, Mr Robbins wrote. Mr Robbins wrote that Mr Laundrie had tried to lock his girlfriend out of the van, but she managed to get in through the drivers door. He got into their van and Gabrielle had gone into a manic state. Brian said Gabrielle, thinking he was going to leave her in Moab without a ride, went to slap him, Mr Robbins wrote. As Gabrielle started to swing, Brian pushed her away to avoid the slap. According to the statement Ms Petito was off balance but still caught Mr Laundries face and right arm, leaving visible scratches. Gabby Petito posted several pictures of her and Mr Laundrie at the Arches National Park in Utah on the same day as police attended a domestic violence (Instagram/GabsPetito) Mr Robbins said he did not believe the incident escalated to the level of a domestic assault. He decided to separate the couple for the night so they could reset their mental states. Even though the couple wanted to remain together, police arranged for Mr Laundrie to spend the night at a hotel through Seekhaven, a family crisis center in Moab. Ms Petito remained in the van for the evening. I instructed both Brian and Gabrielle to take advantage of this time apart to relax their emotions and regain control of their anxiety. Earlier on August 12, Ms Petito posted several pictures to her Instagram account. They included several of herself standing underneath the famous Delicate Arch landmark at the national park, and one of her and Mr Laundrie. She described hiking to the arch at 7am, and meeting other hikers along the track. We also camped for one night in Devils Garden with the cover off of our tent to fall asleep watching the stars, trying to catch a glimpse of the Perseid meteor shower, she wrote. Seeking answers North Point Police spokesman Josh Taylor told The Independent on Tuesday Mr Laundries parents had refused to allow officers to speak to him, and had given them contact information for the familys attorney. Asked if police found anything suspicious in the familys actions, Mr Taylor said: Theres common sense at play. We dont even have any evidence that a crime has been committed, other than concern and things not adding up that would leave you to potentially assume that. Its possible that something very bad has happened here, she hasnt been seen for weeks and now hes back here with the vehicle and weve been told to speak to the family attorney, Mr Taylor said. Later that day an attorney for the Laundrie family issued a statement saying they hoped the search for Ms Petito would be successful. This is an extremely difficult time for both the Petito family and the Laundrie family. I understand that a search has been organised for Miss Petito in or near Grand Teton National Park in Wyoming. On behalf of the Laundrie family it is our hope that the search for Miss Petito is successful and that Miss Petito is re-united with her family. On the advice of counsel the Laundrie family is remaining in the background at this juncture and will have no further comment. Both Ms Petitos father Joe Petito and mother Ms Schmidt were angered by the Laundrie family statement. Gabrielle Petitos father slams fiances statement Appearing on Fox News on Wednesday, Gabbys father Joe Petito said: Im sorry. Thats not a statement. Forget Brian, Brians home safe. His parents, yeah its hard for them. Bulls***. You know what? My daughter is not here. Our daughter is not here. We dont even know where she is, what state shes in. Later that day, Ms Schmidt blasted her daughters boyfriend. Brian claims he wants to sit in the background while we search for Gabby in the wilderness of the Grand Teton and Yellowstone national parks, she wrote in a statement released through her lawyer Richard Stafford. Brian left Gabby in the wilderness with grizzly bears and wolves while he sits in the comfort of his home. In his home! Brian, how could you do this to Gabby? Ms Schmidt asked, adding his silence was reprehensible. Ms Schmidt implored Mr Laundrie to come forward with what he knew. Brian, whatever happened in Wyoming, happened. The only thing you can control is what you do now. Tell us where Gabby is. Family search Ms Petitos family are leading the search for her. Gabbys mum, Nichole Schmidt, did a news conference on 13 September. As a mom, I had concerns about a daughter going on a road trip in general, Ms Schmidt said. But I felt safe ... they had a plan, an itinerary, and we were excited for them. Addressing Gabby directly, her father Joseph Petito said: Gabby, we just want you to come home, he urged. Call us. Let us know youre OK. Come home, please. Her father told Newsday that the family was suffering greatly since her disappearance: Its like drowning with your hands tied behind you. You cant describe it. Theres nothing you can do. You cant control anything, he said. Pride isnt an issue right now. My only daughter is missing, he said. Im going to do, the family, Gabbys mom, were going to do anything we can to find her. The search for Ms Petito appears to be focussing on the Grand Teton National Park in Wyoming, the last place she is believed to have been seen. Ms Schmidts husband and son have posed two missing person posters on their Instagram accounts as well as a picture of Ms Petito, to help in the search for her. Both said they were unable to comment any further because there is an active investigation. A GoFundMe page has been set up to help the family with their search, and pay for investigators and travel costs. It has so far received contributions of more than $25,000. Her stepfather James Schmidt joined the search for Ms Petito in Wyoming on Wednesday, handing out flyers and putting up missing persons posters in Jackson. A family friend, Gary Rider, told The Independent: We plan on meeting with investigators and back-tracking known locations and hoping to help verify some information we have received through tips and the investigation. (YouTube/ Nomadic Statik) Social media posts The couple had saved their money and quit their jobs to travel across the US. Their Instagram accounts documented parts of their trip, with the first post on 2 July. They posted about Kansas Monument Rocks, Colorado Springs, Great Sand Dunes National Park, Zion National Park and Bryce National Park in Utah and Canyonlands National Park. Downsizing our life to fit into this itty bitty van was the best decision weve ever made, Mr Laundrie wrote on Instagram that month. Sacrificing space to wake up in nature every day has been no sacrifice at all. Ms Petitos Instagram account was mysteriously disabled before being reinstated on Wednesday, adding to the familys distress. Their attorney told WABC-TV: We have no idea who deleted Gabbys Instagram account. We contacted Instagram and the FBI to let them know that it was deleted. Instagram later said the account had been taken down by accident while it was trying to prevent copycat accounts from being set up. Description Ms Petito is described as a white female, approximately 5 feet 5 inches tall and 110 pounds. She has blonde hair and blue eyes, and a triangle tattoo on her left arm, two finger tattoos, and one on her forearm that reads let it be. She also has a belly button piercing. Detectives are asking those with information on Petitos disappearance can contact Crime Stoppers anonomoysly on 1-800-220-TIPS. New York police are on the hunt for a man who kicked a 32-year-old woman in the chest, making her fall backwards down a subway escalator in Brooklyn. Police said the woman and the man bumped into each other as they were going up the escalator at the Atlantic Avenue-Barclays Center station at 7.15pm on Thursday. Law enforcement released a video of the attack on Monday. The two had a verbal exchange after which the man turned around and put his foot in the middle of her torso, sending her flying down the stairs. Police said the victim didnt agree to receive medical attention. She had cuts to her back, arms, legs, right knee, and right thigh. Her left ankle was also injured. Police are still looking for the suspect. CBS New York reported that the woman told the man to say excuse me after he passed her, at which point he kicked her in the chest. The Metropolitan Transportation Authority has announced that all of New York Citys 472 Subway stations now have surveillance cameras. The installation of the cameras picked up during the Covid-19 pandemic as ridership on the Subway fell and crime spiked. The feeds of some cameras are streamed live to a security centre while others record the footage, which can later be used to solve crimes, Fox 5 New York reported. The MTA said the rise in the number of cameras at Subway stations has helped increase the number of arrests made by law enforcement by 28 per cent. A Texas woman shot dead an alleged peeping Tom that she saw lurking outside her window. Houston Police told several local media outlets that the woman had seen the man look into her bedroom window before midnight on Friday. Investigators have said the woman grabbed a rifle when she saw the man, and fired several times, thinking that she was in danger, KTRK reported. Several shots entered her wall and the man was hit in the torso at least once, WOAI reported. He took a few steps before he collapsed in the driveway. Police told KHOU that the owner of the home is cooperating with the authorities. Investigators added that there doesnt appear to be a relationship between the woman and the killed man. No decision on whether to file charges have been made so far, police said. The shooting took place in North Houston in the 8900 block of Irvington Boulevard. The man was pronounced dead at the scene. Police said the man was already dead when they arrived. Houston Police Department Lieutenant R Willkens told reporters at the scene that the call came just a little after 11 oclock ... officers got here on the scene, they were advised of a shooting that just occurred. We have one adult male, whos on the side of the house ... that has been shot, looks like in the torso area, with a rifle. What were being told right now is that this individual was looking into windows into this home, there was an adult female that was in one of the bedrooms, observed him looking into her window. She was in fear, she had a rifle, she shot numerous times through the wall, ended up striking the male, the male ended up walking for a little way and passed out, he added. Hes dead on the scene. A mandatory evacuation notice blared from Joyce Lindahls phone one day in July as the Dixie fire bore down on her home in Northern California. But her biggest concern was an hour away. Chuck Lindahl, her brother-in-law, is paralysed from the neck down, and his professional caregivers live in places where residents had already been ordered to evacuate. If his family also had to leave the area, he would be left alone. Without caregivers, Im out of luck, he said. Plumas County had a plan for Mr Lindahl in case of fire, but his home was not in the mandatory evacuation zone yet and officials needed to focus their limited personnel and rescue equipment elsewhere, the countys Office of Emergency Services said. So Joyce Lindahl and her family scrambled to figure out how to safely evacuate her brother-in-law and shelter him on their own. As wildfires burn with greater size and intensity across the American West, forcing thousands of people to evacuate their homes each year, communities in the danger zone are struggling to protect their disabled and older residents. This is a particular problem in Northern California, where some of the biggest blazes are now burning, including the Dixie fire, the second largest in state history. The region is home to a significant population of people with disabilities the percentage in the area is roughly twice the state average many of whom live in largely rural areas that lack the critical infrastructure and resources needed to support them during disasters. The Camp fire wiped out the town of Paradise in 2018, killing at least 85 people the majority of whom were older or disabled, according to Butte County data. The next year, a state audit found that the county, which includes Paradise, had not adequately prepared to protect people with access and functional needs and that the California Governors Office of Emergency Services had not provided enough guidance to local officials about how to develop emergency plans for them. Since then, a growing number of California communities have partnered with local disability organisations to develop better plans to alert, evacuate and shelter vulnerable populations. But plenty of weak spots remain, and officials acknowledge that many people could still find themselves in danger. We tell people the most important thing is you need to have a plan for yourself, said Shelby Boston, director of the Butte County Department of Employment and Social Services, which works with people with disabilities. Even with all of the plans that the county put in place, there is no guarantee that a deputy or law enforcement or fire personnel is going to make it to your door. Thats the reality. Because of his condition, Mr Lindahl needed a special van in order to evacuate but his had been stolen a few weeks before the fire. After spending all day on the phone with Plumas County emergency management officials to try to get a new vehicle to evacuate her brother-in-law, Joyce Lindahl said she received an unexpected call: Someone had found the stolen van in San Jose, five hours away, and reported it to the police. A family friend drove the van to Chuck Lindahls home, and his family was able to transport him to a rehabilitation and nursing center in a nearby county. Shelters are another concern. Some counties in Northern California do not have assisted-living facilities that could care for someone like Mr Lindahl. Many of the shelters across the region are older and lack needed features like ramps, backup power sources or accessible bathrooms. Evacuees are also staying longer in shelters another challenge for those with disabilities, who can have complex medical needs that are not fully met in a shelter. Data from the American Red Cross shows that from 2014-18, the average length of time that someone evacuating from a large disaster spent in a shelter was about 19 days. But in the past few years, that average has increased to about 30 days. After the Camp fire, shelters were open for 100 days. Because of this, the Red Cross has focused on making long-term infrastructure investments such as backup solar power, disaster training and backup battery installation for people who rely on electricity for their medical devices in hard-hit places like Northern California, said Brad Kieserman, vice president for disaster operations and logistics at the organisation. Out of 2,059 community health centers throughout California, an analysis by Direct Relief, a nonprofit humanitarian organization, shows that 61 per cent lack a form of backup power. In Butte County, there are no community health centers with backup power, the analysis found. The challenge of evacuating and caring for people with disabilities is not new. A large number of the more than 1,800 people killed during Hurricane Katrina in 2005 were older and disabled. In response, Congress passed a law in 2006 requiring the Federal Emergency Management Agency to appoint a disability coordinator and develop guidelines to better serve people with disabilities. However, an accountability report published in 2019 showed that the agency had failed to provide comprehensive disability training to its staff. And the agencys emergency preparedness report that year made no mention of those with disabilities. Charles Nutt, 46, learned during the Camp fire in 2018 that he was not prepared to evacuate. Mr Nutt, who has an intellectual disability, rushed to grab his clothes and medications just as towering flames took over his street in Paradise. In the chaos of his escape alongside his stepson, who has autism, and six dogs, he forgot the machine that he needs to help him breathe while he sleeps. I was just praying to God that we would get through there, he said. We didnt have a plan to get out. Since that fire, Mr Nutt has attended emergency planning training and has started training other disabled individuals. He now has three go-bags packed at all times, emergency alerts set up on his phone, and a backup battery and generator for his breathing machine. I feel stronger that I know what to do in case of a fire, Mr Nutt said. I wont be scared next time because Ill be prepared. The New York Times A mom on TikTok is under fire from critics who think her intense punishment methods might be traumatising her child. The woman, Katarina Rodriguez, posted a video to the social media platform in which she chastises her 5-year-old son for getting a "sad face" at school. As a punishment, she makes him run in 104 degree(40C) heat alongside her. My 5-year-old doesnt want to listen in school, Ms Rodriguez said in the video, which was posted last week. Where he makes destructive noises, doesnt listen, thinks that he doesnt need to settle down when he comes from the playground. She then said that they were "gonna run. "We're gonna run in 104 degrees," she said. Ms Rodriguez followed through on the statement and showed herself and her son running outside their home. During the discipline session she occasionally turns the camera on her son so she can shame him in front of her viewers. This is the first time that were gonna run for his sad faces that he gets at school, and he thought we were just going to run to the mailbox, so he took off running. Sprinting. Now hes dying, she said. When she asked her son if he would behave in school from now on, he said "yeah" while panting for air. The 5-year-old son of TikTok user Katarina Rodriguez as he is made to run in 104 degree weather as a punishment. The boys discipline was publicised on TikTok and drew sharp criticism online. (screengrab) The video continues back inside her house with Ms Rodriguez telling her viewers about her discipline style. "We're not gonna hit. We're not gonna spank. We're gonna discipline. We'll see what tomorrow brings," she said. While Ms Rodriguez views her methods as a healthier alternative to physical punishments like spanking, some critics on social media did not see much of a distinction. One Twitter user, @iPegMirage, went so far as to alert her employer to the video of her and her son running. "God this is traumatizing. Punishment for not being able to listen in a classroom ... there's obviously something else going on with them," a TikTok user commented. Another Twitter user asked "how the f*** does she think its ok to have her little kid running in 104 weather he is literally wheezing and she posted three videos on his this is what she is doing to discipline [him]." According to The Daily Dot, Ms Rodriguez posted a follow up video explaining her disciplinary methods, insisting that it wasn't "anyone's business" despite the fact that she posted videos of her child's punishment publicly. "We've tried other disciplinary actions of grounding, taking away things, corners, whatever, and if those things work for your kids, great. Didn't work for mine," she said. She also claimed that her punishment worked, as her son allegedly has not received negative marks since he was forced to run. The videos have since been deleted. The US has fallen to the bottom of a list of the worlds seven leading economies when it comes to vaccination against Covid, analysis has shown, in what is another warning sign for president Joe Biden. According to figures from Our World In Data at the University of Oxford, the US has reported that 62.27 per cent of its population has now been vaccinated. The data includes all those with at least a single dose. In Japan, where vaccinations were delayed for most of 2021, 63.34 per cent of the population has been vaccinated, which puts it ahead of the US among the G7 a group of the worlds seven leading economies; Germany, Italy, France, Canada, the US and the UK. (Our World in Data) The US had been in front of most of the G7 for months, thanks to a successful start to its vaccination rollout, before it began to fall behind. In fact, only the United Kingdom had a more successful vaccination campaign than the US, figures from Our World In Data show, before other countries began to surpass it in June and July. Between July and September, according to The New York Times, the rate of US vaccinations grew by 4 per cent, compared to 25 per cent in Japan a country that has seen falling infections from Covid. Analysts have pointed to an unexpectedly low enthusiasm for vaccines among certain segments of the US population, including young people and Republicans, for the US president failing to get 70 per cent of Americans vaccinated by 4 July a target that had been set months earlier. Canada currently leads the G7 in vaccinations, with 74.45 of its population vaccinated a number that also puts it ahead of the rest of the world, according to Our World In Data. It comes just days after Mr Biden announced a vaccine mandate for firms with employees of 100 or more, in an effort to force some Americans to get vaccinated and to stop a further surge in infections of the Delta variant of Covid. Donald Trump appointee Amy Coney Barrett has rejected the assertion that the US Supreme Court comprises of a bunch of partisan hacks, days after it passed a controversial 5-4 judgment that backed Texass restrictive new abortion law. To say the courts reasoning is flawed is different from saying the court is acting in a partisan manner, said Ms Barrett, criticising the media for allegedly not capturing the deliberative process of the court in reaching the judgements it makes. Judicial philosophies are not the same as political parties, she insisted during a lecture hosted by the McConnell Centre at the University of Louisville on Sunday, adding there was a need to evaluate what the court is doing on its own terms. Justice Barrett, who was introduced by Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell at the 30th anniversary of the Centre that he founded, also cited a number of cases in which the nine justices did not vote along party lines, reported USA Today. The media, along with hot takes on Twitter, report the results and decisions that makes the decision seem results-oriented. It leaves the reader to judge whether the court was right or wrong, based on whether she liked the results of the decision, the judge was quoted as saying. And heres the thing: Sometimes, I dont like the results of my decisions. But its not my job to decide cases based on the outcome I want. Justice Barrett was appointed ahead of the 2020 presidential election to fill the vacancy left in the apex court after the death of liberal icon Ruth Bader Ginsburg, and tilted the court towards a conservative majority. Mr McConnell pushed for her appointment despite opposition from Democrats, who protested against it on the ground that the process was being rushed. They said the winner of the 2020 presidential election should pick the nominee for the Supreme Court vacancy. While Mr McConnell rejected the Democrats argument, he had taken the same position in 2016 by refusing to hold hearings for a Supreme Court nominee appointed by then-president Barack Obama. Ms Barretts appointment sealed a conservative majority of 6-3 in the top judicial body for the foreseeable future after the US senate voted 52-48, confirming her to the lifelong post. During her speech, Ms Barrett said justices must be hyper vigilant to make sure theyre not letting personal biases creep into their decisions, since judges are people, too. Her comments followed the Supreme Courts controversial order that upheld the Texas law banning most abortions after a foetal heartbeat can be detected, prompting severe a backlash and protests from rights groups. There was a protest march outside the venue of Ms Barretts lecture as well. But the Supreme Court justice refused to comment on individual cases after a student asked her about that emergency order and another ruling where the top court refused to block a lower court order directing the Biden administration to reinstate a Trump-era programme that forces people to wait in Mexico while seeking asylum in the country. It would be inappropriate said the conservative judge as she declined to comment. The 49-year-old judge also passed on some advice to young women seeking careers in public service, saying she would like them to know it is possible to raise a family and be successful. Additional reporting from agencies Secretary of State Antony Blinken confirmed that roughly 100 American citizens who had indicated desires to leave Afghanistan remained in the country as of Monday. His remarks came during Mondays hearing of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, which met to question the top diplomat about the chaotic exit from Kabul by US forces throughout the end of August, when the Biden administration airlifted tens of thousands of US forces and others out of the country following the fall of the capital to the Taliban. As of the end of last week, we had about 100 American citizens in Afghanistan who told us they want to leave the country, Mr Blinken said, calling it a moving picture. Secretary of State Antony Blinken testifies that there are about 100 Americans left in Afghanistan who have communicated they want to leave the country pic.twitter.com/RSikGIZXUf Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) September 13, 2021 The number of Americans still showing some interest in leaving Afghanistan has differed little from late August when the evacuations concluded and Mr Blinken said at the time that around 200 remained in the country. Possible explanations for the slow pace include both personal reasons among those who are considering leaving that have prevented them from doing so thus far as well as the ongoing chaos presented by the Talibans takeover of Afghanistan; international flights only recently resumed from Kabuls airport, and flights with some Americans and others are thought to be grounded in Mazar-i-Sharif, a northern city, as well. Mr Blinken testified on Monday before the House Foreign Affairs Committee regarding the Biden administrations withdrawal of US troops from Afghanistan, during which he blamed the chaos surrounding the US exit on the situation left to the White House to deal with after the Trump administration left office. President Joe Biden and his allies have hammered the deal reached between the Trump administration and the Taliban which set a deadline for the US withdrawal from the country in recent days while at the same time remaining firm in their assertions that more military might or a longer US presence would not have produced a more favorable outcome. US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has announced $64 million in new aid to Afghanistans civilian population while vowing at a committee hearing held by the House Foreign Affairs panel to continue working to extract Americans and others from the country. In prepared remarks on Monday, Mr Blinken claimed that the contribution from USAID would meet critical health and nutrition needs, address the protection concerns of women, children, and minorities, to help more children including girls go back to school. USAID had initially announced the aid just hours earlier in a news release, but Mr Blinken was the first Biden administration official to speak publicly on the news. The funding will flow through independent organizations, such as UN agencies and NGOs, and provide life-saving support directly to Afghans facing the compounding effects of insecurity, conflict, recurring natural disasters, and the COVID-19 pandemic, added the agency in its statement. The US has now approved more than $300 million in assistance to Afghanistan so far this fiscal year, Mr Blinken went on to note in his remarks. The secretary faced tough questions from Republicans on Monday regarding why some Americans and Afghan nationals who wanted to leave were left behind, while Democrats largely focused their fire on the Trump administration and sought to provide cover for the Biden administration. US evacuations concluded at the end of last month, though a handful of American citizens remain in the country, as do likely hundreds if not more Afghan special immigrant visa (SIV) applicants. An alleged Capitol rioter has asked a judge to remove his ankle monitor because it beeps too loudly, a report has claimed. Gabriel Garcia, of Miami, Florida, was fitted with the ankle monitor following his arrest for assaulting the US Capitol building on 6 January, and has worn the location tracking device for several months. Following his arraignment and released on bail in February, Mr Garcia was allowed to return to work at a construction business that he owns in Miami. He has pleaded not guilty to all charges. According to The Washington Post, he has recently filed a request with a judge to remove his GPS tracking ankle monitor because it allegedly interferes with his business. The father of three faces large legal fees for both the Capitol riot case, and a divorce case, it was reported. He had earlier requested that he be able to run his businesses 24 hours a day, which was rejected. A judge was told that the ankle monitor threatens Mr Garcias business because it beeps loudly in front of customers, and according to the Post, is often followed by embarrassing phone call from officials asking for his location. Mr Garcia has also claimed that the device is dangerous because he climbs ladders for work, and the monitor often gets stuck on the rungs of the ladder. He has also nearly fallen off because of the monitor, it was reported. The alleged rioter, who is accused of being part of a mob that attacked the legislature after former US president Donald Trump alleged that 2020s election was stolen, has not yet received a date for a hearing for his request. Officers charged him with violent entry disorder conduct on Capitol grounds, after identifying him in his own Facebook videos. He is among roughly 600 people arrested by the FBI for rioting. Charles Haskell, a lawyer for Mr Garcia, refused to comment when asked by The Independent. The Federal Election Commission has dismissed a complaint from Republicans that Twitter illegally blocked an unflattering news story on Hunter Biden in 2020, reports say. The decision, which has not yet been made public, was first reported by The New York Times . According to the paper, the FEC made the ruling last month and will officially announce it soon. In October 2020, as the US presidential election approached, then-president Donald Trump and his allies unleashed an avalanche of accusations against Joe Biden s youngest son, many of them related to his past drug addictions. The New York Post published a story on those accusations, but many journalists including some in the Posts own newsroom believed it was not backed up by enough sources or evidence. (A spokesperson for the Post, however, told The Independent the story was vetted and The Post stands by its reporting.) Meanwhile, Twitter blocked tweets of the story and Facebook took actions reducing its distribution. Conservatives were outraged by those decisions, accusing the social media giants of violating free speech and unfairly aiding Joe Biden in the election. In a formal complaint to the FEC, the Republican National Committee called Twitters actions an illegal in-kind contribution to the Biden campaign. But according to the Times , the FEC didnt see it that way. In a document outlining its decision, the commission reportedly said Twitter credibly explained that it blocked the story for apolitical and commercial reasons not to unfairly influence the election. The FEC also reportedly rejected other Republican complaints, including that Twitter suppressed other anti-Biden posts and unfairly labelled Mr Trumps own tweets (before he was banned from the platform) as misinformation. According to the Times, the commission called these complaints vague, speculative and unsupported by the available information. The RNC is now weighing its options for appealing this disappointing decision from the FEC, a spokesperson for the Committee told the Times. For Republicans, the dismissal marks another frustrating chapter for their nearly year-long effort to make Hunter Bidens past into a more damaging scandal. Mr Trump himself appeared to say the quiet part out loud last November, complaining that social media had blocked his attempt to engineer an October surprise. You cant have a scandal if nobody writes about it, he said at a North Carolina rally the day before the election. We have the fake news not writing about it and the Big Tech not writing. How can you have a scandal? Nobodys talking about it. A Republican parade float in Porter County, Indiana that included a pair of smoking Twin Towers sparked outrage among attendees. The parade float clearly meant to recognise the 20th anniversary of the 9/11 terror attacks featured a pair of towers with holes in their sides surrounded by American flags and a banner that read "9.11 Never Forget." Smoke billowed from the towers, whose holes were decorated with black and red streamers to represent flames. The eye-catching attempt at a 9/11 memorial was built by the Porter County Republican Party for the local Popcorn Festival, which was held on the 20th anniversary of the terror attacks. The float was unveiled the day before the parade on the party's Facebook page and drew enough criticism to prompt administrators to limit the responses on the post. One critic, a non local person whose comment escaped the purge, called it "beyond tasteless, even without the fog machine going. "Did you really play the goodbye phone message recordings of the survivors?? Who thought that was a good idea??" they said. The float also included a wall featuring the names of the 2,977 people killed in the attacks and the portraits of 13 local military members who died fighting in the wars that followed the attacks. "What in the hell were the Porter County Republicans thinking? This video made me nauseous," a woman named Ashley Bohn commented. Even parade attendees can be heard murmuring criticisms in videos of the float. "That's a little f***** up," one parade goer can be heard saying. Comments praising the float remained on the post, and at least one person apparently tied to the Porter County Republicans, Valarie Kubacki, posted a defence of the float. "The work that was put into this was amazing, every name of every person that died that day were honored on the float. The people that have turned this into a thing are the people that did not even bother to do anything except walk in a parade carrying a political sign," she wrote in a Facebook post on the Porter County Republicans page. She also said that the float depicted "exactly what happened" on 9/11 and denied that any comments were limited or deleted. Screenshots of a group called the Valparaiso Republicans limiting the comments has been shared online, though it is unclear if the Valparaiso Republicans and the Porter County Republican pages are separate pages. President Joe Biden has denied being duped into posing for a photo with children wearing MAGA hats. Images of Mr Biden standing for a photo with children wearing pro-Trump merchandise went viral after the president attended a 9/11 memorial ceremony on Saturday in Shanksville, Pennsylvania, where a plane believed to be headed for the US Capitol or the White House crashed in a field after passengers decided to storm the hijacked cockpit on 11 September 2001. Arizona State Senator Wendy Rogers posted the image to Twitter and made the baseless claim that former President Donald Trump won the 2020 election. Several right-wing pundits and websites claimed that Mr Biden had been tricked into posing with the kids or was unaware that they were wearing pro-Trump clothing. But Biden said he was actively posing with the kids to underline his message of unity. I think the real issue for those kids that, just had a picture taken with, couple of them had Trump hats from last year, I think, for them, its going to be: Are we going to, in the next four, five, six, 10 years, demonstrate that democracies can work, or not? Mr Biden told reporters at the Shanksville Volunteer Fire Company. Theres a lot of autocrats who truly believe that democracies cant function in the 21st century. Not a joke, the president added. They think because the world is changing so rapidly and people are so divided, you cant bring people together in a democracy to get a consensus, and the only ones that are going to be able to succeed are the autocrats. Everybody says, Biden, why do you keep insisting on trying to bring the country together? Thats the thing thats going to affect our wellbeing more than anything else: how the rest of the world responds to us, knowing that we actually can, in fact, lead by the example of our power again. And I think we can do it. We got to do it, he said. The president at the time of the 9/11 attacks, Republican George W Bush, said at the Flight 93 memorial in Shanksville on Saturday that the post-attack unity he saw back then was the America I know. At a time when religious bigotry might have flowed freely, I saw Americans reject prejudice and embrace people of Muslim faith. That is the nation I know, he said. At a time when nativism could have stirred hatred and violence against people perceived as outsiders, I saw Americans reaffirm their welcome to immigrants and refugees. That is the nation I know, he added. At a time when some viewed the rising generation as individualistic and decadent, I saw young people embrace an ethic of service and rise to selfless action. That is the nation I know. President Joe Biden is set to deliver his first address to the United Nations General Assembly next week in New York the White House announced Monday. The annual convening of world leaders will take place in-person this year, after being held virtually in 2020 amid the COVID-19 pandemic. The White House says Biden will deliver remarks on Tuesday, Sept. 21. The White House did not immediately offer a preview of Bidens address or detail his schedule, but the venue traditionally offers presidents a chance to lay out their foreign policy priorities and often serves as a convenient opportunity for bilateral meetings between world leaders. The leading Republican candidate for governor refused to commit to accepting the results in Californias recall election. Conservative radio talk show host Larry Elder was asked by MSNBCs Jacob Soboroff whether he would accept the results whether he wins or lose. I think we all ought to be looking at election integrity, no matter whether youre a Democrat, an independent or a Republican, he said. Lets all make sure that the election is a fair election. Mr Elder is the leading Republican candidate to potentially replace Democratic Gov Gavin Newsom on Tuesdays recall. He has previously said there might very well be shenanigans in the recall, echoing former president Donald Trumps false claims that the 2020 election was stolen. Mr Trump has also released a statement saying that the recall election was rigged. Does anybody really believe the California Recall Election isnt rigged, Mr Trump said in a statement on Monday. Millions and millions of Mail-In Ballots will make this just another giant Election Scam, no different, but less blatant, than the 2020 Presidential Election Scam! Mike Pence has been caught on film praising a woman posing as one of the January 6 US Capitol insurrectionists. Progressive activist Lauren Windsor went undercover to approach Mr Pence at an event in Nebraska on Sunday and pressed him on why he hadnt gone along with former President Donald Trumps demands to refuse to certify the election results. We were there on January 6 and we were just wondering why you didnt stop the election from being stolen, Ms Windsor asks Mr Pence in the video posted to her Twitter account . Yesterday, I went undercover to talk to Mike Pence about the Big Lie. I told him I was at the Capitol on Jan. 6 fighting for Donald Trump. He told me I love your heart. pic.twitter.com/xK0y57UPIP Lauren Windsor (@lawindsor) September 13, 2021 Read the Constitution. The only authority Congress has is to open and count, Mr Pence responds. The Electoral College votes are certified by the states. We never want Washington, D.C. to run our elections. States run the elections. Ms Windsor then continues to question Mr Pence. But do you think the election was stolen or not? she asks. Because, I mean, we were there fighting for President Trump. Lauren Windsor has tricked several prominent Republicans into making embarrassing statements by posing as a Trump supporter (The Undercurrent/YouTube) Mr Pence concludes the brief exchange by saying: Very nice to meet you. I love your heart. Ms Windsor, the creator of a political web-show The Undercurrent, has been likened to the liberal equivalent of far-right provocateur James OKeefe for her ability to get Republicans to say embarrassing statements when they think they are speaking to a supporter. Last month she filmed Wisconsin Senator Ron Johnson blaming Mr Trump for losing Wisconsin in 2020. Mr Johnson, who has repeatedly questioned the results of the Presidential election and spread conspiracy theories about the Jan. 6 riot, told her there was nothing obviously skewed about the results. The admission from Mr Johnson prompted a fierce backlash against him from supporters of Mr Trumps. EXCLUSIVE: Sen Ron Johnson blames Trump for losing Wisconsin in 2020 and tells me theres nothing obviously skewed about the results. pic.twitter.com/OeRkVkkVAN Lauren Windsor (@lawindsor) August 31, 2021 She also caught Alabama Senator Tommy Tuberville saying in December that he would oppose the certification of the 2020 election results. Speaking to The Daily Beast, Ms Windsor said she used undercover stings to expose the hypocrisy of GOP lawmakers. I think theres just been an unprecedented ongoing threat to our democracy that undercover work helps to expose real intentions and motivations that you wouldnt be able to otherwise capture, she told the site. Ms Windsor rejected comparisons to Mr OKeefe, from the Project Veritas group, as her tactics only generally involve posing as a Republican supporter to speak to elected officials. Mr OKeefes operations often involve creating fake identities and resumes, and target low-level political staff members. A terrorism expert believes Senator Josh Hawleys fist-bumping antics helped stir up the crowd before the January 6 riots. Former FBI Special Agent Clint Watts told MSNBCs The Sunday Show that politicians were helping to fuel the rise of domestic extremism and singled out Mr Hawley and Donald Trump by name. Mr Watts said political leaders were directing extremists at particular targets such as the US Capitol. Its our political leaders that are doing this more than domestic extremists, Mr Watts, who served on the Joint Terrorism Task Force, said. What you see right there President Trump told them they were going to the Capitol that day. They didnt pick the Capitol, he said it, his organizers they promoted it, his fellow congressmen in the GOP, they promoted it. Clint Watts, former FBI special agent, says politicians are directing extremists at their targets (MSNBCs The Sunday Show) It was Josh Hawley out there fist-bumping the crowd, right? Before it went in," he added. Thats the thing we look for to see, hey, where are they tipping to. For the most part, the groups arent picking the targets. Its the elected leaders. Mr Watts was asked about former President George W. Bushs comments at Saturdays Flight 93 memorial in which he linked the ideology of the 9/11 terrorists and the mob who stormed the US Capitol. Mr Bush was widely praised for the speech, where he warned dangers can come not only across borders but from violence that gathers within. Mr Watts said law enforcement didnt have the same tools at its disposal to fight domestic threats. We developed an entire architecture that was focused on a group or relatively defined group, I should say, al Qaeda and then it spawned the Islamic State, so we had a terrorist designation. That we just do not have in the domestic space and it perplexes our ability because that brings up laws and procedures. Its been the crux of the debate since January 6th; what are Americans, you know, willing to let American law enforcement do to protect them? Its just not very clear, he continued. The US Capitol Police are bracing for a rally on September 18 in support of the more than 600 rioters who were arrested after January 6. Experts have warned of the danger of further violence at the rally, which will be the largest gathering of Trump supporters in DC since January 6. A suspected white supremacist was arrested on Sunday night by US Capitol Police carrying a bayonet and machete in his pickup truck near the Democratic National Headquarters. On 3 September, just two days after Texas banned abortions, Vivek Bhaskaran, the chief executive of an Austin-based online survey software company, quickly assembled the handful of female employees that are based in the city. In a virtual town hall that lasted about 15 minutes, he told the women that regardless of insurance, the company would cover out-of-state abortion services. Im not a politician; I cant change anything. But Im still responsible for my employees in Texas, and I have a moral responsibility to them, said Mr Bhaskaran, CEO of QuestionPro. For the past several years, Texas has been selling itself as a tech haven attracting start-ups and tech companies such as Oracle, Hewlett-Packard Enterprises, and even Elon Musk, Teslas billionaire co-founder and CEO, who has moved to the state. Big Tech companies such as Facebook, Amazon, and Apple all have grown their presence in the state, opening new warehouses, data centres, and production facilities. But Texass recent swerve to the right on abortion, voting restrictions as well as a ban on coronavirus vaccine mandates has many workers and industry leaders like Mr Bhaskaran worried about retaining workers and recruiting top tech talent to the state. In August, Texas had 33,843 tech job openings - the second highest in the US after California - according to a report from the Computing Technology Industry Association. Thats up 56 per cent from a year earlier. We already find it extremely challenging to attract tech workers, said Mr Bhaskaran, noting there are more jobs than talent in the industry. This seems like an extremely unnecessary conversation were going to have to have with potential recruits. The new abortion law in Texas, which went into effect earlier this month, bans abortions at six weeks and allows private citizens to sue people or services that perform or aid in an abortion. Reporting parties could receive at least $10,000 (7,223) as well as recover legal fees if they win their cases. In response, the US Department of Justice sued the state over the law, trying to block it. Texas Governor Greg Abbott, on Thursday also signed a bill that would prohibit large tech companies from blocking or restricting people or their posts based on their viewpoint, setting the stage for a legal battle with the tech industry. Mr Abbott also slammed President Joe Bidens vaccine mandate for private companies, calling it a power grab. Texas led the nation in population growth in 2020 attracting 373,965 residents, according to estimates from the US Census Bureau. While experts say its too early to tell whether the new laws will cause any massive change in worker migration, they note that right-wing measures could lead to a pause of left-leaning tech workers considering moving to the state. You might see a slow down, said Richard Alm, a writer in residence at Southern Methodist Universitys Cox School of Business in Dallas who studies Texas economy. This has potential to impact the supply of labor if workers are less willing to relocate to Texas. After Mr Abbott signed the abortion bill into law, many tech workers were quick to react on social media platforms such as Twitter to air their concerns, frustration, and fears. For some tech industry workers who recently relocated to the state, the abortion law is making them consider moving elsewhere. Thats the case for Valerie Veteto, a copywriter, who has freelanced for San Francisco tech companies including Salesforce, Patreon and Lyft. She moved to Austin from San Francisco in September 2020, drawn by the citys vibe, creativity, live music scene and the low cost of living. But a few months later, when Texas power grid failed during a winter storm, leaving millions without power, heat and water, Veteto began questioning her choice. That was a moment that chipped away at my confidence of living here. Then obviously whats going on currently, it sealed the deal, she said. She and her boyfriend are now planning to relocate to New York City. Some professionals in the tech industry say theyre worried about what the passage of the abortion law says about the direction Texas is headed in terms of other major social issues. It scares the living daylights out of me, said Deep Barot, a Texas native and San Francisco-based angel investor in biotech, software and cryptocurrency companies. This is an abortion law, but whats next? The issue boils down to one question, said Mr Alm from SMU: Can employers retain and attract top tech talent despite the states new restrictive laws? David Panarelli, a user experience designer for an e-commerce company in San Diego, said he and his wife had considered moving to Texas but both are concerned with how officials have handled issues like immigration, the pandemic, and masking guidelines. The abortion law reaffirmed their fears, he said. If Im in a situation where I have to make an extremely irreversible decision, I dont want anyone making that decision for me, he said. Its not about women. Its about human rights. Crystal Wiese, QuestionPros director of marketing, said the reaction from the people on the virtual town hall was mostly silence. There was a reassuring feeling, but its not the kind of conversation you expect to have with your CEO. Some Texas-based tech companies were quick to respond to what essentially is an abortion ban, recognizing that it could have significant repercussions on recruitment and retention of talent in the future. Marc Benioff, CEO of Salesforce, said in a tweet on Friday that he would be willing to move his employees if they wanted to relocate without providing further details. A Salesforce employee who declined to be named said the company told workers via an internal chat that if they had concerns about access to reproductive health care in their states, Salesforce would help relocate them and their immediate families. Dallas-based Match, which operates dating apps, said its CEO Shar Dubey is creating a fund to help cover the cost of abortion services for employees who have to travel outside of the state. I immigrated to America from India over 25 years ago and I have to say, as a Texas resident, I am shocked that I now live in a state where womens reproductive laws are more regressive than most of the world, including India, Ms Dubey said in a memo to employees earlier this month. Surely everyone should see the danger of this highly punitive and unfair law. Michael Dell, chairman and CEO of Dell based in Round Rock, Texas, sent a note to employees on 8 September, addressing the latest Texas laws, saying the company believes in the right to free, fair and equitable access to voting and that its goal is to give employees more coverage when it comes to health not less. The company declined to say whether it is planning anything specific related to Texas abortion and voting laws. HPE still believes that its policies and benefits will attract workers no matter where theyre located, said spokesman Adam Bauer. But he said the company cant predict if and how this will impact recruiting in the future. Kat Scott, a San Francisco-based developer advocate for the open-source foundation Open Robotics, said if the law is not removed quickly, it will have a lasting impact on peoples impression of the state. Its going to be extremely difficult to recruit women or young people, she said. Washington Post Former President Donald Trump accused Democrats of causing resistance to the coronavirus vaccines, saying they "disparaged" the shots while he was in office. Mr Trump made the comments during an interview with Fox News Digital. The accusation came in response to Joe Biden's sweeping executive order that requires vaccination or weekly Covid-19 testing for nearly 100 million Americans. Mr Trump said the move "shouldn't be necessary" and then claimed without evidence that more people were interested in taking the shot when he was president. "If you remember, when I was president, there were literally lines of people wanting to take it," Mr Trump said. "Now, you have a different situation, and its very bad." When Mr Trump was in office the Pfizer vaccine had just received emergency authorisation from the US Food and Drug Administration, making it the first time Americans could vaccinate themselves against the coronavirus. Currently more than half the country is vaccinated, so it stands to reason there would be fewer lines. Mr Trump claimed that Democrats "disparaged" the vaccine. "Of course, they famously said, if Trump came up with it, Ill never take it," Mr Trump said, alluding to comments made by Vice President Kamala Harris last September. Ms Harris did not actually say she did not trust the vaccine, she said she did not trust Mr Trump and would wait for a "credible source of information" before she took any vaccine released before the 2020 election. Mr Biden made similar comments. On 8 September, 2020, Mr Biden was asked if he would take a vaccine if it was released "tomorrow." "Only if it was completely transparent, that other experts in the country could look at it, only if we knew all of what went into it. Because so far, nothing hes told us has been true," Mr Biden said. Even discounting nuance, Mr Trump's claim still presumes that conservatives who account for nearly half of the unvaccinated population in the US care more about what Mr Biden and Ms Harris have to say than what he does. Mr Trump has encouraged his followers to take the vaccine on more than one occasion. "And you know what? I believe totally in your freedoms. I do. You've got to do what you have to do," Mr Trump said at a rally in Alabama. "But I recommend take the vaccines. I did it. It's good. Take the vaccines." The MAGA crowd booed him in response. During his Fox interview, Mr Trump said that those who are vaccine hesitant "don't trust this president, and that's why they're not taking it." The former president made the comment moments after calling the vaccine "one of my greatest achievements," despite arguing for nearly two years that the threat of the virus was overblown and being used by Democrats as a political cudgel against him. Mr Trump did not address the barrage of anti-vaccination rhetoric coming from right wing media including Fox News during his interview. Talk show host Tucker Carlson said that falsifying vaccination cards wasn't "a serious crime" and claimed those who did not take the shot would end up on a "government list." Jeanine Pirro, another talking head on the network, claimed the vaccine efforts would be used to justify gun confiscations. Similarly, Laura Ingraham has touted "natural immunity" as a better preventative than the vaccines and has pushed drugs on her audience that haven't been proven to be effective in treating Covid-19. Ingraham was an early supporter of both hydroxychloroquine and ivermectin as alternative Covid-19 therapeutics. While both are drugs people can be prescribed, neither has been proved to be effective at treating Covid-19. Fox Corporation, which owns Fox News, requires all of its employees to report their vaccination status to the company and certain employees are made to take weekly Covid-19 tests regardless of their vaccination status. Despite the vaccines being one of Mr Trump's "greatest achievements," he got his shot in private and rarely spoke of his inoculation. In December and January, numerous public figures including Mr Biden and Ms Harris publicised that they were taking the shot as a way to encourage the rest of the country to do the same. Even Mr Trump's daughter, Ivanka, publicised her inoculation. Former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows is reportedly among those individuals whose communications with President Donald Trump are set to be investigated by the House select committee on the 6 January attack. A source familiar with the investigation told The Guardian that telecom companies had been instructed by the panel to preserve records of Mr Meadows communications in the hours leading up to the Capitol siege, making him the highest-ranking aide to be included among the investigations targets. Mr Meadows, who was the last chief of staff to serve in the Trump White House and is viewed as fiercely loyal to the former president, attended the rally outside the White House at which his former boss urged his supporters to descend upon the Capitol. Defenders of the former presidents actions that day have claimed that Mr Trump only wished for crowds to remain outside of the building. The Guardians source added that the select panel is likely to schedule another hearing before the end of September, though it remains firmly in the evidence-collecting stage of its work. Subpoenas from the committee could also face legal challenges in court. Committee staff did not immediately return a request for comment from The Independent. Alongside its requests for private data currently in the hands of telecom companies, the 6 January select panel has also requested official White House communications made by a slew of Mr Trumps former top aides from the National Archives, as well as any communications between White House staff and other figures in Mr Trumps orbit such as Steve Bannon and Roger Stone. The Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol is examining the facts, circumstances, and causes of the January 6th attack, said the panels chairman, Rep Bennie Thompson, last month while adding: [T]his investigation seeks to evaluate threats to that process, identify lessons learned and recommend laws, policies, procedures, rules, or regulations necessary to protect our republic in the future. Republicans are so far trying unorthodox means to prevent evidence from reaching the committee; House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy threatened to exact revenge on telecom companies that complied with the Democrat-led investigation which he claimed was an abuse of Congresss powers. [The Democrats] attempts to strong-arm private companies to turn over individuals private data would put every American with a phone or computer in the crosshairs of a surveillance state run by Democrat politicians, Mr McCarthy said in a statement late last month. If these companies comply with the Democrat order to turn over private information, they are in violation of federal law and subject to losing their ability to operate in the United States, the House GOP leader added. If companies still choose to violate federal law, a Republican majority will not forget and will stand with Americans to hold them fully accountable under the law. A woman celebrated by QAnon believers and other conspiracy theorists for her personal campaign against Covid-19 prevention and treatment measures has died in hospital of the very disease whose severity she questioned. Illinois woman Veronica Wolski, who was known for flying pro-QAnon banners to motorists over what she referred to as the peoples bridge, passed away in intensive care after several weeks in hospital. She had previously boasted about never having worn a mask or getting vaccinated, and had posted videos of herself clashing with retail workers while entering their stores unmasked. While Ms Wolski was in intensive care, conspiracy theorists and QAnon followers who had come to view her as a heroine bombarded the hospital with phone calls demanding that she be released and be treated with ivermectin, an anti-parasite medicine that some on the American right are hailing as an effective Covid-19 treatment. The FDA has warned that it can be very dangerous to take the drug, especially in formulations intended for animals rather than humans. Among those leading the charge to end Ms Wolskis care in favour of ivermectin treatment was pro-Trump lawyer Lin Wood, who over the last year has become a key figure in the far-right firmament. In the days before her death, he shared a video of himself phoning the hospital and telling the woman answering the phone that Ms Wolski must be discharged and that if she wasnt, the hospital would be guilty of murder. After her death, sympathetic supporters began circulating a two-minute tribute video featuring clips of her protests intercut with military memorial salutes. Mr Wood became one of the ex-presidents most high profile public outriders after the 2020 election, appearing on stage at Stop the Steal rallies alongside figures such as Kraken lawyer Sidney Powell. He has since been the subject of legal actions to examine whether he violated professional conduct rules with his pro-Trump lawsuits, one of which saw him try to avoid undergoing a mental health evaluation. Mr Wood has been banned from major social media platforms because of his false claims about the alleged theft of the 2020 election. He is now using his Telegram channel to call on his supporters to engage in non-violent civil disobedience over Ms Wolskis death. Agriculture authorities in Washington have located another "murder hornet" nest near Blaine and plan on removing it, according tor reports. The Washington State Department of Agriculture said on Friday that it had located another Asian giant hornet nest - colloquially called "murder hornets" - in a tree near the city of Blaine, which sits on the state's border with Canada. The WDSA tweeted out a photo of one of the hornets with a radio tracker affixed to its back. The tracker has been instrumental for the agency's efforts to locate and root out the hornets' nests to prevent them from spreading throughout the state. Sven-Erik Spichiger, the WSDA's managing entomologist, held a news conference on 27 August discussing the insects and the agency's tracking methods. He said the trackers are attached to the hornets using a Kevlar thread. The hornets then are released, allowing agency workers to track them to their nests. The tracking event was as difficult as one might think when youre trying to follow something that flies very quickly through Himalayan blackberry, Mr Spichiger said. The agency has already located two nests, one in October of last year and another at the end of August. The agency said that "eradication plans are underway" and should commence sometime in the next few days. All of the nests have been found within a few miles of each other in North Whatcom County. The agency said that citizen spotters have assisted in their mission to find and root out the insects. Residents near one of the previous nests sent the agency photos of one of the hornets trying to enter and attack a paper wasp nest. "Your reports DO make a difference," the agency tweeted alongside the photos. The nest that workers found and eradicated in August was much larger than the one found last October, which was also the first nest to be discovered in the US. Asian giant hornets -the world's largest hornets - are not native to the US, and are often called "murder hornets" because they attack honeybee hives during what are called "slaughter phases." During their attacks they decapitate the bees they encounter. According to the WSDA, the nest found in August had nine combs and one queen. Nearly 200 worker hornets were captured during the eradication. Workers must wear suits made from thick foam while trying to capture and eradicate the nests to avoid injury. A suspicious package reportedly containing white powder was sent to the office of New Zealand prime minister Jacinda Arden. Special fire service units arrived in the parliamentary compound in Wellington on Monday morning after the substance, sent to Ms Arden, was discovered a floor below her office. The item was first identified in the mailroom on level eight of the Beehive, which is the executive wing of the government building. Ms Arden was working in her ninth floor office before chairing a midday cabinet meeting on the tenth floor. Three separate units, including a hazardous material truck, were positioned behind the parliamentary building to investigate the suspicious item. The security scare comes fewer than two weeks since New Zealand police fatally shot a suspected terrorist, who had stabbed at least six people in an Auckland supermarket. It also comes days after Christchurch airport was evacuated following identification of a suspicious package, believed to be a bomb, in a domestic terminal last Thursday. The airport, including passengers and staff, was cleared and the New Zealand Defence Forces bomb team was called to investigate as a precaution, along with sniffer dogs. Flights were also suspended in the area before the package was confirmed as unsuspicious by police. Germanys finance minister Olaf Scholz moved a step closer to becoming the countrys next chancellor with yet another solid imperturbable performance in the second of three televised debates on Sunday. This came as the Social Democrat shrewdly fended off a series of increasingly desperate attacks from the flailing conservative candidate from Chancellor Angela Merkels party, Armin Laschet. Scholz, a no-nonsense centrist in the left-leaning SPD party, has led the partys improbable surge to the top of opinion polls well ahead of the conservative Christian Democrats (CDU/CSU) and the pro-environment Greens with a quiet and down-to-earth style that has borrowed a page from Merkels playbook and struck a chord with voters. The 26 September elections in Germany mark a watershed as the first without an incumbent in the race since the Second World War. Merkel is retiring after 16 years in office. Her conservative party has dominated German politics, ruling for 52 of the last 72 years and is facing its worst-ever defeat. With 25 per cent in voter surveys, Scholzs SPD has a four to a six-point lead over the conservatives two weeks ahead of the vote. Scholzs unflappable side was on abundant display for 11 million television viewers on Sunday evening. The 63-year-old candidate remained calm when CDU/CSUs Laschet came out swinging and tried to tarnish Scholzs reputation as a safe pair of hands. Laschet, 60, needed a knock-out blow and, despite a bright start, fell far short of expectations. In one of the more testy exchanges, Laschet accused the balding former mayor of Hamburg of failing in his supervisory role as finance minister for a series of financial scandals. He repeatedly asked Scholz if state prosecutors had raided his ministry last week collecting documents related to the collapse of Wirecard. If my finance minister did his job like youre doing it, wed have a serious problem, said Laschet, who is the state premier in North Rhine-Westphalia and under pressure in his party for blunder-filled campaign. Scholz calmly but firmly replied the investigation had nothing at all to do with him. Herr Laschet, youre twisting the facts, Scholz said his voice remaining calm even though the building anger contained inside him could be seen as his ears turned a lighter shade of red. Scholz also used the words dishonest and disingenuous in his rebuttal to Laschet a defence that appeared to work well enough. A voter survey by the Infratest dimap pollsters taken immediately after the debate found that 41 per cent found Scholz to be the most convincing, while just 27 per cent thought Laschet won the debate. The Greens 40-year-old candidate Annalena Baerbock, who at times managed to make the two men standing to her left and right look like hopelessly squabbling children, put in another solid performance but was picked by just 25 per cent of the voters as the winner of the evening. As you can see, this election is a choice between no change to the system with this grand coalition government avoiding the issues and sitting them out or can we achieve a real breakthrough with policies that will make a real difference, said Baerbock. Scholz has already made clear that he wants to form a coalition government with Baerbocks Greens reprising the government from 1998 to 2005. But the two parties will most likely need a third coalition partner either the pro-business Free Democrats (FDP) or the far-left Linke party are the leading candidates. Scholz has signalled his preference for an SPD-Greens-FDP coalition, also known as a Traffic Light Coalition. Italian prosecutors have launched an investigation after a six-year-old boy, who was the sole survivor of a cable car crash in May, was taken to Israel by his grandfather. Eitan Birans parents, two-year-old brother and two of his great-grandparents were among 14 people who died after the car crashed into a mountainside in northern Italy earlier this year. He was released from a hospital in Turin in June following weeks of treatment for critical injuries and Italian youth court officials ruled he could live with his paternal aunt near Pavia. But the aunt, Aya Biran-Nirko, told reporters on Sunday that Eitans maternal grandfather had taken the boy out during an agreed visit the previous day, then flew him without permission to Israel. She said the youngster had been undergoing both physical therapy and psychotherapy since his hospital release and was due to have follow-up medical visits this week, including one in Turin. "His bed is empty, his toys and clothes were left behind, she said, adding that his new desk, school backpack, notebooks, pencil case and books were ready for his first day of class on Monday. The aunt said when the maternal grandfather had come to pick Eitan up for an arranged visit on Saturday morning, it was agreed the boy would be back by dinner. But she filed a police report on Saturday night when Eitan had not returned, according to Italian news reports. The maternal grandfather could not immediately be reached for comment, but Gali Peleg, a sister of Eitans late mother, denied the boy had been snatched from Italy. We did not abduct Eitan, she told an Israeli radio station. We will not use that word. What happened is that we brought Eitan home. She would not say exactly where the boy was, only that he had arrived on Saturday. We are caring for his emotional state and health, she added. The wreckage of a cable car after it collapsed near the summit of the Stresa-Mottarone line in the Piedmont region, northern Italy (Luca Bruno/AP) Ms Biran-Nirko, a doctor with her own children, told reporters that Eitan had Italian citizenship and had been living with his parents in Italy since he was a toddler. It was not immediately possible to confirm if the child also had Israeli citizenship, but he reportedly had an Israeli passport. The aunt in Israel told the radio station the boy screamed from excitement when he saw us. He said, Im finally in Israel. She added that everything we did was only for the good of the boy. Ms Biran-Nirko said she was certain and full of hope that Israeli and Italian authorities would work together to ensure his return home to Italy. Investigators are still working to establish the cause of the crash on 23 May this year, but prosecutors believe the emergency brakes may have been deliberately disabled. Fifteen people had boarded the cable car in the town of Stresa, next to Lake Maggiore, for the 20-minute ride. When the lead cable of the car snapped, the emergency brake failed to prevent the car from reeling backwards down the support line. The cable car came off the line entirely when it hit a support pylon, crashed to the ground and then rolled down the Mottarone mountain until it was stopped by a stand of trees. Additional reporting by Associated Press Voting is underway in Norway, in a parliamentary election that has focused largely on climate change and economic inequality. Norway is western Europes biggest producer of oil, exporting more than four million barrels of oil equivalent per day. The sector accounts for 42 per cent of the countrys exports, employs 160,000 people, and last year, brought in 107bn Norwegian Krone (8.95bn) to government coffers. The role that the Scandinavian country has played as a major oil and gas producer has been at the centre of the campaign, although the transition towards more sustainable energy is likely to be gradual, regardless of which major party forms the next government. According to opinion polls, Norways centre-left Labour Party is expected to replace the Conservative government that has ruled for the past eight years, but it will require the support of at least two additional parties to secure a majority. Labour leader Jonas Gahr Stoere has said that if Labour win, he wants to give oil companies time to adapt their processes gradually to enable them to pursue green energy initiatives such as offshore wind turbines. This is similar to the strategy that prime minister Erna Solbergs Conservative government pursued. Throughout the campaign, Mr Stoere also said that a Labour government would focus on cutting the countrys CO2 emissions in line with the 2015 Paris Agreement, but has rejected any ultimatum over energy policy. After casting his ballot on Sunday, he told reporters: I believe that calling time on our oil and gas industry is the wrong industrial policy and the wrong climate policy. Mr Stoere has also pledged to address inequality by providing tax relief to low- and middle-income families whilst hiking rates for the rich. According to Statistics Norway, the proportion of Norwegian children living in low-income households has grown from just 3.3 per cent in 2001 to a staggering 11.7 per cent in 2019, and over the past 30 years, house prices have climbed sixfold, outpacing average salary growth. Equal rights and equal opportunity have to be secured, he told Reuters. Inequality has been increasing over the last years. So fairer distribution is a foundation of our policy and that will be felt. But the prime minister, who cast her ballot in her hometown of Bergen on Monday, said that her governments current economic policies were effective and should be continued. Our policies are working, employment is going up so we should continue them, Ms Solberg told reporters after casting her vote. If Labour is to form government, Mr Stoere has said that he hopes to form a majority government between Labour, the Centre Party and the Socialist Left. Depending on the polls, however, he may end up dependent on the Red Party, which wants social change based on Leninist ideology, or the Green Party, which hopes to stop all of Norways oil production by 2035. Mr Stoere has also not ruled out the possibility of leading a minority government. Polls close at 7pm GMT tonight. The socialist mayor of Paris has entered the race for the French presidency, aiming to oust Emmanuel Macron. Anne Hidalgo of the Socialist Party announced her bid to run on Sunday. The 62-year-old has centred her campaign on "overcoming class prejudice" and is the favourite to win her party's nomination. The Republican model is disintegrating before our eyes, she told supporters at the docks in Rouen, a city in Normandy about 75 miles northwest of the capital. I want all children in France to have the same opportunities I had. Ms Hidalgo joins a growing list of politicians challenging President Macron, who has not yet announced his re-election bid but is widely expected to do so. The far-right National Rally Partys Marine Le Pen also confirmed on Sunday her third tilt at the highest office in the land. Both women are vowing to become France's first female president. Ms Hidalgo is the daughter of Spanish immigrants, who fled Andalucia to escape Franciso Franco's dictatorship. She grew up near Lyon, and during her speech on Sunday, cited her humble beginnings on a housing estate in order to appeal to workers and those who have marched for more social justice, including the gilets jaunes (yellow vests). Ms Hidalgo said her experience as a working-class woman with immigrant roots would help to heal divisions in French society. Here in the port of Rouen, I think of my dad who worked in the shipyards of Cadiz and my mother, a seamstress, she said. Ms Hidalgo is perhaps best known for her campaign in her current job to reduce the number of cars and increase bicycles in Paris, making the city greener. Thousands have fled towns across Spains Costa del Sol as a wildfire that began near the popular resort town of Estepona burns into its fifth day. Since last week, the blaze has prompted the evacuation of some 2,500 people from 11 towns and, according to local media, destroyed nearly 7,400 hectares of forest. Following an intense night, Plan Infoca, the agency responsible for firefighting efforts in Andalucia, said that conditions were improving around the perimeter of the blaze. The agency added that immediate efforts would be focused preventing the fire from advancing towards the town of Casares. A military brigade from Moron was brought in on Sunday to assist the 365 firefighters, 41 water-dropping aircraft and 25 vehicles already battling the blazes. But firefighters on the ground continue to call for more support. I dont see enough deployed personnel, Rafael Fanega told the Associated Press. Some may see it differently, but thats how I see it. The fire has proven particularly dangerous firefighting crews have shared videos of towering plumes of smoke burning across rugged and mountainous terrain. Roads have been blocked and crews have had to walk for as long as three hours in order to battle the blaze. On Thursday, a 44-year-old emergency worker was killed while trying to fight the wildfire. Plan Infoca has said that hot and dry temperatures combined with strong winds created a perfect storm for the fire. Last week, deputy operational chief Alejandro Garcia said these conditions turned the fire into a hungry monster. On Sunday, Mr Garcia he told reporters: The potency and strength of this wildfire is unusual for the kind of blazes we are used to seeing in this country. While wildfires are common in the summer months across southern Europe, this year has been particularly bad due to intense heatwaves throughout the month of August. According to Spains Ministry of Ecological Transition, more than 75,000 hectares of forest and bush have burned this year already. Authorities suspect arson played a role in starting the fire and continue to investigate. With additional reporting from AP Smooth-talking Dmytro Kuleba is too much of a diplomat to admit hes angry with the west. One way or another, hes been a front-row witness to some infuriating letdowns: a foreign ministry envoy when Europe issued meek statements of concern as Russia annexed Crimea and fanned conflict in the Donbas; deputy prime minister during Ukrainegate, when his country was weaponised by Donald Trump; and Ukraines youngest ever foreign minister, now fighting an increasingly rearguard battle to maintain international pressure on Moscow. This country has learnt a number of bitter lessons that western promises are likely unfulfilled, he says. We do not believe in promises. The 40-year-old says Ukraine has come to understand it can only rely on itself. What that means in the short to mid-term, he says, is learning to become an agile military state like Israel: The circumstances leave no choice. Army, diplomacy and the Ukrainian people thats what we have to survive. Speaking with The Independent in Kyiv a day after his president warned of all-out war, Mr Kuleba says he believes Russia is trying to encircle Ukraine. Part of that operation is unconventional an attack on the idea of Ukrainian statehood by propaganda, fake news and strange historical essays by the Russian president. But there are worrying new developments in the conventional sphere too, most especially least along the 1,000km border with Belarus. Russian servicemen march during opening ceremony of the Zapad-2021 (West-2021) joint Russian-Belarusian drills (EPA) Relations between Kyiv and Minsk are at an all-time low. Last week, Alexander Lukashenko, Belaruss embattled autocrat, moved closer into the Kremlins embrace by apparently agreeing to 28 new integration programmes with Russia. That, says Mr Kuleba, fundamentally changed the equation with respect to Ukraines porous northern frontier, which run through woodlands, wetlands, and the Chernobyl exclusion zone. The ongoing Zapad-2021 joint Russian-Belarusian military drills which extend along Ukraines northern, eastern and southeastern flanks may simply be offering a taste of things to come. Frankly speaking, we have a problem now because we didnt invest enough in the border, Mr Kuleba says. Now we look at it and see it as a perfect vulnerability for subversion groups or migrants Lukashenko might want to send over. Ukraine has yet to experience the deliberate channels of migrants from Belarus to Lithuania, Latvia and Poland mainly because the migrants themselves, mostly middle class Iraqis, do not see Ukraine as a route to a more comfortable life in the European Union. Unlike Belarus, Ukraine also has a treaty commitment with Europe to take back any illegal migrants. But Kyiv expects things may change, the minister says. I spoke with one US senator who told me the United States should not screw up in Ukraine as it did in Afghanistan Dmytro Kuleba, Ukraines foreign minister Energy supply is another area where Ukraine is expecting serious new challenges from its eastern neighbours. Nord Stream 2, a new export gas pipeline between Russia and Europe that bypasses Ukraine, is due to come online in the coming days. Kyiv has been opposed to the project from the start, arguing that its aims are political in nature: to starve Kyiv of transit revenue and allow Moscow to reduce energy supplies to Ukraine proper. Many officials anticipate the Kremlin will find a way of cutting supplies to below the levels Ukraine needs for its own consumption, causing a crisis in the winter like the one seen in 2006. The United States initially offered a strong defence of Ukrainian interests around the pipeline, introducing sanctions that halted construction. But earlier this year, President Joe Biden removed those restrictions as a gesture to Germany, Nord Streams main European sponsor. It was a major blow to Ukraine. A few weeks later another worrying indication of American intent was sent from the June 16 Geneva summit, in which presidents Biden and Putin appeared to agree on a truce of sorts. A messy withdrawal from Afghanistan then followed, signalling perhaps most clearly Americas repudiation of its claimed role as a world policeman, and suggesting Kyiv might well expect further disappointment along the way. Biden and Putin appeared to agree a truce of sorts on the Nord Stream pipeline (EPA) Mr Kuleba agrees America is in the middle of a leadership crisis. But he says Ukraines security was one issue where the United States could demonstrate how serious it was again. I spoke with one US senator who told me the United States should not screw up in Ukraine as it did in Afghanistan, he says. From what the minister could glean from his recent trip to Washington, Joe Biden also remains personally invested in Ukraine. This was despite the 2020 scandal, in which Ukraine appeared, under extreme pressure from Donald Trump, to acquiesce to open an investigation into Mr Bidens son. We diplomats are trained to read through many layers of every line, Mr Kuleba says. I think the US president is open to working with us and understands that it was the previous administration that pulled us into American domestic politics. He said he would not leave Ukraine alone vis-a-vis Russia, and that is a crucial commitment. Whatever the extent of Mr Bidens backing, it certainly does not extend to membership of Nato and the European Union, which remain key, if distant aspirations for Kyiv. Ukraine was conspicuously excluded from the Nato summit earlier this year, and during opening remarks given to the YES security conference in Kyiv on Friday, President Zelensky said Ukraine did not intend to continue knocking at a locked door no one intended to open. The outgoing president of Estonia, Kersti Kaljulaid, added to the local outrage by suggesting Ukraine needed another 20 years of reforms before EU membership was possible. For hundreds of years, the west lived with an understanding that Ukraine is part of the Russian world. Only now is it beginning to understand that, yes, there might be something different about us after all Dmytro Kuleba Mr Kuleba argues the opposition to Ukraines Euro-Atlantic integration came not from supposed concerns over reforms or Ukraines perceived far right problem which, he says, is overhyped and overblown but primarily from fear of Moscows response. Ultimately, that meant membership would only be realistic if Russia were to become much weaker than it was now, or do something so outrageous that the west would be forced to make a gesture to Ukraine. But the diplomat, who identifies as an over-keen student of history, insists he remains relaxed about the outcome. We are witnessing history in the making, he says. For hundreds of years, the west lived with an understanding that Ukraine is part of the Russian world. Only now is it beginning to understand that, yes, there might be something different about us after all. North Korea says it successfully tested what it described as new long-range cruise missiles over the weekend, renewing concerns that its nuclear-armed leadership its building its capacity to deliver strikes against U.S. allies in South Korea and Japan. Experts weigh in on what the missiles tests show about the ambitions of the North's isolated ruler, Kim Jong Un and whether this signals a new threat. Experts say the missiles launched over the weekend resemble in appearance U.S. Tomahawk cruise missiles, and are likely designed to overwhelm the missile defenses of North Korea's neighbors. The North said the missiles it described as new type long-range cruise missiles were a strategic weapon of great significance that met leader Kim Jong Uns call to strengthen the countrys military might implying that they were being developed with an intent to carry nuclear weapons. Pyongyangs official Korean Central News Agency said Monday that the missiles traveled for 126 minutes along oval and pattern-8 flight orbits above land and water, demonstrating an ability to hit targets 1,500 kilometers (932 miles) away. While North Korea had tested anti-ship cruise missiles before, the missiles from its latest tests are likely built with different designs and engines that provide improved range and maneuverability, experts say. A new threat While data from the tests are so far limited, its clear the new missiles represent another significant milestone for North Koreas nuclear program, said Melissa Hanham, an affiliate at Stanford Universitys Center for International Security and Cooperation. North Korea's rulers are likely moving toward putting their cruise missiles on submarines and other naval vessels, Hanham added, as they try producing new delivery mechanisms for nuclear weapons. Cruise missiles are almost like little airplanes they can be very accurate, Hanham said. They can turn corners. They can go into valleys where radars would not see them easily. It would be a much more difficult problem for South Korea and Japan to monitor. Seoul Washington and Tokyo said they were examining the Norths latest tests but didnt immediately release specific assessments from their militaries. Regional ambitions Kim has unilaterally halted North Korean testing of nuclear bombs and long-range ballistic missiles designed to target the American homeland since 2018 when he initiated diplomacy with former President Donald Trump while attempting to leverage his arsenal for sanctions relief. However, the North continues to pursue a policy threatening regional confrontation. While Kim has maintained the suspension on nuclear and long-range tests after his talks with Trump collapsed in 2019, the North has since tested a growing arsenal of short-range solid-fuel weapons fired from land-based launchers. Experts say those weapons threaten South Korea and Japan because they can be launched quickly from vehicles and travel at flattened trajectories that make them harder for defense systems to detect and intercept. Tech problems While the new cruise missiles potentially expand North Koreas capacities to attack its Asian rivals, the information released by its official news agency signaled a need for technological improvements, said Lee Choon Geun, a missile expert and honorary research fellow at South Koreas Science and Technology Policy Institute. The weapons were slow, even from the standard of cruise missiles, traveling at roughly 200 meters (218 yards) per second. Its also unclear whether North Korea has precise computerized data of South Koreas geographical features or an ability to communicate that information to its missiles, so that they could navigate the terrain and find their targets. Accuracy issues will matter less if the North acquires the ability to arm the missiles with miniaturized nuclear warheads, Lee added. South Korea probably has the tightest air defense network in the world, but it will still be difficult to respond if North Korea fires its artillery, low-flying short-range missiles, submarine-launched missiles and cruise missiles in large numbers all at once, Lee said. Kims bluff? The Norths latest tests came before Bidens special representative for North Korea, Sung Kim, was to meet his South Korean and Japanese counterparts in Tokyo this week to discuss the stalled nuclear diplomacy with North Korea. In recent political speeches, Kim has vowed to bolster his nuclear deterrent while his government rejected the Biden administrations overture for talks, urging Washington to abandon its hostile policies first. Kim, however, may be looking to angle his way back to the negotiating table, as he faces perhaps his toughest test in his almost decade-long rule, with North Korea maintaining an indefinite border lockdown amid the coronavirus pandemic, and no prospect in sight for the ending of international sanctions. While the cruise missiles were clearly a statement of defiance toward Washington, the tests possibly indicated that the North is struggling with more provocative weapons systems such as submarine-launched ballistic missiles, said Du Hyeogn Cha, an analyst at Seouls Asan Institute for Policy Studies. He questioned whether the cruise missiles would meaningfully increase North Korea's striking capacity against its neighbors unless the North demonstrates an ability to fire them from underwater. If North Korea had that ability, it surely would have displayed it by now, Cha said. Its possible that the North might have hit a wall technologically and is squeezing out what it can, he added. Government briefings indicate that the current traffic light system that restricts travel to the UK is likely to be dismantled soon. The UK has by far the highest infection rates for any major country in Europe, yet it also imposes the strictest rules on arrivals. A total of 62 nations and territories are on the UKs red list, representing a total population of well over one billion people. Appearing on the red list is effectively a travel ban, with arrivals from those countries required to go into 11 nights of hotel quarantine once in the UK at a cost, for a solo traveller, of 2,285. So which countries might leave the club and which nations should join? Tim White, the Covid data analyst who tweets as @TWMCLtd, has given his expertise to The Independent. He has trawled through the genomic sequencing records held by Gisaid, the worldwide database, with a focus on variants of concern. Staying on red Fourteen nations, says Mr White, are likely to remain on red: Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Egypt, French Guiana, Montenegro, Philippines, Seychelles, Suriname, Thailand, Trinidad & Tobago, Tunisia. Mr White offered this commentary: Brazil uploaded many hundreds of samples, but 41 per cent were Gamma. Chile reported 37 per cent of its sequenced positive cases were Gamma, while almost 10 per cent were Lambda and another 16 per cent were the most recent variant, Mu. Colombia will be kept red because of lack of quality data. Costa Rica uploaded only four samples, two of which were variants. Suriname and French Guiana are likely to stay red with Gamma variant circulating widely. But, he added: Most scientists believe most of the variants circulating in South America are not more likely to evade vaccines so there is an argument to allow them all off red. Elsewhere in the world, he said: Montenegro is Europes most infected country. The Philippines registered an all-time record recently Seychelles has still quite high rates. Tanzania has never bothered reporting any samples to the collective, so it is almost certain to stay on red, more so considering the governments attitude to the virus has been to pretty much deny its existence and punish people for posting things about it. Thailand submitted very little data. Given the fear over mutant strains and Beta in particular, I think Thailand will stay red until it can do more genomic sequencing. Tunisia had awful figures for number of travellers arriving into UK infected with Covid-19. Added to red Tim White picked another 10 nations not currently on the red list which, he said, have high case rates or were fibbing about figures, meaning they should probably be added to the red list. These were Azerbaijan, Belarus, Cote dIvoire, Fiji, Grenada, Iran, Iraq, Kazakhstan, Russia and Venezuela. All of these are currently amber, except Grenada currently on the low-risk green list. Mr White speculates that Iran, Iraq and Russia have avoided the red list up to now for political reasons and will probably continue to do so. Possible contenders for red Many Caribbean nations are at high infection levels right now with no genomic testing, including Jamaica, St Lucia and St Kitts & Nevis, says Mr White, making them strong candidates for a move to the red list. Should be removed from red A dozen high-profile countries all with either a big population or very popular with British travellers, or both should be removed, thinks White. These are: Argentina, Bangladesh, Dominican Republic, Indonesia, Kenya, Maldives, Mexico, Pakistan, Peru, South Africa, Sri Lanka and Turkey. He notes, though: If cautious, Mexico may need to stay a while longer, and Dominican Republic needs help to conduct genomic sequencing. Some scientists will say its a risk taking South American countries [including Argentina and Peru] off the red list with Gamma, Lambda and the latest Mu variant all in circulation to some degree. But most scientists believe most of the variants circulating in South America are not more likely to evade vaccines so there is an argument to allow them all off red. It is not yet known when any changes will be made to the green, red and amber lists, but going on the last three-weekly update on 26 August, the next one should take place around 16 September. You are the owner of this article. Send to Email Address Your Name Your Email Address Post was not sent - check your email addresses! Email check failed, please try again Sorry, your blog cannot share posts by email. Fitch Ratings has assigned ratings of 'BB-' and Recovery Ratings of 'RR4' to India-based JSW Steel Limited 's (JSWS, BB-/Positive) proposed US dollar senior unsecured notes. The notes will be issued in two tranches and the proceeds will be used for capex or other purposes in accordance with regulations.The stock is currently trading at Rs693.95 up by Rs4.85 or 0.7% from its previous closing of Rs689.10 on the BSE. The scrip opened at Rs689.50 and has touched a high and low of Rs699.80 and Rs687.50 respectively.The Positive Outlook on JSWS is driven by Fitch's expectation that the company's gross debt/EBITDA leverage is on track to remain below 3.5x in the financial year ending March 2023 (FY23) and thereafter, despite our expectation of a significant reduction in EBITDA and margins from the FY22 level. However, JSWS's focus on growth may result in its spending being materially higher than our expectations. This could cause its free-cash flows to turn negative and is a key risk to a further improvement in its credit profile.High Margins, Likely to Decline: JSWS's margins for standalone operations, which contribute over 90% of consolidated EBITDA, have continued to climb since 2QFY21 driven by the rally in global steel prices and stood at around USD350/tonne (t) in 1QFY22. Higher margin drove an 18% qoq improvement in reported standalone EBITDA in 1QFY22. However, we think current levels are unsustainable and assume standalone margin will narrow to around USD140/t by FY23.Sales Volume to Increase: Due to the resurgence in coronavirus infections in India in 1QFY22, JSWS's standalone sales dipped 11% qoq while output was 2% lower. However, sales and output were significantly higher than in 1QFY21, up 29% and 39%, respectively.While risks due to the continuing pandemic remain, we assume JSWS's standalone sales volume will rise by 15% in FY22, driven by capacity addition and a pick-up in the Indian economy from 2QFY22. JSWS also has the ability to increase exports to significantly offset any weakness in domestic demand, which is helped by its globally competitive cost position.Turnaround at Overseas Assets: JSWS's overseas operations, which comprise mainly the plate and pipe mill in Baytown and a flat steelmaking facility in Mingo Junction, both in the US, and the Aferpi rolling mill in Italy, were unprofitable in FY20 and FY21. However, the US operations started contributing to JSWS's EBITDA in 1QFY22 after operations were restarted in 4QFY21 following equipment upgrade. The US facilities are now vertically integrated as Mingo Junction supplies slabs to Baytown. JSWS is also aiming to achieve breakeven in Italy by 2HFY22.Limited Impact from BPSL Acquisition: JSWS acquired a 49% equity stake in BPSL in March 2021 and we have included BPSL's debt and EBITDA in our analysis. We estimate the impact on JSWS's leverage from FY22 will be limited as we expect BPSL, which has a steelmaking capacity of 2.75 million tonnes per annum (mtpa), to continue generating healthy EBITDA. JSWS plans to incur limited capex to reduce costs and increase capacity at BPSL in the next 12-18 months, aided by its experience with similar cases, which is likely to mitigate the impact of weaker industry margins.Significant Capex Plans: JSWS plans to spend around INR300 billion in India in FY22 and FY23, after excluding payment of acceptances, which we have treated as debt. JSWS intends to spend on capacity expansion at its Vijayanagar plant by 5mtpa, mining equipment and facilities and other efficiency-improvement projects, apart from projects that are near-completion, such as the expansion of crude steel capacity at the Dolvi plant. We estimate JSWS's FCF margin will turn neutral from FY23 due to lower EBITDA and sustained capex.Cost-Efficient Operations: JSWS's cost position benefits from high yields and low labour costs. JSWS's main plant at Vijayanagar (12mtpa) was in the first quartile of research group CRU's liquid steel site cost curve for 2020 and we estimate that the weighted-average cost position of its steelmaking operations was within the first half of the cost curve. We think JSWS's cost position should improve in 2021 due to a higher share of blast furnace-based steelmaking capacity at Dolvi following the expansion, equipment upgrades in the US and cost-saving projects.Limited Vertical Integration Benefit: JSWS does not produce coking coal. The company produces around 2 million tonnes of iron ore per month from its mines in Odisha and Karnataka states in India and volume from its mines constituted 42% of JSWS's total iron ore consumption in 1QFY22 on a standalone basis. JSWS should derive the benefit of improved supply certainty and lower logistics costs. However, the cost of production for JSWS's mines, including royalties, will remain close to Indian benchmark prices due to the royalty structure that links it to domestic iron ore prices. remaining of Thank you for Reading! On your next view you will be asked to log in to your subscriber account or create an account and subscribepurchase a subscription to continue reading. Television | TV Channels TV ad volume for laptop category dips 4 per cent in Jan-August The advertising volumes for laptop/notebook category dipped by four per cent in January-August 2021 compared to the same period in 2020, according to TAM Media Research. HP and Lenovo were the only advertisers visible during this period, with Lenovo being the top advertiser, in terms of volumes. Read More... MAM | Marketing GUEST COLUMN: Going beyond the short video format for digital media Coconut Films has been in the business of TV commercial production for more than a decade and has recently delivered a digital film for the bullet brand, Royal Enfield. Breaking digital stereotypes, the film is a long-format one & profound. Read More... MAM | Marketing HUL becomes top advertiser in BARC week 35 The top ten advertiser list for week 35 was led by FMCG giant Hindustan Lever Ltd (HUL) with an ad volume of 5072.06 ('000 secs), as per the Broadcast Audience Research Council (BARC) India. Securing the second position was Reckitt Benckiser (RB) India which registered a total ad volume of 3217.63. Read More... MAM | Media And Advertising Rupeek unveils new TVC featuring Manoj Bajpayee and Priyamani Fintech platform Rupeek has launched its first integrated brand campaign featuring "The Family Man" fame actors Manoj Bajpayee and Priyamani. Conceived by The Womb, the ad spot shows how the platform aims to solve the usual credit pain points with its hassle-free doorstep gold loan offering. Read More... MAM | Marketing GUEST COLUMN: How Artificial Intelligence is transforming the world of digital marketing From Siri to Tesla Car, and Google AI to Alexa, Artificial Intelligence is now impacting every aspect of our lives. It is designed and programmed in a way to mimic and think like a human being. With data as the new oil in the marketing world, intelligence will be needed to derive meaningful insights to improve the marketing mix. Read More... MAM | Media And Advertising Hrithik Roshan says 'Manthan Zaroori Hai' in Zed Black's new TVC Zed Black's Manthan incense sticks has released a new TVC featuring Bollywood actor Hrithik Roshan to mark the Ganesh Chaturthi festival. The actor who is the face of the brand conveys the message to believe in the deeper connection with oneself through the catchphrase 'Manthan Zaroori Hai' in the ad film. Read More... File photo of Rep. Pramila Jayapal, D-Wash., participating in a news conference in the Capitol to outline the bipartisan agenda for "A Stronger Online Economy June 16, 2021. The Indian American congresswomans resolution puts forward a series of recommendations to support those affected by the hateful profiling and targeting that has occurred during the 20 years since the Sept. 11 attack. (Bill Clark/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images) Woodbridge, VA (22192) Today Partly cloudy skies this evening will give way to occasional showers overnight. Low 68F. Winds light and variable. Chance of rain 60%.. Tonight Partly cloudy skies this evening will give way to occasional showers overnight. Low 68F. Winds light and variable. Chance of rain 60%. Local Twin Cities artists Enzyrose, Eyenga Bokamba, Noah Lawrence-Holder, LeShon Lee, and Meadow Gillispie, talk about their reaction to the murder of George Floyd, the trial of Derek Chauvin, and life as a black artist during this time. When Theodore Miller was preparing to enter college, he had plans to pursue a career in aerospace engineering. Miller, who is originally from Fishers, Indiana, but frequently moved around the country for his parents jobs growing up, describes himself as an explorer at heart. Exploring and reaching among the stars is something that I had a deep fascination and appreciation for, he said. I also always had a strong aptitude for problem solving. But one circumstance set him on a different path. I come from a fifth-generation deaf family, he said, speaking through a sign language interpreter in a phone interview with Insurance Journal. So having access to language is very important to me. This means deafness in Millers family extends all the way back to his third great-grandparents. Miller, who speaks American Sign Language (ASL), said the colleges he was interested in attending didnt offer bilingual communication within their aerospace engineering programs. I wasnt really able to access the programs, he said. Then, he found Gallaudet University. Based in Washington D.C., Gallaudet is the worlds only university in which all programs and services are specifically designed to accommodate deaf and hard of hearing students using English as well as ASL. Like Millers family, it has a unique history of its own. The university was founded in 1864 by an Act of Congress signed into law by President Abraham Lincoln and began with 12 students. It has grown throughout its more than 150 years to accommodate the more than 1,500 students the school served in 2020, with Miller among its most recent class of graduates. I decided to go with Gallaudet University, he said. I didnt actually have a major for two years. I was kind of just feeling it out. Insurance is Like an Iceberg Thats when Miller met James Bruner, the executive director of the Maguire Academy of Risk Management and Insurance (RMI) at Gallaudet. Gallaudet, its a unique place. Its a rewarding place. Its a place where students feel comfortable, Bruner said. They have access to sign language in virtually every place on campus. Although Bruner took on the role of executive director six years ago when Gallaudets RMI program launched, his passion for the deaf community began much earlier. While completing his undergraduate degree at Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT) in Rochester, New York, he belonged to RITs first class to live in the National Technical Institute of the Deaf dormitory on campus designed to integrate both deaf and hearing students. I had never met a deaf person before, he said. I didnt know any sign language, and many people on my floor, including my suite-mate, were deaf. He began learning sign language and was fascinated with it, taking classes and serving as a student interpreter. After graduating, he worked as a freelance interpreter in Washington D.C. when he found himself interpreting a meeting at Gallaudet. That opportunity led to a job within the universitys newly formed business risk management department, where he was responsible for analyzing its insurance policies. After moving on to build a 30-year career in the insurance industry, working with Liberty Mutual Insurance Companies and Arthur J. Gallagher & Co., he ended up retracing his steps back to Gallaudet University this time to apply for a job as the first executive director of its brand new RMI program. I talked to anybody who would listen to me and went to different classes math classes, IT, psychology, English, you name it. I was there and introduced myself and talked about the program to get it going, he said. Eventually one thing led to another, and we became successful. It took a lot of people to make this happen. As they say, It takes a village.' Miller was one of them. [James] was very excited about this program, Miller said. He was like, We just sort of launched this. So I thought, All right, you know, this could be the right thing. Let me give this a shot.' Jad Gore, another 2021 graduate of Gallaudets RMI program, similarly became interested in insurance unexpectedly. Originally from Massachusetts, he began his college career at RIT studying mechanical engineering and physics. I realized that was more of a hobby than a career, he said. I traveled the world for four or five months, which really changed my perspective, and decided I wanted to own a business. Gore, who is also deaf, landed at Gallaudet University. He too was encouraged to take an insurance class after connecting with Bruner. [James] is a teacher, mentor and an advocate of mine, he said. He encouraged me to take Introduction to Insurance 101, which was my first course ever relating to insurance. Also a newly minted Gallaudet graduate, Nabeela Shollenberger shared a similar story of stumbling upon the RMI program after entering the university with an undecided major. I wasnt sure what I wanted to do, said Shollenberger, speaking by phone through her sign language interpreter. [James Bruner] came into our class to present about risk management and insurance, and his presentation impressed me a lot. I didnt realize that insurance really applies to so many things in the world. Philip Adeyeye, a senior at Gallaudet double majoring in accounting and risk management insurance who is also deaf, echoed these thoughts. When I learned more about insurance car accidents, homeowners insurance, disaster relief, severe weather and people being injured its all real life, he said. The more I learned, the more interested I became. This is exactly what Bruner said he tries to instill in his students. Insurance is like an iceberg. We see the little ice on top, but we dont know whats underneath, and thats really what insurance is about when you think about it. Its a huge industry that most people know very little about, he said. Insurance affects every aspect of our lives Students never dreamed of that until theyve taken a course in insurance and risk management. Many students will say, Wow, insurance is just amazing. Its really what holds this whole economy together.' Closing Gaps, Opening Doors The RMI program at Gallaudet is relatively new, launching in 2015 with a donation from Philadelphia Insurance Companies (PHLY) Founder James Maguire. At Philadelphia Insurance Companies, which was a company I started, we have hired four students from Gallaudet, and all of them are excellent employees, Maguire said. My belief when I started this program was that these kids, if they learned the insurance businessthey would be able to be as competitive as anybody else in the industry, and its turned out to be true. These kids are bright. Maguire and his wife Frances live in Chestnut Hill, Pennsylvania, and are founders of the Maguire Foundation, a philanthropic organization that has a focus on providing educational opportunities for youth in addition to its work in arts, humanities and homelessness. Maguire is not deaf but became passionate about serving the deaf community after volunteering at the Pennsylvania School for the Deaf during his college years. Later, while working at Met Life, he received approval to sell standard insurance to the deaf community, a first in the companys history. [Maguire] put together a life insurance program for deaf people and ended up being one of the top life insurance salesmen for Metropolitan Life Insurance, and the commission that he earned through that is how he started Philadelphia Insurance Companies and Maguire Insurance Agency, said Sean Sweeney, Maguires nephew and a board member at Gallaudet University. So he always had a soft spot for the deaf community. The Maguire Foundation and PHLY began working together in 2015 to start a summer internship for deaf students at PHLY, making it the first insurance company to hire deaf risk management insurance interns from Gallaudet University. PHLY has hired two interns from Gallaudet each summer since then. People like me who have been in the business for 40 years will be getting out of the business, and what we want to do is fill those jobs with people that traditionally havent had an opportunity to get into industries like insurance, such as minorities and people with disabilities, Sweeney said. And we see this as a great way to transform society by giving people that traditionally didnt get a shot a chance to get into an industry thats stable, thats long-term and that provides high paying jobs. No time seems better than now. Pew Research Center in a recent report found that during the third quarter of 2020, about 28.6 million baby boomers those born between 1946 and 1964 reported that they were out of the labor force due to retirement. This is 3.2 million more boomers than the 25.4 million who were retired in the same quarter of 2019, the report stated. As new generations enter the workforce, expectations for the work environment are changing, Carrier Management previously reported. As a result, insurance companies are facing increased pressure to evaluate their focus on diversity and inclusion to recruit and retain young talent. According to Pew Research Center, post-millennialscommonly referred to as Generation Zare on track to be the most diverse generation yet, with nearly half of Gen Z-ers ages six to 21 in 2018 being considered racial or ethnic minorities. Thats compared to 39 percent of millennials ages six to 21 in 2002 being nonwhite, and only 18 percent of early boomers within that age range in 1968 being nonwhite. Bruner said that although things are better today than in the past, the insurance industry needs to continue to develop its efforts toward diversity. The insurance industry has a lot of work to do to improve diversity, he said. This is why The Maguire Foundation and PHLY are working to raise money for scholarships that serve traditionally disadvantaged minorities as well as the deaf community, Sweeney said. The foundation is aiming to grow its scholarship program through the endowment program at Gallaudet with donations from the insurance industry, organizations and individuals. Beyond financial support, Gallaudets RMI program also seeks insurance industry partners to provide internships, mentoring and job placement. I told these kids when I talked to them couple of years ago, Believe what you are and become what you believe,' Maguire said. I said, You can learn the business. If you believe in yourself and become what you believe, you can be successful. and weve had fantastic success. All of the kids that graduate [from Gallaudets RMI program] are landing in jobs that are $60,000-$80,000 a year, which is really, really special. Gore is among the scholarship recipients, receiving a scholarship from The Maguire Foundation throughout his years at Gallaudet. Without [James Maguires] contribution, I would never think about having a career in the insurance industry nor even have an opportunity to learn about insurance, he said. Sweeney said an advantage of the internship program with PHLY is that students gain real life experience, find the type of jobs that work best for them and learn needed skills to do them well. And the insurance industry can see that these employees are exceptionally productive and very enthusiastic, he said. A lot of the industry has stood behind us. Bruner said Gallaudets RMI program, which has 50 students taking classes this year, saw nine students complete internships this summer. Gore and Shollenberger both completed internships with PHLY, while Miller did an internship with Travelers. The Washington D.C. Department of Insurance, Securities and Banking has also partnered with Gallaudet since 2016, providing internships to its RMI students to learn how insurance regulation plays a role in protecting and educating consumers. Even one of Gallaudets own adjunct professors has been providing internships for its students within his agency. Gary Meyer is the vice president of DHH Insurance in Rochester, New York, and has served as an adjunct professor at Gallaudet for six years. Just recently over the summer of 2021, I had hired two interns that are from Gallaudet University, said Meyer, who is also deaf. They were working with me for two weeks. DHH Insurance works to meet the insurance needs of deaf-owned businesses, interpreters and partnering organizations and has provided insurance programs since 1999 to the deaf and hard of hearing population. It is primarily owned and operated by Meyer, who worked in the insurance industry for 16 years prior to starting his own agency. Most of the time, many of the clients that were working with have already purchased insurance through other agents, but when I get copies of some of their insurance, I realize that theres a lot of coverage missing, its not the appropriate coverage or the risk assessment isnt correct, he said. Meyer said his goal with the agency is to eliminate communication barriers for deaf business owners so they can better work with interpreters to secure the right insurance coverage. A lot of times deaf people arent sure if the information thats been given through the interpreter is the right information, he said. I have been working in the business for almost 35 years. Ive encountered a lot of barriers. Im constantly having to educate people about what its like to work with deaf people. Adeyeye, who just completed his internship with The Hartford in July, said dismantling barriers to communication is the most important step. Communication is key. Communication is power, he said. If you continue to create barriers its tough. It leaves deaf people behind. Bruner said he applauds the insurance industry for beginning to break down these barriers and better its diversity efforts. We really have created a lot of good support with many insurance companies, he said. Were opening doors for students. Diversity is Success Those open doors are positioning students for success, according to a few of the most recent Gallaudet RMI graduates. I was struggling at times and sometimes I doubted myself, you know, and sometimes things were taking longer, Shollenberger said. I just definitely have to say a big thank you to the professors [at Gallaudet] for believing in me. Their big goal is to have their students find jobs, and we do become successful. Upon graduating, she was hired in a temporary underwriting technical assistance position at Selective Insurance in New Jersey. She was promoted to full-time in August. Im a hard worker, and I believe in doing well at my job, she said. My goal is to continue to be a hard worker and learn as much as I can. One of Gores goals post-graduation was to move to New York City to be closer to his family. With Bruners encouragement, Gore passed the New York state brokers licensing exam and was hired as a client concierge, or producer, at Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. in Manhattan. [Bruner] believed that deaf people could work in the insurance industry without any obstacles, Gore said. He gave me the courage to take the state of New York brokers licensing exam, which led me to a job offer. Miller also graduated from Gallaudet this year with an RMI degree and is off on his next adventure to Arlington, Virginia, after securing a position as a middle market underwriting technician with The Hanover Insurance Group. The opportunity to provide needed representation and increase diversity within the insurance industry was something that Miller said drew him to this career path. [Bruner] believed that Gallaudets RMI program would help us deaf and hard of hearing people learn what we needed to learn, learn the new skill sets, so that we could be a part of this industry and fill some of the talent gap, he said. And then that would provide more job opportunities for deaf and hard of hearing people in return. That was something that really stood out to me. Although he didnt follow his original plan for a career in aerospace engineering, that doesnt seem to bother him. Miller who signed his email with onwards! said that his journey to the insurance industry also fits right in with his passion for exploration. Our lives and our paths are always up in the flux and everchanging, so here I am, he said. As for Adeyeye, his goal is to work in claims and underwriting once he graduates in the spring of 2022, and theres something he wants the insurance industry to know. As a deaf individual, I can have a business. I can set myself up to succeed. I can develop. I have ideas. Im creative. I can be innovative, he said. Any individual regardless of whether theyre deaf or hard of hearing or whatever their barrier may be, we are capable. Bruner said the success of Gallaudets students inevitably brings success to the companies they work with as well. Diversity is success, and it brings different perspectives to an organization, he said. Diversity is a wonderful thing. Learning to Adapt In fact, inclusivity is inherent within the culture of the insurance industry, according to Randy Jouben, an adjunct professor at Gallaudet and a risk manager for Fairfax County, Virginia. Our industry is perfect for this, he said. Because of the analytics that are involved, there are opportunities for everyone. If you cant go out and do a field investigation, there are opportunities behind the desk. Bruner agreed, adding that this draws all kinds of people to insurance and is an important part of the industrys character. I always ask people how they got involved in insurance, Bruner said, because everyone Ive met almost everyone has a really interesting story to tell. Jouben is no exception. I actually was originally a commissioned second lieutenant in the U.S. Army, he said. I fell and injured my knee, and that kind of ended my military career. So youll hear a lot of people say they just fell into the insurance industry. I literally did fall into the insurance industry. After he decided to move forward with an insurance career, he started out in claims before switching to the risk management side of the business. He later came across an advertisement for an early founders meeting for The Maguire Foundation and asked how he could help with its work to provide scholarships for minority students and those with disabilities. Through that connection, he was asked to teach at Gallaudet. During his time at the university, Jouben, who is not deaf, said he learned an important lesson about adaptation when he brought his daughter with him to class. She went to the cafeteria and a student tapped her on the shoulder to ask her a question, and she didnt answer. I dont sign. She doesnt sign, he said. It gave her an immediate recognition that we are the ones who are different now, and we are going to need to adapt to this environment. Adaptation is a two-way street. I need to give my students the ability to communicate with the outside world once they get jobs, but I also need to learn to adapt so I can communicate with them to give them that knowledge. He said he believes adaptation is key as the insurance industry welcomes a younger, and more diverse, generation of professionals. We need to start being more open-minded as to what people can do, as opposed to just relying on what you think they cant do, he said. If we think outside the box, we can actually overcome and create opportunity. Gore said the more that the insurance industry is exposed to professionals of diverse backgrounds, including deaf professionals, the more likely it will be to hire them. Shollenberger agreed. I may be the only deaf person at my company, she said. Its a good thing to teach the people who are in the industry so that they can learn what deaf culture in the workplace looks like. Although the insurance industry is largely made up of hearing professionals, Gore said he would love to see more diversity in the future as he pursues his main career goal of owning a business or becoming the vice president of an insurance brokerage. Whether it be people of color, people with disabilities or deaf and hard of hearing folks, those Ive seen so far have really empowered me, and its their hard work that gets them there, he said. As a deaf person, Im told I cant very often, and Id like to flip that on its head and show them that I can. So, what can the insurance industry do to continue working toward more inclusivity? For Meyer, the answer is simple. I always say that its okay to hire a deaf person, he said. We dont bite. Bruner said the playing field is becoming much more level now than it used to be, and deaf insurance professionals have an opportunity to make a real difference. When it comes to the students he has taught and mentored, he believes they will. One day, when Im totally retired and sitting next to my fireplace, and I get an email from one of my former students telling me that they were just appointed CEO, he said, now that would make me smile. Drugmaker Endo International Plc on Thursday said it has agreed to pay $50 million to resolve lawsuits by New York state and two of its largest counties related to the sale and marketing of opioids. Endo said the settlement includes no admission of wrongdoing by Endo or its subsidiaries. The settlement severs Endo from an ongoing trial in lawsuits by New York Attorney General Letitia James and Suffolk and Nassau counties. Claims against AbbVie Inc and Teva Pharmaceutical Industries remain pending. The deal came after the nations three largest drug distributors McKesson Corp, AmerisourceBergen and Cardinal Health as well as Johnson & Johnson on Saturday said they would move forward with a proposed national $26 billion settlement resolving opioid cases against them. Dublin-based Endo is not part of that deal. While litigation of the remaining opioid claims is ongoing, Endo is focused on its primary goal of achieving a global settlement, the company said. Endo is also currently exploring other strategic alternatives and may seek to implement one or more of those alternatives in the event it is unable to achieve a global settlement. Hunter Shkolnik, a lawyer for Nassau County, said he was happy our clients can get closure and it has kept Endo out of bankruptcy, that would have hurt everyone. In July, Endo agreed to pay $35 million to settle a lawsuit by Tennessee local governments and on behalf of a child allegedly born addicted to painkillers accusing the drugmaker of fueling the opioid epidemic. New York attorney generals spokesperson didnt immediately respond to Reuters request for comment. Endo had removed its long-lasting opioid painkiller Opana ER from the market in July 2017. urn:newsml:newsroom:20170706:nNRA43me3p:0 (Reporting by Sabahatjahan Contractor in Bengaluru and Nate Raymond in Boston; Editing by Leslie Adler) Topics Claims New York MILAN Two leading Generali investors are ready to push to replace current CEO Philippe Donnet if the top Italian insurers board fails to reach an accord to keep him in the job, three sources close to the matter said. The Trieste-based insurer is due to appoint a new board next spring and speculation over Donnets future has mounted in recent months as tensions among shareholders simmer. In a sign battle lines are being drawn, the two Generali investors, Francesco Gaetano Caltagirone and Leonardo Del Vecchio, on Saturday disclosed a pact to consult over decisions concerning Generali.. Donnets reappointment is in the hands of Generalis board which for the first time can submit its own slate of board candidates after the insurer changed its by-laws last year. The sources said the two businessmen, who struck the pact over a combined 10.95% stake, are ready to file their own list of board nominees. The list would not include the current CEO though he is willing to run for another mandate, they said. Donnet is already working on a new business plan for Generali due in December after steering the company through the COVID-19 crisis and keeping it on track to fully meet goals under the current plan through to end-2021. Donnet currently enjoys the backing of Alberto Nagel, the CEO of Milanese bank Mediobanca, which is Generalis top investor with a 12.9% stake, as well as many board members at the insurer. Del Vecchio and Caltagirone are also, respectively, the first- and second-biggest investor in Mediobanca. Over the past year, however, both Caltagirone, whose businesses span construction to publishing, and Del Vecchio, the founder of Ray-Ban owner Luxottica, have been critical of Donnets strategy which they deem too cautious in seeking merger and acquisition opportunities. According to one of the sources, the two businessmen could also propose a new chairman with a well-established international profile to oversee Generalis growth strategies. A compromise among shareholders is still possible, another of the sources said, and one solution could be the appointment of a managing director backed by both Del Vecchio and Caltagirone who would work alongside Donnet. However, positions are still far apart, the sources said, ahead of a key meeting on Sept. 27 when Generalis board will kick off proceedings to submit its own list of nominees. Before that, in an apparent attempt to find common ground, Generali non-executive board members will meet on Sept. 14, a fourth source said. Donnet will not attend the meeting as he is an executive member, the source added. (Reporting by Claudia Cristoferi and Gianluca Semeraro, editing by Valentina Za, Ros Russell and Christina Fincher) Topics Numbers Generali Life Assurance (Thailand) Plc. Authorities in Shanghai and neighboring coastal regions canceled flights, and suspended schools, subways and trains as Typhoon Chanthu approached China after drenching Taiwan though causing little damage there. The storm, with winds of more than 170 kilometers per hour near its eye, had been downgraded from a super typhoon to a strong typhoon on Sunday evening and was expected to gradually weaken, Shanghai city authorities said in a post on their official WeChat account. But it was still expected to bring strong winds and heavy rain to coastal regions. The province of Zhejiang near Shanghai raised its emergency response to the highest level on Sunday, closing schools and suspending flights and rail services in some cities, the official Xinhua news service reported. Zhejiang also issued red alerts for flash floods in nine districts. Ningbo port, Chinas second-biggest container transporting hub after Shanghai, had suspended operations since Sunday noon. The port just resumed from a weeks-long port congestion, following typhoon In-Fa in late-July and a COVID-19-related terminal closure in mid-August. In Shanghai, home to about 26 million people, all flights at the citys larger Pudong International Airport were to be canceled from 11 a.m. local time (0300 GMT), while flights from the smaller Hongqiao airport in the west of the city were to be canceled from 3 p.m., the Shanghai government announced on WeChat. Port terminals in Shanghai regions suspended containers import and export services from Monday till further notice. The city also suspended subway services on some lines serving the citys southern districts, and said parks, outdoor tourist attractions and playgrounds would be closed on Monday and Tuesday. Classes were also due to be suspended on Monday afternoon and Tuesday. Official forecasts called for rainfall of 250-280 millimeters in some areas of southeastern Jiangsu province, Shanghai and northeastern Zhejiang. The typhoon passed by Taiwans east coast over the weekend, disrupting transport and causing some power outages, but otherwise little damage. (Reporting by Andrew Galbraith and Muyu Xu; Additional reporting by Ben Blanchard in Taipei; Editing by Sam Holmes) Topics Catastrophe Natural Disasters China A judge has ruled that a trucking companys use of a strength test disadvantages women, violates federal law, according to the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC). The EEOC said Stan Koch & Sons Trucking violated federal law by using a strength test developed by Cost Reduction Technologies because it discriminates against women truck drivers. Koch, headquartered in Minneapolis, is a family-owned trucking company with over 1,000 trucks which operates both nationally and on regional and local routes. According to the EEOCs lawsuit, Kochs use of the CRT test, a strength test developed by Davenport, Iowa-based Cost Reduction Technologies Inc., discriminated against women truck drivers because of their sex. Specifically, the EEOC alleged that the CRT test disproportionately screened out women who are qualified for truck driver positions at Koch. Such alleged conduct violates Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which prohibits workplace discrimination, including the use of employment practices that have a disparate impact on women because of their sex and that are not job-related and consistent with business necessity. The federal judge ruled in EEOCs favor that the test disproportionately screened out women who had been given conditional offers of hire by Koch to work as truck drivers or who were already employed by Koch and were required to take the test to return to work following an injury. In addition, the judge found that Koch did not present evidence to show that the test was job-related and consistent with business necessity. The EEOC filed suit in U.S. District Court for the District of Minnesota after first attempting to reach a pre-litigation settlement through its conciliation process. The case is captioned EEOC v. Stan Koch & Sons Trucking, Inc., Civil Action No. 0:19-cv-02148. The EEOC is now entitled to relief for a class of women applicants who were rejected because they failed the CRT test. The amount of monetary damages owed to the women by Koch will be determined in further proceedings. The EEOC will also seek an injunction preventing Koch from continuing to use the test. Source: EEOC Topics Legislation Trucking Republicans on Friday vowed to fight U.S. President Joe Bidens new vaccine mandate covering big companies and federal employees, but business groups that often agree with them on issues like taxes are not joining in. The mandate, which the White House says would cover 100 million U.S. workers and applies to about two-thirds of all U.S. employees, is being written in part by the U.S. Department of Labors Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA). Nearly three-quarters of eligible Americans have received at least one shot of the vaccine, and opinion polls have found that most support measures like barring the unvaccinated from public spaces and offices. Bidens Vaccine Plan Puts OSHA in Spotlight; Expected to Trigger Legal Challenges Within hours of the new measures being announced on Thursday, some lawmakers, state governors and political party officials were threatening lawsuits or pledging to defy it. When this decree goes into effect, the (Republican National Committee) will sue the administration to protect Americans and their liberties, RNC Chair Ronna McDaniel said in a statement. Reaction from powerful business lobbying groups has been muted. Some large companies have already imposed vaccine mandates of their own, while others have welcomed the move or wondered how they would implement it. More than half of U.S. companies are planning to impose mandates of their own by year-end, according to a recent survey. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce, which opposes many of Bidens tax and spending proposals, said it would carefully review the vaccination mandate. The Business Roundtable, which represents chief executives, said it welcomed the move. The National Association of Manufacturers, which represents big and small employers, said it would work to make sure the rules dont hurt business operations. A majority of those opposed questioned the authority the administration has to mandate vaccines. The federal government has no police power, and likewise no authority to force private employers of any size to mandate vaccines, said the New Civil Liberties Alliance, a nonprofit funded by the Charles Koch Foundation, a deep-pocketed conservative group. BIDEN:HAVE AT IT Asked Friday about possible legal challenges, Biden said Have at it. Im so disappointed that particularly some of the Republican governors have been so cavalier with the health of these kids, so cavalier with the health of their communities. Several Republican governors said they would resist the administrations order, though it was not immediately clear how they would do so. We will fight them to the gates of hell, South Carolina Governor Henry McMaster said on Twitter. Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, one of Bidens most prominent antagonists, also said he would fight the order. I do not believe that people should lose their jobs over this issue, and we will fight that, he said, according to the Orlando Sentinel. The situation reignites a long-standing U.S. battle over individual rights, states constitutional remit to police citizens and regulate public welfare, and the powers of the executive branch. Similar fights have raged over gun laws and government healthcare. U.S. vaccine mandates in the past have mostly been administered by state and local governments in relation to public venues and schools. The disease has killed more than 655,000 people in the United States, and deaths and hospitalizations have been rising sharply as the easily transmissible Delta variant of the virus spreads. The vast majority of those are unvaccinated. Roughly 16% of the adult American population nearly 34 million people are currently unvaccinated but open to getting one, according to a recent Reuters/Ipsos poll. The poll arrived at this estimate by asking respondents a series of questions about their vaccination status. Legal challenges are likely to focus on the executive branchs power to enforce the requirements. The Cato Institute, a libertarian think tank, said in a blog post that it was unclear whether the administration could act without new legislation from Congress. The Conservative Enterprise Institute, another think tank, said the order would only alienate those who have resisted vaccines to date. Many Republican lawmakers, who said they have received vaccines and support Americans getting a COVID-19 shot, also accused the administration of overreach. Getting the vaccine is a decision to be made in consultation with ones doctor, not forced on Americans by the government, said Republican U.S. Senator Ted Cruz. (Reporting by Nandita Bose and Diane Bartz, Additional reporting by Andy Sullivan, David Shepardson and Andrea Shalal in Washington, Brendan OBrien in Chicago and Chris Kahn in New York; editing by Heather Timmons and Jonathan Oatis) Topics Politics A Texas company agreed to settle a lawsuit brought by federal employment officials that alleged the firms owner subjected a female employee to sexist comments, then fired her for complaining about the owners actions. The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) said Great Rentals and Events LLC, doing business as Great Events, a San Antonio special events company which provides services for weddings and corporate functions, will pay $20,000 and furnish significant equitable relief to settle the federal sex-based harassment and retaliation suit. According to the suit, the companys owner repeatedly subjected a female employee to comments that were demeaning to women, including sexual comments and other remarks that expressed hostility towards women in the workplace. After the employee sought the help of human resources, the owner fired her in retaliation for her complaints, the EEOC charged. Such alleged conduct violates Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which prohibits employment discrimination based on sex, including harassment. Title VII also prohibits employers from retaliating against an employee because she opposed discrimination or harassment. The EEOC filed suit in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas, San Antonio Division (EEOC v. Great Rentals and Events, LLC, Case No. 5:20-cv-448), after first attempting to reach a pre-litigation settlement through its conciliation process. The consent decree resolving the case provides the former employee with back pay and compensatory damages of $20,000. The decree also provides for injunctive relief, including anti-discrimination training and posting of notices in the workplace. Source: EEOC Topics Texas Seven more defendants have been indicted in New Orleans for their alleged involvement in schemes to stage accidents with commercial trucks. United States Attorney Duane A. Evans said Ashley McGowan, age 35; Lertrice Johnson, age 45; Davienque Johnson, age 27; Herbert Allen, age 36, Troylynn Brown, age 34; Dion Ridley, age 22; and Jarvis Brown, age 29, of New Orleans, Louisiana, were charged with conspiring among themselves and with others to stage automobile accidents in Louisiana with tractor-trailers in order to defraud trucking and insurance companies. The current indictments bring the total of defendants charged in Operation Sideswipe, a long running scheme to defraud trucking and insurance companies by staging of accidents with tractor-trailers to 40. The current seven defendants were charged in a four-count federal indictment. All of the defendants were charged in count one with conspiracy to commit mail fraud. McGowan, L. Johnson, and D. Johnson were charged in count two with mail fraud. Allen, T. Brown, Ridley, and J. Brown were charged in counts three and four with mail fraud in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Sections 1341 and 2. If convicted, the defendants face a maximum penalty of five years for Count 1 and 20 years as to Counts 2-4. Upon their release from prison, each defendant can be placed on a term of supervised release for up to five years and fined up to $250,000.00 per count. The defendants must pay a mandatory $100 special assessment cost for each count of conviction. Two incidents are at the center of this indictment, according to the U.S. Attorneys Office. The first occurred on June 8, 2016, when McGowan, L. Johnson, and D. Johnson allegedly conspired with Damien Labeaud, Keishira Robinson, and others to intentionally collide with a tractor-trailer in the area of Chickasaw Street and Louisa Street in New Orleans. For their part, Labeaud and K. Robinson were charged in previous indictments and pleaded guilty to their role in the staged automobile accident scheme. The second intentional collision occurred on June 28, 2017, and involved defendants Allen, T. Brown, Ridley, and J. Brown. Each of these defendants was a passenger in a car that intentionally collided with a tractor-trailer on the corner of Calliope Street and Tchoupitoulas Street in New Orleans. Each of the four defendants lied in depositions about the nature of the accident, the U.S. Attorneys Office said. As discussed in the indictment, Labeaud and Hickman received payments for referring the defendants to attorneys who would handle their cases. The defendants were treated by doctors and healthcare providers at the direction of their attorneys. Furthermore, through their attorneys, the defendants secured settlements from the insurance companies who insured the commercial carriers. The defendants will be required to appear before a United States Magistrate Judge for an initial appearance and arraignment on this Indictment. U.S. Attorney Evans reiterated that the Indictment is merely a charge and that the guilt of the defendants must be proven beyond a reasonable doubt. The U.S. Attorneys Office would like to acknowledge the assistance of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Louisiana State Police, and the Metropolitan Crime Commission with this matter. The prosecution of this case is being handled by Assistant U.S. Attorney Brandon S. Long; Brian M. Klebba, Chief of the Financial Crimes Unit; Assistant U.S. Attorney Maria M. Carboni; Assistant U.S. Attorney Edward Rivera; and Assistant U.S. Attorney Shirin Hakimzadeh. Source: U.S. Attorneys Office Topics Louisiana Abuse Molestation A Miami Beach apartment building owned by the mayor of the Florida town where a condominium collapsed in June has given his tenants 45 days to vacate the building so extensive repairs can be completed. The lease termination letter from Surfside Mayor Charles Burkett said theyve been waiting for the city of Miami Beach to issue permits to repair the damage caused by Hurricane Irma in 2017. He said he hopes the final permit will be issued imminently so work can be completed to the front of the building as well as the elevator. We regret that this work will create potentially dangerous conditions for residents, Burketts letter said. In addition, he said the Lois Apartments will also undergo the required 40-year inspection early, due to the Champlain Towers South collapse. That building was in the midst of repairs found during a 40-year inspection when it suddenly collapsed in the middle of the night, drawing new scrutiny of the structural integrity of buildings throughout the region . Burkett informed tenants they will need to leave by Oct. 24. But they can return to the building once the renovations are completed in several months. For tenants who have paid their rent on time and who have not damaged their unit, any unused rent will be refunded as will your full security deposit, the email said. Meanwhile, in court Friday, a judge was told that many personal belongings such as jewelry and photos cannot be recovered from the Champlain Towers collapse. A vast majority of the personal property is completely destroyed, said Michael Goldberg, an attorney appointed as receiver to handle the Champlain Towers finances. Many of the 17 safes found at the site, he added, are cracked open like an egg. Miami-Dade County Circuit Judge Michael Hanzman asked at a hearing that officials find a way to allow victims and family members to inspect what has been recovered to locate any belongings. These are everybodys lives, said survivor Sharon Schechter, who lived on the buildings 11th floor. Anything and everything, if it can be given back to us, it should be. Copyright 2021 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Zachary Navo, 38, of Visalia, Calif., was arraigned yesterday on five felony counts of insurance fraud after a California Department of Insurance investigation revealed he allegedly underreported wages by over $2.5 million in an attempt to fraudulently reduce workers compensation premium payments, resulting in a loss of over $135,000 to his insurance companies. In December 2017, State Compensation Insurance Fund issued Navo a workers comp insurance policy for his private security business, Element Security Solutions Inc. In June 2018, Navo completed a payroll report indicating he had $80,500 in payroll for the first six months of the policy period. Navo failed to submit subsequent payroll information and failed to comply with an end of policy audit. During the investigation, a review of Employment Development Department records for the 12-month policy period reportedly revealed $2,098,394 in payroll was reported to EDD for Element Security Solutions, which revealed an underreporting of roughly $2 million in payroll to SCIF. The underreporting resulted in a reported $134,761 loss in premium owed to SCIF. Investigators also discovered that Navo is a licensed insurance agent and owns a secondary entity, Navo Financial Inc., an insurance and financial solutions business, in which Navo reported $504,302 in payroll from 2016 to 2019. However, EDD records for the period of 2016 to 2019, found Navo reported $1,047,482 in payroll to EDD for Navo Financial, demonstrating an underreporting of $543,180 in payroll and resulting in a $1,164 loss to a different insurance company. The case is being prosecuted by the Tulare County District Attorneys Office. Topics California Workers' Compensation Fraud The estate of a man fatally shot in downtown Portland, Ore., after a pro-Trump car rally last year is suing the city, the mayor and the county district attorney, saying their negligence contributed to his violent death. The suit, filed Friday in federal court in Portland, contends a hands-off approach to political demonstrations and counter-protests in the city fostered a culture of vigilante policing between opposing factions that filled the void and led to the killing of Aaron Jay Danielson on Aug. 29, 2020. It seeks $13 million in damages $1.5 million in economic damages, $1.5 million in non-economic damages and up to $10 million in punitive damages, the Oregonian/OregonLive reported. We are seeking justice for the preventable death of a young man, gunned down in a city with a dangerous and deadly hands-off approach to public safety, Christopher Cauble, the estates attorney, said in a statement. Time and time again, City leadership and law enforcement have failed to find an effective response to clashing groups of protesters. City Attorney Robert Taylor declined comment on the suit. The Danielson estate also accused Multnomah County District Attorney Mike Schmidt of playing a role by broadcasting last summer that he had adopted a new policy and generally wouldnt pursue what he considered public order crimes such as criminal mischief, interfering with an officer or a stand-alone riot charge, and instead would focus on deliberate property damage and threats of force or actual force against others. Schmidts office didnt immediately return a message seeking comment. Residents protested police violence against people of color in cities around the country after the 2020 death of George Floyd, a Black man killed by a white officer in Minneapolis. In Portland, demonstrations were nearly nightly and led to complaints that authorities were heavy-handed in their use of force to control crowds. Michael Reinoehl, a self-described anti-fascist who said he provided security for racial justice protests in Portland, appeared to have targeted Danielson, according to surveillance camera video of the shooting released by police. Reinoehl, 48, emerged from an alcove of a downtown parking garage before firing two gunshots as Danielson was walking in downtown after the rally, according to a police affidavit. The suit says Danielson deployed bear spray at Reinoehl in response to the gunshots. Danielson, 39, died from a single bullet to the upper right chest, an autopsy found. Danielson had been with his friend Chandler Pappas and both were wearing Patriot Prayer hats, signifying their support of the right-wing group based in Vancouver. Reinoehl was shot and killed days later outside a Washington apartment complex when officers from a multi-agency federal task force moved in to try to arrest him on a Multnomah County warrant charging him with second-degree murder and unlawful use of a firearm in Danielsons fatal shooting. The suit said that officers from the Rapid Response Team, the Police Bureaus specialized crowd control unit, were less than a two-block radius from the shooting but were following orders not to get involved that day between dueling demonstrators. Given the enormity of the press coverage over the past several years regarding clashes between left- and right-leaning protest groups in the downtown core of Portland, Defendants knew or should have known that violent clashes would occur, Cauble wrote in the suit. Copyright 2021 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Topics Lawsuits Oregon Civil Unrest The state of Washington has agreed to settle a lawsuit brought by 10 people who said they were sexually abused at a juvenile rehabilitation facility when they were teenagers. One of the plaintiffs lives in Pierce County, which is where the lawsuit was filed in Superior Court in 2018, The Olympian reported. Some plaintiffs were at Green Hill School in the 70s while some were there as recently as the early 2000s. The state on Sept. 1 agreed to settle their lawsuit for more than $2.1 million. The facility in Chehalis houses teenagers from across the state who are sentenced to juvenile rehabilitation treatment. Through numerous sources, the State knew or should have known that a culture of sexually inappropriate behavior pervaded the Green Hill School, the lawsuit said. The knowledge of this culture of abuse went all the way to the highest levels of management of Green Hill School and, upon information and belief, the highest levels of those State agencies charged with protecting the children sent there. Darrell Cochran, an attorney for the plaintiffs, said this week the settlement is a fresh start that gives his clients resources to support things such as education, stable housing and sobriety. The Department of Social and Health Services previously ran Green Hill and other juvenile facilities. The recently created Department of Children, Youth and Families started administering juvenile rehabilitation programs in 2019. These claims all stem from events that occurred between 1976 and 2008 15-40 years ago, and do not reflect DCYFs current practices, policies, or procedures, department spokesperson Jason Wettstein said in a statement. DCYF hopes these settlements are a start to the healing process for these 10 individuals. The oldest plaintiff was 18 and the youngest was 14 when they went to Green Hill. Cochran said law enforcement approached three of his clients about ongoing criminal investigations. Copyright 2021 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Topics Lawsuits Abuse Molestation Washington Bipartisan antitrust legislation aimed at Amazon, Apple, Facebook and Google could hurt US competitiveness and give foreign adversaries access to sensitive information, according to a new report from a tech industry group. The white paper from the Computer & Communications Industry Association, which counts all four companies among its members, argues that a series of antitrust bills approved by the US House Judiciary Committee in June would help foreign competitors, including Chinese and Russian companies, by placing severe restrictions solely on US tech giants. Many of the papers arguments echo warnings from technology groups and politicians who opposed the measures during a June hearing. In part because of their size and ability to innovate, US tech companies are valuable partners for the US government and intelligence community to counter global cyber threats, according to Dan Coats, a former Republican senator and director of national intelligence who now works at law firm King & Spalding and helped write the report. A lot of people are talking about the pros and cons of the economic impacts and innovation, which is legitimate, but also take a look at the national security, Mr Coats said. Unintended consequences He urged lawmakers to consult with House and Senate intelligence committees and federal agencies before voting on antitrust legislation that he said could have unintended consequences. The House Judiciary Committee approved a series of six bipartisan antitrust bills, and four of them target Amazon, Apple, Facebook and Google. It is not clear when or if those four bills will get a vote on the House floor. Senators on the antitrust subcommittee have said they plan to introduce some similar measures. A spokesman for Ken Buck, the ranking Republican on the House antitrust subcommittee, said Apple and Google have already let the fox in the proverbial henhouse by allowing China-related apps like TikTok and Alibaba in their app stores. Nick Givas, the spokesman, also mentioned steps taken by some tech companies to appease the Chinese Communist Party. Lets be clear: Amazon, Apple, Facebook, and Google are hurting US competition by engaging in anti-competitive practices, Mr Givas said. Our bills will create competition and protect privacy rights for consumers. Arthur Sidney, vice president of the Computer & Communications Industry Association, said the committee should have taken more time to understand the national security implications before voting on the bills. He said the House antitrust subcommittee investigation that preceded the legislation was narrowly focused on four US companies and didnt consider the conduct of foreign competitors. Bloomberg The Nigerian-Irish poet Felicia Olusanya, 25, is known as Felispeaks. She was born in Nigeria and moved to Ireland via France when she was around eight years of age. After spending several months at Balseskin direct provision centre in Co Dublin, she settled in Longford Town until she went to university. She is a regular performer on Irelands spoken word circuit and her poem For Our Mothers is on the Leaving Certificate English curriculum. Her poetic film Amongst Ourselves, which is based on workshops with three pairs of black African women and their Irish daughters, will be screened as part of Culture Night, at Dublin City Gallery The Hugh Lane, 5pm-7.30pm, Friday, September 17. See www.culturenight.ie My book of thoughts I fell in love with books in primary school I loved using my imagination that way. As I would walk home from school, I had to pass the county library. Id pop into the library, study there, pick up books, wait for my mom to be done at work. Always my life revolved around books beyond education. It was my escape route. Through reading at home, in the dark, under the covers when I should have been asleep, I would be inspired to also write. I learned how to cultivate my imagination. I began writing poetry, but I didnt have a word for poetry. I called it my thoughts copy. Under the Hawthorn Tree When I was around 10 or 11, I loved Marita Conlon-McKennas Children of the Famine trilogy. Its about three children escaping the Irish famine. The story is told from the childrens perspective. Theyve lost their family. The books follow their youth as they move to England. It's so sad, but it's freaking amazing. Its about bravery, about hope. The story comes alive so vividly, but its not just the storytelling. I remember the enthusiasm of the teacher who read the stories to us. It was so exciting to see that they were on a suffering journey as well as an adventure. There was this thrill that connected to me about the search for independence and the necessity of survival. Memory versus reality Truthfully, I don't remember my journey [from Nigeria to Ireland] having any sort of similarities because the childrens experience in the famine trilogy was particularly turbulent. Its a question of memory versus reality. In terms of my memory, I don't remember my journey being specifically turbulent because I was a child with my mother that loved me. I was living with my mum. My family wasn't dead like the kids in the story. Wild women Who Run With the Wolves by Clarissa Pinkola Estes is very interesting. Shes a Jungian psychologist. She dissects different pitfalls that women often fall into using myths and stories of the wild woman archetype. The wild woman is a metaphor for your most natural self. Women often neglect their most natural self to obey stereotypical roles in which theyre supposed to engage, either as a woman, daughter, mother or sister. Its important not to lose your natural inclinations. One story, for example, she fleshes out is the ugly duckling. She explores the impact of being rejected by your mother and how that affects your ways of behaving, and how you deal with intimacy and relationships. Kae Tempest 'It was incredible to see them bring to life the entire theatre with just spoken word and ambient music.' I got to open for Kae Tempest [English spoken word artist, formerly known as Kate, and uses the pronouns they/them] at Vicar St before the pandemic. It was incredible to see them bring to life the entire theatre with just spoken word and ambient music, that subtle bridge they play with. I loved how they played with the live music element so casually the ease and flow and transitions. It was nearly a romantic relationship with the audience: we are safe as we explore each thought process. Obviously there's a lot of people that knew the words, but the delivery was so Kae slow that you couldn't but be drawn in. I loved that strong hold on the audience, from start to finish. They were glued to the performance. Message in the performance Saul Williams has this way of making it not just about spoken word. He makes it about the entire message in the performance. I remember when I opened for him, he had projections, visuals, he was on top of tables! There was moments for just the song or the sound to play. There was moments for you to hear him without the mic, with the mic. When he was changing track, it felt like you were entering a different dimension of the same message. His performance went beyond the stage. It felt like he infiltrated the audience, like the audience became part of the performance. It was mesmerising. Body language The whole body is important for communication. Some people are naturally more expressive than others. Others are taught how to express themselves for performance. I happen to be quite expressive and have a great space that I can channel that expressiveness into. One of the things I've learned is that you can intentionally use all those mannerisms and each of them are equally important. It's part of the language of acting. Beauty of Yoruba syntax Nigerians are quite expressive. Im Yoruba. Within our language, there's a lot of proverbs and adages for ways of living. We can be very intentional and meticulous with words. A lot of Yoruba sentences are metaphorical in the ways of saying them. So obviously there's a word for a window. There's a word for sit down, but the sentence for I'll see you later translated literally is more metaphorical than what its translation is: Well still be seeing another day. Sarah Kay and Phil Kaye I watch a lot of stand-up poetry. There is this duo. Theyre not even siblings, but they have the same last name. It's Sarah Kay and Phil Kaye. What I really enjoy about them is their back stories because they bring that on stage. They both have siblings. One of their siblings have the same name. Their backgrounds are quite similar. They end up in the same college. They both do poetry. They look like they could be romantically engaged, but theyre not. They bring that chemistry on stage. They do poems together. I like their performance package. It's great. Social media kicks If were thinking about power tools in social-media society, Twitter is heavy duty. Even the president of the United States had to be banned from it. I enjoy conversations without necessarily following people. I enjoy analysing social discussions. Obviously there is the problem that you can be in your own bubble. But beyond the jokes and the threads that are funny, there's a lot of serious things that you can find on it, which I can filter into my poetry. Ryanair boss Michael OLeary has warned that prices will increase as passengers rush to holiday in Europe next summer. Mr OLeary said this huge demand for holidays would coincide with fewer flights, meaning a price rise for flights and also for hotels. A former Lord Mayor has blasted RTEs new crime drama Kin saying that the national broadcaster is a disgrace to allow such toxic material to be aired. Christy Burke, the former Dublin Lord Mayor and Independent Councillor for the north inner city, an area blighted by drug use and crime, wants RTE management to take the series off-air immediately. The eight-part series, which was shot in Dublin, aired for the first time on Sunday night at 9.30pm. Kin features the Kinsellas, a fictionalised Dublin family involved in a gangland war with an international drug cartel. Cllr Burke said: If all RTE can provide is a young guy, then a woman using cocaine, then a 17-year-old drinking alcohol in front of his mother and a guy with a very fake Dublin accent again using drugs, what kind of message is this sending out about Irish society? They need to understand families all over Ireland have lost loved ones through drug use along with young people being shot dead due to crime. The national broadcaster needs to ask itself what this series stands for. "This city is awash with cocaine and anti-social behaviour and deaths of so many involved in crime feuds it doesnt need any further glamourising which without a doubt impacts on young peoples behaviour. Read More Irish Wise Guys: Time for a history lesson when it comes to dealing with gangland crime Cllr Christy Burke said: They need to understand families all over Ireland have lost loved ones through drug use along with young people being shot dead due to crime." Photo: Gareth Chaney/Collins Cllr Burke said that he has been inundated by texts from families not only affected directly by drugs but by others who are sickened by the glamourising of such crime and the vulgar use of violence. Not only is this bad enough but there was also a smart remark about Alcoholics Anonymous, but they should realise people attend this extremely important organisation to help them to recover. Kin features Irish actors Aidan Gillen of Game of Thrones, Love/Hate and The Wire, The Last Duels Clare Dunne and Ciaran Hinds from The Terror and Game of Thrones. The first episode aired on Sunday night to mixed reviews by critics. The chairperson of one of Ireland's largest hospital groups has quit her role, citing government failures to deliver reforms in the health service as the reason for her departure. Professor Geraldine McCarthy, chair of the board of the South/SouthWest Hospital Group, has become the latest senior health figure to resign, following the shock departures last week of two senior officials from the Government's Slaintecare reform programme. The South/SouthWest Hospital Group oversees 10 hospitals, including Cork University Hospital and the maternity hospital, Mercy University Hospital, Waterford University Hospital, Kerry University Hospital, and Tipperary University Hospital. Prof McCarthy's resignation letter In her resignation letter to health minister Stephen Donnelly, Prof McCarthy said the "much-needed reform of the health services has not been delivered: When I commenced this role over six years ago, there was excitement and hope among clinicians and managers for a more devolved, modern and equitable health service. Despite the excellent care delivered at the frontline by committed staff, it is regrettable that much of the needed reform of the health service has not been delivered. "This includes the establishment of regional health authorities with autonomy over decisions, budgets and capital spend. It also includes free GP services for all and elective hospitals to address waiting lists and ensure rapid and equitable access to services. "I have waited for a long time for developments led by successive ministers for health and government. However, recent information and my own experiences tell me we are no nearer to the required reform than we were six years ago." Groups were intended to evolve into trusts Hospital groups were originally planned to evolve into not-for-profit trusts but were later subsumed into the government's Slaintecare plan to reform the health service. Prof McCarthy is an Emeritus Professor at University College Cork, and a founding professor of the Catherine McAuley School of Nursing and Midwifery. Her resignation follows abrupt changes at the top of the Slaintecare system. Executive Director Laura Magahy resigned last week, on the same day as chair of the Slaintecare Implementation Advisory Council, Dr Tom Keane. Dr Keanes resignation letter pointed to structural flaws in the all-party reform programme, saying he thought requirements for implementing this unprecedented programme for change are seriously lacking. At the weekend, other members of the Slaintecare Implementation Advisory Council went public with their own concerns. Liam Doran, a council member, said the resignations greatly saddened him and he was critical of the lack of political will for reform. Residents in the College Road area of Cork fear Fresher's Week will be twice as long this year as second-year students who had no in-person college last year are welcomed back with 'Sophomore Week' next week. Residents are reporting glass bottles being thrown at them, public urination and littering around homes on College Road, and are calling on gardai and UCC to take harsher measures against students caught engaging in such anti-social behaviour. David, who lives in the Highfield Avenue area of College Road has said the large gathering of students celebrating the return of university has actually become very malevolent. Some students were throwing bottles at my wife, throwing bottles at peoples feet. Between the pavements and the road, theres broken glass everywhere, David said on the Neil Prendeville show. With an estimated 300 students gathering in the area, David said people are beginning to think this type of anti-social and dangerous behaviour is being thought as the norm and that residents should expect it at this stage. We met them [the college security] last night, we met a student patrol. There were four young people there and they were about 20 or 30 yards away from it, they didnt approach the party at all and in one way you couldnt blame them. At one point when things became rowdier, they just said Right, were out of here, and they just took off. People think its normal for this area, the students that move here feel its normal behaviour and its okay. People think this is the norm. Its not normal." The street party which kicked off at around 8pm and wrapped up in the early hours of the morning, distressed many residents around Magazine Road, as they fear a two-week party may be on the cards. UCC Students Union has said it will be kicking off students' return with a first-ever Sophomore Week - a chance for last year's first-year students to celebrate. Due to Covid last year, the first years couldnt have Freshers week so itll be a double this year, said Anthony, a resident in the area. Anthony has said more action needs to be taken by gardai to control the situation. The gardai are good when they do come out, but I mean it needs to get very, very serious because a couple of weeks ago there was a girl bottled in the face in the area which I had heard from a member of the residents association, and there was a guy stabbed up at the junction of Magazine Road. About three weeks ago, I had to call the gardai myself and I counted 25 come out of a house not far from me, not one of them were wearing a mask, I dont know what the gardai can do, but the minute the gardai are gone they come back again. It seems to me if you're a UCC student, youre like Harry Potter you have an invisibility cloak - the law doesnt apply to you. Im not saying all students are like this, we were all young once, we all partied, but you would be aware of the neighbours and you wouldnt disturb the neighbours. There needs to be some penalty. Its just getting absolutely out of control and absolutely outrageous, he said. Catherine Clancy, chair of the Magazine Road residents association and former Lord Mayor of Cork has said Freshers is always a big worry for residents, and was disappointed that UCC did not engage with the association in relation to the proposal for a Sophomore Week. The residents' association is very upset that there was no communication from the university to inform us they would be hosting another week-long event and wrote to the president of UCC expressing our disappointment. In relation to the behaviour of students in the area, there is a light touch regime when it comes to students that wouldnt happen in any other part of the city. We are witnessing it, we have to ask why are students treated differently when it comes to criminal activity? Ms Clancy also said landlords renting houses to students in the area have a massive responsibility in all of this. The association has called on the Government to introduce legislation for houses of multiple occupancy (HMO). These are houses running like small hotels, with nobody there to manage and maintain them. Many landlords in the area are not registered with the RTB, that has to change. There are two out of three properties in the area that are not registered with the RTB. These are landlords that ignore residents' concerns and statutory laws, she said. In a statement, gardai said "they received complaints regarding crowds at College Road in Cork City this Sunday. Gardai attended the scene and the crowds were dispersed. No arrests were made." Pope Francis opened his first full day in Slovakia by meeting with church and state leaders ahead of an encounter with the countrys Jewish community to honour its Holocaust dead and atone for Catholic complicity in Second World War-era racial laws and crimes. Francis arrived at the presidential palace on Monday, and later at the capitals St Martin cathedral, looking well and rested on the second day of his four-day pilgrimage to Hungary and Slovakia which marks his first international outing since undergoing intestinal surgery in July. Im still alive! Francis quipped when asked by an Italian journalist how he was feeling as he walked up a ramp into the cathedral for a meeting with Slovak priests and nuns, where he cracked a series of jokes in a sign he was in good spirits, too. Francis, 84, has been recovering after having 13 inches of his colon removed for what the Vatican said was a severe narrowing of the large intestine. He has seemed in good form, though he used a golf cart buggy indoors on Sunday during a rigorous day in Budapest to limit a long walk, and has been delivering some speeches sitting down. Pope Francis, flanked by Slovakian President Zuzana Caputova, right, attends a welcoming ceremony (Gregorio Borgia/AP) On Monday in Bratislava, he told President Zuzana Caputova, Slovakias first female president, that the coronavirus pandemic had been the greatest test in recent history, but that it should offer a lesson for the future. It has taught us how easy it is, even when we are all in the same boat, to withdraw and think only of ourselves. Let us instead set out anew from the realisation that all of us are frail and in need of others. Ahead of a rigorous two days hop-scotching around Slovakia, Francis is spending Monday in Bratislava where the highlight of his visit is an afternoon encounter at the capitals Holocaust memorial, built on the site of a synagogue destroyed by the communist regime in the 1960s. He goes into the event having called on Sunday for Christians and Jews to work together to stop the rise of antisemitism in Europe, saying it is a fuse which must not be allowed to burn. Slovakia declared its independence from Czechoslovakia on March 14 1939 and became a Nazi puppet state with a politician and Roman Catholic priest Jozef Tiso becoming the countrys president. Under his rule, the country adopted strict anti-Jewish laws and deported some 75,000 Jews to Nazi death camps where some 68,000 perished. Tiso was sentenced to death and hanged in 1947. Pope Francis shares a word with Archbishop Stanislav Zvolensky, left, as he arrives at the Cathedral of Saint Martin (Petr David Josek/AP) Now, only about 5,000 Jews live in Slovakia, a largely Roman Catholic country of 5.5 million currently ruled by a four-party centre-right coalition government. Just last week, the government formally apologised for the racial laws that stripped the countrys Jews of their human and civil rights, prevented their access to education and authorised the transfer of their property to non-Jewish owners. Marking the 80th anniversary of the Jewish Code adopted on Sept 9, 1941, the government said in a statement on September 8 that it feels a moral obligation today to publicly express sorrow over the crimes committed by the past regime. The code was considered one of the toughest anti-Jewish laws adopted in Europe during the war. Slovakia is now home to the far-right Peoples Party Our Slovakia party, which has had members in Slovakias Parliament since 2016. The party openly advocates the legacy of the Slovak Nazi puppet Second World War state. Its members use Nazi salutes and want Slovakia out of the European Union and Nato. Guineas long-time opposition leader Cellou Dalein Diallo is urging the countrys ruling military junta to set up a transitional government and establish a time frame for holding elections as soon as possible following last weeks coup. Mr Diallo accused deposed president Alpha Conde of creating his own demise because he sought a third term in office by saying the constitutional term limits did not apply to him. He betrayed his oath, by doing so, and he plunged the country into a deep crisis, Mr Diallo said in an interview, describing his long-time political foe as a dictator. The fact that the military put an end to this illegal and legitimate mandate, I rather welcomed it, even if I did not expect this coup de force at this time, said Mr Diallo, who had lost to Mr Conde in Guineas last three presidential elections. He stressed, though, that the junta now must prove they do intend to give power back to the people as they promised when they overthrew Mr Conde on September 5. I want it to set up as large a transitional government as possible and to organise inclusive elections as soon as possible, within a reasonable period of time, free and transparent for a peaceful return to constitutional order, he said. Deposed Guinean president Alpha Conde sits on a sofa in an unknown location (AP) Over the past week, international pressure has mounted on the junta leaders to establish a quick return to democratic rule and to release Mr Conde from their custody. The African Union and the West African regional economic bloc known as Ecowas have both suspended Guinea in an effort to ramp up pressure. Mr Diallo said he knows that seizures of power by the military are always condemned but he called on international institutions to work with the junta on the way forward. I call on them not to sanction Guinea, but to accompany the new authorities in the rapid return to constitutional order within a reasonable time frame through the organisation of inclusive, free and transparent elections, he said. Mr Diallo, who heads the Union of Democratic Forces of Guinea party, acknowledged he still hopes to run for president a fourth time. I certainly wish to be elected, but I wish there to be inclusive, free and transparent elections so that Guineans can freely choose their leaders both at the level of the Assembly and at the level of the presidency, he said. The junta has ordered the central bank to freeze all government accounts in an effort to secure state assets and preserve the countrys interest. Guineas Junta president Colonel Mamady Doumbouya, centre, is heavily guarded by soldiers before a meeting with Ecowas delegation in Conakry, Guinea (Sunday Alamba/AP) It has also called for dialogue with various political and civil society groups this week, after meeting with mediators from Ecowas on Friday. National reconciliation will be a key step moving forward, he said, adding that it will be up to the new authorities to decide whether Mr Conde faces any criminal charges linked to his time in power. There have been many lives lost. There has been a lot of injustice. There has been a lot of violence, he said. This has to stop and we have to try to see how we can move toward reconciliation. How to go to forgiveness so that Guinea can really get back on the road of unity and development for all. Burma Ahead of UN Meeting, Local and Intl Groups Call to Keep Myanmars Ambassador in Place Myanmar people in New York rally on Sunday to support U Kyaw Moe Tun, the Myanmar Ambassador to the UN, ahead of the General Assembly and the Credential Committee meeting on Tuesday. / Kyaw Soe Latt Prior to the United Nations General Assembly on Tuesday, 358 local and international civil society organizations urged the UN member nations and their representatives to keep the current Myanmar ambassador as the rightful representative for the country despite the Myanmar military regimes attempt to replace him with someone loyal to them, as the UNs Credentials Committee will meet on Tuesday to consider who should represent Myanmar. The organizations based in Myanmar, Asia, Europe and the US called for support as Ambassador U Kyaw Moe Tun has done important work representing Myanmars democratically elected government, which was ousted by the junta in February, and its people at the UN. Following the coup, the ambassador rejected the takeover on the UN floor in late February and pledged his loyalty to the ousted National League for Democracy (NLD) government and its offshoot the National Unity Government (NUG), a shadow government formed by elected lawmakers from the NLD and its ethnic allies. Since then the junta has been trying to replace him but so far in vain. There was also an assassination attempt against the US-based ambassador but the plot was disrupted when the FBI arrest some of those involved. In June, the UNGA condemned the Myanmar junta and demanded it end the takeover, stop killing opponents and free jailed civilian leaders. Despite the UN criticism, the juntas killing has continued. As of Saturday, 1,080 people have been killed in crackdowns since the coup and more than 6,000 people have been detained, according to the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP), a human rights group tracking the regimes atrocities. The 76th UNGA will start on Tuesday. U Kyaw Moe Tun was appointed by the UN as Myanmars representative in 2020 under the Daw Aung San Suu Kyi-led civilian government before the coup. The NUG has also approved him as their representative at the worlds body. A seat at the United Nations is important for a country as it represents the governments legitimacy and international acceptance. The representation also permits the country to participate at the UN, not only at the UNGA but in other UN agencies like the World Health Organization. In their open letter to the UN member nations and their representatives, the CSOs called on the UN credentials committee to reject the juntas nominee but to accept U Kyaw Moe Tun as he represents the government elected by the people, referring to the NUG. The CSOs also called on the UN not to defer and vacate the post, and not to do anything to silence U Kyaw Moe at the UN. To do so is against the UN Charter as well as encouraging the juntas power grab and their terror on civilians, they said. You may also like these stories: Nearly 50 Myanmar Junta Forces Killed in Two Raids by Civilian Fighters in Chin, Magwe Myanmar Military Tells Muslims Not to Contact Arakan Army Junta Troops Killed in Civilian Attacks Across Myanmar Burma Daw Aung San Suu Kyi Denies Rumors of Talks With Myanmar Regime Myanmar State Counselor Daw Aung San Suu Kyi in 2019. / State Counselor Office Myanmars detained State Counselor Daw Aung San Suu Kyi has denied rumors that she has held talks with the junta leaders over the past two months. No one came to talk to me, Daw Aung San Suu Kyi told her lawyers on Monday, during a brief chat with her legal team, according to a lawyer present. There were rumors about who met her, but she told us that, until now, no one [from the juntas governing body the State Administration Council (SAC) or the military] has met with her, said the lawyer. Rumors circulated that coup leader Senior General Min Aung Hlaing met Daw Aung San Suu Kyi before Myanmars Martyrs Day, which falls on July 19, and that there was a follow-up meeting last month with two members of the SAC. A local news outlet reported that U Chit Naing and U Win Shein, the junta-appointed Ministers of Information and Planning and Finance and Industry, met Daw Aung San Suu Kyi on August 6. On Monday, Daw Aung San Suu Kyi was supposed to appear before a special court in Naypyitaws Zabuthiri Township after eight weeks of delays to her court hearings due to the COVID-19 pandemic. But after the ousted State Counselor fell ill with car sickness, she requested an absence from the court proceedings. Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, President U Win Myint and other senior leaders of the National League for Democracy Party were detained hours before the militarys February 1 coup. She faces six charges for alleged violations of COVID-19 restrictions, possession of illegal walkie-talkies, sedition and for breaching the Official Secrets Act. The military regime has also filed four corruption charges against her. She faces a potential prison sentence of 75 years. Until early June, Daw Aung San Suu Kyis court appearances came via video conferencing. Her legal defense team met her in person for the first time on June 7, at the first hearing where she appeared in court in person. The trials for five of the charges against Daw Aung San Suu Kyi are supposed to be completed by December. Witness appearances for those cases had been half-completed when the trials were postponed for two months from July 19. You may also like these stories: Myanmar Junta Kills At Least 12 Civilians Over Weekend Over 80 Myanmar Military-Owned Telecom Towers Destroyed Nationwide Myanmar Military-Backed USDP Accused of Exploiting Smaller Political Parties Burma Myanmar Junta Kills At Least 12 Civilians Over Weekend Around 30 houses were burned down during a junta raid on Htet Hlaw village, Gangaw, Magwe Region. / Gangaw Youth Voice At least a dozen civilians were killed by junta forces in Magwe, Sagaing and Yangon regions during the weekend. On Sunday, junta forces killed two brothers in Taungdwingyi Township, Magwe Region, after a telecom mast belonging to the military-owned Mytel, one of four telecom operators in Myanmar, was destroyed. Resistance fighters said in a statement that the troops tortured villagers as they interrogated them over the incident and two were killed. Four other villagers were detained, it added. Telecom towers owned by Myanmars military are being targeted by resistance fighters following the shadow National Unity Governments declaration of war against the junta on September 7. The junta troops also burned several houses during raids on Hnan Khar and Htet Hlaw villages on Gangaw Township in the region, a resistance stronghold, over the weekend. According to residents, a villager and resistance fighter were shot dead by junta troops in Htet Hlaw on Sunday morning during a raid. Around 30 houses were also burned down during the raid, forcing villagers to flee. Villagers said they found the two bodies when they returned to put out the fires. On Monday morning, junta troops torched Hnan Khar, burning at least 10 houses. Nearly 40 houses have been partially or completely destroyed in the village since Friday. In Myaung Township, Sagaing Region, seven villagers, who were trapped in their village during clashes between junta forces and resistance fighters, were reportedly shot dead by regime soldiers. In Yangon Region, 36-year-old Ko Aung Ko was shot dead after he reportedly failed to stop his car at a checkpoint on Saturday night. His wife, who was a passenger, was shot and is in a critical condition. Since the February coup, junta forces have killed at least 1,080 people, including teenagers, children, student activists, protesters, politicians, bystanders and pedestrians. More than 8,000 people have been detained of whom 6,398 remain in custody, according to the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners. You may also like these stories: Over 80 Myanmar Military-Owned Telecom Towers Destroyed Nationwide Myanmar Military-Backed USDP Accused of Exploiting Smaller Political Parties Myanmars Daw Aung San Suu Kyi Sick; Court Hearings Postponed Burma Myanmar Military-Backed USDP Accused of Exploiting Smaller Political Parties USDP supporters holding party flags ride motorbikes in Naypyitaw during the 2020 general election campaign. / The Irrawaddy The Myanmar military-backed Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP) is taking advantage of smaller political parties to increase its influence on current affairs in Myanmar, said Daw Nan Shwe Kyar, the co-chairman of the Wun Thar Nu Democratic Party. On September 8, the USDP released a joint declaration which it said was signed by 23 political parties, including the Wun Thar Nu Democratic Party. The joint declaration urged the United Nations (UN) not to approve U Kyaw Moe Tun as the parallel National Unity Governments Myanmar ambassador to the UN. However, Daw Nan Shwe Kyar said that her party did not sign the joint declaration. That they included my name and my party in the statement without my knowledge put me in danger, caught between two opposing sides. They [USDP] didnt tell me what the statement was about. We didnt attend any meeting. We were exploited and it is dangerous, said Daw Nan Shwe Kyar. USDP spokesman Dr. Nandar Hla Myint told The Irrawaddy that the party meets with other parties before issuing statements on Myanmar issues, and that those parties are only included in the joint statement when their party representatives have approved the discussion. The fact that some party central executive committees raised objections to the joint statements, even though their representatives attended the meeting and signed off in approval of the discussion, is just an internal issue of misunderstanding within their parties, said the USDP spokesman. He insisted that Daw Nan Shwe Kyar had signed the joint statement. When we discussed the statement online, the Wun Thar Nu party agreed. We dont know if they have had disagreements within their party. It was Daw Nan Shwe Kyar herself [who signed]. We have no reason at all to exploit smaller parties. We only support and partner with them for the sake of our country. Those accusations are wrong, said Dr. Nandar Hla Myint. The USDP has led other parties in issuing joint statements to make it appear that together they represent a distinct voice in Myanmars affairs, said a Yangon-based political analyst. But most of the parties did not win a single seat in the previous election and thus have no mandate to represent the people, he added. They want to make it appear that there is political power behind the USDP. But those parties did not win any elections. They have no political power and do not represent people on a wide scale. They are just nominal parties that the dictators created to make use of them, said the Yangon analyst. Last month, the Wa National Party (WNP) raised objections and distanced itself from its party chairman Sai Pao Nup after he signed a joint declaration of 28 political parties led by the USDP welcoming the election to be held by the military regime, and pledging to cooperate with the juntas security measures. Sai Pao Nup resigned as the WNP chairman after the partys central executive committee said that he signed the joint statement on August 4 without its approval, and that his signing undermined public confidence in the party. A few years ago, the Taang National Party also said it was included without its consent in a joint declaration of 15 political parties led by the USDP in January 2017 calling for a meeting of the National Defense and Security Council, the highest national security authority in Myanmar. The party said that it did attend the meeting led by the USDP, but that it did not agree to anything discussed. The party accused the USDP of misappropriating its name. Ever since the National League for Democracy (NLD) took office in 2016, the USDP has led other parties, most small and nationalist, in releasing statements critical of the NLD. In August last year, just two months before the general election, 34 political parties led by the USDP met Myanmar military chief Senior General Min Aung Hlaing, asking him to intervene should the upcoming election not be free. The NLD won an overwhelming majority in the November 2020 general election, which independent election monitors agreed was generally free and fair, but the military seized power on February 1, claiming that the NLDs victory was made possible by fraud. Two of the party leaders who met Sen. Gen. Min Aung Hlaing before the November poll U Thein Nyunt, chairman of the New National Democracy Party, and U Khin Maung Swe, chairman of the National Democratic Force party were both appointed to the military regimes governing body, the State Administration Council, after the coup. Others, including senior members of the USDP and Daw Thet Thet Khine, the head of the Peoples Pioneer Party, were appointed as ministers in the juntas so-called interim government. You may also like these stories: Myanmars Daw Aung San Suu Kyi Sick; Court Hearings Postponed Ahead of UN Meeting, Local and Intl Groups Call to Keep Myanmars Ambassador in Place Nearly 50 Myanmar Junta Forces Killed in Two Raids by Civilian Fighters in Chin, Magwe Burma Myanmars Shadow Government Prepares Evidence of Junta War Crimes A charred house after junta troops torched Myintha village in Gangaw Township in Magwe Region last Friday. / CJ Myanmars junta has committed massacres and war crimes in Sagaing Region by murdering about 112 people within three months, according to the Human Rights Ministry of the civilian National Unity Government (NUG). Evidence of junta massacres and war crimes will be submitted to the United Nations Human Rights Council this month, U Aung Myo Min, the NUGs human rights minister, posted on Facebook. Myanmars junta killed at least 216 people in the region between March and August, according to the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP), which is compiling deaths and arrests. The rights ministry said in July alone the regime committed a series of massacres and war crimes, killing 103 people in Kani, Depayin and Mingin townships in Sagaing Region. In Kani Township, around 43 people, including a child, were killed in junta massacres during military operations. The rights ministry said four civilians were tortured and killed in Shinoretat village in Kani Township on July 1. Another 16 villagers were killed by junta forces in Yin village on July 11 to 12 and more than 23 villagers and civilian resistance fighters, including a disabled person, were tortured and killed at Zee Pin Twin and Htoo villages on July 26 and 27. The NUG has already reported the junta massacres in Kani to the UN Security Council in August. U Aung Myo Min told The Irrawaddy last month that willful killing, torture of unarmed civilians and the intentional, excessive use of force constitute war crimes. Nineteen people, including resistance fighters, were murdered by junta forces in Mingin Township in July. Eleven out of 57 detained members of the Peoples Defense Forces (PDF) were reportedly killed by junta forces in detention, according to the rights ministry. A junta massacre, leaving more than 40 civilians dead, including several children, was reported in Depayin Township in early July. During the raids on villages, junta forces used artillery against civilian targets and reportedly opened fire on villagers fleeing for the forests. In the massacre, six wounded resistance fighters, left behind by retreating civilian combatants, were shot in the head by the soldiers. Villagers were also shot dead by junta troops the next day when they returned to look for the dead and wounded. At the time a villager told The Irrawaddy that looting civilian property and shooting at fleeing civilians were human rights violations. After the declaration of the peoples war against the junta by the NUG on September 7, junta forces have escalated inspections and arrests but also violence and raids, including burning down villages across the country, especially in Sagaing and Magwe regions and Kayah State. Meanwhile, the PDFs across the country have stepped up operations targeting junta forces and junta-owned telecom masts. By Saturday, 1,080 people had been killed by junta forces across the country, the AAPP said. Almost 8,050 people, including elected government leaders, have been detained by the junta or face arrest warrants. You may also like these stories: Daw Aung San Suu Kyi Denies Rumors of Talks With Myanmar Regime Nearly 50 Myanmar Junta Forces Killed in Two Raids by Civilian Fighters in Chin, Magwe Myanmar Military Tells Muslims Not to Contact Arakan Army Burma Nearly 50 Myanmar Junta Forces Killed in Two Raids by Civilian Fighters in Chin, Magwe Smoke rises from the Lungler military outpost after it was raided by the Chinland Defense Force on Saturday. / CJ Almost 50 junta soldiers and police were reportedly killed during two attacks by civilian resistance fighters on junta outposts in Chin State and Magwe Region on the weekend. Civilian resistance fighters of the Chinland Defense Force seized and burned down a military outpost in Thantlang Township, Chin State on Saturday night. Around 200 troops from a combined force of the Chinland Defense Force-Thantlang (CDF-T) and the Chin National Association (CNA) started attacking the military outpost in Lungler Village near the Indian border west of Thantlang on Friday. The civilian resistance forces had to retreat from the firefight that day as they were bombarded by the juntas jets, according to a statement from the CDF-T. The CDF-T said they managed to seize the military outpost on Saturday night when 400 civilian resistance fighters attacked the outpost a second time. During the firefight, 12 junta soldiers were killed and eight civilian resistance fighters were injured. The CDF-T said they burned down the military outpost after seizing firearms and ammunition from the base camp. Separately, a combined force from the Yaw-Defense Force (YDF) and Chin Defense Force-Mindat (CDF-M) raided a police outpost in Gangaw Township, Magwe Region early on Sunday morning. At 2 a.m. on Sunday, five junta police officers were killed when the civilian resistance raided the police outpost in Minywar Village, located to the south of Gangaw. Three civilian resistance fighters were injured in the firefight. A leader of CDF-Mindat told The Irrawaddy they had to attack the police outpost because many civilians in the area around Gangaw have been suppressed by junta forces. Another 30 police reinforcements sent to the police outpost were killed during ambushes by civilian resistance fighters, according to a statement from the YDF. However, The Irrawaddy was unable to independently confirm the police and military casualties. Myanmar has seen growing and intense violence between junta troops and PDFs after the declaration of a peoples war against the regime by the civilian National Unity Government (NUG) on Sept. 7. After the announcement, the military regime escalated not only its inspections and arrests but also its violence and raids including burning down villages across the country, especially in Sagaing and Magwe regions and Kayah State. As of Saturday, 1,080 people had been killed by junta forces during their raids, crackdowns, arrests, interrogations and random shootings, the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP) said. Almost, 8,050 people including elected government leaders have been detained by the junta or face arrest warrants. You may also like these stories: Myanmar Military Tells Muslims Not to Contact Arakan Army Junta Troops Killed in Civilian Attacks Across Myanmar Myanmar Junta to Auction Over 12,000 Tons of Illegal Timber Burma Over 80 Myanmar Military-Owned Telecom Towers Destroyed Nationwide A screenshot from a video of Mytel masts being destroyed last week in Sagaing Region. / Video: Phyu Regional News More than 80 telecom towers owned in a joint venture between the Myanmar military and Vietnams Defence Ministry have been destroyed by civilian resistance forces across the country. Targeting of Mytel telecom masts has accelerated since last week, when the shadow National Unity Government (NUG) declared a nationwide peoples defensive war against the military regime. In his call for war, the NUGs acting president Duwa Lashila encouraged citizens to target the military junta and its assets in their respective areas. At least 14 telecom towers belonging to Mytel, one of four telecom operators in Myanmar, were destroyed by last Thursday. On Saturday, the junta announced that there had been 68 attempts to destroy or torch telecom towers across the country up to Thursday. But the regime didnt specify the owner or operator of the masts targeted. On Friday, seven Mytel towers in Sagaing Region were destroyed, according to local Peoples Defence Forces (PDF) who claimed responsibility for the attacks. Nine more were destroyed over the weekend in Magwe and Yangon Region, local PDFs and residents said. Along with the 68 previous attacks, that totals 84 masts that have been destroyed or targeted. Myanmar people have been boycotting Mytel services since the February 1 coup in protest at the military takeover. Mytel offices and telecom towers were first targeted in early April in response to the regimes brutal crackdowns on peaceful anti-coup protesters. Mytel is a joint venture that involves a number of companies, including the government-owned Star High Public Co Ltd, which is run by the Myanmar military conglomerate Myanmar Economic Corporation, Myanmar National Telecom Holding (MNTH) Public Ltd, a consortium compromising 11 companies, and the Vietnamese telecom company Viettel, a Hanoi-based state-owned enterprise operated by Vietnams Ministry of Defence. Viettel owns a 49 percent stake in the joint venture, while MNTH has a 23 percent stake. Star High Public Co Ltd holds a 28 percent stake. You may also like these stories: Myanmar Military-Backed USDP Accused of Exploiting Smaller Political Parties Myanmars Daw Aung San Suu Kyi Sick; Court Hearings Postponed Ahead of UN Meeting, Local and Intl Groups Call to Keep Myanmars Ambassador in Place Ithaca, NY (14850) Today Cloudy with occasional rain...mainly this evening. Low 56F. Winds light and variable. Chance of rain 90%.. Tonight Cloudy with occasional rain...mainly this evening. Low 56F. Winds light and variable. Chance of rain 90%. REA Groups data business PropTrack has joined FinTech Australias ecosystem partnership program to establish key relationships in the fintech sector and to create opportunities. iTWire previously reported that the Sydney Stock Exchange joined the program. PropTrack is the 14th company that FinTech Australia has signed in a year. Xero, Amazon Web Services (AWS), Mastercard, EY, Facebook, Google, eftpos, Idemia, Regional Australia Bank, RSM Australia, and the Newcastle Permanent Building Society are members. The program embeds companies within the fintech ecosystem and assists in the fostering of relationships with the fintech industrys key players. This is an exciting partnership for FinTech Australia, as weve always seen a key link between the property sector and the fintech industry, FinTech Australia CEO Rebecca Schot Guppy says. Property is crucial to wealth and investment, and theres a substantial number of fintechs operating in the sector. Our partnership program will leverage network relationships and see exciting opportunities, adds Guppy. PropTrack will provide unparalleled access to property data and insights through the integration of proprietary REA Group demand data and industry-leading software, apps and tools. We will connect with new fintechs to help build their competitive advantage with trusted market intelligence, PropTrack chief executive officer Melina Cruickshank concludes. PropTrack is a property data and valuations business servicing customers including Australias major banks with trusted property data analytics and insights, customised data platforms and an automated valuation model (AVM). Australian National Universitys Tech Policy Design Centre will tackle strengthening democracy and how the countrys economy is poised to reap the full benefits of digital technology. The two key issues will detail who owns our data and has permission to use it; the increasing influence and power of tech giants; promoting online rights and safety, while protecting against online abuse; and mitigating the impact of misinformation, disinformation and foreign interference on democracy. Johanna Weaver will lead the new centre. She is a former lawyer and Australian diplomat who has held senior positions in cyber affairs at the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade and, most recently, was Australias chief cyber negotiator at the United Nations. Todays policy and governance structures are struggling to keep pace with the rapid evolution of technology. We need to fix that and we need to fix it urgently, Weaver notes. We need to disrupt our approach to tech-policy. Reimagined tech-policy can be a powerful tool that complements tech innovation and delivers positive social, economic and security outcomes, she says. The new centre will work with business, government, civil society, policymakers, and academia to co-design a new generation of tech policy. The Honourable Chancellor Julie Bishop cites that Tech Policy Design Centre was another example of ANU taking national leadership on the key issues and challenges facing the nation. Globally, there is an urgent and increasing demand for new approaches to technology policy, Bishop observes. The Centre will reimagine how policy can be used in a positive way to shape technology. This will help position our nation to harness the full potential of digital technologies while responsibly mitigating against future harms. Weaver says the rise of digital technologies gravitates towards national security and cyberattacks. Much of the conversation has centred around which states may be hacking us, Weaver stresses. Use of COVID check-in data to investigate alleged crime and technology-facilitated abuse against women are just a few of the tech challenges highlighted in news headlines this week, Weaver points out. We need to continue innovating while simultaneously acting much more proactively to pre-empt and guard against, often unintended, harm. Tech policy reimagined has a big role to play in addressing these challenges. The Tech Policy Design Centre will focus on four key themes: people, power, democracy and data. The centre will work with existing ANU research areas on these four key themes, including the, School of Regulation and Global Governance, the 3A Institute and School of Cybernetics, the National Security College, the ANU College of Law, the ANU College of Engineering and Computer Science, and the ANU College of Asia and the Pacific. Global data management and analytics provider Cloudera has appointed 20 year sales maagement and SaaS veteran Robert Yue as its new Vice President and Managing Director for Australia and New Zealand (ANZ). Yue, who is based in Sydney, commenced in his new role on Monday and follows a 20 year career spanning hardware, software, and services to provide customer solutions across banking, finance, retail, manufacturing, utilities, and the public sector. Prior to his appointment, Yue held the role of Vice President and General Manager of Apptio for four years and was a previous Vice President of Jive Software for over three years for the Asia Pacific and Japanese markets. He also held the role of Vice President and Managing Director of SuccessFactors and worked for Hewlett Packard (HP) as General Manager after being promoted from Sales Director for HPs Software and Solutions. Yue joined HP following its acquisition in 2006 of Mercury Interactive where he worked for eight years in various sales and management roles. Cloudera Vice President of Asia Pacific, Mark Micallef, says hes delighted to welcome Robert Yue to the Cloudera APAC leadership team. The ANZ region continues to be one of the worlds fastest adopters of cloud technologies. Our customers are looking for flexibility and security with respect to cloud environments that will not only accelerate their transformation efforts but enable them to deliver more value across their business, leveraging data, analytics and artificial intelligence (AI), he said. We are delighted to welcome Robert to our team and are confident that his deep SaaS knowledge will be invaluable in supporting our customers on their hybrid cloud journeys. Yue says he is excited to be leading the Cloudera ANZ team and is looking forward to helping Cloudera customers drive more cloud momentum at such a key time in their digital transformation journeys. Im very pleased to be joining Cloudera at such a pivotal time. Many businesses across ANZ are now in recovery mode, following continued COVID-19 disruption. The future is hybrid cloud and Im looking forward to leading our team as we help our customers and partners successfully unlock their potential. Our focus will continue to place our customers at the centre of everything we do while also strengthening our partner relationships to drive more strategic value. Fujitsu has launched its Maori and Pacific Peoples Inclusion Plan for Fujitsu New Zealand, as an important step in its ongoing commitment to equity and inclusion for Maori and Pacific Peoples - and to enable sustainable and successful opportunities for them in the technology sector. The strategy is Fujitsu New Zealands five-year plan and the launch of the strategy coincides with Te Wiki o Te Reo Maori (Maori Language Week), which runs from September 13-19 this year. The Maori and Pacific Peoples Inclusion Plan plays a key part in Fujitsus strategy in New Zealand. Fujitsus purpose is to make the world more sustainable by building trust in society through innovation, said Graeme Beardsell, CEO, Fujitsu Australia and New Zealand. The Inclusion Plan will be pivotal as to how we embody our purpose into the New Zealand strategy. It lays out how Fujitsu will partner with, and for, Maori and Pacific peoples to achieve this goal. Over the next five years, we will work to create real, sustainable opportunities for Maori and Pacific people, businesses and communities, Beardsell continues. This includes supporting pathways for Maori and Pacific young people to enter the technology sector and share in the digital economies of the future. At Fujitsu, we also recognise that we have so much more to learn. This is why we have chosen to launch our strategy during Maori Language Week which encourages all New Zealanders to learn and celebrate Te Reo Maori. Fujitsu says Edwina Mistry, Founder of CreateOps and Ytech has been creating opportunities and running initiatives to connect female and Maori and Pacific high school students to the technology sector for the past 14 years. Connecting youth to industry right from the time they are at school helps them make informed choices about their future careers, says Mistry. It helps them realise that technology is part of every career and business today. It is important that Information Technology companies like Fujitsu continue to support these initiatives as it will help increase the number of Maori and Pacific people working in the ICT industry. Mika Joronen, Country Manager, Fujitsu New Zealand, welcomed the Inclusion Strategy as an important milestone in Fujitsu New Zealands strategy. In the digital era, technology is revolutionising business, society and the everyday lives of people. Technology will be key to solving the big challenges that our country and the wider global community are facing, including climate change, good health, and poverty. A diverse and empowered workforce is key to unlocking the innovation required to develop and deliver these solutions in Aotearoa. I strongly believe that greater Maori and Pacific inclusion will unlock new ways to create value with our customers, suppliers, employees and community partners. The Maori and Pacific Peoples Inclusion Plan was established by an employee advisory group in consultation with customers, independent advisors and community groups. The strategy will be formally launched at a special event early next year (restrictions dependent). The full Maori and Pacific Peoples Inclusion Plan is published on the Fujitsu New Zealand website: A judge in California has allowed Apple to continue charging developers a fee as it does, giving Android app makers little cheer that a similar case against Google would provide them any relief. The company that brought the case, Epic Games, maker of the popular game Fortnite, has appealed against the judgment. US District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers told Epic to pay damages to Apple for violating rules around its in-app purchasing system. A Reuters report said Justice Gonzalez Rogers made it mandatory for Apple to allow developers to tell their customers about methods of paying for their apps outside the Apple store. A similar case is in train against Google and is likely to be heard next year. Both Google and Apple charge developers of apps that are accepted into their respective online stores commissions of as much as 30%. Epic has taken action against both Google and Apple, claiming that the commissions are too high and can only be collected because both companies have monopolies over their respective app stores. Last year, Apple cut its fee to 15% for small developers who have less than US$1 million (A$1.35 million) in annual net sales, and Google followed suit. This happened less than a year after two developers sued Apple, claiming that it had for years maintained a monopoly over the sale and distribution of iOS apps. Epic chief executive Tim Sweeney tweeted after the case ended, saying the ruling "isn't a win for developers or for consumers". Aussie Broadband has announced a ten-year deal (including two ten-year options) with VicTrack to swap access to their respective fibre networks. VicTrack is a Victorian Government enterprise business that operates the states fibre assets. Under the swap agreement, VicTrack will provide access to its fibre network throughout Victoria. Aussie Broadband will provide access to its fibre network throughout Victoria and will construct access for VicTrack to a number of NBN POIs (points of interconnect). Aussie Broadband says, the swap will significantly increase the geographic reach of Aussie Broadbands fibre network, especially into regional Victoria. This increased reach will enable the rollout of Aussie Broadbands own business fibre services into regional areas including Traralgon, Morwell, Warragul, Pakenham, Geelong, Ballarat, Bendigo, and Warrnambool at speeds of up to 100G. The swap will also increase the metro coverage of Aussie Broadbands Victorian fibre network and will provide additional redundancy and protection options without needing to construct further backbone links. This will allow capex originally planned for Victoria to be used to expand the network in other states, the company said. Aussie Broadband managing director Phillip Britt welcomed the announcement as a highly strategic move in the expansion of Aussie Broadbands fibre network. Smart partnerships like this one with VicTrack enable us to not only expand our network beyond what was originally planned, but also frees up capital to improve our reach in other states, he said. This is a win for Aussie Broadband, a win for VicTrack and most importantly, a win for our customers and their access to high speed, quality internet connections. The transaction is a swap of capacity of equal and agreed value with a right of offset on cash consideration such that the cash flow impact on each entity is modest. Aussie Broadband will fund the cost of the initial Victrack POI connections estimated to be $1.4m. This is recovered over the initial 10-year period of the lease. The initial assessment of the application of accounting standards to the transactions is as follows: the lease of Aussie Broadbands fibre paths to Victrack takes the form of an operating lease and as such will be recognised as lease income over the term of the lease ($3.1m per annum). the lease of Victracks fibre capacity by Aussie Broadband at an annual lease cost of $3.2m will require the recognition of a AASB16 right-of-use asset and corresponding liability. As a consequence, additional depreciation and interest expenses will be recognised over the duration of the initial term of the lease. The impact on after-tax earnings will be immaterial but EBITDA will be improved by the impact of the operating lease income, Aussie Broadband said. On the cover page is a map outlining the VicTrack swapped fibre paths, Aussie Broadband-owned fibre, and other leased POI backhaul fibre in the state. Under the swap agreement, Aussie Broadband said it has access to additional VicTrack fibre paths throughout the state not included on this map. This first appeared in the subscription newsletter CommsWire on 6 September 2021. 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. I've updated my resume in the last week. I've updated my resume in the last month. I've updated my resume in the last 3 months. I've updated my resume in the last 6 months. I've updated my resume in the last 12 months. It's been more than one year since I updated my resume. I have never updated my resume. I don't have a resume. Vote View Results Ray Ploof, 61, passed away in his home in Jacksonville, TX, Wednesday, August 25, 2021. He was born in Burlington Vermont August 20, 1960. Ray was a member of Central Baptist Church. He was a talented machinist who worked in maintenance. He was well loved by everyone he met. Left to cherish Donate Now As a public service during this pandemic, the Jewish News is providing free, unlimited access to all articles. Jewish News is a nonprofit publication that is owned by the community and relies on community support. Alexander has reported on courts and crime since June 2021. A fan of all things outdoors, he came to Teton County after studying journalism at Northwestern University. Shirley Kay Hemby, of Pittsburg, KS, passed on September 13, 2021 at Via Christi Hospital in Pittsburg, KS. She was born on May 8, 1948, in Pittsburg, KS, the daughter of Henry F. Nannie (Brown) Johns. Shirley was a graduate from Pittsburg High. On April 7, 1968, Shirley married Robert Walla Peruvian officials faced a dilemma Sunday over what to do with the body of Abimael Guzman, the late founder of the brutal Shining Path guerrilla group, amid concerns his remains could be a rallying point for supporters. Guzman, leader of the group that spread terror across Peru in the 1980s and 1990s, died on Saturday in a military prison, aged 86. By law, prisoners remains should be turned over to a direct relative, but Guzman had none except his wife Elena Iparraguirre, the Shining Paths former second-in-command, who is also serving a life sentence for terrorism. Iparraguirre has given power of attorney to former prison mate Iris Quinonez to retrieve the body for burial. The public prosecutors office in the city of Callao said Sunday afternoon the petition to release the body will be evaluated in the next hours. It said Guzman died of pneumonia and his body is being held in the city morgue under police guard awaiting a legal ruling. There is widespread support for Guzmans body to be cremated and the ashes spread in the Pacific Ocean, lest a gravesite serve as a rallying point for supporters. No place of worship The remains of this genocidal killer should not be delivered to relatives, and since his wife cant receive them because shes imprisoned, the logical and reasonable step would be to cremate the body and throw the ashes in the sea, political analyst Fernando Rospigliosi told AFP. No place of worship should be created for his followers. Justice Minister Anibal Torres also favors cremation so there can be no place for certain Peruvians who want to pay tribute to this character to go, he said Saturday. Paying tribute to Guzman and holding demonstrations in his memory is considered apologism for terrorism, which is punishable by law, he added. An autopsy showed Guzman died of bilateral pneumonia also known as double pneumonia an infection that inflames both lungs and has been associated with Covid-19, the attorney generals office said in a statement. The body must still undergo pathological, toxicological and chemical testing before it is released, the statement read. The bodies of people who died of Covid-19 must be cremated according to an emergency health legislation. Guzmans attorneys said their client was fully vaccinated. Guzman was serving a life sentence in the maximum security jail at the Callao naval base near Lima. He and Iparraguirre were captured together in September 1992 and married in 2010, even though they are being held in different prisons. A former philosophy professor, Guzman was the intellectual architect behind the Maoist guerilla groups brutal, 20-year attempt to overthrow the Peruvian government from 1980 to 2000. That conflict in which Guzman hoped to impose the Marxist model of his icon, Mao Zedong, on Peru claimed 70,000 lives, either dead or disappeared, according to the countrys Truth and Reconciliation Commission. Guzman also embraced the brutal methods of Cambodian dictator Pol Pot, earning a reputation as a hardened revolutionary prepared to order the massacre of the residents of the Andean village of Soras in 1984 to punish them for refusing to support him. Over 100 people were killed. After having shot him in his forest hideout, France and its Central African henchmen also wanted to kill him in the hearts of Cameroonians. But they did not succeed, says activist Andre Blaise Essama of Ruben Um Nyobe. This Cameroonian independence fighter was killed precisely 63 years ago by the French army. When Essama was a child, the name of this hero was evoked in the greatest secrecy. But today, against all odds, the memory of Um Nyobe has come out of hiding to the great displeasure of the current regime of Paul Biya, whom Essama and other Cameroonian activists accuse of being a servant of France. From farmers son to militant nationalist Um Nyobe was born in 1913 in Bassa country, in the south of Cameroon, which was under German occupation at the time. His mother and father were small farmers. After the German defeat at the end of the First World War, the new League of Nations (predecessor to the United Nations) gave France and the United Kingdom a mandate to administer Cameroon. After his studies in Presbyterian schools in French Cameroon, Um Nyobe became a civil servant. He became known as a trade unionist before creating, in 1948 in Douala, the Union of the Peoples of Cameroon (UPC), a nationalist party. The UPC campaigned for the reunification of the country, independence and social justice. Very quickly, he became the undisputed leader of Cameroonian nationalism. He began to be called the Mpodol (spokesman for his people in the Bassa language). Ruben Um Nyobe has an almost mythical, extremely powerful aura. He is a key figure in the struggle for Cameroons independence, the lynchpin, a thinker, an outstanding organizer, a unifier of absolute integrity, explains French journalist Thomas Deltombe, co-author with Manuel Domergue and Jacob Tatsitsa of the book Kamerun! A Hidden War at the Origins of Francafrique (1948-1971). He enjoys immense respect from his compatriots, and his qualities are recognized in the confidential reports of the French colonial administration and police. He is the most emblematic figure of the UPC. In 1955, a new High Commissioner, Roland Pre, arrived in Cameroon, determined to put an end to the UPC and to Um Nyobe, whose charisma was disturbing. Barely after Pres arrival, social unrest shook Cameroon, causing several deaths. The French government used this as a pretext to ban the UPC on July 13, 1955. Um Nyobe went into hiding in a forest in his native region. And the colonial administration swore to find and kill him. The hunt began. Body immersed in concrete His hideout was spotted around September 13, 1958. During the hunt, Um Nyobes companions were arrested. Under torture, some of them told the French army where he was. On September 13, 1958, he was shot by a unit of auxiliaries commanded by a French officer, recounts Cameroonian historian Jacob Tatsitsa in an interview with Justice Info. In his book La naissance du maquis dans le Sud-Cameroun, (Birth of the Resistance in southern Cameroon), Cameroonian philosopher Achille Mbembe describes this killing, which he says took place in the early morning. The soldiers, including a Chadian conscript, Sara Abdoulaye, were firing in all directions. The trackers did not recognize Um Nyobe at first. () It was then that one of the guides pointed him out to the troops. Abdoulaye fired and hit him from behind. Um Nyobe collapsed, dropping a briefcase containing some documents and notebooks in which he had written down his dreams, and he died with a groan. Before being buried, his body was immersed in a concrete block. By disfiguring the corpse, they wanted to destroy the individuality of his body and reduce it to a shapeless and unrecognizable mass. The ultimate goal, Deltombe adds, was to root out the idea of independence from the very minds of Cameroonians. The assassination of Um Nyobe did not, however, mean the death of the Cameroonian independence movement, even if it dealt it a heavy blow and demobilized some of the fighters, says Tatsitsa. Paris stooge Ahmadou Ahidjo defeats the UPC insurgents After getting rid of the main pro-independence leader, France granted independence to Cameroon on January 1, 1960. Elections were held in May the same year, while in the Bassa and Bamileke regions the French army continued to repress UPC militants. Ahmadou Ahidjo, a protege of Paris, took advantage of this situation and became the first president of the Republic of Cameroon following massive electoral fraud. The UPC then launched an armed insurrection that was put down by Ahidjo with the help of French military advisors. According to the book Kamerun! Une guerre cachee aux origines de la Francafrique, it was French officers who secretly directed the operations by the new Cameroonian army against the insurgents. A range of methods were used: torture, forced regrouping of the population, extrajudicial executions, psychological warfare and poisoning. Nationalist leaders were killed not only in Cameroon but also in exile. Returning to the country to coordinate the insurrection from within, Ernest Ouandie, a fellow fighter of Um Nyobe, was arrested in 1970, tried and sentenced to death. He was executed on January 15, 1971. From left to right in the front row, the five main Cameroonian independence leaders: Osende Afana, Abel Kingue, Um Nyobe, Felix Moumie, Ernest Ouandie. Apart from Kingue, all of them were killed. Crimes never recognized by France Because of the strategic secrecy maintained by France around this conflict, it is difficult to give a human toll. British archives mention 76,000 deaths between 1954 and 1964. On a visit to Cameroon in 2009, Francois Fillon, then French Prime Minister, declared without flinching: I absolutely deny that French forces participated in any way in the assassinations in Cameroon. All this is pure invention. On July 3, 2015, after a meeting with Paul Biya, in Yoaunde, the French head of state Francois Hollande took a first timid step, responding to the press. On the question of history, it is true that there have been extremely tormented and even tragic episodes, since after independence there was repression in the Maritime Sanaga and in Bamileke country, he said. The word war was subtly avoided. However, 63 years after Um Nyobes assassination, the traces of this bloody repression are still visible. I have met survivors who still suffer from pathologies linked to the torture they underwent in the hands of the French army, says Tatsitsa. The Bassa region is still isolated, a kind of punishment for its lack of submission to the French army. For the Cameroonian historian, France must make reparation: Just as the British compensated the Mau-Mau fighters (in Kenya), France should compensate the UPC fighters and make economic and cultural investments in the areas concerned, as a form of collective reparation. Theophile Nono, secretary general of the Memoire 60 collective, notes, however, that there is not yet a structured movement that demands reparations in an official way. Eclipsed by the Algerian war For Deltombe, the war in Cameroon was overshadowed by a combination of different factors. First France, to which the United Nations had granted trusteeship over Cameroon, had to conceal the massive repression because it was illegal under international law and contravened the trusteeship agreements signed with the UN in 1946. Then there was the fact that it coincided with the Algerian war, which monopolized the attention of French public opinion and media. Finally, the defeat of the nationalists itself contributed to this concealment, and the authorities of independent Cameroon continued the work of annihilating the UPC, by prohibiting any reference to Um Nyobe and his companions in the struggle. Cameroonian Tiemeni Sigankwe, a researcher at the National Education Centre, agrees with this analysis. This episode is little known because all those who fought for reunification and independence were eliminated or dismissed. Today, in school history curricula, little is devoted to these nationalists. At one point, it was even forbidden to talk about the UPC, and mentioning the people who fought for independence was considered a subversive act. Under current President Biya, who has been in power since 1982, it was not until December 1991 that the first law was passed to rehabilitate great figures of Cameroons history who have disappeared and who have worked for the birth of national sentiment, independence or construction of the country, promotion of its history and culture. The law mentions Ruben Um Nyobe and Ernest Ouandie but also Ahmadou Ahidjo. Family, friends and admirers of Um Nyobe then rushed into this breach, erecting in 2007 a monument to the memory of their hero in Eseka village in Bassa country, which was the independence leaders native land. But, according to the Cameroonian media, the government was not represented at the inauguration on June 22, 2007, although it was duly invited. The rehabilitation law has not been translated into reality, says Sigankwe. Cameroonians were expecting a concrete gesture for the 50th anniversary of independence on January 1, 2010. But, as Sigankwe points out, in his speech, President Paul Biya referred to those who fought for independence, but without mentioning a single name. Today, mentioning the war of independence and its heroes is no longer a subversive act. But the government has other weapons at its disposal, as Theophile Nono, secretary general of the Memory 60 collective, testifies: Our association was created in 2010, but the administration refuses to recognize us because our objective is to promote the duty to remember the struggle for the reunification and independence of Cameroon. Essamas activist crusade Activist Essama does not need this recognition to act. For the past ten years, he has been on a crusade against the symbols of colonialism that still stand in the country, especially in Douala. The decolonization of public spaces is an imperative, destroying the monuments of the colonists is an act of public health. To each people its heroes, to each nation its pride, he told Justice Info. Cameroonian activist Andre Blaise Essama. His first target was the statue of General Philippe Leclerc, considered in France to be a hero of the Second World War. Essama wanted to replace it with a monument to the memory of Um Nyobe. After toppling the statue of the French general in 2003, he decapitated it several times, for which he spent time in prison. After restoring the statues head each time, the Douala authorities finally sealed it off and assigned guards to secure it. Essama says he has now given up attacking statues in favour of a campaign with his group, Essama Hoo Haa, for the erection of monuments to Cameroonian and African heroes. In the streets of Douala, the fighter, a colourful character, rides his bicycle decorated with the colours of Cameroon and with a banner on the front in memory of Um Nyobe. To commemorate the assassination of his hero, Essama has announced that his group will show a documentary this week featuring relatives of the nationalist who are still alive, including his children and two wives. The authorities will not be able to stop our movement, he says. BATON ROUGE, La. At a time when good news is needed, Lieutenant Governor Billy Nungesser and the Division of Historic Preservation are proud to announce Louisiana Main Street has applied for and received $749,000 in Paul Bruhn Historic Revitalization Grants through the National Park Service (NPS). This is the third year of funding for the program honoring the late Paul Bruhn, executive director of the Preservation Trust of Vermont for nearly 40 years. Through this latest round, the National Park Service awarded $7.27 million in funding to 11 recipients in 10 states to support the preservation of historic buildings in rural communities across the nation. The uniqueness of Louisianas culture and history is prevalent in the architecture found in historic buildings around our state. Preserving this uniqueness needs to be a priority for our state. These revitalization funds will prove very beneficial for our rural communities to do just that, said Lieutenant Governor Billy Nungesser. Through the Paul Bruhn Revitalization Grants Program, our smaller, more rural communities can continue their work in preserving the legacy created by those who came before us for present and future generations. Property owners in Louisiana can receive grants of $55,000 and are only required to provide a cash match. To be eligible, applicants must be property owners or tenants of commercially zoned properties located within a designated Louisiana Main Street district with a population less than 50,000 according to the U.S. Bureau of the Census. The building must also be listed on the National Register of Historic Places or determined eligible for listing in the Register by the State Historic Preservation Office (SPHO) and the NPS. The application process is in development and will be announced in the coming weeks. Congress appropriates funding for the program through the Historic Preservation Fund (HPF). The HPF uses revenue from federal oil leases on the Outer Continental Shelf, providing assistance for a broad range of preservation projects without expending tax dollars. Subscribe to our podcasts on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or anywhere you get podcasts. The University of Kansas Student Senate breaks down what services are funded by the mandatory campus fees. "Extreme Job" Lee Honey is set to return to the small screen with her new romantic-comedy series "One the Woman," alongside veteran actors Lee Sang Yoon, Jin Seo Yeon, and Lee Won Geun. She will take on her first major acting role with two characters, touching the body swap genre on the small screen. The drama follows the story of Jo Yeon Joo, a female prosecutor who lost her memories due to an accident, and became the heiress of an elite Korean conglomerate Kang Mi Na overnight. Lee Honey Lives a Double Life, Now Torn Between Two Lovers Actress Lee Honey is expected to portray a 180-degree switch of life as prosecutor Jo Yeon Joo who now lives a lavish life with the character of the heiress Kang Mi Na. Broadcasting company SBS released stills featuring Lee Honey's potential love interests, Lee Sang Yoon and Lee Won Geun, in the drama prior to its premiere. Lee Honey and Lee Sang Yoon Fight Head-to-Head Over Peanuts In the first set of stills, Lee Honey and "About Time" actor Lee Sang Yoon engaged in a heated confrontation. Interestingly, the two characters were fighting over some peanuts. Jo Yeon joo, who is now living the life of Kang Mi Na, suddenly kicks Han Seung Wook, played by Lee Sang Yoon, away, who steals her peanuts. When Seung Wook came home after his father's sudden death, he found Mi Na sitting in the waiting area of the funeral hall eating peanuts and rushed to steal it as a surprise. Kang Mi Na, who was instantly enraged by the sudden act, shows her wrath which shook Seung Wook, which raises curiosity about what kind of story the two characters will play out in the drama, after their ironic yet funny peanut confrontation. On the other hand, "One the Woman" production team expressed their thanks to the two characters. They said, "Thanks to Lee Honey and Lee Sang Yoon who showed their comical enthusiasm, the scene in the funeral hall was brighter. Because of the two actors' performances, the two created a drama that will make everyone smile just by watching it. Please look forward to the synergy of the two actors in "One the Woman." Prosecutors Lee Honey and Lee Won Geun Work Together in an Investigation Next, the stills show Lee Honey and Lee Won Geun's surprisingly lovely charms together. Lee Won Geun, who will return to the small screen with "One the Woman" after his military discharge in January, plays the role of Ahn Yu Jun, Jo Yeon Joo's classmate at the Judicial Research and Training Institute and the current Seopyeong District prosecutor. In the stills, Jo Yeon Joo and Ahn Yu Jun turn on the lights as they look at each other, which grabs potential viewers' attention. The two honorable prosecutors spend the night at Jo Yeon Joo's home for an undercover investigation. In the midst of a heated argument, Jo Yeon Joo sends dagger looks at Ahn Yu Jun, who is sitting comfortably on the sofa with a surprised look on his face. Jo Yeon Joo and Ahn Yu Jun, who are currently working on an investigation, raises questions about what kind of work and relationship the two prosecutors will show in the drama. "One the Woman" production staff shared their thoughts on the two actors' synergy as co-stars. They shared, "The chemistry created by Lee Honey and Lee Won Geun's acting together will definitely bring a refreshing and unique presence to the small screen. Please show a lot of love and support to the two actors in "One the Woman"." 'One the Woman' Release Date and Where to Watch The forthcoming SBS rom-com is helmed by Choi Young Hoon, who gained praise for his directing skills through "Good Casting" and writer Kim Yoon. Jin Seo Yeon, Na Young Hee, Kim Chang Wan, THE BOYZ Younghoon, and Weki Meki Doyeon will join the trio in the series. "One the Woman" is scheduled to premiere on SBS on September 17, and will air every Friday and Saturday at 10:00 p.m. KST. Follow KDramastars for more Kdrama, KMovie, and celebrity news updates! KDramastars owns this article. Written by Elijah Mully. Get to know how much Han Hyo Joo net worth is, and her new projects you should anticipate in the coming months! Han Hyo Joo Hollywood Journey Han Hyo Joo's last drama was "W: Two Worlds" in 2016, but the actress is slated to make her comeback soon. But did you know that she made her Hollywood in 2019? In case you haven't visited Han Hyo Joo Instagram account, there, you'll see the actress' photos depicting her magazine shoots and drama/movie filming held locally and her collaboration with international artists. The 34-year-old actress made her Hollywood debut in the action-mystery American series "Treadstone" in 2019. How Much is Han Hyo Joo Net Worth? Now that she has taken her career on the international stage, Han Hyo Joo net worth is also expected to have increased. According to Taddlr, Han Hyo Joo net worth is estimated to be 2 million USD. Since she has upcoming projects this 2021 until 2022, the "Dong Yi" star is most likely to have a bigger talent fee. This is not to mention that she's been receiving works with millions of budget in the production. In fact, her new series "Moving" has a budget of 42 million USD. The show will reportedly have 20 episodes. Viewers are now expecting the grandest collaboration of Han Hyo Joo and Jo In Sung in "Moving." Meanwhile, she is slated to star with Park Hyung Sik in "Happiness." IN CASE YOU MISSED IT: Jo In Sung, Han Hyo Joo's New Drama 'Moving' Has Production Budget of 42 Million USD The Pirates 2 Cast to Guest on tvN House on Wheels 2 Han Hyo Joo will meet the audience in the silver screen with The Pirates 2. Before the movie's premiere, The Pirates 2 sta-studden cast Kang Ha Neul, EXO's Sehun, Lee Kwang Soo, Chae Soo Bin, Kwon Sang Woo, Kim Sung Oh, Park Ji Hwan, and Kim Ki Doo will appear in the upcoming the House on Wheels 2 episode on September 13 on tvN. In the Korean show's teaser, the cast members are seen enjoying their short yet exciting time together as they reconnect with nature. They also showcase their bond as their laughter and teamwork are seen in the short clip. To commemorate such a special time together, Han Hyo Joo shared a photo of them on her SNS account. What are you most excited about Han Hyo Joo's drama comeback? Share it with us in the comments! For more K-Drama news and updates, always keep your tabs open here at KDramastars. Kdramastars owns this article. Written by Shai Collins. Broadcast company decorated the year 2021 with a slew of amazing and remarkable dramas such as "Oh! Master" with Lee Min Ki and After School Nana and "Check The Event" with Girl's Day Minah, Kwon Hwa Woon, and Ahn Woo Yeon. The year 2022 is a golden year for avid South Korean drama viewers as MBC unveiled its official drama lineup for the year 2022 on September 13, which amplified anticipation. Namgoong Min Shows Off Spy Action Skills in 'The Veil' The year 2021 will conclude with a bang as Namgoong Min graces the small screen with his new spy action-drama series "The Veil" (also known as "Black Sun"), which kickstarts the relay of the new MBC dramas that will surely engross its viewers. Alongside Namgoong Min is Kim Ji Eun and Park Ha Sun, who have shown their amazing acting skills in their previous works. "The Veil" follows the story of a National Intelligence Service (NIS) elite top spy agent who disappeared for a year after a traitor dropped him into the abyss. He then returns to the organization to find the culprit while trying to regain his erased memories. Namgoong Min takes on the role of Han Ji Hyuk, a top agent of NIS. On the other hand, Kim Ji Eun and Park Ha Sun play the roles of Yoo Je Yi and Seo Su Yeon respectively, who are also members of the organization. Seasoned actors Kim Byung Gi, Lee Kyung Young, Jang Young Nam, and Yoo Oh Seong are also part of the series, raising expectations. IN CASE YOU MISSED IT: Namgoong Min Displays His Battle Scars and Amazing Fighting Skills in New 'The Veil' Teaser It is curated by filmmaker Kim Sung Yong and screenwriter Park Seok Ho. "The Veil" is scheduled to air for the first time on September 17 at 10:00 p.m. KST. Lee Jun Ho and Lee Se Young to Work Together in New Historical Series 'The Red Sleeve Cuff' Following "The Veil" is the Friday and Saturday drama "The Red Sleeve Cuff", which is helmed by director Jung Ji In and Song Yeon Hwa, starring Lee Jun Ho and Lee Se Young. "The Red Sleeve Cuff" depicts the story of a mournful royal romance about a court lady who'd do anything to protect the life she chose and a king who puts his country more than anything, even love. It is the first MBC historical drama in two years after "Rookie Historian Goo Hae Ryung", and it was based on the popular novel of the same name written by Kang Mi Gang. Lee Jun Ho will take on the role of Prince Lee Sang, opposite Lee Se Young who will portray the role of court lady Seong Deok Im. Experienced actors Kang Hoon, Lee Deok Hwa, Park Ji Young, and Jang Hee Jin will also join the cast to strengthen the series. It is scheduled to air on November 5 every Friday and Saturday at 10:00 p.m. KST. Kim Hee Sun Returns as a Grim Reaper With New Drama 'Tomorrow' "The Lady in Dignity" actress Kim Hee Sun returns to the small screen, and opens the year 2022 with her new drama "Tomorrow", after two years of inactivity. Filmmakers Kim Tae Yoon and Seong Chi Wook and screenwriters Park Ran and Kim Yu Jin curated an exciting drama based on a webtoon of the same name which, interestingly, shows the story of special grim reapers who came to save people. Kim Hee Sun will portray the role of Goo Ryeon, a grim reaper who also works as a crisis management head at the ghost management headquarters in the underworld. The unique and rich plot of the drama, and the appearance of SF9 member and heartthrob Rowoon, heightened the potential viewers' expectations. "Tomorrow" is set to hit the small screen in the first part of the year 2021. So Ji Sub Returns as a Doctor-Turned-Lawyer in 'Dr. Lawyer' "Dr. Lawyer", a masterpiece made by director Lee Yong Seok, stars seasoned actor So Ji Sub who will return to the small screen after appearing in the 2018 drama "My Secret Terrius". He will take on the role of Han Yi Han, a skillful surgeon who, unfortunately, loses everything and becomes a lawyer specializing in medical litigation. The exhilarating medical court drama aims to touch its potential viewers' hearts, as well as give comfort and empathy. "Dr. Lawyer" is scheduled to air in the second half of 2022. Park Hae Jin Transforms Into a Magician in New Rom-Com Drama 'From Now On, Showtime!' "Cheese in the Trap" actor Park Hae Jin is set to meet the viewers with his newest romantic comedy-drama "From Now On, Showtime!", alongside Jin Ki Joo. It follows the story of a magician named Cha Cha Woong, who controls a ghost and suddenly meets a female detective. The two then work hand-in-hand to solve an investigative case through a joint psychic investigation. "From Now On, Showtime" is set to air in the first half of 2022. Follow KDramastars for more Kdrama, KMovie, and celebrity news updates! KDramastars owns this article. Written by Elijah Mully. Most Republicans want former President Donald Trump to remain their party's leader, according to a new CNN poll conducted by SSRS. But differing views about Trump's role in the party -- and his strength as a future presidential nominee -- highlight divides within the GOP. Republicans and Republican-leaning independents say, 63% to 37%, that Trump should be the leader of the Republican Party. But they are about evenly split over whether having the defeated former President back on the ticket in 2024 would be an advantage: 51% say that Republicans have a better chance of retaking the presidency if Trump is the nominee, with 49% saying the party would be better off with a different nominee. That's a very different landscape from 2019, when more than three-quarters of Republicans said their party had a better shot in 2020 with Trump as their nominee than they would with a different candidate. Trump's support isn't equally distributed throughout the party: 69% of Republicans without a college degree think Trump should head the party, compared with 49% of those who hold a college degree. A 72% majority of conservatives say Trump should head the party, compared to 49% among the smaller bloc of moderates in the party. And 71% of self-identified Republicans want Trump to lead the party, compared with 51% of Republican-leaning independents who say the same. Most Republicans also consider support for Trump -- and his false claim to have won the 2020 election -- to be an important part of their own partisan identity alongside support for conservative principles. About six in 10 say that supporting Trump, and that believing that he won in 2020, are at least a somewhat important part of what being a Republican means to them. More, though, point to more traditional partisan markers, with 69% saying it's at least somewhat important to oppose Democratic policies, 81% to support the Republicans in Congress, 85% to hold conservative values and positions and 86% to believe the federal government should have less power. Democratic partisan identity Democrats and Democratic-leaning independents are most likely to tie their identity as Democrats to support for progressive policies and more government aid, the most recent poll finds. Perhaps reflecting their status as the party currently in power, they're less likely than Republicans to place emphasis on opposing the other party: 58% say that, as Democrats, it's at least somewhat important to oppose GOP policies, 77% to support Biden, 81% to support Democrats in Congress, 84% to hold progressive positions and 93% to believe that the federal government should do more to help people. On the Democratic side, the sharpest divisions come along generational and racial lines. Democrats and Democratic-leaning independents over age 45, for instance, are 28 percentage points likelier than their younger counterparts to call supporting Biden very important, and 22 points likelier to say supporting congressional Democrats is very important. Black Democrats are 14 points likelier than White Democrats to say supporting Biden is very important. And Democrats of color are 12 points likelier than White Democrats to say it's very important that the federal government should do more to help people. Liberal Democrats are likelier than moderates to place high importance on holding progressive policies (by 32 points), opposing the GOP (14 points), favoring an expanded role for the federal government (14 points), and backing congressional Democrats (12 points), but show far less of a divide over the importance of standing behind Biden (3 points). Both Democrats and Republicans are currently satisfied with the ideological positions their own parties are staking out. The vast majority of Republicans, 86%, call the GOP mainstream; on the flip side, 92% of Democrats see their party as mainstream, and 96% say the same of Biden. Americans are closely split in their views of the Republican Party, with 51% calling it too extreme and 49% saying it's generally mainstream. They say, 54% to 45%, that the Democratic Party is generally mainstream. Just 14% of Americans view both the Democratic Party and the Republican Party as too extreme. Another 31% say only the Democrats are too extreme, with 37% saying only the Republicans are, and 17% seeing both parties as generally mainstream. Biden is seen as more mainstream than his party as a whole: 61% say he is generally mainstream, compared to 39% who call him too extreme. Between 2010 and 2013, the share of the public that called Democrats too extreme in CNN/ORC polling stood around four in 10, while the share that said the same about the GOP generally rose over that time to a high of 56%. 2022 midterms and Congress Looking ahead to next year's congressional elections, the poll finds early preferences on a generic ballot are about evenly split, with 45% of registered voters saying they'd vote for the Democratic Party's candidate, and 44% that they'd vote for the Republican Party's candidate. Overall, 28% of voters say they're extremely enthusiastic about voting for Congress next year, higher than the 18% who reported similar excitement in September 2017, one year ahead of the last midterm elections. Republican-leaning voters are slightly more enthusiastic about casting ballots in next year's contest than are Democratic-leaning voters (30% on the Republican side, 26% on the Democratic side), and within both parties, those with the strongest ideological leanings are most enthusiastic (38% of very liberal Democratic voters and 44% of very conservative Republican voters say they are extremely enthusiastic). But where Democrats are broadly happy with their current leadership in Congress, Republicans -- especially those with weak ties to the party -- are less satisfied. Most self-identified Republicans, 58%, approve of their party's congressional leadership. But among independents who lean toward the Republican Party, that number falls sharply to 29%. By contrast, 83% of Democrats approve of their party's congressional leadership, as do 69% of Democratic-leaning independents. Overall, Americans disapprove of Democratic congressional leaders by a 10-percentage point margin, 55% to 45%, and disapprove of the Republican leaders by a wider 38-point margin, 69% to 31%. That's a shift from 2019, when CNN polling found both parties' congressional leaders with identically low ratings. The new CNN poll was conducted by SSRS August 3 through September 7 online and by telephone among a random sample of 2,119 adults recruited from an address-based sample. The-CNN-Wire & 2021 Cable News Network, Inc., a WarnerMedia Company. All rights reserved. By Dan Merica, Lucy Kafanov and Kim Berryman, CNN (CNN) -- For Republicans in some of California's reddest pockets, there is both hope and skepticism in the effort to recall Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom. Voters like Barbara Best, a Bakersfield native, know Republicans like her are outnumbered nearly 2 to 1 in the state, primarily by people in urban centers around Los Angeles and San Francisco, and that the odds of Newsom being ousted now look long. It's enough, Best said, to keep her and her husband from voting -- even though she said she would ultimately cast her ballot. "Sometimes I wonder if it's worth voting because you know, my voice may not be heard," she said. Best then turned to her husband and added, "Both of us often feel, 'Okay is it really going to matter in California?' It's always going to be Democrats." The recall effort has become a rallying cry for Republicans in these rural California counties, highlighting the ever-present rural-urban divide in a state that boasts four of the top 20 largest metropolitan areas in the United States. Rural voters like Best feel drowned out by their city-dwelling neighbors -- Newsom lost Kern County handily during his gubernatorial run in 2018, despite winning the state overall in a landslide. And while many of the Republican voters CNN spoke with about the recall mentioned local issues -- taxes, water policy and homelessness, among them -- there is also a distinct nationalization to the race. The ongoing, but baseless, questions about election fraud that were encouraged by former President Donald Trump and the 2020 election have coursed through the Newsom recall effort. When CNN asked Ron, a Republican voter in Bakersfield who declined to give his last name, whether he thought Newsom could be recalled, his reaction was swift. "As long as they don't cheat," he said, "but if they cheat, nothing you can do about that." And Ron was not alone. Linda Wammack, a Republican who is voting for a replacement to Newsom in the recall, said there is so much distrust in mail in-voting -- something spurred by Trump -- that most of her conservative friends, dining on burgers together at a local diner, are opting to vote in person and not mail in their ballots. All registered voters in California were sent ballots for the September 14 special election. The reason why, she said, are the claims around the 2020 election. "There were so many stories of found ballots and just the mistrust in the mail-in system that I believe people really want to hang on and vote at the polling places," she said. As much as Republicans are using Trump as an avatar in the recall race, Newsom has used the former President -- who lost California by nearly 30 percentage points less than a year ago -- to rally his base, arguing that talk radio host Larry Elder, the leading Republican in the race, is more conservative than even the former President. "He is to the right of Donald Trump," Newsom told supporters in Orange County earlier this month. "He would make, honestly, Donald Trump blush." Republicans banking on in-person voting For Republican operatives across the state, the fact that their base is skeptical about mail-in voting is a thin sliver of good news. As of Wednesday, about 53% of more than 6.4 million ballots cast before Election Day have come from registered Democrats and 25% from registered Republicans, according to the latest data from Political Data Inc., a firm that does work for Democrats, nonpartisan and progressive groups. That's a worrying trend for Republicans, with Democrats overperforming their state registration data and showing Newsom in a more comfortable place than many Republicans would have hoped. But Republicans contend, however, that it is because of those unfounded questions about the voting system that Democrats are running up the score. GOP voters, they contend, will likely come out in droves through in-person voting. And Elder has been encouraging these questions -- without evidence -- in the closing days of the campaign. "What I believe is that no matter what they do -- and I believe that there might very well be shenanigans, as it were in the 2020 election -- no matter what they do, so many Californians are angry about what's going on" that he will win anyway, Elder said, echoing comments he has made throughout his campaign. That message is welcome, even if it is unfounded, to Republicans in places like Kern County. When Dennis Jeffers, a Bakersfield native who recently moved to Nevada, was asked about the chances to unseat Newsom, he bluntly responded, "Probably slim and none because they will cheat, just like they have been cheating for Democrats." "It was bad in the last election," Jeffers said. "It will be bad in this one." 'We are considering leaving California' The antipathy for Newsom in places like Kern County is deep -- with many Republican voters feeling he represents everything they despise about Democrats in California's coastal cities. Many view him as pompous, a political operator who knows little about their lives -- both of which were highlighted by his decision to have an unmasked dinner inside the pricey French Laundry restaurant, going against his own recommendations in the fight against Covid-19. Cathy Abernathy, head of the Kern County Republican Party, has been making calls from the headquarters' conference table, telling Republicans, "We need to get the votes in as soon as we can." She said the recall effort has lit a fire under many Republicans in the area. Even though the election is coming in an off-year and at a time when most elections aren't held, the party headquarters has been swarmed with volunteers over the last few weeks. Abernathy said this recall would "detonate a political earthquake in that state capital" if it were successful "because the governor's office and the capital are just working at odds with rational thinking." And her hope is Democrats, especially those in rural California, view their party counterparts in Sacramento and along the coast as out of touch. "These extremes produce a switch in parties," she said. "And I don't believe all the Democrats in California are the same philosophy as the Democrats in that state Capitol building." And it is rural communities like those around Bakersfield and throughout California's Central Valley that powered this recall effort. Anti-Newsom signs dot the landscape here, mixed in with the ever-present signs supporting Trump's 2020 campaign and urging him to run again in 2024. In total, more than 1.7 million Californians signed the petition to attempt to recall Newsom. While hundreds of thousands of signatures came from urban centers like Los Angeles, a tiny percentage of those counties' registered voters signed on to the effort. It is counties across the Central Valley and in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada north and east of Sacramento that had the highest percentage of registered voters who signed the recall petition -- like Amador County east of Sacramento, where 19.1% of the county's roughly 26,000 registered voters signed on to the effort. Part of that is driven by a feeling that people in cities -- most of whom are Democrats -- don't understand life in rural California and continue to make decisions that hurt their lifestyle. That has caused people like Best to consider leaving California. "We are Republicans. We have lived here in Bakersfield all our lives and I feel like California has really changed over the last generation," Best said. "It is so expensive to live here, so we are considering leaving California because of the cost of living -- the taxes are so high." Republicans like Ron echoed that sentiment. "It is definitely time for a change because if there is not a change, my wife and I are out of here," he said. "We are leaving the state." PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) Portland police say a man who stole a pickup truck and drove at high speeds through the metro area and briefly into Washington early Sunday was shot by officers after getting trapped at a dead end. Police responded to a report of a stolen truck near Southwest 3rd Avenue and Ash Street in Portland about 1:30 a.m., KOIN-TV reports. Police monitored the truck from the air as the man drove at high speeds, sometimes into incoming traffic. He drove briefly into Washington then back into northwest Portland. The man was surrounded by officers at a dead end on Northwest Ash Street at 2:38 a.m., with police reporting shots being fired. Two officers fired at the man, police said. No officers were hurt. ETNA, Calif. Fire officials on the River Complex anticipate increased fire activity on Monday as humidity drops in the area. As of Monday morning, the complex covered 185,951 acres with containment rising to 30 percent from 21 percent on Sunday. Of the 32 fires that once comprised the lightning-caused River Complex fires, only the Haypress and Summer fires remain active. Those two fires remain a threat, however, causing a series of evacuation orders and warnings in both Siskiyou and Trinity counties. "The situation that we've been dealing with has been challenging, with both the terrain and the ground that we're in, then also having to deal with what Mother Nature hands us," said Cody Stacher, division supervisor on the Haypress Fire. "Where we're standing at now is the result of a front that moved in and had twelve to fifteen mile-an-hour winds that brought the fire out of the wilderness down through here in a matter of hours. "Basically everything from behind us to the west and then pushed back up towards the east was at a continuous flank fire for several hours before the rain showed up later that night, around 11 o'clock, that basically stopped it from its flanking progression out towards the north and to the valley floor of Scott Valley." Officials said that the River Complex is not included in a Red Flag warning for parts of northern California and southwestern Oregon on Monday, but the drop in humidity could still result in an uptick in fire activity. FIREWATCH: For updates on the McCash Fire, click here. For updates on the Antelope Fire, click here. Crews have been working to build direct containment lines along the fire's southeastern perimeter, north and south of Coffee Creek. Meanwhile, crews have been using indirect lines in areas where the terrain and other factors make direct work too dangerous. On the northeastern perimeter, firefighters have been working to contain active fire near Fox Creek and Sugar Hill, building containment lines along existing roads, trails, and with dozer lines. Multiple roads remain closed due to the River Complex. Coffee Creek Road west of Highway 3 is closed, as is Cecilville Road west from Callahan, which includes Cecilville to Plumber Creek north and west of the Siskiyou-Trinity county line. Sawyers Bar Road from Highway 93 to Yellowjacket Road is also closed. The Callahan area remains under an evacuation order, with evacuation warnings in effect for surrounding areas. An interactive evacuation map can be accessed here. A community meeting will be held at 6 p.m. on Tuesday, September 14, at the Trinity Center Community Hall, 20 Scott Blvd, Trinity Center, California 96091. Growing up I had some family members who had some mental health issues and often that would result in law enforcement being called, Cochran said. As a kid, it was obviously very scary to have that happen. When law enforcement arrived I felt that sense of safety and security. I knew then this is what I wanted to do. Support Local Journalism Your membership makes our reporting possible. {{featured_button_text}} As a youth, he took part in the KPD Police Explorer Program, which he later oversaw for the department, bring him full circle, he said. Upon graduating from high school, Cochran joined the Air Force Reserves and pursued a career in law enforcement at Gateway Technical College, graduating from its Police Academy in 2006. As a reservist, he was deployed to Israel in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom. During the decade Cochran served as a patrol officer, he was also a field training officer, a firearms instructor, a member of the peer support team and received advanced crisis intervention training related to issues of mental health in the community. He also served as the School Resource Officer at Indian Trail Academy. Mental health awareness is one aspect of his campaign platform. He said he also believes local enforcement needs to be transparent and that a good leader is someone people believe will not only listen, but who will act on their behalf. According to Koertgen, Kirbey, a U.S. Navy veteran, currently works full-time servicing machinery at a foundry, but his insurance coverage is not sufficient to pay all of Alexs medical costs. Caryn is an independent contractor for an Illinois pharmaceutical company and is paid by the job, she said. Were very well aware medical costs are going to be astronomical, Koertgen said. The costs of the Flight For Life, the critical care transport service, which flew Alex to the hospital, she said, is an estimated $50,000 to $75,000, alone. Koertgen said she started the fundraising page so the family would not have to worry about financing Alexs treatment and care. The campaign had raised $70,000 of a $150,000 goal as of Monday afternoon. They need to focus 100 percent on the recovery of Alex and the well-being of Nathan, she said. That should be all they have to (focus) on. Aunt: Preventive measures needed Koertgen said she believes that Alexs injury couldve been prevented. Somebody cutting the grass on the median, next to a group of children this is totally avoidable, she said. Update Required To play the media you will need to either update your browser to a recent version or update your Flash plugin. Ketchikan, AK (99901) Today Cloudy this evening with showers after midnight. Low 47F. Winds light and variable. Chance of rain 60%.. Tonight Cloudy this evening with showers after midnight. Low 47F. Winds light and variable. Chance of rain 60%. Hospitals across the United States have been facing a crisis. As of Monday morning, more than 96,000 hospital beds are filled with Covid-19 patients nationwide -- contributing to the 77% of all hospital beds across the country being currently in use, according to data from the US Department of Health and Human Services. About 80% of intensive care unit beds are in use. Hospitals in some places are closer to capacity than in others. In Arkansas, Gov. Asa Hutchinson said in a briefing last week that there were only 23 ICU beds available statewide. "That's closer than we'd like, but it is better than what it has been. And so we continue to monitor that," Hutchinson said, adding that 27 new ICU beds will be coming online this month. In Kentucky, Gov. Andy Beshear laid out the severity of the Covid-19 spread in his state on CNN last week, saying that while hospitals are not yet at the point of needing to make tough choices about rationing care, "we are right at" or "quickly approaching that point." "We are in a really tough place, Kate," he told CNN's Kate Bolduan. "We've called in FEMA strike teams, the National Guard, we've deployed nursing students all over the state, we've taken over testing from hospitals just to free up additional people." And In Alabama, a mourning family has issued a plea to others to get vaccinated after Ray DeMonia, a Cullman, Alabama resident, died about 200 miles from his home, in a Mississippi hospital, because there were no cardiac ICU beds nearby. His daughter Raven DeMonia told his story to The Washington Post on Sunday. 'Rationing health care is not new' When hospitals run out of beds or when staffing is low, tough decisions must be made on which patients get to be first in line for care. Overall, hospitals and health systems have plans on the table to address an overflow of patients and making such difficult decisions. "All hospitals and health systems have plans in place to deal with a surge in patients. These plans can include actions like adding beds, including in non-traditional areas of care in a hospital like a cafeteria or parking lot, shifting patients between hospitals, and working with their local and state health departments to find other sites of care," Akin Demehin, director of policy at the American Hospital Association (AHA), wrote in an email to CNN on Friday. "Sometimes this includes sending patients to hospitals in nearby states that may have the capacity to treat them," Demehin wrote. "One other option that some hospitals have taken is to scale back, or put a pause, on so-called elective procedures that are non-emergent and can be safely delayed for a period of time." Yet for the most part, hospital capacity is not only about how many beds are filled -- a hospital can usually add beds -- but many facilities are much more concerned about enough staffing to care for patients, according to Demehin. "Hospitals and health systems entered the COVID-19 pandemic already facing a shortage of skilled caregivers, and the last 18 months have exacerbated that," Demehin wrote, adding that AHA has called on the Biden administration to work as a partner in developing strategies to address the shortage of health care staff. Overall, decision-making around rationing care can look different depending on the type of medical facility -- a hospital or private doctor's office. "There are different decisions whether it's a doctor's office or an emergency room," Art Caplan, professor of bioethics at NYU Langone Health in New York, told CNN. "You have no right to be taken care of by a primary care doctor. There's still no right to health care that way -- the doctor has the ability to decline," Caplan said, adding for instance, that some doctors might decline to take Medicaid as a patient's insurance or might decline to treat patients who haven't received certain vaccines because that patient could pose a risk to the doctor or the health of other patients. Yet "in the ER, there's a federal law that says you have to accept anybody, even if they have no money, and stabilize them. It's called EMTALA, and it's been around for a while," Caplan said. "Rationing health care is not new in the American health care system," he added. "It's just Covid that's new, but not rationing." Who receives an ICU bed? The Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act or EMTALA requires hospitals with emergency departments to provide a medical screening exam to any person who comes to the emergency department and requests care. The law also prohibits hospitals with emergency departments from refusing to examine or treat people with emergency medical conditions. Now, during the pandemic, many of the Covid-19 patients filling hospital beds are unvaccinated. EMTALA obligations remain in place. "Hospitals generally do not take into account why a gravely ill patient is there," Caplan said. "The way in which it might become relevant is if you thought it was a predictor of a bad outcome." For instance, if a hospital is short on beds or mechanical ventilators, they can prioritize care for patients who are seen as more likely to respond to the care and survive -- meaning a 26-year-old Covid-19 patient with no underlying health conditions could be prioritized for care over a 90-year-old patient with lung failure and other medical problems, Caplan said. "Or, if being unvaccinated and having lung failure puts you at a worse chance of survival versus someone who just comes in with asthma and lung problems but are vaccinated," Caplan said. "Many places would give priority to the vaccinated asthma patient as opposed to the unvaccinated lung failure patient. What they're watching is outcome and likelihood of success." In hospitals that are so overwhelmed that they have to ration care, those decisions should not be based on whether or not a person chose to get vaccinated against Covid-19, Dr. Anthony Fauci said Thursday. "If you're asking, should you preference it for a vaccinated person versus an unvaccinated person, that is something that is always widely discussed, but in medicine I know that you don't prejudice against someone because of their behavior," Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, told CNN's Anderson Cooper. "You just don't do that in medicine," Fauci said. Fauci added that the decision about where to direct "scarce resources" must be based on a "medically sound" reason, "not in a punitive way for someone's behavior." 'We're in a situation of limited resources' Throughout the pandemic, Covid-19 has strained the US health care system -- and hospitals continue to face difficult decisions on which patient takes priority when staffing is low and beds are full. "We're already making those choices and they're very difficult choices. I work in the intensive care unit. Many people have serious illnesses but not illnesses where they're going to die immediately, but serious illnesses where they need an operation and some of these operations are so serious that after surgery, they need to be in the intensive care unit for a day or two -- replacement of a heart valve, surgery for serious cancers like pancreatic cancer," Dr. Steven Brown, a critical care pulmonologist at Mercy Virtual Care Center in St. Louis, told CNN's Ana Cabrera on Thursday. "If the intensive care unit beds are all filled up with patients who are on ventilators because of their pneumonia, surgeries have to be postponed," Brown said. "We have situations where people may come into the hospital with a heart attack, and they have to stay in the emergency room for extended periods of time while waiting for a bed to open up." Unfortunately, in some cases, for a bed to become available means a patient has died. "It's a sad situation that we really haven't seen in American history in a very, very long time." Brown said. "We're in a situation of limited resources now, and when you have limited resources, we are in triage situations -- and some people may die as a consequence of this." The-CNN-Wire & 2021 Cable News Network, Inc., a WarnerMedia Company. All rights reserved. Arkansas' Republican governor said Sunday that he thinks President Joe Biden's newly announced Covid-19 vaccine mandate "hardens the resistance" some people have to getting one. "We have to overcome resistance," Gov. Asa Hutchinson told NBC's "Meet The Press." "This is a very serious, deadly virus and we're all together in trying to get an increased level of vaccination out in the population. The problem is that I'm trying to overcome resistance, but the President's actions in a mandate hardens the resistance." Biden announced last week that his administration was imposing stringent new vaccine rules on federal workers, large employers and health care staff as part of a new push to contain the coronavirus pandemic, a move that has angered some GOP critics who, like Hutchinson, view it as a government overreach. The governor on Sunday called Biden's decision divisive and "an unprecedented assumption of federal mandate authority," adding that "it increases the division in terms of vaccination when we should all be together trying to increase the vaccination uptake." When asked about whether businesses might want the political cover for a mandate, Hutchinson said that decision should be left to each individual business. "I'm not aware of any governor from any state that said we want to mandate businesses to require vaccination," he said. "I support businesses being able to require vaccination but it's their own independent choice for their workplace." Hutchinson said with or without the mandate, he expects vaccination rates to continue increasing both in Arkansas and throughout the US. Asked on Sunday about the criticism from governors like Hutchinson, US Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy told CNN's Dana Bash on "State of the Union" that "from time to time there will be disagreements, you know, on policies. But that doesn't mean that we don't stop dialoguing and working with one another." Murthy went on to defend the administration's new mandates, saying, "the reason that we are pursuing some of these requirements is again, we know a lot of businesses have welcomed it." "We know that many will help keep workplaces safe," he said. Biden's new requirements could apply to as many as 100 million Americans, which is nearly two-thirds of the American workforce. The President has directed the Labor Department to require all businesses with 100 or more employees ensure their workers are either vaccinated or tested once a week. Companies could face thousands of dollars in fines per employee if they don't comply. The-CNN-Wire & 2021 Cable News Network, Inc., a WarnerMedia Company. All rights reserved. A Scottish regulator said it was investigating one of Prince Charles' charities after a UK newspaper reported that a Russian banker had tried to donate a six-figure sum to the future king's foundation. The Sunday Times reported that Prince Charles wrote a thank-you letter to Dmitry Leus and offered to meet him in person after receiving a large donation for The Prince's Foundation in May 2020. In the letter, Charles reportedly wrote that he was "incredibly grateful" for Leus' "immense generosity" and that the donation had given him "great comfort," the Sunday Times reported. The newspaper said Leus had been found guilty in Russia of money-laundering but his conviction was later overturned. Leus, who is reportedly seeking British citizenship, made his donations after a fixer promised a private meeting with Prince Charles at a Scottish castle, the Sunday Times reported. A spokesperson for Leus confirmed his conviction was struck out in 2007 and said Leus "has a completely clean criminal record." The Sunday Times said there was no evidence that Prince Charles was aware of any deception around the donation. When the foundation's ethics committee raised concerns over Leus' background, his donations were reportedly diverted to Children & the Arts, another charity of which Charles is a patron, the Sunday Times reported. According to Sunday Times, Children & the Arts denied knowing anything about the money. CNN was not able to independently verify the Sunday Times' reporting. A spokesperson for Leus told CNN Leus has made "two separate donations together totalling 500,000" to the Prince's charity via a fixer, the Burke's Peerage. "Mr Leus has now learned that not all of these funds were then transferred on to the Prince's Foundation. No funds at all were returned to him from Burke's Peerage," the spokesperson told CNN, adding: "Mr Leus did not know of, or consent to, his donation being transferred to the Children's Arts Foundation [and other organizations]. Had he been consulted, he would have chosen to use the money to help the many vulnerable children and young people that the Leus Family Foundation supports across the UK." The donations were "intended to support their educational and heritage goals," the spokesperson said, adding that Leus' only additional goal for the contribution was "private hope that eventually cooperation might take place to create a National Fencing Centre." CNN has reached to Burke's Peerage for comment. Douglas Connell, chair of The Prince's Foundation said it was taking the allegations "very seriously." "Following the publication of an initial allegation relating to 'middlemen' and donors the Trustees instigated a full and rigorous investigation with the assistance of Forensic Accountants from one of the 'big four' accountancy firms," he said in a statement provided to CNN. "This investigation is ongoing and it would be inappropriate to make any further comment at this stage," he said, adding that full review is expected to take several weeks. According to a source with knowledge of donations to the charity, the foundation received a donation of 100,000 on behalf of Leus in May 2020. The source said the amount was returned to the sender following a meeting of the Foundation's Ethics Committee in September 2020. In a statement on Sunday, the Scottish Charity Regulator (OSCR) said it had written to Prince's Foundation trustees informing them that they would investigate the claims around Leus' donations. The watchdog said it had been "working with the Prince's Foundation ...to better understand the use of the organization's funds, and to gain a full understanding of the work which is being undertaken by the charity's trustees to investigate the range of issues which have been raised." The allegations come a week after a former top aide to Charles voluntarily stepped down as head of The Prince's Foundation amid claims of misconduct reported in last week's Sunday Times. Michael Fawcett, the British heir's longest-serving and closest aide, was accused of using his position and influence to help a Saudi businessman obtain an honorary title in exchange for donations, the Sunday Times reported last Sunday. Prince Charles "has no knowledge of the alleged offer of honors or British citizenship on the basis of donation to his charities and fully supports the investigation now underway by The Prince's Foundation," a Clarence House spokesperson told CNN on Monday. The developments come at the end of a bruising week for the royal family. On Friday, lawyers for Virginia Roberts Giuffre, a woman who says she was sexually abused by Prince Andrew as a minor, said they served him with legal papers for a civil lawsuit. Andrew has previously denied similar allegations made by Giuffre. The-CNN-Wire & 2021 Cable News Network, Inc., a WarnerMedia Company. All rights reserved. LEBANON, Ore. A man is facing several charges after police say an officer spotted him speeding through a stop sign, colliding with another driver. Christopher Hanson, 30, is accused of running from the scene of the crash with a male passenger, and the female driver that was hit was taken to Good Samaritan Regional Medical Center with likely serious injuries. It happened just before 10 a.m. Sunday, at the intersection of West Airport Road and South 12th Street. Hanson had reportedly been headed south on 12th Street when he hit the womans car, which was headed west on Airport Road. The two vehicles stopped in the yard of a home in the area, and a trailer and shed on the property were extensively damaged. Authorities from multiple agencies joined the search for Hanson, who was later located and taken into custody at the Willamette Speedway. The male passenger was not found. Police say they have had numerous contacts with Hanson, also known as Christopher Hanson-Eilers, including previous arrests for traffic crimes. He now faces charges of third-degree assault, felony and misdemeanor failure to perform the duties of a driver, reckless driving, criminal mischief and misdemeanor driving while suspended. PORTLAND, Ore By Oct. 18, state employees, K-12 school staff and health care workers in Oregon and Washington must be fully vaccinated against COVID-19 or they risk losing their jobs. The mandates, which do not allow employees to be tested weekly instead of getting vaccinated, are among the strictest in the country. Yesterday, President Joe Biden announced additional vaccine mandates for federal government employees and private employers with more than 100 workers. We continue to receive your vaccine mandate questions and our VERIFY team will continuing answering as many as possible. The following questions are specific to the state requirements for Oregon and Washington employees, K-12 school staff and health care workers passed in August. QUESTION #1 Can someone use their proof of previous coronavirus infection, and therefore proof of natural immunity, in lieu of getting vaccinated? THE SOURCES THE ANSWER No, proof of previous COVID infection cannot be used instead of proof of vaccination. WHAT WE FOUND State employees, K-12 school staff and health care workers who have previously had coronavirus will still be required to provide proof of vaccination by October 18. Guidelines from both Oregon and Washington state that natural immunity will not be accepted in lieu of proof of vaccination. The Oregon Health Authority explained the decision in the requirement's FAQ document. "The risk of severe illness and death from COVID-19 outweighs the benefit of natural immunity. Given the variability in immune response, a lot of people who get infected naturally can get infected again, in sometimes as short as a few months," the OHA document reads. The Washington State Department of Health also addressed the question on its website. "The proclamation does not provide an exemption for individuals who have previously been infected with COVID-19. Experts do not yet know how long you are protected from getting sick again after recovering from COVID-19 and recommend getting vaccinated regardless of whether you already had COVID-19." QUESTION #2 Can those who are fired for not getting vaccinated still collect unemployment benefits? THE SOURCES THE ANSWER In general, those who are fired because they choose not to get vaccinated probably aren't eligible for unemployment benefits in Oregon or Washington. Those who qualify for a medical or religious exemption would be eligible for unemployment benefits if they remain unvaccinated. WHAT WE FOUND In a media briefing at the end of August, acting director of the Oregon Employment Department David Gerstenfeld said those who are fired for not being vaccinated generally won't be eligible for unemployment benefits. "In broad strokes, requiring somebody to be vaccinated during the midst of a worldwide pandemic is a reasonable policy. So, if somebody doesnt follow that policy and they dont have a good reason, it very well could result in their not being eligible for benefits," said Gerstenfeld. Gerstenfeld clarified that those who are granted a medical or religious exemption would still qualify for unemployment benefits if they remain unvaccinated. Information posted online by the Washington State Employment Security Department said an individual's unemployment claim would likely be denied if they don't comply with the vaccine requirement and don't have a qualifying exemption. Although, the department states some individuals may qualify in unique circumstances and it will "evaluate each case on its own merit." QUESTION #3 How can employers determine if a religious belief is "sincerely held"? THE SOURCES Taylor Duty, attorney specializing in employment law THE ANSWER Those who are unable to get the COVID-19 vaccine for medical reasons or a sincerely held religious belief can request an exemption from their employer. However, employers are not required to accept all exemption requests at face value and can ask for additional information, according to experts we spoke to. Taylor Duty, an attorney at JJH Law who specializes in employment law, said employers have a right to ask follow-up questions if they are being asked to provide a reasonable accommodation, like allowing someone to remain unvaccinated. In the case of religious exemptions, Duty said it's often determined on a case by case basis. But again, employers can ask for additional proof verifying the religious belief. They may ask for statements from either the individual's clergy, or a friend or family...that can sort of corroborate this religious exemption belief, said Duty. All COVID vaccine exemption requests will be reviewed by employers. SWEET HOME, Ore. -- A Sweet Home High School teacher is reaching kids far beyond his classroom thanks to the internet and some help from the community. In this week's Skilled to Work, KEZI is partnering with employers in our area to address the lack of workers for skilled jobs in the construction and manufacturing fields. Blake Manley, a forestry and natural resources teacher at Sweet Home High School, has created a web series called Manley Jobs. With the help of grant money, the former logger has helped produce nine episodes that show kids different skilled jobs from logging to machining to concrete mixing. Manley says he started the series to expose kids to careers that they wouldnt typically see in the classroom, and the response has been huge. There were 14 or 15 schools - in some capacity - using Manley Jobs as a way to engage kids, Manley said. I know we're approaching 500,000 views on YouTube, which is incredible. Manley said he never intended the series to go beyond his classroom, but said hes happy the videos are reaching other schools and getting students interested in different career paths. There's hundreds of students in Sweet Home High School that won't go to college. So, showing them different careers that they can get into right out of college I think is huge, Manley said. Manley got the idea when kids were doing distance learning and unable to take field trips in-person. He says he knows at least five seniors in Sweet Home who are now looking at skilled career paths because of the Manley Jobs series. The series is made possible through a partnership between the Oregon Logging Conference Foundation and others. You can watch all the episodes on Manleys YouTube channel. EUGENE, Ore. A wanted man was taken into custody after punching someone in the Valley River Center parking lot on Friday, police say. Just after 9 p.m., suspect Kevin Jackson, 31, of Anchorage, Alaska, reportedly started throwing things at a vehicle that had just parked near H&M. Inside was a 27-year-old Eugene man and his girlfriend, who was in the passenger seat. The driver told police he asked Jackson to stop and asked if he was OK. Police said the suspect then approached the vehicle, and the driver told Jackson he had a gun but did not point it at him. Jackson allegedly reached into the window, grabbed the driver by his shirt and punched him in the face several times before going into a nearby van. Police arrived at the scene, and after talking to officers, the driver went to the hospital to be evaluated for his injuries. Officers contacted someone in the van and were told Jackson had taken methamphetamine and heroin prior to the incident. They also learned Jackson had a warrant out of Deschutes County, police said. Officers reportedly found Jackson hiding under blankets in the van and told him he was under arrest, but he refused to come out and started reaching around the vehicle, causing a safety concern for the officers. It took breaking a window, shooting pepper balls and using a Taser for officers to get Jackson out of the van and into custody, police said. He was taken to a local hospital and after being cleared, he reportedly refused to walk out of the building. Officers carried Jackson, who thrashed around and refused to enter the back of the patrol vehicle, police said. He even reportedly bit an officer in the struggle. Jackson was lodged at the Lane County Jail on charges of assault, unlawful entry of a motor vehicle and interfering with a police officer. OKLAHOMA CITY Rachel Howell was 9 years old when her father was shot and killed in front of her. Contacted by the Tulsa World, Howell, now 31, agreed to talk about her father, the crime and the convicted killer who is waging a public relations campaign to avoid the death penalty. The state has requested an execution date for Julius Jones. On Monday, he is expected to go before the Oklahoma Pardon and Parole Board seeking to have his sentence commuted from death. If his request is approved there, Gov. Kevin Stitt would have the final say. Kim Kardashian was among the first of a line of celebrities, athletes, social media influencers and others who have lined up to support Jones, who says he is innocent. Silent slaying Howell, her sister, their aunt and their father had been out shopping for school supplies on July 28, 1999. They swung into Braums for ice cream before pulling into the driveway at her grandparents house in Edmond. She said a Black man walked up to the vehicle. I was sitting in the back seat behind the drivers seat, and my dad was in the drivers seat, while my little sister was next to me and my aunt was in the passenger seat up front, she said. I remember waving to him at first when he was walking up, not really sure what was about to happen. She said her father had cracked his door open when the man shot him in the head, without saying a single word. Her sister and aunt rushed out of the car with her, she said. She remembers a second gunshot. He was clearly shooting at us but missed, she said. The killer left in the familys car, a brown Suburban. I remember going to the hospital and seeing my dad and saying goodbye, she said. It was hard seeing him like that. After the murder, she dealt with post-traumatic stress disorder and extreme panic attacks. She grew up with close family who lived nearby and graduated from Oklahoma State University with a bachelors degree in hospitality business management. Now she works in finance out of state. Although it has been more than two decades since her fathers murder, Howells memories of him are vivid. She remembers her father taking her and her sister to the park to play Lion King because the rocks looked like Pride Rock, she said. He would pretend to be the monkey, Rafiki, and chase us around the park, she said. He would take her to swim in her uncles pool next door. He would throw me high in the air, she said. It always felt like I was flying. My mom always called him the human pool toy. She remembers vacations to South Padre Island and the beach. I also had a huge obsession with Beanie Babies, she said. He would drive around rural Oklahoma so he could find the one I wanted at the time. A website for the family, justiceforpaulhowell.com, includes information about the prosecution and conviction of Julius Jones and states: The overwhelming evidence in this case supports the courts decision/conviction that Julius Jones murdered Paul Howell on July 28, 1999. Jones defense teams only hope now is to create such an uproar through a misinformation campaign as to put pressure on those that grant commutation or clemency. So for that, they turn to celebrities. It is a movement Howell said she is all-too-aware of the claims Jones and his supporters are making. Some claim evidence was planted when the red bandana worn by the killer was found wrapped around the murder weapon in Jones home. Others claim Jones was at home with his family at the time of the slaying. Prosecutors say the claims are false. The nonprofit Represent Justice has contracted with Amber Integrated, an Oklahoma City public affairs firm, to support Jones and his advocates. At its core, Represent Justice is about using the power of the media to engage audiences in reimagining the justice system and creating real demand for change, according to the groups website, which features Jones. Alex Weintz, a partner with Amber Integrated, declined to say how much the firm has been paid by Represent Justice or any of his other clients. Weintz is a past spokesman for former Gov. Mary Fallin. I wouldnt describe the effort to free Julius Jones as a public relations campaign, Weintz said. It is a movement led by people who have seen the evidence of Julius innocence and do not want the state to kill an innocent man. They are demanding justice for the Jones family, but they are also demanding justice for Paul Howell, because the evidence suggests that his real killer is walking free. Jones supporters have held rallies, marches, runs and press conferences and have written letters about their belief in his innocence. They have signed online petitions and taken his case to social media and television. Jones was sympathetically featured on ABC in a piece called The Last Defense and CBS The Late Late Show. Howell said she is not questioning the hearts or motives of Jones supporters. I am very confident that the jury and appellate courts got the right man, she said. The facts and evidence are there. She said his supporters should do their research before putting information out. She wants them to think about the impact it has on the victims. Not one of these celebrities or athletes have tried to reach out to me or my family, Howell said. Its easy to just click a button and sign a petition and think you are doing the right thing. I am not trying to sway anyones opinion, but I would like for these high profile people to dig deep into the case, or any case, for that matter, and read all the facts and see both sides before stating their opinion. Little do they realize, they are advocating for someone who shot a father in front of his sister and children, all to steal a car. Featured video: Business leaders launch campaign to end executions Jacklynn Potts was last seen Friday night in the Inola area, according to a news release. Weather Alert ...FROST ADVISORY IN EFFECT FROM 11 PM THIS EVENING TO 8 AM PDT THURSDAY... * WHAT...Temperatures as low as 33 will result in frost formation. * WHERE...Moscow, Pullman, Colfax, Ritzville, Grand Coulee, Odessa, Coulee City, Spokane, Cheney, Davenport, Rockford, Leavenworth, Mazama, Winthrop, Twisp, Methow, and Conconully. * WHEN...From 11 PM this evening to 8 AM PDT Thursday. * IMPACTS...Frost could kill sensitive outdoor vegetation if left uncovered. PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS... Take steps now to protect tender plants from the cold. && Please allow ads as they help fund our trusted local news content. Kindly add us to your ad blocker whitelist. If you want further access to Ireland's best local journalism, consider subscribing to our ePaper and/or free daily Newsletter . Support our mission and join our community now. The rights of people with disabilities are not adequately respected and upheld in Ireland, according to a new RED C Survey commissioned by Safeguarding Ireland. The survey highlights the need for stronger supports for independent decision-making and a greater focus on achieving equality, through greater awareness and strengthened adult safeguarding laws. The survey of a representative sample of 1,000 adults nationwide found that: More than a third did not believe that people with disabilities have equal rights in Ireland while 25% believe that people with an intellectual disability are adequately supported to make their own decisions. 76% said stronger safeguarding laws are needed to ensure the rights of people with disabilities with just 33% believing that people with a physical disability are adequately supported to do so. Safeguarding Ireland Chairperson, Patricia Richard-Clarke, said the survey highlighted, once again, the need for progress on adult safeguarding legislation in order to protect every citizen at risk of abuse, exploitation or neglect. Safeguarding means living safely, free from abuse or neglect. It means our choices, particularly if we have reduced capacity, are clearly heard and respected. The key principle to better safeguard all people is to respect their human rights and support decision making. This is especially important for people who live with a disability. People living with a physical, sensory or intellectual disability can have very different needs. Individuals, organisations and services must respect, listen to and reach out to each person regardless of any challenges faced. Many of these challenges can be significantly overcome with simple supports. The Confidential Recipient to the HSE for People with Disabilities and Older People, Leigh Gath, said people with disabilities do not have equal rights in Ireland, and while things are improving lots remain to be done. Each person with a disability is different and has different needs. Each person should be supported to make their own choices to take risks, and also to make lifes mistakes as we all do. Many people with a disability need supports help them to make decisions and to be independent and where challenges are identified these should be risen to. Of course there is also a need too to keep people safe, and protect them. However, the balance needs to shift more towards independence, decision making, and choice. This means both a change in attitudes and increase in supports to accommodate to the level of the individual. There are no Personal Assistance Services all money is being directed toward home help services, which doesnt provide the support we need to live independently Leigh Gath #independentliving #Equality pic.twitter.com/nwwRTDSQad ILMIreland (@ILMIreland) October 4, 2019 Ms. Richard-Clarke said of particular importance will be the implementation of the Assisted Decision making Act which is due to come into effect in June 2022. The Act will put into law much improved clarity and protocols for circumstances where capacity is an issue and people are in receipt of healthcare, or financial and public services. We are signed up to the United Nations Convention on the Rights of People with Disabilities in Ireland. This means that everybody has a right to make their own choices, and every effort must be made to support people whose capacity to make decisions is a challenge, she said. The research is informing a new public awareness campaign on safeguarding and disability being led by Safeguarding Ireland. The campaign is being supported by the Disability Federation of Ireland, HSE, Inclusion Ireland, National Disability Services Association and National Federation of Voluntary Service Providers. More information on the Safeguarding Ireland website at www.safeguardingireland.org. Four years of study in Waterford Institute of Technology (WIT), featuring 80 weeks of clinical placements in HSE/South East Community Healthcare mental health services, was marked in five small ceremonies across the region this week for 50 graduates of WITs B.Sc. (Honours) in Psychiatric Nursing. Concluding their fourth year of the course and a 36 week continuous internship with HSE/South East Community Healthcare (SECH), 12 of the students were presented with their qualifications at the old church on the grounds of St. Otterans Hospital, Waterford. Similar occasions were hosted for 11 students at the Wexford Mental Health Services offices in Enniscorthy, 10 at St. Canices Hospital in Kilkenny, nine at St. Lukes Hospital in Clonmel and eight at St. Dympnas Hospital in Carlow. Pictured (above) at the HSEs ceremony in St. Canices Hospital in Kilkenny honouring graduates of WITs B.Sc. (Honours) in Psychiatric Nursing were Area Director of Nursing Anne Buggy, Clinical Placement Co-ordinator Claire Fitzgerald and the course participants presented with certification at the ceremony: Laura Connors, Carol Anne Dela Cruz, Briona Flanagan, Charlotte Kehoe, Cliona Murphy, Aoife Nolan, Olivia Nolan, Natasha Phelan, Nadine Power and Lauren Valentine. Having begun in September 2017 and on completion of their training in the HSE in the coming weeks, the 50 participants will register with the Nursing and Midwifery Board of Ireland as Psychiatric Nurses. David Heffernan (Head of Service/Mental Health, HSE/SECH), in offering his congratulations to all concerned, said: This group of graduates have continued their training during the unprecedented times of pandemic and that they have contributed enormously to delivering the highest possible standards of care in mental health services throughout counties Carlow, Kilkenny, South Tipperary, Waterford and Wexford in that time. They have both our sincere appreciation and admiration for their commitment. Psychiatric/Mental Health nursing is a specialist field within the health care profession. It involves an interpersonal, caring process which acknowledges the uniqueness of each person. The Psychiatric Nurse is concerned with the promotion of mental health, the prevention of mental illness and the provision of care to those with mental health problems. The ceremonies in Clonmel, Kilkenny and Carlow were attended by SECHs Carlow-Kilkenny/South Tipperary mental health services area Director of Nursing Anne Buggy and Nurse Practice Development Co-ordinator Irene Ryan in addition to the respective Clinical Placement Co-ordinators Emer O Donnell (South Tipperary), Claire Fitzgerald (Kilkenny) and Helen Heffernan (Carlow). The ceremony in Enniscorthy was attended by SECHs Waterford/Wexford mental health services area Director of Nursing Kasia Nolan and Nurse Practice Development Co-ordinator Ursula O Neill (both of whom also attended in Waterford) and Wexfords Clinical Placement Co-ordinator Marilyn Vereker. The ceremony in Waterford was also attended by Asst. Director of Nursing Joan Croke Power and Tony Reid (Lecturer, Dept. of Nursing and Health Care, WIT). Speaking at the ceremony in the old church at St. Otterans Hospital, John Fitzgerald (Clinical Placement Co-ordinator, Waterford Mental Health Services) said: HSE/South East Community Healthcare works closely with WIT in facilitating clinical placements across a diverse range of mental health services. Taking Waterford city and county as an example, it includes working in the Dept. of Psychiatry acute inpatient unit, the Aidans Unit for Psychiatry of Later Life at the Waterford Residential Care Centre and the Grangemore Rehabilitation Centre at St. Otterans. There are also placements in other high, medium and low support residences, day services at Brooke House, specialist nursing support at University Hospital Waterford (e.g. the Emergency Dept. liaison service) and participation in Community Mental Health Teams and other community supports and services based in and from Primary Care Centres in Dungarvan, Tramore and Waterford. I concur with observations made by colleagues across all five ceremonies as to this diverse training afforded in the South East to graduates in Psychiatric Nursing being a solid foundation to develop professionally and make a lasting contribution to the delivery of quality, safe and effective mental health care locally, nationally and internationally. ALBERT LEA, Minn. A southern Minnesota man is sentenced for threatening a woman with an ax. Ben Vidal Moreno, 31 of Albert Lea, pleaded guilty to threats of violence for a December 2020 incident at an Albert Lea motel. Law enforcement says Moreno held a miniature ax to the back of his then-girlfriends head and threatened to kill her. Investigators also accused Moreno of cutting her wrists with a knife, leaving a wound that needed stitches. Moreno has now been sentenced to three years of supervised probation. ROCHESTER, Minn. A Kasson man is pleading guilty in a Rochester bar attack. Jonathan Wayne Collett, 35, pleaded guilty to third-degree assault and will be sentenced on October 18. Police say Collett hit a man in the head with a beer mug at Roosters Too! on February 9. Court documents state the victim suffered minor injuries. STEWARTVILLE, Minn. A man has been arrested after allegedly threatening his mother with a knife. Robert Koloff, 52, is facing charges of second-degree assault with a dangerous weapon, threats of violence, domestic assault, and disorderly conduct. The Olmsted County Sheriffs Office says it was called to the 100 block of 5th Street NE in Stewartville around 3 pm Saturday. Deputies were told a 52-year-old man was threatening his 72-year-old mother with a knife. Deputies say they arrived to find Koloff being held down on the ground by an 18-year-old male. Koloff reportedly became upset with his mother over a vehicle, grabbed a kitchen knife, and threatened her with it. Deputies say the mother fled the home while Koloff broke windows and mirrors and slashed tires. The Sheriffs Office says Koloff was taken to St. Marys Hospital in Rochester for evaluation and then to the Adult Detention Center. CHARLES CITY, Iowa A man accused of attacking someone in their vehicle is pleading guilty. Aaron Michael Romig, 31 of Mason City, was charged in June with first-degree burglary. Law enforcement says Romig hit someone in the face inside a vehicle in Charles City on May 26. Romig has now entered a guilty plea to the reduced charge of second-degree burglary. Sentencing is set for October 25 in Floyd County District Court. ROCHESTER, Minn. - Money is headed back into some taxpayer's pockets after tax law changes delayed payment from Unemployment Insurance and the Payback Protection Program. Starting on Monday the Minnesota Department of Revenue will begin sending out tax refunds after they were originally scheduled to be given out in July. Political analyst Rayce Hardy says the revenue department has been working to update 2020 tax forms to reflect law changes made in July and to avoid future issues it took longer to finally process the payments. Hardy explained, Accuracy is incredibly important when it comes to taxes because the vast majority of us are not tax experts and tax law is a massive document year after year and there are so many moving parts in there. So, for the vast majority of people, the accuracy is going to be better for them. According to the department the agency is manually processing around 1,000 individual income tax returns weekly to begin with hopes of increasing to 50,000 returns per week by late October. It took more than the next few weeks but at least they're out here now and I'm just glad for the people that waited and waited that it's finally be addressed, that return, said Hardy. Hardy also says to beware of anyone asking for bank information over the phone or through email during this time. He said, This is an opportunity for criminals to go after people, vulnerable people, through scams so people need to be extremely diligent in noting that the IRS is not going to ask for their bank account. They're not going to call them up and say, Give us your bank account, give us your credit card number. They're not going to send them an email and ask for that information so if they receive those things they should report them. The Department of Revenue says it issues nearly 3 million income and property tax refunds every year and with taxpayer dollars at stake the agency has to find a balance between speed and accuracy. LAKE MILLS, Iowa A Winnebago County man is accused of being a silver thief. Daniel Joseph Martinson, 32 of Lake Mills, has been charged with one count of second-degree theft. Law enforcement says Martinson had sold a bar of silver to another Lake Mills resident but the buyer then asked for the bars serial number. Investigators say the buyer handed the bar back to Martinson on the morning of August 28, and Martinson then tried to escape with it. Court documents state the buyer blocked Martinson in with his vehicle so he couldnt leave and authorities were called. When law enforcement arrived, they say Martinson still had the bar of silver in his possession. Court documents state the bar is worth $2,850. Pam Hupp charged in Betsy Faria's murder; prosecutor says criminal charges against investigators, attorneys could follow Not only were murder charges filed against Pamela Hupp in connection to Betsy Faria's 2011 death Monday, Lincoln County Prosecutor Michael Wood announced his office uncovered prosecutorial and police misconduct in the initial investigation that could result in criminal charges. LINCOLN COUNTY, Mo. (KMOV.com) One of the charges against Pamela Hupp has been dropped. Earlier this year, Hupp was charged with first-degree murder and armed criminal action in connection to Betsy Farias death. On Sept. 8, court records showed the armed criminal action charge was dismissed. Prosecutors told News 4 that the charge was dismissed due to a statue of limitations defense which is what's an affirmative defense. Lincoln County Prosecuting Attorney's Office explained that if the other side does not assert the charge, the charge is still good, however, in this case prosecutors would like to move ahead to charge Hupp to the fullest extent of the law. Faria was stabbed 55 times inside her Troy, Missouri home in December 2011. According to a probable cause statement, Farias husband Russell dialed 911 after coming home to find her dead in the den. He initially told dispatchers that she had previously contemplated suicide after discovering she had breast cancer. Pam Hupp pleads not guilty to Betsy Faria murder charge Pam Hupp pleaded not guilty in court Tuesday to murdering Betsy Faria. First responders noticed puncture wounds and lacerations to Farias head, face, neck, torso and arms. Hupp became a key figure in the case as she was the last person to see Faria alive. Four days before the deadly stabbing, Hupp became the sole beneficiary of Farias $150,000 life insurance policy. Court documents state Hupp promised to distribute the money to Farias two daughters and mother since she was having martial problems. She later backtracked to investigators and claimed the money belonged only to her. Despite this evidence, Hupp was never considered as a suspect by the initial investigators. News 4 has reached out to the Lincoln County Prosecutors Office for further information regarding the dropped charge and will update this story when available. ST. LOUIS (KMOV.com) -- A GoFundMe account provides new details of a deadly encounter between a Laclede Cab driver and a passenger, early Wednesday morning. The account identifies the driver as Jason Bullock and says he's in a hospital intensive care unit and is paralyzed. At the time, the Missouri State Highway Patrol said there was an altercation inside the cab. According to the fundraising account, the passenger grabbed Bullock's neck, reached for the steering wheel and stated "It's a good day to die." Taxi driver kills passenger during fight on I-55 in South County, MSHP says A shooting and crash closed a portion of southbound Interstate 55 in south St. Louis County for hours Wednesday. The GoFundMe page says Bullock couldn't shake-off his attacker so he grabbed his handgun and shot the man. But it says Bullock accidently shot himself in the neck, severed his spinal cord and is paralyzed. John Godspower, who is also a cab driver, told News 4 that he had a dangerous passenger once who pulled a weapon on him. "He had a gun. We stopped on the way and I grabbed the gun from him. I was very fortunate to get out of that," he said. DASH CAM: Uber driver narrowly dodges head-on collision with wrong-way driver on 64/40 The video, which was captured about a half mile from the Big Bend exit on westbound 64, shows the Uber driver, Medeya Espina, driving in the left lane. As she comes around a corner, the headlights of an oncoming car come into frame and quickly close on her vehicle. Medeya Espina has been an Uber driver for about four years. Last month, she had a dangerous encounter with a wrong-way driver on I-64, near Big Bend. She said she swerved and missed the oncoming car at the last second. "And my past experience was almost coming to a head-on driver collision. It has just made me more afraid for my life," she said. Espina said she's never seen so many drivers disregard stop lights and stop signs and put other drivers in danger. She said her heart goes out to Laclede Cab driver Jason Bullock and his family. Because of her experiences and those of other drivers, she's decided to find another way to make a living. Two Easy Ways To Subscribe! The Kodiak Daily Mirror offers full-service, five-day a week subscriptions with home delivery in addition to unlimited access to our online services (including our e-Edition). Online-access-only subscriptions include unlimited access to the Mirror's online services without delivery of the printed newspaper. (Note: New users: You must register and login before purchasing a subscription. As streets were filling with people ready to welcome home U.S. Marine Corps Cpl. Humberto Sanchez on Sunday, a private dignified transfer by the Marines from Communication Company, Detachment 1, Combat Logistics Regiment 45 at Grissom was underway. It didnt matter if a person served in the Marine Corps or in the Navy. It didnt matter if a person had served at all. COLUMBIA The Columbia Public Schools Board of Education will meet Monday evening to approve and extend the COVID Action Plan it instated last month. On Aug. 13, the district announced its 2021-22 Coronavirus Plan," a 34-page packet outlining a plan for a "safe return to in-person instruction. The guidelines, which included a mask mandate, went into effect days later on Aug. 16. The instructions are all based on CDC recommendations and the most current science, according to the district. We have an entire page at the end of our plan that indicates all the people that we spoke to from pediatric virologists to our local health officials we feel pretty confident that as part of a layered mitigation strategy this will help keep our students and staff in seat, in-person learning, with their peers and their teachers," Aurora Meyer, CPS Communications Manager said last month. When school began on Aug. 24, CPS' 14-day case rate per 10,000 people was at 45.9. As of Monday, the rate was at 49.3. Success! An email has been sent to with a link to confirm list signup. Error! There was an error processing your request. The school board committed to reassessing the masking mandate on Sept. 15, which falls under the guidance of Superintendent Dr. Brian Yearwood. "The Superintendent will make decisions about mask requirements in consultation with the Incident Command Team, the Columbia/Boone County Health Department, health and medical professionals and neighboring school district superintendents," the plan says. Despite the plans to reconsider the mandate as new information and data develops, Attorney General Eric Schmitt filed a class action lawsuit against school districts mandating masks, claiming them to be, government overreach. The district stood by its decision in a statement saying decisions were made based on guidance and recommendations from local, state and national health experts, including the CDC. The decision to file suit against a public school district after a local decision is made in the interest of safety and keeping students in school will waste taxpayer dollars and resources, which are better spent investing in our students. Columbia Public Schools intends to aggressively defend its decision to keep its community and its scholars safe," the statement said in part. Monday's school board meeting starts at 6:30 p.m. in the Aslin Administration Building, with the COVID plan reassessment the last listed item on the board's agenda. The meeting can be streamed live on the district's website and on KOMU.com. North Korea says it fired new long-range cruise missiles, according to state media The Pocatello Police Department and the Bannock County Coroners Office are asking for the publics help in identifying the remains of six individuals that were recovered from Downard Funeral Home and Crematory. Read more On that ghastly day, September 11, 2001, I never saw what happened in real time. I was on assignment in West Africa, in the midst of Sierra Leone's civil war. But I recall vividly as I was interviewing the hacked-up victims of the Revolutionary United Front guerrilla army -- their lips, ears, limbs macheted off, their stories too awful to imagine -- something big was happening on the other side of the world. We had no mod-cons like social media alerts or even proper mobile phone connection. But my London-based producer was trying desperately to reach us, with the first news of a plane -- maybe a small prop plane, maybe an accident -- hitting the World Trade Center in New York. And that I should be prepared immediately to redeploy. Easier said than done in a place with no functioning airport, no scheduled flights, no live TV to monitor events. We eventually chartered a puddle-hopper out and got first to the Cote d'Ivoire Ivory Coast airport up the coast. There the full horror was now evident to see on huge screens carrying CNN live. Even the ghoulish mastermind Osama bin Laden hadn't quite expected this amount of global disruption; he didn't even expect the Twin Towers to fall. In the infamous video discovered by US forces after driving him out of Afghanistan, he had drawn on his engineering background, complete with hand gestures, to explain why he thought only the floors above the planes' impact would melt and topple. So, what is the straight line that I see drawn from there to here? As others have asked, was 9/11 a day, a moment, or a whole era-defining shift in America's understanding and vision of itself at home and abroad? Did the response to 9/11 do as much damage as the attack itself? I have concluded the answer is yes. My own question is if 20 years on this can be recalibrated, or whether bin Laden's attack was actually the beginning of the end of American empire. On August 15, as the Taliban entered Kabul, as Afghanistan fell and brought them back full circle in charge again, I could not help but have this vivid flashback: for the second time in 32 years a bunch of misogynistic, undemocratic Afghan insurgents had defeated a superpower. On August 15, it was the United States. In 1989, it was the Soviet Union and its 10-year occupation. It brought me back to April 1996, when I first started covering Afghanistan and the total takeover by the Taliban. What I learned about the Taliban then informs everything I predict for their rule now. The Taliban official I interviewed once they had taken the capital a few months later, in November 1996 -- Mohammad Abbas Stanekzai -- is their deputy foreign minister today, as he was back then. I asked him, of course, about women's rights, and he gave me the same vague non-promises as he is giving the world now. Why is this relevant today? Well for basic human rights reasons, but also to emphasize once and for all who is in this for the long haul. As even former US military officials admit today, the Taliban have been playing the long game since the US defeated them after 9/11. Some Americans are willing to acknowledge the Taliban have used the past 20 years to strategize, wait, and act. The United States, not so much. As the special inspector general for Afghanistan reconstruction, John Sopko, told CNN, the US has not fought a 20-year war in Afghanistan, but 20 one-year wars. I realize that now, as I look back on the short-term decisions and the expensive, difficult, barely successful US interventions around the world, which as a whole since 9/11 have contributed to exhaustion and isolationism today at home, and mounting cynicism and anger about America's role as a force for good abroad. A third way? President Joe Biden's hugely bungled Afghan withdrawal does not invalidate what he said about no more trying to remake other countries in America's image. But who asked America to do that anyway? It's a false mission that sets up failure, becomes the inevitable straw-dog in the full glare of defeat, and leads to the false conclusion that America therefore should just pack up and go home, with its troops and its ideals under lock and key. It's a binary all-or-nothing doctrine. Surely there is a third way? Just in my time alone, I've witnessed successful US-led humanitarian interventions. After staying out of the ethnic cleansing that ripped Bosnia and Europe apart during the 1990s, finally the emerging genocide there was too much for the US to ignore, and it did intervene to stop it, and later did the hard diplomatic work of peace, with the Dayton Accords in 1995. It is imperfect and today put at risk by nationalists, but it has kept the peace without a permanent American or NATO occupation, or an attempt to recreate America-in-the-Balkans. A few years later, America and a willing coalition intervened to preempt a similar genocide in Kosovo. Again, imperfect, but since 1999 Kosovo has been independent, and a reliable US ally. A few years later, British Prime Minister Tony Blair ordered an intervention to end the brutal civil war in Sierra Leone, which is now at peace in that part of West Africa. There was no attempt to remake any of these nations "in our image." By way of contrast, in December 1992 I witnessed President George H. W. Bush's humanitarian intervention into Somalia, to stop a devastating famine in the midst of an ongoing civil war. It worked brilliantly to end the famine. However, you didn't need to be there to know why it went off the rails. It's clear as day to anyone who has read the book or watched the "Black Hawk Down" movie. Mission creep took over, and the US shifted from ending famine to trying to eradicate the radicals. It ended in disaster. A serious case of foreign policy insecurity showed up next in Rwanda in 1994. Burned, humbled and just plain ignorant and inhumane, the Clinton administration actually spearheaded a UN effort not to intervene. The genocide killed 800,000 to a million people in just three months. To his credit, former President Bill Clinton has repeatedly apologized. There have been no such acknowledgments or apologies from the presidents and prime ministers who devised the post-9/11 policies that have dominated the last 20 years. Handily branded "the war on terror," it has given carte blanche to endless mission creep, and sent American policy down the dark hole from which emerged the Guantanamo Bay prison, where 39 suspects are still held without trial because the preceding "interrogations" were in fact torture, which is still inadmissible in US courts. It led to "black sites" around the world where American values died amid the hail of beatings, sexual humiliation, animal attacks, and waterboarding. It set up a lasting division between the Muslim and non-Muslim worlds, as well as endless electronic surveillance of ordinary people. Maintaining world values Former defense policy staffer Kori Schake was at the Pentagon on 9/11. This week she told me about the real fears of that day, and acknowledged they had led to serious mistakes, especially in shifting American avengers from where they were, legitimately, in Afghanistan, to where they illegitimately ended up... in Iraq. She is now director of foreign and defense policy studies at the conservative American Enterprise Institute (AEI), which incubated the intellectual "brain trust" for the 2003 war in Iraq that George W. Bush and his neo-cons so fervently wanted to pursue. Now, she claims, there is an opportunity even at AEI to help find that third way: neither reactive military intervention, nor knee-jerk withdrawal, but something in the middle, based on maintaining the set of world values that the United States built out of the ashes of World War II. Now, out of the ashes of 9/11, we need a George Marshall -- that unique scholar, soldier and statesman -- to reacquaint us with the blueprint for America reengaging with the world and, especially, defending strong democracy. It's something an exhausted America could be proud of, and an updated version is not just needed, it is indispensable. For do we really want to come full circle everywhere, as we have now done in Afghanistan? There, a nation has been handed back to the terrorist forces that the West went to defeat in the first place. Do we want to further empower global authoritarianism by ceding the competition of ideas to Beijing or Moscow? I think not, but we risk just letting it happen. I know many Americans may have had enough of being the self-described exceptional nation, but back in the late 90s I was honing my journalist experience in the era of America, the "indispensable nation." I believed it then, and though my confidence is severely shaken post 9/11, I think it's possible to restore that image with some serious work and thought. For even in Afghanistan much good was done. And despite Biden's claims, tens of thousands of Afghans did fight and die to protect these gains. And we journalists have a major role to play. We had a tough time covering the Taliban's Afghanistan back in the late 90s. But we reported the facts and the truth there at the time, so we can see with our own eyes that history is repeating itself. As a believer in the enduring global ideals and the values that America has always promoted and defended, I will continue to do so with my coverage. It starts with us all consciously and robustly defending the core principles of truth and facts. As the late Senator Daniel Moynihan said back in the 80s, "everyone is entitled to his own opinion, but not to his own facts." Mindful in my current contemplative mood that our greatest existential threat now is the climate catastrophe, I recommit myself to the mantra I came to while covering genocide in Bosnia: we have to be truthful not neutral. Not all sides are created equal and it's not up to us to create false equivalency. There is special power in knowing and practicing that. The-CNN-Wire & 2021 Cable News Network, Inc., a WarnerMedia Company. All rights reserved. As America looked inward in the days, weeks and months after September 11, 2001, others around the world made extraordinary gestures toward the United States. We were all so focused on ourselves -- understandably so -- that many probably missed the fact that Iran's President Mohammad Khatami condemned the attacks, that Ireland and Israel held full national days of mourning, that the Afghan Taliban told "American children [that] Afghanistan feels your pain." You are even less likely to have heard what could be one of the most touching reactions of all. This is the story of how a destitute Kenyan boy turned Stanford student rallied his Masai tribe to offer its most precious gift to America in its time of need. It starts with Kimeli Naiyomah. Kimeli, a member of a Masai tribe, grew up in a small rural town called Enoosaen near the Masai Mara National Reserve. The town had no water, no electricity, no phones and no roads. After accompanying his ailing mother to the hospital as a young boy, Kimeli says he knew he wanted to grow up to heal others like her. He didn't know such people were called doctors; he just knew he wanted to be one. Dreaming of being a doctor is ambitious even in America. But in Kimeli's part of Africa, one could have easily dismissed that dream as impossible. This was especially true in Kimeli's particular situation. He says he had no father. His grandmother had been murdered. And his mother -- his only remaining caretaker -- was battling alcoholism. According to Kimeli, his family (or lack thereof) was so destitute that his Masai tribe didn't even consider them people -- they were sub-human. Moreover, nobody that Kimeli knew from his tribe had gone to high school, let alone college or medical school. He knew he had to change his situation, so he ran away -- to another village where he had heard that there was a school that was taught under a tree. It was a church school and it became his grade school and his home. When he grew beyond this school-under-a-tree, Kimeli found the nearest high school, which was nine hours away. So he walked there and told the principal that he had no money, no uniform, no books, no shoes and no family, but he wanted to attend school. And, as Kimeli tells the story, the principal was so amazed by Kimeli's gumption that he welcomed him to the school. Kimeli soon realized he probably couldn't achieve his dream of becoming a doctor if he remained in Kenya. So he started applying for universities in America. He says, "My elders got together to try to raise money to help me achieve my goals." The same elders who had once considered Kimeli to be sub-human had done a complete reversal. Kimeli says his people were now so impressed by what he had achieved that he was not only considered human again, they were invested in helping him achieve his goals. They raised $5,000 for him. A Washington Post reporter then caught wind of the story and came to Enoosaen to write a story about Kimeli's doctoral dreams. That story ended up on the front page of the paper. The article inspired an outpouring of support, including a scholarship offer from the University of Oregon, a plane ticket from a businessman in Florida and clothes and other materials he needed to survive in America paid for by another total stranger. "You can imagine how I felt," Kimeli says, "when I received a letter offering me a scholarship in America. It's like getting a letter from God when you know you're not qualified for heaven." Kimeli enrolled at the University of Oregon in 1996. A few years later, Kimeli heard about Stanford University (after Chelsea Clinton enrolled there) and decided after seeing the school that that was where he belonged. He says, "It looked like a village to me." And once again, Kimeli made his own luck, getting accepted at Stanford after getting his grades up in Oregon. Kimeli had become a celebrity of sorts back home. In September 2001, the President of Kenya was scheduled to be in New York, and Kimeli says he was invited to meet with him. And that's how Kimeli -- now officially a full Masai warrior back home -- found himself in New York City on September 11, 2001. As a warrior, Kimeli is trained to rush to the scene of crisis. "You run to the battleground," he says. "I don't run away from tragedy. I run to tragedy. But I was realistic enough to know I couldn't help [at Ground Zero]." Kimeli says he is also a very emotional warrior, and 9/11 touched him deeply. The country that had given him so much had been brutally attacked. He had to figure out a way to help. He had to do something. So, on a trip back home in May of 2002, he asked to meet with the elders of his tribe. First, Kimeli told them of the horrors he had witnessed in New York. Many of Kimeli's people had never even heard of 9/11. They couldn't even fathom buildings that tall and most people in the village had never seen a plane except high in the sky. Then, Kimeli told them of his plan. He wanted to buy a cow (something this formerly homeless boy had never been able to do) and turn right around and give that cow to America. In Kimeli's tradition, a cow is the most precious property one can own. And it is believed to bring great comfort to its owner. As one elder told a reporter, a cow is a "handkerchief to wipe away tears". He wanted his elders' blessing for his plan. But, unexpectedly, one by one the elders stood up and said they were so inspired by his plan they wanted to do the same. In the end, 14 cows were pledged to the American people to help bring them peace. On June 3, 2002, US charges d'affairs William Brencick travelled to Enoosaen to formally accept the cows. He says it took him more than half a day to get there -- a flight and then a long drive over treacherous terrain. But after he heard Kimeli's story, he wanted to go. Brencick expected to be greeted by a handful of people, but when he arrived, he found a large crowd. Kimeli says more than 1,000 people were in attendance. Kimeli had brought American flags with him. "The Star Spangled Banner" played on a loudspeaker. Some in the crowd held up banners that said: "To the people of America," "We are touched by your loss" and "We give these cows to help you." Brencick says it was "overwhelmingly emotional" and he couldn't help but tear up. But there was a hitch. Logistical and monetary problems prevented the US from taking possession of the cattle. The herd was worth much less than the considerable amount it would cost to ship it 7,250 miles to New York City. And there were health hurdles: African cows weren't allowed in America. In addition, there was concern that the cows might not survive the voyage anyway. Washington Times columnist Tony Blankley heard what was going on and wondered how the US could get 80,000 troops into Afghanistan but couldn't get 14 head of cattle out of Africa. As for the Masai, they couldn't quite understand why this American came to accept the cows, but then didn't take them home with him. Some wondered why he didn't just load the cattle on a truck and drive them to America. Four years later, on the fifth anniversary of the September 11th attacks, all was made right. Then-US Ambassador Michael Ranneberger traveled to Enoosaen to cement a deal for Kimeli's tribe to take care of "America's" herd in perpetuity. And, as a way of saying thanks, the Ambassador announced the establishment of a scholarship for 14 boys and girls in the village to go to local schools. Those scholarships continue to this day. And today the herd continues to grow. As of right now, 35 "American" cattle roam the plains near Enoosaen, tended lovingly by one of the elders in Kimeli's tribe. If you ever find yourself there, you'll know which are the American cattle. They have special Twin Towers markings on their ears. As for Kimeli, he's decided he can do more for the world as a diplomat than a doctor. Next fall, Kimeli hopes to become a Rotary International World Peace fellow at Duke University. The-CNN-Wire & 2021 Cable News Network, Inc., a WarnerMedia Company. All rights reserved. "We should not dismiss the threat of this storm" Louisiana prepares for Tropical Storm Nicholas BILLINGS On Monday, RiverStone Health reported the death of two more Yellowstone County women due to COVID-19. A woman in her 50s died on Sept. 10 and a woman in her 40s died on Sept. 13, according to a release from RiverStone Health. Neither women were vaccinated and both had underlying medical problems. The county's pandemic death toll now sits at 306 people since April 2020. Also on Monday, Billings Clinic and St. Vincent Healthcare had 19 more COVID-19 patients than they did on Friday. The hospitals reported 124 inpatients with COVID-19 illness on Monday. Thirty-six of the 124 were in ICU and 24 were on ventilators. RiverStone Health reports only 16 had been vaccinated against COVID-19. As of Friday, the Montana Department of Public Health and Human Services reported 138 active COVID-19 cases statewide in 36 nursing homes and 206 active cases in 38 assisted living facilities. In Yellowstone County, a dozen long-term care facilities were restricting visitors as required by federal regulations because of active COVID-19 cases in staff or residents. This tragic news of more deaths again confirms the importance of vaccination, John Felton, Yellowstone County health officer and RiverStone Health CEO and president, said. Please get vaccinated to save lives and to reduce the overwhelming COVID-19 demands on our healthcare system. RiverStone Health is offering free first and second doses of Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine to everyone age 12 and older. The two-dose Moderna vaccine is available to people age 18 and older as is the single-dose Johnson & Johnson vaccine. Third doses will be given only to immune-compromised people only at the walk-in clinics. RiverStone Health has scheduled a free, walk-in clinic for Thursday, Sept. 23, 11 a.m. 1 p.m., at 123 S. 27th St., in the four-story building. To make appointments for first and second vaccine doses with the RiverStone Health Immunization Clinic, you ca call 406-247-3382. More vaccination information is available at covid.riverstonehealth.org. The Food and Drug Administration will hold a meeting on Friday, Sept. 17, to discuss booster COVID-19 vaccinations. RiverStone Health says planning is underway for community vaccination clinics if and when booster vaccinations become available to the general population. The FDA is also expected to meet in the near future about COVID-19 vaccinations for those younger than 12 years of age. Until vaccinations for this group are approved, the FDA urges parents not to prematurely vaccinate their children. (The Center Square) New polling shows that the majority of Americans do not approve of President Joe Bidens new vaccine mandate. Biden announced the mandate last week, which includes requirements that any business with more than 100 employees ensure they are vaccinated or be tested weekly. Bidens announcement included a range of other federal rules that are estimated to affect 100 million Americans. Convention of States Action released new polling Monday that showed 58.6% of those surveyed do not believe President Biden has the constitutional authority to force private businesses to require vaccine mandates for employees." In the same poll, 29.7% of voters said Biden does have the authority, and 11.7% are unsure. In addition, 55.5% of voters say the mandate sets a precedent that could be abused by future presidents on other issues. A new surge of Republican governors, 27 so far, have announced their opposition to Bidens mandate. Several lawsuits are reportedly in the works among Republicans. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, who has been a leading critic of the Biden administrations COVID-19 requirements, said the president overstepped his constitutional authority. When you have a president like Biden issuing unconstitutional edicts against the American people, we have a responsibility to stand up for the Constitution and to fight back, and we are doing that in the state of Florida, DeSantis said. This is a president who has acknowledged in the past he does not have the authority to force this on anybody, and this order would result potentially in millions of Americans losing their jobs. According to the poll, those governors have Americans support. The survey found 56.1% of voters support the efforts of state governors to oppose Bidens nationwide vaccine mandate on private businesses. That includes 46.3% who strongly support, and 9.8% who support. Opinions on the mandate fall largely along party lines. Nearly 80% of Republicans support the governors standing up to Biden while about 30% of Democrats feel the same way. This poll comes on the heels of another poll released last week that showed a sharp drop in approval for Biden after the deadly withdrawal of U.S. troops from Afghanistan. The Economist/YouGov poll reported last week that Bidens approval fell to an all-time low of his presidency, with 39% of Americans approving of his job performance and 49% disapproving. The drop in Bidens approval rating is most severe among Democrats, the poll reports. Around nine in ten of them had approved of Bidens performance for nearly all of his first year in office. This week, Bidens approval rating among Democrats dropped nine points to 77% from 86% last week. Convention of States Action partnered with The Trafalgar Group to release Mondays poll, which surveyed more than 1,000 likely voters from Sept. 10-12. MATHER, Calif. (AP) President Joe Biden on Monday used his first Western swing in office to hold out the wildfires burning across the region as an argument for his $3.5 trillion rebuilding plans, calling year-round fires and other extreme weather a climate change reality the nation can no longer ignore. We cant ignore the reality that these wildfires are being supercharged by climate change, Biden said, noting that catastrophic weather doesnt strike based on partisan ideology. It isnt about red or blue states. It's about fires. Just fires. With stops in Idaho and California, Biden sought to boost support for his big rebuilding plans, saying every dollar spent on resilience would save $6 in future costs. And he said the rebuilding must go beyond simply restoring damaged systems and instead ensure communities can withstand such crises. These fires are blinking code red for our nation. Theyre gaining frequency and ferocity, Biden said after concluding an aerial tour of the Caldor Fire that threatened communities around Lake Tahoe. We know what we have to do. The presidents two-day Western swing comes at a critical juncture for a central plank of his legislative agenda. Lawmakers on Capitol Hill are working to assemble details of the infrastructure-plus plan and how to pay for it, a concern not just for Republicans. A key Democratic senator said Sunday that he will not vote for a package so large. In California, Biden took an aerial tour of land charred by the Caldor Fire after getting a briefing from officials at the state emergency services office. Gov. Gavin Newsom, who faces a recall vote Tuesday, joined Biden for the briefing. Hours later, Biden campaigned with the embattled governor in Long Beach, tying Newsom's leading Republican challenger to former President Donald Trump and telling voters their decision would reverberate around the nation and, quite frankly, not a joke, around the world. By voting against the recall, Biden told the crowd, you'll be protecting California from another Trump climate denier. Newsom joked at the briefing that the California emergency center had become his office because fire season has just kept going, as he amplified Bidens message. This has been a hard year and a half, Newsom said. During an earlier briefing in Boise at the National Interagency Fire Center, which coordinates the government's wildfire response, Biden noted that wildfires start earlier every year and that this year they have scorched 5.4 million acres. That's larger than the entire state of New Jersey, Biden said. The reality is we have a global warming problem, a serious global warming problem, and it's consequential, and what's going to happen is, things are not going to go back," he said. Biden, who visits Denver on Tuesday before returning to Washington, aimed to link the increasing frequency of wildfires, drought, floods and other extreme weather events to what he and scientists say is a need to invest billions in combating climate change, along with vastly expanding the nation's social safety net. The president argued for spending now to make the future effects of climate change less costly, as he did during recent stops in Louisiana, New York and New Jersey all states that suffered millions of dollars in flood and other damage and scores of deaths after Hurricane Ida. Biden also praised firefighters for the life-threatening risks they take, and discussed the administration's recent use of a wartime law to boost supplies of firehoses from the U.S. Forest Service's primary supplier, an Oklahoma City nonprofit called NewView Oklahoma. In deep-red Idaho, several opposing groups leveraged Bidens visit as a way to show resistance to his administration. GOP gubernatorial candidates, an anti-vaccine organization and a far-right group were among those urging people to turn out against the president. More than 1,000 protesters did so, gathering in Boise before Biden arrived to express displeasure with his coronavirus plan, the election and other issues. Chris Burns, a 62-year-old from Boise, said, Im against everything Biden is for. Burns was especially displeased with a sweeping new vaccine mandate for 100 million people that Biden announced last week. Hes acting like a dictator, Burns said. The White House is trying to turn the corner after a difficult month dominated by a chaotic and violent U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan and the surging delta COVID-19 variant that have upended what the president had hoped would mark a summer in which the nation was finally freed from the coronavirus. Biden acknowledged his polling numbers have dipped in recent weeks, but argued his agenda is overwhelmingly popular with the public. He said he expects his Republican opponents to attack him instead of debating him on the merits of his spending plan. Besides the Republican opposition in Congress, Biden needs to overcome the skepticism of two key centrist Democrats in the closely divided Senate. Joe Manchin of West Virginia and Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona have expressed concerns about the size of the $3.5 trillion spending package. Manchin said Sunday, I cannot support $3.5 trillion, citing his opposition to a proposed increase in the corporate tax rate from 21% to 28% and vast new social spending envisioned by the president. Manchin also complained about a process he said feels rushed. In California, Biden appeared to respond to those concerned about the plan's size, saying the cost may be as much as $3.5 trillion and would be spread out over 10 years, a period during which the economy is expected to grow. The 100-member Senate is evenly split between Democrats and Republicans. Given solid GOP opposition, Bidens plan cannot pass the Senate without Manchin or Sinemas support. The climate provisions in Bidens plans include tax incentives for clean energy and electric vehicles, investments to transition the economy away from fossil fuels and toward renewable sources such as wind and solar power, and creation of a civilian climate corps. The Biden administration in June laid out a strategy to deal with the growing wildfire threat, which included hiring more federal firefighters and implementing new technologies to detect and address fires quickly. Last month, the president approved a disaster declaration for California, providing federal aid for the counties affected by the Dixie and River fires. He issued another disaster declaration for the state just before Monday's visit aimed at areas affected by the Caldor Fire. Superville reported from Washington. Associated Press writers Rebecca Boone and Keith Ridler in Boise and Aamer Madhani in Wilmington, Delaware, contributed to this report. With Laconia becoming a performing arts city, what supporting businesses do you think we need? ROME, SEP 13 - Almost four million pupils in nine Italian regions and one autonomous returned to school on Monday under strict measures to combat the spread of COVID-19. Among these measures is the new obligation that requires all adults that enter a school, including parents, to have the Green Pass vaccine passport. The last two school years were badly affected by the pandemic, which frequently made it necessary to conduct lessons via distance learning. But Education Minister Patrizio Bianchi said Monday that this school year will be different. "It is a joy to see the classes full of young people," Bianchi told Sky television. "The schools must not just reopen, they must also go back to being at the centre of our community. "This year the school world has the job of making us feel (united as) a country". The minister said that it will no longer be possible to put a whole region on distance learning in the case of spikes in COVID contagion, saying that interventions would be targetted and "surgical". He stressed that 93% of school staff were vaccinated for the coronavirus (in addition to via vaccination, it is possible to have the Green Pass if you have recovered from COVID or if you have recently tested negative for it). Pupils still have to wear facemasks in class, but Bianchi said he has not given up on the idea of removing this obligation for classes in which all the pupils are vaccinated. The regions where 3,865,365 pupils are returning to class are Abruzzo, Basilicata, Emilia-Romagna, Lazio, Lombardy, Piedmont, Umbria, Veneto and Valle d'Aosta plus the Province of Trento. Some parts of the country opened their schools last week and class will resume in the rest of the nation in the coming days. Students staged a big demonstration outside the education ministry in Rome overnight to protest against the state of the nation's schools and the problem of so-called overcrowded 'chicken-coop' classes. (ANSA). ROME, SEP 13 - Prosecutors in the northern Italian city of Pavia have opened a probe into the alleged abduction of Eitan Biran, the six-year-old Israeli boy who was the sole survivor of the Mottarone mountain cable-car disaster in Piedmont in May, after his maternal grandfather took him back to Israel at the weekend. Eitan's parents, great grandparents and two-year-old brother were among the 14 victims of the disaster. Eitan, who moved to Italy with his parents in 2018, had been put into the care of his Italian-based paternal aunt, Aya Biran, by the Italian authorities. The boy's maternal family last month said they would mount a legal challenge against this decision, saying the child was being held "hostage". He was reportedly was driven across the border to Switzerland and flown to Tel Aviv with a private jet after being taken out by his maternal grandfather on Saturday. Cristina Pagni, one of Aya Biran's lawyers, said Monday that she as going to talk to a judge about appealing to the 1980 Hague Abduction Convention to bring he boy back to Italy. The child's family in Israel told local media that he was being given "psychological and medical care" at a hospital on the outskirts of Tel Aviv. (ANSA). ROME, SEP 13 - Interior Minister Luciana Lamorgese said Monday that Saturday's shocking knife attack in Rimini by a Somali asylum seeker in which five people, including a small child, were injured, was not an act of terrorism. "We have ruled out terrorism," Lamorgese said after taking part in a meeting of a security committee in the Adriatic city. "While this episode was taking place and as we followed it from Rome, the European police forces were contact with each other to have certainty about this. "It was an extremely serious criminal episode". The child, a six-year-old with Bangladeshi roots who was playing in a street, suffered stab wounds to the throat. The boy was able to speak to his parents and did not show any signs of brain damage after undergoing surgery, the local health authority said on Sunday. The 26-year-old asylum seeker faces charges of attempted homicide, grievous bodily harm and attempted robbery. He went on the rampage of violence after being asked to show a valid ticket, which he did not have, while travelling on a bus on the Rimini sea front. He reportedly said afterwards that he was under the influence of cocaine. "This episode certainly should not have happened but it could have happened in any part of Italy or Europe," Lamorgese added. "He was obviously a disturbed person and all the relevant checks from a psychiatric point of view are being done". League leader Matteo Salvini has upped his calls for Lamorgese to resign in the light of the attack. Salvini, whose party supports the government, has been repeatedly taking aim at Lamorgese for her handling of the arrival of migrant boats from North Africa. (ANSA). ROME, SEP 13 - A 52-year-old was arrested on Monday for the brutal murder of his 46-year-old wife in the town of Agnosine, near Brescia, after she left him. It is only the latest in an alarming series of femicides in Italy that have seen many women killed by men, usually their current or former partners. The alleged killer, Paolo Vecchia, turned himself in to Carabinieri police after the murder of Giuseppina Di Luca. He allegedly waited for the woman outside the apartment she had moved to a month ago, followed her down some stairs and killed her by stabbing her a dozen times. The couple have two adult children aged 21 and 24. (ANSA). Rep. Tyler August, R-Lake Geneva, and Sen. Steve Nass, R-Whitewater, are calling out President Joe Biden after he released a mandate on Thursday declaring that all employers with more than 100 workers must either mandate the COVID vaccine or require weekly testing. He has ordered the Department of Labor to create the rule that would then be implemented by the Labor Department's Occupational Safety and Health Administration. In America, we do not believe in the ability of all-knowing government officials in Washington to sever the individual freedoms we hold so dearly, Tyler said. It is disturbing that Biden is flat-out abusing his power to trample on the civil liberties of those he is supposed to represent. No one should have to choose between being employed or exercising their health care freedoms. He went on call on Gov. Tony Evers and Wisconsin Attorney General Josh Kaul to stand up to these unconstitutional acts from the federal government. Support Local Journalism Your membership makes our reporting possible. {{featured_button_text}} But he is not optimistic that Gov. Evers will fight the mandate. Sadly, I do not have much faith in Governor Evers feckless administration given their own poor record of unconstitutional and heavy-handed behavior, August said. Hay baled without using a preservative at moisture greater than 20% may be at risk of combustion. Heres how you can monitor your bales and prevent barn fires. Phil Gruber is the news editor at Lancaster Farming. He can be reached at 717-721-4427 or pgruber@lancasterfarming.com. Follow him @PhilLancFarming on Twitter. The weather is hot and we could all use a little rain it must be August! When the combines start rolling soon, itll be hard to focus on the paperwork being left behind on the desk. As you get back into the fields this season, we have five tips to keep your financials on track during the fall. Agartala, September 13: After languishing for over four-and-a-half years in Bangladeshi jail, Assam youth Mukul Hazarika returned to India on Monday after a series of diplomatic and administrative efforts. Hazarika, a resident of Hodapara village in western Assam's Darrang district, returned on Monday after he was handed over to the Border Security Force (BSF) and Belonia police by the Border Guards Bangladesh (BGB) through Tripura's Belonia check-post on the India-Bangladesh border. A rickshaw puller by profession and father of three children, Hazarika (35) inadvertently went to Bangladesh in February 2017, where he was arrested by security forces. A local court then sent him to imprisonment in Feni jail. 'Murdered' Man Returns Home, Gujarat Police Left Confused as His Brothers Were Jailed For Allegedly Confessing to Kill Him. Hazarika's father, Fuleshwar Hazarika, and Assam police personnel went to the Tripura border to receive the returnee on Tuesday. "Bangladesh jail police tortured me in prison. They did not give me food regularly. After completing a three-year jail term, they did not allow me to come back to my home in Assam," Hazarika told the media at the border. Hazarika's presence in Bangladesh first became known in 2019 after the officials of the Indian High Commission in Bangladesh informed the Assam government that he was lodged in Feni jail. Senior bureaucrats and Darang District Superintendent of Police Sushanta Biswa Sarma played an active role in releasing and bringing back Hazarika to his home, Fuleshwar Hazarika told the media. (The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Sep 13, 2021 10:38 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com). President Joe Biden marked the 9/11 anniversary with visits to attack sites where hijacked planes crashed in 2001, and in one instance, he got booed. The Blaze reported that Joe Biden was walking with former Presidents Bill Clinton and Barack Obama at the 9/11 Memorial in New York City when the president stopped to talk to a nearby person. That's when Joe Biden started to get booed from a crowd. Some people even shouting at him regarding his decision to withdraw U.S. forces from Afghanistan. While speaking with reporters at the Flight 93 Memorial in Shanksville, Pennsylvania, on Saturday's 20th anniversary of the September 11 terror attacks, Biden said Al Qaeda could "come back" even after the U.S. already got Osama bin Laden. He noted that the group is already back in other places. The president then said: "What's the strategy? Every place where Al Qaeda is, we're going to invade and have troops stay in? Come on." READ NEXT: Pres. Joe Biden's Administration Praises Taliban Days Before 9/11 Anniversary, Says Militant Group Is a "Professional" in Dealings Joe Biden Marks 9/11 Anniversary Joe Biden stood in silence with Clinton and Obama at the New York City site where the World Trade Center towers fell two decades ago after planes had crashed. Reuters reported that the U.S. leaders were with their spouses Jill Biden, Michelle Obama, and Hilary Clinton. Joe Biden did not deliver any statements at any of the sites he visited. However, he released a video on Friday to express his condolences to the families of the victims. Joe Biden noted in the video that the central lesson of September 11 was that unity is the United States' greatest strength, CBS News reported. During a visit to a fire station after the Shanksville ceremony, the president said the core of "who we are is not divided." Joe Biden was a senator when hijackers crashed four planes and conducted the attack. As the country's commander in chief, this was the first time he marked the 9/11 anniversary. Rudy Giuliani also attended the commemoratory event in New York as a former mayor, but without New York native former President Donald Trump. 9/11 Attacks Anniversary United Kingdom's Queen Elizabeth II has sent a message to Joe Biden marking 20 years since the 9/11 attacks. The Queen noted that her thoughts and prayers are with the victims, survivors, and their loved ones, BBC News reported. U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson also released a remark in light of the anniversary. He said the terrorists had failed to shake their belief in freedom and democracy. Sixty-seven candles were lit to remember the British victims. Other events were also held around the world to remember the people killed during the terrorist attack. Events were also held at Windsor Castle, where a special changing of the guard ceremony took place, and the U.S. national anthem was played. U.K. labor leader Sir Keir Starmer noted that the anniversary was about remembering and honoring those killed while showing support to their American friends. Starmer added that the attack was still so raw, with the consequences still being felt to this day. The attacks were planned by Al Qaeda from Afghanistan, using four U.S. passenger jets hijacked by suicide attackers. Two of those four planes crashed into the Twin Towers in New York. Another was flown into the Pentagon. The last plane crashed in Pennsylvania after its crew and passengers fought back against the hijackers, ultimately diverting the flight from its intended target of either the U.S. Capitol or the White House. Almost 3,000 people lost their lives during the September 11 attacks. READ MORE: Sen. Mitch McConnell Says Pres. Joe Biden Won't Be Impeached Over Afghanistan, Says Hold Him Accountable at 'Ballot Box' This article is owned by Latin Post Written by: Mary Webber WATCH: America Prepares To Mark 20th Anniversary of 9/11 - From TODAY Prosecutors have invited Haiti's Prime Minister Ariel Henry in a hearing on the assassination of President Jovenel Moise to testify and explain his connection to the main suspect. Prosecutor Bedford Claude noted that Henry talked to suspect Joseph Felix Badio on the phone multiple times just hours after Moise's assassination, BBC News reported. Claude said he's inviting Henry to attend the hearing as he does not have the power to officially summon the prime minister. Questioning the prime minister needs a go-signal from the president. However, Haiti does not have one after Moise's killing. Prosecutors noted that the records obtained from phone operator Digicel confirmed that Badio and Henry spoke twice on July 7, only hours after Moise's killing. Badio's geolocation data also showed that he was speaking from the scene of the crime. The suspect's whereabouts are currently unknown. Meanwhile, Henry has rejected the invitation, which he described as "diversionary tactics," Aljazeera reported. The Haiti's prime minister tweeted that the real culprits, masterminds, and sponsors of the assassination of Moise will be identified, brought to justice, and punished for their crimes. Police are still actively searching for Badio, a former official who worked in the justice ministry's anti-corruption unit. READ NEXT: "Cheaper and More Accessible": Ex-Colombian Soldiers' Role in the Assassination of Haiti's President Exposed Mastermind Behind the Assassination of Jovenel Moise Ariel Henry earlier said that the mastermind behind the assassination was most likely still at large, adding that he remains baffled by the motive. The Haiti's prime minister further noted that he thinks there were a lot of people involved, including those with access to a lot of money, The New York Times reported. As of now, 44 people have been arrested in connection to Moise's assassination, including 18 Colombians and two Americans of Haitian descent. Moise appointed Henry before his death. Henry expressed concern for his safety, saying that he could probably be at risk too from the people who killed Moise. The arrested suspects included Moise's security chiefs and were moved to jail to prepare for trial. At least three judicial officials said the key suspects are now hiding after receiving numerous death threats. Ariel Henry said his main goal now was to hold free and fair elections to bring stability to the country. He noted that he was in discussions with political parties and civil leaders to appoint a new electoral board and draft a new Constitution. Jovenel Moise's Assassination A group of gunmen had assassinated Jovenel Moise and wounded his wife at their home in Port-au-Prince on July 7. Police had killed four suspects at the time, according to Associated Press. The Haitian ambassador to the United States, Bocchit Edmond, said foreign mercenaries and professional killers carried out the attack. Edmond added that the suspects were pretending to be agents of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration. The said agency has an office in Haiti's capital to help the government in its counternarcotic efforts. READ MORE: 4 of Haiti President Jovenel Moise's 'Presumed Assassins' Killed, 2 Arrested by Police This article is owned by Latin Post Written by: Mary Webber WATCH: Ariel Henry Formally Appointed Prime Minister of Haiti in Ceremony - From FRANCE 24 English Two Florida students in middle school have been ordered to stay at a juvenile detention center after the two had allegedly planned to do a mass shooting like the Columbine massacre in 1999. The students were Phillip Byrd and Connor Pruett, 14 years old and 13 years old, respectively, according to a Daily Mail report. Both are eighth-grade students at Harns Marsh Middle School and had appeared in front of a judge, who ordered that the two be held at least 21 days in a juvenile detention center. A map with marks of where its security cameras was found by the school administration. Lee County Sheriff Carmine Marceno said during a press conference that it could have been the next Parkland massacre, but they stopped the students in the planning stages, according to an NBC News report. Marceno added that they were one second away from the Columbine massacre. READ NEXT: Houston Girl Played Dead as Gunman Killed Her Family in Horrifying Texas Massacre Investigations on Florida Students Planning the Mass Shooting The school officials had alerted Lee County police. Detectives then discovered that the boys were thoroughly studying the Columbine shooting. Authorities added that the two were attempting to learn how to build a pipe bomb and were researching how to buy guns on the black market. The police also found guns, ammunition, and several knives in the boys' homes. Byrd's mom, Carrie Tuller, said that her son is just a little boy and did not think that it was really serious, according to a New York Post report. Marceno noted that the teen suspects were well-known to the sheriff's office after multiple calls for disturbances at their homes. Byrd and Pruett were detained on Thursday for a mental health evaluation and were taken into custody. They are both facing a conspiracy to commit a mass shooting charge. Columbine Massacre in 1999 The Columbine High School mass shooting on April 20, 1999 happened when two teens went on a shooting spree, which had killed 13 people and wounded more than 20 others before committing suicide. The Columbine shooting was the worst high school shooting at the time in the history of the United States, according to a History report. A major investigation was also urged to determine the motive of the gunmen identified as Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold, who were 18 and 17 respectively. It was speculated that Harris and Klebold deliberately chose athletes, minorities, and Christians as their victims. One of the victims, Cassie Bernall, was reportedly asked by one of the suspects if she believed in God. Bernall had allegedly said "yes" and was then shot to death. Her parents then wrote a book entitled "She Said Yes" to honor their daughter. However, it was later known that it was not Bernall who was asked that question. It was another student who had already been wounded by a gunshot. The said victim said "yes" and the shooter walked away. It was then later determined that Harris and Klebold chose their victims randomly. They also initially planned to bomb their school. READ MORE: Texas Man Arrested After Running Over Pregnant Wife, Killing Unborn Child This article is owned by Latin Post Written by Mary Webber WATCH: Parkland parent responds to the arrest of two students for planning a school shooting - from FOX 4 Now Former CIA director during the Obama administration, Michael Morell, called on the Biden administration on Sunday to investigate the recent Kabul drone attack that allegedly killed 10 Afghanistan civilians, including children, instead of ISIS-K bombers. Morell's comments came after reports surfaced that the target on the drone attack, Zemari Ahmadi, was mistaken as an ISIS-K bomber. Ahmadi was reported to be an aid worker for a charity based in Pasadena, California. READ NEXT: Biden Administration Asks More Than $30B to Congress for Refugees from Afghanistan, Natural Disasters Ex-Obama CIA Director on the Drone Attack: "It Needs to be Investigated" The comments of the ex-CIA director stemmed out when he was asked in an interview if the U.S. killed the ISIS-K members that were the target of the attack. Morell dodged the question pointing out the people need to remember that the drone attack in Kabul was carried out from the assets of the United States who were on the grounds of Afghanistan. Morell then highlighted that the incident needs to be investigated. "You know what happened here, it needs to be investigated," Obama's former CIA director said. Morell further noted that he hopes the Biden administration tells the Americans publicly what exactly happened in the drone attack and explains if ever the U.S. made a mistake. The former CIA director recalled that former President Barack Obama was "very strong" on being open about making mistakes with drone strikes. Morell continued that the Biden administration needs to do the same. When asked about whether the CIA or the Pentagon should address the drone attack issue, Morell pointed out that the White House should be the one to explain. Ex-Obama CIA Director on Afghanistan's Taliban Effect The former CIA director also mentioned the Taliban effect, explaining that the U.S. withdrawal in the South Asian country inspired the jihadists worldwide, as the group claimed that they beat both the United States and the National Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). Morell predicted that many jihadists will travel to Afghanistan, making the country more dangerous than any other place in the globe. Apart from the Taliban effect, the former CIA director also shared that the Taliban is now harboring the "Al Qaeda today," New York Daily News reported, as he expressed his worry in the presence of the group in the South Asian country. "The most important thing that a terrorist group can have, the most important determinant of success is a safe haven," Morell said. He added that the group has a haven in Afghanistan, and they cannot have it elsewhere. In the interview, Morell also mentioned that the intelligence community predicted that Al Qaeda could bounce back as quickly as 12 months in Afghanistan. The former CIA director furthered that to be ready on the threat of Al Qaeda, that the U.S. needs to collect two types of intelligence such as making sure that Al Qaeda is not "rebuilding its capabilities" to attack the United States once again and collect information that gives the precision to conduct strikes. However, the ex-Obama CIA director noted that they have not yet figured out the said information. READ NEXT: 2 More People Killed in the 9/11 World Trade Center Attack Identified Days Ahead of 20th Anniversary This article is owned by Latin Post Written by: Joshua Summers WATCH: Drone strikes: Do the Risks Outweigh the Benefits? - From CBS Evening News Tropical Storm Nicholas is moving toward the Texas coast on Sunday night, bringing heavy rain and floods to coastal areas of Texas, Mexico, and Louisiana. The National Hurricane Center in Miami had issued a hurricane watch for the central part of the Texas coast, with the state's coastline now under a tropical storm warning, according to an NPR report. Up to inches of rainfall was forecasted to be poured down in Texas and Southwest Louisiana, with isolated maximum amounts of 20 inches across coastal Texas areas. Meanwhile, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott had deployed rescue teams and emergency medical groups on standby along the Texas Gulf Coast. Abbott said that they will continue to monitor this storm and take all precautions needed. He then called Texans to adhere to the guidance and warnings of their local officials and beware of heavy rain and flooding. READ NEXT: Alligator Attack: Lousiana Man Killed by Alligator While Wading Through Hurricane Ida Floodwaters Louisiana and Tropical Storm Nicholas Daily Mail reports the heaviest rainfall is expected to hit west of where Hurricane Ida had ravaged Louisiana just over a week ago. Forecasters did not project Louisiana to experience strong winds again. But meteorologist Bob Henson predicted that rainfall could still be poured down on places where Hurricane Ida affected homes. Henson also said heavy rain could also affect areas with paralyzed electrical and water services. About 6.3 percent of the state or 140,198 residents remained without power, according to the Louisiana Public Service Commission. Meanwhile, Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards urged people in the southern area of the state to be wary of the storm and prepare for heavy rains and flash flooding. Edwards said that it is likely to see heavy rain particularly in the areas recently affected by Hurricane Ida, according to a Black Hill Fox report. Meteorologist Donald Jones of the NWS in Louisiana said that the storm is projected to move slowly up to the coastland, which could pour torrential amounts of rain for several days. Jones said that heavy rain and flash floods appear to be the biggest threat across the region. Hurricane Ida Hurricane Ida's rampage at the state of Louisiana had dramatically altered the coastline, according to satellite images of Louisiana taken before and after. Many low-lying areas are still submerged with water. Scientists are carefully monitoring the landscape to see how it changes over time, whether some changes will be permanent, according to a Gizmodo report. In addition, the hurricane had also reportedly reshaped the landscape, although it was not yet certain for how long. NASA's Earth Observatory noted that other human activities, including the pumping of groundwater and oil, had also contributed to this development. Images from space taken before and after the hurricane had also shown that there was a change in the river delta. Floodwaters were still present five days after the storm, with rivers, coastlines, lakes, and marshes being barely recognizable. Marc Simard, a principal investigator for NASA's Delta-X mission, said that the combination of flooding, erosion, defoliation during the hurricane likely created the new patches of open water. READ MORE: Tornado Warning Issued in Chicago, With the Tornado Reportedly Touching Down in Dekalb County This article is owned by Latin Post Written by: Mary Webber WATCH: Tropical Storm Nicholas and Tropical forecast update; September 12, 2021 - from FOX 13 Tampay Bay Minister for Defence and Foreign Affairs Simon Coveney has visited the Curragh Camp today, ahead of the 64th Infantry's upcoming deployment to Syria. The former Tanaiste was due to review and address the troops later today, as the Infantry is set to once more become part of the United Nations' Disengagement Observer Force in the Golan Heights. Minister Coveney is also currently facing numerous calls to establish a review into allegations of sexual abuse in the Irish defence forces. The calls come following a recent RTE Radio documentary, Women of Honour, about four female members of the defence forces talked about alleged sexual abuse they suffered within the army. The Department of Defence has said that the Minister "would like to express concern" for the welfare of the women who recounted their experiences on the Women of Honour programme. It added that all members of the Defence Forces have a right to be treated with respect, equality and dignity and to carry out their duties free from any form of sexual harassment, harassment or bullying, and that Mr. Coveney is committed to meeting with the women profiled, should they wish to do so and will be taking steps to make contact. Earlier this year in March, Minister Coveney's office responded to claims of a paedophile ring in the Curragh Camp, and added that it had received information on for a number of months. A statement from his office at the time said that Mr. Coveney is "fully cognisant of the trauma suffered by victims and he is aware of the need to establish the veracity of what is alleged." However, the office also said that since a third party delivered the information, verification has proven difficult, but gardai had still been notified of the alleged abuse at the Camp. His response was notably criticised by whistleblower Anthony O' Brien, even going so far as to allege that Minister Coveney had not read his letter detailing the alleged abuse. Minister Coveney is set to face a motion of no confidence from Sinn Fein over his over his handling of Katherine Zappone's controversial proposed appointment as a special envoy for the UN when the Dail resumes this week. If you have been affected by any of the issues raised in this article, you can call Samaritans Ireland at 116 123 or email jo@samaritans.ie, or you can contact the Dublin Rape Crisis Centre by visiting drcc.ie. Help is always at hand and there is always someone available to listen. Good news for budding young scientists as applications for BT Young Scientist (BTYSTE) 2022 will be live for two more weeks, according to BT Ireland. BT Ireland has said that the deadline for project entries is Monday 27th September at 5pm. It added that project entry fees have been waived and qualifying projects will showcase at the virtual exhibition from 12th-14th January 2022. Students interested in applying can submit a one-page proposal in any one of four categories: technology; social and behavioural sciences; biological and ecological sciences; and chemical, physical and mathematical sciences. The BTYSTE competition takes place every year and was first thought up by two UCD Physics researchers, a Carmelite Priest, the Rev Dr Burke and Dr Tony Scott. In the US in 1963 they discovered science fairs and tailored the idea for Ireland, launching the first BTYSTE competition in 1965 in the Round Room of Dublin's Mansion House. It attracted 230 entries and the first ever winner, John Monaghan, has recently retired as Chief Executive Officer of Avigen, a US Biotech company. According to its website, visitor numbers soared to an all-time high at 59,500 in 2015, as did entries with 2077 projects being entered. Labour Party TDs and Senators gathered in Athy today for a think-in ahead of the new Oireachtas term. The parliamentary party members are involved in debates and workshops at The Clanard Court Hotel today and tomorrow. Local Senator Mark Wall said he was delighted to welcome party colleagues to the area. Issues on the agenda include housing, climate, hospital waiting lists, education and social care. Guest speakers include Dr Laura Bambrick of the Irish Congress of Trade Unions and climate change expert Ali Sheridan. The Labour Party will also release a new policy document, A New Deal for our Towns and Villages, a plan for revitalising Irelands urban areas. Meanwhile, following the successful election of Deputy Ivana Bacik to the Dail, Labour Party leader Alan Kelly has announced a reshuffle of Labour Party spokespeople. Deputy Kelly has said that the time has come for a New Deal for a fairer Ireland. Many people have reflected on their relationship with the State during the pandemic, and there is an opportunity now to build back better. Deputy Kelly said: We want a New Deal for a fairer Ireland, that delivers on the social contract. That means a new deal for working people, a new deal for secure and affordable housing, a new deal that recognises the challenges of the 21st century. The Labour Party is offering people a positive alternative vision - a programme for real change based in hope and grounded in our social democratic values, a more caring and kinder politics. Coming out of the pandemic, into a post-Covid Ireland there can be no going back to normal. Its not just about building back better; its about building back fairer. We have a dynamic team with a range of experiences from across political life and civil society. We are delighted to see Deputy Bacik elected to the Dail. Ivana is a change maker, the real deal, who has worked so hard to make Ireland a better place. During the campaign, we all listened to the real concerns that voters have like affordable housing, better communities and the real need to address climate change. In recognition of this, I have appointed Deputy Bacik as our spokesperson on climate where she will continue to work with stakeholders and push this Government to deliver a green new deal. Covid-19 has been a great disruptor and has shown us what Government can achieve when our people need the support of our State the most. We cannot go back to the stagnant pre-Covid policies. Too many people are just about getting by or struggling. When they say we need to build back better, what we need is to build back fairer. We need a new social contract. The Labour Party wont continue to accept tired arguments from this Government that freezing rent isnt possible; that a single tier health service isnt possible; or that creating a sustainable tax base that isnt reliant on foreign direct investment isnt possible. All that is required is an ambitious vision and the political will to deliver what Irish people deserve. Spokespeople Alan Kelly TD Party Leader, Spokesperson on Northern Ireland. Duncan Smith TD Party Whip; Spokesperson on Health, Transport and Communications. Ivana Bacik TD Spokesperson on the Environment and Climate, Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth Brendan Howlin TD Spokesperson on Foreign Affairs, Brexit and Justice. Ged Nash TD Spokesperson on Finance; Public Expenditure and Reform. Aodhan O Riordain TD Spokesperson on Education; Enterprise and Trade. Sean Sherlock TD Parliamentary Party Chair; Spokesperson on Social Protection, Agriculture Food and the Marine, Rural and Community Development, Committee of Public Accounts. Senator Rebecca Moynihan Seanad Group Leader and Party Spokesperson on Housing, Local Government and Heritage. Senator Marie Sherlock Seanad Whip; Party Spokesperson on Employment Affairs, Media, Arts, Culture and the Gaeltacht. Senator Mark Wall Party Spokesperson on Defence, Tourism and Sport. Senator Annie Hoey Party Spokesperson on Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science. In the Dail the following Departments will be covered by: Ivana Bacik: Department of Further & Higher Education, Research, Innovation & Science Brendan Howlin: Department of Defence. Ged Nash: Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage. Aodhan O Riordain: Department of Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media. A councillor from Kildare has claimed that the Joint Policing Committee (JPC) denied their motion concerning corruption investigations at its latest meeting. Cllr Fiona McLoughlin Healy made the allegation in a since-deleted post on her official Facebook page on Wednesday September 8. Explaining her thoughts to The Leinster Leader, the Independent Cllr said: "The motion I requested was: That in light of the Supreme Court judgement on conflicts of interest, (case appeal number 579/2012; 580/2012; 581/2012) can the Chief Superintendent advise the committee if the partnership between the Chief Executive of a local authority and the Chief Superintendent/senior garda on the steering committee of the joint policing Committees, which has control of setting the agenda for the JPC, gives rise to a possible perception of a potential conflict of interest where the Gardai in the local area investigate potential wrongdoing of, or relating to, a local authority in which they are based?" "The Supreme Court judgement has potentially significant ramifications for the investigation of allegations of criminal activity within local authorities." "It is very possible gardai from the local division may no longer be permitted to investigate allegations of criminal activity in a local authority /council with whom they are in partnership on the Steering Committee (the committee that controls the agenda) of the local JPC, on the grounds of a potential conflict of interest." She elaborated that the Steering Committee would not allow the item on the agenda on the grounds of Per Section 8.2 of the 2014 JPC guidelines, and also on Item 1.3 of the guidelines. According to Kildare County Council, Section 8.2 says: "Section 36(4) of the Garda Siochana Act (2005) provides: Neither the joint policing committee nor any of its subcommittees may consider matters relating to a specific criminal investigation or prosecution or matters related to the security of the state". The council added: "Accordingly, a potential conflict of interest, referred to, cannot arise in relation to the workings of the JPC." "Furthermore, the guidelines state that the JPC is a forum where Gardai, Local Authority, Oireachtas and Community interests can consult, discuss and make recommendations on matters affecting policing in the area." Meanwhile, Item 1.3 says: "It is intended that the JPCs be partnerships with the minimum of formality to identify, raise awareness of and find solutions for issues impacting on, or causing concerns for, the local community." KCC also told The Leinster Leader that Ms McLoughlin Healy's motion was "inappropriate for the JPC forum as presently constituted" and that it had previously responded to her proposed motion referring to JPC guidelines on August 31 and September 6 respectively. In response, she claimed that her motion had been refused as an item for the council agenda." Cllr McLoughlin Healy asked: "Which forum is the appropriate forum to discuss the Supreme Court decision and the potential for even a perception of a conflict of interest where local gardai investigate a local authority with whom they control the agenda of the local JPC?" She added that she also wishes to know if the Steering Committee will allow the question be put to Garda Commissioner Drew Harris when he visits the KCC's Annual General Meeting in December. In related news, The Association of Irish Local Government (AILG) recently confirmed its support of Cllr McLoughlin Healy's campaign to include councillors in the extended list of persons to be protected in new Whistleblower legislation. A Kildare Senator has issued tongue-in-cheek request to The Irish Mail on Sunday following the publishing of a controversial article criticising Fianna Fail's fashion sense. Senator Fiona O'Loughlin was among the members of the party that were criticised in the latest article in Niamh Walsh's 'Manifesto' column. In it, Ms Walsh criticised the appearance of attendees at last week's Fianna Fail gathering in County Cavan. Commenting on the Newbridge politician, Walsh said: "Spare a thought for Senator Fiona O' Loughlin, in a jersey dress, who looked like she was headed for a country hooley in the Lavey Inn not a serious pow-wow." Senator O' Loughlin has since announced on her Twitter page: "Call out to The Irish Mail on Sunday to visit Kildare boutiques with me to check out our #shoplocal fashion." Call out to @irishmailsunday to visit #kildare boutiques with me to check out our #shoplocal fashion https://t.co/WsTExN50jh Senator Fiona OLoughlin (@Fiona_Kildare) September 12, 2021 However, her initial response was a lot more serious in tone, where Ms O' Loughlin said: "Really pathetic piece in The Irish Mail on Sunday." "Im certainly not the perfect size/shape and whilst conscious of dressing appropriately , am certainly far too busy to be obsessed about it." She added: "At a time where we are trying to encourage more women to get into politics, this is poor taste." Really pathetic piece in @irishMailSunday. Im certainly not the perfect size/shape and whilst conscious of dressing appropriately , am certainly far too busy to be obsessed about it. At a time where we are trying to encourage more women to get into politics, this is poor taste. https://t.co/T9nK9cuAw0 September 12, 2021 Fiona O' Loughlin was joined in her sentiments by Taoiseach and Fianna Fail leader Micheal Martin, who asked: "Why the need for such a personal, nasty and unkind article?" He further called it an "article written in an attempt to demean women who take politics seriously, and work hard to make peoples lives better." Why the need for such a personal, nasty and unkind article? An article written in an attempt to demean women who take politics seriously, and work hard to make peoples lives better. https://t.co/dDCIUBCb0B Micheal Martin (@MichealMartinTD) September 12, 2021 Senator O' Loughlin has since told KFM Radio that she is calling for an apology, as well as a donation to charity, from the paper. In a motivational and inspiring six-part series produced by Dundara Television & Media, viewers will discover a genuine message, that life, and in particular your career won't take a step back by moving to the west of Ireland. Each half hour episode explores the many opportunities that this region has to offer across multiple sectors and we find out that the west is populated with major national and global companies, with a thriving start up ecosystem whilst yet retaining its natural charm and beauty. Leitrim is the focus of one episode where two families are interviewed Derry Lynch who moved back to Carrick-on-Shannon from Dublin and is the Head of Customer Success at Cora Systems and Sinead and Paschal Gillard who, having lived in Waterford, Aberdeen and Dublin opened Jinnys Bakery and Tearooms in Drumshanbo. The bakery has numerous awards and now supplies Spar, Centra, Tesco Londis and SuperValu. Tying in with the Western Development Commissions "More To Life" campaign, this new series for TG4, presented by renowned broadcaster Mary Kennedy, will show the public the possibilities if they decide the West of Ireland is the right place for their next move. Shot against the back drop of the unique natural beauty and culture of the West of Ireland, over the course of six half hour episodes we follow the lives of six families who have moved or are in the process of moving to the West of Ireland. According to the producer and director of Moving West Enda Grace, the series is very timely. The Covid-19 pandemic gave people the opportunity to re-assess their lives in many ways. Remote working and the hybrid model of work have suddenly become very real options. Covid-19 has propelled the concept of working from home which makes such a move no longer a dream for many people. In the past, people thought moving West wasnt a viable option due to deficiencies in broadband, infrastructure or lack of career opportunities. We found when filming the show that these barriers are no longer in place, with many choosing to work from a hub, start their own business and ample job opportunities across all sectors from FDI to indigenous. The series explores the families, couples and individuals motivation to move while shining a light on all the West of Ireland has to offer in terms of lifestyle, outdoor amenities, food culture and quality of life. The show follows the families on their relocation journeys and in each episode the viewer gets to take a peek behind the curtains of the county, the local communities and those driving the region into the future. WDC CEO Tomas O Siochain commented; The West of Ireland is seizing the opportunity to renew itself by attracting thousands of young professionals and families to make new lives in the region. This new series reflects the findings of our National Remote Work Survey recently conducted with NUIG highlighting that people are now choosing to find More To Life in the West of Ireland. The transition to remote work has allowed people to choose where to live and throughout the series we meet those now working from home, from a hub or finding a new role with one of the many employers across the region. Our new platform Westernjobs.ie highlights some of these roles and ConnectedHubs.ie, the National Hubs Network, offers employees the opportunity to find a suitable base for their remote work outside the home. For employers Connectedhubs.ie offers a connected, sociable work environment and for communities, its a driver of economic and social change. The series highlights the vibrant towns and villages that can and should benefit from our diaspora returning home and those finding a new life across the region. Mary Kennedy is one of Irelands most renowned and much loved television presenters. Mary's love of the West of Ireland is also compelling and she spends quite a bit of time with her sister Deirdre who lives on Inis Meain. I think the series is very timely and I think it fits in very nicely with a different way of thinking about living and working which developed during the pandemic according to Mary. Im a Dub, but I just love rural Ireland. The series is in a bilingual format in Irish and English and I just relish having the opportunity to use my Irish, a language I love. I really enjoyed filming with Enda and the team and meeting such inspirational people who had made the move west. Its a very genuine and lovely series. Head of Communications at the Western Development Commission Allan Mulrooney commented "The show was a great opportunity to bring to life the stories we know make the West of Ireland what it is today. Over six episodes we hero the vibrant start-up ecosystem, some of the multinationals creating thousands of jobs and the people driving the region forward. We'd like to thank all of those who contributed and welcomed us into their homes and businesses over the last few months to make the show a reality." Moving West begins on TG4 on Thursday 23rd September at 9pm and is repeated every Monday at 7.30pm. The episode focusing on Leitrim will be screened on 28th October Blacklion and Glenfarne had a buzzing Saturday on September 11. Cavan Cross Cultural Community and Taiwan Ireland Association organised a community integration event at Rainbow Ballroom. Dr. Angel Cheng welcomed local representatives Cllr Sean McDermott, TD Brendan Smith, Senator Diarmuid Wilson and TD Pauline Tully. Cllr Sean McDermott sharing with us and he is determined to continue supporting the local on tourism development and start-up in food industry. TD Brendan Smith fought for the people and this region with Senator Diarmuid Wilson and TD Pauline Tully. Due to the events over the weekend, the local guest houses and bed and breakfast are fully booked. Host Dr. Angel Cheng acknowledged Clancy's owner Asumpta to have 2 rooms available for guests coming over so that they can stay and have chance to visit this Leitrim and west Cavan more. An old Irish proverb says: It is in the shelter of each other that the people live. It takes strength to empower the community to share their untold stories and to dream of travelling places where they have not yet been. Five speakers shared their romance with Ireland with us. Taiwan Deputy Director shared his experience in Irish welcoming culture. This is his second time attending 4C Culture Event and his first visit to Leitrim. He cited From the Republic of Conscience by the late poet Seamus Heaney, "When I landed in the republic of conscience it was so noiseless when the engines stopped. I could hear a curlew high above the runway. At immigration, the clerk was an old man who produced a wallet from his homespun coat and showed me a photograph of my grandfather." Blacklion based 4C member, Mr. Julien Thibault shares his migration story. Julien said: "my migration story is one of privilege, not hardship. I didn't flee conflicts, poverty or because of environmental disasters. I was free to travel and settle in Ireland. I was welcome. Ireland is welcoming country. Like many Irish in the diaspora, all migration stories have a common pupose: a better life for ourselves, our families, our communities. But often communities are victim of a perception that they are taking from people. The event showed the opposite, that we are generous in giving and sharing our food, our music, our stories, and the most importantly, who we are. Diversity enriches life; and events like these are show of appreciation to being welcome." Ms. Zeinab Elmustafa was involved in UN regional support office on peacekeeping for Afghanistan before she moved to Ireland. Ms. Elmustafa and Mrs Vanda Brady work on project together to support refugee families settled in Ireland and provided them insightful information to help them integrate into local community in Co. Cavan. Mr. Neil Ledwith was based in Co. Fermanagh and serves in the army. Ethnic cuisines were prepared by 4C members; Europe: Boxty (by Mary, Ireland), Coq au vin (by Julien, France), Traditional Sun Bread and Chicken shish kebap and pork shish kebap (by Milena and Tinko, Bulgaria), Cozonac (by Rafaela, Romania), Cepelinai (by Kebo, Lithuania), Ukrainian borscht with smoked bacon with cream and dark bread (by Vita and Sergiy ,Ukraine). Asia: Taiwanese Danzi Noodles and Bubble Milk Tea (by Derry and Vivian, Taiwan), Pork Skewers, Stir fry Noodles, Eggpie and Chicken Adobo (by Cathy, Daryl, Paul, Elmer and Victoria, the Philippines), Spice infused Tea (India) Chicken Biryani, Pan Fried Pakistani style Salmon Dahi Phulki, Almond Flour Halwa (by Iqra, Pakistan), Africa: Yellow rice, Spiced chicken and Honey drumsticks (by Marisa and Odette, South Africa), Soup and Jelof rice, Puff-Puff (by Maryam, Nigeria), Yam Porridge and Stew (by Ramatoulaye, Benin) Congolese's Pilau, Cassava chips, Mandazi Vitumbua Salad (by Hawa and Tutu, Congo) More than 120 people came tasting ethnic cuisines and sharing stories and music. We had Irish band Sarah Jane, Taiwanese Band DMJ, and Syrian young dancers performing in the afternoon. This event is sponsored by the Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth, Healthy Cavan, Government of Ireland and Taiwan Ireland Association, supported by Cavan Media Productions, Gus Bus Tours, Mimiko Taiwanese & Asian Store, Taiwan Ireland Association. THE Minister for Business, Employment and Retail, Damien English has visited the Limerick Enterprise Developmebt Park Campus and received an update of its new strategy and future plans including the creation of a new remote working hub. The hub, part of Innovate Limericks connected ENGINE Hubs roll-out, will be funded by Department of Rural and Community Development and will significantly advance LEDPs enterprise creation within the local community. Separately, Mr English was briefed on an ambitious plan by LEDP, supported by Film in Limerick and other stakeholders in the region, to create Irelands first multi-functional Creative Industries Centre of Excellence. The project has the potential to create hundreds of jobs in this regeneration area and cement Limericks growing reputation as an attractive location for international film production. Commenting on his visit to LEDP, Minister English said. I was impressed to see the ambitious plans that LEDP have put in motion, it is obvious to me there is renewed momentum at the campus in Roxboro to further transform this community as it has done so well in the past. I look forward to seeing projects progress at LEDP. Chief Executive Niall O'Callaghan added: I very much welcome Minister English taking time to visit LEDP. This is an endorsement of our new vision and strategy and the potential impact our key projects will have on Limerick, both economically and socially. As a self-funded charity our community is at the heart of everything we do, and our partnerships with Innovate Limerick and others will be critical to our success. Head of Local Head of Enterprise and Innovate Limerick, Mike Cantwell said he was delighted to facilitate a the visit by the minister of state. "Innovate Limerick has forged a strong partnership with LEDP, and we are committed to supporting one another in our goals to generate enterprise and employment across Limerick and in the case of LEDP, in a hugely important regeneration area, he stated. RATHKEALE has been gearing up to ensure it is ready as the Gateway to the Limerick Greenway. Earlier this month, the local community held a Greenway Fun Day to mark the upgrading of the Limerick Greenway and to give a public welcome to Rathkeale to all those walkers and cyclists wanting to use the new facility. Held in the impressive grounds of the historic Augustinian Abbey, it was a hugely successful event with a capacity crowd enjoying music, food, games, competitions, spot prizes as well as a market throughout a sun-filled afternoon. It also raised 5,000 for the local Butterfly Club which provides a social outlet for children and young adults with additional needs from all over West Limerick in a safe, fun-filled environment. We plan to use some funds to improve our new outdoor area for the kids, said Noel White, chairperson of the Butterfly Club. Meanwhile, the town itself has become greenway-ready and cyclist-friendly with new facilities installed throughout the town. In a coordinated approach stretching the length and breadth of Rathkeale, new bike stands have been erected and car parking and toilet facilities made available. The town also offers cyclists picnic tables, puncture repair facilities, bike hire and a Failte Ireland Tourist Point. GARDAI are appealing for information after a 'concrete bollard' was thrown through the front window of a home in Limerick city at the weekend. The incident happened at Carysfort Avenue, College Court, Castletroy in the early hours of Saturday morning. "A number of youths picked up a large concrete bollard and hurled it through the front window of a house at 2.31am. The window was completely smashed," said Garda John Finnerty who said the incident was 'quite frightening' for the occupants of the house who were asleep at the time. "There was a large number of students around Carysfort Avenue and College Court in general in the early hours of last Saturday morning. If you were one of them and you witnessed this incident, then we would like to hear from you," said Garda Finnerty who is attached to Henry Street station. Separately, The University of Limerick is to investigate whether students from the college were involved in seriously damaging another house in the Castletroy area. The university has received a formal complaint regarding a video which has been circulating extensively on social media showing a house with extensive damage caused to it, including a chair smashed through a door, shattered windows and doors, and considerable destruction throughout the downstairs of the property. While an official investigation will determine whether UL students were involved, the public perception is nevertheless that student parties in off-campus housing are reaching unacceptable levels, said Professor Nigel Healey, Interim Provost and Deputy President of UL in an email sent to students on Friday afternoon. Prof Healey said he is appealing to any landlord renting an off-campus property to UL students to contact the university and report students who engage in behaviour that is likely to bring the University of Limerick into disrepute. Not only are such house parties bringing UL into disrepute and damaging relationships between students and neighbouring communities, it is also being reported in the media that such behaviour is causing private landlords to withdraw from the student housing market, exacerbating the shortage of student properties, he continued in the email. Last week the Leader reported how a Limerick property letting agent has suggested the anti-social behaviour of some students has resulted in many landlords either selling up, or renting to professionals instead. I appreciate the need for you all to gather and socialise, but it is critically important that this is done with due regard to our neighbours, wrote Prof Healey. Gardai say they will continue high visibility patrols in the vicinity of the University of Limerick and surrounding residential areas after chaotic scenes unfolded in one housing estate involving up to 2,000 students last Monday night. The death has occurred of Bridget (Dilly) Walsh (nee Collins), Plunkett Road, Askeaton. Peacefully at home on the 12th of September, surrounded by her loving family, predeceased by her husband Bobby, grandson Jack, sisters Ita, Mai and Joan. Sadly missed by her daughters Mary, Finola and Brid, sons Tony and Franny, sisters Nancy, Celia and Helen, grandchildren, brother in law, sisters in law, nephews, nieces, extended family and a large circle of neighbours and friends. May she Rest In Peace Reposing at Kieran Madigan's Funeral Home, Main Street, Askeaton V94 K598 on this Tuesday evening from 5pm to 7pm for family and friends. Removal from Kieran Madigan's Funeral Home on Wednesday at 11.30am to St Mary's Church, Askeaton for Requiem Mass at 12 noon. Burial afterwards in Reilig Mhuire Cemetery. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The death has occurred of Noel Ryan, Hennessy Avenue, Killeely, and late of SPS Hi-Life Tools and Atlas Aluminium Noel died suddenly at home on 12th September 2021. Sadly missed by his loving sisters Catriona, Karrie, Carmel, Jackie, Joan, Aoife, Mary & Majella, brothers Terry, Seamus, Daniel, Gerard, John, Paul & James, brothers-in-law, sisters-in-law, nephews, nieces, neighbours, other relatives & friends. Rest in Peace Reposing at Griffins Funeral Home, Johns Gate on Wednesday, Sept. 15th, from 6.30pm to 7.30pm for family and close friends only. Requiem Mass in St.Munchins Church, Clancys Strand on Thursday, Sept 16th, at 1pm. Funeral afterwards to Castlemungret Cemetery. Noels funeral cortege will pass his home after Mass at approx. 2pm on way to Cemetery. Family flowers only, donations, if desired, to his colleagues in Limerick Treaty Suicide Watch donate here The capacity of the church is limited to 50%, but the Funeral Mass can be viewed here Please observe current Covid-19 restrictions regarding attendance at funerals. Messages of sympathy may be expressed through the rip.ie condolences section, through the death notices section of our website: www.griffinfunerals.com or by post to Griffins Funeral Home. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The death has occurred of Mary Roche (nee Noonan) Castleroberts, Adare and formerly of Ballinlyna, Kilfinane. September 13th 2021 peacefully in her 101st year. Beloved wife of the late Michael, mother of the late David, and grandmother of the late Mark and Michael. Very deeply regretted by her sorrowing daughter Maureen (Keyes), sons Michael (Dromin), Tadgh (Murroe) and Thomas, daughters in law Mary and Ann, son in law Pat, grandchildren, great-grandchildren, nephews, nieces, relatives and friends. May She Rest In Peace. Reposing Tuesday, 14th September, in Daffy's Funeral Home, Croom from 7 pm to 8 pm for family and close friends. Private family Funeral Mass Wednesday morning in the Holy Trinity Church, Adare at 12:30 pm with burial immediately afterwards in St Nicholas' Cemetery, Adare. As per Covid guidelines, Mass will be live-streamed and can be viewed by clicking this Link Condolence Book Open on rip.ie --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The death has occurred of David Power, Whitethorn Drive, Caherdavin and formerly of Cappagh, Co Waterford and late of Verbatim. David died at home on 12th September 2021. Beloved husband of the late Kathleen. Sadly missed by his loving sons John, David & Richard, daughters-in-law Tracey & Reiltin, grandchildren Rachel, Emily & Dylan, sister Sheila, brother-in-law Matt, sisters-in-law, nephews, nieces, other relatives, kind neighbours & friends. Rest in Peace Reposing at Griffins Funeral Home, Johns Gate, on Tuesday Sept. 14th from 6.30pm to 7.30pm for family and close friends only. Davids funeral cortege will pass the family home on Wednesday Sept 15th to arrive at Christ the King Church, Caherdavin for 12.30pm Mass. Funeral afterwards to Castlemungret Cemetery. The capacity of the church is limited to 50%, but the Funeral Mass can be viewed here Please observe current Covid-19 restrictions regarding attendance at funerals. Messages of sympathy may be expressed through the rip.ie condolences section, through the death notices section of our website: www.griffinfunerals.com or by post to Griffins Funeral Home. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The death has occurred of Dermot O'Callaghan, Deel Manor, Askeaton and late of O'Malley Park, Southill. Very deeply regretted by his loving wife Valerie, daughters Sasha, Robin, Kenny, Isabel and Charlotte, sister Joan and family, brother Stephan and family, nephews, nieces, all other relatives and many friends. May He Rest In Peace. Reposing at Cross' Funeral Home, Gerald Griffin Street, on Wednesday (September 15th) from 2.00pm to 3.00pm (for family and close friends). Funeral afterwards to Shannon Crematorium for 4.00pm. No flowers please. Donations, if desired, to Pieta House. Please ensure social distancing and public health advice is adhered to. Messages of sympathy may be expressed through the condolence section on rip.ie or cards and letters of sympathy can be sent to Cross's Funeral Directors, 2 Lower Gerald Griffin Street, Limerick. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The death has occurred of Bertha McCullagh - O Briain (nee Ni Churtain), late of Castleisland, Tralee & Dublin. Former pupil of the Colaiste Ide, former principal of the Holy Faith secondary school Clontarf, lecturer in Maynooth University and Mater Dei institute Dublin. Peacefully in the loving care of nurses and staff of Milbrae House Nursing Home, Newport. Very deeply regretted by her partner Mairtin O Briain, son Niall, daughter-in-law Emily, grandchildren Rian, Aaron and Eoghan, step-children Patrick, Emma, Megan and Anton. Sadly missed by the Curtin and the McGillicuddy families, seven nieces, sister-in-law Dolores, brother-in-law Brian, members of the McCullagh family and her many friends in education, the arts, literary and poetry circles. Bhi duil aici i gcultur na tire agus gra d'ar dteanga duchais. On Tuesday, 14th Sept., and Wednesday, 15th Sept., friends are free to call to view Bertha from 10.00am to 4.00pm.Family in attendance on Wednesday, 15th Sept., from 5.00pm to 7.00pm if you wish to express your condolence in person. Ar dheis De go raibh a h-anam dilis, guimis leaba samh i measc na naomh di. Slan, ma femme de coeur! Arriving at 10.45am Thursday, 16th Sept., for 11.00am Requiem Mass in St Munchin's Church, with burial afterwards in Mt St Oliver Cemetery. Mass will be live streamed (link to follow). Please ensure social distancing and public health advice is adhered to. Messages of sympathy may be expressed through the condolence section on rip.ie or cards and letters of sympathy can be sent to Cross's Funeral Directors, 2 Lower Gerald Griffin Street, Limerick. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The death has occurred of Breda Reeves (nee Hayes), Wellfield, Garryowen and late of the St. Johns Senior Citizens Club. Breda died unexpectedly at University Hospital Limerick. Beloved wife of the late Matthew Reeves and subsequently, partner of the late Joseph Moore. Sadly missed by her loving children Margie, John, Mandy and Jason, grandchildren Garry, Sarah, Rachael, Nicole, Zach, Niamh, Aisling, Daniel, Evan & Zoe, great grand-daughter Freya, sons-in-law, daughters-in-law, sisters Annette, Pauline & Peggy, brothers Paddy, Sean & Ger, nephews, nieces, relatives, kind neighbours & friends. Sister of the late Donal and Toni (recently deceased). Rest in Peace Reposing at Griffins Funeral Home, Johns Gate on Wednesday, Sept. 15th, from 5.30pm to 6.30pm for family and close friends only. Requiem Mass in St. Johns Cathedral on Thursday, Sept. 16th, at 11:00am. Funeral afterwards to Mount St. Lawrence Ext. Cemetery. The capacity of the church is limited to 50%, but the Funeral Mass can be viewed here Please observe current Covid-19 restrictions regarding attendance at funerals. Messages of sympathy may be expressed through the rip.ie condolences section, through the death notices section of our website: www.griffinfunerals.com or by post to Griffins Funeral Home. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The death has occurred of Aisling Enright, Mayorstone Crescent, Mayorstone. Aisling died surrounded by her loving family, at University Hospital Limerick. Beloved mother of Jade, Leon and the late Faith, dearest daughter to Tony and the late Nancy, loving sister to Stacey and adoring aunt to Aria. Sadly missed by her family, Tonys wife Mags, her partner Robson, aunts, uncles, cousins, relatives and her many friends. May her gentle soul rest in peace. Requiem Mass will take place, for family and close friends only, in Our Lady of the Rosary Church, Ennis Road on Wednesday, September 15th at 11am. Funeral afterwards to Mount St. Lawrence Cemetery. The capacity of the church is limited to 50%. Please observe current Covid-19 restrictions regarding attendance at funerals. Messages of sympathy may be expressed through the rip.ie condolences section, through the death notices section of our website: www.griffinfunerals.com or by post to Griffins Funeral Home. TO mark its 50th anniversary this year, IPAV, the Institute of Professional Auctioneers & Valuers, has launched a publication charting the course of its development. The History of the Institute of Professional Auctioneers and Valuers 1971 to 2021, written by Andrew Hughes, archivist, historian and novelist was jointly launched at a ceremony at the Castletroy Park Hotel by Tom Crosse, 50th President of IPAV and Group Director of GVM Auctioneers, and Tom Donnelly, the 11th President of IPAV. Speaking at the event, Mr Donnelly gave an account of the early years. From April 14, 1971, when 10 farsighted auctioneers and valuers gathered in Barrys Hotel, Dublin, to this day, we have been the professionals who have advised and helped buyers and sellers of properties, land and art works, achieve optimum outcomes, said Mr Donnelly. Mr Crosse said long before the State set up the Property Services Regulatory Authority in 2012, with which their institute works very closely, IPAV effectively fulfilled that role in providing education and training for members and developing standards for the profession. Our profession is based in every village and town in Ireland. We have always been very close to those whom we represent and our members have an unparalleled depth of knowledge of the history of Irelands land and property markets. IPAV as an institute has an excellent range of education and training programmes for those aspiring to enter the profession, as well as those within the profession wishing to progress, said Mr Crosse. Pat Davitt, IPAVs Chief Executive, said the profession of auctioneering, despite massive changes in technology and working methods, remains as relevant today as it was in the 1970s with terrific career opportunities for those with a desire to join. THERE were celebrations at a city school after it emerged that almost half of the students received 500 Leaving Certificate points or more. Gaelcholaiste Luimnigh principal Kevin OReilly has hailed a really remarkable achievement, and said he feels it supports the case for the blended learning model which was put in place due to the Covid-19 pandemic. The group of students we have in the year group are an incredible bunch with incredible drive. As do the team of teachers we have working with them. Its a combination of the willingness of students to learn, their drive and their support from home, he added. Mr OReilly admits there are pros and cons to the changes brought about by the pandemic while he supports a final examination, he believes it should not all go down to that. Theres definitely something to be said for having continual assessment. Id be in favour of having them sitting a single exam, but continual assessment along the way so its not all down to one last exam. Its something that could be explored., he added. At the school, eight students achieved all H1s, while two students secured eight H1s. Construction is due to commence on Gaelcholaiste Luimnis new campus in Clare Street. LIMERICK will play host to a wealth of local and international musicians for the tenth annual Limerick Jazz Festival which takes place later this month. Bands from Switzerland, Chile and Scotland will play live during the festival along with local musical stars and will feature a mix of online and live events. All of the live 'in-person' events will feature allocated seating and other public health measures. Mayor of the city and county of Limerick, Cllr Daniel Butler says he's looking forward to the festival which begins on September 20. Limerick Jazz Festival is now an established part of the citys cultural calendar. It has shown great imagination and resilience to stage a combination of online and live music in both 2020 and 2021, and I look forward to its continued development in the future. Organiser, John Daly says he's delighted to announce this years festival programme. We have worked hard to develop a line-up that works in the unusual times we live in with a mix of great online and live events, he commented. Limerick was the only jazz festival in Ireland to feature live music in 2020, and in 2021 we are delighted to be the first jazz festival in Ireland to welcome back live music, and that the gradual easing of public health measures has allowed us to cater to a much bigger audience than might otherwise have been the case," he added. Limerick Jazz Festival is promoted by the Limerick Jazz Society. It is supported by the Arts Council and Limerick City and County Council. Online events will run from Monday, September 20 to Wednesday, September 22 with highlights including two specially commissioned performances by Limerick-based vocalists Jean McGlynn and Liam OBrien. This day next week we will be kicking off this year's jazz festival with the brilliant @jeaniemcglynn recorded @LimeTreeTheatre! Tickets are available now: https://t.co/k2G3Rzm7qM Limerick Jazz Festival 2021 (@LimerickJazz) September 13, 2021 Live 'in-person' events will run from September 22 to September 26 at Dolans unless otherwise indicated. For more information and full listings visit limerickjazzfestival.com There is an acute need for increased social housing to prevent family and child homelessness, a new report from St Vincent de Paul (SVP) has found. In a new detailed report on housing and homelessness entitled Combating Housing Exclusion in Ireland, the SVP has welcomed the publication of the much-anticipated Housing for All plan. It says it particularly welcomes the increased ambition regarding the States role in the provision of social and affordable housing and the commitment to work to eradicate homelessness by 2030. However, the charity is concerned about the lack of emphasis on measures to address family and child homelessness and the need to prevent it occurring in the first place. It says it is also disappointed that specific measures were not included to address rural homelessness and housing insecurity, an issue of increasing concern for its volunteer members who are working in communities outside of the main urban areas. The analysis of the Housing for All plan forms part of a new SVP report, Combating Housing Exclusion in Ireland, which shines a light on the sometimes-hidden aspects of the housing crisis as seen by the organisations volunteer members. The report estimates that the social housing targets need to be increased to an average of 15,000 per year to meet current demand and reduce the reliance on the private rented sector to accommodate low-income households. In the Housing for All plan the target for 2022 is 9,000. From 2026 to 2030 the target is 10,200 homes per year. SVP says that the official count of 8,132 people experiencing homelessness in July 2021 does not include over 20,000 individuals and families on the social housing list doubling up with friends or family, often known as the hidden homeless. Nor does it include over 3,000 women and children in domestic violence refuges or almost 8,000 individuals living in direct provision, SVP says. Drawing upon commissioned research, case studies and surveys of SVP members, Combating Housing Exclusion in Ireland, seeks to build up a picture of the human impact of homelessness, housing insecurity, and poor-quality accommodation. It provides examples of the stress of homelessness and the insecurity for those in private rental accommodation, in the words of those directly impacted. SVP Policy and Research Officer, Marcella Stakem said: The acute need for increased provision of social homes which will provide safety and security is to the forefront of the minds of SVP members who visit and support individuals, families and children living in substandard accommodation, insecure rented properties and emergency homeless accommodation. "While the scale of long-term housing need outstrips the target set out in the Housing for All Plan, the shift towards the delivery of the direct build of social and affordable housing and increased capital investment is welcome. Importantly, as we wait for more social housing to come on stream, the commitment to review the level of discretion applied by Local Authorities for the Housing Assistance Payment is a positive development. This must include a review of the limits as this will be critical if we are to address the issue of HAP top-ups which force so many families SVP assists into financial distress, she continued. With over 600,000 people, including 140,000 children in Ireland living in substandard housing, SVP welcomed the retention of the 25% inspection rate by local authorities to ensure properties meeting minimum standards and the commitment to introduce minimum energy efficiency standards in the private rented sector. It says these measures need to be backed up with clear strategies for delivery and the requisite level of funding. The commitment to work towards ending homelessness by 2030 is very welcome but if we are to be successful in reaching this goal, we need to improve our understanding of the scale of the problem and place greater emphasis on homeless prevention. Unfortunately, however, the plan is weak on prevention and tenancy sustainment measures. "It is also concerning to see no recognition of the additional vulnerabilities faced by one parent families, who are disproportionately represented among the homeless population, said Ms Stakem. Rose McGowan, SVP National President, said: Working directly with individuals and families experiencing housing insecurity, inequality, poverty, and marginalisation has afforded SVP a valuable perspective on the key challenges and opportunities in addressing the housing crisis. "We welcome the publication of Housing for All as we urgently need it to deliver for the people SVP assists and to provide a pathway so the State can provide secure and affordable homes for people to live in vibrant and sustainable communities, she said. SVP says it looks forward to continuing working with the Department of Housing and the Minister for Housing to ensure the Housing for All objectives are realised. Overall, the charity says a greater focus on those most acutely impacted by the crisis is required to ensure no one is left behind. DROMCOLLOGHER is still remembered as the village where 48 people lost their lives, in a cinema fire on Sunday, September 5, 1926. The burning touched every family in the community of fewer than 1,000 people. It was the worst disaster to hit Limerick, and the death toll remains the highest, for any recorded accidental fire, in Ireland. One entire household was wiped out, and many families suffered multiple losses. Half of the dead were under 25 years of age, and 15 were children with the youngest victims just under 7 years of age. The story of events on that fateful night, are briefly as follows. Patrick Brennan owned a hardware store, at the western end of town. It contained a storage area downstairs for timber, and five-gallon drums of petrol. Overhead was a spacious loft with a timber floor. The room had been used for showing films, on previous occasions. Access to the loft was by an outside, set of timber steps. The loft measured 60 feet long by 20 feet wide. At the far gable end two small windows barred on the outside, flanked a small narrow room, which was portioned off from the rest of the room. This was used as a dressing room for amateur dramatics. William Forde, a hackney car owner in Dromcollogher, decided to rent this upstairs room from Patrick Brennan, for a film show. He hired Patrick Downing a projectionist, to bring films, and a mobile projector from Cork. The performance was timed to start at 9.15pm after Benediction, was over in the nearby church. The estimates of the attendance varied, but at least 150 men, women, and children passed through the narrow door into the loft. William Forde was just inside the door collecting the money. He had two candles on the table beside him, which were lit when the first film started. This was to help him with the money and to give change back. The people sat on timber forms, and wooden chairs. Patrick Downing was further up the room, standing at the centre of the table, operating the projector. Around him lay rolls of exposed film reel. It is believed that the films to be shown were Baby be Good, and The White Outlaw. The supporting comedy film concluded after 25 minutes, and the film reels were left loose nearby. How the fire started around 10pm as the second film was being shown is not clear. It could have been horse play as some youngsters were throwing their caps at the candles in the hope of quenching them, so that they could make off with the takings. This story was never confirmed and in all probability the fire was an accident. One of the reels which lay unprotected on the table near the door, went on fire when a candle on the table overturned and set it alight. The reels of film were of a highly inflammable nitrous material, and it flared immediately and burned furiously. The people rushed to the single narrow door from which the ladder and stairs descended. The people nearest the exit escaped as the fire spread rapidly. More people fled to the rear of the hall where the two windows, were located inside the dressing room area. John Gleeson, the local parish clerk, by his quick action, saved six people by removing the bars on the windows. The local IRA members used this room for meetings, during the troubled years. They had cut through the bars to enable them to escape in case of a surprise Black and Tan attack. More people would have got out the window, but unfortunately it got blocked when a women became trapped in it. Within ten minutes of the start of the fire the floor collapsed, and the stairs and roof fell in. The victims died from a combination of burns, asphyxiation and shock. Forty-six people were dead within fifteen minutes, and two others died later from their injuries. The majority of the victims were from Dromcollogher, mainly the village, and ten people alone came from Pike Street. Only twenty-one of the dead were positively identified. Such was the scale of the tragedy that the army had to deliver the coffins to the town for the burials in the mass grave inside the church gate. Special permission was obtained from Rev Dr David Keane, Bishop of Limerick, to allow a communal burial of all the victims in the church grounds. The funeral Mass on Tuesday September 7, was attended by William T Cosgrave, President of the Executive Council, as the head of the Government. The parish priest of Dromcollogher, John Canon Begley, presided and Rev Daniel OCallaghan, son of Mary Ann OCallaghan, RIP celebrated the Requiem Mass along with forty-five other priests. At the conclusion of Mass, the Bishop performed the final obsequies, over the coffins, which were lined up in the churchyard awaiting burial. He gave a short address to the assembly of mourners, assuring them of the support of all people in the country. Hundreds of people remained until the forty-five coffins were finally put in their final resting place, and the grave closed. The bodies of Violet Irwin, (15) and Thomas Noonan, (7) were interred in their family plots, in Cloncrew, and Deliga, cemeteries. The forty-eight victim, James Kirwan, (60) whose daughter Margaret was among the casualties, died in Croom Hospital, and he was also buried in the churchyard grave. A national relief fund was set up immediately and generously subscribed to from so many parts of Ireland and abroad. Arthur Guinness Company donated 500 pounds, Jameson Distillers, 250 pounds, Tim Healy, Governor General of the Irish Free State, contributed 200 pounds. A committee in Limerick city raised 645 pounds. Will Rogers American entertainer gave a personal donation of 100 pounds. Duffys Circus contributed also, and the proceeds of a special concert in the La Scala Theatre in Dublin, was added to make up the total of 16,787 pounds. General Richard Mulcahy, Chairman, and a number of trustees administered the fund. Payments were made in different amounts, such as lump sums and most were sent in instalments every quarter to the dependents of the victims, and to some of the injured survivors until the 1950s. The burning money as it was known, was a much needed and welcome supplement to their incomes. I will conclude the story next week. Mumbai: Banks led by State Bank of India (SBI) have called on the Indian government to give debt-laden Vodafone Idea more time to clear its tax dues and spectrum fees, two bankers and a government official familiar with the matter said. An Indian court last year ordered the mobile carrier, a joint venture between the Indian unit of Britain's Vodafone Group and Aditya Birla Group's Idea Cellular, to pay just over $8 billion to the government to settle long-standing dues. Vodafone has a stake of about 44% in the company and Aditya Birla owns nearly 27%. In June, Vodafone Idea's then non-executive chairman Kumar Mangalam Birla warned that without a government reprieve the Indian mobile carrier's "financial situation will drive its operations to an irretrievable point of collapse". Vodafone Idea's gross debt as of June 30 was 1.9 trillion rupees, comprising of deferred spectrum payment obligations of 1.06 trillion rupees and an adjusted gross revenue liability of 621.8 billion rupees, its latest stock exchange filing in June showed. The adjusted gross revenue is the usage and licensing fee that telecom operators are charged by the Indian government. The mobile operator also reported that it owes 234 billion Indian rupees ($3.18 billion) to financial institutions. Senior SBI officials and representatives of the Indian Banks' Association (IBA) met finance and telecom department officials this month and proposed an immediate breather on the repayment of spectrum dues, the two bankers and the government official, who requested anonymity, told Reuters. "We've had these discussions with the banks but the issue is the finance ministry needs to be comfortable with the measures," the government official said. SBI, IBA, and the finance and telecom departments did not respond to Reuters requests seeking comment. The company is facing a repayment of 5-10 billion rupees of non-convertible debentures around January, one of the bankers said. Vodafone Idea declined to comment. Vodafone Group did not immediately reply to an email seeking comment. An Aditya Birla Group spokesman declined to comment. Vodafone Idea had cash and cash equivalents of 9.2 billion rupees at the end of June, a transcript of a company conference call published on its website said. "All eyes are on New Delhi right now as banks are getting increasingly nervous," another banker with exposure to Vodafone Idea said. The bankers have also proposed providing some relief to Vodafone by restructuring its dues, one government official and two bankers said. Birla stepped down as chairman early last month after appealing for the government bailout. The government has been considering a broader package to help a telecom industry disrupted by the 2016 entry of Mukesh Ambani-controlled Reliance Jio, which shook up the market with its free voice and cut-price data plans. ($1 = 73.6380 Indian rupees) This story has been published from a wire agency feed without modifications to the text. Only the headline has been changed. Subscribe to Mint Newsletters * Enter a valid email * Thank you for subscribing to our newsletter. Iran reached an agreement Sunday with the United Nations atomic agency that will grant international inspectors access to some of the countrys nuclear-related sites, a step likely to avert a crisis in the negotiations on restoring the 2015 nuclear deal. The agreement comes after International Atomic Energy Agency Director-General Rafael Grossi made a last-minute trip to Tehran this weekend in a bid to persuade Iran to step up its cooperation with the agency ahead of a meeting of the IAEAs top member states starting Monday. The U.S., France, Britain and Germany had been discussing a formal censure motion against Iran next week if no agreement was reached, a step that Irans new President Ebrahim Raisi had said could scuttle the resumption of nuclear talks. The nuclear talks started in April but were interrupted after Mr. Raisi was elected in June. The new president has so far refused to set a date for resuming the negotiations. In a joint statement issued Sunday following talks between Mr. Grossi and the head of Irans atomic energy agency, Iran agreed to allow the agency access to a range of nuclear sites to reset equipment installed by the agency to monitor Irans activities. The IAEA had warned that some of the equipment could stop functioning in the coming days or weeks and Mr. Grossi has said that without it, the agency would be flying blind" in ensuring that Iran wasnt diverting nuclear material and equipment into a nuclear-weapons program. The joint statement said Iran and the agency also agreed to hold senior level discussions in coming weeks aimed at boosting cooperation on other issues, which will likely include the agencys probe of unreported nuclear material found in Iran that Iranian officials have repeatedly failed to explain. Provided Iran follows through on the agreed terms, the U.S., France, Britain and Germany are now likely to shelve discussions of censuring Iran at an IAEA board meeting, diplomats said. The State Department didnt immediately respond to a request for comment on whether the agreement would scuttle efforts to censure Iran. On Friday, the Biden administrations Iran envoy, Robert Malley, met with his counterparts from France, Britain and Germany to discuss challenges facing the nuclear talks, including Irans standoff with the IAEA. A decision not to censure Iran is likely to face criticism from opponents of the 2015 nuclear deal and others. Israels Prime Minister Naftali Bennett called for an appropriate and rapid international reaction" to Irans nuclear actions following the publication of two reports by the IAEA on Iran last week. An IAEA board censure motion, which can be introduced by any member state, could have led to action by the U.N. Security Council, including potential sanctions. However, Russias public opposition to escalating the issue meant any follow-through from a censure resolution would likely be blocked. Issues between us and the agency are technical and political issues will have no place in the mutual relations," said Mohammad Eslami, head of Irans atomic energy agency, after Sundays meeting. Mr. Grossi is scheduled to give a press conference Sunday evening in Vienna. The 2015 nuclear agreement lifted most international sanctions on Iran in exchange for tight but temporary restrictions on Tehrans nuclear activities. In May 2018, then-President Donald Trump pulled out of the accord and imposed sweeping sanctions on Iran. Beginning in the summer of 2019, Iran started progressively breaching the key restrictions in the accord. In two confidential reports delivered to IAEA member states on Tuesday, the agency said that Iran had all but ceased serious discussions on an agency probe into several traces of uranium and other nuclear materials found in Iran since 2019. Like other members of the U.N.s nuclear nonproliferation treaty, Iran has basic nonproliferation safeguard commitments to explain unreported nuclear material found in the country. The nuclear traces are believed to be connected to nuclear-weapons work that the IAEA and Western governments say Iran did in the 1990s and at least until the early 2000s, although the agency wants to know what has happened to some of the nuclear material and equipment from that program. Iran denies it ever worked on nuclear weapons. The IAEA also said that Iran hadnt answered its requests to access the monitoring equipment at sites like uranium ore facilities and assembly halls for making the machines that enrich uranium, which are critical to Irans nuclear program. The reports come as Iran has escalated its nuclear program, building up a stockpile of enriched uranium 10 times over the limits allowed in the 2015 accord, producing uranium metal, which can be used in the core of a nuclear weapon and restricting inspectors access to its sites. Last week, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken warned that the window for completing the nuclear negotiations wouldnt be permanently open and that at some point Irans nuclear advances would undercut the benefits of restoring the 2015 deal. This story has been published from a wire agency feed without modifications to the text Subscribe to Mint Newsletters * Enter a valid email * Thank you for subscribing to our newsletter. (Image credit: Martin Harvey/Getty Images) Our human ancestors were roaming Earth as far back as 6 million years ago, but what is the earliest site containing archaeological evidence of their existence? It turns out, there are two spots one in Kenya and the other in Ethiopia that are considered the top candidates for world's oldest archaeological sites, according to about a dozen scholars, all with expertise in prehistoric archaeology and anthropology , who spoke with Live Science. The question of what is the oldest archaeological site in the world is "a topic that has since recently divided the archaeological community," Yonatan Sahle, a senior lecturer of archaeology at the University of Cape Town in South Africa, told Live Science in an email. Related: The 25 most mysterious archaeological finds on Earth The first site, called Lomekwi 3, holds bones of hominins as well as stone artifacts and is located on a low hill in West Turkana, Kenya. In a study published in 2015 in the journal Nature , researchers reported that, by dating the sediment where the artifacts were found, they estimated the age of the site to be about 3.3 million years. The finds "mark a new beginning to the known archaeological record," a team of scientists wrote in the journal article. The tools were likely created by Australopithecus afarensis, a hominin (human ancestors and their relatives) that thrived in the region at the time. The site is located in a wooded area on a small hill not far from Lake Turkana. It's possible that Australopithecus afarensis was using the stone artifacts to break open nuts the team wrote in the paper. The number of people who lived at the site at any given time is not clear. "Lomekwi 3 is the oldest known archaeological site in the world," Jason Lewis, assistant director of the Turkana Basin Institute and a co-author of the paper, told Live Science in an email. Jeremy DeSilva, an associate professor of anthropology at Dartmouth College who was not involved in the study, agreed that Lomekwi 3 is the oldest known archaeological site, but he noted that not all scholars agree. "Lomekwi is controversial, and some of our colleagues remain unconvinced of the antiquity of these tools," DeSilva told Live Science. Indeed, a number of recent papers "call into question the status of the artifacts at Lomekwi 3, arguing that some of the artifacts were not actually found in a context where the age of the artifacts can be certain," David Braun, an anthropology professor at The George Washington University, told Live Science. In other words, the artifacts may not date to the same time as the sediment that it was found in. Sahle is one of those archaeologists. "For many of us myself included unequivocal evidence for the oldest archaeological occurrences comes in the form of 2.6-million-year-old stone tools from Gona," which is located by the Kada Gona river in Afar, Ethiopia, Sahle said. The dating results for Lomekwi 3 are contested, he noted, and he has serious doubts that the remains found at that site date back 3.3 million years. The research at Lomekwi 3 was published relatively recently, whereas research at Gona has been published over several decades and has withstood academic scrutiny, Sahle said. "Inferences made on the chronological and behavioral context of [the] Gona archaeological assemblages derive from decades of research and have, therefore, withstood the test of time," Sahle said. A stone tool unearthed at the Lomekwi 3 excavation site next to Lake Turkana in Kenya. (Image credit: MPK-WTAP) The stone tools at Gona may have been made by Australopithecus garhi, a human ancestor that lived in east Africa around 2.5 million years ago. Fossils of the species have been found near stone tools and they may have been one of the first human ancestors to make sophisticated stone tools Smithsonian's Human Origins project website notes. "The Lomekwi claims were not adequately demonstrated when announced, and there has [been] no new evidence provided, despite several well-considered criticisms of the original Nature announcement," said Tim White, co-director of the Human Evolution Research Center at the University of California, Berkeley. White agrees that Gona has the best unequivocal evidence for being the oldest archaeological site. Related: 30 of the world's most valuable treasures that are still missing On the other hand, some scholars are supportive of the idea that Lomekwi is older than Gona. Rick Potts, director of the Smithsonian's Human Origins Program, is convinced that Lomekwi 3 "is the oldest site with solid evidence of stone-on-stone percussion," meaning that it's the oldest site that has stone artifacts made by human ancestors. He noted that the stone artifacts at Lomekwi 3 appear different from those found at Gona; they are cruder and may not have been used as tools at all. The stone artifacts at Lomekwi 3 "show awkward fracturing of the rocks, including large, thick, irregularly shaped flakes that could have been the accidental byproducts of pounding for what purpose, no one currently knows," Potts wrote in an email, noting that people at Lomekwi 3 may not have been creating tools but rather pounding rocks together for unknown reasons. Even if the Lomekwi 3 artifacts weren't used as tools, they would still be considered artifacts created by humans. Brian Villmoare, an associate professor of anthropology at the University of Nevada, told Live Science, "I do tend to think that Australopithecus afarensis could have made stone tools," but he noted that he has not examined the Lomekwi 3 artifacts. Braun said that if future fieldwork cannot alleviate concerns about the dating of Lomekwi 3, his second choice for the oldest archaeological site would be Ledi-Geraru in Afar, Ethiopia, which dates back about 2.8 million years. The earliest-known fossil from the Homo genus, this piece of jawbone, was discovered at a site called Ledi-Geraru in the Afar Regional State, Ethiopia. (Image credit: ZACHARIAS ABUBEKER/AFP via Getty Images) At Ledi-Geraru, researchers found a partial hominin mandible with teeth, and they dated it by examining the age of the surrounding sediment, they reported in the journal Science in 2015. Sahle expressed doubts about the dating of this site, saying that it may be considerably younger than 2.8 million years and that Gona is the site with the best unequivocal evidence. Regardless of which of these archaeological sites is the oldest, all of them make the Giza pyramids (which are about 4,500 years old) and Stonehenge (which is roughly 5,000 years old) relatively young by comparison. Originally published on Live Science. Click here to read the full article. Aidan Gillen, star of The Wire and Petyr Littlefinger Baelish in Game of Thrones, is attached to play one of the leads in The ONeill, a Gaelic Ireland epic turning on its greatest hero, Hugh ONeill. Stephen Saint Leger, director of Vikings, Vikings: Valhalla and the climactic The Battle episode of Barbarians, is also on board, set to helm the series pilot and a number of episodes. Set up at Dublins Revolution Media, headed by Jack Armstrong who originated the series concept, and at top Irish producer Subotica (Michael Inside, Miss Julie), The ONeill will be showrun by Tim Loane, a showrunner on Canal Plus Versailles Season 3 and lead writer on Sky/Hulus Das Boot and currently Marcella. Armstrong will present the series on Tuesday at Conecta Fictions Pitch Copro Series, the meets industry centerpiece, where it weighs in as the biggest and most ambitious of titles at the Europe-Latin America co-production forum. Billed as an epic drama series and structured as four eight-hour seasons, The ONeill follows Irelands ONeill dynasty, its most powerful Gaelic lordship, as in 1560 a nine-year-old Hugh ONeill is taken from his native Ireland and groomed as an English Lord at the English Court where he forms a tight bond with the future Queen Elizabeth I, only 10 years his senior. Sent back to Ireland after he came of age to govern for the crown, he has to decide between becoming an English landlord or a Gaelic warlord. His decision would mark the greatest threat to England sovereignty until WWII. Breaking through in Queer as Folk and famed for his performance as Tommy Carcetti in The Wire, Gillen will play Sir Henry Bagnal, Marshall of Elizabeth Is Royal Irish Army and ONeills bitter arch enemy. One of the most popular and most depicted periods of history in cinema and television is the Elizabethan era, said Loane. Almost always the narrative is the glory of Empire from the colonists perspective; we will do a 180 on the period and view events through the eyes of the vanquished, the colonized, of Gaelic Ireland, he added, calling The ONeill a Braveheart for television. Armstrong will produce with Suboticas Tristan Open Lynch and Aolfe OSullivan. Loane, Armstrong and historian James Sheridan have spent months researching the period. This is big, ambitious epic, but also based on real characters and events, and also contemporary, resonating with many of the values emerging in Europe today, Armstrong told Variety. Hugh ONeill managed to unite the clans, which had never happened before, and engaged in what was called the Nine Years War but was really the climax of a 400 years war with England, the last gasp of great Gaelic Ireland. For much of Europe at the time, he was like a rock star, Armstrong added. A pilot has been written, as well as a bible for the first season, and the storyline of the subsequent three, he added. In Gaelic Ireland, women had equal standing to men and so it was not uncommon for women to be clan leaders. So there are many female leaders depicted in The ONeill, like Ineen Dubh, de facto leader of the ODonnells and Grace OMalley, the Pirate Queen, The OMalley, Armstrong added. This is an incredibly important story for the Irish and there are so many great roles, not just for men but also women, he said. Sign up for Varietys Newsletter. For the latest news, follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. Local Democratic congressional primary candidates Tannya Benavides and Jessica Cisneros held an Instagram live discussion recently with the Laredo Reproductive Health Coalition to discuss the impact of Texas Senate Bill 8, which went into effect on Sept. 1. SB 8 is considered one of the nations most restrictive abortion bills as it bans abortions as early as six weeks into pregnancy. Abortion providers in Texas estimate that 85% of patients seeking abortion would be denied access, as many dont know they are pregnant within the first six weeks. But Texas wouldnt enforce the law. Instead, the law deputizes private citizens to sue anyone who performs an abortion or aids and abets a procedure. Plaintiffs who have no connection to the patient or clinic may sue and recover legal fees as well as $10,000 if they win. I think first, the notion that anyone off the street can take action when it comes to someone wanting to access before (last) Wednesday a safe and legal abortion, which is their right, that essentially is putting a bounty on people who are willing to help people in need of abortion, Benavides said. Abortion access is health care. Its so bizarre that this is where we have gotten to. This mechanism could allow the bill to avoid Roe v. Wade, the 1973 Supreme Court decision that legalized abortion, within some limits. Although SB 8 could skirt the precedent set by Roe v. Wade, a lot of abortion access advocates consider it unconstitutional because most fundamentally, it is in direct contrast of Roe v. Wade and continuing until now. So, Roe v. Wade was a case in front of the Supreme Court in 1973, which basically granted the opportunity for people who find themselves pregnant and need to terminate the pregnancy to be able to do that, up until the point of viability of the fetus, Cisneros said. Why SB 8 is going against that and is considered to be unconstitutional is because it is in direct contrast to Roe v. Wade. SB 8 will almost certainly create hurdles for certain vulnerable populations, including teenagers who dont know they are pregnant, low-income people who might not be able to afford the procedure and women of color all demographics that involve Webb County. According to Texas Health and Human Services, of the 53,949 procedures performed in 2020, a total of 19,979 were Hispanic women. Not only that, but 290 Webb County residents had an abortion last year, with many of them from between the ages of 15-29. While Hispanic women living in Texas had more abortions in 2020 than any other racial or ethnic group, only two left the state for the procedure, the state reported. Benavides said that women in border cities like Laredo face greater challenges now to obtain an abortion partly because many immigrants are unable to leave their respective cities, much less the state, due to federal immigration checkpoints. For people who are undocumented, its hard for them to go across checkpoints, Benavides said. So thats another barrier for them to access an abortion. This bill might be short lived as the House of Representatives will vote later this month on a bill that would protect the right to abortion across the country. The House will bring up the Womens Health Protection Act to possibly enshrine into law reproductive health care for all women across the nation. The Act would guarantee a pregnant persons right to access an abortion, along with providers being able to perform procedures. It would codify into law protections provided under Roe v. Wade. The bill would do this by establishing a statutory right to perform or receive an abortion, free from restrictions that single out abortion care. Rep. Henry Cuellar, the eight-term incumbent the two Democratic women are running against in 2022, also shared his thoughts on the matter. As a husband and father of two daughters, I take women's healthcare very seriously and believe that women and their doctors should be making decisions about their healthcare, not politicians, Cuellar said in a statement provided to LMT. This issue will ultimately be decided in the courts, and I trust the judicial branch to determine the Constitutionality of this legislation. The voting for the Womens Health Protection Act is set for Sept. 20. And with it coming up, Benavides said she plans to urge Cuellar to vote yes. Benavides and Cisneros both said Cuellar has earned a reputation as anti-choice because he has taken steps against the right to choose. He has an opportunity, and we are going to push him to vote for the Womens Health Protection Act on Sept. 20, Benavides said. I have no faith that he is going to vote for this bill. Benavides and Cisneros consider SB 8 a threat to human lives. In the online discussion, they urged people to take a stand against this new law. Youd be surprised how many people agree that this is an extreme ban, Cisneros said. Health care is a human right. gkroeger@lmtonline.com Twitter: @gkroegs Every few minutes Sunday, locals arrived to attend the all-day public viewing offered for Lance Cpl. David Lee Espinoza at the Joe Jackson Funeral Home on a gloomy and occasionally rainy day. Inside the funeral homes chapel, people came in and wrote down their names while walking through a large display of pictures and posters created by family, friends and even others who were just interested in knowing about Espinoza. Inside the chapel, patriotic country music played as a photo gallery of Espinoza was shown. He was pictured with his mother, friends and while serving in the military, as a Marine stood still right next to the coffin where his body was located. Throughout the whole event, veterans, wives and mothers of veterans, teachers and just about anybody in the community who wanted to express their condolences stopped by to pay tribute the young man who gave his life serving his country. Its a duty that we must pay homage and respect and honor him by coming to honor the sacrifice that he made. It is a brotherhood. No matter what branch you are in, we do feel the pain of the parents, said Ricardo Quijano, the post adjutant for the Veterans of Foreign Wars 9194 and a veteran of the Afghanistan War. He served and enlisted knowing the dangers. He was out there saving people, and that it is what about. Quijano states that he will work hard within his organization and with others around the city to make sure his legacy is not forgotten. I think that he was just there a week before he got killed and it hurts, Quijano said. His legacy will live on forever, and it all started as a street was already named after him already. So people are going to pass by and know and remember him, and I am hoping this is a start and it is going to be our duty as veterans also to making sure that we dont forget him. I am hoping that we can even name a school after him. Another veteran of the Afghanistan War was also present during the event, and he demonstrated how sad and difficult it was to attend due to how young Espinoza was. It really hit home because he was a very young Marine and his life was cut really short, and I really feel bad that he had to go this young, said Alejandro Martinez, a veteran of the wars in Vietnam, the Bosnia conflict and also from serving in Afghanistan when he was 59 years old. His legacy will live on forever, just like the legacy of Florentino Cantu who died in Vietnam and was one of the first ones. He will live forever. According to Martinez, who is a very active in veteran affairs locally, this is something that he has done in the past on several occasions for members of the military who have died in combat. And even though he has been through so many, he has not numbed to these occasions. Martinez also reflected on the fact that the Afghanistan War is now over and how it came to a conclusion just five days after Espinoza and 12 other U.S. service members were killed in an attack outside Kabuls airport. Although he does not agree with the end result of the war, he is grateful that no more American lives will be lost in the line of battle. Its too bad how we pulled out of there, but at least we will not have any more Marines dying, or in that fact no more armed forces people dying, over there, Martinez said. Another local veteran also expressed that attending the public service and other events for the Marine is not just because of respect but also a duty as a former member of the military. It is a duty that every veteran has, said retired military member Gilberto Gonzalez. Even though we did not know Lance Cpl. Espinoza when he was alive, it is a bond that we all have from all branches, and when it comes to a time in need for his family, they need to know that we are here for them, we are not forgetting them and that his legacy will go on. Gonzalez stated that he was very proud and surprised at how patriotic the city has been since Espinozas body arrived. He says that shows how Laredo, despite being on the border of the country, is as American as any other city. It is a sign that Laredo is very pro-American, Gonzalez said. We have to realize that we are the first line, right on the border, and we have to show that extra patriotism and that we are as American as any other part of this country, and when people come in and they cross the border, that they see that we love this country and that we get together when times like this (occur). Other veterans also attended by themselves or with their families simply to show love and support for what one of them has done in the line of conflict. I just came to show support for Espinoza. He was a good soldier that died for his country, and we came to pay him our respects to him and his family, said Jose Martinez, a veteran of the Vietnam War. I think that his legacy will live on forever because of the way it happened, and I think that legacy will go on for many years to come. One veteran even attended and stated that it is important to honor Espinoza because it goes to show how much these individuals sacrifice when they are deployed without knowing if they will ever be back to see their loved ones. As a soldier, I came to see this soldier because he is a friend of mine, said Alejandro Cantua, a Vietnam War veteran. It hurts me to see somebody in the military lose their life and to see how his parents are suffering right now because of this. His legacy will always live on as his parents will never stop keeping him in mind, and I will never forget him as well. It is a thing that really hurts. I cannot even explain how I feel, because he gave his all for his country even though many people do not appreciate what that means going to go fight. Relatives of service members also attended the public service to pay their respects. One of these individuals was the mother of a fellow Marine who used her lunch break to attend the service. My son had been deployed to Ramadi, Iraq twice, and thank God he came back, said Laura Garcia, mother of retired Marine Edgardo Guzman. I feel for her because he was a good boy. ... He accomplished his dreams of being a Marine. ... He was a good boy, educated, and he decided to protect his country. For Garcia, it was very emotional to see Espinozas mother cry and shed tears for her son who did not return from deployment. She relates as she remembers watching the news when her son was deployed and how soldiers and Marines were killed in battle while serving. My heart goes out to the family, and I know Laredo will always remember him and keep him in our minds and heart, Garcia said. Former school administrators and teachers were also in attendance during the public service. Among them was one of Rio Bravos school principals as he spoke about knowing the family for some time and how they are just as dedicated as their son in the community. David Lee Espinoza and his family have been members of the Rio Bravo community forever. Their children did attend Juarez-Lincoln Elementary School, and it just feels horrible to know that one of our children that we taught went out there and gave his life for our country and that it had to come to that, said Juarez-Lincoln Elementary School principal Roberto Ortiz. Such a young life full of promise was taken away. ... (His parents) have always come out there and have been very supportive and very good people, and I admire and respect them a lot and a great deal. According to Ortiz, he remembers Espinozas younger brothers at the elementary school and how Espinoza would go and pick up his brothers. He also remembers Espinozas mother, Elizabeth Holguin, always going to the school for the children as well as his stepfather Victor Dominguez. Ortiz said that the school was impacted greatly when they found out about the fallen Marines passing. He believes that Espinoza is a good role model for many local children to follow. It is somebody that I know the children can look up to and see someone who lived his life ... with a sense of patriotic duty and respect, and someone who wanted to make a difference, and he did, Ortiz said. Also attending were some regular citizens with no ties to the family or the military. They instead just wished to pay tribute to Laredos fallen Marine. I came here because I just wanted to pay tribute with all my relatives to honor our local hero, as it is a very touching gesture that I think we owe him, and to thank him for his service and also to thank his beautiful family, said VMT music teacher Robert M. Lopez. I believe his legacy will continue to live on Laredo is a community that always comes together in situations like these, and also the community of Rio Bravo so I think he is going to be remembered a very long, long time. As the night came, people continued to come in and out of the funeral home to honor the fallen hero. And one veteran put it nicely when describing how his service showed that he was not just the hero of his family or city but all over. I know his mom said that he is her hero, Quijano said. But the way I feel, he is everybodys hero. jorge.vela@lmtonline.com As the community continues to mourn the loss of Lance Cpl. David Lee Espinoza, one local businessman has decided to do his part by starting a scholarship fund for the high school from which the former Marine graduated. The scholarship is intended to benefit any student from Espinozas alma mater of Lyndon B. John High School. The scholarship criteria are still being determined and funds are still being collected, and the organizers are asking the community for donations. Dr. Ikes opened up an account for the Laredo Area Community Foundation and people have been contributing, said Ike Epstein, a veteran and the CEO of Dr. Ikes Home Centers. I did it on my own as I felt that we as a community needed to honor our servicemen and especially Cpl. Espinoza. Its going to be a scholarship for students at LBJ in honor of Cpl. Espinoza as he studied there and graduated, and this is for his honor and memory. Epstein said he got the idea for the scholarship when he saw one of Webb Countys own was one of the 13 U.S. service members killed in the Afghanistan attack. The important thing is that this is a community effort, as when I saw the news, as I am a veteran, I decided when I saw it that we had to do something for our veterans, Epstein said. All contributions, small or big, are accepted and appreciated and will help grow this scholarship as the more people that donate, then the bigger the collection of money and the more we can give out through the scholarship. All the collected funds in the account created by Epstein will go to the Laredo Area Community Foundation. Once the criteria are set for how the scholarship will be offered, the organization will also be in charge of distributing the funds to recipients. LACF creates a culture of giving back to this community and helps donors attain their philanthropic goals, President of Laredo Area Community Foundation Candy Hein said. Opening a fund with the Laredo Area Community Foundation is simple and flexible with a variety of fund options from which donors can choose. LACF establishes endowments which provide dependable, perpetual income to donors chosen cause. Epstein said the scholarship is one of many things that should be done to honor Espinoza. He offered the supreme sacrifice in protecting our nation, Epstein said. He was right on the front lines. Epstein said he planned to attend the public service being offered for Espinoza on Sunday. Hein said Espinozas legacy should be valued and always remembered, as he was born in a time when the war started and ultimately his life was taken away just a few days before the countrys longest war came to an end. The goal by Epstein is to raise anywhere between $50,000 to $100,000 and to make the scholarship an annual offering. He believes Espinoza should be honored forever due to his service. Epstein said over $20,000 has already been collected for the scholarship. Hein said with the scholarship money that the principal is permanently invested with a disbursement of 4% of annual income after the third year of growth, so the fund will continue growing over time. Epstein said a committee is being formed to determine criteria for the scholarship. Epstein said he is interested in working with the principal of LBJ to know what works best for the school. People can donate to the scholarship fund by sending checks to the Laredo Area Community Foundation or visiting laredofoundation.org. jorge.vela@lmtonline.com HUNTSVILLE, Texas (AP) A Texas death row inmate won a reprieve Wednesday evening from execution for killing a convenience store worker during a 2004 robbery that garnered $1.25 after claiming the state was violating his religious freedom by not letting his pastor lay hands on him at the time of his lethal injection. The U.S. Supreme Court blocked John Henry Ramirezs execution about three hours after he could have been executed. He is condemned for fatally stabbing 46-year-old Pablo Castro, who worked at a Corpus Christi convenience store. Ramirez was in a small holding cell a few feet from the Texas death chamber at the Huntsville Unit prison when he was told of the reprieve by Texas Department of Criminal Justice spokesman Jason Clark. He was quiet when I let him know, Clark said. He shook his head and said: Thank you very much. God bless you. In its brief order, the court directed its clerk to establish a briefing schedule so Ramirez's case could be argued in October or November. Prosecutors say Ramirez stabbed Castro 29 times during a series of robberies in which the inmate and two women sought money following a three-day drug binge. Ramirez fled to Mexico but was arrested 3 years later. Seth Kretzer, Ramirezs lawyer, had argued the Texas Department of Criminal Justice was violating the death row inmates First Amendment rights to practice his religion by denying his request to have his pastor touch him and vocalize prayers when he was executed. He called the ban on vocal prayer a spiritual gag order. It is hostile toward religion, denying religious exercise at the precise moment it is most needed: when someone is transitioning from this life to the next, Kretzer said in court documents. Lower appeals courts had rejected Ramirezs argument. The request by Ramirez, 37, is the latest clash between death row inmates and prison officials in Texas and other states over the presence of spiritual advisers in the death chamber. In recent years, the Supreme Court has granted stays halting several executions in Texas and Alabama over the presence of clergy or spiritual advisers in the death chamber. The only execution stays the Supreme Court has granted in recent years have been related to issues of religious practice or discrimination. In April, the Texas prison system reversed a two-year ban on allowing spiritual advisers in the death chamber. The ban came after the U.S. Supreme Court in 2019 halted the execution of another Texas inmate who had argued his religious freedom was being violated because his Buddhist spiritual adviser wasnt allowed to accompany him. That inmate, Patrick Murphy, remains on death row. Texas previously allowed state-employed clergy to accompany inmates into the chamber, but its prison staff included only Christian and Muslim clerics. The new policy allows an inmates approved spiritual adviser to be in the chamber but the two cannot have any contact and vocal prayers during the execution are not allowed. Texas prison officials say direct contact poses a security risk and the vocal prayer could be disruptive and would go against maintaining an orderly process. Aside from some prison officials, an inmates final statement and a doctor who announces the time of death, no one else usually formally speaks during an execution. Dana Moore, Ramirezs spiritual adviser the last four years, said the request to let him touch Ramirez was about letting the inmate practice his Christian faith and treating him with a certain amount of dignity. Moore and Kretzer say the laying of hands is a symbolic act in which religious leaders put their hands on someone in order to offer comfort during prayer or confer a spiritual blessing at the moment of someones death. Johns sentence wasnt death and you cant have any meaningful contact, said Moore, who is pastor at Second Baptist Church in Corpus Christi. He is paying for his crime. I guess the question that would come up, is that not enough? But Mark Skurka, the lead prosecutor at Ramirezs 2008 trial, said while he believes a death row inmate should have a spiritual adviser at the time of execution, there should be limitations based on security concerns. Pablo Castro didnt get to have somebody praying over him as this guy stabbed him 29 times. Pablo Castro didnt get afforded such niceties and things like to have a clergyman present, said Skurka, now retired after later serving as Nueces County district attorney. Castro, who had nine children, had worked at the convenience store for more than a decade when he was killed. He was a good guy. He would help people out in the neighborhood. Everybody liked him, Skurka said. Two women who took part in the robberies and were convicted on lesser charges remain in prison. Six more executions are scheduled for later this year in Texas, the nations busiest capital punishment state. Lockport, NY (14094) Today Some clouds this evening will give way to mainly clear skies overnight. Low around 55F. Winds light and variable.. Tonight Some clouds this evening will give way to mainly clear skies overnight. Low around 55F. Winds light and variable. Former government Minister and Fianna Fail insider Conor Lenihan has penned the first full biography of Albert Reynolds, providing an all-round portrait of Reynolds determined climb to power and swift descent amid a maelstrom of controversy. Albert Reynolds: Risktaker for Peace covers both Reynolds business and political life before and after his period as Taoiseach. Longford's Albert Reynolds was a 'dealmaker supreme,' says John Major Northern Irelands peace process would not have come about had it not been for the part played by former taoiseach Albert Reynolds, former British Prime Minister Sir John Major has said. From his early days in Roscommon and Longford, Reynolds determination and hard work saw him rise from a clerical job with Irish Rail to become one of Irelands best-known promoters. But it is as creator of the template for peace on the island of Ireland that he, deservedly, will be best remembered. Reynolds made his first fortune as a dancehall promoter. In the 1960s, still only 30, he became rich beyond his dreams, married, bought a home outright, and built a strong business reputation. Reynolds extraordinary progress from the cut-throat world of business to local politics, and, ultimately, government ministries, was driven by the entrepreneurial spirit and impatience that became the hallmark of his success and his failure. Appointed as Taoiseach in 1992, by 1994 he had been drummed out of office, yet in that brief period he confounded his critics by fast-tracking an end to the violence of the Troubles, with the IRA and Loyalist ceasefires. It is in detailing the personal courage of Reynolds, as he persuaded paramilitaries to drop their lethal campaigns of violence, that the books subtitle becomes increasingly apparent. Reynolds met directly with members of the IRA at a time when they were escalating their attacks. He was constantly warning John Major that MI6/MI5 were misreading IRA intentions and Reynolds was actually far more aware than most of his contemporaries just how dangerous the IRA threat to the southern state was. Quoting intelligence sources, and Reynolds privately held views, the author reveals that the British authorities were spooked by IRA attacks on the City of London financial district. He also reveals a daring bid by the IRA to bring market trading in London to a standstill an operation prevented by a timely raid by the Irish Special Branch. In researching Albert Reynolds: Risktaker for Peace, the author spoke directly to Reynolds friends, senior diplomats, former Taoisigh, colleague ministers, and key intermediaries that formed the backbone of the peace process. Longford memorial lecture told of 'remarkable' bond between Reynolds and Major The close personal and professional relationship enjoyed between the late Albert Reynolds and his British counterpart Sir John Major has been described as nothing short of remarkable. This is an insiders account of the Reynolds life, and Lenihan gathers insight from his time as a journalist, intermediary, and political colleague to paint Reynolds in a fresh light. During his career as a journalist and a fourteen-year stint in politics, Conor Lenihan worked and became friends with Albert Reynolds, who co-opted him, behind the scenes, to help with the peace process. Lenihans first book, the bestselling Haughey: Prince of Power, was published in 2015. Albert Reynolds: Risktaker for Peace, published by Merrion Press, is on sale now: 22.95. Longford Fine Gael Senator Micheal Carrigy has backed the Criminal Assets Bureau (CAB) in its continued fight against organised crime after it revealed today of how it returned 5 million of crime cash to the State last year. In its annual report, the Bureau confirmed it had set aside 4.2 million under Proceeds of Crime legislation and 1.1 million returned to the Department for Public Expenditure and Reform by utilising, for the first time, part of the Criminal Justice Act 1994. The money seized was the proceeds of organised crime, money laundering, tax evasion and social welfare theft. Senator Carrigy gave the report his full backing after it was was submitted to Justice Minister Heather Humphreys. "The 2020 Annual Report evidences the hard work and dedication of Chief Bureau Officer Mick Gubbins and all of the staff and agencies involved in CAB and I would like to thank them for their ongoing efforts and determination to deprive criminals of the benefits of their illegal activity," said Senator Carrigy. "This Government is fully committed to continuing to support the excellent work that the Bureau does. Senator Carrigy said evidence of the return to the taxpayer in CAB's endeavours was very much illustrated locally. In January 2021 Minister McEntee confirmed funding of 250k would be provided for a new pilot community safety partnership scheme in Longford," he said. "The partnership in Longford was one of the three launched by the government in an effort to develop more co-ordination and co-operation between various state agencies, communities and local authorities around policing and social issues and also to reflect the significant successes of An Garda Siochana and the Criminal Assets Bureau in disrupting criminal activity and seizing proceeds of crime by providing additional funding for investment in community safety projects. "The fund will encourage and recognise the efforts of local communities on the ground to improve community safety based on their local experience and unique perspectives. "The goal of these projects is to make communities safer for families, residents and businesses in Longford and throughout the country. Crime By Chris Boyle Published: September 13 2021 Fernando Garnecho, 55, was wearing a black Homeland Security jacket with law enforcement insignia patches, cops say. Suffolk County Police have arrested a man in Brentwood for impersonating a United States Department of Homeland Security agent. A Canine Section officer was driving a marked police vehicle eastbound on the Long Island Expressway, near Exit 53, when he observed a 2019 Audi A8, with emergency blue and red lights activated in the windshield, traveling eastbound on the shoulder of the HOV lane. The officer initiated a traffic stop of the Audi. Fernando Garnecho, the driver of the Audi, portrayed himself to the officer as an on-duty United States Department of Homeland Security agent. He was wearing a black Homeland Security jacket with law enforcement insignia patches and the letters ICE on front and back and had a black replica handgun in a leather holster on the passenger seat. He also possessed a placard, and other law enforcement identifiers, which appeared to be fabricated. Upon further investigation, it was determined that Garnecho is not employed by the United States Department of Homeland Security and he was placed under arrest. Fourth Squad detectives charged Garnecho, 55, of Elmhurst, Queens, with Criminal Impersonation 1st Degree. He is being held overnight at the Third Precinct and is scheduled to be arraigned at First District Court in Central Islip on September 8. Detectives are asking anyone with information, or who believes they may have been victimized by Garnecho, to contact the Fourth Squad at 631-854-8443. 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!) Abcam PLC - Cambridge, England-based life science research tools - After changing year-end accounting date, publishes interim and annual results ended June 30. Swings to pretax profit in six months to June 30 of GBP9.2 million from GBP17.6 million loss year before. Interim revenue rises to GBP150.2 million from GBP121.8 million. In the 12 month period, pretax profit grows to GBP25.4 million from GBP8.4 million, as revenue rises to GBP297.7 million from GBP260.0 million. Chief Executive Alan Hirzel says: "Our team is dedicated to supporting life science discovery and the translation of discovery to social impact. Our financial performance, including 29% revenue growth, is one indicator of the trust the market has in our team, our innovation, and our brand. "As I look ahead, I am convinced more than ever that we can extend our market leadership, sustain durable growth, and become an increasingly influential partner within our industry." Notes laboratory activity and demand have continued to gradually recover and trading performance year-to-date is in line with the company's expectations, with mid-teens constant exchange rate revenue growth in July and August. Current stock price: 1,494.00 pence, down 1.6% Monday Year-to-date change: down 3.6% By Paul McGowan; paulmcgowan@alliancenews.com Copyright 2021 Alliance News Limited. All Rights Reserved. 1 September 2021 METALS EXPLORATION PLC ("Metals Exploration" or the "Company") Directorate Changes Metals Exploration plc (AIM: MTL), the Philippine gold producer, announces the appointment of Mr Steven Smith as a Non-Executive Director of the Company with immediate effect. Steven has been appointed as the representative of MTL (Luxembourg) Sarl ("MTL (Lux)") and MTL (Lux)'s former representative, Andrew Stancliffe, has therefore stepped down from the board with immediate effect. Steven is currently a director of Candy Ventures S.A.R.L, a Luxembourg based Venture Capital business, funded by British entrepreneur Nick Candy. Steven qualified as a Chartered Accountant at BDO and subsequently as a Chartered Tax Adviser whilst at KPMG. He lectured in Taxation at FTC for four years and then held a number of senior financial positions at large Public and Private Groups culminating in him being appointed as CFO of a FTSE 250 company. Steven now holds a range of Non-Executive roles at companies including Audioboom Group plc, an AIM quoted media business. David Cather, Non-Executive Chairman of Metals Exploration, commented: "It is with great pleasure we welcome Steven to the Board. His wide breath of experience will be a valuable addition as the Company continues its transformation into a mature profitable company. We acknowledge Andrew's significant contribution to the Board during what was a turbulent and challenging period for the Company. We wish him success in his next endeavours." For further information please visit or contact www.metalsexploration.com Metals Exploration PLC Via Tavistock Communications Limited +44 (0) 207 920 3150 Nominated & Financial Adviser: STRAND HANSON LIMITED James Spinney, James Dance, Rob Patrick +44 (0) 207 409 3494 Financial Adviser & Broker: HANNAM & PARTNERS Nilesh Patel +44 (0) 207 907 8500 Public Relations: TAVISTOCK COMMUNICATIONS LIMITED Jos Simson, Nick Elwes +44 (0) 207 920 3150 Additional information on the Directorate Appointments The following additional information is provided in accordance with AIM Rule 17 and paragraph (g) of Schedule Two of the AIM Rules for Companies. Full name Steven Miles Smith Age 62 Current directorships: Arctic Shores Limited Audioboom Group PLC Bletchley Consulting Limited* Candy Ventures S.A.R.L Collectability Limited Hanzo Archives Limited Hunscote Strategic Consultants Limited Hunscote Stud Limited L'Astuce Group Limited MTL (Guernsey) Limited Reef Securities Limited Skim It Ltd SkimIt Loan Limited SPV Investments Limited Tenzing Limited Vibe Group Holdings Limited Historical directorships from previous 5 years: 07446749 Limited Side Swallow Limited The Candy Foundation Limited The Nicholls Spinal Injury Foundation Warsmith Limited Notes:- * Bletchley Consulting Limited was formerly dissolved but has since been reinstated. The filings at the Guernsey Registry are expected to be updated in due course. Mr Smith was a director of 07446749 Limited before it went into voluntary creditors liquidation in November 2019. There was no loss to preferential creditors but the shortfall to unsecured creditors was 2,517,072.44. Mr Smith has no direct or indirect interest in the Company's issued share capital. Mr Smith has been appointed as a nominee director for MTL (Lux) which holds 969,532,143 ordinary shares of 1 penny each in the capital of the Company, representing approximately 46.81 per cent. of the Company's issued share capital. There is no further information to be disclosed in relation to the directorate appointments pursuant to AIM Rule 17 or Schedule Two paragraph (g) of the AIM Rules for Companies. - END - Weather Alert ...The National Weather Service in New Orleans LA has issued a Flood Warning for the following rivers in Louisiana... Comite River At Comite Joor Rd affecting East Baton Rouge Parish. For the Amite And Comite Rivers...including Olive Branch, Comite Joor Rd, Darlington, Grangeville, Magnolia, Denham Springs, Bayou Manchac Point, Bayou Manchac Near Little Prairie, Port Vincent, French Settlement, Maurepas...Minor flooding is forecast. PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS... Motorists should not attempt to drive around barricades or drive cars through flooded areas. Turn around, don't drown when encountering flooded roads. Most flood deaths occur in vehicles. Additional information is available at www.weather.gov/lix. Click on the Rivers and Lakes menu for forecasts and observations. The next statement will be issued when updates are needed. && The National Weather Service in New Orleans has issued a * Flood Warning for the Comite River At Comite Joor Rd. * From this evening to just after midnight tonight. * At 8:15 AM CDT Wednesday the stage was 13.2 feet. * Flood stage is 20.0 feet. * Minor flooding is forecast. * Forecast...The river is expected to rise to a crest of 20.0 feet this evening. * Impact...At 20.0 feet, High water will prevent recreational and industrial activity from Louisiana Highway 64 downstream to the Amite River junction. Farm animals and equipment should be moved to higher ground. && DEVON -- Very soon the horses will arrive, volunteers will be in place, grooms, trainers and riders will be getting their horse in top form an Exton, PA (19341) Today Thunderstorms early, mainly cloudy overnight with a few showers. Low 66F. Winds light and variable. Chance of rain 100%.. Tonight Thunderstorms early, mainly cloudy overnight with a few showers. Low 66F. Winds light and variable. Chance of rain 100%. Exton, PA (19341) Today Thunderstorms early, then variable clouds overnight with still a chance of showers. Low 66F. Winds light and variable. Chance of rain 70%.. Tonight Thunderstorms early, then variable clouds overnight with still a chance of showers. Low 66F. Winds light and variable. Chance of rain 70%. Greg Sukiennik has worked at all three Vermont News & Media newspapers and was their managing editor from 2017-19. He previously worked for ESPN.com, for the AP in Boston, and at The Berkshire Eagle in Pittsfield, Mass. The Centre on Monday told the Supreme Court that it was ready to constitute a committee of experts to look into charges of unauthorised surveillance using the Pegasus software. "We will set up a committee of domain experts. The petitioners who say their numbers were put under interception, can be considered by the committee," the Solicitor General said. The Supreme Court was hearing a batch of pleas seeking an independent probe into the alleged snooping on certain people in India involving Pegasus spyware. This work by Jonson Pierrot is among the 60 paintings, drawings and prints now on display at the Hillstrom Museum of Art in St. Peter. "Art for All: The Swedish Experience in Mid-America" focuses on 20 Swedish American artists. Robert Elton Rector, 84 yrs of Wilburton, Ok passed away at His home in Wilburton, Ok on Friday, September 3, 2021. Memorial Services will be on Friday, October 1, 2021 at 2 pm at the Waldrop Funeral Home Chapel in Wilburton, Ok Officiating will be Mr. Jay Caudill. Services are under the dir Atlanta, GA (30303) Today Cloudy with periods of rain. Low 67F. Winds E at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 100%. Rainfall around a half an inch.. Tonight Cloudy with periods of rain. Low 67F. Winds E at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 100%. Rainfall around a half an inch. Atlanta, GA (30303) Today Rain likely. Low 67F. Winds E at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 100%. Rainfall near a quarter of an inch.. Tonight Rain likely. Low 67F. Winds E at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 100%. Rainfall near a quarter of an inch. Marietta, GA (30060) Today Rain likely. Low 66F. Winds E at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 100%. Rainfall near a quarter of an inch.. Tonight Rain likely. Low 66F. Winds E at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 100%. Rainfall near a quarter of an inch. Marietta, GA (30060) Today Periods of rain. Low 66F. Winds E at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 100%. Rainfall around a quarter of an inch.. Tonight Periods of rain. Low 66F. Winds E at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 100%. Rainfall around a quarter of an inch. Marietta, GA (30060) Today Rain. Low 66F. Winds E at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 100%. Rainfall near a quarter of an inch.. Tonight Rain. Low 66F. Winds E at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 100%. Rainfall near a quarter of an inch. Meadville, PA (16335) Today Some clouds this evening will give way to mainly clear skies overnight. Low near 55F. Winds light and variable.. Tonight Some clouds this evening will give way to mainly clear skies overnight. Low near 55F. Winds light and variable. Advertisement The state during its mega vaccination drive administered 28,91,021 doses of vaccine on Sunday leading to the total number of vaccines administered in the state to four crore.Ma Subramanian further told IANS, "Tamil Nadu is perhaps the only state to administer such a large number of vaccines on a single day. Of course Uttar Pradesh has administered 20 lakh vaccines on a single day once but the population of that state is three times that of Tamil Nadu."He said that the state's health department has proved that it has the ability to administer such a high dose of vaccine and said that the people of the state have become highly aware of the importance of vaccination.The minister also said that there was a shortage in certain vaccination centres due to the heavy influx of people. He said that the health department officials have noted down the telephone and contact details of those people who could not be vaccinated even after reaching the camps and that they would be notified at the near future on the date of their inoculation.Tamil Nadu had announced to administer vaccines to 20 lakh of its eligible population in a mega vaccination drive on Sunday. The state had set up 40,000 vaccine centres and supplied 29 lakh doses of vaccines across the state.Health department officials told IANS that special care was taken in vaccinating people of the nine districts of Tamil Nadu that share borders with Kerala. It may be noted that Kerala has a high number of Covid-19 cases with a high Test Positivity Rate for the past several weeks.Chennai with 1.88 lakh doses of vaccine administered to the people topped the list of districts that had inoculated the maximum number of people. Coimbatore with 1.52 lakh doses followed the state capital. Tiruppur with 1.2 lakh, Tiruchi (1.1 lakh), Thanjavur (1.2 lakh), Madurai (1.2 lakh) and Tiruvallur with 1.01 lakh administered more than 1 lakh vaccines on Sunday. State health department officials said that other than these districts, 17 districts administered more than 50,000 vaccines each on Sunday.Source: IANS Taarak Mehta Ka Ooltah Chashma is one of the most hilarious shows on Indian television in today's time. The slapstick humour and the funny characters of the show, one of which is portrayed by Jethalal, has kept the audience hooked to their screens. Apart from that, even other characters of the show are equally entertaining. For example, Babita Ji, who plays the role of Jethalal's neighbour, is his one-sided 'true love'. However, very recently, there were rumours that Munmun Dutta (played by Babita Ji) is dating Jethalal's son from the serial, Tappu played by Raj Anadkat. Instagram/TMKOC_FC Instagram/Munmun Dutta Now, Munmun has come forward and expressed her rage about the rumours in a long post on Instagram. She lashed out and spoke about people spreading 'filth' about her. She said, "To the media and their zero credibility 'journos', who has given u the right to post imaginary made up articles in people's name about their private life without their consent? R u liable to the damage that you cause to their lives with your reckless behaviour? You don't stop at shoving your cameras on the face of a grieving woman who just lost her love or lost her son, in a funeral, just for your trps. You can stoop to any level to create sensational articles/headlines at the cost of someone's dignity, but are you going to take responsibility for wrecking havoc in their lives?? If no then, you should be ashamed of yourself!! While she addressed this to the media, she also wrote to the general public and lashed out at trolls: To the general public, I had far better expectations from you. But the FILTH that you have showered in the comments section, even from the so called 'literate' ones proves how regressive a society we are. Women are constantly age shamed, slut shamed, mom shamed at the cost of your humour. Whether your humour drives someone to the edge of a mental breakdown or not, is never your concern. 13 years of entertaining people, and it didn't take 13 minutes for anyone of you to rip my dignity apart. So next time someone is clinically depressed or driven to take their own lives, pause and think whether it was YOUR WORDS that drove that person to the edge or not. Today, I am ashamed of calling myself a daughter of India." Instagram/Munmun Dutta This isn't the first time she has been in trouble. Earlier, #ArrestMunmunDutta started trending on Twitter in May. She was slammed for using a casteist slur in a video for which the actor also posted an apology. There were also FIR's lodged against her. On the recent matter, Raj also took to Instagram and spoke about cooked up, false stories. Munmun has been a part of Taarak Mehta Ka Ooltah Chashmah for a long time and rose to fame post this show. She started as a model and debuted with Hum Sab Baraati Hai. She was also seen in films like Mumbai Express and Holiday. The qualifying deadline for the November special election for State Senate District 32 was Sept. 3, and eight candidates have signed up to appear on the ballot. Voters in the district, which includes part of Lauderdale County and Meridian, will elect someone to replace Sen. Sampson Jackson II (D-Preston). Jackson was first elected to the Senate in 1992 and announced in July he would be retiring after almost 30 years of service. Candidates qualifying for the Senate District 32 special election include: W.J. Coleman, a former councelor at Parchman who lives in Louisville. Stan Copeland, a member of the Northwest Water Association Board of Directors who lives in Preston. James Creer, a member of the Kemper County Board of Education. Justin Curtis Creer, a former Kemper County District 3 Supervisor. Minh Duong, a Meridian optometrist. Rod Hickman, a county prosecutor with Noxubee County Justice Court who lives in Macon. Kim Houston, a former Meridian City Council Ward 4 Alderwoman. Keith K. Jackson, son of Sen. Jackson. The special election for Jacksons seat is set for Nov. 2. Polls will be open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. If no candidate receives more than 50 percent of the vote, a runoff election will be held Nov. 23. Voter Registration Sampson Jackson retires from State Senate District 32 seat Sen. Sampson Jackson II (D-Preston) has retired from the Mississippi Senate after serving D The end of the qualifying window for candidates coincides with National Voter Registration Month, and Secretary of State Michael Watson is encouraging all eligible Mississippians to register or update their registration to vote. The right to vote is one of the greatest liberties in our country, Watson said in a press release announcing the initiative. In 2020 alone, more than 113,000 Mississippians registered to vote. As of today, the Statewide Election Management System reported roughly 31,000 newly registered voters since January 1, 2021. As the state's Chief Elections Officer, it's my responsibility to ensure all eligible Mississippians exercise their right to vote. Thats why we are more than excited to participate in this national initiative to promote educational resources and build an informed voting population. To register to vote in Mississippi, residents must have lived in their town for at least 30 days prior to the election, be at least 18 years old, not declared mentally incompetent by a court and not have been convicted of a disenfranchising crime. Disenfranchising crimes in Mississippi include: voter fraud, murder, rape, bribery, theft, arson, obtaining money or goods under false pretense, perjury, forgery, embezzlement, bigamy, armed robbery, extortion, felony bad check, felony shoplifting, larceny, receiving stolen property, robbery, timber larceny, unlawful taking of a motor vehicle, statutory rape, carjacking and larceny under lease or rental agreement. Lauderdale County residents can register to vote by visiting the Circuit Clerks office, room 104, at 500 Constitution Ave. The office is open 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday, and voter registration is accepted at anytime. Mail-in voter registration forms can be found online at lauderdalecounty.org or on the Secretary of States elections website, yallvote.ms. The Circuit Clerks office will also be open 8 a.m. to noon Saturday, Oct. 2 to give residents a final chance to register prior to the special election. The deadline to register to vote in the special election is the following Monday, Oct. 4. In summer 2020, The New York Times coordinated a nationwide project to document the lives of Americans out of work because of the COVID-19 pandemic. The study involved collaborating with 11 other local newsrooms around the U.S. The Messenger-Inquirer was the only newspaper from Kentucky in the collaboration. The resulting collection of stories was published Oct. 23, 2020, in the New York Times print edition and at nytimes.com/outofwork. The following list is the Messenger-Inquirer's local unemployment coverage from that time period; read more by clicking the "New York Times Project" header. Click on "Out Of Work In America" to go to the full The cut includes 70,000 units in September, of which 40,000 units are overseas and 30,000 units are in Japan.In October, it will reduce production by 330,000 units - 150,000 units in Japan and 180,000 units outside of the East Asian country.These changes are based on its August production plan. Toyota... (L-R)Catherine Jinnings, Samuel Adler, and Jada McClendon The Farmer School Department of Entrepreneurship has announced its latest cohort of Ryan Family Scholars for 2021-2022. Funded by a $1 million gift from Jim Ryan 80 and his wife Michelle, the program takes a holistic approach to supporting student success. Recipients receive tuition, room & board and fees up to $20,000 annually. Students may major in any discipline, provided they are minoring or co-majoring in entrepreneurship. The program also provides access to the Farmer Schools unique Passport Program and ensures a spot in the John W. Altman Institute for Entrepreneurships Altman Summer Scholars Internship program, a program that annually places more than fifty entrepreneurship co-majors and minors on internships at startups and social ventures, angel groups and venture capital firms, startup accelerators, and companies across the nation, John W. Altman Institute for Entrepreneurship director Tim Holcomb explained. It makes a Miami entrepreneurship education possible for students with high financial needs. The 2021-22 Ryan Scholars are: Samuel Adler, first-year marketing major from Cleveland, Ohio Jada McClendon, first-year kinesiology major from Lima, Ohio Catherine (Cat) Jinnings, first-year biology major from Cleveland, Ohio I got the call informing me that I was a Ryan Scholar and my jaw dropped and my moms looking at me like Whats wrong? and I told her and she was so excited for me. We pulled over in a parking lot and had a mini celebration, Jinnings recalled. It was like a sign to attend Miami because at that time I didnt know what school to choose and the deadline was quickly approaching. When I was deciding what college to go to, it was a very hard decision, because I wanted to come to a school that felt like home. I was originally planning on going to Ohio State University, because they offered me a full ride scholarship. One day I was on my way back from a visit to OSU when I got the call letting me know I was a Ryan Scholar. The best way I can explain the feeling of receiving this information is overwhelmed, McClendon said. Honestly I hated Ohio State due to the size of the school, but at the time I felt like that is what would be best for my future. I am extremely grateful that I received another full ride academic scholarship and when I visited the campus I knew this would be my new home away from home. My initial reaction of becoming a Ryan Scholar was shock and disbelief. Just another endless scam call, I thought to myself. After speaking to Michelle Thomas about what it means to be a Ryan Scholar, I was beyond grateful. I knew the hard work I have been demanding of myself through my youth was finally paying off, Adler said. Being named a Ryan Scholar has changed my life, giving me a whole new sense of motivation to not only work incredibly hard for the opportunity that I have been given, but also pay it forward later on in life just as the Ryan family has done for me. Jenny Darroch, dean of the Farmer School, added, We are delighted to have these talented students at the Farmer School and are so very thankful for the gift from the Ryans that made it possible. Starting with last years cohort, the scholarship will be given to 16 students over a seven-year period. Miami is No. 6 among public universities on the list for strong commitment to undergraduate teaching. Teaching and innovation recognized By Carole Johnson, university news and communications At No. 46 among national public universities, Miami University is in the top 50 of U.S. News & World Reports just-released 2022 rankings. In a special list, Miami is in the top tier of national institutions recognized for unusually strong commitment to undergraduate teaching. This is the 12th year that Miami has been recognized for its faculty commitment to teaching. Miami is No. 6 among public universities on the list for strong commitment to undergraduate teaching, and the university moved up to No. 22 including private schools. Miami is listed among outstanding public universities who rank in the top five for this special list, including Georgia State University, the University of Maryland-Baltimore County, the College of William & Mary, Arizona State University, and the University of Michigan. We are honored to be recognized in these newest rankings, Miami University President Gregory Crawford said. This achievement reflects Miami Universitys commitment to educational excellence and student success and further affirms the value of our degree programs and the dedication and excellence of our faculty. Faculty-student connections enhance teaching and learning Junior Denali Selent walks with Jonathan Levy, associate professor of Geology. Selent is student representative, and Levy is co-chair, of Miami's Climate Action Task Force. The faculty focus on teaching has long been recognized as a strength at Miami and is marked by numerous faculty-student connections, including: More than 2,800 Miami undergraduates conduct research with faculty annually. About 55% of Miami students study away (in the U.S.) or abroad, making Miami a national leader in providing such experiences. Many of these opportunities are led by Miami faculty. Faculty and staff advising support the 50% of students who carry a double major or minor. Miami faculty provide professional development support for students through the Center for Career Exploration and Success. Jonathan Levy, associate professor of Geology, said Miami provides opportunities for students to learn, create new knowledge, and make the world better. Our job is simple, to improve society. Thats all. No pressure, said Levy, who also is the director of Miamis Institute for the Environment and Sustainability. As a faculty member and hopefully a mentor, I provide opportunities for students to exchange ideas, challenge assumptions, and become better global citizens. These are values that all Miami faculty take very seriously, and it all starts with personal interactions. Junior Denali Selent is a member of Miamis Climate Action Task Force, where her passion for sustainability deepened. She is an Engineering major and Environmental Science co-major. My professors work hard to make sure that I am not only grasping the academic material but also that I am developing skills, like the ability to think critically, communicate and work on a team, and systematically break down problems, she said, adding that Miami gave her that confidence boost she needed. Emil Barr also knows that there is something special at Miami an entrepreneurial mindset that permeates from professor to student. During his first year at Miami, Barr founded and launched Step Up Social. The company manages social media accounts for clients. Emil Barr, second year Business Economics and International Studies double major. Miami and the Farmer School of Business supported us every step of the way, said Barr, who is a second-year Business Economics and International Studies double major. That commitment to teaching defined by U.S. News & World Report in its rankings is illustrated by the advisory board Barr was able to form for his company. Miami professors with expertise in management, marketing, entrepreneurship, and digital content spent countless hours with Barrs student-run, start-up team. We created something truly special here at Miami a business that combines the experience of leading professors with young peoples understanding and love for social media. Barr uses the word amazing many times to describe his experiences, including the connections he has made. The entrepreneurship program here at Miami put us in touch with CEOs of many different venture capital firms and accelerators, giving us the network we needed to break into the start-up world, he said. Innovation recognized Miami is ranked 30th among national public universities in the Most Innovative Schools list. Among all national universities, Miami is ranked at No. 57. The category recognizes schools making the most innovative improvements toward curriculum, faculty, students, campus life, technology, and facilities. Among public and private universities and colleges combined, Miami is listed as No. 103 out of 391 universities on the National Universities list. Among public universities, Miami is No. 86 for Best Value Schools. It also is in the top 50 national public universities in the category of Best College for Veterans, ranking No. 45. Other U.S. News accolades include: Best Undergraduate Business Programs: No. 50 among national public universities. Best Undergraduate Computer Science Programs: No. 117 among national public universities. Best Undergraduate Engineering Programs (not doctorate-granting): No. 14 among national public universities, excluding U.S. service academies. Academic Programs to Look For: Miamis Learning Communities rank No. 8 among national public universities. Some U.S. News rankings are based on data, others on reputation. The list of universities with an unusually strong commitment to undergraduate teaching and the list of innovative schools come from a survey of college presidents, provosts, and admissions deans. AG Nessel Joins Local Muskegon Expungement Efforts for Veterans AG Nessel Joins Local Muskegon Expungement Efforts for Veterans September 10, 2021 MUSKEGON - Michigan Attorney Dana Nessel helped welcome attendees to the Veteran Resource Deployment event held in Muskegon Friday. The free expo - hosted by VanDyk Mortgage, JCI Greater Muskegon and the Muskegon County Department of Veterans Affairs - is offering wide-ranging resources for veterans and their families. Members of the Department of Attorney General were onsite to provide information regarding the expungement process. "Military servicemembers and their families give to our country each and every day, and it is my privilege to provide service to them through events like today," Nessel said. "My department has seen a significant increase in the number of applications submitted for expungement under the law. I believe our role in reviewing and processing expungement applications is so important because clearing a criminal record can make a real, meaningful difference in the life of an individual." Michigan's new expungement law - known as the Clean Slate law - took effect on April 11, 2021. The law created a specific process to expunge certain offenses that are no longer crimes in the wake of the passage of Proposal 1 in November 2018 that legalized the possession and use of recreational marijuana for adults in Michigan. Qualifying misdemeanor marijuana convictions may be expunged by individuals who complete a required application process. The new expungement law also expands the number of other misdemeanor and felony convictions a person may expunge. An individual convicted of up to three felonies, except life offenses and other serious felonies, and an unlimited number of certain misdemeanors can, with some exceptions, file an application with the convicting court to expunge all his or her convictions. Individuals with more than three felony convictions on their criminal record are not eligible to seek expungements under the new law. The Muskegon event runs until 2 p.m. Friday at the VanDyk Mortgage Convention Center. Information regarding Michigan's Clean Slate law and the expungement process is available via the Department of Attorney General website. ### Lynsey Mukomel agpress@michigan.gov Attorney General The Michigan Veterans Affairs Agency (MVAA) has awarded Veteran-Friendly Schools status to 63 universities, colleges and trade schools across Michigan for the 2021-22 school year. The state agency's Veteran-Friendly Schools (VFS) program recognizes postsecondary institutions committed to supporting the needs of military-connected students. Any institution of higher learning or training facility in Michigan eligible to receive veteran education benefits can apply for the program regardless of size or program delivery. This year's awardees range from a boat-building school to community colleges to Big Ten universities. MVAA Director Zaneta Adams noted that since the VFS program was created in 2013, there has been a steady increase in the number of schools dedicated to enrolling student veterans and enhancing the Michigan workforce with each graduating class. "I would like to extend my best wishes for a successful school year to all student veterans and their families - from the student who is just beginning their educational pursuits to the student veteran who will make the transition from boots and a helmet to a cap and gown," Adams said. "We are thankful for the commitment of our 63 Veteran-Friendly Schools to our country's veterans by ensuring that these students are supported throughout their entire educational journey." The program awards Gold-, Silver- and Bronze-level status to institutions based on seven criteria: Established process for identifying student veterans Veteran-specific website Active student-operated veterans club or association Veteran-specific career services, resources, advising and/or outcome monitoring On-campus veteran's coordinator and/or designated staff point of contact System to evaluate and award credit based on military training and experience Monitoring and evaluation system for student veteran academic retention, transfer and graduation rates. Gold-level certification requires six or more of the criteria, while Silver schools must complete four and Bronze schools, three. "Since its inception, the Veteran-Friendly Schools program has recognized those institutions that have the drive and passion for serving those that have served in the military," said Chris Taylor, MVAA education analyst. "I'm excited to see the number of schools who continue to innovate in their programming grow, particularly after a pandemic changed the face of education at all levels, including our post-secondary institutions." Michigan institutions interested in becoming a Veteran-Friendly School should contact MVAA-Strategy@michigan.gov for more information. The following schools have been awarded Gold, Silver and Bronze-level Veteran-Friendly Schools, respectively: Department of State takes action against uncertified driver education provider in Southfield Department of State takes action against uncertified driver education provider in Southfield SEPTEMBER 13, 2021 SOUTHFIELD - The Michigan Department of State (MDOS) has issued a temporary cease and desist order to Overdrive SDK -doing business as Alpine Driving School-located at 24768 Lahser Road in Southfield. Alpine Driving School is owned and operated by Steven Clark, Danyalle Clark, Kenneth J. Woody and Kafi A. Woody. Following several consumer complaints, an inspection of the Southfield location was conducted on August 12. The business failed to provide student records when requested and was found to be in violation of the Driver Education Provider and Instructor Act as it enrolled students in Segment One and Segment Two driver education courses though not certified as a driver education provider by MDOS. The owners of the business may request an administrative hearing to contest the order. Additional administrative actions are also possible. The MDOS Office of Investigative Services inspects and investigates driver education providers and testing programs. Consumers who have a complaint against Overdrive SDK (Alpine Driving School) are encouraged to file a complaint using the following link: DES-P11 Statement of Complaint (michigan.gov). MDOS cannot facilitate refunds from uncertified providers nor issue certificates to students who may have participated in their courses. Consumers impacted may seek remedy by filing a formal criminal complaint against uncertified providers or pursue civil litigation. # # # For media questions, contact Aneta Kiersnowski at KiersnowskiA@Michigan.gov We welcome questions and comments at the Contact the Secretary of State page. Customers may call the Department of State Information Center to speak to a customer-service representative at 888-SOS-MICH (767-6424). A popular ranking of colleges and universities released Monday has placed several Connecticut institutions near the top of its lists. The U.S. News and World Reports 37th annual rankings put Yale University in its top five for best national universities and value, Wesleyan University within its top 20 national liberal arts colleges, and the University of Connecticut in its top 25 public schools. Other schools received high marks for select programs and regional strengths. The rankings evaluated more than 1,400 colleges and universities on up to 17 measures of academic quality, a press release read. The report takes into account many factors including graduation and retention rates; social mobility and student debt; faculty compensation and degree attainment; class sizes and student-faculty ratios; incoming student test scores and class rank; financial resources; and alumni giving. New this year, the U.S. News and World Report altered its approach to standardized test scores. Schools can receive full credit for SAT/ACT performance if 50 percent of their incoming students submit scores, compared to 75 percent previously. The change was made in response to a decline in test submissions during the fall 2020 admissions cycle, according to the press release. Prestigious Connecticut institutions Yale University and Wesleyan University ranked fifth in national universities and 17th in national liberal arts colleges, respectively. Yale tied with MIT for fourth last cycle, but the Ivy League school ranked first this year as the best value school, taking into account its academic quality and the average out-of-state attendance cost, including need-based financial aid. Quinnipiac University also ranked within the top 50 best value schools. Wesleyan tied with Barnard College in New York, Colby College in Maine, Colgate University in New York and Smith College in Massachusetts. It ranked 14th for best value in the country. UConn ranked 23rd among the nations public institutions, tying with Penn State and Rutgers. The school held the same ranking last year. The 2022 list marks UConns 10th consecutive year among the top 25 public universities. Consistency is a particularly important part of excellence, said Dr. Andrew Agwunobi, the interim president and CEO of UConn Health, in a statement. UConns placement among the nations top 25 universities over the past decade underscores its deep and abiding commitment to excellence in academics and student success. A press release for the school said its most impactful improvement this year was its faculty resources, including high degrees among faculty, appropriate class sizes, and good faculty compensation. Its validating to see advancements in areas we are intentionally targeting through university priorities, said Carl Lejuez, the provost and executive vice president for academic affairs. On the faculty side, we are engaged in a number of initiatives to attract and support a diverse array of excellent scholars with tangible efforts to retain them here at UConn. Average SAT scores for incoming students decreased, but UConn does not see that as cause for concern because of its holistic admissions process and piloting of a test-optional admissions policy, a press release read. While it is still very early, we are encouraged by the strong response to the test-optional pilot on the part of prospective students, said Nathan Fuerst, the vice president for enrollment planning and management. He added the entering class drew record applications and the most diverse class in university history. Trinity College in Hartford and Connecticut College in New London both ranked in the top 50 for national liberal arts colleges. Fairfield University ranked third among best northern regional universities, which offer few if any doctoral programs and grant less than half of degrees in liberal arts. The Connecticut State Colleges and Universities were also on that list, with Eastern Connecticut State University in Willimantic ranking 85th; Central Connecticut State University in New Britain 97th; Southern Connecticut State University in New Haven 103rd; and Western Connecticut State University in Danbury 114th. Sacred Heart just missed the top 200 but made the national universities list. This recognition is a testament to the educational excellence and successful outcomes we provide our students, said John Petillo, the president of Sacred Heart. We are proud of our students, faculty and staff who work hard to ensure the SHU experience is exceptional. We are pleased to be included again in this ranking among other excellent institutions. BOISE, Idaho (AP) More than 1,000 protesters gathered Monday in Boise during a visit by President Joe Biden to rail against his plan to bring the coronavirus pandemic under control, last year's presidential election and a host of other issues. Biden visited Boise as part of a swing through three Western states to promote his administration's use of a wartime law to aid in wildfire preparedness, survey wildfire damage and push his economic agenda. He arrived at the National Interagency Fire Center in Boise late Monday morning to meet with fire officials and Idaho Gov. Brad Little, a Republican. Lisa Mitchell, 65, of Middleton, Idaho, said she showed up to demonstrate because she doesnt believe the 2020 election was valid and thinks former President Donald Trump actually won. Im here to support Trump and stand for freedom, said Mitchell, who was wearing a Trump won 2020 sticker. Biden, Mitchell added, is "is in there illegally. Though some of former President Donald Trump's most fervent supporters believe his continued claims that the presidential election was stolen, there is no evidence of widespread fraud and Republican and Democratic election officials certified the election as valid. Courts have also repeatedly rejected lawsuits claiming the election was tainted. About a half-dozen Boise police officers were stationed at the entrance to the National Interagency Fire Center and other law enforcement officers patrolled the area on motorcycles. Police estimated the number of protesters to be at least 1,000 at its peak. The complex that houses the center is generally closed to the public and the protesters gathered outside its entrance. Many protesters carried expletive-laden signs or waved U.S. flags hung upside down as a signal of distress. Biden was also scheduled to visit Sacramento, California, and Denver during the two-day trip and will campaign in California for Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom, who faces a recall election on Tuesday. His administration last month activated the Defense Production Act to boost supplies from a U.S. Forest Service firefighting equipment supplier. Wildfire activity has been growing increasingly extreme across the West. Scientists say climate change has made the region much warmer and drier in recent decades and that it will continue to make wildfires and weather more extreme and destructive. Among the demonstrators was Chris Burns, of Boise, who said he attended the protest because I'm against everything Biden is for. Burns said he was irate over the president's sweeping new vaccine mandates for 100 million Americans announced last Thursday. The vaccine requirement says that all employers with more than 100 workers must require them to be vaccinated or test workers for the virus weekly. Workers at health facilities that receive federal Medicare or Medicaid will also have to be fully vaccinated, as well as employees of the executive branch and contractors who do business with the federal government. He's acting like a dictator, Burns said of Biden. Idaho has one of the lowest vaccination rates in the United States and the state's health care system is in danger of buckling as the delta variant sends COVID-19 case numbers skyrocketing. One in every 210 Idaho residents tested positive for COVID-19 within the past week, and the average number of daily new cases has increased by nearly 70% in the past two weeks. Idaho reached a record high with 613 patients hospitalized with COVID-19 on Wednesday, according to the most recent numbers available from the Idaho Department of Health and Welfare. Last week, state officials gave hospitals in northern Idaho permission to operate under crisis standards of care, a health care rationing measure intended to ensure that scarce resources such as hospital beds are first given to those most likely to benefit from treatment or survive. But opposition to wearing masks, social distancing and getting vaccinated remains high across the conservative and overwhelmingly Republican state. I don't think anybody should be forced to put something in their body, said Michelle Ballon, of Caldwell, as she held a sign saying that forced vaccines are medical rape." Several far-right groups leveraged Biden's trip as a way to show their opposition to his administration. Among them was the far-right Idaho Liberty Dogs, whose members frequently protest events heavily armed while wearing militia-style clothing. The group had promoted an Unwelcoming of Joe Biden in Boise protest. Miste Gardner-Karlfeldt, the director of the anti-vaccine group Health Freedom Idaho, also urged followers to protest Bidens arrival. Some members of the Peoples Rights organization founded by anti-government activist and far-right gubernatorial candidate Ammon Bundy also said they planned to protest Bidens arrival. Idaho GOP Rep. Tammy Nichols urged residents to attend a Trump Rally at the National Interagency Fire Center. And Dan McKnight, a military veteran and founder of Bring Our Troops Home, an organization that advocated for the end of the war in Afghanistan, promoted a protest called Biden Killed Americans. Several of Idahos GOP gubernatorial candidates also seized on Bidens trip as a way to try to distinguish themselves in the crowded field. Ed Humphreys, a GOP gubernatorial candidate who has made fighting against vaccine mandates part of his campaign, announced last week that he would host a Traitor Joe is not welcome in Idaho rally. Idaho Lt. Gov. Janice McGeachin, who is also running for governor and has argued against masking rules and other efforts to slow the spread of coronavirus, called on Little, the governor, to uninvite the president. Little also announced last week that he was working with the states attorney general to fight Bidens vaccine mandate through the legal system. During the briefing inside the National Interagency Fire Center, Biden said global warming is a serious problem and told wildland firefighters that the nation owed it to them to ensure they have the equipment they need for firefighting. It's not a Democrat thing, it's not a Republican thing, it's a weather thing, Biden said. Biden also talked about raising wages for federal firefighters and other strategies to deal with wildfires. Little said the group should address what federal and other partners can do to build a more resilient ecosystem and to prevent dangers that firefighters face. Weve got a lot of work to do, Little said. Biden said that he once applied for a job at the Idaho-based Boise Cascade forest products company because he and his late first wife Neilia wanted to move to Idaho. ___ This story has been updated to correct the slogan on a sticker worn by Lisa Mitchell. The sticker says, Trump won 2020, not Trump Women 2020. Rocky Hill FD / Contributed ROCKY HILL A utility company crew and firefighters had to free a person trapped in a vehicle under live wires at a local park over the weekend, fire officials said. Shortly after 1 p.m. Sunday, fire units responded to a report of a utility pole with wires down on a vehicle at Ferry park with a person trapped inside, according to a joint statement from Deputy Chief Brian Stevens and Capt. Doug Clarke. Viktoria Sundqvist / Hearst Connecticut Media MERIDEN A federal judge last week sentenced a woman to more than seven years in prison on a child exploitation offense, prosecutors said. Amber Foley, 33, a former Meriden resident, was sentenced on Sept. 8 by Judge Vanessa L. Bryant in Hartford to 90 months in prison, followed by 10 years of supervised release. The charge stems from Foleys distribution of explicit images of a 4-year-old girl and a 2-year-old boy, prosecutors said. BRATISLAVA, Slovakia (AP) Pope Francis honored Slovakian Holocaust victims and atoned for Christian complicity in wartime crimes as he sought to promote reconciliation Monday in a country where a Catholic priest was president of a Nazi puppet state that deported tens of thousands of its Jews. Your history is our history, your sufferings are our sufferings, Francis told members of Slovakias small, remaining Jewish community, standing in the shadow of the countrys Holocaust memorial. Even though St. John Paul II made three trips to Slovakia, he never met here with the countrys Jews, evidence of the strained local Catholic-Jewish relations that endured in the post-war decades even with a Polish pope known for his outreach to Jews. As a result, Francis welcome by the community during the solemn 10-day period of repentance stretching from Rosh Hashana to Yom Kippur was a significant step forward and was hailed as historic by local Jewish leaders who said it was chance to look to the future. Francis is on the second day of a four-day pilgrimage to Hungary and Slovakia, his first big international outing since undergoing intestinal surgery in July. The 84-year-old pope has appeared in good form, walking around to greet well-wishers and clearly enjoying the enthusiasm of Slovaks after being cooped up in the Vatican for over a year of coronavirus lockdowns. He was solemn on Monday afternoon, listening intently via headphones providing simultaneous translation as he heard testimony from a Holocaust survivor about the horrors of the Shoah and the enduring pain of the Jewish community. Let us unite in condemning all violence and every form of antisemitism, and in working to ensure that Gods image, present in the humanity he created, will never be profaned," Francis said. Slovakia declared its independence from Czechoslovakia in 1939 and became a Nazi puppet state with politician and Roman Catholic priest Jozef Tiso becoming the countrys president. Under his rule, the country adopted strict anti-Jewish laws and deported around 75,000 Jews to Nazi death camps where about 68,000 perished. Tiso was sentenced to death and hanged in 1947, and over the years scholars have unearthed archives showing that the Vatican under Pope Pius XII didnt approve of Tisos policies and intervened to halt the deportation of Slovak Jews in 1942, though they resumed two years later after Nazi troops entered Slovakia at Tiso's request. Now, only about 5,000 Jews live in Slovakia, a largely Roman Catholic country of 5.5 million currently ruled by a four-party center-right coalition government. Slovakias Catholic bishops over the years expressed regret for their wartime failings and asked forgiveness from the Jewish community, but an official process of dialogue only began after Slovak representatives from both faiths met with Francis at the Vatican in 2017. Francis praised that encounter as a key moment in the path of Catholic-Jewish reconciliation that he said was necessary to advance, in truth and honesty, along the fraternal path of a purification of memory, to heal past wounds and to remember the good received and offered. The head of the umbrella group of Slovakian Jewish communities, Richard Duda, said at the encounter that Francis visit was historic, and a turning point in relations, and that dialogue was the only way to achieve peaceful coexistence. We hope that the sincerity and availability for an open dialogue will allow us to one day put a final point even on the dark sides of the complicity which, during the terrible world war 80 years ago, marked relations between the people of this land, he said. While Francis visit marked a new step in Catholic-Jewish relations, it also served to remind Slovaks that Catholics also saved lives. A Holocaust survivor, Tomas Lang, cited a Vatican embassy official at the time, Monsignor Giuseppe Burzio, as someone who unceasingly tried to halt the antisemitism of the murderous regime of the time. And a Slovak Orsoline nun, Sister Samuela, told Francis of the several instances of Jewish children and their families who were hidden in Slovak convents and even the Vatican embassy itself. Overall by 2019, 580 Slovaks were honored as Righteous Among the Nations by Israels Yad Vashem Holocaust museum. The site of Francis encounter was significant: Bratislavas Holocaust memorial stands on the site of a synagogue that was destroyed in 1969 by the communist regime to make room for a bridge. The synagogue had stood next to the citys cathedral, and Francis said their proximity showed that Catholics and Jews had long lived in peaceful coexistence and a striking sign of unity in the name of the God of our fathers. Here, in this place, the name of God was dishonored, for the worst form of blasphemy is to exploit it for our own purposes, refusing to respect and love others, he said. In this place, our histories meet once more. Here let us affirm together before God our willingness to persevere on the path of rapprochement and friendship, Francis said. Just last week, the Slovak government formally apologized for the racial laws that stripped Jews of their human and civil rights, prevented their access to education and authorized the transfer of their property to non-Jewish owners. The government took action on the 80th anniversary of the Jewish Code," considered one of the toughest anti-Jewish laws adopted in Europe during the war. Lucia Hidveghyova, a leading Slovak expert on Jewish-Catholic relations, called Francis meeting with the Jewish community very important and the fruit of improving relations that got a major boost after the 2017 Vatican encounter, which resulted in the formation of joint committees. Its true than that in the last five years, the dialogue between them on the official level has moved forward more than in the previous 50 years, she said in a telephone interview. I believe that (by coming) he wants to further encourage the dialogue, she said. Maros Borsky, secretary of the dialogue commission between the Central Union of Jewish Religious Communities and the Catholic Church, said the popes visit can only help improve relations going forward. What happened in the past cannot be fixed, but its necessary to look into the future, Borsky told The Associated Press. ___ Karel Janicek reported from Prague. A Boston University professor died over the weekend when he fell about 20 feet (about six meters) through a rusted-out staircase near a train station, according to university and law enforcement officials. David K. Jones, an associate professor in the university's School of Public Health, died Saturday, according to a statement posted Sunday by the school's dean, Dr. Sandro Galea. In truth I have no words to describe the devastation of this news," Galea wrote. David joined the School of Public Health in 2014. He has, since then, been an exemplary member of our community." The death of Jones, 40, of Milton, is under investigation by state police, according to a statement Monday from agency spokesperson David Procopio. Troopers responded to the area near the JFK MBTA station in Boston at about 1:30 p.m. Saturday after a passerby spotted Jones' body, he said. Investigation revealed that Mr. Jones was laying on the ground under a stairway, the statement said. Troopers observed a gap in the stairs above the victim, who had already been determined to be deceased. Preliminary investigation revealed that the stairs had been deemed unsafe and closed for approximately 20 months, he said. Both the top and bottom of the stairs had been blocked off, he said. Jones' wife in a social media post said he had gone out for a run and fell about 20 feet. He was the most loving, kind, considerate person I knew, Sarah Sacuto wrote. He was the best father. He loved to dance to Phish, be outdoors, and run. He loved unconditionally and was the proudest father to his kids. I loved him. Jones had an undergraduate degree from McGill University in Montreal, Canada and advanced degrees from the University of North Carolina and the University of Michigan, according to his university profile. He is originally from New York City where he once worked as a pretzel vendor at Yankee Stadium, according to the university. He was founding editor-in-chief of the Public Health Post, an online forum for public health policy launched in November 2016; was awarded an Association of University Programs in Health Administration prize for young investigators; AcademyHealths Outstanding Dissertation Award; and the BU School of Public Health Excellence in Teaching Award. Venice, FL (34285) Today Partly cloudy skies this evening will give way to occasional showers overnight. Low 76F. Winds light and variable. Chance of rain 40%.. Tonight Partly cloudy skies this evening will give way to occasional showers overnight. Low 76F. Winds light and variable. Chance of rain 40%. Two former Air Force airmen have filed a proposed class-action lawsuit to compel the service to review thousands of less-than-honorable discharges awarded since 9/11 to members with a traumatic brain injury or mental health issue. The suit, known as Johnson v. Kendall, follows two other lawsuits settled against the Army and Navy this year that alleged those services wrongly discharged troops for misconduct linked to a military trauma such as a combat- or training-related head injury or sexual assault. During a press conference on the lawsuit Monday, advocates said the Air Force Discharge Review Board, a panel of officers and senior enlisted personnel who consider administrative dismissals, has rejected 72% of upgrade requests from former service members with post-traumatic stress disorder or head injuries and 60% of appeals from victims of military sexual assault. The denials also have been issued with "boilerplate language" and didn't follow legal requirements to review all cases individually, according to Alexis Kallen, a Yale Law student who works for Yale Veterans Legal Services Clinic, representing the two airmen. "This leaves veterans without the critical support they need to navigate the world," Kallen said. More than 10,000 former Air Force members could be affected by the case if the class action is approved. Read Next: The Air Force Is Testing a New Ship-Killing Guided Bomb In 2014, in response to concern that the military had dismissed service members for behavior and infractions that may have been related to post-traumatic stress disorder, then-Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel issued guidance to the military records boards to improve the rate of approvals for discharge upgrades -- ostensibly a second chance to consider extenuating circumstances tied to the departure of service members. The instruction was later clarified to ensure that the requester did not have to have an official mental health diagnosis at the time of their misconduct or discharge and only needed to provide "sufficient evidence" that they suffered from an issue. Despite the guidance, the services continued to reject appeals, spawning a lawsuit in late 2017 against the Army that challenged its approval rate. That case was settled earlier this year, with the Army agreeing to review all other-than-honorable discharges since April 17, 2011, for eligible service members. That included an estimated 3,500 active-duty, Reserve and National Guard troops affected by post-traumatic stress disorder or other psychiatric conditions, trauma related to sexual assault, or brain injury. The Army also agreed to notify soldiers who received other-than-honorable discharges from Oct. 7, 2001, to April 16, 2011, of their ability to apply for an upgrade or to appeal a previous denial. The new lawsuit challenges the Air Force's handling of similar cases. The case's named plaintiff, former Airman 1st Class Martin Johnson, served as an F-16 Fighting Falcon crew chief and deployed to Iraq in 2007 where, he said, a car bomb exploded near his base, "shaking everything" and triggering a deep depression. Johnson said he became sensitive to loud noises and other sensory stimulation and also had relationship issues and behavioral problems after his return home. Despite earning multiple awards and accolades, Johnson engaged in "minor misconduct -- failing to keep his lawn fully mowed was one of the charges" and was given a general discharge under honorable conditions, according to Shariful Khan, a student intern at Yale Veterans Legal Services Clinic. "I wasn't able to get the help I immediately needed in the Air Force," Johnson said at the press conference, his voice quavering as he grew emotional. "I've tried going through established channels to get my discharge upgraded, but it's been [a] letdown by the Air Force. I feel as though I have no other option other than [to] bring this complaint today on behalf of myself and other U.S. Air Force veterans." The other plaintiff, known as former Airman 1st Class Jane Doe, served from 2013 to 2016. She was raped during her military service and later developed post-traumatic stress disorder, which also manifested itself in misconduct, according to Khan. She was awarded an other-than-honorable discharge, which denied her a host of benefits, including medical services, disability compensation, and burial and education benefits. "Veterans like these agreed to put their country above themselves and, in return, the country promised to take care of them should anything happen," Garry Monk, executive director of the National Veterans Council for Legal Redress, said during the event. "Sure enough, they developed mental health disabilities or experienced military sexual trauma ... and the Air Force broke its promise." While general discharges and other-than-honorable discharges, also known as "bad paper" discharges, limit veterans' access to Department of Veterans Affairs benefits, they also can affect a veteran's long-term earning power, since many employers will not hire anyone with less than a good-conduct discharge. More than 51,400 discharges under other-than-honorable conditions were issued for active-duty personnel from fiscal 2010 through 2020, according to the Defense Manpower Data Center. A similar case was filed against the Navy for decisions made by the Navy Discharge Review Board, which also oversees Marine Corps discharges. That suit was settled this summer, but details of the agreement have yet to be released. Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., said Monday in a press release that he supports the legal action to hold the Air Force accountable to fairly review these discharge review requests. He noted that while 2% of all World War II veterans and 7% of Vietnam veterans received other-than-honorable discharges, 15% of service members who have left the military since 9/11 have such discharges. "And they're repeatedly victimized when they're denied jobs and educational opportunities benefits from the VA," Blumenthal said. "This situation is an outrage." -- Patricia Kime can be reached at Patricia.Kime@Monster.com. Follow her on Twitter @patriciakime. Related: 'Dirty, Embarrassing Secret:' Veterans with PTSD Struggle to Shed Stigma of Bad Paper Discharges As a current print subscriber, you receive 24/7 access to our website and online e-edition at no additional charge. All you have to do is activate your access. To activate digital access, you will need your account number. You can find your account number on any recent subscription notice or bill. The story of its ruin is simple and obvious, and instead of inquiring why the Roman empire was destroyed, we should rather be surprised that it had subsisted so long. The victorious legions, who, in distant wars, acquired the vices of strangers and mercenaries, first oppressed the freedom of the republic and afterwards violated the majesty of the purple. The emperors, anxious for their personal safety and the public peace, were reduced to the base expedient of corrupting the discipline which rendered them alike formidable to their sovereign and to the enemy; the vigour of the military government was relaxed, and finally dissolved, by the partial institutions of Constantine; and the Roman world was overwhelmed by a deluge of Barbarians. Edward Gibbon, The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire The majority of the public sector banks (PSBs) in India are not many years away from becoming footnotes! While banking in the current format itself may become prey to the sweeping fintech revolution, the demise of the PSBs may be on the fast track. My curiosity to look at their journey over the years, since the heralding of the economic liberalisation by the government in 1991, ended in this exercise to look at some available statistics which entirely speak for themselves. Just as a quotation of Edward Gibbon in his famous book The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, reproduced above succinctly gives the reason for the decay of the greatest empire of all times. The PSBs in India have similarly been rotting internally and have only themselves and their poor top management and a lackadaisical regulator to blame for the decline, than any market or external reason. PSBs cannot be singled out for poor governance. Private banks would have more than their share if one were to look at the reported developments in many institutions that are not in government ownership and with distinguished boards with well-known names as independent directors. Yes Bank, Lakshmi Vilas Bank and Punjab and Maharashtra Cooperative (PMC) Bank may have been the extreme cases, but many others have not done significantly better either. The statistics are all taken from the public domain, primarily the RBI website and a few from newspaper reports. Snapshot of Banks Over Three Decades The Decade of BIG Credit Growth India Stands Tall in the Wrong Place! Key Legislative Intervention for Debt Recovery Debt Recovery Tribunals (DRT) 1993 Lok Adalats 2001 SARFAESI Act 2002 Asset Recovery companies(ARC) 2002 Insolvency and Bankruptcy Act 2016 Major Administrative Actions Prompt corrective action (PCA) 2002 Corporate debt restructuring (CDR) 2005 5:25 Rule 2014 Joint lenders' forum 2014 Asset quality review 2015 Strategic debt restructuring 2015 Indradanush 2015 Sustainable structuring of stressed assets S4A 2016 Bad bank 2021 Recovery Record Pre-IBC SARFAESI, Lok Adalats & DRT Wake up Alarm of asset quality review (AQR) & Raghuram Rajan Effect The size and nature of the NPA problem necessitated concomitant measures to signal intent and commitment of the Government and the Reserve Bank to meet the challenge squarely. The IBC was in place but the required action in respect of the large stressed accounts was not forthcoming on the part of banks and JLFs. Part of the inertia may have to do with the initial days of the IBC; but part of it was also the typical (and severe) agency and moral hazard problems of not resolving NPAs when the banking sector is majorly government-owned. - (From RBI Governors (Urjit Patel) speech, 19 August 2017) The Dubious Dozen That Became Dirtier with Delay! 13th June 2017: RBI IAC identifies 12 accounts. Criteria: Outstanding > Rs5,000 crore; and 60% recognised as NPA July August 2017: 11 cases admitted by NCLT May 2018: 12th case admitted Big Debts and Small Recoveries! Write off Calendar! Period of Denial! Rajan Effect! BIG Write-offs! At the end of three decades . A Tax Payers Largesse! (Filling the Hole in Banks Capital) Rs2.35 trillion had been pumped into the banks since 2005 for recapitalisation until 2017-18. Figures for subsequent periods need to be incorporated. Growth in Personality Banking? Concentration of Big Loans > Rs100 crore And in personal banking? The Ascent of the Private Banks, Gradual Demise of PSBs? While observing that the formula prescribed by Rule 89(5) of the Central Goods and Service Tax Rules, 2017 (CGST Rules) suffers from anomalies, the Supreme Court says it cannot be a ground to strike down a fiscal rule that has been framed in exercise of the power of delegated legislation. Hearing a batch of appeals on Monday, the bench of justice DY Chandrachud and justice MR Shah upheld the validity of Rule 89(5) of CGST Rules. The Rule prescribes a formula excluding the refund of unutilised input tax paid on input services as part of input tax credit (ITC). In its order, the bench says, In the present case, the formula is not ambiguous in nature or unworkable, nor is it opposed to the intent of the legislature in granting limited refund on the accumulation of unutilised ITC. It is merely the case that the practical effect of the formula might result in certain inequities. The reading down of the formula as proposed by senior counsels G Natarajan and V Sridharan by prescribing an order of utilisation would take this Court down the path of recrafting the formula and walk into the shoes of the executive or the legislature, which is impermissible. Accordingly, we shall refrain from replacing the wisdom of the legislature or its delegate with our own in such a case. However, given the anomalies pointed out by the assessees, we strongly urge the GST Council to reconsider the formula and take a policy decision regarding the same, the apex court says. The Supreme Court heard a batch of appeals filed challenging the ruling from Gujarat High Court (HC) and Madras High Court on the validity of Rule 89(5). Considering unutilised ITC on input services as part of net ITC to calculate refund in terms of Rule 89(5), in furtherance of Section 54(3), the Gujarat HC on 24 July 2020 asked the Union government to allow the claim for a refund made by the petitioners. The High Court noted the definition of ITC in Section 2(62) and held that by restricting the refund only to input goods, Rule 89(5) had acted ultra vires Section 54(3). By its judgement on 21 September 2020, in Tvl Transtonnelstroy Afcons Joint Venture vs Union of India and connected cases, the division bench of the Madras High Court came to a contrary conclusion. After noticing the view of the Gujarat HC, the Madras HC declined to follow it while noting that the proviso to Section 54(3) and, more significantly, its implications do not appear to have been taken into consideration in VKC Footsteps India Pvt Ltd except for a brief reference. In its order, the Supreme Court says, Having considered this batch of appeals, and for the reasons which have been adduced in this judgment, we affirm the view of the Madras High Court and disapprove of the opinion of the Gujarat High Court. There has been a lot of hype over the recently liberalized 'Drone policy'. The new drone policy may be found here . The media has hailed these rules as a visionary, game-changing and, of course, a masterstroke. The hurdles and roadblocks placed by the bureaucracy before Indias drone industry have been written about ad-nauseam in the following articles: But the state of affairs could best be summed up by the following article... Let us examine facts on the ground as they currently exist. (a) Almost no Indian company develops autopilots or flight control laws. As long as the flight control laws are not developed in-house, a drone is little more than an autorickshaw assembled in a roadside garage. (b) The ancillary industries such as composites, batteries, motors and propellers do not exist because they were all banned until recently. (c) All countries from Azerbaijan to Turkey have successful indigenous drone programmes. As a result of deliberate or foolish policy, India is in the unenviable position of showing up in a gunfight with sticks and stones. While the government has been wailing about the lack of jobs and growth from the rooftops, the bureaucracy has actively killed every rising sunrise sector. The only positive of the 'new' policy is that start-ups do not require a prototype certificate to test their drones in Green zones. The biggest negative of the 'new' policy is that the directorate general of foreign trade (DGFT) will regulate the import of drones and drone components. The only outcome of this policy is that import licences will be given to cronies (as always). But maybe that was the unstated intent all along? Clueless, gullible Indians will imagine India as a superpower because their wedding video was taken by a $500 Chinese drone and sold for $2,000. This follows in the same footsteps of Indias complete dependence on China for critical electric vehicle components and solar panels. On a side note, it is interesting to note that the first employee Tesla hired in India was not an engineer but a 'iaison' person to 'engage' with the babudom. It is heartening to note that the worlds richest man is under no illusions about any market, bureaucracy, or government. You may also want to read (Srinath Mallikarjunan is founder of Unmanned Dynamics, an advanced guidance system company) The typical urban scenario used to be about a tenant doing the rounds, looking for reasonable accommodationand then going through a rigorous know-your-tenant (KYT) pre-verification, police verifications and all sorts of post-signing fine print - including dealing with broker commissions as well as security deposits. This is probably still true, especially if the potential tenant is not clued up enough to use the various online tools that help him bypass many of the traps set up for him and save on brokerages and commissions. These can add up in some cities where the original brokers expect additional commission for renewing a lease agreement, every time. However, following an update on the definition of non-resident Indians (NRIs) as applied to banks, taxation, and citizenship laws, among others, the know-your-landlord (KYL) acquires serious importance, as the tax deducted at source (TDS) rules of the income-tax (I-T) department lay the onus of adherence squarely on the tenant. This requirement is regardless of the amount of rent, by any name, including security, paid to the landlordif the landlord is an NRI, an overseas citizen of India (OCI), or a foreigner. The flat rate for the TDS is currently at 31.2%. Those aspiring to be a tenant have several options today at their disposal, which include a surplus residential and commercial real estate on rent, lease or sale, in addition to professional property management services through banks or other institutions, and a relatively easy alternative of ready-to-move-in (RTM) real estate available on easy loan terms. This has, to a fair extent, reduced the trauma experienced by most of these people. People looking for a three-bedroom apartment in a swanky part of town, for example, are pleasantly surprised to learn that taking a loan for a two-bedroom apartment near the same area is often a better idea from all points of view, including fiduciary when rents are compared to equated monthly instalments (EMIs). But let us see what your responsibilities are, from the know-your-landlord-KYL adherences and compliances, some of them mandatory and some simple common sense, in case you still need to be a tenant, for whatever reason. The most important part is to establish whether the entity you are paying rent to is actually the owner or the person with a right to let out the premises. That is reasonably easy in this day and age, from checking records online to asking the prospective landlord directly to discreet inquiries with the housing society. As a matter of fact, many housing societies expect a tenant to be re-verified before any commitments, and the prospective tenants are entitled to the alternate re-verification of the landlord too. The next equally and, probably, more important fact-check pertains to the tax status of the person or entity accepting the rent. Here please refer to the answer provided to a question at Moneylife Foundations Tax Helpline (it is now closed) - when any person makes a payment to a non-resident, the payer has to deduct tax at source compulsorily if the amount being paid contains any income that is chargeable to tax in India in the hands of that non-resident. You will need to deduct TDS at a rate of 30% from payments made to a non-resident brother under section 195 of the I-T Act. Suppose the landlord or the person accepting the rent is a resident Indian. In that case, the TDS is covered by different levels and exemptions, as amended from time to time and with separate provisions for residential, commercial or other categories. However, suppose the landlord or person accepting the rent is an NRI (Indian citizen) or an overseas citizen of India-OCI (foreigner or foreign citizen). In that case, there are no exemptions around 31.2% tax has to be deducted as TDS on all payments made by the tenant, known by any namerent, security deposit, lease or whatever elsefor any and all amounts. (This does not include utilities or maintenance, for example, it is paid directly to another domestic entity.) It is essential also to be aware of this gazette notification dated 4 March 2021 which defines NRI and OCI as a foreigner clearly from the income-tax point of view and the citizenship and obligations. Therefore, it is incumbent on the tenant to do the landlords due diligence to establish whether the said landlord is a resident Indian citizen or a non-resident Indian or foreigner. The onus and penalties of not adhering to this, for any amount, are at the door of the tenant. How do you find out the tax or citizenship status of a landlord? 1) Insist on it being part of the draft agreement before it becomes an agreement, and get a copy of the landlords permanent account number (PAN) card on record. 2) Ensure that the NRI-foreigner landlord is on the same page as you during the deal. 3) The landlord should understand and agree in advance that the tenant will also have to deduct tax at source from the security deposit. Still, the tenant will be entitled to a full security refund. This understanding must be documented. Seek guidance from not just your trusted accounts and finance persons, but also directly from the I-T department - and do be aware that there may be a good number of NRIs and foreigners who were issued PAN numbers when they were resident Indians but may not have updated their PAN status for which there is a form 49AA. The above has been issued without prejudice, without liability, and in good faith. Personally, I find it easier and better to look for a domestic resident Indian landlord in the first place, for multiple reasons. (Veeresh Malik is an activist from Delhi, who continues to explore several things in life.) Weather Alert ...RED FLAG WARNING IN EFFECT FROM NOON TO 9 PM MDT WEDNESDAY... * Affected area: Fire Zone 111 (East Beaverhead). * Impacts: The combination of gusty winds and low humidity will result in critical fire weather conditions. * Winds: West 17 to 27 mph with gusts 35 to 45 mph. * Minimum humidities: 15 to 20 percent. && Weather Alert THE FOLLOWING MESSAGE IS TRANSMITTED AT THE REQUEST OF THE MONTANA DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE. A MISSING ENDANGERED PERSON ADVISORY HAS BEEN ISSUED ON BEHALF OF THE MISSOULA POLICE DEPARTMENT. SOPHIE ELHAJJ, A 14 YEAR OLD WHITE FEMALE, HAS GONE MISSING. SOPHIE IS 5 FEET 4 INCHES TALL, 115 POUNDS, WITH BLUE EYES AND BLONDE HAIR. SHE WAS LAST SEEN WEARING A NAVY HOODIE, JEANS, AND CARRYING A BLACK BACKPACK. SOPHIE HAS NOT BEEN SEEN OR HEARD FROM SINCE 8:30 ON TUESDAY MORNING IN THE MISSOULA AREA. BASED ON NEW INFORMATION, THERE IS CONCERN THAT SHE MAY TRY TO HARM HERSELF. IF YOU HAVE ANY INFORMATION ON SOPHIE, PLEASE CONTACT MISSOULA POLICE DEPARTMENT AT 4 0 6, 5 5 2, 6 3 0 0, OR DIAL 911. Major League Baseball has apparently decided that there are 42 too many minor league baseball cities and, according to Commissioner Rob Manfred, after the 2020 season, that will change. There will be a new agreement between the majors and the minors signed and a lot of cities will lose their Lansdale, PA (19446) Today Thunderstorms early, mainly cloudy late with a few lingering showers. Low 66F. Winds light and variable. Chance of rain 70%.. Tonight Thunderstorms early, mainly cloudy late with a few lingering showers. Low 66F. Winds light and variable. Chance of rain 70%. The wait is almost over... Netflix are about to release the third season of the much loved show 'Sex Education'. The show will hit the streaming service this coming Friday and excitement is palpable. The trailer has been viewed millions of times in just a few days, so check it out for yourself in the video above! Sayre, PA (18840) Today Cloudy with occasional light rain...mainly this evening. Low around 55F. Winds light and variable. Chance of rain 100%.. Tonight Cloudy with occasional light rain...mainly this evening. Low around 55F. Winds light and variable. Chance of rain 100%. OCKLAWAHA [mdash]Elizabeth Lynn Keigans, 55, of Ocklawaha, formerly of Moultrie, died Wednesday, August 18, 2021 at her home. Born on December 20, 1965, in Moultrie, she was the daughter of the late Joe Ellis Keigans, Sr. and Ruby Lynette Conger Keigans. She is survived by her daughter, Cara Sunday Alamba/AP Midland Health officials said Monday that they will not make any strong decisions on the direction we must take until we have really clear guidance on what the expectations will be. This stance followed discussions with employees over the weekend. MARTIN BUREAU/AFP/Getty Images Midland ISD reported this weekend that the district will notify families by Sept. 20 if students are being asked to attend intersession from Oct. 18-21. The purpose of the intersession week is to provide opportunities to support student learning and academic growth, according to the district. MISD elementary and secondary campuses will offer intervention sessions in reading, math, EOC English I, II, and Algebra 1 to support identified students as per House Bill 4545. The seismic activity in far West Texas continued last week. The number of earthquakes around the city of Mentone (in Loving County) reached 53 in seven days, including four in a 4-hour period ending around 1 p.m., according to Earthquaketrack.com. The Bureau of Economic Geology at the University of Texas was tasked to help locate and determine the origins of earthquakes in the state and with helping to prevent earthquakes from occurring in the future. It set up with TexNet Seismic Monitoring Program. RELATED: Strong 3.7 quake shakes Midland On Monday, Peter Hennings, a research scientist and lecturer with the bureau, said his analysis of TexNets data shows the Culberson-Mentone Earthquake Zone (CMEZ) in northeast Culberson County and northwest Reeves County is currently the most active earthquake sequence in Texas. Data shows most of those quakes taking place east of the Delaware Mountains in Culberson County. Hennings added that the area west of Mentone is being closely monitored and studied by the Bureau of Economic Geologys TexNet Program and the Center for Integrated Seismicity Research. The rate of earthquakes in this zone has been increasing steadily over the last three years and, over the last month, there have been over 40 events that had the possibility to be felt at the surface locally (events with a magnitude of at least 2.5), Hennings wrote. He added that largest event thus far in CMEZ was a 4.9 magnitude tremor in March 2020. Earthquaketrack.com reported 244 quakes in the last month around Mentone, including at least two that were magnitude 4.0 or greater. That was greater than the magnitude 3.7 tremor in Midland earlier this month. RELATED: Railroad Commission monitoring area's seismic activity Hennings added that TexNet officials are investigating whether the seismic activity is connected to wastewater disposal in the region. Given that there are few petroleum operations in the immediate vicinity of the earthquake sequence that could be causing the ruptures, we are most actively investigating if injection of waste fluids into deep strata by more distant wells may be the primary cause, Hennings wrote. Long-distance earthquake inducement by deep injection has been thoroughly documented previously including in the D-FW area, northern Oklahoma and southern Kansas. James Durbin Ms. Leeders claim that long-term studies on the impact of hydraulic fracturing on water systems are not available at this time is simply not true. Researchers have investigated that topic for years, and their studies consistently show minimal risks associated with fracking. For example, after half a decade of study, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency released a report in December 2016 that showed no evidence of widespread water contamination from fracking. The EPA spent $30 million preparing the report, and even expanded the definition of fracking to include surface activities and other processes that are common with all oil and gas development. ECISD's supply of COVID-19 tests expire ECISD's leader said theyve ordered additional tests and are waiting on them to be shipped from... Biz Buzz: Celebrate one year with Sculpt Haus Celebrate with Sculpt Haus and enter to win one of 15 different giveaways during its one-year... The South Carolina Highway Patrol on Monday identified the trooper who was injured in a deadly officer-involved shooting in Horry County on Saturday. Master Trooper W.B. Benton was involved in the incident and released from the hospital, but will have to undergo surgery for injuries, said Sherri Iacobelli with the South Carolina Department of Public Safety. Benton has worked with SCHP since 2010. The incident remains under investigation by the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division. On Saturday, SLED said a state trooper shot a man after a confrontation during a traffic stop. The suspect was shot during the incident and taken to a local hospital, authorities said. The person died at Grand Strand Medical Center emergency room, said Darris Fowler, deputy coroner with Horry County Coroner's Office. The cause of death will be released after the autopsy. The state trooper was taken to a local hospital with non-life-threatening injuries, authorities said. WASHINGTON (AP) First, some blamed the deadly Jan. 6 attack at the U.S. Capitol on left-wing antifa antagonists, a theory quickly debunked. Then came comparisons of the rioters to peaceful protesters or even tourists. Now, allies of former President Donald Trump are calling those charged in the Capitol riot political prisoners," a stunning effort to revise the narrative of that deadly day. The brazen rhetoric ahead of a rally planned for Saturday at the Capitol is the latest attempt to explain away the horrific assault and obscure what played out for all the world to see: rioters loyal to the then-president storming the building, battling police and trying to stop Congress from certifying the election of Democrat Joe Biden. Some people are calling it Jan. 6 trutherism theyre rewriting the narrative to make it seem like Jan. 6 was no big deal, and it was a damn big deal, and an attack on our democracy, said Heidi Beirich, co-founder of the Global Project Against Hate and Extremism, who studies extremist movements. All told, the attempted whitewashing of the Jan. 6 attack threatens to further divide an already polarized nation that finds itself drifting from what had been common facts and a shared commitment to civic order toward an unsettling new normal. Rather than a nation healing eight months after the deadly assault, the country is at risk of tearing itself further apart, as the next election approaches. The anticipated crowd size and the intensity of the Saturday rally are unclear, but law enforcement appears to be taking no chances. Security fencing was approved Monday for areas around the Capitol, and reinforcements are being summoned to back up the Capitol Police, whose leadership was criticized and summarily dismissed for its handling of Jan. 6. While authorities have been bracing for a repeat appearance by right-wing extremist groups and other Trump loyalists who mobbed the Capitol, its unclear if those actors will participate in the new event. The extremist groups are concerning because, while members of the Proud Boys and Oath Keepers made up a small portion of the Jan. 6 rioters, they are accused of some of the more serious crimes in the attack. Whether those groups participate or not, the rally could bring lone actors to Washington. Just after midnight on Monday, Capitol Police arrested a California man who had a bayonet and machete in his pickup truck outside of Democratic National Committee headquarters. The man, Donald Craighead of Oceanside, California, had a swastika and other white supremacist symbols painted on his truck and told officers he was on patrol. The police said it was unclear if he was planning on attending any upcoming demonstrations. Rally organizer Matt Braynard, a former Trump campaign strategist, has been promoting the event and others like it in cities nationwide, focusing attention on what he calls the prisoners being unfairly prosecuted for their involvement in the Jan. 6 riot. I am so proud of all of the brave patriots who participated in these rallies under the same threat to their rights of so many who are being held in prison now for a non-violent expression of their First Amendment rights, he said in a July news release. Braynard declined to respond to additional questions by email, and The Associated Press declined to accept the conditions he made for an interview. As Trump openly considers another run for the White House, many of the Republican lawmakers who joined his effort to challenge Bidens victory are staying away from the Saturday rally, even though many still echo his false claims that the election was rigged despite numerous court cases by Trumps allies that have failed to confirm those allegations. Rep. Mo Brooks, R-Ala., who joined rally-goers near the White House on Jan. 6 where Trump encouraged the crowd to go to the Capitol, declined to comment, his spokesman said by email. Brooks is now running for the Senate. Another Republican, Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas, who voted to challenge some Electoral College tallies, was unavailable for an interview, his office said. Also declining an interview was Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., who was captured in a photo raising a fist in salute to the mob as he entered the Capitol that day. More than 600 people are facing federal charges in the riot that injured dozens of officers and sent lawmakers into hiding. Five people eventually died, including Trump supporter Ashli Babbitt, who was shot and killed by police as she tried to break into a lobby off the House chamber. Several police officers later took their own lives. Hundreds of people were charged with misdemeanors for entering the Capitol illegally, but hundreds of others are facing more serious felony charges including assault, obstruction of an official proceeding or conspiracy. The most serious cases have been brought against members of two far-right extremist groups the Proud Boys and Oath Keepers as authorities probe to what extent the attack was planned. No Jan. 6 defendant has been charged with sedition, though it was initially considered by authorities. More than 60 people have pleaded guilty, mostly to misdemeanor charges of demonstrating in the Capitol. Only a fraction of the defendants remain locked up while they await trial. Lawyers have complained of overly harsh conditions for the Jan. 6 defendants in the D.C. jail, saying they are being held in what has been dubbed the Patriot Unit. Defenders of the alleged Capitol attackers claim they are facing harsher prosecutions because of their political views than others, including Black Lives Matter protesters, but a review of court cases by the AP refutes that claim. Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., chairman of the House Intelligence Committee and a member of the select panel investigating the Jan. 6 attack, said those who broke the law need to be prosecuted, otherwise, we just rationalize, excuse and encourage more of the same. The Capitols leafy grounds, a favorite spot for people to snap photos in front of the iconic dome, would typically see few lawmakers or staff on a Saturday. While the Senate returned to session Monday, the House doesn't resume until next week. When the fence first went up around the Capitol after the January attack, it drew heavy criticism from those worried about the message being sent as a symbol of democracy was closed off. Now, it's increasingly seen as a necessary precaution. ___ Associated Press writers Alanna Durkin in Boston and Michael Balsamo, Eric Tucker and Mary Clare Jalonick in Washington contributed to this report. On Monday, the Consumer Brands Association, a trade group representing brands including Coca-Cola, Kellogg and Campbell Soup sent a letter with a list of questions to President Joe Biden on his vaccine mandate. The mandate requires all employers with 100 or more employees to ensure their workers are vaccinated or tested weekly. "Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, government has often failed to implement well-intentioned policy," said CBA President and CEO Geoff Freeman in a statement. "President Bidens announcement prompts critical questions that require immediate clarification. As with other mandates, the devil is in the details. Without additional clarification for the business community, employee anxieties and questions will multiply." Biden has said companies could face penalties of up to $14,000 per violation of the new mandate. The CBA, which represents the food, beverage and consumer products industry that employs 2.1 million workers, urged federal agencies to "move quickly, anticipate challenges, promptly answer questions" and partner with businesses to implement the new mandate. "The Consumer Brands Association and our member companies stand ready to partner with you in getting Americans vaccinated," Freeman wrote. Some of the questions posed to Biden included: What is considered documentation for proof of vaccination and how will booster shots factor into compliance? Will the requirements only apply to vaccines that are fully approved by the FDA? Does the government plan to centralize vaccination tracking? What are the consequences of falsifying one's vaccination status or test results? What is considered suitable documentation for a negative test result? Should employees choose not to vaccinate, is the company or employee responsible for securing and paying for testing? When will the requirements be formally issued? Do the new federal requirements include exemptions for religious beliefs and disabilities? In an interview Friday, Betsy Booren, vice president of regulatory affairs at the Consumer Brands Association, told CNN Business that the industry was surprised by the Biden announcement and would have liked to have seen more details in the initial rollout. "But that's been a concern I've had during this whole crisis, regardless of the administration in place," Booren said. "Whether it was the Trump or Biden administration, getting clarity around these issues has been our concern." "The consumer packaged goods industry supports efforts to vaccinate as many Americans as possible," Freeman said. "Our industry has undertaken exhaustive efforts to educate employees about the effectiveness of vaccines and grow vaccination rates. "Our countrys ability to increase vaccination rates hinges on federal agencies offering clear, detailed and timely guidance in hours, not weeks," he continued. "Across the federal government, we will need to see a degree of coordination, rapid response and private sector engagement to be successful. We look forward to working with the administration to increase vaccination rates of essential workers throughout the country." HOLLYWOOD, Fla. (AP) Fire suppression equipment exploded in a South Florida casino Monday morning as crews performed maintenance work, causing six people to be hospitalized and 20 others to be treated at the scene, officials said. None of the injuries at Seminole Classic Casino Hollywood were life-threatening, Hollywood Fire Rescue told news outlets. On Monday, the Illinois Senate passed Senate Bill 2408, which contains incentives to prevent Exelon, the parent company of ComEd, from shutting three nuclear power plants around the state. The bill passed the Illinois House on Friday and now waits for Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker's signature. The bill contains $700 million over five years in carbon mitigation credits for the three plants, built more than 40 years ago. Exelon had said the Byron plant would close on Monday. "Today, with the Senate passage of SB 2408, the State of Illinois is making history by setting aggressive standards for a 100% clean energy future," Pritkzer said in a statement. "After years of debate and discussion, science has prevailed, and we are charting a new future that works to mitigate the impacts of climate change here in Illinois. "SB 2408 puts the state on a path toward 100% clean energy and invests in training a diverse workforce for the jobs of the future," Pritzker continued. "Illinois will become the best state in the nation to manufacture and drive an electric vehicle, and equity will be prioritized in every new program created. SB2408 puts consumers and climate at the forefront, prioritizing meaningful ethics and transparency reforms, and institutes key ratepayer and residential customer protections." The bill passed the House on Friday after a compromise deal on coal plant closures was approved by both environmental and labor groups. That compromise regards when coal-burning plants in Springfield and southern Illinois would need to cut emissions. The bill also sets a goal for 50% of Illinois' electricity to come from renewable energy sources like wind and solar by 2040. Those sources currently account for less than 10% of the state's electricity. The bill aims for 100% clean energy in the state by 2050. "This legislation includes the largest power rate hike in the history of our state," said State Sen. Steve McClure, R-Springfield, in a statement. "Even worse, it will kill jobs through closures and increased costs, it will reduce the stability of our power grid, it strips property rights away from landowners, and treats power generators differently based on whether they are public or private, all while likely leading the state to have to import coal-generated power from other states at a higher cost. The bill also includes an ethics provision designed to prevent corruption such as the Commonwealth Edison bribery scandal as well as stipulations to reduce air pollution, create more jobs in renewable energy industries and ensure that Black and Latinx entrepreneurs get a fair chance to benefit from the expanding green economy, per the State Journal-Register. The bill required 36 votes in order to pass the Senate. The vote in the Senate was 37-17. Exelon confirmed after the vote that it was preparing to begin refueling its Byron and Dresden plants, according to the Chicago Tribune. Nuclear power plants are praised by some environmentalists and politicians for their ability to generate electricity nearly emissions-free. The U.S. leads the world with 93 nuclear reactors, according to Reuters, down from 104 in 2012. The Biden administration has supported federal incentives for the nuclear power industry. "I look forward to signing this historic measure into law as soon as possible, because our planet and the people of Illinois ought not wait any longer," Pritzker said. PITTSFIELD Two men were arrested Saturday at Pike County Government Housing on Pierce Road after a large fight police were told involved weapons including a knife, hatchet and taser. Michael K. Wilfong, 39, of Pleasant Hill was arrested on two counts of domestic battery, unlawful use of a weapon, aggravated assault and unlawful gift or sale of alcohol to a minor. Fifteen people working in Meredosia-Chambersburg schools will begin weekly COVID-19 testing because they are not fully vaccinated, according to Superintendent Thad Walker. Gov. J.B. Pritzker has mandated that all teachers, faculty and staff working with students in kindergarten through 12th grade must be fully vaccinated or submit to weekly testing by Sunday. The mandate is an effort to keep children ages 12 and under, who are unable to be vaccinated, as safe as possible in the school environment. Residents of Missouri, Michigan, and other states are entitled to refund from their milk purchases. New information in this decade-long case says individuals could get up to $7.51 back and entities $210.28. Consumers who purchased between 2003 and now can get their share of a $52 million settlement in a lawsuit that dates back to 2011. It was originally brought forth by San Francisco man. Included in the refund are those who purchased cream, half and half, yogurt, cottage cheese, cream cheese, and sour cream, according to USA Today in 2017. Cooperatives Working Together (CWT), a grouping of milk producers that develop 70% of the milk supplies, is who the complaint was brought against. The complaint noted what was called the Herd Retirement Program (HRP), the complaint claimed the HRP was established to reduce milk supply, eliminate competition, cut back on dairy farmers thus increasing the price of raw farm milk. Dr. Scott Brown from the University of Missouri told USA Today the HRP lasted from 2003-2011 and within that time slaughtered 50,000 cows. lowering the milk supply by 1.2 billion gallons. Thus the price of raw milk doubled between 2007 and 2010 increasing price revenue nearly $10 billion. The lawsuit also claimed state antitrust values were violated. Payments will begin being distributed this month. Today Produce and Bakery Giveaway: 9 a.m.-noon, Jacksonville Food Center, 316 E. State St. Free | For Morgan County residents. Blood Drive: 11 a.m.-6 p.m., Passavant Area Hospital, 1600 W. Walnut St. | To donate, contact ImpactLife Springfield at 800-747-5401 or bloodcenter.org and use code 60058 to locate drive. Masks and appointments required. Free Noon Meal: 11:45 a.m.-12:30 p.m., The Salvation Army, 331 W. Douglas Ave. | Meals in to-go containers and can be picked up at side door. Walking for Wellness: 12:30-3 p.m., First Christian Church, 2106 S. Main St. Free | Indoor walking program offered year-round Monday-Thursday. For more information, call 217-243-6445. Free Frank Freedom Day: 2 p.m., New Philadelphia site, County Highway 2 between Barry and Baylis. | Celebrating Frank McWorter, the founder of New Philadelphia. Keynote speaker Brig. Gen. Donald L. Scott will speak at 4 p.m. For more information, go to newphiladelphiail.org or call 608-448-7094. Spirit of Faith Soup Kitchen: 3:30-4 p.m., Spirit of Faith Soup Kitchen, 105 E. Dunlap St. Free | Serving meals to go for anyone in need. Mindful Exercise Class: 6:30 p.m., Jacksonville Public Library, 201 W. College Ave. Free | Join Jeannie Hemphill to learn the basics of mindful exercise. Bring a mat. Masks required. For more information, call 217-243-5435. Sept. 11, 2001: The Day That Changed the World: 7:30 a.m.-8 p.m., Lincoln Land Community College Library, Sangamon Hall, 5250 Shepherd Road, Springfield. | An educational walk-through exhibit that presents the history of 9/11. Through Sept. 30. Tuesday Produce and Bakery Giveaway: 9 a.m.-noon, Jacksonville Food Center, 316 E. State St. Free | For Morgan County residents. Free Noon Meal: 11:45 a.m.-12:30 p.m., Salvation Army, 331 W. Douglas Ave. | Meals in to-go containers and can be picked up at side door. Walking for Wellness: 12:30-3 p.m., First Christian Church, 2106 S. Main St. Free | Indoor walking program offered year-round Monday-Thursday. For more information, call 217-243-6445. Free COVID-19 Vaccine Clinic: 3-7 p.m., Jacksonville Public Library, 201 W. College Ave. | Schedule appointment online at bit.ly/3yQQvaS. If unable to sign up, call 217-243-5435. Sept. 11, 2001: The Day That Changed the World: 7:30 a.m.-8 p.m., Lincoln Land Community College Library, Sangamon Hall, 5250 Shepherd Road, Springfield. | An educational walk-through exhibit that presents the history of 9/11. Through Sept. 30. Spirit of Faith Soup Kitchen: 3:30-4 p.m., Spirit of Faith Soup Kitchen, 105 E. Dunlap St. Free | Serving meals to go for anyone in need. To submit items to the calendar, go to myjournalcourier.com and select calendar, or email jjcsocial@myjournalcourier.com. Items must be submitted at least 48 hours in advance. Twenty years after 9/11, the pervasive power of our governments mass surveillance regime is clearer than ever and its past time for change. Congress now has the opportunity to enact essential reforms, by looking to the lessons of the last two decades to impose restraints that will protect us in the face of even more powerful and invasive technologies going forward. There has been bipartisan recognition that the post-9/11 surveillance regime undermines privacy rights, but Congress and the executive branch have not gone nearly far enough to establish strong safeguards against executive overreach and abuse. Executive branch agencies still have entirely too much power and discretion when conducting surveillance for intelligence purposes. Congress must put an end to mass spying by ensuring that surveillance is targeted, that there is robust judicial oversight, and that people whose lives are invaded by government surveillance can challenge that spying in court. After 9/11, Congress rushed to pass the Patriot Act, ushering in a new era of mass surveillance. Over the next decade, the surveillance state expanded dramatically, often in secret. The Bush administration conducted warrantless mass surveillance programs in violation of the Constitution and our laws, and the Obama administration allowed many of these spying programs to continue and grow. Even when Congress and the courts had the chance to impose meaningful restraints, they frequently gave in to the executive branchs demands for greater surveillance powers. For example, in 2008, Congress enacted Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, authorizing the warrantless surveillance of Americans private international communications including our phone calls, emails, chats, and web browsing. In 2013, Edward Snowdens revelations about the breadth of U.S. government surveillance shocked the world. The public learned about the NSAs PRISM and Upstream programs, which involve the NSA working closely with companies like Google, Facebook, AT&T, and Verizon to conduct warrantless surveillance of Americans international communications on a massive scale. In the face of these disclosures, intelligence officials also admitted that the NSA had for years been secretly collecting records about virtually every Americans phone calls whos calling whom, when those calls are made, and how long they last. This kind of information, when amassed by the NSA day after day, can reveal incredibly sensitive details about peoples lives and associations, such as whether they have called a pastor, an abortion provider, an addiction counselor, or a suicide hotline. In addition, whistleblowers and media reports revealed that the NSA was conducting bulk surveillance abroad, without any judicial oversight whatsoever, under an authority known as Executive Order 12333. In an increasingly interconnected world, Americans communications and data are frequently sent or routed abroad, where theyre vulnerable to collection by the NSA. The government has used this authority to tap into the links between Googles data centers overseas, and to vacuum up 5 billion records per day on the location of cell phones around the world. The human toll of government surveillance is undeniable. It can have far-reaching consequences for peoples lives particularly for communities of color, who are wrongly and disproportionately subject to surveillance. The people who feel the impact the most are Muslims, Black and brown people, people of Asian descent, and others who have long been subject to wrongful profiling and discrimination in the name of national security. Routine surveillance is corrosive, making us feel like we are always being watched, and it chills the very kind of speech and association on which democracy depends. This spying is especially harmful because it is often feeds into a national security apparatus that puts people on watch-lists, subjects them to unwarranted scrutiny by law enforcement, and allows the government to upend lives on the basis of vague, secret claims. In the years since the Snowden revelations, Congress and the courts have placed some limited restraints on the governments ability to spy on Americans and others. But these restraints are being outpaced by technological advances, such as facial recognition and artificial intelligence, which are fueling the growth of the surveillance state. Today, everyone on the planet is generating more data than ever before data about our location, our associations, and the most intimate details of our lives. The danger of surveillance becoming normalized is that the very technologies we depend on will instead be used against us, to track us wherever we go and whatever we do. By reining in mass surveillance, Congress can begin the process of righting the privacy harms of the last twenty years. And looking toward the future, Congress can help ensure that the next generation of Americans are able to speak and associate freely, without fear of unwarranted government scrutiny. Patrick Toomey and Ashley Gorski are senior staff attorneys for the American Civil Liberties Union. Missouri Secretary of State Jay Ashcroft, right, presents a check for $20,000 from the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 to library officials, from left, board member Phil Amato, executive director Tony A. Benningfield, Northwest Branch manager Cindy Hayes, assistant director for library services Pam Withrow and board president Susan Retta Tuggle. Vietnam speeds up Hanoi vaccine drive; 1M jabs over weekend View Photo HANOI, Vietnam (AP) Vietnam is speeding up its vaccination program in an effort to loosen coronavirus lockdown restrictions in major cities by the end of the month, the government said Monday. Health workers administered vaccines throughout the night in the capital, Hanoi, which has been under lockdown since July. More than a million vaccine shots were given over the weekend in Hanoi, out of around 5.5 million administered there since vaccinations started in March, the Health Ministry said. We have to speed up the vaccination program so we can make a plan to reopen the city, Hanoi mayor Chu Ngoc Anh said Sunday. More than half of the countrys 98 million population is also under lockdown. About 80% of the citys 5.7 million adults have received at least one shot, with authorities aiming for 100% by the end of this week. However, the countrys overall vaccination rate still remains low at about 28%, and only 4% have been fully vaccinated with both jabs. Vietnam managed to keep its infection rate relatively low up until April this year, with only 35 deaths. Last year it was praised for keeping the virus under control, an accomplishment generally attributed to the discipline of being a single-party communist state with tight controls at all levels. But vaccine shortages forced Vietnam to slow down its vaccination program in recent months, even as the delta variant of the virus infected over 600,000 people and killed more than 15,000 in just four months. In Ho Chi Minh City, the nations business hub and most hard-hit by the surge, over 95% of adults have received the first vaccine, but many who need to come in for the second dose arent able to get it due to low supplies. Among measures to cope with the shortage, Vietnams health authority has allowed combinations of different two-dose COVID-19 vaccines to speed up the vaccination campaign. Experts say this tactic is likely safe and effective, but researchers are still gathering data to be sure. Vietnam is currently using AstraZeneca, Pfizer, Moderna and Sinopharm, a Chinese-made vaccine. By HAU DINH Associated Press NEBRASKA CITY, Neb. (AP) Three Republican presidential prospects on Sunday sharply condemned President Joe Bidens handling of the end of the war in Afghanistan, rebuking the administrations conduct of the U.S. withdrawal as weak and as emboldening its adversaries. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, Texas Sen. Ted Cruz and former Vice President Mike Pence attended Gov. Pete Ricketts' annual steak-fry fundraiser in Nebraska City, a town in the state's southeastern corner and just a few miles from Iowa, traditionally the first state to vote in presidential primaries. The three Republicans, all weighing 2024 campaigns, spoke to more than 1,000 Nebraska party faithful. All praised the U.S. troops who served in the 20-year war prompted by the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, but the trio did little to rekindle the political unity that defined the days and weeks that followed 9/11. They are watching what happens, in China and in Iran and in North Korea and in Moscow," DeSantis said. Those countries feared Donald Trump. They don't fear Joe Biden and they don't respect Joe Biden." Cruz repeatedly called the administration's response to the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan as Americans, Westerners and Afghans with U.S. ties scrambled to exit the country a disaster." Every enemy of America is taking the measure of the man in the Oval Office and everyone, everyone of them has determined that the president is weak and ineffective," Cruz said. Biden and other top U.S. officials expressed surprise last month by the pace of the Talibans takeover of Afghanistan before the planned U.S. exit deadline of Saturday, Sept. 11. On Aug. 26, roughly 170 Afghans and 13 U.S. service members, including Marine Corps Cpl. Daegan William-Tyeler Page, 23, of Omaha, were killed in a suicide bombing by Islamic extremists at the Kabul airport as people flocked there to flee the country. The chaos that followed, and the loss of 13 extraordinary servicemen and women, including a hero from right here in Nebraska, broke my heart because it never had to happen," Pence said. Pence described an Oval Office meeting in which Trump, discussing U.S. withdrawal plans from Afghanistan with the Taliban in early 2020, threatened military strikes if the Taliban allowed harm to Americans. The Biden administration followed the Kabul airport bombing with airstrikes against Islamic extremists. The GOP picnic on the grounds of Arbor Lodge State Historic Park along the Missouri River served as an early stage for Republicans with an eye on the 2024 presidential election, even as Trump hinted at a third campaign. I know what Im going to do, but were not supposed to be talking about it yet," Trump said Saturday, while visiting with New York City police and fire officials, according to The New York Post. But I think youre going to be happy, let me put it that way. DeSantis, a rising Republican figure outspoken in his criticism of Biden's COVID-19 policies, criticized as overreach the president's sweeping new federal vaccine requirements for private sector employees, health care workers and federal contractors in the face of the surging COVID-19 delta variant. I am fighting back against him," DeSantis said, nodding to legal action being discussed by Republican governors. We are going to be on the front line with a full spectrum response." Several Republican governors, including Ricketts, said last week they were discussing suing the White House over Bidens vaccine requirement. CHESHIRE Superintendent of School Jeff Solan made his way over to Doolittle School on Sept. 2, just about the time a game of kickball had broken out among the students. Though classes technically resumed in Cheshire two days prior, the start of the new school year was delayed at Doolittle after the detection of mold forced the school to close for two days. That meant Thursday was the first time all Cheshire students were officially back. It was just so relieving to see, said Solan. The kids were out playing. It was a beautiful sunny day. It felt normal. The night prior, remnants from Hurricane Ida swept through Connecticut, leaving some areas flooded and residents cleaning up after yet another difficult summer storm. But by Thursday morning, the sun was shining and the weather had turned exceptional, leaving Solan to see a bit of symbolism in the scene on display at Doolittle. It felt like we had come through the storm, literally and figuratively, he said. Of course, the storm Solan has been most focused on doesnt appear on any radar. Its been raging for more than 18 months, and has impacted every aspect of student learning along the way. As Cheshire students arrived this week for a new year, Solan remarked on how much more normal things seem than they have in the recent past. Yet, the threat of COVID-19 remains, as do some of the safety protocols used by the district to try and prevent the spread of the virus within the school community. Its probably the most frustrating aspect of everything, said Solan. We are by nature creatures of habit, but we dont know exactly whats going to happen in the future. We cant plan for it We have to be ready to manage change. Cohorting protocols, designed to limit mingling among students, still do exist, though Solan explained that they are more relaxed this year than last, which will allow for more student movement throughout the buildings. Tents have been set up at different schools to allow for as many activities as possible to be held outside, particularly lunch, which is where Solan stated the most risk of viral spread occurs. And of course, masks are required by all who are inside school buildings. The mask mandate for schools has been a particularly controversial issue in both Cheshire and around the country, and things came to a head a week before classes resumed when protestors interrupted an education roundtable being held in Cheshire and attended by Gov. Ned Lamont. The event had to be cut short, as protestors yelled at local and state officials gathered for the roundtable and proceeded to confront Lamont outside the school, as he and his security team headed back to their vehicles. Solan explained that, after the incident, he received numerous emails from community members expressing their support for continuing the practice of requiring masks in schools. As for the pushback on the policy, which has been mandated by Lamont via an executive order, Solan explained that he believes it to be loud, but not broad. What I gather is that the vast majority of people, even those who may be anti-mask, want to see kids in the classroom, said Solan. Thats what our main focus is keeping kids in class every day. Making sure that safety protocols are kept in place is what helped Cheshire maintain in-person instruction throughout all of last year. In fact, Solan explained that only three days of instruction were missed by students throughout the 2020/2021 school year, when buildings had to be shut down due to COVID-19 concerns. I sympathize with parents (concerned about masks). I try to put myself in their shoes, he said. Our main goal is to keep everyone in school. I would just ask them to hang in there, he added. In addition to maintaining health and safety protocols, the district has also been busy tracking student achievement. Teachers have employed what Solan described as an acceleration model of instruction in order to help students catch up in any areas where they may have fallen behind because of the pandemic. Solan explained that, if the district had attempted to go back and make up for what may have been lost as a result of remote learning, it could permanently put students behind. Instead, theyve focused on trying to bridge any gaps in learning. So far, the results have been very positive. We just received our Smarter Balance (student scores) and they are exceptionally high, he said. It shows that our students are still doing very well. But its something we are obviously going to continue to track. Lapses in learning is one area of concern for parents, Solan admitted, but from the feedback hes received over the last year, it takes a back seat to concerns raised over the mental and emotional health of students. Last year, students in kindergarten through eighth grade were given the opportunity to attend in-school instruction five days a week, but families could opt for remote learning. Most decided on in-school instruction, yet some made the decision to remain home. At the high school, a hybrid model was employed, meaning students were separated into cohorts and attended in-school instruction twice a week. As a result, many students are returning to five days of in-school instruction per week for the first time in more than a year. To help with the transition, the district held several sessions for both parents and students throughout the summer, to address concerns about the return to a normal school schedule. As far as what the future holds for this year goes, Solan stated that he and his team are working closely with Chesprocott Health District to monitor case counts over the next several weeks. Solan acknowledged that parents can become frustrated over the lack of certainty when it comes to exactly what will trigger everything from a school having to be closed to determining how many mask breaks students will receive throughout the day, but the superintendent explained that several factors go into each decision. We want black-and-white metrics to determine when we should and shouldnt do things, but sometimes those just dont exist, said Solan. For instance, mask breaks. People ask, When are the kids going to take breaks (throughout the day)? and it all depends. If its sunny and 85 degrees outside, we are going to try and get them out there as many times as possible. If the weather isnt as nice, we may not be able to (offer as many breaks). MERIDEN The city is scheduled to open a no-cost COVID-19 testing site this week in response to the growing number of infections locally and the need for greater access to testing. As of Sept. 9, city health officials reported 114 confirmed and probable COVID-19 cases for the month in Meriden. Lea Crown, the citys director of Health and Human Services, said that number exceeded the 97 cases that had been reported in the entire month of September in 2020. Crown discussed those numbers and shared other updates related to the pandemic during a virtual meeting of the City Councils Human Services Committee last week. So were certainly not trending in the right direction and were taking appropriate steps to hopefully address this with our community, Crown told committee members on Sept. 9. With school back in session, Crowns department is looking to increase the citys capacity to conduct COVID-19 testing, in addition to its ongoing vaccination distribution efforts and contact tracing. As the number of COVID-19 cases rise, local health officials are looking to increase access to testing. Earlier in the year, efforts were more geared toward encouraging vaccination. Now were seeing a shift back to testing, Crown said. Testing will become more available in a section of Meriden with the citys lowest vaccination rates, as reported through its census tracts. With a vaccination rate of 56.1% the span Crown described includes Hall Avenue, Crown Street Extension, the area around Ceppa Field and Lyman Avenue. The city will launch a new no-cost testing site in that area. Wren Laboratories will set up a pop-up testing site in the parking lot of 13 Orange St. Starting today, the facility will be open on Tuesdays from 9 a.m. to 12 p.m., Thursdays 3 to 6 p.m. and Saturdays, 9 a.m. to 12 p.m., Crown said. Crown said she sought to increase access to no-cost testing after receiving anecdotal reports residents were being charged for COVID-19 tests their insurance wouldnt cover. In several incidents, residents reported they had been charged $175 or more. In addition to no-cost testing, Crown said her department is also focused on maintaining robust contact tracing. The health department currently employs three part-time contact tracers, including one who is bilingual. State assistance with contact tracing will continue for another four weeks, before it is turned over entirely to local health departments, Crown said. Preventing spread At this point, the citys contact tracing efforts are particularly focused on cases reported among individuals under 18, Crown explained. By focusing on that age group, officials are trying to be proactive in stopping the coronavirus from spreading in schools. Data reported on the Meriden Public Schools COVID-19 dashboard as of last week showed six of the districts 14 schools have reported cases, with limited numbers of students in quarantine because theyve been identified as close contacts. The dashboard showed no confirmed COVID-19 positive cases among school staff and no staff were in quarantine. Crown, in an email to the Record-Journal the day after the Human Services Committee meeting, said her department and the school district are following state recommended strategies to reduce the spread and encouraged families to assist in the effort. We need parents to not send their children to school if they are feeling ill with symptoms of COVID-19, and keep their children who may have been told to quarantine home until their quarantine period is over, Crown wrote. Vaccination rates During the Human Services Committee meeting, Crown also provided an update on the distribution of COVID-19 vaccines across the city. So far more than 59% of Meriden residents eligible for COVID-19 vaccines are fully vaccinated, according to data reported by the state Department of Public Health. Close to 65% of eligible residents have received at least an initial dose. The age group where officials are seeing the most increase in vaccination rates is 12-to-17-year-olds, Crown noted. As of Sept. 8, close to 64% of that population had received at least one vaccine dose and just shy of 53% were fully vaccinated. I really have to give a shout out to our 12-to-17 year old residents, Crown said. Another group that has seen similar increases is 18-to-24-year-olds. Local officials believe vaccine mandates enacted by colleges and universities in Connecticut may have helped drive that increase. The 25-to-44-year-old age group, meanwhile, has seen slower increases. Gains among minorities The data Crown shared also showed most gaps in vaccination rates along racial and ethnic lines continues to narrow. As of Sept. 8, more than 59% of vaccine eligible Latino residents had received an initial dose. Meanwhile, just over 56% of vaccine-eligible white residents and 52.4% of vaccine-eligible Black residents were similarly vaccinated. The least vaccinated group, at 35.4%, was Native Americans. Crown said since early June, when the state began to report detailed data regarding race and ethnicity in its vaccine distribution reports, the city has seen large increases in vaccination rates among minority residents, even more so than among the citys non-Latino white population. The city had received a state grant to improve vaccine equity, which Crown said she believes may have contributed to improved rates. But I cannot make a direct correlation, she said. Vaccine availability will increase with new weekly clinics run by the Community Health Center. The Meriden Boys and Girls Club and Meriden YMCA will host the clinics, which will continue until the third week of December, Crown said. In addition, vaccines are available through clinics offered by Hartford Healthcare and from local pharmacies, Crown said. mgagne@record-journal.com203-317-2231Twitter:@MikeGagneRJ Editors note: This article is the first in a series commemorating National Hispanic Heritage Month. MERIDEN Eligio Santiago, his wife Maria and their four children moved from Puerto Rico to Meriden in the early 1950s. The family faced discrimination, a language barrier and culture shock, but despite those challenges, they persisted and became successful members of the community. In a recent interview with the Record-Journal, Nelida Santiago Ortiz, one of Santiagos daughters, shared her familys story. Santiago Ortiz was 5 years old when her parents decided they wanted to come live on the mainland United States in order to have a better life. Santiago moved first, in 1952, and tried to find a job in New York, where some of his siblings lived. At that time Santiagos sister and brother-in-law moved to Meriden because they heard that the International Silver Company was looking for workers. Santiago came to Meriden shortly after to live with them and started working right away. They lived across the street from St. Stanislaus Church. When the landlord found out that my father was living in the basement, he threw them all out, Santiago Ortiz said. Puerto Ricans were just starting to move to Meriden, Santiago Ortiz explained. They had a hard time finding a place to live. So instead of renting, Santiago and his sister each bought a house. Santiagos home was on Crown Street. He attended night school to learn English and then, in 1953, Santiagos wife and children arrived from Puerto Rico. At that time the family focused on learning the language and the culture. They quickly became Americanized, Santiago Ortiz said. The children attended St. Stanislaus Church and school, where they had Latin and Polish masses. The school taught in English. They started to absorb all of those languages. The children spoke mainly English at home and their parents learned from them. The children then went to Platt High School, where they were enrolled in college credit courses, Santiago Ortiz recalled. Determined to attend college When her oldest sister was getting ready to graduate high school, she was asked by school counselors what she wanted to do for work, but she wasnt sure. They told her she could be a secretary or work in retail. But the oldest sister wasnt interested in those jobs. They said well, you cant go to college, Puerto Ricans dont go to college, Santiago Ortiz said as she recalled her sister coming home and feeling defeated. After speaking with other family connections, the family found out she could go to college and she did. The second sister also went to college. This was new in our family, my parents never got out of elementary school, Santiago Ortiz said. They were thrilled that we were progressing and doing well in this new living situation. Santiago Ortiz was next. She went to Central Connecticut State University and her youngest brother went to the University of Connecticut. Santiago and his wife later built a home on Sandy Lane off Paddock Avenue on the citys east side. Santiago died in 1978 from cancer. Santiago and his wife had nine grandchildren and eight of them have college degrees. The grandchild without a degree has had a successful career. They all turned out very, very well, Santiago Ortiz said. Source of pride Siobhan McLaughlin is Santiago Ortizs niece. McLaughlin owns the Meriden home that was built by Santiago and his wife. McLauglin said every day she remembers her grandparents and the memories she had with them in the house. McLaughlin said the story behind her familys success is always a source of pride for her. Its a very encouraging story, she said. Where they came from and where they ended up, it mystifies me, how they did what they did. It really is unbelievable. She said she is aware of how much her grandparents valued education. At that time, her grandfather was criticized for sending his girls to college. While in college, Santiago Ortiz worked at St. Marys Hospital in Waterbury, where she met her husband, Fernando Ortiz, who at the time was an internal medicine intern. Santiago Ortiz worked in the social work department. They later got married, moved to Waterbury and then to New York in 1974. In 1976 the couple moved back to Meriden. At that time Ortiz started working for the city, doing physical examinations at the schools. Later that same year, the couple rented a space and opened a private medical practice. They had connections in the medical field that taught Santiago Ortiz how to manage the practice. Overcoming obstacles The couple was hesitant to ask for a loan to open the practice because at that time they were just not very helpful with Hispanics, she said. They ended up borrowing money from her parents. She noted that being a Latino in Meriden at the time was a challenge as they constantly experienced that banks and other businesses werent really receptive to Hispanic people. There was a lot of discrimination, she said. The couple ran the practice for almost 10 years before moving to Texas in 1983, where Ortiz worked for another doctor and soon after opened a private practice. In 1993, he started working for a veteran affairs clinic and Santiago Ortiz went back to school to finish her degree. The couple is now retired. They had two sons who also went to college and live in Texas. Santiago Ortiz said she loves Meriden and mentioned that many locals helped her family along the way, contributing to their success including a lawyer, a banker and a librarian. She said one of her favorite things about growing up in Meriden was being able to attend St. Stanislaus School. If it hadnt been for them, I wouldnt be here today, she said. Hispanic Heritage Month runs from Sept. 15 to Oct. 15. For more information go to www.hispanicheritagemonth.gov/ or www.si.edu/events/heritagemonth. For more news from the Record-Journals Latino Communities Reporting Lab go to www.Myrecordjournal.com/latino-news. ksantos@record-journal.com203-317-2364Twitter: @KarlaSantosNews People who were not fully vaccinated this spring and summer were more than 10 times more likely to be hospitalized, and 11 times more likely to die of covid-19 than those who were fully vaccinated, according to one of three major studies published Friday by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention that highlight the continued efficacy of all three vaccines amid the spread of the highly contagious delta variant. A second study showed the Moderna coronavirus vaccine was moderately more effective in preventing hospitalizations than its counterparts from Pfizer-BioNTech and Johnson & Johnson. That assessment was based on the largest U.S. study to date of the real-world effectiveness of all three vaccines, involving about 32,000 patients seen in hospitals, emergency departments and urgent care clinics across nine states from June through early August. While the three vaccines were collectively 86% effective in preventing hospitalization, protection was significantly higher among Moderna vaccine recipients (95%) than among those who got Pfizer-BioNTech (80%) or Johnson & Johnson (60%). That finding echoes a smaller study by the Mayo Clinic Health System in August, not yet peer-reviewed, which also showed the Moderna vaccine with higher effectiveness than Pfizer-BioNTech at preventing infections during the delta wave. Noting the effectiveness of all vaccines against severe illness and death, public health officials have continued to urge people to get whatever vaccine is available, rather than to shop around and delay inoculation. "The bottom line is this: We have the scientific tools we need to turn the corner on this pandemic," CDC Director Rochelle Walensky said at a White House covid-19 briefing Friday. "Vaccination works and will protect us from the severe complications of covid-19." The trio of reports comes as President Joe Biden announced sweeping coronavirus vaccine mandates Thursday to curb the surging delta variant, which are expected to increase the pressure on the tens of millions of Americans who have resisted vaccinations. The virus has killed more than 650,000 people in the United States with about 1,500 average daily deaths for the past eight days - a toll not seen since early March, according to data analyzed by The Washington Post. The CDC studies offer some clarity in a confusing moment in the pandemic amid concerns about waning immunity and the vaccines' protection against a more contagious variant. The data are broadly consistent with findings from other studies: The vaccines continue to provide strong protection for most people against hospitalization and death, even during this delta surge, but are less effective in protecting adults in the highest age brackets, especially those with underlying medical conditions. The highly transmissible delta variant now accounts for more than than 99% of new coronavirus infections, the CDC estimates. Fear of waning protection against severe disease is why the administration hopes to roll out boosters as soon as health authorities give the green light. Pfizer is in line to be the first brand approved as a booster by the Food and Drug Administration since the company has submitted data on the safety and effectiveness of boosting its own two-shot regimen with a third shot of the same vaccine. Approval of the other vaccines is expected to follow in coming months. In the CDC report that analyzed vaccine effectiveness by brand, researchers looked at how well the vaccines protected against severe disease. They measured effectiveness against hospitalization and, separately, against trips to the emergency department or urgent care. Overall effectiveness in preventing emergency department or urgent care trips was 82%. Effectiveness was highest among Moderna recipients (92%), followed by Pfizer (77%) and then Johnson & Johnson (65%). The CDC report doesn't explain why Moderna might offer greater benefit. One possibility is that Moderna's dose of mRNA is three times that of Pfizer-BioNTech's. The interval between shots is also longer: four weeks for Moderna instead of three weeks for Pfizer-BioNTech. Some research has shown that longer intervals between shots -- including much longer periods, beyond four weeks -- could be advantageous to building immunity. But researchers found diminishing effectiveness against hospitalizations among adults 75 and older, and suggested the decline could be from waning immunity and the impact of a more contagious variant. But the report noted that "this moderate decline should be interpreted with caution and might be related to changes in the virus that causes covid-19, weakening vaccine-induced immunity as more time passes since vaccination, or a combination of factors." Nevertheless, the three vaccines showed continued robust protection for all adults-- greater than 82% -- for hospitalization, emergency room and urgent care trips. "It is really, really great to have 82 percent effectiveness in the time of delta," four to six months after many people have gotten vaccinated, said Eddie Stenehjem, one of the authors and an infectious- disease physician at Intermountain Healthcare, a health system based in Salt Lake City that participated in the study. "We hope this is reassurance to the general public." Another CDC study shows that the vaccines endured some erosion as the delta variant became dominant, especially among adults 65 and older but protection against severe disease and death remained strong, albeit less so in that group. The CDC analyzed data on more than 600,000 covid-19 cases, hospitalizations and deaths among people 18 and older by vaccination status reported from April 4 to July 17 in 13 states and cities. The report estimated that vaccine effectiveness against infection dropped from 90 percent in the first part of that period, when delta had not yet gained significant traction, to under 80% from mid-June to mid-July, when delta began out-competing all other strains of the virus. Effectiveness against hospitalization and death showed barely any decline during the entire period. "Still achieving 80 percent is a very good number," said Mehul Suthar, a virologist at Emory University who studies the coronavirus. "These vaccines still hold up against a highly transmissible variant." There were more breakthrough hospitalizations and deaths than during the spring, but not to a dramatic extent given the broadening of vaccination. Between June 20 and July 17, vaccinated people accounted for 14% of hospitalizations for covid-19, the disease caused by the virus, and 16% of deaths, roughly double the percentage seen in the spring, the CDC reported. But that is not surprising, given that vaccinations increased dramatically across the country. An increased percentage of vaccinated people among those who are hospitalized or die would be expected when they account for a greater proportion of the population. The CDC said its data showed only a very small decline in protection against severe disease and death when the higher vaccination rates were taken into account. "The vaccines remain very protective against severe disease," said William Moss, executive director of the International Vaccine Access Center at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. "I think we set our expectations too high for vaccines, thinking they were going to prevent people from getting infected and transmitting the virus." The third study looked at the effectiveness of the two mRNA vaccines among hospitalized people at five Veterans Affairs hospitals in Atlanta, New York, Houston, Los Angeles and Palo Alto, Ca. from Feb. 1 to Aug. 6. The report found the mRNA vaccines were 87% effective in preventing hospitalizations and remained highly effective even during delta's predominance. Effectiveness in preventing hospitalizations dropped to 80% among those 65 and older, compared with 95% among those 18 to 64 years old. The numbers reported Friday were a reminder of how top government health officials, as well as President Biden, had repeatedly used outdated CDC information, saying that breakthrough hospitalizations and deaths were extremely rare. Their message - that vaccinations are hugely beneficial - is largely supported by the new data, but they were relying on data that did not capture the effects of delta, relaxed public behavior and naturally declining immunity. This Saturday, September 18, a new coffee and chai shop is set to spice up Broadway. Amaretti Coffee, product of UTSA graduate Nirav Amarnath, will introduce a traditional Indian pastry and chai cafe and lounge experience to San Antonio. As a boy, Amarnath enjoyed a cup of chai every morning, made for him by his grandmother, who along with his mother taught him how to brew a range of traditional teas and baked goods to carry with him when he left for school. Inspired by his upbringing, travels to India and the chai houses in Austin, Amarnath decided to open up a local spot of his own. "I am excited to open in San Antonio this weekend. While we will offer traditional American coffees, I feel that what will really set us a part from any other coffee shops in the city is our unique selection of Indian Chai Teas and traditional pastries," says Amarnath in a statement to MySA. "These unique eats and drinks aren't popularized here, as they are in other cities such as Austin." Courtesy of Amaretti The menu will include espresso-based drinks, as well as Indian masala chai, Indian cold coffee, and Indian pastries like dera biscuits. On opening day, from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m., Amaretti Coffee will offer $20 gift cards to its first 25 customers and complimentary pastries for other patrons with every drink purchase. Following the grand opening, the city's newest meeting place will be open from Monday through Friday from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m., and Saturday through Sunday from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. Driving down Broadway, you can find the shop tucked under the 1800 Broadway Apartment complex at 1800 Broadway, Unit #1131, inside the former Brown Coffee location. NEW YORK (AP) Billie Eilish went full glam in a huge peach ball gown at the pandemic-delayed Met Gala on Monday night, while fellow host of the evening Amanda Gorman was breathtaking in cobalt blue custom Vera Wang with a diamond laurel wreath in her hair. Rihanna, ever the Met Gala queen, showed up late in a huge black Balenciaga look and hat accompanied by A$ap Rocky in a multicolored quilted coat from ERL. She wore over 267 carats of Bulgari diamonds, including two choker necklaces. Co-host Timothee Chalamet raced onto Fifth Avenue to take selfies with fans before walking up the steps of the Metropolitan Museum of Art for his entrance after a marching band and gymnast Nia Dennis kicked off the long-awaited evening. Last year's gala was canceled due to the pandemic. This year's official theme of the fundraiser for the museum's Costume Institute was American Independence, leaving plenty of room for interpretation. Just ask Lil Nas X, who did a Lady Gaga-esque strip tease on the carpet in gold Versace, from cape to armor to embellished jumpsuit. Eilish, the belle of the ball, wore Oscar de la Renta. She told Vogue: It was time for this. I feel like I've grown so much over the last few years. Chalamet had Converse sneakers on his feet but Cartier diamonds on his look. Chalamet called his outfit, including Rick Owens sweatpants, a bit of everything, just like America. Alfonso Navas, the fashion editor for Esquire, lauded his fashion choices as a a smart play on the theme by interpreting American icons in sportwear. Gorman's dress, which included more than 3,000 hand-sewn crystals, was made to evoke a starry night sky. She told Vogue she felt like Lady Liberty, reimagined. Her crown, the star poet said, was a nod to publishing. Another of the hosts, Naomi Osaka, wanted to celebrate all her cultures Japan, Haitian and the U.S. and picked a Louis Vuitton gown designed in collaboration with her sister, Mari Osaka. It was a swirly blue, aqua and purple print with long black ruffle sleeves and a wide red sash. If this gala produced a trend, its huge statement sleeves, with some stars and stripes thrown in. There was a smattering of red, as in the red, white and blue of the American flag. Karlie Kloss wore red Carolina Herrera with huge ruffles at the neck and sleeves. Jennifer Hudson also chose red sans sleeves. Also in red: Ella Emhoff, the daughter of the countrys second gentleman, Doug Emhoff, and Vice President Kamala Harris. She wore a bodysuit and high-shine trousers by Stella McCartney with a sheer top and a crystal design in all the right places. She wore Adidas by McCartney embellished in red and made partially of a recycled material derived from ocean plastic. The gala, drawing standouts in fashion, TV, film, sports, tech and beyond, included tiny but mighty Olympian Simone Biles in an 88-pound Area embroidered gown of silver with a top adorned in a firework burst pattern and a huge train carried up the museum steps by six men. The gown was a collaboration with Athleta. Ralph Lauren dressed Jennifer Lopez in a faux fur wrap with a dark brown crystal and beaded look in her signature plunge at the neck and high slit, a wide-brimmed Western-style hat on her head. She and Ben Affleck smooched with masks on days after their red carpet coming out in Venice. Dan Levy took the party's theme to the extreme in a blue confection from Loewe. It had, according to the brand, printed leg of mutton sleeves" on a polo shirt with an applique of two men kissing. Yara Shahidi wore silver custom Dior complete with a light hood. She said she was inspired by Josephine Baker. Harris Reed, in collaboration with Dolce & Gabbana, put Iman in a huge golden feathered head piece and equally adorned skirt of crinoline with a jacquard bustier. Blake Newby, the style and beauty editor for Essence, called Iman's look both massive and angelic. Gala overseer Anna Wintour arrived early with a wave to the crowd accompanied by her pregnant daughter, Bee, in a floral design with ruffles at the neck. Along with oh-so-many jumpsuits, there were plenty of classic red carpet looks and a wave of gold, the latter including a Peter Dundas look worn by Mary J. Blige. It plunged to the belly button and beyond at the front and back. MJ Rodriguez, the Pose star and first transgender performer to pick up an Emmy nomination in a major acting category, wore an old glam, black-and-white corseted look from Thom Browne. The designer called it a modern-day twist on classic American sportswear. She attended the gala with purpose. Not a lot of trans girls like myself get this opportunity," she said. "The human condition is what I'm here for. U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez showed up in an Brother Vellies by Aurora James gown of white with a message splashed in red across the back: Tax the Rich. It's really about having a real conversation about fairness and equity in our system, and I think this conversation is particularly relevant as we debate the budget and reconciliation bill, she said. The evening had its share of what-the-heck moments, like a couple of horse heads on dresses and a green-haired Frank Ocean carrying a fake baby with a green face to match. Thom Browne gave the walking fashion statement Erykah Badu an extra-tall top hat with a bulky black look, a bunch of crystals and chunky bling around her neck. Her purse was a black leather dachshund. The fashion girls represented, Gigi Hadid in classic white Prada fresh from a slew of runway walks at New York Fashion Week, and Kendall Jenner in glittery, revealing silver by Givenchy. Jenner's look was inspired by My Fair Lady. The entrance of Jenner's older sister, Kim Kardashian West, caused a stir as fans wondered whether her estranged husband Kanye was the masked man at her side. It was none other than Demna Gvasalia, the creative director for Balenciaga who created her get-up: A black face covering worn with a T-shirt dress, catsuit and boots. Newby told the AP the easiest and most obvious ways to stay true to the evening's theme is by wearing American designers. Many of the greats, including Michael Kors, showed up, along with smaller brands. Black American designers had their moment, she said, noting looks by Christopher John Rogers, Aliette and Sergio Hudson. Lorde wore a custom upcycled gown with detailed beadwork and embroidery by Emily Bode, a New York designer who repurposes fabrics and garments for her menswear line. Her exquisite gown may have done more to make the case that upcycled fashion can be fabulous than a hundred sustainability summits, said Erik Maza, style features director for Town & Country. There were hair statements as well. Geometric bobs also made an appearance with Sophia Roe and Tracee Ellis Ross showing off very avant garde dos, while Yara Shahidi and Kaia Gerber channeled old Hollywood glam with deep waves, Newby said. After 18 months in sweats, it was clear that celebrities were beyond thrilled to give it their all," said Sara Tan, beauty director for a millennial-focused lifestyle site Refinery29.com. They did in clothes, but also accessories and beauty, she said, noting Gorman's sparkly jewels across her face and Eilish's short, curled bob and classic winged liner in a definite ode to Marilyn Monroe. Eilish, Gorman, Iman and AOC were the night's best dressed for Refinery29's fashion director Irina Grechko. "Not only did Gorman wear an American designer, Vera Wang, but she also nailed the American Independence' dress code with a book-shaped clutch that read Give Us Your Tired in reference to the Emma Lazarus poem featured on the base of the Statue of Liberty. The gala, which raises money for the museum's Costume Institute, was pushed last year from its traditional May berth and morphed this year into a two-part affair marking the institute's 75th anniversary. It coincides with the opening of In America: A Lexicon of Fashion, the first of a two-part exhibition at the Met's Anna Wintour Costume Center. Organizers invited 400 guests, less than the number that usually attend. ___ Follow Leanne Italie on Twitter at http://twitter.com/litalie For the past 37 years, the world of academia has waited each fall for U.S. News & World Report to release its annual rankings of colleges and universities. Along with boasting rights, the list boost applications and recruitment for students as well as acquisition and retention for faculty. The report's list of top schools rarely shuffles that much, and usually includes a mix of Ivy League (and Ivy-adjacent) universities. But with so many institutions of higher ed, the publication's prestigious U.S. News Best Colleges omits hundreds of schools. So 30 years ago, the publication decided to further break down the list by regions. Released September 13, the 2022 U.S. News Best Regional Universities West has a San Antonio school in the top spot: Trinity University. With a perfect score of 100 and a peer assessment score of 4.1 out of a possible 5, Trinity is the best among regional universities. The home of LeeRoy the Tiger also boasts a 90 percent first-year retention rate and an 86 percent predicted graduation rate within six years, the best for the region. The private university also has a small class size (only 1 percent of classes have more than 50 students) and a student-to-faculty ratio of 9 to 1. Trinity is also fairly selective, admitting only 34 percent of applicants. It also received the No. 1 spot for undergraduate teaching, No. 7 for most innovative in the West (tied), No. 12 in best value in the West, and No. 62 in best undergraduate engineering programs. In a press release, Trinity heralds its "reclaiming" of the top spot, noting that the school has taken the title 29 of the past 30 years. In a year that has been anything but ordinary, this U.S. News & World Report number one ranking shows that Trinity has emerged from a global pandemic as a stronger and more resilient institution that has recommitted itself to living out our values of enduring excellence, intentional inclusion, and perpetual discovery, said president Danny Anderson in the release. Texas was also well represented on the 2022 U.S. News & World Report's Best National University Rankings (aka the Big One). Rice University was highest, landing at No. 17 in the nation, followed by University of Texas at Austin at No. 39. (UT also ranked the 10th best public university in the U.S.) Other Texas schools in the top 100 national ranking: Southern Methodist University and Texas A&M University both tied at No. 68, Baylor University hit No. 75, and Texas Christian University at No. 83. University of the Incarnate Word also made an appearance on the Best National University Rankings at No. 263. As for the best university? That would be Princeton, which was declared the top school in the nation, besting Harvard, Columbia, and MIT, which all tied for second. In March 2020, the City of Grapevine Parks and Recreation Department and its residents launched a community project asking residents and tourists to paint a rock and display it on one of its trails at Parr Park. As more Texans took to state parks during the pandemic, the Dallas area park's collection of tiny works of art grew to unprecedented numbers so much so, it blasted through previous records. On September 8, officials with the Guinness World Records visited the Rock Art Trail and evaluated their quality for a total of 24,459, beating the previous record of 8,542. According to a news release from the city, the trail first began as a way to inspire and uplift the community during the coronavirus pandemic. It lies between Wall-Farrar Nature Trail and the trail connection from Parr Park along Big Bear Creek. The community-driven project has been led by Ron Olsen and Chris Penny, both Grapevine residents, who joined forces to transform the trail into an artsy attraction for anyone in Grapevine and beyond who wanted to escape the stress of the pandemic. Grapevine Parks & Recreation "The Rock Art Trail is a beautiful symbol of our community's resilience and resolve in the face of such a devastating and disruptive pandemic," Olsen, who placed the first cluster of rocks that started the collection, stated in the release. Penny discovered the trail with his daughters in early March 2020, and connected with artists around the world who would later donate rocks to the trail. In the release, Penny stated he's amazed at how the trail has grown into something "extraordinary." "It amazes me that people from all over the world have sent rocks to be placed on a trail that they might not ever visit," he added. "These works of art have led to the trail being filled with laughter, new friendships being developed, people spending more time outdoors, couples holding hands, and childhood memories being relived. In essence, the rock trail ended up being exactly what the community needed during these unique times." This Grapevine trail filled with thousands of rocks is now "a wonderland of tiny paintings" as described by the Washington Post. Tourists can visit it at 1175 Municipal Way, Grapevine, about four hours north of San Antonio. For Rio Grande Valley nonprofit Frontera Fund, Texas Senate Bill 8 means it could be targeted for its existence alone. Frontera Fund is a nonprofit that provides funding and support like travel for women seeking abortions in the Rio Grande Valley and South Texas. With Senate Bill 8 now law, the organization has halted help line calls and texts until September 16, according to a new notification on its website. Executive Director Zaena Zamora says the pause helps Frontera Fund and its staff ground itself in the "new reality." Gov. Greg Abbott signed SB 8 into law on September 1, which bans abortions after six weeks of pregnancy. Anyone who helps a woman get an abortion after six weeks of pregnancy can be sued and face a minimum fine of $10,000. The U.S. Department of Justice is suing Texas over the abortion ban, which brings Zamora some hope. However, until a decision comes out of that lawsuit, the law still puts a bounty on abortion fund organizations like Frontera Fund and Lilith Fund. "So that's very concerning to us as an organization, right, because our whole mission is to help people get abortions," Zamora says. "So even by having our mission statement up on the website, puts us in danger of civil litigation." If Frontera Fund were to face a lawsuit, Zamora says the organization has pro bono legal services at its disposal to fight it in the courts, but that's just another added difficulty for those seeking abortions. Frontera Fund has aided women seeking abortions in clinic deserts like Laredo and Corpus Christi by pointing them to San Antonio Planned Parenthood clinics. Fearful of lawsuits, three out of four of San Antonio's Planned Parenthood clinics have since put a pause on abortions. Abortions before six weeks are still legal, but the law directly conflicts Roe v. Wade, which prohibits state bans on abortion before fetal viability usually between 22 to 24 weeks of pregnancy. Zamora says about 80 percent of women who come to Frontera Fund seeking aid find out they're pregnant after six weeks. The organization and individuals seeking abortions received no relief from the Supreme Court of the U.S., which ignored an emergency request to block the law. She says she wasn't surprised but the SCOTUS decision. "Now under SB 8, they would have had they would either have to continue with the pregnancy or find a way to get an abortion either through their own means," Zamora says. Those means can lead abortion seekers to a non-clinical setting, out of the states or even at home. People can still volunteer with Frontera Fund, and it is still accepting donations. Lilith Fund, which could not respond by time of publication, also offers volunteer opportunities and accepts donations. In a hurricane season that has caused a considerable portion of New Orleans to be without power for weeks and New York City to flood like never before, the latest named storm could bring devastation to Texas. Tropical Storm Nicholas is making its way toward the Lone Star State, and is expected to make landfall late Monday. While weather experts are tracking Nicholas and sending out updates every hour, heres what to expect in the hours to come. How bad is this storm? The storm strengthened as recently as Monday afternoon, leading experts to say Nicholas could land in Texas as a hurricane. Regardless of its classification, Nicholas remains a large storm that is projecting winds up to 115 miles. Nicholas is expected to move north before slowing over Houston on Tuesday, the National Hurricane Center predicts. Just before 4 p.m. on Monday, the NHC announced that Nicholas was about 70 miles southeast of Port Aransas in the Gulf of Mexico. Winds are already reaching 60 miles per hour, according to the organization. Should I prepare for the bad weather? If Nicholas strength remains and hits Texas as a hurricane, parts of the Gulf Coast could receive up to 20 inches of rain. According to the Associated Press, these areas would include those hit by 2017s Hurricane Harvey. The Gulf Coast remains under a tropical storm warning. Even without the hurricane distinction, residents along the Texas coast, including Corpus Christi and Houston, and in southwestern Louisiana, should prepare for a potential life-threatening storm surge and isolated tornadoes. A hurricane watch is currently in effect from Port Aransas to San Luis Pass. Gov. Greg Abbott said rescue teams and resources are in place to help residents in the Houston area and along the coast. Houston has already seen some rain Monday, though barricades are already in place and high-water rescue vehicles at the ready. Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner has advised residents to stay off the roads and keep up with the latest weather reports. How is the bad weather impacting everyday operations? Though it was business as usual for students on Monday, Houston ISD has canceled classes on Tuesday. Multiple schools in the Houston area and down the coast have opted out of classes over Monday and Tuesday. Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi, Texas A&M-Kingsville, and Del Mar College have also announced closures. The weather is also serious enough for COVID-19 testing and vaccinations sites in Harris County, Fort Bend County, and Nueces County to be closed. Nueces County, which includes Corpus Christi, has also temporarily closed roads offering beach access. COVID-19 testing and vaccination sites were closed in Harris County, which includes Houston; Fort Bend County, southwest of Houston; and Nueces County, which includes Corpus Christi. ANDREW BURTON /NYT How will Nicholas impact the San Antonio area? While the Gulf Coast is expected to be most directly impacted by Nicholas, the storm is expected to bring rain across coastal areas in middle and upper Texas throughout the week. In Bexar, Comal, Guadalupe, Medina, and other Central Texas counties, the worst of Nicholas effects are expected Monday. Theres a considerable chance for thunderstorms across the area Monday afternoon and evening, though the likelihood of such drops dramatically by Tuesday afternoon. The remainder of the week is expected to be sunny and clear skies, but the forecast shows a low chance for storms on Wednesday and Friday. Residents in DeWitt and Lavaca counties, and perhaps even Karnes, Gonzales, and Fayette, may see wind gusts reaching 40 to 50 miles per hour and between one to three inches of rain Monday night or Tuesday morning. Weather experts say a shift westward for the storm would mean even more rainfall for inland Texas. International Saudi-led airstrikes kill 20 Houthis in Yemen SANAA, SEP 13 (IANS) | Publish Date: 9/13/2021 11:39:32 AM IST At least 20 Houthis were killed in airstrikes carried out by the Saudi Arabia-led coalition forces on the militia groups positions in Yemens Marib province, a government military source said. The airstrikes targeted the reinforcements on Saturday evening at the frontline of Rahabah district, destroying four pick-up vehicles and killing more than 20 people, the source told Xinhua news agency on Sunday. Meanwhile, the Houthi-run al-Masirah TV on Saturday reported 17 airstrikes on frontlines of Maribs western districts of Rahabah, Jabal Murad and Sirwah, without providing further details. Last week, the Houthis advanced into al-Kulah, the centre town of Rahabah district, after deadly fighting with the government troops. The Iran-backed Houthi militia launched in February a major offensive on Marib in an attempt to seize control of the oil-rich province, the last northern stronghold of the Saudi-backed Yemeni government. The UN has warned that the offensive on Marib, which hosts nearly 1 million internally displaced people, could lead to a major humanitarian catastrophe. The world bodys recent peace proposal to end the war was publicly rejected by the Houthi group. Yemens civil war flared up in late 2014 when the Iran-backed Houthi group seized control of much of the countrys north and forced the internationally recognised government of President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi out of the capital Sanaa. The Saudi-led coalition intervened in the Yemeni conflict in March 2015 to support Hadis government. By Lambert Strether of Corrente. Patient readers, I had a power failure today, and that put me behind the eight-ball. Thats too bad, because I had a lot to say! Tomorrow for that. In the meantime, talk amongst yourselves! Here is a skeleton post, with bird song, charts, and a plant. lambert Bird Song of the Day * * * #COVID19 At reader request, Ive added this daily chart from 91-DIVOC. The data is the Johns Hopkins CSSE data. Here is the site. I feel Im engaging in a macabre form of tape-watching. We already start to an instant rebound from Labor Day, I assume because reporting is returning to normal. Nevertheless, Labor Day, as the end of summer, also signals life changes for Americans, so those changes will affect the numbers too. We shall see! Vaccination by region: Interesting little blip. If it persists, credit to Biden. 53.8% of the US is fully vaccinated (mediocre by world standards, being just below Ecuador, and just above Switzerland and Malaysia). However, as readers point out, every day those vaccinated become less protected, especially the earliest. So we are trying to outrun the virus (I have also not said, because its too obvious, that if by Bubba we mean The South, then Bubba has done pretty well.) Case count by United States regions: Im almost inclined to call the last peak and, as in December and January of last year, worry about the next peak from school re-opening. We could get lucky, as we did with the steep drop after the second week in January. The populations are different, though. This one is more vaccinated, and I would bet Ive never seen a study that many small habits developed over the last year (not just masking). Speculating freely: If the dosage from aerosols drops off by something like the inverse square law, not linearly, even an extra foot of distance could be significant if adopted habitually by a large number of people. And if you believe in fomites, theres a lot more hand-washing being done. On the other hand, Delta is much more transmissible. Covid cases top ten states for the last four weeks: Fresh-squeezed numbers from Florida. NEW From CDC: Community Profile Report September 10, 2021 (PDF), Rapid Riser counties, this release: The Midwest still improving. Remember, however, that this chart is about acceleration, not absolute numbers, so the case chart still has momentum. This map, too, blows the Blame Bubba narrative out of the water. Not a (Deliverance-style) banjo to be heard. Previous release: (Red means getting worse, green means bad but getting better.) Test positivity: Hospitalization (CDC): Here the CDCs hospitalization visualization, from the source above: Deaths (Our World in Data): We are now well past the peak of last year at this time. Which I am finding more than a little disturbing. (Adding: I know the data is bad. This is the United States. But according to The Narrative, deaths shouldnt have been going up at all. Directionally, this is quite concerning. Needless to see, this is a public health debacle. Its the public health establishment to take care of public health, not the health of certain favored political factions.) Covid cases worldwide: * * * Readers, feel free to contact me at lambert [UNDERSCORE] strether [DOT] corrente [AT] yahoo [DOT] com, with (a) links, and even better (b) sources I should curate regularly, (c) how to send me a check if you are allergic to PayPal, and (d) to find out how to send me images of plants. Vegetables are fine! Fungi and coral are deemed to be honorary plants! If you want your handle to appear as a credit, please place it at the start of your mail in parentheses: (thus). Otherwise, I will anonymize by using your initials. See the previous Water Cooler (with plant) here. Todays plant (TH): TH writes: We bought a little house in Running Springs, California some 15+ years ago that stands directly across the street from this beautiful conifer. Weve long considered that this may be the tree version of Damocles Sword. Thankfully, our prayers and these roots (and hopefully many unseen roots) continue to hold it erect. * * * Readers: Water Cooler is a standalone entity not covered by the recently concluded and thank you! successful annual NC fundraiser. So if you see a link you especially like, or an item you wouldnt see anywhere else, please do not hesitate to express your appreciation in tangible form. Remember, a tip jar is for tipping! Regular positive feedback both makes me feel good and lets me know Im on the right track with coverage. When I get no donations for five or ten days I get worried. More tangibly, a constant trickle of donations helps me with expenses, and I factor in that trickle when setting fundraising goals: Here is the screen that will appear, which I have helpfully annotated. If you hate PayPal, you can email me at lambert [UNDERSCORE] strether [DOT] corrente [AT] yahoo [DOT] com, and I will give you directions on how to send a check. Thank you!2:00PM Water Cooler 6/8/2021 Lambert here: The tribes are powerful allies. Many are sovereign and have standing or facilities that ordinary activists do not have. The Penobscots, for example, had a water-testing lab. The tribes also have perspective. On the landfill, I remember one Penobscot leader commented, after a company representative said that the landfill liner would last for 70 years, that We plan for 700 years. We could use more thinking like that. I apologize for the lack of original posts. The power failure really wrecked my schedule. But I have a big one coming! By Nick Cunningham, is an independent journalist covering the oil and gas industry, climate change and international politics. Originally published at DeSmog Blog. The efforts of Indigenous peoples in North America have helped block or delay a long list of major fossil fuel projects over the past decade, successfully leading to the avoidance of a massive amount of greenhouse gas emissions, according to a new report. The numbers dont lie. Indigenous peoples have long led the fight to protect Mother Earth and the only way forward is to center Indigenous knowledge and keep fossil fuels in the ground, Dallas Goldtooth, a Keep It In The Ground organizer for Indigenous Environmental Network (IEN), said in a statement. The report was coauthored by IEN and Oil Change International, a research and advocacy organization focused on transitioning away from fossil fuels. Indigenous resistance has been key in blocking at least eight major projects, including the Keystone XL pipeline, the C$20 billion Teck Frontier tar sands mine in Alberta, the Jordan Cove liquefied natural gas (LNG) project in Oregon, and drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, to name a few. Taken together, those delayed and canceled projects would have been responsible for nearly 800 million metric tons of CO2 equivalent, or about 12 percent of the total emissions of the U.S. and Canada in 2019. Another half-dozen projects are currently contested, including the Line 3 pipeline in Minnesota, the Coastal GasLink pipeline in British Columbia, and the Rio Grande LNG project in Texas, for example. These projects represent another 12 percent of total U.S. and Canadian emissions, which, if opponents have their way, would bring the total carbon pollution avoided due to Indigenous resistance to 1.6 billion metric tons of CO2 equivalent. Thats roughly equal to the pollution from 400 new coal-fired power plants or 345 million passenger vehicles. As the report notes, this is likely an underestimate because it only includes 17 of the largest and most iconic fossil fuel projects in recent years. Indigenous peoples continue to exert social and moral authority to protect their homelands from oil and gas development, the report stated. Coupling these expressions with the legal authority of Indigenous Rights, frontline communities, and Tribal Nations have made tangible progress stemming fossil fuel expansion. Over the past decade, Indigenous lands in the U.S. and Canada have been targeted by dozens of large-scale fossil fuel projects, as the aggressive expansion of fracking and tar sands extraction subsequently led to a pipeline buildout across the continent. I spend a lot of my life fighting stupid projects. Its like one unbelievably bad idea after another, Winona LaDuke, program director of the Honor the Earth, an Indigenous environmental organization, told DeSmog. Over many years she has fought to protect both the White Earth reservation in northern Minnesota, where she lives, and other Native American communities from a slew of dirty projects, including coal mines, coal-fired power plants, incinerators and nuclear waste facilities. LaDuke is currently one of the most prominent leaders in the fight against the Line 3 pipeline in northern Minnesota. We dont have another place to go. This is where we live, she said. Fossil fuel projects on Native lands often violate the principles of Free, Prior, and Informed consent, a concept that not only necessitates consultation with Indigenous peoples regarding projects on their territory, but requires their consent. That principle lies at the heart of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP), a global resolution adopted by 144 nations in 2007. Only four countries opposed the declaration: Canada, New Zealand, Australia, and the United States. Years later, all four holdouts changed their position and announced their support for UNDRIP, but the support has been mostly rhetorical, lacking the force of law at the national level. Decision-making for large fossil fuel projects on Indigenous lands still often takes the form of merely consultation, a check-the-box procedure that governments impose on Indigenous communities rather than conducting a process that would require their affirmative consent before moving forward. Free, Prior, and Informed Consent constitutes a much more rigorous standard than consultation, and it is a bare minimum standard needed to uphold the rights of Indigenous Peoples, the IEN report noted. More recently, Canada moved to codify UNDRIP in June 2021, but it remains to be seen how it is applied to extractive industries on Indigenous lands. One of the most infamous examples of the disconnect between professed support for UNDRIP and how decisions are made in practice is the Dakota Access pipeline, which crossed treaty territories of the Oceti Sakowin people. In 2015, the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe passed a resolution opposing the pipeline project due to the oil pipelines threat to water, treaty rights, and sacred cultural sites, including areas in what is now North Dakota. A broader resistance movement gained further momentum a year later. Despite Indigenous opposition, the U.S. government approved the project in July 2016, and state police in North Dakota and private security contracts hired by the pipelines owner, Energy Transfer Partners, violently suppressed water protectors opposing the project in the months that followed. The tribe was denied access to information and excluded from consultations at the planning stage of the project and environmental assessments failed to disclose the presence and proximity of the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation, Victoria Tauli-Corpuz, the UN special rapporteur on the rights of Indigenous peoples, said in 2016 when she called on the U.S. to halt construction of the pipeline. As DeSmog previously reported, Energy Transfers decision to plow ahead with the project despite concerns of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe cost the company billions of dollars. According to the recent IEN report, what happened in Standing Rock should not be seen as an anomalous incident, but rather a disturbing commonality across Indigenous resistance efforts worldwide. It is important to note that the poor treatment of Indigenous peoples has occurred under governments from across the political spectrum, including both Conservative and Liberal governments in Canada, and Republican and Democratic administrations in the United States. For example, the construction of the Line 3 pipeline in Minnesota continues under the Biden administration, which has said very little about the project despite loud and repeated protest by Anishinaabe peoples and their allies. On August 25, 2021, the United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD) sent a letter to the U.S. government regarding the violations of human rights of the Anishinaabe. The letter notes the allegations that the permit approval of Line 3 has been conducted without adequate consultation with and without obtaining free, prior and informed consent, and also that the pipeline presents threats to lands, food, and sacred sites of Indigenous peoples. CERD requested information and a response from the U.S. government. Its like a bunch of old cronies up here acting like they own the world, LaDuke told DeSmog, referring to both Enbridge, the pipelines owner, and state officials. And theres a bunch of us saying no you dont. And were going to keep fighting you guys. Both the International Energy Agency (IEA) and the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) have argued that a rapid phaseout of fossil fuels is necessary to avoid catastrophic warming of global temperatures. New fossil fuel projects should therefore be off the table. The IEN report argues that Indigenous resistance not only goes hand-in-hand with climate action, but it has been an effective strategy of blunting the fossil fuel onslaught. Indigenous resistance to carbon is both an opportunity and an offering now is the time to codify the need to keep fossil fuels in the ground, to safeguard both the climate and Indigenous Rights, the report said. For Winona LaDuke, there are obvious lessons to be learned from the victories against major oil, gas, and coal projects. One, we are pretty resilient. Two, support us, she said, referring to funders and other allies in the climate fight. Weve got one percent of the resources of the big NGOs, and weve got people all over. On September 3, several progressive members of Congress, including Reps. Ilhan Omar (D-MN), Ayanna Pressley (D-MA), Cori Bush (D-MO), and Rashida Tlaib (D-MI), traveled to northern Minnesota to call on the Biden administration to shut down construction of the Line 3 pipeline. A day later, Minnesota Governor Tim Walz was headlining a public event for the Minnesota Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party (a state-level affiliate of the Democratic Party), where he was interrupted by activists opposing Line 3. Flustered, he tried to tamp down the outburst, but ultimately ended the event and left in a motorcade while protestors chanted: Governor Walz, you cant hide. Line 3 is genocide! On September 7, President Joe Biden visited New York to highlight the destructive damage of the recent floods that ravaged the northeast, where he drew connections to the climate crisis. They all tell us this is code red, Biden said. The nation and the world are in peril. And thats not hyperbole. That is a fact. While President Biden spoke passionately about the climate crisis in New York, his administration has been silent on Line 3, allowing construction to proceed. Enbridge has said that it is in the final stages of construction and oil could soon be flowing through the pipeline. But when asked if she feels hopeful, LaDuke quickly responded: Oh my God. I have all kinds of hope. She pointed to the convergence of recent racial justice movements, growing climate concerns, and strengthening Indigenous movements. LaDuke also sees the oil industry in its own state of crisis, citing the array of major oil companies that have abandoned the Canadian tar sands amid financial troubles and an increasingly bleak future as the world moves on from fossil fuels. Canadas tar sands are some of the dirtiest forms of oil production on the planet. ExxonMobil, Royal Dutch Shell, Chevron, and ConocoPhillips have sold off assets in Alberta and reduced their presence in the country. Insurance companies, pension funds, private equity, and major lenders have also cut off financial support for Canadas tar sands. Line 3 is the most expensive tar sands pipeline in history. And the last. Nobodys going to build another tar sands pipeline. Its the end of the party, she said. The new Green revolution is here and the Tribes are pushing it. Its just the damn state [of Minnesota] that is so backwards. And the Feds. She added: My experience in fighting these guys the longer you fight them, the better chance you have. So, Im still in. Were all in. None of us are backing down. By Wouter den Haan, Professor of Economics, London School of Economics and CEPR Research Fellow, Lukas B. Freund, PhD Candidate in Economics, University of Cambridge, and Pontus Rendahl, Professor of Economics, Copenhagen Business School. Originally published at VoxEU. It has been argued that increased uncertainty can worsen unemployment if employers prefer to wait and postpone job creation. However, under the dominant theory of unemployment the search-and-matching model the value of waiting plays no role. This column proposes an amended model which relaxes some of the theoretical assumptions, and shows that an increase in perceived uncertainty does indeed increase the value of waiting, thus reducing job creation. There is convincing empirical evidence demonstrating that elevated uncertainty increases unemployment.1 The Covid-induced spike in uncertainty (Baker et al. 2020) and rising unemployment in many countries reinforce the importance of understanding exactly how uncertainty shapes labour market outcomes. One prominent transmission channel that economic research has highlighted relates to the option value of postponing investment. After an increase in uncertainty, firms may prefer to wait and see instead of engaging in activities that are not easily reversed (Bernanke 1983). Since job creation is very much like an irreversible investment (with job creation costs being non-refundable), the option-value channel seems like a plausible mechanism to rationalise the effects of uncertainty on unemployment. Indeed, this conjecture has been put forward in the context of frictional labour markets (Leduc and Liu 2016). In a recent paper, we examine this option-value hypothesis through the lens of theoretical search-and-matching (SaM) models of the labour market (Den Haan et al. 2021).2 We first demonstrate that in the standard SaM model, option-value considerations do not, in fact, play any role even though investments in jobs are irreversible and even if creating jobs prohibits investors from creating additional jobs in the future (mutual exclusivity). The culprit is the standard free-entry assumption, which states that a sufficiently large mass of potential entrepreneurs drives the expected profits of creating a job to zero. We propose an amended model that relaxes this free-entry assumption as well as allowing for heterogeneity in firm-specific productivity. In this new SaM model, the mere anticipation of greater future volatility does indeed robustly increase the option value of waiting and reduce job creation. The Option Value: Uncertainty Effects in Existing Search-and-Matching Models Our starting point is the canonical SaM framework. This model arguably the dominant theory of unemployment describes the evolution of unemployment as resulting from the relative number of job losses and newly created matches. The latter are formed by vacancy-posting entrepreneurs on one side, and job-seeking unemployed workers on the other side of the matching market. Workers are more likely to find a new job if there are more open vacancies relative to searching workers. The converse holds for firms probability of filling a vacancy. In marked contrast to theories in which labour demand and supply clear on a spot market, employment relationships are realistically modelled as long-lived but subject to the possibility of separation. A vacancy is posted if and when the discounted sum of expected future profits is large enough to compensate for the fixed cost of posting a vacancy (and other costs associated with creating the job). The long-horizon valuation of matches between entrepreneur and worker, and the associated forward-looking vacancy-posting decisions, make this model particularly relevant when analysing the effects of increased uncertainty about future profitability. For transparency, we assume that everyone is risk neutral, since option-value considerations do not hinge on risk aversion (Bernanke 1983). In the context of such a model, Leduc and Liu (2016) formulate the option-value hypothesis as follows: Facing higher uncertainty, the option value of waiting increases and the expected value of a job match decreases, inducing firms to post fewer vacancies, making it harder for unemployed workers to find jobs, and ultimately raising the equilibrium unemployment rate [] Firms refrain from hiring since the possibility of a bad hiring decision may have long-lasting negative consequences ex post. As mentioned above, however, no option-value channel of uncertainty exists in the standard SaM model. The usual free-entry assumption ensures that expected profits are driven to zero in each and every period. Whether uncertainty is muted or elevated, there are no better times worth waiting for.3 Search-and-Matching Model with a Limited Number of Heterogeneous Entrepreneurs We do not believe that the popular assumption that there is a potentially infinite number of identical entrepreneurs nor the implication that expected profits from entry are equal to zero are realistic. Moreover, this assumption and its implication are not innocuous. Specifically, we show that by relaxing this assumption, we can reconcile intuition and theory. That is, the irreversibility of job creation of the SaM framework and mutual exclusivity of current and future job creation does now generate a wait and see option-value mechanism. To this end, we make two modifications to the SaM model: the available number of potential entrepreneurs is not infinite but limited; and there is heterogeneity in firm-specific productivity. Specifically, suppose that in every period, any unmatched entrepreneur receives a productivity draw from a fixed distribution. This draw will be permanent for the duration of a match. If the entrepreneur decides not to post a vacancy at the given level of productivity, she remains unmatched and makes a new draw in the next period. In this environment, there is a time-varying measure of entrepreneurs (namely those with a sufficiently high productivity draw) that expect to make strictly positive profits from posting a vacancy and (only) those will enter the matching market. The resulting SaM model robustly predicts that increased uncertainty leads to a postponement of job creation. Importantly, this argument holds not only for increased volatility of idiosyncratic productivity shocks. It also applies with respect to macroeconomic (or aggregate) uncertainty. The essential reason for the existence of an option-value of waiting channel in this model is as follows. An expected increase in future volatility improves an unmatched entrepreneurs chance of having a productivity draw for which expected profits of vacancy-posting are positive. By contrast, the downside risk is not affected since entrepreneurs can always choose to stay out of the market. This convexity in the payoff from vacancy-creation is responsible for the presence of an option-value channel. We illustrate this logic in a two-period version of our model. Profitability of a match is affected by a mean-zero idiosyncratic component, a, and an aggregate component. Specifically, if an investor with productivity draw, a, creates a job in period 1, then her period-1 profits will be equal to 1+a and her period-2 profits will be equal to either 1+a- or 1+a+ which occur with equal probability. Note that the expected profits of investing in period 1 do not depend on the value of (that is, on the amount of aggregate uncertainty). For simplicity, we assume first that the probability with which a vacancy turns into a productive job, h, is fixed and does not depend on the aggregate state. Key in our model is that not only the cost of creating the job, , matters but also the value of waiting. The higher the value of waiting, the higher the level of the period-1 cut-off level at which entrepreneurs are indifferent between posting in period 1 and waiting, and the lower period-1 job creation. Figure 1 illustrates how the value of waiting depends on the amount of aggregate uncertainty and the consequences for period-1 job creation. The solid black line in panel (a) of Figure 1 indicates period-2 profits as a function of period-2 idiosyncratic productivity when there is no uncertainty regarding aggregate productivity (=0). The kink at zero reflects that the entrepreneur always has the option of not posting a vacancy. The values of h and are chosen such that this period-2 cut-off level is equal to 0. The value of waiting is equal to the area under the solid line when =0. Note that the wider the possible range of values for a, the higher the value of waiting. What happens with the value of waiting when we introduce aggregate uncertainty, that is, when >0? The dark shaded area in panel (a) indicates the increase in expected profits when aggregate productivity is high relative to the baseline. The light shaded area indicates the analogous decrease when aggregate productivity is instead low. In a time of high overall productivity, the level of idiosyncratic productivity needed to cover vacancy posting costs is lower, so that the probability of having such a draw is higher. The opposite is true in times of low aggregate productivity, but the decrease in expected profits is lower because entrepreneurs with low draws avoid entering altogether and, instead, make zero profits. When uncertainty is elevated, expected period-2 profits increase, which implies that the value of waiting increases. Accordingly, the period-1 cut-off value of idiosyncratic productivity above which an entrepreneur is willing to post a vacancy in period-1 is higher. That is, as increases, more entrepreneurs choose to postpone investing into vacancy creation they wait. The lower row of panels illustrates what happens when the hiring rate is endogenously determined in the matching market. Because the probability of a vacancy turning into a productive job is lower in good times, and the opposite is true in bad times, expected movements in the hiring rate mute the option-value mechanism. But they do not eliminate it. Figure 1a Value of waiting: Fixed hiring probability Figure 1b Cutoff determination: Fixed hiring probability Figure 1c Value of waiting: Variable hiring probability Figure 1d Cutoff determination: Variable hiring probability Notes: The figure shows how uncertainty gives rise to an option value of waiting in the two-period model with a finite mass of entrepreneurs and firm-specific productivity. In terms of notation, a denotes idiosyncratic productivity, is the fixed vacancy-posting cost, h the hiring probability, and a measure of aggregate uncertainty. In the upper row, the hiring probability is fixed, whereas in the lower row that rate varies according to a standard matching function. For details, see Online Appendix B of Den Haan et al. (2021). Conclusion While this column has focused on intuition and qualitative reasoning, our paper provides a quantitative analysis of the proposed SaM model and the embedded option-value of waiting.4 The fundamental insight is that in such a model, featuring a limited number of entrepreneurs who differ in their idiosyncratic productivity levels, elevated uncertainty robustly raises unemployment, because it incentivises potential employers to postpone job creation. The standard free-entry assumption is likely to be important for other predictions of SaM models. For example, it implies that the outside option for entrepreneurs is equal to zero, which affects wage bargaining, which in turn is important for employment determination. We find it implausible that workers typically have a powerful relative bargaining position of this kind. So, despite its popularity, it is perhaps time to drop this free-entry assumption altogether. References available at the original. (Natural News) Bumble and Match, two of the most popular dating apps in the United States, are sending money to Texas women to help more of them fund their abortions out of state. In light of a new Texas law that prohibits women from getting an abortion after six weeks, Bumble and Match are contributing cash to send Texas women out of state for later-term abortions or infanticide, depending on what they demand. Match CEO Shar Dubey told employees in an internal company memo that she has established a fund for workers to fly out of state to murder their unborn babies on demand. Match is based in Dallas. Bumble, which is based in Austin, announced a similar fund that will grant Texas women abortion on demand in another state of their choosing. Whoever downloads either of these apps is thus supporting more abortion. According to Forbes, a new poll found that companies like Bumble and Match, along with many other tech companies that have relocated there over the years, could lose female employees due to the new Texas abortion policy. Since many modern American women seem to have trouble just saying No or using contraception, abortion on demand has become something of a pastime for them. Without easy access to it in Texas, the tech industry there could face huge financial and human resource losses. In response, Big Tech is planning to funnel as much cash as is necessary to fly women who want an abortion out of state for the procedure. They can then fly back to Texas and get pregnant again if they wish, then fly out again, and rinse and repeat until the end of time. I immigrated to America from India over 25 years ago, complained Dubey of Match about her newfound inability to murder her unborn children after six weeks. I am shocked that I now live in a state where womens reproductive laws are more regressive than most of the world, including India. Surely everyone should see the danger of this highly punitive and unfair law I would hate for our state to take this big step back in womens rights. Anyone caught murdering an unborn baby in Texas after six weeks of pregnancy can be sued for $10,000 The new Texas law, which was signed into law back in May by Gov. Greg Abbott, aims to prevent abortions in Texas after a heartbeat can be detected. Typically, this is around six weeks gestation. Abortion lovers argue this, though. They claim that what is obviously a heartbeat is actually just tissue twitching, which to them means that the developing human body this tissue twitching is attached to can be murdered on demand whenever a woman wants to get rid of it. Match and Bumble have an ally in the Satanic Temple of Texas, which has joined Texas women who support abortion in fighting for easier access to baby murder at later stages of pregnancy. Since one in four American women will get at least one abortion before turning 45, the Satanic Temple of Texas wants to show its support for these women by helping them to keep child sacrifice as legal as possible for as long as possible. Banning abortion after six weeks, before many people realize theyre pregnant, will make about 85% of abortions ineligible under the new Texas law, reports Forbes. The legislation allows private citizens to enforce the law by suing anyone involved in helping procure an abortion in civil court for up to $10,000, the fake news outlet added about the bill signed into law by Gov. Abbott. To keep up with the latest news about female backlash against new restrictions on baby murder can be found at Abortions.news. Sources for this article include: Forbes.com NaturalNews.com (Natural News) Social media has long been criticized for its negative effects on young peoples self-esteem and setting standards of beauty that are impossible to live up to, but TikTok takes it to a whole new level by hiding users it deems unattractive, according to internal documents that were recently obtained by The Intercept. The Chinese video sharing app, which boasts hundreds of millions of users from all over the world, allows people to live stream and create their own short videos to share with other users. The internal documents show that TikTok instructed its moderators to suppress posts that were created by users who are considered too ugly, poor or disabled to appear on the platform. According to The Intercept, these Chinese policy documents and conversations they have had with multiple sources who are directly familiar with the censorship at Tiktok illustrate how the company has been making a concerted effort to ensure its videos largely feature more attractive people. In one moderation document, physical features that are considered worthy of invisibly barring a person include having an abnormal body shape, being too thin or obese, having an obvious beer belly or being a dwarf. In the category of ugly facial looks are features like facial deformities, missing front teeth, older people with too many wrinkles, a crooked mouth, and obvious facial scars. Not only do they only want to feature people who are attractive, but they are also overly concerned about the environment in which their videos are shot. The document says that videos that appear to be shot in an environment that is shabby and dilapidated, such as those in rural fields, dilapidated housing and slums, should be suppressed. In addition, videos that are shot indoors in homes that have cracks in the walls, old decorations or dirty or messy environments must be systematically hidden from new users. The supposed justification for this behavior is TikToks desire to maintain an aspirational tone in hopes of attracting new users. Many social startups do place a priority on growth and user retention, but these exclusionary practices are more extreme than most. TikTok also censors political speech In addition to keeping certain content from people deemed unattractive from becoming popular, a second document showed rules used by the platform for censorship. These rules pertain to a broad range of topics that are considered embarrassing or unflattering to government authorities in China, such as defamation towards civil servants, religious and political leaders as well as endangering national honor and interests. In September, The Guardian reported that TikTok instructs moderators to censor any videos that mention topics such as Tibetan independence, the religious group Falun Gong, and Tiananmen Square. Several sources at TikTok who spoke anonymously with The Intercept due to fears of professional and legal reprisal insisted that these rules are being handed down by TikTok owner ByteDances Beijing headquarters and then filtered to the platforms 12 global offices. TikTok has been increasingly coming under fire lately for the ways it conducts business. American officials have restricted its use by government personnel due to the potential national security risk, with military staff and soldiers banned from using the app. In November, TikTok execs refused to go in front of a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing that examined the relationship between the tech industry and China. Earlier this year, they were fined $5.7 million for illegally collecting the personal data of children under the age of 13. Sources for this article include: DailyMail.co.uk TheIntercept.com (Natural News) There appears to be systemic sexism built into the Wuhan coronavirus (Covid-19) vaccination agenda, which is disproportionately harming boys more than girls. It turns out that Donald father of the vaccine Trumps Operation Warp Speed injections are six times more harmful to males than they are to females, at least as far as cardiovascular events are concerned. New research shows that teenage boys are 600 percent more likely to suffer from a heart attack or other health problems post-injection compared to teenage girls around their same age. The highest risk group of suffering a cardiac adverse event after getting a Fauci Flu shot are boys between the ages of 12 and 15, experts now admit. This just goes to show that the plandemic is aimed at destroying men, as if they have not suffered enough under decades of toxic femininity. Meanwhile, Prof. Chris Whitty, Englands chief medical officer, and the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) over in the United Kingdom have decided that the margin of benefit in jabbing 12- to 15-year-olds is considered too small. There is no scientifically valid reason, in other words, to medically rape children with Big Pharmas experimental drugs for the Chinese Virus because the drugs do not work and children have zero risk of getting seriously ill from Chinese Germs in the first place. Health Secretary Sajid Javid, on other hand, is all about jabbing young boys and girls with Trump vaccines at warp speed. In his opinion, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland should consider the vaccination of 12- to 15-year-olds from a broader perspective. [I will] consider the advice from the chief medical officers, building on the advice from the JCVI, before making a decision shortly, Javid, a Pakistani, announced. Children should NOT be getting vaccinated for covid (and neither should anyone else!) Dr. Tracy Hoeg from the University of California led an investigation into the rate of cardiac myocarditis, heart inflammation and chest pain in children 12-17 years old following their second dose of the injection. She then compared the data to that of children in the same group needing hospitalization after testing positive for the virus. What Hoeg and her team found is that injected children, and especially injected boys, fare much worse than children who do not get the jab and simply live their lives as normal. Boys 12-15 years old typically suffer the worst post-injection, followed by boys aged 16-17. After that, girls 12-15 are next in line for heart problems. Despite all this, health authorities continue to push the jabs on everyone, including children, even though untold thousands of people are suffering and dying from vaccine adverse effects. In addition to heart problems, Chinese Virus injections are also causing a major uptick in cases of prostate cancer and infertility in injected men. Elevated PSA (prostate-specific antigen) levels are common in men who get injected, experts warn, though the benefits of getting the shots supposedly outweigh these risks. I know of two people who were diagnosed with cancers within several months of their jabs, wrote one Natural News commenter offering a personal anecdote. One has stage-3 lung cancer and one has stage-4 cancer in the back / lungs / testicles. Neither had any signs of issues previously. Seems we will likely hear of many more in coming months like that! Another commenter asked the question: How many lawsuits will arise from this great deception? How many men will suffer serious health problems or die because the jabs are destroying their bodies at a disproportionately high rate? More of the latest news about injuries and deaths caused by Wuhan coronavirus (Covid-19) vaccines can be found at ChemicalViolence.com. Sources for this article include: Archive.fo Archive.is NaturalNews.com (Natural News) If you havent picked up on it yet, the Marxist American left, which owns every level of our education system, is full-tilt working to destroy the fabric of society so their master revolutionaries can step in to restore order while imposing authoritarian rule, the way all democracies have been overthrown since Karl Marx first put pen to paper. And the counterrevolutionaries have settled on a target: Race. For decades American leftists who have manifested themselves in the Democrat Party have told us how much stronger we are the more diverse we are, but now they are using our diversity against us to destroy our country, namely, by encouraging the various minority groups in our country to attack majority whites to create a race war scenario. And they are using public and higher education as their launch point. Campus Reform notes in an exclusive report: Faculty and graduate students at Colorado University Boulder were recently encouraged to reject neoliberal concepts of time, as well as to avoid cultural norms of white supremacy like sense of urgency and individualism in their classrooms. The universitys Equitable Teaching Conference, hosted by the Universitys Center for Teaching and Learning, convened instructors and graduate students for virtual sessions on how to use equity-minded practices in the classroom. Attendance at the conference was entirely voluntary; faculty and instructors were not required to participate. According to presentation slides obtained by the outlet, the curriculum includes Anti-racist pedagogy and decolonizing the classroom, which is taught by a professor named Becca Ciancanelli. Materials for the class include a slide listing perfectionism, sense of urgency, quantity over quality, and individualism as Cultural norms of White Supremacy. Keep in mind that our founders envisioned strong states led by a decentralized federal government because they valued rugged individualism over the collectivism of a powerful overarching authoritarian state so that should give you a better idea about the kind of people these leftists are. Another slide presses professors to Decolonize the classroom, which is racist code for getting rid of as many white students as possible. The slide says that instructors ought to do this by altering the manner in which they deal with the concept of time. For instance, it tells participants to resist colonial and neoliberal coercion around time and productivity by implementing flexible deadlines and by allowing students to make up their own deadlines while not taking off points and grades for late work (though in real life, bosses and companies often impose hard-and-fast deadlines for jobs to be completed because to a company, time is money). In addition, the slide advises instructors to help students become conscious of the colonial morality around the use of time (worth=productivity). Note the heavy use of the word colonial, because it not only attacks the skin color of our founders but the manner in which America was founded in the first place; everything done to facilitate our founding is therefore illegitimate. This idea is credited to Professor Sam Bullington, who teaches in the Community Studies Program within the school of education, Campus Reform adds. Ciancarellis presentation lauds Bullington for a number of other methods aimed at decolonization such as incorporate[ing] connecting with the earth into assignments and classroom activities, and help[ing] students recognize their complicity in promoting human exceptionalism/human superiority. Critique the (white western masculine) disembodied rationality focus of the educational system, one item added. Another says, question the need for mastery, certainty and perfection. Mind you, the cretins who are pushing this society-destroying drivel are not practicing what they preach. Many of them are well-educated in Ivy League schools and they are going to be on the top with the rulers when society finally collapses into civil war and chaos. But the dopes who are being propagandized at the other end arent aware of that. Our society is under assault day and night from anarchists, atheists and Marxists who are out to destroy the greatest experiment in self-governance in the history of the world: America. Sources include: CampusReform.org CivilWar.news (Natural News) A recent study showed that Texass move to reopen did not affect the number of Wuhan coronavirus (COVID-19) cases and deaths there. Gov. Greg Abbott lifted the Lone Star States COVID-19 restrictions including mask mandates back in March. However, his decision to do so led President Joe Biden to call Abbotts move Neanderthal thinking. The May 2021 study published by the nonprofit National Bureau of Economic Research found that Abbotts lifting of restrictions had no links to people contracting COVID-19 or dying from it. Three researchers conducted the study on Texass reopening Bentley Universitys Dhaval Dave and San Diego State Universitys Joseph Sabia and Samuel Safford. For their study, the three authors examined smartphone mobility data from data company SafeGraph and COVID-19 data collected by The New York Times. They then compared the data from before Texas lifted restrictions and after Abbott lifted restrictions on March 10. Dave, Sabia and Safford wrote in their study that they found no evidence of Texass reopening causing substantial changes in social mobility including foot traffic at a wide set of business establishments. They also found no evidence that Abbotts move to lift restrictions affected the rate of new COVID-19 cases during the five-week period following March 10. Furthermore, the three authors also found that the reopening did not affect the states overall COVID-19 mortality rates. The May 2021 paper appeared to debunk remarks by Biden in March of this year. During a March 3 White House press briefing, Biden was asked about Texas and Mississippi lifting their mask mandates. He said: I hope everybody has realized by now [that] these masks make a difference. And the last thing we need is Neanderthal thinking that, in the meantime, everything is fine [and you can] take off your mask. Abbott himself lauded the lifting of COVID-19 restrictions. He previously highlighted that Texas had no new Wuhan coronavirus cases on a particular day save for Dallas County which did not report its figures. The governor said it was the first time the Lone Star State achieved this milestone in more than a year. (Related: Texas ends all coronavirus lockdowns, mask mandates, business occupancy restrictions.) The study attributed the lack of new cases and deaths following the reopening to personal responsibility The authors also noticed the same results when they compared urbanized areas and less-urbanized ones. The same findings were also observed in counties that voted for Biden and former President Donald Trump in the November 2020 elections. According to earlier research, Trump supporters are less likely to comply with mask-wearing orders and other public health and safety protocols. Furthermore, an earlier study showed the same results as the May 2021 paper. However, this research did not zoom in on Travis County and the city of Austin the county seat and the state capital. The areas imposed their own mask mandates after Abbott lifted statewide mask-wearing orders. The recent study suggested that personal responsibility and risk assessment could be why government restrictions did not affect the spread of COVID-19 at all. It noted that Texans likely continued to follow previous safety measures or dropped them altogether before the restrictions were lifted on March 10. As certain segments of the population may be responding to the reopening by reducing social distancing and increasing their external activities, others may be countering especially if they perceive a higher infection risk, the study said. (Related: Coronavirus cases continue to drop in Texas after lifting mask mandate and reopening businesses.) Abbott cited personal responsibility as a key reason for rescinding mask mandates in the Lone Star State. In a March 2 press release announcing the new order, the governor said: [It] is clear from the recoveries, vaccinations, reduced hospitalizations and safe practices that Texans are using that state mandates are no longer needed. Todays announcement does not abandon safe practices that Texans have mastered over the past year. Instead, it is a reminder that each person has a role to play in their own personal safety and the safety of others. Aside from personal responsibility, the authors of the May 2021 study cited the increase in vaccinated Texans as another reason why the reopening barely impacted COVID-19 cases in the state. They also noted the minor impact of capacity limitations the state put in place to address the spread of COVID-19. Ultimately, the authors concluded that Abbotts March 10 order to reopen the state did not increase or decrease the chances of Texans contracting or dying from COVID-19. They remarked that their findings underscore the limits of late-pandemic era COVID-19 reopening policies to alter private behavior. Visit Pandemic.news to read more articles about states such as Texas lifting their COVID-19 restrictions. Sources include: Populist.press NBER.org [PDF] Townhall.com WhiteHouse.gov Gov.Texas.gov (Natural News) Now that about half of the country, we are told, is fully vaccinated for the Wuhan coronavirus (Covid-19), Big Pharmas next phase of the plandemic involves developing a new 2-in-1 vaccination for both Chinese Germs and seasonal influenza. The Maryland-based biotechnology company Novavax announced on September 8 that it is launching a clinical trial to examine the effects of a combined Fauci Flu and regular flu injection that can be administered regularly, ensuring an eternity of profits. The early-stage phase 1/2 study will evaluate experimental injections produced by the company that do not have approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). If successful, Novavax might try to sway a politician to rush the shot into use at warp speed, much like Donald Trump did with Operation Warp Speed and Chinese Virus injections. For the Novavax trial, the corporate behemoth will experimentally inject 640 healthy volunteers between the ages of 50 and 70 with the mystery cocktail. That trial will reportedly take place in Australia, which is fully locked down and under total medical martial law due to Chinese Germs. This study is the first-of-its-kind to evaluate the vaccines potential to induce a robust immune response, augmented by our Matrix-M adjuvant, against two life-threatening diseases simultaneously, proclaimed Gregory M. Glenn, Novavaxs president of research and development, in a statement. The combination of these two vaccines, which have individually delivered outstanding results with favorable safety and tolerability profiles, may lead to greater efficiencies for the healthcare system and achieve high levels of protection against COVID-19 and influenza with a single regimen. Covid pharmaceuticals have become the golden calf of Wall Street Moderna is similarly trying to rush through a new 2-in-1 injection at warp speed as well. The company is calling its version mRNA-1073, containing a combination of its existing mRNA injection for the Wuhan Flu and another mystery flu shot that is currently in development. After Modernas announcement, Wall Street flooded the stock with injections of Federal Reserve fiat money, pumping up its price in Americas already massive bubble market. Today we are announcing the first step in our novel respiratory vaccine program with the development of a single dose vaccine that combines a booster against COVID-19 and a booster against flu, announced Moderna CEO Stephane Bancel, who was propped up by Trump as part of a massive bait-and-switch, pump-and-dump stock scheme. We are making progress on enrolling patients in our rare disease programs, and we are fully enrolled in our personalized cancer vaccine trial. We believe this is just the beginning of a new age of information-based medicines. Since the markets are teetering on the verge of a total collapse, pharmaceutical giants like Moderna and Novavax are scrambling to scrape in every last penny they can extract from the system before it goes belly-up all under the guise of a pandemic. A flu vaccine that hasnt even been approved combined with a new technology that supposedly teaches my body to do what God designed it to do in the first place, wrote one commenter at The Epoch Times. Again, no thank you. I dont care if polio makes a comeback or smallpox: Im never getting another vaccine, ever, wrote another about how there is no way that he is ever going to take any more injections. Who can trust our government at this point? Why are they pushing it so hard? If your mask and your vaccine protect you, then dont worry about me. Im prepared to accept the consequences (good or bad) for not choosing the jab. The latest news about Chinese Virus injection deception can be found at ChemicalViolence.com. Sources for this article include: TheEpochTimes.com Archive.is CNBC.com NaturalNews.com (Natural News) The British Army plans to discipline service members who refuse to get vaccinated against the Wuhan coronavirus (COVID-19). According to documents obtained by the Daily Mail, troops who decline the COVID-19 vaccine may be considered unfit to soldier. However, the military branchs plan to sanction troops rejecting the vaccine contradicts government guidance banning no jab, no work policies. The orders believed to have been sent during the week of May 16 were addressed to two branches of the British Army. Guidance sent to the Royal Regiment of Artillery and Corps of Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers said that any soldier refusing to have the [COVID-19 vaccine] is to be educated by the chain of command and any rumors quashed. Furthermore, the order elaborated that soldiers who refuse vaccination a second time may be deemed as unfit to solider and dealt with accordingly. The mandate defended COVID-19 vaccination as a requirement to deploy on operations [or] exercises. The British Ministry of Defense (MoD) said it is working with the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office to ensure service members and government personnel are vaccinated alongside the rest of the U.K.s population. It added that British troops stationed at bases and operational areas overseas are included in the immunization drive. We are committed to keeping our staff, their families and communities safe at home and overseas, and all our personnel are being vaccinated in line with national priority guidelines, the MoD remarked. The military order addressed to the two branches appears to be contradictory. The British Army is prohibited by law to mandate vaccinations for soldiers. However, being unfit to soldier is considered an offense under the U.K. Armed Forces Act. Speaking to the Daily Mail, leading military lawyer Lewis Cherry said the orders tone may be considered similar to threats or bullying. Unless this becomes a compulsory injection, it remains a medical procedure that requires informed consent, he commented. US military also following a similar approach against service members declining vaccines The U.K. government warned private employers that any policies mandating workers to get inoculated before they can work are illegal. The prime ministers official spokesperson Max Blain reiterated: Taking a [COVID-19] vaccine is not mandatory and it would be discriminatory to force somebody to take one. Meanwhile, the British government also advised public sector organizations to take a softer approach on their employees refusing vaccinations. The military order obtained by the Daily Mail mirrored similar policies in the United States Army. The new policies, which include restricted movement and limited access to facilities, appear to be targeted at service members declining COVID-19 immunization. While vaccinations in the U.S. Army remain voluntary, the orders appear to be subtle ways to force military personnel to get vaccinated. (Related: Biden mulls requiring all military forces to receive coronavirus vaccine.) Two military installations in the U.S. have put these new policies in place. Fort Drum Commander Maj. Gen. Brian J. Mennes released a March 17 memorandum outlining a number of privileges available to vaccinated troops. According to the memo, fully vaccinated service members are not required to isolate themselves after traveling and returning to their post. They can also train in both indoor and outdoor settings without masks, but indoor physical training would only be allowed without unvaccinated personnel present. Menness memo also said vaccinated personnel planning to take a leave of absence would only need the approval of an O-3 officer such as a captain or company commander. On the other hand, unvaccinated military personnel would have to secure leave approvals from a higher ranking O-5 officer such as a lieutenant colonel or battalion commander. They are also mandated to submit an exception to policy document alongside their leave application. The commander of Fort Braggs 82nd Airborne Division meanwhile announced that service members need to show a vaccination card before they can enter a military dining facility. This new regulation would impact a huge percentage of lower-ranked enlisted soldiers who do not have access to kitchens in the barracks. Most lower-income military personnel rely on the dining facilities while on duty or training rotations. The measures at Fort Bragg and Fort Drum appear to address vaccine hesitancy among military personnel. U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff Vice Director of Operations Maj. Gen. Jeff Taliaferro said during a February 2021 congressional hearing that many in the armed forces do not avail of COVID-19 vaccinations as they are not mandatory. Nevertheless, he remarked that military personnel ought to get immunized against the Wuhan coronavirus. We believe that, of course, the [COVID-19] vaccine is the right thing to do. [We] need to continue to educate our force to help them understand [its] benefits, Taliaferro told lawmakers. (Related: Pentagon reports ALMOST 75 PERCENT of troops turned down Wuhan coronavirus vaccine.) MedicalTyranny.com has more articles about measures to force military personnel to get COVID-19 vaccines. Sources include: DailyMail.co.uk CityAM.com LifeSiteNews.com Home.Army.mil [PDF] POLITICO.com (Natural News) At present, the going legal philosophy is that a federal gun registry is unconstitutional, as it is viewed as an infringement on the right to keep and bear arms. The Second Amendment doesnt specifically prohibit a federal list of all the guns owned by citizens, but that is likely because our founders did not envision a time when Americans would allow their central government rulers to become so tyrannical. But there are additional reasons why Americans should always oppose a federal gun registry, especially in a time of the internet of things namely, cyber warriors and black hat actors are hacking gun registry sites in England and that means every Brit on that list is now in danger. The Register reports why this is a big deal: The names and home addresses of 111,000 British firearm owners have been dumped online as a Google Earth-compatible CSV file that pinpoints domestic homes as likely firearm storage locations a worst-case scenario for victims of the breach. As an exercise in amplifying a data theft to levels that endanger public safety, the latest evolution of the Guntrader database break-in is likely to become an infosec case study in how security breaches can become worse over time as stolen information is put to ever more intrusive uses. The breach was likely done by an animal rights group remember that in the UK, the rights of citizens to bear arms for protection from criminals as well as from government overreach is not a recognized inalienable right as a means of putting guns used for hunting in danger of being stolen. We know this because the database was leaked online via an animal rights activists blog in database form that can be imported into Google Earth so that anyone interested in where these guns are can contact as many [owners] as you can in your area and ask them if they are involved in shooting animals. So its a harassment campaign, for certain, but also these guns are now known to those who would love to steal as many of them as possible. Names, home addresses, postcodes, phone numbers, email addresses and IP addresses are included in the Google Drive-hosted CSV file along with precise geographic coordinates for a large number of the 111,295 people listed in the breach, The Register reported, noting that all pertinent information is now public. The outlet goes on to note that guns are attractive to criminals for obvious reasons, and while there are not many firearms burglaries in the country, they are not completely unheard of, either. Police, to their credit, have always warned licensed firearms holders (and thats why these guns and gun owners were in a database, by the way they were required to be licensed by the government, another constitutional no-no for Americans) to protect their privacy, but of course, that doesnt do much good when gun owner databases are hacked and put out online. The Register did note that gun owners were increasingly being targeted outside of their homes, including at gun ranges, and now with the new database out in the open, its likely that gun robberies are going to increase. British policy on firearms ownership is that domestic homes that may contain a handful of firearms or shotguns are less likely to be targeted than the alternative of central armories presenting a high-value target, the outlet continued. Security measures are proportionately ramped up depending on the number and type of guns but all firearms security begins with obscurity. The outlet noted that the data breach exposed about 20 percent of British gun owners. Meanwhile, the Democrat left in America has been pining for gun registration for years but not because they want to hack the database. Democrats want gun registration so they know where to go when they manage to pass gun confiscation legislation down the road. Another good reason to opposed registries. Sources include: Guns.news TheRegister.com (Natural News) Dozens of Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loans to supposed farms flowed into the shoreline communities of Ocean County, New Jersey last year. Ritter Wheat Club and Deely Nuts, supposedly a wheat farm and a tree nut farm, each got $20,833, the maximum amount available for sole proprietorships. Tomato Cramber up the coast in Brielle got $12,739, while Seaweed Bleiman in Manahawkin got $19,957. None of these entities exist in New Jerseys business records, and the owners of the homes at which they are purportedly located expressed surprise when contacted by ProPublica, a non-profit newsroom that produces investigative reports. Beefy King, an entity categorized as a cattle ranch, was registered in PPP records to the home address of Joe Mancini, the mayor of Long Beach Township. Theres no farming here. Were a sandbar, for Christs sake, said Mancini, adding that he had no cows at his home, just three dogs. All of these loans to nonexistent businesses came through Kabbage Inc., an online lending platform that processed 297,587 PPP loans worth around $7 billion before the first round of funds ran out in August 2020, second only to Bank of America. ProPublica found 378 small loans totaling $7 million to fake business entities, all of which were structured as single-person operations and received close to the largest loan for which such micro-businesses were eligible. Most of the fake business entities are categorized as farms from potato fields in Palm Beach to orange groves in Minnesota. The PPP, signed into law as part of the CARES Act on March 27 last year with an initial $349 billion in funding, was created to keep small businesses on life support while they were forced to shut down operations due to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. The Small Business Administration (SBA) launched the program on April 3 last year and its budget after two extensions has added up to $788 billion. Under the PPP, big banks, community lenders and fintech companies have dispensed millions of government-backed loans to small businesses hurt by the pandemic lockdowns. If borrowers spend the money on payroll and other business expenses, the government repays the lender on behalf of the borrower. (Related: Banks could get up to $24 billion in free money from the CARES Act.) However, the SBA lacked even the most basic safeguards to prevent opportunists from submitting fabricated documentation. SBA may have approved loans for 55,000 ineligible businesses Hannibal Mike Ware, the SBAs inspector general, estimated in January that the federal agency approved loans for 55,000 potentially ineligible businesses, and that 43,000 obtained more money than their reported payrolls would justify. (Related: Can you say fraud? Large companies stepping in to take coronavirus relief loans meant for SMALL businesses.) The Department of Justice (DOJ), relying on special agents from across the government to investigate, has brought charges against hundreds of individuals accused of gaming pandemic response programs. Drawn by generous fees for each loan processed, Kabbage was among a band of online lenders that joined in originating loans through their automated platforms. Lenders would get a fee of 5 percent on loans worth less than $350,000, which would account for the vast majority of transactions. The loans were government-guaranteed, and processors bore almost no liability as long as they made sure that applications were complete. ProPublica examined SBA loans processed by several of the most prolific online lenders and found that Kabbage appears to have originated the most loans to businesses that dont appear to exist and the only concentration of loans to phantom farms. Three people with knowledge of the matter told Reuters that the DOJ is investigating whether financial technology companies, including Kabbage, may have erred while distributing billions of dollars in pandemic aid to struggling small businesses. The investigation, led by the DOJs civil division, is examining whether Kabbage and other fintech companies miscalculated how much aid borrowers were entitled to from the PPP due to confusion over how to account for payroll taxes, the three people said. A fourth person with direct knowledge of the matter told Reuters that a number of fintech companies were being probed over the PPP tax issues but declined to provide names. Fintech companies have attracted government scrutiny because they processed loans at high speed using software that in some cases had glitches, causing errors in applications. SBA data showed fintech companies have issued around $26.5 billion worth of PPP loans. The basic innovation behind the burgeoning fintech industry is automating underwriting and incorporating more data sources into risk evaluation, using statistical models to determine whether an applicant will repay a loan. Millions of applicants are still seeking PPP loan Millions of applicants are still seeking money from lenders making the government-backed loans. Hundreds of thousands of people are waiting to find out if their approved loans some of which have been stalled for months because of errors or glitches will be funded. Lenders are overwhelmed, and borrowers are panicking. Some of our lenders have been getting death threats, said Toby Scammell, the chief executive of Womply, a loan facilitator that has nearly 1.6 million applications awaiting funding. Theres a lot of angry, scared people who were really counting on this program and are afraid of being shut out. More funding seems unlikely. Congress extended the program in December and March, but there is little indication that it will do so again. The relief program had been scheduled to keep taking applications until May 31. But earlier this month, the SBA announced that the programs $292 billion in financing for forgivable loans this year had nearly run out and that it would immediately stop processing most of the new applications. The SBA also decided that the $9 billion remaining money would be available only through community financial institutions (CFIs) a small group of specially designated institutions that focus on underserved communities. Those organizations specialize in reaching businesses owned by women and minorities, a priority for the Biden administration. Community-based financial lenders play a key role in generating economic growth and opportunity in some of our most distressed communities, Patrick Kelley, the head of the SBAs Office of Capital Access, said in a written statement. In just over seven days, more than 450 CFIs have processed over 273,000 Paycheck Protection Program applications totaling $4.6 billion, more than 50 percent of the $9 billion remaining one week ago. Follow Pandemic.news for more news and information related to the coronavirus pandemic. Sources include: ProPublica.org Reuters.com NYTimes.com (Natural News) When the covid plandemic first began in early 2020, I remember thinking (at first) theres no way this could be fake because hospital administrators and doctors wouldnt fake covid death numbers or falsely try to scare people through deception. Boy was I wrong. Since the early days of the plandemic, weve learned that hospitals routinely fake covid numbers and very often claim to be overrun with covid patients, even when their beds are nearly empty. Many hospital administrators, doctors and nurses are in on the scam and seem to be ready and willing to deceive the public by fabricating covid numbers and literally killing patients to pump up the covid death numbers. Now, we have proof of all this caught on a zoom video. In a shocking video clip (included in the Situation Update podcast below), with an accompanying transcript courtesy of InfoWars.com, we see hospital marketing and administration personnel admitting they plan to deceptively count all patients in the hospital as covid patients. They openly discuss finding a way to make covid more scary to the public as a tactic to terrorize the public into taking more vaccines (which will, of course, increase the business for the hospital due to vaccine-induced blood clots). This stunning video is an open exhibit revealing that hospitals have become psychological terrorism organizations that deliberately use psy-op tactics to terrorize the public. Is this the proper role of hospitals and doctors in society? When did hospital administrators decide that the ends justify the means, even if it requires terrorizing the public to gin up more business so they can bill Medicare for even more profits? More importantly, why would any sane person ever trust any hospital ever again after watching this video? If hospitals are scheming against the public, wouldnt they also likely be willing to harm or even kill their own patients in order to increase their profits? Have no illusions: This is exactly whats happening in America and around the world right now, where hospitals have become murder factories and doctors are now serial killers. Its no longer even a secret. They openly discuss this in their marketing meetings. Hospital administrators and marketers have become death cultists, pushing their covid death cult agenda with utter disregard for medical ethics or honesty of any kind. Now, they openly admit they dont care of it takes an endless stream of lies to terrorize the public. Because thats what the plandemic is based on, after all, and these health care lunatics are apparently 100% on board with the genocidal deception. (It should make you wonder how your own doctor is being paid off to achieve a certain milestone of vaccination rates among patients) 95% of scientists who authored The Lancet article dismissing lab leak theory have ties to the CCP-run Wuhan Institute of Virology At the same time, an investigation conducted by The Telegraph looked into the backgrounds of all 27 of the virologists / scientists who co-authored the February, 2020 letter published in The Lancet which claimed that SARS-CoV-2 couldnt have been created in a lab, and that any such talk was merely a conspiracy theory. Astonishingly, The Telegraph found that 26 out of 27 co-authors had ties to the Wuhan Institute of Virology. In other words, The Lancet was just a mouthpiece for the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), covering up the crime of the century by lying to the world through the voices of compromised, corrupt scientists who all worked for the interests of China. Put another way, it seems as if the entire institution of science is now controlled and operated by communist China, and all the major science journals, World Health Organization, CDC, FDA, Biden regime, etc., all work for China. I have full details on this astonishing story of corruption, fraud and genocide in todays Situation Update via Brighteon.com: Brighteon.com/0341ddc2-5128-473e-a83b-ebadd22d2090 Also today, dont miss my bombshell interview with Steve Quayle, where he warns of the imminent collapse of America as we know it and why we likely wont even make it to the 2022 mid-term elections: Brighteon.com/fa06f2c1-02b0-4318-b60c-dcb73eb873df Find more interviews and podcasts each day at: https://www.brighteon.com/channels/hrreport (Natural News) In an interview with The Guardian, Nobel laureate Daniel Kahneman opined that artificial intelligence (AI) would be the undisputed winner in the workplace battle between robots and humans. Clearly AI is going to win [against human intelligence]. Its not even close, he told the paper. How people are going to adjust to this is a fascinating problem. Kahneman, a psychologist and economist who was awarded the Nobel Prize in Economics in 2002, explained that humans are unprepared for the upcoming robot takeover because human intelligence is extremely limited compared to AI. He pointed to the way the Wuhan coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic overtook the world to illustrate his point. Human minds, he explained, are ill-equipped to handle the math describing the viruss exponential growth. Exponential phenomena are almost impossible for us to grasp, he said. We are very experienced in a more or less linear world. And if things are accelerating, theyre usually accelerating within reason, he said. The renowned social scientist forecast that technology would bring forth a massive disruption, noting that it is developing very rapidly, possibly exponentially. And since humans think linearly, they wouldnt be able to adapt to the disruption quite easily. He cited medicine as one of the many domains that robots would dominate, certainly in terms of diagnosis. He also thinks that leadership roles are vulnerable to the rise of robots. There are rather frightening scenarios when youre talking about leadership. Once its demonstrably true that you can have an AI that has far better business judgment, say, what will that do to human leadership? he said. (Related: Rise of the robots: 8 professions that will be taken over by AI technology.) Robot takeover just around the corner A 2019 report forecast that robots could take over up to 20 million factory jobs around the world by the end of the current decade. Most of these robot jobs would be concentrated in China, with 14 million machines predicted to work in the nation. The report also showed the AI takeover would lead to mass unemployment. Poor local economies that rely on low-skilled labor would be affected disproportionately, worsening incoming inequality. Researchers from the analysis firm Oxford Economics arrived at these findings after examining long-term trends in workplace automation. They found that the number of robots in use globally increased threefold over the past two decades to 2.25 million. China led all other nations in workplace automation, installing one of every three new factory robots and accounting for around one-in-five of the global stock of robots. Trends suggested that the worlds robot population would multiply even faster in the next two decades, the researchers found. By 2030, AI would take over more than 1.5 million jobs in the U.S. and nearly two million across European Union member states. Texas, Louisiana, Indiana and Oregon are the most vulnerable to job losses in the U.S. Pandemic sped up AI takeover The pandemic further accelerated workplace automation, as businesses replaced humans with robots to curb virus transmission. People usually say they want a human element to their interactions but COVID-19 has changed that, Martin Ford, a futurist who writes about the ways robots would be integrated into the economy in the future, told BBC. [COVID-19] is going to change consumer preference and really open up new opportunities for automation, he went on. Last year, plenty of large and small businesses expanded their use of AI to maintain social distancing and trim the number of staff that had to work on-site. Robots also filled roles that workers couldnt do at home. Retail giant Walmart, for example, used robots to scrub floors. In South Korea, machines were used to measure temperatures and distribute hand sanitizer. Fast-food chains like McDonalds, on the other hand, tested robotic cooks and servers. Ford said that people now prefer to go to a place with few workers and more machines because they feel safe in such settings. But integrating more robots into the workplace has drawbacks, including mass unemployment. As the BBC noted, a company invested in robots is not likely to ever rehire a human. Learn more about robots in the workplace at Robots.news. Sources include: Futurism.com CNBC.com BBC.com (Natural News) A new study by researchers at Salk Institute for Biological Studies shows that the distinctive spike proteins of SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, play a key role in the disease itself. Published on April 30 in Circulation Research, the also study shows conclusively that COVID-19 is a vascular disease, demonstrating exactly how the SARS-CoV-2 virus damages and attacks the vascular system on a cellular level. The study provides clear confirmation and a detailed explanation of the mechanism through which the protein damages vascular cells. It helps explain COVID-19s wide variety of seemingly unconnected complications and could open the door for new research into more effective therapies. Scientists studying other coronaviruses have long suspected that the spike protein contributed to damaging vascular endothelial cells, but this is the first time the process has been documented. In the new study, the researchers created a pseudovirus that was surrounded by SARS-CoV-2 classic crown of spike proteins but did not contain any actual virus. Exposure to this pseudovirus resulted in damage to the lungs and arteries of an animal model proving that the spike protein alone was enough to cause disease. Tissue samples showed inflammation in endothelial cells lining the pulmonary artery walls. The researchers then replicated this process in the lab, exposing healthy endothelial cells (which line arteries) to the spike protein. They found that the spike protein damaged the cells by binding ACE2. This binding disrupted ACE2s molecular signaling to mitochondria (organelles that generate energy for cells), causing the mitochondria to become damaged and fragmented. Previous studies have shown a similar effect when cells were exposed to the SARS-CoV-2 virus, but this is the first study to show that the damage occurs when cells are exposed to the spike protein on their own. (Related: Bombshell Salk Institute science paper reveals the covid spike protein is whats causing deadly blood clots and its in all the covid vaccines (by design).) If you remove the replicating capabilities of the virus, it still has a major damaging effect on the vascular cells, simply by virtue of its ability to bind to this ACE2 receptor, the S protein receptor, now famous thanks to COVID, said Uri Manor, co-senior author of the study and an assistant research professor. Many people think of it as a respiratory disease, but its really a vascular disease. That could explain why some people have strokes, and why some people have issues in other parts of the body. The commonality between them is that they all have vascular underpinnings. Pfizers and Modernas mRNA COVID-19 vaccines may damage vascular cells Interestingly, two of the COVID-19 vaccines that received emergency use authorization from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) are making a harmless piece of spike protein. They are the mRNA COVID-19 vaccines manufactured by Pfizer and Moderna. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) website, mRNA vaccines teach our cells how to make a protein or even just a piece of a protein that triggers an immune response inside our bodies. That immune response, which produces antibodies, is what protects us from getting infected if the real virus enters our bodies. COVID-19 mRNA vaccines give instructions for our cells to make a harmless piece of what is called the spike protein,' the CDC website explained. A piece published by LewRockwell.com pointed out the irony. If spike proteins can cause damage in vascular cells and play a key role in COVID-19 itself, then why are we injecting people with vaccines that teach their cells to make spike proteins? asked Mike Whitney, the author of the LewRockwell.com piece. Spike proteins causing the spike in number of breakthrough COVID-19 cases A breakthrough COVID-19 case is defined as someone who has detectable levels of SARS-CoV-2 at least 14 days after getting fully vaccinated against the disease. As of April 26, the CDC has received 9,245 reports of breakthrough COVID-19 cases. Some 835 of those cases required treatment at hospitals and 132 died. However, the CDCs latest tally of breakthrough COVID-19 cases only shows 1,359 cases as of May 10, including 1,139 that required hospitalizations and 223 deaths. Its nearly impossible to know the real figures, but the number of so-called breakthrough cases is certainly rising. (Related: Covid-19 vaccine spike proteins are killing people, not merely the virus.) Whitney offered a plausible, albeit unproven, explanation. The sharp rise in cases and deaths following mass vaccination is not related to COVID the respiratory illness, but COVID the vascular disease,' Whitney said. The vascular component is mainly the result of spike proteins produced by cells in the lining of the blood vessels (endothelium) that are activating platelets that cause blood clots and bleeding. The other main factor is autoimmune reaction in which the killer lymphocytes attack ones own body triggering widespread inflammation (and potential organ failure.). In short, Whitney said, the post-injection fatalities are caused by the spike proteins produced by the mRNA vaccines. COVID-19 vaccine does more hard than good Cambodia is a perfect example of COVID-19 vaccine doing more harm than good. The country didnt record its first COVID-19 death until March 11 exactly a year since the start of the pandemic and a few weeks after it started its vaccination program. In a statement, the countrys Ministry of Health said a 50-year-old Cambodian man died from the respiratory virus at Phnom Penhs Khmer Soviet Friendship Hospital. The deceased, diagnosed with COVID-19 on Feb. 27, was a driver in Sihanoukville for a Chinese national who was also infected. Both cases are linked to an outbreak known in Cambodia as the Feb. 20 event, for when it was first detected. Cambodia has 1,163 overall cases when it recorded its first death. As of May 18, the country has 22,889 cases and 156 deaths. More than 21,000 of the cases and all 156 deaths occurred after the country started its vaccination program. Follow SpikeProtein.news for more news and information related to coronavirus vaccines. Sources include: News-Medical.net CDC.gov 1 CDC.gov 2 LewRockwell.com Asia.Nikkei.com (Natural News) Business establishments in San Francisco have been forced to close down over the last five years due to shoplifting. An ordinance passed in the city preventing law enforcement from prosecuting shoplifters only made matters worse. This has empowered criminal gangs to commit brazen thefts causing businesses to lose millions of dollars in merchandise. Back in November 2014, Proposition 47 became a law in the city. Under the ordinance, shoplifting or attempted shoplifting up to $950 of goods would now be downgraded to a misdemeanor. The new law meant that thieves can steal items without worrying about their criminal records. The thefts have also contributed to San Francisco becoming one of the epicenters for organized retail crime in the U.S. Two drugstore chains CVS and Walgreens have closed most of their locations in San Francisco because of shoplifting. Alongside other small businesses, the drugstores have reported more than 100 percent product loss rates as a result. San Francisco District 11 Supervisor Ahsha Safai said in a statement that organized criminal activity accounts for 85 percent of business losses in the city, which he described as just shocking. The supervisor elaborated: [Criminal gangs] will rob about maybe $1,000 to $2,000 worth of goods from 10 stores or more in a single day. According to reports, Walgreens had closed 17 stores over the last five years due to thefts. The store closures have had negative repercussions on the communities the Walgreens stores serve. It impacts everyone seniors, families [and] small businesses, Safai remarked. Meanwhile, CVS Organized Retail Crime and Corporate Investigations Director Brendan Dugan confirmed the shoplifting in San Francisco stores. He commented: At CVS, 42 percent of losses within the Bay [Area] got here from 12 shops in San Francisco that are solely eight percent of the market share. The CVS and Walgreens closures mainly impacted two categories of people namely vulnerable elderly residents and those who do not access to vehicles. Elderly patients are forced to go far to get their necessary prescriptions filled as most of these stores also serve as pharmacies. Residents without cars are meanwhile forced to travel several miles just to shop. Criminal reform laws espoused by the Democrats and their repercussions only lead to further collapse According to Safai, residents are now afraid to enter stores because of uncontrolled gangs roaming store aisles. Its simply taking place overtly, Safai remarked. The supervisor called on prosecutors and law enforcement to do a better job at protecting these businesses. He commented: Its not that nothing has been done, but certainly we need to do better. Proposition 47 supporters said the money saved from passing the measure would be redirected to social welfare programs tackling several issues. Incidentally, New York City came up with a similar proposal back in June of last year. A June 2020 Bloomberg report said Mayor Bill de Blasio presented a plan to the city council to shift about $1 billion from the polices budget to social programs. The mayor added that aside from the $1 billion budget cut at the New York Police Department (NYPD), he also proposed that a separate $500 million be slashed from the departments allocation. This would then be used toward youth recreation centers and public housing. However, Police Benevolent Association President Patrick Lynch denounced de Blasios budget cuts. The head of the police union slammed the mayor and the city council for having surrendered to lawlessness. Defunding the NYPD came with severe consequences as the city experienced a spike in shooting incidents. Two months after de Blasio announced the police budget cuts, the Big Apple saw more than 50 shooting-related deaths in three days. NYPD figures revealed that the city saw a 220 percent rise in shootings in 2020 compared to the year before. According to the department, bail reforms passed into law in 2019 prevented criminals from serving jail time even after repeated arrests. The chaotic situation in New York City even led former President Donald Trump to warn de Blasio. Trump tweeted that the federal government would step in to address the rising gun violence if the mayor cannot do so. Later in the year, former Attorney General William Barr cited New York City, Portland and Seattle as three places that allowed violence and destruction of property to continue. He said in a September 2020 statement: When state and local leaders impede their own law enforcement officers and agencies from doing their jobs, it endangers innocent citizens who deserve to be protected. Barr also warned that the Department of Justice cannot allow federal tax dollars to be wasted when the safety of the citizenry hangs in the balance. Visit Collapse.news to read more articles about the decline of cities as a result of crime. Sources include: LawEnforcementToday.com AizmanLaw.com Audacy.com FlagAndCross.com Bloomberg.com TheEpochTimes.com Justice.gov (Natural News) Investigative journalist Sharyl Attkisson is logging all known cases of Wuhan coronavirus (Covid-19) vaccine injury and death in a running list on her website. Some of the latest updates include instances of CNS demyelination, functional neurological disorder, waning immunity, Bells palsy, antibody dependent enhancement (ADE), heart disorders, Guillain-Barre autoimmune paralysis, Graves disease and blood clots all stemming from the injections. Despite claims by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) that all Chinese Virus injections are safe and effective, Attkissons running list shows that this is hardly the case. In fact, there appear to be far more Fauci Flu shot injuries and deaths logged in VAERS (Vaccine Adverse Events Reporting System) than all other vaccines combined, making Operation Warp Speed injections among the most dangerous ever. On Attkissons site, you can sort and review cases of injury and death based on safety concerns, the type of vaccine administered, and country. You can also review additional reading materials and studies about the jabs. There have been so many reports of harmful reactions to Chinese Virus injections that some are now calling on the U.K.-based Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency to stop administering them altogether because they are not safe for human use. Many people who receive the shots are experiencing bleeding and blood clotting, chronic pain, immune system damage, neurological problems and loss of sight, hearing, smelling and speech. There are also questions about whether pregnant women should be getting jabbed at all. Pharmacy professor calls on all covid vaccines to be disapproved Linda Wastila, a professor at the Pharmaceutical Health Services Research department at the University of Maryland School of Pharmacy recently launched a petition calling on all of Donald father of the vaccine Trumps Operation Warp Speed injections to stop being administered immediately. A total of 57 authors from 17 different countries signed on to Wastilas petition, urging a definitive halt to all further administration of the questionable injections, at least until new safety mechanisms are put in place to protect public health. Dr. Peter McCullough is one of the petitions signatories who says there is no clinical benefit associated with the shots, but there are plenty of safety concerns. McCullough, a cardiologist, currently teaches internal medicine at the Texas A&M University Health Sciences Center. Take some time to look through Attkissons list of covid vaccine adverse effects and be sure to share the information with others. You might just save a few lives in the event that the truth wakes some people up to the fact that getting injected for Chinese Germs is a really bad idea. It is truly a crime against humanity well defined by the Nuremberg Code and the Helsinki Convention, wrote one commenter at Attkissons site about Wuhan coronavirus (Covid-19) vaccines. Private companies are required by law to announce the side effects of their medicines, both verbally and in writing, in their advertising, wrote another. Public agencies promoting getting shots have not followed the same rules. Silence on the negatives. Thanks for countering their omissions. Others revealed their own stories about how themselves, friends or family members became seriously ill or worse from getting jabbed for the Fauci Flu. Many corroborated the cases outlined by Attkisson, which appear to be much more common than the mainstream media is letting on. Vaccine-related deaths are 5X higher than what was reported on VAERS, commented another about how VAERS only captures a very small percentage of actual injuries and deaths caused by vaccines. To keep up with the latest news about injuries and deaths caused by Trump Vaccines, be sure to check out ChemicalViolence.com. Sources for this article include: SharylAttkisson.com NaturalNews.com (Natural News) A group of young men in New York City has been charged with allegedly stealing over $2 million in Wuhan coronavirus (COVID-19) relief funds from other people in the assistance program. They were caught after posting pictures of themselves on social media with the stolen cash. The eight young men, between the ages of 18 and 25, funneled the relief funds into their personal bank accounts by stealing personal information from people who are on coronavirus welfare programs. According to court documents, the accused began their scam in June 2020. It continued through April of this year. It is still unclear how the suspects stole the personal information of their victims. The criminals were caught after they flaunted their ill-gotten wealth on social media. Court documents show that at least four of the young men posed with large amounts of $100 bills, sometimes in front of high-end cars. Authorities were also able to track them down after they used the same addresses and cellphone numbers for multiple false welfare claims. The suspects were caught with more than 100 debit cards in other peoples names. They used these cards to make large withdrawals in various locations in the New York City boroughs of Queens and Brooklyn. Six of the eight defendants were charged Tuesday in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York in Brooklyn. Two suspects are still at large. As alleged, the defendants not only fraudulently obtained $2 million in pandemic-related unemployment benefits using information from third-party victims, they audaciously displayed the proceeds of their fraud large amounts of stolen cash on social media, said Acting U.S. Attorney Mark J. Lesko in a press release. This Office will not hesitate to bring the full weight of the law against defendants who would pocket public funds that are intended to alleviate the hardship of others. There is never an excuse to knowingly commit fraud and steal from a system that was designed to help New Yorkers in a time of need, said Commissioner Roberta Reardon of the New York State Department of Labor. However, its even more despicable when these thieves steal a lifeline from New Yorkers in the midst of a public health pandemic. We have no tolerance for criminals, and if you break the law, you will be held accountable. The arrests were announced by Lesko, Reardon and representatives from the Postal Inspection Service and the federal Department of Labor. Six of the eight individuals were tracked down with help from the New York City Police Department. Fraud rampant in the federal governments bloated welfare system During the pandemic, the welfare programs the eight men siphoned millions of taxpayer dollars out of greatly expanded. Benefits payouts were increased and the number of people eligible to receive welfare checks grew. In its rush to get taxpayer money out the door, the government created a target-rich system flush with cash and light on verification, wrote Brad Polumbo, a policy correspondent for the librarian economic think tank the Foundation for Economic Education. This is not the first example of fraud in the expanded coronavirus welfare system. Experts believe that more than $200 billion of unemployment benefits distributed during the pandemic may have been stolen by other fraudsters. This is according to ID.me, a computer security service used to verify worker identities. ID.me is used in 19 states that account for around 75 percent of the countrys population. The federal government originally estimated that around $63 billion would be lost to fraud, or around 10 percent of the pre-pandemic fraud rate. The level of fraud is truly unprecedented, said ID.me CEO and co-founder Blake Hall. The main driver is the PUA program For criminals, this program essentially makes every American and their identity a target. The Pandemic Unemployment Assistance (PUA) program provides benefits for self-employed and contractual employees. ID.mes data estimates that around 30 percent of claims under the PUA are fraudulent. Around 20 percent of the fraud is linked to personal data breaches, up to 10 percent through social engineering and around 2.5 percent through face matching wherein a criminal uses a video or image of the victim to claim their identity and welfare benefits. [The government] wanted to extend eligibility to people that are not in the system like gig workers, the self-employed. The nature of what [they] are setting up is very vulnerable, said Andrew Stettner, an expert on unemployment insurance. According to the Century Foundation, an independent think tank, as many as 46.2 million Americans received at least one week of unemployment benefits last year. This includes around 30.6 million people who were able to receive at least one week of state unemployment benefits, and 15.5 million who received at least one week of PUA. This number means around one out of every four American workers had to rely on unemployment for at least one week during the coronavirus pandemic. Unemployment is a program that certainly has a high rate of overpayment, explained Stettner. Whats different about this period is the level of organized crime activities targeting unemployment insurance is definitely unprecedented. Petty thieves like the eight young men from New York were only skimming the top. Organized crime rings in Russia, China, Nigeria and Ghana have made it their job to exploit the pandemic and creatively work to steal funds from state agencies, including PUA funds from the federal government, said Hall. (Related: Australian children use welfare checks to gamble amid coronavirus lockdowns.) Most of the fraud occurred in blue states like California, Washington and Massachusetts. They pick and choose those states that they could get the most per person off of, said Stettner. In California, fraudulent claims cost the state at least $11.4 billion. The state is an easy target because it relies on debit cards for distributing the unemployment benefits. In Washington, around 122,000 known or suspected fraudulent claims are expected to cost the state around $600 million. In Massachusetts, the state paid out up to $687 million in fraudulent claims. Learn more about how the federal government is allowing millions in taxpayer dollars to disappear right under peoples noses due to fraud by reading the latest articles at BigGovernment.news. Sources include: FEE.org FoxBusiness.com Justice.gov Money.Yahoo.com TCF.org Temperature, soil moisture, the existence of trees, bushes, and other potential fuel are all elements that influence wildfire risk. All these elements are linked to climate instability and change, either directly or indirectly. Climate change has increased the drying of organic matter in forests (the material that burns and spreads wildfires), doubling the occurrence of major fires in the western United States between 1984 and 2015. Hot and dry weather is more likely to fuel wildfires as a result of climate change. As a result of climate change, extreme fire weather occurrences, such as increased lightning and strong winds, are becoming increasingly common. Climate change, according to research, results in warmer, drier circumstances. Drought and a longer fire season are contributing to the rise in wildfire risk. Warmer temperatures and drier conditions can help flames grow and make them harder to put out once they start-people are responsible for more than 80% of wildfires in the United States. Warmer, drier temperatures also aid the spread of the mountain pine beetle and other insects that weaken or kill trees, accumulating forest fuels. Wildfire risk is also influenced by land use and forest management. Climate change is anticipated to worsen these issues, increasing the area affected by wildfires in the United States. However, wildfire smoke pollution can travel up to 1000 kilometers, and the risk of wildfires is expected to rise as climate change increases. Effects of Air Pollution to Health When wood and other organic materials burn, smoke is formed from a complicated mixture of gases and fine particles. The fine particles in smoke are the most dangerous to one's health. These small particles have the ability to reach your lungs deeply. They can cause everything from burning eyes and a runny nose to exacerbating chronic heart and lung ailments. Particle pollution has even been linked to an increased risk of mortality. The first comprehensive study of the global impact of wildfire-related pollution on deaths relates short-term exposure to fine particulate matter in the air and all-cause, respiratory, and cardiovascular mortality across cities and regions around the world. The research from an international team, led by Professor Yuming Guo and Dr. Shanshan Li, from the Monash University's School of Public Health and Preventive Medicine in Melbourne, Australia, found that over 33500 deaths occurred each year directly attributable to wildfire pollution, across the 749 cities in the study. According to the data, countries with the most deaths related to wildfire smoke include Japan, with over 7000 annual deaths in 47 cities, Mexico, over 3000 in 10 cities, China, over 1200 in 15 cities, South Africa, over 5200 in 52 cities, Thailand, almost 5300 in 62 cities, and the U.S., with almost 3200 annual deaths in 210 cites relating to airborne wildfire. Also read: Dying Trees Play a Major Role on Earth's Carbon Cycle, New Study Reveals Wildfire Mortalities and Damages There has been widespread wildfire devastation in recent years-from the 45 million acres scorched during Australia's 2019-2020 fire season, to the more than 1.2 million hectares burned across California since the beginning of 2019, to the record amount of carbon dioxide released from more than 190 wildfires across Siberia, which now account for more than all of the world's wildfires combined. According to Monash University "Wildfire particulate matter is more toxic than that from urban fires particles because of its chemical composition, smaller particle size and associated high temperatures." The mortality data came from the Multi-City Multi-Country (MCC) Collaborative Study, and daily PM2.5 concentrations were estimated using machine learning, chemical transport model outputs, ground monitor PM2.5 observations, and weather data. In Conclusion, the authors have discussed that "policymakers and public health professionals should raise awareness of wildfire pollution to guide prompt public responses and take actions to reduce exposure. Effective wildland management policies and practices should be implemented to manage vegetation and mitigate climate change as far as possible." Also read: Intense Tornado Demolishes Largest Dairy Farm in New Jersey A stranded 30-year-old man more than two miles off land managed to stay afloat in the icy waters of Tralee Bay, Ireland with the help of dolphins. Volunteers from Fenit lifeboat were able to find the man as pod of dolphins were said to have alerted them of the situation. The swimmer, in just his trunks, was able to survive the 12-hour sea ordeal after the incredible sea creatures circled him. Search and Rescue After discovering the abandoned clothes on the beach, the lifeboat team and Rescue 115 were tasked to search for the missing swimmer. Fortunately, the sea was calm and in excellent conditions at the time, however, the search has to be postponed in the afternoon when no further information was found. At 6pm, the search continues. Two lifeboats searched the original area and the bay nearer to Tralee, but still, no signs of the swimmer. It was not until 9pm came when RNLI eventually located the swimmer nearly three miles out, as they spotted the dolphins and a head above the water near Castlegregory beach. Fenit RNLI lifeboat Operations Manager Gerard O'Donnell said the dolphins circled around him, "perhaps in an effort to protect him and draw attention to his whereabouts." "After a long and exhaustive search, members of the lifeboat crew were overjoyed to sight the missing swimmer in the water," said Coxswain O'Donnell. "They had been scanning the water for any sign of movement and were worried with light fading that they would not find anyone." "Even at this time of year, the water can be very cold and as yet we don't know how long this person was in the water and when they entered it. When the lifeboat crew found them, they were a good distance from the shore and were exhausted." O'Donnell advised swimmers to inform a company or anyone when taking a swim so people know their whereabouts and expect them to come back. "This was a very lucky individual." Also read: Population of North Atlantic Right Whales is Dwindling Due to Worsening Climate Change A great moment for RNLI "It was a great, great moment for us," said RNLI coxswain Finbarr O'Connell. "The elation of seeing somebody floating alive in the water, rather than the other way, is so great. We have had too many bad outcomes, so it was absolutely fantastic to pick him up," he added. "Normally we go out, and it mightn't be that positive. We are all just elated." Earlier last month, a 24-year-old man known as 'Frostbit boy' was also rescued from drowning by dolphins. Rory McSurley suffered from hypothermia and fatigue, after trying to swim more than 5 miles off the coast of Castlegregory Beach in southwest Ireland to Mucklaghmore Rock. Thankfully, RNLI coxswain Finbarr O'Connell's who had excellent knowledge of the tidal waves in the bay was able to locate the hypothermic and exhausted swimmer, wearing nothing but a pair of light swim trunks and surrounded by dolphins. Fenit RNLI volunteer Jackie Murphy said it was a "miracle" that the man survived the ordeal, and commended O'Connell for calculating the swimmer's likely location. Also read: Cats Found to Have 7 Distinct Personality Traits, New Research The state Department of Public Health will investigate physicians accused of spreading misinformation about COVID-19 and the vaccines designed to combat the virus, if a complaint were to be filed, officials said. DPH spokesman Christopher Boyle said that if the agency were to receive a complaint that a physician was spreading COVID-19 vaccine misinformation, the Practitioner Investigation Unit would investigate. In July, the Federation of State Medical Boards warned physicians that they could face disciplinary action by a state medical board for spreading disinformation about COVID-19 vaccines. DPH said that there is no mechanism for monitoring social media or other forms of media for doctors who are spreading misinformation. By state law, the public has no way of knowing whether a physician is under investigation until a resolution to the complaint comes before the state Medical Examining Board months, or possibly years, from the filing of the complaint. Joe Knickrehm, a spokesman for the Federation of State Medical Boards, said a lack of funding and personnel required to spot physicians who may be operating outside medical standards during the pandemic is a problem occurring across the country. State and territorial medical boards in the U.S. operate largely on a system that is complaint-driven, Knickrehm said. Medical boards rely upon patients, members of the public, physician peers and other entities (such as hospitals and health systems) to report serious instances of misconduct to them. Boards often do not have the resources to actively monitor social media or traditional media for physicians spreading misinformation or disinformation and therefore rely on information they receive through formal complaints. But that hasnt stopped medical boards in several states from disciplining physicians for distributing misinformation about COVID-19 to patients and the public, Knickrehm said. We know a number of boards have taken disciplinary actions, and we have heard anecdotally from member boards that they are seeing an uptick in complaints about physicians generating or spreading COVID-19 misinformation and disinformation, and in some instances are carrying out investigations as a result, he said. California and Oregon are among the states that have taken action. Misinformation about vaccines became so acute this summer during efforts to vaccinate as many people as possible that U.S. Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy issued a 22-page advisory July 15 calling attention to the issue and outlining an action plan for consumers and others. Health misinformation is an urgent threat to public health, Murthy said. It can cause confusion, sow mistrust, and undermine public health efforts, including our ongoing work to end the COVID-19 pandemic. As Surgeon General, my job is to help people stay safe and healthy, and without limiting the spread of health misinformation, American lives are at risk. Murthy encouraged tech and social media companies to identify and avoid sharing vaccine misinformation on their platforms, calling their cooperation critical to the long-term health of our nation. He also asked physicians to talk with patients about their understanding of the pandemic and the vaccines and correct any misconceptions. Two weeks after Murthys report was published, the federation issued a warning to physicians that they could be disciplined, including losing their license, if a med board were to determine they were spreading misinformation on COVID-19. Due to their specialized knowledge and training, licensed physicians possess a high degree of public trust and therefore have a powerful platform in society, whether they recognize it or not, the statement issued July 29 said. They also have an ethical and professional responsibility to practice medicine in the best interests of their patients and must share information that is factual, scientifically grounded and consensus-driven for the betterment of public health. Spreading inaccurate COVID-19 vaccine information contradicts that responsibility, threatens to further erode public trust in the medical profession and puts all patients at risk. The federation provides training and advocacy to more than 50 med boards throughout the country. Connecticuts Medical Examining Board made up of appointed physicians, lawyers, public members and other professionals meets about nine times per year to consider disciplines based on DPH investigations. The board has no funding or independent authority to hire staff. The disciplines can range from a reprimand, a fine, probation or the revocation of a medical license. During its Aug. 23 meeting, the medical board did not discuss the federations warning. The agency cannot reveal whether it has received any complaints regarding physicians spreading misinformation about the vaccines by state law, Boyle said. The Connecticut State Medical Society, representing 4,000 state physicians and physicians in training, supports the call for discipline if a physician were spreading misinformation, said organization president Dr. Gregory Shangold. The Covid-19 vaccines have been proven safe and effective in carefully controlled trials, Shangold said. We encourage all patients to discuss their individual situations with their physician. Medical best practice is to render an opinion based on the available information from legitimate medical sources. The Medical Examining Board has the obligation to investigate complaints which deviate from acceptable practice. This story was reported under a partnership with the Connecticut Health I-Team (c-hit.org), a nonprofit news organization dedicated to health reporting. LONDON (AP) Britain decided Monday to follow other countries in offering coronavirus vaccines to children 12 and up, as the government gambled that expanded vaccination and mild tweaks to social behavior can avert the need for lockdowns in the winter. Vaccinations for children and booster shots for at-risk adults are part of a tool kit to control COVID-19 infections this fall and winter that Prime Minister Boris Johnson will announce Tuesday at a news conference. On Monday, the chief medical officers of England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland recommended that children aged 12 to 15 be given a single dose of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine, despite the governments vaccine advisors saying this month that the step would have only marginal health benefits. Vaccines minister Nadhim Zahawi said the government had accepted the recommendation and would start the vaccinations next week. Other countries including the United States, Canada, France and Italy already offer coronavirus vaccines to children 12 and up, but Britain has held off. It is currently inoculating people 16 and up, almost 90% of those eligible have had at least one vaccine dose. Earlier this month, Britains Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunization said vaccines should be given to 12- to 15-year-olds with underlying health conditions. But it did not back a rollout to healthy children, who are at low risk of serious illness from the virus, saying the direct health benefits were marginal. However, it said there might be wider societal factors to consider, such as on education or children acting as sources of transmission to more vulnerable groups. The chief medical officers said Monday that vaccination would help limit transmission of the virus in schools and help childrens mental health by reducing disruption to education. England Chief Medical Officer Chris Whitty said vaccinating kids was an important, potentially useful additional tool in the fight against the virus. But he said it had not been a "barn-door obvious" decision and it was appropriate "that people have taken longer to get to this and to make sure that we have weighed all the different elements up to get this right. Children will initially receive a single vaccine dose through their schools. The U.K. has yet to decide on whether to give them a second dose. Johnson's Conservative government is hoping that widespread vaccinations, rather than restrictions, will keep COVID-19 infections in check during the colder months, when respiratory viruses spread more easily. The announcement of a new virus road map comes a year after Johnson resisted scientific advice to put the country into lockdown only to perform a U-turn within weeks as coronavirus cases soared. Virus cases now are 10 times the rate of a year ago, but vaccines are protecting many Britons from serious illness. Still, the U.K. is recording more than 100 coronavirus deaths a day, and more than 8,000 people are hospitalized with COVID-19. That is less than a quarter of the wintertime peak, but the number is climbing. Johnson is expected to say that mask-wearing, work-from-home advice and social distancing rules that were lifted in July could return if cases climb further. But his Conservative government is resisting tougher measures, unexpectedly shelving a plan to introduce vaccine passports for nightclubs and other crowded venues. Health Secretary Sajid Javid said Sunday that the vaccine passes, which have been introduced in many European countries and were due to start in England at the end of September, were a huge intrusion into peoples lives. He said the government would keep the plan in reserve but wouldn't proceed with it right now. Some experts have argued for vaccine passports as a way to encourage young people to get vaccinated, though others say compelling vaccination, rather than encouraging it, could increase hesitancy. The measure was opposed as a burdensome imposition by many in the entertainment industry, and met political resistance on civil liberties grounds from some Conservative lawmakers and the opposition Liberal Democrats. The governments vaccine passport decision applies in England. Scotland, which sets its own health policy, plans to introduce the requirement for crowded venues next month. Johnson also is likely to announce on Tuesday that the government will relinquish some of the emergency powers Parliament gave it after the pandemic began last year, including the authority to shut down businesses and schools, restrict gatherings and detain infectious people. ____ Follow APs pandemic coverage at https://apnews.com/hub/coronavirus-pandemic New Castle, PA (16103) Today Some clouds this evening will give way to mainly clear skies overnight. Low around 55F. Winds light and variable.. Tonight Some clouds this evening will give way to mainly clear skies overnight. Low around 55F. Winds light and variable. Opinion Column A dinosaur roar of hope for Gods creation A dinosaur roar of hope for Gods creation Andy Bryant, who has been project managing the current Dippy attraction in Norwich Cathedral, points out that the Diplodocus skeleton represents far more than a display of old bones. Who would have thought a dinosaur in a cathedral would be so popular? After just six weeks in residence Dippy the Dinosaur has welcomed over 100,000 visitors to the Nave of Norwich Cathedral. And from the feedback we have received Dippy has clearly made a very good impression on his visitors. Thanks must also be given to the wonderful team of Dippy volunteers for ensuring that all runs smoothly and safely. Much thought was given to the visitor route through the Cathedral and the supporting elements of the exhibition. The time tunnel, the display of fossils from the Castle Museum and the sculpture of the wave of fish, have all engaged the visitor and helped build up to that wow moment with the first sighting of Dippy. Children and adults seem equally captivated to be in the presence of this wonderful dinosaur. It was always our intention that after seeing Dippy the visitor would be drawn into space for reflection. Dippy makes you think. To be in the presence of an animal from 150 million years ago challenges all our usual statements about creation, and demands something more than a human-centric view of this planet. To know that this gentle giant became extinct due to climate change focuses our minds on the climate emergency that we are facing and, standing there, fossilised in time, Dippy reminds us that this issue cannot be ignored. Although some marvel at the number of visitors, it was always more about the quality of the encounter. Some of the most moving moments have taken place in the reflection zone. Visitors are invited to make a pledge for the planet, to write on a leaf what they will do to help the planet and then hang it on the tree for as the Book of Revelation reminds us: the leaves of the trees are for the healing of the nations. We have watched as families have discussed together what changes they can make to take better care of the planet parents having important conversations with their children, and children challenging their parents to do more. Having made their pledge, some families have then gone on to light a candle and offer their pledge to God. The reflection zone is called Hope? In the shadow of an extinct dinosaur, and in the face of a climate emergency, is there reason for hope? Both in the conversations which are happening, and the sheer number of pledges being made, there is a real sense of people wanting to see change, of wanting to play their part in changing the future direction of our planet. There are thousands upon thousands of pledges, promising a myriad of small actions but which together will make a significant difference. Reading these pledges has been both moving and inspiring. They speak powerfully of hope, of a determination to live differently for the good of the planet and the well-being of people across the globe. As Dippy leaves Norwich Cathedral at the end of October, COP26 begins in Glasgow. This is the latest gathering of global leaders, seeking to unite them in common cause to take the actions necessary at national and international level to limit the impacts of climate change, to help a planet sitting in the last chance saloon. The pledges made by the visitors to Dippy are a great shout, loader than any dinosaur roar, to the leaders of the world, both promising to change and demanding they enact change. COP26 must produce not more words but real and lasting action. Cathedrals are places to make you think, safe spaces to ask deep questions. Dippys visit is part of that searching and our visitors pledges are signs of hope in a broken world. Each of the actions promised in and of themselves are small, and some might say insignificant. Yet we recall the boy who offered Jesus five loaves and two small fish and fed five thousand people. Christians are a people that affirm that small acts matter; with God they have big consequences. Together each of our small pledges can be the hope the world needs. Dippy the Dinosaur will remain on public display in Norwich Cathedral until Saturday October 30. Read our recent story about Dippy here . The photo of Dippy in Norwich Cathedral is courtesy of Andrew Bryant. The Revd Andrew Bryant is the Canon for Mission and Pastoral Care at Norwich Cathedral. He was previously Team Rector of Portishead, Bristol, in the Diocese of Bath and Wells, and has served in parishes in the Guildford and Lichfield Dioceses, as well as working for twelve years with Kaleidoscope Theatre, a charity promoting integration through theatre for young adults with Downs Syndrome. You can read Andrew's latest blog entry here and can follow him via his Twitter account @AndyBry3 . The views carried here are those of the author, not of Network Norwich and Norfolk, and are intended to stimulate good-natured and constructive debate between website users. We welcome your thoughts and comments, posted below, upon the ideas expressed here. Click here to read our forum and comment posting guidelines Norfolk gives generously to Afghan refugee fund Norfolk gives generously to Afghan refugee fund Thanks to the generosity of people across Norfolk and Waveney, the Bishop of Norwichs Refugee Fund has received nearly 36,000 in the past fortnight, to help the arriving and expected new refugees from Afghanistan. The Diocese of Norwich is administering the fund at the request of Norfolk County Council. The Council are co-ordinating the many provisions of practical support from the local community that have been offered. Cllr Andrew Proctor, Leader of Norfolk County Council, said: Weve all been humbled by the response of our Norfolk residents to the events in Afghanistan. No one chooses to be a refugee and many Afghans have been forced to leave their homes with little to no personal belongings, let alone the means to find new homes in a foreign country. The work of all the people involved here in Norfolk, from the diocese and private landlords to the donations of clothing and furniture by individuals, shows the warm welcome were all ready to give those fleeing such harrowing circumstances, and I want to thank everyone for the kindness and compassion theyve shown over recent weeks. Tim Sweeting, the new Diocesan Secretary of the Diocese of Norwich, said: "Im so pleased that our staff team is able to provide this secure way of giving via our website and to work with Norfolk County Council to ensure these funds will be used effectively for those who need them most. Many of our church communities are promoting the fund and are assisting in practical ways too. The Diocese of Norwich will also be making a recently-vacated clergy house in Norwich city centre available for an Afghan family to live in for the next two years. The property is close to schools, shops and a local mosque. The Rt Revd Graham Usher, Bishop of Norwich said: My prayer is that this house will soon become a home for a family to settle and thrive in. May they find the welcome that so many strangers down the centuries have found in the wonderful city of Norwich. Its another way of living out the Gospel of Christ in loving our neighbour. You can continue to donate to the Bishops Refugee Fund at: dofn.org/refugee-fund Picture European Union/ECHO/Pierre Prakash. Keith Morris, 13/09/2021 Since he helped build the highly successful ship that is VMware, it is widely expected the companys CEO Raghu Raghuram, appointed in June, wont rock that boat too much, at least in the near term. VMware Raghuram is credited with helping build and grow the companys core virtualization and multicloud business as well as its software-defined data center strategy. VMware also credits Raghuram with driving partnerships with Dell Technologies and hyper-scaler customers. Since being appointed a little over 100 days ago, Raghuram has been focused on those efforts but also growing the companys multicloud software subscription and SaaS business. He inherited a good base to start with as VMware in its August Q2 2022 earnings call said total company revenue for the quarter was $3.1 billion, with combined subscription, SaaS, and license revenue growing 12% year-over-year to $1.5 billion. In a press and analyst event last week Raghuram stressed the same theme that he laid out in his first financial analysts call in May: VMwares mission is to provide foundational multicloud platforms for accelerating digital business. We provide a ubiquitous consistent software platform across clouds, data centers, and edge with which customers can rapidly build and modernize their applications. We empower them to operate their entire distributed environment with optimal cost, security and governance while leveraging their existing investments in our technology and skills to go faster to the future, Raghuram said. He has also spent a lot of time planning for VMwares pending spin-off from Dell Technologies that Dell announced in April, which will create two free-standing companies. Dell has had an 81% equity ownership of VMware Since 2016 when it paid $67 billion for EMC, which owned VMware. Under terms of the planned spin-off, VMware will distribute a cash dividend totalling $11.5 billion to $12 billion to VMware shareholders, which includes about $9.7 billion to Dell Technologies, the companies stated. The two companies have had a close development relationship.That includes services such as VMware Cloud on Dell EMC, which combines VMwares high-performance compute, storage, and networking software integrated with Dell EMC hyperconverged infrastructure (HCI). Specifically, it involves VMware vSphere, vSAN, and NSX and Dell EMC VxRail HCI delivered as a service managed by VMware. Raghuram said that the split from Dell is on track for November and that VMware as a stand-alone company will have increased strategic, operational and financial flexibility to drive its growth strategy and will also be able to strengthen its strategic relationship with Dell. The Dell spin will let partners look at VMware in a new light and allow us more flexibility in growing our own business, Raghuram said. The Dell situation hasnt been the only thing on the new CEOs plate. Raghuram said he has also focused on further developing VMwares multicloud strategy in a post-pandemic enterprise world. The pandemic has accelerated what was already happening in that there are now many more distributed applications, infrastructure and people, and because of the way things have been accelerated people are finding that this distributed multicloud world is pretty complex and we are looking to reduce that complexity, Raghuram said. Making the distributed world look like one logical entity that can be managed easily is a tough proposition, Raghuram said. How we make all of that work easier for customers is our mission, he said. Another hot topic has been enabling business workforces that either work at home full or part-time. How do we enable the anywhere workspace that will be staying with us for the foreseeable future? Raghuram said. At the heart of VMwares remote work technology is its VMwares Anywhere Workspace package that brings together the companys core enterprise software products, including Workspace ONE unified endpoint management, Carbon Black Cloud cloud-native endpoint security, and secure access service edge (SASE) components, into a single system to support a widely distributed workforce. Customers are rethinking everything in terms of security and access for distributed resources, Raghuram said. N. Fort Myers - Hazele O. (Pettingell) Kray, age 101, of North Fort Myers, Florida, former longtime resident of Amesbury, passed peacefully Tuesday morning, September 7, 2021, at Bayfront Health in Port Charlotte, Florida, after a period of declining health. She was the beloved wife of the l Newburyport, MA (01950) Today Partly cloudy skies this evening. Increasing clouds with periods of showers late. Low around 65F. Winds light and variable. Chance of rain 50%.. Tonight Partly cloudy skies this evening. Increasing clouds with periods of showers late. Low around 65F. Winds light and variable. Chance of rain 50%. Newburyport, MA (01950) Today Mostly cloudy this evening with showers developing after midnight. Low 64F. Winds light and variable. Chance of rain 50%.. Tonight Mostly cloudy this evening with showers developing after midnight. Low 64F. Winds light and variable. Chance of rain 50%. Help support your local hometown newspaper/website. Independent local news reporting matters. Please log in, or sign up for a new account and purchase a subscription, for as little as $3, so we can continue to provide independent local reporting on our communities. GREENWICH A new coffee bar and restaurant could be coming to Cos Cob. The town Planning and Zoning Commission is set to review an application next week to convert a drive-through bank branch at 85 E. Putnam Ave. near Cross Lane into a coffee and food business. Greg Zamfotis is the applicant on the project, and he is looking to create a 1,700-square-foot outlet of Gregorys Coffee at the location. It would be the companys first location in Connecticut. According to Zamfotis online biography and website, he operates 30 retail locations of Gregorys Coffee in New York, New Jersey and Washington, D.C., as well as two bakeries and a roasting facility. His family is in the food business, and the company was founded in 2006. Cos Cob has seen two other coffee businesses on the Post Road close down in recent years. The former Starbucks shop has been vacant for over a year, and Chocoylatte did not reopen after a catastrophic accident in February 2020. A motorist died after slamming into the bakery and cafe, leaving a gaping hole in the exterior and damaging the interior. Zamfotis says his company has access to the best and most interesting coffees available, and it roasts its own beans at a facility in Queens, N.Y., according to the website. The operation would have a drive-through window as well as indoor seating, according to the application. The site is currently a drive-through operation of the Peoples United Bank, with the main banking facility next door. The location once housed a Japanese restaurant before its conversion to a bank in 2010. The property is owned by 85 East Putnam Avenue LLC, which is affiliated with Yellowstone Properties, according to the application file. The Planning and Zoning Commission is scheduled to hold a preliminary hearing on the application at its meeting Sept. 14. Several nearby residents have expressed concerns about the maintenance of the site, and erosion of a retaining wall at the rear of the property. Property needs to be cleaned up and maintained, a neighbor, Michael Mucha, said in a letter sent to the commission about the project. There appeared to be problems with erosion in the rear, as well, he said. rmarchant@greenwichtime.com The average person doesnt need a COVID-19 booster yet, an international group of scientists including two top U.S. regulators wrote Monday in a scientific journal. The experts reviewed studies of the vaccines' performance and concluded the shots are working well despite the extra-contagious delta variant, especially against severe disease. Even in populations with fairly high vaccination rates, the unvaccinated are still the major drivers of transmission" at this stage of the pandemic, they concluded. The opinion piece, published in The Lancet, illustrates the intense scientific debate about who needs booster doses and when, a decision the U.S. and other countries are grappling with. After revelations of political meddling in the Trump administrations coronavirus response, President Joe Biden has promised to follow the science. But the review raises the question of whether his administration is moving faster than the experts. The authors include two leading vaccine reviewers at the Food and Drug Administration, Drs. Phil Krause and Marion Gruber, who recently announced they will be stepping down this fall. Among the other 16 authors are leading vaccine researchers in the U.S., Britain, France, South Africa and India, plus scientists with the World Health Organization, which already has urged a moratorium on boosters until poor countries are better vaccinated. In the U.S., the White House has begun planning for boosters later this month, if both the FDA and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention agree. Advisers to the FDA will weigh evidence about an extra Pfizer shot Friday at a key public meeting. Georgetown University's Larry Gostin said the paper throws gasoline on the fire in the debate about whether most Americans truly need boosters and whether the White House got ahead of scientists. Its always a fundamental error of process to make a scientific announcement before the public health agencies have acted and thats exactly what happened here, said Gostin, a lawyer and public health specialist. The FDA did not respond to requests for comment Monday morning. The U.S. already offers an extra dose of the Pfizer or Moderna vaccines to people with severely weakened immune systems. For the general population, the debate is boiling down to whether boosters should be given even though the vaccines are still offering high protection against severe disease possibly in hopes of blocking milder breakthrough infections among the fully vaccinated. Last week, CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky said new data showed that as delta surged, the unvaccinated were 4.5 times more likely than the fully vaccinated to get infected, over 10 times more likely to be hospitalized and 11 times more likely to die. Still, government scientists are also weighing hints that protection is waning among older adults who were vaccinated early last winter. The writers of Monday's commentary reported reviewing worldwide studies since delta began surging, mostly of U.S. and European vaccines. The team concluded none of these studies has provided credible evidence of substantially declining protection against severe disease. Because the body builds layers of immunity, gradual drops in antibody levels don't necessarily mean overall effectiveness is dropping "and reductions in vaccine efficacy against mild disease do not necessarily predict reductions in the (typically higher) efficacy against severe disease, they wrote. The more the virus spreads, the more opportunity it has to evolve into strains that could escape current vaccines. The Lancet reviewers suggest there could be bigger gains from creating booster doses that better match circulating variants, much like flu vaccine is regularly updated, than from just giving extra doses of the original vaccine. There is an opportunity now to study variant-based boosters before there is widespread need for them, the scientists wrote. ___ The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institutes Department of Science Education. The AP is solely responsible for all content. Tanya Fear, a British actress who appeared in sci-fi series "Doctor Who," has been found after being reported missing in Los Angeles, according to the LAPD. Police were notified around 11 a.m. local time on Monday that Fear had been located, officials told CNN. Police said there is no criminal investigation or foul play suspected. Due to privacy concerns, no further details were made available. Concerns for the 31-year-old had been growing after she had reportedly not been seen since Thursday, according to friends and family. Fear was reported missing on Sept. 9, Officer Jay Chaves with the Los Angeles Police Department told CNN on Monday. Using the hashtag #FindTanyaFear on social media, her loved ones pleaded for the public's help to gather information about her whereabouts following her disappearance. A Twitter user who said they were Fear''s cousin wrote: "Please please please share if you have mutually in the LA/Hollywood bowl area. My cousin is missing, she has no family in the US and we're all really worried." A missing person poster circulating on social media says she went missing in the "LA/Hollywood Bowl area". Fear's representatives have not returned CNN's request for comment. Fear played the role of Dr Jade McIntyre in a 2018 episode of Doctor Who. Her screen credits also include the 2015 film "A Moving Image", "Kick-ass 2" and "Spotless." The-CNN-Wire & 2021 Cable News Network, Inc., a WarnerMedia Company. All rights reserved. New data shows 26 states have fully vaccinated more than half their residents, and those with the highest vaccination rates have among the lowest Covid-19 cases. Vermont, Connecticut and Massachusetts have fully vaccinated at least two-thirds of their population, according to data from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Those three states also have among the lowest new Covid-19 cases per capita over the past week, CDC data shows. But elsewhere, hospitals are filling up with unvaccinated Covid-19 patients. "We actually have the lowest ICU available rate that we've had since the start of this crisis, in part due to the unvaccinated with Covid and just other types of trauma that goes up seasonally this time of year," Gov. Jared Polis, D-Colo., said Friday. "Some hospitals are reaching very close to their capacity limits. And that wouldn't be happening if people were vaccinated." In Florida, Covid-19 patients occupy 27 of the 28 ICU beds at St. Anthony's Hospital in St. Petersburg, hospital president Scott Smith said. He said about 85% of the hospital's Covid-19 patients are unvaccinated. Some of those hospitalized ask for a Covid-19 vaccine too late, said pulmonologist Dr. Hudman Hoo, medical director of St. Anthony's ICU ward. "We have had patients that come and request, 'Can I get a vaccine now?' But they don't understand that it's something that's meant to be preventative," Hoo said. More than 43% of Florida's ICU beds were occupied by Covid-19 patients, according to data Saturday from the US Department of Health and Human Services. Nationwide, about 31% of ICU beds were taken up by Covid-19 patients. New study shows vaccines' effectiveness against hospitalization Despite the dominance of the more contagious Delta variant, vaccines are still highly effective against Covid-19 hospitalization, a new CDC study found. Among all ages, the Moderna vaccine was 95% effective against hospitalization, while the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine had an 80% effectiveness and the Johnson & Johnson vaccine had a 60% effectiveness, the study found. But among those 75 and older, the study found vaccine effectiveness against hospitalization was 76%, compared to 89% for adults under 75. "Fully vaccinated" still means at least two weeks have passed since the second dose of the Pfizer/BioNTech or Moderna vaccines or at least two weeks have passed since the single-dose Johnson & Johnson vaccine. But as federal health officials consider a booster dose for most Americans, the definition of fully vaccinated may change, CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky said Friday. "I anticipate over time that may be updated, but we will leave that to our advisers to give us some recommendations," Walensky said. Vaccine requirements will help the economy, surgeon general says The new vaccine requirements recently announced by President Joe Biden have been met with praise and criticism. Businesses that want employees to return to work and stay at work will benefit from vaccine requirements, US Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy said. "A lot of businesses are actually relieved that these are going into place," Murthy told CNN on Sunday. "We've heard a lot of feedback from the Business Roundtable and others that this will help us create safer workplaces." High vaccination rates would benefit employees, not just employers, Murthy said. "If we ultimately want to not only get people back to work but keep them at work, if we want workers to know, 'Hey, I'm coming back to the workplace and it's going to be safe,' these vaccinations will help people do that," he said. "And I believe that will not only improve public health, but it will give people some more peace of mind." It may take "many, many" more vaccine mandates to end the pandemic, Dr. Anthony Fauci, the director of the National Institutes of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said Sunday. School and business mandates would make a difference, he said. "I believe that's going to turn this around, because I don't think people are going to want to not go to work or not go to college or not go to university. They're going to do it," Fauci told CNN's Jen Christensen in an interview at the NLGJA, the Association of LGBTQ Journalists, convention. "You'd like to have them do it on a totally voluntary basis, but if that doesn't work, you've got to go to the alternatives." The combination of the highly contagious Delta variant and vaccine holdouts has put the United States in a "very difficult period" of the Covid-19 pandemic, Fauci said. "We have a really unfortunate situation that we have a pretty hard-core group of people that we're trying to persuade them, or mandate them, if they're not persuaded, to get vaccinated," Fauci said. "We have the tools to end this and yet we're not doing this." Testing helps avoid school quarantines, expert says As schools struggle with Covid-19 outbreaks and quarantines, one former federal health official said effective testing can reduce outbreaks. Putting students in "pods" in schools and routine asymptomatic testing can help reduce transmission in schools, former US Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Dr. Scott Gottlieb said. "Rather than quarantine that whole classroom, you just test them in a serial fashion to make sure that you didn't have an exposure that led to a downstream case and so you can actually use testing to prevent quarantines." Gottlieb said during an Axios event Friday. He said even though Covid-19 case rates may be declining in some older age groups, "it's continuing to increase is in school-aged children." The-CNN-Wire & 2021 Cable News Network, Inc., a WarnerMedia Company. All rights reserved. A hospital in upstate New York is "pausing" deliveries of babies because of the number of maternity unit employee resignations over the state's Covid-19 vaccination requirements, health officials say. Lewis County General Hospital in Lowville, about 60 miles northeast of Syracuse, will stop deliveries after September 24, said Gerald Cayer, chief executive of the Lewis County Health System. "We are unable to safely staff the service after September 24. The number of resignations received leaves us no choice but to pause delivering babies at Lewis County General Hospital. It is my hope that the Department of Health will work with us in support of pausing the service rather than closing the maternity department," Cayer said at a news conference Friday. Since former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced all hospital and long-term care facility employees must have at least one dose of a Covid-19 vaccine by September 27, 30 hospital system employees -- 21 of whom were working in clinical areas -- have resigned, Cayer said. Six of the resignations were in the hospital's maternity unit. Cayer said there are 165 employees throughout the Lewis County Health System who haven't received a single dose of the vaccine. "Our vaccine vaccination rate is now 73% -- 464 individuals in the health system are now vaccinated," Cayer said. "165 employees are not yet vaccinated. And it is not clear what they will do," Cayer said. "We have two weeks remaining for 165 staff to receive the first dose of the vaccine. And at the same time, we must develop contingency plans for services we believe are at risk. We can't wait to the last minute. We have not been given much time, and it is a hard deadline before us." Cayer said several other departments were at risk "based on the number of unvaccinated individuals in those departments." Contingency plans include reassigning nurses from administration roles to their clinical functions, he said. Asked what it would take to keep the maternity ward running, Cayer said: "Our hope is as we get closer, the numbers will increase of individuals who are vaccinated, fewer individuals will leave, and maybe with a little luck, some of those who have resigned will reconsider." Employees who resign or are terminated over vaccination status will not be eligible for unemployment benefits, he said. Cayer said hospital staff shortages were an issue that predated the coronavirus pandemic and he now wanted to focus on recruitment. "If we can pause the service and now focus on recruiting nurses who are vaccinated, we will be able to reengage in delivering babies here in Lewis County," Cayer said. Cayer said he supports the mandate for health care workers and others. "The mandate ensures we will have a healthy workforce, and that we are not responsible for transmission in or out of our facilities," he said. "The Covid-19 positivity trend line over the last two weeks is moving in the wrong direction, and putting our community at risk. Lewis County has the highest 7-day and 14-day positivity rate in the state of New York over the last three days," he said Friday. "Today this is how Covid-19 transmission is impacting the health system. Lewis County Health System has five employees in quarantine, five employees in isolation, and there are four community members hospitalized at LCGH who are Covid-positive, and they are ill enough to be inpatients." The New York State Department of Health issued an order August 16 mandating the vaccination of all health care workers, including staff at "nursing homes, adult care, and other congregate care settings," by September 27. Cuomo had previously announced that all patient-facing health care workers at state hospitals must get vaccinated with no testing options. On Thursday, US President Joe Biden announced he would require the 17 million health care workers at facilities receiving funds from Medicare and Medicaid to be fully vaccinated, expanding the mandate to hospitals, home care facilities and dialysis centers around the country. The-CNN-Wire & 2021 Cable News Network, Inc., a WarnerMedia Company. All rights reserved. Some 80 million private sector employees will be required to get a Covid vaccine or weekly Covid test under the federal rules announced by President Joe Biden last week. But don't assume that the workers you come in contact with every day will be covered by the mandate, which only applies to businesses with 100 or more employees. In addition to those 80 million workers, there are another 43 million employees who work at companies that employ fewer than 100 people and who are not covered by that federal mandate. For example, most fast food restaurants are independently-owned franchises, not company-owned locations. So although some franchisees own multiple shops with lots of employees, many own a single restaurant with a headcount that exempts them from the rule. Roughly 95% of McDonald's nearly 14,000 US locations are owned by a franchise operator, not the company itself, so there's a very good chance the employee serving you a Big Mac or Quarter Pounder isn't required to get a vaccine or take a Covid test in order to go to work. These companies could require their franchise operators to have their employees comply with the same rules that apply to larger companies, but that's unlikely, said Brian Kropp, chief of research at consulting firm Gartner's HR practice. 'The war for talent' With a record number of job openings and not enough job seekers to fill them, "the war for talent is intense right now," Kropp said. "If McDonald's does [require vaccinations] and Wendy's doesn't, those employees who don't want to get vaccinated are going to walk out the door to go over to Wendy's." Many other large companies hire independent contractors, rather than employees, to interact with the public, including Uber, Lyft and other major delivery services such as DoorDash and Instacart. In addition to their need to hang on to workers, those companies have a bigger issue at play imposing a vaccine mandate on drivers could complicate future legal battles over whether they should be considered employees rather than independent contractors, Kropp said. "If the mandate were to apply to them, it makes it more likely in future legal cases for drivers to say, 'We're treated the same way as employees,'" said Kropp. Most of the companies engaging with franchisees or independent contractors didn't respond to questions about their plans when contacted for this story. DoorDash, however, said that it won't ask its delivery drivers to comply with the vaccination rules because of their status as independent contractors. "We are encouraging all members of the broader DoorDash community to get vaccinated," the company said, adding that it does require its delivery drivers to wear masks when interacting with the public. Can vaccines be good for business? Many larger business are happy to see the new vaccine and testing mandates because they believe a widely vaccinated workforce could lead to a more level playing field. "They've done the math and figured out that vaccines mean lower absenteeism, lower health care costs," Kropp said. Delta Air Lines said last month that each employee hospitalized with Covid costs the company about $50,000. For major employers that compete for talent with other large companies, the new rules are a big advantage, Kropp said. "Walmart now doesn't have to worry about losing the workers to Target," he said. Small employers, however, haven't been able to embrace mandates on their employees because they often compete for workers with similarly-sized companies. A survey of 533 small businesses conducted by the National Federation of Independent Business, a trade group that primarily represents companies with fewer than 100 employees, found that only 3% had any kind of vaccine mandate, and that 14% were "considering" one. The survey was conducted over the first six days of September, just before the federal rule was announced. "Their ability to retain and recruit workers is a major factor in whether they impose a vaccine mandate," said Holly Wade, executive director of the NFIB Research Center. At the same time, small businesses have to worry about absenteeism if Covid cases start spreading through their workforce in addition to the health care expenses for the roughly one third of small employers who offer health coverage. Although a major airline like Delta might be able to afford a $50,000 hospital bill when an employee is hospitalized, small businesses are hard-pressed to cover those costs. "Any huge medical event for one of their employees can increase their premiums astronomically," Wade said. "We hear about that from small business owners all the time." The-CNN-Wire & 2021 Cable News Network, Inc., a WarnerMedia Company. All rights reserved. JONESBORO The Clayton County Board of Commissioners has rejected a proposal to pay residents a $100 incentive to get a COVID-19 vaccination. The motion failed 1-3 with Board Chair Jeff Turner the lone supporter of the Vaccine Incentive Program during the boards Sept. 7 meeting. The $500,000 program would have been paid using American Rescue Plan Act funds to issue residents a $100 gift card. Commissioner Demont Davis said he was totally opposed to the idea and that enticing citizens with money to get vaccinated was not a wise use of funds. He said monies needed to be put into the hands of people truly in need, suggesting the funding go toward housing. Commissioner Gail Hambrick said the county was only entertaining the idea based on what other counties in the area have done. Commissioner Felicia Franklin called the vaccine incentive a grand great idea, but can be difficult to manage our county offers a lot of resources ... when it comes to vaccines. Davis recommended creating a Clayton County vaccination location database for residents while using ARPA money to fund mobile vaccine units throughout the county. Turner said the county needed to try something because hospitals are overrun and the Delta variant is killing folks everyday. Anytime we can increase the number of vaccinated, its one more person than we have now, he said. The BOC appears to have bucked local and national incentivization trends. The Clayton County Board of Education recently approved bonuses to employees who are fully vaccinated by the end of September. The Henry County Board of Education also approved a similar measure offering fully vaccinated employees $1,000. DeKalb County recently offered residents a $100 gift card to get vaccinated. Companies around the country are also offering several different incentives to encourage their employees to get vaccinated, including additional pay, gift cards, paid time off and reimbursement for travel to a vaccine site. A Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) passenger plane from Islamabad touched down in Kabul on Monday morning, according to an airline spokesman. This marks the first flight to land in Afghanistan from neighboring Pakistan since the chaotic final withdrawal of US troops last month. PIA spokesman Abdullah Khan said in a statement that the service was a "special flight" to create "goodwill" with the people of Afghanistan and to "strengthen humanitarian efforts." The spokesman clarified to CNN that this was "not an aid flight." PIA said the flight was handled by the Kabul airport staff and its flight name and number were posted on boards at the airport. It was not immediately clear whether it could be described as a "commercial" flight, however, as it is unclear whether people were actually able to buy tickets for the plane. PIA CEO Arshad Malik said the company will "hopefully" be able to restore full services soon. Along with two Qatar Airways passenger planes, both carrying more than 100 foreign nationals, that departed from Kabul and landed in Doha last week, this flight signals that at least some foreign nationals who want to leave Afghanistan will be able to do so, following weeks of uncertainty. Civilians have been left scrambling to find safe passage from the country since the Taliban takeover in mid-August threw a US-led evacuation effort into confusion. The US, along with about 100 other countries, said they will hold the Taliban to their promises that they will allow people to leave the country following the US withdrawal. A return of commercial flights is a key part of that promise. PIA said the Boeing 777 aircraft departed Islamabad, Pakistan's capital city, at 6:45 a.m. local time after special arrangements had been made by Afghanistan's civil aviation authorities and PIA's staff. Foreign journalists traveled into the Afghan capital on the flight while employees of the World Bank were brought back to Islamabad on the return leg, the spokesman told CNN. PIA's chief operating officer Air Commodore Jawad Zafar, was also on board. The-CNN-Wire & 2021 Cable News Network, Inc., a WarnerMedia Company. All rights reserved. North Korea claims it successfully test-fired new long-range cruise missiles over the weekend, according to the country's state-run Korean Central News Agency (KCNA). The report, dated Monday, says the country's Academy of Defense Science successfully test-fired the missiles on September 11 and 12, and that the weapons had been in development for two years. The weapons demonstrate "another effective deterrence means for more reliably guaranteeing the security of our state and strongly containing the military maneuvers of the hostile forces against the DPRK," the agency said, using the acronym for North Korea's official name, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea. The US and neighboring South Korea are looking into the launch claims, officials in both countries told CNN. "Cruise missiles are often detected after the tests are conducted for their low flight altitudes. North Korea had conducted two cruise missile tests already this year, but we did not disclose them as we do not disclose all cruise missile tests we detect," a South Korean Defense Ministry official also said. The North Korean launch announcement comes just as South Korea's top nuclear envoy heads to Japan to discuss North Korea with US and Japanese officials on Monday and Tuesday. China's Foreign Minister, Wang Yi, is scheduled to visit South Korea this week as well. The US military's Indo-Pacific Command said it is aware of reports of cruise missile launches from North Korea, and that the US is working with allies and partners. "This activity highlights DPRK's continuing focus on developing its military program and the threats that poses to its neighbors and the international community," the Indo-Pacific Command said in a statement. 'Totally expected' Multiple UN Security Council resolutions have expressed concern about North Korea's ballistic missile program. However, such resolutions have not focused on the development or testing of cruise missiles. Unlike ballistic missiles, cruise missiles are propelled by jet engines. Much like an airplane, they stay closer to the ground, making them harder to detect. Most cruise missiles are not designed to carry nuclear warheads, either. However, this missile test was the most significant from North Korea since US President Joe Biden took office in January. According to KCNA, the new missiles traveled for 7,580 seconds along oval and figure-eight flight orbits in the air above the territorial land and waters of North Korea and hit targets 1,500 kilometers (930 miles) away. "This is a system that can reach targets throughout Japan," said Jeffrey Lewis, a professor at the Middlebury Institute of International Studies who specializes in open-source intelligence, "whereas the system we saw in March was a shorter range system just to target South Korea." Lewis was referencing a series of North Korean missile tests earlier this year where Pyongyang test-fired a missile that flew 450 kilometers. "It's a technical achievement for them," Lewis told CNN, but added that the test was "totally expected." "It was very clear they were going to test something, and this was clearly on the list," he said. North Korea's earlier test launches this year were widely seen as attempts to send a message to the Biden administration about the isolated country's importance in the region. North Korea has shown off new and untested weaponry in its military parades over the last few months. The US anticipated that some of this would eventually be tested in a show of strength by North Korea and its leader, Kim Jong Un. The North Korean leader's sister, Kim Yo Jong, had warned last month that the country would respond to joint military exercises between the US and South Korea, which would "face a more serious security threat" for ignoring repeated warnings against the drills. Late last month, the US also approved the sale of $258 million of precision guided munitions and related equipment to South Korea. And South Korean media reported last week that the South Korean Navy tested-fired a ballistic missile from a submarine for the first time. The country's Defense Ministry declined to confirm or deny those reports. The-CNN-Wire & 2021 Cable News Network, Inc., a WarnerMedia Company. All rights reserved. Opponents of honoring the vestiges of slavery fought for years to change the face, or faces, of Monument Avenue, a promenade in the former Confederate capital memorializing military leaders and a politician who led a rebellion against the United States. Richmond, Virginia's homages to the Confederate president, two generals and a naval officer came down last year following unrest over the police killing of George Floyd. But one man's bronze likeness, that of Robert E. Lee, remained upon Traveller, the horse that the monument's supporters fought to keep him astride. Like Lee at the Appomattox Court House in 1865, they lost the battle and the war. The 12-ton, 21-foot-high statue was removed Wednesday from its four-story plinth on Monument Avenue. While many had battled to vanquish the slave-holding general's sculpture from the public square, there was plenty of opposition, including from former President Donald Trump, who last week praised the service and wartime acumen of the man who had betrayed the United States. The 45th President, no stranger to defeat himself following the 2020 election, has long kept an army of fact-checkers typing away. Yet even by fabulist standards, his statement on the monument and the man it commemorates warrants closer dissection. Here are some of his claims: Many generals consider Lee 'the greatest strategist of them all' Trump is correct that President Abraham Lincoln wanted Lee, then a colonel in the US Army, to help lead the North and he declined, later telling his sister he could not "raise my hand against my birthplace," Virginia (which had seceded the day before Lincoln's offer). It's also true that, in a handful of Civil War battles, Lee earned accolades, But the superlative employed by Trump ignores the storied careers, highlighted by military experts, of Gens. John Pershing, George Patton, William Sherman, David Petraeus and Douglas MacArthur, all of whom defended the United States rather than rebel uprisings. Loyalty to country notwithstanding, Lee's tactics have been highly scrutinized -- most notably his style of leadership on the battlefield and his penchant for unnecessary aggression. Per the former, Lee was quoted in a conversation with Prussian army Capt. Justus Scheibert saying, "I think and work with all my powers to bring my troops to the right place at the right time, then I have done my duty. As soon as I order them into battle, I leave my army in the hands of God." Like other Confederate leaders, he suffered from poor maps and unprepared staff, but he also made his own problems, wrote historian Joseph Glatthaar, who has penned numerous books on the military, including two on Lee. "His most egregious problem was to repeat an error that surfaced in his initial campaign: Lee attempted to coordinate too many independent columns. He overburdened himself and his staff. ... What Lee achieved in boldness of plan and combat aggressiveness he diminished through ineffective command and control," Glatthaar wrote in "Partners in Command: The Relationship Between Leaders in the Civil War." 'Except for Gettysburg, (Lee) would have won the war' Lee's Army of Northern Virginia scored many notable victories -- including when it was outnumbered at the Battles of Second Manassas, Fredericksburg and Chancellorsville -- but he lost almost 30,000 troops in those campaigns, partially owing to his aggressive tactics. Gettysburg, where almost 40% of his troops fell to casualty, was far from his only defeat. He also lost at Malvern Hill before faltering in the war's final days at Five Forks and the Appomattox Court House, where he surrendered. Lee was 'perhaps the greatest unifying force after the war' Trump is correct that Lee was "ardent in his resolve to bring the North and South together through many means of reconciliation," but those efforts were limited to White Americans. Ta-Nehisi Coates and Adam Serwer, writing for The Atlantic, are two of many who have dismantled the mythology and hagiography of a "kindly" Lee who voiced his opposition to human bondage while declining to end his involvement in the institution before the Civil War. Yes, he called chattel slavery a "moral & political evil," but he also wrote, "I think it however a greater evil to the white man than to the black race, & while my feelings are strongly enlisted in behalf of the latter, my sympathies are more strong for the former." He went on to say that Black men and women were better off in bondage in the United States than in their homeland and described the relationship between master and slave as paternalistic, Christian and necessary. "The blacks are immeasurably better off here than in Africa, morally, socially & physically. The painful discipline they are undergoing, is necessary for their instruction as a race, & I hope will prepare & lead them to better things. How long their subjugation may be necessary is known & ordered by a wise Merciful Providence. Their emancipation will sooner result from the mild & melting influence of Christianity, than the storms & tempests of fiery Controversy. This influence though slow, is sure," he wrote in 1856. The patriarch of one of the wealthiest and most famous families in Lee's birthplace of Westmoreland County freed his slaves decades before the war, but this did not move the general to do the same. Upon inheriting his father-in-law George Washington Parke Custis' slaves, Lee was told he could free them immediately if Custis' estate was in good standing, or within five years. Lee chose the latter, and historic documents indicate he was a much crueler taskmaster than were the Custises. Wesley Norris was born on Custis' plantation and told in an abolitionist newspaper of running away with his cousin and sister after learning Lee intended to keep them enslaved for five more years. Upon capture, the trio were returned to Lee, who demanded to know why they'd absconded. Norris said: "We frankly told him that we considered ourselves free; he then told us he would teach us a lesson we never would forget; he then ordered us to the barn, where, in his presence, we were tied firmly to posts by a Mr. Gwin, our overseer, who was ordered by Gen. Lee to strip us to the waist and give us fifty lashes each, excepting my sister, who received but twenty. "We were accordingly stripped to the skin by the overseer, who, however, had sufficient humanity to decline whipping us; accordingly Dick Williams, a county constable, was called in, who gave us the number of lashes ordered. "Gen. Lee, in the meantime, stood by, and frequently enjoined Williams to lay it on well, an injunction which he did not fail to heed; not satisfied with simply lacerating our naked flesh, Gen. Lee then ordered the overseer to thoroughly wash our backs with brine, which was done. After this my cousin and myself were sent to Hanover Court-House jail, my sister being sent to Richmond to an agent to be hired." It's been recognized 'as a beautiful piece of bronze sculpture' Aesthetic aside, public odes to the Confederacy were recognized as an affront to a healing nation by none other than Lee himself, who died 20 years before his statue was erected by those seeking to promote the Civil War's problematic "Lost Cause" narrative. "Lee feared that these reminders of the past would preserve fierce passions for the future," historian Jonathan Horn wrote in a 2016 op-ed. "Such emotions threatened his vision for speedy reconciliation. As he saw it, bridging a divided country justified abridging history in places." Lee wrote to a fellow ex-general in December 1866, "As regards the erection of such a monument as is contemplated; my conviction is, that however grateful it would be to the feelings of the South, the attempt in the present condition of the Country, would have the effect of retarding, instead of accelerating its accomplishment; & of continuing, if not adding to, the difficulties under which the Southern people labour." The year before he died, Lee declined an invitation to a confab of former Union and Confederate officers who had served in the Battle of Gettysburg, which a newspaper reported was, in part, aimed at discussing "enduring memorials of granite." "I could not add anything material to the information existing on the subject," Lee wrote. "I think it wiser, moreover, not to keep open the sores of war but to follow the examples of those nations who endeavored to obliterate the marks of civil strife, to commit to oblivion the feelings engendered." For what it's worth, descendants of Confederate luminaries Lee, Jefferson Davis and Stonewall Jackson -- whose likenesses, too, have been removed from Monument Avenue -- told CNN after the deadly 2017 protests in Charlottesville, Virginia, that they believed such monuments were no longer suited for public display. "We cannot ignore his decision to own slaves, his decision to go to war for the Confederacy, and, ultimately, the fact that he was a white man fighting on the side of white supremacy," Jackson's descendants wrote. "While we are not ashamed of our great great grandfather, we are ashamed to benefit from white supremacy while our black family and friends suffer. We are ashamed of the monument." The-CNN-Wire & 2021 Cable News Network, Inc., a WarnerMedia Company. All rights reserved. Pikeville, KY (41501) Today Thunderstorms early, then mainly cloudy after midnight. Low 64F. Winds light and variable. Chance of rain 80%.. Tonight Thunderstorms early, then mainly cloudy after midnight. Low 64F. Winds light and variable. Chance of rain 80%. Michael Hari, 49, of Clarence, has been locked up for more than two years on federal charges of firebombing a mosque in Minnesota as well as others in the Central District of Illinois linking him to the attempted arson of a doctors office in Champaign. One of Editor & Publishers 10 That Do It Right 2021 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). Change can inspire hope in people, in others it can detrimentally impact their mental health, and, through inducing stress, can ultimately cause their physical health to deteriorate. The underlying factor that causes some people to cope better with change than others often comes some to their different cognitive strategies and their overall ease of adapting to change. Concept of Change. Image Credit: MinskDesign/Shutterstock.com Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, people around the world have faced major changes in their daily lives. Their feeling of health security and job security may have significantly changed for the worse, people have been forced to stop working or work from home, families, and friends have been prevented from seeing each other, important life events such as weddings and even pregnancy have been put on hold, and the way we can spend our leisure time such as going to the gym, the cinema, shopping in-store and engaging in other activities have drastically changed. Overall, the COVID-19 pandemic has added significant levels of uncertainty to our lives through the numerous and continuous changes due to restrictions and responses to the spread of the virus. Adaptation is a skill that is fundamental to allowing a person to adjust to change. It helps a person respond flexibly to new and unexpected situations. Via adaptation, humans can easily pick up new behaviors that allow them to cope with change. Studies have shown that a minority of people adapt better to change. While most people struggle to accept and mold to significant and unexpected changes, particularly negative ones, others will thrive in the adversity. The key difference lies in how those who thrive process and respond to the change. Rather than looking back and evaluating what happened to find meaning, which is a cognitive strategy once believed to be universal among humans, successful adaptors do the opposite, they look forward and consider what they could do now the change has happened. For most people, change makes us look back and ruminate over what happened Evolutionarily speaking, assessing how and why something has happened is a key strategy to preventing the occurrence of future negative outcomes by pre-empting situations that lead up to them. However, this strategy does not allow a person to adapt to change and it puts their focus on the past and doesnt allow them to fully consider how to make optimal behavioral adjustments to facilitate the change. Previously, it was assumed that this strategy of looking back was innate to all humans. Now, research has shown that in the face of change, one-third of people will behave differently, using a strategy that allows them to adapt to change more successfully. In the 1970s, researchers Maddi and Horn began investigating staff who worked at the Ma Bell phone company which was facing an inevitable disruptive breakup as other phone companies stole their market share. The scientists were interested in discovering how people reacted to the huge life change. For years they collected a wealth of data from the employees, by the sixth year the Ma Bell breakup occurred, resulting in roughly half the workforce losing their jobs. The scientists continued to study the entire group, including those who lost their jobs and those who were laid off, for the next six years. They found that most people reacted poorly to the change, whether they kept or lost their jobs. The team recorded increases in illnesses such as cancer, heart attacks, and strokes, as well as a rise in divorces, alcoholism, drug addiction, and gambling. However, a third of the people in both groups reacted differently and successfully turned this change into a personal success. Those in this third who kept their jobs went on to rise through the ranks, and those who lost their jobs became successful in new endeavors. The difference between this third and the majority who suffered from the change was that the adaptive third demonstrated existential courage and looked forwards rather than back. Humans are hardwired to search for answers to change, however, not everyone looks in the same place. My Prescription For Dealing With Change | Dr. Raymond Mis | TEDxProvidence Play Changing our perspective to look forward Researchers at the University of California-Irvine found similar evidence when exploring what sets people apart in terms of recovering from trauma. In studying a group of people who had suffered the loss of a spouse or child, were victims of child abuse or terrorism, or had suffered a natural disaster, the team found that most people instinctively look for an explanation for their suffering by turning to the past. However, a third of trauma victims did not adopt this perspective and looked towards what they could do in the future now what occurred to them had happened. This third was found to be the most well-adjusted following their trauma. Both studies demonstrate how we have an opportunity to thrive in times of disruptive change by consciously changing our focus. Those of us who naturally look to the past for answers may cope better with change if we avoid this cognitive strategy in favor of looking to the future for opportunities this change may present. References: Coping with Stress. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Available at: https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/daily-life-coping/managing-stress-anxiety.html Maddi, S., 2004. Hardiness: An Operationalization of Existential Courage. Journal of Humanistic Psychology, 44(3), pp.279-298. https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0022167804266101 Silver, R. and Updegraff, J., 2013. Searching for and finding meaning following personal and collective traumas. The psychology of meaning., pp.237-255. https://webfiles.uci.edu/rsilver/Silver%20&%20Updegraff%20Searching%20for%20Meaning%202013.pdf Further Reading The National Institutes of Health (NIH) has awarded one-year supplemental grants totaling $1.67 million to five institutions, including Boston University School of Public Health (BUSPH), to explore potential links between COVID-19 vaccination and menstrual changes. Lauren Wise, professor of epidemiology at BUSPH, and a team of researchers at BUSPH and Boston University School of Medicine (MED), received $300,000 to examine the potential impact of COVID-19 vaccines on menstruation among participants in the BUSPH-based Pregnancy Study Online (PRESTO). PRESTO is an NIH-funded ongoing study that enrolls women trying to conceive, and follows them from preconception through six months after delivery. Since the study's inception, women have reported data about their typical menstrual characteristics while not using hormones, and PRESTO questionnaires have been updated to include questions on COVID-19 infection, vaccination, and pandemic-related stressors. The questionnaires are available in English and Spanish. For the study, Wise and colleagues will analyze menstruation data collected during up to six menstrual cycles from bimonthly online questionnaires and from Kindara.com, a menstrual charting app. The researchers will examine the association between COVID vaccination and cycle irregularity, cycle length, intensity of bleed, duration of bleed, intermenstrual spotting/bleeding, and pain associated with menses. Two sets of analyses will be performed: one that compares menstrual factors between vaccinated and unvaccinated participants, and one that compares menstrual factors among vaccinated participants before and after vaccination. Given PRESTO's ongoing prospective data collection throughout the pandemic, recruitment of non-contracepting women from all 50 U.S. states, and prospective collection of menstrual data, the study is uniquely-positioned to analyze data on SARS-CoV-2 vaccination and menstruation and provide essential information to the scientific community and the public on vaccine safety." Lauren Wise, principal investigator, PRESTO Some women have reported experiencing irregular or skipped menstrual periods, bleeding that is heavier than usual, and other menstrual changes after receiving COVID-19 vaccines. Numerous factors-;including COVID-19-related infection and stress, and lifestyle changes-;can cause temporary changes in the menstrual cycle, which is regulated by complex interactions between the body's tissues, cells and hormones. The supplemental grants are funded by NIH's Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development and the NIH Office of Research on Women's Health. Other members of Wise's team in the Department of Epidemiology at BUSPH include research assistant professor, Amelia Wesselink; doctoral student, Sharonda Lovett; senior data analyst, Tanran Wang; postdoctoral associate, Mary Willis; research assistant, Martha Koenig; and professors Kenneth Rothman and Elizabeth Hatch; as well as MED researcher Rebecca Perkins, associate professor of obstetrics & gynecology. COVID-19 vaccines are effective at preventing hospitalizations and emergency department visits caused by the Delta variant, according to data from a national study. That data also indicate that Moderna's vaccine is significantly more effective against Delta than Pfizer and Johnson & Johnson. These real-world data show that vaccines remain highly effective at reducing COVID-19 related hospitalizations and emergency department visits, even in the presence of the new COVID-19 variant. We strongly recommend vaccinations for all who are eligible to reduce serious illness and ease the burden on our healthcare system." Shaun Grannis, M.D., M.S., study author, Regenstrief Institute vice president for data and analytics and professor of medicine at Indiana University School of Medicine The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)'s VISION Network analyzed more than 32,000 medical encounters from nine states during June, July and August 2021, when the Delta variant became the predominant strain. The results showed that unvaccinated individuals with COVID-19 are 5-7 times more likely to need emergency department care or hospitalization, similar to the overall effectiveness prior to the variant. The study in Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report is also the first analysis from the VISION Network to show a marked difference between the effectiveness of the mRNA vaccines (Moderna and Pfizer). In the study's time period: Moderna was 95 percent effective at preventing hospitalizations among adults ages 18 and older. Pfizer was 80 percent effective at preventing hospitalizations among adults ages 18 and older. Johnson & Johnson was 60 percent effective at preventing hospitalizations among adults ages 18 and older. The study also found that vaccine effectiveness is lower for people 75 years and older, which has not been shown in previous research. This could be due to a range of factors, including the increased time since vaccination. When it came to preventing emergency department and urgent care visits, analysis showed that: Moderna was 92 percent effective. Pfizer was 77 percent effective. Johnson & Johnson was 65 percent effective. Scientists say these findings need further monitoring and evaluation. "Despite the differences in effectiveness, vaccines continue to offer much more protection than not getting one at all," said Dr. Grannis. "While breakthrough cases do happen, data shows the symptoms are less severe. The vast majority of COVID hospitalizations and deaths continue to be among unvaccinated individuals. COVID-19 vaccines are powerful tools for combating the pandemic." The VISION network, funded by the CDC, includes seven organizations that contribute and analyze data from U.S. healthcare systems to learn more about the COVID-19 vaccine effectiveness. In addition to Regenstrief Institute, other members are Columbia University Irving Medical Center, HealthPartners, Intermountain Healthcare, Kaiser Permanente Northern California, Kaiser Permanente Northwest and University of Colorado. Linking the cost of prescription drugs in the United States to the prices paid in other high-income nations could have reduced American spending for the drugs by at least half in 2020, according to a new RAND Corporation study. Modeling a proposal that would cap U.S. prices at 120% of what is paid in six other nations, researchers found that such a move would have cut U.S. spending on insulins and 50 top brand-name drugs by 52% during 2020 a savings of $83.5 billion. These savings are on top of already-lower U.S. "net" prices after rebates negotiated between drug companies and insurers. The findings are published online by the Journal of the American Medical Association. International reference pricing could yield considerable savings in the U.S. While our analysis does not consider all issues that might be involved in adopting reference pricing, it does demonstrate the magnitude of the savings that might be achieved." Andrew Mulcahy, lead author of the study and senior health policy researcher at RAND High prescription drug prices have important implications for the American health care system, driving up overall costs, burdening some patients with high co-pays and causing many people to forgo needed medications. The Elijah E. Cummings Lower Drug Costs Now Act (H.R. 3) would allow the U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services to negotiate prices with drug manufacturers on behalf of Medicare and private insurers, up to a cap of 120% of prices in six high-income countries (Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Japan and the U.K.). The bill was first introduced in Congress in 2019. Such negotiations would initially apply to all insulins and at least 25 single-source, brand-name drugs selected by the Secretary. Prices for brand-name drugs are higher in the U.S. compared to other high-income countries, most of which regulate drug prices. However, inconsistent availability of data on U.S. net prices (the prices insurers pay after rebates and other discounts) complicates international comparisons of brand-name drug prices. RAND researchers compared what 2020 spending would have been if the U.S. bought insulins and 50 top single-source, brand-name drugs at U.S. manufacturer prices, U.S. net prices after rebates, and at H.R. 3 international ceiling prices. The authors combined IQVIA MIDAS data on drug volumes and prices in other countries with SSR Health data on U.S. net sales. Savings from international reference pricing varied across different groups of drugs. Spending at international rather than U.S. net prices would have reduced spending by 53.7% for oncology drugs, where discounts from rebates in the U.S. are relatively small. For insulins, where U.S. rebates are substantial, spending at international prices would have still lowered spending by 44.4%. Researchers say that while international reference pricing would yield considerable savings for U.S. consumers, other important considerations around the design and implementation of drug price regulation must be considered as a part of any such program. Those issues include incentives for research and development, industry launch and pricing strategies, and demand responses to lower prices. Patients coping with lung cancer and treated in one hospital in Mexico reported high levels of anxiety and saw their treatment delayed or due to the COVID-19 pandemic, according to a study presented today at the IASLC World Conference on Lung Cancer. There is limited evidence in Latin America about the overall detrimental effects of depression, anxiety and distress due to the COVID-19 pandemic, according to Dr. Oscar Arrieta, from Instituto Nacional de Cancerologia, Mexico City, Mexico. Dr. Arrieta and his colleagues sought to determine the prevalence and impact of psychological disorders due to the COVID-19 pandemic. To determine the impact of COVID-19 on the mental health of patients with lung cancer, psychiatrists performed a cross-sectional mental health evaluation in a single center between March 1, 2020, to February 28, 2021. Dr. Arrieta and his colleague enrolled 548 patients, average age 61.5. Most patients had been diagnosed with non-small cell lung cancer (86.9%) and 80% had metastatic disease. Patients were assessed using the DASS-21 screening tool, a 21-question survey divided into three sections-;depression, anxiety, and distress. The mean DASS-21 score was 10.45 with women reporting higher levels (11.41 vs 9.08) than men. Almost a third of the patients reported they experienced anxiety during the pandemic, followed by depression and distress in equal proportions (18 %). Nearly a quarter of patients (23.9 %) reported a change in treatment and 78.6% said those changes were due to reasons pertaining to the pandemic. Delays ( 7 days) were the most frequent treatment change in 41.9%, followed by treatment suspension at 37.4%. After we adjusted for age and gender, we found that patients with lung cancer and depression were 4.5 times (95% CI 1.53 to 13.23, p=0.006) more likely to experience delays in their lung cancer treatment." Dr. Oscar Arrieta, Instituto Nacional de Cancerologia, Mexico City, Mexico Similarly, patients with stress had 3.18 higher odds of experiencing delays (95% CI 1.2 to 10.06, p= 0.006). Anxiety was not associated with delays in care. Dr. Arrieta also found that patients who reported no changes or delays in treatment had a more prolonged progression-free survival and overall survival [HR 0.21, p<0.001] and [HR 0.28, p<0.001]. "There is enough evidence to suggest that depression among patients with thoracic neoplasms is associated with treatment delays and changes in primary treatment, especially delays due to pandemic, were associated with lower survival rates than those without changes," Dr. Arrieta reported. Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) is a novel RNA coronavirus that is highly infectious and causes respiratory disease. It was first reported in late 2019 in Wuhan, China, and was soon transmitted across the world, infecting millions of people. In March 2020, the World Health Organization declared the coronavirus disease to be a pandemic, which is known as COVID-19, and has claimed more than 4.6 million lives worldwide to date. COVID-19 has common pneumonia-like symptoms such as fever, cough, fatigue, a sore throat, and respiratory problems. Some people are even asymptomatically infected, even though they can transmit the infection to others. Diamond Princess Cruise Ship and COVID-19 Infection The Diamond Princess Cruise ship left Yokohama (Japan) on 20 January 2020, for a fourteen-day tour with shore excursions in Japan, Hong Kong, Vietnam, and Taiwan. Unfortunately, one of the passengers who complained of mild dry cough was later confirmed to be SARS-CoV-2 positive. In due course, 19% of the passengers were infected with the virus, and thirteen people died. Japanese officials implemented fourteen days ship-based quarantine, which required all passengers to remain in their cabins, apart from a brief supervised outdoor exercise for their wellbeing. Among the total of 3,711 passengers and crew on board, 6% were Australian citizens. After fourteen days of quarantine, the Australian Government repatriated 156 asymptomatic Australians, four crew members, and six foreign partners. These people were again subjected to another fourteen days of quarantine at Howard Springs, Darwin. Further, in-country medical health liaison assistance was provided to the 46 SARS-CoV-2 positive Australians who had to remain in Japanese hospitals along with their SARS-CoV-2 negative relatives (21 candidates). The outbreak in the Diamond Princess helped scientists understand the transmission dynamics, changes in the reproductive factor of SARS-CoV-2 in various stages of quarantine, main disease symptoms, and the role of asymptomatic infection. Retrospective Cohort Study Although many descriptive analyses and case series of the Diamond Princess outbreak have been performed, there is a lack of research regarding the epidemiological studies and assessment of clinical characteristics among the SARS-CoV-2 positive Australian passengers of the Diamond Princess cruise. This research gap was addressed recently and is now published in the journal Plos One. In this study, researchers performed a retrospective cohort study including all the Australian passengers who boarded the Diamond Princess on 20 January 2020. This study provided epidemic curves, symptoms, demographics, clinical and radiological signs, risk factors and predicted the time required to clear SARS-CoV-2 infection. Main Findings A quarter of the Australian passengers of the Diamond Princess Cruise tested positive for SARS-CoV-2, among which 29% of passengers persistently remained asymptomatic. Among the symptomatic cases, 17% of the passengers showed signs and symptoms before the ship implemented quarantine. Within this quarantine period, another two-thirds of the passengers, who previously did not show any COVID-19 symptoms, developed signs of infection. Researchers found that the passengers who were closely in contact with others (e.g., cabin mates, before the commencement of the ship-based quarantine, later tested SARS-CoV-2 positive. This indicates a higher possibility of SARS-CoV-2 acquisition for individuals who were in close contact with SARS-CoV-2 positive people, compared to those passengers who remain isolated or were not much exposed to other individuals. The epidemic curve revealed that SARS-CoV-2 infections were occurring amongst Australians before ship-based quarantine commenced. In the studied cohort, COVID-19 disease peaked around 35 days after the quarantine was initiated. This result is in line with a previous report that stated that implementation of the movement restrictions on 5 February lowered the rate of infection among the passengers who were not exposed to an infected individual. Thereby, passenger-to-passenger transmission was reduced with the implementation of ship-based quarantine. In regards to the clearance of the infection, researchers calculated the median time to the first of two consecutive negative PCR-based SARS-CoV-2 assays to be 13 days for asymptomatic cases and 19 days for symptomatic cases. Results of viral culture indicated that the SARS-CoV-2 virus did not shed beyond 8 days from the onset of the symptom. Conclusion The authors of this study reported that the ship-based quarantine had effectively lowered the transmission of the SARS-CoV-2 virus among Australian passengers. However, the possibility of infection was exceptionally higher among individuals who shared cabins or were exposed to a SARS-CoV-2 positive individual. Researchers suggested that managing an outbreak in a ship is challenging. There is a huge need for proper guidelines for the crew to handle and deliver food to passengers. Additionally, there is a need for access to onshore quarantine and isolation facilities and effective health policies. In the future, non-pharmaceutical interventions (e.g., use of facemasks) and vaccination of travelers would aid the resumption of cruises. Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) was first identified in Australia in January 2020, and between then and February 2021, there had been only 28,905 confirmed cases of COVID-19, with 909 deaths. Compared with other similarly wealthy and populated countries such as the UK, Italy, and the USA, Australia had a much lower rate of community transmission and case fatality. In a paper recently published in the International Journal of Health Planning and Management, Australia's response to the COVID-19 pandemic is described, identifying the factors that contributed most to the countries success. Study: The COVID-19 pandemic in Australia: Public health responses, opportunities and challenges. Image Credit: Dave Hewison Photography/ Shutterstock Evidence-based policies Following the introduction of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), cases remained low until February 2020, at which point the "first-wave" began in Australia, peaking on March 18th with 460 cases being reported. The number of daily reported cases around the country then declined steadily to minimal levels by late April before the second larger wave began in late June, this time lasting around four months before reported cases reduced to more manageable levels. The authors state that the Australian government set clear goals in the early stages of the pandemic, providing guidelines to the general population and healthcare systems to minimize infections and deaths. A committee was set up to allow better communication between state and federal authorities, ensuring that data was shared and evidence-based policies could be developed on both a local and national level. Travel bans and restrictions played a large role in Australian policy against COVID-19, with international travel from China, Iran, South Korea, and Italy being blocked consecutively between February-March. International travelers from other countries were also required to self-quarantine for two weeks from this time onwards. By March 13th, the decision was made to block all incoming travel from non-residents of the country. This policy was based on studies indicating that such restrictions could reduce COVID-19 cases and deaths by 85%. In combination with the strictly enforced quarantine procedure for any remaining incoming travelers, this seems to have been effective at limiting the entry of SARS-CoV-2. Travel restrictions between states were also put in place on an as-needed basis, and widespread COVID-19 contact testing was undertaken to track the source of any local cases. The strategies utilized for dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic were largely adapted from Australia's existing influenza outbreak action plans. The Australian government put out an emergency response plan before the World Health Organization declared the pandemic. Information relating to the pandemic was distributed to the public and relevant organizations on a daily and weekly basis to differing levels of detail, allowing policies to be enacted or adjusted promptly. Managing risk Going forward, the Australian government has set out a framework for removing COVID-related restrictions that aim to limit the spread of SARS-CoV-2 by implementing remote-working and education policies, funding local clinics that can identify COVID-19 early, and applying extensive protections for the most vulnerable. However, unlike many other diseases, SARS-CoV-2 has been seen to be transmissible in the pre-symptomatic stages and when presenting as asymptomatic, making containment based on self-reporting difficult to achieve. While regular testing will remain for those in healthcare positions or similar, the application of wide-scale testing in addition to other non-pharmaceutical interventions for the remainder of the population must be balanced against social and economic pressures. Like many other island nations, Australia has been better able to control entry across its borders and thus bore fewer early outbreaks from incoming travelers. However, this policy is becoming an increasing economic threat to the country, given the many migrant construction workers usually employed there. The authors highlight the situation in Singapore, where COVID-19 cases and deaths were previously dramatically lower than other similar nations since the beginning of the pandemic but recently gained a sudden massive spike in infections, and warn of the dangers of overenthusiastic relaxation of social distancing measures and SARS-CoV-2 surveillance. While published in early September, this paper was submitted in August, shortly after the beginning of a third COVID-19 wave in Australia that is set to outdo those seen previously, with 1,727 cases reported on September 9th, according to Our World in Data. It remains to be seen how Australia's policies will change in light of the currently intensifying third wave. Still, the past success of Australia in containing SARS-CoV-2 may aid in limiting this outbreak if conditions can be emulated. Should Gavin Newsom survive the Republican-driven attempt to oust him from office, the Democratic governor will face the prospect of paying back supporters who coalesced behind him. And the leaders of California's single-payer movement will want their due. Publicly, union leaders say they're standing beside Newsom because he has displayed political courage during the covid-19 pandemic by taking actions such as imposing the nation's first statewide stay-at-home order. But behind the scenes, they are aggressively pressuring him to follow through on his 2018 campaign pledge to establish a government-run, single-payer health care system. "I expect him to lead on California accomplishing single-payer and being an example for the rest of the country," said Sal Rosselli, president of the National Union of Healthcare Workers, which is urging Newsom to get federal permission to fund such a system. Another union, the California Nurses Association, is pushing Newsom to back state legislation early next year to do away with private health insurance and create a single-payer system. But "first, everyone needs to get out and vote no on this recall," said Stephanie Roberson, the union's lead lobbyist. "This is about life or death for us. It's not only about single-payer. It's about infection control. It's about Democratic and working-class values," she said. "We lose if Republicans take over." Together, the unions have made hundreds of thousands of dollars in political contributions, funded anti-recall ads and phone-banked to defend Newsom. The latest polling indicates Newsom will survive Tuesday's recall election, which has become a battle between Democratic ideals and Republican angst over government coronavirus mandates. The Democratic Party closed ranks around the governor early and kept well-known Democratic contenders off the ballot, leaving liberal voters with little choice other than Newsom. "This is a crucial moment for Newsom, and for his supporters who are lining up behind him," said Mark Peterson, a professor of public policy, political science and law at UCLA who specializes in the politics of health care. "They're helping him stay in office, but that comes with an expectation for some action." But it's not clear that Newsom who will face competing demands to pay back other supporters pushing for stronger action on homelessness, climate change and public safety could deliver such a massive shift. Reorganizing the health system under a single-payer financing model would be tremendously expensive around $400 billion a year and difficult to achieve politically, largely because it would require tax increases. The concept already faces fierce opposition from some of Newsom's strongest supporters, including insurer Blue Shield of California and the California Medical Association, which represents doctors. No state has a single-payer system. Vermont tried to implement one, but its former governor, a Democrat, abandoned his plan in 2014 partly because of opposition to tax increases. California would not only need to raise taxes, but would also likely have to seek voter approval to change the state constitution, and get permission from the federal government to use money allocated for Medicare and Medicaid to help fund the new system. The last big push for single-payer in California ended in 2017 because it did not adequately address financing and other challenges. Leading up to the 2018 gubernatorial election, Newsom campaigned on single-payer health care, telling supporters "you have my firm and absolute commitment as your next governor that I will lead the effort to get it done," and "single-payer is the way to go." In office, though, Newsom has distanced himself from that promise as he has expanded the existing health system, which relies on a mix of public and private insurance company payers. For instance, he and Democratic lawmakers imposed a health insurance mandate on Californians and expanded public coverage for low-income people, both of which enrich health insurers. Newsom has, however, convened a commission to study single-payer and in late May wrote to President Joe Biden, asking him to work with Congress to pass legislation giving states freedom and financing to establish single-payer systems. "California's spirit of innovation is stifled by federal limits," Newsom wrote. Newsom's recall campaign, asked about his stance on single-payer, referred questions to his administration. The governor's office said in prepared comments that Newsom remains committed to the idea. "Governor Newsom has consistently said that single-payer health care is where we need to be," spokesperson Alex Stack wrote. "It's just a question of how we get there." Stack also highlighted a new initiative that will build up the state's public health insurance program, Medi-Cal, saying it "paves a path toward a single-payer principled system." Activists say Newsom has let them down on single-payer but are standing behind him because he represents their best shot at obtaining it. However, some say they're not willing to wait long. If Newsom doesn't embrace single-payer soon, liberal activists say, they will look for a Democratic alternative when he comes up for reelection next year. "Newsom is an establishment candidate, and we as Democrats aren't shy about ripping the endorsement out from under someone who doesnt share our values," said Brandon Harami, Bay Area vice chair of the state Democratic Party's Progressive Caucus, who opposes the recall. "Newsom has been completely silent on single-payer. A lot of us are really gunning to see some action on his part." State Assembly member Ash Kalra (D-San Jose), who also opposes the recall, will reintroduce his single-payer bill, AB 1400, in January after he paused it earlier this year to work on a financing plan. Its chief sponsor is the California Nurses Association. Using lessons learned from the failed 2017 attempt to pass single-payer legislation, the nurses union is deploying activists to pressure state and local lawmakers into supporting the bill. Resolutions have been approved or are pending in multiple cities. "This is an opportunity for California to lead the way on health care," Los Angeles City Council member Mike Bonin said before an 11-0 vote backing Kalra's single-payer bill in late August. Kalra argued that support from Los Angeles shows his bill is gaining momentum. He is also preparing a new strategy to take on doctors, hospitals, health insurers and other health industry players that oppose single-payer: highlighting their profits. "They are the No. 1 obstacle to this passing," Kalra said. "They're going to do whatever they can to discredit me and this movement, but I'm going to turn the mirror around on them and ask why we should continue to pay for wild profits." An industry coalition called Californians Against the Costly Disruption of Our Health Care was instrumental in killing the 2017 single-payer bill and is already lobbying against Kalra's measure. The group again argues that single-payer would push people off Medicare and private employer plans and result in less choice in health insurance. Single-payer would "force these millions of Californians who like their health care into a single new, untested government program with no guarantee they could keep their doctor," coalition spokesperson Ned Wigglesworth said in a statement. Bob Ross, president and CEO of the California Endowment, a nonprofit that works to expand health care access, is on Newsom's single-payer commission. He said it will work through "tension" in the coming months before issuing a recommendation to the governor on the feasibility of single-payer. "We have a camp of single-payer zealots who want the bold stroke of getting to single-payer tomorrow, and the other approach that I call bold incrementalism," Ross said. "I'm not ruling out any bold stroke on single-payer; I would just want to know how we get it done." This story was produced by KHN, which publishes California Healthline, an editorially independent service of the California Health Care Foundation. Despite having numerous negative health consequences, the epidemiological relationship between cigarette smoking and severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection is controversial. Now, a new study published on the bioRxiv* preprint server investigates this relationship further and suggests that current smoking is not associated with a higher incidence of SARS-CoV-2 infection. Background Comorbidities, such as diabetes, hypertension, and obesity, are associated with severe COVID-19. Separately, there is ample evidence of smoking leading to adverse health conditions like cancer, cardiovascular diseases, and chronic respiratory illness. During the ongoing pandemic, there has been a keen interest in trying to understand the link between cigarette smoking and the contraction of coronavirus disease 19 (COVID-19). Smoking can cause chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), which is associated with severe clinical outcomes in COVID-19 patients. Previous studies have linked COPD to increased expression of angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2) the main receptor of SARS-CoV-2. A high presence of ACE2 in conducting pathways could increase susceptibility to SARS-CoV-2 infection. However, some studies showed that the presence of ACE2 in the pulmonary vasculature could be beneficial during the advanced stages of the disease. A New Study In the current study, scientists explored the above-mentioned link between ACE2 and COVID-19 disease. They conducted an in vitro study using differentiated primary human bronchial airway epithelial cells (HBECs) at the air-liquid interface (ALI). These and similar nasal cells are present at the entry point of SARS-CoV-2. It was, therefore, rational to expose these in vitro human airways to SARS-CoV-2 in the presence and absence of cigarette smoke. This helped scientists understand the role played by smoking in the early stage of infection. Main Findings Quantitative PCR, immunofluorescence, and western blotting approaches were used to demonstrate that cigarette smoke-induced ACE2 expression in HBECs. This robust methodology delivered results consistent with molecular epidemiological data linking ACE2 expression and smoking. Interestingly, in the experiments conducted, increased expression of ACE2 (as a result of the cigarette smoke extract (CSE)) did not substantially alter the quantity of cells infected, in percentage terms. Once again, this is consistent with prior knowledge that smoking is not a major risk factor with respect to infection. Scientists have deliberated on the potential reasons why CSE had a muted impact on HBECs, despite the elevation of ACE2. One explanation is that the CSE upregulated the truncated isoform (dACE2), which lacks the SARS-CoV-2 binding domain. Researchers showed that CSE mainly induced the expression of the full-length isoform. However, the cells retained the potential to upregulate dACE2 in response to IFN. It must be noted that the above results differed from recently published data that failed to detect increased ACE2 in response to cigarette smoke. However, this discrepancy could be due to the differences in the smoking protocols used. Modulating ACE2 Expression and COVID-19 Scientists have been investigating the possibility of modulating ACE2 expression to influence the course of the pandemic. In this regard, it might be useful to distinguish between conducting and distal airways, which have different characteristics. A reduction in ACE2 in the conducting airway (where SARS-CoV-2 infects first) may hamper the protective impact of ACE2 in the distal airway. In the current study, scientists showed that elevated full-length isoform (flACE2) has no impact on cellular infection. Researchers also showed that oltipraz, an NFR2 agonist already in Phase 3 clinical trials, increased ACE2 in HBECs, contrary to expectations. Nicotine, a component of cigarette smoke, is also being actively investigated with respect to its ability to protect against COVID-19. The data obtained in the current study showed that nicotine did not substantially alter ACE2 or CHRNA7 mRNA expression in HBECs, 48 hours after treatment. Conclusion The study has a few limitations. One limitation is that it focussed on the conducting airways only. Therefore, the results are valid for the earlier stages of infection rather than the later stages when most people require critical care and hospitalization. Further, ALI epithelial cultures are not able to model the systemic impacts of smoking. The ALI differentiated models have significant advantages, but they likely did not detect subtle changes in the susceptibility to infection. It is known that individuals with chronic respiratory and/or cardiovascular disease are more vulnerable to severe COVID-19 infection. However, smokers are just as susceptible to SARS-CoV-2 as the general public. This study showed that cigarette smoke brought about an increase in full-length ACE2 but not an increased vulnerability to infection. Researchers also showed that an increase in ACE2 receptor expression, brought about by therapeutics, is unlikely to bring about an increase in cellular infection. *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. Crisis communications during a natural or man-made disaster often focus on sharing local information in a single geographic area. But with the COVID-19 pandemic simultaneously hitting locations across the globe, a new form of crisis information exchange has emerged between geographically dispersed areas to facilitate local crisis responses. Researchers from the Penn State College of Information Sciences and Technology studied this phenomenon by observing a Taiwanese COVID-19 online community to understand how Taiwanese migrants living in different parts of the world used the central online hub to gain knowledge of the pandemic from other users living in Asia, rather than relying on their local information sources. The researchers' findings could inform future crisis informatics design changes to help digital technologies better support this type of cross-local communication and to improve crisis response. Migrants have a unique challenge. Sometimes the conversation or channel to share information where they're currently living is not useful because the migrants might not be familiar with local authorities. Maybe they speak a different language, or have different health beliefs or cultural practices. How can we make local policy announcements to be more culturally dependent?" Chun-Hua Tsai, Assistant Research Professor, College of IST Tsai shared the example of how local culture related to mask wearing led to mixed messages at the start of the pandemic. Many Taiwanese migrants who were accustomed to wearing masks as a common practice in Asia were being told in western countries that it wasn't necessary to curb the pandemic. "This kind of conflict creates a lot of doubt and many kinds of misinformation, miscommunication and debate," said Tsai. "Migrants were looking for the best way to reduce their risk of contracting the coronavirus. If their local authorities don't recommend something that they feel is reasonable, they may seek information and assurance from authorities in their home country." To find this information, the Taiwanese migrants living in North America and Europe turned to the online community, where they compared information from local public awareness campaigns with what residents of their home country were being told and experiencing. They sought advice on everything from mask policies and international travel to symptoms and risk assessment. "To understand the emergent ways the online community helped Taiwanese migrants in an unprecedented crisis situation, we decided to employ a bottom-up, inductive approach," said Yubo Kou, assistant professor of information sciences and technology. "In other words, we did not assume a predefined conceptual framework to demarcate and categorize our findings when approaching the data." In the qualitative study, the researchers compiled a dataset from the COVID-19 support group of 956 posts and more than 52,000 associated comments. They analyzed and coded each thread to create a thematic scheme, which resulted in identifying four primary types of cross-local communication: situational updates, which included sharing and comparing local public awareness campaigns and policies; risk communication, which included sharing and comparing local information regarding preventative measures; medical consultation, which included seeking and sharing medical advice and care information; and assistance coordination, which included seeking and providing medical care support and supplies. "The migrant community provided a lens to have a unique perspective in seeing this kind of global scale pandemic," said Tsai. From their observations, the researchers propose three design implications for crisis informatics: updating social media platforms to eliminate language and cultural barriers to coordinate users from different regions and backgrounds; improving current public official response management systems to acknowledge the needs and backgrounds of marginalized groups and incorporating them in local information sharing and policy making; and improving crisis communication systems to respond to rapidly-evolving situations over an extended period of time. "The study paints a nuanced picture of migrants' experiences in a different culture," Kou said. "On the one hand, they face heightened challenges in areas like access to local healthcare resources and mutual respect for different health values and practices. On the other hand, they enjoy the benefits of being able to employ a comparative lens to engage with local healthcare measures and policies." Tsai, a Taiwanese migrant himself, hopes that the research could help to minimize political and social justice issues that have arisen from the pandemic -; especially those that target Asians. "Instead of fighting each other, I really want to see if there's a way we can share more correct information," he said. "If we can better clarify uncertainty and ambiguity of information during the pandemic, maybe there won't be as much conflict between different racial or cultural communities." The research will be published in the proceedings of the 24th ACM Conference on Computer-Supported Cooperative Work and Social Computing, to be held virtually Oct. 23-27. Other members of the research team include Xinning Gui, assistant professor; and Jack Carroll, distinguished professor of information sciences and technology. Queenslanders could have skin cancer diagnosed earlier using world-first 3D scanning technology with the launch of the Australian Cancer Research Foundation Australian Centre of Excellence in Melanoma Imaging and Diagnosis. University of Queensland Dermatologist Professor H. Peter Soyer said the technology enabled researchers to track moles and skin spots over time using full body mapping, making it a game-changer for melanoma detection. This technology is revolutionizing early melanoma detection using 3D state-of-the-art body imaging systems that take an image in milliseconds. The telemedicine network allows dermatologists and medical professionals to detect skin cancers remotely, even from the other side of the country. For the first time, medical researchers can access a national database of up to 100,000 patient images taken by 3D full body imaging systems located in Queensland, NSW and Victoria, as part of the world's largest melanoma imaging trial, which aims to develop more efficient and effective screening for the early detection of skin cancer. Using algorithms created by artificial intelligence, the 3D imaging systems are able to analyze the images and produce a full body skin spot map, which transforms the way we will monitor patients in the future." Professor H. Peter Soyer, Dermatologist, University of Queensland Australia has the highest rates of melanoma in the world with an average 28,000 Australians diagnosed with the disease every year. ACRF chief executive officer Kerry Strydom said the Australian Cancer Research Foundation backed the best in research and cutting-edge technology to drive innovation and help create the new Centre. "Melanoma is a deadly problem that needs disruptive solutions, and ACRF is proud to be to be involved in delivering revolutionary research through this pioneering program," Mr Strydom said. The project brings together three leading Australian universities in skin research, UQ, The University of Sydney and Melbourne's Monash University, to form the interconnected Centre of Excellence in Diagnostic Imaging of Early Melanoma. Queenslanders can sign up here to be part of the world's largest melanoma imaging trial using the 3D full body imaging system located at Brisbane's Princess Alexandra Hospital. The 3D technology is expected to be rolled out to five other regions across Queensland. Did you know Governor Holcomb issued a proclamation declaring Sept. 13 17 as Small Business Week in Indiana? To celebrate we visited Schimpff's Confectionery, which has been in business for 130 years. Full story at the 2:45 mark. (Newser) After a number of resignations among its maternity staff who quit over a COVID-19 vaccine mandate, New York's Lewis County General Hospital is putting a pause on delivering babies. The state requires employees to be vaccinated against COVID, and six maternity staffers quit last week over the mandate, with another seven unvaccinated members of the department thought to be considering the same move, the Watertown Daily Times reports. The exodus made an existing staff shortage at the hospital even worse, NBC New York reports. So far, 30 staffers in total have quit over the mandate. story continues below "The number of resignations received leaves us no choice but to pause delivering babies at Lewis County General Hospital" after Sept. 24, the CEO said at a press conference. "It is my hope that the (state) Department of Health will work with us in pausing the service rather than closing the maternity department." Another five departments are in similar danger of being paused due to unvaccinated employees who may not comply with the mandate by the Sept. 27 deadline. COVID infections are also increasing among staff at the hospital, with five staff members quarantined and five in isolation; Lewis County had "the highest seven-day and 14-day positivity rates in the state of New York over the past three days," the health system's chief medical officer said last week. (Read more vaccine mandate stories.) (Newser) North Korea says it successfully test fired newly developed long-range cruise missiles over the weekend, its first known testing activity in months, underscoring how it continues to expand its military capabilities amid a stalemate in nuclear negotiations with the United States. The Korean Central News Agency said Monday the cruise missiles, which had been under development for two years, demonstrated an ability to hit targets 932 miles away during flight tests on Saturday and Sunday, the AP reports. The North hailed its new missiles as a strategic weapon of great significance that meets leader Kim Jong Uns call to strengthen the countrys military might, implying that they were being developed with an intent to arm them with nuclear warheads. North Korean state media published photos of a projectile being fired from a launcher truck and an apparent missile with wings and tail fins traveling in the air. story continues below South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff said the military was analyzing the North Korean launches based on US and South Korean intelligence. The US Indo-Pacific Command said it was monitoring the situation with allies and that the North Korean activity reflects a continuing focus on developing its military program and the threats that poses to its neighbors and the international community. Japanese Chief Cabinet Secretary Katsunobu Kato said North Korean missiles of such range would pose a serious threat to the peace and safety of Japan and its surrounding areas," and that the country is "extremely concerned." KCNA said the missiles tested over the weekend traveled for 126 minutes along an oval and pattern-8 flight orbits above North Korean land and waters before hitting their targets. The test launches showed that the technical indices such as the thrust power of the newly developed turbine-blast engine, the missiles navigation control and the end guided hit accuracy by the combined guided mode met the requirements of designs. In all, the efficiency and practicality of the weapon system operation was confirmed to be excellent, it said. It appeared that Kim wasnt in attendance to observe the tests. KCNA said Kims top military official, Pak Jong Chon, observed the test-firings and called for the countrys defense scientists to go all out to increase the Norths military capabilities. (Read more North Korea stories.) (Newser) A young boy whose parents were killed in a cable car crash in Italy earlier this year is now at the center of a bitter custody fight involving relatives in two countries. Eitan Biran, 6, was the sole survivor in the May accident that killed 14 people, including not only his parents but a younger brother. His family had lived in Italy before the accident, and afterward authorities granted custody of Eitan to his paternal aunt in that country, Aya Biran-Nirko, reports the Guardian. Over the weekend, authorities say Eitan's maternal grandfather smuggled him out of Italy, into Switzerland, and then into Israel on a private plane, reports the BBC. The boy's relatives on his father's side in Italy call it an abduction, but those on his mother's side in Israel see it differently. story continues below We did not kidnap Eitan and we will not use that word. We brought Eitan back home," said maternal aunt Gali Peleg, who had previously filed paperwork to adopt the boy. "We had to do it after we received no information on his health or mental condition. The dispute is now officially an international incident, and the Times of Israel reports that Israel will likely return the child to Italy. A government agency assessed the incident and concluded on Sunday that what Eitan's maternal grandfather did constitutes a kidnapping. Specifically, the Foreign and Justice Ministries said the action violated the Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction, which requires Israel to return the boy as soon as possible. (Authorities arrested three people accused of negligence in the cable car crash.) (Newser) A California man is presumed dead after he apparently tried to jump across one of the West Coast's most "terrifying and majestic" natural wonders. Per an Oregon State Police statement, state troopers and emergency personnel responded to calls Thursday afternoon regarding a person who'd fallen into the ocean. An initial probe uncovered that 67-year-old Steve Allen of Walnut Creek had tried to leap across Devils Churn, a narrow, perilous rock chasm on the Pacific Coast filled with churning waves and "extremely dangerous riptides," per NBC News. story continues below Yachats News reports that Allen was with his wife, Linda, when he attempted to jump a 3- to 4-foot-wide gap from the south side of the inlet to the north side around 2pm, right before high tide. "It looks like you can jump across, but the other side is steep and slick," says witness Andy Nelson, who was visiting the area that day with his college-age son. "He just missed his footing and fell back into the water." Nelson, his son, and about a half-dozen other bystanders crafted a DIY rescue line out of a dog leash, belts, and shirts and lowered it into the chasm. Allen was able to grab onto itall while his would-be rescuers formed a human chain to keep themselves from falling inthen onto a life ring that a park ranger threw in. But Nelson says Allen had what appeared to be a "pretty big" head injury and wasn't able to keep his grip. "It was cold ... he was struggling," Nelson says, noting that Allen had been in the water for about a half-hour at that point. "And then it became hard for him to hold on. Then he let go. It was too late." When rescue agencies last spotted Allen floating in the water, he appeared "unresponsive," per the OSP release. Nelson notes to Yachats News that Allen's attempted crossing wasn't some kind of stunt or other form of bravado, but simply "an innocent mistake." The agencies trying to find Allen, including the police, local fire departments, and the US Coast Guard, called off the search around 6:40pm and declared Allen as presumed dead, per the OSP release. (Read more Oregon stories.) (Newser) A county employee in New York state is accused of stealing from the job, but with an oh-so-modern twist. Authorities in Suffolk County say IT supervisor Christopher Naples mined cryptocurrency on the job and ran up at least $6,000 in electric bills in the process, reports the New York Times. Mining cryptocurrencytypically Bitcoinrequires heavy lifting from computers tasked with solving complex equations, per the AP. Prosecutors say the 42-year-old Naples used no fewer than 46 devices hidden throughout the county center in Riverhead, with some even tucked under floorboards. The devices belonged to Naples, but they ran on the county's dime, say authorities. story continues below Were talking about an enormous amount of energy, says Suffolk County district attorney Timothy D. Sini. He says the estimate of $6,000 in utility bills is on the low side, because that reflects usage of only the first 10 devices discovered. They had been humming since February. Naples is charged with public corruption, grand larceny, and computer trespass, and he faces up to 15 years in prison if convicted. It's not clear how much, if any, cryptocurrency he managed to collect before his arrest. (Read more bitcoin stories.) (Newser) A day of celebration turned tragic over the weekend for a New York woman after her own baby shower. NBC New York reports that 31-year-old Shanice Young, a mom of two who was pregnant with her third, was headed home early Sunday after the party in her honor, bearing gifts from the event at a nearby catering hall, when her partner, said to be the father of her unborn child, got into a fight with her ex, according to police sources. Per cops and witnesses who talked to the New York Daily News, the ex showed up as Young and her boyfriend were entering her apartment building in Harlem, and the ex confronted Young's partner, chasing him into the lobby. story continues below The two men soon ended up back outside on the sidewalk, police say, which is when Young tried to break up the fight. Police say it was Young's ex who then pulled out a gun during the scuffle and shot Young in the head. Reports of the shooting started coming in around 1:15am, and when officers converged upon the scene, Young was unconscious and unresponsive, with a gunshot wound to the head, per WPIX. No one else was reported injured. Young's two daughters, ages 6 and 15, were also reportedly at the scene and watched as their mom was taken by EMS responders to a local hospital, where she was pronounced dead. "Shanice was nine months pregnant ... she was nine months pregnant," Young's sister Metania tells WABC, which notes that, in addition to her own two kids, Young also cared for her two younger siblings. Young's father tells the Daily News they'd just enjoyed a "beautiful night," filled with music, cake, and dancing, and that his daughter had had three orders of protection taken out against her ex since they'd broken up. "Shanice was scared to death of him," her dad says. There've been no arrests so far, and police haven't officially offered a name for the suspect. An investigation continues. (Read more baby shower stories.) (Newser) David Simon, creator of The Wire, weighs in on the death of his friend Michael K. Williams in a New York Times essay, one that recounts a question the actor would ask at the start of each season. "What are we going to say this year?" Williams played Omar, the robber of drug dealers, and he first posed the question to the show's writers at the start of the second season. As Simon notes, the show took a lot of flak that year for shifting its focus from the streets of West Baltimore to the city's waterfrontmost of the action would now center on white characters instead of Black ones. When Williams saw the scripts, he went to the writers and expressed his disappointment. Simon initially thought he was being a prima donna actor worried about a diminished number of lines, but Williams set him straight. story continues below Im not here about my screen time," he said. "I just want to know why we are doing this. Why is the show changing? He wanted to know why a show that was one of the rare ones on TV to focus on Black characters was "walking away from that." Simon's answerthat he didn't envision his show as being a Black drama but one about power and money in an American citysatisfied Williams. But every year after that, Williams would go into the writers' offices before shooting began and pose the question anew: "What are we going to say this year?" Simon acknowledges he initially underestimated Williams. In the essay, he honors the "utterly committed professional who never gave a camera the wrong moment, but who somehow never took enough comfort from that great skill, who was always, I came to understand, looking for it to mean more." Read it here. (Read more David Simon stories.) (Newser) A 22-year-old woman traveling around the country in a van since July was reported missing Saturday. Gabrielle Petito last spoke to her parents at the end of Augustand her traveling partner and fiance, Brian Laundrie, returned home to Florida without her, the Orlando Sentinel reports. Petitos parents say Laundrie is refusing to speak to them and has hired a lawyer, the Daily Mail reports. Petito had recently moved from New York to Florida, and then set off in a 2012 white Ford Transit van that had been converted into a camper. They drove back north to attend Petitos brothers high school graduation, then headed west. story continues below They were last seen together checking out of a hotel in Salt Lake City. Petitos mother said she got a few texts from her phone, but she cant be sure they were actually from her daughter, and her Instagram account, @gabspetito, hasnt been updated since Aug. 25. Nicole Schmidt, Petitos mother, said the couple were planning to go from Grand Teton National Park in Wyoming to Yellowstone, per NBC News. Petito linked to a video of their trip on her Instagram page. Schmidt had been asking people to look for the van, but Laundrie returned to Florida alone with the van, which police then recovered. Petitos father, Joseph Petito, told Newsday that not knowing his daughter's whereabouts is like "drowning with your hands tied behind you. Petitos family describe her as 5 feet 5 inches tall with blonde hair, blue eyes, and several tattoos including one on her right forearm that reads "Let it be." (Read more missing person stories.) (Newser) A 7-month-old puppy with upside-down paws has gotten a new leash on life, thanks to a dedicated team of veterinary professionals at Oklahoma State University. CNN reports that Siggi, a spotted rat terrier, was "born an average puppy: sweet, cheerful, and extremely playful." But she'd also been born with a birth defectthose upside-down front paws, which left her unable to walk. That's until an animal rescue group in Dallas brought 13-week-old Siggi, who weighed just 4 pounds, to OSU's College of Veterinary Medicine in May, asking for help to remedy her unusual issue. story continues below In a release, Dr. Erik Clary explains that Siggi's actual problem was with her elbows, which popped "out of joint early in life," leading to "severe rotation of the lower front limbs and an inability to walk." Clary notes most dogs with this condition resort to "a crawl that seems most uncomfortable and is poorly suited for a dog's life." The reason the Dallas animal rescue group chose OSU to help Siggi: The college had done the same for a foxhound named Milo in 2019. After a comprehensive 64-slice CT scan that laid out the alignment and shape of Siggi's bones, Clary performed surgery on May 12. "Unlike Milo, Siggi had significant deformity of the bones in the lower part of her elbow, complicating the joint issue," he says. Instead, a more complex procedure was used that involved an "intentional break high up in her ulna bone to de-rotate the limb." Siggi was put in splints to heal, which were removed at the end of June, and she then started PT to learn to walk. "She proved a fairly quick learner," Clary says, noting that Siggi is now "doing many things that puppies like to do, including chasing a ball in the yard." He adds: "Truly, I could not be more pleased with Siggi's progress." As for what's up next for the pup: A Kansas woman is set to offer Siggi a forever home after her final checkup at OSU next month, per News on 6. (Read more uplifting news stories.) (Newser) A California middle school teacher and his wife, a San Bernardino nurse, were looking forward to the arrival of their fifth child earlier this year. Their family's story has now come to a doubly terrible end, after Daniel Macias, 39, died Thursday of COVIDjust two weeks after his wife, 36-year-old Davy, died of the same, eight days after her baby was born. Per KTLA, the Inland Empire couple leave behind not only the newborn, but also kids ages 7, 5, 3, and 2, all of whom are now being cared for by their paternal grandparents. story continues below The couple and their older four children all tested positive for the virus after visiting a beach and water park in early August, before the baby was born. The kids recovered, but Davy, a labor and delivery nurse, deteriorated, per the Washington Post. After she'd spent about a week in the hospital, her husband also ended up there as his own symptoms worsened. The couple's fifth child was delivered by cesarean section on Aug. 18, about six days after Davy ended up in the hospital. Davy was already intubated by the time doctors delivered her baby and never got to meet her little girl before she died, per a GoFundMe set up by family members. Three days after his daughter was born, Daniel was also intubated. "He had no idea that [Davy] passed away," Davy's sister-in-law, Terri Serey, tells the Washington Post. She adds that Davy had been hesitant to get vaccinated because of her pregnancy. It's not clear whether Daniel was. The couple never had the chance to name the baby, per the San Bernardino Sun. Before he was intubated, Daniel told family members they should get vaccinated, Davy's brother, Vong Serey, tells KTLA. As for the kids, they're struggling to understand what happened: Terri Serey says the children's grandparents have told her the kids "spend a lot of time at night looking for [their] mom and dad," per the Post. As of Monday afternoon, more than $205,000 had been raised so far for the Macias kids on GoFundMe. (Read more COVID-19 stories.) (Newser) The public art project taking shape in Paris doesn't just look like something Christo would do, it is his project, being completed more than a year after the artist's death. Workers are covering the Arc de Triomphe in 270,000 square feet of silvery blue, plastic wrapping, a look that will officially debut Saturday and run through Oct. 3, Reuters reports. It's something Christo, who died in May 2020, and his wife and partner in art, Jeanne-Claude, had wanted to do since 1961. "Christo made me promise I'd finish it," said Vladimir Yavachev, his nephew and the project's director, "and I'm relieved I could." story continues below Workers have attached about 400 tons of steel to the 15-story war memorial, which will keep the structure from rubbing against the recyclable fabric that will be draped by rappellers. Almost 10,000 feet of red rope will tie the fabric down, per the Wall Street Journal. The billowing of the fabric in the $16.5 million project will give the appearance that "the Arc just took a deep breath," Yavachey said. "The choice is striking because there are so many layers of history to that monument, and now theyre adding their own," said a curator at the Pompidou Center. "I think they're asking us in a subtle way to appreciate the present." Tourists will still be able to visit the landmark. In addition to "L'Arc de Triomphe, Wrapped," several exhibits around the city will address the artists' work. Photos will be posted along the Seine illustrating the careers of Christo and Jeanne-Claude, who died in 2009. Receiving permits for Christo's projects often was difficult, but President Emmanuel Macron and the Center for National Monuments supported this one. Christo enjoyed the problem-solving involved in his projects, Yavachev said. "The biggest challenge for me is that Christo is not here," his nephew said. "I miss his enthusiasm, his criticisms, his energy and all of these things." He said he's committed to completing one last Christo project, in Abu Dhabi, but didn't say when. (Christo called off one installation after Donald Trump's election.) (Newser) Police in Florida say two teenage boys planning a massacre at their middle school were arrested after a student told a teacher one of them might have a gun in their backpack. "This could have been the next Parkland massacre but we stopped them in the planning stages," Lee County Sheriff Carmine Marceno said after the teens were arrested Thursday. Marceno said the teacher at Harns Marsh Middle School in Fort Myers told the school resource officer about the student's tip, USA Today reports. No weapon was found in the eighth-grader's backpack, but deputies did find a map of the school with the location of every security camera marked. story continues below The school is around two hours west of Parkland, where a gunman killed 14 students and three teachers at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in 2018. The sheriff said the Fort Myers students, who are 13 and 14 years old, had been researching the 1999 Columbine High School massacre in Colorado and had been looking into how to build pipe bombs and buy guns on the black market. Police say searches of their homes uncovered "disturbing evidence" including a gun and several knives. Marceno said the teens were "well known" to deputies, who had been called to their homes almost 80 times in total, WTSP reports. Both students were sent for evaluation at a mental health facility. They appeared in front of a judge Sunday and were ordered to spend 21 days in secure juvenile detention, reports WINK News. The mother of the 14-year-old student defended her son in remarks at the hearing. "Hes just a little boy," she said. "He didnt think this was really serious. He didnt think they were serious." (Read more school shooting stories.) (Newser) Justice Amy Coney Barrett isn't happy with how the public perceives the Supreme Court, a problem she blames in part on "hot takes on Twitter." In a speech at the McConnell Center at the University of Louisville, the 49-year-old pushed back against the notion that court decisions are driven by politics, per the Louisville Courier Journal, Politico, and CNN. "My goal today is to convince you that this court is not comprised of a bunch of partisan hacks," she said, drawing a distinction between "judicial philosophies" and justices' own political views. Coney Barrett said her judicial philosophy is that of an "originalist" when it comes to interpreting the Constitution, while someone like Stephen Breyer represents "pragmatism." story continues below (Newser) A man who spent a third of his life behind bars for a murder he didnt commit has died of COVID just a few short years after his exoneration. After a nine-hour interrogation in 1996, 22-year-old Damon Thibodeaux confessed to killing his cousin Crystal Champagne and was convicted in spite of the fact that his narrative didnt match the evidence, the Minneapolis Star-Tribune reports. He was sentenced to death a year later, and spent 15 years on death row in Louisiana. A new investigation showed that his DNA did not match DNA found on Champagnes body, and a Minnesota law firm helped get him exonerated in 2012. Champagnes murder is still being investigated. story continues below Once freed, Thibodeaux moved to Minnesota, later settling in Texas, and traveled the country as a long-haul trucker. He also gave talks about wrongful conviction reform, per NBC News. He worked with the Innocence Project and was featured in the documentary The Penalty. Thibodeaux had gotten his first dose of the two-shot Moderna vaccine when he fell ill. He was admitted to the ICU in a hospital in Jacksonville, Florida, where he had been delivering freight. At the same time his mother was sick with COVID. She eventually recovered. Thibodeaux seemed to be improving after a few weeks, then worsened. His lungs collapsed, and eventually his heart stopped. After nine years of freedom, he died on Sept. 2. (Read more wrongful conviction stories.) (Newser) Less than a week before a right-wing rally is scheduled to take place near the Capitol in Washington, DC, a man with a bayonet and machete was arrested near the Democratic National Committee headquarters. Capitol Police spotted a gray Dodge Dakota with swastika on a side mirror and an American flag instead of a license plate, NPR reports. They found the weapons when they pulled him over early Monday. Donald Craighead, 44, of Oceanside, California, was taken into custody on suspicion of possession of illegal weaponslong knives are against the law in DC. In a statement, Chief Tom Manger said, "This is good police work plain and simple," NBC News reports. story continues below Police say Craighead told them he was on patrol. His father and brother in California said that they had not spoken to him in years except to send money for food when he needed it. They told NBC News he had been diagnosed with schizophrenia but they did not think he was still taking his medication, and they thought he had been homeless for a while. "No, hes not well," Craigheads father, also named Donald Craighead, said. Capitol Police tweeted pictures of Craigheads truck, with the swastika and flag, and also a set of antlers on the front grille. (Last month, a man who claimed he had a bomb in his pickup truck was arrested after an hourslong standoff near the Capitol.) Shamokin, PA (17872) Today Thunderstorms during the evening will give way to cloudy skies after midnight. Low around 60F. Winds light and variable. Chance of rain 100%.. Tonight Thunderstorms during the evening will give way to cloudy skies after midnight. Low around 60F. Winds light and variable. Chance of rain 100%. Let us know what you're seeing and hearing around the community. Submit here The Daily News-Miner encourages residents to make themselves heard through the Opinion pages. Readers' letters and columns also appear online at newsminer.com. Contact the editor with questions at letters@newsminer.com or call 459-7574. Community Perspective Send Community Perspective submissions by mail (P.O. Box 70710, Fairbanks AK 99707) or via email (letters@newsminer.com). Submissions must be 500 to 750 words. Columns are welcome on a wide range of issues and should be well-written and well-researched with attribution of sources. Include a full name, email address, daytime telephone number and headshot photograph suitable for publication (email jpg or tiff files at 150 dpi.) You may also schedule a photo to be taken at the News-Miner office. The News-Miner reserves the right to edit submissions or to reject those of poor quality or taste without consulting the writer. Letters to the editor Send letters to the editor by mail (P.O. Box 70710, Fairbanks AK 99707), by fax (907-452-7917) or via email (letters@newsminer.com). Writers are limited to one letter every two weeks (14 days.) All letters must contain no more than 350 words and include a full name (no abbreviation), daytime and evening phone numbers and physical address. (If no phone, then provide a mailing address or email address.) The Daily News-Miner reserves the right to edit or reject letters without consulting the writer. TDT | Manama The Daily Tribune www.newsofbahrain.com Finance and National Economy Minister Shaikh Salman bin Khalifa Al Khalifa has stressed the role that the financial and banking sector plays as one of the vital and important sectors that contribute to supporting economic growth. Shaikh Salman said it is pushing the wheel of economic development by creating more promising investment opportunities apart from its contributions to many development projects and programmes. He noted the interest that this sector enjoys by providing the appropriate and supportive environment for it This came during a remote meeting of His Excellency yesterday with Dr Boutros Klink, CEO of Standard Chartered Bank Middle East and Bahrain. The minister praised the contributions of financial and banking institutions and their active role in supporting all sectors that would boost economic development, noting the Kingdom's keenness to continue strengthening the role of these institutions to achieve the desired goals. During the meeting, a number of issues of common concern and the latest developments in the global economy were discussed. Filipinos in Bahrain urged to exercise right to vote Filipinos in Bahrain urged to exercise right to vote TDT | Manama The Daily Tribune www.newsofbahrain.com Filipinos in Bahrain are urged to register to be able to vote in May next years Philippine national elections and get the right and duty to choose the next leaders of the country. There is still enough time before overseas voting registration comes to an end on September 30. The Embassy of the Philippine in the Kingdom are advising Filipinos who have not registered yet to come forward and visit its premises in Mahooz as personal appearance is required. It is important for Filipinos residing and working in the Kingdom to take part in the electoral process, but it is even more important to vote wisely the people who will guide and lead the nation for the next years, starting at noon on June 30, 2022. The next Philippine general elections set to take place on May 9, 2022 will select the successor of current President Rodrigo Duterte. Overseas voters in Bahrain will cast their votes at the embassy for one month, from April 10 to May 9 next year. Qualified Filipino voters residing and working abroad will choose the next president, vice-president, 12 senators and a party-list representative. Overseas registration is ongoing at the embassy. To register, qualified Overseas Filipino Worker (OFW) voters should visit the embassy. Details or biometrics will be captured and those who want to register must bring along a photocopy of valid passport. For seafarers, seamans book is required aside from a copy of the Philippine passport. Those interested in the overseas voting registration should contact the embassy for details on how to proceed. More details can also be found on the embassys official website: https://manamape.dfa.gov.ph/ TDT | Manama The Daily Tribune www.newsofbahrain.com Bahrain's value of exports of national origin increased by 103% to BD386 million during August 2021, compared to BD190 million for the same month of the previous year, the Information & eGovernment Authority (iGA) issued its foreign trade report of August 2021. The report encompasses data on the balance of trade, imports, exports (national origin), and re-exports. The top 10 countries in terms of the value of exports of national origin purchased from Bahrain accounted for 79% of the total value, with the remaining countries accounting for 21%. Saudi Arabia ranked first among countries receiving Bahraini exports of national origin, importing BD77 million from Bahrain. The United States was second with BD62 million and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) third with BD53 million. Unwrought aluminum alloys emerged as the top products exported during August 2021 with BD110 million, Agglomerated iron ores and concentrates was second with a value of BD108 million and unwrought aluminum (not alloyed) third with BD15 million. The total value of re-exports increased by 31% to reach BD58 million during August 2021, compared to BD44 million for the same month of the previous year. The top 10 countries accounted for 86% of the re-exported value, while the remaining countries accounted for the remaining 14%. The UAE ranked first with BD18 million, Saudi Arabia second with BD12 million, and Hong Kong third with BD4 million. Four-wheel drive cars the top product re-exported from Bahrain with BD9 million, gold ingots came in second place with BD5.1 million, and parts for aircraft engines came third with BD5 million. The value of imports increased by 16%, reaching BD496 million during August 2021 compared to BD428 million for the same month of the previous year. The top 10 countries accounted for 72% of the value of imports, with the remaining countries accounting for 28%. According to the report, Brazil ranked first when it came to imports to Bahrain, with BD92 million, China was second with BD65 million, and the UAE third with BD33 million. Non-agglomerated iron ores and concentrates emerged as the top product imported into Bahrain with a total value of BD105 million, while aluminum oxide was second with BD28 million, and parts for aircraft engines third with BD21 million. The trade balance, difference between exports and imports, the value of the deficit of the trade balance reached BD53 million during August of 2021 versus BD194 million for the same month of the previous year with an increase of 73%. Cranleys campaign promises: How can you clean Ohio when your funders are dirty? Have an opinion on a recent story or event around the University of Cincinnati? Let us know what you think! If you're interested in submitting a Letter to the Editor, click the button below to email David Rees, editor-in-chief. For news tips or story ideas, contact one of our editors. Email the editor DANBURY A new assistant fire chief is among a number of promotions in the fire and police departments. William Lounsbury, who has worked for the Danbury Fire Department for 30 years, was named the new assistant fire chief at City Councils Thursday meeting. He had been serving as acting assistant chief since Aug. 1. Acting Assistant Fire Chief Lounsburys proven skills, expertise and dedication will enable him to achieve great success in this position, Mayor Joe Cavo wrote in a letter to City Council. City Council approved Lounsburys appointment alongside the promotions of six other firefighters and two police officers. Cavo expects them to be sworn in this week. He praised their education levels, experience and passion for serving the city. Danbury people should consider themselves very fortunate to have the quality individuals they have working for them, Cavo said. Lounsbury has risen through the ranks of the career department, becoming fire lieutenant in February 2003, fire captain in 2012 and deputy fire chief in 2018. Throughout his career, he has earned several commendations, including the Fire Fighter of the Year Award in 2003 and the Red Cross Live Saving Award in 2012. Two officials were named deputy fire chief. Jaime Schiller and Robert Forbes had been serving as acting deputy chief since early August and have various awards and certifications. Schiller has been a firefighter in Danbury since 1999, earning promotions to fire lieutenant in 2007 and fire captain in 2016. He achieved the No. 1 rank on the deputy fire chief eligibility list. Forbes joined Danbury Fire Department in 1999, becoming fire lieutenant in 2011 and fire captain in 2016. He earned the No. 2 rank on the deputy fire chief eligibility list. Douglas Zaniewski and Shawn McGee are the new fire captains. Zaniewskis been with the city fire department since 2007 and was promoted to fire lieutenant in 2016. He served as assistant fire chief for the Seymour Volunteer Fire Company and as an operations supervisor of the Oxford Ambulance Association. He has various certifications ranked No. 2 on the fire captain eligibility list. McGee, who was hired by Danbury in 2005, became fire lieutenant in 2014. In addition to several certifications, he has earned various awards and was No. 1 on the fire captain eligibility list. He volunteers for various community organizations and is an adjunct professor at Naugatuck Community College. Two firefighters, Jeffrey Nolet and Dickon John (DJ) Brown, were promoted to fire lieutenant. They have earned several certifications and awards. Nolet has been with Danbury Fire Department since 2013, previously serving with the Burlington Fire Department in Vermont. He was No. 2 on the fire lieutenant eligibility list. Brown became a Danbury firefighter in 2008 and earned the No. 1 rank on the fire lieutenant eligibility list. Matthew Malone, a police officer in Danbury since 2009, and Brian Peloso, a Danbury officer since 2017, were promoted to police sergeant. Malone has various certifications and awards, including the Life Saving Medal in 2016. He earned the No. 1 rank on the police sergeant eligibility list. Peloso previously worked as an officer in New Milford and served in the U.S. Navy. He had the No. 2 rank on the police sergeant eligibility list. MEXICO CITY (AP) Other countries have lured doctors out of retirement, pushed medical students to the front lines and buoyed medical personnel exhausted by COVID-19 cases, but in Nicaragua doctors have been harassed, threatened and sometimes forced into exile for questioning official handling of the pandemic. Vice President Rosario Murillo, who is also the first lady, has accused doctors of health terrorism and of spreading false outlooks and news by reporting that COVID-19 has been far more widespread than officials acknowledge. As international health organizations warn of increasing infections in Nicaragua and independent Nicaraguan doctors call for a voluntary quarantine to slow the spread of the delta variant of the coronavirus, the government has made clear that comments out of step with its line are unacceptable as President Daniel Ortega seeks a fourth consecutive term. Groups of doctors report much higher numbers than the government of virus infections and deaths from COVID-19, the disease that can be caused by the coronavirus. And they have criticized the Sandinista government for promoting mass gatherings. Dr. Leonel Arguello, a physician who also is one of the country's most prominent epidemiologists, recently fled Nicaragua after months of harassment and threats. Arguello maintains his own tally of medical workers who died of COVID-19 and accuses the government of creating a false sense of security that has cost lives. We are not working to remove a government, the doctor said from an undisclosed country. We are not working to be an opposition party. We are working like we would work with any patient to look for a way to save his life. Arguello, who worked for the Health Ministry during the first Sandinista government, said he had ignored death threats, but said he sensed a change when Murillo spoke publicly about doctors inventing things and made clear the government would not continue tolerating it. My role as a health educator was going to be lost if they imprisoned me or silenced me, he said. In comments that appeared directed toward Arguello and other doctors in exile, Murillo said this month that to carry out terrorism with health topics is a sacrilege, it is a crime. Questions sent to the vice president about the alleged intimidation of doctors elicited a thank you note from Murillo, but no additional comment. It is not clear how many doctors have left the country during the pandemic, but The Associated Press identified at least five who left because they felt government intimidation. I think it's a decision you take when you feel your physical safety is compromised, Arguello said. In early July, Murillo spoke of fake doctors giving false predictions and false surveys about the pandemic. In life everything has a cost and if we cause harm, harm will come to us, we shouldnt expose ourselves to receive the consequences, she said on national television. Around that time, urologist Jose Luis Borgen was called into the Health Ministry and told to stop providing pandemic statistics different from the official numbers. He said he knows of about a dozen doctors who were summoned and told the same. They accuse us of giving false news and generating fear in the people, Borgen said. One doctor was told his medical license could be revoked and he could be charged with spreading false information. Borgen said he believes that doctor is no longer in Nicaragua. Borgen was also summoned to the Attorney General's Office about treatment he had given an opposition politician sought by authorities. He said he viewed that as an attempt at intimidation. It's all linked, Borgen said. When the vice president says something, the rest of the institutions execute it. Borgen, who himself has been ill with COVID-19, said that he did not know of any doctors who had had their licenses revoked or been charged with a crime, but that many had left the country fearing that could happen. The government had already shown willingness to put political pressure on health workers. When big street protests broke out in April 2018 in response to a government change to the social security system, the government told public health workers to not treat injured protesters. Those who disobeyed some 400, according to Arguello were fired. Others went into exile at that time. The pressure has continued during the pandemic. From the time Nicaragua started seeing its first coronavirus infections in March 2020, speaking of the pandemic was taboo. Wearing a surgical mask in hospitals became a political statement because administrators forbade hospital personnel from donning them. Masks could make patients nervous, they said. Relatives and health workers reported secretive express burials of COVID-19 victims by personnel in white protective suits under cover of darkness. La Prensa, Nicaraguas main newspaper, reported in July that a Managua funeral home had performed 14 such burials in 10 days with patients from three hospitals in the capital. Nicaraguas health workers have been hit hard by the pandemic, too. At least 160 medical personnel have died from COVID-19, statistics the government has not shared, according to Arguello. Borgen said Friday that 88 those of those who died were doctors. A doctor in the northwestern city of Chinandega said physicians were unable to obtain coronavirus tests outside government hospitals and even those are strictly limited. They have it controlled and if someone in a given case tests positive they handle it discreetly, the doctor said. They want to sell an image that the virus is controlled. But she said her region was seeing a heavy load of cases, the local hospital ward devoted to COVID-19 cases was full and a colleague who had been treating patients night and day died of the disease a month ago. She, too, spoke on condition of anonymity, fearing reprisals. Dr. Eddy Valverde fled into exile in late June, weeks after the government began arresting prominent opposition leaders. He had faced months of threats and attacks on social media for speaking publicly about the government's handling of the pandemic. Journalists from government outlets had called for revocation of his medical license. He said independent doctors have been the only source of reliable data about the pandemic. He is a member of the Nicaraguan Medical Unit, which was formed by doctors fired from public hospitals in 2018. That organization, which provided free consultations to COVID-19 patients, was forced to close its offices in July after months of harassment from police. Another organization made up of activists and independent doctors called the Citizen Observatory has reported 20 times the number of COVID-19 deaths more than 4,000 than the governments official number. The government has been reporting one COVID-19 death per week for the past nine months. The Observatory called for Nicaraguans to join a voluntary quarantine during the month of September in the face of the pandemic peak and collapse of the health system. Nicaragua started limited vaccinations in April, and the nation of some 6.5 million people has vaccinated more than 520,000 adults older than 45, though it wasnt clear if they had received two does or only one. The president said Thursday the government would begin vaccinating people over age 30 later this month. Rather than impose restrictions to slow the virus spread, the government encouraged mass gatherings and a continuation of life as normal despite warnings from local physicians and the Pan American Health Organization. Arguello believes the governments attempts to muzzle him and other health workers aims to give the public a false sense of security. Those who started speaking out were fired and that was the signal for everyone to stay quiet in the public sector, Arguello said. Leaving Nicaragua was a difficult decision, Arguello said. In most cases, a doctor cannot quickly resume practice in another country. Arguello is still treating remotely 15 patients who are on oxygen at home. The apparent normalcy being sold is a false sense of security that keeps people from taking steps to protect themselves, Arguello said. Were worse every day, the numbers are rising, Arguello said. The hospitals are full and everyone knows a relative or a neighbor with COVID. NORWALK An acrobatic performer who fell about 30 feet from a performance apparatus at the Norwalk Oyster Festival Saturday afternoon is expected to make a full recovery, police said. Around 4 p.m. Saturday Walter Murcia, a performer with the Pirates of the Colombian Caribbean acrobatic show fell from a 25- to 30-foot high apparatus during the festival at Veterans Park, Norwalk Police Sgt. Sofia Gulino said. The acrobat was transported to Norwalk Hospital for critical care, and EMS personnel were quickly directed to the scene, Gulino said. The acrobat is expected to recover. Gulino did not know Murcias condition on Monday. Murcia, of East Bradenton, Fla., was performing on the 35-foot high Wheel of Death, according to the groups website. Murcia owns Sensational Murcia Productions, which operates the Pirates of the Colombian Caribbean show. A representative from the company could not be reached for comment on Monday. In a video of the incident posted to online, Murcia and another acrobat can be seen performing stunts on the apparatus, surrounded by a crowd of festival onlookers. The video shows Murcia falling from the apparatus and event workers rushing to help him before police arrive. Norwalk Mayor Harry Rilling said Sunday that Murcia sustained serious injuries, including a broken leg and possible head injury. Mike Reilly, president of the Norwalk Seaport Association, which runs the festival, said Monday the performer did not sustain a head injury. The mayor made a statement and Im not sure how he got that information, Reilly said. This is a professional performer that travels around the world doing what they do. In that business, things happen. To comment on how hes doing or whats wrong is inappropriate. The Seaport Association remained in contact with the acrobatic group, Reilly said. The pirates were set to perform at the festival Friday evening and Saturday and Sunday throughout the day. The Oyster Festival was the groups first time performing in Connecticut, according to the website. The accident does not pose a legal threat or liability to the festival and the performance group is fully insured, Reilly said. Pirates of the Colombian Caribbean also perform on a 60-foot mock pirate ship and a 20-foot high wire, according to the website. The festival, which was canceled last summer due to the coronavirus pandemic, returned this weekend for its 43rd year. The festival, which ran Friday to Sunday, featured live music, stunts, carnival rides and craft vendors, and required about 1,000 volunteers to make the festival happen, Reilly said. As a whole, the festivals return was a success, Reilly said. The crowds were excellent, everybody had a fabulous time celebrating the maritime heritage in Norwalk, Reilly said. Everybody, all the vendors, sponsors, crafters and performers had a fabulous weekend. We were blessed with great weather. No concerns were raised regarding COVID-19 precautions during the weekend, Reilly said. Its unfortunate that a performer was injured, and we wish them a speedy and full recovery, city spokesperson Josh Morgan said. It seems everyone was excited for the Oyster Festival to be back this year. This event is a Norwalk staple and was definitely missed in 2020. The turnout was great, and from everything Ive seen and heard, people were following the guidelines and safety protocols. abigail.brone@hearstmediact.com SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (AP) South Dakota lawmakers on Monday rejected a handful of rules proposals governing medical marijuana from Gov. Kristi Noem's administration but approved the bulk of the program. The Legislature's Rules Review Committee, which is responsible for approving administration rules, effectively told the Department of Health to try again on a number of controversial rule proposals. Most of the Department of Healths 124-page proposal got the sign-off from the Legislature, spelling out rules ranging from fees for cardholders to the heights of fences around cannabis growing facilities. The rules they rejected included proposals that would have limited the amount of high-potency marijuana that patients could possess, required medical practitioners to write a recommendation for patients who wanted to grow more than three cannabis plants, and defined a list of conditions that would qualify for a medical marijuana recommendation. The law allowing medical marijuana, passed by 70% of voters last year, has seen a halting acceptance from officials trying to balance a clear mandate from voters while placing restrictions on medical marijuana. The rules set a $75 application fee for medical marijuana cards and discount the fee to $20 for low-income applicants. It also sets a state licensing fee of $5,000 for any medical marijuana facility. Noem celebrated the Legislature's approval of most of the rules, saying that it put her administration on track to implementing the medical cannabis program. I commend the Department of Health for its hard work to streamline the process," she said in a statement. "South Dakota will continue to implement the best, most patient-focused medical cannabis program in the country. Secretary of Health Kim Malsam-Rysdon said she was "disappointed" the committee rejected the list of specific medical conditions, saying that it was based on public input. A host of lobbyists, representing both medical groups and the cannabis industry, objected to some rules, though nearly all praised the Department of Health's rule-making process. For the most part, lobbyists from both the cannabis industry and medical groups convinced lawmakers to reject rules they raised issues with. During a meeting that stretch over five hours, lawmakers questioned Malsam-Rysdon on the rule-making process. A rule proposal that would have limited the amount of high-potency marijuana that patients could possess drew considerable questioning. Concentrated cannabis in a smokeable form is shown to be more addictive, Malsam-Rysdon told lawmakers. But they were not convinced by that argument and rejected the limitation on high-potency marijuana. The Department of Health has held public town halls and meetings with industry groups throughout the summer. Malsam-Rysdon said her department had adjusted rules based on 42% of comments submitted by industry groups or individuals. She said the rest of the suggested changes were rejected either because they conflicted with existing state law, were deemed to have an impact on health and safety, or were found to be unnecessary. We expect to see changes as this process evolves, Malsam-Rysdon said, referring to the Legislature considering potential changes to the law next year. The Department of Health will have just weeks if it decides to rework the rejected rules and resubmit them to the Legislature. The medical marijuana law requires the state government to enact the rules by Oct. 29 and be ready to issue ID cards by Nov. 18. The Westwood Dispensary is strategically located on Santa Monica Blvd within a mile of the University of Los Angeles California ("UCLA") campus and blocks away from Century City. There is daily traffic of over 161,000 vehicles within three blocks, primarily on Santa Monica Blvd. and Westwood Blvd. This prime location features ample parking on the street front and an adjacent parking lot. Westwood is a central regional district for shopping, dining, movie theaters, and other entertainment, and Century City is one of the most prominent employment centers in the Los Angeles metropolitan area, boasting a workforce of approximately 244,000. In addition, the Westwood Dispensary is within a mile from the boutiques on Rodeo Drive in Beverly Hills, well-positioned to attract tourist traffic. The address of the Westwood dispensary site is 10461 Santa Monica Blvd. The Westwood Dispensary represents a critical step in the vertical integration for Halo in its "Seed to Sale" strategy in California. Upon opening, Halo expects to commence direct-to-consumer retail sales of its own branded and white-labeled cannabis products, as well as a curated selection of coveted brands and products available in the California market. "Halo is committed to entering the large and growing Southern California retail market and is proud that our first operating dispensary will be the closest dispensary to Century City and the tourist sections of Beverly Hills," said Kiran Sidhu, CEO and Co-Founder of Halo Collective. "We are simultaneously developing two other locations in Hollywood and North Hollywood, that are both ideally situated, which we expect to open later this year or early next. With these three stores, we are building a key element of our vertically integrated seed to sale model, which we expect to drive strong returns for Halo shareholders." About Halo Collective Inc. Halo is a leading, vertically integrated cannabis company that cultivates, extracts, manufactures, and distributes quality cannabis flower, oils, and concentrates and has sold approximately eleven million grams of oils and concentrates since inception. The Company continues to expand its business and scale efficiently, partnering with trustworthy leaders in the industry who value Halo's operational expertise in bringing top-tier products to market. Halo currently operates in the United States in Oregon and California, Canada, Southern Africa in the Kingdom of Lesotho, and the United Kingdom. The Company sells cannabis products principally to dispensaries in the U.S. under its brands Hush, Mojave, and Exhale, and under license agreements with Papa's Herb, DNA Genetics, Terphogz, and FlowerShop*, a cannabis lifestyle and conceptual wellness brand that includes G-Eazy as a partner and key member. As part of continued expansion and vertical integration in the U.S., Halo boasts several grow operations throughout Oregon and two planned in California. In Oregon, the Company has a combined 11 acres of owned and contracted outdoor and green house cultivation, including East Evans Creek, a six-acre grow site in Jackson County with four licenses owned and operated by Halo and two third-party licenses under contract to sell all of their product to Halo; Winberry Farms, a one-acre grow site located 30 miles outside of Eugene in Lane County with a license owned and operated by Halo; and William's Wonder Farms, a three-acre grow site in Applegate Valley, under contract to sell all of its product to Halo pending the closing of Halo's acquisition of its licenses and business assets. Halo has recently signed a Definitive Agreement to acquire Food Concepts. Food Concepts LLC is the master tenant of an approximately 55,000 sq.ft. indoor cannabis cultivation, processing, and wholesaling facility in Portland, Oregon operated by the Pistil Point entities (the "Pistil Point Acquistion"). In California, the Company is building out Ukiah Ventures, a planned 30,000 sq. ft. indoor cannabis grow and processing facility, which will include up to an additional five acres of industrial land to expand the site. Recently, Halo partnered with Green Matter Holding in California to purchase a property in Lake County, developing up to 63 acres of cultivation, comprising one of the largest licensed single site grows in California. Halo also plans to expand its operations in California by opening three dispensaries in North Hollywood, Hollywood, and Westwood, one of which may serve as the first FlowerShop* branded dispensary. In Canada, Halo acquired three KushBar retail cannabis stores located in Alberta as a first in its planned entry into the Canadian market, leveraging its Oregon and California brands. With the KushBar retail stores as a foundation, the Company plans to expand its foothold in Canada. Halo has also acquired a range of software development assets, including CannPOS, Cannalift, and, more recently, CannaFeels. In addition, Halo owns the discrete sublingual dosing technology, Accudab. The Company intends to spin-off these assets and its intellectual property and patent applications into its subsidiary Halo Tek Inc. and expects to complete a distribution to shareholders on a record date to be determined by Halo. Halo has recently announced its intention to reorganize its non-U.S. operations into a newly formed entity called Akanda Corp., whose mission will be to provide high-quality and ethically sourced medical cannabis products to patients worldwide. Akanda will seek to deliver on this promise while driving positive change in wellness, empowering individuals in Lesotho, and uplifting the quality of the lives of employees and the local communities where it operates, all while limiting its carbon footprint. Akanda will combine the scaled production capabilities of Bophelo Bioscience & Wellness Pty. Ltd., Halo's Lesotho-based cultivation and processing campus located in the world's first Special Economic Zone (SEZ) containing a cannabis cultivation operation, with distribution and route-to-market efficiency of Canmart Ltd., Halo's UK-based fully approved pharmaceutical importer, and distributor that supplies pharmacies and clinics within the U.K. With a potential maximum licensed canopy area of 200 hectares (495 acres), Bophelo has scalability that is arguably unmatched in the world today. For further information regarding Halo, see Halo's disclosure documents on SEDAR at www.sedar.com Connect with Halo Collective: Email | Website | LinkedIn | Twitter | Instagram Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Information and Statements This press release contains certain "forward-looking information" within the meaning of applicable Canadian securities legislation and may also contain statements that may constitute "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the safe harbor provisions of the United States Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Such forward-looking information and forward-looking statements are not representative of historical facts or information or current condition, but instead represent only Halo's beliefs regarding future events, plans or objectives, many of which, by their nature, are inherently uncertain and outside of Halo's control. Generally, such forward-looking information or forward-looking statements can be identified by the use of forward-looking terminology such as "plans", "expects" or "does not expect", "is expected", "budget", "scheduled", "estimates", "forecasts", "intends", "anticipates" or "does not anticipate", or "believes", or variations of such words and phrases or may contain statements that certain actions, events or results "may", "could", "would", "might" or "will be taken", "will continue", "will occur" or "will be achieved". Forward-looking information may relate to anticipated events or results including, but not limited to Halo's future plans regarding its Westwood Dispensary, other dispensaries in the City of Los Angeles, Halo's expectations regarding the expansion of processing, production and distribution operations and the financial performance thereof, the closing of the Pistil Point Acquisition, the expected size and capabilities of the final facility planned at Ukiah Ventures, the size of Halo's planned cultivation facility in Northern California, the ability of Bophelo and Canmart to serve the U.K. market, the proposed spin-off with Halo Tek Inc. and Halo's proposed plans to re-organize its non-U.S. operations via Akanda Corp. By identifying such information and statements in this manner, Halo is alerting the reader that such information and statements are subject to known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause the actual results to be materially different from those expressed or implied by such information and statements. In addition, in connection with the forward-looking information and forward-looking statements contained in this press release, Halo has made certain assumptions. Although Halo believes that the assumptions and factors used in preparing, and the expectations contained in, the forward-looking information and statements are reasonable, undue reliance should not be placed on such information and statements, and no assurance or guarantee can be given that such forward-looking information and statements will prove to be accurate, as actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such information and statements. Among others, the key factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those projected in the forward-looking information and statements are the following: the inability of management to successfully integrate the operations of the acquired businesses, changes in the consumer market for cannabis products, changes in the expected outcomes of the proposed changes to Halo's operations, delays in obtaining required licenses or approvals necessary for the build-out of Oregon operations, the proposed spin-out with Halo Tek Inc. or the proposed re-organization with Akanda Corp., delays or unforeseen costs incurred in connection with construction, the ability of competitors to scale operations in Northern California, delays or unforeseen difficulties in connection with the cultivation and harvest of Halo's raw material, changes in general economic, business and political conditions, including changes in the financial markets; and the other risks disclosed in the Company's annual information form dated March 31, 2021 and other disclosure documents available on the Company's profile at www.sedar.com. Should one or more of these risks, uncertainties or other factors materialize, or should assumptions underlying the forward-looking information or statements prove incorrect, actual results may vary materially from those described herein as intended, planned, anticipated, believed, estimated or expected. The forward-looking information and forward-looking statements contained in this press release are made as of the date of this press release, and Halo does not undertake to update any forward-looking information and/or forward-looking statements that are contained or referenced herein, except in accordance with applicable securities laws. All subsequent written and oral forward-looking information and statements attributable to Halo or persons acting on its behalf is expressly qualified in its entirety by this notice. Non-Solicitation This press release shall not constitute an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy any of the securities described herein, 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. SOURCE Halo Collective Inc. For further information: Contact Information: Halo Collective: Investor Relations: [email protected], www.haloco.com/investors Related Links https://haloco.com/ Ministers Mike Holland, Warren Kaeding, Todd Smith, the Honorable Christopher T. Hanson, Premier of Alberta Jason Kenney and Premier of Saskatchewan Scott Moe among speakers at Canadian Nuclear Association's annual conference OTTAWA, ON, Sept. 13, 2021 /CNW/ - Climate change, isotopes, Canada's strong (CANDU) nuclear ecosystem and our nation's role in the Small Modular Reactor (SMR) world, Indigenous inclusion, diversity for the innovative workforce of the future, and long-term solutions for nuclear waste are all key topics that will be addressed among industry and political leaders as part of the virtual event hosted by the Canadian Nuclear Association. The annual three-day conference and trade show, CNA2021: Leading Innovations to Achieve a Net-Zero World, will draw attendees from around the world to hear from a lineup of experts to explore the key issues, challenges and opportunities that Canada faces on the path to achieving net-zero 2050. "We are thrilled to have the participation of so many industry leaders, regulators and utilities joining this year's virtual conference, which comes at a time when Canada needs to get serious about how we will meet net-zero emissions by 2050," said John Gorman, President and CEO of the Canadian Nuclear Association. "The event brings together key experts and decision makers to explore how best we can come together to tackle one of the most significant challenges Canada faces, and the critical next steps we must take to address climate change." When: September 15-17, 2021 Where: Virtual Registration: https://pheedloop.com/register/CNA2021/attendee/ Speakers: Jason Kenney , Premier of Alberta , Premier of Alberta Scott Moe , Premier of Saskatchewan , Premier of Honorable Mike Holland , New Brunswick Minister of Natural Resources and Energy Development , Minister of Natural Resources and Energy Development Honorable Warren Kaeding , Saskatchewan Minister of Environment , Minister of Environment Honorable Todd Smith , Ontario Minister of Energy , Minister of Energy Honorable Christopher T. Hanson , Chairman, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission , Chairman, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission Diane Cameron , Head of Division, Nuclear Technology Development and Economics (NTE), Nuclear Energy Agency , Head of Division, Nuclear Technology Development and Economics (NTE), Nuclear Energy Agency Keith Cronkhite , President and CEO, NB Power , President and CEO, NB Power Ken Hartwick , President and CEO, Ontario Power Generation , President and CEO, Ontario Power Generation John MacQuarrie , President, BWXT Canada , President, BWXT Canada Mike Marsh , President and CEO, SaskPower , President and CEO, SaskPower Joe McBrearty , President and CEO, Canadian Nuclear Laboratories , President and CEO, Canadian Nuclear Laboratories Mike Rencheck , President and CEO, Bruce Power , President and CEO, Bruce Power Stephanie Smith , President and CEO, CANDU Owners Group , President and CEO, CANDU Owners Group Rumina Velshi , President and CEO, Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission , President and CEO, Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission John Gorman , President and CEO, Canadian Nuclear Association For the full schedule, visit https://pheedloop.com/CNA2021/site/schedule/. Members of the media are invited to attend the event. Please contact us for your complimentary media pass. About the CNA Since 1960, the Canadian Nuclear Association (CNA) has been the national voice of the Canadian nuclear industry. Working alongside our members and all communities of interest, the CNA promotes the industry nationally and internationally, works with governments on policies affecting the sector and works to increase awareness and understanding of the value nuclear technology brings to the environment, economy, and daily lives of Canadians. SOURCE Canadian Nuclear Association For further information: Media Contact: Gehna Singh Kareckas, Director of Communications, (613) 979-4272, [email protected] Related Links http://www.cna.ca TORONTO, Sept. 13, 2021 /CNW/ - Almost a century into its success story, Loacker the worldwide leader in the wafer and chocolate specialties market is taking its traditional goodness to an even higher level with "More Than Good," a platform that shares Loacker's renewed commitment to sustainability, along with its values and thoughtful choices, with today's mindful and discerning customer. Loacker is intensifying its commitment to the quality and traceability of its raw materials and its sustainable practices and is bringing this commitment to life in new products, new recipes, new recyclable packaging, and a new logo. NEW Sustainability Projects All Loacker facilities already rely on 100% green electricity supply, and the company has recently launched four projects to verticalize the supply chains of its most important raw materials. The aim is to meet Loacker's need for top-quality ingredients while respecting both nature and the people involved in the entire production process. Exciting new projects include: Italian Hazelnut Orchards Project ensures the supply of 100% Italian Hazelnuts and has incentivized the introduction of hazelnut orchards in new areas through long-term agreements with 80 farms in six different regions of northern and central Italy . The use of herbicides is prohibited, and Loacker ensures that it follows the best agricultural practices, making efficient use of precious resources, like water and by using electric vehicles in production. ensures the supply of 100% Italian Hazelnuts and has incentivized the introduction of hazelnut orchards in new areas through long-term agreements with 80 farms in six different regions of northern and central . The use of herbicides is prohibited, and Loacker ensures that it follows the best agricultural practices, making efficient use of precious resources, like water and by using electric vehicles in production. Italian Milk-drying Plant dries milk and whey for Loacker's delicious creams and fine chocolate. Exclusively from Alpine regions, the milk is primarily sourced from cows on small Alpine farms near the plant, which is strategically located between two key Loacker facilities to avoid long freight journeys. dries milk and whey for Loacker's delicious creams and fine chocolate. Exclusively from Alpine regions, the milk is primarily sourced from cows on small Alpine farms near the plant, which is strategically located between two key Loacker facilities to avoid long freight journeys. Madagascar Vanilla Project ensures the high-quality of the precious Bourbon Vanilla Pods that are used in the creation of Loacker products and guarantees each stage of the supply chain meets precise standards of traceability, sustainability and fairness. Situated north of Madagascar , the project works directly with small groups of local farmers and fosters development through positive community and ecological activities. ensures the high-quality of the precious Bourbon Vanilla Pods that are used in the creation of Loacker products and guarantees each stage of the supply chain meets precise standards of traceability, sustainability and fairness. Situated north of , the project works directly with small groups of local farmers and fosters development through positive community and ecological activities. Loacker Sustainable Cocoa Farming Program ensures Loacker uses only ethically sourced and sustainably produced chocolate, with the goal of 100% sustainable chocolate by 2030. To ensure a truly exceptional flavour, two different areas of cocoa cultivation have been selected: Cote d'Ivoire for "earthy" bulk cocoa and Ecuador for "fine flavour" cocoa. Loacker closely follows every stage of the production chain and works on long-term projects with cooperatives in selected areas. "In 2019, Loacker started an important path of evolution and reinforcement of its values through our unique brand promise: Goodness is a choice," says Yvonne Profanter, Head of Communication, Loacker. "More Than Good is our next step, showcasing the good choices the brand has made to achieve delicious products, while also caring for people and nature." NEW Products and Recipes A leader in the snack category, Loacker has always understood the importance of pure goodness and delivering high-quality products made with the finest ingredients. Now, its renewed commitment to sustainability is resulting in new products consumers can feel good about, inside and out. These include: Gran Pasticceria Nut Selection Hazelnut This decadent treat features two meringue biscuits layered with delicate hazelnut cream and embraced by a milk chocolate coating covered with crunchy hazelnut pieces. This decadent treat features two meringue biscuits layered with delicate hazelnut cream and embraced by a milk chocolate coating covered with crunchy hazelnut pieces. Gran Pasticceria Nut Selection Almond These pretty almond-shaped biscuits offer delicious almond cream filling nestled between two fragrant meringue biscuits kissed with luscious chocolate and scented almond flakes. These pretty almond-shaped biscuits offer delicious almond cream filling nestled between two fragrant meringue biscuits kissed with luscious chocolate and scented almond flakes. Quadratini Cheese This unique, scrumptious snack offers five crispy wafers and four layers of delicate cream featuring 100% Alpine milk cheese. This unique, scrumptious snack offers five crispy wafers and four layers of delicate cream featuring 100% Alpine milk cheese. Seasonal flavours: Cinnamon, Gingerbread and Speculoos Just in time for the busy holiday season, Loacker is introducing three new flavours in both Quadratini and Wafer formats. These seasonal picks capture the natural flavours that make this time of year so extra special and provide a new way for you to celebrate More Than Good moments, either on your own or with family and friends. Just in time for the busy holiday season, Loacker is introducing three new flavours in both Quadratini and Wafer formats. These seasonal picks capture the natural flavours that make this time of year so extra special and provide a new way for you to celebrate moments, either on your own or with family and friends. Matcha Green Tea This Canadian favourite is now available in a new 37.5-gram size. Discover the four layers of refined Matcha cream filling bursting with finely ground Japanese green tea leaves, nestled within five crispy wafers for an unexpected and refreshing treat. Loacker is also making important changes to some of its most well-loved recipes including: Loacker's hazelnut cream filling now contains 10% more hazelnuts 100% Italian and roasted in-house at Loacker. All recipes contain 100% Alpine milk. Loacker vanilla cream now contains 50% more top-quality vanilla. Chocolate cream filling has been enriched with two varieties of cocoa from Loacker's own cocoa farming program. Coffee cream filling is made exclusively with the special Loacker 100% Arabica Blend. Fruit cream fillings in Raspberry, Yogurt and Blueberry, and Yogurt specialities, now contain more sun-ripened raspberries and hand-picked blueberries. From 2021, all Loacker products will be non-GMO, with no added flavourings or colours and with no preservatives and no hydrogenated fats. NEW Logo and Packaging Loacker has redesigned its logo and packaging to convey the goodness that has always been its hallmark. Building from the historic white font on red background, the new logo incorporates the distinctive Dolomites Mountain range, symbolizing Loacker's close bond with the land and its love and respect for nature. The logo is framed by the Heritage Shield, a shape reminiscent of the ancient Loacker family crest. Despite its delicate product, Loacker has reduced the plastic in its packaging by an average of 15% and most packaging is now recyclable. The design is contemporary, providing an enticing visual of each product's unique ingredient characteristics. "With More than Good, Loacker is expressing everything that lies behind the proverbial goodness of our products," adds Profanter. "We invite every Canadian to discover #MoreThanGood in their life by choosing Loacker when seeking a snack, a moment for yourself, or baking for family and friends to share your love." About Loacker "Che bonta!" means Pure goodness! with every bite, since 1925. For all this time, we have been offering you the pure, natural goodness and pleasure of our magnificent creations. This long confectionary tradition started with Alfons Loacker, who first started making wafers in his little pastry shop in Bolzano. Really not much has changed since then: we now make all our delicacies at 1000 meters above sea level, high up in the mountains in Auna di Sotto and Heinfels, using only carefully selected natural ingredients, with no trace of any added flavours, colours or preservatives, and we pack our specialties fresh out of the oven to preserve their full fragrance. But, to achieve perfection, goodness demands more than this, which is why we are constantly committed to greater social and environmental sustainability. Because, at Loacker, goodness is a choice. SOURCE Loacker Canada For further information: Media Inquiries: Sadie Weinstein, Strategic Objectives, [email protected] The party is counting on Patel to navigate the party through tough waters during the upcoming assembly elections in 2022. In the 2017 state election, the BJP won 99 of the state's 182 Assembly seats, Congress got 77 seats. Union Home Minister Amit Shah will attend the swearing-in ceremony of BJP leader Bhupendra Patel as Gujarats new Chief Minister on Monday afternoon, sources said. The ceremony is expected to take place around 3 p.m. Patel would be the 17th Chief Minister of Gujarat. Patel, Member of Legislative Assembly from Gujarats Ghatlodia constituency, was announced as the new Chief Minister of Gujarat on Sunday by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). The decision to appoint Patel as the new Gujarat Chief Minister was taken in the legislative meeting called by the BJP in the Gujarat party headquarters, Gandhinagar. It is also learnt that a meeting is also scheduled after the oath-taking ceremony to revamp the Gujarat cabinet. The meeting, sources said, will be held in presence of Amit Shah, Bhupendra Patel and other senior BJP leaders including CR Patil and Bhupendra Yadav. The Union Home Minister on Sunday took Twitter to congratulate Bhupendra Patel on being elected as the new Chief Minister of Gujarat. Under your guidance and leadership, the states continuous development journey will get new energy and momentum and Gujarat will continue to be a leader in good governance and public welfare, Amit Shah tweeted. Gujarat Chief Minister-designate, Bhupendra Patel, expressed gratitude towards Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Home Minister Shah, BJP president JP Nadda and his predecessor Vijay Rupani for reposing faith in him, and said he would take the development journey of the state forward. During the meeting held in Afghanistan's Presidential Palace, the two sides discussed bilateral relations, humanitarian assistance, Afghanistan's future economic development and the international engagement with the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan. The newly appointed Taliban governments acting Prime Minister Mullah Mohammad Hassan Akhund met with visiting Qatari Foreign Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al Thani on Sunday. Al-Thani arrived in Kabul on Sunday to meet with leaders of the Taliban, Sputnik reported. During the meeting held in Afghanistans Presidential Palace, the two sides discussed bilateral relations, humanitarian assistance, Afghanistans future economic development and the international engagement with the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, Xinhua reported citing the state-run Bakhtar News Agency reported. According to the report, Hassan Akhund thanked Qatar for its assistance to the people of Afghanistan, stressing that the Qatari people had helped Afghans in embracing peace and stability and stood alongside Afghans during difficult situations. The talks also touched upon the importance of international aid to Afghanistan. The Qatari foreign minister hoped that Afghanistan and Qatar would have good relations in the future, the report said. The visit came days after the Taliban announced a caretaker government in Afghanistan on September 7. Qatari Foreign Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al-Thani arrived in Kabul on Sunday to meet with leaders of the Taliban, Sputnik reported. On Tuesday, the Taliban formed the interim "Islamic Emirate", appointing hardliners, who oversaw the 20-year fight against the US-led military coalition, in its new government. Taliban have imposed a blockade in Afghanistans Panjshir province, denying residents food and carrying out some extrajudicial killings, The Washington Post reported. On Tuesday, the Taliban formed the interim Islamic Emirate, appointing hardliners, who oversaw the 20-year fight against the US-led military coalition, in its new government. The new government is dominated by members of the groups old guard, with no women included. Mullah Muhammad Hassan Akhund has been appointed as Prime Minister with two deputies Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar and Molavi Abdul Salam Hanafi. Meanwhile, the Resistance Front in the Panjshir has vowed to declare a parallel government in Afghanistan even as the Taliban recently announced its caretaker government in the country. Although the Taliban has seized control of Panjshir this week, sporadic clashes still take place in the valley. A tribal elder who recently fled the province told The Post that the Taliban is carrying out some extrajudicial executions of civilians and the list of abuses carried out by the outfit is growing. The Afghan elder said that his people pressed him to leave the area after Taliban members warned his family. The eight civilians killed in Panjshir three days earlier were neither supporters of the resistance or the Taliban, he said. Highlighting the ongoing humanitarian crisis in Panjshir valley, former Afghanistan Vice President Amrullah Saleh last week had called on the UN to do its utmost to prevent the Talibans onslaught into the resistance stronghold. Raising an alarm over the situation in Panjshir, Saleh in a letter to the UN had said a large-scale humanitarian crisis is occurring across Panjshir province and three Andrabs districts in Baghlan province due to the economic blockade and telecommunication blackout by the Taliban. We call on the United Nations and the international community to do its utmost to prevent the Talibans onslaught into Panjshir province and encourage, negotiate a political solution to ensure thousands of displaced and hosting civilians are saved, Saleh had said. Taliban and opposition forces battled to control the Panjshir Valley north of Kabul, the last Afghan province holding out against the group. Saleh, along with Ahmad Massoud the son of famous Afghan commander Ahmad Shah Massoud another leader of the resistance, is still trying to mount a challenge to the Taliban. Alexandra Brodsky wrote a paper while at Yale Law School about removing a condom without consent, known as stealthing, because she thought laws needed to make clear that it is a form of nonconsensual sex. The paper, published in 2017, inspired a member of the California Assembly to sponsor a bill to make stealthing illegal as a civil offense. It was passed unanimously by both houses and is awaiting the governors signature. It was possible that existing state laws related to gender violence and sexual harm might be used to bring lawsuits concerning nonconsensual condom removal but I worried that unsympathetic judges or juries might not understand the violation, Brodsky said Monday. Brodsky, who graduated from Yale Law School in 2016, is a litigator with Public Justice, a public interest firm in Washington, D.C., that works alongside private attorneys. I work on civil rights cases concerning abuses in schools and within the criminal legal system, she said. Her paper on stealthing was not related to her current position. She also has written a book, Sexual Justice, published in August, which she said focuses on how to address sexual harassment while being fair to both sides. Her paper, Rape-Adjacent: Imagining Legal Responses to Nonconsensual Condom Removal, was published in the Columbia Journal of Gender and Law. I wrote this paper when I was in my last year in law school, Brodsky said. I didnt think anyone other than my mom would read it. But Cristina Garcia, a Democrat who represents an Assembly district southeast of Los Angeles, read it and introduced a bill in 2017 to make stealthing illegal under the penal code. It wasnt until the bill was changed to make the act a civil offense, which requires a lower burden or proof, that it succeeded. Brodsky said the only other bills she is aware of were introduced in New York and Wisconsin, and both failed. Survivors of sexual assault face a lot of skepticism from juries when they have a preexisting sexual relationship with the person, and thats always going to be true, Brodsky said. Clarifying that consent to sex with a condom is violated when the condom is removed will make it easier for victims to win judgments to pay for any medical bills or psychotherapy, she said. I came to law school having done a lot of work around sexual harassment of students, Brodsky said. How people hurt each other in different ways and not all of these fit into existing legal definitions of sexual assault or sexual battery. In her article, Brodsky writes that the law is largely silent about stealthing, but that it is a form of widespread violence and that is not clearly defined. Survivors make clear that, as a result of the removed condoms, they experienced fear of [sexually transmitted infections] and pregnancy and also a less concrete but deeply felt feeling of violation, she wrote. She also found online communities of men encouraging stealthing as a form of male dominance. Promoters provide advice, along with explicit descriptions, for how to successfully trick a partner and remove a condom during sex, she wrote. The bill applies to both male and female victims and addresses removal of the condom both by the person wearing it and by their partner, known as birth control sabotage. She said when someone brings a case, often, theres more evidence in these cases than people expect, including physical evidence and posts on social media bragging about the action. A study in 2019 about resistance to condom use professor Kelly Cue Davis of the University of Arizona, and posted by the National Library of Medicine, found 12 percent of women had been victims of stealthing, while none of the women in the study had done so. Another study that year specifically focused on stealthing, involving additional universities, found 10 percent of men admitted to having removed a condom without consent during sex. Garcia said Brodskys paper was the first time she had heard the practice called stealthing. I discovered through her work about the online community, and I decided to look into how we handle it in California, she said. After a number of conversations with attorneys, the conclusion was, Maybe we can prosecute for this, maybe we cant, Garcia said. Garcia said she would prefer that stealthing be illegal under both civil and criminal law, but our goal is to prevent as much as possible having these victims, but also having due course for victims. Garcia said Gov. Gavin Newsom, who faces a recall election Tuesday, expressed support for the bill. The governor has until Oct. 10 to sign it into law. Newsoms office has said it will not comment on pending legislation. edward.stannard@hearstmediact.com; 203-680-9382 NEW HAVEN Author and historian Stephen Darley will discuss New Haven Revolutionary War leader Benedict Arnolds trek from Massachusetts to Quebec, an attempt to create a 14th colony and deprive the British of their North American base of operations, in a New Haven Museum presentation next month, according to a release. The lecture, New Haven Men on the March to Quebec, will be held at 6 p.m. Oct. 14 via Zoom, and will be based on Darleys book, Voices Waiting to be Heard: Nineteen Eyewitness Accounts of Arnolds 1775 March to Quebec, the release said. ORANGE Transforming a 1971 horse trailer into a traveling bar that could be rented for gatherings was a passion project for Sarah and Nick Currie, he said. But the cost of doing it right was pricier than the couple expected, so each brought a brother in to invest. The Curries, who have a toddler and another child due any day now, were looking for extra income and were familiar with the restaurant/bar business after years working in the field. I love working with people. Everyones in a good mood when youre serving them at a wedding, shower, birthday party or other special function, Sarah Currie said. Youre with someone at their happiest moments. Sarah Currie, a Bridgeport native, is a surgical technician, but has worked part-time for 14 years at the popular Ralph n Richs Restaurant in Bridgeport. Nick Currie, a West Haven native, is a Metro-North Railroad conductor who has worked bartending for relatives with restaurants. Their mobile business Pours & Carriage Mobile Bar Co., a trailer renovated with top-of-the line materials is a play on the phrase horse and carriage thought of by Sarah Currie. They will bring any drink menus to a party and decor to go with the theme. The cost doesnt include liquor under Connecticut law the client must purchase the liquor but the Curries will help with ordering and even pick it up. Arnold Gold / Hearst Connecticut Media While there is room for flexibility as they are a new business, the couple said, they offer three main packages: The Belmont Stakes, serving beer, wine, bartenders (usually the couple) and cleanup for $850; The Kentucky Derby,which includes two custom signature drinks, for $1,250; and The Triple Crown, the top of the line, with unlimited mixed drinks, signature cocktails and all kinds of perks, for $1,500. All packages include insurance, four hours of service, bartenders and more. The couple said they also can offer a non-alcoholic or juice bar for kids. Maci Mursko hired Pours & Carriage for her 30th birthday celebration and said she loved the way the service took away the stress. They took care of the setup; garnishes, ice, all the bar essentials. The presentation was charming and added a unique twist to my party. I loved the special personalization of having signature cocktails, she said. Pours & Carriage were so helpful, professional, and my guests had a great time. Arnold Gold / Hearst Connecticut Media It all started three years ago when Sarah Currie had been looking through Pinterest and saw how people were converting old horse trailers, and mentioned it to her husband. Nick Currie, not one to put things off, his wife said, went on Facebook Market the next day and found a horse trailer to look at in New York. It was a 1971 Stidham trailer and they took it. The owner had a horse ranch and funny side story tried to give the Curries a horse with it. They brought the trailer back to Orange, but then they had a baby and the COVID-19 pandemic happened, delaying the plan. Arnold Gold / Hearst Connecticut Media They decided to start tackling the project earlier this year, thinking they would do most of the renovating themselves, but, It was a much bigger undertaking than we thought, Nick Currie said. For financial help, they brought in her brother Andrew Boyle, also a Metro-North conductor, and his brother, Jesse Currie, a traveling intensive care unit nurse now working in Florida. At this point, its a family business, Nick Currie said, noting he and his wife do most of the bartending together. They all fill in, Nick Currie said of family. The couple hired PTG Media Blasting & Restoration Services in New Milford and they did a fabulous job, the Curries said. They wanted everything to be top shelf, including the wraparound cherry oak bartop that took more than 100 hours of work. We didnt cut any corners, Sarah Currie said. Arnold Gold / Hearst Connecticut Media The bar trailer has a three-bay sink, and wine barrel design around the fresh-water tanks and plumbing. They lined the inside of the trailer in part with Shiplap and a bifold door allows clients to tack up photographs. There is electricity and mood-setting lighting in the bar. The bar is done in warm, silver and gold tones intended to mix well with any decorations or theme a host chooses. Sarah Currie said this summer was the perfect time to start because people are more comfortable doing events outdoors and after the year 2020, people generally are looking for a reason to get together and celebrate life, even if there is no birthday or anniversary. Its one less thing for a host to think about, Sarah Currie said of the business. She said hosts dont have to worry about how much alcohol to order, as she and her husband calculate it all and will even pick it up. One of Sarah Curries elegant touches of detail is a freestanding bar near the trailer with cucumber and strawberry water, she said. She loves doing the decor for the trailer right now its an autumn theme and shes working on new signature drink offerings for fall that include ginger and cinnamon. We can make it (the trailer/bar) the focal point of any event, Nick Currie said. It adds to the ambiance. VERNON A man authorities say was involved in stealing guns from a local pawn shop was sentenced last week to probation, according to prosecutors in the case. On Sept. 9, Judge Michael P. Shea in Hartford sentenced 34-year-old Vernon resident Damien Garcia to five years of probation for charges stemming from a robbery in 2019. On Sept. 15, 2019, Connecticut State Police took a complaint that the Simon Says Pawn Shop a federal firearms licensed store in Stafford had been burglarized overnight. Authorities confirmed seven firearms had been taken. Two days later, Vernon police learned that Garcia had been involved in the burglary and was in possession of one of the guns, prosecutors said. That night officers located Garcia and an associate identified by authorities as Lawrence McEwen on West Main Street. As officers approached them, the two men tried to flee, authorities said. Prosecutors said they were quickly taken into custody and officers recovered a pistol that McEwen tossed as he ran away. The gun was one of the seven stolen from the pawn shop, prosecutors said. Investigators learned that Garcia sold the other stolen guns to three people who deal drugs in Hartford in exchange for drugs and cash, prosecutors said. The two were processed on related charges. Garcia has been detained since his federal arrest on Sept. 23, 2019. He pleaded guilty to the federal charge of possesion of a firearm by a convicted felon on Dec. 9, 2020. He has also pleaded guilty to related charges in state court, where prosecutors said he faces a 66-month sentence. McEwen, also a Vernon resident, pleaded guilty to possession of a stolen firearm. Hes scheduled to be sentenced on Nov. 2. Contributed / Getty MERIDEN Connecticut state police are investigating after two vehicles damaged by gunfire while traveling on I-91. Around 10 a.m. Monday, the drivers of two vehicles stopped at two separate police headquarters in Middletown and Meriden to report that their vehicles had been damaged while southbound on Interstate 91, near Exit 20 in Middletown, according to state police. SHELTON As the General Assemblys Reapportionment Committee winds down and the next phase of drawing new political maps of Connecticut begins later in the week, there is a central theme that has emerged in the first three of four public hearings: voters want to be counted. During a 45-minute public hearing in City Hall here on Monday - the third of four scheduled public hearings - taxpayers and state lawmakers alike stressed the need to maximize representation in the General Assembly. But while some acknowledged that having more than one House and Senate member per town is a way to obtain added muscle in the legislature, Derby Town Clerk Marc Garofolo presented the committee of eight General Assembly members with a resolution from the local Board of Aldermen/Alderwomen, asking for just one state representative and one senator, rather than multiple lawmakers, as they have had in recent decades. The city of Derby has been split into at least two or three different state representative and Senate districts, Garofalo told the committee of four Democrats and four Republicans. He noted that since the states Constitutional Convention of 1965, local officials believe the added lawmakers dilute the clout of city residents. The citizens of Derby deserve a unified voice with clarity of vision on the issues that are important to Connecticuts smallest city, Garofalo said, reading the alders resolution, adopted last year. But John Szewczyk, the Republican second selectman in the town of Durham, acknowledged that his community of 7,500 east of Wallingford has benefited from being broken into multiple House and Senate districts. Four representatives and senators has been huge, Szewczyk said after listing positive and negatives for having several voices in the General Assembly. Weve had a lot of access. I cant say whether our residents think its better or worse. With the announcement in August of decennial Census figures, months after the usual April release date, the committee is barely getting started. But under the state Constitution it will cease to exist after September 15, when it will be reconstituted into a nine-member commission with most of the same participants along with a new ninth member to be appointed by the governor who will break partisan ties as the panel tries to draw new congressional and General Assembly districts to reflect big growth in the western half of the state and a migration out of eastern Connecticut. Its next deadline will be Nov. 30. Wilton is the largest municipality without a resident senator or state rep, as I understand it, and Wilton is the largest municipality split into multiple districts, none of which are 50-percent or more of the district, said veteran state Rep. Tom ODea, who represents New Canaan and Wilton. It is unfair for the residents of Wilton to be split up the way they have been split up. State Rep. Gregg Haddad, D-Mansfield and state Senate Minority Leader Kevin Kelly, R-Stratford, co-chairmen of the committee, said that the hearings - culminating Tuesday night at 7 in a virtual zoom hearing - have been major attempts to seek input from Connecticut residents, who this year have sophisticated tools in which they can draw their own map proposals, including Daves Redistricting and districtr.org. More than 45 people have registered to speak for the Tuesday night hearing, but few have testified to the Reapportionment Committee over the last week. At a public hearing in Norwich last Thursday, Dave Nowakowski, a resident of Lisbon cautioned the committee against splitting up small towns like his with less than 5,000 residents. Some residents of Lisbon are represented by state Rep. Doug Dubitsky and others are represented by Rep. Brian Lanoue, both Republicans. Rather than having two, for many people it feels like you have no representative because you are part of other towns that are wholly represented, Nowakowski said. Lisbon, with a population of 4,220, has two polling locations - not an insignificant cost for a small town, he added. Garofalo also cited the costs of running elections in Derby as a negative effect of being in multiple districts. Last Wednesday night, during a 20-minute hearing in the socially distanced Legislative Office Building, officials from the League of Women Voters and Common Cause in Connecticut joined a private citizen in asking the Reapportionment Committee to consider keeping under-represented communities together when redrawing maps for the state Senate, House of Representatives and the five congressional districts. Cheri Quickmire, executive director of Common Cause, said the national goal of the organization is to assure fair and accurate redistricting processes across the country. The basic point is that we believe that voters should choose their representatives rather than have representatives cherry pick their constituents, Quickmire told the committee. She said that in the past, district maps have been redrawn by politicians with little input from the public. Back in the day things were done, sort of behind closed doors, Quickmire said. And we really, really feel strongly that needs to be a public process and that there should be as much real transparency to create fair districts. Included in the new maps will be about 9,000 people incarcerated in state prisons who in the past have been counted as residents of the towns in which their institutions are located. But a new law requires that the incarcerated be counted in their actual hometowns, complicating the map-making process even more for the state House and Senate. We really want to make sure that we are rebuilding trust in our government and ensuring that every voter has an equal opportunity to elect candidates that share their actual experience and values, Quickmire said. Laura Smits, president of the League of Women Voters of Connecticut, said voters are at the center of democracy and district mapping determines who is on the ballot. If voters dont feel their vote will count because of the way their district is drawn, or feel that their preferred candidate has little chance of prevailing, they dont vote, Smits said. Voter alienation equals voter suppression. Unfortunately, the redistricting process remains cloaked in mystery to many voters. She acknowledged that the late arrival of the data has created obstacles. While your committee is a bipartisan one, appointed by party leaders in the state Senate and House, this process is far from objective, Smits said, stressing that the LWV would support a new, independent type of panel, made up of citizens, representatives of public-interest groups and members of minority communities. Staff writer Julia Bergman contributed to this report. WASHINGTON (AP) The Biden administration is expanding its effort to find and reunite migrant families who were separated at the U.S.-Mexico border under President Donald Trump as part of a zero-tolerance policy on illegal crossings. A federal task force is launching a new program Monday that officials say will expand efforts to find parents, many of whom are in remote Central American communities, and help them return to the United States, where they will get at least three years of legal residency and other assistance. We recognize that we cant make these families completely whole again," said Michelle Brane, executive director of the administration's Family Reunification Task Force. "But we want to do everything we can to put them on a path towards a better life. The new program, which includes a contract with the International Organization for Migration to help with the often-complex task of getting expelled migrants back to the U.S., is a reflection of just how difficult it has been for President Joe Biden's administration to address a chapter in U.S. immigration history that drew widespread condemnation. The task force has reunited about 50 families since starting its work in late February, but there are hundreds of parents, and perhaps between 1,000 and 2,000, who were separated from their children and have not been located. A lack of accurate records from the Trump administration makes it difficult to say for certain, Brane said. It is it a huge challenge that we are absolutely committed to following through to meet and to do whatever we can to reunify these families," she said as she outlined the new program in an interview with The Associated Press. The Trump administration separated thousands of migrant parents from their children in 2017 and 2018 as it moved to criminally prosecute people for illegally crossing the southwest border. Minors, who could not be held in criminal custody with their parents, were transferred to the Department of Health and Human Services. They were then typically sent to live with a sponsor, often a relative or someone else with a connection to the family. Amid public outrage, Trump issued an executive order halting the practice of family separations in June 2018, days before a federal judge did the same and demanded that separated families be reunited in response to a lawsuit filed by the American Civil Liberties Union. More than 5,500 children were separated from their families, according to the ACLU. The task force came up with an initial estimate closer to 4,000 but has been examining hundreds of other cases. Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas held a virtual call with reunited families last month. He made it very clear that an apology is not enough, that we really need to do a lot more for them and we recognize that," Brane said. The new program includes a web portal that will allow parents to contact the U.S. government to begin the process of reunification. The site and an outreach campaign to promote it will be in English, Spanish, Portuguese and several indigenous languages of Central America. Most of the parents are believed to be in Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico and Brazil. They often lack passports and the means to travel to their own country's capital, let alone return to the U.S. to try to gain entry at the border. Once parents who were separated from their children are located, the U.S. will work with the International Organization for Migration to help people get passports and other documents and return to the United States, where they will get work permits, residency for three years and some support services. Lee Gelernt, deputy director of the ACLUs immigrant rights project, welcomed the Biden administrations expanded efforts as an important first step," though he believes migrants should get more than three years of residency. Ultimately, we need the families to be given permanent legal status in light of what the United States government deliberately did to these families," Gelernt said. The ACLU is in talks with the government to provide some compensation to the families as part of settlement talks. Brane said the administration recognizes that we need to find a better, longer-term solution to provide families with stability," but that it will take more time, and perhaps action from Congress, to achieve that goal. The contract with the IOM, an inter-governmental organization, and the expanded effort to find migrant parents and help them reach the U.S. are initially planned to run for a year but could be extended if necessary. Well continue looking for people until we feel that weve exhausted the options," she said. This effort comes amid an increase over the past year in the number of migrants attempting to cross the U.S.-Mexico border, especially children traveling alone, in part due to crime and poverty in Central America. As part of what the Biden administration has portrayed as an effort to address the root causes of illegal crossings, it announced separately Monday that the government would start taking applications for an expanded program that enables children in Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador to join parents and legal guardians who are citizens or have legal residency in the U.S. That program was halted under Trump. HANOI, Vietnam (AP) Vietnam is speeding up its vaccination program in an effort to loosen coronavirus lockdown restrictions in major cities by the end of the month, the government said Monday. Health workers administered vaccines throughout the night in the capital, Hanoi, which has been under lockdown since July. More than a million vaccine shots were given over the weekend in Hanoi, out of around 5.5 million administered there since vaccinations started in March, the Health Ministry said. We have to speed up the vaccination program so we can make a plan to reopen the city, Hanoi mayor Chu Ngoc Anh said Sunday. More than half of the countrys 98 million population is also under lockdown. About 80% of the citys 5.7 million adults have received at least one shot, with authorities aiming for 100% by the end of this week. However, the countrys overall vaccination rate still remains low at about 28%, and only 4% have been fully vaccinated with both jabs. Vietnam managed to keep its infection rate relatively low up until April this year, with only 35 deaths. Last year it was praised for keeping the virus under control, an accomplishment generally attributed to the discipline of being a single-party communist state with tight controls at all levels. But vaccine shortages forced Vietnam to slow down its vaccination program in recent months, even as the delta variant of the virus infected over 600,000 people and killed more than 15,000 in just four months. In Ho Chi Minh City, the nations business hub and most hard-hit by the surge, over 95% of adults have received the first vaccine, but many who need to come in for the second dose aren't able to get it due to low supplies. Among measures to cope with the shortage, Vietnams health authority has allowed combinations of different two-dose COVID-19 vaccines to speed up the vaccination campaign. Experts say this tactic is likely safe and effective, but researchers are still gathering data to be sure. Vietnam is currently using AstraZeneca, Pfizer, Moderna and Sinopharm, a Chinese-made vaccine. Attorney General Letitia James (left, seated) and Senator Chuck Schumer (right, seated) pose with members of the Divine 9. Represented in the photo are members of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Incorporated; Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Incorporated; Zeta Phi Beta Sorority, Incorporated; Omega Psi Phi Fraternity, Incorporated; Phi Beta Sigma Fraternity, Incorporated; Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity, Incorporated and Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Incorporated. Max Russell said that the newly-installed high-tech controls for Russell Farms' new atmosphere-controlled apple storage rooms are key to keeping the fruit fresh. (Contributed photo) Former Senate President, Bukola Saraki has reiterated his opposition to the suspension of Twitter in Nigeria, lamenting that youths are the ... Former Senate President, Bukola Saraki has reiterated his opposition to the suspension of Twitter in Nigeria, lamenting that youths are the worst hit. The action against the social media platform by the President Muhammadu Buhari administration clocked 100 days today. Information Minister, Lai Mohammed announced the ban, days after Buharis tweet was deleted for violation of rules. Saraki, in a video, stated that the government must always look at how its decisions affect young people. When we talk about the Twitter ban, we must look at it from the point of view of how it affects the livelihood of young Nigerians, he said. Sasaki reminded the authorities that Twitter is like a marketplace where people go to sell their products, goods and engage in business. As a government, you have to ask yourself: How does such a ban affect my people?; How does it affect the most important part of my population the young people? Whatever decisions that we make, we must put the people forward, the former Kwara Governor noted. Nkechi Blessing, Nigerian actress, says the Theatre Arts and Motion Pictures Practitioners Association of Nigeria (TAMPAN) earlier kept mu... Nkechi Blessing, Nigerian actress, says the Theatre Arts and Motion Pictures Practitioners Association of Nigeria (TAMPAN) earlier kept mum on the Baba Ijesha saga because some of its members are also allegedly guilty of sexual assault. Baba Ijesha has been in a legal tussle since he was accused of sexually assaulting a 14-year-old child. The development had ignited heated controversies among Yoruba movie stars over their contradictory views. TAMPAN had also suspended Blessing after she engaged in a social media fight with Kehinde Adams. Speaking on the matter in an interview with Chude Jideonwo, the actress said TAMPAN leaders were initially afraid of commenting on the case for fear of being dragged by those they had also assaulted sexually. When I was ranting and ranting, they still did not come out. Everyone was tagging them and asking them what they have to say about the matter but nobody came out until Mr Latin, TAMPAN president, made a video and said he cannot suspend or chase Baba Ijesha out of the industry because hes not a member of TAMPAN, which is quite understood. Everyone said oh no wonder you people kept quiet, she said. But let me tell you the real sense why most of these people have been quiet. Its because if one of them comes outside to talk, all their victims will come out and call them out. QED! Thats why everybody is quiet because, in one way or the other, they are all guilty of the same thing. Because they will tell you with their full chest: if you dont sleep with me, you wont get this role. Yes! That is what it is. Blessing also tackled TAMPAN over its approach in suspending her over the Baba Ijesha saga, saying she remains unperturbed by the sanction. But for me, suspending me that have been looking for a way to leave your industry that is not favouring me, its like youre helping me, she added. What they (TAMPAN) did was pure blacklisting because they had the same issue with Yomi Fabiyi but they sent a letter of invitation to him, they didnt go outrightly to suspend him, so what stops them from also sending me a letter of invitation, here from me first and Ill be apologise. TAMPAN had claimed that its earlier silence on the case was to allow the law to take its course. The Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria, HURIWA has urged President Muhammadu Buhari to declare armed Fulani herdsmen terrorizing al... The Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria, HURIWA has urged President Muhammadu Buhari to declare armed Fulani herdsmen terrorizing all parts of Nigeria a terrorist group. The rights group, in a statement on Monday, applauded the decision of the Federal Government through Nigerian Armed Forces to launch a massive manhunt for the terrorists unleashing mayhem on unsuspecting citizens of the country particularly in the north. In the statement, HURIWA also called for the investigation of the reported attacks on a military base by bandits in Zamfara State which led to the death of many security operatives. The statement reads, The confirmation that at least 12 personnel were killed while three were wounded in the attack on Forward Operating Base in Mutumji, Dansadau Local Government of Zamfara State, is a further justification of our consistent Advocacy for the classification by President Muhammadu Buhari of the armed terrorists as TERRORISTS so the right kind of massive scale of persistent military bombardments can be sustained on these flashpoints to take out the terrorists who had earlier shot down a military jet in Zamfara State. The best way to achieve holistic results from the heightened offensive by security forces against bandits in the North-west region of Nigeria is for the President to declare them as terrorists and go after them as such just. President Muhammadu Buhari should not hesitate to declare the armed militia as terrorists given that the latest attack on the military base, according to sources, left a casualty of nine Air Force, two police and one Nigerian Army personnel. Foremost human rights lawyers and activists, Femi Falana and Femi Aborisade, will be leading the legal team for the Nigerian Association o... Foremost human rights lawyers and activists, Femi Falana and Femi Aborisade, will be leading the legal team for the Nigerian Association of Resident Doctors in their ongoing negotiations with the Federal Government. The President of NARD, Dr. Uyilawa Okhuaihesuyi, disclosed this to PUNCH on Monday. Okhuaihesuyi noted that Falana is interested in helping the health workers to fight brain drain in the country. They are leading the legal team and they have been open with us. We are being oppressed by the Minister of Labour and Employment, Dr. Chris Ngige; and the Minister of Health, Dr. Osagie Ehanire, who are misinterpreting the court judgment. They say weve been ordered to call off the strike; but if you remember, Mr. Falana had said that was not what the court judgment says. Apart from that, Falana-led Alliance on Surviving COVID-19 and Beyond; and convener, Citizens Solidarity Health Sector Forums, are trying to help all the health workers in Nigeria to fight brain drain and he is interested in helping us, Okhuaihesuyi said. The National Industrial Court in Abuja had fixed September 15 to hear an application brought by the Federal Government against the striking resident doctors. When the matter came up by way of originating summons, the vacation judge, Justice John Targema, said that the claimants application would be taken. He, however, directed the defendant to appear on the next adjourned date to show cause why the no work, no pay rule should not be enforced against it Targema thereafter adjourned until September 15 for hearing of the application from both parties. Resident doctors embarked on an indefinite strike on August 2, to press home their demands. Some of the issues raised by NARD include the inconsistent payment of salaries, hazard allowances, non-payment of death benefits, and issues surrounding the registration of members on the Integrated Payroll and Personnel Information System. The strike was also to demand the immediate withdrawal of the circular removing House Officers from the scheme of service and the hasty implementation of the circular by the Lagos State Government. Senior Special Assistant to the President on Public Affairs, Ajuri Ngelale, on Monday, knocked Rivers State Governor, Nyesom Wike, for bei... Senior Special Assistant to the President on Public Affairs, Ajuri Ngelale, on Monday, knocked Rivers State Governor, Nyesom Wike, for being allegedly tribalistic and aggressive in his pursuit for the collection of Value Added Taxes by the South-South state. Ngelale noted that the Federal Government has not been taking the money made in the oil-rich Niger Delta to Northern Nigeria. He also said that the Federal Government makes contributions to VAT generated in the country, noting that the 36 states do not generate VAT all by themselves. The Presidents aide stated this when he appeared as a guest on Channels Televisions Sunrise Daily breakfast programme. VAT is a consumption tax paid when goods are purchased and services are rendered. It is charged at a rate of 7.5 per cent. FIRS collection of VAT about harmonized tax policy Ngelale, who said that he is from Rivers State, flayed Wike over his alleged ethnic posture, saying that VAT collection by the Federal Inland Revenue Service is about harmonized tax policy to make businesses easy for Nigerians. He warned that VAT collection by states would lead to double taxation which could make survival difficult for business owners in the country. Recall that the Rivers State Government took the FIRS to court and won the rights to VAT collection within its territory. Wike subsequently signed the states VAT bill into law last month after it was passed by the Rivers State House of Assembly. Following the path of Rivers, Lagos State Governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu, last Friday, signed the State VAT Bill into law a day after it was passed by the Lagos State House of Assembly. On the same day, Lagos asked to be joined as a respondent alongside Rivers State in the appeal filed by the FIRS challenging the judgment of the Federal High Court, Port Harcourt which ruled that Rivers should commence VAT collection. Justice Haruna Tsammani of the Appeal Court had adjourned to September 16 to hear the application by Lagos and asked all parties to maintain status quo. Lagos and Rivers generate bulk of the total monthly VAT in the country but get about 20 per cent of the money made through federal allocation. Wike had lamented the injustice in the distribution of federal revenue, saying that Rivers money is not for Abuja people. FG makes input, states not generating VAT by themselves But speaking on the television programme on Monday, the Presidents aide said the Federal Government makes contributions to the generation of VAT in the country, noting that Rivers, Lagos and other states do not generate VAT by themselves. Ngelale said, I do disagree on the notion that states are by themselves generating VAT en masse and the Federal Government is trying to hijack (it). In 2020, the nation generated about N1.5trn in VAT. We have about 60 per cent of VAT coming from imports at the ports. As we know, ports infrastructure in the country is not controlled by the state governments, so they cannot say that it is their revenue; it is controlled by the Federal Government, it is federal revenue. Aside from the fact that we have a book coming from imports, we also have that second to Lagos is Abuja with about N202bn collected and the reason why is because Abuja is the site of federal ministries, departments and agencies and a huge bulk of that collection in the country was coming from VAT collected on contracts. So, when we create the impression that states collect these VATs and the Federal Government is hijacking it and trying to share it when in fact, it only (belongs to) Lagos or Rivers, I think it is a gross over-simplification. Collection of VAT by FIRS perfecting Nigerias union Ngelale inferred that the collection of VAT by the FIRS should be encouraged because it is perfecting the union of Nigeria. Anything that will perfect our union should be embraced. Any conversation, any serious-minded discussion around how resources are managed is healthy for the country, he stated. The Presidents aide, who said the VAT issue has been heavily politicised, also complained about some of the utterances, unfortunately, that have come from my states along ethnic lines etc and political posturing ahead of the next election. Continuing, he said, I really dont want to repeat some of the stuffs weve heard from the Rivers State Governor that we (FG) want to take Niger-Delta money to the north and all this ethnic sabre-rattling. That is what I am talking about when I say politics. Ngelale also took a veiled swipe at Wike, who confirmed in January 2021 that the Federal Government had refunded to the state government the N78bn it spent on federal projects. But the Presidents aide said he was not sure the projects were constructed by Wike. There are those who despite collecting tens of billions of naira from this administration in form of refund for federal roads that they did not even construct in their states and you still have these claims coming out trying to abuse the Federal Government because of political reasons, Ngelale said. Court system will serve justice Furthermore, Ngelale acknowledged that there are grey areas in the collection of VAT in the country but sought better specificity between who should collect taxes between the central and sub-national governments. According to him, on the one hand, it may not be clearly stated in the constitution but on the other hand, it would be wrong to say that because we have a VAT Act that was enacted by the National Assembly. He, however, expressed optimism that now that the matter is in court, the judiciary would serve justice on the case. Fortunately for us (FG), it is now in a judicial process and we are very much expectant that the outcome of the law will reflect the law that we have which until now, states have no business abiding in I believe our court system will do justice to the matter, he stated. The 75 pupils of Government Day Secondary School, Kaya, in Maradun Local Government Area of Zamfara State who were abducted on September 1, ... The 75 pupils of Government Day Secondary School, Kaya, in Maradun Local Government Area of Zamfara State who were abducted on September 1, 2021, have regained their freedom. The Nigerian Television Authority broke the news via its verified Facebook page overnight. Nigerian Police had reported that gunmen abducted more than 70 students in the countrys northwest state of Zamfara. Zamfara State Police spokesman, Mohammed Shehu, had said in a statement that a large group of attackers stormed the Government Day Secondary School in the remote village of Kaya that Wednesday morning, seizing the pupils. He had given the number of seized children as 73. The abduction followed the invasion of the school by large numbers of armed bandits, he had stated. Shehu said that Police rescue teams were working with the military to secure the release of the pupils. The bandits later returned five of the pupils within 24 hours. A former councilor of Kaya ward, Yahaya Kaya, said that his niece was among those released by the bandits; adding that the five freed pupils had been returned to their hometown of Kaya. It is not yet clear if any ransom was paid before the pupils were released. Following the abduction, the Zamfara State Government had ordered the immediate deboarding of boarding facilities in 30 schools. In reaction to the abduction, UNICEF, on September 3, said it was horrified by yet another attack on an educational institution in Nigeria. The UN agency, in a Press release distributed by the APO Group, stated, Of the abducted students, 23 students escaped and returned home two of them with bullet wounds. The abducted students are aged between 14 and 19. We strongly condemn this attack, which has happened just a few days after kidnapped students of a school in Niger State, north-central Nigeria, were freed, said Peter Hawkins, UNICEF Representative in Nigeria. We call on the authorities to take expedited action to rescue these students and reunite them with their families. We reiterate that attacks on schools and abduction of learners are a gross violation of childrens rights, and a horrific experience for children to go through one which could have long-lasting effects on their mental health and overall well-being, said Peter Hawkins. Schools must be safe; no child should experience any harm because they went to school, and no parent should come to grief for sending their children to learn, said Hawkins. Stec urges Hochul to use experience, influence to ask U.S. government to act The aromas of roasting meat and simmering gravy spreading through the kitchen were hearty and homey. But the pace around the long, bright, crowded room was frenetic. The plates kept coming as fast as hands could move them off two parallel assembly lines, each staffed by volunteers working elbow to elbow. Cooks kept muscling chest-sized pans of hot food to the line to fill more plates. Another volunteer wheeled boxy carts piled with hundreds of servings toward the waiting vans just outside, already pointed towards the street and ready to go. This is the Community Kitchen at Second Harvest Food Bank, and watching it work right now means moving constantly to keep out of the way of all its clicking parts. This kitchen is always busy preparing hot meals for people across the region. Now, in the aftermath of Hurricane Ida, it is in overdrive. The man in charge of this giant cooking operation, executive chef Matthew Taylor, knows the pace will not slacken anytime soon. We cant stop, Taylor said. We have to make sure were fulfilling our mission and that people are being fed. Urgent need While New Orleans itself is largely moving on from Ida, Second Harvest serves people in 23 parishes. The map of its service area is a tapestry of the states coastal community, always the most vulnerable to storms. It includes most of the parishes severely impacted by Ida, where the need for meals of the sort produced here is critical. The community kitchen is just one part of Second Harvest, built in one corner of the massive warehouse in Elmwood where the agency is based. The loading docks at that warehouse are busy, as tractor trailers arrive with pallets of food, water and other essential supplies. Since Ida, the food bank has distributed some 1.7 million pounds of this essential help. Taylors kitchen produced more than 32,000 meals in the first 11 days after the storm, and it has ramped up to making between 6,000 and 7,000 meals a day now. But the measure of the Community Kitchens impact goes beyond the numbers served, said Second Harvest executive director Natalie Jayroe. "For someone who is not able to cook in their home, that hot meal is so important," Jayroe said. "Its giving people something that provides comfort as well as nutrition for the long haul of recovery." Menu with a mission Depending on where the meals are headed and whats needed, the Community Kitchen makes boxed sandwich lunches or hot, home-style meals in individual, sealed divider trays. Taylor makes sure these are different from day to day, knowing that many of the people getting them will need them daily for some time. Then there are the large, batched meals to be plated and served on site. One day last week it was shrimp Creole with rice and garlic bread and mixed vegetables. Another day it was jambalaya with grilled chicken. These are meals of local flavor and tradition that resonate when people need anchors back to normalcy. We put a lot of heart into the food were providing, Taylor said. Its not just food, its a meal for people when they really need it. Taylor started this job just four months earlier. But he has been cooking for a living since he was a teenager. Now 36, he's been banquet chef or executive chef at a progression of New Orleans-area hotels. The Second Harvest Community Kitchen is very different from those commercial operations, with its mix of staff and volunteers and its mandate to provide as much for others as possible with the resources available. Whats unchanged is the underlying motivation that drew Taylor to the field in the first place. Its my passion for serving the people," he said. "All I wanted to do in my life was be a chef. My uncle was a chef. I saw what he did. I never wanted any other career and I never looked back. Timing is everything Food and restaurant news in your inbox Every Thursday we give you the scoop on NOLA dining. Sign up today. e-mail address * Sign Up On one afternoon last week, his staff and volunteers were preparing a batch of 1,000 meals for a community feeding site in Houma, and another 100 bound for National Guard personnel stationed nearby in Metairie. More would go to senior centers, a feeding site in hard-hit Lafitte and linemen from out of town now working to repair the power grid. This kitchens meals are distributed by municipal governments, community groups and a network of many partner agencies across the region. The Community Kitchen works with different shifts of volunteers to keep the pace up through busy days. The work starts early, with cooking underway by 7 a.m., to be able to serve people at many different sites around the area by the accustomed meal times. By late afternoon the focus has shifted to planning the next day, as Taylor considers his game plan, his resources and the requests coming in. This is where running the kitchen becomes a question of logistics and timing. In this situation, we cant guess. I cant afford to just hope Ill be able to get this number of meals out of what we have available, he said. Leaving nothing to chance has also meant the chef earned certification to operate a forklift, so he can help the warehouse team move inventory when time is tight. If I get a delivery today, it can be a meal for someone tomorrow, he said. Many hands Second Harvest was already operating in high gear before Ida, with demand spurred by the pandemic and the ongoing needs of southwest Louisiana communities devastated by last years hurricanes. Food bank staffers have been working every day since Ida, but they're not alone. Volunteers are always part of the operation, and, working in different shifts, they enable the big lift of the food banks disaster response. Kitchen volunteers dont need culinary experience, but volunteer coordinator Vanessa Cave-Herazo said the one quality thats invaluable is caring. Its the willingness to help others, coming in with a great attitude about serving others, she said. One steadfast example is volunteer Jackie Appleton, a constant presence in the Community Kitchen through the pandemic. Shes been cooking here every day since Ida. Her job is to prepare meals for the staff and other volunteers, serving the people who are serving others here. She is driven by her Catholic faith, she said one morning while cooking a batch of yellow squash for the upcoming lunch. Theres a lot of confidence that theyve placed in me for this work, Appleton said. God has blessed my life so much, and its a blessing to do what we do. For volunteer information at Second Harvest, see no-hunger.org/volunteer/. For food assistance, see no-hunger.org/foodassistance/. To contribute, see no-hunger.org. +6 A former fast food drive-thru becomes a homegrown hub of Ida relief in New Orleans East The people pulled up in work trucks and family cars with four kids sharing the backseat. They followed the yellow arrows still painted on the +5 A New Orleans culinary school rapidly transforms as a hub of Hurricane Ida food relief Classes were on hold at the New Orleans Culinary & Hospitality Institute after Hurricane Ida, but the downtown culinary school offered a v +11 Stricken by Hurricane Ida, New Orleans restaurants spring into action to feed others Local baker Kelly Mayhew drove back to New Orleans the night after riding out Hurricane Ida with family in Texas, but he didnt come back to b After releasing the stunning news Aug. 30 that they thought a 71-year-old Slidell area man had been attacked and killed by an alligator in the chaotic aftermath of Hurricane Ida, St. Tammany Parish sheriff's deputies joined with alligator hunters to scour the swamps. On Monday, two weeks to the day since Timothy Satterlee Sr. disappeared, the St. Tammany Parish Sheriff's Office said the gator they believe killed him had been captured, a 12-foot, 500-pounder that had human remains in its stomach. "This alligator will not be out terrorizing or hurting or killing anyone else," said Capt. Lance Vitter, a Sheriff's Office spokesperson. "This proves once again how dangerous the waterways are, especially after a big storm." After Ida passed over the region, blowing down trees and pushing a high storm surge, Satterlee had gone outside to check on something in the shed behind his raised home when his wife heard a splash. She thought he had fallen into water rising from the nearby marsh, she told officials at the time. Instead, she saw her husband being attacked by an alligator that "had him in a death roll," Vitter said at the time. She went to find something to help her husband fight off the gator but told authorities that when she returned, the alligator had ripped off his arm and Satterlee was unconscious. Neither her phone nor 911 was working at the time, so she got into a pirogue and paddled to where she could get in touch with the Sheriff's Office. When deputies arrived, there was no sign of Satterlee. Since then, sheriff's deputies and federal and state wildlife agents have searched for the gator, at one point even using cadaver dogs. This weekend, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service agents saw a large alligator near where Satterlee disappeared in the Avery Estates area. Two nuisance hunters licensed by the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries, Phillip "Andy" McClurkan and Eric Dumas, set traps. Top stories in New Orleans in your inbox Twice daily we'll send you the day's biggest headlines. Sign up today. e-mail address * Sign Up On Monday morning, the alligator was caught, killed and cut open. Searchers found what appear to be human remains inside its stomach, the Sheriff's Office said. The St. Tammany Parish Coroner's Office will now work to verify that the remains are those of Satterlee, Vitter said. Jeb Linscombe, the alligator program manager for the state Department of Wildlife and Fisheries, said around 2 million alligators live in Louisiana, mostly in the coastal zones. An average alligator is between 7 and 8 feet long, so this particular beast was "on the upper end of the size of alligators that live in the state," Linscombe said. But, he said, many 12-foot alligators are found each year. Satterlee's friends remembered him as a tireless volunteer at Pope John Paul II, a Roman Catholic high school that his grandchildren attended, and with the St. Margaret Mary disaster response team, a group of volunteers from the men's clubs at St. Margaret Mary, Our Lady of Lourdes and Pope John Paul II schools, that travels to disaster sites to cook for victims. "He was a rare gem," said Erik Schneider, a friend. "You need a friend, you need a favor, call Mr. Tim. He'll be there with whatever you need and whatever he can give." In a news release Monday, St. Tammany Parish Sheriff Randy Smith offered his condolences to the Satterlee family. "I know todays findings does not bring their loved one back, but hopefully this can bring them some sort of closure," Smith said. "I am very proud of the hard, non-stop work of my deputies and the other agencies who assisted, and I hope their persistence in finding this alligator will help the family with coping with their loss." In the two weeks since Hurricane Ida blacked out southeast Louisiana, PosiGen has already received a grant from the Emerson Collective and the 2040 Fund to provide about 200 batteries for clients who contracted with the Old Jefferson company to install home solar power panels. That will let them store and use electricity from the panels to power parts of their houses during future outages. It's a small solar boost in an oil-and-gas state that in recent years has made it more expensive for homeowners to capture the sun's energy. Louisiana has no more tax credits for solar owners For eight years, a state solar tax credit has helped shave costs for Louisiana residents who buy solar panels for their home. Starting this we In 2015, the Legislature scrapped its generous solar tax credit program, which covered as much as 50% of the first $25,000 spent on a rooftop system. The state credit, combined with the federal government's 30% tax credit, had encouraged many homeowners to go solar. The out-of-pocket cost for a 5-kilowatt system averaged $12,538 to $16,962 in Louisiana in 2019, according to EnergySage, an online solar marketplace. Then two years ago, the state Public Service Commission cut its "net metering standard," lowering how much utility companies had to pay residents with rooftop solar for the power they produced for the grid. (Net metering remains alive in New Orleans, where Entergy is governed by the City Council.) "Louisiana has been so anti-solar in these last couple of years, and it's been very hard for solar companies to survive down here," PosiGen CEO Thomas Neyhart said. "We're still here, we're still doing it, but we haven't had a lot of support for battery programs." Top stories in New Orleans in your inbox Twice daily we'll send you the day's biggest headlines. Sign up today. e-mail address * Sign Up Batteries can cost $10,000. Without them, solar systems shut off during commercial power outages. Despite the lack of credits, South Coast Solar owner Scott Oman said he's seen an increase in the number of customers adding battery storage to their rooftop systems, as the batteries become more streamlined and efficient. Their lifespans have increased from 6 years to 15. Where at one time 5% to 10% of South Coast Solar's 3,000 customers had battery storage, that's grown to more than 25%. "Everyone's interested. Everyone wants it. It's just a matter of can they can they afford it," Oman said. "It is still a luxury, just like buying a natural gas generator. We don't have those rate structures that make it pay for itself like right away, like Hawaii and California." A federal judge in New Orleans has dismissed a lawsuit against an ankle monitoring company over its financial and personal ties to a former state judge. U.S. District Judge Carl Barbier on Friday said ETOH Monitoring, one of several private companies used in New Orleans to monitor defendants when they are released on bail before trial, cannot be held liable for former Orleans Parish Criminal District Court Judge Paul Bonin allegedly steering defendants to its fee-based tracking service. Barbier, a Bill Clinton appointee, said the plaintiffs failed to show that Criminal District Court created institutional incentives for judges to point defendants to certain companies, or that Bonin himself was biased. +2 In New Orleans, ankle monitors, fees, donations to judge raise concerns, watchdog says After months with an electronic monitor strapped to his ankle, Aaron Jones was ready to leave the criminal justice system behind him when he w The company hailed the decision while the non-profit law firm representing the plaintiffs vowed to appeal. Regardless, the decision highlighted the more than decade-long debate over who should track defendants in New Orleans when they're released on bail. Bonin was elected to Criminal District Court in 2016. In the lawsuit, attorneys with a national non-profit law firm, the Institute for Justice, argued that he had a habit of directing defendants to ETOH, and in one case conditioned a defendants freedom on paying overdue fees to the company. ETOH is owned by attorneys Leonard Levenson, who is Bonins former law partner, and Christian Helmke. Both men give widely to political candidates, including $3,550 in donations and a $1,000 loan towards Bonin's 2016 campaign. One plaintiff in the lawsuit said that Bonin forced him to use ETOH, which charged him hundreds of dollars in monitoring fees under the threat of being jailed. Another plaintiff said Bonin ordered him to pay his overdue fees before he could be released from monitoring. However, Barbier said the lawsuit fell short of showing that the mens rights to due process of law were violated. +8 Portia Pollock's killing in New Orleans sparks debate over pretrial release, ankle monitors Visibly frustrated New Orleans City Council members, under pressure to respond to high violent crime rates, held a hearing Wednesday to public +2 Suspected killer captured in fatal 7th Ward stabbing of Portia Pollock: NOPD A four-day search for the man suspected of fatally stabbing a physical therapist outside her 7th Ward home and stealing her car ended with his Top stories in New Orleans in your inbox Twice daily we'll send you the day's biggest headlines. Sign up today. e-mail address * Sign Up The men didnt allege that there was a larger pattern of conflicts of interest, said Barbier. Instead, he wrote, their allegations depend on the specific relationship between former Judge Bonin and ETOH and therefore fail to state an institutional incentives claim. On that point, the lawsuit also failed to clear the high legal bar set for proving a conflict, Barbier said. The plaintiffs didnt show a direct link between the campaign cash handed to Bonin or his relationship with Levenson and the decisions he made in court, Barbier said. Bonin was originally a named defendant in the lawsuit, but the plaintiffs dropped him after he opted not to run for re-election last year. Attorneys with the Institute for Justice said they will appeal at the U.S. 5th Circuit Court of Appeals. They argue that Barbier didnt delve far enough into the facts of Bonins ties to ETOH. "When you introduce for-profit actors in the criminal justice system, one of the things that has to occur is there have to be very strict lines and fences around these actors," said William Maurer, the groups managing attorney. "There has to be absolutely no bias or taint of a profit-making interest." Meanwhile, ETOHs owners praised Barbiers order. All the campaign contributions had always been lawfully disclosed, as they were required to be, and the contributions that they talked about were over a period of 10 years, Helmke said. Under the facts and the law, this is the right decision. Orleans Parish sheriff's GPS monitoring program weak on juveniles, understaffed: Report The electronic monitoring program run by Orleans Parish Sheriff Marlin Gusman's office is understaffed and hamstrung by limp enforcement that Orleans Parish Sheriffs Office to end role in ankle bracelet monitoring program Criminal defendants stood against a wall in the lobby of an Orleans Parish courtroom on Wednesday as sheriffs deputies and police officers we ETOH still operates in New Orleans and a debate is still roiling over the city's privatized, unregulated system of ankle monitoring. Criminal court judges recently expressed frustration that there isn't a government-run alternative after a defendant released on bail with an ankle monitor was accused of killing a woman in the 7th Ward. Her June death sparked questions about how closely the defendant was being tracked. Previously, the Orleans Parish Sheriffs Office ran an ankle monitoring service, but that program was dogged by questions about how closely defendants were being watched. It was discontinued in 2016. Jenel Hazlett didn't have time to evacuate her family and their little zoo of pets as Hurricane Ida rapidly strengthened. Instead, they rode out the Category 4 storm in their house in New Orleans' North Carrollton neighborhood. When Ida crippled a major Entergy electricity tower and transmission lines, it sentenced much of southeast Louisiana to a week or more of heat and darkness. But the Hazlett family's 37 rooftop solar panels made the blackout bearable, channeling the sun's energy down to two thin white lithium batteries that kept portions of the house powered. Massive Entergy tower falls near New Orleans during Hurricane Ida A massive Entergy tower fell Sunday night, Aug. 30, 2021, during Hurricane Ida, knocking out power to most of metro New Orleans. Though her house was still hot - the system lacks enough juice to run the central air conditioning all day - Hazlett's solar panels and batteries saved some stress. While neighbors running gasoline-powered emergency generators struggled to refill their supply because fuel stations were closed, she looked to the sky. "During this whole Ida incident, I didnt have to chase gas, I didnt have to worry about carbon monoxide, I didnt have to worry about extension cords," Hazlett said Thursday. "The sun came to me." Hazlett's house is one of more than 19,000 in Louisiana with solar panels. The out-of-pocket cost for a 5-kilowatt system averaged $12,538 to $16,962 in Louisiana in 2019, not including federal tax credits, according to EnergySage, an online solar marketplace. The state ranks 38th in the U.S. for home solar panel installations, according to the Solar Energy Industry Alliance. But just a small fraction of that group has also installed the battery technology to store and use the energy on site, rather than simply selling it back to the grid for a discounted electricity bill. Without storage, the panels are of little help during a power outage, automatically shutting down to avoid electrifying the grid while workers are repairing power lines. Devin De Wulf, founder of the Krewe of Red Beans, has 24 solar panels and two $10,000 batteries attached to his house in Bywater. Unlike Hazlett's neighbors, many on De Wulf's street lacked their own means of generating power after Ida, so he turned his porch into a hub for charging portable electronic devices and distributing ice. His elderly neighbors' oxygen machine, refrigerator and freezer also ran on solar. "What's happening is my house is making my block, my immediate vicinity, more resilient because, to be honest, nobody else has shown up. Because they can't - they're overwhelmed," he said. Neither Hazlett nor De Wulf could use their houses to their full capacity. But the sun-powered systems were enough to keep the lights on, appliances running and fans and small window air conditioners operating. Environmental news in your inbox Stay up-to-date on the latest on Louisiana's coast and the environment. Sign up today. e-mail address * Sign Up Louisiana solar companies say most of their customers with storage capacity fared similarly in the Ida outage. And customers without batteries, while they couldn't produce electricity, saw little damage to their rooftop solar panels. The panel installation is rated for winds up to 140 miles per hour, said PosiGen CEO Thomas Neyhart and South Coast Solar owner Scott Oman. "Drive around: We've got drone shots that show neighborhoods where the roofs are torn off. And where the solar is, the roofs are still there," Neyhart said. "We had 9,000 solar systems that were in the path of the storm. Very few of them are damaged." When Oman tended to his Lake Charles clients after Hurricane Laura last year, he witnessed the durability of rooftop solar systems, which are typically anchored through the roof to the underlying rafters. "We saw homes where the panels were still attached ... but the roof wasn't attached to the house anymore," he said. Oman and Neyhart said hurricane damage to panels typically occurs not directly from wind but when flying debris or a falling tree crushes the technology. If the roof itself must be repaired, solar companies must first remove the panels and later reinstall them. Who owns all these solar 'farms' across Louisiana? The answers may surprise you Of the 16 solar power farms proposed in Louisiana, nearly half are controlled by an East Coast hedge fund with an appetite for solar and wind Neyhart's company is focused on leasing rooftop solar systems to low- and moderate-income residents to increase access. It also has entered the roofing business for that reason, allowing PosiGen to become a one-stop shop for clients. Even if growth is slow for the companies, De Wulf wants to mimic the role his own house in played in Ida's aftermath, by raising money to install solar panels and batteries on small neighborhood restaurants ahead of the 2022 hurricane season. "This hurricane has been just a real eye opener because of the needs of my community and my neighbors, and just seeing what's occurred in the city," he said. "We're lucky that we have these things, and we just really want every person to have them." Setting the rules for Louisiana solar projects: Farmers, lobbyists discuss differences in hearings Dozens of farmers, lobbyists and representatives for the solar industry started hashing out their differences Tuesday over rules for solar pro Temporary tarps fluttered on roofs across southeast Louisiana on Sunday, makeshift patches for the holes left by Hurricane Ida two weeks ago. Those improvised defenses got their first test from rain and stiff breezes on Sunday, as the residents who put them up on their roofs await the sturdier option offered by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. FEMA deadline for applications and critical needs after Hurricane Ida extended The deadline for residents who suffered damage or need emergency assistance after Hurricane Ida to apply for FEMA aid has been extended, accor The Corps Blue Roofs program, which provides a free and more substantial alternative for keeping the rain out until permanent repairs can be made, has been off to a slow start after Ida. Between Wednesday, when the first roof was installed on a home in New Orleans East, and Saturday, a little over 100 of the heavy-duty tarps had been put in place. The program always takes a few days to get up to full speed, said Lisa Parker, public affairs division chief for the Corps Mississippi Valley Division. On the first day, which was Wednesday, contractors are only required to finish one roof, but the corps expects them to be fully rolling within a few days, she said. Heres what to know about FEMA assistance South Louisianans are going to be cleaning up from Hurricane Ida for a while and its going to cost money. Within the next week, the Corps expects to pick up the pace with three contractors and numerous subcontractors on the job, Parker said. Corps officials said earlier this week they hope to be installing up to 800 roofs a day when the program is fully rolling. We want to try to protect as many homes, as many properties, as we can, Parker said. As of Saturday, there had been requests for Blue Roofs on about 50,000 homes in the state and 47,000 of those requests had been validated, according to the Corps. Based on aerial photographs taken after Ida, the Corps has estimated up to 80,000 buildings might need temporary roofing. Rolling out the program in such a wide-ranging disaster has come with challenges, as contractors have had problems securing fuel and finding housing for their workforce at a time when many others including utility contractors and other disaster assistance workers have also been using those resources, Parker said. She also noted that going forward the programs efforts could be hindered by foul weather: rain or winds over 30 mph will force work to stop. Get hurricane updates in your inbox Sign up for updates on storm forecasts, tracks and more. e-mail address * Sign Up The Corps roofs are more durable than just a standard tarping. Made from industrial strength plastic sheets and well-secured to the home, they are designed to last at least a month and keep rain out even in extreme conditions. +7 Demand for roofers, repair work soars after Hurricane Ida strikes Louisiana: 'Its sunup to sundown' Yusuf Hasan leaned against his truck and wrung the sweat out of a red handkerchief on Monday during a break from nailing shingles into a damag One of the most significant tests of that design came last year, when Hurricane Delta made landfall in southwest Louisiana, where many homes were protected by the Blue Roofs installed after Hurricane Laura. Delta was the first storm that has come through as a Category 2 (through an area where Blue Roofs were in place) and 87% of the roofs came through fine, as if they had been installed that very day, Parker said. Residents have until September 30 to sign up for the program. Anyone in the 25 parishes eligible for disaster assistance can request one. Requests for a roof can be made online at blueroof.us or by calling 1-888-766-3258. The parishes eligible for Blue Roofs are: Ascension, Assumption, East Baton Rouge, East Feliciana, Iberia, Iberville, Jefferson, Lafourche, Livingston, Orleans, Plaquemines, Pointe Coupee, St. Bernard, St. Charles, St. Helena, St. James, St. John the Baptist, St. Martin, St. Mary, St. Tammany, Tangipahoa, Terrebonne, Washington, West Baton Rouge, West Feliciana Mother of three gets blue roof after Hurricane Ida; 'Blessed to be first on the list' Ten days after Hurricane Ida shredded her roof, Candace Pepp was the first of up to 70,000 households in Louisiana to get a temporary roof Wed While they wait, Parker said residents should get their homes secured however they can. Contractors with the program will remove any other temporary tarping as part of their work. Anything they can do now, if they have a tarp, plastic, anything they can do now to protect their roof go ahead and do it, Parker said. After evacuating for Hurricane Ida, Liz Finlay and her husband returned to find their Kenner home hot, dark and severely damaged. But they stayed on, enduring the damage and power outage. The heat was the worst part, Finlay said, but she prayed constantly. It was during one of those intense bouts of prayer that she saw her lights come on for the first time. On Sunday, Finlay and more than 100 other parishioners returned to the pews of Divine Mercy Catholic Church for the first time since Ida blew off portions of the parish building's roof. Finlay called the Mass, and worshipping alongside the rest of Divine Mercy's congregation, an "oasis" from the turmoil of dealing with repairs and filing for assistance. "It's a relief coming to church, seeing friendly faces," she said while waiting for Mass to start. "You can look at it on TV and everything, but its not the same receiving the sacrament." The hurricane came just a month after Robert Reinhart moved into his new home in LaPlace, a community devastated by flooding and wind. FEMA deadline for applications and critical needs after Hurricane Ida extended The deadline for residents who suffered damage or need emergency assistance after Hurricane Ida to apply for FEMA aid has been extended, accor Over the past two weeks, the 74-year-old had bounced from LaPlace to a shelter in Bastrop, in northeast Louisiana, and back to Metairie and Kenner. He was happy Sunday to return to a church he had called home for two years. Get hurricane updates in your inbox Sign up for updates on storm forecasts, tracks and more. e-mail address * Sign Up "When I receive communion, I feel empowered by the Holy Spirit," he said, fortifying himself for the next step of Ida recovery. Divine Mercy didn't skip a beat after the storm, holding mass the following Sunday in a cafeteria. But Father Robert Cooper said, it was a "wonderful and glorious feeling" to return to their church following some initial repairs. Situated in the middle of a field, the church's buildings bore the full force of Ida's winds, losing large parts of the roof, which then allowed several inches of rainwater to trickle down into the church's lobby and front office. A temporary roof now adorns the outside. But on Sunday morning, just a few plastic sheets secured with blue painter's tape hinted at the recent storm. Deacon Larry Oney's homily centered on the pain and sadness felt by all in Ida's path, reminding his audience that while everyone should be thankful for their lives, "it's all right to grieve." "It seems like we have a lot coming at us lately," Oney said. The pandemic, the economy, unemployment and now a hurricane, he continued. "Remember, God is still on the throne," he said. "As we begin this recovery, we have to keep our head. ... God is always stretching us because this life is temporary, there's another life we're working toward." Editor's Note This article is brought to you by The Blake at Colonial Club. Rebecca Jeffries was driving through the total darkness in Harahan one night the week after Hurricane Ida struck Louisiana. Most of the area was without power. But then Jeffries saw The Blake at Colonial Club, the assisted living home on Jefferson Highway where she serves as executive director. Thanks to massive generators, the entire property was awash in light. It feels like its a beacon in the middle of this storm and aftermath, Jeffries said. It was moving to think that weve been able to bring some light, literally and figuratively, during this situation. Every day, our goal is to make someones life better. To be a part of doing it in the middle of a crisis has been one of the pinnacles of my life. Thanks to preparations that began when The Blake at Colonial Club was being designed, plus dedicated staff who remained on site for several days before and after the hurricane, residents there have had almost no disruption to their normal routines. The community was able to continue providing lighting, air conditioning, water, meals and medication to all residents, shelter some employees families and pets, and welcome new residents whose homes were severely damaged. Pre-Storm Arrangements Glenn Barclay, CEO of QSL Management, said The Blake at Colonial Clubs location meant hurricane preparations were incorporated into the buildings overall design. Windows and doors were constructed to withstand winds of up to 155 miles per hour. Jeffries said a hurricane closet remains stocked with up to seven days worth of food, water, medicine, paper products and other necessities. When prospective employees are being interviewed, managers inform them that they may need to stay on site in a storm. You have to have everything ready to go before hurricane season starts, Barclay said. Before we even build, we talk about ensuring that residents are safe and can shelter in place because that decision to evacuate is probably the most serious decision a senior living company will ever make. Barclay said buses were at The Blake at Colonial Club ahead of a potential evacuation for Hurricane Ida, but management ultimately decided that staying in Harahan was the best option for residents. When the home lost electricity, two large generators kicked in to power the sites kitchen, coolers, freezers, dining rooms, activity areas, front lobby, offices, elevator, communication systems and motion detectors in the memory care area. That meant that The Blake at Colonial Club residents never missed a meal, stayed cool and could immediately contact a staff member for assistance. Our residents were eating a four-course meal the night of the hurricane and at lunch the next day, Barclay said. In addition, a general contractor was at Colonial Club throughout the storm to monitor any damage and bring in subcontractors to make repairs as soon as it was safe to do so. Barclay said that meant crews were fixing minor water leaks and damaged landscaping the day after Ida passed. We were pretty much back to normal within two days, Barclay said. Activities and Dedicated Staff Keep Resident Fears At Bay Joy is one of the core values at The Blake, even during trying times. To keep spirits high, many normal social activities continued before, during and after the storm. Many of our residents remember the devastation of hurricanes like Betsy and Camille, Jeffries said. We wanted to help them avoid flashbacks and keep them calm. Some have physical challenges that are aggravated by anxiety, so we dont want them to be in worse physical condition because of mental strain. Before the storm, residents had a happy hour and played cards. In the days after, the activity director organized movie screenings and prayer times in the chapel. Many residents gathered in the corridors to socialize and play bingo. Staff members made their usual rounds to check on residents and maintained normal routines as much as possible. The more we can keep their routines going, the more we can reassure them and lessen their anxiety, Barclay said. I think keeping their minds off the storm reduced the fear and created a sense of security. We wanted not only to know we were providing a safe place, but also to make sure they felt that sense of safety. Jeffries said the Colonial Club staffs dedication was crucial to maintaining a feeling of security and normalcy. Air mattresses were set up and many employees stayed on site beginning the Friday night before the storm and through the duration. Some did so even as their own families evacuated or rode out Ida in their homes. They showed up for their residents and worked long and hard, Jeffries said. They did whatever it took cooking, washing dishes, cleaning. Even in the midst of tears of losing their own homes or possessions, they have put one foot in front of the other and taken care of our residents. Every one of them has been wonderful and brave. Making Room For New Residents Before Hurricane Ida, there were 61 residents at Colonial Club. That number has grown to 87 and climbs by the day, Jeffries said, as people with damaged homes seek shelter. Barclay and his staff have furnished more than a dozen apartments to welcome newcomers. One new resident is a Coast Guard veteran who previously lived in Metairie Towers. He stayed throughout the storm and was planning to remain there, but the building is no longer safe. He showed up with two paper bags filled with some clothes, a pair of shoes, a razor, some snacks and a laptop, Jeffries said. Weve brought him back to his home to gather some more personal items. Hes now in a furnished apartment with air conditioning and hot meals every day. Another new resident was alone in her home during the hurricane when the roof blew off. Since the house is uninhabitable, her family has relocated her to The Blake to ensure she has regular meals and the assistance she needs. Its given her family a lot of peace of mind because they know she is okay and they can now focus on the home and the repairs that are needed, Jeffries said. Many are taking things day-by-day, but Jeffries is encouraging new residents to remain for at least two months in a respite period. However, she wouldnt be surprised if most become permanent Colonial Club residents. Many already had a need for assisted living, but were clinging to their home, Jeffries said. When a roof falls in or theres water in the home, thats when a lot of people realize they cant maintain that lifestyle anymore. The thought of rebuilding is a huge challenge, and many people realize they would like to enjoy the rest of their lives rather than worry about rebuilding. Jeffries added that Colonial Club is currently hiring for multiple positions to help manage the influx of new residents. If anyone has considered a career in senior care, now is the time, she said. I cant tell you how fulfilling it has to have a job where you know you make a difference. The Blake at Colonial Club is located at 7904 Jefferson Highway in Harahan. For more information, visit https://blakeseniorliving.com/colonial-club/ or call 504-737-7770. Politics Reporter Reese Gorman covers politics and the COVID-19 pandemic for The Norman Transcript. He started as an intern in May of 2020 and transitioned into his current position as a staff writer in August of 2020. Curtis C. McKnight, 76, passed away on Sept. 11 in Norman. Services are pending at First Christian Church. In lieu of flowers please make donations to First Christian Church in Norman. Please sign the online guestbook at www.primrosefuneralservice.com On Sept. 9, the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) Administrator Isabella Casillas Guzman announced major enhancements to the COVID Economic Injury Disaster Loan (EIDL) program, a federal disaster relief loan designed to better serve and support our small business communities still reeling from the pandemic, especially hard-hit sectors such as restaurants, gyms, and hotels. The SBA is ready to receive new applications immediately from small businesses looking to take advantage of these new policy changes. The SBAs COVID Economic Injury Disaster Loan program offers a lifeline to millions of small businesses who are still being impacted by the pandemic, SBA Administrator Isabella Casillas Guzman said. Weve retooled this critical program increasing the borrowing limit to $2 million, offering 24 months of deferment, and expanding flexibility to allow borrowers to pay down higher-interest business debt. We have also ramped up our outreach efforts to ensure were connecting with our smallest businesses as well as those from low-income communities who may also be eligible for the companion COVID EIDL Targeted Advance and Supplemental Advance grants totaling up to $15,000. Our mission-driven SBA team has been working around the clock to make the loan review process as user-friendly as possible to ensure every entrepreneur who needs help can get the capital they need to reopen, recover and rebuild. Key changes being announced by the SBA include: Increasing the COVID EIDL Cap. The SBA will lift the COVID EIDL cap from $500,000 to $2 million. Loan funds can be used for any normal operating expenses and working capital, including payroll, purchasing equipment, and paying debt. The SBA will lift the COVID EIDL cap from $500,000 to $2 million. Loan funds can be used for any normal operating expenses and working capital, including payroll, purchasing equipment, and paying debt. Implementation of a Deferred Payment Period. The SBA will ensure small business owners will not have to begin COVID EIDL repayment until two years after loan origination so that they can get through the pandemic without having to worry about making ends meet. The SBA will ensure small business owners will not have to begin COVID EIDL repayment until two years after loan origination so that they can get through the pandemic without having to worry about making ends meet. Establishment of a 30-Day Exclusivity Window . To ensure Main Street businesses have additional time to access these funds, the SBA will implement a 30-day exclusivity window of approving and disbursing funds for loans of $500,000 or less. Approval and disbursement of loans over $500,000 will begin after the 30-day period. . To ensure Main Street businesses have additional time to access these funds, the SBA will implement a 30-day exclusivity window of approving and disbursing funds for loans of $500,000 or less. Approval and disbursement of loans over $500,000 will begin after the 30-day period. Expansion of Eligible Use of Funds. COVID EIDL funds will now be eligible to prepay commercial debt and make payments on federal business debt. COVID EIDL funds will now be eligible to prepay commercial debt and make payments on federal business debt. Simplification of affiliation requirements. To ease the COVID EIDL application process for small businesses, the SBA has established more simplified affiliation requirements to model those of the Restaurant Revitalization Fund. The enhancements to the COVID EIDL program will allow more businesses greater and more flexible support from the over $150 billion in available COVID EIDL funds. Additionally, these changes will help entrepreneurs access capital at a time when, according to a recent Goldman Sachs 10,000 Small Businesses survey, 44 percent of small business owners report having less than three months of cash reserves, and only 31 percent report confidence in gaining access to funding. How to apply Eligible small businesses, nonprofits, and agricultural businesses in all U.S. states and territories can apply. Visit www.sba.gov/eidl to learn more about eligibility and application requirements. The last day that applications may be received is Dec. 31, 2021. All applicants should file their applications as soon as possible. For additional information on COVID EIDL and other recovery programs please visit www.sba.gov/relief. Small business owners may call SBAs Customer Service Center at 1-800-659-2955 (1-800-877-8339 for the deaf and hard of hearing) or email DisasterCustomerService@sba.gov for additional assistance. The center is open Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. EST. Multilingual representatives are available. Small business owners may also contact SBAs Resource Partners by visiting www.sba.gov/local-assistance. All business owners that have received previous loans through the SBAs Paycheck Protection Program (PPP), Restaurant Revitalization Fund (RRF), or Shuttered Venue Operators Grant (SVOG) can still benefit from COVID EIDL. Somerset, Pa. -- One day before the 20th anniversary of 9/11 the Friends of Flight 93 National Memorial announced the recipient of their Heroes Award. Created by the Friends of Flight 93 National Memorial to honor the remarkable bravery shown by the 40 passengers and crew members on board Flight 93 and to ensure their story is told to future generations, the award identifies individuals who act with extraordinary heroism; show courage at the risk of one's own personal safety; and who put the physical well-being of someone else above themselves. Sivad Johnson, a Detroit fire department sergeant, was off duty Aug. 21, 2020, walking with this daughter when he heard three girls in the Detroit River screaming for help. He immediately jumped into the water. Johnson died trying to save the girls. It is believed he was caught in a rip current. The three girls were rescued by others who also were helping. "The Friends of Flight 93 National Memorial is honored to present the first Flight 93 Heroes Award to the family of Sivad Johnson," said Donna Gibson, president of the Friends of Flight 93 National Memorial. "He truly showed the same courage and split-second decision making that put his life at risk as did those onboard Flight 93. With this recognition today, on the eve of the 20th commemoration of 9/11, we remind all Americans and those around the world about the actions that took place on board Flight 93 and how it forever changed the course of history," Gibson said. Johnson's sister, Eboni Thomas, nominated her brother for the Flight 93 Heroes Award. She said he always put others first and lived his life giving back to the community and investing time in family and loved ones. "He didn't hesitate when he heard those calls for help," she said. "He gave his life trying to make sure others were safe. On behalf of my entire family, we want to thank the Friends of Flight 93 National Memorial for sharing my brother's story and connecting it to the brave actions displayed by the 40 heroes of Flight 93." Accepting the Flight 93 Heroes Award on behalf of Sivad Johnson were his sister Eboni, brother Jamal, father William, and daughter Hayden. Sivad Johnson is the first recipient of the annual Flight 93 Heroes Award that honors the courageous actions of the passengers and crew members of Flight 93 who thwarted a terrorist attack on Sept. 11, 2001. Their plane crashed into a field near Shanksville, Pa. Pull Quote More than 75 million people have been born since September 11, 2001 and have no living memory of that day, nor the incredible acts of heroism made by the Flight 93 passengers and crew members. -- Emily Schenkel The selection panel included Flight 93 family members and representatives from the National Park Service and National Park Foundation, who guided the nominations process for the award. Emily Schenkel's godmother, Flight Attendant Lorraine Bay, was on the plane that fateful day. "Sivad Johnson's story is an inspiration for all of us and I'm so pleased it can be told through the Flight 93 Heroes Award," Schenkel said. She added that it also helps keep alive the memory of those onboard Flight 93 for future generations. "More than 75 million people have been born since September 11, 2001 and have no living memory of that day, nor the incredible acts of heroism made by the Flight 93 passengers and crew members," she said. "People should know about the bravery of my godmother and everyone on that airplane." During the recognition ceremony, The Pennsylvania Society, which for more than 120 years has contributed to charitable causes benefiting the state, presented the Johnson family with a contribution in honor of Johnson's legacy of heroism and selfless sacrifice. Johnson was chosen for the award from among four finalists. The other three finalists are: Justin Gavin On Sept, 9, 2020, Gavin saw a mother and three children in a burning car and jumped into action. He rescued all four before flames completely engulfed the vehicle in Waterbury, Conn. Read more here. Terry Ingram On Jan. 9, 2020, Ingram was photographing eagles in Bellevue, Neb. when he witnessed a car plunge upside down into a freezing pond. He jumped into the icy water and pulled three men out of the vehicle. Read more here. Red Tate On Nov. 27, 2020, Tate saw a truck strike a car, which then went down an embankment in Dekalb County, Ga. Tate pulled a man out of the car. Moments later the vehicle exploded into flames. Read more here. Danville, Pa. An unknown suspect caused damaged and cut power to a Valley Township business last week, according to state police. A suspect went to the Hilltop Bar & Grill restaurant on Liberty Valley Road early the morning of Sept. 8, cut a phone wire and pulled apart a power meter base mounted to the exterior wall, according to Pennsylvania State Police at Milton. This caused power to be cut from the business. The suspect also took a key from inside a company vehicle that was parked at the restaurant. Video surveillance cameras were on site but appeared to be tampered with during the incident, according to state police. There was no sign of forced entry at the building. Anyone with information may contact PSP Milton at (570) 524-2662. Support Local Journalism Now, more than ever, the world needs trustworthy reportingbut good journalism isnt free. Please support us by subscribing. Want to get your event or announcement on the calendar? E-mail JStewart@polkstandardjournal.com. Rome, GA (30161) Today Periods of rain. Low 67F. Winds light and variable. Chance of rain 100%.. Tonight Periods of rain. Low 67F. Winds light and variable. Chance of rain 100%. The nonprofit Georgia Health News is an independent news organization devoted to covering health care in the state. Visit GeorgiaHealthNews.com for more. A new lounge is coming to Old Town in Wichita, but it's probably not what you think You have permission to edit this image. Edit Close Boys and Girls Club of the Eastern Panhandle hosted its 55th annual block party on Thursday. The choir director said the tribute was a wonderful way to honor first responders for the work they for us every day. The services scripture passage came from John 15:12-17, which includes this passage: Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends. Wilkins recalled that the apostles probably thought that message was nice, but Jesus knew better. (Jesus) understood when it meant whips, spears, and the cross. Wilkins continued, Sacrifice always comes at a cost. That sacred trust is how first responders live their lives. They live for the sound of the sirens call. Answering that call, Wilkins said, means leaving the comfort of home in the middle of the night, in the middle of dinner, to respond to people at the worst of times. We may never truly understand that, Wilkins said, but we can respect it. We can no longer take for granted that they leave their bubble of safety for us. First responders may not realize it, Wilkins said, but their service is a reflection of Gods love. First responders dedication and selflessness, Wilkins said, ensures us the very safety we take for granted. VALPARAISO Porter Circuit Court Judge Mary DeBoer has upheld a Feb. 29, 2020, traffic stop, vehicle search and arrest of a Lansing, Illinois, man on charges of alleged gun and drug offenses. The accused, Frederick Young Jr., 26, had argued the traffic stop, search and arrest violated his constitutional rights and thus any evidence seized should be kept out of the criminal case. Young had been stopped by a state trooper at 10:30 p.m. while travelling eastbound along a Porter County stretch of Interstate 80, a court document states. The trooper said Young rapidly decelerated when he saw the police car, and the officer said Young's license plate was not illuminated, and the officer could smell marijuana while following him on the highway. The trooper searched the vehicle and said he found a 9 mm handgun with ammunition and just over an ounce of marijuana, a digital scale and a roll of empty plastic bags. Citing case law, DeBoer said the officer pulled over the vehicle due to a traffic violations lack of lit license plate and crossing over a solid white line onto the shoulder of the highway without signaling. VALPARAISO This week's trial has been delayed for a Griffith man who had backed out of a proposed plea agreement in a child sex abuse case just before sentencing earlier this summer. Jason Gibbs, 45, now is set for trial March 7 about six years after he was charged with inappropriately touching two 14-year-old girls in an alleged repeated pattern of abuse. He also is accused of trying to bribe one girl to stay quiet. Defense attorney Mark Chargualaf said he sought the delay to allow more time to gather information on the more serious two counts of child molesting that were added this summer to the case. Gibbs also faces four felony counts of sexual misconduct with a minor, court records show. Gibbs denied the allegations when questioned by police. When informed a voice stress test showed deception, he reportedly came up with an alternative explanation for one incident. Gibbs terminated the interview and promised to return the next day, but he did not return, police said. He later was arrested and charged. They said students attending at least 50% of class days virtually only will generate 85% of the foundation amount for their school, while students who attended a majority of their classes in-person during the semester will be funded at 100%. Under the tentative plan, the Indiana Department of Education will review student attendance data through Dec. 31 and adjust school funding according to the number of virtual and in-person learners attending each school. "There are details about this process that we still must work out, but we thought it important to publicly share our agreement now, given that Sept. 17 is rapidly approaching and schools may need to make policy adjustments accordingly," Bray and Huston said. Students attending Indiana schools no longer are required to quarantine following COVID-19 exposure, so long as the student is asymptomatic for the coronavirus and every person in the school is required to wear a face mask. EAST CHICAGO Robert Garcia is back at the helm of the East Chicago City Council. The recent resignation of former City Council President Emiliano Perez has resulted in Garcia, D-5th, once again moving to the council president seat. Garcia served in that role in 2020 and then as vice president when Perez was elected president in January. The council at its meeting Wednesday unanimously elected Councilwoman Monica Gonzalez, D-1st, to replace Garcia as vice president. She was the lone nominee for the position. Garcia said that while becoming president of the council again was unexpected, he is ready for the challenge and mentioned fiscal responsibility as one of his goals. He said a caucus at which a replacement will be chosen to fill the vacancy on the council created by Perez's resignation is expected to occur on Sept. 25. Perez had served as an at-large member of the council since 2017, when he was elected by Democratic precinct committee members following the death of former Councilman Ronald London. "We're going to miss his leadership on this council," Garcia said. Houses are being built for $500,000 to $700,000, Councilman Don Przybylinski, D-at large, noted. Are we looking at housing that people can actually afford? Taking stock of housing needs The city doesnt need to worry about high-end housing. Those are being built north of U.S. 12, Hulse said. But the city does need to focus on affordable and workforce housing, with prices up to $200,000, he said. We want to make sure people arent priced out of the market. Identifying city-owned property that could be used for these homes will help. We do want to make sure we provide houses that people can afford who work here, Hulse said. Councilman Paul Przybylinski, D-2nd, asked about the four multi-family mixed-use projects planned. Are they on big tracts of land? he asked. If we overload an area with a housing project, we could overload a whole areas elementary school and throw the whole school system into chaos, he said. The four large projects are being built downtown. Thats part of the lure of the South Shore Line Double Track project that will speed travel to Chicago by rail. Being about an hour away will make Michigan City a more lucrative option for commuters. I have 30 people in serious condition waiting for me, Mr. Fourcand added. But I only have seven seats. Palmera Claudius, 30, lay in the bed of a truck her relatives had hired to take her to the airport, the entire left part of her face swollen. She had been home in Camp-Perrin, on the outskirts of Les Cayes, when she felt her whole house jolt. As she tried to run outside, a wall collapsed on her. Like many others headed to the airport, she was hoping for a free flight to the capital, since her family could not afford a ticket. Ms. Claudius said that she could not feel her legs and that the clinic in her town did not have the capacity to take an X-ray to determine what was wrong. Taking a break from tending to the injured, Dr. Destine, the orthopedic surgeon, was trying to get his own father, also a surgeon, to the United States for treatment. His father suffered major head trauma from a fallen roof, he said. Dr. Destine said he expected thousands of people to get potentially deadly infections unless proper supplies were delivered in time. The prospect of malnutrition, too, was likely to exacerbate the natural disaster for an already impoverished and hungry population, he said. Hauser & Wirth, the gallery that has represented the estate of Philip Guston since 2015, has leapt unto the breach. In lieu of Philip Guston Now, the enormous, widely anticipated retrospective set to tour to four museums on both sides of the Atlantic that was abruptly postponed last September, Hauser & Wirth has mounted a powerful exhibition of 18 of the late paintings that are the crowning achievement of Abstract Expressionisms greatest apostate. The new show, Philip Guston, 1969-1979 organized with cooperation from the Guston Foundation is divided between two galleries: six paintings from 1969-70 featuring the white-hooded creatures that recall the Ku Klux Klan, and partly caused the postponement; a dozen others from 1973-79, when Guston himself seen mostly in the studio or lying in bed, usually in comical existential crisis becomes the main protagonist. The four prominent organizing museums of the postponed retrospective the National Gallery of Art, the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, the Tate Modern in London and the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston decided that the artists depictions of the white-hooded Klan figures Social Realist in Gustons early work, cartoonish in his late had not been sufficiently explicated and might be misinterpreted. (This suggests that there are right and wrong interpretations there arent, just more or less convincing ones.) Further work was required, at least for label-writing and programming, it seemed, although the catalog was already in bookstores. An understandable backlash ensued. Over 2,000 artists, art historians and critics who signed a petition of protest were offended by the museums cowardice and lack of faith in their viewers ability to look and think for themselves. At first, the show was postponed until sometime in 2024, but a few weeks later, it was shifted back two years. It will now open May 1, 2022, at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. For Bobby, this is just more tit-for-tat, a follow-up to Princes attempt to get at Axe by stranding at sea the first shipment of his frozen-pizza pet project. On the advice of his star pizza chefs cousin, Paul Manzarello (Domenick Lombardozzi), Bobby buys up a bunch of Italian-made pizza ovens and recreates the entire shipment domestically, allowing his right-hand man, Wags, to show up Scooter, his counterpart at Princes firm, at a supermarket. For Prince, its the last straw: Axelrod delenda est. Chuck, meanwhile, continues his machinations against his old rival while hes not busy helping his dying father pick out coffins. Recognizing that his maneuverings unwittingly handed Axe the bank charter he had been seeking, Chuck reaches out to Drew Moody (an impressively sinister Michael Cerveris), attorney general for the tax-haven state of Delaware, in an attempt to nip the problem in the bud. Moody blows him off. I dont believe corporations are people, he purrs. Theyre better than people, because they dont [expletive] up when they get so obsessed with one thing they cant see reality. Im not sure this tracks given Axe Caps behavior, but OK, sure. Chuck devises a novel workaround for this particular stone wall, though. He has his father, Charles Sr., appointed as special trustee to Axes new bank, ready to ride herd and make life for the fledgling operation a living hell, so long as he is still alive to do so. And thats precisely the vulnerability upon which Axelrod seizes. Utilizing the secret employee files compiled by Wendy Rhoades before her big ethics investigation a while back, Axe discovers that his minion Danny Margolis (Daniel Cosgrove) is a donor match for the kidney transplant Charles needs to stay alive; by the time Chuck gets wind of it, the operation is all but underway. Now Bobby can say he has done the one thing Charless own son couldnt: He saved the old mans life. So much for that punitive trusteeship! But Prince is surprisingly optimistic. Recognizing an excess of emotion in Axes decision to cut his pizza partners in on atypically favorable terms, Prince sees the new bank as a blessing in disguise. With no one in place to stop him, Prince says, Axe will get reckless and make mistakes fatal ones. All they have to do is let him run with it, continuing to cut corners and wage war against Prince until he makes a blunder from which he cant recover. Gavin Newsom wins the California Recall Election. Follow our live results coverage. Despite a concerted effort from conservatives to recall Gov. Gavin Newsom of California, most newspaper editorials in the state continue to endorse him and are strongly recommending not to vote him out of office. Many publications across the state are asking readers to overlook Mr. Newsoms shortcomings and focus on his legislative agenda and his overall leadership during the pandemic. The editorial board of The Los Angeles Times, the largest newspaper in the state, said that replacing Mr. Newsom with an untested and unprepared alternative who wouldnt represent the values of most Californians would be disastrous. The paper acknowledged Newsoms missteps including issuing rigid public health mandates during the pandemic but then being photographed dining unmasked with a large group but called these minor compared with the good he has done for California as one of the nations strongest leaders on the COVID-19 pandemic. The San Francisco Chronicle similarly urged its readers to vote on the recall with a resounding no. The editorial board echoed a similar argument that, while he has not been perfect, Mr. Newsom is better than the alternative. It also increases the top tax rate for capital gains the proceeds from selling an asset like a boat or stocks to 25 percent from 20 percent. Mr. Biden had proposed essentially doubling that tax rate. The proposal would also provide $80 billion over the next 10 years for the Internal Revenue Service to beef up tax enforcement, a provision that budget scorekeepers estimate would raise $200 billion. And while Mr. Bates, the White House spokesman, said that the draft outline adhered to Mr. Bidens pledge to avoid raising taxes on Americans who make less than $400,000, the document suggests increasing the tax rate for tobacco products and imposing a tax on other products that use nicotine, such as e-cigarettes. That provision is expected to raise $96 billion. The document also outlines the possible inclusion of drug pricing provisions and changes in tax rules to treat cryptocurrency the same as other financial instruments. The full committee still needs to release and advance text of the legislation, and it is unclear if enough Democrats will embrace the package in the House and the Senate. In order to protect the economic package from a Republican filibuster and pass it with a simple majority, Democrats can spare only three votes in the House and must remain united in the Senate. In part because of the deep divisions in the Democratic caucus over the scope and structure of the package, Representative Richard E. Neal of Massachusetts, the chairman of the Ways and Means Committee, had remained remarkably enigmatic about his own preferences for the legislation. Before hearings this week, the committee has been releasing key components of the package, including an extension of monthly payments to families with children through 2025 and tax incentives for cleaner energy. A dueling round of commentary on Sunday underscored the competing perspectives in the Democratic caucus, as Senators Joe Manchin III of West Virginia, a key moderate, and Bernie Sanders, the Vermont independent who serves as the chairman of the Budget Committee, staked out their respective positions in multiple news show interviews. Mr. Manchin reiterated that he would not support spending $3.5 trillion, saying that Senator Chuck Schumer of New York, the majority leader, will not have my vote on a package of that size. WASHINGTON An initial group of Afghan pilots who flew themselves and their family members to safety in Uzbekistan aboard Afghan Air Force aircraft were transferred to a U.S. military base in the United Arab Emirates on Sunday, according to the office of Representative August Pfluger, which has been in contact with one of the pilots and his wife. Two other groups of Afghan pilots and their relatives are expected to fly out in the next day or so under an arrangement the United States negotiated with Uzbekistan to move more than 450 Afghans. The Afghan pilots, whom the Taliban consider among the most reviled members of the Afghan military for their role in conducting airstrikes against Taliban fighters, have been caught in a delicate diplomatic tug of war since fleeing their country as the government in Kabul was collapsing last month. Taliban leaders have been pressuring the Uzbek government to turn over the pilots, who fear for the safety of themselves and their families. The United States, for its part, has been leaning on the Uzbeks to let the Afghans leave and fulfill its pledge to secure safe passage to pivotal members of the Afghan military who fought alongside the United States. After months of cries of tyranny and discrimination raised by speculation that England would require vaccine passports for entry into crowded venues like stores and nightclubs, the authorities said on Sunday any such plans had been scrapped, at least for the moment. Sajid Javid, Britains health secretary, said the passports essentially, documentation proving vaccination against Covid-19 were still a potential option for the future. It should be looked at in combination with other measures, he told the BBC on Sunday. Prime Minister Boris Johnson is expected to discuss the decision to scrap the passport idea on Tuesday, and a government statement said he would also address the likelihood that Covid booster shots would be rolled out soon and warn of the renewed challenges to come this winter as the flu season threatens to increase the strain on the countrys health care system. After new cases plateaued this spring, the British authorities lifted its most recent lockdown restrictions in July. But the country is now grappling with a late summer surge, fueled by the Delta variant, and the seven-day average of new cases hit more than 36,000 on Saturday, a level not seen since after Christmas, according to data from the British government. Two-thirds of the country is fully vaccinated. The Philadelphia Museum of Art said on Monday that it would return a ceremonial pageant shield to the Czech Republic after scholars determined that it had been part of a collection that once belonged to Archduke Franz Ferdinand and that was later confiscated by the Nazis after they annexed Czechoslovakia during World War II. It will be the latest journey for a shield that was created by an Italian artist during the Renaissance, and which went on to have an unusual afterlife in wars centuries later. Ultimately it ended up in a bequest to the Philadelphia museum, where it went on display in the Galleries of Arms and Armor starting in 1976 as part of the Carl Otto Kretzschmar von Kienbusch Collection. The museum had been working with historians in the Czech Republic since 2016 to evaluate the history and provenance of the shield, officials said in a news release. After many decades, a remarkable piece of Italian Renaissance art, historically belonging to the dEste Collection of the Konopiste Castle, returns to the Czech Republic, Nadezda Goryczkova, the head of the Czech Republics National Heritage Institute, said in a statement. We are delighted. The agreement to return the artifact was reached jointly by the museum and the National Heritage Institute, which has promised to consider any future loan request for the shield from the museum. Early in 2020, Dr. Geller received another letter from Johns, one that startled her. He told me that he was thinking about making a painting, and since he was old he wasnt sure if he would finish it. And if he finished it, I would be partly responsible for this painting. He had always found inspiration in pre-existing images. You can start with his early Flag paintings and his debt to the seamstress Betsy Ross. His use of commonplace subjects, as art-history textbooks point out, spawned the Pop Art movement of the 60s. But unlike the Pop artists, with their Campbells soup cans and comic-book women crying on the phone to their boyfriends, Johns is not interested in satirizing consumer culture. He is a more interior and poetic artist who shows how objects can be entrusted to express feelings and ideas, conjuring presences and absences. Slice, in the end, does borrow from Dr. Gellers map, as viewers can see when the painting makes its debut in the Whitney half of Mind/Mirror. There he is: that funny stickman dangling in the sky, his body rendered in red, blue and green dots rimmed in white pigment. Other elements are no less important. The painting derives much of its power from its tarry, visceral surface. On the left side, black pigment thins and drips, exposing patches of bare canvas as well as a linear pattern (which happens to be based on Leonardos drawings of knots). Light fades. Something is vanishing. The right side, by contrast, is dominated by a hand-drawn illustration of a knee. It is fixed in place with four little pieces of masking tape that look so real you might be tempted to peel them off the canvas, but theyre just a trompe loeil illusion. Johns found the original knee drawing, which was done by a high-school student from Cameroon named Jean Marc Togodgue, in the office of an orthopedist whom the artist sees for his longtime knee problems. All in all, Slice captures the haphazardness of life, with its mix of the achingly personal (a throbbing knee) and the coldly impersonal (the infinite expanse of outer space) and no clear connection between them. The artist seems to be saying that even his paintings are mere objects, as separate and eternally silent as the maps and illustrations and other oddities they depict. After reading The Contrarian, Max Chafkins judicious biography of Peter Thiel, the secretive and Trump-supporting tech mogul, I was struck by how much Thiel remains a mystery less of an intriguing enigma than a hollow cipher. This isnt to fault Chafkin, who is unfailingly diligent in his efforts to narrate Thiels life and understand, as far as possible, what he actually believes. But contrarianism tends to be reactive, not constructive; if theres truly a there there, it risks getting lost in the incessant repositioning of oneself against a fickle discourse. Chafkin recounts a telling scene during the recession that followed the 2008 financial crisis. Thiels hedge fund, Clarium Capital, seemed poised to make a killing from the crash that he in true contrarian form had long been predicting. But Thiels employees at Clarium went too far, getting pulled into a hall of mirrors and devising contrarian takes to his original contrarian take. I found this anecdote very funny and wanted to know who revealed it, but Chafkin promised anonymity to some sources to get any number of unflattering details about Thiel into this book. (Thiel himself would only speak to Chafkin off the record, and refused to respond to a list of fact-checking questions.) After all, Thiel had developed a reputation for being both brilliant and vindictive, Chafkin writes. A co-founder of PayPal and an early investor in Facebook, he had used his enormous fortune to bankroll Hulk Hogans relentless lawsuit against the website Gawker, driving the site and its owner to bankruptcy in 2016. Chafkin recalls a source asking him why he wanted to write a book about Thiel at all: I mean, arent you worried hell, like, come after you? Chafkin is a technology reporter for Bloomberg Businessweek, and The Contrarian isnt just about Thiel; its about Silicon Valleys political coming-of-age, too. The tech industry, which is still seen by many as a cultural backwater full of socially clumsy but well-meaning nerds, is now an acquisitive and seemingly amoral force, Chafkin writes. Thiels ruthlessly unsentimental libertarianism went from being an eccentric stance to a dominant brand during the Trump era. I WAS NEVER THE FIRST LADY By Wendy Guerra Translated by Achy Obejas In Wendy Guerras writing, Cuba is a character, a cosmic force, the loneliest place, the only place. Her third novel, I Was Never the First Lady, stitches together threads of island and identity until they become one and the same. I cant live without these places, she writes. All this is me. First published in Spanish in 2008, and newly translated into English by Guerras faithful translator Achy Obejas, I Was Never the First Lady tells the story of Nadia Guerra, an artist in Havana in the early 21st century, as she endeavors to find the mother who abandoned both her and Cuba decades before. As in Guerras previous novels, Everyone Leaves and Revolution Sunday, the similarities between author and protagonist are impossible to ignore: They are both artists in Havana, they share a last name. If these signs suggest autofiction, Guerras collagelike style firmly bucks any genre. She integrates poems, song lyrics, radio scripts, letters, narrative within narrative, diary entries and notes, all coming together to form a whole. The book exists in four parts, the crux of which is Nadias quest to find her mother. Someone witnessed her being out of her mind, she says of her mother, capturing the books undercurrent of hearsay as information. But so much time has passed since then, we assume she must be dead. Still, using the money and visa from artist grants, Nadia follows the mystery of her mothers chosen disappearance, traveling to Europe and piecing together a contradictory map of clues from the older womans vast network of old lovers and friends. Image By the time Nadia finds her in Russia, her mother is little more than a shadow of the woman the protagonist remembers. Shes left her body, Nadia writes to her childhood friend and occasional lover, Diego. Shes incoherent, delirious. Her mind is hidden in darkness, submerged, and I cant find it. ... I know shes not the same woman we lost sight of when we were 10. Nadias mother is a clear metaphor for Cuba itself, decaying within the borders of an old ally and filled with memories of revolution. House Democrats released legislation that would raise as much as $2.9 trillion to finance President Bidens social safety net package through a series of tax changes, including increasing the amount that the wealthiest Americans and corporations pay in taxes. The legislation would raise the top tax rate on wealthy individuals to 39.6 percent from the current 37 percent. Those with an adjusted gross income of more than $5 million would also face a new surtax of 3 percent. Corporate taxes would rise to 28 percent from 21 percent for companies with income of more than $5 million. The legislation amounts to an opening offer as Democrats in both the House and Senate try to cobble together pieces of President Bidens $3.5 trillion economic package, which would fund climate provisions, paid family leave and public education. The House revenue plan is less aggressive than those of the White House and the Senate. Moderate and conservative Democrats have also balked at the $3.5 trillion price tag of Bidens social-program expansion. Given that the Democrats plan to pass the bill along party lines and cant afford to lose many votes, those differences will need to be worked out in the coming days. He shared 19 questions that represented a small sampling of those raised by the trade groups members. Among them: What proof-of-vaccination documentation will the companies need to collect, and will booster shots also be required? Must employees be fully vaccinated? Will workers who have had the coronavirus still have to be vaccinated or get tested? Will the requirements apply only to vaccines that are fully approved by the Food and Drug Administration? (The Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine is currently the only shot with full approval.) Who is responsible for vaccination tracking the government or the individual businesses? What are the consequences of falsifying a vaccination status? Other questions, on testing and other policy details, covered similar ground, touching on how federal guidelines interact with state-level initiatives, who will be responsible for paying for testing and whether waivers would be allowed if employee absences or attrition resulted in supply chain disruptions. Also of concern, Mr. Freeman said in an interview, is the slow pace at which government tends to move, compared with the quick decisions that private businesses are used to making. This has been a problem during the pandemic, he said. For 19 months, weve been working with either the Trump administration or the Biden administration and all of the agencies involved in this, he said. And the simple truth is that they have been slow to keep up with the pace of change. He added: All of us want to get to the other side of this thing as quickly as possible. Its not going to work in this scenario unless an entity like OSHA can move at the pace of the business environment. A spokesperson for the White House said the specific provisions of the rule were still being determined. The White House has said it will provide more guidance on Sept. 24 for the federal contractors affected by the executive order. Jeffrey D. Zients, Mr. Bidens coronavirus response coordinator, has said the rule-making process for the OSHA component will take weeks. The news release went out at 9:30 a.m. Monday, just as the U.S. stock market opened. It claimed to be from Walmart and had some big news for the cryptocurrency industry: The nations largest retailer would soon begin accepting payment in Litecoin, a digital currency. The announcement appeared real enough that several media outlets wrote it up. Even the Twitter account for the Litecoin Foundation, which promotes the use of the currency, touted the release in a post. The value of Litecoin jumped more than 30 percent before Walmart put out a statement saying the news was false. The newest thing in finance had apparently fallen prey to one of the oldest investor hoaxes around a classic pump-and-dump scheme. Someone issued a false news release, likely taking advantage of the general hoopla around cryptocurrency to stoke enthusiasm for Litecoin, which is far less popular than Bitcoin and other digital currencies. Litecoins price jumped to about $230 from around $175 right after the news, then fell back and traded at around $180 after Walmart refuted the release. The perpetrators of the hoax most likely made money in that time. Securities lawyers said there was little doubt the phony release would lead to an investigation by the Securities and Exchange Commission and possible charges against the fraudsters, whose identity was unknown. The fire situation in California is unrecognizably worse than it was a decade ago, said Michael Wara, director of the climate and energy policy program at Stanford University. He said that with the exception of 2019, each of past five years has brought fires that were more destructive than the year before it. The wildfire crisis in California has often become a political fight. Last summer, President Trump blamed California for its fire problem, and initially denied federal disaster aid. You gotta clean your floors, you gotta clean your forests, Mr. Trump said at the time, in comments that emphasized just one aspect of a complex problem. There are many, many years of leaves and broken trees and theyre like, like, so flammable. Mr. Trump also dismissed the link between forest fires and global warming. When state officials urged him not to ignore the science of climate change, which shows that higher temperatures and drought are making fires more destructive, Mr. Trump inaccurately responded, I dont think science actually knows. While Mr. Trump was wrong to dismiss the role played by climate change in exacerbating the fires, he was right that more aggressive forest management is vital for addressing those fires, experts say. But much of that work must come from the federal government, which owns about half the land in California, Dr. Wara said. Mr. Bidens first budget request, earlier this year, didnt ask Congress for enough money to reduce the amount of flammable vegetation in the nations forests, Dr. Wara said. The $1 trillion bipartisan infrastructure bill now pending on Capitol Hill would significantly increase that funding. Theres no fixing the wildfire problem without dealing with how forests have been managed, Dr. Wara said. Aviation fuels are going to be one of the toughest nuts to crack because electrification isnt as simple as electrifying, say, cars, trains or other ground transportation, said Jason Hill, professor of bioproducts and biosystems engineering at the University of Minnesota. The problematic part is that todays biofuels dont reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Thats not where the state of the science is. They can actually make them worse. To address those concerns, the Biden administration says that it will help cut costs and rapidly scale domestic production of sustainable fuels, but in a climate-friendly way. The administration has proposed a sustainable-aviation-fuel tax credit that would require at least a 50 percent reduction in overall greenhouse gas emissions, a standard that would disqualify most crop-based biofuels. Congress is now studying the plan. Corn and soy producers are pushing for a review of those requirements. In a letter to members of Congress dated Aug. 6, major agricultural organizations including the American Farm Bureau Federation called for a redo of studies on the environmental impact of crop-based fuels. The groups also urged the Department of Energy to lead fresh studies into crop-based biofuels, rather than the E.P.A., the agency tasked with regulating greenhouse gas emissions. E.P.A.s analysis does not reflect or capture the continuous improvement that has been witnessed over the past decade in biomass production or the technology and efficiency improvements in fuel production, they wrote. The Farm Bureau did not immediately provide comment. The groups demand appears to have been granted. A memorandum of understanding outlining the governments sustainable aviation fuel effort says the Department of Energy will lead that analysis, and excludes the E.P.A. This certainly reads like a plan to promote crop-based biofuels in aviation, said Dan Rutherford, aviation director at the International Council on Clean Transportation, a nonprofit that provides technical and scientific analysis to environmental regulators. The E.P.A. has been sidelined in the proposal as requested by the biofuels lobby, which makes me worry that the deforestation impacts of those fuels could go uncounted. Rather than dwell on the 17, Id rather talk about the 2020, which was exactly as it was intended to be, energetic and direct, with lively acidity, fresh fruit flavors and a creamy texture, not complex but delicious and refreshing. It was a blend of five Rhone grapes: grenache blanc (40 percent), viognier (21 percent), roussanne (19 percent), marsanne (15 percent) and clairette blanche (5 percent). This blend may change from year to year, depending on the character of the vintage. Unlike the tired 17, which tasted mostly of the viogniers tropical fruit, the 20 was a seamless whole. Like the Patelin, the Boxler is also intended for casual drinking, but the 18 was in its prime. Edelzwicker is an Alsatian term for a blend that traditionally included only the regions lesser white grapes. Nowadays, as it is unregulated, anything goes. As with the Tablas Creek, the blend changes depending on the vintage. Though the grapes blended well in the 18, I could sense the individual qualities the flowery muscat, the mineral riesling, the textured richness of the pinot blanc and auxerrois. It was simple and easy, well balanced with maybe a touch of residual sugar that emerged as the wine warmed in the glass. I thought it was terrific, a lovely wine for an offhand lunch with friends. It was maybe unfair to compare the first two wines to the Bouscaut. Its a different sort of wine, serious rather than casual, and built to evolve with age. Its a roughly equal blend of two grapes, with just a little more sauvignon blanc than semillon. Unlike the other two blends, which are perhaps composed of whats left after the producers put together their more ambitious cuvees, this is Bouscauts top white. Its fermented and aged in oak barrels, 40 percent new, which leaves an oaky imprint that nonetheless integrates well with the spicy, floral, beeswax qualities of the wine. As with the Tablas Creek, this was a seamless blend, although I always feel I can sense the rich, waxy texture of semillon. Its just beginning its evolution. In my introductory column, I mentioned that red blends were more illustrious and mentioned far more often in general wine conversations than white blends. Readers were ready to cite numerous examples of white blends that I hadnt considered. Kaycee Moore, whose nuanced acting documented Black American life in movies by a group of young, Black independent directors in Los Angeles in the 1970s and 80s, died on Aug. 13 at her home in Kansas City, Kan. She was 77. The death was confirmed by the Watkins Heritage Funeral home. No cause was given. Ms. Moore made only a handful of movies, but they had an outsize impact on American cinema. Her portrayals defied the traditional roles for Black women of her era, in action-packed or trauma-filled blockbusters, and instead laid bare the interior lives of her characters. Her debut came in Killer of Sheep (1978), the director Charles Burnetts first feature. (It was his thesis for the film program at the University of California, Los Angeles.) Mr. Burnett was a member of the community of independent filmmakers that would later become known as the L.A. Rebellion. Their movies, unlike many mainstream Hollywood pictures, humanized Black characters and celebrated Black family life, though they did not shy away from hardship. Ms. Moores characters in Killer of Sheep and Bless Their Little Hearts (1983) were both struggling wives who wanted the best for their children and husbands in a system portrayed as designed to keep Black Americans down and out. After nearly eight years of a strained and periodically hostile relationship between the mayor of New York City and its business community, the citys likely next mayor on Monday delivered a clear message: He wants a reset. New York will no longer be anti-business, declared Eric Adams, the Democratic mayoral nominee who is almost certain to win Novembers election, in a speech at a business conference in Manhattan. This is going to be a place where we welcome business and not turn into the dysfunctional city that we have been for so many years. In many ways, Mr. Adams and Mayor Bill de Blasio have found political common ground, and Mr. de Blasio was thought to favor Mr. Adams during this years primary. But Mr. Adamss brief remarks on Monday underscored what may be one of the most consequential differences between the de Blasio administration and an Adams mayoralty: a significant shift, in tone and approach, when it comes to dealing with the citys big-business community. Mr. de Blasio has, at times, fostered close ties to the real estate sector, but he based his first mayoral campaign on addressing the citys widening inequity, saying that New York had become a tale of two cities. He has also downplayed the need to bring back wealthy New Yorkers who fled during the pandemic. The Delta variants rapid spread in New York City this summer has slowed in recent weeks, convincing some epidemiologists that the citys third coronavirus wave has begun to ebb. But others are bracing for an uptick of cases as school starts. Dr. Dave Chokshi, the citys health commissioner, described the current moment in an interview as a plateau, and warned that the level of virus transmission at some 1,500 cases per day remains at too high a level for us to be complacent about where we are. With the school year starting, and municipal agencies and some large companies mandating a return to the office, the old weekday rhythms families rushing out the door, morning commutes, lunch meetings are about to return for hundreds of thousands of New Yorkers, even as levels of the virus remain relatively high. Heres where things stand: A possible plateau For the moment, the rate of new cases and hospitalizations are down from their summer peak. In mid-August, nearly 2,000 people a day on average were testing positive in New York City, a tenfold increase from earlier in the summer. The rate of new cases was highest among young adults, 18 to 34. More than 100 people were being hospitalized each day. New York Citys classrooms reopened on Monday to roughly a million children, most of whom were returning for the first time since the United States largest school system closed in March 2020. While the city reopened schools last fall for part-time learning, the vast majority of students chose to keep learning remotely. But with no remote option now available to almost all parents, classrooms will be full for the first time in a year and a half. For months, Mayor Bill de Blasio had forecast the first day of school to be a triumphant coda in New York Citys long recovery from the pandemic. But the spread of the highly contagious Delta variant has complicated the citys push to fully reopen schools and left many families and educators anxious about what the next few months will hold. At a news conference on Monday morning, Mr. de Blasio asked parents to put aside their worries and focus on reorienting their children to in-person learning. Im appealing to all parents right now, he said. Work past the fear, help your kids move forward. The war in Afghanistan wasnt a failure. It was a massive success for those who made a fortune off it. Consider the case of Hikmatullah Shadman, who was just a teenager when American Special Forces rolled into Kandahar on the heels of Sept. 11. They hired him as an interpreter, paying him up to $1,500 a month 20 times the salary of a local police officer, according to a profile of him in The New Yorker. By his late 20s, he owned a trucking company that supplied U.S. military bases, earning him more than $160 million. If a small fry like Shadman could get so rich off the war on terror, imagine how much Gul Agha Sherzai, a big-time warlord-turned-governor, has raked in since he helped the C.I.A. run the Taliban out of town. His large extended family supplied everything from gravel to furniture to the military base in Kandahar. His brother controlled the airport. Nobody knows how much he is worth, but it is clearly hundreds of millions enough for him to talk about a $40,000 shopping spree in Germany as if he were spending pocket change. Look under the hood of the good war, and this is what you see. Afghanistan was supposed to be an honorable war to neutralize terrorists and rescue girls from the Taliban. It was supposed to be a war that we woulda coulda shoulda won, had it not been for the distraction of Iraq and the hopeless corruption of the Afghan government. But lets get real. Corruption wasnt a design flaw in the war. It was a design feature. We didnt topple the Taliban. We paid warlords bags of cash to do it. To the Editor: Re Bidens Orders Deepen Conflicts Over Vaccines; G.O.P. Vows Legal Fight (front page, Sept. 11): Sitting silently in her Manhattan apartment, my sister and I watched the twin towers turn to dust. Like all Americans, I would give anything to be able to fly backward around the world like Superman, to rewind time, to tell the pilots not to take off, the passengers not to board and the commuters to stay home. Twenty years later, about the same number of Americans die of Covid-19 every 48 hours as were taken on Sept. 11. Like the attack, Covid-19 kills indiscriminately, irrespective of party or ideology. Unlike the attack, however, we still have the power to affect the outcome. I beg my fellow Americans to summon again the fellow feeling that coursed through the body politic in the months after Sept. 11. Heed President Bidens call to get vaccinated. Do it out of a duty to strengthen the nation and love thy neighbor. No, Sept. 11 cannot be undone. But when it comes to the pandemic, we may yet fly backward, change the ending and save lives. When to do so is possible, not to do so is unconscionable. As in the old days, the products transported in the ships 20,000-pound hold are limited (nothing that requires refrigeration, nothing too perishable), and the logistics unpredictable (they are subject to factors as mercurial as the breeze and as difficult to navigate as the port politics of municipal slip rental in upstate New Yorks small waterfront communities). But Mr. Merrett and his partners are hoping to provide a model for the future. Were providing a counternarrative to that dominant narrative of more, better, faster, said one of the partners, Ben Ezinga, 42. He previously worked with Mr. Merrett converting car engines to run on vegetable oil in Oberlin, Ohio. Some things need to be overnighted; most things dont. Theres an incredible carbon footprint to that speed. Were giving people a way to think about that. Downstream Benefits Consumers may feel virtuous buying stuff that hasnt been overnighted, but some producers say it is simply good for business. Dennis Nesel, a 61-year-old maltster in the town of Hudson, said he was dead serious about this method of shipping his local malt to beer makers in the area. Shipping today, post-Covid, is a nightmare, he said. With tractor-trailers picking up our freight, sometimes the stuff that we have scheduled to go to Brooklyn ends up in Herkimer or Syracuse, and the stuff that was supposed to go to Syracuse ends up in Brooklyn. That doesnt happen with the Apollonia. Laura Webster, a 35-year-old entrepreneur who makes hot sauce, uses the Apollonia to send her fermented, probiotic pepper products downriver from Hudson. For all the effort her Poor Devil Pepper Company puts into ecologically responsible practices like sourcing from regenerative-focused farms and making zero-waste packaging from upcycled pepper pulp she said adding wind-powered shipping to her distribution methods was a no-brainer. Leonidas Trampoukis, 39, who, along with his wife, Eleni Petaloti, also 39, runs the architecture office LOT and the design firm Objects of Common Interest, was also in the crowd. The couple have for some time worked out of a studio in Brooklyn but five years ago opened another in central Athens. It was the idea of being closer to their preferred makers and fabricators that drew them to Greece. Now, they are building a production studio in an 8,000-square-foot former factory a few blocks northeast of Rodeo that will focus on a unique technique for casting acrylic. We were looking everywhere for a big, affordable raw industrial space and we decided on Piraeus because of the vibe and the community, Trampoukis explained. They hope to collaborate with local makers, experiment with larger-scale work and possibly fabricate pieces for other designers and artists. This month, a solo show of their sculptural wood-and-acrylic tube lights is up at Carwan, an avant-garde design gallery that relocated last year from Beirut to a late-19th-century commercial warehouse next door to Rodeo. Nicolas Bellavance-Lecompte, 41, who co-owns the space with his business partner, the French architect Quentin Moyse, 33, had been contemplating Athens as a possible home for the gallery since visiting the city during Documenta; he found that the industrial architectural landscape and the animated, transitory atmosphere of Piraeus, in particular, reminded him of Beiruts port. We were very fortunate that we moved out at the end of 2019 before the explosion there, said Bellavance-Lecompte, but we already felt a crisis coming and at the same time, our client base was becoming more and more global. Collectors have found Greece easier to reach than Lebanon, and shipping works in and out of the country has proved more straightforward. Apple issued emergency software updates for a critical vulnerability in its products on Monday after security researchers uncovered a flaw that allows highly invasive spyware from Israels NSO Group to infect anyones iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch or Mac computer without so much as a click. Apples security team had worked around the clock to develop a fix since Tuesday, after researchers at Citizen Lab, a cybersecurity watchdog organization at the University of Toronto, discovered that a Saudi activists iPhone had been infected with an advanced form of spyware from NSO. The spyware, called Pegasus, used a novel method to invisibly infect Apple devices without victims knowledge. Known as a zero click remote exploit, it is considered the Holy Grail of surveillance because it allows governments, mercenaries and criminals to secretly break into someones device without tipping the victim off. Using the zero-click infection method, Pegasus can turn on a users camera and microphone, record messages, texts, emails, calls even those sent via encrypted messaging and phone apps like Signal and send them back to NSOs clients at governments around the world. SAN FRANCISCO When Pinterest went public in 2019, Christine Martinezs friends sent congratulations. She had worked closely with the founders of the digital pinboard in its earliest days, and her friends thought she would get rich alongside them. But as Pinterests stock price rose, turning its founders into billionaires, Ms. Martinez realized she would not be compensated or credited for her contributions, she said. On Monday, she sued. In a lawsuit filed in Alameda County Superior Court, Ms. Martinez accused Ben Silbermann and Paul Sciarra, two of Pinterests three co-founders, of breach of implied contract, idea theft, unjust enrichment and unfair business practices. Ms. Martinez created Pinterest alongside Mr. Silbermann and Mr. Sciarra, the lawsuit said, contributing ideas that were core organizing concepts, such as organizing images on boards and enabling e-commerce. Ms. Martinez, 40, was never formally employed by Pinterest, nor did she ask for a contract. She was not given stock, though she said Pinterests founders had verbally agreed to compensate her many times. Thats because many districts are following guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which is more lenient on who needs to quarantine in K-12 schools than in other settings. Inside schools, only unvaccinated children who are less than six feet away and unmasked, or less than three feet away and masked, need to quarantine, and only if they were exposed for more than 15 minutes over the course of a day, according to the C.D.C. Since most districts are requiring masks and aiming for three feet of distance, its less likely that even students in the same classroom qualify. Public health experts have said this is safe, especially when balancing the risks of keeping children out of school for more time. I think that we should let the exposed kids come to school, if they were effectively wearing their masks, said Dr. Danielle Zerr, division chief of pediatric infectious disease at Seattle Childrens Hospital, who said that masks and vaccines for all eligible people in students lives were most important for Covid prevention in schools. Dr. Jeanne Noble, director of the Covid response at the University of California, San Francisco, agreed, and said quarantines should not occur at all: We should allow close contacts to remain in school, masked and with rapid antigen testing every few days. As a result of the guidance, quarantines have been relatively rare in many places. In Denver Public Schools 0.4 percent of students are quarantined, according to the latest data. In Nashville, where the infection rate is four times that in Denver, 4.3 percent of public school students are quarantined. Both school systems started in August. In fewer than 48 hours, well most likely know who is going to be running the nations most populous state next year. In case you need a refresher: On Tuesday evening, polls close in the election that asks Californians whether Gov. Gavin Newsom should be removed from office and, if so, who should replace him. If Newsom is recalled, the person who takes his seat would serve the remainder of his term, set to end in January 2023. It probably goes without saying, but this election is a big deal. Newsoms possible ouster is only the fourth recall of a governor to make the ballot in U.S. history. It has the potential to put a Republican at the helm of a heavily Democratic state that hasnt elected a Republican governor since 2006. And the election, as Im sure you havent forgotten, comes as our state is grappling with a pandemic, historic drought, housing crisis and much more. Heres where things stand on election eve: Newsoms lead in the polls appears to be growing For Newsom to keep his job, more than half of voters must mark no on the question of whether he should be recalled from office. Who needs a booster shot? Do Americans need coronavirus vaccine boosters, and if so, when? The Biden administration has proposed booster shots for adults who had received their initial doses at least eight months ago, to be rolled out beginning Sept. 20. But many scientists are against the plan, saying that the original vaccine regimen continues to offer powerful protection against severe illness and hospitalization. In a review published today, a group of scientists put it even more bluntly: They argue in the journal The Lancet that none of the data on vaccines so far provides credible evidence in support of boosters for the general population. The 18 experts said that the benefits of boosters do not justify letting billions of people worldwide go unvaccinated, especially since that could lead to the rise of more virulent variants. Boosters may be advisable in some people with weak immune systems, they concluded, but are not yet needed for the general population. The authors include Dr. Philip Krause and Dr. Marion Gruber, F.D.A. scientists who recently announced that they would be leaving the agency, in part because they disagreed with the Biden administrations push for boosters. The high-profile departures were one of the latest examples of the growing tension within the federal government over the booster plan. Follow the latest on Tropical Storm Nicholas. NEW ORLEANS Even as blue tarps cover damaged roofs across Louisiana and more than 100,000 people remain without power, a new tropical storm in the Gulf of Mexico is expected to bring more wind and rain, most likely slowing the states recovery from Hurricane Ida and threatening residents who are already vulnerable. Louisianans are dreading the arrival of Tropical Storm Nicholas, which is expected to hit Texas on Monday morning and then push northeast along the Louisiana coast on Monday night, just over two weeks after Hurricane Ida tore through the state. Forecasters say that more than a foot of rain could drench some areas. The neighbors and all of us, were feeling pretty anxious watching this other depression out there, said Valerie Williams, as she nervously watched the cloudy skies on Sunday afternoon from her home in Luling, about 30 minutes west of New Orleans. Her husband and son installed a tarp on her roof after Hurricane Idas winds damaged it. We dont need another one we really dont, she said. Ida left New Orleans without power for more than 50 hours. Power has been restored in all but a sliver of the city, but roughly 118,000 electric customers outside New Orleans are still in the dark. The Taliban has agreed to refuse refuge to terrorist groups as a condition of the U.S. military withdrawal, which the Trump administration brokered in February 2020. But it is widely believed that Al Qaedas most senior leader, Ayman al-Zawahri, is living in Afghanistan, and top C.I.A. officials, including William J. Burns, the agencys director, have acknowledged that their ability to gather information on terrorist activity there is now diminished. Ahead of Mr. Blinkens testimony, the Biden administrations top intelligence official said Afghanistan was not the most pressing terrorism threat for the United States, even after the Talibans takeover. Avril D. Haines, the director of national intelligence, said the withdrawal of American troops and the collapse of the U.S.-backed government have created challenges for collecting intelligence in the country. But, she said, in terms of the homeland, the threat right now from terrorist groups, we dont prioritize at the top of the list Afghanistan. Her comments underscored a tenet of Mr. Bidens decision to leave: that the enduring conflict in Afghanistan had become a distraction from more immediate threats to the United States, like China, Russia, climate change and the coronavirus. Given that strategy, the overall decision to withdraw from Afghanistan made good sense, said James F. Jeffrey, a former ambassador who worked closely with Mr. Blinken and other senior officials during the Obama administration and is now chair of the Middle East Program at the Wilson Center, a think tank in Washington. But, Mr. Jeffrey said, the preparations for this thing, and the failure of imagination on how fast it would happen and how complete the collapse thats a problem that you have to point to the administration on. The diplomatic effort that Mr. Blinken vowed would continue largely focuses on pressuring the Taliban to ensure safe passage for people who want to leave Afghanistan, and to protect Afghan women and girls who were denied educations and jobs, and in worst cases, brutalized, when the Taliban last ruled, from l996 to 2001. On Monday, he acknowledged that the Taliban had fallen very short of the mark in creating a government that includes women or ethnic minorities, as many countries have demanded. Emilys List, the fund-raising powerhouse that has helped elect hundreds of women who support abortion rights, has chosen Laphonza Butler, a former union leader and well-connected Democratic strategist in California, as its next president. Ms. Butler, 42, who grew up in Southern Mississippi, will be the first woman of color and the first mother to lead the organization, one of the nations most influential political action committees. She will take over Emilys List at a particularly fraught time, with Democrats facing the dual challenges of a difficult midterm election and the most fundamental and widespread threats to abortion rights since the Supreme Court established a constitutional right to abortion in Roe v. Wade in 1973. In an interview, Ms. Butler said she believed that new abortion restrictions enacted in Texas and looming in other states would energize Democratic women, providing both a wake-up call and a potent line of attack for candidates backed by Emilys List. The rulings appear to provide social media companies additional protections for making decisions on moderating content related to elections as long as such choices are in service of a companys commercial interests. Federal election law is decades old and is broadly outdated, so decisions by the election commission serve as influential guideposts. Campaign finance law does not account for the post-broadcast world and puts few restrictions on the behavior of social media firms, said Ciara Torres-Spelliscy, a law professor at Stetson University. There is a real mismatch between our federal campaign finance laws and how campaigns are run. Still, the Republican National Committees complaint stretched the boundaries of campaign finance law, she added. The choice to delete or suppress certain content on the platform is ultimately going to be viewed through the lens of the First Amendment, Ms. Torres-Spelliscy said. I dont think that type of content moderation by the big platforms is going to raise a campaign finance issue. Some Republicans are seeking to take a broader cudgel to the big internet companies, aiming to repeal a provision of communications law that shields them from liability for what users post. In the case of the Hunter Biden article, Twitter reversed course within a day of its decision to block distribution of the piece, and its chief executive, Jack Dorsey, has called the initial move a mistake. The Federal Election Commissions official vote on the case the commission is split equally between three Democratic-aligned commissioners and three Republicans is not yet public, nor are any additional statements written by commissioners. Such statements often accompany the closure of cases and can provide further insight into the commissions reasoning. In addition to rejecting the R.N.C. complaint, the commission dismissed other allegations that Twitter had violated election laws by shadow banning Republican users (or appearing to limit the visibility of their posts without providing an explanation); suppressing other anti-Biden content; and labeling Mr. Trumps tweets with warnings about their accuracy. The commission rejected those accusations, writing that they were vague, speculative and unsupported by the available information. Im not going to put a date on it, he told reporters, but we are getting closer to the point at which a strict return to compliance with the old deal does not reproduce the benefits that agreement achieved. He said that as time goes on and as Iran continues to make advances in its nuclear program, including spinning more sophisticated centrifuges, enriching more material, learning more, there is a point at which it would be very difficult to regain all of the benefits of the restrictions Iran agreed to six years ago. Were not at that point yet, but its getting closer, he added. The next few weeks are regarded as critical. The opening of the United Nations General Assembly is traditionally a moment for back-room diplomacy, especially on Iran, and officials of the new Iranian government, including the new foreign minister, Hossein Amir Abdollahian, are expected to make debut appearances. Considered a hard-liner, the 56-year-old Mr. Amir Abdollahian has indicated a willingness to renew the agreement but on terms that the new government can say are vastly improved. Outside experts say that both Iran and North Korea, which fired a new cruise missile on Sunday that demonstrated an ability to avoid missile defenses, see this as a moment to test the Biden administration. Theres an eerie similarity between what were seeing in Iran with enrichment and in North Korea with the cruise missile test, said Rose Gottemoeller, a former arms control official in several administrations who now works at Stanford University. Theyre both trying to set the negotiating table in their favor as the Biden administration finally turns to them. On Sunday, Iranian officials reached a temporary agreement with the director-general of the International Atomic Energy Agency, Rafael M. Grossi, to let the agency reset monitoring devices that help measure the progress of the countrys nuclear program. In recent months, agency inspectors have been blinded in their efforts to monitor some facilities, a growing source of concern to American officials, who fear that nuclear material could be diverted. The accord heads off an immediate inspection crisis, assuming the inspectors are allowed to gain access to their cameras and other equipment and get them operating again. But it does not address the countrys drive to restore its uranium production and to enrich at levels far higher, and thus far closer to bomb-grade material, than it did before 2015. FORT MEADE, Md. The new judge presiding in the Sept. 11, 2001, case at Guantanamo Bay said on Monday that the trial of the five men accused of plotting the attacks would not begin for at least another year. The judge, Col. Matthew N. McCall, who took over the case last month, was holding his second week of pretrial hearings at the U.S. naval base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, after a delay of more than a year and half caused by the pandemic. The timeline set by the judge on Monday would mean the trial of the five men, including the accused mastermind of the plot, Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, would not get underway until more than 21 years after hijacked jetliners crashed into the twin towers of the World Trade Center, the Pentagon and a field in Shanksville, Pa. Colonel McCall was ruling on objections by defense lawyers for two of the defendants, Walid bin Attash and Ramzi bin al-Shibh. The lawyers questioned his qualifications to preside in a death-penalty case because he had not read the filings and court record stretching back to the arraignment of the defendants in May 2012, including the 33,660-page transcript. [explosion] In one of the final acts of its 20-year war in Afghanistan, the United States fired a missile from a drone at a car in Kabul. It was parked in the courtyard of a home, and the explosion killed 10 people, including 43-year-old Zemari Ahmadi and seven children, according to his family. The Pentagon claimed that Ahmadi was a facilitator for the Islamic State, and that his car was packed with explosives, posing an imminent threat to U.S. troops guarding the evacuation at the Kabul airport. The procedures were correctly followed, and it was a righteous strike. What the military apparently didnt know was that Ahmadi was a longtime aid worker, who colleagues and family members said spent the hours before he died running office errands, and ended his day by pulling up to his house. Soon after, his Toyota was hit with a 20-pound Hellfire missile. What was interpreted as the suspicious moves of a terrorist may have just been an average day in his life. And its possible that what the military saw Ahmadi loading into his car were water canisters he was bringing home to his family not explosives. Using never-before seen security camera footage of Ahmadi, interviews with his family, co-workers and witnesses, we will piece together for the first time his movements in the hours before he was killed. Zemari Ahmadi was an electrical engineer by training. For 14 years, he had worked for the Kabul office of Nutrition and Education International. NEI established a total of 11 soybean processing plants in Afghanistan. Its a California based NGO that fights malnutrition. On most days, he drove one of the companys white Toyota corollas, taking his colleagues to and from work and distributing the NGOs food to Afghans displaced by the war. Only three days before Ahmadi was killed, 13 U.S. troops and more than 170 Afghan civilians died in an Islamic State suicide attack at the airport. The military had given lower-level commanders the authority to order airstrikes earlier in the evacuation, and they were bracing for what they feared was another imminent attack. To reconstruct Ahmadis movements on Aug. 29, in the hours before he was killed, The Times pieced together the security camera footage from his office, with interviews with more than a dozen of Ahmadis colleagues and family members. Ahmadi appears to have left his home around 9 a.m. He then picked up a colleague and his bosss laptop near his house. Its around this time that the U.S. military claimed it observed a white sedan leaving an alleged Islamic State safehouse, around five kilometers northwest of the airport. Thats why the U.S. military said they tracked Ahmadis Corolla that day. They also said they intercepted communications from the safehouse, instructing the car to make several stops. But every colleague who rode with Ahmadi that day said what the military interpreted as a series of suspicious moves was just a typical day in his life. After Ahmadi picked up another colleague, the three stopped to get breakfast, and at 9:35 a.m., they arrived at the N.G.O.s office. Later that morning, Ahmadi drove some of his co-workers to a Taliban-occupied police station to get permission for future food distribution at a new displacement camp. At around 2 p.m., Ahmadi and his colleagues returned to the office. The security camera footage we obtained from the office is crucial to understanding what happens next. The cameras timestamp is off, but we went to the office and verified the time. We also matched an exact scene from the footage with a timestamp satellite image to confirm it was accurate. A 2:35 p.m., Ahmadi pulls out a hose, and then he and a co-worker fill empty containers with water. Earlier that morning, we saw Ahmadi bring these same empty plastic containers to the office. There was a water shortage in his neighborhood, his family said, so he regularly brought water home from the office. At around 3:38 p.m., a colleague moves Ahmadis car further into the driveway. A senior U.S. official told us that at roughly the same time, the military saw Ahmadis car pull into an unknown compound 8 to 12 kilometers southwest of the airport. That overlaps with the location of the NGOs office, which we believe is what the military called an unknown compound. With the workday ending, an employee switched off the office generator and the feed from the camera ends. We dont have footage of the moments that followed. But its at this time, the military said that its drone feed showed four men gingerly loading wrapped packages into the car. Officials said they couldnt tell what was inside them. This footage from earlier in the day shows what the men said they were carrying their laptops one in a plastic shopping bag. And the only things in the trunk, Ahmadis co-workers said, were the water containers. Ahmadi dropped each one of them off, then drove to his home in a dense neighborhood near the airport. He backed into the homes small courtyard. Children surrounded the car, according to his brother. A U.S. official said the military feared the car would leave again, and go into an even more crowded street or to the airport itself. The drone operators, who hadnt been watching Ahmadis home at all that day, quickly scanned the courtyard and said they saw only one adult male talking to the driver and no children. They decided this was the moment to strike. A U.S. official told us that the strike on Ahmadis car was conducted by an MQ-9 Reaper drone that fired a single Hellfire missile with a 20-pound warhead. We found remnants of the missile, which experts said matched a Hellfire at the scene of the attack. In the days after the attack, the Pentagon repeatedly claimed that the missile strike set off other explosions, and that these likely killed the civilians in the courtyard. Significant secondary explosions from the targeted vehicle indicated the presence of a substantial amount of explosive material. Because there were secondary explosions, theres a reasonable conclusion to be made that there was explosives in that vehicle. But a senior military official later told us that it was only possible to probable that explosives in the car caused another blast. We gathered photos and videos of the scene taken by journalists and visited the courtyard multiple times. We shared the evidence with three weapons experts who said the damage was consistent with the impact of a Hellfire missile. They pointed to the small crater beneath Ahmadis car and the damage from the metal fragments of the warhead. This plastic melted as a result of a car fire triggered by the missile strike. All three experts also pointed out what was missing: any evidence of the large secondary explosions described by the Pentagon. No collapsed or blown-out walls, including next to the trunk with the alleged explosives. No sign that a second car parked in the courtyard was overturned by a large blast. No destroyed vegetation. All of this matches what eyewitnesses told us, that a single missile exploded and triggered a large fire. There is one final detail visible in the wreckage: containers identical to the ones that Ahmadi and his colleague filled with water and loaded into his trunk before heading home. Even though the military said the drone team watched the car for eight hours that day, a senior official also said they werent aware of any water containers. The Pentagon has not provided The Times with evidence of explosives in Ahmadis vehicle or shared what they say is the intelligence that linked him to the Islamic State. But the morning after the U.S. killed Ahmadi, the Islamic State did launch rockets at the airport from a residential area Ahmadi had driven through the previous day. And the vehicle they used was a white Toyota. The U.S. military has so far acknowledged only three civilian deaths from its strike, and says there is an investigation underway. They have also admitted to knowing nothing about Ahmadi before killing him, leading them to interpret the work of an engineer at a U.S. NGO as that of an Islamic State terrorist. Four days before Ahmadi was killed, his employer had applied for his family to receive refugee resettlement in the United States. At the time of the strike, they were still awaiting approval. Looking to the U.S. for protection, they instead became some of the last victims in Americas longest war. Hi, Im Evan, one of the producers on this story. Our latest visual investigation began with word on social media of an explosion near Kabul airport. It turned out that this was a U.S. drone strike, one of the final acts in the 20-year war in Afghanistan. Our goal was to fill in the gaps in the Pentagons version of events. We analyzed exclusive security camera footage, and combined it with eyewitness accounts and expert analysis of the strike aftermath. You can see more of our investigations by signing up for our newsletter. The Republicans have struggled, I think, to identify with clarity that Democrats have been in charge out here for 15 years, said Doug Ose, a Republican and former three-term congressman who recently dropped out of the race to replace Mr. Newsom after having a heart attack. Instead of focusing on questions such as whether Californians were better off today than they were 15 years ago, Republicans, he said, were being drawn into debates over abortion and other national issues. Quit taking the bait, Mr. Ose said of the Republican attention to the Texas abortion law. Nobody in Texas is going to vote in this election. Why are we talking about whats happening in Texas? In a state where Democrats have been adding to their share of the electorate now accounting for 46 percent of all registered voters, according to the Public Policy Institute of California the Republican Party has been steadily shedding voters. Republicans are only 24 percent of the electorate, compared with 35 percent in 2003, the last time the state recalled its Democratic governor, Gray Davis. That is a far cry from the California that produced two Republican presidents Richard M. Nixon and Ronald Reagan, who was twice elected governor and that provided a national model for how to run as a celebrity conservative reformer in a deep-blue state: former Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger. Mr. Schwarzenegger left office in 2011, and the state has not elected a Republican for a statewide seat since. But if ever there was a time for conservatives to notch a rare, consequential victory in California, this would seem to be it. Residents have been anxious about this latest round of state-mandated, pandemic-related closures, with almost half sharing the mistaken belief that California is in a recession, according to one recent study. Jarring reminders of the states inability to solve fundamental problems are everywhere, from the tent cities that lined the Venice boardwalk to wildfires that suffocated Lake Tahoe. The Sunset Strip in Los Angeles awoke on Monday to a hijacked billboard whose ad for the Netflix series Lucifer had been covered with one for Larry Elder, the conservative radio host and lead challenger in the campaign to recall Gov. Gavin Newsom. The sign, outside the Viper Room nightclub, had Gov. Elder in the space where the act for the evening would be, and the billboard had been covered with sheets on which Mr. Elders surname had been painted in large block letters with an image of California. We have the strip to save, the billboard said, a takeoff on Mr. Elders campaign tagline, We have a state to save. The guerrilla street artist Sabo, a supporter of Mr. Elder, took credit for the installation, one of several posters and art pieces he has contributed to the campaign. Disabling demand-controlled ventilation To save energy, some systems monitor building occupancy based on carbon dioxide levels, which rise when we exhale. When fewer people are in the building, the system reduces the rate of outdoor air. Its a way to stop ventilating the space to save money, said Richard Corsi, incoming dean of the College of Engineering at University of California, Davis. But after people leave an area, we need to continue to ventilate so we can purge the space of any aerosol particles left in the air. Increasing outdoor air Air quality experts recommend adjusting outdoor air dampers, which are movable plates that can bring in more outside air. This isnt advised in communities with poor outdoor air quality, such as areas with active wildfires. Dont be intimidated when asking about ventilation systems. A company that has done the work will have answers at the ready, and the right answers will be obvious. Recently I suggested that my friend ask his gym what it had done to improve ventilation. He is vaccinated and only goes to the gym when its not busy, but the reply was encouraging We have increased the heating ventilation air conditioning (HVAC) filters to hospital-grade MERV 13, they wrote. And opened outdoor HVAC dampers to achieve a higher level of air exchange in the center. Can the windows be opened? Some older buildings and classrooms may not have modern ventilation systems, but simply opening windows can improve air quality. A recent study of infected college students in an isolation dormitory at the University of Oregon found that opening a window could reduce the amount of coronavirus in a room by half. While opening a window can help, the effect is greater if you can cross ventilate by opening windows on different sides of the room. Open windows arent practical during cold weather or in areas with poor outdoor air quality. Adding box fans to windows and turning on exhaust fans in kitchen and bathroom areas can also improve ventilation in homes and in buildings without modern systems. What is the air change rate? The air changes per hour, or ACH, number is the industry standard to indicate how often the air in a room is replaced by outdoor air. (Cleaning the air with filters can create the equivalent of air change.) While some experts suggest four to six air changes per hour (thats fresh or clean air every 10 to 15 minutes), many buildings fall short of that standard. Its recommended that schools have an ACH of at least 3, but many classrooms are closer to 1.5, experts say. Airplanes and newer hospitals may have anywhere from 10 to 20 air changes per hour. Air change rates or their equivalent can be improved by upgrading the overall ventilation system or filters, increasing the amount of outdoor air (by opening windows or ventilation dampers), adding exhaust fans or by adding portable air filters. MEXICO CITY As soon as the nurse found out that she had an abortion at home, Fernanda Garcia knew she was in danger. The nurse began yelling that she was a criminal, that what she had done was wrong, that she would be sent to jail. She told me that they were going to report me, that I was going to face charges, said Ms. Garcia, who went to the hospital last month after experiencing pain and bleeding. Ive never felt so scared in my life. When Ms. Garcia tried to leave, she said the medical staff refused to return her belongings. She said that she snatched her things and ran out, but that she still shakes every time the doorbell rings, convinced the police are coming to arrest her. She says she has thought about killing herself many times since then. Now, Mexicos Supreme Court has ruled that abortion is not a crime, setting a national precedent that puts the country on the path to becoming the most populous nation in Latin America to allow the procedure. Thousands of people have faced criminal investigations in recent years for ending their pregnancies, and the courts unanimous decision last week should enable them to get any charges dropped, legal experts said. Mr. Blinken said the Biden administration would not abandon Afghanistan, and on Monday, Linda Thomas-Greenfield, Americas ambassador to the United Nations, promised $64 million in new funding for food and medical aid. The World Food Program estimates that 40 percent of Afghanistans crops are lost. The price of wheat has gone up by 25 percent, and the aid agencys own food stock is expected to run out by the end of September. The suffering wrought by conflict and made worse by climate change has been compounded by the uncertainty that has accompanied the Talibans ascent, with many international aid workers having fled the country out of safety concerns. Those who remain are unsure if they will be able to continue their work. During the conference on Monday, the U.N. said it needed $606 million in emergency funding to address the immediate crisis, while acknowledging that money alone will not be enough. The organization has pressed the Taliban to provide assurances that aid workers can go about their business safely. By the end of the gathering, international pledges had surpassed the amount requested. But even as the Taliban sought to make that pledge, the U.N.s human rights chief, Michelle Bachelet, also speaking in Geneva, said Afghanistan was in a new and perilous phase since the militant Islamist group seized power. In contradiction to assurances that the Taliban would uphold womens rights, over the past three weeks, women have instead been progressively excluded from the public sphere, she said, a warning that the Taliban would need to use more than words to demonstrate their commitment to aid workers safety. Mondays conference was also intended to drive home the enormousness of the crisis and offer some reassurance to Western governments hesitant to provide assistance that could legitimize the authority of a Taliban government that includes leaders identified by the U.N. as international terrorists with links to Al Qaeda. The prosecutor did not respond to requests for comment, and Mr. Peleg could not immediately be reached for comment. Mr. Simbari, the aunts lawyer, said Eitan had lived in Italy since he was a year old and had both Italian and Israeli citizenship. The boys mother tongue was Italian, he said, though he also spoke Hebrew. We are very worried because this child was torn away from a familiar environment, so its a second trauma after the one he experienced in May, Mr. Simbari said. Ms. Biran, the aunt, told reporters on Sunday that Mr. Peleg had picked up Eitan on Saturday morning for an agreed-upon visit to go shopping for toys. After the boy did not return home, she said she began to call Mr. Peleg, who did not answer. On Saturday evening, she told reporters, she received a text message from the grandfather which read: Eitan has returned home. The court ruling this summer had also ordered Mr. Peleg to return Eitans Israeli passport, which he did not do. I can assume that with the passport, the grandfather was able to elude controls at the borders and bring the boy back to Israel, Mr. Simbari said. Lawyers for Mr. Peleg the father of Eitans mother, Tal Peleg rejected the claims of kidnapping, saying in a statement that the boy was never deprived of his personal freedom. They contended that Mr. Peleg did not break a court order, because he had never been formally notified that the child could not leave the country. Eitans state of health worries the maternal family, which has always been kept in the dark by doctors and courts that have hindered the participation of the maternal family, the lawyers said in a statement. For these reasons, his grandfather decided to submit him to the necessary medical checks in Israel. Covid Updates: Judge Blocks Iowas Ban on Mask Mandates Nearly a million students in New York City, the largest U.S. school system, returned to in-person classes. Some F.D.A. scientists say booster shots arent needed. Follow our live coverage of the coronavirus pandemic here. A judge blocked Iowa from enforcing its ban on school mask mandates. Image Carla McIntire and Camille Johnson, both of Urbandale, Iowa, at a rally last month opposing a state law banning local governments and school districts from implementing mask mandates. Credit... Kelsey Kremer/The Des Moines Register, via Associated Press School districts in Iowa will be able to issue mask mandates, at least for now, after a federal judge blocked the state on Monday from enforcing a ban on such policies. The case in Iowa is one of several disputes playing out across the country about the power of local officials to mandate coronavirus precautions and the authority of state leaders to block them. Senior Judge Robert W. Pratt, in explaining his decision to issue a temporary restraining order, said that if the drastic increase in the number of pediatric Covid-19 cases since the start of the school year in Iowa is any indication of what is to come, such an extreme remedy is necessary to ensure that the children involved in this case are not irreparably harmed. But Gov. Kim Reynolds, a Republican, said the ruling trampled on parental rights and suggested that the court fight was far from over. Today, a federal judge unilaterally overturned a state law, ignored the decision by our elected legislature and took away parents ability to decide whats best for their child, Ms. Reynolds said in a statement. We will appeal and exercise every legal option we have to uphold state law and defend the rights and liberties afforded to any American citizen protected by our constitution. American schoolchildren have returned to classrooms in recent weeks, some for the first time since March 2020, as coronavirus cases have reached their highest levels since winter. Unlike in some previous surges, case rates have been high among children, who tend not to become as sick but who can still have severe cases of Covid. With children under 12 still not eligible for vaccines and the highly infectious Delta variant circulating, health officials have recommended masking as a necessary step to curb transmission and keep schools open. But the debate about how to hold class during a pandemic has become intensely divided, with combative school board meetings and accusatory language. Opponents of school mask mandates have described the measures as infringements on personal freedom, while supporters of the policies describe them as an easy way to prevent illness and save lives. At least 15 states, almost all of them led by Democrats, have required masks in schools statewide. Iowa is among six Republican-led states to ban school districts from issuing mask mandates. In Florida, another of the states to ban such mandates, a state appellate court allowed a measure banning school mask mandates to again take effect last week after a lower-court judge briefly paused the policy. Iowa has been averaging more than 1,300 new coronavirus cases a day over the last week, well below the states winter peak but far worse than this summer, when fewer than 100 cases were identified many days. About 53 percent of Iowans are fully vaccinated, roughly in line with the national rate. Judge Pratt, who was appointed by President Bill Clinton to the Federal District Court for Southern Iowa, cited the Americans With Disabilities Act in his ruling on Monday. The Biden administration recently announced that it was investigating whether states with school mask bans were violating that law. A universal masking requirement instituted by a school is a reasonable modification that would enable disabled students to have equal access to the necessary in-person school programs, services, and activities, Judge Pratt said. In a new review, some F.D.A. scientists and others say boosters arent needed for the general population. Image Jonea Jones, 26, right, receives her second dose of the Covid-19 vaccine at a free vaccination clinic in San Antonio. Credit... Matthew Busch for The New York Times None of the data on coronavirus vaccines so far provides credible evidence in support of boosters for the general population, according to a review published on Monday by an international group of scientists, including some at the Food and Drug Administration and the World Health Organization. The 18 authors include Dr. Philip Krause and Dr. Marion Gruber, F.D.A. scientists who announced last month that they will be leaving the agency, at least in part because they disagreed with the Biden administrations push for boosters before federal scientists could review the evidence and make recommendations. The Biden administration has proposed administering vaccine boosters eight months after the initial shots. But many scientists have opposed the plan, saying the vaccines continue to be powerfully protective against severe illness and hospitalization. A committee of advisers to the F.D.A. is scheduled to meet on Friday to review the data. In the new review, published in The Lancet, experts said that whatever advantage boosters provide would not outweigh the benefit of using those doses to protect the billions of people who remain unvaccinated worldwide. Boosters may be useful in some people with weak immune systems, they said, but are not yet needed for the general population. Several studies published by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, including three on Friday, suggest that while efficacy against infection with the Delta variant seems to wane slightly over time, the vaccines hold steady against severe illness in all age groups. Only in older adults over 75 do the vaccines show some weakening in protection against hospitalization. Immunity conferred by vaccines relies on protection both from antibodies and from immune cells. Although the levels of antibodies may wane over time and raise the risk of infection the bodys memory of the virus is long-lived. The vaccines are slightly less effective against infection with the Delta variant than with the Alpha variant, but the virus has not yet evolved to evade the sustained responses from immune cells, the experts said. Boosters may eventually be needed even for the general population if a variant emerges that sidesteps the immune response. The experts cautioned that promoting boosters before they are needed, as well as any reports of side effects from booster shots such as heart problems or Guillain-Barre syndrome, may undermine confidence in the primary vaccination. Data from Israel suggest that booster doses enhance protection against infection. But that evidence was collected just a week or so after the third dose and may not hold up over time, the experts said. Advertisement Continue reading the main story The likelihood of disruptions tempers the elation of the first day back in N.Y.C. public schools. Image Students arriving for the first day of the school year at P.S./I.S. 323 in Brooklyn on Monday. Credit... Chang W. Lee/The New York Times Both elation and caution were palpable in New York City on Monday, as public schools in the countrys largest school system resumed full in-person classes for the first time since March 2020. With the extremely contagious Delta variant of the coronavirus still tearing through unvaccinated populations in the city, as it is around the country, and much of New Yorks school-age population under 12 and therefore ineligible for vaccination, at least some disruptions are likely. Last year, the city schools experienced remarkably few outbreaks. But even with a final in-school transmission rate of just 0.03 percent, quarantines were still a regular occurrence. And that was when most schools operated at significantly reduced capacity. Debra Gray, who took her 13-year-old son, Kamari, to Public School 323 in Brownsville, Brooklyn, on Monday, said that returning in person was a 50-50 feeling. We gotta give this a chance, she said. The kids need time with their teachers. But Im concerned. The kids cant keep their masks on all day. Justin Chapura, who teaches English as a second language at Bronx River High School, was thrilled to see students in person for the first time in more than a year. But his excitement was tinged with concern over the prospect of a long and uncertain school year. Everyone I know is nervous, nerve-racked, cant sleep, wont sleep, Mr. Chapura said. But were getting there, were going to get there. The risk that infected children will become seriously ill is low, but if and when coronavirus cases do occur indeed, if just one child tests positive in a classroom filled with students too young to be vaccinated the citys current policy means that others who might have been exposed will have to return to remote learning for 10-day at-home quarantines. In middle and high schools, only unvaccinated students will have to quarantine if exposed to someone with the virus. That quarantine protocol is stricter than the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidance but the city schools testing plan is more modest than what the C.D.C. calls for. A random sample of 10 percent of unvaccinated students will be tested in each school every other week; the city was testing 20 percent of people in all school buildings weekly by the end of last year. Experts have said that the citys current testing plan will almost certainly be too small in scope to reliably head off outbreaks before they start. Anissa Haniff, 15, who was standing in a long line of returning students outside Bayside High School in Queens, said that she lived with her parents, grandparents and 9-year-old sister and that she was worried about potentially infecting them with the coronavirus. Returning to school felt a little premature, she said. Maybe we shouldve been remote another year. Mayor Bill de Blasio insists that school this year will be a much-needed return to normalcy for children, who have suffered deeply in the isolation of remote learning. Lets not be governed by fear, he said at a news conference Monday morning. All of the people who know all of the facts are saying to parents consistently, from the president of the United States on down: Get your kids back to school. For Timothy Seiber, of the Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhood of Brooklyn, the prospect of possible classroom shutdowns loomed large. He said he found reassurance over the safety of his sons at ages 6 and 10, still too young to be vaccinated in the relatively low rate of infection among children and the low school transmission rate. Im not worried about them getting infected, Mr. Seiber said in a telephone interview. My kids wear their masks. But schools would be better served, he said, by more regular testing than by quarantines and returns to remote learning, which rob children of the benefits of in-person instruction and socializing with peers while disrupting parents working lives. I think the amount of time theyll pull your kid to remote is kind of ridiculous, Mr. Seiber said. Considering the rapid testing we have, it could be a lot less. Chelsia Rose Marcius, Emma Goldberg and Nate Schweber contributed reporting. Eliza Shapiro and From shutdown to reopening: Heres a look at N.Y.C. schools trek through the pandemic. Video transcript Back bars 0:00 / 1:21 - 0:00 transcript New York City Schools Fully Reopen for In-Person Learning New York City schools started the 2021 academic calendar fully in-person for the first time since March 2020, when coronavirus restrictions were put in place. Its so good to see all our kids coming back to school in person where they can learn best, where they can be with their friends, where they can be with the teachers and the staff who care for them, love them, do so much for them. Kids coming to school today all across the city are going to experience a gold standard of health and safety measures. And as everyone knows, in the coming days, every single adult in our schools is going to be vaccinated. Over two-thirds of our kids 12 to 17 years old, vaccinated. So, so many good things are happening to move us forward, and its because people pulled together, because we care about our kids. We are in this together. This is our moment. This is our time for our babies. Our message to all of the families that are dropping off your children at school today, bringing them to bus stops or if theyre older, they would, you know, too cool to be seen what you I had to sneak a picture before my daughter left. Im waving at you all from a distance, wishing you an amazing first day. Your babies are safe with us because theyre our babies. Theyre our children. This is our time. This is our city. New York City schools started the 2021 academic calendar fully in-person for the first time since March 2020, when coronavirus restrictions were put in place. Credit Credit... Anna Watts for The New York Times Its been exactly 18 months since public schools in New York City shut down because of the rapid initial spread of the coronavirus. Over that time, students, parents and employees in the New York City school system, the nations largest, have had to adjust to a series of abrupt changes that disrupted and reshaped the lives of about 1 million children and 1,800 schools in the district, eventually leading to a full reopening on Monday. The city was not alone in facing twists and turns along the way as the pandemic swelled and ebbed, new variants emerged, vaccines were introduced and scientists and policymakers revised their guidance. New York was able to partially reopen last fall while other big-city peers remained all virtual for most of the year, and the city did not experience significant virus transmission in its schools. Here are key dates and developments. March 15, 2020 Shutdown Under immense pressure, Mayor Bill de Blasio shuts down New York Citys public school system for in-person instruction. The move, taken after several other major school systems had already shut down, comes as attendance is plummeting and worried teachers are organizing sickouts to demand action. This is not something in a million years I could have imagined having to do, Mr. de Blasio says. March 23 Remote learning begins Students and teachers return to classes virtually instead of face to face, as everyone tries to get used to virtual instruction. Officials say they hope to get everyone back to in-person instruction later in the spring if the virus outbreak subsides. APRIL 11 Spring is lost Former Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo announces that schools in New York State will remain closed through the end of the academic year confirming what other city leaders, including Mr. de Blasio, had been predicting for several weeks. July 8 Plan for partial reopening Mr. de Blasio says the citys public schools will not fully reopen for the 2020-21 school year. Instead, he introduces a partial reopening plan calling for school leaders to work out staggered schedules and other measures to help schools enforce social distance and minimize virus transmission. SEPT. 1 In-person and online options Mr. de Blasio announces that New York City schools will offer both in-person and virtual instruction and allow families to opt for either mode. SEPT. 21 A delayed start Mr. de Blasio pushes back the start of in-person school for students amid logistical problems and political conflicts with the teachers union. The school year finally begins on Sept. 21, 10 days later than originally planned. Nov. 19 Shut down again With the virus spreading rapidly again outside of schools and the citys test positivity rate climbing above 3 percent, the threshold the mayor had set for closure, New York City closes its schools after just eight weeks of in-person instruction. Nov. 29 Grade schools will reopen Mr. de Blasio abruptly announces that all public elementary schools would soon reopen in stages for students who had previously opted for in-person instruction, and that the city would abandon the 3 percent positivity threshold for closing schools. Middle and high schools remain closed for now. January 2021 A new surge A surge in virus transmission that took hold over the holidays drives the citys test positivity rate above 9 percent, prompting demands from teachers unions that the citys open elementary schools be closed again. Feb. 25 Middle schools reopen In-person classes resume at the citys middle schools for at least part of the week for students whose families had previously chosen that option. Along with the elementary schools reopened earlier, about one-quarter of the citys students are back in school buildings. March 22 High schools reopen The citys staged reopening reaches its high schools, with about half offering full-time in-person instruction for most students and the others offering a mixture of in-person and remote learning. may 24 No more remote learning option Mr. de Blasio announces that when the new school year begins in the fall, the city will no longer offer a remote learning option a major step toward a full reopening in September. AUG. 23 Vaccine mandate for staff Mayor Bill de Blasio says all employees of the citys Department of Education will have to receive at least one dose of a coronavirus vaccine by Sept. 27. The requirement applies to every adult working inside public school buildings, including teachers and principals. AUG. 26 New testing and quarantine rules Mr. de Blasio released guidelines requiring random testing of 10 percent of unvaccinated people including adult staff and students in first grade and above every two weeks. When someone tests positive, close contacts who are unvaccinated will have to quarantine, but not necessarily whole classes. A negative test within five days will end the quarantine early. Parental consent is necessary for testing children. Sept. 13 Reopened All New York City public schools reopen to full in-person instruction. Advertisement Continue reading the main story Florida says it will fine municipalities that mandate vaccinations for their workers. Image Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida said Monday that Florida cities and counties that require public employees to get vaccinated against the coronavirus will face fines of $5,000 for each employee fired over the mandate. Credit... Joe Burbank/Orlando Sentinel, via Associated Press Florida cities and counties that require public employees to get vaccinated against the coronavirus will face fines of $5,000 each time they enforce their mandates, Gov. Ron DeSantis announced on Monday, escalating his opposition to such measures just as President Biden is expanding them. We are going to stand for the men and women who are serving us, Mr. DeSantis, a Republican, said in Newberry, near Gainesville. We are going to protect Florida jobs. We are not going to let people be fired because of a vaccine mandate. He noted that the violations could quickly add up to potentially millions of dollars for municipalities mandating the shots. Once the mandates take effect, they would allow escalating discipline including potential dismissal against employees who do not get vaccinated. Mr. DeSantis cited a state law enacted this year that prohibits governments and businesses from requiring proof of vaccination from their customers. But the ban on so-called vaccine passports did not preclude businesses from mandating vaccinations of their employees and many of the states largest employers, such as Disney, did just that. Some local governments, including the city of Gainesville, Orange County (home to Orlando) and Leon County (home to Tallahassee), decided to require the vaccines for public workers as well. Gainesvilles mandate, which is scheduled to take effect in October, led to a protest from some workers and labor unions. More than 200 city employees sued over the requirement last month. Several spoke at Mondays event with the governor. We feel betrayed and used, said Lt. Jonathan Cicio of Gainesville Fire Rescue, one of the plaintiffs, who said he has natural antibodies from having Covid-19 and recovering months ago. While we were heroes and selfless not long ago, now were selfish, and theyre just going to let us go. Ashley Moody, the Florida attorney general, said at the event that her office would file a legal brief in support of the plaintiffs. Mandating the vaccines would aggravate the states shortage of law enforcement officers, she said, which will directly affect the safety of local communities. In a statement, a spokeswoman for the city of Gainesville stood by the requirement. The health, safety and welfare of the citys work force and those we serve is our No. 1 priority, Shelby N. Taylor said. It is our belief that as an employer we retain the right to require vaccination as a condition of employment. Mr. DeSantis crisscrossed the state earlier this year in a big push to promote vaccinations, especially among older Floridians. But he later stopped the visits, and while he has continued to say he endorses getting vaccinated, Mondays event before a cheering crowd featured not only people opposed to mandates but also vaccine skeptics. One Gainesville employee said that the vaccine changes your RNA, an echo of skeptics claim about changes to the bodys DNA, which is false. His assertion went unchallenged. Advertisement Continue reading the main story The M.T.A. will withhold death benefits from unvaccinated workers. Image More than 70 percent of workers for the Metropolitan Transportation Authority have received at least one dose of the vaccine. Credit... Karsten Moran for The New York Times New Yorks Metropolitan Transportation Authority plans to extend a $500,000 death benefit to its employees who die of Covid-related causes through the end of 2021, a senior authority official said Monday. But the benefit will remain unavailable to those who decline to get vaccinated against the coronavirus. The authority, which runs New York Citys subways, buses and commuter trains, has provided the $500,000 benefit to all of its 68,000 employees since last year. But in April, as vaccines became widely available, the authority decided that, starting in June, the benefit would be available only to the families of employees who had been vaccinated. That requirement was one of several ways the authority used to urge its workers to get vaccinated. The authority was hit hard by the virus last year, with 171 employees dying of Covid-related causes since the pandemic started. Only three of those deaths have occurred since June, said Tim Minton, a spokesman for the authority. Mr. Minton said that the authority had no indication that any of the three had been vaccinated. He said none of their families had tried to claim the death benefit and so far no family had been denied the benefit. We want each of our employees to get every single benefit that they are entitled to, Mr. Minton said. He added that the authority and its officials had taken every step they could think of to encourage employees to get the vaccine, including allowing paid time off for each dose. Tony Utano, president of Local 100 of the Transport Workers Union, said that his members had been notified in April, when the Covid death benefit was extended, that vaccinations would be required to access the benefit as of June. The benefit is equal to the benefit for deaths in the line of duty under the unions contract. Mr. Utano expressed pride in the unions efforts to persuade the authority to provide the benefit because transit workers had to keep working through the early months of the pandemic. The extended benefit was scheduled to expire on Aug. 31. But the authoritys board is expected to move this week to extend it again, to Dec. 31. Mr. Minton said that more than 70 percent of the authoritys employees have gotten at least one does of the vaccine, mostly through programs run by the state. But the rates are lower for employees of some of the transit divisions, including subways and buses. The authority has not made vaccines mandatory for its workers. But on Oct. 12, it plans to start requiring weekly testing of workers who cannot provide proof that they have been vaccinated. Advertisement Continue reading the main story Biden will call for 70 percent of the world to be vaccinated against Covid. Image President Biden is convening a virtual global Covid-19 summit next week, when heads of state gather for the annual U.N. General Assembly meeting. Credit... Doug Mills/The New York Times President Biden will use the upcoming gathering of the United Nations General Assembly to set new targets for a global coronavirus vaccination campaign, including having 70 percent of the worlds population fully vaccinated one year from now, according to draft documents prepared by the White House. Mr. Biden is convening a virtual global Covid-19 summit next week, when heads of state gather for the annual General Assembly meeting. Invitations to world leaders were sent out last week, according to one person familiar with the planning. Another round of invitations to stakeholders went out on Monday by email. The invitation, obtained by The New York Times, told participants that Mr. Biden would call on chiefs of state, heads of government and international organizations, business, philanthropic, and nongovernmental leaders to come together to commit to ending the Covid-19 pandemic. It was accompanied by a draft detailing specific targets necessary to achieve that goal. The 70 percent target is ambitious but consistent with existing targets, the draft document said. In June, the heads of the World Bank Group, International Monetary Fund, World Health Organization, and World Trade Organization set a target of having 60 percent of the worlds population vaccinated by the middle of 2022. The draft also calls for countries with relevant capabilities to either purchase or donate one billion additional doses of coronavirus vaccines, beyond the two billion that have already been pledged by wealthy nations; and for world leaders to ensure that $3 billion is made available in 2021 and $7 billion in 2022 in financing for vaccine readiness and administration, combating hesitancy, and procuring ancillary supplies. Mr. Biden has come under fierce criticism from advocates and public health experts who say he is not living up to his pledge to make the United States the arsenal of vaccines for the world. Expanding global vaccination efforts is necessary to protect not only the world, but the national security and health and safety of Americans. Pressure is building as the United Nations meeting draws near. On Tuesday, two House Democrats Representatives Jan Schakowsky of Illinois and Rosa DeLauro of Connecticut are planning to host a news conference to call on Mr. Biden to unveil a global plan to end the pandemic, including a plan to transfer vaccine technology from pharmaceutical manufacturers to other vaccine makers around the world, and to ramp up manufacturing capacity. Peter Maybarduk, who directs Public Citizens Access to Medicines program, said the draft looks promising but does not go far enough. His group has a plan calling for the government to invest $25 billion in developing regional manufacturing hubs around the world, which it says would produce enough vaccine for low- and middle-income countries in a year. Its not asking very much of the private sector, Mr. Maybarduk said. It is trying to unify commitments rather than using the very significant power of the U.S. government to move very significant manufacturing capacity on its own. That still leaves tools unused. Its not being the vaccine arsenal for the world. Advertisement Continue reading the main story Global Roundup Germany begins a campaign to counter slackening demand for vaccinations, and other news from around the world. Image President Frank-Walter Steinmeier of Germany, center left, at a pop-up vaccination center in a school in Berlin on Monday. Credit... Pool photo by Bernd von Jutrczenka The German health authorities on Monday started a weeklong drive to try to speed the pace of coronavirus vaccinations and combat the possibility of more infections as colder weather approaches. In order to get through autumn and winter in good shape and then also to get the virus permanently under control, we need to convince even more people to get vaccinated, Chancellor Angela Merkel said in a video message on Sunday. Currently, 62.2 percent of the population in Germany is fully vaccinated and 66.5 percent have had at least one shot, according to figures from the Our World in Data project at the University of Oxford. Those numbers are just above the averages for the European Union as a whole. Germany made good progress in vaccinating its population in spring and early summer, but demand has slowed. While doctors and nurses routinely vaccinated more than a million people a day in May and June, last weeks busiest day drew just 256,559. For the weeklong campaign, pop-up vaccination sites have been set up in places such as supermarkets, zoos, markets, churches, mosques, on buses and at soccer games, where those interested can get a shot without an appointment. According to a recent poll conducted by the Robert Koch Institute, the German federal agency for disease control and prevention, about 88.5 percent of adults either have had their shots or are open to being inoculated. Its never been easier to get vaccinated, Ms. Merkel said in her address. In other pandemic news around the world: Health officials in the United Kingdom on Monday authorized a Covid-19 vaccination program for 12- to 15-year-olds, clearing the way for the governments of England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland to establish plans for that age group to receive the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine. Authorities in China reported 22 new coronavirus cases, the countrys most in nearly a month and evidence that Beijing may need to rethink its zero-Covid strategy. The cases, all caused by the Delta variant in the southern province of Fujian, mark the countrys largest outbreak since Aug. 14, when it reported 24 cases. Cyril Ramaphosa, the president of South Africa, shortened the nationwide curfew and expanded hours for certain businesses there after coronavirus cases dropped across the country. A small upstate New York hospital will stop delivering babies after 6 workers quit rather than be vaccinated. Image The maternity department at Lewis County Health System in upstate New York will pause deliveries on Sept. 25, the chief executive said. Credit... Eric Gay/Associated Press A small hospital in upstate New York is planning to suspend delivering babies starting in a few weeks because some of its labor and delivery nurses resigned rather than comply with the states Covid vaccine mandate. The development underscores the challenges that many health care systems face amid a national shortage of nursing staff and vaccine hesitancy among some health care workers. The math is just not working, said Gerald Cayer, chief executive officer of Lewis County Health System, at a news conference on Friday. The number of resignations received leaves us no choice but to pause delivering babies. Six out of the 18 staff members in the maternity department at Lewis County General Hospital have resigned, and seven have not indicated whether they will get their shots, Mr. Cayer said in an interview on Monday. The hospital, located in Lowville, the county seat, had expected to deliver about 200 babies this year, he added. At least 30 employees in the health system have resigned since former Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo mandated vaccinations by Sept. 27 for New York States health care workers, Mr. Cayer said. Of those who have resigned, 21 worked in clinical areas. The maternity department at Lewis County General will pause deliveries on Sept. 25, Mr. Cayer said, and other units could be affected if more workers resign. Prospective parents in the area will have other options: There are hospitals with maternity departments in Carthage, about 15 miles from Lowville, and in Watertown, about 27 miles away. The vast majority of workers in his health system have complied with the mandate. Mr. Cayer said that 464 employees, or 73 percent, have been fully vaccinated, and that he hoped that the staff members who quit would reconsider and take the shots before the deadline. Anyone who has resigned who changes their mind will be welcomed back, he said. The resignations have taken place in a region with a dire staffing shortage. There has been a lack of experienced maternity nursing staff throughout upstate New York, said Dr. Sean Harney, the hospitals medical director. Thousands of open nursing positions remain, Mr. Cayer said. Lewis County, with about 27,000 residents, is among the least populous and most politically conservative counties in the state, and has one of the lowest Covid vaccination rates: 44 percent of residents were fully vaccinated as of Friday, compared with 61 percent statewide, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Reports of new cases more than doubled in Lewis County, and hospitalizations rose 35 percent in the past 14 days, according to a New York Times database. Advertisement Continue reading the main story The U.N. expects Biden and dozens of other leaders at its General Assembly meeting. Image With strict COVID-19 restrictions in place, the U.N. expects many world leaders to attend the annual General Assembly in person this year. Credit... Timothy A. Clary/Agence France-Presse Getty Images The annual General Assembly, the diplomatic mega-event that was held almost entirely virtually last year because of the pandemic, will be far more physical when it convenes for two weeks beginning on Tuesday. Although strict pandemic rules will be enforced including mandatory mask-wearing for all participants, required vaccinations for headquarters staff and severely limited access to its 16-acre campus on Manhattans East Side the United Nations is aiming for at least a partial restoration of the person-to-person diplomacy that its leaders regard as critical. The outgoing annual president of the General Assembly, Volkan Bozkir of Turkey, told reporters in his farewell news conference last week that at least 83 leaders were planning to attend this years event, albeit with slimmed-down entourages. (Mr. Bozkir will be succeeded by Abdulla Shahid, foreign minister of the Maldives.) A provisional list of speakers provided by U.N. officials indicated that President Biden would attend, for what would be his first address as president to the 193-member world body. Mr. Biden, unlike his predecessor Donald J. Trump, is a United Nations enthusiast, and diplomats say a personal appearance would reinforce his America is back pledge. The White House has not specified Mr. Bidens plans, and U.N. officials said the speakers list could change up to the last minute. According to the provisional list, top leaders from Brazil, Britain, Canada, India, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Pakistan, Turkey and Venezuela also plan to personally deliver their speeches, all scheduled for the second week. Chinas speech will be delivered by its deputy prime minister, the list indicated, and Russias by its foreign minister, Sergey V. Lavrov. Irans new president has opted to send a prerecorded video, but diplomats said the countrys new foreign minister is expected to attend. Advertisement Continue reading the main story N.Y.C. virus cases appear to plateau, but could an uptick lie ahead? Image In SoHo in Manhattan on Saturday. Credit... Stephanie Keith for The New York Times The rapid spread of the Delta variant of the coronavirus in New York City this summer has slowed in recent weeks, convincing some epidemiologists that the citys third virus wave has begun to ebb. But others are bracing for an uptick in cases. With the school year starting, and municipal agencies and some large companies mandating a return to the office, the old weekday rhythms are about to return for hundreds of thousands of New Yorkers, even as levels of the virus remain relatively high. For the moment, the rates of new cases and hospitalizations are down from their summer peaks. In mid-August, nearly 2,000 people a day on average were testing positive in New York City, a tenfold increase from earlier in the summer. The rate of new cases was highest among young adults, ages 18 to 34. More than 100 people were being hospitalized each day. But over the past three weeks, new cases and other indicators have begun dropping. Staten Island has had by far the highest level of transmission, with one in every 417 people testing positive in a recent seven-day period. That was more than twice the rate in Queens, which had the lowest virus levels. The surge in New York City and much of the Northeast has been mild compared to the South, largely because of diverging vaccination rates, epidemiologists say. On Thursday, the city reached a new milestone: five million New York City residents, about 60 percent of the population, are now fully vaccinated. But there are still large pockets of New York City that remain unvaccinated. In particular, Black New Yorkers, who have far lower vaccination rates than other groups, have been hit hardest by the third wave. So far, the third wave has been minor compared with the previous two. In early September, the number of people hospitalized with Covid-19 in New York City in a single day reached 900, before falling below 800 this weekend. In April 2020, there were more than 12,100 at the peak. Joseph Goldstein and Advertisement Continue reading the main story Here are some coping mechanisms for return-to-work anxiety. Image The tools many have cultivated stepping out for air to soothe a panic attack, practicing a quick meditation to calm racing thoughts will be harder to carry out under the fluorescent lights of an open-plan office. Credit... Jason Szenes/EPA, via Shutterstock The Delta variant and breakthrough infections have complicated plans for a smooth return to the physical workplace, reigniting concerns over safety, even among vaccinated workers. For those who developed a mental health condition during the pandemic, or whose existing disorders were worsened by a prolonged period of fear and isolation, working from home may have offered a refuge. We spoke to experts about ways to ease anxiety for those heading back to their desks after a year and a half of split-screen meetings and a morning commute to the kitchen. Its important to identify which elements of coming back to the office youre afraid of, one expert said. Another, Dr. Judson Brewer, author of Unwinding Anxiety, suggested keeping a sticky note handy that lists some coping mechanisms. Dr. Brewer, the director of research and innovation at Brown Universitys Mindfulness Center, recommends a simple five-finger breathing routine for anxiety: Hold one hand in front of you, with your fingers spread out. Using your index finger, slowly trace the outside of your other hand, taking your time and breathing in when you trace up a finger, then out when you trace down. This helps ground people in their direct physical experience, while slowing down their breathing, he said. Its also quick and discreet. U.K. health ministers authorize mass Covid vaccinations for 12- to 15-year-olds. Image Students returning to in-person classes at Copley Academy, a secondary school in Stalybridge, England, on Sept. 9. Credit... Anthony Devlin/Getty Images Health officials in the United Kingdom on Monday authorized a mass Covid vaccination program for 12- to 15-year-olds, amid widespread concerns that Covid-19 cases could spike with the return to school after the summer vacation. The authorization, announced by the chief medical officers of England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland, ended weeks of uncertainty and came despite some medical experts reservations over whether vaccinations would significantly benefit the age group. The four countries governments are now expected to put in place campaigns that will offer the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine. The campaigns are expected to be part of an address that the British prime minister, Boris Johnson, is scheduled to give on Tuesday, in which he will outline a strategy to prevent any new surge in coronavirus infections from overwhelming the national health service over a winter during which seasonal flu could add further strains. His focus is on protecting the country without resorting to the kind of severe lockdown restrictions imposed during earlier phases of the pandemic. Those 16 and up are already eligible for vaccination, and so are younger children who have health conditions that put them at high risk. But otherwise healthy young people generally face only a small risk of suffering serious illness from the coronavirus, and that has prompted a debate over the ethics of vaccinating children to contain a virus that is mainly a threat to adults. As a result and to the frustration of government ministers Britain has lagged behind some other countries, including the United States, in vaccinating those between the ages of 12 and 15. The authorizations announced on Monday were presented largely as intended to minimize the disruption caused by outbreaks in schools. Chris Whitty, the chief medical officer for England, said school closings and remote learning had been extraordinarily difficult for children and had a big impact on health, including mental health. He acknowledged, however, that the decision to vaccinate children was a closer call than for older people. The debate over extending vaccines to 12- to 15-year-olds exposed divisions within Britains medical and scientific community. Earlier this month, Britains Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunization said that those in the age group would get only marginal benefits from a mass vaccination campaign. It noted concerns over a rare side effect of the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines that has occasionally caused heart inflammations and led to palpitations and chest pains. The margin of benefit, based primarily on a health perspective, is considered too small to support advice on a universal program of vaccination of otherwise healthy 12- to 15-year-old children at this time, the committee concluded. However, the health ministers of the four U.K. nations reacted by seeking advice from their chief medical officers that took into account educational impacts as well as health concerns. Britain has recently been averaging around 35,000 new coronavirus cases a day among the highest rates in Europe relative to its population. Two-thirds of the population is fully vaccinated. Government ministers are bracing for the possibility of a further surge in cases after schools reopen and the weather worsens in the fall and winter. Advertisement Continue reading the main story South Africa eases restrictions as Covid cases decline. Video transcript Back bars 0:00 / 0:59 - 0:00 transcript South Africa Eases Coronavirus Measures New rules introduced in South Africa further eased coronavirus restrictions, with new infections dropping across all provinces. South Africa will, however, keep its evening curfew. To date, over 57 percent of persons over 60 years of age have been vaccinated. This is a great achievement, but we need to reach them all. Were finding that more women than men are coming forward to be vaccinated against Covid-19. Although the numbers are improving, men are still slow in coming forward to be vaccinated. Cabinet has decided that the country after considering all these, it has decided that the country should be moved from adjusted Level 3 and be placed on adjusted Level 2 with effect from tomorrow. This means that the hours of curfew will now start at 11 p.m. and end at 4 a.m. There is certainly a need for curfew. New rules introduced in South Africa further eased coronavirus restrictions, with new infections dropping across all provinces. South Africa will, however, keep its evening curfew. Credit Credit... Kim Ludbrook/EPA, via Shutterstock South Africa is easing some of its coronavirus restrictions, with new infections dropping across all provinces, President Cyril Ramaphosa said on Sunday. While the third wave is not yet over, we have seen a sustained decline in infections across the country over the last few weeks, Mr. Ramaphosa said. The seven-day average of daily new cases has decreased by 48 percent in the past 14 days, according to the Center for Systems Science and Engineering at Johns Hopkins University. When the latest wave of cases surged in June, South Africa introduced some tough restrictions, then relaxed them as cases fell in July. For about a month, restaurants could only sell food by takeout or delivery, alcohol sales were banned and schools were closed. New rules introduced on Monday further eased those restrictions. The nationwide curfew has been shortened by an hour, operating hours at restaurants, bars and fitness centers have been expanded and hours of alcohol sales have been extended. As many as 250 people may now meet indoors, and as many as 500 outdoors changes that are expected to make political campaigning easier ahead of local elections in November. While the easing of restrictions in other parts of the world has been driven by the accelerating pace of vaccinations, South Africas vaccination drive has been slow. But the government has secured enough doses to vaccinate the entire adult population, Mr. Ramaphosa said. About 18 percent of the countrys population has been partially vaccinated and 12 percent has been fully vaccinated, according to figures from Our World in Data. Across Africa, new cases are falling. The continent recently recorded the sharpest seven-day decline in two months, the World Health Organization said this month. But the shortage of doses has left the continent vulnerable to surges, especially of more contagious variants. Advertisement Continue reading the main story Australia starts vaccinating children as young as 12. Image Harry Goodison, 12, receiving a dose of the Pfizer vaccine at a hospital in Melbourne, Australia, on Monday. Credit... Daniel Pockett/EPA, via Shutterstock Australia has opened up Covid-19 vaccinations to children as young as 12 as it races to inoculate the population amid an outbreak of the Delta variant. Children ages 12 to 15 started receiving Pfizer-BioNTech vaccines on Monday. Appointments for the Moderna vaccine can be booked now for sessions starting next week. Australias vaccine campaign is gaining speed after a sluggish first few months. Millions of doses that were ordered earlier this year are arriving, and the country will have enough supply by mid-October to vaccinate every eligible person, Prime Minister Scott Morrison said last week. Currently, 55 percent of the population of 26 million has had at least one vaccine dose, and 34 percent are fully inoculated, according to the Our World in Data project at the University of Oxford. The number of new cases increased by 36 percent over the past two weeks to 1,493 cases, based on the seven-day average. Australia will also receive its first shipments of the Moderna vaccine this week, with 11 million total doses expected to be delivered by the end of the year. The government also signed an agreement with other nations to swap vaccines, which will allow it to get 500,000 doses of the Pfizer shot from Singapore and four million from Britain. In return, Australia promised to ship the same numbers of doses to the two countries later this year. Fully vaccinated people living in Sydney, the epicenter of the Delta outbreak in Australia, had some restrictions eased on Monday. Those who live outside 12 government areas of concern are now allowed to have outdoor picnics with up to four other people. Schools in Sydney will reopen on Oct. 25, while pubs and gyms are expected to open in mid-October when the state fully vaccinates 70 percent of its population. Chinas Fujian Province reports 22 Delta cases, the countrys largest outbreak in a month. Image A photograph released by Chinese state media showing mass coronavirus testing in the southern province of Fujian on Sunday. Credit... Wei Peiquan/Xinhua, via Associated Press China has logged its highest number of coronavirus cases in nearly a month, prompting one county to shut down public transportation and test hundreds of thousands of people. On Sunday, the Chinese authorities reported 22 new locally transmitted infections, all in the southern province of Fujian and caused by the Delta variant. The number was the highest since Aug. 14, when 24 cases were recorded. China does not release enough data to make clear how prevalent Delta is there, but last month, the country stamped out multiple Delta outbreaks that swept across half the country through mass testing, contact tracing, and targeted lockdowns. Health experts have warned that such measures come at a punishing economic and social cost and may deepen pandemic fatigue among the public. The outbreak over the weekend bucked a downward trend of cases, which had fallen for more than a month since Aug. 9, when China reported 109 infections. While Sundays case count is far below many other countries, the number reflects what health experts have long warned: that it is probably nearly impossible to completely eradicate the Delta variant, and that Beijing needs to rethink its zero-Covid strategy. The government said that the Fujian outbreak started on Sept. 10 in a primary school in the county of Xianyou, and local authorities said that most of the cases involved young children. An initial analysis showed that the initial carrier was an adult who had arrived from Singapore. The authorities in Fujian have ordered mass testing of all students and teachers to be completed within a week. The city of Xiamen has closed off two districts and a hospital after identifying Covid patients. In Xianyou, buses and taxi services have been suspended. More than 900,000 residents in the county have been called up for testing, with threats of criminal punishment for anyone who does not cooperate. A team from the National Health Commission that has been sent to Fujian said that it would probably detect more cases, but added that the outbreak could be controlled before the weeklong National Day holiday at the start of October, according to CCTV, the state broadcaster. Beijing is likely to be nervous about large numbers of people traveling and gathering during that holiday, as well as during the three-day Mid-Autumn Festival, which begins on Sunday. Sui-Lee Wee and Advertisement Continue reading the main story The biggest issue with flash floods, Dr. Markenson said, is that people dont always evacuate when theyre told to do so. But by trying to ride it out, he warned, youll endanger yourself and rescuers. Avoid floodwaters when possible. The best thing to do is avoid all floodwaters if you can or, as the National Weather Services grim catchphrase urges: Turn Around Dont Drown. It takes just six inches of fast-moving water to knock you off your feet, so unless youre ordered to evacuate, staying where you are is usually the safest choice. (Flash floods generally pass quickly.) The most immediate risk of entering floodwaters is drowning, but you may also expose yourself to various harmful things floating around the water itself, like human, animal and industrial waste; physical objects like cars, lumber and other debris; stray animals like rodents and snakes; and downed power lines. If youre caught in your car Sometimes flash flooding happens when youre out and about, and you may suddenly find yourself in a life-threatening situation. Nearly half of all flash flood deaths are vehicle-related, which is why you should never ignore barriers or attempt to power through flooded areas. Dont drive into a flooded street, period, Ms. Munger said. There really is no better advice. Not only is it difficult to gauge water depth and road conditions, but just 12 inches of water can float your car and 18 inches can carry off your SUV or pickup truck. Everybody tends to underestimate the force of the water, Ms. Munger said. It takes very little current to wreak havoc. That said, if your car does get taken by floodwaters, first, roll down your windows, said Lynn Burttschell, an emergency medical worker, rescue swimmer and founder of Wimberley Rescue Training. If they wont budge, he recommended breaking the glass with an escape tool (like the one in this Wirecutter guide, which you can store in your glove compartment) or using the metal pole of your headrest as a ram. Opening the windows is important, Mr. Burttschell said, because if the water continues to rise, then that car fills up and becomes more of a rock instead of a bobber floating downstream. Then, unbuckle your seatbelt and grip it as you climb onto the roof and call 911, Mr. Burttschell advised. Do your best to remain with the car until help arrives. Lie down on the roof to keep yourself stable, and dont tie yourself to the car, in case it rolls. Joanne Thornton ReviveHealth has appointed president and co-founder Joanne Thornton to the role of chief executive officer. Thornton succeeds Brandon Edwards, who has served as the Nashville-based healthcare communications agencys chief executive since its founding in 2009. Edwards will move into the role of executive chairman and will focus on new business, strategic planning, thought leadership and internal mentorship. Thornton co-founded ReviveHealth along with Edwards in 2009 and initially served as chief accounts officer. She was named president in 2016. Earlier in her career, Thornton was previously healthcare practice leader at Davies Public Affairs and also served in the corporate communications department at Tenet Healthcare. One of the largest independent healthcare PR and marketing communications agencies in the country, ReviveHealth counts Cincinnati Children's Hospital, Flatiron Health, Henry Ford Health System, Lumeris, Penn State Health and Teladoc as clients. The agency was acquired by Weber Shandwick in early 2016. Thornton reports to Weber president Susan Howe. What's Included With a Digital Only subscription, you'll receive unlimited access to our website and e-edition. Our digital products are available 24/7 and are accessible anywhere, anytime. If you have any questions or need further assistance, please call our customer service team at 716-372-3121 or email nfinnerty@oleantimesherald.com. Matthias Knab, Opalesque: Gordian Capital today announced the multi- country launch of GSB Japan Equity Long Short Fund managed by Geoffrey Bennett of GSB Capital, LLC in San Francisco. The Fund invests in high concentration, high conviction large and mid-cap Japanese equities. The market neutral strategy has been employed managing separately managed accounts and has a five-year track record. Capacity in the strategy is limited to US$650 million. In an industry-first, a leading Japanese corporate pension fund is seeding the Fund via a discretionary investment mandate awarded to Gordian Capital Japan. Mr. Bennett, the Fund's Founder and Portfolio Manager has focused on the Japanese markets since 1992 and has been a hedge fund manager since 1999. Since 2005, he has served as the manager of GSB Capital, LLC, a Registered Investment Adviser specializing in Japanese equity markets. From 1999 to 2005, Mr. Bennett served as the principal and portfolio manager of Windham Pacific, LLC, where he also managed a pan-Asian long/ short fund with a market- neutral equity strategy. From 2005 to 2008, Mr. Bennett served as Portfolio Manager for the Phoenix Japan Fund. Starting in 2009, Mr. Bennett began to manage Japanese equity long short separately managed accounts, primarily for US investors. The evolution of his trading methodology crystallized in an approach used since 2016. The same strategy, which has generated annual compound returns over 20%, limited drawdowns, and a Sharpe ...................... To view our full article Click here The smallest destination on the entire African continent is focusing entirely on tourism in winter 2021/22 for good reason. The African country on the west coast of Africa is regarded as a thoroughly progressive, open-minded travel destination and, despite its economic malaise, impresses with a low crime rate and particularly friendly people. Here you can still experience genuine African hospitality - and that with year-round summer temperatures. The Shanghai, China This week, flexible fashion brand Effy By Design unveiled their latest collection in their Shanghais Huangpu boutique. The collection surprised the audience with looks merging timeless art-deco with futurist elements. Shanghai is filled with late 30s art-deco buildings, squeezed between futuristic skyscrapers. Almost a hiccup of history; its daunting to see all these stubborn lines rising, trying to dominate the future. So this collection is a warning, binding GUWAHATI: The 2-day Tourism & Culture Ministers Conference of the North Eastern States organized by the Ministry of Tourism, Government of India is underway in Guwahati. Assam Chief Minister Dr. Himanta Biswa Sarma along with G. Kishan Reddy, Union Minister of Tourism, Culture and DoNER; Arjun Ram Meghwal, Union MoS for Culture and Parliamentary Affairs and Ajay Bhatt, Union MoS for Tourism and Defense attended the plenary session on Monday. The Ministry of Tourism under its infrastructure development schemes, Swadesh Darshan and PRASHAD (National Mission on Pilgrimage Rejuvenation and Spiritual Heritage Augmentation Drive) has provided financial assistance to the northeastern states to develop tourism infrastructure at various tourist destinations. Under PRASHAD Scheme integrated development of identified pilgrimage and heritage destinations has been undertaken. A total number of six projects have been sanctioned for an amount of Rs 193.61 crores under this scheme in the northeast which included Development of Maa Kamakhya Temple and Pilgrimage destination in Guwahati for an amount of Rs 29.99 crores. Speaking in the conference union minister for tourism and DoNER G Kissan Reddy said that centre has emphasised on the role of youth of the NE region in it's development and the regions immense potential as a tourism destination. He also met with the Tourism & Culture Ministers of the states of NER, ahead of the conference on development of tourism and culture in the region. Reddy also said that the conference will deliberate on ways to further the vision of Honorable Prime Minister Narendra Modi of making the NE region the engine of growth. Assam chief minister Dr. Himanta Biswa Sarma thanked the Ministry of Culture for this great initiative. Stating that most of our tourist destinations are not well promoted due to the poor road network only, he urged Union Minister G. Kishan Reddy to invest more on road connectivity within the tourist destinations of the NE states. Dr. Sarma further said that tourism and culture are two important points that need to be focused for specific development of North-eastern region. As for the first time the DoNER Minister has been entrusted with these two portfolios as well, its an unique opportunity for the region for uplifting its tourism and cultural industry to a new heights, Dr. Sarma added. During the programme, an MoU was also signed between the Ministry of Tourism and IRCTC for cooperation in promoting domestic tourism and development of new tourism products. Review of Tribal Livelihood Development Programme by CM Dr. Himanta Biswa Sarma and Union Tribal Affairs Minister Arjun Munda. Guwahati: Chief Minister Dr. Himanta Biswa Sarma, along with Union Minister of Tribal Affairs Arjun Munda, reviewed the ongoing Tribal Livelihood Development Programme and other projects to be taken up for welfare and development of the tribal people in the state in a meeting held at State Guest House, Koinadhora in Guwahati on Sunday (September 12). At the beginning of the meeting, MD TRIFED Pravir Krishna made a detailed presentation of the ongoing programmes and the proposed projects to be implemented in the state. Chief Minister Dr. Sarma, during the review, said that in tandem with the Prime Minister's vision for inclusive growth, the State government has taken up several projects for the overall development of all sections of the people, including the tribal communities. Referring to MD TRIFED Pravir Krishna's proposal regarding establishing new Van Dhan Vikas Kendras (VDVK) in Assam, the Chief Minister urged to take necessary steps to set up 400 such kendras within March next year. The Chief Minister said that he would regularly review the progress to ensure the project's timely completion. Chief Minister Sarma further said that the State government would procure the products of the VDVKs at minimum support price to promote local resources, the expertise of the tribal people and expand the reach of tribal products. The Chief Minister also assured support from the state government to TRIFED on the proposed five Tribal Food parks, named "TRIFOOD", which would add value to the tribal food products. The Chief Minister also directed the concerned state government department to provide necessary land to set up seven more Eklavya Model Residential Schools in Assam. Presently, the construction of five such schools are underway in the state. Union Tribal Affairs Minister Arjun Munda, while reviewing the progress of the projects, said that the Central government has been extending necessary support for successful implementation of the schemes being taken up for economic development of the tribal people. He said that the Prime Minister accorded top priority to the development of the northeastern region, and the ministry has adopted several initiatives for employment generation and entrepreneurship development among tribal youth. He informed that the Central government would set up several model villages in Assam in the next five years. The Union Minister also handed over the Van Dhan National Award presented to the State brand "TRISSAM" to Chief Minister Dr. Sarma during the meeting. P&RD Minister Ranjeet Kumar Dass, Agriculture Minister Atul Bora, Handloom & Textiles Minister UG Brahma, Environment & Forest Minister Parimal Suklabaidya and Education Minister Dr Ranoj Pegu were also present in the review meeting. After the review meeting, union minister Arjun Munda attended the closing ceremony of the 3days long tribal leaders conference. Taking to Twitter, the union minister said, "It was indeed my proud pleasure to have attended the closing ceremony of "Voice of North East" (janajati leaders conference)today as the Chief Guest at Janajati Dharma Sanskriti Suraksha Manch located at Sonapur, Kamrup district, Assam." Guwahati: Union tribal affairs minister Arjun Munda met Assam Governor professor Jagdish Mukhi at Raj Bhavan on Monday and discussed steps for bringing about more developments for the tribal people, where the Governor assured matching steps from the State government in Dispur for taking all schemes and programmes of the Centre to empower people socially, academically and economically. Both of them discussed in details about Van Dhan Yojana and its implementation for the welfare of tribal people in Assam. Minister Munda informed about his ministrys decision to set up 400 Van Dhan Vikas centres, seven Eklavya model residential schools and five tribal food parks in the State. He commented that it would be a game changer for the tribals and will go a long way in creating more employment avenues for them. Earlier, Munda met with State chief minister Himanta Biswa Sharma during his first day of two-day Assam visit. The purpose of this meeting was to review and understand the status of the implementation of various tribal development programs in the State. Munda commented that his ministry is trying to add value to the existing traditional system and lifestyle of the tribal people. There should be a development program through which the entire north-eastern region can progress. It has to be in a way that the region can be presented as a development model. Northeasts gateway Assam has to play an important role. We have discussed regarding the tribal areas and the program that have been carried out there, said Munda while appreciating CM Sarmas efforts to lead Assam on the path of developments. Assam is moving forward under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and I am happy that Assam is developing under the leadership of HB Sarma, stated the Union minister adding that the State and Centre have been working in close coordination to achieve the target and promote the tribal artisans on the national as well as international level. It may be mentioned that Assam has a substantial tribal population of 3,308,570 forest dwellers who constitute 12.4% of its total population. The State has utilized various relevant schemes directly benefiting 37,786 forest tribal gatherers. Sarma has meanwhile directed the concerned department to provide necessary land for Eklavya schools. Presently, construction of five such schools are underway in the State. The ministry is planning to take similar review, monitoring and implementation of programs at ground level in all States so that impact in generating income for the tribal people and empowering them be hastened. Munda asserted that the mission to effect a complete transformation of tribal lives and livelihoods across the country and progress towards an Atmanirbhar Bharat has been accelerated. The police raided the lodge based on the source of information and apprehended 26 Myanmar nationals who had forged Aadhar cards and Voter ID. Assam police arrested 26 Myanmar nationals in the Rehabari area of Guwahati on Sunday (September 12). The police conducted a raid on Kamrupa Lodge at Rehabari based on the information and apprehended 26 Myanmar nationals, including 16 men and 10 women. The police recovered forged Indian documents such as Voter ID and Aadhar cards that were made in Mizoram. According to the official statement of the Assam Police, the raid was conducted based on the source of information on the lodge and arrested 26 Myanmar nationals who had forged Aadhar cards and voter ID that were made in Mizoram. Upon the interrogation, it was found that the apprehended belong to the Chin state of Myanmar, and they were on their way to Delhi to study the Bible (theology). The Bishop council has raised the following "inputs from devotees of different churches and dioceses" and raised complaints. New Delhi: Close on the heels of a major row triggered by the remarks by Kerala-based Bishop Joseph Kallarangatt, the BJP on Sunday (September 12) said such intervention is not just a wake-up call for his dioceses; it is the voice of the community who are victims. "The intervention by Bishop, Joseph Kallarangatt of Pala, Kerala during sacred worship is not just a wake up call for his dioceses, it is the voice of the community who are victims of love Jihad and the fallout of Narco terrorism.The cases of love jihad and drug abuse victims are ramping up," BJP spokesperson Tom Vadakkan said in a statement. The Kerala Bishop Council believes that terrorism and rampant flow of drugs into the state, both interconnected, is a menace to the country, and the Kerala government hasn't taken cognizance of the fact despite inputs from various investigative agencies, he said. The Bishop council has raised the following "inputs from devotees of different churches and dioceses" and raised complaints. "Young girls are lured and fall a prey for love jihad and are later ending up in foreign jails. This has to be accounted as human trafficking. The rising drug abuse in different communities has affected peace within families and has created socio-economic disorder of disastrous levels," said Mr Vadakkan, also a Christian from the southern state. He further said: "The intellectual and academic strengths of the young generation is destroyed through Narco terrorism or Narco Jihad. The peace within families and communities are destroyed by drug abuse. This aspect is a threat to national security and poses serious threat and implications to the dream of Aatma Nirbhar Bharat." The complaint raised by bishops reflects data from dioceses, churches, academic institutions, hospitals and various de-addiction centres run by the Church itself, he said. "These are not mere allegations against any community in particular but these antisocial elements pose a threat to national security and would destroy the young generation whom we endow the future of India." He appealed to the central government to bring central legislation to book such elements and bring in fast track courts to deal with Narcoterrorism and love Jihad. A day after Kerala's catholic church bishop's remarks that Christian girls were largely falling prey to "love and narcotic jihad" in the state, Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan has said that those in responsible positions should be cautious not to make a religious division in society. "Pala Bishop is influential and a religious scholar. We're hearing the term 'narcotic jihad' for the first time. Problem of narcotics doesn't affect a particular religion alone, it affects society as a whole," the Chief Minister said. The Bishop, Kallarangatt, had also said: "As Jihadis know that it is not easy to destroy people belonging to other religions using weapons in a democratic country like ours, they attempt other such means to achieve their target." The Union Home Minister on Sunday took Twitter to congratulate Bhupendra Patel on being elected as the new Chief Minister of Gujarat. New Delhi: Union Home Minister Amit Shah will attend the swearing-in ceremony of BJP leader Bhupendra Patel as Gujarat's new Chief Minister on Monday (September 13) afternoon, sources said. The ceremony is expected to take place around 3 p.m. Patel will be the 17th Chief Minister of Gujarat. Patel, Member of Legislative Assembly from Gujarat's Ghatlodia constituency, was announced as the new Chief Minister of Gujarat on Sunday by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). The decision to appoint Patel as the new Gujarat Chief Minister was taken in the legislative meeting called by the BJP in the Gujarat party headquarters, Gandhinagar. It is also learnt that a meeting is also scheduled after the oath-taking ceremony to revamp the Gujarat cabinet. The meeting, sources said, will be held in the presence of Amit Shah, Bhupendra Patel and other senior BJP leaders, including CR Patil and Bhupendra Yadav. The Union Home Minister on Sunday took Twitter to congratulate Bhupendra Patel on being elected as the new Chief Minister of Gujarat. "Under your guidance and leadership, the state's continuous development journey will get new energy and momentum and Gujarat will continue to be a leader in good governance and public welfare," Amit Shah tweeted. Gujarat Chief Minister-designate Bhupendra Patel expressed gratitude towards Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Home Minister Shah, BJP president JP Nadda and his predecessor Vijay Rupani for reposing faith in him and said he would take the development journey of the state forward. Courtesy: ANI The reality of the All Party Hurriyat Conference, a pro-Pakistan separatist organization operating in Jammu and Kashmir for the last three decades, has come to the fore. For a long time, Hurriyat Conference has been involved in anti-India activities at the behest of Pakistan. It has been a major source of funding to terrorist organizations. Their modus operandi involves raising funds in the country and from abroad through various illegal means and channels, including hawala, for separatist and terrorist activities in J&K. Recently, some other shocking details of their murky dealings have also surfaced. A probe into the granting of MBBS seats to Kashmiri students by institutions in Pakistan indicates that the money collected from aspirants by some organizations/persons were found to be the part of the Hurriyat Conference conglomerate. The quota of Hurriyat Conference was fixed in various educational institutions of Pakistan and professional courses like medical-engineering. On the 'recommendation' of Hurriyat leaders, students from Kashmir were admitted to these institutes and courses in Pakistan. Hurriyat leaders used to collect huge amounts by selling these seats allotted to them at the rate of Rs.15-20 lakh per seat. The major portion of the money thus collected was channelized to camouflage the transactions to ultimately land in the pockets of anti-India and militancy related activities and elements in the UT of Jammu and Kashmir. It was not only utilized for financial aiding of terrorist organizations like Lashkar-e-Taiba, Hizbul Mujahideen and Dukhtaran-e-Millat operating in Jammu and Kashmir but the funds collected were also used for causing disruption in the Kashmir Valley by pelting stones on security forces, systematically burning schools, damaging public property and waging war against India as part of their criminal conspiracy. The bust of this "seat racket" is appalling. Its just like making a hole in the plate you're eating! This revelation has once again proven Pakistan's involvement in terrorist incidents and creating unrest in Jammu and Kashmir. For well off families, Rs.15-20 lakh was never a big amount. They happily used to provide the said amount for a course like MBBS. Apart from collecting the money, the Hurriyat Conference leaders intended to gradually raise a large group of educated, professional, and high-ranking people as Pakistan's supporters in Jammu and Kashmir. They also encouraged economically weaker families to send their children to Pakistan by alluring them with a promise of cheaper and affordable education there. This facilitated infusion of religious and anti-India poison in the clean minds of these youths studying in Pakistan. Thus, a massive conspiracy to keep Jammu and Kashmir in constant turmoil and to create an atmosphere of violence and terror was hatched. Pakistan on the other hand used this to its advantage by crying false bloodshed, atrocities and human rights violations in Jammu and Kashmir in various international forums. However, the reality is that most of these incidents are Pakistan-sponsored. Further, the admission data of the last two decades clearly shows that 30-50 seats in professional courses like MBBS annually were purely on the "recommendation" of Hurriyat Conference. One cannot deny the fact that financial transactions form the basis of these recommendations. Apart from this, every year about 300 other students were also sent to Pakistan in the name of affordable education. Some youths were also sent on student visas for training in terror camps operating in Pakistan Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (Ghulam Kashmir) where they were trained to work for terrorist organizations operating in Kashmir. The investigation also brought light to the fact that the prolonged turmoil in the Kashmir Valley following the killing of the dreaded terrorist Vurhan Wani at the hands of Indian security forces in July 2016, was a sponsored one. More than five crores earned from the above sources were spent on its orchestration. Wahid-ur-Rehman, the blue-eyed youth leader of PDP President and former Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti, was the kingpin of these riots. He had a pivotal role in funding the security forces' stone pelting, arson, sabotage, bandh-demonstration etc. His intimate links with terrorists and terrorist organizations have also been confirmed and he had been in jail for a long time. It is unfortunate that Mehbooba Mufti has not even suspended him from her party, rather is advocating his misdeeds. In this backdrop it is pertinent to point out that on the lines of Hurriyat Conference there could be many more mainstream political leaders working in connivance with terrorists' outfits. The Hurriyat came into existence in 1993 with 26 groups, including Jamaat-e-Islami, Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front, Dukhtaran-e-Millat, Jammu and Kashmir People's Conference, Awami Action Committee, Jammu Kashmir Democratic Freedom Party, Ittihad-ul-Muslimeen, Islamic Studies Circle, Muslim Conference, Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam, Students Islamic League, Anjaman-e-Tablig-ul-Islam etc. The name of the different groups which are a part of this organization clearly suggests them being a narrow communal minded organization of the people of a particular religion. It is worth mentioning that the Arabic word Hurriyat means "freedom or freedom from slavery". The nomenclature itself is suggestive of the real plans of this separatist group which aspire freedom from India. Some of the groups in associated with Hurriyat want the merger of Kashmir with Pakistan, while the others are in favor of independent Kashmir. Their underlying policy is anti-India and their strategy is that of unrest, disturbance and terror in Kashmir so much so that they even call the Indian armed forces state-terrorists. Strikes, demonstrations and sabotage against the Indian government have been their routine. Their aim is to internationalize the Kashmir problem under the guise of human rights violations, unrest and violence in Kashmir. This serves as a political mask for terrorists as the international community does not recognize violent activities. They are the hiders and advocates of terrorists. The separatist conglomerate broke into two fractions in 2003 due to conflict of interest and distribution of booties. The most aggressive and hardliner faction towards India, called Tehreek-e-Hurriyat, is headed by Syed Ahmed Shah Geelani while the relatively moderate faction is headed by Mirwaiz Umar Farooq. The factions may have become two, but there is no major difference in their anti-India activities. They have also been boycotting the political process in Jammu and Kashmir. These self- proclaimed representatives of the Kashmiri Awam intimidate, entice, lure or deceive commoners of Kashmir. They have essentially made it a condition to hold talks with Pakistan before any talks with the Indian government. They themselves have been taking instructions from Pakistan before such talks. The sad part is that before 2014, various central governments helped them unknowingly by giving them unnecessary importance. The continued ignorance of the governments towards anti-India activities, further propelled their high-spirits. On May 30, 2017, the National Investigation Agency (NIA) started an investigation by registering an unnamed case against some Hurriyat leaders. The case was registered against the leaders who had collusion with the notorious terrorist organizations operating in Jammu and Kashmir. The case also involved an investigation into the collection of funds through various illegal means and providing them for the anti-India activities of terrorist organizations and miscreants. After conducting a thorough investigation in the same case, while filing a charge sheet in the year 2018, the NIA found that Hurriyat Conference leaders were collecting money by selling seats of educational institutions in Pakistan and then using that money to encourage unruly and terrorist activities to destabilize and weaken Indian State. A triangle" constituting Hurriyat Conference, Pakistan and terrorist organizations was active in an organized form against India. For a long time, this "triangle" has been waging an undeclared war against India. In February 2019, the NIA raided the houses of Yasin Malik, Shabbir Shah, Mohammad Ashraf Khan, Masarat Alam, Zafar Akbar Bhat, Syed Ali Shah Geelani's son Naseem Gilani and Asiya Andrabi etc. In these raids, 18 separatist leaders were arrested after finding objectionable material and evidence. A case related to seat-racket was also registered by Jammu and Kashmir Police (CID Wing) in July 2020. Four people, including Mohammad Akbar Bhat, chief of the Salvation Movement, an organization affiliated with the Hurriyat were arrested thereby reaffirming Hurriyat's money-raising and terror funding activities by selling the seats of Pakistani institutions. Earlier, at the behest of the state governments, the police used to keep a blind eye to the actions of the separatists. However, things have improved and there has been a qualitative improvement in the ability and efficiency of the Jammu and Kashmir Police under the Lieutenant Governor's rule. The crackdown on these separatist organizations and breaking the back of terrorist organizations by the present central government of India is a welcome initiative. Their financial sources have been sealed. Many separatists are in jail and terrorists are "with the Hoors in Paradise". On the same lines, the hired stone pelters and miscreants are also being clamped down. People involved in such activities will not be given 'clearance' by the police for passports and jobs. Government servants who acquire education from Pakistan and are engaged in anti-India activities are investigated and sacked. The decisive initiative of the Government of India has been a nightmare for the terrorists and separatists. The condition of the separatists is miserable and perhaps that's why they have not been able to protest against the historic decision of August 5, 2019, despite their own will and a lot of pressure from Pakistan. Had this been any other time, they would have raised the sky on their heads and turned the entire Kashmir valley into a bowl of fire and blood. The material evidence collected so far has established the alleged involvement of secessionist and separatist leaders, including the leaders and cadres of the Hurriyat Conference. The Central government is most likely to ban both the factions of the Hurriyat under section 3(1) of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, or the UAPA by issuing a notification, declaring such organization to be unlawful. It is indeed a long-awaited move by the government for peace, prosperity, development and change in Kashmir. It is necessary to ban the organization(s) involved in such heinous anti-national activities and the arrest of their masters. Breaking the separatists' network and spirits will make the task of digging the graves of terrorists easier. Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday congratulated Bhupendra Patel on taking oath as the new chief minister of Gujarat while lauding his predecessor Vijay Rupani for his people-friendly measures. In a tweet, PM Modi said Patel will certainly enrich Gujarat's growth trajectory. "Congratulations to Bhupendra Bhai on taking oath as CM of Gujarat. I have known him for years and have seen his exemplary work, be it in the BJP Organisation or in civic administration and community service. He will certainly enrich Gujarat's growth trajectory. @Bhupendrapbjp," tweeted PM Modi. Praising the former Chief Minister, PM Modi said he is certain that Rupani will continue to contribute to public service in the times to come. Rupani resignation comes a year before the Assembly elections in the state. He took charge as the Chief Minister of Gujarat on August 7, 2016. He currently represents Gujarat's Rajkot West as MLA. "During his five years as CM, Vijay Rupani Ji has undertaken many people-friendly measures. He worked tirelessly for all sections of society. I am certain he will continue to contribute to public service in the times to come. @vijayrupanibjp," PM Modi said in a tweet. Bharatiya Janata Party leader and Ghatlodia MLA Bhupendra Patel took oath as the 17th Chief Minister of Gujarat today. It is believed that Patel holds a strong influence in the Patidar community in Gujarat, which the BJP has banked upon to win the upcoming elections. Fondly addressed as 'Dada' by his supporters, Bhupendrabhai Rajnikanthbhai Patel is now the 17th Chief Minister of Gujarat. The announcement of the 59-year-old BJP leader's name as the Chief Minister-elect at a legislative party meeting of the BJP on Sunday came as a surprise for many as the low-profile MLA was not seen to be among the top contenders for the post. United States Special Presidential Envoy for Climate John Kerry on Monday met Union Power Minister RK Singh here in New Delhi, as part of his India trip to address the climate crisis. Kerry is on an official visit to India from September 12-14. The US special envoy will meet with India counterparts and private sector leaders to discuss efforts to raise global climate ambition and speed India's clean energy transition, the US State Department informed in a statement. During his visit, India and the US will launch the Climate Action and Finance Mobilization Dialogue (CAFMD), one of the two main tracks of the US-India Agenda 2030 Partnership that President Biden and Prime Minister Modi announced at the Leaders Summit on Climate in April 2021. The special envoy's travel will bolster the US bilateral and multilateral climate efforts ahead of the 26th Conference of the Parties (COP26) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), which will be held October 31 to November 12, 2021, in Glasgow, United Kingdom. Earlier, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had announced the India-US climate and clean energy partnership to help mobilise investments and enable green collaborations. "As a climate-responsible developing country, India welcomes partners to create templates of sustainable development in India. These can also help other developing countries, who need affordable access to green finance and clean technologies," PM Modi said at the virtual Leaders' Summit on Climate hosted by the US last month. (ANI) PM to visit the exhibition models of Aligarh node of Uttar Pradesh Defence Industrial Corridor and Raja Mahendra Pratap Singh State University. Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi will lay the foundation stone of Raja Mahendra Pratap Singh State University in Aligarh, Uttar Pradesh, on September 14, 2021, at around 12 noon, which will be followed by his address on the occasion. Prime Minister will also visit the exhibition models of Aligarh node of Uttar Pradesh Defence Industrial Corridor and Raja Mahendra Pratap Singh State University. About Raja Mahendra Pratap Singh State University The State Government is establishing the University in memory and honour of the great freedom fighter, educationist and social reformer, Raja Mahendra Pratap Singhji. The University is being set up in a total area of over 92 acres at village Lodha and village Musepur Kareem Jarouli of Aligarh's Kol tehsil. It will provide an affiliation to 395 colleges of the Aligarh Division. About UP's Defense Industrial Corridor The Prime Minister announced the establishment of a Defense Industrial Corridor in Uttar Pradesh while inaugurating the UP Investors Summit in Lucknow on February 21, 2018. A total of 6 nodesAligarh, Agra, Kanpur, Chitrakoot, Jhansi and Lucknowhave been planned in the Defense Industrial Corridor. In the Aligarh Node, the land allocation process has been completed, and land has been allotted to 19 firms, who will invest Rs 1245 crore in the node. The Defense Industrial Corridor of Uttar Pradesh will help to make the country self-reliant in defence production and promote 'Make in India'. The Governor and CM of UP will also be present on the occasion. Courtesy: PIB The fall of Afghanistan is the start of the collapse of American influence and the receding of Human Rights across the globe If the world wishes to preserve its cultural diversity and civilisation, the leaders of democratic, multi-ethnic, and pluralistic societies must reject the Taliban and its interpretation of the Quran in unambiguous terms The world is shocked at the blitzing fall of the Afghanistan Government to the Taliban. A typical liberal-trained mind cannot comprehend how the Taliban could defeat a superpower's effort of about 20 years. America's defeat at the hands of the Taliban is a consequence of the continuous process of radicalisation of a vast population willing to sacrifice their lives at the altar of religious purity. Americas effort to establish a liberal democracy in Afghanistan cost hundreds of thousands of lives and trillions of dollars. It took just a few weeks to dismantle it. The West is focusing on restoring its credibility regarding pursuing liberal values across the globe. Will the West be relegated to just talk and no action when it comes to Human Rights? Suppose America puts its self-interest first and relegates defending liberal values across the globe, when convenient, to its allies. In that case, the influence of the West will quickly wane across the world. It was evident from the Afghan experience that there is a limit to resources in advancing human rights across the globe, especially among the deprived infested with radical fundamentalists. The fall of Afghanistan is the start of the collapse of American influence and the receding of Human Rights across the globe. It is natural for the champions of Human Rights to be worried about the rise of the Taliban. The Taliban, the Wahabis/Salafis, non-believers in democratic governance and opposed to any significant power to women, indeed won the fight of endurance for the first time. Countries with pseudo-democracies governed indirectly by the military or authoritarian rule are happy to embrace the Taliban as their own. There seems to be a rush among such countries to adopt the Taliban and engage with them. It is only a hope that those who fought against the Taliban do not legitimise them. It is shocking to see America engaging with the Taliban for self-interest. If the world, Islamic and non-Islamic, truly takes time to research why the Taliban won, it will do it a favour. Taliban is a phenomenon that took more than a century to take shape. Saudi Arabias billions of dollars in funding during the latter decades of the twentieth century for the Wahabi/Salafi school of thought helped propagate radical seminaries for the Talibs. While the Saudis have now toned down their efforts, the pursuit of religious purity for power, control of land, and control over people has become a goal of this new breed of Islamists. Refusal to recognise the diversity of thoughts and narrower interpretation of Islam adds fuel to the fire, leading to a very motivated group of people willing to kill and harm innocent people. These terrorist groups trying to control the larger population outdo each other in barbaric justice, social customs, and practices to establish themselves at the top of the religious purity pyramid. Being seen as the purest form of Islam has become critical to recruiting new followers on social media. All these terrorist organisations have common political goals of controlling land and people, attracting new deviant recruits. Radical Islam is once again evolving into a fiercely brutal force witnessed by the world about a millennia ago. The fringe elements within Islam are slowly becoming mainstream. The international community must not open avenues for radical fundamentalists to become mainstream. Countries thinking for short-term tactical advantage through the Taliban will pay a heavy price in decades to come. If unchecked, these extreme forces will sprout and thrive in their lands too. Radical Islam is once again evolving into a fiercely brutal force witnessed by the world about a millennia ago. The fringe elements within Islam are slowly becoming mainstream. The international community must not open avenues for radical fundamentalists to become mainstream. Countries thinking for short-term tactical advantage through the Taliban will pay a heavy price in decades to come. If unchecked, these extreme forces will sprout and thrive in their lands too History shows that once fundamentalist radicals become rulers, a very long period of degradation of the society follows, and civilisation, as we know, stops being vibrantdecay and desperation take root. The only people who benefit further are those in the ruling class and can mimic the rulers way of life, culture, and religion. For Bharat, the Taliban is a clear threat in the longer term. It is a more significant sustainable threat than Pakistan and China. A similar brutal force emerged from Afghanistan about 1000 years ago, impacting Bharat's culture and psyche. Suppose the world wishes to preserve its cultural diversity and civilisation. In that case, leaders of democratic, multi-ethnic, and pluralistic societies must reject the Taliban and its interpretation of the Quran in unambiguous terms. A significant proportion of the world population is Muslim and are faithful followers of the Quran. They would never accept the Taliban as their rulers, including most Afghans. Afghans must get an opportunity to get themselves rid of the Taliban. In the meantime, the world must not strengthen the Taliban by providing it legitimacy. For the sake of human rights, religious freedom, and womens rights, the world should not recognise the Taliban. Internal infighting between various factions within Taliban is now apparent. There are reports of rifts over the control of troops and arms between Mullah Mohammad Yakoob and Sirajuddin Haqqani The Taliban have announced a new interim government of their so-called "Islamic Emirate" in Afghanistan, more than three weeks after taking control of the capital Kabul. This delay in government formation didn't happen because the Taliban was holding talks with other ethnic groups for their inclusion in the government. Indeed the main reason for this delay was that different factions in the Taliban are fighting among themselves for a greater share and say in the government. Soon after the death of Mullah Omar, division among Taliban leadership started emerging. Mullah Akhtar Mansour was elected as the new head of the mainstream, or majority faction. His election was strongly opposed by a faction led by Mullah Muhammad Rasool. But currently, as the Taliban is in power, internal divisions are becoming deeper. As the current Amir, Haibatullah Akhunzada, is a relatively weak leader and merely a figurehead, he didn't have the ability to unite all the factions. Also, the differences are not only about power-sharing. There are various areas of disagreement. The different factions have disparate views about how the new regime should rule across all dimensions of governance: inclusiveness, dealing with foreign fighters, the economy, and foreign relations. The Taliban is currently divided into three groups. The first group is the political wing which negotiated a peace deal with the United States led by Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar. The second group is the military wing led by Molavi Yakoob, son of Taliban founder Mulla Omar. The last one is the Haqqani Network, headed by Sirajuddin Haqqani. However, the Haqqani network is officially subsumed under the larger Taliban umbrella organisation. But the Haqqanis maintain distinct command and control and lines of operations. Molavi Yaqoob wants to bring military elements into the decision making rather than political elements being pushed by Mullah Baradar, the group's co-founder. Some reports indicate that Molavi Yaqoob has openly told that those living in the luxury of Doha cannot dictate terms to those who carried out askari jihad against the US-led occupation forces. Lt General Faiz Hameed, the ISI chief, visited Kabul amid Taliban infighting over government formation On the other hand, the Haqqani network, which has elements within the Pakistani security establishment, is the favourite child of Pakistan intelligence agency ISI. It is one of Afghanistans most experienced and sophisticated insurgent organisations. The Haqqanis want lion's share in the power as they want to encash on the fact that they lead the eastern lobby and represent around 30-35% of the Taliban forces, including some of the north-eastern Taliban. Also, Kabul is under the firm control of over 6,000 cadres of the Haqqani network. Molavi Yaqoob has gained the loyalty and operational resources of the most vigorous Taliban factions in the south, where Haqqani has been unpopular. There are reports of rifts over the control of troops and arms between Molavi Yakoob and Sirajuddin Haqqani. Also, Afghanistan's tribal configurations and age-old Pashtun tribal rivalries play a role in widening the gulf between these groups. Like many key figures in the Quetta Shura, Mullah Baradar is a member of the Durrani clan who mostly lives in southern parts of Afghanistan like the provinces of Kandahar, Helmand, and Uruzgan. Molavi Yakoob is from the Hotak tribe, a branch of the larger Ghilzai tribe mainly based in southern Afghanistan. On the other hand, Sirajuddin Haqqani is from the Zadran tribe of the Ghilzai clan. Its power base is in Southeastern Afghan provinces like Khost and Paktia. Lt General Faiz Hameed, the ISI chief, visited Kabul amid Taliban infighting over government formation. The ISI chief reportedly held talks with Taliban leaders and persuaded them to sort out their differences. But up to what extent ISI chief achieved his goal that needs to be seen. But there is concern within Taliban leadership about the internal infighting coming out in the open and triggering violence with each group fighting the other as in the mujahideen days of the 1990s. With the US leaving behind more than USD 85 billion of weaponry in Afghanistan, there is enough ammunition with each faction to fight the other for at least a decade. The Taliban's success as an insurgency rested on its ability to remain cohesive despite NATO efforts to fragment the group. But the group's challenge of maintaining cohesiveness across its many different factions of varied ideological intensity and material interests is tougher now that it is in power. The last time the Taliban seized power in Afghanistan in 1996 there was never any question of what form of government they would install and who would rule the country. They were filling a vacuum, and Mullah Mohammed Omar, the reclusive cleric who had led the movement since its beginnings two years earlier, took charge. Hence no one questioned his decisions and authority. But now, the situation is different as the group doesn't have a supreme leader whose words are final. 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. President John F. Kennedy, inaugural address, January 20, 1961 Whether we like it or not, the post-World War II world order has been the US-led World order. The United States should do whatever it is able to do to assist the return of normal economic health in the world, without which there can be no political stability and no assured peace, declared the then Secretary Of State George C. Marshall in his address at Harvard University on June 5, 1947. Popularly known as the Marshall Plan, after the detonation of nuclear bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, it was also an indication of arrival of the new superpower on the world stage. Since then, whether international organisations, peace and stability or the general rules of trade negotiations, American stamp was everywhere. The Taliban takeover of Kabul has obviously been raising questions about the possible American decline. Firstly, after fighting the so-called War on Terror for two decades, the US had to rush out of Afghanistan unceremoniously, giving a free hand to the most wanted terrorists to form the Government. More than the withdrawal, the way it was executed, was certainly not superpower like. In the darkness, leaving the unprepared Afghan national forces behind, American forces literally fled the ground. For the last twenty years, inability to deal with the menace of Islamic Jihadism, seems to be the only evident conclusion of the War on Terror. After choosing Pakistan as an ally in this war, no better result could be expected. The deal inked with the Taliban itself was a sign of failure and now the manner in which deal has been executed has given a major dent to the US status as a super-power. The United Nations system has designated Al-Qaida and Taliban as terror outfits. Out of thirty-three, seventeen of the ministers in the Taliban interim Government are designated terrorists either by UN or US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). There cannot be a worse slap on the face of a super power when it is forced to engage with those designated as terrorists. The Taliban actions are known to all and one should not expect much to change on the ground. Free speech, womens rights and democratic principles are anathema to the Sharia based governance model. Since Truman Doctrine of 1947, through which America vouched to support free peoples who are resisting attempted subjugation by armed minorities or by outside pressures, at least in policy rhetoric liberal democratic values were the guiding principles, which have taken the harsh beating at the hands of Talibanism. The hopelessness with which the US-led institutions, including the UN, are watching the Taliban brutalities is another sign of American decline. The US system faced severe challenges during the Cold-War, and experienced various setbacks like Vietnam War, but by and large the rules of game remained in American control. China, in connivance with the Islamists, is not only posing an ideological challenge to the democratic world espoused by the US but also throwing economic, technological and institutional challenges to the United States. The Sino-American rivalry on all the fronts, including technological and military ones, has become more open and lethal in the post-Covid-19 scenario. America is way superior militarily and economically and therefore, many would argue that the declinism is nothing but a Chinese agenda. Still, the new Cold-War is in the offing, is a fact. The US-led world order based on liberal democratic values, however imperfect and rhetorical, had the potential for everyone to raise a voice. What is emerging as a contender is all the more dangerous, a combination of authoritarian and sectarian ideologies. China eventually may face the same fate as the erstwhile USSR and now the US experienced while muddling in the difficult terrain of Afghanistan. Till then, the world should be braced for a bumpy ride. Democracies like Bharat, along with right policies and alliances, have a greater role to play in shaping a truly democratic, multi-polar and peaceful world order. Joan Ruth (Geurts) Thompson, passed away at the Wesley Acres Health Center in Des Moines Iowa on September 8, 2021, at the age of 86 years. Joan was born on January 14, 1935, to Floris W.A. and Sophia (Vos) Geurts. Joan graduated from Pella High School with the class of 1953 and resided in D Do you appreciate the work we do as the only independent media outlet dedicated to serving OU students, faculty, staff and alumni on campus and around the world for more than 100 years? Then consider helping fund our endeavors. Around the world, communities are grappling with what journalism is worth and how to fund the civic good that robust news organizations can generate. We believe The OU Daily and Crimson Quarterly magazine provide real value to this community both now by covering OU, and tomorrow by helping launch the careers of media professionals. If youre able, please SUPPORT US TODAY FOR AS LITTLE AS $1. You can make a one-time donation or a recurring pledge. MATHER, Calif. (AP) President Joe Biden on Monday used his first Western swing in office to hold out the wildfires burning across the region as an argument for his $3.5 trillion rebuilding plans, calling year-round fires and other extreme weather a climate change reality the nation can no longer ignore. We cant ignore the reality that these wildfires are being supercharged by climate change, Biden said, noting that catastrophic weather doesnt strike based on partisan ideology. It isnt about red or blue states. It's about fires. Just fires. With stops in Idaho and California, Biden sought to boost support for his big rebuilding plans, saying every dollar spent on resilience would save $6 in future costs. And he said the rebuilding must go beyond simply restoring damaged systems and instead ensure communities can withstand such crises. These fires are blinking code red for our nation. Theyre gaining frequency and ferocity, Biden said after concluding an aerial tour of the Caldor Fire that threatened communities around Lake Tahoe. We know what we have to do. The presidents two-day Western swing comes at a critical juncture for a central plank of his legislative agenda. Lawmakers on Capitol Hill are working to assemble details of the infrastructure-plus plan and how to pay for it, a concern not just for Republicans. A key Democratic senator said Sunday that he will not vote for a package so large. In California, Biden took an aerial tour of land charred by the Caldor Fire after getting a briefing from officials at the state emergency services office. Gov. Gavin Newsom, who faces a recall vote Tuesday, joined Biden for the briefing. Hours later, Biden campaigned with the embattled governor in Long Beach, tying Newsom's leading Republican challenger to former President Donald Trump and telling voters their decision would reverberate around the nation and, quite frankly, not a joke, around the world. By voting against the recall, Biden told the crowd, you'll be protecting California from another Trump climate denier. Newsom joked at the briefing that the California emergency center had become his office because fire season has just kept going, as he amplified Bidens message. This has been a hard year and a half, Newsom said. During an earlier briefing in Boise at the National Interagency Fire Center, which coordinates the government's wildfire response, Biden noted that wildfires start earlier every year and that this year they have scorched 5.4 million acres. That's larger than the entire state of New Jersey, Biden said. The reality is we have a global warming problem, a serious global warming problem, and it's consequential, and what's going to happen is, things are not going to go back," he said. Biden, who visits Denver on Tuesday before returning to Washington, aimed to link the increasing frequency of wildfires, drought, floods and other extreme weather events to what he and scientists say is a need to invest billions in combating climate change, along with vastly expanding the nation's social safety net. The president argued for spending now to make the future effects of climate change less costly, as he did during recent stops in Louisiana, New York and New Jersey all states that suffered millions of dollars in flood and other damage and scores of deaths after Hurricane Ida. Biden also praised firefighters for the life-threatening risks they take, and discussed the administration's recent use of a wartime law to boost supplies of firehoses from the U.S. Forest Service's primary supplier, an Oklahoma City nonprofit called NewView Oklahoma. In deep-red Idaho, several opposing groups leveraged Bidens visit as a way to show resistance to his administration. GOP gubernatorial candidates, an anti-vaccine organization and a far-right group were among those urging people to turn out against the president. More than 1,000 protesters did so, gathering in Boise before Biden arrived to express displeasure with his coronavirus plan, the election and other issues. Chris Burns, a 62-year-old from Boise, said, Im against everything Biden is for. Burns was especially displeased with a sweeping new vaccine mandate for 100 million people that Biden announced last week. Hes acting like a dictator, Burns said. The White House is trying to turn the corner after a difficult month dominated by a chaotic and violent U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan and the surging delta COVID-19 variant that have upended what the president had hoped would mark a summer in which the nation was finally freed from the coronavirus. Biden acknowledged his polling numbers have dipped in recent weeks, but argued his agenda is overwhelmingly popular with the public. He said he expects his Republican opponents to attack him instead of debating him on the merits of his spending plan. Besides the Republican opposition in Congress, Biden needs to overcome the skepticism of two key centrist Democrats in the closely divided Senate. Joe Manchin of West Virginia and Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona have expressed concerns about the size of the $3.5 trillion spending package. Manchin said Sunday, I cannot support $3.5 trillion, citing his opposition to a proposed increase in the corporate tax rate from 21% to 28% and vast new social spending envisioned by the president. Manchin also complained about a process he said feels rushed. In California, Biden appeared to respond to those concerned about the plan's size, saying the cost may be as much as $3.5 trillion and would be spread out over 10 years, a period during which the economy is expected to grow. The 100-member Senate is evenly split between Democrats and Republicans. Given solid GOP opposition, Bidens plan cannot pass the Senate without Manchin or Sinemas support. The climate provisions in Bidens plans include tax incentives for clean energy and electric vehicles, investments to transition the economy away from fossil fuels and toward renewable sources such as wind and solar power, and creation of a civilian climate corps. The Biden administration in June laid out a strategy to deal with the growing wildfire threat, which included hiring more federal firefighters and implementing new technologies to detect and address fires quickly. Last month, the president approved a disaster declaration for California, providing federal aid for the counties affected by the Dixie and River fires. He issued another disaster declaration for the state just before Monday's visit aimed at areas affected by the Caldor Fire. ___ Superville reported from Washington. Associated Press writers Rebecca Boone and Keith Ridler in Boise and Aamer Madhani in Wilmington, Delaware, contributed to this report. PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AP) Haitis Office of Citizen Protection posted a video Monday demanding that Prime Minister Ariel Henry step down as authorities seek to interview him about telephone calls he allegedly had with a key suspect in the presidents assassination. Attorney Renan Hedouville, who directs the ombudsman-like office, said Henry should appear at the public prosecutors office as requested to help shed light on the July 7 killing of Jovenel Moise at his private home. He described the offices decision to call for Henrys resignation as objective and courageous and it also urged the international community to stop supporting Henry. We would all love to know the content of that conversation, Hedouville said of the reported calls between Henry and Joseph Badio, a fugitive who once worked at Haitis Ministry of Justice and at the governments anti-corruption unit until he was fired in May amid accusations of violating unspecified ethical rules. On Friday, Bedford Claude, chief prosecutor for the capital of Port-au-Prince, issued a letter to Henry asking to meet with him this week if the prime minister agreed. Claude said he has evidence that the men talked twice in the pre-dawn hours shortly after the assassination and was seeking details about the content of those phone calls. The prime minister cannot remain in his post without clearing up these dark areas, Hedouville said. He must wash away all suspicion. Also on Monday, Haitian Justice Minister Rockfeller Vincent issued a strongly worded letter to the chief of Haitis National Police demanding he immediately increase security for Claude, whom he said had received important and disturbing threats in the past five days. Vincent also ordered Police Chief Leon Charles to tell all officers not to carry out any political orders without basis, especially those that might be illegal. He did not elaborate and could not be immediately reached for comment. Henry has not directly addressed Claudes letter in public, but during a meeting with political leaders Saturday to sign an accord, he said he would keep pushing to help stabilize Haiti. Rest assured that no distraction, no summons or invitation, no maneuver, no threat, no rearguard combat, no aggression will distract me from my mission, Henry said. The real culprits, the intellectual authors and co-author and sponsor of the assassination of President Jovenel Moise will be found and brought to justice and punished for their crimes. More than 40 suspects have been arrested in the case, including 18 former Colombian soldiers. Authorities are still looking for additional suspects, including Badio and a former Haitian senator. The justice minister tweeted last week that people he did not identify were trying to control Haitian judges, prosecutors and other officials to help cover up for those involved in the killing and to persecute political adversaries. With me, that macabre plan will remain an illusion, Vincent wrote. ___ Associated Press writer Evens Sanon reported this story in Port-au-Prince and AP writer Danica Coto reported from San Juan, Puerto Rico. TOKYO (AP) Japan's Foreign Ministry urged its citizens on Monday to stay away from religious facilities and crowds in six Southeast Asian nations, warning of a possible attack. The ministry said it had obtained information that there are increased risks such as suicide bombings. The warning applies to Japanese citizens in Indonesia, the Philippines, Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand and Myanmar. The advisory was met with puzzlement in several of those nations, which said they had no knowledge of such a threat, or details from Japan as to the source of its information. Tanee Sangrat, spokesman for Thailand's Foreign Ministry, said Japan had not revealed the origin of the warning and that the Japanese Embassy had no further details other than to say it was not specific to Thailand. Thai security agencies have no information of their own about a possible threat, said deputy police spokesman Kissana Pathanacharoen. Similarly, the Philippine Department of Foreign Affairs said it was not aware of any information about an elevated threat level, while Indonesian Foreign Ministry spokesman Teuku Faizasyah denied that any warning was even sent to Japanese citizens there. Malaysian police also have not received any information or detected any security threats, national police chief Acryl Sani Abdullah Sani said. In the short advisory, Japan urged its citizens to pay close attention to local news and information and use caution "for the time being, but did not give a specific timeframe or other details. Japan's Foreign Ministry refused to provide the source of the information or say whether it was shared with other countries. It said the advisory had been sent to its embassies in the countries concerned to be distributed to Japanese citizens. Midland County added 84 new COVID-19 cases and one death between Saturday, Sept. 11 and Monday, Sept. 13. COVID-19 numbers reported from Sept. 11-13 Midland County: 84 cases and one death were added; pandemic total is 7,678 cases, 727 probable, 103 deaths and three probable deaths. Bay County: 110 cases were added; pandemic total stands at 11,412 cases, 734 probable, 351 deaths and 15 probable deaths. Gladwin County: 17 cases were added; pandemic total stands at 2,142 cases, 428 probable, 58 deaths and four probable deaths. Isabella County: 90 cases were added; pandemic total stands at 6,002 cases, 1,034 probable, 98 deaths and five probable deaths. Saginaw County: 157 cases were added; pandemic total stands at 21,910 cases, 1,564 probable, 622 deaths and 21 probable deaths. The state added 6,093 cases and 29 deaths between Saturday and Monday. Overall, Michigan is at 976,505 cases and 20,535 deaths. Recovered According to the Midland County Health Department website, which was updated Sept. 7, 7,368 Midland County individuals have recovered from COVID. The state reported that as of Sept. 10, a total of 896,206 persons have recovered. Testing Midland Countys seven-day rolling positivity rate on Sept. 9 was listed at 7.6%, and Gladwin County's was listed at 15.7%. Our 12-county region is listed at 11.3% and Michigan is at 9.5%. MidMichigan Health statistics As of Sept. 9, MidMichigan Medical Center in Midland was listed as having a 94% bed occupancy, with 25 COVID patients and one in the ICU. MidMichigan Medical Center in Gladwin was listed as having a 32% bed occupancy, with two COVID patients and none in the ICU. Both medical centers reported having at least 15-30 days worth of personal protection equipment (N95, surgical masks, gowns, gloves and eye protection) on hand. Schools Below is a report provided by Midland Public Schools on the presence of COVID-19 in local schools; the format of the report was recently modified, omitting the number of students/staff currently in quarantine. The Daily News doesn't have readily available access to reports from Bullock Creek, Meridian or Freeland school systems. As of Monday, Sept. 13, MPS reported 114 staff/students are close contacts to an individual who was confirmed COVID-19 positive and 41 staff/students are currently tested positive for the virus. Schools with one or more staff/student confirmed positive for COVID-19 as of Monday include Dow High (1), Midland High (2), Jefferson Middle (3), Adams Elementary (17), Central Park Elementary (4) Chestnut Hill Elementary (4), Plymouth Elementary (3), Siebert Elementary (7) and Woodcrest Elementary (2). Midland County vaccinations The Michigan COVID-19 Vaccine Dashboard lists Midland's completed vaccine rate is 64.9%. Currently, the vaccines are not authorized to be given to those under age 12. Midland County Health Department is hosting a weekly walk-in vaccination clinic from 10 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. every Tuesday on the second floor of the Midland County Services Building, 220 W. Ellsworth St., Midland. Future COVID-19 vaccine clinics in Midland County are listed at www.co.midland.mi.us/HealthDepartment/COVIDVaccineInformation.aspx. Those with questions may call 989-832-6380 or email MCDPH@co.midland.mi.us. Gaborone, Botswana (PANA) - Health and Wellness authorities in Botswana have condemned videos circulating on social media platforms, depicting blatant disregard for COVID-19 safety protocols by some liquor outlets Port Louis, Mauritius (PANA) The Mauritian health authorities said on Monday that they recorded 187 infections of Covid-19 on Sunday, including two serious cases that required admission to hospital Tripoli, Libya (PANA) - Libya and two UN agencies on Sunday discussed the resumption of the Voluntary Nations Repatriation programme for migrants, and the way to ensure that abuses are not repeated Tripoli, Libya (PANA) - The Libyan Parliament on Monday resumed its session in Tobruk by discussing the answers of the national unity government to questions raised by the legislators last week Tripoli, Libya (PANA) - The Libyan Presidential Council Monday discussed with the prime minister of the Government of National Unity, Abdelhalid Al-Dbaiba, results of foreign visits during the last few days and the issue of relations with brotherly and friendly countries Photo: (Photo : MARTIN BUREAU/AFP via Getty Images) Stillbirths in unvaccinated pregnant women have doubled in states with low vaccination rates, and most of the cases might be concentrated in the southern regions. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Mississippi had 72 stillbirths during the pandemic, doubling the state's expected cases for the same period in the previous years. Dr. Thomas Dobbs, Mississippi's health officer, said that nearly all cases involved unvaccinated moms. The Magnolia State has one of the highest infant mortality rates in the country at 9 per 1,000 births. Mississippi's current vaccination rate is still at 39 percent fully vaccinated. However, doctors in Alabama, Mississippi's neighbor to the east, have also noticed a three to six percent increase in stillbirth cases for unvaccinated pregnant women at the Division of Maternal-Fetal Medicine of the University of Alabama. The rate is higher than stillbirth cases pre-pandemic, which was at one percent. Dr. Akila Subramaniam said that these reports are still anecdotal, and there are no firm numbers to support the observations. Doctors may also be seeing a rise in cases because there are more pregnant moms with COVID-19. Read Also: Does COVID-19 Vaccines Cause Miscarriage? CDC Releases Data for Pregnant Women Higher Risks for Pregnant Moms Studies have shown that pregnant mothers could develop severe COVID-19 symptoms and may require hospitalization or the use of ventilators in the intensive care unit if they are infected. The CDC came out with an advisory for mothers to undergo vaccination as soon as possible to reduce their risks. However, only 24 percent of pregnant moms have had at least one COVID-19 jab despite assurances of its safety from the CDC, the Society for Maternal-Fetal Medicine (SMFM), and the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG). The guidelines from these medical institutions were not published until August 2021, which may have triggered vaccine hesitancy among pregnant mothers. For ethical reasons, early vaccine trials did not include tests on pregnant women; thus, data about its safety and efficacy came out late. Scientists usually put this demographic last on the lists of tests, along with children, to ensure their protection. Unfortunately, this allowed false claims about the vaccines' effect on pregnant women to emerge online amid the lack of clarity about safety. Pregnant Moms Share Their Experience Some mothers, such as Kelly Lawler, a journalist from USA Today, made their own choices to get vaccinated. After discussing her options with her doctor, Lawler had her first Pfizer shot in March, followed up with her second jab in April, well before the guidelines were released. The mom said that the side effects she experienced were not far from the usually reported side effects. She also participated in the V-Safe Program for the CDC, which tracks the safety of vaccines weeks after the jabs. "I was hopeful that my experience with vaccination while pregnant could contribute to better data," Lawler wrote. Kacie Liwosz, a teacher, also sought the help of her OBGYN and her children's pediatrician before getting vaccinated. She checked the "ingredient list" of Pfizer and Moderna from trusted resources before making her final decision. On the 26th week of her fourth pregnancy, she got her first shot of Pfizer, and then the second shot came three weeks later. The mom said that the recent findings of the safety and efficacy of the vaccines affirmed her decision. She felt her baby kicking "all the time" weeks after she became fully vaccinated. "He was giving me a little confidence boost that he was OK in there," Liwosz said. Related Article: Breast Milk of Vaccinated Moms Have High COVID-19 Antibodies: Study Photo: (Photo : Justin Sullivan/Getty Images) Outbreaks in COVID-19 cases, where three or more non-related households contract the virus infection from school, have been prevented in San Francisco since classes started on August 16, the city's Department of Public Health has confirmed. Three weeks since school resumption, only 227 COVID-19 cases have been reported among 62,000 students and almost 10,000 public school staff. The health department said that the "vast majority" of these infections did not occur in the school setting. COVID-19 cases among the children in San Francisco remain very low throughout the pandemic despite the Delta COVID-19 variant. Only 13 children have been hospitalized since the pandemic started in March 2020 and no kids are currently admitted nor requiring emergency COVID-19 medical care. Read Also: Spike in COVID-19 Cases in Kids Attributed to Schools With No Face Mask Policy Defying National Trends Some 5,543 among 118,000 children have had the infection in the last 18 months, but there are no pediatric deaths recorded for COVID-19 cases. San Francisco is defying national trends amid the skyrocketing COVID-19 cases among children in other states. San Francisco Unified School District Superintendent Vince Matthews said that the city's Department of Public Health data affirms that the health and safety measures adopted in the local schools have been working. School staff members in San Francisco must be fully vaccinated or tested for the virus every week if they won't get the jab for religious or medical reasons. Universal masking is also expected indoors while school officials have improved classroom ventilation and other safety measures like isolating close contacts of virus cases. At the end of August, the San Francisco Unified School District asked all public school employees to submit their vaccination status, and 96 percent have complied with the mandate. Teachers who do not adhere to the vaccination or testing requirements are no longer eligible to work in schools. "It's extremely encouraging to see such high rates of vaccination among our staff," Matthews said in a statement to the press. He believes that this has been vital to keeping the students and their families safe from the virus. Ninety percent of San Francisco children, between 12 to 17 years old, are also fully vaccinated, and 86 percent of all residents in the city, between 12 years old and older, are fully vaccinated as well. Fearing that the worst is yet to come, some school board members remain unsupportive of the mitigating measures despite the public health data. Teachers Become Contact Tracers Meanwhile, some school teachers said they could no longer do their jobs because they focused on contact tracing COVID-19 cases. Sometimes, it takes at least six hours to map out a trace for one case alone, and most of the time, the contract tracers have to work on the weekends. Michael Essien, the president of the United Administrators of San Francisco, has asked the city to take over contact tracing so that they can go back to their actual jobs. Contract tracing entails interviewing students and teachers of individuals who have tested positive for the virus. But the city's Department of Health said that they have been doing contact tracing as well while working with various Schools Response Team. They had to hire more staff to cover all the bases. Essien said this seems like the "new normal" for San Francisco schools, which he believes cannot be sustained and shouldn't continue. Related Article: Parents Nervous and Worried As School Resumes Amid Delta Variant Surge in the U.S. Photo: (Photo : Matt Cardy/Getty Images) A first-time mother has won her workplace discrimination case against her employer, who has agreed to pay $255,000 in a settlement after she was denied her request to reduce her working hours so she could pick up her daughter in childcare. Alice Thompson, who worked as a real estate agent, asked her employers at Manors if she could leave the office at 5:00 p.m. instead of 6:00 p.m. because she had to fetch her daughter at the childcare center. Thompson also asked if she could work four days a week to tend to her child. However, Manors never "seriously considered" her request nor made a counter-offer to help the working mother. She claimed the company did not listen to her, so she resigned from her job and then decided to file a workplace discrimination lawsuit. Read Also: Suicide Grief: Moms Form Club 'No One Wants to Be In' to Help Families Who Lost Loved Ones Right to Request Flexible Working Hours In the United Kingdom, employees working for 26 weeks in a company are allowed to request flexible working hours. While employers don't necessarily have to give in to the request, employees are entitled to be heard so they can negotiate. They are also supposed to be given a decision within three months of their request. Thompson has been working as a real estate agent for ten years and believes that this isn't an easy feat since it's a "male-dominated environment to work in." She got pregnant in 2018 and then took maternity leave. She was looking to return to the workforce and restart the career she has been building for many years when her daughter was old enough to attend daycare school. The employee tribunal that heard Thompson's workplace discrimination case said she suffered "indirect sex discrimination" from her employers. The judges sympathized with the working mother, described in court documents as determined, familiar with the market, and knew her team well. After losing her job, the tribunal said that Manors has to compensate Thompson for "her loss of pension contributions, loss of earnings, and injury to feelings and interest." However, the courts didn't agree to her other claims of unfair dismissal, as well as harassment during pregnancy and maternity leave. Thompson said that the lawsuit was costly and exhaustive, but she knew she made the right decision to fight for herself, which could help other women. The mom said she doesn't want her daughter to experience workplace discrimination in 20 or 30 years. Workplace Discrimination in the U.S. Meanwhile, discrimination against mothers in the U.S. workplace is also rampant. Since the pandemic, more than 2.3 million have quit their jobs due to childcare issues, according to a Time Magazine report. Data from the Census Bureau and Federal Reserve cited that American mothers with children below 12 years old were three times more likely to have given up or lost their jobs in the pandemic. Latina and Black women are the most affected population amid this growing trend. From April 2020 to February 2021, at least 58 workplace discrimination lawsuits have been filed by parents in the U.S. However, most of these cases are unprecedented during a public health crisis, wherein a significant number of parents, especially moms, are forced to choose between family and career. Related Article: Families to Lose Pandemic Unemployment Benefits in September Despite Rising COVID-19 Cases Photo: (Photo : Back to School Season: 7 New COVID Precaution Measures Schools Have Put in Place) The new school year starts and educational institutions open their doors to students. And parents are understandably concerned about their safety of course. But it is also obvious that online learning is far from ideal. According to the PACE report published in June 2021, remote learning set many children back academically. The investigation published in April 2021 at JAMA Network also shows that remote education has a major toll on children's mental health. So it is obvious that going back to school is necessary both for children and college students. Luckily, they will still have all the online resources to help them out with their studies. These include open courses, videos, tutorials, and cheap write my paper service options, for example WritePaper provides homework help on any topic which are especially helpful for college students. Sometimes professional help is what it takes to feel better, learn more from expert comments, or have less academic stress that affects mental health. So what precautionary measures are implemented to ensure safety at schools? Here are the major points. Vaccination is the Best Prevention Measure The best way to dramatically increase one's and community's safety is to get vaccinated. Families that send kids to schools should be vaccinated as soon as they are eligible. Also, children of 12+ years old can be vaccinated too. As for now, there is only one approved vaccine for kids of 12-15 years in the U.S., which is Pfizer BioNTech. And it is effective against the Delta variant. Overall, schools are as safe as the community in whole. They have not been a major cause of disease spreading. With all the precautionary measures in place, they can be even safer than many other public spaces. Face Masks Are On Although the mandatory status of the masks in schools remains a community's choice, they will be prevalent in schools and colleges. Cloth masks have proven to be a great measure in lowering the spread of the virus. And it should be a priority to both students and teachers. Here are some tips to cover these regulations: Always have a clean cloth mask and an additional one with you; Store them in a bag that can be re-sealed; Make sure your or your kid's mask is identifiable so it doesn't get mixed with others; Never share masks with others; Clean hands before putting one and do not touch the cloth while doing so. UNICEF recommends making sure that masks do not interfere with the educational experience. For example, students with disabilities (auditory problems) might have it hard to follow as a mask may reduce speech signals. Clear masks can be a great solution to add opportunities for lipreading. Physical Distancing is The Key It is often impossible to keep a 2-meter distance at school. But there are some rules that schools can implement to reduce the crowding, such as: Avoiding lockers or accessing them in small groups at a time; Reducing the number of students on a school bus (still wearing masks in their assigned seats); Spacing desks when it is possible (at least 1 meter); Assigning different entrances for separate classes or staying in the same classroom while teachers move between them; Spacing out the school day so that all classes and teachers do not come in or leave at the same time; Moved classes outdoors or into high-ventilation rooms; Allowing students to have their lunch at their desks; Keeping windows or doors open for air circulation; Avoiding crowding at a pickup. Overall, schools and colleges need to do all they can to avoid any crowds. It may include anything from hybrid educational models to arrows in a hallway to keep groups set apart. Grouping students in smaller groups is also quite effective. Focus on Hygiene Personal hygiene is as important as before. Schools have to provide easy access for students to wash hands or use sanitizer at all times. Teachers also should give instructions to young kids on how and why to wash hands. Temperature Checks and Testing It might not be feasible for every school, but it is a great measure to conduct temperature checks every day as students enter the institution. CDC recommends weekly screening for kids and teachers that have not been fully vaccinated yet. It helps to reduce the spreading and act fast in case one gets sick. If one shows COVID-19 symptoms, it is necessary to do diagnostic testing. Provision of Designated Area for Possible COVID Cases In case a child, teacher, or staff member shows COVID symptoms, there has to be a clear procedure to follow. A person needs to be taken to a designated area to be tested or picked up. This area needs great ventilation and can be close to the exit. It is also crucial to make sure that such cases are treated with respect and no stigma around it. Regular Cleaning and Disinfection Another vital measure for educational institutions is to conduct regular disinfection of all spaces and surfaces. Special attention should be given to frequently touched surfaces - door knobs, desks, faucets, etc. The cleaning staff has to use appropriate disinfection materials and liquids. It is also great to ventilate the rooms after students go home. If a surface is soiled, it is necessary to clean it right away. In Summary It is understandable why parents or students may have safety concerns. However, educational institutions are pretty safe when all the necessary measures are taken care of. It is important to get vaccinated, follow safety guidance, like wearing a clean mask, avoid crowds, and keep personal hygiene at the top. The studies also have shown that the Delta variant does not cause more serious disease in children and young adults, so the chances of serious health harm are decently low. In June, The Irish Times reported that "Since the true scale of its operations in Ireland first became known due to European Commission led investigation into its tax affairs here, the US gadget maker Apple has remained firmly at the top of the leader board. This year is no different, with Apple yet again Irelands largest company. Revenues for its Irish based company rose by 5 per cent in the year to September 2020, up to 121.9 billion." With that as the backdrop, The Financial Times is reporting today that Ireland is failing to apply the EUs privacy laws to US Big Tech companies, with 98 per cent of 164 significant complaints about privacy abuses still unresolved by its regulator. Apple, Google, Facebook, Microsoft and Twitter all have their European headquarters in Dublin, making Irelands Data Protection Commissioner the lead EU regulator responsible for holding them to the law. But the Irish DPC has been repeatedly criticized, both by privacy campaigners and by other EU regulators, for failing to take action. An analysis by the Irish Council for Civil Liberties found that the vast majority of cases were still unresolved, and that Spain, which has a smaller budget than Ireland for data protection, produces 10 times more draft decisions. Johnny Ryan, senior fellow at ICCL, said Ireland was the "worst bottleneck" for enforcement of the EUs General Data Protection Regulation. "GDPR enforcement against Big Tech is paralyzed by Irelands failure to deliver draft decisions on cross-border cases," he added, noting that the rest of the EU has to wait for Irish draft decisions before they are able to take their own action against the companies. The Irish reticence to police Big Tech has been criticized by several other European countries, including France, Spain and Italy. The Irish regulatory authority, headed by Helen Dixon, did not respond to a request for comment. For more on this, read the full Financial Times report here. With Apple, Google, Facebook, Microsoft and Twitter having their European headquarters in Dublin, it's not surprising that Ireland's commission is slow to attack Apple and others that are key employers for data professionals and production facilities in Ireland. Though to be fair, Apple stands apart from other U.S. tech companies. Apple's Tim Cook blasted 'weaponization' of personal data and praised GDPR back in 2018 as the BBC video below highlights. The BBC report at the time noted Cook stating: "This year, you've shown the world that good policy and political will can come together to protect the rights of everyone. It is time for the rest of the world, including my home country, to follow your lead. We at Apple are in full support of a comprehensive federal privacy law in the United States." The remark was met with applause from the conference audience. In the big picture, it's clear that Apple supports the EU's GDPR and uniquely stands apart from their competitors like Facebook and Google on this issue who will be under greater risk of being scrutinized by Ireland's regulatory authority in the not-too-distant future. M-Pesa, Vodafones mobile financial services has reached 50 million monthly active customers, cementing its position as Africas largest fintech platform. The mobile money service, which was launched more than 14 years ago in Kenya, M-Pesa is available in Kenya, Tanzania, Mozambique, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Lesotho, as well as in Egypt and Ghana as Vodafone Cash. The number of active M-Pesa customers has doubled in the past five years. The milestone also comes just 18 months after Safaricom and Vodacom launched the M-Pesa Africa joint venture to accelerate the growth of the service across the continent. M-Pesa Africa has been delivering digital platforms as part of its focus to be the largest fintech and digital ecosystem across the continent. M-Pesa became an even more important platform for customers during the pandemic with transaction volumes increasing 44% year-on-year in the first quarter of the current financial year. The number of transactions grew to 4.5 billion in the quarter with a total transaction value of 63 billion. Commenting on this milestone, Patricia Obo-Nai, CEO of Vodafone Ghana, said: We are excited because this milestone affirms that we are impacting more lives and businesses whilst liberalising the mobile money platform to embrace all. In Ghana, we have also seen a seismic shift in the sheer volume and frequency of monetary movement across networks as a result of our complete removal of transaction charges on money transferred to any network via Vodafone Cash. This bold step has broadly expanded digital financial inclusion and brought immense financial and economic relief to our individual consumers as well as business clients. Vodafone Cash is known for its secure mobile money platform and leadership in innovative financial products. Vodafone Cash continues to emphasize its commitment to playing an integral role in the country becoming a cash-lite society through its numerous Vodafone Cash interventions. In 2007, Safaricom and Vodafone launched M-Pesa in Kenya as a way for customers to instantly send money to each other. For many customers, the service became their first and often only access to financial services propelling its fast growth and adoption across the country. Consequently, the service has largely contributed to the growth of formal financial inclusion across the continent. In Kenya, access to financial services and products has increased by around 56% between 2006-2019 driven by the availability of mobile money1. M-Pesa has also been credited with lifting roughly 2% of Kenyan households out of extreme poverty 2. Today M-Pesa is a two-sided network that provides a wide variety of financial services to both businesses and individual customers. Customers can send and receive money, make and receive business payments, pay bills, make and receive international money transfers, save and access credit, all from the convenience of their mobile phones and wherever they may be in the countries served, utilising more than 500,000 M-Pesa agents. Into the future, the service has been investing in new technologies and partnerships as it seeks to deepen financial health amongst its customers through products that encourage savings and lending, wealth management, and insurance. M-Pesa has equally expanded its partnerships in an aim to boost remittances which empower customers to send and receive money across more than 200 countries and territories. Source: Peacefmonline.com/ghana Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority. Featured Video Lance Corporal Christian Adjei Boateng of the Kintampo District Police headquarters will be arraigned Monday at the Kintampo District Court following the discovery of 10 live Ak47 assault rifle ammunition in his home. Also in his possession were one dead body bag and a ballistic helmet, property of the Ghana Police Service, and one wrap of dried plant substance, suspected to be narcotics. Thirty-eight-year-old Boateng was arrested in the Kintampo North Municipality of the Bono East Region after his colleague saw him attempting to steal a Honda motorbike, an exhibit, which had been parked in front of the office. He was seen pushing it from the premises towards a mechanic shop across the road. When the eyewitness and another officer followed up to the shop Boateng was not found there. Chief Superintendent of Police Alhaji Hussain Awinado, Bono East Regional Police Cime officer, who confirmed the incident in an interview with the Ghana News Agency, on Sunday, said due to the unusual behaviour of Boateng, a search was conducted at his residence in Kintampo, where the items were discovered. A statement from the Divisional Police Command also confirmed the arrest. Alhaji Awindago told the GNA that investigations were ongoing to ascertain the source of the weapons and other accoutrements. He urged serving officers to desist from such nefarious activities, which were against the Service orders. "These are some of the things that we do and we keep losing the trust of the civilian population in the Police Service," he emphasized. Source: GNA Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority. Featured Video The Ghana Police Service has arrested a taxi driver for his alleged involvement in several ritual murders. The taxi driver Felix Ansah will be put before court on Monday, September 13, 2021. The Police in a statement said it had commenced investigations into "claims made by one Felix Ansah, a 35-year-old taxi driver, in an interview he granted on Onua TV, September 2, 2021, where he alleged that he had killed several persons for ritual purposes". "Following his admission of the alleged commission of such acts, he was arrested to assist in Police investigations. He will be put before court on Monday, September 13, 2021, to be placed on remand for thorough investigations into the allegations to continue," the statement said. InterviewIn a September 2, 2021, simultaneous broadcast on Onua TV and Onua TV Facebook, Mr Ansah alias De-Ghosty in an interview on Onua Maakye with Captain Smart said he was a delivered fetish priest who had given his life to Christ and become a Pastor.Among several stunning claims made in the interview, Mr Ansah claims to have buried a pregnant woman alive in a ritual to help a politician win an election.He said the unnamed Ghanaian politician consulted him for help to win an election and he aided the politician by burying the pregnant woman alive which guaranteed victory.However, the former spiritualist did not disclose the name of the politician at the prompting of the host Captain Smart.Discussing the topic SECRETS BEHIND RITUAL MURDERS, Mr Felix Ansah also claimed to have been involved in other ritual murders.He also listed the human parts and costs that were needed for certain specific rituals and how ritualists kidnap children in the broadcast. Source: graphiconline.com Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority. Featured Video Madam Cecilia Abena Dapaah, the Minister of Sanitation and Water Resources, said the Government was delivering on its promise to distribute water to all communities in the country. She said close to six million Ghanaians were being placed on safe water networks, thanks to a billion-dollar recent investment in water projects across the country, which was an ambitious venture that endorsed the Presidents mantra of water for all. Our mantra of water for all is not just a slogan. If people say we are sloganeering it is not true. It is not factual. Everything we want to do, we will do, Madam Dapaah said. The Minister was interacting with the media during a working tour of the Keta Water Supply project at Agordome in the South Tongu District of the Volta Region and said major water projects were ongoing in Sekondi, Sunyani, Keta, Tamale, and Damongo among other areas and would provide for 5.7 million people by 2023. She said Governments progress along the SDGs had been enriched as a result and lauded the efforts of all with stakes in the project, including the host communities who contributed land and other vital support. Madam Dapaah said the President, who personally cut the sod for the projects, held them in high esteem and expected value for money as well as timely and quality delivery. The Government had made it a policy that all villages, hamlets and towns through which the main pipelines travelled, must be fed, and also ensure that the lifespan of the project was extended by at least a decade, she said. Madam Dapaah appealed to community stakeholders to continue to support the intervention and demanded that the Ghana Water Company Limited paid the necessary compensations on land and other resources acquired. The Keta Water extension is an 85-million-Euro project to supply to some 422,000 people in the Keta environs. Source: GNA Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority. Featured Video Mr Ken Ofori-Atta, the Finance Minister, has lauded the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) Commission for producing the Draft ECOWAS Vision 2050, a successor to Vision 2020. He said ECOWAS Vision 2050 was a very important milestone in the Communitys journey to the realization of an integrated, peaceful and prosperous West Africa by 2050. "It is also important that I congratulate all major actors in the region for the achievements and successes recorded during the implementation of the ECOWAS Vision 2020," Mr Ofori-Atta said in a speech read on his behalf at the opening experts meeting to validate the Draft ECOWAS Vision 2050. The Vision 2020, which had the ambition of transforming the Community from an ECOWAS of States to an ECOWAS of People expired last year. The Vision 2050 is, therefore, needed to provide the region with a new and medium-term strategic plan that takes into account current development dynamics. It would be adopted by the ECOWAS Authority of Heads of State and Government in December 2021 but its implementation will begin in January 2023. The Vision Statement is to create: A fully integrated Community of peoples, living in a peaceful and prosperous region, with strong institutions and respect for fundamental rights and freedoms, striving for inclusive and sustainable development. Mr Ofori-Atta said government was proud of the achievements of ECOWAS in Peace and Security; Democracy and Good Governance; Intra Regional Trade and Investments; Free Movements of People, Goods and Capital; and Infrastructure Development (Transport, Energy and ICT) during the implementation of the Vision 2020. He said those achievements had earned the Community a prestigious place amongst the Regional Economic Communities (RECs) in Africa, saying: "ECOWAS is no doubt the model REC in Africa". "Despite these achievements, so much still remain to be done in order to raise the living standards of our people and contribute to the progress and development of the African Continent as enshrined in the Revised ECOWAS Treaty," he noted. Mr Ofori-Atta urged the participants to consider, in their deliberations, how the Regional Vision would be aligned with the National Development Plans in Member States and how the Vision would address extraordinary shocks such as covid-19, as well as adequate funding for its implementation. Source: GNA Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority. Featured Video Former President John Dramani Mahama has ended his thank you tour of the Western North Region with a call on party supporters to be vigilant at polling stations and collation centres in the next general election. That was the only way to ensure victory for the National Democratic Congress (NDC), he said. The former President commended residents of the region for their unflinching support of the NDC and said the party would win any election that was free and fair. Addressing a stakeholder meeting at Juaboso, Mr Mahama asked the rank and file of the party at the Akontombra Constituency to remain united to win back that parliamentary seat in the next election. "Let's ensure the figures from the various polling stations are a true reflection of the results that will be declared. I have decided to be a polling agent in future elections," he added. Professor Jane Naana Opoku Agyemang, the 2020 NDC Running Mate, urged supporters at the grassroots not to be intimidated but to ensure that the party won all parliamentary seats in the region. She lauded the leadership of the party for recognizing the role of women in society and accepting her as the then running mate of Mr Mahama. The General Secretary, Mr Johnson Asiedu Nketsia, called on the people to bring the NDC back to power to fight corruption to the letter. Former President Mahama was accompanied by party bigwigs including Professor Joshua Alabi, Mr Felix Kwakye Ofosu, Mr Joshua Akamba, and Mr Paul Evans Aidoo, former Member of Parliament for Waiwso. Source: GNA Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority. Featured Video President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has cut the sod for the second phase of construction works on the main University of Health and Allied Sciences (UHAS) Campus in Ho. The 68-million-dollar China Aid Phase-Two project will provide fully equipped state-of-the-art Administration Block, School of Nursing and Midwifery, classrooms, offices, libraries, and laboratories to mitigate the infrastructure challenges of the University, since its establishment in 2012. President Akufo-Addo, who was on a working visit to the Region, said the University had persisted and continued to prove its worth with countless achievements, and assured of governments readiness to help it expand. Even though it is a young University, already, its receiving lots of laurels and accolades and rankingstherefore, there is the need for the Government to ensure the infrastructure is at the measure of the University, he said. President Akufo-Addo said China continued to hold firm her friendship with Ghana, which would continue to grow into progressive partnerships. It gives me the opportunity to express once again, the strong appreciation of the Government and the people of Ghana to the Government of the Peoples Republic of China. The solidarity the Chinese Government and people continue to exhibit towards us is something that, Mr Ambassador, we appreciate very much indeed, he said. The various things that make up Ghanas Foreign Policy to China are well known. We are not deviating and we will not deviate from the One China Policy. It continues to be an important cornerstone of the Foreign Policy of our country. The President recognised the Universitys role in the fight against the Covid-19 pandemic, saying it was a testing centre for the region and surrounding areas. Mr Lu Kun, the Chinese Ambassador, said the development would aid the schools advancement to provide more professionals to sustain the government's bold health delivery initiative; Agenda 111. China and Africa will embark on a long journey of collaborations based on the One China principle, he said. Mr Lu said the collaboration had long flourished in education and would be expanded to other areas, adding: China will always remain Ghanas ultimate friend and partner. As a partner in the fight against the coronavirus, China would work with Ghana to secure the much-needed vaccines, he said. Dr Yaw Osei Adutwum, the Education Minister, said the project showed government's commitment to expanding tertiary education intake to help meet the countrys educational needs. He said the coronavirus pandemic made it more crucial to prioritise educational demands, and expressed the hope that the project would be timeously delivered. Chinese Nantong Si Jian Construction Company is executing the project within a 22-month period, and the Government of Ghana will provide road infrastructure and other inputs as part of a counterpart-funding component. Professor John Owusu Gyapong, the Vice Chancellor of the University, said upon completion, the University would add close to 30,000 square meters of floor space, and the student population would grow from the current 6,000 to 10,000. He acknowledged governments dedication to the development of the prime Health University to make it a centre of excellence. It is always humbling to see that you take great interest in the development of UHAS. UHAS is determined to be a star in tertiary education, and your constant interest in us gives us all the zeal and commitment to push this agenda to provide quality health manpower to solve our countrys health needs, he said to President Akufo-Addo. Indeed, it is a necessary and crucial aspect of the overall goal of this University, which will facilitate our mandate as a university dedicated solely to the training of health professionals for national development. Your efforts at expanding infrastructure are, therefore, laudable and highly commendable and a testament to the Government's commitment to the health sector and the wellbeing of its citizens. The Vice Chancellor said the school would require high volume buses and good roads as it developed and appealed to the President to help achieve that. President Akufo-Addo stopped to inspect work on the Fodome Campus of the University on his way to the sod-cutting ceremony, and told the traditional leaders in Hohoe that the Government was seeking some 160 million dollars to develop it into a separate independent institution in the enclave. Source: graphiconline.com Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority. Featured Video Daboya, capital of the North Gonja District in the Savannah Region, has been cut off from the regional capital, Damongo and the other five districts following days of torrential rainfall in the area. The four routes leading to Daboya from Tamale, Mankarigu, Busunu and Magnori-Murugu are all inaccessible and one has to use a canoe to access the area. According to the people living in the area, the Tachali bridge, which connects Daboya to Tamale and other parts of the country has also been submerged by flood water. The Assembly member for the Daboya West Electoral Area, Mr Mahama Shaibu, said so far about 500 farmers whose farms were destroyed by the floods had registered with him, as well as 50 others whose homes were flooded. In view of the floods that have affected several communities and destroyed farms, residents whose main occupation is farming are in dire straits as both their livelihood and food have been destroyed. In response, the Savannah Regional Minister, Mr Muhazu Saeed Jibril, said the Regional Coordinating Council (RCC), in collaboration with National Disaster Management Organisation (NADMO) and Operation Thunder Bolt, was extending support to the people in the wake of the floods to cross the Busunu-Tachali Bridge that was affected safely to their various destinations. The affected residents, now at the mercy of the government through the NADMO and benevolent individuals, have appealed for emergency relief items and food to enable them to survive in their current state. As at the time of filing this report at 12.45 p.m. yesterday, Daboya remained inaccessible, while officials of NADMO were in the area with life jackets and engine boats to help residents who cannot commute by road to do so through the flood waters that had inundated the area. Some of the worst affected communities in the North Gonja District, apart from Daboya, are Sisipe, Tidrope fishing camp, Gua fishing camp, Kito fishing camp, Kalorgbeso, Abotape, Senchawu, Gunkoligu, Dissah, Lingbisi, Gbasipa and Tachali Lorito. The Savannah Regional NADMO Coordinator, Mr Mohammed Tohiru, sharing his view with the Daily Graphic said no casualty had, however, been recorded. He, nonetheless, expressed fear that the continuous downpour in the area might also affect the road at Jindapor in the Sawla-Tuna-Kalba District that links the Upper West Region to the southern part of the country. He said the floods being recorded in the area was not due to the Bagre Dam spillage, as the Burkina Faso authorities were yet to do so, but it was as a result of torrential rains in the area and in the Upper East Region that had caused the White Volta River to swell up to overflow its banks. The situation portends that should the Bagre Dams spillways be opened around this time; the woes of residents could be deepened. No casualty Mr Tohiru said the only casualty that had been recorded in the Savannah Region occurred about three weeks earlier when an old man aged 80 years who was trying to cross a road in Damongo during a heavy downpour, was swept away by the floodwaters together with a bicycle he rode on. Mr Tohiru said the situation had brought all activities in the Daboya-Mankarigu area to a halt, especially farming, as farmers who had their farms affected could not access them. Residents lament Meanwhile, some farmers who have had their farms destroyed by the floods are rueing their losses. Issah Alhassan, who said his farms along the Daboya-Mankarigu road had been destroyed by the floods, lamented; "I cannot harvest anything because the crops have not reached the maturity stage. Another farmer, Ibrahim Mohammed, stated: "We haven't been able to recover from last year's incident which happened just around the same time," and now this. A third farmer, who only gave his name as Yahaya, said the situation had resulted in all his food crops being destroyed and if help did not come to them now it would push them into hunger. Naval help Residents affected by the floods have also implored the Ghana Navy to come to their aid in the transportation of goods and services. A native of the area, Mr Mohammed Muniru Cosmos, who walked into the office of the Daily Graphic to appeal for support for the people, said economic activities in the area had come to a halt as the people could not leave the area to do business. Daboya, which is the capital of the Gonja North District in the Savannah Region, is now cut off from the world. On the eastern side where the Tachali bridge is, the place is flooded while on the western side from the military camp, the whole place is flooded and you have to use a boat for almost four kilometres instead of 50 metres and anybody who tries it risks their lives because there are no live jackets, he said. He added that the people suspected that the flooding of the area was because of the illegal harvesting of rosewood and papio trees in the last seven years. According to Mr Cosmos, those trees used to serve as a barrier to flooding but because they had been felled, the entire district capital had become exposed. He explained that people who had gone to Tamale and the district capital to transact business activities could not return to their homes as a result of the marauding floods that had cut Daboya off. So we are pleading with the authorities to get the Navy to come and support the people. NADMO should also be equipped to help the people with food items, he said. With respect to health, Mr Cosmos said the clinic in Daboya was not well-equipped and that because of the situation, sick people who needed advanced medical care could not travel to Tamale because of the situation. The smock, business which is the main stay of the people, has stopped because people cannot take them to the market centres. Even the pits that have been dug for dying have been flooded, he said. Moreover, Mr Cosmos said the inland salt mining areas had also been affected by the flooding. So the people in Daboya need immediate assistance. The situation has been like this for about a week now and if it persists without any help, it would be disastrous for the people, he said. Duty bearers The Regional Minister, Mr Jibril said members of the Operation Thunder Bolt were still on the ground in the North Gonja District (Daboya) to help flood victims to move to safety while NADMO was able to mobilise some form of support to assist the people who were affected by the floods to lessen their plight. Mr Jibril added that currently the regional secretariat of NADMO was conducting an assessment in Daboya to compile the list of farmlands, property and the number of persons who were affected by the floods to the national headquarters for additional support, adding that it was not only Daboya and its environs that were affected but also Bole and the Sawla-Tuna-Kalba districts. He said efforts were also being made to fix the roads and bridges that were affected by the floods to facilitate smooth and safe transportation of goods and people in the affected districts in the region. Mr Jibril stated that the RCC was also in talks with the Kongwura and the chief of Jindador to relocate a dam at Jindador that was closed to the main road that links the Upper West Region to the southern part of the country through the Sawla-Tuna-Kalba District, saying if the dam was not relocated it might cut off the Upper West Region from accessing the south and vice versa. The Assembly member for the Daboya West Electoral Area, Mr Shaibu, for his part, said so far NADMO had extended some form of support to some of the flood victims in terms of non-food items such as mattresses but called for more support to ameliorate the suffering of the people. He added that crops that were destroyed by the floods included maize, groundnuts and soya beans, as well as vegetables. Mr Shaibu called for support for the farmers in the area of pumping machines and other farming inputs to enable them farm and harvest their produce before the rains set in and caused the floods that destroyed farmlands. He also appealed for a temporary shelter to be put up in the district to help accommodate people displaced by the floods to put up there instead of the classrooms since school was in session, adding that the floods occurred on a yearly basis and there was, therefore, the need for such facilities to be put up so that those who had their houses destroyed during the floods could live there. He noted that providing the people with relief items in each flooding season was not enough and called for a permanent solution to the annual flooding. Source: graphiconline.com Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority. Featured Video The Ashanti Regional Minister, Mr Simon Osei-Mensah, has given the last batch of traders still operating in the Kumasi Central Market up to tomorrow to vacate the area to pave the way for the completion of the on-going phase two of the Kejetia/Central Market Redevelopment. He made the appeal last Thursday when he conducted journalists round the Race Course Market, where some traders have been moved to until the central market is completed. Apart from the Race Course Market, many of the traders who were affected during the recent demolition exercise carried out by the Kumasi Metropolitan Assembly (KMA) have also been successfully relocated to other satellite markets within the metropolis, including the Afia Kobi Serwaa Ampem Market, popularly known as Abinkyi Market. Currently, Contracta, the Brazilian construction firm executing the project, is half way through the project, hence the need to as a matter of urgency relocate the remaining traders for work on the market to be completed. So far 1,300 traders have been temporarily moved to the Race Course Market, awaiting an estimated 4,000 second-hand clothes sellers and 3,500 shop owners who are to relocate to satellite markets for the project to be completed on schedule. Working visit At the Race Course Market, it was gathered that the assembly had increased visibility because of the number of traders expected to operate there. Workers of the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) were seen busily laying electricity cables at the enclave. Enough is enough. We have given traders several notices to leave the market but some are still adamant, the Minister said. He stated that although President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, together with the Asantehene, Otumfuo Osei Tutu II, cut the sod in May 2019 for work to begin on phase two of the project, it was not until March 2020 that the first batch of traders agreed to move from the market. The regional minister said there was no way authorities would sit aloof and allow the project to be further delayed for fear of breaching the agreement, considering its repercussions. He appealed to the affected traders to conduct themselves well in the upcoming demolition exercise for the smooth and timely completion of the much anticipated project, which will help decongest the Central Business District of Kumasi. Mr Osei-Mensah noted that the contractor had already taken delivery of 500 containers of the materials and equipment for the construction. Three hundred more containers have since been sitting at the port, he added and explained that the contractor was unable to move them to the site to continue the work because the traders had not moved out. Background The Kumasi Central Market is a 248 million project being financed by the Deutsche Bank of Germany, with export credit guarantee from the United Kingdom Export Finance (UKEF). Upon completion, the redeveloped market will have 6,500 leasable commercial spaces, 5,400 closed stores, 800 kiosks, 50 restaurants, 210 fishmonger and butcher stores, 40 livestock stores and 1,800m2 of community facilities. Additionally, the project will provide other essential facilities such as a waste treatment plant, a police station, a fire station, post offices, and an amphi-theatre and first-class roads in the Central Business District of Kumasi. Source: graphiconline.com Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority. Featured Video The Vice-President of Liberia, Her Excellency Mrs Jewel Howard Taylor, was in Ghana to pay her last respects to Lieutenant General Joshua Hamidu, former Chief of Defence Staff, who was a family friend and very close to her former husband, former Liberian President Charles Taylor, and was very instrumental in bringing peace to Liberia during those turbulent years. The Editor of the Daily Graphic, Mr Kobby Asmah, caught up with Mrs Taylor after the burial and she granted this exclusive interview on a wide range of issues bordering on her life, relationships, politics, governance, and the economy. Below are excerpts. Kobby Asmah: Your Excellency I want to welcome you to Ghana once again. What informed your visit this time round? Jewel Howard Taylor (JHT): Thank You for your warm welcome Editor but as you are aware, Ghana has been home for many Liberians and I used to visit once a while. But as you said, my visit this time was to attend the funeral of a family friend. When I heard about his passing I decided to come and pay my last respects. He was a close friend of Charles Taylor. I also want to use this opportunity to thank Ghanaian leaders and regional leaders who intervened in Liberia during the crisis in order to bring peace to the country. Kobby Asmah: Talking about peace in Liberia, so how is your country sustaining this peace? Jewel Howard Taylor: As you know peace is a sine qua non for everything and luckily we have had this peace cemented with the election of Ellen Johnson Sirleaf as the President and for years we managed to put in place structures and laws to ensure that we will not derail from the peace. Once you have peace all other things are possible. Currently 60 per cent of our population are the youth who are mostly war babies and we pray that what happened will not recur. We have all come to the realisation that people will no longer be taking power by force. The struggle has always been about power but the ballot box should be the decider, to give power and to transfer power democratically. Kobby Asmah: From a First Lady to Vice-President of Liberia. How did it all happen? Jewel Howard Taylor: I will take it first as a woman because women were relegated to the back. We are the nurses, teachers, secretaries and housewives but that has to change now and women ought to know what they are born to be; you need to know what you are cut out for. I was into banking but I remember in 1981 everything was in chaos in the country and before I entered the university I didnt know what to read so my father called me and said: Youre going to the university now but you may not do political science. Many years later, here I am when I was warned by my father that politics is not for women.Getting into politics was not easy because when I expressed the interest, the backlash was too much: Wife of Charles Taylor go and sit somewhere, among others, but I was not deterred I persisted and luckily a law was passed to allow 30 per cent of women to run in the elections due to gender equity. Kobby Asmah: How easy or difficult was it for you to get into mainstream politics? Jewel Howard Taylor: We were asked to do whatever we needed to do to get registered so I ran around trying to find out what I needed and fortunately, I was able to meet the deadline and my political party did not follow me to the campaign; for them it was a joke because they thought I was not going to win. But I got elected, I had the second highest number of votes at the Senatorial level across my country and once I started working with the understanding that the role of a politician especially when you are in the Legislature, your duty is to listen to the people that you lead, make sure that you have the idea of what they want and advocate it and I became good at that. Kobby Asmah: How did you transit into parliament and for that matter become an effective legislator? Jewel Howard Taylor: I had to go back to school to learn different things to be well informed and I got my Law degree while I was at the legislature in my first term because I needed to understand the laws of my country in order to properly represent my people. I was put on the budget committee and the national budget is this large so the first time it was brought to my desk I was like I do not think this is the field I belong to, as it became quite tough to analyse the budget so I decided to go get an MBA in finance in order to understand the issues. That sent me back to school. So once you find your passion, first thing you do is to get prepared, second thing is to remain committed and focused no matter what because if you step up the criticisms are 100 times more than what they do to the men. Because if a man is married he will never be asked about his educational level and his years of experience. But once a woman steps up, she will be harassed. Kobby Asmah: As a female politicians who has held positions, including a First lady and currently Vice President of Liberia, what are some of the challenges you are regularly confronted with? Jewel Howard Taylor: Its not easy Mr Editor. The higher you climb, the tougher it is. There will come many challenges from new counterparts and even colleagues who will be your loudest critics when you make a mistake so what I had to do was to find a way not to just rely on my pretty face sitting in the legislature. I wanted to make my voice count and be important because a lot of things were happening like the laws being changed and a new framework was being put in place. When I got back from the Law school I was put on the judiciary committee, a very serious committee that looked at all of the MDAs. So I learned and I became Secretary to the committee, doing all the research work. You have to deal with all of that and once you do that you have to know once you get into a place where you are comfortable in your setting you understand the environment that you work in, you must remain committed until you get to a point where you have succeeded and once you have succeeded you have to turn back and mentor other women. Kobby Asmah: You are the first female Vice-President of Liberia. What is guiding you in the performance of your work? Jewel Howard Taylor: : I also think that it is the same experience you use whether you are a First Lady, Senator or a Vice-President. But the higher you climb, the more difficult it is. I am the first female Vice-President of my country and because it has always been men occupying that seat, they allow a lot of issues to pass but by the time you sit as a woman, people will be wondering what you will be doing. But primarily, the Vice-President position across Africa is like a nominal position; you have to wait until you have an assignment from your boss. So you have to sit and wait, you cannot have a loud voice, you cannot be too opinionated and I am opinionated because I have learnt to be an activist before becoming an advocate for a lot of issues. Kobby Asmah: Do you sometimes feel embattled as a Vice President? Jewel Howard Taylor: There have been times that I felt so embattled in this process that I wanted to quit but got encouraged by Ellen Sirleaf who visited one day and said: As far as I am concerned, the last and most important lesson I will tell you is that once you step on our stage you cannot fail or step back. I have to keep walking regardless of the challenges. That is what is difficult because there are all kinds of expectations. As a senator I could talk about any issue but now, as Vice President, you have to be careful as you walk making sure you do not overstep your boss as if you know it all. As women you know we have the power of trying to fix things and that is something that has given me a difficult time because you cannot fix anything. Maybe you can quietly say it but you cannot drop in and fix anything. Kobby Asmah: How has it been like married to Charles Taylor, a former Liberian President? Jewel Howard Taylor: I think my former husband chose a difficult path coming into a war and a revolution where many lives were lost and turning things around. So he did not get the chance to be the president he could have been because if you are fighting a war, that is your priority not building schools or development. You have to look at how Liberia was first created and the Congo people created Liberia, but they came from across the seas to set up the governance system that was practised in America because that is what they knew and that is the Liberia we find ourselves in today. They were a small population but they were the most educated who educated their children and were able to buy property for their children and grandchildren. They always seem to have much more and because of this inequality in the system for 174 years, for many years nobody complained until in 1980 when they were still in power controlling everything because the indigenous people did not have much education. But the fact still remains that it was their country and so it got to a point where as a country we needed to open up the space a little bit more to include everyone and bring everyone on board so this is what the war was about but there were different opinions from different people. Now we have won political power, but we needed to win economic power and that was what the fight was about; how to get economic power for the majority of our people. So it was quite a difficult assignment and I had to find something to do to get involved with the process instead of sitting back and looking. I am a banker by initial training but I had to find a way in our sector to provide contribution to women and children who where my love or my passion for my country, for helping those who were less fortunate. So though we had a difficult life in that war setting I found my voice, passion and what God had initially made me to be. Kobby Asmah: Was it so scary during those turbulent moments for you to go about your duty as a First Lady? Jewel Howard Taylor: No I was not scared because when you are involved in something, others sitting outside may be a little bit afraid than you really are. But all I knew was that I had to make an impact so I got involved in the process trying to help. In 2003, the entire country had moved to Monrovia, the capital city, and I knew that there were rebels all over the place in long queues. I took the line that dealt with pregnant women and disabled people so I could stand on my feet for eight to nine hours sharing rice and other necessities. This was to make sure that the pregnant women and disabled people were treated differently from those who were able. There were times that some rebel leaders insisted that they should be served first but I stood my grounds and told them that every bag of rice would be divided until the last one was given out. So I was not afraid or I did not think that my life would have ended there but the more I did the better chances that fate or God spared my life and that of my children. Kobby Asmah: Your Excellency, what motivates you? Jewel Howard Taylor: Love for country and love for underprivileged girls. As a young girl growing up, my father had seven children and there were six of us who were girls and one boy. So he decided that girls could do just what any boy could do. So we got the same opportunities in schools in Monrovia. Both of my parents were healthcare professionals and they had to do three jobs just to send us to private schools. They always said that education was the light and the key and I heard that the first time when I was five years. In every three months my dad called us to share his experiences and encouraged us and told us how difficult life was but if you were strong you would make it. So I have never forgotten about that. I am also a mentor for young girls of an NGO that provides education for underprivileged girls. I go into the inner city communities and try to provide opportunities for education, mentoring and training for them to get a chance because I believe that women are good at everything that we do and when we have more women that are empowered then the quicker our country will develop, the quicker our societies will be where they should be. Kobby Asmah: What will you like to be remembered for? Jewel Howard Taylor: I would like to be remembered for as a person who cared and made a difference. So that is what I have done for my political career; how I could make a difference to create an equitable Liberia and that is what Im still involved in. Kobby Asmah: I know you are an author of several books, Please can you throw some light on this? Jewel Howard Taylor: Author of several books! Not yet, I have bits and pieces in place but I think I need to find time to do that. I have a few ideas in mind and I have started to put somethings together already. I am writing this book and I will title it: Daring to be, because I think that is my life story. What I want to do is to write a book so that women across the world can read it and know that they can be what they want to be if they follow the steps because there is no shortcut for women and I want that to be an inspirational book that will be read to inspire. When we grow, we learn things without knowing the roles and so every time that you get into an assignment you have to now go and learn what the boys learn when they are young. Teamwork, working together, planning and developing and learning together and girls on the other hand do not work together and by the time we grow up any woman that enters a space automatically feels jealous instead of staying focused on work which is so disruptive to our success, so I think we need to learn more on how we can erase that from the foundation of our children as they grow up. So there is still a lot to do in terms of making sure that women are brought up to speed but this is where we are. Kobby Asmah: From where you sit as an author how do we inculcate reading habit among the African child? Jewel Howard Taylor: In Liberia we have reading clubs and we are encouraging the elementary and junior high school children too. So we find interesting books and read them on television, go to schools to sit and read with them and encourage them. What is good about African authors is that our children do not just see what is just written by westerners so we have most of the brilliant writers across Africa. So we bring those books in. We read the western books but we also bring the stories of Africa like our history, the pride of who we are and the work that our people have done so that an African child can see the greatness of what Africa is because when they start to see, read and hear it at an early age they will be inspired. Kobby Asmah: As you leave Ghana to Liberia, what special message do you have for Ghanaians? Jewel Howard Taylor: I caution Ghanaians not to beat the war drums anytime they are confronted with challenges as it is not the right way of resolving problems. Whatever issues emerge, whether good, bad or ugly, it is important for people to discuss those issues and the right solutions found to them, rather than beating the war drums that would derail the enviable peace of the country. Coming from Liberia, a war-torn country still struggling to find its feet, I know what it means to have peace and security as well as what war can do. Source: graphiconline.com Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority. Featured Video PZ Cussons Ghana Limiteds leading antiseptic liquid brand Camel launched the second edition of its Because We Care campaign with the theme Give 10p, Give Hope. The campaign is designed to create awareness on childhood cancer in Ghana while providing financial support to affected but needy children. The campaign is set to run from the 10th of September 2021 to the end of January 2022 and plans to support the fight against childhood cancer. For every bottle of Camel Antiseptic sold within the period, PZ Cussons will donate 10 pesewas towards the initiative. This years initiative is in partnership with Lions Club International District 418-Ghana, Ghana Medical Association, Media General and Joy FM. In the first edition, which ran in 2020, the brand raised GHC 250,000 by donating an amount for every bottle of Camel Antiseptic Liquid purchased. The amount raised was made available to patients undergoing treatment at the Korle Bu Teaching Hospital and part of the amount has also been set aside for the renovation of the Pediatric Oncology Unit at Korle Bu. This year, Camel seeks to raise a minimum amount of GHC 250,000 to support the diagnosis and treatment of Childhood Cancer in Ghana. It is estimated that in Ghana, 1200 cases of childhood cancer are expected each year with only 300-400 cases diagnosed. This is mostly due to financial challenges and lack of knowledge on early warning signs. This insight has propelled the Camel Because We Care CSR initiative. Childhood cancer if detected early, can be treated, and cured hence the campaign intends to support this worthy cause by creating awareness on the early warning signs of childhood cancer and providing financial assistance to families who apply for the initiative. Camel Antiseptic through this initiative has reaffirmed its commitment to ensuring the brands core essence; Say Yes to Life is fulfilled. The Deputy Minister of Health, Hon. Mahama Asei Seini, was present at the launch event to lend his support to the Camel Because We Care CSR Initiative and urged the general public to support this worthy cause. Family members of children who need some support from the fund can apply by visiting the web page www.carex.com.gh/becausewecare or through referrals from doctors in charge of their treatment. For further information visit: The Camel Antiseptic Facebook and Instagram pages @CamelNowFromCarex About Camel Antiseptic: PZ Cussons is a leading manufacturer of Personal and Homecare products all over the world. Camel Antiseptic is its flagship brand with over 45% market share. It is an antiseptic liquid with high efficacy that kills 99.9%of germs and bacteria and has been endorsed by the Ghana Medical Association. Source: Peacefmonline.com/ghana Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority. Featured Video Head of Psychology at the University of Ghana, Professor Joseph Osafo, has revealed a very disturbing data about the Ghanaian youth and tendencies to commit suicide. Suicide is one of the most disturbing issues in the nation and a recent research data indicates that about 400 Ghanaians have had suicidal thoughts arising from different factors affecting their lives. Speaking to host Kwami Sefa Kayi on Peace FM's ''Kokrokoo'' Monday morning, Prof. Joseph Osafo disclosed that ''twenty percent of our youth are suicidal. That's very, very dangerous and bad''. He expounded that some of the causes are related to the Coronavirus pandemic as many youth across the world were laid off from the various works and this left them in traumatizing position where they start to harbor suicide thoughts. "In the first four months, 1.2 billion children were sitting at home [yes] globally. Just imagine! . . . Indeed when an unexpected thing happens, some may be traumatized. The most dangerous things that happen are that when something occurs, its consequences are insidious and eventually turns chronic," he stated. As part of measures to curb this situation, Prof. Joseph Osafo has been advising the parents, guardians and the general public to take issues relating to mental stability and the wellbeing of people seriously, particularly when one notices an absurd behaviour. Source: Ameyaw Adu Gyamfi/Peacefmonline.com/Ghana Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority. Featured Video Ghanas first-class non-surgical cosmetic and aesthetic treatment centre, Premier Aesthetic Clinic hosted the first-ever Botox and Cocktail party that saw clients getting 250ghc off their procedure. The party, which was held at the health facility, saw clients trooping in their numbers for cocktails and socialize while getting Botox. Botox is one of the most widely known brands of botulinum toxin injections. Healthcare providers inject small amounts of Botox or another type of botulinum toxins into specific muscles. This procedure can smooth wrinkles, prevent migraine headaches and treat other health problems. Botox injections are also used to treat conditions that affect how the body functions. These include: Cervical dystonia: In this painful condition, your neck muscles contract involuntarily causing your head to twist or turn into an uncomfortable position. Lazy eye: The most common cause of lazy eye is an imbalance in the muscles responsible for positioning the eye. Muscle contractures: Some neurological conditions, such as cerebral palsy, can cause your limbs to pull in toward your centre. In some cases, these contracted muscles can be relaxed with Botox injections. Hyperhidrosis: In this condition, excessive sweating occurs even when the temperature isnt hot and youre not exerting yourself. Chronic migraine: If you experience migraines more than 15 days a month, Botox injections may help reduce headache frequency. Bladder dysfunction: Botox injections can also help reduce urinary incontinence caused by an overactive bladder. Eye twitching: Botox injections may help relieve contracture or twitching of muscles around the eye. Located at Roman Ridge, Accra, the five-star health and wellness center brings the latest state-of-the-art, Ghana FDA-approved aesthetic equipment for patients of this region. Before the launch, the clinic introduced IV Therapy / Vitamin Interjections. The health institution offers not only the best surgical and non-surgical solutions available on the market but the newest and latest technological advances in beauty today. Their intensive range of med spa services includes a diversified list of skin-perfecting cosmetic laser services, liquid facelifts, injectables, chemical peels, and laser hair or vein removal. They also offer a variety of weight loss solutions. Lose inches, smooth cellulite, contour, and body shaping while tightening skin without surgery or downtime. They also offer Non-Invasive Treatments, including but not limited to Tattoo Removal, Stretch Mark Removal, Fat Removal, Laser Hair Removal, Vaginal Rejuvenation, Teeth Whitening, Mesotherapy, etc. Their Invasive Treatments include Breast Implants, Brazilian Butt-Lift, Liposuction, and their Wellness treatments include, IV Vitamin Therapy, Addiction, and Mental Health Source: Peacefmonline.com/ghana Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority. Featured Video Famed media managing practitioner of the Despite Media Group (Managing Director) Dr Fadda Dickson Narhs exemplary leadership qualities over the years has received international recognition. Having managed several affairs, first as a Finance Administrator and now Managing Director of Despite Media Group for the past 20years; he has taken time to research into local media communication to ensure the indigenes of Ghana can understand what goes on in the country by introducing a typical Akan vernacular Radio programmes and news contents. Consequently, Rectitude International Mission (RIM) and World Diplomatic Federation (WODIF), two reputable organizations responsible for awarding persons that impact society positively, have selected the media guru to be decorated with an Honorary Doctorate Degree. And barring any unforeseen hitches, the governing council at George Fox University in Newberg, OR, USA, a renowned higher learning institution are expected in Ghana to confer the honours on the philanthropist (Fadda) at a future date. Chief Executive Chancellor, WODIF, His Meritorious Eminence Rev. Dr Christian Kwetey Kweitsu has explained that Fadda Dicksons tenacity to hold on to the typical Akan vernacular Radio programmes and news contents, in the face of criticisms stirred his outfit for his (Fadda's) nomination for the recognition. His decision to remain resolute has today ensured that PEACE FM, a member of DESPITE MEDIA GROUP is been considered as the leading and the best Radio station including its sister media houses in Ghana. Fadda Dickson has through his exceptional trait supported the creative arts industry in several ways. And this has been made possible through good relationships and camaraderie platform set to fraternize with numerous celebrities in Ghana, paving ways for unemployed youth for job creation, business development, advancing prospects and wealth for the desiring and deserving persons. He has great passion in developing the young generation. This sense of initiatives on several youth projects has been enormous since many young people who face diverse unemployment problems get relief out of stress, and thus solving challenges confronting the youth. As an ardent counsellor, he has allocated his evening periods to develop the acumen of the youth on talent discoveries, management and advancing career to create business and wealth. He has created a good sense of cohesion with the politicians of all divide, diplomats and the business class among others throughout Ghana. This relationship has helped him solve numerous challenges facing the individual peers in politics, religion, ethnicity and business done in camera to salvage situations. He is considered in Ghana as a celebrated icon of peace and father of transformation. He is a remarkable philanthropist who has been giving alms on the quiet to support the poor and needy in Ghana. His major concern is to develop talents in the creative arts industry. His caliber goes beyond being just a philanthropist but a nationalist who loves peace to reign among humankind. Indeed, the name Fadda Dickson Narh has become a household in Ghana, winning him many accolades, honours and awards both locally and internationally. No wonder it has become an established fact that many young married couple name their children after him. Source: Peacefmonline.com Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority. Featured Video The Busunu-Tachali Bridge that links Busunu and Daboya in the Savannah Region remains inaccessible days after the torrential rains in the area. Although the floodwaters from the Tachali River that submerged the bridge have receded, vehicles still cannot use the bridge because a portion of the road that was washed away has not been fixed. An accident occurred close to the bridge last Saturday evening when a truck fell on its side as the driver attempted to drive across the bridge from the Busunu side of the road to Daboya. Appeal Some residents of the area have, consequently, appealed to the authorities to repair the road to ensure the smooth and safe transportation of goods and people. Speaking to the Daily Graphic, the residents said they were going through unbearable difficulties, and that only a quick response to their appeal to fix the road would save the situation. Accident scene The Savannah Regional Director of the National Disaster Management Organisation (NADMO), Mr Mohammed Tohiru, told the Daily Graphic that it was dangerous for vehicles to use the bridge. "As you can see, vehicles cannot use the bridge and we cannot also use a canoe to cross the river due to the level of the water," Mr Tohiru, who was present at the scene of the accident, said. He added his voice to the appeal by the residents for the road to be fixed, as a matter of urgency, to enable safe passage for vehicles on the bridge. He further called for the re-engineering of the road that connected the Busunu-Tachali Bridge to forestall a recurrence of the present situation. He said the Lingbisi-Bisa, Magnori-Murugu and Busunu-Tachali roads remained inaccessible. Besides, the Tamale-Daboya road also remained permanently inaccessible because there was no bridge on the White Volta at Daboya, he added. The government has made a promise to construct a bridge over the White Volta at Daboya to create an alternative route from Tamale through Daboya to the southern part of the country, but work is yet to begin. Apart from the Daboya Bridge, the government has also made a commitment to construct two new bridges to replace the Buipe and the Yapei bridges over the Black Volta and the White Volta, respectively, in the Central Gonja district. The construction of the bridges will provide smooth access from the Savannah, Northern, North East and Upper East regions to Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger. Source: graphiconline.com Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority. Featured Video Seasoned Journalist, Kwesi Pratt Jnr., has slammed ECOWAS leaders for not acting proactively to avert the coup d'etat in Guinea. President of Guinea, Alpha Conde changed the constitution of his country resulting in the current Military insurgence. He was on Sunday, September 5, 2021 detained by soldiers led by a former French legionnaire, Lt Col Mamady Doumbouya. The soldiers indicated they have dissolved the country's constitution that would have permitted President Conde to run for a third time after serving for 10 years. Addressing the Guinean coup d'etat, Mr. Pratt wondered why the ECOWAS leadership stood aloof and watched the President to amend the constitution when his tenure was over. "When this man was terrorizing his citizens, infringing upon their rights and so forth, where were the ECOWAS leaders?" Mr. Pratt advised African leaders to take decisions that will positively impact the lives of their citizens to avoid any kind of anarchy. "Our African leaders must also understand that some of their actions call for coup. If they don't live a good life, it can bring about a coup . . . coup isn't something we should call for but our leaders must conduct themselves properly." He spoke on Peace FM's morning show "Kokrokoo". Watch video below Source: Ameyaw Adu Gyamfi/Peacefmonline.com/Ghana Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority. Featured Video Majority Leader of Parliament, Hon. Osei Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu says the do or die comment of former President John Dramani Mahama should be condemned with all certainty without mincing words. According to the Minister for Parliamentary Affairs, it does not speak well of a leader who has served the nation before to make such a despicable comment even though everyone is fallible to make mistakes in life. Speaking on Okay FMs 'Ade Akye Abia' Morning Show, the Suame lawmaker noted that there cannot be any rationalization and justification for what President John Mahama said during his Thank You tour as the context in which he said the do or die is misleading the NDC followers to think that the party was robbed in the 2020 general elections. He reiterated that President John Mahama was wrong to say that the NDC accepted defeat in the 2020 general election because of peace; thus, to him, the opposition NDC could not provide any evidence in the Supreme Court when the Court asked the NDC to provide evidence of wrongdoing in the Presidential results. Today, you go on a Thank You tour to say that the NDC rather won the 2020 election and the EC subverted the will of the people, meanwhile, you could not provide evidence in the court and you turn around to say that in the next 2024 election, it will be a 'do or die' affair, we must be bold to tell him that he is wrong and a leader must not speak like that," he pooh-poohed Mahama. If you say that this is a do or die issue, it means that if you dont win, then you must kill yourself for losing the election. This is what it means. There cant be any rationalization and justification for what he said because he said it in a context and the context was the NDC was robbed in the 2020 election and so the 2024 election will be a do or die," he noted. He maintained that former President John Dramani Mahama erred with his submission that the NDC won the election, adding that the former President is rather urging his followers to position themselves for only a win-win situation at the polling stations. What he said is not true but rather urging his followers that whether we like it or not, the NDC must win at the polling stations. A leader must not speak like that. As you said, President Akufo-Addo said something similar and Ghanaians were not happy about it and he was criticised by the same NDC members who are now supporting what former President Mahama said, he noted. If what he has said is wrong, we should come out boldly to condemn it so that he does not repeat it . . . you bring unnecessary tension in the country. He must know that election is not about life or death, he chided. Watch video below Source: Daniel Adu Darko/Peacefmonline.com Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority. Featured Video A total of 31 late-stage terror plots have been foiled in the UK in the past four years, the head of the UK's secret service, MI5 has revealed. Director general Ken McCallum, who revealed in October there had been 27 attacks thwarted since 2017, said there had been six during the pandemic. He said they were largely Islamic extremist plots, but a "growing number" if terrorist threats were planned by right-wing terrorists. He also warned that the fall of Afghanistan to the Taliban will likely have "emboldened" UK terrorists. The terror threat would not change overnight but there could be a "morale boost" for extremists, he said. "The terrorist threat to the UK, I am sorry to say, is a real and enduring thing." "Of course there are likely to be terrorist attacks on UK soil on my watch," he said, saying MI5 works as hard as it can to stop them happening but "to our horror, we know that won't be possible on every single occasion". The head of the security service added that MI5 had "saved thousands of lives across the last 20 years" but it "cannot always succeed". Mr McCallum, speaking to BBC Radio 4's Today programme on the eve of the 20th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks on the US, said that smaller-scale terrorist acts by those already in the UK made up the largest number of threats faced by MI5. "There is no doubt that events in Afghanistan will have heartened and emboldened some of those extremists and so being vigilant to precisely those kinds of risks is what my organisation is focused on along with a range of other threats," he said. But there is still also a risk of an increase in larger plots directed by terrorism groups like al-Qaeda, he warned. "The big concern flowing from Afghanistan alongside the immediate inspirational effect is the risk that terrorists reconstitute and once again pose us more in the way of well-developed, sophisticated plots of the sort that we faced in 9/11 and the years thereafter," Mr McCallum said. While the government says it will judge the Taliban by their actions, the UK security service would plan for the possibility "more risk, progressively, may flow our way", Mr McCallum said. "Terrorist threats tend not to change overnight in the sense of directed plotting or training camps or infrastructure - the sorts of things that al-Qaeda enjoyed in Afghanistan at the time of 9/11," he said. "These things do inherently take time to build, and the 20-year effort to reduce the terrorist threat from Afghanistan has been largely successful. "But what does happen overnight, even though those directed plots and centrally organised bits of terrorism take a bit longer to rebuild... overnight, you can have a psychological boost, a morale boost to extremists already here, or in other countries." He added: "We need to be vigilant both for the increase in inspired terrorism which has become a real trend for us to deal with over the last five to 10 years, alongside the potential regrowth of al Qaeda-style directed plots." The former chief of the UK defence staff, General Lord Richards said he believes they are closer to "another 9/11" following the US and UK's withdrawal from Afghanistan. "I fear the Taliban and some extremist jihadist groups are, whatever they like to say, in each other's pockets," he told LBC. "Scores will be settled, debts will have to be repaid and there will be ungoverned space opened up in Afghanistan which those groups will exploit and the ability of the Taliban to actually manage them will be minimal." Source: BBC Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority. Featured Video The Oti Regional branch of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) has condemned the do or die" comment made by the former President, John Dramani Mahama. Mr Seidu Musah, NPP Oti Regional Communication Director, in a release to the Ghana News Agency, described the comments as unfortunate and reckless from the leader of the opposition party. The release alleged that Mr Mahama, speaking on Akina FM in the Bono region as part of his thank-you tour, on September 7, 2021, urged the party supporters to be bold, adding that 2024 general elections would be a do or die affair. The release said many Ghanaians cannot understand the motive behind the unending desire by John Mahama to plunge the peace-loving country into chaos, and called on well-meaning Ghanaians including the media, civil society organizations, religious leaders to condemn the comment. The release noted the former President on February 1, 2019, while addressing NDC supporters in the Ketu South Constituency of the Volta region, said the NDC had a revolutionary track record and that when it comes to unleashing violence no party can match the NDC. It said the former President again made a call on the supporters of the NDC to match the NPP " boot for boot" in the 2020 elections. Source: GNA Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority. Featured Video President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo Addo has said his government will stay on the path of truthfulness and good works to deliver a developed and prosperous nation. He said he was hopeful Ghanaians would imbibe truthfulness and good works to develop the country. President Akufo Addo was addressing chiefs of the Oti Region at Dambai during a tour of the Volta and Oti Regions. "What we need is unity within the country to support the government realise all its plans for development. "I am of much hope that if Ghanaians endeavour to work with the truth and good works, there would be nothing we cannot do. Others have done it and we can also do it. What we need is unity, good policies and truthfulness," the President stated. He said politics and governance based on lies worked against the progress of the nation. "Political leaders who peddle falsehoods are not helping the nation. It doesn't help to be constructing a campaign of lies. Every time they open their mouths they are contradicted. But that has been the choice of others. Each has his own path and I have chosen the path of truth," the President said. Mr. Dan Botwe, Minister of Local Governance, Decentralisation, and Rural Development, said the President remained more committed towards national development. He thus said the President was keen on speedily developing the newly created Regions, which were initiated to deepen decentralization and rapid growth. President Akufo-Addo inspected the ongoing construction of administrative offices for the new region, spread across districts in the various districts, as well as major road construction, works. He commissioned a yam and cassava processing factory under the One District One Factory initiative for the Region at Adonkwanta, and also toured an integrated waste treatment plant, which was about 80 per cent complete Source: GNA Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority. Featured Video A faction within the youth base of the main opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) in the Ashanti Region, has passed a vote of no confidence in former President John Mahama and called for a new flag bearer for the party ahead of the 2024 general election. The group insists a new face is needed to rally the partys support base into a formidable force for the next election.The disgruntled youth, in a press statement, also accused Mr Mahama of neglecting the Ashanti Region when he won power in 2012. How come only Tamale metropolis had three cabinet ministers yet the biggest region in the country, Ashanti was neglected? the group asked. In fact, at the start of the administration, there was only one minister from Ashanti Region the Minister of Environment Science and Technology, Professor Oteng Agyei who was sacked bitterly and mysteriously just some few months into the administration, the statement signed by the convenor, Mr Kweku Asare Mensah said. How come John Mahama appointed five cabinet ministers from Central Region in addition to having the vice-president from same region? How come there were also five cabinet ministers from Eastern Region in addition to the chief of staff? John Mahama, who could neglect the Ashanti Region this much now pretends to be the lover boy just to deceive us and neglect the region again. Our message to him is simple: He shouldnt count on us because he neglected us when he had the power. NDC needs new leadership direction, a leader who is in to build a more formidable party not one who is only in for his personal good, the group said. John Mahama is scheduled to hit the region on 13 September with his Thank You tour, but the youth of the party is sending a signal that they are fed up with him, the group added. Source: classfmonline.com Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority. Featured Video The Chief of Ajumako Eduyaw in the Ajumako Enyan Essiam District of the Central Region Nana Obuedum has described Akufo-Addos government as the worse in 47 years. According to the Chief, he has not witnessed the level of poor governance by the current NPP administration in his 47 years as an Educationist. Nana Obuedum said the government has failed Ghanaians and failed to fulfill many of the promises made to Ghanaians during his campaign in 2016. You dont know what came over Ghanaians to vote for him [Akufo-Addo] in the 2020 general election, he said, adding Nana Akuffo Addo since he came has collapsed numerous business including my two schools. As a Chief, I dont depend and believe in Akufo-Addo promises because he doesnt speak the truth. I develop my community from my own coffers without depending on any government so I am also advising all Ghanaians to also do things on their own without depending on any government. The Chief in an interview with EIB Networks Central Regional Correspondent Yaw Boagyan said, the Ajumako Enyan Essiam District Assembly promised to supply the community with dust bins to curb sanitation in the community but that promise has not been fulfilled. He advised the government to stop making promises that they cannot fulfill adding that Akufo-Addo has messed up the country. Nana Obuedum made the comments when he renovated and commissioned an ultramodern durbar ground for Ajumako Eduyaw Community. Source: kasapafmonline.com Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority. Featured Video National Organiser of the largest opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) claims nothing seems to be going right for the Nana Addo-led government. Joshua Hamidu Akamba in an interview with NEAT FMs morning show, Ghana Montie was emphatic that the nation under the leadership of President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo is crumbling. He told host, Mac Jerry Osei Agyeman that the country is not safer for all. "I see that they are busy running around and responding to the NDC rather than working . . . the country is crumbling on their hands and they are only looking for the opportunity to talk rather than action . . ." he said. Joshua Hamidu Akamba also accused the government of only concerntrating on amassing wealth rather than fulfilling its numerous promises. "They are not telling Ghanaians exactly what they are doing to improve their lives . . . I think they are doing nothing rather than busily stealing . . . amassing wealth rather than solving the problems that will see the Ghanain happy," he added. Listen to interview below Source: King Edward Ambrose Washman/peacefmonline.com/ghana Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority. Featured Video Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau answers questions as his son Hadrien and wife Sophie Gregoire Trudeau, left, and BC Nurses, right, stand to his side at a campaign stop in Vancouver, B.C., on Monday, Sept. 13, 2021. Firebirds is offering a $33 three-course meal starting with chicken tortilla soup or soup of the day; BLT, mixed greens or Caesar salad; or lemon whipped feta with roasted tomatoes and grilled focaccia. Did you know you can save your preferences across all your digital devices and platforms simply by creating a profile? Would you like to get started? Yes, I'd like to register/log in Not right now No, never ask again Thank you for reading the Philadelphia Tribune. You have exhausted your free article views for this month. Please press the "subscribe" button below and see our introductory price of $0.25 per week for 13 weeks. Otherwise, we look forward to seeing you next month. Daniel Negreanu's "Slump" Officially Over, Poker HOF'er Wins Poker Masters $10K NLH September 12, 2021 Jon Sofen Daniel Negreanu went eight years without winning a live poker tournament, a stat that is still hard to believe. After Sunday's win in Poker Masters Event #5: $10,000 No-Limit Hold'em for $178,200, he now has two victories since June. And he just might have an old rival Doug Polk to thank for the recent success. On July 11, Polk posted a video on his YouTube channel about the length of time it had been since Negreanu won a poker tournament. One day later, "Kid Poker" scooped a $50,000 buy-in PokerGO Cup event for $700,000 and would eventually be crowned the overall series champion. Fast forward exactly two months later to Sunday afternoon at the PokerGO Studio in Las Vegas, and the GGPoker ambassador is back in the winner's circle. Negreanu beat out a field of 66 entrants to win his first ever Poker Masters event. He earned 179 points for his second cash of the high roller series, giving him 281 overall, putting him atop the leaderboard in the race for the Purple Jacket. But there are still seven events remaining, so it's still way too early for his fans to get too excited. Polk's video likely had no impact on Negreanu finally getting over the hump to win a couple of tournaments. But it's still an odd coincidence either way. 2021 Poker Masters Event #5 Final Table Results Place Player County Points Prize 1st Daniel Negreanu Canada 181 $178,200 2nd Nick Petrangelo United States 132 $133,000 3rd Vikenty Shegal United States 86 $66,000 4th Jake Daniels United States 66 $69,000 5th Jeffrey Trudeau United States 53 $52,800 Rough Hand Ends Petrangelo's Run During heads up play, with both players relatively close in chips Negreanu slightly out in front one pseudo-cooler hand propelled the Poker Hall of Famer to victory. Nick Petrangelo raised on the button to 180,000 with and his opponent three-bet to 600,000 with and the raise was called. The flop came out and Negreanu wasn't about to play small ball. He bet out 725,000 and got a call. The turn was the and both players interestingly checked. On the river, which was the , Negreanu went big, betting out 1.8 million. Petrangelo made the call to find out the bad news and admitted the check on the turn was a tricky but strong play by his opponent. The hand left him with just 760,000, less than 10 big blinds. Moments later, "DNegs" picked up on the button and limped. Petrangelo took the bait and shoved all-in with . The board came out clean for Negreanu and that was all she wrote. Negreanu, the champion, took home $178,200 for his impressive performance and the runner-up received $133,000. The PokerGO Studio also played host to Day 1 (of two) of Event #6: 10,000 8-Game. Registration was still open at the time of publishing but 30 players had entered. Remember, Poker Masters will air daily through September 19, but is only available to PokerGO subscribers. If youre not currently subscribed, you can get a monthly subscription for $14.99, a three-month plan for $29.99, and an annual subscription for $99.99. You can also save $10 off an annual subscription by using promo code PokerNews at checkout. *Images courtesy of PokerGO. The final day of Event #30: $525 WSOP Beat the Pros [Freezeout] took a little under five hours to add another bracelet-winner here in the 2021 GGPoker WSOP Online Bracelet Events. The field of 1,594 entries created a $797,000 prize pool on the first day and just 19 returned for the final day. When the dust had settled it was Jase "RetiredFedor" Regina claiming the victory to take home his first WSOP bracelet, and $75,342 in total prizes. Regina seemed to be on a steady decline throughout the day, going from fourth on the totem pole to a bottom dweller just as the final table was approaching. A string of small pots set up a double through fellow-countrymen Scott "Abracadabraa" Hill, bringing Regina over the average stack. Just two hands later the champ found big slick on the button and sent Aleksandr "gipotenuza" Ovechkin out the door, taking down a pot which put him in the pole position to start the final table. The final table was not an easy journey for the champion as he started on top but fell to the lowest of the low when five-handed play began. Regina rose to overcome the hurdle, eliminating the other four with a pure run of cards. Stefan "Stiopata" Atanasov was the last bounty claimed after a short heads-up bout that saw Atanasov call his stack with ducks, after a shove by Regina who held eight-five. A rivered eight made Atanasov the runner-up, taking home $42,443 for his efforts. Final Table Results for Event Event #30: $525 WSOP Beat the Pros [Freezeout] Place Winner Country Bounty Total Prize Total Cash (in USD) 1 Jase "RetiredFedor" Regina Canada $42,486 $32,856 $75,342 2 Stefan "Stiopata" Atanasov Malta $9,667 $32,776 $42,443 3 Arunas "AngryGoose" Sapitavicius Cyprus $3,451 $24,707 $28,158 4 Stoyan Madanzhiev Bulgaria $9,563 $18,602 $28,165 5 Sebastian "flashlight99" Mueller Thailand $10,711 $14,006 $24,717 6 Julien "LittlebeAAr" Achard-stropoli Malta $8,360 $10,545 $18,905 7 William Wolf United States $9,075 $7,940 $17,015 8 Alon "ArtinB" Huberman Israel $2,918 $5,978 $8,896 9 Scott "Abracadabraa" Hill Canada $5,090 $4,501 $9,591 Regina Heats Back Up to Claim his Prize The first day saw an impressive 1,594 clicks of the registration button, accumulating a $797,000 prize pool that had 224 set to receive at least a min-cash. By the end of the day, only 19 bagged up and all were guaranteed at least $2,370. But all sights were set on the $32,856 first-place prize to start Day 2, along with some juicy-looking bounties. Once the final table began, it was Regina atop the leaderboard but he instantly went cold and fell to the bottom by the time five-handed started. A well-timed heater saw the Canadian rise like the phoenix, starting with a flip versus Sebastian "flashlight99" Mueller. Regina held on with sevens to collect his first bounty of the final table. The Canadian continued his onslaught, dropping the only player who had a bracelet already to their name in Stoyan Madanzhiev. Madanzhiev found a cooler of a hand, running pocket kings into the aces of Regina who took down the pot for a massive double which left Madanzhiev in shambles. The Bulgarian put it in with king-ten shortly afterward, Regina called with eights and snowmen held on to drop Madanzhiev. Arunas "AngryGoose" Sapitavicius fell into a pit early, having just two big blinds at one point but he battled back and found an optimal spot. Sapitavicius pushed with dimes, Regina called with ace-rag and two pair landed on the board for the eventual champ. The heads-up portion of the event was then set, having Atanasov try to take down the red-hot Regina. It took just a few hands for a conclusion when Regina shoved eight-five and Atanasov called with ducks. The Event #30 champion rivered an eight to secure the victory, collecting his first WSOP bracelet and $75,342 in prize money. That wraps it up for the PokerNews live coverage of this event, but tune into one of the many other events that are live right now. GREENVILLE One of the coffee shops on Main Street will soon be replaced by a Mexican fusion restaurant. Local chain Holy Molli will open its third location in the space previously occupied by Port City Java, a broker with NAI Earle Furman confirmed for The Post and Courier. The restaurant's other locations are on Woodruff Road in Greenville and in Winchester Place in Spartanburg. The restaurant's co-founders, Lydia and Luis Stark, opened the original location in 2019 after working in the fast casual industry for years. The restaurant is a "nontraditional approach to Mexican food," according to a promotional video. Customers can build burritos or bowls, among other dishes. The restaurant incorporates the "fusion" part of its brand through its Mexican sushi rolls, which include traditional rice and seaweed but also multiple kinds of cheeses, avocado, choice of protein, chipotle dressing and other fixings. A letter posted on Port City's door at 11 S. Main St. in downtown Greenville, on the first floor of the Wells Fargo Center, said that the shop was asked to end its lease early. It permanently closed on Sept. 12. "As many of you know, our lease here was coming to an end," the letter said. "Since then, we have been asked to end our term early." Sign up for our Greenville development newsletter. Get all the latest updates on the Upstate real estate market, more openings and closings, exclusive development news and more in your inbox each week. Email Sign Up! "This was not our intended plan of departure," the letter continued. While the coffee shop was planning on seeing its lease to term, the closure was not sudden. In January, the Wilmington-based franchise temporarily closed due to a COVID-19 infection. At that point, the almost 2,000-square-foot space was already being actively marketed with the coffee shop agreeing to vacate if a new tenant was found. "We have loved serving this area and are extremely proud of the coffee community you have helped us build here over the years," the letter said. The franchise offered the location's employees relocation opportunities within the company. The company has more than 20 locations in North Carolina. Neither Port City Java's corporate offices nor the Greenville location's franchise owner could be reached for additional comment. As a third wave of the coronavirus pandemic continues to wreak havoc in South Carolina overwhelming hospitals and claiming hundreds of lives each week the demand for COVID-19 tests has grown exponentially since late July. Many people seeking tests are symptomatic. Others need test results to travel, attend events or to gather safely with friends and family. Their reasons for seeking out a test vary. But this much is consistent: Tens of thousands of South Carolinians every day are trying to determine their COVID status, and some of them are experiencing longer wait times than others. "People have had to wait longer, maybe in line, compared to last month to get tested at sites," said Dr. Brannon Traxler, public health director of the S.C. Department of Health and Environmental Control. The good news, she said, is that "increased demand has not significantly impacted the average resulting time. DHEC and our testing vendors are still producing test results within that 24 to 48 hours." Other providers have had to ramp up their testing operations, too. In Aiken, at a large drive-thru testing site set up at the University of South Carolina Aikens convocation center, some residents have reported waiting more than two hours to be tested. Meanwhile, the Medical University of South Carolina is averaging more than 1,000 tests a day in September so far, up from an average 280 tests a day in July. Many of these tests are administered at the MUSC Health R. Keith Summey Medical Pavilion in North Charleston, although more recently some patients needing a test have been redirected to other sites to ease the volume of visitors and traffic at that facility, MUSC spokeswoman Heather Woolwine said. MUSC and DHEC both administer PCR tests short for polymerase chain reaction which are considered the gold standard for COVID-19 testing but take longer to process than other varieties. Rapid antigen tests, as well as self-administered at-home tests, offer almost immediate results but are harder to come by. On James Island, Dottie's Pharmacy saw a high demand for rapid testing about two weeks ago, and they were finally able to get some more rapid tests in stock in early September. Pharmacy lead tech Ashley Messervy said Dottie's usually administers at least 600 rapid test per week and has seen an increase in both testing and vaccinations since the start of the third surge. The rapid tests at Dottie's are $75 each. The PCR tests offered through MUSC and DHEC (and most other health care providers) are free. Some people are willing to pay a premium for fast results. In West Ashley, pharmacist Mary Wise, who owns Herold's Pharmacy, said the company ordered around 48 Physician 360 COVID tests, which can be self-administered at home, at the beginning of September. All 48 tests, which were sold in pairs for $59, flew off the shelves within 10 days. I originally thought that shipment would last us a decent amount of time, said Wise, but that just wasnt the case. Wise said they are doubling their next order to account for the recent surge in demand, expecting to see another shipment within the next few weeks. To find a COVID-19 testing site near you, go to scdhec.gov/covid19/find-covid-19-testing-location. Would you like to receive breaking news notifications from The Post and Courier? Sign up to receive news and updates from this site directly to your desktop. Breaking News Columbia Breaking News Greenville Breaking News Myrtle Beach Breaking News Aiken Breaking News N Augusta Breaking News Click on the bell icon to manage your notifications at any time. Success! Please click the 'Allow' button in the 'Show Notifcations' alert in your browser if one is available. Thank you for signing up! Please enable notifications in your browser and reload the page. Charleston County School District will start enforcing its mask requirement for all people in its buildings effective Sept. 20. During a Sept. 13 board meeting, eight members voted to approve the second reading of the district's mask policy, which implements a requirement through Oct. 15. In the motion for the vote, the board instructed the district to enforce the requirement using federal funds. Cindy Bohn Coats abstained from the vote. The board first implemented a mandate on Aug. 16. On Aug. 23, Board Chair Rev. Eric Mack clarified that no students would be penalized for refusing to wear masks because of an S.C. budget rule that prohibits districts from using public funds to enforce mask mandates. The Sept. 13 vote amends the district's policy to allow it to use federal instead of state funds to enforce the mandate. Mack said the board believes the new mandate allows the district to remain in compliance with the law since it does not use state funds. "Wearing face masks in school is an essential health and safety measure. Just that simple act of each of us will help prevent severe illness or death from Covid," Mack said. The board will have additional details later in the week. Since the start of the school year, 1,464 Charleston County students and employees have tested positive for the virus, according to the district's COVID-19 dashboard. There are currently 1,179 students in quarantine, Superintendent Gerrita Postlewait said, and eight schools that have transitioned to temporary virtual learning. Seven of those schools remain closed. The rising numbers are causing concern among school officials who want to avoid a districtwide move to virtual learning. To help schools remain open, the district also updated it quarantine policy favoring students wearing masks. Any student who properly wears a mask and remains 3 feet away from others does not have to quarantine when they come in close contact with a positive case, regardless of their vaccination status. Vaccinated students are exempt from quarantining as long as they don't show symptoms of the virus. In addition to the above measures, the district shortened its quarantine period from 14 to 10 days to minimize the amount of time that students are out of school. Postlewait also presented on the criteria for a school to move to virtual learning: Schools may close if there is a shortage of staff members that affects operations, a 30 percent or higher rate of student absenteeism due to quarantines or if five to 10 percent of the student body is in isolation or has tested positive. As more students go into temporary virtual learning, the district is looking to expand virtual access to classes. It is also looking into providing stipends for teachers who have to open up virtual classrooms for quarantined students. "The bottom line is the response to the COVID situation takes just about all of our time and resources," Postlewait said. Charleston County is additionally putting a focus on mental health through a partnership with the Medical University of South Carolina's Boeing Center for Childhood Wellness. Boeing and the district each invested $1 million into the center to develop an initiative that would train staff and provide more support for students. Charleston County teachers will undergo training on how to help children find appropriate coping mechanisms and other ways to deal with stress. The money will also help cover a partnership with MUSC Telehealth to provide more mental health services for students. The center already works with school districts to promote health eating, physical activity and social-emotional learning. The new initiative will be the first time the center has worked with a district exclusively on mental health. "Our children have demonstrated an increased amount of stress, anxiety, depression and trauma, illustrating the need for more available and affordable mental health supports and services in a place where they are served each and every day our schools," Mack said at a Sept. 13 news conference about the initiative. The district is also working with principals to reduce foot traffic in common areas; doubling down on sanitizing efforts; and limiting field trips, visitors and special events, all in an effort to keep kids in school. MOUNT PLEASANT After more than three years of anticipation, pipes have been moved into place and pumping is scheduled to begin on Sept. 14, kicking off the Crab Bank renourishment project in Charleston Harbor. At its peak, the seabird sanctuary was home to nearly 4,000 nesting birds on 18 acres of high ground. But much of it has eroded because of weather and tides, and the site is no longer being used by the animals. Contractors will use about 660,000 cubic yards of sediment from the harbor-deepening project to renourish Crab Bank and ultimately create about 32 acres of prime nesting habitat for coastal birds. The Army Corps of Engineers Charleston District said boaters and paddlers in the area of Shem Creek and the Mount Pleasant Old Village shoreline will need to take extra precautions while the project is ongoing. It should take about two months to complete but the dredging operation comes with some safety concerns. In addition to the dredge, there will be floating and submerged pipelines, along with auxiliary equipment that is hazardous to people who get too close to the construction zone, the Corps said in a news release. And it is possible that construction will happen continuously, all hours of the day and night until complete. People should not assume there will be any down time during the project, where they can "sneak over" and take a look at the work, said Brian Williams, the the Corps' Charleston District civil works chief. "Even if you don't see something coming out of the end of the pipe, it could start back up any second," Williams said. Temporary disturbances from the lights and sounds could also be present for the duration of the work. People along the Mount Pleasant shoreline could potentially be impacted by this. "We are hoping and we think it will all be worth it when we've got a restored Crab Bank and really another jewel sitting in the Charleston Harbor for people to enjoy," Williams said. At the beginning of the year, the Army Corps said it was projected to cost about $300,000 to place the material on Crab Bank. Corporations such as The Post and Courier Foundation, Boeing S.C. and the S.C. Ports Authority, as well as hundreds of Charleston-area residents, have contributed more than $1 million to the project. The S.C. Department of Natural Resources, a project sponsor, funded approximately $80,000 of the cost. "Communication, fundraising and awareness have been key to the success that we hope to see this spring as birds return to the newly established footprint of Crab Bank," said DNR Director Robert Boyles. He said the project would not have been possible without community support and assistance from groups like Audubon South Carolina, the Coastal Conservation League, Coastal Expeditions and other donors. Audubon South Carolina received a $700,000 grant from the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation that will assist with the restoration and monitoring of the project. Leftover contributions will be used for building oyster reefs and adding sea grasses meant to hold renourished sand in place. The great Motown bass player James Jamerson didn't have a proper tombstone until Aug. 27, 2021. He died in 1983 at age 47 after a hard-drinking adult life in Detroit and Los Angeles. Jamerson, born on Edisto Island, attended Jane Edwards Elementary School and Baptist Hill High School before following his mother north to Detroit in 1954. He was buried there, in Woodlawn Cemetery, among many luminaries of the music world, business and faith communities and civil rights movement. About 3 years ago, Jamersons first cousin, Anthony McKnight, saw a photograph of the grave and was shocked. It featured no headstone, only a grass marker. This was a bass player of such refined instinct, he could improvise a complicated counter-melody and nail it in a single take. In this grave rested a master musician who played on 56 No. 1 R&B hits and 23 No. 1 pop hits, according to the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame significantly more No. 1 hits than Elvis, The Beatles, The Beach Boys and the Rolling Stones combined. In this grave lay a man every subsequent bass player cites as an influence. "He was creating a new style of playing," said Karen Chandler, a professor of arts management and co-founder with the late Jack McCray of the Charleston Jazz Initiative. "Thats the essence of creativity." Here was the man who introduced jazz-like chromaticism to pop music; who insisted that the bass line was just as important as any other part (maybe more so) but never let it get in the way; who could lay down a groove with one index finger (nicknamed the hook), no matter how up-tempo; who could toss off tasteful fills that added just the right amount of zest; who could exploit open strings and chord inversions to create flowing melodic lines as well as the rhythm and funk of what became the signature Motown Sound. So McKnight launched a GoFundMe page and raised about $3,000. A start. A friend Jason Miccolo Johnson, a photographer in the Journalism and Mass Communication Department of Savannah State University provided another $5,500. Now that he had the necessary cash, McKnight commissioned Nijel Binns, a Los Angeles sculptor, to design a headstone of black granite with a Fender Precision bass mounted on top. Jamersons grave is among the most visited at Woodlawn Cemetery, yet it had been hard to find. I wanted something prominent, so it could be seen, McKnight said. Late last month, with members of the Jamerson family present, he unveiled the new monument and offered a few words in memory of his cousin. 'Always in the studio' Now that thats checked off McKnights to-do list, he can resume his push to get Jamerson inducted into the S.C. Hall of Fame. Its been tough going. Despite letters of support from prominent people gathered by McKnight, his cousin just hasnt received enough votes yet. McKnight wont give up, though. He points out that Jamerson was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland in 2000 in the musical excellence category. The Motown studio band in which Jamerson was a founding member, the Funk Brothers, earned a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 2013. Paul McCartney and innumerable others cite Jamerson as the master player who set the standard and provided the example. During his childhood and youth, Jamerson was immersed in music of the church and the radio. His father, James Sr., worked in Charlestons shipyards; his mother, Elizabeth Bacon, was a domestic worker. They divorced when Jamerson was young. When Elizabeth Bacon left the Lowcountry to try to find work, her two sons Richard Brown and James Jamerson spent time with her sister Beverlina McKnight Anthonys mother. Anthony was much younger than his cousin, but he remembers visiting the Jamerson family in Detroit as a teenager. By then James had a wife and four children. And he was not often around. He was always in the studio, McKnight said. Berry Gordys Hitsville U.S.A., 2648 West Grand Blvd. Often in the basement. Laying down the groove at the back of the band. Sometimes actually laying down, like the time Marvin Gaye dragged him from the bar to the studio to record "What's Goin' On," and Jamerson was so intoxicated he couldn't keep himself upright. That bass part, though, is among his finest. He would take me into the studio with him," McKnight said. "I assumed Motown was a huge fancy studio in a big building. But it was just a small house. He remembered when Jamerson brought The Temptations, performing in Charleston in 1962, over for dinner. They gathered at the family home on Cooper Street in the East Side neighborhood mostly because the restaurants and hotels were unfriendly to Black people back then. Music was not the main topic of discussion. They came and ate, thats what they did, McKnight said. These guys were hungry. No ordinary bass line Jamersons grandmother played piano; his aunt sang in church. It was natural for him to embrace music. He followed his grandmothers lead and learned piano well enough to perform in public. In high school, he became infatuated with the bass and excelled at it. Soon, he was playing jazz in the Detroit clubs and bringing to the bass a pianists understanding of harmony, chord structures, counterpoint and voice leading. Thats one reason why a Jamerson bass line is no ordinary bass line. Another is his ability to groove, said Charlton Singleton, a Charleston-based musician who plays piano, trumpet and sings. Rarely did Jamerson rely on music written out for the recording sessions. Rather, he relied on his instinct. A lot of those tunes didnt necessarily have a specific lead sheet, Singleton said. It was often him who would come up with the groove, or something that set the tone for the piece. More than anyone else in the studio band, Jamerson set the tone. He also transformed the electric bass from an instrument merely meant for accompaniment, providing basic chord foundations and rhythm, into an instrument that could accommodate virtuosity, Chandler said. Jamerson, she said, bridged the divide between jazz and R&B. What is so amazing about him that I learned from our research is that he was perhaps one of the first innovators of the electric bass, Chandler said. He embodied chromaticism in his playing. The notes didnt hang on the one, four and five of the chord. He played the notes in between. That sound, that kind of innovation, was not heard before. It was new, it was brand new. McKnight could not agree more. When he was a teenager visiting Jamerson in Detroit, he wasnt paying close attention to the music. He just thought it was cool to see the inside of the Motown studio, the small basement room where the magic was made. Later, hed turn on the radio and hear something familiar. It was that song his cousin had been recording at Hitsville U.S.A. a short time before. But Jamerson didnt gloat, McKnight said. His focus was not on the music coming from the radio his music, the Motown Sound he helped define, the funk and groove that would influence all that followed. No, his focus was on the dinner table. The Lowcountry isn't immune to problems like sexual violence and sex trafficking in its communities. And one organization wants to ensure that the women who face that violence are continually supported. "It really takes a community to build a stronger one," said Megan Manigault, I AM VOICES' CEO and founder. I AM VOICES is a North Charleston nonprofit dedicated to supporting girls and young women impacted by human trafficking, sexual violence and homelessness. It was started in 2017 as a result of Manigault's own persistence with making sure people in her family and community were educated about resources and impact around sexual violence. Since its inception the organization has grown to include a local home for women between the ages of 18-25 called the Blooming Flower Transitional Home. It also supports women through job training, financial literacy, physical and mental health resources and various other means. The South Carolina Human Trafficking Task Force reported nearly 140 cases of human trafficking in 2020. Since 2007, there have been more than 700 cases. According to the South Carolina Coalition Against Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault, nearly 50 percent of women and over 17 percent of men reported being victims of sexual violence or coercion other than rape. Sara Barber, executive director of SCCADVASA, said in a press release that despite efforts to shift cultural norms, survivors are still met with skepticism and disbelief. Experts said many cases often go unreported. "We will never experience a South Carolina free from domestic and sexual violence unless each and every one of us does our part," Barber said. Manigault was inspired to create I AM VOICES because of her own personal experience with sexual violence. She was a victim of sexual assault at the ages of 5, 8 and 10. One event was so traumatic that she was informed by a doctor that she wouldn't be able to have children. Years later, when she did give birth to girls, she said it was lifechanging. Additionally when they got old enough, she spoke with them about topics like body autonomy and not being afraid to talk to their parents about anything. It was something she said she wishes she had when she was a child. I wanted to make sure I was having that conversation with them," she said. After having those difficult and necessary conversations she would go on to have those same talks with other children and parents. Eventually she hosted seminars, camps and workshops. Before she knew it, she said it all kept expanding until I AM VOICES was formed. There were no large grants or big donors that kickstarted the organization. She said it was continuous community support that pushed it forward. The name came from her own experience of not feeling like there was power in her voice. She said she could have benefited from being in group therapy sessions with other girls her age that had dealt with similar traumatic experiences. She then would've had people she could relate to and comfort. So now the nonprofit makes sure that young women in the community have that experience. "It feels extremely important to give what I didn't receive," she said. To donate or find out ways to support the organization, people can go to the website at iamvoices.org. There they can find links to donate and the application to join the Blooming Flower Transitional Home. Victims can also call the National Human Trafficking Hotline at 1-888-373-7888 or text 233733. During the pandemic, Manigault said, things have been challenging. But the organization was able to open the transitional home back in March 2021. The organization has also continued to provide hygiene kits called Box of Voices and health resources throughout the pandemic. They also partnered with the Fetter Health Care Network through the help of Dr. Aretha Powers, the CEO. They routinely have a clinic closed for a private day just for I AM VOICES women. During it, the young women get dental, physical and behavioral health treatments from providers trained to work with women who have faced sexual trauma. "And we love that," Manigault said. One of the biggest stigmas she and others want to erase in the future is that sex trafficking doesn't exist in the Charleston area. "Let's start making this a conversation," she said. NORTH CHARLESTON Police continued their search for a suspect in a motel shooting over the weekend that killed a man and left a woman injured just doors apart. Officers were dispatched about 2 p.m. Sept. 11 to Charleston Heights Motel, 4241 Rivers Ave., for reports of a shooting, according to an incident report released Sept. 13 by the North Charleston Police Department. Officers initially began treating the woman, 33, until medical workers arrived and rushed her to a hospital. Police also found Rashod Arkeem Washington-Moody, who had been shot dead. Washington-Moody, 24, was found in a separate hotel room and pronounced dead at the scene, police wrote in the brief incident report. He was from North Charleston, according to the Charleston County Coroner's Office. In addition to the two victims, a boy was listed as complainant in the incident report. Police declined to comment on the juvenile's relationship to the case. The investigation remains active as police try to locate a suspect, said police spokesman Harve Jacobs, who declined to elaborate. In 2020, North Charleston police received calls regarding seven incidents involving weapons at the Charleston Heights Motel. The motel is less than a mile from the Deas Hill neighborhood, where 14-year-old Ronjanae Smith was fatally shot and 14 other people injured in gang crossfire during a neighborhood concert in late May. Following the shooting, the teenagers father, Ronald Smith, spearheaded the creation of Positive Vibes Ronjanae Smith Inc. "Right now, we have so much gun violence going on inside Charleston, period," Smith said at the time. "North Charleston. Downtown. West Ashley. Hollywood. We need all community activists to come together and try to put something together to end it." The nonprofit opened July 31 and was created to help end gang violence in the community while also carrying his daughters legacy. Olivia Diaz contributed to this report. The Charleston Forum was established following the 2015 massacre at Emanuel AME Church to promote discourse on issues of race in the areas of education, policing and criminal justice, economic opportunity and historic monuments. We have endeavored to bring people together to increase community understanding of different perspectives and to identify paths for moving forward together. The trailhead for our path forward as a community, and for many of the divergent paths the statistics reveal for the tri-county region, is public education. And when it comes to public education reform in the Lowcountry, now is the time for action. Countless reports over the past 30 years document the continuing inequity in our education system centered in under-performing schools. The forums surveys have demonstrated widespread community support for aggressively improving conditions in our most challenged schools, and they identify specific actions (e.g., universal pre-school, two teachers in the early grades and more parental supports) that the community favors to achieve transformation. Until now, funding issues and bureaucratic restraints have been among the major barriers to realizing transformation in these schools. Now, however, more than $400 million has flowed to the school districts in our region (The American Rescue Act refers to these funds as "ESSER" dollars), and tens of millions more are on the way to cities and counties that can be used to meet basic needs in high-poverty neighborhoods. The Legislature has passed the schools of innovation law that permits waivers of administrative requirements that serve as obstacles to achieving innovations. With the means to accomplish transformation available in the tri-county region, we must act now to achieve the goal that the forums surveys confirm we share: to provide all children the opportunity to succeed in school. What could such action look like? The acceleration schools in Charleston County and the schools serving Cross and St. Stephen in Berkeley County could immediately be placed under a reform-minded leader whose first responsibility would be to ensure that a world-class principal is in place in each of these schools. Each of these principals would then be tasked with conducting a process of true community engagement at the neighborhood level involving constituent boards, school improvement councils, parents, students and local business and community leaders to inform an action plan for the 2022-23 school year. The community schools process is available as but one example of how this can work. District staffs would at the same time collaborate in researching models both here and around the country that have proven to work, to be made available as these neighborhood processes unfold. Sign up for our opinion newsletter Get a weekly recap of South Carolina opinion and analysis from The Post and Courier in your inbox on Monday evenings. Email Sign Up! This engagement process, if conducted with urgency and fidelity, will yield investment opportunities that look a lot like the recommendations found in the forum surveys, but the steps will be tailored to the specific needs of the school and have the active support of the parents and local community. Many recommendations that emerge will relate to basic needs and the emotional well-being of students; federal relief funds being made available to state and local organizations should supplement ESSER funds to meet these needs. Districts have expressed caution in investing these one-time funds in ongoing costs like more teachers and mental health professionals. Making these investments, however, is essential to transformation. Given the reaction to The Charleston Forums programming and surveys, we are confident that those investments which prove to work over the next three years will draw the necessary support from the community to be sustained. School officials have the fiduciary responsibility to see that these funds are used effectively, but they need solid political support and backing from all stakeholders for this effort. We are calling upon city officials, county councils and the Lowcountry legislative delegation to reach out to school boards and educators to make certain that this opportunity is not wasted. The Charleston Forum will continue to promote awareness, understanding and resolution across a range of racial issues. When it comes to educating the next generation, however, we see an urgent need for our community to move from talk to action and will do what we can to make that happen. Brian Duffy is CEO of The Charleston Forum. Theres a lot thats unclear about President Joe Bidens attempt to force mid-size and large employers to require COVID-19 vaccinations. For instance: Does he have the legal authority to do it? Is that the sort of authority we believe all presidents should have? Is it a smart move that will get us out of the pandemic or one that will backfire and create a deadly backlash against all kinds of vaccines? What is clear is the need for the S.C. Legislature to weigh in: It is precisely zero. Any effort by the Legislature to do, well, anything, would be political grandstanding. Nothing more. And if lawmakers must do it, political grandstanding is something they should do on their own time and on their own dime by holding news conferences and trotting out news releases and social media posts, not by convening to consider legislation. Fortunately, legislative leaders havent actually scheduled an anti-mandate session; House Speaker Jay Lucas said merely that he wants the House Republican Caucus to get together to discuss its options. One lawmaker noted on social media that if the Legislature returns to try to take action against the Biden mandate, it would open the now-closed door to repealing the Legislatures ban on school mask requirements which is the one thing the Legislature actually needs to do. The only thing to be done to try to stop the vaccine mandate is to file a lawsuit challenging the temporary rule the president ordered the Occupational Safety and Health Administration to write to protect employees from workplace infections which cant be challenged until its written, and it hasnt been written yet. Whatever OSHA does will be allowed or rejected by the U.S. Supreme Court and if its allowed, then theres no law the S.C. Legislature can write to override it. All lawmakers could possibly do is force taxpayers to waste money on a doomed effort to defend whatever silly law they write against the inevitable lawsuit challenging it. There will be plenty of states, and political organizations, and special interest groups lining up to file lawsuits that will determine whether a vaccine-mandate mandate will stand. If our elected officials feel compelled to make our state a party to a legal fight over the eventual OSHA requirement and yes, we know they will then Attorney General Alan Wilson already has all the authority and funding he needs to do that. He doesnt need any prodding. And he has professional legal experts in his office who can put together such a lawsuit or write such an amicus brief. Itll even make sense if hell let them do their job rather than politicizing it. Nor, obviously, does Gov. Henry McMaster need the Legislatures authority to make his ridiculous gates of hell declaration. Sign up for our opinion newsletter Get a weekly recap of South Carolina opinion and analysis from The Post and Courier in your inbox on Monday evenings. Email Sign Up! Those who claim with certainty that the president has overstepped his legal authority dont know what theyre talking about. Neither do those who claim with certainty that the president has the authority through the Occupational Safety and Health Act to require employers to require vaccines. How far that law allows an administration to go to protect workers from an easily transmissible disease is simply not clear. Even the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, which traditionally aligns itself strongly with the Republican Party that is so adamantly opposing this, is saying merely that it "will carefully review the details of the executive orders and associated regulations and will work to ensure that employers have the resources, guidance, and flexibility necessary to ensure the safety of their employees and customers and comply with public health requirements." Nor is it clear whether the potential benefits of a mandate outweigh the risks. The most obvious questions are whether a federal requirement will further harden the anti-vax sentiments on the right (sentiments that used to be confined mostly to the left), and heres the scary part whether those sentiments will extend to all the other vaccinations that are today universally accepted among all but the most extreme vaccine opponents. More worrisome: Will the political power that this minority of our population has in GOP primaries push Republican lawmakers in red states like, you know, ours to do something so dangerous as to weaken or eliminate all the long-accepted childhood vaccine requirements? There are also emerging questions both political and legal about whether people who have been infected should have to be vaccinated. An Israeli study that suggests infection provides even better immunity than immunization is impressive, and we hope its conclusions are correct, but the number of people infected after infection or vaccination was so tiny that its still more of an indication rather than solid proof that infection provides sufficient protection. It would be better for private and public employers to require their employees and anyone who enters their premises to get vaccinated without any government telling them they have to do that. Better still would be for employers to get their workforce vaccinated and their customers and clients vaccinated through positive incentives something schools and government agencies have the federal funding to pay for, where legislators haven't outlawed it. Of course, there would be no need to talk about mandates or incentives or governmental authority if everybody volunteered to get vaccinated. We're baffled that so many who haven't been vaccinated aren't as enthusiastic as the first 40% of us were. You know, all of us who impatiently awaited our turn sometimes fighting over which group would be allowed to go next to receive the miraculous protection that then-President Donald Trump worked so hard to make possible and President Biden has worked so hard to make available. We knew locking kids out of the classroom in the spring of 2020 and, in some districts, much of this past school year stunted their academic growth, so no one should be surprised by the across-the-board drops in test scores on the South Carolina school report cards released this month. And we shouldnt be surprised if the scores continue to plummet next year or at least fail to recover since more than 50,000 students already have been forced into quarantine and back into online learning, if that's even being offered. Nor should we have any doubt about whos to blame for this reversion to subpar education: the S.C. Legislature, which refused to require or even allow schools to require students to wear masks inside our public schools. We've said before that the Legislature needs to repeal its prohibition on school mask mandates because the anti-public health measure is sending too many children home in quarantine. But Gov. Henry McMaster, some legislators and a vocal minority of parents keep insisting that parents have the right to decide whether their children wear masks, so we have to keep explaining what that really means, and why it's ridiculous. What theyre saying is that parents have a right to expose other parents children to the coronavirus by allowing their own children to propel their unobstructed respiratory droplets onto those children. Theyre saying that parents who so choose have a right to force other parents children out of the classroom and into quarantine, for up to two weeks at a time, possibly for multiple times in a school year. Theyre saying that parents who so choose have a right to steal a decent education from other parents children. Theyre saying that parents who so choose have a right to force other parents to stay home from work to take care of their quarantined children perhaps losing pay or even getting fired from their jobs as a result. Sign up for our opinion newsletter Get a weekly recap of South Carolina opinion and analysis from The Post and Courier in your inbox on Monday evenings. Email Sign Up! Theyre saying that parents who so choose have a right to cripple our economy. Again. Its not the schools that are deciding to send children into quarantine when they come into close contact with someone who has COVID-19. School districts decide if the number of quarantined students and teachers is so high that they need to temporarily close an entire school or their entire district, but its the Department of Health and Environmental Control that wrote the rules for quarantines under its legal mandate on the books for decades to protect the public from easily transmissible diseases. The Legislature could strip our public health agency of that authority if it wanted to and if it had the votes to do so. We doubt it does, but well go ahead and say right now that any legislator who cares about protecting our hospitals from collapse or about controlling the growing number of South Carolinians dying from COVID-19 or about providing a decent education to S.C. children or about keeping businesses open and keeping parents at work and keeping our economy humming along should indeed, will use any legal means available to defeat all efforts to strip DHEC of its authority to protect the public health. A year ago, Gov. McMaster and many of the very same legislators who are now most determined to send other peoples children into quarantine were demanding along with our editorial staff that the schools open and allow all children the option of five-day-a-week in-person classes. We dont know what their motivation actually was; we do know that they pulled a bait-and-switch after the Legislature finally required that, and immediately started demanding that parents be allowed to expose other peoples children to COVID-19. But for those of us who care about educating the next generation, the motivation was this reality: The vast majority of children do not learn as well when they are taught remotely. Even under the best of circumstances, which the students who started out behind dont have. It was the fact that keeping kids out of the classroom also exposes them to a higher risk of child abuse and psychological stress and stunts their socialization skills and their emotional well-being. Last year, schools were where we could best protect many children from COVID-19, because they were the one place where everybody was sanitizing their hands and keeping their distance and wearing masks. Set aside the danger of COVID-19; even though it has hospitalized and even killed some S.C. children, the vast majority of kids will develop no more than cold or flu-like symptoms, if that. Instead, lets just focus on education. From 2019 to 2021, standardized test scores for students in third grade and higher dropped in nearly all areas with the exception of English 1 end-of-course exams. And our test scores were way behind the rest of the nation before the pandemic. Mask mandates do two things to help keep children in school. First, they reduce the number of "close contacts" who have to be quarantined for up to two weeks: With mask mandates, DHEC defines close contacts as people who were within 3 feet of an infected person for at least 15 minutes when everyone is masked, but within 6 feet without an enforced mask mandate; that can mean four times as many people have to be quarantined without a mask requirement. Second, when mask requirements are enforced, infections plummet. And that creates algorithmic magic that keeps even more children in the classroom, where they can get the education our state needs them to have and their parents can go to work to keep our economy from collapsing. The American people have the right to know who made the decision to leave behind Americans and military equipment to be used by our enemies. They will use it to their advantage and against the U.S. and our allies. We must demand as loyal Americans that they all resign and are replaced by competent people, if they can find any, who believe in country first and not party first as many of them appear to do. Rep. Nancy Mace is trying to get answers to what happened. Lets wish her godspeed and hope the truth will be there for all of us to see. RALPH FABIANO Bent Oak Road Beaufort Weapons left useless The right-wing news medias claim that the United States left behind $83 billion in pristine military equipment for the Taliban is, like many of its other claims, poppycock. According to The Washington Posts fact-check team, that $83 billion includes not only the cost of the equipment, but also the cost of training, equipping and housing the Afghan military and police. No one knows exactly how much of that $83 billion was spent on equipment specifically, but estimates range from a quarter to a third of that. And what was left behind is anything but pristine. Before the military left, The Post says, U.S. forces demilitarized, or rendered useless, much of it. And without maintenance crews, trained pilots, or unity among the Talibans several factions, its doubtful that their forces will find it of much use. SKIP JOHNSON Gilmore Road Charleston Eroded work incentives The COVID-19 crisis and the governments response provide us with one of the great examples of economic disincentives. Sign up for our opinion newsletter Get a weekly recap of South Carolina opinion and analysis from The Post and Courier in your inbox on Monday evenings. Email Sign Up! Rather than income redistribution that Arthur Laffer defined in his Aug. 25 commentary, the government made direct payments to individuals to tide them over during the pandemic without having to take from those who earn more. In a country that is operating under a fiat currency, the government creates income for those who make a little less as it has done for the past year to the tune of trillions of dollars. The idea that the federal government must either borrow or tax to be able to spend is a failed economic principle that only exists under such constructs as a gold standard. The distribution of dollars to those who need them has created another problem: The incentive to work has been eroded, and the U.S. is facing a crisis of worker availability as many individuals prefer to stay on the dole rather than to take on meaningful work. When these programs that pay people not to work expire, lets see how incentives affect the nations unemployment rate. THOMAS E. NUGENT Tradd Street Charleston US lacking in kindness There is a kindness shortage these days. Two columnists in the Sept. 5 Post and Courier address the lack of civility in todays society. Warren Peper expresses his frustration at how employees are being treated while just trying to do their jobs. Four pages later, Norris Burkes describes his amazement at reactions to his simple words of thanks. The COVID mess that Burkes describes has resulted in yelling, cussing and even physical confrontations over the most mundane issues. As a society, are we really going to allow this vile disease to sicken us not only physically but also morally? Weve all got a lot of plates spinning, as Peper points out, but it doesnt mean we dont have time to be sensitive and considerate. Burkes act of simply saying thanks elicited responses of surprise, further highlighting how far weve strayed from civility. The most troublesome to me is that children are witnessing this impatience and vitriol. Research points out that children as young as 1 year old imitate adults. As Katrina Kenison reminds us in her book, Mitten Strings for God, we parents are the windows through which our children see the world. Let us be conscious of the view. So, today, please give pause when a situation puts you over the edge. Take a deep breath, and give our children a view of peace and unity. MICHELLE PAGE Merritt Boulevard Isle of Palms Writings on the Wall Ever since I had weight loss surgery, I have had occasional stomach acid issues. Last week, the day before Labor Day, I was ill most of the da Read more CONSTRUCTION 'Lean In' circles help women in construction navigate bias @PottstownNews on Twitter Evan Brandt has been a staff reporter for The Mercury for more than 20 years. He covers municipal, school district, political, state government, federal government and environmental news. Mail-in voting is fraught with the danger of fraud. The obvious danger is that ineligible voters will cast ballots or have ballots cast in their name. But now comes word from California that eligible voters are in danger of not being able to vote in person on the pretext that they have already voted. And guess what. It appears, anecdotally, that the voters who showed up to vote in the recall election but were turned away are Republicans. KTLA, a Los Angeles outlet, reports on this development at a polling station in the West San Fernando Valley. You can watch that report here. According to the report, those who were told they had already voted were able to cast a provisional ballot. Whether their votes will be counted when all is said and done remains to be seen. I hope well also learn how it was that these citizens were erroneously deemed to have voted in the first place. Maybe it was just a mistake. But if the victims were disproportionately Republican, the strong presumption will have to be that this was a deliberate effort by Democrats to suppress the vote. Our democracy (to use a phrase Democrats love cynically to invoke) is only as good as the integrity of our voting. And thanks to the machinations of Democrats, the integrity of our voting is subject to serious, well-founded doubt. I am not sure how much U.S. newspapers have been covering Afghanistan lately. I see that there is no reference to events there on the front page of todays New York Times or my home town newspaper, the Star Tribune. The Times is back to waging its non-stop war against Republicans: G.O.P. Seethes at Biden Mandate, Even in States Requiring Other Vaccines; False Election Claims in California Reveal a New Normal for G.O.P.; The Texas Abortion Law Creates a Kind of Bounty Hunter. Heres How It Works. And so on. But the European press is a little more forthcoming and perhaps less inclined to defer to Joe Bidens desire to change the subject. This is from the London Times: Taliban death squads hunt anti-terror units. Taliban death squads have hunted down and killed at least four elite Afghan counterterrorism agents in the past three weeks, in one case pulling out all the victims fingernails before shooting him. All four men were member of Units 011 and 041, British and American-trained units responsible for finding and interrogating Taliban, and based at the headquarters of the Afghan intelligence service, the National Directorate of Security (NDS). We are supposed to believe that this is the kinder, gentler Taliban, our partner in organizing Bidens skedaddle and the beneficiary of $90 billion or more in military largesse. That is almost twice as much as total foreign aid, mostly civilian in addition to military, that we dole out in an average year to all countries combined. The Sunday Times has also learnt from a senior manager working at the NDS headquarters who returned to work last week when called by the Taliban, that all the laptops and paperwork had gone from the offices as well as money to pay last months wages. The man, a former interpreter for British forces in Helmand, showed an appreciation certificate for his work in Operation Herrick 9 in 2008 and an email approving him for evacuation, but said he had been unable to get through the airport in the chaos last month. I waited until 3.30 am at the gate with my wife and four children, before deciding it was too dangerous and difficult, he said. I think there are a lot of people like this, who helped the U.S. and our allies at considerable risk to themselves and should have been prioritized in the evacuation of Afghanistan, but who were left behind in the chaos of Joe Bidens disastrous withdrawal. More than 100,000 Afghans were airlifted out, but my sense is that they were often random beneficiaries of chance, and that many of those most deserving of evacuation were stranded along with an unknown number of American citizens. He claimed that Taliban are using the information they seized from NDS and calling those on the list, pretending to be British embassy officials to locate them. I got an unidentified call on Monday in Dari [the Afghan language] saying they were from the embassy and checking my address and family members. I gave the details then realised the embassy was closed. I emailed the embassy to check but a message came back saying this address no longer exists. Terrified, he fled into hiding, moving every couple of days and warning other former British interpreters to not hand over information. No doubt most Americans would rather not know the gory details of the consequences of Joe Bidens incompetence, but it is perhaps our duty to remind them now and again. We get complacent because a hard day, for us, involves being attacked on social media. Our fingernails are pretty much all intact. David Von Drehle writes that most of the time the war on terror has felt like war only to the few, the deployed: the special operators, the contractors, the diplomats, the spies, the data analysts. . .the drone pilots. For the rest, he complains, it has felt like moms birthday, finals week, the playoffs, just another April. But when the enemys short-term goal is to terrorize populations and its long-tern goal is to restrict them in accordance with Sharia law, what Von Drehle describes is what winning looks like. It looks like we, the non-deployed doing what we like to do without feeling were at war, while the deployed protect us from harm. See something, say something pretty much sums up whats required on a day-to-day basis of the non-deployed in this war. However, Im not saying America has won the war on terror, only that weve been winning it. And Von Drehle is right, I think, to worry about whether we will continue to win. Its a bad sign that both political parties decided stationing a few thousand troops in Afghanistan at the cost of a dozen or so American deaths per year amounted to an endless war that we ought to abandon never mind that abandoning it meant victory for an outfit that collaborates with al Qaeda plus the loss of much of our ability to keep track of whats going in the part of the world from which 9/11 was unleashed. Its a worse sign that Joe Biden chose September 11 as the date by which we needed to pull out a decision that signals he has moved on not just from Afghanistan, which he could have done any time, but from Americas war on terror that began on 9/11 when courageous passengers took down that hijacked plane in Pennsylvania. Bidens decision signals a return to a pre-9/11 mindset. Americans dont need to start feeling like were at war. We dont need to focus less on moms birthday, finals week, and the playoffs. We dont even need to stop keeping up with the Kardashians, a habit that seems to annoy Von Drehle. Its okay for the non-deployed to spend our time doing what weve been doing without thinking much about terrorism. Again, thats what winning looks like. But we do need to make sure, as best we can, that the deployed keep doing what theyve been doing to keep us safe. The president of the United States is among the deployed, and its his responsibility to preside over others so tasked. We need to elect presidents who are serious about their most important duty ensuring American security and competent to perform it. And we need to call out presidents who fall short. Yes, no matter what Yes, but it depends on variety No, for medical reasons, uncertainty No, principle Vote View Results Innovation Credit Union hosts an educational session by Phyllis Webstad in recognition of the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation ADVERTISEMENT Nigerian equities lost more grounds Monday with weak investors confidence forcing the benchmark index to decline 0.02 per cent, its lowest point since August 9. Stocks are facing a battle to retain investors faith following no significant improvement in half-year financial scorecards of companies across sectors particularly lenders and the dividends they are offering when set beside those from the same period a year ago. That is coming at a time of more attractive yields in the fixed income market especially a Nigerian Treasury bills auction due this week, which portfolio managers will likely explore with funds bogged down in stocks. We expect some bargain hunting on some tickers that experienced selloffs in the previous week. In the medium term, we expect the market to remain choppy, analysts at Lagos-based investment bank United Capital said in a note. Additionally, market participants will be watching the fixed income space closely amid a hike in stop rates at the recent NTB auction. Key drivers of Mondays loss were broad across sectors from real estate to banking and consumer goods, where UPDC, FBN Holdings and Guinness led the retreat. The bourse posted a negative market breadth as 21 losers emerged compared to 18 gainers. The all-share index was down 6.16 points at 38,915.62, while the market capitalisation slowed to N20.3 trillion. Since January, the index has been down 3.36 per cent. TOP FIVE GAINERS Morison appreciated 9.37 per cent to N2.10. Sovereign Trust climbed by 8 per cent to N0.27. Linkage Assurance added 5.26 per cent to end trade at N0.60. Fidelity advanced by 4.35 per cent to N2.40. International Breweries rose to N5, notching up 4.17 per cent in the process. TOP FIVE LOSERS SCOA led laggards, declining by 10 per cent to close at N1.17. Academy shed 7.69 per cent to end trade at N0.36. UPDC fell to N1.51, losing 6.21 per cent. ABC Transport declined to N0.33, recording 5.71 per cent decline. Oando closed at N4.45, going down by 4.09 per cent. TOP FIVE TRADES Altogether, 201.1 million shares valued at N2.5 billion were traded in 3,340 deals. Universal Assurance was the most active stock with 19.4 million of its shares worth N3.9 million traded in 15 deals. Fidelity shares totalling 19.3 million priced changed hands in 192 transactions at a value of N46.5 million. FBN Holdings had 16.7 million shares valued at N125 million traded in 145 deals. Courteville traded 13.8 million shares estimated at N3.9 million in 5 transactions. Access traded 13.5 million shares valued at N125.1 million in 256 deals. ADVERTISEMENT A Kannywood cameraman and popular actor, Ahmed Tage, is dead. The actor died on Monday after suffering from an illness. His colleague and actor Ali Nuhu while announcing the death said before his death he has been battling with his health. READ ALSO: From Allah we all are and to him we shall return. I want to announce the death of a colleague in Kannywood, Ahmed Tage. Tage died this morning. He has been ill for sometime now. I pray Aljannat should be his final abode. Amin. Ali said. Meanwhile, a family member of the deceased, Ayotollah Tage, said the burial rites will take place at the Sabuwar Abuja Cemetery in Kano at 4 p.m. His colleagues and well wishers have been sending their condolences to the family of late Tage. Tage will be remembered in the Kannywood for the numerous hilarious roles he played in Hausa comedy films. Nigerias bid to gradually reverse the impact of climate change by planting millions of trees has suffered a major setback after a government-funded afforestation programme worth over N30 million failed less than three years after the project was completed, PREMIUM TIMES has found. The government said it spent N30.4 million from its historic green bond initiative to plant six thousand trees in Oyo State, but PREMIUM TIMES found just about a hundred trees during a recent visit. Officials said the trees died as a result of drought and other factors and that remedial efforts were underway. But the finding has alarmed environmental activists and ecological experts who questioned the planning and execution of the project. The field visit shows very clearly a project executed in the usual fashion of lack of transparency and accountability that has tailed most national projects, said Enoabasi Anwana, a senior ecologist at the University of Uyo, who conducted a qualitative analysis of the project. Green Bonds In 2017 and 2019, Nigeria issued two green bonds worth N10.69 billion and N15 billion respectively, becoming the first African country and the fourth in the world to raise a debt instrument entirely for the purpose of financing sustainable environmental projects. The objective of the bond was to fast track Nigerias low carbon development pledges as enshrined in the Nationally Determined Contribution document submitted to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. It offered the country an opportunity to demonstrate leadership in its green financing agenda, while giving exposure to new investors and solidifying the countrys commitment to the Paris Climate Change Agreement which was endorsed in 2015. One of the several projects funded from the proceeds of the bonds was the restoration of degraded areas in old national park in Oyo State. According to the Department of Climate Change (DCC) at the Federal Ministry of Environment, N30.4 million was earmarked for the restoration of the degraded areas in Old Oyo National Park. The project was implemented under the national afforestation programme of the Federal Ministry of Environment, with the supervision of the Old Oyo National Park Services in November 2019. According to the ministrys department of climate change, eligible projects captured under the green bond projects were identified and selected from the federal government appropriations of the corresponding years. The objective of the National Afforestation Programme is to increase Nigerias existing forest cover through the plantation of environmental and economic tree species. During a recent visit to the project sites, PREMIUM TIMES and two environmental experts observed that the project was carried out in three communities (Igbeti, Alaguntan and Tede) bordering the national park territories in the state. The deputy comptroller of the park, R.I Muraina, said six thousand economic trees were planted on 15 hectares of land across the three communities. The environment ministry, however, reported on its website that trees were planted on eight hectares. Mr Muraina said the reason for spreading the project site across the three communities was to reduce and divert pressures from poachers on the main park itself. ADVERTISEMENT The signpost stationed at the project sites when our reporter visited showed that four major tree crops were planted on five hectares of land at both sites (Igbeti and Alaguntan) of the communities. They are rosewood, cashew, mango and orange. Observations and limitations of the project Of the six thousand trees reported, this newspaper counted just about a hundred trees standing. Most of the trees did not survive, officials said. Interestingly too, the project areas at Igbeti and Alaguntan now grow crops such as cassava, soybeans and maize plants as well as yam. Ajibi Peter, an official of the National Park, said the unrelated crops were planted by the community members as a strategy for weed control and soil conditioning pending when the seedlings of the four projects tree crops are fully established to a reasonable height. Mr Peter said majority of the tree crops planted for the project could not survive due to drought and heavy infestation of termites and grasshoppers. We have tried to replace many of the plants that did not survive over time, but termites kept eating most of the seedlings and during the dry season, it is not easy to irrigate the whole of these areas, he said. At the projects sites, termite tunnels could be seen at numerous spots. Meanwhile, a qualitative analysis of the project by Mrs Anwana of the University of Uyo and Razaq Fatai, a policy manager with the group, One Campaign, revealed that there was a lack of consideration for soil gradients, microclimate and ecological variations needed for the project. Mrs Anwana said the absence of the records of the total number of seedlings still existing in the project sites made it difficult to project an estimate of the expected reduction in carbon dioxide emissions. It was also clear at the site that no provision was made for a sustainable irrigation system to water the trees. For a project of this magnitude, it is expected that water should be provided. This contributed immensely to the failure of most seedlings establishment, as noted by the chairman of the village committee in Igbeti, Mrs Anwana added. Asked if a soil test was conducted before introducing the seedlings to the project sites, a top government official said nothing of such was done, and that the planting of the seedlings was done mainly by locals employed from the communities without pre-scientific checks. PREMIUM TIMES also found that the contractor was appointed from the headquarters of the environment ministry in Abuja without proper engagement and consultations with the project communities to fully establish the kind of economic trees they would like to be planted. Mrs Anwana said a prior soil test would have shown that the site had termites which may pose serious problems for young, unestablished seedlings. Side-lined community The communities also said they were not carried along in the execution of the projects. Alawode Jimoh, Igbeti community chairman, who championed the process of acquiring the project land, said they were at first skeptical when delegations from the park came to seek land for the project. We finally agreed to spare this part of our land for the project after we were told that the trees to be planted are going to be of economic benefits to our community and that after these seedlings have grown to maturity, we can continue farming our agricultural crops on the land, he said. However, Mr Jimoh said at the implementation stage of the project, they were not consulted on the types of economic trees they would have cherished to be planted and that the trees planted suffered major losses because they were planted during the dry season. When they brought the first tranche of seedlings, the dry season had already set in. This area is Oyo north (arid zone). So irrigation of the seedlings was not easy, and a lot of the seedlings planted did not survive, he said. For instance, he said, orange trees do not usually do well in the area while they already have mangoes in abundance. He said if the officials had asked them before bringing the tree seedlings they would have been better advised. We already have mangoes in abundance here, we dont really need mangoes. If they had planted these seedlings during the rainy season a lot of them would have survived. But still, we are happy and grateful for the thoughts of establishing the project in our community, he added. NPS Speaks Reacting to the aforementioned observation at the Old Oyo afforestation project, Ibrahim Goni, the conservator-general of the National Park Services (NPS), said it is true that N30.4 million was disbursed for the project, but that the fund was released quite late. He said the project is to be implemented within a period of five years, under which it is their responsibility to continue to monitor and nurture the trees planted so far until they are fully stabilized. In agroforestry, when one plants any hectarage you cannot be expecting 100 % success, if you are expecting such then you are deceiving yourself. Because they could be disease outbreaks, changes in temperature, changes in soil salinity he said. The NPS boss explained that within the five years of implementation of the projects, it is either they leave part of the money disbursed to the contractor for maintenance or he gives us. But in this case, he said the contractor left some of the money for us for maintenance of the project, that is why year-in-year-out we buy new seedlings to replant and ensure that there is a steady water supply, as well as ensuring that they are people stationed at project sites so that livestock animals do not invade the place. Mr Goni said soil testing was not carried out on the project sites because such was not included in the green bond bill of quantity and that tree crops planted were mainly those stated under the green bond project guidelines. Editors Note: This post has been updated with the correct number of trees the government said it planted in Oyo State. Officials reported six thousand trees not six million as previously stated. The report was supported by the Heinrich Boll Foundation. ADVERTISEMENT The 75 students kidnapped from Government Day Secondary School, Kaya, in Maradun Local Government Area of Zamfara State, have regained freedom, 12 days after their abduction. PREMIUM TIMES reported how an unspecified number of students were abducted in the home town of the governor of the state, Bello Matawalle. Following their release in undisclosed circumstances, the students and a teacher were received by Governor Bello Matawalle at the Government House in Gusau, Sunday evening, the Nigerian Television Authority (NTA) reported. The seventy-five students of Government Day Secondary School Kaya in Maradun Local Government Area of Zamfara State abducted about two weeks ago regained freedom, NTA posted on Facebook. The development comes amid a military operation against the bandits in the state. The state government last week shut down telecommunication networks, suspended weekly markets and banned the sale of fuel in jerry cans, all measures in support of the operation.. Details of the release of the students remained sketchy as of the time of filing this report. Bandits had been reported to be fleeing the state to escape from the military offensive, although lack of mobile telecommunications and the closure of some roads to traffic in the state have made it difficult to verify the information. In what appeared like a move to underscore the success of the military operation, Mr Matawalle last week, said the state government would no longer negotiate with bandits, cancelling his policy of peaceful dialogue with the deadly criminals. He said security forces would, instead, concentrate on flushing them out of Zamfara. My administration will no longer grant amnesty to bandits as they have failed to embrace the peace initiative earlier extended to them, the governor said. Despite reports of the bandits fleeing the state in disarray, a group on Saturday attacked a military base in the state, leaving about a dozen security personnel dead. Those familiar with the incident told PREMIUM TIMES that at least 12 personnel were confirmed dead while three were wounded in the attack on Forward Operating Base in Mutumji, Maru LGA. The latest attack on the military base, according to sources, left nine Air Force, two police and one Nigerian Army personnel dead. Armed men have attacked a prison facility in Kabba, Kogi State, North-central Nigeria, killing two officials and freeing many inmates. Sola Fasure, a spokesperson to the interior minister, Rauf Aregbesola, confirmed the attack in a statement sent to PREMIUM TIMES. Mr Fasure said Mr Aregbesola was briefed that the gunmen attacked the Kabba Medium Security Custodial Centre. The attack is believed to have occurred in the late hours of Sunday. During the attack, security officers on duty which comprised of 15 Soldiers, 10 Police Officers and 10 armed guards of the NCoS on duty fought gallantly to repel the attack. Regrettably, two officers of the Correctional Service are yet to be accounted for while one soldier and a policeman lost their lives during the attack, he said. No group has claimed responsibility for the attack. The attack comes about five months after a total of 1,844 prisoners were freed when gunmen suspected to be members of the outlawed Indigenous People Of Biafra (IPOB) attacked a separate prison in Owerri, Imo State. IPOB had been blamed for previous attacks on security officers and facilities in the South-east and South-south regions. It also comes less than a year after hoodlums took advantage of the #EndSARS protest that rocked the country in October last year and broke into three Nigerian Correctional Service (NCoS) facilities in Edo and Ondo states. A similar attempt was, however, foiled in Lagos State. At least 2,051 inmates escaped after the jailbreaks in Edo and Ondo states while some of the inmates voluntarily returned and turned themselves in. Also, no fewer than 12 security agents in charge of these facilities were killed during the attacks. In the latest attack, the interior ministry did not state the exact figure of inmates who escaped. The ministry however said many of the 294 inmates had escaped while a few voluntarily returned. Read the full statement by Mr Fasure below. The Minister of Interior, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola, has been briefed by the Controller General of the Nigeria Correctional Service (NCoS), Haliru Nababa, on the unfortunate attack on Kabba Medium Security Custodial Centre, in Kabba, Kogi State, by yet to be identified gunmen. During the attack, security officers on duty which comprised of 15 Soldiers, 10 Police Officers and 10 armed guards of the NCoS on duty fought gallantly to repel the attack. Regrettably, two officers of the Correctional Service are yet to be accounted for while one soldier and a policeman lost their lives during the attack. The Kabba Custodial facility had 294 inmates as at the time of the attack, many of whom escaped after the gunmen used explosives to destroy three sides of the perimeter fence. However, there remains 28 inmates who didnt escape. Some have also voluntarily returned to the facility as at this morning. ADVERTISEMENT The Controller General of the Nigeria Correctional Service, Haliru Nababa, is currently monitoring the situation. A tour of the facility is also ongoing. A Crisis Response Centre has been activated and a Special Taskforce mobilized to recapture escaped inmates whilst an Inter-Agency Security Task Force is already on the trail of the gunmen who attacked the facility.The public is advised to stay calm as the situation is under control. The Minister of Interior, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola, assures the citizenry that Nigerias security forces will find the attackers and bring them to justice. We shall leave no stone unturned to bring them back to custody. We are also putting INTERPOL on notice with their details, in case any of them attempts fleeing outside our shores. We urge the people, especially the communities around the custodial facility, to be vigilant and report any strange and suspicious persons or activities to the nearest law enforcement agency. To the fleeing inmates, escaping from lawful custody is a serious criminal offence. Law enforcement agencies and citizens are lawfully empowered to use all necessary means to arrest and bring you to justice. You should therefore know what you are up against. You will however be eligible for mitigation if you wilfully surrender yourselves at the nearest law enforcement office. The Nigeria Correctional Service shall not be cowed by elements seeking to compromise the security of our nation; we shall deal with this situation with absolute resolve. Further updates will be provided after the end of the preliminary assessment. Signed Sola Fasure Media Adviser to the Minister of Interior For Honourable Minister of Interior ADVERTISEMENT Hafsat Ganduje, the wife of Governor Abdullahi Ganduje of Kano, shunned an invitation extended to her by the anti-graft agency, EFCC, to report for questioning, last week, over a bribery and land fraud case reported by her son, Abdualzeez, PREMIUM TIMES has learnt. Mrs Ganduje was invited to report last Thursday to the Abuja headquarters of the EFCC. Abdulazeez had dragged his mum, Hafsat Ganduje, to the EFCC, sources familiar with the matter said, suggesting a pattern of corruptly using family access to power for private enrichment. Mr Ganduje, the governor, had previously been involved in a corruption-related scandal. He has struggled to untangle himself from the public perception that he is a corrupt public servant since 2018 when Daily Nigerian published a series of videos that showed the governor collecting money from a government contractor. According to sources who saw Abdulazeezs petition, he reported that he was approached by a property developer to help facilitate the acquisition of some plots of land in Kano with some hundreds of thousands of US dollars and at least 35 million Naira as facilitation commission. PREMIUM TIMES further learnt that Abdulazeez said he paid the sum in dollars to his mother, Mrs Ganduje. But three months later, (the property developer) discovered that the plots of land he wanted and had paid the first family for had been allocated to other buyers and he then requested to be refunded, one source added. Asked to comment on the matter, a spokesperson for Kano State Government, Mohammed Garba, said, I am not aware and, so, he could not comment. EFCCs spokesperson, Wilson Uwujaren, did not comment on the matter when contacted on Monday. But insiders said Mrs Ganduje could be arrested if she refuses to report for questioning. Unlike her husband, who by virtue of his office, enjoys immunity from arrest and prosecution, Mrs Ganduje enjoys no such constitutional immunity. ADVERTISEMENT At least three members of the Eastern Security Network (ESN), the militant wing of the IPOB separatist group, have been killed in a gun duel with security agents. Security sources, who confirmed the incident to PREMIUM TIMES, said the militants were killed at Lilu forest in Ihiala Local Government Area of Anambra State. The forest constitutes a boundary between Anambra and Imo states. The operation, which was necessitated by a tip off, was carried out by a joint team of the army and navy personnel. It was executed on Sunday afternoon. Military spokespersons are yet to respond to PREMIUM TIMES enquiries for more information on the operation. But according to the source, one of the the terrorists who engaged security forces in a gun duel was captured while three rifles were recovered at the bunker. Two vehicles and a laptop were also recovered from the militants. The group, whose attacks had reduced significantly, suddenly resumed hostilities due to the incarceration of its leader, Nnamdi Kanu. It also enforced a controversial sit-at-home order and has been violent against those against it. Not the first time Several IPOB militants have been killed in the past weeks following renewed face-off with security agencies. In April, security agents raided the groups headquarters in Owerri and arrested one of its top commanders, Ikonso Commander. Dozens of security officials have also been killed in the South-east and South-south regions of Nigeria in various attacks by the ESN on security facilities. Between January and June, suspected ESN members killed dozens of security operatives and attacked at least 10 public buildings, including prisons and police stations. The police said ESN fighters killed 21 police personnel in Imo State alone. Reduced attacks The arrest of the IPOB leader, Mr Kanu in June had thrown the separatist group into disarray, leading to a drastic reduction in violence in the south-eastern region. There were initially frequent attacks across the region since the April 6 raid on the Owerri Correctional Centre during which 1,844 inmates were set free and the building set ablaze. But following the re-arrest of Mr Kanu and a further clampdown on ESN members, many members of the group are believed to have gone into hiding while attacks on public buildings, especially police stations declined. ADVERTISEMENT The Kaduna State Government has confirmed the killing of a reverend father, Silas Ali, of the Evangelical Church Winning All (ECWA) in Zangon Kataf Local Government Area of the state. The States Commissioner for Internal Security and Home Affairs, Samuel Aruwan, said in a statement on Sunday that the cleric was killed by unknown assailants. He said Mr Ali was a pastor at ECWA Church, Kibori-Asha Awuce, in Zangon Kataf. Reverend Ali departed for Kafanchan on Saturday, and was not heard from until his corpse was found by a search party early on Sunday at Kibori community, near Asha-Awuce, where he was apparently attacked and macheted to death. The Governor of Kaduna State, Malam Nasir El-Rufai expressed deep sadness at the report of the killing, which he described as horrifying and cruel. The Governor offered prayers for the repose of the soul of the cleric. Going further, Governor El-Rufai sent his condolences to the family of Reverend Silas Yakubu Ali, and to the ECWA Church in Kibori-Asha Awuce, as he prayed for God to grant them fortitude and comfort over this sudden and painful loss. The Governor urged security agencies to intensify efforts towards apprehending the perpetrators of the heinous killing, while appealing to members of the community to maintain calm. Security agencies are conducting investigations in the general area, the commissioner said. A group of non-governmental organisations has said the prolonged ban of Twitter in Nigeria is a disservice to the federal government itself and the citizens of Nigeria. Enough is Enough Nigeria (EiE), Paradigm Initiative (PIN), Media Rights Agenda (MRA), and Socio-Economic Rights And Accountability Project (SERAP) at a press conference in Lagos Monday said the ban has taken a toll on Nigerians, especially those making their livelihood on the internet as well as access to information by Nigerians. At some point, Nigeria will have to choose between progressing as a country through technological innovations or impoverishing its entire population, said Gbenga Sesan, PINs executive director. The Nigerian government on June 4 announced the ban on Twitter, two days after the site took down a controversial tweet by Mohammadu Buhari, the President of Nigeria. Although the government said it banned Twitter because it was being used by warmongers to destabilise the country, critics condemned the ban, saying it is one of the attempts by the Buhari-led administration to gag the civic space. According to Mr Sesan, the ban was about the ego of President Buhari and lies of Lai Mohammed, the minister of information. He said the present administration, having failed in doing its job of arresting criminals and terrorists who use social media, decided to stifle the entire population and make Nigerians suffer for it. Mr Sesan said according to netblocks, Nigeria loses about $250,000 every hour since the Twitter ban, a figure arrived at using the Brookings Institution method. A disservice Yemi Adamolekun, the executive director of EiE, said the ban is a disservice to the Nigerian government itself and its people. It is a disservice to the government because government agencies like the NDDC were able to give real-time updates and keep citizens aware on COVID-19 happenings, but it is no longer able to do so due to the ban, she said. READ ALSO: Mrs Adamolekun added that although Nigerian citizens are faced with several issues like unemployment, insecurity, poverty, and absence of a sense of belonging, the government neglected their concerns and moved to ban Twitter. If the government of Nigeria wanted to ban Twitter, they could have done it legally, but there is no document, either a legal document or court order backing their action, this is a gross violation of human rights, she said. Response to suspension Ayode Longe, director of Programmes at MRA, said as soon as the Twitter ban came into effect, civil groups jointly condemned the action, and called on the federal government to rescind the decision. Mr Longe said in response to the ban of Twitter in Nigeria, SERAP led 176 concerned Nigerians to file the first lawsuit at the ECOWAS Community Court of Justice against the government over the decision. Following the suit, the ECOWAS Court on June 22, 2021, issued an order restraining the Buhari administration from prosecuting or harassing any Nigerian for using Twitter or any other social media platform in the light of the threat by the Minister of Justice and Attorney-General of the Federation, Mr Abubakar Malami (SAN), that anyone using Twitter despite the suspension would be prosecuted. He said the action was followed by another lawsuit also at the ECOWAS Court by five NGOs, including MRA, PIN, Premium Times Centre for Investigative Journalism (PTCIJ), the International Press Centre (IPC), Tap Initiative for Citizens Development (TICD), and four journalists against the federal government. Mr Longe added that EIE Nigeria also filed a N5 billion claim at the Federal High Court in Lagos against four mobile telecommunications operators in Nigeria over their blocking of access to Twitter. ADVERTISEMENT Despite the legal actions, the Nigerian government has stuck to its guns in continuing the ban. Lai Mohammed, the information and culture minister, said on 11 August that the government would soon reverse the ban as meetings have been held with Twitter and some demands made by the government. According to Mr Mohammed, the government demands included setting up an office in Nigeria in line with Nigerias Companies and Allied Matters Act, and registering with the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) among others. Mr Mohammad said while agreements have been reached on some of the demands, Twitter is yet to respond to others. Mr Sesan described the governments move as insincere. He added that the government is not only clamping down on social media but also on journalists and civil society groups. The court dates are far, but we will continue not just to tweet but, on behalf of Nigerians and those who are interested in freedom of expression, we will continue to express ourselves and demand what is right, Mr Sesan said. ADVERTISEMENT The Nigerian government has removed India from the list of restricted countries where inbound non-Nigerian passengers are temporarily banned from entering the country. The chairman of the Presidential Steering Committee (PSC) on coronavirus pandemic, Boss Mustapha, announced this at its national briefing on Monday. He said India was removed due to the improved situation in the country. He said, The need to review the protocol has become expedient to align with existing global protocols and realities. On this note, the PSC will adopt a sustainable model and policy that will be unveiled soon. To begin with, India has been removed from the list of flagged countries in view of the improved situation in that country, he said. 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 was also added to the list in June 2021 following an increase in COVID-19 cases and also the presence of delta variant which continues to wreak havoc around the world. Nigerian passengers from these countries are also expected to fulfill some stringent conditions before they are allowed into the country. COVID-19 in India Indias daily case count has declined with the country reporting less than 40,000 new daily cases in the past month. In early May, Indian hospitals and morgues were overwhelmed as the country reported more than 300,000 daily cases for more than 10 days straight. READ ALSO: Many families were left on their own to scramble for medicines and oxygen. India has so far reported more than 33 million COVID-19 cases, second only to the United States of America (USA). The country is also only the third in the world to record more than 440,000 deaths behind the US and Brazil. In a bid to prevent a third wave of the pandemic, the Indian government has administered more than 180 million doses of vaccines in August. The government said it aims to vaccinate all eligible Indians by the end of 2021. It has so far given more than 700 million doses of the three approved jabs. The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA), has intercepted more than 24,311 kilogrammes of different hard drugs at the Murtala Mohammed International Airport (MIIA), Ikeja and the Tin-Can Seaport, Apapa, Lagos respectively. Femi Babafemi, Director, Media and Advocacy of the Agency, disclosed this on Sunday in a statement. He said that the substances were suspected to be heroin, codeine, Arizona and Colorado variants of cannabis. The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), reports that on September 8, the Chairman of the Agency, Buba Marwa, announced in Lagos the interception of about N6 billion worth of Amphetamine, popularly known as jihadists drug, at the Apapa port in Lagos. Mr Babafemi said that the first seizure came on September 3rd, at the SAHCO export shed of the MMIA, where two consignments containing 10.350kg heroin and 25.2kg cannabis from South Africa, were intercepted. He said that series of sting operations were carried out between September 4th and 6th in different parts of Lagos, where four suspects were arrested. According to him, at the Tin-Can Seaport, Apapa, narcotic officers intercepted a 40ft container loaded with 22,590 kilogrammes of Barcadin Codeine syrup on Sept. 6, following intelligence received from international partners on the container since May 2021. The container was also found to include 4,020.03 kg of analgesic tablets and 47 cartons of insulated hot pots used to conceal the illicit drugs, all imported from India. Equally, on Friday, Sept. 10, a consignment of Colorado weighing 17.5kg and hidden inside a Grand Caravan Dodge vehicle shipped in a 40ft container from Montreal, Canada, was also intercepted and seized at the Tincan port, he said. Mr Babafemi said that a 20-year-old graduate (name withheld), was arrested in Abuja for producing and selling drugged candies and cookies. He further said that a 27-year-old dispatch rider, (name withheld), who handles door-to-door delivery for the female suspect, was also arrested. The suspects, who were arrested at Garki, Area 11, on Friday, 10th Sept, with a number of their drugged products and 400, grams of Loud and Arizona, confessed they had been in the drug business for over a year, he said. The spokesman said the agency also seized a total of 1,425.2 kilogrammes of compressed blocks of cannabis Sativa during a raid on Aviosi outskirt, close to Uzebba, Owan West Local Government Area of Edo, on September 6. Mr Babafemi added that on the same day, one suspect was arrested along Zaria-Danja road, Kaduna with 10.3kg Tramadol and 60.5kg Exol-6, while one other was arrested at Tudun Wada area of Jalingo, in Taraba, with 44.2kg of cannabis. He said the agency operatives in Kwara, September 7th, arrested a 36-year-old lady, who recently completed a jail sentence following her conviction by a Federal High Court in Ilorin, for dealing in 22 grams of crack cocaine. The spokesman said that her latest arrest along Specialist Hospital Road, Alagbado, Ilorin, followed intelligence that she had resumed the sale of crack cocaine in the Ilorin metropolis. This time around, she devised another means of delivering drugs along the road to known customers who contact her via telephone calls, Mr Babafemi said. He revealed that raids were carried out across Gombe State, between September 1st and September 10th, which led to the arrest of at least nine drug dealers from whom assorted illicit drugs weighing over 150kg were recovered. ADVERTISEMENT Mr Babafemi said that in one of such raids, a DAF truck loaded with 128kg of psychotropic substances coming from Onitsha, Anambra, along Gombe-Yola road, was intercepted. He said Mr Marwa, commended the commanders, officers and men of the commands where the seizures were made, for their resilience and bravery. (NAN) ADVERTISEMENT The Abia State Government on Sunday rejected the sit-at-home order by the pro-Biafra group, IPOB, and urged parents to release their children to write the compulsory English Language WASSCE examination scheduled to take place nationwide today, Monday, and on Tuesday. The state government said the IPOB order was not only illegal, but was meant to cause chaos in the South-east state. It is unacceptable to allow any individual or group to instill fear in our people to the extent of negatively impacting the education of our innocent school children, the Commissioner for Information in the state, John Kalu, said in the statement. While we do not begrudge any citizen the right to sit at home or go about their normal duties, as long as it does not infringe on the rights of others, we cannot afford to sit idly and watch the future of our children jeopardized and the economic well-being of our people further wrecked over a matter we believe can be resolved judicially or through political negotiations, Mr Kalu added. The government asked parents to release their children for the examination, and leaders of market and transport unions to ensure that markets are open and transport vehicles deployed for regular activities in the state. Any market that is closed or transport union that fails to operate will be closed and disbanded, respectively, by government till further notice, the government said. As a responsible government, we will continue to explore all avenues to ensure peaceful resolution of the issues that have led to the agitations by the concerned non state actors but we will not shirk our responsibility to the majority of our people who are also suffering silently out of no fault of theirs. All security agencies in the state are hereby directed to fully deploy at all flash points on Monday and going forward as well as maintain regular patrols to ensure the safety and protection of law abiding citizens and visitors from any form of molestation. IPOB, which had been proscribed by the Nigerian government, has been agitating for an independent republic, Biafra, to be carved out from Nigeria. The sit-at-home order, for every Monday, was meant to put pressure on the Nigerian government over the detained IPOB leader, Nnamdi Kanu, who is standing trial for treason in Abuja. The groups activities have led to killings and destruction in the South-east. ADVERTISEMENT The family of the teenager shot by the police in Lagos have insisted that their daughter was shot at and not hit by a stray bullet as claimed by the command. PREMIUM TIMES had reported how Monsurat Ojuade, 18, was killed in her compound after the police raided their area in Mogaji, Surulere. Oluwatosin Ojuade, the elder sister of the deceased, told this newspaper on Sunday that Miss Ojuade was shot one month after her 18th birthday. Following the incident, the Lagos State Police Command through its spokesperson, Adekunle Ajisebutu, said the deceased was hit by a stray bullet at about 0100hrs of 11th September, 2021 when a team of detectives from the State Criminal Investigation Department, Panti went on investigation activities to effect the arrest of a robbery suspect in Ijeshatedo area of the state. Mr Ajisebutu said the trigger-happy officer has been arrested and detained. He, however, did not disclose the identity of the policeman. Execution-styled murder But the deceaseds family through their lawyer, Samuel Mbaebie, rejected the polices misleading claim, describing her death as an execution styled murder. Our clients reject in its entirety and without any equivocation the said police report and state with every sense of consternation and dismay that their daughter was not killed by a stray bullet but was shot at close range execution-style by the killer police personnel, the lawyer said in a Facebook post on Monday. Mr Mbaebie said the deceased was killed in cold blood with a clear premeditation on the part of the killer police personnel and not a stray bullet as painted by the police. He said the police had gone after the deceased and her sister (Olaide Ojuade) in hot pursuit and was banging on the gate shouting I will shoot. That almost simultaneously, a gunshot rang out, hitting and killing the late Monsurat, while the killer cop walked casually away, leaving her to bleed to death. That it is very disrespectful to the memory of the deceased for the police to attempt at this moment to change the narrative to the effect that the deceased was killed by a stray bullet. Demands The family have demanded that the police publicly identify the killer, adding that any other thing to the contrary would be perceived as an attempt at a cover-up on the part of the police and will be unacceptable to them. They also demand to know from the killer of their daughter the reason why he/she pursued an innocent girl to her compound and shot her from a very close range execution-style and casually walked away as if it was a chicken or a goat that had just been murdered Mr Mbaebie added that the family would proceed to the court to seek justice. The incident came barely two months after a stray bullet fired while police officers were attempting to disperse a crowd at a rally in Ojota killed a 25-year-old lady, Jumoke Oyeleke. The police had also attempted to absolve its officers of the death, claiming they never fired a live bullet at the protest. The fall of Afghanistan last month and the Talibans resurgence epitomises the failure of counter-terrorism over the past 20 years. Since 9/11, an estimated 254 000 people have died in terror attacks worldwide. The fight against terrorism has become a global priority to eliminate the threat posed by extremists and their financiers. It has been dominated by the military through a state-centric security approach. As the international community joins Americans in commemorating the 20th anniversary of the September 2001 attacks, it is important to bear in mind what drives terrorism. In many cases, especially in Africa, it results from deep-rooted human security problems experienced by people often ignored or marginalised by their governments. This cannot be addressed by military means alone. Taliban-led Afghanistan played an essential part in terrorism both before and after 9/11. The group is believed to have provided a safe haven for Osama bin Laden and his al-Qaeda cohorts who carried out the 9/11 attacks. It also shielded them from the international search to bring them to justice. The US-led invasion of Afghanistan in October 2001 that overthrew the Taliban government cost more than 64,000 Afghan lives and inspired Islamist groups worldwide unleashing a new wave of terror attacks. In Africa, Islamists carried out numerous high-profile strikes in 2002 and 2003 in countries including Tunisia, Kenya, Egypt, Algeria and Morocco. In Nigeria, a new group calling itself the Nigerian Taliban was founded in 2002, in the north-eastern state of Borno. That group later became Boko Haram. The influence of Afghanistan on criminality in Africa is vast. It inspires radical groups and is a principal source of opium and heroin trafficking, which has become the fastest-growing illicit drug market on the continent. The Taliban and al-Qaeda havent been the only groups driving violent extremism in Africa. In the post-9/11 era, the Islamic States emergence and the declaration of an Islamic caliphate in 2014 revolutionised recruitment and participation in terrorism on the continent. Like al-Qaeda, Islamic State exploits local grievances and empowers local groups or affiliates. Satellite structures called wilayat or provinces have enabled Islamic State to expand its reach into all five geopolitical regions of Africa. The five terrorist hotspots include the Lake Chad Basin, the Sahel, the Maghreb, the Horn of Africa and the Mozambique-Democratic Republic of the Congo-Tanzania region. Attacks are mainly carried out by local affiliates supported by al-Qaeda or Islamic State. As a result of improved organisation and mapping of territorial spaces among extremist groups, the past two decades have witnessed a rise in attacks across Africa. In the 20 years preceding 9/11, 6 142 incidents caused the deaths of over 10 000 people. The two decades after 9/11 account for 7 108 attacks with more than 55 000 fatalities. With 41 per cent of all Islamic State-related attacks globally, Africa has replaced the Middle East as the centre of gravity for incidents linked to the group. How and why did this occur at a time of increased focus on counter-terrorism after 9/11? The first reason is the politicisation of measures against terrorism and Africas ambivalent response to it. Even as they condemned the September 2001 attacks, many African leaders perceived counter-terrorism as an American or Western agenda rather than an issue for the continent. This was partly influenced by Africas mixed experience with violent extremism. On the one hand, the continent was targeted by global terrorist organisations. On the other, it was seen as manufacturing terrorism, particularly during its anti-colonial struggle. Several African leaders such as Robert Mugabe, Muammar Gaddafi and Omar al-Bashir were previously labelled terrorists or sponsors of terrorism. There was also a feeling that the international community had acted indifferently to Africas own 9/11 when Bin Ladens mujahideen bombed US embassies in Kenya and Tanzania in 1998. Africas involvement in the global war on terror was, as the 2001 anti-terrorism summit in Dakar directed, to prevent a new wave of attacks from harming the continents development. This was more of a political statement to encourage international partners to continue supporting Africa. Initially, it worked, as the U.S. and European governments repackaged their aid to countries supporting the anti-terror campaign. U.S. foreign assistance to Africa was used as an incentive to reward its allies. This aid has been mainly used to increase military spending at the expense of development programmes. Such programmes could help dissuade populations from turning to violent extremism, particularly in poor rural communities where poverty and religion are instrumentalised for terrorist recruitment. The unintended consequence of these incentivised counter-terrorism efforts in Africa is that they helped fund authoritarian regimes. The United States and European countries have turned a blind eye to human rights abuses that seriously undermine democracy and good governance. The second reason for the growing violent extremism in Africa is the lack of counter-terrorism coordination by the African Union and most regional organisations. The use of poorly equipped peacekeeping operations with limited mandates in places like Somalia, Mali, Lake Chad Basin and Mozambique has been highly costly and delivered little dividend. ADVERTISEMENT Third, the criminal justice system offers a more rigorous approach to countering terrorism than military operations. But despite this, it has been undermined by corruption, political renditions and the lack of judicial independence and jurisprudence. The courts can also address some deep-rooted human security issues and drivers of terrorism, and help rebuild the social contract and trust in the government. And yet, they have not been used enough to combat violent extremism. Fourth, many African states have overlooked dialogue with extremist groups. They have also not sought guidance on viable solutions from civil society and community actors including the youth, private sector, women and religious leaders. Some aspects of dialogue such as amnesty for terrorists are gaining traction among African governments. But the process needs to be effectively managed to prevent a backlash from communities and former fighters rejoining extremist or criminal groups. Recent developments in Afghanistan have brought the world to a tipping point whether Taliban rule represents a new phase of terrorism or the end of an era of counter-terrorism led by the US. Either way, Africas trajectory will depend on how much we have learnt from the failure of the past two decades. A military or state-centric approach has proved ineffective. Instead, broad strategies that encompass military, political, economic and social interventions are needed. They should put people at their centre and be owned and driven at the community and state levels. Martin Ewi, Senior Researcher, Institute for Security Studies (ISS) Pretoria (This article was first published ADVERTISEMENT The Kogi State Government has given assurance that the security agencies were synergising with the relevant stakeholders to unmask and arrest the masterminds of the attack at Kabba Custodial Centre, Kogi. The Commissioner for Information and Communications, Kingsley Fanwo, gave the assurance in a statement on Monday, in Lokoja. The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that gunmen had in the early hours of Monday, attacked the Nigerian Correctional Service Centre, Kabba, killed two soldiers, injured one, and released an unspecified number of inmates. Mr Fanwo, who condemned the act, said that the security agencies had intensified efforts to ensure those who escaped were re-arrested and trail the masterminds of the attack. We can confirm that some gunmen attacked the Kabba Custodial Centre but investigations are still on to clearly ascertain the number of inmates that escaped from the centre. We also lost two security operatives. That is the number we have at the moment. The State Security Adviser, retired Commander, Jerry Omodara, is currently at the Centre with the Kogi State Commissioner of Police and the Commander, Army Records, Lokoja, he said. READ ALSO: According to him, security agencies have zeroed in to ensure those who escaped are rearrested as well as trail the masterminds of the attack. We have confidence in our security agencies to unmask the masterminds responsible for the attack and get them apprehended. Our security network has led to the re-arrest of the majority of the inmates that escaped as some have also come back to the centre on their own. Security agencies, traditional rulers and local hunters are working in synergy to ensure normalcy, he said. He urged Kogi citizens and citizens of neighbouring states to volunteer information that would ensure the apprehension of the masterminds of the dastardly act. Mr Fanwo enjoined the people to go about their normal businesses, saying the security agencies were doing their best to ensure the security of lives and property in the face of the unfortunate breach. (NAN) Some residents of the Trademore Estate in Abuja have been speaking on the flood disasters that ravaged the estate on Sunday night. The estate, located in the Lugbe area of the airport road in the federal capital, was flooded after a downpour in the late hours of Sunday and early Monday. Several houses, vehicles and other properties were also damaged in the flood. At least three bodies were recovered Monday. Officials of the fire service and other safety agencies from the Federal Capital Territory Administration were at the scene Monday morning when PREMIUM TIMES visited. The residents said the estate witnesses such floods annually during the rainy season though the impact of the latest incident was the worst in the last nine years. According to them, a life was also lost to a similar occurrence in the estate in 2020. The Chairman of the Trademore Estate Association, Adewale Osinaike, said as of 2 p.m. on Monday, they could not ascertain the identities of all the three casualties. He told PREMIUM TIMES that the third body evacuated by the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) around 10 a.m. was that of a male who came to buy medicine in the estate. The third victim was discovered by the residents, he added. Three so far. The one we just took out from the vehicle came to buy drugs. He sat in his car hoping that the water level would subside but the water eventually just took him and his new Land Rover. It took the vehicle above the road, above the bridge into the channel. To take him out, it takes a lot of breaking the car, FERMA, NEMA couldnt do anything. They were all there. It was the Aboki boys that eventually succeeded, he narrated. Abdul Abubakar, a resident and an engineer, who witnessed some of the constructions in the estate, said he was among the persons who witnessed the gory sight of the 2020 victim but did not know this year would hit harder. I have been in this area for the past nine years but it has never been like this. This is the worst. If you check, we have Kennedy Street here, the other street is Obafemi Awolowo. The highest we have ever experienced ended at Kennedy Street but this extended to Obafemi Awolowo. Im shocked to see what is really happening. You can see one of those guys I was talking to. He was among the persons that rescued a woman who lost seven children (yet to be verified) to the flood around 1 a.m. this morning in Zone 7. They were able to rescue only her but yet to know the whereabouts of the children, he told PREMIUM TIMES. Mr Abubakar said he was among the representatives of the estate association who held a meeting with the Abuja Development Control Agency after the 2020 incident but have not seen the result of their deliberation since then. Another resident who identified herself as Ms Prisca, said she narrowly missed the disaster because she passed the night in her friends house off the estate. ADVERTISEMENT It was restlessness that made me leave this house yesterday evening before the rain, only to receive a call this morning from my neighbours that our apartments had been seriously flooded, she said, clutching to a handbag, her only possession not soaked by the flood. Court order Meanwhile, the Acting Director, FCTA Department of Development Control, Garba Kwamkur, during a visit to the scene of the disaster, said the agency had earlier marked some houses along waterways in the estate for demolition but could not execute the plan due to a court order. He also argued that all the agencys efforts to reach a compromise with the estate developer has been difficult. Last year when we came here for a similar issue, we came here with some hydrology analysis that showed that some houses are actually sitting on waterways. You can see that some houses have been marked along the bridge. In trying to enforce this, the developers got to the court and got an injunction. Banking on the fact that we have a court order binding development control, all we could do was to persuade him (the developer). You can see what happened yesterday again, another big issue which affects the loss of lives again. The issue of the court system in Nigeria usually takes time. For us, we also have our legal department who represents us and I am not in a good position to tell the court that this endangers lives here, mine is to look at the physical development of land, he said. Mr Kwamkur also denied reports of corruption among staff of the agency which has contributed to the high case of illegal construction within the FCT. In a reaction to Mr Kwamkurs statement, Mr Osinaike said none of the buildings was constructed by the residents, suggesting the developer and the regulators were to blame. He argued that they bought the properties as built by the developer. If you check your record, Trademore is the largest privately owned estate in this country. How will you build an estate of this magnitude without an approval from the supervising agencies, this leaves a lot to desire. We were not the ones that built, the developers built and we bought. Let me correct this, we are not in court. This does not involve us at all. This court case has nothing to do with us, it is between the developers and development control agency. We dont even have the details of the case. We are just hearing from the FCDA Director now that there is a case in court, the chairman said ADVERTISEMENT The police in Sokoto State have deployed officers to areas marked for attacks by suspected bandits in the state. Premium Times reports that suspected bandits had last week written a letter in Hausa language, informing some communities of their plan to attack them. In the letter, the bandits said residents of the communities could invite over one hundred soldiers to protect them but they would still attack the communities. The communities mentioned in the letter are Kwanar Kimba, Shuni, Dange and Rikina. A source in Isa town, Basharu Altine, said there has been apprehension in the communities since the letter was discovered. Some people believe the letter was fake and was written by some boys but we dont want to take chances because the bandits can do anything, Mr Altine said. He added that the letter was found by some young people in Kwanar Kimba last Saturday. Were not taking threat lightly Police However, commenting on the issue, the police spokesperson in the state, Sanusi Abubakar, said the polie not taking the threat lightly. He said more officers have been deployed to the mentioned areas to forestall any attack. READ ALSO: Fleeing bandits abduct 20 in Sokoto community Well, when you look at the writing, its not even well written and the message is hard to grab. But we told ourselves it would not be played with because it could be true. To us, the threat cannot be established but we as police officers we are not taking it lightly. We have taken all the necessary measures to ensure that all remains well. More officers have been deployed to that effect, he said. The police spokesperson added that the Divisional Police Officer had been working alongside other security agents in the area to ensure safety of residents and their property. About six months after Nigeria commenced the vaccination of its citizens against the rampaging coronavirus, more than 1.6 million eligible persons have been fully vaccinated. The Executive-Director of the National Primary Health Care Development Agency (NPHCDA), Faisal Shuaib, disclosed this at a briefing by the Presidential Steering Committee (PSC) on Monday. Mr Shuaib said 1,692,315 persons have received two doses of the Oxford-AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccines, as approved by the World Health Organisation (WHO). He also said as of Monday evening, 4,052,756 eligible Nigerians have received their first dose of COVID-19 vaccines. This is made up of 2,645,020 persons with the first dose of AstraZeneca vaccine and 1,407,736 persons with first dose of moderna vaccine. A total of 1,692,315 eligible persons are fully vaccinated and we currently have a national average of 70.4 per cent utilisation of the 2,000,040 doses of Moderna vaccines we received, Mr Shuaib said Vaccination across states Mr Shuaib said states have been guided not to exceed their 50 per cent utilisation rates for Moderna vaccines in order to reserve the second doses for all those already vaccinated. He noted that most states have reached this percentage and priority is now focused on administering AstraZeneca vaccine as first dose vaccine in all states across the country. He urged states yet to publish their vaccination sites to do so across the various media platforms newspapers, radio, TV, and social media, to enable people locate their nearest vaccination sites. The list of vaccination sites across the country is also available on the NPHCDA website www.nphcda.gov.ng Eligible persons who are unable to register by themselves can go to any designated health facility where he/she will be assisted by our vaccination team, he said. He explained that state governments have the responsibility to protect the vaccines and vaccination cards sent to them. Mr Shuaib said states found to be condoning any acts of corruption in the process of vaccination will no longer be allocated vaccines. We have received reports of people trying to procure cards from health workers, these reports are being investigated and anyone found wanting would be prosecuted. It is important to emphasise that it is in the interest of public safety and collective well-being of Nigerians that the Federal Government has made available these vaccines free for all eligible persons, he said. He reiterated that the government will continue to work with partners to ensure delivery of safe and efficacious COVID-19 vaccination in Nigeria. Nigerias vaccination journey Nigeria had commenced COVID-19 vaccination on March 5, 2021, having received approximately four million doses of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccines from COVAX, an initiative aimed at ensuring equitable distribution of vaccines globally. The country recently flagged off the second phase of the vaccination campaign having received another 4 million doses of Moderna vaccines from the government of the United States of America. The country also received another 177,600 doses of Johnson and Johnson (J&J) COVID-19 vaccines from the African Union (AU). ADVERTISEMENT On August 17, Nigeria also took delivery of 699,760 doses of the AstraZeneca vaccines from the UK government. Before the commencement of COVID-19 vaccination, the government had set an ambitious goal of vaccinating 40 per cent of its over 200 million population before the end of 2021, and 70 per cent by the end of 2022. This, it said, will ensure the country achieves herd immunity against the COVID-19 virus. But six months after it commenced vaccination, only a little over 1.6 million persons have been fully vaccinated indicating that the country may miss its target. A professor in the Department of Community Health, Primary Care, College of Medicine, University of Lagos (UNILAG), Akin Osibogun, recently said Nigeria needs an average of N693 billion to achieve herd immunity against the ravaging coronavirus. Mr Osibogun said the estimated fund will be enough to vaccinate about 140 million Nigerians with two doses of the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccines, which will create a herd immunity for Nigerias estimated 206 million population. ADVERTISEMENT Whatever other speculations about the consequence of Yahya Jammehs return to the Gambia might be, it is, without doubt, a reinforcement of the position of dictators in Africa This unholy alliance between Adama Barrow, who publicly stated that hypocrisy defines democracy, and Jammeh, who demonstrated that the purpose of power is to destroy institutions, is the foundation of what may end up as the greatest calamity to befall The Gambia since 1965. Africa, a continent noted for its immense natural wealth and potentials symbolised by vast arable lands, precious minerals, and a young vibrant population has failed to fully utilise these assets in achieving progressive socio-economic transformation, after more than sixty years of self-rule. One central reason identified for this misfortune is the prevalent cases of bad leadership. Except for a few occasions of exemplary stewardship from the likes of Julius Nyerere, Nelson Mandela, and John Kufuor, Africas post-independence leadership history has comprised a litany of sit-tight despotic and kleptocratic regimes both military and civilian. This tragedy of Africas leadership situation is even more apparent when one considers that about half-a-century or so ago, the indigenous political forces of the then nascent African nation-states rallied around the ideals of freedom, equality, and good governance to protest the injustice of colonial rule and demand independence. The unfortunate post-independence tradition of tyrannical leadership in Africa has followed a pattern whereby after independence, a charismatic figure from a politically (sometimes numerically) dominant ethnic group of a typical multi-ethnic post-colonial African state becomes president and assumes complete control of economic and political powers through a network of patrimonial/client-patron relationships, and the use of the states instruments of coercion. Firmly in place, such leader then initiates constitutional reforms, which accord him extensive powers and provide a cover of legitimacy for undemocratic draconian practices. Consequently, protests from politically and, most times, numerically less privileged ethnocultural groups, who are alienated and subjected to deprivation and abuse through the self-perpetuating intrigues of the incumbent, provide the basis for a military coup (take-over), the only other means (after death) of changing such sit-tight leaders. With military governments, the experience is also mostly similar. Taking a leaf from the ousted dictators book, the interim military government promises to hand over power after righting the political mess of the ousted government. As such, it schedules transition/handover dates that are repeatedly post-postponed until such a time when its head can, with some confidence, arrange for a transition process complete with a constitutional coup that guarantees his/her emergence as president. Such a government, with its military background and extensive constitutional powers, becomes nearly impossible to replace through the ballot. It deploys every option available to remain in power, and even when, by some chance, it loses at the ballot, it voids the election. However, from the 1990s, Africa has recorded significant transformations in the political systems of many of its countries. These changes involved the collapse of several military and civilian dictatorships, as well as the emergence of rule-of-law-based governments, such as South Africas non-racial democracy. Notwithstanding these (democratic) gains though, many countries in Africa have continued to struggle with deepening and institutionalising democracy. As such, there is yet very little check on governmental impunity, especially in the areas of the abuse of executive powers and human rights violations. At the far left are countries like Togo, Uganda, Cameroon, Chad, and until recently, the Gambia, which are still under the despotic regimes of sit-tight leaders. These countries have remained notorious for their hostile political environments, economic hardship, poor records of human rights, and the ever-present threat of conflict. They not only symbolise the reversal to Africas blossoming democratic culture, but also stand as an inspiration for other despotic ambitions yet laying fallow. As constant reminders that Africa still faces the possibility of sliding back to the pre-1990s levels of authoritarianism, the event of a political transition in any of these countries mentioned above represents hope; as another vital step away from Africas leadership albatross. As civilian president, Yahya Jammeh ruled the Gambia with an iron fist. His reign of terror was enacted through a litany of draconian laws and anti-people policies that infringed on the peoples rights to information, expression, and interaction. Typical of a brutal authoritarian regime, Jammehs government sought to control information coming in and going out of The Gambia. One country in which recent political developments best capture this patent threat to Africas democratic gains is The Gambia. A small, English-speaking, West African country with at least ten different ethnic groups, The Gambia (named after the Gambia River) gained its independence from Britain in 1965. And in the more than five decades of independent existence, it has had only three presidents! The Gambias venture into what has become a long and perilous post-independence leadership history began with the tenure of Dawda Jawara, the countrys first president who went on to rule for almost three decades between 1965 and 1994. Under Dawda Jawara, the country was, for all appearances, a liberal democracy. The political atmosphere was, in principle, one of competitive politicking, complete with regular elections into five-year tenures. However, it was a one-party monopoly state, where power was centered around the dominant figure of President Jawara and his Peoples Progressive Party (PPP). With monopoly control over government resources and a dictatorial communications regulation policy, the presidents party maintained an undue advantage over the opposition, which was left weak and in constant danger of being declared subversive. Jawaras government also imposed strict restrictions on the civil society and the activities of political organisations. It was embroiled in numerous allegations of misconduct, including vote-buying, intimidation of the opposition, and election tampering. And with no limit set for terms, Dawda Jawara was able to perpetuate himself in office as president of the Gambia for over thirty years, until the Yahya Jammeh-led military coup of 1994. Twenty-nine-year-old Yahya Jammeh, a lieutenant officer and leader of the Armed Forces Provisional Council (AFPC), seized power through a bloodless coup detat in 1994. Having assumed control, Jammeh, as military dictator (1994-1996), set out to consolidate his power. Beginning with a suspension of the constitution, Jammeh went ahead to round up and detain some of his superiors in the military. He also placed Jawaras ministers under house arrest, banned political activities, and announced a four-year transition period to democratic civilian rule. The four-year transition period was later reviewed and reduced to two years in January 1995 by the National Consultative Committee (NCC). In April, three months after, a Constitutional Review Commission was established. The resultant constitution, which was drawn up to accentuate Jammehs economic and political power, allowed for multi-party elections, a limitless number of five-year tenures, and the presidents authority to appoint judges directly. Then, Jammeh tactfully retired from the military at the rank of colonel, just a month before the presidential election of September 1996. He contested the election and was declared winner by an electoral commission of his own selection. As civilian president, Yahya Jammeh ruled the Gambia with an iron fist. His reign of terror was enacted through a litany of draconian laws and anti-people policies that infringed on the peoples rights to information, expression, and interaction. Typical of a brutal authoritarian regime, Jammehs government sought to control information coming in and going out of The Gambia. It reduced state-owned communication networks (both television and radio) to government (Jammehs) propaganda outlets and moved to suppress the independent press by enacting laws that undermined their operations. Some of these laws included the 1994 Newspaper Act (reviewed again in 2004), which made it mandatory for owners of news agencies to pay expensive yearly registration fees; the National Media Communication Act, which required journalists to divulge confidential information to the police and judicial authorities; and the 2004 Criminal Code (Amendment) Bill, which stipulated prison terms for defamation and sedition. Following the enactment of these laws, there were several attacks on the countrys independent press and its personnel. As the years passed and Jammeh successfully influenced the outcome of election after election, his hold over The Gambia grew even more resolute. With the aid of armed groups like the defunct Green Boys, some state security agencies such as the Police Intervention Unit of the Gambians police force, the Serious Crimes Unit, and the National Intelligence Agency (NIA), Jammeh enacted his diabolic reign of terror. Individuals and journalists who criticised his government were picked up and taken to undisclosed locations, never to be heard from again. Before long, it became a practice for Jammehs rivals at the polls to seek refuge outside the country. Yahya Jammeh gradually reduced The Gambia to his personal fiefdom and started to equate any criticism of his person to sedition, thereby disturbing the nations peace. one could only imagine the amount of shock and disbelief that greeted the news that Yahya Jammeh has formed some coalition with the incumbent president, with the possibility of a return to The Gambia from exile in Equatorial Guinea. Is there even a small chance of this materialising barely four years after his removal? Where is the justice for Jammehs victims? After a botched coup attempt in 2006, Jammeh became even more resolute in his oppressive strategies against the Gambian populace. People were jailed without trial, there were allegations of extrajudicial killings, and journalists disappeared without trace. Famous amongst his victims were the April 2000 massacred students; the over fifty West African migrants from Nigeria, Ghana, Togo, Ivory Coast, and Senegal murdered by the NIA; the one thousand Gambian citizens arrested and tortured on allegations of witchcraft; journalists Deyda Hydara and Ebrima Manneh; and the casualties of Jammehs fictitious HIV/AIDS cure. There were also allegations of rape, embezzlement, and cases of summary detentions for indefinite periods. By and large, Yahya Jammeh became a symbol of all that was wrong with democracy in Africa. Hence, when in 2017, the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) and its member countries decided to defend the outcome of The Gambias presidential election of that period, the action was welcomed across Africa as a win for democracy and a move towards the future of respectable and responsible leadership in Africa. To all supporters of democracy, another ruthless dictator had been removed, which was a cause to celebrate, and the celebrations were heard even beyond the shores of The Gambia and Africa. Therefore, one could only imagine the amount of shock and disbelief that greeted the news that Yahya Jammeh has formed some coalition with the incumbent president, with the possibility of a return to The Gambia from exile in Equatorial Guinea. Is there even a small chance of this materialising barely four years after his removal? Where is the justice for Jammehs victims? What is the message being communicated to other dictatorial regimes and ambitions? What does this portend for the future of democracy in Africa? Should donor agencies continue to support the current government in The Gambia? These and other issues haunt the minds of serious Africans. For the Gambian people, on whose behalf I am writing, the horror that this bodes can be imagined. With the memories yet fresh and the inquisitions having not yielded the whole truth, whatever faith the people have in the principles of democracy and government stands a good chance of being lost forever, which can also produce a multiplier effect in other African countries. Whatever other speculations about the consequence of Yahya Jammehs return to the Gambia might be, it is, without doubt, a reinforcement of the position of dictators in Africa. Apart from the fact that a Jammeh return would undermine all the democratic efforts and gains already recorded in the Gambia, there is a chance of a Jammeh revenge campaign that can spark off deadly conflicts between pro- and anti-Jammeh factions. The fragility of ethnic divisions will escalate into full-blown hostilities. About this second coming for Yahya Jammeh, Africa must have a rethink, especially for the sake of the long-suffering Gambian people and for the future of peace and democracy in Africa. This unholy alliance between Adama Barrow, who publicly stated that hypocrisy defines democracy, and Jammeh, who demonstrated that the purpose of power is to destroy institutions, is the foundation of what may end up as the greatest calamity to befall The Gambia since 1965. Toyin Falola, a professor of History and University Distinguished Teaching Professor, is Jacob and Frances Sanger Mossiker Chair in the Humanities at The University of Texas at Austin. ADVERTISEMENT the recent ruling by the federal high court, which favoured the state as the level of government that should collect value added taxes reinforces this notion of subsidiarity, while de-fanging those who would blame flaws in the 1999 Constitution for much of the countrys current problems. At the same time, though, the ruling has exacerbated old debates around the formula for the sharing of taxes The fact that there are as many descriptions of the problem with Nigeria as there are commentators on the matter is one of the many cliches with which chat rooms on how best to fix the economy are littered. Depending on which one of these echo chambers you wander into, the bane of the country could be corruption, tribalism, the multiplicity (and contradictions of) our sectarian confessions, the succession of non-profit (for the country) military interventions in politics, etc. The catalogue is a near-endless one. Regardless, however, of which of these problems you settle on, there seems to be a strengthening consensus around the silver bullet that solves all of them. Restructuring, it would seem, is the answer to the myriad political, social and economic problems afflicting Nigeria. According to this take on the matter, the current constitution is fatally flawed to the extent that it hands too much power to the government at the centre and not nearly enough to its constituent parts. One obvious consequence of this is not just that the centre then proceeds to issue (to sub-national governments) one-size-fits-all prescriptions from the top down. But that, as a result, politics at the grassroots has been stymied. It has never looked like becoming robust or critical enough to provide sustenance to the polity at any level whether in terms of constantly churning out a new cadre of younger successor politicians or serving as sandboxes for trialling new ideas. While this reading on the pivotal role of a written constitution in the governance of a country may not solve the question of how the United Kingdom gets things done in the absence of a written constitution, at bottom it is a pitch for the related European concept of subsidiarity. At the heart of the diverse arguments for the restructuring of the way the Nigerian state is currently organised, is the contention that the federal government should have a subsidiary function, performing only those tasks which cannot be performed at more local levels. This would allow provincial and municipal governments experiment with solutions that take note of local constraints avoiding the top-down procrustean policy making that is currently the vogue. It would also, by bringing governance closer to the electorate, significantly improve accountability and transparency. The hypocrisy of states in the North of the country who make a show of waging religious war on bottles of alcoholic beverages, while continuing to receive and spend from taxes levied on/collected by other states on alcohol sales and gambling activities, simply contributes much noise to this conversation. In this sense, the recent ruling by the federal high court, which favoured the state as the level of government that should collect value added taxes reinforces this notion of subsidiarity, while de-fanging those who would blame flaws in the 1999 Constitution for much of the countrys current problems. At the same time, though, the ruling has exacerbated old debates around the formula for the sharing of taxes by the Federal Government. The hypocrisy of states in the North of the country who make a show of waging religious war on bottles of alcoholic beverages, while continuing to receive and spend from taxes levied on/collected by other states on alcohol sales and gambling activities, simply contributes much noise to this conversation. But at its core, to the extent that much of the debate around how the tax take is shared challenges the rationale for taking from tax-rich states of the country and giving this to tax-poor states, a great deal of the debate around the VAT issue raises questions around the economic viability of the Nigerian state. that an economy such as ours functions close to its production possibility frontier, there must not only be no impediments to the movement of labour and capital across the country. But both prices and wages must be subject to the market across all activity segments A key requirement for an economic area to share a common currency optimally, is that there must be stabilising fiscal transfers. This would have the central government move money (for a variety of reasons) from resource-rich parts to resource-poor ones. In developing the theory of the optimal currency area in the 1960s, Robert Mundell argued for this risk-sharing arrangement as compensation for a failures to deploy and/or use both labour and capital properly in those areas where development lags the rest. Ideally, therefore, such fiscal transfers will be used to boost the productive capacity of laggard economies through more and better schools and healthcare facilities, investment in infrastructure, laws to ease the inflow of investment and improve conditions for doing business, etc. Not, of course, as largesse for white elephant projects or for the financing of a janissary that specialises in waging jihad on beer bottles. In order, therefore, that an economy such as ours functions close to its production possibility frontier, there must not only be no impediments to the movement of labour and capital across the country. But both prices and wages must be subject to the market across all activity segments especially in the sale of foreign exchange and petroleum products. These requirements are a key part of the restructuring that this economy so badly needs. Uddin Ifeanyi, journalist manque and retired civil servant, can be reached @IfeanyiUddin. Symbolic gestures are particularly evident in Africa. Ndigbo or the South-Easterners, more than any other group, attach importance to symbolic gestures. It is ingrained in their culture. However, for once, Igbos are divided over the significance and symbolisms of last weeks visit of President Muhammadu Buhari to the Eastern heartland. The visit of Mr President to Imo State has elicited many reactions. Interestingly, much of the focus has been on the presidents attire. In a picture that circulated on social media, the president wore ill-fitting oversized trousers and the traditional Igbo ishi agu clothes, which were uncomplimented by non-matching shoes. There have been arguments and counterarguments over whether the picture was accurate or photoshopped. But this is an unnecessary diversion. How did we get to the stage where after the president visited Imo State a theatre of conflict owing to secessionist agitation and where he has very few friends and supporters we are focused more on his clothes than the essence, impact, and import of the visit? Ordinarily, our discussion should focus on how the presidents alleged inability to harness the countrys diversity impacted his trip to the South-East; how the secessionist agitation that is most pronounced in the region reflected on the presidents visit; and whether the visit moved a needle in his fractious relationship with most of the people in the South-Eastern part of the country. The plurality of the connotation of South-East in the nascent geopolitics and the convoluted emotional experience of the political actors and ordinary citizens of the area, make the visit of the president very significant. The South-East did not largely vote for the president in the last two elections. Imo State is the epicentre of separatist agitation in the region, the theatre of multiple political wars, and the hotspot of unknown gunmen. The presidents visit juxtaposes with the alleged perception that he hates the region, still treats it with the mindset and mode of the Biafran civil war, and still considers it a lesser part of Nigerias foundational ethnic entities. Therefore, one may ask: Has the president confronted this perception of hatred of the region by this visit? Is it a signpost of a new relationship with the mainstream political centre? Does this signify the presidents readiness to engage? Is this an outreach to the South-East? No one was in doubt that the presidents handlers and intelligence coterie considered the area an enemy territory. The conspicuous presence of a bulletproof ballistic case carried by some of the security personnel lent credence to this. Maximum protection is always offered to our countrys leaders anywhere they go. However, the sight of this discreet close protection, rapid deployment solution that unfolds with one hand to provide a sizeable line of defence for ballistic and fragmentation threats, demonstrated that the presidents handlers saw an inherent security risk to his person. In this context, the Presidents visit to Imo State was an opportunity for fence-mending and peacebuilding. The cries of marginalisation have been persistent in the South-East since the end of the civil war. However, the perceived hostility of President Buhari towards the region and the administrations alleged poor handling of the countrys diversity added to rising poverty have led to the clamour of separation from Nigeria becoming more popular in the Southeast. We should commend the President for embarking on the trip in the first place. The President silenced his doubters for someone often accused of never visiting many states in the countrys south, except during election campaigns. The opposition tries to portray him as insensitive to some peoples feelings from particular areas in the country. The President has demonstrated that he is indeed the leader of all Nigerians. This new philosophy of engagement is a core democratic ideal and must be embraced by all. Through such engagement, the government and the governed exchange ideas, understand themselves and work hand in gloves to achieve unity and prosperity. In the light of the above, Ndigbo were happy to hear the Presidents commitment and promise to complete the second Niger bridge during his dispensation. This bridge started during the Babangida regime has outlived five previous administrations. I must point out that the Niger bridge is probably the busiest transport artery in Nigeria, linking the Southeast to the other southern parts of Nigeria. Although it is erroneously considered an Igbo project, its significance and importance are national. Furthermore, the President acknowledged the place of Ndigbo in the economic life of Nigeria. He posits that the Igbos hold economic power in Nigeria, especially in trade and real estate and are interwoven in the fabrics of economic life in every part of the country, and as such, it should be unthinkable for the Igbos to want to separate from Nigeria. Although it seems cogent in its face value, underneath it belies the contention by the Igbos that they are not at the commanding height of the national economy and have been systematically denied that opportunity since the civil war and the indigenisation decree of 1970. They are quick to point out the fact that they are not in charge of the oil and gas sector, agricultural,manufacturing, telecommunication sectors , customs and even banking. These are the major pillars of the economic life of the country. A fact which cannot be challenged is that the economic growth of the Igbos is self-induced, and it is doubtful that the public sector has proactively created an enabling environment to harness the entrepreneurial dexterity inherent in the Igbos. The Igbo economic cocktail is brewed by their restlessness and spirit of enterprise, which has led to their phenomenal economic recovery post-civil war. I believe it is time for a synergy between the Nigerian state and the Igbo economic renaissance that should fuel the development of Nigeria. All psychological and physical curtains and ceilings placed on stopping the harnessing of the economic potential of people of this region must be lifted . The strength of every component part of the country should be harnessed to maximize our competitive advantage as a nation . The rhetoric that Igbos ,like other component units, are an indispensable part of Nigeria is accurate. Therefore ,actions and inactions that are, to the contrary, fuel the feelings of marginalisation amongst the Igbos .These should be looked at and changed if they are inimical to the new synergy propounded here. However, beyond the visit, the President must take further steps to show that he appreciates the significance and cares a lot about Nigerias ethnic diversity. Government appointments and policies should be promoting inclusiveness and managing our diversity. He should bring to justice people threatening the peace and security of the country irrespective of ethnic and religious leanings. Added to these, as the President-General of the Pan-Igbo cultural organisation told President Buhari during the visit, despite all the threats of secessionism or separatism facing the country, there is no doubt that no secessionist element can succeed in Nigeria, provided there is good governance based on equity, justice, and fairness to all the citizens. On their part, the leaders of the South-East should rise to the occasion and save their region from total anarchy. A local leadership deficit is part of the reason why non-state actors have taken control of the conversation. When the roads are bad, water and electricity are scarce, high unemployment rates, salaries and pensions are not being paid or never paid on time, people are more willing to heed the next charlatan or mob leader who promises them Utopia. When people lose complete trust in the government, they are more susceptible to the manipulations of demagogues, con artistes and wannabe saviours disguised as modern-day heroes and ethnic champions. There should be a genuine conversation amongst governors, legislators, socio- cultural organisations, and opinion leaders of the Southeast on tackling the crisis in the once peaceful area. The deafening silence of many prominent intellectuals and opinion leaders from the Southeast on the imbroglio in the region is very worrisome. Now is the time to forcefully speak out in a fruitful conversation to ameliorate an awful situation. Governors of the South-East should establish a line of dialogue with the leadership of the proscribed IPOB. Despite their crude methods and foibles, they enjoy sympathy in the region. It may be more challenging to find a solution to the crises without their involvement. Continuous engagement is critical. Military might and solution will never be enough in tackling the problem. For the citizenry in the Southeast, the Southeast has a lot to gain from the country, remaining a united entity. To paraphrase Prof Obiozor in his address to the President, Ndigbo are the most federating unit among all Nigerian citizens. Anywhere in Nigeria you dont find the Igbos, run away something is wrong there. Igbos are market people and travel adventurers. The Igbos are the only ethnic group in Nigeria that has investments outside their land than they have in their area. Why would this group be keen on becoming foreigners in other parts of the country with attendant consequences? Why will they allow insecurity to pervade their land? In the security circles, any society that decides to eliminate its policemen should ensure that they have made peace with their criminals. Despite the shortcomings of our security agents and prevalent unprofessionalism in their conduct, obliterating them is a straightforward recipe for anarchy. Overt and covert support for attacks on security personnel would only be counterproductive. The populace must be cautious with those who make incendiary speeches that widen the ethnic divide in the country. We as a people, irrespective of our ethnic and religious leanings, can only thrive in an atmosphere of peace and unity. The Presidents visit is highly commendable, but there are a few negatives. The first negative is that the visit should not have been branded a commissioning visit, given that the level and quality of projects to be commissioned do not warrant such a visit by the President. The visit would have been better portrayed as an engagement visit, an outreach of Mr president to Ndigbo, to start a conversation to soothe the frayed nerves of some Igbos. Significantly, the President may be visiting other states in Igbo land. There is still an opportunity for his handlers to frame his visits right. We hope that these visits may be a part of the presidents National Healing Project an engagement with parts of the country that feel left out and on the fringes of his government. Besides, we hope these visits are extended to other parts of the nation, especially in the Southern regions, to douse the Fulanisation conspiracy theory. I will advise that he includes people of various ideological shades during these visits/engagements, especially those not known to be in cahoots of Mr president. The second negative is that the security agents ignored or under rated the IPOB sit-at-home directive, and this led to the streets of Owerri being literarily empty, almost looking embarrassing for the President. There were not many citizens coming to cheer their President. The Presidents handlers should rectify this in his further visits to other states in the Southeast. The President has a few missed opportunities in this visit. The feeling of marginalisation by the Igbos is historic and culminated in an internecine war with epic human and material losses to Nigeria. Post- civil war has seen new generation Igbos carrying the burden of the psyche of a defeated people. This psyche has seen them interpret actions and inactions and even utterances of leaders from other parts of the nation as marginalisation hence their agitations. As a veteran of that conflagration, his visit should have allowed him to speak about it and reassure the youths from the region about their being equal partners in the Nigerian project with others from various parts of the country. We do not expect Mr president to talk about the Igbo presidency since that is a product of a democratic process involving partisan politics and electioneering. ADVERTISEMENT I hope he will address proactively the angry Igbo youths who have convinced themselves that Nigeria holds no place for them, and they are better off in a utopian Biafran country that will solve all their problems. There has not been a proper high-level engagement from the top echelons of power to counter the Biafran utopia narrative. The President can use his visits to the Southeast to win the hearts and minds of the regions youths. Whether Mr presidents Ishi agu fits him or not; whether his pair of trousers are out of sync with his shoes; whether it was photoshopped or not; whether IPOB succeeded to embarrass Mr president with their sit-at-home order or not; Mr president has gone to Imo State with huge ramifications and potentials. It is left for Ndigbo to perpetuate the positives and improve the chances of peace, harmony, and progress in the region. Dakuku Peterside is a policy and leadership expert. the womens persistence paid off. In 1948, the Special Tax Assessment Policy on women was revoked, but the damage had been done On July 28, Alake announced that he was leaving the Afin for Osogbo, where he was to stay for a period of twenty-eight months. On September 13, 1947, a ten-paragraph Resolution was signed by Mrs Eniola Soyinka and fifteen other members of the Womens Union, Abeokuta. It was addressed to the Egba Central Council, headed by Oba Ladapo Ademola II, the Alake of Abeokuta, with copies sent to the Resident of the Abeokuta Province, the Chief Secretary to the Government, the Governor, and the Secretary of State for the Colonies in London. It stated, inter alia: Now therefore, be it resolved and it is hereby resolved, that we the entire members of the Womens Union in Egbaland .. are hereby unanimous in our heart and voice in proclaiming to all people with all the emphasis at our command that we completely disassociate ourselves from this resolution passed by the Alake and his council, and completely associate ourselves with all that had been written by our President, (Funmilayo Ransome-Kuti) in the Daily Worker. The women were responding to an earlier Resolution issued by the Alake and his Council. The two Resolutions in contention related to an article by Funmilayo Ransome-Kuti, published in a British newspaper in 1947, which called on the British women to help raise awareness about the various disabilities women in Egbaland were facing. The contents of the article displeased Oba Ademola II, who summoned a meeting with his Council, where they issued a Resolution that the issues raised in Ransome-Kutis article were untrue. A year earlier, the Womens Union was created in the home of Ransome-Kuti on the premises of Abeokuta Grammar School, to offer literacy classes to market women. However, lateness and absenteeism by many of the women to the classes, was to change to course of history. The women explained the reasons for their constant absence or tardiness, was because they were being harassed and arrested by tax officials, while their goods were confiscated. Indeed, this had gone on for several years, but now, according to the women, was time to act. This was the beginning of womens protests, which called for an abolishment of the Special Assessment Tax Policy. The chain of events, which followed, culminated in the Alake going into exile in July 1948. The temporary exile of the traditional ruler by the women was not as easy as it sounds. They faced various forms of official pushback. For example, to prevent them from holding public meetings, requests for permission to meet or hold processions were not granted or were limited to not more than 10 persons, within a specific time frame and a specific place. Indeed, meetings held anywhere but on the grounds of Abeokuta Grammar School, were deemed to be illegal, unless the permission of the representative of the Oba Alaiyeluwa, the Alake has first been obtained in writing. Similarly, according to correspondence written in December 1947, the act of bell-ringing to summon the Unions meetings at a certain time and place was an offence under native customary law. Prior to the November episode at the Afin, several meetings between the two sides had taken place. During the meeting held on Sunday, November 30, 1947, the Councillors and Chiefs listened to the Grievances of Abeokuta Womens Union. Still, the women fought on through petition-writing. On August 20, 1946, from her home at the Abeokuta Grammar School, Igbein, Abeokuta, Ransome-Kuti wrote: On 16th July, 1946, the Bata Shoe Company opened a shoe shop in one of Oba Ademolas houses in Itoku Market. On this very day, at about 11.30 am, four women members of the Abeokuta Womens Union came to tell Mrs F Ransome-Kuti that the Alake sent a police in plain dress, Karunwi by name, to drive all the women who are selling their wares in the space between Oba Ademolas three story house and the shop newly hired by Bata Company, that this Constable Karunwi was kicking and knocking down their tables on which they exhibited their marketing goods. Another, written on behalf the market women on October 5, 1946, stated that: We, your children, entreat you respectfully and obediently kindly to consider the cases of women who have been specially assessed.. because there is no work that women do at present to justify payment of special assessments.. Therefore the system of conditional sale now in practice does not permit of any appreciable gains on goods on that anybody. Delayed response to the petitions spurred processions and protests, which took place in the courtyard of the Alakes Afin (Palace). According to historical records, the first round of overnight protests took place at the palace ground on November 29 30, 1947. The women went prepared with food, water and mats to lay siege. All through the night, ribald songs and chants accompanied their demands. Prior to the November episode at the Afin, several meetings between the two sides had taken place. During the meeting held on Sunday, November 30, 1947, the Councillors and Chiefs listened to the Grievances of Abeokuta Womens Union. According to the Minutes of the Meeting, twelve women, including Ransome-Kuti, Soyinka and Amelia Osimosu, attended as spokesmen for the women who staged a demonstration to the Afin since yesterday against taxation of women in Egbaland. Ransome-Kuti said: Those who were taxed in Abeokuta were sellers of firewood, leaves and pepper otherwise known as petty traders. A woman who defaulted was sued for the court and she appeared before the court with her baby at her sideThere are many women who are poverty-stricken and should not be asked to pay poll tax. Soyinka noted that Income tax was imposed arbitrarily on women by the Assessment Committee because of the commission of two shillings per Pound which they were paid. The Egba women are groaning in poverty, while Mrs Osimosu said: Many women had to go on loans in order to be able to carry on the trade and the result always landed them in debt. It was clear that the Members of the Council were displeased by the turn of events. The Minutes of a meeting held one month later recorded that the Jagunna of the Christians, M. Osota said: It appeared the women were looking for a way to enter into politics; while the Agura of Gbagura said: The behaviour of the women was an insult to men. The Chiefs concluded that Mrs Ransome Kuti should be cited before the Council to explain the reason for her conduct in coming to obstruct the Alake in passage on the night of 29/30 November 1947. ADVERTISEMENT It has been seventy-four years since the activism of the Womens Union. It was a historical lesson in resolve which also inspired their fellow women activists such as Margaret Ekpo and Gambo Sawaba. To complement the protests and petitions, Ransome-Kuti engaged the press with correspondence. On January 21, 1948, she wrote a Letter to the Editor hoping it would be syndicated in the Daily Service, West Africa Pilot, Daily Times, and the Comet. Titled Egba Womens Suffering is Becoming Unbearable, it explained in part: On the assurance from the Egba Central Council that all matters relating to taxation of women would be suspended. During this period of waiting, Egba Women have been summoned, worried, harassed and ill-treated by the tax collectors. Others have been actually jailed by the Court. A woman was jailed with a nine-day old baby Will the authorities please act without any further delay? Thanking you Mr Editor for space allowed. Abeokuta Province was constantly in the news. Accusations and counter-accusations of assault between the women, colonial officials, native authority police and other reports, filled the newspapers. However, the womens persistence paid off. In 1948, the Special Tax Assessment Policy on women was revoked, but the damage had been done. On July 28, Alake announced that he was leaving the Afin for Osogbo, where he was to stay for a period of twenty-eight months. Thereafter, women in Abeokuta Province participated in local council elections and won. In 1949, four women, namely: Funmilayo Ransome-Kuti, Amelia Osimosu, V.A. Soleye and Nusiratu Oduola, were elected to the Egba Central Council as women representatives. Their catchphrase, No Taxation without Representation also paid off. It has been seventy-four years since the activism of the Womens Union. It was a historical lesson in resolve which also inspired their fellow women activists such as Margaret Ekpo and Gambo Sawaba. Tayo Agunbiade is the author of Emerging From the Margins: Womens Experiences in Colonial and Contemporary Nigerian History. The Nasarawa State House of Assembly has suspended its Deputy Minority Leader, Luka Zhekaba (PDP-Obi 2), for his alleged involvement in fake employment of 38 secondary school teachers in the state. The Speaker of the assembly, Ibrahim Abdullahi, announced this during the Houses proceedings on Monday in Lafia. Mr Zhekabas suspension came after the House deliberated on the report of the House Committee on Education on the recruitment of 366 teachers and 38 fake teachers found on the payroll of the State Civil Service. The speaker, therefore, set up a three-member ad-hoc committee to investigate the suspended member and report back to the House within two weeks. The committee recommended that Hon Luka Iliya Zhekaba, Deputy Minority Leader of the House should be suspended and an ad-hoc committee be set up to investigate his alleged involvement in the fake employment of the teachers. I hereby set up a three men ad-hoc committee to investigate his alleged involvement and report back to the House within two weeks. Hon. Suleiman Yakubu Azara, member representing Awe South constituency is to serve as the committees Chairman, Hon. Usman Shafa, member representing Toto/ Gadabuke constituency and Hon. Samuel Tsebe, member representing Akwanga South are to serve as members of the Ad-hoc committee. While Mr Ibrahim Musa, the Deputy Clerk of the House, is the Secretary of the committee, he said. I cant question his activities or involvement for now until the committee concludes its findings, as you commence your investigation, I wish you success, he said. Mr Abdullahi said that the House was not against the employment of the teachers but that due process must be followed for equity and fairness, adding that recruitment of teachers should be a periodic exercise. The House agreed that the Director of the Bureau for Salaries, Sulley Daheer, and other staff of the bureau be redeployed to other departments of the state Ministry of Finance. A person with ICT knowledge with proven integrity to be deployed to the Bureau for Salaries to take over the salaries of civil servants in the state, he said. READ ALSO: The speaker urged the management of the state Teachers Service Commission (TSC) to sit up to its statutory responsibilities in the interest of the education sector. He also called on the state government to conduct an independent investigation into the activities of MDAs to sanitise the system. Daniel Ogazi, the House committee chairman, while presenting the report of the committee said the committee found that the syndicates collected between N50,000 and N100,000 to issue fake appointment letters to the applicants. Mr Ogazi also told the House that the committee had invited the management of the Ministry of Education, the Ministry of Finance, Accountant General, the syndicates, one of the victims, Caroline Barde, among others, to appear before the committee. Tanko Tunga, the majority leader of the House, moved a motion for the adoption of the report which was seconded by the deputy minority leader. The House unanimously adopted the report. ADVERTISEMENT The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that on August 16, John Nuhu and Michael Adonye-Johnny, members of the syndicates, when they appeared before the committee, admitted forging the documents of the state Ministry of Education. NAN also reports that on August 16, Anthony Ladan, a senior accountant in the salaries bureau, admitted including the names of 38 teachers in the payroll of the state government. He also admitted that he committed the act without the directive of the Commissioner of Finance and Director, Salaries. (NAN) ADVERTISEMENT The Lagos State Commissioner of Police, Hakeem Odumosu, on Monday paid a condolence visit to the family of a teenager, Monsurat Ojuade, fatally shot by a police officer. During the visit, Mr Odumosu named the trigger-happy officer but insisted the deceased was hit by a stray bullet, a claim Ms Ojuades family had rejected. The deceaseds family lawyer, Samuel Mbaebie, maintained that the 18-year-old was shot at close range execution-style by the killer police personnel. This newspaper had reported how the teenager was killed in her compound after the police raided their area in Mogaji, Surulere. Oluwatosin Ojuade, the elder sister of the deceased, told PREMIUM TIMES on Sunday that Miss Ojuade was shot one month after her 18th birthday. Condolences In a statement by the commands spokesman, Adekunle Ajisebutu, titled Lagos CP pays condolence visit to the bereaved family of girl killed by a stray bullet, the commissioner said the culprit, Samuel Phillips, a sergeant, had been arrested and was currently undergoing orderly room trial. READ ALSO: Accompanied by top members of the Lagos State Police Commands management team and other senior police officers, the Commissioner of Police expressed, on behalf of the Inspector-General of Police, Alkali Baba Usman, psc(+), fdc, NPM; officers and men of the Command, his heartfelt condolence to the bereaved family, the read in part. According to the statement, Mr Odomosu expressed regret over the unfortunate incident while he prayed for the repose of the late Miss Ojuades soul and also that God grant the bereaved family the fortitude to bear the loss. Mr Odumosu also reassured that justice would be served while he presented a letter of condolence to the bereaved family. Gunmen on Monday abducted about four passengers along the Ayetoro EkitiOtun Ekiti Road in Moba Local Government Area of Ekiti State. Sunday Abutu, the police spokesperson in the state, confirmed the incident and added that the whereabouts of 32 other passengers were yet to be known. Mr Abutu said action had begun to unravel those behind the abduction and efforts were being made to rescue the victims. It is true there was a kidnap on Monday morning along that axis. We heard the information and we have deployed our personnel there. It began on Sunday evening when some suspected robbers attacked a man who the police thereafter rescued. But this morning, we learnt that the suspects were the ones who abducted some road users. The police are on their trail, he said. Witnesses said the abducted victims were taken into the bush by the gun-wielding men. The abductors attacked two buses conveying passengers from Otun-Ekiti, took four, while other passengers jumped out of the vehicles and fled in different directions. READ ALSO: One of those who escaped told residents that the gunmen took away four passengers from the two buses. Another source said hunters in the area were told of the incident and they promised to go after the criminals. Before they got to the scene, the gunmen had driven or pushed the two buses into the bush. At that point, we cannot say the number of people taken into the forest, but the buses are still there as we speak. I advised the hunters and security agents who arrived at the scene that the kidnappers would have gone towards the Otun Ekiti end, and that they would not have gone far that time. Definitely, they are the ones who operated on Ayetoro-Ewu Road on Sunday evening too. That of Sunday operation was not successful, and perhaps, that is why they visited again to carry out this one, the source said. On that Sunday evening, they attacked commercial motorcyclists by shooting sporadically into the air to scare people. A commercial motorcyclist was stopped at gunpoint and they took all his valuables, while another motorcyclist escaped into the bush. ADVERTISEMENT The kidnappers fled when they noticed that the other commercial motorcyclist had escaped. We never knew they would continue their onslaught today, Monday, the source added. The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that kidnapping for ransom has become a weekly occurrence in Ekiti State since 2020. Several people have been abducted either on their farms, in their homes, places of business, or while traveling through the state. About five lives have also been lost during the various attacks. (NAN) In line with Telemis' existing international expansion strategy to ensure business continuity with customers at a local level, Stephane Ketelaer, CEO of Telemis, said: "We are happy to be able to count on A.Medical as a solid partner in Latvia. This newly signed agreement extends our joint presence in Latvia and contributes to offering the highest quality medical software to diagnose and treat Latvian patients. We have known A.Medical as a reliable service company and one that does not hesitate to go with the newest technologies while helping medical institutions." "Our company is well established in the sale of modalities throughout Latvia in the hospital environment," said Igors Palkovs, Chief Executive Officer, A.Medical. "We have known Telemis for more than 5 years and have seen the evolution of their solutions. We are pleased to have signed a partnership agreement to represent Telemis throughout Latvia. Our aim is to develop the business in the region and to provide local support to Telemis customers." Based in the capital city Riga, Telemis SIA supports the installed base it already has, developing new business in the country and neighbouring countries. A.Medical represents Telemis in Latvia, supporting established software and maintenance contracts, responding to calls for tender, and developing new business. Together the two companies have already signed a 5-year Telemis software and maintenance contract with Daugavpils Regional Hospital in south-eastern Latvia to replace its old PACS (Picture Archiving and Communication System) solution. Pleased with the recent contract and the news of Telemis' partnership with A.Medical, Gregory Semjonos, General Manager, Daugavpils Regional Hospital, said: "We acquired the Telemis PACS as a replacement for the AGFA PACS. Due to the good performance and our satisfaction with the solution, it was decided to extend the contract and collaboration for the next 5 years. As director of Daugavpils, I am happy to work with a scalable solution. I would also like to thank Telemis for its partnership with A.Medical, allowing us to benefit from local and efficient support. I believe that the Telemis solution gives our doctors all the tools to work in the best possible conditions." About Telemis: https://publitekltd.sharepoint.com/:b:/s/PublitekFTP/EbNRRMK6rsBBhD1LmsZ9ibMB2zHnQKUgEkKvoEwhWL1wzg?e=bBXgPr Contact Details: Europe Telephone: +32 10 48 00 11 Email: info@telemis.com Photo- https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1612305/Telemis.jpg SOURCE Telemis In a letter to representatives of model teaching units named after late geophysicist at Jilin University Huang Danian on Thursday, Xi praised the representatives for their achievements in teaching and scientific research and innovation. Noting the great contributions made by Huang in deep earth exploration technology, Xi encouraged college teachers across China to provide good guidance to students and make new contributions to the cause of fully building a modern socialist country. The letter shows Xi's high regard for teachers an attitude he's long held. "It would be good fortune for one to have a good teacher; it would be an honor for a school to host great teachers. Constantly giving rise to such outstanding teachers would bestow hopes on a nation," Xi said during a visit to Beijing Normal University in 2014. At the time, Xi recalled his years at school, saying he is grateful for what he learned from his teachers. "I have received instruction from many teachers. They taught me knowledge as well as how to be an upright person, which has benefited me enormously," the Chinese president said, hoping the teachers could use their knowledge and experiences to guide students to grow up healthily. In September 2016, Xi went back to his alma mater Beijing Bayi School to meet his teachers Chen Zhonghan and Chen Qiuying, among others. "You were strict with us during those years. But in retrospect, I benefited from your teachings for life," Xi said to his former teachers. In fact, honoring teachers is not merely a personal behavior but is also related to the country's cause of national rejuvenation. In a speech at the 2018 national education meeting, Xi highlighted education as a "fundamental" factor in China's cause of national rejuvenation. He viewed students as the major force for national rejuvenation in the future, while teachers the dream builders. To encourage teachers to make greater contributions to the cause of the Party and the people, Xi called for enhancing the political, social and professional status of teachers and giving priority to education. "Teachers are the engineers of the human soul and disseminators of human civilization. They are tasked with the mission of the times to spread knowledge, ideas and truth," as Xi noted. (Cover: Chinese President Xi Jinping talks to veteran teachers at Beijing Bayi School during a visit, September 9, 2016. /Xinhua) https://news.cgtn.com/news/2021-09-11/Xi-Jinping-A-role-model-in-respecting-teachers-13tp3I2eHwA/index.html Video - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dnFWhCwx5dw Related Links www.cgtn.com SOURCE CGTN CHICAGO, Sept. 13, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- According to the new market research report "Aircraft Engine Market by Type (Turboprop, Turbofan, Turboshaft, Piston Engine), Platform (Fixed wing, Rotary Wing, UAV), Component(Compressor, Turbine, Gear Box, Exhaust Nozzle, Fuel System), Technology, and Region - Forecast to 2026", published by MarketsandMarkets, the Aircraft Engine Market size is projected to grow from USD 60.8 billion in 2021 to USD 92.9 billion by 2026, at a CAGR of 8.9% from 2021 to 2026. The market is driven by various factors, such as rise in demand of commercial aviation, growing aerospace industry and increasing investment in defense aviation industry and others. Ask for PDF Brochure: https://www.marketsandmarkets.com/pdfdownloadNew.asp?id=14300744 The aircraft engine market includes major players such as Safran SA (France), General Electric Company (US), Honeywell International Inc (US), Rolls Royce PLC (UK), and MTU Aero Engine (Germany). These players have spread their business across various countries includes North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, Middle East, Africa, and Latin America. COVID-19 has impacted their businesses as well. Industry experts believe that COVID-19 has affected aircraft engines production and services globally in 2020. Increasing operations in the commercial aircraft industry will drive the market With increasing operation in the commercial aviation sector across various countries spread across different region along with the rising demand of commercial aircraft will drive the demand for aircraft engine market. Narrow body aircraft are turing out to be an integral part of the commercial airlines industry with countries such as US, China, Israel, Turkey and others are investing heavily in operations related to the commercial aircraft industry. Whereas in the commercial aviation industry boeing in its commercial outlook of 2020 reported that the demand for narrow body aircraft is rising in the growing economic country such as India, China and others. Hence, the increasing operations in commercial aircraft industry will drive the demand for aircraft engine market during the forecast period. Turbofan aircraft engine type is projected to witness a higher CAGR during the forecast period Based on the type, the turbofan aircraft engines are projected to grow at the highest CAGR rate for the aircraft engine market during the forecast period. Turbofan engines are much more capable of flying at a higher altitude when compared to other engines, these engines also have a less amount of noise as compared to others, they are the most suitable engine for long-range flights because of their lighter weight. The fixed-wing segment is projected to witness the highest CAGR during the forecast period Based on the platform, the fixed-wing aircraft engines are projected to grow at the highest CAGR rate for the aircraft engine market during the forecast period. With the increasing demand for commercial aircrafts across regions throughout the industry the demand for aircraft engine is also increasing. A fixed-wing aircraft generates a forward thrust and is heavier than other aircraft that use wings to generate lift for flying. A fixed-wing aircraft uses forward airspeed to generate the lift. In a fixed-wing aircraft, the wings are not always static, and the pilot does not always have to fly the aircraft. Browse in-depth TOC on "Aircraft Engine Market" 311 Tables 49 Figures 222 Pages Inquiry Before Buying: https://www.marketsandmarkets.com/Enquiry_Before_BuyingNew.asp?id=14300744 The turbine is projected to witness the highest CAGR during the forecast period Based on the component, the turbine is projected to grow at the highest CAGR for the aircraft engine market during the forecast period. A turbine is a rotary engine that Is used to extract energy from a flow of combustion gases. So, a turbine harnesses the kinetic energy of these gases and turns them into rotational motion. A turbine in an aircraft engine is composed of a series of blades and allows the flow of gases to enter the turbine which pushes the blade. This creates a rotational motion after which the gases are ejected which has lesser energy. Conventional aircraft engine projected to witness the highest CAGR during the forecast period Based on technology, the conventional aircraft engine segment is projected to grow at the highest CAGR rate for the aircraft engine market during the forecast period. A conventional aircraft is also referred to as an aero engine. It is the major power component for the propulsion system of the aircraft. Majority of the aircraft engines are either piston aircraft engine or a gas turbine aircraft engine. Some of major types of aircraft engines are turboprop aircraft engine, turbofan aircraft engine, turboshaft aircraft engine and piston aircraft engine. The North American market is projected to contribute the largest share from 2021 to 2026 North America is projected to be the largest regional share of the aircraft engine market during the forecast period. The key factor responsible for North America, leading the aircarft engine market owing to the rapid growth of the technologically advanced aircraft engine in the region. In North America, the rise in manufacturing industries and growing aerospace and defence aviation industry is encouraging manufacturers of aircraft engine to introduce technologically advanced and efficient products across various aircraft type. The increasing demand for aircraft engine and the presence of some of the leading players operating in the market, such as General Electric Company, Honeywell International Inc., Collins Aerospace, and Textron Inc. is expected to drive the aircraft engine market in North America. These players are focusing on R&D to increase their product lines and using technologically advanced systems, subsystems, and other components for manufacturing Aircraft engine. Related Reports: Aircraft Fuel Systems Market by Application (Commercial, Military and UAV), Engine Type (Jet engine, Turboprop engine, Helicopter engine and UAV engine), Component, Technology & Region - Global Forecasts to 2020 About MarketsandMarkets MarketsandMarkets provides quantified B2B research on 30,000 high growth niche opportunities/threats which will impact 70% to 80% of worldwide companies' revenues. Currently servicing 7500 customers worldwide including 80% of global Fortune 1000 companies as clients. Almost 75,000 top officers across eight industries worldwide approach MarketsandMarkets for their painpoints around revenues decisions. Our 850 fulltime analyst and SMEs at MarketsandMarkets are tracking global high growth markets following the "Growth Engagement Model GEM". The GEM aims at proactive collaboration with the clients to identify new opportunities, identify most important customers, write "Attack, avoid and defend" strategies, identify sources of incremental revenues for both the company and its competitors. MarketsandMarkets now coming up with 1,500 MicroQuadrants (Positioning top players across leaders, emerging companies, innovators, strategic players) annually in high growth emerging segments. MarketsandMarkets is determined to benefit more than 10,000 companies this year for their revenue planning and help them take their innovations/disruptions early to the market by providing them research ahead of the curve. MarketsandMarkets's flagship competitive intelligence and market research platform, "Knowledge Store" connects over 200,000 markets and entire value chains for deeper understanding of the unmet insights along with market sizing and forecasts of niche markets. Contact: Mr. Aashish Mehra MarketsandMarkets INC. 630 Dundee Road Suite 430 Northbrook, IL 60062 USA: +1-888-600-6441 Email: [email protected] Research Insight: https://www.marketsandmarkets.com/ResearchInsight/aircraft-engine-market.asp Visit Our Web Site: https://www.marketsandmarkets.com Content Source: https://www.marketsandmarkets.com/PressReleases/aircraft-engine.asp SOURCE MarketsandMarkets CHICAGO, Sept. 13, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- The American Board of Medical Specialties (ABMS), along with others in the health care community, is concerned about the serious public health effects of the persistent spread of misinformation regarding the COVID-19 virus. Misinformation has been directly linked to much of the vaccine hesitancy and disregard for practical safeguards against infection, including masking and distancing, and is a contributing factor hindering national efforts to combat the virus. As members of the medical community, we are committed to protecting patients from harm and prioritizing their welfare based on application of the best available scientific evidence. The spread of misinformation and the misapplication of medical science by physicians and other medical professionals is especially harmful as it threatens the health and well being of our communities and at the same time undermines public trust in the profession and established best practices in care. The spread by a diplomate of unscientific misinformation harmful to public health is unethical and unprofessional and may threaten certification by an ABMS Member Board. ABMS supports recent statements by the Federation of State Medical Boards, the American Board of Emergency Medicine, American Board of Pathology and the joint statement by the American Boards of Family Medicine, Internal Medicine and Pediatrics, regarding the ethical and professional responsibility of physicians sharing information publicly to represent current scientific evidence accurately and faithfully. Misrepresentation or misapplication of science is unethical and unprofessional and harmful to patients and the public. We join the American Medical Association and other medical organizations in calling on news outlets and social media platforms to help eliminate misinformation regarding COVID-19 prevention, transmission, and treatment, and to share factual information about the importance and value of vaccination and practical mitigation methods. About ABMS Established in 1933, the American Board of Medical Specialties (ABMS) is the leading not-for profit organization overseeing physician certification in the United States. ABMS supports 24 Member Boards that develop educational and professional standards and programs of assessment to certify physician specialists, all dedicated to improving the quality of care to the patients, families and communities they serve. More than 900,000 physicians are certified in one or more of 40 specialties and 87 subspecialties offered by the ABMS Member Boards. For more information about ABMS, visit abms.org or call (312) 436-2600. SOURCE American Board of Medical Specialties Related Links http://www.abms.org ARLINGTON, Va., Sept. 12, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Today, American Trucking Associations and the entire trucking industry began a weeklong celebration of the 3.6 million professional truck drivers who deliver America's freight safely and securely every day. National Truck Driver Appreciation Week, September 12-18, provides the trucking industry an opportunity to formally recognize the efforts of professional truck drivers.aa "This week is a time to remind the public of the debt of gratitude owed to these unsung heroes," said ATA President and CEO Chris Spear. "At a time when confidence in our national institutions sits at a low, and crises of leadership have seemingly become the norm, I'm pressed to find a group of Americans more deserving of our appreciation and respect." National Truck Driver Appreciation Week, September 12-18, provides the trucking industry an opportunity to formally recognize the efforts of professional truck drivers. State trucking associations, industry suppliers, law enforcement, and motor carriers of all sizes from coast to coast are set to host appreciation events for the men and women who safely deliver 72.5% of the country's total freight tonnage. More than 80% of U.S. communities rely exclusively on truck drivers to deliver their goods and commodities granting the nation's most remote populations access to modern conveniences. ATA is asking the trucking industry to engage their communities in this week's celebration of truck drivers. Public officials, community leaders, members of the media and local businesses can all benefit from a better understanding of the important work that truck drivers do in safely moving the economy each day. The ATA official NTDAW site offers a collection of resources to enhance driver appreciation events. The content provided by ATA enables passionate industry professionals to engage their communities in this important week. These resources improve the image of the professional truck driver and demonstrate public support for the challenging work that drivers do each day. "I call on every American to join ATA and me in honoring our drivers," said ATA Chair Sherri Garner Brumbaugh, president and CEO of Garner Trucking in Findlay, Ohio. "This year has a special meaning in recognizing these frontline heroes who have continued to deliver life's essentials during the pandemic." ATA is celebrating NTDAW by hosting a raffle to thank professional truck drivers. Beginning Monday and lasting the week, drivers will be randomly picked to win #NTDAW21 merchandise. All professional drivers can enter to win by clicking here. Billboards thanking professional truck drivers are placed across the U.S. through a partnership with Trucking Moves America Forward, ATA and the state trucking associations. The Allied Committee for the Trucking Industry (ACT 1) is a premier sponsor of ATA's National Truck Driver Appreciation Week. Click here to watch ACT I's tribute to the professional truck drivers. American Trucking Associations is the largest national trade association for the trucking industry. Through a federation of 50 affiliated state trucking associations and industry-related conferences and councils, ATA is the voice of the industry America depends on most to move our nation's freight. Follow ATA on Twitter or on Facebook. Trucking Moves America Forward SOURCE American Trucking Associations Related Links http://www.trucking.org STOCKHOLM, Sept. 13, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Bambuser today announced it has entered into a long-term master agreement with a world leader in the home furnishing business, following a successful pilot activation. On October 5, 2020, Bambuser entered into a proof-of-concept agreement with one of the world's largest and most established home furnishing retail companies. Following the successful activation, the parties today entered into a long-term master agreement that allows all companies and divisions in all markets, operating under the home furnishing retail brand, to leverage Bambuser's robust platform for shoppable livestreams. The master agreement initially runs for 12 months, starting September 2021. The order value cannot be estimated in advance, as each company and business unit shall submit an individual insertion order. This is information that Bambuser AB is obliged to make public pursuant to the EU Market Abuse Regulation. The information was sent for publication, through the agency of the contact persons set out below, on 13 September 2021. Contact information Corporate Communications, Bambuser AB | +46 8 400 160 00 | [email protected] Certified Adviser Erik Penser Bank AB | +46 8 463 83 00 | [email protected] ABOUT BAMBUSER Bambuser is a software company specializing in interactive live video streaming. The Company's primary product, Live Video Shopping, is a cloud-based software solution that is used by customers such as global e-commerce and retail businesses to host live shopping experiences on websites, mobile apps and social media. Bambuser was founded in 2007 and has its headquarters in Stockholm. This information was brought to you by Cision http://news.cision.com https://news.cision.com/bambuser/r/bambuser-converts-pilot-into-long-term-master-agreement-with-world-leading-home-furnishing-group,c3414021 The following files are available for download: SOURCE Bambuser "The acquisition of the Rose Acre Farms soybean crushing facility represents an important next step in the execution of our playbook for growth," said Bruce Bennett, President, Ingredients at Benson Hill. "This targeted investment can ultimately provide the production capacity to deliver on our integrated business model for commercialization and scaling of our innovative soybean products, including Ultra-High Protein soybean ingredients." Recent data projects that the value of the global plant protein market could surpass $162 billion by 2030. The facility will ultimately have the capacity to process Benson Hill's proprietary soybean varieties to serve that market, including the first commercial plantings of its Ultra-High Protein soybeans, which will be harvested this fall. The Company recently announced it exceeded its target to double contracted soybean acres, delivering a 133 percent year-over-year increase for the 2021 growing season. The facility will also continue to serve existing customers. "This milestone reflects continued momentum to advance our vision for a more modern, resilient and sustainable food system, starting with seed that is better from the beginning," said Matt Crisp, Chief Executive Officer of Benson Hill. "Coupling production capacity like this with genomic innovation unlocks enormous value for both farmers and consumers beyond what has been possible through the traditional commodity system." "Rose Acre Farms remains committed to the local farming community, a value Benson Hill shares. We are excited to have found the right buyer for our soy processing assets in Benson Hill, a company with which we have a great history of partnership," said Tony Wesner, Chief Operating Officer of Rose Acre Farms. "We look forward to continuing our partnership with Benson Hill and believe they will continue to be a valuable member of our community. We expect this transaction will result in value to our local farmers, particularly as opportunities for Benson Hill's network of farmer partners continues to expand." The transaction is subject to customary closing conditions, and is expected to close by the end of September. About Benson Hill Benson Hill moves food forward with the CropOS platform, a cutting-edge food innovation engine that combines data science and machine learning with biology and genetics. Benson Hill empowers innovators to unlock nature's genetic diversity from plant to plate, with the purpose of creating healthier, great-tasting food and ingredient options that are both widely accessible and sustainable. More information can be found at bensonhill.com or on Twitter at @bensonhillinc. On May 10, 2021, Benson Hill announced a definitive business combination agreement with Star Peak Corp II (NYSE: STPC). Upon the closing of the business combination, Benson Hill will become publicly traded on the New York Stock Exchange under the new ticker symbol "BHIL". Additional information about the transaction can be viewed at: https://bensonhill.com/investors/ or https://stpc.starpeakcorp.com/. A Special Meeting to approve the pending business combination between Star Peak and Benson Hill, among other items, has been scheduled for September 28, 2021 at 11 a.m. ET. All stockholders as of August 9, 2021 are encouraged to vote their shares by September 27, 2021 at 11:59 p.m. ET. More information on how to vote can be found at: https://stpc.starpeakcorp.com/How-to-Vote/. Additional Information This communication is being made in respect of a proposed merger (the "Merger") and related transactions (the "proposed transactions") involving Star Peak and Benson Hill. The proposed transactions will be submitted to stockholders of Star Peak for their consideration and approval at a special meeting of stockholders. In addition, Benson Hill will solicit written consents from its stockholders for approval of the proposed transactions. In connection with the proposed transactions, Star Peak has filed a Registration Statement on Form S-4 (the "Registration Statement") with the Securities and Exchange Commission (the "SEC"), which includes a proxy statement to be distributed to Star Peak stockholders in connection with Star Peak's solicitation for proxies for the vote by Star Peak's stockholders in connection with the proposed transactions and other matters as described in such Registration Statements and a prospectus relating to the offer of the securities to be issued to Benson Hill's stockholders in connection with the completion of the Merger. After the Registration Statement has been declared effective, Star Peak will mail a definitive proxy statement / prospectus and other relevant documents to its stockholders as of the record date established for voting on the proposed transactions. Investors, Star Peak's stockholders and other interested parties are advised to read, when available, the preliminary proxy statement, and any amendments thereto, and the definitive proxy statement in connection with Star Peak's solicitation of proxies for its special meeting of stockholders to be held to approve the proposed transaction because the proxy statement / prospectus will contain important information about the proposed transaction and the parties to the proposed transaction. Stockholders will also be able to obtain copies of the proxy statement / prospectus, without charge, once available, at the SEC's website at www.sec.gov or by directing a request to: Star Peak Corp II, 1603 Orrington Avenue, 13th Floor, Evanston, Illinois 60201. No Offer or Solicitation This communication does not constitute an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy any securities, or a solicitation of any vote or approval, nor shall there be any sale of securities in any jurisdiction in which such offer, solicitation or sale would be unlawful prior to registration or qualification under the securities laws of any such jurisdiction. No offering of securities shall be made except by means of a prospectus meeting the requirements of Section 10 of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended. Participants in the Solicitation Star Peak and Benson Hill and their respective directors, executive officers, other members of management, and employees, under SEC rules, may be deemed to be participants in the solicitation of proxies of Star Peak's stockholders in connection with the proposed transaction. Information regarding the persons who may, under SEC rules, be deemed participants in the solicitation of proxies in connection with the proposed transaction, including a description of their direct or indirect interests, by security holdings or otherwise, is set forth in the Registration Statement that has been filed with the SEC by Star Peak, which includes the proxy statement / prospectus for the proposed transaction. Information regarding the directors and executive officers of Star Peak is contained in Star Peak's filings with the SEC, and such information is also in the Registration Statement that has been filed with the SEC by Star Peak, which includes the proxy statement / prospectus for the proposed transaction. Forward-Looking Statements Certain statements in this communication may be considered "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 generally relate to future events or Star Peak's or Benson Hill's future financial or operating performance. These forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, statements regarding estimates and forecasts of other financial and performance metrics and projections of market opportunity. In some cases, you can identify forward-looking statements by terminology such as "may," "should," "expect," "intend," "will," "estimate," "anticipate," "believe," "predict," or the negatives of these terms or variations of them or similar terminology. Such forward-looking statements are subject to risks, uncertainties, and other factors which could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements are based upon estimates and assumptions that, while considered reasonable by Star Peak and its management, and Benson Hill and its management, as the case may be, are inherently uncertain factors that may cause actual results to differ materially from current expectations include, but are not limited to: 1) the occurrence of any event, change or other circumstances that could give rise to the termination of the definitive merger agreement with respect to the business combination; 2) the outcome of any legal proceedings that may be instituted against Star Peak, the combined company or others following the announcement of the business combination and any definitive agreements with respect thereto; 3) the inability to complete the business combination due to the failure to obtain approval of the stockholders of Star Peak, to obtain financing to complete the business combination or to satisfy other conditions to closing; 4) changes to the proposed structure of the business combination that may be required or appropriate as a result of applicable laws or regulations or as a condition to obtaining regulatory approval of the business combination; 5) the ability to meet the New York Stock Exchange's listing standards following the consummation of the business combination; 6) the risk that the business combination disrupts current plans and operations of Benson Hill as a result of the announcement and consummation of the business combination; 7) the ability to recognize the anticipated benefits of the business combination, which may be affected by, among other things, competition, the ability of the combined company to grow and manage growth profitably, maintain relationships with customers and suppliers and retain its management and key employees; 8) costs related to the business combination; 9) changes in applicable laws or regulations; 10) the possibility that Benson Hill or the combined company may be adversely affected by other economic, business and/or competitive factors; 11) Benson Hill's estimates of its financial performance; 12) the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and its effect on business and financial conditions; and 13) other risks and uncertainties set forth in the sections entitled "Risk Factors" and "Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements" in Star Peak's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2020, filed with the SEC on March 31, 2021, in the Registration Statement containing the proxy statement / prospectus relating to the proposed business combination, and other documents filed or to be filed with the SEC by Star Peak. Nothing in this communication should be regarded as a representation by any person that the forward-looking statements set forth herein will be achieved or that any of the contemplated results of such forward looking statements will be achieved. There may be additional risks that Star Peak and Benson Hill presently do not know or that Star Peak and Benson Hill currently believe are immaterial that could also cause actual results to differ from those contained in the forward-looking statements. You should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date they are made. Neither Star Peak nor Benson Hill undertakes any duty to update these forward-looking statements, except as otherwise required by law. Media Contact Benson Hill Melanie Bernds 314-605-6363 [email protected] Media Kit SOURCE Benson Hill Related Links bensonhill.com DUBLIN, Sept. 13, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Medtronic plc (NYSE: MDT), the global leader in medical technology, today announced a pilot program with Mpirik to address disparities in care associated with the prevention of sudden cardiac arrest (SCA), a condition in which the heart suddenly and unexpectedly stops beating. SCA is caused by a disturbance in the heart's electrical system, and can be deadly if not treated by defibrillation within minutes. Globally, cardiac arrest claims more lives than colorectal cancer, breast cancer, prostate cancer, influenza, pneumonia, auto accidents, HIV, firearms, and house fires combined.1 Proven treatment options include implantable cardioverter defibrillators (ICDs) or cardiac resynchronization therapy-defibrillators (CRT-Ds), established therapies that have been in use for more than 30 years. However, Medtronic-sponsored research has shown that patients who are medically indicated for these implantable heart devices often do not receive them. Recent studies have shown treatment disparities tied to gender and race: women and men of color, along with white women, receive devices at lower rates than white men.2 The Medtronic collaboration with Mpirik also involves Vizient, a health care performance improvement organization that provides data and analytic insights. This pilot program aims to identify patients at higher risk for SCA, and identify them earlier in their care journey. Mpirik's proprietary artificial intelligence platform, Cardiac Intelligence, will screen electronic health records (EHRs) data at five pilot hospitals, including three Vizient member hospitals, to spot patients, regardless of race or gender, who meet prespecified clinical criteria for being at risk of SCA. Mpirik will provide an automated alert through the EHR system for these patients, enabling clinicians to determine appropriate follow-up care. The identification process will continue to protect patient health information, none of which will be shared with Medtronic or Vizient. "This pilot program offers an innovative and scalable method to use real-world clinical data and more sophisticated approaches than traditional manual chart reviews enabling earlier, appropriate care for at-risk patients, while also improving quality and reducing potential disparities," said Kweli P. Thompson, M.D., MPH, general manager of Defibrillation Solutions within the Cardiac Rhythm Management business, which is part of the Cardiovascular Portfolio at Medtronic. "This exciting technology provides the ability to improve care pathways, digitize population health management and collect a robust set of data to leverage for publications." "Collaborating with both Medtronic and Vizient in this pilot offers at-risk patients a best-of-breed program for improving outcomes through timely referral," said Logan Brigman, CEO at Mpirik. "Ensuring adherence to a care pathway, assessing personalized disease progression and screening potential cardiac disease, without differentiation for gender or race, are complex issues that our machine learning and natural language processing help to solve." "Collectively our organizations are aligning around a program using AI to quickly identify at-risk patients based on multiple clinical factors," said Doug Beinborn, associate principal at Vizient. "Our progress will lead to opportunities to enhance patient care in sudden cardiac arrest at these member organizations." ICDs deliver lifesaving shocks or painless pacing to stop life-threatening fast or irregular heartbeats that can lead to SCA. Cardiac resynchronization therapy is a treatment for heart failure that uses an implantable CRT device to improve the pumping efficiency of the heart; the device can be a CRT-pacemaker (CRT-P) or CRT-defibrillator (CRT-D). Typically, these devices are implanted by electrophysiologists, cardiologists who specialize in identifying and treating heart rhythm disorders, after patients are referred by general practitioners or general cardiologists. Medtronic Structural Heart and Mpirik Pilot Program Medtronic also is collaborating with hospitals in four U.S. cities to develop and implement solutions that address racial and ethnic disparities in the treatment of aortic stenosis, a common heart valve disease. The pilot program uses Mpirik Cardiac Intelligence to identify and manage patients in the hospital system who may need additional follow up. Once complete, the pilot program will quantify the impact with insights and key learnings that can be applied in other markets to address disparities of care. In collaboration with leading clinicians, researchers and scientists worldwide, Medtronic offers the broadest range of innovative medical technology for the interventional and surgical treatment of cardiovascular disease and cardiac arrhythmias. The company strives to offer products and services of the highest quality that deliver clinical and economic value to healthcare consumers and providers around the world. About Vizient Vizient, Inc. provides solutions and services that improve the delivery of high-value care by aligning cost, quality and market performance for more than 50% of the nation's acute care providers, which includes 97% of the nation's academic medical centers, and more than 20% of ambulatory providers. Vizient provides expertise, analytics and advisory services, as well as a contract portfolio that represents more than $110 billion in annual member purchasing volume, to improve patient outcomes and lower costs. In 2021, Vizient acquired Intalere, which expanded its footprint with ambulatory and rural acute care providers. Vizient has earned a World's Most Ethical Company designation from the Ethisphere Institute every year since its inception. Headquartered in Irving, Texas, Vizient has offices throughout the United States. Learn more at www.vizientinc.com. About Mpirik Mpirik, headquartered in Milwaukee, Wis., provides a suite of software including cloud-based, automated patient screening and care pathway management for cardiovascular disease, patient communication, and data collection/analysis platform. We enable health care professionals to make informed decisions to give the right care at the right time. Learn more at www.mpirik.com About Medtronic Medtronic plc (www.medtronic.com), headquartered in Dublin, Ireland, is among the world's largest medical technology, services, and solutions companies alleviating pain, restoring health and extending life for millions of people around the world. Medtronic employs more than 90,000 people worldwide, serving physicians, hospitals and patients in more than 150 countries. The company is focused on collaborating with stakeholders around the world to take healthcare Further, Together. Any forward-looking statements are subject to risks and uncertainties such as those described in Medtronic's periodic reports on file with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Actual results may differ materially from anticipated results. 1 Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. National Vital Statistics Reports, December 29, 2011. http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/nvsr/nvsr60/nvsr60_03.pdf. Accessed October 31, 2012 2 Curtis AB, et al. Real-world Assessment of Disparities in the Use of Guideline-directed Defibrillator Therapy. Presented at HRS 2019; San Francisco, CA. Cardiac Intelligence is a registered trademark of Mpirik. Contacts: Tracy McNulty Ryan Weispfenning Public Relations Investor Relations +1-763-526-2492 +1-763-505-4626 SOURCE Medtronic plc Related Links http://www.medtronic.com Mr. Timm has significant experience, with leadership positions in medical devices and hearing aid companies spanning more than 35 years. He joins Neuromod from WS Audiology, one of the biggest hearing aid manufacturers in the world, where he was President and Chief Executive Officer of the company's U.S. wholesale business. Before that, he was CEO of Sivantos USA when it merged with Widex to become WS Audiology. He had previously been Chief Operating Officer of Sivantos USA. In addition, Eric has held general management, sales, marketing and corporate strategy leadership positions at Phonak, Cardinal Health, Bristol-Myers Squibb and 3M. In August, Neuromod announced the hiring of three experienced hearing healthcare executives to form Neuromod USA's leadership team and prepare for entry to the US market. Stephanie Glowacki joined the organization as Chief Financial Officer, Dr. Tish Ramirez (AuD) as Chief Commercial Officer, and Holly Dean as Director, Commercial Sales. Working with the leadership team, Mr. Timm will be responsible for the development of the organization's strategy to work with the private and public hearing healthcare ecosystem to bring Neuromod's interventions for tinnitus to US patients. Tinnitus is believed to affect between 10 and 15% of the global population. In the United States it is estimated that almost 50 million people suffer from this neurological condition[i], commonly referred to as 'ringing in the ears'. Of these, roughly 20 million people struggle with burdensome chronic tinnitus[ii]. According to the United States Department of Veteran Affairs, more than two million U.S. Veterans receive disability payments for service-connected tinnitus. This unmet clinical need makes tinnitus the department's largest and fastest growing cause of service-connected disability[iii]. Speaking on the appointment of Mr. Timm, Dr Ross O'Neill, CEO of Neuromod Devices commented: "Eric is a highly regarded executive that has operated at the highest levels in the hearing industry so we are delighted to have him on board to lead Neuromod's operation in the United States of America. In anticipation of FDA approval, we are developing our infrastructure to give ourselves the fastest start to meeting the needs of people living with tinnitus in the USA, a population that has been chronically underserved when it comes to patient care. Eric's vast experience and leadership will be instrumental for Neuromod in this exciting and pivotal time and I very much look forward to working with him." Mr. Timm holds an MBA from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and a BA from Gustavus Adolphus College. He has also participated in post-graduate development studies with the faculty of INSEAD, the Kellogg Graduate School of Management at Northwestern University, as well as civilian training in warnings intelligence and countermeasures planning from the United States Defense Intelligence College. Mr. Eric Timm said: "Neuromod is a unique company and its vision, to deliver treatments that reduce the suffering of patients underserved by existing clinical treatment options, is equally ambitious and inspiring. The company's Lenire tinnitus treatment device is backed by science which is pushing tinnitus care forward and is empowering patients and caregivers in Europe to successfully treat their condition. It's estimated that 50 million people in the USA suffer from tinnitus. Tinnitus is a serious medical condition and it deserves a serious, evidence-based treatment option." Neuromod USA Inc. is a wholly owned subsidiary of Neuromod Devices Ltd. The company specializes in non-invasive neuromodulation technologies and has developed Lenire, the first non-invasive bimodal neuromodulation device for the treatment of tinnitus which has been clinically proven in large-scale clinical trials to soothe tinnitus symptoms. To date Neuromod has raised more than 26 million in venture financing to fund ongoing expansion of the availability of Lenire in Europe and the organisation's FDA submission process in the US. Lenire uses bimodal neuromodulation to treat tinnitus symptoms. It delivers mild electrical pulses to the tongue combined with sound played through headphones to drive long-term changes or neuroplasticity in the brain to treat tinnitus. Lenire is currently available from clinics in Ireland, Germany, the United Kingdom, Belgium, Austria and Switzerland. It is prescribed and fitted under the supervision of a qualified healthcare professional who specialises in the field of tinnitus treatment such as audiologists and Consultant Otolaryngologists or ENTs (Ear, Nose and Throat). The device has been used in large-scale clinical trials with over 500 patients. The first of these clinical trials, involving 326 participants, was published in October 2020 as the cover story in the internationally renowned journal Science Translational Medicine and reported significant improvements in patients' tinnitus symptoms[iv]. 86.2% of treatment-compliant participants reported an improvement in their tinnitus symptoms after a 12-week treatment period. When followed up 12 months post treatment, 80.1% of these participants had sustained the improvements. This study represents one of the largest and longest followed-up clinical trial ever conducted in the tinnitus field.[v] For more information please contact: Robert Magee Senior Communications Manager, Neuromod Devices [email protected] / +353 87 670 6826 References: [i] American Tinnitus Association, (https://www.ata.org/understanding-facts) [ii] U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2011 - 2012 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey [iii] USVA Annual Benefits Report 2019 [iv] As measured by Tinnitus Handicap Inventory score [v] Conlon et al., Sci. Transl. Med. 12, eabb2830 (2020) Photo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1613372/Neuromod_Devices_Ltd.jpg SOURCE Neuromod Devices Ltd. Revising Rainy River Outlook for 2021 TORONTO, Sept. 13, 2021 /PRNewswire/ - New Gold Inc. ("New Gold" or the "Company") (TSX: NGD) and (NYSE American: NGD) provides an update to its 2021 operational outlook for the Rainy River Mine and the consolidated operational outlook. All amounts are in U.S. dollars unless otherwise indicated. In early August, the Company indicated that July production at Rainy River was primarily from the eastern area of the ODM zone ("East Lobe") and the realized gold grade from this area was below the modeled gold grade in this period. This trend continued in August. Over both July and August, the modeled East Lobe high and medium grade ore negatively reconciled to ounces mined, leading to a total of approximately 20,000 lower gold ounces produced during this period. The Company has since followed up with additional reverse circulation drilling and globally, all areas outside of the East Lobe, continues to reconcile well where mining has occurred or is about to occur, and are consistent with historical results. The East Lobe represents approximately 35% of planned production for the remaining period of September to December 2021. As a result of the variance experienced in the East Lobe, Rainy River's gold equivalent1 production for 2021 is now expected to be between 240,000 and 255,000 ounces. The Company continues reverse circulation drilling in the East Lobe and the understanding of the mineralization is improving, however, additional drilling is required to refine the block model and improve its predictability. The Company is advancing an underground optimization study for Rainy River, with completion anticipated by year-end, and results would be incorporated into the year-end Mineral Reserve and Resource and life of mine update. "While the reduction in our near-term guidance at Rainy River is unfortunate, I remain confident the mine has reached an inflection point, as evidenced by the free cash flow generated in the second quarter and the mine is on track to deliver an improved second half of the year", stated Renaud Adams, President & CEO. We continue to seek ways to further optimize our costs and capital profiles, and with the underground growth potential currently being evaluated, Rainy River is expected to be a meaningful contributor of free cash flow in our portfolio going forward." As a result of the Rainy River revisions, consolidated gold equivalent1 production for 2021 is now expected to be between 405,000 and 450,000 ounces. Annual consolidated copper production guidance remains unchanged at 56 to 66 million pounds. New Gold expects its consolidated 2021 all-in sustaining costs to be between $1,415 to $1,495 per gold eq. ounce2, and total cash costs to be between $960 to $1,030 per gold eq. ounce2. New Afton guidance remains unchanged. Rainy River 2021 Guidance Revised Guidance Original Guidance Gold eq. production (ounces)1 240,000 255,000 275,000 295,000 Gold production (ounces) 235,000 - 250,000 270,000 290,000 Total cash costs, per gold eq. ounce2 $925 - $985 $715 - $795 All-in sustaining costs, per gold eq. ounce2 $1,365 - $1,440 $1,125 - $1,225 Sustaining capital and sustaining leases ($M)2 $95 - $125 $95 - $125 Growth capital* ($M)2 $15 - $20 $10 - $15 Exploration ($M) ~$5 ~$5 *$5 million increase in Rainy River growth capital is due to accelerated development of Intrepid zone. Consolidated Guidance 2021 Guidance Revised Guidance Original Guidance Gold eq. production (ounces)1 405,000 450,000 440,000 490,000 Gold production (ounces) 287,000 312,000 322,000 352,000 Copper production (Mlbs) 56 66 56 - 66 Total cash costs, per gold eq. ounce2 $960 - $1,030 $810 - $890 All-in sustaining costs, per gold eq. ounce2 $1,415 - $1,495 $1,230 - $1,330 Sustaining capital and sustaining leases ($M)2 $135 - $185 $135 - $185 Growth capital ($M)2 $95 - $130 $90 - $125 Exploration ($M) ~$17 ~$17 About New Gold Inc. New Gold is a Canadian-focused intermediate mining Company with a portfolio of two core producing assets in Canada, the Rainy River gold mine and the New Afton copper-gold mine. The Company also holds an 8% gold stream on the Artemis Gold Blackwater project located in Canada, a 6% equity stake in Artemis Gold Inc., and other Canadian-focused investments. New Gold's vision is to build a leading diversified intermediate gold company based in Canada that is committed to environment and social responsibility. For further information on the Company, visit www.newgold.com. Endnotes 1. Total gold eq. ounces include silver and copper produced/sold converted to a gold eq. based on a ratio of $1,800 per gold ounce, $25.00 per silver ounce and $3.50 per copper pound used for 2021 guidance estimates. All copper is produced/sold by the New Afton Mine. Gold equivalent ounces guidance includes approximately 585,000 to 600,000 ounces of silver at Rainy River and approximately 250,000 to 270,000 ounces of silver at New Afton. 2. "Total cash costs", "all-in sustaining costs", "sustaining capital and sustaining leases", "growth capital", "cash generated from operations", "free cash flow" and "average realized gold/copper price per ounce/pound" are all non-GAAP financial performance measures that are used in this press release. These measures do not have any standardized meaning under IFRS and therefore may not be comparable to similar measures presented by other issuers. For more information about these measures, why they are used by the Company, and a reconciliation to the most directly comparable measure under IFRS, see the "Non-GAAP Financial Performance Measures" section of this news release. Non-GAAP Financial Performance Measures Total Cash Costs per Gold eq. Ounce "Total cash costs per gold equivalent ounce" is a non-GAAP financial performance measure that is a common financial performance measure in the gold mining industry but does not have any standardized meaning under IFRS and therefore may not be comparable to similar measures presented by other issuers. New Gold reports total cash costs on a sales basis and not on a production basis. The Company believes that, in addition to conventional measures prepared in accordance with IFRS, this measure, along with sales, is a key indicator of the Company's ability to generate operating earnings and cash flow from its mining operations. This measure allows investors to better evaluate corporate performance and the Company's ability to generate liquidity through operating cash flow to fund future capital exploration and working capital needs. This measure is intended to provide additional information only and should not be considered in isolation or as a substitute for measures of performance prepared in accordance with IFRS. This measure is not necessarily indicative of cash generated from operations under IFRS or operating costs presented under IFRS. Total cash cost figures are calculated in accordance with a standard developed by The Gold Institute, a worldwide association of suppliers of gold and gold products that ceased operations in 2002. Adoption of the standard is voluntary and the cost measures presented may not be comparable to other similarly titled measures of other companies. Total cash costs include mine site operating costs such as mining, processing and administration costs, royalties, production taxes, but are exclusive of amortization, reclamation, capital and exploration costs. Total cash costs are then divided by gold equivalent ounces sold to arrive at the total cash costs per equivalent ounce sold. In addition to gold the Company produces copper and silver. Gold equivalent ounces of copper and silver produced or sold in a quarter are computed using a consistent ratio of copper and silver prices to the gold price and multiplying this ratio by the pounds of copper and silver ounces produced or sold during that quarter. Notwithstanding the impact of copper and silver sales, as the Company is focused on gold production, New Gold aims to assess the economic results of its operations in relation to gold, which is the primary driver of New Gold's business. New Gold believes this metric is of interest to its investors, who invest in the Company primarily as a gold mining business. To determine the relevant costs associated with gold equivalent ounces, New Gold believes it is appropriate to reflect all operating costs incurred in its operations. All-In Sustaining Costs per Gold eq. Ounce "All-in sustaining costs per gold equivalent ounce" is a non-GAAP financial performance measure that does not have any standardized meaning under IFRS and therefore may not be comparable to similar measures presented by other issuers. New Gold calculates "all-in sustaining costs per gold equivalent ounce" based on guidance announced by the World Gold Council ("WGC") in September 2013. The WGC is a non-profit association of the world's leading gold mining companies established in 1987 to promote the use of gold to industry, consumers and investors. The WGC is not a regulatory body and does not have the authority to develop accounting standards or disclosure requirements. The WGC has worked with its member companies to develop a measure that expands on IFRS measures to provide visibility into the economics of a gold mining company. Current IFRS measures used in the gold industry, such as operating expenses, do not capture all of the expenditures incurred to discover, develop and sustain gold production. New Gold believes that "all-in sustaining costs per gold equivalent ounce" provides further transparency into costs associated with producing gold and will assist analysts, investors, and other stakeholders of the Company in assessing its operating performance, its ability to generate free cash flow from current operations and its overall value. In addition, the Compensation Committee of the Board of Directors uses "all-in sustaining costs", together with other measures, in its Company scorecard to set incentive compensation goals and assess performance. "All-in sustaining costs per gold equivalent ounce" is intended to provide additional information only and does not have any standardized meaning under IFRS and may not be comparable to similar measures presented by other mining companies. It should not be considered in isolation or as a substitute for measures of performance prepared in accordance with IFRS. The measure is not necessarily indicative of cash flow from operations under IFRS or operating costs presented under IFRS. New Gold defines "all-in sustaining costs per gold equivalent ounce" as the sum of total cash costs, net capital expenditures that are sustaining in nature, corporate general and administrative costs, capitalized and expensed exploration that is sustaining in nature, lease payments that are sustaining in nature, and environmental reclamation costs, all divided by the total gold equivalent ounces sold to arrive at a per ounce figure. The definition of sustaining versus non-sustaining is similarly applied to capitalized and expensed exploration costs and lease payments. Exploration costs and lease payments to develop new operations or that relate to major projects at existing operations where these projects are expected to materially increase production are classified as non-sustaining and are excluded. Gold equivalent ounces of copper and silver produced or sold in a quarter are computed using a consistent ratio of copper and silver prices to the gold price and multiplying this ratio by the pounds of copper and silver ounces produced or sold during that quarter. Costs excluded from all-in sustaining costs are non-sustaining capital expenditures, non-sustaining lease payments and exploration costs, financing costs, tax expense, and transaction costs associated with mergers, acquisitions and divestitures, and any items that are deducted for the purposes of adjusted earnings. Sustaining Capital and Sustaining Leases "Sustaining capital" and "sustaining lease" are non-GAAP financial performance measures that do not have any standardized meaning under IFRS and therefore may not be comparable to similar measures presented by other issuers. New Gold defines "sustaining capital" as net capital expenditures that are intended to maintain operation of its gold producing assets. Similarly, a "sustaining lease" is a lease payment that is sustaining in nature. To determine "sustaining capital" expenditures, New Gold uses cash flow related to mining interests from its statement of cash flows and deducts any expenditures that are capital expenditures to develop new operations or capital expenditures related to major projects at existing operations where these projects will materially increase production. Management uses "sustaining capital" and "sustaining lease", to understand the aggregate net result of the drivers of all-in sustaining costs other than total cash costs. These measures are intended to provide additional information only and should not be considered in isolation or as substitutes for measures of performance prepared in accordance with IFRS. Growth Capital "Growth capital" is a non-GAAP financial performance measure that does not have any standardized meaning under IFRS and therefore may not be comparable to similar measures presented by other issuers. New Gold considers non-sustaining capital costs to be "growth capital", which are capital expenditures to develop new operations or capital expenditures related to major projects at existing operations where these projects will materially increase production. To determine "growth capital" expenditures, New Gold uses cash flow related to mining interests from its statement of cash flows and deducts any expenditures that are capital expenditures that are intended to maintain operation of its gold producing assets. Management uses "growth capital" to understand the cost to develop new operations or related to major projects at existing operations where these projects will materially increase production. This measure is intended to provide additional information only and should not be considered in isolation or as a substitute for measures of performance prepared in accordance with IFRS. Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements Certain information contained in this news release, including any information relating to New Gold's future financial or operating performance are "forward-looking". All statements in this news release, other than statements of historical fact, which address events, results, outcomes or developments that New Gold expects to occur are "forward-looking statements". Forward-looking statements are statements that are not historical facts and are generally, but not always, identified by the use of forward-looking terminology such as "plans", "expects", "is expected", "budget", "scheduled", "targeted", "estimates", "forecasts", "intends", "anticipates", "projects", "potential", "believes" or variations of such words and phrases or statements that certain actions, events or results "may", "could", "would", "should", "might" or "will be taken", "occur" or "be achieved" or the negative connotation of such terms. Forward-looking statements in this news release include, among others, statements with respect to: the continued reverse circulation drilling in the East Lobe and the potential improvement in model predictability; planned production in the East Lobe for the remaining period of September to December, 2021; the Company's expectations regarding gold equivalent production for 2021 at Rainy River and on a consolidated basis; the anticipated percentage of ounces resulting from the East Lobe in 2022 and 2023; the completion of a underground optimization study for Rainy River and the timing thereof as well as; the Company's plan to incorporate the results into the year-end Mineral Reserve and Resource and life of mine update; the Company's expectations regarding higher grades in the near and medium term and an improved second half of the year at Rainy River; the anticipated free cash flow to be contributed to the Company's portfolio from Rainy River; and the Company's expectations regarding consolidated 2021 all-in sustaining costs and total cash costs. All forward-looking statements in this news release are based on the opinions and estimates of management that, while considered reasonable as at the date of this press release in light of management's experience and perception of current conditions and expected developments, are inherently subject to important risk factors and uncertainties, many of which are beyond New Gold's ability to control or predict. Certain material assumptions regarding such forward-looking statements are discussed in this news release, New Gold's latest annual management's discussion and analysis ("MD&A"), its most recent annual information form and technical reports on the Rainy River Mine and New Afton Mine filed on SEDAR at www.sedar.com and on EDGAR at www.sec.gov. In addition to, and subject to, such assumptions discussed in more detail elsewhere, the forward-looking statements in this news release are also subject to the following assumptions: (1) there being no significant disruptions affecting New Gold's operations other than as set out herein; (2) political and legal developments in jurisdictions where New Gold operates, or may in the future operate, being consistent with New Gold's current expectations; (3) the accuracy of New Gold's current mineral reserve and mineral resource estimates and the grade of gold, silver and copper expected to be mined; (4) the exchange rate between the Canadian dollar and U.S. dollar, and to a lesser extent, the Mexican Peso, being approximately consistent with current levels; (5) prices for diesel, natural gas, fuel oil, electricity and other key supplies being approximately consistent with current levels; (6) equipment, labour and materials costs increasing on a basis consistent with New Gold's current expectations; (7) arrangements with First Nations and other Aboriginal groups in respect of the New Afton Mine and Rainy River Mine being consistent with New Gold's current expectations; (8) all required permits, licenses and authorizations being obtained from the relevant governments and other relevant stakeholders within the expected timelines; (9) there being no significant disruptions to the Company's workforce at either the Rainy River or New Afton Mine due to cases of COVID-19 or any required self-isolation requirements (due, among other things, to cross-border travel to the United States or any other country); (10) the responses of the relevant governments to the COVID-19 outbreak being sufficient to contain the impact of the COVID-19 outbreak; (11) there being no material disruption to the Company's supply chains and workforce that would interfere with the Company's anticipated course of action at the Rainy River Mine and the systematic ramp-up of operations; and (12) the long-term economic effects of the COVID-19 outbreak not having a material adverse impact on the Company's operations or liquidity position. Forward-looking statements are necessarily based on estimates and assumptions that are inherently subject to known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause actual results, level of activity, performance or achievements to be materially different from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Such factors include, without limitation: significant capital requirements and the availability and management of capital resources; additional funding requirements; price volatility in the spot and forward markets for metals and other commodities; fluctuations in the international currency markets and in the rates of exchange of the currencies of Canada, the United States and, to a lesser extent, Mexico; volatility in the market price of the Company's securities; hedging and investment related risks; dependence on the Rainy River Mine and New Afton Mine; discrepancies between actual and estimated production, between actual and estimated mineral reserves and mineral resources and between actual and estimated metallurgical recoveries; risks related to early production at the Rainy River Mine, including failure of equipment, machinery, the process circuit or other processes to perform as designed or intended; risks related to construction, including changing costs and timelines; adequate infrastructure; fluctuation in treatment and refining charges; changes in national and local government legislation in Canada, the United States and, to a lesser extent, Mexico or any other country in which New Gold currently or may in the future carry on business; global economic and financial conditions; risks relating to New Gold's debt and liquidity; the adequacy of internal and disclosure controls; taxation; impairment; conflicts of interest; risks relating to climate change; controls, regulations and political or economic developments in the countries in which New Gold does or may carry on business; the speculative nature of mineral exploration and development, including the risks of obtaining and maintaining the validity and enforceability of the necessary licenses and permits and complying with the permitting requirements of each jurisdiction in which New Gold operates; the lack of certainty with respect to foreign legal systems, which may not be immune from the influence of political pressure, corruption or other factors that are inconsistent with the rule of law; the uncertainties inherent to current and future legal challenges New Gold is or may become a party to; risks relating to proposed acquisitions and the integration thereof; information systems security threats; diminishing quantities or grades of mineral reserves and mineral resources; competition; loss of, or inability to attract, key employees; rising costs of labour, supplies, fuel and equipment; actual results of current exploration or reclamation activities; uncertainties inherent to mining economic studies; changes in project parameters as plans continue to be refined; accidents; labour disputes; defective title to mineral claims or property or contests over claims to mineral properties; unexpected delays and costs inherent to consulting and accommodating rights of Indigenous groups; risks, uncertainties and unanticipated delays associated with obtaining and maintaining necessary licenses, permits and authorizations and complying with permitting requirements; disruptions to the Company's workforce at either the Rainy River Mine or the New Afton Mine, or both, due to cases of COVID-19 or any required self-isolation (due to cross-border travel, exposure to a case of COVID-19 or otherwise); the responses of the relevant governments to the COVID-19 outbreak not being sufficient to contain the impact of the COVID-19 outbreak; disruptions to the Company's supply chain and workforce due to the COVID-19 outbreak; an economic recession or downturn as a result of the COVID-19 outbreak that materially adversely affects the Company's operations or liquidity position; there being further shutdowns at the Rainy River or New Afton Mines; the Company not being able to complete its construction projects at the Rainy River Mine or the New Afton Mines on the anticipated timeline or at all; and the Company not being able to complete the exploration drilling program to be launched at the Rainy River Mine and Cherry Creek on the anticipated timeline or at all. In addition, there are risks and hazards associated with the business of mineral exploration, development and mining, including environmental events and hazards, industrial accidents, unusual or unexpected formations, pressures, cave-ins, flooding and gold bullion losses (and the risk of inadequate insurance or inability to obtain insurance to cover these risks) as well as "Risk Factors" included in New Gold's most recent annual information form, MD&A and other disclosure documents filed on and available on SEDAR at www.sedar.com and on EDGAR at www.sec.gov. Forward looking statements are not guarantees of future performance, and actual results and future events could materially differ from those anticipated in such statements. All forward-looking statements contained in this news release are qualified by these cautionary statements. New Gold expressly disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements whether as a result of new information, events or otherwise, except in accordance with applicable securities laws. Technical Information The scientific and technical information contained in this news release has been reviewed and approved by Eric Vinet, Senior Vice President, Operations of New Gold. Mr. Vinet is a Professional Engineer and member of the Ordre des ingenieurs du Quebec. He is a "Qualified Person" for the purposes of National Instrument 43-101 Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects. SOURCE New Gold Inc. Related Links https://www.newgold.com/ "The key to success is never losing sight of why you do what you do," said Freeman Elliott, President, Orkin. "At Orkin, we help protect one of the biggest investments a person will make in his or her life a home or business. We don't take that responsibility lightly, and we promise to continue to provide the service excellence our customers and communities have come to expect from us over the past 120 years." Orkin is proud to have made it 120 years an accomplishment for any company. Despite wars, depressions, recessions and slumps, and most recently, a global pandemic, Orkin takes pride in continuing to provide high-quality service to stand the test of time. Committed to communities Throughout 120 years of transition and growth, Orkin leaders have maintained a clear focus on the company's ability to make a positive impact on where people live, work and play, both nationally and locally. In 2020, Orkin launched its "Donating Blood Should be Voluntary" initiative in partnership with the American Red Cross to aid the organization in maintaining our country's blood supply and protect people against the public health threats of mosquitoes. This year, in honor of the company's 120 th anniversary, Orkin donated $120,000 to the organization and encouraged the public to pledge to donate blood to the Red Cross through a SleevesUp campaign an effort that has encouraged hundreds of people, including Orkin employees, to donate blood. As a result of the successful partnership, the Atlanta chapter of the Red Cross honored Orkin with its Good Neighbor Award for making a significant humanitarian contribution to the Red Cross and going above and beyond to support the work of the organization. initiative in partnership with the American Red Cross to aid the organization in maintaining our country's blood supply and protect people against the public health threats of mosquitoes. This year, in honor of the company's 120 anniversary, Orkin donated to the organization and encouraged the public to pledge to donate blood to the Red Cross through a SleevesUp campaign an effort that has encouraged hundreds of people, including Orkin employees, to donate blood. As a result of the successful partnership, the chapter of the Red Cross honored Orkin with its for making a significant humanitarian contribution to the Red Cross and going above and beyond to support the work of the organization. OrkinServes, an employee volunteer program, aims to help take care of communities. Through the program, Orkin branches across the country set aside time each year to give back locally. In addition to social responsibility, Orkin places significant emphasis on the importance of education. The company's formal commitment to public education dates back to the 1950s when Orkin technicians started presenting to local students. Now, teachers can sign up online to bring Orkin specialists into the classroom to teach about insects' important role in the ecosystem and environment. Emphasis on employees With more than 8,000 employees around the world at over 400 branch locations, Orkin is committed to being a premier employer and understands the importance of keeping employees at the forefront. As part of its 120th anniversary celebrations, Orkin hosted a "Heroes of Home" contest to celebrate and honor technicians who are committed to protecting the joy of each and every home they serve. Current customers nominated their technicians explaining why their technician is a hero, an effort that resulted in nearly 500 submissions. "We're proud to be represented by world-class employees," said Elliott. "By offering continuing education opportunities and more than 160 hours of training to each technician, Orkin aims to create careers not just day jobs for every employee. However, we know the job they do each day is a job well done, and I couldn't be prouder of the hard work of every employee over the past 120 years." Training magazine frequently recognizes Orkin on its prestigious Top 125 list, and the company has been featured among the magazine's Editor's Choice honorees. Rollins, Inc., Orkin's parent company, is also consistently ranked as one of the country's top places to work. More than a century setting the highest standard In 1901, 14-year-old Pennsylvania farm boy Otto Orkin developed a rodenticide to protect his family's farmhouse. The son of Latvian immigrants, Otto's job was to make sure rodents didn't ruin any of the family farm's stock. He knew to capture a pest, you had to think like a pest. The special blend worked well, so he started selling it door-to-door. In 1908, Otto moved from selling a product to selling a service pest control. By 1919, Otto's pest control company was flourishing thanks to his commitment to excellent service a commitment our employees carry on today. As the business grew over the next 50 years, Orkin's expertise grew as well, offering customers protection against common pests such as termites and other insects in addition to rodents. Rollins, Inc. purchased the Orkin Exterminating Company, Inc. in 1964 in the first leveraged buyout in business history and helped turn it into one of the largest pest management companies in the world. Now, more than 8,000 Orkin employees around the world offer integrated pest control services to more than 1.7 million customers throughout the Americas, Canada, Mexico, Europe, the Middle East, the Caribbean, Asia, Africa and Australia. For more information about Orkin, its community involvement or career opportunities, please visit www.orkin.com. About Orkin, LLC Founded in 1901, Atlanta-based Orkin is an industry leader in essential pest control services and protection against termite damage, rodents and insects. Proudly celebrating 120 years of business this year, the company is committed to excellent service and operates more than 400 locations with more than 8,000 employees. Through Orkin's Points of Service process Investigate, Protect, Fortify, Keep Watch, Report and Follow Up Orkin provides customized services to approximately 1.7 million homeowners and businesses in the United States and has nearly 100 international locations in more than 65 countries. Orkin is committed to studying pest biology and applying scientifically proven methods. The company collaborates with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and eight major universities to conduct research and help educate consumers and businesses on pest-related health threats. Learn more about Orkin at Orkin.com . Orkin is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Rollins Inc. (NYSE: ROL). Follow us on Facebook , LinkedIn , YouTube and Instagram . SOURCE Orkin, LLC Related Links https://www.orkin.com/ CHICAGO, Sept. 13, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- In-depth analysis and data-driven insights on the impact of COVID-19 included in this global personal care chemicals market report. The personal care chemicals market is expected to grow at a CAGR of over 4.14% during the period 20202026. Key Highlights Offered in the Report: APAC dominated the global personal care chemicals market followed by Europe in 2020. Skin care is the largest segment in the global personal care chemicals market by end user, accounted for more than 35% share in 2020. Increase in disposable income and demand for organic skin care products are fueling the market growth. Digitalization has played a huge role in growth of personal care chemicals market, with the growth in penetration of social media in countries such as India and China . Social media has given opportunity to brands to connect with consumers and identify their needs better. The men's grooming product market has witnessed an increasing demand for natural, clean-label, and organic products due to the rise in consumer awareness. Brands are using augmented reality and virtual reality technologies to create a buying experience for consumers that is not available during COVID-19 pandemic Key Offerings: Market Size & Forecast by Revenue | 20202026 Market Dynamics Leading trends, growth drivers, restraints, and investment opportunities Market Segmentation A detailed analysis by ingredients, sources, end use application, and geography Competitive Landscape 5 key vendors and 20 other vendors Get your sample today! https://www.arizton.com/market-reports/personal-care-chemicals-market-size-analysis Personal Care Chemicals Market Segmentation Rheology modifiers are vital additives used in chemical manufacturing to achieve desired rheological characteristics for applications such as skincare or hair care. Apart from getting the desired viscosity, these additives also help in controlling shelf life, ease of application, and sagging. The global organic personal care chemical market is expected to witness significant growth over the coming years. Many of these products are composed of plant-derived ingredients such as roots, essential oils, herbs, and flowers. Few organic ingredients are also derived from animals, such as minerals and beeswax. Post extraction, they are combined with several naturally occurring carrier agents, preservatives, humectants, emulsifiers, and surfactants. Skincare products are used to enhance and maintain the appearance of human skin. There are a variety of products available in the market, such as cleansers, toners, body lotions, oils and serums, and creams with alpha-hydroxy acids and retinol as some of their key ingredients. Personal Care Chemicals Market by Ingredients Emollients Surfactants Rheology Modifier Emulsifiers Conditioning polymer Others Personal Care Chemicals Market by Sources Synthetics Organic Personal Care Chemicals Market by End User Application Skin care Hair care Oral care Cosmetics Others Personal Care Chemicals Market Dynamics One the most important criteria that has contributed to the growth of the personal care chemicals market is increased demand for organic or naturally sourced ingredients for both skincare and hair care products. Consumers research on the benefits of organic products compared with synthetic products and give importance to certified products. Customer perception of brands is also being related to environmental friendliness of the product and its sourcing. Certification seals are also being displayed more prominently on packaging as companies realized its value in communicating information to consumers about a product's reliability. Natural ingredients for cosmetics or hair care products are raw materials derived from plants or animals that are used in production of these products. Companies are replacing synthetic chemicals with natural ingredients, partly due to demand and partly because of move toward sustainable raw materials. Key Drivers and Trends fueling Market Growth: Growing Young Population Increasing Demand in Emerging Economies Growth in Sustainable Packaging Different Perceptions of Premium Personal Care Chemicals Market Geography The personal care chemical market in North America has grown, and one of the reasons is rising consumer awareness concerning the toxicity of synthetic chemicals used in beauty and personal care products. The US market is already very fragmented with many leading global players because of the highly competitive industry. Demand for anti-aging and multifunctional products is growing significantly owing to the increasing aging population in the region. E-commerce platforms have made distribution and sales easy while growing competition has compelled manufacturers to introduce and expand their product portfolio. The personal care market is growing due to the rise in direct-to-consumer channels such as e-commerce platforms and the use of social media to engage directly with consumers. With the rise of new emerging platforms, influence marketing on social media has helped brands to reach out to consumers. Get your sample today! https://www.arizton.com/market-reports/personal-care-chemicals-market-size-analysis Personal Care Chemicals Market by Geography North America United States Canada APAC China India South Korea Japan Thailand Europe Germany France Italy UK Spain Latin America Brazil Mexico Middle East & Africa Saudi Arabia UAE South Africa Major Vendors BASF DOW Solvay Evonik Clariant Other Prominent Vendors Ashland Croda Lonza Group Nouryon Wacker Chemie AG Innospec Stepan Company Merck Corbion Lubrizol Corporation Sasol Adeka Corporation Oxiteno Kao Corporation Eastman Chemical Corporation DSM NV Air liquid Galaxy Surfactants Elementis Givaudan Explore our chemicals & materials profile to know more about the industry. Read some of the top-selling reports: About Arizton: Arizton Advisory and Intelligence is an innovation and quality-driven firm, which offers cutting-edge research solutions to clients across the world. We excel in providing comprehensive market intelligence reports and advisory and consulting services. We offer comprehensive market research reports on industries such as consumer goods & retail technology, automotive and mobility, smart tech, healthcare, and life sciences, industrial machinery, chemicals and materials, IT and media, logistics and packaging. These reports contain detailed industry analysis, market size, share, growth drivers, and trend forecasts. Arizton comprises a team of exuberant and well-experienced analysts who have mastered in generating incisive reports. Our specialist analysts possess exemplary skills in market research. We train our team in advanced research practices, techniques, and ethics to outperform in fabricating impregnable research reports. Mail: [email protected] Call: +1-312-235-2040 +1 302 469 0707 SOURCE Arizton Advisory & Intelligence WASHINGTON, Sept. 13, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Ivins, Phillips & Barker (IPB) is pleased to announce the addition of wealth planning attorney Natanya Holland Allan, along with her trusted colleagues, partner Leslie Wood Bradenham and associate Andrea C.L. Ricka, to the firm's Estate Planning team. Allan, Bradenham, and Ricka join IPB from the law firm Cochran Allan, where they focused on estate planning, estate administration, and charitable giving for a full range of clients, including business owners, corporate executives, private equity partners, professional athletes, public figures, and families with inherited wealth. Allan also advises private foundations, supporting organizations, and public charities with respect to tax and corporate governance matters. A native Washingtonian, Allan comments about her move, "I have dedicated my entire career to estate planning and charitable matters, and for over two decades have enjoyed representing clients with the most straightforward of planning needs to those grappling with highly technical tax matters. At this juncture, my practice is increasingly complex and multi-generational in nature, so I was naturally drawn to IPB. I have admired the firm's tax and legacy oriented practice for years, and I know that IPB's decades of experience representing the owners of family operating companies with income and transfer tax planning matters marries well with my clients' growing needs. Leslie, Andrea, and I are thrilled to join IPB." Prior to being a name partner at Cochran Allan, she was a partner at an AmLaw 100 firm, Associate General Counsel for The Pew Charitable Trusts, and an associate at a premier law firm in New York. She also served for ten years as an adjunct professor at Georgetown University Law Center, where she taught estate, gift, and GST tax in the Taxation LLM program. Bradenham also taught estate, gift, and GST tax in Georgetown University Law Center's Taxation LLM program, the same program she graduated from as a Graduate Tax Scholar in 2014. Before working at Cochran Allan, Bradenham was an associate at two AmLaw 100 firms and a clerk for the Honorable James P. Jones of the United States District Court for the Western District of Virginia. Ricka began her career as a clerk to the Massachusetts Superior Court Justices. She went on to become an associate at a boutique law firm in New York and served as Legal Counsel at pharmaceutical company Norgine in the UK. Like Bradenham, Ricka is a 2014 graduate of Georgetown University Law Center's Taxation LLM program and joined Cochran Allan in 2013 while still a student. "It is important that estate planning attorneys are not only technically proficient and creative, but also personable, empathetic, and pragmatic, and Natanya, Leslie, and Andrea fit the bill perfectly," Brenda Jackson-Cooper, Partner in IPB's Estate Planning practice, stated. "IPB is fortunate to add these three outstanding attorneys to our ranks." Eric Fox, Managing Partner of IPB, adds, "Natanya, Leslie, and Andrea bring with them a combined 40 years of experience to our firm, from which our clients are bound to benefit." About Ivins, Phillips & Barker Ivins, Phillips & Barker is a boutique law firm devoted exclusively to tax, employee benefits, and estate planning, with headquarters in Washington, DC. IPB specializes in representing Fortune 100 and Fortune 500 clients in corporate tax and employee benefits matters, and has developed an extraordinary number of senior-level tax executives in U.S. government service. For more information about IPB, please visit www.ipbtax.com. Contact: Amanda Ferrari [email protected] 440-465-6162 SOURCE Ivins, Phillips & Barker Related Links http://www.ipbtax.com WEST STOCKBRIDGE, Mass., Sept. 13, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- On September 18, Mark Roberts of Stow sets out in his electric wheelchair, with his labradoodle Mocha, rolling across Massachusetts to raise awareness and funds to combat hunger. Mark and Mocha will roll into West Stockbridge, to Boston, and finally to Provincetown. The "4Paws 4Wheels 4Hunger" project sponsored by Worthy Causes, Inc. will take seven weeks. Extensive information about the project can be found here: PRESS ROOM The delta variants and other strains of COVID-19 are prolonging the need for emergency food support everywhere. Here in the U.S. and Massachusetts, the demand for food assistance reached an all-time high at The Greater Boston Food Bank and the Merrimack Valley Food Bank in April/May and remains above pre-pandemic levels. The end of supplemental unemployment benefits and the eviction moratorium are leaving millions without incomes, homes, or adequate funds to feed their families. Food insecurity will soon reach levels higher than seen last spring. "With the stimulus packages approved, many people think food insecurity has returned to 'normal,'" says Mark Roberts." But with more people lacking income and homes, there will be an ever-increasing demand on hunger organizations across the state and around the world. Now, more than ever, we need to do what we can to feed our neighbors." Hurricanes, wildfires, massive heat waves, and droughts all over America and the world this summer are horrific examples of the effect climate change has on food-insecurity and food production. Hundreds of thousands of people in the U.S. and tens of millions worldwide are displaced at this moment, needing emergency food support. Additionally, these disasters have all dramatically reduced food production. "Sadly, this summer's extreme weather has finally brought climate change to the forefront," reflects Mark. "Now, the real-life, immediate effects of natural disasters around the world is apparent. People desperately need our help to survive and rebuild." The beginning of Mark's journey will take place just over the Massachusetts border in Canaan, New York at the Home Range Winery, at 10:30 a.m. on September 18th, featuring refreshments, live music, and guest speakers. Press and public are invited. The launch event will be filmed for YouTube and broadcast on Facebook Live. CONTACT: Website: www.4Hunger.org Email: [email protected] Mark Roberts: 617/722 8222 Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, TikTok: @4paws4hunger YouTube: 4Hunger SOURCE Worthy Causes Inc Related Links 4Hunger.org Ms. Shooter-Dodd has made a significant contribution to Revasum since joining the firm January 2019, initially as Corporate Controller. She was promoted to CFO in November 2020 and took on the additional operating role in May this year. She was previously an auditor in BDO's assurance practice in Sydney and London, and is an ICAEW Charted Accountant, licensed in the UK. In her capacity as CFOO, Ms. Shooter-Dodd has been instrumental in bringing the 6EZ Silicon Carbide (SiC) Wafer Polisher to the market and overseeing the first sales and the initial steps in the tool's commercialization. Under her management, business margins have significantly improved, a sizeable backlog of equipment orders has positioned the Company well for growth in the remainder of the financial year, and she led a successful A$7.9M capital raise. Revasum Director, Kevin Landis, said, "We are extremely pleased to appoint Rebecca Shooter-Dodd to the roles of Company President, Chief Executive Officer and Executive Director. She has performed exceptionally well in leadership roles across the corporate, financial and operational divisions of the Company, and has the right skills set to navigate the Company through its next stage of growth." Mr. Landis continued "We have significantly strengthened our executive team and I feel confident in its ability to lead the Company as we build out our product offering and development, and sales opportunities to enhance earnings and generate shareholder value." Ms. Shooter-Dodd commented, "I appreciate the opportunity the Board of Directors has given me, which is a vote of confidence for the entire Revasum team and clear recognition of the success we are starting to realize." Ms. Shooter-Dodd continued, "The team and I have worked hard to narrow the Company's focus, leverage our core technology strengths, improve execution, and put Revasum on a path for sustainable, profitable growth. I look forward to the challenge of leading this team and to continuing to execute on our overall growth objectives and finish what we have started." THIS ANNOUNCEMENT WAS AUTHORIZED FOR RELEASE BY THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS Company Contact Media Contact Rebecca Shooter-Dodd Jane Munday President and CEO FTI Consulting [email protected] [email protected] +1 (805) 541-6424 +61 488 400 248 Safe Harbor Statement This announcement contains forward-looking statements, which address a variety of subjects including, for example, financial projections, our statements regarding expected events, including expected revenue and earnings, system shipments, expected product offerings, product development, market adoption and technical advances. Statements that are not historical facts, including statements about our beliefs, plans and expectations, are forward-looking statements. Such statements are based on our current expectations and information currently available to management and are subject to a number of factors and uncertainties, many of which are outside the control of the Company, which could cause actual results to differ materially from those described in the forward-looking statements. The Company's management believes that these forward-looking statements are reasonable as and when made. However, you should not place undue reliance on any such forward-looking statements because such statements speak only as of the date they are made. Revasum does not undertake any obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as required by law or the ASX Listing Rules. In addition, forward-looking statements are subject to certain risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results, events and developments to differ materially from our historical experience and our present expectations or projections. About Revasum Revasum (ARBN: 629 268 533) specializes in the design and manufacturing of equipment used for the global semiconductor industry. Revasum's equipment helps drive advanced manufacturing technology for critical growth markets, including automotive, IoT, and 5G. Our product portfolio includes state of the art equipment for the grinding, polishing, and chemical mechanical planarization processes used to manufacture devices for those key end markets. All of Revasum's equipment is designed and developed in close collaboration with our customers. Learn how we create the equipment that generates the technology of today and tomorrow, visit www.revasum.com. SOURCE Revasum, Inc. Related Links http://www.revasum.com HANOVER, Pa., Sept. 13, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- To kick off Oktoberfest festivities, Snyder's of Hanover and Captain Lawrence Brewing Company reunited to blend the iconic flavor of Snyder's of Hanover slow-baked traditional German style pretzels with Captain Lawrence's craft beers to create SnyderBier, the first-ever Snyder's of Hanover pretzel beer collection. Pretzel and beer lovers can visit SnyderBier.com to purchase a 16oz, 4-pack of the two unique flavors, Marzen and Frucht, at $14.99 while supplies last starting at 9:00 am ET on Sept. 13. "With the possibility that Oktoberfest events may need to be cancelled or move to virtual for a second year in a row, we wanted to give consumers an easy way to bring the spirit of the festival home," said Rachel Sasser, Director of Marketing, Pretzels, Nuts and Popcorn, Campbell Snacks. "The mixture of our slow-baked pretzels with Captain Lawrence's refreshing brew is guaranteed to make you want to celebrate Oktoberfest from wherever you are." The beer collection features two flavors Pretzel Marzen and Pretzel Frucht. Pretzel Marzen is a Marzen style lager that blends a classic malty taste with elevated notes of slow-baked Snyder's of Hanover Mini pretzels. A sweet and savory balance, Pretzel Frucht is a gose style ale brewed with Snyder's of Hanover pretzels, passion fruit and guava. In every sip, you'll taste Snyder's slow-baked traditional German style pretzels, all brewed into one can. "Our team at Captain Lawrence loves the challenge of pushing the boundaries to create new and exciting flavors our fans will love, so when Snyder's of Hanover reached out to take our partnership a step further, we said game on," said Scott Vaccaro, Captain Lawrence Founder and Brewmaster. Wondering how you can get your hands on SnyderBier? Visit SnyderBier.com starting at 9:00 am ET on September 13th to purchase a 4-pack of Pretzel Marzen, Pretzel Frucht, or both! Consumers must be 21 years or older to enter the site and order SnyderBier online. SnyderBier will also be available at select retail locations nationwide, while supplies last. After you snag your SnyderBier, be sure to tag @Snyders_Hanover and @CaptLawrence and use #ProstWithPretzels on social media and raise a prost to what matters most! For more information on Snyder's of Hanover, visit SnydersofHanover.com. For more information on Captain Lawrence Brewing Co., visit CaptainLawrenceBrewing.com. About Snyder's of Hanover Since 1909, Snyder's of Hanover has been America's premier pretzel brand. With humble beginnings as a small family-run business in Hanover, Pa., today Snyder's of Hanover offers a full portfolio of innovative pretzels created with the same great quality and wholesome pride that it did over 100 years ago. For more information, visit snydersofhanover.com. About Captain Lawrence Brewing Co. Captain Lawrence Brewing Co. is located just a short drive north of New York City, in Westchester County, NY, where it is the area's largest craft brewery, producing over 28,000 barrels of beer annually. Founded in 2006 by Scott Vaccaro, Captain Lawrence brews a wide range of beer styles, producing as many as one hundred brands in a year. Shortly after opening, the brewery began to gain widespread notoriety for their sour and barrel-aged beers, winning their first of eight GABF medals in 2007. Today, in addition to their award-winning sour beers, Captain Lawrence is widely known for brewing extremely Fresh IPAs, highly drinkable lagers, and a variety of specialty craft beers. Learn more at CaptainLawrenceBrewing.com and keep up with the Captain on Instagram @CaptLawrence. Contact: Nirmala Singh | Zeno Group [email protected] Bethridge Toovell | Campbell Snacks [email protected] SOURCE Campbell Soup Company JAKARTA, Indonesia, Sept. 13, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Republic of Indonesia The Republic of Indonesia (" the Republic ") announced today that it is inviting holders of the bonds set forth in the table below (collectively, the " Old Bonds " and each, a " series " of Old Bonds) to submit offers (the " Offers ") to sell the Old Bonds to the Republic for cash. The invitation to submit Offers to sell Old Bonds for cash described in this announcement is referred to as the " Invitation ." The full terms and conditions of the Invitation are described in the Invitation for Offers dated September 13, 2021 (the " Invitation for Offers "). Old Bonds Outstanding Principal Amount as of September 13, 2021 Maturity Date Series ISIN CUSIP Fixed Price (per U.S. $1,000 Principal Amount) 3.750% Global Bonds due 2022 U.S.$2,000,000,000 April 25, 2022 Regulation S USY20721BC22 Y20721BC2 U.S.$1,022.00 Rule 144A US455780BK15 455780BK1 2.950% Global Bonds due 2023 U.S.$1,000,000,000 January 11, 2023 SEC-registered US455780CC89 455780CC8 U.S.$1,035.00 3.375% Global Bonds due 2023 U.S.$1,500,000,000 April 15, 2023 Regulation S USY20721BD05 Y20721BD0 U.S.$1,048.00 Rule 144A US455780BL97 455780BL9 5.375% Global Bonds due 2023 U.S.$1,000,000,000 October 17, 2023 Regulation S USY20721BH19 Y20721BH1 U.S.$1,102.50 Rule 144A US455780BP02 455780BP0 5.875% Global Bonds due 2024 U.S.$2,000,000,000 January 15, 2024 Regulation S USY20721BJ74 Y20721BJ7 U.S.$1,124.00 Rule 144A US455780BQ84 455780BQ8 4.450% Global Bonds due 2024 U.S.$750,000,000 February 11, 2024 SEC-registered US455780CG93 455780CG9 U.S.$1,092.00 4.125% Global Bonds due 2025 U.S.$2,000,000,000 January 15, 2025 Regulation S USY20721BG36 Y20721BG3 U.S.$1,105.50 Rule 144A US455780BT24 455780BT2 4.750% Global Bonds due 2026 U.S.$2,250,000,000 January 8, 2026 Regulation S USY20721BN86 Y20721BN8 U.S.$1,149.00 Rule 144A US455780BV79 455780BV7 The Republic intends to spend a maximum of U.S.$1.25 billion (the " Maximum Cash Consideration ") for the aggregate Purchase Price (as defined below) of and accrued interest on the Old Bonds purchased pursuant to the Invitation. The Republic reserves the right to increase or decrease the Maximum Cash Consideration in its sole discretion and to terminate the Invitation for any reason. If the Maximum Cash Consideration is not sufficient to purchase all of the Old Bonds offered, Offers for any series of Old Bonds may be subject to proration at the Republic's sole discretion to accept or not accept any or all Offers for any reason, subject to applicable laws. In such scenario, the Republic reserves the right to accept significantly more or less (or none) of Old Bonds of any one series as compared to any other series of Old Bonds. The consideration for the Old Bonds tendered and accepted for purchase pursuant to the Invitation (the price of any Bond being referred to as the " Purchase Price ") will be fixed price set forth in the table above. In addition, the Republic will pay accrued and unpaid interest on the Old Bonds accepted for purchase up to (but not including) the Settlement Date (as defined below). The Republic intends to pay the aggregate Purchase Price of the Old Bonds purchased pursuant to the Invitation and accrued interest and expenses to be borne by the Republic in connection with the Invitation from the proceeds of a contemplated offering and sale by the Republic of one or more series of new bonds (the " New Bonds "). The Invitation is subject to certain conditions, including the successful offering and sale by the Republic of the New Bonds on terms and conditions acceptable to the Republic and collectively providing sufficient funds to pay the aggregate Purchase Price and accrued interest and expenses to be borne by the Republic pursuant to the Invitation (the " Financing Condition "). The Invitation expires at 5:00 p.m., New York City time, on Friday, September 17, 2021, unless the Republic, in its sole discretion, extends it or terminates it earlier (such date and time, the " Expiration Deadline "). Holders of the Old Bonds will not have withdrawal rights with respect to the Invitation. No later than 10:00 a.m., New York City time, on Monday, September 20, 2021, or as soon as practicable thereafter (such date, the " Announcement Date "), the Republic will announce whether the Financing Condition has been satisfied, the principal amount (if any) of each series of Old Bonds accepted for purchase and the proration factors (if any). If the Invitation is consummated, the date on which the Republic pays for the Old Bonds being purchased pursuant to the Invitation (the " Settlement Date ") is expected to be Thursday, September 23, 2021, or as soon as practicable thereafter, subject to any extension of the Expiration Deadline. The information in this announcement is only a summary. You may request a copy of the Invitation for Offers by contacting the Dealer Managers or the Tender and Information Agent at the addresses and telephone numbers set forth below, or you may download the Invitation for Offers at the Invitation website at https://bonds.morrowsodali.com/roi. This announcement is not an offer or a solicitation of offers. The Invitation is made solely by means of the Invitation for Offers. The Invitation does not constitute, and may not be used in connection with, an offer or solicitation by anyone in any jurisdiction where an offer or solicitation is not authorized or in which the person making such offer or solicitation is not qualified to do so or to any person to whom it is unlawful to make such offer or solicitation. THE OFFEROR Ministry of Finance of the Republic of Indonesia Gedung Frans Seda, 2nd Floor Jl. Dr. Wahidin No.1 Jakarta 10710 Indonesia DEALER MANAGERS BofA Securities, Inc. Attention: Liability Management Group One Bryant Park New York, NY 10036 United States Telephone (U.S. Toll Free): +1 (888) 292 0070 Telephone (U.S.): +1 646 855 8988 Telephone (London): +44 20 7996 5420 Email: [email protected] Citigroup Global Markets Inc. Attention: Debt Syndicate Desk / Liability Management Group 388 Greenwich Street New York, NY 10013 United States Telephone: +852 2501 2692/ +1 212 723-0859/ +44 20 7986 8969 Email: [email protected] Credit Agricole Corporate and Investment Bank, Singapore Branch Attention: Debt Origination & Advisory 168 Robinson Road #23-00, Capital Tower Singapore 068912 Telephone: +65 6535 4988 Email: [email protected] The Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation Limited Attention: Liability Management Group Level 17, HSBC Main Building 1 Queen's Road Central Hong Kong Telephone: +852 3941 0223 / +44 20 7992 6237 / +1 212 525 5552 Email: [email protected] UBS AG Singapore Branch Attention: Liability Management, SEA 9 Penang Road Singapore 238459 Telephone: +65 6495 8623 Email: [email protected] TENDER AND INFORMATION AGENT Morrow Sodali Ltd In Hong Kong: Unit 23-106, LKF Tower 33 Wyndham Street, Central Phone: +852 2319 4130 In Stamford: 470 West Ave., Suite 3000 Stamford, CT 06902 Telephone: +1 203 609 4910 In London: 103, Wigmore Street W1U 1QS Telephone: +44 20 4513 6933 Email: [email protected] Invitation Website: https://bonds.morrowsodali.com/roi SOURCE The Republic of Indonesia "For me, any time his name gets mentioned he feels more around. It makes me feel like he is here, and I hope this makes everyone more aware of who he was and what he gave up to protect us, and what he left behind," said Danai Moreno, standing alongside their five children. The emotional ceremony came a day after Tunnel to Towers Chairman and CEO Frank Siller finished his 537-mile 'NEVER FORGET Walk' honoring the lives lost on 9/11. He promised the Foundation would ensure that those who lost their lives helping America recover from 9/11 would never be forgotten. "The tragedy of September 11, 2001, is still unfolding today. We are still losing heroes who spent days and weeks searching through the rubble trying to bring closure to families like mine, who were missing their loved ones," said Siller. He added, "Because of 9/11, thousands upon thousands are getting sick and suffering, and thousands have died of 9/11-related illness. The Tunnel to Towers Foundation has promised to never forget the sacrifices made on 9/11 and all of the sacrifices that have been made and continue to be made ever since. That is why we are here today." The Foundation pays off mortgages on the homes of first responders who lose their lives in the line of duty and leave behind young children. This year, the Foundation expanded this program to include first responders who lose their lives to 9/11-related illnesses. For Jennifer McNamara, the widow of FDNY Firefighter John McNamara, this support means realizing a dream she shared with her late husband. "I am so grateful to the Foundation, which is fulfilling my dream of being able to leave our home to our son mortgage-free. That is a true blessing for us. Ultimately, I am grateful for so many of the faces I see in front of me today. My 9/11 family 9/11 is not over, not for the families who lost someone on that day, or for those who continue to lose people to 9/11 illness. What is also not over is the love and the camaraderie that we all feel today. My wish is that we hold on to that and we remember each day, not just those we lost, but the feelings we have at this very moment," said McNamara. The memorial ceremony, where the names of all those lost to 9/11-related illnesses were read aloud, is the first-ever event of its kind held by the organization and follows the end of the NEVER FORGET Walk: Following the Footsteps of the Fallen, one of the Foundation's signature events to commemorate the attacks on September 11, 2001. Siller started his 42-day, 537-mile journey on August 1 at the Pentagon. He then traveled through Virginia, Maryland, Pennsylvania, New Jersey and New York, where he finished the walk at Ground Zero on the morning of September 11. Siller started his final leg of the walk going through the Brooklyn Battery Tunnel, just as his brother FDNY Firefighter Stephen Siller did 20 years earlier. Frank then walked to FDNY Ten House, home of FDNY Engine 10/Ladder 10, where Stephen once served. "All I was thinking about was my brother. About what he did running through the tunnel that tragic day to help, and to save lives. We lost 2,977 lives that day, including the first responders who willingly ran into those buildings and gave their lives to save over 20,000 people. My brother was a part of that. He'll always be remembered as the firefighter who ran through the tunnel and gave up his life to help others," said Siller. Photos and video from the Never Forget Walk are available here Photos and video from the 9/11- Related Illness Ceremony are available here . The full ceremony is available on the Tunnel to Towers Facebook Page . For more information on Tunnel to Towers' mission to support America's veterans, fallen first responders and Gold Star families, please go to T2T.org and consider donating just $11 per month. About the Tunnel to Towers Foundation The Tunnel to Towers Foundation is dedicated to honoring the sacrifice of FDNY Firefighter Stephen Siller, who laid down his life to save others on September 11, 2001. For 20 years the Foundation has supported our nation's first responders, veterans, and their families by providing these heroes and the families they leave behind with mortgage-free homes. For more about the Tunnel to Towers Foundation and its commitment to DO GOOD, please visit T2T.org . Follow Tunnel to Towers on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram at @Tunnel2Towers. Contact Information Trevor Tamsen - [email protected] - 916-524-0941 SOURCE Tunnel to Towers Foundation Related Links https://t2t.org Utilizing Blockchain technology to improve people's livelihoods and business operations, VBC produces a variety of Blockchain-related services and software solutions. The brand has been recognized with 28 local and international awards, including the 1st Prize of "AIOT & Smart Cities 2019" by QTSC, the Bronze Award from ''Asia Smart App Awards 2020'' by WTIA Hong Kong, and ''Top 10 ICT companies in Vietnam 2021'' by VINASA. "Blockchain technology has the potential to benefit many industries in SEA countries, and we've just scratched the surface of what can be done. VBC wants Vietnam to be the hub of Blockchain experts not only in the country but also in the entire region, to achieve this we will be looking to work with investors and partners across the region," Mr. Do Van Long - CEO of Vietnam Blockchain Corporation. Secure Blockchain innovation for COVID-19 Test Certificate CovidPass.vn is one of VBC's most innovative applications. It is a simple-to-use system that lets users store their COVID-19 test data such as personal information, SARS-CoV-2 virus test results, and certificates in a mobile app with anti-counterfeit. The app provides a specific Blockchain QR code for each user, which they can use to register for tests and present to authorities to verify their test results with trustable information and transparency at various public places as required from other countries. The underlying Blockchain technology makes data in the app more secure than existing data storage methods. It also promotes the accuracy, as Blockchain technology provides verification of all records in the system and linking to national databases. Medical institutions also have access to CovidPass.vn, linking test records to their data while maintaining information security and privacy. "While Blockchain is usually associated with cryptocurrency, this new-age technology also allows new applications to have a higher level of security and accuracy that we haven't seen before," says Do. "With the ongoing pandemic, it's of great importance that we have a secure and easy system to store and manage COVID-19 vaccination, SARS-CoV-2 virus test records, and many others medical records". CovidPass.vn was developed with the help of lecturers from Ho Chi Minh City University of Technology and has already received support from the IT Department of Vietnam's Ministry of Health and Ho Chi Minh City Department of Science & Technology. A Blockchain platform for agriculture traceability and supply chain management VBC has also been leveraging the potential of secure data tracking that Blockchain offers to produce various services. This includes Agridential.vn , a Blockchain platform designed to record, trace, and authenticate information at every stage of the agricultural process, from farming and harvesting to production, supplying & transporting to retailers, then selling to customers and checking the quality of the food on the table. Since 2018, Agridential.vn has provided production management and traceability solutions to many partners and provinces across the country. These include Vietnam's major agricultural producing provinces and wholesale markets for agricultural products, along with 600 enterprises in the Central Highlands. For the international market, we have been working with the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) through International Executive Service Corps (IESC) and KPMG Vietnam to provide a traceability solution for agricultural SMEs. With Agridential.vn, Vietnam is gradually improving and solving the urgent needs of the country's agriculture, and better preparing "Made-in-Vietnam" products to be exported internationally and adapting to FTAs requirements. About Vietnam Blockchain Corporation Established in 2016, Vietnam Blockchain Corporation is a pioneer in Blockchain technology in the country. Its Agridential.vn and CovidPass.vn are the first to leverage Blockchain technology to respond to the needs presented by the social challenges in the agricultural sector in Vietnam and the ongoing pandemic. Since its inception, VBC has created multiple Blockchain-based services and applications for Agriculture, Manufacturing, Supply Chain, Logistics, E-Commerce, Sharing Economy, Financial Technology, Public Services, and Smart Cities. The company is recognized by The Department of Science and Technology of Ho Chi Minh City as a Science and Technology Enterprise. VBC will continue to work with the Vietnam government to further expand the market reach and solve social problems. With the funding, VBC will also be able to further expand its engineering resources and presence in Vietnam. For more information, please visit: https://vietnamblockchain.asia SOURCE Vietnam Blockchain Corporation Related Links https://vietnamblockchain.asia Frank Buitenwerf, recognized for domestic and international tax expertise, joins A&M AMSTERDAM, Sept. 13, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Leading global professional services firm Alvarez & Marsal (A&M) has announced that Frank Buitenwerf has joined the firm as a Managing Director, based in Amsterdam, with Alvarez & Marsal Benelux BV (A&M Benelux). Mr. Buitenwerf's appointment builds A&M Benelux's strategic expansion of cross-borders tax capabilities and the bench strength of recent hires Marc Sanders in the Benelux and U.K. and Blagovest Petkov in the U.S. Mr. Buitenwerf has more than 15 years of experience with domestic and international taxation issues. He specializes in international taxation and M&A tax such as buy- and sell-side tax due diligence, tax structuring and post-merger integration solutions. Additionally, he advises on numerous transaction concerns, including strategic deal guidance, vendor due diligence, structuring, modeling, and sales and purchase agreements (SPA) and negotiations, for corporate as well as private equity buyers and sellers. Mr. Buitenwerf has worked across several industries, including healthcare, software and technology, energy, consulting, manufacturing and infrastructure. Prior to joining A&M, he served as an Associate Partner with EY's transaction tax department working on both buy-side and sell-side engagements for multi-national corporations and private equity firms. Previously, Mr. Buitenwerf had served as a tax attorney for VMW Taxand and Deloitte. "Frank's hire advances A&M's tax offering in the Benelux and globally. As we emerge from COVID-19, transaction tax challenges will continue to multiply along with the need to maximize opportunities, value and growth for clients," said Ernesto Perez, Managing Director and Global Practice Leader of A&M's tax practice. "The expansion of our Benelux-based tax capabilities, combined with our pan-European and U.S. bench strength, dovetails with A&M's boots-on-the-ground, global leader network approach to solving for complex problems." "Aligned with our leadership, action, results credo, Frank's appointment enhances our ability to meet the market's current needs and prepare for future concerns," said Marvin Rust, Managing Director with Alvarez & Marsal and head of A&M's Europe tax practice. "The collective experience of Frank and Marc Sanders connects with A&M's operational heritage and extends our ability to address clients' transaction tax challenges across the Netherlands, Europe and internationally." "A&M's expanding transaction tax capabilities in the Benelux demonstrates its commitment to the market," said Marc Sanders, Managing Director with A&M in Amsterdam and leader of the firm's Dutch tax practice. "I have worked together with Frank for over 10 years and am very happy to continue working with Frank at A&M. Together we will further build the Dutch tax team. Frank's joining enhances our ability to deliver solutions for multinationals and private equity firms, amidst an evolving tax landscape." Mr. Buitenwerf earned a master's degree in Dutch civil law and a master's degree in Dutch tax law from VU University Amsterdam. He is a member of the Dutch Association of Tax Advisors and was previously a member of the Dutch Bar Association. About Alvarez & Marsal Companies, investors and government entities around the world turn to Alvarez & Marsal (A&M) for leadership, action and results. Privately held since its founding in 1983, A&M is a leading global professional services firm that provides advisory, business performance improvement and turnaround management services. When conventional approaches are not enough to create transformation and drive change, clients seek our deep expertise and ability to deliver practical solutions to their unique problems. With over 5,400 people across four continents, we deliver tangible results for corporates, boards, private equity firms, law firms and government agencies facing complex challenges. Our senior leaders, and their teams, leverage A&M's restructuring heritage to help companies act decisively, catapult growth and accelerate results. We are experienced operators, world-class consultants, former regulators and industry authorities with a shared commitment to telling clients what's really needed for turning change into a strategic business asset, managing risk and unlocking value at every stage of growth. To learn more, visit: AlvarezandMarsal.com. Follow A&M on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Facebook. CONTACT: Will Thomas Headland Consultancy, 212-763-9853 Sandra Sokoloff Director of Global Public Relations, Alvarez & Marsal, 212-763-9853 Gerelateerde links https://www.alvarezandmarsal.com/ SOURCE Alvarez & Marsal The increasing demand from manufacturing industries will offer immense growth opportunities. To leverage the current opportunities, market vendors must strengthen their foothold in the fast-growing segments, while maintaining their positions in the slow-growing segments. The gas masks market is fragmented, and the degree of fragmentation will accelerate during the forecast period. Gas Masks Market 2021-2025: Segmentation Gas Masks Market is segmented as below: Product Disposable Respirators PAPR SAR SCBA Geography APAC North America Europe South America MEA Learn about additional the factors assisting the growth of the market, download a free sample: https://www.technavio.com/talk-to-us?report=IRTNTR44174 Gas Masks Market 2021-2025: Vendor Analysis and Scope To help businesses improve their market position, the gas masks market provides a detailed analysis of around 25 vendors operating in the market. Some of these vendors include 3M Co., Avon Polymer Products Ltd., Dragerwerk AG and Co. KGaA, Honeywell International Inc., Kimberly-Clark Corp., Moldex-Metric Inc., MSA Safety Inc., RPB Safety LLC, RSG Safety BV, and Sundstrom Safety Inc. The report also covers the following areas: Gas Masks Market size Gas Masks Market trends Gas Masks Market industry analysis The gas masks market is fragmented, and the degree of fragmentation will accelerate. The presence of stringent and comprehensive safety regulations will offer immense growth opportunities. However, the need for regular maintenance will hamper the market growth. Register for a free trial today and gain instant access to 17,000+ market research reports. Technavio's SUBSCRIPTION platform Backed with competitive intelligence and benchmarking, our research report on the gas masks market is designed to provide entry support, customer profile & M&As as well as go-to-market strategy support. Related Reports on Energy Include: Global Electrical Protective Equipment Market - Global electrical protective equipment market is segmented by product (PC, HAPM, HEFPM, and FLP) and geography (North America, APAC, Europe, MEA, and South America). Download Exclusive Free Sample Report Global Digital Oilfield Market - Global digital oilfield market is segmented by technology (software, services, and hardware) and geography (MEA, North America, Europe, APAC, and South America). Download Exclusive Free Sample Report Gas Masks Market 2021-2025: Key Highlights CAGR of the market during the forecast period 2021-2025 Detailed information on factors that will assist gas masks market growth during the next five years Estimation of the gas masks market size and its contribution to the parent market Predictions on upcoming trends and changes in consumer behavior The growth of the gas masks market Analysis of the market's competitive landscape and detailed information on vendors Comprehensive details of factors that will challenge the growth of gas masks market vendors Table of Contents: Executive Summary Market Landscape Market ecosystem Value chain analysis Market Sizing Market definition Market segment analysis Market size 2020 Market outlook: Forecast for 2020 - 2025 Five Forces Analysis Five forces analysis 2020 & 2025 Bargaining power of buyers Bargaining power of suppliers Threat of new entrants Threat of substitutes Threat of rivalry Market condition Market Segmentation by Product Market segments Comparison by Product Disposable respirators - Market size and forecast 2020-2025 PAPR - Market size and forecast 2020-2025 SAR - Market size and forecast 2020-2025 SCBA - Market size and forecast 2020-2025 Market opportunity by Product Customer landscape Geographic Landscape Geographic segmentation Geographic comparison APAC - Market size and forecast 2020-2025 North America - Market size and forecast 2020-2025 - Market size and forecast 2020-2025 Europe - Market size and forecast 2020-2025 - Market size and forecast 2020-2025 South America - Market size and forecast 2020-2025 - Market size and forecast 2020-2025 MEA - Market size and forecast 2020-2025 Key leading countries Market opportunity by geography Market drivers Market challenges Market trends Vendor Landscape Overview Landscape disruption Vendor Analysis Vendors covered Market positioning of vendors 3M Co. Avon Polymer Products Ltd. Dragerwerk AG and Co. KGaA Honeywell International Inc. Kimberly-Clark Corp. Moldex-Metric Inc. MSA Safety Inc. RPB Safety LLC RSG Safety BV Sundstrom Safety Inc. Appendix Scope of the report Currency conversion rates for US$ Research methodology List of abbreviations About Us Technavio is a leading global technology research and advisory company. Their research and analysis focus on emerging market trends and provides actionable insights to help businesses identify market opportunities and develop effective strategies to optimize their market positions. With over 500 specialized analysts, Technavio's report library consists of more than 17,000 reports and counting, covering 800 technologies, spanning across 50 countries. Their client base consists of enterprises of all sizes, including more than 100 Fortune 500 companies. This growing client base relies on Technavio's comprehensive coverage, extensive research, and actionable market insights to identify opportunities in existing and potential markets and assess their competitive positions within changing market scenarios. Contact Technavio Research Jesse Maida Media & Marketing Executive US: +1 844 364 1100 UK: +44 203 893 3200 Email: [email protected] Website: www.technavio.com/ SOURCE Technavio Related Links https://www.technavio.com/ TAMPA, Fla., RACINE/KENOSHA, Wis., SHEBOYGAN, Wis., and MILWAUKEE, Sept. 13, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Collaborative Health Systems (CHS) announced today the Accountable Care Coalition (ACC) of Southeast Wisconsin generated $991,021 in total savings in 2020 for the Medicare Shared Savings Program (MSSP), according to figures released by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS). The ACC of Southeast Wisconsin has participated in the MSSP program since its beginning and each year has generated savings. Since 2013, the ACO has achieved $84.7 million in total savings and $42.3 million in shared savings for the program. In 2020, the ACC of Southeast Wisconsin served 8,900 Medicare beneficiaries across Wisconsin and generated $479,988 in shared savings. The ACC of Southeast Wisconsin partnered with CHS to improve care and quality outcomes through timely and preventive care. Leveraging innovative technology to track population health trends, CHS supported Southeast Wisconsin to meet annual quality standards, and, most recently, helped them achieve an average quality score of 96.9%. This high-quality level of care has helped keep patients out of the hospital and ER resulting in a 10% decrease in inpatient visits per 1,000 since 2018 and an 18% decrease in ER visits per 1,000 since 2018, its most recent benchmark year1. "We are encouraged by the continued performance of value-based care and the ACO model year-over-year," said Dr. Hector Lopez, Medical Director for the ACC of Southeast Wisconsin. "Beyond the savings for the Medicare Shared Savings Program, the support and structure ensures we deliver high-quality, preventive care that can help improve the lives of our beneficiaries." "Once again, the ACC of Southeast Wisconsin has demonstrated how value-based care can help independent providers thrive over time," said Anthony Valdes, President of Collaborative Health Systems. "We are committed to supporting our provider partners throughout Wisconsin as they work to manage costs and deliver exceptional care." Medicare ACOs are groups of doctors, hospitals, and other healthcare providers who come together voluntarily to provide coordinated, high-quality care to their Medicare beneficiaries. The Shared Savings Program offers providers and suppliers an opportunity to create an ACO, which agrees to be held accountable for the quality, cost, and experience of care of an assigned Medicare Fee-For-Service (FFS) beneficiary population. The Shared Savings Program has different tracks that allow ACOs to select an arrangement that makes the most sense for their organization. For more information about Collaborative Health Systems and its ACO partners, visit www.CollaborativeHealthSystems.com . About Collaborative Health Systems Collaborative Health Systems (CHS) is a management services organization that partners with independent primary care physicians as they move to value-based models. Its core belief is that primary care physicians are in the best position to influence the quality and cost of healthcare. CHS provides comprehensive support for its physician partners by providing management services, risk contracting, and population health capabilities, including actionable data and other tools, to deliver care coordination and closure of gaps in care. CHS provides additional services to secure and deliver favorable value-based contracts with commercial and other health plans. CHS currently manages two Next Generation ACOs, one Direct Contracting entity, eight MSSP ACOs, a Care Transformation Organization, and three Independent Practice Associations. CHS is a wholly owned subsidiary of Centene Corporation. 1Benchmark year 3 for ACC of Southeast Wisconsin in the MSSP program. SOURCE Collaborative Health Systems IRVINE, Calif., Sept. 13, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- AIVITA Biomedical, Inc., a private biotechnology company specializing in innovative cell therapies, today announced results from its Phase 2 clinical study testing AIVITA's anti-SARS-CoV-2 Vaccine Enabling Kit, which allows any minimally-equipped facility to make personalized COVID-19 vaccines during the course of 2 patient visits one week apart. The Phase 2 study showed that the personalized vaccine generates an enhanced immune memory response to SARS-CoV-2 in 96% of vaccinated subjects, in an environment dominated by the delta variant. The study also demonstrated that the personalized vaccine generates very few and low grade adverse events, with no serious adverse events. The randomized and double-blinded study enrolled 145 subjects ages 19.5-82.8 years, to investigate three different quantities of S-protein incubated with each subject's own dendritic cell-lymphocyte product to produce the vaccine. Blood samples were collected to assess immune memory response at the time of vaccination, and 2 and 4 weeks later. Immune response was determined using enzyme-linked immune spots (ELISpot) assays to directly detect enhanced SARS-CoV-2-responsive immune memory cells. Indeed, the cellular nature of this vaccine renders it unique in it's ability to provide a direct cell-mediated immune memory following vaccination. An immune memory response against SARS-CoV-2 was enhanced in 96% of vaccinated subjects; subjects that had an ongoing SARS-CoV-2 response prior to vaccination were omitted from efficacy calculations, as this would infer a prior SARS-CoV-2 natural infection or a prior SARS-CoV-2 vaccine. There was no difference among the three formulations. All 3 formulations of the vaccine were well-tolerated with no high-grade or serious adverse events reported. The percentage of patients showing any toxicity was 52.9%, with the percentage of patients showing grade 1 adverse events being 47.1% and the percentage of patients showing grade 2 adverse events being 5.8%. Three days after vaccination, there were no new types of adverse events nor worsening of pre-existing laboratory abnormalities. None of the laboratory abnormalities were felt to be clinically significant by the local investigators and none were attributed to the vaccine. "Our product is unique amongst COVID-19 vaccines in that it is a medical device, not a drug," said Hans S. Keirstead, Ph.D., chief executive officer at AIVITA. "Our Vaccine-Enabling Kit allows any country to generate personalized vaccines in their own hospitals or minimally-equipped healthcare facilities." "Having only 53% of subjects experience adverse events is much lower than that reported for other COVID-19 vaccines that are currently available, for which 90-100% of subjects reported adverse events," said Robert Dillman, M.D., chief medical officer of AIVITA. "The vast majority of adverse events reported by subjects were characterized as mild, that is, grade 1 in severity, befitting a personalized vaccine." AIVITA's Vaccine Enabling Kit is designed for emerging nations, and individuals who desire a personalized vaccine. Thus, the randomized double-blind Phase 2 clinical trial was run in Indonesia, where high SARS-CoV-2 infection rates have facilitated several COVID-19 vaccine clinical studies. AIVITA's study was led by RSPAD Gatot Soebroto Army (President's) Hospital in Jakarta, in collaboration with PT Rama Emerald Multi Sukses and AIVITA Biomedical subsidiary PT AIVITA Biomedika Indonesia. AIVITA Biomedical is pre-releasing its findings due to the urgent need for solutions to the global pandemic. A manuscript further detailing the results from this Phase 2 and AIVITA's prior Phase 1B clinical study for COVID-19 is being prepared for publication. Phase 1B study of AV-COVID-19 in Indonesia A previous Phase 1B study was completed in Indonesia of 31 healthy Indonesia subjects including 28 randomized in a 3x3 design. In that study, all 9 formulations were well-tolerated with no acute allergic reactions. 33 adverse events were reported by 20 subjects (65%). 85% were mild (grade 1) and 15% moderate (grade 2) in severity with most adverse events characterized as local injection site reactions or systemic flu-like symptoms such as headache, arthralgias or myalgias. There were no grade 3 or 4 adverse events and there were no serious adverse events. Laboratory tests were unremarkable. This data was reviewed by a US data safety monitoring board (DSMB). About AIVITA's Vaccine-Enabling Kit AIVITA's Vaccine-Enabling Kit enables a subject-specific personal vaccine that consists of autologous dendritic cells and lymphocytes incubated with a quantity of SARS-CoV-2 spike protein. Creation of the vaccine requires basic laboratory techniques and AIVITA's ready-made kit of materials. Treatment starts with a blood draw, from which the subject's own immune cells are isolated and monocytes matured into antigen presenting dendritic cells. The patient's dendritic cells and lymphocytes are incubated with spike protein and delivered as a single-dose of preventative vaccine via a single subcutaneous injection. About AIVITA Biomedical Founded in 2016 by pioneers in the cell therapy industry, AIVITA Biomedical, Inc. utilizes its expertise in stem cell growth and directed, high-purity differentiation to enable safe, efficient and economical manufacturing systems which support its therapeutic pipeline. Our cancer immunotherapy targets the seed of all cancers, tumor-initiating cells, with a unique pan-antigenic approach that targets all neoantigens specific to the patient's cancer. Our patient-specific cancer treatments have shown tremendous promise in eradicating tumors, without harmful side effects, in melanoma and glioblastoma clinical studies. Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements This communication contains statements that constitute "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, as applicable. Forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, statements regarding our plans, beliefs, expectations and assumptions, as well as other statements that are not necessarily historical facts. You are cautioned that these forward-looking statements are only predictions and involve risks and uncertainties. Further, any forward-looking statement speaks only as of the date as of which it is made, and we do not intend to update or revise any forward-looking statements. This communication also contains market data related to our business and industry which includes projections that are based on a number of assumptions we believe are reasonable and most significant to the projections as of the date of this communication. If any of our assumptions prove to be incorrect, our actual results may significantly differ from our projections based on these assumptions. This communication is neither an offer to sell nor a solicitation of an offer to buy any of the securities described herein. SOURCE AIVITA Biomedical, Inc. CARY, N.C. and BASEL, Switzerland, Sept. 13, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Altavant Sciences, a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on patient-centric drug development in rare respiratory diseases, presented an e-poster at the European Respiratory Society annual congress highlighting the protocol and design of the ongoing double-blind, placebo-controlled ELEVATE 2 (NCI NCT04712669) Phase 2b study of rodatristat ethyl (rodatristat) in patients with pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH). Howard Lazarus, MD, Chief Medical Officer of Altavant and lead author of the ERS poster, explained, "Rodatristat is a novel molecule with a different mechanism of action than currently available PAH medications. It has been shown in animal models to reduce pulmonary vascular remodeling, which is characteristic of PAH, more effectively than was observed with a currently available treatment regimen. We are excited to be able to offer this experimental medicine to PAH patients in our clinical trial." Rodatristat acts by lowering synthesis of serotonin in the periphery. This is important as excessive serotonin production has been associated with the development of PAH. In an animal model of PAH in which the pulmonary vasculature is constricted using a combination of a vascular endothelial growth factor receptor antagonist and hypoxia, rodatristat was shown to reduce levels of peripheral serotonin synthesis, reduce PAH-like remodeling and lower mean pulmonary arterial pressure (mPAP) more effectively than ambrisentan plus tadalafil, a combination often prescribed for PAH. Peripheral serotonin lowering was substantiated in two dose-range finding studies in healthy volunteers where twice-daily oral administration of rodatristat reduced peripheral serotonin levels by up to ~60%. These findings were taken into consideration, along with results from a proprietary dose-response computer model, when selecting twice-daily doses of 300 mg and 600 mg of rodatristat for patients randomized into the treatment arms of ELEVATE 2. The e-poster, titled: "ELEVATE 2: A multicenter study of rodatristat ethyl in patients with WHO Group 1 pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH)" and corresponding audio narration will be available on the ERS Congress platform until December 31, 2021 for registered participants. Following the society's embargo policy, the e-poster will be made available on the publications page of the Altavant website. For more information on the ELEVATE 2 study, including eligibility and enrollment criteria, please visit ELEVATEPAHStudy.com. About Altavant Sciences Altavant Sciences is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on elevating patient-centric drug development in rare respiratory diseases. Altavant is currently developing two pipeline candidates: rodatristat ethyl and ALTA-2530. Rodatristat ethyl is a tryptophan hydroxylase (TPH) inhibitor in Phase 2 development for patients with pulmonary arterial hypertension. By reducing serotonin production via TPH inhibition rodatristat ethyl may play a role in halting or reversing the vascular remodeling associated with PAH, offering a novel treatment option for patients living with this disease. ALTA-2530 is an inhaled interleukin-1 receptor antagonist under development for bronchiolitis obliterans syndrome (BOS), a life-threatening form of chronic lung allograft dysfunction (CLAD) that may present following lung transplantation. ALTA-2530's unique mechanism of action may offer a novel treatment option for patients who suffer from BOS, a disease where there are currently no approved therapies. Altavant is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Sumitovant Biopharma Ltd. For more information, please visit https://altavant.com. About Sumitovant Biopharma Ltd. Sumitovant is a global biopharmaceutical company with offices in New York City and London. Sumitovant is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Sumitomo Dainippon Pharma Co., Ltd. Sumitovant is the majority shareholder of Myovant, and wholly-owns Enzyvant, Spirovant, Urovant, and Altavant. Sumitovant's pipeline is comprised of early- through late-stage investigational medicines across a range of disease areas targeting high unmet need. For further information about Sumitovant please visit https://www.sumitovant.com/. About Sumitomo Dainippon Pharma Co., Ltd. Sumitomo Dainippon Pharma is among the top-ten listed pharmaceutical companies in Japan, operating globally in major pharmaceutical markets, including Japan, the U.S., China and other Asian countries. Sumitomo Dainippon Pharma is based on the merger in 2005 between Dainippon Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd., and Sumitomo Pharmaceuticals Co., Ltd. Today, Sumitomo Dainippon Pharma has more than 7,000 employees worldwide. Additional information about Sumitomo Dainippon Pharma is available through its corporate website at https://www.ds-pharma.com/. Forward-Looking Statements This press release contains "forward-looking statements" concerning the development and commercialization of Altavant's products, the company's business development efforts and its expectations regarding its prospects. Forward-looking statements are subject to risks, assumptions and uncertainties that could cause actual future events or results to differ materially from such statements. These statements are made as of the date of this press release. Actual results may vary. Altavant undertakes no obligation to update any forward-looking statements for any reason. SOURCE Altavant Sciences Related Links https://altavant.com/ ST. LOUIS, Sept. 13, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- For the third year in a row, Site Selection Magazine has designated Ameren Corporation as a Top Utility in Economic Development. This recognition includes work in Illinois and Missouri. Utilities are judged on multiple criteria including innovative business programs and incentives as well as job-creating infrastructure. "The Ameren Missouri Smart Energy Plan is making a difference for businesses looking to put down roots in Missouri or expand operations," said Marty Lyons, chairman and president of Ameren Missouri. "We continue to offer one of the most favorable economic development rates in the country. With this incentive, we have helped to bring 5,000 new direct jobs to Missouri while retaining an additional 4,200 jobs. These companies help to grow the communities we serve every day." "The availability of a flexible, modern electric grid and natural gas infrastructure, stable rates and creative utility incentives are among the factors cited by business leaders in their decisions to expand or relocate in downstate Illinois," said Richard Mark, chairman and president of Ameren Illinois. "We're proud to be recognized by Site Selection for the progress we have made in increasing service reliability while maintaining affordable rates for our customers." Ameren's focus on delivering reliable and affordable energy drives economic growth in the bi-state region. Ameren Missouri's economic development incentive has resulted in 26 announced projects in the region bringing more than $2.7 billion in new capital investment. In Illinois, the company's economic development incentives have resulted in 30 expansions in the region and created 3,800 new jobs. The complete list of Top Utilities in Economic Development appears in the September 2021 issue of Site Selection Magazine and appears online at www.siteselection.com. This is the seventh time Ameren has earned the distinction, having previously been named to the list in 2007, 2011, 2012, 2017, 2019 and 2020. Ameren remains focused on delivering distinctive long-term value to customers by effectively managing significant energy infrastructure investments over the next five years through Ameren Missouri's Smart Energy Plan, as well as Ameren Illinois' Modernization Action Plan, both of which were designed to make the energy grid stronger, smarter and cleaner. About Ameren St. Louis-based Ameren Corporation powers the quality of life for 2.4 million electric customers and more than 900,000 natural gas customers in a 64,000-square-mile area through its Ameren Missouri and Ameren Illinois rate-regulated utility subsidiaries. Ameren Illinois provides electric transmission and distribution service and natural gas distribution service. Ameren Missouri provides electric service generation, transmission and distribution services, as well as, natural gas distribution service. Ameren Transmission Company of Illinois develops, owns and operates rate-regulated electric transmission projects. For more information, visit Ameren.com, or follow us on Twitter at @AmerenCorp, Facebook.com/AmerenCorp, or LinkedIn.com/company/Ameren. SOURCE Ameren Corporation Related Links http://www.ameren.com This year-long partnership marks the second consecutive deal between OpenFortune and Americas Cardroom. The two industry leaders are expanding their reach by placing millions of branded fortune cookies across most of the U.S., to attract existing and prospective poker players dining in Chinese restaurants and ordering at-home delivery. Michael Harris, spokesperson for Americas Cardroom commented on the partnership, "People believe that their fortune cookie brings them luck. We saw a natural fit with fortune cookies and playing poker. OpenFortune's scale, and their ability to place QR codes on the slips, allows Americas Cardroom to drive awareness, online engagement, and new player registrations. We are very excited to continue this momentum." The fortune cookie slips will contain a traditional fortune message with lucky numbers on the front, while the back has branded messaging alongside a QR code driving to an experience to play for prizes up to $1,000,000. OpenFortune's Chief Cookie Officer Matt Williams said, "The surprise of the fortune cookie slip after a meal, along with the opportunity to win prize money, shows players an interactive advertising experience that really enhances the excitement of online poker. The continued success of the Americas Cardroom partnership further solidifies fortune cookie slips as the gold standard for QR code interaction, and we look forward to continuing reaching players in such an engaging way." For more information on the partnership, visit OpenFortune.com . About OpenFortune OpenFortune is a media platform that distributes over 1 billion traditional, branded fortune cookies to its network of over 21,000 restaurants across the U.S. OpenFortune partners include Capital One, Coca-Cola, Mondelez, Zelle, Disney, Purple, Grubhub, IL Lottery and more. About Americas Cardroom Americas Cardroom joined the Winning Poker Network in 2011. The Winning Poker Network has been dealing cards since 2001 and continues to be one of the most trusted names in the industry. Rated first place for payment processing and cashout reliability repeatedly over the last few years, Americas Cardroom offers outstanding customer service and a friendly environment for all poker players around the world. CONTACT: Nicole Christopoul, [email protected] SOURCE OpenFortune Related Links https://www.openfortune.com PEEKSKILL, N.Y., Sept. 13, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Angels on Call Homecare is preparing to host weekly hiring events on Wednesdays at 126 Union Ave Peekskill, NY 10566 on the front lawn. Here, potential employees can learn more about the available careers, benefits of working for Angels on Call Homecare, and whether they'd be a good fit for specific positions. Angels on Call Homecare was created to provide professional care to patients in the comfort of their own homes, including respite, end-of-life, hospice, memory, and disability care, as well as other specialized services. The company offers both medical and non-medical attention and care for those in need. The healthcare company opened in 2005 when registered nurse Pamela Fitzpatrick decided she wanted to make medical care more convenient for patients. Each caretaker at Angels on Call Homecare is highly trained, experienced, certified, and caring, providing the best care possible to each and every patient. The team is looking to expand and is in need of spirited, compassionate, dependable, and innovative individuals who are able to form healthy relationships with each of their patients. Angels on Call Homecare proudly offers a range of excellent benefits for each employee, including competitive, weekly pay, flexible hours, paid time off for both full and part-time positions, convenient assignments, mileage reimbursement, insurance and 401Ks, and so much more. The weekly hiring events will dive into each of these benefits extensively. Available positions include Home Health Aides, Registered Nurses, CNAs, Licensed Practical Nurses, and Personal Care Assistants. Potential applicants will have an opportunity to learn more about the specifics of each of these positions at the weekly hiring events. The company is eager to expand their team and welcome qualified, caring individuals to help provide comfortable, skilled care to each patient. For those interested in attending one of the weekly hiring events to learn more about the available positions, visit Angels on Call Homecare at www.angelsoncallinc.com to learn more. About Angels on Call Homecare Angels on Call Homecare is a licensed home care service agency that aims to provide in-home care to patients with a wide range of conditions. With an experienced, caring staff, they are able to provide specialized care to patients across New York State. They aim to match patients with a staff member that best suits their needs in order to provide the highest level of care possible. For more information about Angels on Call Homecare, visit www.angelsoncallinc.com . Contact Information Farra Lanzer [email protected] 720-296-4879 SOURCE Angels on Call Homecare Related Links http://www.angelsoncallinc.com BIRMINGHAM, Ala., Sept. 13, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Anthony C. Ifediba is being recognized by Continental Who's Who as a Distinguished Attorney for his work in the field of Law, and in acknowledgment of his work at his firm Ifediba Law Group PC. Anthony C. Ifediba has over twenty years of experience in Personal Injury Law and Mass Torts Law. Mr. Ifediba established his law firm, Ifediba Law Group PC, in 2004. About his work, he has said, "I am smart, determined, and work aggressively for the best interest of my client." Anthony C. Ifediba Only two years after graduating from law school, Mr. Ifediba settled his first million-dollar lawsuit. He has continued this success at his private firm, Ifediba Law Group PC, working with numerous clients for over two decades. He is proud to have recovered more than $100 million in settlements and verdicts to restore justice to his clients. Mr. Ifediba enjoys meeting with new clients, and offers free consultations to see how Ifediba Law Group PC can help them. Mr. Ifediba's clients come to his firm with many types of issues, including personal injury, mass torts, consumer protection, product liability for defective products, environmental law, business law, and more. He believes that compassion for his clients is key to his success, and he is proud to be a strong advocate for justice. Mr. Ifediba has represented people in the District Courts, State Courts, and the Supreme Court. He is currently licensed in Washington DC and Alabama, but he has consulted on cases both in the United States and internationally. He is dedicated to working smarter and harder than his opponents, and this attitude has led him to win many successful cases. Ifediba Law Group PC has a long list of clients who have received significant settlements and compensation for their claims. Mr. Ifediba has been awarded for his many years in the legal field with a recognition of "Top Attorney of North America" in 2021 by Who's Who PR. To obtain his education, Mr. Ifediba attended Nnamdi Azikiwe University, where he graduated with honors. He received his Bachelor of Science degree in Political Science from the Anambra State in Nigeria. In 2001, Mr. Ifediba graduated with his Juris Doctor degree with honors from the Appalachian School of Law in Grundy, VA. He is a member of the Trial Lawyers Association. On a personal note, Mr. Ifediba is a member of the Our Lady of the Valley Catholic Church. For more information, visit https://ifediba.com/. Contact: Katherine Green, 516-825-5634, [email protected] SOURCE Continental Who's Who Related Links http://www.continentalwhoswho.com "Our faculty, staff and alumni have many reasons to be proud of the school's impactful legacy of advancing forestry, wildlife and natural resources that extends well beyond the borders of our state and region." Since the 1800s, Auburn's forestry program has synonymously evolved with the country's growth. In response to the increased demand for trained professionals to manage forests and timber operations, the Agricultural and Mechanical College of Alabama, now Auburn University, began teaching forestry courses as early as 1896. However, it wasn't until 1946 that the College of Agriculture, at the time considered a school, recognized forestry as a standalone program in the Department of Horticulture and Forestry, and soon thereafter as the Department of Forestry in 1947. With a greater need for a science-based foundation in forest management, the Department of Forestry continued to progress over the next three decades to become the School of Forestry in 1984. In 1999, the school changed again by adding several wildlife faculty from the Department of Zoology and Entomology and became what is now the School of Forestry and Wildlife Sciences. With a steadily increasing number of faculty, staff and students, the school constructed the state-of-the-art Forestry and Wildlife Sciences Building in 2005. Since that time, the School of Forestry and Wildlife Sciences has experienced substantial growth, not only in terms of the number of students, faculty and staff, but also in the diverse array of programs it has established to address the emerging needs of industry and government, including undergraduate majors such as geospatial and environmental informatics, natural resource management, sustainable biomaterials and packaging, and wildlife enterprise management. The school has also expanded its online learning platforms to offer an online non-thesis Master of Natural Resources and Master of Forest Business and Investment degree, coupled with professional certification programs in Restoration Ecology, One Health and Forest Finance and Investment. During the anniversary celebration year, the school is highlighting notable alumni and students with a series of virtual and in-person events, including a speaker series, graduate research symposium, awards banquet and other social events such as a homecoming tailgate, dean's forum and alumni social. The anniversary celebration will conclude with a signature gala in the spring of 2022. Alavalapati said planning the yearlong celebration has been a considerable effort. "We are incredibly grateful to the committee members who have given their time to create a memorable year for the faculty, staff, students and alumni," he said. Faculty members Becky Barlow and Mark Smith serve as co-chairs of the anniversary planning committee, which includes alumni Glenn Glover '73, faculty emeritus; William Green '14, director of Alabama Treasure Forest Landowners Association; and Frank Walburn '79, senior vice president, Regions Bank Natural Resources and Real Estate Division; and staff members Jamie Anderson, Heather Crozier, Paula Davis and Sue Robinson. In addition to the celebration events, the school has marked the anniversary with the publication of "75 Years of Forestry and Wildlife Sciences at Auburn University," a chronicle of Auburn's forestry and wildlife programs, written by Auburn alumnus Arthur L. Slotkin '68, author of eight books concerning the history of science and technology. Visitors to the website, sfws.auburn.edu, can purchase the book online, learn more about the school's history by perusing the interactive milestone timeline and photo archive, submit photos and other memorabilia and obtain more information about the anniversary celebration. Auburn University is a nationally ranked land grant institution recognized for its commitment to world-class scholarship, interdisciplinary research with an elite, top-tier Carnegie R1 classification, life-changing outreach with Carnegie's Community Engagement designation and an undergraduate education experience second to none. Auburn is home to more than 30,000 students, and its faculty and research partners collaborate to develop and deliver meaningful scholarship, science and technology-based advancements that meet pressing regional, national and global needs. Auburn's commitment to active student engagement, professional success and public/private partnership drives a growing reputation for outreach and extension that delivers broad economic, health and societal impact. SOURCE Auburn University Related Links http://www.auburn.edu "We had to move quickly in order to buy this hotel outside of a traditional marketing process," said Chad Cooley, co-founder and managing partner of AWH Partners. "We are extremely pleased to have the opportunity to partner again with The Roxborough Group, a San Francisco based real estate private equity firm. Together, AWH Partners and The Roxborough Group brought industry-leading expertise to the sourcing, structuring, and execution of this hospitality and high street retail investment." First opened in 1915, the 189-key property is less than one block from Union Square, the heart of San Francisco's shopping and tourism district, and is one of the best located hotels in the city of San Francisco. Each guestroom has a 55-inch LCD television with premium movie channels, a mini refrigerator, ample workspace, a personal electronic safe, and plush pillows and linens. The property has three meeting rooms, totaling 1,400 square feet of meeting space, a business center, a fitness center, valet parking, and a lobby bar. The renovations to the property are slated for completion by the end of 2022. "The opportunity to acquire an exceptionally well-located and historically high-performing hotel, in a irreplaceable location and reposition it as San Francisco recovers from the pandemic is very exciting," said Marc Perrin, managing partner of The Roxborough Group. "This investment is a great opportunity to expand our partnership with AWH, with the potential for significant upside in repositioning both the hotel and what has historically been very successful street-front retail." Situated along the Powell Street cable car line, Villa Florence is within walking distance of major tourism destination including Union Square, Chinatown, and the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (SFMOMA) and is also proximate to a range of restaurants, bars, lounges, breweries and distilleries. The hotel's location, blocks from the Financial District and Moscone Convention Center, is also convenient for business travelers. "San Francisco, a city with extremely high barriers to entry and very low supply growth, has historically proven an exceptional market in which to invest," said Jon Rosenfeld, co-founder and managing partner of AWH. "We felt now, during a period of transition, was an ideal time to get into the market. The asset has performed well historically, and we expect it to do the same in the future." About AWH Partners, LLC AWH Partners, LLC ("AWH") is a privately held real estate investment firm formed by alumni of The Blackstone Group and The Related Companies. Since 2010, AWH and its principals, Russ Flicker, Jon Rosenfeld and Chad Cooley, have amassed a sizeable portfolio of hotels across the country. AWH owns Spire Hospitality, a top-tier, national hospitality platform and AWH Development, a full-service real estate development company, providing complete vertical integration in the hospitality investment space. For more information, please visit www.awhpartners.com. About The Roxborough Group, LLC The Roxborough Group ("Roxborough") is a private real estate investment firm founded in 2013. Headquartered in San Francisco, California, the firm has a broad mandate to invest in all real estate asset classes, both directly and with operating partners. Roxborough focuses on opportunistic, value-add and transitional real estate assets, high-yielding real estate debt, real estate-related operating businesses, as well as high quality, lower risk and longer duration real estate investments. For more information, please visit www.theroxboroughgroup.com. About Spire Hospitality Spire Hospitality, led by CEO Chris Russell, is a third-party operator of 6,000 room keys and 300,000 square feet of meeting space across 17 states. The Spire portfolio, with a focus on large, full-service hotels, includes unique independent properties and premier branded assets across Hilton Hotels & Resorts (HLT), Marriott International (MAR) and InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG). Spire Hospitality offers expertise in all facets of hospitality management and is committed to preserving, protecting and enhancing the value of hotel real estate. www.spirehotels.com Media Contact: CJ Arlotta CJ Media Solutions for AWH Partners C: 631-572-3079 [email protected] SOURCE AWH Partners Related Links https://www.awhpartners.com/ ZURICH and JOHANNESBURG, Sept. 13, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Today, BC Platforms (BCP), a global leader in genomics research, analytics and global data access, announced a new collaboration with the African Institute of Everyone Genome (AiEG), a South African genomic company focusing on building the largest integrated clinical and genomics data biobank in the African continent. As part of the collaboration, BCP's platform will enable RWD research involving 10M+ consenting patient genomes from all 54 African countries, to be collected by AiEG over a period of 10-15 years. The main goal of the research will be to enable drug development and clinical research for patients in sub-Saharan Africa. To-date, global investment in African genome research has been lacking, with only 1% of total funding directed towards genomics research and clinical studies in Africa [1] In terms of human genomic analyses, only around 5000 to 10,000 whole African genomes have been studied, in contrast to up to 1 million genomes globally. This contrasts with the fact that 25% of the world's population is expected to be based on the African continent by 2050. This significant growth sits alongside a current and ongoing increase in pharmaceutical expansion, with the estimated value of Africa's pharmaceutical market growing to $20 billion in 2018. The importance of understanding the full genetic diversity of patients in sub-Saharan Africa is critical for drug development: novel target identification, validation and early insights into adverse events. It has been well described that the genetic diversity represented by patients from the African continent is the greatest in the world. [2] As part of the Strategic Data Partnership with AiEG, BC Platforms is providing a cloud-based, scalable Discovery and Research Platform, made available to AiEG and commercial researchers via Microsoft Azure. AiEG has built a large footprint of public and private healthcare entities and experienced research clinicians who consent patients for sharing clinical and genomic data for research. The first pilot cohort of patients are anticipated to be engaged in October 2021. BCP's role will enable research collaborations with drug developers, data management and preparation of analysis-ready datasets and leading with global best practices in patient data privacy and security. Tero Silvola, CEO, BCP, said: "Supporting regional genomics initiatives and RWE research is an important part of our vision to build the world's leading analytics platform enabling rapid drug development. We understand the importance and significant opportunity involved in ensuring that African data is represented in Life Sciences research in the near to long term. As BCP's technology and approach is focused on best-in-practice governance with respect to biological samples and longitudinal medical record data, we can help ensure the highest quality standards to support research that will have significant positive impact on the African population." Joe Mojapelo, CEO, AiEG, said: "Our goal is for African DNA to be studied on its own and be part of clinical trials for new and novel therapies treating a truly global population. Through the RWE that will be produced by future studies in collaboration with BCP, leveraging their integrated cloud-based platform alongside our region-leading database, we are keen to contribute to a new world of research equity. This means promoting access to African genomic data, and one day eradicating unnecessary side effects for the people of South Africa, the African continent and eventually the global African diaspora." References Pennisi, E. Africans begin to take the reins of research into their own genomes. Science, 4 February 2021 . https://www.science.org/news/2021/02/africans-begin-take-reins-research-their-own-genomes. Ning Yu, Feng-Chi Chen. Larger Genetic Differences Within Africans Than Between Africans and Eurasians. GENETICS, May 1 , 200.2. https://www.genetics.org/content/161/1/269 About BC Platforms BC Platforms is a global leader in providing a powerful data and technology platform for personalized medicine, accelerating the translation of insights into clinical practice. Our technology drives the infinite loop between personalized care and research discoveries, leveraging latest science, deep technical expertise, strategic partnerships, and harmonized, diverse data collections. Our high performing genomic data discovery and analytics platform enables flexible data integration, secure analysis and interpretation of molecular and clinical information. Additionally, BC Platforms has developed a Global Data Partner Network BCRQUEST.com, which allows us to access more than 22 million patients across Europe, Americas, Africa and Asia with rich data for pharmaceutical and medical research and development. Founded in 1997 from an MIT Whitehead project spinoff, the Company has a strong scientific heritage underpinned by over 20 years of working in close collaboration with a network of leading researchers, drug developers, and industry partners. BC Platforms has global operations with its headquarters in Zurich, Switzerland, research and development in Espoo, Finland, and presence in London, Boston and in Singapore. For more information, please visit www.bcplatforms.com or follow us on LinkedIn @BC Platforms. About AiEG AiEG is a developing African genomics company focusing on research and development in the African Continent. The company which is 100% black-owned and controlled is supported by African Institute of Biomedical Science and Technology (AiBST) a genomics, health and research innovation company based in Zimbabwe and South Africa. By way of the correct market timing, social movements and strategic partnership collaboration, EveryoneGenome project hopes to begin successfully impacting the lives of millions of Africans under the slogan "Black DNA matters" African Institute of Everyone Genome (Pty) Ltd was founded in 2019 in the recognition that African people's broad genetic diversity could be a key to addressing the high burden of disease in the continent and the world. The company seeks to foster a progressive movement that will empower African research participants, communities and researchers to engage with, and benefit from, genomic research and biobanking in a fair and mutually beneficial manner. AiEG endeavours to have a footprint in all African countries, starting in South Africa where its headquarters are based, in Johannesburg and moving up north. For more information, please visit www.everyonegenome.com Contact information: Tero Silvola BC Platforms AG [email protected] Katja Stout Scius Communications [email protected] SOURCE BC Platforms BELMOPAN, Belize, Sept. 13, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- The Government of Belize ("Belize") announced today that it has commenced an offer to purchase for cash (the "Offer") any and all of its U.S. Dollar Bonds due 2034 (the "Bonds") and a solicitation of consents (the "Consent Solicitation") from holders of the Bonds ("Holders") that are Eligible Holders to certain exit amendments to the Indenture and the Terms and Conditions governing the Bonds that will, among other things, enable Belize to redeem for cash any Bonds not tendered pursuant to the Offer (the "Redemption"). The Offer and the Consent Solicitation are made on the terms and subject to the conditions contained in the Offer to Purchase and Consent Solicitation Statement, dated September 13, 2021 (the "Statement"). All capitalized terms used but not defined in this press release have the respective meanings specified in the Statement. Belize expects to finance the purchase of the Bonds in the Offer and the Redemption with funding via The Nature Conservancy ("TNC") Blue Bonds for Ocean Conservation program (the "Blue Bonds Financing"), which uses private capital to refinance public debt of participating countries in order to support durable marine conservation efforts and sustainable marine-based economic activity. Belize has reached agreement in principle regarding the key commercial terms of the Blue Bonds Financing with TNC, and with affiliates of Credit Suisse Group AG, which is arranging the Blue Bonds Financing. The U.S. International Development Finance Corporation is expected to provide political risk insurance in connection with the Blue Bonds Financing. As previously announced, a committee of institutional investors (the "Committee") comprising Aberdeen Standard Investments, Grantham, Mayo, Van Otterloo & Co. LLC and Greylock Capital Management, LLC, appointed by Holders holding close to 50% of the outstanding principal amount of the Bonds, has agreed in principle on key indicative commercial terms of the Offer and the Consent Solicitation, and declared each member's intention to tender the entirety of its position in the Bonds into the Offer. The Committee's press release announcing this agreement, dated September 3, 2021, is available at: https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/bondholder-committee-have-reached-agreement-in-principle-with-belize-on-proposed-cash-repurchase-of-its-bonds-301369347.html The following table summarizes the payment terms of the Offer. Description of the Bonds CUSIP and ISIN Nos. Outstanding Capitalized Principal Amount (1) Purchase Price (2) Accrued Interest Payment (2)(3) Contingency Account Distribution (2) Total Payment (2)(3) U.S. Dollar Bonds Due 2034 07782GAG8 P16394AG6 US07782GAG82 USP16394AG62 U.S.$ 552,901,232 U.S.$517 U.S.$33 U.S.$0.90 U.S.$550.90 (1) The outstanding nominal principal amount of the Bonds is U.S.$526,502,100. However, pursuant to the Indenture, notwithstanding the face value of the Bonds, all amounts of interest due on August 20, 2020, November 20, 2020 and February 20, 2021 have been capitalized and constitute principal of the Bonds in all respects under the Indenture, such that the outstanding capitalized principal amount of the Bonds is U.S.$552,901,232. As a result, a scaling factor (the "Scaling Factor") of 1.050140602 is applied to the outstanding nominal principal amount of the Bonds to reflect the principal amount due on the Bonds (i.e., capitalized principal amount of the Bonds). (2) Per U.S.$1,000.00 nominal principal amount of Bonds that are tendered and accepted, multiplied in each case by the Scaling Factor. No amount will be payable under the Offer in respect of any principal that may be reinstated after the date of the Statement pursuant to Paragraph 3(e) of the Terms and Conditions of the Bonds. (3) Eligible Holders whose Tender Orders are validly delivered at or prior to the Consent Deadline will be eligible to receive the Accrued Interest Payment in lieu of accrued and unpaid interest on their Bonds from February 20, 2021 to October 19, 2021. Eligible Holders who validly tender their Bonds at or before 5:00 p.m., New York City time, on September 24, 2021 (as the same may be extended, the "Consent Deadline") will be eligible to receive the Total Payment, which consists of the Purchase Price, the Accrued Interest Payment and the Contingency Account Distribution (as each is set forth in the table above). Eligible Holders of the Bonds who validly tender their Bonds after the Consent Deadline will be eligible to receive the Purchase Price and Contingency Account Distribution and will not be eligible to receive the Accrued Interest Payment. In connection with the Offer, Belize hereby solicits consents (the "Consents") with respect to the Bonds to certain amendments to the Indenture further described in the Statement. The proposed amendments seek to allow Belize to, among other things, (i) redeem (for cancellation) any and all untendered Bonds at a price equal to the Redemption Price, which is equal to the Purchase Price specified in the table above, without payment of any accrued and unpaid interest to the date of the Redemption, (ii) establish a custody account administered by the Trustee, as Custodian, to facilitate such Redemption and (iii) allow for the distribution of amounts in the Contingency Account to Eligible Holders upon settlement of the Offer or concurrent Redemption of untendered Bonds, as the case may be. Each Holder who tenders Bonds in the Offer will be deemed to have provided Consents, and Bonds may not be tendered without such tendering Holder agreeing by such tender to provide Consents. As described in the Statement, the Offer and the Consent Solicitation are conditioned on, among other things, (i) receipt of Tender Orders of at least 75% of the aggregate principal amount of the Bonds that are outstanding (the "Super-Majority Consent Condition"), which condition may not be waived, and (ii) receipt by Belize of proceeds in an amount sufficient to acquire all Bonds outstanding as of such date (the "Financing Condition"), pursuant to, among other transaction documents, a loan agreement to be entered into by Belize with an affiliate of TNC. The Offer will expire at 5:00 pm, New York City time, on September 24, 2021 (as the same may be extended, the "Expiration Time"). As promptly as practicable after such date, and assuming the conditions to the Offer and the Consent Solicitation are satisfied (the "Settlement Date"), Belize will consummate settlement of the Offer and, simultaneously, execute the Fourth Supplemental Indenture. On the Settlement Date, Belize will redeem all Bonds that remain outstanding by depositing with the Trustee an amount sufficient to pay the Redemption Price for such Bonds (which is equal to the Purchase Price specified in the table above), to be held along with the Contingency Account Distribution, until such amounts are paid to non-tendering Holders upon delivery of such Holders' Bonds to the Trustee in accordance with the terms of the Fourth Supplement Indenture. No accrued and unpaid interest will be paid in respect of such Redemption. Belize will terminate the Offer and the Consent Solicitation if the Settlement Date has not occurred on or prior to November 19, 2021 (the "Settlement Deadline"), unless such date is extended on the terms described in the following paragraph. Tender Orders once given may not be withdrawn, except in limited circumstances where we make a material change to the Offer that is adverse to the interests of tendering Holders, including the extension of the Settlement Deadline, or otherwise required to do so by law, in each case as determined by us in our reasonable discretion. Such revocation will be permitted for a period of time that we believe, in our reasonable discretion, is adequate to give tendering Holders time to consider such changes and determine whether to revoke their Tender Orders. The Offer is subject to Belize's right, at its sole discretion and subject to applicable law, to terminate or withdraw the Offer or the Consent Solicitation at any time, to extend the Consent Deadline, to extend the Expiration Time, or to amend the Offer or the Consent Solicitation in any respect, except with respect to the Super-Majority Consent Condition, which may not be amended or waived. Citigroup Global Markets Inc. is acting as the Financial Advisor and ESG Structuring Advisor to Belize. In connection with the Offer and the Consent Solicitation, Citigroup Global Markets Inc. is acting as Dealer Manager and Global Bondholder Services Corporation is acting as Information and Tender Agent. Any questions or requests for assistance concerning this Offer should be directed to the Dealer Manager or the Information and Tender Agent at its applicable address and telephone number set forth below. Requests for assistance in completing and delivering Tender Orders, the Tendering Holder Certification Form or requests for additional copies of the Statement and other related documents should be directed to the Information and Tender Agent at its address and telephone number below: Information and Tender Agent Global Bondholder Services Corporation 65 Broadway, Suite 404 New York, New York 10006 Attn: Corporate Actions Email: [email protected] Banks and Brokers Call: +1 (212) 430-3774 Toll Free: (866) 470-3700 Financial Advisor and ESG Structuring Advisor and Dealer Manager Citigroup Global Markets Inc. 388 Greenwich Street, 7th Floor New York, New York 10013 Attn: Liability Management Group Toll Free: (800) 558-3745 Collect: +1 (212) 723-6106 Important Notice This press release is for informational purposes only and is not an offer of securities for sale in the United States or a solicitation of consents of any holders of securities, and none of the Bonds has been or will be registered under the Securities Act of 1933 (the "Securities Act") or the securities laws of any other jurisdiction. Unless they are registered under the Securities Act, the Bonds may be offered only in transactions that are exempt from registration under the Securities Act. This press release does not constitute an offer of the Bonds for sale, or the solicitation of an offer to buy any securities, in any state or other jurisdiction in which any offer, solicitation or sale would be unlawful. This press release does not constitute, and may not be used in connection with, an offer or solicitation in any place where offers or solicitations are not permitted by law. This press release and any other documents and/or materials relating hereto is not being made and the press release and such documents and/or materials have not been approved by an authorized person for the purposes of section 21 of the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000. Accordingly, this press release is not being made and related documents and/or materials have not been distributed, and must not be passed on, to persons in the United Kingdom ("UK") other than (i) persons falling within Article 43(2) of the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 (Financial Promotion) Order 2005 (as amended, the "Order"), including existing members and creditors of Belize or (ii) any other persons to whom they may otherwise lawfully be made in circumstances where section 21(1) of the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 (the "FSMA") does not apply and (all such persons described in (i) and (ii) above together being referred to as "Relevant Persons"). In the UK, any investment or investment activity to which this press release or any related documents and/or materials relate is available only to Relevant Persons and will be engaged in only with Relevant Persons. Any person in the UK who is not a Relevant Person should not act or rely on this press release or any related documents and/or materials or any of its or their contents. NONE OF BELIZE OR ITS ADVISORS NOR ANY OF THEIR RESPECTIVE OFFICIALS, DIRECTORS, EMPLOYEES, AFFILIATES, AGENTS OR REPRESENTATIVES HAVE MADE ANY RECOMMENDATION AS TO WHETHER HOLDERS SHOULD PARTICIPATE IN ANY CONSENT SOLICITATION OR TENDER OFFER THAT MAY BE ANNOUNCED BY BELIZE. Forward-Looking Statements This press release contains certain forward-looking statements (as such term is defined in the Securities Act) concerning Belize. These statements are based upon beliefs of certain officials of Belize and others as well as a number of assumptions and estimates which are inherently subject to significant uncertainties, many of which are beyond the control of Belize. Future events may differ materially from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. The words "anticipates," "believes," "contemplates," "estimates," "expects," "plans," "intends," "projections" and similar expressions, as they relate to Belize, are intended to identify forward-looking statements. Such statements reflect the current views of Belize with respect to future events and are subject to certain risks, uncertainties and assumptions. Belize undertakes no obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise. In light of these risks and uncertainties, there can be no assurances that the events described or implied in the forward-looking statements contained in this press release will in fact occur. Questions regarding this press release may be directed to Joseph Waight (email: [email protected]; telephone +501 822 3866). SOURCE The Government of Belize LOS ANGELES, Sept. 13, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- John Paul DeJoria, billionaire philanthropist and entrepreneur, announced today his business partnership with world-renowned plastic surgeon Leif Rogers, M.D. The two friends announced their business partnership on a retreat with other entrepreneurs and leaders, sharing their commitment to making the world a better place through technology and innovation. Following their partnership announcement, DeJoria and Rogers released the following joint statement: "We are committed to making our world a better place. Innovation, technology and heart make our aspirations achievable. Our partnership brings together our vast experiences to offer solutions to tremendous needs, especially in our evolving and demanding world. Stay tuned, you will not want to miss our coming announcements." About John Paul DeJoria John Paul DeJoria is the co-founder of hair care company John Paul Mitchell Systems, and founder of tequila maker Patron Spirits Co. From sleeping in his car and selling shampoo door-to-door, he teamed up with Paul Mitchell and turned $700 into John Paul Mitchell Global systems. DeJoria Co-started Patron, later selling it to Bacardi in 2018, the largest sale in spirit history. As a businessman, environmentalist and philanthropist, DeJoria has donated his time, money and expertise to helping others, always on behalf of hairdressers and the professional beauty industry. DeJoria, along with Brad Pitt, Richard Branson and the late Nelson Mandela, was a patron of Mineseeker, a nonprofit organization dedicated to seeking solutions to the worldwide problem of landmines. DeJoria was honored with the Sustainability Award at Fashion Group International's 25th Annual Night of Stars event and was also inducted as a lifetime member into the Horatio Alger Association of Distinguished Americans. He is a strong supporter of Sea Shepherd to save sea life. In 2010, he founded Grow Appalachia, a non-profit initiative that teaches families in need how to grow, prepare and preserve organic fruits and vegetables in a region with little access to fresh, nutritious food. DeJoria was a featured panel member on ABC's hit television show Shark Tank, where he served as a mentor and investor for aspiring entrepreneurs. In Austin, Texas he builds homes and Medical Services for the homeless to give a hand up. About Leif Rogers, MD Dr. Leif Rogers is an Ivy League graduate, board certified plastic and reconstructive surgeon, and a member of the American Society of Plastic Surgeons. He's head of a combined reconstructive and cosmetic plastic surgery, and non-surgical practice in Beverly Hills, California. Rogers leads multiple companies, helming the wide-range of experience of 40 employees. Rogers specializes in microsurgical reconstruction of the breast and the latest techniques in facial rejuvenation and body contouring. He also invented an LED light booth that will be offered in one of his practices to promote healing and longevity. He invented this booth because nothing existed for what he wanted. The LED light booth reduces time needed per session and is Covid-19 conscious and white papers drove its development and production. Rogers travels internationally to provide reconstructive surgery for cleft lips and burn victims, bringing him to people in need in countries like Guatemala. Rogers has been at the forefront of gender-confirming surgery and has been an ally to transgender patients who are seeking information, resources and solutions. Rogers has been featured in international and national media and frequently appears on broadcast programs like The Doctors and Dr. Oz. SOURCE Dr. Leif Rogers NEW YORK, Sept. 13, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Broadridge Financial Solutions, Inc. (NYSE:BR), a global Fintech leader, today announced that it has placed 14 out of 100 on the 2021 IDC Fintech Rankings, rising three places from its 2020 ranking. The list features leading hardware, software, and service providers to the financial services industry around the world. This is the seventh consecutive year IDC's prestigious annual rankings have acknowledged Broadridge as one of the top financial services providers, recognizing its steadfast commitment to delivering innovative solutions to financial institutions. "We are honored to be recognized again as a global Fintech leader by IDC. At Broadridge, we are focused on finding new ways to help our clients accelerate digitization, drive mutualization benefits, and enable the increasing democratization of investing," said Tim Gokey, CEO of Broadridge. "We are leveraging new technologies to drive our clients' growth, while reducing the cost of complexity of their operations across governance, capital markets and wealth and investment management." The Fortune 500-style ranking categorizes and evaluates the top providers of financial technology based on calendar year revenues attributed to financial institutions. These providers supply the technological backbone of the financial services industry, an industry in which IDC Financial Insights forecasts IT spending across the world to reach $590 billion by 2025. "Being named in the IDC Fintech Rankings is a significant accomplishment, demonstrating a provider's commitment to the success of its financial institution clients," said Marc DeCastro, Research Director at IDC Financial Insights. "The IDC Fintech Rankings, now in our 18th year, is the global standard list of Fintech providers to the industry, and we congratulate the 2021 winners." Financial services organizations must embrace innovation and integrate cutting-edge technology to enhance customer experience and achieve operational excellence in a digital economy. Broadridge and other vendors featured on the list represent those providers committed to helping financial institutions implement digital transformation initiatives. Broadridge provides technology-driven solutions to banks, broker-dealers, portfolio managers, and public companies. The company's infrastructure serves as a global communications hub for thousands of mutual funds and millions of institutional investors. Visit here and follow @IDC and #IDCFintechRankings on Twitter to learn more about the rankings. About Broadridge Broadridge Financial Solutions (NYSE: BR), a global Fintech leader with $5 billion in revenues, provides the critical infrastructure that powers investing, corporate governance and communications to enable better financial lives. We deliver technology-driven solutions to banks, broker-dealers, asset and wealth managers and public companies. Broadridge's infrastructure serves as a global communications hub enabling corporate governance by linking thousands of public companies and mutual funds to tens of millions of individual and institutional investors around the world. In addition, Broadridge's technology and operations platforms underpin the daily trading of on average more than U.S. $9 trillion of equities, fixed income and other securities globally. A certified Great Place to Work, Broadridge is a part of the S&P 500 Index, employing over 13,000 associates in 21 countries. For more information about us and what we can do for you, please visit www.broadridge.com. About IDC Financial Insights IDC Financial Insights assists financial service businesses and IT leaders, as well as the suppliers who serve them, in making more effective technology decisions by providing accurate, timely, and insightful fact-based research and consulting services. Staffed by senior analysts with decades of industry experience, our global research analyzes and advises on business and technology issues facing the banking, insurance, and securities and investments industries. International Data Corporation (IDC) is the premier global provider of market intelligence, advisory services, and events for the information technology market. IDC is a subsidiary of IDG, the world's leading technology, media, research, and events company. For more information, please visit www.idc-fi.com, email [email protected], or call 508-620-5533. Investors: W. Edings Thibault Investor Relations [email protected] + 1 516-472-5129 Media: Gregg Rosenberg Corporate Communications [email protected] +1 212-918-6966 SOURCE Broadridge Financial Solutions, Inc. Related Links http://www.broadridge.com In the 2022 U.S. News & World Report rankings Regional Universities North category, Bryant is ranked overall No. 7, rising steadily 17 places in the 18 years since entering the category. Bryant is also ranked a Most Innovative School (No. 10) and a Best College for Veterans (No. 14). In Princeton Review's "2022 Best Colleges: Region by Region," Bryant is recognized as one of the nation's best colleges. College Factual national rankings additionally place several of Bryant's business programs in the top 10 for academic excellence and student outcomes. Accounting, Business, International Business, Marketing and Management all stand out at No. 3; and Finance/Financial Management is No. 11. In the New England region, College Factual ranks Bryant No. 5 as a Best Value for Business, Management, and Marketing. Bryant is in the top 15% out of over 1,715 schools ranked. Return on Investment A recent report by Georgetown University's Center on Education places Bryant among the top 2% in the U.S. and No. 1 in Rhode Island for return on education investment. The Payscale.com list of "Best Value Business Schools," ranks Bryant No. 5. In the Payscale College Salary Report Bryant is among the top 11% in the country (170 out of 1,539) for the highest alumni salaries overall, with the average early career salary for all Bryant alumni at $65,200 and $114,800 at mid-career. Recent surveys of graduates consistently confirm that 99% are employed and/or enrolled in post-graduate study within six months, with a median salary of $60K. "Top rankings in these competitive categories reflect Bryant's outstanding educational programming, culture of innovation, and commitment to superior learning and professional outcomes for our students," said Bryant University President Ross Gittell, Ph.D. "Our students benefit from a career-focused curriculum at the intersection of business, liberal arts and STEM disciplines. Out of 13 degree programs with sufficient graduates to be on the College Scorecard by the U.S. Department of Education, 10 have median salaries in the top 25% and the remaining three are in the top 50% nationally. Experiential learning opportunities ensure that our graduates do very well not only in nationally ranked business programs; several of our liberal arts majors rank in top 10% in median earnings, benefiting from a complementary minor in a related business field." "Bryant faculty and leaders recognize that all business is international, and a global mindset is essential for success in today's fast-changing world," said Dean of the Bryant College of Business Madan Annavarjula, Ph.D., who led the curricular design and development of Bryant's International Business program in 2006. The Bryant IB program is one of the few in the country offering functional concentrations in Accounting, Information Systems and Analytics, Entrepreneurship, Finance, Global Supply Chain Management, and Marketing. "The student-centered Bryant experience integrates innovative teaching and learning with a residential experience that supports student success and student learning outcomes among the best in the nation," said Associate Provost Wendy Samter, Ph.D. "These national rankings reflect the commitment of Bryant's dedicated faculty and staff and the talent of our students." To learn more about the International Business program at Bryant University, visit admission.bryant.edu. Bryant University International Business alumni contribute to leading organizations across the country and around the world. Woonsocket, RI, native Tiffany Venmahavong '17 is currently employed as a Foreign Service Officer at the U.S. Dept. of State. Her Bryant education prepared her to earn a Fulbright English Teaching Assistant Scholarship and continue to post-graduate study. She recently received a Master of International Affairs degree from Columbia University. Full Tiffany Venmahavong profile here. About Bryant University For 159 years, Bryant University has been at the forefront of delivering an exceptional education that anticipates the future and prepares students to be innovative leaders of character in a changing world. Bryant delivers a uniquely integrated business, liberal arts and health sciences education that inspires students to excel. With approximately 3,700 graduate and undergraduate students from 38 states and 49 countries, Bryant is recognized as a leader in international education and regularly receives top rankings from U.S. News and World Report, Bloomberg Businessweek, Forbes, and Barron's. Visit www.Bryant.edu. SOURCE Bryant University Related Links www.bryant.edu BURLINGTON, N.J., Sept. 13, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Burlington Stores, the national retailer delivering amazing deals to customers every time they shop, announced the continuation of their Nationwide Hiring Initiative taking place tomorrow, Tuesday, September 14th and Wednesday, September 15th for their stores and distribution centers. Those interested in joining an award-winning culture and one of the fastest growing retailers are encouraged to visit BurlingtonStores.jobs to apply online to a variety of positions. This Nationwide Hiring Initiative provides the opportunity to learn about exciting and rewarding job opportunities with an innovative retailer that has been recognized as a top place to work by numerous well-respected outlets year-over-year. Positions in the distribution centers include but are not limited to first and second shift, full-time warehouse associates and supervisors. For the stores, positions available include cashiers, sales associates, supervisors and managers with flexible scheduling options. Candidates should visit BurlingtonStores.jobs where they can easily search and apply for positions of interest. Qualified candidates will receive a quick response and often be invited to select an interview time that same day, with offers often made on the spot. During the two-day initiative, prospective candidates are encouraged to learn more about the benefits of working at Burlington, including: - Competitive hourly wages with flexible shifts - Sign-on bonuses (available at participating locations only, terms and conditions may apply) - Associate discounts - Being a part of a company that is committed to creating a caring and inclusive environment for all - And much more! To complement the stores and distribution center hiring efforts, the retailer's corporate offices, based outside of Philadelphia, with merchandising buying offices in New York City and Los Angeles, are also hiring qualified candidates for a variety of positions and disciplines, including but not limited to supply chain, human resources, IT, finance and much more! Flexible work-from-home options are available. "We are excited to continue our nationwide hiring initiative, focused on finding talent to join our growing company, which has been recognized for its award-winning, caring culture," said Matt Pasch, SVP Talent Acquisition, Compensation and Benefits. "We're looking to add associates with a variety of skill sets and experiences. If you are searching for a place to advance your career in an inclusive and diverse environment, look no further. Our culture is one that puts our associates at the forefront, and we are proud to have a collaborative team that delivers great customer service." Candidates that apply may be asked to interview virtually or come to a location for a safe, socially distanced interview. Additionally, there will be Spanish-speaking associates available to assist with the interview process. About Burlington Stores, Inc. Burlington Stores, Inc., headquartered in New Jersey, is a nationally recognized off-price retailer with Fiscal 2020 net sales of $5.8 billion. The Company is a Fortune 500 company and its common stock is traded on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol "BURL." The Company operated 792 stores as of the end of the second quarter of Fiscal 2021, in 45 states and Puerto Rico, principally under the name Burlington Stores. The Company's stores offer an extensive selection of in-season, fashion-focused merchandise at up to 60% off other retailers' prices, including women's ready-to-wear apparel, menswear, youth apparel, baby, beauty, footwear, accessories, home, toys, gifts and coats. For more information about the Company, visit www.burlington.com. Media contact: Tiffany Ramsey Tierney 702-460-1300 [email protected] SOURCE Burlington Stores, Inc. Related Links http://www.burlington.com TAMPA, Fla., Sept. 13, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Checkers Drive-In Restaurants, Inc., the pioneer of Checkers & Rally's proven, double drive-thru restaurant concepts for over 35 years, today announced it has signed four multi-unit deals with franchisees on the East Coast, and is looking for franchisees in the Connecticut, New York and New Jersey markets to continue its East Coast expansion. The company has signed a six-unit deal in Rhode Island, marking the 26th state where the company has opened locations, as well as a five-unit deal in Maryland, a five-unit deal in South Carolina and a five-unit deal in Georgia. The announcement follows the company's recent news of accelerated growth on the West Coast and a 15 restaurant development agreement in Orange County. Checkers & Rally's continues to focus on nationwide growth and strengthening its multi-unit franchise system. Through small real estate footprints, no interior dining rooms, double drive-thrus, e-commerce lanes and walk-up windows, the concept is designed to be versatile and cost effective. The East Coast markets mark a large growth opportunity for the company and for both existing and new Checkers & Rally's franchisees to expand their portfolios. The iconic Checkers & Rally's brands are pioneers of the drive-thru restaurant model, having successfully operated double drive-thru restaurants with walk-up windows and patio seating for more than 35 years. The company also recently rolled out an e-commerce only lane to meet the needs of delivery drivers and guests who order ahead, and have more exciting tech-driven store model initiatives to be announced in the near future. "We are seeing rapid growth on the East Coast, and we are excited to partner with franchisees looking to capitalize on the opportunity we are experiencing in these markets. Demand for our drive-thru and delivery-focused model continues to grow," said Kristen McDonald, Vice President of Development at Checkers & Rally's. "We are thrilled to officially open in Rhode Island, and welcome our new partners to the Checkers & Rally's family. We look forward to working closely with them and all of our East Coast franchisees to help deliver an iconic experience to the communities they serve and ensure their overall success." Checkers & Rally's will be in attendance at this year's International Franchisee Expo, taking place September 24-25 at The Javits Center in New York City. A representative from the company will be onsite to discuss franchisee opportunities for New Jersey, the East Coast and elsewhere across the United States at booth #321. For more information, please visit https://checkersfranchising.com/. About Checkers Drive-In Restaurants, Inc. Based in Tampa, Fla., Checkers Drive-In Restaurants, Inc., an iconic and innovative drive-thru restaurant chain known for its bold, craveable food, famous fries, exceptional value, and people-first attitude, operates and franchises both Checkers and Rally's restaurants. With 836 restaurants and room to grow, Checkers & Rally's is a proven brand with flexible building formats that is aggressively expanding across the country. Checkers & Rally's is dedicated to being a place where franchisees and employees who work hard can create opportunities for themselves, their families, and their communities. In recent years, the brand has earned several of the industry's most prestigious awards including: "#1 Most Craveable Fries" in 2020 and 2018 by Restaurant Business; Best Franchise Deal in 2021 and one of America's Favorite Drive Thrus in 2020 by QSR Magazine; Top Food Franchise 2021, The Best Food Franchises to Buy in 2021, and Top Food and Beverage Franchise in 2021 by Franchise Business Review and has consistently been ranked on Entrepreneur's Franchise 500. SOURCE Checkers & Rally's Restaurants, Inc. SINGAPORE, Sept. 13, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Coinllectibles, a metaverse blockchain company and a fully owned subsidiary of Cosmos Group Holdings Inc. (OTC: COSG), is pleased to sign on Chinese photographer Ruya Qian to create a unique, and one-of-a-kind Fusion NFT based on Ruya's iconic artistic practice that centres around photography, moving images and installations. Born in Suzhou, China, Ruya obtained her Bachelor of Arts from the Shanghai Jiaotong University. She later worked on her craft in San Francisco and graduated with a Masters in Fine Arts (Photography) from the San Francisco Art Institute in California, USA. Ruya's artistic practice utilizes the medium of photography, moving images and installations to explore the dichotomies and tensions of perception, whether it is triggered by societal issues or the individual's mindsets. Ruya's works are usually heavily mined on the legacy of artist self-portraiture where she often embed and re-position her own self into the composition of her images. "I like to exploit the duality that's embodied in every human being, as I strive to harmonize the private and dark spheres of the inner self against the public self that must conform to the stringent social expectations in order to work and survive," said Ruya. Sharing her views on delving into the NFT space, Ruya opined, "I am a photographer by passion and profession and my works are in print and/or installations. From my understanding, Fusion NFTs, unlike some NFTs, allow collectors and people who appreciate my art to enjoy both the digital asset, as well as the physical art piece/installation, where the ownership title is minted onto the Fusion NFT. Furthermore, I take comfort in knowing that the Fusion NFT consists of legal protection embedded within it that adds authentication and provenance for the artwork and this benefits both the artist as well as the collector." Commenting on the partnership, Benny Phang, Head of Partnerships at Coinllectibles said, "In recent months, we have onboarded established painters, sculptors, graphic designers, and watch-makers to mint our Gold Standard Fusion NFTs. Ruya Qian is the first photographer to join our lineup and we are very excited to see how this partnership pans out. We hope to impress upon the community that the collectibles space is not just limited to paintings. We envision to bring a holistic offering to the NFT community with our Fusion NFTs." Ruya's many accolades include being the finalist of Beijing's prestigious Three Shadows' Photography Award in 2016, as well as being shortlisted in Fotofilmic in 2017 and 2018, and the proud recipient of the China Young Elite Artist in 2018, among others. She was also invited to participate in the large-scale Ningbo Photography Week in 2018 and 2010. Notably, her moving images were included in "The Gallery Project" at the 2018 Armory Show in New York. For pre-registration of interest for Ruya Qian's Fusion NFT, please visit www.Coinllectibles.Art or join the CoinllectiblesTM Telegram Channel at https://t.me/Coinllectibles . About Cosmos Group Holdings Inc. Cosmos Group Holdings Inc. (OTC: COSG) was formerly a television network and multimedia information and distribution company focused on serving the homeland security and emergency preparedness industry. The group's future will focus in the development of blockchain NFT technologies and platforms to facilitate the global trading of arts and collectibles. About the Artist Ruya Qian Ruya Qian considers herself to be made in Suzhou, developed in San Francisco, California and currently based in Shanghai. Ruya Qian received her BA from Shanghai Jiaotong University and MFA in Photography from the San Francisco Art Institute in California, USA. Her artistic practice is centered on photography, moving images and installations. One of Ruya Qian's many accolades include being the finalist of Beijing's prestigious Three Shadows' Photography Award in 2016, as well as being shortlisted in Fotofilmic in 2017 and 2018, and the proud recipient of the China Young Elite Artist in 2018, among others. She was also invited to participate in the large-scale Ningbo Photography Week in 2018 and 2010. Notably, her moving images were included in "The Gallery Project" at the 2018 Armory Show in New York. Website: www.ruyaqian.com/ Instagram: www.instagram.com/ruyadee About the Company Coinllectibles "Coinllectibles" is an ACT (Arts and Collectibles Technology) company, which is redefining how the world thinks about art and collectible ownership in the digital age. Their minted curated Fusion NFTs, capture all the rights and independent valuation and ownership of physical arts and collectibles securely underpinned by smart contracts stored on the blockchain. Coinllectibles Fusion NFTs bridge the physical and virtual dimensions of the arts and collectibles market, providing a pleasurable, transparent, and frictionless experience to customers from all walks of life. Website: www.coinllectibles.art Facebook: www.facebook.com/Coinllectibles Instagram: www.instagram.com/coinllectibles/ Twitter: www.twitter.com/coinllectibles LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/company/coinllectibles Telegram: www.t.me/Coinllectibles Coinllectibles Fusion NFT - stick with the Gold Standard Coinllectibles prides the Fusion NFT as the industry "Gold Standard". Being a Gold Standard, a Fusion NFT contains the following on the Inter Planetary File System (IPFS) (1) a sale and purchase agreement reflecting the purchase, by the person minting the Fusion NFT, of the underlying asset at a fair value with all rights and restrictions clearly detailed, (2) bailment terms governing the rights to possession whilst the underlying asset remains with Coinllectibles, (3) a transfer deed reflecting the transfer of the ownership of the underlying asset (together with all rights and restrictions) by the transferor to the holder of the Fusion NFT, (4) ownership title deed written into the description of the Fusion NFT and (5) the unequivocal identification file of the underlying asset, whose ownership is reflected in the title deed represented by the Fusion NFT. Contact: Ms Rachel Lim, Director of Sales and Marketing, +852-28398100, [email protected] SOURCE Cosmos Group Holdings Inc. MERRITT, BC, Sept. 13, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- William Tsui uses CLOSEM ( https://closem.ai/ ) to build his franchise empire. He co-founded a mobile payments app before starting Canuck Eats ( https://canuckeats.com/ ) in 2020, in Merritt, BC, a small town a few hours from Vancouver. Dining choices here are limited and there are few delivery options. The big national delivery apps don't service this town because the market is too small, and local restaurants can't afford a delivery fleet. Advanced messaging capability via email and text Enter Canuck Eats, a locally-owned delivery service with a focus on fair compensation and high quality service. Once he proved the model locally, William set out to open Canuck Eats franchises across Canada. Canuck Eats uses social media to promote the franchise concept and captures leads with Facebook as well as from their website. But following up with leads proved to be a challenge. The founder is busy managing accounting, recruiting, scheduling even pitching in as a backup driver when things get busy! William says "I was really fortunate to find CLOSEM -- it enables me to run the business while it takes care of the entire follow-up process for fresh leads." CLOSEM combines a contact management (CRM) system to keep track of leads, with a powerful messaging platform that automates follow-up, noted for its ease of use, outstanding customer support and professionally-written message templates As leads are collected, they automatically go into CLOSEM, added to a contact list, "tagged" for future identification, and sent a campaign of email and text messages for proper follow-up. "I use CLOSEM to send both email and SMS text messages, as SMS gives us the best response. The whole program has saved us countless hours, and the message templates provided are golden. I've barely needed to modify them," he says. "Before CLOSEM, I didn't even dare to begin selling franchises due to the other demands on my time." In less than a year Canuck Eats had its first franchise in Edmonton, Alberta, and they are busy launching their second. "It was easy to get CLOSEM up and running, and I'm still astonished that we launched our first franchise location this quickly." William is no stranger to hard work. His single mom brought William and his sister to Canada from Hong Kong after his father passed away. Motivated to give back, he served as director of the Richmond Food Security Society, and his enthusiastic community spirit is shared by franchisees. Canuck Eats is on path to success. Their innovative technology, along with local ownership and fair compensation gives them a leg up over the big delivery services. They intend to dominate the small town market in Canada before expanding internationally. "CLOSEM is THE entire recruiting system for franchising for us. We wouldn't have any franchisees without it," William says. ABOUT CLOSEM. CLOSEM is a highly-rated, cloud-based software-as-a-service (SaaS), and users pay a monthly or annual subscription for the product, developed by visionary marketing and sales gurus Laura Betterly and Richard Miles. SaaS is a particularly attractive business model for investors due to its low overhead costs and predictable, recurring revenue. They have recently launched an equity crowdfunding campaign at https://closem.ai/invest. Media Contact: Richard Miles [email protected] 702-344-6305 SOURCE CLOSEM TULSA, Okla., Sept. 13, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Data Center Inc. ("DCI") a leading provider of core and digital banking technologies is partnering with Fintech digital investment and wealth management platform Unifimoney to enable their bank customers to offer innovative digital wealth management services through their online and mobile banking portals. These services include Robo investing, commission free trading of thousands of stocks and ETF's, over 30 cryptocurrencies and precious metals including gold, silver and platinum. The service will extend to other alternative assets including collectables later this year. This will enable community banks to meet the increasingly mainstream interest from consumers in investing in both traditional and alternative assets. As an extension of DCI's latest digital innovations in community banking, the integration with Unifimoney will allow consumers to access their own investing accounts within their financial institution's online and mobile banking portals, providing users an easy way to trade and manage their investments through their trusted local financial institutions. "Consumer interest in investing has soared in the last few years with retail investors expected to account for over 30% of total trade volume in 2021 with alternative investments being an increasingly large part of that," said Sarah Fankhauser, president and CEO of Hutchinson, Kan.-based DCI. "People continue to entrust their local community banks at the center of their financial lives, now those institutions can offer even more to help build and protect the long term wealth of their customers and communities." "Our partnership with DCI represents an opportunity for community banks to bring innovative features and functionality that have until now been almost the exclusive preserve of Fintech companies," said Ben Soppitt, co-founder and CEO of Unifimoney. "Consumers want the simplicity of managing all their money in one place combined with the trust and service of their local banking partner, that's what we can deliver with DCI". Consumers' relationships with and expectation from their financial institutions are changing fast, DCI is working to ensure that community banks and credit unions can support all their customers' needs both now and into the future. About DCI DCI is the developer of the award-winning iCore360 core banking software and iCoreGO multi-channel digital banking solutions for community banks and credit unions nationwide. DCI is privately owned by a group of bank clients, with several serving as board members and user group leaders. In addition to iCore360 and iCoreGO, DCI provides private ATM network/card management, teller solutions, remote capture, custom analysis, risk/vendor management, managed IT and more. Among other awards, DCI has been named a FinTech Rankings Top 100 technology provider by IDC Financial Insights, a FinTech Forward Top 100 technology provider by American Banker and BAI, a multiple winner of the BankNews Innovative Solutions Award and endorsements from multiple regional banking associations. For more information about DCI, visit www.datacenterinc.com. About Unifimoney Unifimoney is a multi asset investment and money management platform providing a broad range of digital wealth management services. Unifimoney RIA is a wholly owned subsidiary and SEC Registered RIA. For more information visit www.unifymoney.com. Media Contact: Mark Harris, VP, Marketing [email protected] (620) 694-6771 SOURCE Data Center Inc. Related Links http://www.datacenterinc.com SKANES FAGERHULT, Sweden, Sept. 13, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Concentric AB has appointed Deborah Clayton as the Vice President of Group Human Resources. Deborah will be responsible for delivering the company's HR strategy and developing and implementing best practice procedures across a global workforce throughout the US, Europe, and Asia. Deborah holds a MA in Human Resources Management from the University of Northampton in addition to being a member of the Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD). With nearly 10 years' of experience as an international Human Resources professional, Deborah has gained experience across both public and multi-site international manufacturing companies. David Woolley, President and CEO of Concentric AB commented, "We are delighted that Deborah is joining the Concentric team. Deborah brings a vast breadth of experience and a proven track record of delivering creative HR programmes across global engineering and manufacturing operations. Her experience of continuous improvement (CI) will complement our investment in Concentric's Business Excellence Programme (CBE)." This information is of the type that Concentric AB is obliged to make public pursuant to the EU Market Abuse Regulation. The information was submitted for publication, through the agency of the contact person set out below, at 08.00 CET on 13 September, 2021. For additional information please contact: David Woolley, Telephone: +44-121-445 6545 This information was brought to you by Cision http://news.cision.com https://news.cision.com/concentric-ab/r/concentric-ab-has-appointed-deborah-clayton-as-vice-president-group-hr,c3412047 The following files are available for download: SOURCE Concentric AB ATLANTA, Sept. 13, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Cortavo, a leading IT managed services provider (MSP), has undertaken a full-scale infrastructure refresh spanning May to July of 2021. Cortavo's Engineering Leads Peter Miles and Paul Coad partnered with Tom Lasswell, their Vice President of IT Operations for the project. This internal team completely upgraded the Cortavo data center hardware supporting their VPS cloud service and all their hosted customers. Normally, hardware and software refreshes represent a standard routine of continuous system hygiene required of all data centers, yet this refresh was far from the routine. The overhaul included new cabinets, robust servers, the latest Intel CPUs, more RAM, better cabling and generous storage hardware. The refresh also consisted of a host software upgrade to the latest version of VMware and vCloud Director, widening their storage capacity to operate faster with plenty of extra capacity for growth and upgrading their internet connectivity. Cortavo's technology refresh marks the debut of Cortavo Cloud, its VPS cloud hosting service offered to small and medium-sized businesses. This refresh fortifies system capacity to shoulder the demands of Cortavo's new suite of cloud services, stepping up user experience through several key benefits, including: Processing Speeds : the overhaul replaced the previous processors with the latest generation of Intel 3.1 GHz processers, thereby raising the clock speed for better user performance and experience. : the overhaul replaced the previous processors with the latest generation of Intel 3.1 GHz processers, thereby raising the clock speed for better user performance and experience. SD-WAN: new hardware appliances allow for redundant internet connection through a vast peering network with other major data centers spanning a secure tunnel. This tunnel connects through a powerful backbone beginning with a major local hub, producing a short communications pathway with increased speed, resulting in a better browsing and phone experience with no latency. Cortavo Cloud's new hosting offers a full, redundant internet connection leveraging two channels and two different carriers for enhanced speed by prioritizing channels of least resistance. new hardware appliances allow for redundant internet connection through a vast peering network with other major data centers spanning a secure tunnel. This tunnel connects through a powerful backbone beginning with a major local hub, producing a short communications pathway with increased speed, resulting in a better browsing and phone experience with no latency. Cortavo Cloud's new hosting offers a full, redundant internet connection leveraging two channels and two different carriers for enhanced speed by prioritizing channels of least resistance. Enhanced Storage: accompanying a recent enlargement of storage, all primary workloads run on solid-state drives while nearline storage for archive and retention resides on advanced Seagate hard drive storage. accompanying a recent enlargement of storage, all primary workloads run on solid-state drives while nearline storage for archive and retention resides on advanced Seagate hard drive storage. vCloud Director: allows for multi-tenancy in a VMware environment. This environment grants console entry to view the machine's admin panel as a typical administrator, thus offering an access level currently unavailable with other major cloud providers. System security scales with usage and multi-tenancy, and NSX-TTM Data Center adds a virtualization layer to the network providing another layer of software protection. "As many project participants have realized, this is not simply a routine refresh, but also an upgrade," Tom Lasswell stated. "With this new infrastructure in place, our Cortavo Cloud VPS customers and users should experience lightning-fast interactions, proceed with the confidence of heightened security and enjoy console access seldom granted with big cloud providers. This is a huge leap forward for our clients and they're going to feel the difference as they use our services." About Cortavo Cortavo is an all-inclusive MSP solution created by Aventis Systems. Based in Atlanta, GA, Cortavo provides all the hardware, software and cloud services necessary to address small businesses' technology needs and challenges at a predictable monthly cost. Cortavo manages technology expansion and supports thousands of small business employees throughout the Southeastern United States. For customer service or media inquiries, please call 1.866.267.8286, visit www.Cortavo.com or connect with Cortavo on LinkedIn , Twitter or Facebook . Contact Information: Cortavo by Aventis Systems, Inc. Drake Dunaway 1-866-528-9313 x 661 [email protected] SOURCE Cortavo by Aventis Systems Related Links http://www.Cortavo.com To develop the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area (GBA) is an important decision of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC) led by Xi Jinping. It is a strategic necessity for creating a model to guide China's high-quality development and continuing to make our economy more innovative and competitive, for optimizing locational functions and bringing about coordinated regional development, for building a new open economic system and a new platform for international economic cooperation that supports the Belt and Road Initiative, and for improving practical aspects of the "One Country, Two Systems" policy so as to secure the long-term prosperity and stability of Hong Kong and Macao. Moreover, it is an important component of our efforts to achieve the Two Centenary Goals and the Chinese Dream of national rejuvenation. The CPC Central Committee and the State Council released the Outline Development Plan for the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area (hereinafter "Outline Plan") on February 18, 2019, which marked a new phase in the construction of the GBA. I. Pursuing innovation and enhancing technology and competitiveness The intensity and extent of global technological innovation has been unprecedented since the beginning of the 21st century. The new round of scientific and technological revolution and industrial transformation is reshaping the global innovation landscape as well as the global economic structure. China has transitioned into a stage of high-quality development. While it actively responds to various risks, challenges, and bottlenecks, it has a great and urgent need for technological innovation. Never has science and technology had such a profound impact on the future and destiny of a country or on people's lives and wellbeing as it does today. The GBA is home to a high concentration of factors for scientific and technological innovation, with outstanding R&D and industrial application capabilities as well as nationally, and even globally, influential universities, research institutes, high-tech enterprises, and major national-level projects. All of this gives it the conditions to become an active participant and leader in the new round of global scientific and technological revolution and industrial innovation. The Outline Plan identified the development of an international innovation and technology hub as a primary task. It proposed deepening cooperation on innovation between Guangdong, Hong Kong, and Macao, building an open and integrated regional collaborative innovation community, concentrating international innovation resources, and optimizing innovation systems and the policy environment, with a focus on improving the area's ability to convert scientific and technological achievements into real-world applications. In recent years, the Office of the Leading Group for the Development of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area ("GBA Leading Group Office"), working with central departments and relevant regional and provincial governments, has established sound coordination mechanisms, driven technological innovation, improved institutional mechanisms, and promoted the construction of a modern industrial system. Expanding scientific and technological innovation capabilities The key to promoting scientific and technological innovation is to strengthen basic research and strategic scientific and technological capabilities, with the aim of converting those into practical applications that boost industrial development. In accordance with the CPC Central Committee and State Council's plan to develop an international technology innovation hub in the GBA, "two corridors" (the Guangzhou-Shenzhen-Hong Kong and the Guangzhou-Zhuhai-Macao innovation and technology corridors) and "two hubs" (the Lok Ma Chau Loop, which occupies a strategic location on the border of Shenzhen and Hong Kong, and Hengqin, which is located in Zhuhai in southern Guangdong and is next to Macao) have been developed. In addition, construction has begun on a pilot zone of the Comprehensive National Science Center in the GBA, and a number of major scientific and technological infrastructure and scientific research platforms are in the pipeline or being developed. In terms of major scientific and technological infrastructure, the China Spallation Neutron Source has been put into operation, and work is accelerating on a high-intensity heavy-ion accelerator facility, a brain analysis and simulation project, synthetic biology research, and a large materials genome facility. Guangdong, Hong Kong, and Macao are cooperating on the construction of innovation platforms in fields including new materials, artificial intelligence, biomedicine, marine technology. The Peng Cheng Laboratory has been inaugurated, and the Hong Kong Institute of Science and Innovation, which is affiliated with the Chinese Academy of Sciences, has been established. In the area of industrial innovation, initial results have been achieved in key core technologies such as microchips, and projects in areas such as 5G, ultra-HD video, and integrated circuits have successively gone into production. Improving the innovation environment Led by a problem-oriented approach and driven by technological and institutional innovation demand, efforts are being made to promote quick and efficient flows of science and technology innovation factors across borders as well as regulatory alignment. Channels for providing funding for scientific research to Hong Kong and Macao from the central government and Guangdong Province are already open, making national key R&D programs such as stem cell and transformation research and nanotechnology open to applicants from the two special administrative regions. The Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao joint funding program for science and technology innovation is also steadily being implemented, and Hong Kong and Macao scientific research institutions and personnel now have access to major scientific and technological infrastructure and large-scale scientific research equipment in the mainland. The National Super-computing Center in Guangzhou has established network connections with Hong Kong and Macao, serving nearly 200 users. The import and export procedures for cross-boundary use of scientific research products have been simplified, with scientific research equipment from Hong Kong and Macao exempt from product certification. In addition, 24-hour customs appointments are available for large-scale scientific research equipment, with immediate clearance and on-site inspections, helping to accelerate customs clearance. A preferential income tax policy has also been implemented in the GBA to attract high-end overseas talent and badly-needed personnel. II. Strengthening facilities and mechanisms for market integration President Xi has emphasized the need to promote regulatory alignment between Guangdong, Hong Kong, and Macao, accelerate the construction of intercity railways in the GBA, and promote quick and efficient flows of goods, personnel, and other necessary items to improve market integration. The regulatory environment of the GBA encompasses the "One Country, Two Systems" policy as well as three customs areas and three legal systems. On the one hand, this provides the opportunity to draw upon their respective strengths to achieve complementary and coordinated development, but on the other hand, it presents objective institutional obstacles and problems. The Outline Plan proposed deepening cooperation between Guangdong, Hong Kong, and Macao to optimize the investment and business environments of the nine cities in the Pearl River Delta and enhance market integration in the GBA. In recent years, the GBA Leading Group Office has worked with relevant departments and the Guangdong, Hong Kong, and Macao governments to simultaneously develop the "hardware" of infrastructure and the "software" of regulations and mechanisms, in order to form interconnected facilities and regulations, promote efficient and convenient flows of factors of production, and accelerate market integration in the GBA. Increasing infrastructure inter-connectivity Infrastructure supports economic and social development, and is necessary for conveniently transporting workers, reducing logistics costs, increasing efficiency, and optimizing the layout of industries. Guangdong, Hong Kong, and Macao are continuously expanding their infrastructure cooperation, including transportation infrastructure, to enhance the convenience of traveling within and beyond the GBA through the creation of a world-class integrated transportation hub. In terms of ground transportation, the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge and the Nansha Bridge are now open to traffic, and the Shenzhen-Zhongshan Bridge is under construction. All of these have made the east and west banks of the Pearl River Estuary more accessible to each other. The Hong Kong section of the Guangzhou-Shenzhen-Hong Kong Express Rail Link has officially opened to passengers, linking Hong Kong to China's national high-speed rail network. Construction has started on other major projects, including the Ganzhou-Shenzhen and Guangzhou-Shanwei high-speed railways, and the GBA rail transit network is nearing completion. In terms of aviation, work is underway on third runways at both Hong Kong International Airport and Shenzhen Airport, the third phase expansion of Guangzhou Baiyun International Airport, and the renovation and expansion of Zhuhai Airport, while preparations for the renovation and expansion of Macao Airport are ongoing, consolidating the GBA's cluster of world-class airports. In terms of port facilities, the cargo inspection channel at Liantang-Heung Yuen Wai Port and the passenger inspection channel at Hengqin Port have officially opened. The construction of the Guangdong-Macao New Corridor (Qingmao Port) has been completed, and customs clearance facilities in Guangdong, Hong Kong, and Macao have all been improved. Deepening convergence of regulations and mechanisms Joining up regulations and mechanisms is a basic requirement for allowing efficient and convenient flows of factors of production and encouraging market integration, and it is the most pressing issue that has been communicated by various sectors of society in the GBA. Guangdong, Hong Kong, and Macao are all interested in finding commonality between their institutional rules in order to converge and accommodate various market mechanisms. To assist personnel flows, the Zhuhai-Macao border point at the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge and the Hengqin Port passenger inspection area have implemented a "joint boundary" system of customs clearance, whereas, Hong Kong West Kowloon Station employs a juxtaposed control system, all of which has improved customs clearance within the GBA. To facilitate flows of goods, the mainland and Hong Kong have implemented the "cross-boundary single lock" system within the GBA, and the same model is being extended to Macao, further simplifying customs clearance procedures. In the area of qualifications, the GBA already recognizes or is facilitating the recognition of Hong Kong and Macao professional qualifications in the key fields of construction engineering, medical care, education, law, accounting, and tourism. Reaching a new level of opening to the outside world The GBA has all the traits of an export-oriented economy with discernible international advantages, making it an important gateway for China's foreign trade. It has the foundations, conditions, and capacity, not to mention the responsibility, to lead the promotion and creation of the new "dual circulation" development dynamic (prioritizing domestic consumption"internal circulation"while remaining open to international trade and investment"external circulation"). In terms of opening up financial services and other service industries, cross-boundary cash pooling of domestic and foreign currencies has been implemented, the Cross-boundary Wealth Management Connect Pilot Scheme is being accelerated, preparations to set up GBA insurance service centers are progressing, and cross-boundary auto insurance within the GBA for policies bought in Guangdong, Hong Kong, or Macao is being trialed. Agreements have also been signed with Hong Kong and Macao to support their full participation in the construction of the BRI and to expand the Guangdong 21st Century Maritime Silk Road International Expo into the China (Guangdong) Maritime Silk Road Expo. The "Greater Bay Area" China-Europe Express freight train operating out of Shenzhen has also gone into service. III. Deepening cooperation to improve people's living standards in the GBA Politics reflects the will of the people, which itself is determined by people's standard of living. Improving people's standard of living and wellbeing are fundamental to developing the GBA, and it is the key to winning over the people of Hong Kong and Macao. We currently face challenges to maintaining people's standard of living in Guangdong, Hong Kong, and Macao, which need to be resolved in the ongoing development of the GBA. The Outline Plan stated that the GBA should expand cooperation in fields including education, culture, tourism, and social security to jointly create high-quality public services and a superior living, working, and traveling environment. In recent years, the GBA Leading Group Office has worked with various bodies as well as the governments of Guangdong, Hong Kong, and Macao to help residents develop the GBA, with the focus on areas of particular concern to people in Hong Kong and Macao. This has promoted in-depth cooperation between Guangdong, Hong Kong, and Macao and ensured that the people of the GBA lead happier, more satisfying, and more secure lives. Developing a thriving and business-friendly Greater Bay Area Employment has the biggest impact on people's standard of living. Throughout the development of the GBA, employment and entrepreneurship have been given special attention, with policies and measures continuously improved to help Hong Kong and Macao residents find employment and set up businesses in the mainland. To this end, the need for employment permits for Hong Kong and Macao residents to work in the mainland has been removed, and Guangdong has started enrolling Hong Kong and Macao residents who work or are seeking work in the province in its basic public employment and entrepreneurship services. Public institutions in the GBA now allow Hong Kong and Macao residents to apply for jobs, with an initial batch of more than 10,000 jobs offered, subject to passing the necessary examinations. Guangdong Province has also built 12 innovation and entrepreneurship bases for young people from Hong Kong and Macao, and Hong Kong and Macao entrepreneurs are eligible for funding under local entrepreneurship subsidy policies. As of the end of 2020, the innovation and entrepreneurship bases had incubated 698 projects involving Hong Kong and Macao residents, creating more than 8,800 jobs and attracting more than 1,000 young people from Hong Kong and Macao. Creating a harmonious and livable Greater Bay Area Creating a convenient living environment is important for attracting Hong Kong and Macao residents to the mainland, so the governments of Guangdong, Hong Kong, and Macao are working on regulatory convergence in the areas of housing, education, medical care, and social security. To help Hong Kong and Macao residents buy houses in other areas within the GBA, documentation requirements have been eased and Hong Kong and Macao banks can be used to complete purchases. Policies have been implemented to allow the children of Hong Kong and Macao residents to access pre-school education, compulsory education, and take high school and college entrance exams, and progress is being made in setting up cooperative study programs involving Hong Kong and Macao colleges in the mainland. Procedures for Hong Kong and Macao residents to access medical services in other areas within the GBA are also being optimized, and 48 medical institutions funded by Hong Kong and Macao have opened in the mainland. Restrictions on accessing medicines and medical devices in Hong Kong and Macao have been relaxed further, and qualified medical institutions in the GBA can now use drugs and medical devices marketed in Hong Kong and Macao. Finally, Hong Kong and Macao residents can join social insurance policies in the mainland, and links between the social security systems of the mainland, Hong Kong, and Macao are steadily being created. IV. Promoting cooperation platforms and integrated development The construction of the GBA depends closely on the overall work of the state in each of the sub-regions and the implementation of relevant laws and regulations. The more progress that is made, the greater the difficulties and challenges that are encountered, with many dilemmas and quandaries to be dealt with along the way. Building major cooperation platforms in a targeted manner, intensifying the reform and innovation of systems and mechanisms, and accumulating experience in key areas and links are positive and stable choices for coordinating development, innovation, and risk management, creating examples for others to follow and driving deeper cooperation between Guangdong, Hong Kong, and Macao. The Outline Plan required the accelerated construction of major cooperation platforms, such as the economic development zones at Qianhai in Shenzhen, Hengqin in Zhuhai, Nansha in Guangzhou, and the Lok Ma Chau Loop, in order to exploit their experimental and demonstrative roles in driving reforms to a deeper level, expanding opening up, promoting cooperation, creating new development horizons for Hong Kong and Macao, promoting shared public services, and driving comprehensive cooperation between Guangdong, Hong Kong, and Macao. In recent years, The GBA Leading Group Office has worked with relevant central departments and the governments of Guangdong, Hong Kong, and Macao to accelerate the construction of major cooperation platforms and promote complementary development and competitive advantages within the GBA. Constructing the Guangdong-Macao Intensive Cooperation Zone in Hengqin The CPC Central Committee and the State Council are keen to use Hengqin to promote the appropriate diversification of Macao's economic development. President Xi has visited Hengqin four times and given speeches on the importance of the Guangdong-Macao cooperation zone, in which he has emphasized the need to make a success of cooperative development between Zhuhai and Macao in Hengqin in order to boost Macao's longterm development. The GBA Leading Group Office is closely focused on this priority of promoting appropriately diversified economic development in Macao, which it considers the immutable aim of the work in Hengqin. A grand plan for the Intensive Cooperation Zone in Hengqin has been formulated, which clarified the overall requirements, main tasks, and supporting measures for the further development and opening of Hengqin, and related policies and measures are being introduced as quickly as possible. The University of Macao and the Macao University of Science and Technology have established the Industry-Education-Research Demonstration Base in Hengqin. A policy has been implemented to allow certain Macao registered vehicles to enter and exit Hengqin, with the quota increased to 10,000. The construction of the Macao New Neighborhood project for Macao residents has been launched, and supporting education, medical care, and legal services have been added. Advancing reform and opening up in Qianhai The Qianhai Shenzhen-Hong Kong Modern Service Industry Cooperation Zone has been constructed to support Hong Kong's economic and social development, enhance cooperation between Guangdong, Hong Kong, and Macao, and create a new pattern of opening up. The GBA Leading Group Office is using the service industry, an industry in which Hong Kong holds a competitive advantage, to promote in-depth cooperation between Hong Kong and Shenzhen, along with the rest of Guangdong. The intention is to build Qianhai into a foothold for expanding Hong Kong's development space and furthering the mainland's reform and opening up. We have formulated plans and arrangements for reform and opening up in Qianhai and expanded the zone's scope. Qianhai is taking the lead in areas such as facilitating trade and investment as well as financial opening up and innovation, with a number of achievements having been replicated in Shenzhen, the GBA, and across China. In addition, construction of both the Shenzhen-Hong Kong Cooperation Zone for Technology and Innovation at the Lok Ma Chau Loop and the Guangdong-Hong Kong Intensive Cooperation Park in Nansha is progressing steadily. In the Shenzhen part of the former, the regeneration of the Huanggang Port area and upgrading of the Futian Free Trade Zone are progressing apace, more than 20 scientific research projects led by five Hong Kong universities are being implemented, and a raft of scientific and technological innovation policies are being piloted. In the Hong Kong part of the cooperation zone, preparatory work on infrastructure and preliminary operations is advancing. At Nansha, the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (Guangzhou) and the Pearl Science Park of the Chinese Academy of Sciences are being constructed, and more than 3,870 Hong Kong and Macao enterprises and a number of Hong Kong and Macao youth entrepreneurship projects have been attracted to the park. The 14th Five-Year Plan period (2021-2025) is the first five years of the new journey to build a modern socialist country, during which China will enter a new stage of development and encounter profound and complex changes in its development environment. The world is undergoing major changes unseen in a century, which the global novel coronavirus pandemic has accelerated. There is a backlash to economic globalization, protectionism and unilateralism are prevalent, and the world has entered a period of turbulent transformation. China, meanwhile, is in a critical period for realizing the rejuvenation of the Chinese nation. Our economy has shifted from the stage of high-speed growth to the stage of high-quality development, creating a new "dual circulation" development dynamic. Moreover, China's economy is at a key juncture in transforming its mode of development, optimizing its economic structure, and switching to new drivers of growth, but there are still many weaknesses to overcome if we are to achieve high-quality development. Within this context, to promote GBA, we must continue to be guided by Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era and fully implement the "One Country, Two Systems" policy, under which the people of Hong Kong administer Hong Kong and the people of Macao administer Macao, with a high degree of autonomy for both regions. We must continue to administer Hong Kong and Macao in accordance with law, maintain constitutional order in the two special administrative regions, as ordained by the Constitution and the Basic Law, and fully utilize the unique advantages of Hong Kong and Macao as well as the pioneering excellence of Guangdong in reform and opening up and the leading role of Shenzhen as a pacesetter in developing Chinese socialism. We must focus on enhancing technological innovation, increasing market integration, improving people's wellbeing, strengthening exchanges, and promoting major cooperation platforms between Guangdong, Hong Kong, and Macao, in order to better integrate Hong Kong and Macao in China's overall national development and expand and strengthen drivers of high-quality development. (By He Lifeng, Vice Chairman of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, Minister and Secretary of CPC Leadership Group of the National Development and Reform Commission, and Director of the Office of the Leading Group for the Development of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area. Originally appeared in Qiushi Journal, English edition, No. 4, 2021) SOURCE chinadaily.com.cn WALTHAM, Mass., Sept. 13, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Fresenius Kidney Care, the nation's leading provider of kidney care services, announces its new nurse residency program has supported more than 175 recent graduates, and demand for the program has increased to more than 250 nurses in 2021 and 500 nurses in 2022. The residency program for graduate nurses is the first of its kind in dialysis and serves as an educational transition for nephrology practice. This announcement comes as Fresenius Kidney Care celebrates Nephrology Nurses Week with a range of programs and events that support dialysis nurses. "Fresenius Kidney Care founded this innovative nurse development program to build upon our University Relations initiative focused on recruiting graduate nurses from colleges and universities nationwide," said Hillary Mohindra, Director of University Relations at Fresenius Kidney Care. "By growing our own nursing talent, we not only have the opportunity to fill vacant nursing positions, but also to mold novice nurses into future leaders within the organization." As the nationwide nursing shortage continues, this innovative program introduces nurses to nephrology with a 12-to-15-month residency. Residents are supported holistically. Not only do they experience the program with the support of their cohort, they are also provided with a nurse mentor in their local area, as well as support from other leaders in the organization. This program continues to evolve, expanding its education scope from in-center therapies and in-patient services to offering shadow experience for home therapies in 2022. "It's been wonderful to see our nurse residents come through the program," said Kimberly Vukovic, Director of Clinical Education for Fresenius Kidney Care. "This program is a fantastic way to expose new graduates to nephrology nursing. Nephrology nursing is unique, and we are committed to helping our residents achieve their goals through learning, mentorship, and first-hand experience." Fresenius Kidney Care is committed to furthering and growing the nephrology nurse profession, by investing in our employees' and future nurses' growth, professional development, and career advancement. Through the company's collaborative partnership with the American Nephrology Nurses Association (ANNA), Fresenius Medical Care North America (FMCNA) funds an ongoing membership program and provides scholarship dollars to provide ongoing education support to nurses dedicated to caring for people living with chronic kidney disease. Nephrology nurses devote their lives to providing superior care and stay beside every patient every step of the way. Patients living with kidney disease face unique challenges that require the support of expert nurses to help them thrive. That dedication has been especially apparent this past year during times of unprecedented challenges and change due to the global pandemic. Nephrology Nurses Week, observed September 12 through 18 this year, celebrates the dedication, compassion, and commitment of nurses who make a difference in the lives of people living with kidney disease. ANNA launched Nephrology Nurses Week to give employers, patients, and others the opportunity to thank nephrology nurses for their life-saving work and to help recruit new nurses to the field of nephrology. About Fresenius Kidney Care Fresenius Kidney Care, a division of Fresenius Medical Care North America (FMCNA), provides dialysis treatment and support services to more than 200,000 people with kidney disease every year whether in their own homes or at more than 2,600 facilities nationwide. Fresenius Kidney Care's dedicated teams help address the physical and emotional aspects of kidney disease through personalized care, education, and lifestyle support services. For more information about Fresenius Kidney Care, visit www.FreseniusKidneyCare.com. About Fresenius Medical Care North America Fresenius Medical Care North America (FMCNA) is the premier healthcare company focused on providing the highest quality care to people with renal and other chronic conditions. Through its industry-leading network of dialysis facilities and outpatient cardiac and vascular labs, Fresenius Medical Care North America provides coordinated healthcare services at pivotal care points for hundreds of thousands of chronically ill customers throughout the continent. As the world's largest fully integrated renal company, it offers specialty pharmacy and laboratory services, and manufactures and distributes the most comprehensive line of dialysis equipment, disposable products, and renal pharmaceuticals. For more information, visit the FMCNA website. Media contact Brad Puffer Fresenius Medical Care North America 781-699-3331 [email protected] SOURCE Fresenius Medical Care Holdings, Inc. Related Links https://fmcna.com/ WASHINGTON, Sept. 13, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- LUNGevity Foundation, the nation's leading lung cancer-focused nonprofit organization, announced today the recipients of its 2021 VA Research Scholar Award. This is a new award program designed to support fellows who are affiliated with the Department of Veterans Affairs and seek to conduct lung cancer research relevant to the veteran population. Following the updated USPTF 2021 guidelines, an estimated 1.5 million veterans are at risk of developing lung cancer due to older age, a history of smoking, and environmental exposures during or after military service. Each year, the VA diagnoses 7,700 veterans with lung cancer. This new award mechanism is aimed at fostering junior researchers within the VA who are committed to research that improves outcomes for the veteran community. These awards are for a maximum of $100,000 over a two-year period. LUNGevity is proud to support the following biomarker-driven 2021 VA Research Scholar Award projects: Michael Green , MD, PhD, from University of Michigan/Ann Arbor VA Addressing hepatic siphoning to enhance immunotherapy efficacy in veterans , MD, PhD, from VA Addressing hepatic siphoning to enhance immunotherapy efficacy in veterans Jennifer Lewis , MD, from Vanderbilt University /Tennessee Valley VA Measuring provider engagement in lung cancer screening , MD, from /Tennessee Valley VA Measuring provider engagement in lung cancer screening Manali Patel , MD, from Stanford /Palo Alto VA Ensuring precision-medicine delivery for veterans with lung cancer , MD, from /Palo Alto VA Ensuring precision-medicine delivery for veterans with lung cancer Harold Bien , MD, from Stony Brook University/Northport VA How KRAS mutations affect gene expression in lung cancer "I am thrilled to see the first class of the LUNGevity VA Research Scholars," said Drew Moghanaki, MD, MPH, who is a staff physician at the Greater Los Angeles VA Medical Center, Professor and Chief of Thoracic Oncology at the UCLA Department of Radiation Oncology, and a member of LUNGevity's Scientific Advisory Board. "These four young investigators were selected because of the high quality of their proposals and their commitment to serve veterans. Their projects will further LUNGevity's commitment to helping us improve the quality of care that we can deliver to veterans who develop lung cancer, often many years after their service on military bases and in the field of battle where they were exposed to various toxic and carcinogenic materials." Awardees are mentored by senior lung cancer experts at their own institutions as well as guided by experts from LUNGevity's Scientific Advisory Board. "LUNGevity has a long-standing history in funding early-career researchers through our Career Development Award program. We are delighted to announce our inaugural VA Research Scholars. By supporting junior faculty in the VA, LUNGevity Foundation hopes to provide support to these rising stars who are interested in thoracic oncology and dedicated to serving the veteran community," said Upal Basu Roy, PhD, MPH, Executive Director of Research at LUNGevity. Under the stewardship of LUNGevity's Scientific Advisory Board, a group of 25 prominent scientists and researchers, LUNGevity ensures that its grants are awarded to those researchers whose proposals demonstrate the greatest potential for extending and improving lives of those affected by lung cancer. LUNGevity awardees are working on finding a better way to detect lung cancer and to better diagnose, treat, and prevent its recurrence. The Foundation's overall research program is a crucial factor in moving the science forward to improve outcomes for people living with lung cancer. LUNGevity's VA Research Scholar Award Program is supported by Bristol-Myers Squibb. LUNGevity's Translational Science Research Program is supported by Janssen, Bristol-Myers Squibb, Genentech, The Thomas G. Labrecque Foundation, the Schmidt Legacy Foundation, and individual donors. About LUNGevity Foundation LUNGevity Foundation is the nation's leading lung cancer organization focused on improving outcomes for people with lung cancer through research, policy initiatives, education, support, and engagement for patients, survivors, and caregivers. LUNGevity seeks to make an immediate impact on quality of life and survivorship for everyone touched by the diseasewhile promoting health equity by addressing disparities throughout the care continuum. LUNGevity works tirelessly to advance research into early detection and more effective treatments, provide information and educational tools to empower patients and their caregivers, promote impactful public policy initiatives, and amplify the patient voice through research and engagement. The organization provides an active community for patients and survivorsand those who help them live longer and better lives. Comprehensive resources include a medically vetted and patient-centric website, a toll-free HELPLine for support, the International Lung Cancer Survivorship Conference, and an easy-to-use Clinical Trial Finder, among other tools. All of these programs are to achieve our visiona world where no one dies of lung cancer. LUNGevity Foundation is proud to be a four-star Charity Navigator organization. About Lung Cancer in the US About 1 in 16 Americans will be diagnosed with lung cancer in their lifetime. More than 235,000 people in the US will be diagnosed with lung cancer this year. About 60%-65% of all new lung cancer diagnoses are among people who have never smoked or are former smokers. Lung cancer takes more lives than the next three leading cancers (colorectal, breast, and prostate) combined. Only 22% of all people diagnosed with lung cancer will survive 5 years or more, BUT if it's caught before it spreads, the chance of 5-year survival improves dramatically. SOURCE LUNGevity Foundation Related Links lungevity.org AUSTIN, Texas, Sept. 13, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Eventus Systems, Inc., a leading global provider of multi-asset class trade surveillance and market risk solutions, has won the FOW Asia Capital Markets Award for Best New Product Market Surveillance. The award is the second honor the firm has earned in the past three months for its efforts in the Asia-Pacific (APAC) region and follows its inclusion last week in the global AIFinTech100 list for 2021. The FOW Asia Capital Markets Awards recognize excellence in the Asian capital markets. Winners are selected by a panel of judges with extensive experience in the industry. Global Investor Group announced the recognition for the firm's Validus platform at its virtual FOW Asia conference. Eventus also won the FOW International Award for Market Surveillance Solution of the Year for 2019 and 2020. Global Investor Group staff reported that the judges concluded Eventus is leading the way with its trade surveillance monitoring tools and that expanding in Asia with new clients and staff demonstrate that the firm has the right technology model at the right time, with the introduction of new features setting it apart from the competition. Eventus CEO Travis Schwab said: "We're deeply honored to receive the FOW Asia award and to have our platform and growing team's efforts recognized as we continue to increase our presence and service throughout APAC. Whether in the cryptocurrency space or the many other asset classes we serve, exchanges and firms are responding to our powerful, real-time trade surveillance capabilities, as well as our market risk, anti-money laundering and transaction monitoring offerings. We're also excited to be named to the AIFinTech100 reflecting the strength of our machine learning and robotic process automation that help clients identify patterns and behavior that can have a major impact on their firms, while avoiding time-wasting chases in their surveillance activities." A panel of industry experts and analysts chose AIFinTech100 honorees after reviewing a study of over 1,000 companies undertaken by FinTech Global, a data and research firm. Eventus and the others were recognized as "the world's most innovative solution providers developing artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning technologies to solve challenges or improve efficiency in financial services." Eventus last week announced that it closed on a $30 million Series B funding round. Proceeds will fund the firm's continued growth to meet strong demand, with plans to more than double its workforce around the globe, expand its product suite and add new financial risk applications to Validus. Eventus has now earned 17 global awards and honors since late 2018 for its technology, innovation and client service, including six recognitions in the past six months alone. The firm has been named to the global RegTech100 list for three consecutive years. About Eventus Systems Eventus Systems is a leading global provider of multi-asset class trade surveillance and market risk solutions. Its powerful, award-winning Validus platform is easy to deploy, customize and operate across equities, options, futures, foreign exchange (FX), fixed income and digital asset markets. Validus is proven in the most complex, high-volume and real-time environments of tier-1 banks, broker-dealers, futures commission merchants (FCMs), proprietary trading groups, market centers, buy-side institutions, energy and commodity trading firms, and regulators. The company's rapidly growing client base relies on Validus and Eventus' responsive support and product development teams to overcome its most pressing regulatory challenges. For more, visit www.eventussystems.com . SOURCE Eventus Systems Related Links https://www.eventussystems.com SALT LAKE CITY, Sept. 13, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Extra Space Storage Inc. ("Extra Space") (NYSE: EXR), a leading owner and operator of self-storage facilities in the United States and a member of the S&P 500, today announced that its operating partnership, Extra Space Storage LP (the "operating partnership"), has priced a public offering of $600 million aggregate principal amount of 2.350% senior notes due 2032 (the "Notes"). The Notes were priced at 99.797% of the principal amount and will mature on March 15, 2032. Wells Fargo Securities, PNC Capital Markets LLC, J.P. Morgan, TD Securities, BMO Capital Markets, BNP PARIBAS, BofA Securities and US Bancorp are acting as the joint book-running managers for the offering. Regions Securities LLC, Truist Securities, BOK Financial Securities, Inc., Citigroup, Fifth Third Securities, Ramirez & Co., Inc. and Zions Direct, Inc. are acting as the co-managers for the offering. The offering is expected to close on or about September 22, 2021, subject to customary closing conditions. The Notes will be fully and unconditionally guaranteed by Extra Space and certain of its subsidiaries. The operating partnership intends to use the net proceeds of this offering to fund potential acquisition opportunities, to repay amounts outstanding from time to time under its lines of credit, and for other general corporate and working capital purposes. The Notes will be issued pursuant to an effective shelf registration statement filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. This release does not constitute an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy any securities, nor will there be any sale of these securities in any state or jurisdiction in which such an offer, solicitation or sale is not permitted. The offering will be made only by means of a prospectus supplement and accompanying prospectus, copies of which, when available, may be obtained from Wells Fargo Securities, LLC, 608 2nd Avenue South, Suite 1000, Minneapolis, MN 55402, Attn: WFS Customer Service, or by telephone: 1-800-645-3751, or by email: [email protected]; or PNC Capital Markets LLC, 300 Fifth Avenue, Pittsburgh, PA 15222 or by telephone: 1-855-881-0697. A prospectus supplement related to the offering will also be available free of charge on the SEC's website at http://www.sec.gov. About Extra Space Storage Inc.: Extra Space Storage Inc., headquartered in Salt Lake City, is a self-administered and self-managed real estate investment trust and a member of the S&P 500. As of June 30, 2021, Extra Space owned and/or operated 1,973 self-storage properties, which comprise approximately 1.4 million units and approximately 152.6 million square feet of rentable storage space offering customers conveniently located and secure storage units across the country, including boat storage, RV storage and business storage. Extra Space is the second largest owner and/or operator of self-storage properties in the United States and is the largest self-storage management company in the United States. Forward-Looking Statements: Certain information set forth in this release contains "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the federal securities laws. Forward-looking statements include statements concerning the terms, timing and completion of the offering of securities by Extra Space and the operating partnership, including the anticipated use of proceeds therefrom. In some cases, forward-looking statements can be identified by terminology such as "believes," "estimates," "expects," "may," "will," "should," "anticipates," or "intends," or the negative of such terms or other comparable terminology, or by discussions of strategy. All forward-looking statements are based upon our current expectations and various assumptions. Our expectations, beliefs and projections are expressed in good faith and we believe there is a reasonable basis for them, but there can be no assurance that management's expectations, beliefs and projections will result or be achieved. There are a number of risks and uncertainties that could cause our actual results to differ materially from the forward-looking statements contained in or contemplated by this release. Such risks and uncertainties include without limitation those associated with market risks and uncertainties and the satisfaction of customary closing conditions for an offering of securities, as well as the risks referenced in the "Risk Factors" section included in our most recent Annual Report on Form 10-K and any subsequent Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q. All forward-looking statements apply only as of the date of this release. We undertake no obligation to publicly update or revise forward-looking statements which may be made to reflect events or circumstances after the date of this release or to reflect the occurrence of unanticipated events. SOURCE Extra Space Storage Inc. Related Links http://www.extraspace.com ST. LOUIS, Sept. 13, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- FleishmanHillard today announced two key appointments: Rachel Catanach to general manager of its New York operations, and Ephraim Cohen to global managing director of Media + Platforms. "Our operations are thriving thanks to our relentless focus on creating the best experience for clients and our employees," said J.J. Carter, global COO and Americas president, FleishmanHillard. "These appointments will continue to strengthen our position as the leading agency for global campaigns built on media strategies that deliver business results. New York is an established hub for global clients, and Rachel's cross-market experience will bring additional expertise to the leading brands we represent, while our Media + Platforms core service will continue to grow as one of our agency's key offerings under Ephraim's leadership." In her new role, Catanach will be responsible for the operations, strategy and growth of FleishmanHillard's New York office. She'll be moving to New York from Hong Kong where she has served as the agency's president of Greater China for the past five years, and as the managing director of the Hong Kong office for nine years. She also serves on FleishmanHillard's global leadership Cabinet. In addition to her experience in business operations and developing colleagues, Catanach has expertise in global brand building, corporate and financial communications, issues and reputation management and strategic events. Under her leadership, the firm's Greater China operations were named 2020 PRovoke Media Greater China Agency of the Year and 2020 Public Affairs Asia Multi-market Agency of the Year. She is the former Chair of Public Relations Hong Kong and is a regular industry commentator. A founding member of the global Media + Platforms practice two years ago, which integrates earned media, editorial, social and digital capabilities, Cohen will continue building out the talent base and global offerings. In partnership with the agency's TRUE Global Intelligence practice, Cohen will also expand the agency's data transformation strategy, designed to increase the business impact of campaigns by putting the power of advanced data tools directly into the hands of all communications counselors. Cohen is taking the role after leading FleishmanHillard's New York office since 2015, establishing the office as a growth driver and global client leadership hub across four key sectors Financial and Professional Services, Technology, Healthcare and Consumer. Cohen joined FleishmanHillard in 2014 to lead social and digital for the firm's eastern region before being appointed General Manager of FleishmanHillard NY. About FleishmanHillard FleishmanHillard specializes in public relations, reputation management, public affairs, brand marketing, digital strategy, social engagement and content strategy. FleishmanHillard was named 2020 Campaign Global PR Agency of the Year, 2019 PRWeek U.S. Outstanding Large Agency; 2019 Holmes Report North America Large Agency of the Year; ICCO Network of the Year Americas 2017-2020; PRovoke Media Greater China Consultancy of the Year 2020; PRWeek UK Best Places to Work 2020; Human Rights Campaign Best Places to Work for LGBTQ Equality 2018-2020; and NAFE's "Top Companies for Executive Women" 2010-2020. The firm's award-winning work is widely heralded, including at the Cannes International Festival of Creativity. FleishmanHillard is part of Omnicom Public Relations Group, and has 80 offices in more than 30 countries, plus affiliates in 50 countries. About Omnicom Public Relations Group Omnicom Public Relations Group is a global collective of three of the top global public relations agencies worldwide and specialist agencies in areas including public affairs, marketing to women, global health strategy and corporate social responsibility. It encompasses more than 6,300 public relations professionals in more than 370 offices worldwide who provide their expertise to companies, government agencies, NGOs and nonprofits across a wide range of industries. Omnicom Public Relations Group delivers for clients through a relentless focus on talent, continuous pursuit of innovation and a culture steeped in collaboration. Omnicom Public Relations Group is part of the DAS Group of Companies, a division of Omnicom Group Inc. (NYSE: OMC) that includes more than 200 companies in a wide range of marketing disciplines including advertising, public relations, healthcare, customer relationship management, events, promotional marketing, branding and research. About Omnicom Group Inc. Omnicom Group Inc. (www.omnicomgroup.com) is a leading global marketing and corporate communications company. Omnicom's branded networks and numerous specialty firms provide advertising, strategic media planning and buying, digital and interactive marketing, direct and promotional marketing, public relations and other specialty communications services to over 5,000 clients in more than 70 countries. Follow us on Twitter for the latest news. Chelsey Watts 314-982-7705 [email protected] SOURCE FleishmanHillard Inc. Related Links https://fleishmanhillard.com SAN FRANCISCO, Sept. 13, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Genstar Capital, a leading private equity firm focused on investments in targeted segments of the financial services, healthcare, industrials, and software industries, today announced the appointment of financial services industry veteran Charles Goldman to its Strategic Advisory Board. Tony Salewski, Managing Director at Genstar Capital, said, "Charles has a long and rich history working with Genstar, including a close partnership during our ownership of AssetMark. He was a tremendous leader at AssetMark, accomplishing a significant business transformation, growing assets under management and increasing revenue and EBITDA before it was sold in 2016. He also serves as a Board member of Genstar portfolio company Mercer Advisors where he has contributed since 2015." Sid Ramakrishnan, Principal at Genstar Capital, said, "Charles is a highly regarded leader in the financial services industry and his extensive background as an advisor to private equity firms will make him an invaluable asset as Genstar continues to invest in targeted subsectors within financial services. Having worked for Charles for several years at AssetMark as his chief of staff and head of corporate strategy, I have long admired his leadership abilities, market knowledge and strategic acumen. We are very excited about his deeper relationship with Genstar." Mr. Goldman most recently served as President and CEO of AssetMark, a leading outsourced investment management and consulting platform for wealth managers, and currently is an active investor in the FinTech space. Prior to joining AssetMark, Mr. Goldman was an advisor to Bain & Company, several registered investment advisors, private equity firms and startup companies. Previously, he was President of Fidelity Investments, Custody & Clearing, where he was responsible for three of Fidelity's businesses: National Financial, Fidelity Institutional Wealth Services and Fidelity Family Office Service. Formerly, he was on The Charles Schwab Corporation management committee, and served as head of Schwab Institutional and head of Strategy, M&A and Venture Capital. Mr. Goldman graduated from the University of Southern California and received his M.B.A. degree from the UCLA Anderson School of Management. Mr. Goldman said, "From a decade of personal experience I know Genstar is a world-class private equity firm and I am thrilled to be a part of their Strategic Advisory Board at this exciting time for the financial services sector. I look forward to working even more closely with Tony, Sid, and the entire Genstar team as they continue to identify significant investments in financial services companies that are shaping the industry and providing important technology and services to clients." About Genstar Capital Genstar Capital (www.gencap.com) is a leading private equity firm that has been actively investing in high quality companies for over 30 years. Based in San Francisco, Genstar works in partnership with its management teams and its network of strategic advisors to transform its portfolio companies into industry-leading businesses. Genstar currently has approximately $33 billion of assets under management and targets investments focused on targeted segments of the financial services, industrials, healthcare, and software industries. Contact: Chris Tofalli Chris Tofalli Public Relations 914-834-4334 SOURCE Genstar Capital Related Links http://www.gencap.com MIAMI, Sept. 13, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- The day after the American Thanksgiving Day holiday has long been considered the biggest shopping day of the year in the United States. Dubbed "Black Friday" for many reasons, shopping on that day (via brick and mortar or e-commerce) has become part of the holiday tradition for most consumers. Empire License, Inc. is now very excited to introduce to the world their very own version of Black Friday: "Black Friday" the character, in the formation of animation and plush dolls. As the preferences and habits of consumers change and evolve, so has Black Friday. The day Black Friday is now known and celebrated throughout the world. Of our 195 countries an estimated 50 to 60% celebrate Black Friday in one form or another. The day and phrase have had great exposure over the past years and is growing by leaps and bounds with no ending in sight. "Consumers will see our 'Black Friday' character in many different settings," says E.L. Williams, company CEO and co-creator of the Black Friday character. In the channel of advertising, Walmart, Amazon and Target are three of the largest retailers in the United States. The three giants are always in a battle for greater market share, especially during the holiday period. Empire believes they have the solution for either company gaining that extra advantage using their Black Friday character as their company pitchman. "This would be the ideal situation for any company wanting to evolve into a powerhouse, not necessarily any of the three mentioned above," adds Williams. Holiday shopping kicks off in November, Empire has created an animated family television show that will air prior to holiday shopping, it's a show created for the kids and parents as well: "Black Friday's Magical Christmas." The show will be filled with family holiday fun, adventure and of course holiday marketing. The show was created to hype the holiday season and get consumers motivated and ready to go, regardless of situations they may be experiencing. The message is that there are deals out there for everyone and who knows this better than the man himself, Black Friday. In the channel of trade of toys and dolls, Black Friday is available for licensing, just give him a squeeze and he will say one of an array of given lines. The character doll will be available for sale during the Christmas holidays only. Lastly, the Black Friday Loyalty Rewards Card will be introduced. "We truly feel that the companies participating in our Black Friday Licensing Campaign will benefit in a myriad of ways," says Williams. "It would be great to work with the large companies as well as the small, watching the small evolve into the giants they all have the potential to become." For more information or to contact Empire License to become a partner visit: https://bfcharacter.com/ / https://www.empirelicense.com/ or phone: 1-888-714-3577. This release was issued through Send2Press, a unit of Neotrope. For more information, visit Send2Press Newswire at https://www.Send2Press.com PHOTO: https://www.Send2Press.com/300dpi/21-0913s2p-black-Friday-300dpi.jpg SOURCE Empire License, Inc. Related Links https://www.empirelicense.com/ PASADENA, Calif., Sept. 13, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Southern California based law firm Hahn & Hahn announced today that Family Law Specialist, certified by the State Bar of California, Kayla K. Horacek has joined Candice K. Rogers and Lucy A. Vartanian in the firm's all female Family Law Practice Group. "Kayla's addition to our family law practice rounds out a dynamic group of strong legal advisors, giving us unique strength to serve our clients well throughout Southern California," said the firm's Managing Partner Christianne F. Kerns. "We are excited to offer clients the additional capabilities Kayla brings to our practice. She has deep knowledge of family law matters, and the combination of her experience and expertise bolsters an already well-respected and dynamic family law department." With 15 years in practice, Horacek has extensive experience handling divorce and family law matters including child custody, complex financial issues, spousal and child support, premarital agreements and litigation over contested matters. In addition to her certification as a Family Law Specialist, Horacek is an accredited Minor's Counsel and has experience as a behavioral technician for children with autisma combination that provides her with a deeper appreciation of legal issues concerning children with special needs. "I am thrilled to join the skilled attorneys at Hahn & Hahn and excited to be part of a female-led team," said Horacek. "I'm inspired by the satisfaction I get in helping people and in making a difference in such a sensitive and vulnerable time in their lives." Active in her community and in the legal profession, Horacek volunteers her time representing pro bono clients through the Harriet Buhai Center for Family Law in Los Angeles, where she serves on the Board of Directors. She is also a member of the Los Angeles County Bar Association and the Beverly Hills Bar Association. Prior to joining Hahn & Hahn, Horacek practiced in the family law group of a boutique Los Angeles law firm. She graduated from Santa Clara University summa cum laude and earned her law degree at Southwestern University School of Law, where she received a CALI award for excellence in Torts. Super Lawyers Magazine has recognized Horacek as a 'Top Rated Family Law Attorney' since 2016. # # # Hahn & Hahn LLP has been an active member of the Southern California business and legal communities since 1899. The firm represents entrepreneurs, innovators, business owners, family offices and charitable organizations in their corporate, real estate, employment, estate planning and family law issues and in litigation. For more information visit https://www.hahnlawyers.com/ SOURCE Hahn & Hahn LLP Related Links https://www.hahnlawyers.com/ GIBRALTAR, Sept. 13, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Huobi Pool, the world's largest staking mining pool under Huobi Group, today launched Solana (SOL) staking, to give investors an easy and quick way to vote for notes and earn rewards on the platform. Users can participate and enjoy up to 5% annualized returns by staking a minimum of 0.1 SOL. Staking on a public chain is often a difficult process, as the barrier to entry is generally higher. Investors are often required to have large token balances before they can participate in Proof of Stake (PoS) for many public chains. Verifying the content of each block is also a rigorous multi-step process, from the complex computer configuration to the round-the-clock online connection required. However, with the launch of the SOL staking channel on Huobi Pool, a typical token holder can participate and take advantage of node benefits, such as receiving profits from block generation. "Huobi Pool is proud to provide a gateway into the staking process for our users to earn rewards, by leveraging our experience in the on-chain governance and operations. Through this initiative, we can encourage our users to participate and engage with the SOL community more. We look forward to stepping up interaction with the community and welcome more projects in the near future," said Du Jun, Co-Founder of Huobi Group. The launch of SOL staking on Huobi Pool coincides with a period of accelerated growth for the Solana ecosystem. While the market price fluctuates across the board, SOL remains strong and reached a record level, making it one of the most talked-about and popular projects in the crypto space lately. Huobi has initiated a staking campaign from September 10, 2021 at 10:00 (UTC). Participants are required to stake a minimum of 0.1 SOL, and users holding a minimum of 10,000 Huobi Pool Tokens (HPT) within the campaign period will receive EOS, TRX, CMT, IOST, or other airdrop rewards daily. For more details, users may visit Huobi Global's official website or use the Huobi App (version 6.1.2 or above). About Huobi Pool As an integral part of Huobi Group's ecosystem, Huobi Pool focuses on PoW mining and staking mining. With many public chain nodes and as the largest staking pool and leading PoW pool, Huobi Pool is dedicated to providing one-stop financial services to all digital users. Visit www.hpt.com for more information. About Huobi Group Huobi Group is a world leading blockchain and cryptocurrency infrastructure provider with a financial product suite that includes the largest digital asset exchange by liquidity and real-trading volume. Trusted by users in over 170 countries, the Huobi platform is dedicated to improving financial freedom and inclusive access for all users. Huobi boasts an unmatched portfolio of crypto product offerings. This includes trading and financial products, cryptocurrency and blockchain financial infrastructure solutions, education, data and research, social welfare, investment, and incubation. We are always continuing to innovate on our future horizon. For more information, please visit https://blog.hbg.com/. SOURCE Huobi RANCHO CUCAMONGA, Calif., Sept. 13, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Inland Empire Health Plan (IEHP) was awarded Business Partner of the Year by the Rancho Cucamonga Fire District at the City's Fire and Police Recognition Celebration on September 9. The distinguished award recognizes the health plan's partnership with the City and County of San Bernardino to host an ongoing super vaccine clinic at the health plan's headquarters. Flora Dugbartey, Rancho Cucamonga Chamber of Commerce Executive Director, presents Jarrod McNaughton, IEHP CEO, with the Fire and Police District's Business Partner of the Year Award on September 9, 202. The distinguished award recognizes IEHP's partnership with the City and County of San Bernardino to host an ongoing super vaccine clinic at the health plans headquarters. Located in Rancho Cucamonga, IEHP's 400,000-square-foot headquarter building (known as the Atrium) was transformed into a super vaccination site in February 2021 where more than 36,900 COVID-19 vaccines have been administered to date. "We are incredibly humbled to receive this recognition from the Rancho Cucamonga Fire District," said Jarrod McNaughton, IEHP Chief Executive Officer. "Hosting the vaccine clinic is very important to us. As a health plan, a partner of the city and county, we knew we needed to do our part to make these vaccines accessible." Rancho Cucamonga Fire District's Business Partner of the Year is traditionally awarded to a community business who assists the district as a problem solver. "This award is our humble way of expressing our gratitude for the partnership in this historic effort. We thank IEHP for opening their doors and making a difference in thousands of lives within our community during these unprecedented times," said Ivan Rojer, Rancho Cucamonga Fire District's Fire Chief. IEHP has been a Rancho Cucamonga Business Partner since relocating from San Bernardino in 2013. Prior to March 2020, IEHP's ENERGY STAR certified Atrium building supported more than 2,400 Team Members (IEHP employees), who have temporarily transitioned to full-time work-from-home schedules during the pandemic. "In addition to addressing the needs of our Members and residents throughout the Inland Empire, it means so much to us that we were able to open our building to provide more access for our friends and neighbors in Rancho Cucamonga as well," said Dr. Takashi Wada, IEHP Chief Medical Officer. "We are incredibly grateful for the recognition and the ongoing support pouring into the vaccine clinic. And we look forward to continuing our partnerships to help increase vaccine rates in our region." The clinic is located at 10801 Sixth Street in Rancho Cucamonga and is scheduled to run for the rest of the year. Appointments and walk-ins can be accommodated. Appointments can be made at SBCovid19.com/vaccine. About IEHP With a mission to heal and inspire the human spirit, Inland Empire Health Plan (IEHP) is one of the top 10 largest Medicaid health plans and the largest not-for-profit Medicare-Medicaid plan in the country. In its 25th year, IEHP is supporting more than 1.4 million residents in Riverside and San Bernardino counties who are enrolled in Medicaid or Cal MediConnect Plans and has a growing network of over 7,300 providers and nearly 2,500 Team Members. Through dynamic partnerships with Providers and Community Organizations, paired with award-winning service and a tradition of quality care, IEHP is fully committed to their vision: We will not rest until our communities enjoy optimal care and vibrant health. For more information, visit iehp.org. SOURCE Inland Empire Health Plan (IEHP) Related Links http://www.iehp.org HEFEI, China, Sept. 13, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- On August 24, iFLYTEK released its 2021 semi-annual financial report which showed the company's continuous improvement in performance. There has been progress in key areas including smart education and smart healthcare. The company's Open Platform is rapidly developing and its product strategy of "Open Platform + Diversification" has been producing remarkable results. iFLYTEK achieved a year-on-year increase of 45%; 62% growth within one year; and a net profit excluding non-recurring gains and losses, rising by 27 times yearly. By pursuing a product strategy of "Open Platform + Diversification", iFLYTEK's Open Platform generated growth of 132%. The smart education and smart healthcare sectors have both seen over 30% increases. The smart education business reported an increase of 76% in its accepted contract amount while the smart healthcare business further improved its products business models. Additionally, the business of smart hardware for office work and education increased by 77% and the smart on-vehicle device business grew by 74%, emerging as growth points among the diversified AI products and solutions industries. iFLYTEK's smart education and healthcare business continue to deliver value At the performance briefing, iFLYTEK's Chairman Liu Qingfeng explained that the emphasis on teaching in accordance with students' aptitudes is part of a strategy for success that utilizes a systematic approach in the implementation of its management mechanism and educational philosophy. The overall accepted contract amount of iFLYTEK's smart education business increased by 76% year-over-year in the first half. Its revenues in the same period were up 31%. The growth in iFLYTEK's smart education is increasing at an expedient rate and continues to be an area of large potential. Additionally, iFLYTEK's smart healthcare business has been improving the capabilities of doctors and achieving a greater distribution of medical resources. According to the financial report, iFLYTEK's AI Medical Assistant has been adopted in over 30,000 local medical institutions and serving more than 50,000 grassroots doctors; assisting in more than 200 million diagnoses. Over the first half of 2021, the company's smart healthcare business was up by 34% year-over-year. As iFLYTEK continues to grow and expand, the company will continue along its guiding principles of teaching in accordance to aptitudes and improving healthcare through AI integration. iFLYTEK is committed to adding values in areas of societal importance and following a direction of future development and consistent breakthroughs. SOURCE iFLYTEK EDINBURGH, Scotland, Sept. 13, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Scottish brewer Innis & Gunn, one of the largest independent, international beer businesses in the U.K., has unveiled plans to drive growth in the U.S. market through new packaging and increased brand and marketing investment. First launched in the U.S. in 2005, the Originals range, which includes The Original and Caribbean Rum Cask, has become a popular choice with beer drinkers looking for authentically original beer. The Innis & Gunn Originals line feature a new pack, bottle and label design. Founder and Master Brewer Dougal Gunn Sharp toasts a new look for Innis & Gunn's The Originals. The Original and Caribbean Rum Cask will now be available in a new 6x330ml bottle pack format, replacing the existing 4x330ml bottle pack. The range has also recently enjoyed a packaging update which brings to life the brewer and beers' quality and premium brand positioning. Both beers, The Original and Caribbean Rum Cask (formerly Blood Red Sky), will now be available in clear glass bottles so consumers can clearly see the beautiful colors of the beer inside. The bottles are embossed, proudly highlighting the Innis & Gunn brand name and home city of Edinburgh. Additional details have been added to emphasize the premium nature of the brand including gold foil, embossed print and watermarks. Subtle language updates have also been made to better reflect Innis & Gunn's innovative brewing style and provenance. As a final touch, the labels feature the signature of Master Brewer, Dougal Gunn Sharp and an 'approved by' signature, which has been awarded to Innis & Gunn team member Jeremy Houston to mark his decade with the business. To further support the redesign, new pack format and U.S. market growth plans, Innis & Gunn is investing significantly in marketing, including dedicated PR, digital and social media campaigns. The brewer has also recruited additional staff who will directly support the market. "Innis & Gunn has big ambitions and rollout in the U.S. is a key part of our growth strategy. Our award-winning, premium beers will be available to U.S. consumers and retailers in a format that they know and like and I look forward to bringing our innovative beers to new drinkers," said Dougal Gunn Sharp, Founder and Master Brewer, Innis & Gunn. "Those already familiar with Innis & Gunn will notice a new look across the Originals range, which has been introduced across all key markets around the world and has been very well received," Sharp continued. When researched, the new design drove 74% purchase intent among target beer drinkers. Loyal Innis & Gunn fans can rest assured that there have been no changes to the beers themselves, with recipes remaining unchanged. "Our drinkers love our beers and Innis & Gunn performs well around the world, so there is absolutely no need to change our recipes," said Sharp. "Innis & Gunn's new look for the Originals range is standout. The new look is confident and premium, reflecting the quality beer inside, and we are sure this will be welcomed by American retailers and consumers alike," said Justin Fisch, President of U.S. Beverage, responsible for sales, marketing and management of Innis & Gunn in the United States During the 2021 Global Monde Selection Quality Awards, The Original received the "Prize of the Jury," meaning it was the unanimous coup de coeur or Jury favorite across the category spanning all beers, waters and soft drinks. At the same time, each of the beers in the Originals portfolio was also awarded Grand Gold. The Originals portfolio includes: The Original A single malt whisky cask matured golden beer which launched Innis & Gunn to the world back in 2003 and still stands unique in the beer market today. The new clear 330ml bottle better shows the vibrant color of 6.6% ABV Scottish golden beer. SRP: $11.99 (6x330ml bottles) Tasting Notes: This is a delicious beer brimming with vanilla and toffee. That richness is perfectly balanced by notes of orange marmalade, citrus, and hints of oak with a very gentle understated bitterness. Smooth, refreshing, and decidedly different from the usual. Caribbean Rum Cask The best of Scotland and the Caribbean combined, this Scottish red beer is matured in Caribbean rum casks. The incredibly rich red color of the 6.8% ABV brew is showcased by the new clear 330ml bottle. Tasting Notes: Offers palate-pleasingly punchy notes of fruit, rum and chocolate. This full-bodied flavor is enhanced by the use of Innis & Gunn Ale Malt, Chocolate Malt and Roasted Barley. The finish is warming yet mellow. SRP: $11.99 (6x330ml bottles) The Originals range from Innis & Gunn are represented by U.S. Beverage in the United States. They are available in most East Coast states and availability can be found through the following link. About Innis & Gunn: www.innisandgunn.com Since its foundation in 2003, Scottish brewer Innis & Gunn has grown to become one of the UK's most successful craft beer businesses. Using innovative techniques including oak cask maturation, Innis & Gunn brew multi-award-winning beers including the flagship 'The Original' and Scotland's Best Lager, Innis & Gunn Lager Beer. Innis & Gunn is the third biggest craft beer brand in the UK-off-trade and the number one imported craft beer in Canada. About United States Beverage United States Beverage (USB) is a leading independent sales and marketing company representing premium import, craft, and specialty malt beverages. USB provides a national distribution network for a global portfolio of premium brands including: Innis & Gunn, Moosehead Lager and Radler, Malibu Splash sparkling malt beverages, 1911 Cider, Super Bock, the Damm portfolio of brands: Estrella Damm Lager, INEDIT, and DAURA, Czechvar, Superior Cerveza, Dragon Stout, Alfa Beer, Krusovice, Kalik, Zagorka, and Zajecarsko. USB is located in Stamford, Connecticut. Visit www.unitedstatesbeverage.com Follow Innis & Gunn on social media: Instagram: @innisandgunn_ Facebook @InnisAndGunn Twitter: @innisandgunn Samples and hi-res images are available. Contact Laura Peet, PeetCom Inc. [email protected] or (917) 860-6285. SOURCE Innis & Gunn Related Links http://www.innisandgunn.com Innova's donation provides the startup capital required to establish the Institute, alongside support from the Liverpool City Council, The University of Liverpool, Liverpool John Moores University, the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine, and KQ Liverpool. The facility will offer world-leading clinical, research, and policy expertise, based in what is soon to be designated one of the world's healthiest buildings, The Spine. That expertise will be supported by one of Liverpool's greatest assets - its considerable academic resources - along with global connections and affiliates and public and private sector partners. Together, the Institute's partners will translate research results into policy and tangible actions, providing a unique holistic approach and comprehensive end-to-end capabilities across the pandemic lifecycle. The result will allow the world to accelerate global response to future pandemic events, to unify global intelligence and to dramatically increase the impact of pandemic research on the global society. "The Innova team is passionate about supporting projects that will make a difference and it is clear now that pandemics are one of the biggest threats to the health of the world's population," said Daniel Elliott, CEO and President of Innova Medical Group. "It's a really exciting initiative for us to be supporting the City's academic and business institutions with an ambition towards end-to-end solutions that can be applied on a global scale. We look forward to working collaboratively with the Institute's existing and future partners in pursuit of that combined goal." "The Pandemic Institute will be a unique centre of excellence which has the potential to help revolutionise how the world responds to future pandemics," said Professor Matthew Baylis, Director of the Pandemic Institute. "Liverpool is perfectly placed for this exciting initiative and we appreciate Innova's leadership in establishing the Pandemic Institute and the generous gift to Liverpool." ABOUT INNOVA MEDICAL GROUP, INC: Innova Medical Group is a global health screening and diagnostic innovator driven to dramatically improve health outcomes worldwide with equitable, high-value testing solutions. Our strategic and iterative approach enables us to create, build and deploy a myriad of accessible tests customized to meet and empower the user at their point of need. With a panoramic vision spanning the present to the future, we develop trusted solutions that are both intuitive and secure to use. We quickly and nimbly became the world's largest provider of Covid-19 tests, and we are determined to execute on this model across infectious disease, other chronic conditions and wellness. For more information, please visit: www.innovamedgroup.com SOURCE Innova Medical Group, Inc. Related Links https://www.innovamedgroup.com The innovative 4xe plug-in hybrid propulsion system in the Jeep Wrangler that delivers nearly silent driving and enhanced off-road capability has been voted a Wards 10 Best Engines and Propulsion Systems winner in its first year of eligibility. A hit with consumers and lauded by media since its launch in early 2021, the Jeep Wrangler 4xe provides 21 miles of zero-emission all-electric range and is EPA rated at 49 miles per gallon-equivalent (MPGe). Within weeks of reaching dealerships, the Jeep Wrangler 4xe became the No. 1 selling PHEV in the United States for the second quarter of 2021. One-quarter of all the Jeep Wranglers built by consumers at jeep.com include the 4xe propulsion system. "This is advanced, environmentally friendly technology that seamlessly fits into anyone's daily life," said Micky Bly, Stellantis Head of Propulsion Systems. "Then you take the Jeep Wrangler 4xe off road and it hits you that electrified propulsion and nearly silent running are unlike anything you've ever experienced. You won't want to come off the trails. "Delivering a powertrain that manages torque from three sources and loses nothing from the Jeep Wrangler's legendary capability is a challenge. We are energized by the response from our customers as well as the recognition from the Wards editors. We're not finished, there is more to come," Bly said. Consumers are driving the Jeep Wrangler 4xe on roads in the United States, Canada, Europe and China. In North America, 4xe propulsion is available on the Jeep Wrangler Sahara, Rubicon and High Altitude models. "The all-new 400-volt plug-in hybrid system makes the Jeep Wrangler 4xe a whole lot more efficient and it compromises nothing on the trail, in its rugged, off-road element," said Tom Murphy, WardsAuto Managing Editor. "And on the highway, you need to really pay attention to notice when the 4-cylinder turbo shuts down and you're sailing along in battery-electric mode. The Jeep Wrangler has always been about crossing difficult terrain to enjoy the great outdoors. With the Wrangler 4xe, Jeep loyalists can feel good about helping preserve the great outdoors as well." "The Jeep Wrangler 4xe is a clear example that you can have the best of both worlds: legendary Jeep capability combined with an electrified, ecofriendly package that allows you to enjoy nature in almost absolute silence," said Christian Meunier, Jeep Brand Chief Executive Officer. "The Jeep Wrangler 4xe is already a success around the globe and shortly after launch, it became the number one selling PHEV in America, showcasing that 4xe is the new 4x4." The Jeep Wrangler 4xe's propulsion system combines two electric motors, a 2.0-liter I-4 engine and 8-speed automatic transmission for nearly silent propulsion and enhanced 4x4 off-road capability, without EV range anxiety. This arrangement enables the Trail Rated Jeep Wrangler to retain running gear that includes solid front and rear axles, full-time two-speed transfer case, fully articulating suspension and 30 inches of water traversing capability. The E Selec modes let the driver tailor the Jeep Wrangler 4xe propulsion to the trip: Hybrid, Electric and eSave, which conserves the battery pack charge for later use. The Wrangler 4xe's 17-kilowatt-hour battery pack recharges in about two hours on Level 2 (220-volt) power and about 12 hours on Level 1 (110-volt) household power. Full details on the Jeep Wrangler 4xe are available in the online press kit. A History of Winning This is the 11th consecutive time a Stellantis product has made the list of Wards 10 Best Engines and Propulsion Systems. In the 28-year history of the award, 10 engines/systems produced by Stellantis and its predecessor companies have accounted for 21 winners, including (engine/latest vehicles tested/years listed) in reverse chronological order: 2.0-liter I-4 plug-in hybrid (Jeep Wrangler 4xe): 2021 3.6-liter Pentastar Upgrade with eTorque (Ram 1500): 2019-2020 3.6-liter Pentastar V-6 hybrid (Chrysler Pacifica): 2017-2018 3.0-liter EcoDiesel V-6 (Ram 1500): 2014-2016 6.2-liter Hellcat supercharged HEMI V-8 (Dodge Challenger SRT Hellcat): 2015 83-kW electric motor (Fiat 500e): 2014 3.6-liter Pentastar V-6 (Dodge Avenger, Chrysler 300S, Ram 1500): 2011-2013 5.7-liter HEMI V-8 (Dodge Charger R/T, Chrysler 300C, Dodge Challenger R/T, Ram 1500): 2003-2007, 2009 5.9-liter Cummins turbodiesel I-6 (Ram HD): 2004 4.7-liter SOHC V-8 (Jeep Grand Cherokee): 1999 Jeep Brand Built on 80 years of legendary heritage, Jeep is the authentic SUV with capability, craftsmanship and versatility for people who seek extraordinary journeys. The Jeep brand delivers an open invitation to live life to the fullest by offering a full line of vehicles that continue to provide owners with a sense of security to handle any journey with confidence. Jeep Wave, a premium owner loyalty and customer care program that is available to the entire Jeep lineup, is filled with benefits and exclusive perks to deliver Jeep owners the utmost care and dedicated 24/7 support. The Jeep vehicle lineup consists of the Cherokee, Compass, Gladiator, Grand Cherokee, Renegade and Wrangler. To meet consumer demand around the world, all Jeep models sold outside North America are available in both left- and right-hand drive configurations and with gasoline and diesel powertrain options. Jeep is part of the portfolio of brands offered by leading global automaker and mobility provider Stellantis. For more information regarding Stellantis (NYSE: STLA), please visit www.stellantis.com. Follow Jeep and company news and video on: Company blog: http://blog.stellantisnorthamerica.com Media website: http://media.stellantisnorthamerica.com Jeep brand: www.jeep.com Facebook: www.facebook.com/jeep Instagram: www.instagram.com/jeep Twitter: www.twitter.com/jeep YouTube: www.youtube.com/thejeepchannel or https://www.youtube.com/StellantisNA Stellantis Stellantis (NYSE: STLA) is one of the world's leading automakers and a mobility provider, guided by a clear vision to offer freedom of movement with distinctive, affordable and reliable mobility solutions. In addition to the Group's rich heritage and broad geographic presence, its greatest strengths lie in its sustainable performance, depth of experience and the wide-ranging talents of employees working around the globe. Stellantis will leverage its broad and iconic brand portfolio, which was founded by visionaries who infused the brands with passion and a competitive spirit that speaks to employees and customers alike. Stellantis aspires to become the greatest, not the biggest, while creating added value for all stakeholders, as well as the communities in which it operates. Follow company news and video on: Company blog: http://blog.stellantisnorthamerica.com Media website: http://media.stellantisnorthamerica.com Company website: www.stellantis.com LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/Stellantis Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/StellantisNA Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/stellantisna Twitter: @StellantisNA YouTube: http://youtube.com/StellantisNA SOURCE Stellantis EAST ISLIP, N.Y., Sept. 13, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- AARP New York and Islip Arts Council (IAC) are pleased to announce an open call for a multi-generational virtual exhibit that promotes commonality, understanding, and respect regardless of age. 2-Together: Creating Generational Bonds Virtually is open to residents of New York state. Artists, 50 and over, are invited to virtually team up with an artist who is between 12 and 18 years old to create one piece of art together. Each artist team will be encouraged to share, compare and contrast their similarities as well as their differences. And to discover things they didn't know. "Through this unique creative experience, Islip Arts Council wants to initiate a much-needed dialog and collaboration between multi-generational artists to diminish negative stereotypes and biases and provide participants and viewers an opportunity to share ideas and discover similarities" said curator Holly Gordon, Islip Arts. "AARP New York is excited to support the Islip Arts' virtual exhibit and activities to bring together multi-generational artists. Intergenerational cooperation represents an underappreciated asset in our community. And the benefits of this kind of engagement go both ways. Young people can be motivated and encouraged to fulfill their potential. While adults 50 and over could remain productive and engaged in the community." Bernard Macias, AARP Associate State Director for Long Island, said. Sharing this creative experience will initiate a much-needed dialogue to diminish negative stereotypes and biases and provide participants and viewers with discoveries and similarities. This project also supports AARP's effort to Disrupt Aging by dispelling negative stereotypes and bias toward aging. An ice-breaking questionnaire will be available on www.isliparts.org to get the conversation started if desired or just for fun. Each team will determine the medium and methods they choose to work in. This juried virtual exhibition will consist of seeing the selected artwork, along with interviews of each artist-team discussing what was shared, learned, and discovered during this experience of creating their work of art together in a virtual world. Selected artists will be featured in the virtual exhibition sponsored by AARP New York on November 28 through December 31, 2021. This virtual exhibition will be shown on the Islip Art Museum website at www.islipartmuseum.org Artists are encouraged to view the prospectus on both the AARP and IAC websites to prepare their submission. Please register on the AARP website at www.aarp.cvent.com/2TogetherArt you will see the requirements and procedure for digital submission. Submissions will be accepted from October 2 through October 16. Important Dates: Submission Period: October 2 - October 16, 2021 Virtual Zoom Q&A to assist with submission: October 2 , 2-4 pm , Sip and See Virtual Reception for Artists and Guests: December 11 , 2-4 pm , 2-Together: Creating Generational Bonds Virtual Exhibit: November 28 - December 31, 2021 About the Islip Arts Council The Islip Arts Council is dedicated to leadership, advocacy, and excellence in the arts. We present, produce, and promote culturally responsive, high quality programs in varied artistic disciplines for our diverse population. Our goal is to facilitate these programs in response to the needs of the Long Island community. The Islip Arts Council was created in 1974 as an advisory body to the Town Board on cultural matters. www.isliparts.org About AARP AARP is the nation's largest nonprofit, nonpartisan organization dedicated to empowering people 50 and older to choose how they live as they age. With a nationwide presence and nearly 38 million members, AARP strengthens communities and advocates for what matters most to families: health security, financial stability and personal fulfillment. AARP also produces the nation's largest circulation publications: AARP The Magazine and AARP Bulletin. To learn more, visit www.aarp.org/nearyou or follow @AARPNY on social media. SOURCE AARP New York Related Links http://www.aarp.org/nearyou DALLAS, Sept. 13, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Istation , a leader in educational technology, gained numeracy screening approval for Istation's Indicators of Progress (ISIP) Math assessment. This approval is part of an initiative by the South Carolina Department of Education to begin implementing a Multi-Tiered System of Supports (MTSS) that addresses the needs of individual students academically, behaviorally, socially and emotionally. Screening is a core component of the MTSS process for districts and schools. Numeracy screening with ISIP Math allows educators to quickly identify learning difficulties in early learners. The ISIP Math screener takes approximately 30 minutes to complete, and students are immediately placed in their own individualized instructional paths based on their results. Teachers receive real-time data on student growth to guide instructional decision-making. The ISIP Math numeracy screener approval is one of many recent approvals made in South Carolina for instructional online educational materials. ISIP Early Reading was approved in May under the MTSS structure in South Carolina, and the Istation Math curriculum was approved in South Carolina public schools last summer. Istation's math curriculum (pre-K through 5th grade) and assessments (pre-K through 8th grade) teach and assess foundational skills to help students master mathematical concepts, gain fluency in critical thinking and develop problem-solving skills. The Istation program includes individualized online instruction, diagnostic and progress-monitoring tools, immediate reporting for growth analysis and thousands of teacher resources, including intervention lessons. "As we return to school this year, it is vital we keep in mind the needs of each individual student," said Istation Chief Operating Officer Ossa Fisher. "We are honored to be approved by the South Carolina Department of Education and are excited to support classrooms with individualized instruction." Istation Math works as an academic intervention resource to address the personalized needs of each student by providing teachers with invaluable insights to help students prosper. About Istation Founded in 1998 and based in Dallas, Texas, Istation (Imagination Station) has become one of the nation's leading providers of richly animated, game-like educational technology. Winner of several national educational technology awards, the Istation program puts more instructional time in the classroom through small-group and collaborative instruction. Istation's innovative reading, math and Spanish programs immerse students in an engaging and interactive environment and inspire them to learn. Additionally, administrators and educators can use Istation to easily track the progress of their students, schools and classrooms. Istation now serves over 4 million students throughout the United States and in several other countries. Media Contact: Molly Bryan [email protected] SOURCE Istation Related Links http://www.istation.com BOSTON, Sept. 13, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Liberty Mutual Insurance announced today its commitment to a 50% reduction of Scope 1 and 2 global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from 2019 levels by 2030, taking another step in its long-term strategy toward a low-carbon future. To reach these goals, Liberty Mutual will continue to decrease its operational carbon footprint by taking actions to increase operational efficiencies and identifying renewable energy opportunities across its real estate portfolio. "Today's announcement illustrates our continued focus of advancing our sustainability strategy," said Liberty Mutual Insurance Chief Sustainability Officer Francis Hyatt. "We're proud of this particular commitment, which aligns with recommended milestones set by credible ESG thought leaders. We recognize that there is more work to be done to address climate change and its impacts and that we must play a role in encouraging a responsible transition to a low-carbon economy." With this in mind, the company recently joined the Partnership for Carbon Accounting Financials (PCAF) and will participate in its newly established Insured Emissions Working Group, which includes PCAF insurance signatories, founding NZIA members and other re/insurers. The Working Group will develop the first global standard to measure and disclose insured GHG emissions. Read more about PCAF's announcement here. "We look forward to supporting the important and urgent work of the Insured Emissions Working Group," said Liberty Mutual Insurance Senior Vice President of Sustainability Solutions Rakhi Kumar. "There is a significant need to create a methodology for calculating and evaluating underwriting portfolios that is both meaningful and measurable, giving insurance companies useful information and a framework for reporting that is critical to facilitating a transition to a low-carbon future." While today's news marks additional sustainability milestones for Liberty Mutual, these steps are just one part of the company's broader strategy toward a transition to a low-carbon economy, as well as its overall ESG journey. Additional notable and recent sustainability milestones for Liberty Mutual include: To learn more about Liberty Mutual's environmental stewardship and ESG journey, visit the Sustainability section of its website, which includes ESG and TCFD reports, as well as regular updates about related events and thought leadership. About Liberty Mutual Insurance At Liberty Mutual, we believe progress happens when people feel secure. By providing protection for the unexpected and delivering it with care, we help people embrace today and confidently pursue tomorrow. In business since 1912, and headquartered in Boston, today we are the sixth largest global property and casualty insurer based on 2020 gross written premium. We also rank 71st on the Fortune 100 list of largest corporations in the U.S. based on 2020 revenue. As of December 31, 2020, we had $43.8 billion in annual consolidated revenue. We employ over 45,000 people in 29 countries and economies around the world. We offer a wide range of insurance products and services, including personal automobile, homeowners, specialty lines, reinsurance, commercial multiple-peril, workers compensation, commercial automobile, general liability, surety, and commercial property. For more information, visit www.libertymutualinsurance.com . Contact: Laura Lengel [email protected] SOURCE Liberty Mutual Insurance Related Links www.libertymutual.com Following on the heels of Mattamy's premier neighborhood in Tradition, Manderlie, Mattamy offers seven designs on 132 homesites. They range from the two-bedroom, two-bath Aspen to the four-bedroom, 2.5-bath Rowan. Many homesites border a lake or wetland preserve. Residents will enjoy a residents-only amenities complex with pool, cabana, fitness center, grilling station and direct access to the T Trail. "Homeowners will experience dining, entertaining and shopping, all without leaving Tradition," said Dan Grosswald, President of Mattamy's Southeast Florida Division. "We also have state-of-the-art acute care facility at Cleveland Clinic Tradition Hospital. It meets our entire community's well-being needs with award-winning general and specialty services. Tradition is truly a community designed for work, play and life." Residents will travel to the Tradition Town Center and a multitude of parks along Tradition's T Trail, an experiential 20-mile, multimodal system connecting them to the entire community on dedicated paths for biking, walking, running, and carting. They can also ride to the free TIM, an autonomous shuttle, or travel via electric bicycle through an innovating sharing program coming this fall. Parents will send their children from kindergarten through high school on a short, private path from their home to two charter schools. Mattamy Homes supports Tradition Preparatory High School, a brand-new public high school. It features state-of-the-art science labs as it prepares students for careers in health sciences, the arts and professional careers. Younger students can attend grades K-8 at Renaissance Charter School at Tradition, which shares its campus entrance with the high school. Now under construction on Southwest Tradition Parkway, Emery is open for sales from the Manderlie Sales Center. To receive updates, call or text 561-599-6053, or visit mattamyhomes.com/florida/port-st-lucie/port-st-lucie/tradition/emery. ABOUT MATTAMY HOMES Mattamy Homes is the largest privately owned homebuilder in North America, with a 40-plus year history across the United States and Canada. Every year, Mattamy helps more than 8,000 families realize their dream of home ownership. In the United States, the company is represented in 11 markets Charlotte, Dallas, Raleigh, Phoenix, Tucson, Jacksonville, Orlando (where its U.S. head office is located), Tampa, Sarasota, Naples and Southeast Florida and in Canada, its communities stretch across the Greater Toronto Area, as well as in Ottawa, Calgary and Edmonton. Visit www.mattamyhomes.com for more information. SOURCE Mattamy Homes Limited Related Links mattamyhomes.com In past years Oliver made a major contribution to the growth of Bullhorn in the DACH region. Starting in September, Oliver will be expanding his team to provide full service to German clients from within Germany. Personal and direct lines of contact with the client have always been the core of Mysolution's success, and this is explicitly the ambition when it comes to German customers. About his transfer, Oliver Welz says: "When I see the growth potential for Mysolution, I get really enthusiastic. I'm really excited about starting up in Germany with a committed team of people. Mysolution is a company with endless possibilities in an area where the staffing and recruitment market has a need for solutions for dealing with the increasing flexibility of the labour market and the impact of new technologies (such as robotics and AI). Specific developments in Germany, such as re-skilling staff on a large scale and continually changing laws and regulations governing labour relations, demand additional innovations. In order to advise the German market in the implementation of these innovations in their service provision, I'm honoured to be the one contributing not only technical solutions but also helping to build relationships of trust with our clients so we can really help everyone move one step forward." Jaap Postma, CEO of Mysolution, says: "We are really delighted to welcome Oliver Welz to the Mysolution team as Country Director for Germany. The experience that Oliver has accumulated within the industry in Germany is exactly what we were looking for. Oliver is going to be helping us with his knowledge, drive and enthusiasm to support staffing and recruitment businesses with their digital ambitions. Combining personalised relationships with clients and state-of-the-art technical solutions is our 'secret recipe', and that approach is a perfect for Oliver." Separate applications are a thing of the past Mysolution can provide staffing agencies with the Total Talent Management platform, a one-stop solution for digitalisation of all operational processes. This is a Cloud-based solution built on the Salesforce and Microsoft platform, Business Central 365. Mysolution understands the importance of "anyplace, anywhere, anytime" support for matching and placing candidates. The solution is configurable according to an organisation's specific needs, where the basic principle is always the best practices of the staffing industry. The whole candidate and customer journey from job application and matching to working hours registration, invoicing and payroll are organised through one centralised control centre. With easy-to-view dashboards, clients can see and access at a glance active placements, invoice status, available professionals and margins. About Mysolution Mysolution was founded in 2005 and is currently market leader in the Netherlands in the area of software for the staffing and recruitment market; since its acquisition of OTYS and Onrecruit, it employees 200 staff in the Netherlands, Belgium and the Czech Republic. In recent years, all products have been made available as SAAS applications for recruiting and deploying temporary personnel. More than 1,100 organisations are using solutions based on Mysolution technology platforms on a daily basis. Read more about Mysolution Germany at www.mysolution.com/de . https://we.tl/t-f7MjtbU1j9 Link to promo film: https://vimeo.com/599392225 SOURCE Mysolution OCALA, Fla., Sept. 13, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Dr. Steven Hatfill, a specialist physician and virologist with separate master's degrees in microbial genetics, radiation biochemistry, and experimental pathology will address the ITALIAN SENATE as a featured speaker on August 13, 2021, at 12:15pm, in Rome Italy. As an invited guest of the INTERNATIONAL COVID SUMMIT, Dr. Hatfill will present based on his most recent peer reviewed paper originally published by PCEN MEDIA INC on April 28, 2021. Dr. Steven Hatfill Dr. Hatfill message is shockingly blunt: "You cannot vaccinate your way out of a pandemicwe must refocus our efforts on established and effective early treatment options if we have any chance of ending the COVID-19 pandemic" WATCH THIS HISTORIC LIVE EVENT FREE! MOBILE: Download the MYTVTOGO app for IOS or ANDROID: mytvtogo.net/app/ WEB: MYTVTOGO.net PCENMEDIA.com internationalcovidsummitlive.com ROKU: Add these FREE channels to your lineup: MYTVTOGO CLEARVIEW BROADCAST NEW BEGINNINGS For more information and free registration, please visit internationalcovidsummitlive.com and internationalcovidsummit.com. Dr. Hatfill's papers may be viewed and downloaded NOW FREE via the web: drstevenhatfill.com; where you may also purchase his prophetic book "Three Seconds Until Midnight" Contact: Mr. Donald J. Slaughter, Sr. [email protected] 352 509 6724 www.pcenmedia.com PCEN Media Inc. owns and operates MYTVTOGO consisting of over 100 broadcast networks viewed in 140+ countries. For more information, please visit pcenmedia.com SOURCE PCEN MEDIA INC CHEYNEY, Pa., Sept. 13, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Navrogen, Inc., a privately held preclinical biotechnology company, announced today that it has entered into a Cooperative Research and Development Agreement (CRADA) with researchers at The United States Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases (USAMRIID). The CRADA is focused on testing Navrogen's small molecule NK cell activating agents on suppressing propagation of SARS-COV-2. Researchers at USAMRIID have developed model systems to test agents capable of suppressing SARS-COV-2 infection and propagation. Navrogen has assembled a pipeline of compounds that are able to activate human and rodent NK cells to stimulate humoral immune responses and target cell killing of dysregulated cells. Under this CRADA, USAMRIID will test Navrogen's NAV-201 small molecule against SARS-COV-2 infected human epithelial cells in vitro and in in vivo rodent studies. This approach offers opportunities to address viral infection and propagation regardless of strain genotype. "We are pleased to have USAMRIID as a partner to test the utility of our NK cell activating agents against viral disease as we advance our humoral immune enhancing agents towards clinical development," stated Nicholas Nicolaides, Chief Executive Officer at Navrogen. "The expertise of USAMRIID researchers in testing our agents to combat infectious diseases offers the best opportunity to evaluate compounds with new modes of anti-viral activity." Luigi Grasso, Chief Scientific Officer at Navrogen added, "Our NAV-201 small molecule NK cell activator offers a complementary approach to vaccines and viral replication inhibitors in combating infectious diseases, including COVID-19. NAV-201 could enhance a patient's immunity by reducing the number of infected cells". About Navrogen Navrogen is a biotechnology company focused on the discovery of tumor-produced Humoral Immuno-Oncology (HIO) factors that are associated with suppressed humoral immunity, poor prognosis and limited therapeutic response of immune-mediated anti-cancer therapies. The company's mission is to develop first-in-class agents that can overcome the immunosuppressive effects of HIO factors by employing its proprietary screening and engineering technologies as well as diagnostic assays that can identify patients whose tumors produce HIO factors to advise physicians on therapeutic options. For more information, please visit www.navrogen.com . About the U.S. Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases For over 50 years, USAMRIID has provided leading edge medical capabilities to deter and defend against current and emerging biological threat agents. The Institute is the only laboratory in the Department of Defense equipped to safely study highly hazardous viruses requiring maximum containment at Biosafety Level 4. Research conducted at USAMRIID leads to medical solutions vaccines, drugs, diagnostics, information, and training programs that benefit both military personnel and civilians. Established in 1969, the Institute plays a key role as the lead military medical research laboratory for the Defense Threat Reduction Agency's Joint Science and Technology Office for Chemical and Biological Defense. USAMRIID is a subordinate laboratory of the U.S. Army Medical Research and Development Command. For more information, visit www.usamriid.army.mil. [The information contained in this press release does not necessarily reflect the position or the policy of the Government and no official endorsement should be inferred.] Navrogen Contacts: Investor Inquiries: Media Inquiries: Nicholas Nicolaides Steve Kyriakos 610-399-2717 610-399-2718 [email protected] [email protected] SOURCE Navrogen, Inc. SEATTLE, Sept. 13, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- New Western , a national real estate investment company that provides solutions for both homeowners and real estate investors through its exclusive marketplace of off-market properties, announced today the opening of its first office in Seattle, Washington. "Seattle is one of the top 10 most expensive cities to purchase a home. The demand for housing in this market continues to be competitive and inventory for new construction is limited," said Kurt Carlton, co-founder and president of New Western. "There are almost one million properties that are 20+ years old in the Seattle area that could be ideal to renovate. We look forward to finding and acquiring these properties to provide real estate investors opportunities only available in our marketplace." The company has three divisions which include New Western, HomeGo and Sherman Bridge Lending . Together, the family of brands helps homeowners move on from difficult properties while providing opportunities for local real estate investors to invest in their communities. "We are working hard to build a strong team of agents to bring our industry expertise to Seattle and offer much-needed inventory through our exclusive marketplace," said Ryan Bernhard, general manager of the Seattle market. "I am excited to move to such a diverse and inspiring city and introduce the market to New Western's offerings, which can help local real estate agents sell difficult properties, and provide investors with an inventory of unique properties to fix-and-flip or fix-and-lease." Bernhard has been with New Western since 2012, serving as the general manager in the Houston market, where the company facilitated the revitalization of more than $608 million in properties in the past four years. In Bernhard's new role as general manager of the Seattle market, he will be responsible for leading the team to accomplish its goal of facilitating the revitalization of $1.2 billion in residential properties over the next five years. New Western brings market insight, an exclusive platform, and extensive distressed investment property inventory to help real estate investors acquire fixer-upper properties. New Western delivers a property to a real estate investor every 13 minutes and has worked with more than 80,000 investors to date. The office is located at 10423 Main St. Suite 6 in Bellevue. For more information, you can call the Seattle office at 206-495-0522. About New Western New Western is a national real estate investment company that provides solutions for both homeowners and real estate investors through our exclusive marketplace. Our portfolio of companies helps homeowners move on from difficult properties while providing opportunities for local real estate investors to invest in their communities. New Western operates in most major metropolitan areas across the nation. Our brands include New Western , HomeGo and Sherman Bridge Lending . Each of these divisions focuses on helping to solve a specific need. For more information, visit www.newwestern.com . SOURCE New Western Related Links https://www.newwestern.com/ DUBLIN, Sept. 13, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- The "North American Adaptive Steering Growth Opportunities" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering. This research service deep dives into the various adaptive steering types and provides a comprehensive analysis of the technology. It analyzes market trends in North America and discusses their impact on the growth and the performance of each type of adaptive steering solution. The study also includes OEM competitive aspects such as technology penetration forecast by OEM and vehicle segment. The base year is 2021, and forecasts are provided through to 2030. Dubbed as the next big thing in the automotive industry, adaptive steering solutions failed to live up to the hype generated in the early part of this millennium. Launched in 2003, BMW's adaptive steering solution was touted to be a game changer. Subsequent launches by other OEMs, particularly for rear-wheel steering (RWS) and four-wheel adaptive steering (4WAS), did not help the market gain traction. However, since late 2015/early 2016, adaptive steering solutions have been making a comeback of sorts. OEMs such as Renault and Honda have reentered the market with adaptive RWS. Other manufacturers such as Audi, Cadillac, Porsche, and Ferrari have also started offering some form of adaptive RWS, while Ford has started to roll out adaptive front steering (AFS) in some of its top-selling models across Europe and North America. As the automotive industry moves toward automated driving, certain segments are expected to witness a drastic shift in demand, deployment, and technology development. One such segment is steering. Adaptive steering, which has gained traction among premium-end vehicles, primarily, is expected to be affected by such developments. Although the short-term focus is on semi-automated vehicles, this offers a window of opportunity for steering technologies, especially for AFS, which will have to compete with developments in other technologies such as steer-by-wire. Key Topics Covered: 1. Growth Environment Adaptive Steering Market Types of Adaptive Steering Adaptive Steering Market Analysis OEM Analysis 2. Strategic Imperatives Why is it Increasingly Difficult to Grow? The Strategic Imperative The Impact of the Strategic Imperative on the Adaptive Steering Market Growth Opportunities Fuel the Growth Pipeline Engine 3. Growth Opportunity Analysis Adaptive Steering Market Overview Key OEM Competitors for the Adaptive Steering Market Market Segmentation Key Market Metrics 4. Technology Overview AFS Schematic AFS Types Adaptive RWS Schematic RWS Types Adaptive AWS Schematic 5. Market Analysis Growth Drivers Growth Restraints Forecast Assumptions - Adaptive Steering Market Market Analysis - North America Technology Penetration Pricing Trends and Forecast Analysis - Adaptive Steering Market Revenue Forecast by Type - Adaptive Steering Market Market Analysis - Technology Penetration by Type Market Analysis - Market Share by OEM Group Market Analysis - Market Share by Vehicle Segment Market Analysis - Market Share by OEM Type 6. OEN Analysis Competitive Environment - Adaptive Steering Market Competitive Environment - Overview OEM Group in Focus - Volkswagen Group OEM Group in Focus - Ford Group OEM Group in Focus - BMW Group OEM Group in Focus - Honda Group OEM Group in Focus - Renault Nissan Mitsubishi Alliance 7. Growth Opportunity Universe Growth Opportunity 1: Adaptive Steering for Improved Maneuverability, 2021 Growth Opportunity 2: Steer-by-Wire Systems to Include AFS as a Standard Deployment to Offer More Functionality, 2030 Growth Opportunity 3: Technology Deployment as a Factor of Development Cost to Increase Penetration, 2030 8. Next Steps Companies Mentioned Volkswagen Group Ford Group BMW Group Honda Group Renault Nissan Mitsubishi Alliance Audi Cadillac Porsche Ferrari For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/r/k2w79m 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 INDIANAPOLIS, Sept. 13, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- OneCause, a leader in online and event fundraising, today announced at the annual Raise Conference the launch of its Corporate Grants Program, providing technology-based grants to help emerging nonprofits expand their impact. "At OneCause, we believe fundraising technology should be accessible to all nonprofits," said Steve Johns, chief executive officer at OneCause. "The global pandemic has radically accelerated the largest digital transformation in fundraising history. This digital wave should be ridden by all, regardless of organization size or resources. The OneCause Corporate Grants Program is a step towards expanding access to the technology nonprofits need today to keep fundraising and connecting with supporters." The Corporate Grants Program provides nonprofit organizations free 24-month subscriptions to the OneCause suite of fundraising software and services. The program includes technology-based grants up to $10,000, and access to OneCause resources and award-winning support community. View Corporate Grants Program full overview: https://www.onecause.com/general/grants-program/. This is the latest program under the larger OneCause Cares initiative that launched in 2020 to bring the organization's mission to life - helping to enhance the culture and build better tomorrows for our communities. These grants will help nonprofit fundraising within three core focus areas: Mental Health & Wellness: nonprofits who promote self-care and wellness or address a critical challenge amongst underserved communities such as hunger, poverty, or social inequities. nonprofits who promote self-care and wellness or address a critical challenge amongst underserved communities such as hunger, poverty, or social inequities. Community : nonprofits who support the vibrancy of a community, celebration of cultural diversity, preservation of history, or drive local impact. : nonprofits who support the vibrancy of a community, celebration of cultural diversity, preservation of history, or drive local impact. Sustainability: nonprofits who are working to safeguard the planet, natural resources, renewable energies, and conservation efforts. "We are committed to empowering and furthering great missions," added Johns. "Our Corporate Grants Program will start with a targeted focus on some of the most important issues today and for future generations. We look forward to continue expanding the footprint of the program, investing in the success of emerging nonprofits and their impact in the communities they serve." Grants are open to any registered 501c3 organization in the United States and Canada that align with one of the three core focus areas. The initial application period closes on November 1, 2021, with grants awarded in December 2021. For full terms and conditions, please visit: https://www.onecause.com/general/grants-program/terms-conditions/. About OneCause OneCause creates user-friendly fundraising software that helps nonprofits engage donors, raise more money and save valuable time and resources. Our full suite of cloud-based fundraising solutions has powered 6,000 organizations, well over 38,000 fundraising campaigns and events, and helped nonprofits raise more than $3 billion. OneCause has been recognized by Inc. Best in Business, is a TechPoint MIRA award winner for Pandemic Pivot of the Year, Mobile Technology Excellence & Innovation, and a Stevie Award winner for excellence and innovation in Customer Service. SOURCE OneCause Related Links https://www.onecause.com/ During the event, OneConnect CEO and Chairman, Ye Wangchun officially unveiled the company's five-year strategy to fuel growth in the future. Mr. Ye highlighted that the development plan would place a core focus on strengthening the company's customer base, products and ecosystem. "At OneConnect, we are committed to building a world-leading financial services ecosystem in order to create more value for customers and shareholders. Our new five-year strategy will help usher in the next wave of digital financial development and build an industry-leading financial services ecosystem. We are fully confident in the company's development trajectory and believe that, with the accelerated implementation of our strategic five-year plan, OneConnect will capitalize on existing and new momentum during this transitional phase to add value and cultivate deeper loyalty with our customers," said Mr. Ye. Adhering to a long-term vision to build new momentum By 2024, the digital transformation market for China's financial service institutions is expected to exceed RMB 400 billion (approx. US$ 62 billion), while the market for Southeast Asia is projected to reach RMB 180 billion (approx. US$ 27.9 billion). In response to growing demand, OneConnect has engineered its "One Body and Two Wings" five-year plan to capture market potential by minimizing low-production business and optimizing its structure. The "one body" in OneConnect's strategic development plan refers to the digital transformation of financial services as the key driver to empower financial institutions to improve efficiency and services while reducing cost and risk. Meanwhile, the "two wings" refer to the establishment of government policy, as well as a corporate user ecosystem and the expansion of overseas markets. Empowered by technology, OneConnect seeks to help the financial services industry truly achieve digital transformation. Its latest five-year plan comes following its highly successful first phase between 2015 and 2020, during which the company laid a strong foundation in terms of customers, products and operations. This stage was focused on growing individual products to meet the business needs of financial institutions, in order to gain widespread coverage, adapt to different scenarios and needs, reduce onboarding time, and rapidly capture market share. This year, OneConnect is tapping into extensive insights on the digital needs of financial institutions, as well as its long-term partnerships over the past five years, to upgrade and integrate more than 50 individual products into four products with "horizontal integration and full coverage across verticals." These four products include digital retail finance, digital corporate finance, digital insurance, and its Gamma Platform. Four stages to create a leading financial services ecosystem By leveraging Ping An Group's three decades of extensive experience in the financial industry, OneConnect is able to accurately grasp the needs of financial institutions to provide end-to-end services for banking, insurance, investment, and other sectors. As a result, the company has reached a number of milestones over the past half-decade, including the establishment of a widespread and solid foundation of financial institutions and government-regulated customers, the creation of a diversified range of innovative products and solutions, and achievement of continued business performance. OneConnect has also consistently improved its position in the market and currently ranks fourth for revenue among listed financial software service providers. As the company looks forward to its second stage of growth in 2021 and beyond, it has divided its strategic development plan into four stages: capturing the market, cultivating a deep and lasting relationship with customers, expanding its ecosystem, and establishing global leadership in the financial services industry. During this stage, OneConnect will seek to accelerate conversion and focus on customer loyalty, gross product profit and third-party revenue, in order to rapidly and effectively improve its products, services, and operations. OneConnect has already grown its customer base significantly during the first phase of its development. At the end of 2020, the company had 594 high-quality customers and 160 premium Plus customers, which represents a growth rate of 64% and 63% respectively over the past three years. At the product level, the company has continued to diversify and innovate its product portfolio across five types of businesses, including implementation, risk control, operational support, cloud platforms, and operations and maintenance. The proportion of revenue generated from business development has increased 13% from the 39% achieved in 2018. Furthermore, revenue generated from new products, such as its Gamma Voice Platform, has been responsible for a third of the total revenue. On the operational side, overall performance trends show that OneConnect is improving its position compared to domestic competitors. From 2018 to 2020, the company recorded a 53% compound annual growth rate from its operating income and a 58% compound annual growth rate from third-party revenue, whilst reducing its net loss rate from -85% to -37%. At the same time, OneConnect has optimized the ratio of its sales and management expenses from 31% and 37% in 2018 to 16% and 22% in the first half of 2021. Revenue and gross profit have maintained double-digit year-on-year growth for multiple consecutive quarters. OneConnect has also continued to invest in the transformation of the technology-enabled financial services industry with continued investment in R&D. Its ratio of R&D expenses has remained at 30% over the past three years, which has enabled the continued enhancement and advancement of its products and services. As of the end of June 2021, OneConnect had accumulated 5,075 global patent applications, including 1,199 overseas patent applications and 3,876 domestic patent applications. Looking ahead, OneConnect will continue to advance its "technology and business" model with a focus on product upgrades, cultivating relationships with its customer base and building its ecosystem. Underpinned by the philosophy that "Technology Create Value through Expertise", OneConnect is well-placed to become an integral player in the development of the nation's digital economy. SOURCE OneConnect AUSTIN, Texas, Sept. 13, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Oracle Corporation (NYSE: ORCL) today announced fiscal 2022 Q1 results. Total quarterly revenues were up 4% year-over-year to $9.7 billion. Cloud services and license support revenues were up 6% to $7.4 billion. Cloud license and on-premise license revenues were down 8% to $813 million. Q1 GAAP operating income was up 7% to $3.4 billion, and GAAP operating margin was 35%. Non-GAAP operating income was up 4% to $4.3 billion, and Non-GAAP operating margin was 45%. GAAP net income was up 9% to $2.5 billion, and GAAP earnings per share was up 19% to $0.86. Non-GAAP net income was up 2% to $2.9 billion, and Non-GAAP earnings per share was up 11% to $1.03. Short-term deferred revenues were $10 billion. Operating cash flow was up 17% to $15.3 billion during the trailing twelve months. "Q1 results were excellent as constant currency revenue beat guidance by $100 million with all revenue segments exceeding forecast, and Non-GAAP earnings per share beating guidance by $0.08," said Oracle CEO, Safra Catz. "Oracle's two new cloud businesses, IaaS and SaaS, are now over 25% of our total revenue with an annual run rate of $10 billion. Taken together, IaaS and SaaS are Oracle's fastest growing and highest margin new businesses. As these two cloud businesses continue to grow they will help expand our overall profit margins and push earnings per share higher." "Last week, Cloud Wars published an article entitled 'Oracle Leapfrogs Google in Major Cloud Ranking' summarizing an upcoming Gartner Report that reviews the leading cloud infrastructure companies," said Oracle Chairman and CTO, Larry Ellison. "Please read the article and the Gartner Report for all the essential details. Oracle is delivering some truly innovative infrastructure services. Last quarter, we released the next generation of the world's most popular open source database, MySQL, which now includes the HeatWave in-memory query accelerator, and the AutoPilot management tools. Many customers measured our new MySQL cloud service to be much much faster, less expensive, and easier to use than SnowFlake, Aurora, RedShift and other commonly used cloud databases. In response to requests from some of those customers, we decided to make MySQL HeatWave available on other clouds in addition to the Oracle Cloud." The board of directors declared a quarterly cash dividend of $0.32 per share of outstanding common stock. This dividend will be paid to stockholders of record as of the close of business on October 12, 2021, with a payment date of October 26, 2021. A sample list of customers which purchased Oracle Cloud services during the quarter will be available at www.oracle.com/customers/earnings/. A list of recent technical innovations and announcements is available at www.oracle.com/news/. To learn what industry analysts have been saying about Oracle's products and services see www.oracle.com/corporate/analyst-reports.html. Earnings Conference Call and Webcast Oracle will hold a conference call and webcast today to discuss these results at 4:00 p.m. Central. A live and replay webcast will be available on the Oracle Investor Relations website at www.oracle.com/investor/. About Oracle Oracle offers integrated suites of applications plus secure, autonomous infrastructure in the Oracle Cloud. For more information about Oracle (NYSE: ORCL), please visit us at www.oracle.com. # # # Trademarks Oracle, Java, and MySQL are registered trademarks of Oracle Corporation. "Safe Harbor" Statement: Statements in this press release relating to Oracle's future plans, expectations, beliefs, intentions and prospects, including statements regarding growth in our cloud businesses, profit margins and EPS, are "forward-looking statements" and are subject to material risks and uncertainties. Many factors could affect our current expectations and our actual results, and could cause actual results to differ materially. We presently consider the following to be among the important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from expectations: (1) The COVID-19 pandemic has affected how we and our customers are operating our respective businesses, and the duration and extent to which this will impact our future results of operations remains uncertain. (2) Our success depends upon our ability to develop new products and services, integrate acquired products and services and enhance our existing products and services. (3) Our cloud strategy, including our Oracle Cloud Software-as-a-Service and Infrastructure-as-a-Service offerings, may adversely affect our revenues and profitability. (4) We might experience significant coding, manufacturing or configuration errors in our cloud, license and hardware offerings. (5) If our security measures for our products and services are compromised and as a result, our data, our customers' data or our IT systems are accessed improperly, made unavailable, or improperly modified, our products and services may be perceived as vulnerable, our brand and reputation could be damaged, the IT services we provide to our customers could be disrupted, and customers may stop using our products and services, any of which could reduce our revenue and earnings, increase our expenses and expose us to legal claims and regulatory actions. (6) Our business practices with respect to data could give rise to operational interruption, liabilities or reputational harm as a result of governmental regulation, legal requirements or industry standards relating to privacy and data protection. (7) Economic, political and market conditions can adversely affect our business, results of operations and financial condition, including our revenue growth and profitability, which in turn could adversely affect our stock price. (8) If we are unable to compete effectively, the results of operations and prospects for our business could be harmed. (9) Our international sales and operations subject us to additional risks that can adversely affect our operating results. (10) We are susceptible to third-party manufacturing and logistics delays, which could result in the loss of sales and customers. A detailed discussion of these factors and other risks that affect our business is contained in our SEC filings, including our most recent reports on Form 10-K and Form 10-Q, particularly under the heading "Risk Factors." Copies of these filings are available online from the SEC or by contacting Oracle Corporation's Investor Relations Department at (650) 506-4073 or by clicking on SEC Filings on Oracle's Investor Relations website at www.oracle.com/investor/. All information set forth in this press release is current as of September 13, 2021. Oracle undertakes no duty to update any statement in light of new information or future events. ORACLE CORPORATION Q1 FISCAL 2022 FINANCIAL RESULTS CONDENSED CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF OPERATIONS ($ in millions, except per share data) Three Months Ended August 31, % Increase % Increase (Decrease) % of % of (Decrease) in Constant 2021 Revenues 2020 Revenues in US $ Currency (1) REVENUES Cloud services and license support $ 7,371 76% $ 6,947 74% 6% 5% Cloud license and on-premise license 813 8% 886 9% (8%) (9%) Hardware 763 8% 814 9% (6%) (7%) Services 781 8% 720 8% 8% 7% Total revenues 9,728 100% 9,367 100% 4% 2% OPERATING EXPENSES Cloud services and license support 1,214 13% 1,011 11% 20% 19% Hardware 245 2% 246 2% (1%) (2%) Services 644 7% 623 7% 3% 2% Sales and marketing 1,854 19% 1,854 20% 0% (1%) Research and development 1,684 18% 1,589 17% 6% 5% General and administrative 298 3% 295 3% 1% 0% Amortization of intangible assets 303 3% 345 4% (12%) (12%) Acquisition related and other 21 0% 19 0% 4% 4% Restructuring 38 0% 174 2% (78%) (78%) Total operating expenses 6,301 65% 6,156 66% 2% 1% OPERATING INCOME 3,427 35% 3,211 34% 7% 5% Interest expense (705) (7%) (614) (6%) 15% 15% Non-operating expenses, net (41) (1%) (2) 0% * * INCOME BEFORE PROVISION FOR INCOME TAXES 2,681 27% 2,595 28% 3% 1% Provision for income taxes 224 2% 344 4% (35%) (36%) NET INCOME $ 2,457 25% $ 2,251 24% 9% 7% EARNINGS PER SHARE: Basic $ 0.89 $ 0.74 Diluted $ 0.86 $ 0.72 WEIGHTED AVERAGE COMMON SHARES OUTSTANDING: Basic 2,769 3,041 Diluted 2,861 3,107 (1) We compare the percent change in the results from one period to another period using constant currency disclosure. We present constant currency information to provide a framework for assessing how our underlying businesses performed excluding the effect of foreign currency rate fluctuations. To present this information, current and comparative prior period results for entities reporting in currencies other than United States dollars are converted into United States dollars at the exchange rates in effect on May 31, 2021, which was the last day of our prior fiscal year, rather than the actual exchange rates in effect during the respective periods. Movements in international currencies relative to the United States dollar during the three months ended August 31, 2021 compared with the corresponding prior year period increased our revenues by 2 percentage points, operating expenses by 1 percentage point and operating income by 2 percentage points. * Not meaningful ORACLE CORPORATION Q1 FISCAL 2022 FINANCIAL RESULTS RECONCILIATION OF SELECTED GAAP MEASURES TO NON-GAAP MEASURES (1) ($ in millions, except per share data) Three Months Ended August 31, % Increase (Decrease) in US $ % Increase (Decrease) in Constant Currency (2) 2021 2021 2020 2020 GAAP Non-GAAP GAAP Non-GAAP GAAP Adj. Non-GAAP GAAP Adj. Non-GAAP TOTAL REVENUES $ 9,728 $ - $ 9,728 $ 9,367 $ 1 $ 9,368 4% 4% 2% 2% Cloud services and license support 7,371 - 7,371 6,947 1 6,948 6% 6% 5% 5% TOTAL OPERATING EXPENSES $ 6,301 $ (907) $ 5,394 $ 6,156 $ (966) $ 5,190 2% 4% 1% 3% Stock-based compensation (3) 545 (545) - 428 (428) - 28% * 28% * Amortization of intangible assets (4) 303 (303) - 345 (345) - (12%) * (12%) * Acquisition related and other 21 (21) - 19 (19) - 4% * 4% * Restructuring 38 (38) - 174 (174) - (78%) * (78%) * OPERATING INCOME $ 3,427 $ 907 $ 4,334 $ 3,211 $ 967 $ 4,178 7% 4% 5% 2% OPERATING MARGIN % 35% 45% 34% 45% 95 bp. (5) bp. 74 bp. (18) bp. INCOME TAX EFFECTS (5) $ 224 $ 420 $ 644 $ 344 $ 336 $ 680 (35%) (5%) (36%) (7%) NET INCOME $ 2,457 $ 487 $ 2,944 $ 2,251 $ 631 $ 2,882 9% 2% 7% 0% DILUTED EARNINGS PER SHARE $ 0.86 $ 1.03 $ 0.72 $ 0.93 19% 11% 16% 9% DILUTED WEIGHTED AVERAGE COMMON SHARES OUTSTANDING 2,861 - 2,861 3,107 - 3,107 (8%) (8%) (8%) (8%) (1) This presentation includes non-GAAP measures. Our non-GAAP measures are not meant to be considered in isolation or as a substitute for comparable GAAP measures, and should be read only in conjunction with our consolidated financial statements prepared in accordance with GAAP. For a detailed explanation of the adjustments made to comparable GAAP measures, the reasons why management uses these measures, the usefulness of these measures and the material limitations on the usefulness of these measures, please see Appendix A. (2) We compare the percent change in the results from one period to another period using constant currency disclosure. We present constant currency information to provide a framework for assessing how our underlying businesses performed excluding the effect of foreign currency rate fluctuations. To present this information, current and comparative prior period results for entities reporting in currencies other than United States dollars are converted into United States dollars at the exchange rates in effect on May 31, 2021, which was the last day of our prior fiscal year, rather than the actual exchange rates in effect during the respective periods. (3) Stock-based compensation was included in the following GAAP operating expense categories: Three Months Ended Three Months Ended August 31, 2021 August 31, 2020 GAAP Adj. Non-GAAP GAAP Adj. Non-GAAP Cloud services and license support $ 40 $ (40) $ - $ 30 $ (30) $ - Hardware 3 (3) - 3 (3) - Services 14 (14) - 12 (12) - Sales and marketing 95 (95) - 71 (71) - Research and development 344 (344) - 276 (276) - General and administrative 49 (49) - 36 (36) - Total stock-based compensation $ 545 $ (545) $ - $ 428 $ (428) $ - (4) Estimated future annual amortization expense related to intangible assets as of August 31, 2021 was as follows: Remainder of fiscal 2022 $ 834 Fiscal 2023 716 Fiscal 2024 473 Fiscal 2025 124 Fiscal 2026 24 Fiscal 2027 6 Thereafter 4 Total intangible assets, net $ 2,181 (5) Income tax effects were calculated reflecting an effective GAAP tax rate of 8.4% and 13.3% in the first quarter of fiscal 2022 and 2021, respectively, and an effective non-GAAP tax rate of 18.0% and 19.1% in the first quarter of fiscal 2022 and 2021, respectively. The difference in our GAAP and non-GAAP tax rates in each of the first quarter of fiscal 2022 and 2021 was primarily due to the net tax effects on stock-based compensation expense and acquisition related items, including the tax effects of amortization of intangible assets, partially offset by the net deferred tax effects related to an income tax benefit that was previously recorded due to the partial realignment of our legal entity structure. * Not meaningful ORACLE CORPORATION Q1 FISCAL 2022 FINANCIAL RESULTS CONDENSED CONSOLIDATED BALANCE SHEETS ($ in millions) August 31, May 31, 2021 2021 ASSETS Current Assets: Cash and cash equivalents $ 23,059 $ 30,098 Marketable securities 16,251 16,456 Trade receivables, net 4,482 5,409 Prepaid expenses and other current assets 3,325 3,604 Total Current Assets 47,117 55,567 Non-Current Assets: Property, plant and equipment, net 7,610 7,049 Intangible assets, net 2,181 2,430 Goodwill, net 43,862 43,935 Deferred tax assets 13,391 13,636 Other non-current assets 8,763 8,490 Total Non-Current Assets 75,807 75,540 TOTAL ASSETS $ 122,924 $ 131,107 LIABILITIES AND STOCKHOLDERS' (DEFICIT) EQUITY Current Liabilities: Notes payable, current $ 6,748 $ 8,250 Accounts payable 749 745 Accrued compensation and related benefits 1,470 2,017 Deferred revenues 10,011 8,775 Other current liabilities 4,093 4,377 Total Current Liabilities 23,071 24,164 Non-Current Liabilities: Notes payable and other borrowings, non-current 75,970 75,995 Income taxes payable 12,315 12,345 Deferred tax liabilities 7,648 7,864 Other non-current liabilities 5,050 4,787 Total Non-Current Liabilities 100,983 100,991 Stockholders' (Deficit) Equity (1,130) 5,952 TOTAL LIABILITIES AND STOCKHOLDERS' (DEFICIT) EQUITY $ 122,924 $ 131,107 ORACLE CORPORATION Q1 FISCAL 2022 FINANCIAL RESULTS CONDENSED CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF CASH FLOWS ($ in millions) Three Months Ended August 31, 2021 2020 Cash Flows From Operating Activities: Net income $ 2,457 $ 2,251 Adjustments to reconcile net income to net cash provided by operating activities: Depreciation 454 356 Amortization of intangible assets 303 345 Deferred income taxes (15) 173 Stock-based compensation 545 428 Other, net (27) 78 Changes in operating assets and liabilities, net of effects from acquisitions: Decrease in trade receivables, net 852 1,077 Decrease in prepaid expenses and other assets 270 380 Decrease in accounts payable and other liabilities (713) (294) Decrease in income taxes payable (221) (586) Increase in deferred revenues 1,486 1,745 Net cash provided by operating activities 5,391 5,953 Cash Flows From Investing Activities: Purchases of marketable securities and other investments (7,671) (10,678) Proceeds from sales and maturities of marketable securities and other investments 8,002 1,459 Acquisitions, net of cash acquired (50) - Capital expenditures (1,062) (436) Net cash used for investing activities (781) (9,655) Cash Flows From Financing Activities: Payments for repurchases of common stock (7,995) (4,945) Proceeds from issuances of common stock 148 567 Shares repurchased for tax withholdings upon vesting of restricted stock-based awards (820) (478) Payments of dividends to stockholders (887) (730) Repayments of borrowings (1,500) (1,000) Other, net (414) 93 Net cash used for financing activities (11,468) (6,493) Effect of exchange rate changes on cash and cash equivalents (181) 232 Net decrease in cash and cash equivalents (7,039) (9,963) Cash and cash equivalents at beginning of period 30,098 37,239 Cash and cash equivalents at end of period $ 23,059 $ 27,276 ORACLE CORPORATION Q1 FISCAL 2022 FINANCIAL RESULTS FREE CASH FLOW - TRAILING 4-QUARTERS (1) ($ in millions) Fiscal 2021 Fiscal 2022 Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 GAAP Operating Cash Flow $ 13,092 $ 13,967 $ 14,659 $ 15,887 $ 15,325 Capital Expenditures (1,614) (1,833) (1,851) (2,135) (2,761) Free Cash Flow $ 11,478 $ 12,134 $ 12,808 $ 13,752 $ 12,564 % Growth over prior year (6%) (1%) 3% 19% 9% GAAP Net Income $ 10,249 $ 10,380 $ 12,830 $ 13,746 $ 13,952 Free Cash Flow as a % of Net Income 112% 117% 100% 100% 90% (1) To supplement our statements of cash flows presented on a GAAP basis, we use non-GAAP measures of cash flows on a trailing 4-quarter basis to analyze cash flow generated from operations. We believe free cash flow is also useful as one of the bases for comparing our performance with our competitors. The presentation of non-GAAP free cash flow is not meant to be considered in isolation or as an alternative to net income as an indicator of our performance, or as an alternative to cash flows from operating activities as a measure of liquidity. ORACLE CORPORATION Q1 FISCAL 2022 FINANCIAL RESULTS SUPPLEMENTAL ANALYSIS OF GAAP REVENUES (1) ($ in millions) Fiscal 2021 Fiscal 2022 Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 TOTAL Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 TOTAL REVENUES BY OFFERINGS Cloud services and license support $ 6,947 $ 7,112 $ 7,252 $ 7,389 $ 28,700 $ 7,371 $ 7,371 Cloud license and on-premise license 886 1,092 1,276 2,144 5,399 813 813 Hardware 814 844 820 882 3,359 763 763 Services 720 752 737 812 3,021 781 781 Total revenues $ 9,367 $ 9,800 $ 10,085 $ 11,227 $ 40,479 $ 9,728 $ 9,728 AS REPORTED REVENUE GROWTH RATES Cloud services and license support 2% 4% 5% 8% 5% 6% 6% Cloud license and on-premise license 9% (3%) 4% 9% 5% (8%) (8%) Hardware 0% (3%) (4%) (2%) (2%) (6%) (6%) Services (8%) (7%) (5%) 11% (3%) 8% 8% Total revenues 2% 2% 3% 8% 4% 4% 4% CONSTANT CURRENCY REVENUE GROWTH RATES (2) Cloud services and license support 2% 4% 2% 4% 3% 5% 5% Cloud license and on-premise license 8% (5%) 0% 5% 2% (9%) (9%) Hardware 0% (3%) (6%) (6%) (4%) (7%) (7%) Services (8%) (8%) (8%) 6% (5%) 7% 7% Total revenues 2% 1% 0% 4% 2% 2% 2% CLOUD SERVICES AND LICENSE SUPPORT REVENUES BY ECOSYSTEM Applications cloud services and license support $ 2,816 $ 2,901 $ 2,952 $ 3,043 $ 11,712 $ 3,041 $ 3,041 Infrastructure cloud services and license support 4,131 4,211 4,300 4,346 16,988 4,330 4,330 Total cloud services and license support revenues $ 6,947 $ 7,112 $ 7,252 $ 7,389 $ 28,700 $ 7,371 $ 7,371 AS REPORTED REVENUE GROWTH RATES Applications cloud services and license support 4% 5% 5% 11% 6% 8% 8% Infrastructure cloud services and license support 1% 4% 4% 6% 4% 5% 5% Total cloud services and license support revenues 2% 4% 5% 8% 5% 6% 6% CONSTANT CURRENCY REVENUE GROWTH RATES (2) Applications cloud services and license support 4% 5% 3% 7% 5% 7% 7% Infrastructure cloud services and license support 1% 3% 2% 2% 2% 3% 3% Total cloud services and license support revenues 2% 4% 2% 4% 3% 5% 5% GEOGRAPHIC REVENUES Americas $ 5,068 $ 5,259 $ 5,424 $ 6,076 $ 21,828 $ 5,321 $ 5,321 Europe/Middle East/Africa 2,738 2,852 2,981 3,324 11,894 2,784 2,784 Asia Pacific 1,561 1,689 1,680 1,827 6,757 1,623 1,623 Total revenues $ 9,367 $ 9,800 $ 10,085 $ 11,227 $ 40,479 $ 9,728 $ 9,728 (1) The sum of the quarterly information presented may vary from the year-to-date information presented due to rounding. (2) We compare the percent change in the results from one period to another period using constant currency disclosure. We present constant currency information to provide a framework for assessing how our underlying businesses performed excluding the effect of foreign currency rate fluctuations. To present this information, current and comparative prior period results for entities reporting in currencies other than United States dollars are converted into United States dollars at the exchange rates in effect on May 31, 2021 and 2020 for the fiscal 2022 and fiscal 2021 constant currency growth rate calculations presented, respectively, rather than the actual exchange rates in effect during the respective periods. APPENDIX A ORACLE CORPORATION Q1 FISCAL 2022 FINANCIAL RESULTS EXPLANATION OF NON-GAAP MEASURES To supplement our financial results presented on a GAAP basis, we use the non-GAAP measures indicated in the tables, which exclude certain business combination accounting entries and expenses related to acquisitions, as well as other significant expenses including stock-based compensation, that we believe are helpful in understanding our past financial performance and our future results. Our non-GAAP financial measures are not meant to be considered in isolation or as a substitute for comparable GAAP measures and should be read only in conjunction with our consolidated financial statements prepared in accordance with GAAP. Our management regularly uses our supplemental non-GAAP financial measures internally to understand, manage and evaluate our business and make operating decisions. These non-GAAP measures are among the primary factors management uses in planning for and forecasting future periods. Compensation of our executives is based in part on the performance of our business based on these non-GAAP measures. Our non-GAAP financial measures reflect adjustments based on the following items, as well as the related income tax effects: Cloud services and license support revenues : Business combination accounting rules require us to account for the fair values of cloud services and license support contracts assumed in connection with our acquisitions. The non-GAAP adjustments to our cloud services and license support revenues are intended to include, and thus reflect, the full amount of such revenues. We believe the adjustments to these revenues are useful to investors as a measure of the ongoing performance of our business as we generally expect to experience high renewal rates for these contracts at their stated values during the post combination periods. Stock-based compensation expenses : We have excluded the effect of stock-based compensation expenses from our non-GAAP operating expenses and net income measures. Although stock-based compensation is a key incentive offered to our employees, and we believe such compensation contributed to the revenues earned during the periods presented and also believe it will contribute to the generation of future period revenues, we continue to evaluate our business performance excluding stock-based compensation expenses. Stock-based compensation expenses will recur in future periods. Amortization of intangible assets : We have excluded the effect of amortization of intangible assets from our non-GAAP operating expenses and net income measures. Amortization of intangible assets is inconsistent in amount and frequency and is significantly affected by the timing and size of our acquisitions. Investors should note that the use of intangible assets contributed to our revenues earned during the periods presented and will contribute to our future period revenues as well. Amortization of intangible assets will recur in future periods. Acquisition related and other expenses; and restructuring expenses : We have excluded the effect of acquisition related and other expenses and the effect of restructuring expenses from our non-GAAP operating expenses and net income measures. We incurred expenses in connection with our acquisitions and also incurred certain other operating expenses or income, which we generally would not have otherwise incurred in the periods presented as a part of our continuing operations. Acquisition related and other expenses primarily consist of personnel related costs for transitional and certain other employees, certain business combination adjustments including adjustments after the measurement period has ended and certain other operating items, net. Restructuring expenses consist of employee severance and other exit costs. We believe it is useful for investors to understand the effects of these items on our total operating expenses. Although acquisition related and other expenses and restructuring expenses generally diminish over time with respect to past acquisitions and/or strategic initiatives, we generally will incur these expenses in connection with any future acquisitions and/or strategic initiatives. SOURCE Oracle Related Links https://www.oracle.com/ CHICAGO, Sept. 13, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Cook County Treasurer Maria Pappas will conduct the first sale in more than two years of delinquent Cook County property taxes on Nov. 5, 2021. About $163.4 million in unpaid 2018 property taxes (that were to be paid in 2019) is due on 36,000 homes, businesses and land. Less than $1,000 is owed on 11,744 properties in Chicago and 7,700 properties in suburban Cook County. Pappas is sending owners of those properties a certified mailing informing them that their unpaid taxes are scheduled to be sold, which would put a lien against their properties. It is the first step in a process that can end with the loss of a property. Owners can avoid the Tax Sale by paying the delinquent taxes and interest before the sale begins. To see if your taxes are delinquent and to make a payment visit cookcountytreasurer.com and select "Avoid the Tax Sale." You can search by address or by Property Index Number (PIN). "About 75% of the taxes offered for sale are for properties in majority Black and Latino communities," Pappas said. "That's why Black and Latino Houses Matter, my program to help homeowners find refunds and apply for tax exemptions, is so important." Owners may be unaware the taxes on their properties are headed to the Tax Sale because the U.S. Postal Service has returned bills and subsequent notices on 17,702 properties. Also, as many as 207 seniors may be missing a senior exemption and 184 seniors may be eligible for a senior freeze two exemptions that could reduce their tax bill. "Everyone should visit cookcountytreasurer.com for more information," Pappas said. Per Illinois law, the annual Tax Sale traditionally is conducted 13 months after the due date but was delayed because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Pappas plans to conduct the sale for 2019 unpaid taxes in May and for the 2020 taxes in November 2022. SOURCE Cook County Treasurer's Office Related Links www.cookcountytreasurer.com "Staffing and recruiting companies provide opportunities for success for employees throughout the country," said Richard Wahlquist, president and chief executive officer of ASA. "Our National Staffing Employee of the Year and All-Stars are all incredible individuals whose partnerships with staffing companies changed their lives for the better." Sponsored by StaffPro3, a division of PMC Insurance, the National Staffing Employee of the Year and All-Star awards honor current or former temporary or contract employees with an extraordinary story of staffing success and who best exemplifies one or more of the industry's key messages of bridging and flexibility. Kienitz will be honored during a ceremony at Staffing World, the ASA annual convention and expo, Sept. 2830 at the Gaylord Rockies Resort & Convention Center in Denver. National Staffing Employee of the Year OfficeClerical and Administrative Sector Souphak Kienitz Kienitz was interested in finding a profession that allowed her the flexibility to earn an income while also developing her upcoming clothing brand, Jay Victoria. She was referred to Advent Talent Group, where she was able to openly share her personal and career goals, including her need for flexibility, with her recruiter. This was a welcome change from her previous job search experiences. Shortly after, Advent matched Kienitz with an opportunity as a part-time, temporary front desk receptionist at the Minneapolis Foundation, an organization that promotes civic engagement and community investments. Her hard work and dedication caught the eye of the foundation's leadership, and Kienitz was soon offered the opportunity to work in a full-time capacity as a producer for the foundation's podcast, "Conversations With Chanda." Her clothing brand is launching soon. Engineering, Information Technology, and Scientific Sector All-Star Katie Brewer Brewer used staffing to take a chance on her future. Following layoffs at her previous employer, Brewer wanted to find a way to develop the skills she needed to enter the technical field without going to a four-year college. In the summer of 2020, she interviewed and was chosen for the Year Up Professional Resources (dba YUPRO) [email protected] IT Residency program, which allowed her to work as a contractor for the social media company while also continuing to learn important technical training. The residency contractor program provided her with support and new opportunities to grow as a professional. Soon, Brewer was not only learning new skills, but also leading projects and training new externs. As a result of her hard work and dedication, Brewer gained the experience and skills required for full-time consideration at Facebook. Health Care Sector All-Star Margaret Khan Khan uses the flexibility staffing provides to support a health care clinic in her hometown. In 2007, Khan came to the U.S. to support a family member with disabilities. After earning her associate's and bachelor's degree in nursing, she began with Health Carousel as a travel nurse. The role provides her with the flexibility to work while caring for her loved one and traveling back to Uganda to support a local health care clinic. Today, Khan also works with Health Carousel's international team to help other nurses from Uganda with licensing exams in the U.S. Industrial Sector All-Star Li Yan Zhang Working with the AtWork Group helped Zhang rejoin the workforce. After immigrating to the U.S., Zhang started working 12-hour shifts every day at a local Knoxville restaurant. Unfortunately, soon after purchasing a home, she lost her job due to pandemic restrictions. Zhang then turned to AtWork Group's local branch to find new employment, and she was placed with Lifetime Products, a plastics manufacturer. Her intelligence and hard work quickly earned her praise, and she was soon offered a full-time position in a role that provided her with more free time to spend with her friends and family. ProfessionalManagerial Sector All-Star Eronger Kornegay III By working with Cella Inc., Kornegay was able to fulfill a family promise. While he was serving as her caregiver, Kornegay's mother made him promise that he would return to school. While working three jobs and gaining as much marketing experience as possible, he turned to Cella Inc. Cella found him a contract role as a marketing manager with computer software company Nutanix. His incredible drive and determination led to a permanent position with Nutanixand he did it all while earning his bachelor's degree. Media Contact: Megan Sweeney 703-253-1151 SOURCE American Staffing Association SAN FRANCISCO, Sept. 13, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Product Marketing Alliance (PMA), the world's largest community for product marketers, has acquired Sequel Media as part of its plans to expand its education empire. Since it first came onto the scene in 2019, PMA has established itself as the continuous professional development platform of choice for thousands of product marketers worldwide, attracting organizations such as Salesforce, HubSpot, Microsoft, and more. Sequel Media is an in-person events business that facilitates business growth in fast-moving markets. Its Summit series - Product Marketing World, Sales Enablement World, Product-Led World, and AI Accelerator Summit - tour the world and provide the best in-person events for these communities, uniting experts everywhere. Combining Sequel's market-dominating events series with PMA's well-established community and education offering was a no-brainer for the company, and marks the start of an incredibly exciting and prosperous hybrid model; encompassing live in-person, live and online, and OnDemand opportunities for their communities. PMA's acquisition of Sequel Media will enable the education arm of the organization to ramp up the velocity of its accredited courses, membership, and scholar programs, all the while continuing to provide global events, market-leading reports, and thriving communities. The acquisition also marks the birth of The Alliance . Home to PMA's portfolio of communities (Sales Enablement Collective, Product-Led Alliance, Future of SaaS, AIAI Accelerator Institute, Customer Success Collective, B2B Marketing Alliance, and CMO Alliance) The Alliance will be the organization's new corporate umbrella, becoming the go-to professional development platform for high-growth organizations and individuals worldwide. Richard King, Founder & CEO of Product Marketing Alliance, said: "Acquiring Sequel Media was the obvious and natural fit for us. PMA has experienced an incredibly steep growth curve over the last two years and this is set to continue. "We're incredibly excited to have Sequel's in-demand and established in-person events series now under our remit, and we're already working on lots of plans to bring our digital education offering in-person. Watch this space." Josie King, Founder and CEO of Sequel Media, said: "The Sequel Media team is excited to join forces with PMA. "Content and community have always been at the core of both organizations, and we have a shared vision of what a true community-led approach should be. Continuing to add value, authority, and leadership through our community events and educational programs will be a key driver of growth. "We're on the verge of something special and by working together and creating The Alliance, we will expedite our joint mission of enabling high-growth organizations to access the education, content, and community needed to help individuals and companies scale." Product Marketing Alliance was founded in February 2019 with a mission of uniting product marketers across the globe. And it did just that. Since launching, it's gathered more than 40,000 enthusiasts from the USA to Russia, Greece to Germany, England to Australia. All with one shared goal: to drive demand, adoption, and the overall success of their products. Contact: Bryony Pearce [email protected] www.productmarketingalliance.com SOURCE Product Marketing Alliance TORONTO, Sept. 13, 2021 /PRNewswire/ - Prophecy DeFi Inc. ("Prophecy DeFi" or the "Company") (CSE: PDFI) is pleased to announce that, further to its press releases of June 8, 2021 and July 9, 2021, it has completed the previously announced acquisition (the "Transaction") of the remaining 40% of the issued and outstanding common shares of Layer2 Blockchain Inc. ("Layer2"). As consideration for the Transaction, the Company issued a further 25,000,000 common shares of the Company (each a "Common Share") to the shareholders of Layer2 on a pro rata basis. All Common Shares issued in connection with the acquisition of Layer2 are subject to voluntary lock-ups of up to 21 months, subject to certain accelerated releases in the event the Company's common shares trade above certain prices. Further information on the Transaction can be found in the press releases of the Company dated June 8, 2021 and July 9, 2021. Prophecy DeFi initially acquired a 60% interest in Layer2 Blockchain on July 8th. Layer2's management team has proven to be extremely skilled at identifying opportunities in the Decentralized Finance ("DeFi") space, executing on market trades and creating returns that exceeded Prophecy DeFi's targets. On this basis, the Company decided to proceed with accelerating the timeline of the purchase of the remaining 40% interest in Layer2 Blockchain. "We are thrilled to acquire full ownership of this innovative company," said John McMahon, CEO, Prophecy DeFi. "Layer2 is managed by an extremely talented team of DeFi operators, and we will be accelerating the growth of the existing Layer2 business with additional capital and resources that will continue to enhance their operations." "This relationship with Prophecy DeFi is truly symbiotic. With the access to capital and knowledgeable advisors that Prophecy DeFi offers, we are able to concentrate our efforts on executing our business plan. Just 60 days after the initial Transaction, we've proven the business thesis and see a tremendous future in the growth prospects of the company." said Andrew Young, CEO, Layer2 Blockchain. Layer2 specializes in liquidity provisioning, pooled lending, and staking in non-Ethereum DeFi protocols. By providing capital to emerging marketplaces, Layer2 does not just profit from high yields, but also takes an early ownership stake in these growing exchanges. Layer2 Blockchain Performance Layer2 Blockchain has performed exceptionally well since it began deploying capital into DeFi opportunities on July 17th. As of September 2nd, or its first 47 days of operations, Layer2 has initiated 9 trades. The largest of these trades was providing liquidity provisioning to DinoSwap and the amount of capital deployed into this trade reached a height of $3,282,660.50. Through this trade alone, Layer2 has had capital appreciation of $1,023,719 in this period and yielded a time weighted rate of return of 77.75%. This trade remains active and continues to generate positive returns. Further to the DinoSwap trade, Layer2 initiated additional trades within this 47-day period, by deploying capital through liquidity provisioning on ApeSwap, QuickSwap and Impermax where ETH, BTC, MATIC, and stable coins have been deployed. These trades have yielded holding period returns of 76.31%, 42.3%, and 25.9%, respectively. Layer2 aggressively compounds the profits from these trades multiple times a day to amplify returns. The company is seeing a growing number of opportunities to increase its activity and capital deployment into this high-growth market. Outlook DeFi is one of the fastest growing asset classes worldwide, having grown 150x from less than $1B in May 2020 to over $150B in total value locked today.1 Since the initial acquisition of Layer2 on July 8th, Prophecy DeFi has advanced $1.1M to Layer2 in order to accelerate the growth of the business. With the closing of this Transaction, Prophecy DeFi is planning to advance additional funds to Layer2, which will allow them to take advantage of new and quickly emerging market opportunities. Layer2's performance is strengthened by the continuous expansion of Prophecy DeFi's Advisory Committee. Prophecy DeFi's Advisors are world-renowned leaders in DeFi and blockchain technology, who have built some of the largest and fastest growing protocols in the sector. These Advisors support Prophecy DeFi's long-term mission to not only capitalize on opportunities in the market, but to actively grow and build on existing DeFi infrastructures. The expertise, access, and industry connections of Prophecy DeFi's Advisory Committee is proving to be paramount in achieving these corporate objectives and will continue to serve as a competitive advantage to the operations of Layer2. _______________________ 1 Source: DeFi Llama (https://defillama.com/) Share Issuances The Company has agreed to extend a consulting contract with an investor relations firm, The Bid Capital (the "Contract"). The Contract has a fee payable of $250,000, which will be satisfied through the issuance of 500,000 common shares at a deemed price of $0.50 per share (the "Shares"). These Shares will be subject to a statutory holding period expiring on the date that is four (4) months and one day from the issuance date and subject to an additional escrow of up to 21 months based on certain agreed upon performance milestones. In connection with the Transaction, the Company agreed to issue 500,000 common shares to a certain eligible finder. The shares issued to such finder are subject to the same lock-ups as noted above. About Layer2 Blockchain Layer2 Blockchain is focused on accelerating the development of the DeFi industry on scalable blockchains by providing early-stage liquidity to the most promising DeFi projects. Additional information about the Company can be found on the Company's website at www.layer2defi.com About Prophecy DeFi Prophecy DeFi (CSE:PDFI) aims to bring together technology start-ups in the Blockchain and DeFi sectors to fund innovation, elevate industry research, and create new business opportunities in a coherent ecosystem. Additional information about the Company can be found on the Company's website at: www.prophecydefi.com Forward-Looking Information Certain information set forth in this news release may contain forward-looking information that involves substantial known and unknown risks and uncertainties. This forward-looking information is subject to numerous risks and uncertainties, certain of which are beyond the control of the Company, including, but not limited to, the impact of general economic conditions, industry conditions, and dependence upon regulatory approvals and the possibility that the completion of the transaction may not 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 information. The parties undertake no obligation to update forward-looking information except as otherwise may be required by applicable securities law. Neither the Canadian Securities Exchange nor the Investment Industry Regulatory Organization of Canada accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. SOURCE Prophecy DeFi Inc. Related Links https://prophecydefi.com "Bob Marley had perhaps the single greatest influence on destigmatizing marijuana, advocating its use, and treating it with the sacramental respect it deserves," said Radiant Canna CEO and Co-Founder Aaron Selverston. "We are honor-bound to ensure that his legacy, and the fight for peace, freedom, and justice to which he dedicated his life, are respected and promoted through every product we make that bears his name." "We are beyond excited to work with Aaron and the team at Radiant to continue to build the legacy of Bob Marley in the world's largest cannabis market," said Damian Marano, CEO of Docklight Brands. "Radiant understands the ethos of Marley Natural and will bring spirited and high-quality products to consumers who love the brand." The Marley Natural core product line will feature sustainable, sun- and greenhouse-grown flower at affordable prices, grown by legacy farmers in the Emerald Triangle region of Northern California. It will be complemented by the Marley Natural Studio line, highlighting limited-edition batches of potent, exotic indoor flower products grown by a curated group of award-winning cultivators. In addition, Radiant Canna plans to introduce a line of THC infused edibles, as well as pre-rolls and vapes later this fall. Radiant's culture was built upon the symbiosis of cannabis and music, and the company's management believes that the Marley Natural brand aligns perfectly with their effort to retain and nurture the culture of cannabis through music and lifestyle. Radiant is committed to supporting Bob Marley's legacy of social justice, positive change, personal wellness, and environmental consciousness by sourcing primarily from small family farms and by maintaining an unwavering commitment to sustainability. ABOUT RADIANT CANNA Radiant Canna and its logistics arm, Radiant Distro, provides manufacturing, distribution and technology solutions to more than a dozen multi-award-winning brands. Radiant Distro operates fulfillment centers in Northern and Southern California, including Santa Rosa, San Francisco and Los Angeles. For more information, please visit radiantcanna.com, or on Instagram follow @radiantdistro or @cosmicbrands. ABOUT DOCKLIGHT BRANDS, INC. Docklight Brands, based in Seattle, WA, is a pioneering consumer brand company focused on cannabinoid products. Docklight was founded by Privateer Holdings, the first private equity firm to invest exclusively in the emerging legal cannabis industry. We are bringing Bob Marley's belief in the positive potential of the herb to consumers worldwide through anchor brands Marley Natural and Marley CBD, which offer a wide range of authentic products inspired by Bob's spirit, ideals and deep-rooted respect for nature. THC products include flower, pre-rolls, smoking accessories and edibles, while CBD products span beverages, topicals and confectionsall crafted with intention and respect. For more information, please visit marleynatural.com, enjoymarleycbd.com or on Instagram follow @MarleyNatural, @EnjoyMarleyCBD. SOURCE Radiant Canna Related Links https://radiantcanna.com/ OSLO, Norway, Sept. 13, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- NOT FOR RELEASE, PUBLICATION OR DISTRIBUTION, IN WHOLE OR IN PART, DIRECTLY OR INDIRECTLY, INTO OR WITHIN CANADA, AUSTRALIA, NEW ZEALAND, SOUTH-AFRICA, HONG KONG, JAPAN OR ANY OTHER JURISDICTION IN WHICH THE DISTRIBUTION OR RELEASE WOULD BE UNLAWFUL Octopus Bidco AS (currently under name change from WR Start Up 418 AS) ("Octopus Bidco" or the "Offeror"), a company indirectly wholly owned by funds advised by Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co. L.P. and its affiliates ("KKR"), has reached an agreement with Ocean Yield ASA ("Ocean Yield" or the "Company"), the Oslo Stock Exchange-listed ship owning company (OSE ticker: OCY), to launch a recommended voluntary cash tender offer (the "Offer") for all outstanding shares (the "Shares") of the Company. A cash consideration of NOK 41.00 will be offered per Share, subject to certain adjustments as described below (the "Offer Price"). The Offer Price implies a total consideration for all the Shares of approximately NOK 7.2 billion (based on 175,286,575 Shares outstanding as per 13 September 2021). The Offer is the result of a strategic process related to the Company. The independent members of the Company's board of directors (the "Board") unanimously recommend the Offer. Aker ASA ("Aker"), the largest shareholder of the Company through its subsidiary Aker Capital AS, owning 61.65 per cent of the outstanding Shares in the Company, has irrevocably undertaken to accept the Offer on the first day of the offer period. Vincent Policard, Partner and Co-Head of European Infrastructure at KKR, comments: "We have been impressed by what Ocean Yield's management team and employees have achieved since the Company was formed a decade ago through the strategy of investments in modern fuel-efficient vessels on long-term charters. KKR is excited at the idea of becoming a strategic partner to Ocean Yield's management team to continue building a leading ship-leasing company to the benefit of all stakeholders, including by providing improved access to long-term capital to meet the substantial investment needs of the sector." yvind Eriksen, President and CEO of Aker, comments: "Aker has been the driving force behind the development of Ocean Yield since it established the company in 2012. The company has since 2012 grown its fleet significantly from 3 to 63 vessels and is today positioned as a leading maritime leasing company with a strong backlog towards solid counterparties and a highly competent management team. As an industrial investment company, Aker is constantly reviewing strategic options related to its investments and has now decided that it is time to let a new owner continue the growth journey. We are happy to see that a renowned investment firm such as KKR recognizes the strength of Ocean Yield and will support the further growth of the company as the new owner." Lars Solbakken, CEO of Ocean Yield, comments: "We are pleased that KKR, a leading global investment firm with a strong track-record in successful partnerships, is becoming a strategic partner to us to further strengthen Ocean Yield as a leading maritime leasing company. By leveraging KKR's capital, expertise and network, Ocean Yield will be well positioned to develop the business with the intention to build a substantially larger company. The team is excited for the next phase of developing Ocean Yield." Key terms of the Offer Under the Offer, the Company's shareholders will be offered NOK 41.00 per Share to be settled in cash upon completion. The Offer Price implies: A premium of 26.0 per cent to the closing price of the Shares on the Oslo Stock Exchange on 10 September 2021 of NOK 32.54 . of . A premium of 36.7 per cent to the volume weighted average share price adjusted for dividend during the last six months up to and including 10 September 2021 of NOK 30.0 . The Offer Price will be (i) reduced by the amount of any dividend or other distributions made or declared by Ocean Yield with a record date after 12 September 2021 and prior to settlement of the Offer and (ii) increased with any incremental sales price received by the Company for the FPSO Dhirubhai-1 (the "FPSO") above USD 19 million if the FPSO is agreed to be sold prior to settlement of the Offer as further described below under the heading FPSO Price Adjustment. The complete terms and conditions of the Offer will be set out in an offer document (the "Offer Document") to be sent to the Company's shareholders following review and approval by the Oslo Stock Exchange pursuant to Chapter 6 of the Norwegian Securities Trading Act. The Offer Document is expected to be approved during September 2021, in order for the offer period to start no later than 4 October 2021. The Offer may only be accepted on the basis of the Offer Document. As further detailed and specified in the Offer Document, completion of the Offer will be subject to fulfilment or waiver by the Offeror (in its sole discretion, except for conditions (2) and (6) below which require agreement between both parties to waive) of the following conditions: (1) Valid acceptance of the Offer by shareholders of the Company representing 61.65% or more of the issued and outstanding share capital and voting rights of the Company on a fully diluted basis, such condition having already been fulfilled through the irrevocable undertaking by Aker Capital AS to accept the Offer; (2) All permits, consents, clearances and approvals required for closing of the Offer from the Norwegian Competition Authority, the German Federal Cartel Office and the Hellenic Competition Commission having been obtained without conditions or on conditions as further agreed; (3) The Company's Board not, without the Offeror's prior written consent, having withdrawn its recommendation of the Offer; (4) The Company and its relevant subsidiaries having obtained consents required from creditors under its bank financing agreements for the purposes of waiving any right of prepayment or termination that would otherwise arise as a result of the Offeror acquiring all or any of the shares in the Company, in accordance with terms to be further set out in the Offer Document; (5) No material adverse change having occurred with respect to the Company and its subsidiaries, subject to exceptions to be further set out in the Offer Document; (6) No governmental interference hindering consummation of the Offer in accordance with its terms; (7) No changes to the Company's share capital, number of shares issued and/or the par value of the shares having been resolved or completed and (8) The Transaction Agreement (as defined below) not having been terminated in accordance with its terms. The Offer is otherwise not subject to any financing or due diligence conditions. If, as a result of the Offer, the Offeror acquires and holds more than 90 per cent of the total issued share capital of the Company representing more than 90 per cent of the voting rights in the Company, the Offeror intends to carry out a compulsory acquisition of the remaining Shares in the Company. Also, if, as a result of the Offer, a subsequent statutory mandatory offer or otherwise, the Offeror holds a sufficient majority of the Shares in the Company, the Offeror may propose to the general meeting of the Company that an application is filed with Oslo Stock Exchange to de-list the shares of the Company. The initial acceptance period in the Offer will commence following publication of the Offer Document and is expected to last for 21 business days, subject to any extensions. Barring unforeseen circumstances or any extensions of the acceptance period of the Offer, it is expected that the Offer will be completed in Q4 2021. The Offer will not be made in any jurisdiction in which the making of the Offer would violate applicable laws or regulations or would require actions which the Offeror in its reasonable opinion, after having consulted with the Company, deems unduly burdensome. Board recommendations and pre-commitments Octopus Bidco and Ocean Yield have entered into a transaction agreement (the "Transaction Agreement") regarding the Offer, pursuant to which the Board has agreed to recommend the Offer. As part of this, the Board has received a fairness opinion from its financial advisor DNB Markets, a part of DNB Bank ASA, concluding that the Offer is fair from a financial point of view to the shareholders of Ocean Yield. The full recommendation will be included in the Offer Document. As the recommendation is made pursuant to the Transaction Agreement, the recommendation from the Board is not a formal statement made pursuant to sections 6-16 and 6-19 of the Norwegian Securities Trading Act. The Company has in this respect engaged Danske Bank as an independent third party and who is expected to provide the formal statement about the Offer to be issued in accordance with section 6-16 (1) cf. section 6-19 (1) of the Norwegian Securities Trading Act. As part of the Transaction Agreement, and subject to customary conditions and based on fiduciary duties, the Board has entered into undertakings to only amend or withdraw its recommendation of the Offer if a competing offer is made, and such competing Offer fulfils certain agreed terms, including in the case of a cash offer that the offer is at least 5 per cent higher than the Offer Price, and the Offeror has not matched such superior offer within up to three business days after the Offeror has received notice thereof. As part of this, and subject to customary exceptions, the Board has agreed not to solicit competing offers from third parties. Aker, the largest shareholder of the Company through its subsidiary Aker Capital AS, which owns 108,066,832 Shares, representing 61.65 per cent of the outstanding Shares in the Company, has irrevocably undertaken to accept the Offer on the first day of the offer period. In addition, the Offeror has received pre-commitments from all members of the Company's Board and executive management who hold shares in the Company, as well as certain other related parties, together holding approx. 2.02 per cent of the Company's shares, in which they have irrevocably undertaken to accept the Offer on the last day of the acceptance period for the Offer, however so that the undertakings may be revoked if the Board has amended or withdrawn its recommendation of the Offer. FPSO Price Adjustment The Company and Aker Energy AS ("Aker Energy") has for some time been in dialogue regarding the sale of the FPSO to Aker Energy for the use in development and commercialization of the Deepwater Tano Cape Three Points block offshore Ghana. In connection with the Offer, Aker Contracting FP ASA, an indirect subsidiary of the Company, and Aker Energy has entered into an agreement whereby Aker Energy (or its nominated affiliate) is granted an option to acquire the FPSO for USD 35 million, exercisable within the earlier of (i) 16 business days prior to settlement of the Offer and (ii) 15 December 2021 (the "Purchase Option"). Aker Energy has previously paid Ocean Yield USD 17.9 million as compensation for certain prior options related to the FPSO as well as certain other services related thereto. The total investment by Aker Energy in securing the FPSO if the Purchase Option is exercised, will thus amount to USD 52.9 million. If an unrelated third party provides an all cash offer acceptable to Aker Contracting FP ASA, with no material conditions precedent, to purchase the FPSO during the option period at a price, whether higher or lower than USD 35 million, Aker Energy shall be entitled to declare the Purchase Option at such time for such alternative price, subject to a minimum USD 19 million, the assumed scrap value, in net proceeds after costs). If Aker Energy exercises its Purchase Option to acquire the FPSO, or an agreement is entered into by a third party for the purchase of the FPSO no later than 16 business days prior to the settlement of the Offer, at a price higher than USD 19 million in net proceeds after costs, the Offer Consideration shall be increased by the NOK equivalent (based on a USD/NOK 8.15 exchange rate) per outstanding share in the Company of the difference between (A) the price for the FPSO (adjusted for any sales costs of Aker Contracting FP ASA if sold to another party than Aker Energy) and (B) USD 19 million. If Aker Energy declares the Purchase Option at USD 35 million, the Offer Price will be adjusted to NOK 41.74, subject to any adjustments for dividend or other distributions made by the Company. The Company has in connection with the transaction received a fairness opinion from Fearnley Securities AS supporting the option price of the FPSO of USD 35 million. The current book value of the unit is USD 51.3 million. The FPSO has been idle since its last contract in India expired in September 2018. Sale of JV ownership stake by Aker Capital AS The Company and Aker Capital AS owns 50 per cent each of OY Holding LR2 Limited which owns four LR2 product tankers with long-term charter to the Navig8 Group. At closing of the Offer, Aker Capital AS has agreed to sell its 50 per cent ownership stake to the Offeror for an aggregate purchase price of USD 5.1 million, (as adjusted pursuant to the share purchase agreement relating to such acquisition). Rationale for the Offer KKR recognises that Ocean Yield has a diversified, young and energy-efficient fleet with a clear strategic direction and best-in-class management team. Ocean Yield's ship leasing model of entering into long-term charter contracts brings resiliency through economic cycles. Given the long-term capital requirements of the shipping sector, including in the context of the structural trend towards decarbonization, KKR believes that a private setting will provide Ocean Yield with improved access to capital, thereby benefiting all stakeholders, including Ocean Yield's employees, existing and future clients, creditors, and the shipping industry more broadly. KKR brings significant experience in leasing business models and transportation, in addition to providing long-term capital through its Infrastructure strategies and taking a collaborative approach to value creation. Advisers DNB Markets, a part of DNB Bank ASA, is acting as financial advisor to the Company. Advokatfirmaet Schjdt AS is acting as legal advisor to the Company. Advokatfirmaet BAHR AS is acting as legal advisor to Aker and Aker Capital AS. Arctic Securities AS is acting as financial advisor to the Offeror. Wikborg Rein Advokatfirma AS and Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP are acting as legal advisors to the Offeror. Contacts Ocean Yield: Marius Magelie (SVP Finance & Investor Relations of Ocean Yield ASA), Tel +47 24 13 01 82, e-mail: [email protected]. KKR: Bjrn Richard Johansen (press contact) at First House, Tel +47 47 80 01 00, e-mail: [email protected]. About Ocean Yield Ocean Yield ASA is a ship owning company with investments in vessels on long-term charters. The company has a significant contract backlog that offers visibility with respect to future earnings and dividend capacity. The Company's shares are listed on the Oslo Stock Exchange (ticker OCY). About KKR KKR is a leading global investment firm with approximately USD 429 billion in assets under management as of June 2021 and has a 45-year history of leadership, innovation and investment excellence. In the past 15 years, KKR has grown by expanding its geographical presence and building businesses in new sectors, such as credit, special situations, equity strategies, hedge fund solutions, capital markets, infrastructure, energy and real estate. KKR's new efforts are based on its core principles and industry expertise, allowing it to leverage the intellectual capital and synergies across its businesses, as well as to capitalize on a broader range of opportunities. KKR has significant experience and deep roots in infrastructure investing. KKR Infrastructure currently manages over USD 38 billion and has made 52 investments globally over the last 13 years. KKR believes that the thoughtful management of environmental, social, and governance (ESG) issues are an essential part of long-term success in a rapidly changing world. KKR was one of the first major alternative assets investors to sign the United Nations-backed Principles for Responsible Investment (PRI) in 2009, and KKR's Responsible Investment Policy (2020) articulates its approach to integrating the consideration of ESG risks and value creation opportunities into investment processes globally. References to KKR's investments in this announcement may include the activities of its sponsored funds and insurance subsidiaries. *** This information is considered to be inside information pursuant to the EU Market Abuse Regulation and is subject to the disclosure requirements according to section 5-12 of the Norwegian Securities Trading Act. The information was submitted for publication, by the Ocean Yield contact person set out above on 13 September 2021 at 07:30 CEST. The Offer and the distribution of this announcement and other information in connection with the Offer may be restricted by law in certain jurisdictions. When published, the Offer Document and related acceptance forms will not and may not be distributed, forwarded or transmitted into or within any jurisdiction where prohibited by applicable law, including, without limitation, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, Hong Kong and Japan. The Offeror does not assume any responsibility in the event there is a violation by any person of such restrictions. Persons into whose possession this announcement or such other information should come are required to inform themselves about and to observe any such restrictions. This announcement is not a tender offer document and, as such, does not constitute an offer or the solicitation of an offer to acquire the Shares. Investors may accept the Offer only on the basis of the information provided in the Offer Document. Offers will not be made directly or indirectly in any jurisdiction where either an offer or participation therein is prohibited by applicable law or where any tender offer document or registration or other requirements would apply in addition to those undertaken in Norway. Notice to U.S. Holders U.S. Holders (as defined below) are advised that the Shares are not listed on a U.S. securities exchange and that the Company is not subject to the periodic reporting requirements of the U.S. Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended (the "U.S. Exchange Act"), and is not required to, and does not, file any reports with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (the "SEC") thereunder. The Offer will be made to holders of Shares resident in the United States ("U.S. Holders") on the same terms and conditions as those made to all other holders of Shares of the Company to whom an offer is made. Any information documents, including the Offer Document, will be disseminated to U.S. Holders on a basis comparable to the method that such documents are provided to the Company's other shareholders to whom an offer is made. The Offer will be made by the Offeror and no one else. The Offer will be made to U.S. Holders pursuant to Section 14(e) and Regulation 14E under the U.S. Exchange Act as a "Tier II" tender offer, and otherwise in accordance with the requirements of Norwegian law. Accordingly, the Offer will be subject to disclosure and other procedural requirements, including with respect to the offer timetable, settlement procedures and timing of payments, that are different from those that would be applicable under U.S. domestic tender offer procedures and law. Pursuant to an exemption from Rule 14e-5 under the U.S. Exchange Act, the Offeror and its affiliates or brokers (acting as agents for the Offeror or its affiliates, as applicable) may from time to time, and other than pursuant to the Offer, directly or indirectly, purchase or arrange to purchase, Shares or any securities that are convertible into, exchangeable for or exercisable for such Shares outside the United States during the period in which the Offer remains open for acceptance, so long as those acquisitions or arrangements comply with applicable Norwegian law and practice and the provisions of such exemption. To the extent information about such purchases or arrangements to purchase is made public in Norway, such information will be disclosed by means of an English language press release via an electronically operated information distribution system in the United States or other means reasonably calculated to inform U.S. Holders of such information. In addition, the financial advisors to the Offeror may also engage in ordinary course trading activities in securities of the Company, which may include purchases or arrangements to purchase such securities. Neither the SEC nor any securities supervisory authority of any state or other jurisdiction in the United States has approved or disapproved the Offer or reviewed it for its fairness, nor have the contents of the Offer Document or any other documentation relating to the Offer been reviewed for accuracy, completeness or fairness by the SEC or any securities supervisory authority in the United States. Any representation to the contrary is a criminal offence in the United States. This information was brought to you by Cision http://news.cision.com https://news.cision.com/ocean-yield/r/recommended-voluntary-cash-offer-by-octopus-bidco-as--a-company-owned-by-funds-advised-by-kkr--to-ac,c3413687 SOURCE Ocean Yield DENVER, Sept. 13, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Today, RE/MAX Commercial concluded its two-day Commercial Symposium for affiliated commercial real estate practitioners. Held at the Denver Marriott South Park Meadows in Lone Tree, Colorado, this premier event was open to the entire RE/MAX network and provided ideas, information and strategies to RE/MAX commercial practitioners as they navigate the "new normal" of commercial real estate. The 14th annual event offered a lineup of industry experts, innovators and veterans discussing the evolution of the commercial real estate market and provided an opportunity for those in the industry to network with each other as well as nationally recognized speakers to discuss business growth strategies. Rick Sharga, economist and Executive Vice President of RealtyTrac, helped open the event with an industry update and overview. Evaluating the current state of the industry and offering insights on where commercial real estate may be headed, Sharga noted commercial real estate across many property sectors and segments is coming back strong after a pandemic-related dip. "From a commercial standpoint, the economic recovery has outpaced expectations," says Sharga. "It's possible that all 22 million jobs lost in the recession will be recovered by 2022, which is phenomenal, but recovery varies by market sector and the service industry is lagging behind, threatening Retail and Hotel sectors. There are a lot of opportunities in this market, with Industrial and Multifamily sectors the clear post-pandemic winners." Steve Weikal, Head of Industry Relations at MIT's Center for Real Estate, was the conference's keynote speaker. Weikal took an in-depth look at the ongoing evolution of technology within commercial real estate and offered insight on the emerging trends that will change the "rules of engagement" within the industry. Weikal pointed out that real estate is getting smarter through artificial intelligence data, machine-learning and augmented reality, but that evolving technology cannot replace the role of the real estate agent. "There may be a forthcoming disruption in the commercial real estate space with the continued advancement of technology, but those advancements are not a replacement for human engagement," says Weikal. "There's always going to be a need for personal interaction in a real estate transaction. Licensed brokers have unique knowledge and can provide the reassurance and answer questions for clients that technology tools simply cannot replicate." Other featured speakers and topics included: Greg Diodati , Broker Associate at RE/MAX Gold Commercial, Randy Olivier , Commercial Broker at RE/MAX Advantage, and John Hamner , Broker/Owner of RE/MAX Excalibur. These industry veterans and Certified Commercial Investment Member (CCIM) designees discussed best practices in the evolving and ever-changing world of commercial brokerages. , Broker Associate at RE/MAX Gold Commercial, , Commercial Broker at RE/MAX Advantage, and , Broker/Owner of RE/MAX Excalibur. These industry veterans and Certified Commercial Investment Member (CCIM) designees discussed best practices in the evolving and ever-changing world of commercial brokerages. Patricia Cain , Owner of RE/MAX Ascend Realty, Doug Jennings , Employing Broker of RE/MAX Commercial Alliance and Mark Hulsey , Managing Broker of RE/MAX Results Commercial Group, discussed the benefits of adding and growing the commercial presence within an existing franchise. , Owner of RE/MAX Ascend Realty, , Employing Broker of RE/MAX Commercial Alliance and , Managing Broker of RE/MAX Results Commercial Group, discussed the benefits of adding and growing the commercial presence within an existing franchise. Tom Rossiter , President and CEO of RESAAS, offered a comprehensive roadmap for effectively leveraging in-network referrals. , President and CEO of RESAAS, offered a comprehensive roadmap for effectively leveraging in-network referrals. Insider insights, exploring what it takes to build a successful commercial business, were provided by a panel of experts including RE/MAX Commercial Capital Broker/Owner Scott Hughes , RE/MAX Results Commercial Group Managing Broker Mark Hulsey , MIT Center for Real Estate Head of Industry Relations Steve Weikal, and RE/MAX Right Choice Broker/Owner Jeff Wright . In 2020, over 8,000 RE/MAX Associates closed more than 39,000 commercial transactions in over 90 countries with a total sales volume of $11.6 billion. Today, there are over 30 commercial franchises and nearly 650 Commercial Divisions in the RE/MAX network. "Our role at RE/MAX Commercial is to make sure our affiliates are up-to-date on the latest technologies and industry trends," says Mike Reagan, RE/MAX Senior Vice President, Industry Relations and Global Growth & Development and leader of the RE/MAX Commercial global network. "Our RE/MAX brokers see the value of having a commercial division in their office to keep referrals in-house, expand their footprint in their local communities and be seen as leading real estate industry experts across both residential and commercial sectors in their networks." ### About the RE/MAX Network As one of the leading global real estate franchisors, RE/MAX, LLC is a subsidiary of RE/MAX Holdings (NYSE: RMAX) with nearly 140,000 agents in more than 110 countries and territories. Nobody in the world sells more real estate than RE/MAX, as measured by residential transaction sides. RE/MAX was founded in 1973 by Dave and Gail Liniger, with an innovative, entrepreneurial culture affording its agents and franchisees the flexibility to operate their businesses with great independence. RE/MAX agents have lived, worked and served in their local communities for decades, raising millions of dollars every year for Children's Miracle Network Hospitals and other charities. To learn more about RE/MAX, to search home listings or find an agent in your community, please visit www.remax.com. For the latest news about RE/MAX, please visit news.remax.com. SOURCE RE/MAX, LLC For more than 30 years, Dr. Holland has led advances in chemical mechanical planarization (CMP) and photolithography and specialized in advanced semiconductor transistor fabrication, including metrology, etch, deposition and interconnect technologies. Dr. Holland joins Revasum from Atlas Copco unit, Edwards Vacuum, where she was the Global Market Sector Manager for Semiconductor Process Technology. Before that she was VP, Process Technology at Mega Fluid Systems Inc, and has held senior and CTO roles with FEI, NexPlanar, Thomas West, and SpeedFam-IPEC. She is also a founding partner of advisory firm Techcet, LLC. She was a Board member of Nova Measuring Instruments. Dr. Holland joined the semiconductor industry at IBM. She earned her Ph.D. in analytical chemistry from Pennsylvania State University, a M.S. in analytical chemistry from Purdue University, and a B.A. in chemistry from Albion College. Revasum President and CEO Rebecca Shooter-Dodd said: "We are delighted to welcome Dr. Karey Holland to the Revasum executive team. Her extensive experience will ensure that we continue to design and manufacture products that meet the global semiconductor industry's requirements, and remain a market leader in the development of silicon and silicon carbide single-wafer processing equipment. "With industry-leading expertise and technical capabilities, our team is developing solutions for customers that are not available anywhere else in the world. We are pleased Dr. Holland has joined the Revasum team at this exciting time as we look to build out our product suite and boost production in line with our growth targets. "I would also like to acknowledge and thank our Vice President of Engineering, Bill Kalenian, for his contribution as Acting CTO while we confirmed Dr. Holland's appointment." Dr. Karey Holland said: "Revasum's products are at the cutting edge of silicon carbide single-wafer processing technology in the world. The semiconductor sector is experiencing a time of rapid change and growth and I'm excited to join this collaborative and innovative team that is leading the way in technology advancement to increase the efficiency and quality of wafer processing." THIS ANNOUNCEMENT WAS AUTHORIZED FOR RELEASE BY THE PRESIDENT AND CEO Company Contact Media Contact Rebecca Shooter-Dodd Jane Munday President and CEO FTI Consulting [email protected] [email protected] +1 (805) 541-6424 +61 488 400 248 Safe Harbor Statement This announcement contains forward-looking statements, which address a variety of subjects including, for example, financial projections, our statements regarding expected events, including expected revenue and earnings, system shipments, expected product offerings, product development, market adoption and technical advances. Statements that are not historical facts, including statements about our beliefs, plans and expectations, are forward-looking statements. Such statements are based on our current expectations and information currently available to management and are subject to a number of factors and uncertainties, many of which are outside the control of the Company, which could cause actual results to differ materially from those described in the forward-looking statements. The Company's management believes that these forward-looking statements are reasonable as and when made. However, you should not place undue reliance on any such forward-looking statements because such statements speak only as of the date they are made. Revasum does not undertake any obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as required by law or the ASX Listing Rules. In addition, forward-looking statements are subject to certain risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results, events and developments to differ materially from our historical experience and our present expectations or projections. About Revasum Revasum (ARBN: 629 268 533) specializes in the design and manufacturing of equipment used for the global semiconductor industry. Revasum's equipment helps drive advanced manufacturing technology for critical growth markets, including automotive, IoT, and 5G. Our product portfolio includes state of the art equipment for the grinding, polishing, and chemical mechanical planarization processes used to manufacture devices for those key end markets. All of Revasum's equipment is designed and developed in close collaboration with our customers. Learn how we create the equipment that generates the technology of today and tomorrow, visit www.revasum.com. SOURCE Revasum, Inc. Related Links https://www.revasum.com " Through a period of incredible change, ReviveHealth has consistently turned out breakthrough creative work for our health sector clients and many of these continue to play a critical role in the country's response to the pandemic," said Howe. "Joanne's leadership has been a core driver of this work and the agency's success and I believe she will continue to elevate the industry standard for work that engages, informs, and inspires. " With 24 years of experience in the healthcare communications industry, Thornton has deep expertise helping clients navigate the complexities of their brands and business strategies. Joanne has spent her career in both agency and in-house roles, including managing integrated marketing campaigns, issues, crisis teams, and corporate communications. "I couldn't be more excited and honored to assume the role of CEO at such an important point in our agency's history," said Thornton. "The leadership team and the talent of our people are unparalleled, and it's such a privilege to work alongside them every day. As we lean into this next chapter for ReviveHealth, I have incredible confidence in the team's passion and ability to fulfill our vision of seeing beyond the 'now' in healthcare and helping our clients become leaders in their sector and beyond." ReviveHealth co-founder Brandon Edwards, who had served as the agency's Chief Executive Officer since its inception, will shift into the role of Executive Chairman, where he will focus on new business, thought leadership, and mentoring the agency's internal teams and emerging leaders on the business of healthcare. He will also devote time to ReviveHealth's strategic planning, evaluating the ways the agency can continue to evolve and grow, as well as supporting key client relationships. During Brandon's 12 years as CEO, ReviveHealth grew from four founders in a small office in Santa Barbara to become the leading and most-awarded healthcare agency in the country. ReviveHealth was named Healthcare Agency of the Year in 2020 and Best Overall Agency to Work for in North America in 2021 by PRovoke Media, reflecting an ongoing pattern Agency of the Year four times in 12 years, Best Agency to Work For (overall or in the firm's size category) four times in 12 years, and a finalist in one or both eight other times in 12 years. The agency also averaged nearly 25% growth in revenue annually since its inception. "I'm thrilled to support Joanne's move to the CEO role," said Edwards. "We have been partners from the beginning, and she is the perfect leader to help ReviveHealth move to the next phase of our growth and success. In my new executive chairman role, I look forward to continuing to help shape ReviveHealth's strategy and vision, and I can focus on providing subject matter expertise to our senior team and our clients who count on us. Leadership succession in any agency is the hallmark of a strong culture and proof that the best agencies are never about one or two people - they are about the team. That is 100% true at ReviveHealth." The agency also announced the promotion of three executives to leadership positions: Chris Bevolo , formerly EVP, has assumed the role of Chief Brand Officer , where he will help build the agency's brand externally and internally while continuing to provide senior counsel to clients, and will serve as the chief brand evangelist for ReviveHealth. , formerly EVP, has assumed the role of Chief , where he will help build the agency's brand externally and internally while continuing to provide senior counsel to clients, and will serve as the chief brand evangelist for ReviveHealth. Shontell James has assumed responsibility for the agency's financial function as the first Chief Financial Officer. has assumed responsibility for the agency's financial function as the first Chief Financial Officer. Danielle Tyburski has assumed responsibility for the agency's business development function as SVP, Growth, leading a team that has helped ReviveHealth grow an average of almost 25% per year for the last 12 years. All three now serve on the agency's executive leadership team. About ReviveHealth ReviveHealth, a WeberShandwick Company, helps brands lead the way in health. Founded in 2009, ReviveHealth is one of the fastest growing healthcare agencies in the industry, currently with 140 employees and offices in Nashville, Santa Barbara, Minneapolis, and Boston. ReviveHealth's employees are pathfinders and future-builders, uncovering and creating opportunities using distinctive insights about people navigating health. Clients have included some of the top brands in the health and healthcare space, with agency services including branding, marketing, advertising, communications, media strategy and buying, issues management, and data-driven marketing and analytics. ReviveHealth has won dozens of industry awards, including Healthcare Agency of the Year in 2020 and Best Agency to Work For in North America in 2021. For more information, visit www.thinkrevivehealth.com SOURCE REVIVEHEALTH Related Links www.thinkrevivehealth.com According to SRI Executive Chairman Adam Stewart, the new Sandals Vacation Assurance Program is designed to take the worry out of travel, giving guests certainty that their investment in an all-inclusive luxury vacation is safeguarded from interruptions outside of their control. "We want to put the fun and joy of planning and anticipating a great vacation back into travel. While we recognize the real concerns that may weigh on our guests' minds, we're taking extraordinary measures to remove worry from the equation so travelers can delight in the entire travel journey - from booking to departure," said Stewart. All current and new reservations made now through December 31, 2021, for travel until December 31, 2022, will automatically receive the Sandals and Beaches Vacation Assurance Protection at no charge. Benefits of the Sandals and Beaches Vacation Assurance Program: Replacement Vacation if a trip is interrupted while on vacation INCLUDED Replacement airfare credit for US travelers, up to $500 per person on the replacement vacation - INCLUDED per person on the replacement vacation - INCLUDED Quarantine stays of up to 14 nights at no charge if required INCLUDED COVID-19 testing to meet any government requirement from the comfort of the resort INCLUDED Comprehensive Travel Protection Plan Insurance is on US - INCLUDED Cancel anytime reservation policy, without penalties or added fees - 31 days or more for a 100% refund or within 30 days for a future travel date A Vacation Assurance Hotline should guests or travel advisors have any questions related to travel protocols or anything else related to COVID-19 Assurance of industry-leading Platinum Protocols of Cleanliness, implemented at all Sandals Resorts and Beaches Resorts, to ensure heightened health and safety measures throughout their stay The Sandals Vacation Assurance protection program complements the health and wellbeing procedures of the Sandals Platinum Protocols of Cleanliness which were introduced last year and detail the hundreds of daily actions taken to fully safeguard the entire guest journey. Stewart added, "Throughout our 40-year history, and especially during difficult times, we have always put guests first. Combined with our proven track record of health and safety, our new Sandals Vacation Assurance Program is the guarantee our guests can count on. It's another example that we will do whatever it takes to continue to earn their trust so they can focus on what truly matters: quality time in our beautiful Caribbean with the ones they love most." Certain restrictions apply. For more information, visit https://www.sandals.com/book-with-confidence/. Sandals Resorts: Sandals Resorts offers two people in love the most romantic, Luxury Included vacation experience in the Caribbean. With 16 stunning beachfront settings in Jamaica, Antigua, Saint Lucia, The Bahamas, Barbados, Grenada, and Curacao, Sandals Resorts offers more quality inclusions than any other resort company on the planet. Signature Love Nest Butler Suites for the ultimate in privacy and service; butlers trained by the Guild of Professional English Butlers; the Red Lane Spa; 5-Star Global Gourmet dining, ensuring top-shelf liquor, premium wines, and gourmet specialty restaurants; Aqua Centers with expert PADI certification and training; fast Wi-Fi from beach to bedroom and Sandals Customizable Weddings are all Sandals Resorts exclusives. Sandals Resorts guarantees guests peace of mind from arrival to departure with the Sandals Platinum Protocols of Cleanliness, the company's enhanced health and safety measures designed to give guests the utmost confidence when vacationing in the Caribbean. Sandals Resorts is part of family-owned Sandals Resorts International (SRI), founded by the late Gordon "Butch" Stewart, which includes Beaches Resorts and is the Caribbean's leading all-inclusive resort company. For more information about the Sandals Resorts Luxury Included difference, visit www.sandals.com. Beaches Resorts: With three spectacular locations in Turks & Caicos and Jamaica, and a fourth location coming to St. Vincent & the Grenadines, Beaches Resorts is the ultimate getaway for every member of the family. Beaches Resorts provides more quality inclusions than any other resort company on the planet with outrageous waterparks, XBOX Play Lounges, exclusive Kids Camps, teen nightclubs, Certified Nannies, Butler service, Red Lane Spas, Aqua Centers with expert PADI certification and training; and free Wi-Fi. As a proud sponsor of Sesame Street, Beaches Resorts also offers the Caribbean Adventures with Sesame Street, where kids can spend their vacation with their favorite friends from the Sesame Street gang with daily activities and weekly stage shows. Beaches Resorts are the perfect place for family gatherings from reunions and special birthdays to the signature destination wedding program, Beaches Customizable Weddings. Beaches Resorts guarantees guests peace of mind from arrival to departure with the Beaches Platinum Protocols of Cleanliness, the company's enhanced health and safety measures designed to give guests the utmost confidence when vacationing in the Caribbean. Beaches Resorts is part of family-owned Sandals Resorts International (SRI), founded by the late Gordon "Butch" Stewart, which includes Luxury Included Sandals Resorts, and is the Caribbean's leading all-inclusive resort company. For more information about the Beaches Resorts, visit www.beaches.com. Media Contact: The Decker/Royal Agency [email protected] SOURCE Sandals Resorts International Related Links http://www.sandals.com NEW YORK, Sept. 13, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Juan Monteverde, founder and managing partner at Monteverde & Associates PC, a national securities firm rated Top 50 in the 2018-2020 ISS Securities Class Action Services Report and headquartered at the Empire State Building in New York City, is investigating The ExOne Company ("XONE" or the "Company") (XONE) relating to its proposed acquisition by Desktop Metal, Inc. Under the terms of the agreement, XONE shareholders will receive $8.50 in cash and $17.00 worth of shares of Desktop Metal per share they own. The investigation focuses on whether The ExOne Company and its Board of Directors violated securities laws and/or breached their fiduciary duties to the Company by 1) failing to conduct a fair process, and 2) whether the transaction is properly valued. Click here for more information: https://www.monteverdelaw.com/case/exone-company. It is free and there is no cost or obligation to you. About Monteverde & Associates PC We are a national class action securities litigation law firm that has recovered millions of dollars and is committed to protecting shareholders from corporate wrongdoing. We were listed in the Top 50 in the 2018-2020 ISS Securities Class Action Services Report. Our lawyers have significant experience litigating Mergers & Acquisitions and Securities Class Actions. Mr. Monteverde is recognized by Super Lawyers as a Rising Star in Securities Litigation in 2013, 2017-2019, an award given to less than 2.5% of attorneys in a particular field. He has also been selected by Martindale-Hubbell as a 2017-2020 Top Rated Lawyer. Our firm's recent successes include changing the law in a significant victory that lowered the standard of liability under Section 14(e) of the Exchange Act in the Ninth Circuit. Thereafter, our firm successfully preserved this victory by obtaining dismissal of a writ of certiorari as improvidently granted at the United States Supreme Court. Emulex Corp. v. Varjabedian, 139 S. Ct. 1407 (2019). Also, over the years the firm has recovered or secured over a dozen cash common funds for shareholders in mergers & acquisitions class action cases. If you owned common stock in the Company and wish to obtain additional information and protect your investments free of charge, please visit our website or contact Juan E. Monteverde, Esq. either via e-mail at [email protected] or by telephone at (212) 971-1341. Contact: Juan E. Monteverde, Esq. MONTEVERDE & ASSOCIATES PC The Empire State Building 350 Fifth Ave. Suite 4405 New York, NY 10118 United States of America [email protected] Tel: (212) 971-1341 Attorney Advertising. (C) 2021 Monteverde & Associates PC. The law firm responsible for this advertisement is Monteverde & Associates PC (www.monteverdelaw.com). Prior results do not guarantee a similar outcome with respect to any future matter. SOURCE Monteverde & Associates PC Related Links http://www.monteverdelaw.com NEW YORK, Sept. 13, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Pomerantz LLP is investigating claims on behalf of investors of Yalla Group Limited ("Yalla" or the "Company") (NYSE: YALA). Such investors are advised to contact Robert S. Willoughby at [email protected] or 888-476-6529, ext. 7980. The investigation concerns whether Yalla 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 May 19, 2021, Swan Street Research ("Swan Street") published a report addressing Yalla, entitled "Is Yalla Group a Multi $B Fraud? The 'Clubhouse of the Middle East' UAE Tech Unicorn that Never Was". The Swan Street report alleges, among other things, that the Company inflates its metrics, including revenue, and characteries Yalla's financial statements as "not credible". On this news, Yalla's American depositary share ("ADS") price fell $1.31 per ADS, or 7.15%, to close at $17.01 per ADS on May 19, 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 [email protected] 888-476-6529 ext. 7980 SOURCE Pomerantz LLP Related Links www.pomerantzlaw.com NEW YORK, Sept. 13, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- The Local Initiatives Support Corporation (LISC) has named Michael Skrebutenas, a long-time national affordable housing leader, as its new senior vice president for housing. Skrebutenas will draw on his 25 years of experience to lead LISC's work investing in and advocating for quality rental and for-sale housing across the country. He will work on key systemic and policy issues, help assemble vital housing capital, and oversee products and services to help LISC's community-based partners meet critical affordable housing goals. Skrebutenas comes to LISCone of the nation's largest community development organizationsfrom New York-based Community Preservation Corporation (CPC), where he worked as senior vice president and regional director of community preservation in the Albany office. At CPC, he originated and closed on construction, permanent and agency multifamily financing for affordable, supportive and market-rate housing in New York. He also worked on a range of policy and programmatic opportunities to fuel housing development for underserved communities. "Michael has been deeply engaged in strategies to expand the nation's stock of affordable housing for decades," said Denise Scott, LISC executive vice president for programs. After many decades of policy work and discussion, we finally have a consensus among federal and state policymakers, academics and business leaders about the desperate need for affordable housing in our country. We are happy to have Michael's experience at LISC to help drive and promote good housing development policy and practice. He will be an invaluable asset to the LISC local program staff, our policy team and our partners as we work to address the affordable housing crisis that affects every state in the countrya crisis that has deepened as COVID-19 has persisted," she added. Prior to his work at CPC, Skrebutenas was executive deputy commissioner/president at New York State Housing and Community Renewal. Earlier, he worked in the New York governor's office as deputy secretary for economic development and housing, and he played key development and project management roles at several community development nonprofits. He also served in the Clinton Administration as fund manager for the White House budget. "Then it comes to housing, the country is at a critical juncture, with families facing unprecedented health and economic pressures from COVID-19," said Skrebutenas. "From the threat of evictions to racial discrimination in appraisals to the urgent need for supportive housing for homeless residents, LISC is tackling challenges that impact the quality of life for millions of people. I'm excited to reach further and deeper on these critical issues as part of the LISC family," he said. Skrebutenas has served as adjunct faculty at Columbia, Rutgers and Wesleyan Universities. He currently sits on the local planning commission in Niskayuna, N.Y., the board of the Albany Convention Center, and the board of Better Community Neighborhoods, Inc., a nonprofit community development organization in Schenectady County, New York. He holds a Master's Degree in Urban Planning and a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science, both from Columbia University, as well as a Juris Doctor from the University of Connecticut School of Law. He can be reached at [email protected]. About LISC With residents and partners, LISC forges resilient and inclusive communities of opportunity across America great places to live, work, visit, do business and raise families. Since 1979, LISC has invested $24 billion to build or rehab more than 436,320 affordable homes and apartments and develop 74.4 million square feet of retail, community and educational space. For more, visit www.lisc.org. Media Contact: Colleen Mulcahy, [email protected] SOURCE Local Initiatives Support Corporation (LISC) SANTA ROSA BEACH, Fla., Sept. 13, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- America's largest gourmet cupcake company, Smallcakes Cupcakery and Creamery, has been acquired by The Derbyshire Group. Smallcakes opened its doors in 2008 in Overland Park, Kansas and has since grown to more than 180 locations across the United States. Founder Jeff Martin made several appearances on The Food Network's Cupcake Wars as well as other national television shows. Jeff will continue to contribute as an advisor to the company while he pursues new concepts. Each Smallcakes store specializes in freshly baked gourmet cupcakes, as well as seasonal and featured flavors presented in a signature pink box. Since opening, Smallcakes has added small batch cupcake-inspired ice cream to the menu, which has proven to be a successful addition for the brand. Smallcakes has risen to become one of the nation's fastest growing brands in one of the fastest growing industries. A new team has been assembled to facilitate the expansion of Smallcakes worldwide. "I am thrilled to lead and serve the Smallcakes brand as we take it into the future," said Smallcakes Chief Cupcake Officer, Kendall Hollingsworth. "We firmly believe in our slogan of 'Maybe a Cupcake Will Help?', because despite the circumstance, there is nothing that compares to the joy and nostalgia that tasting a Smallcakes cupcake brings." The Derbyshire Group has been very active during the pandemic and has made a number of moves in the QSR space. This acquisition comes on the heels of investments into Slim Chickens, Rock and Roll Sushi, Island Wing Company, Bold Brands, and others. The Derbyshire Group operates as the family office for Ryan D. "Jume" Jumonville. The Derbyshire Group has business interests in all 50 U.S. states and in 136 countries around the world. Media Contact: Kendall Hollingsworth 225-964-0206 [email protected] SOURCE Smallcakes Cupcakery Related Links smallcakescupcakery.com ST. LOUIS, Sept. 13, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Solomon Noguera, MD is being recognized by Continental Who's Who as a Trusted Hospitalist and Family Medicine Physician for his tremendous work in the Medical Field. As the sole doctor at Ste. Genevieve County Memorial Hospital, Dr. Noguera takes his work seriously. The practice is a critical access facility, considered one of the best in the state of Missouri. He has worked as a Hospitalist at Ste. Genevieve County Memorial Hospital for 7 years, with 33 years of experience in the field. Solomon Noguera, MD He treats patients with compassion, as if they were his own family. He oversees various specialties in his position. He speaks both English and Spanish, which helps him better serve his patients. In order to best serve his community, he works at several different medical centers around Missouri. He is affiliated with Mercy Hospital, Jefferson Mercy Hospital, South County St. Louis Hospital, and Mercy Hospital South. He is currently the only doctor at Ste. Genevieve County Memorial Hospital. As a family doctor, he is often the first person his patients see when seeking comprehensive healthcare services. He is devoted to providing healthcare services to people of all ages at the critical access facility. As a hospitalist, he cares for acutely ill hospitalized patients. From the point of admission through to discharge, he will manage a patient's treatment course by consulting with specialists, scheduling tests, and monitoring the patient's progress. In his role as a family doctor, he schedules routine checkups, advises on how to maintain a healthy lifestyle, and diagnosing and treating illnesses. Dr. Noguera received his B.S. in Zoology with a minor in Chemistry and Spanish. To further his education, he then attended U.T.E.S.A. (Santiago University of Technology School of Medicine), graduating with his medical degree. After relocating to the United States, he performed a residency and Fellowship in Family Medicine at Lutheran Medical Center in 1998. Dr. Noguera previously worked as a medical director for Primedical/MedFirst in St. Louis from 1988-2002, and a primary care physician at Unity Medical Group in Arnold from 1998-2002. He is a member of the American Academy of Family Physicians, and is board-certified in family medicine by the American Board of Family Medicine (A.B.F.M.). For his many decades of excellence in family medicine, he was awarded the Compassionate Doctor Recognition in 2013. Dr. Noguera was featured in IssueWire in March 2021. Along with his family, Dr. Noguera is active with St. Margaret Mary Alacoque Church in St. Louis, MO. He proudly supports his local small businesses struggling during the pandemic. Dr. Noguera would like to dedicate this recognition to his wife, Mrs. Marvena Noguera, their two daughters, Felicia and Sheena, and their grandson Caleb. Contact: Katherine Green, 516-825-5634, [email protected] SOURCE Continental Who's Who Related Links http://www.continentalwhoswho.com DALLAS, Sept. 13, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE: LUV) announces its Employees, Customers, friends, and partners completed and logged a collective one million Acts of Kindness, achieving a goal Southwest had set to meet by the end of this year in recognition of the airline's 50th anniversary. To celebrate, the carrier continues to give back by offering 501(c)(3) organizations an opportunity to enter a contest* to win 100 domestic one-way Southwest travel awards. The contest grants travel to 50 nonprofit organizations across the country that will each win 100 domestic one-way Southwest travel awards, enabling their outreach and community work to further spread kindness. The total travel prize is 5,000 domestic one-way Southwest travel awards at a value of $1 million, bolstering one million Acts of Kindness already recorded in 2021. "Our Employees, Customers, friends, and partners came together and answered a call to complete one million Acts of Kindnessmonths ahead of our yearend goal," said Linda Rutherford, Executive Vice President People & Communications at Southwest Airlines. "Acts of Kindness are a universal language and make such a difference in the world. We believe there's no better way to celebrate one million Acts of Kindness than by paying forward $1 million of thanks to organizations impacting the lives of those most in need." To enter the contest, 501(c)(3) organizations can visit Southwest50.com/actsofkindness and: Provide high-level details of the organization Share how the organization would use the travel awards to spread kindness in their community; and, Upload a picture of the organization putting its heart in action. Each organization may enter once, and the entry must be received by 11:59 p.m. PT on Friday, Sept. 17, 2021. Southwest launched the one million Acts of Kindness challenge in January 2021 to kick-off a yearlong celebration of the airline's 50th Anniversary of its first flight, celebrating half a century of connecting People and championing communities to lead with Heart and kindness. Participants engaged in the challenge by signing the airline's Kindness Pledge and committing to doing Acts of Kindness for others. Each signature on the Kindness Pledge and Act of Kindness shared on social media using the hashtag #HeartinAction counted towards achieving the one million Acts of Kindness goal. Southwest celebrated Acts of Kindness by highlighting stories such as a Flight Attendant who helped a teacher collect more than 370 Valentine's Day cards from 50 states and five countries, a volunteer from an animal shelter who helped reunite a long-lost cat and his owner, and school administrators who pulled off a surprise recognition for an outstanding teacher. For more information about the kindness challenge and Southwest's 50th Anniversary, visit Southwest50.com/actsofkindness. * NO PURCHASE NECESSARY TO ENTER OR WIN. A PURCHASE WILL NOT INCREASE YOUR CHANCES OF WINNING. Open to 501(c)(3) nonprofit organizations in the 50 United States and the District of Columbia (excluding Alaska) with a valid Organization email account at time of entry. Void where prohibited. Limit one entry per Organization. All fields must be completed. Approximate retail value of each flight e-pass awarded: $200. For complete details and how to enter, see Southwest50.com/actsofkindness. By submitting this entry, you agree to the Official Rules. By entering, information collected will be used in accordance with Sponsor's Privacy Policy. Sponsor: Southwest Airlines Co., 2702 Love Field Drive, Dallas, Texas 75235. Enter by September 17, 2021 at 11:59 p.m. PT. ABOUT SOUTHWEST AIRLINES CO. In its 51st year of service, Dallas-based Southwest Airlines Co. continues to differentiate itself from other air carriers with exemplary Customer Service delivered by more than 54,000 Employees to a Customer base that topped 130 million Passengers in 2019. Southwest has a robust network of point-to-point service with a strong presence across top leisure and business markets. In peak travel seasons during 2019, Southwest operated more than 4,000 weekday departures among a network of 101 destinations in the United States and 10 additional countries. In 2020, the carrier added service to Hilo, Hawaii; Cozumel, Mexico; Miami; Palm Springs, Calif.; Steamboat Springs; and Montrose (Telluride), Colo. Thus far in 2021, Southwest has initiated service to Chicago (O'Hare) and Sarasota/Bradenton both on Feb. 14; Savannah/Hilton Head and Colorado Springs both on March 11; Houston (Bush) and Santa Barbara, Calif. both on April 12; Fresno, Calif. on April 25; Destin/Fort Walton Beach on May 6; Myrtle Beach, S.C. on May 23; Bozeman, Mont. on May 27; and Jackson, Miss. on June 6; and Eugene, Ore. on Aug. 29. Southwest will begin service to Bellingham, Wash. on Nov. 7; and Syracuse on Nov. 14. The carrier issued its Southwest Promise in May 2020 to highlight new and round-the-clock efforts to support its Customers and Employees well-being and comfort. Among the changes are enhanced cleaning efforts at airports and onboard aircraft, along with a federal mandate requiring every person to wear a mask at all times throughout each flight. Additional details about the Southwest Promise are available at Southwest.com/Promise. Southwest coined Transfarency to describe its purposed philosophy of treating Customers honestly and fairly, and low fares actually staying low. Southwest is the only major U.S. airline to offer bags fly free to everyone (first and second checked pieces of luggage, size and weight limits apply, some carriers offer free checked bags on select routes or in qualified circumstances). Southwest does not charge change fees, though fare differences might apply. Southwest is one of the most honored airlines in the world, known for a triple bottom line approach that contributes to the carrier's performance and productivity, the importance of its People and the communities they serve, and an overall commitment to efficiency and the planet. Learn more about how the carrier gives back to communities across the world by visiting Southwest.com/citizenship. Book Southwest Airlines' low fares online at Southwest.com or by phone at 800-I-FLY-SWA. SOURCE Southwest Airlines Co. Related Links http://www.southwest.com DALLAS, Sept. 13, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Today, Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE: LUV) announced the following leadership changes. Tom Nealon, 60, has decided to retire from his duties as President effective immediately, but will continue to serve the Company as a strategic advisor, focusing primarily on the airline's environmental sustainability and carbon emissions reduction plan. Nealon has held numerous leadership positions during his tenure with the airline, including Executive Vice President Strategy & Innovation from 2016 to 2017, Director on the Southwest Board from 2010 to 2015, and in a consultant capacity as Senior Vice President and Chief Information Officer from 2002 to 2006. "I'm honored to have served Southwest throughout the years in several different capacities, and especially to have been President of the best airline in the business," Nealon said. "I look forward to continuing to serve and advise Southwest on strategic initiatives, and most importantly, on the airline's long-term environmental sustainability plans." Gary Kelly, Southwest's Chairman and CEO, announced on behalf of the Southwest Airlines Board of Directors that Chief Operating Officer Mike Van de Ven, 59, has been named as the Company's President, effective immediately. Van de Ven will take on the additional responsibilities of the Company's Internal Audit, Business Continuity, Emergency Response, and Enterprise Risk Management functions. "I want to thank Tom for his countless contributions to the cause that is Southwest Airlines over the yearsthey are many and immeasurable. I'm grateful Tom will continue serving as a strategic advisor. I'm thrilled for Mike as he assumes his new role as President, in addition to COO. Mike is as talented and dedicated a leader as one will find, and he has directly contributed to Southwest's success during his 28 years serving the Company and our People. "The transition efforts being led by Executive Vice President and incoming CEO Bob Jordan are going extremely well, and as that continues, we are taking steps to shift reporting roles in preparation for Bob to assume the CEO role on February 1, 2022," said Kelly. As the transition progresses, the Finance, Commercial, Legal & Regulatory, Operations, and Technology teams that were reporting to Kelly or Nealon will now report to Jordan, also effective immediately. "On behalf of the Board of Directors, I'd like to thank Tom for his nearly five-year tenure as President and more than 15 years of service to our Southwest Airlines Employees, Customers, Shareholders, and the Communities we serve," said Southwest Airlines Lead Director William Cunningham. "We are extremely proud to have such a talented and robust leadership bench at Southwest Airlines, and are delighted with the announcement of Mike Van de Ven as Tom's successor." Southwest Airlines also announced additional Senior Leader promotions: Laurie Barnett , from Managing Director Communications & Outreach, to Vice President of Communications & Outreach. Barnett is responsible for guiding the efforts of the airline's Public Relations & Communications, Creative Studio, Digital & Social Business, and Community Outreach functions. She also helped create and provided Leadership support for the Company's Emergency Response, Business Continuity and Enterprise Risk Management functions. , from Managing Director Communications & Outreach, to Vice President of Communications & Outreach. Barnett is responsible for guiding the efforts of the airline's Public Relations & Communications, Creative Studio, Digital & Social Business, and Community Outreach functions. She also helped create and provided Leadership support for the Company's Emergency Response, Business Continuity and Enterprise Risk Management functions. Ryan Martinez , from Managing Director Investor Relations, to Vice President of Investor Relations. Martinez has been instrumental in evolving Southwest's IR strategies and communications along with the changing economic environment. Under his Leadership, Southwest is well-positioned to continue effectively communicating with investors while the Company manages through the pandemic. , from Managing Director Investor Relations, to Vice President of Investor Relations. Martinez has been instrumental in evolving Southwest's IR strategies and communications along with the changing economic environment. Under his Leadership, Southwest is well-positioned to continue effectively communicating with investors while the Company manages through the pandemic. Juan Suarez , from Managing Director, Deputy General Counsel in the Legal Department to Vice President Diversity, Equity & Inclusion. Suarez serves as Southwest's executive-level champion for organizational goals related to diversity, equity, and inclusion both internally and externally. Among other things, Suarez is responsible for creating and driving the development of diversity initiatives that align with our business objectives and advises on policies and practices involving diversity, equity, and inclusion. He will partner closely with peers throughout the Company on diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts as it applies to, among other things, supplier diversity, diversity hiring and recruiting, and training. from Managing Director, Deputy General Counsel in the Legal Department to Vice President Diversity, Equity & Inclusion. Suarez serves as Southwest's executive-level champion for organizational goals related to diversity, equity, and inclusion both internally and externally. Among other things, Suarez is responsible for creating and driving the development of diversity initiatives that align with our business objectives and advises on policies and practices involving diversity, equity, and inclusion. He will partner closely with peers throughout the Company on diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts as it applies to, among other things, supplier diversity, diversity hiring and recruiting, and training. Marilyn Post , from Deputy General Counsel and Corporate Secretary to Vice President Legal and Corporate Secretary. Post heads the Legal Department's Corporate & Transactions Team, which is responsible for assisting with the legal aspects of all of Southwest's securities and transactional matters. She also serves as a senior advisor to the Company's Board of Directors and Executive Team on corporate governance, executive compensation, and SEC matters. , from Deputy General Counsel and Corporate Secretary to Vice President Legal and Corporate Secretary. Post heads the Legal Department's Corporate & Transactions Team, which is responsible for assisting with the legal aspects of all of Southwest's securities and transactional matters. She also serves as a senior advisor to the Company's Board of Directors and Executive Team on corporate governance, executive compensation, and SEC matters. Lauren Woods , from Managing Director Technology, to Vice President Technology-Technology Platforms. Woods and her Teams are responsible for delivering stable technology platforms and driving transformation efforts across Technology. Under her leadership, the Technology teams will continue to focus on building out new modern foundational platforms used and leveraged by development Teams to increase efficiency and speed to market. "I am pleased with the Team's flexibility and support as we continue the steady pace of our Leadership transition efforts," Jordan said. "I am looking forward to working with Tom on our sustainability imperatives and collaborating with Mike as we set the agenda for the Company moving forward. I know Gary joins me in congratulating Lauren, Laurie, Marilyn, Juan, and Ryan on their well-deserved promotions; we are fortunate to have a deeply talented bench of Southwest Leaders." ABOUT SOUTHWEST AIRLINES CO. In its 51st year of service, Dallas-based Southwest Airlines Co. continues to differentiate itself from other air carriers with exemplary Customer Service delivered by more than 54,000 Employees to a Customer base that topped 130 million Passengers in 2019. Southwest has a robust network of point-to-point service with a strong presence across top leisure and business markets. In peak travel seasons during 2019, Southwest operated more than 4,000 weekday departures among a network of 101 destinations in the United States and 10 additional countries. In 2020, the carrier added service to Hilo, Hawaii; Cozumel, Mexico; Miami; Palm Springs, Calif.; Steamboat Springs; and Montrose (Telluride), Colo. Thus far in 2021, Southwest has initiated service to Chicago (O'Hare) and Sarasota/Bradenton both on Feb. 14; Savannah/Hilton Head and Colorado Springs both on March 11; Houston (Bush) and Santa Barbara, Calif. both on April 12; Fresno, Calif. on April 25; Destin/Fort Walton Beach on May 6; Myrtle Beach, S.C. on May 23; Bozeman, Mont. on May 27; Jackson, Miss. on June 6; and Eugene, Ore. on Aug. 29. The carrier will begin service to Bellingham, Wash. on Nov. 7; and Syracuse on Nov. 14. The carrier issued its Southwest Promise in May 2020 to highlight new and round-the-clock efforts to support its Customers and Employees well-being and comfort. Among the changes are enhanced cleaning efforts at airports and onboard aircraft, along with a federal mandate requiring every person to wear a mask at all times throughout each flight. Additional details about the Southwest Promise are available at Southwest.com/Promise. Southwest coined Transfarency to describe its purposed philosophy of treating Customers honestly and fairly, and low fares actually staying low. Southwest is the only major U.S. airline to offer bags fly free to everyone (first and second checked pieces of luggage, size and weight limits apply, some carriers offer free checked bags on select routes or in qualified circumstances). Southwest does not charge change fees, though fare differences might apply. Southwest is one of the most honored airlines in the world, known for a triple bottom line approach that contributes to the carrier's performance and productivity, the importance of its People and the communities they serve, and an overall commitment to efficiency and the planet. Learn more about how the carrier gives back to communities across the world by visiting Southwest.com/citizenship. Book Southwest Airlines' low fares online at Southwest.com or by phone at 800-I-FLY-SWA. SOURCE Southwest Airlines Co. Related Links http://www.southwest.com SAN JOSE, Calif., Sept. 13, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Super Micro Computer, Inc. (SMCI), a global leader in enterprise computing, storage, networking solutions, and green computing technology, is joining the Nutanix Elevate Partner Program. This expanded collaboration will further help customers deploy, manage and scale their infrastructure by delivering optimized application and hardware solutions to address the increasing market demand for hybrid multi-cloud solutions. "With 28 years of design, manufacturing, and service experience, Supermicro has worked very closely with Nutanix for over a decade, and together we have delivered many industry firsts," said Charles Liang, president, and CEO of Supermicro. "Our BigTwin systems have become the de-facto platform for hyper-converged infrastructure (HCI), and the vast majority of Nutanix's customers today are running on Supermicro server hardware. To provide even more value to the market, Supermicro is now joining the Nutanix Elevate Partner Program to offer hybrid multi-cloud solutions based on our new X12 generation Ultra and BigTwin platforms to deliver higher performance at scale with shorter lead-times." The Nutanix Elevate Program for Resellers differs from traditional partner programs. It has a unique emphasis on partner capabilities and competencies to sell and support the Nutanix portfolio. As an enrolled participant, Supermicro gains sales engagement support and standardized pricing through the existing network of Nutanix distribution partners to enable Supermicro to sell Nutanix solutions to customers. "The market recognizes Nutanix as the industry leader in providing unparalleled freedom of choice," said Tarkan Maner, Chief Commercial Officer at Nutanix. "With the addition of Supermicro as a Nutanix Elevate Partner - we can provide even more flexibility and expertise to customers through the Supermicro go-to-market organization." The collaboration now expands beyond the portfolio of integrated products. For example, Supermicro is now authorized to resell the line of Nutanix NX appliances. These systems are based on the Supermicro X12 Ultra and BigTwin platforms fueled by 3rd Gen Intel Xeon Scalable processors with built-in AI accelerators and optional all-flash NVMe storage, enabling customers to select the suitable systems needed for the performance and capabilities required for their workloads. With this new agreement, Supermicro can offer additional Nutanix technologies to its global customer base, enabling the adoption of hybrid multi-cloud environments. Customers will receive support directly from Nutanix's customer service organization. In addition, this extension of the partnership will allow the two companies to accelerate the procurement and deployment of Supermicro and Nutanix solutions long proven in the market. Many workloads in various industries will benefit from this partnership and the Nutanix solution, including analytics, VDI, Remote Office/Branch Office, databases, and mission-critical applications. About Super Micro Computer, Inc. Supermicro (SMCI), the leading innovator in high-performance, high-efficiency server technology, is a premier provider of advanced Server Building Block Solutions for Enterprise Data Center, Cloud Computing, Artificial Intelligence, and Edge Computing Systems worldwide. Supermicro is committed to protecting the environment through its "We Keep IT Green" initiative and provides customers with the most energy-efficient, environmentally-friendly solutions available on the market. Supermicro, Server Building Block Solutions, and We Keep IT Green are trademarks and/or registered trademarks of Super Micro Computer, Inc. Intel, the Intel logo, and other Intel marks are trademarks of Intel Corporation or its subsidiaries. All other brands, names, and trademarks are the property of their respective owners. SOURCE Super Micro Computer, Inc. Related Links http://www.supermicro.com Covering topic areas such as industry, technology, sustainability, advisory, finance and energy, the project is being launched in collaboration with Gulf News, the region's most-trusted English language news source. Timed to coincide with Dubai Expo 2021, thought leaders from MENA's most forward-thinking businesses will appear in issue-led interviews to explore their approach, building on both ancient traditions and cutting edge technology to create a better future. These interviews will be available through the 50 MENA Leaders portal on the Gulf News website, reaching a truly global audience hungry to learn more about the region's growing economy. A full list of organisations participating in the 50 MENA Leaders initiative will be released prior to the event. About TBD Media Group: TBD Media Group is an international, purpose-driven, media developer that helps companies, organisations and governments tell their brand stories in a human and direct way. Learn more at https://www.tbdmediagroup.com/ . Video - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1613311/TBD__Global_Thought_Leaders.mp4 Media Contact: Jenna-Leigh Soobramoney Head of Marketing TBD Media Group [email protected] SOURCE TBD Media Related Links https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1613311/TBD__Global_Thought_Leaders.mp4 TCI identifies Jim Vena as the Outstanding CEO Candidate LONDON, Sept. 13, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Long-term shareholders CIFF Capital UK LP and The Children's Investment Master Fund, acting by their investment manager TCI Fund Management Limited (together, "TCI"), announce they intend to requisition a timely special meeting of Canadian National Railway Company (TSX: CNR) (NYSE: CNI) ("CN" or the "Company") shareholders (the "Special Meeting") shortly for the purpose of refreshing the current Board of Directors (the "Board") by adding four nominees who will provide the deep railroad operational experience the current Board lacks. TCI's four independent and highly skilled nominees are Gilbert Lamphere, Allison Landry, Rob Knight, and Paul Miller. "CN is a great company, and it owns a unique asset the best rail network in North America. However, the business has been underperforming for too long, so change is required. We did not seek a proxy fight, but without urgent action CN's operational and financial performance will continue to lag its peers under a Board that lacks the right railroad experience and operational expertise," said Chris Hohn, TCI Founder and Managing Partner. "The bid for KCS exposed a basic misunderstanding of the railroad industry and regulatory environment. The Board consistently misjudged the STB and displayed flawed decision making, committing billions of dollars to an ill-conceived pursuit of an unattainable asset. CN should focus on getting better rather than bigger." "We have assembled an independent, accomplished and world-class slate of director nominees. They all have had long and distinguished careers operating in and analyzing the railroad industry. They bring vast railroad experience and knowledge, and they also share a common and very achievable goal: to create a much-needed culture of operational excellence at CN, which is essential if the Company is to reach its full potential." "A new, highly-qualified Board with renewed senior management will help ensure CN is put on the right track to the benefit of the Canadian and US economies, shippers, employees and shareholders. CN can do better, and with a new Board, it will." New CEO Candidate "History has shown that with the right leadership railroads can be improved quickly. TCI's independent and highly skilled nominees, if elected, will help lead and guide the selection of a new CEO. TCI has identified Jim Vena as the outstanding candidate for the position." "Mr. Vena has a proven track record as an exceptional operator. His time at CN, where he was a high-performing and well-respected Chief Operating Officer (COO), demonstrates he knows how to run a railroad successfully. During his 40 years at CN, Mr. Vena ran all three geographic regions of the network, so he knows the network intimately and is uniquely qualified to be CEO. More recently, Mr. Vena was the COO at Union Pacific, where he drove a remarkable improvement in the company's operations, service, efficiency and profitability, resulting in a 650bps improvement in the operating ratio in two and a half years." "Mr. Vena has committed to accepting the role of CEO if offered the position in a suitably expedient manner." Advocating for a low-carbon railroad industry Mr. Hohn also said, "Over many years, TCI has established an exceptional reputation as a leader on all ESG issues and policy-making. The firm has an active ESG policy (www.tcifund/ESG) with a particular focus on the risk of climate change. TCI has successfully campaigned for many of its portfolio companies to adopt a Climate Action Plan and to give shareholders a 'Say on Climate' advisory vote at their AGMs. These companies include Canadian National, who adopted the policy at its 2021 AGM, Moody's, Aena, VINCI and Canadian Pacific. If our new independent director nominees are elected, TCI will continue to campaign for CN to lead the industry in all ESG issues, to adopt new technologies to improve the efficiency of its network, and to drive the industry to cooperate in developing and introducing new low-greenhouse-gas-emitting locomotives. This will have the additional benefits of attracting new shippers to the railroads, taking freight off the highways, and generating higher volume growth for the industry." Biographies of TCI Nominees (all of whom are fully independent of TCI) Gilbert Lamphere is currently Chairman of MidRail Corporation, a freight rail company formed to develop and operate overlooked rail infrastructure in North America. As one of the most experienced railroad executives in North America, Mr. Lamphere has 40 years of experience in the rail industry and has been a board member of several public and private railroad companies, including: Patriot Rail (2019-2021) Chairman CSX (2008-2015) Member of the Operations, Finance, Compensation and Public Affairs committees Florida East Coast Railway (2000-2007) CN (1998-2005) Chairman-elect of the Finance Committee and a member of the Compensation, Investment and Audit Committee Illinois Central Railroad (1990-1998) Chairman MidSouth Rail (1988-1998) Founder Mr. Lamphere has also served on the boards of Recognition Equipment (Chairman), Cleveland-Cliffs, R.P. Scherer, Global Natural Resources, Sylvan Inc. and Lincoln Snacks, and was a board member of the Fremont Group, an investment and operating company with over $9 billion of assets. Mr. Lamphere has been an Overseer of the Harvard School of Business Administration, a Trustee of the New York City Parks Foundation, and Chairman of three educational institutions: Deerfield Academy, Nightingale-Bamford and the Hamlin School. He was Chairman of Princeton University's 1000-person Development Leadership Council and is currently on the Advisory Board of the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences of Johns Hopkins Medicine. Mr. Lamphere graduated from Princeton University and from Harvard Business School, where he was a Baker Scholar and awarded the Loeb Rhoades Fellow Finance prize. Allison Landry currently serves as an independent director on the board of XPO Logistics, Inc., a leading North American less-than-truckload carrier and truck brokerage provider and is also a member of the Audit and Compensation Committees. She previously spent 16 years at Credit Suisse, where she was the lead equity research analyst for the U.S. transportation sector, specializing in the railroad, trucking, airfreight and logistics industries. Ms. Landry earned an MBA from Boston University, with a concentration in Finance, and a BA in Psychology from the College of the Holy Cross. Rob Knight is the former Chief Financial Officer of Union Pacific Corporation, a position he held for 15 years before retiring in December 2019. While Mr. Knight was CFO, Union Pacific's market capitalization grew from $17 billion to over $120 billion. For seven consecutive years, he was named to Institutional Investor magazine's All-America Executive Team as the top CFO in all of transportation. During Mr. Knight's 40-year tenure at Union Pacific, he also held a variety of senior executive positions, including General Manager of the company's energy and automotive business units. As a proven leader with extensive experience in finance, strategy and corporate governance, Mr. Knight serves as a director at Schneider National Inc. (member of Compensation Committee), Hyliion Holdings Corp. (Chair of Audit Committee) and Carrix Corporation, a private transportation services company. Mr. Knight holds an MBA from Southern Illinois University and a BA from Kansas State University. Paul Miller is an expert in transportation, logistics, safety management and regulatory affairs. Mr. Miller was an executive at Canadian National from 19782011. During his 33-year career at the company, Mr. Miller held leadership roles in operations, marketing, and planning. He retired as CN's Vice President of Safety, Sustainability, and Network Transportation in 2011. Mr. Miller served on the Safety and Operations Management Committee of the Railway Association of Canada, and the Risk Management Working Committee of the Association of American Railroads. Since leaving CN, Mr. Miller has been a consultant, board member, volunteer and educator. As a consultant, he has worked with CN, Canadian Pacific Railway, Enbridge, The Railway Association of Canada and the New Brunswick Southern Railway. Mr. Miller was an Adjunct Professor and Railroader in Residence at the University of Alberta's Canadian Rail Research Laboratory, and he serves on the board of the Chartered Institute for Logistics and Transport in North America, where he holds the Chartered Member (CMILT) designation. Mr. Miller is a registered professional engineer (P. Eng.) in the province of Alberta. Mr. Miller holds a Master of Science in Engineering in Transportation Planning & Engineering, as well as a Bachelor of Science in Engineering in Civil Engineering, both from the University of New Brunswick. He also holds the ICD.D. designation from the Institute of Corporate Directors, and the Professional Logistician designation (P. Log.) from the Logistics Institute. Board Removals The requisition will also include a resolution to remove each of the following four incumbent CN directors: Robert Pace Kevin G. Lynch James E. O'Connor Laura Stein Mr. Pace has served on the Board since October 1994. This period of nearly 27 years well exceeds the 14-year director's tenure limit advised by CN's Corporate Governance Manual. While Mr. Lynch, Mr. O'Connor and Ms. Stein, who have all served on the Board for over seven years, have had distinguished and varied careers, TCI's independent and highly skilled nominees will bring more balance to the Board and will give it a deeper understanding of strategic alternatives and opportunities, as well as a broader knowledge of the operational challenges and possibilities in running a railroad. Conclusion TCI's independent board nominees have significant operational experience and analytical capabilities in the railroad industry. Their election will diversify the Board and give balance to the existing areas of skills, expertise and competence already possessed by the Board. Information Concerning the Nominees TCI's nominees are Gilbert Lamphere, Allison Landry, Rob Knight, and Paul Miller. The table below sets out, in respect of each nominee, his or her name, province or state and country of residence, his or her principal occupation, business or employment within the five preceding years, and the number of shares beneficially owned, or controlled or directed, directly or indirectly, by him or her. Name and Province or State, and Country of Residence Principal Occupation for the Five Preceding Years Number of Common Shares of the Company Beneficially Owned, or Controlled or Directed, Directly or Indirectly Gilbert Lamphere (1)(2) Florida, U.S.A. Principal of Lamphere Capital Management (a private investment firm that invests in a range of private and public companies) since June, 2000, and Chairman of MidRail Corp. (a freight rail company focused on originating, acquiring, consolidating, and developing integrated rail assets and operations across North America) since July, 2016 Nil Allison Landry(1) New York, U.S.A. Corporate director since August, 2021 and prior to July, 2021, equity research analyst at Credit Suisse (investment bank) Nil Rob Knight(1) Florida, U.S.A. Corporate director since December, 2019 and prior to December, 2019, Chief Financial Officer of Union Pacific Corporation (Class I railroad) Nil Paul Miller(1) Alberta, Canada Board member, and rail and logistics consultant Nil Notes: (1) None of the nominees currently holds any position with the Company. (2) Mr. Lamphere served as a director of the Company from March, 1998 until August, 2005. Boards of Other Reporting Issuers on Which the Nominees Serve Nominee Boards of Other Reporting Issuers on Which the Nominee Serves Allison Landry XPO Logistics, Inc. Rob Knight Hyliion Holdings Corp. Schneider National, Inc. Other Information Concerning the Nominees Based on information provided by each respective nominee, each of the nominees is independent of the Company. Based on information provided by each respective nominee, none of the nominees: (a) is, at the date of this release, or has been within the previous 10 years, a director, chief executive officer or chief financial officer of any company that (i) was subject to an a cease trade order, an order similar to a cease trade order or an order that denied the relevant company access to any exemption under securities legislation, that was in effect for a period of more than 30 consecutive days (each, an "order") that was issued while such nominee was acting in the capacity as director, chief executive officer or chief financial officer, or (ii) was subject to an order that was issued after such nominee ceased to be a director, chief executive officer or chief financial officer and which resulted from an event that occurred while such nominee was acting in the capacity as director, chief executive officer or chief financial officer; (b) is, at the date of this release, or has been within the previous 10 years, a director or executive officer of any company that, while such nominee was acting in that capacity, or within a year of nominee ceasing to act in that capacity, became bankrupt, made a proposal under any legislation relating to bankruptcy or insolvency or was subject to or instituted any proceedings, arrangement or compromise with creditors or had a receiver, receiver manager or trustee appointed to hold its assets; or (c) within the previous 10 years has become bankrupt, made a proposal under any legislation relating to bankruptcy or insolvency, or become subject to or instituted any proceedings, arrangement or compromise with creditors, or had a receiver, receiver manager or trustee appointed to hold the assets of such nominee. Based on information provided by each respective nominee, none of the nominees has been subject to: (a) any penalties or sanctions imposed by a court relating to securities legislation or by a securities regulatory authority or has entered into a settlement agreement with a securities regulatory authority; or (b) any other penalties or sanctions imposed by a court or regulatory body that would likely be considered important to a reasonable securityholder in deciding whether to vote for a nominee. Based on information provided by each respective nominee, none of the nominees or their respective associates or affiliates has: (a) any material interest, direct or indirect, in any transaction since the commencement of the Company's most recently completed financial year or in any proposed transaction which has materially affected or would materially affect the Company or any of its subsidiaries; or (b) any material interest, direct or indirect, by way of beneficial ownership of securities or otherwise, in any matter to be acted on at the Special Meeting, other than the removal of certain incumbent directors and the election of directors to fill the vacancies created by such removals. None of TCI or any directors or officers of TCI, or any associates or affiliates of any of the foregoing, has: (a) any material interest, direct or indirect, in any transaction since the commencement of the Company's most recently completed financial year or in any proposed transaction which has materially affected or would materially affect the Company or any of its subsidiaries; or (b) any material interest, direct or indirect, by way of beneficial ownership of securities or otherwise, in any matter to be acted on at the Special Meeting, other than the removal of certain incumbent directors and the election of directors to fill the vacancies created by such removals. Advisors Kingsdale Advisors is acting as strategic shareholder and communications advisor to TCI. ASC Advisors is acting as communications advisor to TCI. Allen McDonald Swartz LLP and Schulte Roth & Zabel LLP are acting as legal counsel to TCI. About TCI Fund Management Founded in 2003 by Sir Christopher Hohn, TCI Fund Management Limited, the investment manager of CIFF Capital UK LP and The Children's Investment Master Fund, is a value orientated, fundamental investor which invests globally in strong businesses with sustainable competitive advantages. Using a private equity approach, TCI Fund Management Limited conducts deep fundamental research, constructively engages with management and adopts a long-term investment horizon. For more information on TCI Fund Management Limited and its ESG policy, visit www.tcifund.com/ESG Disclosures: TCI has been a CN shareholder since 2018. TCI currently owns more than 5% of the shares outstanding (valued at $4.3 billion) and is committed to the long-term success of CN. Contacts Kingsdale Advisors: Ian Robertson President, Canada Direct: 416-867-2333 Cell: 647-621-2646 Email: [email protected] Hyunjoo Kim Director, Communications, Marketing & Digital Strategy Direct: 416-867-2357 Cell: 416-899-6463 Email: [email protected] TCI Media Contacts: ASC Advisors, New York Steve Bruce: [email protected] Taylor Ingraham: [email protected] 203-992-1230 Information in Support of Public Broadcast Solicitation The information contained in this news release does not and is not meant to constitute a solicitation of a proxy within the meaning of applicable corporate and securities laws. Although TCI intends to requisition a meeting of shareholders, such a requisition has not yet been submitted and there is currently no record or meeting date and shareholders are not being asked at this time to execute a proxy in favour of TCI's nominees or any other resolutions that may be set forth in the requisition. In connection with the Special Meeting, TCI may file an information circular in due course in compliance with applicable corporate and securities laws. Notwithstanding the foregoing, TCI is voluntarily providing the disclosure required under sections 9.2(4) and 9.2(6) of National Instrument 51-102 Continuous Disclosure Obligations in accordance with corporate and securities laws applicable to public broadcast solicitations. This news release and any solicitation made by TCI in advance of the Special Meeting is, or will be, as applicable, made by TCI and not by or on behalf of the management of CN. All costs incurred for any solicitation will be borne by TCI, provided that, subject to applicable law, TCI may seek reimbursement from CN of TCI's out-of-pocket expenses, including proxy solicitation expenses and legal fees, incurred in connection with a successful reconstitution of the Board. TCI is not soliciting proxies in connection with the Special Meeting at this time, and shareholders are not being asked at this time to execute proxies in favour of TCI's nominees (in respect of the Special Meeting) or any other resolution that may be set forth in the requisition. Proxies may be solicited by TCI pursuant to an information circular sent to shareholders after which solicitations may be made by or on behalf of TCI, by mail, telephone, fax, email or other electronic means as well as by newspaper or other media advertising, and in person by directors, officers and employees of TCI, who will not be specifically remunerated therefor. TCI may also solicit proxies in reliance upon the public broadcast exemption to the solicitation requirements under applicable Canadian corporate and securities laws, conveyed by way of public broadcast, including through press releases, speeches or publications, and by any other manner permitted under applicable Canadian laws. TCI may engage the services of one or more agents and authorize other persons to assist in soliciting proxies on behalf of TCI. TCI has retained Kingsdale Advisors ("Kingsdale") as its strategic advisor and to assist TCI in soliciting shareholders should TCI commence a formal solicitation of proxies. Kingsdale's responsibilities will principally include advising TCI on governance best practices, where applicable, liaising with proxy advisory firms, developing and implementing shareholder communication and engagement strategies, and advising with respect to meeting and proxy protocol. TCI is not requesting that CN shareholders submit a proxy at this time. Once TCI has commenced a formal solicitation of proxies in connection with the Special Meeting, proxies may be revoked by depositing an instrument or act in writing executed or, in Quebec, signed by the shareholder or by the shareholder's personal representative authorized in writing (i) at the registered office of the Company at any time up to and including the last business day preceding the day of the Special Meeting, or an adjournment thereof, at which the proxy is to be used, or (ii) with the chairman of the Special Meeting on the day of the Special Meeting or an adjournment thereof, or in any other manner permitted by law. CN's registered office address is 935, rue de La Gauchetiere ouest, Montreal, Quebec, Canada, H3B 4M9. A copy of this news release may be obtained on CN's SEDAR profile at www.sedar.com. SOURCE TCI Fund Management Limited Related Links https://www.tcifund.com In line with Telemis' existing international expansion strategy to ensure business continuity with customers at a local level, Stephane Ketelaer, CEO of Telemis, said: "We are happy to be able to count on A.Medical as a solid partner in Latvia. This newly signed agreement extends our joint presence in Latvia and contributes to offering the highest quality medical software to diagnose and treat Latvian patients. We have known A.Medical as a reliable service company and one that does not hesitate to go with the newest technologies while helping medical institutions." "Our company is well established in the sale of modalities throughout Latvia in the hospital environment," said Igors Palkovs, Chief Executive Officer, A.Medical. "We have known Telemis for more than 5 years and have seen the evolution of their solutions. We are pleased to have signed a partnership agreement to represent Telemis throughout Latvia. Our aim is to develop the business in the region and to provide local support to Telemis customers." Based in the capital city Riga, Telemis SIA supports the installed base it already has, developing new business in the country and neighbouring countries. A.Medical represents Telemis in Latvia, supporting established software and maintenance contracts, responding to calls for tender, and developing new business. Together the two companies have already signed a 5-year Telemis software and maintenance contract with Daugavpils Regional Hospital in south-eastern Latvia to replace its old PACS (Picture Archiving and Communication System) solution. Pleased with the recent contract and the news of Telemis' partnership with A.Medical, Gregory Semjonos, General Manager, Daugavpils Regional Hospital, said: "We acquired the Telemis PACS as a replacement for the AGFA PACS. Due to the good performance and our satisfaction with the solution, it was decided to extend the contract and collaboration for the next 5 years. As director of Daugavpils, I am happy to work with a scalable solution. I would also like to thank Telemis for its partnership with A.Medical, allowing us to benefit from local and efficient support. I believe that the Telemis solution gives our doctors all the tools to work in the best possible conditions." About Telemis: https://publitekltd.sharepoint.com/:b:/s/PublitekFTP/EbNRRMK6rsBBhD1LmsZ9ibMB2zHnQKUgEkKvoEwhWL1wzg?e=bBXgPr Contact Details: North America Telephone: +1 703 436 9376 Email: [email protected] Photo- https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1612305/Telemis.jpg SOURCE Telemis WASHINGTON, Sept. 13, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- The Brattle Group has welcomed economist Chris Rybak to its Global Antitrust & Competition practice as a Senior Consultant based in Washington, DC. Mr. Rybak is an expert in mergers and antitrust litigation issues in a vast range of industries. "We are thrilled to have Chris joining the Brattle team," said Brattle President & Principal David L. Sunding. "With his deep expertise in econometrics and analyzing damages, he will add depth to our competition practice and be a vital asset to clients." Chris Rybak, The Brattle Group "I am excited to join the professional staff of economists at The Brattle Group," said Mr. Rybak. "I look forward to helping the firm continue its great deal of success in expanding their powerful competition group." Specializing in applied econometrics and damages analysis, as well as mergers and acquisitions and antitrust litigation, Mr. Rybak has consulted in the pharmaceutical, transportation, metals, packaged food, home appliances, and healthcare industries. He has provided economic analyses in largescale corporate mergers. Prior to joining Brattle, Mr. Rybak was a Vice President at an international economics consultancy. In 2021, his article, "The Use of Econometrics in Merger Reviews," co-authored with Brattle Principal Dr. Loren K. Smith, was nominated for a Concurrences Antitrust Writing Award. To learn more about Mr. Rybak, please see his full bio. ABOUT BRATTLE The Brattle Group answers complex economic, finance, and regulatory questions for corporations, law firms, and governments around the world. We are distinguished by the clarity of our insights and the credibility of our experts, which include leading international academics and industry specialists. Brattle has over 400 talented professionals across three continents. For more information, please visit brattle.com. SOURCE The Brattle Group Related Links http://www.brattle.com NEW YORK, Sept. 13, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT EASTERN DISTRICT OF NEW YORK IN RE PPDAI GROUP INC. SECURITIES LITIGATION No: 1:18-cv-06716-LDH-TAM Hon. LaShann DeArcy Hall Hon. Taryn A. Merkl SUPREME COURT OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK COUNTY OF NEW YORK: COMMERCIAL DIVISION IN RE PPDAI GROUP SECURITIES LITIGATION This Document Relates To: ALL ACTIONS. Index No: 654482/2018 Hon. Andrea Masley J.S.C. Part 48 SUMMARY NOTICE OF PROPOSED SETTLEMENT OF CLASS ACTION TO: ALL PERSONS WHO PURCHASED OR OTHERWISE ACQUIRED PPDAI GROUP INC. ("PPDAI" OR THE "COMPANY") AMERICAN DEPOSITORY SHARES ("ADSS") FROM NOVEMBER 10, 2017 THROUGH MAY 9, 2018, INCLUSIVELY, INCLUDING THOSE PERSONS THAT PURCHASED OR OTHERWISE ACQUIRED PPDAI ADSS PURSUANT OR TRACEABLE TO PPDAI'S REGISTRATION STATEMENTS AND PROSPECTUS FOR PPDAI'S NOVEMBER 10, 2017 INITIAL PUBLIC OFFERING ("IPO"). THIS NOTICE WAS AUTHORIZED BY THE COURT. IT IS NOT A LAWYER SOLICITATION. PLEASE READ THIS NOTICE CAREFULLY AND IN ITS ENTIRETY. YOU ARE HEREBY NOTIFIED that a hearing will be held on December 16, 2021, at 10:00 a.m., before the Honorable LaShann DeArcy Hall at the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York, 225 Cadman Plaza East, Courtroom 4H North, Brooklyn, NY 11201, to determine whether: (1) the proposed settlement (the "Settlement") of the above-captioned action (the "Action") as well as the action pending in the Supreme Court of the State of New York, County of New York, styled as In re PPDAI Group Securities Litigation, Index No. 654482/2018 (the "State Court Action") as set forth in the Stipulation of Settlement ("Stipulation")1 for $9,000,000 in cash should be approved by the Court as fair, reasonable and adequate; (2) the Judgment as provided under the Stipulation should be entered; (3) to award Plaintiffs' Counsel attorneys' fees and expenses out of the Settlement Fund (as defined in the Notice of Pendency and Proposed Settlement of Class Action ("Notice"), which is discussed below), and, if so, in what amount; (4) to award Plaintiffs for representing the Settlement Class out of the Settlement Fund and, if so, in what amount; and (5) the Plan of Allocation should be approved by the Court as fair, reasonable and adequate.2 This Action and the State Court Action are securities class actions brought on behalf of those persons who purchased or acquired PPDAI ADSs during the Settlement Class Period, against PPDAI, certain of its officers, directors, and underwriters of PPDAI's IPO (collectively, "Defendants") for, among other things, allegedly misstating and omitting material facts from the Registration Statement and Prospectus filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission in connection with the IPO. Plaintiffs allege that these purportedly false and misleading statements inflated the price of the Company's ADSs, resulting in damage to Settlement Class Members when the truth was revealed. Defendants deny all of Plaintiffs' allegations. IF YOU PURCHASED OR ACQUIRED PPDAI ADSs BETWEEN November 10, 2017 THROUGH AND INCLUDING May 9, 2018, YOUR RIGHTS MAY BE AFFECTED BY THE SETTLEMENT OF THIS ACTION AND THE STATE COURT ACTION. To share in the distribution of the Settlement Fund, you must establish your rights by submitting a Proof of Claim and Release Form ("Proof of Claim") by mail (postmarked no later than December 2, 2021) or electronically (no later than December 2, 2021). Your failure to submit your Proof of Claim by December 2, 2021, will subject your claim to rejection and preclude your receiving any of the recovery in connection with the Settlement of this Action and the State Court Action. If you are a member of the Settlement Class and do not request exclusion therefrom, you will be bound by the Settlement and any judgment and release entered in the Action and the State Court Action, including, but not limited to, the Judgment, whether or not you submit a Proof of Claim. If you have not received a copy of the Notice, which more completely describes the Settlement and your rights thereunder (including your right to object to the Settlement), and a Proof of Claim, you may obtain these documents, as well as a copy of the Stipulation (which, among other things, contains definitions for the defined terms used in this Summary Notice) and other Settlement documents, online at www.PPDAISecuritiesSettlement.com, or by writing to: PPDAI Group Inc. Securities Litigation Settlement c/o A.B. Data, Ltd. P.O. Box 173003 Milwaukee, WI 53217 Tel.: 877-777-9307 Inquiries should NOT be directed to Defendants, the Court, or the Clerk of the Court. Inquiries, other than requests for the Notice or for a Proof of Claim, may be made to Plaintiffs' Counsel: Laurence Rosen, Esq. THE ROSEN LAW FIRM, P.A. 275 Madison Avenue, 40th Floor New York, NY 10016 Telephone: (212) 686-1060 Federal Court Lead Counsel Ellen Gusikoff Stewart, Esq. ROBBINS GELLER RUDMAN & DOWD LLP 655 West Broadway, Suite 1900 San Diego, CA 92101 Telephone: (800) 449-4900 Max Schwartz, Esq. SCOTT+SCOTT, ATTORNEYS AT LAW LLP The Helmsley Building 230 Park Avenue, 17th Floor New York, NY 10169 Telephone: (212) 223-6444 State Court Lead Counsel IF YOU DESIRE TO BE EXCLUDED FROM THE SETTLEMENT CLASS, YOU MUST SUBMIT A REQUEST FOR EXCLUSION SUCH THAT IT IS POSTMARKED BY NOVEMBER 2, 2021, IN THE MANNER AND FORM EXPLAINED IN THE NOTICE. ALL MEMBERS OF THE SETTLEMENT CLASS WHO HAVE NOT REQUESTED EXCLUSION FROM THE SETTLEMENT CLASS WILL BE BOUND BY THE SETTLEMENT EVEN IF THEY DO NOT SUBMIT A TIMELY PROOF OF CLAIM. IF YOU ARE A SETTLEMENT CLASS MEMBER, YOU HAVE THE RIGHT TO OBJECT TO THE SETTLEMENT, THE PLAN OF ALLOCATION, THE REQUEST BY PLAINTIFFS' COUNSEL FOR AN AWARD OF ATTORNEYS' FEES AND EXPENSES, AND/OR THE AWARDS TO PLAINTIFFS FOR REPRESENTING THE SETTLEMENT CLASS. ANY OBJECTIONS MUST BE FILED WITH THE COURT AND SENT TO ONE OF PLAINTIFFS' COUNSEL AND ONE OF DEFENDANTS' COUNSEL BY NOVEMBER 2, 2021, IN THE MANNER AND FORM EXPLAINED IN THE NOTICE. DATED: September 13, 2021 BY ORDER OF THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE EASTERN DISTRICT OF NEW YORK 1 The Stipulation can be viewed and/or obtained at www.PPDAISecuritiesSettlement.com. 2 In light of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Court may decide to conduct the Settlement Fairness Hearing by video or telephone conference, or otherwise allow Settlement Class Members to appear at the hearing by phone. No further notice of such decision will be provided to the Settlement Class. In order to determine whether the date and time of the Settlement Fairness Hearing have changed, or whether Settlement Class Members must or may participate by phone or video, it is important that you monitor the Settlement website, www.PPDAISecuritiesSettlement.com, before making any plans to attend the Settlement Fairness Hearing. Any updates and information for accessing a telephonic or video Settlement Fairness Hearing will be posted to the Settlement website, www.PPDAISecuritiesSettlement.com. Source(s): The Rosen Law Firm, P.A.; Robbins Geller Rudman & Dowd LLP; Scott+Scott Attorney's at Law LLP SOURCE The Rosen Law Firm, P.A., Robbins Geller Rudman & Dowd LLP, Scott+Scott, Attorneys At Law LLP DENVER, Sept. 13, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- As students return to a full, in-person campus experience at the University of Denver's (DU) campus, many are entering a collection of significant new buildings for the first time. "Our university developed a major campus masterplan in 2016 under the leadership of my predecessor Dr. Rebecca Chopp, the Denver Advantage plan, and then immediately embarked on building several of the key recommended facilities that were envisioned in that plan," said Dr. Jeremy Haefner, Chancellor at the University of Denver. From L to R: The University of Denver's new Community Commons, Dimond Family Residential Village, and Burwell Career Center buildings. All three of the new University of Denver buildings were envisioned as a part of the university's Denver Advantage Plan, a framework plan and multiphase construction effort designed to fuel the collaborative relationships proven to help students succeed. "What no one envisioned, though, was that these pivotal new campus buildings would open amidst a global pandemic, a time during which our campus was operating under very restricted in-person learning experiences and capacity limitations. We are thrilled to finally see these buildings come to their fullest fruition in the hands of our students, faculty, and staff this semester." With the Fall 2021 semester kicking off today, these new buildings are finally welcoming all into a new, and engaging, DU campus experience. A new community commons building, a new residence hall for first year students, and a new career center are all centrally located adjacent to the University's Campus Green, each opening for occupancy over the last several months. All three architectural projects were designed as parts of a unified whole, transforming the core of the campus. Designed in an integrated collaboration with DU's Office of the University Architect, whose leadership and vision for this major campus advancement was established during the 2016 masterplan project conducted with Ayers Saint Gross. The buildings were realized through oversight by DU's Office of Facilities Management & Planning and visioning through DU's Division of Student Affairs & Inclusive Excellence, Division of Career & Professional Development and DU Advancement. Tying these new projects into an integrated campus experience within the campus core was Didier Design Studio, a Colorado-based landscape architecture practice. The buildings include: Community Commons University Architect: Jane Loefgren Design Architect: Moore Ruble Yudell Executive Architect: Anderson Mason Dale The University of Denver's new Community Commons welcomes an increasingly diverse student community and brings a critical mass of students and resources to the center of campusa primary goal of the University's Strategic Plan. The project funnels and mixes students capturing movement to and from the new first-year housing with a variety of types of spaces for students, faculty, staff and visitors to dine, meet, socialize, study, and make use of supportive services. Food services are strategically located at the heart of the Commons to unite the entire community and the building creates opportunities for the sustained encounters between people that are the foundation for meaningful relationships and student success. Intentional student engagement through a highly participatory process revealed evolving priorities that informed the design. Responsive planning includes a central canyon-like space whose north-facing clerestory provides equitable access to daylight; social stair along the flow path; easily adaptable loft-like spaces; and operable windows, individual controls, and outdoor terraces that connect to nature and enrich social interactions. High-performance building systems reduce the energy use of the Commons by 49% against baseline. Dimond Family Residential Village University Architect: Mark Rodgers Design Architect: Anderson Mason Dale Collaborating Architect: Moore Ruble Yudell The Dimond Family Residential Village was created as a response to the University of Denver's vision for a more inclusive campus environment that embraces first-generation students, cultivating retention by building bonds to the University community. The building includes 501 beds earmarked for freshmen, along with campus-serving programs such as honors and campus residential life. The building is designed around nested scales of community, organized into identifiable cohorts that allow students to gradually build relationships and a sense of belonging. The project creates social connections wherever possible, from interior "porches" at room entries, to common areas supporting each pod, to a communal bridge gathering space framing an activity courtyard designed to accommodate gatherings of the full University first year class of 1,450 students. The building is on target for LEED Gold Certification. Burwell Career Center University Architect: Mark Rodgers Design Architect: Lake|Flato Associate Architect: Shears Adkins Rockmore Situated at a key nexus between the campus's traditional core and its growing urban edge, the new 23,000 square foot Burwell Center for Career Achievement will be a campus hub focused on student career development, employer engagement and alumni activities. A tower stair serves as a beacon and an executive lounge provides views to the campus, the adjacent city core, and the nearby Rocky Mountains. Designed as a LEED Platinum building, the Center is anticipated to use 70% less energy than comparable university buildings and was built utilizing a sustainably harvested mass timber structure, the first at the University of Denver. These campus facilities were prioritized from those recommended within the campus masterplan to bring timely solutions to critical issues within the global higher education field. From diversity and inclusiveness to student retention and environmental responsibility, each new facility will have a significant impact on the student's experience at DU and the campus community environment itself. "Our work in creating an inspired, human-centric built environment is teaching the next generation how to reshape the world with thoughtfulness, grace, and artistry," said Mo Lotif, Owner's Representative, Office of the Vice Chancellor at the University of Denver. "We are grateful to have worked with such a strong selection of design talent to bring these important new facilities to life for the benefit of our students." Through the selection of award-winning architecture practices to design these new facilities, DU seized the opportunity to elevate the campus experience for its increasingly diverse population choosing the University to make Denver their home. Didier Design Studio led the landscape design for all three projects and Ayers Saint Gross developed the 2016 Denver Advantage campus master plan. The Community Commons project and the Dimond Family Residential Village were built by Saunders Construction, and the Burwell Career Center was built by PCL Construction; both Denver-based construction companies. ABOUT MOORE RUBLE YUDELL Moore Ruble Yudell is a design and planning team united by a passion for deep client engagement that informs dynamic placemaking. We respond to the social, ecological, and physical context of each project and embrace research and technology to create joyful places and vibrant communities ready for resilient futures. Learn more at www.moorerubleyudell.com. ABOUT ANDERSON MASON DALE Anderson Mason Dale Architects is a 60-person design firm based in Denver, Colorado for nearly 50 years, providing a full range of services across the Western Mountain Region. AMD was awarded the American Institute of Architects' Firm Award for "a distinguished body of work" three times, most recently named "Firm of the Year" in 2017, and has received numerous local, regional and national design awards. The firm's ethos is built on the idea that architecture has the power to heighten human well-being and illuminate our cultural values. Learn more at www.amdarchitects.com. ABOUT LAKE|FLATO Lake|Flato is a national leader in the design of human-centered, high-performance architecture. The firm's award-winning buildings seamlessly integrate into each unique campus, environment and ecological context while expressing the mission and identity of each program and place. As a practice, Lake|Flato is committed to designing long-lived, adaptive spaces that are simple, elegant and beautiful responses to human and environmental needs. To learn more visit www.lakeflato.com. ABOUT SHEARS ADKINS ROCKMORE Shears Adkins Rockmore (SAR+), based in Denver, Colorado, is an architecture, interior design, and planning firm with a strong reputation for the design of urban projects. Today, SAR+ operates with a team of approximately 60 professionals, planning, designing and executing urban infill, mixed-use projects across the country. To learn more visit www.sararch.com. KEY DESIGN TEAM CONSULTANTS Community Commons: Structural / Civil Engineering: Martin/Martin Consulting Engineers, www.martinmartin.com Mechanical / Electrical / Plumbing: Cator, Ruma & Associates, http://www.catorruma.com/ Landscape Architect: Didier Design Studio, www.didierdesignstudio.com Code: Advanced Consulting Engineers, www.acecode.com Acoustics / AV: K2 Audio, www.k2audio.com Food Service: Laschober + Sovich, www.laschobersovich.com Cost Estimating: The Capital Projects Group, www.thecapitalprojectsgroup.com Energy Modeling: Energetics Consulting Engineers, www.energetics-eng.com Sustainability: France Sustainable Solutions, www.francesustainable.com Elevator: Lerch Bates, www.lerchbates.com Dimond Family Residential Village: Structural / Civil Engineering: Martin/Martin Consulting Engineers, www.martinmartin.com Mechanical / Electrical / Plumbing: Cator, Ruma & Associates, www.catorruma.com Landscape Architect: Didier Design Studio, www.didierdesignstudio.com Code: Advanced Consulting Engineers, www.acecode.com Acoustics / AV: K2 Audio, www.k2audio.com Cost Estimating: The Capital Projects Group, www.thecapitalprojectsgroup.com Energy Modeling: Energetics Consulting Engineers, www.energetics-eng.com Sustainability: France Sustainable Solutions, www.francesustainable.com Elevator: Lerch Bates, www.lerchbates.com Burwell Career Center: Structural Engineering: KL&A Engineers and Builders, www.klaa.com Civil Engineering: Martin / Martin Consulting Engineers, www.martinmartin.com Mechanical / Electrical / Plumbing: Affiliated Engineers, www.aeieng.com Landscape Architect: Didier Design Studio, www.didierdesignstudio.com Code: Advanced Consulting Engineers, www.acecode.com Acoustics / AV: K2 Audio, www.k2audio.com Cost Estimating: The Capital Projects Group, www.thecapitalprojectsgroup.com Energy Modeling: Group 14, www.group14eng.com Sustainability: Green Ideas www.greenideasgroup.com Media contact: Nicole Marshall [email protected] 504-644-7335 SOURCE Moore Ruble Yudell Related Links http://www.moorerubleyudell.com MEMPHIS, Tenn., Sept. 13, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Hundreds of elementary-age innovators and fundraisers took part in the St. Jude Inspiration4 Science Fair during the past school year with classmates and reached for the stars to support kids at St. Jude Children's Research Hospital as part of the fundraising campaign for Inspiration4, the world's first all-civilian mission to orbit Earth. Called the St. Jude EPIC challenge, participating students practiced Experimenting, Prototyping, Inventing and Creating to prototype a life-improving innovation for the kids at St. Jude. Hundreds of elementary-age innovators and fundraisers took part in the St. Jude Inspiration4 Science Fair during the past school year to support kids at St. Jude Childrens Research Hospital as part of the fundraising campaign for Inspiration4, the worlds first all-civilian mission to orbit Earth. Nine-year-old Esperanza Alcorta of Silver City, New Mexico, received the Hope Award for her innovation. Esperanza Alcorta, a third grader at Harrison Schmitt Elementary in Silver City, New Mexico, received the top student innovator honor in the EPIC Challenge and Inspiration4 St. Jude Science Fair. Taking home the top student innovation honor called the Hope Award is 9-year-old Esperanza Alcorta of Silver City, New Mexico, who reflected on her younger sister's cancer journey when creating her invention called My Comfy Pillow. The heart-shaped prototype, which she researched, designed and assembled herself, was created as a "soft, fluffy, huggable" way to help St. Jude patients stay relaxed as they go through treatment. Esperanza will receive a special message from the Inspiration4 crew as they orbit Earth on their multi-day mission. A second grade class from Indian Land Elementary in Indian Land, South Carolina, received the top classroom innovation award for their invention of the Buddy Blanket. Teacher Michelle Anderson brainstormed with her class what the blanket should look like and what it should say. The prototype featured a handwritten note of encouragement for the kids in treatment at St. Jude Children's Research Hospital. For winning, the class gets to fill a time capsule for transport to space on Inspiration4. Additionally, the recipient of the Generosity Award for top fundraiser is Neela Sembroski of Everett, Washington, who raised $1,675 for St. Jude Children's Research Hospital. Her prototype is a beanie that displays different colored lights depending on the wearer's mood, helped her rally dozens of supporters to exceed her fundraising goal of $1,500. She drew inspiration from St. Jude patients and her father aerospace engineer Christopher Sembroski who is part of the Inspiration4 crew. Joining Sembroski on the Inspiration4 mission will be St. Jude cancer survivor and physician assistant Hayley Arceneaux; Dr. Sian Proctor of Phoenix, Arizona; and Mission Commander Jared Isaacman, founder and chief executive officer of Shift4 Payments and an accomplished pilot who made the generous decision to turn his passion for space into purpose by naming St. Jude Children's Research Hospital the benefiting charity. He also committed $100 million toward the multi-billion dollar St. Jude expansion plan that aims to accelerate research advancements and save more children worldwide. Finally, see below for a list of the top fundraising classes from coast to coast that will receive a commemorative EPIC Achievement Award presented by MOVA Globes and a classroom robotics kit. Amanda Nixon's math class at Mid-South Gifted Academy in Collierville, Tennessee Rachel Stigler's third grade class at Hernando Hills Elementary School in Hernando, Mississippi Anne Zeitler's fifth and sixth grade classes at Holy Trinity Lutheran Academy in New Hope, Minnesota Kristen Kelly's fourth grade class at Rising Leaders Academy in Panama City, Florida Veronica Reyes' first grade class at Imperial Cross Elementary in Imperial, California Heath McLeod's students at Gaston Elementary School in Gadsden, Alabama Stephanie Sartain's third grade class at Hernando Hills Elementary School in Hernando, Mississippi Jessica Walton's kindergarten and first grade students at Harrisburg Elementary in Harrisburg, North Carolina Avery Faile's third grade class at Discovery School in Lancaster, South Carolina Katie Rattles' third through fifth grade classes at Joplin Schools in Joplin, Missouri The support of donors through programs and campaigns like Inspiration4 are critical to making a difference in the lives of children around the globe. Thanks to funds generated through programs like this one, families never receive a bill from St. Jude for treatment, travel, housing or food because all a family should worry about is helping their child live. About St. Jude Children's Research Hospital St. Jude Children's Research Hospital is leading the way the world understands, treats and defeats childhood cancer and other life-threatening diseases. Its purpose is clear: Finding cures. Saving children. It is the only National Cancer Institute-designated Comprehensive Cancer Center devoted solely to children. Treatments invented at St. Jude have helped push the overall childhood cancer survival rate from 20 percent to more than 80 percent since the hospital opened more than 50 years ago. St. Jude won't stop until no child dies from cancer. St. Jude freely shares the discoveries it makes, and every child saved at St. Jude means doctors and scientists worldwide can use that knowledge to save thousands more children. Families never receive a bill from St. Jude for treatment, travel, housing or food because all a family should worry about is helping their child live. Visit St. Jude Inspire to discover powerful St. Jude stories of hope, strength, love and kindness. Join the St. Jude mission by visiting stjude.org, liking St. Jude on Facebook, following St. Jude on Twitter, Instagram and TikTok, and subscribing to its YouTube channel. About Inspiration4 Inspiration4, the world's first all-civilian orbital mission to space, will be commanded by Jared Isaacman, the 38-year-old founder and chief executive officer of Shift4 Payments. The mission is named in recognition of the four-person crew's mission to inspire support for St. Jude Children's Research Hospital and send a humanitarian message of possibility while representing a new era for human spaceflight and exploration. To learn more about Inspiration4, visit https://inspiration4.com/ and follow Twitter (@inspiration4x), Facebook (@inspiration4mission) Instagram (@inspiration4) and YouTube (@Inspiration4). SOURCE ALSAC/St. Jude Children's Research Hospital Related Links http://www.stjude.org SCOTTSDALE, Ariz., Sept. 13, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Tradewind Voyages has announced, in conjunction with the launch of their Caribbean Cruise Program, the appointment of Discover the World as its general sales agent (GSA) in charge of sales and marketing in the US and Canada. Commenting on the launch and partnership, Tradewind Voyages CEO Alan McGrory said, "We are thrilled to offer our guests the opportunity to experience the smaller ports of call and to visit so many beautiful destinations in the Caribbean. We're also delighted to open sales to travels from North America for the first time, thanks to the appointment of Discover the World as our GSA. We thank our agent partners and their clients for their support and hope our Safe Sailing policy will instill further confidence in booking with us. We look forward to welcoming everyone on board." Troy Cranmer, Head of Cruise Discover the World, added, "Our teams in Canada and the USA are honored to be part of this milestone for Tradewind Voyages and are looking forward to bringing this incredible product to North America." Golden Horizon, the world's largest tall ship, will make her inaugural voyage in the region from Barbados with the first of 21 round trips departing on Nov. 11,2021 through March 31,2922. Safe Sailing protocols have also been implemented to ensure the wellbeing of guests and crew, which include a fully COVID vaccinated policy plus complimentary, pre boarding antigen testing. Voyages on Golden Horizon for the 2021/22 Caribbean Collection include: Undiscovered Caribbean : escape to some of the region's most unspoiled islands in search of hidden beaches and natural wonders. : escape to some of the region's most unspoiled islands in search of hidden beaches and natural wonders. Caribbean's Hidden Gems: enjoy a slower pace of life on this relaxed sailing around some of the Caribbean's best-kept secrets. Hidden Gems: enjoy a slower pace of life on this relaxed sailing around some of the best-kept secrets. Icons of the Caribbean : discover exquisite beaches, national parks and historical treasures on some of the favorite Caribbean islands. "We feel extremely privileged to represent the world's largest tall ship and work side by side with Tradewind Voyages," said Jane Clementino, Director of Discover Canada. "This unique sailing experience creates an unprecedented vacation opportunity for travelers For more information about Tradewind Voyages, visit www.tradewindvoyages.com. For more information about Discover the World, visit www.discovertheworld.com or call +1 480 707 5566 About Discover the World Discover the World has earned a reputation as an innovative global sales representation leader in the travel industry through a worldwide network of 85 offices in more than 60 countries. With a portfolio of over 100 clients utilizing its sales, marketing and business process outsourcing services, the work of Discover the World has a direct positive impact on the growth of our clients and trade industry partners every day. SOURCE Discover the World Related Links http://www.discovertheworld.com BORDEAUX, France, Sept. 13, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- TreeFrog Therapeutics, a privately held French-based biotech startup focused on developing safe and affordable stem cell-derived cell therapies for millions of patients, today announced the successful closing of a $75 million (64M) Series B financing round, bringing the total funding to date to $83 million (70M). The financing round was led by Bpifrance Large Venture, part of the French Public Investment Bank, joined by U.S. investment firm Leonard Green & Partners L.P., global pharmaceutical company Bristol Myers Squibb, and European venture capital team XAnge. In conjunction with the financing, independent board member Frederic Desdouits, PhD, has been appointed chief executive officer. It was also announced that Kevin Alessandri, PhD, co-founder, will relocate in early 2022 to Boston, MA, to lead the newly created U.S. subsidiary, TreeFrog Therapeutics Inc. The latest funding round will be used to deploy biomimetic C-StemTM technology for clinical-grade manufacturing, grow and advance to the clinic a comprehensive pipeline of cell therapies, and finance the opening of technological hubs in Boston, MA, and Kobe, Japan. C-StemTM offers unprecedented scale and quality, enabling the exponential growth of human induced pluripotent stem cells (hiPSC) and their differentiation into ready-to-transplant microtissues in industrial bioreactors. Preliminary results, recently presented at the American Society of Gene & Cell Therapy and International Society for Stem Cell Research annual meetings, suggest C-StemTM is the only technology capable of maintaining genomic integrity through large-scale hiPSC expansion. Based on best-in-class preclinical results in Parkinson's disease, TreeFrog Therapeutics is preparing for a first-in-human trial in 2024, and intends to expand its pipeline of cell therapies through in-house programs and partnerships. "With this Series B and the arrival of Frederic, TreeFrog Therapeutics enters a new dimension. Frederic brings in over 25 years of experience in managing fast-growing teams in biotech and pharma companies, both in France and in the U.S. We are now supported by investors with several billion dollars under management, as well as by a top-ten pharmaceutical company that successfully pioneered CAR-T cell therapies," said Kevin Alessandri, PhD, co-founder and executive vice president USA, TreeFrog Therapeutics. "In short, funding, management and governance are now secured, as we embark on a very exciting journey, with the deployment of technological hubs in Kobe, Japan, and Boston, MA, and the prospect of treating our first patients in 2024." An independent board member of TreeFrog Therapeutics since 2020, Dr. Desdouits joins the company as CEO, after several years as CEO of PCAS, a Euronext Paris listed company, and managing director at Seqens CDMO, a world leader in small molecules manufacturing. Previously, Dr. Desdouits was executive vice president, Corporate Licensing, Acquisition and Market Intelligence, and director of U.S. Pharmaceuticals, Pierre Fabre Group. Dr. Desdouits also co-founded and served as managing partner at Bionest Partners, a consulting and transaction boutique specialized in healthcare and biotechnology. "In just two years and, with only $7M in Series A funding, the TreeFrog Therapeutics team transitioned C-StemTM from the bench to an industrial technology applicable to any cell therapy. We demonstrated that C-StemTM outperforms all existing technologies for pluripotent stem cell expansion in terms of scale and quality. We also confirmed best-in-class preclinical data for our cell therapy program for Parkinson's disease," said new CEO, Frederic Desdouits, PhD. "The Series B financing allows us to dramatically increase our capacities and investments in research and development, to consolidate a pipeline of iPS-derived cell therapies targeting neurodegeneration, cardiac and metabolic disorders, as well as blood and immune-related diseases. Through therapeutic and technological partnerships, we intend to drive the adoption of C-StemTM by top biopharmaceutical players, so that we can bring the benefits of the technology, in terms of safety, efficacy and cost, to as many patients as possible." "The progress made by the company since its inception is truly amazing. In less than three years, TreeFrog Therapeutics has managed to build a world-leading technology suite for large-scale stem cell manufacturing, with the clear ambition to unlock the potential of cell therapies at an industry level and bring regenerative medicine products to the patients faster. We are excited to lead this round and team up with such an impressive management team and investors' pool," said Laurent Higueret, PharmD, Senior Investment Director, Bpifrance Large Venture. "We are pleased to support TreeFrog Therapeutics in its mission to develop and expand the application for cell therapies. TreeFrog has made tremendous progress in developing C-StemTM and overcoming many of the bottlenecks in the manufacturing of induced pluripotent stem cells, that will substantially enhance the ability to manufacture cell therapies at scale. We are honored to partner with Kevin, Maxime and Frederic, and a leading group of investors to help accelerate TreeFrog's success," said Peter Zippelius, Partner, Leonard Green & Partners. "We are excited to welcome Frederic to his new role at TreeFrog and thrilled to be part of this new board. Starting in 2019, TreeFrog had a breakthrough technology and a clear industrial vision to bring cell therapy to all. But more importantly, over the past two years, the team demonstrated outstanding execution capacities. We are confident that TreeFrog is going to drive a paradigm shift in cell therapy, as it becomes a more integrated player with an impact at every stage of the value chain," said Guilhem de Vregille, Partner, Xange (Siparex Group). As part of the Series B financing, Laurent Higueret (Bpifrance Large Venture) and Peter Zippelius (Leonard Green & Partners) will join the board, while Girish Pendse (Bristol Myers Squibb) will join the board as observer. The board will be chaired by Jean-Luc Treillou (co-founder). Watch corporate video Download pictures (captions included), Credits: TreeFrog Therapeutics About TreeFrog Therapeutics TreeFrog Therapeutics is a startup company aiming to provide access to cell therapies for millions of patients. TreeFrog Therapeutics has developed C-StemTM, a high-throughput cell encapsulation technology allowing for the mass-production and differentiation of stem cells in industrial bioreactors. This proprietary technology platform provides an end-to-end and scalable solution that dramatically improves the quality of therapeutic cells and reduce production costs. Since its incorporation in November 2018 in Bordeaux, France, TreeFrog Therapeutics has experienced strong acceleration, raising over 10M ($11.7M) in 2019. In January 2020, TreeFrog Therapeutics joined the FrenchTech120, an elite program for the fastest-growing technology companies in France. The teamcurrently 50+ employeesmoved into a brand-new production facility of 13,000 square foot in June 2020. In October 2020, TreeFrog Therapeutics was awarded the Prix Galien MedStartup in New York for its international consortium on iPSC quality with the Harvard Stem Cell Institute in Boston (USA), the FRBI in Kobe (Japan) and the Imagine Institute in Paris (France). In April 2021, TreeFrog announced a world's first, with the production of a single batch of 15 billion pluripotent stem cells in a 10L bioreactor, with an unprecedented amplification factor of 276x in 6.59 days. Results were confirmed to be highly reproducible, and company reported exceptional cell quality at the 2021 ISSCR annual meeting. www.treefrog.fr About Bpifrance Large Venture Bpifrance the French Public Investment Bank is a one-stop-shop offering local entrepreneurs a comprehensive range of financial products and services, including among others equity, loans, guarantees, export insurances as well as consultancy or training. Large Venture the growth equity arm of Bpifrance is a $2 billion fund focusing on fast-growing, highly innovative, and capital-intensive startups looking to accelerate organic or external growth. Large Venture has invested in more than 55 companies since 2013 and focuses on life sciences, digital as well as green tech. www.bpifrance.fr About Leonard Green & Partners LGP is a leading private equity investment firm founded in 1989 and based in Los Angeles with over $50 billion of assets under management. The firm partners with experienced management teams and often with founders to invest in market-leading companies. Since inception, LGP has invested in over 100 companies in the form of traditional buyouts, going-private transactions, recapitalizations, growth equity, and selective public equity and debt positions. The firm primarily focuses on companies providing services, including consumer, business and healthcare services, as well as retail, distribution and industrials. www.leonardgreen.com About XAnge XAnge is an early-stage investment fund based in Paris and Munich, with 500 million under management. Its investment team supports European entrepreneurs whose aim is to change everyday life through technology, by investing amounts from ranging from 500,000 to 10 million from the seed-funding stage. With an investment policy focused on making technology available to the widest possible audience, XAnge invests in the deep-tech, healthcare, fintech, SaaS and e-commerce sectors. For example, XAnge has invested in Lydia (Finance), Welcome to the Jungle (Human Resources), Believe (Music), MrSpex (eCommerce) and Ledger (cryptocurrencies). XAnge is the innovation brand of the Siparex Group. www.xange.fr Company advisors: Legal et corporate: Altair Avocats (Sebastien Peronne, Aude Idris, Quentin Laurent) JonesDay (Charles GAVOTY, Anne KERNEUR) IP: Aquinov (Julie Cenatiempo) Statutory audit: Ernst & Young (Pauline Souquet, Jean-Pierre Caton) Accounting: Audeca (Theodoros Sotiroulis, Josselin Danier) SOURCE TreeFrog Therapeutics Related Links http://www.treefrog.fr NEW YORK, Sept. 13, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Trickle Up, an international nonprofit supporting people in extreme poverty to advance their economic and social well-being, has named Nathalie Laidler-Kylander as its new President, effective Oct. 19. Laidler-Kylander will succeed Bill Abrams, who is retiring after 16 years. Nathalie Laidler-Kylander "Nathalie is the right leader for these times of profound global change," said Penny Foley, chair of Trickle Up's Board of Directors. "Her extensive experience in international development will help us meet the challenges of the future, both for our program participants and our organization. She is committed to the mission that has been our North Star since 1979 helping women and their families escape extreme poverty, vulnerability and marginalization." Laidler-Kylander brings to Trickle Up 18 years' experience in the international development sector in an impressive array of roles. Since 2015, she has been a managing director at Draper Richards Kaplan Foundation, where she advised and served on boards of 18 emerging, innovative nonprofits in countries including India, Zimbabwe, Tanzania, Peru and the US. From 2007-2016, Laidler-Kylander was a lecturer at the Fletcher School at Tufts University and the Kennedy School at Harvard University on nonprofit management and leadership. Through her research, teaching and consulting, she is recognized as a leading expert on nonprofit brand management. Her work has been published in the Stanford Social Innovation Review and the Harvard Business Review, and she is the co-author of "The Brand IDEA: Managing Nonprofit Brands with Integrity, Democracy, and Affinity." Earlier in her career, Laidler-Kylander held positions with the United Nations Development Program in Senegal and Doctors Without Borders in Armenia, as well as management roles in the medical field. She holds a Bachelor of Science in Biochemistry from Imperial College at London University, a Masters of Business Administration from Harvard Business School and a doctorate from the Fletcher School at Tufts University. "No work could be more meaningful to me than supporting women in forging pathways out of extreme poverty the heart of Trickle Up's mission," said Laidler-Kylander. "We have an opportunity today to tap into a changing funding landscape to build the resources we need to scale our impact and create an even more global organization. Together, we can build upon the legacy of Trickle Up's 42 years of experience and success in serving the underserved and continue to bring breakthrough opportunities to the world's poorest and most vulnerable people." Laidler-Kylander steps into the role as Abrams retires from his 16-year tenure leading Trickle Up. Under his leadership, the organization grew in size and reach, becoming a truly global organization with teams in Central America, South Asia, Africa and the U.S. Trickle Up has also successfully scaled its impact through partnerships with governments and international agencies including the National Rural Livelihoods Mission in India, national governments in West Africa, the World Bank, municipalities in Guatemala and the Office for the UN High Commissioner on Refugees, as well as with such major funders as the Ford Foundation, MetLife Foundation, the U.S. Agency for International Development and the U.S. State Department. Through his board and advisory roles at InterAction and the World Bank Partnership for Economic Inclusion, Abrams also has contributed to the wider international development sector. "Throughout his 16 years with us, Bill has been a transformative leader, guiding Trickle Up to levels of unprecedented scale and impact," said Foley. "Thanks to his tireless leadership and the commitment of our global team, the Trickle Up that Nathalie will join is well-positioned to face the challenges of rising numbers of people in extreme poverty, climate change's impacts on the poorest families and places, the disruptions of the COVID-19 pandemic, and new approaches for effective international development." Trickle Up is a global nonprofit supporting people in extreme poverty and vulnerability to advance their economic and social well-being. In partnership with local, national and international organizations, we go to the hardest-to-reach places in the world to reach underserved and marginalized communities with breakthrough opportunities. Together, we equip women with the tools and support they need to forge sustainable pathways out of extreme poverty for themselves and their families. www.trickleup.org Contact: Mariana B. Vanin Director of Communications, Trickle Up [email protected] (212) 255-9980, ext. 202 SOURCE Trickle Up Two Roots is the only non-alcoholic craft beer brewery to secure a hat-trick win at GABF. Tweet this "We're proud of our brewing teams in San Diego and Michigan and are honored to be recognized once again by North America's most prestigious beer competition," said Ron Goodson, President and CEO of Two Roots Beverage Co. "Non-alcoholic beer continues to rise in popularity and the consumer response to our portfolio has been nothing short of exceptional. Securing three consecutive GABF medals solidifies our position in this rapidly growing category." "Hailed earlier this year by Bon Appetit magazine and now securing its second Gold medal at the Great American Beer Festival, our Enough Said Helles has earned its top position in the non-alcoholic category," said Senior Director of Innovations and Master Brewer, Kevin Barnes. Despite the pandemic, our brewing community rallied together for this year's GABF competition our largest competition judged to date," said Chris Swersey, competition director, Great American Beer Festival. "Judges continue to be impressed with the quality and innovation of all entries they evaluated." About Two Roots Brewing Co.: Winner of Double Gold and Bronze at the Great American Beer Festival and Silver and Bronze at the Australian International Beer Awards, Two Roots Brewing Co. is unwavering in its dedication to quality, resulting in an award-winning non-alcoholic craft beer. The company operates breweries in San Diego, CA, and Auburn Hills, MI. For more information, visit www.tworootsbrewingco.com SOURCE Two Roots Brewing Related Links http://www.tworootsbrewingco.com WASHINGTON, Sept. 13, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- A top-level UAE delegation comprising public and private sector representatives, headed by H.E Abdulla Bin Touq Al Marri, UAE Minister of Economy; and with the participation of H.E. Dr. Thani bin Ahmed Al Zeyoudi, Minister of State for Foreign Trade, will arrive in Washington, DC, this week. The visit will witness a series of direct meetings between the delegation members and a number of senior officials in the US government and business sector representatives from a number of American states. The discussions will be aimed at further developing bilateral relations and strengthening the strong economic partnership between the UAE and the USA. The UAE delegation includes H.E. Mohammed Ali Al Shorafa, Chairman of Abu Dhabi Department of Economic Development; Engr. Saed Alawadi, Chief Executive Officer of Dubai Industries & Exports; Mohamed Juma Al Musharrkh, Chief Executive Officer of the Sharjah FDI Office (Invest in Sharjah); and Fahad Al Gergawi, Chief Executive Officer of Dubai Investment Development Agency. The visit is set to play a vital role in consolidating the UAE's position as the USA's largest export market in the Middle East, and one of the major investors in the American economy. It also highlights the promotion of trade and investment between the two countries, with a focus on mutual investments in six American states. During the meetings, the UAE delegation members will discuss prospects for expanding fruitful cooperation between the two countries within a number of vital sectors, including infrastructure, health care, manufacturing, artificial intelligence, agricultural technology, and economic and social development initiatives related to alternative energy. The delegation will meet with senior officials from the administration of US President Joe Biden and prominent members of the US Congress, as well as a number of business leaders and local representatives concerned with economic development. The Emirati delegation will participate in a series of high-level discussions and round tables in Washington, DC, before visiting a number of other states. H.E. Bin Touq will visit New York, Delaware and Virginia to hold meetings with prominent U.S government officials, in addition to attending a number of events aimed at enhancing direct communication with the private sector, including start-ups. H.E. Dr. Thani Al Zeyoudi will highlight the importance of the UAE's growing role and its regional presence during the meetings with the American side. H.E. will conduct visits to the states of Arizona and Indiana, and will meet with a number of government officials, private sector institutions and companies specializing in the technology, artificial intelligence and agribusiness sectors. Furthermore, H.E.'s various engagements with the Americans will highlight the unique characteristics of the UAE as a leading global trade destination and a link between East and West. The trade exchange surplus of the United States with the UAE amounted to USD 11.68 billion during the year 2020, which is the 4th highest surplus in the trade exchanges of the United States with global partners. The UAE topped the list of the largest US export markets in the Middle East for the 12th consecutive year, as the volume of U.S exports to the country amounted to more than USD 15 billion in 2020, and the number of jobs that arose from investments between the two countries reached more than 88,000. CONTACT: Lamiyae Jbari [email protected] 202 243 2464 SOURCE Embassy of the United Arab Emirates Related Links http://www.uae-embassy.org Separated by an international border but bonded through culture and history, San Diego and Tijuana have taken the unprecedented step of partnering to pursue designation as the 2024 World Design Capital . Collaboration and cross-border innovation is nothing new to what is referred to as the Cali-Baja megaregion. Coming on the heels of the pandemic, socio-political shifts, and continued regional growth, the World Design Capital 2024 bid is a unifying platform that can elevate the region to a global stage. "Nothing exemplifies international connectivity like a transformative initiative that literally crosses borders, spans two countries, and helps the world (re)design the future" said Michele Morris, president of the Design Forward Alliance, the entity spearheading the bid. "This is about showing the world that we are more than just a border or two border cities. We are one regional home to 7 million people who are more alike than they are different and who partner in many incredible and groundbreaking ways. It is also about shedding global light on the pioneering design and innovation powerhouse we are together." If successful, the busiest border crossing in the Western Hemisphere would reveal itself as home to world-class designers, scientists, artists, architects, musicians, engineers, educators, and leaders helping to build the interconnected and resilient communities needed in the 21st century. The designation will also highlight the role design and human-centered work plays in addressing complex challenges like social equity and justice, climate action, affordable housing/homelessness, mobility, and more. "The design and innovation that spans our international border is unparalleled," said Laura Araujo, Director of Binational Affairs for Tijuana Innovadora and Co-Chair of the initiative's Site Visit Experience Committee. "We are a binational megaregion that is far from just a tourist destination, but rather an epicenter of life-changing science, innovation, and design that is changing the world. We are excited to share that story." The World Design Organization (WDO), an international group representing thousands of designers around the world, announced in July that the San Diego-Tijuana binational region had advanced to the final selection round, up against Moscow for the coveted designation. Following a site visit by the selection committee in early October, the WDO will announce its final choice later in the month. San Diego would be the first U.S. city ever to receive the World Design Capital designation. Tijuana would be its country's second city to hold the title, following Mexico City in 2018. The bid is being led by the Design Forward Alliance, with the full support of both local governments, including the mayors of San Diego and Tijuana. The cross-border collaborative of civic, academic, community, and government partners has brought together organizations such as the University of California San Diego's Design Lab, the Burnham Center for Community Enhancement (BCCA), the Smart Border Coalition, Tijuana Innovadora, the American Institute of Architects, The Wrethinking Foundation, CETYS Universidad, and private companies such as San Diego-based biotech powerhouse Illumina once named "the world's smartest company." "Innovation and design are the lifeblood of the San Diego-Tijuana region. As the theme of our proposal says, changing the world begins at home," said Tad Parzen, President and CEO of the BCCA. "Our region has a unique story to tell, and it's through a history of collaboration and civic engagement focused on putting our communities before ourselves, that we have achieved so much. It's this culture that has fostered many important discoveries and continues to attract interest and investment in our region." Every two years, the WDO recognizes cities for their effective use of design to drive economic, social, cultural, and environmental development. The rotating World Design Capital showcases best practices in sustainable design-led urban policy and innovation that improve quality of life. 2024 will mark the ninth cycle for the World Design Capital program. Previous designations include Torino (2008), Seoul (2010), Helsinki (2012), Cape Town (2014), Taipei (2016), Mexico City (2018), Lille Metropole (2020). Valencia holds the title for 2022. About Design Forward Alliance: The Design Forward Alliance (DFA) is a 501(c)(3) non-profit that promotes the value of design for economic, civic, and social development, and is dedicated to building San Diego's capacity and reputation as a global leader in design and innovation. SOURCE Design Forward Alliance Related Links https://www.designforwardsd.com/ "We are excited to expand our network into Lake Charles, Sulphur and Westlake," said Jim Gleason, CEO of Vexus. "Gigabit speeds are becoming additionally important as more people work remotely or need access to education and other online applications. Vexus' fiber network will provide homes and businesses with a new, competitive choice for internet and entertainment. We are building the network of the future to help foster additional growth and economic development for the area." Vexus plans to begin construction during the first quarter of 2022 with availability to some neighborhoods and businesses in the spring. Full completion of the 100% fiber network is estimated to take about 36 months. "The parish is a growing region with many residents, businesses, schools and more. Our areas need for a fiber-optic network has been necessary for a while now. We're excited to have Vexus Fiber as our partner in this expansion as we move into gigacity status," said George Swift, SWLA Economic Development Alliance President and CEO. "We believe economic prosperity and growth are directly tied to a city's ability to reach gigacity status," adds Gleason. "We're proud to bring 100% fiber internet with a superior infrastructure to the region. This region has faced challenges in recent years due to storms and this is an example of a way to help rebuild with even better technology." With this network build, Vexus plans to add around 75 construction jobs and 35 to 40 permanent jobs as they plan to open a local storefront in the next year. Vexus Fiber currently operates fiber-to-the-home networks in Hammond, Covington and Mandeville, Louisiana as well as Lubbock, Amarillo, Wichita Falls, Abilene, and surrounding areas in Texas. The company is also building new networks in Tyler, the Rio Grande Valley and San Angelo, Texas. The region's expansion is financed through existing Vexus 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. 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-premise network. Services also include a robust HD Video platform, Voice, TeleCloud services and more. For more information, please visit vexusfiber.com. For Inquiries email: [email protected] Vexus Fiber Contact: Kyle Alcorn, 573-481-2732 SOURCE Vexus Fiber Related Links https://www.vexusfiber.com/ NEW YORK, Sept. 13, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- National law firm Wilson Elser today announced the promotion of nine attorneys to partner, effective August 1, 2021. "Congratulations to our new partner class as they join the next generation of our firm's leadership," said Wilson Elser Chair Daniel J. McMahon. "Each of these nine has a great understanding of our clients' needs, and their contributions will continue advancing Wilson Elser and our clients' businesses." Boston Michelle Gallagher handles strategic global brand protection for clients ranging from multinational corporations and universities to entrepreneurial startups. She counsels clients on intellectual property portfolio protection and development to enhance brand growth and manage risk on a global basis. Ms. Gallagher is a former Trademark Examining Attorney at the United States Patent and Trademark Office. She graduated from Suffolk University Law School with an LL.M. degree in 2014 with dual specializations in intellectual property law and international business transactions, from Pennsylvania State University, The Dickinson School of Law with a J.D. degree in 1999, and from Boston College with a B.A. degree in 1991. Detroit John Stiglich practices in the area of premises liability, predominantly defending property owners and property management companies. He also has experience with product liability and motor vehicle accident matters. Mr. Stiglich graduated from DePaul University College of Law with a J.D. degree in 2010, and from the University of Michigan with a B.A. degree in 2007. Las Vegas Mark Severino defends an array of insurance matters with an emphasis on aviation and aerospace. He represents major domestic airlines, fixed-base operators, aircraft and aircraft parts manufacturers, and general aviation operators in matters ranging from minor to catastrophic injuries, including wrongful deaths. Mr. Severino also represents aviation government contractors in claims nationally and internationally regarding catastrophic injury cases. He graduated from Marquette University Law School with a J.D. degree in 2009, and from the University of Arizona with a B.S. degree in 2006. Los Angeles B. Otis Felder has substantial trial and appellate experience in a variety of defense and insurance coverage matters in state and federal courts on the West Coast and in Hawaii. Before joining Wilson Elser, Mr. Felder was a partner in a firm representing marine operators, more recently serving as corporate counsel for two major cruise lines. He graduated from the University of San Francisco with a J.D. degree in 1994, from the University of San Diego with a M.A. degree in 1991, and from the University of Michigan with an A.B. degree in 1989. David Morrow handles a diverse range of matters on behalf of insurers, including coverage and extra-contractual litigation, coverage advice and defense of insureds, with an emphasis in third-party liability and first-party commercial and personal lines claims. He graduated from Loyola Law School with a J.D. degree in 1994, and from the University of California, Berkeley with a B.A. degree in 1990. Connor Stinson is a defense litigator focusing on general and commercial liability and automobile and common carrier liability, and specializes in transportation law. In personal injury auto cases, Mr. Stinson leads a diverse team of experts and investigators in preparing matters for trial, and has advised a number of clients, including startup companies, in the transportation mobile technology sector. He graduated from Loyola Law School with a J.D. degree in 2009, and from Loyola Marymount University with a B.A. degree in 2006. Orlando Noelle Sheehan handles complex civil litigation in state and federal courts involving insurance and general liability defense of matters including nursing home negligence and medical malpractice, personal injury, premises, products, wrongful death, automobile/trucking, negligent security, contract and indemnification disputes, and ADA compliance. Ms. Sheehan also handles cannabis law. She graduated from Villanova University School of Law with a J.D. degree in 2005, and from Boston University with a B.S. degree in 2002. Seattle Nicholas McCann maintains an active litigation practice in the area of transportation law, with a focus on motor carriers and logistics companies. Mr. McCann handles personal injury defense, regulatory compliance matters, and cargo and freight claims for transportation marketplace participants. He has a litigation background in general liability and casualty, business torts, and personal injury defense in products liability and construction claims. Mr. McCann graduated from Loyola University Chicago School of Law with a J.D. degree in 2010, and from the University of Colorado, Boulder with a B.A. degree in 2007. Washington, DC Golriz S. Chrostowski defends highly contentious general liability and medical malpractice matters. Ms. Chrostowski has defended health care providers, practice groups and hospitals on matters pertaining to emergency medicine, pulmonology, general surgery, obstetrics, gynecology, orthopedics, gastroenterology, pain management, family and internal medicine, pediatrics and podiatry. She graduated from Suffolk University Law School with a J.D. degree in 2008, and from Georgetown University with a B.A. degree in 2004. About Wilson Elser Wilson Elser helps individuals and organizations transcend challenges and realize goals by offering an optimal balance of legal excellence and bottom-line value. More than 800 attorneys strong, Wilson Elser serves clients of all sizes, across multiple industries and around the world. Wilson Elser has a national network of strategically located offices in the United States and an office in London. It is a founding member of Legalign Global, a close alliance of some of the world's leading insurance law firms created to assist companies doing business internationally. This depth and scale make Wilson Elser one of the nation's most influential law firms, ranked 103 in the AmLaw 200 and 54 in The National Law Journal's NLJ 500. For more information, go to www.wilsonelser.com. PR Contact: Andrew Blum, AJB Communications 917.783.1680, [email protected] SOURCE Wilson Elser IRVINE, Calif., Sept. 13, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- WNC, a leading provider of investment, asset management and development services in the affordable housing industry, announced today it has closed three institutional low-income housing tax credit (LIHTC) funds totaling approximately $255 million in equity. The funds include WNC Institutional Tax Credit Fund 51, L.P. (Corp 51), WNC Institutional Tax Credit Fund 10 California Series 19 L.P. (CA 19) and a Northwest Arkansas-focused fund. Corp 51 raised $132 million in equity; CA 19 raised $79.9 million in equity; and the Northwest Arkansas fund raised $44 million in equity. The closure of the funds brings WNC's total equity raise since inception to approximately $13.9 billion. "WNC celebrated its 50th anniversary this year, and we are thankful to our investment partners who help us continue our unwavering mission to put safe, dependable and affordable roofs over the heads of the many who are in need throughout the United States," said WNC Executive Vice President of Investor Relations Christine Cormier. "These funds will help protect the already insufficient stock of affordable housing through renovations, and construct additional units that are so readily needed." Equity from the funds will be used to construct and rehabilitate more than 2,300 affordable housing units in Alaska, Arkansas, California, Georgia, Maine, North Carolina, North Dakota, New Hampshire, Oregon, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas and Washington. The properties include multifamily and senior housing in urban, suburban and rural areas. The Northwest Arkansas fund is believed to be the first south central single-state fund in the LIHTC industry. The fund is structured to construct six affordable housing properties in Northwest Arkansas. Equity from CA-19 will be used to construct Courtyard Studios, the first affordable micro-studio housing development in Sacramento, California. The downtown project includes 57 micro-studio units. Additionally, equity from Corp 51 will help the construction of WNC's first project in New Hampshire, River Turn Woods Phase I near the White Mountain National Forest. An additional project of note is the adaptive reuse of a former hospital and maternity ward of the Maine State Reformatory for Women, originally constructed in 2016, into Mary Street Apartments in Skowhegan. About WNC WNC, founded in 1971 and headquartered in Irvine, Calif., is a national investor in affordable housing and community development initiatives. The firm has acquired approximately $13.9 billion of assets totaling in excess of 1,600 properties in 48 states, Washington D.C., and the U.S. Virgin Islands. WNC's investor base exceeds 19,500 institutional and retail clients, including Fortune 500 companies, multinational banks, and insurance companies. Additional information is available at www.wncinc.com. Contact Julie Leber Spotlight Marketing Communications 949.427.1391 [email protected] SOURCE WNC Related Links http://www.wncinc.com Tehran, Sep 13 : Iranian President and the visiting Iraqi Prime Minister on Sunday called for further boost of bilateral cooperation in a series of areas. "The relations between the Islamic Republic and our friendly and brotherly country Iraq are at a very good level in the political, economic and cultural fields, and we think that these relations can be further expanded," Xinhua news agency quoted Ebrahim Raisi as saying during a joint press conference with the Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi in Tehran. "We believe that these relations can be developed in different areas, as our ties with Iraq are not just the relationship between two neighboring countries, but also rooted in beliefs, hearts and deep relationship between the two countries, two nations and two governments," added Raisi. Strengthening relations between the two countries can boost the roles of Tehran and Baghdad on regional and international stages, he said, adding that "despite the enemies' will, the level of relations between Iran and Iraq will develop day by day." The Iranian president also noted that both countries stressed acceleration of building railway corridor between Iran's Shalamcheh and Iraq's Basra. Furthermore, they discussed strengthening of financial and monetary ties between the two countries. For his part, al-Kadhimi stated that "we discussed a series of cases related to the development of bilateral relations today, and we are determined to expand the level of our relations as much as possible in line with the interests of the two nations." Both sides exchanged views on the increase of trade volume between the two countries, he said. The Iraqi prime minister expressed his gratitude for Iran's support in the fight against the Islamic State (IS) militants in Iraq, stressing that the Iraqi government and people will stand by the Iranian government and people in all areas. Heading a high-ranking political and economic delegation, al-Kadhimi paid his second visit to Tehran on Sunday since he became the premier of Iraq in May 2020. Baghdad, Sep 13 : Three Iraqi soldiers were killed and two others wounded in attacks by the militants of the extremist Islamic State (IS) group in Iraq's eastern province of Diyala, a local security source said. The incident took place on Sunday evening when IS militants sporadically opened fire on Iraqi army outposts in the Udheim area, some 60 km north of the provincial capital Baquba, Xinhua news agency reported. The attacks resulted in the killing of three soldiers and the wounding of two others, Mohammed al-Obaidi from the local tribal fighters told the news agency. Despite repeated military operations in Diyala, IS militants are still hiding in rugged areas near the border with Iran, as well as the sprawling areas extending from the western part of Diyala to the Himreen mountainous area. The security situation in Iraq has been improving since Iraqi security forces fully defeated the IS militants across the country late in 2017. However, IS remnants have since melted in urban areas or deserts and rugged areas, carrying out frequent guerilla attacks against security forces and civilians. Johannesburg, Sep 13 : South Africa would move to Adjusted Alert Level 2 from 3 starting Monday, President Cyril Ramaphosa has announced. He said on Sunday night that while the third wave is not yet over, a sustained decline in infections was seen across the country over the last few weeks. The average number of daily new infections over the last week was 29 per cent lower than the preceding 7 days, and 48 per cent lower than the 7 days before that, Xinhua news agency reported. "Cabinet has therefore decided that the country should be moved from Adjusted Alert Level 3 and placed on Adjusted Alert Level 2 with effect from tomorrow," he said. This means that curfew would begin at 11 p.m. and end at 4 a.m.; All gatherings will be limited to a maximum of 250 people indoors and 500 people outdoors; Alcohol can be sold on from Monday to Friday, one day more than before. Ramaphosa also said the issue of vaccine passports was being considered. "We will also be providing further information on an approach to 'vaccine passports', which can be used as evidence of vaccination for various purposes and events," he said. While urging people to exercise their right and participate in the elections, the president warned about reckless behaviour that may lead to the fourth wave. With over 7 million of the population being fully vaccinated, he appealed to others to get the jab to contain the spread of the virus. "Let us make it our mission to vaccinate as many people as we can, so that we can move ahead with the task of rebuilding our economy and our lives," he said. Kabul, Sep 13 : Afghan female students can attend higher education institutions and universities but in gender-separated classes, Abdul Baqi Haqqani, acting minister of higher education of the new Taliban government, said. "All government-run universities will reopen soon. Higher education authorities are working on regulations as students will return to their classes," Xinhua news agency quoted Haqqani as saying to reporters here on Sunday. The minister noted that "boys and girls would not study together, they will be separated," as co-education scheme has been against Islamic principle and national values. The minister noted that the "Islamic dress was also necessary for the female students while attending classes". The report came as an Afghan female student secured a top position at a national university entrance exam this year. Being affected by the Covid-19 lockdown earlier this year, the Afghan universities were closed after the Taliban takeover of the country in mid-August. However, a number of private universities reopened last week after the Taliban announced a caretaker government in Afghanistan. -- The story has been published from a wire feed without any modifications to the text Tehran, Sep 13 : Head of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI) Mohammad Eslami described talks with visiting Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Rafael Grossi as "constructive". "Rafael Grossi came to Tehran at the invitation of the AEOI, and we had good and constructive talks with him," Xinhua news agency quoted Eslami as saying of the meeting held here on Sunday. "The spirit governing the negotiations is to create opportunities for the expansion of interactions and cooperation within the framework of the rules and regulations of the IAEA," he said. All the issues between Tehran and the agency are technical, Eslami said, adding that "political issues have no place in relations between us". "We decided to participate in the next meeting (of the IAEA in Vienna) and to continue our talks on the sidelines of the meeting," he noted. It was also decided that the experts of the IAEA will come to Iran to replace the memory cards of the technical surveillance cameras of the IAEA in nuclear facilities and take necessary technical measures for the cameras, said Eslami. "Memory cards will be sealed according to the routine in Iran and stored, and new cards will be installed," he said. Grossi arrived in Tehran on Sunday for talks on bilateral cooperation ahead of the upcoming meeting of board of governors of the IAEA in Vienna. Sanaa, Sep 13 : At least 20 Houthis were killed in airstrikes carried out by the Saudi Arabia-led coalition forces on the militia group's positions in Yemen's Marib province, a government military source said. "The airstrikes targeted the reinforcements on Saturday evening at the frontline of Rahabah district, destroying four pick-up vehicles and killing more than 20 people," the source told Xinhua news agency on Sunday. Meanwhile, the Houthi-run al-Masirah TV on Saturday reported 17 airstrikes on frontlines of Marib's western districts of Rahabah, Jabal Murad and Sirwah, without providing further details. Last week, the Houthis advanced into al-Kulah, the centre town of Rahabah district, after deadly fighting with the government troops. The Iran-backed Houthi militia launched in February a major offensive on Marib in an attempt to seize control of the oil-rich province, the last northern stronghold of the Saudi-backed Yemeni government. The UN has warned that the offensive on Marib, which hosts nearly 1 million internally displaced people, could lead to a major humanitarian catastrophe. The world body's recent peace proposal to end the war was publicly rejected by the Houthi group. Yemen's civil war flared up in late 2014 when the Iran-backed Houthi group seized control of much of the country's north and forced the internationally recognised government of President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi out of the capital Sanaa. The Saudi-led coalition intervened in the Yemeni conflict in March 2015 to support Hadi's government. Tel Aviv, Sep 13 : Following the normalisation of ties between Israel and the United Arab Emirates (UAE), the trade volume of the two nations reached $523.2 million in the first half of 2021, according to a report issued by the Federation of Israeli Chambers of Commerce (FICC), the country's largest business and employers' organisation. This is a jump of about 177 per cent compared to a trade figure of $188.9 million recorded throughout all 2020, Xinhua news agency quoted the report released on Sunday as saying. Excluding diamonds, trade between the two countries totalled $229 million in January-June, up 143 per cent from $94.2 million in all 2020. Israeli imports from the UAE jumped almost threefold in the first half to $342.2 million compared to all of 2020, while without diamonds, the imports amounted to $178.6 million, an increase of about 136 per cent. Israeli exports to the UAE rose 145 per cent to $181 million in the first half, while without diamonds the exports rose 174 per cent to $50.4 million. Israel and the UAE signed the historic normalisation deal on September 15, 2020, at the White House. Colombo, Sep 13 : An unbeaten 58 off 48 deliveries by South African opener Quinton de Kock and fine bowling performances by Aiden Markram (3/21) and Tabraiz Shamsi (3/20) helped the visitors come up with a commanding performance to win the second T20I at the R Premadasa Stadium against Sri Lanka by nine wickets, to take an unassailable 2-0 lead in the series. Batting first, Sri Lanka were bundled out for 103 in 18.1 overs. In reply, South Africa notched up the required total for the loss of one wicket with 35 balls remaining. Looking to restore parity in the series, Sri Lanka opted to bat first. Praveen Jayawickrama was handed his T20I debut while Kusal Perera returned to the playing XI for the first time since he suffered a shoulder sprain ahead of the series against India. For South Africa, Rassie van der Dussen was drafted into the team in David Miller's place. In their bid to score quick runs early on in the innings, Dinesh Chandimal mistimed his pull to mid-on and fell to Anrich Nortje in the second over. A couple of rain interruptions later, Aiden Markram brought an end to Bhanuka Rajapaksa's quick-fire innings with a sharp caught and bowled. However, Kagiso Rabada's two overs in the Powerplay fetched Sri Lanka 29 runs and helped release the pressure building up from the wickets. Despite losing two wickets in the first six overs, the hosts went at almost nine runs per over to put up 52 runs. Spin at both ends helped South Africa put the brakes on the scoring. The No.1 ranked T20I bowler, Tabraiz Shamsi, struck twice in two overs to dismiss Dhananjaya de Silva and Dasun Shanaka. Markram trapped Perera plumb in front of the stumps in the 11th over as half the Sri Lankan side were back in the dressing room for 78. Bjorn Fortuin got in on the act and rattled Wanindu Hasaranga's with the arm-ball. In his final over, Shamsi scalped his third of the innings with a delivery that grazed the inside edge of Chamika Karunaratne's bat onto the stumps. Sri Lanka lost their final three wickets in a span of eight balls and were bowled out for just 103 after being 52/2 at one point. In reply, South Africa had a blistering start, with Quinton de Kock playing the role of an aggressor. Reeza Hendricks on the other hand was happy to rotate the strike. The wicketkeeper-batsman looked in sublime touch, playing some fine shots. The pair soon brought up their 50-run partnership, as the Proteas were cruising home to a comfortable victory. But Wanindu Hasaranga struck for the hosts, breaking the 62-run stand by notching the scalp of Hendricks for 18. Soon after, rain interrupted the proceedings with South Africa requiring 39 runs in 66 deliveries. After the re-start, de Kock joined by Aiden Markram made easy work of the chase, as the former brought up his half-century. They sealed the victory with nine wickets in hand, to take an unassailable 2-0 lead in the series. Brief scores: Sri Lanka 103 in 18.1 overs (K Perera 30; A Markram 3/21, T Shamsi 3/20) lost to South Africa 105/1 in 14.1 overs (Q de Kock 58 not out, A Markram 21 not out) by 9 wickets. Etawah : , Sep 13 (IANS) The political adviser of former Jharkhand Chief Minister Babulal Marandi has been arrested from a hotel on Agra-Lucknow Expressway under Sefai police circle in Etawah district. The accused Sunil Tiwari was arrested on Sunday by a team of Ranchi police after an FIR was registered against him on August 16 under the SC/ST Act by an 18-year-old tribal girl, who was his maid, for sexually exploiting her. According to police, Tiwari's maid has accused him of raping her in March 2020. She alleged that the former chief minister's adviser had even threatened to kill her if she revealed anything about the incident to anyone. The team of Ranchi police had been continuously raiding Tiwari's hideouts and ultimately arrested him from room number 103 of the hotel on the Agra-Lucknow Expressway. Sunil had filed a petition for anticipatory bail in this case but it was rejected by the lower court, following which he had approached the high court. Thiruvananthapuram, Sep 13 : The infighting within the CPI in Kerala has become public now after veteran leader K.E. Ismail fired a salvo at the party's secretary of the state unit Kanam Rajendran. Ismail, ever since Rajendran became the undisputed leader of the party and the final word like Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, was waiting for an opportune moment to strike and when it came, Ismail seems to have struck hard. Ismail, according to sources in the know of things, has sent a letter to the national leadership expressing displeasure in the manner in which Rajendran openly chided D. Raja for his defence of his wife and top party veteran Annie Raja. It all began after Annie Raja -- the wife of CPI national general secretary D. Raja -- alleged that 'there exists an RSS gang in the Kerala Police'. She said, "this section in the Kerala Police is working against the accepted policy of the state government towards women and this is being done purposely as there is an RSS gang in the police." The CPI in Kerala is the second biggest ally of the ruling Left government led by Pinarayi Vijayan, who also holds the Home Portfolio, was upset by these remarks. The Kerala unit of the CPI was also cross with her. According to Rajendran, the national executive which met in Delhi last week had admonished Annie for her remarks, D. Raja came out and defended his wife over her statement and pointed out that there was nothing wrong in her remarks. Rajendran back home after attending the national executive and after his state unit meet, told the media that Annie Raja's remarks were out of place and not required. He went a step further and reminded them that they had the legacy and the history of even chiding S.A. Dange, a founding member of the CPI and also a stalwart. It is these remarks by Rajendran which became the ammunition for Ismail who decided to take on his old foe. A media critic on condition of anonymity said all know that Ismail and Rajendran are not on the same page. "Ismail used the first opportunity to take potshots against Rajendran and naturally in any political party, there will be one faction which is opposed to the leadership. Here Ismail used it and obviously there are other state-level leaders not happy with the way Rajendran is running the show. So now that the first salvo has been fired, one will have to wait to see what happens next," said the critic. And not one to lose any opportunity to take on the Left, State Congress president K. Sudhakaran joined the issue and said it's shameful to see Rajendran bowing before Vijayan by taking on his own national leadership and this is done for obvious reasons and to get into the good books of Vijayan. Patna, Sep 13 : After viral fever, cases of dengue are on rise in Bihar capital Patna. Vibha Singh, doctor and civil surgeon of Patna, said: "16 positive cases of dengue appeared in Patna in the last 3 days. We have constituted a dedicated team to collect information from hospitals and affected areas so that timely measures can be taken." Sources have said that the number of patients could be higher as many of them are admitted in different private hospitals and they have not sent reports to the civil surgeon office. The number of patients in OPD of PMCH, NMCH, IGIMS, Patna AIIMS have also increased in the last few days. Majority of the cases appear from Danapur, Patliputra colony, Raja Bazar, Bairia, Kankarbagh, Rajiv Nagar, Nageshwar colony, Boring road etc. "The mosquitoes of dengue develope in clean water. Hence, we are appealing to people to prevent accumulation of water in their respective vicinity. We have also requested the Municipal Corporation of Patna to clean the drainage system of the city," Singh said. Manoj Kumar Chaudhary, senior physician of internal medicine at IGIMS said: "The suspected cases of dengue have increased in the OPD of our hospital. "The majority of the patients are coming from the areas affected with water logging. The extended rain in the month of September and climate change is the reason for it. Patna has several places known for water logging for more than 6 months in a year." Bihar is also under the grip of viral fever these days with more than 2,500 children of 20 districts affected by it. Macao, Sep 13 : The electoral affairs commission of the Macao Special Administrative Region (SAR) announced the preliminary results of the election of the seventh Legislative Assembly on Monday morning. The preliminary results showed that 14 candidates won the directly-elected seats, and 12 won the indirectly-elected seats, reports Xinhua news agency. The election of the seventh Legislative Assembly of Macao SAR kicked off on Sunday morning. In line with the Basic Law, the new legislature is composed of 33 seats including 14 directly-elected seats, 12 indirectly-elected seats, and seven others who will be appointed by the SAR's chief executive. The term of office of the seventh Legislative Assembly will start in October 2021. New Delhi, Sep 13 : This book is a double delectation. Its an inspiring chronicle of the resilience of the Jewish community in India over the centuries and a tribute to the artwork of Siona Benjamin, who grew up in Mumbais Bene Israel community and whose extensive portfolio reflects her background of being born Jewish in a country that is predominantly Hindu and Muslim but also gives ample space to other religions to flourish. "The book came about because of a desire to produce a more substantial work on the art of Siona Benjamin than I (or anyone else, for that matter) had written up to this point, because I have long admired her work and the multi-faceted ways in which it presents not only as beautiful, but offers a social agenda directed to improving the world. "The book grew, however, to encompass the larger matter of the diverse Jewish community within a very diverse India, and the fact that such diversity placed it in a position to be welcoming to the Jewish communities who arrived on Indian shores at various times from various places," Ori Z Soltes, a Professor of Art History, Theology, Philosophy and Political History at Georgetown University, told IANS in an interview of "Growing Up Jewish in India - Synagogues, Customs, and Communities from the Bene Israel to the Art of Siona Benjamin" (Niyogi Books), of which he is the Editor. "So, in the end, the book begins with a broad discussion of the arrival of Jews into South and East Asia, followed by a slightly narrower discussion about the religious history of India and within that of the Jews immigrating to India, followed by three essays that focus on the three major Indian Jewish communities, before arriving at a memoir by Siona and an analysis of her work. She was the inspiration and remains a central part of the overall volume," Soltes added. The book is the outcome of intense research, of "many, many hours reading everything" that Soltes could find about the Bene Israel, supplemented by questions to friends from that community. "I brought to the subject years of interest, study, and teaching and lecturing about India, about aspects of Jewish history, religion and culture, and about Jewish art and architecture-and of course, writing and lecturing specifically about Siona's work. This includes many years of studying and also teaching Sanskrit and Vedic (texts), providing me with more of a linguistic basis for my understanding than could be achieved simply in translation," Soltes explained. Benjamin's work, he said, makes use of the visual heritage of India-Hindu elements, such as the imagery of Krishna as well as of Siva Nataraja; Moghul stylistic elements-and elements imported by the Moghuls from the Persian miniature tradition. All this is combined together with elements that resonate from the Byzantine Christian tradition (such as her sometimes lavish use of gold leaf); and symbols, like the seven-branched candelabrum, that derive from the Jewish visual tradition - as well as concepts like 'Tikkun olam' (Hebrew for 'repairing the world'). "As such, her art reflects the reality of her life: growing up in Mumbai surrounded by Hindu and Muslim friends, going to Zoroastrian and Catholic schools-and then weaving those visual and conceptual influences, together with elements of Bollywood and Amar Chitra Katha comic book imagery with pop art and other aspects of the American art scene with which she became intimate over the following three decades," Soltes elaborated. Was it like growing up Jewish in India? "The Shabbat lights that my mother and father lit every Friday evening, the shema prayers that they taught me to recite, the need I felt to call my mother up and tell her anything and everything in my life and the consolation I felt after telling her, is irreplaceable and will always stay with me. Her strong sense of belief in her Jewish values taught me that it was not necessary to be strictly observant in all ways but to just carry the essence of who I was always with me," Benjamin writes in her 38-page memoir in the book. "In my work and life I find it important to stress not just the uniqueness of my culture but to try and cultivate the specifics of my culture, and to try to connect with a diverse universe of people. My transcultural Jewish upbringing taught me to use these specifics, but also to universalise, so anyone and everyone can hopefully identify with my work. This is what I would transmit to my own daughter; it is the gift I got growing up Jewish in India," she adds. To what does Soltes ascribe the resilience of the Jewish community in India? "The resilience of the community is, I think, a function of two features in particular. One is that, as a people worldwide, Jews have needed to learn how to be resilient over many centuries of more than frequent intolerance and sometimes very active persecution. In this respect the Indian Jewish community is similar to many other Jewish communities. "However, the second element is India itself that, in its strong tendency to be open to varied perspectives on both humanity and divinity, due its own religious and cultural traditions, afforded to its Jewish communities the opportunity to flourish: the only time Jews experienced anti-Semitism was in the brief period in Goa-when the Portuguese were in charge. Being a tiny minority, even within an accepting majority culture, Jews experienced challenges with respect to defining their identity, which pushed them to flourish in India," Soltes explained. He also noted that Indian Jews, most of whom currently live in Israel, "see themselves as having two complementary religious and cultural identities: Indian as their mother and Israeli as their father". "With that in mind, members of that population maintain consistent contact with India and its now even smaller Jewish population. I don't see any reason why that would change in the near future: the roadmap of the varied Jewish community is likely to continue along a landscape of maintaining a presence in India, even if that presence is accompanied, paradoxically, by their living for the most part elsewhere," Soltes maintained. Thus, in combining discussions of the Indian Jewish communities with Benjamin's own story and an analysis of her artistic output-and in introducing these narratives within the larger story of Jews across eastern Asia-the book offers a unique verbal and visual portrait of a significant slice of Indian and Jewish culture and tradition. It would be of interest to Jews and non-Jews, Indian and non-Indian alike, as well as to history enthusiasts and the general reader interested in art and culture. (Vishnu Makhijani can be reached at vishnu.makhijani@ians.in) New Delhi, Sep 13 : A female doctor in Afghanistan's Kandahar province has claimed that her home was stormed by the Taliban fighters and she was beaten along with her family members and a neighbour, the media reported on Monday. Fahima Rahmati, who is also a civil activist, said in a video clip that the Taliban fighters have also taken her mobile phones while their raid on her home on Sunday night, Khaama News reported. Rahmati said that she was neither a former government official nor had a weapon in her home but the Taliban fighters wanted to take with themselves her brothers. Provincial officials in Kandahar said that they are not aware of the raid and will investigate the case and bring the perpetrators to justice. Rahmati is a local doctor and is running a charity foundation in Kandhar province and helping poor families. "Two of my brothers are still missing, I hope the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan will hear my voice, my two brothers, my brother-in-law and two brothers-in-law of my sister are still missing, where are they and with whom are they?" Rahmati queried in the video clip. This is the first such incident that happened in Afghanistan after the Taliban takeover. Tel Aviv, Sep 13 : Israeli Foreign Minister Yair Lapid presented a new "economy for security" plan for the reconstruction of the Gaza Strip. During a security conference at the Reichman University on Sunday, Lapid said that since the withdrawal of Israeli troops from Gaza in 2005, Israel's policy, which included the blockade, restrictions on imports and exports of goods, and four rounds of war, has not been effective in halting repeated attacks by Hamas and other militant groups, reports Xinhua news agency. Lapid, who is also the alternate prime minister, said the goal of the new plan is "to create stability on both sides of the border". He emphasised that the Jewish state will not negotiate with Hamas, because "Israel doesn't talk with terror organizations that want to annihilate it". The first phase of the plan focuses on an "upgraded humanitarian reconstruction of Gaza", Lapid said. It includes rebuilding of Gaza's electric power system, access to gas, constructing water desalination facilities, boosting health services, and restoring residential and transportation infrastructures. In return, Hamas should keep long-term calm and its purchase of new weapons will be restricted, according to the proposal. The second phase proposes investments in large infrastructures, which Israel has blocked, such as building an artificial island off Gaza's shore for a new port. In addition, Gaza would be reconnected with the West Bank, after Israel has banned the movement of people and goods between the two areas. Lapid noted that the second phase would be implemented only if Israel's security is ensured. The plan has not yet been discussed by the Israeli cabinet. Israel's Channel 12 TV news reported that Lapid has "coordinated" the release of the plan with Prime Minister Naftali Bennett in advance. New Delhi, Sep 13: With the conclusion of a series of visits by different Parliamentary Standing Committees (PSCs) on Thursday, the Centre has kicked off the third major public outreach in Jammu and Kashmir in the aftermath of the abrogation of Article 370 in August 2019. In 2020, notwithstanding the Covid-19 pandemic, as many as 36 Union Ministers leading delegations of senior officers and bureaucrats from New Delhi toured almost all the 20 districts in the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir. They met with the officers of the Lieutenant Governor's administration and interacted extensively with the local people including the elected representatives of the Panchayati Raj Institutions. According to highly placed bureaucratic sources, 18 PSCs comprising 307 Members of the Parliament (MPs)-including Speaker of the Lok Sabha and 5 Union Ministers-visited J&K in the last over one month. Authoritative sources said that as many as 70 Union Ministers would be visiting the UT over the next six to eight weeks. This major public outreach, coordinated by the Minister of State in the Prime Minister's Office Dr Jitendra Singh between the Union and the UT governments, would cover all the 20 districts and help the Centre to understand the ground situation, achievements on the political and the developmental front post-2019 and the public demands and aspirations. Some significant developments, including the death of the valley's tallest separatist leader Syed Ali Shah Geelani, occurred towards the end of the PSCs' programme. Restrictions were imposed on the peoples' movement and the vehicular traffic and the mobile internet services remained suspended for about four days. However, in stark contrast to such situations in pre-2019 Kashmir, all the public and private services were restored quickly. In the beginning on Thursday, Union Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar with Ministers of State Kailiash Choudhary and Sushri Shobha Karandlaje, visited three districts, including the apple-rich Shopian. The delegation interacted with farmers, orchardists and scientists from Sher-e-Kashmir University of Agriculture Science and Technology, Kashmir, at the Centre of Excellence at Zawoora. "J&K is the crown of India. This region is shoulder-to-shoulder in the country's progress and development towards self-reliance," Tomar said. The orchardists expressed satisfaction over the liberal funding to the High-Density Plantation Scheme (HDPS) from Prime Minister's Office and union Ministry of Agriculture but they sounded disappointed over the way most of the aspirants' cases had been tossed from one office to another and from one bank to another in the last three-four years. Officials in the Minister's entourage said the horticulturists flagged different issues during their interaction with the Union ministers, including the absence of lending from other banks, start-up policy, Market Intervention Scheme (MIS) for C-grade apple produce, Fasal Bima Yojan for apples etc. They were assured of the Centre's intervention into the issues raised. The Union Agriculture Minister also inaugurated the Technology Park and e-inaugurated Gramin Krishi Mausum Sewa (GKMS) for facilitating farmers by issuing weather advisories. Tomar's delegation, which visited SKUAST-Jammu on Friday, is scheduled to visit several other agriculture and horticulture-rich districts in J&K. Tomar was accompanied by Union Ministers of State Kailash Choudhary and Sushri Shobha Karandlaje. At a gathering in Jammu's Ranbir Singhpora, Tomar said that the Prime Minister was working towards giving a boost to agriculture and allied sectors, so as to ensure greater exports of exceptional quality. He lauded the Government for implementing "200 out of 201" recommendations of the Swaminathan Committee and highlighted that 'the most significant recommendation to be accepted has been to ensure that farmers get at least 50 percent profit over their investment'. Some crops are even earning them profit of about 100 percent, he added. Detailing the PM-Kisan Samman Nidhi Yojana, the Minister revealed that the Central Government had already disbursed Rs 1,58,000 crore to more than 11 crore farmers through the scheme. More than 1700 farmers of J&K had also received an amount of Rs 6,000 per year under the scheme. Acknowledging the efforts of Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha, Principal Secretary Agriculture & Horticulture Navin Chowdhary said that through his intervention, marginal farmers and orchardists with land holding of 1 kanal are now being provided government support. Earlier the minimum requirement was capped at 4 kanal. Choudhary informed the Minister that with high density plantation technique, around one thousand plants can be planted in one hectare land. The number is significant as earlier only four hundred plants were being planted in the same land. 'Thus, with high density plantations, orchardists could easily double their income', he said. Choudhary said that the UT administration had been successful in increasing horticulture cover in Jammu division from 50,000 to 10 lakh plants this year. Greater targets had been set for subsequent years, he assured. "The department is proactively promoting plantation of less water-intensive crops like lemongrass and aloe vera in kandi areas of the region. Around 1,500 hectares of land had become under two kinds of plantations so far", Choudhary said. On Friday, Union Minister of State for Defence and Tourism Ajay Bhat arrived in Srinagar. Accompanied by senior officers, he and his delegation toured different areas in Baramulla and Srinagar districts before their departure for Delhi on Saturday. Over 70 Union Ministers during the programme would be meeting with different stakeholders of development, peace and democracy and taking their feedback so as to extend the benefit of the Central schemes to more and more people. (The 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 New Delhi, Sep 13: Slammed for its blatant interference in micro-managing a pro-Pakistan government in Afghanistan, Pakistan has begun a major to damage control exercise rescue its reputation. Islamabads riposte includes a major diplomatic offensive at the 76th session of the UN General Assembly (UNGA) to counter the widely-held perception that it has positioned top guns in the Haqqani network-known for engaging in international terrorism-at the core of the Taliban-led government in Afghanistan. Led by Prime Minister Imran Khan, Pakistan may send a jumbo delegation of nearly 40 diplomats to New York. The 76th session of the UNGA, which will commence on September 14, will see as many as 83 heads of state, according to Volkan Bozkir, the current President of the UNGA. The face-to-face meeting assumes importance this year as the previous session had to be converted into an online meeting due to the pandemic. Highly placed sources say, the Pakistani delegation will be led by Khan with Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi and foreign secretary Sohail Mahmood accompanying him. The other diplomats will be from its UN missions as well as its foreign ministry. Imran Khan is slated to address the UNGA on September 24. Also, top of the agenda are bilateral meetings to be held between September 21-24. These include meetings with the UN Secretary General AntAnio Guterres; the newly-elected president of the UN General Assembly Abdulla Shahid and Secretary General of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) Yousef Al-Othaimeen. Pakistan is believed to be fixing up bilateral meetings with the foreign ministers of global powers--USA, Russia and China as well as with important Islamic nations Turkey, Saudi Arabia and Qatar, besides other countries. Sources say that Pakistan is reaching out for meetings with other nations like the UK, Maldives--which will take over the UNGA presidentship, Ireland which holds the presidentship of the Security Council for the current month and a number of European nations. This year's UNGA meeting has been carefully planned as an in-person meeting after fear last year due to the spread of the Covid-19 pandemic. Washington has requested the UN to keep the meeting low profile due to the threat from the Delta variant of the coronavirus. The UN mission has already sent a letter to the 192 member nations to address the meeting through video mode instead of sending their delegations which might lead to organising side events. However, despite US protestations and warnings, well over 80 heads of states are planning to address the UNGA. Experts believe that besides discussions on the Afghan situation and matters over recognition to the Taliban government, there could be high-level events on climate change and energy, food security, vaccines and racism. (The content is being carried under an arrangement with indianarrative.com) --indianarrative September 13 : Kareena Kapoor Khan and Aamir Khan are shooting for their upcoming film Laal Singh Chaddha in Mumbai. Recently, the actors were spotted and clicked outside their set. Kareena resumed shoot for the film after 10 months. The paparazzi captured the actors in their get-up for the film. While Aamir was seen sporting a turban, Kareena was in a blue hospital gown. The actors were led to their vanity van and were helped with umbrellas as it was raining and the placed was waterlogged. Kareena also took to her Instagram stories and shared a couple of pictures while doing her makeup with her team. She captioned the photos as Laal Singh Chaddha and Back with my loves. Before the Mumbai schedule, Aamir was shooting in Ladakh. He was accompanied by his ex-wife Kiran Rao and son Azad. The film also stars Mona Singh and Naga Chaitanya. Helmed by Advait Chandan, the film is the official Hindi remake of Tom Hanks' hit film Forrest Gump. Laal Singh Chaddha is a comedy drama, written by Atul Kulkarni. It is backed by Aamir Khan Productions, Viacom18 Studios and Paramount Pictures. Aamir bought the rights of the film in 2018 and announced the film officially in March 2019. Kareena had completed major portions of the film in October last year, before she welcomed her second son Jeh in February this year. Kareena had written: And all journeys must come to an end. Today, I wrapped my film Laal Singh Chaddha... tough times... the pandemic, my pregnancy, nervousness but absolutely nothing could stop the passion with which we shot, with all safety measures ofcourse. Thank you @_aamirkhan and @advaitchandan for an intense yet poignant journey... thank you to my most wonderful team @avancontractor, @teasemakeup, @makeupbypompy, @poonamdamania and the entire crew... @nainas89 you were missed. Till we cross paths again. Aamir, however, continued with the shoot and headed for a long schedule in Ladakh. It seems that the current shoot schedule in Mumbai is the last leg of shooting. New Delhi, Sep 13: The Haqqani empire which is at the core of the new Pakistan-backed Taliban regime in Kabul has mocked the United States by choosing 9/11 as the date of launching its new government in Afghanistan. The Associated Press is reporting that the Taliban raised its white flag over the Afghani presidential palace Saturday-a day when the US and the world marked the 20th anniversary of the September 11 terror attacks on the twin-towers in New York. Mohammad Hassan Akhund, the prime minister of the Taliban interim government hoisted the flag on in a low-key ceremony, AP reported citing Ahmadullah Muttaqi, multimedia branch chief of the Taliban's cultural commission. He pointed out that the flag-raising marked the official start of the work of the new government. The new government got into work mode after the Taliban over-ran Afghanistan, and the capital, Kabul on August 15. Afghanistan's first president to follow the 2001 collapse of the Taliban, Hamid Karzai, tweeted with a call for "peace and stability," hoping that the new caretaker Cabinet would mutate into an "inclusive government that can be the real face of the whole Afghanistan." Unfortunately, the dominance of the criminal Haqqani empire at the centre of the new so-called "caretaker" government leaves little room for optimism about the formation of an inclusive government, which represents Afghanistan's non-Pashtun minorities. In fact, as Akhund raised the Taliban flag, a robust rebellion was raging in the Panjshir valley, the ground-zero of the Afghanistan's ethnic Tajik minority, with a powerful history of armed resistance. Haqqani's power is symbolised by Sirajuddin Haqqani still holds a bounty of $10 million on his head for his indulgence in terrorism and much more. As India Narrative reported earlier, his description on the FBI website states that he has been known by at least 15 aliases and was thought to live in Pakistan while also maintaining close links with the Taliban and al-Qaeda through his own Haqqani network. Khalifa, as Sirajuddin is known in his HQN group, is a serial hostage taker who is currently holding American contractor and former war veteran Mark Frerichs in Afghanistan right now. In fact, the CIA chief had met Mullah Baradar last month after the Taliban's takeover of Kabul for the release of the last American contractor Mark Frerichs who is under the "custody" of the Haqqani Network. In exchange for Frerichs the Haqqanis are seeking the release of Afghan drug lord Bashir Noorzai who is in American prison. However, the power behind the Haqqani throne is the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), Pakistan's powerful spy agency. It was ISI chief's Faiz Hameed's visit to Kabul last week, which gave the Haqqanis a lion's share in the Taliban's cabinet. Sirajuddin Haqqani's uncle Khalil Haqqani, who has a $ 5 million bounty, is also in the cabinet. There are at least six ministers in the newly formed Taliban government who are directly associated with the most dreaded UN designated terror organisation in Afghanistan. According to experts, the Haqqanis are "war profiteers" who have a strong financial interest in the continuation of conflict, since this creates the conditions which allow them to run criminal activities from extortion to kidnapping to drug trafficking to money laundering, alongside legal activities in business sectors, including import-export, transport, real estate and construction in Afghanistan, Pakistan, the Gulf and beyond. The HQN enjoys the support of the Pakistani military and the ISI--the main bone of contention between Pakistan and the US. Ashley Jackson, co-director of Overseas Development. Pakistan's involvement in running an Afghan extremist group can be traced to the 1971 war when Pakistan lost nearly half of its population and a sizable chunk of resources with the formation of Bangladesh. The debacle in Bangladesh activated fears about a similar fate along the Durand line. In fact, since 1950, Afghanistan had launched incursions into Pakistan's Baluchistan province-an effort that flared into the 1970s. With Mohammad Doud emerging as an assertive Afghan leader, former Pakistani Prime Minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto earnestly began his Afghanistan project. "In August 1973, Bhutto set up the Afghan working group within Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) directorate. Despite a brief interregnum, Gen. Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq continued with this policy after he ousted Bhutto in a July 1977 coup. Fifty or so Afghan resistance groups were consolidated by the ISI into a smaller, more manageable number," writes C. Christine Fair, a Georgetown University Professor a Foreign Policy article. The article pointed out that the ISI was asked to deepen links between the Pakistani and Afghan Islamist groups. "These efforts resulted in seven major Sunni Afghan Islamist militant groups, as well as several Shiite groups. By the time the Soviets had crossed the Amu Darya River into Afghanistan, Zia-ul-Haq's army and the ISI had already created the key Islamist groups that would become the cornerstone of the so-called anti-Soviet jihad." According to the write-up, "the ISI nurtured, created, and supported the Taliban in their first incarnation; it returned to doing the same after the Taliban regime's fall in late 2001". The visit of Hameed, the ISI chief last Saturday is merely an extension of this well-worn policy. (The content is being carried under an arrangement with indianarrative.com) --indianarrative Yadgir : , Sep 13 (IANS) Four men have been arrested after a shocking video of a woman being stripped off, and then sexually abused and assaulted by a group of five in Karnataka's Yadgir district went viral, police said on Monday. Yadgir Superintendent of Police (SP) Vedamurthy said the four arrested have told them that the incident had happened one and a half years ago. The police are yet to trace the woman and the video that has gone viral recently. The incident took place on the Yadgir-Shahapur state highway. The victim has not approached the police yet. "The police department has taken the case very seriously and Shahapur police have registered a suo motu case and the matter will be investigated," Vedmurthy stated. The video shows an adult woman attacked by four to five miscreants with sugarcane sticks after being stripped off. The men beat her up in the pitch darkness even as she begs them to let her off. The miscreants tell the woman, no one is coming to her rescue and also speak about Rs 14,000 money they lost. The miscreants used the mobile torchlight and vehicle's headlight to shoot her. The accused also sexually assaulted her while the woman screamed and wailed out in pain as she was being beaten by the other accused. The video also showed the miscreants clicking selfies with the victim during the assault. Thiruvananthapuram, Sep 13 : The Kerala police team probing the massive fraud that surfaced in July at the local CPI-M controlled Trissur Karavanoor Cooperative Bank, on Monday made the arrest of four of its now disbanded board members. After the detection of the fraud the board of the bank was disbanded. The fraud that was detected according to State Cooperative Minister V.N. Vasavan, also a top CPI-M leader, is to the tune of over Rs 104.37 crore and the state government was quick to launch a Crime Branch probe into it and have arraigned six people, all employees, as accused in their first information report that has already been filed and were later arrested. Even though the Minister says the fraud is to the tune of Rs 104 crore, the Congress opposition says that figure is only a minuscule of the actual amount. The fresh arrest includes its former president K.K. Divakaran and three other directors and more importantly all of them are CPI-M members. The Enforcement Directorate also have begun its probe into the siphoning of the money as reports have surfaced that they have invested a huge portion of this money at a resort in Thekkady. The scam came out in the open after the local Cooperative officials conducted an inspection. The inspection was carried out after locals gave a complaint that things are not fair in the bank. Following the inspection by the Cooperative Inspectors, the complaint was found to be true and it surfaced that loan money given on various property documents was credited to a few accounts, while some had no clue that loans were being sanctioned based on their property documents. Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan who came under the heat from a combined onslaught from the opposition Congress and BJP combine had promised that all wrong doers will be taken to task and none will be spared and the fresh round of arrest can be attributed to Vijayan's strong stand. New York, Sep 13 : Lil Nas X's 'Montero' took home video of the year award at the MTV Video Music Awards 2021, held at Barclays Center in Brooklyn here on Sunday for the first time in eight years. Justin Bieber, Olivia Rodrigo, BTS, and Billie Eilish, among others, also won multiple Moon Person awards. Here's a look at this year's record-setters: Olivia Rodrigo, 18, took the song of the year award for 'Drivers License'." She also became the fifth-youngest best new artist winner to date at the VMAs. Bieber was just 16 when he won in 2010. Avril Lavigne, Austin Mahone, and Billie Eilish were each 17 when they won. The Kid LAROI, who MTV revealed was this year's runner-up, is also 18. Rodrigo also won push performance of the year, again edging out The Kid LAROI. Bieber won artist of the year. He's the first male winner in the category since Ed Sheeran, who was the inaugural winner four years ago. Bieber also won the best pop award for 'Peaches'. Korean boy band BTS 'Butter' won the best K-pop award. BTS has won that award in all three years it has been presented. They won last year for 'On' and two years ago for 'Boy with Luv'. BTS also won group of the year for the third year in a row. They are the first group to win in that category three years running. 'Butter' also won song of summer. This is the second year in a row that a K-pop act has won in that category. Blackpink won last year for 'How You Like That'. Doja Cat's silky 'Kiss Me More', featuring SZA, took the best collaboration award. It's the fourth all-female collab to win the best collaboration, following BeyoncA and Shakira's "Beautiful Liar" (2007), Lady Gaga feat. BeyoncA's "Telephone" (2010) and Lady Gaga with Ariana Grande's "Rain on Me" (2020). Silk Sonic's 'Leave the Door Open' won the best R&B award. Travis Scott's 'Franchise' won the best hip-hop award. It's the first male-fronted hit to win in that category since Kendrick Lamar's 'HUMBLE' four years ago. Eilish's 'Your Power' was a surprise winner for video for good, beating, among others, H.E.R.'s Oscar-winning 'Fight for You'. Eilish also won best Latin for 'Lo Vas A Olvidar', a collab with Latin superstar RosalAa. It's RosalAa's second win in the category. She took the award two years ago for 'Con Altura', a collab with J Balvin. Beyonce's 'Brown Skin Girl' won the best cinematography award. Queen Bey didn't do the cinematography, but at the VMAs, artists share in the technical awards. This is her 29th VMA, which extends her record as the artist with the most awards. Madonna is a distant second, with 20 awards. Foo Fighters were the inaugural winner of the global icon award, which the VMAs imported from the EMAs, the MTV European Music Awards. This is a year of recognition for the veteran band, which will be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame later this year. Machine Gun Kelly won the best alternative for the second year in a row. He took the award this year for 'my ex's best friend'. He won last year for 'Bloody Valentine'. MGK is the only the second act to win back-to-back awards for the best alternative. The first was Nirvana, which managed a three-peat from 1992-94 with 'Smells Like Teen Spirit', 'In Bloom' and 'Heart-Shaped Box'. The category went on a 20-year hiatus from 1999-2019, according to Billboard.com. Lucknow, Sep 13 : Prime Minister Narendra Modi will lay the foundation stone of Raja Mahendra Pratap Singh state university in Aligarh on Tuesday. The Prime Minister will also visit the exhibition models of the Uttar Pradesh Defence Industrial Corridor and Raja Mahendra Pratap Singh State University in Aligarh. The university is being established by the state government in the memory and honour of the great freedom fighter, educationist and social reformer, Raja Mahendra Pratap Singh. The University will be set up in a total area of over 92 acres in the Lodha village and Musepur Kareem Jarouli village of Aligarh's Kol tehsil. The university will provide affiliation to 395 colleges of the Aligarh Division. In February 2018, the Prime Minister had announced the establishment of a Defence Industrial Corridor in the state during the inauguration of the UP Investors Summit in Lucknow. A total of 6 nodes -- Aligarh, Agra, Kanpur, Chitrakoot, Jhansi and Lucknow -- have been planned in the Defence Industrial Corridor. In the Aligarh Node, land allocation process has been completed and land has been allotted to 19 firms, who will invest Rs 1,245 crore in the node. The Defence Industrial Corridor of Uttar Pradesh will help in making the country self-reliant in the field of defence production and promoting 'Make in India'. -- The story has been published from a wire feed without any modifications to the text Kolkata, Sep 13 : The West Bengal Health Department has informed that there has been a sudden upsurge in the admission in paediatric wards in Jalpaiguri district. Hospitals in the North Bengal area in the last five days have admitted children between the age of 1 and 4 years with complaints of fever, cough, and shortness of breath). According to hospital sources most of the children came from the neighbouring Jalpaiguri Sadar, Mainaguri, Dhupguri and Mekhliganj, Haldibari in Kochbihar According to officials, on an average 50-60 patients are admitted in the paediatric ward of the Jalpaiguri district hospital, but there has been an increase. In the last 4-5 days 120-140 patients have been admitted in ward, mostly below four. The RAT (Rapid Antigen Test) test has been done on almost 80 to 90 per cent of the patients that have come out negative. Only one baby was found Covid positive and was admitted in Sncu (Special New-born Care Unit) in isolation. "Many of the children have recovered. On Sunday itself 48 children were released. Presently 149 children are undergoing treatment," a senior official of the hospital said. "Children get fever during change of seasons. For some reason this time maybe a little more attention is being paid. Fever, cold, cough. Someone also has diarrhoea. We are careful. I have also informed the higher authorities about the matter," Acting Superintendent of Jalpaiguri district hospital Rahul Bhowmik said. "Malaria and Dengue screening done and only one baby turned out Covid positive. "To accommodate the additional patients 45 new beds have been added in the paediatric department and a new ward was opened last Friday. "One positive sign is that the cases are also not very complicated and the discharge rate is also high. The paediatricians are investigating any clustering or outbreak of different types of cases, but so far this seems to be the case of seasonal influenza-like illness," Director of Health Education Ajay Chakraborty said. While the world it seems has been too occupied with the developments in Afghanistan, another tragedy in the making is currently on in Lebanon -- a country facing one crisis after another. However, the crisis is Lebanon is not new, it's decades old but has worsened in the last two years due to sectarian politics and corrupt politicians, bankers and bureaucrats. The ongoing economic crisis has worsened as the coronavirus pandemic took hold in 2020, followed by the devastating August 2020 Port of Beirut blasts, which has been described by experts as "one of the biggest non-nuclear explosions in history". Following the Beirut explosions, the crisis worsened exponentially. According to The New York Times, the price of consumer goods has "nearly quadrupled", leaving people with barely any access to necessities like food and medicine. Some healthcare companies have run out of medicines "needed to treat cancer and heart disease" as a result of the country being unable to procure products from foreign importers. Fuel has become scarce in Lebanon due to the lack of foreign currency to pay energy suppliers, leading to the closure of power plants, hospitals, and water pumping stations. As a result, civilians have been left without electricity and clean water, as well as the ability to heat or air-condition their homes. And those who want to leave are stuck, as there's no fuel available to fill their vehicles. The ongoing crisis has left almost half of Lebanon's population living in poverty, and has prompted more mass protests to remove the political elite "accused of corruption, mismanagement, and negligence", reports the BBC. In a statement, the Unicef said: "The needs are massive, and the urgent formation of a new government with clear commitments to reform, is critical to tackle the current crisis through determined and systematic action to protect children's lives and ensure access to water and all basic services." Lebanon is at the onset of a serious collapse, Najat Rochdi, the UN deputy special coordinator for Lebanon, warned in an interview with the Efe news agency. "I am not talking about a theoretical scenario that maybe in a few months if nothing gets done the situation is going to collapse. No! We are talking about a serious beginning of a serious collapse and the people are paying a very high price today. "The only solution, the only way to save Lebanon, to save the Lebanese and to save the country is with reforms," she added. Lebanon's political scenario The crisis-battered country has been run by a caretaker government for more than a year due to a lack of political consensus, making it impossible to carry out necessary economic reforms the international community demands from Lebanon. Lebanon is heading toward more "chaos and poverty" if a government is not formed immediately, a Lebanese lawmaker warned, with the end of this week marking 13 months since the resignation of Prime Minister Hassan Diab's administration. Diab stepped down in the wake of the port blasts that devastated the capital, but he has stayed on in a caretaker capacity. President Michel Aoun's term ends in October next year, while Parliament's term ends in May 2022. On whether the President would seek to remain in power after the end of his term as he did in the 1980s, Vice President of the Future Movement, Mustafa Alloush, told Arab News newspaper that "Aoun will not repeat his experience of fleeing from the presidential palace. He is concerned with passing on politics to Gebran Bassil, his son-in-law, and giving him a clear share in the next formulation of authority". As new Lebanese secular political groups are struggling to organise before the 2022 elections, the sectarian parties are using populist discourse and aid politics to secure the support of their constituencies. Criticism is quite rare among the Lebanese who still support the sectarian political factions that have been in power since the 1990s. According to the researchers and political analysts, despite the vocal social anti-corruption movement that has emerged after October 17, 2019 and the recent wins the "thawra groups" have scored in university student councils elections and syndicates, many Lebanese still support the establishment parties. Being sectarian in design, the political class has played on sectarian sentiment since the civil war. Amal Movement was the defendant of the "deprived Shias", while the Free Patriotic Movement's minister Gebran Bassil presents himself as the protector of "Christian Rights" in his political statements. Members of new political movements born from the October 2019 protests say that the "Us vs Them" narrative helps distract attention from the real issues at hand - corruption and impunity. For example, politicians in Christian, Druze and Sunni parties claim Iran as their opponent and Western countries as friends. On the other hand, Hezbollah and its allies claim Israel as an opponent, look at Western states, especially the US, as friends of Israel and accuse them of imposing a blockade on Lebanon, as the fuel crisis in the country deepens. Meanwhile, Prime Minister-designate Najib Mikati has been able to cobble together a 24-member cabinet after negotiating with President Aoun last week, a line-up that is satisfactory for everyone, including an international community that wants sectarian factions to divide portfolios and name a technocratic government. Hopes are high, but expectations are low. Sectarian political factions have been negotiating on who gets which portfolio, but Mikati admitted last month that the conversation has been less about plans for reforms and policies to recover from the economic crisis, and were focused on who gets what. (Asad Mirza is a political commentator based in New Delhi. He writes on Muslims, educational, international affairs, interfaith and current affairs. Views expressed are personal) New Delhi, Sep 13 : The Enforcement Directorate has issued summon to Aam Aadmi Party national secretary Pankaj Gupta in a money laundering case related to former Punjab AAP leader. "Gupta has been asked to join the probe next week," said a senior officer of Enforcement Directorate adding that he has been summoned in a money laundering case in which Punjab former AAP MLA and Punjab Ekta Party chief Sukhpal Singh Khaira is being probed. Khaira is being investigated in a money laundering case. India's premier financial investigative agency -- Enforcement Directorate -- has also taken cognizance of two separate cases relating to drug trafficking and fake passport registered against Khaira. The ED has alleged that Khaira is an "associate" of drug case convicts and fake passport racketeers. The 56-year-old politician has denied any wrongdoing and had said he is being targeted by Central agencies as he has been vocal against the Centre's farm laws. The case against him pertains to the probe in a 2015 Fazilka (Punjab) drugs-smuggling case in which 1,800 gm of heroin, 24 gold biscuits, two weapons, 26 live cartridges and two Pakistani SIM cards were seized by security agencies from a gang of international drug smugglers. Khaira earlier was in AAP and it is alleged that approximately US $1,00,000 donation was raised by him on behalf of AAP in the United States. In March this year, the Enforcement Directorate had carried out raids on the premises of Khaira and a few others in the money laundering case. The searches were carried out at Khaira's residence in Chandigarh, five other locations in Haryana and Punjab and two places in Delhi. Khaira is a legislator of the Punjab Ekta Party, which he founded in 2019. He is an MLA from Bholath in Kapurthala district. He was elected to the state Assembly in 2017 on an Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) ticket. In March, ED assistant director Raja Ram Meena had also summoned Khaira and others under provisions of Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA). Khaira's personal assistant Manish Kumar and his son-in-law Inderveer Singh Johal were also summoned to appear before the ED on March 16. Aligarh : , Sep 13 (IANS) Ahead of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to Aligarh on Tuesday, the Bhartiya Kisan Union (BKU) members said over 5,000 farmers from across the district will go to the event to remind him of the 'pending promise' of a potato processing unit in the district. The Prime Minister will be in Aligarh to lay the foundation stone of Raja Mahendra Pratap Singh University. The farmers said they will leave for Aligarh early in the morning on Tuesday by private vehicles and roadways buses. They will not hold any demonstration at the Prime Minister's event but will highlight their demands only with handmade posters. BKU district president Rajveer Lawaniya said, "The Modi government has completed seven years but the potato processing unit still remains a dream. We will go to Aligarh to remind him of his promise he made before the 2014 Lok Sabha elections. We will peacefully highlight our demand at the public event." BKU's women wing leader, Savitri Chahar, said, "We trusted the Prime Minister and farmers voted for BJP in the Lok Sabha and Assembly elections. In return, we got nothing." According to farmers, a potato processing unit in Agra is necessary as it will supplement farmers' income and create a scope for manufacturing of various potato products at the local level. Farmers will not have to preserve potatoes in cold storages for a long time. The unit will also generate employment opportunities. Agra is the largest potato producing district of northern India, cultivating in around 75,000 hectares of land. Besides the processing unit, farmers at the Aligarh rally are also going to demand for a subsidy on cold storage charges. At present, there are 270 cold storage units in Agra district with a total capacity of over 25 lakh metric tonnes. Modi will also allocate land to 19 investors, investing Rs 1,500 crore in Aligarh node of the defence corridor. -- The story has been published from a wire feed without any modifications to the text Wellington, Sep 13 : New Zealand is providing a further NZ$3 million ($2 million) in humanitarian assistance to Afghanistan, Foreign Minister Nanaia Mahuta said on Monday. "There is significant humanitarian need in Afghanistan, with the crisis disproportionately affecting women and girls," Mahuta said in a statement. The UN has estimated that 80 per cent of the quarter of a million people displaced in Afghanistan since May are women and children, reports Xinhua news agency. "With the dangers that women and girls are facing in Afghanistan today, it is more important than ever to support the organisations that are delivering much needed humanitarian assistance and protection," said Mahuta. New Zealand is providing funding to Uniced anf the UN Population Fund. Both of these organiSations are addressing urgent needs on the ground with a particular focus on supporting women and children, the Minister said. New Zealand has joined two statements supporting the call to ensure the safety and human rights of women and girls, one at the Human Rights Council and the other a joint call by women political leaders to uphold and continue to advance equal rights and opportunities, she said. New Zealand's latest support comes after providing another NZ$3 million to the Red Cross and the UN Refugee Agency on August 20. Gandhinagar Sep 13 : A teary eyed Nitin Patel, the deputy chief minister of Gujarat, who missed the bus yet again, on Monday said the BJP had done a lot for him and that he was not upset by the new selection for the post of the chief minister. But the visuals told an entirely different story. Just ahead of the swearing-in ceremony on Monday, the newly selected Gujarat CM, Bhupendra Patel called on Nitin Patel at his residence. Nitin Patel said, "I congratulated Bhupendra Patel, who is an old family friend. He has also asked for my guidance whenever needed. We will be happy to see him take oath as the CM." Nitin Patel, the first of the frontrunners for the chief minister's post, was quite taken aback at the time of announcement of Bhupendra Patel for the new CM of Gujarat, which could be seen not only on Monday but was also visible on Sunday at the party headquarters, Kamalam. After Monday's meeting at his residence, Nitin said, "I'm not upset. Whether I get a position in the party or not, I will continue serving in the party. I have been working in the BJP since I was 18 and shall continue working." The newly selected leader Bhupendra Patel on Monday also paid a visit to Vijay Rupani at his residence. The Ghatlodia constituency legislator Bhupendra Patel will take oath as Gujarat's seventeenth CM in a ceremony held at Gujarat Governor Acharya Devvrat at Raj Bhavan after 2 p.m. in the afternoon. Union Home Minister Amit Shah will attend the swearing-in ceremony of the new CM, along with a host of other political leaders. -- The story has been published from a wire feed without any modifications to the text New Delhi, Sep 13 : The Centre on Monday stating national security reason told the Supreme Court it does not wish to file a detailed affidavit clarifying whether Pegasus spyware was used or not as it responded to a batch of petitions seeking independent probe into the alleged Pegasus snooping. Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, representing the Centre, submitted before a bench headed by Chief Justice N.V. Ramana that the government will disclose all details in connection with the Pegasus case before a panel of domain experts but not on an affidavit for national security reasons. Mehta emphasized that there are terror organizations, which better not know which software is used to combat terror etc. "It has its own pitfalls," he added. The Centre reiterated that it has "nothing to hide" and emphasized that the government has on its own said it will constitute a committee of domain experts, who are not connected with the government, to examine spying allegations. "Such issues of whether Centre was using Pegasus or not cannot be debated in affidavits and can be looked into by domain experts," he added. Mehta told the bench that also comprised Justices Surya Kant and Hima Kohli, that whether a particular software is used or not by the government cannot be brought out in public domain for a discussion, and the panel of independent experts can place their report before the top court. As the bench pointed to Mehta that it has given him time so that government can file an affidavit in the matter. "Such issues cannot be brought on an affidavit," Mehta submitted. The bench emphasized that it had already clarified that it does not want government to disclose anything which compromises national security. The bench observed, "We were only expecting a limited affidavit since there are petitioners before us who say their rights have been infringed upon. You had to say whether it's done lawfully or unlawfully." The hearing is still in progress. The top court on September 7, granted time to the Centre to decide on filing a further response on the petitions. Mehta had informed the top court that due to some difficulties he could not meet the officials concerned to take a decision on the filing of the second affidavit. Kabul, Sep 13 : The Taliban has announced that current forces of the group who are stationed in Kabul will soon be replaced with police forces of the former Afghan government and they all will have uniforms. Anaamullah Samangani, a member of the Taliban's cultural commission, told TOLO News on Sunday that the current Taliban forces, who do not have uniforms, will be transferred from Kabul to military posts in the provinces. Samangani, however, did not say how many police and Taliban forces will be deployed in Kabul. "Police and uniformed forces who have received training and gained skills in their specific fields should soon take charge of maintaining Kabul security and start their jobs. "After that, the Mujahideen who are stationed in different police departments and who do not have uniforms will be stationed in police headquarters and army corps (in the provinces)," Samangani said. A number of Kabul residents, meanwhile, said uniformed forces should be deployed to the city to maintain security and to prevent criminal activities. According to the residents, people are accustomed to uniformed police and will feel more comfortable with them in the city. The residents also said the new forces should fight criminals and restore order in the city. "They should have a specific uniform and be well-organised in the city and maintain security so that the people will not worry," TOLO News quoted Sheikh Zaman, a Kabul resident, as saying. "We have seen cases where some people identifying themselves as Taliban forces have committed illegal actions in the city," said Abdurrahman, another Kabul resident. Following the collapse of the former government in August, the police left their posts. Taliban forces took charge of the city. Abdul Majid, a Taliban force member, said he was on duty for many years in Takhar province, and following the collapse of the former government he was assigned to maintain security in Kabul's PD2. According to Majid, hundreds of Taliban forces like him who previously were in the provinces are now maintaining security in Kabul. "Now people are safe from robberies and other insecurity issues, and they should be happy about the security we have provided," he said. Canberra, Sep 13 : Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison has asked citizens to "continue to press forward" for Covid-19 vaccination targets as the country battles the third wave of infections. Under Morrison's pathway out of the pandemic, Australia will start to reopen in phases when 70 per cent of adults are fully vaccinated, reports Xinhua news agency on Monday. "I encourage everybody from tomorrow over 12s, 12 to 15 year olds will be able to get the vaccine," he said in a press conference. "So we now need to continue to surge forward in these final weeks and months of the programme to get us to those vaccination targets set out in the national plan." On Monday morning, Australia reported 1,745 new locally acquired cases of Covid-19, taking the overall infection tally to 73,605, while the death toll stood at 1,091. New South Wales (NSW), Australia's most populous state and also the current epicentre of the pandemic, reported 1,257 new cases and seven deaths. Victoria, the second-most populous state, reported a further 473 new local cases. The Australian Capital Territory (ACT), which is leading the nation in its vaccination rate, recorded 13 new cases. However, only two of the cases were in quarantine for their entire infectious period and the sources of six cases are under investigation. It means that whether the Canberra lockdown that began on August 12 would end as planned on Friday is still uncertain. Till date, about 67 per cent of Australians aged 16 and older had received at least one vaccine dose and 42 per cent were fully vaccinated, according to the Department of Health. Etawah : , Sep 13 (IANS) Two sisters, returning from a women police station in the Etawah district, were allegedly abducted by three men and gang raped. All three accused involved in the Sunday incident have been arrested by the police. The two sisters have lodged a complaint against the three accused at the Sefai police station in Etawah district. Station Officer-in-charge of Sefai police station, Mohd Hamid Siddiqui said, "Our team was patrolling under a railway over bridge, when we noticed three men, who started running away on seeing the police van. We arrested the three in an inebriated condition." The police official said that when they arrested the three men, they heard wails from a nearby shop that was half closed. "On entering the shop, we saw two women crying and they were in semi-naked condition. On learning about their ordeal, we rushed them to Etawah district hospital for medical examinations," the police official said. The two women alleged that the man who had given them lift and his accomplices forced them to drink alcohol. They warned the sisters of dire consequences if they tried to call for help. The men took the sisters to a shop and sexually assaulted them. The sisters were also brutally beaten up by the accused, according to one of the complainants. Patna, Sep 13 : Probably for the first time, a union minister of the Narendra Modi government has challenged the Leader of Opposition in the Bihar assembly, Tejashwi Yadav to a debate with him on the three farm laws enacted by the Centre last year. Nityanand Rai, the Minister of State for Home Affairs, while addressing the BJP Kisan Morcha in North Bihar's Darbhanga city on Sunday evening, said that he is challenging Tejashwi Yadav to come to an open platform and debate on the new farm laws. "Tejashwi Yadav should come on public platform and debate with us on the agriculture laws. If he does not come for debate or discussion with me, he should print his views on pamphlets and put it in the public domain," Rai said. "The contract farming included in the farm laws will benefit farmers. The bills passed by our government has a provision that a group can be formed by farmers and make contracts with the companies. In this case, farmers need not take loans for their crops. They will get MSP for their produce," Rai added. Another Union Minister Giriraj Singh said: "It is for the first time since Independence, farmers of the country have been benefiting during the Narendra Modi government. Earlier, during the Congress government, middlemen were active who used to take away funds released by the government. In the Narendra Modi government, transfer of money is being done directly in the bank accounts of farmers. This government has zero corruption." Commenting on the current farmers agitation, Giriraj Singh said: "The ongoing agitation is more political rather than farmers'." Thiruvananthapuram, Sep 13 : There seems to be no end to the war of words that has surfaced among various players over the statement by a Catholic bishop with regard to 'narcotic jihad' and the latest to join the chorus is none other than Goa Governor P.S. Sreedharan Pillai, who is expected to arrive to meet the bishop very soon. Syro Malabar Church Pala diocese bishop Mar Joseph Kallarangatt on Friday had said that Catholic girls in Kerala were now becoming the victims of 'Love and narcotic Jihad' and the traditional rival political parties came out criticising the bishop, while the BJP decided to support him. Pillai said, what the bishop aired was just his concern and none needs to see beyond what he said. "All what has happened will be brought to the notice of the Centre. The role of Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan is to ensure that those who are denied justice get it," and dropped enough hints, that he might call on the bishop. State BJP president K. Surendran said the people in Kerala without prejudice should discuss and debate what the bishop has said. "We will make one thing very clear, we the BJP are least interested to make political capital out of this," said Surendran. But Leader of Opposition V.D. Satheesan slammed the Vijayan government who he said has some vested interest to serve. "The Kerala government should ensure that a probe is conducted into what the bishop has said. There should be no attempt to see that a free for all breaks out between two communities," said Satheesan. State Congress president K. Sudhakaran asked Vijayan to see that an all party meeting is called and also a meeting of all religious heads to discuss and debate the recent turn of events, following the statement made by the bishop. Gaza, Sep 13 : Israeli fighter jets on Monday attacked several military posts and facilities that belong to the armed wing of the Islamic Hamas Movement in the Gaza Strip, but no injuries were reported, according to security sources. The sources said that the fighter jets fired air-to-ground missiles at five different military posts and facilities in the northern, central, and southern Gaza Strip for a third day in a row in response to rockets fired towards Israel, reports Xinhua news agency. Unknown militants have been firing rockets from the Gaza Strip towards Israel since the night of September 10. Three rockets were fired towards Israel and the last one was on Sunday night, which had lightly injured at least five Israelis, said the sources. No one claimed responsibility for launching the three rockets over the past three days towards Israel. However, an Israeli army spokesman said in a statement that Hamas, which rules the Gaza Strip, "is fully responsible for the rockets attacks". Hamas-run al-Aqsa television said that local residents heard the buzz of Israeli army drones and fighter jets, and then several explosions were heard all over the Gaza Strip after striking military posts belonging to the movement. On Saturday and Sunday, Israeli fighter jets attacked military posts and facilities that belonged to Hamas in the northern and central Gaza Strip according to the sources, which added that no injuries or damage were reported. An Israeli army spokesman said in two separate statements on Saturday and Sunday that Israeli fighter jets attacked posts that were used for manufacturing homemade rockets in addition to attacking weapons caches in the Strip. The spokesman held Hamas, which has been ruling the Strip since 2007, is responsible for any attack that is carried out against civilians in Israel and that Israel would immediately respond. -- The story has been published from a wire feed without any modifications to the text New Delhi, Sep 13 : After the Centre's denial to file a detailed affidavit clarifying whether Pegasus spyware was used or not, the Supreme Court on Monday reserved its order on a batch of petitions seeking independent probe into the alleged Pegasus snooping case. A bench headed by Cheif Justice N.V. Ramana and comprising justices Surya Kant and Hima Kohli said the court will pass an interim order in the next few days and told the Centre that beating around the bush would not take the issue anywhere. "Beating around the bush...we will pass some interim order," the chief justice told Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, representing the Centre. The Centre informed the bench that it is not going to file a detailed affidavit, after taking time twice to take a decision, whether it will file an affidavit or not on a batch of petitions seeking inquiry into alleged use of spyware Pegasus. Mehta submitted that government can constitute technical committee of independent domain experts, who can examine the petitioners' allegations that their phones were affected by Pegasus. Centre said this committee can submit its report to the top court. The top court pointed at the response of former Minister for Electronics and Information Technology in Parliament in 2019. However, Mehta highlighted a recent statement made by Minister of Railways, Communications and Electronics & Information Technology of India on the floor of the Parliament clarifying the government's stand. A battery of senior advocates -- Kapil Sibal, Rakesh Dwivedi, Dinesh Dwivedi, Shyam Divan and Meenakshi Arora --representing various petitioners objected to the Centre's stand on the matter. Sibal, representing veteran journalist N. Ram, said the government should clarify whether it used Pegasus or not? Sibal added that it is unbelievable that the government said it would not tell the court about the use of spyware. "We thought government will file a counter affidavit. We are considering some interim order or some other order, we have to pass," the bench noted during the hearing. Divan contended that a detailed affidavit should be filed at the level of cabinet secretary. He further added that the government should be concerned if an external agency used the spyware and if it were a government agency, then it was absolutely unconstitutional. Senior advocate Rakesh Dwivedi questioned the credibility of the expert panel formed by the government to examine the issue. Mehta submitted, "Nobody is denying or disputing. There are sensitive issues involved. We must get to the core issue. Let the expert panel go into it." The Chief Justice clarified that the court is also not keen on government disclosing any information which compromises the national security. The bench noted that if government were to file an affidavit, then it would have known "where do we stand on the subject". Senior advocate Colin Gonsalves said a retired or sitting judge of the Supreme Court should head the probe, and the government, which is a wrongdoer, cannot be relied upon with the investigation. -- The story has been published from a wire feed without any modifications to the text Bhubaneswar, Sep 13 : Heavy rainfall continued in many parts of Odisha for the past 24 hours, breaking old records in capital city Bhubaneswar and pilgrim city Puri, the IMD said on Monday. The government closed schools in 12 districts for two days. The depression over northwest Bay of Bengal and adjoining Odisha coast intensified into a deep depression and crossed the coast near Chandbali in Bhadrak district on Monday morning, India Meteorological Department (IMD) said. It is very likely to continue to move west-northwest wards across north Odisha, north Chhattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh during next 48 hours, and weaken into a depression during the subsequent 24 hours, it said. Under its influence heavy rainfall occurred in coastal, northern and interior pockets of the State since Sunday morning. Highest 530 mm rainfall recorded at Astaranga in Puri district, followed by Kakatpur (525 mm), Balikda (440 mm) in Jagatsinghpur district, Kantapara (381 mm) in Cuttack district and Niali (370). With 341 mm rainfall in 24 hours (till 8.30 a.m. of Monday), Puri recorded the highest rainfall in a day in 87 years during September, said Umashankar Das, a weather scientist at Bhubaneswar Met centre. Similarly, capital city Bhubaneswar also broke a 63-year-old rainfall record in this month as the city witnessed 195mm rainfall. On September 9, 1958, the city had received 163 mm rainfall, he said. Most of the streets in different parts of Bhubaneswar and Cuttack cities were waterlogged following the heavy rainfall. Flood water entered into various low-lying areas, including railway station and Kedargouri temple in Bhubaneswar. The rain water also entered into Acharya Harihar cancer hospital in Cuttack causing problems for the patients. Commissioner of Cuttack Municipal Corporation (CMC), Ananya Das said the water-discharge at the cancer hospital is under way while dry food has been arranged for the people in the waterlogged areas. The Jagatsinghpur district administration has evacuated people from the low-lying areas to safer places, sources said. Predicting very heavy rainfall, the Met Centre has issued a 'Red' (take action) warning for Sambalpur, Deogarh, Angul, Sonepur and Bargarh districts. Orange warning (be prepared) has been issued for Bolangir, Jharsuguda, Sundergarh, Boudh, Keonjhar, Dhenkanal, Khurda, Jagatsinghpur, Puri and Cuttack. The weather office advised people to avoid movement in the affected areas as there is a possibility of flash floods/water-logging in the low-lying areas. There will be reduction in visibility that may cause traffic congestion in city areas, it said. Meanwhile, the School and Mass Education Minister Samir Das said schools have been closed in 12 districts for two days (today and tomorrow) in view of the heavy rainfall warning. New Delhi, Sep 13 : Huawei has been accused of "infiltrating" a Cambridge University research centre after most of its academics were found to have ties with the Chinese company, The Times, UK, reported. Three out of four of the directors at the Cambridge Centre for Chinese Management (CCCM) have ties to the company, and its so-called chief representative is a former senior Huawei vice-president who has been paid by the Chinese government. The university insists that one former Huawei executive has never delivered services to the centre while the firm itself has said any suggestion of impropriety is absurd. Daily Mail reported that critics have claimed that the Huawei ties is demonstration that the university has allowed the CCCM to be infiltrated by the Chinese company which has been banned from joining Britain's 5G network. Johnny Patterson, policy director of the Hong Kong Watch campaign group, told the newspaper the university should investigate the relationship between Huawei and the CCCM. Meanwhile, Ian Duncan Smith described Cambridge University as 'one of the worst offenders' when it came to relying on money from China. He told the Times that British companies and universities had grown 'far too dependent on Chinese money' in recent years and added: 'The government needs to urgently set up an inquiry into the UK's dependency on China across a range of institutions and companies.' Conservative MP Tom Tugendhat, who is head of the China Research Group and chairman of the foreign affairs select committee, told the newspaper: 'Perceived academic influence is clearly an issue and just as universities would never take money from tobacco companies to investigate links with cancer so institutions need to be very careful about where they accept their money.' The Cambridge Centre for Chinese Management forms part of the university's judge business school and describes itself as 'an academic research institute dedicated to the study of the management practices and strategies of Chinese enterprises'. The centre's website describes how its 'chief representative in China' is Yanping Hu who is a former senior vice president at Huawei. New Delhi, Sep 13 : Budget passenger carrier SpiceJet expects to start Boeing 737 Max ops by September end contingent to regulatory approvals. Accordingly, SpiceJet on Monday said it has reached a commercial settlement with CDB Aviation, a major lessor of Max aircraft. This will allow SpiceJet's 737 Max aircraft to return back to service. "This will add to already announced settlement with Avolon and grow its fleet of 737 Max aircraft," said SpiceJet in a statement. "The airline expects to start operations of Max aircraft around the end of September 2021, subject to regulatory approvals." The airline had earlier entered into a settlement with 'Avolon' another major lessor of Max aircraft. At present, only SpiceJet in India has 737 Max. It has 13 aircraft of this type in its fleet. The development comes after aviation regulator DGCA last month granted safety permission for restart of Boeing 737 Max operations in the country. It had earlier suspended the aircraft's operations in March 2019 after two fatal crashes. SpiceJet had placed an order for 225 Maxs in 2017, while it has a firm order of 155 of these aircraft. -- The story has been published from a wire feed without any modifications to the text New Delhi, Sep 13 : Delhi State BJP on Monday sought answers from the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) over Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal's promise of payment of lockdown rent of tenants and announced that the opposition party will not shy away from taking to streets if he does not fulfill his promise. "Chief Minister Kejriwal had promised to pay the lockdown rents of the poor in March last year. However, it has been 216 days since then, but he has done nothing to keep his words despite High Court's intervention into the matter," BJP Delhi State President Adesh Gupta said while addressing a press conference here on Monday. On July 22, the Delhi High Court ruled that the promise made by the Chief Minister was enforceable and gave the AAP government six weeks' time to take decision on the announcement that the state would pay rent on behalf of poor tenants, majorly comprising migrant labourers. On Friday, the Delhi Government informed the High Court that it is currently considering the issue and will make a decision in two weeks' time. "Other than paying rents, the AAP government had also promised free ration, Rs 5,000 to autowallahas, compensation to the kin of Covid warriors who lost their lives, but neither of these promises have been fulfilled till date," said BJP MLA and Leader of Opposition (LoP) Ram Veer Singh Bidhuri. "If the chief minister fails to keep his words, we, on behalf of the people of Delhi, will take to streets," the BJP Delhi State members added. Hundreds and thousands of migrant labourers left for their native town from Delhi and other states after a strict lockdown to curb the spread of Covid-19 was announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in March last year. Both the Centre and the State governments were not prepared for an exodus on such a large scale. The pandemic also highlighted the dearth of data available on migrant workers across country. The Delhi government has started working on building an Aadhaar-linked database of all migrants in the union territory engaged in the unorganised sector. -- The story has been published from a wire feed without any modifications to the text New Delhi, Sep 13 : Ahead of Gandhi Jayanti, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA), India has appealed to Prime Minister Narendra Modi to declare October 2 as 'National Meat-Free Day' to honour Mahatma Gandhi's "dedication to non-violence". In a letter to vegetarian Modi, PETA India noted that being vegetarian was "a matter of moral principle" for Gandhi. "Encouraging the people of our nation to follow Gandhi's moral example would protect smart, sensitive animals from being caged in filth, separated from their babies, and gruesomely executed for their body parts," wrote PETA India CEO Dr Manilal Valliyate. "Starting a tradition that promotes peaceful vegetarian food is a lasting way to pay tribute to Gandhi's immeasurable impact," he said. PETA India said that ditching meat also reduces the risk of cancer, heart disease, diabetes, and obesity; helps fight climate change by reducing greenhouse gas emissions; and even helps prevent future pandemics. COVID-19 is largely believed by experts to have stemmed or spread from a live animal meat market, and SARS, swine flu, and bird flu have also been linked to confining and killing animals for food, PETA India said in a release. "Leaving animals off our plates shows reverence for other species, the planet, and our own bodies," says PETA India Vegan Foods and Nutrition Specialist Dr Kiran Ahuja. "PETA India encourages everyone to celebrate Mahatma Gandhi's legacy daily, simply by eating healthy and delicious plant foods." PETA India opposes speciesism, a human-supremacist worldview, it added. Seoul, Sep 13 : Six more American soldiers and three associated members in South Korea tested positive for Covid-19, the US Forces Korea (USFK) said on Monday. The USFK said in a statement that nine USFK-affiliated individuals were confirmed with the virus between August 26 and September 6, reports Xinhua news agency. Four service members and one family member arrived at Osan Air Base on US government-chartered flights on August 31, September 1 and 6. Two service members and two family members arrived on international commercial flights at Incheon International Airport on August 26, September 1, 3 and 6, respectively. The confirmed patients have been transferred to designated isolation facilities at the US army bases in South Korea. The total number of infections among the USFK-affiliated personnel rose to 1,409, according to the Yonhap news agency. In the latest tally, South Korea has reported 1,433 more cases of Covid-19 for the past 24 hours, taking the total number of infections to 274,415. The daily caseload has hovered above 1,000 for 69 straight days. -- The story has been published from a wire feed without any modifications to the text Mumbai, Sep 13 : Popular Marathi actress and film director Mrunmayee Deshpande portrayed a doctor in the latest released medical drama web series 'Mumbai Diaries 26/11'. The actress shares why preparing for the role to play a doctor on-screen was unique and challenging for her. Mrunmayee is known for her Marathi show 'Kunku', and anchors 'Sa Re Ga Ma Pa Marathi L'il Champs', among others. In the web series 'Mumbai Diaries 26/11' she plays a doctor of a government hospital named Dr Sujata Ajawale who along with her colleagues under a crisis of terrorist attacks helped save lives. Sharing how the experience of preparing for the role, Mrunmayee told IANS: "So far all the characters I have played, as an actress I prepared following the script, to understand the part. Here I played a doctor. The mindset of a doctor is way different than that of any people we see in our daily life. Also, there is medical terminology that you cannot improvise and you also cannot get it wrong at all. "It's like on a film set, as actors we use some technical terms and we will never go wrong with it. Same with doctors when they talk among themselves. We always had a doctor who would assist and supervise to get those elements accurate. I, as a normal human being, might feel uncomfortable seeing blood and therefore react in a certain way. But a doctor looks at a human body, blood and everything in a very different way and therefore even under crisis, the normal reaction of a doctor is way different from a regular human being. Their mind works magically so they can save lives, really. Their mind is trained in a certain way. Just understanding that, was so fascinating! It was quite a unique experience." The actress has worked in Hindi films, the Mahesh Manjrekar directorial 'The Power'. She is known for the stage play, 'A Fair Deal' and two Marathi films 'Mann Fakiraa' and 'Manache Shlok'. The web series 'Mumbai Diaries 26/11' is directed by Nikkhil Advani, features - Konkona Sen Sharma, Mohit Raina, Tina Desai, Shreya Dhanwanthary, Satyajeet Dubey, Natasha Bharadwaj and Prakash Belawadi, among others. The show streams on Amazon Prime Video. Mumbai, Sep 13 : The well-known global festival Global Citizen Live's broadcast has once again listed Mumbai as one of the host cities of the show. Mumbai will be part of the worldwide broadcast on September 25 and will be representing India. The event will be hosted by actor Anil Kapoor. The last time Mumbai was part of the Global list was in 2016. The show, which is in partnership with Wizcraft will have appearances by Sadhguru, Amitabh Bachchan, Ayushmann Khurrana, Arjun Kapoor, Ananya Panday, Bhumi Pednekar, Dia Mirza, Farhan Akhtar, Hrithik Roshan, Janhvi Kapoor, Kiara Advani, Riteish Deshmukh, Sara Ali Khan and Sonakshi Sinha. Global Citizen Live aims in India and G20 to reduce carbon emissions in line with preventing more than 1.5 degree Celsius of global warming. It calls on the wealthiest nations to deliver on promise to give $100 billion annually to address climate needs of developing countries; timed to UN General Assembly and G20 and COP26 climate meetings. Aaditya Thackeray, Minister of Tourism and Environment, Maharashtra said, "When it comes to climate change, we are running out of time to reverse the damage caused. I am confident that the Global Citizen Festival will steer a mass movement on the world stage to fight climate change now." Liza Henshaw, COO, Global Citizen, "Five years ago, we held our first Global Citizen festival in Mumbai. We were amazed at the reaction and warm reception we received from the hundreds of thousands of global citizens, the City of Mumbai and the Maharashtra State. Global Citizens across India are an essential part of our movement, and we are proud to return to Mumbai for Global Citizen Live." Andre Timmins, Co-Founder, Wizcraft, said "We are thrilled and honoured to be working with the Global Citizen team again. The historic moment that we created together in November 2016 with Global Citizen Festival India moved our country to a new level of advocacy and an understanding of how one voice, one action can make a difference. We are so pleased to have the opportunity to be working with the team again to bring Mumbai and India to the world with this momentous special edition in September. There is an exciting show being planned at our beautiful and iconic Gateway of India, for Global Citizens everywhere." With more yet to be announced, Global Citizen Live has revealed line-ups for its COVID-19-compliant, free-ticketed events in: Los Angeles (presented by Verizon) with Stevie Wonder, Adam Lambert, Chloe x Halle, Demi Lovato, H.E.R., ONEREPUBLIC, Ozuna, The Lumineers and 5 Seconds of Summer, New York City (presented by Citi and Cisco) with Coldplay, Billie Eilish, Camila Cabello, among others. -- The story has been published from a wire feed without any modifications to the text Puducherry, Sep 13 : Vice President of India, M. Venkaiah Naidu has said that the educational institutions must have an increased interface with the industry to promote Research and Development to address contemporary challenges faced by society like climate change and other natural calamities. He also said that pollution, health, and poverty are other major challenges that the society will have to address in a timely manner and only proper R&D based on the needs of the industry can solve this matter. The Vice President was delivering the inaugural address at the Puducherry Technological University (PTU) on Monday. He said that creating an enabling ecosystem for Research and Development (R&D) is required for the country to move ahead and become a developed nation. Venkaiah Naidu said, "If you look around the world, you will find that it is the deep research in science, technology, and other areas that put the developed nations ahead of the rest of the world". The Vice President called upon the industry to come forward and extend their support to young entrepreneurs by hand-holding, funding, and incubation. He said that improved Academia and Industry partnership is a requirement of the hour for the progress in Research and Development. He called upon Institutions like Puducherry Technological University (PTU) to infuse a spirit of innovation, experimentation, and entrepreneurship among the students. The Vice President said according to data provided by the Department of Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade, there are 50,000 startups in the country spread across 623 districts. He said that there are more than 40 tech startups working in the field of space technology after the government opened up the space sector for private players. Naidu said that these startups are mainly working in the areas of satellites, launch vehicles, and other space based applications and added that 45 per cent of startups have a woman entrepreneur which is laudable. He also stressed on increasing the literacy level in the country and said that even after 75 years of garnering independence around 20 per cent of the population of the country is illiterate. The Vice President also said that 22 to 23 per cent of the population is still below the poverty line and said that there was a need to focus on poverty and to eradicate it. He said that gender and caste discriminations have to be removed from the system for the all-round progress of the country. Venkaiah Naidu called upon the state governments, universities, colleges, and other institutions to make sure that the syllabus includes the lives and teachings of great leaders and stalwarts of the country like Sri Aurobindo, Subramanian Bharathi and others. Puducherry Lt. Governor Tamilisai Soundararajan, Chief Minister N. Rangasamy and state Home Minister A. Namasivayam, who also holds the education portfolio, spoke on the occasion. New Delhi, Sep 13 : India and the United States on Monday launched the Climate Action and Finance Mobilisation Dialogue (CAFMD) with Union Environment Minister Bhupender Yadav and US Special Presidential Envoy for Climate Change, John Kerry, reiterating pledges to enhance actions to meet the goals of the Paris Agreement. The CAFMD is one of the two main tracks of the US-India Agenda 2030 Partnership that Prime Minister Narendra Modi and US President Joe Biden had announced at the Leaders' Summit on Climate in April 2021. The other track is the Strategic Clean Energy Partnership. "The Climate Action and Finance Mobilisation Dialogue of the Agenda 2030 Partnership launched today will provide both countries an opportunity to renew collaborations on climate change while addressing the financing aspects," Yadav said while announcing the launch of the Dialogue. Yadav recalled how earlier during the launch of the India-US Climate and Clean Energy Agenda 2030 Partnership at the Leaders' Summit on Climate, Modi and Biden had made statements supporting the global climate action and increased cooperation between the two countries on the issue. Asserting India's commitment towards clean energy, Yadav said that after enhancing the RE (renewable energy) target to 450 GW and realising the importance of hydrogen as energy driver in future, India has launched the 'Hydrogen Mission'. "I hope this dialogue will work to mobilize and deliver climate finance primarily as grants and concessional finance, as envisaged under Paris Agreement to strengthen climate action," the minister said. "Every economic study shows that it is far less expensive to deal with climate crisis now that it will be away in a future. If India seizes the energy opportunity, it could become the world's largest market for batteries and solar panels," Kerry said even as he reminded that it is not just renewable energy, but "we need to develop, demonstrate and scale up emmerging technologies that will be crucial for net zero transition". Kerry is visiting India as part of his multi-country tour in the run up to the annual climate summit less than 50 days ahead. Kerry has visited Korea, Argentina, Japan and China over the last few days to continue vital discussions on reducing emissions and raising ambition ahead of COP26, the annual climate summit that will take place in Glasgow. Earlier in the year, declaring the India-US joint statement at the launch of the 'India-US Climate and Clean Energy Agenda 2030 Partnership' in April, the two nations had said, "Through this collaboration, India and the United States aim to demonstrate how the world can align swift climate action with inclusive and resilient economic development, taking into account national circumstances and sustainable development priorities." On August 24, Yadav had held a telephonic conversation with Kerry to discuss the CAFMD Track and had said that these platforms provide greater opportunities for working together for climate actions, and emphasised that India stands committed to working with the US on clean energy. The annual climate summit called the Conference of Parties (COP) to the United Nations Framework Convention for Climate Change (UNFCCC) is to be held in Glasgow from October 31. It is being looked at as a last ditch effort to bring around countries to enhance their emission targets to keep the global temperatures from rising to beyond 1.5-degree Celsius compared to the pre-industrial era. -- The story has been published from a wire feed without any modifications to the text New Delhi, Sep 13 : Senior Congress leader and former Union Minister Oscar Fernandes passed away in Mangalore on Monday. He was 80. A sitting Member of the Rajya Sabha, he was critically injured after he fell accidentally while doing his regular exercise on July 20 this year. He was admitted to the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) in a super speciality hospital at Mangalore. A veteran congress leader, Fernandes was the Union minister for transport, road highways, labour and employment in the UPA government headed by former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. He was regarded to have a solid working relationship with Congress leaders at all levels. He served as the AICC General Secretary and was a close confidant of Congress President Sonia Gandhi and used to be known as a trouble-shooter for the party as he handled various situations. Many prominent Congress leaders of Karnataka, former chief minister Siddaramaiah and State Congress chairman D.K. Shivakumar, as well as Lok Sabha opposition leader Mallikarjun Kharge had rushed to pay their respects to the Congress veteran, a local Congress office bearer said on Monday. Expressing his grief over the demise of the Congress leader, the former party president and senior leader Rahul Gandhi said, "My heartfelt condolences to the family and friends of Shri Oscar Fernandes Ji. It is a personal loss for me. He was a guide and mentor to many of us in the Congress Party. He will be missed and fondly remembered for his contributions." Congress Media Department head and General Secretary Randeep Singh Surjewala said that a banyan tree of the congress party has fallen. "Oscar Fernandes ji was a guide, mentor, and organization builder, who connected to the Congress workers & they loved him in return. A "banyan tree" of the Congress Party has fallen. There will perhaps never be anyone like him. Our heartfelt homage to an eternal Congressman", Surjewala said. Born on March 27, 1941, Fernandes started his political career as Councillor of Udupi Municipal Council in 1972. He is survived by his wife Blossom Fernandes, son and a daughter. New Delhi, Sep 13 : A former Iranian diplomat has said that the interference of foreigners in Afghanistan is doomed to be a failure. As with the former Soviet Union, Britain, and most recently the United States, if a country like Pakistan intervenes in Afghan matters, it will suffer the same fate, said former diplomat Mohsen Rouhi Sefat. Sefat said experience shows that any foreign intervention in Afghanistan will end in failure, citing Britain (1839-42), the Soviet Union (1980-88) and the US (2001-2021) as examples. "The interference of foreigners will be doomed a failure. As with the former Soviet Union, Britain, and most recently the United States, if a country like Pakistan intervenes, it will suffer the same fate," Sefat told ISNA in an interview, Tehran Times reported. There are certain reports claiming that Pakistan's ISI chief General Faiz Hameed was involved in the formation of the Taliban government and the Taliban's attack on the Panjshir Valley. "The people of Afghanistan are against foreign intervention," the former diplomat said, noting, "It will soon be shown that if a country intervenes, it will fail. Our advice to all neighbours and major powers is to refrain from interfering in Afghanistan's affairs," as per the report. Regarding the ongoing clashes between the National Resistance Front and the Taliban in Panjshir, the Afghan affairs expert said: "The Panjshir region has 21 valleys, of which the Taliban forces have penetrated only the nearest valley where the governor's office is located. Another 20 valleys are under the control of the opposition forces. So, we have to see what happens in the process of these conflicts." Tehran has also appeared to be hesitant towards Pakistani influence in Afghanistan. The Taliban and Pakistan have developed strong ties, with some Taliban leaders being closely linked to Islamabad, TRT World reported. The report said that despite differing accounts over the recent nature of the Taliban-Tehran connections, there are serious signs, which show that tensions between Iran, a Shia-majority country, and Pakistan, a Sunni-majority country, is increasing over the course of Taliban-ruled Afghanistan. The Taliban is a Sunni-dominant group. Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Saeed Khatibzadeh has also expressed Tehran's uneasiness towards Taliban's operation in the Panjshir valley. "Afghanistan's history shows that foreign intervention, both direct and indirect, has resulted in nothing but defeat for the aggressor force, and the Afghan people are independence-seeking and zealous, and certainly any intervention is doomed," Khatibzadeh said in an indirect reference to Pakistani influence over the Taliban. Most Taliban leaders were educated in Pakistani madrasas and the Pashtuns are also the second biggest ethnicity in Pakistan, the report added. Fatima Karimkhan, a Tehran-based Iranian journalist, said, "Iran and Pakistan are regional competitors. Pakistan is the number one suspect in the Mazar-i Sharif attack on the Iranian consulate and now the first foreign guest of the Taliban even before they form a government is Pakistan's ISI chief. Of course, Iran will not welcome that," she said, TRT World reported. In 1998, nine Iranian diplomats were killed in Mazar-i Sharif and Tehran had accused the Taliban of the attack. The Taliban had denied any involvement. Most recently, Faiz Hameed, the chief of Pakistan's spy agency ISI, visited Afghanistan, meeting top Taliban leaders. Iran and the Taliban appeared to have reached some degree of regional understanding. But it turned out to be a short-lived optimism with Tehran showing signs of unease. Iran and the Taliban have come a long way to find a common ground and narrow the differences. But in the past few days, Iran's foreign ministry has been showing displeasure towards the Taliban taking control of the last opposition stronghold, the Panjshir valley, which signalled unease in their bilateral relations, the report said. Former Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad also had harsh words for the Taliban, echoing some of his old tirades against the world's Jews, which were alleged to be anti-Semitic. "A group has been supported, which is created and then trained, armed and supported by the neighbours. It has captured a country and called itself the government. The world had either been watching or supporting. This is an ugly thing in the face of the world," he said. But Fatima Karimkhan, a Tehran-based Iranian journalist, thinks that things are not as they used to be. "We can see that the honeymoon is over now, but about what will come next, it's still too soon to have a clue," Karimkhan told TRT World. Karimkhan also sees a lot of problems in the recently formed Afghan government. "The Taliban had spoken about forming a multiethnic government but as you see the government is almost completely Pashtun, no role for Hazarahs, nothing for Tajiks, Uzbeks and the Shia population," she said. The Taliban is a Pashtun-dominated group. On the other hand, the group "is not tolerating" any non-Taliban Mujahideen leaders like Massoud and others, she said, creating "a high level of pressure" from Iranian public opinion and media over Tehran "to step back from tolerating Taliban in Afghanistan". (Sanjeev Sharma can be reached at Sanjeev.s@ians.in) Kolkata, Sep 13 : After West Bengal Commerce and Industry Minister Partha Chatterjee said that he would not be able to go to the CBI office, the officers came to his South Kolkata office and interrogated him for two hours. Chatterjee was interrogated by the central agency for his alleged connection with the chit fund group. Speaking to the media after the interrogation, Chatterjee said, "I told them that I would not be able to go to their office and so they came here and spoke to me for two hours. I told them that in 2011, being the commerce, industry and IT minister, it was my responsibility to create employment and so I met many companies and I-Core was one of them". When asked about his alleged involvement with the group, Chatterjee said, "It is not my responsibility to find out which is a chit-fund group and for that there are agencies like SEBI, ED and CBI. It is their responsibility. I have done my job". Chatterjee informed that the CBI had asked him to go to their office but he informed that it was not possible for him to go there and so they came here. "I have cooperated with them to the best of my ability and will be doing so in future. They have shown the courtesy to come here and I have done my part by cooperating with them," he added. Earlier in the day Chatterjee, in a letter to the CBI, said that he was a senior citizen and was presently busy with the election of chief minister Mamata Banerjee and so it would not be possible for him to be present for the CBI officers. Chatterjee, however, said that if the CBI officers wanted to interrogate him at his home, he would be available for them and would cooperate with the agency to the best of his knowledge. The reply came after on September 8, the CBI sent a letter to Chatterjee asking him to appear at the agency's regional headquarters in Nizam Palace in South Kolkata in connection with the I-Core chit fund scam. It has been learnt that the CBI has found direct relation of Chatterjee with I-Core group and they want to interrogate him on the basis of that. Sources in the CBI revealed that the investigation agency has found a video clip where Chatterjee was found with I-Core chief Anukul Maity on the stage in a program and Chatterjee was heard speaking in favour of I-Core. "The date of the video clip dates back to a time when there were several complaints against I-Core and so it would be interesting to learn why, being a minister of the state, Chatterjee went to the program and spoke in favour of I-Core that might have influenced the people. Not only that, during interrogation, on several occasions, Chatterjee's name popped up and we want to know the exact details from the state minister," a CBI officer had said. This is not the first time but there were several other occasions when the central agencies like CBI and ED had sent notices to Partha Chatterjee but he had avoided the interrogation citing his engagement in election and other political programs. The I-Core chit fund scam broke in 2015 when the Central Investigation Agency arrested the chief of I-Core group Anukul Maity allegedly for illegally mobilising funds collected from small investors to the tune of Rs 3,000 crore. Maity who faced charges of money laundering was lodged in a jail in Bhubaneswar where he died in November 2020. Amaravati, Sep 13 : Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy has written to external affairs minister S. Jaishankar about several Indian workers being ill-treated by their employers in Bahrain. The Chief Minister sought the assistance of the Centre for the return of the workers to their respective home towns. In a letter to the central minister on Monday, Jagan Mohan Reddy pointed out that among the impacted workers, a sizeable number belongs to Andhra Pradesh. "In this regard, I would like to bring to your kind notice that the Government of Andhra Pradesh will extend all possible support to Government of India in repatriating the affected workers, belonging to Andhra Pradesh, from Bahrain," he wrote. "I request the officials from your good office to reach out to Resident Commissioner, Andhra Pradesh Bhavan or officers from my office (Chief Minister's Office, Andhra Pradesh) for any assistance needed for repatriating affected workers belonging to Andhra Pradesh," he added. Chandigarh, Sep 13 : Launching a scathing attack on the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) for double crossing the farmers over the issue of farm laws, Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh on Monday said the farm laws were drafted with the consent of the Akali Dal with Harsimrat Kaur Badal as the Union Minister. He said even former Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal argued in favour of these laws but changed their tune completely when their move backfired. Calling the Congress as the only party who protested against these 'black' laws from the very first day, the Chief Minister said his government called an all-party meeting and then held consultations with farm unions. Afterwards, the state government convened a special session of the Vidhan Sabha and passed bills aimed at countering these farm laws. Taking on the Union government, the Punjab Chief Minister said that the constitution has been amended 127 times since 1950. "So why not one more time to repeal the farm laws for providing succour to the farmers who have been sitting at Singhu and Tikri borders," said Amarinder Singh adding the state government has provided Rs 5 lakh to every farmer from the state who died during the agitation against farm laws, besides a job to the next of kin of deceased farmers. The Chief Minister was addressing a gathering on the occasion of laying the foundation stone of the College of Agriculture of Punjab Agriculture University (PAU) at Ballowal Saunkhri in SBS Nagar district and kick-starting the session with admissions already made to 60 seats and classes set to begin from October 1. Pointing out further, the Chief Minister said it would be the first time that a college of agriculture outside the PAU campus would come up with the BSc (Agriculture) course. Speaking on the occasion, the Chief Minister said the opening of this college will prove to be a milestone in the development of agriculture in the Kandi area and will be helpful in strengthening its research on the problems and crops of this region as well as agricultural services for region's farmers. The college would boost the research on how to ensure more production with the judicious use of water resources as the lands are less and water is scarce in the region, added the Chief Minister. Announcing a horticultural research station in Nawanshahr, Amarinder Singh emphasized apple research also as part of diversification. "The state government would now pay 90 per cent of the subsidy from earlier 60 per cent paid to the small farmers for erecting barbed wire fencing in order to protect their crops from animals," said the Chief Minister, adding five horticulture estates have been set up to guide the farmers and provide them the services for raising the fruits and vegetables. As part of efforts to improve the market infrastructure, market intelligence services and processing facilities, two mega food parks have been set up as also an agricultural marketing innovations, research and intelligence centre to help production, marketing and planning keeping in view the national and international demand and prices. The Chief Minister also handed over cheques under debt waiver scheme as a token gesture to 25 landless farmers and farm labourers out of the total 31,066 beneficiaries in the district. These beneficiaries have got the benefit to the tune of Rs 64.61 crore. -- The story has been published from a wire feed without any modifications to the text Mumbai, Sep 13 : The opposition Bharatiya Janata Party in Maharashtra on Monday urged the Maha Vikas Aghadi government to come clean on the curious case of 'missing' former Home Minister Anil Deshmukh and ex-Mumbai Police Commissioner Param Bir Singh. Leader of Opposition (Council) Pravin Darekar said that the home department must find out their whereabouts and inform the people where Deshmukh and Singh are currently located. "The government should ascertain whether Deshmukh is in Mumbai, Nagpur, his constituency, or elsewhere, and also where Singh is currently. The latter (Singh) is still an officer working under the Home Department," Darekar told mediapersons here. His comments came amid reports that the Enforcement Directorate (ED) has sought the help of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to trace Deshmukh, who is sought by both the central agencies for probe. Similarly, Singh is on the radar of Maharashtra police and a probe commission investigating his March 'letter-bomb' wherein he had levelled certain allegations of corruption against Deshmukh, leading to the latter's resignation as Home Minister on April 5. Subsequently, Deshmukh has been raided by both the ED and the CBI in the past six months. He also moved various courts, but ignored at least 5 summons from the ED, contending that the matter is pending before the courts. Likewise, Singh, 59, who had proceeded 'on leave' in early-May and was reportedly living in Chandigarh, has not responded to a Special Investigation Team (SIT) or to notices seeking his appearance before the retired Justice K. U. Chandiwal Commission set up by the Maharashtra government. Last week, Chandiwal had issued a bailable warrant of Rs 50,000 against Singh and placed the matter for further hearing on September 22. Earlier, Singh was fined thrice which he paid up, even as he moved the courts challenging the setting up of the probe panel. Among those 'skipping' calls to join the probe is former state Intelligence Department chief Rashmi Shukla, who bunked Mumbai Police's two summons in April in connection with the investigation into the alleged illegal phone-tapping case of several prominent persons. However, in May, Shukla, 56, agreed to record her statement with a police team which went from Mumbai to Hyderabad, where she is posted as the Additional DGP of CRPF, South Zone. The cases involving Deshmukh and Singh are also linked to the probe into the planting of an SUV with 20 gelatin sticks and a threat note near Mukesh Ambani's house 'Antilia' in south Mumbai, followed by the death of the vehicle's owner, Mansukh Hiran. The Mumbai Police filed a chargesheet in the case earlier this month, detailing the sequence of events. The police also invoked terror and murder charges against all the accused. Officials attribute the apprehensions of possible detention or arrest by the concerned agencies as the primary reasons behind VIPs or prominent personalities not turning up physically for investigations. Instead, they rely on their battery of legal advisors or move the courts at various levels to evade the probe summons, a luxury which the commoners can ill-afford, officials said. (Quaid Najmi can be contacted at: q.najmi@ians.in) Washington, Sep 13 : While parents are eagerly waiting to inoculate their kids with Covid-19 vaccines to protect them from infections, the US Food and Drug Administration has warned against using the currently available shots for children under 12. In a recent statement, the regulatory body said it is working round the clock to support the process for making Covid-19 vaccines available for children. It said that it "cannot offer a specific date or timeline" for the vaccine but assured that they "hope to have paediatric Covid-19 vaccines available in the coming months". "Parents may be wondering if they can ask their health care providers to go ahead and vaccinate their kids using one of the currently available vaccines outside of the FDA-authorised or approved uses," said Janet Woodcock, MD, Acting Commissioner of Food and Drugs - FDA, and Peter Marks, Director - Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research, in the statement. "Parents need to remember that the vaccine doses that are currently being studied in younger children are not necessarily the same vaccine doses that were authorised for individuals 12 years and older or approved for individuals 16 years of age and older -there are different dosing regimens being investigated. The FDA said that they are awaiting completion of clinical trials and results before considering vaccinating young kids. It wants to ensure that the vaccines are able to prevent Covid-19 in young children and don't cause unexpected safety issues separate from those that have already been observed in adolescents and adults. The available vaccines, none of which have been cleared for children under 12, may not be a safe or effective dose for young children, the agency noted. Paediatric clinical trials, which will help determine the right vaccine dose for children under 12, are still underway. Health officials have previously expressed concern that full approval of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine for people 16 and up might prompt parents to seek, or doctors to give, the shots off-label to young children, specifically warning against the move. "Children are not small adults -- and issues that may be addressed in paediatric vaccine trials can include whether there is a need for different doses or different strength formulations of vaccines already used for adults," said Woodcock and Marks. New Delhi, Sep 13 : Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday congratulated Bhupendra Patel after he took oath as new Chief Minister of Gujarat. In a tweet, Prime Minister Modi said, "Congratulations to Bhupendra Bhai on taking oath as CM of Gujarat. I have known him for years and have seen his exemplary work, be it in the BJP Organisation or in civic administration and community service. He will certainly enrich Gujarat's growth trajectory." The Prime Minister also lauded former Chief Minister Vijay Rupani for undertaking many people-friendly measures. "During his five years as CM, Vijay Rupani Ji has undertaken many people-friendly measures. He worked tirelessly for all sections of society. I am certain he will continue to contribute to public service in the times to come," Modi said in another tweet. Congratulating Patel, Union home minister Amit Shah, who was in Gandhinagar to attend the swearing in ceremony, tweeted, "Congratulations to Bhupendra Patel for taking oath as chief minister of Gujarat. I have faith that while working under the leadership of Narendra Modi ji with full devotion and dedication for the poor, farmers and deprived section of society, you will take the development journey of Gujarat to new heights." BJP chief J.P. Nadda also congratulated Patel. In a tweet, Nadda said, "Hearty congratulations to Bhupendra Patel for taking oath as chief minister of Gujarat. I have full confidence under Prime Minister Narendra Modi's guidance and under your leadership, pace of Gujarat development will be accelerated." In another tweet Nadda said, "For the last two decades, the BJP has been continuously serving the people of Gujarat. As chief minister Modi ji had given a new direction to development of the state which was carried forward by Anandiben Patel and Vijay Rupani. In the last five years, Rupani ji has made all the efforts for development of states and welfare of people." Chiba : , Sep 13 (IANS) India succumbed to their second successive defeat in Group A preliminary league, losing to Qatar 3-0 (22-25, 14-25, 20-25) at Chiba Port Arena, Japan, and all but ending their hopes of finishing the top eight in the competition. The Indian team had started its campaign with a loss to Bahrain on Sunday and had to win against Qatar to maintain their chances of finishing in the top two in the four-team group. India now play their last league match against defending champions Japan on Tuesday. Qatar is ranked 31 in the World while India have slumped to 90 following Sunday's defeat to Bahrain. The Indians put up a good fight in the first set but Qatar dominated the second set. For India, spiker Charles Jerome Vinith was the top scorer with 19 points while Chirag and Subham Chaudhary contributed five and four points respectively. For Qatar, Ibrahim Ibrahim top-scored with 12 points while Ribeiro Renan scored 8 points and Dahi WW Hammad Mubarak contributed seven. India now face Japan in their last preliminary league match and have to beat the nine-time champions in straight sets. They will also have to hope that the other matches in the group too end in 3-0 wins so as to harbour chances of making it to the quarterfinal league. In volleyball, teams winning 3-0 or 3-1 get the full three points while teams winning 3-2 get two points and the losing team bags one point. Bhopal, Sep 13 : As the second wave of Covid-19 in Madhya Pradesh is ebbing, dengue is posing a new threat to the people of the state. As the number of dengue patients surge, the state government is worried about the people infected with the viral infection. The BJP government in the state will launch "Dengue se Jung Janata Ke Sang" campaign on Wednesday to spread awareness among the people in the fight against dengue. The number of dengue patients have risen in the last few days. The state government has advised the public not to allow stagnant water at any place for more than a week. The people must clean their coolers, water tanks, pots, vase, old tyres, waste boxes, empty plot pits etc. They must also use chemicals like Temephos 50 per cent solution, BTI powder and BTI liquid for mosquitoe larvae control. The administration has advised outdoor fogging with chemical cyphenothrin 5 per cent in the affected areas and space spraying with insecticide pyrethrum 2 per cent in houses located within 400 metres of the house of a dengue patient. Preparations are being made to facilitate dengue prevention and control activities and run publicity campaigns to make the people aware about the menace of dengue. Several teams will be formed for conducting larval survey, space spray, fogging and clearing water-logged areas. Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan told the people, "Due to unnecessary stagnation of water around the houses, dengue-causing larvae gets a chance to flourish. With awareness, corona and dengue as well as other infectious diseases can be prevented." The Chief Minister said, "A decision has also been taken to run the 'Dengue se Jung Janata Ke Sang' campaign on September 15. Dengue cases have been reported in the state so my government has decided to start this campaign. All government staff are pitching in for fogging, destroying larvae, maintaining cleanliness, applying mosquitoe killing medicines in water- logged areas. This war against dengue also has to be fought with the cooperation of the general public." Commenting on the surge in dengue infections, former Chief Minister and Congress leader Kamal Nath said, "The number of dengue and viral fever patients in Madhya Pradesh is continuously increasing at an alarming rate. Several districts have been infected with dengue and have become hotspots for the disease. The hospitals are fully occupied with patients. The plight of crumbling health services is coming to the fore every day. The BJP government must immediately make all necessary arrangements for prevention of dengue on a war footing." New Delhi, Sep 13 : The Supreme Court on Monday observed that it, prima facie, is of the view that deaths of Covid patients by suicide must be treated as Covid deaths, and the Centre should reconsider non-inclusion of such deaths in its guidelines. A bench comprising Justices M.R. Shah and A.S. Bopanna told Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, representing the Centre, that the court has gone through the Centre's affidavit and it seems to be fine. However, it pointed out few issues, such as what about the persons who died by suicide while they were suffering from Covid, and how will the states implement the policy issued by the Centre. The bench further queried as to what will happen about certificates that have already been issued and also what about the documents provided by the hospitals. Expressing satisfaction with Centre's decision on a Covid-19 death certificate for granting compensation, the bench observed that there are some errors, which needs to be dealt with. With the Health Ministry and the Indian Council of Medical Research holding that "deaths occurring due to poisoning, suicide, homicide, deaths due to accident etc will not be considered as Covid-19 deaths even if Covid-19 is an accompanying condition", the court observed that it is prima facie of view that Covid patients who had committed suicide should be treated as Covid death. Advocate Gaurav Bansal, who had moved the plea for compensation, said that guidelines for official document for Covid-19 deaths, which was annexed with Centre's compliance affidavit, stated that the government has decided to not consider the death by suicide as Covid-19 death, even if Covid-19 is an accompanying condition. In an additional affidavit, he contended that that this is irrational, illogical and unreasonable, hence discriminatory. Cited a Nimhans research paper, as well as the National Mental Health Policy issued by Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, he submitted that even Nimhans terms suicide of person who is Covid positive as Covid-19 suicide, therefore non-inclusion is nothing but irrational and it needs reconsideration. As the top court asked Centre to re-consider its decision this aspect, the Centre's counsel submitted before the bench that it will re-examine the issue. The top court has scheduled the matter for further hearing on September 23, besides directing the Centre to issue guidelines on ex-gratia assistance for next of kin of those who succumbed to Covid. Last week, the Centre had told the top court that the Health Ministry and the ICMR on September 3, have jointly issued guidelines for issuance of an 'official document' for Covid-19 related deaths. The top court, in its June 30 judgment, ordered steps to simplify guidelines for issuance and correction of death certificates/official documents. The judgment came on two separate pleas filed by lawyers Reepak Kansal and Bansal seeking directions to the Centre and states to provide Rs 4 lakh compensation to the families of those who succumbed to Covid. The top court has then directed Centre to frame guidelines on ex-gratia assistance within 6 weeks. Latest updates on Coronavirus (COVID-19) New Delhi, Sep 13 : The Supreme Court on Monday agreed to list for hearing Delhi government's plea against the new law, which allegedly gives primacy to Delhi's Lieutenant Governor (L-G) over the elected government. Senior advocate Abhishek Manu Singhvi, representing the Delhi government, sought urgent hearing on the plea. A bench headed by chief justice N.V. Ramana and comprising justices Surya Kant and Hima Kohli said: "We will list it". Singhvi submitted before the bench that the Government of National Capital Territory (Amendment) Act 2021 is contrary to the constitution bench judgement of the Supreme Court. He added it is "against Article 239A (which deals with the status of Delhi) under the Constitution". Singhvi submitted that the extra power given to the LG has made governance difficult. The Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha passed the Government of National Capital Territory (GNCTD) Amendment Act, 2021 on March 22 and March 24, respectively. Singhvi further added that the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government plea should be listed, as it was cleared by the apex court's registry on August 19. In March, after the Parliament approved the bill, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal had termed it as a "sad day for Indian democracy". The amended Act has changed four provisions of the National Capital Territory of Delhi Act, 1991. Hyderabad, Sep 13 : The Telangana High Court on Monday refused to modify its order banning immersion of Ganesh idols made of Plaster of Paris (PoP) in Hussain Sagar lake in Hyderabad. The court dismissed the revision petition filed by the state government to allow immersion of PoP idols in the lake. A division bench comprising acting Chief Justice M.S. Ramachandra Rao and Justice T. Vinod Kumar made it clear that it cannot permit water pollution by allowing immersion of PoP idols. "You created a situation of impossibility, now solve it. We cannot grant permission to people to pollute Hussain Sagar," the bench said. "We respect religious sentiments, but there is no scripture that says that we should only pray to Lord Ganesh idols made of Plaster of Paris," remarked the bench. It told the state government that if it doesn't like its order, it can challenge the same before a higher court. The bench also asked the authorities whether they implement laws or violate them. The review petition was filed by Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) Commissioner Lokesh Kumar to allow the immersion of PoP idols in Hussain Sagar. The municipal commissioner had also requested the high court to modify its order disallowing immersion of idols from the Tank Bund road. The petitioner had mentioned that if immersion is not allowed from Tank Bund, it may take up to six days for the immersion of thousands of idols brought to the lake. "The government has spent a large amount of taxpayers' money to beautify Tank Bund. Will the immersion of Ganesha idols not cause damage to Tank Bund? Has the government not thought this through," asked the bench. Lokesh Kumar also wanted exemption from creating a rubber dam to confine immersion of idols in Hussain Sagar to a limited area. He assured the court that all the debris from the lake will be cleared within 24 hours after the immersion procession is completed. The court expressed its surprise over the review petition and wanted to know why the government did not convey to it the difficulties in immersion of idols. The high court, in its order dated September 9, had banned the immersion of PoP idols in Hussain Sagar. The government on Sunday made an attempt to move a house motion but the court refused to entertain it and asked it to make the attempt on Monday instead. The court took up the hearing in the post-lunch session. Animal Husbandry and Cinematography Minister Talasani Srinivas Yadav had said on Sunday that by the time the high court delivers its decision on immersion of PoP idols, 35,000 Ganesh idols had already been installed at various locations in Hyderabad and it is not possible for the government to make alternative arrangements by constructing special ponds at such short time. He said lakhs of people are likely to participate in the immersion procession across the city and all arrangements have been made for peaceful and safe immersion. The government took the decision to move the review petition after an appeal by the Bhagyanagar Ganesh Utsav Samithi (BGUS). The Samithi, which organises a mammoth immersion procession every year, had urged the government to file a review petition to ensure that 'Hindu sentiments' are protected and the festival is carried out in keeping with the traditions in place. The BGUS had called the court order a violation of right to freedom of religion. The court had pronounced its orders on a contempt petition filed by advocate Mamidi Venu Madhav for not implementing the court's order in the writ petition filed by him seeking a direction to restrain people from immersing idols made of Plaster of Paris in Hussain Sagar lake. The 10-day long Ganesh festival began on Friday. The festivities will conclude on September 19 with immersion. Every year, thousands of idols are immersed in Hussain Sagar. Huge idols are brought to the lake in a mammoth processions which start from Balapur on the city's outskirts. NGOs, environmental activists and eminent citizens have been voicing concern over the pollution in the lake and demanding curbs on immersion. Agartala, Sep 13 : The BJP government in Tripura on Monday disallowed the first ever mega rally scheduled to be organised by the Trinamool Congress under the leadership of the partys national General Secretary Abhishek Banerjee in Agartala on Wednesday, sources said. Hours after the Tripura police cancelled the September 15 rally, Trinamool General Secretary Kunal Ghosh tweeted that the mega rally would be held on September 16 for which the party has sought permission from the Tripura police in writing. "To prevent Abhishek Banerjee's rally in Agartala, the BJP conspired in numerous ways. Such conspiracies would not stop Abhishek Banerjee and the Trinamool in Tripura. They are afraid of Abhishek Banerjee's political strength," said Ghosh, who is also the chief spokesman of West Bengal's ruling party. He said the police cancelled Trinamool's rally on Wednesday after "political directions". West Tripura district police chief Manik Lal Das told IANS that the Mahila Morcha (women's wing) of the BJP had earlier sought permission from the police to hold a rally in Agartala on Wednesday. "We cannot allow two parties to hold rallies in Agartala at the same time. Moreover, the geographical position of the city does not permit two mega rallies at the same time," Das said. Anirban Das, sub-divisional police officer, Sadar, in a letter to Trinamool leader Subal Bhowmik said on Monday that during a review meeting, it was found that permission for organising a mass rally in Agartala has already been granted to another political party on the relevant date and time. "On further review, it was also found that the political party will organise the mass rally in the same route as prayed from your end. As such, from the perspective of security and law and order, the protest rally (of Trinamool) on September 15 from 14:00 hrs is not permitted," the letter said. With an eye on the Assembly polls in Tripura scheduled in 2023, Trinamool leaders, including Abhishek Banerjee, Bengal ministers and over 12 MPs are frequently visiting the state since July 25 to build the organisation and garner support in the BJP-ruled state. A series of violent incidents involving Trinamool leaders from West Bengal and Tripura occurred in the state. Many leaders were also arrested by the Tripura police. Trinamool's political activities got a boost after the All India Mahila Congress chief and former Congress MP from Silchar, Sushmita Dev, joined the party on August 16. Dev, who's father and former Union minister late Santosh Mohan Dev was instrumental in installing the Congress-led government in Tripura in 1988, has been given the charge of Tripura. She is now touring the state for more than a week to strengthen the party. Mumbai, Sep 13 : The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has cautioned the public against falling prey to frauds in the name of KYC (know your customer) update and sharing key details such as debit and credit card details and OTPs. In a statement on Monday, the RBI said that it has been receiving complaints and reports about customers falling prey to frauds being perpetrated in the name of KYC updation. The usual modus operandi in such cases include receipt of unsolicited communication, such as, calls, SMSs, emails among others from customers by urging them to share certain personal, account, or login details, card information, PIN and OTP or install some unauthorised or unverified application for KYC updation using a link provided in the communication. Such communications are also reported to carry threats of account freeze or closure, it said. Once the customer shares information over call or message application, fraudsters get access to customer's account and defraud the person. "Members of public are hereby cautioned not to share account login details, personal information, copies of KYC documents, card information, PIN, password, OTP, etc. with unidentified persons or agencies. Further, such details should not be shared through unverified/unauthorised websites or applications," it said. In case people receive any such requests, they should get in touch with their bank. The RBI also clarified that while the Regulated Entities (REs) are required to undertake periodic updation of KYC, the process of periodic updation of KYC has been simplified to a large extent vide circular dated May 10, 2021. Further, through circular dated May 5, 2021, REs have been advised that in respect of customer accounts where periodic updation of KYC is due and pending as on date, no restrictions on operations of such account shall be imposed till December 31, 2021, for this reason alone, unless warranted under instructions of any regulator/enforcement agency/court of law among others. Los Angeles, Sep 13 : Country legend Dolly Parton won at the third and final installment of the Creative Arts Emmy Awards, which were held in Los Angeles on Sunday. Parton won as an executive producer of Netflix's 'Christmas on the Square', which was voted outstanding television movie. She received her first Emmy nod back in 1978 for her supporting role in 'Cher...Special'. The Creative Arts Emmys are the lead-up to the 73rd annual Emmy Awards, which will be presented on September 19. Several other notable music names or programmes also won the Creative Arts Emmys this year. Robert Lopez, who is already a double EGOT (Emmy, Grammy, Oscar, and Tony) received his first Primetime Emmy. Lopez and his wife and creative partner Kristen Anderson-Lopez won outstanding original music and lyrics for the song 'Agatha all Along' for an episode of 'WandaVision' on Disney+. Kristen Anderson-Lopez just needs a Tony to become an EGOT in her own right. Choreographer Debbie Allen won two Emmys for her work on the Parton project - one as an executive producer and the other for outstanding choreography for scripted programming. Allen is also set to receive the Governor's Award from the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences on September 19. Composer Steven Price won his first Emmy for outstanding music composition for a documentary series or special (original dramatic score) for Netflix's 'David Attenborough: A Life on Our Planet'. Composer Ludwig Goransson won his second Emmy for his work on Disney+'s 'The Mandalorian', which was voted outstanding music composition for a series (original dramatic score). He had won in the same category last year for his work on the same show. Bo Burnham won three Emmys for his work on the Netflix special 'Bo Burnham: Inside'. He won outstanding music direction and outstanding directing and writing for a variety special. Burnham is nominated for one more award for the special next week -- outstanding variety special (pre-recorded). If he wins, Burham will become just the fourth individual to win four Emmys in one year. Keke Palmer won her first Emmy for outstanding actress in a short-form comedy or drama series for her work in Keke Palmer's 'Turt Up With the Taylors'. HBO's 'The Bee Gees: How Can You Mend a Broken Heart' won for outstanding sound editing for a nonfiction or reality programme (single or multi-camera). The award went to sound supervisor Jonathan Greber and sound effects editor Pascal Garneau. David Byrne's 'American Utopia' won two Emmys -- outstanding sound mixing for a variety series or special and outstanding lighting design/lighting direction for a variety special. The HBO show is up for two major awards on September 19 -- outstanding variety special (pre-recorded) and outstanding direction for a variety special for director Spike Lee. Ben Winston, the new executive producer of the Grammy telecast, won his 10th Emmy (in just six years) as an executive producer of 'Carpool Karaoke: The Series' (Apple TV), which won outstanding short-form comedy, drama, or variety series. Winston is nominated for three more Emmys, two for his work on 'Friends: The Reunion' and one for his work on the Grammys, which is up for outstanding variety special (live). Composer Carlos Rafael Rivera won outstanding music composition for a limited or anthology series, movie or special (original dramatic score) for his work on Netflix's 'The Queen's Gambit'. It was his second Emmy. Music supervisors Ciara Elwis and Matt Biffa won for outstanding music supervision for their work on HBO's 'I May Destroy You'. Composer Blake Neely won his first Emmy for outstanding original main title theme music for his work on HBO Max's 'The Flight Attendant'. London, Sep 13 : US drug maker Pfizer wrongly assumed that the coronavirus outbreak would be quickly contained and thus declined the offer made by BioNTech to develop a vaccine against the infectious disease that has so far claimed more than 4 million lives globally. Germany-based BioNTech, now capitalised at US$84 billion, helmed by Turkish couple Dr Ugur Sahin and his wife Dr Ozlem Tureci, were given a "no" by the pharmaceutical giant as the virus was starting to sweep the globe in January 2020, the Telegraph reported. "Guys, this is not going to work, they were told by Dr Phil Dormitzer, Pfizer's Vice President and Chief Scientific Officer for vaccines. Dormitzer also considered it to be too experimental," the report said. "My working assumption was that it (Covid-19) would be controlled" like the SARS and MERS outbreaks, Dormitzer later confirmed. It is because Dormitzer had been involved with discussions about whether to create vaccines for MERS and SARS, only to see the pathogens quickly contained. However, it was only a "matter of time" before Pfizer changed its mind and a deal was announced between the two companies a month later. So far, about 1.4 billion doses of Pfizer and BioNTech two-dose revolutionary Covid jab, developed based on mRNA technology, has been shipped to more than 120 countries. BioNTech founders revealed the story of initial rejection by Pfizer in a new book titled The Vaccine, written by journalist Joe Miller, to be released this week, the report said. It also accounts how the couple, who emigrated to Germany from Turkey as small children and met on a cancer ward as young doctors, built not one billion-dollar biotech company but two. And how they gambled everything to pivot BioNTech to focus exclusively on a Covid vaccine in early 2020, it added. Latest updates on Coronavirus (COVID-19) His Masters Voice : -- that is how the Chief of Pakistan's spy agency, Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) is known in his country. Hameed is the man Friday of the Pakistani army chief General Qamar Javed Bajwa. After installing Pakistani armys favourites on the top posts of the Taliban government, he is expected to replace his boss next year in November 2022, that is, of course, if Bajwa chooses to "retire". As expected, after accomplishing "Mission Kabul", Hameed is now being compared to the former ISI chief Hamid Gul who is known as the "Godfather of Taliban". Gul didn't create the group - he nurtured it. In Afghanistan. Gul was sometimes called "the butcher of the Afghans." Now there is another Hameed who is despised by Afghans for supporting and assisting the Taliban in carrying out genocide in Panjshir in Afghanistan. Afghans call him the "butcher of Panjshir." On his orders, Pakistani Special Forces have reportedly flown helicopter gunships and drones in support of the Taliban as they try to wipe out resistance in the Panjshir Valley. "Hamid Gul was the ISI chief when Russia left Afghanistan in 1989 and Faiz Hameed is the ISI chief when the US left Afghanistan in 2021. Both are butchers and responsible for the mess in our country," says Mukhtar Wafayee, an Afghan journalist. "The visits of the director-general of Inter-Services Intelligence are usually kept under wraps but it wasn't the case with his(Hameed's) trip to Kabul," Pakistan's Tribune reported. "Don't worry, everything will be alright," Faiz Hameed had said when he landed in Kabul last week in full media glare, to sort out the internal differences in government formation. He made sure all ISI favourite, the Haqqanis get the lion's share in the government. His boss, General Bajwa was elated. After all, in 2019, he picked up his trusted Hameed to head the ISI replacing Lieutenant General Asim Muneer who had been appointed only eight months ago. It was after appointing Hameed as the ISI chief that Bajwa forced Imran Khan to give him a three-year extension. For background, Hameed was seen to be hugely influential within ISI during his previous stint in the agency, according to Pakistani analysts. According to Reuters, Hameed was one of the figures who brokered a deal when protesters of the Tehreek-i-Labbaik blocked off roads into capital Islamabad. At that time, Maj Gen Faiz Hameed of the ISI signed the agreement in his capacity as the 'guarantor' side-lining the then Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif who was later "disqualified" by the Pakistani Supreme Court when his name appeared in the Panama Leak case. It was said at that time that it was Hameed who rigged the 2018 general elections in favour of the incumbent Prime Minister Imran Khan's Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) on orders of his boss, General Bajwa. Pakistani journalist Mohammad Taqi then wrote on Twitter, "Gen. Faiz Hameed, the man accused of political engineering and stealing the 2018 elections for Imran Khan, is the new DG of ISI." Quoting Pakistani analyst Ayesha Siddiqa, Reuters wrote: "Hameed is another hardliner who would try to plug the domestic holes more ferociously - issues such as internal dissent cropping up due to PTM, Baluch, political parties at variance. He will also have to ensure extension of the COAS and keep the religious parties in better control of the military." Both Hameed and Bajwa are from the same Baluch Regiment, and Hameed has worked under Bajwa several times in the last 15 years and became his most trusted man. According to the Indian intelligence sources, Hameed has a great links with the anti-Indian terror groups such as Jaish-e-Mohammad, (JeM), Hizb-ul-Mujahideen (HM), Harkat-ul- Ansar (HuA presently known as Harkat-ul Mujahideen), Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), Harkat-ul Mujahideen (Hum, previously known as Harkatul- Ansar), Harkat-ul-Jehadal-Islam (HUJI), Muttahida Jehad Council (MUC), Jammu & Kashmir National Liberation Army and Al Umar Mujahideen. Unlike Hamid Gul and Asad Durrani and others , Hameed is unapologetic about his ties with Taliban, Haqqani Network and other terror groups. It is rumoured that he made a deal with the Haqqanis to get help to Kashmir terror groups. He is also quite good in dealing with all "dirty" tricks on the orders of Bajwa. In June this year on his orders several Pakistani journalists were picked up by ISI and tortured. Pakistani Geo news anchor Hamid Mir was taken off the air because he protested against the high handedness of the ISI. General Bajwa had done a major reshuffle of top generals in the security establishment last week but according to the Pakistani media, despite the pressure from his top army brass, he refused to shift his favourite Faiz Hameed. (The content is being carried under an arrangement with indianarrative.com) --indianarrative New Delhi, Sep 13: As the Chinese real estate behemoth Evergrande Group landed in a serious crisis, revealing the real hidden problems of the countrys property market driven by shadow banking, business ommunity across world is carefully watching the developments. A tumbling real estate sector in China could affect the world economy. According to the Institute of Chinese Studies (ICS), China's household debt in December last year was estimated at 150 per cent of its disposable income. This was also marked by a rise in property prices and seems to be concentrated among the millennials. "There have been serious over-investments in several sectors in China, real estate being just one of the many. So, there are issues but since there is little transparency regarding data, it is difficult to assess the intensity of the problem," Shakti Sinha, director, Atal Bihari Vajpayee Institute of Policy Research and International Studies, MS University earlier told India Narrative. The Evergrande crisis has brought out a critical issue -- the problem of high and unsustainable debt that several Chinese firms may be getting caught in at this juncture when the world economy is going through testing times amid the Covid 19 pandemic and shifting geopolitical contours. China, which has remained focused on economic growth, has been witnessing a surge in its overall debt level-whether it is for local governments or corporates. High credit has been a pillar for China's economic growth. The ICS said the high credit borrowing has also put strain on financial institutions of the country. Besides, "zombie" companies that have little to no productive use, are borrowing more and more simply to meet their current obligations. The ICS study also pointed out that several state-owned and private companies in China have property subsidiaries, and property loans made to these subsidiaries are sometimes presented in the books as going to the parent company. "This results in the share of property-related debt being much higher than what is available in the official data." Earlier, Reuters reported that China's corporate bond defaults hit a record high this year, highlighting tightening credit conditions and a growing reluctance by regional governments to bail out troubled state-owned firms. Chinese companies' bond defaults amounted to 62.59 billion yuan -- $9.67 billion in the first half of the 2021, the highest ever, according to Fitch Ratings. "That increasing proportion of defaults by state-owned enterprises (SOEs) has raised concerns among some investors that the end of implicit government guarantees on SOE debt could create market instability," it said. (The content is being carried under an arrangement with indianarrative.com) --indianarrative Patna, Sep 13 : Five persons including an accountant in a government hospital were booked for violating the liquor ban in Bihar's Supaul district on Monday. The FIR was registered on the basis of a viral video wherein they were allegedly seen consuming liquor inside the government hospital on September 8. The accused persons -- Subhash Singh, the accountant; Pawan Kumar Rajak, outsourcing supervisor; Sarvesh Kumar Yadav, resident of ward number 16; Arjun Sardar and one other person were seen in the video consuming alcohol. Sandeep Kumar Singh, the SHO of Triveniganj police station, said: "We have investigated the video of the incident and found that the accused were consuming liquor and chicken." "After the incident came to light, we conducted raids in the hospital as well as their respective homes but no one was found. Efforts are on to nab them," the officer said, The liquor prohibition law was enforced in Bihar on April 4, 2016. Under its provisions, consumption and trade of liquor is completely banned. New Delhi, Sep 13 : The West Bengal government on Monday questioned before the Supreme Court the credibility of the NHRC panel, which examined alleged human rights violation in post-poll violence, contending that it consisted of members who are either members of the BJP or known to be closely associated with BJP. Listing the members of the committee, which was formed to investigate the incidents of post-poll violence, senior advocate Kapil Sibal, representing the state government, noted that a few members were close to the BJP, having ties with the party. "Can you imagine these people have been appointed to collect the data? Is this a BJP investigating committee, my Lords?" he submitted. As a bench comprising Justices Vineet Saran and Aniruddha Bose observed that if somebody had a political past and if he lands up in an official position, should the court treat him to be biased, Sibal said that the members are still uploading posts related to the BJP. "How can the Chairman of the human rights committee appoint such members?" he asked, seeking some interim order in the meantime. However, the bench said: "Nothing will happen. We'll have it on Monday." The state government's plea had argued that committee report was prepared in great haste, "with a pre-conceived and motivated objective and most crucially, in utter disregard of the principles of natural justice, the established principles of criminal jurisprudence". It further added that the direction transferring cases to the CBI and the SIT was not in accordance with the principles laid down by the top court. It was argued that transfer of investigation of cases to the CBI and the SIT must be done in rare or exceptional cases only. The top court has scheduled the matter for further hearing on September 20 and pointed out that it will go through the chart submitted by the state government. The West Bengal government moved the top court against the Calcutta High Court order, which directed court-monitored CBI probe into the heinous cases of rape and murder during the post-poll violence in the state, after accepting the NHRC panel's recommendations. A five-judge bench headed by Acting Chief Justice Rajesh Bindal, had ordered a CBI investigation in all alleged cases of heinous crimes in West Bengal after the Assembly poll results, in which the Trinamool Congress came back to power. The state government said that the CBI has been rightly described as "caged parrot" and it cannot function independently. Mumbai, Sep 13 : Three days after the heinous rape-cum-murder of a 32-year-old woman in Mumbai's Sakinaka, police investigations have ascertained the sequence of events which arose from a monetary dispute and culminated in the crime, Police Commissioner Hemant Nagrale said on Monday. The Maha Vikas Aghadi government has announced a compensation of Rs 20 lakh for the three minor daughter of the victim who succumbed to her grievous injuries on Saturday. Providing details, Nagrale said that the accused - Mohan Chauhan, 45, a jobless driver hailing from Uttar Pradesh's Jaunpur - has confessed to the crime which resulted in a massive political furore in the state. Since the victim belongs to a Scheduled Caste, the police have added charges under the SC/ST Atrocities (Prevention) Act, said Nagrale. The accused and the victims were known to each other and met several times. Financial arguments led to the crime, and the police have recovered the object with which he brutalised her and later hid, he said. Immediately after the incident, the accused went to his cousin's house to clean up and change, and the police have recovered the clothes he wore at the time of the rape-cum-murder. "The primary cause of death were the injuries inflicted all over the victim's body Eminent criminal lawyer Raj Thakre has been appointed the Special Public Prosecutor for this case," Nagrale said. The police chief said that besides the confession of the accused, the statements of witnesses and collating digital evidence like CCTV footage, the police have established the entire chain of events that occurred on the intervening night of Thursday-Friday, the eve of the state's biggest fest, Ganeshotsav. "An experienced woman police officer, Assistant Commissioner of Police Jyotsna Rasam is heading the probe team. We shall complete the remaining investigations within a fortnight and filed the charge sheet within one month," assured Nagrale. While Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray had ordered the trial before a special fast-track court, teams of the National Commission for Women (NCW) and the National Commission for Scheduled Castes visited the victim's family and the site of the incident. A NCW team led by Member Chandramukhi Devi and the NCSC headed by Vice Chairman Arun Haldar visited the incident spot, the civic-run Rajawadi Hospital in Ghatkopar, met the victim's family at their home and went to the Sakinaka Police Station to discuss the matter. Early on Friday, the woman was raped, beaten and brutalised with a rod in a vacant tempo parked off the desolate Chandivali Studios, stunning the people of Maharashtra. The accused had thrust the iron rod inside her private parts and fled the scene, leaving the woman bleeding profusely even as a security guard alerted the Mumbai Police Main Control Room. A police team rushed there in 10 minutes and drove the woman in the same tempo to the Rajawadi Hospital, where she succumbed after nearly 33 hours owing to excessive bleeding, ruptured internal organs, and other serious injuries. Within hours after the incident, deploying tech-intel, the police nabbed the accused Chauhan as he prepared to flee to Jaunpur. He has been charged with assault, rape, murder, and atrocities. As added precautions, Nagrale announced a slew of measures including increased night patrols in deserted localities at night, help to women travelling alone at night, and mobile vans to be parked outside railway stations. The police will also raise the issue of installing streetlights in dark areas with BrihanMumbai Municipal Corporation, provide for more CCTVs in such areas, etc. Police will check strictly on people found drinking in public places at night and prepare a list of habitual sexual offenders who will be under the scanner even after they are released from lockup or prisons, Nagrale added. New Delhi, Sep 13 : Raising concern over delays in corporate insolvency resolution processes (CIRP), the Supreme Court on Monday asked the National Company Law Tribunal and the National Company Law Appellate Tribunal to strictly adhere to the mandated 330-day timeline. Observing that judicial delay was one of the major reasons for the failure of the insolvency regime that was in effect prior to the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC), the court said: "We cannot let the present insolvency regime meet the same fate." The bench, headed by Justice D.Y. Chandrachud, said that the NCLT and the NCLAT should endeavour, on a best effort basis, to strictly adhere to the timelines stipulated under the IBC and clear pending resolution plans forthwith. As per the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, 2016, the CIRP should be completed within 180 days or within the extended period of 90 days and mandatorily be completed within 330 days, including any extension and the time taken in legal processes. The top court, in its judgement, noted that the delays were attributable to the NCLT taking considerable time in admitting CIRPs and late and unsolicited bids by Resolution Applicants after the original bidder becomes public upon passage of the deadline for submission of the plan. Multiplicity of litigation and the appellate process to the NCLAT and the Supreme Court also contribute, it added. "Such inordinate delays cause commercial uncertainty, degradation in the value of the corporate debtor, and makes the insolvency process inefficient and expensive," it said. The bench was hearing the case of Ebix Singapore PTE against the Committee of Creditors of Educomp Solutions. The NCLAT, in July 2020, set aside an order passed by the NCLT's Delhi bench which had allowed Ebix Singapore to withdraw its resolution plan for Educomp Solutions after being selected by 75 per cent members of the CoC. This was challenged by Ebix Singapore PTE in the Supreme Court. Why are Members of the politburo of the Communist Party of China's (CPC) Central Committee so attracted by Tibet these days? During the last two months, ten out of the twenty-five members of the politburo travelled to the Roof of the World. One remembers a Party Secretary, who later became Chinese President (and General Secretary of the CPC), who during his three years posting in Tibet tried his best to avoid to fly to Lhasa; the young Hu Jintao did not like the place. He once told a journalist that he "disliked Tibet's altitude, climate and lack of culture". During his tenure, he shuttled between Lhasa and Beijing where the real power was; there was a common joke about Hu amongst Tibetan cadres: 'Where is Hu?' The answer was: 'Hu is in Beijing Hospital.' He often reported sick each time he was going to leave Beijing! That was some thirty years ago. Today, 'important' cadres have to make sure that they are seen in Tibet. The 'Emperor' himself, the 'Core Leader', Xi Jinping paid an 'inspection tour' of Central and Southern Tibet between July 21 and 23; it was his first visit to Lhasa after a gap of ten years, though he had visited the Northeastern province of Amdo (today Qinghai) in June. Five members of the Politburo accompanied the General Secretary (concurrently serving as Chairman of the all-powerful Central Military Commission). It is interesting to look at Xi's delegation; the composition of which is a clear indicator of the purpose of the 'inspection tour', especially in a system where the information is entirely monitored by the State and where watchers are left to read signs. Xi's Delegation from Beijing First, Ding Xuexiang, CPC's General Secretary and a Secretary of the Party Secretariat; he usually accompanies Xi on his visits/inspection tours. His role is to make sure that decisions are implemented and that there is a concrete follow-up. Also regularly seen during Xi's tours is Liu He, Vice-Premier and member of the Politburo. Liu further serves as Director of the Office of the Central Financial and Economic Affairs Commission. Liu He is Xi's trusted lieutenant, who has several times been used to fill up the 'perception' gap between China and the US. He takes care of the financial aspects of the visit. Yang Xiaodu is the Director of the National Supervisory Commission and also Deputy Secretary of the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection (CCDI) which makes sure that everybody follows the line of the Party. We shall see in a few months if a few heads roll; if it happens, Yang's hand will certainly be behind. Incidentally, during his early political career, Yang served several years in Tibet (1986-1992, Deputy Commissioner, Nagchu Prefecture; 1992-1995, Deputy Secretary, Chamdo, 1998-2001, vice-chairman, TAR government); Yang knows Tibet well, having served fifteen years. One noted the absence of another Politburo member and old Tibet hand: Hu Chunhua; the Vice Premier was not on board for the visit. He had served in Tibet from 1983 to 2007 and is the only member of the Politburo who can fluently speak Tibetan. Probably, the emperor does not like to be in the shade. Then Chen Xi, also a member of the politburo and head of the Organization Department and like Xi Jinping a graduate from Tsinghua University (they know each other since that time). Chen is President of the Central Party School and Vice-minister of Education and Vice Chairman of the China Association for Science and Technology. Xi clearly wants to bring modernity... to the borders with India. The presence of General Zhang Youxia, Vice-Chairman, Central Military Commission (CMC), also member of the politburo is explained by the 'important' meeting between the CMC Chairman (Xi) and all the officers of the Tibet Military District (TMD), including the Commander and the Political Commissar of the Western Theater Command or WTC (based in Chengdu) which had a new Commander, Gen Xu Qiling. The WTC not only looks after Tibet but also the Ladakh front (incidentally Gen Xu Qiling lost his job since then, but we shall come back to this). The CMC Chairman was certainly briefed in detail about the borders with India when he met the top brass of the TheatreCommand. To this list of six members of the politburo, one should add He Lifeng, Minister in charge of the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), the equivalent of our Planning Commission. His presence means that a number of large projects, including the railway line between Lhasa and Chengdu and the Giga hydropower plants on the YarlungTsangpo will soon be undertaken. Xi was personally explained the implications of these projects on the banks of the mighty river, which becomes the Siang and the Brahmaputra in India. The People's Daily resumed the tour's objectives: "implement the Party's strategy for governing Tibet in the new era and write a new chapter in long-term stability and high-quality development of the snow-covered plateau." This refers to the 7th Work Forum held in August 2020 which defined the development policies for Tibet for the five next years, particularly the Sinicization of Tibetan Buddhism. But undoubtedly, the emphasis was the military and economic development of the borders with India. An indication: in the Annual Report presented by the Tibet Autonomous Region's government a few months earlier, the word 'border' was mentioned 54 times, while the 'Dalai Lama' only once. Xi Jinping wants to change the organization of the border for good; we shall see how. Visit of Wang Yang in Tibet But that was not all; on August 19, a central delegation led by Wang Yang, a member of the Politburo's Standing Committee and chairman of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) arrived in Lhasa to attend the 70th anniversary functions. Wang is No 4 in the Communist pantheon. One can ask, why not celebrate the so-called liberation when the 'Core leader', Xi Jinping visited Tibet in July. I have no answer to this. Wang had been 'entrusted' by Xi Jinping to "lead Beijing officials in Tibet along with veteran senior Tibetan officials" to Tibet; a cohort of old Tibetan collaborators was honoured by the visiting VVIP. Wang Yang was accompanied by Admiral Miao Hua, a CMC member, who will probably be the lone uniformed member to survive when the term of the present CMC comes to an end. It was the first visit of a three-star admiral in Tibet. Did Wang and Miao knew that a few days later, Xi would change the commander of the Western Theatre Command for the third time in nine months and Xu Qiling, who had met Xi a few weeks earlier, would be replaced by General Wang Haijiang, a former commander of the Tibet Military Region. Probably not. The visit has also to be seen in the context of the CPC's 100th anniversary and the 70th anniversary of the so-called Liberation of Tibet (read 'invasion'). Three more important visits From September 2 to 4, Li Xi, Party Secretary of Guangdong and Ma Xingrui, Governor of the same wealthy province, visited Lhasa and Nyingchi "to earnestly study and implement the important speeches and instructions of General Secretary Xi Jinping's inspection tour ...[and] implement the spirit of the Central Ethnic Work Conference." Guangdong province economically helps Tibet, which for decades was considered remote and backward and out of range for modernization. The instability of the restive province and the importance of the border with India have changed all this. From September 5 to 6, Cai Qi, also a politburo member and Beijing Party Secretary "led a Beijing delegation to Tibet to research counterpart support work and further promote exchanges and cooperation between Beijing and Tibet," said a release. The delegation wanted to "conscientiously implement the spirit of important instructions of General Secretary Xi Jinping's important speech on his inspection of Tibet and a series of important instructions on Tibetan work and counterpart support work, and implement the spirit of the Central Ethnic Work Conference." Finally, Wang Chen, vice chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress, was in Tibet from September 5 to 8 to be sure that the region had "a firm sense of Chinese national community" and to preach "for long-term stability and high-quality development of the snowy plateau." Ten visits of politburo's members (plus two CMC members) have never been seen in the past. Ethnic Work Two words explain this new interest in Tibet: Ethnic Work. This word has an ominous meaning. It practically means 'sinicization' of the Roof of the World, which includes building new 'mixed' villages on the Indian border, recruiting a large number of Tibetans in the PLA, and giving Chinese characteristics to Tibetan Buddhism. On September 1, Xinhua had reported that the Central Party School started its Fall Training Class for Young and Middle-Aged Cadres. It was attended by Xi who gave an 'important' speech (his speeches are always 'important'). Xi recommended that cadres have a fighting spirit in the current situation; he said that at the present moment, "the world's unprecedented changes have been accelerating and the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation has arrived at a critical period. The risks and challenges that the CCP faces have increased significantly. It is impractical to dream of always living in a peaceful environment without taking on any struggles." He advised the young cadres: "dare to fight ... at any time, Communists should have the bones and courage not to be afraid of anything, and not to yield to anyone." All this is quite ominous for India's Northern borders. (Claude Arpi is Director, Pavilion of Tibetan culture at Auroville. The views expressed are personal) Geneva/New Delhi, Sep 13 : Leading the appeal in Geneva for $606 million to support emergency aid for 11 million people in Afghanistan, Antonio Guterres, the Secretary-General of the United Nations, has said that even before the uncertainty caused by the Taliban takeover last month, people were in the grip of one of the worst crises in the world. "The people of Afghanistan need a lifeline. After decades of war, suffering and insecurity, they face perhaps their most perilous hour. Now is the time for the international community to stand with them," Guterres said. Highlighting the concerns over humanitarian access as needs rise dramatically, Guterres maintained that the country's new rulers have pledged their cooperation "to ensure assistance is delivered to the people of Afghanistan. Our staff and all aid workers must be allowed to do their vital work in safety - without harassment, intimidation or fear". One in two Afghans do not know where their next meal is coming from, the UN chief explained, adding that "many people could run out of food by the end of the month, just as winter approaches". The flash appeal for food, life-saving interventions and essential healthcare - including maternal healthcare - comes against a backdrop of deep concern that women's rights are under threat from Afghanistan's new rulers. UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Michelle Bachelet, stressed the extent of the humanitarian and economic crisis in Afghanistan. It had entered "a new and perilous phase", she maintained, while many Afghans are also "profoundly concerned for their human rights, particularly women, ethnic and religious communities". Bachelet's comments followed a warning from her office that whips, batons and live ammunition have been used on peaceful protesters in Afghanistan last week. Unauthorised assemblies have been banned and telecommunications companies have been told to cut the internet on mobile phones in specific areas of Kabul, OHCHR had warned last Friday. Alluding to those concerns at the high-level conference in Geneva, the UN Secretary-General highlighted the need for food, life-saving interventions and essential healthcare for the people of Afghanistan. Guterres also insisted that "robust mechanisms" had been established to coordinate humanitarian efforts that were anchored in human rights. Echoing the UN's determination to "stand by" the people of Afghanistan and protect the "hard-won gains" for the country's people over the last 20 years, UN emergency relief chief Martin Griffiths noted that he had received written assurances from the Taliban leadership to allow relief efforts to continue. These guarantees followed his meeting with the Taliban's interim leaders in Kabul last week, where he urged the country's new rulers to respect human rights and facilitate aid access. Women and girls should have access to education, among other rights and services "as anywhere else in the world", Griffiths insisted, before revealing that the Taliban's written commitments included the removal of "current and previous impediments" to the UN's humanitarian projects. Aid workers would also be protected by the Taliban, as would the sanctity of UN premises, the UN emergency relief chief explained, adding that they were in agreement about women's rights and freedom of expression, in line with the country's religious and cultural values. New Delhi, Sep 13 : Political parties, student unions, and members of civil society in Pakistan continued to express solidarity with protesting journalists outside Parliament House in Islamabad on Monday, joining them in raising their voice against the proposed Pakistan Media Development Authority (PMDA) bill. Former Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi, PML-N Information SecAretary Marriyum Aurangzeb, and MNA Mohsin Dawar, among others, visited the site on Sunday night to express solidarity with the journalists, Dawn reported. Several politicians, including Senator Sherry Rehman and Raza Rabbani of the PPP, visited the protest camp on Monday and addressed the protesters. PPP Chairperson Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari addressed the protest, saying that journalists in the country had bravely fought against and defeated former President Pervez Musharraf in the past, and they would also put up a fight against the incumbent government and its decisions challenging media freedom, the report said. "I believe as far as the legitimacy of the government and media freedom are concerned, all (of us) are on the same page," he added. The PPP chairperson said that he saw the PMDA as a continuity of measures taken in the past to place curbs on the media. "Some people don't want journalists to think freely and struggle for media freedom. We should not yield to them, and nobody will be able to infringe upon our rights," he said. He further stated that in present times, countries had been using the media as a tool to attack their rivals and to tackle the issue in Pakistan, media here needed to be empowered, the report said. PML-N President Shehbaz Sharif too railed against the bill, terming it a "black law" and expressing solidarity with journalists. "The government doesn't have the guts to pass it and we won't allow it," he thundered. Sharif warned the government against passing the "black law" otherwise it would have to bear the consequences. He said the media had a fought a war for its freedom and no one could snatch it . The PML-N President added that he would protest the issue with other opposition leaders in the National Assembly and try to achieve consensus with PPP and other political parties. Journalist Hamid Mir plans to host a talk show at the site of the sit-in. The protest call was given by various journalist bodies, headed by the Pakistan Federal Union of Journalists. New Delhi, Sep 13 : The Supreme Court on Monday brought down the curtains on a nearly two-decade-long bitter legal battle between a Tamil Nadu couple, who never lived together for a single day. Granting a decree of divorce on the husband's plea, the top court noted the wife resorted to mental cruelty - insulting the husband at his work place, filing complaints to ensure he loses his job, and continuing legal proceedings against him. A bench of Justices Sanjay Kishan Kaul and Hrishikesh Roy noted the conduct of the wife shows disintegration of marital unity and thus, disintegration of the marriage. "In fact, there was no initial integration itself which would allow disintegration afterward. The fact that there have been continued allegations and litigative proceedings and that can amount to cruelty is an aspect taken note of by this court," it said. Justice Kaul, authoring the judgment on behalf of the bench, said: "This is one case where both the ground of irretrievable breakdown of marriage and the ground of cruelty on account of subsequent facts would favour the grant of decree of divorce in favour of the appellant (husband)". The bench noted there were several episodes of harassment, where the wife insulted the husband, who is an assistant professor, in front of students and other professors. She was stated to have threatened the husband of physical harm in front of his colleagues and also threatened his employer of a criminal complaint. The couple got married in 2002 and the marriage was never consummated. In March 2008, the trial court granted decree of divorce on the ground of irretrievable breakdown of marriage. Within six days of the order, the husband re-married. At this, the first wife filed an appeal, where the court set aside the decree of divorce while allowing the petition for restitution of conjugal right. In 2018, the high court restored the decree of divorce granted by the trial court. The woman filed a review petition on the ground that it was not within the jurisdiction of the high court or the trial court to grant a decree of divorce on the ground of irretrievable breakdown of marriage, and this was allowed in February 2019. The husband moved the top court assailing this order. The top court noted that the wife sought disciplinary proceedings against husband on account of the second marriage despite the fact that the second marriage took place soon after the decree of divorce. "Thus, she sought to somehow ensure that the appellant loses his job. Filing of such complaints seeking removal of one's spouse from job has been opined as amounting to mental cruelty," it said. The bench noted in view of the legal position, the continuing acts of the wife would amount to cruelty even if the same had not arisen as a cause prior to the institution of the petition, as was found by the trial court. "We are, thus, of the view that a decree of divorce dissolving the marriage between the parties be passed not only in exercise of powers under Article 142 of the Constitution of India on account of irretrievable breakdown of marriage, but also on account of cruelty under Section 13(1)(i-a) of the (Hindu Marriage) Act in light of the subsequent conduct of the respondent during the pendency of judicial proceedings at various stages," it said. "The decree of divorce is, accordingly, passed. Marriage stands dissolved," it ruled. New Delhi, Sep 13 : In a move to encourage Delhiites to save water, the Delhi government has decided to provide financial assistance of up to Rs 50,000 and a rebate of 10 per cent on water bill to people who install rooftop rainwater harvesting (RWH) systems, Water Minister and Chairman of Delhi Jal Board (DJB), Satyendra Jain, announced on Monday. "For the installation of the RWH system, the (Arvind) Kejriwal government will provide financial assistance to the people of Delhi. We will offer the owners who comply with the RWH guidelines financial assistance of 50 per cent of the cost, which is subject to a maximum of Rs 50,000 and a rebate of 10 per cent on water bill," said Jain, who took stock of the progress of the work of installation of RWH systems at a meeting on Monday. The financial assistance, starting at Rs 10,000, will vary as per the size of the plots. According to an official communique from the Delhi government, "Instead of DJB certification, people can take adequacy certificate from architects registered with the Council of Architecture for rainwater harvesting systems." The minister reiterated that the Delhi government is planning to replicate the Dungarpur model of rainwater harvesting, also known as INLINE rainwater harvesting system, which comprises a pipe filter installed horizontally in the rainwater pipe and is cost-effective. "The reason for this system to be cost-effective is that it does not require a heavy installation set up. While conventional RWH system set up requires Rs 75,000 to Rs 1 lakh, the INLINE rainwater harvesting system can be set up at a cost as little as Rs 16,000," Jain said. The last date for implementing the rainwater harvesting provisions has been extended up to December 31, 2021. Jammu, Sep 13 : A terrorist was killed on Monday in an ongoing gunfight with the security forces in J&K's Rajouri district in which a soldier had been injured, police said. Police said a joint operation was carried out by army and police in Gambir Mughlan area of Rajouri on September 11. "During the operation, hiding terrorists opened fire at the security forces, triggering an encounter. "One unidentified terrorist was killed in the encounter. One AK-47 rifle, two magazines, 30 rounds, and one grenade was recovered from the possession of the slain terrorist," a police officer said, adding that the soldier was injured on Sunday. New Delhi, Sep 13 : With the land and procurement record linkage process complete, except in three states, the government is expecting smooth and transparent procurement from this season onwards. Last year, procurement of foodgrains under the minimum support price (MSP) continued despite disruptions in logistics during the initial days of the lockdown in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic. "However, the government increased the number of procurement centres compared to previous years to facilitate the farmers in selling their produce at the nearest procurement centre maintaining Covid protocols," Agriculture Secretary Sanjay Agarwal said on Monday. During the rabi marketing season (RMS) 2021-22, Haryana and Punjab switched from indirect payment of MSP to direct online transfer to farmers' bank accounts. "The Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) of MSP has brought in transparency and real time monitoring of the procurement operations. Now, going ahead, with the land records and procurement records linkage complete except in the states of Assam, Uttarakhand and the UT of Jammu & Kashmir, we are expecting an even smoother operation," said secretary, Food and Public Distribution, Sudhanshu Pandey. The e-portal has the facility for the farmer to enter his or her details. "We are not asking for khasra number or any land record papers. Those have been linked now. All that the farmer - be it owner or a tenant - has to do is choose the correct option in the drop-down menu. Once it is done, he or she can reach the mandi on the designated day without any hassles and the amount would be transferred to his or her account," Pandey said. The option to sell via middlemen too remained for those who choose it and in that case, the amount to be paid to the middleman and the farmer will be separate and will be transferred to their respective accounts separately, he said. The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) had recently approved the increase in the Minimum Support Price for all designated rabi crops for Rabi Marketing Season 2022-23, well in advance of the sowing season. MSP targets to ensure support price to farmers and affordable prices to the consumer. Based on the recommendations of the Commission for Agricultural Costs and Prices (CACP), the government declares MSP after considering the views of the state governments and Central Ministries/Departments concerned for agricultural crops such as cereal, pulses, oilseeds and commercial crops every year at the beginning of the sowing season. The factors considered by CACP for fixing MSP include cost of production, domestic and international prices, demand-supply conditions, inter-crop price parity, terms of trade between agricultural and non-agricultural sectors. MSP is announced for the kharif crops of paddy, jowar, bajra, ragi, maize, arhar, moong, urad, cotton, groundnut, sunflower seed, soyabean, sesamum. The rabi crops for which MSP is announced are wheat, barley, gram, masur, rapeseeds & mustard, safflower and toria. Apart from this, MSP is announced for copra, de-husked coconut, jute and fair remunerative prices (FRP) are announced for sugarcane. The MSP approved for designated rabi crops for 2022-23 during the Rabi Marketing Season is higher or equal to 1.5 times of the cost of production. The expected returns to farmers over their cost of production is estimated to be highest in case of wheat (100 per cent) and rapeseed/mustard (100 per cent), followed by lentil (79 per cent) and gram (74 per cent), barley (60 per cent) and safflower (50 per cent). "Ultimately, everybody wants the farmers to benefit from procurement, not the traders," said Agarwal. New Delhi, Sep 13 : India's Covid vaccination coverage under the mass vaccination drive crossed the landmark of 75 crore doses on Monday. Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya said in a Tweet that India has crossed the mark of administering 75 crore vaccine doses. Lauding the entire country for the achievement, Mandaviya tweeted, "With PM Narendra Modi's mantra of 'Sabka Saath - Sabka Prayas', the world's largest vaccination drive is achieving new heights. India has crossed the landmark of 75 crore vaccinations as India entered into the 75th year of Independence. #AzadiKaAmritMahotsav." The daily vaccination tally is expected to increase with the compilation of the final reports for the day by late on Monday night. More than 67 lakh (67,04,768) vaccine doses were administered till 5:30 pm on Monday. "The country has also become home to more than 99 per cent healthcare workers and frontline workers vaccinated with one shot of Covid vaccine," said a statement released by the Health Ministry. The World Health Organization Regional Office for South-East Asia (SEARO) has also congratulated India for achieving the 75 crore vaccination mark. Poonam Khetrapal Singh, Regional Director, WHO South-East Asia, said, "WHO congratulates India for scaling up Covid-19 vaccination at an unprecedented pace. While it took 85 days to administer the first 100 million doses, India reached 750 million doses from 650 million in just 13 days." Meanwhile, India logged 27,254 new Covid cases in the last 24 hours. The country also reported 219 Covid deaths in the same time span. The country presently has nearly 3.75 lakh active cases. Kerala, which turned out to be a Covid epicentre recently, has also started showing declining trends and has reported a decline of nearly 20 per cent in terms of daily caseload in the past week. Latest updates on Coronavirus (COVID-19) Mumbai, Sep 13 : The opposition BJP in Maharashtra on Monday targetted another Maha Vikas Aghadi minister for alleged corruption and money-laundering scam of over Rs 100 crore and demanded a multi-agency probe into the matter. Ex-BJP MP Kirit Somaiya accused Nationalist Congress Party's (NCP) Rural Development Minister Hasan Mushrif of bribery of crores of rupees, money-laundering, and owning benami properties through family members and shell companies. NCP's national spokesperson and Minority Affairs Minister Nawab Malik hit back and charged Somaiya with political motives for regularly making baseless attacks at the leaders of the ruling coalition. On his part, Mushrif, a senior leader from Kolhapur, has strongly denied the allegations. He also threatened to file a Rs 100 crore defamation suit against Somaiya. "Mushrif, his wife Sahera and son Navid have created a web of dozens of companies having dealings with Kolkata-based shell companies. The financial transactions and bank statements show that they received income from non-existent entities," Somaiya alleged. The BJP leader said he has already lodged complaints with the Income Tax Department over Mushrif family's alleged dubious financials and non-transparent incomes. He sought a multi-agency probe involving the Enforcement Directorate and Anti Corruption Bureau. Somaiya said that on Tuesday he would file a formal complaint with the ED and submit documentary evidence demanding a probe into the matter. He also plans to visit New Delhi to meet Finance Ministry officials, while threatening to expose the alleged scams of two more ministers, one from NCP and another from Shiv Sena. Kanpur, Sep 13 : A woman, allegedly raped repeatedly by her uncle who is a traffic police constable, attempted suicide by jumping into the Ganga river here. The incident took place on Sunday evening. The woman was saved by divers. Deputy Commissioner of Police (East), Pramod Kumar, said that a case has been registered on the basis of the woman's complaint and investigations are underway. The woman, 25, is a resident of Mirzapur district. She alleged that her uncle, who is a head traffic constable, had called her family to Allahabad in January 2019 to attend Kumbh Mela. During her stay in Allahabad, her uncle took her to a hotel where he gave her a cold drink laced with sedatives, and after she fell unconscious, he allegedly raped her and made a video to blackmail her. She claimed that her uncle raped her several times in Allahabad and Kanpur over the past two years. When she became pregnant, he allegedly gave her a pill to abort the pregnancy. The DCP said that the woman told the police that on Sunday, the accused and his son took her to a room in the Chakeri area in Kanpur where they made another video of her to blackmail her. When she resisted, they started to beat her up and threatened her with dire consequences. After escaping from their clutches, the woman made a call to the police helpline number before jumping into the river, but was saved by PRV personnel. The DCP said that a case under relevant sections of the IPC has been registered against the traffic police constable and his son, but the two have not been arrested yet. DCP (Traffic) B.B.G.T.S. Murthy said the constable would be placed under suspension after recording the woman's statement before the magistrate. The woman is also being sent for medical examination. Amaravati, Sep 13 : Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy has said that synergy would be formed between skill development colleges and the work from home (WFH) concept, leading to better emploment opportunities with good salaries. At a department review meeting on Monday, the Chief Minister said the state government will strengthen the work from home concept in villages by providing internet facility. The Chief Minister directed the officials to prioritise on creating the infrastructure required for skill development and training in the state. He also ordered for work to begin on the high-end skills university envisaged at Visakhapatnam. The state government is planning on setting up one college in each parliamentary constituency for skill development apart from one high-end skills university in Vishakapatnam. The Chief Minister said that the skill development colleges should enhance the knowledge in topics such coding, software languages, robotics and IoT. The government will also take up steps to set up one ITI college in each Assembly constituency and focus on basic facilities in private ITI colleges. The Chief Minister also directed the officials to tailor the ITIs to current requirements and upgrade the syllabus, and see if prestigious institutions like National Academy of Construction could tie up with every ITI across the state. New Delhi, Sep 13 : Speculation intensified about the fate of the Deputy Leader of Afghanistan government, Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, after Taliban leaders met with senior delegates from Qatar in Kabul on Sunday, with Baradar conspicuously absent from the meeting, Daily Mail reported. On Monday, the Taliban were forced to deny that Mullah Baradar is dead after rumours emerged that he was killed during a gunfight with his political rivals. The Taliban insisted that Baradar is in Kandahar province, meeting with the group's supreme leader Mawlawi Hibatullah Akhundzada to discuss the country's future now that the US troops have withdrawn. But the social media rumour-mill believes he was actually killed in a gun battle in Kabul's presidential palace on Friday that broke out during a meeting with the powerful and ruthless Haqqani family, the report said. Three members of the Haqqani family were at the summit with Qatar delegates along with other members of the new Afghan government - led by Prime Minister Mohammad Hasan Akhund, the report said. Baradar is one of the Taliban's founding members and had served as deputy to its first supreme leader Mullah Omar, who died in 2013 from tuberculosis. After Omar's death, Baradar took over as leader of the political wing of the Taliban and is one of the group's senior most figures. But he is thought to be in conflict with the Haqqani family, leaders of the fearsome Haqqani Network which is affiliated to the Taliban but also has links to terror groups opposed to the Islamists, such as ISIS-K. Two members of the clan - Sirajuddin and Khalil - now hold senior positions in the new government, taking the roles of Interior Minister and Refugee Minister, respectively. Anna Haqqani also holds a role as a high-level negotiator, and was present during the meeting with Qatari diplomats. Rumours about Baradar's safety began circulating last week when the Taliban announced its new government and named him as Deputy Prime Minister, despite the widespread belief that he would take the top job. That led to speculation that he had been demoted due to the in-fighting between Taliban founding members and the Haqqani Network -- a powerful faction of the Taliban whose family members secured top positions in the new administration, the report said. New Delhi, Sep 13 : The Supreme Court on Monday upheld the validity of a rule of the Central Goods and Service Tax, which prescribes a formula excluding the refund of unutilised input tax paid on input services as part of input tax credit (ITC). A bench comprising Justices D.Y. Chandrachud and M.R. Shah upheld the validity of Rule 89(5), overturning a 2020 Gujarat High Court judgment which had held that Rule 89(5) was ultra vires Section 54 (3) of the CGST Act, 2017. Rule 89(5) of the CGST Rules provides for the computation of the refund of ITC on account of an inverted duty structure. The rule was amended on April 18, 2018, with prospective effect, to ensure that refund of unutilised ITC can only be availed on input goods. The bench said: "When there is neither a constitutional guarantee nor a statutory entitlement to refund, the submission that goods and services must necessarily be treated at par on a matter of a refund of unutilised ITC cannot be accepted." Such an interpretation, if carried to its logical conclusion, would involve unforeseen consequences, circumscribing the legislative discretion of Parliament to fashion the rate of tax, concessions and exemptions, it added. The bench noted that in the field of taxation, the top court has only intervened to read down or interpret a formula if the formula leads to absurd results or is unworkable. "In the present case however, the formula is not ambiguous in nature or unworkable, nor is it opposed to the intent of the legislature in granting limited refund on accumulation of unutilised ITC. It is merely the case that the practical effect of the formula might result in certain inequities," said the top court, in its 140-page judgment. The bench noted the purpose of the formula in Rule 89(5) is to give effect to Section 54(3)(ii) which makes a distinction between input goods and input services for grant of refund. "Once the principle behind Section 54(3)(ii) of the CGST Act is upheld, the formula cannot be struck down merely for giving effect to the same," it said. The top court said, however, given the anomalies pointed out by the assessees, "we strongly urge the GST Council to reconsider the formula and take a policy decision regarding the same". It observed the formula makes a presumption that the output tax payable on supplies has been entirely discharged from the ITC accumulated on account of input goods and there has been no utilisation of the ITC on input services. The top court also upheld the Madras High Court ruling in a separate connected matter. "We have come to the conclusion that the judgment of the Madras High Court needs to be affirmed by dismissing the appeals challenging that verdict while the appeals against the judgment of the Gujarat High Court by the Union of India should be allowed," it said. Chennai, Sep 13 : The Tamil Nadu government on Monday told the Madras High Court that the Justice Aruna Jagadeesan (retd) Commission of Inquiry, into the May 2018 Thoothukudi police firing, was delayed in filing its report due to Covid-19 pandemic. At least 13 people were killed and many injured in the police firing on people protesting against the Sterlite copper plant on May 22, 2018. In a counter-affidavit filed in response to a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) filed by Madurai-based human rights organisation People's Watch Executive Director Henri Tiphagne, the state government told a bench of Chief Justice Sanjib Banerjee and Justice T.S. Sivagnanam that the probe was stalled for two periods -- in April 2020 and June 2021 -- due to the first and second waves of the pandemic. "The CoI is probing the police personnel since July 2021," it said. The Commission of Inquiry had to complete the probe into the incident within three months of its constitution on May 23, 2018, but its tenure was extended periodically as it required examination of several individuals. The government, in the counter-affidavit, said that the Commission visited the place of the incident and received affidavits from police, Sterlite Copper smelting staff , revenue officials, journalists, and ambulance staff as also those working in the Collectorate to get their version on the incident. It said that the Commission requested the Thootukudi Collector to share footage, of May 15 to May 22, from the CCTV cameras installed inside the Collectorate, but officials had informed it that that Crime Branch, CID, has taken procession of the hard drive. The CB-CID informed the CoI that the hard drive was given to the CBI that conducted further investigation and the CBI informed that the footage was sent to the Centre for Advanced Computing, Thiruvananthapuram. The government also told the high court that it was after much persuasion that the hard drive was received from a Madurai first class judicial magistrate court in February 2021. The Commission, according to the government testimony, has summoned 1,153 witnesses and examined 718 of them. In the interim report submitted on May 14, 2021, the Commission of Inquiry had recommended withdrawal of criminal cases against protestors and payment of Rs 1.5 lakh as compensation to those who were arrested during the protest marches. The CoI also recommended issuing No Objection Certificates (NOC) to the arrested so that they could pursue higher education. The state government has ordered withdrawal of criminal cases against the protestors on the basis of the interim order of the CoI and decided to pay Rs 1 lakh as compensation to the 93 protestors who were arrested during the agitation against the Sterlite plant. The Thoothukudi Collector has, in his compliance report, informed the government that Rs 1 lakh was paid as compensation to 84 persons and the whereabouts of the remaining persons was unknown. New Delhi, Sep 13 : Timely announcement of MSP for Rabi 2022-23 will help farmers plan their crops better with advance knowledge of which crops can get them better earnings, Agriculture Secretary Sanjay Agarwal said on Monday. The Minimum Support Price (MSP) for rabi crops is, in most years, announced in October or later, when most of the farmers are done with sowing. Last year, it was announced on September 23 and for the year 2022-23, it was announced last week, on September 8. "This has been a deliberate attempt to announce the MSP for rabi season early so that the farmers get ample time to plan their crop. Earlier, the farmers had little choice," Agarwal told media persons. With the demand and supply situation undergoing change as a result of higher income, and the focus on 'Atmanirbhar Bharat', the government has been leveraging MSP framework towards crop diversification, especially pulses and oil seeds, he said. The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) had on September 8 approved the increase in the MSP for all mandated Rabi crops for Rabi Marketing Season (RMS) 2022-23 with an aim to realigning the MSPs in favour of oilseeds, pulses and coarse cereals over wheat. That was done to encourage farmers shift to larger area under these crops and adopt best technologies and farm practices, to correct demand-supply imbalance. Between 2014-15 and 2021-22, there has been a substantial hike in MSP for crops such as jowar (79 per cent), ragi (118 per cent), arhar (45 per cent), moong (58 per cent), gram (65 per cent), masur (79 per cent), sunflower (60 per cent), nigerseeds (93 per cent) and rapeseeds & mustard (63 per cent), according to government data. The date of announcement of MSP for rabi crops in the 2011-12 was October 25, in 2012-13, it was November 1 and December 26, in 2013-14, it was announced on October 17, for 2014-15 on October 29, in 2015-16, on November 5, in 2016-17 on November 15, in 2017-18 on October 24, in 2018-19, the MSP was announced on October 3, in 2019-20, it was on October 23 while for last year, in 2020-21, the date was September 9, Agriculture Ministry data showed. Amaravati, Sep 13 : The Andhra Pradesh High Court on Monday suspended a state government order to take over the plots allotted to farmers of Amaravati by the previous government. The previous Telugu Desam Party (TDP) government had allotted plots to farmers as gift in return for the lands acquired from them for development of the state capital. The present YSR Congress Party (YSRCP) government had recently issued a Government Order (GO), taking over these plots. The farmers had challenged the GO in the high court. Hearing the petition, a division bench on Monday passed an interim order temporarily suspending the GO. It directed Amaravati Metropolitan Region Development Authority (AMRDA) not to take further action on GO 316. The petitioner's counsel argued that it was illegal to take back the plots given to farmers as a return gift. He submitted to the court that the plots were allotted as per the agreements the then government had entered with the farmers. A single-judge bench had last month stayed implementation of GO and its related notices dealing with annulling the allotted residential and commercial plots to the farmers in assigned lands located in Amaravati region. The court had directed the state government to avoid taking any hasty decision as regards its plan to take back the plots allotted to the farmers. The previous TDP government headed by N. Chandrababu Naidu took up land pooling for construction of the capital city of Amaravati. It categorised the farmers having assigned lands and announced packages for them in lieu of taking their lands in land pooling. Each farmer was allotted 500 square feet of residential area and 50 square feet of commercial area. After the YSRCP came to power in 2019, it decided to have three state capitals. It announced that the administrative capital will be shifted to Visakhapatnam and the judicial capital to Kurnool while retaining only the legislature at Amaravati. Farmers of various villages in Amaravati region have been staging protest for more than 600 days, demanding the government to retain Amaravati as the only state capital. Hyderabad, Sep 13 : Telangana's Director of Public Health Dr G. Srinivasa Rao on Monday appealed to the information technology companies in the state to reopen their offices, saying they need not have any apprehensions about Covid-19. He said the managements of the IT companies should resume work from offices as lakhs of livelihoods are indirectly dependent on them. His appeal came as more than 90 per cent employees of the IT companies in Hyderabad continue to work from homes for over one and a half year now. Rao said as the staff and their families are 100 per cent vaccinated, and Covid case load in the state is low, the IT companies should have no apprehensions in reopening the offices. "We urge the managements of companies to reopen their offices. We have ensured that over 90 per cent of the support staff and workers from unorganised sector, who provide services to the IT sector in the city, were vaccinated," he said. He said a third wave can happen only if new and more virulent variant of SARS-CoV-2 emerges and so far, there has been no evidence of this happening in Telangana. Pointing out that the state eased Covid-19 restrictions more than three months ago, he said since then there has been no indication of any major surge of new infections. This should be a good reason for IT companies to reopen their offices, he said. Rao said following Covid appropriate behaviour like wearing face masks, maintaining social distancing, and application of hand sanitizers was enough to stave off fresh surge of Covid cases. He also noted that it has been nearly two weeks since schools were re-opened in the state and there is no indication of a surge or even a cluster of Covid infections. "More than one lakh people have been tested for Covid in schools and only 55 children have tested positive," he said He claimed that attendance in both government and private schools across the state is gradually improving. He assured the parents that the government has taken enough measures including vaccination to contain Covid-19. Latest updates on Coronavirus (COVID-19) New Delhi, Sep 13 : In what can be termed as a major achievement for India's global efforts at mitigation of climate change, the US is likely to join the International Solar Alliance (ISA), conceptualized by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Launched jointly by India and France in 2015, the ISA is an alliance of 124 countries, most of them being sunshine countries, either completely or partly between the Tropic of Cancer and the Tropic of Capricorn. "America has shown willingness to join the International Solar Alliance. There is positivity (from the American side) about solar energy and the ISA," a top level source from the Environment, Forests and Climate Change Ministry told IANS. India's Power and New and Renewable Energy Minister R.K. Singh had earlier in the day urged the US to join the ISA. The development comes in the wake of Indian Environment Minister Bhupender Yadav and US President's Special Climate Envoy John Kerry jointly launching the Climate Action and Finance Mobilisation Dialogue (CAFMD) earlier in the day. The launch was preceded by a bilateral meet where both sides discussed at length a wide range of climate issues relating to COP26, climate ambition, climate finance, global climate initiatives, including ISA and the Agriculture Innovation Mission for Climate (AIM4C). Incidentally, there was no mention of 'net zero' (removing the amount of carbon equal to that is emitted by any given unit, an organisation, a state or any country). "The talks generally revolved around technology transfer. The modalities for CAFMD are yet to be worked out," a source said. The CAFMD is one of the two tracks of the India-US Climate and Clean Energy Agenda 2030 partnership launched at the Leaders' Summit on Climate in April 2021 by Modi and US President Joe Biden. During the launch at a public event at the Ministry, Kerry had applauded Modi for setting an ambitious target of achieving 450GW renewable energy by 2030 and congratulated India for already achieving 100 GW of it. He also lauded India's leadership role in demonstrating how economic development and clean energy can go hand in hand and stated that urgent Global Climate Action is the need of the hour. In his remarks, Yadav said that the dialogue will not only strengthen India-US bilateral cooperation on climate and environment but will also help to demonstrate how the world can align swift climate action with inclusive and resilient economic development, taking into account national circumstances and sustainable development priorities. Two days ago, Germany had ratified the ISA and it is expected that Germany's membership will help India's 'One Sun, One World, One Grid' plan. Bhubaneswar, Sep 13 : Over 19.53 lakh people in 11 districts of Odisha have been affected by heavy rains in the state since Sunday morning, officials said on Monday. According to a report prepared by the office of the Special Relief Commissioner (SRC), over 19.53 lakh people in 2,789 villages of 11 districts have been affected by the incessant downpour. The 11 districts are Kalahandi, Kandhamal, Koraput, Cuttack, Jajpur, Puri, Jagatsinghpur, Kendrapara, Dhenkanal, Khordha and Angul. The government said that it has evacuated 3,819 persons from low lying areas in five affected districts while 265 houses have been damaged in nine of the affected districts. As per the report, three deaths were reported from of the state on Monday, two from Kendrapara due to a wall collapse, and one from Khordha district who died due to drowning. The major rivers in Odisha were in spate following the incessant rains. Official sources said the water level in Mahanadi river is rising at various places. The Jalaka river is flowing at 05.60 metres at Mahtani against the danger level of 05.50 metres. The water resources department has cancelled leave of all the employees in view of the heavy downpour. All schools in Puri, Khordha, Cuttack, Jagatsinghpur, Kendrapara, Dhenkanal, Nayagarh, Sambalpur, Deogarh, Angul, Sonepur and Bargarh have been closed for two days -- September 13 and 14. Meanwhile, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) said the deep depression over north coastal Odisha moved further west-northwestwards during the past six hours with a speed of 13 kmph, and lay centred close to Keonjhar. It is likely to continue moving west-northwestwards across north Chhattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh during the next 48 hours and weaken into a depression during the subsequent 12 hours, the IMD said. Jaipur, Sep 13 : Over five crore people in Rajasthan have been administered vaccine doses till 4 pm on Monday, health officials said. Health Minister Raghu Sharma said that health workers are doing their job diligently due to which over 5 crore people have been administered vaccine doses in a very short span of time. Sharma said that till Monday evening, out of the targeted population of 5,14,95,402 - the first dose has been administered to 3.73 crore people and the second dose to 1.27 crore people, thus a total of 5,00,78,073 people have been inoculated with the Covid vaccine. Although Covid cases have come down in the state, the threat of the pandemic still persists. Experts say there is a need to maintain special vigilance looking at the possibility of a third wave of Covid-19, Sharma said, as he urged people to strictly follow all the Covid protocols. Agartala, Sep 13 : The BJP government in Tripura on Monday twice disallowed the first mega rally planned by the Trinamool Congress under the leadership of the party's national General Secretary Abhishek Banerjee in Agartala, first on Wednesday and then on Thursday. Trinamool General Secretary Kunal Ghosh tweeted late on Monday night that the fresh date of the mega rally would be announced on Tuesday. The Tripura government on Monday disallowed the Trinamool rally, hours after the police denied permission for the September 15 event. The Trinamool then again sought permission from the police to hold the 'padayatra' the next day, but that request was also disallowed. Anirban Das, sub-divisional police officer, Sadar, in a letter to Trinamool leader Subal Bhowmik said that it is not possible to permit the holding of the rally on September 16 since there will be law and order commitment of police in view of Viswakarma Puja, which falls on September 17. "Viswakarma Puja is celebrated throughout the state on a large scale by different bodies. Due to our prior commitments for traffic management and law and order, it is not possible to mobilise manpower for covering such a gathering. Besides, it will cause inconvenience to the public," the SDPO's second letter said. Lambasting the police decision, Abhishek Banerjee tweeted : "BJP India is scared to death and Biplab (Tripura Chief Minister Biplab Kumar Deb) is using all his might and resources to prevent me from entering Tripura. Keep trying, but you cannot stop me. Your fear of AITC shows that your days in governance are numbered. Truth be told, 'yeh darr humein achha laga'!." Ghosh, who is also the chief spokesman of Trinamool, had tweeted earlier: "To prevent Abhishek Banerjee's rally in Agartala, the BJP conspired in numerous ways. Such conspiracies would not stop Abhishek Banerjee and the Trinamool in Tripura. They are afraid of Abhishek Banerjee's political strength." He said the police cancelled Trinamool's rally on Wednesday and Thursday after "political directions". West Tripura district police chief Manik Lal Das told IANS that the Mahila Morcha (women's wing) of the BJP had earlier sought permission from the police to hold a rally in Agartala on Wednesday. "We cannot allow two parties to hold rallies in Agartala at the same time. Moreover, the geographical position of the city does not permit two mega rallies at the same time," Das said. The SDPO, Sadar, in his first letter to Trinamool leader Subal Bhowmik said on Monday that during a review meeting, it was found that permission for organising a mass rally in Agartala has already been granted to another political party on the relevant date and time. "On further review, it was also found that the political party will organise the mass rally in the same route as prayed from your end. As such, from the perspective of security and law and order, the protest rally (of Trinamool) on September 15 from 14:00 hrs is not permitted," the letter said. With an eye on the Assembly polls in Tripura scheduled in 2023, Trinamool leaders, including Abhishek Banerjee, three Bengal ministers and over 12 MPs and many leaders are frequently visiting the state since July 25 to build the organisation and garner support in the BJP-ruled state. A series of violent incidents involving Trinamool leaders from West Bengal and Tripura occurred in the state. Many leaders were also arrested by the Tripura police. Trinamool's political activities got a boost after the All India Mahila Congress chief and former Congress MP from Silchar (Assam), Sushmita Dev, joined the party on August 16. Dev, who's father and former Union minister late Santosh Mohan Dev was instrumental in installing the Congress-led government in Tripura in 1988, has been given the charge of Tripura. She is now touring the state for more than a week to strengthen the party. New Delhi, Sep 13 : With an aim to provide modern infrastructure facilities for food processing industries along the value chain from farm to the market, as many as 21 projects worth Rs 416.59 crore were inaugurated during the 'Food Processing Week' from September 6 till 12 as part of the Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav. Union Food Processing Industries Minister Pashupati Kumar Paras and Minister of State for Food Processing Industries, Prahlad Singh Patel inaugurated the projects that will ensure value addition, longer shelf life for farm produce, better price realisation for farmers, an excellent storage facility, and an alternate market for farmers in the region. These projects will also provide direct and indirect employment to about 7,500 persons and benefit about 32,000 farmers. Of the Rs 416.59 crore, the Ministry has already approved a grant-in-aid of Rs 104.21 crore for these projects, a release said here on Monday. During the pandemic, the Ministry of Food Processing Industries, under the Atmanirbhar Bharat initiative, launched the PM Formlisation of Micro Food Processing Enterprises Scheme (PMFME) scheme for micro and unorganised entrepreneurs in the food processing sector. Under the PMFME scheme, seed capital was released to the members of self-help groups in various states. "During the 'Food Processing Week', 4,709 members of Self Help Groups across the country were provided financial assistance amounting to over Rs 13.41 crore as seed capital," the release said. The Ministry also carried out an awareness campaign on processed food products on social media throughout the last week, the sole purpose of which was to eradicate the misconceptions related to processed food among the common people. Social media posts, in the form of infographics and videos, were widely shared, the release added. Patna, Sep 13 : A court in Bihar's Samastipur on Monday sentenced former Janata Dal-United legislator Rambalak Singh and his brother to five years imprisonment in an attempt to murder case. The Additional District Judge's court, which had held Rambalak Singh and his brother Lal Babu Singh guilty on September 11 in the 21-year-old case, also slapped a Rs 15,000 fine. As per the complainant Lalan Singh, he had old enmity with Rambalak Singh. "I went to Raghunathpur village to participate in the marriage of Ganga Singh's daughter on June 4, 2000. When I was returning home to Bibhutipur, Rambalak Singh and Lal Babu Singh intercepted me near the house of Upendra Singh. Rambalak Singh was driving the motor bike while Lal Babu Singh, who was riding pillion, opened fire on me. I sustained injuries in my left hand and lost one of the fingers," Lalan Singh said after the quantum of punishment was announced. "The accused tried to kill me on that night. I was lucky that neighbours assembled at the place after hearing the sound of firing and saved me," he said. The FIR was lodged in this connection on June 5, 2000 in Bibhutipur police station. Rambalak Singh, who won the 2015 Assembly election from Bibhutipur on the JD-U ticket, faces eight criminal cases as per the affidavit filed with the Election Commission. New Delhi, Sep 14 : Delhi police have rescued a minor girl, missing since March 2018, from Bihar's Saharsa district. The girl, who originally hails from Faridabad district in Haryana, was living with her maternal uncle at Kanjhawala area in north Delhi. The girl told the police that she was studying in class 9 then and during school time, she came in contact with a man, identified as Panna Lal alias Sanjeet, a native of Bihar. He was working as a mason in the same area. The girl claimed that she was influenced by the accused, who took her to his native place Saharsa and solemnised marriage with her. The minor now has a two-year-old son. Police said that an FIR was registered at the Kanjhawala police station in March 2018 itself after she went missing. In February this year, the police team got Panna Lal's mobile number, which he had taken on a fake account. It was switched off. "However, the team investigating the case got another mobile number of Panna Lal on September 4. The team immediately found out his current location and after painstaking efforts, the minor victim was traced and rescued," said Deputy Commissioner of Police (crime branch), Monika Bharadwaj. Later, it emerged that Panna Lal was involved in an attempt to murder case at the local police station in Bihar. London, Sep 14 : Children aged 12 to 15 will be offered the Covid-19 vaccine, Chief Medical Officers (CMOs) of Britain's all four nations have confirmed. England's CMO Chris Whitty said on Monday that they came to their decision after considering "what effect this will have on transmission in schools and effects on education", Xinhua news agency reported. "It's a useful tool to reduce the disruption," he added. It is expected the vaccinations will be given through school immunisation programme. Healthy children aged 12 to 15 will be offered a single dose of the Pfizer vaccine and the rollout should begin "as soon as possible", England's deputy CMO Jonathan Van-Tam was quoted by local media as saying. There are concerns of a rise in cases following children's return to school after the summer holiday. The latest decision takes into account the impact of the pandemic on children's education as well as the risks to their mental health from missing school. The move means that around 3 million children could be eligible for the jab and comes despite Britain's vaccine advisory body deciding not to recommend mass vaccination of 12 to 15-year-olds. "They are particularly effective as 'vectors', transmitting the infection between households. Now that the much more infectious Delta variant is prevalent we will struggle to control the virus with vaccination alone -- and we certainly won't succeed if this age group is unvaccinated," said Peter English, immediate past chair of the Public Health Medicine Committee of the British Medical Association. Previously, Britain's vaccine advisory body, the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI), has issued the advice that children aged 12 to 15 with medical conditions should receive two doses of the Covid-19 vaccine, but that healthy children in this age group should still not receive the Covid-19 vaccine. In its advisory report, the JCVI said the "individual" health benefits from vaccination for children aged 12 to 15 was marginal, while the risk of potentially serious side effects, including myocarditis, is "very rare, but potentially serious". More than 89 per cent of people aged 16 and over in Britain have had their first dose of vaccine and nearly 81 per cent have received both doses, the latest figures showed. To bring life back to normal, countries such as Britain, China, Germany, Russia and the United States have been racing against time to roll out coronavirus vaccines. Latest updates on Coronavirus (COVID-19) Arizona Land Ventures, a female-owned land investment and development company, closed on its first land acquisition deal on Aug. 25. Co-founders Jennifer Verma and Seema Patel purchased 50% interest in the 15-acre lot for $1.65 million. Verma and Patel seek to work with investors on identifying ways to diversify their portfolios. They are actively searching for land acquisition and development opportunities throughout the Valley, including medical offices, commercial and other retail opportunities. Verma also works as Chief Operating Officer for her fathers leading Phoenix-based land banking and development company, Vermaland. She was able to bring her expertise and background in urban planning and economic development to Arizona Land Ventures. I watched my father transform raw land into beautifully developed communities since I was a young child, says Verma. His work has inspired me to be a part of Phoenixs expansion and growth. Im excited to transition my career into land development and follow in his footsteps to eventually build something as impactful as Vermaland has been over the past 20 years. The property, located on a hard corner at Litchfield Road and Peoria Avenue in Surprise, Ariz., has already garnered interest from various commercial end-users. Much of the surrounding area is in an established residential area, so there is a high demand for commercial use property, especially as the city continues to grow. We are seeing significant changes to the migration patterns of the area, says Patel, who has more than 15 years of corporate experience and has recently consulted entrepreneurial companies. Land is rapidly selling, and within the next six to twelve months, we foresee it becoming increasingly difficult to find land that consists of pre-existing infrastructure. The immediate and most logical step is to secure land that offers development opportunities. Anita Verma-Lallian, founder of Arizona Land Consulting, found the site and assisted Arizona Land Ventures in the successful closing of the deal. Its exciting to work with a new generation of real estate professionals, including my sister, Jennifer, says Verma-Lallian. With the unprecedented growth we are seeing in the Valley, I am especially thrilled to see the talented women of our industry rise to the occasion and secure land that will help push the development of new infrastructure in the current wave of migration we are experiencing. That is an amazing thing that I am proud to have been a part of. ABOUT ARIZONA LAND VENTURES Arizona Land Ventures is a Phoenix-based land investment and development company that specializes in commercial real estate, co-founded by Jennifer Verma and Seema Patel. R.I.P Covid! It's the new silver bullet, the next best thing since the vaccine Qare Inc., today announced the launch of ASGARD, the first, comprehensive, cloud-based Artificial Intelligence (AI) solution that removes all barriers to safely return to work post-Covid-19. Using the AI software, all organizations, from large enterprises to small businesses and schools to health care providers, can fully verify, track and manage vaccinations to prevent, control and mitigate Covid-19 in the workplace. Employees of these institutions no longer need to fear Covid-19 and can now safely return to work and live life as it was meant to be. Even with tremendous progress in vaccinations, an unbiased examination of the data will reveal that there is still much reason to fear in the here and now. There are more weekly infections now than at any other time since the start of the pandemic, excepting the peak period of Dec and Jan. As travel and mask restrictions are removed, newer and more deadly strains are popping up. Studies based on scientific research have shown that no amount of hygiene theater or workplace re-engineering can fully prevent the airborne transmission of Covid-19, particularly in indoor spaces. There is certainly a risk of contagion indoors and the valid concerns of workers about workplace safety is not being heard. Below citations are from just two of many such studies: Study I: https://academic.oup.com/cid/article/71/9/2311/5867798 Study II: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-05-16/covid-is-airborne-scientists-say-now-authorities-think-so-too Qare Inc. saw this coming and put data/smarts to work. Qare's AI solution ASGARD automatically collects and processes consent-based employee health data from smart health cards to verify vaccination and track Covid-19 risk dynamically at each location with pinpoint accuracy. And prevention and control measures can be initiated in real-time with highly granular access control measures. Says Kate Beckett, an early Beta customer from a midsize business, "It's the new silver bullet, the next best thing since the vaccine. So now, we can be sure of an infection free work environment, instead of merely wishing or hoping for one". Just as President Joe Biden is unveiling new vaccine mandates to combat Covid-19 and save lives, Qare Inc. has come up with the perfect new advanced AI solution to implement it. Qare's ASGARD can verify, track, monitor and manage vaccinations automatically with a touch-free workflow as well as intelligently control risks and mitigate vulnerabilities. However, this tool was not opportunely conceived overnight, but is a product of meticulous research and development for well over a year. Details on how companies big and small can access and deploy these silver bullets in the raging war against Covid-19 can be found at https://qare.ai About Qare Inc. Founded in 2020, Qare develops artificial intelligence & automation solutions that ensure workplace safety and security. For more information, visit https://qare.ai 2020 Qare Incorporated. All rights reserved. Qare Inc. Neil Schwartz 408.475.7569 neil@qare.ai Jane Fitzpatrick 408.475.7569 jane@qare.ai The Three Mentors: Warrior Theodore of the Spartans The Battle of the Soul By Theodore Harris Ronald Reagan, Martin Luther King, Jr. and John Wayne are considered inspirational men to many individuals. In Theodore Harriss newly released autobiography, The Three Mentors: Warrior Theodore of the Spartans The Battle of the Soul, readers will witness how these three altruistic men played a role in the authors life. Harris shares how he lives a life of selflessness, servitude and poverty for the nation's greater good. Throughout the book, the author takes readers through different stages of his life that molded him into the man he is today. The Three Mentors follows Harriss life from childhood to adulthood and will captivate readers through the devastating tragedies and inspiring triumphs he encountered. From being named the "Warrior Theodore of the Spartans" at the age of 11 by the National President of the Hells Angels to serving in the United States Air Force to increase mission completion through F-4 maintenance, Harris has lived a life with honorable mentions and memories he will always cherish. The Three Mentors has received praise from multiple reviewers. Mr. Harris has led a remarkable life and his autobiography captures moments in our country's history of turmoil, racial and political unrest as well as his own personal struggles with abandonment, betrayals and business failures. He outlines for the reader the way the use of "kindness as a weapon" is stronger than the world's attacks. His language places profound spiritual truths into the hands of the reader in a fresh and accessible manner. AuthorHouse Reviewer He speaks with a refreshing and direct style. His voice and his message offer great hope and inspiration for our times and are especially valuable during our current times of social unrest and turmoil. AuthorHouse Reviewer Ultimately, The Three Mentors explores the power of forgiveness, civic responsibility, honor, duty and sacrifice. Harriss life story will inspire readers to live a life full of faith and humility regardless of what obstacle they endure. The Three Mentors: Warrior Theodore of the Spartans The Battle of the Soul By Theodore Harris ISBN: 978-1-4259-8088-7 (softcover); 978-1-4259-8621-6 (hardcover) Available at AuthorHouse, Amazon and Barnes & Noble About the author Theodore Harris has witnessed many things throughout his life. When he was 11, he was given the name Warrior Theodore of the Spartans by the National President of the Hells Angels in 1965. December 1977, Warrior Theodore was the third American citizen given a private tour of the SAMS, the aircraft known as Air Force One, for significant contributions to the armed forces during a time of war and peace. He overcame adversity which led Harris to create the student forum against school violence and crime in Buffalo, NY. Harris had several accomplishments when he served, which can be seen in his new book, The Three Mentors. General Inquiries: LAVIDGE Phoenix 480-998-2600 gconnor(at)lavidge(dot)com 30% of Wisconsinites are at risk of foreclosure or being evicted Analysts have been predicting that 30% of Wisconsinites are at risk of foreclosure or being evicted when COVID-19 protections end. As the U.S. Supreme Court has recently blocked the CDC eviction ban, that time has come. For many, there wont be adequate resources to satisfy landlords, debt collectors, banks, or others who expect payment for past due obligations. People are now facing eviction, foreclosure, wage garnishments and other unrelenting debt problems. Residents of Wisconsin who had been protected will find themselves even further behind on rent or house payments- setting the stage for lawsuits. Unless prompt action is taken, these people will face eviction, foreclosure and risk losing everything. This kind of stress takes a toll on the human body and spirit, deteriorating self-esteem and destroying relationships. It is difficult, but not impossible to come to terms with the debt problem. The stakes are high; consult with an experienced and trusted Wisconsin bankruptcy lawyer experienced in bankruptcy cases. With prompt legal assistance from Debt Advisors, clients say that the consequences are less severe, and the situation becomes much less painful. Attorney Schomburg at Debt Advisors urges, without hesitation, to request a free initial consultation. He states, "For those who qualify, chapter 7 and chapter 13 bankruptcy employ a quick safety net called the Automatic Stay. This legal action protects your property, stops collection activity, and prevents eviction or foreclosure long enough for an attorney to resolve financial obligations." Debt Advisors Law Offices Wisconsin Voted #1 best bankruptcy law firm since 2012, Debt Advisors Law Offices is dedicated to helping those who want to get past the crushing circumstances brought on by serious and urgent financial situations. Their help is genuine and reliable. They get great satisfaction that comes with helping people stay in their homes and tackle debt once and for all. Read what clients have to say about filing bankruptcy and working with Debt Advisors in Wisconsin. https://mydebtadvisors.com/why-debt-advisors/attorney-reviews/ Brian Balzli I know what it takes to do the job right and, as a local small business owner, Ill be personally responsible for my team and their work. Im looking forward to providing people in this area with a new kind of painting company. - Balzli Brian Balzli is pleased to announce the launch of his new professional residential and commercial painting company Fresh Coat Painters of Melbourne. Fresh Coat Painters of Melbourne offers painting services including interior and exterior painting, sealing and staining; popcorn ceiling and wallpaper removal; faux painting; garage epoxy; drywall repair and more in Melbourne, Viera, Rockledge, Cocoa and the surrounding areas. Fresh Coat Painters has a national product partnership with Sherwin-Williams, so products are guaranteed to be high quality. At Fresh Coat Painters, our team members are professional, experienced, trained, background checked and more. This business isnt just about painting walls. Its about changing the experience people have come to expect from a painting company and creating life-long customers. That takes a commitment to a different kind of customer service and thats what were here to do, Balzli said. As part of the companys commitment to service, Fresh Coat Painters also has a 24/7 receptionist, online scheduling and free detailed quotes. Fresh Coat Painters also offers a 3-3-3 customer service pledge, which means calls will be answered by a live person within three rings, a quote will be delivered within three days (customer schedule permitting) and the job will be started within three weeks. Owning his own business is Balzlis third career he was a commercial pilot and then he worked for his familys industrial painting business, both of which required extensive travel. He grew up in Key West and his family was ready to move back to his home state. Balzli was researching business opportunities in Florida when he came across Fresh Coat Painters. My previous careers relied heavily on two things I know will benefit my Fresh Coat Painters clients: customer service and quality control. I know what it takes to do the job right and, as a local small business owner, Ill be personally responsible for my team and their work. Im looking forward to providing people in this area with a new kind of painting company, Balzli said. Fresh Coat Painters was founded in 2004 as part of Strategic Franchising Systems. Since 2015, Fresh Coat Painters has been included in the Bonds Top 100 and named to Entrepreneur Magazines Franchise 500 list. Fresh Coat Painters is also part of the International Franchise Association, the Small Business Associations Franchise Registry, VetFran and Minority Fran. Fresh Coat Painters of Melbourne is bonded and insured. For more information about Fresh Coat Painters of Melbourne, call 321-522-5120, email BBalzli@FreshCoatPainters.com or visit http://www.FreshCoatPainters.com/Melbourne. Our company name comes from a singular focus on employee and client happiness and awards like this one provide validation that we are doing the right things as we scale to continue to deliver on that goal, said Larry English, company President and co-founder. Centric Consulting, a global business and technology consulting firm with over 1,000 employees, is honored to be recognized by Consulting Magazine as one of the top 10 Best Large Firms to Work For. The publication's rankings are based on survey responses by upto 15,000 consultants, representing more than 300 firms, which rate employee satisfaction in culture, career development, client engagement, compensation and benefits, and firm leadership. This is Centric's first year ranking in the large firms category, earning eighth place out of 21 winners, but it has been recognized by the magazine in past years as a top small firm and a leader in employee morale. Our company name comes from a singular focus on employee and client happiness and awards like this one provide validation that we are doing the right things as we scale to continue to deliver on that goal, said Larry English, company President and co-founder. Since the company was founded in 1999, its leaders set out to build the best culture in the consulting industry one that celebrates individuals and creates lifelong friendships. That commitment to employees, clients and communities has earned Centric more than 100 accolades along the way. Most recently, Centric was recognized as one of Fast Companys 100 Best Workplaces for Innovators. The firm was also named a 10-time NorthCoast 99 Award winner for its commitment to being one of Northeast Ohio's great workplaces. And, year after year, Centric continues to make Forbes' list of America's Best Management Consulting Firms. Having an exceptional culture has always been the core of our success, said English. We invest the same care into maintaining and evolving our culture as we put into our business strategy. About Centric Consulting Centric Consulting is a global management consulting firm that guides companies in the search for answers to complex digital, business and technology problems by asking tough questions, leading crucial conversations and blending our experts with yours. As you go where you want to grow, we can help you conquer change, optimize processes, elevate your technology, and compete in a digital world. Headquartered in Ohio, with more than 1,000 employees and locations across the country and India, Centric has been honored over the years with awards for its commitment to employees, clients and communities. Most recently, the firm was recognized as one of Fast Companys 100 Best Workplaces for Innovators. Visit http://www.centricconsulting.com to learn more. Connect with Centric Consulting: LinkedIn | Twitter | Facebook| Instagram | YouTube Christmas Decor, the 300-plus unit strong Texas-based holiday decorating franchise, is continuing to grow its footprint across the country, with 11 new signings so far this year and another 30 in the pipeline, fueled by consumer demand looking for seasonal cheer far before the start of the 2020 holiday season. In the 18 years he's been with Christmas Decor, president Brandon Stephens said hes never seen the kind of phenomenal growth the company experienced in 2020. Our numbers were up 20% year over year, he said. Thats a big number that speaks to unprecedented demand. We took a huge step forward last year, and now with new franchisees, new customers and an expanding market, were seeing that momentum continue. With 2021 holiday season sales set to kick off in Q3, Stephens said the brand which has an average customer retention rate of 80% expects to see even larger numbers this year. Theres no place like home for the holidays, Stephens said. I think that feeling resonated with many Americans last year, and its a trend we project will continue based on early renewals were already seeing. Many of those renewals have come in the form of commercial customers, who start their holiday planning and budgeting early. Last season, there was a huge increase in municipalities ordering holiday installations, Stephens said. Communities recognized people were bored, so they made investments in their local quality of life with drive-through lighted parks and festive downtown displays. This year again, early interest from commercial customers has been very strong. Founded in 1986, Christmas Decor provides an opportunity for landscapers and outdoor business owners to offset fixed overhead costs, generate new income streams and maintain key employees year round. It also brings its franchisees affluent repeat business from homeowners and commercial contacts who value the brands renowned white glove service and customized designs.Our professional installers approach each project as a unique creation, Stephens said. Were here for our clients who dont want any hassle, and we want their homes and businesses to look cheery and professional. With the ability to diversify revenue through complimentary sister brand Nite Time Decor, the worlds leading provider of low-voltage landscape lighting products, Christmas Decor is a year-round revenue generator for its franchise partners. Franchisees who offer Nite Time Decors services even see a 25%-30% increase to their seasonal sales. Recently celebrating its quarter century milestone, the holiday lighting brand has its eyes on yet another magical season. Our customers remember the excitement of seeing their homes and businesses all lit up for the holidays with a stunning design customized especially for them, Stephens said. It becomes an important part of their annual holiday tradition, something they look forward to every year. More than just bringing in profits, our franchisees bring joy to their communities and after 25 years, thats something we continue to be proud of. About Christmas Decor Founded in 1986 by Blake Smith, Christmas Decor has become the leading holiday decorating brand in the U.S. and Canada. Originally created as an off-season supplement to the landscaping business, the Texas-based franchise now brings holiday cheer to over 300 communities across North America, ultimately creating jobs for 3,000-plus seasonal workers that might otherwise be unemployed. Backed by a strong business model and double-digit revenue increase year-over-year for the last 11 years, Christmas Decor is looking to grow in markets across the U.S. and Canada. For more information on Christmas Decor, please visit https://www.christmasdecor.net/franchise/. CYWARIA League North offers students across the country an opportunity to compete in a fun-Esports-inspired cybersecurity league while learning real-world and in-demand skills," CyberNB CEO, Tyson Johnson Esports in Canada are growing exponentially with a recent study indicating that 89% of Canadian kids and teens play video games. With screen time on the rise can gaming go from being considered hours wasted to becoming the perfect training for an introduction to the booming field of cybersecurity? CyberNB, Canadas epicenter for cybersecurity, thinks so. CyberNB in partnership with CYBERPRO Global, a world-class cyber education and training provider, announced today that it has launched CYWARIA League North, Canadas Elite cybersecurity league. This engaging platform is the first of its kind in Canada and will provide students with unique insight into the dynamic nature of the cyber world, all the while teaching students by replicating real-life cyber threats. We know that cybersecurity skills are in high demand across all business sectors and that this demand will only continue to grow as our world becomes ever-more connected, shared CyberNB CEO, Tyson Johnson. CYWARIA League North offers students across the country an opportunity to compete in a fun-Esports-inspired cybersecurity league while learning real-world and in-demand skills. In Canada, the rapidly growing field of cybersecurity represents $1.7 billion in GDP and employs over 11,000 people, and will continue to rise. As the Internet of Things, the sharing economy, and digitization drive great opportunities, they have also led to an increase in cyber-attacks and many people and organizations are increasingly vulnerable to these threats. Education and training for cyber skills in the classroom begins with cybersecurity basics such as privacy and sharing personal information to setting and maintaining strong passwords and builds up to learning about the most common threats, attacks, and vulnerabilities. Beginning in October 2021, Canadian students registered in grades 11 and 12 will have the opportunity to enroll in the challenge-based platform that consists of 12 monthly challenges based on realistic scenarios and includes access to videos, tutorials, and other resources to help prepare for the next campaign. Each month, students skills will be tested as they compete against each other to solve real-world cyber-threat scenarios. This competitive gaming environment breeds excitement, giving students unique insight into the dynamic nature of the cyber world and exposure to an in-demand and growing profession. There will also be scholarships and monthly prizes to be won. To learn more about CYWARIA League North and to register your student, visit http://www.cywarialeaguenorth.com. Registration for this exciting program closes on October 11th, 2021. -30- About CyberNB CyberNB was founded in 2016 to fill a crucial gap in Canadas cybersecurity ecosystem, providing a single overarching organization working on behalf of all stakeholders. Today, CyberNB has an extensive national and international network of partners and collaborators in business, government, and academia. A dynamic non-profit, CyberNBs four pillarsWorkforce & Skills, Innovation & Infrastructure, Trust & Compliance, and Growth & Commercialization pursue the collective advancement of Canadas booming cybersecurity sector. Learn more at http://www.cybernb.ca. For more information, contact: Alison Ziemianski Director Marketing, CyberNB 506.271.0242 Alison.ziemianski@cybernb.ca Crystal Richard Publicist Crystal Richard & Co. crystal@crystalrichard.com Streamline Publishing, founded in 1986 with the creation of radio industry sales and management trade publication Radio Ink and today a diversified publisher of print and digital titles focused on the art and media industries, has elevated Deborah Parenti to the role of President of the Radio, TV & Podcasting Division. In this role, Parenti will extend her leadership responsibilities across the three brands that have helped make Streamline Publishing a trusted source for news, information, and insight in the radio, television, and on-demand audio industries: Radio Ink, Radio + Television Business Report, and Podcast Business Journal. The Radio, TV & Podcasting Division also presents the annual Hispanic Radio Conference and Radio Ink Forecast conference. Parenti has served as EVP/Publisher of what was formerly known as Streamline Publishings audio division since joining the company founded by Chairman/CEO B. Eric Rhoads in January 2007. She assumed leadership of Radio + Television Business Report with its acquisition by Streamline Publishing in February 2013. The company launched Podcast Business Journal in the late 2010s. Deborah has been a tremendous asset to Radio Ink for nearly 15 years and, more recently, has shown exemplary leadership in growing both RBR+TVBR and Podcast Business Journal into premier destinations for their readers, Rhoads said. With solid experience as a leader of radio stations in her home of Dayton, Ohio, and in Philadelphia, Deborah has proven that her expertise as a top-notch marketer and broadcast media sales and management professional can drive the growth of three distinct publications for the audio and visual media industries. We congratulate Deborah on this well-deserved promotion. Parentis career in the radio broadcasting industry started at WING in Dayton, where she rose to VP and Assistant General Manager following roles in promotion, marketing, and research. She later joined Stoner Broadcasting, serving as General Sales Manager at Stoners WDJX in Louisville before returning to Dayton in 1990 as VP/General Manager of WWSN, as the first woman to manage a radio station in that market. Under her leadership, the station would become WMMX Mix 107.7, a station that today remains one of Daytons most listened to FM radio choices. Later, Parenti would become VP/GM of American Radio Systems Dayton group, earning a major profile in the February 1997 issue of Working Woman magazine for her role in developing one of the first consolidated radio sales platforms, Radio First! In September 1997, Parenti would leave her hometown of Dayton for a position as VP/GM of Beasley Broadcast Groups country-formatted WXTU-FM in Philadelphia. From 1999-2010, Parenti was a board member of Vox Radio. Today, Parenti is again based in the Dayton area. I am extremely honored and grateful to have the good fortune of working with Eric and our incredible team of professionals. The opportunity to engage with and learn from people across so many levels of a business I love, as well as the chance to make what I hope is a positive impact on it, is something I never take for granted, Parenti said. Parenti is a Board Member of the Alliance for Women in Media. She completed NABEFs Broadcast Leadership Training Program in 2001. She also sits on the College Broadcasters Inc. advisory committee. Ed Ryan retains the role of Editor-in-Chief for Radio Ink and Podcast Business Journal. Adam Jacobson retains the role of Editor-in-Chief for Radio + Television Business Report. Streamline Publishing and its products play a substantial role within two industries: radio/television/on-demand audio and the world of art and art collecting. It prides itself on seeking innovative solutions that break traditional molds. In addition to its radio, TV, and podcasting titles, it is the publisher of Fine Art Connoisseur and PleinAir. The art division is also the organizer of various events closely aligned with its art brands. Delphine Daniels joins Gilbane Building Company to grow business development in New York City. With a background working on both the architectural and project management side of our industry, Delphine brings unique insights and relationships to our business and will be a key contributor to our growth in New York City and beyond. Gilbane Building Company is pleased to announce the addition of Delphine Daniels, Associate AIA as a Business Development Manager in the New York City office. Delphine brings sixteen years of business development experience and has been successful in developing influential relationships while driving organizational awareness and growth. In her new role, she will work closely with operations to enhance and expand client relationships, as well as gain market share in both the public and private sectors. Delphine will bring strategic experience, knowledge and relationships to support Gilbanes growing portfolio of cultural and institutional projects. Before joining the Gilbane family, Delphine led business development and marketing efforts for two mid-size architecture firms, and, most recently, for a boutique-sized owners representative firm specializing in cultural and institutional work. Prior to joining the AEC industry, Delphine held positions at The Museum of Modern Art and The Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York City is a cultural beacon for the world and Gilbane has been proud to partner with cultural clients to deliver some of our most treasured institutions, said Neil Heyman, Cultural and Performing Arts Center of Excellence leader, Gilbane Building Company. With a background working on both the architectural and project management side of our industry, Delphine brings unique insights and relationships to our business and will be a key contributor to our growth in New York City and beyond. Delphine offers outstanding knowledge which will be a tremendous asset to our clients, said Brennan Gilbane Koch, Head of New York City Strategic Partnerships, Gilbane Building Company. Cultural and institutional projects have distinct challenges and stakeholders. Delphines perspective and ability to partner with key stakeholders will help cultural institutions and not-for-profit organizations achieve their vision. Delphine is a member of several industry organizations including Urban Land Institute, ArtTable, Society of College and University Planning (SCUP), American Institute of Architects New York Chapter (AIA NY), NYC Builds Bio+, Architectural League of New York, and Professional Women in Construction (PWC), and was the co-chair of the AIA New York Marketing and Communications Committee from 2015-2018. Delphine received a Bachelors degree in Art History from the University of Washington in Seattle and received her Masters of Philosophy, in Art and Architectural History from CUNY Graduate School and University Center, NY. About Gilbane Building Company Gilbane Building Company provides a full slate of construction and facilities-related services from pre-construction planning and integrated consulting capabilities to comprehensive construction management, close-out and facility management services for clients across various markets. A family business founded in 1870, Gilbane has active participation from the 4th, 5th and 6th generations of the Gilbane family. Since 1949, Gilbane has delivered construction services in New York State for clients across multiple market sectors, including commercial office, multi-unit and high rise residential, cultural, education, healthcare, public sector, science and technology, and mission critical. For more information, visit http://www.gilbaneco.com. Applications of artificial intelligence are at the forefront of every industry. This conference brings together some of the best and brightest in artificial intelligence to delve into how AI is shaping their work, their industries, and our world. - Peter Wojewnik, VP, dicentra dicentra, a contract research organization (CRO) and professional consulting firm headquartered in Toronto, is proud to announce its partnership with AIDP Inc., who will be signing on as the exclusive sponsor and co-host for the upcoming digital conference The Future of Health and Wellness From Personalized Nutrition to Artificial Intelligence". The virtual event is scheduled to take place on November 3, 2021. The event is dicentras first of its kind and promises to bring together industry experts in both personalized nutrition and artificial intelligence to discuss big issues impacting health and wellness today and in the future. AIDP Inc., will be organizing the personalized nutrition portion of the conference while dicentra will be organizing the artificial intelligence portion. Personalized Nutrition is an exciting area for the industry and there are a growing number of solutions, said Mark Thurston, President, AIDP Inc. AIDP has been a pioneer in precision pre and probiotics which we believe offers the ultimate flexibility in personalized nutrition. This virtual event explores new research and new offerings in personalized nutrition and the role AI technology will play to enhance health. We are proud to partner with dicentra. Applications of artificial intelligence are at the forefront of every industry including health and wellness, said Peter Wojewnik, VP Growth, Marketing, and Sales, dicentra. This conference brings together some of the best and brightest in artificial intelligence to delve into how AI is shaping their work, their industries, and our world. The event marks the first partnership between AIDP Inc., a leader in functional ingredients, and dicentra, a contract research organization and professional consulting firm for the life sciences and food industries. Were very happy to partner with AIDP Inc., on this event, said Alicja Wojewnik, President & CEO, dicentra. When we first started planning this event, we wanted to partner with a real authority on personalized nutrition. We found that partner in AIDP Inc. Their world-class expertise in functional ingredients and innovation will elevate not only the topic but also the profile of the entire event. For more information about the event, visit https://pheedloop.com/TheFutureOfHealthAndWellness/site/home/ or follow dicentra on Twitter or LinkedIn to stay up to date on the event and join in the conversation. About dicentra, Inc. dicentra is a contract research organization and professional consulting firm that specializes in addressing all matters related to safety, quality, and compliance for all product categories in the life sciences and food industries. We evaluate, implement, and provide all the necessary support for your products and operations, allowing you to gain market access while building confidence in your brand. We achieve this through our four business divisions: Life Sciences, Food Safety & Quality, Global Certifications, and Clinical Trials. Since our inception in 2002, we have completed over 18,000 projects and serviced over 1,200 companies internationally. About AIDP, Inc. AIDP is a leader in functional ingredients, with a focus on extensively researched products that meet consumer demand for wellness and healthy aging. Its commitment is to source high-quality ingredients and provide proprietary solutions that address formulation challenges. AIDPs success is grounded in its depth of experience and commitment to strong science. For more information contact us at customercare@aidp.com and visit http://www.aidp.com. Up to 4% of the United States population, or 7 to 8 million Americans, live with Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities (IDD). People with IDD are the last place where segregation is still toleratedand to provide proper care, a new modernization of training for those who care for people with IDD needed to be developed. Up to 4% of the United States population, or 7 to 8 million Americans, live with Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities (IDD).(1) Of this population, according to a study conducted by researchers at UNSW, people with an intellectual and development disability (IDD) are twice as likely to die from a preventable death.(2) Much of this risk stems from the lack of training and education for doctors and other health professionals to deliver proper care for these individuals. Enter Disruptor Dr. Craig Escude, President of IntellectAbilitywho explains to Karla Jo Helms, host of the Disruption Interruption podcast that people with IDD are the last place where segregation is still toleratedand to provide proper care, a new modernization of training for those who care for people with IDD needed to be developed. After starting in the field in the late 1990s soon after his residency, Dr. Escude still didnt have much knowledge about IDD, even though he had gone to medical school. After 20 years of continuing to learn, Escude hit a turning point around 2011 and said, THATS ITIM DONE WITH THE STATUS QUOthe state government had begun focusing on community support for people with IDD rather than institutional support, living in homes and apartments where services could support them there. That was when Dr. Escude had his epiphany: People are going to die because he and his colleagues had not been taught what was needed to provide good care for individuals with IDD. Dr. Escude then made it his mission to find a way to provide the much-needed education so clinicians wouldnt have to learn by trial and error. He realized he needed a way to identify who was at more risk for developing health problems. His companys solution is the Health Risk Screening Tool (HRST), a web-based tool to helps supporters identify health risks and provide actionable steps to mitigate those risks. Dr. Escude reveals how the HRST: Provides a simple 22-item scale designed to find out who is at the greatest risk of illness and health destabilization. Looks for health risks associated with a wide variety of disabilities, including developmental disabilities, physical disabilities, disabilities associated with aging and other conditions. Proves the validity of the tool with decreasing risk, increasing health & wellness, and decreased ER visits. Disruption Interruption is the podcast where youll hear from todays biggest Industry Disruptors. Learn what motivated them to bring about change and how they overcome opposition to adoption. Disruption Interruption can be listened to via the Podbean app, and is available on Apples App Store and Google Play. About Disruption Interruption: Disruption is happening on an unprecedented scale, impacting all manner of industries MedTech, Finance, IT, eCommerce, shipping and logistics, and moreand COVID has moved their timelines up a full decade or more. But WHO are these disruptors and when did they say, THATS IT! IVE HAD IT!? Time to Disrupt and Interrupt with host Karla Jo KJ Helms, veteran communications disruptor. KJ interviews bad asses who are disrupting their industries and altering economic networks that have become antiquated with an establishment resistant to progress. She delves into uncovering secrets from industry rebels and quiet revolutionaries that uncover common traitsand not-so-commonthat are changing our economic markets and lives. Visit the worlds key pioneers that persist to success, despite arrows in their backs at http://www.disruptioninterruption.com. About Karla Jo Helms: Karla Jo Helms is the Chief Evangelist and Anti-PR(TM) Strategist for JOTO PR Disruptors(TM). Karla Jo learned firsthand how unforgiving business can be when millions of dollars are on the lineand how the control of public opinion often determines whether one company is happily chosen, or another is brutally rejected. Being an alumni of crisis management, Karla Jo has worked with litigation attorneys, private investigators and the media to help restore companies of goodwill back into the good graces of public opinionKarla Jo operates on the ethic of getting it right the first time, not relying on second chances and doing what it takes to excel. Helms speaks globally on public relations, how the PR industry itself has lost its way and how, in the right hands, corporations can harness the power of Anti-PR to drive markets and impact market perception. About IntellectAbility: IntellectAbility provides tools and training to agencies, governmental entities and supporters of people with intellectual and developmental disabilities to foster early recognition and mitigation of health risks thereby improving health and wellness. One such tool is the Health Risk Screening Tool (HRST), of which they are the sole developer, producer, and distributor. The web based HRST is the most widely used and validated health risk screening instrument for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities. IntellectAbility also provides numerous health-related and person-centered service trainings for supporters of people with IDD. With unrelenting focus, IntellectAbility works to fulfill its mission of improving health and quality of life for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities and other vulnerabilities. For more information, visit ReplacingRisk.com. 1. empower-wny.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/Fact-Sheet-final3.pdf. 2. Wheelahan, Dan. People with intellectual disability are twice as likely to die a preventable death, UNSW Sydney Newsroom, February 8, 2017, newsroom.unsw.edu.au/news/health/people-intellectual-disability-are-twice-likely-die-preventable-death Mary Wells joins Dutch Country Living ...with her tremendous work ethic and leadership ability, [Wells] is a welcome addition to our management team." Dutch Country Living, based in Bloomfield, Iowa, has announced the hiring of longtime southeast Iowa economic development and tourism professional, Mary Wells to fill the companys newly created role of Projects, Grants & Programs Administrator starting in late September. Wells will also be a member of the Human Resources team. Mary brings an unparalleled set of skills and expertise to Dutch Country Living that runs in perfect alignment with our internal initiatives for downtown business development, tourism partnerships, and workforce development. Her long and successful career with the Main Street program, coupled with her tremendous work ethic and leadership ability, is a welcome addition to our management team, says Justin Hill, CEO of Dutch Country Living. "I am excited to join the Dutch Country Living team, shares Wells. They have a proven track record of growing businesses from reaching local audiences to captivating regional markets. This new position will be helping to facilitate access to capital and increase tourism, making southern Iowa and northern Missouri a destination for all ages." Dutch Country Living, a customer experience company whose popular brands include Dutch Country General Stores and Amish Made Poly, has manufacturing, warehousing, media production, and retail operations in Iowa and Missouri. With more than 60 employees, the company has continued to gain recognition as one of the fastest-growing private companies in the Midwest region. For more information about Dutch Country Living, visit the company's page on LinkedIn. Duthie Power installs standby generators with backup batteries from CPT to ensure there is almost no interruption to your power source in an outage or PSPS. Duthie Power is proud to announce they are partnering with Computer Protection Technology, Inc. (CPT) to offer their uninterruptible power supplies (UPS) to Southern California's generator customers. This pairing of services and goods ensures property managers and business owners won't experience a delay between the power going out and backup power turning on during a power outage. When the power goes out, what do you do? If youve done business with Duthie Power Services and CPT, then its likely you have an emergency power supply system in place to ensure your essentials stay powered up. In todays world, essentials include more than keeping the lights and air conditioning on, they include servers and safety systems. Duthie Power is proud to work with CPT and offer their uninterruptible power supplies (UPS) so customers have peace of mind from knowing their essentials stay powered up in an emergency. As in many industries, the generator and energy markets have a plethora of acronyms. UPS, as offered by CPT, refers to a system that offers near instantaneous backup power when a main power source fails, typically with energy stored in a battery unit. Southern California property owners, whether commercial or residential, know all too well what PSPS stands for public safety power shutoff. A PSPS occurs when severe weather threatens power lines in high fire zones, so the power company preemptively shuts down power to prevent wildfires and keep communities safe. How do Duthie Power Services and CPT help companies manage through a power outage? Duthie Power installs standby generators with backup batteries from CPT to ensure there is almost no interruption to your power source in an outage or PSPS. As Duthie Power Sales Engineer Mike Goodman explains, A UPS unit carries power from the moment the power goes out until the moment the generator kicks in. It should be 10 seconds, but that can be a lifetime if youre working on something critical. Theres one more acronym- ATS, or automatic transfer switch. The ATS ensures a safe transfer of the electrical load away from the power source thats failing over to the backup generator. Erik Duthie, General Manager of Duthie Power describes it like a bunch of people holding hands. The power goes out, UPS kicks in, ATS works to safely transfer power, then UPS drops out and the generator takes over. Partnerships are important in the energy market as manufacturers specialize their equipment more with proprietary software and technology. Which is why Duthie Powers partnership with CPT is a great fit. Both companies have been working in Southern California for decades and understand the unique needs of California businesses and homeowners. Erik Duthie expands on how crucial their services can be- If youre a hospital or in manufacturing or data processing, seconds can feel like minutes when the power goes out. They can even be life or death. If a UPS battery works so effectively to prevent immediate power loss during any outage, then why not invest in a massive battery unit? The technology simply cant supply enough power yet. Backup batteries also rely on a power source from which they recharge and store energy, so thats why most companies that utilize UPS have a backup generator. The technology may evolve time, but for now its partnerships between experts like Duthie Power and CPT that give business owners and managers options that suit their needs. Computer Protection Technology, Inc. (CPT) was formed in 1986 from a wide frustration of many Southern California users by the lack of Power Protection manufactures service capabilities. This frustration was from a failure to provide personal, honest and reliable Power Protection service. Since that time, CPTs customer loyalty has allowed us to grow at a steady, manageable rate over the years. CPT is now viewed as the dominant Critical Power Service Organization in the Region. CPT is based in Southern California with field service offices located throughout Los Angeles, Orange, San Diego and surrounding counties. Our corporate facility is equipped with new training facilities and labs that provide for 1-phase and 3-phase electrical development and training, as well as full equipment testing and repair. For over 50 years, Duthie Power Services has served as the largest independent generator and fire pump service provider in Southern California. The Duthie team specializes in generator sales, installations, rentals, routine maintenance, diagnostics, repairs, and 24/7/365 emergency power restoration. The companys commitment to using high-quality parts, coupled with fast, guaranteed customer service and preventative maintenance packages, have made them an industry leader. Duthie Power is a family-owned business and active member of BOMA San Diego (Building Owners and Managers Association), as well as EGSA (Electrical Generating Systems Association) with offices in Long Beach and San Diego, California. Every year, Express employs hundreds of thousands of people and we are honored to be a part of their employment journey. - Express CEO Bill Stoller With companies across the United States vying for workers, Express Employment Professionals is recognizing those who choose to connect with employers through the staffing agency as part of National Staffing Employee Week, Sept. 13 19. According to the American Staffing Association, around 3 million temporary and contract employees work for staffing companies in America during a given week; and during a year, American staffing companies employ 16 million contract and temporary employees. Seventy-three percent of staffing employees work full time and 64% utilize the industry to fill the gap between jobs to aid in landing a new one. One-in-five say they chose temporary/contract work for the flexibility it offers. Express is proud to recognize quality workers playing an integral part of getting America back on its feet after the struggles of 2020, said Bill Stoller, Express CEO and chairman of the board. At Express, we never charge a fee for job seekers and have connections to local businesses that you wouldnt otherwise find sifting through thousands of online job boards and social media. With the economy booming, now is a great time to try a new field and develop skills for career growth or make a long-term career change through one of our expert recruiters. Every year, Express employs hundreds of thousands of people and we are honored to be a part of their employment journey. If you are interested in applying for a opportunity through Express, visit http://www.ExpressPros.com for local job openings at Express more than 830 franchise locations. If you would like to arrange for an interview with Bill Stoller to discuss this topic, please contact Sheena (Karami) Hollander, Director of Corporate Communications and PR, at (405) 717-5966. About Bill Stoller William H. "Bill" Stoller is chairman and chief executive officer of Express Employment Professionals. Headquartered in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, the international staffing company has more than 830 franchises in the U.S., Canada, South Africa, Australia and New Zealand. Since inception, Express has put more than 9 million people to work worldwide. About Express Employment Professionals At Express Employment Professionals, were 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 http://www.ExpressPros.com. This is an exciting chapter for Express Employment Professionals as we continue to connect good people with quality companies across the globe, - Express CEO Bill Stoller The much-anticipated expansion of staffing agency Express Employment Professionals continues with the grand opening of its newest franchise in Rosedale, Auckland, New Zealand. The expansion of the international employment business began in early 2021 with the company establishing a location in Sydney Olympic Park, Australia, to add to its more than 830 offices internationally. Todays announcement establishes the first Express franchise in New Zealand with more to come. This is an exciting chapter for Express Employment Professionals as we continue to connect good people with quality companies across the globe, Express CEO Bill Stoller said. Our franchise model uniquely positions us for success. With local business experts on the ground, our headquarters in the United States is ready to support them with nearly 40 years of staffing experience and success. Following an accomplished professional career in sales, development of Enterprise Resource Planning Systems, and accounting, ultimately serving as the chief financial officer for a mid-sized finance company, Rosedale franchise owner Brian Capper is excited to return to his true professional passion teaching, training and development. For me, being a small business owner is not just about creating my own employment, its about creating employment opportunities for others and living by my principles, Capper said. Choosing to be an Express franchisee is the true alignment of those principles and values. Capper says it hasnt hit his new team yet that they are part of a milestone in Express history as the first franchise office in New Zealand, but they are coming to realize how monumental it is. We feel enormously proud of being associated with Express and are very excited about being the first office in our country, he said. Its a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to be at the start of something great, and we look forward to being a vital cog in the wheel of the New Zealand community. Cappers team is ready to hit the ground running with the opening of his office doors, and he sees the advantage of investing in his local community. Our backyard is their backyard, he said of why job seekers and area businesses should use Express for their human resources needs. Everyone employed in our office lives, plays and is part of our community. My team is eager, innovative and ready to put Rosedale to work! Express Employment Professionals is the No. 1 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 526,000 people across more than 830 franchise locations worldwide. Expresss long-term goal is at the heart of its companys 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 brand 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 ExpressFranchising.com. If you would like to arrange for an interview with Bill Stoller to discuss this topic, please contact Sheena (Karami) Hollander, Director of Corporate Communications and PR, at (405) 717-5966. About Bill Stoller William H. "Bill" Stoller is chairman and chief executive officer of Express Employment Professionals. Headquartered in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, the international staffing company has more than 830 franchises in the U.S., Canada, South Africa, Australia and New Zealand. Since inception, Express has put more than 9 million people to work worldwide. About Express Employment Professionals At Express Employment Professionals, were 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 http://www.ExpressPros.com. At 7.8 cubic feet, Forza's 48" range has over 40-inches of clearanceenough to fit two turkeys during the holidays, or one full plus one-half commercial tray for a whole lot of cookies. We are excited to join the NECO Alliance buying group and offer our products featuring radical Italian design to over 600 dealer members. Forza will be exhibiting at the NECO Expo tradeshow from Sept. 13 to 14 in booth #38, 39 and 40 with Signature Marketing Group (SMG). The Italian manufacturer will be highlighting the world's first and only 48-inch Professional Gas Range with a single-cavity ovenenough to fit two turkeys during the holidays, or multiple commercial-sized trays for baking several dozen cookies at once. We are excited to join the NECO Alliance buying group and offer our products featuring radical Italian design to over 600 dealer members, said Marco Guerzoni, Forza Director of Marketing and Product Development. This 48" range has a single oven cavity. It's the first of its kind in the world, and @ForzaCucina will have it on display at #NECOExpo 2021 from Sept. 13-14. See it for yourself: https://youtu.be/KtGwMjusceY Key/exclusive features of the 48-inch range: Featuring an impressive 7.8 cubic feet, the range cavity has over 40-inches of clearance. To bring the outdoor barbecue trend indoors, the MaxRotisserie accessory is a 33-inch motor-driven rod that can rotate a whole goat, lamb or small pig for multicultural cuisines. The oven goes 0 to 400F in 8 mins and tops out at 536F in 20 minutes with a 19,000 BTU bake burner. The range features Forzas proprietary MassimoBlu Hyper Double Broilerthe industrys only blue-flame double broiler. With 18,000 BTU, it heats the oven cavity evenly from edge to edge, eliminating cold spots and maximizing the heating area. An additional ultra-premium function is the exclusive Infinito Grate Systemthe industrys only continuous grate system with an integrated bullnose, utilizing edge-to-edge cast iron grates. With four 12,000 BTU full brass burners in the back and four 20,000 BTU dual flame full brass burners in the front, it has 128,000 BTU of total cooktop power. Its bold form and style embodies the soul of radical Italian design with the heart of an American muscle car, featuring unique angular racecar-inspired lines, offered in seven vivid color options: Audace Black, Dinamico Blue, Radicale Red, Ardente Orange, Ribelle Yellow, Valoroso White and Stainless Steel. For more information about Forzas new 48-inch professional gas range, visit forzacucina.com. About Forza Forza delivers dynamic Italian design with ultra-premium, professional cooking appliances. Designed and built in the heart of the famed Emilia-Romagna region in Modena, Italy, Forza appliances include professional gas ranges, dual convection electric wall ovens, professional range tops, high-performance ventilation hoods and a powerful, energy-efficient dishwasher. Forza is the American brand of parent company, Glem Gas, which has been producing high-performing appliances that embody the spirit of Italian craftsmanship for more than 60 years. For more information about Forza, visit forzacucina.com. [Gorgona] brings forth a wine that is inimitable, innately exclusive, and a symbol of hope and freedom. In a word, it is the very quintessence of this corner of our planet and of our project. Gorgona is a symbol that never ceases to gift us excitement. - Marchesi Lamberto Frescobaldi, President The eighth Frescobaldi wine estate, Gorgona, celebrates the release of its ninth vintage. Every year, the new cru of Italys last penal colony, founded in 1869, is anxiously awaited. Since 2012, the inmates on the island have combined Vermentino and Ansonica to produce Gorgona; in exchange, they get the opportunity to spend their sentences in a meaningful way, learn a new profession, and restore faith in the future. The compelling, wild wine that is Gorgona, infused with an impulse of emotions, conveys recovery, hints of hope, and releases redemption. We have had the privilege of working here on this extraordinary island for almost a decade now, and every year increases our pride in this project, stated Marchesi Frescobaldi President Lamberto Frescobaldi. Our ninth vintage displays its one-of-a-kind terroir. Here on Gorgona, surrounded by its seaside scents and tastes, is everything one could want: love for this island, mankinds loving attention, hope for a better life, the influence of the sea, and this extraordinary environment - all elements that combine to bring forth a wine that is inimitable, innately exclusive, and a symbol of hope and freedom. In a word, it is the very quintessence of this corner of our planet and of our project. Gorgona is a symbol that never ceases to gift us excitement. Gorgonas front label aspires to be a limited edition newsletter that communicates a different aspect of the island, with each vintage telling a new story of this unique place. Stepping onto Gorgona means immediately discovering the utterly distinctive biodiversity; a dense Mediterranean scrub and an uncontaminated sea, and with fortifications studded throughout the landscape as well which act as a testimony to past civilisations, plus a small church that Cistercian monks built in the 18th century and dedicated to San Gorgonio. The Gorgona 2020 label tells us about this fortress and various towers on the island. On the steep, craggy western coast, 200 metres above the sea, rises the Torre Vecchia, a massive Pisan fortress, or stronghold, sheathed in local stone and built between the 11th and 13th centuries. Now in ruins, it once guarded the stretch of the Mediterranean facing Corsica and protected the monks from frequent pirate attacks. On the opposite side of the island, facing mainland Italy, lies Cala dello Scalo, a fishing port dominated by the Torre Nuova, a fort erected by the Medici in the 17th century to complete the islands defensive perimeter. Finally, the island also boasts two towers built of reddish stone constructed in the late 19th century to track activities on the mainland. Rising near the edge of the pine woods, near the vineyards, is the Torre dellOrologio, named after its sundial, and, looking towards Cala Scirocco, is Torre Garibaldi. The 2020 growing year on Gorgona started off with frequent rains, but temperatures were never excessive, thanks to constant sea breezes. As usual on this island, the vines started their growing-cycle early, budding out in the first week in March. A rather enjoyable spring of mild, sunny days encouraged vine development, followed by a somewhat cooler than normal summer. Temperatures rose starting in late July, but the islands unique, sea-tempered climate, plus some isolated showers, ensured that the clusters were in perfect shape by harvest. An equally sun-blest, but well-ventilated September bought excellent levels of polyphenols, along with intense, elegant aromatic complexes. Gorgona 2020 exhibits a gorgeous Mediterranean radiance, reflecting the warmth of the sun that caresses the island and the crispness of the unceasing sea breezes. It appears a deep straw yellow with gold highlights. Its bouquet is an elegant marriage between classic Mediterranean florality and fruit, with pungent notes of cistus, curry plant, and juniper melding into broom and hawthorn blossom. They are flanked by fragrant impressions of tropical fruit such as pineapple and passion fruit, lifted by citrusy notes of bergamot. On the palate, it exhibits superb tangy fruit and a crisp acidity that duet together in splendid harmony, an equilibrium that finds an intriguing foil in the initial smooth mouthfeel and in the extreme grace through the entire progression. As with previous vintages of Gorgona, the 2020 marks another impressive chapter in the history of this wine. Those who savour it will be tasting the delights of a story that only this small great island can testify to. Gorgona is made from organically-farmed Vermentino and Ansonica grapes, and in limited quantities: only 9,000 bottles. In just 7 years, it has conquered markets across the globe, from New York to Tokyo, and above all has captured the hearts of those fortunate enough to have tasted it. Assets for Gorgona 2020 can be found here. # THE VISION Frescobaldi for the social good began in August 2012. Before it involved wine production, it was a multi-year project involving collaboration with the authorities of the penal colony, whose objective was to get the inmates involved in practical viticultural work. Under the supervision of Frescobaldi agronomists and winemakers, the inmates restored and cultivated a one-hectare vineyard on the island, to which over the years Frescobaldi added another 1.3 hectares of vines. THE VISION Frescobaldi for the social good began in August 2012. Before it involved wine production, it was a multi-year project involving collaboration with the authorities of the penal colony, whose objective was to get the inmates involved in practical viticultural work. Under the supervision of Frescobaldi agronomists and winemakers, the inmates restored and cultivated a one-hectare vineyard on the island, to which over the years Frescobaldi added another 1.3 hectares of vines. THE PROJECT The Gorgona project was launched in August 2012, fruit of a collaboration between Frescobaldi and Gorgona, Europes only remaining island-penitentiary. The inmates spend the final period of their detention here, working and living in contact with nature, creating for themselves a professional means of re-joining the workforce and the community at large. The project took root in a small vineyard lying in the heart of an amphitheatre high over the sea; its goal was to enable the inmates to gain personal, hands-on, professional experience in the field of viticulture. Under the supervision of Frescobaldi agronomists and winemakers, a few rows of organically-grown Sangiovese and Vermentino Nero yielded Gorgona Rosso, with the 2015 vintage, which matured in large terracotta jars. With additional plantings in 2015, that vineyard has grown today to almost two and a half hectares of Vermentino and Ansonica, which now produce Gorgona, the perfect expression of the uniqueness of this corner of earth and the work of man, and eloquent symbol of hope and freedom. STAGES OF THE PROJECT In May 2013, the first vintage of Gorgona (2013) was submitted to the authorities in Rome, and in September Lamberto Frescobaldi presented magnum number 0 to Giorgio Napolitano, President of Italy. In June 2014, Frescobaldi signed a 15-year contract for collaboration with the administration of the penal colony, and the winery hired and paid two inmates to work in the Gorgona vineyard. In February 2015, under supervision by Frescobaldi winemakers, inmates planted another hectare of Vermentino, to involve more inmates in the viticultural work and to obtain, in another four years, a better-quality wine. The total hectares thus rose to 2.3. In June 2018, the sixth vintage of Gorgona was bottled, 2017, in an edition of 9,000 bottles. The bottle label focused on the island fauna, which was perfectly adapted to the islands biodiversity: wild rabbits, peregrine falcons, and seagulls, who chose Gorgona as their nesting place. PARTNERS Andrea Bocelli created the text and signed the bottle label of the 2013 vintage. Simonetta Doni, with Studio Doni & Associati, one of the very few international wine-label design agencies, donates her talents every year for the label graphics. Together with a highly-qualified team of experts in culture and art, she graphically interprets the characteristics that make the project and its island so distinctive. Giorgio Pinchiorri, owner of Enoteca Pinchiorri, one of the most famous Italian restaurants world-wide, participates in the project by utilising his distinctive cuisine to promote appreciation of Gorgonas tradition of food and wine. Argotractors, part of the Gruppo Argo, was founded in 2007 to create a world-class tractor enterprise; it donated a vineyard tractor for use on the island. One of our company mantras is to Be the Light by spreading positivity, and we are thrilled to share what it means to Be the Light with a population of women who are in a dark space and deserve better, said Insight Global CEO Bert Bean. Insight Global, a nationwide staffing company dedicated to empowering people through the power of opportunity, announced a $250,000 donation to nonprofit Women for Women International (WfWI) in the wake of the Afghanistan crisis and during the companys annual Womens Week. WfWI has worked for nearly 20 years at the grassroots level to advance the rights of women in Afghanistan. Afghan women have been marginalized by decades of conflict and bound by religious and cultural traditions that restrict freedom of movement and reinforce rigid gender norms. WfWI plays a key role in supporting the women who remain in Afghanistan, especially during the turbulent Taliban takeover, working to provide them with the assistance and resources they need to survive. Over the past few decades, weve reached more than 120,000 women in Afghanistan, through our Stronger Women Stronger Nations program and this number is growing rapidly as we work to increase services for those displaced and who need us more than ever, said Laurie Adams, CEO, Women for Women International. Insight Globals contribution will help us to adapt our programs for our new reality under Taliban rule and the changing political landscape. Insight Globals donation will be put to immediate use through key methods WfWI have identified as the most critical: Supplying women with solar powered phones, so while isolated they can connect with each other and the WfWI team for emotional comfort, as well as to obtain vital information and cash transfers Mental health and psychological wellbeing support for WfWI program participants and staff in the country or refugees forced to leave Afghanistan who are facing extreme emotional hardships Additional security assistance for staff and operations on the ground in Afghanistan Real-time solutions developed as the situation and womens needs change We are honored to support the efforts of Women for Women International as they help the women in Afghanistan who are being marginalized and abused by a new regime that restricts their freedom, education, access to health care, and opportunity to become economically self-sufficient, said Insight Global CEO Bert Bean. One of our company mantras is to Be the Light by spreading positivity, and we are thrilled to share what it means to Be the Light with a population of women who are in a dark space and deserve better. WfWIs vision is to create a world in which all women determine the course of their lives and reach their full potential. So, its very fitting for Insight Global to announce their donation during the companys Womens Week, which takes place September 13-17. Now in its third year, Womens Week is dedicated to recognizing the countless inspiring women from role models to changemakers in the organization who motivate others to achieve greatness. Along with supporting WfWI, Insight Global employees are emboldened to participate in Womens Week with COVID-safe events and wellness experiences and by spotlighting the inspiring clients, consultants, and women in the company through personal messages and social media. Participants are encouraged to use special hashtags, #InspiringWomen and #IGWomensWeek2021, to share their stories. Women for Women International Women for Women International invests where inequality is greatest by helping women who are forgotten the women survivors of war and conflict. In Afghanistan, Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Iraq, Kosovo, Nigeria, Rwanda, and South Sudan, women learn skills to rebuild their families and communities through Women for Women Internationals Stronger Women Stronger Nations Program. They form support networks, learn to earn an income and save, and gain knowledge and resources about health and their rights. Since 1993, the organization has invested in the power of over 500,000 women to use their voices and create a ripple effect that makes the world more equal, peaceful, and prosperous. To learn more about the power of women, for women, visit http://www.womenforwomen.org. Insight Global Insight Global isnt just a staffing company. Were a company that cares for others. It might sound lofty, but it's the idea that gets us up every day, determined to make it true. Insight Global is a company that people can anchor to in moments of triumph, struggle, and every time in between. Whoever you are and wherever you come from, you matter to us and we have your back. Whether its finding the right candidate for a job or seamlessly managing a project end to end, our conviction and commitment to our consultants and clients runs deep. With 60+ field offices across the US and Canada, putting to work over 50,000 Consultants annually, we believe together, anything is possible. Learn more at http://www.insightglobal.com. Affordable housing developer Jamboree Housing Corporation expands Executive Management Team with new Chief Financial Officer Lisa Andaleon and new Vice President of Housing Development Tish Kelly. As Jamboree continues to expand across California, our need for innovative leaders also grows. Jamboree Housing Corporation has announced that Lisa Andaleon, a leader in finance and accounting for both the nonprofit and for-profit sectors, has been hired as Chief Financial Officer (CFO) to provide executive oversight of and strategic leadership to Jamborees $3.2+ billion asset portfolio. In this role, Andaleon is a member of the Executive Management Team, providing dynamic financial planning, forward-thinking strategic planning, and risk management evaluations for each housing development in the nonprofits portfolio from pre-development through lease-up and conversion to asset management. Laura Archuleta, President and CEO of Jamboree, notes that Andaleons breadth of experience in leading innovation initiatives, new technology implementation, and contract negotiation will be a great resource for Jamborees future growth, building upon the companys 30 years of proven success. As Jamboree continues to expand across California, our need for innovative leaders also grows. Lisa brings the energy, enthusiasm, and professionalism necessary to oversee Jamborees multi-billion-dollar asset portfolio, as well as provide unique perspective on Jamborees overall corporate governance and administration. Her deep understanding of technology integration makes her an invaluable asset to the Jamboree team, ensuring that key technology performance metrics are utilized throughout the company. Andaleon comes to Jamboree from the University of Southern California (USC), where she served as Director of Operations and Finance for the USC Stevens Center for Innovation, overseeing an annual budget of $33 million for the universitys technology development and commercialization office. With more than 30 years of experience in finance and business administration, Andaleon brings to Jamboree an extensive background in technology transfer, finance, business development, strategic planning, and contract negotiation and administration. An active volunteer, Andaleon currently serves on the Community Housing Works board of directors and is an active member of the Licensing Executives Society and the Association of University Technology Managers. Andaleon earned a masters degree in nonprofit leadership and management from the University of San Diego and a bachelors degree in math and economics from Claremont McKenna College. Tish Kelly rejoins Jamboree as Vice President of Housing Development. Her 15 years of affordable housing expertise includes land acquisition, entitlement, negotiation and structuring of limited partnerships, and the creation of finance structures that mitigate risk exposure. Additionally, Kelly possesses a broad depth of experience in due diligence, public agency debt financing, federal and state funding programs as well as pro forma analysis of Low income Housing Tax Credit (LIHTC) development. Kellys passion for the nonprofits mission to transform lives and strengthen communities is paralleled by her multi-faceted knowledge base of the real estate industry in market-rate and affordable housing, development and finance, and the public and private sectors. She is well acquainted with Jamborees housing development team of 12+ staff, which shell be overseeing. In total, Kelly has produced 1,300+ affordable housing units throughout California in her distinguished career, said Michael Massie, Chief Housing Development Officer for Jamboree, underscoring that Kellys leadership positions Jamboree well for the continued growth of its $1.1 billion affordable housing development pipeline. Most recently, Kelly served as Senior Director of Development for Excelerate Housing Group. Prior to that, she served as Senior Director of Finance at Jamboree and held various positions with Alliant Capital and Meta Housing Corporation. Kelly holds a masters degree in real estate development from the University of Southern California (USC) and is an accredited Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) professional and licensed California real estate broker. # # # ABOUT JAMBOREE: Founded in 1990, Irvine, CA-headquartered Jamboree Housing Corporation is an award-winning, broad-based nonprofit housing development company that develops, acquires, renovates and manages permanently affordable rental and ownership housing throughout California for working families, seniors and people with special needs. A leading community development organization, Jamboree is committed to sustaining excellence with high quality affordable housing that benefits the environment, the economy and local communities. It currently has $1.1 billion in affordable housing projects in its development pipeline and a portfolio value of $3.2 billion that includes the development of and/or ownership interest in 10,000+ homes in more than 100 California communities. Currently, Jamboree offers resident services that foster learning, health and wellness, and community building at 34 Jamboree communities with designated staff at each location. For more information, visit jamboreehousing.com and follow Jamboree on LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter at @JamboreeHousing. P.volve, the clinically backed fitness brand known for rounding out your glutes and addressing your everyday pain is opening up its groundbreaking method to new franchise partners as it looks to grow in major markets across the country. With company-owned studios currently in New York, Los Angeles and Chicago and a huge social media following that includes celebrities and fitness fanatics like Kate Bosworth, Lauryn Bosstick of The Skinny Confidential, Venus Williams, Molly Sims and many more, P.volves hybrid model of a global on-demand platform and an in-person high-end studio experience focuses on giving clients the chance to move with purpose, and meets them where they are (in home or in studio). The method that pairs its patented equipment line with functional movements designed to strengthen your core, improve mobility and posture and reduce everyday pain focuses on challenging the traditional norms of fitness. Founded in 2017 in New York by Rachel Katzman, who had struggled with scoliosis, weight gain and subsequent loss of confidence after moving to the city, the workout evolved from private training sessions Katzman did with NYC trainer Stephen Pasterino. Learning to work with her bodys natural movements instead of against them, Katzman noticed she was not only getting relief from her scoliosis symptoms, she was getting the body she had always dreamed of. Armed with a mission to help people get to know their bodies better than they ever have before, Katzman launched P.volve a year later, opening a small studio in Chinatown while building an online presence. A Fitness Method That Revolutionizes the Industry We believe traditional fitness has dropped the ball, leaving most people with injuries, pain and empty notions of what it means to be fit, said Rachel Katzman, co-founder at P.volve. Our method is grounded in functional movement to mimic the way your body moves in real world situations. We co-create our fitness content with our clinical advisory board and are committed to bringing a more educated approach to fitness to consumers and our studios play such a huge part of that delivery. Bridging the fitness and healthcare space, P.volve has revolutionized the vanity-driven fitness industry with a holistic approach and a special focus on improving womens health. Its low impact studio classes include a variety of sculpting, cardio and recovery classes (Strength & Sculpt, Cardio Burn and Recover & Stretch) so that clients can craft a routine based on their goals - whether strengthening and toning, cardiovascular health and weight loss, or flexibility and muscle recovery. By mastering precise, deliberate movements that target hard-to-reach muscles, P.volve clients are able to build the mind-to-muscle connection needed to see consistent, long-term and sustainable results. In the process, their joints will be more mobile, their muscles stronger and they can experience less everyday pain. An Omni-Channel Platform That Offers An Expansive Reach With a goal of reaching 250 locations by 2026, P.volve is well on its way of creating meaningful expansion - and has recently signed its first two franchisees in Nashville and San Diego. In addition to growing these markets, P.volve would like to expand in Chicago, LA, and NYC as well as several other growth markets across the US and beyond. The brand offers multiple revenue streams through a variety of membership options, including class packs, hybrid memberships and digital memberships, as well as in-studio equipment and retail sales. A lot of the boutique brands have maxed out their market capacity, and we are just getting started, said Alex Puccillo, P.volve Director of Franchise Development. We not only have an incredible in-house team, but we have developed strategic partnerships to help position us as experts in every angle of franchising. We have brought in franchise development, data and mapping, real estate and architecture teams. These are all valuable partnerships that our franchisees have access to from the start. But P.volves biggest differentiator is its huge orbit of content an on-demand platform comprising over 500 videos that can be filtered according to length and body focus which is key in todays fitness space. Franchise studio members have access to our on-demand platform and live virtual studio, Puccillo said. Franchise owners also get on-demand membership revenue in their protected territory. A Fitness Brand That Seeks Rockstar Partners At a time when many people are reflecting on their careers and choosing to pursue passion projects that are more fulfilling and more lucrative, P.volve has already seen huge interest from potential franchisees who are looking to leave corporate America behind. Many people do not want to return to the office, and franchise ownership affords people the opportunity to spend their time their own way, added Puccillo. "The beauty of P.volve for both owners and clients is that its hybrid; it resonates because it mirrors the time that we are in today. People want a workout that mimics their life. It's both in-studio and in-home, so clients have the options and flexibility they crave in todays culture." Not surprisingly, P.volve is looking for franchisees who prioritize health and wellness in their personal lives and are up-to-date with the latest wellness trends. Theyre also looking for entrepreneurs with a background in business management and leadership. But perhaps most importantly, theyre looking for positive people who get things done and face obstacles with a smile. We want rockstar franchisees, people who are interested in helping others evolve into the best version of themselves, Puccillo said. In return, we will give them our full attention and do everything necessary to ensure they reach their own true potential as well. Total investment ranges from $414,950 to $707,000. For more information on franchising with P.volve, visit https://pvolvefranchise.com About P.volve P.volve is a functional training method that reduces pain, improves balance and builds total body strength. P.volve launched in November 2017 and was co-founded by Rachel Katzman and Stephen Pasterino, in partnership with Camelot Venture Group, whose portfolio companies include 1-800 CONTACTS, SmileDirectClub and Quicken Loans. Available worldwide, P.volve is headquartered in New York City. For more information, please visit http://www.pvolve.com and @pvolve on Instagram. "With our eyes towards the next 70 years, we are so grateful to each and every member of the myFace community for coming together to help give individuals and families the gift of confidence and hope for a brighter tomorrow while enabling them to lead full and productive lives. Leading craniofacial organization, myFace, will host its 9th Annual Races for Faces Virtual Kickoff Celebration at 10am ET on Sunday, September 19th, 2021. While Races for Faces has traditionally been an in-person 5k walk, the event went virtual in 2020 to keep its community safe. Due to the ongoing pandemic, myFace once again invites everyone to join this years event from the comfort and safety of their own homes to celebrate differences, promote acceptance, raise funds, and bring awareness to the craniofacial community. Races for Faces, one of myFaces most important fundraising and outreach events of the year, will raise critical funds to provide craniofacial patients and families access to holistic comprehensive care and support they need and deserve. In 2020, more than 380 participants and 60 teams came together to raise $230,000 for the craniofacial community. This year, with your help, we hope to top last years best. With WABC7NY Eyewitness News Meteorologist Jeff Smith to host, participants like Nascar Driver Joe Graf Jr., and featured performances by Melissa McGoff and myFace Stars (youth involved in myFace programs), the 9th Annual Races for Faces will be a very exciting and moving program. Im in awe of all that myFace does to support those with craniofacial differences, and Im such a fan of their larger message of compassion, said Jeff Smith. This will be my 4th time hosting this event. I encourage everyone to show your support by tuning into the broadcast and/or by making a donation if you are able. Races for Faces is a fantastic, fun way to get to know the myFace community! Almost every hour in this country a child is born with a craniofacial difference. Every year 100,000 individuals are disfigured through accident or disease. September 1, 2021 marked 70 years of myFace working to support anyone with a facial difference by providing access to resources and the tools they need to thrive. Coming just a few weeks after myFaces 70th birthday, this years Races for Faces is a special one. myFace Executive Director Stephanie Paul shares, The entire myFace staff is particularly excited for this years Races for Faces and motivated to ensure this years event is the best one yet. With our eyes towards the next 70 years, we are so grateful to each and every member of the myFace community for coming together to help give individuals and families the gift of confidence and hope for a brighter tomorrow while enabling them to lead full and productive lives. NASCAR Xfinity Series driver Joe Graf Jr. shares, I have partnered with myFace to help raise funds and awareness for the fantastic work they do. If you're not familiar with how they change lives, you should be. The children they help are truly heroic. Personally, I am racing for my incredible sister who has triumphed through her own facial differences. I challenge the NASCAR community to join me. Graf is spearheading Team Graf for the second year in a row to help ensure that myFace can continue providing comprehensive care and support to craniofacial patients like his sister. Graf adds, Even though supporting this worthwhile mission is its own reward, if you show your support for Team Graf by donating today, you will receive a limited edition, custom myFace-themed Hero Card! myFaces mission of changing faces and transforming lives would not be possible without support from the community, like this years Races for Faces corporate sponsors: KLS Martin Group, Fogarty Finger Architecture, and Real Food Blends. KLS Martin, a Presenting Sponsor, has been a supporter of myFace for the past 15 years, including sponsoring Races for Faces two years in a row. As one of the leading global suppliers of medical technology solutions, they have helped to provide better surgical outcomes for patients with craniofacial conditions. Fogarty Finger Architecture, a Presenting Sponsor, is one of New York City's premier architecture and interiors firms. They have been supporting myFace for over 16 years, including sponsoring Races for Faces three years in a row. Real Food Blends, a Family Sponsor, provides real meals for people with feeding tubes giving them access to creative, wholesome, and nutritious meals. Real Food Blends has sponsored Races for Faces three years in a row. To learn more about how you can support Races for Faces and myFace, visit http://www.racesforfaces.org to register or make a donation today. About myFace For 70 years, myFace has advocated for individuals and families to ensure them access to comprehensive craniofacial care and support. By providing important services, such as emotional support groups, educational webinars, and online resources, myFace helps individuals achieve their potential to live their best life possible. For more information about myFace, please visit http://www.myFace.org. You can also follow us on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and LinkedIn. Mr. Hathaway brings tremendous expertise combined with that small town feel needed to effectively treat the people of the Texas Panhandle. Nurse Practitioner, Jason Hathaway FNP-C has recently joined the team at Creek Stone as the clinic itself has re-branded to Creek Stone Integrated Medical. We cannot tell you how excited we are to welcome Mr. Hathaway to our practice, said Dr. Williams. Jason provides an excellent blend of top-notch clinical education and knowledge with a strong passion for providing community-based, as well as evidence-based, care. Jason and I are both very much patient-centered which means we put the patient first and everything else comes second. Some of the services Mr. Hathaway provides at Creek Stone include primary care, hormone optimization, medical weight loss, IV therapy, platelet-rich plasma treatments, trigger point injections, and more. These services are added to an already comprehensive and robust array of services that include chiropractic under a Fellowship-trained provider, acupuncture, massage therapy, exercise therapy programs, low-level laser, spinal decompression, and much more. If you need it, we probably have it. Dr. Williams said, Treating pain is all about a multi-modal, broad-management approach. Thats exactly what we now have here at Creek Stone Integrated Medical clinic in Amarillo, TX. With Mr. Hathaway now on board, Creek Stone has become the Texas Panhandles best one-stop healthcare choice for just about everything short of surgery. Previously, Jason Hathaway spent 14 years as a Registered Nurse. Six of those years were spent on the medical cardiology floor at Baptist St. Anthonys (BSA) here in Amarillo, TX. The last three of those years spent as the charge nurse. Mr. Hathaway then furthered his expertise and clinical training working with the Cardiology Center of Amarillo. Each day he worked hand in hand with clinic cardiologists. Originally from Mobeetie, TX, Mr. Hathaway brings tremendous expertise combined with that small town feel needed to effectively treat the people of the Texas Panhandle. Dr. Williams adds, We are fortunate to have Mr. Hathaway on the team at Creek Stone Integrated Medical and look forward to watching the difference he makes in our patients lives. Creek Stone Integrated Medical is a comprehensive healthcare clinic located in Amarillo, TX. The providers at Creek Stone have been treating the people of the Texas Panhandle since 1998. Creek Stone is located at 45th St and I-27 offering family medical care, chiropractic care, care for personal injury and car accidents, and wellness care. In addition, Dr. Williams has Fellowship training in Neuromusculoskeletal Medicine. There is a continual shift in the accounting world toward a greater demand for more strategic advisory services, said Jonathan C. Moore, Partner-in-Charge of Advisory at PKF OConnor Davies. PKF OConnor Davies, LLP, one of the nations largest accounting, tax, and advisory firms, announced today that Clear Thinking Group, LLC, an award-winning national bankruptcy and restructuring consultancy based in Hillsborough, NJ, has joined the Firm. The company, which has spent the past two decades supporting clients at various stages of their life cycle with personalized, practical, and actionable solutions, joins the PKF OConnor Davies team as PKF Clear Thinking, LLC. The new partnership underscores the Firms expanding focus on advisory services and strategic insights, particularly dealing with fast-changing trends in complex industries. There is a continual shift in the accounting world toward a greater demand for more strategic advisory services, said Jonathan C. Moore, Partner-in-Charge of Advisory at PKF OConnor Davies. Weve long structured our Firm and our team to provide these sophisticated services, and Stu and the entire team at Clear Thinking are the perfect complement to our organization as we continue to strengthen our advisory offering. Clear Thinking joins the Firm with a proven track record of providing financial advisory and restructuring, bankruptcy advisory, process and performance improvement, and creditors rights services. Clear Thinking has also recently expanded its expertise into Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) solutions. Many clients are actively seeking advisory services and guidance around enhancing their ESG actions as the topic gains traction across industries. From our earliest meetings with the PKF OConnor Davies team, we recognized a shared commitment to client service that informs all of our work and our workplace culture, said Stu Kessler, President of the former Clear Thinking Group. The Firms deep bench of industry experts, comprehensive service offerings, and shared network of referrals and clients makes this partnership a promising opportunity for all involved. Located throughout the East Coast, PKF OConnor Davies has 14 offices in six states and continues to expand through organic growth and acquisitions. It has supported this growth with a strategic combination of promoting from within coupled with an ongoing focus on top-tier external hires. About PKF OConnor Davies, LLP PKF OConnor Davies, LLP is a full-service certified public accounting and advisory firm with a long history of serving clients both domestically and internationally. With roots tracing to 1891, 14 offices in New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, Maryland, Florida, and Rhode Island and more than 1,000 professionals led by over 100 partners, the Firm provides a complete range of accounting, auditing, tax, and management advisory services. PKF OConnor Davies is a top-ranked firm, according to Accounting Todays 2021 Top 100 Firms list and was recently recognized as one of Americas Best Tax Firms by Forbes. In additional 2021 rankings, PKF O'Connor Davies was named one of Vault's Accounting 50, a ranking of the 50 best accounting employers to work for in North America and ranked among the top 50 most prestigious accounting firms in America in a complementary Vault survey. The Firm is the 12th largest accounting firm in the New York Metropolitan area, according to Crains New York Business, and the 10th top accounting firm in New Jersey according to NJBIZs 2019 rankings. PKF OConnor Davies is enrolled in the AICPA Peer Review Program and has central memberships in the Private Companies Practice Section (PCPS), the Employee Benefit Plan Audit Quality Center (EBPAQC), Government Audit Quality Center (GAQC), and Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (PCAOB). By consistently delivering proactive, thorough, and efficient service, PKF O'Connor Davies has built long-lasting, valuable relationships with its clients. Partners are closely involved in the day-to-day management of engagements, ensuring a high degree of client service and cost effectiveness. The Firms seasoned professional staff members employ a team approach to all engagements to provide clients with the utmost quality and timely services aimed at helping them succeed. Continuity of staffing and attention to detail in all client engagements make the Firm stand out among its competitors. PKF OConnor Davies is the lead North American representative of the international association of PKF member firms. PKF International is a network of legally independent member firms providing accounting, tax, and business advisory services in over 400 locations in 150 countries around the world. With its tradition, experience, and focus on the future, PKF OConnor Davies is ready to help clients meet todays ever-changing economic conditions and manage the growing complexities of the regulatory environment. For more information, visit http://www.PKFOD.com. Prontopia, a Santa Barbara-based human services start-up, launched a novel pilot program with Washington, D.C.-based AgeWell Global to accelerate recruitment and upskilling of paid caregivers in Santa Barbara County. Prontopia received grant-funding support from the Santa Barbara Foundation in collaboration with local area health and human services organizations. According to the California State Master Plan on Aging, one in four adults in California will be over age 60 by the year 2030. Despite national recognition of this seismic demographic shift, the availability of affordable solutions that help older adults to age safely at home is limited. Connected to this gap in services is a critical lack of qualified paid caregivers. Over the next decade, California will face a 3.2 million person shortfall of paid direct care workers. Prontopias CEO and Founder, Shannon Kenny, said the company designed the Community Caregiving Solutions Pilot to expand availability of affordable and flexible home assistance services for older adults at home. Kenny emphasizes the virtualization of care services is simply insufficient for most people. In large part, technology companies have sacrificed human connection to minimize human effort. Kenny observed. The fact remains that there are essential areas of our economy such as caregiving that require investment in people as the first principal factor to succeed in filling critical service gaps today. Prontopia intends to increase the availability of paid direct caregivers by recruiting local people looking for flexible work to provide simple assistance with everyday living at home. The pilot includes systems and processes designed to motivate candidates to attain licensed certifications and training with the potential for career advancement. Prontopia partnered with D.C.-based AgeWell Global and is utilizing its 20/20 Social Determinants of Health assessment tool to analyze how early assistance at home saves money across the health and human services ecosystem. It does this by reducing injuries related to falls, improving well-being among older adults and slowing the advancement of illness. The Founder and CEO of AgeWell Global, Dr. Mitch Besser, said the Prontopia pilot program offers a promising model for the future of caregiving. Through Prontopias efforts, we believe an accessible and scalable response can be explored. Besser said. And hopefully, with success, a new model of community caregiving can contribute to local, state and national solutions. Additionally, the pilot program will address disparities in resource allocation and service availability between the north and south regions of Santa Barbara County. The programs outcomes will be reported in alignment with four of the five Bold Goals outlined in the California State Master Plan on Aging: health reimagined; affordable aging; caregiving that works; and inclusion and equity, not isolation. According to Barbara Finch, Director of the Santa Barbara County Adult & Aging Network. The county-wide Prontopia pilot program will give Santa Barbara County an opportunity to take action on local implementation of the Master Plan. Affordable quality caregiving and workforce development are essential if we are to meet the growing needs of our community, not just for older adults, but also for the family members and friends who contribute their time and energy to the responsibilities of caregiving. Rubayi Estes, the Santa Barbara Foundations Vice President, Programs, believes this is an important step in solving the caregiving crisis in Santa Barbara County, especially for underserved and vulnerable populations. The Santa Barbara Foundation has been working with county-wide partners with the Community Caregiving Initiative since 2014, said Estes. Our years of research shows that access to paid quality care is a necessary part of the spectrum of family caregiving. Santa Barbara County has an older population that is rapidly growing. We must invest in the care economy by growing a workforce that is a critical part of the success of family caregiving, increasing access to resources, and reducing health disparities in our county. The Prontopia program addresses these needs by developing a pool of local assistants who are dedicated to helping older adults with daily activities such as errands, technology troubleshooting, home organizing, pet care and companionship. Local assistants are, therefore, ideally placed to complete needs assessments and optimize community referrals for their clients. The three issues to be addressed initially are: evolving health problem identification, fall prevention and well-being improvement. The Social Determinants of Health results (often referred to as SDOH) will be analyzed and mapped to the AgeWell Global Care Coordinator Dashboard to allow community health and public services partners to manage and track healthcare referrals. Besser asserted that Prontopia, AgeWell Global and the Santa Barbara Foundation are leading the way for addressing the needs of older adults in the United States and around the world. By implementing this program, new jobs will be created, older people of all means will have access to caregiving, and health and well-being among seniors will improve, Besser stated. Prontopia is matching community funding with its own corporate funding to ensure the pilot launches quickly and with the capacity to provide inclusivity and sliding scale supplements to reach those who currently do not have access to home health services in Santa Barbara County. Kenny said pairing this pilot with Prontopias workforce development programs will significantly benefit families and working women. Many families with an especially large part of the burden falling on women struggle with balancing unpaid family caregiving responsibilities for their children and aging parents with the need to earn stable income for their households, notes Kenny. To recommend any older adults in Santa Barbara County who might benefit from the types of home assistance available, or local residents interested in flexible and affordable work that benefits the community, contact Prontopia at santabarbara@prontopia.com. Prontopia is currently in discussions to offer similar pilots in five additional locations in the United States: New York, Florida, Colorado, San Diego and Chicago. About Prontopia Prontopia creates human services technologies that put people back into the equation. Powered-by-Prontopia software and recruitment solutions enable eldercare and travel businesses to access an on-demand local assistance workforce, ensuring flexible, affordable and in-person help is always just a click away for clients. Prontopia local assistants earn meaningful extra income helping older adults and travelers in their local communities, and they gain access to upskilling opportunities that advance gig-economy work into careers that make a difference. Prontopia is a public benefit corporation focused on fostering human connection and empathy around the globe to drive the sustainable development goals of providing decent work and economic growth, creating sustainable cities and communities, and encouraging responsible consumption and production. About Santa Barbara Foundation The Santa Barbara Foundation is dedicated to improving the quality of life in Santa Barbara County for all who live, work, play and visit here. Working in partnership with individuals, community organizations, nonprofits, businesses, and government, we strive to address our communities most challenging needs. Recognizing that our work depends on the strength of the nonprofit sector, we are committed to its health and vitality. Nearly every Santa Barbara County nonprofit 5 organization and essential community project has been supported by the Foundation during its 93-year history. The Foundation connects those who give with those in need and all who dream of stronger communities. To learn more, please visit SBFoundation.org. About AgeWell Global AgeWell Global is a model of elder care coordination combining peer-based social engagement and mobile technology to improve well-being and health outcomes and drive down medical costs. AgeWell employs able seniors to visit less able seniors in their homes in order to reduce isolation, identify evolving health problems and link seniors to appropriate primary care providers and social services in their communities. AgeWells model combines best practices of several care coordination models: employing able older people as peer companions, providing social engagement through home visits, deploying a mobile health screening tool with accompanying referral algorithms to identify and address evolving health and social problems before they escalate, and ensuring that linkages to community services occur. Programs in South Africa, New York City, Fort Lauderdale and Ireland have achieved profound increases in well-being scores and significant reductions in signs of depression. Program participants with identified medical and social problems were successfully referred to medical and social service providers. Working with SIA and member companies to help develop and support policy initiatives that aim to simultaneously promote security, privacy, other civil rights and civil liberties and racial and broader social justice has truly been, and continues to be, a privilege. Gabrielle Shea The Security Industry Association (SIA) has named Gabrielle Shea public policy manager, government relations and public policy at NEC Corporation of America as the 2021 recipient of the SIA Industry Advocate Award, which recognizes leadership in public policy. Shea will be presented with the award on Sept. 21 at Part 3 of the 2021 SIA GovSummit, SIAs annual public policy and government security technology conference. The SIA Industry Advocate Award formerly the SIA Statesman Award recognizes SIA member volunteers for their extraordinary contributions of professional time, leadership and resources to position SIA and its members to address the public policy challenges impacting the security industry. Throughout 2020 and 2021, Shea has supported SIAs government relations efforts to advocate for responsible biometrics technology policy, including assisting with legislative analysis and drafting, contributing to SIAs state government affairs initiatives and helping to represent SIA in meetings with legislators in state capitals across the United States. I am honored to receive the Industry Advocate Award, said Shea. Working with SIA and member companies to help develop and support policy initiatives that aim to simultaneously promote security, privacy, other civil rights and civil liberties and racial and broader social justice has truly been, and continues to be, a privilege. In her role at NEC Corporation of America, Shea helps develop internal initiatives to promote data privacy, artificial intelligence ethics and broader digital trust and helps manage related external engagements with federal, state and local governments. Shea holds a J.D. from the Marshall-Wythe School of Law at the College of William & Mary and a B.A. in ethics and public policy with a minor in chemistry from Wake Forest University. SIA is proud to honor Gabrielle Shea as the 2021 SIA Industry Advocate Award winner she has been an immense help to our government relations team in efforts to support responsible policy on biometrics technology, leveraging her legal expertise and assisting with strategy development and communications on key issues, said Jake Parker, senior director of government relations at SIA. We congratulate Gabrielle on her outstanding leadership and achievements and look forward to continuing to work with her in addressing the most critical issues impacting our members and security and safety overall. Each year, SIA GovSummit brings together government security leaders with private industry technologists for top-quality information sharing and education on security topics affecting federal, state and local agencies. Part 3 of the 2021 conference will be held as a full-day program on Tuesday, Sept. 21, kicking off at 11 a.m. EDT. Attendees will enjoy a keynote presentation from Dr. David Mussington executive assistant director of the Infrastructure Security Division at the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) on security challenges and how we can address them as a nation. Additional session topics will include the latest on Federal Identity, Credential and Access Management, new technologies for securing government facilities and the role of safety and security solutions in infrastructure modernization. In addition to presenting the SIA Industry Advocate Award, SIA will also present the 2021 Women in Biometrics Awards, a globally recognized program co-founded by SIA and SecureIDNews and co-presented with sponsors IDEMIA, Biometric Update and the SIA Women in Security Forum that recognizes innovative women creating a more secure world by guiding the biometrics technology market. Part 3 of the 2021 GovSummit will take place as a hybrid conference, with attendees having the option to join in person or participate virtually via Zoom. The in-person component of the event will be held at SIA member company (and GovSummit sponsor) CertiPaths facility at 1900 Reston Station Boulevard in Reston, Virginia. On-site attendees will have the opportunity to participate in a SIAThere! networking reception and can even schedule tours of the GSA testing lab, in addition to attending the full schedule of seminars. Health and safety precautions will be in place at the in-person event, including physical distancing, and attendees will be required to provide proof of full vaccination. Masking will be strongly encouraged indoors per recent recommendations from the Fairfax County Health Department. This event is free for all government employees, including U.S. and international federal, state, county and municipal-level staff, plus all military, law enforcement and public safety personnel. SIA GovSummit is considered a widely attended gathering and complies with all relevant event guidelines. Industry registration starts at $49; register to attend here. SIA GovSummit 2021 is sponsored by Aiphone; Allegion; Ariel Technologies; Axis Communications; CertiPath; Dell Technologies; GSA Schedules, Inc.; Hanwha Techwin America; HID Global; Identiv; ISC Security Events; Leidos; LenelS2; Louroe Electronics; Security Information Systems, Inc.; and Smarter Security. GovSummit is also supported by media partners Campus Safety and Security Sales & Integration. About SIA SIA is the leading trade association for global security solution providers, with over 1,200 innovative member companies representing thousands of security leaders and experts who shape the future of the security industry. SIA protects and advances its members interests by advocating pro-industry policies and legislation at the federal and state levels, creating open industry standards that enable integration, advancing industry professionalism through learning and development, opening global market opportunities and collaborating with other like-minded organizations. As the premier sponsor of ISC Events expos and conferences, SIA ensures its members have access to top-level buyers and influencers, as well as unparalleled learning and network opportunities. SIA also enhances the position of its members in the security marketplace through SIA GovSummit, which brings together private industry with government decision makers, and Securing New Ground, the security industrys top executive conference for peer-to-peer networking. The Axel Group receives NJBIZ Best Places to Work award. Managing Partner Sean DeDeyn explains, We dont want to be your typical staffing firm. We want to make sure we provide a white-glove service that goes above and beyond in regard to communication, customer service and quality of our work. We want to make sure we are Anything but Typical in all For the second year in a row, The Axel Group has been named one of the best places to work in New Jersey by NJBIZ. This year landing in the number 3 spot. The Best Places to work program is open to all publicly and privately held organizations, as well as government entities and for-profit and not-for-profit groups in the state. This prestigious distinction is bestowed upon companies who have demonstrated a commitment to providing their employees a positive working experience. Firms are evaluated on a number of criteria, including the benefits offered, policies and practices, but also employee responses collected during a survey designed to pinpoint areas of strength and weakness. The Axel Group is a full-service staffing and recruiting firm that focuses on recruiting top talent across various industries, but Axels employees are the cornerstone of the firms operations, so creating a desirable work culture is critical to the success of the company. As a staffing and recruiting firm, the team at Axel places a great deal of emphasis on relationships, both professional and personal. Axels leadership remains steadfast on their company philosophy, Anything but Typical, as Managing Partner Sean DeDeyn explains, We dont want to be your typical staffing firm. We want to make sure we provide a white-glove service that goes above and beyond in regard to communication, customer service and quality of our work. We want to make sure we are Anything but Typical in all that we do. A great corporate culture is something that has been a top priority for us since the beginning, explains Partner Len Forsyth. We strive to continually enhance our work environment and our employee offerings. Axel has been recognized for excellence by numerous organizations across various criteria in recent years. With a track record of top-level service and high client satisfaction, the firm continues to solidify its reputation as the go-to staffing firm in both the AEC industries and in Corporate Services such as Accounting, Finance and Marketing. People are our business. Taking care of both our clients as well as our internal employees is always top of mind, says DeDeyn. We know that the work environment and company culture is an enormous part of job satisfaction, and we want to make sure we have a best-in-class work culture and environment. The Axel Group is honored to have received this award again, it validates that their workplace truly is Anything but Typical. For more information please visit our website: axstaffing.com The Besen Group, an international mobile data industry management consulting practice headquartered in the Washington DC area, with representatives in Paris and Tokyo, released today Open RAN Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) Tool for private 5G networks. Open RAN can provide enterprises to deploy private 5G networks with lower capital expenditures and flexible network options, said Alex Besen, Founder and CEO of The Besen Group LLC. We developed the mobile industrys first commercial Open Ran TCO tool for private 5G networks that could be applied for many different use cases and applications. Given Open RAN network operates on a commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) server, enterprises can deploy the network in a cost effective and short-time frame for their private 5G network deployments, said Roger Entner, Founder of Recon Analytics, Inc. Open RAN TCO tool for Private 5G Networks include the following worksheets: Market Size, Capex Inputs, Opex Inputs, Capex Summary, Opex Summary, TCO Summary, Graphs Data and Summary Graphs. The limited version of the tool can be downloaded at: http://www.thebesengroup.com/tools/library.htm. The Besen Groups Tool Brochure contains the following business case tools and TCO tools. The tool brochure can be downloaded at: http://www.thebesengroup.com/downloads/Tool.Brochure.pdf. Open RAN TCO Tool for Private 5G Networks CBRS TCO Tool for Private 5G Networks CBRS Business Case Tool for Private 5G Networks TCO Comparison Tool: CBRS Private 5G vs Wi-Fi 6 TCO Comparison Tool: CBRS Private LTE vs Wi-Fi 6 CBRS TCO Tool for Private LTE Networks CBRS TCO Tool for Neutral Host Networks CBRS Business Case Tool for Private LTE Networks CBRS Business Case Tool for Neutral Host Networks Small Cells TCO Tool The Besen Group offers its tools on a corporate license basis in Excel format. For pricing information or customization options, please send an email with contact details including name, title, company name, phone number to tool@thebesengroup.com. Tuteras Carnegie Village Senior Living Community a luxury senior living community in Belton, Missouri received a 2021 Capstone Award, honoring top real estate projects in the Kansas City metro. We are proud to see the design of Carnegie Village Senior Living Community recognized among the most notable new developments in the Kansas City area. Tuteras Carnegie Village Senior Living Community a luxury senior living community in Belton, Missouri is among 32 construction projects selected from more than 100 submissions by the Kansas City Business Journal to receive a prestigious 2021 Capstone Award, honoring the top real estate and development projects in the Kansas City metropolitan area. The Kansas City Business Journal featured the 2021 Capstone winners in a special print publication, as well as a digital special section, on July 26, 2021 (unlocked access on August 9). Carnegie Village Senior Living Community is only recipient in the senior living category, recognized for enhancing and transforming the Kansas City area. Honorees were chosen by a panel of independent judges based on project size, community impact and innovation and had to be move-in ready by the end of 2020, which was a real feat given the challenges of last year. Honorees will be celebrated and presented with the Capstone Award at a formal reception on Thursday, September 30, 2021, at the Arvest Bank Theatre at The Midland. Key players to be honored include project architect NSPJ Architects, and interior designer Marian Tutera, as well as general contractor Dade Construction LLC and engineer Bob D. Campbell & Co. These honorees were instrumental in bringing this project to fruition. Tutera Senior Living & Health Care tapped its 35 years of award-winning senior living expertise to provide the services and amenities most valued by residents, their families and staff at Carnegie Village. Carnegie Village located at 107 Bernard Drive in Belton, Mo. offers upscale residential options with country club-style amenities. Carnegie Village comprises 183,826 square feet on 22 beautifully landscaped acres. Great design changes peoples live for the better. We are proud to see the design of our Carnegie Village Senior Living Community recognized among the most notable new developments in the Kansas City area, said Joe Tutera, chief executive officer of Tutera. We care deeply about the happiness and wellness of our residents and the prestigious Capstone Award recognizes our continued commitment to creating the most luxurious and enjoyable lifestyle for area seniors. The rental-based Carnegie Village provides a complete continuum of care with independent living and assisted living apartment homes, as well as memory care services, and an upscale rehabilitation center. The range of residential options are designed to meet the diverse lifestyle preferences of every senior who lives at Carnegie Village. On October 1, the Kansas City Business Journal will publish further details about each of the honorees with profiles of each project to be reported in the weekly print edition and online. About Tutera Senior Living & Health Care Tutera Senior Living & Health Care is a locally owned, diversified post-acute senior health care provider operating 75 senior living communities in nine states throughout the country. As one of the nations premier senior care providers, Tutera Senior Living & Health Care offers its residents independent living, assisted living, skilled nursing, post-surgery rehabilitation, memory care, home health and hospice care. In 1983, Dominic F. Tutera, M.D., founded Tutera to provide compassionate patient care with the uncompromising values of integrity, respect, hospitality and selfless service. Tutera Senior Living & Health Care still embodies those values today. Tutera is committed to making a positive difference in the lives of its residents and their families through senior living and health care experts who inspire and promote individuality and personal happiness. For more information, visit http://www.Tutera.com. Caroline Nesbit We are excited to welcome Caroline to Red Banyans growing team in Washington, which is relentlessly dedicated to advancing our clients interests, said Red Banyan Founder and CEO Evan Nierman. Red Banyan, a top crisis communications PR agency, has hired Caroline Nesbit as an Account Coordinator. Based in Washington, D.C., Nesbit will provide communications support to clients through content creation, research, and media relations. Nesbit is a graduate of the University of Pittsburgh with a bachelors degree in media and professional communications, along with certificates in community/corporate relations and American Sign Language. As an undergraduate, she interned with an Israeli public relations agency and a national non-profit organization. We are excited to welcome Caroline to Red Banyans growing team in Washington, which is relentlessly dedicated to advancing our clients interests, said Founder and CEO Evan Nierman. Since its launch in late 2010, Red Banyan has continued to grow, establishing itself as one of the leading crisis PR agencies in the United States. Red Banyan provides crisis management, litigation support, media relations and other strategic communications services to a variety of national and global clients. I am grateful for the opportunity to join Red Banyan and step into a field about which I am so passionate, Nesbit said. Its a great opportunity to learn from some of the most respected crisis PR experts in the country, and I cant wait to get started. About Red Banyan Red Banyan is a top crisis management firm focused on solving complex, highly sensitive and mission-critical communications challenges. Specializing in crisis communications, corporate public relations, government relations, and legal PR, Red Banyan provides an integrated approach to communications rooted in strategy. Learn more at http://www.redbanyan.com. Wolfpack Publishing has expanded its executive team with hires in two major roles. Jennifer Hendricks has been hired as the Managing Editor of CKN Christian Publishing, an imprint of Wolfpack Publishing. She is a USA Today bestselling author of clean Urban Fantasy, Science Fiction, and contemporary Christian romances. A veteran of the United States Army, Hendricks earned a Bachelor of Science degree in International Business from UNLV. She spent twenty years working for Fortune 100 and Fortune 500 companies in contracts and procurement management. She is also an experienced marketing and promotions professional for publishers and authors. Terrence McCauley has been hired as Wolfpack Publishings Director of Public Relations, where he will be responsible for maximizing the companys communications opportunities across a variety of platforms. Before joining Wolfpack, McCauley spent twenty-five years in public affairs and communications for New York State government. He is also an award-winning writer of thrillers, crime fiction and westerns. Wolfpack will be re-releasing several of McCauleys existing novels as well as two of his new books over the next year. Mike Bray, the President and CEO of Wolfpack Publishing, said, I am happy to welcome Jennifer and Terrence to our team. Im confident that they will help Wolfpack continue its impressive record of excellence and growth in the publishing industry for years to come. Jennifer Hendricks said, I am excited to join the Wolfpack family. I look forward to working with some of the best Christian authors working today. Terrence McCauley said, Its an honor to become part of the Wolfpack team. Im excited to have the opportunity to help our authors achieve even more recognition for their excellent work. About Wolfpack Publishing Founded in 2013, Wolfpack Publishing is an award-winning independent publishing company based in Las Vegas, Nevada. It was named as one of the fastest-growing independent publishers of 2020 by Publishers Weekly. In 2021, it was listed as one of Inc. Magazines Fastest-Growing Private Companies. Wolfpack embraces the opportunities created by online bookstores and their limitless virtual bookshelves. Wolfpack is also expanding its presence in the paperback market via a distribution deal with Ingram Publisher Service. Wolfpack Publishing imprints include CKN Christian Publishing and Wise Wolf Books, which publishes Teen/Young-Adult titles. The portal gives smaller airports the same kind of GIS power that the big commercial airports use to make their day-to-day lives easier. Woolpert, an Esri Gold Partner, has developed an operations management application portal to help airports efficiently access and manage daily inspections, work orders and leasehold data. AirportWorX is a GIS-based solution designed to support the needs of general aviation, small commuter, Part 139 and non-Part 139 airports. The application portal aggregates and documents data, analytics and location information through a single dashboard, which is accessible via desktop computer and mobile device. The portal offers five primary application modules: Airfield Inspection, Fuel Inspection, Wildlife Observation, Work Order Management and Airport Lease Management. Individual issues can be entered into the modules, where they are then categorized, assigned and tracked. Information and images can be uploaded to refine, track and modify the status of each issue, either from the office or the field. Esris Terry Bills said the data captured through ArcGIS Survey 123 for the AirportWorX application portal is designed to optimize field operations, and the application will help airports better understand that data and more easily communicate actions needed. AirportWorX brings powerful business capabilities to general aviation and smaller commuter airports without requiring a large IT investment, Bills said. It is designed to bring greater visibility and efficiency to the core business functions of any airport, allowing them to provide greater safety and customer satisfaction to their customers. Woolpert Geospatial Program Director Ed Copeland said the application portal was developed to provide a comprehensive work order management and workforce resource that would support the specific operations, maintenance and regulatory compliance needs of smaller airports. The portal enables you to do all of your daily inspections, submit work orders and tasks, monitor when leases are up to support revenue generationall of the things that are essential to an airport, Copeland said. It also provides an easy transition for those who are still working in Word docs and spreadsheets. The application can generate reports to share with inspectors and the FAA or with leadership, stakeholders and local governments to support transparency, asset management and budget decisions. Copeland added that the application is subscription-based and includes 40 hours of support service, from training to configuration. AirportWorX does not require additional software or IT support. The portal gives smaller airports the same kind of GIS power that the big commercial airports use to make their day-to-day lives easier, Copeland said. The technology has been developed and is readily available, and they should be taking advantage of it. This was built using Esris latest technology, ArcGIS Survey123, which analyzes and shares data quickly and securely. The AirportWorX application portal follows Woolperts FEMA Reimbursement Toolkit, which was developed in 2020 to help airports enter, track and submit reimbursable expenses to the Federal Emergency Management Agency. Like the FEMA app, AirportWorX will be available on Esris ArcGIS Marketplace, which promotes products and services that extend the capabilities of ArcGIS. For more information, visit woolpert.com/airportworx or email airportworx@woolpert.com. About Woolpert Woolpert is the premier architecture, engineering, geospatial (AEG) and strategic consulting firm, with a vision to become one of the best companies in the world. We innovate within and across markets to effectively serve public, private and government clients worldwide. Woolpert is an ENR Top 150 Global Design Firm, recently earned its fifth-straight Great Place to Work certification and actively nurtures a culture of growth, inclusion, diversity and respect. Founded in 1911 in Dayton, Ohio, Woolpert has been Americas fastest-growing AEG firm since 2015. The firm has over 1,400 employees and 44 offices in three countries. For more, visit woolpert.com. Safety is very much a team sport. We often work in high elevations, tight spaces, and tough conditions that can be dangerous. Im proud to be part of a company that collectively emphasizes the importance of safety, from the executive team to the crews in the field. - Bob Brown, EHS Manager Zack Painting Company, Inc., a leading commercial, industrial, and institutional painting contractor for nearly a century, recently achieved an Experience Modification Rating (EMR) of .526, setting a new company record and far exceeding industry standards for safety and loss prevention. EMR scores are issued annually based on workers compensation claims and other issues related to workplace injuries and risk. While an EMR of 1.0 is considered average, Zack Painting has historically achieved above-average EMR scores in the .8 range. However, the most recent EMR of .526 moves the company into an elite range that few contractors ever reach. Spearheading recent initiatives to further enhance safety and reduce risk has been Bob Brown, Environment, Health, and Safety (EHS) Manager for Zack Painting. When the company started taking on more complex, large-scale projects, often in hazardous environments, Brown was tasked with taking EMR standards to the next level. There is nobody better than Bob when it comes to creating and communicating safety protocols in a way thats pragmatic and practical so managers and crews can easily follow them, said David Zack, CEO of Zack Painting. He also pays close attention to near misses, which allows us to analyze potentially risky scenarios and continuously improve. An EMR of .526 is a tribute to Bob and our entire teams relentless commitment to safety. The hiring of Brown in 2019 and subsequent efforts to improve EMR scores reflect a company culture in which safety is the top priority. By taking steps to create a safe work environment, Zack Painting protects its employees while reducing risk for its clients. Safety is very much a team sport, Brown said. We often work in high elevations, tight spaces, and tough conditions that can be dangerous, while strict safety requirements add a layer of complexity to each project. Im proud to be part of a company that collectively emphasizes the importance of safety, from the executive team to the crews in the field. To learn more about Zack Paintings EMR history, recent projects, and services provided, please contact Rich Curran at rcurran@zackpainting.com or call 732-738-7900. About Zack Painting Company, Inc. Founded in 1923 and headquartered in Fords, NJ, Zack Painting Company, Inc. is a commercial, industrial, and institutional painting contractor that attributes its success to relationship building, value, and performance. Since day one, Zack Painting has believed that every accident and injury is preventable, creating a culture of safety that is unmatched in the industry. Services range from interior and exterior painting, to lead abatement and fireproofing, to concrete resurfacing and sandblasting. Zack Painting serves clients in New Jersey, New York, Connecticut, and Pennsylvania. For more information, visit http://www.zackpainting.com. For additional press information, please contact: Ilena Della Ventura E: idellaventura@delianet.com T: 908-534-9044 If you would like to know more about the Integrated Protection Corp. and Special Services Tactical Group 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 Integrated Protection Corp. and Special Services Tactical Group for failure to properly classify its employees. The Integrated Protection Corp. and Special Services Tactical Group class action lawsuit, Case No. 21STCV28920, 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, Integrated Protection Corp. and Special Services Tactical Group allegedly violated and continue to violate the California Labor Code protections applicable to California employees because Integrated Protection Corp. and Special Services Tactical Group have misclassified its California employees as independent contractors. As a result of the alleged misclassification, Integrated Protection Corp. and Special Services Tactical Group allegedly violated California Labor Code Sections 201, 202, 203, 204, 210, 221, 226, 226.7, 226.8, 510, 512, 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 expenses; and (6) provide wages when due. The lawsuit also alleges Integrated Protection Corp. and Special Services Tactical Group violated the Private Attorneys General Act ("PAGA"), which gives rise to civil penalties as a result of Integrated Protection Corp.'s and Special Services Tactical Group's conduct. PAGA allows aggrieved employees to file a lawsuit to recover civil penalties on behalf of themselves, other employees, and the State of California for Labor Code violations. An "aggrieved employee" is defined as "any person who was employed by the alleged violator and against whom one or more of the alleged violations was committed." Cal. Lab. Code section 2699(c). PAGA allows aggrieved employees to become deputized as private attorneys general to enforce the Labor Code. If you would like to know more about the Integrated Protection Corp. and Special Services Tactical Group lawsuit, please contact Attorney Jackland K. Hom today by calling (619) 255-9047. Zakay Law Group, APLC and JCL Law Firm, APC are employment and labor law firms with offices located in California that dedicate their practices to helping employees and consumers fight back against employers and corporations for unfair employment practices. If you need help with collecting unpaid wages, wrongful termination, discrimination, harassment, and other unlawful workplace conduct, contact one of their attorneys today. -THIS IS AN ATTORNEY ADVERTISEMENT- The latest issue of Perspectives on Psychological Science is dedicated to the singular topic of microaggressions: statements, policies, and environmental cues that carry racial and prejudicial overtones. Though small in scale and sometimes unintended, microaggressions can negatively impact the well-being of individuals while reinforcing harmful stereotypes in society. To explore the origin of this concept, the journal, published by the Association for Psychological Science, has published 13 papers examining the current body of research and pointing out gaps in our understanding. The issue is freely accessible until October 31. After Pierce and Sue: A revised racial microaggressions taxonomy In 2007, researchers from Columbia University published an article proposing categories of racial microaggressionsbut those categories were based on observations, not data. Since that seminal article, there has been an explosion of research, so it seemed fitting to revisit those categories in light of new information, said Monnica Williams, a researcher at the University of Ottawa and author of one paper included in the special issue. Williamss paper supports the original categories proposed in 2007, with a few expansions and new categories that she says are important to further research, awareness, and understanding of microaggressions. Although patterns of overt racism have waxed and waned throughout history, subtle racism has remained consistent and pervasive in everyday life, said Williams. Microaggressions have been misunderstood, both by the general public and even within the scientific community. Some detractors have called the concept antiscientific, or worse yet, a political ploy. But this special issue underscores the solid backbone of research behind this important concept. Reviewing racial-microaggression research: Documenting targets experiences, harmful sequelae, and resistance strategies Scholars and lay critics are mistaken when they suggest that there is scant evidence for White peoples perpetration of racial microaggressions, according to another paper by Lisa Spanierman, Tony Clark, and Yeeun Kim of Arizona State University. Racial-microaggressions research is both robust and rigorous, said Spanierman. Racial microaggressions are real and have real consequences for people of color. Because White people often are unaware of how their words and actions may cause harm, they must pay attention to what they are doing, listen empathically, and practice humility. A review of 138 studies published between 2007 and 2020 demonstrates ample evidence of racial microaggressions in myriad settings. Gleaning data from both interviews and survey research, Spanierman and colleagues found that racial microaggressions have deleterious effects on the psychological and physical health of people of color. The researchers also identify effective coping strategies to mitigate the effects of racial microaggressions. Focusing the lens to see more clearly: Overcoming definitional challenges and identifying new directions in racial microaggressions research Despite significant advances in the literature on racial microaggressions, key challenges remain regarding how we define and understand racial microaggressions. Resolving these challenges is necessary to reduce misunderstanding and subsequent minimization of racial microaggressions research. Overcoming definitional challenges and expanding taxonomies holds potential to advance racial microaggressions research, said Yara Mekawi of the University of Louisville, lead author on the paper. How microaggressions reinforce and perpetuate systemic racism in the United States Microaggressions influence how people see racial groups and the value society places on them. Microaggressions also influence whether and how we can recognize the systems of inequality that continue to exist in the United States. The consequences of racial microaggressions are most often discussed at an interpersonal level, said lead author Allison Skinner-Dorkenoo, of the University of Georgia. We contend that microaggressions also play an important role in maintaining systems of racial oppression beyond the interpersonal context. This paper illustrates how microaggressions reinforce White superiority in the United States by othering people of color (e.g., treating people of color as if they are not true citizens) and communicating that they are inferior. Racial microaggressions dont just harm people of color, they negatively impact us all, said Skinner-Dorkenoo. New analysis indicates that racial microaggressions spread racial biases and play a role in perpetuating racial inequalities. Its not in your head: Gaslighting, splaining, victim-blaming, and other harmful reactions to microaggressions Microaggressions can take the form of secondary microaggressions such as gaslighting, victim-blaming, and attempting to speak for others. Gaslighting would include trying to convince a person of color that a racist microaggression was, in fact, not racist. Victim-blaming means faulting a person for their reaction to a microaggression rather than blaming the perpetrator. And speaking for others includes statements like, I think what you really meant to say is. In each case, the failure to recognize microaggressions can exacerbate the harm they inflict. Secondary microaggressions, microaggressions that occur in response to a person speaking up or challenging microaggressive behavior, are harmful and can take many forms, said Veronica Johnson, a researcher at the City University of New York and lead author on the paper. In addition, microaggressive abandonment and neglect can occur when the target of a microaggression is left unsupported and/or invalidated by peers or bystanders. Measurement of intersectional microaggressions: Conceptual barriers and recommendations Psychological scientists who study bias have struggled with how to capture the intricacies of intersectional identitiesmultiple facets of identity that interact to create different social experiences and modes of discriminationand microaggressions experienced by individuals holding these identities. With an emphasis on the experiences of queer and trans people of color, this new paper explores issues surrounding the measurement of microaggressions from an intersectional perspective. The paper discusses what is meant by intersectionality, reviews existing measures of microaggressions, and provides recommendations for improving measurement. There are a lot of considerations in measuring intersectional microaggressions. We try to review these and provide recommendations for the development of more accurate and comprehensive measures of microaggressions for people with intersecting marginalized identities, said R. Sonia Singh, a researcher with the Central Arkansas Veterans Healthcare System and lead author on the paper. Pushing back against the microaggression pushback in academic psychology: Reflections on a concept-creep paradox Psychological science needs to better capture Black experiences and tell it like it is or it will risk becoming an irrelevant discipline. Psychology is grappling with its identity as a discipline, one that has historically given more voice to White, male academics to the relative neglect of racial minorities and women, said Gordon Hodson, a researcher at Brock University. This ongoing situation risks downplaying microaggressions and other experiences that disadvantaged groups report but privileged groups too frequently dismiss as overly subjective or left-leaning. This leaves psychology out of a very important discussion, at a time when critical social movements (e.g., #MeToo, Black Lives Matter) have revealed that disadvantaged groups are rightfully asking that their voices be heard in order to capture the full human experience. Racial and language microaggressions in the school ecology Teachers and other school personnel can develop and use prevention strategies to address and lessen students experiences of racial and language microaggressions in K-12 schools. Without interventions, these microaggressions can negatively impact whole-student outcomes. We are trying to address building knowledge for teachers about both racial and linguist microaggressions, while also offering classroom strategies to prevent and/or respond to racial and language microaggressions, said Anne Steketee, an assistant professor at Millikin University and one of five coauthors on the paper. Microaggressions have a destructive influence, but teachers can have a strong transformational impact in the lives of K-12 students. The authors discuss how racial and linguistic microaggressions have lifelong damaging effects on K-12 students. They describe prevention strategies that can foster an equitable atmosphere in the classroom, ensuring that all students have a safe environment to learn, communicate, and grow. Racial awareness and bias begin early: Developmental entry points, challenges, and a call to action Overt expressions of racial intolerance have surged precipitously. The dramatic uptick in hate crimes and hate speech has not been lost on children. But how, and how early, do children become aware of racial bias? And when does that bias begin to influence their own views of themselves and others? This article opens with a brief overview of the existing experimental evidence documenting entry points and development of racial bias in infants and young children. The article then goes on to identify gaps in extant research and outlines three steps for narrowing them. By bringing together what we know and what remains unknown, the goal is to provide a springboard, motivating a more comprehensive psychological science framework that illuminates early steps in the acquisition of racial bias, said Sandra Waxman, a researcher at Northwestern University and author of the paper. If we are to interrupt race bias at its inception, and diminish its effects, then we must build strong cross-disciplinary bridges that span all the psychological and related social sciences to shed light on pressing issues facing our nations young children and their families. Racial incivility in everyday life: A conceptual framework for linking process, person, and context Like overt forms of racism, microaggressions are important sources of stress for individuals from diverse racial and ethnic backgrounds. Anthony Ong of Cornell University proposes a framework for investigating stressors that may impact the experience of racial microaggressions in everyday life. The article invites researchers to employ methods that account for dynamic features of everyday racialized experiences, giving sufficient attention to process, person, and context. Psychological scientists have an intellectual stake in the study of everyday racial incivilities or microaggressions, said Ong. A psychological conception of microaggressions brings researchers closer to the real world of individuals daily lives. His framework can help researchers clarify that conception. From a psychological perspective, developing and refining our understanding of microaggression as a dynamic process is crucial, according to Ong, and remains a key challenge to advancing research and its application. The logic of microaggressions assumes a racist society Another article draws attention to core assumptions about the nature of society that underlie the current debate on microaggressions. For proponents of microaggressions research, the starting assumption is one of a racist society, said author Moin Syed of the University of Minnesota. That is, microaggressions have their source and power within an inequitable, racially stratified society. In contrast, Moin noted, critics of microaggressions either begin with the assumption of an equitable society or at least would not endorse the assumption of a racist society. These two different starting assumptions lead to drastically different conclusions about the concept of microaggressions. So long as these assumptions are not explicitly recognized, debates on methods, findings, and so on will never be reconciled, said Syed. The need for shared nomenclature on racism and related terminology With the increased desire to engage in anti-racist clinical research, there is a need for shared nomenclature on racism and related constructs to help move the science forward. The authors of this paper break down the factors that have contributed to the development and maintenance of racismincluding racial microaggressions. The researchers provide examples of the many forms of racism and describe their impacts on us all. The paper notes that racism is a system of beliefs, practices, and policies privileging those at the top of the racial hierarchy and that individual factors contributing to racism include racial prejudices and discrimination. Given the negative impact of racism on health, understanding racism informs effective approaches for eliminating racial health disparities, including a focus on social determinants of health, said lead author Angela Haeny of Yale University. Providing shared nomenclature on racism and related terminology will strengthen clinical research and practice and contribute to building a cumulative science. Toward a harm-based account of microaggressions Microaggressions have received a lot of attention among both academics and the public, but discussions have not focused enough on why microaggressions are harmful and exactly what sorts of harm they cause. To help expand these discussions, this article proposes that microaggressions must be understood anew by psychologists, philosophers, and educators who research, theorize, and teach about them. Even though microaggressions can seem subtle for those who arent directly experiencing them, they can and do cause serious and enduring harms, said the papers lead author, Lauren Freeman, of the University of Louisville. According to Freeman and her colleague Heather Stewart, frequent subjection to microaggressions can impede our ability to listen to people and take them seriously when they speak; contribute to the problematic policing of peoples emotions; and increase both subtle and overt forms of discrimination on the basis of weight, gender, and racial and sexual identities. Though from the outside, microaggressions can seem small or insignificant, our focus must be on how they impact the lives of the people whose experiences are riddled with them and the damage they do along the way, Freeman said. # # # Perspectives on Psychological Science is a bimonthly journal publishing an eclectic mix of provocative reports and articles, including broad integrative reviews, overviews of research programs, meta-analyses, theoretical statements, and articles on topics such as the philosophy of science, opinion pieces about major issues in the field, autobiographical reflections of senior members of the field, and even occasional humorous essays and sketches. Perspectives contains both invited and submitted articles. Past special sections of Perspectives have investigated correlative analyses commonly used in neuroimaging studies, featured prominent researchers writing about what they consider to be The Next Big Questions in Psychology, and examined the causes of and solutions to the lack of replication in psychological science. This journal is a member of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE). From learning to fly across the Atlantic, to traversing the moon, the main character in Torben Kuhlmanns Mouse Adventures books is about to enter an entirely new dimension: time travel. The fourth installment in the series, Einstein (NorthSouth, Sept.), builds upon previous storylines by exploring space and the theory of relativity, seen through the lens of a young mouse. Like the main characters in each of the mouse adventures, this mouse has a dream and uses scientific methods to achieve his goal: making observations, testing hypotheses, and refining approaches, said Beth Terrill, editor at NorthSouth Books. Once the mouses desire to attend a world-famous cheese festival seems within reach, the action suddenly shifts into high gear, with enemies to confront, riddles to solve, and of course, plenty of cheese to sample. Along with an inventive plot and richly drawn characters are Kuhlmanns highly detailed graphics that Terrill calls a visual feast for kids of any age. His illustrations are filled with unusual machines, fierce-looking foes, and intriguing inventions. Tiny but Mighty When determining which historical figure would inspire his next work, Kuhlmann found meaning beyond his own personal fascination with Einstein. Albert Einstein provides me with a perfect modus operandi to tell this wacky story, he told PW. Einstein is known for his thought experiments, which often start with one question: What if? By adopting this same approach, Kuhlmann mused on the mouses role and influence on developing the theory of relativitya natural fit for introducing a time traveling component to the story. The author-illustrator, who lives in Hamburg, Germany, has been writing the Mouse Adventures series since 2014, featuring Lindbergh: The Tale of a Flying Mouse, Armstrong: The Adventurous Journey of a Mouse to the Moon, and Edison: The Mystery of the Missing Mouse Treasure. But, as Kuhlmann explained, incorporating Einsteins factoids into the book was not without its challenges, particularly when it came to discussing science and philosophy. He concentrated on his illustrations to demonstrate concepts like the space-time curvature. To explain the physics of time travel in the text would be a bit beyond my abilities, he said. The medium of picture books, however, makes it possible to suggest things on a visual level. Everyone can then use their own imagination and decide how credible my suggestions might be. His own curiosity about Einsteins theory of relativity prompted him to explore the topic in this book. Clocks actually tick at different speeds depending on where you arewhether on a planet or in spaceor how fast youre moving. So my goal was to open the door a little bit to this fascinating topic, he added. As for showcasing the title character, Kuhlmann drew upon the time travel aspect by portraying two separate versions of Einstein: an older man with a mustache and white hair (as seen in black and white photographs) and a younger man in the second part of the book. Here, I tried to meticulously recreate the city of Bern [Switzerland] in 1905 and a convincing daily life for this young and scientifically ambitious patent clerk, he said. Using a mixture of pen and watercolors, he recreates this time period with sepia and ochre tonesa nod to Kuhlmanns first mouse adventure, Lindbergh, which also took place in the 20th century. A later rendering of 1980s Switzerland, featuring dot-matrix displays and MS-DOS computers, offers a sharp contrast. Robust Promotion To help spread the word of Einsteins release, NorthSouth has partnered with the Southern Independent Booksellers Alliance on its Reader Meets Writer series. On September 11, Kuhlmann was interviewed by middle grade author Constance Lombardo and drew live in his studio. Giveaways included signed prints and bookplates, as well as Einstein posters and bookmarks. The event was open to members of the SIBA and New Atlantic Independent Bookseller Association. According to NorthSouths managing director Riky Stock, Einstein is the biggest book that the company has released in more than a decade; publication is being supported by a $100,000 marketing plan. For further information, librarians and educators can access the books website and teachers guide. Timeline is a market-leading provider of broadcast technology and services. Our portfolio includes remote production, outside broadcasts, RF and satellite, studios, post-production managed services and system integration. It works with brands such as the BBC, ITV, Channel 4 and BT Sport. Launched in August 2021, the Ealing Broadcast Centre is the latest in Timelines expansion, the facility is being built to satisfy the ever-increasing demand for remote production, with the facilitys first show being Channel 4 and Whispers live coverage of the Paralympics.The new 900sqm broadcast facility is set over three floors and includes flexible 2000 sq. ft virtual reality studio with a 4.5m high lighting grid and a fully configured multi-camera VR system using Unreal Engine and Brainstorm InfinitySet delivered in partnership with virtual studio, sport and events graphics company MOOV It also includes the Mo-Sys StarTracker system to enable full 3D VR tracking on all types of cameras; predesigned and customisable high-end VR studio sets; green Cyc for virtual studios or black Cyc for physical sets; a large tier-three data centre; global connectivity to all major hubs including BT Tower, NEP Connect, TATA; satellite downlink capability. The mainstream media is hell-bent on instilling climate fear among the masses. This means that they can never get over their obsession with weather events in the Arctic, which is one of their favorite subjects for projecting a climate catastrophe. The Greenland Ice Sheet has been of great interest to climate alarmists. Any small change in ice sheet mass is promoted in the media as a product of man-made climate change. Last week, media outlets across the globe claimed that there has been rain for the first time at the Greenland summit. Rain fell at the normally snowy summit of Greenland for the first time on record, read CNNs headlines. Others went a step further and declared it a sign of climate doomsday. Rain On Greenland Ice Sheet, Possibly A First, Signals Climate Change Risk, read another headline. Unfortunately, for the mainstream media, climate history nearly always comes back to haunt their claims of unprecedented events. Records reveal that this is not the first rainfall in Greenland, and certainly not the first on the Greenland summit peak, which stands at around 10,000 feet. Records Show Past Rain Events in Greenland A 1975 report prepared for National Science Foundation (NSF) by Corps of Engineers, U.S. Army, at the Cold Regions Research and Engineering Laboratory documented the summer climate at Greenland ice sheet. It showed at least two rainfall events have occurred, once in 1933 at 8,840 feet and again in 1950 at a much higher altitude. The 1950 rainfall event was above 9,500 feet and very close to the Greenland summit peak, thus contradicting mainstream media claims of unprecedented rainfall at the summit. The NSF report states, According to Hogue (1964) heavy rainfall seldom occurs above 6,000 ft on the Greenland ice sheet. However, at Watkins (75N, 48W, and elevation 8,840 ft) rain was reported to have occurred in July 1933. Hogue also notes that in the Centrale-Eismitte area, drizzle and rain were each reported once in a three-year period, on 20 and 21 June 1950, respectively. The site of the previous rainfall event, Centrale-Eismitte, is close to the 9,800-feet mark where the current rainfall event occurred. It would be a pure lie or gross ignorance to claim that rainfall at such an altitude has never occurred before at Greenland. Headlines That Portray an Incomplete Reality Besides misleading the public on the first-time rain event, these media outlets have also concealed the reality of the situation in Greenland, especially in 2021. This year, Greenlands surface mass balance (SMB) was higher than the 30-year average during many days of the year. SMB is the net balance between the accumulation and ablation on a glacier's surface, typically denoted by mass gain and mass loss. Data on Greenlands SMB is available at Polar Portal, where Danish research institutions display the results of their monitoring of the Greenland Ice Sheet and the sea ice in the Arctic. SMB data for 2021 show that there has been no significant melting and there was also a surprising gain in the SMB during the summer months, which is usually the melting season. During July and August, the total accumulation of SMB (as measured in gigatons) was higher than the 30-year average (1981-2010). This can be attributed to the unexpected gain in SMB during the summer months. So not only has the media lied to the public about the never-before rainfall event, it has also withheld the truth about the above-average SMB that was witnessed during the past 50 days. This endless parade of lies about Greenland and the Arctic will likely continue. Even above-average snow accumulations will be kept out of the news and one-time warm weather events (especially during the melt season) will be used as proof for global warming. Vijay Jayaraj is a Contributing Writer to the CO2 Coalition, Arlington, Va., and holds a master of science degree in environmental science from the University of East Anglia, England. He resides in Bengaluru, India. On January 20, 2021, his first day in office, President Joe Biden issued an "Executive Order on Advancing Racial Equity and Support for Underserved Communities Through the Federal Government." The first sentence proclaims: "Equal opportunity is the bedrock of American democracy." Nevertheless, despite the order's nod towards promoting "equal opportunity" rather than "equal outcomes," there's still cause for concern. In no uncertain fashion, the executive order commits the Biden administration to "an ambitious whole-of-government equity agenda. In other words, a "comprehensive" and "systematic" approach to "advancing equity for all," including people "adversely affected by persistent poverty and inequality." The order's action-oriented substantive provisions make clear that the "whole-of-government" embrace is no exaggeration. Every federal agency, under the coordination and supervision of the Domestic Policy Council and the Office of Management and Budget, is mandated to identify methods to assess equity; conduct equity assessments; allocate resources to advance equity; promote the equitable delivery of government benefits and equitable opportunities; and engage with members of underserved communities. Certainly, many in the Biden administration, along with many of its most "progressive" acolytes, with their persistent invocations of systemic ingrained injustices, have evidenced an admitted preference for pursuing what they call "transformational" measures to achieve more equal outcomes and not merely more equal opportunity. The goal for promoting equal opportunity for all citizens is worthy of support. But for purposes of considering government's proper role, the difference between pursuing equal opportunity versus equal outcomes is hugely consequential. Put bluntly, to the extent the government pursues policies intended to further equality of outcomes, the space in which individual freedom and initiative may be exercised necessarily will shrink. Just ask Alexis de Tocqueville. Tocqueville was only 25 years old when he arrived from France in May 1831 for his nine-month visit to America and only 30 when he published the first part of his famous Democracy in America. In one sense, Democracy in Americais a sweeping travelogue with vivid descriptions of early nineteenth century life in America. But in a more fundamental sense, as its title implies, the book is a significant work of political science that incorporates Tocqueville's philosophical insights and understandings, especially those regarding human nature. And many of Tocqueville's insights are especially relevant today. Indeed, they ought to remain at the center of current debates regarding the extent of inequality in America and what, if anything, to do about it. Tocqueville argued that a democratic regime, like ours, would ceaselessly move in the direction of striving for ever greater degrees of what he called equality of condition he meant the same as "equality of outcome." This movement would be propelled by the sheer force of the majoritarian impulse, and the majoritarian canon, that a democracy, by definition, embodies. According to Tocqueville, the unrelenting compulsion for ever more "equality of condition necessarily would lead to an ever-increasing expansion of government power at the expense of individual freedom and liberty. Why? Because, despite the majoritarian impulse to achieve ever greater degrees of equality of condition, or leveling of society, human nature is such that the personal pride of individuals will always seek to rise above the line, and to form somewhere an inequality to their own advantage. Given human nature, individuals will always seek to rise above the line. Tocqueville predicted government, inevitably, would respond by taking each member of the community in its powerful grasp as it grows to cover the surface of society with a network of small, complicated rules, minute and uniform, through which the most energetic characters cannot penetrate, to rise above the crowd. Those are strong words of warning. Again, and to be clear, none of this is to suggest that it is improper for government to pursue policies that have the goal of promoting equal opportunity for all citizens. And I do not mean to suggest that President Biden's "equity" executive order may not achieve some positive results in some respects. But I do suggest that we keep Tocqueville's admonitions uppermost in our minds because they are just as relevant to our current debates regarding inequality as they were when written almost two centuries ago. In other words, to the extent that the Biden administration acts in a way that seeks to promote more equality of outcome rather than equality of opportunity by adopting measures that restrain the natural human impulse "to rise above the line," the domain of individual freedom will be curtailed. Although America was still a young nation and Tocqueville still a young man when he published Democracy in America in 1835, he was prescient in describing the danger to liberty from a future society "with a network of small, complicated rules, minute and uniform." Today's Americans should take heed. Randolph May is President of the Free State Foundation, a free market-oriented think tank in Rockville, MD. Larry Elder is an example of a model minority candidate, a politician who succeeds by betraying their community. Think of it as first stepping on the people around you so you can appear to be pulling yourself up by the bootstraps. In 2019, I wrote a book called The Media Matrix and subtitled it pessimistically, What If Everything You Know Is Fake? Now, two years later, we can remove the question mark. Everything you know is fake if you depend on the mainstream media to educate you. Everywhere you turn, you will encounter coverup, corruption and confusion in the media. If it isnt an intentional disinformation campaign, then its the result of laziness and stupidity. Either way, the fourth estate has become a fifth column of provocateurs and saboteurs. Examples abound. Two weeks ago, for instance, I wrote about how the supine media had to bear some responsibility for the disgraceful withdrawal of U.S. forces from Afghanistan. Reporters had the facts weeks before the Aug. 31 deadline, and they refused to pursue them, presumably out of concern that hard questioning would make the Biden administration look bad. It got me thinking. Just how much does the medias explicit bias against conservatives skew the public conversation on which the entire success of democracy depends? The current disaster in Afghanistan remains a good place to start. Much mainstream reporting has covered up for Bidens policy failures, paying little attention to the Americans left behind in the country or minimizing the risk to them. News outlets have also made a conscious choice to turn away from the fallen heroes who died in Kabul and the suffering of their grieving families. Take the case of Shana Chappell. She is the Gold Star mother of Marine Lance Cpl. Kareem Nikoui, who died in the suicide bombing at the Kabul airport. After meeting Biden during the dignified transfer of her sons remains at Dover Air Force Base in Delaware, Chappell took to Facebook to write this: I got to have words face to face with that POS Biden! Hes a coward! My son Kareems body will be returned to norco [Calif.] in 7-10 days so i can lay him to rest! The day after i lay him to rest i will be leaving from Norco in my Blue Toyota Tundra to head to the White House. I will be going to the White House to demand that the traitor POS Biden resign and take his whole corrupt admin with him!" The idea of a Gold Star mother confronting a president about the needless death of her son would seem to be news. We know it is news because back in 2005, Cindy Sheehan had the media spotlight cast on her when she became an outspoken critic of the Iraq War and the presidency of George W. Bush. Sheehan told reporters: I want to ask the president, Why did you kill my son? What did my son die for? In response to her attempt to shame a Republican president, the national media turned her into a celebrity. By comparison, Chappell was barely noticed by the mainstream media when she accused Biden of killing her son. Her social media accounts were temporarily blocked, and if you watch CNN or MSNBC you would hardly even know she existed. Other than from conservative media outlets, there has been no interest in her plan to demand Bidens resignation. Nor, for that matter, did the Gold Star fathers receive any better treatment. What a difference five years makes! Remember how Gold Star father Khizr Khan was lionized by the press as a result of his appearance at the 2016 Democratic convention? His Muslim son had died fighting for the United States in Iraq in 2004, and Khan criticized then-candidate Donald Trump for his views on halting immigration from Islam-dominated countries that harbor terrorists. Mind you, this was just a political dispute. Trump had nothing to do with the death of Khans son, but the media seized on the proud fathers grief as a weapon to be used to stop Trump from reaching the White House. How different was the treatment of Gold Star fathers Darin Hoover and Mark Schmitz, who accused Biden of disrespecting their sons during the ceremony at Dover Air Base by checking his watch every time a flag-draped coffin was removed from the hold of the Air Force C-17 Globemaster. They would release the salute and he looked down at his watch on every last one, Hoover told Sean Hannity. All 13, he looked down at his watch. Schmitz called it the most disrespectful thing Ive ever seen. When they and others publicized their claims about Bidens callous behavior, USA Today decided to do a fact check and concluded that the survivors story was partly false and misleading because Biden had only checked his watch after the ceremony was over. That was a blatant lie, as footage shows him glancing at his watch multiple times during the transfer. So how do you account for a major newspaper doing such a totally misleading fact check short of actual malice towards, if not the Gold Star fathers, then the truth? Equally insulting was the fact that USA Today after receiving vigorous criticism changed its fake fact check to missing context on the grounds that when Biden wasnt being disrespectful, he was actually doing a pretty good job of looking like he cared about the dead service members. Of course, most of the media couldnt be bothered to cover this incident at all. To do so would raise questions about the character of their beloved president, the healer-in-chief. That would be unacceptable. Lets face it. To the caretaker media who surround Joe Biden, the president is the equivalent of Harry Potters Lord Voldemort, with this slight variation: Biden is He who must not be shamed. Does all this seem trivial? Its not. Our information-drenched society receives its cues from the raised eyebrows and outraged tones in the voices of Rachel Maddow and Don Lemon. If they and others like them dont talk about it, then it never happened, or its a right-wing conspiracy theory. Whether its election fraud, coronavirus cures, or Marxist infiltration of our social institutions, the media elites are the gatekeepers who determine what will be taken seriously and what will be dismissed with a smug laugh. One final example from the Afghanistan debacle goes well beyond a mere matter of shaming Joe Biden, and raises questions about his fitness for office. That may explain the mainstream medias near total lack of interest. I am referring, of course, to what we recently learned about Bidens shocking July 23 phone call with Ashraf Ghani, who was then president of Afghanistan. We knew about that phone call way back when it happened. In fact, when you look at the White Houses official readout of the call, you get almost nostalgic for the good old days when the U.S. and Afghanistan were reaffirming their enduring bilateral partnership that lasted another three weeks till Ghani fled his palace and his nation. But the official story, not unexpectedly, didnt tell the whole story. For that, we had to wait until Aug. 31, the day after Americas military withdrawal was completed, when Reuters, the international press agency, released the transcript of the July 23 call. What we learned is that Biden did not really believe his own rosy picture that he was painting for the American people about the future of Afghanistan. Hey look, I want to make it clear that I am not a military man any more than you are, he told Ghani (pictured, above, with Biden). But I have been meeting with our Pentagon folks, and our national security people, as you have with ours and yours, and as you know and I need not tell you, the perception around the world and in parts of Afghanistan, I believe, is that things arent going well in terms of the fight against the Taliban. And theres a need, whether it is true or not, there is a need to project a different picture. (Italics added.) Not only does this transcript raise questions about Bidens misleading statements to the American people about the risks involved in getting all Americans out of Afghanistan, but it is followed up by Biden trying to pressure Ghani into accepting a quid pro quo if you change how the world perceives the battle against the Taliban, we may be coaxed into continuing to provide military air support. Indeed, Bidens repeated emphasis on perception around the world makes him sound more like a PR flack than a commander-in-chief. Obviously, someone in the State Department or the White House was concerned about this exchange or they wouldnt have leaked the transcript, but most of the media just yawned. Do a Google search for Biden phone call with President Ghani, as I did, and you will find all the major journalism outfits missing in the top results. Beyond Fox News and USA Today, most of the results are from small conservative websites or international outlets like India Today or the Hindustan Times. You wont find any stories from major news outlets, including CNN or NBC, in the top 100 results, and I get the feeling you could scroll till doomsday without seeing any interest from the New York Times or Washington Post. How extraordinarily different was the response when the transcript of a President Trump phone call with the president of Ukraine was leaked! That led to an impeachment trial, but of course that was a Republican president, and the rules are different for Republicans, arent they? You can bet that any Democrat who has read this far in my column will dismiss the whole idea of impeaching Joe Biden over his phone call with the Afghani president as one more wild-eyed conspiracy theory. Makes me wonder. If Biden, Ghani and U.S. military leaders conspired together to mislead the world and in particular the American people about the true conditions on the ground in Afghanistan, then it really isnt a conspiracy theory, is it? I prefer to call it a conspiracy fact. Too bad the unindicted co-conspirator in this, and in so many other crimes against the people, is none other than our faux friend the mainstream media. Somehow the story of their involvement never gets told. What a racket! Candace Bushnell will make her off-Broadway debut in November. ADVERTISEMENT The Sex and the City author will star in the new one-woman stage show Is There Still Sex in the City?, which begins performances Nov. 13 at the Daryl Roth Theatre in New York. Is There Still Sex in the City? will have a 12-week limited engagement and officially open Dec. 7. Tickets are now on sale. "Working in the theater has been a lifelong dream since I first came to New York," Bushnell said in a statement to Deadline. "I'm thrilled to share my story at the Daryl Roth Theatre. This is an evening to laugh, cry, celebrate and most of all, come with your friends and make some new ones too!" Producer Robyn Goodman praised Bushnell as "an incredible storyteller who has given women ownership of their true feelings." "She brilliantly conveys how we really talk to each other about sex, men, and our ambitions -- and she does it with humor and in very high heels. We are delighted to bring the next iteration of Candace's story to the stage and introduce this show to existing fans and a new generation of women and men in New York City." Is There Still Sex in the City? will see Bushnell share her insights into life, love and relationships. She will also share stories about how she reinvented her life and in the process created the cultural phenomenon of Sex in the City. "We are going to talk about girlfriends, the real Mr. Big, feminism, romance, money, careers, sex," Bushnell told Page Six in April. "It's really about women in the '70s, '80s, '90s, and how women's lives look and how they change through the decades." FOLLOW REALITY TV WORLD ON THE ALL-NEW GOOGLE NEWS! Reality TV World is now available on the all-new Google News app and website. Click here to visit our Google News page, and then click FOLLOW to add us as a news source! Bushell released the novel Is There Still Sex in the City in August 2019. The book explores "loss" and "reinvention" among a group of middle-aged women. Her 1997 book Sex in the City inspired the HBO series and movie sequels starring Sarah Jessica Parker, Kristin Davis, Cynthia Nixon and Kim Cattrall. Parker, Davis and Nixon will return for the HBO Max sequel and reboot And Just Like That... Coldplay and K-pop group BTS will release a song together this month. ADVERTISEMENT The British rock band and the South Korean boy band said Monday that they will release the single "My Universe" on Sept. 24. Coldplay shared the news on Twitter alongside cover art for the song. The image features a blue background with pink, celestial-inspired symbols arranged in the shape of a circle. "My Universe" will appear on Coldplay's forthcoming ninth studio album, Music of the Spheres. The album also features the single "Higher Power," released in May. Coldplay frontman Chris Martin discussed Music of the Spheres on the Zach Sang Show in June. He said the album was inspired by a scene in the Star Wars movies. "One time I was watching Star Wars ... and they have the scene with the cantina band. I was like, 'I wonder what musicians are like across the universe?' That led to this whole thing," Martin said. "What that led to us doing was just imagining this whole other place called the Spheres, which is a group of planets, like a solar system, with lots of different places and creatures," he added. BTS recently sat down with Martin to discuss its song "Permission to Dance" and the #PermissionToDance challenge on the YouTube series Released. Heather Gay is supporting her friend and Real Housewives of Salt Lake City co-star Jen Shah amid her legal drama. ADVERTISEMENT The television personality voiced her love and support for Shah during an appearance Sunday on Watch What Happens Live. Shah and her assistant Stuart Smith were arrested in March and charged with conspiracy to commit wire fraud and conspiracy to commit money laundering. Shah and Smith both pleaded not guilty to the charges in April. The pair's trial date was originally set for October but was postponed to March 2022 in August following updated COVID-19 standards. Sources told Us Weekly in April that Shah's legal drama will be shown on RHOSLC. On WWHL, Gay was asked about Shah's business practices and how the legal issues have affected their friendship. "I have one job, and it's to be Jen's friend. That's it. And you know what? You need friends when you're in a situation like this," Gay said. Gay said she "doesn't need to" ask Shah if the charges against her are true. "It's irrelevant," Gay said. "I knew her business was unsavory when I was her friend; why would I change now that it's public?" FOLLOW REALITY TV WORLD ON THE ALL-NEW GOOGLE NEWS! Reality TV World is now available on the all-new Google News app and website. Click here to visit our Google News page, and then click FOLLOW to add us as a news source! Gay clarified that she thought Shah's business was unsavory but didn't realize it was illegal. "I never understood it, and I just assumed it was something that was, like, right along the line of nothing I'd want to be involved in but I didn't think it was illegal. I didn't think you could go to prison for it," she said. "I would have said, 'Babe, don't do this. Your life is worth more than that.'" Gay later said she "can't manage" or control Shah but still loves her as a friend. "She's fun, she's charismatic, she's smart, and that's all I need," she said. The Real Housewives of Salt Lake City returned for a second season Sunday on Bravo. The series co-stars Lisa Barlow, Mary Cosby, Meredith Marks, Whitney Rose and Jennie Nguyen. Oscar-winning actress Judi Dench will appear on an October episode of the genealogy docu-series, Who Do You Think You Are? the BBC announced Monday. ADVERTISEMENT The 86-year-old Shakespeare in Love and The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel star will explore her family's roots in Denmark and her British father's experiences fighting in World War I. Other well-known figures who will participate in the show this season are Ed Balls, Pixie Lott, Joe Lycett, Alex Scott, Joe Sugg and Josh Widdicombe. "Who Do You Think You Are? is back with another line-up of Britain's best-loved celebrities exploring their family histories across the United Kingdom, Ireland, Denmark and Jamaica. The incredible personal stories they unearth of their ancestors' lives -- from royal love triangles to laborers fighting for their rights, from Victorian child sweeps to battling fascists in London's East end -- reflect and illuminate all our collective history," executive producer Colette Flight said in a statement. FILE - In this file photo from Monday, May 3, 2021, Kansas state Rep. Mark Samsel, R-Wellsville, talks on his cellphone ahead of the House's daily session, at the Statehouse in Topeka, Kan. Samsel, accused of kicking a high school student in the testicles pleaded guilty Monday, Sept. 13, 2021, to three lesser misdemeanor charges of disorderly conduct and was placed on a year's probation under an deal with the local prosecutor. TRAVERSE CITY A nearly 21-month legal battle could be drawing to a close. Traverse City Area Public Schools Board of Education trustees are set to discuss terms of a settlement with Traverse City Record-Eagle regarding the newspapers lawsuit against the district. Board members will meet in closed session Monday and then have a discussion about the matter in open session, Board President Scott Newman-Bale said. Newman-Bale said he is hoping to have a written agreement that provides closure, although he expects there to be some minor procedural steps to follow. Traverse City Area Public Schools turmoil The Record-Eagle's past and continuing coverage of key issues at Traverse City Area Public Schools: Were getting nearer to the end where we can wrap up probably as much as well be able to, Newman-Bale said. Weve worked pretty hard, and its going to show. The Record-Eagle filed a civil suit against TCAPS in January 2020, alleging that TCAPS and former Board President Sue Kelly violated state transparency laws during the events that surrounded Ann Cardons resignation as superintendent in October 2019. The Record-Eagle claimed TCAPS made willful and intentional violations of the Open Meetings and Freedom of Information acts to hide the reasons behind Cardons exit and that several board decisions were illegally made outside of an open session. The suit also claims FOIA requests were either inappropriately denied or delayed to prevent information regarding Cardons resignation from being made public. A major part of the lawsuit was resolved in May when the Michigan Court of Appeals ruled that TCAPS had to release a six-page complaint letter authored by Kelly and lobbed against Cardon. The decision declared the district improperly maneuvered to shield the document from disclosure by attaching it to closed-session meeting minutes and claiming it was protected by OMA. The decision set a binding state precedent and struck down a possible loophole in Michigans transparency laws. As problematic as the process has been, I do believe it will lead to positive and longterm change that will benefit the district, Newman-Bale said. Im sure were all looking forward to that. Newman-Bale made a very similar comment just a week after Cardons resignation at the first meeting of TCAPS Transparency, a group aimed at pushing reform on the TCAPS board and within the district. Now we have the momentum to make a change, Newman-Bale said in late October 2019. As painful as this process is going to be, hopefully in three to five years time, this is going to be the best thing thats happened to us and were going to turn it that way. Were already turning the tide to bring it back together. Newman-Bale was close on his estimate. The matter could will be wrapped up in a little less than two years since the controversial exit of the three-month superintendent. Now, the district can focus on strategic planning for the future and continuing to work through the COVID-19 pandemic and its affect on the education system, Newman-Bale said. Were clearing the slate, drawing a line and moving forward, he said. Hopefully the public appreciates the work that went into it. Many in the public, including Justin Van Rheenen, do appreciate TCAPS taking accountability for its actions. Its definitely a win, said Van Rheenen, a co-founder of TCAPS Transparency. The first win, Van Rheenen said, came in November 2020 when voters flipped three seats on the TCAPS board and ousted trustees many felt bore some responsibility for Cardons resignation. Van Rheenen said the lawsuit would likely still be playing out if that had not happened. Settlements arent always an admission of guilt, but to have TCAPS admit responsibility which I believe theyre expected to do thats going to go a long way with this community, he said. The TCAPS board meets at 6 p.m. Monday at the TCAPS administration building on 412 Webster Street. Athens, GA (30605) Today Rain likely. Low 66F. Winds light and variable. Chance of rain 100%. Rainfall around a quarter of an inch.. Tonight Rain likely. Low 66F. Winds light and variable. Chance of rain 100%. Rainfall around a quarter of an inch. Greenville, NC (27833) Today Partly to mostly cloudy. Low 69F. Winds light and variable.. Tonight Partly to mostly cloudy. Low 69F. Winds light and variable. Members of The Honor Bear project place 660 American flags on Wednesday, Sept. 15, 2021, to symbolize the 22 veterans that die each day in a month from suicide at the I-91Welcome Center, in Guilford, Vt., as part of the Flag for Forgotten Heroes installation that will viewable for 30 days. Brattleboro, VT (05301) Today Cloudy with periods of rain. Low 61F. Winds light and variable. Chance of rain 90%.. Tonight Cloudy with periods of rain. Low 61F. Winds light and variable. Chance of rain 90%. Brattleboro, VT (05301) Today Periods of rain. Low 61F. Winds light and variable. Chance of rain 90%.. Tonight Periods of rain. Low 61F. Winds light and variable. Chance of rain 90%. BRATTLEBORO Local high school students marched downtown in response to a new abortion law in Texas and chalk writing on a High Street meant to be hostile to the nearby Planned Parenthood office. Im really pissed that were still having to fight for basic rights like this when there are things out there that are so much more dire to be focusing on right now, said Eliana Merson of Brattleboro, one of the organizers of Sundays demonstration. Merson worries the new Texas law, which prohibitions abortions as early as six weeks and allows private citizens to sue abortion providers and others, could be replicated in other red states. She called it terrifying and blatantly unconstitutional. I see that more as a symptom of how sick our country is than as just like a direct result of Trump being in power, she said. Merson, who attends Compass School in Westminster, counted between 20 and 30 high school students from the area who joined the march. Weve had our eyes open for the past 16, 17, 18 years, said Ada Melton-Houghton of Brattleboro. Were all just high schoolers, you know, but high schoolers can still attend events like this. You dont need adults to hold your hand through a process because, to be honest, it takes kids like us to come out here. Isabella May of Brattleboro added, We want to change things. Local activist and writer Diana Whitney of Brattleboro, co-founder of the Womens Action Team, described being inspired by the younger generation at the demonstration. Their voices are imperative for this movement for reproductive freedom for all people and its amazing that there are boys and male-presenting people here supporting reproductive justice, she said. This is the hope of our future. At similar protests in the 1990s, she said, only women would be present. Whitney noted recent chalk writing against Planned Parenthood downtown have drawn counter-protestors to come out in support of the group. On Sunday, youth activists marched through the downtown area with signs and chanted things such as, My body, my choice. To see the time, the care, the thought they put into this because it impacts them and their bodies and their futures and their families its inspiring, Whitney said, adding that Sundays action showed a really powerful stance of support here to show the community that young people are in support of abortion as health care. Many honks and waves were meant to be encouraging. However, at one point, a passerby in a vehicle told activists they were going to rot in hell. Isnt that lovely? an activist said. Most of us are kids. Whitney said, You can believe what you want to believe but you cant legislate someone elses body and future. NEW HAVEN Imagine running out of food for the next family meal and having a refrigerator you can go to 24/7, 365 days a year to get meat, vegan alternatives, produce and other items. That will be possible here in couple of weeks when the first community fridge in the city under the Fridge Haven program opens in the parking lot of Varick Memorial A.M.E. Zion Church parking lot at 242 Dixwell Ave. If a person takes all the food, its OK, project co-chairwoman Melanie Dworak said. Were breaking down stigmas by not judging what people need and by bringing the community together. Contributed photo Dworak is leading the project, along with co-chairpeople MiAsia Harris and Reginald Reggy St. Fortcolin, the latter of whom got a similar project Fridgeport rolling in May in Bridgeport. St. Fortcolin said at the Bridgeport site, 219 James St., they have a refrigerator in a 4-foot-by-12-foot shed that is used by about 150-175 people a day and they go through a few tons of food a week, he said. Its empty more than its full, he said. Im happy people are using it. Contributed photo He said a woman from Westport makes lasagna, portions it out and places it in the fridge. St. Fortcolin said 30 percent of the population in Bridgeport is food insecure, so one fridge is not going to make a dent. He said anyone who wants to donate can drop off food or even order grocery story delivery and have it dropped off. Contributed photo Harris said a community fridge is needed now more than ever. I like the fact that Fridge Haven can bring the community together in a way thats so needed right now, Harris said. Itll aid us to grow stronger and create bonds to bring us closer. To help our neighbors when theyre in need instead of turning a blind eye. She said food insecurity is at an all-time high and thats the biggest reason why Fridge Haven is so important to the community. Throughout the pandemic many families dealt with so much, such as loss of income to provide for their families. With this community fridge initiative were hoping to relieve some of the extra stressors that have been thrust upon families, she said. There will be two refrigerators at the Varick site housed in an enclosure built by volunteers. An electrician is scheduled to do work there and the roofing is expected this weekend. The shed also has shelves for dry goods and non-food essentials such as diapers. Contributed photo The timeline is uncertain, but organizers said the refrigerators should be running sometime next week. The refrigerators are for anyone from anywhere to use they can to take food or leave food and no documentation is required to show need. Organizers are working on establishing more sites in New Haven and other places in Connecticut. The community fridges typically are located where community members can gather in a church, a parking lot, a YMCA, a community center. The service is not connected to Varick it just agreed to play host to the fridges but rather is a program through several groups including Mutual Aid for Connecticut and Democratic Socialists of America. Contributed photo Dworak said in addition to individual donors restocking the fridge and surrounding shelves for nonperishable items, they have brought on several larger-scale partners to contribute food, including CitySeed, Elm City Market and others. Community fridges are rising in popularity throughout the country, Dworak said. She said at least 20 percent of New Haven County is food insecure and most people will experience it at some point in their life. The biggest thing people can do is drop off food, she said. WASHINGTON Building a portable greenhouse and learning to care for animals make up just some of the experiences students have had over the past two years in Shepaug Valley Schools Regional Agriscience program. The program, which is beginning its third year, started with 41 students and has now tripled in size to 119 students. While four students will be graduating in the spring, the first full class 33 students will graduate in 2023. Agricultural Science and Technology Education programs are state funded and prepare students for college and careers in fields such as animal science, agricultural mechanics, aquaculture, biotechnology, food science, and marine technology. There are about 20 ASTE programs in the state. A goal of increasing enrollment was an original catalyst for the program and the program has achieved this goal at Shepaug Valley School, according to Region 12 Superintendent Megan Bennett. Students in the program come from nine towns, not including those that make up Region 12 Washington, Roxbury and Bridgewater. For the first time, the school, which is located on School Street in Washington Depot, has students from Bethel enrolled in the program. As for agriscience revenue, Region 12 receives $5,200 from the state for every student who attends the program. Sending districts pay an additional $6,823 per student. There are 77 students in the program from sending districts. All funding received is to run and operate the program, said Bennett. New this year New agriscience teacher, Meghan Berry, starts this year, completing the programs staff. Megans hire is the fourth and final agriscience teacher that was part of our original business plan, Bennett said. Weve got an amazing group of teachers, educators and agricultural connoisseurs to pull the program forward. Additionally, the program will host students from Little Britches Therapeutic Riding in Roxbury in the fall and next spring. We had our pilot last spring, Bennett said. The pilot was formed due to a need for an indoor facility Little Britches only has outdoor facilities, and is therefore only open from April to November. The partnership has provided continuity for the riders, who have been able to ride at Shepaug Valleys indoor facility. The pilot utilized student volunteers from Shepaug. Student volunteers are not just restricted to agriscience students, said agriscience teacher Anne Hermans. Were an integral part of the school and of the community, so any Shepaug student can volunteer with them. For the first time this year, the agriscience students will be competing in the Big E, a multi-state agricultural fair in Massachusetts on Sept. 17. We will have a team competing in the boutonniere making competition and have been instructing all of the agriscience students in this wonderful skill, Hermans said. We also have one student entering the floral display. Additionally, in October, the school will also be sending students to the FFA National Convention in Indianapolis. The FFA is a student organization for those interested in agriculture and leadership. Projects Agriscience students took part in multiple projects throughout the school year. One involved growing plants from seeds as part of the schools pollinator pathway. Students were involved in every aspect of that from growing the plants to getting ready for the sale to making the sales to the clean-up to the funds and the accounting, Hermans said. Those funds are going to help send our kids now to field trips this year. Students also directed the construction of a shed for the on-site animals. The purpose is to provide shelter for animals that are in that pasture, Hermans said. The students planned it and built it and took it up there. Yet another project was building a portable greenhouse. Many groups of students collaborated on the project. Students from all pathways joined in to build a special kind of portable greenhouse called a high tunnel. This is a place where you put plants in between the main greenhouse and the great outdoors. They need a little bit of protection, said Hermans, adding the planning, design, implementation and the care for the plants was all hands on deck. Affects of COVID-19 Last year, due to the pandemic, students had an option of distance learning. Those who took that option were involved in synchronous instruction over Zoom, Hermans said. They participated in class activities and discussions and were able to view, if not perform, hands-on, she said. Their work was sometimes at home, and was sometimes research based. All students are now back in person full time. We are following state recommendations for COVID safety, she said. This includes wearing masks and maintaining social distancing. Social distancing has now been determined to be safe at 3 feet so thats allowing us to do more collaboration and hands on, Hermans said. Opportunities Bennett said the beautiful thing about the agriscience program is its sense of community. Students are still getting the core high school experience, and the Shepaug experience is really one in which its a tightknit community and it is one in which theyre brought into that tightknit community, she said. By having hands-on agricultural experiences and direct contact with animals, she said students learn if their passion is something that will be held beyond high school. Bennett continued, We are getting our students executive skills within their high school experience, and that really does set them apart from other high school graduates. Its high school with an enhancement. sfox@milfordmirror.com Brian A. Pounds / Hearst Connecticut Media WINDSOR LOCKS Two airline passengers at Bradley International Airport were arrested Sunday afternoon after reported unruly behavior, including cursing at children who were allegedly kicking the backs of their seats on the plane, according to a report from Connecticut State Police. Troopers at Bradley airport were asked around 12:30 p.m. to meet an arriving JetBlue flight from Florida, where there was a complaint from a captain on the plane that there had been some sort of fight, the report said. MARLBOROUGH, Conn. (AP) Connecticut State Police said Sunday that they are investigating the abduction, assault and robbery of a 64-year-old woman in a business parking lot in Marlborough. The woman had left the business and was getting into her vehicle when two men approached her and demanded money on Saturday evening, police said. Lou Barletta keeps coming to Philly. He stopped by the Italian Market in May a few days after he launched his Republican campaign for governor. Hes walked around Kensington to get a firsthand look at the drug epidemic there. Last Monday, Barletta did something unusual for a Republican seeking statewide office in Pennsylvania: He marched in the citys annual Labor Day parade. Supporters held Barletta for Labor signs. Not everyone gets an opportunity to do that, Barletta, a former congressman from Northeast Pennsylvania, said in an interview Tuesday. Philadelphia is an overwhelmingly Democratic city, and its labor unions tend to support Democrats like the one Barlettas hoping to succeed Gov. Tom Wolf, who is term-limited and cant seek reelection next year. But Barletta said former President Donald Trumps 2016 win in Pennsylvania showed how the GOP can appeal to union workers. I can help create jobs for blue-collar workers in Philadelphia, Barletta said of his message to organized labor. Thats what theyre all about. They wanna take care of their families, they want good jobs. ... President Trump did very well with rank-and-file union members and their families as well. I can put together a broad spectrum of supporters as well. Barletta said his relationship with organized labor in Philadelphia dates back to his tenure as mayor of Hazleton, when he supported an effort to fill abandoned mines with dredging material from the Delaware River. They had dirt, we had a hole, he recalled. It was a perfect marriage. The good vibes continued this week. Barletta said he was invited by nine union locals to march in the parade. It was a great opportunity to meet the members and talk about ideas on how to create more good jobs, he said. While its leadership certainly leans Democratic, organized labor isnt a monolith. Trump made gains with members of predominantly white building trades. But some of the more influential labor unions in Philadelphia in recent years represent service workers who are mostly Black and brown, and theyve helped elect progressives. It remains to be seen whether Barletta or any other Republican gubernatorial candidate could make significant inroads in a general election. Pat Eiding, president of the Philadelphia Council AFL-CIO, said he didnt know who invited Barletta but heard the Republican is a pretty decent guy. I dont ever remember a Republican governor candidate coming there, Eiding said. Other Republicans running for governor or widely expected to run include state Sens. Doug Mastriano, Dan Laughlin and Scott Martin, and former U.S. Attorney Bill McSwain. Lou Barletta announces public safety advisory board co-chairs A former Hazleton police chief is co-chairing a public safety advisory board for Republican gubernatorial candidate Lou Barletta. Its also not clear whether Barletta would actually support labor on some of its top policy priorities. For example, Barletta declined to say whether hed support right to work legislation prohibiting unions from requiring workers to pay dues. Fighting such laws in other states has been a top priority for labor unions. Im not going to answer any hypotheticals ... about issues that havent come up. Well deal with all that when Im governor, Barletta said. Its hard to say whatll get through the Republican legislature right now.Barlettas visit came a week after he attended a Shore fundraiser for autism awareness hosted by Local 98 of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers. Barletta praised John Johnny Doc Dougherty the unions business manager and head of the Philadelphia Building and Construction Trades Council as a great fighter for blue-collar workers over his entire career. Barletta said hed welcome support from unions like Local 98, but added that wasnt the purpose of the trip. I want to get to work on Day One if Im elected governor, he said. That means having a close relationship with labor. Reacting to the increased security threat, Border Security Force (BSF) on Sunday said that it is vigil and is closely monitoring developments in neighbouring countries. The force also informed that the threat in the countrys border areas will continue. However, it also affirmed belief in the capability of the forces. The BSF informed that it is closely watching the situations developing around the country. BSF Inspector General NS Jamwal told ANI, "BSF is keeping constant vigilance at the border areas of Jammu and Kashmir. We have a firm belief in our capabilities and are ready to act towards any untoward activity if any." Adding on to the increased security tensions put forth by the Afghanistan and Pakistan situation, the BSF official said that the developments here will be monitored well. The danger at the border areas was there, is there and we will continue to monitor the situation at the border areas," the BSF official said. IG Jamwals comments come after the rise in the security threat for the nation after the Taliban seized control of Afghanistan. Earlier last week, Union Home Minister Amit Shah chaired a high-level meeting with all major Jammu and Kashmir stakeholders to discuss the security situation in the region. Amit Shah chairs high-level meeting to discuss security situation in J&K On September 9, Home Minister Amit Shah chaired a high-level meeting with Jammu and Kashmir stakeholders including J&K LG Manoj Sinha, J&K Intelligence Chief RR Swain and DG Dilbag Singh review the security situation in the region. The review came in the wake of the sudden surge in the number of infiltrations along the Line of Control (LoC) in the last few weeks. The number of infiltration attempts in the LoC increased marginally after the Taliban completed its successful takeover of Afghanistan, forcing the former President Ashraf Ghani to flee the country on August 15. Security concerns in Kashmir's Poonch Earlier on September 2, the Indian Army foiled an infiltration attempt by terrorists along the LoC in the Krishna Ghati sector of Jammu and Kashmir's Poonch district during wee hours on Friday. According to on-ground reports, the infiltration bid was the sixth failed attempt by terrorists to enter Indian territory in a span of two months. On 12 July, three terrorists were eliminated in the Nowshera area and on 6 August, two terrorists were eliminated in Thananmandi. On 19 August another terrorist was neutralised in Thananmandi and on 30 August, two terrorists were killed in Poonch. IMAGE: PTI External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar is expected to travel to Tajikistan this week to attend a key meeting of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) on the situation in Afghanistan after its takeover by the Taliban, people familiar with the developments said on Monday. Jaishankar is also likely to hold a series of bilateral meetings at Tajik capital city Dushanbe with his counterparts from Russia, Iran and Tajikistan among others, they said. Prime Minister Narendra Modi is scheduled to virtually participate in the annual SCO summit on September 17 that is expected to deliberate extensively on the developments in Afghanistan as well as the overall regional security scenario. The people cited above said Jaishankar will attend a meeting on Afghanistan of the heads of state of SCO and the Collective Security Treaty Organisation. Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, Iranian foreign minister Hossein Amir Abdollahian and Pakistani Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi are expected to be in Dushanbe for the SCO meetings. Earlier this month, Jaishankar spoke to his newly-appointed Iranian counterpart and discussed the situation in Afghanistan as well as bilateral issues. The SCO, seen as a counterweight to NATO, is an eight-member economic and security bloc and has emerged as one of the largest transregional international organisations. India and Pakistan became its permanent members in 2017. The SCO was founded at a summit in Shanghai in 2001 by the presidents of Russia, China, the Kyrgyz Republic, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. India has shown keen interest in deepening its security-related cooperation with the SCO and its Regional Anti-Terrorism Structure (RATS), which specifically deals with issues relating to security and defence. India was made an observer at the SCO in 2005 and has generally participated in the ministerial-level meetings of the grouping which focus mainly on security and economic cooperation in the Eurasian region. India will get this month the third set of Swiss bank account details of its nationals under an automatic exchange of information pact with Switzerland and this will include for the first time the data about real estate properties owned by Indians there, officials said on Sunday. Marking a key milestone in the Indian government's fight against black money allegedly stashed abroad, India will get this month the complete information on flats, apartments and condominiums owned by Indians in Switzerland as also on earnings made from such properties to help it look into tax liabilities associated with those assets. The move assumes significance on the part of Switzerland as well as the European Alpine nation is trying hard to reposition itself as a key global financial centre while warding off the long-persisting perception about the Swiss banking system being an alleged safe haven for black money. While it would be the third time that India will get details about bank accounts and other financial assets held by Indians in Switzerland, it will be the first time that the information being shared with India would include information about the real estate assets. While the Swiss government has agreed to share details of real estate assets, the information about contributions to non-profit organisations and other such foundations, as also details on investments in digital currencies still remain out of bounds from the automatic exchange of information framework, officials said. Experts and those engaged in the business of attracting investments to Switzerland said the move would help clear misconceptions about all fund inflows into Swiss assets being illicit and would go a long way in establishing Switzerland as a preferred investment destination, including for real estate properties. Himanshu, Founder and CEO of Switzerland For You SA, the parent firm of IDDI Investments, which is engaged in the business of attracting investments from India and other countries to Switzerland including in startups and real estate, said transparency has its own virtues and the proposal of the Switzerland government to share information about property ownership of foreign clients with other countries including India is welcome. "We find no valid reason for Swiss authorities to hide such information. After all, the ownership of property is not something which can be kept under wraps," said the India-origin entrepreneur who goes by his first name only and is settled in Geneva for many years. "Sharing of such information with other countries under AEOI will bring in more transparency and act as deterrence for those intending to buy Swiss properties from ill-gotten wealth. The move will go a long way in making Switzerland an attractive investment destination," he added. India had received the first set of details from Switzerland under AEOI (Automatic Exchange of Information) in September 2019. It was among 75 countries to get such information that year. In September 2020, India received the second set of Swiss bank account details of its nationals and entities, along with 85 other recipient countries with whom Switzerland's Federal Tax Administration (FTA) exchanged information on financial accounts within the framework of global standards on AEOI last year. From this year, Switzerland's Federal Council, the country's top governing body, has decided to implement a key recommendation of the Global Forum on Transparency and Exchange of Information for Tax Purposes, under which Swiss authorities will also share details about investments made by foreigners in the Swiss real estate sector. However, some other recommendations of the Global Forum, including about sharing of information on digital currency accounts and contributions made to foundations and non-profit organisations are yet to be accepted and therefore those details would not be shared by Switzerland with India or any other countries for now. Hectic lobbying is underway globally to convince Switzerland to start sharing information about digital currency accounts and contributions made to non-profit entities as well. In each of the last two years, Switzerland has shared details about nearly three million financial accounts with various jurisdictions, while the count is expected to be higher this year. For the last two years, India has been among prominent countries with which Switzerland has shared details about financial accounts of clients of Swiss banks and various other financial institutions, while it is also expected to figure high this year with regard to details about real estate properties. Resident and non-resident Indians, as well as Indian companies, would account for a sizeable number in the overall list of those figuring in this year's exchange of information by Switzerland, officials privy to the development said. Besides, Swiss authorities have already shared information about more than 100 Indian citizens and entities so far this year on receipt of requests for administrative assistance in cases involving probes into financial wrongdoings including tax evasion, the officials added. This count has been similar in the past few years. These cases mostly relate to older accounts that might have been closed before 2018, for which Switzerland has shared details with India under an earlier framework of mutual administrative assistance as Indian authorities had provided prima facie evidence of tax-related wrongdoing by those account holders. AEOI is applicable only to accounts that are active or were closed during 2018. Some of these cases relate to entities set up by Indians in various overseas jurisdictions like Panama, the British Virgin Islands and the Cayman Islands, while the individuals include mostly businessmen and a few politicians and erstwhile royals as well as their family members. The officials, however, refused to share details about the exact number of accounts or the quantum of assets held in the accounts held by Indians, for which the information has been shared with India, citing strict confidentiality clauses governing the exchange framework. The information shared by Swiss authorities includes identification, account and financial information, such as name, address, country of residence and tax identification number, as well as information concerning the reporting financial institution, account balance and capital income. The exchanged information allows tax authorities to verify whether taxpayers have correctly declared their financial accounts in their tax returns. The 86 countries covered under the AEOI in 2020 included 11 new jurisdictions -- Anguilla, Aruba, Bahamas, Bahrain, Grenada, Israel, Kuwait, Marshall Islands, Nauru, Panama and the United Arab Emirates -- in addition to a list of 75 countries, with whom information was shared in 2019. Switzerland's first such exchange took place at the end of September 2018 and involved 36 countries, but India did not figure in the list at that time. Nearly 10,000 entities, including financial institutions such as banks, trusts and insurers, as also condominium and apartment owners' associations are expected to have shared details about their overseas clients with the Federal Tax Authority of Switzerland for further sharing with foreign jurisdictions. Switzerland has committed itself to adopt the global standard for the international automatic exchange of information in tax matters. The legal basis for the implementation of AEOI in Switzerland came into force on January 1, 2017. However, AEOI only applies to accounts that are officially in the name of Indians and they might include those used for business and other genuine purposes. The Global Forum of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) reviews AEOI implementation. According to experts, the AEOI data received by India has been quite useful for establishing a strong prosecution case against those who have any unaccounted wealth, as it provides entire details of deposits and transfers as well as of all earnings, including through investments in securities and other assets. On condition of anonymity, several officials said the details relate mostly to businessmen, including non-resident Indians now settled in several South-East Asian countries as well as in the US, the UK and even some African and South American countries. A Swiss delegation was in India in August 2019 before the first set of details could get shared and the two sides also discussed possible steps to expedite the execution of tax information-sharing requests made by India in specific cases. It is feared many Indians might have closed their accounts after a global crackdown on black money led to Switzerland buckling under international pressure to open its banking sector for scrutiny to clear the long-held perception of Swiss banks being safe haven for undisclosed funds. Switzerland agreed to AEOI with India after a long process, including a review of the necessary legal framework in India on data protection and confidentiality. (Disclaimer: This story is auto-generated from a syndicated feed; only the image & headline may have been reworked by www.republicworld.com) A suspicious bag containing six grenades was found by the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) jawans on Monday morning in the Bemina district of J&K's Srinagar. As more details are awaited on the matter, it has been confirmed that the bomb disposal team reached the spot and the area has been cordoned off. It is pertinent to mention here that back-to-back reports of terrorist activities are getting reported particularly from Srinagar with terrorists hurling grenades at security forces and brutal killing of the young police officer. The bag was recovered from the road divider. Jammu & Kashmir: A suspicious bag was recovered near Police Public School in Bemina, Srinagar. CRPF recovered the bag with 4 grenades from the road divider. Details awaited. pic.twitter.com/chIaqNROTf ANI (@ANI) September 13, 2021 Reports of terrorist activities in Srinagar A young, brave, and probationary officer, Arshid Mir was shot dead from point-blank range by a terrorist in the Khanyar area of Srinagar on Sunday, September 12. The terrorist attack took place when the martyr was walking in a lane. A very young probationary officer, Arshid was immediately rushed to Sher-I-Kashmir Institute of Medical Sciences (SKIMS) Hospital in Soura where he succumbed to his injuries. The wreath-laying ceremony of the martyred cop was performed in Srinagar. Valley leaders including the Director-General of police, LG Manoj Sinha, JKNC Vice President Omar Abdullah condemned the attack said that the perpetrators of the heinous crime have been identified and will be brought to justice. Earlier on Friday, September 10, terrorists had hurled grenades at Security Forces in the Chanpora area of Srinagar. Despite missing their target, two people including a jawan of Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) 29th Battalion and a civilian lady got injuried as the grenade exploded along the roadside. The area was later cordoned off and the two injured were rushed to the hospital. Alert in Jammu and Kashmir After the death of pro-Pakistan separatist Syed Ali Shah Geelani on September 1 at his residence in Hyderpora on the outskirts of Srinagar city, the security forces had feared terrorist attacks and were on a high alert. Geelani, who spearheaded separatist politics for over three decades in Jammu and Kashmir, died after a prolonged illness. Amid tight security and restrictions with mobile connectivity by and large snapped in Kashmir, he was buried at a mosque near his residence in a quiet funeral organised by authorities. Sambalpur, Sept 12 (PTI) Unable to visit Sambalpur district to participate in the Nuakhai festival due to the COVID-19 situation, an 11-year-old scuba diver and her father dived into the Arabian Sea on the east coast of UAE to celebrate the occasion in a unique manner, a statement said. Dubai-based Tisya Panigrahi and her father Priyadarshee Panigrahi, both trained scuba divers, said as Nuakhai holds a very special in our hearts. We decided to do something unique on this occasion and this idea germinated. They descended to a depth of about 12.1 metres into the sea in the Gulf of Oman from the Dibba Rock dive site on Friday and greeted people with Nuakhai Juhar and Happy Nuakhai placards under the sea on eve of Nuakhai, which was celebrated on Saturday. The Panigrahis said in the statement that diving Instructor Hani El Hajjar, who hails from Lebanon, helped them in taking photographs and videos using a special underwater camera. Tisya said, Diving is something that I enjoy a lot. It was also fun to hold the placards and pose for pictures and videos. Nuakhai has many memories for me. I like the festival because we get to dress in traditional clothes, dance to peppy Sambalpuri songs, and get great traditional foods. Nuakhai is the most popular agrarian festival in western Odisha. Tisya on August 22 last year obtained her PADI (Professional Association of Diving Instructors) Junior Open Water Scuba Diver License in UAE at the age of 10. The girl, who was born in Sambalpur, was inspired by her father, who has been diving since 2012 after getting his PADI Open Water Scuba Diver License from Vietnam. He is based in Dubai and works as a General Manager with a Fast Moving Consumer Goods (FMCG) company. PTI COR AAM MM MM (Disclaimer: This story is auto-generated from a syndicated feed; only the image & headline may have been reworked by www.republicworld.com) Amid the fast-evolving Afghanistan situation, India is showcasing its military might to the world. After 16 months of the stand-off with China and six months of a ceasefire agreement with Pakistan, India has participated in a joint military exercise with its neighbours. The military exercise ZAPAD-2021 hosted by Russia started on September 3, wherein troops of over a dozen countries are taking part. During the exercise, Indian troops showcased their Fire Power Demo wherein Indian Contingent demonstrated its superb battle drills and excellent firing skills. Special Heliborne Operation (SHBO) was also practised by the Ghatak Platoon of Naga Regiment using Russian MI-17 Helicopters. The SHBO by Coalition Forces including India's Ghatak Platoon during the Strategic Exercise showcased impressive drills by armoured vehicles; AAD vehicles were seen firing as a part of the coalition forces led by Russia. Swarm Helicopters were also seen escorting the SHBO on their way to the objective. Para jump by the Indian Army and Indian Air force commandos in ZAPAD 21 also showcased the combat capability of Indian troops in any kind of war zone. The countries invited include China, Pakistan, Armenia, Belarus, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Indonesia, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Vietnam, Serbia, Mongolia, Myanmar, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, and Kyrgyzstan. A 200 personnel contingent of The NAGA Battalion group participating in the exercise is featuring an all Arms combined task force. While the participating nations plan and execute the exercise, it is aimed to enhance military and strategic ties. ZAPAD-2021 is one of the theatre level exercises of the Russian Armed Forces and will focus primarily on operations against terrorists. Over a dozen countries from the Eurasian and South Asian Regions are participating in this signature event. The Joint Strategic Exercise was reviewed by Russian President Vladimir Putin at Mulino Training Ground in the Novgorod region. Indian troops as Coalition Forces participated in the exercise while conducting Combat Free Fall, Special Heliborne Operations and Defensive manoeuvres by the mechanised forces and NAGA Regt. Exercise Director took part in the planning of operations at the strategic HQ with Russian counterparts to finalise the plan of coalition forces. The Indian Contingent has been put through a strenuous training schedule that encompasses all facets of conventional operations including mechanised, airborne and heliborne, counter-terrorism, combat conditioning and firing. In 2019, the Indian Army had participated in Exercise Tsentr with a strength of 140 personnel while staying away from the 2020 Kavkaz exercise, citing the COVID-19 pandemic. In the Kavkaz exercise, China and Pakistan had also participated in the joint exercise. The two-week-long exercise is going on at Mulino Training Ground in Nizhniy, which is 423 km east of Moscow. ZAPAD-2021 is a part of the annual series of large-scale exercises that are significant to the Russian Armed Force's annual training cycle. The series rotates through four main Russian strategic Commands, including Zapad (West), Vostok (East), Tsentr (Center), and Kavkaz (Caucasus). Indian troops are not only displaying their strength but also enhancing interoperability with friendly foreign armies in the ZAPAD exercise. India's fine coordination with friendly nations including Russia is sending across a message to China and Pakistan during the Zapad exercise. Researchers at the University of California San Diego have reportedly developed a novel method that uses advances in CRISPR-based genetic engineering to control mosquito populations that infect millions of people with devastating diseases. In Aedes aegypti, the mosquito species that spread diseases including dengue fever, chikungunya, and Zika, the novel precision-guided sterile insect method, or pgSIT modify genes linked to male fertility (resulting in sterile offspring) and female flight (resulting in sterile offspring), Science Daily reported. pgSIT males can eradicate mosquito populations UC San Diego Biological Sciences Professor Omar Akbari was quoted by Science Daily as saying that the pgSIT is a revolutionary scalable genetic control system that engineers deployable mosquitoes that can reduce populations using a CRISPR-based technique. He added that because males do not transmit diseases, the theory is that by releasing more and more sterile males, the population can be suppressed without the use of damaging pesticides and insecticides. The envisioned pgSIT system, according to Akbari, may be deployed by delivering sterile male and flightless female eggs at specific sites where mosquito-borne disease is spreading. The researchers write in their Nature Communications publication that they empirically demonstrate that released pgSIT males can compete, suppress, and even eradicate mosquito populations, supported by mathematical models. Farmers have been sterilising male insects to protect their harvests since at least the 1930s, despite the advent of molecular genetic engineering methods. In the 1950s, growers in the United States began utilising radiation to sterilise nuisance species like the New World Screwworm fly, which has been known to kill livestock. Similar radiation-based approaches, as well as the usage of insecticides, are still in place today. Because pgSIT employs CRISPR rather than radiation or chemicals to modify essential mosquito genes, it is designed to be a far more precise and scalable approach. pgSIT technique can be applied to other disease-carrying insects According to Akbari, pgSIT eggs might be sent to an area where mosquito-borne disease is a danger or created at an on-site facility that could produce the eggs for deployment nearby. When pgSIT eggs are released in the wild at a peak rate of 100-200 pgSIT eggs per Aedes aegypti adult, sterile pgSIT males emerge and mate with females, thus reducing the wild population. The researchers believe that the pgSIT technique might be applied to other disease-carrying insects besides Aedes aegypti. (Image: Pixabay) Armed men killed two Moroccan truck drivers and injured another in Didieni commune, 300 kilometres from Bamako, according to Moroccan state news agency MAP. The truck drivers were moving supplies towards Bamako when they were ambushed by a group of armed men lurking behind trees on the side of the road on Saturday afternoon, according to the agency. On Sunday, witnesses told the Moroccan news agency that members of the armed group were "hiding amid the trees on the side of the road," and that they "were wearing bulletproof vests and carried weapons." They were also carrying wireless communication equipment and they departed the area without snatching anything from the victims. Malian authorities investigating incident The Moroccan embassy in Bamako is in contact with the two nations' responsible authorities, as well as families of Moroccan drivers, to follow the required procedures in such cases, including requesting that the authorities launch an investigation. Malian authorities are investigating the incident and taking the required steps. The injured driver was sent to a local hospital for treatment, according to Xinhua. Morocco has extensive trading ties with the countries of West Africa. Hundreds of Moroccan trucks transit the Sahel route every day, passing through Mauritania and Mali, transporting products between nations in the region The lack of security in the Sahel region has long been a source of concern for Morocco and other regional allies working to eliminate the threat posed by terrorist cells linked to ISIS and Al-Qaeda, as well as other armed groups. Many in Morocco's security establishment have called for a strong regional coalition to address the region's many security concerns, claiming that the lack of effective regional counter-terrorism cooperation leaves the entire region's security in a continual state of uncertainty and vulnerability, according to Morocco World News. Drivers from Morocco utilise this route to move goods Drivers from Morocco and other nations commonly utilise this route to move goods back and forth between countries in the region. Last year, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called attention to the rising security dangers in Mali and its environs. Recently, the UN Secretary-General emphasised the alarming rise in terrorism in the Sahel, particularly in Mali. Image: @AfricaFactsZone/Twitter On Sunday, September 12, as many as five soldiers and three terrorists were killed when an armed terrorist group attacked a military patrol in central Mali, reported Xinhua news, citing a Malian Armed Forces statement. The ambush was set by the terrorist group on Sunday morning at 11:45 am (local time), to which the army's Operation Maliko patrol team retaliated courageously, the statement said. It further stated that as many as five vehicles belonging to the army were also set ablaze by the terrorists. It should be noted here that this is the second attack on the Malian armed forces within a month. Last month, on August 19, as many as 15 Malian soldiers were killed in an ambush on National Road No. 6 in central Mali, Xinhua news reported. Following this, the Indian External Affairs Ministry had released a statement condemning the attack. The ministry also extended its deepest condolences to the families of fallen soldiers and to the Government of Mali. Earlier in the month of August, another terrorist attack had ravaged the country when as many as 51 civilians were killed. The terrorists had torched several homes after storming the villages on motorbikes in the country's northern left side. An army patrol from the Malian military was rushed to the regions following the incident. Terrorists have continued to carry out deadly attacks, with reportedly hundreds of people killed this year in a series of murders near Mali's border with Niger and in other regions of Africa as well. It is worth mentioning here that the West African country has been witnessing massive crisis at the security, political and also economic levels, reported Xinhua news. Mali has been marred by violence since 2012 Thousands of people were killed and hundreds of others were forced to relocate because of inter-communal violence and separatist insurgencies in the country since 2012. Meanwhile, according to Moroccan state news agency MAP, armed men killed two Moroccan truck drives and injured another in Malis' Didieni town. The truck drivers were carrying supplies to Bamako when they were ambushed by a group of armed men on Saturday afternoon, September 11, according to the agency. The report further stated that the armed men were lurking behind trees on the side of the road and also carrying wireless communication equipment. However, they did not snatch anything from the victims, reported MAP. Image: @eutmmali/Twitter Almost after two weeks, abductors finally freed at least 70 students who were kidnapped from the Government Day Secondary School on September 1. According to a report by the Associated Press (AP), the announcement was made by Zamfara state Governor Bello Matawalle, who claimed that the students were reunited with their families late on Sunday. The report said that a series of incidents unfolded on September 1, Wednesday, when scores of heavily armed gunmen had attacked a school in northern Nigeria and kidnapped 73 students. However, police had rescued five of the kidnapped students the very next day. The latest attack in a wave of school kidnappings in northern Nigeria prompted the government to shut down all primary and secondary schools in Zamfara state. Zamfara governor said that the students were rescued with the help of some of the gunmen who had repented their disgraceful act. "Using some of the bandits that repented, we were able to know where they were keeping these children. We worked closely with them for about 10 days and yesterday, at about 2 a.m., the commissioner of police alongside others took off to the location where these children were rescued," Matawalle said. Mass kidnapping of students in Nigeria is quite common While speaking to the news agency, Zamfara state police spokesman Mohammed Shehu denied sharing any details pertaining to the rescue operation. Shehu reiterated that he has no details of the operation as he was not in the state, where authorities blocked telecommunications access. It is worth noting that the authorities invoked phone blackout and other measures including the restriction of late-night movements and vehicular traffic, in order to target the gunmen. After the measures were introduced, the Zamfara governor said last week that the gunmen were begging for amnesty, which he declined. "We have ensured that whatever God has directed us to do, we did. So, what we are doing now is to leave them to answer to God. What we are doing now is to fight with them day and night," he said. At least 1,436 students were kidnapped in past years: UNICEF Report According to the report of the United Nations Childrens Fund (UNICEF), the country has witnessed 10 major abductions in the past, in which at least 1,436 students have been taken. The report said that at least 200 students are still held in captive and 16 children have died in the attacks. School kidnappings have taken place in nine different states, and the target list includes everyone from preschoolers to university students. Earlier in July, armed kidnappers in Nigeria released 28 of the 120 students who were abducted at the beginning of July from the Bethel Baptist High School in the northern town of Damishi. (With inputs from AP) (Image: AP) As part of a prioritisation exercise necessitated by financial shortages this year, the UN World Food Programme (WFP) will cease food aid for more than 100,000 displaced persons in portions of South Sudan for three months starting in October. While generous donor contributions have allowed WFP to reach millions of people in need with lifesaving aid, many vulnerable people living in crisis zones continue to face the greatest levels of food insecurity and are unable to live without long-term food support. #BreakingNews WFP will suspend food assistance for more than 100k displaced people in #SouthSudan for 3 months starting October WFP is forced to stretch its limited resources to meet the critical needs of people who are on the brink of starvation. More details here WFP South Sudan (@WFP_SouthSudan) September 13, 2021 UN World Food Programme to cut food aid to South Sudan For the next three months and until the new year, 106,000 persons displaced in camps in Wau, Juba, and Bor South will not get monthly food rations, said WFP in a press release. WFP will resume monthly food assistance for internally displaced people in those camps from January to September 2022, it added. "Drastic times call for drastic measures. We are forced to take these painful decisions and stretch our limited resources to meet the critical needs of people who were on the brink of starvation and now risk slipping back into a catastrophe if their access to food diminishes," stated Matthew Hollingworth, Representative and Country Director of WFP in South Sudan, in an official statement. "If funding levels continue to drop, we may have no choice but to make further cuts as the needs of vulnerable communities continue to outpace available resources," added Hollingworth. WFP will need an additional US$154 million over the next four months to deliver enough food assistance. The three-month ban is part of a bigger cut in food assistance announced by the World Food Programme (WFP) in April, which applies to all camps. It impacts 700,000 refugees and internally displaced persons, who are now given half of a WFP food supply. A full ration of cereals, lentils, vegetable oil, and salt gives 2,100 calories per person. WFP and partners undertook a campaign to prepare affected communities before the cuts were implemented. WFP is focusing its emergency, life-saving food assistance in ten hard-to-reach counties, including Pibor, Akobo, Tonj North, Tonj South, Tonj East, Aweil South, Bor South, Twic East, Duk, and Ayod, where people are facing an emergency or catastrophic levels of hunger, the release noted. Image: AP In a bid to establish a peaceful democratic government in the war-ravaged Libya, the embassies of the United States, UK, Germany, Italy, and France have called on "all Libyan actors" on Sunday. The embassies are aiming to hold a parliamentary and presidential election that is scheduled to happen on December 24 this year. This will be the first time in a decade that the country will hold an election to form a stable government. The Libyan High National Election Commission (HNEC), with the support of the western embassies, will conduct the elections in Libya According to a joint statement issued by the embassies of the five countries, it read, "All actors should recognize that now is the time to engage and finalize the electoral framework, taking into account all legitimate concerns of the Libyan people. Such elections, as determined in the Roadmap of the Libyan Political Dialogue Forum (LPDF) in Tunis in November 2020, and asserted in UNSC Resolution 2570, are an essential step in further stabilizing and uniting Libya, and their results should be respected by all, "read the joint statement issued by western embassies." Western embassies extend support in forming a stable government in Libya Libya, home to nearly 7 million people, will be holding its first election in a decade. Ever since Libya's dictator Muammar Gaddafi was overthrown in 2011, the country has constantly been under chaotic situations owing to massive violence, which is why the election of a stable government was impossible. Earlier in 2014, many western countries had shut their embassies in Libya and had left the country, due to the deteriorating security situation in Tripoli. However, this time, Libya is backed by many western countries, and a law has also been passed in support of free and fair elections. The chairman of the HNEC has said that they will start implementation of the laws and will do everything possible to hold the December 24 deadline. Meanwhile, Libya has millions of young voters who are eager to take part in the election. As per the reports, nearly 2.8 million Libyans have registered their names to participate in the elections, out of which, 40 per cent are women. This year, more than half a million new voters are also going to cast their votes, and most of those new voters are under 30. The international communities have joined hands to support the country if forming a government. IMAGE: AP/PTI China on Monday asked the United States and the international community to take "active actions" by providing aid to Afghanistan amid the economic crisis following the Taliban takeover. The Xi Jinping administration also said that the extremist group needs to stay true to its promises to not allow terrorist organisations to operate on Afghan soil. In a media briefing, Chinese Foreign Minister spokesperson Zhao Lijian blamed America for the crisis in the war-torn country and said that the US should grant humanitarian aid to Afghanistan. "The US should take active actions to help it to ease economic difficulties instead of shifting the blame and shirking its responsibility," he said. When asked about US Secretary-General Antonio Guterres "gift for terrorists" remark, Zhao said that China is committed to providing USD 31 million aid to Afghanistan which comprises food, clothing and medicines. He also urged the international community to provide assistance to the 'Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan'. The UN chief on Friday had appealed to the world to inject cash into the war-ravaged country to avoid an economic crisis that would bring a "catastrophic situation" for the Afghan citizens and be a "gift for terrorists". Taliban should clean terrorist forces, says China China said the Taliban should launch a crackdown on all terrorist forces on Afghan soil. "China stands ready to work with other countries to deepen counter-terrorism cooperation to prevent Afghanistan from becoming a hotbed and safe haven for terrorism and jointly safeguard the regional peace and stability," the Chinese Foreign Minister stated. When asked about the Taliban's decision to cancel the interim government's inauguration, he said that the decision to hold the ceremony is the Taliban's internal affair and other countries are independent to decide their attendance. "China respects both," Zhao said. Earlier reports suggested that the Taliban had invited China, Russian, Qatar, Pakistan and Iran for an inauguration ceremony of its new government. However, China remained mute on the Taliban's invitation. Meanwhile, Russia in a statement said that it would skip the function. The ceremony was reportedly cancelled due to international criticism of the Taliban's government not being inclusive. (With PTI inputs) In an attempt to present a positive image of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) in the world post-COVID pandemic, President Xi Jinping-led government is allegedly making utmost efforts to restrict voices against the party. Apart from constantly influencing media coverage and global coverage about itself, the government has also kept a tab on Chinese Diaspora abroad in the last few years, according to a report by The HK Post. The report further claimed that China uses at least 20 organisations and around 100 Twitter handles to carry out its propaganda after the country became the cynosure of criticism for the origin and spread of coronavirus. Recognising media as an essential tool for enhancing its narrative in international discourse, China also provides financial support to journalists, scholars, and experts abroad, reported The HK Post. According to The HK Post, China is going all out to silence negative reporting about it in local-language media. Recently, the Chinese embassy in Kuwait influenced a local authority to get an interview removed from the local English Daily, 'Arab Times." The interview was of Taiwan Foreign Minister Joseph Wu, who had talked about the 'threat China poses to Taiwan'. The Chinese embassy got the interview removed and summoned the interviewer and the editor-in-chief of the newspaper. The incident shows how the Chinese embassy is trying to control the media to prevent it from publishing content they don't like, reported The HK Post. 'China attempts to spread propaganda in Europe, Africa and America' In an attempt to carry out its propaganda and produce pro-Chinese content in Europe, Africa and America, Beijing has also started production centred in London, Nairobi and Washington with locally recruited employees to produce pro-Chinese content. Besides, Chinese officials also bribed top journalists in Sri Lanka to make pro-Chinese narratives in their newspaper, reported The HK Post. It should be noted here that today Xi Jinping-led Chinese government is widely accused of disseminating misinformation on many issues, including COVID-19. Earlier in July, an independent analyst had accused the China Daily of paying hefty amounts to prominent US newspapers and magazines to buy media influence, reported The HK Post. (With ANI inputs) Image: ANI The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) categorically exploited the international backlash towards terrorism triggered by the 9/11 attacks to repress the Muslim Uyghurs in Xinjiang, as per an American publication. According to a report by Politico, former Chinese president Jiang Zemin sent a telegram to the then US President George W Bush conveying China's 'deep sympathy and condolences'. Following that, Bush and Zemin met and the former had praised both countries' new joint anti-terrorism focus. Bush had apparently remarked that there was 'no doubt that China would stand with the United States and our people during this terrible time.' According to Sean R. Roberts, associate professor at George Washington University's Elliott School of International Affairs, China framed Xinjiang as a 'terrorist threat' which gave it a platform before the international community. 'US set a precedent for suspending human rights of anybody considered a terrorist' "Framing [Xinjiang] as a terrorist threat suddenly gave a lot of latitude to China in terms of what it could do in the eyes of the international community because, of course, the U.S. in many ways set a precedent for suspending human rights for anybody considered a 'terrorist'," said Sean R. Roberts, After the 9/11 attacks, the United States focused on Central Asia and the Middle East as it deployed it troops there as a part of its 'War on terror' campaign. On the other hand, China pursued its agenda of stamping central government authority with a distinctive identity of the majority Han population across a restive region dominated by ethnic and religious minorities. In addition, US paranoia about Islamic terrorism matched with Chinese paranoia about any challenges ti the Communist Party. "U.S. paranoia about Islamic terrorism was only matched by Chinese paranoia about any challenge to the Communist Party," said Richard Boucher, a former assistant secretary of State for Central Asia and State Department spokesperson from 2000 to 2005. Soon, the Chinese narrative on Xinjiang changed from that of a stable region with scattered elements of "separatists'' to that of a battleground beset by al-Qaeda-funded terror groups. Moreover, the United States acknowledged and endorsed the narrative pushed forth by China by designating a then little-known entity, the East Turkistan Islamic Movement (ETIM), as an international terror group. "The 'Global War on Terror' provided the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) with a vocabulary and a framework for its leaders to criminalize Uyghur ethnicity in the name of 'counter-terrorism' and 'de-extremification'," said Tim Grose, associate professor of China studies at Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology. The CCP now had a convenient frame to trace all violence to an 'international terrorist organization' and connect Uyghur religious, cultural and linguistic revivals to 'separatism." With ANI Inputs On Sunday, September 12, a Civil Security helicopter crashed in France's Villard-de-Lans town leaving one dead, informed the country's Interior minister Gerald Darmanin. He took to Twitter to inform about the incident which took place at around 4:30 pm local time. "I extend my condolences to the family and colleagues of the civil defence mechanic who died in a helicopter crash going into intervention with 5 people on board. All my support to the large family of civil security and mountain rescue," he tweeted. The other members of the crew including the pilot and two gendarmes were rushed to the Grenoble University Hospital, stated the prefecture of Isere in a press release, adding that the cause of the accident is yet to be ascertained. French President Emmanuel Macron also expressed his condolences saying that the nation shares the grief of deceased's relatives. It should be noted here that in a similar kind of incident as many as eight people had lost their lives when a tourism helicopter had crashed last month in Russia's Kamchatka region, according to The Associated Press (AP). The report further stated that the Mi-8 helicopter, carrying 16 people, had crashed into Kurile Lake on the Kamchatka Peninsula on August 12. The other eight people were rescued by rangers from the Kronotsky nature reserve, who rushed to the crash site on boats. Most of the tourists on the fights were from Moscow and St. Petersburg, said officials adding that rescued people were immediately taken to a local hospital, reported The AP. The Mi-8 helicopter, designed in the 1960s, was operated by a local private carrier - Vityaz-Aero. However, following the incident, authorities banned the carrier from transporting any more passengers till further order. An investigation was also launched to ascertain any possible violation of flight safety rules. It should be mentioned here that the company is Russia's one of the biggest local aviation groups that fly tourists to the Kronotsky Reserve. The Kronotsky reserve, known for its beauty and rich wildlife, is one of the major tourist attractions of Kamchatka and helicopters are the only mode of transportation to reach the place, according to The AP. Image: AP/Representative Image France, on Saturday, announced that the nation would not recognise the government formed by the Taliban or have any ties with it. French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian has asserted that "France refuses to recognise or have any relations with the government", ANI reported Sputnik citing Le Drian as saying on France 5 broadcaster. Le Drian has stated that they have "put forward a number of conditions" and they are waiting for their action. Le Drian has emphasised that the Taliban had repeatedly assured that they will allow the citizens of foreign countries and Afghan citizens to leave the war-ravaged nation but they have not shown any such action. He further said that the Taliban had spoken about "inclusive and representative government. However, they lie". Le Drian has asserted that they have set forth some conditions and they are waiting for the action of the Taliban. Countries like Japan, United States, Canada have also expressed that they were not planning to recognise the government formed by the Taliban. EU in no rush to recognise Taliban The situation in Afghanistan has been dominating the international agenda, with the international community trying to find ways to ensure stability and security in the war-ravaged nation. The European Union is in no hurry to recognise the Taliban as Afghanistan's new ruler. Last week, the European Commission's Managing Director for Asia-Pacific, Gunnar Wiegand, said that the EU is neither in hurry to recognise the Taliban nor to establishing official relations with the group. Wiegand further stated that the European Union needs to communicate, influence and make use of the leverages with the Taliban. Even though the Taliban promised to form an "inclusive" government to run Afghanistan, it announced a 33-member all-male Cabinet on Tuesday, September 7. Taliban announced the government of the 'Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan', naming Mullah Mohammad Hassan Akhund, the head of the Taliban's powerful decision-making body 'Rehbari Shura' as its interim Prime Minister. He has Taliban co-founder Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar as his deputy. In mid-August, the Taliban took control of Kabul, wreaking havoc in Afghanistan and prompting the international community to evacuate their citizens from the war-ravaged nation. Image: AP Inputs from ANI The Free Balochistan Movement (FBM) has held a protest rally on Saturday, September 11 in Hanover, Germany. The people protested against killing the victims of enforced disappearances in "fake encounters" in occupied Balochistan, according to ANI. The Free Balochistan Movement has alleged that the "fake encounters" have been carried out by "Counter-Terrorism Department" (CTD) of Pakistani forces in Balochistan. As per the Free Balochistan Movement press release, the protest began at 2:00 pm(local time) in front of the Hannover Central Station in Germany. During the protest, the people participating in the rally held banners and placards with slogans against torture, human rights abuses and illegal occupation of Balochistan by Pakistan and Iran. In addition, the protesters had also brought pictures of disappeared people who were killed in "staged encounters by the CTD". The Free Balochistan Movement has shared the pictures of the protest held in Hanover, Germany on its Twitter handle. Free Balochistan Movement hold protest in Germany Free Balochistan Movements protest demonstration in #Hannover city of Germany against killing the victims of enforced disappearances in staged/fake encounters in occupied Balochistan. pic.twitter.com/Ayj9B4zJXt Free Balochistan Movement (@FreeBaluchMovt) September 12, 2021 Free Balochistan Movement held a protest rally in Hanover Germany https://t.co/TWRfjiyXC3 Free Balochistan Movement (@FreeBaluchMovt) September 12, 2021 Protesters while shouting slogans marched through numerous streets to George Platz. People were also given pamphlets by the demonstrators to raise awareness about the crimes committed against the people of Balochistan. Several Baloch people addressed the protesters, exposing Pakistani and Iranian atrocities in occupied Balochistan. The speakers while addressing the people alleged that Pakistan was following its earlier policy of "kill and dump", by forcibly disappearing Baloch, killing the disappeared Baloch and burying them in graves. Furthermore, the speakers have alleged that the Pakistan state forces have adopted a new policy under which the "victims of enforced disappearances are fake encounters". Reportedly, the speakers have raised the issue of over 20 fake encounters being reported in a single month. The FBM in its statement said, "Pakistan is trying to give the impression to the world that it is taking action against the terrorists by killing the Baloch in its custody in the name of encounters by its terrorist force CTD." Furthermore, they alleged that people killed in CTD encounters were abducted and then killed in "staged encounters" to cover up the crimes they commit against people in Balochistan. Image: FreeBaluchMovt/Twitter Inputs from ANI On Sunday, September 12, French Defence Minister Florence Parly informed that Greece has agreed to buy six more Rafale jets apart from the 18 that were ordered earlier in January. "Excellent news: Greece has just announced its intention to acquire 6 additional Rafale. Together, we are moving forward to build genuine European autonomy," Parly tweeted. In the wake of growing tensions with neighbouring Turkey, the Greek government led by Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis had placed an order for 18 Rafale jets, 12 of them second-hand. Greece, the first European country to buy the jets made by Dassault Aviation, had finalised the deal for an amount of 2.5 billion, according to AP. Meanwhile, Athens is also planning to buy four new frigates from France, reported Daily Sabah citing Greek media reports. It should be noted here that Greece and Turkey, the two NATO allies, have a strained relationship with each other and have been to the brink of war at least three times since the 1970s. Tensions have been escalating between both countries over gas reserves in the eastern Mediterranean, and maritime rights among other issues. Meanwhile, last month, Turkey's Defence Minister Hulusi Akar had said that second-hand Rafale jets will not change the power balance in the region and also urged Greece to refrain from engaging in the arms race and adopt a peaceful political path to solve the issues, according to Daily Sabah. The report further mentions that amid escalating tensions, Greece has planned to modernise its armed forces over the next five years, earmarking 11.5 billion. 'Rafale procurement will strengthen Greek Air Force' Last month, Greece's defence minister Nikolaos Panagiotopoulos had said that procurement of Rafale combat jets will strengthen the capability of the country's Air Force and it will further enhance the combat capability and deterrent power of the country's armed forces, who are committed to protecting the territorial integrity and the sovereign rights of Greece. It should be noted here that amid deteriorating relations between both countries, Greece's migration minister Notis Mitarachi had recently written a letter to European Commission vice-president Margaritis Schinas accusing Turkey of endangering migrants at sea and overlooking the agreement with the EU to stop illegal migration to Europe. Turkey is responsible to control migratory movements towards Europe under an agreement signed with the EU in 2016. (With inputs from AP, Image: AP) Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis promised to "break and crush" the human trafficking networks that smuggle migrants across the Greek border, in a press conference on Sunday, following his keynote speech at the Thessaloniki International Fair. Mitsotakis said Greece had adopted an "active border protection strategy" and migrant flows had decreased massively in 2021 compared to 2019, while becoming more efficient in salvaging migrants adrift at sea. The Greek leader also said he believed the stability agreement in Europe would change, as "we can no longer be committed to tough, inflexible goals that, ultimately, few countries can serve, and that create conditions for self-sustaining crises." IMAGE: AP (Disclaimer: This story is auto-generated from a syndicated feed; only the image & headline may have been reworked by www.republicworld.com) Hungarian faithful expressed their joy on Sunday over the short visit of Pope Francis to the European nation. The pontiff was starting a four-day visit to Central Europe - his first big international outing since undergoing intestinal surgery in July. Francis, 84, appeared in good form during his short visit to Budapest, presiding over a lengthy Mass and standing and waving to crowds during a jaunt in his open-sided popemobile. "I was really touched because the Pope's main message was love," Budapest resident, Kinga Kovacs, said following the Mass. Zoltan Szkendovics traveled from the Hungarian city of Kecskemet to see the Pope and said he was also "touched" by the pontiff's messages. "The Pope had a thought, which really touched me, saying 'Do not see what people show on the outside, but judge on their actions'," he said. Francis only spent seven hours in Budapest before moving on Sunday afternoon to a four-day tour of neighboring Slovakia. The lopsided itinerary suggested that Francis wanted to avoid giving Orban - the type of populist nationalist Francis frequently criticizes - the political boost that comes with hosting a pope for a proper state visit ahead of elections next spring. Francis did meet Orban, whose refugee policies clash with the pope's call for welcome and integration of those seeking better lives in Europe. Vatican and Hungarian officials have insisted Francis wasn't snubbing Hungary by staying for such a short time, noting that the Hungarian church and state only invited him to close out an international conference on the Eucharist on Sunday. (Disclaimer: This story is auto-generated from a syndicated feed; only the image & headline may have been reworked by www.republicworld.com) Italian police on Sunday were investigating a Somali asylum-seeker for attempted murder after he allegedly slashed two ticket controllers aboard a bus in the beach resort town of Rimini, then wounded three other people, including a boy, as he fled. Investigators are ruling out terrorism as a motive and hypothesize that the 26-year-old man was under the influence of drugs during the knife attack Saturday night, according to reports on Italy's state broadcaster RAI. Interior Minister Luciana Lamorgese said she would meet with local security officials on Monday in Rimini to review the very grave episode. Lamorgese has been under attack by right-wing leader Matteo Salvini, who heads the anti-migrant League party. Salvini has been demanding that Lamorgese crack down more heavily on illegal migration. The man, who apparently didn't have a bus ticket, slashed the controllers who had asked to see his ticket, leaving the two women wounded, news reports said. When the bus driver opened the door, the attacker fled. As police gave chase, the man allegedly slashed three more persons along his path. They included a six-year-old boy who was sitting with his mother in a local outdoor market. The boy was in critical condition on Sunday after surgery for his wounds, including on his neck. Police arrested the man after catching up with him on a side street flanking a hotel. The man, who wasn't identified, apparently had been denied asylum in several European countries, including Denmark, Sweden, Germany and the Netherlands, since arriving in Europe in 2015, the Corriere della Sera newspaper said. State TV said the man had applied for asylum in Italy and was living in a migrant residence run by a Catholic charity in Rimini. (Disclaimer: This story is auto-generated from a syndicated feed; only the image & headline may have been reworked by www.republicworld.com) Thousands of people have been forced to flee their homes in six more Andalusian towns and villages as firefighters in Spain worked to contain wildfire blazes that have been burning for the fifth day. According to AP, officials on September 12 evacuated nearly 1,500 residents from the towns of Jubrique, Genalguacil and four other villages. More than 1,000 other people have also been removed from the areas around the resort town of Estepona. As per reports, Plan Infoca, the Andalusia regions agency in charge of firefighting efforts, described Sunday as a key day for bring the wildfire under control. In a bid to contain the wildfires, Spain has sent a military unit to a Costa del Sol resort. An emergency brigade was also sent to the military base of Moron to join over 3,000 firefighters and 41 water-dropping aircraft battling the blaze. Firefighter Rafael Fanega informed that the blaze was still out of control. While calling for more boots on the ground, Fanega said, I dont see enough deployed personnel. Some may see it differently, but thats how I see it. Separately, Alejandro Garcia, deputy operational chief of Plan Infoca, said, Hot and dry temperatures with strong winds created a perfect storm, turning the blaze into a hungry monster. He added, The potency and strength of this wildfire is unusual for the kind of blazes that we are used to seeing in this country. Wildfires destroy 7,000 hectares Images of plumes of smoke emerging from rugged terrain have been released by the firefighting agency. Last week, a 44-year-old firefighter also died while trying to extinguish the blaze. Officials have said that they have evidence suggesting that the blaze was started deliberately. Investigators are now working to uncover more details. (Image: AP) Meanwhile, the blaze has destroyed nearly 7,000 hectares. Andalusias regional fire agency said that nearly 365 firefighters are currently tackling the wildfires. They are also being supported by 41 aircraft and 25 vehicles. It is worth mentioning that according to Spains Ministry of Ecological Transition, over 75,000 hectares of forest and bush areas in the nation have burned in the first eight months of the year. (With inputs from AP) More than 150 individuals have been slain in over 1,100 shootings in the last four years in Sweden, according to the Moderate Party. With street shootings at an all-time high in the country, the opposition Moderate Party wants to use current anti-terror laws to combat gang activity, according to Sputnik. A total of 36 people have been shot dead in Sweden this summer, forcing the liberal-conservative Moderates to issue a strong statement. In his speech in the town of Strangnas, Moderate leader Ulf Kristersson said that the bloodiest summer in modern Swedish history occurred this year. He added that 36 people have been murdered so far this year, according to the national network SVT. Kristersson promised to put an end to "mollycoddling with criminals," according to Sputnik. He urged authorities to use existing anti-terror laws to prosecute criminal organisations to stop the growing trend of shootings aggravated by gang fights and drug smuggling. He stated that gang members must be apprehended, and criminals will face double penalties. He also warned that anyone involved in a criminal gang who is not a Swedish citizen must be deported. According to the Moderate leader, no youngster should be forced to grow up in a serious criminal environment. Johan Forsell, a legal spokesman for the Moderates, described the party's new anti-gang measure as "far-reaching." According to Sputnik, the Moderates had stated that there are 5,000 gang members in criminal networks in vulnerable places across Sweden. In addition, the party indicated that there are over 40 criminal clans, some of whom have migrated to Sweden to perpetrate crimes. Sweden experiences increase in crimes Unlike most EU countries, according to Sputnik, Sweden has experienced an increase in violent crime in recent decades, rising to the top in terms of annual fatal shootings. The country's Crime Prevention Council insisted that this was a one-of-a-kind pattern, blaming eight out of ten shootings on criminal environments engaged in drug trafficking and other criminal operations. Erik Nord, the commander of the Greater Gothenburg police district, has admitted a relationship between mass shootings and immigration, stating that everyone who shoots or is shot in gang disputes originates from the Balkans, the Middle East, North or East Africa. Image: Ulf Kristersson/Facebook, Pixabay US President Joe Biden would host the first-ever in-person Quad summit on September 24 which will be attended by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Prime Minister Scott Morrison of Australia and Japanese premier Yoshihide Suga, the White House announced on Monday. The four leaders would discuss deepening their ties and advancing practical cooperation on areas like combatting COVID-19, addressing the climate crisis and promoting a free and open Indo-Pacific, the White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said. In March, President Biden hosted the first-ever summit of the Quad leaders in the virtual format that vowed to strive for an Indo-Pacific region that is free, open, inclusive, anchored by democratic values, and unconstrained by coercion, sending a subtle message to China. President Joseph R. Biden, Jr. will host the first-ever Quad Leaders Summit at the White House on September 24. President Biden is looking forward to welcoming to the White House Prime Minister Scott Morrison of Australia, Prime Minister Narendra Modi of India, and Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga of Japan, Psaki said. The Biden-Harris administration has made elevating the Quad a priority, as seen through the first-ever Quad Leaders-level engagement in March, which was virtual, and now this Summit, which will be in-person, she said. Hosting the leaders of the Quad demonstrates the Biden-Harris administrations priority of engaging in the Indo-Pacific, including through new multilateral configurations to meet the challenges of the 21st century, she said. According to the White House, the Quad Leaders will be focused on deepening their ties and advancing practical cooperation on areas such as combatting COVID-19, addressing the climate crisis, partnering on emerging technologies and cyberspace and promoting a free and open Indo-Pacific. The Quad summit will take place amidst China's aggressive behaviour in the resource-rich South China Sea. Beijing claims almost all of the 1.3 million square mile South China Sea as its sovereign territory. China has been building military bases on artificial islands in the region also claimed by Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines, Taiwan and Vietnam. In November 2017, India, Japan, the US and Australia gave shape to the long-pending proposal of setting up the Quad to develop a new strategy to keep the critical sea routes in the Indo-Pacific free of any influence. Image: ANI/AP (Disclaimer: This story is auto-generated from a syndicated feed; only the image & headline may have been reworked by www.republicworld.com) At least three Iraqi soldiers were killed, and two others sustained injuries after a massive clash with the extremist Islamic State (IS) group in Iraq's eastern province of Diyala on Sunday, September 12. Militants from the Islamist group opened fire on Iraqi Forces on the outskirts of the Udeim area. According to a local tribal fighter, Mohammed al-Obaidi, the war between two groups started in the evening, some 60 km north of the provincial capital Baquba, reported Xinhua. Meanwhile, six IS militants were also killed in a drone attack by Iraqi soldiers in Iraq's Kirkuk province on Sunday. The fierce clash erupted earlier on the day when Daesh militants launched an attack on the federal police in Kirkuk province. In response, Iraq security forces sent a drone on a reconnaissance mission to the scene, and conducted three airstrikes on IS positions, said Iraqi Joint Operations Command in an official statement. Clash between IS militants and Iraqi soldiers Earlier on Saturday, IS launched another attack on soldiers near the town of Daquoq. The increasing number of daily clashes between Daesh militants and Iraqi soldiers has escalated tension in Iraq. In the last few months, it has been recorded that the IS militia is once again active and has intensified its attacks on Iraqi security forces. However, the Iraqi force has already tightened the security and repeatedly carried out military operations in Diyala, but the IS militants are using the rugged areas near the Iran border to carry out their attacks. Moreover, the IS militants have also built their hideouts at extending regions of the western part of Diyala to the Himreen mountainous areas. It is pertinent to mention that the security situation in Iraq has been mostly under the control of Iraqi forces since the IS militants were defeated in 2017. However, there are still many IS terrorists hiding near urban areas or deserts and rugged areas. The IS militants carry out frequent guerrilla attacks from their hidings on the security forces and residents. Image: AP Israeli Foreign Minister Yair Lapid has proposed a new economy for security plan for the reconstruction of the Gaza Strip on September 12 consisting of diplomatic means. In a security conference at the Reichman University, Israeli FM said that since the withdrawal of Israeli troops from Gaza in 2005, the countrys policies have remained ineffective in halting the constant attacks by Hamas and other militant groups. In the wake of the crisis, Israel has imposed a blockade, restrictions on imports and exports of the goods and indulged in four rounds of war. Lapid is also the alternate prime minister of Israel. As per Xinhua news agency, he also said that the new plan aims at creating stability on both sides of the border. Lapid stressed that Israel will not negotiate with the militant group, Hamas because Israel doesn't talk with terror organizations that want to annihilate it. He said, We need to start a major multi-year financial security process. Whats the first phase of the plan? Reportedly, Lapid said that the first phase of the plan focuses on an upgraded humanitarian reconstruction of Gaza. It also includes the rebuilding of Gazas electric power system, realizing Gazas access to gas, constructing water desalination facilities, boosting health services, and restoring residential and transportation infrastructures. As per the report, Lapids proposal stated that in return, Hamas should keep the long-term calm and its purchase of new weapons will be restricted. While Israel has blocked investments in large infrastructures, the second phase in Lapids plan would allow the same including an artificial island off Gazas shore for a new port. Additionally, Gaza would be reconnected with the West Bank. This comes after Israel has banned the movement of people and goods between the two areas. Israeli FM has noted that the second phase of the plan would only be imposed if the countrys security is ensured. Even though the plan has not yet been discussed by the Israeli cabinet, the countrys Channel 12 TV news reported that Lapid has coordinated the release of the plan with Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett beforehand. As per Aws For WP report, Bennetts spokesperson said that Israeli PM has agreed with the economic strengthening of the Palestinian people adding that it has been his attitude for years. IMAGE: AP Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett is set to meet Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi on Monday. The Egyptian presidential office said that the meeting would be based on Israeli-Palestinian relations and other bilateral issues. It is the first official trip by an Israeli head of government to Egypt for a decade. Bennett is the leader of the far-right party, Yamina, and took office in June. He was invited by the Egyptian President for bilateral talks last month and will be meeting on the southern tip of Egypt's the Sinai Peninsula. Fattah al-Sisi is expected to hold discussions to bring about peace between Israel and the Palestinians. This is an initiative taken by Egypt's presidency to bring about peace and prosperity in the region. Egypt is the latest nation trying to mediate between the two war-torn nations. Israel and Palestine have been at war ever since the existence of humanity, however tensions escalated when talks between them collapsed in 2014. Experts on the matter suggest that the two countries cannot find a middle ground as their demands are opposite and refuse to compromise. Bennett does not only refuse to lower Israels guard, but his government has also refused to accept Palestinian statehood. Another focus of the talks would be the Gaza Strip, as Egypt previously helped to mediate a ceasefire agreement after 11 days of conflict earlier this May. Although, there have been certain instances of violence in the past few weeks. Even last week, Palestinian militants fired rockets into Israel, resulting in the Israeli military launching retaliatory attacks. Other topics of interest for the meeting Bennett and Sisi will also explore issues that influence the Middle East, such as Iran's role in the region or the crisis in Lebanon. Egypt was the first Arab country to sign a peace treaty with Israel back in 1979, and the relations between the country have remained content. The last visit by an Israeli Prime Minister to Egypt was in January 2011, when former Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met former Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak. This meeting was just weeks before Mubaraks government was taken over, and he was given life imprisonment the following year. Image: AP Launching a scathing attack on its regional enemy, Israel on Sunday accused Iran of giving drone training to foreign militias at an airbase near the city of Isfahan. In what his office termed as a new disclosure, Israeli Defence Minister Benny Gantz said that Tehran was using Kashan airbase to train terror operatives" from Yemen, Iraq, Syria and Lebanon in flying Iranian-made unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs). Lambasting its adversary, the zionist leader said that the airbase was a linchpin of the Iranian effort to export aerial terror to the region. Addressing pupils at Reichman University in the Tel Aviv district, Gantz buttressed his stance and said that Iran was not only guiding the terror operatives on the usage of UAVs but also teaching them how to manufacture the devices. (Iran is trying to) transfer know-how that would allow the manufacturing of UAVs in the Gaza Strip, he said. Notably, the besieged Gaza Strip is controlled by Hamas, a militant organisation that, in May, engaged in a bloody 11-day conflict with Israel. Later, the Israel Defence Ministry released satellite images of the Kashan Airbase which showed UAVs on runways across the Kashan airbase. Credit: International Institute for Counter-Terrorism (ICT) at IDC Herzliya 'Target Iran's terrorism' Iran has created proxy terrorism, under which it formed organized terror armies that help it achieve its economic, diplomatic and military goals, Gantz said. One of the significant tools that Iran has developed to assist its proxies is an array of unmanned aerial vehicles that can travel thousands of kilometres, and thousands of them are spread throughout Yemen, Iraq, Syria and Lebanon, he said. This morning I spoke at the annual International Institute for Counter-Terrorism (ICT) Conference at Reichman University. I discussed Irans development of proxy terror perpetrated by organized terror armies. - Benny Gantz (@gantzbe) September 12, 2021 I call on world powers to join the campaign targeting Irans regional aggression and its nuclear program. - Benny Gantz (@gantzbe) September 12, 2021 Gantzs statement comes at a time when the Islamic Republic is already under international scrutiny for its alleged role in attacking an Israeli managed tanker last month. In July, Mercer Street, a Liberian-flagged Japanese-owned vessel, was targeted whilst it was on its way from Tanzania to the United Arab Emirates (UAE). The attack led to the death of two crew members and an allegation on Iran from Israels newly formed government. Israel and Iran have been engaged in a shadow war for decades and have blamed each other for killing officials by launching explosions. While Israel has accused Iran of perpetuating terrorism and flouting nuclear guidelines, Tehran has accused the Jewish leadership of being the regional bully and killing its top nuclear scientist. Image: AP /Unspalsh/Representative A campaign group has discovered that in last year a significant number of environmental activists who were actively functioning to preserve the environment and Indigenous land rights were killed. According to the Global Witness report, 227 individuals were murdered in 2020 which has contributed to the largest figure for the second year in a row. It also states that forestry, mining, large-scale farming, hydropower dams, and other misusing of resources were apparently the cause of one-third of the killings. The campaign group, Global Witness described the victims as environmental protectors who were murdered for defending natural resources such as forests, water supply, and seas. According to the Global Witness organisation, four environmental activists have been murdered per week after the Paris Agreement was signed in the year 2015. As per BBC, 23 incidents related to the killings were linked with the logging sector which has the most killing records, following the assaults in Brazil, Nicaragua, Peru, as well as the Philippines. A one-third of the killing instances include the indigenous population, who are frequently on the front lines of climate change issues. Last year, Colombia had the largest number of violence, with at least 65 people were killed. Remarks of the senior campaigner of the campaign group Chris Madden, a senior campaigner with Global Witness, urged countries to take urgent steps to safeguard the environment defenders. He explained that corporations and business firms must begin placing people and the environment ahead of their own profit. He further stated that if this does happen then there will be an environmental collapse as well as the continuation of the killings. According to BBC, Madden further added that this record number of killings serves the harsh reflection that combating the climate problem is a life-or-death struggle for some, who put their lives at risk to protect the biospheres that are vital in preventing uncontrolled climate change. The organisation advised countries to build a safe, secure, and supportive environment for the activists as well as to make a pledge at the UN climate change conference, COP26, in November that will include human rights safeguards. More on environmental activists murdered Additionally, BBC reports about a human rights activist Fikile Ntshangase who was embroiled in a court fight over the enlargement of a Tendele Coal opencast mine in the KwaZulu-Natal region, was killed in her own living room. Her daughter, Malungelo Xhakaza added that no arrests were made to date in the inquiry of her mother's murder. She suspects that somebody wants this mining development and extracting operation to go through regardless of any consequences. Oscar Eyraud Adams, another victim was killed in Mexico in September 2020. He was trying to improve water accessibility for the native Kumiai village in Baja California. According to Global Witness, communities in Guapinol as well as Honduras, where numerous people have already been demonstrating against the licensing of iron oxide mining by the central administration in a protected region are still in danger. (Image: Shutterstock) Several Afghan refugees from Afghanistan arrived in Japan on Sunday night, 12 September after the Taliban's takeover, the Japan Times reported. The evacuation process was conducted by the temporary Japanese office set up in Kabul Embassy in Qatar. Additionally, Japan also deployed Self-Defense Forces to the Gulf States to rescue around 500 Afghan nationals who were willing to leave the war-torn country. The evacuees were among 10 Afghans who reached Pakistan last week. Among the evacuees, the four had worked in the Japan International Cooperation Agency in Afghanistan and family members, ANI said. They arrived via Qatari capital Doha. Remaining evacuees are being prepared to be moved to Japan in the near future. Afghan Air Force pilots, who fled to Uzbekistan, will be transferred to Doha Meanwhile, Uzbekistan has refused to accept refugees stating that they do not want to sour relations with its neighbour, Afghanistan. Following this, the former Soviet nation signed a deal with the US to fly out Afghan Air Force pilots who took refuge in the central Asian country. They will be transferred to the US base in Doha from where they will be prepared for onward travel by the end of the week, as per the Wall Street Journal. The military pilots fled to Uzbekistan fearing Taliban executions even though the group has promised amnesty to government officials and members of the armed forces. "Through a lot of diligent work, we are hopeful that the pilot on military personnel, including the husband (of) one of my constituents, are going to get out of Uzbekistan this weekend," the Republican Representative for Texas, August Pfluger told The Wall Street Journal. However, questions over the final movement of the pilots from the Doha base are still uncertain Pfluger added that the transfer process was "accomplished through constant work to hold the Biden administration's feet to the fire". Meanwhile, Taliban spokesperson Suhail Shaheen has requested the pilots to return to Afghanistan "as the country needs its people to rebuild itself". Taliban's swift annexation following the US pullout The Taliban swept major major territories across Afghanistan weeks before US and Allied troops made the final exit from the war-torn nation. By 26 July, the rogue militant group overtook one-third of the country's 421 districts, including key border points with Pakistan, Iran and Tajikistan. On 15 August, the Taliban finally captured the Afghan capital within weeks following the US withdrawal. Following the capture, Former President Ashraf Ghani fled the country to take refuge in Tajikistan. On 8 September, the Taliban spokesperson Zabihullah Mujahid finally announced the interim government after three failed attempts of forming an "all-inclusive" lawmaking body. (With inputs from ANI) (Image: AP) China on Sunday launched a scathing warning at the United States for the deployment of independence-variant littoral combat ship USS Tulsa (LCS 16) and Carl Vinson Carrier Strike Group (VINCSG) in the South China Sea, as it indirectly asserted that PLA warships will make an incursion in Hawaii. Beijing has repeatedly slammed the US' transits into the South China Sea and Taiwan Strait as provocative, calling it the biggest threat to peace and stability. Earlier yesterday, US Carrier Air Wing (CVW) 2 embarked into the South China Sea to conduct maritime operation to uphold the free and open use of Indo-Pacific waters in support of security and stability in the region, US Navy said in an official press release. This was the first time ever that a US carrier strike group is operating in the South China Sea with the advanced capabilities of the stealthy fighter jets F-35C Lightning II and Navy CMV-22B Osprey. [Credit:US Navy] [USS Tulsa integrates with Carl Vinson Carrier Strike Group during operations in the South China Sea. Credit: US Navy] When we deployed, we brought with us the unprecedented stealth, electronic warfare and vertical lift capabilities of the Air Wing of the Future and these platforms have delivered, said Rear Adm. Dan Martin, commander, VINCSG. Integrating emerging technologies to enhance capabilities and improve effectiveness has long been fundamental to strike group operations, he asserted. US deploys new warfighting efforts with advanced technology US Air Force, in a first, deployed new tools and technology of the Air Wing of the Future that includes new sets of multispectral sensors for increased lethality and survivability. Leveraging tactics and training, we continue to establish innovative ways to use these new technologies to enhance our combined warfighting efforts, it said. As China lodged a protest over the maritime military exercise in the hotly contested South China Sea, Capt. Tony Butera, VINCSGs information warfare commander responded saying that safeguarding a free and open Indo-Pacific means understanding the space, electromagnetic, and information environment along this vital international maritime highway. He stressed that the maritime operations were conducted to enhanced the US militarys multi-domain understanding of the region so that the information warfare teams onboard the US warships can better support the carrier strike group's overall goals of maintaining security, promoting stability, and preventing conflict. US Navy also hit back at Beijing reminding that it has "upheld the standards of freedom of navigation longer than the PLA navy has existed. The statement was fired as the USS Benfold entered disputed Paracel Islands that China claims as sovereign. [5th and 4th generation aircraft assigned to VINCSG. Credit: US Navy/USS Carl Vinson] Taliban fighters have taken over Afghanistan's main military prison at the former American base at Bagram a facility that regularly drew comparisons to Guantanamo Bay over detentions without trials and allegations of torture. Prisoners forced their way out of the Bagram detention center just hours after the Taliban seized Kabul, according to British broadcaster Sky News. Those who didn't make it out themselves were released by the Taliban. They included hundreds of captives suspected of being members of the Islamic State group's Afghanistan affiliate, Sky reported. Now abandoned, the facility is littered with mattresses in cages, personal belongings strewn across the floor, broken furniture and files of the former detainees. The center was associated with accusations of torture and prisoner abuse when under the control of the U.S. and the former Afghan government. One former prisoner, Aziz Ahmad Shabir, told Sky News he had been kept in solitary confinement in a cold cell for a month. "Now I'm mentally sick and my mind is not working well," he said. Hijran Mukhlis, a Taliban fighter who was on the abandoned premises, accused the former government and the U.S. of "destroying his country." "I want (revenge) against the Afghanistan government and America," Mukhlis said. (Disclaimer: This story is auto-generated from a syndicated feed; only the image & headline may have been reworked by www.republicworld.com) Kathmandu, Sep 12 (PTI) Vice President of the US foreign aid agency Millennium Challenge Corporation Fatima Sumar on Sunday expressed confidence that Nepal would endorse the USD 500-million MCC agreement which is under consideration in Parliament, saying the grant assistance will serve as a foundation for the development of roads and transmission lines in the Himalayan nation. Nepals political parties continue to be divided over the programme. Under the MCC programme, the US government will provide USD 500-million grant assistance which will be mainly utilised on strengthening Nepal's transmission line that would facilitate the export of hydro-electricity to India in the near future and also improve the countrys road networks. Sumar, who arrived here on a four-day visit on Thursday to understand the status of the project which has not yet been approved by the House of Representatives, left for the US on Sunday. A US team led by her sought the support of Nepals politicians to endorse the pact. During a press meeting on the conclusion of her visit, Sumar said she was optimistic about the Nepal government endorsing the MCC agreement. "The grant assistance will serve as foundation for the development of roads and transmission lines in Nepal," she said. The MCC grant will be important for Nepal's economic development at a time when the country's economy is hit by COVID-19, she said. "Delay in endorsing the pact will obviously slow down Nepal's development. We have furnished a written reply to the questions provided by the Nepal government relating to the MCC. I have personally met leaders of various political parties, government officials, lawmakers and civil society leaders and tried to clear doubts surrounding the MCC," Sumar said. The MCC pact is required to be endorsed by Parliament before it is implemented. However, there is no consensus among the members of the ruling party alliances. The debate on the MCC could be seen not only among the ruling and the Opposition, but also in the streets and social media. On Friday, Sumar called on Nepal Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba to clear doubts over the endorsement of the MCC agreement. The MCC Vice Chairperson had also met with CPN-Maoist Centre chairman Pushpakamal Dahal Prachanda, CPN-UML chairman K P Sharma Oli, CPN-Unified Socialist chairman Madhav Kumar Nepal, Finance Minister Janardan Sharma and Energy Minister Pamha Bhushal among others before leaving for the US on Sunday. Nepal and the US signed the MCC agreement in 2017. The MCC, however, has become a hotly-debated political issue in this country, with some parties objecting to it on grounds that the US programme is part of the Indo-Pacific Strategy and its parliamentary ratification would be against Nepal's national interest. In its response, the Washington-based agency made it clear that the MCC pact did not fall under the US government's Indo-Pacific Strategy. The former Oli government failed to get the MCC endorsed through the House after a section of the CPN-UML leaders and the Maoist Centre objected to it, The Kathmandu Post reported. Now the current Deuba government is under pressure to ratify it from the House. However, Deubas coalition partner is the Maoist Centre, which has not been positive about the American programme from the very beginning. The US officials have said that America cannot wait indefinitely for Nepal to endorse the agreement through parliament and expedite implementation of the projects both countries agreed upon in the past. Nepal was the first country in South Asia to qualify for the compact after it met 16 out of the 20 policy indicators. Deuba was prime minister when Nepal signed up to the agreement. The Millennium Challenge Corporation is a bilateral United States foreign aid agency established by the US Congress in 2004. It is an independent agency separate from the State Department and USAID. PTI SBP CPS (Disclaimer: This story is auto-generated from a syndicated feed; only the image & headline may have been reworked by www.republicworld.com) As Pakistan is currently battling with the fourth wave of COVID-19 outbreak, on Sunday the local media reported that Pakistan is seeing a rise in demands of medical oxygen in the hospitals. Pakistan Oxygen Limited (POL), the nation's oxygen manufacturing enterprise, revealed its incapacity to satisfy the growing demand for oxygen in a letter to hospitals. Though POL is now running three existing facilities in Karachi and Lahore, still, they are inadequate to meet the supply demand. According to ANI, the letter which is sent to hospitals states, This is to bring to your attention that amidst the COVID-19 pandemic, and the resultant high demand for oxygen from hospitals across the country, Pakistan Oxygen Limited (POL) is operating all three of its existing plants at Karachi and Lahore to their maximum stated capacity. Yet, the demand for oxygen continues to increase." POL has further said that they have no control over the circumstances. POL even informed that they are dealing with the situation to their fullest capacity and ability. "This is a situation beyond our control," POL added. POL has requested that hospitals should proceed with some alternative oxygen arrangements. POL even said that although they are doing every possible thing to deal with the hospital emergency, yet, they are unable to satisfy this rising demand while functioning properly to their fullest capacity. COVID cases in Pakistan As per a member of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), Asad Umar stated on Twitter that Islamabad has been the first city in Pakistan to completely vaccinate half of the city's citizens who are at the age of 15 and older. The minister further stated on Sunday by the tweet that over 71 per cent of people have received the first dose of the COVID-19 vaccination in Islamabad. Islamabad has become the first city in Pakistan to have at least 50% of its eligible population (15 years & older) fully vaccinated. 71% of Islamabad eligible population has recieved atleast 1 dose. Need to see an acceleration of second dose in other cities Asad Umar (@Asad_Umar) September 12, 2021 According to Gulf News, the COVID-19 positive rate was relatively less than 6% for the second time in a row on Sunday. As per the National Command & Operation Centre (NCOC), 3,153 individuals were tested positive out of 57,792 COVID tests were done in the past 24 hours, which indicates that the positive rate has decreased to 5.45%. The positive rate was 5.50 per cent a day before, and this is considerable development in the coronavirus scenario in the nation. This is attributable to the Non-Pharmaceutical Interventions (NPIs) or coronavirus restrictions enforced in 24 high-risk areas. In the last 24 hours, the total number of daily fatalities has decreased by 58, according to NCOC data. Whereas the nation is also exhibiting signs of recovery, with 3,797 people recovering from COVID-19 disease in the last 24 hours. (Image: AP/ Representative Image) Qatar Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al Thani met Taliban leaders, including the acting prime minister of the restored Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, Mullah Mohammad Hassan Akhund, in Kabul on 12 September. The Qatar delegation also met former Afghanistan president Hamid Karzai and Abdullah Abdullah, the previous Afghan governments chief negotiator in peace talks with the Taliban. Taliban thanks Qatar for 'supporting Afghan people' Taliban spokesperson Suhail Shaheen confirmed Al Thani's meeting with the interim government on social media. In his tweet, he mentioned that the leadership of the Islamic Emirate thanked the government of Qatar for supporting the Afghan people in their critical time. He informed that the Al Thani congratulated the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan leadership and all the Afghan people on the victory. News agency ANI reported that the two sides discussed bilateral ties and humanitarian assistance, Afghanistan's future economic development and international engagement with the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan in the meeting. Notably, Qatar has played a significant role in Afghanistan since the Taliban re-conquered the country. The Qatar Airways chartered flight became the first international airline that started operating international flights out of Kabul's Hamid Karzai International airport after the United States completed the evacuation operation. The USA, too, has lauded the efforts of Qatar in facilitating operations at the Kabul Airport. According to The Associated Press, Qatar along with Turkey also assisted in restarting the Kabul airport after the departure of US troops. The Taliban has also maintained a political office in Doha since 2013. Last week, the Taliban announced the government of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan. The government is led by Mullah Mohammad Hasan Akhund, the head of the Taliban's powerful decision-making body 'Rehbari Shura'. Taliban co-founder Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar has been announced his deputy. On 15 August, the Taliban captured the national capital, Kabul, after capturing other provinces of the war-ravaged nation. On Sunday, several government officials and legislators, including the country's former President Ashraf Ghani, fled the country. It is worth noting that the Taliban re-conquered Afghanistan before the complete withdrawal of US troops on 31 August. (With inputs from ANI and AP, Image: AP) Four persons were reported dead and five others injured after an L-410 aircraft crash-landed in Russia. The incident took place in Russia's Irkutsk region. On Sunday, the 19-seater L-410 twin-engine aircraft made a hard landing in Irkutsk. There were two crew members and 14 passengers onboard, ANI reported, citing Russian sta-owned RIA Novosti. Relief workers reached the site to rescue the injured passengers. Additionally, the local hospital was prepared to provide immediate medical help to the wounded deck passengers. The L-410 aircraft was scheduled to fly from Irkutsk and Kazchinskoye. The small commercial aircraft usually carries 19 passengers and can fly up to a distance of 1,500 kms. These kinds of mini-crafts were designed by Czechoslovakian firm Let Kunovice until 2018. Now, they are manufactured in the Russian city of Urals in Yekaterinburg. Crashes in Russia in 2021 On 14 August, as many as eight crew members on board were killed after a Russian plane crashed in Turkey. Five Russian servicemen and three Turkish nationals were killed in the crash, the Russian Defense Ministry had said in a statement. As per reports, the B-20 Russian water-bomber was in Turkey to help douse the blazing wildfire. Turkish media showed pictures of smoke billowing out from the mountainous region where the fire-fighting aircraft crashed. In another such incident, a twin-engined An-26 turboprop crashed near Palana village in the north of Kamchatka Peninsula. As per Emergency Ministry reports, the aircraft lost contact with the air traffic control (ATC) and rammed against the cliff due to poor visibility, killing all passengers on board. Around 22 passengers, along with six crew members died in the crash, the Tass agency reported, quoting the Mayor of Palana village. The incident took place on 7 July 2021. In another catastrophic crash, at least 40 passengers were killed in Moscow on 6 May after a Sukhoi Superjet-100 turned into a ball of fire after lighting hit the aircraft minutes after it took flight from the Sheremetyevo airport in Moscow. As per Russian media reports, the craft lost communication and made an emergency landing while it was on its way to the Arctic city of Murmansk. (With inputs from ANI, Image: Unsplash/Representative) The Russian Investigative Committee on 12 September said that it will look into the reasons and legal grounds for the detention of Russian citizen Alexander Franchetti at Pragues international airport. According to Sputnik, Franchetti was detained under an international arrest warrant issued by Ukraine. Following the detention, the Russian Investigative Committee said that the Chair of the committee, Alexander Bastrykin, ordered a study of the reasons for the detention of the Russian citizen in the Czech Republic. Bastrykin requested the study about the detention in light of the unacceptability of abusing international legal accountability mechanisms for political motives. In a separate statement, Alexander Molokhov, the head of a working group on international legal issues at Crimea's mission under Russian President Vladimir Putin, informed that Franchetti was a participant in the events in Crimea in 2014 that resulted in its reunification with Russia. Molokhov added, Today, the famous hero of the Crimean Spring, Alexander Franchetti, was illegally detained at the Prague Airport. Now, as Kyiv has brought charges against Franchetti, he will be facing deportation to Ukraine. His case will be thoroughly investigated, in cooperation with the Russian foreign ministry. Earlier on Sunday, the Russian embassy in the Czech Republic said that an officer of the embassys consular department was sent to Pragues international airport to provide all necessary consular assistance. The embassy added that it was in contact with the Czech officials as well as Franchettis relatives. Zelensky says all-out war with Russia is a possibility Meanwhile, Franchettis detention comes after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky warned Moscow that they have not given up on the option of an all-out war with Russia. Speaking at the Yalta security forum in Kyiv on Friday, Zelensky stated that a military operation between the two countries was a "palpable possibility". Zelensky further mentioned that an "all-out war" would be the biggest mistake on Russia's part, reported The Independent. Zelensky warned that the tensions between the two countries have risen to such an extent that they may not be in a position to return from danger. Furthermore, the Ukrainian President mentioned that the tensions between Ukraine and Russia have been escalating to such a level that a "precipice" was emerging between the two neighbouring countries. (Image: Pixabay) In a latest intrusion by China amidst an altering status quo in the Indo-Pacific, a Chinese military aircraft, Saturday, breached Taiwans Air Defence Identification Zone (ADIZ). Taipei, in an online statement, said that Saturdays attack marked the ninth straight day of Chinese intrusions, highlighting that one Peoples Liberation Army Air Force (PLAAF) Shaanxi Y-8 anti-submarine warfare plane entered the southwest corner of Taiwans ADIZ. Meanwhile, in a retaliatory measure, the Taiwanese Defence Forces deployed an air defence missile system to track the Chinese plane and also broadcasted radio warnings. One PLA Y-8 ASW entered #Taiwans southwest ADIZ in the afternoon of September 12, 2021. Please check our official website for more information: https://t.co/UahyYOWNqJ pic.twitter.com/dn3dtHBQqT Ministry of National Defense, R.O.C. (@MoNDefense) September 12, 2021 "Dispatch air patrol troops to respond, broadcast dismissal, and anti-aircraft missile tracking and monitoring. CAP aircraft tasked, radio warnings issued and air defence missile systems deployed to monitor the activity," an update of Taiwanese military read. Notably, China sees democratic Taiwan as a breakaway province, but the island of 24 million people claims sovereignty. The grey-zone air intrusions are a common tactic used by Beijing to coerce China into accepting its authority. Since mid-September, the interference has multiplied with most turboprop aircraft being sent to the southwest. Notably, as the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) marked the 100th year of its foundation on July 1, President Xi Jinping vowed complete unification of China. 19 jets enter Air Defence Identification Zone In a tweet, the Taiwanese defence ministry informed that 19 Chinese jets that entered the Taiwan air defence zone on 5 September included one Y-8 anti-submarine aircraft, four H-6, 10 J-16 and four Su Kai-30 aircraft. As soon as the Taiwanese Air Force detected Chinese aircraft activities, they dispatched their air patrol troops to respond to them. Furthermore, the ministry said that it has deployed an anti-missile system that is monitoring Chinese activity. China claims sovereign rights over the pacific island located roughly 100 miles from its coast and has been using carrots and sticks to make its democratically elected government surrender. Speaking at the celebrations marking the 100th anniversary of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) on 1 July, President Xi Jinping vowed for complete reunification of the motherland, fuelling fears of a possible annexation of the pacific island by Beijing. Taipei, on the other hand, has reiterated that it was an independent entity. The US, meanwhile, has reacted to Beijing's pressure campaign with testy words and hardline policies -- prompting its ally Japan, which has key trade relationships with both world powers, to eye the situation with caution. Image: AP Taliban spokesperson Mohammad Naim recently dismissed the reports suggesting the group harbouring al-Qaeda Number One Ayman al-Zawahiri. While speaking with Russian news agency Sputnik, Naim rejected the reports over al-Zawahiri and said, This is a lie. It has nothing to do with the truth. While the Taliban has established de-facto control over almost all of Afghanistan last month and the former government fell, the insurgents promised Russia, the US and other nations that it would not allow al-Qaeda and other terrorist groups to operate in the terrorists that fall under its control. Naims remark to the Russian news agency came after on September 12, Michael Morell, an intelligence analyst who served as former US President Barack Obama's CIA director between 2011 and 2013 told CBS that the American intelligence believed that al-Qaeda number one is living in Afghanistan. Morrell said in the televised interview, We think so, which means that the Taliban is harbouring Zawahiri today. The Taliban is harbouring al-Qaeda today. And I think that's a very important point. However, the retired CIA chief did not elaborate further. Zawahiri spotted in 9/11 anniversary video As per the report, over the weekend, Zawahiri was spotted in a video released on the 20th anniversary of the 9/11 terror attacks. However, the intelligence analysts have speculated that the said footage could have been filmed anytime between February 2020 and the signing of the US-Taliban agreement in Doha over US troops' withdrawal from Afghanistan. Morells remarks over Zawahiri living in Afghanistan, now controlled by the Taliban, came after it was rumoured in November 2020 that the 70-year-old al-Qaeda leader had died. However, as per the report, none of the intelligence agencies in the US as well as other nations have provided any solid proof that he was dead. Zawahiri served as al-Qaedas number two for several decades under Osama bin Laden. But, following the alleged liquidation in a US Navy SEAL raid in Pakistan, Zawahiri became the leader of the extremist group. In the clip, whose existence was tweeted by US-based SITE Intelligence Group that tracks jihadist websites, Zawahiri said that Jerusalem Will Never be Judaized. He also praised al-Qaeda attacks including one that targeted Russian troops in Syria in January. According to AP, the al-Qaeda leader did not mention US troop withdrawal or the Taliban takeover of the country. 17) Amid rumors of his death, al-Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri shown in new 60-minute video, this time offering some evidence that he is not dead--particularly, reference to events after December, when rumors of death surfaced. (A speech from March offered no such proof) pic.twitter.com/IXpz6wIZvh Rita Katz (@Rita_Katz) September 11, 2021 IMAGE: AP At least one was killed and 47 others injured after a tourist bus collided with a minibus carrying schoolchildren on Turkey's Mugla Denizli highway on Monday. According to a report by the Russian state-owned news agency, Sputnik, the tourist bus drove into the oncoming lane and smashed into a minibus resulting in the killing of one person. According to the Cumhuriyet newspaper report, the tourist bus collided at 7.30 am and was overturned several times following the collision. The report said that the driver died on the spot. Read the official tweet of Seydikemer Mayor, Yakup Otgoz: Mugla-Denizli karayolunda meydana gelen trafik kazasnda bir surucunun hayatn kaybettigini ve cok sayda ogrenci kardesimizin yaralandgn buyuk uzuntu ile ogrendim. pic.twitter.com/Ijra5sRmFQ Yakup Otgoz (@YakupOtgoz) September 13, 2021 The driver had a heart attack during the bus accident According to the preliminary investigations, the driver suffered a heart attack. Among the victims were 41 Ukrainian tourists, seven school children and the driver of the school minibus, reported Sputnik. All of them were taken to the hospital. Meanwhile, Seydikemer Mayor, Yakup Otgoz, took to Twitter and shared the photograph of the incident. "I learned with great sadness that a driver lost his life and many of our fellow students were injured in a traffic accident on the Mugla-Denizli highway," tweeted the Mayor. "I wish God's mercy on our citizen who lost his life in the accident. I convey my best wishes to our students who were injured in the accident," he added. The collision between a train & a minibus in northwest Turkey killed six In another horrific incident, earlier on September 4, Saturday, a collision between a freight train and a minibus in northwest Turkey killed six people and injured seven others. The crash at a railroad crossing in Ergene, Tekirdag province, involved a minibus carrying textile factory workers returning from a night shift and a train headed to nearby Cerkezkoy at 8 am, the Turkish news agency Demiroren reported. In another incident, in 2018, 25 people died when a passenger train derailed in nearby Corlu. That accident was blamed on heavy rains causing an embankment to collapse. Last year, Turkeys Chamber of Mechanical Engineers said railway accidents in the country were three times the global average, while labour unions warned that cost-cutting has led to safety issues. (With inputs from Associated Press) (Image: Yakup Otgoz @YakupOtgoz/ Twitter) A day after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky predicted the "possibility" of war with Russia, pro-Russian separatists gunned down two Ukrainian soldiers in heavy firing in the eastern Donetsk region. Besides, 10 other soldiers were severely wounded on Sunday as pro-separatists backed by Russia rained artillery fire, grenade launchers, and drone attacks on Ukrainian forces. "Two members of the Joint Forces were killed," Al Jazeera quoted the Ukrainian military as saying. However, there were no victims from the local region, the Ukrainian military added. The fight between the Ukrainian forces and the pro-Russian separatists broke out in the Donetsk and Lugansk region after Russia captured the Crimean Peninsula in 2014. According to information from the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv, at least 52 Ukrainian soldiers have been killed as a result of the clashes that erupted at the beginning of this year. A total of 50 troops were killed in clashes last year. Meanwhile, pro-Russian separatists claimed that as many as 30 of their soldiers have been killed since the beginning of this year. However, it is unclear as to how many have died in the previous year. Amidst the violent skirmishes, Ukraine and its Western allies have often accused Russia of backing the separatists with arms and forces. Moscow, however, continues to deny all such claims. Ukrainian President predicts "full-scale war" with Russia On 12 September, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky indirectly warned Russian of a "full-scale war." Speaking at the Yalta security forum in Kyiv, Zelensky asserted that looking at the military operation between both the countries, Ukraine has not ruled out the "possibility of an all-out war." However, the war would be the biggest mistake on the Russian front at this point in time, The Independent reported, quoting Zelenskyy. The Ukrainian President also mentioned that the escalation of violence will soon reach to "precipice" between both the neighbouring countries. This could lead to a possibility of not returning from danger, he added. Meanwhile, Russian President Vladimir Putin refused to recognise Ukraine as "a fully sovereign state," to which, Zelenskyy retorted by saying that national sovereignty worked reciprocally. Russia-Ukraine Conflict The Russia-Ukraine Conflict also referred to as an "undeclared war," began about seven years ago when Russia annexed the Crimean Peninsula in 2014. The conflict took a violent turn as the Ukrainian Forces engaged in a gunfight along the eastern Donbas region with the pro-Russian separatists' group. As per reports by the Associated Press, Russia sent about 100,000 military support to the eastern and southern borders to counter Ukrainian Forces. In August this year, Zelenskyy accused Russia of turning Crimea into a "military base." (With inputs from AP, Image: AP/Representative) An investigative documentary series has found evidence that suggests the British American Tobacco (BAT) company paid up to $500,000 to former Zimbabwean leader Robert Mugabe. As per the investigation conducted by BBC Panorama, the dealings took place in 2013, when Zimbabwe African National Union Patriotic Front (ZANU-PF) was in power in Harare. President Mugabe ruled Zimbabwe for 37-years until he was ousted in 2017 owing to allegations of fraud and violence. As per the report, BAT was paying the amount in small amounts in South Africa. The company was also allegedly using illegal surveillance to damage rivals. The evidence revealed that the tobacco company funded a network of some 200 informants sourced from Forensic Security Services (FSS) in the southern part of South Africa. Even though BAT claimed that it performed tasks under the standards of corporate conduct, its former employees hinted otherwise. Ex-employees told BBC that the multi-billion dollar cigarette firm broke the law to sabotage its rivals with the help of FSS. Additionally, leaked documents also suggested that the FSS was instrumental in shutting down as many as three cigarette companies in Zimbabwe. BAT also allegedly paid off a local cigarette manufacturer Savana Tobacco Factory in 2012. BAT and Robert Mugabe Following the arrest of three directors of a local security company on charges of illegal surveillance, then-President Mugabe delivered a speech condemning the actions and highlighted BAT's involvement. However, at the same time the Zimbabwean officials were in constant touch with BAT, the leaked documents suggested. Additionally, when BBC got in touch with the man who was sent to break the deal, he spoke under the condition of anonymity. He had to ensure "they" (Zimbabwean officials) would receive a "nice thick envelope of notes," the man told. BAT also extended help for Robert Mugabe's presidential elections with hefty donations "to get the problems sorted out," an internal memo mentioned. The arrested men were released following the sanction of payments. BAT denied giving any comments on the payment in the Zimbabwe matter. However, it did not deny the "help" offered to Robert Mugabe. Meanwhile, FSS allegedly worked for BAT from 2000 to 2016, ensuring secured access to police cameras and tapping phones of company rivals. Documents also revealed that the informants were personally recruited in London and placed in the rival manufacturing units to place tracking devices and bribe delivery vehicle carriers. (Image: AP/Shutterstock/Representative) On Sunday, United Nations chief Antonio Guterres called for deeper international cooperation to address the global threats, including a gruesome health crisis, poverty, inequality, and climate change inter alia. Making a virtual address on UN day for South-South Cooperation, the Secretary-General said that the cooperation was particularly vital for developing countries. Celebrated on September 12 every year, the South-South Cooperation involves countries of the south in the political, economic, social, cultural, environmental and technical domains. We need deeper international cooperation to address the global health crisis, reduce poverty and inequality, achieve the Sustainable Development Goals and avert climate catastrophe, the top UN official said in his video message. In such trying times, the solidarity that underpins South-South cooperation has once again proven vital for developing countries. Throughout the pandemic, countries of the Global South have shared their knowledge and resources to support response and recovery efforts, the secretary-general added. "The #CooperacionSurSur is more essential than ever "to recover from #COVID19 and face the #CambioClimatico," UN quoted as Guterres as saying. High-level conference on Monday Meanwhile, Guterres is all set to hold a high-level conference on September 13. The meeting comes at the heels of a review presented by the World Food Programme (WFP), which showed that Afghanistan stands at the brink of food and nutrition emergency threshold. As per the report, every 1 out of 2 children of 5 year's age is acutely malnourished. The results were based on data collected from 27 out of 37 provinces. "I will convene a high-level humanitarian conference for Afghanistan on September 13 to advocate for a swift scale-up in funding and full, unimpeded access to those in need," UN Chief Antonio Guterres wrote on Twitter. UN spokesperson Stephane Dujarric took to Twitter to confirm Guterres' travel to Geneva, Switzerland, to hold the high-level ministerial meeting to draft a solution in response to the crisis in Afghanistan. "... The secretary-general will travel to Geneva to convene on September 13 a high-level ministerial humanitarian meeting to address the growing needs in Afghanistan," Dujarric wrote on Twitter. The meeting will also shed light on the catastrophic deterioration of essential services in the war-ravaged country. Image: AP On Sunday, several states in Venezuela lost power supply due to an explosion at a substation in the state of Aragua. General Nestor Reverol, the Interior Minister and Commander of the National Guard stated that an attack on Venezuela's National Electric System was part of a bigger "sabotage operation" against the country. Reverol told VTV over the phone that they want to report a new attack on the national electrical grid as a part of this ongoing sabotage plan and the multiform war that they have been receiving. The minister was indicating a "terrorist attack" against Venezuela, according to VTV. An alleged attack exploded a transformer at the Argua substation The Cabinet Minister also said that the alleged attack exploded a transformer at the Aragua substation in the Jose Angel Lamas municipality. As a result, power disruptions have been reported in several states, including Zulia, Tachira, Nueva Esparta, Merida, and Falcon, according to Sputnik. Reverol further announced that the power supply in the capital region was restored, and officials were working to repair damage in other areas. He praised firemen for their quick response in putting out the fire at the Aragua substation. According to VTV, the minister stated that "the electrical war" was simply one of the many components of Venezuela's multiform conflict. Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro claimed in October last year that the country's Amuay Refinery had been the victim of a "terrorist strike" carried out by a "big and powerful" weapon. Maduro and other Venezuelan leaders have previously accused the US of "sabotage" of the country's infrastructure, resulting in power outages and famine, according to Sputnik. They blamed an outage at the Guri Dam hydroelectric facility in March 2019 on "American imperialism." Over a year later, right before the Amuay incident, Venezuela's senior prosecutor accused an American citizen of plotting damage on oil refineries and electrical utilities in the country. The US has been escalating sanctions against Venezuela for the past 15 years Since the 2019 election, the US has opposed Nicolas Maduro's presidency, recognising Juan Guaido, the then-president of Venezuela's National Assembly as the country's self-proclaimed interim president. For the past 15 years, the US has been escalating sanctions against Venezuela "in response to President Nicolas Maduro's rising authoritarianism," as a part of its push for a power shift in the country, according to Sputnik. Image: @ms_duckworth/Twitter, AP UK PM Boris Johnson is expected to meet US President Joe Biden during the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) at the end of this month. According to ANI, a senior Downing Street official told The Times that the two leaders are expected to meet at the White House, however, this has not been 100 per cent confirmed. It is worth noting that the 76th UNGA is beginning on 14 September and the high-level week will take place from 21 to 27 September. According to the media outlet, Johnson is expected to hold bilateral talks with Biden during his four-day trip to the US for the UNGA. The UK PM will try to mend relations with the United States. The Downing Street official reportedly said that there is a suspicion in Washington that Johnson doesnt want to be tough on Beijing. Therefore, the US President will use this opportunity to get the UK PM to support the US, which sees China as the great strategic challenge of the 21st century, the official added. Meanwhile, according to reports, the Taliban takeover and the Afghanistan crisis will be the key topic of the UNGA session this year. The session is likely to be held in a hybrid format. The US has appealed to over 150 countries to attend the assembly in person rather than sending a video address. PM Modi to meet Biden in US PM Narendra Modi is also expected to visit the US by the end of this month. While there is no official confirmation, PM Modi is likely to visit the US on 23-24 September. He will also attend the annual high-level UNGA session. PM Modi's last visit to the US was in 2019 ahead of the US Presidential Elections. He had attended the mammoth 'Howdy Modi' event alongside former President Donald Trump in Houston. If the plans materialise, then this will be PM Modi's first in-person meeting with US President Joe Biden. The two leaders met virtually in several multilateral meetings like the Quad and G7. (Image: AP) The United Kingdom has been grappling with the biggest economic decline suffered in 2020 due to the coronavirus pandemic. However, it's not the end of it, indicated Trades Union Congress (TUC) General Secretary Frances O'Grady. The UK will see future economic shocks owing to the prolonged COVID-19 crisis and adding to it will be the climate chaos, BBC reported quoting Frances. The British economy shrank by 9.9% the previous year due to a complete halt of tourism and hospitality, shutting down manufacturing units and corporate sectors, Associated Press reported. As per Office for National Statistics, the drop was the largest since 1709, when the Great Frost ruined all of the British agricultural harvests in the year. However, as the economy was beginning to draft a rebound strategy by removing lockdowns and opening international borders, the TUC General Secretary said that the danger from the future pandemic, climate change and technological disruption still looms. Talking about the job sectors, she will also point out the threats old jobs pose. Furthermore, she will discuss the need for "decent conditions," "direct employment" and "pay rise," that the ministers would require to ensure safety for the workers "after decades of real wage cuts." She will challenge UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson on his "levelling up" policy. What is the "Levelling Up" Policy? The UK government has launched the "Levelling Up" Policy alongside the Budget 2021 to ensure the racking up of the slugged economy. As per the prospectus, a sum of 4.8 billion will be invested in infrastructure, high street regeneration, local transport projects and cultural and heritage assets that improved everyday life across the UK. Besides, in a bid to tackle significant economic challenges at local levels, the Government has announced its intention in the queen's speech to introduce Levelling Up White Paper later in the year. The initiative is an opportunity to reset the relationship between Central and local governments to ensure progress towards a common goal of improving opportunities across the UK. Britain is the worst COVID-hit economies As per Britain's GDP figures, the country suffered the most impact in 2020. The UK service sector displayed a steep drop of 8.9%, with an output drop of more than 55%. On the other hand, manufacturing fell by 8.6% and construction by 12.5%. France's GDP sunk by 8.3%, followed by Germany and the US, which shrunk by 5% and 3.5%, respectively. With inputs from AP Image: AP/ @FrancesO'Grady_Facebook (representative) A military procession has returned the body of a Marine who was among U.S. troops killed in a suicide bombing at Afghanistan's Kabul airport to his Indiana hometown. The procession marked the beginning of memorial services for 22-year-old Marine Corps Cpl. Humberto Sanchez, of Logansport. Sanchez's body arrived Sunday at Grissom Air Reserve Base near Peru. The procession then traveled to Logansport, where it stopped briefly under a garrison flag in the city's downtown. People lined the route to pay their respects, and thousands of motorcycles followed the hearse carrying Sanchez's body. Sanchez's funeral and burial are set for Tuesday in Logansport. IMAGE: AP (Disclaimer: This story is auto-generated from a syndicated feed; only the image & headline may have been reworked by www.republicworld.com) An ex-CIA Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) director who had advised former US President George W. Bush on 11 September 2001 during the deadly twin tower attacks, and later Barack Obama on the intelligence that neutralised globally wanted terrorist Osama bin Laden, said on Sunday that the USA's troop pullout from Afghanistan has absolutely inspired jihadists all over the world. In an interview that aired on CBS, former acting director of CIA, Michael Morell, said that the Talibans victory in Kabul has inspired Islamic jihadists worldwide, as he stressed that the instinct at CIA was we let this happen. Our (CIA) job was to prevent this, and we failed. So there was a strong, strong feeling that we could never, ever let this happen again, he said. The Taliban is saying, we just didn't defeat the United States, we defeated NATO. We defeated the world's greatest military power, ever. So there's a celebration going on, Morell said. The former CIA chief asserted that post complete US troop withdrawal from the southcentral Asian country, jihadists will now flow back into Afghanistan and make the country more dangerous than other spots on the planet. (Taliban stand guard in Panjshir province northeastern of Afghanistan. Image: AP) 'A lot of them will join jihadist central': Ex-CIA Director Morell, who served as CIA director of the United States twice in 2011 and 2013, warned that the way the US exited Afghanistan has left jihadists inspired, and a lot of them are now going to come to Afghanistan, to be part of the celebration, and join the jihadist central. After 9/11, Morell stated, the Islamic Jihadists had all scattered from Afghanistan. But now, he warned, they are back into Afghanistan as a safe harbour. Morell stressed that the intelligence methods had degraded after the US military left Afghanistan giving the Taliban control. If Al-Qaida, he reminded, established a safe haven in Afghanistan, it can be hard to develop the kind of tactical intelligence that makes it possible to take military action against them. How are we going to make sure that Al Qaeda is not rebuilding its capabilities and is planning on attacking us again? And then we have to collect the kind of intelligence that gives precision to conduct airstrikes, right? Drones need to be told exactly where on the earth to go. What tells you that is precision intelligence, he said. (Paratroopers and others, prepare to board a C-17 cargo plane in Kabul. Image: AP) The twice-acting CIA director had earlier warned that the Taliban will invite Al-Qaida to rebuild in Afghanistan. When asked if the US was more at risk after complete military withdrawal from Afghanistan, Morell emphasised we are more at risk, without a doubt. He outlined that the lack of intelligence from Kabul would be a contributing factor to it. There is no doubt in my mind that al-Qaida will rebuild within Afghanistan, Michael Morell said at an online forum sponsored by the US Attorneys Office for the Eastern District of Virginia, that held a panel to commemorate the 20th anniversary of 9/11. I believe that the Taliban will give safe haven to al-Qaida, and I believe it will be al-Qaidas intention to again build its capability so that they can attack us here at home, he added. Separately, speaking to Brian Kilmeade about the 9/11 terror attacks, the former acting and deputy director of the CIA said that he is deeply concerned about the stability of Pakistan as it is a country with nuclear weapons. Furthermore, Morell warned in a remark made to Fox News radio that the Pakistani Taliban, who are currently in Afghanistan, is looking to overthrow the Pakistani government. Three weeks after the start of the new semester, teachers of the new "civic and social development" curriculum that replaced Liberal Studies in Hong Kong's schools say there is scant freedom for classroom debate. Teachers delivering the new Values Education (Moral, Civic and National Education) curriculum said they were confused over which teaching materials to use, but were less likely to confer with colleagues amid a growing culture of informing on teachers for having the wrong political opinions in schools. They said the teaching materials are structured so as to ensure there is little room for free discussion and debate among students and teachers in the classroom. In stark contrast to the Liberal Studies curriculum that was abolished this year, no contemporary news reports are used as examples to illustrate the points being made, they said. Instead, students were asked to memorize by rote sections of the draconian national security law that was imposed on Hong Kong by the ruling Chinese Communist Party (CCP) from , 2020, ushering in a citywide crackdown on political opposition and peaceful dissent. Instead of current affairs reporting, speeches by CCP officials were also offered as examples for the topics being taught. A teacher who gave a pseudonym Wong, who previously taught Liberal Studies for more than 10 years, said all of the topics in the new Values Education curriculum must be taught in the order specified by the education bureau, using approved textbooks. "The textbooks and syllabus materials define the three treaties [that led to the founding of a British colony in Hong Kong] as unequal treaties, and Hong Kong as an an 'issue,' and as an inseparable part of China," Wong said. "The biggest difference compared with Liberal Studies is that you could debate the good or bad on both sides of any topic, whereas now ... there's very little room for discussion because Hong Kong is defined as an inseparable part [of China]," Wong said. According to the Education Bureau website, Values Education includes topics titled National Identity, Law-Abidingness and Responsibility, as well as Integrity and Empathy. National security education A primary-school teacher who gave only the surname Lee said national security education, which insists that the national security law protects people rather than criminalizing critical speech and peaceful protest, has been deployed throughout the education system. "It's the kids who are suffering the most right now, especially the younger ones," Lee said. "They are really going through a dark time." "There is a huge problem with teachers leaving, because they don't feel it's safe to be a teacher any more," he said. "That's the very sad state of education in Hong Kong." The changes being imposed on schools and universities under the national security law are having a far-reaching impact on civil society. On Sept. 11, members of Hong Kong's oldest professional body, the Professional Teachers' Union, voted to formally disband after repeated denunciations by the CCP-backed media. "With the worsening of the situation, this is a decision we have to make, actually we're quite sad about this," president Fung Wai-wah told journalists on , in comments reported by government broadcaster RTHK. The move came after the government said it would stop working with the union, and after it was called a "malignant tumor" by state news agency Xinhua and CCP mouthpiece the People's Daily. According to Wong, teachers are now far less likely to discuss their work with colleagues, or share teaching materials. "If we share our teaching materials, and then they are deemed problematic, they could be used to label us," Wong said. "Now we've been cut off from our peer support, we will get more and more isolated and powerless." "Liberal Studies used to be a core subject that would help students qualify for university," Wong said. "But our role has been reduced to just getting the students through the course, with a pass or fail." Oaths of allegiance for teachers On , Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam hinted that teachers, along with anyone holding political or administrative public office, could be forced to swear oaths of allegiance to the authorities. But she didn't mention schools directly. "It is not possible to disclose in detail what kind of public officials and what kind of institutions [this will apply to," Lam said. The changes aren't confined to education for under-18s, either. The Hong Kong Baptist University announced in July that national security education would be included in its compulsory coursework for undergraduates from Sept. 1, 2021. Students will be required to pass the course in order to graduate from the university, and must attend a two-hour class with two hours of private study, followed by a test, it said. Other Hong Kong universities quickly announced they would follow suit. Translated and edited by Luisetta Mudie. Authorities in Hong Kong have expelled an elected pro-democracy member of the city's District Council for failing to turn up to pledge allegiance to the government and the ruling Chinese Communist Party (CCP), while calling into question the oaths of seven other opposition councilors. Peter Choi, who was elected in Hong Kong Island's Eastern district, failed to turn up alongside 24 colleagues for a mass oath-taking ceremony on . He was expalled from the council with immediate effect. Officials also asked seven other councilors -- Clarisse Yeung and Leung Pak-kin from Wanchai, Wei Siu-lik, So Yat-hang, Chan Wing-tai and Lai Tsz-yan from Eastern, and Michael Pang from Southern district -- for further information after finding their oaths "questionable." "As the oath administrator had doubts on the validity of the oaths taken by seven district council members, they were required to provide additional information for the oath administrator to decide the validity of their oaths," state news agency Xinhua reported. Yeung and Pang also face charges under a draconian national security law imposed on Hong Kong by the CCP from , 2020. They are among 47 former lawmakers and democracy activists charged with "subversion" for taking part in a democratic primary ahead of planned elections to the Legislative Council (LegCo). Leung said via social media that he had been given until 5.00 p.m. local time on to respond to the request. The remaining 17 councilor on Hong Kong Island will be allowed to remain in their seats, after they took their oaths, officials said. While the pro-democracy camp took control of all but one of the city's 18 councils in , more than 260 district councilors have resigned amid an ongoing crackdown on public dissent and mandatory oath-taking since the national security law took effect. Macau turnout plummets Some cited the oath-taking as a reason, amid fears councilors who "failed" their oath-taking would be required to pay back their salaries and expenses. District Councilors, LegCo members and around 170,000 civil servants in Hong Kong are expected to take oaths of allegiance to the government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region and the People's Republic of China. The national security law criminalizes any kind of public statement that could be regarded as inciting ill-feeling against the authorities, both in Hong Kong and Beijing. The person administering the oath determines whether an oath is valid or not, and there is no right of appeal, according to an oath-taking law that took effect from . A vetting body for would-be election candidates has already been set up under the national security law, under the supervision of national security police and former police chief Chris Tang, to screen out people who are only pretending to be patriots, officials have said. Meanwhile, turnout plummeted in general elections held in the former Portuguese city of Macau after officials disqualified 21 opposition candidates after saying they had proof that "they did not uphold Macau's Basic Law and were not loyal to Macau." Turnout fell by nearly 15 percentage points to just over 42 percent compared with 57 percent in the 2017 general election. Opposition in jail or overseas Disqualified opposition candidate and former lawmaker Antonio Ng told RFA: "Our disqualification was completely in line with the sort of logic we saw during the Cultural Revolution [1966-1976]." "[The reason behind it was] obviously a very well-kept state secret," Ng added satirically. "Legally, the logic is totally absurd." "People are just being classified with various labels, and the treatment they hand out is decided after you have been labeled." Macau-based journalist Choi Chi Chio said there was scant public interest in this general election. "Generally Macau people think this election was pretty meaningless," Choi told RFA. "The central government isn't even allowing people to act the part." "The same thing is happening in Hong Kong." He said there was little chance that anyone with pro-democracy views would get anyway near public office in either city. "Even if [opposition candidates] did get in, they would look nothing like the traditional kind of democrats ... maybe people who never talk about the Tiananmen massacre and never oppose China; there are some so-called centrists in Macau ... like that," Choi said. Most of Hong Kong's opposition lawmakers are either in jail or have fled overseas since the national security law crackdown began. Translated and edited by Luisetta Mudie. Chinese authorities have begun removing landmines along the border between southwestern Yunnan province and Myanmar, according to ethnic Chinese living on the Myanmar side. A committee that runs the Kokang Autonomous Region in northern Myanmar, an ethnic Chinese enclave just across the border from Yunnan, warned local residents that China would be carrying out demining operations, starting Sept. 1. The area being demined is on the Chinese side of the No. 121-122 boundary markers near Yunnan's Nansan township, and near the No. 112-113 boundary markers behind Bengkong village, Mengdui township, the notice said. "Please don't panic if you hear explosions," the committee's notice said. "In order to avoid accidents, please stay away from the above-mentioned areas." A Twitter post from ethnic Chinese residents of Kokang also carried the warning, saying the operations would continue through Oct. 31. The demining operations came after Chinese authorities closed the border as part of efforts to halt the spread of COVID-19. China has built a barbed-wire fence spanning around 1,000 km (620 miles) between Ruili, Lijiang, and the Gaoligong mountains in Yunnan, seen as a bid to stem the free flow of goods and people between the two countries. Repeated calls to the Zhenkang county government stability maintenance bureau and the township government in Nansan rang unanswered during office hours on . An employee who answered the phone at the Nansan No. 1 Guesthouse said that military personnel are currently engaged in demining operations in the area, however. "Yes," the employee said, when asked to confirm the reports, but had no further information to offer. Credit: RFA Landmines and international law YouTuber Lin Linqi said he was shocked that the Chinese government had planted landmines -- a weapon of war -- on its own soil, apparently targeting civilians. "Basically, landmines can't distinguish between soldiers and civilians, and that principle of distinction is a basic requirement of international humanitarian law," Lin said. "What's more, the damage done by landmines is particularly severe." The production, development, use, storage and sale of anti-personnel landmines were banned under a 1999 international convention on the comprehensive ban on anti-personnel mines, known as the Treaty of Ottawa. China hasn't signed the Treaty, but voted in 2005 in favor of a United Nations General Assembly resolution on implementing it. A current affairs commentator who gave only the surname Zeng said the use of landmines is in violation of international law. "It is an immoral act to use landmines against your own citizens on your own soil, in peacetime," Zeng said. "This is probably because of the very large numbers of people moving back and forth informally across the border between Myanmar and China." "It was hard for them to control that border." According to the U.N., landmines kill 15,000 to 20,000 people every year, most of whom are children, women and the elderly, with even more people severely injured every year. A person familiar with the situation who gave only the surname Zhang said the authorities claim that the border fence was to help prevent the spread of COVID-19, but that they are likely more concerned with religious contacts across the border. Photos posted to the social media platform Weibo in showed the fence snaking across a mountainous region near Ruili, with lights along it during the hours of darkness. The Gaoligong mountain range straddles the 2,000-km (1,240-mile) border between China and Myanmar, rising to more than 5,000 meters (yards) above sea level. Ethnic minority groups whose traditional homelands are on both sides of the border would use lesser-known paths through the mountainous border region to cross into Myanmar, sometimes to smuggle goods, but also to learn about Christianity or Buddhism, according to an interview with Zhang in July. The fence had blocked off the routes used for underground religious contact with Chinese nationals, he said, adding that the CCP is also worried that a roaring arms trade linked to ongoing ethnic armed conflict in Myanmar means that weapons are finding their way across the border, and into the hands of Chinese citizens. Twenty-five counties in Yunnan province share a border with Myanmar, Laos, and Vietnam, along a a 4,060-km (2,500-mile) stretch of China's national border in the region. The China-Myanmar border measures nearly 2,000 km (1,240-mile) with the Sino-Vietnamese border running to more than 1,000 km (620 miles). Translated and edited by Luisetta Mudie. Aung Sang Suu Kyis party was one of four Myanmar groups included in a CCP-hosted meeting of Asian parties. Myanmar students hold Myanmar and Chinese flags as they welcome Chinese President Xi Jinping outside of the airport in Naypyitaw, Myanmar, January 17, 2020. Chinas inclusion of Myanmars former ruling party in a regional summit is an indication that Beijing believes that the party ousted in a Feb. 1 military coup will continue to be a force in politics, analysts and party members told RFA. Aung Sang Suu Kyis democratically elected National League for Democracy government was deposed in a coup detat, but the NLD was one of four Myanmar political parties invited to an inter-party event on economic development hosted by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). China in June referred to coup leader Sr. Gen. Min Aung Hlaing as the leader of Myanmar, a move that The Diplomat magazine said was a step toward de facto recognition of the junta. Beijing is among countries that have not publicly condemned the military takeover. Under its Belt and Road Initiative of global infrastructure spending and lending, China has invested more than $21 billion in Myanmar, and has long been concerned about the stability of its southern neighbor. Beijing has had contacts with the NLD since the coup. The NLD sent a congratulatory letter when the CCP marked its 100th anniversary on July 1, and received a letter of thanks from Beijing on July 21. In a message to junta leaders last month, Chinese officials said they wanted to see the NLD continue to exist as a political party, in response to the military regimes recently revealed plan to dissolve the NLD, The Irrawaddy online newspaper reported. Political analysts told RFAs Myanmar Service that China invited the NLD to the meeting because Beijing is aware that the ousted political party still has strong support among Myanmars population of 54 million. This just shows that China recognizes the NLDs continued presence in Myanmar politics. It also shows that Beijing did not accept the militarys attempt to dissolve the NLD, said Hla Kyaw Zaw, a Myanmar political analyst based in Chinas Yunnan province across the border from Myanmar. I think the Chinese idea is to have a comprehensive dialogue to resolve the issues peacefully between the military council, the NLD and all the major organizations in the country. China is urging them to find a negotiated solution, Hla Kyaw Zaw said. While China has sided with previous military regimes in Myanmar, it has not forgotten the lessons of the past, Ye Tun, a Myanmar lawmaker turned political analyst told RFA. China seems to think the NLD will win the elections in August 2023. In reality, we can see that our countrys politics without the NLD will be very difficult to achieve stability. A U.S.-based analyst of Chinese foreign policy, however, saw only modest significance in Beijings gesture to the NLD. I dont think China's meeting with the four political parties, including NLD, is hedging the bet, Yun Sun, Director of the Washington-based Stimson Centers China Program told RFA. This is party-to-party diplomacy, rather than state-to-state relations. The NLD is neither disbanded nor declared illegal, she said. Chinas ruling party faces no constraints to engage the NLD, Sun added. But including the NLD in the meeting does show that China is adjusting to the situation on the ground in Myanmar, a local NLD leader in Myanmars largest city Yangon told RFA. China must have thought during the first couple of months that the military would gain complete control over the country. But now, seven months after the coup, we have been forced to take up arms and reclaim our territory, said lawmaker Bo Bo Oo, who represented the NLD at the online meeting and is responsible for the partys communications with China The junta also has no control over the economy. Diplomatic relations with other nations have also plummeted. Under these circumstances, the future of the military council is uncertain, he said. Beijing has changed its perception due to this uncertainty. In my view, Beijing's analysis of the current situation is closer to the truth than ever before," said Bo Bo Oo. Myanmar remains strategically important to China, according to Zin Ma Aung, foreign minister for the shadow National Unity Government (NUG), made up of ousted NLD lawmakers. Myanmar is a close neighboring country to China, and the NLD is a major political party. As China adheres to the principles of the Chinese Communist Party, it is more likely that it will continue to engage in inter-party relations, Zin Ma Aung told RFA. The other three Myanmar political parties that joined the regional meeting were the military-aligned Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP), the Arakan National Party (ANP), and the Lisu National Development Party. A USDP spokesperson attributed the CCPs inclusion of the NLD and the other parties to Beijings broad political vision. As the Chinese Communist Party turns 100 years old, its political ideology has broadened, said Thant Zaw Lwin, deputy head of the USDP Youth Affairs Committee. Reported by RFAs Myanmar Service. Translated by Khin Maung Nyane. Written in English by Eugene Whong. DUSHANBE -- Tajik authorities say they have accepted around 100 Afghan nationals from a group of more than 200 people, including many women and children, who crossed the border overnight to flee Afghanistan because of the Taliban's takeover of the country. Multiple sources in the local government in Tajikistan's southeastern district of Hamdoni told RFE/RL on September 13 that the Afghan nationals crossed the Panj River that divides the two nations. According to the sources, some 100 Afghans were transferred to a Dushanbe suburb, while the rest were sent back to Afghanistan for unknown reasons. The information has not been officially confirmed. Central Asian states bordering Afghanistan have been concerned about security threats emanating from the war-torn country and the potential for tens of thousands of refugees to pour over the border. Last week, the Russia-led Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) held military exercises in another Central Asian nation -- Kyrgyzstan -- to prepare for any possible trouble. CSTO members include Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, and Tajikistan. In August, Tajikistan held military maneuvers with Russia and Uzbekistan, while Uzbekistan held separate drills with Russia along the Uzbek-Afghan border. The CSTO has scheduled three more sets of military maneuvers close to the Tajik-Afghan border in October, with a fourth scheduled for November. The Taliban has sought to reassure neighboring countries and Russia that it poses no threat since gaining control last month over almost all of Afghanistans territory, including Kabul, the capital. Russia, which has military bases in Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan, has vowed to defend Moscow's allies in Central Asia against any security threat from Afghanistan. After a dramatic August that saw the Taliban take power in Afghanistan, the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) is set to meet on September 16 in Tajikistan for a summit that will grapple with the regions increasingly uncertain security situation. The Eurasian security bloc -- which consists of China, India, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Pakistan, Russian, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan -- will have its attention centered on the regional fallout from the U.S.-led international military withdrawal from Afghanistan and the Talibans return to power when it convenes in Dushanbe. How exactly officials from those disparate countries will reach a common consensus, however, is unknown, with several of the SCO members holding differing views on how to deal with a Taliban-governed Afghanistan. Since it was founded 20 years ago, the bloc has billed itself as a multilateral organization and centered its activities around what it calls the three evils of separatism, extremism, and terrorism -- areas where its largely authoritarian members have tended to see eye-to-eye. But the SCO has also been a microcosm for the shifting geopolitics of Eurasia and helmed by Beijing and Moscow, who have used the organization to find new ways to both cooperate in the region and slow the others regional ambitions. With the situation in Afghanistan dominating the concerns of the SCOs members, how it responds will be a major litmus test for Chinas influence in Eurasia and the blocs future relevance. The Summit's Focus Attention will be fully on Afghanistan. Beijing has established working ties with the Taliban, recognizing its hold on power and agreeing to provide aid and vaccines to Afghanistan. Meanwhile the militant group has offered goodwill to China with support for its Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) and vowing that it wont let radical Uyghur groups -- which China views as an internal threat -- operate in the country. The withdrawal of U.S. and other foreign troops from the region has also opened the door to expanded Chinese influence, but Beijing is cautious about becoming overextended by being sucked into the security vacuum in neighboring Afghanistan. China is instead looking for a common solution from Central and South Asia and hoping that the SCO can be a forum where China can flex its diplomatic muscles to make that happen. That wont be easy, though. In addition to China, Russia has also shown a willingness to engage with the Taliban, but several key differences among SCO members that share a border with Afghanistan will need to be reconciled. Tajikistan remains hostile to the Taliban and is concerned about what the group could mean for its own internal security, while Uzbekistan has walked a tightrope with the militants, reaching out to the group while trying to keep its distance from the chaos across the border. Pakistan has a complicated dynamic with the Taliban, but Islamabad remains its chief patron. India, meanwhile, views the militants as a Pakistani proxy and has longstanding strategic worries over the risks that an entrenched Taliban government could bring for Delhi. Trying to find common ground among those conflicting views is a major challenge and how much compromise Beijing is able to push for at the SCO summit will be a sign of how willing its members are to follow Chinas lead. Beyond the attention being put on Afghanistan, full membership in the group for Iran is said to be on the table at the upcoming summit, with recently elected Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi slated to attend the meeting in Dushanbe. The bloc will also hold joint-military exercises later this month in Russia, as part of the SCOs ongoing counterterrorism drills and efforts to create more interoperability between its countries militaries. What Could The Summit Achieve? What might be accomplished at the SCO meeting in the Tajik capital is a central question for the organization. The SCO was founded in 2001 as an upgrade to the smaller Shanghai Five. It has since tried to serve as a platform to settle border disputes following the collapse of the Soviet Union and later adopted a broader agenda centered on security, economic development, and humanitarian aid. But the group has also faced criticism for being an empty talk shop with few concrete achievements to its name. Problems emanating from Afghanistan have long been a focus of the SCO, but beyond some lower-level meetings and bringing on the country as an observer to the organization, few practical steps have been taken. The SCOs limits have been partly intentional. While the bloc is mainly a Chinese initiative, Russia has long seen Central Asia as part of its sphere of influence and Beijing has moved to respect Moscows sensitivities about its growing sway in the region, seeing the SCO as an experiment in how two major powers can cooperate across a region. But despite their growing partnership in recent years, Moscow is still anxious about China's ambitions and is concerned about being relegated as the junior partner as the two countries deepen their ties. This has led to a two-track approach in which Moscow has moved to selectively support and impede China in Central Asia and in the SCO. The expansion of the SCO to include India and Pakistan in 2017 was seen by many observers as a move by Russia to water down the bloc and limit Chinas influence by bringing in the two rivals and their dysfunctional history. When it comes to regional security, Beijing and Moscow tend to see eye-to-eye, but Russia is cautious about relinquishing its long-standing influence in the region. As the situation in Afghanistan has intensified, Russia has stepped up its military cooperation and held several exercises with Central Asian states through the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO), a Moscow-led military bloc that does not include China. What Does The SCO Show About Chinas Regional Ambitions? Beijings power in Eurasia has grown dramatically in the past decade and continues to rise, but the big question is whether the SCO has outgrown its usefulness. As the organization has found itself bogged down in the conflicting agendas of its members, China instead moved to expand its influence bilaterally and through massive projects like the BRI, which play to Beijings biggest strength: its economic might. Chinese policymakers still value taking a multilateral approach to big issues and have no ambition of taking up the U.S. mantle as the main country taking the lead on Afghanistan -- so Beijing will be looking to at least provide the optics of a collective response. Hints of Beijings strategy for the summit in Dushanbe were seen during Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yis July tour of Central Asia that included a visit to Turkmenistan, a foreign minister-level SCO summit in Tajikistan, and a regional conference in Uzbekistan. Wang met with high-ranking officials at each stop and Afghanistan was a central topic during meetings. But while local representatives were quick to offer their support to Chinese leadership on border security and working together on Afghanistan, no clear or specific moves were announced. The head of the UN atomic watchdog has called on Iran to provide explanations for the presence of uranium particles at several undeclared sites and to adhere to its legal obligations with regard to its nuclear program. The lack of progress in clarifying the International Atomic Energy Agencys questions concerning the correctness and completeness of Irans safeguards declarations seriously affects the ability of the agency to provide assurance of the peaceful nature of the countrys nuclear program, IAEA Secretary-General Rafael Grossi told the IAEA board of governors in Vienna on September 13, according to a transcript posted on the agencys website. "I remain deeply concerned that nuclear material has been present at undeclared locations in Iran and that the current locations of this nuclear material are not known to the agency. And I am increasingly concerned that, even after some two years, the safeguards issues outlined above in relation to the four locations in Iran not declared to the agency, remain unresolved," he said. Western powers must decide whether to push for a resolution criticizing Iran and raising pressure on it for stonewalling the IAEA at the meeting of the agency's 35-country board of governors. A resolution could jeopardize the resumption of talks to revive the 2015 nuclear deal between Tehran and world powers, as Tehran bristles at such moves. Under the Iran nuclear agreement, Tehran agreed to restrictions on its nuclear activities in exchange for the lifting of sanctions. But former President Donald Trump pulled the United States out of the deal in 2018, reintroducing painful economic sanctions. Iran responded as of 2019 by breaching many of the deal's core restrictions, like enriching uranium to a higher purity, closer to that suitable for use in nuclear weapons. Grossi reiterated that the IAEAs verification and monitoring activities have been "seriously undermined" since February, after Iran refused to let inspectors access IAEA monitoring equipment. The agencys confidence that it could maintain continuity of knowledge had been declining over time and had recently significantly further declined, he said, adding: This confidence could continue to decline unless the situation were immediately rectified by Iran. During Grossi's first visit to Iran since hard-line President Ebrahim Raisi took office in August, Iranian officials agreed on September 12 to allow international inspectors to service surveillance cameras at its sensitive nuclear sites and to continue filming there. Upon arriving back in the Austrian capital, the IAEA chief said the agreement was "a measure to allow time for diplomacy" while stressing it was not "a permanent solution." Talks between Iran and world powers over limiting Iran's nuclear program in exchange for sanctions relief have been idle since June. German Chancellor Angela Merkel has said that it is one of Germany's goals to see the six Western Balkan states join the European Union, but that the six countries have a "long way" to go before entering the bloc. Merkel made the comments in Belgrade in a joint news conference with Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic, whom she met with on September 13 at the start of her farewell trip to the region as her mandate as head of Germany's government comes to an end. Her discussions in Serbia focused on political and economic cooperation and the EU integration process. Merkel will next head to neighboring Albania, where a meeting is planned with the prime ministers of Serbia and the five other Western Balkan states that are not members of the EU -- Albania, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Kosovo, Montenegro, and North Macedonia. German government spokeswoman Martina Fietz has said that in addition to the bilateral talks, regional cooperation will be an important topic of the two-day trip, including plans to create a common regional market. After 16 years at the height of European politics, Merkel will retire at the end of her fourth term as chancellor following German elections on September 26. Her Balkan visit also comes ahead of the next EU-Balkans summit in October. During a meeting with Vucic last week, the German ambassador to Belgrade, Thomas Schieb, said that Merkel's Balkan visit is sending a strong signal that Serbia and the region remain high on Berlins agenda. Vucic called Merkel's trip a great honor for Serbia, and a chance to thank her for everything she had done for Serbia and the region during her long and successful term in office. The launch of the so-called Berlin Process by Merkel in 2014 to promote regional cooperation in the Western Balkans and European integration created a different atmosphere and new opportunities for cooperation in the Western Balkans, making the region more peaceful and stable, the Serbian president said. The Western Balkan countries are at different stages of integrating with the EU. Montenegro and Serbia are the most advanced, having opened accession negotiations and chapters. Albania and North Macedonia are awaiting the official opening of accession talks, while Bosnia and Kosovo are potential candidate countries. Following a virtual conference with the leaders of the Western Balkan countries on July 5, Merkel had said she saw the six Western Balkan states as future EU member states for "geostrategic reasons." "It is in the European Union's own interests to advance the process forward here," Merkel told reporters. She did not name Russia and China but hinted at their influence in the region. With reporting by dpa, Euractiv, and Balkan Insight The settlement of Vorontsovo is one of the most remote places in Russia, perched above the Arctic Circle on the massive inlet where the Yenisei River pours into the Kara Sea. The only way in is by boat -- in the short summer weeks -- or by helicopter, which flies regularly twice a month. Even in fair weather, it takes more than 24 hours to reach Vorontsovo from the regional capital, Krasnoyarsk, some 1,800 kilometers to the south. The closest thing the settlement has to a doctor is 25-year-old paramedic Alyona Kirilovskaya. "I work alone," she told RFE/RL in a telephone interview. "There used to be a hospital here, but it has been turned into a first-aid/maternity station (FAP), for whatever reason. There are about 250 to 270 people here, if you count those who live out on the tundra. Everything is up to me." After graduating from a medical college in 2018 in Barnaul, the capital of the Altai region, Kirilovskaya worked for a couple years "on the mainland" -- as Russians in barely accessible areas call the rest of the country -- before requesting a post in the Far North for the sake of "adventure." "They say the 'north beckons' with its nature and its harsh winters," she said. "I don't have any children and I'm not married. While I have the chance, I'd like to see how people live in other places. Most people never make it to the tundra." On August 3, river cargo vessel OT-2069 pushed its contingent of barges into Vorontsovo and weighed anchor. The crew of 15 had a serious medical problem and no doctor on board. "The first one to fall sick was the navigator from the Ob-Irtysh Shipping Line," said OT-2069 crewmember Natalya Lopatina. "When we invited Alyona aboard, his oxygen saturation level was 75 percent, and he was unable to get out of bed." The navigator had flown in from afar and boarded OT-2069 at Sabetta, a port city on the east coast of the Yamal Peninsula, on July 23. On July 27, the vessel set course for Dudinka on the Yenisei, about 50 kilometers west of Norilsk, a sizable city in the Far North. "He already began coughing and he stopped coming to meals," Lopatina recalled. "He didn't leave his cabin. He got steadily worse and on August 3 in Vorontsovo the captain himself went to the FAP and explained everything to Alyona Aleksandrovna [Kirilovskaya]." Kirilovskaya traveled to the ship and assessed the situation. The navigator was immediately hospitalized at the FAP, and Kirilovskaya arranged an emergency helicopter evacuation to Norilsk. She began treating several other crew members, whom she diagnosed with mild cases of COVID-19. "He was in very serious condition," Kirilovskaya recalled. "I immediately called for a medical helicopter. But I was really relying just on myself. No one could help me there, and you don't want to just watch someone die in front of you." "Within a few days, everyone was sick," she said. "I would go there after my working shift, and all day long I was in communication with them. Sometimes, those who were able would come to me. I ended up sending two others to the hospital." One of those who fell ill was Lopatina, a 30-year veteran of Russia's river fleet. "[Kirilovskaya] took all the necessary measures," Lopatina said. "She didn't scorn us. She was such a professional. She told us immediately that it was most likely COVID-19 and prescribed antibiotics. I helped the two sickest ones and, as a result, I fell ill myself." Before the August outbreak, the OT-2069 crew did not take the coronavirus seriously, and none of them was vaccinated. The entire crew tested negative on July 19. "I got a lot worse very quickly," Lopatina said. "My saturation fell and I couldn't breathe. Alyona said I had to be evacuated or I would die. On August 9, one young sailor and I were evacuated. He had double pneumonia. I made it to the helicopter with difficulty, but without oxygen." Lopatina was released from the hospital in Norilsk on August 26. The sailor recovered and is now back home in Izhevsk. Two other OT-2069 crew members were later hospitalized and have since recovered. The navigator remains hospitalized but is expected to recover. "At first, I was skeptical about COVID," Lopatina conceded. "But after the hell I went through, I'm ready to do anything. I wouldn't wish what happened to me with COVID on my worst enemy. I wasn't allowed to speak because as soon as I'd utter one word, my oxygen saturation would plummet. The first three days, you just lie on your stomach and pray. You just weep over what is happening to you. And you pray for the strength to bear it. When they told me my condition had stabilizedI wept from joy. "As soon as they gave me my telephone when I was in recovery, I wrote to [Kirilovskaya] immediately: 'You are my guardian angel.' I'll pray for her the rest of my life." Although almost everyone in Vorontsovo had been vaccinated and there had been no serious COVID-19 cases registered there, locals were frightened by the ship and the sick sailors who passed through the settlement on the way to the FAP. "That's the way it is with the pandemic in Russia," Kirilovskaya said. "Everyone is afraid. I had to tell them that we were being very careful and that the FAP was sanitized after every visit. I can understand that they were afraid for their health, and they were afraid that the medic who comes into their homes might get sick as well." At first, I was skeptical about COVID. But after the hell I went through, I'm ready to do anything. I wouldn't wish what happened to me with COVID on my worst enemy." When the ship was finally able to get under way again, the captain sent a message of gratitude to the Krasnoyarsk regional Health Ministry. It said: "On behalf of the entire crew of vessel OT-2069 and myself personally, I would like to express enormous gratitude to Alyona Kirilovskaya, a medic at the FAP in the settlement of Vorontsovo at the mouth of the Yenisei River, for her invaluable assistance, labor, professionalism, and the conscientious fulfillment of her professional duties. "For more than 10 days, Alyona Aleksandrovna cared for the entire crew of this vessel and was instrumental in their treatment, quickly diagnosing them and taking all necessary measures to save the lives of two people. Thank you for your work. We wish you good health and all successes in your professional and personal lives." For her part, Kirilovskaya takes such praise in stride. "They think I'm an angel, but, of course, I'm not," she said. "How could I abandon them? It is my job, and I don't see anything special about this case. I just did my job and my duty." Written by RFE/RL senior correspondent Robert Coalson based on reporting from Russia by correspondent Dina Vishnevetskaya of the Siberia.Realities desk of RFE/RL's Russian Service. IRKUTSK, Russia -- Inmates at a penitentiary in Siberia have started a mass hunger strike to protest the deaths of two prisoners and what they say are widespread rights abuses, including torture, at the facility. Two sources close to the local penitentiary system in the Irkutsk region told RFE/RL on September 13 that inmates at the Correctional Colony No. 2 (IK-2) went on the hunger strike, claiming that they face regular beatings at the hands of prison guards as part of a system of regular abuse. A report from the Federal Penitentiary Service (FSIN) to the prosecutor who supervises penitentiaries, a copy of which RFE/RL has obtained, confirmed the deaths of inmates on September 7 and September 9, while at least another 10 cases of the use of force against inmates had been registered in the prison last week. The leader of Gulagu.net human rights group, Vladimir Osechkin, told RFE/RL that he and his colleagues had obtained internal documentation from IK-2 showing inmates are regularly stripped naked, beaten, handcuffed, and dragged across the floor. "The prisoners are holding a mass protest against the constant bullying and torture [at the penitentiary]," Osechkin said. Some relatives of the inmates also confirmed that the prisoners are on hunger strike because of the regular beatings and the death of the two men. FSIN officials in the Irkutsk region did not respond to RFE/RL phone calls and written requests for comment on the situation. Inmates in Russian prisons often launch mass hunger strikes or maim themselves to protest brutality perpetrated by guards or abuses of their rights. A Russian opposition activist has sought refuge in the United States out of fear for his family's safety after he took part in unsanctioned rallies in January to support jailed opposition leader Aleksei Navalny. Anton Deinega, who is from Russia's Black Sea port city of Novorossiisk, told RFE/RL on September 13 that he and his family arrived in the United States in early September. He said he has asked for political asylum and the U.S. authorities are checking if he faced threats or persecution in Russia. Deinega said he was arrested at a pro-Navalny rally in January and severely beaten by police. After he documented the injuries he inflicted, Deinega claimed, a police unit dealing with extremism cases summoned him for questioning and warned him of possible consequences of extremist activities. Deinega also alleged that unknown persons wrote "Go Away, Scumbags!" on the gate to his home. According to Deinega, police did not launch a probe into the vandalism although he officially filed a complaint. "In July, social workers started visiting our kindergarten, asking the teacher of our older daughter about her parents and the conditions in which she lives and so on. After that we stopped sending our children to kindergarten. On August 19, the FSB [Federal Security Service] summoned me and warned that they have enough material to launch a probe against me on any charge they want. I decided not to risk [my life] and in early September I emigrated," Deinega said. In recent months, several opposition activists, rights defenders, and independent journalists have left Russia, claiming pressure or threats ahead of the country's State Duma and local elections on September 17-19. ASHGABAT -- Former top Turkmen official Gurbanmukhammed Kasymov has reportedly died of COVID-19 as authorities continue to deny the presence of the coronavirus within the country's borders. Several separate sources close to the government told RFE/RL on condition of anonymity that Kasymov, once one of the most influential politicians in Turkmenistan, died on September 2 in his native village on the outskirts of Ashgabat. RFE/RL's Coronavirus Coverage Features and analysis, videos, and infographics explore how the COVID-19 pandemic is affecting the countries in our region. Kasymov, 67, used to serve as a deputy prime minister, foreign minister, interior minister, and justice minister after the tightly controlled Central Asian nation gained independence following the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991. After leaving the government in 2001, Kasymov served as Turkmenistan's ambassador to China until 2008 and then as the country's ambassador to neighboring Kazakhstan for one year. There was no official announcement about Kasymov's death. Last week, sources told RFE/RL that Turkmenistan's current foreign minister, Rashid Meredov, had been hospitalized for COVID-19. Turkmenistan has not officially reported a single coronavirus infection since the pandemic started in March last year. The government remains steadfast in its zero-infections claim despite signs of outbreaks across the country, such as increasingly overcrowded hospitals and changes to the academic calendar that have extended the summer holiday. RFE/RL correspondents have reported from across the country that the number of people believed to have died from COVID-19 has increased dramatically and many have to bury their loved ones in plastic bags, as they cannot afford burial expenditures. The URL has been copied to your clipboard The code has been copied to your clipboard. As a crackdown on independent voices continues and the Kremlin-controlled party's popularity wanes, Russians will vote this week in elections to the State Duma, the lower parliament house, and in local balloting across the country. RFE/RL's Moscow correspondent Matthew Luxmoore joins host Steve Gutterman to discuss. Yes! I got it as soon as possible Yes, but only so I could take my mask off Not yet, but I plan to No. I have no plan to get vaccinated Vote View Results Japan's Defense Minister Nobuo Kishi said the deal elevates their defense partnership "to a new level" and that Japan and Vietnam plan to deepen defense ties through multinational joint exercises and other means. Details about the transfer of specific equipment, including naval vessels, will be worked out in subsequent talks, the ministry said. Kishi's meeting with his Vietnamese counterpart, Phan Van Giang, in Hanoi coincided with a two-day visit to the Vietnamese capital by Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi. He wrapped up his visit by saying China plans to donate 3 million doses of its coronavirus vaccine to Vietnam. The agreement comes two weeks after US Vice President Kamala Harris travelled to Vietnam to strengthen ties with the Southeast Asian nation. During the tour, Harris urged countries to stand up against "bullying" by China in the South China Sea Japan's Defense Ministry said in a statement that Kishi and Giang agreed on the importance of maintaining freedom of navigation and overflight in the Indo-Pacific region as well as cooperation in various defense areas including cybersecurity. Tokyo regularly protests the Chinese coast guard's presence near the Japanese-controlled Senkaku islands, which China also claims and calls Diaoyu. Japanese officials say Chinese vessels routinely violate Japanese territorial waters around the islands, sometimes threatening fishing boats. During the talks, Kishi expressed Japan's strong opposition to "any unilateral attempts to change the status quo by coercion or any activities that escalate tensions," referring to China's increasingly assertive activity in the East and South China Sea but without identifying any country by name. Vietnam is the 11th nation with which Japan has signed a defense equipment and technology transfer deal. Tokyo is looking to expand military cooperation beyond its longtime ally, the United States, and has signed similar agreements with Britain, Australia, the Philippines and Indonesia. Danvers, MA (01923) Today Partly cloudy this evening followed by increasing clouds with showers developing after midnight. Low around 65F. Winds light and variable. Chance of rain 40%.. Tonight Partly cloudy this evening followed by increasing clouds with showers developing after midnight. Low around 65F. Winds light and variable. Chance of rain 40%. Danvers, MA (01923) Today Partly cloudy skies this evening. Increasing clouds with periods of showers late. Low around 65F. Winds light and variable. Chance of rain 50%.. Tonight Partly cloudy skies this evening. Increasing clouds with periods of showers late. Low around 65F. Winds light and variable. Chance of rain 50%. The Faith Desk, founded in August 2019, in the framework of Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality, is being coordinated by Mahir Polat, Deputy Secretary-General of Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality. The department, working in order to protect and cherish the wealth in the culture of faith in Istanbul, is also trying to produce solutions to the basic needs of different faith groups. Mahir Polat, Deputy Secretary-General of Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality "The Faith Desk is a democratic establishment" Deputy Secretary-General of Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality, Mahir Polat expressing that the fact that the multicultural structure of Istanbul has been able to reach today, is one of the greatest values of the city, stated, "We think the case of people from different beliefs being able to benefit from public services in Istanbul, is suitable for Istanbul's essence. The Faith Desk, in this sense, is a democratic establishment." Polat added that they were trying to avoid any theological discussions and be at an equal stance towards all the groups during their work. One of the first accomplishments of the Faith Desk was to employ religious deputies and mortuary operators of different belief groups, to improve the funeral services in line with the principle of inclusivity. Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality, aiming to see the people of different beliefs to their last journeys along with their own traditions, has included religious deputies since 2020 in order to help the citizens of different religions and belief groups. Within the scope of the operation, fifty religious deputies of different religions and faith have started working as linked to the Department of Cemeteries. In addition, a hearse on which modularly a Star of David (Magen David) or a Cross can be put, and affordable coffins on which a Star of David (Magen David) or a Cross can be put have been presented from Zincirlikuyu Department of Cemeteries. Chairman of the Department of Cemeteries, Ayhan Koc, stated that the start of a missing service for many years in Istanbul, though a bit late, was welcomed gladly by all the belief groups. Koc saying "We have the responsibility to bury the deceased person, regardless of their faith," added "We had to serve all the people living in the Turkish Republic, residing in Istanbul, paying their taxes to IBB, from every religion. So, we organized an environment to meet the demands coming from all the faith groups." Avraam Alper D.Aziz: "I'm serving as a kind of communication bridge" Within the scope of the operation, Avraam Alper D.Aziz from the Turkish Jewish Community has been working in the Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality's Department of Cemeteries, since December 2019. D.Aziz stating that the issue of funeral services was being handled as the first step of the project, expressed that the real aim is to create a common ground where the Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality can be helpful for the needs and expectations of other religions. Avraam D.Aziz, concerning the steps that had been taken especially on funeral services at the beginning of the project, said: "Starting from the first days, we made meetings where we articulated our needs and problems. During these meetings, we expressed that we were experiencing a problem of hearses, especially when there was more than one funeral in one day in our community. They said that they could then allocate a vehicle to us. When we said that the hearses used in Muslim funerals were green and we didn't use a vehicle of that color, they arranged a black hearse on which the Star of David (Magen David) can be put modularly. This vehicle has been helpful for us lately. During the pandemic, we also had to transfer funerals also to other cities (to Izmir). We are also working coordinated together with the municipalities in cases of funerals in other districts, such as Princess Islands." D.Aziz indicating that works being done in the scope of Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality's project was not limited to only funerals, said that they were informing the Municipality of many subjects such as Jewish holidays and traditions. "We are sharing with them many pieces of information such as which holiday is celebrated for what purpose, in which synagogue, what kind of a greeting would be suitable, what are shared, what is eaten during special days. Now they themselves are ordering the Sufganiyot from Barnyurt on Hanukkah Festival and distributing them to synagogues... Likewise, lokums were distributed on Purim." Avraam D.Aziz expressing that many issues were being handled as they are lived through, stated that he was conducting 'a kind of mediatorship among the two sides'. CONAKRY, Guinea (AP) Guineas longtime opposition leader Cellou Dalein Diallo is urging the country's ruling military junta to set up a transitional government and establish a timeframe for holding elections as soon as possible following last week's coup. Diallo accused deposed President Alpha Conde of creating his own demise because he sought a third term in office by saying the constitutional term limits did not apply to him. He betrayed his oath, by doing so, and he plunged the country into a deep crisis," Diallo told The Associated Press in an interview Sunday, describing his longtime political foe as a dictator. The fact that the military put an end to this illegal and legitimate mandate, I rather welcomed it, even if I did not expect this coup de force at this time, said Diallo, who had lost to Conde in Guinea's last three presidential elections. He stressed, though, that the junta now must prove they do intend to give power back to the people as they promised when they overthrew Conde on Sept. 5. I want it to set up as large a transitional government as possible and to organize inclusive elections as soon as possible, within a reasonable period of time, free and transparent for a peaceful return to constitutional order, he said. Over the past week, international pressure has mounted on the junta leaders to establish a quick return to democratic rule and to release Conde from their custody. The African Union and the West African regional economic bloc known as ECOWAS have both suspended Guinea in an effort to ramp up pressure. Diallo said he knows that seizures of power by the military are always condemned but he called on international institutions to work with the junta on the way forward. I call on them not to sanction Guinea, but to accompany the new authorities in the rapid return to constitutional order within a reasonable timeframe through the organization of inclusive, free and transparent elections, he said. Diallo, who heads the Union of Democratic Forces of Guinea party, acknowledged he still hopes to run for president a fourth time. I certainly wish to be elected, but I wish there to be inclusive, free and transparent elections so that Guineans can freely choose their leaders both at the level of the Assembly and at the level of the presidency, he said. The junta has ordered the central bank to freeze all government accounts in an effort to secure state assets and preserve the countrys interest. It has also called for dialogue with various political and civil society groups this week, after meeting with mediators from ECOWAS on Friday. National reconciliation will be a key step moving forward, he said, adding that it will be up to the new authorities to decide whether Conde faces any criminal charges linked to his time in power. There have been many lives lost. There has been a lot of injustice. There has been a lot of violence, he said. This has to stop and we have to try to see how we can move toward reconciliation. How to go to forgiveness so that Guinea can really get back on the road of unity and development for all. ___ Associated Press writer Carley Petesch in Dakar, Senegal contributed. KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AP) Barely a month in office, Malaysia's new leader has won opposition support to shore up his fragile government in exchange for a slew of reforms as Parliament reopened Monday. Prime Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob signed an unprecedented cooperation pact in Parliament with the main opposition bloc led by Anwar Ibrahim, in a move to prevent any bid to undermine his rule ahead of general elections due in two years. The political stability and transformation" pact will give Ismail the backing of 88 lawmakers in Anwar's bloc, in addition to 114 that support him in the 222-member house. Ismail said in a statement that the pact will lead to bipartisan cooperation and political reforms that will bolster governance, fight the COVID-19 crisis, and help to revive the economy. The government is confident that this memorandum of understanding will not only help cast aside all political differences but also ensure the countrys recovery is holistic and inclusive," he said. Officials said further details of the agreement will be unveiled soon. The pact came after Ismail last week offered reforms including new laws to prevent party defections and limiting the prime ministers tenure to 10 years. He also pledged to immediately lower the minimum voting age from 21 to 18, ensure bipartisan agreement on any new bill and get opposition input on the countrys economic recovery. He also made it so the role of opposition leader gets the same remuneration and privileges as a Cabinet minister. Malaysia has recorded close to two million COVID-19 infections, with more than 20,000 deaths despite a lockdown since June that has hurt the economy. Ismail is Malaysia's third prime minister since a historic vote in 2018 ousted the corruption-tainted United Malays National Organization, which led Malaysia since independence from Britain in 1957. But mass defections caused the collapse of Anwar's reformist alliance. Muhyiddin Yassin formed a new government that included UMNO in March 2020 but he resigned Aug. 16 as infighting in his coalition cost him majority support. Ismail, who is from UMNO, was Muhyiddin's deputy in the previous government and his appointment returned the premiership to UMNO. King Sultan Abdullah Sultan Ahmad Shah, in his opening address in Parliament on Monday, lauded the bipartisan cooperation to help the country overcome its health and economic crises. He said he has received many letters from the public, outlining the struggles they face and their pleas for change. It is this kind of maturity that is craved by the people, he said. Too many have been affected by the pandemic, and too many have lost their sources of income." The monarch called for a moment of silence in memory of virus victims, and warned lawmakers not to gamble the country's future for their own political interests. After a scorching summer and slow start to meteorological fall, Washington's upcoming winter is shaping up to be cooler and wetter. Climatologists from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's (NOAA) Climate Prediction Center released predictions last week showing a 70% to 80% chance of La Nina developing in the next few months. La Nina is an ocean-atmosphere weather pattern that describes below-average sea surface temperatures across the east-central Equatorial Pacific. Conversely, El Nino occurs when the water is warmer than usual. Although much of the water in the Pacific will be just a few degrees cooler than average, the minor fluctuation can disrupt the entire world's weather pattern. In the Pacific Northwest and Canada, a strong La Nina winter is marked by above normal rainfall and below normal temperatures. However, regions in the southern U.S. will likely see drier, warmer conditions. The chances for weather events such as lowland snow also increase with a strong La Nina. Last winter was marked by a "moderate-to-strong" La Nina weather pattern through March, with February seeing a major snow event in the lowlands. NOAA via climate.gov La Nina events often occur in consecutive winters in what climate scientists call a "double dip." While last season's event was on the stronger side, the strength of this year's event and when it will begin is still uncertain. "While we are close to La Nina, were still seeing enough wobble in sea surface temperatures that we cant be sure that La Nina conditions have locked in," wrote the center in a blog post last week. "Besides the historical tendency for second-year La Ninas, many climate models are predicting La Nina conditions to develop shortly, though they somewhat differ on whether an event will begin this coming month or in October." The likelihood of a healthy snowpack is also bolstered during a La Nina year. June's record-breaking heat event melted 30% of Mount Rainier's snowpack, which insulate the mountain's 25 major glaciers, giving it a bare appearance for much of the summer. Some areas of the mountain lost 3 to 4 feet of snow during the deadly heat wave. And while a healthy snowpack is certainly good news for skiiers and snowboarders even resulting in extended seasons at some resorts earlier this year it is also important for the region's natural splendor, supporting river systems and surviving salmon runs. Forecasters from NOAA's Climate Prediction Center are expected to release a full winter weather outlook next month. Local top story Local treatment providers say meth use is on the rise in the area Hannah Schroeder / Sentinel Staff Live Free Recovery Services on Court Street in Keene is seen earlier this year. The agencys CEO says the number of clients using meth as their primary substance has gone up about 30 percent in the past year. Michael Wittier had been using drugs daily since he was 13. It started with a little marijuana. But over the years, the Nashua resident started experimenting, trying out drugs like ecstasy and cocaine. And then it was meth, the 29-year-old said. It was nowhere, and then all of a sudden it was [expletive] everywhere. He started out selling meth for some extra cash, but it wasnt long until Wittier was sampling his own product. Once you try it, its up and running. Its like you keep doing it because you never think youre high enough, but at the same time, youre so high youre in psychosis, he said. And Wittier, who used meth for three years until May, isnt alone. Over the past year, local substance-use treatment providers have seen a sharp increase in methamphetamine use among their clientele, mainly because of how widely available its become in recent years and how cheap it is. At Live Free Recovery Services which has locations in Keene and Manchester the number of clients using meth as their primary substance has gone up about 30 percent in the past year, according to CEO Ryan Gagne. Similarly, The Doorway in Keene has seen the use of two stimulants, meth and cocaine, creep up recently. A few years ago, clients using stimulants made up about 3 percent of the Doorways clientele, according to Executive Director Nelson Hayden. Just last month, that number has tripled. Theres also been an uptick in poly use, when someone takes two drugs typically an opioid and stimulant in tandem. At Live Free, Gagne said thats increased about 20 percent in the past year. Often, meth is being paired with fentanyl, the synthetic opioid that has been the leading cause of fatal overdoses in New Hampshire and beyond for years. In 2020, meth was involved in 59 deaths, according to data from the N.H. Office of the Chief Medical Examiner. Forty-four of those deaths involved meth and an opioid, the data show. As of Aug. 12, 14 of the 19 deaths involving meth statewide in 2021 involved meth with an opioid. Wittier said he often used meth with fentanyl or heroin to level each other out. It got to the point that I got so up that I thought I was going to die, so I had to do a little down to level out my heart rate, he said. So it started getting so bad that I had to use them, like, to level each other to keep myself alive. While meth certainly isnt a new drug, its usage paled in comparison to heroin amid the continuing opioid epidemic until recently. In 2012, for example, only one Granite Staters death involved meth, according to data from the N.H. Office of Chief Medical Examiner. But by 2019, that number had increased to 52, and has continued to rise. Part of the reason for this shift in use is the market, which has moved away from heroin and has doubled down on fentanyl and stimulants in recent years. It was weird. It was so fast, Wittier said. Because of the dangers associated with fentanyl, those with substance-use disorders steered clear of it when it first came on the scene, typically only using it if it was unknowingly cut into their drugs, area treatment providers said. But now, that fear has subsided. This idea of going from [a non-synthetic] product like heroin, going to this fentanyl, that is manufactured, it just kind of opened the door to these manufactured other products, said Sam Lake, executive director of the Keene Serenity Center. People are like, Well, fentanyl didnt kill me, so I guess meth wont kill me either. Theres danger in using any illicit drugs, but people using opioids have more treatment options, such as medication-assisted treatment (MAT), which uses drugs like buprenorphine and methadone to wean users off the opioid and help with withdrawal symptoms. And if someone overdoses on an opioid, people can administer Narcan, a widely available emergency treatment used to reverse the effects. But with meth, there isnt a Narcan. There isnt a quick change. There is the risk of ... a heart attack-type death, but most people arent dying, Hayden, of The Doorway, said. Theyre just, when youre up three, four, five days straight, you are losing all perception of reality. Someone using meth may experience a temporary sense of heightened euphoria, alertness and energy because the stimulant increases the brains dopamine levels. Meth use, over time, not only changes how the brain works but also speeds up the bodys systems to dangerous sometimes lethal levels, such as increasing blood pressure, as well as heart and respiratory rates. People using the stimulant repeatedly may also experience anxiety, paranoia, aggression, hallucinations and dramatic mood shifts. This is what happened to Wittier, who is now four months sober after receiving treatment for meth and heroin use at Live Free in Keene in May. There was a couple of times where I locked myself in my truck. I almost shot my neighbor with my gun because I was hallucinating, he recalled. ... Eventually, it started getting me physically too. You start waking up with wounds on your skin, and you have no idea how they got there. Treatment for meth and other stimulants like cocaine often involves a 28-day detox, followed by intensive outpatient treatment and then moving into a sober living home spanning normally about two years. Comparatively, treatment for opioids is usually six months to one year. It can also be more difficult to get someone whos addicted to meth into treatment, providers said. When my patients choose to leave against clinical advice, it is most often because of meth, said Emily Wilkins, clinical director of N.H. services for Phoenix House New England. Wilkins said the cravings are much more intense when withdrawing from meth because there isnt medication they can take to help. And with the psychosis that accompanies meth use, it can be much harder to get someone to stay in or even seek out treatment. Ive never seen so many psychotic symptoms as I have seen in the last year, she said. If meth use continues to increase, local substance-use providers say itll become even harder to tackle than opioid use. Wittier said educating the public on meth use is a good start. Its one of those things I want people to know. People who are using meth, Im not going to say everybody, but chances are theres a lot of pain and they need to understand that, he said. Chances are those people really need help. If you or a loved one is struggling with addiction, Cheshire County residents can visit The Doorway at 24 Railroad St. in Keene Monday through Friday, from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Support is also available through the states 24/7 hotline at 211. Thank you for reading! You have reached your 30-day limit of free access to SentinelSource.com, The Keene Sentinels website. If you would like to read two more articles for free at this time, please register for an account by clicking the sign up button below. We hope you find The Sentinels coverage of the Monadnock Region valuable. We rely on our subscribers to bring you strong local journalism and hope you will consider supporting our work by taking advantage of this special subscription offer here. Good morning, Bay Area. Its Monday, Sept. 13, and Caldor Fire evacuees are returning home to survey the destruction. Heres what you need to know to start your day. A wave of Bay Area restaurants and pop-ups have closed temporarily in an effort to provide time off for overworked employees. On top of feeling drained by the stresses of the pandemic and concern about the highly infectious delta variant, restaurants are dealing with a shortage of workers that results in limited time off. Not only do we face the same fears and worries that the general public does, but were also relied upon for having a smile on our face and making people feel good about themselves for a night and to forget about the reality of the world, said Blake Cole of Oakland bar Friends and Family. Read more from Elena Kadvany. Experts weigh in on what flu season might look like for the Bay Area. Why S.F. Bay Area school districts arent following L.A.s lead on vaccinations and testing. Some hospitals are using machines that produce accurate results on coronavirus tests within 45 minutes. So why arent they more common? In an opinion piece for The Chronicle, an East Bay primary care physician shares why he is mad not at unvaccinated people, but rather at the disinformation profiteers. Wildfire updates Tracy Barbutes/Special to The Chronicle Joseph Philipson and Ashley Bonetti were among thousands in South Lake Tahoe who were forced to evacuate as the Caldor Fire closed in on the area in late August. But the couple left in both their vehicle and home: an old school bus. They are part of a close-knit community of nomads who live in what they refer to as skoolies, or school buses converted into RV-style homes. Read more about the couple and their unusual dwelling. More wildfire coverage: The Dixie Fire is set to become the largest wildfire in state history. Heres how to visualize the size of the massive fire. Roughly 1,200 evacuated residents have started returning to Grizzly Flats to inspect the wreckage from the Caldor Fire. Dramatic photos of the Route Fire in Los Angeles County show how close it has burned to Interstate 5. Around the Bay Jessica Christian/The Chronicle The impact of 9/11: Many Sikh Americans found themselves swept up in Islamophobia after the 9/11 attacks, but it also inspired the Sikh community to organize and show solidarity with Muslim Americans. Also: A Warriors executive opens up about his father, who helped prevent hijackers from crashing United Flight 93 into the nations Capitol. From Joe Garofoli: Trump-friendly conservative commentator Larry Elder is the leading Republican to replace Gov. Gavin Newsom, but Trumpsim may be what stops him from succeeding. ICYMI: How to cast your vote and what to know about Tuesdays recall election. Texas abortion law: Salesforce has offered to help employees get out of Texas in the wake of that states recently adopted anti-abortion legislation. Drought Map Track water shortages and restrictions across Bay Area Check the water shortage status of your area, plus see reservoir levels and a list of restrictions for the Bay Areas largest water districts. From Heather Knight: Supporters of the S.F. school board have bashed the recall for supposedly being fueled by Republicans. But is it? Stern Grove update: Flood repairs to Stern Grove start this week, costing an estimated $4 million. Native Son: September and October are the best time of the year on the coast: warm days, cool nights. The Bid: Can you guess the sale price of this Oakland home, which went for $1 million over asking price? Take The Chronicles new quiz. First, a review: S.F. tells the Millennium Tower to hold off on repairs to fix leaning, sinking. Fire under investigation: Witnesses surround arson suspect at scene until his arrest near Santa Rosa mall. Making history Yalonda M. James/The Chronicle On Saturday, 65 bishops and more than 150 pastors gathered outside Grace Cathedral for a momentous occasion: The Rev. Megan Rohrer, a beloved San Francisco pastor, was installed as the first openly transgender bishop in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. So many of the places where trans people experience violence these days are in the places where there are a lot of people who believe their faith compels them to divide and to distance, Rohrer said outside the cathedral. Rohrer will lead one of the churchs 65 synods, overseeing nearly 200 congregations in Northern California and northern Nevada, write Mallory Moench and Danielle Echeverria. Bay Briefing is written by Kellie Hwang and Anna Buchmann and sent to readers email inboxes on weekday mornings. Sign up for the newsletter here, and contact the writers at anna.buchmann@sfchronicle.com and kellie.hwang@sfchronicle.com. A state appeals court has overruled San Mateo city officials objections to a proposed four-story apartment building in a ruling that limits local governments authority to deny housing construction. Under the Housing Authority and Accountability Act, or HAA, if a proposed development is consistent with a citys general plan and zoning standards, a city can reject it only if it would have a specific, adverse and unavoidable impact on public health or safety under objective criteria, the First District Court of Appeal in San Francisco said Friday. The court said the HAA, passed in 1982 and broadened by lawmakers in 2017, applies to San Mateo and Californias 120 other charter cities, which are authorized by the state Constitution to regulate their own municipal affairs. While Superior Court Judge George Miram concluded that the law violated charter cities power to govern themselves, housing is a matter of statewide concern, the appeals court said. California has a housing supply and affordability crisis of historic proportions, Justice Alison Tucher said in the 3-0 ruling, quoting the state law. She said the law allows local governments to regulate construction as long as they meet their share of regional housing needs and have objective criteria for denying or reducing density of housing developments. California ranks 49th out of 50 states in homes per capita, and legal victories like this one are necessary to begin to stem the states historic housing supply and affordability crisis, said Daniel Golub, attorney for California Renters Legal Advocacy and Education Fund, which appealed Mirams ruling. Real estate and construction groups supported the appeal. Attorney General Rob Bonta, whose office argued for a broad application of the state law, said the ruling would promote racial and economic justice by increasing affordable housing. Gov. Gavin Newsom also issued a statement Monday saying the courts decision protects our ability to hold local governments to account and ensures that families throughout California wont suffer when those same local leaders refuse to do their part to approve new housing. City Attorney Prasanna Rasiahs office said the city was reviewing the ruling, which it could appeal to the state Supreme Court. City and county government organizations supported San Mateos position in the case. The block-long four-story, 10-unit building was proposed in 2015 on a block of North El Camino Real that is already zoned high-density. The staff of San Mateos Planning Commission supported the project, but after some nearby residents objected, the commission voted to reject it in 2017, and the City Council turned it down in February 2018. Drought Map Track water shortages and restrictions across Bay Area Check the water shortage status of your area, plus see reservoir levels and a list of restrictions for the Bay Areas largest water districts. The Planning Commission cited city guidelines that said new housing construction should not be more than one story taller than adjacent single-family homes, or, if taller, should have step-back upper floors to ease the transition. But the appeals court said those standards were not sufficiently clear-cut and objective to satisfy the state law. Tucher said supporters of the project noted that it included trellises on the sides of some apartments, and there was also a proposal to plant tall trees between the apartment building and nearby homes. But the Planning Commission decided those steps would not be enough to ease the transition, she said. Nothing in our opinion prevents the city from imposing appropriate conditions of approval to mitigate any effects the height differential may have on the surrounding neighborhood, as long as those conditions do not reduce the density of the project, Tucher said. Bob Egelko is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: begelko@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @BobEgelko A pair of wildfires burning in Sequoia National Park were getting dangerously close to Californias famed Giant Forest on Tuesday, prompting concern about the fate of the worlds largest trees. Park officials said that the lightning-caused KNP Complex fires, which totaled 5,861 acres, had a huge potential for growth because of their remote locations in dry terrain, and they had been elevated to one of the states highest firefighting priorities. An increasing numbers of hand crews, supported by seven aircraft, were working to slow the run of the Colony Fire, near the parks Crystal Cave Road, toward Giant Forest, which was 2 miles to the east. The Paradise Fire to the south, meanwhile, was exploding in all directions, and though farther from the coveted giant sequoia stands, posed a similar threat. Were poised to take action on park facilities and the groves as needed, Mark Ruggiero, a fire information officer for the park, told The Chronicle. Were getting more crews and more equipment in now. Sequoia National Park remained closed to the public after being shut down over the weekend because of the fires. Those living in the Mineral King area on the parks south side were ordered to evacuate while an evacuation warning was in effect for the town of Three Rivers at the parks southern entrance. Employees at Giant Forest and at the parks Ash Mountain headquarters near Three Rivers began evacuating Tuesday. Kings Canyon National Park, which is adjacent to and jointly managed with Sequoia, remained open. The threat to Sequoia, and to Giant Forest in particular, was especially worrisome in light of last years Castle Fire, which burned in and around the park and wiped out an estimated 10% to 14% of all the worlds sequoia trees. While sequoias were once believed to be mostly immune to wildfires and, in fact, reliant on them to release seeds for reproduction, the trees have increasingly fallen victim to the bigger, hotter fires that have resulted largely because of climate change. The fire activity we saw last year shows they cant handle unlimited fire, said Rebecca Paterson, public affairs specialist for the park. We are very concerned about threats to the groves. Giant Forest is home to more than 2,000 large sequoias. These include the General Sherman tree, considered the largest living thing on Earth. The draw of the big trees at Giant Forest is punctuated by their accessibility. The parks Generals Highway leads right to the grove, and the trees are peppered by a network of trails. A small village that accommodated visitors once sat beneath the sequoias, but it has been moved 7 miles north because of the harm it was causing the tree roots. A smaller, less known stand of sequoias called the Suwanee Grove stood even closer to the Colony Fire, just over a mile away as of Tuesday morning. At other popular sequoia groves threatened by flames in the past, such as in Yosemite National Park, firefighters have run sprinklers and cut fire lines to protect trees. Officials at Sequoia said they hadnt yet resorted to such tactics, though they would do what was necessary to safeguard Giant Forest. Weve been painting the mountains red with retardant for the last couple of days, Park Superintendent Clay Jordan said at a community meeting in Three Rivers on Sunday night. Drought Map Track water shortages and restrictions across Bay Area Check the water shortage status of your area, plus see reservoir levels and a list of restrictions for the Bay Areas largest water districts. While officials said there was a good chance that one fire, or both, would reach Giant Forest, they hoped it would not hit the trees with the same fury as the Castle Fire. The strong winds that fueled last years blaze are not as prevalent in the area where the KNP Complex is burning, and Giant Forest is not as steep and therefore subject to powerful uphill runs of fire like other parts of the park. Plus, park officials have regularly done preemptive burning in Giant Forest, so theres less vegetation to feed a wildfire. Still, the areas burning were ground zero for Californias tree die-off during last decades drought, and dead and downed trees were providing ready tinder. The fires were first spotted Friday morning, after a Thursday night storm produced at least 132 lightning strikes. A third fire, to the north, was quickly contained by firefighters. The Colony and Paradise fires, however, were in areas that are far from roads and hard for crews to reach. As of Tuesday, containment remained at 0%. These are two tough fires, Ruggiero said, and theyre both in difficult terrain. Kurtis Alexander is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: kalexander@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @kurtisalexander For a windfall of $8, someone broke into Franks Floral Shop on Irving Street in San Francisco the other night. They jimmied the back door with a crowbar. They trashed the place and took what meager receipts the cash register had to offer. And then they apparently set fire to the place a Sunset District establishment that for 95 years had supplied bouquets and corsages to brides and widows and new parents in the 19th Avenue and Irving region, as well as the citys broader Armenian community. The incident at 1821 Irving St. occurred at 12:30 a.m. Sept. 5 and is under investigation as a burglary and possible arson, according to the police and fire departments. A week later, on Sunday afternoon, the owner of the shop, 66-year-old Sona Pehlivanian, stood in the wreckage. In the pile of charred inventory were some wicker flower baskets, trays of ruined succulents, a melted Rolodex and flowery thank you notes with curly penmanship. Pehlivanian said she doesnt know much about how insurance works, what will be covered or how much it will cost to rebuild the store, which includes a storefront and a little office and workspace upstairs. The needs will include some new walls, ceilings and staircase, along with new inventory. So far, her insurance representatives have not shown up to assess the damage, but offered $9,400, which would barely replace the lost merchandise, she said. Whats the landlord insurance going to cover? What about my insurance? Do I fight? Do I hire an attorney? Do I want to start again? By the time this is all finished, Ill be almost 70, she said. Should I put in the energy to rebuild, or walk away and keep doing flowers for the church out of my garage? I dont know. Pehlivanian was a recently divorced young mother when she bought the shop in 1987. Then, as now, it had a pizza spot on one side and a liquor store on the other. Franks Floral had been owned for 60 years by Frank Korkmazian, who, along with his wife, Gladys, operated the store and lived in two rooms upstairs. After Frank died, Gladys ran the business until she sold it to Pehlivanian. They did almost everything for the Armenian community all the weddings and funerals and processions, she said. I continued that. They were so happy that another young Armenian girl had taken it over and would keep it going. And I did that for 35 years until this evil man take it away from me for absolutely nothing. Pehlivanian had previously worked at a bank but needed more flexibility to take care of her baby son. The shop offered her that. It was longer hours, but she could keep her child safe and tend to him in a sleeping bag on the floor while she worked. She said she worked 17-hour days and 20 hours on holidays. It paid off. As a single parent with a young child, I worked hard enough with the business that I was able to buy a house in the neighborhood after about five years, she said. Supervisor Gordon Mar said the break-in was the latest in a rash of commercial burglaries during the pandemic to hit stores along Irving, Taraval and Noriega streets. A print shop broken into on Taraval was also set on fire, and robbers additionally hit Sun Maxims, Twisted Donuts & Coffee, Nomad Cyclery and Footprint shoe store, which was robbed twice in one night. Mar said he has called for hearings into how to make the retail strips safer. He said he was unaware of any arrests in the break-ins. Drought Map Track water shortages and restrictions across Bay Area Check the water shortage status of your area, plus see reservoir levels and a list of restrictions for the Bay Areas largest water districts. Franks Floral really is a historic neighborhood business, and Sona put her heart and soul into it, he said. Longtime customer and friend Milly Sheehy said she was heartbroken to hear of the setback. This is the most hardworking woman you will ever see, Sheehy said. She gets up at 4:30 every day to go to the flower market. Oh, she cant say no to anybody. She helps everybody. She has a heart of gold, that woman, and she is a total giver. Dennis Wu, a prominent business leader in the Chinese American community who lives near the Stonestown Galleria just to the south of the neighborhood, said he became enamored with the store just recently. Wu got together with Drew Min and Jessica Ho to start a GoFundMe account to raise money for Pehlivanian. I fell in love with this woman, he said. Some people sing. Some people paint. Some people are great chefs. This woman had just this little flower shop, but she projected love through her fingers and hands. The intruder or intruders didnt have the sense to take a gift basket or a bouquet of dahlias before escaping out the back alley, Pehlivanian said. She suspects the burglars are male, based on what was stolen. The store is still full of ash-covered greeting cards and wedding votives, vases, urns and melted candelabras not to mention a cooler full of rapidly wilting flowers. Men dont want those things, she said. J.K. Dineen is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: jdineen@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @SFjkdineen A U.S. Army reservist was reported missing Saturday after failing to return from what was intended to be a four-day solo hike in Yosemite, according to officials with the national park. Joel Thomazin, 31, of Denair (Stanislaus County) had planned on a backpacking trip from the Hetch Hetchy area to Lake Eleanor, a round-trip trek of about 18 miles. Thomazin set off on Sept. 6 and planned to return Sept. 9. Park officials described Thomazin as a white male, standing 5 feet, 10 inches tall with buzzed brown hair. He was hiking with a Kelty brand yellow and gray backpack, a green sleeping bag, bright-red inflatable kayak, a blue-green hammock and tan or blue zip-off pants. Thomazin studied history at California State University-Stanislaus before joining the U.S. Army Reserve as a civil affairs specialist, according to his LinkedIn page. I strive to be a man of integrity and believe that if you act honestly and with civility you will have few enemies and many peoples trust, Thomazin wrote on his page. Thomazins case comes after a series of high-profile incidents involving missing hikers some of whom ultimately met with a fatal outcome. On July 19, a San Jose hiker who went missing at Point Reyes National Seashore was found dead at the base of a cliff. The body of Berkeley runner Philip Kreycik was found nearly a month later in Pleasanton, with officials suspecting heat exhaustion played a role in his death. And authorities are still investigating what caused the deaths of a young family and their dog, whose bodies were discovered on a remote Mariposa County hiking trail last month. Drought Map Track water shortages and restrictions across Bay Area Check the water shortage status of your area, plus see reservoir levels and a list of restrictions for the Bay Areas largest water districts. Search teams are asking anyone with information on Thomazin or who was in the areas of Miguel Meadow, Lake Eleanor, or on the trails around Hetch Hetchy since Monday, September 6, 2021 to contact Yosemites Search and Rescue unit at 209-238-7046. Megan Cassidy is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: megan.cassidy@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @meganrcassidy The severe flu season that experts feared last year during the height of the pandemic fizzled in the face of worldwide lockdowns and masking. But influenza harsh and sometimes deadly could loom again this fall now that California schools, restaurants, bars and even conventions are in business again. Most people are predicting it will be back with a vengeance this year, said Dr. Peter Chin-Hong, an infectious disease expert at UCSF in San Francisco. And because the flus symptoms muscle aches and fever are so similar to another dreaded disease, people will go crazy, he said. Every time your kid has the sniffles, youll be worried about COVID. Kaiser Permanente, a health system so big that it can forecast off its own flu data each year, estimates that influenza is likely to rebound and could hit the Bay Area by late November. Im predicting it will be higher because last year it was pretty much a zero, said Dr. Darvin Scott Smith, an infectious disease specialist at Kaiser Medical Center in Redwood City. Its tough to know, but the changes with respect to what people are doing as things open up would indicate that. Flu cases in the Southern Hemisphere, where its winter, are already higher this month than at the same time last year, the World Health Organization reports, though still far below 2019 levels. If the flu does surge, Chin-Hong and other experts warn that the vaccines in the U.S. could be less well-matched to the strains this year than usual, because there was so little flu around the world last year. Stephen Lam/The Chronicle Scientists depend on data from influenza outbreaks, usually in the Southern Hemisphere, where flu season hits earlier than in the U.S., to create each years new flu vaccine in a way they believe will best be able to combat whatever the current strains are. Because the vaccines benefits are believed to last about six months, its necessary to get a shot every year. But the influenza virus mutates frequently, so vaccine scientists are always trying to stay on top of it. Its kind of a guessing game, Chin-Hong said, noting that scientists had even fewer clues to go on this year because of the reduced case numbers globally. The World Health Organization credits not only pandemic protections for the drop in flu cases, but viral interference, a phenomenon where one virus can weaken another in the same host in this case, COVID-19 inhibiting or even preventing flu infections. Even so, experts caution that people can have both illnesses at the same time. In a typical year, scientists often create vaccines with components to fight off three flu viruses, hedging their bets. For 2021, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says it added a fourth. The new flu vaccine will fight two influenza A viruses and two B viruses, the CDC reports. Many pharmacies are already offering the vaccine, while Bay Area medical centers are accepting appointments for rollouts this month. One new development is that people can get a COVID vaccine at the same time as the flu vaccine, rather than having to wait as originally advised. Its unclear whether the overall pandemic-era push for vaccinations will lead to more people getting a flu shot. By the end of February, manufacturers had handed out 194 million doses of flu vaccine in the U.S. for last winter more than ever, although the CDC says some of it probably went unused. This year, manufacturers expect to distribute about the same amount. Unlike COVID vaccinations, which are increasingly required for participating in public life, flu shots are rarely mandated. In an unusual move, the University of California required flu shots last year for those on campus but but UC officials say they havent decided whether to do that again this year. Despite this years extra uncertainty about whether the flu vaccine will match the virus that actually shows up, public health experts say getting the shot is important for everyone older than 6 months, including pregnant people especially because COVID-19 is surging among those unvaccinated for the coronavirus. Protecting against the flu will help California again avoid the double viral hit it escaped last year, experts say. Hospitals and intensive care units were near capacity last year because of COVID add a flu surge, and it could happen again. That is a very real risk, said Dr. Jeffrey Silvers, medical director of infectious disease at Sutter Health. If you arent vaccinated, you could be in trouble. He added: You could end up in the hospital. You could die. You could give it to a loved one. Or you could be the source of spreading the disease. Elizabeth Worthington is taking no chances. She showed up at a CVS pharmacy in San Francisco on Thursday for her flu shot. Drought Map Track water shortages and restrictions across Bay Area Check the water shortage status of your area, plus see reservoir levels and a list of restrictions for the Bay Areas largest water districts. At 20, shes at an age where people often feel invulnerable to the viruses that exist, unseen, on surfaces, in water, in the air and in our bodies. But Worthington knows all too well what it feels like to have the flu and how easy it is to pick it up at college, where she will be a junior this year at the University of Oregon. You just feel really weak, really achy, she recalled. My throat always feels sore, and I feel like I cant swallow. She said shes gotten the flu a handful of times even though shes been getting vaccinated yearly since babyhood. Recent studies indicate that the vaccine reduces flu risk by 40% to 60% when its well matched to the ever-evolving virus, the CDC says. Yet in 2019, before the pandemic, flu shots prevented 7.5 million cases and saved 6,300 people from dying of influenza, the health agency reports. I figure it probably doesnt hurt to keep trying, Worthington said, moments before baring her left arm unflinchingly for nurse practitioner Diana Huang to inject the fluid of hope. Worthington said she understands that some people cant be vaccinated for medical reasons, but that others who avoid it are kind of selfish because they can infect vulnerable people. Its a life-and-death situation, she said. The popularity of the internet search term flu 2021 suggests that many people are aware of this. The term hit a peak in popularity on Google Trends in early September, while flu 2020 peaked last October. Other internet searches reveal that the infamous scare tactics intended to misinform people about COVID-19 are bleeding into the influenza world, as well. One such myth is that the CDC is revoking authorization for COVID tests, claiming they cant distinguish between the coronavirus and influenza. Chin-Hong slapped that one down quickly, noting that the viruses look nothing alike. Its not even comparing apples to oranges, he said. Its more like saying: Is this a flu or is this a steak? Nanette Asimov is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: nasimov@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @NanetteAsimov Berkeley is studying how to ban non-compostable plastic bags from grocery stores, restaurants and city-sponsored events. Council Member Kate Harrison introduced legislation that directs the citys Zero Waste and Energy Commission to hold hearings with businesses about the potential impact of removing plastic bags, including produce bags in grocery stores. The City Council is expected to pass Harrisons legislation Tuesday. In 2016, California instituted a statewide ban on single-use plastic bags and required businesses to enforce a minimum 10-cent charge on reusable plastic and paper bags. Harrison said the need to take that action a step further is critical. Harrisons legislation would prevent most businesses, farmers markets, street fairs and other city events from giving out reusable plastic grocery and takeout bags. Harrison said Monday that the goal is to urge people to bring their own bags or use paper. Berkeley has often been at the forefront of environmental legislation. In 2019, Berkeley became the first city in the nation to ban the installation of natural gas lines in new homes. That same year, Berkeley also banned single-use disposables, requiring restaurants to use compostable to-go foodware. The California Restaurant Association did not immediately respond to a request for comment. We have seen the impact on our waterways of plastic bags, Harrison said. They are bad for the environment and they are bad for flooding. The other reason is COVID. Look at the amount of things people have to throw out now because of deliveries at home. Environmental advocates agree. Igor Tregub, chair of the Sierra Clubs Northern Alameda County Group, which includes Berkeley, said his organization will study Berkeleys proposal as the city gets further along in its process. This looks very promising to me, Tregub said. This would be a first in the nation effort. Clearly, the status quo is not working. We still have nearly as many plastic bags being used once in the ecosystem as we did before, which is incredibly damaging to the planet. This has the opportunity to address that. San Francisco enacted a single-use plastic bag ban in 2007 and amended it in 2012 to allow charging for paper bags, said Laurie Thomas, executive director of the Golden Gate Restaurant Association. There was a learning curve back when we started, but we are a long way from then, Thomas said in a statement. The GGRA is supportive of smart, environmentally friendly moves like this. Yes, there is an additional cost, but the type of ordinance SF adopted years ago makes sense for our environment and has been said to reduce plastic bag usage significantly. Nate Rose, a spokesman for the California Grocers Association, said his group is open to discussing how the grocery community can improve upon its environmental footprint, including store items like pre-checkout bags. It will be important to ensure food and grocery items remain safe and that additional waste is prevented as protecting items from damage and contamination is vitally important to store operations, he said. Harrison said the legislation has already changed since it was first introduced in the summer. After receiving feedback from the community, the legislation, if passed, will still allow plastic bags for packaging meat, seafood and soup from grocery stores. Drought Map Track water shortages and restrictions across Bay Area Check the water shortage status of your area, plus see reservoir levels and a list of restrictions for the Bay Areas largest water districts. This is how you do responsible legislation, Harrison said. You get peoples input. There is no set timeline yet on when the ban on plastic bags would go into effect. Studies have shown that plastic bag bans are generally successful but had some unintended consequences. A 2019 study by an economist from the University in Sydney showed that plastic bag bans resulted in people using fewer plastic bags. But people who reused their shopping bags for other purposes still needed bags and instead, used plastic garbage bags. Harrison said no legislation can entirely solve a problem. Our goal in government is to do good, not perfect, she said. The Berkeley City Council could eventually vote on the ban, but the timeline is not yet clear. Sarah Ravani is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: sravani@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @SarRavani NEW YORK (AP) George Wein, an impresario of 20th century music who helped found the Newport Jazz and Folk festivals and set the template for gatherings everywhere from Woodstock to the south of France, died Monday. Wein, 95, died peacefully in his sleep in his New York City apartment, said Carolyn McClair, a family spokesperson. A former jazz club owner and aspiring pianist, Wein launched the Newport Jazz Festival in 1954 under pouring rain and with a lineup for the heavens Billie Holiday and Dizzy Gillespie, Ella Fitzgerald and Lester Young. Louis Armstrong was there the following year and Duke Ellington made history in 1956, his bands set featuring an extraordinary, 27-chorus solo from saxophonist Paul Gonsalves that almost single-handedly revived the middle-aged Ellingtons career. Wein led the festival for more than 50 years and performers would include virtually every major jazz star, from Miles Davis and Thelonious Monk to Charles Mingus and Wynton Marsalis. Just in 1965, the bill featured Frank Sinatra, Count Basie, John Coltrane, Ellington, Gillespie, Davis and Monk. As a young pianist and club owner, he understood quality, worshipped the giants of the music, and created a revolutionary Festival format that offered the widest possible range of jazz to much larger outdoor audiences, Marsalis said in a statement. He loved telling stories about Bird, Duke and all of the greats, engaging in spirited debates on a variety of subjects, and was an optimistic supporter of young talent. The success of Newport inspired a wave of jazz festivals in the U.S. and Wein replicated his success worldwide, his other projects including the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival and the Grande Parade du Jazz in Nice, France. His multiday, all-star gatherings were also a model for rock festivals, whether Woodstock in 1969 or the Lollapalooza tours of recent years. Critic Gene Santoro observed in 2003 that without Wein, everything from Woodstock to Jazz at Lincoln Center might have happened differently if it happened at all. Wein can justifiably claim to have invented, developed and codified the contemporary popular music festival, Santoro wrote. The idea for Newport came in part from locals Louis and Elaine Lorillard, who urged Wein to organize a jazz festival in their gilded resort community in Rhode Island. Elaine Lorillard, a socialite, complained that the summer scene was terribly boring. Her tobacco-heir husband backed her up with a $20,000 donation. Wein had never known of a large-scale jazz festival, so, in the spirit of the music, he improvised seeking to combine the energy and musicality of a Harlem jazz club with the ambience of a summer classical concert in Tanglewood. What was a festival to me? Wein later said. I had no rulebook to go by. I knew it had to be something unique, that no jazz fan had ever been exposed to. Wein didnt only work with jazz musicians. In 1959, he and Pete Seeger began a companion folk festival that would feature early performances by Joan Baez and Jose Feliciano among others and track the evolution of Bob Dylan from earnest troubadour to rule-breaking rock star. Dylans show in 1963 helped establish him as the so-called voice of his generation, but by 1965 he felt confined by the folk community and turned up at Newport with an electric band. The response was mostly positive, but there were enough boos from the crowd and conflicts backstage Wein rejected the legend that Seeger tried to cut the power cables to Dylans amps to make Dylans appearance a landmark in rock and folk history. In his memoir Myself Among Others, Wein remembered confronting Dylan as he left the stage and demanding he return to play something acoustic. When Dylan resisted, saying he didnt have an acoustic guitar, Wein asked for volunteers to lend him one and helped persuade Dylan to go back out. Years later, Wein remained moved by memories of hearing Dylan sing Its All Over Now, Baby Blue, a farewell ballad in more ways than one. It was a farewell to the idealism and purity of the folk revival, Wein wrote. There was no turning back not for Dylan, not for anyone. The Newport festivals have led to numerous films and concert albums, notably Murray Lerners Oscar-nominated 1967 documentary Festival!", with Dylan, Johnny Cash and Howlin Wolf among the performers. Wein would later bring in Led Zeppelin, Sly and the Family Stone and James Brown and other rock and rhythm and blues acts. In 2020, when Newport went virtual because of the pandemic, Wein introduced Mavis Staples from his home in Manhattan. Wein himself had been a pianist since childhood and he maintained an active music career, releasing Wein, Women and Song, Swing That Music and several other albums and making yearly appearances at the Newport festival with his Newport All-Stars band. He was named a Jazz Master in 2005 by the National Endowment for the Arts and received an honorary Grammy in 2014. Years earlier, President Clinton brought his saxophone to the White House stage for a celebration of the Newport Jazz Festival. Wein grew up in Newton, Massachusetts, his father a dentist with a gambling habit and an eye for his secretary, his mother a pianist of passable skills and heiress to a paper products fortune. As a teenager, he defied his family by inviting Black musicians to their home and in his 20s he dated a Black woman, Joyce Alexander, whom he married in 1959. Joyce Wein, who became his business partner and closest adviser, died in 2005. Wein saw himself as just an average middle-class, Jewish-American kid, although one easily bewitched by music. He would remember attending a Benny Goodman concert and listening just a few feet away from trumpeter Cootie Williams. Drought Map Track water shortages and restrictions across Bay Area Check the water shortage status of your area, plus see reservoir levels and a list of restrictions for the Bay Areas largest water districts. For the duration of the evening I stood alone, wide-eyed, at the foot of the stage, he wrote in Myself Among Others, released in 2003, oblivious to the sea of couples swirling around the dance floor behind me. Wein enlisted in the Army during World War II and twice escaped possible death: Hitler died in April 1945 as Wein and others were nearing the German front. Months later, he was spared being transferred to the Pacific when the Japanese surrendered. He graduated from Boston University and started the Storyville jazz club and record label in Boston, where Ellington, Charlie Parker and others came. Wein even got to join some of the performances, including playing piano for a set by Holiday, whose regular keyboardist had not showed up. The Newport festival lasted despite ongoing conflicts, whether objections from the locals in Newport, the declining appeal of jazz, or the demands and resentments of the musicians. In 1960, Mingus organized a rival festival to protest Weins alleged favoritism among performers and a riot at the Newport gathering led to Weins being sidelined until 1962. In 1971, the booking of the Allman Brothers Band proved disastrous when rock fans overran the festival grounds, even setting sheet music on fire, and brought about a decade-long exile from Newport. Wein, once described by The New Yorkers Lillian Ross as a stocky man who seemed to be filled with controlled frenzy, was a fighter who faced down racist officials in New Orleans and chastised Monk for waiting too long to take the stage in Newport. He was also good at math. He recruited Sinatra, Dionne Warwick and other popular singers to help support the jazz artists. In the mid-1970s, he was struggling financially and became among the first popular music promoters to work with corporate sponsors, notably the makers of Kool cigarettes. In 2005, he sold his company Festival Productions Inc. to Festival Network LLC and took on a more limited role at Newport. Six years later, he established the nonprofit Newport Festivals Foundation to oversee the summertime events. I want the festivals to go on forever, Wein told The Associated Press at the time. With me its not a matter of business. This is my life. ___ Associated Press writer Michelle R. Smith contributed from Providence, Rhode Island. Former AP writer Charles J. Gans also contributed to this report. Bay Area school districts arent following L.A.s lead on requiring coronavirus vaccinations and testing for students and staff. More Bay Area restaurants are closing for mental health breaks. And with rapid at-home COVID tests hard to find in the Bay Area, heres what to look for, and where. Resources on COVID-19 and Californias reopening: For detailed maps and new city-by-city Bay Area data, check out The Chronicles Coronavirus Tracker. To get regular updates on our coverage, sign up for our coronavirus newsletter. Latest updates: More than $1 billion of COVID rent and utility assistance allocated in California: The states COVID-19 Rent Relief Program will hit a milestone of distributing more than $1 billion in funding on Monday, Gov. Gavin Newsoms office announced. More than $526 million of that has gone toward rental and utility assistance to low-income households who suffered financial hardship because of the pandemic. In just six months, we have provided essential assistance to more than 44,000 households to keep families safely housed, said Newsom in a statement. The governors office said more than 243,000 applications were received for the program with more than $2.2 billion in rent and utility assistance requested. More than 243,000 children infected with COVID-19 last week: There were 243,373 child COVID-19 cases reported in the United States for the week ending Sep. 9, according to the latest tally from the American Academy of Pediatrics. Children represented 28.9% of the total weekly reported cases in the country. Over two weeks, the number marks a 10% jump in the cumulated number of child COVID-19 cases since the beginning of the pandemic. However, the number of weekly cases dipped for the first time since July 1, as there were 251,781 cases were reported last week. Childrens hospitalizations and deaths remain low in the states reporting. Israel preparing to deliver fourth vaccine doses: In an effort to eliminate breakthrough infections and slow virus transmission, the countrys top health official said Sunday that it is preparing to deliver another round of booster shots. Vaccines fade over time, and after six months significant decline, people become infected even after two vaccines, Health Ministry Director-General Nachman Ash said in a radio interview. He said he did not know how long the third jabs would extend immunity but that officials are hoping that it is longer than the six months of the initial two doses. Vaccines for 5- to 11-year-olds could be available by Halloween: Pfizer expects to submit data on its vaccine for children between 5-11 by the end of September and could get approval from the Food and Drug Administration by the end of October, board member Dr. Scott Gottlieb told CBSs Face the Nation Sunday. FDA officials said Friday that the agency is prepared to complete its review as quickly as possible, likely in a matter of weeks rather than months. I interpret that to mean perhaps four weeks, maybe six weeks. But I think in a best-case scenario, given that timeline theyve just laid out, you could potentially have a vaccine available to children aged five to 11 by Halloween, Gottlieb said. Not so fast on boosters, international experts say in new paper: In a counterpoint to the Biden administrations push for starting to roll out booster shots this month to people who are vaccinated, a group of international experts, including two outgoing FDA officials who have been leading the review of vaccine use, argue against boosters for the general population. The group published a paper Monday in the Lancet, stating: Careful and public scrutiny of the evolving data will be needed to assure that decisions about boosting are informed by reliable science more than by politics. Even if boosting were eventually shown to decrease the medium-term risk of serious disease, current vaccine supplies could save more lives if used in previously unvaccinated populations than if used as boosters in vaccinated populations. Facing immense pandemic burnout, more Bay Area restaurants are closing for mental health breaks: A wave of Bay Area restaurants and pop-ups have recently closed temporarily to give time off to overworked employees feeling the mental and physical drain of working during the pandemic. Businesses that never closed for extensive breaks before shut down despite high demand and a need to make up for pandemic-inflicted losses. Read the full story. Drought Map Track water shortages and restrictions across Bay Area Check the water shortage status of your area, plus see reservoir levels and a list of restrictions for the Bay Areas largest water districts. A Bay Area transit service is booming after adding more service on the weekends: When the San Francisco Bay Ferry increased service beyond pre-pandemic levels in July, it did so by discounting rides and beefing up the number of its weekend trips offered, in favor of the peak-hour weekday service that used to make up much of its ridership. Two months later, the service increases seem to be paying off. Read the full story. U.S . support grows for vaccine mandates in the workplace: The results of a poll published by CNN Monday suggest that a growing number of Americans are supportive of vaccine mandates, particularly in workplaces. About 54% of the polls respondents said they support vaccine mandates for office workers, and 55% said they support vaccine requirements for students attending class in-person. Support for vaccine mandates has risen since April, CNN said. U.S. vaccine mandates appropriate, surgeon general says: U.S. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy appeared on Sunday morning news shows to defend President Joe Bidens new COVID-19 vaccine mandates, saying they are ambitious and thoughtful and within the administrations legal authority, the New York Times reported. The requirements announced Thursday for either vaccination or weekly testing extend to 17 million health care workers in Medicare- and Medicaid-funded institutions, and to 80 million people employed by private companies with more than 100 employees. Republican critics have called the mandates unconstitutional and threatened legal challenges. What will flu be like in the Bay Area this fall? The severe flu season that experts feared last year during the height of the coronavirus pandemic fizzled in the face of worldwide lockdowns and masking. But influenza harsh and sometimes deadly could loom again this fall now that California schools, restaurants, bars and even conventions are in business again. And experts say that because the flus symptoms are so similar to COVID-19, people are facing a season of worry. Read the full story. BOISE, Idaho (AP) More than 1,000 protesters gathered Monday in Boise during a visit by President Joe Biden to rail against his plan to bring the coronavirus pandemic under control, last year's presidential election and a host of other issues. Biden visited Boise as part of a swing through three Western states to promote his administration's use of a wartime law to aid in wildfire preparedness, survey wildfire damage and push his economic agenda. He arrived at the National Interagency Fire Center in Boise late Monday morning to meet with fire officials and Idaho Gov. Brad Little, a Republican. Lisa Mitchell, 65, of Middleton, Idaho, said she showed up to demonstrate because she doesnt believe the 2020 election was valid and thinks former President Donald Trump actually won. Im here to support Trump and stand for freedom, said Mitchell, who was wearing a Trump won 2020 sticker. Biden, Mitchell added, is "is in there illegally. Though some of former President Donald Trump's most fervent supporters believe his continued claims that the presidential election was stolen, there is no evidence of widespread fraud and Republican and Democratic election officials certified the election as valid. Courts have also repeatedly rejected lawsuits claiming the election was tainted. About a half-dozen Boise police officers were stationed at the entrance to the National Interagency Fire Center and other law enforcement officers patrolled the area on motorcycles. Police estimated the number of protesters to be at least 1,000 at its peak. The complex that houses the center is generally closed to the public and the protesters gathered outside its entrance. Many protesters carried expletive-laden signs or waved U.S. flags hung upside down as a signal of distress. Biden was also scheduled to visit Sacramento, California, and Denver during the two-day trip and will campaign in California for Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom, who faces a recall election on Tuesday. His administration last month activated the Defense Production Act to boost supplies from a U.S. Forest Service firefighting equipment supplier. Wildfire activity has been growing increasingly extreme across the West. Scientists say climate change has made the region much warmer and drier in recent decades and that it will continue to make wildfires and weather more extreme and destructive. Among the demonstrators was Chris Burns, of Boise, who said he attended the protest because I'm against everything Biden is for. Burns said he was irate over the president's sweeping new vaccine mandates for 100 million Americans announced last Thursday. The vaccine requirement says that all employers with more than 100 workers must require them to be vaccinated or test workers for the virus weekly. Workers at health facilities that receive federal Medicare or Medicaid will also have to be fully vaccinated, as well as employees of the executive branch and contractors who do business with the federal government. He's acting like a dictator, Burns said of Biden. Idaho has one of the lowest vaccination rates in the United States and the state's health care system is in danger of buckling as the delta variant sends COVID-19 case numbers skyrocketing. One in every 210 Idaho residents tested positive for COVID-19 within the past week, and the average number of daily new cases has increased by nearly 70% in the past two weeks. Idaho reached a record high with 613 patients hospitalized with COVID-19 on Wednesday, according to the most recent numbers available from the Idaho Department of Health and Welfare. Last week, state officials gave hospitals in northern Idaho permission to operate under crisis standards of care, a health care rationing measure intended to ensure that scarce resources such as hospital beds are first given to those most likely to benefit from treatment or survive. But opposition to wearing masks, social distancing and getting vaccinated remains high across the conservative and overwhelmingly Republican state. I don't think anybody should be forced to put something in their body, said Michelle Ballon, of Caldwell, as she held a sign saying that forced vaccines are medical rape." Several far-right groups leveraged Biden's trip as a way to show their opposition to his administration. Among them was the far-right Idaho Liberty Dogs, whose members frequently protest events heavily armed while wearing militia-style clothing. The group had promoted an Unwelcoming of Joe Biden in Boise protest. Miste Gardner-Karlfeldt, the director of the anti-vaccine group Health Freedom Idaho, also urged followers to protest Bidens arrival. Some members of the Peoples Rights organization founded by anti-government activist and far-right gubernatorial candidate Ammon Bundy also said they planned to protest Bidens arrival. Idaho GOP Rep. Tammy Nichols urged residents to attend a Trump Rally at the National Interagency Fire Center. And Dan McKnight, a military veteran and founder of Bring Our Troops Home, an organization that advocated for the end of the war in Afghanistan, promoted a protest called Biden Killed Americans. Drought Map Track water shortages and restrictions across Bay Area Check the water shortage status of your area, plus see reservoir levels and a list of restrictions for the Bay Areas largest water districts. Several of Idahos GOP gubernatorial candidates also seized on Bidens trip as a way to try to distinguish themselves in the crowded field. Ed Humphreys, a GOP gubernatorial candidate who has made fighting against vaccine mandates part of his campaign, announced last week that he would host a Traitor Joe is not welcome in Idaho rally. Idaho Lt. Gov. Janice McGeachin, who is also running for governor and has argued against masking rules and other efforts to slow the spread of coronavirus, called on Little, the governor, to uninvite the president. Little also announced last week that he was working with the states attorney general to fight Bidens vaccine mandate through the legal system. During the briefing inside the National Interagency Fire Center, Biden said global warming is a serious problem and told wildland firefighters that the nation owed it to them to ensure they have the equipment they need for firefighting. It's not a Democrat thing, it's not a Republican thing, it's a weather thing, Biden said. Biden also talked about raising wages for federal firefighters and other strategies to deal with wildfires. Little said the group should address what federal and other partners can do to build a more resilient ecosystem and to prevent dangers that firefighters face. Weve got a lot of work to do, Little said. Biden said that he once applied for a job at the Idaho-based Boise Cascade forest products company because he and his late first wife Neilia wanted to move to Idaho. ___ This story has been updated to correct the slogan on a sticker worn by Lisa Mitchell. The sticker says, Trump won 2020, not Trump Women 2020. BERLIN (AP) In the second of three pre-election debates, the frontrunner to replace Angela Merkel as German chancellor faced tough questions Sunday over whether his ministry had a role in obstructing money-laundering probes. Olaf Scholz of the center-left Social Democrats, who is currently Germany's finance minister, denied his office was being directly investigated by prosecutors who carried out searches last week at the country's finance and justice ministries. The attack came from his closest rival, Armin Laschet of the center-right Union bloc, who followed up with salvos over two other financial scandals that have raised questions about Scholz's oversight in his roles as minister and previously mayor of Hamburg. If my finance minister were to work the way you do, we'd have a serious problem, Laschet told Scholz. The first debate two weeks ago was widely called for Scholz, whose party has taken the lead in recent opinion polls, ahead of Laschet's Union bloc. Merkel, who chose not to run for a fifth term, said this week that her Union bloc always expected to have to fight to retain power after her 16 years in office. Much of Sundays debate was devoted to substantive issues, including the parties' policies on housing, health, pensions, taxation and immigration. Despite seeing her party slip in the polls, Green party candidate Annalena Baerbock largely refrained from personal attacks on her rivals and focused instead on her signature issues of social justice and reduction of greenhouse gas emissions. The next government is the last one that can still actively influence the climate crisis, said Baerbock, arguing that Germany needs to bring forward its deadline for phasing out coal from 2038 to 2030. Laschet defended Merkel's 2015 decision to leave Germany's borders open to hundreds of thousands of people fleeing war and persecution in Syria and elsewhere, but refused to disown a candidate who has polarized members of his own party with anti-immigrant comments. Drought Map Track water shortages and restrictions across Bay Area Check the water shortage status of your area, plus see reservoir levels and a list of restrictions for the Bay Areas largest water districts. Scholz, who is seen by many as the continuity candidate despite belonging to a different party than Merkel, pitched himself as the leader who would build on the sense of solidarity seen during the coronavirus pandemic, by raising the minimum wage and guaranteeing stable pensions for decades to come in part by reintroducing a wealth tax for the richest in Germany. The third and final debate takes place Sept. 23, three days before the election. Slightly over 60 million Germans will elect a new parliament Sept. 26. The party with the most seats will seek to form a coalition government and gets its candidate elected as chancellor by lawmakers. ___ Follow APs coverage of Germanys election at https://apnews.com/hub/germany-election WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. (AP) A North Carolina man shot this weekend while sitting on his porch has died, police said Sunday. Timothy Lee Jackson, 58, of Winston-Salem, died at Wake Forest Baptist Hospital after being shot in the torso outside his home Saturday evening, Winston-Salem police said in a news release. GENEVA (AP) The United Nations drummed up more than $1.2 billion in emergency pledges Monday for helping 11 million Afghans facing an escalating humanitarian crisis in their homeland and millions more elsewhere in the region as the U.N. human rights chief voiced concerns about the Talibans first steps in establishing power in the beleaguered and impoverished country. At the first high-level conference on Afghanistan since the Taliban took power a month ago, Western governments, big traditional donors and others announced pledges that went beyond the $606 million that the United Nations was seeking to cover costs through the end of the year for protecting Afghans from looming humanitarian disaster. U.N. humanitarian chief Martin Griffiths announced at the close of the ministerial meeting that more than $1.2 billion in humanitarian and development aid had been pledged. He said this included the $606 million sought in a flash appeal but also a regional response to the Afghan crisis that U.N. refugee chief Filippo Grandi spoke about after arriving in Kabul on a previously unannounced visit. He wrote on Twitter that he would assess humanitarian needs and the situation of 3.5 million displaced Afghans, including over 500,000 displaced this year alone. Officials at the U.N. refugee agency, UNHCR, have expressed concerns that more Afghans could take refuge into neighboring Pakistan and Iran, which both already have large numbers of Afghans who fled their country during the past decades of war. Griffiths urged donors to turn Mondays pledges into cash contributions as fast as possible, saying the funding will throw a lifeline to Afghans who lack food, health care and protection. He said the meeting showed solidarity with the Afghan people but added that Afghanistan faces a long and hard road ahead and this is far from the end of the journey. It is feared Afghanistan could further plunge toward famine and economic collapse after the chaos of the past month, which saw the Taliban oust the government in a lightning sweep as U.S. and NATO forces exited the 20-year war. The people of Afghanistan need a lifeline, U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said at the opening of the conference. After decades of war, suffering and insecurity, they face perhaps their most perilous hour. Now is the time for the international community to stand with them. And let us be clear, this conference is not simply about what we will give to the people of Afghanistan. It is about what we owe. He said one in three Afghans dont know where their next meal will come from, the poverty rate is spiraling and basic public services are nearing collapse. A severe drought is jeopardizing the upcoming harvest, and hunger has been rising. The U.N.s World Food Program says Afghans are growing increasingly short of cash to buy food, the majority of which like wheat flour is imported. Frozen foreign exchanges and a paralyzed state budget have stripped people of the money they need just as food and fuel prices have risen. As with many other U.N.-led donor conferences, some countries injected more funds, while others highlighted commitments already made. German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas announced plans for Germany to pour 500 million euros ($590 million) into Afghanistan and its neighboring countries, but specifics were not immediately provided. Denmark said it would give an extra $38 million and Norway promised $11.5 million. At the same time, officials suggested aid in the future could be affected by how the Taliban rules. Linda Thomas-Greenfield, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, said the U.S. was committed to providing humanitarian assistance for and supporting Afghans, and would add $64 million in new assistance for U.N. and partner organizations. That brings the U.S. total for Afghanistan to $330 million in this fiscal year, she said. We need oral and written commitments made by the Taliban about operating rights of humanitarian agencies and the treatment and rights of minority groups, women and girls to be upheld, she said by video message. Words are not good enough. We must see action. The international community is unified in this message. Germanys Maas, speaking to the Human Rights Council also in Geneva, said the world has a moral obligation to help Afghans. But he also said the level of the Talibans respect for human rights, particularly of women and girls, would be a benchmark for us and our partners in determining our future engagement with a new Afghan government. He criticized the Talibans decision to exclude other groups from their recently announced interim government, saying it was not the right signal for international cooperation and stability. Drought Map Track water shortages and restrictions across Bay Area Check the water shortage status of your area, plus see reservoir levels and a list of restrictions for the Bay Areas largest water districts. The world has been watching closely to see how Afghanistan under a Taliban government might be different from the first time the Islamic militants were in power from 1996 to 2001. During that era, the Taliban imposed a harsh rule by their interpretation of Islamic law. Girls and women were denied an education and were excluded from public life. Initially after seizing power Aug. 15, the Taliban promised inclusiveness and a general amnesty for former opponents. But many Afghans remain deeply fearful, particularly because of early Taliban moves. The group formed an all-male, all-Taliban government despite saying initially they would invite broader representation. Taliban police officials have beaten Afghan journalists and violently dispersed womens protests. The U.N. human rights chief, Michelle Bachelet, warned of a new and perilous phase for Afghanistan as she upbraided the Taliban for a disconnect between their words and actions. Speaking to the rights council, she said her office has received credible allegations of reprisal killings by the Taliban of former Afghan security forces as well as instances in which officials in the previous government and their relatives were arbitrarily detained and later turned up dead. Bachelet cited multiple allegations of Taliban forces conducting house-to-house searches looking for specific officials in the previous government and people who cooperated with U.S. forces and companies. She said that over the last three weeks, women have been progressively excluded from the public sphere, in contradiction to Taliban assertions to respect womens rights. ___ Associated Press writer James Keaten reported this story in Geneva and AP writer Edith M. Lederer reported from the United Nations. AP writers Munir Ahmed in Islamabad and Rahim Faiez in Istanbul contributed to this report. Im feeling nervous but cautiously optimistic about the recall vote. I voted no on the recall and threw away the second vote by writing in Gov. Gavin Newsom. I think hes done a great job, considering the situation. Hes working on a lot of ambitious policies that I support, and he is a leader in helping the state through COVID-19. The French Laundry incident, while problematic, isnt a recallable offense in my opinion. Im also angry with Republicans and the recall system itself. Republicans are just using it to get around the fact that they cannot win an election on their merits. They dont have any real policies that would solve the problems we face and are too busy waging culture wars to create any beyond saying taxes and government are bad. I also think the recall system itself is highly problematic. Why should the governor be excluded from the second question at all? And why is it OK for someone who gets a plurality that is less than the number of votes received on the first question to become governor? It feels both stupid and unfair, especially considering he has a year left. Maria Piper, Alameda Change the process I voted no on the recall. I think Gov. Gavin Newsom has done an OK job. I resent this process as it is essentially rule by minority. We need to change it so thats if a governor is recalled, the lieutenant governor takes his/her place. The ballot was extremely easy to understand and a Newsom loss would most likely have a long term undemocratic effect. I found your question about what the Legislature should do if Newsom wins amusing. Proposing that it is a choice between solving problems that exist ... delta, housing, wildfires and taking steps to prevent scenarios like this from happening again ... is amusing. Can they walk and chew gum at the same time? Surely this experience warrants attention. Carolyn Moore, Healdsburg Instigated by GOP With regard to your request for thoughts and opinions on the gubernatorial recall, I dont consider it to be a referendum on Gov. Newsoms performance or administration at all. Rather Republicans in California and the nation cynically contrived and instigated it as a power play because they can, the thresholds for recalls are too low in the state, and of course Republican policies (anti-government, anti-immigrant, white privilege, oligarchy, anti-science, misogynistic, anti-public health, anti-middle class and poor, and so on) are repugnant to anyone with critical thinking, morality and common sense. The GOP instead values contrived grievance, mendacity, hypocrisy, and blatant and dog whistle racism. The real question is why anyone with half a brain would identify with what is left of the Republican Party and its brand in the first place. Thankfully, we live in a state of relatively enlightened and informed people sufficient in numbers whereby the Republican Party is headed to its grave, and none too soon. The recall is yet another desperate attempt to forestall its deserved demise. Too bad we cant put the demise of Republican politics on a ballot to terminate the utter bullshit it has come to be. Bill Shoe, Redwood City Satisfied with vote I voted early against Gov. Gavin Newsoms recall. The ballot was easy to recall except a little trouble finding Democratic alternative candidates. Im quite satisfied my vote will be understood because I only voted to keep Newsom. I did so after reading advice that choosing a replacement hurt Newsoms chance of success. Only later did I read advice that to choose a Democratic alternative was better. I regretted voting so quickly. Newsoms removal would be an immense loss to the United States, not just California. He is an obvious rising Democratic star, as plausible to eventually run for president as Vice President Kamala Harris has been since she first won elective office. So this Republican-run attack is not just to remove him but to sabotage him politically before his star shines any brighter. It also is a Republican test of Californians focus on one leaders performance versus the underlying values he represents that make him consistently electable to each higher-profile position. And its a test of our gullibility. Dale Mead, Albany A clear power grab Of course, I voted no on the recall because I see it as a blatant attempt by the Republicans to grab power. Gavin Newsom is not perfect, and he has made some mistakes, but none of these mistakes warrant a recall. The ballot was fairly easy to understand, and I am very confident that my vote will be counted in the manner I intended. I left question number two blank on principle because I do not agree with the notion that a sitting governor can be replaced just because some people do not agree with his policies. A Newsom loss would be a total disaster not just for California but for the whole of the United States. It would mean that Americans once again have bought into the the idea that fixing the economy is more important than saving lives . I really think it would be the beginning of the end for democracy. Many experts seem to believe that we are faced with so many problems that we may not be able to tackle all of them at once. I propose we look at a more holistic approach to these problems since they are interrelated and intertwined. Myokyaw Myint, San Jose Ramifications for loss I voted no on the recall, with equal reasons for the no vote. Gov. Gavin Newsom has done a good enough job addressing the pandemic, with the exceptions of enjoying an elegant lunch otherwise prohibited and changing the rules of COVID-19 behavior too often. My second, and just as important, reason is that it was a blatant attempt to disturb what should be an orderly elective process. I hope that were the tables reversed and a Republican governor was on a recall ballot with no glaring errors in his/her governing and with an official gubernatorial election around the corner, I would also vote no. A Newsom loss has ramifications, not just for the future of California. If the replacement governor is in a position whereby s/he needs to name a second senator from California, the chances are 100% that the new senator would tilt the Senate chamber to a Republican majority. If the state Legislature is unwilling to change the way a recall is structured, can it at least put a time limitation on the effort, so that an expensive recall is not so close to a general election? Elizabeth Roepke, Hillsborough Voting for recall Gov. Gavin Newsom has made the recall election about executive mandates. We need to send a message. We do not want to be governed by executive order at either the federal or state level. If we do then we should fire all legislators and save the money spent on them. I switched parties because former President Donald Trump abused this power only to watch Democrats double down on this abuse. You may think its great when they do what you want, but now we have seen both sides. That should show the danger of this form of governing. Send the message Tuesday. Vote to recall, and hope it sends a message for next years election. George Boling, Fortuna, Humboldt County Dont assume victory I voted no on the recall because I recognize the whole charade for what it is and where it came from, and because of the out-of-state propaganda dollars being spent to pay for it. The former president loves chaos, and sows it freely to sidetrack any meaningful context and content. Dec. 6 was the prime example; firing up very dissatisfied people with his pseudo promises to Make America Great Again, provided he is back in office. I think his niece has him pegged quite well: Narcissism with a capital N. And yes, I feel the ballot was very clear; my only hope is that those who want Gov. Gavin Newsom to stay in office, realize just how fragile and slim this yes/no counterbalance is. Dont I repeat dont assume his victory is a done deal. Vote no. Before Sept. 14. If you agree with what Ive said, make very sure you set fire to any/all friends, relatives and acquaintances who have been blase and just skipped voting. Because its that critical. A Newsom recall would be a loss for most Californians. Dan Dippery, Menlo Park A corrupt process I oppose recalls on principle, so I voted no. The process is corrupt. Demonstration of egregious illegal behavior should be required before a recall can be initiated (as determined by trial). At the least, those proposing the recall should have to pay for the cost. To minimize foul motives from political opposition, lieutenant governor should replace the expelled officer, and regular elections follow. Recalls are a popularity contest. Running government is a hugely serious job and none of the contenders are qualified to hold this position. Larry Elder? Really? The recall is a political power grab by Republicans who dont think they can win any other way but through rigging the contest. I believe that Gov. Gavin Newsom, like any other human being, has made some mistakes. That said, he has led this fine and powerful state through some of the greatest challenges of our generation, with intelligence, compassion and wisdom. Public service is a minefield and we should be grateful that any person with integrity wants to govern. I pray he will prevail in this ignoble strategy to divert California from its course in facing climate change, homelessness, health care and so many other vital issues confronting our people. Jan Bramlett, Arcata, Humboldt County San Francisco Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone appealed to Gov. Gavin Newsom to stop a bill that allows a statue of Father Junipero Serra to be permanently removed from the state Capitol grounds in Sacramento. The statue of the founder of Californias mission system was removed by protesters in July 2020 and has been in storage ever since. Last month, the state Legislature passed a bill to replace the statue with a monument to Sacramento-area Native American tribes. The bill, approved by the Senate on a 28-2 vote, now awaits Newsoms signature. Father Serra was in fact the founder of California and in his work here educating and evangelizing the native population did what he could to protect them and educate them, Cordileone told The Chronicle Monday in a phone call. That statue is at the state Capitol which is the most appropriate place for Father Serra to be honored. In an opinion article published in the Wall Street Journal on Monday, Cordileone and Los Angeles Archbishop Jose H. Gomez implored the governor not to sign the bill. The piece described Serra as a complex character, but he defended indigenous peoples humanity, decried the abuse of indigenous women, and argued against imposing the death penalty on natives who had burned down a mission and murdered one of his friends. It also quoted a passage from the Assemblys version of the bill written by Assembly Member James Ramos, D-Highland (San Bernadino County), the first Native American elected to the legislature. Enslavement of both adults and children, mutilation, genocide, and assault on women were all part of the mission period initiated and overseen by Father Serra, it read. That rhetoric is just not true, Cordileone said to The Chronicle. There was a lot of death largely due to disease for which the native population did not have immunity. That was not Father Serras fault. The abuse of the Indians came largely from the Spanish soldiers not the missionaries. There was corporal punishment but that was the standard of the time. In the opinion article, Cordileone and Gomez, state that they are for the proposed statue of Native Americans but suggest that the two monuments can exist side by side at the Capitol Park. Reached Monday at his district office in San Bernadino County, Ramos described the op-ed as a paternal approach to telling Indian people, Let me tell you your own history. The archbishop is trying to paint a picture that has been romanticized in the state. What we need is a true perspective of what happened to the California Indian people during the missionary era. Even the pope apologized in 2015 for the colonization of Native Americans. As to the idea of having two monuments, he said, Are you talking about side by side statues at every Serra monument throughout the state of California? There are thousands of them. What we are talking about in this bill is one statue that already came down, and replacing it with a monument to the Miwok and Nisenan people. It is their territory that that statue stood on in Sacramento. The bill was co-sponsored by Assembly Member Phil Ting of San Francisco. I respect the Catholic Church and recognize the importance of Californias missions to their faith and our states history. However, we cannot overlook the fact that Father Serra built those missions on the backs of Native Americans - many of whom were mistreated and abused, Ting said by email. Now that the monument has been removed from Capitol Park, its time to find another home for it. Sam Whiting is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: swhiting@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @samwhitingsf NEW YORK (AP) Stocks that traded heavily or had substantial price changes Monday: Spirit AeroSystems Holdings Inc., up $1.80 to $39.94. The Biden administration is providing $482 million to aviation industry manufacturers to help avert job or pay cuts in the pandemic. Itamar Medical Ltd., up $9.61 to $30.25. Zoll Medical is buying the medical device and digital health company for $538 million. Regenxbio Inc., up $10.32 to $43.40. The biotechnology company is collaborating with AbbVie on eye-condition treatments. Dynavax Technologies Corp., down $2.81 to $14.74. Britain canceled an order for 100 million doses of COVID-19 vaccine from the biotechnology company's partner Valneva. TransUnion, down $2.52 to $120.71. The credit reporting company is buying data services company Neustar for $3.1 billion. Hess Corp. up $3.62 to $71.39. Oil and gas prices rose and helped lift energy company stocks. Dexcom Inc., down $8.95 to $540.43. Chief operating officer Quentin Blackford is resigning. Canadian Pacific Railway Ltd., up 1 cent to $68.55. Kansas City Southern has accepted a $31 billion buyout bid from the railroad. More than 7 million ballots in the Gavin Newsom recall election have already been received by California elections officials ahead of the Sept. 14 election date. Every registered voter was mailed a ballot, and the first results will be posted once polls close Tuesday at 8 p.m. Just how long it will take before we know whether Newsom survived the recall largely depends on how close the race is, as most of California's biggest counties will not be done counting by the end of the night Tuesday. If the race is close, it may take several days before we know the final outcome. Current polls indicate Newsom has a healthy lead, but there are reasons to be at least somewhat skeptical of polling. SFGATE reached out to California's 12 most populous counties Los Angeles, San Diego, Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino, Santa Clara, Alameda, Sacramento, Contra Costa, Fresno, Kern and San Francisco and asked how election administrators will count and report ballots. Only Riverside and Alameda did not respond. Here's what each county said about how it will be counting votes, ordered by population. Los Angeles Los Angeles will release at least three "sets" of election results. The first, which will be released sometime after polls close after 8 p.m. on Election Day, will contain mail ballots received prior to Election Day. The second will be all in-person ballots cast during the 10-day early voting period leading up to Sept. 14, and the third will be all in-person ballots cast on Election Day itself. Late-arriving ballots (any ballot postmarked on Sept. 14 and received within seven days of Election Day will be counted) will be added to the tally "throughout the official election canvass," the county's elections office wrote in an email. San Diego San Diego said it would release its first update containing both mail ballots and early in-person votes shortly after polls close. For Election Day votes, a county spokesperson wrote in an email that such ballots "must be driven in from 221 voting locations across San Diego County," adding, "It may take us until 2 a.m. to get all the precinct ballot into the count for our final unofficial election night results." Late-arriving mail-in ballots and provisional ballots (when someone misses the Aug. 30 registration but conditionally registers at an in-person polling place) will be counted after that. All counties have 30 days to certify results, and San Diego County expects to "use every minute of the certification period to make sure every eligible vote is counted and the results are accurate." Orange Like Los Angeles, Orange will report only mail-in ballots in its first report of results. The county then plans to issue an update every 30 minutes "through the evening until all votes have been counted." Orange County officials believe that all ballots (with the exception of late-arriving mail ballots) will be counted by midnight on Election Day. San Bernardino While San Bernardino County started processing mail-in ballots in August, it did not start counting them until Sept. 7. (California's election laws state that counties can have machines read ballots 29 days before Election Day, but vote counts cannot be accessed or posted until polls close.) The county said that the results shared on election night will contain early-arriving mail ballots. Mail ballots dropped off on Election Day a subset the county said makes up a "significant portion of its voted mail ballots" will not be counted until the next day on Sept. 15. Santa Clara Santa Clara began tabulating ballots after the write-in candidate list was finalized Sept. 3. The county said it is unsure how long it will take to count all ballots once polls close, citing the fact that officials are not sure of when individuals will return their ballots. Sacramento Like Santa Clara, Sacramento started the tabulation process of mail ballots after the write-in candidate list was finalized. Elections officials expect the vast majority of ballots to come through the mail, as Election Day in-person voting is typically very limited in Sacramento County. Officials estimated that Election Day votes made up just 6% of total ballots cast in elections between 2018 and 2020. Contra Costa Contra Costa County will "ready" mail ballots in the weeks leading up to the election, but will not actually tabulate them until polls close on Election Day. County officials said they hope to include all mail ballots received through the Friday before Election Day in their initial report and are unsure how long it will take to count in-person votes. Fresno Fresno County started tabulating mail ballots Aug. 23 a week and a half ahead of the release of the approved write-in list on Sept. 3. The county said that in past elections, 40% of mail ballots have been dropped off on Election Day, and that by the end of Election Day, 60% of all results are tabulated. Kern Kern County estimated that 50% of its mail ballots are dropped off on Election Day, but like San Bernardino County, it will wait to count those until Sept. 15. "At a minimum I would expect between 36% and 43% of the total vote being counted after Election Day," a county spokesperson wrote in an email. Processing of early arriving mail ballots began Aug. 23. San Francisco San Francisco has already begun processing mail ballots and has also created a page outlining the reporting schedule for the election. "The Department will release the first preliminary summary report of election results at approximately 8:45 p.m." the page reads. "This report will provide the results from the vote-by-mail ballots that the Department received and processed before Election Day." "At approximately 9:45 p.m., the Department will release a second summary report of results. The second report will add the initial votes received from polling places to the votes reported in the first results report. At approximately 10:45 p.m., the Department will issue a third summary results report that will add more votes from polling places received since the previous report. After all polling places have reported, the Department will release a final summary report." Top infectious-disease expert Anthony S. Fauci says air travelers should get the coronavirus vaccine to fly. "I would support that if you want to get on a plane and travel with other people, that you should be vaccinated," he told theSkimm in an interview Friday. The news site posted a clip of the interview on social media with Fauci along with the caption: "Would you support vaccine mandates for airline travel?" The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases director spoke to the site for a podcast, which airs in full Thursday. In an interview Monday with The Washington Post, Fauci said he is supportive of a mandate, but isn't proposing it. He is President Joe Biden's chief medical adviser. "It's on the table; we haven't decided yet," he said. "But if the president said, 'You know, let's go ahead and do it,' I would be supportive of it." He pointed out that Biden last week said the Transportation Security Administration would double fines for those who refuse to wear masks in airports. "So he hasn't taken the step of mandating vaccines," he said. While Biden has not yet extended mandates to air travel, the administration last week announced widespread new vaccine requirements for businesses with more than 100 workers, certain health-care facilities and federal employees. Some airlines including United, Frontier and Hawaiian have required employees - but not passengers - to be fully vaccinated. Most cruise lines are going further, with vaccine requirements for crew and the vast majority of passengers. Australian airline Qantas is expected to become the first carrier to mandate vaccinations for passengers after CEO Alan Joyce's announcement last week. "Qantas will have a policy that internationally, we will only be carrying vaccinated passengers," Joyce said. U.S. Rep. Don Beyer, a Democrat from Virginia, introduced a bill last week that would require domestic air or Amtrak travelers to provide proof of vaccination or a negative coronavirus test. In news briefings last week, Biden administration officials did not suggest vaccine mandates for domestic flights were imminent - but also did not rule them out. "We are always looking at more we can do to protect and save lives," press secretary Jen Psaki said on Friday, the day after the new mandates were issued. "Obviously, he made a significant and bold announcement yesterday, so I don't have anything to predict or preview for you, but we'll continue to look for ways to save more lives." Jeff Zients, coordinator of the White House's covid-19 response team, pointed to the workplace mandates and TSA mask fines on Friday. "Overall, I think we have a very strong track record that shows we're pulling available levers to acquire vaccinations and we're not taking any measures off the table," he said. Airline executives have publicly cast doubt on the likelihood of vaccine mandates for domestic travel, though they said the requirements are typical for international flights. United CEO Scott Kirby said on MSNBC that such a mandate in the United States would be "logistically impractical." "I think it would require government response and government tracking to make that practical, and make it work, and so it's probably unlikely to happen domestically," he said. On "CBS This Morning," Delta CEO Ed Bastian was similarly dubious, saying he didn't see it happening in the country. "You also look at the logistical dilemma - we're carrying millions of people a week - of trying to figure out who's been vaccinated, who's not, who qualifies for an exemption," he said. "It would actually bottleneck the domestic travel system." And American Airlines CEO Doug Parker told the New York Times interview show Sway in early August that it would be "incredibly cumbersome" to implement a vaccine rule in the United States, "even if we decided that was something we wanted to do." "It wouldn't be physically possible to do without enormous delays in the airline system," he said. In his interview with The Washington Post, Fauci said he is, in general, "favorably disposed" to vaccine mandates given the number of eligible Americans who remain unvaccinated, which he put at 75 million. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, nearly 179 million people - 54% of the population - is fully vaccinated. "We're making headway, but not at the rate that I would like to see it," he said. "I would like to see us enter into the fall and the winter with the overwhelming majority of those 75 million people vaccinated." DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) Running late, the delivery driver threaded his motorcycle around lurching cars, speeding against time and traffic to satisfy a customers burger craving the day's last delivery in Dubai. Moments later, a car sideswiped him. The collision catapulted Mohammed Ifran off his bike and smashed him into the street, instantly killing the 21-year-old as he was delivering a meal worth some $8. After giving up farming in Pakistan, he had been working in Dubai as a contractor for Talabat, an online food delivery app popular in the United Arab Emirates. His family's only source of happiness, gone," said a fellow courier in the working-class district of Deira, who declined to give his name for fear of reprisals. Ifran's June death represents just one in a growing number of casualties among food delivery riders in Dubai, workers and advocates say, as the pandemic pushed millions of people indoors and accelerated a surge in app-based orders. The boom has transformed Dubais streets and stores and drawn thousands of desperate riders, predominantly Pakistanis, into the high-risk, lightly regulated and sometimes-fatal work. With most paid between $2 to $3 per delivery rather than a fixed salary, riders race in the scorching heat to keep pace with a relentless rush of orders. The conditions of couriers worldwide, long perilous, worsened during the pandemic as riders became essential to feeding cities and faced new risks of coronavirus exposure. But in Dubai, the United Arab Emirates glimmering sheikhdom that runs on low-paid migrant labor from Africa and Asia, the job can be particularly precarious. At the mercy of visa sponsors, workers in Dubai have few protections. To reduce cost, companies like London-based Deliveroo outsource bikes, logistics and responsibility to contracting agencies a labor pipeline that prevails across Gulf Arab states and can lead to mistreatment. For food delivery riders in the UAE, the issue of exploitation is usually on the part of the sponsor. Thats where people feel they're unable to change jobs or even to complain about working conditions, said Karen Young, a senior fellow at the Washington-based Middle East Institute. On Dubais streets, more than a dozen delivery riders interviewed said they knew of two or three co-workers killed every month. Memories of colleagues sprawled on the street in shredded uniforms and bloodied helmets remain vivid as they mount their bikes each morning, many said. Dubai police have not yet released a road crash count for 2020. Past tallies did not offer breakdowns for motorcycle deaths. Authorities declined to offer recent figures or comment on crash cases like Ifran's. Without an official number, advocates have scoured local media to gauge the work's hidden toll. One road safety activist, who spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of reprisals, collected press reports of at least 70 delivery riders hospitalized last year in Dubai, including 24 who died. The figure, although likely an undercount, is intense for Dubai during a year that kept most residents off the roads, he said. The entire country recorded 448 crash deaths in 2019. State-linked Emirati newspaper The National reported that 12 delivery drivers were killed during the city's lockdown in April alone, quoting a police official as saying, "When money comes into the equation, safety is put aside. Couriers in Dubai often lack protective gear and adequate safety training, industry experts said, with riders uneducated about critical motorcycle maneuvers like the blind-spot check. Helmets are often worn incorrectly. Contractors allocate just $27 a month for bike servicing a small sum for a bikes necessary oil changes and brake, tire and plug maintenance. In response to questions from The Associated Press, Dubais Roads and Transportation Authority said safety remains the government's top priority as it supports the delivery market's explosive growth. Authorities referred to recently announced regulations, including penalizing riders use of the fast lane, requiring cooling towels and reducing riding radius. Riders for two main companies, Deliveroo and Talabat described receiving limited insurance coverage from third-party contractors, with payouts often capped at a few hundred dollars with no death benefits or crash compensation. Several riders struck by cars on delivery trips said their contractors refused to foot hefty Dubai hospital bills, instead forcing them to fly back to Pakistan to pay for cheaper surgery. UAE-based Talabat, which saw its deliveries increase by 100% in the first half of the year, said the platform has a very high standard for rider training and ensures contractors provide insurance for medical care as required by law. The company, owned by Germany-based Delivery Hero, has introduced a taskforce of the best riders, it said, who help to ensure that our fleet across the UAE continue to adhere to the safety rules. Deliveroo said it has adjusted working hours to meet particularly high customer demand, and stressed that all riders provide their contractors with documentation, including insurance. "Our agency operators in each market work with Deliveroo to ensure quality standards," it said. Neither Deliveroo nor Talabat offered crash or fatality data for their contractors. London-based Deliveroo is valued at over $8 billion, while Talabat-owner Delivery Hero is valued at over $35 billion. Authorities transfer all riders injured in crashes to government-run hospitals, where doctors declined to comment. But workers at private hospitals said even they have seen a growing stream of food couriers with fractured limbs who fell from their bikes. Of course they're getting injured. They're overworked, dehydrated, exhausted, said Dr. Taimoor Tung at Dubais Orthopedics and Spine Hospital. One rider, Mohammed Asin, said he never would have left his family in Sialkot, Pakistan, to race through rounds as a Dubai deliveryman if it weren't for his childhood classmate, 22-year-old Hamed Shafiq, who rode for Talabat. He kept saying, Join me, this is the dream. We can make real money. Our families can have a better life, Asin said. On Feb. 16, Asin touched down in Dubai, moved in with Shafiq and signed up for Deliveroo, ready to live out the dream. The next day, his best friend was dead knocked off his bike by a car that swerved into his lane. Asin, however, keeps delivering to this day. ___ Follow Isabel DeBre on Twitter at www.twitter.com/isabeldebre Work on fixing San Francisco's beleaguered Millennium Tower will not resume any time soon after a new report found that the fix itself was likely causing further sinking. After abruptly tilting another inch over just a few weeks during construction in June and July, a temporary stop was put on all work on Aug. 23. Principal engineer on the project, Ronald Hamburger of Simpson Gumpertz and Heger, told SFGATE that the pause was intended for "two to four weeks." But no restart date is currently planned after San Francisco officials at the Department of Building Inspection asked the tower's management not to resume construction. The sudden drop of an inch on the Fremont Street side was observed after crews had drilled halfway down to bedrock to install new piles, and translates to 5 inches of lean on the 58th floor. Thirty-nine of the 52 new piles have so far been installed as part of the $100 million perimeter pile upgrade. "That moratorium has been effective in halting the construction-related settlement and tilting," Hamburger told SFGATE on Monday. "We are presently working to develop modified construction methods so that construction can safely proceed, while keeping DBI and their expert review panel informed of our plans." The city's request came after an engineering report revealed the buildings sinking stopped when the construction stopped, concluding that the construction likely caused the abrupt settling in July. The report also stated that the building is structurally safe. The letter from the DBI interim director Patrick ORiordan, first reported by the San Francisco Chronicle, stated, In the interest of all involved, please refrain from resuming construction." Doug Elmets, spokesperson for the Millennium Tower HOA, told SFGATE that no reversal in plans was made after receiving the letter. "There is no change in our plans and no orders from the DBI," Elmets said. Supervisor Aaron Peskin is now calling for a new independent review of the project. I would like there to be a pause until we know what were doing, and I think that construction should not resume until we can panel the best experts that this country has, Peskin told KPIX. Since its construction in 2009, the luxury high-rise where some condos sold for $10 million on opening has sunk 17 to 18 inches into the earth on the northwest corner. The blue-gray glassy modernist tower at 301 Mission Street is the tallest residential building in the city and won numerous engineering awards upon its construction. In May 2016 residents in the 58-story high-rise were informed that the main tower that housed their luxury condos was sinking. The foundation was built into deep, dense sand but not bedrock, unlike many downtown towers. (Though some other large downtown buildings are also constructed in the same way, including the Embarcadero Center, SFMOMA, the Marriott and 101 California.) The blame game and series of complex lawsuits began. The building's homeowners association sued the main contractor Webcor, and the developer Millennium Partners. The city of San Francisco also filed suit against the tower's developers. The developer blamed the problem on the Transbay Joint Powers Authority, which was responsible for construction of the neighboring Transbay Transit Center. All suits were later consolidated into a global agreement. The current fix on the tower is partly paid for as a portion of the settlement. In 2018, a solution to the building's tilt from Hamburger at Simpson Gumpertz and Heger was finally proposed and approved. "There has been no material harm to the building and it remains fully safe," Hamburger said. "Once pile installation is complete and load is transferred to the new piles, the building will experience substantial improvement and begin to recover some of the tilting that has occurred over the years." SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) California's recall on Tuesday will be the biggest election since Joe Biden became president, and its results may hint at the political trajectory of the country. In a state where Democrats outnumber Republicans 2-to-1, Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom is seen as having the upper hand in his bid to fend off the GOP-fueled recall. Republican talk show host Larry Elder is the leading Republican replacement. But California's recalls are like no other elections. Voters have to decide whether to recall the officeholder in this case, Newsom and then answer a second ballot question over who should be the replacement. This unorthodox process has had wild outcomes before it led to actor Arnold Schwarzenegger becoming governor in 2003. Five things to look for in Tuesday's unusual contest: CAN COVID-19 POLICY SAVE THE DEMOCRATS? The effort to recall Newsom began over his policies on immigration, crime and taxes but gained steam after he ordered restrictions to curb the pandemic and urged Californians to stay home and was caught going against his own guidance while dining with friends at one of the countrys most expensive restaurants. Republicans had hoped the recall would become a referendum on Californias chronic problems with crime, energy, homelessness and high housing prices. But the delta variant has kicked the coronavirus outbreak back to the top of issues the public is worried about. Newsom and his team sprung into action, trying to make the race instead a referendum on COVID-19 precautions like masking in schools and vaccine mandates. Democrats began warning that replacing Newsom with a Republican would turn California into another Florida a reference to how the Republican governor of that state, Ron DeSantis, has fought mask and vaccine mandates even as the virus has spiked there. Ace Smith, a top Newsom strategist, said the campaign has demonstrated that politicians shouldnt be timid on the coronavirus. The campaign seized on that and used it to literally create a very simple choice for voters, Smith said. Whether that choice pays off for Democrats could change the tenor of the national debate. Smith already says he thinks Democrats bracing for a traditionally tough midterm election next year because they're the party in power should be more aggressive touting sanity on public health. CAN THE GOP BROADEN ITS TENT? California is a rough place to be a Republican. The party hasn't won a statewide election since 2006, and Democrats have a legislative supermajority. Yet 2020 was a relatively good year for the GOP in California, as they won several congressional swing seats in Southern and Central California. Some analysts have seen signs in polling that Latinos, traditionally a key Democratic constituency in California, may have soured on Newsom. If that proves true, it would be part of a national trend that led Republican Donald Trump to gain significant ground among the demographic in his losing presidential campaign last year. Both parties will be watching Latinos and another significant California group, Asian Americans, for the slightest sign of GOP gains. WHAT SHOULD I KNOW ABOUT LARRY ELDER? A longtime conservative talk radio host, Larry Elder has become the unlikely face of the recall movement. He's the top-polling Republican among those vying to replace Newsom, and the governor's team has been happy to keep the sometimes-bombastic Elder in the spotlight, highlighting his support for Trump and opposition to vaccine mandates and abortion rights. Elder, who is Black, may be able to draw more young voters of different backgrounds into the GOP. But several Republicans think he'll alienate plenty of other voters. They fear he's given Newsom an easy target to make the recall a partisan referendum, one that Democrats will inevitably win. But there are questions about how willing Elder will be to accept the results of Tuesday's recall if Newsom staves off his ouster. Elder has begun to echo Trump by baselessly predicting that Newsom will win the recall only if Democrats engage in voter fraud. Elder said last week that his campaign has an integrity board, with lawyers ready to look into questions about possible fraud or other irregularities. People can contact his campaign through his website. I believe that there might very well be shenanigans, as there were in the 2020 election, he said, referring to Trumps disproven claims of massive voter fraud in his loss to Democrat Joe Biden. WHEN WILL WE KNOW WHAT HAPPENED? California's recalls are different than elections in other states, and so is the way California counts ballots. The state allows any ballot to count as long as it's postmarked by Election Day and received within seven days. So new votes are tallied late into the week and sometimes into the following week. The count itself is notoriously slow and can take more than a month before it's finalized. Most California Democrats vote by mail, and Republicans tend to vote in-person and have their ballots tallied faster. So whatever the results Tuesday night, they'll likely become more and more Democratic as the counting continues. WHAT WILL WE LEARN ABOUT THE MIDTERMS? The California recall is unlike most other elections, and definitely unlike the House and Senate elections coming next year. Republicans are hoping to win back Congress, as the opposition party often does in a midterm. The results of a recall election in one of the country's most Democratic states may not be the best way to figure out if that's going to happen. Still, California contains many congressional swing districts, particularly in Orange County and the Central Valley. Their performance in the recall may offer a hint of whether Democrats remain politically engaged in the post-Trump era and whether the GOP can win back voters who were turned off by Trump. Finally, the recall could provide a barometer about whether voters will reward politicians who are proactively implementing pandemic restrictions in an effort to help keep citizens safe or whether they will view them more as an infringement on their personal liberties. Whether Newsom's coronavirus argument wins over voters not just in the state's more liberal areas but also in its swing districts may be a good indicator on where 2022's 36 gubernatorial races are heading. Currently Reading Alert: First official election projection shows Norway heading to the left after eight years of a conservative government COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) Republicans and Democrats appeared closer to agreement Monday on a map of state legislative districts that could stand for the next 10 years, as a powerful new redistricting panel faced a looming Wednesday deadline. During a regional hearing in suburban Cleveland, members of the Ohio Redistricting Commission's GOP majority including state Auditor Keith Faber, Secretary of State Frank LaRose and Senate President Matt Huffman praised legislative Democrats' consultant, Chris Glassburn, for his work on a revised map aimed at garnering the support of both parties. Without bipartisan support, any map that the panel passes will only last four years and the painstaking redistricting process would have to be repeated. Faber said he appreciated Glassburn's expert testimony and explanations after having been laboring" with available mapping tools to try to find areas of compromise on a map of new Ohio House districts proposed by Republicans. LaRose echoed Faber's praise of Glassburn's grasp of the complex redistricting process. I really appreciate that you all have made what I consider a good-faith proposal here, one that leaves some room to do some work together, he said. But all was not entirely rosy at the event, with the crowd audibly groaning when LaRose suggested that Republicans and Democrats had been working collegially on the maps thus far. Sen. Sykes gaveled the group down. Please, please, please, he said. We have to respect each other. A group that monitors redistricting and works to reduce the drawing of political district lines that maximize partisan advantage, a process called gerrymandering, flunked that Ohio GOP's proposed Ohio House map in an analysis released earlier Monday. The Princeton Gerrymandering Project, working with the anti-corruption group RepresentUS, said its boundaries fell short of being fair when compared to a million simulated alternatives, delivering it a score of F. The analysis gave a better score of B to the Ohio Senate map that Republicans have proposed, which Glassburn also reworked and presented Monday. Analysts said the second map fared better because each Senate districts contains three House districts, diluting the partisan advantage. The two Democrats on the commission state Sen. Vernon Sykes, the panel's co-chair, and House Minority Leader Emilia Sykes, his daughter are in a distinct minority with only two of seven votes, but Ohio voters set up a new system that makes a 10-year map dependent on their support. Otherwise, under new map-drawing rules approved by Ohio voters, another map must be drawn in just four years. Regional hearings on the proposed maps continue Tuesday in Marietta and Columbus. BOSTON (AP) Apple released a critical software patch to fix a security vulnerability that researchers said could allow hackers to directly infect iPhones and other Apple devices without any user action. Researchers at the University of Toronto's Citizen Lab said the security issue was exploited to plant spyware on a Saudi activist's iPhone. They said they had high confidence that the worlds most infamous hacker-for-hire firm, Israels NSO Group, was behind that attack. The previously unknown vulnerability affected all major Apple devices iPhones, Macs and Apple Watches, the researchers said. NSO Group responded with a one-sentence statement saying it will continue providing tools for fighting terror and crime. It was the first time a so-called zero-click exploit one that doesn't require users to click on suspect links or open infected files has been caught and analyzed, the researchers said. They found the malicious code on Sept. 7 and immediately alerted Apple. The targeted activist asked to remain anonymous, they said. Were not necessarily attributing this attack to the Saudi government, said researcher Bill Marczak. Citizen Lab previously found evidence of zero-click exploits being used to hack into the phones of al-Jazeera journalists and other targets, but hasn't previously seen the malicious code itself. Although security experts say that average iPhone, iPad and Mac user generally need not worry such attacks tend to be limited to specific targets the discovery still alarmed security professionals. Malicious image files were transmitted to the activists phone via the iMessage instant-messaging app before it was hacked with NSOs Pegasus spyware, which opens a phone to eavesdropping and remote data theft, Marczak said. It was discovered during a second examination of the phone, which forensics showed had been infected in March. He said the malicious file causes devices to crash. Citizen Lab says the case reveals, once again, that NSO Group is allowing its spyware to be used against ordinary civilians. In a blog post, Apple said it was issuing a security update for iPhones and iPads because a maliciously crafted PDF file could lead to them being hacked. It said it was aware that the issue may have been exploited and cited Citizen Lab. In a subsequent statement, Apple security chief Ivan Krstic commended Citizen Lab and said such exploits are not a threat to the overwhelming majority of our users. He noted, as he has in the past, that such exploits typically cost millions of dollars to develop and often have a short shelf life. Apple didnt respond to questions regarding whether this was the first time it had patched a zero-click vulnerability. Users should get alerts on their iPhones prompting them to update the phone's iOS software. Those who want to jump the gun can go into the phone settings, click General then Software Update, and trigger the patch update directly. Citizen Lab called the iMessage exploit FORCEDENTRY and said it was effective against Apple iOS, MacOS and WatchOS devices. It urged people to immediately install security updates. Researcher John Scott-Railton said the news highlights the importance of securing popular messaging apps against such attacks. Chat apps are increasingly becoming a major way that nation-states and mercenary hackers are gaining access to phones, he said. And its why its so important that companies focus on making sure that they are as locked down as possible. The researchers said it also undermines NSO Group's claims that it only sells its spyware to law enforcement officials for use against criminals and terrorists and audits its customers to ensure it's not abused. If Pegasus was only being used against criminals and terrorists, we never would have found this stuff, said Marczak. Facebooks WhatsApp was also allegedly targeted by an NSO zero-click exploit. In October 2019, Facebook sued NSO in U.S. federal court for allegedly targeting some 1,400 users of the encrypted messaging service with spyware. In July, a global media consortium published a damning report on how clients of NSO Group have been spying for years on journalists, human rights activists, political dissidents, and people close to them, with the hacker-for-hire group directly involved in the targeting. Amnesty International said it confirmed 37 successful Pegasus infections based on a leaked targeting list whose origin was not disclosed. One case involved the fiancee of Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi just four days after he was killed in the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul in 2018. The CIA attributed the murder to the Saudi government. The recent revelations also prompted calls for an investigation into whether Hungarys right-wing government used Pegasus to secretly monitor critical journalists, lawyers and business figures. Indias parliament also erupted in protests as opposition lawmakers accused Prime Minister Narendra Modis government of using NSO Groups product to spy on political opponents and others. France is also trying to get to the bottom of allegations that President Emmanuel Macron and members of his government may have been targeted in 2019 by an unidentified Moroccan security service using Pegasus. Morocco, a key French ally, denied those reports and is taking legal action to counter allegations implicating the North African kingdom in the spyware scandal. SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (AP) Badlands National Park in South Dakota will build a new visitor center in the southeast section of the park, the National Park Foundation said Monday. The new visitor center will be located in the Cedar Pass section of the park, where wind and water have carved towering geological rock formations from the prairie. The center is planned to educate park visitors about the region's paleontological and geological resources, as well as the culture of the Oglala Sioux Tribe and Lakota People. Union workers, upset over the prospect of expanded weekend shifts, have manned picket lines at bottling and warehouse operations of Kentucky-based Heaven Hill Distillery, one of the world's largest bourbon producers. The walkout, in its third day Monday, involves about 420 members of United Food and Commercial Workers Local 23D. They voted overwhelmingly last week to reject a new five-year contract offer and formed picket lines Saturday at Heaven Hill's operations in Bardstown, Kentucky. Family-owned and operated Heaven Hill produces Evan Williams, one of the world's top-selling bourbons. Other Heaven Hill brands include Elijah Craig, Henry McKenna, Old Fitzgerald, Larceny and Parkers Heritage Collection. The dispute over weekend work is a sign of the bourbon industry's growing pains as it tries to keep up with increasing global demand. Heaven Hill signaled that it wanted to assign new hires to nontraditional schedules that would include weekend work, Local 23D President Matt Aubrey said in a phone interview Monday. The company was vague about how widespread the weekend shifts would be and how it would affect existing workers if weekend shifts could not be covered by new employees, he said. That raised a red flag with union workers and helped spur the walkout, Aubrey said. We know Heaven Hill is family owned. They tell these workers, Youre family, just like us. Youre our family, Aubrey said, adding that most workers have their own families. "If they get pushed on this nontraditional schedule, then thats going to take them away from their loved ones. The union said the company's contract offer also would remove a cap on health insurance premium increases, cut overtime and reduce take-home pay. Heaven Hill said its support of employees has been a source of pride since its founding. We have had productive conversations with the union for several months now regarding components of the contract, the company said in a statement. We will continue to collaborate with UFCW leadership toward passage of this top-of-class workforce package. Workers often spend long careers at Kentucky bourbon distilleries, and the jobs often attract multiple generations of families. Disputes flare up occasionally, and other strikes occurred in recent years at Jim Beam and Four Roses other iconic names in the bourbon sector. The bourbon industry has been on a long-running upward trajectory. Combined U.S. sales for bourbon, Tennessee whiskey and rye whiskey rose 8.2%, or $327 million, to $4.3 billion in 2020, despite plunging sales from bars and restaurants because of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Distilled Spirits Council of the United States reported early this year. Kentucky distilleries produce 95% of the world's bourbon supply, according to the Kentucky Distillers Association. BOSTON (AP) Those vying to become Boston's next mayor fanned out across the city Monday hoping to shake as many hands as possible ahead of Tuesdays preliminary election that will for the first time narrow the list of hopefuls to two candidates of color possibly both women. Acting Mayor Kim Janey, city councilors Annissa Essaibi George, Andrea Campbell and Michelle Wu, and John Barros, the citys former economic development chief, are all competing to be one of the two top vote-getters in the contest. Wu stopped by the citys Jamaica Plain neighborhood Monday while Janey began the day by greeting riders at the Ashmont subway stop in the citys Dorchester neighborhood and planned to reach out to voters later in the day along Blue Hill Avenue, which cuts through some of the citys traditionally Black neighborhoods. Campbell planned an evening rally in the citys South End neighborhood. The other candidates and their supporters also spread out across the city trying to drum up votes. All the candidates are Democrats. Mayoral races in Boston do not include party primaries. The two top candidates on Tuesday will face off against each other on Nov. 2. The election will mark a sharp break in the city's political and cultural history. During its long history, Boston has only elected white men as mayor. Wus parents immigrated to the United States from Taiwan. Janey and Campbell are Black. Essaibi George describes herself as a first generation Arab-Polish American. Barros is of Cape Verdean descent. Wu has held a lead over the other top four candidates in a number of recent polls, setting up a scramble for the second spot if Wus lead holds. Janey became the first Black Bostonian and first woman to occupy the citys top office after former Mayor Marty Walsh stepped down earlier this year to become President Joe Bidens labor secretary. Janey has raised the most campaign cash this year, bringing in more than $1.5 million since January, according to the Office of Campaign and Political Finance. Campbell and Wu are close behind, having both raised close to $1.5 million since January. Essaibi George has raised more than $1.3 million. Barros, who has struggled to gain traction in the race, has raised more than $640,000. The contest is the first preliminary election in the citys history to allow mail-in voting. The contest also allowed for early voting last week. Voters who hadnt yet mailed their ballot should vote in person because there isnt enough time for the vote to be counted, Massachusetts Secretary of the Commonwealth William Galvin said Monday. Fifteen cities and towns, including Boston, will host preliminary elections Tuesday, Galvin said. SAN FRANCISCO (AP) A popular California ski resort whose name included a derogatory term for Native American women changed its name to Palisades Tahoe Monday. Resort officials had begun searching for a new name last year amid a reckoning over racial injustice. The renaming of Squaw Valley Ski Resort is one of many efforts nationally to address a history of colonialism and oppression against Native Americans and other people of color that includes removing statues of Christopher Columbus. The word squaw, derived from the Algonquin language, may have once simply meant woman, but over generations, the word morphed into a misogynist and racist term to disparage Indigenous women, according to experts. It was the right thing to do and I think its going to make a difference. I think were going to be seen as a more welcoming, inclusive resort and community, said Palisades Tahoe President and COO Dee Byrne. Byrne said that after studying the issue for the past year the resort's research concluded the word is very offensive not just to Indigenous women but to all women. The resort is in Olympic Valley, which was known as Squaw Valley until it hosted the 1960 Winter Olympics. Tribes in the region had been asking the resort for a name change for decades. The valley, in the Lake Tahoe area about 200 miles northeast of San Francisco, is within the ancestral homeland of the Washoe people, Darrel Cruz of the Washoe Tribe Historic Preservation Office said in a statement. He said the word is a constant reminder of those time periods when it was not good for us. Its a term that was inflicted upon us by somebody else and we dont agree with it. Washoe Tribal Chairman Serrell Smokey said the tribal council expressed its great appreciation for this positive step forward. Theres been a lot of progress but theres still a lot of work to be done," he added. We need to continue to capitalize on that progress and continue to push forward. Smokey said the tribe plans to work with the resort as well as Placer County officials to rename other public places and features in the Olympic Valley that continue to use the derogatory word. Company officials said the resorts new logo honors the two legendary mountains that are part of it. And in a nod to the Washoe Tribe of Nevada and California, it features an eagle, a symbol of the spiritual world for Native Americans. Beyond changing its name, the company said it is partnering with the Washoe Tribe to educate resort guests about tribal culture. This summer, the resort launched the Washoe Cultural Tour series, offering a monthly talk by Cruz. The resort will also install an exhibit on the Washoe way of life. ___ Associated Press writer Sam Metz contributed to this report from Carson City, Nevada. Metz 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. CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP) The number of positive cases and people hospitalized for the coronavirus in West Virginia both smashed records on Monday as Gov. Jim Justice scolded residents who continue to balk at receiving COVID-19 vaccines. At least 40% of the state's population above age 12 have not received all doses, according to health data. Efforts by Justice and others to urge residents to do so have resulted in only minimal improvement in recent weeks. This is a pandemic of the unvaccinated, Justice said at a news conference. Justice has balked at issuing either a vaccination or new mask mandate. An earlier indoor mask requirement was lifted in June as the number of cases dropped. Some health care systems have issued their own vaccine requirements for employees. The number of confirmed virus cases statewide totaled about 8,860 last week, breaking the weekly record of about 8,200 from early January. Two weeks ago marked the third-highest week of reported cases during the pandemic. There were a record 852 people hospitalized for the virus on Monday. That blew past the mark of 818 set on Jan. 5 and was a jump from 810 on Saturday. Such cases had bottomed out at 52 in early July before rising sharply over the past two months. The number of virus-related deaths in West Virginia this month, 154, has already surpassed the deaths for all of August. There have been 3,238 virus-related deaths in the state since the pandemic began. At the news conference, Justice introduced Linda Lanier, who said her adult son, Joe Goodnite, refused to get vaccinated and contracted COVID-19 on a family vacation. He's been in a Charleston hospital for more than six weeks and remains on a ventilator. Lanier said her son listened to all the negative and false accusations about vaccination, she said. "Being in the medical field myself, I tried to convince him. However, it didn't work. He listened to his friends. He listened to social media. And he just listened to what I call the garbage that's out there." But while he was still able to talk in the hospital, he told people. 'Get vaccinated. You don't want this stuff,' Lanier said. ___ Follow APs coverage of the pandemic at https://apnews.com/hub/coronavirus-pandemic. ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis on Monday threatened local governments with $5,000 fines per violation for requiring their employees to get vaccinated against the coronavirus that has overrun hospitals and killed tens of thousands across the state. Local municipalities, such as Orange County and the city of Gainesville, potentially face millions of dollars in cumulative fines for implementing a requirement that their employees get a COVID-19 vaccine, the Republican governor said. We are not going to let people be fired because of a vaccine mandate," DeSantis said at a news conference outside Gainesville. You dont just cast aside people who have been serving faithfully over this issue, over what is basically a personal choice on their individual health." Florida has been a national epicenter for the virus's spread this summer, with COVID-19 deaths in Florida accounting for more than 20% of the virus-related deaths across the country last week, according to data from Johns Hopkins University. At the news conference, DeSantis called on several local government workers from central Florida to explain why they didn't want to get a vaccine at the risk of losing their jobs. Several offered false conspiracy theories about the vaccines, which medical experts have said are safe and highly effective. Many of the municipalities requiring employees to get vaccinated offer exemptions for medical or religious reasons. Gainesville spokesperson Shelby Taylor said the city stood by its decision. It is our belief that as an employer we retain the right to require vaccination as a condition of employment," Taylor said in an email. At a news conference, Orange County Mayor Jerry Demings, a Democrat, said that he believed many of the decisions the Republican governor makes are politically motivated and that the county would deal" with DeSantis' threat, either through the courts or another manner. It could be a lot of money, yes, not question about it," Demings said. At the end of the day, it is our goal to protect the people in our greater community, to keep them safe, which is a fundamental role of government." DeSantis is running for reelection next year and is widely seen as a potential candidate to be the GOP's presidential nominee in 2024. Earlier this year, DeSantis signed legislation prohibiting proof of vaccination in order to get services from businesses or governments. He also issued an order preventing local governments from imposing restrictions meant to stop the spread of the virus. DeSantis' remarks on Monday were his latest throwing down the gauntlet at local authorities' efforts to implement COVID-19 measures. The state Department of Education has docked the salaries of school board members in Alachua and Broward counties for defying the governor by implementing mask mandates. A total of 13 school boards currently are ignoring the mask mandate ban. ___ Follow Mike Schneider on Twitter at https://twitter.com/MikeSchneiderAP ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) Dozens of Afghan refugees will be resettled in Alaska over the next six months, a resettlement organization said Monday. Between 50 to 100 refugees will come to Alaska starting in September, Catholic Social Services Refugee Assistance and Immigration Services said in a statement. Resettlement will continue through March. BANGKOK (AP) A fire in Pattaya, the Thai seaside resort city southeast of Bangkok known for its racy nightlife, has badly damaged a large nightclub catering to Indian tourists, officials said Monday. There were no injuries or deaths in the Sunday night blaze, said Suptawee Ongnonyang, chief of Pattayas land disaster prevention agency. The Nashaa Club was closed, as are most entertainment establishments due a a government-ordered coronavirus lockdown. The fire, which began in the Nashaa Club, spread to several adjoining structures on the citys famous Walking Street that were also damaged, Suptawee told The Associated Press. Pattaya is filled with bars, discos and restaurants that before the pandemic were patronized by millions of tourists each year. The city is notorious for its sex industry. The pandemic devastated the citys economy after Thailand closed its borders in April 2020 to most foreign visitors. The Nashaa Club was shuttered, then reopened in February this year but closed again in April as Thailand suffered badly from a third wave of the coronavirus. Suptawee said the fire spread quickly due partly to the soundproofing material used in the club, and that a strong wind Sunday night spread the blaze to three other nearby establishments. He said that it took about two hours to control the fire, which was extinguished around midnight. The cause is being investigated, he said. An announcement on the clubs Facebook page said the fire resulted in big damage. Its management vowed to reopen business very soon and requested people not to comment or support any rumors or wrong information on social media regarding the unfortunate incident as Investigative agencies are working on that. LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) A former Arkansas senator said Monday that he would run for the Republican nomination for secretary of state, the second to challenge the incumbent in next year's GOP primary. Former state Sen. Eddie Joe Williams announced his bid for the seat currently held by Republican Secretary of State John Thurston, who was first elected in 2018. Thurston already faced a primary challenge from Rep. Mark Lowery. OLYMPIA, Wash. (AP) As of Monday, anyone attending an outdoor event with 500 or more people in Washington state is required to wear a face-covering, regardless of COVID-19 vaccination status. Gov. Jay Inslee announced the mandate last week, KING5 reported. Though outdoor events are generally considered to be lower risk for COVID-19 transmission, five outdoor super-spreader events infected more than 500 people at concerts, fairs and rodeos across Washington, according to Secretary of Health Dr. Umair Shah. The outdoor mask mandate comes as Washington states hospitalization rates are at the highest level ever during the pandemic, according to state data. The Washington State Department of Health is encouraging hospitals to limit and curtail elective procedures in order to maintain enough capacity, Shah said. The Washington Department of Health website said there could be fines, though it is unclear if they apply to indoor or outdoor mask requirements. We hope people will wear a face covering to protect the health of their friends and loved ones. However, not following the order may result in a misdemeanor subjecting the violator to a fine of up to $100 and/or up to 90 days in county jail, the site said. BEIRUT (AP) The leader of the militant Hezbollah group said Monday the first tanker carrying Iranian fuel to Lebanon has arrived in a Syrian port and the diesel will be shipped to Lebanon by tanker trucks later this week. The arrival of the tanker comes nearly a month after Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah said the group will start bringing fuel from Iran in an attempt to ease a crippling fuel crisis that Lebanon has been experiencing for months. The delivery, organized by the Iran-backed group, violates U.S. sanctions imposed on Tehran after former President Donald Trump pulled America out of a nuclear deal between Iran and world powers three years ago. The arrival of the Iranian tanker carrying fuel destined for Lebanon comes days after a new government was formed ending a 13-month deadlock. Lebanon's new Prime Minister Najib Mikati has not commented on the deal to import fuel from Iran. Nasrallah said in a televised speech Monday night the group chose to have the tanker dock in a Syrian port to avoid embarrassing the Lebanese state and risking sanctions on Lebanon. Syria, also under U.S. sanctions, has been mostly relying on oil supplies from its strong ally Iran, which sent thousands of Iran-backed fighters, including Hezbollah members, to back President Bashar Assads forces in the 10-year conflict there. Nasrallah said the tanker arrived in the Syrian port of Banias early Sunday and the process of unloading the fuel began the same day. He added that the Syrian government has mobilized dozens of tanker trucks to transport the diesel to the eastern Lebanese town of Baalbek by Thursday. Nasrallah said three other tankers carrying diesel and one carrying gasoline will arrive in the coming weeks. He said diesel will be donated for a period of one month to institutions including public hospitals, nursing homes, orphanages, water stations and the Lebanese Red Cross. Nasrallah added that others who will get fuel at low prices are private hospitals, medicine and serum factories, bakeries and cooperatives that sell food products. Nasrallah said Hezbollah will be supplying gas stations linked to the group around the country. We are not competing (with the state) but we want to add the flow of fuel to the market, he said. WASHINGTON (AP) The campaign organization aiming to maintain Democratic control of the House in the 2022 midterm races raised $10 million last month, its best August haul ever during a year without a national election. The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee says that nearly 250,000 grassroots donors provided $6.6 million, accounting for two-thirds of its monthly total, according to numbers shared with The Associated Press before a public filing deadline. That total included transfers worth more than $1 million from other Democratic campaign accounts. The largest, from House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, was worth nearly $800,000. The committee's fundraising last month topped its last off-year August, in 2019, by more than $2.8 million, and it entered September debt-free and with $53.3 million cash on hand. The National Republican Congressional Committee said its August figures weren't yet available, but announced raising $7 million in July compared to the $11.3 million its Democratic counterpart collected over the same month. That followed the Republican House campaign committee outraising the Democratic committee $45.4 million to $36.5 million through the years second quarter, which ended June 30. Both sides' strong fundraising during the summer vacation season, and with the next national election more than a year away, only adds to midterm political stakes that are already high. Democrats have narrow majorities in both congressional chambers, but the party controlling the White House often loses House and Senate seats in subsequent elections. A resurgent pandemic could add to Democratic political headwinds. The U.S. is now seeing nearly twice the number of coronavirus deaths compared to the same time last year. Amid polling falling to the lowest levels of his time in the White House, President Joe Biden has announced new federal rules that could require millions of unvaccinated Americans to get inoculated. New York Rep. Sean Patrick Maloney, chair of the House Democratic campaign arm, said Democratic fundraising was helped by Republicans in Congress uniformly voting against the popular COVID-19 relief bill, the insurrection by a mob loyal to then-President Donald Trump and sweeping new voting and abortion restrictions in state legislatures in Texas and elsewhere. Our grassroots support is proof positive the American people believe in protecting a womans right to make choices about her own body, defending our democracy from attacks by insurrectionists, and want to protect the health and economic progress Democrats delivered, Maloney said. INDIANAPOLIS (AP) Indiana will increase free COVID-19 testing across the state through a partnership with Gravity Diagnostics. Under the partnership, the Kentucky-based company will provide staff and supplies needed to collect and analyze up to 5,000 COVID-19 tests per day, including rapid antigen and PCR tests, the state health department said. The testing operation is expected to come together in a matter of weeks and have the ability to expand to up to 45 sites, if needed. The new partnership will allow the state to offer testing in communities with higher need for longer periods, State Health Commissioner Dr. Kristina Box said in a statement Friday. That will allow mobile units to continue to host shorter testing and vaccination clinics in other areas of the state, she added. Testing sites will remain at designated locations for fixed periods of time to increase the availability of testing in communities that currently lack adequate testing resources. The agreement also offers the option to provide voluntary testing in K-12 school settings statewide, although details are still being finalized. Under that provision, Gravity will coordinate with schools directly to determine their interest in testing. The contract will run until June 30, 2022, with an option to extend. MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) A former school principal extradited from Israel after a six-year legal battle appeared in an Australian court on Monday to hear evidence behind child sex abuse charges against her. A committal hearing began in the Melbourne Magistrates Court to decide whether there is sufficient evidence against Malka Leifer to warrant the charges going to trial. The 54-year-old is facing 74 charges, including rape and indecent assault, from her time as head of Melbournes Adass Israel School between 2004 and 2008. Sisters Dassi Erlich, Nicole Meyer and Elly Sapper are among 10 witnesses who are to testify during the hearing, which is expected to run until next Monday. Last year, the sisters were granted a court order allowing them to speak publicly and under their real names about their allegations of being abused by Leifer. The Associated Press does not usually identify alleged victims of sexual abuse, but the siblings have spoken publicly about their accusations as part of their campaign to force Leifer to return to Australia. Leifer was extradited from Israel in January. The protracted court case and repeated delays over her extradition had drawn criticism from Australian officials as well as the countrys Jewish leaders. As accusations against her began surfacing in 2008, Israeli-born Leifer left the school and returned to Israel. The two countries have an extradition treaty, but critics, including Leifers accusers, said Israeli authorities had dragged out the case, while Leifer claimed she was mentally unfit to stand trial. Last year, an Israeli psychiatric panel determined Leifer was lying about her mental condition, setting in motion the extradition. In December, the Supreme Court of Israel rejected a final appeal against her extradition, and Israels justice minister signed the order to send her to Australia. The witnesses testifying this week were doing so in a closed court. Only a magistrate, lawyers, court staff and Leifer were allowed to view the proceedings. The siblings had asked to give evidence in person, but current pandemic restrictions mean the entire hearing has to be conducted online. Leifer is appearing by video link from Melbournes womens prison, the Dame Phyllis Frost Center. She is charged with 47 counts of indecent assault, 13 counts of committing an indecent act with a child, 11 counts of rape and three counts of sexually penetrating a child. It was not immediately clear what maximum penalty she could face if convicted. On Monday, the court heard no Jewish witnesses would give evidence in the hearing on Thursday, which is Yom Kippur, a high holy day. Permission was also granted for Leifer to not appear in court that day, but for proceedings to continue in her absence. SAN FRANCISCO (AP) A Pacific Gas & Electric troubleshooter spent nearly two hours in federal court Monday fielding questions about whether the beleaguered utility could have turned off the electricity sooner to a power line now suspected of sparking the monstrous Dixie Fire two months ago. The grilling came before a federal judge who is overseeing PG&E's criminal probation for a felony conviction after the utility's gas lines blew up part of a suburban neighborhood in the San Francisco Bay Area in 2010. U.S. District Judge William Alsup has repeatedly hammered PG&E for creating dangers with its fraying equipment, igniting some of the deadliest wildfires in California, causing so much death and destruction during 2017 and 2018 that the company negotiated more than $25 billion in settlements during a 17-month bankruptcy that ended last year. The judge is now weighing whether he can impose more stringent conditions on PG&E before his authority expires when the company's five-year probation ends in late January. PG&E is a convicted felon that poses a safety hazard to California," Alsup told the utility's lawyers near the end of Monday's hearing. My job is to rehabilitate you and that is what I am going to do until the last minute." Alsup and a lawyer from the U.S. attorney's office spent most of the hearing trying to construct the timeline between when the PG&E troubleshooter first was sent out to a remote area of Butte County where the Dixie Fire is believed to have started and several hours later, when he first smelled smoke. The identify of the troubleshooter, known as a troubleman," was not revealed in court to in help shield him from potential threats. Although no formal findings have been reached, PG&E has acknowledged to California power regulators that a tree leaning into one of its power lines may have started the Dixie Fire, which has scorched nearly 1 million acres to become the second-largest in state history. The backlash to that initial disclosure, and numerous others in the last decade, prompted PG&E to announce an ambitious plan to spend at least $15 billion to bury about 10,000 miles (16,000 kilometers) of its power lines to reduce the chances of its equipment causing more fires. In a statement, PG&E said it shares the courts focus on safety and recognize that we must take a leading role in preventing future catastrophic wildfires." The troubleshooter testified that he tried to contain the fire by traversing the treacherous terrain and emptying a pair of 2 1/2 gallon fire extinguishers, as well as trying to dig breaks around the vegetation. He estimated those efforts started shortly after 4:40 p.m. July 13. But the worker, who has been with PG&E for 10 years, first began to investigate a problem along the line around 12:30 p.m. that day after getting an non-urgent notification from the utility. He testified that he initially used binoculars to scan the area from well below the problem area, but couldn't see any evidence of a tree leaning into a power line or other obvious issues. He said that prompted him to drive a circuitous route on unpaved, bumpy roads and a bridge and with no cellphone service and limited coverage for radio transmissions. In his questions, Alsup pressed the troubleshooter on why he didn't go to a nearby PG&E switching station to turn off the power to the line after realizing he couldn't determine what was wrong. The troubleshooter testified that he could only take that action if he was ordered to do so by utility management because it would involve cutting power to customers. A dam and tunnel in the area had already lost power on July 13, but the worker testified that he believed a railroad would have lost electricity had the power from that switching station been turned off, though he didn't know whether any households or businesses would have been affected. Alsup also ordered PG&E to provide the names of dispatchers who communicated with the troubleshooter that day, for possible questions about the decision-making, saying it seemed obvious that the most prudent thing to do would have been turning off the power until more investigation could be done. The judge accused PG&E of downplaying the risk posed by the power line suspected of causing the Dixie Fire. He said he has received information flagging that troublesome power line as the 11th most dangerous in PG&E's sprawling service territory. PG&E has until noon Friday to provide the dispatcher names. The judge said he would assess whether to call them in to court. Alsup made it clear that he didn't blame the troubleshooter for the Dixie Fire. You tried to stop the fire from the outset and I thank you for that," the judge told him. FRANKFORT, Ky. (AP) The Salato Wildlife Education Center in Frankfort will reopen on Tuesday, the Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources said. The center had closed last month as the number of coronavirus cases continued to climb. The facility said it was an effort to prevent the potential spread of COVID-19 to guests and staff. Officials said the move was precautionary to ensure a safe and educational experience for all visitors. MOORHEAD, Minn. (AP) Don Wyse has long been an evangelist for perennial crops. The University of Minnesota professor, who leads the U of M Forever Green Initiative, now thinks the potential of those crops is beginning to be realized. It took us 30 years to get to this point, but we now have what I call real crops that have real possibility for the marketplace and for planting by farmers, said Wyse. And its really, really exciting. Perennial crops can help reduce the environmental impact of agriculture, and they fit well with the regenerative agriculture movement that focuses on soil health. The largest crop yet of Kernza was recently harvested. Research shows Kernza improves water quality by reducing fertilizer pollution of water, and it can efficiently store carbon in the soil, helping reduce carbon dioxide, a greenhouse gas. It also requires less fertilizer and pesticide than many traditional crops, Minnesota Public Radio News reported. Its basically continuous living cover, protecting soil and water, enhancing soil health. Thats the basis of all 16 crops that are being developed in the Forever Green Initiative, said Wyse. Kernza is just the first of 16 perennial crops being developed at the U of M as part of the effort to make Minnesota farms more environmentally friendly. Researchers at the University of Minnesota have worked with the Kansas-based Land Institute, to improve Kernza genetics. There are still challenges for farmers and plant breeders. Kernza yields tend to decline after two years, limiting how long farmers can keep the crop on a field. Wyse is confident that problem will be resolved as new varieties are developed. The U of M released a new Kernza variety last year and a second variety is slated for release in 2023. Farmers arent yet busting down the door to grow Kernza, but theres a steady stream of people calling, wanting to learn more about the crop, said western Minnesota farmer Carmen Fernholz, an early adopter who first grew Kernza on his farm in 2011. Kernza is a cousin of wheat, developed from a perennial grass. Researchers tout its sweet, nutty flavor for use in baking, beer and a cereal product General Mills plans to soon have on the shelves at Whole Foods. Fernholz recently sold a semiload of the grain to a food company. Hes part of the new Perennial Promise Growers Cooperative, created to help farmers produce and market the grain. Its certainly not to the scale that we intend to take it over the next few years, said Fernholz. But to say that the market is developing, yes. To say that we can grow lots and lots of acres at this stage of development, no. And thats always the challenge with a new crop. Farmers want to know theres a market before they plant, but to expand markets, you need more crop to sell. Fernholz will expand his Kernza acres next year. As an organic farmer, he believes in the environmental benefits of perennial crops, and it helps his bottom line. If we can continue to achieve the numbers that we are as far as marketing the Kernza, and the yield that were getting, it will definitely be profitable, he said. The drought this year reduced his Kernza yields somewhat, but the deep-rooted perennial plant generally fared well in the dry conditions. Relative to a lot of the other small grains, it appears that it was less impacted, said U of M researcher Jacob Jungers. The plants look healthier, generally, they were a little bit greener, and look less drought-stressed than some of the annual small grain crops. Researchers are still analyzing this years crop yields to learn more about the drought impact. Kernza is very small in terms of crop production with about 4,000 acres grown nationwide. Minnesota is the leading producer with just over 1,300 acres. Jungers believes its now realistic to double Kernza production each year. Theres a tipping point in terms of acreage in the state and in the nation, he said. Once we achieve that sort of tipping point of acreage, then theres going to be enough supply for the larger companies, for national-scale product. Were also getting significant international interest, said Colin Cureton, director of adoption and scaling for the Forever Green Initiative. So theres really a need to grow to meet that. How do we export this product from Minnesota to the world is a big and exciting question. Kernza is still a niche crop, and researchers say it will likely never replace mainstay grains like wheat. But this a good time for perennial crops to be taking off, said Cureton. Theres growing interest among farmers in soil health, carbon storage and regenerative agriculture, and crops like Kernza are a good fit. Theres also growing demand from consumers for sustainable agriculture. Cureton compares perennial crops to the development of wind and solar energy decades ago. And so thats whats really exciting about these crops, which are really in their early stage, he said. I feel like with these crops, were kind of where renewable energy was about 20 years ago, but were making really rapid progress. As more Kernza is grown, researchers are learning more about the benefits. Kernza stover, the stalks and leaves left in the field after harvest, makes a good quality livestock feed. And researchers have just begun to explore the potential benefits to wildlife from having a perennial crop on the land, said Jungers. Wyse is ready for the expansion of the next perennial crop an oil seed called camelina, which he expects to reach 2 million acres of crop production in the next five years. Libyan authorities arrested two suspected human traffickers and facilitated the return of more than 50 Egyptian migrants to their home country, officials said. Fifty-three Egyptians landed in Cairos international airport on a private flight late Sunday after authorities in Libyas capital of Tripoli arrested them for attempting to travel by boat to Europe in recent weeks, Egypts Foreign Ministry said. The arrests and return of the would-be migrants came amid a spike in dangerous crossings and attempted crossings from the North African nation to Europe over the Mediterranean Sea. Libyas chief prosecutor's office said Sunday a suspected trafficker, known on social media platforms as Haj Hakeem, was arrested on accusations he detained and tortured Egyptian migrants for ransom. The office said in a statement the suspect also faces accusations of human trafficking and coordinating recent migrant sea crossings. Prosecutors ordered him to remain in custody and issued arrest warrants for others who were not name in the statement. Attached to the statement were graphic photos showing what the prosecutors said are Egyptian migrants half naked with their hands bound behind their backs. At least three masked people appear to be beating and torturing them. Another suspected human trafficker, a Somali national named Hassan Qeidi, was arrested over the weekend, the prosecutors office said in a separate statement. It said Qeidi faces accusations including leading a human trafficking network in and outside Libya. He was also accused of killing dozens of migrants, sexual misconduct against female migrants and mistreating migrants for ransom from their families. It was not immediately possible to reach family members or lawyers for the two suspects. Libya has for years been a hub for African and Middle Eastern migrants fleeing war and poverty in their homelands and hoping for a better life in Europe. The oil-rich country plunged into chaos following a NATO-backed uprising that toppled and killed longtime autocrat Moammar Gadhafi in 2011. Traffickers have exploited the chaos and often pack desperate families into ill-equipped rubber or wooden boats that stall and founder along the perilous Central Mediterranean route. Thousands have drowned along the way. Traffickers have been implicated in widespread abuses of migrants, including torture and abduction for ransom. There has been a spike in crossings and attempted crossings, mostly from Libya but also from Tunisia in recent months. Libyas coast guard has intercepted thousands of migrants. The U.N. migration agency said Monday that more than 23,600 migrants have been intercepted and returned to Libya so far this year, despite repeated warnings by international rights groups about the situation in the North African county. In 2020, just over half of this number were intercepted and returned to Libya the entire year. More than 1,100 migrants were reported dead or presumed dead in numerous boat mishaps and shipwrecks off Libya in 2021, compared to at least 978 reported dead or presumed dead during all of last year, the International Organization for Migration said. The European Union has over the past years partnered with Libya to prevent migrants from making the dangerous journey by sea to Europe. Rights groups say those efforts have left migrants at the mercy of armed groups or confined in squalid detention centers that lack adequate food and water. An Associated Press investigation in 2019 found that militias in Libya tortured, extorted and otherwise abused migrants for ransoms in detention centers under the nose of the U.N., often in compounds that receive millions in European money paid to Libyas government to slow the tide of migrants crossing the Mediterranean. CHICAGO (AP) A 45-year-old man has been found shot to death in a vehicle on a Chicago freeway. Fire officials said state police responded about 2 a.m. Monday to the shooting in the southbound lanes of the Bishop Ford Freeway on the citys South Side, WLS-TV reported. LOS ANGELES (AP) A Mexican man was sentenced to more than five years in federal prison Monday for trying to distribute methamphetamine that was dropped into the California desert by an airplane, authorities said. Juan Carlos Iturriaga-Centeno, 34, had pleaded guilty in April to conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine. WINDOW ROCK, Ariz. (AP) The Navajo Nation reported six more COVID-19 cases, but no additional deaths. The tribe has seen 33,240 confirmed COVID-19 cases and 1,419 known deaths from the virus since the pandemic began. Based on cases from Aug. 27 to Sept. 9, the Navajo Department of Health has issued an advisory for 35 communities due to uncontrolled spread of COVID-19. Navajo officials are urging people to get vaccinated, wear masks while in public and minimize their travel. Officials say all Navajo Nation executive branch employees will need to be fully vaccinated against the virus by the end of September or submit to regular testing. The new rules apply to full, part-time and temporary employees, including those working for tribal enterprises like utilities, shopping centers and casinos. Any worker who does not show proof of vaccination by Sept. 29 must be tested every two weeks or face discipline. The tribes reservation is the countrys largest at 27,000 square miles (70,000 square kilometers) and it covers parts of Arizona, New Mexico and Utah. MADISON, Wis. (AP) Almost 70% of state executive branch workers have received at least one shot of COVID-19 vaccine, Gov. Tony Evers' administration said Monday. More than 30,000 people work in executive branch jobs across Wisconsin. Evers' administration said that so far 87% of the employees have complied with an order the administration issued Thursday requiring executive branch workers to report their vaccination status. ANNAPOLIS, Md. (AP) Officers are looking for a person they believe is a teen armed with a gun in an Annapolis suburb on Monday, hours after the window of a responding officer's cruiser was shattered, police said. A woman walking in the woods in the Cape Saint Claire area came across a teen with what looked like a handgun and when she asked him what he was doing, he replied that he was "shooting small critters," Anne Arundel County police Lt. Jaclyn Davis said at a news conference Monday afternoon. The woman alerted police and an officer who responded to the area of Hilltop Road and Blue Ridge Drive was sitting in his cruiser when he heard a pop and the rear window shattered, she said. CAIRO (AP) Floods triggered by seasonal torrential rains in Sudan have killed more than 80 people and damaged or destroyed some 35,000 homes since July, a senior police official said Monday. Flooding has killed 84 people and injured another 67 since the start of the rainy season, said police Brig. Gen. Abdul-Jalil Abdul-Rahim, spokesman for Sudans National Council for Civil Defense. Fourteen of Sudan's 18 provinces have been affected by the rains, which have demolished more than 8,000 houses and damaged at least another 27,000, Abdul-Rahim said. The eastern provinces of River Nile and al-Qadarif were hardest hit, he said. Abdul-Rahim said people who lost their houses have been taken to shelters close to their neighborhoods, where they have been receiving humanitarian aid from local non-governmental organizations. The U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs has said that 102,000 people have been affected by the rains across the country. Between Sept. 4-6, over 61,000 people, including 35,000 South Sudanese refugees, were affected by the flooding in 53 villages in the White Nile provinces Aj-Jabalain district, the U.N. said. The U.N. complained that the flood response in some affected areas has been delayed despite the rising number of people affected. The Sudan Humanitarian Fund, a multi-donor fund run by the U.N.s humanitarian affairs office, has allocated $7.7 million to 14 NGOs in 15 provinces for swift humanitarian response, according to a statement released by UNOCHA on Thursday. Another $7 million has been allocated to four U.N. agencies for the procurement of emergency stocks. Last year, Sudanese authorities declared the country a natural disaster area and imposed a three-month state of emergency across the country after flooding and heavy rain killed around 100 people and inundated over 100,000 houses. KABUL (AP) Once, Kabuls main prison was crowded with thousands of Taliban captured and arrested by the government. On Monday, a Taliban commander strolled through its empty halls and cell blocks, showing his friends where he had once been imprisoned. It was a sign of the sudden and startling new order in Afghanistan after the militant group swept into the capital nearly a month ago and threw out the crumbling, U.S.-backed government it had fought for 20 years. The Taliban now run Pul-e-Charkhi Prison, a sprawling complex on Kabuls eastern outskirts. After capturing the city, the fighters freed all the inmates there, the government guards fled, and now dozens of Taliban fighters are running the facility. The commander, who refused to give his name, was on a personal visit to the complex with a group of his friends. He told The Associated Press he had been arrested around a decade ago in eastern Kunar province and was brought to Pul-e-Charkhi, bound and blindfolded. I feel so terrible when I remember those days, he said. He said prisoners suffered abuses and torture. He was imprisoned for around 14 months before he was released. Those days are the darkest days of my life, and now this the happiest moment for me that I am free and come here without fear. Many Afghans as well as governments around the world have been alarmed by the swift Taliban seizure of power, fearing the movement will impose a similar, harsh rule as they did during their first time ruling in the 1990s. But for the Taliban fighters, its a moment to savor a victory after years of grueling fighting and to see a city few of them have entered since the war began. For some of the Taliban guards accompanying the AP, it was the first time theyd entered the abandoned cell blocks. They looked with curiosity through the cells, still littered with things the last inmates left behind fabrics hanging from the walls and windows, small rugs, water bottles. One fighter exchanged his sandals for a better pair he found in a cell. Then he found yet a better pair and exchanged again. Others played with the former prisoners makeshift weight bars. Pul-e-Charkhi had a long, disturbing history of violence, mass executions and torture. Mass graves and torture cells were uncovered dating from the Soviet-backed governments of the late 1970s and 1980s. Under the U.S.-backed government, it was more known for poor conditions and overcrowding its 11 cell blocks were built to house 5,000 inmates, but were often packed with more than 10,000, including Taliban prisoners and criminals. Taliban prisoners often complained of abuses and beatings, and there were regular riots. Still, they kept up their organization behind bars, winning concessions like access to cell phones and longer time outside their cells. Some of the Taliban now guarding the site were former inmates. The government guards have fled and dont dare return, fearing reprisals. Though the facility remains largely empty, one section holds around 60 people imprisoned in the past few weeks, who the guards said were mostly accused criminals and drug addicts. UNITED NATIONS (AP) More than 100 heads of state and government are planning to attend the U.N. General Assemblys annual gathering of world leaders in person next week, including U.S. President Joe Biden, King Abdullah II of Jordan and the presidents of Brazil and Venezuela, according to the latest speakers list. The prime ministers of Japan, India and the United Kingdom will also be at U.N. headquarters to deliver their countrys speech to the 193-member assembly, along with Israels new Prime Minister Naftali Bennett and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas. And 23 ministers are slated to speak in person as well, according to the list obtained Monday by The Associated Press. Because of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, the U.N.s members decided to make this years gathering hybrid, offering nations the possibility of sending leaders to New York in person or making prerecorded statements to be shown in the assembly chamber, as virtually all countries did last year. Many diplomats and leaders have complained publicly that virtual meetings cannot substitute for in-person one-to-one or group contacts to tackle regional and global challenges and crises. The high number of leaders planning to attend in person -- 73 heads of state and 31 heads of government -- reflects the importance of the annual U.N. gathering, officially called the General Debate, and its role in diplomacy. While all countries speak publicly in the assembly, a lot of the worlds business gets discussed at private meetings, lunches and dinners on the sidelines. Among those delivering prerecorded statements this year will be the presidents of Iran, Egypt, France, Indonesia, South Africa and Zimbabwe. The high-level week begins Sept. 20 with a closed meeting on climate change between Secretary-General Antonio Guterres and world leaders. He will deliver his state of the world address at the following day's opening of the global gathering, officially called the General Debate, followed by in-person speeches by Brazils President Jair Bolsonaro, Biden and .about three dozen other leaders. The last scheduled speakers on Sept. 27 are from the delegations of North Korea, Myanmar, Guinea and Afghanistan. The credentials of Myanmars current ambassador, from the countrys ousted democratic government, are being challenged by the military junta, but diplomats say its unlikely that challenge will be heard before high-level week by the General Assemblys Credentials Committee. Afghanistans new Taliban rulers have not yet submitted a letter challenging the credentials of the previous governments ambassador, and neither have the leaders of the recent coup in Guinea. During high-level week, there are other events on energy and food security, which will both be virtual, and commemorating the 20th anniversary of the controversial U.N. conference on racism in Durban, South Africa, and on disarmament, which are both in-person. All other side events will be held outside the U.N. headquarters complex. Under measures to prevent the spread of COVID-19, member states have agreed to limit the delegations entering U.N. headquarters with a leader or minister to six people, with only four of them allowed in the General Assembly chamber. The secretary-general has also mandated that all U.N. staff in the building during the week be vaccinated. U.N. spokesman Stephane Dujarric said all people entering the U.N. headquarters complex, including visitors, delegates, and contractors, will have to "attest through their swipe card or escorted entry that they do not have symptoms of COVID-19 and have not tested positive for COVID-19 in the last 10 days." PHOENIX (AP) A 10-year-old boy remains hospitalized after an all-terrain vehicle crash in south Phoenix left him trapped underwater. Phoenix firefighters say the boy was riding with family Saturday near 71st Avenue and Roeser Road when the the ATV crashed and flipped into the Salt River. He ended up being submerged in almost 8 feet of water. First responders were able to get him out from the river bottom. He was rushed to a hospital in extremely critical condition. His current status was not immediately known Monday morning. FORESTVILLE, Md. (AP) A man is dead and two others, including a child, are injured after a shooting Sunday night, police in Maryland said. Prince Georges County police said the shooting happened near a gas station in Forestville, but officers found the victims in a car a few miles away in District Heights, WTOP-FM reported. FALMOUTH, Maine (AP) Police are investigating the discovery of human remains over the weekend in a marshy area near Interstate 295 outside Portland. The state medical examiners office is working to identify the remains, and police have alerted the family of a Richmond woman who has been missing since November 2019. Anneliese Heinig was 37 when she was last seen walking along Interstate 295 in Falmouth. Her vehicle was abandoned on the shoulder of the highway. CLEARWATER, Fla. (AP) A 70-year-old man has been accused of slamming a child to the ground at a Florida playground after yelling that kids were making too much noise. Police arrested the man on a child abuse charge in Clearwater, Florida and took him to the Pinellas County Jail, arrest records show. HARRISONVILLE, Mo. (AP) Police reported a homicide early Monday in the town of Harrisonville in western Missouri. Harrisonville police were called around 2 a.m. Monday to a convenience store on Route 291, television station KSHB reported. Officers arrived to find a person with an apparent stab wound. The person was rushed to a hospital, but died from their injuries. Police did not immediately release the victims name, but said detectives are investigating a related crime scene at a commuter lot near the convenience store. Police in Kansas City have been asked to help with the investigation. WARWICK, R.I. (AP) A Veterans of Foreign Wars post in Rhode Island has been renamed in honor of a soldier who was deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan and later dedicated his life to helping other veterans in crisis. Post 272 in Warwick was rededicated Saturday as the Sgt. Adam S. DeCiccio Warwick Memorial Post 272. DeCiccio died last December at age 37. FRANKFORT, Ky. (AP) A school custodian in eastern Kentucky has died from COVID-19, becoming the second staff member at Lee County Elementary to die from the virus since the school year began. Custodian Bill Bailey died Sunday, two weeks after an instructional aide at the same school, Heather Antle, also died from the coronavirus, Lee County School District Superintendent Sarah Wasson said. DETROIT (AP) Two women have been fatally shot and four other people wounded on Detroits eastside. Police said a group of people were standing outside Sunday night when shots were fired from a vehicle, WXYZ-TV reported. SAVANNAH, Ga. (AP) The son of a Black man killed last year by a Georgia state trooper attempting a traffic stop over a broken tail light said Monday he will march across a stretch of southeast Georgia in hopes of getting federal authorities to take up the case. Brook Bacon is trying to get renewed attention to the slaying of his father, 60-year-old Julian Lewis, nearly three months after a grand jury in rural Screven County declined to indict the trooper who shot him in the head. That can't be left unchallenged, Bacon told reporters during an online news conference with his attorneys. He added: In split-second moments, these tragedies happen and too often they get swept aside." Trooper Jacob G. Thompson was fired by the Georgia State Patrol and jailed on charges of felony murder and aggravated assault soon after Lewis was killed on Aug. 7, 2020, in Screven County. Thompson said Lewis tried to flee a traffic stop for a broken tail light. After a short chase, the trooper forced Lewis' car into a ditch. Thompson wrote in his incident report that he shot Lewis as Lewis was revving his engine and turning his steering wheel, as if he was trying to ram the trooper. But Georgia Bureau of Investigation Agent Dustin Peak later testified in court that was impossible. Peak said Lewis car battery disconnected when his vehicle hit the ditch, leaving the car inoperable. The murder case in state court stalled in late June, when a grand jury declined to indict Thompson. Ogeechee Judicial Circuit District Attorney Daphne Totten, whose office was prosecuting the case, has not said whether she will try again to indict the former trooper. Its so outrageous that we have to call on federal intervention, said Mawuli Davis, an attorney for Thompson's family. Starting Thursday, Bacon plans to set out with his lawyers and civil rights activists on a 60-mile (96-kilometer) march from the scene of the shooting in Screven County to the federal courthouse in downtown Savannah. They expect to finish the trek on Monday. After the grand jury decided against moving forward with charges, Thompson's defense attorney, Keith Barber, said the former trooper was only doing his job to protect the public and acted in self-defense when he shot Lewis. Bacon and other members of Lewis' family have said they feel even more strongly that he was murdered after prosecutors in July showed them dash-camera video of the shooting. They have called on Totten to release that video to the public and to bring the case before a new grand jury. Totten has not said what her office plans to do. She did not immediately return phone and email messages Monday. ___ This story has been corrected to show that the name of Julian Lewis' son is Brook Bacon, not Brooks Bacon. LAS CRUCES, N.M. (AP) A New Mexico State University professor has been traveling to advocate for audits of the 2020 presidential election amid a paid suspension for rejecting coronavirus health mandates from the school. The Las Cruces Sun News reports that the public university on Aug. 27 extended its emergency suspension of professor David Clements. Several complaints were received from students after Clements rejected campus mask and vaccination mandates. NEW YORK (AP) The Champagne was cold and the front row star studded Sunday night as Tom Ford closed New York Fashion Week at Lincoln Center with a spring-summer collection of hopeful, glitzy glam. His 120 guests mandatory masks on were seated on long, soft white couches at the David H. Koch Theater as Ford's models walked in capris and jacket sets of electric blue and pink, purple sequined party looks and embellished gold crop jackets some all at the same time as his soundtrack pushed the party along. Ford, in his show notes, called the splashy show of sporty evening color the 90s take of the 70s that evokes the glossy casual vibe of Los Angeles, where he lives. It's an almost airbrushed kind of beauty that starts to permeate the mind, he said. He described the collection as simple in cut but not in impact. Ford, the chairman of the Council of Fashion Designers of America, significantly pared down his crowd to conclude New York's first full in-person fashion week since the pandemic began. Dozens of designers spread out over Manhattan and Brooklyn to welcome generally smaller crowds with varying degrees of attention paid to COVID precautions. The six days of shows ended the night before the mini-Met Gala, a huge evening for fashion that was canceled last year due to the pandemic. Ford wound things up at the same time as the 2021 MTV Video Music Awards were underway in Brooklyn. Jennifer Hudson, seated between Dan Levy and Julianne Moore, bounced to Aretha Franklin's Respect" as she took video of Ford's show on her phone. Hudson plays Franklin in a new biopic of the same name as the mega hit. Gigi Hadid was among Ford's models, dressed in slinky and shiny evening joggers of bright blue, a crop electric green tank and a bronze jacket. He carried the green into trousers and jackets in an animal print. There were all-black looks for men and women, including a couple of corset tops, parachute pants and trench coats. Of his bold mix of color, Ford said he likes tones of one hue worn together or hard clashes that shock a bit. A little bad taste is always good taste in my book. One model carried a bouquet of white flowers in loose gold pants paired with a silver bra top and shirt coat that reached the ground. Ford didn't explain his bride. He called the collection of mostly evening clothes heavily influenced by sportswear after struggling with his 8-year-old son's desire to wear basketball silks to school. I decided to embrace the trend but turn the sports look into evening wear for women, Ford said. Of course, I still won't let him wear basketball silks to school but I suppose if he really, really begged me to wear a sequined pair from this collection I might make them for him. ___ Follow Leanne Italie on Twitter at http://twitter.com/litalie NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) The United Nations human rights chief on Monday said a highly awaited joint investigation into abuses in Ethiopias Tigray conflict was unable to deploy to the site of one of its deadliest attacks, the alleged massacre of several hundred people in the holy city of Axum. Michelle Bachelet told the U.N. Human Rights Council that deployments to eastern and central Tigray, where witnesses have accused Ethiopian and allied forces from neighboring Eritrea of some of the worst abuses of the 10-month war, could not proceed. She cited sudden changes in the security situation and in the conflict dynamics. She did not give details. The war saw a dramatic shift in late June when the Tigray forces retook much of Ethiopias northern Tigray region and Ethiopian and allied forces withdrew. Since then, witnesses have said much of Tigray has been far safer and more accessible within the region. The shift in the war occurred about midway in the work of the joint investigation by the U.N. human rights office and the government-created Ethiopian Human Rights Commission, carried out between May 16 and Aug. 20. The joint report will be published on Nov. 1, a delay from its once-expected release this month. A joint statement last week said the team conducted investigations in the Tigray regional capital of Mekele as well as the communities of Wukro, Samre, Alamata, Bora, Maichew, Dansha, Maikadra and Humera in the southern and western parts of the region. The team also investigated in Gondar and Bahir Dar in the neighboring Amhara region along with Ethiopias capital, Addis Ababa. The war continues to cause great concern over Africas second most populous country, where all sides have been accused of atrocities. Bachelet noted that mass detentions, killings, systematic looting, and sexual violence have continued to create an atmosphere of fear and an erosion of living conditions that resulted in the forced displacement of the Tigrayan civilian population. Now hundreds of thousands of people are newly displaced elsewhere after the Tigray forces brought the fighting into the Amhara and Afar regions. If the situation does not improve Ethiopia will be the scene of a human tragedy on a scale unparalleled this century, British Ambassador Rita French told the human rights council, adding that Ethiopias government is presiding over a de facto blockade of Tigray where 400,000 now face famine conditions. Ethiopias attorney general, Gedion Timothewos Hessebon, told the council that because of the cutoff date of the joint investigation, the team didnt probe recent reported killings in places such as the Amhara community of Chenna Teklehaymanot. The attorney general also criticized a separate investigation by the African Commission on Human and Peoples Rights, an African Union body, as unilateral and hence not recognized by the government of Ethiopia. That bodys report will be available by the end of the year, the commission of inquirys vice chairman, Remy Ngoy Lumbu, told the council. WASHINGTON (AP) The U.S. budget deficit rose to $2.71 trillion through August, on track to be the second largest shortfall in history due to trillions of dollars in COVID relief. In its monthly budget report, the Treasury Department said Monday that the deficit for the first 11 months of this budget year is 9.9% less than the imbalance during the same period last year. For the entire budget year, which ends Sept. 30, the Congressional Budget Office is forecasting a deficit of $3 trillion, which would be just below the record deficit of $3.13 trillion set last year. Last year's deficit was more than double the previous record of $1.4 trillion set in 2009 during the Obama administration, when the government was spending heavily to combat the deep recession after the 2008 financial crisis. For the first 11 months of this budget year, government revenues totaled $3.39 trillion. That marks a healthy increase of 17.7% from last year, fueled by the economic rebound from the COVID-induced recession that allowed millions of people to go back to work, boosting individual incomes and corporate profits. Government spending was up a slower 4% to $6.21 trillion. The outlays for both this year and last reflect the trillions of dollars spent to keep the economy from falling into a prolonged recession by providing individual support payments, enhanced unemployment benefits and billions of dollars in forgivable loans to small businesses. For August, the deficit totaled $170.6 billion, down 14.7% from August 2020 when the deficit hit $200 billion. The difference resulted from the winding down of a number of relief programs introduced since March 2020. The August deficit report is not expected to materially alter the forecasts of when Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen will run out of maneuvering room to keep the government defaulting on its obligations for the first time in history. In a letter to congressional leaders last week, Yellen said she expects to exhaust next month the available extraordinary measures used to prevent the U.S. from hitting the governments borrowing limit. The measures mainly involve draining federal employee pension funds to clear room for more borrowing until Congress either raises the current $2.84 trillion limit or suspends the limit. The debt limit went back into effect on Aug. 1 after being suspended for two years. The need to deal with the debt limit is enmeshed in three other major pending spending decisions: the need to pass a stop-gap funding bill once the new budget year starts Oct. 1, and action on two massive infrastructure bills making their way through Congress. Nancy Vanden Houten, an economist at Oxford Economics, said she is forecasting that next year's deficit should decline to $1.43 trillion, which would be less than half the size of the deficits seen in the 2020 and 2021 budget years. She said the improvement would come from the ending of the COVID support programs that would offset increased spending from two infrastructure bills President Joe Biden is seeking to push through Congress in the coming weeks. We expect spending associated with new legislation to ramp up gradually and to be mostly offset with revenue increases and spending cuts, she said. OLYMPIA, Wash. (AP) Washington state troopers, prison correctional officers, ferry workers and other public sector employees have filed a lawsuit to try to overturn Gov. Jay Inslees COVID-19 vaccine mandate. The Northwest News Network reports the lawsuit filed by more than 90 workers on Friday in Walla Walla County says the mandate is unlawful and unconstitutional. The lawsuit says the penalty of being fired for not getting the vaccine is arbitrary and capricious, especially for employees who can work from home or have natural immunity from having previously contracted COVID-19. An Inslee spokesperson, Mike Faulk, said the office had not yet reviewed the lawsuit, but added: We know these vaccine requirements are legal and essential for saving lives. Inslee issued his vaccine mandate last month. It requires most state employees, on-site contractors and volunteers, as well as private health care and long-term care workers, to be fully vaccinated by Oct. 18. Inslee later expanded the mandate to include workers in educational settings from preschool through higher education. While Inslee did not offer a testing alternative in lieu of the vaccine, workers subject to the mandate can apply for religious or medical exemptions. Previously, the Washington Federation of State Employees sued to delay the implementation of the governors order. However, the union later reached an agreement with the Inslee administration, which was ratified last week by the membership. SEATTLE (AP) Washington is facing its own COVID-19 crisis and has little capacity to help neighboring Idaho deal with an overwhelming surge of cases driven by unvaccinated people, state hospital executives and doctors said Monday. Taya Briley, executive vice president of the Washington State Hospital Association, called the situation very sobering during a media briefing, saying Washington faces its worst COVID wave since the pandemic began even before big recent events like fall fairs and a return to school. Hospitals are canceling necessary surgeries and taking longer to deal with heart attacks and strokes because COVID patients are taking up so many beds. Nearly 1,700 patients are hospitalized with COVID, up from 350 in June and early July before the delta variant's spread among the unvaccinated drove the spike, Briley said. More than 95% of hospitalized patients are unvaccinated a staggering amount of unnecessary suffering, Briley said. Some 260 patients are on ventilators. When you walk down a hall that is full of COVID patients, it becomes very real, Briley said. These patients cannot catch their breath. ... They are, in effect, drowning. Its horrible for the patients and its also something that causes horrible anguish for our staff. About two-thirds of Washington residents age 12 and older had been fully vaccinated as of last week, and 74% have received at least one dose, according to Washington Department of Health data. In conservative northern Idaho, only about 4 in 10 eligible residents are fully vaccinated. Hospitals there are so packed that authorities announced last week facilities would be allowed to ration care, potentially giving life-saving care to some patients at the expense of others. Hospitals there have sent patients to hospitals in Washington, particularly in Spokane, though how many is not clear. The New York Times reported Monday that as of last week, Providence Sacred Heart in Spokane had patients from Idaho taking up 29 beds. Briley said that while it's normal for eastern Washington hospitals to treat patients from Idaho and vice versa, the influx of COVID patients had caused some ripple effect in western Washington. We are keeping our head above water, but barely, said Dr. Christopher Baliga, an infectious disease specialist at Seattle's Virginia Mason hospital. "Our capacity to absorb overwhelmed patients from other states is severely limited." Many Washington hospitals are having to transport patients farther away than usual to find them bed space, tying up ambulances for longer periods and making them less accessible when they're needed. Cascade Medical Center in Leavenworth twice recently had to airlift patients an expensive option because no ambulances were otherwise available, said Diane Blake, the hospital's chief executive. And at Providence St. Peter hospital in Olympia and Centralia Hospital, both in southwestern Washington, officials have set up alternative care sites in hallways and conference rooms because the emergency departments have been overwhelmed, Darin Goss, the CEO of Providence's southwest service area, told reporters. Those two hospitals had 82 COVID patients occupying beds Monday. Of the 23 in critical care, 21 were not fully vaccinated, Goss said. Other potential challenges loom. Flu season is approaching. And Gov. Jay Inslee's mandate that state workers and health care professionals be fully vaccinated by Oct. 18 could result in some hospital workers quitting. There is no statewide data on what percentage of health care workers are vaccinated, Briley said, and the rate at individual hospitals varies widely from 90% or more at some to just 30-40% at others, especially in more rural or conservative areas. The vaccine mandate has prompted many reluctant health care workers to get their shots, she said, but hospitals expect some staff to resign a development the overwhelmed facilities can ill afford. Monday was the last day workers could receive a first shot of the two-dose Pfizer vaccine in time for the Oct. 18 deadline for full vaccination. Oct. 4 marks the deadline for the one-dose Johnson & Johnson vaccine. CASTAIC, Calif. (AP) Firefighters were making progress on a wildfire that jumped across a Southern California freeway and spread across dry hillsides while a new blaze forced residents of a Northern California community to evacuate. The fire broke out Saturday afternoon near Castaic in northern Los Angeles County. Pushed by 10-15mph (16-24 kph) winds, the blaze chewed through tinder-dry brush and jumped across the busy freeway, spread across more than a half of a square mile. The California Highway Patrol closed a stretch of the interstate for several hours as air tankers dropped bright-orange retardant on the flames. A large flareup sent heavy smoke drifting toward freeway lanes Sunday afternoon, the CHP reported. Two firefighters were taken to the hospital to treat burn injuries, said Andrew Mitchell, a spokesman for the Angeles National Forest. The fire remained uncontained due to the mountainous terrain, but firefighters made progress overnight with the help of water-dropping aircraft and an aggressive ground attack, Mitchell said. Ringo H.W. Chiu/AP He said crews will take advantage of the beginning of a cooling trend Sunday to build containment lines. The cause of the fire is under investigation. Meanwhile, a fire that erupted Sunday afternoon at the intersection of Hopkins Street and North State Street prompted Mendocino County authorities to evacuate parts of Calpella, a community on the Russian River about 6 miles (10 miles) north of Ukiah. Video footage posted on Twitter shows the fire pushing in the direction of Lake Mendocino. As of Monday morning, the Hopkins Fire has burned 275 acres with 10% containment, according to Cal Fire. Further north, residents of a mountain town devastated by the huge Caldor Fire south of Lake Tahoe will be allowed back Sunday to inspect the damage. Most of Grizzly Flat's homes, as well as the school, post office, church and fire station were destroyed in the first days of the month-old fire. Evacuation orders were also lifted for homes along State Route 50 as containment of the 342-square-mile (886 square kilometer) wildfire increased to 65%. Firefighters were diverted from battling blaze to fight multiple overnight lightning fires when thunderstorms swept across the state Thursday night into Friday. The thunderstorms dropped light rain to slightly dampen the drought-stricken north, fire officials said. Up to a half-inch of rain fell on portions of the Dixie Fire, which began in mid-July and has burned through huge swaths of the northern Sierra Nevada and southern Cascades. However, fire officials said the rain is drying fast and vegetation is becoming more flammable. The second-largest fire in California history has burned 1,500 square miles (3,885 square kilometers) of land and more than 1,300 homes and other buildings. It was 65% contained. MADISON, Wis. (AP) Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers asked a federal court on Monday to allow him to intervene in a lawsuit filed by fellow Democrats that seeks to have federal courts draw new boundary lines if the governor and Republican-controlled Legislature can't reach agreement. The court already allowed the Legislature to intervene. Republicans want to keep the legal battle over the once-a-decade job of redrawing political lines in the conservative-controlled Wisconsin Supreme Court, rather than federal court. Conservatives have filed their own lawsuit with the state Supreme Court, which has yet to say whether it will take the case or require it to work through lower courts first. BOSTON (AP) A Massachusetts woman who worked for an unlicensed marijuana delivery company that had millions of dollars in revenue has pleaded guilty, federal prosecutors said Monday. Tatiana Fridkes, who also goes by the name Sonya, 34, of Boston, was sentenced Friday to time served and two years of probation, and was also ordered to pay $82,000 in restitution, according to a statement from the U.S. attorney's office in Boston. CLARKSBURG, W.Va. (AP) Federal prosecutors in West Virginia will conduct a conference next month to discuss the methods used to convict a former nursing assistant in the deaths of numerous patients at a veterans hospital. Reta Mays was sentenced to seven consecutive life terms in prison earlier this year by a federal judge who called her the monster that no one sees coming." Mays admitted to intentionally injecting patients with unprescribed insulin at the Louis A. Johnson VA Medical Center in Clarksburg. By Eli Wolfe San Jose Spotlight Getting dozens of homeless residents shelter and services isn't easy, especially when it has to happen in a matter of weeks. But HomeFirst CEO Andrea Urton said it's doable when you have the right resources. Residents last week were forced to leave a massive homeless encampment at Component Drive in North San Jose on land owned by Apple. Urton, who leads a nonprofit that connects homeless people with services, had weeks to put a roof over people's heads -- but she's proud that every resident interested in shelter and help got what they wanted. "By the end of two weeks we pretty much had everybody off-site and in temporary shelter," Urton told San Jose Spotlight. The homeless encampment on a portion of 64 acres of vacant land housed up to 100 people inside tents and vehicles for at least two years. Apple, which has plans to develop the land, contracted with HomeFirst last month to help move people into temporary shelters. "They wanted to find a solution for their site, but it's also my understanding that Apple didn't want to kick people off ruthlessly and make them homeless... and that I really respect," Urton said, adding that Apple provided several million dollars worth of support for the operation. Apple offered to pay for each resident to receive nine months of temporary shelter in motel rooms and a year of services, including help with mental health issues and substance addiction. Urton said lengthy case management is especially critical because homeless people transitioning from a camp often experience physical or mental crises -- sometimes both -- that can be compounded by drug or alcohol addiction. HomeFirst workers in August met with residents in the camp to talk about shelter options. Those interested in moving to motels were given showers and had their possessions placed in a hot box to eliminate bed bugs. Then, HomeFirst transported them to several shelter locations, moving people in small groups. Urton said people could bring several bags of possessions, and that those with RVs or cars could park at the shelter sites. For residents who refused a motel room, HomeFirst offered space at a city-operated safe-parking site that opened last week at 71 Vista Montana. Some nearby residents are opposed to the plan and circulated a petition demanding that people not be relocated to the site. Claims surfaced earlier this week from homeless advocates that women were being placed in rooms with men they did not know. Urton flatly denied that. "We would never do that," Urton said, adding that HomeFirst kicked someone out of the program who committed domestic violence. Urton said people from the encampment are roomed with their families. But, she added, "family" isn't limited to biological relatives; it also covers groups of people who bonded in the camp and want to remain together. The long-term plan for those displaced from the encampment is to find them permanent homes. Urton noted that HomeFirst evaluated residents who left the camp using a vulnerability index used by service providers throughout Santa Clara County to assess an individual's risk of dying on the street. Those with the highest scores received services first. She said it may be challenging to find permanent homes for people lower on the list, given the lack of affordable housing in Santa Clara County. "Shelter beds will always be an option for folks," Urton said. Gail Osmer, a longtime homeless advocate, closely followed the clearing of the Apple site. She said HomeFirst has done a good job getting people into motels, but she wants to make sure the organization sticks to its promise of fixing their vehicles. Urton said a volunteer mechanic is still helping people repair their cars and RVs. "All in all, I think they did a pretty job on this one," Osmer said. "I think things are going pretty well with the folks at the motels. They seem to be happy over there." Copyright 2021 Bay City News, Inc. All rights reserved. Republication, rebroadcast or redistribution without the express written consent of Bay City News, Inc. is prohibited. Bay City News is a 24/7 news service covering the greater Bay Area. Copyright 2021 by Bay City News, Inc. Republication, Rebroadcast or any other Reuse without the express written consent of Bay City News, Inc. is prohibited. By Lloyd Alaban San Jose Spotlight Public transit riders in Silicon Valley have a lot of agencies to keep up with: VTA, BART, Caltrain--and that's if you take public transit at all. And if you plan on traveling to places like the North and East Bay you'll have to wade through 27 different public transit agencies. San Jose Councilmember and VTA board member Raul Peralez wants to create a more interconnected system. In a recent proposal, Peralez suggested integrating principles from the nonprofit Seamless Bay Area, including coordinating bus, light rail, heavy rail and ferry service into an "easy-to-use" system that prioritizes riders, more investment in areas with few transit options, more bike and walking lanes and walkable communities. Peralez introduced the proposal at Wednesday's Rules and Open Government Committee. The City Council will consider adopting the principles at a Sept. 21 meeting. "What is important to me is how discouraging it is to navigate through all of our complex transit systems," Peralez said. He recalled visiting his in-laws in Napa County solely using public transportation--a trip that required getting on and off several different transit agencies. "(It) really was a challenge, not to mention very time-consuming." While Silicon Valley officials have taken steps toward pushing residents to take public transit--including approving and opening the first BART station in the city, considering fewer parking spaces, a cyclist superhighway and a plan to vastly reduce pedestrian deaths--the area's transportation system is harshly criticized by transit advocates due to its inadequacy and infrequency compared to other regions such as San Francisco and New York City. Criticism of regional public transit followed the mass shooting in May at VTA's rail yard that killed nine employees. The agency shut down its light rail system for more than three months after punting its reopening date at least twice. The system still hasn't returned to full capacity. A VTA spokesperson told San Jose Spotlight the agency has no stance on the proposal, but that it works closely with other transit agencies such as BART and Caltrain to coordinate service. Brian Preskitt spoke at Wednesday's meeting about his worst experience riding transit in San Jose. Preskitt missed his VTA bus connection to BART by two minutes, forcing him to wait at his stop for a half hour before another bus came, making him late to see his cousin. "If that's going to happen every time someone wants to take BART from Little Portugal or when they want to take it from downtown, we will have spent boatloads of money on these stations without always making it easier for people to get around with transit," Preskitt said. Access to transportation is one of the issues Peralez hopes to solve: Low-income neighborhoods historically have less transit infrastructure, such as bus stops, making it more difficult to get to essential places like work, school and hospitals. "We've found from people at our workshops that for a person to get to a hospital, it would take them about two hours because they have to take multiple buses," Mayra Pelagio, executive director of advocacy group Latinos United for a New America, told San Jose Spotlight. "And the nearest hospital that serves folks that are undocumented and has reduced costs for undocumented folks is pretty far from the east side (of San Jose). That disconnect means if a person doesn't have a car, they don't have access to health care, which means they don't have access to being healthy." A petition supporting Seamless Bay Area's ideas has garnered more than 1,900 signatures as of Friday. BART also endorsed the principles in a meeting last November. The proposal doesn't seek to eliminate every transit agency in the Bay Area and consolidate them into one. Rather, it looks for better integration among the two-dozen-plus agencies in the area. "San Jose is a major hub in the region," Adina Levin, advocacy director at Seamless Bay Area, told San Jose Spotlight. "It would really benefit from having transit service being more coordinated from the perspective of riders so that transit is more convenient and affordable and easy to use." According to a city memo, public transit has never been used by more than 12 percent of the population for commute trips since 1970. In contrast, cars make up more than 75 percent of trips. Several regional cities have already adopted the Seamless Bay Area principles, including East Palo Alto, Fremont, Mountain View and Redwood City. "There is a disjointed transportation system in the region," said Vice Mayor Chappie Jones. "There's lots of seams. There's lots of friction. Anything we can do to eliminate that friction and make people able to traverse the greater Bay Area would be worthwhile." Copyright 2021 Bay City News, Inc. All rights reserved. Republication, rebroadcast or redistribution without the express written consent of Bay City News, Inc. is prohibited. Bay City News is a 24/7 news service covering the greater Bay Area. Copyright 2021 by Bay City News, Inc. Republication, Rebroadcast or any other Reuse without the express written consent of Bay City News, Inc. is prohibited. I'm a modest and somewhat agoraphobic traveler. I dont drive a car, I rarely ride my bike, and when I absolutely must take a one-hour flight to see family in Palm Springs, I white-knuckle it all the way through. So when I decided to visit a grieving friend in Portland, Oregon, taking Amtraks celebrated Coast Starlight train seemed like a safe, romantic solution to my embarrassing fear of flying. And after nearly two years of sheltering in Oakland, I wanted adventure, magic and newness. Which is exactly how I ended up at the Jack London Square Amtrak station at 9:30 p.m. on a Friday night with a backpack and bouquet of white roses stuffed inside a mason jar. After waiting for nearly an hour, the Coast Starlight pulls into the station and slowly roars to a halt. A tired, masked agent greets me by the door and scans my ticket. Did they tell you whats going to happen? He asks. I shake my head, confused. This train will be terminated, he says. Because of the Lava Fire which has been burning since June 25 and destroyed nearly 26,000 acres around Mount Shasta, damaging railroad tracks Ill have to take a bus transfer at 3 a.m in Redding, California, where Ill then ride for three hours north and transfer again at Klamath Falls in Oregon. For weeks, the Coast Starlight hadnt been running and only just resumed this modified service Aug. 23. As the agent leads me to my roomette, my trip has only just begun, but already I feel defeated. The sleeper car is a Spartan but charming 3-by-6 cabin with two foldout beds, a foldout table and a large window. The roomette fare includes a three-course meal from Amtraks traditional dining car menu. I settle in and, after conducting a series of highly technical pull-push-yank maneuvers, I successfully unfold the bed. It feels like a small victory. Hours later, around 3:30 a.m., we arrive in Redding for our bus transfer. The air is hot and smells of smoke. I glance at the Air Quality Index: Its angry-red at 161. Ariana Bindman After boarding, I nervously assess the other passengers on the bus. Most are masked, but some arent. Around me, people are coughing and clearing their throats, and its terrifying. I stare into the bouquet and try to imagine its smell. My hand hurts from holding it. Are people coughing from COVID-19 or the smoke? Is the sky orange because of the sunrise or because of some nearby wildfire? When did my sense of reality become so skewed? Hours pass. I try to focus on the positive things: A ray of light on the mountain. A man cradling his boyfriend in his lap. An old woman taking photos through the window. Around 7:30 a.m., we arrive at a lonely train yard in Klamath Falls and board another Amtrak train. Exhausted and bleary-eyed, I shuffle to the dining car, where I order coffee and scrambled eggs with Swiss cheese. Much to my delight, the coffee is cheap, watery and acidic, like what you get at a roadside diner. The scrambled eggs arent bad, either theyre velvety, and the melted cheese wraps nicely around the fork. Finally, I feel like Im getting the experience I had hoped for. I look out the window, and see old locomotives, trailers, boats and trucks. Building America, says an abandoned train next to a cluster of houses, RVs and makeshift dog pens. A little girl waves at us from her front porch. Every home in this part of Southern Oregon seems to have a boat, an iteration of the American flag, or both. --- A week later, on my 18-hour return trip to Oakland, I get adventurous and decide to explore the train. Ive been told that meeting new people is a magical part of train travel, but I wondered if COVID-19 compromised that. According to Amtraks Sustainability Report, they saw ridership plummet by 97% from 2019. But it feels like theyve bounced back. In the observation car, where passengers typically hang out and view lush scenery, there are big happy families, a group of Amish boys playing cards and solo hikers with piles of loose maps. The atmosphere is jovial. I strike up conversation with one traveler from Seattle, Tim Gould, who refers to the Coast Starlight as his vacation train. The trip helps me unwind, he says. A dedicated hiker, he typically takes it to Kings Canyon and Yosemite several times a year, and the ride down, he explains, gives him time to settle in. Like many of us, he hasnt traveled much during the pandemic. But it was comforting to know that people like Gould are able to slowly resume doing what they love. --- At dinner time, I return to my roomette. During much of the pandemic, Amtrak closed its white-tablecloth service, which only just resumed on June 23. They also now offer the option of either reserving a seat for dining in or having a station agent deliver dinner to your cabin. And for the record, my entree, the tri-color cheese tortellini, is quite good. The pesto cream sauce is rich and nutty, the pasta shells are tender. The wine, a Kendall-Jackson chardonnay, is what you might expect: mild, tropical and sweet not bad considering its about $10. I down the glass and finish with the Philadelphia cheesecake. It was supposed to come with fresh strawberries and some sort of drizzle, but I didn't care. Its delicious. I just had dinner and dessert on a train, and soon, I would watch the sunset from my window and look at rolling hills and forests. It was a bucolic fantasy I had replayed in my head many times, and I wanted to finally experience it. I wanted to be reassured that, somewhere, it was still lush and green. But as we pass through the mountains, I stare out the window, horrified: Im supposed to see a stunning view of the forest. But all I see is dismal gray. Ash chokes the sky and blots out the sun. Pine trees loom, black and spectral along the horizon. I think I see the faint silhouette of a mountaintop, but I cant tell. My mask is too tight. My throat itches. And suddenly, it all feels very, very wrong and I start to weep. I refresh my Instagram and pull up my text messages, but theres no service or Wi-Fi. Its just me and the gray, riding together in silence. According to multiple reports, these fires in Southern Oregon will likely rage on. Since 2006, Amtrak has lost $127 million in revenue because of storms and severe weather disruptions wildfires, hurricanes and heat waves with a projected loss of $220 million by 2030. Chugging along the southbound train tracks, I think about the future and what all us passengers are moving toward. Coincidentally, Amtrak just celebrated its 50th anniversary, and I cant help but imagine an agent explaining to a traveler from the year 1971 that, unfortunately, due to wildfire season, the Coast Starlight will not be running in certain parts of California and Oregon. Wildfire season? What do you mean by that? the passenger would ask. And the station agent would simply readjust his mask, take their bags and guide them to their room. Ludington, MI (49431) Today Some clouds this evening will give way to mainly clear skies overnight. Low 51F. Winds light and variable.. Tonight Some clouds this evening will give way to mainly clear skies overnight. Low 51F. Winds light and variable. Convenient home delivery Unlimited website access 24/7 Unlimited e-Edition access 24/7 The best local, regional and national news in sports, politics, business and more! Get the Ludington Daily News delivered straight to your door and receive unlimited access to our website and e-Edition when you purchase a Print + Digital Subscription. Convenient home delivery Unlimited website access 24/7 Unlimited e-Edition access 24/7 The best local, regional and national news in sports, politics, business and more! Get the Oceana Herald Journal delivered straight to your door and receive unlimited access to our website and e-Edition when you purchase a Print + Digital Subscription. New Delhi, Sep 13 (IANS) Commonwealth Secretary-General Patricia Scotland called for urgent action to ensure improved climate resilience of small states and promised to amplify the concerns of small and other vulnerable states around climate change at the upcoming United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP26) in Glasgow this November. During her visit to The Bahamas last week, the Secretary-General said: "Without a doubt, we are living through a global climate crisis which is unfolding with disturbing speed and intensity across the Commonwealth, and the world. "The unequivocal evidence contained in the most recent report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has only reinforced what small island nations on the frontlines of climate change have been experiencing and advocating for a long time. "Urgent, decisive and sustained climate action is needed, and the international community must not miss the window to make a real difference at the upcoming COP26 summit. This includes mobilising the financial support needed for vulnerable nations to cope with the impacts of climate change and build long-lasting resilience. "The Commonwealth Secretariat has dedicated a number of programmes to support member countries to access finance, such as the Commonwealth Climate Finance Access Hub, the Disaster Risk Finance Portal and the Commonwealth Blue Charter Ocean Funders Database, but more must be done multilaterally to target the needs of small states, which face an existential threat from climate change." The Secretary-General last visited The Bahamas in 2019, in a show of solidarity with the country and region after it was devastated by Category 5 Hurricane Dorian. On a tour of the Coral Vita coral restoration facility in Freeport in Grand Bahama on September 11, she added: "While they have contributed the least to the climate crisis, small states are most affected by it. But they are also leading the charge in advocating for transformative climate action on a global scale, in addition to developing local solutions, including new innovations as well those drawn from indigenous knowledge." The Secretary-General will lead a delegation to the UN Climate Change Conference to advocate the interests of Commonwealth countries, exchange knowledge and best practices around climate action, strengthen partnerships and mobilise resources to support Commonwealth programmes. Thirty-two Commonwealth countries, more than half of the membership, are classified as 'small states', including 25 small island developing nations. --IANS vg/ksk/ "The relations between the Islamic Republic and our friendly and brotherly country Iraq are at a very good level in the political, economic and cultural fields, and we think that these relations can be further expanded," Xinhua news agency quoted Ebrahim Raisi as saying during a joint press conference with the Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi in Tehran. Tehran, Sep 13 (IANS) Iranian President and the visiting Iraqi Prime Minister on Sunday called for further boost of bilateral cooperation in a series of areas. "We believe that these relations can be developed in different areas, as our ties with Iraq are not just the relationship between two neighboring countries, but also rooted in beliefs, hearts and deep relationship between the two countries, two nations and two governments," added Raisi. Strengthening relations between the two countries can boost the roles of Tehran and Baghdad on regional and international stages, he said, adding that "despite the enemies' will, the level of relations between Iran and Iraq will develop day by day." The Iranian president also noted that both countries stressed acceleration of building railway corridor between Iran's Shalamcheh and Iraq's Basra. Furthermore, they discussed strengthening of financial and monetary ties between the two countries. For his part, al-Kadhimi stated that "we discussed a series of cases related to the development of bilateral relations today, and we are determined to expand the level of our relations as much as possible in line with the interests of the two nations." Both sides exchanged views on the increase of trade volume between the two countries, he said. The Iraqi prime minister expressed his gratitude for Iran's support in the fight against the Islamic State (IS) militants in Iraq, stressing that the Iraqi government and people will stand by the Iranian government and people in all areas. Heading a high-ranking political and economic delegation, al-Kadhimi paid his second visit to Tehran on Sunday since he became the premier of Iraq in May 2020. --IANS int/shs Joseph has worked as district administrator of the Guardian ad Litem Program, which promotes abused and neglected children through the state's district courts, for Iredell and Alexander counties for the last 14 years, according to the publication. FREMONT, CA: Nalini Joseph is vying for city council in Salisbury, Massachusetts, this November, hoping to put her decades of legal experience to good use. According to a Salisbury Post report, Joseph intends to bring her experience and ability to reach agreements irrespective of political and ideological viewpoints to the city level as a council member. According to the report, if Joseph, 53, is elected to the council in November, he will be the first Indian American to serve. She was born and grew up in India after her father moved there to begin a ministry. After high school, Joseph moved to the US to attend Wesleyan College in Macon, Georgia, where she earned a bachelor's degree in psychology. She found her way to Salisbury in 2011. Her father moved to India to start a ministry, and she was born and raised there. Joseph moved to the U.S. after high school to attend Wesleyan College in Macon, Georgia, where she managed to earn a bachelor's degree in psychology. She arrived in Salisbury in 2011. Joseph has worked as district administrator of the Guardian ad Litem Program, which promotes abused and neglected children through the state's district courts, for Iredell and Alexander counties for the last 14 years, according to the publication. According to Joseph, she became interested in improving the community with her skills and experience around a year ago, which include constructing nonprofit organizations, managing budgets and personnel, and collaborating with judges and other stakeholders. According to the report, she recognized public safety as a major concern for the city at this time, which calls for support for crime reduction, law enforcement, and proper budget management. Distinguished Young Women is a platform that combines the chance to win college scholarships with a program that offers life skills training to prepare young women for the world after high school. FREMONT, CA: Sharanya Swaminathan of Michigan and Keerthana Ramanathan of Minnesota, both talented Indian American students, will represent their states in the 2022 Distinguished Young Women of America competition. Distinguished Young Women is a platform that combines the opportunity to win college scholarships with a program that teaches young women life skills to prepare them for life after high school. The program is held in all 50 states as well as Washington, D.C., with some states having their local programs. However, only ten states have declared their representatives so far. Over $1 billion in scholarships are awarded to young students each year. Scholastics (25 percent); interview (25 percent); talent (20 percent); fitness (15 percent); and self-expression (15 percent) are the categories in which participants are evaluated in each Distinguished Young Women program (15 percent). Swaminathan, who lives in Troy, plans to attend the University of Michigan and study business administration and public policy. She performed a dance during the talent show. Ramanathan of Eden Prairie wants to be a surgical oncologist and aims to attend Northwestern University. In the talent section, she performed Alarippu (traditional), a classical Indian dance. Nearly a half-dozen Indian American students have competed in the national finals in recent years. Sanya Surya of Oregon won $1,000 in the interview and self-expression categories in 2021. Maya Shah of Clive, Iowa, and Brianna Patel of Novi, Michigan, respectively, represented their states in 2019. In addition, Neerja Patel of Vermont was named a Distinguished Young Woman of Vermont in 2015; Indian American Sruthi Palaniappan of Cedar Rapids, Iowa was named a Distinguished Young Woman of Iowa in 2016, and Neha Arora of Madison, Mississippi was named a Distinguished Young Woman of Mississippi in 2017. The Simons Foundation receives candidates for the Simons Investigator programs from a select group of institutions in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, and Ireland each year. FREMONT, CA: Three Indian Americans are among the 16 members of the Simons Foundation's group of investigators for mathematics and physical sciences, which was announced recently. Surjeet Rajendran, L. Mahadevan, and Amit Sahai were among the group. Rajendran earned a bachelor's degree in mathematics from the California Institute of Technology in 2004 and went on to Stanford University to earn a doctorate in physics in 2009. Before joining Johns Hopkins University as an associate professor, he was a Leon Madansky postdoctoral scholar at Johns Hopkins University and the Henry Shenker Professor of Physics at U.C. Berkeley. Mahadevan, of Harvard University, was named in theoretical physics and life sciences. He teaches applied mathematics, physics, and organismic and evolutionary biology at the university. By combining experiments, theory, and computation, he aims to comprehend motion and matter at the observable scale of "middle earth." The patterns of shape and flow of inanimate matter and the dynamics of sentient living matter that can self-organize, sense, and act are of interest. His papers cover various topics, including soft material geometry and physics, origami and kirigami mathematics, cell and organ morphodynamics, and collective behavior ethology. Mahadevan is a MacArthur Fellow and a Royal Society Fellow, according to his bio. Sahai of UCLA was named in theoretical computer science. His research generates fresh feasibility results and presents essential new principles in cryptography. According to his bio, he is best known for proposing the concepts of indistinguishability obfuscation and functional encryption and his recent work demonstrating the feasibility of indistinguishability obfuscation and functional encryption for general computations using well-studied hardness conjectures. The Simons Foundation receives candidates for the Simons Investigator programs from a select group of institutions in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, and Ireland each year. Simons Investigators are exceptional theoretical scientists who get a steady stream of research funding from the foundation, allowing them to pursue long-term research on fundamental topics. Since its inception in 1983, the program has hosted more than 350 fellows representing media outlets from The New York Times to Le Monde, from CNN to the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, and more. FREMONT, CA: MIT announced the new class of 2021-2022 Knight Science Journalism Fellows, with two Indian Americans named among the 21 individuals. Fellows were chosen for full year, fall semester, or spring semester fellowships. Sushma Subramanian was selected for a spring fellowship, while Tasmiha Khan was picked for the fall semester. Subramanian is a health and science journalist and author of How to Feel: The Science and Meaning of Touch. Her byline has appeared in Slate, The Atlantic, Elle, Scientific American, Discover, and others. She was a finalist twice for the Livingston Award for Young Journalists and won a Newswomens Club of New York Front Page Award. She will be writing about the ethics behind the commodification of breast milk, it said. Khan is a freelance writer from the Midwest. She champions marginalized communities, particularly the Muslim American population, including women and children. Her work has appeared in National Geographic, The New York Times, Forbes, The Daily Beast, Vox, and VICE, among others. MIT said that her project will examine the science of ensuring cultural and religious competent care for pregnant and perinatal Muslim women. It marks the second year that KSJ will offer the remote project fellowships, which were established in response to the unique challenges and public health concerns presented by the Covid-19 pandemic. The fellowships are designed to support journalists pursuing a diverse range of projects related to science, health, technology, and the environment. Each fellow will receive a stipend and a budget for project-related expenses, as well as access to seminars, workshops, mentoring, and a large offering of online resources at MIT. Selected from a highly competitive pool of applicants, the 2021-22 fellowship class includes authors, reporters, documentary photographers, and multimedia journalists representing every time zone in the contiguous United States. Seven journalists will receive full-year fellowships supported by $40,000 stipends; 14 will receive single-semester fellowships supported by $20,000 stipends, with nine in the fall semester and five in the spring semester. The Knight Science Journalism Program, supported by a generous endowment from the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, is recognized worldwide as the premier mid-career fellowship program for science writers, editors, and multimedia journalists. The programs goal is to foster professional growth among the worlds small but essential community of journalists covering science and technology and encourage them to pursue that mission, first and foremost, in the public interest. To continue, please log in, or sign up for a new account. We offer one free story view per month. If you register for an account, you will get two additional story views. After those three total views, we ask that you support us with a subscription. A subscription to our digital content is so much more than just access to our valuable content. It means youre helping to support a local community institution that has, from its very start, supported the betterment of our society. Thank you very much! The countrys largest labour union peak body has called on Treasurer Josh Frydenberg to immediately block the private equity takeover of Commonwealth Banks superannuation fund after it failed a performance test and was sued for providing false information to members. Colonial First State (CFS) was one of 13 superannuation funds that failed the Australian Prudential Regulation Authoritys (APRA) inaugural performance test this month which ranks MySuper products on investment returns and fees against a tailored benchmark. The ACTU has made another appeal to block private equity firm KKRs takeover of the Commonwealth Banks super fund, Colonial First State. Credit:ACTU The worst-performing funds, including CFS, must now inform members of the result and seek to improve returns, reduce fees or face a ban on accepting new members. The test is part of the federal governments reform agenda to stamp out dud funds from the $3.3 trillion superannuation sector. CBA announced last May it had reached a deal to sell 55 per cent of its super fund, Colonial First State (CFS), to KKR for $1.7 billion, which would give the private equity firm controlling ownership of the fund. Qantas says it will cancel plans to launch a new service from Cairns to Tokyo after the competition watchdog blocked its proposed alliance with Japan Airlines over concerns it would create a near monopoly on flights between the two countries. The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) on Monday rejected an application from the two airlines to coordinate flights pricing, schedules, sales and tourism marketing because it would hamper competitors such as Virgin Australia and result in higher airfares. The ACCC says the proposed alliance would be to the detriment of passengers travelling between Australia and Japan and did not pass the ACCCs public benefits test. Credit:Jason South Qantas, its budget arm Jetstar and Japan Airlines (JAL) carried about 85 per cent of passenger traffic between the two countries before the pandemic. They were the closest competitors on the Sydney-Tokyo route and the only airlines on the Melbourne to Tokyo route. ACCC chairman Rod Sims said the tie-up would create a near monopoly on air travel between Australia and Japan, which outweighed the benefits of the alliance helping to quickly reinstate travel when borders reopen. The proposed $23.6 billion takeover of Sydney Airport will face close scrutiny from the competition watchdog, with airlines raising concerns about common ownership across Australias major airports. Sydney Airport said on Monday it would open its books to a bid from a superannuation fund-led consortium, and that it intended to recommend shareholders accept its $8.75 per share cash offer if the consortium produces a binding takeover proposal. Sydney Airport said it will tell shareholders to accept the deal. Credit:James Brickwood The Sydney Airport Alliance consortium made up of the super-fund backed IFM Investors, AustralianSuper, QSuper and the New York-based Global Infrastructure Partners first approached Australias only listed airport in June offering $8.25 per share. It raised that offer to $8.45 in August, and then to $8.75 over the weekend. Sydney Airports David Gonski-led board rejected the earlier offers as opportunistic as the gateway continues to be battered by the COVID-19 pandemic. Passenger traffic fell to just 2.5 per cent of pre-pandemic levels in July. A late-afternoon burst of buying helped stock indexes close mostly higher on Wall Street on Monday (US time), snapping a five-day losing streak for the S&P 500. The benchmark index shook off an afternoon slump to finish 0.2 per cent higher. Banks, energy companies and communication stocks accounted for much of the indexs broad gains. Health care and utilities stocks fell. The S&P 500 was coming off its biggest weekly drop since June. Wall Street has had a mixed session to kick off the new week. Credit:AP Despite the rally, the ASX is set to open lower with futures at 6.37am AEST pointing to a fall of 12 points, or 0.2 per cent, at the open. The price of US crude oil rose 1 per cent and crossed back above $US70 ($95) per barrel. It hasnt closed above that level since early August. Natural gas prices jumped 5.9 per cent and are at their highest levels since the middle of 2014. The solid gains helped lift energy stocks, including a 2.6 per cent rise for Exxon Mobil and a 7.2 per cent jump for Marathon Oil. The tariff war between the US and China had appeared to have settled into an uneasy truce during the early months of the Biden administration. Even as Joe Biden and Xi Jinping had a candid and respectful telephone conversation last week, however, the catalyst for another trade confrontation started simmering in the background. The call, described by US officials as a broad, strategic discussion, apparently didnt touch on, in any detail at least, the tariffs the Trump administration imposed on about $US360 billion ($489 billion) of Chinas exports to the US. Tariffs were Donald Trumps option of first resort in the escalation of tensions between the US and China that began during his presidency. Senior officials in the Biden administration met to decide whether to launch an investigation that could open a new front in the trade war. Credit:Bloomberg Even as the Biden administration, under some pressure from US companies, is reviewing the Trump tariffs, senior officials in the administration met on Friday in the US to decide whether to launch an investigation that could open a new front in the trade war. The meeting of US Trade Representative Katherine Tai and Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo first reported by Bloomberg was to discuss whether or not to start an investigation of Chinas subsidies of its industries and their impact on the US economy. The audience buys in, Muggleton says. They have a good time, the [crowd] is massive. He encourages attendees to order food and drink locally and tag restaurants and bottle shops on Instagram, which they promote on social media. Kirsty Webecks Zoom Comedy Hour has been a roaring success; some weeks 700 payers show up from their loungerooms. We can have up to 1000 screens, she says. I bought the super Zoom account; it was a tiny fee. We just pay the acts; we have no venue hire, no techs. Webeck has hosted Josh Earl, Sammy J and Mandy Nolan. And lots of animals. Kirsty Webeck hosts a Zoom Comedy Hour. We have a Pet Parade before the start of each show, says Webeck. We usually choose a handful of people in the audience who dont have distractions to unmute themselves and theyre the ones who do all the [audible] laughing and that works well. It would be chaotic otherwise. Theres a fine art to selecting the right person for crowd participation. Muggleton has a return customer who has become a cult figure. A crazy guy from Perth called Winston lifted up a goon bag one week and started dancing. Everyone cheered. Now he comes to every show and people love him. At Muggleton and Webecks nights, comics do tried and true material. Its an uplifting community-based kind of event. I want comedians that have a light-hearted approach, says Webeck. Laconic Melbourne comic Daniel Connell is taking a different approach with this Tuesdays launch of Pfirst Dose, an hour of comedians workshopping fresh material. I was hesitant to do Zoom [comedy] then I did Kirstys show and had a great time, he admits. I didnt do new stuff, I just went with old, tested gold. Pfirst Dose is born from the mother of invention: necessity. Comedian Daniel Connell. Id been chatting to my close comedy mates, Luke Heggie and Tom Siegert, and we were asking: What are we gonna do for festivals next year? You hope to have half an hour of new stuff by Christmas, he says. Comedians will have most of the structure of a joke; were hoping audiences can be forgiving. Both the Melbourne International Comedy Festival and Sydney Comedy Festival require acts to perform for the best part of an hour you cant fake that, you need to be prepared. Other online comedic offerings pumping out of Australias lockdowns include veteran promoter Janet McLeods weekly trivia night and Ivan Aristeguietas Saturday night cooking show About This Much where you prepare a meal in unison with the lovable Venezuelan import. Watching stand-up online is a mental health service, notes British comedy website Chortles local reviewer Patrick Horan. With comics, you feel like you know them better than any other performer; it gives people a real sense of connection to jump on and hang out with comics and show off their cats. Its not for everybody, though. Live-streamed comedy is a rough trot, its neither fish nor fowl, you dont get the vibe of the room or the slickness you get from say a Rhys Nicholson Netflix special, reckons Horan. It only works if you have an original approach. Horan praises last years Bidou Zooms shows by fashion krackspert Helen Bidou, starring Anne Edmonds in her crazed alter-ego and Sam Campbell as Helens disturbed son Connor. The other big hit of the pandemic has been Bo Burnham: Inside, filmed and edited entirely by the US performer with no audience in last years lockdown. It premiered on Netflix in May and has been hailed as the next Nanette, nudging the needle of the artform. Burnhams special lacks the one crucial ingredient of live stand-up: topical material. The live-streaming comics have had some fun with Nadia Bartels Kmart plate party. I dont follow that side of things, but it got my wife through with plenty of phonecalls to friends, deadpans Connell. Webeck has been riffing on bad lockdown haircuts while Muggleton took Jeff Bezos to task for his space trip and NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklians announcement shed no longer be doing daily COVID briefings. Muggleton hopes the humour they provide is helping people through the rolling horror of 2021 while remembering which members of our society are the ones really doing Gods work. We do free tickets for frontline health care workers. They flick through their work ID and we send them the link for admission. Environmental groups say a new code allowing land clearing 25 metres out from fences will do little to aid protection against bushfires in NSW but could have devastating impacts on wildlife. The state government over the weekend released its long-awaited code for landholders to reduce the potential for the spread of fires from or into properties. This should be undertaken with consideration of environmental impacts, the code states. New land-clearing codes will allow farmers to clear as much as 25 metres either side of their fences, according to new codes released over the weekend. Credit:Wolter Peeters The 25-metre distance on either side of the fence, though, was not among the 76 specific recommendations of the states bushfire inquiry after the 2019-20 fires. Instead, the review called for a simplification of the vegetation clearing policies to ensure they were clear and easy to navigate for the community, and that they enable appropriate bush fire risk management by individual landowners without undue cost or complexity. New Yorkers are usually one step ahead on trends, even when it comes to the pandemic. Manhattan streets are alive with vaccinated office workers, but one thing has not returned with them: classic business attire. Wall Street lawyers and bankers are strolling back to the office wearing jeans, t-shirts and gasp activewear, according to The New York Times, and its a similar story close to home. The death of the classic work uniform is another part of our new normal, and it causes sartorial stress for some. We have a lot of guys coming in now saying, I want to get back in a suit, because its actually easier for me, says Tom Riley, director of premium Australian tailor Patrick Johnson Tailors. When guys dress casually for work theres more of themselves on display as an individual, and not necessarily a professional identity. So that creates challenges when meeting clients. Tom Riley says its best to invest in some key wardrobe pieces. Credit:James Harvey Kelly While we may never go back to formal office wear five days a week, looking our best can give an extra boost of confidence. So how can you execute casual smartly? Step one: relax. People are emphasising comfort, and were going back to a more generous cut its not so strict and skinny anymore, says Riley. Theres a sense of richness that can only come with a bit of volume. You cant achieve that with clothing thats tailored too slim. Modelling by a new scientific lobby group projects that NSWs road map to reopening may lead to all the states intensive care unit beds being full for five weeks over Christmas and almost 1000 people dying from COVID-19. The modelling is the first release from OzSAGE, a group of high-profile scientists who have come together to call for Australia to change course on reopening. OzSAGEs model projects ICU capacity will be exceeded in NSW for five weeks over December and January, with 1169 projected deaths, unless restrictions are reimposed. Credit:Kate Geraghty OzSAGEs membership includes some of Australias best-known scientists including leading epidemiologist Tony Blakely, Burnet Institute head Brendan Crabb, the Grattan Institutes Stephen Duckett, the Kirby Institutes biosecurity program head Raina MacIntyre and ANU vice-chancellor and Nobel-prize winning astronomer Brian Schmidt. It strongly advocates for Australia to achieve COVID-19 elimination, similar to polio or measles, in which there is no sustained community transmission and outbreaks are rare. The argument that we live with deaths from influenza and therefore must accept ongoing COVID-19 deaths is seriously misleading. Influenza vaccines are nowhere near as effective in preventing death as those against COVID-19. The issue is not deaths but avoidable deaths, which will continue until we reach our vaccine destination. Brilliant scientists worked around the clock to gift us an extraordinary life-protecting get out of jail ticket. They gave us the tools, let us together finish the job. The sooner we do, the fewer fellow Australians we lose needlessly. - Prof Graeme Stewart, Westmead Institute for Medical Research, Westmead Its a wicked problem for restaurateurs afraid theyll lose customers if they adhere to no jab, no entry rules (Vaccine carrots, pineapples and pizza for the lot, September 12). Theyll certainly lose plenty of customers who wont enter a restaurant thats potentially packed with unprotected diners. - Jeffrey Mellefont, Coogee The complaints from some businesses that they cant afford to turn away any customers regardless of their vaccination status is similar to the bleating of certain bars and restaurants when smoking inside venues was banned. The outcome of that brief hoo-ha was, well, nothing. Despite the forecasts of doom, life went on. The vast majority of Australians either have or are in the process of getting jabbed. It would be useful to know if there is a list of businesses that refuse to discriminate in favour of the vaccinated. Ill be sure to avoid those businesses. - Bill Bowman, Rhodes Some businesses plan to exercise their right to serve unvaccinated customers. How will that affect their turnover? Vaccinated people will probably exercise their right to avoid them like the plague. - Mick Le Moignan, Bilgola Plateau We are kidding ourselves if we think small businesses will be taking the time to check whether every customer is vaccinated. There will be signs saying that you must check in and be vaccinated, but there are not enough resources for control or compliance mechanisms. The government may be just hoping that a 70 per cent double dose vaccination rate is enough, like saying two out of three aint bad (with apologies to Meat Loaf). - Michael Blissenden, Dural When exactly will we be told what percentage of members of Parliament and senators have now been double vaccinated? - John Connell, Bronte Freedom from information A spreadsheet known to exist that could only have emanated from the offices of Alan Tudge or Scott Morrison could not be found within the department responsible for implementing the grubby political initiative it details (Spreadsheet for carparks born in one of two offices, September 13). And all 10 documents that were found are still under wraps because they supposedly go to cabinet deliberations. Dissembling, obfuscation, denial and evasiveness have certainly replaced openness, honesty, responsibility and accountability. You have to wonder what on earth is the point of the Freedom of Information Act. Freedom from information, more like. A look of satisfied smugness on Sir Humphreys face isnt hard to imagine. - Adrian Connelly, Springwood Choice moves Kristina Keneally is intelligent, talented, hard-working and an asset to the ALP at a time when the party needs it most (Letters, September 13). But her rubber-stamped move to become the candidate for the seat of Fowler, displacing a popular and engaging local candidate, is a serious misstep. Fowler is a multicultural electorate with complex social and economic needs. If Keneally has leadership aspirations, will she be able to concentrate on what is best for her local constituents rather than be distracted by the internal power struggles that will inevitably result from her personal political ambitions? Perhaps the voters of Fowler will judge for themselves. - Rob Phillips, North Epping Keneallys attempted move to the lower house has already achieved one thing I did not expect to see in my lifetime: a rush of people passionately championing more diversity in politics. - Ben Aveling, Alexandria Retiring lines As a constituent of Joel Fitzgibbon, it was great news to hear that he wont be re-contesting the seat of Hunter at the next election (Veteran Labor MP Joel Fitzgibbon to quit at next election, smh.com.au, September 13). Fitzgibbon represents the complete antithesis of what a modern progressive, social democratic party should stand for. - Peter Jones, Rathmines Now that Joel Fitzgibbon will not be re-contesting Hunter, Senator Deborah ONeill is an obvious choice to replace him, as she is based on the Central Coast. Win-win. Tu Le runs in Fowler and Kristina Keneally holds the number one spot on the Senate ticket. - Elizabeth Elenius, Pyrmont Christensen retiring, Kelly unlikely to be re-elected and now Fitzgibbon retiring. With these dinosaurs becoming politically extinct, is it possible that the next parliament might actually be more enlightened? And can we hope Joyce sees the writing on the cave wall? - Wayne Duncombe, Glebe Not adding up There is another disaster for NSW coming down the track at an alarming rate. There are teacher-less classes right across the state, and it is only going to get worse (Casual crisis: students left in class limbo, September 13). This government has manifestly failed to meet the needs for staffing its schools. Is there anything more fundamental? The top-down corporate management system has left schools all over NSW without appropriately trained teachers and both the department and the minister seem to have no cogent response.- Gus Plater, Saratoga Transport woes On the very day the NSW Upper House is examining the Western Harbour Tunnel and Beaches Link, the Berejiklian government announces it has botched plans for a private partner (Harbour suitors left at alteration, September 13). The inevitable delay gives the Upper House inquiry time to direct changes that are sorely needed. The Western Harbour Tunnel/Beaches Link will increase traffic on Berry Street, effectively cutting North Sydney in half. This and numerous other design faults with the current plan can and must be fixed before the main contract is let. Or better still, call a halt, examine the transport needs of the region in a post-lockdown world, and design a transport system to suit that. Could save billions. - Sid French, Waverton Telling times On Sunday, while doing my daily exercise trying to avoid the 90 per cent of people not wearing masks or social distancing, I was forced off the path by five young men chatting and laughing together (Dobbers or cobbers its tricky, Mr Abbott, September 13). When I suggested they should be wearing masks, one responded, why should we bother? Tony Abbott doesnt think they are necessary, and he is an ex-prime minister of Australia, he scoffed. With attitudes like this, we have no hope and Buckleys of controlling this virus. - Elizabeth Kroon, Randwick I used to tell my students that there was a difference between telling and dobbing. The former was to inform the authorities of some action that you felt would have severe consequences. Dobbing was something you did to get someone into trouble. The person who reported Abbott to the police evidently submitted no photos of the many others who were not wearing masks. The former prime minister was singled out, so that he would get into trouble. The police informant didnt tell. They dobbed. - William Galton, Hurstville Grove Go figure(s) Your correspondent is correct in his claim that to debate aspects of history is a perfectly healthy and scholarly way of revising and clarifying our understanding of historical events (Letters, September 13). But lets not look only at the Anzac story but instead examine the real myth that wars have been fought to protect our freedom, our democracy and our way of life. They havent. The battles to win such freedoms except for WWII have largely been won without recourse to weapons of war. It has been the dedication to causes such as those led by the likes of Jack Mundey and currently Grace Tame that have achieved most of the freedoms we enjoy today. In contrast, our military history is mostly marked by incursions into uncalled-for appearances in foreign countries seemingly to curry favour with America. - Trevor Somerville, Illawong Twenty years ago, the Herald published a letter from my father, Harvey Marrable. In it, he asked when will the US learn that it is better to make grateful friends than vengeful enemies? Last week, you reported that, so far, the war on terror has caused 800,000 deaths and created 21 million refugees. What if America had invested that $6.4 trillion in economic, environmental and social development instead of war? We could have left the world a safer place for our children. - Chris Marrable, Darlinghurst Chew on this I applaud Bridget Loudons support of employing non-degree holding workers (Working class targets in doubt, September 13). However, I take issue with the characterisation of working-class children as underdogs, and the callous dismissal of working-class parents contained in these words: Making something of yourself when you come from nothing takes grit. Many parents who would give their eye teeth to see their children reach their full potential but havent the resources for higher education. - Kathleen Hollins, Northmead Non-Aussie saves Wallabies Congratulations to Quade Cooper for kicking the Wallabies to victory against the South African Springboks (Cooper kicks Wallabies to shock win, September 13). Lets hope he can now be finally granted Australian citizenship. - Graham Russell, Clovelly How can someone who has put their body on the line, representing Australia 71 times in Wallabies Test matches, and who has lived in Australia since the age of 13, be refused Australian citizenship? - Alan Marel, North Curl Curl Positive charge I cant help but feel happy whenever I see Dylan Alcott. Hes such a dynamo of positivity (Dylan Alcott celebrates Golden Slam in style, smh.com.au, September 14). - Ian Waters, Surry Hills Older focus Joan Brown (Letters, September 13), you failed to mention the difficulty of seeing the dropped tablet on the floor, and then the enormous effort it takes to get back up on your feet after you have found it. - Gillian Baldwin, Windradyne Hundreds of critical workplaces continue to be hit by COVID-19 exposures, with warehouses and distribution centres conducting contact tracing in-house as health authorities focus on higher-risk locations. There have been more than 150 COVID-19 cases among food logistics and distribution employees during NSWs outbreak, affecting 98 facilities, according to the union representing these workers. The Woolworths distribution centre at Minchinbury. Earlier this year, more than 500 Woolworths distribution employees were in isolation due to virus exposures. Credit:Nick Moir United Workers Union estimated at least 3000 people employed in warehouses that supply stock to supermarkets in NSW and related logistics operations had been required to isolate for a fortnight following a virus exposure over the course of the states outbreak. Meanwhile, data from the national childcare authority showed more than 100 childcare and early learning centres were being shut in NSW each week due to potential virus exposures. Residents in Sydneys north have sounded the alarm on plans to dig a new harbour tunnel close to dozens of schools and parks, warning construction of the project poses potential safety risks to thousands of students. Councils and community groups seized an opportunity to voice their opposition to the Western Harbour Tunnel and Beaches Link during a NSW parliamentary inquiry scrutinising the multibillion-dollar projects on Monday. An upgraded Warringah Freeway will be linked to the new Western Harbour Tunnel. Credit:James Brickwood Stop the Tunnels convener Larissa Penn, who said the community group represented mums at the school gate, told the inquiry that concern about the project was high among residents and parents in Sydneys inner north. It feels like when they were planning this project they didnt quite realise the sheer volume of children moving across the area, Ms Penn said. A man has been charged after allegedly kicking and punching two female police officers in Sydneys south-west, then assaulting a third officer while in custody. Video footage captured the incident between the man and the two senior constables from Police Transport Command who stopped him in Bankstown about 11.50am on Monday. A man has been charged after allegedly assaulting two female police officers on a Bankstown street and a third officer at Bankstown police station on Monday. Credit:Nine News Detective Superintendent Todd Cunningham said the 43-year-old man was standing in the middle of Jacobs Street and had nearly been hit by a bus before he was asked to get off the road. Police allege the man approached the two female officers, aged 30 and 32, and became physically aggressive, kicking one of them to the chest and punching her. More than two years after the Opal and Mascot towers debacles forced NSW to confront a problem long ignored, the fight to restore public confidence in the integrity of apartment buildings is far from over. Ensuring that a focus remains on cleaning up the construction industry and improved planning is critical to safeguarding the growing number of people who reside in apartments. It will also help tackle housing affordability and enhance city living. More work is needed. A survey of more than 500 apartment buildings constructed in NSW in the past six years found more than a third had serious defects. Worryingly, the analysis showed that 90 per cent of strata managers or committee members would not recommend buying a unit off the plan to a friend or family member. The sentiment is troubling, given that it comes from people who know well the challenges confronting apartment living. The survey, completed by NSW Fair Trading and the peak body for strata managers early this year, serves as a warning of the task ahead in restoring public confidence in apartments. The COVID-19 pandemic has put a temporary halt to Sydneys population growth over the past 18 months as the number of people migrating from overseas slumped. A record number of Sydney residents have also decided to leave the city for the regions. But it is important we are not lulled into thinking that Sydneys population will never return to its pre-COVID trend of more than 90,000 new residents a year. For many people abroad, the harbour city remains an attractive place to live in a troubled world. Cities may have been at the epicentre of the pandemic, but Australia will continue to be one of the most urbanised countries in the world. That means the challenges of where and how to house Sydneys residents will become more pressing. Skyrocketing prices for single dwellings are already forcing more people to consider buying apartments so higher-density housing is set to become the norm. About 15 per cent of NSWs population, or more than 1.1 million people the vast majority in Sydney choose to live in units. Planned well and constructed to high standards, apartments can more than satisfy peoples needs and wants. A greater focus on good design, including adequate green space, can help foster a sense of community in high-density areas while allowing people to reside close to schools, work, hospitals and the like. Three men have been rushed to hospital with head, neck and hand injuries after a large brawl involving 40 people erupted in the southern Brisbane suburb of Runcorn. Emergency services were called about 10.30pm on Monday to Daw Road, where the fight broke out on the street between two groups from the Indian community, with men armed with various weapons, including bats and poles. A fight broke out in Runcorn, Brisbanes south. Credit:Google Maps Police immediately gave first aid to a 36-year-old man with hand, neck and head injuries before paramedics arrived. A group of men tried to drive away from the scene in a Nissan X-Trail but were stopped by a dog squad on Nathan Street. How do we know Morant committed these and other atrocities in which a dozen non-combatants were gunned down? There are many reasons, but they include 14 brave Australian soldiers and a Kiwi soldier risking their lives for the first two soldiers in the Bushveldt Carbineers to publicly dissent had finished with a bullet in their heads writing a letter to their commanding colonel, asking for Morant to be court-martialled. He was, during which Morant famously boasted of the atrocity of lining up eight unarmed Boer prisoners and shooting them by the side of a road. We got them, and we shot them, under Rule .303! Of course, Morant was a practised hand at shooting prisoners by this time, having ordered a firing squad to execute a lone, injured prisoner, Floris Visser, to the disgust of men and officers alike. At least Visser was given the farce of a drum head court-martial, a kangaroo court improvised by Morant to justify murder as revenge for his friend Captain Percy Hunt. Loading Quoted in the Advertiser on Saturday, the Melbourne lawyer James Unkles said: Injustices in times of war are inexcusable and it takes vigilance to right wrongs, to honour those unfairly treated and to demonstrate respect for the rule of law. How we respond to this case remains a test of our values and is vitally important. Was he speaking in sympathy with the dead Boers? He was not. He was pushing the case for Morants posthumous pardon, and for his name to be added to the Boer War Memorial in Adelaide, just as he was a prime agitator behind the Australian Parliament in 2009 voting in favour of petitions being presented to Queen Elizabeth II to review and posthumously overturn Morants convictions. Three years later, on the 110th anniversary of the execution of Morant and co-accused Peter Handcock, the Liberal member for Mitchell, Alex Hawke, rose in the House to make a claim for Morant and companys pardon. It is timely for the Australian government to do everything it can to assist the modern-day descendants of these men to access a judicial review of this case. It is the case that the executions were conducted with extreme haste and without appeal. Loading (A point of order, Mr Speaker, if I may. An appeal is something they had in civilian courts, but did not exist with courts-martial.) I think it is important, Alex Hawke continued, that we seek British governments assistance in releasing all of the available records in relation to this case so that the modern -day descendants can know what happened and rightly, if necessary, receive a judicial review and pardon. It is an episode that appeals greatly to every Australian because of the doctrine of fairness which says that no-one should be treated differently because of their birth, rank or status. We do know that these men were treated differently because of their birth, rank and status. We certainly need legends in Australian history. We do. And we have plenty of bona fide ones, without the need to gloss over the record of a war criminal. But still it goes on! In February 2018, the Australian Parliament passed a motion expressing Sincere regret that Lieutenants Morant, [et al] were denied procedural fairness contrary to law and acknowledges that this had cruel and unjust consequences; and . . . sympathy to the descendants of these men as they were not tried and sentenced in accordance with the law of 1902. Loading Any mention of sympathy and sincere regrets for the defenceless Boers, including children, that Morant had gunned down? None at all. Justice for them? No mention. Just an obsessive focus on aspects of the court-martial where ts werent crossed and is werent dotted. And equal insistence, despite a lack of any evidence at all, that Morant did what he did under British orders. Bottom line? Some historical legends, like that of Morant, are so seductive they live on because people want to believe them. And its so powerful you even have serious people pushing the tragic absurdity of an Australian Parliament petitioning the Queen and the British Parliament to posthumously pardon an Englishman fighting for a British unit who committed the worst war atrocities of the Boer War! But how much more inspirational is the truth? Morant was not the Man From Snowy River put up against the wall by those Pommy bastards. He was a vicious Pommy bastard put up against the wall by the men from Snowy River and others who risked their lives to bring him to justice to stop the atrocities. There are heroes in this story. They are those troopers who risked their lives to turn Morant in. Imagine their thoughts at his name being next to theirs on the Adelaide Boer War Memorial. There are victims. They are unarmed Boers ruthlessly gunned down on Morants orders. How monstrously unjust to both heroes and victims to simply go with the legend, unexamined, uncontested. Of course history must be always examined, contested, reviewed, told from diverse sides. Anything less is indoctrination. Australia and America are signatories to the 1994 Cairo Declaration, 1995 Beijing Platform, and report on abortion access through the United Nations human rights review. Both countries had Indigenous methods of womens health and abortion care that were stigmatised and then criminalised by colonisers. In Australia, every state and territory now has a health law that guides abortion care. Our abortion laws are not set in stone. Just like Texas, with a change in government we could see various state and territory abortion laws further regulated or overthrown. Would the Morrison government sue a state or territory government to protect womens rights? The Religious Discrimination Bill is looming, expected to be tabled by Michaelia Cash in coming months. We are yet to find out how the re-draft could override abortion law. The most recent version of the Bill allows all healthcare providers to conscientiously object to any treatment they dont want to take part in. The fight is ongoing in America against the moves to restrict access to abortion. Credit:Bloomberg This will mean any provider can refuse treatment women need, even when these are medically necessary, without referral onto another healthcare provider. This month marks two years since NSW decriminalised access to abortion. Yet since then, we have seen bills come and go that seek to overturn new health laws and there is still no meaningful investment in abortion provision. South Australia is stalling on abortion law reform. It has been seven long months since the South Australian Parliament moved a Bill to decriminalise abortion, but still, the legislation is not yet in effect. South Australia is the only state in Australia where you must leave home in order to have an abortion, which is a disaster in a pandemic. MPs celebrate with abortion advocates after the NSW bill was passed. Credit:James Brickwood The fight is far from over. In Australia access to abortion has been removed from criminal codes, meaning patients can no longer be imprisoned. However, the provision of abortion remains in criminal codes in various ways. It creates a legislative quagmire when we look at nurse-led abortion care. Nurse-led care is the future of abortion care, yet there are 10 years of policy and legislative reforms ahead to make that a reality. Decriminalisation is useful, but its not everything. Abortion care in Australia has been Americanised for decades. Abortion is expensive, either as a patient or a provider. For the abortion patient, its not just the cost of the procedure, its time off work, finding childcare, and for those in regional and remote areas its also travel and accommodation. For the abortion provider, its the over-regulation that requires extensive risk-management protocols, equipment and procedural rooms. You may as well be doing open-heart surgery. At Marie Stopes Australia we rally for support much like Planned Parenthood. We rely on philanthropic donations to directly fund abortion for people experiencing financial hardship. Each day countless womens health, family and domestic violence support services pitch in to fund abortion care. In Australia, you can pay around $400 for a medical abortion and up to $8000 for a surgical abortion. If youre lucky, you may be able to go to a local hospital, or they may refer you to a local specialist clinic like Marie Stopes. Pro-choice protesters in Brisbane in 2017. Credit:Glen Hunt In some cases some patients can access subsidies people with healthcare cards, health insurance, and victim assist funding. Every doctor providing abortion care in Australia works within a different funding model. State and territory health budgets for abortion care are in activity-based funding streams, so its up to each health region if or how they fund abortion care. While Victoria is considered to have some of the most progressive abortion policy and practice, benefits are still limited to those with Medicare cards, and people on temporary visas have to pay hundreds or sometimes thousands of dollars for abortion care. The main federal contributions come via Medical Benefits Schedule (MBS) item numbers. There arent enough item numbers for abortion care, so clinics need to cross subsidise from other income sources. Medical abortion, which has been available in Australia for eight years, has no item number at all. Anti-abortion protests near Planned Parenthood clinics have been a common occurence in the US. Credit:AP Community policing of abortion providers is a thing here too. Australian clinics struggle to find a plumber to fix a leak. We intermittently experience blocks to advertising options. We have been charged exorbitant prices for personal protective equipment (PPE). Safe access zones may stop picketers from standing directly outside of clinics, but they dont stop other forms of harassment. I receive anti-choice hate mail and threats to myself and loved ones. Ive had notes left under my car windshield while at work, and have been followed home after work with threats posted under my front door. Once a woman threw rosary beads at my head, which hit the side of my face like a slap. I was walking through the entrance of a United Nations building in New York where I had just given a lecture on abortion and reproductive coercion. In Western Australia, before they can access abortion care, pregnant women beyond 20 weeks gestation need to sit before a medical panel, most of whom are men. Those who want to avoid the panel fly interstate to access abortion care. Some of our patients fly from Perth to Brisbane, thats 3600 kilometres across at least three jurisdictions. In comparison, Dallas to Denver is just 1277 kilometres. Loading In the pandemic, some people who wanted later gestation abortions have had to proceed to birth, including stillbirth. This is due to border closures and flight cancellations meaning that patients or their doctors cant travel to the clinic. Internal Health Department projections show that the state is on the brink of a tenfold increase in COVID-19 infections over the next six weeks as restrictions ease, with a predicted 18,000 active coronavirus cases and 800 people in hospital by mid-October. Grant McArthur, who co-chairs the Victorian COVID-19 Cancer Taskforce, said skin cancer surgeries were already being delayed in the states hospitals, where more than 150 people were being treated for coronavirus. None of those in hospital with the virus have been fully vaccinated. Of most concern for Professor McArthur was an anticipated cancer spike in the next six to 12 months, fuelled by a surge in later-stage cancers being diagnosed after thousands of Victorians delayed life-saving screening appointments for the disease since the beginning of the pandemic. Loading Were very concerned about these: the late diagnoses, the risk of preventable deaths and the pressure this will place on the healthcare system in the months to come, he said. More than 2500 cancer diagnoses were missed in Victoria between April and October last year, with a steep fall in the detection of prostate, skin and breast cancers, along with head and neck tumours. Loading The Age revealed last year Victorians were having heart attacks at home or waiting more than 12 hours before seeking potentially life-saving hospital treatment amid fears of over-burdening the health system or catching the virus in hospital. Professor Stub was part of a team of Australian researchers who found cardiac survival rates halved in Victoria during the first lockdown as strict safety protocols delayed paramedics. Loading While there had been a slight improvement, survival rates had not returned to the baseline of 12 per cent. The states elective surgery waiting list has also blown out to more than 65,000 people, after roughly 30,000 operations were delayed or cancelled last year. Stephen Mason, chief executive of the Australian Patients Association, said some Victorians had now been waiting three or four years for elective surgeries, often in severe pain. Many people cant work because they are in so much pain and whats compounding all this is nobody can give them an answer, he said. Loading Royal Australian College of General Practitioners president Karen Price said she had already heard anecdotal reports of stage-four cancer patients being discharged from hospital early in the United States because their beds were needed for coronavirus patients. In Victoria, patients are arriving sicker after putting off care or having their surgeries delayed due to the pandemic, resulting in more people flooding emergency departments than ever before. Dr Price urged Victorians not to delay medical treatment and to get vaccinated as soon as they could to prevent hospitals from being overwhelmed in the coming months. In the United States, an Alabama man died of cardiac arrest earlier this month after he was turned away from more than 40 hospitals that had their ICUs fully occupied with COVID-19 patients. Coronavirus patients often need to spend up to three weeks in intensive care. Professor Stub said this seriously diminished the amount of heart and cancer procedures that could be done with ICU beds that could otherwise be used to recover someone from open-heart surgery taken up by coronavirus patients. This is already having a significant impact on us now, and were at relatively few numbers in hospitals with COVID, he said. I worry about what is to come if we see huge numbers of cases in the community. The Melbourne cardiologist issued an urgent plea for people to be vaccinated. I just want to issue a desperate plea to all Victorians and Australians, if you arent vaccinated for all your loved ones and your community, please get vaccinated, Professor Stub said. Our health system is sophisticated enough that it will cope with whatever COVID numbers we have when we open up, but the trouble is that it will be at the cost of other health conditions. We dont want to divert health resources away from heart disease, cancer patients or from mental health. But that will invariably happen, its already happening now. If it commits to the plan, Victoria would become the first jurisdiction in the country to make COVID-19 immunisation compulsory for construction workers. Aged care is the only sector where vaccination is mandatory, following a national cabinet decision that will come into play at the end of the week. NSW has mandated all teachers be vaccinated by November 8. However, any move to mandate vaccines for the construction industry is likely to inflame the sector and draw the ire of the 30,000-member construction union, which has consistently advocated individual choice regarding vaccination. Coronavirus cases on building sites are proving problematic because people often work at multiple locations and travel longer distances from home to work, meaning the virus was spreading further around Melbourne and, in some cases, into the regions. The workforce is likely to be younger and was disproportionately from Melbournes northern and western suburbs, the epicentre of Victorias current COVID-19 outbreak. Loading Based on the data, the Department of Health has identified VCE students, construction workers, and residents in the citys north and west as being most at risk of contracting and transmitting the virus, according to Health Minister Martin Foley. More than 450 of Victorias 3500 active cases are linked to construction sites, including the states largest cluster of 134 cases stemming from a construction site in Box Hill. Mr Pallas said: The nature of this workforce means we have to go above and beyond the requirements for normal COVID compliance. So this is not about special provision and exceptions for the construction industry, its about recognising they have an obligation to go that little bit further given the opportunities they have as permitted workers. Victorias Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union said in a statement to its members last week that it was aware of reports some employers would make COVID-19 vaccinations a condition of employment and requesting proof of vaccination, but that it supported peoples individual choice. If you are stood down or refused work based on your personal choice toward vaccination, we will represent you within the confines of the law, the union wrote. The CFMEU has consistently stated that we believe in individual choice regarding vaccination. Victoria reported 473 coronavirus cases on Monday, the highest daily number reported since August last year at the height of the states second wave. The outbreak continues to take hold in Melbournes northern suburbs, where 71 per cent of the cases were reported in suburbs including Craigieburn, Roxburgh Park, Meadow Heights, Broadmeadows and Glenroy. A three-week vaccine blitz began in Melbournes west and north on Monday. Loading There are 157 people hospitalised in Victoria with coronavirus, an increase of 65 people since last week. None of those hospitalised are fully vaccinated. On Sunday, the Premier indicated the government could consider making it mandatory for people working in a wide range of sectors to get vaccinated. Making it mandatory in a number of areas is very important. It wont just be schools, it wont just be teachers, it wont just be nurses it will be a whole range of different people because we think its [important]. I will make those announcements when Im ready, Mr Andrews said. A fortnight ago, the Premier announced a slight easing of restrictions for the construction sector when the state hits its first vaccination milestone of 70 per cent of the eligible population with one jab expected within the next week. Half the workforce will be allowed to return to building sites if 90 per cent of staff have received at least one dose of a coronavirus vaccine. It remains unclear what proportion of the industry is already vaccinated. Victorian executive director of the Property Council of Australia Danni Hunter said the industry would look to the government to make decisions around mandatory vaccination. We stand ready to work with the government on a road map to getting our industry reaching the first-dose vaccination targets, Ms Hunter said. Victorian Chamber of Commerce and Industry chief executive Paul Guerra welcomed the state governments decision to prioritise the construction sector for vaccines, but said the focus should also be on hospitality, retail, early learning educators and teachers. The Victorian chamber is also advocating for greater clarity on how the 90 per cent vaccination rate for construction workers will be documented and communicated when those levels become mandated and how that could service as a pilot for other industries, he said. Business is looking for immediate clarity, certainty and guidance on the issues of mandatory vaccination rates and vaccination as a condition of entry, and these should be contained in the states road map out of lockdown. In a joint statement, Master Builders Victoria and the Property Council said they had been advocating for the government to prioritise the construction industry for vaccinations and described it as a vital step in keeping the sector open and safe. Master Builders Victoria chief executive Rebecca Casson said: The recent outbreaks underscore the importance of everyone in the building and construction sector continuing to follow COVIDSafe protocols to keep sites safe and operating. Everyone employed in the building and construction industry must take this warning very seriously, otherwise our sectors permitted worker status will be at risk. Victorias third wave continues to be a pandemic of the unvaccinated. More than 1100 of Victorias active cases are children or teenagers. On Monday, all Victorian children aged 12 to 15 became eligible to have a Pfizer or Moderna vaccine. Victorian COVID-19 response commander Jeroen Weimar said tearooms had emerged as hotspots in the building industry and other essential workplaces. Please, tearooms are not safe places. In fact, for many of us at work they are probably now the most dangerous place, he said. Epidemiologist Adrian Esterman said Victorias daily case numbers had been doubling about every six days and showed no sign of slowing in the short term. Professor Esterman said it was fairly clear that NSWs numbers were close to peaking. But in Victoria I see no sign of that, he said, adding that he did not anticipate case numbers to flatten within the next two or three weeks, as others had said could be possible if vaccination rates continued to rise. Soon youre getting into numbers where your contact tracers are struggling and hospitals are struggling. On Monday, it also emerged that almost half the people who had been counted in Victorias Indigenous vaccination rate were incorrectly identified as Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander. A number of regional GPs unwittingly incorrectly identified that many people who had received a COVID-19 jab were Indigenous. The Victorian Department of Health believes the anomaly was due to software used by some GPs to upload immunisation data to the Australian Immunisation Register. The company, which the department did not identify, has updated its software to rectify the problem. The federal government released data last week showing 48,000 First Nations Victorians had received at least one dose of a vaccine, and 31,000 were fully vaccinated. That number has been revised down to 21,559 and 12,200, respectively. According to the most recent Australian Bureau of Statistics data, 47,787 Victorians identify as Indigenous. Victoria had been considered the nations Indigenous vaccination success story, with the rate of fully vaccinated (43 per cent) believed to be almost double that of the broader Victorian population (26 per cent) and far exceeding the proportion of indigenous people in NSW (less than 11 per cent) and WA (6 per cent). Victorian Aboriginal Health Service chief executive Michael Graham said his staff had for weeks suspected the original vaccination figures were not right. He said he hoped the revised figures would make authorities realise they needed to do more to get Victorias Indigenous people vaccinated. Because our data looks so good across the state, I think people have gone, Yeah, we dont need to worry about Victoria because theyre doing so well, he said. Well, now you can see, were not that much different from the rest of the country. A federal Health Department spokesman said the total number of vaccinations delivered in Victoria was accurate, and that the correction was only limited to a persons Indigenous status. With Cassandra Morgan Sharon Milners father, a Holocaust survivor, toiled so that his daughter could be educated at Mount Scopus Memorial College, one of Melbournes most esteemed Jewish schools. Sharon and Saul Milner with their daughters Gemma and Mia, who attend McKinnon Secondary College. Credit:Eddie Jim Ms Milner says her school years gave her a grounding in Jewish tradition and identity, things she was determined to give to her daughters. So it was a wrench for her and her husband when they withdrew their daughters from Melbournes tight-knit Jewish school system at the end of their primary years and enrolled them at McKinnon Secondary College, their local state school. Id never been outside the Jewish school system, Ms Milner said. Both for myself and my kids I had this sense of guilt, that I was letting my parents down, who are no longer alive, that I was letting my community down. Leaders of Melbournes ultra-Orthodox community are pleading with the state government to let them gather in small prayer groups during Yom Kippur, the holiest day of the Jewish year, which begins on Wednesday evening. A letter written by nine rabbis and seven medical providers, seen by The Age, was sent to Premier Daniel Andrews, Health Minister Martin Foley, Chief Health Officer Brett Sutton and COVID-19 response commander Jeroen Weimar on Monday. A young man argues with police outside a synagogue in Ripponlea, in Melbournes south-east, last week. Credit:Darrian Traynor It implored Victorian authorities to work with the ultra-Orthodox community to create a COVID-safe plan so they can gather for communal prayer during Yom Kippur. We respectfully request that the government ... accommodate the needs of our constituents and formulate a workable protocol allowing us to attend our services, the letter reads. Reserve Bank governor Philip Lowe will use a major address to talk up the strength of the economy in the face of extended pandemic lockdowns amid growing concerns the recovery could be up-ended without extremely high COVID-19 vaccination rates. Ahead of figures that will confirm the hit to the jobs market caused by the NSW, Victorian and ACT lockdowns, Dr Lowe will tell the annual Anika Foundation address in Sydney on Tuesday that while the Delta outbreak is causing immediate economic pain, it will pass. RBA governor Philip Lowe is expected to use a speech on Tuesday to talk up the countrys post-pandemic economic performance. Credit:Dominic Lorrimer Last week, Dr Lowe said the current lockdown would be a temporary economic setback, adding it would delay but not derail the recovery. While parts of the country were facing very difficult conditions, others were still growing strongly. He made the comments after the RBA decided to continue with its plan to gradually wind back its $5 billion-a-week quantitative easing program. But while reducing government debt purchases to $4 billion a week, the bank also extended the program until mid-February. Principal Tim Berryman said about 50 per cent of the schools students had been attending classes, compared to the state average of 4 per cent on-site attendance during the current lockdown, and is defiant about the dangers of coronavirus to his students. On Monday, as his school was criticised by those who believe it should never have been allowed to stay open, Mr Berryman argued childrens voices had been lost in the debate about protecting them. What Ive found frustrating and quite depressing is that in this whole discussion the children and their hopes and their aspirations have just not been part of it, Mr Berryman said. Weve got different parts of government [speaking for its interest] and the aged care sector has been very well heard and they have a very legitimate voice. But whos speaking for mental health, and whos speaking for the children? Those voices have just been lost. And thats thats really sad for me because the children are hurting. Asked if he is vaccinated, Mr Berryman declined to answer, but said he certainly supported vaccination. I dont its relevant to ask anybody that personal question. Its more than fair to put me up as an ardent pro-vaxxer though. I dont think its relevant for any individual person to answer that one. Ive made my position on vaccination very clear. I dont want to be pushing people either way; its such a hot topic that, if I say yes I am, then you will say everybody should be vaccinated. If I say No Im not, you will say I am saying You shouldnt [be vaccinated], so I cant answer that question. Fees to send children to the primary school are $18,000 per student a year. School founder Faye Berryman, Mr Berrymans mother, read a statement over the phone from the school window on Monday, saying it had the best interests of children at heart, according to Nine News. Our parents were given the choice to be at school or online, with no pressure either way, she said. School founder Faye Berryman reads a statement on Monday morning. Credit:Eddie Jim We are not lunatic fringe, we are pretty conservative, deeply thinking people. Premier Daniel Andrews warned on Sunday that reopening Melbournes classrooms closed since August 5 would cause COVID-19 cases to quickly spread through schools, forcing many to close again almost immediately. Loading Mr Berryman, whose alternative independent school is now a tier-1 exposure site, told families on September 9 he believed it was only a matter of time before there was a positive case at the school, and expressed hope that schools would be permitted to remain open with positive cases in future. I can sincerely say that it has been a much longer run than I had hoped for or expected, he wrote. In a June 3 email to parents, Mr Berryman states: I cannot in good conscience continue to request that you continue to keep your children at home. Please feel free to send your child to school if you feel that this is best for them or best for your family balance. I do not write this lightly, as this does breach government imposed directives for schools. Three days later he wrote that the Department of Health had contacted the school and warned him to comply. By late July, Mr Berryman was again inviting parents to breach remote learning rules. I am again offering you all the option of sending your children to school, he wrote in an email on July 20. Mr Andrews declined to answer when asked on Sunday whether it should be mandatory for teachers to be vaccinated, but flagged the government was considering compelling some people to get immunised. Making it mandatory in a number of areas is very important. It wont just be schools, it wont just be teachers, it wont just be nurses - it will be a whole range of different people because we think its [important]. I will make those announcements when Im ready. On Sunday, Mr Andrews faced questioning over when students were likely to return to schools for classes. He declined to nominate a date, saying modelling being done by the Burnet Institute held the key to reopening for face-to-face learning. He said he wanted schools back this year but a plan for the rest of the school year would be made public in about a week. New York: British teenager Emma Raducanu arrived in New York last month with a ranking of 150th, just one grand slam appearance to her name and a flight booked to head out of town after the US Opens preliminary rounds in case she failed to win her way into the main tournament. And there she was in Arthur Ashe Stadium on Saturday, cradling the silver trophy to complete an unlikely indeed, unprecedented and surprisingly dominant journey from qualifier to major champion by beating Canadian teenager Leylah Fernandez 6-4, 6-3 in the final. The future of womens tennis, and just the depth of the game right now, is so great, said the 18-year-old Raducanu, who will rise into the WTAs top 25 this week. I think every single player here in the womens draw definitely has a shot of winning any tournament. The first female qualifier ever to reach a grand slam final, let alone win one, proved that emphatically. She captured 10 matches in a row at Flushing Meadows three in qualifying, seven in the main draw and is the first woman to win the US Open title without dropping a set since Serena Williams in 2014. Apple has taken to calling its iPhone App Store an economic miracle, and it has pointed to developers like Zach Shakked as proof. Shakked created an iPhone app that helps companies find trending hashtags on social media. Over the past 12 months, his sales have topped $US5 million ($6.8 million). App developer Zach Shakked said potential changes to Apples App Store could save him hundreds of thousands of dollars a year. Credit:Rich Storm via The New York Times But one of Shakkeds largest expenses is paying a cut to the worlds richest company. In his case, Apple took nearly $US1.5 million its fee for letting him run his app on its devices. Now, Shakked has hope that he could soon keep at least some of that money. On Friday, a federal judge ordered Apple to allow developers to steer their customers off their iPhone apps to pay for their goods or services, which Apple had banned. That is big news for developers like Shakked, because sales completed outside Apples payment systems are not subject to its commission of up to 30 per cent. London: Lawyers have failed in their first bid to have a baseless, non-viable and potentially non-lawful sexual assault lawsuit against Prince Andrew thrown out of court. However, their plan to use a confidential 2009 settlement agreement to shield the Duke of York from legal action remains intact despite the initial setback. Prince Andrew has hired a US lawyer to appear during the early stages of the case. Credit:AP The Queens second son is being sued in a New York court by Virginia Giuffre, an alleged victim of the late billionaire paedophile Jeffrey Epstein. Giuffre, who now lives in Australia, alleges three assaults: one where Epstein and his ex-girlfriend Ghislaine Maxwell forced the then 17-year-old to have sexual intercourse with Andrew at a London home; another where Andrew forced Giuffre to engage in sex acts against her will at Epsteins New York mansion; and a third encounter in which the prince sexually abused the teen in the Virgin Islands. Experts in public health law agree that Biden is on solid legal footing because his actions are grounded in federal workplace safety laws. They say Republican governors who insist that vaccine mandates are an intrusion on personal liberty need a refresher on their own state policies. Loading That is pure hypocrisy, Lawrence Gostin, a public health law expert at Georgetown University, said of Reeves remarks. Even religious exemptions are swept away in the state of Mississippi, so how can he say that an order that a president makes to keep workers safe, with authorisation by Congress, is an overreach or in any way unconstitutional? A spokesperson for Reeves, Bailey Martin, rejected Gostins assertion. The only people being hypocritical are President Biden and his administration, who for months have said they would not mandate the vaccine, she said in an email, adding that Reeves would use every tool at his disposal to block the mandates. Republican suspicion of vaccines was building before the pandemic; when Donald Trump was running for president in 2016, he rejected established science by raising the debunked claims that vaccines cause autism. Now some of the governors argue that given the countrys outsize divisions and widespread suspicion of Washington, federal intervention would be counterproductive. It would be best, they say, to let state officials continue making the case that the vaccines are safe and effective and to allow people to make decisions themselves. Im trying to overcome resistance, but the presidents actions in a mandate hardens the resistance, Arkansas Governor Asa Hutchinson, a Republican, said Sunday on NBCs Meet the Press. School mandates, he said, have always come at the state level, never at the national level. And so this is an unprecedented assumption of federal mandate authority that really disrupts and divides the country. Jha said Biden had in fact done Republicans a favour. What the president does is, he creates political cover for Republican leaders, who will scream loudly because its politically expedient, he said. But I think many of them are actually feeling relieved, because now they dont have to do the hard work of convincing their constituents. Indeed, when the highly infectious Delta variant began ripping through their communities and overwhelming their hospitals, many elected Republicans notably, Senator Mitch McConnell, the minority leader started pleading with people to get vaccinated. Most of the Republican governors criticising Biden have said much the same. Even as Reeves blasted Biden on Twitter, he took care to declare the vaccine itself lifesaving. McMaster held a news conference last month to encourage South Carolinians to take the shots, saying, Now is a great time to do it while were getting ready for the fall. In Alabama, Ivey has adopted the same stance as Biden: Its time to start blaming the unvaccinated folks for the deadly coronavirus surge, she said recently. Three-quarters of American adults have had at least one COVID-19 shot, which suggests growing acceptance of the vaccine. Bidens move is aimed at the roughly 80 million Americans who are eligible but remain unvaccinated. Experts call it an unprecedented exercise of presidential authority to encourage vaccination. Its really uncharted waters, said Claire Hannan, executive director of the Association of Immunisation Managers, which represents state immunisation officials. The Supreme Court has twice upheld vaccine mandates, beginning more than a century ago in the 1905 case of Jacobson v Massachusetts, in which Justice John Marshall Harlan reasoned that a community has the right to protect itself against an epidemic of disease in that case, smallpox which threatens the safety of its members. Both cases upheld state or city mandates and do not apply to Bidens actions, according to Gostin. Because public health powers are reserved to the states under the Constitution, he said, the Supreme Court would almost certainly strike down a national mandate. But Biden did not impose a national mandate. He took a series of specific, limited actions that legal experts agree are within his purview as president. The mandates he announced for the federal workforce and federal contractors, for employees of health care facilities and childhood education programs that accept federal funding, and for large businesses are grounded in powers that Congress has granted to the president, including the authority to ensure a safe workplace under the law that established the Occupational Safety and Health Administration. A man sits and waits after getting his first COVID-19 vaccine shot on the last day of the mass vaccination site at the University of North Georgia, Gainesville campus. Credit:AP And Biden gave businesses an out. Employees who do not want to get vaccinated can undergo weekly testing a fact that his critics fail to note. Reeves, for instance, asserted that the president had no authority to require that Americans inject themselves because of their employment at a private business, without mentioning testing as an option. Vaccine mandates are not new, nor is resistance to vaccination. As far back as 1721 in Boston, a vaccine opponent threw a small bomb through the window of Cotton Mather, who was promoting inoculation against smallpox during a deadly outbreak. By the early 1900s, smallpox vaccination again emerged as a contentious issue in Massachusetts, giving rise to the Jacobson case. By the 1920s, many schools in the United States required vaccination against smallpox, according to the History of Vaccines, a project of the College of Physicians of Philadelphia. When vaccines for diseases like pertussis, polio and measles became widely available in the 1940s and 50s, the American public, inclined to have faith in science and government, voluntarily accepted them, said David Rosner, a Columbia University historian who specialises in the intersection of politics and public health. The 1960s brought social upheaval and an anti-establishment mood and with it, the beginnings of the anti-vaccine movement, which led many states to enact mandates, Rosner said. Often, there is pushback, especially with newly developed vaccines. When the varicella vaccine was developed to combat chickenpox in 1995, for instance, Idaho refused to mandate it. But it was ultimately added to the states list of required vaccinations for children born after September 1, 2005. One Republican governor, Pete Ricketts of Nebraska, drew a distinction between COVID-19 shots and childhood vaccines, insisting in an appearance on Fox News Sunday that childhood vaccine mandates do not violate personal freedoms because parents have had a long history with them. Of COVID-19 shots, he said, This is a process thats going to take time to bring people along, and thats why it should be a personal choice. But public health experts say the safety of the community supersedes personal liberty when everyone is at risk from a communicable disease. Its always a little noisy and uncomfortable when vaccine requirements are first imposed, said Jha of Brown University. But over time, he said, people get vaccinated, and whatever infectious disease you are trying to deal with fades into the background, and people move on, and thats what I expect to happen here. Still, never before has a vaccine been so caught up in partisan politics. Rosner sees something deeper at work. PHILIPSBURG (DCOMM):--- Members of Association of Dutch Municipalities VNG-International handed over final reports of Building Codes and Technical Norms to Prime Minister Hon. Silveria Jacobs and Minister Hon. Ardwell Irion, on behalf of the Minister of VROMI Hon. Egbert Doran, the Cabinet of the Ministry of Public Housing, Spatial Planning, Environment, and Infrastructure (Ministry of VROMI), said on Friday. After Hurricane Irma, many Dutch municipalities donated funds to support Sint Maarten in its reconstruction. Shortly after the fundraising, the international branch of the Association of Dutch Municipalities, VNG-International, partnered with the Government of Sint Maarten to define Build Back Better products including the management of the projects. This was done in close collaboration with various Ministries and the Government of Sint Maarten. The Ministry of Housing, Spatial Planning, Environment, and Infrastructure (VROMI) was already familiar with the association and the working method of the VNG-I through previous excellent experiences. A few specific projects for VROMI emerged where extra support was welcomed in the context of the slogan "Building Back Better" which included new, hurricane-resistant building and environmental regulations. These projects ended in July 2021. The practical and pleasant cooperation resulted in concrete changes in the field of building codes, environmental standards, and assistance to the Permits and Inspection Departments within the Ministry of VROMI. The Cabinet of the Ministry of VROMI on behalf of Minister Doran would specifically like to express its gratitude for the associated results in the 'Building Back Better' program and for the initiative. The practical and committed involvement of VNG-I has certainly contributed to this. The new building and environmental norms will be introduced after Governmental decision-making is finalized. In both cases, the new norms will go into effect only after elaborate communication and training have taken place with the relevant stakeholders. This education and awareness process will be free of charge, and it is essential so that everyone is aware and understand the new norms to be practiced in time. This will contribute to ensuring a smooth transition of the regulations. The new building norms are necessary to ensure that future buildings will be more resistant to such natural disasters as hurricanes or earthquakes. The previous norms as stated in the Building Code related to the Building Ordinance have not been updated since its conception in 1935. The previous norms dating back from 2007 were to ensure the sustainability of the environment so the updating of these was also necessary. In both cases, the norms were drafted after a number of consultations with various stakeholders. The norms were drafted with the general point of departure that they should be fair, reasonable, and executable. More information will be published in a timely manner. Only after the education awareness period, the norms will go into effect. The basic education trajectory will be offered free of charge for those who are in need of this information. An email address will be made available for which, during a certain period of time, anyone may pose technical questions or ask advice related to the new norms. PHILIPSBURG:--- On Wednesday, September 8, 2021, the Victim Support Sint Maarten Foundation (VSS) was officially established under the leadership of the Minister of Justice Anna E. Richardson. The Foundation's board members include Ms. Cassandra Richardson as President, Ms. Roxanne Howell as Treasurer, and Mr. Isaac Harold Richardson as Secretary. VSS was established to supervise victims of life crimes, serious car accidents, burglaries/break-ins with heavy violence/force, or with the use of a firearm (or other weapons) and will mainly function in close collaboration with three official bodies to ensure the proper functioning of the foundation: namely, the Ministry of Justice via the SJIB Probation Service, the Public Prosecutors office and the Police Force of Sint Maarten. Minister Richardson stated, I am elated for the establishment of the much-needed Victim Support Sint Maarten Foundation. This is a step in the right direction and a milestone for the community of St. Maarten. For many years, such a foundation or support platform has been a void in our community. As I kept hearing the many stories of persons who have been through a traumatic experience, I ensured that this initiative remained one of the Ministry of Justices top priorities. I have total confidence in the board of individuals who are well aware of the needs of the foundation. They will undergo training to ensure the foundation is functioning at the level needed to provide optimal service. Id like to thank the Ministry of Justice, the VSS board, the notary and my cabinet staff for the commitment and support rendered so that the foundation could become a reality for the people of St. Maarten. Victim Support Services VSS offers high-quality shelter and assistance to victims who are subject to crimes which, according to the legal definition, are punishable by imprisonment of six years or more or a traffic accident. The assistance provided by VSS is not process-based or psychotherapeutic in nature. VSS will only support the victim if he or she deems it desirable and insofar as the victim cannot handle these matters him/herself. VSS will assist victims in the following ways: - providing emotional support as soon as possible after the offense has been committed; - providing shelter after the offense has taken place; - accompanying victims during criminal proceedings and providing practical assistance; - representing the interests of the victim; - obtaining compensation; - mediating the conflict between the perpetrator and the victim; - checking and identifying whether the victim is recovering and suggesting opportunities for improvement where necessary The VSS Foundation is currently finalizing its working protocol which will serve to map out the tasks and standard operating procedures of the organizations and entities involved. It will also describe and streamline the work processes with regard to victim support from the start of the criminal process (reporting of a criminal offense) to the end (the execution of the perpetrators sentence), so that victims are properly and efficiently assisted at every stage of the criminal proceedings process. The various aforementioned organizations already assist victims in practice in various areas; from providing general information to referring the victim to professional institutions. This care, and with it the range of duties, is expanded with the present protocol. The Police Force of Sint Maarten (KPSM) In most cases, KPSM is the first official body in the criminal justice chain that the victim comes into contact with. The victims come to KPSM after filing a report or after the police arrives on the scene of the crime. KPSM provides initial and practical assistance, with an emphasis on providing information and making victims aware of their various rights. KPSM focuses mainly on acute assistance to victims and on tracing criminal offenses and is impartial in this respect. The responsibility of the KPSM starts at the start of the criminal proceedings and in principle continues until the moment the case is transferred to the Public Prosecutors Office. This is the case if the suspect in question is detained or the final report is sent by KPSM. Public Prosecutors Office The Public Prosecutor (OM) applies criminal law on behalf of society with an open mind and is therefore not an assistant, counselor, conflict mediator or agent for the victim. The OM acts in its role as a magistrate and is impartial. In addition to the interests of individual citizens (victims), the Public Prosecution also stands for collective values such as the rule of law and the integrity of society. The Public Prosecutor is clear about this in communication with the victim. The basic principle for the Public Prosecutor in its services to victims is active reciprocity. This means that the Public Prosecutor can only properly provide a service to the victim if the victim (whether or not supported by assistance or legal advice from others) does his share where possible. The responsibility of the Public Prosecutor starts at the moment of the suspect's detention or submission of the final report and continues up to and including the execution. The Public Prosecutor also has a role in the care after the criminal case has been concluded. SJIB (Probation Services) The goal of the probation office is to contribute to a safe society by preventing as much new offense behavior from probation clients as possible. The probation service can be involved in victim support in the following areas: - mediating between the perpetrator and the victim with regard to reaching a compensation agreement; - conflict mediation between offender and victim, if the victim would like this; - reporting (on behalf of the victim) to the KPSM / Public Prosecutor of the violation by the offender of the conditions imposed on the victim related to a suspension of pre-trial detention, parole or a court decision. In case of domestic violence, a contact or location ban can be advised and imposed, which can be monitored by means of an ankle bracelet (electronic surveillance). The victim is informed of this In preparation for the establishment of the foundation, President of the Board Cassandra Richardson attended a conference at the Acoya Resort in Curacao on August 26, whereby the theme concerned the sexual assault of and preying on minors. Three presenters discussed topics geared towards the prevention and overcoming of victimhood in incidents where children are targeted. Discussion topics included EMDR therapy and overcoming sexual abuse, predators of the internet and signs for detection, and lastly, interview tactics performed by police with victims of crime. The intended audience were those involved in providing emotional support and care to victims such as front-line workers and social workers and persons working with victim support services. The event was well attended by professionals from all six islands. The attendance for St. Maarten was especially noteworthy with the newly established victims support services. The coordinators of the event premiered a film concerning what to expect from departments of justice such as police and prosecutors office for persons who are victims. President Cassandra Richardson built most of her academic and working career in the United States and Canada, respectively. She holds a bachelors degree, double majoring in Communications with an emphasis in Journalism and Environmental Science from the University of St. Catherines in St. Paul Minnesota, and two master degrees, one in Social Work and the other in Communication and Social Justice, both from the University of Windsor in Windsor Ontario, Canada. Ms. Richardson served as Executive Director of the Safe Haven Foundation, a domestic violence shelter for women experiencing intimate partner violence. She also filled the position of counselor and therapist to women and their families that are victims of domestic violence. She is an educator on gender-based violence, an advocate for gender equality and children and youth rights in her St. Maarten community and is a proponent for access to programs and opportunities alleviating the poverty of vulnerable groups. Mr. Isaac Harold Richardson has served on the boards of various education, political and religious organizations and he looks forward to working and being a part of the VSS because it has to do with victims; people who have been violated or who have no one to speak on their behalf. Mr. Richardson brings a heart of compassion and love for people in general. Whatever it takes to encourage and let people know that there is hope at the end of the tunnel, he stands ready to serve them. Ms. Roxanne Howell holds a Bachelor of Business Economics in Financial Accounting and brings with her 20 years of experience in the financial sector. She has been working for the Government of St. Maarten for the past 10 years as the Financial Controller for the Ministry of Public Health, Social Development and Labor and now serves as the Concern Controller for the Ministry of Finance per June 2021. Ms. Howell believes that the VSS foundation is a great initiative as many times people go through certain experiences and tend to forget the trauma that comes afterward. During a traumatic experience, its imperative that victims have the support that they are able to access and rely on. She trusts that with the establishment of VSS, this platform will now allow victims to be heard. Within short, the Ministry of Justice together with VSS will be launching the management and staff positions of the foundation as well as a call for volunteers. The staff and volunteers will undergo training in order to be equipped in dealing with traumatic situations for their clients. The community may look forward to more information and being advised as soon as the VSS website is launched. ~ Marlin promised change in the new parliamentary year.~ PHILIPSBURG:--- Faction leaders in the parliament of St. Maarten did not spare government in their closing remarks. Government was described as the worst in past years while having a bad parliament. Independent Member of Parliament Christopher Emmanuel said that this government placed their people on death row while depending on the Ombudsman to grant them clemency. He described the National Alliance and United Peoples Party coalition government as the worst over the years, the same that criticize the former government led by Leona Romeo. National Alliance Member of Parliament and Faction leader William Marlin also did not mince words when he said that 2021 will be a year of change. Marlin said there are people that continue to criticize and chastise but never have they came forward with solutions. Marlin also did not spare the government the supports. He said its the first time being in government and not part of the executive branch in his 43 years political career. The National Alliance architect reminded that year 2021 can be described as a turbulent year, people still have to deal with the effects of the lockdown and loss of jobs since many businesses have closed their doors. Marlin said amidst all of this the people had to deal with the PJIAE saga with the dismissal of its Chief Executive Officer, and reinstatement, and the resignation of the chairman of the holding board. Marlin said now people have to deal with the saga at NV GEBE that has been making headlines almost every day and the numerous court cases filed by those that make the proposals to the shareholder, and the resignation of board members. He asked when exactly will the government intervene in the never-ending saga and if it will take the intervention of the Dutch Government before it comes to an end. Marlin said despite making 50 years as a teacher, only recently he got a political education when he asked questions on the appointment of board members to the board of directors of N. V GEBE. He said when he asked who are the persons that will be appointed as Supervisory Boards of Directors, he was told that he could not get that information. The government he said informed him that they will do what they need to do and when the budget goes to parliament he must then do what he needs to do. Marlin made clear that he is very critical of the persons that have been selected for the board of NV GEBE and the way government has decided to go after people and their land while not paying any attention to the construction of a parliament building even though government is paying NAF 7M in rent annually. The National Alliance stalwart made clear that this new year will be a year of change since he intends to use his rights as a Member of Parliament to pose questions, and to bring motions when the need arises. Marlin said the countries within the Kingdom were placed in a corner and they were forced to accept conditions upon conditions. These countries he said have been treated as colonies. He then took a swipe at his colleagues in parliament that criticized the petition that was filed to United Nations. He said today the rapporteurs have responded and everyone went quiet on the topic while the Dutch government is trying to wiggle its way out of the situation they are in. PHILIPSBURG:--- Sometimes we can make politics sound very complicated, but for me, it all comes back to a simple ambition. To make a contribution towards improving the quality of life of the citizens of your country, where opportunities are equally available, and embracing the fundamental belief that people in challenging circumstances are not liabilities to be managed, rather be nurtured for them to reach their potential. Most, if not all of us, occupying one of the 15 seats in the Parliament of St. Maarten and the seven appointed Ministerial positions, campaigned to improve the lives of our people. In doing so we understood that tough decisions would have to be made, compounded by a pandemic, that literally forced us to accept new norms in our way of life and unreasonable conditions from the Netherlands, which breached our autonomy, to keep the country afloat. Conditions, many agree, that would not have been considered or forced upon us if we had our affairs in order. Living in the aftermath of disasters is nothing new to the people of St. Maarten, so their government should have been somewhat prepared financially to buffer the fallout. It was not. Today I am not going to rehash all of the challenges this Parliament faced over the last year and will face going forward. I will say that in many instances this Parliament has done some good work, better than some would give it credit for. At the end of the day, however, it always comes back to that single ambition of improving lives. As individual representatives of the people, we have some very strong instincts - even prejudices sometimes - about what will improve peoples lives, and we must act on those instincts. Instinct we believe that people who feel in control of their own destiny feel more fulfilled. Instinctively we feel that having the purpose of a job is as important to the soul as it is to the bank balance. Instinctively most people have a real yearning to belong to something bigger than themselves. We cannot simply feel it and talk about it anymore. We have to put these instincts to the practical test; we have to make sure that governments decisions on policy and spending are made in a balanced way, taking account of what really matters. Our social approach should be one where we develop a realistic picture of how social problems beget social problems, that one reinforces the other, and that they can manifest themselves throughout someones life leading to an ever-increasing gap between the current situation and the opportunities to that provide an opening for change. Mr. Chairman, People care about living a good life. There are many things that this Parliament and government must re-focus on if we truly care about our people. Mr. Chairman please allow me to mention a few: Poverty. Some would have you believe that poverty became an issue in St. Maarten with COVID-19. On the contrary, COVID-19 ripped the mask off and showed poverty for what it really is on St. Maarten: a reality. As a country, we must be able to seriously explore a pathway out of poverty and toward development as needed. Our mission should be to assist anyone in distress without distinction for race, origin or religion. We must focus on projects with solid economic and social returns and create favorable conditions for poverty reduction and to keep our anti-poverty cause on a sustainable path. In the bigger picture, the only thing which matters is human dignity. The fuel clause Now Mr. Chairman, if we want to talk about something thats making people poor, look no further than GEBEs fuel clause. The constant rise of fuel cost and the countrys inability to ensure that we start using alternative energy is just mind-boggling. Fuel went up in St. Maarten with 38% from November 2020 to July 2021. Today many would have noticed the value of a Waste to Energy plant in this country. Instead, we are being cut because we cannot afford electricity and water anymore. People literally have no space in their budget to meet their obligation to pay their utility bills which increase three-fold when the fuel clause is added. Taxes I do not fully comprehend the choice of words by government recently that long-lease land could be taken and put to good use as if the home on that property is not considered good use. Tax reforms are necessary yes, but why add this mental burden on people, especially seniors, at a time when people are drowning in worry about paying monthly bills including mortgages. When a senior taxi driver has to take the same SSRP support to pay taxes levied, then something is totally backwards. Apparently Naf 2 million seems to be too much for us to alleviate our seniors from. We can find monies for everything else but not for them. I hope we can together change the mindset of some in this country that arent helping us progress. Under our country shield is a Latin motto Semper pro grediens and it wasnt chosen for only good times but also bad times. This lack of empathy is very concerning. Rising food cost Food cost is ballooning all over the world due to the pandemic and in St. Maarten, it is no different. It is made even worse by the fact that we have to import everything. The talk of some sort of retail tax at the point of import needs clarifying and serious thought must go into this and the effect it will have on already high food prices. Wholesalers and Retailers in this country can only maintain price levels for so long before their respective businesses start to tank. Before that happens, we can bet that extra taxes and fees will be passed on to the consumers. It is a catastrophe that could be triggered by poorly thought-out tax legislation. Mr. Chairman, Poverty eradication, addressing GEBEs fuel clause, food prices and fair tax reforms, the minimum wage and eliminating once and for all the damaging stigma that surrounds addiction and mental health, are the real issues that people care about. These are the issues that if addressed correctly and in a sustainable manner, could immediately improve the quality of life of our people, mostly on a financial level. Mr. Chairman, Of course, there are other important issues for our country that affect our lives and that I hope I will have the opportunity to work with government on in the benefit of our people, our social cohesion, and our economy. Some of these include: The Financial situation of the country. I hope to see soon a realistic post-pandemic economic recovery report. Our fight against the COVID-19 Pandemic. I look forward to the government enforcing its protocols and holding those accountable who do not respect these protocols. Leading by example is still an ideal we should embrace. I hope to see an end to this constant loss of life, while the debate between vaccinated vs. unvaccinated continues relentlessly. I look forward with great interest to continuing the Decolonization discussion and the way forward with the statute and the dispute regulation. I suspect with COHO 2.0 on the horizon, that the effect of parliament functionalities due to demands made by the Dutch government for liquidity support will be a recurring issue along with the trampling of democracy and the abuse of the CFT mandate by the Kingdom Council. The public expects to be able to hold the government directly accountable, and as a consequence of COHO these entities sit in an uneasy position in relation to our political history and way of life. In that same context, the level of trust and working relationship with our partners in the Kingdom must be addressed and enhanced. It might be uncomfortable to discuss, but the depth of racism, cultural differences, inequality, and its effects on the population cant be ignored. Creating division amongst ourselves was always a way of ruling this country. We ourselves are also a master at this game. Our relationship with the French side in moving this country ahead with its country packages and new taxes should be properly thought out and discussed. Something that I campaigned on and look to further move along with this Parliamentary session is developing a Tolerance Policy for the usage of cannabis / Marijuana by the people just like its allowed in other parts of the Kingdom. Reintroduction of the offshore market just like its allowed in the Netherlands in particular and copy the laws that govern them. If its good for the goose then let it also be good for the gander. Instead of constantly using the cry of human smuggling of women working in the clubs, bring the law or we should initiate the law to legalize such. It has been happening for 50 plus years in St. Maarten from the days of the Japanese club to the now sophisticated setups in dance clubs, strip- clubs, the internet and even house calls. We all know its not going to stop so why not legalize or stop taking the employee's and employers' money for work and residency permits. Additionally, according to the Dutch government, the responsibility of so called-human smuggling lies with the individual countries. With that being the case, let us then finally move to regulating the industry, so everyone knows what the rules are. Key discussions to be finalized are the Electoral law, the screening law, and the position of the governor in the signing of the appointment decrees, as this should be something of the past. We must be able to appoint our people since we voted for the representatives of Parliament who support the appointed ministers with a majority in parliament. Mr. Chairman, Justice Denied isnt justice served There is a dangerous undercurrent of misuse of justice that might be affecting me and others today but could very well land in anyones backyard tomorrow. I hope, with every bit of energy in me, that the Parliament and Government of St. Maarten will finally ask the questions about the ongoing abuses in the justice system and that finally, we address this with conviction and courage. Which questions you might ask? Here are a few: How blind is justice truly on St. Maarten and are those placed in charge really executing justice in the name of justice or based on an agenda. Why is finding the truth not necessarily the objective of a prosecution. In St. Maarten, it seems to be about the score. Who checks whom in the justice system and how can we trust that the checks and balances are integers. Are the laws applied differently in the various parts of our kingdom and if yes why is that? Do privacy laws truly exist in our country like they do in the Netherlands? The prosecutors and judges come from there, yet they do it completely differently here. Why is that? Mr. Chairman I make these statements as Im seeing them from up close. The news of the recent termination of the TBO team on St. Maarten is well received. I believe this unit and the methods it practiced in carrying out THE AGENDA has done more damage than good to this country on so many levels; but the details are for another day. Mr. Chairman, In closing, I say to the public and my colleagues in Parliament, that the time has come for us to stop using St. Maarten First as a cute quote to sound patriotic. The time has come to accept what truly matters to people, zoom in on the issues, and tackle them with determination and effectiveness. Vanity projects and issues that are not a priority to realize an improved standard of living for our people should be put on the back burner. Like all countries, we were affected by the COVID crisis. However, despite the temporary slowing in our growth rate as a result of the current circumstances, we cannot use this as an excuse to further burden our people. We must be creative and think big to increase employment levels, reduce cost of living and to continue reducing social inequality. It cannot be austerity, austerity, austerity. History reveals that austerity, when exaggerated and isolated from growth, is self-defeating. Yes, one of the reasons that our democracy has been such a success for so many years is because of the strength of our identity and the respect we show to one another as fellow citizens and to those we welcome to our shores. We have helped many before as we were helped in the early to mid-nineteen hundreds when we traveled abroad to work to feed our families. However, this moment in the development of this young country, dictates that we now need to take care of our own and build our nation to what we want it to be, based on the strength of our identity, not on the will of others. If we need to change the charter so that proper self-determination as per our autonomy can truly be realized, or if we need to go towards more independence to achieve such then the people of this country who believe St. Maarten is their permanent home should decide what we do. We must find the courage to finally take the mantle of builders of a nation through our actions. Nation-building is about taking risks every time; it involves not just defending ones basic interests, or positions which have at times led to tension. It is about the risk of dialogue, of compromise, of rebuilding trust, and the courage to assume responsibility with respect to many of our challenges. If we have grown weaker, it is because we have decided, too often, to challenge the truth, to contest the facts, to take a short-term view, to protect certain interests at times, and this has led to a loss of meaning and direction. We must work together. I do not believe in taking the easy road of pessimism; nor do I believe in the division. I believe in our ability to make proposals, think, work together, and build this country on a sound agenda of growth for all who will allow us to again look forward to the future. I thank you Mr. Chairman. God bless St. Maarten. PHILIPSBURG:--- Faction leader for the United Peoples Party Grisha Marten Heyliger in her closing remarks on Monday at the closing of the parliamentary year said that a foundation is a key requirement for any development to be successful. The Foundational element of building a nation has to include the vision of their people. That vision can form part of the developmental framework for what St. Maarten will become; if the people are part of the process. Marten Heyliger said when she started out on this political journey over a year ago, she made a promise to the people that her first objective was to fight to bring about real changes in the way the future is decided. Simply put, she intended to ensure that the incompleteness of the decolonization of St. Maarten and the other Caribbean Dutch islands was addressed at the United Nations, and she did. After more than ten years of being told that St. Maarten had a right to Self Determination on one hand while being dictated to, on the other hand, they have finally reached the United Nations. Through the effort of the United Peoples Party supported by most of the honorable members of this house of Parliament, the committee of the United Nations tasked with Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD) has shared their concerns about the decolonization process not being completed as promised by The Netherlands. As a subsequent thereof, she could safely say, the winds of change are blowing through all four houses of Parliament within the Kingdom. There are a number of new members with fresh ideas who believe in the cause as a nation. It is also noteworthy to mention that during the recently held IPKO meeting in Bonaire, a consensus was reached on executing the so-called van Raak c.s. motion by means of a working group, and State Secretary Knops has committed to the start of this process. The standing Committee on Kingdom relations in the Dutch Parliament has also added article 73 of the UN Charter and reparation to its agenda this year. This, combined with the commitment of the Dutch Government to assist Sint Maarten with capacity-building by means of cooperation in the region with the assistance of international organizations, provides a much better alternative to the unlawful, restrictive, and inefficient manner in which the Dutch Government is currently attempting to impose its will on the people of Sint Maarten. The goal as politicians and leaders must be the improvement of the lives and living conditions of the citizens whose right to decide for themselves must also be protected. It is ignorant to assume this can be achieved for St. Maarten by others who cannot appreciate the cultural heritage and who themselves admit that they are unable to handle their own affairs in a competent and lawful manner. It is asinine to believe that the future of St. Maarten has a place in it for St. Maarteners born here and born to be here without the people having an equal seat at the decision-making table. History has shown that nation-building is impossible for a people without them having at least the freedom to decide, speak and develop how the people see it fit for themselves. The United Nations has heard St Maartens cry and the work has begun to finally receive what were promised. It is now time to focus on the other promises made here at home. During the new parliamentary year of 2021-2022, The United Peoples Party intends to right some of the wrongs that have been allowed to surface. The aim is to ensure that St. Maarteners from any political party line receive a fair opportunity to hold on to their jobs and not be made scapegoats for those who refuse to stand up for our country. This next chapter in my political life will include ensuring the individual protection of all citizens against outside influence or blind leadership that threatens their lives and livelihood. Marten Heyliger said an offense against any citizen of this country is an offense against her and she will continue to stand UP for her people. She will follow the plans laid out for achieving sustainable economic activities by implementing development strategies that allow achieving their goals. Economic stability for the people will create a strong sense of national identity and continued economic growth. By empowering the leaders and people, they will build a strong and proud nation that is viable, stable, and prosperous. With a strong foundation, the nation will be able to one day take its place among the other independent nations in the region and the world, as an economic and democratic powerhouse. Many of those same nations in the region had and still have less economic growth than St. Maarten do and yet they are able to provide homes, free housing, free education, and free healthcare for their people. Today many of those same nations provide better social security with higher pays for their senior citizens so they can live comfortably, and so must we. It is against this backdrop and based on continued efforts to fulfill all of the campaign promises to the people of St. Maarten that they will now focus their energy on giving the Ministers the support needed to rebuild St. Maarten. It is not an easy task for citizens of St. Maarten to be dealing with the rapid spread of COVID-19 and the increased deaths stemming from this deadly virus especially during a hurricane season. My heart goes out to those who have lost a friend, family or loved one during the past year, especially because of COVID. This virus will be with us for some time, therefore we must work with the Ministry of Health and do our part, get vaccinated, and for those not vaccinated follow health protocols at all times so we can control the spread of this deadly virus..simply put: Vaxed or Non-Vaxxed.Dont Lax. While on the subject of healthcare, Heyliger Marten commend the Minister in the UP/NA coalition, Minister Omar Ottley, and his team in ministry VSA for the work they are doing to raise the salary cap at SZV to allow more persons to be insured and to have their children also insured. A healthy St. Maarten is a St. Maarten better able to fight any challenges it may face. And while we are working to keep you healthy, the UP Party will not stop there, because we also believe that rather than talk the talk we should walk the walk. That is why the Ministry of Labor is working on amendments to stop the abuse of short-term labor contracts. We will work towards achieving a level playing field where employers can hire comfortably and employees can be rewarded for dedication and hard work without the long-term insecurity of short term contracts. The UPP faction leader vouched to work with the business community to strike the kind of balance that allows them to invest more, thereby offering more employment opportunities to the citizens and people of St. Maarten. But none of this will make sense if they do not protect the fragile tourism economy and even now, they need to work hard to redefine and improve the product. With that said, Heyliger Marten said she would like to acknowledge and thank our former Minister of TEATT Ms. Ludmila de Weever for holding down the fort during this pandemic and welcome the new Min TEATT Mr. Roger Lawrence who under the UP-Partys guidance will be working closely with stakeholders to enhance our tourism product. Guests must feel welcomed from the moment they land up to the time they leave. To do this we will need to work on the long-delayed rebuilding of the Airport. But we must also not let the Marine and Cruise Tourism Industry die because of COVID. Important investments such as the widening of the Simpson Bay Bridge and improving the arrival experience of our Mega Yachts and Cruise Passengers will go a long way to ensuring we restore the repeat visits from tourists that have sustained our economy. This must also be done while taking full advantage of the technologically savvy travelers who are younger and more adventurous. We must redefine our tourism product in all segments to cater to them. Honorable members and friends, it is still too time-consuming and difficult for investors to receive the support they need for business licenses and to start operations in our Country. Therefore she challenged the new Minister of TEATT to make it a priority to fast track the business license process. To assist the Minister, the UP Party will be bringing legislation that can create the ease of doing business in our country. Throughout our communities we still see business activities decreasing. Philipsburg is perhaps the worst hit and we must work to restore activity to this area. Building a proper parking structure in the heart of Philipsburg will encourage residents and visitors alike to come to town at night. Once we do this, we will be able to reduce the congestion in Simpson Bay and allow traffic to flow through the island, and create an avenue for customers to spend their money anywhere on our island. As a political party, we will continue to work across party lines within Parliament through the various committees such as committees for C and D, Finance, TEATT, ECYS, Electoral Reform and Justice to champion the cause of our people. The Inmates at the Pointe Blanche Prison should never have been kept in the deplorable condition they are in, for this long. The Prison Guard shortage should have already been remedied and reform programs should have already been put in place. So we will work with our colleagues in the Coalition to achieve these goals. We will also ensure that the promises made to the police who serve and protect us daily are finally lived up to because they dont just promise to protect us, instead, they actually come out each day and night and give us their best effort to keep us, our children and property safe. And while our citizens continue to wake up wondering about the stability of our government, nothing substantial has been done about Electoral Reform. It is no easy task to address reform of any kind, and electoral reform comes with many challenges. Despite these challenges, the United Peoples Party intends to continue its best efforts to see real reform within a short period through proper legislation that ensures the protection of our democracy. In closing, she wishes to remind the leadership of this country that it is not for fame or a game to be a leader but the task is a serious one that requires a keen understanding of and appreciation of the struggle, challenges, and desires of those who you lead. None of us as leaders should allow our decisions to be dictated to us, especially when they harm our people, threaten their economic future, and way of life. Standing up to a bully is always a good thing because it shows character and backbone. If you stand UP for the people of St. Maarten the United Peoples Party will stand UP with you. But if you continue to fall over every time and only show a willingness to play by the rules of others and not respect your roles as leaders, then I remind you that the people will never forget. When I think back to the many great leaders who paved the way for people like me, to stand in this honorable house and address you the audience and the nation at large, I think about Legacy. These great leaders like the Honorable Vance James and Dr. Claude Wathey pioneered the economic landscape that St. Maarten has been known to be. They left a legacy that their followers, and family were able to build on. Today we as the leaders of the day must have the audacity to lead with respect for our former leaders and their accomplishment or we will throw away what is left of our countrys legacy. Words that should describe us are: statesmanlike, honorable, and visionary. We should be able to bridge the political divide for the sake of our people, and when the time comes we can, as we must, return to our corners and defend our ideology and vision and let the people decide. We have had difficult times before, and we will again face challenges as a country. But it is leadership that will determine the way we handle our challenges and whether we overcome them. Elde Hughes, 71 of Eubank, passed away Wednesday, September 15, 2021 at his residence. Arrangements are pending and will be announced later by Morris & Hislope Funeral Home. Condolences may be expressed to the family at: www.morrisandhislope.com. Support local journalism Now, more than ever, the world needs trustworthy reportingbut good journalism isnt free. Please support us by making a contribution. Contribute One of the juggernauts of the Connecticut pizza scene is making a trip down to Florida. Stamford-based Colony Grill is opening up a spot in St. Petersburg, Fl. its seventh storefront and third outside of Connecticut. The spot will be located on Central Avenue in downtown St. Petersburg and is slated to open in November, according to Jodi Sanchioni, general manager of Colony Grill. In addition to the St. Petersburg location, Colony Grill has secured a space at a new mixed-use building in Tampa, which is slated to open in the first half of 2022. Weve received tons of emails over the years asking us to come to Tampa-St. Pete. In the last three to four years, we started to look closer at the market," Ken Martin, chief brand officer of Colony Grill, told the St. Pete Rising. Despite the geographic difference, there are a lot of similarities in the demographics. In many ways, St. Pete mirrors Fairfield Countys young, vibrant, and eclectic culture. The 5,000-square-foot space in St. Petersburg will consist of the same menu as the other Colony Grill locations. And, despite being situated over 1,000 miles away from Connecticut, the St. Petersburg location will host a few select beers from Connecticut, according to the St. Pete Rising. The two new Florida locations are part of the restaurant's recent string of expansion, which began in the fall of 2020 with the opening of a Colony Grill in Arlington, Va. Colony Grill's other location outside of Connecticut sits right outside of the state's border in Port Chester, NY. Colony Grill's signature bar-style, hot oil pizzas have earned nationwide acclaim; it was named one of the best pizzas in America by Daily Meal. ST. CLOUD, Minn. (AP) At the Sauk Rapids Dairy Queen, the Now Hiring sign has been up since late February, when it opened for the season. Hiring was scary tough, particularly in the beginning of the season, franchise co-owner Misty Hahn Schultz said. She said hiring has never been so tough at the Sauk Rapids DQ over the 30 years shes worked there. A lot of their employees are college students, Hahn Schultz said, but this year, applications were coming in almost exclusively from 14- and 15-year-olds whose working hours are more restricted by state law. Thats when she and co-owner Holly Lyon knew theyd have hiring trouble this season. Similar help-wanted signs appear on doors and marquee signs across the St. Cloud area. Its another expression of a workforce shortage that stretches back further than the pandemic, but has been felt particularly keenly as COVID-19 drags on. Last summer, when the Department of Employment and Economic Development released its update about occupations in demand, it was in an effort to reflect the pandemic conditions that led to little demand for workers in the restaurant industry. After all, restaurants were closed or operating for takeout only, the St. Cloud Times reported. We were kind of prepped for, or thinking about, how are we going to transfer those folks that are in the restaurant industry into other sectors? said Luke Greiner, DEEDs regional analyst for central and southwest Minnesota. ... Now, those conversations seem almost crazy. To some extent, Greiner said, the restaurant industry is in the same boat as other employers in terms of difficulties finding people to hire. Theres not a lot of extra labor to go around, he said. But on the other hand, no other sector shed as many jobs and laid as many people off, so they have a lot more ground to try to make up than these other sectors, Greiner said. And I think that is why it is more acute an issue for the restaurant industry. The same can also be said of other aspects of the hospitality industry, Greiner added Jules Bistro owner Donella Westphal said shes been short of staff for the last 12 to 18 months. It was particularly frustrating this summer, she said, because the customer demand was present and presented an opportunity to gain back lost ground. I had to put boundaries around what we could offer because I didnt have enough staff, Westphal said. She said the pandemic interruption gave workers time to think about and change their minds about what they wanted from their jobs. Its a lot easier to just keep going to the same job than to consider or think of yourself in a different occupation, but this pandemic kind of forced people to make that consideration, Greiner said. Supply-chain struggles have also created some chaos, which in turn can create stress for Westphal and her staff. Thats happening on every level, Westphal said. ...Its happening when 10 cases of greens dont show up on the truck and now I have to run around town and find greens. Theres just some major stops and starts in every aspect of life right now. And that is mentally and emotionally exhausting for people. Westphal said she hasnt expanded Jules hours because she doesnt want to burn out the employees shes retained. Its been the toughest to fill kitchen positions. I post a position for a cook and Im lucky if I get any applicants at all, she said. So Westphal has shifted her strategy. Shes looking at staffing as a long-term effort. She kept in touch with one prospective employee for six months, Westphal said, before the staff member came to work at Jules. Westphal said shes focusing on finding people with the same values Jules espouses and will hire them even if they may not have professional experience. Im really approaching hiring differently, she said. Shes also focusing on increasing cross-training among staff. For instance, a dishwasher could also be trained to cook on the line. Westphal said its been exciting to see her staff identify needs and be willing to step up. She said the change in season, from lake season to fall, has helped as well. Border Foods President Aaron Engler said the company is always hiring, but that the difficulty in finding employees now is unusually high. Border Foods operates Taco Bell franchises in Minnesota, South Dakota, New York, Montana, Wisconsin, Illinois, Iowa and Michigan. He said although workforce participation has been shrinking in the U.S. for several years, the St. Cloud area poses an additional challenge as the community continues to grow. With a lot of growth brings a lot of competition for us, Engler said. ... The pool of employees is getting smaller, so when you combine that with the growth of St. Cloud and the growth of competition in St. Cloud, it makes the pool of possible employees smaller in your area. Thats why the St. Cloud area was included in the 21 Taco Bells (largely in Minnesota) operated by Border Foods that had a hiring push in an effort to fill more than 500 positions. In the St. Cloud area alone, Border Foods was looking to fill 75 positions. Border Foods served free tacos at the recruiting events. It made new employees who applied during the event eligible for a $250 hiring bonus. The company held a raffle for two $1,000 college scholarships. And it reminded applicants of Border Foods their eligibility for tuition reimbursement if employed. What makes it easier for us to offer those benefits is scale, Engler said, also referring to additional incentives for employees. We have 223 restaurants in nine states, and with that scale, it allows us to offer benefits and other opportunities that you may not see everywhere. Engler said this is the first time Border Foods has done a large-scale hiring event like this. Were doing everything that we can, he said. Anything that we can in benefits and perks and pay and hiring parties, all these things just combined. According to Engler, hiring incentives for quick-service restaurants are important because employers in the food industry compete largely on wages. Everyone is so close on wage, Engler said. ... So, its these ancillary benefits that we offer that I think really drives retention. Lyon said their difficulty staffing was eased somewhat starting in June when schools let out and college students returned to summer jobs. Theyll close the DQ for the season in October, but are working to hire for next season. Lyon said theyre hopeful next year will be back to normal. We cant stay afloat without our staff, Hahn Schultz said. It was particularly tough in March, when the business had to shave six hours off its daily time open because so many staff members were in quarantine. When a Taco Bell doesnt have enough staff, Border Foods may temporarily close that locations lobby, Engler said. Thats not good for us, he said. Its not good for the public that wants to eat our food. The worst-case scenario for the company is to reduce a stores hours, or close it temporarily, if they cant get enough staff. One way they can adapt is to have employees who want more hours work at more than one Taco Bell location, Engler said. He confirmed the company is seeing a staffing shortage in St. Cloud, but as of late August did not have plans to close lobbies or shorten hours in the area. Both Westphal and Engler said they see light at the end of the tunnel whenever that may come. I dont believe this is a forever, Engler said of the hiring difficulty. I think this is a circumstantial (thing). Westphal said shes hopeful but realistic about the future, but also that she feels more adaptable and easy-going with a staff better equipped to respond to what comes. I have learned that Im going to get hit with a new challenge every single day, but that I have built a team here, and that together we can figure out how to respond to it, she said. And it isnt always going to be perfect ... but our values and our mission are at the forefront in those moments, and creating really great guest experience, and giving people a little bit of respite from life is what we do. STAMFORD A New York woman allegedly stole nearly $19,000 total from two Stamford residents using fake identification, according to police. Terry Markuske, 57, of the Bronx, N.Y, was extradited to Stamford from New Jersey Friday on multiple charges stemming from two cases of identity theft that date back to November 2018. In November 2018, Markuske allegedly used stolen identification information from two Stamford residents to make a series of cash withdrawals from a chain of banks in Vermont, according to Investigator Michael Stempien. Stempien said Markuske allegedly made three withdrawals from each individual, in addition to allegedly cashing one check worth $2,986 from each. In total, Markuske allegedly stole more than $12,000 from one person and about $7,000 from the other, Stempien said. Using stills from surveillance footage, Stempien said investigators were able to identify Markuske as a suspect around the time of the initial incidents. However, Markuske was not arrested by authorities until last week when she was detained by police in New Jersey. Markuske was charged with two counts of first-degree identity theft, second-degree larceny, third-degree larceny, six counts of second-degree forgery and two counts of criminal impersonation. While being extradited, Stempien said police also found what they described as a fake license, fake credit card and bank statements belonging to a Florida woman in Markuskes possession. As a result, Markuske was also charged with second-degree identity theft and two extra counts of second-degree forgery for the Florida data. She was held on $100,000 bond and given a court date of Sept. 13. It's OK to admit the treadmill gets boring. There are only so many true crime podcasts out there to keep everyone entertained during their workout. Luckily for Connecticut, there are plenty of alternative workouts all over the state for afresh outlook on fitness. Betsy McCaughey is a former lieutenant governor of New York and author of The Next Pandemic, available at Amazon.com. Follow her on Twitter @Betsy_McCaughey. Hazleton, PA (18201) Today Scattered thunderstorms early, then variable clouds overnight with more showers at times. Low around 60F. Winds light and variable. Chance of rain 70%.. Tonight Scattered thunderstorms early, then variable clouds overnight with more showers at times. Low around 60F. Winds light and variable. Chance of rain 70%. Hungarian Democratic Union of Romania (UDMR) deputy Biro Rozalia, chairman of the Foreign Policy Committee of the Chamber of Deputies, said on Monday that he has recently proposed the establishment of a Carpathian Mountains brand at the Economic Forum in Karpacz, Poland. "I mentioned in this conference that, in addition to the development of the infrastructure, through the large Via Carpatia and Rail-2-Sea projects, we need to develop a Carpathian brand, that should not only belong to Romania, but to all countries that have the Carpathian Mountains in their geographical area. The Carpathians brand should be developed in such a way as to preserve the cultural identity, traditions and specifics of each country, but, on the other hand, we should rely not only on a parliamentary and governmental level, but also on an initiative of the the private, civil sector, in order to develop a mentality of the citizens of the Carpathians and we should be proud of the natural wealth we have," Biro Rozalia told a press conference. The economic forum, which has been held in Poland for 30 years, took place on September 6-8 in the city of Karpacz, with the participation of around 3,000 parliamentarians in hundreds of panels. Discussions were held on a wide range of topics such as: Young Citizens for the Future of Europe, New Challenges in International Politics, the United States - Europe - Russia - China or The Parliamentary Diplomacy of the Three Seas. From the delegation of the six Romanian parliamentarians, Deputy Biro participated in the discussions on the Three Seas Initiative and the related projects, several panels on this initiative being organized by the Polish hosts. The deputy brought to mind that the Three Seas Initiative includes 12 states, supported by the United States, Germany and the European Commission, with the aim of creating and strengthening a collaboration platform to increase connectivity, especially along the north-south axis, in the Central and Eastern Europe region, in the fields of transport, energy and digitalisation, agerpres.ro confirms. "We believe that once connectivity in these three areas is strengthened between the 12 participating countries, it will also ensure a strengthening of cohesion and convergence within the European Union. In my view, this cooperation is an opportunity for deeper economic cooperation in economy, in developing a cross-border infrastructure and thus a much stronger cross-border and regional cooperation," said Biro Rozalia. For Romania, she said, the two major projects, Via Carpatia and Rail-2-Sea are essential for this initiative, but also "to expand this collaboration and support the European path of the Republic of Moldova, Ukraine and Georgia''. The Rail-2-Sea project will ensure rail transport, with dual civil-military use between the port of Gdansk and the port of Constanta, which means a total length of about 2,600 kilometers, starting from Poland, through Slovakia, Hungary and Romania. There will be three corridors on our country's territory that will be built as follows: the first route, by 2022, the second, by 2029, and the the third by 2025, said Biro Rozalia. The Minister of Foreign Affairs, Bogdan Aurescu, hails the celebration of 10 years since the signing of the US - Romania Strategic Partnership. "As head negotiator of the Joint Statement regarding the Romania-USA Strategic Partnership for the 21st Century and the Agreement regarding the anti-missile system, I hail the anniversary, today, of 10 years since the signing of these basic documents of the Strategic Partnership," shows the head of Romanian diplomacy in a message sent, on Monday, on Twitter. According to the documents signed on September 13, 2011, following the joint vision of a more extended and more profound Strategic Partnership, Romania and the United States have identified the following domains of reinforced cooperation, among which the United States ballistic missile shield and the NATO missile defence, recognizing that this system contributes to the defence of Romania and the United States, as well as the European allies of NATO, and strengthens regional stability, disarmament, non-proliferation and arms control, combating terrorism and the management of other emerging risks and threats, through the consolidation of information exchanges. These will be joined by cooperation within NATO, improving interoperability and cooperation in the realm of defence equipment and subsidiary materials, regional cooperation and stability, with focus on Eastern Europe and the Western Balkans, both by improving NATO-EU cooperation, strengthening Euro-Atlantic institutions and seeking solutions to frozen conflict, commerce and investment, with a focus on facilitating contacts between business communities, in parallel with reaffirming the commitment for market principles, the rule of law, a healthy business environment, transparency and public integrity, energy security, Agerpres.ro informs. The joint statement also mentions democracy and rule of law, human rights and good governance, as well as the firm support of these values in the region, in the states of the Eastern Partnership: the Republic of Armenia, the Republic of Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Republic of Moldova, and Ukraine, as well as the promotion of reforms and of the consolidation of democracies in these countries, education, research and inter-human contacts, facilitated through exchanges of persons in the professional realm, investors, business visits and researchers in the academic and scientific domain, science and technology, including the continuous support to diversify contacts between the academic and scientific communities. "Our durable and dynamic Strategic Partnership is of a nature to consolidate the security and prosperity of Romania and the United States and we eagerly anticipate our future cooperation," shows the document penned September 13, 2011 in Washington DC. Romania has fought side by side with the United States and other Allied forces in some of the world's toughest and deadliest theaters of operations, US Embassy in Bucharest charge d'affaires ad-interim David Muniz affirmed on Monday in a message sent on the 10th anniversary of the signing of the Joint Declaration on The Strategic Partnership For The 21st Century Between The United States Of America And Romania and the Agreement between the two countries' Governments on the location of the Ballistic Missile Defense System. According to the US official, "the Romanian military bravely honored this commitment and paid an incredibly expensive price." "Through their actions, they brought peace to the affected areas and protected the vulnerable from the forces that would have treated them like prey," he added. David Muniz noted that the Joint Declaration and the Agreement "significantly" improved collective security and encouraged regional stability. "Ten years after its signing and five years after the Aegis Ashore System became operational in 2016, Romania remains a key link in NATO's missile defense chain," he said. "Romania's significant progress in modernizing and expanding its defense capabilities helps the entire NATO Alliance," and the Joint Declaration "formalized and strengthened the intense cultural, scientific and academic exchanges between our peoples," the US Charge d'Affaires in Bucharest added, Agerpres.ro informs. "In the name of friendship, cooperation, partnership and mutual obligation, we have accomplished much in the decade since the signing of the Joint Declaration and the Ballistic Missile Defense System Agreement. Of course, much remains to be done. And yet, it is reassuring to know that no matter the challenges our alliance and our friendship might face in the future, we will face them together. It is possible that the changes of fate will test the firmness of this friendship, but it has been proved that it remains unshakable," mentioned David Muniz. The Speaker of the Chamber of Deputies, Ludovic Orban, stated, on Monday, on the occasion of the Firefighters' Day, that, over time, Romanian firefighters successfully fulfilled complex and dangerous missions in fires, floods, snow-ins, calamities, being always there for people in need, and sent his appreciation for the support they gave at the start of the health crisis and in the recent fires in Greece, agerpres reports. "Today, September 13, we mark the Firefighters' Day in Romania and we remember, piously and with recognition, the act of heroism of the firefighters who, 173 years ago, in the Battle of Spirii Hill, paid their blood tribute. Courage, devotion, abnegation - these are the words that come to mind when thinking of firefighters or seeing them on mission. This noble savior profession is synonymous with loving your kind more than yourself and that is why it is so respected by us all," Orban wrote on his Facebook page. He showed that firefighters are always together with those in need, mentioning their support in combating the pandemic and in the recent fires in Greece."Over time, the Romanian firefighters successfully fulfilled complex and dangerous missions - in fires, floods, snow-ins, calamities - being always there for those in need; for which they permanently have our gratitude. We thank them, also, for the remarkable support granted when the health crisis provoked by the COVID-19 epidemic began, as well as for the honoring way in which they did their duty in the recent fires in Greece. Many happy returns to the firefighters of Romania! Many happy returns to all rescuers!," Orban also wrote. President Klaus Iohannis decorated, on Monday, the battle flag of the General Inspectorate for Emergency Situations (IGSU) and the commanders of the specialized intervention modules that acted in the fires in Greece, during a ceremony that took place on the plateau of the Cotroceni Presidential Palace on the occasion of the Firefighters' Day. The head of state conferred onto the Battle Flag of the IGSU (part of the Ministry of Internal Affairs uniformed services) the Order of Courage and Faith in the rank of officer, with markings for servicemen, as a token of "appreciation for the remarkable results obtained in the activity of defending life, goods and the environment against fires and disasters, for conducting civil protection measures, as well as for coordinating the actions of institutions involved in emergency situations management." As a token of "appreciation for the dedication and professionalism that they proved as part of the General Inspectorate for Emergency Situations, distinguishing themselves at the command of specialized intervention modules involved in the recent missions to put out the fires in the Hellenic Republic," President Klaus Iohannis granted the Order of Courage and Faith in the rank of Knight, with marking for servicemen, to colonel Valentin Florin Pop and Lieutenant-Colonel Alexandru-Adrian Csilik Alexandru. Furthermore, the head of state handed the battle flags to 11 County Emergency Inspectorates as a token of appreciation towards their devotion and self-sacrifice the Romanian rescuers proved in carrying out missions to protect citizens and communities. The ceremony was also attended by Prime Minister Florin Citu, Interior Minister Lucian Bode, and the head of the Department for Emergency Situations, Raed Arafat, Agerpres informs. President Klaus Iohannis said on Monday that as Romania comes to face civilian emergencies, firefighters' missions will become increasingly difficult and stressed the importance of fostering a culture of prevention among the population. A ceremony was organized at the Cotroceni Presidential Palace on the occasion of the Firefighters' Day, during which the head of state decorated the battle flag of the General Inspectorate for Emergency Situations (IGSU) and the commanders of the specialized intervention modules that acted in the fires in Greece - Colonel Valentin Florin Pop and Lieutenant-Colonel Alexandru- Adrian Csilik Alexandru. President Iohannis also awarded battle flags to 11 military fire-fighting units. "I am happy to celebrate together the Firefighters' Day in Romania, a day dedicated to all of you who, with great courage, face daily dangers that put your life in jeopardy to protect and save others. Your contribution to the safety of Romanians has been important in many difficult times throughout history. The present brings however a number of new, specific challenges, and it is our responsibility to find solutions to solve them. Your work is, with each passing year, tied to the amplification of the phenomenon of global warming, which affects all regions of the world. In some areas, extreme weather events and rainfall are becoming more frequent, while other areas are facing waves of extreme heat and drought," the head of state said. He recalled that the Country's National Defense Strategy highlights that the degradation of the quality of environmental factors and the implicit extension of the effects of climate change can turn into issues of critical importance. " You play, therefore, a strategic role within the national civil protection mechanism. As Romania comes to face civil emergency situations, your missions will become more and more difficult," the president told the firefighters. Klaus Iohannis pointed out that the catastrophic fires in Greece were a dramatic moment for the Hellenic nation, and Romania sent firefighters equipped with technique and intervention equipment to help out. "Apart from participating in international mechanisms of mutual support in case of natural disasters, this mission of our firefighters was also a gesture of compassion and support for the Greek people. I congratulate you, therefore, for the great professionalism proven, recognized and appreciated not only by Romanian citizens, but also by Greece and the international community," said the head of state. President Iohannis specified that a culture of prevention must be fostered among the population, through active and continuous training, so that people know how to react in case of a major emergency. He also welcomed the involvement of firefighters nationwide in combating the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. "The missions of transporting people, samples or protective equipment, of first aid to potentially infected people, decontamination, monitoring and preventive information of the opulation have been a real help in the last year and a half. Through your work, you undoubtedly contribute to boosting the degree of the citizens' trust in the state institutions and authorities whose main objective is to ensure the security of the population," affirmed Iohannis. According to the Romanian president, continuously developing a highly proficient intervention system, equipped with adequate technique and equipment is necessary in order to manage emergencies quickly and efficiently, agerpres.ro informs. "Increasing the operability of internal and external, military or civilian national crisis prevention and management systems, of inter-institutional cooperation mechanisms, will allow Romania to be better prepared to overcome any potential crises we might face in the future," added Klaus Iohannis. Colonel Valentin Florin Pop pointed out that the missions in Greece were difficult, and the most important achievement was to inspire the Greek people to believe that they are not alone, to show that they are supported and solidarity exists. "The missions carried out in Greece were Romania's first international missions that it undertook to extinguish wildfires as a result of the activation of the European Union Civil Protection Mechanism. They were difficult missions in which we were challenged to invest all the fruits of experience and our professional expertise. During all the missions, discipline, tenacity, team spirit, the technical equipment have been the link between our manpower and the accomplishments. However, beyond extinguishing the fires, I believe the most important achievement was to inspire the Greek people to believe that they are not alone, that they are concretely and genuinely supported, that solidarity exists," said Pop. At the end of the ceremony, also attended by Prime Minister Florin Citu, Interior Minister Lucian Bode, and the head of the Department for Emergency Situations, Raed Arafat, President Iohannis visited an exhibition of technique used by firefighters during interventions. Our crews are like family, he said. It will be hard to tell them, You have to do this or else. Al Bond, secretary treasurer of the St. Louis-Kansas City Carpenters Regional Council, estimated that just half of his members are vaccinated. The council already mandates shots for its 225 employees and for members who use its training facilities. Bond has talked to employers who are hesitant to require vaccinations because construction is booming right now and workers are in short supply. I tell contractors the only way this is going to stop is if you all mandate it, he said. Bidens order will accomplish that, at least for large companies. But Ann Marie Dale, a Washington University professor of medicine, isnt sure the mandate will boost the construction industrys vaccination rate. This group is more hesitant than most, she said. I think theyre going to have trouble getting these workers vaccinated. Robert Griggs, president of steel pipe maker Trinity Products in St. Charles, also doubts he can convince all of his 175 employees to roll up their sleeves. On this blistering summer day, Boyd is sowing his cash crop, soybeans, making passes up and down a rolling 1,000-acre tract along the broad Roanoke River in Virginia. Its one of several parcels he owns, totaling 1,500 acres some of it land that his ancestors once tilled as slaves. And now its his. Some days, its hard to believe. Im owning land that many of my forefathers worked when it was scotch free. You know slave labor, man, says Boyd, his black cowboy hat casting a shadow over his face. Im just trying to make them proud. Like the other Black farmers, Boyd has encountered prejudice in many ways. An example: Boyds wife, Kara, a member of the Lumbee Tribe of North Carolina, recalls the time her husband took a load of soybeans to the grain elevator and got a low price for it. Too much trash or moisture in it, he was told. When Kara Boyd brought in another load from the same field, she got a better price. But when her stepfather, who is white, took a load out of the same field, she recalled that he was told: Man, these are the best beans theyd seen and how many more could he bring them? But Boyds battle with the USDA was epic. It almost wiped him out. That well-worn creed sounds like backward thinking to Ed Zitron, who runs a public relations firm representing technology companies and which has been fully remote since it launched in 2012. The only reason to have an office, he says, is to satisfy managers with vested interests in grouping people together so that they can look at them and feel good about the people that they own ... so that they can enjoy that power. Switching to hybrid work is ideal for people like Kelly Soderlund, a mother of two young children who works in offices in San Francisco and Palo Alto, California, for travel management company TripActions, which has about 1,200 employees worldwide. She couldnt wait to return when the company partially reopened its offices in June, partly because she missed the built-in buffer that her roughly one-hour commute provided between her personal and professional life. When I dont have that, I wake up in the morning, I start doing work and I take my kids to their camp or their day care, Soderlund says. And then I come back and I work and then we pick them up, make dinner and then I go back to work. So, it feels like its just work all the time. ST. LOUIS A Washington University student caused an uproar over the weekend after removing U.S. flags meant to memorialize each person who died in the 9/11 attacks. On Friday, the student organization College Republicans put up 2,977 small flags on Mudd Field, a grassy common area in the center of the private university. About 7 a.m. Saturday, Student Union Vice President of Finance Fadel Alkilani was confronted, caught on video taking the flags down. The flags in question were put up again, but the incident quickly drew national attention online and calls for Alkilanis expulsion. By Saturday night, Alkilani released a prepared statement, trying to explain that his full protest did not have the chance to be actualized. Alkilani wrote that hed planned to place bags of the flags on Mudd Field with statistics explaining the human cost of 9/11 in the past 20 years. I encourage those who are angry about my protest to consider the reasons for this protest, and the reasons for their anger, very carefully, Alkilani wrote in the statement. I would like to refer you to a speech by Frederick Douglas (sic), What to the Slave Is the Fourth of July? and encourage you to research the statistics of Islamophobic hate crimes and civilian deaths caused during the post-9/11 American wars. Manchin voted last month to approve a budget resolution that set the figure, though he and Sen. Kyrsten Sinema, D-Ariz., have expressed reservations about the topline amount. All of it would be paid for with taxes on corporations and the wealthy. Congressional committees have been working hard this month on slices of the 10-year proposal in a bid to meet this week's timeline from Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., to have the bill drafted. Pelosi is seeking a House vote by Oct. 1, near the Sept. 27 target for voting on a slimmer infrastructure plan favored by moderates. Manchin, who in an op-ed earlier this month urged a strategic pause on the legislation to reconsider the cost, described the timing as unrealistic. He has urged Congress to act first on a nearly $1 trillion bipartisan infrastructure bill already passed by the Senate. But liberal Democrats have threatened to withhold their support until the $3.5 trillion spending bill is passed alongside it. Neither side on Sunday revealed how they hoped to quickly bridge the divide among Democrats. GREAT FALLS, Mont. Great Falls High School in Montana is moving to remote learning for the rest of the week due to an increase in coronavirus cases among students and staff. School officials said Monday that more than 35 people have tested positive for the virus. Moving to remote learning will allow for quarantine or isolation times for students and staff to lapse and give sanitation crews time to disinfect more than 40 classrooms. Student athletic activities will continue as scheduled, but there will be a mask requirement when students and coaches are in close proximity. Other school districts have switched to remote classes because of outbreaks. DENVER Colorado Gov. Jared Polis is urging the Food and Drug Administration to quickly authorize booster shots for the Pfizer coronavirus vaccine as well as permit children ages 5 to 11 to be vaccinated. Polis said Monday that foot-dragging by U.S. health officials has cost lives. In his words, The FDA needs to get out of their ivory tower and realize there is a real life pandemic. Much of Sundays debate was devoted to substantive issues, including the parties' policies on housing, health, pensions, taxation and immigration. Despite seeing her party slip in the polls, Green party candidate Annalena Baerbock largely refrained from personal attacks on her rivals and focused instead on her signature issues of social justice and reduction of greenhouse gas emissions. The next government is the last one that can still actively influence the climate crisis, said Baerbock, arguing that Germany needs to bring forward its deadline for phasing out coal from 2038 to 2030. Laschet defended Merkel's 2015 decision to leave Germany's borders open to hundreds of thousands of people fleeing war and persecution in Syria and elsewhere, but refused to disown a candidate who has polarized members of his own party with anti-immigrant comments. MOSCOW (AP) Russian President Vladimir Putin has observed military exercises being conducted in coordination with Belarus that have raised concerns in bordering countries. Putin on Monday attended exercises at a training ground in the Nizhny Novgorod region, 450 kilometers (275 miles) east of Moscow. The exercises included what the Defense Ministry said was the first use in a combat environment of two new robotic fighting vehicles that are equipped with machine guns and grenade launchers. The Zapad (West)-2021 exercises being conducted at several sites in Russia and Belarus involve about 200,000 soldiers in total, including troops from Armenia, India, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Mongolia. The foreign ministers of Poland, Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia on Monday expressed concerns about the maneuvers, saying Russia has not been transparent about them and noting they come amid heightened Western tensions with Belarus. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov brushed off those concerns, saying that joint military exercises are a regular process. The exercises opened last week on the same day that Putin and Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko met and announced new moves to integrate their countries' economies. And we have seen growing evidence that the dangers to our country can come not only across borders, but from violence that gathers within. There is little cultural overlap between violent extremists abroad and violent extremists at home. But in their disdain for pluralism, in their disregard for human life, in their determination to defile national symbols, they are children of the same foul spirit. And it is our continuing duty to confront them. It was particularly bold of Bush to speak so plainly on Saturdays anniversary, a day of solemn remembrance. His remarks, however, stayed true to the cause of national unity. A malign force seems at work in our common life that turns every disagreement into an argument, and every argument into a clash of cultures. So much of our politics has become a naked appeal to anger, fear, and resentment. That leaves us worried about our nation and our future together, he said. It took courage for Bush to draw the linkage between the domestic extremists goals and those of al-Qaida, particularly regarding their mutual disdain for pluralism and willingness to defile national symbols. In the months after 9/11, the phrase If you see something, say something became the mantra of all who sought to protect America from those seeking to destroy the country. Bush clearly sees something and used this occasion to say something. If only his fellow Republican leaders shared his courage. Hazelwood School District is the second largest district in St. Louis County, serving more than 17,500 students in the districts 20 elementary schools, six middle schools, three high schools, early education programs, and other alternative learning programs. Of those students, more than 700 are multilingual, from 59 countries, speaking 43 languages other than English. The Department of English Learner, Immigrant, and Migrant Education Services serves multilingual students, pre-k through 12, in two high schools, three middle schools, 14 elementary schools, and three early childhood centers. The district has been named one of the most diverse administrations in St. Louis County. The staff is culturally competent and works to create a supportive learning environment for children from all backgrounds. Hazelwood School Districts mission statement, In a culture of high expectations and excellence, our students will become lifelong learners equipped with 21st Century skills for success as global citizens, is a reflection to their dedication to celebrate diversity and promote global education. The same was true for Agrari, the next beach over, where I got a sunbed in an outlying cluster for 15 ($18) by far the cheapest I had seen. A diligent, somewhat forlorn man served inexpensive comfort food. I set off by foot for the opposite end of the beach, climbing a hill spiked with jagged rocks, facing Elia Beach, just to the east. Below the crest, however, was a small, sandy alcove. Although it was not marked on my tourist map, it held over three dozen men, nearly all of them naked, crowded together on beach towels. Many were young and quite well-built; I figured: Im older and lately bald, but Ive kept well-tempered abs surely thats an entry visa to the domain of Poseidon. Since my last visits, havent I learned that to travel well you must reach past your comfort zone? I went down the single, narrow path to the beach, not exactly saying, Pardon me, straight guy coming through, but so obviously giving that impression, I was once again politely ignored by all. To close the circle on my first experience at Super Paradise Beach, so long ago, I joined the other guys for a proper Grecian skinny dip. The water was perfect the right temperature and rolling in a gentle way that made it feel more like an open-air bath than a trip to the beach. Shares is the leading weekly publication for retail investors. It is packed with investment ideas, news and educational material to help build and run portfolios and get more from your money. Shares puts on free Investor Events throughout the year across the country. They provide an opportunity for investors to learn more about companies on the stock market and hear from a range of investment experts including fund managers and Shares journalists. Russia recently ordered four prototypes of a new armored UGV (Unmanned Ground Vehicle) design; the Shturm (storm), which is based on the T-72B3 tank. This is part of a plan to organize heavy UGV companies which would contain up to ten vehicles, most of them UGVs, plus one or more similar vehicles manned by a crew of UGV operators and technicians to repair and maintain the unmanned vehicles. These UGVs would be armed and equipped for urban warfare. Weapons include short barrel 125mm and 152mm low velocity cannon as well as thermobaric (fuel air explosives) rockets and 30mm autocannon. All can be equipped with a dozer blade to remove debris blocking roads, or building rubble in general, to allow troops and manned combat vehicles to advance through a path cleared of obstacles as well as explosives in the form of mines, roadside bombs, explosive traps and explosive debris. Storm UGVs replace manned engineer vehicles and small UGVs now used to deal with explosive obstacles. Even with the engineer vehicles and small UGVs there are casualties among the engineers and the nearby UGV operators. Storm UGVs are an intermediate design that would be replaced with UGVs based on the new Armata chassis that is better protected but a lot more expensive. The T-72B3 is currently the most widely used, popular and affordable Russian tank. The T-90 is similar but more expensive and popular with export customers. More T-90s were exported than the Russian army could afford to buy itself. T-90s are also an improved T-72 with a new name to attract more export customers. T-80s are an earlier effort to design a T-72 replacement but were not better enough to replace what already worked. The Storm UGV is building on what was learned with earlier tank-like UGVs. Russia has not fixed all those problems but at least knows what needs work. The earlier vehicle was the 12-ton Uran-9 UGV. Two were sent to Syria in 2016 for combat testing. Uran-9 looks like a small tank and is equipped with remotely controlled 30mm and 7.62mm machine-guns as well as various guided missiles and unguided thermobaric rockets. The Uran-9s sent to Syria for combat experience did not get much of that because the remote-control system functioned poorly under battlefield conditions. The main problem was that the wireless remote-control system, while encrypted, had insufficient bandwidth (amount of data sent and received in real time) to handle what was required to remotely operate the sensors, the vehicle itself and its weapons. As designed and tested in rather less demanding conditions, the wireless datalink was supposed to operate at up to 2,800 meters. The controllers were in an armored 6x6 truck, safely out of the way as is the heavy truck that transports the Uran-9 to the battlefield. In Syria, the command truck found it had to remain within 400 meters of the Uran 9 to maintain the datalink to any useful degree of bandwidth. Even then the bandwidth was often insufficient because of obstacles or other electronic devices operating nearby. This meant the operators could not get all the real-time data the sensors were capable of providing. The thermal and vidcam sensors were capable of spotting people or vehicles out to 6,000 meters in daylight and half of that at night. But because of the bandwidth problems, the sensors were only effective out to about 2,000 meters in daylight and half that at night. And that was only when the datalink was working at all. One problem should have been caught in testing; the sensors were not stabilized. As a result when the vehicle was moving the sensors and weapons were useless. Worse, when moving the datalink was often lost because of equipment problems or new signal interference. The inability of the remote operator to see while the vehicle was moving often meant the Uran 9 hit obstacles a human operator would avoid. While tracked vehicles can travel over many obstacles, some of those obstacles (tree stumps, large chunks of rubble) put a lot of stress on the track laying system tanks rely on for greater mobility than tires. Tanks often have the driver and commander checking out the terrain ahead as the vehicle advances. A well-trained tank crew will quickly spot obstacles and know when to remind the driver slow down or evade dangerous obstacle. By comparison, the Uran 9 driver not only had less detailed and unreliable vision of the way ahead, but would have blurred vision while moving and have to deal with the unpredictable loss of control or vision. While the Uran 9 was armored against bullets and shell fragments, it was much more vulnerable to crippling damage because it was often driving half (or completely) blind across the cluttered battlefield. The Uran 9 spent a lot of time getting its running gear (tracks, suspension and wheels) repaired because of avoidable collisions. The two machine-guns in the Uran 9 turret were rarely fired because the vehicle had to stop, confirm that it had a good datalink and then scan the terrain ahead for any targets. When the 30mm autocannon fired the vibrations rendered the remotely controlled sensors useless until the firing stopped. That brought out another unpredictable flaw; response delays. The remote operator would transmit a command and it would often not be received and acted on in real time. There were often delays of several seconds or up to a minute. Sometimes the command would seemingly be ignored by the Uran 9. This made use of the other weapons on the Uran 9 impossible. There were four ATGMs (anti-tank guided missiles) mounted outside the turret that could hit targets 6,000 meters away. These Ataks missiles were laser guided and required some operator control. This could not be reliably supplied by remote control to the Uran 9. There were also a dozen unguided rockets and if you could get one of these to fire you didnt have to worry about guiding them. By the time details of Uran 9s battlefield performance got back to army headquarters in Russia, 22 of them had already been purchased and delivered. The manufacturer agreed to fix the flaws, or at least try to. At this point the Russians could understand why the Americans had tried using remotely controlled combat vehicles in a combat zone but never followed through. The Americans also encountered datalink reliability and bandwidth problems. Even operators of UAVs, which fly over the battlefield, encounter unreliable communications. Satellite datalinks are more reliable but they are not possible for smaller UAVs which rely on flight control software that automatically switches to circle or return home when there are communications problems. Russian UGV developers have a lot to learn about all this and now better appreciate why small UGVs used for EOD (Explosive Ordnance Disposal) often rely on a data cable rather than wireless control. Since 2016 Russian firms have developed several armed UGVs but only one of them entered service; the five-ton Uran-6, which was more successful than Uran 9 because it was based on the vast combat experience of numerous similar devices. Uran 6 saw action in Syria as an unarmed UGV for combat engineers dealing with landmines, roadside bombs and, most importantly, ensuring that a route was clear of explosives. To accomplish that Uran-6 was equipped with several accessories like a plow, flail (for setting off landmines) or robotic arms. The large size of the Uran-6 enabled it to survive nearby exploding mines or bombs and keep operating. The Uran-6 is powered by a 240 HP gasoline engine. Uran 6 could be remotely controlled from up to 1,500 meters away, but 800 meters was the most reliable distance. Use in Syria was apparently a validation effort because engineers were seen double checking for mines with more conventional mine detectors after the Uran-6 had declared the route clear. In late 2020 Uran 6 was used in Armenia for EOD work and was reported to be efficient and reliable. The year before the army had received twelve more of the latest Uran-6 models. There have been no export customers yet. Uran-6 has to compete in a mature market for EOD UGVs, a market the United States and Israel have dominated for two decades. Uran-6 is the largest EOD UGV and Russia hoped it would find a market niche in the EOD market after it proved successful in Syria. Armed UGVs are a more difficult sell but Russia is eager to avoid casualties among its own troops in Syria and armed UGVs are seen as a potential solution. Armed UGVs are nothing new and one armed with explosives was used by the Germans during World War II. This was the gasoline-powered Goliath that was not successful. Currently, armed UGVs are most often produced by Israel and South Korea for patrolling long borders that are threatened by armed intruders. American manufacturers can and have armed their UGVs but find it more profitable to let the Israelis, South Koreans, Russians and Chinese have that market. UGVs have become more common since the late 1990s, and are usually unarmed, and useful mainly for recon and surveillance in very dangerous situations. Even though armed UGVs have been developed and remain under remote control by a human operator, many nations resist adopting them, just as they resist armed UAVs (unmanned aerial vehicles). Yet there has never been similar opposition to sea-based unmanned armed weapons or even those that are not even under remote control. An example of this is the naval torpedo, which first appeared in the late 19th century. A century later it became possible to add remote control to high-end torpedo models and these are regularly carried by many submarines. But for nations under constant threat of attack, the attitudes are different. Since 2001 Israel has developed several generations of armed UGVs. One of the more recent of these is Dogo, a smaller (12 kg/26 pounds), more aware (constant 360 degree camera coverage) and more lethal remotely controlled robot. Dogo showed up in 2016 and was designed with lots of input from soldiers and police who have been using UGVs for over a decade. Dogo is armed with a 9mm pistol loaded with 14 rounds and aimed by cameras dedicated to aiming the pistol accurately at ranges of up to 50 meters. Commandos and SWAT teams can carry one or more battery operated Dogos with them on missions that can benefit from a very mobile (it can climb steps) UGV that has night vision, is quiet and can hear as well as broadcast whatever the operator has to say (like hostage negotiation or demanding surrender). Many of these features have been found in earlier UGVs but never one as small or as capable. Since 2006 the Israeli military has been moving its UGVs from guard duty to the battlefield. During that time Israeli infantry and several new generations of UGVs have been working together to see exactly what works and what doesnt. The basic idea here is to have UGVs with good enough sensors to successfully move across a battlefield in front of troops and look out for mines, roadside bombs, ambushes or any signs of the enemy at all. This gives the troops following close behind a better idea of what nasty surprises the enemy has for them and an opportunity to avoid lots of casualties and hit harder than the enemy expected. Dogo can do this as well as have its 9mm weapon replaced with pepper spray, a blinding flash or other non-lethal devices to deal with human threats. Both Israel and the United States have already discovered that armed UGVs are not very successful on their own. But Israel believes that new designs, operating in close cooperation (as an advanced guard while moving into hostile territory) with infantry and manned armored vehicles might work well enough to justify regular use. The new UGVs are similar to the armed four-wheeled vehicles Israel has been successfully using for guard duty along the Gaza and Lebanon borders. The eventual success of these UGVs encouraged trying to use them in combat. Previous use of armed UGVs in active combat zones showed that these systems were vulnerable to attack and interference, which are the main reasons for not using them. Unless the cameras and other sensors (sound, heat and seismic) can pick up hostiles far enough away, the remotely controlled weapon can be destroyed, along with many of the sensors, blinding the operators. By 2009 both the U.S. and Israel had developed smaller armed robots. The American systems are called Swords (Special Weapons Observation Reconnaissance Detection System). This was a 57 kg (125 pound) remotely controlled vehicle that looked like a miniature tank. These were armed with 5.56mm machine-guns and 350 rounds of ammo. Also known as Talon IIIB, the army spent over a year testing them in the United States before sending some to Iraq in 2008. There they found there were many ways to mess with Swords. Many tricks didn't even damage the equipment; like having a child or woman come out and throw a towel or sheet over it. Israel has a similar system called Viper that carries a 9mm machine pistol (an Uzi) and can carry explosives, along with the usual video camera and microphones. Both Swords and Viper do have their uses, like entering very dangerous situations such as caves or buildings believed occupied by fanatical gunmen. The droids can also be used for guard duty in dangerous locations, where the enemy might get a shot off, or toss a grenade. But no matter what you have the battle robots do, the mechanical grunts lack the same degree of situational awareness of a human soldier. This requires much better sensors that have been available so far. The sensors used on droids (mainly visual and acoustic) are getting better, as is the software that can quickly evaluate what the sensors see and hear. But humans can also smell, and feel (on their skin), as well as using superior vision and hearing. Until the sensors get better, the combat robots will always be at a disadvantage. But if used with those disadvantages kept in mind, the robots do have their uses. Dogo is the latest effort to expand that usefulness and more are on the way. Russia, on the other hand, prefers their traditional brute force approach. Thus you have Uran-6 and Uran-9. When used via remote control by nearby operators these can be effective. But only a lot of combat experience will let you know just how effective. So far, not much. EU (European Union) aid for the West Bank Palestinians is again in danger of being cut because the Palestinian government again tried to deceive EU donors that their $150 million donation was going to general welfare, not to reward and encourage Palestinians to carry out terrorist attacks against Israelis. Since 2020 the Palestinians were, on paper at least, no longer using EU aid for their Ministry of Prisoners and the infamous Martyrs Fund. The EU has a policy of not allowing their aid to be used to support terrorism and would not make an exception for the Palestinians trying to kill Israelis. The Palestinians agreed to the EU demands and eliminated Ministry of Prisoners funding from their budget. They failed to change the budget for West Bank (PLO) Institutions, which now showed an increase equal to what the Ministry of Prisoners was receiving. The Palestinians were also unable to hide the fact that they had not reduced the payments they were making to Palestinians for attacking, and especially killing Israelis. The Palestinian media had not let up on its encouragement for Palestinians, especially children, to eventually attack Israelis if they found an opportunity. For over a decade Palestinian governments in the West Bank (Fatah) and Gaza (Hamas) have been undergoing increasing pressure from Israel and now aid donors to eliminate Palestinians payments to imprisoned terrorists and the families of dead terrorists. Up to half of the foreign aid received by the West Bank goes to these payments and Fatah has refused to end the system. In 2020 the covid19 virus spread to the West Bank and Gaza and the Palestinians asked for more foreign aid to deal with it. Donors were reluctant because the Palestinian governments have consistently diverted portions of any foreign aid to maintain the Martyrs Fund which regularly pays imprisoned, wounded or families of dead terrorists. Palestinian leaders sense that the Martyrs Fund is more popular locally than covid19 is feared. Thats because as of late April 2020 only two Palestinians had died of covid19. This was not a miracle but the reality of how covid19 works. Covid19 is similar to the annual appearance of influenza but has a higher fatality rate because it is particularly deadly against those who are already ill and vulnerable to breathing problems. This is especially true of the elderly. For healthy adults and children, nearly 90 percent of them will resist the virus and about ten percent will be infected but show no symptoms. There are some efforts to deal with covid19, but only because many Palestinian leaders are elderly and some are weakened by illness. For most Palestinians, whose welfare is invoked when Fatah or Hams appeal for covid19 aid, not much will be done to test or treat covid19 if aid is received, but the Martyrs Fund will get a share one way or another and that is exactly what happened. The Palestinians even refused free vaccine offered by Israel because Palestinian propaganda accuses Israel of providing tainted medicines to Palestinians. This is not a new attitude but it has become more visible to the outside world as more details about the Martyrs Fund are printed in the non-Arabic media. Particularly damning is how the Martyrs Fund encourages terrorism against Israel. For example, in 2019 Fatah threatened to cause an economic catastrophe by refusing partial payments from Israel and donor nations unless everyone stopped deducting the money Fatah spends on supporting and encouraging terrorist activity. This has become more of an issue since 2018 when Israel passed a law to deduct from the $130 million a month (it collects in taxes and fees for the Palestinians in the West Bank) the amount (over $20 million) Fatah pays out to Palestinian terrorists in prison or to their families for deceased terrorists. The U.S. had already enacted a similar law and was deducting a similar amount from the $300 million it currently gives to the West Bank Palestinians each year. Other foreign donors have taken similar measures. Fatah complains that the U.S., Israel and other donors are being unfair. Yet it is no secret that many Palestinians become terrorists because of the financial rewards, which are considerable for many young residents of the West Bank impoverished by Fatah corruption and incompetence. Palestinians who are jailed, injured or killed (martyred) while trying to kill Israelis receive large payments from Fatah. Families of dead terrorists get an immediate payment of $1,700 from Fatah plus monthly payments for the life of the immediate family. These monthly payments, $400 to over $1,000 depending on the number of wives and children, can make a family relatively affluent and open new opportunities, like saving enough cash to afford a people smuggler who can get one or more family members to the West. There is also a bonus ($86 a month) if you are a legal resident of Israel and a similar monthly bonus if you were a resident of Jerusalem. Fatah is currently paying about $200 million a year to the families of over 26,000 martyrs (dead terrorists) as well as smaller payments to 6,000 badly injured while trying to kill Israelis. Monthly payments to jailed Palestinians vary according to how long they have been in jail, how many dependents they have and so on. There are also bonuses for how many Israelis the prisoner killed or injured. Some of these convicts get over $50,000 a year. Fatah currently spends about $160 million a year to reward over 6,000 jailed terrorists. Fatah considers this payment program a success even though hundreds of Palestinians have died in the latest Fatah-promoted violence, the knife terrorism campaign that began in 2015 and after a year was attracting far fewer potential martyrs. These attacks also left a few Israelis dead and for Fatah that is political gold as far as Arab language media is concerned. But Fatah continues to praise the martyrs and encourage children to seriously consider it as a career choice. Fatah and Hamas together spend over $400 million a year to make murder economically attractive to many young Palestinians. Most of it comes from Fatah although Hamas is trying to make more payments to Palestinians in the West Bank who support Hamas and attack Israelis in the name of Hamas. The Arab language media throughout the Middle East takes for granted that these payments are just and necessary for the war against Israel. In response to the recent American and Israeli efforts to penalize Fatah for what is spent to encourage terror attacks, Fatah made it clear it would not halt payments. Instead, it cut pay to Palestinians who worked for the West Bank government. But by refusing money still being offered, Fatah will cause widespread shortages of food and other necessities in the West Bank. The ensuing Palestinian outrage and resulting damage would be blamed on the efforts to halt the pay for slay terrorism program. Fatah is pleading with Russia and Arab oil states to help them out. Russia is broke and prefers to be on good terms with Israel. The Arab oil states are fed up with the Palestinian preference for self-destructive behavior. The Martyrs Fund is not unique in the Arab world because it is not just terrorist organizations that use it. During the 1980s Iran-Iraq war, the Sunni minority that ruled Iraq had to depend on the Shia majority to fight and die to keep the Saddam Hussein government in power. The wealthy Sunni oil states provided $47 billion in aid to Iraq, plus billions more in loans. It was understood that several billion would be spent on generous death benefits to the families of Iraqi Shia soldiers who died fighting the Iranians and even more on providing adequate medical care to the many more wounded Shia soldiers. This played a role in keeping the Shia soldiers loyal during the war even though before, and after the war, Saddam persecuted the Shia majority. These payments built on the fear all Arabs had of being conquered by the Iranians, who were Indo-European and not Semites. Iran has an Arab Shia minority that they have always treated badly and this was known to the Iraqi Shia. But the large death benefits made a crucial difference. These payments also played a role in the Iraqi decision to invade Kuwait in 1990. The Kuwaitis were pressing Iraq to pay back $10 billion in loans and Saddam declared this disgraceful after so many Iraqis had died keeping the Iranians out of Kuwait and the rest of Arabia. That did not end well and the current Shia dominated Iraq government had to pay over $50 billion to Kuwait for the death and destruction Saddams 1990-91 operations in Kuwait caused. FILE PHOTO: A maze of crude oil pipes and valves is pictured during a tour by the Department of Energy at the Strategic Petroleum Reserve in Freeport, Texas, U.S. June 9, 2016. REUTERS/Richard Carson By Scott DiSavino NEW YORK (Reuters) -Oil prices rose to a six-week high on Monday as U.S. output remains slow to return two weeks after Hurricane Ida slammed into the Gulf Coast and worries another storm could affect output in Texas this week. Those price gains came even though the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) trimmed its world oil demand forecast for the last quarter of 2021 due to the Delta coronavirus variant. Brent futures rose 59 cents, or 0.8%, to settle at $73.51 a barrel, while U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude rose 73 cents, or 1.1%, to settle at $70.45. That was Brent's highest close since July 30 and WTI's highest close since Aug. 3. "Hurricane Idas impact is lasting more than the market expected and as some oil production capacity remains shut this week, prices are rising on supply not being restored and therefore not reaching refineries that have restarted operations quicker than producers," said Nishant Bhushan, oil markets analyst at Rystad Energy. Further disruption from bad weather could be around the corner, with the U.S. National Hurricane Center projecting Tropical Storm Nicholas will scrape along the South Texas coast on Monday and make landfall near Corpus Christi later tonight. Royal Dutch Shell began evacuating staff from a U.S. Gulf of Mexico oil platform and other firms began preparing for hurricane-force winds. Even though OPEC said further oil demand recovery would be delayed until next year when consumption will exceed pre-pandemic rates, analysts noted OPEC and its allies, including Russia, a group known as OPEC+, were still increasing output. "Despite near-term risks to the demand outlook, OPEC+ is continuing to increase its output by 400,000 barrels per day each month, in line with what it agreed in July," said Craig Erlam, senior market analyst, UK & EMEA at OANDA. In addition to the OPEC demand forecast, other bearish factors weighed on Monday's oil price gains, including rising U.S. shale output, potential supply increases from planned releases of oil from strategic reserves in the United States and China, and the possibility Iran could be closer to selling oil to the world again. U.S. oil output from seven major shale formations is expected to rise by about 66,000 bpd in October to 8.1 million bpd, the highest since April 2020, according to the Energy Information Administration's monthly drilling productivity report. Traders noted China's planned release of oil from strategic reserves could boost supplies available in the world's the second biggest oil consumer. The U.S. government agreed to sell crude oil from the nation's emergency reserve to eight companies including Exxon Mobil, Chevron and Valero, under a scheduled auction to raise money for the federal budget. Hopes of fresh talks on a wider nuclear deal between Iran and the West were raised after the United Nations atomic watchdog reached an agreement with Iran on Sunday about the overdue servicing of monitoring equipment to keep it running. (Additional reporting by Bozorgmehr Sharafedin in London and Naveen Thukral and Florence Tan in Singapore; Editing by Marguerita Choy, Mark Potter and Nick Zieminski) WASHINGTON, Sept. 10, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Turtle Island Restoration Network (TIRN) placed a full-page ad in The New York Times today, calling on the presidents of Costa Rica and Ecuador to protect migratory marine species by creating the Cocos-Galapagos Swimway. The ad, endorsed by Dr. Sylvia Earle of Mission Blue and more than 150 organizations around the world, was also published in La Nacion as both countries commit to protecting at least 30% of their marine territories by 2030. Research completed by an international group of marine scientists known as MigraMar indicates endangered marine species including green sea turtles, leatherback sea turtles, and scalloped hammerhead sharks become vulnerable to fishing activities when they migrate between Costa Ricas Cocos Island National Park and Ecuadors Galapagos Marine Reserve. Costa Rica is currently considering increasing protection around Cocos Island. The Cocos-Galapagos Swimway, which was declared a Mission Blue Hope Spot, forms an integral part of that initiative. More than 10,000 scientists and global citizens have called for the Cocos-Galapagos Swimway to be a fully-protected zone. Its important to think like the sharks, the sea turtles and the various forms of life that are not just found in places where weve named and claimed territory, said Dr. Sylvia Earle, founder of Mission Blue. We must consider the creatures that occupy this liquid space that we call the ocean and realize that if we were to take action to protect them, its not good enough that Cocos and Galapagos have an area of a safe haven around them. What about the space in between? That has to be protected too. Thats the underlying rationale. Marine protected areas, such as Cocos Island National Park and Galapagos Marine Reserve, can restore the productivity of oceans, improve the ability to increase resilience to climate change, and provide socioeconomic benefits through non-extractive industries such as tourism. The presidents of Ecuador and Costa Rica have a unique opportunity to create a new paradigm for protecting ocean wildlife, said Mariano Castro of Turtle Island Restoration Network. Creating the Swimway will allow endangered species to migrate safely and connect two nations marine protected areas, something we hope will be a blueprint that is copied across the globe. Organizations among the more than 150 signatories from 20 countries include Center for Biological Diversity, CREMA, Endangered Species Coalition, Equilibrio Azul, Galapagos Conservation Trust, Grupo de los Cien, Humane Society International, Instituto Baleia Jubarte, Island Conservation, Jean-Michel Cousteaus Ocean Futures Society, Marine Conservation Institute, Mas Galapagos, MigraMar, Mision Tiburon, Oceanic Preservation Society, Pew Bertarelli Ocean Legacy Project, Sea Shepherd Conservation Society, Sea Turtle Conservancy, Seacology, Shark Allies, SOS Galapagos, The Leatherback Trust, The SeaChange Agency and Upwell. Turtle Island Restoration Network (TIRN) is a global conservation nonprofit and leading advocate for the worlds oceans and marine wildlife. TIRN has led more than 25 tagging expeditions to Cocos Island since 2009 to help elucidate the migratory pathways of sharks and sea turtles in the Eastern Tropical Pacific. Our work is based on science, fueled by people who care, and effective at catalyzing long-lasting positive change that protects the likes of green sea turtles, whale sharks and coho salmon. By working with people, communities, and our more than 90,000 members, we preserve and restore critical habitats like the redwood-forest creek banks of California to the biodiverse waters of Cocos Island. Led by legendary oceanographer Dr. Sylvia Earle, Mission Blue is uniting a global coalition to inspire an upwelling of public awareness, access and support for a worldwide network of marine protected areas Hope Spots. Under Dr. Earles leadership, the Mission Blue team implements communications campaigns that elevate Hope Spots to the world stage through documentaries, social media, traditional media and innovative tools like Google Earth. Mission Blue embarks on regular oceanic expeditions that shed light on these vital ecosystems and build support for their protection. Mission Blue also supports the work of conservation NGOs around the world that share the mission of building public support for ocean protection. The Mission Blue alliance includes more than 200 respected ocean conservation groups and like-minded organizations. ### Attachments Mariano Castro Turtle Island Restoration Network mcastro@seaturtles.org Source: Turtle Island Restoration Network ABERDEEN, Md., Sept. 13, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Maryland-based 3D capture artist Terry Kilby, president of Kilby Imaging, LLC, announced today his inclusion in the upcoming exhibit Deep Fakes: Art and Its Double, at EPFL Pavilions in Lausanne, Switzerland. Kilby used drones and ground cameras to 3D scan the recently removed Robert E Lee monument multiple times, in ultra fidelity, between June 2020 and August of this year. The monument saw months of protest, leaving it covered in layers of graffiti that evolved with each of Kilby's scans. EPFL developers created an interactive art display that seamlessly merges Terry's 3D models, 360 VR photographs and audio to recreate the specific environment he encountered on each scanning session. Deep Fakes opens to the public on September 17 and runs through February 6 of 2022. While exhibition goers can view the whole experience on large interactive displays at EPFL Pavilions, Mr. Kilby also made the monument available to the public through several methods, including a free AR smartphone experience and upcoming NFT drops on the Foundation marketplace. A portion of the profits from NFT sales will fund drone and 3D scanning STEM education for school kids in Richmond, VA. Based out of Baltimore, Maryland, Global Air Drone Academy has already signed on to provide training. The AR experience was built by another Baltimore company, Baltivirutal, with a long-standing relationship with Kilby. "I wanted to work with companies from my hometown of Baltimore to give back to the people of Richmond. Baltivirtual and Global Air Drone Academy are both leaders in their respective industries, and I'm excited to have them on board," Kilby stated in a recent interview. Mr. Kilby has been a long-time advocate of using 3D scanning as a leading method of documentation for historic sites and current cultural events. "Future generations of students will not be limited simply to books and photographs to learn about history; they will be able to visit the past themselves through 3D captures while having a fully immersive experience with their subject of study. Several colleges and high schools are already using the Lee monument capture to open dialogue about the racial tension that erupted in 2020," Kilby said. "I honestly believe that some of our nation's most cherished historical artifacts of the future will include 3D captures of transitional moments taking place around us right now," he continued. Kilby is in early talks with some top museums to make the Robert E Lee 3D captures available for future generations and hopes to make an official announcement on that later in the year. Throughout his career, Terry Kilby has worked on 3D projects for the U.S. Department of State, NASA, and The Smithsonian Channel, among others. He specializes in aerial photography and drone photogrammetry and is among the nation's first drone pilots using the technology. For more information about Deep Fakes: Art and Its Double, visit https://terrykilby.com/deep-fakes/. Contact Information: Terry Kilby 267.809.9918 terry@terrykilby.com https://terrykilby.com/ Related Images Image 1: Robert E Lee Monument On Display 3D scans of the Robert E Lee monument go on display in a new exhibit at EPFL Pavilions in Lausanne, Switzerland, this week. This content was issued through the press release distribution service at Newswire.com. Attachment Robert E Lee Monument On Display Robert E Lee Monument On Display Source: Kilby Imaging, LLC MIAMI, Sept. 13, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Carnival Corporation & plc (NYSE/LSE: CCL; NYSE: CUK), the world's largest cruise company, today released its 11th annual sustainability report, developed in accordance with the widely recognized Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) standard. The company has incorporated into the report for the first time two additional disclosure frameworks, the Sustainability Accounting Standards Board (SASB) and the Task Force on Climate-Related Financial Disclosures (TCFD). Titled "Sustainable from Ship to Shore," the full report is available on the company's sustainability website at www.CarnivalSustainability.com. Carnival Corporation's sustainability report provides updates on current sustainability initiatives through the end of fiscal year 2020, and relevant 2021 updates. The report also includes an overview of the comprehensive COVID-19 response from the company and its nine cruise line brands. Additionally, following the achievement of its 2020 sustainability goals, the company's latest report establishes sustainability goals for 2030 and aspirations for 2050 in six focus areas, which were initially announced in June 2021 as a preview of the company's strategic direction for sustainability efforts over time. Developed to align with the United Nations' Sustainable Development Goals, the six focus areas that will guide Carnival Corporation's long-term sustainability vision include: climate action; circular economy (waste reduction); sustainable tourism; health and well-being; diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI); and biodiversity and conservation. In each focus area, the company is announcing key goals, targets and aspirations that will guide its actions to further strengthen its environmental, social and governance performance, as outlined in its 2020 sustainability report. "At Carnival Corporation, our highest responsibility and top priority is always compliance, environmental protection, and the health, safety and well-being of our guests, the people in the communities we touch and serve, and our shipboard and shoreside personnel," said Bill Burke, chief maritime officer for Carnival Corporation. "This comprehensive set of 2030 goals and aspirations for 2050 being introduced for the first time reaffirm our ongoing commitment to sustainability and will guide our actions to further strengthen sustainability performance throughout all aspects of our global operations, while supporting opportunities for sustainable growth across our organization over time." The six focus areas guiding Carnival Corporation's sustainability approach are detailed below, including key highlights on current initiatives, short- and long-term commitments and future aspirations. Climate Action Carnival Corporation remains focused on its commitment and efforts to establish a pathway to decarbonization. Following a peak in absolute carbon emissions in 2011 despite a 20% capacity increase between 2011 and today, and an additional 19% capacity increase on order with new ships, the company will continue initiatives to reduce emissions over time and identify a pathway to decarbonization. As part of this commitment, the company is working toward transitioning its energy needs to alternative fuels, investing in new low-carbon or zero-carbon emission technologies and partnering with various organizations and stakeholders to support and accelerate decarbonization efforts. As part of its strategic plan for carbon footprint reduction, the company leads the cruise industry's use of liquefied natural gas (LNG) to power cruise ships with a total of 11 next-generation cruise ships that will have joined the fleet through 2025, which will represent nearly 20% of its total capacity, including four ships already in operation. The company also pioneered the use of Advanced Air Quality Systems on board its ships and over 80% of its fleet has been equipped with such systems. In addition, 40% of its fleet has been equipped with shore-power capabilities, enabling ships to use shoreside electric power where available while in port. Sustainability commitments and aspirations under the climate action focus area include: Achieve a 40% carbon intensity reduction by 2030, relative to its 2008 baseline measured in both grams of CO2e per ALB-km and grams of CO2e per ALBD. The grams of CO2e per ALB-km goal aligns with the International Maritime Organization (IMO) requirements and the industrywide goal set by the Cruise Lines International Association (CLIA). Expand an alternative fuels strategy that includes its LNG program and battery, fuel cell and biofuel capabilities. Deliver a 50% reduction in absolute particulate matter air emissions by 2030, relative to a 2015 baseline, despite more than a 10% capacity increase since 2015 and the additional 19% capacity increase on order. Increase fleetwide shore power connection capability to 60% of the fleet by 2030. Reduce Scope 3 (supply chain) emissions associated with food procurement and waste management. Aspire to achieve 100% fleetwide shore power connection capability by 2050. Aspire to achieve net carbon neutral ship operations by 2050. Circular Economy Carnival Corporation and its brands are focusing on a circular economy model where materials flow around a "closed loop" system, rather than being used once and then discarded, shifting how the company works with supply chain partners to reduce waste. Operations Oceans Alive, the company's environmental stewardship program, has been supporting this focus area by continuing to reduce non-essential single-use items, including plastic cups, lids, cutlery, straws, toothpicks, sweetener packets, butter foils and many others. Additionally, the company is continuing to install food waste biodigesters throughout its fleet to minimize the volume of food waste, in support of food waste reduction and management efforts. As of the end of its fiscal year 2020, food waste biodigesters had been installed on 32% of the company's fleet. Goals and aspirations for 2030 and beyond under the circular economy focus area include: Achieve 50% reduction in single-use plastic items by the end of 2021. Achieve 30% unit food waste reduction by 2022 and 50% unit food waste reduction by 2030. Increase fleetwide coverage of Advanced Waste Water Treatment Systems to more than 75% by 2030. Send a larger percentage of waste to waste-to-energy facilities where practical by 2030, and aspire to send 100% by 2050. Partner with primary vendors to reduce upstream packaging volumes, and aspire to near 100% reuse of packaging materials by 2050. Aspire to build zero-emissions ships by 2050. Sustainable Tourism As a global company, Carnival Corporation recognizes that its success depends on supporting sustainable tourism practices, and the vitality and sustainability of the communities in which it operates. It is the company's collective responsibility to respect the home ports and communities it visits around the world, and to help those communities maintain their culture, history and natural resources. Goals and aspirations under the sustainable tourism focus area include: Establish partnerships with destinations focused on sustainable economic development, preservation of local traditions and capacity management. Continue to support disaster resilience, relief and recovery efforts. Build stronger community relationships in the company's employment bases and destinations through employee volunteering programs. Aspire to be recognized as a leader in global sustainable tourism. Health and Well-Being Providing a safe environment and working conditions for all employees, and all others working on the company's behalf, is at the core of all operations for Carnival Corporation and its brands. As part of this commitment, the company is working to expand its well-being programs to support the physical and mental health of its employees, encouraging social connectivity with family and friends, and promoting a balanced lifestyle while continuing to create more career opportunities. Health and well-being goals and aspirations include: Continue the company's commitment to ongoing job creation. Establish measurable company culture metrics in 2021 and set annual improvement targets. Implement global well-being standards by 2023. Continue to reduce the number of guest and crew work-related injuries. Aspire to be a leader in employee well-being measures. Diversity, Equity and Inclusion As a global employer of team members around the world from over 100 countries, Carnival Corporation is committed to building a diverse and inclusive workforce and providing its employees with a positive work environment and equal opportunities for professional growth. As a testament to that commitment, in 2020 the company received a series of recognitions for its companywide operations and dedication to diversity, equity and inclusion, including honors from Forbes on the publication's annual listings of America's Best Employers for Diversity and America's Best Employers for Women. Carnival Corporation was also recognized on 3BL Media's listing of the 100 Best Corporate Citizens for 2020, in addition to earning a perfect score in the Human Rights Campaign's Corporate Equality Index, designating the company as a Best Place to Work for LGBTQ Equality. Diversity, equity and inclusion goals and aspirations include: Ensure the company's overall shoreside employee base reflects the diversity of the world by 2030. Expand shipboard and shoreside diversity, equity and inclusion across all ranks and departments by 2030. Biodiversity and Conservation Among the focus areas for Carnival Corporation is to further enhance its commitment to biodiversity and conservation practices, as the health and vitality of the marine and land ecosystems in the places the company's ships visit is essential to providing memorable guest experiences. To support conservation efforts, the company is focused on continuing to implement best practices across its operations, investing in programs that support biodiversity and conservation, working with its supply chain and partnering with the communities it visits to help maintain and improve their ecosystems. In addition, the company will be partnering with non-governmental organizations that support these goals as part of the company's long-term aspirations, which include: Support biodiversity and conservation initiatives through select NGO partnerships. Regularly conduct audits and monitor animal encounter excursions. Aspire to have deep NGO partnerships embedded in the business and supporting strategy execution. Aspire to supply 100% of seafood needs through sustainable fishery programs. These efforts, along with a series of others underway, support and strengthen Carnival Corporation's long-term commitment to sustainability, responsible operations and protecting the environment. The company's full sustainability report, including a detailed summary of its goals and aspirations, recent sustainability highlights and its comprehensive response to the COVID-19 global pandemic, is available at www.CarnivalSustainability.com. About Carnival Corporation & plc Carnival Corporation & plc is one of the world's largest leisure travel companies with a portfolio of nine of the world's leading cruise lines sailing to all seven continents. With operations in North America, Australia, Europe and Asia, its portfolio features Carnival Cruise Line, Princess Cruises, Holland America Line, Seabourn, P&O Cruises (Australia), Costa Cruises, AIDA Cruises, P&O Cruises (UK) and Cunard. Additional information can be found on www.carnivalcorp.com, www.carnival.com, www.princess.com, www.hollandamerica.com, www.seabourn.com, www.pocruises.com.au, www.costacruise.com, www.aida.de, www.pocruises.com and www.cunard.com. View original content:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/carnival-corporation-releases-annual-sustainability-report-301375276.html SOURCE Carnival Corporation & plc SHANGHAI, Sept. 13, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Global smartphone company, Infinix, held its long awaited Infinix Presents: See Beyond online webinar event at the Royal Observatory Greenwich in London as part of the company's strategic commercial partnership and commitment towards the world of exploration and discovery. At the event, Infinix unveiled its brand new ZERO X Pro smartphone that sets the stage for a whole new era of mobile phone technology. Inspired by the moon and space exploration, the event brought together an incredible panel of experts hailing from both the astronomy and technology fields, to discuss all things celestial related from the universe to the Moon. Experts who spoke on the panel included: Dr. Emily Drabak-Maunder, expert astronomer from the Observatory The Tech Chap (Tom Honeyands), well-known technology key opinion leader (KOL) Skye Chen, Head of Public Relations at Infinix Infinix Presents: See Beyond paid homage to the world of space exploration and discovery, as Infinix, and expert panelists came together to achieve a world that empowers the younger generation, to look beyond the camera lens, and realize their ambitions. Attendees of the event had the opportunity to gain expert advice, first-hand, from technology experts on how to get into a creative mindset and learn how the ZERO X Pro smartphones enable users to capture impeccable images of the starry moonlit sky. Dr. Emily also shared her knowledge on astronomy and the moon, how that captures people and their imaginations, and what that might mean for universe exploration now, and in the future. "Infinix has a deep connection with space exploration and taking smartphone camera technology to new heights," said Skye Chen. "We are excited to bring the world of astronomy and the ability to capture it with Infinix's cutting-edge technology into the hands of the next generation so they can see beyond to a world they've only ever imagined. The Royal Observatory Greenwich felt like a natural fit for our support as I know their focus is to also inspire a new generation." Further commenting on the partnership, Dr. Emily Drabak-Maunder said, "Our mission here at Greenwich is to bring the world of astronomy closer to the general public and we are very grateful to Infinix for their generous support and commitment to increasing access to astronomy. The collaboration is a natural fit for both our organizations and delighted that together, we can give more people the opportunity to explore and experience the Moon and universe see past the limitations and explore a world we have only dream about." Revealing the ZERO X Pro The Infinix Presents: See Beyond event was also the launch location of Infinix's brand new smartphone, ZERO X Pro, part of the new ZERO X Series, which bridge the gap between smartphone cameras and professional imaging. The ZERO X Pro includes breakthrough visual technologies such as 60X periscope moonshot camera and Infinix's Galileo Algorithm Engine, a top-notch software feature allowing a high-resolution looking shot of the Moon. Users can capture a crisp image of the moon using Infinix's "Super Moon Mode" combined with the 108MP OIS main camera. Designed with the galaxy in mind, the Nebula Black colorway is a salute to exploration of space and emulates the endless depth of the Milky Way galaxy. During the event, The Tech Chap demonstrated the power of the smartphones' "Super Moon Mode" by showcasing his experience using the ZERO X Pro's high-performance camera technology. The audience were treated with a juxtaposition of a portrait of the moon that was shot through a telescope, and another using the ZERO X Pro smartphone. "Technology is all about innovation and pushing boundaries, both in terms of new features and also accessibility with how affordable it is," said The Tech Chap. "The flagship ZERO X Pro offers a great all-round experience and its impressive camera setup literally, and figuratively, shoots for the moon!" Creating a world "beyond the horizon" With the See Beyond event and corporate partnership with the Royal Observatory Greenwich, Infinix continues its mission towards creating a world that allows for the next generation to explore the universe and discover the endless possibilities that are ahead of them. The cutting-edge technology integrated into Infinix's ZERO X Pro is just the beginning of what the brand aims to achieve in its journey towards closing the gap between smartphone technology and stunning photography. Through this device, Infinix seeks to empower today's youth to pick up their smartphone and create something visually incredible. The ZERO X Pro will be available in three colors: Nebula Black, Starry Silver and Tuscany Brown. Prices will vary from region to region. For more details visit: https://www.infinixmobility.com/smartphone/zero-x-pro About Infinix: Infinix Mobile is an emerging smartphone brand that designs, manufactures and markets an expanding portfolio of mobile devices worldwide under the Infinix brand which was founded in 2013. Targeting Generation Z, Infinix focuses on developing cutting-edge technology embodied in meticulously designed mobile devices that offer refined style, power and performance. Infinix devices are trendy, energetic, attainable & progressive with the end-user at the forefront of every step forward. With "THE FUTURE IS NOW" as its brand essence, Infinix aims to empower today's youth to stand out from the crowd and show the world who they are & what they stand for. The company's portfolio of products is sold in more than 40 countries around the world, covering Africa, Latin America, the Middle East, Southeast Asia, and South Asia. Expanding at a phenomenal rate, Infinix grew an unprecedented 160% during 2018-2020 and has huge plans to continue creating premium designed flagship-level devices offering striking designs and strong value propositions. For more information, please visit: http://www.infinixmobility.com/ About: Royal Observatory Greenwich The Royal Observatory Greenwich is home of Greenwich Mean Time and the Prime Meridian and one of the most important historic scientific sites in the world. Since its founding in 1675, Greenwich has been at the centre of the measurement of time and space, and visitors today can still stand on the historic Prime Meridian line. The Observatory galleries and Peter Harrison Planetarium help unravel the extraordinary phenomena of time, space and astronomy. In 2018 the Royal Observatory acquired the Annie Maunder Astrographic Telescope (AMAT), the first new telescope to be installed in Greenwich in over 60 years, marking a new era for the world-famous site and restoring its status as a working Observatory. The Royal Observatory Greenwich is part of Royal Museums Greenwich which also incorporates the National Maritime Museum, the Queen's House and Cutty Sark. This unique collection of museums and heritage buildings, which form a key part of the Maritime Greenwich UNESCO World Heritage Site, welcomes over two and a half million British and international visitors a year and is also a major centre of education and research. The mission of Royal Museums Greenwich is to enrich people's understanding of the sea, the exploration of space, and Britain's role in world history. View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/going-from-zero-to-hero-infinix-kicks-off-exciting-new-corporate-partnership-with-royal-observatory-greenwich-301375452.html SOURCE Infinix Mobility NEW YORK, Sept. 13, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- FlyCoin, the new blockchain-based travel rewards program, is pleased to announce the appointment of Lenny Moon as chief executive officer. Moon will guide the company's market launch, further its strategic vision, and execute its operational business plan. FlyCoin, the foundation of a new rewards program- already available to Ravn Alaska customers, will also launch on Northern Pacific Airways: a low-cost, long-haul carrier, uniting U.S. and Eastern Asia ports via Anchorage, Alaska. Under Moon's leadership, FlyCoin will redefine travel rewards systems by providing revolutionary access to the benefits of the cryptocurrency blockchain network to travelers. Additionally, Moon will assume the position of CFO of FLOAT Alaska LLC, the parent company of FlyCoin, Northern Pacific Airways, Ravn Alaska, and other owned subsidiaries. "Moon brings over two decades of experience in start-ups, venture capital, investment banking, and fintech," Tom Hsieh, president of FLOAT Alaska LLC. "He is an astute professional with strategic vision, financial clarity, and extraordinary operational acumen. With such extensive experience and expertise, Moon will accelerate the status quo of travel rewards programs." "Consumers deserve a better rewards point system, and the time is now," explained FlyCoin founder and chairperson, Josh Jones. "Our mission is to empower travelers with a crypto-backed rewards system. Its open protocol and finite supply of tokens takes power from the airlines and puts it right into users' wallets. Moon is the perfect person to accelerate our progress in this endeavor. "The traditional world of travel rewards programs is ripe for change. FlyCoin will provide consumers with a rewards program where the benefits are open and less confined," explains Moon. "A cryptocurrency is the medium to reward our loyal customers for traveler participation, but not force their loyalty by constraining how they choose to redeem those rewards. I am excited to lead FlyCoin as we help provide a more customer-centric approach to travel rewards programs. With this organization, and Josh Jones' experienced understanding and proven success with cryptocurrency, FlyCoin seeks to empower our customers to become decision-makers." To learn more about FlyCoin, please visit flycoin.org About FlyCoin FlyCoin is a blockchain-based travel rewards program. Typical travel rewards programs often disappoint their customers with convoluted rules and "alliance-first" philosophies. FlyCoin turns passengers into stakeholders and will be the first travel rewards program to successfully unleash the benefits of crypto's democratic, decentralized foundation. Designed to be transparent and universally compatible, FlyCoin will launch with numerous partners in 2022. About Northern Pacific Airways Northern Pacific Airways (NPA) will provide low-cost flights between points in the U.S. to points in East Asia by connecting through Ted Stevens International Airport in Anchorage, Alaska. About FLOAT Alaska LLC FLOAT Alaska LLC, headed by Rob McKinney CEO, is the parent company of Ravn Alaska, Northern Pacific Airways, FlyCoin, and other Alaska-based ventures. View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/lenny-moon-chief-executive-officer-of-flycoin-a-new-cryptocurrency-travel-rewards-program-301375140.html SOURCE FlyCoin People outside Holloman Air Force Base on Monday, Sept. 13, 2021, protest military vaccine mandates. (Alamogordo Daily News/TNS) HOLLOMAN AIR FORCE BASE, N.M. (Tribune News Service) Marchers gathered early Monday at the Holloman Air Force Base Visitors Center to protest the U.S. Department of Defense mandatory COVID-19 vaccination order for all U.S. military service members. The protest was organized by New Mexico Freedoms Alliance, with a second scheduled for later in the day. On Aug. 24, U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin, III issued a memo stating that all military departments must begin to fully vaccinate all military members. To defend this Nation, we need a healthy and ready force, Lloyd said in the memo. After careful consultation with medical experts and military leadership, and with the support of the President, I have determined that mandatory vaccination against coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is necessary to protect the Force and defend the American people. The COVID-19 vaccination service implementation plan requires all U.S. Air Force active duty personnel to be fully vaccinated, unless seeking an exemption by Nov. 2 and all U.S. Air National Guard and Air Force Reserve personnel to be fully vaccinated by Dec. 2, unless seeking an exemption. The COVID-19 vaccine has been proven to be safe and effective in preventing hospitalizations and deaths and will now be part of the list of vaccinations the military are already required to receive as part of their individual medical readiness requirements, Holloman Air Force Base spokeswoman Denise Ottaviano said via email Sept. 10. Ottaviano said Holloman was aware of objection to the mandatory COVID-19 vaccination plan. We are aware... there is a planned protest near Holloman Air Force Base, Ottaviano said. Our Security Forces personnel identified a safe protest location in the event of a protest and military members interested in participating were advised to contact their squadron leadership to ensure compliance with attendance and participation guidelines. According to the Military Health System, those assigned to U.S. Northern Command, which covers all of North America, service members are required to get vaccinated for chickenpox, Hepatitis A, flu (seasonal), MMR (measles, mumps, rubella), polio and TDaP (tetanus, diphtheria and pertussis). On Aug. 23, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, or FDA, approved the Pfizer-BioNTeck vaccine for people aged 16 years and older. While this and other vaccines have met the FDAs rigorous, scientific standards for emergency use authorization, as the first FDA-approved COVID-19 vaccine, the public can be very confident that this vaccine meets the high standards for safety, effectiveness, and manufacturing quality the FDA requires of an approved product, Acting FDA Commissioner Janet Woodcock, M.D. said in an FDA press release. nmaxwell@alamogordonews.com 2021 www.alamogordonews.com. Visit alamogordonews.com. Col. Scott Pence, Fort Braggs garrison commander, spent the week communicating with residents about how the process to rename the countrys most populated military installation came about and whats next. (Logan Mock-Bunting/Getty Images) FORT BRAGG, N.C. (Tribune News Service) Community members with ideas on who or what theyd like to see Fort Bragg named after can start submitting ideas. Col. Scott Pence, Fort Braggs garrison commander, spent the week communicating with residents about how the process to rename the countrys most populated military installation came about and whats next. Pence started the week speaking to Col. Joe Buccino, the 18th Airborne Corps historian and spokesman, on a podcast about the matter. In Mondays edition of the 18th Airborne Corps podcast, Pence said the decision to rename Fort Bragg is a congressional mandate to rename all Army installations that are named after Confederate leaders. Fort Bragg was established as Camp Bragg in 1918 and named after Gen. Braxton Bragg, a North Carolina native who served during the Mexican-American War and also was a slave owner who fought for the Confederacy during the Civil War, Buccino said. Former President Donald Trump vetoed the National Defense Authorization Act, which was overridden by Congress in January to require the changes no later than 2023 for nine installations. The urgency of receiving community input, Pence said, is because the House Armed Service Committee and Senate Armed Service Committee are asking for an updated report by October along with possible ideas on what to rename the post. The important thing that we have to do now is to make sure that any names that are discussed at that level of Congress are ones that are acceptable to the community, Pence said. We dont want to be forced with something that comes out of our community and out of our sphere of influence. In an Aug. 27 letter to the editor, Rep. Richard Hudson, whose congressional district includes Fort Bragg, said that if the community doesnt engage in the renaming process, the renaming commission will decide on the new name for Fort Bragg. The national eight-member renaming commission includes military retirees and others appointed by the secretary of defense and congressional armed services committees. When Congress considered the renaming in June 2020, Hudson said any decision about renaming the post should be made by the Fort Bragg community. Whether you agree or disagree, Braxton Braggs name will be removed, Hudson said. Hudson said he recognizes that the name Fort Bragg transcends Braxton Bragg and that others associate the name as being home to the airborne and Special Forces who have fought, bled and died to free the oppressed and spread peace and liberty throughout the globe. He suggested consideration of renaming the local post after Edward S. Bragg, a Union cousin of Braxton Bragg. Hudson said theres been a similar precedent of changing King County, Washington, from being associated with slave owner William King to having the name honor Martin Luther King Jr. Though Hudson said he thinks Edward S. Braggs name should be considered, he said the local elected leaders of Cumberland County, the surrounding counties, Greater Fayetteville Chamber and local veteran organizations should be heard. Fort Bragg is going to be renamed whether we like it or not, he said. If our community doesnt come together with a consensus name, one will be chosen for us. During Mondays podcast, Buccino said Fort Bragg doesnt necessarily have to be renamed after an individual but rather could be named after a virtue or idea such as Fort Liberty or Fort Valor. Speaking to media Tuesday, Pence said Fort Bragg representatives have already started taking inventory of signs, roads and buildings that bear Confederate names. The list is eight pages long. He said renaming roads will be at the discretion of Fort Bragg leaders, such as renaming Armistead to 18th Street, because of its proximity to the 18th Airborne Corps headquarters. The actual installation renaming is something he said is important for community members to provide input on. When we talk community, were talking with people who have a direct emotive connection with this installation that deserve to have their voices heard, Pence said. Pence said the five letters the installation currently bears transcends beyond the person it is named after, and that changing the name wont take away from the actions of the soldiers and leaders who have served or are currently serving here. After reports are made to the congressional committees by next month, retired Gen. Dan McNeill, a former 18th Airborne Corps and Fort Bragg commander who still lives in the area, will remain a liaison with the local community and national committee that is updating Congress on the renaming process, Pence said. Residents who would like to suggest a possible name for consideration can provide feedback on the Fort Bragg garrison commanders Facebook page, thenamingcommission.gov or through Fort Braggs website. Fayetteville Mayor Pro Tem Kathy Jansen will also host a virtual town hall meeting on the topic at 11 a.m. Tuesday, where residents can ask questions and provide comments. We dont want to be caught flat-footed, Pence said. Every minute we spend now trying to get to know what names are acceptable is time well-spent, whether it happens next month or next year, Pence said. rriley@fayobserver.com (c)2021 The Fayetteville Observer (Fayetteville, N.C.) Visit The Fayetteville Observer (Fayetteville, N.C.) at www.fayobserver.com Melanie Carrigg, 9, seen with her mother Austin Carrigg, is enrolled in the Armys Exceptional Family Member Program, which aims to keep her father, Master Sgt. Joshua Carrigg, assigned only to bases that can meet her special medical and educational needs. After a bad assignment to California, Sgt. Maj. of the Army Michael Grinston stepped in to help the family earlier this year, as he has with others. Last month, Grinston met with assignment managers to learn how to improve assignments for all families in the program. (Photo provided by Austin Carrigg) The Carrigg family felt trapped in an impossible situation. Master Sgt. Joshua Carrigg and his wife Austin were preparing in February to bring home their daughter Melanie after she had a stroke that led to three months in hospitals. During her hospital stay, Melanie, now 9 years old, was flown from the familys duty station in Los Angeles to doctors in Boston with experience treating Down syndrome and moyamoya, a rare blood vessel disease. Melanie is enrolled in the Armys Exceptional Family Member Program, or EFMP, which aims to keep soldiers assigned only to locations that can meet the special needs of their family members. The Fort Irwin, Calif., EFMP office had initially denied the familys move to Los Angeles, but the Army moved them there anyway, Austin Carrigg said. As Melanies health worsened, so did her parents anxiety. The couple had asked the Army to expedite a request to move them closer to Boston, but the officials were fighting the request on technicalities. We were living in a moment where we didnt know what life was going to look like, Austin Carrigg said. If we went home to L.A., we didnt know how we were going to keep her safe. The Carriggs worked through their chain of command and the congressional inquiry process, finally catching the attention of Sgt. Maj. of the Army Michael Grinston, who intervened on their behalf. He helped push through the reassignment, which landed the family in Washington, D.C., in April a much more manageable distance to Boston. The Carrigg familys circumstances were unique, but Grinston said he knows the failure of the EFMP to land them at a duty station able to support their family was not. Many families have told him they are frustrated with the EFMP and base assignments. As Grinston has traveled across the country, Army spouses have shared story after story about failures of the program, which includes family members who have a special medical or educational need. Some of the problems included families are not always told a base cannot support their needs until they arrive there and learn the truth or families request care promised at a new base and are denied. In other cases, families are told the care doesnt exist, but when they discover it does, they cant get approval to move there. Some families have also said, in some cases, when they get to a base that has the appropriate resources, the waitlist is so long that they cant get access to care. Grinston said he now wants to fix those problems. Melanie Carrigg, 9, seen with her mother Austin Carrigg, is enrolled in the Armys Exceptional Family Member Program, which aims to keep her father, Master Sgt. Joshua Carrigg, assigned only to bases that can meet her special medical and educational needs. After a bad assignment to California, Sgt. Maj. of the Army Michael Grinston stepped in to help the family earlier this year, as he has with others. Last month, Grinston met with assignment managers to learn how to improve assignments for all families in the program. (Photo provided by Austin Carrigg) Cases can be complex Grinston said he will use the family feedback about the various programs that factor into the assignment process for the EFMP families to determine how to make it work better. That means coordinating with Army Human Resources Command, Medical Command, Installation Management Command, the deputy chief of staff for installation, known as G-9, and the EFMP coordinators and managers working at Army bases. By connecting all these pieces, he aims to find the problems in the system and create a smoother, effective process. Weve got to get this right. It can just be so hard on the families, because some of these cases can be complex, Grinston said last month after a meeting with assignment managers at Fort Knox, Ky. When you move, as an exceptional family member in that program, it becomes phenomenally hard and I think the more we can do to make that less stressful, the better our families will be. When a soldier is up for a new job, Human Resources Command creates a six-week window for them to review the jobs open in their career field at that time. They can rank their choices, then the command slots soldiers into jobs that progress their career and meet the needs of the Army. For the 10% of soldiers enrolled in the EFMP, theres an extra step. The EFMP takes the soldiers ranked choices and removes any base found that does not meet the special needs of their family member. The system is simple until multiplied by the roughly 480,000 active-duty soldiers. Just within the ranks of E-6 to E-8, up to 15,000 soldiers could be seeking new jobs using the six-week assignment window, according to Human Resources Command. In total, thats about 50,000 moves a year within three enlisted ranks. Grinston has stepped in on multiple occasions to help a family stuck in a bad assignment, and he recognized it would be better for them if the Army could adjust its systems to get more cases right from the start. Then it would free up resources to help only the most complex situations that rise up to his level on a case-by-case basis. Were never going to get it 100% correct. If we get it wrong, we need to engage, he said. Austin Carrigg is the CEO of the recently launched nonprofit, Exceptional Families of the Military, which advocates for legislation and provides support to military families who are part of the EFMP. In a survey conducted last year, 10% of the 194 respondents said their family was not able to receive all their required care at their duty station. I applaud the Sergeant Major of the Army for taking the first step in trying to assess the situation, but I also realize his hands are tied unless EFMP undergoes a massive transformation, she said. For me, progress will be when a family can ask an EFMP manager where care was found and that manager hands over a list. They are already checking availability, why not share with the family where the care was found? Sgt. Major of the Army Michael Grinston listened to questions and concerns from assignment managers, regarding soldier and family programs, during a town hall Aug. 18, 2021, at U.S. Army Human Resources Command. Grinston was soliciting feedback on the Exceptional Family Member Program, as well as Married Army Couples Program and issues affecting single parents. He also solicited their ideas on how to make improvements to the assignment process for soldiers in those programs. (Fonda Bock/U.S. Army Human Resources Command) Sgt. Major of the Army Michael Grinston listened to questions and concerns from assignment managers, regarding soldier and family programs, during a town hall Aug. 18 at U.S. Army Human Resources Command. Grinston was soliciting feedback on the Exceptional Family Member Program, as well as Married Army Couples Program and issues affecting single parents. He also solicited their ideas on how to make improvements to the assignment process for soldiers in those programs. (Fonda Bock/U.S. Army Human Resources Command) The view from the other side Speaking to assignment managers, Grinston heard they are often fighting time constraints, out-of-date information and highly unique situations that cant be resolved with one-size-fits-all policies. One soldier told Grinston that his own family members EFMP profile took six months to update, even though the condition was managed through primary care, not a specialist. Some of the solutions could involve adding the EFMP updates to other soldier processing systems to catch information before it expires, improving communication between medical providers and the EFMP coordinators so that updating information can happen faster, and using artificial intelligence and computer programs to offer real-time data on the resources available at each base. Right now, the EFMP doesnt vet bases until after a soldier provides their ranked choices to Human Resources Command. This means that its up to the soldier to do research on their own in hopes of stacking their top choices with bases that will pass the EFMP criteria. Grinston said the Army is testing an update to the online human resources portal used by soldiers during the assignment process that would provide an answer immediately about whether a base and a special needs family member are a good match. This would prevent the assignment window from closing before a soldier can fully vet their options, or from losing an opportunity to another soldier while they wait for EFMP approval. When the Army does find a location where a family has all their needs met, Grinston said he wants to make it easier to be able to stay there through a process known as EFMP stabilization. Right now, the process requires the soldier complete a significant packet of paperwork, much of which is already on file. Grinston envisions the request becoming just the click of a button. However, the process only stabilizes the family, not the soldier. In the survey from Exceptional Families of the Military, about 12% of respondents said they were separated from their service member, citing reasons that included a restricted tour overseas, keeping children in specific schools or treatments, and choosing to stay behind because the assignment was short term. Regardless of whatever changes are ultimately made to the system, Grinston said it still requires strong leadership to keep it running smoothly. This isnt about a program, this is about knowing your people, he said. The undertone of that is just trust. That they trust that when they're going through something difficult that they'll tell you and they trust that they'll tell you because you're willing to actually help. Austin Carrigg said support of leadership helped get her family through their struggles at the beginning of the year, and they feel they now have a safe place to bring Melanie home. She has relearned some of the skills she lost in her stroke, such as walking, running and standing on her tiptoes. Despite the progress, every time the mother sees something her daughter struggling with a skill that she lost, she wonders if the stroke could have been prevented had they never moved to Los Angeles. I think thats the hardest thing that we live with, Austin Carrigg said. We're trying to piecemeal her old life back together for her and she doesn't understand why it's different. Coast Guard members rescue three people after their vessel began taking on water three miles east of Long Branch, Sept. 12, 2021. No injuries or medical concerns were reported. (Screenshot from U.S. Coast Guard video) LONG BRANCH, N.J. Coast Guard authorities say they rescued three people after a vessel began taking on water off the coast of New Jersey over the weekend. Officials said Monmouth County 911 dispatchers called shortly after 9 a.m. Sunday to report the emergency three miles east of Long Branch. Officials said a 47-foot motor lifeboat from the Manasquan Inlet station was sent to the scene. In addition, an MH-65 Dolphin helicopter from the Atlantic City station was diverted from training and headed there. Coast Guard officials said a rescue swimmer was lowered from the helicopter and helped all three people aboard the motor lifeboat. They were taken to Shark River Marina. Officials said all three had life jackets and no injuries or medical concerns were reported. Petty Officer Stephen Lehmann told the Asbury Park Press that the 25-foot vessel, which was last seen drifting, will be salvaged by its owner. President Joe Bidens unceremonious conclusion of Americas longest war before the 20th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks has once again ensured that all eyes are on Kabul, where the Taliban once thought to be a violent footnote to history have returned to power in Afghanistan with a swagger that could only come with having vanquished the worlds dominant global power. That the Talibans newly formed interim government will include militants and hardliners some of whom have been sanctioned by U.S. authorities is likely to disappoint but not surprise senior American officials. But is all hope lost? And what can be done to protect vital U.S. security interests in South Asia? The Talibans recent declaration that the Peoples Republic of China is their closest ally and principal partner in the international community is the latest wakeup call for U.S. policymakers. The country was among the few not to evacuate staff from their embassy in Kabul in the days following the Talibans takeover. More troubling is Moscows willingness to play second fiddle to Beijing. Indeed, the further consolidation of a Taliban-China-Russia alliance would undermine U.S. influence in a region of vital geo-strategic importance and strengthen the hands of U.S. adversaries in the new Cold War. The trinity would also serve as a diplomatic nuisance for decades to come. An Afghanistan dominated by China and Russia would be equally bad news for the liberal interests the international community purports to uphold. Who after all would expect Beijing or Moscow to defend womens or childrens rights, religious liberty, or the lives of Hazara, Shiite, or other minorities? Neither is China or Russias involvement in Afghanistan likely to mitigate the presence of terrorist groups in the country particularly those intent on directing their violence at western interests, whether in the region or around the world. This much is certain: Beijing and Moscow will exploit their economic and political gains in Afghanistan by not interfering in terrorism so long as it does not hinder their own geostrategic and economic interests. They will never question the Talibans ideology or methods; neither will they advocate for human rights. The Biden administration which has championed human rights and returned it to the forefront of U.S. foreign policy can live up to its own rhetoric by joining with liberal democracies and key allies to advance principled diplomacy that, in the words of Secretary of State Antony Blinken, truly positions the U.S. as a nation committed to a world in which human rights are protected, their defenders are celebrated, and those who commit human rights abuses are held accountable. But reliable interlocutors and key intermediaries are critical to U.S. success. And this is particularly so in South Asia. Blinkens trip to Qatar is a clear indication of how the Biden administration intends to play chess in Afghanistan a nation aptly known as the graveyard of empires. The U.S. is relying on Qatar as a crucial ally in the next chapter of the Great Game in South Asia a descriptor that entered the English lexicon by virtue of Rudyard Kipling's immortalization of the contest for influence between Russia and Britain in South and Central Asia in the 19th and early 20th centuries. Unlike Pakistan, which prefers to back the militant arm of the Taliban and other extremist groups, Qatar is the only regional player that has proven itself a reliable interlocutor, credible intermediary, and dependable partner of the West. That it is home to two NATO bases is a bonus. In recent weeks, Qatar has played an indispensable role in the facilitation of evacuation operations carried out by multiple NATO countries in Afghanistan. Not only did the country take thousands of refugees to the airport, they airlifted and hosted thousands more at their own expense. To be clear, Blinkens trip is not a mere thank you tour intended to shore up bilateral relations with Doha, nor were his remarks on U.S. objectives in Afghanistan in advance of his trip remotely ambiguous: [T]here is an expectation that any government that emerges now will have some real inclusivity and that it will have non-Talibs in it who are representative of different communities and different interests in Afghanistan. ... But I have to tell you that as important as what the government looks like is, more important still is what any government does. And thats what were thats what were really looking at the expectation is to see inclusivity in government, but ultimately the expectation is to see a government that makes good on commitments that the Taliban have made, particularly when it comes to freedom of travel; when it comes to not allowing Afghanistan to be used as a launching ground for terrorism directed at us or any of our allies and partners; when it comes to upholding the basic rights of the Afghan people, including women and minorities; when it comes to not engaging in reprisals. Qatar is clearly integral to advancing U.S. objectives in Afghanistan. They hosted the deputy leader of the Talibans newly announced caretaker government and likely next president of Afghanistan, Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, for three years in Doha. They also midwifed the deal with the Trump White House that resulted in the American withdrawal of U.S. forces under Biden. Not surprisingly, the U.S. has relocated its Kabul Embassy to Doha, from where the United States will conduct its front-line diplomacy with Afghanistan. On Blinkens agenda for discussions with Qatars emir and foreign minister are joint efforts to shape the future of Afghanistan. What American officials in Washington must now uniformly acknowledge irrespective of political party or predilection is that U.S. efforts to stave off the predation of China and Russia and forge a brighter future for the people of Afghanistan depend on a U.S. willingness to leverage its relationship with Qatar, a nation with valuable diplomatic clout and economic power. The alternative is to cede ground to the geopolitical influence and rapacious inclinations of U.S. foes in Beijing and Moscow. Ivan Sascha Sheehan is the executive director of the School of Public and International Affairs at the University of Baltimore. Opinions expressed are his own. Samuel Phillip Bickett walks his dog, Mui Mui, on Aug. 17, 2021, in Hong Kong. The corporate lawyer was convicted and jailed for assaulting an officer. (Anthony Kwan/for The Washington Post by) HONG KONG Soon after his transfer to the maximum-security Stanley Prison in July, guards approached Samuel Bickett with a stack of letters written by people he had never met. Some were neat, others in cursive or messy scribbles. But themes of hope, support and solidarity were repeated, page after page. Thanks for standing with us, one woman wrote on stationery featuring an otter in a flower crown. The only thing we can do is to write letters [to] give some spiritual support to our siblings. Bickett, 37, arrived in Hong Kong nine years ago as a corporate lawyer handling cases for American companies in Asia. But his fate has come to embody fears about a diminished rule of law in the Chinese territory and the unchecked power of the police force, after he was convicted and jailed for assaulting an officer who identified himself as such only after arresting Bickett. He is on bail and appealing the verdict. What I realized reading these letters is that to people, [my case] doesnt just represent the destruction of the rule of law, it represents a destruction of values, Bickett said in an interview. I feel this immense burden not just to get justice on appeal for me but ...for all these Hong Kongers who supported me. As China remakes Hong Kong in its authoritarian image after anti-government protests in 2019, the Americans experience offers a glimpse into a prison system filling with political detainees. His case is among those testing the degree to which the former British colony which China promised autonomy, including independent courts, until 2047 retains judicial independence, a reason many Western corporations base operations here. No police officer has been arrested, charged or punished for any act related to the 2019 unrest, when police faced criticism for a heavy-handed crackdown on sometimes-violent protests. Eric Lai, a Hong Kong law fellow at Georgetown Universitys Center for Asian Law, said the courts have tended to treat police not as individuals or as police, but as a symbol of law and order. We can see the overall jurisprudence, regarding law enforcement, is weighted more towards the police, he said. Overall, the police are not punished for abusing their powers. A spokesman for Hong Kongs Justice Department referred The Washington Post to an earlier statement in which the department took exception to the serious accusation made against our legal system arbitrarily and without basis. In a previous letter to The Post, the police force said it refutes the baseless accusation that the Hong Kong Police Force is emboldened by impunity and said the off-duty officer had been upholding the law. Bickett was going to meet a friend in December 2019 when he saw a man hitting a teenager with an extendible baton. An altercation ensued between the man, identified later as Yu Shu-sang, and bystanders. Yu lunged at Bickett and fell over a railing, before Bickett subdued him and tried to wrestle the baton away. Samuel Bickett reads the letters he received during his detaining time in jail on Aug. 16, 2021 in Hong Kong. (Anthony Kwan/for The Washington Post by) Yu then moved to arrest Bickett and said he was an off-duty police officer apprehending the teenager for jumping a turnstile. Until this point, Yu had repeatedly answered no when onlookers asked if he was popo, a slang term for a police officer. Hong Kong police guidelines state that officers, on or off duty, must identify themselves as such and produce a warrant card when conducting duties. The judge who found Bickett guilty said the officer could not be expected to respond accordingly as the crowd was being disrespectful by using a slang word for police. Bickett, a former compliance director for Bank of America Merrill Lynch, was sentenced to four months and two weeks for assaulting a police officer and for common assault. The magistrate, Arthur Lam, called his acts a serious threat to public order that could have incited a bigger conflict. Bickett and his lawyers were shocked. To commit this crime, you have to have actual knowledge that hes a police officer, Bickett said. And theres a video of this guy saying he is not a police officer. After the verdict, Bickett was strip-searched. His hands and feet were shackled and he was taken to Lai Chi Kok Reception Center, a decades-old jail complex for men that houses most of Hong Kongs jailed democracy activists and others awaiting trial in connection with the 2019 protests. Bickett was given a tube of toothpaste, a toothbrush, a bar of soap and a hand towel, the only supplies he would get until friends could provide more. But other inmates who had read about the case quickly recognized Bickett and began sharing their M&Ms, the only approved chocolate in Hong Kong jails, and other small luxuries. When inmates learned that Bickett was a lawyer, they began to form lines around him, asking for legal advice. Soon, he was running a sort of pro-bono legal service from behind bars, in some cases connecting inmates with people outside who could help with bail or other issues. Samuel Bickett sends letters to people within the Hong Kong prison system to show his support, and many detainees invite the public to keep in touch. (Anthony Kwan/for The Washington Post by) Friends who visited Bickett said he would use 15-minute visitation slots to present them with a to-do list of inmates to help. One visitor, Stephen Palmquist, a philosopher who at that time was a professor at a local university, said Bickett was more interested in talking about mutual friends and an employment dispute between Palmquist and his employer than about his own plight. He had drips of sweat coming down his face which he was trying to wipe off, said Palmquist, who visited him in July. He was putting up with an extremely physically uncomfortable situation, not to mention the psychological discomfort. After Bickett was sentenced and moved to the maximum-security prison, friends could visit him only twice a month. Inmates in Hong Kong prisons have complained of severe heat in the summer, akin to living in a steamer. Changes have been enacted since a May petition, including new fans and iced towels for inmates. In letters from prison, activists have chronicled their encounters with roaches and other insects. Some inmates appear to have been punished for seeking better conditions. A former member of a Hong Kong independence group who was detained pending trial filed a request that female prisoners be allowed to wear shorts like their male counterparts because of the heat. Her cell was searched and she was put in solitary confinement for seven days, according to a prison rights activist. Others have been put in solitary confinement for hugging or for sharing stamps with fellow inmates, rights activists have reported. This month, elite officers and police dogs were deployed to quash a suspected protest. Chris Tang, Hong Kongs security chief, said jailed activists who have amenities such as extra chocolate or hair pins could harm national security by amassing a following among other detainees. Bickett said prison rules were selectively enforced to target perceived troublemakers. He said that although most inmates around him were detained on drug charges, he had met some who were being held on political charges, including under a national security law designed to quash dissent. Bickett said the experience has shaken him. While preparing his appeal, he is no longer confident in Hong Kongs courts and is bracing for a return to prison, he said. Ive committed my entire career to the law. I believe in the law, Bickett said. But that was utterly crushed by what happened to me and what Ive seen happen to other people in this city. Chinese coast guard vessels frequently enter waters around the Senkaku Islands to chase and harass Japanese fishermen, according to the Japan Coast Guard. (Pixabay) CAMP FOSTER, Okinawa Japan on Monday continued to track a suspected Chinese submarine that appeared to skirt its territorial waters north of Okinawa over the weekend. The Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force first spotted the submarine on Friday morning near Amami Oshima, an island halfway between the islands of Kyushu and Okinawa, according to a Ministry of Defense statement Sunday. The submarine entered Japans contiguous zone east of Amami before sailing west through the East China Sea, according to the ministry. Entering another countrys contiguous zone, a maritime zone beyond the territorial sea, is not a violation of international law, but can be seen as a provocation. This time, there was no entering into Japan's territorial waters, Chief Cabinet Secretary Katsunobu Kato told reporters on Monday morning. This is a situation that must be watched. Japan is collecting information and working to determine the submarines purpose, Kato said. A Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesman said it had already expressed concern with Chinese diplomats over the incident. He declined to comment further. Its customary in Japan for some government officials to speak to the media on condition of anonymity. The submarine stayed submerged but because it was it was spotted sailing near a Luyang III-class missile destroyer is believed to be Chinese, according to the defense ministry. Japanese forces were placed under heightened alert after the submarine was detected. Japanese Defense Minister Nobuo Kishi instructed Japanese forces to take all possible measures to collect information and stay alert with a sense of tension. By Sunday, the submarine had moved southwest of Yokoatejima, Kagoshima prefecture, according to the defense ministry. That island is about 50 miles northwest of Amami Oshima. Three surveillance aircraft and two destroyers were monitoring the submarine, the statement said. The incursion comes at a time of heightened tensions in the East China Sea. The disputed Senkaku Island chain lies approximately 400 miles southwest of Amami Oshima. Japan claims and administers the islands, but China and Taiwan also claim them. Chinese coast guard vessels frequently enter the waters around the Senkakus to chase and harass fishermen, according to the Japan Coast Guard. The Japanese coast guard responds to warn the Chinese away. A submarine, believed to be Chinese, was last seen in the area in June 2020, according to the defense ministry website. Buy Photo Kadena Air Base is home to the 18th Wing on Okinawa. (Stars and Stripes) TOKYO Defense Department schools at Kadena Air Base, Okinawa, reported at least seven new cases of COVID-19 over the weekend, prompting four principals to close 19 classrooms at their schools on Monday. Six schools Amelia Earhart Intermediate, Kadena High, Ryukyu Middle, Kadena Middle, Bob Hope Elementary and Ralph Stearley Elementary, or Stearley Heights all reported Sunday that members of their school communities had tested positive. Principals posted messages to parents, staff and students on the Marine Corps Community Services School Liaison Facebook page alerting them to class cancellations and new infections. Stearley and Hope elementary school principals did not indicate they canceled any classes. The principals who did indicated classes would resume once contact tracing was complete or other public heath requirements were met, whether one day or longer. Watch for further communication about when the students in [affected] classes can return once contact tracing is complete, Kadena High principal Kristopher Kwiatek wrote to families and staff. He canceled eight classes and reported one infection. Ryukyu Middle principal Craig Maxey canceled seven classes Monday until contact tracing can be completed, and said one person was infected. At Kadena Middle, principal Mynda Massey-Vukovic canceled four classes and wrote that one person had tested positive. Amelia Earhart principal Jason Federico said one person tested positive and one classroom was closed until testing and quarantine requirements are met. A week into the new school year, classes across four Defense Department schools on Okinawa were canceled after several individuals tested positive for the coronavirus. Across Japan, one U.S. military base, Marine Corps Air Station Iwakuni, reported one new COVID-19 patient. That individual tested positive over the weekend while in restricted movement, according to a base news release Sunday. Tokyo reported 611 newly infected people on Monday, typically the day with the lowest new case count, but still continuing a trend of falling coronavirus case numbers, according to public broadcaster NHK. In western Tokyo, the commander of Yokota Air Base, Col. Andrew Campbell, extended through Thursday the prohibition on unvaccinated service members leaving the base, according to an Sept. 9 update on the bases Facebook page. Japan on Sunday reported 7,205 new COVID-19 cases and 41 deaths, according to the Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Center. Fifty percent of the nations population, or 63 million people, are fully vaccinated. South Korea update U.S. Forces Korea on Monday had another nine people test positive for COVID-19 after arriving on the peninsula since Aug. 26, according to a news release. Four service members and one family member arrived at Osan Air Base from the United States on the Patriot Express, a government-chartered air service, on Aug. 31, Sept. 1 and 6. Two service members and two family members arrived on commercial flights at Incheon International Airport on Aug. 26, Sept. 1, 3 and 6, according to USFK. Eight individuals tested positive on their first COVID-19 test prior to entering quarantine; one person turned up on the test required to exit quarantine. All nine were quarantined at either Osan or Camp Humphreys. South Korea on Monday reported another 1,433 newly infected people, 554 in Seoul and 395 in Gyeonggi province, where Osan and Humphreys are located, according to the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency. KDCA reported 39.1% of South Koreas population, or 20 million people, are fully vaccinated. Another 64.6%, or 33.1 million, have received the first of two vaccine shots. Stars and Stripes reporter Yoo Kyong Chang contributed to this report. The deserter pursuit unit, composed of about 100 South Korean soldiers who track and arrest AWOL service members, will be eliminated by July 2022. (South Korean army) CAMP HUMPHREYS, South Korea The South Korean military will disband a unit dedicated to apprehending troops who are absent without authorized leave. The deserter pursuit unit, composed of about 100 soldiers who track and arrest AWOL service members, will be eliminated by July, a ministry official told Stars and Stripes on the customary condition of anonymity Monday. The unit gradually became unnecessary because the number of runaway soldiers within the South Korean military is decreasing, according to the official. An average of 126 cases have been investigated annually since 2016. About 550,000 active-duty troops are serving in South Koreas military. South Korean men ages 18 to 28 are required to serve in the armed forces for 18 months, a period that was reduced from 21 months in recent years. There are a few exceptions to this policy, including service in local police or fire departments, health exemptions or winning a gold medal at the Asian Games or the Olympics. Captured AWOL service members are sentenced based on the circumstance of their desertion. During wartime or a national emergency, a deserter avoiding military service can face a prison sentence of at least five years, while a deserter who defects to the enemy can face the death penalty. The units disbanding comes a month after the Netflix release of D.P., a show based on a web cartoon series about service members from the deserter pursuit unit. The show includes several stories of service members being bullied or suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder. The defense ministry noted that discussions about disbanding the deserter pursuit unit began as early as 2018 and its final decision has nothing to do with the drama. Stars and Stripes reporter Yoo Kyong Chang contributed to this report. Buy Photo An Afghan evacuee boards a commercial flight at Ramstein Air Base, Germany, on Aug. 26, 2021. Flights carrying Afghans to the U.S. are still on hold three days after it was announced that flights would be halted because of measles infections among evacuees who recently arrived in the United States. (Jennifer H. Svan/Stars and Stripes) KAISERSLAUTERN, Germany About 9,000 Afghans remain stuck at Ramstein Air Base with no idea when they can move on after the White House suspended flights because of measles cases among evacuees arriving in America. Three days after the White House announced a pause in evacuation flights, U.S. officials are exploring ways to administer the measles, mumps and rubella vaccine to travelers before they depart for the United States, said Lt. Col. Will Powell, an 86th Airlift Wing spokesman. Medical and public health workers are determining how many evacuees have proof of vaccination or carry measles antibodies, Powell said Monday. No cases of measles have been identified among the evacuee population at Ramstein, he said. Workers continue to closely monitor the population while providing needed medical care for those awaiting onward travel, Powell said in a statement. Measles is a highly contagious viral infection that can be deadly, especially in children. The MMR vaccine has mostly eradicated measles in the United States, but in recent years there have been small pockets of outbreaks in communities with low vaccination rates. Air Force Tech. Sgt. Cecile King plays with children during Operation Allies Refuge at Ramstein Air Base, Germany, on Sept. 10, 2021. Flights carrying Afghan evacuees to the U.S. are still on hold because of four diagnosed cases of measles among evacuees who recently arrived in the U.S., military officials said Monday. (Alexcia Givens/U.S. Air Force) Afghanistan reported 25,000 measles cases in 2017, due largely to poor access to immunizations, according to the United Nations Childrens Fund. About 85% of those cases were in children under 10, it said. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends that all children get two doses of the MMR vaccine, starting with the first dose at 12 to 15 months old. The second dose is suggested for ages 4 to 6, though children can receive it earlier as long as it is at least 28 days after the first dose. Since late August, Ramstein has served as the primary transit hub for U.S. citizens, Special Immigrant Visa applicants and other vulnerable Afghans and their family members who fled Afghanistan following the Talibans seizure of power. More than 24,000 evacuees have departed Ramstein for the United States or another safe location since Aug. 20. An average of 1,200 evacuees were flying out daily before flights were halted Friday. The base is not expecting any inbound evacuees for the time being, Powell said. The German government has agreed to let evacuees stay at Ramstein and the Armys Rhine Ordnance Barracks for a maximum of 10 days. German health officials in Kaiserslautern could not be reached Monday about procedures for when that limit is exceeded. Stars and Stripes reporter Marcus Kloeckner contributed to this report. Director General of International Atomic Energy Agency, IAEA, Rafael Mariano Grossi, center, speaks with Deputy Head of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran, Behrouz Kamalvandi, left, upon his arrival at Tehran Imam Khomeini International Airport, Iran, Saturday, Sept. 11, 2021. Iran's envoy to the IAEA, Kazem Gharibabadi, sits at right. (Atomic Energy Organization of Iran via AP) TEHRAN, Iran Iran agreed Sunday to allow international inspectors to install new memory cards into surveillance cameras at its sensitive nuclear sites and to continue filming there, potentially averting a diplomatic showdown this week. The announcement by Mohammad Eslami of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran after a meeting he held with the director-general of the International Atomic Energy Agency, Rafael Grossi, in Tehran still leaves the watchdog in the same position it has faced since February, however. Tehran holds all recordings at its sites as negotiations over the U.S. and Iran returning to the 2015 nuclear deal remain stalled in Vienna. Meanwhile, Iran is now enriching small amounts of uranium to its closest-ever levels to weapons-grade purity as its stockpile continues to grow. "We had a major, major communication breakdown with Iran, which, of course, is something we cannot afford, having so many important issues that we need to solve," Grossi told reporters on his return from Tehran. "And I think that was solved." Eslami described the negotiations between Iran and the Vienna-based IAEA as "sheerly technical" without any room for politics. He said Grossi would return to Iran soon to talk with officials, without elaborating. Also left unsaid was whether Iran would hand over copies of the older recordings, which Tehran had threatened previously to destroy. "The memory cards are sealed and kept in Iran, according to the routine," Eslami said. "New memory cards will be installed in cameras. That is a routine and natural trend in the agency's monitoring system." A joint statement released by the IAEA and Iran confirmed the understanding, saying only that "the way and the timing are agreed by the two sides." Grossi said the agreement would ensure "continuity of knowledge" that would ensure the watchdog can piece together the data it needs in the future. "The reconstruction and the coming together of the jigsaw puzzle will come when there is an agreement at the JCPOA level," he said, a reference to the talks on reviving the 2015 deal between Iran and world powers. "But at that time, we will have all this information and there will not have been a gap." The announcement could buy time for Iran ahead of an IAEA board meeting this week in which Western powers had been arguing for Tehran to be censured over its lack of cooperation with international inspectors. Eslami said Iran would take part in that meeting and its negotiations with the IAEA would continue there. The IAEA told member states in its confidential quarterly report last week that its verification and monitoring activities have been "seriously undermined" since February by Iran's refusal to let inspectors access their monitoring equipment. The IAEA said certain monitoring and surveillance equipment cannot be left for more than three months without being serviced. It was provided with access this month to four surveillance cameras installed at one site, but one of the cameras had been destroyed and a second had been severely damaged. Grossi said the broken and damaged cameras would be replaced, but indicated that the technical agreement reached in Tehran was only a stopgap. "This cannot be a permanent solution," he said. "If you ask me how many months, how many days, it's difficult for me to say. But I don't see this as a long term prospect." Mikhail Ulyanov, the Russian ambassador to the IAEA, praised the agreement on Twitter, calling it "technical but very important." "It is no less important for Iran to rebuff groundless speculations against it," Ulyanov wrote. Iran and world powers agreed in 2015 to the nuclear deal, which saw Tehran drastically limit its enrichment of uranium in exchange for the lifting of economic sanctions. In 2018, then-President Donald Trump unilaterally withdrew America from the accord, raising tensions across the wider Middle East and sparking a series of attacks and incidents. President Joe Biden has said he's willing to re-enter the accord, but so far, indirect talks have yet to see success. In the meantime, Iran elected Ebrahim Raisi, a hard-line protege of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, as president. Raisi also has said he wants Iran to regain the benefits of the accord, though Tehran in general has struck a tougher pose since his victory. In Israel, Israeli Prime Minister Nafatli Bennett urged world powers to not "fall into the trap of Iranian deception that will lead to additional concessions" over the impasse. Israel, widely believed to possess nuclear weapons, has long accused Iran of seeking an atomic bomb. Tehran maintains its program is peaceful, though U.S. intelligence agencies and international inspectors believe the Islamic Republic pursued the bomb in an organized program up until 2003. "You must not give up on inspecting sites and the most important thing, the most important message is that there must be a time limit," Bennett said. "The Iranian nuclear program is at the most advanced point ever. ... We must deal with this project." Israel is suspected of launching multiple attacks targeting Iran's Natanz nuclear facility, as well as killing a scientist associated with Iran's one-time military nuclear program last year. From Riyadh, the top diplomats of Saudi Arabia and Austria jointly expressed concern over Iran's nuclear advances, with Austrian Foreign Minister Alexander Schallenberg citing "Iran's failure to allow access for nuclear inspections." Gambrell reported from Dubai, United Arab Emirates. Associated Press writers Ilan Ben Zion in Jerusalem, Isabel DeBre in Dubai and Frank Jordans in Berlin contributed to this report. Shaqaiq Birashk, seen here earlier this month in Denver, was taken to a CIA compound in Kabul before being shuttled to the airport for evacuation. (Rachel Woolf/The Washington Post) Five days after Afghanistan's fall, Shaqaiq Birashk, holed up in her Kabul apartment, was contacted by a stranger offering to have her picked up and escorted to the airport for evacuation. The man claimed to work for the U.S. government, said Birashk, an American citizen who, until the Taliban's takeover, worked on a USAID project. After some trepidation and encouragement from a friend who had already gone through the process, she accepted. That night, dressed in a flowing abaya that concealed a backpack stuffed with clean clothes, Birashk, 37, nervously walked past the Taliban guards who had taken over security at her building and climbed into the back seat of a green Toyota Corolla, hopeful it would lead to her freedom. "We were driving against the traffic," she recalled in an interview. "You would see male and female, young and old, all walks of life, just walking towards the airport." Birashk did not know it at the time, but her rescue had been orchestrated in part by the CIA, which played a pivotal role alongside elite U.S. troops and Afghan counterterrorism forces in the dangerous extraction of Americans, Afghans and foreign nationals facing threats of reprisal from the Taliban due to their affiliation with the U.S. government. A spokeswoman for the agency, Tammy Thorpe, declined to detail the operation, saying only that CIA personnel, in concert with other U.S. agencies, supported the broader evacuation effort "in various ways." Five current and former U.S. officials familiar with the missions said the CIA used a compound known as Eagle Base, located just a few miles from Hamid Karzai International Airport, to carry out rescues like the white-knuckle nighttime drive through Taliban-controlled territory to deliver Birashk from her high-rise Kabul apartment building. Like others in this story, they spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive aspects of the chaotic two-week effort to evacuate 124,000 people from Afghanistan. The rescues traveling through Eagle Base involved multiple helicopter flights to Kabul's airport. These missions, officials said, were separate from other aerial rescues conducted by the U.S. military to save Americans from having to brave increasingly treacherous roads outside the facility, where Taliban checkpoints had been established and an Islamic State suicide bombing on Aug. 26 killed more than 200 people, including 13 U.S. troops. U.S. troops carried out some flights from Eagle Base, three U.S. officials said. The CIA rescues relied in part on Afghan counterterrorism forces trained by the agency, one senior administration official said. After the central government's collapse, the counterterrorism forces worked with U.S. troops to help pluck people from the crowd at the airport, as reported previously by the Wall Street Journal and New York Times. In some instances, they also picked up people at their apartments or on prearranged street corners while receiving "encouragement and guidance" from the U.S. government, the senior official said. Birashk's account, aspects of which she shared with the Financial Times, reveal new details about how the operations worked and the secrecy involved. The extractions were conducted as the U.S. military hewed to narrow parameters on its own set of rescues. Elite members of Joint Special Operations Command, including Delta Force and helicopters from the 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment, were at Kabul airport. But ground operations into the city were not permitted, frustrating those who wanted to do more to help, three officials said. On occasion, these troops ventured only short distances outside the airport to escort American citizens inside the base, those officials said. A defense official with knowledge of the operations said there was no "blanket policy" prohibiting elite U.S. troops from leaving Kabul airport. But he said that when they did leave facility's gates, they "usually went short distances." The U.S. military has acknowledged carrying out two unilateral helicopter missions outside the airport to rescue a combined 185 American citizens, and a mission partnered with German forces to rescue 21 German citizens. U.S. Special Operations troops helped 1,064 American citizens, 2,017 Afghans and 127 people from other countries reach the airport through "phone calls, vectors and escorting," the defense official said. Birashk, who said she was unaware for days that she was taken to a CIA base, was advising Afghan officials through an Afghan nongovernmental organization when the Taliban began to threaten Kabul. Family members and some of her friends had pressured her to flee, but she told them she wanted to go on her own terms rather than repeating the trauma of leaving as she did in 1989, when as a kindergartner she and her family fled a civil war. "I had returned to Afghanistan with respect, and I wanted to leave it with respect," she said. On Saturday, Aug. 14, after the Taliban seized several major cities, Afghan officials encouraged Birashk to leave, she said. She booked a flight for Aug. 18, the first ticket she could find, and registered with the U.S. Embassy in Kabul for possible evacuation, she said. It was too late. The following day, Afghan President Ashraf Ghani and a coterie of senior Afghan officials fled the country, leaving a power vacuum in Kabul that the Taliban quickly filled. The U.S. military scrambled to secure the airport for evacuations, but the Taliban established checkpoints across the city. Birashk, already worried about violence at the airport, learned Aug. 17 that her flight had been canceled. As she assessed the safest way out of Kabul, she received the call from the U.S. government early in the evening Aug. 19. Birashk said she initially told the government official that she did not want to leave without several other Afghans she knew. "The gentlemen very kindly and actually professionally said something along the lines of, 'Well, our priority is you. Whenever you are ready to leave on our own, let me know and give me a call," she recalled. A friend called later that evening and told her she'd regret it if she didn't escape while she could. Birashk left her apartment at about 11 p.m. She asked an Afghan neighbor to accompany her outside, to where the Taliban guards were, and they shared an emotional goodbye. "She said, 'Can you please take me with you?' She was an Afghan nationaI. And I just broke down at that point," Birashk said. "I was already shattered that I couldn't even help the 11 people that I wanted to. And then here, you know, to the last second, she was in a way begging me to take her with me. Just the guilt overcame me." Birashk said that when she got into the car, two other evacuees were inside. An Afghan man drove them through the Taliban checkpoints, speaking to Taliban fighters in the Pashto language many of them favor. As they drove, she sent her location through a messaging platform to her U.S. government contact, who corrected them by text message when they made wrong turns, she said. "I said: 'When do I know that I have reached you?' And he said, 'You will meet my friends first,'" she said. When their vehicle stopped, Afghan forces directed her and the other evacuees to change cars. They were driven less than a mile to the CIA camp. The U.S. representative confiscated their phones after allowing them to notify their families they were safe, she said. "We were told not to disclose our locations," Birashk said. If people started showing up to the base looking to evacuate, the man warned, they wouldn't be able to help anyone else. The evacuees stayed overnight at Eagle Base, and were moved to the airport the following afternoon in a group of about 90 to 100 people. They traveled aboard three helicopters, Birashk said. She was turned over to the Hungarian military, which flew her by plane to Uzbekistan. She spent three days there at the airport, and was moved again to Budapest, she said. She remained in touch with the same U.S. government representative and turned over names of other people who needed evacuation, she said. Birashk was reunited with her family in Colorado on Aug. 26. Birashk said she is grateful for the rescue and the kindness with which she was treated. But she is heartbroken for Afghan youth, who have been brought up to have dreams that are no longer possible under the Taliban, and angry with President Joe Biden for the way in which the U.S. withdrew from Afghanistan, she said. "It's a foreign policy failure. It's an embarrassment," she said. "I had to hear it as an Afghan American from the Afghans: 'Oh, you're privileged.' But now it's even more than that. Now it's, 'You guys that destroyed us." The Washington Post's Shane Harris contributed to this report. A general view of a fuel station on the main highway that links Beirut to south Lebanon on Sept. 3, 2021. Lebanon is mired in a devastating economic and financial crisis, the worst in its modern history. (Hassan Ammar/AP) BEIRUT The leader of the militant Hezbollah group said Monday the first tanker carrying Iranian fuel to Lebanon has arrived in a Syrian port and the diesel will be shipped to Lebanon by tanker trucks later this week. The arrival of the tanker comes nearly a month after Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah said the group will start bringing fuel from Iran in an attempt to ease a crippling fuel crisis that Lebanon has been experiencing for months. The delivery, organized by the Iran-backed group, violates U.S. sanctions imposed on Tehran after former President Donald Trump pulled America out of a nuclear deal between Iran and world powers three years ago. The arrival of the Iranian tanker carrying fuel destined for Lebanon comes days after a new government was formed ending a 13-month deadlock. Lebanon's new Prime Minister Najib Mikati has not commented on the deal to import fuel from Iran. Nasrallah said in a televised speech Monday night the group chose to have the tanker dock in a Syrian port to avoid embarrassing the Lebanese state and risking sanctions on Lebanon. Syria, also under U.S. sanctions, has been mostly relying on oil supplies from its strong ally Iran, which sent thousands of Iran-backed fighters, including Hezbollah members, to back President Bashar Assad's forces in the 10-year conflict there. Nasrallah said the tanker arrived in the Syrian port of Banias early Sunday and the process of unloading the fuel began the same day. He added that the Syrian government has mobilized dozens of tanker trucks to transport the diesel to the eastern Lebanese town of Baalbek by Thursday. Nasrallah said three other tankers carrying diesel and one carrying gasoline will arrive in the coming weeks. He said diesel will be donated for a period of one month to institutions including public hospitals, nursing homes, orphanages, water stations and the Lebanese Red Cross. Nasrallah added that others who will get fuel at low prices are private hospitals, medicine and serum factories, bakeries and cooperatives that sell food products. Nasrallah said Hezbollah will be supplying gas stations linked to the group around the country. "We are not competing (with the state) but we want to add the flow of fuel to the market," he said. Female protesters gather in downtown Kabul after a brutal Taliban crackdown on demonstrations. After reports that many of the other women who planned to join them had already been detained or beaten by Taliban fighters, the women debated whether to push forward on their own. (Susannah George/The Washington Post) Even as the Taliban seek to assure the world they've become more moderate, most of Afghanistan's top female leaders who emerged over the past two decades have fled or are in hiding. In recent weeks, Taliban fighters have fired shots in the air to disperse protests in Kabul and other cities by women demanding participation in government as well as rights to education and jobs. A major rallying point for these protests have been the exclusion of women from the new cabinet unveiled last week, a step back from U.S.-backed governments that included female lawmakers and technocrats. The Taliban have said they would respect women's rights within the limits of Islamic law, allowing them to go to work or school as long as they don't mix with men an arrangement that doesn't often work in reality. The group has also sought to show the world they have female support, with armed fighters last weekend accompanying hundreds of fully veiled women who carried banners supporting the Taliban and saying the female leaders who fled Afghanistan don't represent them. Here are some prominent female politicians who have left Afghanistan for fear of reprisals from the Taliban or went into hiding: Fawzia Koofi, former member of parliament, 46 Koofi, who represented northern Badakshan province, was the vice president of Afghanistan's National Assembly. In the months before the Taliban took Kabul, she had participated in talks with the group to urge that women have more say in policy decisions. As a single parent, Koofi's advocacy of women's issues made her unpopular with conservatives leading to multiple assassination attempts, including one last year. Shortlisted for the Nobel Peace Prize in 2020, Koofi left the country two weeks after the Taliban took control and is now lobbying governments to give humanitarian aid to Afghanistan. Naheed Farid, former member of parliament, 37 Farid was chairwoman of the parliament's Women Affairs Commission and has represented western Herat city since she was 27. She has a degree in international relations from George Washington University, and is known for her progressive views. Last year, she drafted and successfully implemented a proposal allowing for mothers' names on birth certificates. Farid has warned that a Taliban government without oversight by the United Nations, the U.S. and other nations will be a "regime of terror." She fled the country fearing for her own safety and that of her children, the BBC reported. Sima Samar, human rights commissioner, 64 A medical doctor from the minority Hazara community, Samar first became a refugee when she was forced to flee to Pakistan in the 1980s. As minister for women's affairs in the Hamid Karzai-led interim government in the early 2000s, Samar oversaw the reentry of girls into school and women into the workforce. Samar survived assassination attempts during her time in office, though she resigned as minister for questioning conservative interpretations of Islamic law and advocating for the right of women to not wear a burqa a head to toe covering that hides the entire face. She since went on to run hospitals in Afghanistan and headed the independent human rights commission. Her whereabouts are currently unknown. Habiba Sarabi, former negotiator in Taliban talks, 65 An ethnic Hazara leader and medical doctor, Sarabi was one of only four female leaders in peace negotiations ahead of the U.S. withdrawal, during which she pushed for a greater role for women in Afghanistan. Sarabi was minister for women's affairs for two years starting in 2002 and the first female governor of Bamian province to the west of Kabul. She won accolades for her work on women's rights and continues to criticize the Taliban from an undisclosed location in Afghanistan. Shukria Barakzai, former ambassador to Norway, 51 Barakzai, an Afghan journalist-turned-politician who served as ambassador to Norway, fled Afghanistan after the Taliban returned to power. She survived a deadly suicide-bomber attack in 2014. An ethnic Pashtun from Kabul, Barakzai has been a top advocate for womens rights since 2001 when the U.S. overthrew the Taliban. Just months after the regime's fall, she founded Aina-e-Zan, or the Women's Mirror, a national weekly magazine that focused on women's issues. Barakzai has participated in a loya jirga, a grand national assembly that takes place to discuss crucial matters. She helped pass a new modern constitution in 2004, the same year she was elected as a lawmaker from Kabul. Zarifa Ghafari, former mayor, 29 Ghafari was the youngest mayor of Maidan Shahr city just north of Kabul before she and her family fled to Germany last month. As mayor, she survived six assassination attempts and unknown gunmen killed her father last year in a bid to force her to quit. U.S. Secretary of State Michael Pompeo gave Ghafari the International Woman of Courage award in 2020 for her bravery and resoluteness to keep women in the public space. Evacuees from Afghanistan board a flight on Sept. 2, 2021, to the United States at Naval Station Rota in Spain. The Rota base is supporting the Department of State mission to facilitate the safe relocation of U.S. citizens, Afghans seeking special immigration visas, and other vulnerable Afghans. (Sgt. Claudia Nix/U.S. Marine Corps) WASHINGTON There will be no flights to the U.S. for Afghan evacuees for at least another week after several cases of measles were detected among recent arrivals, chief Pentagon spokesman John Kirby said Monday. The White House halted the operation on Friday after the first cases were discovered. The decision to stop flights for seven more days was based on the recommendation of the national Centers for Disease Control and Prevention after five evacuees were diagnosed with measles when they arrived in the United States, Kirby told reporters at the Pentagon. About 25,600 of the more than 124,000 people who U.S. and coalition forces evacuated from Afghanistan before the final flights took off from Kabuls airport Aug. 30 are living on military bases in the U.S. as they await approval to stay in the country, according to the most recent data released Sept. 3. Tens of thousands more remain at staging sites in Europe and the Middle East before they can travel to the United States. One of the measles cases was confirmed last week at Fort McCoy in Wisconsin, another at Fort Pickett in Virginia and three were detected upon arrival at Dulles International Airport near Washington, D.C., from overseas staging bases. Fort McCoy and Fort Pickett are among the eight military installations in the U.S. accepting evacuees, along with Fort Bliss in Texas, Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst in New Jersey, Camp Atterbury in Indiana, Holloman Air Force Base in New Mexico, and Fort Lee and Marine Corps Base Quantico in Virginia. They have been housed separately and are receiving medical care, and the CDC is doing contact tracing and allows people to self-isolate as needed, Kirby said. We want the people who work on these bases and the families who live there to know how seriously we're taking it and that we are separating these individuals from the rest of the cohort there. Measles is a highly contagious viral infection that can be fatal, especially in children. The vaccine for measles has mostly eliminated the illness in the United States, but there have been small outbreaks in communities with low vaccination rates. In 2019, the U.S. suffered the largest outbreak in nearly 20 years with 1,282 cases reported, according to the CDC, but that number dropped to eight last year. The Defense Department will also be working very quickly on the appropriate immunizations for the evacuees, Kirby said. The military is now giving the measles, mumps and rubella or MMR vaccine to Afghan evacuees already at U.S. bases and will soon begin giving the shot to the evacuees while they are still overseas. All arriving Afghans are currently required to be vaccinated for measles as a condition of their humanitarian parole, Kirby said. The evacuees are also offered coronavirus vaccinations at Dulles and the military installations, but they are not mandatory, Air Force Gen. Glen VanHerck, commander of U.S. Northern Command, told reporters at the Pentagon on Aug. 27. Doornbos.caitlin@stripes.com Twitter: @CaitlinDoornbos Caitlin Doornbos Rioters climb the west wall of the the U.S. Capitol in Washington on Jan. 6, 2021. First, some blamed the deadly Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol on left-wing Antifa antagonists, a theory quickly debunked. Then came comparisons of the rioters as peaceful protesters, or even tourists." Now, Trump allies rallying in support of those people charged in the Capitol riot are calling them political prisoners," a stunning effort to revise the narrative of that deadly day. (Jose Luis Magana/AP) WASHINGTON First, some blamed the deadly Jan. 6 attack at the U.S. Capitol on left-wing antifa antagonists, a theory quickly debunked. Then came comparisons of the rioters to peaceful protesters or even tourists. Now, allies of former President Donald Trump are calling those charged in the Capitol riot "political prisoners," a stunning effort to revise the narrative of that deadly day. The brazen rhetoric ahead of a rally planned for Saturday at the Capitol is the latest attempt to explain away the horrific assault and obscure what played out for all the world to see: rioters loyal to the then-president storming the building, battling police and trying to stop Congress from certifying the election of Democrat Joe Biden. "Some people are calling it Jan. 6 trutherism they're rewriting the narrative to make it seem like Jan. 6 was no big deal, and it was a damn big deal, and an attack on our democracy," said Heidi Beirich, co-founder of the Global Project Against Hate and Extremism, who studies extremist movements. All told, the attempted whitewashing of the Jan. 6 attack threatens to further divide an already polarized nation that finds itself drifting from what had been common facts and a shared commitment to civic order toward an unsettling new normal. Rather than a nation healing eight months after the deadly assault, the country is at risk of tearing itself further apart, as the next election approaches. The anticipated crowd size and the intensity of the Saturday rally are unclear, but law enforcement appears to be taking no chances. Security fencing was approved Monday for areas around the Capitol, and reinforcements are being summoned to back up the Capitol Police, whose leadership was criticized and summarily dismissed for its handling of Jan. 6. While authorities have been bracing for a repeat appearance by right-wing extremist groups and other Trump loyalists who mobbed the Capitol, it's unclear if those actors will participate in the new event. The extremist groups are concerning because, while members of the Proud Boys and Oath Keepers made up a small portion of the Jan. 6 rioters, they are accused of some of the more serious crimes in the attack. Whether those groups participate or not, the rally could bring lone actors to Washington. Just after midnight on Monday, Capitol Police arrested a California man who had a bayonet and machete in his pickup truck outside of Democratic National Committee headquarters. The man, Donald Craighead of Oceanside, California, had a swastika and other white supremacist symbols painted on his truck and told officers he was "on patrol." The police said it was unclear if he was planning on attending any upcoming demonstrations. U.S. Capitol Police Chief Thomas Manger, joined at left by Assistant Chief Yogananda Pittman, heads to a closed-door meeting with congressional leaders at the Capitol in Washington, Monday, Sept. 13, 2021. Security officials were preparing for a Sept. 18 demonstration by supporters of the people arrested in the Jan. 6 riot. (J. Scott Applewhite/AP) Rally organizer Matt Braynard, a former Trump campaign strategist, has been promoting the event and others like it in cities nationwide, focusing attention on what he calls the "prisoners" being unfairly prosecuted for their involvement in the Jan. 6 riot. "I am so proud of all of the brave patriots who participated in these rallies under the same threat to their rights of so many who are being held in prison now for a non-violent expression of their First Amendment rights," he said in a July news release. Braynard declined to respond to additional questions by email, and The Associated Press declined to accept the conditions he made for an interview. As Trump openly considers another run for the White House, many of the Republican lawmakers who joined his effort to challenge Biden's victory are staying away from the Saturday rally, even though many still echo his false claims that the election was rigged despite numerous court cases by Trump's allies that have failed to confirm those allegations. Rep. Mo Brooks, R-Ala., who joined rally-goers near the White House on Jan. 6 where Trump encouraged the crowd to go to the Capitol, declined to comment, his spokesman said by email. Brooks is now running for the Senate. Another Republican, Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas, who voted to challenge some Electoral College tallies, was unavailable for an interview, his office said. Also declining an interview was Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., who was captured in a photo raising a fist in salute to the mob as he entered the Capitol that day. More than 600 people are facing federal charges in the riot that injured dozens of officers and sent lawmakers into hiding. Five people eventually died, including Trump supporter Ashli Babbitt, who was shot and killed by police as she tried to break into a lobby off the House chamber. Several police officers later took their own lives. Hundreds of people were charged with misdemeanors for entering the Capitol illegally, but hundreds of others are facing more serious felony charges including assault, obstruction of an official proceeding or conspiracy. The most serious cases have been brought against members of two far-right extremist groups the Proud Boys and Oath Keepers as authorities probe to what extent the attack was planned. No Jan. 6 defendant has been charged with sedition, though it was initially considered by authorities. More than 60 people have pleaded guilty, mostly to misdemeanor charges of demonstrating in the Capitol. Only a fraction of the defendants remain locked up while they await trial. Lawyers have complained of overly harsh conditions for the Jan. 6 defendants in the D.C. jail, saying they are being held in what has been dubbed the "Patriot Unit." Defenders of the alleged Capitol attackers claim they are facing harsher prosecutions because of their political views than others, including Black Lives Matter protesters, but a review of court cases by the AP refutes that claim. Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., chairman of the House Intelligence Committee and a member of the select panel investigating the Jan. 6 attack, said those who broke the law need to be prosecuted, "otherwise, we just rationalize, excuse and encourage more of the same." The Capitol's leafy grounds, a favorite spot for people to snap photos in front of the iconic dome, would typically see few lawmakers or staff on a Saturday. While the Senate returned to session Monday, the House doesn't resume until next week. When the fence first went up around the Capitol after the January attack, it drew heavy criticism from those worried about the message being sent as a symbol of democracy was closed off. Now, it's increasingly seen as a necessary precaution. Associated Press writers Alanna Durkin in Boston and Michael Balsamo, Eric Tucker and Mary Clare Jalonick in Washington contributed to this report. Parsia Jahanbani prepares a syringe with the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine in a mobile vaccine clinic operated by Families Together of Orange County in Santa Ana, Calif., in August 2021. An international group of scientists is arguing the average person doesn't need a COVID-19 booster yet an opinion that highlights the intense scientific divide over the question. (Jae C. Hong/AP) The average person doesn't need a COVID-19 booster yet, an international group of scientists including two top U.S. regulators wrote Monday in a scientific journal. The experts reviewed studies of the vaccines' performance and concluded the shots are working well despite the extra-contagious delta variant, especially against severe disease. "Even in populations with fairly high vaccination rates, the unvaccinated are still the major drivers of transmission" at this stage of the pandemic, they concluded. The opinion piece, published in The Lancet, illustrates the intense scientific debate about who needs booster doses and when, a decision the U.S. and other countries are grappling with. After revelations of political meddling in the Trump administration's coronavirus response, President Joe Biden has promised to "follow the science." But the review raises the question of whether his administration is moving faster than the experts. The authors include two leading vaccine reviewers at the Food and Drug Administration, Drs. Phil Krause and Marion Gruber, who recently announced they will be stepping down this fall. Among the other 16 authors are leading vaccine researchers in the U.S., Britain, France, South Africa and India, plus scientists with the World Health Organization, which already has urged a moratorium on boosters until poor countries are better vaccinated. In the U.S., the White House has begun planning for boosters later this month, if both the FDA and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention agree. Advisers to the FDA will weigh evidence about an extra Pfizer shot Friday at a key public meeting. Georgetown University's Larry Gostin said the paper "throws gasoline on the fire" in the debate about whether most Americans truly need boosters and whether the White House got ahead of scientists. "It's always a fundamental error of process to make a scientific announcement before the public health agencies have acted and that's exactly what happened here," said Gostin, a lawyer and public health specialist. The FDA did not respond to requests for comment Monday morning. The U.S. already offers an extra dose of the Pfizer or Moderna vaccines to people with severely weakened immune systems. For the general population, the debate is boiling down to whether boosters should be given even though the vaccines are still offering high protection against severe disease possibly in hopes of blocking milder "breakthrough" infections among the fully vaccinated. Last week, CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky said new data showed that as delta surged, the unvaccinated were 4.5 times more likely than the fully vaccinated to get infected, over 10 times more likely to be hospitalized and 11 times more likely to die. Still, government scientists are also weighing hints that protection is waning among older adults who were vaccinated early last winter. The writers of Monday's commentary reported reviewing worldwide studies since delta began surging, mostly of U.S. and European vaccines. The team concluded "none of these studies has provided credible evidence of substantially declining protection against severe disease." Because the body builds layers of immunity, gradual drops in antibody levels don't necessarily mean overall effectiveness is dropping "and reductions in vaccine efficacy against mild disease do not necessarily predict reductions in the (typically higher) efficacy against severe disease," they wrote. The more the virus spreads, the more opportunity it has to evolve into strains that could escape current vaccines. The Lancet reviewers suggest there could be bigger gains from creating booster doses that better match circulating variants, much like flu vaccine is regularly updated, than from just giving extra doses of the original vaccine. "There is an opportunity now to study variant-based boosters before there is widespread need for them," the scientists wrote. This undated file photo provided by The Ford County Sheriff's Office in Paxton, Ill., shows Michael Hari, a militia leader convicted of masterminding the bombing of a Minnesota mosque. Hari is now known by her transgender identity, Emily Claire Hari. (Ford County Sheriff's Office/AP) ST. PAUL, Minn. The leader of an Illinois anti-government militia group who authorities say masterminded the 2017 bombing of a Minnesota mosque is in a federal court on Monday, awaiting sentencing for several civil rights and hate crimes in an attack that terrified a community. Emily Claire Hari, who was previously known as Michael Hari and recently said she is transgender, faces a mandatory minimum of 30 years in prison for the attack on Dar al-Farooq Islamic Center in Bloomington. Defense attorneys are asking for the minimum, but prosecutors are seeking a life sentence, saying Hari hasn't taken responsibility for the attack. "This bomb the Defendant's bomb was an act of terror intended to destroy the heart of a community," prosecutors wrote in papers asking for a life sentence. While no one was physically hurt, prosecutors wrote, "the Defendant irrevocably destroyed the sense of safety and peace that a house of worship is supposed to provide." Hari was convicted in December on five counts, including damaging property because of its religious character and obstructing the free exercise of religious beliefs. She did not testify at trial and it was unknown if she would make a statement at sentencing. Mohamed Omar, executive director at Dar al-Farooq, and others gave victim impact statements on Monday that included asking the judge to impose a life sentence. They described their shock and terror at the attack. Many members were afraid to pray there and some never returned. Mothers were scared to bring their kids to the mosque, which also serves as a charter school and community center. "I felt really scared because I was going to start school in the same building soon and we lived like six blocks away from the mosque," said Idris Yusuf, who was 9 years old when the bombing happened. "I was scared because if these people could do this to our mosque, what's stopping them from coming to Muslim people's homes too." Several men were gathered at Dar al-Farooq for early morning prayers on Aug. 5, 2017, when a pipe bomb was thrown through the window of an imam's office. A seven-month investigation led authorities to Clarence, Illinois, a rural community about 120 miles (190 kilometers) south of Chicago, where Hari and co-defendants Michael McWhorter and Joe Morris lived. Authorities say Hari, 50, led a group called the White Rabbits that included McWhorter, Morris and others and that Hari came up with the plan to attack the mosque. Prosecutors said at trial that she was motivated by hatred for Muslims, citing excerpts from Hari's manifesto known as The White Rabbit Handbook. McWhorter and Morris, who portrayed Hari as a father figure, each pleaded guilty to five counts and testified against her. They are awaiting sentencing. It wasn't initially clear how the White Rabbits became aware of Dar al-Farooq, but the mosque was in headlines in the years before the attack: Some young people from Minnesota who traveled to Syria to join the Islamic State group had worshipped there. Mosque leaders were never accused of any wrongdoing. Hari's attorneys wrote in court filings that she was a victim of online misinformation about the mosque. Assistant federal defender Shannon Elkins also said gender dysphoria fueled Hari's "inner conflict," saying she wanted to transition but knew she would be ostracized, so she formed a "rag-tag group of freedom fighters or militia men" and "secretly looked up 'sex change,' 'transgender surgery,' and 'post-op transgender' on the internet." Prosecutors said gender dysphoria is not an excuse and said using it "to deflect guilt is offensive." Hari has raised other issues with the court since she has been in custody. Hours after her conviction, Hari called the Star Tribune and said she was going on a hunger strike, calling the trial a "sham." Last week, she sought to delay her sentencing, citing upcoming medical appointments for hormone replacement therapy and to treat what her attorney called a life-threatening allergy, but a judge refused. And before revealing her issues with gender dysphoria, she also sued authorities at the Minnesota jail where she was housed, saying she objected to having a female conduct a pat-down search for religious reasons. That lawsuit was dismissed. In their request for a life sentence, prosecutors are seeking several sentencing enhancements, arguing the bombing was a hate crime led by Hari. They also say Hari committed obstruction when she tried to escape from custody during her transfer from Illinois to Minnesota for trial in February 2019. Hari denies trying to flee. Hari, a former sheriff's deputy and self-described entrepreneur and watermelon farmer, has written self-published books, including essays on religion, and has floated ideas for a border wall with Mexico. She gained attention on the "Dr. Phil" talk show after she fled to the South American nation of Belize in the early 2000s during a custody dispute. She was convicted of child abduction and sentenced to probation. Hari also sued the federal government, accusing it of cutting in on her food-safety business. Before her 2018 arrest in the mosque bombing, she used the screen name "Illinois Patriot" to post more than a dozen videos to YouTube, most of them anti-government monologues. In one video just days before her arrest, Hari said FBI and local law enforcement were terrorizing Clarence and she asked "freedom-loving people everywhere to come and help us." Hari, McWhorter and Morris were also charged in a failed November 2017 attack on an abortion clinic in Champaign, Illinois. Plea agreements for McWhorter and Morris say the men participated in an armed home invasion in Indiana, and the armed robberies or attempted armed robberies of two Walmart stores in Illinois. Walter A. Smead (Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency) SCHUYLERVILLE, N.Y. A Korean War veteran from upstate New York who died in action during one of the coldest winters on record is finally coming home. Army Corporal Walter A. Smead's remains were among many that were turned over by the North Korean government in 2018. Scientists from the Armed Forces Medical Examiner System used mitochondrial DNA analysis and other evidence to identify him this March, the Albany Times-Union reported. The 24-year-old Hadley resident was reported missing in early December 1950 on the sixth day of a retreat at the Chosin Reservoir in North Korea as temperatures fell to 30 degrees below zero and soldiers froze to death or lost limbs to frostbite. Smead's Battery A, 57th Field Artillery Battalion, 7th Infantry Division was attacked on consecutive nights by Chinese forces as it deployed near the reservoir. Within a matter of days, more than 90 percent of the division was killed or wounded, according to the newspaper, citing accounts at the National Museum of the United States Army. Smead died while helping the remaining soldiers retreat across the frozen reservoir to where Marines held the other side. Smead will be interred this month at the Gerald B.H. Solomon Saratoga National Cemetery in Schuylerville. Martin Johnson, a former airman, participates in a virtually news conference Monday, Sept. 13, 2021. Johnson is a plaintiff in a lawsuit that claims the Air Force incorrectly discharged veterans struggling with mental health conditions and rejected their appeals for discharge upgrades. (Screenshot captured from news conference) WASHINGTON Two veterans filed a class-action lawsuit Monday against the Air Force, claiming the service branch discriminated against service members with mental health conditions by kicking them out with other-than-honorable discharges. Those discharges, also known as bad paper, carry a stigma and prevent veterans from receiving many government benefits, such as Department of Veterans Affairs home loans, health care and education benefits. The Pentagon established an Air Force Discharge Review Board to allow discharged airmen to appeal their discharge status, and the Defense Department instituted a policy in 2017 to give liberal consideration to veterans looking to upgrade their bad paper in situations where a service-related medical disorder could have led to their misconduct. The lawsuit claims the Air Force Discharge Review Board ignored the policy and denied upgrades when they were warranted. The complaint, citing Air Force data, states that between January 2017 and December 2019 the board rejected 72% of veterans seeking upgrades because of their diagnoses of post-traumatic stress disorder, traumatic brain injury and other mental health conditions. Ive tried going through established channels to get my discharge upgraded, but Ive been let down by the Air Force, said Martin Johnson, one of the plaintiffs in the lawsuit. It feels like I have no other option than to bring this complaint today on behalf of myself and thousands of other veterans who have, like me, been unfairly denied discharge upgrades. Johnson said he deployed to Iraq in 2007 and returned to discover his wife was having an affair. He began suffering from mental health issues and received medical treatment for depression. After a string of minor infractions, such as not mowing his lawn in accordance with base housing guidelines, the Air Force discharged Johnson in 2009 with bad paper. Since then, hes been diagnosed with major depressive disorder, social anxiety disorder and PTSD. He sought a discharge upgrade with the help of an attorney but was denied by the Air Force Discharge Review Board in May. Its been very hard, Johnson said Monday during a news conference. Ive been walking around acting like everything is my fault. Johnson is being represented by the Yale Veterans Legal Services Clinic, which helps veterans with the legal process of securing government benefits. The clinic, which is made up of law students, settled a similar case against the Army in April. The court ordered the Army Discharge Review Board to reconsider thousands of cases going back to 2011 in which discharge upgrades were denied. The clinic is also arguing a case against the Navy Discharge Review Board. Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., who has advocated for veterans with other-than-honorable discharges, said Monday that following the settlement with the Army, the Air Force should institute the liberal consideration policy without the impetus of another lawsuit. I cannot express my sense of outrage, given that the Army has already changed its policy as a result of legal action, Blumenthal said. Simple decency, as well as respect for the law, require the Air Force to change its policy. The fact this legal action is necessary is shameful and disgraceful. Also involved in the lawsuit is an anonymous plaintiff whos referred to in the complaint as Jane Doe. Doe, who joined the Air Force in 2013, was raped by a fellow airman. She later entered into a relationship with another airman who verbally and physically abused her. During the same time, she received letters of reprimand for arriving late to duty and not filling out documentation correctly. She later failed a physical fitness test and was sent for a mental health evaluation. Doe was separated with an other-than-honorable discharge in 2016. She sought relief from the Air Force Discharge Review Board in 2020, and her psychiatrist testified on her behalf. The board rejected her appeal. In the lawsuit, the plaintiffs asked the court to order the Air Force to upgrade Johnsons and Does discharges and to review past requests for upgrades that have been denied. The Air Force forcibly separates countless veterans from the military with less-than-honorable discharges due to minor infractions, and refuses to acknowledge that their mental health or sexual trauma played a role in shaping their conduct, the lawsuit states. These veterans are forever stigmatized, rejected from jobs, and barred from benefits like education and health care due to their discharge status. Ken and Angel Perkins of North Canton are seated in one of the two apartments they plan to offer to Afghan refugees in need of temporary housing. Angel Perkins is a retired nurse and chef. Ken Perkins is retired from the U.S. Air Force. (Julie Vennitti Botos, The Repository/TNS) NORTH CANTON, Ohio (Tribune News Service) A North Canton couple is offering a home away from home for Afghan refugees. Ken and Angel Perkins felt compelled to inject some compassion and positivity into a crisis that has seen the evacuation of more than 120,000 people from Afghanistan following President Joe Biden's decision to end military involvement in that country. As a result, they are offering the use of two furnished apartments for displaced Afghan families. Angel Perkins decided to get involved after reading stories about the evacuation. "I sat back and my heart didn't become heavy, it became light," she said. "I asked God, 'What can I do?' I heard, 'Open your home,' and that's what I decided to do. My husband was out. When he came home from Lowe's, I said, 'Honey, we have to talk.'" Angel Perkins is a retired nurse who has volunteered to give COVID-19 vaccinations over the past year. Her husband is a U.S. Air Force retiree who served 24 years. "We wanted to inject some light, love, acceptance and inclusion," Ken Perkins said. "Just to show it's OK to be kind." Since the pandemic, Angel Perkins, who's also a chef, has cooked and served hundreds of meals to local hospital workers at Cleveland Clinic Mercy Hospital and Summa Health, and some local first responders. "Because of the contagion they can't go home to their families some of the staff have literally lived there," she said. The couple will cover all expenses for refugee families, including food. Ken and Angel Perkins of North Canton are offering the use of two apartments they own to Afghan refuge families. (Julie Vennitti Botos, The Repository/TNS) "I don't want them to worry about and be concerned about anything," Angel Perkins said. "Our hope is this idea will get other people involved to help." Ken Perkins, who remodeled the apartments himself, said people reluctant about accepting refugees need to remember their own history, including William "Boss" Hoover who arranged for North Canton to accept British children during World War II. "Everyone in America came from a refugee or an immigrant," he said. "Even the first Americans came across the Bering Strait. That's what makes us strong." Ken Perkins supports President Biden's decision to end the 20-year war. "The former administration set it up for failure by not including the Afghan government in negotiations," he said. "They kneecapped the government, giving them zero power. Biden made the right decision. It was the greatest airlift in history. No one else could have done it but the United States." Angel Perkins said they've been in contact with the International Institute of Akron, which works to resettle refugees in Northeast Ohio. Kevin Walter, advocacy and outreach specialist at the International Institute of Akron, said they aren't sure exactly how many families they will be assisting, but they do anticipate needing temporary housing. "We've resettled one family of nine," he said. Walter said some of the families expected to come to Akron are still being vetted and processed in other cities. Media reports have estimated that 500 Afghans will be brought to Akron. "We're waiting on instructions from our national partners," Walter said. "We are definitely anticipating needing some temporary housing while we look for long-term housing." 2021 www.cantonrep.com. Visit cantonrep.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC. Weather Eye with John Maunder 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 5-9. Weather dice were shown on the cover of my third book The Uncertainty Business - Risks and Opportunities in Weather and Climate, published in 1986. The cover, which has two dice on a monopoly board, with various weather symbols on each side of the dice, was to represent the reality that most if not all of the weather (and ultimately most of the climate) with the exception of human induced weather and climate effects, is ultimately related to how the weather dice fall. Professor Edward Lorenz (1917-2008) was a meteorologist who worked at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in the United States who in 1972, during the 139th meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, posed the question: Predictability: Does the flap of a butterflys wings in Brazil set off a tornado in Texas? This paper resulted in the development of chaos theory or simply the butterfly effect which among other things endeavours to explain why it it is so hard to make good weather forecasts beyond about 10 days, and has implications for making good climate forecasts, particularly when considering the natural causes of climate change. Who or what controls the fall of the weather dice is the ultimate question for all meteorologists and climate scientists... and if the butterfly effect is correct, we may really just have to learn to live and adapt to whatever the weather and the climate provides Thirty years ago, it was unconceivable that the New Zealand or any Government would have a Minister of Climate Change; indeed back then, as weather forecasters and climatologists we just got on with our job of making the best possible weather forecast and providing the best climate advice to all those who requested information, without guidance or interference from the government of the day. How things have changed! Climate change: both sides of the story... a Rotary Conference discussion A panel discussion on Climate Change: Both Sides of the Story was held at a Rotary Conference in Cambridge, New Zealand on June 28, 2008. I was President of the Rotary Club of Otumoetai for 2007-08 at this time, and the Rotary District Governor John Tarbutt asked me to Chair a discussion on the above subject and to arrange the speakers. I was fortunate to be able to obtain the services of Dr James Renwick from NIWA (currently Professor of Climate Science at Victoria University of Wellington in New Zealand), who in the main, took the side of man, and Dr Willem de Lange from the University of Waikato in New Zealand who in the main, took the side of nature. The discussion was held before 600 delegates. I opened the proceedings with a brief overview of the subject with reference to the fact that when I started in the weather and climate business over 50 years ago, nobody would have forecast that in 2007, 15,000 people would attend a climate change conference in Bali (now over 30,000 people attend such conferences). I pointed out that I was the only person invited from New Zealand to attend the key WMO (World Meteorological Organization), UNEP (United Nations Environment Programme), ICSU (International Council for Science) Climate Conference in Villach, Austria, in 1985. This was in the mind of many people the start of the whole complex subject of what role man and in particular greenhouse gases have in controlling our climate. The following is what I said in my opening remarks: Forty-seven years ago, after already being a weather forecaster in New Zealand and Canada for a few years, I was appointed to the staff of the University of Otago as a Lecturer in geography. Among my duties as a Lecturer I presented an Honours course in climatology. At Otago the course on climatology included two main topics, first the causes of climate change, and second the evidence for climate change. At that time, little did I know, nor I suspect any of my students could foresee the explosive nature of the subject of Climate Science as it is now called, during the last decade, and particularly over the past few years. My involvement in climate science has subsequently involved National Meteorological Services in New Zealand, Australia, Canada, Universities in New Zealand, Canada, USA and Ireland, as well as many years involved in the World Meteorological Organization including being President of the WMO Commission for Climatology for eight years. Among the many climate science meetings I have attended, the most significant, is my involvement in the WMO, UNEP, ICSU Conference held in Villach, Austria in October 1985. One hundred experts from 30 countries attended the meeting (in contrast to thousands who now attend such meetings), and I was privileged to be the only New Zealander invited. We were all there as experts in various fields of science endeavouring to do the best we could in looking at the complexities of climate science. Among the principal findings of this conference was... while other factors, such as aerosol concentration, changes in solar energy input, and changes in vegetation, may also influence climate, the greenhouse gases are likely to be the most important cause of climate change over the next century. At that time, even though I was partly responsible for the writing of the paragraph I have just read, I, along with a few of my colleagues, had some misgivings about it, and were somewhat surprised that within a year human-induced climate change caught the imagination of much of the world. Two main views held by climate scientists.Irrespective of my personal views on the matter, it is clear that there are two main views held by climate scientists and others: The first: those who are mainly involved in the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and many or most Government scientists, plus others, such as Al Gore, and many politicians and most journalists who consider that man, including domestic animals, is the prime cause of recent changes in the climate. The second: those - in the main some University scientists, many retired climatologists, and a minority of politicians and journalists, who consider that nature is the main cause of changes in the climate. One of the most fascinating things about the climate change scene is the tremendous growth in the political and economic aspects of it. In 1970, I wrote a book called The Value of the Weather, and later on in 1986 I published a book called The Uncertainty Business - Risks and Opportunities in Weather and Climate. In both books, I made only a few references to global warming or climate change but many references to variations in the weather and climate on a day to day, season to season, and year to year basis. It is my view that these variations are still paramount but the current emphasis seems to be on what is going to happen to the climate 20, 50 and 100 years ahead, and hence the debate we are now to have here this afternoon. Jim and Willem were each given about 20 minutes to state their case, and this was followed by about 20 minutes of questions, some of which I obtained from attendees at the conference, but most were questions which came from me. Prior to the conference, both Jim and Willem agreed that I should ask the questions. The following were some of the questions which I asked. 1. Irrespective of the cause of Climate Change, could you explain why the media and many politicians seem to consider that, in general warming, is a bad thing, and by inference does this mean that, in general cooling, is a good thing? 2. If the IPCC was forecasting a cooling rather than a warming, what difference do you think that would make to Government, UN and Greenpeace attitudes? 3. The Maunder Minimum, from 1650-1715, which was a period of very low sunspot activities, and associated with very cold conditions in Europe, was a significant feature of the history of the last millennium. Are we likely to get another Maunder-like minimum in the near future? 4. During the period of Viking exploration from about 800 to 1300AD the Northern Hemisphere was associated with relatively warm conditions, and in many cases it was warmer then than during the last 30 or 40 years. During the 1200s Greenland had about 3000 settlements and yet by 1550 the last of them had disappeared. There was no human-induced greenhouse warming during that period, so is there any reason why we could not have such a period again. 5. I understand that the IPCC seems to be giving relatively small importance to the role of the sun. Why is this the case? Do we really know all there is to know about solar activity? 6. A key debate in the climate change arena appears to be whether increases in CO2 (from whatever cause) causes warming, or whether warming causes increases in CO2. When do you think we will be able to establish the truth about these statements, or have I got it all wrong? 7. Why is an increase in CO2 not considered to be a good thing? I understand that some scientists suggest that the biosphere is currently suffering from CO2 starvation, and that a doubling of CO2 would increase plant production by 20%. 8. Many or most climate scientists who have publicly stated that they do not agree with the findings of the IPCC are labelled as sceptics, yet economists who disagree with the Reserve Bank on monetary matters are not considered to be economic sceptics, but simply experts who have a different view of things. Why is this so? 9. To Willem: If in the future it can be established without question that the current viewpoint of the IPCC is correct, how would people like yourself and organizations who take the contrary view of the IPCC, deal with this situation? 10. To Jim: If in the future it can be established without question that the current viewpoint of the IPCC is wrong, and that nature is the main driver of climate changes, how would the IPCC, and organizations like NIWA deal with this situation? 11. My understanding is that most climate scientists who support the view that man rather than nature is in control of the climate are Government employees, whereas most climate scientists who support the view that nature, rather than man, is in control of the climate are in the main, retired. On the other hand University Climate Scientists take a variety of positions on this subject. Is there any reason for this? Is it linked to who finances the research, political agendas, or something else? Jim and Willem were then given five minutes to sum up. From what I heard from the attendees, the discussion seemed to be an excellent way of presenting this challenging subject, and my sense was that the majority of the audience there were yet to be convinced that man is really in control (as most media, politicians including the G8 leaders, and the IPCC believe), rather than nature. Jim and Willem agreed on many points, but it was the interpretation of the data, much presented in graphical manner, which was the key difference in their presentation. Jim obviously took in the main the IPCC line, but agreed with Willem that we did not know everything, and Willem took in the main the more academic line, but also agreed that we do not know everything. The Government is putting up a further $10 million is being provided to help people access ongoing food and other essential items. This latest tranche is targeted at the Auckland region, helping providers and organisations to distribute over 50,000 more food parcels, and 20,000 essential wellbeing packs. Our Government is focused on keeping New Zealanders safe from Cobid-19. Were committed to also ensuring people, whanau and communities are able to continue accessing the support they need, especially households who are self-isolating, says Social Development Minister Carmel Sepuloni. Since August 17, 2021, a total of $69.31 million in additional funding has been provided by Government agencies to support providers and organisations serving their communities. The Food Secure Communities programme was funded in Budget 2020 with $32 million over two years. Sepuloni says this funding is to help meet the additional demand on foodbanks, food rescue and other community providers as a result of Covid-19, including during lockdowns. Our Governments response so far has recognised the need for whanau-centred support, iwi-led responses for their local community, as well as support for Maori, Pacific and disabled communities, says Sepuloni. In particular, the Pacific community in Auckland has been impacted by the current outbreak. Theyve made up over half of those having to self-isolate, resulting in entire support networks not being able to activate and mobilise. Through this funding 131 foodbanks, food rescue and community providers around New Zealand are receiving two-year funding to help with increased demand, including access to stock. MSD have also funded Kore Hiakai Zero Hunger Collective, the New Zealand Food Network and Aotearoa Food Rescue Alliance. These organisations continue to work with MSD to strengthen the food security sector. MSD has developed strong relationships and established an approach to working with and supporting Pacific social service providers across Auckland. This includes working with MSD-funded Community Connectors who are embedded with Pacific providers to support the broader Pacific workforce network, says Sepuloni. This funding aims to support them and provide continuity through what is a challenging time, and as we stamp out Covid-19 from the community. Additional access to food stocks through food rescue organisations and other food hubs has increased including the New Zealand Food Network which was established to distribute surplus food from large scale food producers (more than 3100 tonnes of food about 8,972,771 meals) distributed through 50 food hubs. The rapid public health response required to contain the spread of the Delta Variant of Covid-19 has highlighted the need to ensure an equally rapid welfare response, says Sepuloni. The Ministry for Social Development will continue to work with key agencies across the system to ensure that support is coordinated and targeted to areas and populations with the greatest need. Were committed to making sure our response to Covid-19 is rapid, coordinated and efficient, and ensuring people and our communities arent carrying the burden of lockdown alone, says Sepuloni. Anyone who has problems accessing food: You can ask family, friends and neighbours if they can help to deliver food to you. Delivery should be contactless and kept local. You can make online orders and arrangements through local supermarkets and their Priority Assistance service. Countdown: foodshop.countdown.co.nz/shop/content/priority-assistance New World: ishopnewworld.co.nz The Student Volunteer Army have a Grocery Delivery Service. Orders can be made for groceries with deliveries within 48 hours (usually the following morning). Visit www.shop.sva.org.nz to place your order or call 0800 005 902 to order via the phone. If you cant access support through any of the options above, contact your local Civil Defence and Emergency Management Group. Go to: http://www.civildefence.govt.nz/find-your-civil-defence-group/ If you are unable to afford food: Saltwater sprays off the tyres as the 4WD police truck heads north along the white sandy expanse of 90 Mile Beach. Gulls ride the wind as waves surge up the sand. Senior Constable Leon Shepherd expertly steers around the edge of the foaming water and avoids the soft sand at the base of the dunes. Hes known as Smiley to his mates and it doesnt take long to discover why. Get him talking about his passions for policing - and fishing - and a beaming smile spreads across his face. I enjoy doing my job with the community rather than policing by myself, says Leon. Every day is different, going from Fisheries to hanging out with the community. Ive built quite a good rapport with the community. Leon works out of New Zealands most northerly police station - Houhora, 70km south of Cape Reinga. Its nestled in the heart of the seaside community, up the road from the fishing wharf and 50 metres from the local cafe, Four Square and bottle shop. Leon has Aopouri and Ngati Kuri iwi links that connect him to the Far North whenua.Hes been back for three years, learning about the place and the people. Pre-COVID, during the busy summer, he had the help of his sister, Senior Constable Gail Shepherd, sole-charge officer at Kohukohu. There are up to 20 buses a day going along the beach. And on the stretch of road to the Cape there can be a queue that tails back about 4km.Its cool to have us both working in the area we grew up in.The Far North's stunning coastline presents its own policing challenges. Photo: NZ Police. Far North policing couldnt be any more different to policing in the big cities. Wild horses graze the dunes, stranded turtles occasionally need rescuing, there are people trying to illegally take a feed of toheroa shellfish and tension among those collecting mussel spat. While Leon is an expert on beach driving, where road rules apply, others frequently come to grief. Calls for help from motorists stuck in soft sand are left to the professional towies. Leon says during the summer there are lots of callouts about speed and poor driving. The washouts on the beach cause a lot of our problems, especially when they hit them at 100km per hour. We do lose a few vehicles in the tide as some people dont know about incoming tides. Ive come across kids lying on the roof of vehicles driving down the gravel roads to the beaches and people doing 80km per hour down the beach with kids on the roof their cars. Driving on the beach you can hit a soft spot and the kids go flying off. Weve had a few fatals with cars rolling over and then people not watching out for pedestrians. It can take all day to sort out crashes north of Te Paki, with organising tow trucks and getting travellers back to Kaitaia. Back on the beach, when tempers flare during mussel spat season Leon is there to quell the tension. About 90 per cent of New Zealands mussel spat is harvested here and its a competitive business. It also causes a bit of havoc for our iwi who dont like them driving machinery into the ocean. Now theyve come to an agreement and everyone is OK. The big issue on the beach is the taking of toheroa. Its illegal to take theres a total ban - but weve had a bit of problem with locals and outsiders coming up and filling up buckets. "Ive been working with Fisheries, doing stings in the sand dunes. Building connections with other agencies is crucial. When you work in the city you dont get the opportunity to work with the other agencies like Fisheries and Customs. I work with them quite closely, gathering evidence and then I leave them to do the prosecutions side. He also works with iwi to get Fisheries officers authorised to go on to Maori land. Ive had an incident when the packhorse crayfish were running. A heap of crayfish was dumped before the divers went through a checkpoint. Leon discovered the discarded kaimoana and has worked with iwi for MPI staff to gain access to land. Having a healthy fishery benefits everyone. Its something everyone has to look out for up here because once its gone its gone, aye. Leon has worked alongside Fire and Emergency, St John and local health clinics and doctors. The other day we had a car crash and the ambulance had to come from Mangonui. So I called the local health clinic and got a couple of nurses and a doctor. They jumped in the car and came to the crash scene. Thats just the way the community works, and theyre all keen to help out. Meanwhile, back at the station... Photo: NZ Police. As a sole-charge officer, his problem-solving skills are sought by locals and visitors alike. Cattle rustling is a problem but is tricky to police - sometimes thefts can be in-house because people have a link to the whenua and think they can help themselves to whats growing on it. Not wearing seatbelts and drink-driving are also issues. Every now and again we have the highway guys coming up here and their visibility helps deter. Recently there was an issue with a pack of feral dogs killing stock and attacking walkers on popular hiking tracks. The tracks were closed and the Department of Conservation have been involved with shooting the dogs. There is no typical day policing this beat. Some days can be nice and quiet and I can do enquiries or patrol all day. But other days can be car crashes, family harm, through to land disputes and iwi issues. Off the beach and on to SH1, Leon pulls over in a rest area. It offers excellent views towards the Cape and across to Cape Maria van Diemen. Out to sea, massive waves crash over Pandora Reef. Pointing towards Te Werahi Beach, Leon says the golden rolling sand dunes are the site of battle grounds and pa. Finding human remains is another part of the job. We still get full skeletons that are uncovered. All the tracks through there had to be closed after people started coming here and hunting for the skulls. Normally Ill go in and confirm theyre not recent. There are still one or two people who have gone missing over the years and havent been found. Ill borrow a quad and go out and take a kaumatua or an elder to bless them. Then we put them in kete and bury them. I find it interesting and we do it in a manner that respects them. For me its about covering off that its not a missing person. 'Not a bad office, aye...' .Photo: NZ Police. From the car park its an easy walk down to the iconic Cape Reinga lighthouse but a slightly different story on way back up. Cape Reinga has huge spiritual significance and an ancient pohutukawa marks the special place. According to belief, after death all Maori spirits travel up the coast and to the pohutukawa on the headland of Te Rerenga Wairua. They descend into the underworld (Reinga) by sliding down a root into the sea. They then travel underwater to the Three Kings Islands, ascend Ohaua - the highest point of the islands - and bid a last farewell before returning to the ancestral homeland Hawaiiki-A-Nui. Sitting on the rock wall overlooking the point, Leon takes a moment, looking toward the lighthouse, famous signpost and out to sea. Not a bad office, aye, he beams. Hes not wrong. Smiley - Senior Constable Leon Shepherd. Photo: NZ Police - Kristin Edge/NZ Police Bay of Plenty If you love working out doors and in a small team then we have the role for you. We are needing someone who has either maintenance... View or Apply on GoodWork.co.nz Scientists say theyve found the first evidence of tool use by a kea for the purpose of self-care, in a new study from the University of Auckland. The study, published in Scientific Reports, uses observations of a disabled kea (Nestor notabilis) named Bruce, housed at Willowbank Wildlife Reserve in Christchurch, who has overcome his disability by using pebbles to preen himself. Although anecdotal reports exist for self-care tool use in pet parrots, this form of tool use is rare in the wild, and this is the first time it has been observed in a kea. It is also the first scientific observation of a parrot using a pebble for self-care. Bruce the kea. Photo: Supplied. PhD candidate Amalia Bastos from the Universitys School of Psychology says Bruces tool use highlights the intelligence of this alpine parrot species. Kea do not regularly display tool use in the wild, so to have an individual innovate tool use in response to his disability shows great flexibility in their intelligence. Theyre able to adapt and flexibly solve new problems as they emerge, says Amalia. Bruces behaviour was consistent and repeated, and so is regarded as intentional and innovative. The pebbles he picked up were different to those picked up by other kea, they were always of a certain size. This points to an intentional act: to find a way to preen himself without the top half of his beak. Bruce was found as a juvenile by a researcher at Arthurs Pass in 2013 with the upper half of his beak missing. Its not known exactly how the injury occurred, but it is thought to be the result of an accident with a pest trap. He was brought to the South Island Wildlife Hospital, where he was nursed back to health and now lives in a large aviary at Willowbank Wildlife Reserve. Although keepers ensure that Bruce has access to soft foods which can be eaten without an upper bill, he has also learned to eat harder foods by pressing them up against hard objects. Bruce the kea. Photo: Supplied. Bruce has adapted well to his injury and can manipulate various objects by holding them between his tongue and lower mandible. His innovative pebble preening behaviour was first noted by keepers at Willowbank in late 2019. To establish this behaviour was in fact intentional tool use, researchers observed Bruce in the aviary at Willowbank Wildlife Reserve across nine days. They recorded instances of him manipulating objects or preening himself and were able to establish five lines of evidence to show that his tool use is intentional. The first line of evidence the researchers found was that in over 90 per cent of instances where Bruce picked up a pebble, he then went on to use it to help preen. Secondly, in 95 per cent of instances where Bruce dropped a pebble, he retrieved or replaced it before continuing to preen. Third, they also observed Bruce selected pebbles of a specific size that were suitable for preening, rather than randomly sampling pebbles in his environment. Additionally, from observations of the other 12 kea in the aviary, they also found that no other bird used pebbles while preening, and that when the other individuals did interact with objects, they selected stones of different sizes to those Bruce used. Amalia says it is important to examine rare behaviours like this through repeated observations to ensure accurate reporting. This paper also provides a new framework through which we can provide robust evidence for rare behaviours, says Amalia. Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern announced today that Auckland will stay in Covid-19 alert level 4 for another week until 11.59pm next Tuesday. Cabinet has made an in principle decision that Tamaki Makaurau will then move to alert level 3. The rest of New Zealand will remain in alert level 2 until Tuesday next week. Alert level settings will be reviewed next Monday. While there is nothing to indicate there is Covid-19 outside of Auckland, the lower restrictions there mean a far greater risk of spread if it did escape, says Ardern. Director-General of Health Dr Ashley Bloomfield says the "lockdown is working" and it is really only a small number of cases that the ministry is focused on. "The testing is at a good level ... so our view and our advice is that another week in lockdown in alert level 4 in Auckland gives us our best chance to really finish the job off here." Prior to the announcement, Otago University epidemiologist professor Michael Baker said Monday's Covid-19 numbers supported the argument for Auckland staying at alert level 4 for at least another week. "So some of these cases in the community could spark up or flare up as outbreaks or clusters and that is not what we want to see at the moment." There was already concern about the situation in Auckland before today's numbers, he said. "And that is not as much just the numbers but the fact we're still seeing each day unexpected cases and that is just as important as the total." Any lowering of the alert level in Auckland would take the pressure off the virus and risk undoing all the good work the city had already done to suppress the virus, Baker said. Cases rise after yesterday's dip There are 33 new community cases of Covid-19 being reported on Monday, the Ministry of Health has confirmed. In a statement, the ministry said there were also three new cases in managed isolation facilities. All the new cases are in Auckland, bringing the total number of community cases in the current outbreak to 955. The ministry said 32 of yesterday's cases have been epidemiologically linked. The one case yet to be linked is a person who presented to Middlemore Hospital on Saturday. There are seven others in their household. All seven are included in today's 33. There are eight epidemiologically linked sub-clusters. The two largest subclusters are the Mangere church group - 381 and the Birkdale social network cluster - 76. There are nine epidemiologically unlinked sub-clusters, the ministry said. In hospital, there are 21 cases - four in North Shore, seven in Auckland and 10 in Middlemore. There are also four cases in ICU or HDU. That brings the total of cases since the pandemic began to 3593. Ardern said surveillance testing of healthcare workers and essential workers had also not identified any transmission. "It's also clear there is not widespread transmission of the virus in Auckland." Food parcel demand A Pacific social service provider says demand for food and essential items in Auckland remains high and a newly-announced government fund will help. The government this morning announced an extra $10 million for food and essential items. Pasifika Futures chief executive Debbie Sorensen says the organisation is in contact with more than 300 Pasifika people who are in quarantine. Up to now, Pasifika Futures has spent more than $7.5m on 22,000 support packages and although delivery of the packages was a bit slow during the first two weeks of the lockdown, there is no wait now, Sorensen says. Charges considered for Wanaka travellers Police said they're considering the charges to file against the couple who flouted lockdown rules by travelling to Wanaka from Auckland last week. The couple used their essential worker status at a boundary checkpoint to get to Hamilton and then flew to their holiday home in Wanaka. The couple - a 26-year-old woman and 35-year-old man - will be prosecuted for breaching the current Health Order. The couple will be issued with a summons to appear in court next week. Police said they were notified via the Covid-19 compliance reporting tool online, and found the pair on Saturday afternoon. Meanwhile Queenstown Lakes District Mayor Jim Boult wants to know what police will be doing to avoid another breach of lockdown rules and potential spread of Covid-19 in the local community. Boult told Morning Report the act of selfishness had put the town's Covid-free status and economic wellbeing at risk and that he would be consulting with police on the matter. "I just don't under the selfishness of people who think it's ok to do that," he said. Boult said it was not the first incident of its kind and now wanted a plan in place to mitigate the risk of people slipping across the alert-level borders into the region. "Do they give any thought to the folk they are possibly endangering? I think not. But my question today is to the police and how we can ensure this won't happen again." Ardern's message to Aucklanders Ardern had a special shout-out to Aucklanders who have been doing it tough in level 4: "To all Aucklanders, you've done an amazing job so far protecting yourselves, your family and your community. "We owe you a huge debt of gratitude ... but the cases are telling us we have additional work to do." She said four weeks into lockdown, it might be tempting to relax their bubble, but asked everyone to treat every day as seriously as they did day one. People should have an assigned person who goes to the supermarket, Ardern said. Auckland Hospital limits visitors Auckland District Health Board will only be allowing patient visits on compassionate grounds, after a nurses union launched legal action challenging it's policy around visitors. From 7am on Tuesday morning, visits to Auckland Hospital will be restricted to compassionate grounds. This follows the New Zealand Nurses Organisation taking legal action against the health board to tighten up its visitor policy to match Counties Manukau and Waitemata DHBs. Previously, Auckland Hospital patients were allowed to nominate two visitors, one of whom could visit on any one day. All visitors were screened for Covid-19 symptoms. Suburbs focused on for mystery cases Seven Auckland suburbs will be the focus of testing and contact tracing this week as health officials try to crack the mystery Covid-19 cases. Health officials are on the hunt for the virus in Mt Eden, Massey, Mangere, Favona, Papatoetoe, Otara and Manurewa. That was where they had the biggest concerns about the 34 cases with no known links to the current clusters. Health authorities had already been surveillance testing - looking for the virus in asymptomatic people rather than waiting for it to turn up when people get sick. Last week they were at essential workplaces, including Countdown's distribution centre and its two big warehouses for online deliveries. Covid-19 in Australia New South Wales has had 1257 new local cases of Covid-19 and seven deaths in the 24 hours to 8pm last night. There have now been 184 Covid-19-related deaths in New South Wales since 16 June 2021 and 240 deaths in total since the beginning of the pandemic. NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian said 46.2 percent of NSW adults over 16 have received two doses of vaccines and 78.5 percent have received their first dose. Meanwhile, Victoria has recorded 473 new locally acquired Covid-19 cases, the highest single-day tally of the outbreak so far. Queensland today recorded two new locally acquired Covid-19 cases in the past 24 hours, but both were in home quarantine. ACT recorded 13 new community cases of Covid-19 and at least 10 of them spent some time infectious in the community. Six of the new cases are yet to be linked to a known case or transmission site. -RNZ. A new low is about to move in to northern NZ from the north west and bring heavy eastern rain while it does so, good news for Hawke's Bay which is much drier than usual and could do with the wet weather. "Rainfall accumulations are moving around a bit and we strongly advise people to keep up to date with www.RuralWeather.co.nz and WeatherWatch.co.nz hyper-local rainfall totals," says a WeatherWatch.co.nz spokesperson. "These are the most accurate rain forecasts in NZ, powered by IBM. Also, keep up to date with any MetService watches and warnings - these can now be found LIVE on the WeatherWatch website here. Rain forecast model for Wednesday. Images: WeatherWatch.co.nz "We do expect so changes in the forecast rainfall totals in the coming 24 hours as the system moves closer and our IBM computer modelling fine tunes expected rainfall coupled with how localised terrain (hills, ranges etc) may increase or decrease those forecast totals. In NZ this is always the main reason rain forecasts can shift around a bit." Latest estimates WeatherWatch has show 60 to 100mm possible along the eastern North Island over the days ahead - rainfall totals vary across the region and those in the ranges will likely have greater totals than those on the plains. Some localised areas my receive 100 to 150mm. Also, Northern Hawke's Bay may have twice the totals of those further south. Rain will fall across the North Island and into the upper South Island too. Unlimited website access 24/7 Unlimited e-Edition access 24/7 The best local, regional and national news in sports, politics, business and more! With a Digital Only subscription, you'll receive unlimited access to our website and e-Edition. Our digital products are available 24/7 and are accessible anywhere, anytime. Do you already have a paid subscription to any of the SWNewsMedia newspapers? If so, you can Activate your Premium online account by clicking here. Activation will allow you to view unlimited online articles each month. To activate your Premium online account, the email address and phone number provided with your paid newspaper subscription needs to match the information you use in setting up your online user account. If you are having trouble or want to confirm what email address and phone number is listed on your subscription account, please call 952-345-6682 or email circulation@swpub.com and we'll be happy to assist. Our Most Popular Magazines + Digital We get it. You live by the Ski Valleys snow report even when youre hours away. You follow every Taos post on Instagram. Our small town occupies a BIG part of your heart. Keep in touch with all things Taos when you subscribe to FIVE of our national award-winning magazines, plus access to the website and e-edition for a full year at the special low rate of just $55. Thank you for Reading! Please log in, or sign up for a new account and Purchase a Subscription to continue reading. abhishek46 Senior - BHPian Join Date: Oct 2010 Location: Bangalore Posts: 1,599 Thanked: 4,489 Times My Hyundai Creta Diesel MT - An Ownership Review 1. A Brief Background It was Circa July 2021, after having used a Polo 1.2 MPI for close to a decade, I finally decided on acquiring a new vehicle. Few months back, I had replaced our 10 year old i10 1.2 (which was primarily used by my father), with an Ignis. The Ignis would be a separate story, on a separate day. This thread, however, would be a record of How I ended up owning a Creta Diesel MT, and My experiences with it. 2. The Buying Process 2.1 Criterion 1. Should fit into a budget of around Rs 13-17 Lakhs On-road 2. High Ground clearance 3. Punchy & Powerful Engine, Preferably Diesel 4. Adequate seating Space for 5 with decent boot space 5. Fuss-free service center experience Based on the above criterion, I started out the buying process by shortlisting the following vehicles: 1. MS S-Cross 2. MS XL6 3. Honda City 4. KIA Seltos 5. Hyundai Creta 2.2 Notes: My existing vehicle was the VW Polo (which is already a 4m vehicle). Therefore, I did not consider any 4m Compact SUVs/Sedans. Vehicles like Tata Harrier, Xuv700, Hector etc., were not considered due to their massive footprint, which would have been difficult to accommodate in my tight parking slot. Vehicles like Taigun, Kushaq were not considered because of their high price (1.5 TSI variants) & un-reliable nature. In addition, paying Rs 16.xx lakhs for a 1.0 capacity engine is not acceptable for me. 2.3 Test Drive Methodology All of those above vehicles were test driven under the exact same test drive route (which is a 10Km route around my neighborhood). All of the Test drive vehicles, were neatly maintained, and rattle free for most part. 2.4 Test Drive Impressions The Test Drive impressions are not intended in any way to demean anyone. Hyundai Creta (Diesel) Likes: 1. Traditional, Beige colored interiors which gives an airy feeling 2. Good, Cushy ride quality 3. Excellent Diesel Engine - Scores well in Refinement, Efficiency, Performance. 4. Good Ground clearance and satisfactory under-body protection 5. Adequately feature loaded. The Basics are pretty much covered, even in Mid variants. 6. Very good service centers reach. More than 1200+ service centers. 7. Body panels do not flex much on application of finger tip force. Dislikes: 1. Lack of some important features, compared to equivalent Seltos variants. In spite of Higher Sticker Price. 2. Controversial design will not appeal to everyone's tastes. 3. Poor expected safety record. 4. Fit & Finish though good, are still not up to VW levels. Overall: An Almost Perfect vehicle (Except for the safety concern). No Major short-comings found. S-Cross Likes: 1. Decent equipment levels, at an affordable price tag. 2. Good ground clearance 3. Superb ride quality 4. Smooth & silent Engine, with good low rpm response. 5. Excellent Service center reach Dislikes: 1. Black Interiors look uninspiring, and borderline dull. 2. Petrol Only Option. 3. Petrol Engine has no punch in Mid range. 4. Hatchback Appearance. 5. The MID along with it's adjustment 'stick' is a pain to use. 6. 5-Speed Gearbox is a serious handicap on the Highways. 7. Absolutely Zero under body protection. 8. Un-necessary hassles of Hybrid engine issues (ISG recalls, Long term reliability of the Li-Ion battery) 9. Thin body panels. Door panels flex easily in the finger tip test. Overall: It came across as a very un-exciting, under-whelming vehicle, I simply could not 'connect' with the vehicle. XL6 Likes: 1. Decent equipment levels, at an affordable price tag. 2. Decent ground clearance 3. Reasonable ride quality 4. Smooth & silent Engine, with good low rpm response. 5. Literally Acres of Space of the inside. 6. Decent Output from the All LED Headlamps. 7. Excellent Service center reach. Dislikes: 1. Puny Tyres, un-deserving of a vehicle of this size. 2. Petrol Only Option. 3. Petrol Engine has no punch in the Mid range 4. The MID along with it's adjustment 'stick' is a shame. 5. 5-Speed Gearbox is a serious handicap on the Highways. 6. Absolutely Zero under-body protection. 7. Un-necessary hassles of Hybrid engine issues (ISG recalls, Long term reliability of the Li-Ion battery) 8. No 7 seat option. I needed 3 seats in the middle row. 9. Thin body panels flex with a finger tip force. Overall: A very competent vehicle. The primary reasons of not considering this were the VAN type appearance, Puny wheels, and un-enthusiastic engine. Honda City Likes: 1. Very Good equipment levels 2. Superb Safety Kit even in base variants. 3. Smooth Petrol Engine, with decent low rpm response. 4. Efficient Diesel Engine. 5. Spacious cabin 6. Huge Boot 7. Good Ride quality at low speeds on broken roads. Dislikes: 1. Low ground clearance due to the lower positioning of the engine guard & the Precariously long front overhang. On a 10 KM test drive around my neighborhood, it scraped it's belly 3 times, & the front bumper kissed the asphalt once. 2. Flat mid range of the Petrol Engine. The Engine gets a bit loud after 3K RPM. 3. Diesel Engine is neither punchy, nor refined. 4. Low seating position. 5. Skinny 185 section tyres. Overall: The Low ground clearance issues sealed the fate for the Honda City. Kia Seltos (Diesel) Likes: 1. Wonderful Design inside & out 2. Great driving position 3. Adequately feature loaded 4. Good clearance and satisfactory under-body protection 5. Wonderful Diesel Engine. Dislikes: 1. Slightly hard ride quality. Bumps and road imperfections make their presence felt. 2. Gloss Piano Black Plastics will be a pain to maintain. 3. Thin Dealership & Service Network 4. Poor Safety record Overall: An Almost Perfect vehicle. Could not make the cut, primarily because of it's less than optimal Service Center Reach. 2.5 Final Conclusion I opted for the Hyundai Creta Diesel MT. The primary reasons that sealed the deal were the excellent Diesel Engine, Cushy Ride, and the vast service center outreach. I had no choice, but to 'ignore' the potential poor safety rating, just because no other offering in the market was offering such a fantastic Diesel Option. 2.6 Variant Selection I am not a fan of Sun-roofs, due to the falling coconuts phenomena in southern areas. I am not a fan of too many features, bling etc. either. Hence, I settled for the Mid Spec S variant. 2.7 The Diesel vs Petrol Decision The turbo-petrol option was too expensive, and too fuel in-efficient for my needs. The NA petrol option did not appeal too much either, due to it's subdued real world performance. To add fuel to the fire, I had spent 2 months driving around in my Father-In-law's 1st Gen Creta (1.6 Diesel). After experiencing the colossal torque of that Diesel, and the good fuel efficiency, I just could not go back to a Petrol. 2.8 The MT vs AT Debate I prefer the simplicity & direct-ness of Manual Transmissions. I do not like AT boxes. 3. Booking & Delivery Process I opted to book the car via Advaith Hyundai, ORR Bangalore, as I had heard good things about them on the TeamBhp Creta thread. The vehicle was booked in the last week of July 2021. The Allocation was received exactly in 1 month time. The vehicle was subsequently delivered, 9 days after the allocation. The overall experience with the Dealership was extraordinary. Dealer did not push for un-necessary up selling, useless accessories etc. To add, on the delivery day, everything was smooth, and organized in a timely manner. The documentation was ready, the vehicle was ready, everything was already streamlined, before I walked in for the delivery. Some Pictures from Day 0. The view from the Front: Front Quarter: From the Sides: Towards the Rear: The quirky rear: It was Circa July 2021, after having used a Polo 1.2 MPI for close to a decade, I finally decided on acquiring a new vehicle.Few months back, I had replaced our 10 year old i10 1.2 (which was primarily used by my father), with an Ignis.The Ignis would be a separate story, on a separate day.This thread, however, would be a record of How I ended up owning a Creta Diesel MT, and My experiences with it.1. Should fit into a budget of around Rs 13-17 Lakhs On-road2. High Ground clearance3. Punchy & Powerful Engine, Preferably Diesel4. Adequate seating Space for 5 with decent boot space5. Fuss-free service center experienceBased on the above criterion, I started out the buying process by shortlisting the following vehicles:1. MS S-Cross2. MS XL63. Honda City4. KIA Seltos5. Hyundai CretaMy existing vehicle was the VW Polo (which is already a 4m vehicle).Therefore, I did not consider any 4m Compact SUVs/Sedans.Vehicles like Tata Harrier, Xuv700, Hector etc., were not considered due to their massive footprint, which would have been difficult to accommodate in my tight parking slot.Vehicles like Taigun, Kushaq were not considered because of their high price (1.5 TSI variants) & un-reliable nature.In addition, paying Rs 16.xx lakhs for a 1.0 capacity engine is not acceptable for me.All of those above vehicles were test driven under the exact same test drive route (which is a 10Km route around my neighborhood).All of the Test drive vehicles, were neatly maintained, and rattle free for most part.The Test Drive impressions are not intended in any way to demean anyone.Likes:1. Traditional, Beige colored interiors which gives an airy feeling2. Good, Cushy ride quality3. Excellent Diesel Engine - Scores well in Refinement, Efficiency, Performance.4. Good Ground clearance and satisfactory under-body protection5. Adequately feature loaded. The Basics are pretty much covered, even in Mid variants.6. Very good service centers reach. More than 1200+ service centers.7. Body panels do not flex much on application of finger tip force.Dislikes:1. Lack of some important features, compared to equivalent Seltos variants. In spite of Higher Sticker Price.2. Controversial design will not appeal to everyone's tastes.3. Poor expected safety record.4. Fit & Finish though good, are still not up to VW levels.Overall: An Almost Perfect vehicle (Except for the safety concern). No Major short-comings found.Likes:1. Decent equipment levels, at an affordable price tag.2. Good ground clearance3. Superb ride quality4. Smooth & silent Engine, with good low rpm response.5. Excellent Service center reachDislikes:1. Black Interiors look uninspiring, and borderline dull.2. Petrol Only Option.3. Petrol Engine has no punch in Mid range.4. Hatchback Appearance.5. The MID along with it's adjustment 'stick' is a pain to use.6. 5-Speed Gearbox is a serious handicap on the Highways.7. Absolutely Zero under body protection.8. Un-necessary hassles of Hybrid engine issues (ISG recalls, Long term reliability of the Li-Ion battery)9. Thin body panels. Door panels flex easily in the finger tip test.Overall: It came across as a very un-exciting, under-whelming vehicle, I simply could not 'connect' with the vehicle.Likes:1. Decent equipment levels, at an affordable price tag.2. Decent ground clearance3. Reasonable ride quality4. Smooth & silent Engine, with good low rpm response.5. Literally Acres of Space of the inside.6. Decent Output from the All LED Headlamps.7. Excellent Service center reach.Dislikes:1. Puny Tyres, un-deserving of a vehicle of this size.2. Petrol Only Option.3. Petrol Engine has no punch in the Mid range4. The MID along with it's adjustment 'stick' is a shame.5. 5-Speed Gearbox is a serious handicap on the Highways.6. Absolutely Zero under-body protection.7. Un-necessary hassles of Hybrid engine issues (ISG recalls, Long term reliability of the Li-Ion battery)8. No 7 seat option. I needed 3 seats in the middle row.9. Thin body panels flex with a finger tip force.Overall: A very competent vehicle. The primary reasons of not considering this were the VAN type appearance, Puny wheels, and un-enthusiastic engine.Likes:1. Very Good equipment levels2. Superb Safety Kit even in base variants.3. Smooth Petrol Engine, with decent low rpm response.4. Efficient Diesel Engine.5. Spacious cabin6. Huge Boot7. Good Ride quality at low speeds on broken roads.Dislikes:1. Low ground clearance due to the lower positioning of the engine guard & the Precariously long front overhang. On a 10 KM test drive around my neighborhood, it scraped it's belly 3 times, & the front bumper kissed the asphalt once.2. Flat mid range of the Petrol Engine. The Engine gets a bit loud after 3K RPM.3. Diesel Engine is neither punchy, nor refined.4. Low seating position.5. Skinny 185 section tyres.Overall: The Low ground clearance issues sealed the fate for the Honda City.Likes:1. Wonderful Design inside & out2. Great driving position3. Adequately feature loaded4. Good clearance and satisfactory under-body protection5. Wonderful Diesel Engine.Dislikes:1. Slightly hard ride quality. Bumps and road imperfections make their presence felt.2. Gloss Piano Black Plastics will be a pain to maintain.3. Thin Dealership & Service Network4. Poor Safety recordOverall: An Almost Perfect vehicle. Could not make the cut, primarily because of it's less than optimal Service Center Reach.I opted for the Hyundai Creta Diesel MT.The primary reasons that sealed the deal were the excellent Diesel Engine, Cushy Ride, and the vast service center outreach.I had no choice, but to 'ignore' the potential poor safety rating, just because no other offering in the market was offering such a fantastic Diesel Option.I am not a fan of Sun-roofs, due to the falling coconuts phenomena in southern areas.I am not a fan of too many features, bling etc. either.Hence, I settled for the Mid Spec S variant.The turbo-petrol option was too expensive, and too fuel in-efficient for my needs.The NA petrol option did not appeal too much either, due to it's subdued real world performance.To add fuel to the fire, I had spent 2 months driving around in my Father-In-law's 1st Gen Creta (1.6 Diesel).After experiencing the colossal torque of that Diesel, and the good fuel efficiency, I just could not go back to a Petrol.I prefer the simplicity & direct-ness of Manual Transmissions.I do not like AT boxes.I opted to book the car via Advaith Hyundai, ORR Bangalore, as I had heard good things about them on the TeamBhp Creta thread.The vehicle was booked in the last week of July 2021.The Allocation was received exactly in 1 month time.The vehicle was subsequently delivered, 9 days after the allocation.The overall experience with the Dealership was extraordinary.Dealer did not push for un-necessary up selling, useless accessories etc.To add, on the delivery day, everything was smooth, and organized in a timely manner.The documentation was ready, the vehicle was ready, everything was already streamlined, before I walked in for the delivery.Some Pictures from Day 0.The view from the Front:Front Quarter:From the Sides:Towards the Rear:The quirky rear: Last edited by abhishek46 : 12th September 2021 at 12:26 . In brief: With remote work now the norm for so many people, and a full-time return to the office looking further away than ever, does working from home make people better employees? According to a recently published study by Microsoft, no, it doesnt. It actually results in less communication and collaboration between teams, which could impact productivity and innovation. Microsofts peer-reviewed study, published in the journal Nature Human Behaviour, covers 61,000 employees. It looked at anonymized data of their working patterns starting December 2019before the lockdownsup to June 2020. The researchers concluded that the shift to company-wide remote work caused the collaboration network to become more siloed, with workers less likely to communicate with those in other departments. Microsoft said collaboration time employees spent with other groups dropped by about 25% compared to pre-pandemic levels. Without intervention, the effects we discovered have the potential to impact workers ability to acquire and share new information across groups, and as a result, affect productivity and innovation, Microsoft wrote in an accompanying post. Additionally, there was an increase in asynchronous communication, including email, SMS or corporate chat, calendars, and instant messages. Synchronous communicationthe likes of phone and video calls and face-to-face meetingsdeclined. Based on previous research, we believe that the shift to less rich communication media may have made it more difficult for workers to convey and process complex information, the Microsoft researchers wrote. While some say people do less work at home, the study showed that the average number of hours an employee worked in a week increased. Not surprisingly, the volume of emails and instant messages they sent and received also increased, but the number of hours spent in meetings declined. A different study from last year found that while people were spending fewer hours in meetings, the frequency of shorter meetings had gone up. Microsoft believes adopting a hybrid work system would only mitigate the problem of reduced productivity and innovation rather than address it. Summarizing, the researchers wrote, In light of these findings, companies should be thoughtful about if and how they choose to adopt long-term work-from-home policies. Conversely, Microsoft employees told a separate study that their feelings of inclusion and support from managers are at all-time highs, and they feel no less productive than before. But not everyone found remote work enabled the best work-life balance, time to focus, and time to collaborate. The results came on the same day that Microsoft gave up on trying to predict when it would fully reopen its US offices. The company had originally given October 4 as a date, but, as with so many things, the Covid-19 Delta variant as thrown a spanner in the works. Apple has also been forced to reassess its plans for a worker return. It originally wanted the majority of its workforce to come back in for three days per week this month, but that was changed to October at the earliest. The date was recently pushed again until January 2022, though it could be even later as many staff have expressed concerns over returning to the office too early. What just happened? While trying to discover games removed from GeForce Now, a user named Ighor July ended up finding some surprises in Nvidia's database. Besides the PlayStation 4/5 and Nintendo Wii games not available for PC, Ighor also found references to Dolphin, a Nintendo GameCube/Wii emulator for PC and mobile platforms. Ighor found the database entries four months ago, but after the lack of response from Nvidia, he decided to publish his findings. To access the database of GeForce Now games, Ighor collected the URL of the server responsible for handling the web requests, which is found on the app's console.log file. Playing with a GraphQL editor, Ighor was able to fetch over 18,000 results, leading him to create and run a proxy server to check what games were hidden in the database. While going through the results, PlayStation titles not available for PC were found, including God of War, Gran Turismo 7, Uncharted: Legacy of Thieves Collection, Ghost of Tsushima and Sackboy: A Big Adventure. In a separate report, other titles said to be included in the database are Demon's Souls, Final Fantasy 7 Remake, Ratchet & Clank, Deracine, Horizon Forbidden West and Returnal. BloodBorne, which many believe is coming to PC, wasn't present in the database. Moreover, the Dolphin emulator was also spotted, alongside some Nintendo Switch games like Mario + Rabbids Kingdom Battle, Ultra Street Fighter II: The Final Challengers and New Super Mario Bros., which featured an image with an "Nvidia Confidential" banner. Although this may look like a massive leak of upcoming PC games, it's far from conclusive. This database could have just been imported with unnecessary entries, or maybe Nvidia plans to offer console titles through its cloud gaming platform. The latter would still be pretty sweet, allowing you to play console exclusives on your PC. However, the Dolphin emulator listing feels suspicious. Nintendo states that copying console games in any form is prohibited, including dumping games to play on Dolphin. This shouldn't be different when using a cloud gaming platform. Unless Nvidia has found a way to circumvent Nintendo's policy or has reached an agreement with the company, this leak might raise some issues for Nvidia. Out of more than 18,000 results, there were also many applications, including 3DS Max, Maya, Adobe Photoshop, Microsoft Office and Unreal Engine. These are most likely used by developers for working purposes. Other apps found in the database included client platforms such as Origin, Uplay and GOG, which are probably for third-party game testing. Games removed from the platform were also spotted. Image credit: Ighor The big picture: Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak has joined forces with former Apple engineer Alex Fielding to launch a private space company. Based on what little we know about the company thus far, it seems as if the startup is all about space sustainability. Privateer Space aims to keep space safe and accessible to all humankind. In a teaser video on YouTube, the firm mentions taking care of what we have so the next generation can be better together. In announcing the startup on Twitter, Wozniak said the company will be unlike the others. So, what does it all mean? Taken at face value, one could assume that this is simply another private space company in the same category as Blue Origin, Virgin Galactic or SpaceX. But, the wording used in the video and Wozniaks own admission that its unlike the others seems to suggest otherwise. On Twitter, Fielding said he was thrilled to be part of the AMOS conference in Hawaii this week. For the uninitiated, the AMOS conference is described as the top scientific conference in the field of space situational awareness / space domain awareness. Indeed, seems that Privateer Space is all about space sustainability. In a press release from August, a company called Desktop Metal referenced Privateer Space, calling it a satellite company focused on monitoring and cleaning up objects in space. Wozniak and Fielding have worked together previously. Back in 2002, the two founded a company called Wheels of Zeus that developed GPS-based tracking tags. The firms tech was licensed by Motorola in 2004 but the company shut down a couple of years later and sold its assets to ZonTrak. The AMOS conference runs from September 14 through the 17th in Maui. Masthead credit Pixabay PSA: If you own an Apple device, you may have noticed an unscheduled update notification today. You may want to perform those updates at your earliest convenience. The patches are for iOS, watchOS, and macOS and fix a major security flaw that has been actively exploited since February to install Pegasus spyware on devices without user intervention. On Monday, Apple pushed out emergency updates for iOS, watchOS, and macOS. The security patches were issued in response to a massive exploit that allowed the operating systems to be infected with spyware without interaction from the user. Security researchers at the University of Toronto's Citizen Lab disclosed the vulnerability dubbed "ForcedEntry" to Apple last Tuesday. The group discovered the security hole (CVE-2021-30860) while analyzing a Saudi activist's iPhone. The "zero-click exploit" leverages an iMessages weakness that calls on Apple's image rendering library and can infect the device without any user intervention. The researchers found that the vulnerability is inherent in all three of Apple's operating systemsiOS, watchOS, and macOS. The spyware used is the controversial Pegasus application developed by NSO Group in Israel. Citizen Lab says it believes the exploit has been in use since February but has no idea how many devices could be infected with the spyware. Pegasus is a particularly insidious software in that it can do everything from turning on the camera and microphone to accessing device settings. "This spyware can do everything an iPhone user can do on their device and more," John Scott-Railton, a senior researcher at Citizen Lab, told The New York Times. Co-researcher Bill Marczak added, "the commercial spyware industry is going darker." The NSO Group maintains that it only sells its spyware to government law enforcement agencies per regional laws and regulations. However, the software has turned up on the devices of non-criminal individuals, including diplomats, activists, and journalists. Additionally, Germany's state police agency came under harsh criticism last week for secretly purchasing and employing Pegasus to spy on terrorists and organized crime members. Since learning of the exploit last Tuesday, Apple engineers have been scrambling for a fix and issued one today. Scott-Railton urges owners of any Apple device to update the operating system as soon as possible. If you are interested in the full details of the vulnerability, Citizen Lab posted a write-up on its website. Apple also has patch notes listed on its support pages. Image credit: Amir Cohen/Reuters U.S. websites are currently essential since they provide important daily information about the things happening in the country and outside the nation. Pew Research Center conducted a study and discovered that seven in ten residents in the United States use social media platforms and other online sites to connect with one another. Jonas Leupe on Unsplash As of the moment, the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic is still forcing Americans to stay at home to avoid further spread of the deadly virus, especially as new variants started appearing, such as Delta and Lambda. Aside from getting essential details about major events like the recent Afghanistan issue, from which U.S. President Joe Biden managed to pull out all American soldiers from the chaotic country, residents in the United States are also using websites to complete their work tasks online and purchase daily essential products. Chris Montgomery on Unsplash They usually share their bank details and other sensitive user information to complete important online activities to earn money and maintain their lifestyles. To ensure that residents are actually the ones accessing the online platforms available in the country, tech firms are using CAPTCHAs to identify them from bots, which are usually used by hackers to remotely acquire personal information. According to Threat Post, online attackers are using CAPTCHAs to hide their phishing and malware campaigns. This is currently a serious matter since more than 300 million Americans are active on the internet, vulnerable to malicious online activities and attacks. Hackers Now Taking Advantage of CAPTCHAs MalwareHunterTeam's security experts confirmed that a group of cybercriminals is using CAPTCHA to fool victims into downloading the so-called Gozi banking trojan. Involved researchers explained that these online attackers are hiding their malware campaign behind CAPTCHAs so that they can bypass browsers' warnings. As of the moment, Google Chrome automatically warns if the link or file you will access is malicious. Because of this, Gozi hackers are now replacing Google's warnings with their fake reCAPTCHA, which specifically prompts users to press the B, S, Tab, A, F, and Enter button correspondingly. The first keyboard keys provided would fool the users into believing that the message appearing on the screen is a legit reCAPTCHA. But, once they tap the Tab key, Google Chrome's warning feature would be confused. Once they followed it up by clicking the Enter key, their device would automatically open the URL or access the malicious file, allowing hackers to bypass their laptops' security features. If you are currently using a website for your business or work, it seems like you need to change your traditional CAPTCHA. Currently, new versions of this verification feature are now being developed, including the so-called slide CAPTCHA. Unlike old versions, this new model offers around 99% efficiency against spambots. Right now, GeeTest offers its enhanced slide CAPTCHA service to allow you to protect your website and provide a great user experience for your consumers. GeeTest Slide CAPTCHA Combines Great Security and User Experience "Slide CAPTCHA" means that users only need to drag the slider to simply complete the verification steps. eBay, NIKE, Imperva, Agoda, HUAWEI trust GeeTest slide CAPTCHA. (Image:GeeTest) If you are looking for a CAPTCHA service that could certainly protect your website or page from scammers and cyber attackers, then you should try getting GeeTest CAPTCHA, which has the following advantages over its competitors: No. 1 market share in China, servicing over 320,000 brands worldwide. GeeTest increased the attack cost of the underground industry by 3.17 times. The popular global slide-CAPTCHA was proposed and created for the first time by GeeTest in 2012. GeeTest decided to develop its AI-powered Slide CAPTCHA in 2012 to provide both better user experience and security benefits. (Image:GeeTest) "Instead of a visual recognition challenge, GeeTest asks visitors to play a puzzle game. While visitors interact with the captcha, GeeTest collects data for its AI-powered risk engine to identify malicious features," explained the company. (Image:GeeTest) "By this way, GeeTest distinguishes legitimate humans with an intuitive interaction and relieves users from a challenge-based security burden," added the CAPTCHA service provider. Try GeeTest free trial for 30 days NOW! GeeTest Offers Security, 24/7 Assistance, and Other Benefits! (Image:GeeTest) As of now, GeeTest is already serving more than 320,000 businesses and companies across the globe, with over 1.4 million processed inquiries each day. For the past years of providing great service to its consumers, the CAPTCHA provider still maintains its main goal to deliver the best user experience and protection features. GeeTest CAPTCHA's Security If you are still not convinced with GeeTest CAPTCHA's service, you need to know that it follows the statutory provisions of the General Data Protection Regulation or GDPR. Despite the decrease of difficulty in using CAPTCHA verification, GeeTest mainly prioritizes user data security and will not compromise your personal data. The company believes that protecting your information is more important than anything else. 24/7 Customer Service Support For new consumers out there, you don't have to worry about messing up your website's GeeTest CAPTCHA since the GeeTest Professional tech team is active 24/7. Thanks to their non-stop efforts, you can have the greatest quality service to solve any confusion with the company's security protection. GeeTest CAPTCHA's Great Device Compatibility Since people across the globe are now using their gadgets most of the day, GeeTest enhanced its Slide CAPTCHA to support Android, Html5, iOS, WAP, WEB, and other browsers so that all your websites are protected from bots and hackers. This simply means that if you decide to have its product, you can surely protect your mobile apps, APIs, and web pages against bot attacks in all scenarios. GeeTest's AI-Powered Interactive Security Easily Identifies Bots CAPTCHA's primary goal is to identify humans from bots or vice versa. This is the main reason why GeeTest has been deeply involved in the field of interactive security for more than nine years to enhance its artificial intelligence. GeeTest conducted an in-depth analysis of interactive data, learned from various bot attacks, focused on security defense capabilities, and made other significant efforts to enhance its AI-powered CAPTCHA. GeeTest Will Help You With Installation and Online Deployment Currently, the company's consumers are still expanding. Because of this, newbie issues are quite hard to avoid. That's why GeeTest's dedicated service team is always available to help you out when you are still starting with your Slide CAPTCHA installation and online deployment. GeeTest Offers Free Trial! GeeTest encourages you to try its CAPTCHA service, the company still wants its new consumers to be satisfied with its product. Thanks to its free trial, you can test the developer's security protection and see for yourself how effective it really is. Try GeeTest's free trial for 30 days, NOW! 2021 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. Elon Musk agreed with fans when they said Tesla is the "most American car out there," as people are discussing the new labor laws that are being imposed on the clean energy company. Car production is a massive factor in keeping a car "American" and people want Tesla to be made in the country and boost its economy. It is known that Tesla China and Tesla Europe via Gigafactory Berlin will soon make the electric vehicles of the company more accessible to nearby regions. The goal of these Gigafactories would be to make Tesla cars available to their regions and not have them shipped from the US, and add more costs to its delivery. Elon Musk Agrees Tesla 'The Most American Car Out There' Elon Musk was born in South Africa, finished school in Canada, and went on to establish a business in the United States. He has based himself in the US for a long time now, that he has adopted the American ideology. One could say that the billionaire is an American for the way he thinks or does business. However, one different thing is that Tesla was born or established in San Carlos, California, right here in the country. Its birthright gives it the American blood, and it is one of the first electric vehicles made by the US, US. According to fans of the clean energy company, "Tesla is the most American car out there." Literally! Elon Musk (@elonmusk) September 12, 2021 Here, the Tesla CEO agrees, and other discussions have focused on saying that the EV company should opt on making the car production more evident here in the country. Fans want Tesla to continue production here in the country and keep Tesla as "American" as it is, and avoid giving its production to other countries. Read Also: Tesla Model S Plaid Set World Record at Nurburgring for EVs, Track Pack Update, Mods Coming Soon Fans Want Production to Stay in the US Major productions of Tesla are still in the country, and it is not yet importing electric vehicles made from other countries to the United States for American use. It was an initial notion that having factories outside the country would mean that it is focusing on getting cheaper production and then importing cars. Other companies have focused on importing cars, particularly because the cost of production in the country is more expensive, and the companies do not want it to reflect on their vehicle. According to Whole Mars Blog, new union law plans have already shown the new fees to impose, from $2,500 to $4,500. This is written by Ford/UAW lobbyists, as they make their electric car in Mexico. Not obvious how this serves American taxpayers. https://t.co/FUUXARHlby Elon Musk (@elonmusk) September 12, 2021 The Twitter fan said that it is targetting one company, and it is Tesla. Tesla: American Made Inside and Out Tesla is known to not have any unions, as it pays its employees above the minimum wage rate and is known for being a workplace that treats its workers well. The clean energy company was said to be an American car because it brought features which people can use, and it adheres to what they want. Related Article: Tesla FSD Beta 10 Brings Smarter, More Efficient Road Assistance Features | YouTuber Already Experiences Smoother Performance This article is owned by Tech Times Written by Isaiah Richard 2021 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. NASA has some big plans for future manned space explorations. And by big, they probably mean universe-spanning (or galactic-spanning, at least). See, the one main issue with manned space exploration is the fact that outer space is unimaginably vast. Seriously, the figures used to show distances within the universe are extremely massive, scientists had to invent a new way to measure them: light-years. And if humanity really wants to see out into the furthest stars, they're going to need a propulsion system so much more powerful than conventional rockets. By having one, humans would have the capability to reach star systems situated light-years away from Earth. Enter something that sounds like it came straight out of science fiction: the Alcubierre Drive, or what scientists call a potential real-life, working warp drive. NASA Warp Drive: Is It Even Real? And Where Did it Come From? Yes, it is real. It's just the science behind its theoretical performance is so mind-boggling, you'd swear it came from the overactive imagination of a Hollywood writer. According to The Conversation, the story of the Alcubierre Drive starts with the legendary Albert Einstein and his Theory of General Relativity. Einstein's equations state that spacetime bends as a response to the existence of energy and matter. This, in turn, explains how the two things move through space. There are two limits that General Relativity puts to deep space travel. The first one says that a spacecraft cannot reach the furthest edges of the universe (let alone the Milky Way galaxy) within a reasonable time frame if it can't go past the speed of light, which is roughly 300,000 km per second. There's a reason Einstein called the speed of light "the cosmic speed limit": nothing is faster than it. The second reason is that any spacecraft approaching the speed of light will have its clock slow down relative to clocks on Earth. Known as time dilation, this phenomenon can be explained simply as follows: a spacecraft going at the speed of light would experience time far slower than a person on Earth. The human crew aboard would've aged slower, while hundreds (or even thousands of years) would've already passed back home, making them essentially time travelers into the future. These are the main principles that drive (pun intended) the NASA warp drive. But how do they play out in tech? Read Also: Scientists Announces Space Warp Drive is Now Possible: NASA Might Apply it for Space Exploration The Alcubierre Drive: How It (Theoretically) Works The simplest possible explanation for the Alcubierre Drive is that it uses the two concepts of General Relativity explained in the aforementioned paragraph. According to Popular Mechanics, the NASA warp drive will expend a massive amount of energy that will "warp" (contract and twist) space time behind the spacecraft, which will create a space time "bubble." This bubble, which will be created around the ship and curved behind it, will theoretically reduce the distance that the ship will have to travel. Therefore, it could make light-speed (or even faster-than-light) travel possible. The only problem is that the amount of energy that the NASA warp drive requires would be impossible to make with conventional tech. Simply put, it would take more energy than what the entire universe has in order to create the spaceship-propelling bubble. How NASA Found a 'Workaround' for the Warp Drive Traveling at the speed of light has some interesting (and rather dangerous) implications, however. There are so many things that could go wrong, but a few of the most important ones are explained in this short NASA video: Now, onto the workaround. The problem of using insane amounts of energy can, according to scientist Erik Lentz, be solved by making a different type of spacetime bubble. According to him, the bubble that NASA should look to create must come in the shape of solitons. Solitons work much like ripples across a calm lake, in that they maintain their "whipping" movement while at a constant velocity. This type of spacetime bubble, Lentz argues, would only need conventional energy production techniques. Looking Ahead to the Future NASA is obviously still working out the kinks of their warp drive, but perhaps it's only a matter of time before at least neighboring star systems, like Proxima Centauri, will be in reach for human crews. Until then, we can only look at the furthest stars using our telescopes. Related Article: Human Space Hibernation Possible? Here's What New Study Involving Lemurs Reveals This article is owned by Tech Times Written by RJ Pierce 2021 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. SpaceX has added two ships to its recovery fleet and even named them after astronauts from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). At least of the two latest additions to the recovery fleet will take part in the recovery efforts for the Inspiration4 mission. SpaceX's Inspiration4 mission, the company's all-civilian mission, is scheduled for launch on September 15. SpaceX Adds Two Recovery Ships to Fleet SpaceX has added recovery ships to its fleet that the company has named after NASA astronauts. These recovery ships are known as "Bob" and "Doug." They are named after the two NASA astronauts "who were the first to fly inside a crew Dragon spacecraft," according to a report by Space. They are Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley. The two astronauts took part in the Demo-2 mission, which was SpaceX's final test flight for its commercial crew program. The Demo-2 test flight was launched on May 30, 2020, and was a success. Per the Space report, both "Bob" and "Doug" used to be platform supply ships that have been modified by SpaceX. One of these modifications is the addition of a large crane that can be used to pull objects out of the water. "Bob" and "Doug" can also tow drone ships to the sea. SpaceX's Recovery Fleet According to the report by Space, SpaceX's recovery fleet is composed of ships with different purposes. Some ships are used to catch first-stage boosters, while some are used to collect falling fairings. Per the report, "Bob" and "Doug" are expected to be able to perform a variety of tasks, including those this article has just mentioned. At least one of the two latest additions to the fleet will also take part in the recovery effort of the upcoming Inspiration4 mission. According to the report by Space, "it's unclear whether or not 'Bob' will play a role in the Inspiration4 mission, but 'Doug' was spotted doing sea trials this week prior to departing the Port for the recovery zone. Related Article: NASA And SpaceX Unveil Helipad-Equipped Recovery Boat Inspiration4 Mission to Launch on Sept. 15 SpaceX's upcoming Inspiration4 mission is set to make history on September 15 as it will be the company's first mission with an all-civilian crew. SpaceX introduced the four members of the Inspiration4 crew last April. They are Ship4 Payments founder Jared Issacman, physician's assistant, and childhood bone cancer survivor Haley Arceneaux, Sian Proctor, and Chris Sembroski. Proctor and Sembroski were selected from a global contest, while Issacman purchased the flight in an effort to raise money for St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, where Arceneaux works. As of press time, the latest update from Inspiration4's Twitter account says "With the #Inspiration4 launch now just 3 days away, weather conditions are 70% favorable and we've narrowed our launch window to 5 hours beginning at 8:02 pm EDT on 9/15." Also Read: SpaceX's Inspiration4, Its First All-Civilian Launch, on Track for Sept. 15 Liftoff This article is owned by Tech Times Written by Isabella James 2021 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. (Photo : Image from Unsplash Website) Expats in Thailand Overlooked with New Digital Health Pass Through Mohpromt App Expats that are in Thailand seem to be overlooked with the new digital health pass that the country rolled out through the Mohpromt app. This comes as the country extends its efforts to help fight against COVID-19. Thailand Digital Health Pass According to the story by ChiangraiTimes, the health department of Thailand has just launched its very own "digital health pass" through the Mohpromt app. It was noted that all Thai residents located in the country are now advised to download the app. The health pass, which has already seen significant adoption by most domestic airlines, will soon become an actual mandatory for users of everyday venues and services. The pass can reportedly be downloaded through the Mohpromt app. Aside from Thailand, British Columbia is also trying to implement the vaccination card, but it did come with a few compromises. 13-Digit Thai ID The app, however, currently only accepts the unique 13-digit Thai ID numbers. This means that expats and foreign workers won't be able to register through the app. A number of Thais have also complained that they have reportedly been unable to get the digital health pass. This is despite the fact that they have already gotten two jabs. For those that don't know what a digital health pass is, it was broken down into three stages: proof of vaccination, date, and result of last COVID-19 test, and antibody readings. There is a strong reason behind why the country is trying to implement this. Digital vaccine passports are reportedly set to be implemented in Australia over the course of a few weeks. Airlines Already Implementing Ditial Pass According to the article, the digital pass now looks set to become an important document for restaurants, spas, gyms and even public market entries in the future. As of September 8, Thai Smile, Bangkok Airways, Nok Air, Thai Viet Jet, Air Asia X, and Lion Air were all accepting the digital pass as proof that their passengers were vaccinated. This is an important requirement for domestic air travel. In order to get the health pass, applicants would need to have their second COVID-19 jabs or be tested at a certain officially recognized venue. For those that have two jabs but are still not able to get the pass, they are advised to contact the site where they were vaccinated in order to make sure that their status has been updated. Read Also: Delta Air Lines to Implement $200 Monthly Health Insurance Surcharge for Unvaccinated Employees Expats in Thailand According to an article by Bangkok Post on August 6, 2021, the Foreign Ministry says that there have been over 35,000 foreign residents registered to get COVID-19 vaccines. Spokesman Tanee Sangrat noted that a total of 35,455 expatriates spreading the country have registered through expatvac.consular.go.th in order to get the vaccination services. Out of the number, it was noted that 7,793 are over the age of 60, and 2,500 of them already have underlying health conditions. It was also noted that 143 of them were pregnant. The registration site for COVID-19 vaccinations was reportedly launched for foreign residents in all provinces throughout the country. Related Article: Digital Vaccine Passports: How Do They Work, And How Can Counterfeits Be Stopped? This article is owned by Tech Times Written by Urian B. 2021 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. Life has been returning to normal for many who were in Hurricane Ida's path since the Category 4 storm made landfall two weeks ago near Port Fourchon. For those who experienced a direct hit by Ida in the bayou region on Louisiana's coast, however, life is about as far from normal as it's ever been even for people who are no stranger to hurricanes and flooding. "I've never seen it this bad here," said Jenny Dupre, who lives in the Terrebonne Parish community of Chauvin. "I've seen it this bad in Houma and New Orleans before, but not here. Never here." Sandbags available in Acadiana ahead of Hurricane Nicholas Ahead of Tropical Storm Nicholas, which is expected to drop heavy rainfall on Louisiana this week, local officials are putting out sandbags fo The roads in Chauvin and the lower portions of Terrebonne and Lafourche parishes remain treacherous from splintered power poles, towering piles of debris, swollen waterways and damaged bridges. The bayous, which once served the same function as the roads, are even more impassible. Ida's 150 mph winds capsized fishing boats and even dropped entire houses into the meandering, muddy waters that drain into the Gulf of Mexico. "I have yet to bring somebody from outside of Terrebonne Parish down to the bottom of Chauvin and for them not to make a comment that's basically, 'Oh my God. This is almost unimaginable damage. Nothing I've seen before like this,'" said state Rep. Tanner Magee, R-Houma. "And I've brought people who lived in Lake Charles during Laura down there. I've had people from New Orleans who made it through Katrina here. That's how bad the situation is." The overwhelming majority of people in Terrebonne and Lafourche parishes remain without power. Some remain without running water. Boil advisories and nightly curfews are still in effect. +19 Commercial fisher recalls riding out Hurricane Ida in his boat before 140 mph winds flipped it Kimothy Guy was on full display Tuesday afternoon as he hung clothes from a line in the living room of his hurricane-ravaged home in the Terre Those who have not temporarily relocated spend their days waiting in long lines for gas, ice, bottled water, hot meals and tarps. Some carry buckets of water from bayous or swimming pools into their homes so they can flush toilets. They attempt to salvage what's left of their homes, vehicles, boats and livelihoods as they document the damage with insurance companies and apply for federal assistance. "It's getting extremely frustrating from my end," Magee said. "Because I'm not seeing the sort of awareness in response to it that meets the actual damage. We're hearing from constituents. They feel the same way. They're getting very frustrated that they can't use the bathroom in some places but New Orleans has five chilling stations with their power turned back on. And it's 90-plus degree heat here, and there's nothing. No place to cool off for anybody unless you have your own generator." Gov. John Bel Edwards toured parts of lower Terrebonne Parish on Friday to see destruction from the Aug. 29 hurricane firsthand. Earlier in the week, the American Red Cross and The Salvation Army distributed emergency supplies in the area along with the Louisiana National Guard. Insurance adjusters used drones to capture the destruction on their customers' property. Representatives of the Federal Emergency Management Agency met with homeowners. Utility workers continued to assess damage and make repairs. Volunteers with organizations across the state and country brought donated supplies into neighborhoods and hot meals to those who remain without basic necessities. "We have made significant strides over the last two weeks," Terrebonne Parish President Gordon "Gordie" Dove wrote in a Sunday Facebook post. "But we still have a long ways to go." About 95% of the homes and businesses south of the Intracoastal Waterway were impacted by Ida, and 65% are uninhabitable, according to preliminary estimates by the Terrebonne Parish Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness. +12 Acadian Ambulance marks 50 years during aftermath of Ida, COVID surge, staff shortage Alex Richoux picked his load of clean laundry out of a few stacks some folded, some fresh from the dryer Friday afternoon in a small, air- Top stories in Acadiana in your inbox Twice daily we'll send you the day's biggest headlines. Sign up today. e-mail address * Sign Up The most immediate need, according to Magee and state Rep. Jerome "Zee" Zeringue, R-Houma, is shelter for residents and first responders. "We have some first responders who are still sleeping in their cars and in trucks and in tents," Zeringue said. "And, in addition, we have people who are being evicted from their apartments who are going to need housing as well." Zeringue and Magee, whose districts include Terrebonne and Lafourche parishes, said other immediate needs are for access to fuel, water, ice and health care as the vast majority of their constituents remain without power. As of Saturday, Entergy reported that 98% of Lafourche Parish customers and 90% of Terrebonne Parish customers were without power. Entergy estimates that it will take until Sept. 29 to restore power to customers in both parishes. More than 30,000 utility poles were damaged by Ida, according to Entergy. For comparison, Entergy reported about 14,000 poles damaged by Hurricane Laura in 2020, and 17,000 poles damaged during Hurricane Katrina in 2005. Entergy has about 30,000 customers in Terrebonne Parish and 45,000 customers in Lafourche Parish. About 1,000 damaged poles, 900 spans of wire down and 1,200 damaged transformers in Terrebonne Parish after Ida. In Lafourche Parish, there were about 3,000 broken power poles, 2,000 spans of wire down and 50 damaged transformers. "Lafourche and Terrebonne were two of our hardest hit areas," said Brandon Scardigli, spokesperson for Entergy Louisiana. "The damage we're seeing down there is going to require not just a restoration, but a complete rebuild of the distribution system. We were able to completely assess damage in both areas and we're now working to put that plan into action to begin restoring customers." Once power is restored, other concerns will need to be addressed. Levee systems that were improved after other major hurricanes largely held up, preventing widespread flooding, but homes and businesses were torn apart by high winds. +24 No cell service, no water: After devastating Ida, some Lafourche residents still wait for rescue Tommy Pitre rode his bicycle through downtown Thibodaux on Monday afternoon to witness Hurricane Ida's wreckage firsthand. It was one of the f Building code improvements might be a logical next step, according to Magee, who said wind damage was especially problematic for homes and businesses built between 1950 and 2010 in the bayou region. "Everything in between those years is where you see the damages," Magee said. "Pre-1950, the quality of the construction is unreal. It's all cypress interior. You couldn't replicate that kind of cypress construction again. And then after 2010 is when the new building codes took place. We know we can build structures that will do well. We just have to improve on what that looks like and build in a way that can survive this." For now, however, the primary concern is ensuring people have a safe place to live for the immediate future and bringing in federal and state resources for those in the rural, coastal communities of southeast Louisiana. Much of the post-Ida response has focused on devastation in urban areas such as New Orleans and New York City. Many in the bayou region, however, have faced extreme heat for the last two weeks in homes without electricity or running water. Those with roof damage now face a forecast of heavy rain in the upcoming week. "We just want to make sure that people don't forget about us, that they give us the same attention and the resources we really need right now," Magee said. Ty Trosclair, who lost his livelihood after his charter boat capsized during the hurricane, said he couldn't believe what he saw last week as he watched the evening news on a TV powered by a generator. "A guy was in New York talking about Ida recovery and needing money so that subway don't flood again. Look at this," Trosclair said, gesturing to his family's property in the coastal community of Cocodrie. "People here ain't got nothing left." Tourism advocates and French American cultural associations in Lafayette Parish are calling for an end to the U.S. travel ban against non-essential travelers from the European Union even as France on Friday became the latest European country to ban unvaccinated American travelers, following recent EU recommendations in the wake of the recent COVID spike in the United States. Here is our proposition: If we think that the vaccines work, and we know they work, it makes sense for the U.S. to allow non-essential vaccinated travelers from Europe to come here, said Ben Berthelot, president of Lafayette Convention and Visitors Commission. International travel is the fastest-growing market for us in Lafayette, so there are no questions that we are seeing a hit on this. In mid-June, the European Commission added the United States to its green list, permitting arrivals in the countries of the EU of even unvaccinated American travelers. But in the summer, the Biden administration resisted mounting pressure by allies and travel advocates to reciprocate, maintaining the policy stated in the first place by the Trump Administration in March 2020. +18 Long hoped for French immersion school opens its doors in Sunset: A dream come true French immersion charter school Ecole Saint-Landry opened its doors to its inaugural class of students in Sunset this week after more than fou Last week, the White House said it is still examining the current restrictions that do not allow non-essential travelers, including individuals with a valid visa or who are fully vaccinated, to come to the United States if they have been in one of the 26 European countries of the Schengen Area in the previous 14 days. For us, Canadian travelers are always No. 1 one, but No. 2 are from France, and three and four are Germany and the UK, Berthelot said. The natural connection we have with the French-speaking countries and Europe has been negatively influenced by this. According to a 2020 Census Bureau American Community Survey report, more than 1.2 million people in the United States speak French at home. According to the 2010 Census, the total French-speaking population in Lafayette Parish was 20,769, nearly 10% of the population of the parish. It seems pretty clear that on both sides they are thinking about what they believe is their own best personal interest, said Matt Mick, public information officer for the Council For The Development Of French in Louisiana. But I hope we can mitigate COVID-19 soon, and fully resume the kind of cooperation we always had before the pandemic. As a state-run agency, CODOFIL promotes Louisianas francophone communities through scholarships, French immersion, and other programs that sometimes require them to sponsor visas for foreign workers from France, including teachers and educators in Lafayette Parish. +4 80 international teachers hired to teach French and Spanish immersion programs in Louisiana When Nathalie Burguet first left her home in Dordogne to teach French to Louisiana schoolkids in the early-to-mid-1990s, the lessons relied la Last year, the travel ban posed serious problems for French immersion schools, Mick said. In 2019, there were 65 French-speaking teachers brought into the state, part of an international recruitment program. We were able to get an exemption to the travel ban for the teachers we sponsored this year, Mick added. As soon as we understood we could apply for it, we pushed on that with our contacts at the State Department and the French Embassy in the U.S., and it worked. Pressured by diplomatic efforts, the Biden administration gradually strengthened the program that allows European visa holders or applicants to apply for a National Interest Exemption to the travel restrictions. For some categories, such as foreign students and educators, the NIE can now be automatically approved. Our incoming J-1's from France this fall semester received their NIE automatically, confirmed Rose Honegger, associate director of global engagement at the University of Louisiana at Lafayettes Office of International Affairs. The US/EU Travel Ban has not really affected our institution. Inside info on doing business in Acadiana We'll keep you posted on the Acadiana economy. Sign up today. e-mail address * Sign Up But the ban is still affecting so many others. According to the current policy, foreign investors, and skilled workers with E2, L1, H1B, and O1 visas from Europe are unable to re-enter Louisiana, where they may live, pay taxes, and have families, once they fly back to their countries of origin. Some are postponing leaving the United States because they fear remaining locked out afterward. Members of families of these individuals are not allowed to enter the United States, even if they are vaccinated. Signage as part of new wayfinding system to be installed in downtown Lafayette Signage in downtown Lafayette and other areas will be installed in the coming months as part of a wayfinding plan to direct people to location At a psychological and personal level, knowing that you cant come back to France because then you wont be able to come back to the U.S. can be painful, said Emilie Georget, executive director at the Alliance Francaise de La Nouvelle-Orleans. "The visa holders live and work here." The alliance is a leading provider of French language and culture education in Louisiana. Most of the exchange programs are on standby because of the travel restrictions. "The ban is an obstacle for us, Georget said. "We are willing to bring to the U.S. new persons happy to share with the communities across the state their French background as soon as the travel restrictions are lifted. European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control data shows that more than 70% of the European Unions adult population has been fully vaccinated. More than 64% of the adult population has been fully vaccinated in the United States, according to the Centers for Disease Control database. The travel ban seriously harms vital economic and human ties, at a time when theyre most needed, Stavros Lambrinidis, the European Ambassador to the United States said Aug. 31 in a Twitter post. I could not agree more, retweeted Philippe Etienne, the French Ambassador to the United States. We would really think the time is ripe for allowing vaccinated Europeans again into the U.S., Etienne recently added in an interview with GBH, an NPR-affiliated radio station in Boston. In Louisiana, the travel restrictions against Europe have already affected tourism, too. Spending in Lafayette Parish remains high, according to the latest data from the Lafayette Economic Development Authority. But the 2020 Louisiana Visitor Volume and Spending Report showed that the overall spending in the state by international travelers data that includes transportation, lodging, food and beverage, and shopping -- dropped by 78% in 2020 compared to 2019. According to the Louisiana Spending Parishes 2020 Final Report, the Lafayette areas total employment rate decreased by 6%, while leisure jobs dropped by 13% in 2020 compared to the previous year. "We're planning to participate in a tourism-related conference in Paris in October and another in March," said Mick from CODOFIL. "Now that the rules changed again, we have to adapt and understand how to prepare for them." Not everyone is pessimistic, though. We did twice the visitors in August 2021 compared to 2020, said David Cheramie, CEO of Bayou Vermilionville District. It is still not even near to where we before the pandemic. But I think it gets better. It is impossible to stop travel. During a tour of the West Jefferson High School with coronavirus precautions it can be seen that each desk in the classroom has a grey or red sticker on the top corner in Harvey, La. Wednesday, Aug. 19, 2020. Each period, students will be asked to alternate their use of desks and to clean them off after each class. The school is scheduled to open on August 26. (Photo by Max Becherer, NOLA.com, The Times-Picayune | The New Orleans Advocate) COVID deaths in Livingston Parish smashed daily and weekly records as the fast-spreading delta variant fuels outbreaks that have soared since July. Public health officials reported six coronavirus deaths on Thursday a record single-day figure for the parish since the pandemic entered the state in March 2020. Another five were reported dead on Friday, bringing the parishs seven-day death toll to 20. The previous single-week record in Livingston was 14, set in February. Among the dead was longtime Livingston Parish Councilman Don Wheat, who succumbed to the virus on Wednesday evening. He was 62. Hundreds more COVID cases reported in Baton Rouge-area schools, new data shows Schools in the Baton Rouge area reported hundreds of new cases of COVID among students and dozens more among staff last week, according to new ''We lost a good friend last night, parish President Layton Ricks said at Thursdays council meeting. "Our prayers are with his family and certainly with everyone in the community and all around the country dealing with that.'' Wheat represented the parishs sixth district, an expansive rural area south of Walker that encompasses small communities like Port Vincent and French Settlement. Hospitalizations and new cases have soared beyond all previous marks in the pandemic, both in Livingston Parish and across Louisiana. Doctors attribute the surge to low vaccination rates. Typically a lagging indicator, fatalities are only now reaching new peaks following an earlier surge of cases and hospitalizations that began in July. The state set single-day and seven-day records for deaths this week, as cases and hospitalizations dipped. How many COVID deaths for Baton Rouge metro area this week? Enough to set a record Baton Rouge and its surrounding parishes have set a record for the number of people to die from COVID-19 in a single week, as the pace of deat Livingston has one of the lowest rates of inoculation in the Baton Rouge region at 31%, and the parish has been forced to take steps like closing government offices and loosening regulations on ambulances to survive the crush of hospitalizations. Top stories in Baton Rouge in your inbox Twice daily we'll send you the day's biggest headlines. Sign up today. e-mail address * Sign Up Patients afflicted with delta seem to die more quickly than in iterations of the virus, Acadian Ambulance Services spokesman Justin Cox said. The company runs rescues across the Capital Region. While COVID primarily targeted the elderly and medically fragile in the early days of the pandemic, the delta variant has increasingly infected people of all stripes. Nothing is the same as in previous waves, he said. It seems like theres no rhyme or reason to whos infected. In earlier waves you could point to one age group or lifestyle; now it seems like (the virus) doesnt discriminate at all. Denham Springs Walmart closed by COVID until Friday, will get a deep clean Walmart is temporarily closing its Denham Springs location to give the building a deep-clean as COVID-19 runs rampant in Livingston Parish and When his offices shut down in July after 10 employees caught the virus, Ricks told The Advocate that summer gatherings were likely driving spread in the parish. Yet gathering restrictions never materialized, as Gov. John Bel Edwards maintained that vaccinations not a return to crowd-size limits are the way out of the surge. The virus has spread quickly through the parishs schools in recent weeks with students attending in-person classes since Aug. 10. With nine campuses in the 26,800-student district reporting, Livingston schools on Aug. 18 logged 19 cases of the virus. By Wednesday that number reached 206 among the 10th-highest of school districts across the state. +5 Masked but hopeful, Livingston students head back to school in COVID's 'new normal' As her senior year at French Settlement High School kicked off Wednesday morning, Kaylee Kyzar was feeling excited about a new year she hopes Chances of relief for the pandemic-battered parish appeared slim on Friday as Hurricane Ida quickly approached Louisiana's southern coast. Ricks declared a formal state of emergency in the parish, which frees up additional resources and money, and announced that Livingston schools and government buildings would close through Monday so people could shelter in place from the coming storm. Early indications suggest that Hurricane Ida is not or at least not yet causing many families in the most affected areas of southeast Louisiana to transfer their children to schools in other parts of the state while they wait for their communities to recover. As of Friday, the three largest school districts in the Baton Rouge region had yet to see many new arrivals. Ascension Parish schools had 15 new displaced students enroll in its schools, while East Baton Rouge Parish schools had at most 13 new displaced students. Livingston Parish, which just reopened Friday, had yet to try to count their newcomers, but their overall enrollment was about the same as it was before the storm hit Aug. 29. Thats a far cry from early September 2005 when at least 11,000 students displaced by Hurricane Katrina from New Orleans-area schools had already registered at public, private and Catholic schools in the Baton Rouge and Lafayette areas, according to a newspaper survey conducted at the time. State officials estimate that about 169,000 children in Louisiana will still be out of school Monday, down from a peak of about 300,000 children out of school immediately after Ida struck two weekends ago. They have not as yet released any counts of displaced students changing schools. Ascension, East Baton Rouge and Livingston schools, which closed after Ida, are nearly completely reopened. The last closed public schools in Ascension and East Baton Rouge are reopen Monday, and Livingston will have all but four of its schools reopened by Tuesday. More schools in southeast Louisiana with little or no damage, particularly in New Orleans, plan to reopen within the next week to 10 days. These include schools in Tangipahoa Parish, which is bringing students back between Wednesday and the following Monday. Schools in some hard-hit communities are to reopen later in the month. Jefferson Parish schools have plans to reopen over a two-week period starting Sept. 20, though schools in Grand Isle and Lafitte will remain closed indefinitely. St. Helena Parish is tentatively planning to reopen Sept. 27. Leaders in St. James Parish are also looking to begin reopening schools late this month, but have yet to announce dates. In Lafourche, St. Charles, St. John and Terrebonne parishes, though, schools may not reopen until October. Many schools there were damaged and the majority of residents are still without power. About 55,000 children in those parishes attend public or private schools. Home to frequent hurricanes, Louisiana has much experience with storm-provoked school disruption. Katrina and Hurricane Rita, which struck a month after Katrina, displaced about 200,000 schoolchildren in all. On average, they were out of school generally for about five weeks, according to a 2006 report by the Rand Corporation a quarter were out less than three weeks, a fifth more than seven weeks. +7 With schools set to open in Lake Charles area, a beautiful mess awaits students SULPHUR When Michelle LeBlanc made it back to see her school, she stood on the stage of the auditorium and watched as water rose below her a Top stories in Baton Rouge in your inbox Twice daily we'll send you the day's biggest headlines. Sign up today. e-mail address * Sign Up A year ago, Hurricane Laura, and two months later, Hurricane Delta, caused extensive damage to southwest Louisiana, but they caused far less student displacement than Katrina. Calcasieu Parish, the largest school district in the region, launched a virtual school soon after Laura passed and began reopening schools after about a month. Even so, about 4,000 fewer students attend Calcasieu schools today than the number prior to Laura. State Superintendent Cade Brumley last week toured schools in Jefferson, Orleans, Lafourche and Terrebonne parishes, seeing the damage first hand. Brumley, who served as Jeffersons schools superintendent from 2018 to 2020 before taking on the states top education job, first drove through Kenner. Knowing how many children there were from families already struggling economically, he recalls becoming unexpectedly emotional." You look at some of the destruction in some of the apartment complexes and some of those homes and your heart goes out of those families because they dont have the resources to repair, Brumley said. In the wake of Ida, the Louisiana Department of Education has largely been playing a support role, trying to help local school leaders work through current and future challenges. The agency issued a 10-page guidance document last week. The guidance reminds educators that under federal law that students displaced by storms are considered homeless and consequently can enroll immediately in schools in the communities where they land. The document also includes instructions on how schools should track incoming and outgoing students in the state and local student information systems. Brumleys office also is allowing charter schools upon request to exceed their enrollment caps in order to enroll all interested, displaced students, but as of late last week none had made such a request. Brumley made clear his commitment to get schools operating again as soon as possible, but said that may mean changes. Since so many schools have suffered damage, he said that the worst-hit districts may be sending children temporarily to other schools or opening temporary campuses in community centers or in old school buildings until their home schools are ready to take back students. School may not look the same as it was before, he said. Virtual school as a short term bridge is unlikely, he said, because of the lack of power in homes and a shortage of staff. The state agency also plans to work with districts on how to revise their school calendars to make up lost time. For the schools that reopen the latest that may mean extending the first semester into January or even February. Brumley said that students have already lost too much time in school already due to COVID-19. This is the third school year operating in a pandemic and now we are facing a storm, Brumley said. We have to adjust to make sure that kids get the time (in school) they need and deserve. Thats a bit of a hard approach to take, he continued, but I have to consider the kids who have had their learning interrupted for a third consecutive year. Purchases made via links on our site may earn us an affiliate commission Beijing plans to break up billionaire Jack Mas digital payments empire as the Communist regime continues a crackdown on Chinese big tech. Mas Ant Group, which owns the superapp Alipay, faces demands from China to spin off its credit card and unsecured loans divisions. It will also be required to provide credit scoring data on its users to a new joint venture that will be partly state-owned. Jack Ma is feeling the heat from Chinas government. Credit:AP Shares in Alibaba, the e-commerce company founded by Mr Ma that controls Ant, fell 5 per cent in Hong Kong on the new state crackdown, first reported by the Financial Times. Ant spokesmen did not respond to requests for comment. In November, Ant was forced to shelve plans for a $US200 billion ($271 billion) float at the last minute after an intervention by Chinese regulators. The Sydney Airport boards acceptance of the now twice upwardly revised offer is recognition of an uncertain future for all companies associated with the airline industry - an exercise in investing while partially blind. The $23.6 billion offer from a consortium of giant super funds led by IFM is the largest cash deal in Australian history. It is testament to the fact that this is a prized monopoly asset - and a once in a generation opportunity for these enormous industry funds looking for long-term investments outside the listed space. Price wise this was a goldilocks deal, pitched midway between opportunism and realism. Sydney Airport said it will tell shareholders to accept the deal. Credit:James Brickwood For all the posturing by both sides, this was a deal ripe of execution - provided both parties could agree on value. An improved offer for Sydney Airport delivered positive momentum for the ASX on Monday in an otherwise lacklustre session. The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 index closed 0.3 per cent higher, or 18.6 points, at 7425.2 points on Monday. The ASX weakened in the afternoon as iron ore prices softened in Asian markets and Wall Street futures see-sawed, then firmed in the final hour to close higher. Good news on the Sydney Airport deal helped keep the market in the black today. Credit:Louie Douvis Traders were also vigilant to a typhoon heading towards Taiwan and Shanghai, reports that Chinese authorities might force another tech-giant to break up, and a rising volatility index on the Chicago Board of Options. The weeks data calendar is a bit thin globally, meaning we are probably destined for another choppy week of gyrations based on the intra-day themes of the day, OANDAs senior market analyst for Asia Pacific Jeffrey Halley wrote in a note to clients. Typhoons and the Ant (Group) Financial break up story are weighing on China markets today, notably the Hang Seng where (Ant Group affiliate) Ali Baba is listed. Australian markets are bucking the trend as merger and acquisition fever saw a higher offer for an attempted takeover of Sydney Airport today. The airports stock price gained 4.6 per cent to $8.37 after a non-binding offer of $8.75 per share was put on the table. Meanwhile, iron ore miners bounced around with commodity prices. BHP added 0.6 per cent to $41.48, Rio Tinto fell 0.2 per cent, and Fortescue Metals gained 0.8 per cent to $18.41. The biggest gains were with Pilbara Minerals, up 7.3 per cent, Silver Lake, up 5.4 per cent, and Lynas Rare Earths up 5.4 per cent to a four-week high of $7.48. Aristocrat Leisure touched $49 for the first time ever and Dominos Pizza closed at a new high of $163.75. The banking sector was mixed with National Australia Bank falling 1 per cent to $28.18 after an analyst downgrade, but Commonwealth Bank and ANZ finished higher. Westpac was flat at $25.64. Oil producers followed oil prices higher, but Whitehaven Coal took a breather and closed 0.7 per cent lower at $3 after rising nearly 40 per cent in three weeks on soaring coal prices. Investors seeking to buy the dip have found that what goes down will not always come back up, with statements from the regime arriving continuously over recent months. The socialist part of the policies is here to stay, says Iris Pang, Greater China chief economist at ING. Everyone [invested] in the Chinese market has to understand they cant make too much money. If youre making too much money youre doing it wrong, and they will point out that youre doing it wrong, and you will make less money. Michael Every, global strategist at Rabobank Common prosperity Its not the first time the Chinese stockmarket dragon has flung off prospective riders. In 2015, the countrys shares were battered after a bubble burst, knocking a third off valuations in about a month and resulting in government intervention. Investors who want to plough their money into China have long had to put politics to one side and, in exchange, many have been richly rewarded. The benchmark Shenzhen-Shanghai CSI 300 index has roughly doubled in value since Xi Jinping became president in 2013, easily outmatching European stocks as an overseas option for US investors (who have seen their native S&P 500 triple over the same period). But buying shares in China is not like investing in a London or New York-listed company and a lack of local intel could sting. Where the crash six years ago was in part a consequence of weak regulations, nowadays investors are spooked by just how tight Beijings grip can be. Its a wake-up call and reminder that, in China, the system is alien to the liberalised Western market. George Soros took aim at BlackRock last week, labelling the Wall Street titans plans to plough billions of dollars into China a tragic mistake. Credit:AP Everyone [invested] in the Chinese market has to understand they cant make too much money, says Michael Every, global strategist at Rabobank. If youre making too much money youre doing it wrong, and they will point out that youre doing it wrong, and you will make less money. The fate of Alibaba is still fresh. The e-commerce giants global success was seen as seismic for Chinas tech sector but the recent humiliating punishment of founder Jack Ma has served as a reminder of where power really lies. Such moves are part of Xis push for common prosperity and against the disorderly expansion of capital, an agenda spurred by discontent over the success of Chinas burgeoning entrepreneurial class. Loading For Xi, the timing is important. In November the ruling Communist Party will meet for the first time in more than a year ahead of a twice-a-decade congress in 2022, where his third term is likely to be secured. He has long been seeking to cement his legacy. Textbooks laced with Xi Jinping thought have been introduced into school curriculums, incorporating the ideology of Grandpa Xi enshrined into constitution during the 2018 meeting when he abolished term limits. Effectively, he is aiming to do three things at once: reduce the chance of a repeat of 2015s financial embarrassment, burnish his reputation within the party and squash dissent. BlackRocks bargain On September 3, Xi announced plans for a new stock exchange in Beijing to serve innovation-oriented small and medium-sized companies as part of the campaign to boost onshore capital markets. It could indicate the safer sectors for investors to focus on. Details are scarce but analysts say the announcement emphasises a tough truth: it needs at least some foreign capital to build its businesses. Whether the new bourse will help plug that hole remains unanswered. Well-established exchanges in Shenzhen and Shanghai means Beijing risks dividing a limited domestic capital pool. It also poses a risk to Hong Kong, long the gateway for foreign investors seeking opportunities in China. It has to be totally different, unique, says INGs Pang. Investors who want to plough their money into China have long had to put politics to one side and, in exchange, many have been richly rewarded. Whatever happens, BlackRock plans to continue to be involved in China and its assets - heavily. Its China unit recently launched its first fund in the country, raising more than $US1 billion from 110,000 investors. In his annual letter to shareholders, chief executive Larry Fink dedicated a section to growing markets that was utterly focused on the Asian nation. The Chinese market represents a significant opportunity to help meet the long-term goals of investors in China and internationally, he said. But even BlackRock isnt immune from Chinese bureaucracy. On Friday, it scrapped a $US3 billion takeover of property developer Soho China in the face of a drawn-out approval process. Soros, in response, was damning: Earlier efforts could have been morally justified by claims they were building bridges to bring the countries closer, but the situation now is totally different. The BlackRock initiative imperils the national security interests of the US and other democracies because the money invested in China will help prop up Xis regime, which is repressive at home and aggressive abroad. Loading Soon, US investors may find that a decision is out of their hands. In June, Joe Biden, the US president, signed an executive order that prevents Americans from investing in a range of defence and surveillance companies. Legislation under consideration would extend bans further, restricting the flow of capital into China. Regardless of a phone call last week between Xi and Biden, where the pair discussed the responsibility of both nations to ensure competition does not veer into conflict, according to the White House, investors elsewhere in the world might find themselves caught once again between the worlds two superpowers. The first of the three women who allege they were sexually abused as children by Malka Leifer gave evidence for almost a full day in the court hearing that will determine whether the former school principal will stand trial. Ms Leifer, the former principal of the Adass Israel School in Elsternwick, is accused of sexually abusing three of her students from 2004 to 2008. A court sketch of Malka Leifer on Monday. Credit:Paul Tyquin The 55-year-old, who faces 74 charges including 11 of rape, maintains she is innocent and will be asked to formally enter a plea at the end of the committal hearing in the Melbourne Magistrates Court. On Monday, Ms Leifer watched the hearing via a video link from custody but kept her head leaning downward and a hand over her face. She wore a blue top and white head covering. She said, Yes, yes, when asked if she could hear the proceedings, but only when a guard asked her to respond to magistrate Johanna Metcalf. One in every six people charged with breaching Western Australias border and quarantine laws has been jailed, a punishment deemed excessive on each occasion the penalty has been appealed. Figures provided by the WA Department of Justice show that since the start of the pandemic 706 charges of failing to comply with a direction under the states Emergency Management Act have been laid against 384 individuals. WA COVID breachers Of those, 64 people were sentenced to an immediate prison sentence, while an unknown number of people who did not receive jail time were required to serve the remainder of their quarantine behind bars before being granted bail. The figures indicate a far higher instance of imprisonment than what has been reported publicly and demonstrate the sentencing difficulties associated with new laws. Van Buren, AR (72956) Today Mainly clear skies. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. Low 69F. Winds light and variable.. Tonight Mainly clear skies. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. Low 69F. Winds light and variable. President Joe Biden speaks at Brookland Middle School, Friday, Sept. 10, 2021 in Washington. Biden has encouraged every school district to promote vaccines, including with on-site clinics, to protect students as they return to school amid a resurgence of the coronavirus. President Joe Biden holds up a mask as he announces from the East Room of the White House in Washington, Thursday, July 29, 2021, that millions of federal workers must show proof they've received a coronavirus vaccine or submit to regular testing and stringent social distancing, masking and travel restrictions in an order to combat the spread of the coronavirus. In this photo taken Wednesday, Nov. 17, 2010 in Las Vegas, a couch left behind at a foreclosed home sits at the end of the driveway. Up for debate: Live legislation tracker Check out the latest developments on bills pending before state lawmakers in four key topics. Staff Reporter Nyamekye Daniel has been a journalist for five years. She was the managing editor for the South Florida Media Network and a staff writer for The Miami Times. Daniel's work has also appeared in the Sun-Sentinel, Miami Herald and The New York Times. Governor Mark Gordon responded forcefully this week to a letter from Congressman James Clyburn which misrepresented Wyomings efforts in the Emergency Rental Assistance Program (ERAP). Congressman Clyburn complained of nationwide underspending by the 426 local governments eligible to administer rental assistance. His unwarranted shot places blame for that problem squarely on the shoulders of Wyoming and five other states, Governor Gordon said. The Governor emphasizes that Wyoming has a strong rental assistance program and is meeting the needs of its people In his response, the Governor details the unreliable data, arbitrary metrics and false assumptions used by the Congressman to come to his dramatic but incorrect conclusions about Wyoming. One data point used by the Congressman is described by its own source, the US Census Bureau, as having potentially serious data quality issues. Between the two federal rental assistance programs, Wyoming was allocated $352 million, a total that exceeds the Department of Family Services entire biennial budget. In four months, Wyoming has issued $8.5 million in rental assistance funds to local non-profit organizations, tenants, and landlords, a feat that is unheard of within Wyomings social safety net system. The $352 million is part of how Wyoming will solve our states housing issues, but the program as legislated cannot practically spend that amount on rental and utility assistance alone within the time frames set by Congress, especially in the least-populated state in the nation Governor Gordon said. Its clear Congressman Clyburn does not understand the issues that matter here in Wyoming, because if he did he would work to help us use those funds to develop affordable housing. In his letter, the Congressman ranked Wyoming last in the nation because Wyoming has spent a low proportion of its allocation compared to other states. But, Congress did not base Wyomings allocation on Wyomings demographics or need. It is wholly improper to rank Wyomings performance on the basis of this arbitrary allocation floor set by Congress, the Governor wrote. I invite the Congressman to use local data to reassess our program, said the Governor. Rather than respond to the Congressmans specific questions, which the Governor argued were opportunistic, frivolous and based on false premises that served to do nothing more than garner political attention, the Governors letter makes suggestions on improvements that could be made at the federal level to support local jurisdictions and increase payment rates. A copy of the Governors letter may be found here. Instant unlimited access to all of our E-Editions and content on thechronicleonline.com. The Chronicle E-Edition Newsletter emailed to you each week, the night before the paper hits the street! This subscription is for NEW or RENEWING online subscribers. (The charge will appear as "Country Media Inc." on your credit card statement) DuBois, PA (15801) Today Cloudy early with some clearing expected late. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. Low 58F. Winds light and variable.. Tonight Cloudy early with some clearing expected late. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. Low 58F. Winds light and variable. This is the temporary subscription pass for users returning from the Vision Data subscription process. Your subscription will be updated within 24 hours, after your information is verified. Please click the button below to get your pass. COOPERSTOWN - Josephine Teresa Pylinski, 98, formerly of Edmeston, passed away on Sept. 12, 2021. Josie was born in Ozone Park on April 19, 1923, to Gus and Theresa Zuzzolo. She was a mother and homemaker to four children, Marie, Joseph, Jeanne and Stanley. An excellent baker, Josie worked f Melanie joined The Daily Times in the early 90s and has served as the Life section editor since 1993. A William Blount and UT alum, Melanie is generally the early arriver who turns on the lights in the newsroom. Follow Melanie Tucker Close Get email notifications on {{subject}} daily! Your notification has been saved. There was a problem saving your notification. {{description}} Email notifications are only sent once a day, and only if there are new matching items. Save Manage followed notifications Close Followed notifications Please log in to use this feature Log In Don't have an account? Sign Up Today Dennis Prager is a nationally syndicated radio talk-show host and columnist. His latest book, published by Regnery in May 2019, is The Rational Bible, a commentary on the book of Genesis. His film, No Safe Spaces, was released to home entertainment nationwide on Sept. 15, 2020. He is the founder of Prager University and may be contacted at dennisprager.com. Wait Times for 911 Calls in Portland Horrible Amid Staff Shortages, Efforts to Defund Police Residents of Portland, Oregon, who call 911 to report emergencies are facing a dramatic increase in hold times, with officials saying that the system has become unmanageable and is broken. According to The Oregonian, people dialing 911 are often left waiting more than two minutes for their call to be answered, far longer than the national standard of 15 to 20 seconds. People calling 911 to report a Sept. 4 shootout at a Pearl District restaurant and other emergencies in the following half-hour waited an average of more than 7.5 minutes before a dispatcher answered, The Oregonian reported, adding that this was just the latest example of serious problems plaguing the citys emergency dispatch system. Portland has dealt with unrest amid continuous riots that first broke out in the spring of 2020. Some of the people who have committed crimes are members of the far-left, anarcho-communist Antifa network. Others have identified as Black Lives Matter activists. Bob Cozzie, director of Portlands Bureau of Emergency Communications, said his bureau answers about a million 911 calls a year, of which about 550,000 are emergency calls and 450,000 are of a non-emergency nature. Speaking of the dramatic increase in hold times, Cozzie called the situation horrible. Theres no other way to state it. He noted that its time for Oregon to start looking at other options and solutions to the increasing delays, such as rerouting non-emergency calls. Cozzie said that the agencys own statistics show an average hold time of a minute. But, it also shows a sharp rise in the number of 911 calls on hold for two minutes or longer starting in late spring and summer. As per The Oregonian, 574 of the 911 calls in the city had to wait on hold for more than five minutes in July. This number is more than double that of May, when 221 calls waited that long, and is drastically more than in March, when only eight 911 calls took more than five minutes to answer. Police officers walk past a fire started by a Molotov cocktail that a rioter hurled at them, in Portland, Ore., on Sept. 23, 2020. (Nathan Howard/Getty Images) Compared to 2020, Portlands Bureau of Emergency Communications has experienced a 20 to 45 percent increase in 911 calls, with residents making a total of 63,573 calls to 911 in July, 20 percent more than in July 2020. Calls to 911 in July 2020 represented only a 2 percent increase over July 2019. Cozzie cited a number of reasons for the long wait times, such as a significant increase in the volume of 911 and non-emergency calls that his department receives, as well as less available staff. He noted that more than a dozen employees have retired, taken leaves of absence, been promoted or resigned over the past six months, contributing to staff shortages and thus longer wait times. Current staff is still in training on new medical and fire triage protocols put in place in an effort to cut down on the number of fire trucks sent to low-level medical calls, he said. Were at a tipping point now. Its become unmanageable, he said. The system is broken. The increase in both the number of 911 calls and the longer hold times comes amid a rising number of homicides in Oregon. People clash during rival rallies in Portland, Ore., on Aug. 22, 2021. (David Ryder/Reuters) According to the Portland Police Bureau, between July 2020 and July 2021, 98 homicides were reported to the bureau. During the year-earlier period, from July 2019 to July 2020, just 23 homicide offenses were reported. Law enforcement officials have been resigning en masse from their posts amid continued calls to defund the police and other law enforcement agencies. In June, the entire Portland Police Bureaus Rapid Response Team left their voluntary positions after an officer was indicted on an assault charge. The team, which is responsible for providing public safety at crowd events when there is a threat of harm to the community, included about 50 officers, all of whom resigned on June 16, but said they would continue with their regular assignments. The mass resignation came just one day after Multnomah County District Attorney Mike Schmidt announced his team had indicted one member, Officer Corey Budworth, on one count of fourth-degree assault for physically injuring someone during an Aug. 18, 2020, protest. LOS ANGELESIn a blitz of TV ads and a last-minute rally, California Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom urged voters Sunday to turn back a looming recall vote that could remove him from office, while leading Republican Larry Elder broadly criticized the media for what he described as double standards that insulated Newsom from criticism and scrutiny throughout the contest. The sunny, late-summer weekend was a swirl of political activity, as candidates held rallies, continued bus tours and cluttered the TV airwaves with advertising offering their closing arguments in advance of the election that concludes Tuesday. Newsomwho is expecting President Joe Biden on Monday for a capstone get-out-the-vote rally in Long Beachwas in a largely Hispanic area on the northern edge of Los Angeles, where he sought to drive up turnout with the key voting bloc. Elder also was in Los Angeles, where he was joined by activist and former actress Rose McGowan, who repeated her claims from recent days that Newsoms wife, Jennifer Siebel Newsom, attempted to persuade her in 2017 not to go public with her allegations of sexual misconduct against Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein. Siebel Newsoms office described the allegations as a complete fabrication. In a brief interview with The Associated Press, Newsom characterized McGowans claims as a last-minute classic hit piece as someone who is supporting Elder in the recall. In addition to endorsing Elder, McGowan announced that she had quit the Democratic party. It gives me no great pleasure to call out Democrats. I was a Democrat, she told a press conference. Rose McGowan is a brave and courageous person who understands how oppressive the system has become. I look forward to standing with her today at 1pm as we join forces on behalf of all Californians to hold our failed leaders accountable. Larry Elder (@larryelder) September 12, 2021 Meanwhile, the governor called Elder desperate and grasping, saying McGowans claims about his wife just shows you how low things go in campaigns these days. He echoed his earlier criticism of Elder, saying the conservative talk show host and lawyer doesnt believe that women have the right to their own reproductive freedoms, hes devoutly opposed to Roe v. Wade, doesnt believe theres a glass ceiling, doesnt believe in pay equity laws. During her appearance, McGowan spoke warmly of Elder and lambasted Hollywood Democrats who she said traumatized her life. She now lives in Mexico. Do I agree with him on all points? No, McGowan said. So what. He is the better candidate. He is the better man. The last-minute exchange highlighted growing tensions in the election, which largely grew out frustration with Newsoms pandemic orders that shuttered schools and businesses during the pandemic. Voting concludes Tuesday. Recent polling shows Newsom is likely to hold his job. As Newsoms first partner, Siebel Newsom, an actress turned documentary filmmaker, has championed gender equality and societys treatment of women and families. McGowan, 48, who is known for her role in the Scream movie franchise, was one of the earliest of dozens of women to accuse Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein of sexual misconduct, making her a major figure in the #MeToo movement. Elder, who could become the states first Black governor, targeted some of his sharpest remarks at what he described as skewed media coverage. Earlier this week, his walking tour of homeless encampments in LAs Venice Beach neighborhood was cut short after a woman bicyclist wearing a gorilla mask threw an egg toward Elder and then took a swing at a member of his entourage. The confrontation set off strong reactions on Twitter, with conservatives charging the incident wasnt immediately branded a racist attack because Elder is a conservative. If he was a Democrat it would have been a major story, Elder said. He also said McGowans accusations largely have been ignored by the media, but argued that if similar charges had been made about him thats all you guys would be talking about. This is a double standard, he said. Im sick of it. Emails posted on Twitter by McGowan showed she had contact with Newsoms wife, which her office confirmed but said their communication was as fellow survivors of sexual assault and in Jennifers former capacity leading the Representation Project, an organization that fights limiting gender stereotypes and norms. One of McGowans key claims is that during a 2017 phone conversation, Newsoms wife referenced a law firm that was working with Weinstein and asked her what the firm could do to make you happy. McGowan said Sunday she didnt recognize the firms name at the time. I had no idea who that was. So, I just said nothing and hung up on her. That was my last contact with her, she said. California Gov. Gavin Newsom is photographed during a TV interview before a rally against the California gubernatorial recall election on Sunday, Sept. 12, 2021, in Sun Valley, Calif. (AP Photo/Ringo H.W. Chiu) The election will determine whether Newsom can complete his first term or will be tossed out of office more than a year early. Voters are being asked two questions: Should Newsom be recalled and, if so, who should replace him? If he gets a majority vote on the first question, the second question with the names of 46 replacement candidate is irrelevant. Otherwise, the highest vote-getter among the replacement candidates would become governor. By Michael R. Blood and Eugene Garcia Anti-Riot Bill Vetoed in North Carolina North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper vetoed a bill on Friday that would have increased penalties for those who engage in riots that result in damage or injury. People who commit crimes during riots and at other times should be prosecuted and our laws provide for that, but this legislation is unnecessary and is intended to intimidate and deter people from exercising their constitutional rights to peacefully protest, Cooper, a Democrat, said in a press release. A person would have faced felony charges and jail time if he or she caused damage to property, or assaulted a citizen or emergency personnel, during a protest or state of emergency. Republican House Speaker Tim Moore, a Republican and one of the bills sponsors, called it a common-sense bill written to protect small businesses and individuals in the event that a protest became violent and focused solely on the perpetrators of violence rather than peaceful protesters. Every suggested change to improve the bill from the other side of the aisle was incorporated, Moore said. Unfortunately for this governor, pandering to the far left is more important than rule of law. In a statement released after the bill passed in the Senate in August, Moore said he had witnessed the violence and destruction caused by rioters right here in downtown Raleigh in 2020. What this bill does is enforce harsher penalties for the perpetrators of violence and looting, while preserving every North Carolinians right to protest peacefully, Moore said. Our rights to free speech and assembly are precious and must be preserved, but never at the expense of harm to others. House Bill 805 simply ensures the safety of our citizens while upholding their rights to free speech and assembly. Felony charges would have been handed down if damages exceeding $1,500, serious bodily harm, or death, had resulted from the actions of the rioter. The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) called the bill harmful, adding that it would dissuade many people from engaging in peaceful and constitutionally protected acts of protests. The bill was retaliation, the ACLU alleged, against the uprising for racial justice that happened in 2020 when an outbreak of violence started in May at the time of the killing of George Floyd, a black man who had been arrested. The May 25 arrest was filmed, and in the video, Floyd, 46, said he couldnt breathe as Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin was witnessed kneeling on Floyds neck as he pleaded for air. Floyd was pronounced dead an hour after the incident. According to a September 2020 report (pdf) from the Raleigh Police Department, May 30 through June 7 became a week of peaceful protest that devolved into acts of violence and destroyed property. In July 2020, the Triangle Business Journal reported that statewide insurance claims were over $10 million. Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson at the state capitol in Little Rock, Arkansas, on July 20, 2020. (Staci Vandagriff/The Arkansas Democrat-Gazette via AP) Arkansas Gov: Bidens Mandate for COVID-19 Vaccine Counterproductive, Fuels Division Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson said on Sept. 12 that he believes President Joe Bidens COVID-19 vaccine mandate, announced last week, hardens the resistance some people may have to getting inoculated. Biden on Sept. 9 issued several executive orders to require that all federal employees and the majority of health care workers get a COVID-19 vaccine. A White House plan also stated that Biden would direct the Occupational Safety and Health Administration to mandate that businesses with 100 or more employees either mandate COVID-19 vaccines, require weekly COVID-19 testing, or be fined. Hutchinson, a Republican, told NBCs Meet the Press that he believes the presidents vaccination mandates will hurt nationwide efforts to vaccinate Americans, instead of supporting them. The federal requirements are counterproductive, he said. We talked about the fact that weve historically had vaccination requirements in schools, the governor said. But those have always come at the state level, never at the national level. And so this is an unprecedented assumption of federal mandate authority that really disrupts and divides the country. It divides our partnership between the federal government and the states. And it increases the division in terms of vaccination when we should all be together trying to increase the vaccination uptake. The mandate is expected to impact approximately 80 million private-sector employees. Hutchinson said on Sept. 12 that he believes the decision to mandate vaccines for employees should be decided by individual businesses. Im not aware of any governor from any state that said we want to mandate businesses to require vaccination, he said. I support businesses being able to require vaccination, but its their own independent choice for their workplace. COVID-19 vaccines have already been mandated by several federal agencies, including the Department of Veterans Affairs and the Pentagon. A day after Biden announced his vaccine mandate, at least 19 governors and two attorneys generalincluding Hutchinsonissued statements disagreeing with the administrations move, with several vowing to defy it. Hutchinson, chair of the National Governors Association, said in a statement: I fully support continued efforts to increase vaccination rates across our nation, but the federal government mandates on private businesses are not the right answer. I have been consistent in freedom of businesses to require their employees to be vaccinated, and I have opposed the government from saying businesses cannot exercise that freedom. The same principle should protect the private sector from government overreach that requires them to vaccinate all employees. Biden earlier said the mandate is about protecting yourself and those around youthe people you work with, the people you care about, the people you love. The Epoch Times has contacted the White House for comment. The seahorse recovery program is now in year two and has seen over 200 seahorses released into Sydney Harbour. (Frederic J. Brown/AFP via Getty Images) Baby Seahorse Released Into the Wild Brings Hope to Iconic and Mythical Marine Species Over 140 baby Whites seahorses, also known as Sydney seahorses, were recently released into the wild across the citys harbours in a seahorse recovery project. Following a dramatic decline in Sydney Harbours seahorse numbers over the past decade, the project aims to increase the population of the hippocampi through a breeding program at the Sydney Aquarium. The baby seahorses will then be released back into the wild so that they can breed and flourish. It is hoped the venture will also allow for the marine species to be removed from the New South Wales endangered species list. Curator at Sydney Aquarium Laura Simmons said that the release on Sep. 9 was a major milestone. Whites seahorse has recently been listed as an Endangered Species in NSW. (Sydney Aquarium) Were now in year two of a multi-year project that aims to recover the Endangered Whites seahorse, Simmons said in a media release. Im extremely proud that today we saw over 140 tagged Whites seahorses released into the wild, where we hope theyll go on to breed all around Sydney Harbour and the East Coast of Australia to help Whites seahorse flourish. Whites Seahorse is named after John White, a surgeon in the First Fleet, which brought the first stages of European settlement to Australia. They are medium-sized seahorses and are one of four specifies known to occur in New South Wales waters. Their colours are unpredictable as it changes depending on their mood and habitat and despite having propelling fins, they are also known to be one of the slowest swimming fishes in the ocean. David Harasti, a senior marine scientist with NSW Department of Primary Industries (DPI) Fisheries, said the project was providing hope for the species in Sydney harbour. Just last year, the Whites seahorse was listed as an Endangered species in NSW, and this captive breeding program is providing hope for this iconic and mythical marine species and will hopefully contribute to their numbers increasing in the wild, Harasti said. Over 140 seahorses were released into new seahorse hotels. (Sydney Aquarium) The Whites Seahorse Recovery project involves seahorse collection, aquarium breeding, migration into artificial habitats nicknamed Seahorse Hotels, monitoring, and the release of baby seahorses into the wild. It will also involve the restoration of meadows of the seagrass Posidonia Australis in Sydney Harbour, which have been decreasing in size and are critical to the seahorses as habitat. It is a collaborative effort between Sydney Aquarium, DPI Fisheries, Ocean Youth, the Gamay Rangers, the University of Technology Sydney (UTS), the Sydney Institute of Marine Science(SIMS), and Taylors Wines. President Joe Biden speaks about combatting the coronavirus pandemic in the State Dining Room of the White House in Washington on Sept. 9, 2021. (Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images) Biden Says Al-Qaeda Could Come Back, Defends Troop Withdrawal President Joe Biden, on the 20th anniversary of the Sept. 11 terror attacks, defended his decision to withdraw U.S. troops from Afghanistan but acknowledged that the terrorist group al-Qaeda may attempt to reconstruct itself in the country following the Taliban takeover. The president, who marked the anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks by visiting all three sites where the hijacked planes crashed, told reporters he believes the terrorist group could come back. Could al-Qaeda come back? Yeah, Biden told reporters in Shanksville, Pennsylvania, where one plane went down after crew and passengers fought with hijackers. But guess what? Its already back [in] other places. Whats the strategy? Every place where al-Qaeda is, were going to invade and have troops stay in? Come on. The Biden administrations evacuation efforts came to a halt on Aug. 30, with the final U.S. flight of evacuees leaving Kabuls international airport hours before the presidents Aug. 31 deadline. The withdrawal concluded two decades of U.S. involvement in the country following the deadly terror attacks which killed nearly 3,000 people and wounded thousands more. The White House is seen from the Washington Monument as flags are flown at half-staff on Sept. 11, 2021. (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images) Between 1996 and 2001, the Taliban allowed al-Qaeda to operate within Afghanistan before the United States invaded and overthrew the Taliban in the aftermath of the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks. Over the past two decades, al-Qaeda has been vastly diminished, as its former leader Osama bin Laden was killed in 2011, but with the Taliban takeover, questions remain about whether the group could return to prominence. Lets put this thing in perspective here. What interest do we have in Afghanistan at this point with al-Qaeda gone? Biden continued. We went to Afghanistan for the express purpose of getting rid of al-Qaeda in Afghanistan as well as, as well as, getting Osama bin Laden. And we did. We went and did the mission. Youve known my position for a long, long time. Its time to end this war. The presidents comments come after Defense Department press secretary John Kirby told media on Aug. 20 that while the terrorist group has maintained its presence in the country, it wasnt clear how many fighters remained. We know that al-Qaeda is a presence, as well as ISIS, in Afghanistan, and weve talked about that for quite some time. We do not believe it is exorbitantly high, but we dont have an exact figure for you, Kirby said. Meanwhile, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said on Thursday that the international community is watching to see what happens and whether or not al-Qaeda has the ability to regenerate in Afghanistan. The nature of al-Qaeda and ISIS-K is they will always attempt to find space to grow and regenerate, whether its there, whether its in Somalia, or whether its in any other ungoverned space, Austin added. I think thats the nature of the organization. Austin said that the United States has issued a warning to the Taliban not to harbor al-Qaeda or any other terror group. The group was put on notice that we expect them not to allow that to happen, he remarked. Jack Phillips contributed to this report. The City of London financial district can be seen as people walk along the south side of the River Thames, in London on March 19, 2021. (Henry Nicholls/Reuters) Business Tax Increases Must End: UK Industry Group A leading British industry group has urged the government to reward companies that continue investing instead of raising business taxes further. Tony Danker, director-general of the Confederation of British Industry (CBI), said on Monday that UK businesses are willing to pay their fair share to help the country recover from the CCP (Chinese Communist Party) virus pandemic, but are worried that the government would keep turning to business taxes as a politically convenient option. Chancellor of the Exchequer Rishi Sunak announced on March 3 that corporation tax will be raised to 25 percent from 19 percent from 2023. According to the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR), the tax rises will increase the tax burden to 35 percent of GDP in 2025/26, its highest level since the late 1960s. After the pandemic, we in business believe that we should pay our fair share to tackle the debts of COVID. That is why many business leaders accepted the jaw-dropping six-point corporate tax increase announced in March, Danke said in a speech at the Alliance Manchester Business School. But there is a real risk now that the government will keep turning to business taxes to carry the load, he warned. On Sept. 7, Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced a new UK-wide 1.25 percent health and social care levy, which is based on National Insurance contributions. Johnson said the 12 billion ($17 billion) tax hike was needed to reform social care funding and to help the National Health Service clear the backlog caused by the pandemic. The CBIs Danker said he was deeply worried the government thinks that taxing businessperhaps more politically palatableis without consequence to growth. The industry group said the time for further business tax increases must end and the government must reward those firms who invest. In reaction to the CBIs statement, the Treasury said it had supported British businesses during the pandemic through its Plan for Jobs, which cost 400 billion ($554 billion). The impact of the pandemic means we have had to make the tough but responsible decision to raise taxes, weve asked both individuals and businesses to pay a bit more as we get our public finances back on a sustainable path, said a spokesperson. The Conservative governments latest tax hike went against a pledge Johnson personally made in the Conservative Partys election manifesto in 2019, in which he promised not to raise income tax, VAT, or National Insurance. A YouGov survey last week found that backing for the Tories had fallen by five points to 33 percent following the announcement. The dip saw Labour take the lead on 35 percentthe first time the party has been out in front since January. PA contributed to this report. Australian Treasurer Josh Frydenberg speaks to the media during a visit to Narrabundah Cottage Childcare Centre in Canberra, Australia, on May 2, 2021. (AAP Image/Lukas Coch) Businesses Waking Up to the Fact They Must Diversify From China: Australian Treasurer Australian Federal Treasurer Josh Frydenberg says that businesses within the country are keenly aware of the need to diversify trade away from China amid increasing strategic competition with the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). Frydenbergs comments follow a speech he delivered last week, calling on Australian businesses to adopt a China-plus strategy, which would build on the strengths of existing trade links with China, and to engage other nations economically. I think the business community is waking up to the fact that they do need to diversify their markets. They cant have all their eggs in one basket, namely the China basket. Thats why I talk about China plus, he told Sky News Australia on Sept. 12. And it is really businesses and governments that encourage this diversifying of markets and diversifying of supply chains as well. Theres an increasing overlap between what our economic policies and economic interests, and our national security policies and national security interests, and Australia has been targeted by Chinas economic coercion, just look at their response on barley, beef, coal, and wine exports from Australia. Today, our economy has been remarkably resilient, we have been able to find other markets, and that goes to the high quality and high premium paid for, for Australian goods and services. Frydenberg also noted that Australia has to be realistic about the challenges it faces with AustraliaChina relations. Australian beef is seen at a supermarket in Beijing on May 12, 2020 (Greg Baker/AFP via Getty Images) Since April 2020, Australia has weathered an ongoing trade coercion campaign from the CCP after Foreign Minister Marise Payne called for an investigation into the origins of COVID-19. The move drew a sharp rebuke from Chinese Ambassador to Canberra Cheng Jingye, who warned of potential action against Australias trading relationship with China. In the following months, the CCP implemented a series of bans, suspensions, and regulatory hurdles focused on coal, wine, beef, barley, lobster, timber, lamb, and cotton exports to the country. Frydenberg says the result has been a drop of $5.4 billion in trade exports over the year to the June quarter. However, over the same period, exports of those goods to the rest of the world have increased by $4.4 billion, he told the Australian National Universitys Crawford Leadership Forum on Sept. 6. In many ways, Australia is on the frontline of this new strategic competition, Frydenberg said. We have faced increasing pressure to compromise on our core values. He also said the CCP poses a bigger threat globally compared to the Soviet Union. Workers make iron bars in a steel factory in Lianyungang, Jiangsu Province, China, on Feb. 12, 2021. (AFP via Getty Images) During the Cold War, the Soviet Union was largely cut off from the rest of the world. It did not trade or invest much outside of its sphere of influence, Frydenberg said. He noted that, in stark contrast, Chinas share of the global gross domestic product would reach 18.8 percent in 2021 (compared to just 7.7 percent in 2001); by 2019, it accounted for 13 percent of global exports, according to figures from the International Monetary Fund. Almost 130 countries now have China as their largest trading partner, Frydenberg said. This combination of economic weight, global integration, and assertiveness poses new and significant challenges for many countries around the world. Frydenbergs speech follows remarks made by former Prime Minister Tony Abbott, who recently traveled to India as a special trade envoy, calling on business leaders to show character and ensure supply chains remain free from China. In my judgment, it should be every business concern to minimize the critical place that Chinese intermediate goods might have in our supply chains, lest they be denied just when theyre needed most, he told the Policy Exchange, a right-leaning think tank in the UK on July 28. Thats not to deny that, by and large, a business should minimize its costs and maximize its quality and returns to shareholders. But this might be one of those instances where the long-term natural interest does not coincide with short-term economic interests, and where character is demanded of our business leaders more than just commercial savvy. An eight-foot tall steel fence topped with concertina razor wire circles the U.S. Capitol in Washington on Jan. 29, 2021. (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images) Capitol Fencing to Go Back Up Ahead of Sept. 18 Justice for J6 Rally Fencing will be re-erected around the U.S. Capitol this week as law enforcement officials prepare for a demonstration planned for Sept. 18. Matt Braynard, a former Trump campaign operative, is organizing the rally to call for the release of people who arent accused of carrying out violence on Jan. 6 during the Capitol breach but nonetheless remain in jail. After briefing members of Congress, Capitol Police Chief Tom Manger confirmed the fencing will be put back up ahead of the rally. The fence will go up a day or two before, and if everything goes well, it will come down very soon after, he said on Sept. 13. Organizers expect hundreds of people to attend the Justice for J6 event. It could be the largest gathering at the Capitol since Jan. 6. Manger told The Epoch Times in an email that his agency is closely monitoring the planned event but that hes confident, given the changes in intelligence-gathering and sharing made after Jan. 6, that the work we are doing now will make sure our officers have what they need to keep everyone safe. A spokeswoman for the Metropolitan Police Department said via email that the agency would be fully prepared for upcoming events. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) told reporters after being briefed by Manger and other Capitol Police officials: They seemed very, very well prepared. Much better prepared than before Jan. 6. I think theyre ready for whatever might happen. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) also said that the Capitol Polices plan seems much better than that in place before Jan. 6. Braynard told The Epoch Times in an email: This is a political decision to intimidate patriotic Americans from exercising their First Amendment rights. The DC police and Capitol Police know very well that we will bring no disorder, but the political leadership is terrified of us shining the light on their political persecution of innocent Americans. This will not deter us. In several social media posts, Braynard said the rally is meant to be peaceful and that organizers have worked for two months with Capitol, Washington, and park police, in addition to private security. There will be a secure perimeter and metal detectors at the event, which will be 100 percent run by his group, Look Ahead America, he added. The rallys location is Union Square between 1st and 3rd streets, according to an email sent to people interested in attending that was seen by The Epoch Times. Its slated to start at 12 p.m. Prospective attendees were told to travel in groups, be respectful to private security and law enforcement, not wear clothing or wear banners supporting a specific politician or ex-politician, including former President Donald Trump, and to wear red, white, and blue and bring signs to show support for people imprisoned for allegedly committing crimes on Jan. 6. The demonstration has been heavily criticized by Democrats, who allege its aimed at downplaying the breach. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) told a press conference last week, These people are coming back to praise the people who were out to kill, out to kill Members of Congress, successfully causing the deathssuccessfully is not the word, but thats the word, because its what they set out to doof our law enforcement. Every Washington or federal law enforcement officer who was present at the Capitol on Jan. 6 and later died was found to have died from natural causes or suicide, including U.S. Capitol Police Officer Brian Sicknick. Several protesters died on Jan. 6, including Ashli Babbitt, who was shot by a Capitol police officer. Pelosis office didnt respond to a request for clarification. Correction: A previous version of this article inaccurately stated the number of people who died on Jan. 6. The Epoch Times regrets the error. The rhetoric of collective guiltsystemic racism, white privilege, silence is violencebecame ubiquitous as school leaders assigned culpability to white employees for racial inequities. (Matt Cardy/Getty Images) Catholics Can Circumvent the Scourge of Identity Politics in Schools Commentary With schools opening, and Parliaments flag flying at half mast during a federal election, it is timely to assess how George Floyds death and discovered graves deemed to be of indigenous children near former residential schools have influenced the Canadian educational landscape. National reckoning about the countrys identity began in the summer of 2020 when many Canadian leaders ventriloquized aggressive demands of an ascendant Black Lives Matter movement. Iconic statutes began falling, churches started burning, and guardians of civic institutions proffered chorus-like confessions that theirs were systemically racist organizations, evils of which they had heretofore been oblivious. How did Catholic schools, founded on a Judeo-Christian ethos and millennia-old insights about the nature of evil and reconciliation, address festering wounds in our national psyche? Were they emboldened by fidelity to these powerful ancient teachings or turn for inspiration toward critical race theorists and their allies? As they open their doors for a new academic year, evidence that these schools are in a deep existential malaise separates into three broad categories: obsessive use of collectivist language to define racial groups, explicit adoption of Marxist programming philosophies, and rigid adherence to a new authoritarian worldview. The rhetoric of collective guiltsystemic racism, white privilege, silence is violencebecame ubiquitous as school leaders assigned culpability to white employees for racial inequities in Canada. Zealously adopting identity politics linguistics, they unwittingly joined a long lineage of Frankfurt School Marxists who, mourning Soviet communisms collapse, substituted race for class when fomenting the group conflict needed to undermine capitalism, the family, and Christianity. Catholic educators disseminated critical anti-racist and anti-colonial theories from the University of Torontos Centre for Integrative Anti-Racism Studies intended to subvert the persistence of White supremacy, which is pervasive in the Canadian education system. Incredulously, they fortified arguments that the overtly white, normative Judeo-Christian heritage of Ontarios publicly funded Catholic schools makes them, like a teetering John A. Macdonald statue, ripe for toppling, quaint constitutional protections notwithstanding. Preachy progressives wielded a familiar cudgel of grievance-politics newspeakculturally responsive pedagogyto allege those who value teaching To Kill a Mockingbird, Lord of the Flies, or Romeo and Juliet cling stubbornly to an oppressive Eurocentric curriculum cohabited with Euclidean geometry and Newtons second law of motion. The Vancouver School Boards decision to cut advanced programming mimicked Ontarios elimination of ability levels in Grade 9 math, a capitulation to cancel culture extended in some boards by dropping courses for the gifted. Seduced by the allure of equality of outcomes, which decrees the distribution of skin colour in each class comport with those in the general population, decision-makers sent a breathtakingly condescending message to precocious students of colour: too many of your peers in Advanced Placement math will have white skin in September, so enrichment is cancelled for all. Land claims announcements, tirelessly intoxicated with the gospel of author and anti-racist activist Ibram Kendi, badgered students with the absurdity that you are either a racist or anti-racist, and, if the latter, must actively dismantle racist structures your white skin implicates you in upholding. Any objections that this claim is itself brazenly racist triggered the predictable banality from Robin DiAngelo devotees that outward non-compliant speech belies inward white fragility, as laid out by DiAngelo in her book of the same name. When diversity officersimmersed at universities in the fuzzy subjectivity of micro-aggression and trigger warningsarrived in school systems tasked with gerrymandering hiring so that skin colour eclipses teaching ability as a qualification in forming an equitable workforce, the Catholic education project began unhinging. How can inspired Catholic parents stem the hemorrhaging of critical thinking in their schools? Foremost, parents must instill in students an understanding of the profound contributions their ancestors made in building Canada irrespective of skin colour, and model learning from past failings without self-abasement. When school principals make the defamatory charge of white privilege, they should be pressed to stipulate the offending details in each persons lived experience that justifies this racist smear. If accused by directors of harbouring unconscious bias, teachers should cite established research demonstrating that the Implicit Association Test, used for decades by social justice warriors to bludgeon adversaries, generates validity and reliability scores so abysmal that no credible research psychologist views the construct seriously anymore. Parents must also contemplate how previous generations circumvented corrosive school cultures. Polands flying universities, popularized in the 18th century during the partition that wiped it off the map, were a network of secret classes gathering at off-hours in professors residences after the daily parroting of official government propaganda ended. Scientist Maria Skodowska-Curie was a double Nobel Prize-winning graduate of the underground flying university, and during the Nazi and Soviet occupation, seminarian Karol Wojtya enrolled as well, earning a classical education that served him well as Pope John Paul II. Parents should remember that if todays scourge of identity politics continues unabated, they can embrace a broad array of learning platforms of which their ancestors could only dream to design learning networks, resurrect safe thinking spaces for their children, and restore Catholic education worthy of their trust. Views expressed in this article are the opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times. Chinese paramilitary police and guards stand in front of the entrance to the Forbidden City in Beijing on May 1, 2020. (Kevin Frayer/Getty Images) CCP Virus Remaking the World in Chinas Image The future darkens as differences between the West and Chinas techno-dictatorship rapidly vanish Commentary In 1992, historian Francis Fukuyama wrote that the fall of the Soviet Union signaled the end of history. Capitalism Won Over Marxism There were nuances to Fukuyamas theory, but essentially it held that in the battle between Marxism and Capitalism, Marxism had lost. Communist countries from Cuba to China and everywhere in between were all abject economic failures, murderous regimes, and horrendous polluters that were absolute hellholes. The top-down, anti-God, oppressive communist system had failed to deliver on its promises in every way. Conversely, free capitalist nations of every stripe performed relatively well in virtually every way that matteredin living standards, in freedom for people in all its forms, in technological innovation, artistic and political expression, human rights, and even in lowering pollution. All that remained, according to Fukuyama, was the technical management of absorbing the failed Marxist nations into the capitalist global economy. Making China in Our Imageor Vice Versa? But a not-so-funny thing happened on the way to the end of history. A decade before the fall of Soviet communism, the Westled by Americadecided that engaging the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) would not only be a counterweight to the USSR, but would also result in China becoming more like the free, capitalist West. The thinking was that by giving money, factories, technology, and markets to the communist Chinese, we could remake the worlds most populous nation into a society that resembled our own. We thought we were succeeding, but the 1989 slaughter of 10,000 young students in Tiananmen Square ended that delusion. After that cruel display by the CCP, the United States doubled down on China. First, the United States responded with weak sanctions and then in 2000, invited the CCP into the World Trade Organization. From 1980 to 2020, China went from a backward agrarian nation unable to feed itself, to rivaling the United States in technology, economic power and global influence. Over those years, what China didnt get legally in terms of intellectual property and technology, it stole from the West, one way or another. That practice continues today. Social Credit System Emerges Not too long ago, the CCP gained the technological capabilitiesfrom facial recognition, to cameras, recording devices, GPS locators, and other itemsto create a digital surveillance system to monitor, track, identify, arrest, detain, and dispose of those individuals who may or could possibly pose a threat to the State. Chinas social credit system was born. Then, the CCP bundled their surveillance technology, marketed it as smart city technology, and sold it to other authoritarian regimes around the world. The CCP certainly didnt invent smart tech surveillance, the UK has been among the most surveilled societies on Earth for decades. But China has perfected it. Visitors check a 5G Smart City technology at the China Mobile booth at the GSMA Mobile World Congress 2019 in Barcelona, Spain, on Feb. 26, 2019. The annual Mobile World Congress hosts some of the worlds largest communications companies. (David Ramos/Getty Images) CCP Virus Brings Totalitarianism As for censorship and propaganda, the U.S. media and academia fought the Trump administration and its supporters to a degree we hadnt seen before. Negative events were magnified and even invented out of whole cloth, while any positive ones were simply underreported, distorted, or not reported at all. But all of these developments were only the precursor to what was to come with the debut of the CCP virus (commonly known as the novel coronavirus) in 2019. As it turns out, we in America have our own homegrown strain of totalitarians who have been ready to be triggered into action. It has become evident that for Americas Big Tech moguls, great wealth isnt enough. They want great power, and indeed, they have it. Medical Authoritarianism Sadly, the tech moguls coordination with the federal government to censor any ideas that contradict the official narrative regarding the CCP virus in America resembles the relationship between the CCP and the state media in China. Social media companies, along with the federal government are using the CCP virus to justify infringing on our Constitutional rights under the guise of safety. Its as if the Bill of Rightswhich not only guarantees our civil rights and freedoms as individuals, but also restricts the authority of the federal governmenthas itself succumbed to the virus and has been replaced by medically-induced authoritarianism. Thats because it has. The Power of Fear Sadly, this bothers far too few people in America. Of course, who can argue that relinquishing our rights in the name of medical safety isnt wise or legal? Very few, because if you do, youll be censored. Publicly excoriated. Unemployed. Cancelled. The reality is that weve been spoon-fed fear day in and day out for 18 months now, we all need to accept that were too vulnerable, too weak, too afraid to face the world, to face a disease with a 99 percent survival rate, without living under the protection of the State. And where is China in all of this? Everywhere. China Gaining Control Over America In fact, over the past several years, China has been buying up much of American industryfrom agricultural farmland and our largest meat processing plants to AMC movie theaters and major media outlets. The consequences of this are chilling: The CCP is gaining great influence on what we put into our bodies and in our minds. Thats just the kind of power the CCP likes to have. Whats more, all of these tech giants have made billions of dollars in China and remain deeply connected to the communist regime. Another coincidence. But can anyone really hold that against them? After all, the same could be said of the Biden family. But where does that leave the American people? A Return to Empires of Old? For decades, the oppression of the Chinese people by the CCP was regarded the world over as a dismal historical aberrationa dreary dystopian stepchild of the old Soviet dictatorship. The assumption that it would evolve into a more Western-style country has been proven foolhardy. Rather, current trends show that China is a growing empire with global capabilities and ambitions, disdaining the very Western nations that enabled its rise. From todays perspective, perhaps it is the America that is disappearing before our eyes that is the historical aberration. Is history, marked mostly by the brute force and tyranny that defined empire after empire, now returning to form? Views expressed in this article are the opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times. Employees work on an assembly line at an auto plant of Dongfeng Honda in Wuhan in China's central Hubei Province on March 23, 2020. (STR/AFP) China Vehicle Sales Fall Amid Chip Shortages as Companies Drive up Prices Data show Chinas vehicle sales dropped 17.8 percent in August from a year earlier due to a pandemic-induced chip crisis, falling for a fourth consecutive month since May. Overall nationwide sales stood at 1.8 million vehicles in August, in figures released by the Beijing-based China Association of Automobile Manufacturers on Sept. 10. The trend of Chinas annual auto production and sales depends on the supply of chips, said Xu Haidong, the deputy chief engineer of the association. A prolonged global chip shortage has affected major automakers in China, including Ford, Honda, and Volkswagen, forcing many to cut production at plants. Recently, the shortage saw three auto chip sales companies driving up pricesincluding two in Shanghai and one in Shenzhentrading chips at up to 40 times the purchasing price, Chinese state-run news agency Xinhua reported. It said the profit for auto chips would take up 7 to 10 percent of the cost in a market thats in equilibrium. Microchips are key components that allow the function of numerous computer-controlled components in a vehicle, such as airbags, touchscreens, and engines. A new vehicle could require hundreds of semiconductor chips. Chinas Ministry of Industry and Information Technology said on Monday that it was seeking alternative solutions to address the auto chip supply shortage. Reuters contributed to this report. Workers in protective suits disinfect the compound of a primary school before schools reopen for the upcoming semester, in Wuhan, Hubei province, China, on Aug. 25, 2021. (China Daily via Reuters) Chinese City With COVID-19 Outbreak Stops Buses, Trains BEIJINGA city in southern China that is trying to contain a COVID-19 outbreak told the public Sunday not to leave town, suspended bus and train service, and closed cinemas, bars, and other facilities. Anyone who needs to leave Putian, a city of 2.9 million people in Fujian province south of Shanghai, for an essential trip must have proof of a negative COVID-19 test within the past 48 hours, local authorities announced. The first cases in Putian were students from Xianyou county, according to the state-run Global Times newspaper. The actual number of cases is difficult to verify, as the Chinese regime routinely suppresses or alters information. The traveler, identified by the surname Lin, underwent a 14-day quarantine and nine nucleic acid and serologic tests, all of which were negative, the Global Times said, citing local authorities. It said he tested positive on Friday. Residents of villages in Xianyou where infections were found were barred from leaving, the newspaper said. Bus and train service to Putian was suspended Saturday, Global Times said. Elsewhere in Putian, cinemas, card rooms, gyms, tourist sites, and other facilities were ordered closed, local authorities announced. Restaurants and supermarkets were told to strictly control customer numbers and to check for fevers. Schools were ordered to require students to wear masks in class. Epoch Times staff contributed to this report (L-R): Jessica Macaulay of Canada, Rhiannan Iffland, and Xantheia Pennisi of Australia celebrate on the podium during the final competition day of the fourth stop of the Red Bull Cliff Diving World Series at Downpatrick Head, Ireland, on Sept. 12, 2021. (Dean Treml/Red Bull Content Pool via Reuters) Cliff Diving Records Fall as Hunt and Iffland Triumph in Ireland Dominant duo secure thrilling victories on action-packed day. Gary Hunt and Rhiannan Iffland maintained their winning form on a dramatic and barely believable day of action at the fourth stop of the 2021 Red Bull Cliff Diving World Series in Downpatrick Head, Ireland. Here is all you need to know: Held on the rugged Irish coast, four-time champion Iffland was simply untouchable. Beginning the third round in an unfamiliar third position, the Australian blew her rivals out of the water with a sensational perfect dive, earning five 10s from the judgesthe highest score possiblefor the first time in her glittering career. Not only did Iffland become the first woman to achieve this feat, but she also surpassed her own previous record for the highest single dive score and secured a record-extending 11th consecutive World Series win. Rhiannan Iffland of Australia dives from the 21-meter platform during the final competition day of the fourth stop of the Red Bull Cliff Diving World Series at Downpatrick Head, Ireland, on Sept. 12, 2021. (Dean Treml/Red Bull Content Pool via Reuters) Joining Iffland on the podium were Canadas Jessica Macaulay in second place and a fellow Aussie, wildcard Xantheia Pennisi, who put on a career-best display to make the top three for the first time. Iffland said: It feels great to be on top of the podium once again. I was feeding a little bit from my training partner Xantheia Pennisi as well. Coming into the last two rounds today it was neck and neck and I think I really ate up the pressure and I enjoyed it. She added: That dive in the warm-up, it didnt go so well, so I decided I had to switch my mindset for the competition and made sure that I gave it my absolute all. I went through the water and went wow, that really worked. Im super stoked and I guess Ive got to figure out ways to spice it up and keep pushing myself. I guess I can kind of relax a little bit now and enjoy the competitions a little bit more. Saying that, I still want to go out there and give it my all to break those scores again. This is what Im aiming for next. Gary Hunt of France dives from the 27.5-meter platform during the final competition day of the fourth stop of the Red Bull Cliff Diving World Series at Downpatrick Head, Ireland, on Sept. 12, 2021. (Dean Treml/Red Bull Content Pool via Reuters) In the mens competition, Hunt earned his 41st career victory after an enthralling day of diving. The Frenchman had earned three 10s in Saturdays second round but saw his rivals crank up the pressure with a series of high-scoring dives in the third and fourth rounds. Romanias Constantin Popovici began the glut of 10s by earning four of them for his third-round dive. Then, in the final round, English prodigy Aidan Heslop grabbed two, Italys Alessandro De Rose picked up three, while Spanish wildcard Carlos Gimeno wowed the crowd with a first-ever perfect handstand dive, becoming only the third man ever to receive five 10s from the judges. Despite this series of incredible dives, Hunt held off the challenge from the chasing pack to claim victory. Popovici took second place, while De Rose made the top three for the first time since 2017. Hunt said: From Italy I expect fireworks. I feel like everyone is really getting into their stride. Youve seen how many 10s have been awarded this competition and everyone is getting comfortable. It will be really, really tough, but thats what I love about this sport. Its gonna get tougher every year and lets hope to finish this season with a bang. The 37-year-old added: This one is a special victory for me because Im going home and going to my father-in-laws funeral, so I can hopefully bring a little bit of joy to them and this one is dedicated to him. On a weekend that will go down in cliff diving history, a record 23 top notes were handed out, two perfect dives were recorded in a single stop for the first time ever and Gimeno became the first diver to ever perform a handstand dive directly off the rocks during the first round. Next up for the worlds best cliff divers is a trip to Puglia in Italy on Sept. 22. Mens Result 1. Gary Hunt FRA 442.50 2. Constantin Popovici ROU 433.60 3. Alessandro De Rose ITA 419.55 4. Carlos Gimeno (W) ESP 395.40 5. David Colturi USA 393.10 Mens Standings 1. Gary Hunt FRA 560 points 2. Constantin Popovici ROU 450 3. Catalin Preda (W) ROU 339 4. Alessandro De Rose ITA 314 5. Carlos Gimeno (W) ESP 232 Womens Result 1. Rhiannan Iffland AUS 391.60 2. Jessica Macaulay CAN 343.80 3. Xantheia Pennisi (W) AUS 338.20 4. Molly Carlson CAN 316.80 5. Eleanor Smart 302.80 Womens Standings 1. Rhiannan Iffland AUS 600 points 2. Jessica Macaulay CAN 420 3. Molly Carlson (W) CAN 346 4. Xantheia Pennisi (W) AUS 272 5. Eleanor Smart USA 260 A shopper loads items into her car in the parking lot of a Walmart in Willow Grove, Pa., on May 19, 2021. (Matt Rourke/AP Photo) CNBC, Reuters Correct Fake Walmart Cryptocurrency Stories; Litecoin Tumbles A press release linking Walmart to a cryptocurrency called LiteCoin was later revealed as fake, causing Litecoins price to tumble by nearly a third. The release, sent on GlobeNewswire around 9:30 a.m. Eastern, claimed Walmart customers could soon use Litecoin to buy products from Americas largest retailer. It was promoted by Reuters, CNBC, the Bloomberg terminal network, and the Litecoin Foundation. The news caused the price of a single Litecoin to surge about $60 to $233.75. But Walmart soon called the release fake, and Litecoin acknowledged the news wasnt true. Walmart was the subject of a fake news release, the company said in a brief statement, describing the release as incorrect and stating that it has no relationship with Litecoin. The Litecoin Foundation, a nonprofit that promotes the cryptocurrency, said that its sharing of the release was due to a social media team staffer being a little too eager about the fake news. This was quickly deleted and we have taken steps to correct future issues, the foundation said. Quotes contained in the release from Charlie Lee, the foundations managing director and the cryptocurrencys creator, were described as fabricated. The release also quoted Doug McMillon, Walmarts CEO. GlobeNewswire later removed the release. Intrado, GlobeNewswires parent company, told The Epoch Times in an email that a fraudulent user account was used to issue the fake press release. When the company became aware of what happened, it issued a notice to disregard. This has never happened before and we have already put in place enhanced authentication steps to prevent this isolated incident from occurring in the future. We will work with the appropriate authorities to requestand facilitatea full investigation, including into any criminal activity associated with this matter, Dave Pleiss, an Intrado spokesman, said. Reuters, CNBC, and Bloombergs terminal were among the media outlets that spread the fake news. A Reuters story reporting a partnership between Walmart and Litecoin was withdrawn as soon as we established the press release was fake, a spokesperson for Reuters told The Epoch Times via email. Spokespersons for CNBC and Bloomberg didnt answer emailed questions. CNBC corrected its original article, which was titled, Walmart to accept payments with cryptocurrencies using Litecoin. The outlet said its article cited a fake press release. A Bloomberg report didnt mention the terminal release. It said what happened underscores the danger of hoaxes in one of the hottest corners of the financial markets. Congress Should Not Import Rare Minerals From China and Taliban, Say Republicans During a hearing by The House Energy and Commerce Committee to finalize their portion of the $3.5 trillion budget reconciliation package on Monday, GOP members urged Democrats to support an amendment that would end the reliance on China for rare earth minerals and more specifically Chinas new source of these minerals, the Afghan Taliban. Mr. Chairman, eliminating the U.S. reliance on the Chinese and Taliban for minerals is a bipartisan issue that all of us should be able to support, said Rep. David McKinley (R-W.Va.). China previously threatened to cut off supplies of the rare earth elements, to the United States in 2019, and Congress should never, never let the United States be vulnerable, like that again. Mr. Chairman, in 2010 the Department of Defense identified $1 trillion worth of undeveloped mineral deposits in Afghanistan. There are now estimated to be worth $3 trillion and the Department of Defense referred to the country as the Saudi Arabia of lithium, and lithium is a key ingredient in batteries for electric vehicles, grid storage, solar-powered wind turbines, and other energy technologies, said McKinley. But you know, the withdrawal of U.S. troops from Afghanistan last month left that country in the control of the Taliban, as well as its mineral deposits. And just hours after the Taliban took control, China stated they were ready for quote friendly cooperation with Afghanistan, added McKinley. Rep. David McKinley (R-W.Va.) (L) and Chairman of House Energy and Commerce Committee Rep. Greg Walden (R-Ore.) participate in a news conference at the Greenbrier resort in White Sulphur Springs, W. Va., on Feb. 2, 2018. (Alex Wong/Getty Images) The New York Times interviewed General David H. Petraeus in 2010. At that time, the commander of U.S. forces in Afghanistan referenced a U.S. Dept. of Defense internal Pentagon memo regarding vast mineral deposits there. Zhou Bo, who was a senior colonel in the Peoples Liberation Army from 2003 to 2020, wrote in an op-ed in the New York Times in August that the Chinese Communist Party can give Kabul what it needs most, political impartiality and economic investment, Adding, Afghanistan, in turn, has what China most prizes: opportunities in infrastructure and industry building areas in which Chinas capabilities are arguably unmatchedand access to $1 trillion in untapped mineral deposits. In addition, Johnnie Moore, a former U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) commissioner told The Epoch Times in a recent interview there are three reasons why China is interested in Afghanistan, saying, First, the Chinese regime wants to tap into Afghanistans rare earth and other minerals, which are estimated to be worth up to $3 trillion. Rare earth are 17 elements on the periodic table that are vital in many industries including consumer electronics, defense, and green technologies. Currently, China controls about 80 percent of the global rare earth supply and has previously cut off its exports as a retaliatory tactic against other countries. However, Democrats voted against the amendment, with Congresswoman Lisa Blunt Rochester (D-Del.) urging the members to oppose the amendment offered by McKinleycalling it a distraction. This administration has taken decisive action to stop the import of goods whose components were produced under forced labor. This critical decision sends a clear signal that the United States does not, I repeat, does not tolerate harmful labor practices abroad, said Rochester. But this amendment is nothing more than a distraction from what were trying to do here today, make vital long-overdue investments to tackle the climate crisis. A loader shifts soil containing rare earth minerals to be loaded at a port in Lianyungang, in Chinas Jiangsu Province, for export to Japan. China controls the worlds supply of rare earth minerals and the United States is seeking partnerships with allies to reduce its dependence on China. (File Photo/STR/AFP via Getty Images) The Ranking Member of the Committee Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-Wash.) said the Democrats rush to all Green energy will weaken our energy independence and strengthen our adversaries. This rush to Green in many ways is a rush to trade our energy security, the energy security that we finally gainedenergy independence in 2020 for reliance on China and other adversaries, said Rodgers. A vote for this amendment is a vote for American supply chains and against the Taliban and Chinese enriching themselves on the backs of hardworking American families. Frank Feng contributed to this report. People participate in the Unmute Us! march to protest against COVID-19 policy across the Netherlands In The Hague, on Sept. 11, 2021. (Koen Van Weel/ANP/AFP via Getty Images) COVID-19 Mandate Protests Erupt in Netherlands, Turkey Thousands of people took to the streets in the Netherlands and Turkey over the past weekend to rally against COVID-19 mandates, with Dutch organizers claiming that as many as 150,000 took to the streets. The thousands of people who protested Saturday included musicians and DJs, saying that government restrictions on nightclubs and music venues should be rescinded. The movement, called Unmute Us, held protests in Amsterdam and other major cities. We need to stand up for the events industry, which has been shut down for a year and a half, a website from the group says, according to a translation. The first Unmute Us demonstrations were held on Aug. 21 and drew thousands, the organizers said. The Dutch government is attempting to determine whether nightclubs and related venues should be reopened by the end of this month. The current restriction is slated to last until Nov. 1. Clubs and other venues were permitted to open across the Netherlands at the end of June. However, restrictions were again imposed when case numbers reportedly increased. A number of music festivals have been postponed by their organizers until 2022 due to the pandemic. Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte is scheduled to make a speech about the countrys COVID-19 mandates during a Tuesday news conference, according to DW. Last week, thousands of demonstrators took to the streets across various Dutch cities against COVID-19 restrictions, with about sixty organizations partaking. People demonstrate in protest against COVID-19 vaccine mandates in Istanbul, on Sept. 11, 2021. (Ozan Kose/AFP via Getty Images) Over the weekend, thousands of people demonstrated in Turkey against government-mandated COVID-19 restrictions, including vaccines, tests, and masking. This pandemic is just going on with even more restrictions on our freedoms and theres no end to it, said Erdem Boz, 40, a software developer, reported Reuters. Masks, vaccines, PCR tests might all become mandatory. Were here to voice our discontent with this. On Monday the Turkish government began requiring proof of vaccination or a negative COVID-19 test for all users of intercity planes, buses, and trains, as well as for those attending large events such as concerts or theater performances. Were against all these mandates, said Aynur Buyruk Bilen, with the Plandemic Resistance Movement. I think that the vaccines arent complete, and that its an experimental liquid. Demonstrators march during a protest against COVID-19 vaccine passports on De Villiers Avenue in Paris on Sept. 11, 2021. The sign reads Neither passport nor health pass. (Thomas Samson/AFP via Getty Images) Meanwhile, in France, more demonstrations occurred across the country on Saturday, including in Paris, against COVID-19 vaccine passports and mandatory vaccines for healthcare workers. The French Interior Ministry said that about 120,000 partook in the demonstrations, a slight decline from protests held last weekend. Reuters contributed to this report. The wreckage of a cable car after it collapsed near the summit of the Stresa-Mottarone line in the Piedmont region, northern Italy, on May 26, 2021. (Luca Bruno/AP Photo) Custody Fight Over Child, 6, Who Survived Italy Cable Crash ROMEA six-year-old boy who was the sole survivor of a cable car crash this year in northern Italy is at the center of a bitter custody battle between his maternal grandparents in Israel and his paternal relatives in Italy, who claim the child was flown without their permission to Israel over the weekend. Fourteen people, including Eitan Birans parents and younger sibling, died when the cable car slammed into a mountainside on May 23 after the cable broke. After the boy was released from a Turin hospital following weeks of treatment for critical injuries, Italian juvenile court officials ruled that the child could live with a paternal aunt near Pavia, in northern Italy. But the aunt, Aya Biran, told reporters on Sunday that the previous day, Eitans maternal grandfather took the boy on an agreed-up day visit, then flew him without permission to Israel. She said the boy has been undergoing both physical therapy and psychotherapy since his hospital release and was due to have follow-up medical visits this week, including one in Turin. His bed is empty, his toys and clothes were left behind. His new desk, school backpack, notebooks, pencil case, and books were ready for his first day of class on Monday, she said. The aunt contended that when the maternal grandfather had come to pick him up for an arranged visit on Saturday morning, it was agreed that the boy would be back by dinner. But after Eitan didnt return, the aunt filed a police report on Saturday night, Italian news report said. The maternal grandfather couldnt immediately be reached for comment. But a sister of Eitans late mother denied that the boy was snatched away from Italy. We did not abduct Eitan, Gali Peleg told radio station 103 FM in Israel. We will not use that word. What happened is that we brought Eitan home. Gali Peleg wouldnt say exactly where the boy was, only that he had arrived on Saturday. We are caring for his emotional state and health. In Italy, Aya Biran told reporters the boy has Italian citizenship and had been living with his parents since when he was a toddler in Italy before the accident. It wasnt immediately possible to confirm if the child also had Israeli citizenship but he reportedly had an Israeli passport. The Italian foreign ministry wasnt immediately commenting on the case. The aunt in Israel told the radio station that the boy screamed from excitement when he saw us. He said, Im finally in Israel. The aunt added that everything we did was only for the good of the boy. Pavia prosecutors offices were closed on Sunday and investigators couldnt immediately be reached for comment on Italian news reports that they were considering opening an investigation into the case. I am certain and full of hope that Israeli and Italian authorities will work together to ensure his return home to Italy, Aya Biran told reporters. The Corriere della Sera newspaper quoted a paternal uncle, Or Nirko, as saying Saturday that the Pelegs had the boys Israeli passport and had failed to give it to the paternal relatives despite an Italian court order that they do so by Aug. 30. Nirko was quoted as saying that the boys maternal grandparents had contended that if he stayed in Italy, Eitan would have grown up without ties to his (Israeli) identity. According to the paternal relatives, the maternal family had challenged in Italian courts the custody arrangement that let Eitan live with Biran, who is a doctor with her own children. By Frances Demilio Czech Gunmaker Bets on Riding Colt Into New Markets PRAGUEFor Czech gun maker CZG-Ceska Zbrojovka Group, its recent acquisition of the Colt brand carries both the potential to become a major player in the global firearms market and the challenge of reviving the fortunes of a fabled U.S. name. Shares of CZG, which listed on the stock market last October, have surged 60 percent in Prague this year as investors welcomed solid revenue growth and the companys $222 million purchase of privately-held Colt Holding Companya deal finalised in May that will make CZG a competitor for U.S. leaders such as Smith & Wesson and Sturm, Ruger & Company. Colt, with plants in the United States and Canada, will give CZG the capacity to expand production beyond its main factory in the Czech Republic and allow it to compete in U.S. military contracts because it will fulfil Buy America regulations requiring U.S. production. CZG says it aims to almost double CZG and Colts pro-forma combined revenue of around $570 million last year within a few yearsputting it on a par with Smith & Wessons annual net sales of $1.1 billion in the last fiscal year. In 2020, the United States accounted for 66 percent of the Czech gunmakers annual revenue, mainly sales to individuals and police departments of guns under its CZ (Ceska Zbrojovka), Dan Wesson, and Brno Rifles brands. Colt is an important step in realizing our vision of getting to 1 billion [euros] in revenue by the end of 2025, CZGs Chairman Jan Drahota told Reuters in an interview at the companys Prague headquarters. We will be thinking how to make sure the brand is even bigger than it is now and introduce it to wider [markets]. An employee presents a rifle inside a showroom of the Ceska Zbrojovka small arms factory in Uhersky Brod, Czech Republic, on Aug. 31, 2021. (David W Cerny/Reuters) It is a privilege, but it is also pressure on us, he said. Some of the pressure could come from investors. The revenue target looks ambitious to some analysts and will require investment by CZG, whose roots stretch back to before World War II. It is definitely an ambitious goal, said Pavel Ryska, analyst at J&T Banka in Prague. In my view, it could be met on two conditions. First, the U.S. civilian demand remains robust and keeps rising, and second, CZG adds further production capacity either through its own capex or through additional acquisitions that are well executed. Founded by Samuel Colt, the U.S. company produced one of the first revolvers and its single-action revolver known as The Peacemaker was synonymous with lawmen and outlaws in the Wild West in the 19th century. By 2015, however, the company was filing for bankruptcy protection following a series of missteps and the loss of a key contract with the U.S. Army. Those issues allowed rivals to steal a march on Colt, although it emerged from bankruptcy in 2016 and revenue rose by a quarter last year. Underinvestment CZG, which used IPO proceeds and issued bonds to help finance the Colt deal, will outline investment plans later this year. They will include possibly introducing new products and investing in upgrades at Colts main factory in West Hartford, Connecticut, Drahota said. Upgrades will also mean essentially an enlargement of capacity because of underinvestment in the past, he said. CZG is also considering whether to produce some CZG products in the United States, he said, adding there is little overlap with Colt products. We have to consider from a group level what the production split will be at each location, he said. One plus one is more than two. We believe we can leverage on each others success. About half of Colts revenues in 2020 came from the massive U.S. military and law enforcement (M&LE) segment and Drahota said he saw huge room to grow the brand in global civilian and M&LE markets. Analysts at Czech-based Fio Banka estimate the military and law enforcement portion of CZGs North American sales will climb to 50 percent from 10 percent with the Colt acquisition, boosting the companys revenue as M&LE firearms fall into higher price categories. Global demand for small firearms is expected to rise from around 1.09 billion units in 2019 to 1.26 billion units in 2023, CZG said in its annual report, citing the BIS Small Arms Market Report, with the civilian market now accounting for 62 percent of sales and military and law enforcement 38 percent. The markets good growth prospects have helped drive shares of Smith & Wesson and Sturm, Ruger & Co. up 21 percent and 16 percent respectively this year. CZG, whose operating profit rose 12 percent last year, has until now mainly competed with European groups like FN Herstal of Belgium, Beretta of Italy, and Glock Gesellschaft of Austria and struck deals last year with the Czech army and law enforcement bodies in Brazil and Kenya, as well as contracts to help rearm Hungarys army. Buying Colt will also give it exposure to the UK and Canadian militaries, among others, and Drahota said the market will continue to shift to more advanced weapons as demanded by military customers. CZG, which last year took a minority stake in Spuhr i Dalby AB, a Swedish maker of optical mounting solutions for weapons, would also look at further acquisitions, especially in areas like optics or optoelectronics. We want to grow by acquisitions but we will be disciplined, Drahota said. By Michael Kahn and Jason Hovet Nick Caturano, a 16-year employee at Disney World in Orlando, Fa, poses with a number of Disney characters at a recent event. (Courtesy of Nick Caturano) Disney Workers Fear for Jobs Amid COVID-19 Vaccine Mandate Florida resident Nick Caturano loves his job working as a restaurant server at Disney World in Orlando, Floridaand he wants to keep it. But unless he complies with the corporate giants COVID-19 vaccination mandate next month, Caturano may have to bid farewell to The Most Magical Place on Earth. I was originally going to walk away from it and move on, Caturano told The Epoch Times. Now I just feel a sense of responsibility to stand up and fight. Caturano, 52, has taken his fight online at goofyvaccine.com, where he is asking Disney to not mandate the vaccine for union employees like himself. Hes also asking others to join the fight against mandated vaccinations. Disney didnt respond to a request for comment. This is about everybody. Its about the whole country right now, he said, and if people dont stand up now, he said, they wont have another chance, and I think theyre going to regret it. We knew the union wasnt going to fight it, Caturano said. They were going to hammer out the medical and religious exemptions. The union feels they have the right to do what they want. In an Aug. 23 Memorandum of Understanding between Walt Disney Parks and Resorts U.S. and the Services Trades Council Union, Disney World will require that all 77,000 employees be fully vaccinated by Oct. 22. The agreement, however, will allow exemptions due to a physical disability, medical condition, or sincerely held religious belief, practice or observance, the memorandum states. The memorandum also states that Disney will engage in a flexible interactive process with the employee to understand their circumstances, and determine whether there are reasonable accommodations in their current role on a case-by-case basis. Reasonable accommodations could include face coverings, other additional safety protocols, or alternative open roles, but these determinations will be made based on the employees specific circumstances. Freedom of Choice Caturano said that private companies dont have the right to require vaccines for their employees without their approval or consent, given that other treatments are available. In early August, both he and his wife came down with COVID-19, and they both made a full recovery after taking Ivermectin, he said. As a Christian, Caturano said he opposes the COVID-19 vaccines based on his faith and the doubts he has over the safety and effectiveness of the shots. I have a sincerely held religious belief against it. Theres no reason for me to get a COVID shot when I have a healthy immune system, he said. Its unbelievably scary that this could ever happen, Caturano said of Disneys vaccination mandate. Everybody is so scaredliterally. Another restaurant server at Disney World, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said shes afraid to lose her job after 30 years, being her familys sole breadwinner. I dont want to lose my job. I dont know what to do, she told The Epoch Times. I dont see how Disney can even get away with this. The employee, 55, said she believes her fellow workers should have the choice whether or not to take the injection. If its my choice, its my choice, she said. I dont know how much I can fight and not lose my job. Most of the people I work with have already been vaccinated. A fully vaccinated server at Disney World, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said that workers have a constitutional right to make their own medical decisions, free of coercion by their employer. What kills me is whoever is opposed to [the vaccines on social media] is taken down. It is being censored, she told The Epoch Times. A lot of people here are scared to say anything. A lot of people are vaccinated. Its their livelihood, right? This huge Fortune 500 company is saying youve got to be vaccinated. The employees are going to follow suit, she said. I [also] think there are going to be a lot of job openings. A lot of people are going to quit. The employee said she now regrets having taken the double-shot Moderna vaccine after suffering adverse reactions, including severe abdominal pain, digestive issues, and abnormal menstrual cycles and bleeding. All night longhorrible pain. Its like death. [But] it was my choice. I was pressured into it, she said. Election 2021: Campaign Enters Final Week As the federal election campaign enters its fifth and final week, the SNC-Lavalin scandal, the Tories ousting of a candidate over a controversial tweet, the NDPs $200 billion in new spending, and the Peoples Partys promise to counter anti-oil propaganda were among the top headlines. Liberals At a campaign stop in Vancouver on Sept. 13, Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau announced that if elected, he would make it a criminal offence for an individual to block access to any building providing health services, including hospitals, clinics, pharmacies, abortion clinics, and testing centres. Trudeau made the announcement the same day protests were scheduled at hospitals in several major cities across Canada to raise concerns about some COVID-19 public health measures, including vaccine passports. Trudeau said he would also make it a criminal offence for anyone to threaten or intimidate any healthcare practitioner exercising their duties providing medical services. A Liberal government would also protect businesses who require proof-of-vaccination from legal challenges, he said. Meanwhile, Jody Wilson-Raybould, former justice minister and attorney general of Canada, made allegations about Trudeau and the SNC-Lavalin scandal in a new book to be released this week. On Sept. 11, the Globe and Mail published an excerpt from Indian in the Cabinet: Speaking Truth to Power, in which Wilson-Raybould shares two critical meetings with Trudeau in February 2019, days after the Globe reported that she was facing inappropriate pressure from top Liberals regarding the court case against SNC-Lavalin. The Quebec engineering giant was facing bribery charges related to contracts in Libya, and the excerpt says Wilson-Raybould believed Trudeau had wanted her to lie to subvert the case. Trudeau denied the accusation during a campaign event in Mississauga on Sept. 11. I did not want her to lie, he said. I would never do that. I would never ask her that. That is simply not true. Conservatives Conservative Party Leader Erin OToole announced Sept.13 that if elected, his party will allow new parents on maternity and parental leave to earn up to $1,000 per month without impacting their benefits, to allow parents to stay connected to the workforce and ease the transition back to work. On Sept. 12, OToole promised to extend EI parental leave for at least eight weeks following the death of a child, which the current benefit system does not provide. His party also pledged to provide eight weeks of paid leave from employment in the event of a stillbirth, and three days of paid bereavement leave in the event of a miscarriage. On Sept. 10, OToole ousted candidate Lisa Robinson in the Toronto riding of Beaches-East York after Liberal candidate Nathaniel Erskine-Smith posted a tweet with screenshots of feeds with her profile photo, one of which contains content of an Islamophobic nature. Robinson denies the accusation. She said in a Facebook post on Sept. 10 that the feeds posted by Erskine-Smith were generated by a fake social media account which I reported to police in 2018. Mr. Erskine-Smith shared information today that is false and defamatory. Ive instructed him to remove his social media post immediately or face legal consequences, she wrote. NDP The NDP would commit to $214 billion in new spending over the next five years, according to a costing breakdown of its platform commitments released on Sept. 11. The plan would include far-ranging social programs like pharmacare and dental care. Party leader Jagmeet Singh has vowed to tax the super-rich and ultra-profitable companies in order to generate $166 billion in revenues to offset the new spending. In light of hospital protests scheduled on Sept. 13, the NDP reiterated a previous announcement made on Sept. 5 that they would make it a Criminal Code offence to harass or block someone from accessing health care and to make assault on health-care workers an aggravating circumstance in sentencing. Green Party Green Party Leader Annamie Paul held a press conference with local candidates in Prince Edward Island on Sept. 13. She spoke about her support of universal basic income and legislation such as the Poverty Elimination Strategy Act that seeks to eliminate poverty and homelessness in the province. Paul also touted the Climate Leadership Act, passed by the province in 2018 in order to adopt an approach to pricing carbon pollution, as the strongest legislation in Canada to get us to net-zero. Peoples Party While campaigning in Mundare, Alberta, on Sept. 12, Peoples Party Leader Maxime Bernier announced that, if elected, his government will counter anti-oil and anti-pipeline propaganda from radical environmentalists and foreign foundations. He said under the influence of these actors, capital investments have collapsed, and Canada has grown over-dependent on American markets for export, which costs the country billions of foregone revenues yearly. Albertas economy has also been negatively impacted with tens of thousands of jobs disappearing, he said. If oil doesnt come from Alberta and Saskatchewan, it will come from elsewhere, mostly countries with poor environmental or human rights standards, Bernier said in a statement. And if it is not transported by pipelines, it will be transported by rail, a much more dangerous method for both the environment and humans. With files from The Canadian Press Election 2021: Theres Too Much at Stake to Waste Your Ballot Commentary With a week to go in the federal election theres a lot at stake. It is, the PM assured us, the most important since 1945. So Im here to tell you what it is. Uh, hang on a sec. Its kind of tricky. First, because the platforms of the five parties allowed into the official debates are virtually indistinguishable and certainly unaffordable. The latest Conservative micro-handout is three days of paid bereavement leave in the event of a miscarriage, on top of the 50 percent rebate for food and non-alcoholic drinks purchased for dine-in from Monday to Wednesday for one month, once it is safe to do so and a 15 percent tax credit for vacation expenses of up to $1,000 per person. Which confirms not only that modern politicians are all looking to bribe voters, but that theyve run out of original ideas as well as money because anything anyone could possibly hand out already was. OK, you sigh. What about integrity? Cant we at least elect the social democrat whos not an affront to decency? Regrettably, the appalling hypocrisy of the PM on everything from electoral reform to balanced budgets, boil-water advisories, UNDRIP, open government, sunny ways, and feminism deserves punishment, but not at the cost of rewarding Erin OTooles true blue-bright red flip-flop. So what of the NDP, according to whose constant aggravating whine, Justin Trudeau is plotting on behalf of the ultra-rich and super-rich to keep Canada an undemocratic plutocracy? What a mean man. No, not Trudeau, despite his ruthless streak a mile (1.6 kilometres) wide. Jagmeet Singh. The NDP is not tainted with the same hypocrisy as the other mainstream parties, including the Bloc, who hate Canada but love its subsidies. But the NDP are nasty even by unedifying contemporary standards, despite a nostalgic piece in the Sept. 13 National Post recalling Jack Laytons appeal to his party to offer optimism and hope. Dont look to Singh for that nonsense. He is grimly determined to stomp the conspirators into the mud in the name of a bright future of peace and harmony. Ugh. And the Greens arent just watermelons, they have an antisemitic problem. At this point a voice from the back may shout that I am not nearly cynical enough. And indeed, I try to avoid cynicism without veering into naivete. But what does it matter what the parties promise, wise or foolish, affordable or profligate, when they dont do what they say? To treat Trudeaus platform as an indication of his program is the conduct of a hardened chump, while OToole is a proven hypocrite just waiting to spring the old oh, the fiscal situation is worse than we thought stunt, or have it sprung on him by reality, and the NDP doesnt even pretend their program is affordable. Its a stale political trick to promise the moon then go sorry, were out of green cheese, I didnt know. And when you say dude, its your business to know, what have you been doing all these years if not studying government, they say bwa bwa bwa but mean Ive been studying politics, which turns out its lousy preparation for governing but what can you silly voters do since (a) Ive won now and (b) everyone else is the same. Well, we could vote for a minor party. But then our candidate wont win and its all about winning, right? Just like everything else in life, from business deals to domestic disagreements. Never mind deserving to win. Thats for loooosers. Now another heckler shouts, What about the PPC? and is promptly hustled from the hall since the Peoples Party apparently shouldnt exist. They were excluded from the leaders debates, unlike the Bloc that thinks Canada shouldnt exist and despite polling ahead of the Greens who were included because they are the conscience of the nation, the party we all secretly support even if we think we dont. Or is that the NDP? I forget. You might question Maxime Berniers management skills. If you could find them. But the insistence that all his supporters are vicious ignoramuses and his policies brutally absurd so they must not be discussed lest they prove appealing is, at last, one indication that there is something at stake in this election. Namely, shaking up a political class that is appallingly smug with nothing to be smug about. They would like nothing better than to have us so demoralized we give up on fixing anything. So dont. Find something to vote for or, if not, something you can at least vote against so indignantly that if you were hip youd shout Yeet. Its some kind of meme, apparently. Or once was. I wouldnt know. But I know if you vote Liberal, Conservative, or NDP, youre wasting your ballot. Theres too much at stake to do so. Views expressed in this article are the opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times. A logo of Tencent is seen during the World Internet Conference (WIC) in Wuzhen, Zhejiang province, China, on Nov. 23, 2020. (Aly Song/Reuters) China Crackdown Wipes Hundreds of Billions Off Top Companies Values SHANGHAIChinas regulatory crackdown has ensnared sectors from technology to education to property, wiping hundreds of billions off the market capitalizations of some of its largest companies and putting investors on alert over who may be next. Here are some of the largest names that have been affected so far. Alibaba Group The woes of Chinas biggest e-commerce company began in late 2020 when China abruptly suspended the record $37 billion stock market debut of its financial affiliate Ant Group and later fined Alibaba $2.75 billion for abusing its market dominance. The companys U.S.-listed shares have shed more than $400 billion in value since late October, when its founder Jack Ma made a speech that blasted Chinas regulatory system, which is widely regarded as the trigger for the government backlash that followed. The logo of Alibaba Group is seen at its office in Beijing, China, on Jan. 5, 2021. (Thomas Peter/Reuters) Alibabas sprawling empire of businesses has continued to face heat from regulators over issues ranging from their use of algorithms to consumer privacy and worker protections. Tencent Holdings Chinas largest gaming and social media company has lost more than $347.13 billion in market value since its shares reached an all-time high in mid-February. The company has been fined for failing to report past deals to anti-trust regulators, its $5.3 billion plan to merge Chinas top two video game streaming sites was blocked, and it has been barred from entering music copyright agreements. Tencent has also been affected by Chinas latest efforts to combat gaming addiction among minors. In August, under-18-year- olds were banned from playing video games for more than three hours a week. Didi Global Chinas largest ride-hailing company became the target of a cybersecurity investigation by Chinese authorities days after its New York initial public offering in June. Authorities ordered removal of its app from Chinese app stores and barred it from registering new users. Its shares have lost about $37 billion, or more than 40 percent, of their value since it raised $4.4 billion from its June 30 initial public offering (IPO). The app logo of Chinese ride-hailing giant Didi is seen reflected on its navigation map displayed on a mobile phone in this illustration picture taken on July 1, 2021. (Florence Lo/Illustration/Reuters) The company has also been criticized by state media for how it pays its drivers. Reuters has reported that Didi is in talks with state-owned Westone Information Industry Inc. to handle its data management and monitoring activities. Meituan The food delivery company became the target of an antitrust probe in April and experienced a sell-off in its shares a month later after its founder and Chief Executive Wang Xing posted an ancient poem on social media that was perceived by some as criticizing the government and regime leader Xi Jinping. Meituan, whose shares have lost more than $154.28 billion in value since reaching its all-time-high in February, has also been criticized on other matters, including treatment of its delivery riders and violation of consumer rights. New Oriental Education & Technology Group Inc Chinas largest provider of private educational services has seen the market value of its U.S.-listed shares fall by $7.4 billion since July, when Beijing issued new rules barring for-profit tutoring on the school curriculum. Analysts warn that the new rules threaten to decimate the countrys private education sector. The company and its peers have since been trying to promote alternative classes such as drama and even parental training. By Brenda Goh Medical staff prepare Moderna coronavirus (COVID-19) vaccine to be administered at mass vaccination center in Tokyo on May 24, 2021. (Carl Court/Pool via Reuters) FDA Officials, Other Scientists Say Most People Dont Need Vaccine Boosters An international group of vaccine experts, including officials from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and World Health Organization (WHO), says theres no evidence to suggest that the general population needs COVID-19 vaccine booster shots. The authors warned that if booster shots are introduced too soon, they may cause more side effects in the general population, including myocarditis or Guillain-Barre syndrome. Should that occur, the researchers said, it would create even more problems with vaccine acceptance in the general population. The paper was published Sept. 13 in The Lancet medical journal and was co-authored by Marion Gruber and Phil Krause, two top FDA officials in charge of regulating and approving vaccines. Both Gruber and Krause are slated to depart the FDA in coming weeks, the agency confirmed about two weeks ago. The Lancet papers authors said that available COVID-19 vaccines offer strong protection against severe COVID-19 cases and symptoms. They noted that protection against symptomatic infection from the Delta variant has dropped. But they added that current evidence does not appear to show a need for boosting in the general population, in which efficacy against severe disease remains high. Even if boosting were eventually shown to decrease the medium-term risk of serious disease, current vaccine supplies could save more lives if used in previously unvaccinated populations, the authors wrote. Booster shots could lead to more harmful side effects in the general population, which is a poorly understood phenomenon, they cautioned. There could be risks if boosters are widely introduced too soon, or too frequently, especially with vaccines that can have immune-mediated side-eects (such as myocarditis, which is more common after the second dose of some mRNA vaccines, or Guillain-Barre syndrome, which has been associated with adenovirus-vectored COVID-19 vaccines), the study said. If unnecessary boosting causes signicant adverse reactions such as the aforementioned side-effects, the authors said, there could be implications for vaccine acceptance that go beyond COVID-19 vaccines. In recent days, the WHO has urged wealthier nations not to embark on producing, distributing, or mandating booster doses of COVID-19 vaccines. WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus last week urged these countries, including the United States, to halt developing booster shots until the end of 2021. I will not stay silent when companies and countries that control the global supply of vaccines think the worlds poor should be satisfied with leftovers, he told a news conference on Sept. 8. Because manufacturers have prioritized or been legally obliged to fulfill bilateral deals with rich countries willing to pay top dollar, low-income countries have been deprived of the tools to protect their people. Meanwhile, both Gruber, the head of the Office of Vaccines Research and Review, and Krause havent issued statements as to why they are departing the FDA. According to a memo that was sent by FDA Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research head Peter Marks in August, Gruber is leaving on Oct. 31. Krause is leaving sometime in November, the memo said. In the meantime, Marks will serve as the head of the Office of Vaccines Research and Review. COVID-19 is the illness caused by the CCP (Chinese Communist Party) virus. FDA officials didnt immediately respond to a request by The Epoch Times for comment. The Ontario legislature at Queen's Park in Toronto in a file photo. (The Canadian Press/Chris Young) First Responders Silently Protest Mandatory COVID-19 Vaccination at Ontario Legislature First responders stood silently in Queens Park in Toronto at the provincial legislature on Sept. 13 to protest mandatory COVID-19 vaccination programs. First Responders for No Mandates read one sign seen among the protesters, online videos of the event show. Frontline for Freedom read another. Another sign said, Toronto stands with Calgary, an apparent reference to a silent protest against mandatory COVID-19 vaccination by police officers and firefighters in Calgary on Sept. 7. Protests at Hospitals The protest was one of many against mandatory vaccinations for public employees, including health workers, that took place across Canada on Sept. 13. People wave as a car honks during a protest against mandatory COVID-19 vaccinations and health measures, outside the Ottawa Hospital Civic Campus in Ottawa on Sept. 13, 2021. (The Canadian Press/Justin Tang) Many of the protests held at hospitals proved especially contentious as political leaders and hospital administrators expressed concern they would cause stress for medical workers and patients. Ahead of the protest slated for the Queen Elizabeth II Health Sciences Centre in Halifax on Sept. 13, Nova Scotia Health issued a statement asking protesters to allow patients and families access to care and to let staff, including physicians, free and clear access to work. It is disappointing and disheartening to know this may happen, given the hard work of health-care workers over the last year and a half, stated Nova Scotia Health. Protesting at hospitals will further contribute to the stress and fatigue of our teams and we respectfully ask that protesters reconsider or choose a more appropriate location. Canadian Frontline Nurses, the organization behind the protests at the hospitals, didnt return repeated requests for comment about the protests on Sept. 13. On its website, the organization called for the protests to be silent and peaceful. This will be a silent vigil to honour those affected by measures put in place over the last year and half. Our cries and concerns have been ignored for too long, the group said. Please join us in creating a memorial tribute, by bringing flowers, pictures, cards, letters to share stories in honour of those affected. Share your loss and grieving, to bring out the truth on what is happening across Canada and why we are taking a stand to tyrannical measures and government overreach. Sean Taylor, an emergency room nurse who has taken part in such protests in the past, defended the decision of health workers to hold the protests by hospitals as he said thats their place of employment. Taylor is also the Peoples Party of Canada candidate for the riding of South Okanagan-West Kootenay. When Telus goes on strike, you dont picket in the park. You picket at the Telus offices, he said. The protests appear to be open not only to health workers but also to the general public. Dr. Michael Warner, an intensive care physician at the Michael Garron Hospital in Toronto, explained his concerns about the protests at hospitals in a video on Twitter. People are entitled to protest and make their voices heard. At the same time, hospitals are not the place to do it, he said. Hospitals are sacred places of healing. Its where people go for safety, for protection, for treatment, for love, for peace and, sometimes, for death. Theyre not the place to be yelling and screaming and intimidating. An activist speaks outside the Supreme Court in protest against the new Texas abortion law in Washington on Sept. 2, 2021. (Drew Angerer/Getty Images) 4 Glaring Inconsistencies Commentary One sign that you dont believe what you sayor that you arent abiding by any of the principles you invokeis when you behave in a manner thats utterly inconsistent with your stated beliefs. Another sign is when you invoke one set of principles in one context, but an entirely contradictory set of principles in another. Those are all marks of a deeply unprincipled individual. Ive been closely observing the debate around the Texas pro-life law that makes abortion unlawful in virtually all cases beyond six weeks of pregnancy and empowers private individuals and entities to sue, not the women who have the abortions, but the clinics, doctors, nurses, and all other enablers who facilitate and perform the abortion. The effect has been to create something that hasnt existed in the United States since 1973: a state in the union where abortion is largely prohibited and largely unavailable. Now, lets turn to four glaring contradictions in progressive and liberal condemnation of the Texas law. Vice President Kamala Harris declared that the law was a gross violation of peoples right to control their own bodies. Such a right, she insisted, is not negotiable. Thats an obvious repetition of the slogan, My body, my choice. Yet, Harris said that virtually on the eve of the BidenHarris administration announcing a nationwide vaccine mandate. Everyone in the federal government must be vaccinated. Private companies with more than 100 employees must vaccinate all of their employees. Wait! What happened to peoples right to control their bodies? What happened to My body, my choice? Evidently, the very same principle thats invoked for protection in one context is completely jettisoned in another context to impose vaccine mandates on penalty of fines and other punishments. Another progressive line of attack on the Texas law is that its an attack on democracy. Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-Calif.), a Democrat, went so far as to allege that the Texas law represents tyranny. Yet, the law was passed by an elected Texas House of Representatives, an elected Texas state Senate, signed by an elected Texas governor, and upheld by Texas courts. Even the Supreme Court refused to issue an injunction preventing the law from going into effect. So how does a law thats the very expression of democracythe will of the people, as expressed by their elected representatives, and upheld by the judicial branch as consistent with the rule of lawsomehow become tyrannical? Not only is Swalwell using terms loosely, hes using them in an inverted or Orwellian sense. War is peace. Lies are truth. Democracy is tyranny. A third contradiction. Two prominent figures from the United Nations have deplored the Texas law on the grounds that it constitutes sex discrimination. Melissa Upreti, chair of the U.N.s working group on discrimination, called the law gender-based discrimination at its worst. At its worst? All around the world, there are manifestly graver forms of discrimination against women. In Indian villages, the practice of wife-burning and bride-burning is depressingly common. Afghanistan, under Taliban rule, now severely restricts education for girls. In other Islamic countries, women are discriminated against in multiple ways. In many places, from Thailand to Mexico, theres massive sex trafficking and forced prostitution. Can anyone with a straight face say that laws that require women to have their children and put them up for adoption if they cant or dont want to care for them somehow constitute sex discrimination at its worst? But evidently, the U.N. is severely behind the times here. Not only in the United States, but throughout the Western world, weve seen the rise of a woke sensibility that insists that gender is a social construct and that there arent two, but multipleperhaps as many as 75 or moregenders, and that men and women, strictly speaking, dont exist. So if men and women dont exist and no distinction can be made between the two, and gender is a spectrum that has nothing to do with biology, but depends entirely on which gender on the menu you identify with, then how can the Texas abortion law, or any law, constitute sex discrimination? How can you discriminate on the basis of a category that itself doesnt exist? A fourthand to me, this is the most interesting onecontradiction concerns the progressive critique of the most novel and innovative aspect of the Texas lawits empowerment of private entities to enforce it. President Joe Biden said the Texas approach creates a vigilante system. The left-wing Texas Tribune interviewed legal scholar Jon Michaels, who said that for Texas, Its a way of back-dooring and winking while constitutional violations are occurring. The basic charge is that Texas is using private entitles to impose restrictions that the state itself is constitutionally prohibited from imposing. And thats true. But does the charge sound familiar? It should, because thats precisely what the Biden administration is doing when it uses private digital platforms to impose censorship and other forms of speech restriction. In that case, too, the state is using private entitles to impose a regime of censorship that the state itself is constitutionally barred from imposing. Of course, theres an important difference between the two situations. Theres, in fact, a clear free speech right in the Constitution. Its right there in the First Amendment: Congress shall make no law abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press. But where is the clear abortion right in the Constitution? It doesnt exist. My goal in this article isnt to take a stance on the Texas law, but rather to expose the unprincipled lines of attack on it. Soon, the Supreme Court will take up the issue not via the Texas law, but rather a Mississippi law restricting abortion after 15 weeks. Lets hope our highest court gives the matter the careful scrutiny it deserves and rules in a principled manner that protects our core values of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. Views expressed in this article are the opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times. Home Test for COVID-19 Is Eligible Medical Expense: IRS The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) on Sept. 10 said that the cost of home testing for COVID-19 is an eligible medical expense. The IRS said that the cost for home testing for COVID-19 can be paid or reimbursed under health flexible spending arrangements, health savings accounts, health reimbursement arrangements, or Archer medical savings accounts. That is because the cost to diagnose COVID-19 is an eligible medical expense for tax purposes, the IRS said in a news release. The IRS also reminds taxpayers that the costs of personal protective equipment, such as masks, hand sanitizer and sanitizing wipes, for the primary purpose of preventing the spread of COVID-19 are eligible medical expenses that can be paid or reimbursed under health FSAs, HSAs, HRAs, or Archer MSAs, a spokesperson added. The agencys news release comes as President Joe Biden last week issued sweeping new federal vaccine requirements that could affect as many as 100 million Americans. Biden signed a new executive order mandating that federal workers get a COVID-19 vaccine and removed the option for workers and contractors to choose not to get vaccinated. He also announced that he will direct the Department of Labor to develop a rule that will require companies with more than 100 employees to mandate vaccinations or once-per-week testing for their workers, potentially affecting tens of millions of U.S. private-sector employees and health care workers. The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) building stands in Washington on April 15, 2019. (Zach Gibson/Getty Images) As of yet, it is not clear if employers or employees will have to cover the costs of COVID-19 tests, which can range anywhere between $25 to $150. In an effort to improve access to rapid tests for all consumers, top retailers that sell at-home, rapid COVID-19 testsWalmart, Amazon, and Krogerwill offer the tests at cost for the next three months, Biden said while unveiling his six-pronged path out of the pandemic strategy. This means that Americans will be able to buy these tests at their local retailers or online for up to 35 percent less starting by the end of this week the administration said, adding that the administration has also taken action so that Medicaid must cover at-home tests for free for beneficiaries, and that states should ensure that any tools they use to manage at-home testing do not establish arbitrary barriers for people seeking care. The administration said it would also expand the number of retail pharmacy sites around the country where people can get free COVID-19 tests to 10,000 pharmacies. Biden is reportedly set to announce even more COVID-19 measures before the U.N. General Assembly meets this week, according to U.S. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy. Speaking to CNN on Sept. 12, Murthy explained, There will be more actions that we continue to work on, especially in the global front. What the president and what all of us have said as public health leaders from the earliest part of this pandemic is that we have to use every level of government, and we all in the private sector have to do everything we can to tackle this virus, Murthy added. The requirements the president announced are an example of that. How to Get More Cancer Protection From Your Broccoli Research has shown repeatedly that cruciferous vegetables fight cancer. In fact, broccoli has been shown to kill the stem cells that make cancer immortal. While broccoli is a rich source of sulforaphane, sprouting broccoli boosts sulforaphane content to superfood levels. Three-day-old broccoli sprouts contain 10- to 100-times higher levels of sulforaphane than a mature head of broccoli. Just one ounce of broccoli sprouts contain as much sulforaphane as 1 1/2 pounds of broccoli. Broccoli sprouts have been proven to be very effective in reducing breast cancer risks. A University of Illinois study published in The British Journal of Nutrition suggests that combining broccoli with broccoli sprouts may make the vegetables anti-cancer effect almost twice as powerful. According to Elizabeth Jeffery, a professor of nutrition at the university, it takes only 3 to 5 servings of broccoli per week to obtain cancer prevention benefits. But its important that the broccoli you eat still has a live enzyme called myrosinase. This enzyme is needed to form the sulforaphane, its active cancer-fighting substance. The problem is that many people overcook their broccoli. Cooking broccoli too long or at too high a heat will destroy the myrosinase. One study showed that two minutes in a microwave or seven minutes of steaming will destroy myrosinase. Jeffery recommends steaming broccoli for only two to four minutes to protect both the enzyme and the vegetables other nutrients. Cruciferous vegetables like broccoli and cauliflower can help reduce inflammation associated with osteoarthritis. (Peter Zijlstra/photos.com) Another way to make sure youre getting myrosinase is to eat raw broccoli sprouts. They have an abundant supply. The researchers noted that some health-conscious consumers use broccoli powder supplements especially if they dont like broccoli. But taking supplements doesnt always work if the supplements dont contain the enzyme. The researchers hypothesized that myrosinase combined with broccoli powder would increase the sulforaphane content. The study was small. Four healthy men ate broccoli sprouts alone, broccoli powder alone, or a combination of the two. Tests performed three hours after the meals showed an almost twofold increase in sulforaphane absorption when sprouts and powder were eaten together. According to the researchers, this indicated that myrosinase from the broccoli sprouts produced sulforaphane not only from the sprouts but also from the broccoli powder. The authors note that other sulforaphane containing foods, such as mustard, radishes, arugula, and wasabi, can be added to broccoli to boost its effects. For example, they suggest sprinkling broccoli sprouts on broccoli. Or you could make a mustard or wasabi sauce to serve with broccoli. Broccoli sprouts are becoming very popular. Researchers at Johns Hopkins University have developed a line of broccoli sprouts and sprout blends under the brand name BroccoSprouts. You can find them at health foods stores, Whole Foods Markets, and many supermarkets. Broccoli sprouts should be eaten raw. They are great on sandwiches, in wraps, or as a salad topping. To learn more about the amazing evidence-based benefits of sulforaphane, visit GreenMedinfos Sulforaphane Research Database, which includes research on its therapeutic application in more than 100 conditions. The GMI Research Group is dedicated to investigating the most important health and environmental issues of the day. Special emphasis will be placed on environmental health. Our focused and deep research will explore the many ways in which the present condition of the human body directly reflects the true state of the ambient environment. This article was originally published on GreenMedinfo.com Huntington Beach Votes to Support Ending Child Marriage The city of Huntington Beach passed a resolution on Sept. 7 announcing its commitment to end child marriage, making it the 11th Orange County city to call on the California legislature to introduce and pass a ban on the matter. Elizabeth Sitton, a survivor of child marriage who was forced to marry a 28-year-old man at just 16 years old, said the move by Huntington Beach was great news. I am elated to see the city of Huntington Beach and other California cities taking a stand against child marriage. As a survivor, having been married off against my will at the age of sixteen, I reflect on the horror I felt at seeing every adult in my path to the altar turn a blind eye, Sitton told The Epoch Times via email. Now I see the dominos falling on their way to Sacramento, where we will once again appeal to the Governor to end child marriage in our state. My deepest appreciation for the support that is being shown in all of these efforts and for Global Hope 365, who has been driving this mission. According to data from the citys agenda report on child marriage, minors are coerced and forced into marriages across U.S. cities each year, with more than 200,000 minors being married between 2000 and 2015. It is mostly girls being married to adult men, it states. The city council passed the vote 60, with Councilman Dan Kalmick absent, as part of a larger resolution considering the citys positions pending on state and federal legislature as recommended by the Intergovernmental Relations Committee, with no discussion on the issue of child marriage. Included in reasons for encouraging the ban, the resolution states that the American Medical Association has called for an end to it, noting that child marriage is known to cause early pregnancies, higher rates of sexually transmitted diseases, intimate partner violence, as well as high rates of divorce, at around 70 to 80 percent. Additionally, minors who marry are more likely to discontinue their formal education prematurely, earn low wages, and live in poverty, it stated, adding that girls who marry early are 50 percent more likely to drop out of high school and four times less likely to graduate from college. Global Hope 365, an organization working to end child marriage globally, has stated that the harmful effects of child marriage need to be put to an end. Many states, including California, allow for marriage under the age of 18, with parental and/or judicial consent. These exceptions including parental and judicial consent have allowed for vulnerable children to be married into legal contracts that take away their rights to sovereignty and make children vulnerable to abusive marriages, the organization said on its website. Global Hope 365 said in a Sept. 9 tweet that the city councils decision was another win for the cause. Taiwan's national flags flutter beside Taipei 101 at Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hall in Taipei on Oct. 7, 2012. (Mandy Cheng/AFP via Getty Images) International Lawmakers Call for Solidarity With Lithuania, Taiwan TAIPEI, TaiwanSeveral members of the Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China (IPAC), a multinational network of lawmakers concerned about communist Chinas disregard for the rule of law and universal human rights, are calling for international solidarity with Lithuania and Taiwan, which are facing coercion. The regime in Beijing has picked a fight with Lithuania, which agreed in July to allow Taiwan to open a representative office in the Baltic nation under the name of Taiwan. Since then, the communist regime has recalled its ambassador to Vilnius, forced Lithuania to recall its ambassador to China, and leveled threats against the Baltic nation. Additionally, Beijing has decided to economically punish Lithuania. Mantas Staskevicius, director of Lithuanias State Food and Veterinary Service, told The Baltic Times late last month that China had stopped approving new export permits for some Lithuanian businesses. State-owned Lithuanian Railways told Newsweek that several freight trains from China to the Baltic nation would be suspended until the middle of this month. Chinas ruling Chinese Communist Party (CCP) views Taiwan as a part of its territory and criticizes governments and international organizations for any actions that it perceives as suggesting Taiwans actual status as a de facto independent country. By bullying Lithuania, Beijing hopes to send a warning to democracies across the world, said Irish Sen. Malcolm Byrne in a video released by IPAC. A total of 15 IPAC members spoke in the video. Reinhard Butikofer, a member of the European Parliament representing Germany and chairman of the European Parliament Delegation for Relations with China, said: If Lithuania is punished by Beijing, its democratic allies across the world must be ready to assist. Taiwan has a vital role to play in the international community, and all states have the right to establish relations with Taiwan as they see fit, said Shiori Yamao, a member of Japans House of Representatives. Andre Gattolin, vice chairman of Frances Senate Committee on Foreign Affairs, Defense and the Armed Forces, said, We commend the courage of the Lithuanian and Taiwanese people and call for democratic states everywhere to take a united stand against Beijings coercive diplomacy. In response to IPACs appeal, Taiwans Ministry of Foreign Affairs took to Twitter to say it appreciated the impassioned support voiced by the IPAC members. Voices of the free world ring loud & clear! the ministry stated. Hsiao Bi-khim, Taiwans de facto ambassador to the United States, also took to Twitter to thank the IPAC members for standing with Lithuania and Taiwan against bullying and coercion by China. Taiwan Foreign Minister Joseph Wu speaks about exchanging representative offices with Lithuania during a press briefing in Taipei, Taiwan, on July 20, 2021. (Taiwans Ministry of Foreign Affairs via AP Video/AP) This is the second international appeal for solidarity with Lithuania and Taiwan. In late August, U.S. Sen. Bob Menendez (D-N.J.), who chairs the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, and his counterparts from more than 10 countries and the European Parliament, issued an open letter voicing support for Lithuania to maintain current course rejecting aggressive Chinas behavior. U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman both spoke with Lithuanias foreign minister, Gabrielius Landsbergis, in August to voice support for the Baltic nation. On Sept. 10, Michael J. Murphy, U.S. deputy assistant secretary of state in the Bureau of European and Eurasian Affairs, met with Landsbergis in Vilnius. According to a statement from Lithuanias Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the two sides discussed opportunities to deepen bilateral economic ties. The name of Taiwans representative office in the United Stateswhich is currently called the Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office (TECRO)has recently also gained attention. On Sept. 11, the Financial Times reported that the Biden administration was considering changing the Taiwanese missions name to the Taiwan Representative Office, citing unnamed sources. The United States currently isnt a formal diplomatic ally of Taiwan; Washington changed its diplomatic recognition in favor of Beijing in 1979. Since then, the United States has maintained a non-diplomatic relationship with Taiwan, based on the Taiwan Relations Act (TRA). Chinas hawkish state-run media Global Times published a warmongering editorial on Sept. 12. If the name change happened as suggested by the Financial Times report, the outlet said Beijing would impose severe economic sanctions on Taiwan and carry out an economic blockade on the island. The editorial also stated that China would fly military jets over Taiwan and place the islands airspace into the patrol area of the Chinese military. On Sept. 10, Joanne Ou, spokeswoman for Taiwans Ministry of National Affairs, told local media that she didnt have any comment regarding the Financial Times report. Comprehensively strengthening and enhancing TaiwanU.S. relations has always been the goal of our governments long-term efforts, she said. A fireball rises following an air strike in Khan Yunis in the southern Gaza Strip, late on Aug. 23, 2021. (Said Khatib/AFP via Getty Images) Israel Strikes 4 Hamas Military Compounds After Rockets Fired From Gaza The Israeli military announced in the early hours of Sept. 13 that it had carried out strikes against four military compounds occupied by Hamas in the Gaza Strip in response to rocket fire from the Islamist terrorist group. Terrorists in Gaza fired rockets at Israel for the 3rd night in a row, endangering lives in Gaza and Israel. In response, we struck 4 Hamas compounds used for military training, a weapons workshop & an entrance to an underground terrorist tunnel, the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) wrote on Twitter. The IDF said its Iron Dome system had earlier intercepted in mid-air two rockets fired from the Gaza Strip into Israel toward civilian areas. In a separate statement, the IDF said it had struck a Hamas military post in Khan Yunis following the second rocket fired from the Gaza Strip, noting that it housed a machine gun that was used to fire toward Israel. Once again, the terrorist organization Hamas chooses to act in the ways of terrorism over the rehabilitation of the Gaza Strip, the IDF said in a statement. The IDF will not accept a situation in which terrorist organizations act against the Israeli home front. The incident marked the third consecutive night of fighting between the two sides. Tension between Israel and the Palestinians has risen over the past week, after six Palestinian militants escaped from a maximum-security Israeli jail on Sept. 6. Israeli forces have since captured four of the escapees. Drawing Israeli airstrikes, Gaza militants fired a rocket into Israel on Sept. 10, when two of the prisoners were apprehended, and then again on Sept. 11, after two more escaped inmates were caught. The Israeli military said it struck targets belonging to Hamas, the extremist group that rules Gaza. There were no reports of casualties. A fragile truce between Israel and Hamas ended 11 days of fierce fighting in May in which at least 250 Palestinians and 13 Israelis were killed. On Sept. 12, Israeli army Chief of Staff Aviv Kochavi warned Hamas that the IDF will vigorously respond to every violation. The Israel Defense Force defends the Gaza border and will not accept any violation of sovereignty, Kochavi said. If the situation escalates, Hamas and the Gaza Strip will pay a heavy price. Reuters contributed to this report. Los Angeles County Deputy District Attorney Jon Hatami (R) and attorney Brian Claypool (L) held a press release in front of the Hall of Justice in downtown Los Angeles on Sept. 8, 2021. (Linda Jiang/The Epoch Times) LA County District Attorney Sued by Deputy DA for Defamation A veteran prosecutor on Sept. 7 filed a lawsuit against Los Angeles County, alleging he has been defamed and retaliated against by George Gascon, the district attorney in Los Angeles County, for being an outspoken critic of Gascon. A day after formally filing his lawsuit, Deputy District Attorney Jonathan Hatami of Los Angeles County detailed his allegations against Gascon at a press release in front of the Hall of Justice in downtown Los Angeles. Ive served the community for over 15 years fighting for children, fighting for abused children. And its sad that in a matter of about eight months, somebody has destroyed all of that, Hatami told The Epoch Times. He further stated that many of Gascons policies have problems. A judge already said he was making us do things illegal, unethical, and morally wrong, he said. In his indictment, Hatami specifically mentioned Gascons promise to stop enforcing Californias three-strikes law, end use of the death penalty, and create a review board to hold law enforcement officials more accountable. Commonly known as Three Strikes and Youre Out, the three-strike law intends to intensify cracking down on repeat felony offenders, giving them a prison sentence of 25 years to life if they are convicted of three violent or serious crimes. Hatami told The Epoch Times that Gascon had forced him to withdraw felony chargessuch as causing great bodily injuryagainst offenders, even when evidence was too substantial to disregard. There are cases that Ive filed, where Ive gone to the autopsy, where Ive been presented evidence in a preliminary hearing or grand jury, and he wants me to remove strikes, even though the evidence 100 percent supports that, Hatami said. Continued Retaliation Hamati said that he suffered retaliation for criticizing and refusing to comply with Gascons illegal policies. His attorney, Brian Claypool, listed five causes of action in the complaint, including retaliation, whistleblower retaliation, defamation Per Se, intentional infliction of emotional distress, and racial discrimination. Yesterday we filed a multimillion-dollar lawsuit on behalf of Jon Hatami, Claypool announced, adding that Hatami also sued Los Angeles County and Maxwell Szabo, spokesman for Gascons transition team. Mr. Szabo, on a local news station, made a direct comment that Jon Hatami is delusional and could be unfit for his practice of law. That statement alone is whats called Defamation Per Se, which means when we pursue this multimillion-dollar lawsuit, we dont even need extrinsic evidence to prove damages, Claypool explained. A veteran prosecutor for the District Attorneys Office who serves in the countys Complex Child Abuse Unit, Hatami has handled more than 70 child abuse and murder cases and prosecuted the criminals involved. In particular, he was the prosecutor in the case of Jose Cuatro and Maria Juarez, a couple charged with murder and torture in the death of their 4-year-old son Noah. Hatami was also one of two prosecutors in the high-profile trial of Isauro Aguirre and Pearl Fernandez, who were sentenced to death and life in prison without parole, respectively, for the torture and murder of Fernandezs 8-year-old son Gabriel in May 2013. On Nov. 18 of last year, Gascon said in an interview on Spectrum News 1 the only reason Hatami sought the death penalty in the Gabriel Fernandez case was because his ego had been hurt by Aguirre, that Aguirre had rubbed Hatami the wrong way, and that Aguirre had refused Hatamis plea deal and Hatami sought the death penalty against him in retaliation. The statements were knowingly false and defamatory, according to the suit. Hatami told reporters that Pearl Fernandez, who was recently sentenced to life imprisonment, requested a re-sentence under Gascons new policies, but he was warned by Gascon not to oppose Fernandezs plea. As soon as Gascon was sworn in as the countys district attorney in December last year, he announced sweeping changes, including the elimination of cash bail for misdemeanor and some felony offenses and ending the death penalty. The district attorney of Sacramento County, Anne Marie Schubert, once criticized Gascon for undermining the judicial system. Previously, the Association of Deputy District Attorneys (ADDA) of Los Angeles County brought a lawsuit against Gascon in December 2020. At the end of July, two veteran deputy prosecutors of Los Angeles County also accused Gascon of using his power to retaliate against subordinates. Presently, 28 cities in Los Angeles County have voted no confidence in him. A Recall George Gascon campaign initiated by the voters is currently underway. In response to The Epoch Times inquiry regarding Hatamis complaint, Gascons office replied in an email, Our office declines comment. Liberals Plan to Revoke Charity Status for Groups Deemed Anti-Abortion Draws Ire It's not the governments place to target charities over ideology, says constitutional lawyer A Liberal proposal to ban charitable status to organizations that the party deems anti-abortion has been condemned as an attack on constitutional freedoms and a misuse of the Canada Revenue Agencys powers. The Liberal Partys Forward. For Everyone. platform says that a re-elected Liberal government will [n]o longer provide charity status to anti-abortion organizations (for example, Crisis Pregnancy Centres) that provide dishonest counselling to women about their rights and about the options available to them at all stages of the pregnancy. The Liberals also promise up to $10 million for an information portal that will include a section that counters misinformation about abortion. Marty Moore, a lawyer for the Justice Centre for Constitutional Freedoms (JCCF), told The Epoch Times its not the governments place to target charities over ideology. Its hard to think of a more blatant attackI always say this, but then Im proven wrong by the next day by what the government announceson fundamental freedoms of expression and belief, that a government literally said we are going to target what we view as misinformation and were going to now politicize the heretofore revered charitable status, he said. Whether its Ducks Unlimited or Greenpeace, the governments role is not to scrutinize their ideology or their political position, but to make sure that theyre doing public good and not financially embezzling money that is dedicated to these charitable causes. Pregnancy Care Canada (PCC), which describes itself as a best practice, Christian, national association and has 81 pregnancy centres affiliates, says its staff and volunteers provide medically accurate information on all three options: abortion, adoption, and parenting, according to a fact sheet on its website that PCC executive director Laura Lewis shared with The Epoch Times. Whats at stake is the risk of imposed politically motivated values tests on all who serve in the charitable sector, the PCC fact sheet says, adding that one must consider the possibility and probability of other charitable organizations being targeted next. Its a concern Moore shares. How far does that go as far as applying to religious organizations, churches, mosques, temples, maybe synagogues, that would be anti-abortion in their religious views? he asks. This idea that government has a right to regulate misinformation is literally an absolute disregard for the Charter, if not an attack directly on the idea and the very concept of freedom of expression, Moore adds. To now take charitable status and weaponize it into an ideological club with which to beat political and ideological opponents is so contrary to the Charter. Its actually very shocking and concerning to me to see that its not been more widely reported on. Domain of CRA vs the Courts The PCC fact sheet also said that its affiliate centres rely on donations and that a policy to remove our charitable status could seriously harm our capacity to serve and care for our clients. The women, men, and children who receive support at pregnancy care centres are the ones who will ultimately suffer. Annually, thousands of the clients cared for are vulnerable, marginalized, struggling financially, and without adequate supports, it said. This is not the first time the Liberals have set requirements that prevented pro-life organizations from accessing financial aid programs. In 2018, the Canada Summer Jobs program required applicants to affirm their support for abortion as a condition of receiving funding. The program was scrapped in 2019 following a court challenge by the JCCF. Kate Bahen, managing director of Charity Intelligence Canada, an independent organization that assesses the financial transparency and effectiveness of charities, told The Epoch Times that she doubts a broad government policy on charitable status is the proper way to address any purported problems. Charities need to meet basic standards of care and not be negligent. Yet failing to meet basic standards of careor dishonest counsellingis the domain of the courts. Quality of service is not part of Canada Revenue Agencys oversight, Bahen said. I believe the courts are the best place to examine individual charities and address any improper counselling. It will be on a case-by-case basis that will set precedents and award damages. The PCC fact sheet says the centres offer support free of charge and that the information they offer is externally reviewed by specialized practitioners in Canada, including perinatal nurses, family physicians, obstetricians & gynaecologists, and medical ethicists. The PCC reports that in 2020, 31,717 women and men accessed help at their care centres. This included 7,015 clients who received material supplies, such as diapers, formula and clothing. Also, 1,624 clients were supported through parenting programs and 624 women requested and received support after their abortion. President Joe Biden speaks about combating the COVID-19 pandemic in the State Dining Room of the White House on Sept. 9, 2021. (Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images) Major Consumer Lobby Demands Answers on Bidens COVID-19 Vaccine Mandate A trade group that represents the U.S. packaged goods industry says that businesses have a number of key questions following President Joe Bidens announced COVID-19 vaccine mandates, and they need answers immediately. The Consumer Brands Association, with membership including companies such as Coca-Cola, General Mills, and Kelloggs, sent a letter to the Biden administration asking for immediate details about the presidents plan, which will require companies with 100 or more employees to impose weekly testing or require their workers to get the COVID-19 vaccine. Since Bidens announcement on Sept. 9, few details about the mandate have been released by the White House. Bidens speech to the American public also didnt contain much information about how it would be enforced or provide a timetable for the mandate. Federal agencies must move quickly, anticipate challenges, promptly answer questions, and partner with the private sector if we are to realize successful implementation of the administrations COVID-19 action plan and achieve our shared goal of increased vaccination rates, Geoff Freeman, Consumer Brands Associations CEO and president, wrote in the letter. Strong consistent collaboration between the private and public sector on implementation will accelerate progress on our shared goal. The Consumer Brands Association represents about 1,700 U.S. companies, which employ millions of workers. The group doesnt oppose the vaccine or vaccine mandate but needs more information about how it would be enforced, he said. Freeman included a list of 19 questions that he said White House officials need to answer, addressing issues such as booster shots, contracts between companies and unions, and the status for unvaccinated workers whose COVID-19 test results are pending. COVID-19 is the illness caused by the CCP (Chinese Communist Party) virus. According to estimates from the White House, Bidens mandate will affect about 80 million private-sector employees. Several executive orders handed down by the president have mandated COVID-19 vaccines for most health care workers, federal employees, and federal contractors. According to reports, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration could dole out hefty fines of thousands of dollars per violation. Bidens speech and plan were described by many as authoritarian and illegal, with some Republican governors promising to file lawsuits against the administration when the executive order focused on private businesses is issued. Constitutional law scholar and Harvard professor emeritus Alan Dershowitz said the vaccine mandate penalty will likely be struck down by the courts once lawsuits are filed. The courts will likely say that the federal government has the authority to issue the vaccine mandate with exceptions, he said, noting that mandates are typically within the purview of Congress. I think the courts will focus on that issue first and say that the president may not have the authority to do this without congressional authorization, Dershowitz said in a Newsmax interview over the weekend. The White House press office didnt immediately respond to a request for comment. The District Court of Maryland building in Rockville, Montgomery County, Md., on Sept. 13, 2019. (Charlotte Cuthbertson/The Epoch Times) Maryland Judge Dies of Apparent Suicide Before He Could Be Arrested on Charges of Child Sexual Exploitation A Maryland state judge died by apparent suicide on Sept. 10, shortly before he was set to be arrested at his home on federal charges of sexual exploitation of a child, officials said. Caroline County Circuit Judge Jonathan Newell, 50, was pronounced dead at 6:43 a.m. on Sept. 10, the Department of Justice said in a statement. FBI agents had visited Newells residence to arrest him on a federal criminal complaint filed on Sept. 9. When they arrived, they found him suffering from an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound, according to the statement. Maryland State Police will lead the investigation into the apparent suicide. Newell was facing one federal charge of sexual exploitation of a child, according to court records unsealed on Sept. 10 (pdf). According to a federal affidavit, Maryland State Police responded to a call to Newells cabin in Fishing Creek on Hoopers Island, Maryland, on July 23 regarding a minor who had found a video camera in the cabins bathroom. The minor took photos of the camerawhich was facing toward the shower and flashing with a green lightand called his parents. Shortly afterward, police arrived and interviewed two minors. One of the minors said the two had spent the night at the cabin, along with a man and four other boys. Newell waived his Miranda rights and agreed to be interviewed by police, telling them that 10 members had access to the cabin and that they would come and go. He also denied placing a camera in the bathroom or even noticing one was there. After the interview, he went to his bedroom to make some phone calls. While in his room, investigators said they noticed him reaching under his bed multiple times before placing his right hand in a fist to his mouth. They then heard a loud, distinguishable, crunch sound from Newells mouth and suspected that he may have ingested evidence, because a memory card from a box with camera equipment appeared to be missing. The following day, investigators escorted Newell to a nearby hospital for CT scans, and doctors discovered that he had ingested a metallic object, according to the affidavit. The object appeared to be an 18 mm linear possibly metallic foreign body within the small bowel, doctors said. Authorities executed search warrants at Newells cabin, truck, boat, and office and seized numerous digital devices. They also found a hard drive in a safe at Newells residence with numerous videos of minor boys showering. A forensics team is currently examining all of the digital devices. In some of the videos, Newell is seen setting up the camera in the bathroom, the affidavit reads. Other video footage shows Newell appearing to check several of the minors bodies for ticks while in the bathroom. Several youths told FBI agents that Newell had checked their naked bodies for ticks when they had been to the cabin. Newell was appointed to the Caroline County judgeship in 2016 following a thorough vetting process by Gov. Larry Hogan. Before that, Newell had been the countys state attorney since 2003. He had been on leave for more than a month prior to his death. In a Sept. 10 statement, the Maryland judiciary said it had been informed of Newells sudden death and has no further details and is unable to provide further comment. The Associated Press contributed to this report. University in Missouri Condemns Removal of 9/11 Commemoration Flags by Student A university in Missouri is denouncing the removal of flags commemorating victims of the 9/11 terror attacks, but its not clear if the student identified as the one who removed the flags will be disciplined. The Young Americas Foundation placed nearly 3,000 flags in the ground at Washington University in St. Louis to commemorate the victims of the terror attacks. But video footage from Sept. 11 shows a man carrying trash bags filled with the flags after he had removed them from where they had been placed. Fadel Alkilani was later identified as the man from the footage. Hes the student union vice president of finance, the schools paper reported. Alkilani admitted to removing the flags in social media posts that he later deleted. In one, he wrote that he intended to protest against American imperialism and the 900,000 lives lost as a result of post 9/11 war. Alkilani later took to Instagram to write a lengthy statement, stating that he had no intention of removing the flags from the Mudd Field area, and my full protest did not have the chance to be actualized. My planned protest was to place the bags of flags on Mudd field, along with various statistics explaining the human cost of 9/11 in the past 20 years, he said. Alkilani indicated that hes under investigation for possibly violating the universitys code of conduct, although he maintains that he didnt do so. The university, in an initial statement on Sept. 11, said it was disappointed to learn about the disruption to the 9/11 display on Mudd Field, and that we condemn the interference. I want to make it very clear that, as an institution, we find the actions of this student to be reprehensible, Chancellor Andrew Martin wrote on Sept. 12 to students and teachers. The removal of the flags impeded the ability of individuals to commemorate the lives lost on 9/11 and to process the trauma of that day. This act was seen as a personal affront by many, at WashU and beyond, and as an affront to the ideals of our institution. Martin confirmed that the incident is being investigated. The school didnt respond to a request for comment by press time. Washington University College Republicans President Nick Rodriguez told the student paper that Alkilanis actions made a mockery of one of the most somber days in American history and called for his removal from the student union. What does it say to be a top American institution, and have yourself represented by a student leader who has no respect for property, campus traditions, or the remembrance of thousands of lost lives? he said. Reagan Steirn, another student, described herself as livid about Alkilani removing the flags. With a leadership role, someone doing those actions and showing his disrespect will just allow other students on campus to do the same thing, when in this situation, its just not OK to do that, she said. Falun Gong practitioners hold a banner calling for an end to the 22-year persecution of Falun Gong, during a parade in San Francisco on July 17, 2021. (Cynthia Cai/The Epoch Times) Nearly 3,000 Falun Gong Practitioners Harassed or Arrested in Recent Months Chinese police harassed or arrested nearly 3,000 Falun Gong adherents in the recent two months, according to Minghui.org, a U.S.-based website that documents the Chinese communist regimes persecution of Falun Gong. Among the 2,941 individuals, 884 were arrested, 101 were put into brainwashing centers, a facility to make them renounce their faith, 34 were forced to take blood tests, and 17 were made to flee their homes. Falun Gong, also known as Falun Dafa, is an ancient Chinese spiritual practice consisting of slow-moving meditation exercises and moral teachings that promote truthfulness, compassion, and tolerance in everyday life. According to official estimates, its popularity peaked in the late 1990s in China, with 70 million to 100 million adherents. However, the CCP has suppressed the group out of political motivations since 1999. Zero-Out Campaign The CCP has carried out its Zero-Out campaign, a zero tolerance policy against Falun Gong that first appeared in Guizhou Province in March 2020, in multiple provinces across the country throughout July and August, according to Minghui reports. In Linyi County, Shanxi Province, the local political and legal affairs committee led security agents, police officers, and governmental staff to harass Falun Gong adherents. They intimidated every practitioner with the communist partys atheist political indoctrination and attempted to coerce them to renounce their beliefs. Main perpetrators in the county were the head of the local 610 Office, a secret extra-legal party organization dedicated to eradicating Falun Gong, Wang Shijun; the former head of the local 610 Office, Li Quanzhou; and an official responsible for security affairs, Yuan Jianqing. On July 5, local authorities abducted Falun Gong practitioner Yao Kangqiang, a resident of Pingyi village in Beixin town. They took Yao to a brainwashing center located within Jinguo Hotel. The practitioner went on a hunger strike to protest the mistreatment. Two days later, he developed a condition and was released. But one day later, he was retaken. Currently, he has been forced to flee his home to escape police harassment. Persecution of Elderly Practitioners The report said that 229 of the clampdown victims were senior citizens aged 65 and older. Falun Gong practitioner Jiang Xinying is a 65-year-old resident of Jinan City in eastern Chinas Shandong Province. On July 22, seven to eight officers from Qianfoshan Police Station burst into her home, abducted her, and confiscated some of her belongings. Jiang has already been twice imprisoned in the CCPs labor camp system for a total of three and a half years. There, her health plummeted, and she suffered from tuberculosis and a severely bent back. In northeast China, He Wencui is an 86-year-old retired professor at the College of Forestry of Beihua University in Jilin City, Jilin Province. On July 16, seven people from Taishan Road Police Station and the local neighborhood committee raided his home. They seized his Falun Gong books and related materials, and abducted him and a fellow practitioner that was looking after He. Also in Jilin Province, practitioner Ahn Bokja, an 82-year-old retired associate professor, was sent to the Yanji Detention Center in late August. Four years ago, she was given a 3-year sentence to serve outside of prison. Now, she faces prosecution again. In the northern province of Hebei, 85-year-old Falun Gong adherent Zhang Wanxin is a resident of Tangshan City. On Aug. 19, police officers abducted Zhang while he was discussing Falun Gong with locals at a local fair in Luannan County. The elderly man was released on bail pending trial. Soon afterward, however, he was sentenced by a local court to one year and six months prison, with a 2-year probation period and a fine of 1,000 yuan ($155). Security forces patrol as people wait for the arrival of the rescued schoolgirls in Jangebe, Zamfara, Nigeria, on March 3, 2021. (Afolabi Sotunde/File Photo/Reuters) Nearly 70 Missing Children Rescued by Security Forces in Nigeria Dozens of students who were kidnapped by bandits from a school in Nigeria earlier this month have been reunited with their families, the regions governor announced. Zamfara State Gov. Bello Matawalle said in a statement on Monday that nearly 70 students were rescued with the aid of some bandits who sincerely regretted their wrongdoing, The Associated Press reported. The pupils were returned to their families late on Sept. 12. A large group of bandits abducted the students from the village of Kaya in northwestern Zamfara State on Sept. 1, forcing authorities to close about 30 primary and secondary schools across the region. Mohammed Shehu, a police spokesperson in the region, said in a statement at the time of the mass abduction that armed bandits stormed the Government Day Secondary School in the remote village, kidnapping a total of 73 children. The abduction followed the invasion of the school by a large number of armed bandits, the police command said earlier this month. A search and rescue team has been deployed to work with the military to locate and rescue the abducted children Security has also been beefed up at Kaya Village and environs to forestall further attacks on the communities, it added. Police confirmed that five of the 73 students were found safe one day after the attack after some bandits reportedly returned the abducted pupils, Nigerian news agency Punchng reported. Parents and relatives of students from the Federal College of Forestry Mechanization in Kaduna who have been abducted, hold placards during a demonstration in Abuja, Nigeria, on May 4, 2021. (Kola Sulaimon/AFP via Getty Images) In reaction to the mass kidnapping, the United Nations Childrens Fund (UNICEF) said in a statement on Sept. 3 they strongly condemn yet another attack on an educational institution in Nigeria. We reiterate that attacks on schools and abduction of learners are a gross violation of childrens rights, and a horrific experience for children to go throughone which could have long-lasting effects on their mental health and overall well-being, said Peter Hawkins, UNICEF Representative in Nigeria. Schools must be safe; no child should experience any harm because they went to school, and no parent should come to grief for sending their children to learn, he added. According to a 2018 U.N. report, more than 1,000 children have been abducted in northeastern Nigeria by Boko Haram since 2013. Boko Haram, which literally translates to Western education is forbidden, is a terrorist organization founded in 2002 and is based in northeastern Nigeria. A soldier stands next to a group of girls previously kidnapped from their boarding school in northern Nigeria are seen at the Government House in Gusau, Zamfara State, on March 2, 2021. (AFP via Getty Images) Some people fear that the bandits are linked in some way to the terrorist group in the northeast, who drew international condemnation in 2014 when they abducted 276 schoolgirls in Chibok, northwestern Zamfara State, prompting the #BringBackOurGirls campaign. More than 100 of those girls are still missing, though two recently turned up years later, both of whom had had children with the militants they were forced to marry. Zamfara has been one of the states that are hit most severely in the abduction crisis. The Associated Press contributed to this report. From NTD News Nearly 8 Million Illegal Immigrants to Get Amnesty Under Bidens Budget Resolution Says House GOP Republicans on the House Judiciary Committee strictly oppose the immigration reform measures in the committees portion of the Democrats $3.5 trillion budget resolution package because they say the bill grants amnesty to nearly 8 million illegal immigrants and encourages more people to flood the southern border. June was the highest month on record until July when 212,000 enforcement encounters took place; my guess is August will be higher yet. So, what are Democrats focused on in this legislation? Putting amnesty in a bill forapproximately 8 million illegal immigrantsin a bill that spends $3.5 trillion, Jordan said in his opening statement to the House Judiciary Committee hearing Monday. Jordan said he opposes the immigration reform bill put forth by Democrats in the FY 2022 budget resolution, because it fails to protect American citizens and adhere to our founding documents. Governments primary responsibility is to protect Americans liberties, to protect the Constitution, the Bill of Rights. Its why we have separate and equal branches of government, said Jordan. Members of the House who represent communities on the southern border say the surge in illegal immigration is a humanitarian issue and is flooding their communities with illicit drugs. As I have continuously said, there is a humanitarian crisis at our southern border. The children who have made this journey are alone and vulnerablefacing the threat of murder, kidnapping, rape, sexual slavery, and forced labor at the hands of violent criminal organizations, said Congressman Henry Cuellar (D-Texas). Rep. Henry Cuellar (D-Texas) gives an interview in Laredo, Texas, on Oct. 9, 2019. (Veronica Cardenas/Reuters) Congressman Chip Roy (R-Texas) told a local radio interviewer that his district is being inundated by illegal drugs. Roy said there has been an 800 percent increase in fentanyl stops, here in Texas800 percent increase in the first five months of 2021 over the entirety of the previous four years combined. Meanwhile, Chairman of the House Judiciary Committee Jerry Nadler (D-N.Y.) said the immigration provisions (pdf) will grow the economy and strengthen communities. It does this in two key ways, by providing a path to permanent residence and improving the green card process for those who are already making a significant contribution to our country; and by providing additional resources to community violence intervention initiatives at the Department of Justice, said Nadler during Mondays hearing. The immigration provisions in this legislation serve as a vital investment in human infrastructure that reflects our commitment to a stronger U.S. economy and a vibrant future for all Americans, Nadler said about the immigration reforms portion of the bill. The main part of the bill the Judiciary Committee is debating today will provide a pathway to citizenship for DREAMERS, those with Temporary Protected Status, farmworkers, and other essential workers; and it will recapture the availability of immigrant visas and expand green card processing. Opponents of this immigration measure say it will reward illegal immigration and increase the surge of people crossing the southern border. In addition, Republicans on the committee slammed the bill for giving Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas additional congressional authority to determine eligibility for illegal immigrants coming into the United States. The bill is a blank check. He can do whatever he wants. He gets to fill in all the details that this bill does not address. Even the DREAM Act, at 54 pages; the Farm Workforce Modernization Act, 231 pages; and the U.S. Citizenship Act, 353 pages. With this bill [Immigration Provisions] its only 18 pages because it basically says to the Homeland Secretary, you can grant entry to anyone you want without numerical limitation, said Biggs. The Secretary of Homeland Security shall adjust to the status of an alien lawfully admitted for permanent residence , states the bill. In addition, the secretary has the authority to determine the status of illegal immigrants who file an objection to their removal proceedings. Chairwoman of the House Judiciary Subcommittee on Immigration and Citizenship, Zoe Lofgren (D-Calif.), said it (the budget resolution), could not be more fitting or appropriate that we are considering today, legislative changes to our immigration system, to realize those economic benefits through budget reconciliation. Rep. Zoe Lofgren (D-Calif) speaks in the U.S. Capitol in Washington, on Jan. 22, 2020. (Senate Television via Getty Images) The reconciliation process will allow the Democrat Majority to pass the $3.5 trillion spending bill with no Republican votes, so long as most of the House Democrats vote in favor and all 50 Democrat Senators do the same. New Digital Pass to Check Vaccine Status of Incoming Arrivals to Australia Australia will soon roll out a digital border pass for incoming travelers that will capture details such as the vaccination status of a passenger 72 hours prior to boarding their flight. Consulting firm Accenture has been appointed by the Australian government to deliver the Digital Passenger Declaration (DPD), set to replace the COVID-19 Australian Travel Declaration web form, and the Incoming Passenger Card. The DPD will collect, verify, and share any Australian government-approved travel, health, and vaccine status information with state and territory health authorities. Testing of DPD will begin before its deployed widely across major Australian airports. Karen Andrews, the Minister for Home Affairs, said all Australians were looking forward to welcoming international travelers back into the country. The DPD will support the safe reopening of Australias international borders, by providing digitally-verified COVID-19 vaccination details, she said in a Sept. 13 statement. This will help us to welcome home increasing numbers of Australians, and welcome the tourists, travellers, international students, skilled workers, and overseas friends and family weve all been missing during the pandemic. The empty departure dropoff area at the Sydney domestic airport Qantas terminal in Sydney, Australia, on June 27, 2021. (Mark Kolbe/Getty Images) Employment Minister Stuart Robert, whos responsible for data and digital policy, said the technology in DPD could be reused to deliver other government services. The overarching digitisation program could include visas, import permits, personnel identity cards, licenses, registrations, and other documents, making previously cumbersome processes easier, safer, and more transparent, he said in a statement. The federal member for Dawson, George Christensen, said some form of verification for international travel was warranted given the varying rules across different countries. Christensen also noted that residents couldnt be refused entry back into Australia because of their vaccine status. You can be temporarily restricted for a while because of logistics, but that cant stop you from coming back to the country just because you havent undertaken a medical procedure, he told The Epoch Times. Campbell Newman, former Queensland premier and now a Senate candidate, said he had two concerns with DPD. First, this department and this minister [Roberts] has overseen quite problematic outcomes with implementation. Theres been some significant bungling, which I dont see anybody ever being held to account for, Newman told The Epoch Times, in reference to Robodebt, an automated debt recovery system that incorrectly raised $1.2 billion (US $880 million) from Australians. Second, its a bit unclear about the scope of this whole thing. On the face of it, someone coming into Australia, its streamlining processes, and thats fantastic. However, depending on what the agenda really is, and some of the comments being made its more Big Brother including big database tracking, controlling and monitoring of not just overseas people, but Australians returning to their country. Texas Gov Greg Abbott signs Senate Bill 1, also known as the election integrity bill, into law in Tyler, Texas, on Sept. 7, 2021. (LM Otero/AP Photo) New Texas Law Requires Cash Bail for Suspects Accused of Violent Crimes Texas Gov. Greg Abbott signed a bill into law on Sept. 13 that requires cash bail for suspects who have allegedly committed violent crimes. The measure, Senate Bill 6, was approved in the Texas House and Senate in August, following a delay that was triggered by dozens of House Democrats fleeing the state to deny Republicans a quorum over a Republican-backed election overhaul bill. Known as the Damon Allen Act, the legislation was named after a Texas state trooper who was killed in 2017 during a traffic stop by a suspect who was free on $15,500 bond. The law now mandates that people accused of committing violent offenses cant be released on personal bonds, which dont require a defendant to pay money, but require other measures such as monitoring. Suspects believed to be involved in violent crimes will now have to post cash bail set by a court, the text of the legislation reads. They can also pay a percentage to a bail bonds company to be released. The Damon Allen Act makes it harder for dangerous criminals to be released from jail on bail, Abbott, a Republican, said on Sept. 13 before signing the bill. Some cities that are controlled primarily by Democrats, including Seattle, Minneapolis, and Portland, Oregon, have enacted bail reform laws that have rescinded cash bail. Critics of such measures, including police unions, have said such laws increase the violent crime rate in an area. Texas cities will not follow the lead of Portland, Seattle, and Minneapolis; Texas will remain a law-and-order state and continue using every tool available to preserve the safety that Texans deserve, Abbott said. That is why I am proud to sign the Damon Allen Act into law, which will reform our broken bail system in the Lone Star State. The law will go into effect on Dec. 2. Other measures included in the measure will create a new system of court officers to review a defendants criminal history before bail is set. Before signing the legislation, Abbott suggested that an overall decline in morality is the reason why crime is on the rise, arguing that Texas needs better parenting, and it needs to restore God in our communities. If we do that, we will be able to reduce crime in this region, he said. Democrats and left-wing organizations have largely opposed the measure and say that it will lead to overcrowded jails. SB 6 is built on right-wing hysteria that violates Texans rights, not on public safety, Laquita Garcia with the Texas Organizing Project said in a statement. If implemented, this bill will lead to more overcrowding in jails and further criminalize poverty in our state. However, family members of victims who were killed by offenders who were released on personal bond praised the move. I am beyond pleased that the Texas legislature passed Senate Bill 6, Melanie Infinger, the mother of Caitlynne Infinger Guajardo, whose estranged husband allegedly killed her right after he was released on personal bond, said in a statement to the Texas Tribune. Guajardo was pregnant with a child when she was killed. Since my daughter Caitlynnes murder in 2019, I vowed to do whatever possible to save other families from the excruciating preventable pain of losing a loved one in the manner in which I lost my girl and her unborn child, Infinger said. People talk before the start of a rally against critical race theory being taught in schools at the Loudoun County Government center in Leesburg, Va., on June 12, 2021. (Andrew Caballero-Reynolds/AFP via Getty Images) North Carolina Gov. Cooper Vetoes Bill Prohibiting Critical Race Theory in Classrooms North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper vetoed a bill (pdf) on Sept. 10 that would have prohibited teachings in the K12 school system that the measure calls contrary to the equality and rights of all persons. This legislature should be focused on supporting teachers, helping students recover lost learning, and investing in our public schools, Cooper, a Democrat, said in a statement. Instead, this bill pushes calculated, conspiracy-laden politics into public education. Proponents of the bill, mostly Republicans, call it the anti-discrimination bill, while many Democrats consider the bill an attack on critical race theory (CRT), also claiming that theres no evidence of CRT being taught in the North Carolina school system. CRT is based on the Marxist philosophy that describes society as a class struggle between oppressors and the oppressed; it labels white people as the oppressors, and all other races as the oppressed. Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson, a Republican and an outspoken critic of CRT, said in a statement that the legislation would have been the first step in combating CRT being forced upon our children. Robinson called Coopers reasoning for vetoing the bill lazy, and a part of a pattern of ignoring the issue. Indoctrination Report Robinson had created the Fairness and Accountability in the Classroom for Teachers and Students task force (F.A.C.T.S.) to gather evidence of CRT in the K12 school system, he told The Epoch Times last month; the panel produced the Report on Indoctrination in North Carolina Public Education on Aug. 24 (pdf). Through an online portal, parents, teachers, and students could anonymously submit evidence from curriculums by email. In the report, race-shaming and allusions to surgical castration in childrens literatureas well as xenophobia against political figureswere among the themes found. In his Sept. 10 statement on the veto, Robinson said the report irrefutably established that there is a clear problem in our state, and that Coopers veto does a disservice to the teachers, students, and parents across our state who have voiced their concerns. In a letter I presented to the governor, I asked him to share which discriminatory concepts in the bill he believed he should be compelled to believe, Robinson said. However, in his veto, he chose not to share those details. Governor Cooper should stop playing political games and start serving the people who elected him. Officials Respond Republican House Speaker Tim Moore said in a statement that House Bill 324 would have ensured that students of every race would be protected from discrimination in the classroom. I am disappointed that Governor Cooper would block legislation that simply protects students or teachers from being forced to accept the false idea that one race is superior or inferior to another. In a statement regarding the veto, Catherine Truitt, superintendent of the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction, said: Each day, thousands of teachers lead and guide our students, challenging them with robust conversations on difficult topics without ever influencing them using their personal or political beliefs. What weve learned throughout this process is that we need parents to continue to play an active role in their childrens education. When and if they have concerns, they should feel empowered to share this with their childrens teacher. Debating on the House floor on Sept. 1, Rep. James Gailliard, a Democrat, called the bill a form of censorship. Quoting who he said was Benjamin Franklin, Gailliard said, It is absolutely necessary that knowledge of every kind be disseminated. The quote is, in fact, historically attributed to another founding father, Benjamin Rush, a signer of the Declaration of Independence and member of the Continental Congress. The post-Revolutionary War address was a petition to combat the danger of a reimposed monarchy by creating federal universities that would educate students in history, law, commerce, and war tactics. To conform to the principles, morals, and manners of our citizens to our republican forms of government, it is absolutely necessary that knowledge of every kind should be disseminated through every part of the United States, is the full quote. However, the question of whether CRT is knowledge or propaganda continues to be debated among lawmakers and scholars. The Academy of National Defense Science conducts long-range cruise missile tests in North Korea, as pictured in this combination of undated photos supplied by North Korea's Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) on Sept. 13, 2021. (KCNA via Reuters) North Korea Successfully Tests 1st Strategic Long-Range Cruise Missile: Report North Korea over the weekend successfully test-fired a new long-range cruise missile capable of hitting targets 930 miles away, according to the countrys state-run Korean Central News Agency (KCNA). The multi-day operation was confirmed as a success by leading officials and scientists of the Academy of National Defense Science who took part in the testing of the new type of cruise missile that was launched on Sept. 11 and Sept. 12, KCNA report. The missile, dubbed a strategic weapon of great significance, flew 930 miles before hitting its targets and falling into the countrys territorial waters during the tests, according to the agency. The weapon system had been in development for two years. A collage published by KCNA shows the missile being fired from a launch vehicle, as well as the rocket artillery traveling in horizontal flight. The missile reportedly traveled for 7,580 seconds in the air above the territorial land and waters of the communist country before hitting its target. U.N. Security Council (UNSC) resolutions have barred North Korea from testing ballistic missiles, and the country has been heavily sanctioned over its missile and nuclear weapons programs. However, the testing of cruise missiles usually generates less interest, because they arent explicitly banned under the UNSC. North Korea has also ignored offers from the Biden administration to resume negotiations to abandon its nuclear program. The most recent tests were the most significant since President Joe Biden took office. In January, just hours after Bidens inauguration, North Korea test-fired cruise missiles, while later in March, it tested a new tactical short-range ballistic missile. President Donald Trump, who met with Kim Jong Un three times during his four years in office, was the first U.S. president to set foot on North Korean soil. North Koreas leader Kim Jong Un (L) and President Donald Trump shake hands during a meeting on the south side of the Military Demarcation Line that divides North and South Korea, in the Joint Security Area (JSA) of Panmunjom in the Demilitarized zone (DMZ) on June 30, 2019. (Brendan Smialowski/AFP/Getty Images) Park Won-gon, professor of North Korean Studies at Ewha Womans University, told AFP that the new strategic missile poses a considerable threat, adding that he believes its very likely that there will be more tests for the development of various weapons systems. If the North has sufficiently miniaturized a nuclear warhead, it can be loaded onto a cruise missile as well, Park noted. The U.S. Indo-Pacific Command said in a statement that its monitoring the situation and U.S. officials are in close contact with allies and partners following the reports of rocket artillery tests. This activity highlights DPRKs continuing focus on developing its military program and the threats that pose to its neighbors and the international community, the combatant command responsible for the Indo-Pacific region stated. The U.S. commitment to the defense of the Republic of Korea and Japan remains ironclad. This photo provided by the North Korean government shows missiles during a military parade marking the ruling party congress, at Kim Il Sung Square in Pyongyang, North Korea, on Jan. 14, 2021. (Korean Central News Agency/Korea News Service via AP) Cruise missiles and short-range ballistic missiles that can be armed with either conventional or nuclear bombs are particularly destabilizing in the event of conflict as it can be unclear which kind of warhead theyre carrying, according to analysts. Its unclear whether North Korea has mastered the technology needed to build warheads small enough to be carried on a cruise missile, but regime leader Kim Jong Un said earlier this year that developing smaller bombs is a top goal. Kim didnt appear to have attended the test, while KCNA stated that Pak Jong Chon, a member of the Workers Partys powerful politburo and a secretary of its central committee, oversaw it. Reuters contributed to this report. From NTD News Melissa Moy, a teacher at Yung Wing School P.S. 124, goes over a lesson on a monitor during the in-person summer program for students in New York City, on July 22, 2021. (Michael Loccisano/Getty Images) NYC Public Schools Reopen Classrooms for 1 Million Students After 18-Month Closure New York City on Sept. 13 opened its classroom doors to nearly 1 million students, many of whom are returning for the first time since March 2020, when the CCP (Chinese Communist Party) virus pandemic prompted the nations largest public school system to close. Just about 40 percent of New York Citys public school students went back into their classrooms this spring, after city officials allowed families to opt between remote or in-person learning. In a change of course, however, Mayor Bill de Blasio announced in May that the remote option would no longer be available in the fall, and that all students would attend school in-person, with few exemptions for those with certain medical conditions. Our kids need to be in school and its unbelievable that some kids havent seen the inside of a classroom for a year and a half, de Blasio said last week at a press conference. The healthiest, best place for kids to be is in school. And we have really outstanding health and safety measures in place to make sure our kids will have a positive and safe school year. Those health and safety measures include an indoor and outdoor mask requirement, a three-foot physical distancing rule, and two air purifiers in each classroom. Any visitors aged 12 and above, including parents, are also required to show proof that they have received at least one dose of vaccine against the CCP virus, which causes COVID-19, before they enter school buildings. There is also a vaccination requirement for all adults working at schools. About 148,000 public school teachers, staff members, and contractors will have to get at least a first dose of CCP virus vaccine by Sept. 27, according to the citys education department. As for students, de Blasio said there are no plans for a vaccine mandate for them, as the citys current priority is to ensure as many as possible students are physically back into classrooms. We just dont think thats the right thing to do, the mayor told the press, when asked whether his city would follow the lead of Los Angeles. The board of the Los Angeles Unified School District, the nations second-largest public school system, voted last week to require students 12 and older to be fully vaccinated by Dec. 19. The most important thing right now is getting kids back in school, he said. If theres a family thats not yet ready, I dont want that family kept out of school. However, de Blasio noted that a vaccine mandate remains a possibility for eligible students. We can keep any option on the table, but right now, no, we want every kid in school and we want to reach them the ways were reaching them. Parents Challenge State to Return Transgender Child A mother and father in Australia are battling for custody of their child after a court ruled them to be abusive for refusing to allow their child gender reassignment treatment after the child was taken from their home by police. The parents, who are appealing to the Supreme Court to overturn the decision, claim that their 15-year-old child had not expressed any doubts about their gender or showed signs of dysphoria prior to their removal from the family home. Meanwhile, they were only alerted to the issue when medical staff at the Perth Childrens Hospitals (PCH) gender dysphoria ward told them the child had gender identity issues. We were so shocked. We didnt even know about these things, Albert and Helen told The Epoch Times on Sep. 3. The Epoch Times has agreed to give the parents pseudonyms for the protection of themselves, their child and those involved in the case. From the facts of the case, it is understood that this is the first time in Australia where the state has taken a minor away from their parents, despite them both disagreeing with the childs self-defined gender identity. Albert and Helen have not seen or spoken to their child for close to two years. They stated that they thought it was absurd that the child needed protection from the hypothetical harm they could pose and described how the police removed their child from their home without the parents explicit permission. Recalling the night, Helen said the whole family were together for a get-together, and their child was in their bedroom when they heard a knock on the door. I was just amazed to see police in front of my door, Helen said. The parents, who had no previous criminal record, said they were completely surprised and that they first thought their child had gotten into trouble when the police asked to speak with them. Albert said that shortly afterwards, two male police officers entered the familys home and said they needed to talk to the child outside. But, instead, they proceeded to escort the child into a police vehicle with tinted windows. Albert said he pleaded with the police to explain what was happening, at which point the officers did not provide any details, only saying they were going to the Perth Childrens Hospital. I tried to look through the dark window to see my child, and I tried to talk to them, but they didnt open. So they just drove away. They drove away with my child, he said. At that stage, I thought it was an abduction. I thought, Wow, this cant be. Did these people just abduct my child? Is it really policemen? I thought they were men dressed up as policemen. Albert said he and his wife tried to follow the vehicle, but they were unable to keep up with them. So we just went to the hospital, and luckily they were there, he said. Helen explained that, despite begging to see their child at the hospital, the PCH staff refused and did not offer an explanation as to why the child had been taken there. The next day, Albert was told his child was taken to the Gender Diversity Service at the PCHs mental health ward, which specialises in children dealing with gender identity, gender non-conforming behaviour or gender dysphoria. Perth Childrens Hospital on April 20, 2020 in Perth, Australia. (Photo by Paul Kane/Getty Images) Albert said that nurses and the psychologist at the ward told him that their child would now be identifying as a boy and that the mention of suicide required immediate gender transitioning action. The staff at the mental health ward also refused to allow the child to see an independent psychologist to confirm their diagnosis. He said that later on, when the PCH had approached the childs previous psychologist, the psychologist said that gender diversity was not brought up in conversation. To this day, Albert and Helen said that they still were not given the opportunity to provide their child with an independent assessment. Further, the father said he was immediately pushed by a psychiatrist at PCHs Gender Diversity Service to give consent to allow for hormone treatment and gender reassignment surgery. They wanted us, then and there, to approve and start treatmenttestosterone, cutting [their] breasts off thats what they wanted us to give approval for, he said. Albert and Helen also alleged they were coerced into signing off on the treatment due to the mention of suicide, and were asked if they would rather have a dead daughter or alive son. Holding back tears, they explained they were no longer allowed to speak with their child, even on the childs birthday, while the child remained in hospital. They said that they had only wished to provide their child with love and support. We absolutely want to do the best for our children. We love her. We want to tell her we love herbut even thats considered abuse. Albert and Helen also believe they were targeted for their religious beliefs, which they said was used against them. They also noted they constantly felt bullied. One of the hardest things for me is that they tell you youre this bad parent,' Helen said. That youre abusive, youre not a good parent for your child. Even though you know youve done everything for that child. The Epoch Times reached out to the Western Australian Department of Child Protection and the PCH to confirm the parents allegations, and whether or not the actions taken in this case were according to their protocols but did not receive a reply at the time of publication. Taken By Surprise Albert and Helen claim that their teenage child had never brought up gender identity issues previously and that they only found out after Western Australia (WA) Police took their child to the hospital. Albert, an engineer, and Helen, a university lecturer, said their child was an ordinary, rebellious teenager who was both academically bright and very skilled in art. Helen, who had homeschooled all the couples children, explained that, to them, their child felt like an only child after becoming the centre of attention when their older siblings went on to university. We spent lots of time together, Helen said. [They] would just come and hug me, we would talk, and we were very open. Helen explained that her child had felt depressed after they moved from the country when they were just 13, leaving them without many friends and that they had opted to switch from homeschooling to regular schooling in the hopes it would help them to make new friendships. The parents also said they had taken their child to see a private psychologist to provide them with additional support. Allegations of Online Grooming Albert and Helen believe that it all began when their child uploaded drawings to websites, which attracted attention and messages from strangers online who they allege used grooming techniques to encourage their child to explore a new gender identity. According to the parents, their child began drawing a Japanese style of cartoon, and later progressed to drawings of human-like animals, which they now know to be furry art. However, the family alleges that the online messages from strangers gradually evolved into conversations that estranged the child from their parents. First, it was planting seeds very subtly, using language like, Do you feel different from your family, because they dont get you?' the parents said. The parents then noted it progressed to comments such as, your parents are oppressing you, youre safe to talk with us, youre mature for your age, and that they frequently used what they termed safe talk. The online strangers used phrases like: Youre not safe there. This is always a safe place to talk to us. Your parents dont get you, your siblings dont get you, but this is a safe place, you can talk to us about anything. Were safe.' The parents alleged that these individuals suggested that the child was a victim of society, and that society boxed women in. They explained that the messages encouraged and affirmed the child when they began to express doubt in their gender identity. The family also said that it was shocking to find that her clients child was taught ways to get Ts hormonal testosterone therapywithout their parents knowledge. But of most concern was that the child was told how they could transition even without their parents approval. This allegedly included being directly told that if they felt suicidal and mentioned suicide to a teacher or friend online, that the police would rescue you from your abusive family. Not Alone in the Experience Albert and Helen are not alone in their experience. A spokesperson for the Australian branch of the group Parents for Rapid Onset Gender Dysphoria (ROGD) told The Epoch Times on Sep. 12 they have been contacted by close to 100 families experiencing a similar situation. The groups spokesperson said that Albert and Helens situation had been almost identical to numerous families across Australia. When you start talking to them, its scary how similar they are, the spokesperson said. The spokesperson explained that every single parent that reached out to the organisation, including internationally, said that they were at some point presented with a coercive ultimatum: would you rather have a dead son or a live daughter, or vice-versaunless they immediately affirmed their childs new chosen gender identity. Theyre all talented artists; most of them have been bullied at school. Most of them have had some sort of personal trauma. Theyre the ones who have trouble fitting in. The spokesperson said that almost all of the children drew AnimeJapanese-style cartoon charactersand became involved in online discussions with strangers on websites such as DeviantArt, Reddit, Instagram, Tumblr, Discord, TikTok, and others. Many children were also influenced by online media, including watching adult YouTube video makers who provided updates on their gender transition progress, they said. But it was not just the online environment that was an issue. The spokesperson also said that the influence of teaching and encouraging children to explore their gender identity existed beyond the internet and was prevalent in Australias education system. In particular, they said that Minus18 was one of several online organisations whose resources are regularly used as part of sexuality education in both public and private schools and in teaching and promoting gender diversity issues in high schools. According to their website, Minus18 is a national not-for-profit charity whose mission is to create an Australia free from discrimination for all LGBTQIA+ youth. They believe their work provides young people in the LGBTQIA+ community a sense of belonging and inclusion which they say assists with integration into society and benefits mental wellbeing. Minus18 offer a range of support services to LGBTQIA+ young people across Australia, employing youth workers to ensure our programs are age appropriate. We work hard to build strong relationships between young people and their families, and provide advice for parents to have open conversations with their children about sexuality and gender, Micah Scott, Minus18s CEO, told The Epoch Times via email. However, the spokesperson for ROGD said that some of the organisations material taught to children was troubling. They noted that Minus18s lesson on Ways to play with your gender expression included teaching young teenage boys how to tuck their genitals to appear more feminine and ways for girls to bind their breasts to appear more masculine. The ROGD spokesperson was also concerned that Minus18 was teaching children how to hide their browser history from parents, such as when trying to meet up with other LGBTQIA+ members without their parents knowledge could alienate children from their parents. This was explained to children in an article titled Cover Your Tracks, which has since been deleted from their website but which The Epoch Times was able to access using an internet archive. Making sure no one sees what youre searching for online is kind of an important thing when youre not out. Nothing worse than having someone see that your last google search was for Gay teens Melbourne Am I right? the Minus18 article stated. Penn State Assistant Professor Charged With Assaulting Anti-Vaccine Mandate Student A professor at Pennsylvania State University is facing multiple misdemeanor charges after he allegedly attacked a student who protested against the advocacy of COVID-19 vaccination mandates. The incident occurred on Aug. 27, when faculty, students, and community members rallied at the center of Penn State campus and called on the university administrators to immediately issue a vaccine mandate. Student newspaper Daily Collegian reported that the event attracted counterprotesters who held up signs toward the back of the rally attendees. A video posted to Twitter by Centre County Report appears to show a male, later identified as 36-year-old Walter Oliver Baker, trying to take a sign by force from one of the counterprotesters before eventually pulling him to the ground. The counterprotester was later identified as Avi Rachlin, the leader of Penn State Resistance, a student group focusing on opposing mask and vaccine mandates on campus. Rachlin was seen escorted away by campus police with blood on his face, likely as the result of the incident. The campus police record suggests that Baker was charged with simple assault, a second-degree misdemeanor; disorderly conduct, a third-degree misdemeanor; and harassment, a summary offense under Pennsylvania law. The most serious of those charges is the second-degree misdemeanor, with penalties of up to two years in prison and a $5,000 fine upon conviction. Penn State lists Baker as an assistant professor of English and African American Studies who specializes in Critical Race Theory. According to his faculty biography, Bakers areas of research include critical ethnic studies, nineteenth-century American literature and culture, critiques of racial capitalism and settler colonialism, and histories of African, Native, Chicanx, and working-class liberation movements. A Penn State official confirmed to Daily Collegian that Baker was placed on administrative leave as the investigation proceeds. Meanwhile, in a previous interview with Daily Collegian, Rachlin said he is not against vaccines as a whole, but rather skeptical about the COVID-19 vaccines, given that they lack long-term data on their safety and efficacy. When we take this more locally, the majority of people on this campus are vaccinated, the junior student told Daily Collegian. It is a small percentage, but there are thousands of others including myself who have opted not to [get vaccinated] as well. Penn State is one of the few remaining Big Ten Conference schools that have yet to put in place any form of COVID-19 vaccine requirement. In an open letter to the campus community, Penn State President Eric Barron made it clear that the public university is not going to jeopardize its funding to issue a vaccine mandate. Regulations across the country clearly reflect state-level political realities, Barron wrote in the Aug. 12 letter. State funding of our University requires a two-thirds vote of the Pennsylvania legislature, meaning that our funding relies on strong bipartisan support. Penn State didnt immediately respond to a request for comment. Photographer Captures Wild Hikes With Kenyan Tribes in Breathtaking Photo Series With a camera and tripod in hand and the ambition of sharing more about remote cultures with the world, a Russian photographer has produced a series of breathtaking portraits of Kenyan tribes hiking across rugged, mountainous landscapes. Daniel Kordan, who lives in Tuscany, traveled to Kenyas Samburu County and Maasai Mara, a large national game reserve in Narok, to photograph its indigenous tribes. Hiking with them, said Kordan, you learn to listen to nature. I started this series about nomads and indigenous tribes while traveling in Mongolia, Kordan explained on Instagram. To make these photos I went on a hiking trip, first with Maasai and then with Samburu people in the north of Kenya. It was quite a challenging trip. He divided his journey into three parts. The first part of his incredible photo series depicts interactions with the Samburu people. Its one thing to watch abundant African wildlife from a vehicle on safari, said Kordan, but its something entirely different to immerse yourself in the very heart of it. In spending time with indigenous tribes, he learned to read warning signs; My guide could easily recognize animals just by the look of a slightly broken tree branch, he explained. The Maasai, Kordan recalled, were not afraid to meet lions. They simply crouched on their knees, looked into the lions eyes, and watched the big cat walk away. Kordan reached epic lookout points with the Samburu people, having his clothes being torn apart by unforgiving thorn bushes along the way. He was even surprised by a hyena leaping out at him from behind a bush. However, Kordans hiking guide scared it away with an imitation lions roar. The second series of the photographers Kenya trip depicts meeting the Maasai. Although millions of tourists come to see national parks in Kenya to enjoy wildlife, many forget that theres a wonderful culture of Maasai next door,' he wrote. I hope that people will pay attention to preserve and value their traditions as well! Behind the big smiles and open hearts of the Maasai, said Kordan, lies a formidable knowledge of the nature surrounding them. Photos from this leg of the trip highlight the hikers powerful stances, shields and weaponry, and emblematic red clothing. In an interview with Photography Talk, Kordan explained that he uses Luminar 3 to process most of his images, and Curves, Channels, and HSL for color corrections: simple to use tools that can have a tremendous impact on how his landscapes turn out. The third leg of the photographers trip was an art project, curated by Lumas galleries, depicting the beauty of the Maasai culture and people. The storm is coming, Kordan wrote. Who knows what will happen in the next few years with local cultures. He and his hiking guides waited a few days before setting off this time, hoping for stormy weather, the heavy gray clouds and turbulent skies serving as a metaphor for the potential fate of indigenous cultures. Kordan described the Kenya trip in its entirety as a lifetime experience. A selection of his photos is displayed in large print at Lumas galleries around the world, in hope that the vanishing, unique culture of these beautiful people will be valued and preserved for generations. Kordans fascination for photography was inspired by the picturesque lake region near Moscow where he grew up. To this day, nature and human companionship are his biggest inspirations. Photography has taught me to be really, really patient, he explained. There are times when you just need to sit down and enjoy the current moment, too. Its not always about getting the perfect shot. Taking time to actually see whats around you and appreciate its beauty is a necessity for sure. Past projects of Kordans include a trip to Mongolia to meet the countrys last remaining nomadic eagle keepers, and a trip to photograph the dragon blood trees and white sand dunes of Socotra, a remote island off the east coast of Africa and Yemen. Kordan shares updates of his work on his website and with his 1.8 million followers on Instagram. 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 Protesters block traffic at an unspecified M25 junction in Greater London on Sept. 13, 2021. (Katie Day/PA) Police Arrest Environmentalists Who Blocked UK Motorway Over Home Insulation Police have arrested dozens of environmental protesters who blocked several junctions on the UKs busiest motorway. The protestsaimed at forcing the government to improve home insulationat various chokepoints on the M25 caused long delays for tens of thousands of motorist. Some motorists on the scene reacted angrily, with social media footage showing one attempting to drag a protester out of a blockade at the lights on a motorway roundaboutbefore police arrived. At least 74 people were arrested. Although the tactics and goals are similar, the group has no explicit link to Extinction Rebellion that over the last two weeks has also tried to rally people to its environmental cause by deliberately causing disruption. Protesters who favour disruptive tactics were given a boost by recent appeal rulings that overturned convictions related to various controversial protest methods. However, it comes as a new policing bill, which aims to stymy precisely this kind of disruptive tactic, starts to make its way thorough Parliament. A group named Insulate Britain said it was behind the motorway disruptions. It describes itself as a new group demanding that the government gets on with the job of insulating Britains homes. Its website warned that the disruption on Monday morning is just the start, and action will continue until the government makes a meaningful commitment to insulate Britains 29 million leaky homes. Protests were staged at various locations around the M25, which circles London through various policing jurisdictions. Surrey Police said they had arrested 34 people since the protests started during the morning rush hour. Protesters from Insulate Britain arrested on suspicion of public nuisance and wilful obstruction, said Surrey Police in their latest update at around 2 p.m. Both Surrey junctions of the M25 now reopened, thanks to motorists for their patience. There was disruption at at least four junctions, including one for Heathrow Airport Terminal 5, where 14 people were arrested by the Met Police. The junction is now open again. Essex Police said 12 people were arrested at Junction 31 on suspicion of highways obstruction. A further 14 people were arrested by Hertfordshire Police, according to the BBC, making a total of 74 arrests. One supporter of the protesters, Liam Norton, a 36-year-old electrician from London, said, according to a statement on the groups website: Its a no brainer. Insulating Britain will reduce emissions, provide hundreds of thousands of jobs and stop our elderly dying in cold homes each winter. As soon as a statement is made that we can trust and is meaningful, we will get off the roads. AA President Edmund King said: This action is not only incredibly dangerous in potentially putting lives at risk but it also backfires in environmental terms by causing more delays and more vehicle emissions. These are some of the busiest sections of the M25 where tens of thousands of drivers will have been affected and has a negative knock-on effect on economic activity. PA contributed to this report. Students exit a building between classes at Princeton University in Princeton, New Jersey, on Feb. 4, 2020. (William Thomas Cain/Getty Images) Princeton Maintains Top Spot as Highest-Ranked University in US: Report Princeton University maintained its top spot as the highest-ranked university in the country according to the annual U.S. News & World Report released on Monday. In its latest report, the global authority in education rankings assessed 1,466 U.S. universities on 17 measures of academic quality, including graduation rates, studentfaculty ratio, social mobility, and the average federal loan debt of graduates, as well as schools academic reputation. It then calculated its rankings based on six categories that are each weighted differently: student outcomes (40 percent), faculty resources (20 percent), expert opinion from top academics such as presidents, provosts, and deans of admissions (20 percent), financial resources (10 percent), student excellence (7 percent), and alumni giving, or the average percentage of living alumni with bachelors degrees who gave to their school during 20182019 and 20192020 (3 percent). This years top five universities are all prestigious schools with an acceptance rate between 5 and 7 percent. Four of the top five are also members of the Ivy League. According to the report, Princeton University (New Jersey) is still number one in the country for the 11th consecutive year, thanks in part to its studentfaculty ratio of 4:1, and an average freshman retention rate, an indicator of student satisfaction, of 94 percent. Following closely behind Princeton University are three universities: Columbia University (New York), Harvard University (Massachusetts), and Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Meanwhile, Yale University ranked at number five on the list, with a student-faculty ratio of 4:1, and average freshman retention rate of 90 percent. Students walk through the campus of Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut, on Sept. 27, 2018. (Yana Paskova/Getty Images) U.S. News & World surveyed schools in the spring and summer of 2021 but made a slight change to the way it assesses SAT/ACT scores due to the disruption to higher education amid the ongoing pandemic. If the combined percentage of the fall 2020 entering class submitting test scores was less than 50 percent of all new entrants, its combined SAT/ACT percentile distribution value used in the rankings was discounted by 15 percent. Previously, the threshold was 75 percent of new entrants. U.S. News & World said this change was made to reflect the growth of test-optional policies through the 2019 calendar year and the fact that the coronavirus impacted the fall 2020 admission process at many schools. Students and faculty continue to feel the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, whether its through remote learning, mask-wearing, or vaccine requirements, said Kim Castro, editor and chief content officer of U.S. News. As communities work through these challenges, U.S. News is committed to providing information on the academic quality of institutions across the country, so prospective students and their families can make informed decisions throughout their college search. Shadow Minister for Agriculture Joel Fitzgibbon during Question Time in the House of Representatives at Parliament House in Canberra, Australia, on Oct. 15, 2019. (Tracey Nearmy/Getty Images) Pro-Coal Labor Party MP Joel Fitzgibbon to Retire After 25 Years Australian Labor Party (ALP) member of Parliament Joel Fitzgibbon confirmed on Monday that he would not seek re-election for the New South Wales (NSW) seat of Hunter at the next federal election. Fitzgibbon entered the House of Representatives in 1996 when the Liberal Partys John Howard was elected prime minister and has held his electorate for 25 years. He took over from his father, Eric Fitzgibbon, who served as the Hunter MP from 1984 to 1996. Its a difficult decision, but Im comfortable with that. I will not be a candidate at the next federal election, Fitzgibbon told Sevens Sunrise. I depart very happy and satisfied. Im very proud of my work over the course of the last 25 years locally, nationally, and internationally. Im very confident now that Labor can win the next election under the leadership of Anthony Albanese. Fitzgibbon, who has previously taken a very pro-coal stance, warned that Labor would lose the next federal election if it did not convince voters in coalmining regions that it would protect their jobs, particularly amid an increasing push for renewable energy investment. Leader of the Opposition Anthony Albanese (left) arrives with Opposition Minister for Agriculture Joel Fitzgibbon during the opening of the House of Representatives at Parliament House, on June 18, 2020 in Canberra, Australia. (Sam Mooy/Getty Images) In recent years, the ALP has struggled to balance the needs of its traditional blue-collar voting base working in resource and manufacturing industries against its newer, inner-city voting base, which favoured more action on climate change and cutting emissions. Fitzgibbon said he had been thinking of retiring since the 2019 election, and was assured he had removed the crazy policies from the ALP and that the party would come back to the centre-ground. I knew if I worked hard at it, Labor would see common sense and come back to the people its traditionally represented, he said. Anthony Albanese has dispensed with all the crazy tax policies we took to the last election. Hes committed to leaving in place legislated tax cuts for all Australians. Hes been to a coal mine, talked about our support for the sector we are well placed. Despite previous disagreements on climate policy, Fitzgibbon told ABC radio that he had a close working relationship with Albanese in the past two and half years. Ive urged him back to the centre-ground. Ive urged him to focus on the things that are really important to working people, he said. I believe he has struck a very good balance, and I think as a result, hes well placed to lead us to an election victory. Barnaby Joyce and Joel Fitzgibbon during Question Time in the House of Representatives at Parliament House in Canberra, Australia, on June 03, 2021. (Sam Mooy/Getty Images) Deputy Prime Minister Barnaby Joyce thanked Fitzgibbon for his contributions to his electorate and Australia over his term. I wish you all the very best. You represent what the Labor Party should be about, Joyce said in an interview with Seven. Ill buy you a beer in Canberra. Iranian and Cuban communities rally outside the constituency office of Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau in Montreal on Sept. 11, 2021. (NTD Television) Protesters Urge Canada to Take Action Against Communist and Terrorist Regimes A group of protesters, including members of Canadas Iranian and Cuban communities, rallied outside the constituency office of Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau in Montreal on Sept. 11, calling on Canadians to join them in condemning communism and terrorism. We are here against communist and terrorist regimes, like the Chinese Communist Party, like Fidel Castros regime, and like the Islamic regime who occupy my beautiful homeland, Iran, said event organizer Salman Sima, an Iranian refugee who came to Canada in 2011, during the rally. The event, at which protesters held signs reading No more communism and Dictatorship is killing the Cuban people, called on Canadians to unite against terrorist and communist regimes around the world. The rally date was chosen to coincide with the 9/11 attacks in the U.S. by militant Islamic terrorist group al-Qaeda. Salman Sima, an Iranian activist and organizer of the United Against Communism & Terrorism rally in Montreal on Sept. 11, 2021. (NTD Television) Sima, who was jailed by Iranian authorities in November 2009 for organizing protests following the disputed Iranian election of June 2009, said free countries such as Canada must take action against tyrannical regimes or risk emboldening them. We saw how the Islamic regime, we saw how communist regimes work in our countries. We dont like to see that movie, that horror movie, that we saw in our beautiful homelandwe dont want to see them in Canada, Sima told NTD Television, The Epoch Times sister media. Organizers also called on the Canadian government to impose Magnitsky sanctions on human rights violators. Eugenio Landiro Reyes, a Cubans rights activist who attended the rally, said he was there in solidarity with the protesters of other dictatorial regimes because we need to erase those systems from the earth. We need to erase those systems from the earth because they are not helping. They are not [helping] put the countries on the right trackto development, to enjoyment, to peacefully live your life. Eugenio Landiro Reyes, an activist for human rights in communist-ruled Cuba, speaks to a reporter in Montreal on Sept. 11, 2021 (NTD Television) Landiro Reyes also called for an end to communist rule in Cuba and for Canadians and the Canadian government to support Cubans calling for freedom. In July, thousands of Cubans took to the streets in a number of cities, including the capital Havana, to protest against human rights abuses, a lack of freedom, and a worsening economic situation in the communist-ruled country led by Miguel Diaz-Canel. The protests came amid reports of gas, electricity, and vaccine shortages across the Caribbean island nation. Videos uploaded to social media showed demonstrators shouting down with the dictatorship, freedom, and homeland and life. In response to the demonstrations, Diaz-Canel ordered his security forces to disperse the protesters. Activists at the rally want the Canadian government to take concrete steps to address threats from terrorist groups and dictatorial regimes. Sima called on the government to designate Irans Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) a terrorist entity in Canada. The IRGC was responsible for shooting down Ukrainian International Airlines Flight 752 in January 2020, claiming 176 lives, including 57 Canadians. Avideh Rafaela Motmaenfar, president of the Council of Iranian Canadians, demanded justice for the victims of Flight PS752 and called for sanctions against officials within the Iranian regime as well as the immediate listing of the IRGC as a terrorist entity. Sima criticized Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau for taking a soft stance on communist and dictatorial regimes, citing Trudeaus comments about his admiration for Chinas basic dictatorship and his controversial handshake with Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif, despite Irans refusal to co-operate with investigations on the downing of Flight PS752. Sima said the government must also do more for Canadian citizens Michael Kovrig and Michael Spavor, who have been arbitrarily detained in China since December 2018. You need to hold the Chinese regime accountable for holding Canadians hostage. You need to stand for Cubans, you need to stand for Iranians, and you need to stand for Canadians, he said. With reporting by Jack Phillips and Andrew Chen Rating Canadian Party Leaders on Their Plan to Deal With Communist China Commentary Given the urgency of the situation regarding China, a serious debate is much needed on how Canada will conduct itself on the world stage and what its strategy will be in dealing with an increasingly belligerent Beijing. During the election debates, foreign policy and China did not get much focus, which is unfortunate as the leaders stances should matter given the seriousness of the circumstances. With election day fast approaching, the following is a brief assessment of each leader and his or her position, scored from 1 to 5. A score of 5 means that the particular leader is clear-eyed on the China threat and has argued for a much tougher approach with Beijing, while a 1 means the leader continues to display naivete on the issue. Justin Trudeau Since being elected, one of the main focuses of Liberal Leader Justin Trudeaus foreign policy has been rekindling the relationship with China and making it a strong and valuable economic partner. In a statement prior to his first visit to China as prime minister in 2016, Trudeau said the China relationship was essential to growing our middle class and creating new opportunities for Canadian businesses. Moreover, he said he would strive for a closer, more balanced relationship between Canada and Chinaone that unlocks the untapped potential in our two countries commercial ties and advances important issues like good governance, the rule of law, and the environment. With the detention of Michael Kovrig and Michael Spavor at the end of 2018 and then the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, Trudeau has been forced to confront very quickly the reality that the communist regime in Beijing has different intentions from ours. This has led to a very inconsistent policy on China. On one hand, the Trudeau government steadfastly continued the pro-engagement policy, as can be seen in the initial effort to strike a vaccine deal with the Chinese company CanSino that fell through, and continuing to fund collaborations with Huawei even after the security threat the company poses has become clear. He also rather notoriously skipped out on a vote in Parliament to recognize the Chinese regimes genocide of Uyghur Muslims. On the other hand, Trudeau has so far refused to bend to the regimes hostage diplomacy in the Meng Wanzhou/two Michaels affair. He has also toughened his tone on China, although he has yet to back it up with any concrete action. The issue plaguing Trudeau now is the lack of a comprehensive policy to deal with China. The Liberal platform does not reveal much, as it really only mentions China once as part of a broader group of authoritarian regimes, along with Russia and Iran, that pose a threat. Trudeaus answers to questions regarding his governments direction on China, particularly on how to get Kovrig and Spavor released, havent revealed much either. Score: 1.5 Stars Erin OToole In his role as Opposition leader and during this election campaign, Erin OToole has presented himself as the most hawkish on China of all of the other candidates. Through his speeches, debates in Parliament, and public statements, he has made it plain that he believes China is the most pressing security threat Canada will face in the coming decades. As detailed in the Conservative Partys platform, and as he said when the topic was broached during the Sept. 9 debate, OToole believes Canada should do more to work with its allies and be a more reliable partner. This involves making a decision on the access of Chinese companies like Huawei to Canadas telecommunications, as our allies have, and becoming more self-sufficient in defending our security. In his partys platform, which contains an entire chapter on dealing with the Chinese regime, OToole has made human rights a central concern of his proposed approach to China, standing up for the rights of persecuted religious minorities such as Tibetans, Uyghurs, and Falun Gong practitioners. Related to this is his pledge to stop foreign interference by China, which often targets members of the Chinese diaspora communityparticularly those who are activistsand his proposed measures such as a foreign registry to help stop it. Indeed, OToole has proven to have a very favourable record on China. If there is a blight, it would be his defence of the Canada-China Foreign Investment Promotion and Protection Agreement while he was parliamentary secretary to the minister of international trade during the Harper years. Signed in 2012 and ratified in 2014, OToole and the government at the time justified the deal by saying it would help protect Canadian investments. But many of the terms clearly give the Chinese regime an unequal advantage, as the agreement does not incentivize China to open up in similar ways Canada is required to. Such agreements should be immediately addressed by leaders, as their terms may continue to grant Beijing substantial leverage in any diplomatic disagreement that will inevitably come up in the coming years. Score: 5 Stars Jagmeet Singh For the most part, NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh has shown he understands how the Canada-China dynamic has changed. Moreover, he appears to realize that Canada has to be more tactical in crucial areas such as protecting human rights and working with partners to find a solution for the two Michaels. He said in a recent interview with Global News: I think we have just got to continue to apply whatever pressures we can, using our diplomatic tools and working with international allies to apply that pressure on China to secure the release of these Canadians. In addition to this, he has stood up for human rights by supporting calls for relocating the 2022 Winter Olympics outside China in response to the ongoing genocide being perpetrated by the regime against the Uyghur population. He also criticized the Trudeau government for not doing enough to mitigate the damage that Chinas unfair trade practices have done to the livelihood of Canadas agricultural workers. Regarding the debacle of China targeting Canadas canola exports after Mengs arrest, he said farm producers need a government that will defend them and take the necessary steps to help them get through this difficult period. Singh has significant weaknesses, however, in that he has failed to offer a clear idea of how exactly a government headed by him would approach China and foreign affairs going forward. The NDP platform does not address the issue of China aside from a passing reference to human rights abuses and promoting democracy in Hong Kong. He also has not done much to rein in and discipline more radical members of his party, such as MP Niki Ashton, who has called for Mengs release and has also voted against motions put forward by the Conservatives to impel the government to make a decision on Huaweis participation in Canadas 5G networks. Score: 3 Stars Yves-Francois Blanchet Being the leader of the Bloc Quebecois, Yves-Francois Blanchet hasnt been one to preoccupy himself much with questions around foreign policy, but from what we can see, his record on China has been mixed. During the Sept. 9 debate, Blanchet agreed with Trudeaus comment that lobbing tomatoes across the Pacific and excessive hawkishness wasnt a way to bring Kovrig and Spavor home, but said doing nothing might not be the solution either. He also criticized Trudeaus performance on the Taiwan question, Hong Kong, and the Uyghur issue. In addition, his party supported the motion to recognize the genocide of the Uyghurs, and the Blocs presence on the Special Committee on Canada-China Relations has proven to be valuable, with foreign affairs critic Stephane Bergeron being a principled voice on issues regarding human rights and foreign interference. However, during the 2019 election, Blanchet emphasized the need for trade with China despite the imprisonment of Kovrig and Spavor. When youre facing a powerful foe like China, you dont try to show biceps if you only have tiny biceps, he said. Score: 3 Stars Annamie Paul Annamie Paul has only been the leader of the Green Party for a short period but has been outspoken about Canadas approach to China. With the few statements shes made, she has demonstrated that she realizes Canada should be much more active in confronting China. During the Sept. 9 debate, she brought into question Canadas reliability, particularly on issues like the two Michaels and the Uyghurs, saying that if our word doesnt count for much it makes it very hard for us to help people like the Michaels when they need us the most. Paul has been consistent on advocating for human rights and for Canada to have an influence on the world stage, including her advocacy for moving the 2022 Olympics outside China and using international law to address Beijings treatment of the Uyghurs. However, it is unclear what a Green Party foreign policy would look like. Score: 3 Stars Maxime Bernier As the leader of the Peoples Party of Canada, Maxime Bernier hasnt made the China issue a main focus of his campaign but has in the past made statements about Canada-China relations that can help gauge what his approach would be. During his run for the Conservative leadership in 2017, he avidly promoted further trade with China on the grounds that it could help increase Canadas exports by $7.7 million annually and make it easier for Canada to push Beijing on human rights issues. However, after the campaign and establishing his Peoples Party, which coincided with a series of diplomatic spats between Ottawa and Beijing, Bernier switched his position and said free trade with China should no longer be a priority and that he didnt see a future in it. Theres not much specific on China in his partys foreign policy platform, but what can be gleaned from it is that Bernier would take an approach heavily critical of the United Nations, many parts of which China has successfully co-opted and has manipulated for its own ends. Score: 3 Stars Foreign policy has not been as prominent an issue in this election campaign as it should be. Nevertheless, whoever gets the privilege of forming the next government, it should be very near the top of their agenda to make sure Canada is in a position to play an influential role in holding Chinas communist regime to account. Views expressed in this article are the opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times. Staff are seen preparing AstraZeneca vaccine doses inside the Melbourne Showgrounds COVID-19 Vaccination Centre in Australia on July 20, 2021. (Daniel Pockett/Getty Images) Australian Regulator Considers Lawsuit Against MP Over Texts Questioning Vaccine Safety Australias drug regulator is considering legal action against Federal MP Craig Kelly after his party, the United Australia Party (UAP), sent millions of text messages containing links to a website, which included data on adverse reactions to COVID-19 vaccines. It comes after Professor John Skerritt, deputy secretary of the Health Products Regulation Group at the Therapeutic Goods Association (TGA), warned that the UAPs recent advertising campaign was misleading. The UAPs messages stated: Australian Governments COVID-19 Vaccines Adverse Events Report. Click link uaptga.info. Authorised by Craig Kelly. The link directed users to a website that included data from the TGA containing adverse event notifications related to the Pfizer and AstraZeneca vaccine. Federal MP Craig Kelly, prior to addressing the media over his concerns with the AstraZeneca vaccine and blood clotting during a press conference in the Mural Hall at Parliament House in Canberra, Australia, on Mar. 16, 2021. (Sam Mooy/Getty Images) The TGA is considering whether the use of the information, including the TGA logo, in this way potentially breaches both copyright legislation and the Criminal Code Act 1995, the body said in a statement issued to NCA NewsWire. The TGA is very concerned about any information which provides an incorrect picture of the safety of COVID-19 vaccines, particularly if that information is distributed widely to the public. Kelly responded on Twitter, saying he would welcome any legal action. Of course, any such legal action would require the government health regulators to give evidence under oath, and we have a team of top-notch barristers salivating at the opportunity to get them in the dock and cross-examine them, he wrote on Sept. 13. And we can subpoena documents. So, bring it on, fellas, he added. The UAP was founded and funded by billionaire Clive Palmer. Skerritt told ABC on Sept. 8, that an independent panel investigated any deaths of patients who died after receiving a vaccine. Its not surprising that two days after, say, a Pfizer vaccine, some people will die, the same way two days after going and seeing a doctor about something totally unrelated, they will die or two days after catching a bus, he said. When weve looked at cause and effect, we believe that theres a total of nine reports of deaths that can be associated to vaccines, and this is against a background of 20 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines being given in Australia. Nine out of 20 million doses, he added. You would find hundreds, if not thousands, of adverse events with Panadol and some of which are related to the Panadol, but the vast majority, again, will be coincidental in time. Republicans Grill Blinken on Afghanistan, Democrats Blame Trump During a Monday hearing of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, accusations flew from partisans on both sides of the political aisle. Democrats, hoping to defend President Joe Bidens unpopular handling of the withdrawal, blamed the Trump administration for the catastrophe. Republicans, riding the wave of increased apprehension toward Biden after the fiasco, went on the offensive, blaming Biden and Secretary of State Antony Blinken for their handling of the situation. Rep. Gregory Meeks (D-N.Y.), the chairman of the committee, said in his opening statement that disentangling ourselves from the war in Afghanistan was never going to be easy. He continued: And for my friends who presume a clean solution for the withdrawal existed, I would welcome hearing what exactly a smooth withdrawal from a messy, chaotic, 20-year war looks like. In fact, Ive yet to hear the clean withdrawal option, because I dont believe one exists. Meeks accused Bidens critics, who have come from both major parties since the fall of Afghanistan, of inject[ing] domestic politics into foreign policy. Starting a trend continued throughout the meeting by his Democratic colleagues, Meeks shifted the blame to former President Donald Trump, referencing a 2020 deal that would have fulfilled one of the presidents campaign promises to get the country out of the war. The former president has been heavily critical of Bidens handling of the withdrawal. In discussions of the situation, Trump has been open about the deal that he and former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo made with the Taliban, but has remained insistent that this deal would have been reliant on the Taliban meeting several conditions and that his administration would have handled the situation much differently. Afterward, ranking minority party member Rep. Michael McCaul (R-Texas) spoke for Republicans in his opening statement, shifting the blame to Bidens handling of the situation. He began, This did not have to happen, but the president refused to listen to his own generals and the intelligence community who warned him what would happen if we withdrew. The outcome of the situation, he said, was essentially an unconditional surrender to the Taliban. He roasted Blinken and Biden for their betrayal of U.S. allies in the region after promising them that they would be evacuated safely. In the wake of this betrayal, McCaul said, a dark veil of shariah covers Afghanistan, leaving not only longtime allies to the Talibans retribution but also stripp[ing] away in a matter of weeks all efforts to bring rights to women and girls in the country. McCaul said, Were here today to better understand how this administration got it so wrong. Blinken Defends Biden Administration Handling In his own opening remarks, Blinken defended the efforts of the administration and downplayed critics accusations. He began by saying that the United States had two main goals in going into Afghanistan in the first place: bringing justice to Al Qaeda for its role in the 9/11 terrorist attacks, and ensuring that the country could not be used as a launching point for another such terror attack. These goals, said Blinken, were completed long ago. Still, Blinken indicated that the current administration felt forced into conforming with the deal made by Trump with the Taliban. Biden had two choices when he came into office and inherited this deal, Blinken said: ending the war or escalating it. Blinken then pointed to the successes of the administration during the crisis. He said that in March, just weeks after Biden took office, the State Department was telling Americans to leave the country and offering to help them do so. At the same time, he claimed, the administration worked to speed up the processing of special immigrant visas (SIVs), a usually long and arduous process under standing law; the Trump administration, he added, had done little on this front. Repeating an often-stated refrain, Blinken said that the rapid decay of the countrys political and military situation defied all predictions. Blinken said that even the most pessimistic prediction did not indicate such a quick collapse. Later, Blinken was asked whether the Trump administration left behind information on Americans in Afghanistan or on its plans for U.S. withdrawal. Again pushing the blame to Trump, Blinken responded curtly that the administration inherited a deadline, we did not inherit a plan. Democrats, Republicans Hurl Accusations During a heated part of the debate, Rep. Joe Wilson (R-S.C.) accused the president of lying about the situation since it began. Wilson cited claims by the president that there would not be a collapse of the country to the Taliban, that there would not be Vietnam-like scenes of evacuation, and that there would be significant air support for fleeing Americans and Afghans, among others; about each of these, Wilson claimed, Biden lied. In an equally-heated retort to Wilson, Rep. Gerry Connolly (D-Va.) snapped at him and other Republicans, accusing them of being selective in their concerns about terrorists, again pointing to the Trump administrations negotiations with the Taliban. In another showdown, Blinken was asked a question about a phone call from Biden to the now-former Afghan President Ashraf Ghani obtained by Reuters. In the call, Biden is alleged to have told Ghani to lie about the severity of the situation. Blinken refused to comment, neither confirming nor denying the calls veracity. Rep. Brad Sherman (D-Calif.) defended the administrations handling of the crisis. At the height of the evacuation, Sherman said, the Kabul airport was experiencing a constant stampede. There is simply no way the administration can have an orderly or successful stampede, Sherman ruled. Military aircraft including F/A-18 fighter jets are seen parked on the flight deck of the USS Carl Vinson, the U.S. Navy's nuclear-powered Nimitz-class aircraft carrier, anchored off the coast in Danang on March 5, 2018. (Linh Pham/AFP via Getty Images) Return of US Military Might to Indo-Pacific Sends a Message to Beijing: Experts News analysis Since August, both China and the United States, with its allies, have increased their military presence around Taiwan, heightening speculation about whether the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) would risk attacking the self-governing island. In a phone interview with the Chinese edition of The Epoch Times on Aug. 30, Steven Xia, a former Chinese official involved in armament technology development, said that the Wests increased military activity has taken place as the CCP has aggressively flexed its muscles in the region. The Carl Vinson Carrier Strike Group, and other U.S. Naval vessels, alongside a number of vessels from other nations, have been operating in waters near Taiwan and in the South China Sea over the past several weeks. From Aug. 22 to Aug. 24, the HMS Queen Elizabeth-led carrier strike group and the USS America LHA-6 (a light aircraft carrier) and its strike group, held a joint military exercise in the Philippine Sea adjacent to the South China Sea. Military vessels from Japan and the Netherlands also participated in this large-scale exercise. Xia said the military power that the aircraft carriers represented was immense. These three aircraft carriers form a greater attack power than that of the entire military of many countries. They carry nearly 80 fighters in total, he said. Each destroyer [from the strike groups] have hundreds of air-to-surface missiles, and nuclear submarines also carry intercontinental cruise missiles. The whole action is consequently huge, he said. Such a large gathering of military force in the Western Pacific is meant to tell the CCP to behave itself. The CCP is not able to stand the attack power of the U.S. and its allies. On Aug. 28, the USS Carl Vinson (CVN-70) docked for several days at Japans Yokosuka Base after a lapse of 18 years. As part of its 28-week deployment, HMS Queen Elizabeth also visited Yokosuka sometime later. On Sept. 10, a U.S Navy media release said the Carl Vinson Carrier Strike Group was operating in the South China Sea to uphold the free and open use of Indo-Pacific waters in support of security and stability in the region. Lee Cheng-hsiu, a military expert at the National Policy Foundation of Taiwan, also believes the military activity in the Indo-Pacific by the U.S., and its allies, especially near the Taiwan Strait, is meant to be a deterrent. As part of that, USS Carl Vinsons visit to Japan is an important signal, Lee told the Chinese edition of The Epoch Times on Aug. 30. The Biden administrations military and diplomatic strategies are now clear, which are to transfer its military power to the Indo-Pacific region, he said. The Biden administration has always avoided calling the CCP an enemy but regarded it as its biggest competitor. But everyone knows that Bidens implicit statement meant something else. USS Carl Vinsons return to the Japanese base is basically aimed at the CCP, he said. According to Lee, only Japan can be regarded as a reliable ally for Washington in Asia. Although South Korea has signed a treaty of military alliance with the U.S., it cannot provide sufficient assistance against the CCP. As for ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations), it does not want to be involved in a possible U.S.-China confrontation. As a result, Washington must increase its own military power in the Indo-Pacific region to deter the CCP. Biden hopes that Europe, including Britain, France, Germany, and other NATO allies can take on more defensive tasks so that the United States can shift its focus to the Indo-Pacific region, Lee said. F-35B Lightning II aircraft on the deck of the HMS Queen Elizabeth aircraft carrier offshore of Portugal, on May 27, 2021. (Bart Biesemans/Reuters) While the U.S., and its allies, have conducted two large-scale military exercises in the Indo-Pacific waters since August, the CCP has also conducted several military exercises in the East China Sea, South China Sea, and the Taiwan Strait. The exercises simulated island seizure and multi-service joint operations but Lee said he believed that the CCP would not dare to attack Taiwan. He said the U.S. military is both more advanced and more experienced than the Chinese military. There is a large difference in the combat power between the two countries, he added. However, the CCP has a geographical advantage and it can devote all its resources to war, Lee pointed out. That said, the CCP is not confident that its geographic convenience can complement its disadvantage in armament, Lee said. Thats why the CCP has been using military exercises to show off, but it does not dare to cross the red line, because it is aware of its military weakness. Lee believed that the CCP fears that an attack on Taiwan could also lead to the collapse of the regime. What the CCP is concerned about the most is the stability of its rule. It believes that the Chinese people will not stand up against the regime or demand political democratization as long as the Chinese economy is good, he said. If a war against the U.S. breaks out, the CCP will worry that if it loses the war, the leader must step down and the regime will fall apart. Thats why the CCP uses the so-called intimidation and military exercises to confront and compete with the U.S., but it will not really attack Taiwan, he said. Xia holds a different view, believing that the CCP needs to be treated with caution. He said in the past, the international community thought the CCP was just exerting some pressure on Taiwan to contain the United States. But the recent military actions by the CCP are now making people think that there is a possibility they could attack Taiwan, he said. A Chinese navy formation, including the aircraft carrier Liaoning (C), during military drills in the South China Sea on Jan. 2, 2017. (STR/AFP via Getty Images) Xia noted that the CCP recently requisitioned a 16,000-ton civilian roll-on/roll-off (ro-ro) ferry which is able to carry military vehicles for landing in Taiwan. He said that this could be a sign that the CCP is about to take action. There are 63 ro-ro vessels in China that can be transformed for use in transporting military units, according to a July report published by the Jamestown Foundation, a U.S. think tank. These are vessels equipped with built-in ramps that enable wheeled and tracked cargo to load and offload under their own power, wrote Conor Kennedy, a research associate at the U.S. Naval War Colleges China Maritime Studies Institute. Xia said that the military forces that Beijing has used in recent coastal exercises are of a scale that has never been seen before. These actions really worry the U.S. and thats why the U.S. has deployed as they have on the Western Pacific, the doorstep of the CCP, he said. The U.S. was vague in its strategy towards Taiwan. It was unwilling to say explicitly if it would intervene in case the CCP attacked Taiwan. But from its recent military deployment, it can be seen that the U.S. will definitely intervene, said Xia. Terry Zhuo contributed to the article. Luo Ya Around 1000 spectators gathered for the 20th anniversary of 9/11 at the USS Midway Museum in San Diego, on Sept. 11, 2021. (Tina Deng/The Epoch Times) San Diego Commemorates the Fallen Heroes of 9/11 Terrorist Attacks Around 1000 spectators gathered at the USS Midway Museum in downtown San Diego on Sept. 11 to honor lives lost in the terrorist attacks 20 years ago. Many people from the west coast attended the memorial ceremony to read the names of their deceased loved ones. Don Forsyth, retired battalion chief of the Orange County Fire Authority, told The Epoch Times he lost some of his close friends on Sept. 11, 2001, and every year he would come to the ceremony at USS Midway to read his friends names and pay his respects. When the devastating attacks happened, Forsyth was in Northern California managing a wildfire. We gathered around in a circle at the back of the fire engines out on the fire line and was watching somebodys little two-inch by two-inch portable TV. When [one of the firefighters] saw the towers coming down and he disappeared for like 30 minutes and he was over crying on the back of one of the fire engines by himself. Thats when he informed us that his brother should have been at work in that building that he just watched, said Forsyth. So we spent the whole rest of the day calling relatives, all 16 of us chipped in taking different phone numbers from him trying to locate his brother. Fortunately, his brother made it out alive. Forsyth added that the 9/11 terrorist attacks brought the country together as one; however, in recent years the country has become more divided. Twenty years later, we could use this same event again, to hopefully try and unite the country, said Forsyth. Around 1000 spectators gathered for the 20th anniversary of 9/11 at the USS Midway Museum in San Diego, on Sept. 11, 2021. (Tina Deng/The Epoch Times) Other attendees of the event shared similar sentiments with Forsyth. Patrick Schuller, a retired firefighter, attended the event with his wife Nikki Schuller to read the names of the fallen heroes. 9/11 was a day that changed normalcy. We became a lot more aware and the country rallied behind We Will Never Forget, Schuller told the Epoch Times. Nikki Schuller said, Days and months after 9/11, everybody cared about everybody, and everybody was worried and frightened and got together, no matter what, to support each other. She added, People dont remember that anymore. They forgot that we are all different but we can all get along. The memorial ceremony was held by the New York City Fire Department Retirees of San Diego, along with the USS Midway Museum, National City Fire Department, and the Wounded Warrior Project. Several guest speakers from these organizations spoke at the event and paid tribute to the first responders and airline workers who lost their lives on 9/11. San Diego Fire Department Chief Colin Stowell thanked people for passing along the memories of 9/11 and said it is important for todays younger generation to learn what happened on that horrific morning. Stowell said active terrorism was meant to tear America apart but instead Americans came together as a stronger and more proud nation. Rhys Hawkes and his wife brought their young children to the memorial ceremony. Hawkes said Americans should never forget the sacrifices the first responders have made. When asked how he would tell his children about the 9/11 attacks, Hawkes said they would eventually tell them about all the details. The good, the bad, and the uglyall of it, said Hawkes. Chinese authorities demolish houses, which are claimed to be illegal by the local government in Wuhan, central China's Hubei Province, on May 7, 2010. (STR/AFP/Getty Images)) Shanghai Tenant and Victim of Demolition Evicted After Posting Anti-CCP Content A Chinese tenant was forcibly evicted by his landlordwho confessed to being pressured by local authoritiesover an anti-Chinese Communist Party (CCP) post on social media. The retiree, named Dai Zhongyao, wrote Given the Chinese communist regime is a member state of the U.N. Human Rights Council, I urge the Peoples Republic of China to quit the U.N. Afterward, officers from Sichuan Road Police Station pressured his landlord to evict him, Dai told The Epoch Times. Dai lived in Hongkou District, in Chinas metropolitan Shanghai. He said his landlord acted under duress from local officials. The CCP had previously demolished his property and did not provide appropriate compensation. He further accused Shanghai authorities of an inhumane resettlement policy that has made him a victim of forced demolition for 20 years. Dai cited an official publication from 1997, which states that a single person whose property was demolished for redevelopment could gain in return 108 square feet of building area and approximately $3,718 in compensation. Two weeks before his property was demolished, officials published new rules for better compensation on demolished property. However, local authorities applied the earlier document to Dais property, which was leveled on Nov. 14, 2001. Dais grievances stem from saying he deserves the better policy. He said the policy is against human survival, saying that it creates distress in families. My lifes withering away, Dai also wrote in the post which led to his eviction. He cited three complaints he made to an official CCP hotline, to which he has received no response. Dai said the government should have protected his right of residence, found him a place to live, and explain their anti-human relocation policy, as he described it. For years, he has filed lawsuits against the demolition company involved for misuse of official paper with three local courts. However, all of the courts dismissed his applications. The Epoch Times reached out to the landlord to verify the eviction. The landlord hesitated to speak on much of the incident but confirmed that the village committee wanted to drive him [Dai] off, not the landlord. Before living with the landlord, Dai had stayed in an emergency shelter for years until he was evicted last year. The now homeless retiree said the Shanghai authorities are to blame for his current hardships. Li Xi contributed to this report. Simone Biles of the United States waits for the final results of the artistic gymnastics women's team final during the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games at the Ariake Gymnastics Centre in Tokyo, Japan, on July 27, 2021. (Loic Venance/AFP via Getty Images) Simone Biles to Testify Before Senate About Larry Nassar Abuse Probe Olympian Simone Biles is set to testify to the U.S. Senate regarding the investigation into the FBIs botched handling of allegations against former USA Gymnastics doctor Larry Nassar. Biles and three other Olympic gold medalists will share their experiences and answer questions before the Senate Judiciary Committee, Democrats on the panel announced Monday. The hearing is set to take place on Sept. 15 in Washington. Biles, 24, will be joined by McKayla Maroney, 25, Maggie Nichols, 24, and Aly Raisman, 27. The committee is convening the hearing in light of the Department of Justice inspector generals report that found the FBI failed to properly investigate reports that Nassar was abusing young athletes. Michael Horowitz, the inspector general (IG), concluded that FBI senior officials failed to respond to the Nassar allegations with the utmost seriousness and urgency that they deserved and required, made numerous and fundamental errors when they did respond to them, and violated multiple FBI policies. Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), when Horowitzs report was made public in July, said that his panel would hold a hearing to examine this injustice and to prevent future, similar tragedies. Larry Nassar, a former team USA Gymnastics doctor who pleaded guilty in November 2017 to sexual assault charges, and his defense attorney Matt Newburg stand during Nassars sentencing hearing in the Eaton County Court in Charlotte, Mich., on Feb. 5, 2018. (Rebecca Cook/Reuters) The IG report confirms my fears that the FBI dropped the ball, allowing abuses to continue for months. The Judiciary Committees upcoming hearing is a continuation of our oversight to get to the bottom of this. The FBI owes the American people an accounting for its failure to protect these children, and explanation for how it plans to do better in the future, added Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), the top Republican on the committee. After the Olympians testify, Horowitz is scheduled to deliver a statement and answer questions alongside FBI Director Christopher Wray. The FBI has not denied the IG reports findings. Instead, the bureaus assistant director, Douglas Leff, claimed the actions by the senior officials were not representative of the FBI or of our tens of thousands of retirees and current employees. Nassar consumed child pornography and abused Olympic gymnasts he was supposed to treat and help prepare for practices and events, prosecutors said. Nassar was convicted of child porn and obstruction of justice and sentenced in 2017 to 60 years in federal prison. Biles had revealed on social media in 2016 that she was one of Nassars victims. In a lengthy statement, she said what Nassar did was completely unacceptable, disgusting, and abusive, especially coming from someone whom I was TOLD to trust. Biles later said that the abuse she suffered likely contributed to her withdrawing from Olympic events during the Tokyo Olympics. Now that I think about it, maybe in the back of my head, probably yes, she said on NBCs Today show. She added that she hoped further investigations would reveal why it happened [and] who knew what when. Regulations and imposing doctors and nurses have compelled some mothers to have their children at home, trusting in a process as old as humanity. (Flamingo Images/Shutterstock) Some Women Choose Unassisted Birth, Heres Why There are compelling reasons some mothers choose to have their babies at home without a midwife or doula Mom, where did the seaweed find a job? My 8-year-old daughter read from a list of jokes that shed prepared for me. Where? I asked, smiling at her and trying not to moan. In the kelp-wanted ads! I threw back my head and roared with laughter. Id recently read that laughter can help ease labor pains. And at that moment, as I was trying to ride the wave of a contraction, my daughters silly joke was the funniest thing I had ever heard. A Warm-Up or the Real Thing? You would think that after giving birth to three childrenone in the hospital, one at home with a certified nurse-midwife and her assistant, and one at home with a lay midwife and a medical doctor (there as a friend)I wouldve known whether or not I was in labor. But in all honesty, I wasnt entirely sure. Id been having light contractions all morning. Was I in labor or were these just Braxton Hicks: the warm-up contractions that, according to the American Pregnancy Association, last between 30 seconds and two minutes and that serve to tone the uterus and increase blood flow to the placenta? My husband had left to bicycle the kids to school. I set my professional camera up on a tripod and took a photograph of myself holding a handwritten sign with the words, Coming Soon? In fact, it wasnt until I sat down to workI had an article due for a major womens magazinethat I realized that I was in full-blown labor. I couldnt concentrate on the story I was writing. So instead of sending a final draft to my editor, I asked for an extension. But heres what I didnt do: I didnt pack a hospital bag. I didnt call a midwife. And I didnt phone any relatives, friends, or a doula. As crazy as it may sound if youve never thought of having a baby outside of the hospital, my husband and Iafter many months of soul-searching, meditating, reading books, and talking to momshad decided to have our baby by ourselves, unassisted. Unassisted Birth Unassisted childbirth, also known as free birth or sometimes do-it-yourself (DIY) birth, is when a mom or an expectant couple chooses to have a baby without the assistance of a doctor, a midwife, or any other professional birth attendant. Women who choose this route want to give birth in their own time and their own way, free from any government or insurance or hospital-imposed restrictions, said Laura Shanley, 64, who has been an advocate for natural childbirth for more than 40 years. Even most midwives have a list of requirements that theyre supposed to adhere to. Many states have restrictions on VBACs [vaginal birth after cesarean], multiples, or a breech birth. The midwife has to choose if she wants to answer to the woman or the state, and even the kindest, gentlest midwives will go against the mother or their own intuition because theyre afraid of losing their license or even going to jail. No Numbers on Unassisted Birth According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), of the 3.75 million babies born in the United States in 2019, some 38,506 (a little more than 1 percent), were born at home. In the same year in Oregon, where I live, about 2.4 percent of babies were born at home. However, theres no reliable way to track the actual number of unassisted births in the United States, planned or unplanned. Though the CDC doesnt collect data on unassisted birth, theres reason to believe that the number of home births increased in 2020 and 2021, as many hospitals stopped allowing pregnant women to have their loved ones with them during labor and started requiring women in labor to wear masks, even if they tested negative for COVID-19. Weve seen a lot of families birthing at home, without midwives, and they invite as many educated people in their family as they can convince to be there, they learn as much as they can, and they kind of piece together what they can do, Tayo Mbande, a doula based in Chicago, told a reporter from US News & World Report in March. Because of COVID-19 restrictions, as well as for other reasons, unassisted births may also be on the rise in other countries as well. One study conducted in April 2020 by a team of researchers in the UK found that roughly 5 percent of pregnant women, women who had recently given birth, and their partners had considered or were considering unassisted birth. According to the British newspaper The Guardian, since the National Health Services suspended home birth services in March 2020, more birthing couples than ever before feel as though their only choice is to have an unassisted birth. Choosing to Birth Unassisted We often hear about babies born so quickly that their parents dont make it to the hospital, such as Susan Anderson, a Florida mom whose baby Julia came so quickly that the midwife rushed out to the parking lot to help her deliver. There was also the Brookline, Massachusetts, mom, Arielle Chernin, whose baby, born on Aug. 18, came so fast that she delivered in the bathroom, as reported by ABCs WCVB5. Then there was the mom who gave birth on the side of I-805 in Southern California recently, after the car that was taking her to the hospital overheated, KGTV reported. Those precipitous births sometimes end up being unassisted because of circumstance, not design. Its much less common to hear about families, such as mine, that make a conscious and informed decision to have their babies on their own, privately, without birth attendants. Audrey Bird and her husband Peter are one such unassisted birth family. Trained as a midwife, Bird gave birth to her first baby in the hospital and her second child at home, unassisted. When their second baby was born, the Birds lived in a small town in southern Utah, just 20 minutes away from a hospital. They knew the hospital was there if they needed it, but they felt that they would have a better, safer experience by themselves. That second birth wasnt easy. Audrey had some heavy postpartum bleeding after her daughter was born. While a doctor may have treated that as a crisis, she and her husbandwho was working as a deputy sheriff at the time and had been trained in emergency childbirthknew just what to do. He helped her out of the birth tub, massaged her uterus (to help it contract and stop the bleeding), and gave her an anti-hemorrhage drug. Their reasons for giving birth to their third child, Piper, without any professional assistance were both practical and spiritual. By then, the family had moved to a remote island in Alaska. Going to the hospital wasnt really an option. We live 150 miles from a road, Audrey Bird said when I interviewed her by phone a few years ago. You have to fly in, and then cross over on an hour boat ride to our house! Practical issues aside, Bird also felt that an unassisted birth was a better, gentler, more natural option. As a midwife, when I attend a birth, I sit back, Audrey said. I allow the moms body to do what it needs to do. Im there as a lifeguard in case something happens. Usually it doesnt. Most parents [who choose unassisted birth] are very well educated on it, they know what the risks are and how to identify those risks, and they know what to do if something comes up. For me, when I have an unassisted birth, my husband knows what to do. We are paying attention the entire time to the babys heart rate and to our instinctual feelings. We are prepared. Birth generally happens the way it needs to when it is undisturbed. That baby, whose birth was actually filmed by a Lifetime television crew for a show called Born in the Wild, was born face up on an outdoor platform surrounded by aspen trees. As idyllic as this sounds, Pipers asynclitic presentation (which is when the babys head is tilted and not centered on the cervix) made it a difficult birth. Audrey said she vocalized through it, and though the birth was longer and harder than she expected, it was worth the effort. This is how people used to be born all the time, she said. It was beautiful and grounding and humbling. My daughter was born face up and she saw the trees and the birds and the glow from the sun. I just love that. I Felt Safer at Home Two of Brogan Metcalfs and her husband Chads three children were both born unassisted. And the Metcalfs, who live on Wallops Island, Virginia, wouldnt have had it any other way. Their first child, whos 7 years old now, was born in the hospital, where they felt bullied by the nurses and doctors. There was so much that I disliked about that experience, Brogan said. I hated the hospital setting and being told how to birthas if they somehow knew more about my body than I did. So when the Metcalfs became pregnant with their second child in 2016, they decided to have the baby by themselves. Brogan spent the most intense part of her labor in the bathtub, her toddler Dalila by her side. She was so calm, just taking it all in, Brogan told me. While Brogan remembers that she started to fall apart during transition, just before pushing (at one point, she yelled at her husband to just pull the baby out!), Dalila wasnt worried at all. After two pushes, their baby boy, Lincoln Grey, slid out into the water. No pulling was necessary, but her husband did need to gently lift off the cord, which was wrapped around Baby Lincolns neck. Oh, baby! Dalila crooned. Even though I manifested my birth dream, Brogan later said in a blog on my website, I was surprised how calmly and perfectly it all happened. When the Metcalfs found out that they were pregnant again, Brogan was excited to have another unassisted birth. There was no other way, going back to the hospital was not in my cards, she said. I felt way safer at home. Still, that third labor was unexpected. Brogan said she had more fear around the birth, and the labor lasted much longer than she thought it wouldabout 15 hours. Mila will turn 2 years old in October. Looking back, Brogan realizes that her labor began at dawn, but her contractions stalled after her two kids got up for the day. Twenty minutes after her kids were in bed, Baby Mila was born. She was squatting in the middle of the living room with her husband supporting her and a pillow underneath her, candlelight flickering around them. I was really present and connected, Brogan said. My favorite part was when I saw her. We didnt know if it was a boy or a girl. I cried like a baby. I just looked at her and was sobbing. It was the most beautiful thing. Having Faith Our bodies are amazing, said Brogan, 33. Shanley, whose four children were all born unassisted, agrees. While she can quote studies and statistics that show that home birth is as safe or safer than hospital birth, for Shanley, having an unassisted birth is about faith. Faith, she said, is at the heart of her work. We do have inner guidance. We do have inner health, Shanley told me. We are guided just as any animal is guided. We need to trust that. I never felt alone when I was birthing my children. I always felt a presence that was there helping me. For Shanley, the largest obstacle to having an unassisted birth was negative self-talk and fear. If we step out of the way and let our bodies do what theyve been designed to, labor becomes easy, she said. Just as you have faith that there is a loving God that knows how to grow a baby inside you, that Godor larger consciousness or whatever you want to call itknows how to complete the process, if we can relax and stay out of the way, Shanley said. I believe you have to not trigger your fight/flight reflex, and then your body knows how to deliver your baby. It doesnt have to be a long, drawn-out, difficult process. Learning About Unassisted Birth So if you want to learn more about unassisted birth or are even considering having your baby by yourself, where would you begin? I started by talking to freebirth and homebirth familiessome who had incredible, empowering, life-changing birth experiences; some who ended up transferring to the hospital; some who eventually changed their minds and hired midwives. I also read Shanleys Unassisted Childbirth cover to cover, twice, (full disclosure: my daughters birth story is included in the most recent edition of Shanleys book,) in addition to a 76-page manual called Emergency Childbirth that an unassisted-birth mom recommended. And I met in person with no fewer than five local homebirth midwives, as well as with some of the families whose babies they delivered. I was impressed with those midwives: They had vast experience and expertise. But I also realized I didnt want or need a midwife at my birth. Even though I was over 40 and would have been categorized as high risk by an obstetrician, I wanted to have my baby my way, on my own terms, without considering anyone elses opinions (or paperwork) and without any interruptions. And thats just what happened. Just 3 1/2 hours after Athena told me the kelp joke that had me roaring with laughter, our fourth and final baby was born in our bedroom, slipping quietly and calmly out of my body and into the world. Associate Justice Stephen Breyer sits during a group photograph of the justices at the Supreme Court on April 23, 2021. (Erin Schaff-Pool/Getty Images) Supreme Court Justice Breyer Dismisses Retirement Calls 'I decided on balance, I wouldn't retire' Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer says he doesnt intend to retire yet amid a growing push by congressional Democrats and left-leaning groups for him to resign during President Joe Bidens first term so Biden can nominate his replacement. During a Sept. 12 interview on Fox News Sunday, Breyer, a Clinton appointee, brushed off the calls for him to retire, but said those who are urging him to do so are entitled to their opinion. They understand the political world much better than I, or they understand it pretty well, and there we are. What else do you want me to say? Breyer said. Breyer, 83, has repeatedly said he wont kowtow to calls from progressive lawmakers to retire due to his age, although he has made clear that he doesnt intend to hold the position for the rest of his life. I dont intend to die on the court. I dont think Ill be there forever, Breyer said on Sept. 12. Calls for him to step down due to his age intensified after the justice publicly rebuffed proposals to pack, or expand, the Supreme Court in April, suggesting during a speech at Harvard that such a measure would backfire and risk creating an impression that the justice system is politicized. That month, near the Supreme Court, a truck with the banner Breyer, retire was seen driving around the building, according to photos and video footage at the time. In June, members of the pro-socialism Squad, including its de facto leader Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.), made similar requests of the justice in Congress. Separately, Rep. Mondaire Jones (D-N.Y.) told news outlets that he believes that Breyer should step down. Breyer told host Chris Wallace that there are many factors that will play into his decision about when to retire. And the role of court and so forth is one of them. And the situation, the institutional considerations are some. And I believe, I cant say I take anything perfectly into account, but in my own mind, I think about those things, he said. I didnt retire because I decided, on balance, I wouldnt retire. Breyer also told Wallace that he opposes politics surrounding the Supreme Court as it erodes trust, saying that hes there for everybody. Im not just there for the Democrats, Im not just there for the Republicans, and Im not just there because a president was a Democrat who appointed me, he said. Its a very great privilege to be in that job, and part of it is to remember that youre there for everyone. They wont like what you say for half the time or more, but youre still there for them. I think its important we have trust. White House press secretary Jen Psaki said in April that Biden wont interfere in the justices decision about when to retire. He believes thats a decision Justice Breyer will make when he decides its time to no longer serve on the Supreme Court, Psaki told reporters at the time. Jack Phillips contributed to this report. Students attend a class at Alexandria Park Community School in Sydney, Australia on May 4, 2016. (AAP Image/Paul Miller) Teacher Shortage Impact on Student Learning Alarming: NSW Teachers Federation The teacher shortage in New South Wales (NSW) is leading to numerous occasions of combined classes of up to 45 students and minimal supervision throughout regional and intercity schools. NSW Teachers Federation President Angelo Gavrielatos said the figures submitted to parliament (pdf) were alarming. It was reported that Year 11 and 12 students in Canobolas Rural Technology High School in Orange had been left with minimal supervision over 300 times, and Year 7 to 10 classes had been merged over 200 times. The school has 11 permanent positions that are vacant. Within Sydney, Concord High School has six vacant permanent positions, had classes merged or under minimal supervision 169 times before remote learning began. This is an example of the very real impact teacher shortages are having on students and teachers in schools from the inner west of Sydney to the Far West of NSW, Gavrielatos said in a statement. As we prepare for schools to go back next term, it is a stark reminder of why teacher shortages must be addressed as a matter of urgency. Gavrielatos said the Gallop Inquiry warned in February that uncompetitive salaries and unsustainable workloads contributed to the growing teacher shortage. The inquiry, which was commissioned by the NSW Teachers Federation, looked into the work of teachers and principals, and how it changed since 2004. Teachers need a competitive salary, and they need a reduction in the crippling workloads that they face every week. They need more than thanks from the NSW Government, Gavrielatos said. A spokesman from the NSW Department of Education told The Epoch Times that the current vacancy rate of teaching positions represented less than 2 percent of the overall workforce. This is lower than last year, the spokesman said. So far this year, the NSW Department of Education has filled almost 3,200 teaching positions and hired almost 10,000 teachers since 2017. The spokesman also said NSW teachers could expect to receive a 2.5 percent pay rise as announced in this years budget. In June, the government launched new pathways to fast-track mid-career professionals into the teaching profession to help address the shortages. The state is currently experiencing a severe shortage of STEM and special education teachers, particularly in rural schools. The government is also providing a long list of incentives for teachers to go to rural and remote locations, including a range of financial subsidies and priority transfers after two to five years. Chinese leader Xi Jinping (center) and lawmakers stand for the anthem during the closing session of the rubber-stamp legislatures conference at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing on March 11, 2021. (Kevin Frayer/Getty Images) The CCP Isnt China, nor Does It Represent the Chinese People Commentary Most people in the West believe that China, the Chinese people, and the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) are all the same. Nothing could be further from the truth. Its time the world wakes up to the fact that the CCP isnt China, nor does it represent the Chinese people. The first politician to point this out was former U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo. In a speech at the Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum in California in July 2020, Pompeo said: The Chinese people are completely distinct from the Chinese Communist Party. The biggest lie that they tell is to think that they speak for 1.4 billion people. The CCP fears the Chinese peoples honest opinions more than any foe. On Sept. 1, professor Miles Yu, a former adviser to Pompeo on strategies related to China, took time off his busy schedule and granted me an exclusive interview at his Maryland retreat. He explained why the CCP and the Chinese people arent the same. Yu, who was born in China and left the country in the mid-1980s, understood what life was like under CCP rule. Anyone who has life experience in China would immediately conclude that the interests of the Party and the people are not the same. For example, people want freedom but are denied on the pretext of national security. Yu says its ironic that while the CCPs interests are at odds with the peoples, it shamelessly claims that the Party represents the Chinese population of about 1.4 billion. Whenever Beijing quarrels with the Western powers, it would accuse them of hurting the feelings of the Chinese people. In other words, the CCP tries to intimidate the West by the sheer size of the population under its control. Miles Yu, former senior China policy adviser to former U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo in Annapolis, Md. (Tal Atzmon/The Epoch Times) In Yus view, this is like kidnapping the Chinese people for ransom. While the CCP silenced the people and tied their hands, they claimed to represent the people they kept hostagethese are exact characteristics of a rogue regime. The Chinese regime was infuriated by Pompeos statement. State-run media Xinhua published a long article that accused Pompeo of trying to drive a wedge between the CCP and the Chinese people. Furthermore, the Yu family clan in Anhui Province delisted Miles from the family tree registrar at the behest of local authorities. In the Chinese tradition, this is regarded as a major insult to the Yu family and a heavy moral penalty for Miles. From the fierce reaction of the CCP, Yu deduced that he and Pompeo had directly touched on a CCP sore point. The CCP understands that this distinction between the Party and the people could cost its legitimacy. Before the CCP came to power 100 years ago, it applied the same tactic to undermine the then-ruling Kuomintang, which led to the latters eventual downfall. Therefore, they are hypersensitive when we point out that they in fact do not represent the Chinese people, Yu explained. Indeed, the wedge concept is bothering the CCP. On Sept. 3, 2020, Chinese leader Xi Jinping gave a speech during the 75th anniversary of the Anti-Japanese War (19371945) and said, The Chinese people will never allow anyone or any forces trying to drive a wedge between the CCP and the Chinese people. The same theme also came up in the SinoU.S. meeting in Alaska early this year, when Yang Jiechi , the top official for Chinas foreign affairs, drew a so-called red line for the United States, warning the latter not to question its legitimacy. In the past, whenever Beijing complained that a certain U.S. policy hurts the feelings or the interests of 1.4 billion people, Washington would soften its stance a bit, Yu said. Starting with Pompeo, this rhetoric no longer worked because we knew that the CCP does not represent the Chinese people. At the policy level, the Trump administration made a clear distinction between the Chinese people and the CCP. While the administration welcomed Chinese nationals to study in the United States, it imposed restrictions on certain CCP members from entering the country. We penalize the CCP for hurting Hong Kong, for genocide in Xinjiang, for intimidating Taiwan, and for violating international law in the South China Sea. All these measures are truly in the interest of the Chinese people but at odds with those of the CCP, Yu said. Yu believes that by pointing out that the CCP obviously isnt the same as China or the Chinese people, that would go a long way toward ending the pro-Beijing appeasement sentiment. He explained that deep in American culture, there has been strong sympathy for the Chinese peoplebecause of the early Christian missionaries who witnessed the plight and backwardness of the ordinary people. This compassion for the suffering Chinese was best reflected in Pearl Bucks The Good Earth. Unfortunately, this benevolence for ordinary Chinese citizens was skillfully transformed by the CCP, through propaganda and united front tactics, to serve its own interests. That resulted in a strong appeasement sentiment toward the CCP. This appeasement policy had survived eight presidents, until Donald Trump, Yu said. He believes that appeasement would naturally die down once people realize that the CCP and the Chinese people share diametrically opposite interests. Yu concluded: For over half a century, we had been fooled by Chinese propaganda into believing that the CCP and China meant the same. For the first time, we broke this myth and this is going to have a significant impact in the days to come. Views expressed in this article are the opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times. The Gradual Takeover of Universities by Woke Consensus Commentary A visit to Western universities today will lead to one finding a high degree of groupthink in a number of faculties, with barely a conservative thinker insight. One can only conclude that for years universities have limited their hiring to three types of candidates: left-leaning liberals, socialists, and radical greens. An outcome of such skewed appointment practices is that faculties are now characterised by closed-shop, progressive-leaning consensus. Unsurprisingly, courses that are taught and research that is published, is reflective of this consensus. Consequently, universities are not places where students can go to seek diversity of opinion, debate, or education that prepares them for the real worldwhere opposing ideas clash regularly. So how did our universities become, as one professor recently described, social justice factories. A book by American philosopher Thomas Kuhn offers us some insight. Kuhns, Structure of Scientific Revolutions explores the notion of paradigm shifts, which explores how paradigmsthe basic concepts and frames of reference underlying a disciplinecan change and be replaced by another. Importantly, paradigms guide the questions academics are allowed to ask. And in turn, the questions asked will generate a particular type of answer. Students walk through The Quadrangle at the University of Sydney in Sydney, Australia, on May 8, 2013, (AAP Image/Paul Miller) Effectively, once a new understanding of the world (or paradigm) has gained ascendency within an academic community, previous understandings are pushed out, sometimes organically. Those outside universities can see a shift has taken place and wonder how the progressive paradigm gained ascendance. Those inside universities, meanwhile, witnessed the paradigm shift step by step. A slow Fabian-style build-up occurred in university committees over the years. However, the process of removing alternative paradigms became easy after progressives became the majority on committees, including the peer-review system, academic journals, and publishers. Most of those who ended up pushing alternative ideas out of their faculties did not consciously see themselves doing so. Instead, a bubble of progressive groupthink simply emerged because it seemed natural to appoint like-minded colleagues. After all, since it was comfortable inhabiting a bubble where everybodys worldview was broadly the same, why not recruit those who thought like you? Nevertheless, there was no need to purge conservatives anyway because their subsequent intellectual isolation (no like-minded folks to talk to) meant most removed themselves over time, while those who did stay were simply marginalised. Selection committees could be stacked to the point that non-progressives would be denied real decision-making roles (by colleagues who saw them as unsound). Conservatives could be starved of resources (by peer-review processes dominated by progressives). Finally, committees numerically dominated by progressives meant conservatives had no chance of impacting on policy. But a big shift occurred when Donald Trump became the U.S. president. The mood on campuses was transformed into one that was far more aggressive. On a campus in far-away Australia, I watched the mood change from disbelief, shock, fear, and finally anger. Front entrance to the University of Queensland on Jan. 12, 2021 in Brisbane, Australia. (Daniel Teng/The Epoch Times) A few days after the initial shock, what emerged was war-talk. Trumps election galvanised university progressives. They saw Trump as an existential threat because academics intuitively realised they were part of the swamp. They knew they contributed to training those in the swamp, that they relied upon government funding for their jobs, and that their career paths often involved moving back and forth between the university sector and government jobs. Even in far-off Australia, Trump seriously threatened their world because any POTUS sets the tone for policy across the Western world. So progressive academics naturally became opposed to Trump. They closed ranks and saw their universities as bastions to be protected. But defensiveness soon evolved into a vision of universities as sites from which war against Trump (and other right-wingers) could be mobilised. This attitude was strengthened by a wave of American academics moving to Australia who deemed themselves refugees from Trump. From then on, the process of making sure faculties were progressive became more conscious. Academics became less tolerant of other ideas and more missionary in their approach. A push for more diversity emerged which effectively leaned towards the hiring of more progressives. One campaign saw academics mobilise against the creation of the Ramsey Centre for Western Civilisation. But curiously, despite the opposition to right-wing or conservative viewpoints, when one speaks with a progressive and listens to them, it becomes clear that their point-of-view is effectively a construct of myths about what the right-wingers supposedly stands for. And because of the decades-long paradigm shift, we now have a whole generation of academics who have effectively never heard an academic argument in favour of conservatives, right-wingers, traditionalists, or nationalists. Hence, they do not know what these positions stand for. Unsurprisingly, the vacuum created by this ignorance has instead been filled with negative myths of racism, authoritarianism, fascism, white supremacism, traditionalism, colonialism, and so on. These mythologies about conservatives are enough to terrify anyone. So unsurprisingly, progressive academics have positioned themselves into a just, wider strugglealong with progressive politicians, journalists, and activiststo push back and defeat the opposing view. The real diversity of opinion, meanwhile, withered in the face of such odds. Views expressed in this article are the opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times. A nurse holds a vial of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine at Guy's Hospital in London on Dec. 8, 2020. (Frank Augstein/AP Photo) UK Chief Medical Officers Recommend COVID-19 Vaccine for 12- to 15-Year-Olds The UKs chief medical officers (CMOs) have recommended that the government offer one dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine to all 12- to 15-year-olds. It comes after the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) declined to recommend the jabs to healthy children in this age group on health grounds alone. The government said on Aug. 28 that it has told Englands health service to get ready to vaccinate the age group. The Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine was authorised in June to be used on children over 12 years old by the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA). The Moderna vaccine was deemed safe for children over 12 years old last month by the MHRA, but it has not yet been given to children in the UKs vaccination programmes. The JCVI previously told the government that the benefits from vaccination are marginally greater than the potential known harms, adding that the government may wish to seek further views on the wider societal and educational impacts. Of these wider considerations, the most important in this age group was [the] impact on education, CMOs from England, Wales, Scotland, and Northern Ireland wrote in their letter to health secretaries. The CMOs said theyre of the view that the additional likely benefits of reducing educational disruption, and the consequent reduction in public health harm from educational disruption, on balance provide sufficient extra advantage in addition to the marginal advantage at an individual level identified by the JCVI to recommend in favour of vaccinating this group. Therefore, the CMOs said they recommend on public health grounds that the universal offer of Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccination should be extended to 12- to 15-year-olds. They have also asked for the JCVI now to look at whether second doses should be given to children and young people aged 12 to 15 once more data come through internationally. Schools minister Nick Gibb previously confirmed that it was the governments intention to offer the jabs in schools. One reason the JCVI didnt recommend vaccinating healthy children was the increasingly robust evidence of an association between vaccination with mRNA COVID-19 vaccines and myocarditis. It said that while the adverse event is very rare and mostly short-term, the clinical picture is atypical and the medium to long-term (months to years) prognosis, including the possibility of persistence of tissue damage resulting from inflammation, is currently uncertain as sufficient follow-up time has not yet occurred. A recent study from the United States suggested that the rate of cardiac adverse events for males between the ages of 12 and 15 without a serious underlying health condition after getting their second Pfizer-BioNTech or Moderna COVID-19 dose was up to six times higher than their risk of COVID-19 hospitalization. Another reason the JCVI has been hesitant to recommend the jabs to young children was that in most circumstances, the age group cant give informed consent. On Sept. 5, vaccines minister Nadhim Zahawi told Sky News that he could give that assurance, absolutely that parents consent will be sought if the government gets the go-ahead with its vaccination plan. But in a separate interview, Zahawi suggested that parents decisions could be overridden if the child is deemed to be able to make a decision that is competent. Zachary Stieber and PA contributed to this report. Vivek Murthy testifies before being confirmed as Surgeon General before senators on Capitol Hill in Washington on Feb. 25, 2021. (Caroline Brehman/Pool/AFP via Getty Images) US Surgeon General: Biden Admin Will Monitor Whether Vaccine Exemptions Being Used Properly U.S. Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy said that the Biden administration will look into reports of what he described are workers improperly finding loopholes in COVID-19 vaccine exemptions. Last week, President Joe Biden announced a mandate that any company with 100 or more employees needs to force their workers to either get vaccinated or submit to regular COVID-19 testing. One workaround is to either claim religious exemption or exemption on medical grounds. In a comment to CNN on Sunday, Murthy said that the White House will monitor the exemptions. Unfortunately, as a country, we have experience in dealing with exemptions, but weve got to be vigilant there and make sure that people are using them, you know, in the spirit that theyre intended and not abusing them or asking for exemptions when they dont apply, Murthy said. Thats an area that we continue to monitor in the days and weeks ahead. Bidens announcement on the mandate, which may affect around 80 million private-sector employees, drew significant criticism from Republican governors and some business leaders. Its likely that numerous lawsuits will be filed after the order is issued. Several Republican governors and lawmakers said they would take action, including filing lawsuits, against the Biden order. Ive been talking to my attorney general, he is coordinating with the other attorneys general across the country who share similar views about the overreach, Nebraska Gov. Pete Ricketts told Fox News on Sunday. As we see what these rules are, we will be able to know exactly how we will be able to challenge them in court. Im also talking with my colleagues around the country as well the other governors who feel the way I do, and well be working on other strategies. Murthy in the same interview said President Joe Biden will announce more COVID-19 measures this week ahead of the United Nations General Assembly meets in New York on Tuesday. He didnt elaborate on what those might be. There will be more actions that we continue to work on, especially in the global front, he said Sunday. Amid the widespread criticism against the vaccine mandate for private-sector workers, Murthy claimed that some business groups support them. We know that these kinds of requirements actually work to improve our vaccination rates, he told ABC News Sunday. Tyson Foods, for example, which put in a vaccine requirement, recently saw that its vaccination rate went from 45 percent to more than 70 percent in a very short period of time and theyre not even at their deadline yet. Vic Govt Announces Compliance Blitz on Construction Industry The Victorian state government has announced a four-week compliance blitz across construction sites following an increase in industry-linked CCP virus cases. Vaccination uptake will also be prioritised with the state opening four vaccination centres for construction workers over the next two weeks, treasurer Tim Pallas announced on Sept. 13. This follows previous calls from industry groups for tens of thousands of construction workers to get vaccinated by Christmas to prevent site shutdowns. Currently, construction sites can operate with a 25 percent cap. Many people working in construction are young, highly mobile and unvaccinated, Pallas said. Whats become clear to us is that the construction industry remains a major source of transmission. Given the increased public health risks, the joint operation will have a zero tolerance approach and will apply fines and prohibition notices to fix any serious non-compliance. Pallas also warned the industry was put on notice, and could risk losing its permitted worker status if responsibilities were not taken seriously. I need to be clear about this; there will be zero tolerance, he said. Further, 50 teams made up of authorised officers, WorkSafe Inspectors, and Victorian Building Authority employees will be inspecting worksites to ensure compliance. Individuals can be fined up to $10,904 for serious and blatant breaches, while body corporates can be fined up to $109,040. Weve heard from the industry itself whove told us they want more enforcement, and they want us to address those arent doing the right thing, he said. According to a Master Builders of Victoria (MBV) statement, authorities had found weak or non-existent COVIDSafe plans and limited use of QR codes at some job sites, with mask compliance being a recurring theme. The Acting Chief Health Officer (CHO) also found workers were interacting outside their worksite bubblessuch as congregating closely in tea rooms, and visiting relatives outside of work, according to the MBV. With the levels of community transmission we are now seeing across many of our suburbs, it is so important that we have outstanding controls in place at every single worksite that is still operating, COVID Commander Jeroen Weimar said on Sept. 9. Additionally, authorities are concerned with the geographical spreadwith the average infected construction worker living about 20 kilometres away from their workplace. That compares to 4 kilometres for the average case in the outbreak. However, opposition health spokeswoman Georgie Crozier said the state government was playing catch up, and it should immediately introduce rapid antigen testing on building sites. This is the ideal scenario where you would put rapid testing in place, Crozier said. The state government confirmed it would provide Incolinkan industry fund supporting construction workerswith an unlimited supply of AstraZeneca. Some 20,000 further priority Pfizer appointments will also be made available to construction workers. Master Builders Victoria (MBV) CEO Rebecca Casson previously told The Epoch Times that Incolink had the capability to deliver 40,000 vaccinations on-site, all they need is a green light from the Federal Government and a start date. The construction industry was previously told the 25 percent cap could double if 90 percent of workers had one dose. While the Victorian Chamber of Commerce and Industry has welcomed both the compliance crackdown and vaccination drive, it wants greater clarity on how the 90 percent vaccination rate will be documented. Victoria recorded 473 cases on Sept. 13, with 120 cases linked to two Melbourne job sites. Of the 3507 active cases recorded in the state, 13 percent are directly linked to construction sites. AAP contributed to this report. Illegal immigrants walk to climb into the back of lorries bound for Britain while traffic is stopped upon waiting to board shuttles at the entrance to the Channel Tunnel site in Calais, northern France, on Nov. 19, 2020. (Denis Charlet/AFP via Getty Images) Vietnamese Man Arrested in UK Raid on People Smugglers A Vietnamese man has been arrested in Birmingham on suspicion of being a high-ranking member of a people smuggling network, the UKs National Crime Agency (NCA) said. The 23-year-old man was detained during a raid on a property in the Handsworth area at around 6 a.m. on Monday. He was detained by NCA officers as he attempted to exit the building out of a window onto a flat roof below. A large quantity of cash, estimated to be around 10,000 ($13,840), was also recovered from the property. The arrest is part of an investigation into the smuggling of mainly Vietnamese illegal immigrants into the UK in the backs of lorries in August and September 2020, the NCA said. The man is now being questioned on suspicion of assisting illegal immigration to the UK and money laundering offences. Paul Boniface, NCA Branch Operations Manager, said the agency is determined to disrupt and dismantle people smuggling networks wherever they are operating. These groups treat people as a commodity to be profited from and are quite happy to put lives at risk in dangerous journeys in the back of trucks or in small boats. Boniface said the investigation is still ongoing as protecting life and preventing exploitation are our priorities. The NCA did not disclose whether this latest arrest was in any way linked to the deaths of 39 Vietnamese illegal immigrants in 2019. The 39 illegal immigrants, aged between 15 and 44, suffocated to death in the back of a refrigerated lorry as they tried to make their way to the UK on Oct. 23, 2019. On Jan. 22, 2021, seven men convicted over the deaths of the 39 immigrants were sentenced to a total of 93 years and eight months in prison. In June, UK police arrested a Vietnamese national in connection with the incident. He was allegedly part of a human trafficking network that moves immigrants into the UK through Belgium and France in the back of lorries, the NCA said at the time. Human smugglers often hide illegal immigrants inside UK-bound lorries to evade customs checks, a practice that puts the immigrants lives in danger. In March, a Turkish lorry driver was arrested after 16 illegal immigrants from Morocco, Algeria, and Pakistan were found hidden in the lorrys trailer. In February, police in Cambridgeshire reported two incidents in which they rescued illegal immigrants from the back of refrigerated lorries. In 2000, 58 Chinese immigrants were found dead in the back of a truck in Dover. The driver was later found guilty of manslaughter. Who Benefits From the Dumbing Down of American Education? China Commentary Planning, according to the American author Alan Lakein, involves bringing the future into the present so that you can do something about it now. If you want to buy a new house in five years, it helps to start saving today. To have a thriving economy going forward, it helps to have well-trained, highly skilled graduates. Thats good news for China. In August, the Center for Security and Emerging Technology, a think tank based in Washington, published a rather telling report. When it comes to the production of STEM doctoral graduates, China is fast outpacing the United States, the authors noted. For the uninitiated, STEM refers to the integrated teaching and learning of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. In other words, it involves a deep understanding of the very subjects that make our lives possible and the very subjects that are vital for the progression of humanity. Since the mid-2000s, China has consistently graduated more STEM PhDs than the United States, a key indicator of a countrys future competitiveness in STEM fields, according to the report. The gap between China and the United States, were told, will likely grow wider in the next five years. Chinese universities, once known for rampant plagiarism and questionable teaching practices, are most definitely improving. The authors findings suggest the quality of doctoral education in China has risen in recent years, and that much of Chinas current Ph.D. growth comes from high-quality universities. If current enrollment patterns continue on that current trajectory, the authors project that by 2025 Chinese universities will produce more than 77,000 STEM PhD graduates per year compared to approximately 40,000 in the United States. With more than three-quarters of Chinese doctoral graduates specializing in STEM fields, Chinas robust education system threatens to undermine the long-term economic and national security of the United States. Why is this report important, and why is it a must-read for the Biden administration? From cancer-detecting software to virus protection software, drone strikes to drone deliveries, space travel to air travel, modern society is inextricably linked with STEM subjects. This isnt good news for the United States, where a precipitous drop in educational standards can be seen in elementary schools, middle schools, high schools, and elite universities. A number of American educators consider math to be inherently racist. Some people argue that math needs to confront its white, patriarchal past. What does this even mean? Empiricism has become the bete noire of many a leftist. Science isnt racist. Although science can be carried out by racists, its important to make the distinction. A car can be driven by a xenophobe, but we dont call the car xenophobic. To continue that brief exercise in stating the obvious, math isnt racist. Without math, nothing is possible. More importantly, no one gets paid. Regardless of a persons skin color, we all benefit from math. In a recent piece for Quillette, the authorsthree mathematicians who came to the United States as young immigrantsdescribe the ways in which the nationwide effort to reduce racial disparities, however well-intentioned only serves to weaken the connection between merit and scholastic admission. When everything, including math and science, is viewed through the prism of race, the country suffers. Yuli Sun, a Chinese language immersion teacher (L) checks her students work during a 2nd grade class at Broadway Elementary School in Venice, Calif., on Jan. 31, 2013. (Robyn Beck/AFP/Getty Images) The trio lamented the deplorable state of the K12 math education system. A pitiful number of U.S. public-school children, they argued, are prepared for careers in STEM. Not surprisingly, that leaves the United States all too dependent on a constant inflow of foreign talent, especially from mainland China, Taiwan, South Korea, and India, according to the report. As curricula increasingly shift from actual mathematics knowledge to courses about social justice and identity politics, expect that trend to continue. The United States is home to a number of outstanding universities. However, its of little use having such extraordinary establishments if they arent being used to breed extraordinary minds. If the United States is to have any chance of competing with China, serious changes are needed, and theyre needed fast. Sadly, the only changes were seeing are harmful ones. If in doubt, let me point you to Oregon. Gov. Kate Brown recently signed Senate Bill 744 into law. For the next five years, all Oregonian high school students who wish to graduate will be exempt from having to demonstrate proficiency in the areas of reading, writing, and mathematics. The bill, according to reports, was introduced in order to help Oregons Black, Latino, Latina, Latinx, Indigenous, Asian, Pacific Islander, Tribal, and students of color. One wonders how dumbing down graduation requirements helps anyone. Many progressive-minded educators are determined to reimagine the way subjects such as math and science are taught in schools. But they dont need to be reimagined. They need to be left alone, and they need to be taught properly. The United States is currently ranked 31st in math literacy out of 79 countries. China ranks first in mathematical proficiency. Now, with the average IQ of U.S. children continuing to fall and the dumbing down of education in full swing, expect the proficiency gap to widen. Without enough STEM graduates, how is the United States expected to compete with China? This is an important question that requires immediate answers. Views expressed in this article are the opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times. KILLINGWORTH Deer Lake Camp, a popular 35-year-old childrens summer camp and Boy Scout wilderness reservation, is up for sale in connection with the Boy Scouts of Americas $850 million sex abuse settlement. Deer Lake, an unspoiled 255-acre wilderness site, is an attraction for hikers its part of a trail system linking Chatfield Hollow and Cockaponset State Forest as well as former campers and neighbors. The camp boasts a mile-long spring-fed lake, a swimming area in a kettle (a lake or pond created by retreating flood waters or glaciers) called the lagoon, as well as manicured trails in pristine forest. And, nearly everyone mentions the unique glacier rock formation called Fat Mans Squeeze that children love to explore. The private Save Deer Lake Facebook group was created just two days after an announcement was made informally last week that Connecticut Yankee Council Boy Scouts of America wanted to sell the camp, according to Ted Langevin, a scout leader, chairman of Pack 491 in Madison and member of the Quinnipiac district committee. Many on Facebook posted comments that they were surprised about the potential sale of the property and closing of the camp. Former campers, lifeguards, parents and volunteers were brainstorming online how to prevent its loss. Theyre really going to miss it if we cant pull this off, Langevin said. Many of the people that have joined the group weve gotten close to 200 people theyve reacted because they were childhood campers or their kids went. Theyre up in arms, Langevin said. The summer camp rebounded after the pandemic and has remained popular for all of its years, he said. We usually have a waiting list this year was no exception, Langevin said. According to Langevin, group members hope to raise enough money or get grants to buy the camp, ensure the land remains preserved or attract a large donor or buyer. $850 million settlement The parcel was appraised between $3.7 million to $4.2 million. Some $2.6 million will go to the Boy Scouts of America, Langevin said, to help pay the local councils assessed share of the $850 million sex abuse settlement signed off on by a judge in August to pay the tens of thousands of abuse victims, according to claimsjournal.com. The $850 million agreement is between the Boy Scouts national organization and about 250 local councils along with law firms representing about 70,000 former scouts who allege they were molested, the website states. A fund for survivors would receive about $250 million from the national Boy Scouts and $600 million from local councils, along with insurance rights. The Save Deer Lake Facebook pages mission is to raise enough money to either buy the camp outright or to make sure that the land is protected as an educational and recreational camp or as a conservation area. Other Boy Scout facilities in the state also up for sale as part of the settlement are the Connecticut Yankee Council headquarters in Milford and Camp Pomperaug in Union, according to Langevin. At Save Deer Lake, members discuss the possibility of garnering a state grant, approaching the town of Killingworth for funds, as well as setting up a GoFundMe page and talking to potential donors. Group members also suggest splitting the parcel into two pieces: an unimproved section to sell to the state or other entity to preserve the forest and trails, and the camp portion separately to an organization or owner wanting to continue its operation. That way, Langevin said, It would be less expensive and attractive to somebody looking to run a camp. For Langevin, the beauty of Deer Lake unique: Its a very peaceful place you kind of get this feeling of all the world is outside, and youre just watching the sunset on the lake. What it does on the lake is amazing. Camp Ranger Mark Clifton and his wife Patty have worked and lived at the camp for some 35 years. Theyve been a big part of the facility during their time there. Mark and Patty they were a young couple the camp was in a shambles. Essentially, they built it back up with their bare hands, Langevin said. The house was uninhabitable. Theyve been there ever since. Scouting is a nonprofit organization they have never seemed to have enough to do what was needed to do, Langevin said. The couple, he said, seemed to be sticking it together with bailing wire and chewing gum. A perfect site Patty Clifton worked alongside her husband, putting together the childrens camp since the mid 1980s. I really hope that it will remain a wooded and green space. Im very proud of what weve done the summer camp program that has been my focus for the last 35 years. I was really hoping to someday passing it on, she said. I just hate the thought of it all ending. It would be a shame if turned into a housing development. The clock is ticking for fundraising and supporters are scrambling to come up with a solution, Langevin said, as the sellers will put it on the market soon. And for the time being, the Cliftons have permission to stay at the camp until December. Clifton said she takes pride in a well-developed program, and the parcel is a perfect site for summer camp activities. Were not into huge were into more good, quality programs enriching kids lives, and teaching them to be good citizens and good humans, she said. Clifton, a camp accreditation visitor, sees many other camps in the region and said she is always pleased to see how Deer Lake stacks up. I can tell you that this is, by far, the nicest piece of property Ive been to, and I visit camps every summer and Im being objective. Ive never seen anything like this. Its just beautiful a nice balance of lakes and fields, ledge and cliffs and wetlands. Perfect for any kind of nature study and exploration out into the woods. It would just be a shame if it could not continue, she said. Weve really maintained the forest, she added, noting that her husband Ranger Mark Clifton, with a degree in geology and earth science, has worked with forestry professionals. Everything is so perfectly groomed. They have also taken part in a program to reintroduce chestnut trees once native to the state, but now extinct. Chestnut seedlings have been planted under the guidance of the American Chestnut Foundation. Fond memories One member of Save Deer Lake, Christine Forristall, a lifelong Killingworth resident who worked as a lifeguard while in high school and later promoted to waterfront director as a young adult, said the camp would be sorely missed. Her daughters, in fifth and seventh grades, are campers now, and her family hikes the trails year round. It was an amazing experience working with the kids you were impacting the kids, too, Forristall said. In that time, she estimates she worked with 150 kids a week for over 10 summers. She grew up across the street from the park. Part of the fun was getting to her job, I used to cross the waterfall every day to work. From her experience at the camp, Forristall now teaches the lifeguards for the Madison Beach and Recreation Department as well as set up their waterfront management plan. While at Deer Lake, she said, The whole program taught us to have an appreciation of not only nature, but getting outside of our comfort zone knowing theres a whole world out there thats right in front of our face. Its more than just a camp to me and many others its a great to not be in front of a screen, she said, to go out and explore the outdoors. BARCELONA, Spain (AP) Climate change could push more than 200 million people to leave their homes in the next three decades and create migration hot spots unless urgent action is taken to reduce global emissions and bridge the development gap, a World Bank report has found. The second part of the Groundswell report published Monday examined how the impacts of slow-onset climate change such as water scarcity, decreasing crop productivity and rising sea levels could lead to millions of what it describes as climate migrants by 2050 under three different scenarios with varying degrees of climate action and development. Under the most pessimistic scenario, with a high level of emissions and unequal development, the report forecasts up to 216 million people moving within their own countries across the six regions analyzed. Those regions are Latin America; North Africa; Sub-Saharan Africa; Eastern Europe and Central Asia; South Asia; and East Asia and the Pacific. In the most climate-friendly scenario, with a low level of emissions and inclusive, sustainable development, the world could still see 44 million people being forced to leave their homes. The findings reaffirm the potency of climate to induce migration within countries, said Viviane Wei Chen Clement, a senior climate change specialist at the World Bank and one of the reports authors. The report didnt look at the short-term impacts of climate change, such as the effects of extreme weather events, and did not look at climate migration across borders. In the worst-case scenario, Sub-Saharan Africa the most vulnerable region due to desertification, fragile coastlines and the population's dependence on agriculture would see the most migrants, with up to 86 million people moving within national borders. North Africa, however, is predicted to have the largest proportion of climate migrants, with 19 million people moving, equivalent to roughly 9% of its population, due mainly to increased water scarcity in northeastern Tunisia, northwestern Algeria, western and southern Morocco, and the central Atlas foothills, the report said. In South Asia, Bangladesh is particularly affected by flooding and crop failures, accounting for almost half of the predicted climate migrants, with 19.9 million people, including an increasing number of women, moving by 2050 under the pessimistic scenario. This is our humanitarian reality right now and we are concerned this is going to be even worse, where vulnerability is more acute, said Prof. Maarten van Aalst, director of the International Red Cross Red Crescent Climate Centre, who wasn't involved with the report. Many scientists say the world is no longer on track to the worst-case scenario for emissions. But even under a more moderate scenario, van Aalst said many impacts are now occurring faster than previously expected, including the extremes we are already experiencing, as well as potential implications for migration and displacement." While climate change's influence on migration is not new, it is often part of a combination of factors pushing people to move, and acts as a threat multiplier. People affected by conflicts and inequality are also more vulnerable to the impacts of climate change as they have limited means to adapt. Globally we know that three out of four people that move stay within countries, said Dr. Kanta Kumari Rigaud, a lead environmental specialist at the World Bank and co-author of the report. The report also warns that migration hot spots could appear within the next decade and intensify by 2050. Planning is needed both in the areas where people will move to, and in the areas they leave to help those who remain. Among the actions recommended were achieving net zero emissions by mid-century to have a chance at limiting global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius and investing in development that is green, resilient, and inclusive, in line with the Paris Agreement." Clement and Rigaud warned that the worst-case scenario is still plausible if collective action to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and invest in development isn't taken soon, especially in the next decade. ___ Read more of APs climate coverage at https://apnews.com/hub/Climate Read more of APs global migration coverage at https://apnews.com/hub/migration Instant unlimited access to all of our content on thenewsguard.com. The News Guard E-Edition Newsletter emailed to you each week, the night before the paper hits the street! This subscription is for NEW or RENEWING online subscribers. (The charge will appear as "Country Media Inc." on your credit card statement) South Hill, VA (23970) Today Partly cloudy skies early will give way to cloudy skies late. Low 69F. Winds light and variable.. Tonight Partly cloudy skies early will give way to cloudy skies late. Low 69F. Winds light and variable. Kratom vendors making profits during COVID-19 HAT YAI: Since it was removed from the list of illegal drugs Kratom has emerged as a newly trending economic crop. Members of the public can now grow, possess, trade, and consume at will. People in many areas currently earn useful income selling Kratom, at a time of widespread unemployment due to COVID-19. CoronavirusCOVID-19natural-resources By National News Bureau of Thailand Monday 13 September 2021, 10:10AM Photo: NNT Residents of the Hat Yai district of Songkhla are looking for fresh Kratom leaves to consume and sell. Some vendors boil the leaves and make Kratom herbal drinks to sell by the bottle, both at stores and online. Most of the sellers say they were unemployed due to the impact of COVID-19 and by selling Kratom, they now have a job. According to the sellers, 1kg of Kratom leaves can bring a profit of B100-200. However, they tend to agree that there should be an authority to control the trade in Kratom as there are concerns about the price as more people are now selling the crop. At the same time in Bangkok, it was reported that some shops in Din Daeng market that now specialise in selling Kratom leaves are being overwhelmed by customers every day. One of the sellers said only some customers buy Kratom leaves to resell, while most of them buy the leaves for their own consumption as the leaves have medicinal properties. In addition, the majority of Kratom leaves are from the southern region where almost every province grows the plant. Besides being available at storefronts, people can also lookup social media platforms and online stores for Kratom products. Rift threatens Prayuts future BANGKOK: All eyes are on the political future of Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha, as well as that of the ruling Palang Pracharath Party (PPRP), after parliament endorsed a charter amendment bill which sought to bring back the two-ballot voting system. politics By Bangkok Post Monday 13 September 2021, 02:00PM Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha reacts during his tour of the flume and water pump station in Muang district, Samut Prakan yesterday (Sept 12). Photo: Wichan Charoenkiatpalul The system will favour major parties, such as the Pheu Thai Party, which is expected to be the PPRPs main rival in the next general election. After Capt Thamanat Prompow was sacked as deputy agriculture minister and Narumon Pinyosinwat removed as deputy labour minister last week, some believe Prayut is now moving to assert his authority in the party. Thamanat and Ms Narumon are known to be close to Deputy Prime Minister and PPRP leader Prawit Wongsuwon. Even though Thamanat has not resigned from his role as PPRPs secretary-general, it is widely believed that his time with the party is coming to an end. If Thamanat decides to part ways with the PPRP, the party will lose an experienced broker in political circles. Thamanat stands accused of masterminding the campaign to oust Prayut during the most recent censure debate. The plot allegedly involved a number of PPRP heavyweights and renegade members of micro-coalition partners and politicians in the main opposition Pheu Thai Party. Stithorn Thananithichote, director of the Office of Innovation for Democracy at King Prajadhipoks Institute, told the Bangkok Post that if Thananat leaves the PPRP, Prayut may have to step in and handle party MPs himself, even though he is not as well-versed in the task compared to Thamanat. Mr Stithorn said that a total of 149 senators voted in favour of the charter amendment bill in its third and final reading - considerably more than the minimum threshold of one-third of the Senate, or 84 senators - which shows that Prawit has total control not only over his party MPs, but also members of the Upper House. Due to Prawits clout, Prayut had to defer to the formers insistence on restoring the two-ballot system, Mr Stithorn said. The return of the two-ballot system may have been plotted by Prawit and Thamanat to thwart emerging parties such as the Move Forward Party (MFP), which is popular with many young voters, according to Mr Stithorn. While they could not stop major parties like Pheu Thai, they can thwart the MFP, whose predecessor - the Future Forward Party - benefited from the single-ballot system in the previous election, he said. However, Prayut still has a card up his sleeve which can guarantee his chances of staying on as prime minister for another term. Gen Prayut does not see Pheu Thai as a threat to the PPRP because he still has the support of the appointed 250 senators, who still stay on in office to vote for a prime minister after the next election. These senators are not friendly enough [with the opposition] to support a prime ministerial candidate from Pheu Thai, Mr Stithorn said. The 250 senators were appointed by the now-defunct National Council for Peace and Order, of which Prayut was a former chief. Mr Stithorn said that if Gen Prayut can patch up the internal rifts within the PPRP, it is likely that party members will rally behind him for another term, Mr Stithorn said. Prayut will need to close the distance between himself and party MPs and make himself more accessible, Mr Stithorn said. The prime minister needs to listen to party Mps requests and find ways to make it easier for them to campaign for votes in the next election, he said. As for Pheu Thai, Mr Stithorn said he believes the main opposition party will end up as a shadow of its former self after the next election, with the MFP snatching votes from it. However, another source at the PPRP told the Bangkok Post that Prayut and Prawit have ordered some cabinet ministers to ensure greater discipline among party MPs. Deputy Finance Minister Santi Promphat was asked to control 39 MPs; Justice Minister Somsak Thepsuthin from the Sam Mitr ("Three Allies") group would handle 30 MPs; Digital Economy and Society Minister Chaiwut Thanakamanusorn was ordered to take care of 20 MPs, while Labour Minister Suchart Chomklin would be dealing with 20 MPs from micro coalition parties, the source said. If and when the organic law on elections is amended in line with the latest charter amendment bill, pressure will mount on the prime minister to dissolve the House to pave the way of an election. If the PM cannot bring COVID-19 under control and fix the economy, the PPRP is unlikely to win as many House seats as it has now, the source said. Pheu Thai MP and chief opposition whip Sutin Klungsang admitted that even if the two-ballot system is restored, no one knows for sure if Pheu Thai will be able to gain a landside election victory as in the past. Deputy Democrat Party leader Nipit Intharasombat told the Bangkok Post that Prayut will stay on at least until the amended organic law on elections is enacted, adding he will then dissolve the House and call an election. I dont think the PM will want to serve another term given that he will face fierce resistance, Mr Nipit said. The Space and Missile Defense Command Technical Centers Targets Test Directorate, in support of the Lower Tier Air and Missile Defense Sensor, launches the first Economical Target 2 target Aug. 12 from White Sands Missile Range, N.M., during a risk reduction flight to test design, performance and launch operations. This small replica of the Liberty Bell will be rung at the Norristown ceremony by Towamencin DAR. The bell was cast at the same foundry as the nations Liberty Bell. Editorial COVID impact on poor schools gets day in court Evan Vucci/AP WASHINGTON (AP) President Joe Biden is set to deliver his first address to the United Nations General Assembly next week in New York, the White House announced Monday. The annual convening of world leaders will take place in-person this year, after being held virtually in 2020 amid the COVID-19 pandemic. RIDGEFIELD State Sen. Will Haskel, D-Westport, and state Reps. Aimee Berger-Girvalo, D-Ridgefield, and Kenneth Gucker, D-Danbury, spoke Sept, 8 at a town hall hosted by the Ridgefield Library. They discussed the bipartisan state budget, which for the first time in 75 years puts $63 million toward Connecticuts unfunded pension liability, supporting health care providers, clean slate second chance legislation, COVID relief for small businesses, transportation improvements and more. Montreal, CA (H4T1V6) Today Mostly cloudy skies this evening will become partly cloudy after midnight. Low 21C. Winds light and variable.. Tonight Mostly cloudy skies this evening will become partly cloudy after midnight. Low 13C. Winds light and variable. MILAN (AP) An Israeli-French-American Holocaust survivor and historian and a U.S. scientist specializing in gut bacteria were among the recipients this years Balzan Prizes, recognizing scholarly and scientific achievements, announced on Monday. Saul Friedlander, who has taught at both the University of California, Los Angeles and Tel Aviv University, was awarded the prize for Holocaust and Genocide Studies for his work broadening the perspective on the history of the Holocaust. Friedlander, 88, was born in Prague in 1932 in a non-religious Jewish family, which fled to France after the German occupation in March 1939. His parents hid him in a Catholic boarding school near Vichy, where they were later captured and sent to Auschwitz. With his parents agreement, Friedlander was baptized as a Catholic and later, out of his own conviction, considered becoming a priest. After he learned in 1946 that his parents had been killed at Auschwitz, Friedlander reclaimed his Jewish identity. He later said, for the first time, I felt Jewish. Friedlander received the Pulitzer Prize in general non-fiction in 2008 for The Years of Extermination: Nazi Germany and the Jews, 1939-1945, the second volume in his history of Jews in Hitlers Germany. He was named a MacArthur Fellow in 1999, after the publication of the first volume covering the period from 1933-39 and has also been awarded the Dan David Prize recognizing outstanding achievement in interdisciplinary research. Friedlander was recognized for examining the persecution of all Jews in Europe, going beyond country-focused studies that had preceded him, and for making personal documents accepted in scholarly practice. His authority is special in the sense that he is both a scholar and a victim of the Holocaust. He says that you can study your own experiences in a critical way, said Marjan Schwegman, a Dutch historian who announced the prize. The way he integrates the voices of victims, perpetrators and bystanders in this narrative has changed the way historians write about the history of the Holocaust. The Balzan Foundation awards two prizes in the sciences and two in the humanities each year, rotating specialties to highlight new or emerging areas of research and sustain fields that might be overlooked elsewhere. Recipients receive 750,000 Swiss francs ($815,000), half of which must be used for research, preferably by young scholars or scientists. Jeffrey Gordon, a biologist and director of the Center for Genome Science at the Washington University in Saint Louis, was awarded for founding the field of human microbiome research and revolutionizing its role on human health and disease. Prior to Gordons pioneering work in the 1990s, just 20 papers were published every decade on the microbiome, or the estimated 2 kilograms (4.4 pounds) of microbiota living in each adult, including on the skin, in the nose and gut, according to Jules Hoffman, a Nobel Prize winner in medicine who announced the award. That expanded to 4,000 papers a decade after 2000 and is now up to 80,000 every 10 years. It has become a very hot topic in science, Hoffman said. Gordon has expanded his research in the last decade to malnutrition, a primary reason for disease in children under 5, including the possibility of combating the deleterious impact of malnutrition through fecal microbiome transplants, Hoffman said. Italian physicist Alessandra Buonanno and French physicist Thibault Damour were recognized for work that was instrumental in the detection of gravitational waves, which has helped to promote a type of astronomy that uses gravitational waves as new, powerful messengers of the universe,'' the Balzan prize committee said. Buonanno, 52, is director of the Max Planck Institute for Gravitational Physics in Potsdam, Germany, and holds a research professorship at the University of Maryland, College Park and honorary professorships at the Humboldt University in Berlin and the University of Potsdam. Damour, 70, has been a professor of theoretical physics at the Institut des Haute Etudes Scientifique in Bures-sur-Yvette France since 1989. The Balzan Committee has not yet reached consensus on the prize for Art and Archaeology of the Ancient Near East, but officials said they hope to do so before the prizes are presented in Rome on Nov. 18 by Italys president, Sergio Mattarella. Next years prizes will be awarded in moral philosophy, ethnomusicology, biomaterials for nanomedicine and tissue engineering and glaciation and ice-sheet dynamics. LOD, Israel (AP) An Israeli defense contractor on Monday unveiled a remote-controlled armed robot it says can patrol battle zones, track infiltrators and open fire. The unmanned vehicle is the latest addition to the world of drone technology, which is rapidly reshaping the modern battlefield. Proponents say such semi-autonomous machines allow armies to protect their soldiers, while critics fear this marks another dangerous step toward robots making life-or-death decisions. The four-wheel-drive robot presented Monday was developed by the state-owned Israel Aerospace Industries REX MKII." It is operated by an electronic tablet and can be equipped with two machine guns, cameras and sensors, said Rani Avni, deputy head of the companys autonomous systems division. The robot can gather intelligence for ground troops, carry injured soldiers and supplies in and out of battle, and strike nearby targets. It is the most advanced of more than half a dozen unmanned vehicles developed by Aerospace Industries' subsidiary, ELTA Systems, over the past 15 years. The Israeli military is currently using a smaller but similar vehicle called the Jaguar to patrol the border with the Gaza Strip and help enforce a blockade Israel imposed in 2007, after the tiny territory was seized by the Islamic militant group Hamas. Gaza is home to 2 million Palestinians who have largely been locked in by the blockade, which is also supported to some extent by Egypt. The border area is the site of frequent protests and occasional attempts by Palestinian militants or desperate laborers to infiltrate into Israel. According to the Israeli army's website, the semi-autonomous Jaguar is equipped with a machine gun and was designed to reduce soldiers exposure to the dangers of patrolling the volatile Gaza-Israel border. It is one of many tools, including drones armed with guided missiles, that have given the Israeli military vast technological superiority over Hamas. Unmanned ground vehicles are being increasingly used by other armies, including those of the United States, Britain and Russia. Their tasks include logistical support, the removal of mines and firing weapons. The tablet can control the vehicle manually. But many of its functions, including its movement and surveillance system, can also run autonomously. With every mission, the device collects more data which it then learns from for future missions, said Yonni Gedj, an operational expert in the company's robotics division. Critics have raised concerns that robotic weapons could decide on their own, perhaps erroneously, to shoot targets. The company says such capabilities exist but are not being offered to customers. It is possible to make the weapon itself also autonomous, however, it is a decision of the user today, Avni said. The maturity of the system or the user is not there yet. Bonnie Docherty, a senior researcher from the arms division of Human Rights Watch, said such weapons are worrisome because they cant be trusted to distinguish between combatants and civilians or make proper calls about the harm attacks may do to nearby civilians. Machines cannot understand the value of human life, which in essence undermines human dignity and violates human rights laws, Docherty said. In a 2012 report, Docherty, a lecturer at Harvard Law School, called for fully automated weapons to be banned by international law. The defense magazine Janes said the development of autonomous ground vehicles has lagged behind autonomous aircraft and boats because moving across land is far more complex than navigating water or air. Unlike the open ocean, vehicles have to deal with holes in the road and know exactly how much force to apply to overcome a physical obstacle, the report said. The technology in self-driving vehicles also has raised concerns. Electric car manufacturer Tesla, among other companies, has been connected to a series of fatal accidents, including an incident in Arizona in 2018 when a woman was hit by a car driving on autopilot. The Israeli drone vehicle is being showcased at this weeks Defense and Security System International arms trade show in London. TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) A Kansas legislator accused of kicking a high school student in the testicles pleaded guilty Monday to three lesser misdemeanor charges of disorderly conduct and was placed on a year's probation under a deal with the local prosecutor. Republican Rep. Mark Samsel also agreed not to use social media for personal purposes or have any contact with the high school student who said he was kicked and another another student who complained of an interaction with Samsel. The lawmaker also agreed to write letters of apology to both students. Samsel had faced three misdemeanor criminal charges of battery following what the local prosecutor described as rude, insulting or angry interactions with two students, during an April 28 art class at the high school in his hometown of Wellsville, about 45 miles (72 kilometers) southwest of Kansas City. One student told a sheriffs deputy that Samsel had manhandled him and kicked him, according to an affidavit from the deputy. Both students were identified only by initials in court documents; both were born in 2005, making them 15 or 16. The lawmaker said in a Facebook post last month that extreme stress caused him to have an isolated episode of mania with psychotic features in a classroom. He disclosed that he was undergoing mental health treatment and surrendered his state substitute teacher's license. I just want to say I'm sorry for what happened," Samsel said during an 12-minute district-court hearing. "I never intended to hurt anybody. But Mary Woods, whose niece had a class with Samsel the same day, said Samsel should have received time in jail. He laid his hands on a kid," Woods told The Kansas City Star. He traumatized a lot of these kids. Kansas law says disorderly conduct includes engaging in noisy conduct tending reasonably to arouse alarm, anger or resentment in others. It is a lesser charge than battery, with a maximum sentence of 30 days in a county jail and a fine of up to $500. The battery charge carried a possible sentence of up to six months in jail and a fine of up to $1,000. During a Zoom hearing, Franklin County Magistrate Judge Kevin Kimball sentenced Samsel to serve a total of 90 days in jail on the three disorderly conduct charges but suspended that sentence in favor of probation. He also ordered Samsel to pay $263 in costs associated with his arrest and court case. County prosecutor Brandon Jones did not immediately return a telephone message Monday afternoon seeking comment, and his office said he was in court for other cases. Videos shot by students on April 28 and provided by a parent showed Samsel talking about suicide, God and sex in a noisy classroom. According to the deputys affidavit, Samsel said he only demonstrated a kick for one boy who had disrupted class but did not kick him. The deputy also wrote that Samsel said God told him to do what he did. Samsel, a 36-year-old attorney who has served in the House since 2019, has said that he was trying to make a point about mental health issues and the need for people to be kinder to one another. Im glad to see Rep. Samsel taking responsibility for his actions and getting the help he needs," Kansas House Speaker Ron Ryckman Jr. said in an email to The Associated Press. The House's top Democrat, Minority Leader Tom Sawyer, said in a statement that he hopes Samsel continues to get mental health treatment but also, I want to express my condolences to the victims of his behavior. Kimball in May ordered Samsel to undergo a mental health evaluation, and the resulting report remains under seal. Samsel said in his Facebook post that he suffered from extreme stress, pressure, and agitation over a sustained period of time, with the worst of it during April and May, when lawmakers were wrapping up their business for the year. He also said in the Facebook post that he was studying ways to handle stress so that there is no likelihood an episode will occur again. He's very sorry for his actions," said Samsel's attorney, Christopher Scott. "If he could go back to that day, he would handle it differently. ___ Follow John Hanna on Twitter: https://twitter.com/apjdhanna Jay Janner/AP The controversial Texas law that bans abortions in the Lone Star State could possibly have a cousin in Missouri. Lawmakers in the Show-Me State, which is mostly led by Republicans, are months away from any kind of legislation. Missouri Gov. Mike Parson also publicly said he will not call lawmakers to the state's capitol in Jefferson City for a special session. MOSCOW (AP) Russian President Vladimir Putin has observed military exercises being conducted in coordination with Belarus that have raised concerns in bordering countries. Putin on Monday attended exercises at a training ground in the Nizhny Novgorod region, 450 kilometers (275 miles) east of Moscow. The exercises included what the Defense Ministry said was the first use in a combat environment of two new robotic fighting vehicles that are equipped with machine guns and grenade launchers. The Zapad (West)-2021 exercises being conducted at several sites in Russia and Belarus involve about 200,000 soldiers in total, including troops from Armenia, India, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Mongolia. The foreign ministers of Poland, Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia on Monday expressed concerns about the maneuvers, saying Russia has not been transparent about them and noting they come amid heightened Western tensions with Belarus. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov brushed off those concerns, saying that joint military exercises are a regular process. The exercises opened last week on the same day that Putin and Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko met and announced new moves to integrate their countries' economies. Russian support for Belarus worries neighboring countries, who claim that Belarus is trying to destabilize them by encourage migrants from the Mideast and Africa to come and then allegedly shepherding them to its borders with the European Union nations of Lithuania, Latvia and Poland. The migrants problem arose after Western countries imposed sanctions on Belarus for its harsh repression of opposition and its crackdown on independent news media in the wake of enormous protests against Lukashenko last year. The protests began when Lukashenko was awarded a sixth term in office after a presidential election that the West and opposition members said was a sham. ___ Follow all AP stories about developments in Belarus at https://apnews.com/hub/Belarus. BANGKOK (AP) Myanmars detained former leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, was unable to attend a scheduled court hearing Monday because she felt ill, her lawyers said. Suu Kyi is being tried in the capital Naypyitaw on charges of sedition defined as spreading information that could cause public alarm or unrest as well as two counts of flouting COVID-19 pandemic restrictions during the 2020 election campaign, illegally importing walkie-talkies that were for her bodyguards use and the unlicensed use of the radios. She was detained on Feb. 1 when the army seized power from her elected government. One of Suu Kyis lawyers, Min Min Soe, told The Associated Press the 76-year-old former leader felt sick Monday on the drive to the court from the secret location where she's being held by the ruling military government. Her team requested her hearing be postponed, and she was allowed to return to her living quarters. Her special court hearing was to have been the first since July, when sessions were suspended as a measure against a serious nationwide coronavirus outbreak. Monday's session was supposed to cover the charges that Suu Kyi had violated the COVID-19 restrictions. Another of her lawyers, Khin Maung Zaw, said all those involved in the court hearings were tested for COVID-19 on Sunday. Suu Kyi has been vaccinated against the virus. We met with Daw Aung San Suu Kyi at 9:30 a.m. today. As soon as she entered the room, we learned that she was not well. Her face was red, with a runny nose, said Khin Maung Zaw, using the honorific Daw, a respectful term for women. She said she was not well as soon as she sat down. She said she was dizzy because the car was bumping so much. So we asked the court to postpone todays appointment. His colleague Min Min Soe said Suu Kyi looked as if she had lost some weight, but told them she had not been sick for the past two months. The army has said it seized power because last Novembers general election, which Suu Kyis National League for Democracy won in a landslide, was tainted by widespread fraud. Suu Kyis party has denied this, and independent election observers have said the allegation has not been substantiated. Suu Kyis supporters as well as independent analysts say all of the charges are politically motivated and an attempt to discredit her and legitimize the militarys seizure of power. The army takeover was met with massive popular resistance, which is continuing despite harsh measures by security forces to quash it. Min Min Soe said Mondays court session continued with testimony against Suu Kyi's co-defendant, Win Myint, the countrys former president who was also detained in the military takeover. She said a prosecution witness testified on the charge that Win Myint also had broken COVID-19 pandemic restrictions during the 2020 election campaign. Further proceedings in the cases against both for breaking coronavirus restrictions were adjourned until Sept. 20, while those involving other charges will be continue Tuesday, said Suu Kyi's lawyers. EDWARDSVILLE A trial for one of two Alabama residents in a triple slaying in Bethalto in December 2019 has been set for Jan. 10. Brady K. Witcher, 42, of Birmingham, Alabama, is charged in connection with the Dec. 19, 2019, deaths of three Bethalto residents, Shari Yates, 59; her son, Andrew AJ Brooks, 30; and John McMillian, 32. London, KY (40741) Today Partly to mostly cloudy. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. Low 63F. Winds light and variable.. Tonight Partly to mostly cloudy. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. Low 63F. Winds light and variable. Sarah Gray, age 80, of Beech Bluff, TN passed away Sunday, September 12, 2021 in Jackson, TN. She was preceded in death by her husband of 61 years, Oliver Gray, her parents, Charlie and Verna Hollin, and several brothers and sisters. Sarah is survived by her three children: Marsha (Karl) You Westerly, RI (02891) Today Mostly clear skies early. Increasing clouds with showers late. Low near 65F. Winds W at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 40%.. Tonight Mostly clear skies early. Increasing clouds with showers late. Low near 65F. Winds W at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 40%. The deals have come fast and thick in recent months. The tamely fought battle for Wm Morrison is the most eye catching. After all, every citizen knows and has a view on supermarkets whether it be about prices, food quality, empty shelves or speed of delivery. Most of the other deals, such as Ultra Electronics or Meggitt, have barely caused a ripple outside the financial pages or Whitehall. What makes these transactions in engineering and aerospace special is their role in our national defence and ownership of valuable R&D. It has been possible for opponents to run up the national security flag. As someone who is bitterly opposed to private equity ownership, whether at life insurer LV, Morrisons or Meggitt, one fears the impact of financially driven ownership. In private equity the broader stakeholder interest barely exists. These bids, and some lesser known deals such as that for graphene producer Perpetuus Group, have attracted attention in Whitehall and Westminster. It demonstrates that the barriers to acquisitions are higher than in the past and a more determined cohort of directors too many non-executives are content to run up the white flag could better defend the targets. Sailing close to the wind: Boris Johnson and Business Secretary Kwasi Kwarteng have so far done a reasonable job of navigating the choppy Britain-for-sale waters Another characteristic is that most of these deals are relatively small, in the single billions. The real test for politicians, investors and company boards will come when a bigger FTSE100 beast is targeted. There is a good record of bigger takeovers/ mergers falling down. AstraZeneca drove off Pfizer, Unilever put up an uncompromising defence against Kraft Heinz and the proposed merger of BAE and Airbus fell apart. Only the bid for chipmaker ARM Holdings, sold to Softbank, made it to the finish line. The current view among City takeover advisers is that the coming months could see larger eye-catching deals which will test all those involved. Top target is BT. It has two big strategic holders sitting on its share register. Aggressive telecoms investor Altice, controlled by French billionaire Patrick Drahi, owns a 12.1 per cent stake. He could get close to effective control if he were able to buy Deutsche Telecom's 12 per cent holding. Alternatively, there could be a bidding war for new chairman Adam Crozier to preside over. As a key strategic asset and a critical player in updating Britain's infrastructure, with the rollout of fibre optic broadband, a bid for the flagship telecoms firm would provide a real dilemma for the Government. It could potentially provide the finance to speed up fibre to the door but would mean trusting the UK's online future to an overseas buyer. Another big potential target is all or part of GlaxoSmithKline. The company is going through a difficult transition under chief executive Emma Walmsley with activists Elliott busy shaking the tree. AstraZeneca garnered the attention in the pandemic but it is GSK which is the vaccine champion, with treatments and inoculations for everything ranging from cervical cancer, to meningitis and even HIV Aids. Soon it will have Covid vaccines too. There is intense speculation that other major drug companies, some loaded with cash following the pandemic, have their eye on GSK, which is greatly undervalued. Walmsley is seeking to release value by splitting out the consumer health care division. Perversely, by making GSK a purer pharmaceutical and vaccines play it could be much more vulnerable to an overseas and (less likely) a UK merger. With so much good science, R&D and UK production bound up in GSK it would be a very hard deal for the Government to let happen. There's a quiet renaissance going on in the British mining industry, and it's coming from a sector that ten years ago wasn't on anyone's radar. Lithium is set to become one of the most crucial and strategic of commodities as the 21st century rolls on and, as it happens, it looks as though it could be present in abundance in Cornwall. The pressure to develop this resource has been greatly stimulated by Donald Trump's tariff wars and the coronavirus, which together have woken up businesses and governments to the vulnerability of globalized international supply chains. Lithium is set to become one of the most crucial and strategic of commodities as the twenty-first century rolls on What's more, the increasing control that China is exerting on the world's commodities markets has meant that governments the world have become doubly nervous about securing local supplies of crucial raw materials, like lithium. And so, aided by various government incentives, new gigafactories are springing up all over Europe, with a view to bringing battery manufacturing closer to home. In Spain, a US$5bn electric vehicle battery production programme is being kick-started and mostly funded by European Union recovery funds. New factories are also springing up in Germany and Italy, and in the UK, where other factories are in the pipeline, rumours persist that Tesla is on its way. But it's only just beginning. As things stand, only 6 per cent of battery manufacturing takes place in Europe, and the reliance on China remains pretty strong. In Britain the imperative is added to by the complications of Brexit, and the need to support a sizeable car manufacturing industry that's on the cusp of switching over to electric vehicles. The government here is only too aware of this and is trying to be as supportive as possible. Thus, the beginning of July, Nissan announced that it will invest 1bn to produce batteries near its main European production plant in Sunderland. In Spain, a US$5bn electric vehicle battery production programme is being kick-started and mostly funded by European Union recovery funds All of which makes for a highly positive environment for those mining and resource companies with assets close at hand. In the lithium space, there aren't too many of these, which means they will be all the more in demand. In the UK, Cornish Lithium, the private company which is pioneering extraction from brines in Cornwall, and British Lithium, also private, are leading the way. Both have been conducting extensive drilling campaigns to delineate more clearly the zones of mineralization they are already finding. In Cornish Lithium's case, the work involves pioneering new technologies in the extraction of lithium from brines. And handily from an environmental point of view, the heat given off by these brines also has significant geothermal potential there's a geothermal well just across the road from one of Cornish Lithium's main drill sites. But it's not just private companies that are enabling the UK's investors to get a piece of the action in lithium. Listed companies are getting in on the action too. In Europe, Savannah Resources (current share price 3.3p) has a major deposit in Portugal, European Metals Holdings (81.5p) retains an interest the Cinovec deposit in the Czech Republic, while Zinnwald Lithium (23p) is working up a deposit just across the Czech border in Germany, near Dresden. Spain is the European Union's second largest car producer after Germany, so Savannah will be well positioned to ship its product over the Portuguese border, while European Metals and Zinnwald can target the major German hubs, in the same way that Cornish Lithium and Cornish Metals can look to the British car industry. In that context it comes as no surprise to learn that the British government is being extremely helpful to both companies and that red tape is likely to be kept to a minimum. Finally, for those who are wondering if a similar dynamic is playing out across the Pond in the USA, the answer is yes. In mid-July Bradda Head Ltd (7.5p) listed on Aim, backed by 6.2mln in new money. Bradda has lithium assets in Nevada and Arizona and is well placed to serve a local market that currently only produces 5,000 tonnes of lithium carbonate locally per year. And in case there's any doubt, that's not a lot. Given the economic forces currently at work the supply-demand dynamic combined with resource nationalism - the projection is that the US will need around 210,000 tonnes of lithium carbonate by 2025 a huge increase. It's that kind of opportunity that Bradda Head is looking to capitalize on. Cyber security star Darktrace is set to narrow its losses to 5m this week after its blockbuster float in London. The Cambridge-based firm, led by chief executive Poppy Gustafsson, is due to report its full-year results on Wednesday. Analysts expect it to post revenues of 201m for the year to June 30, up from 144m in 2020. Darktrace is still on course to make a net loss of 5m. However, that is down from 20.7m the previous year. The company has previously warned investors that it may continue to be loss-making while it pursues rapid expansion including pumping money into research. Darktrace floated in April valued at 1.7billion, or 250p per share. But since then its stock has surged to 728p, valuing it at 5billion. But the involvement of British tech billionaire Mike Lynch, whose Invoke Capital was Darktrace's first shareholder, has cast a cloud. Lynch is accused of cooking the books at his former company Autonomy before it was sold to US giant HP in 2011. He is currently battling against extradition to the US, and denies allegations of fraud. A BBC Panorama investigation has found evidence that British American Tobacco reportedly paid up to $500,000 in bribes to the former controversial Zimbabwean leader Robert Mugabe. In a joint investigation with the Bureau of Investigative Journalism and the University of Bath, documentary makers say they managed to obtain thousands of leaked documents. These allegedly show that the cigarette maker paid between $300,000 and $500,000 to Mugabe's Zanu-PF party in 2013 and it funded up to 200 secret informants in South Africa in a bid to damage rivals. Scroll down for video A BBC Panorama investigation has found evidence that British American Tobacco reportedly paid up to $500,000 in bribes to the former controversial Zimbabwean leader Robert Mugabe In a preview clip of the Panorama documentary (airing tonight on BBC One at 9pm) a man named Pieter Snyders talks openly about the corruption he witnessed. Snyders worked for a company called Forensic Security Services (FSS) on behalf of BAT, with the firm brought in to help fight the black-market cigarette trade. But Snyders claims that instead of tackling counterfeit goods, he went about breaking UK law by hiring 'spies', paying bribes, and using illegal tracking devices. He says BAT 'definitely' knew he was paying bribes to staff from rival companies to hand over information because he had to specify in his invoices what the money was used for. Touching on the instructions he was given when it came to closing in on competitors, Snyders adds: '[BAT] said that we must tap their telephones, do physical surveillance on them, on their trucks. 'Where they're going, where they offload, and follow them all over.' When quizzed if BAT was 'genuinely interested in tackling illicit trade' or it was more about undermining rivals, Snyders replies: 'I think it was undermining rivals.' He adds that he 'can't remember one' successful prosecution during the time he worked for the FSS on behalf of BAT. Snyders says that he decided to speak out because he has nothing to hide and he thinks it's 'the right thing to do'. In response to the allegations, BAT's lawyers told Panorama: 'We empathetically reject the mischaracterisation of our conduct. 'Our efforts have been aimed at helping law enforcement agencies in the fight against the criminal trade in tabacco products. In a preview clip of the Panorama documentary (airing tonight on BBC One at 9pm) a man named Pieter Snyders talks openly about the corruption he witnessed Snyders says BAT 'definitely' knew he was paying bribes to staff from rival companies to hand over information because he had to specify in his invoices what the money was used for 'Acting responsibly and with integrity underpins the foundations of our culture.' It isn't the first time BAT has been accused of bribery. The misconduct allegations first surfaced on Panorama in December 2015, when the BBC current affairs programme broadcast claims by whistleblower, Paul Hopkins. BAT was accused of bribing government officials from at least five African nations in an attempt to undermine a United Nations public health treaty, in breach of the UK Bribery Act. However, after more than three years investigating the cigarette giant over allegations it bribed government officials in Africa, the Serious Fraud Office dropped its investigation into BAS at the beginning of the year. It said it did not have enough evidence to support a realistic prospect of conviction. BAT says it fully cooperated with the SFO's investigation. Watch BBC Panorama: Dirty Secrets of the Cigarette Business on BBC One on Monday at 19:30 BST, or on BBC World on Saturday 18 September 02:30 GMT and 15:30 GMT, and Sunday 19 at 09:30 GMT and 21:30 GMT. Instant unlimited access to all of our content on tillamookheadlightherald.com. The Headlight Herald E-Edition Newsletter emailed to you each week, the night before the paper hits the street! This subscription is for NEW or RENEWING online subscribers. (The charge will appear as "Country Media Inc." on your credit card statement) Tillamook, OR (97141) Today Some clouds this evening will give way to mainly clear skies overnight. Low 39F. Winds NE at 5 to 10 mph.. Tonight Some clouds this evening will give way to mainly clear skies overnight. Low 39F. Winds NE at 5 to 10 mph. MEYERSDALE, Pa. Blaine Joseph Arnold, 74, of Meyersdale, died Tuesday, Sept. 14, 2021, at home. Born March 20, 1947, in Meyersdale, he was the son of Clarence and Emma (Clark) Arnold and was preceded in death by his parents and brother, Paul Arnold. He is survived by his wife, Andrea (Lee) remaining of SUPPORT LOCAL JOURNALISM! On your next view you will be asked to log in to your subscriber account or create an account and subscribepurchase a subscription to continue reading. Diane C. Jones, age 59, of Thomasville passed away on September 12, 2021. She was born on July 3, 1962, daughter of the late Leon and Ruth Jones. Diane was a 1980 Thomas County Central graduate and went on to graduate from technical school for respiratory therapy. She was employed with Archb VALLEY FORGE Valley Forge Memorial Chapel pays homage to heroes of Sept. 11 Chapels renowned carillion bell tower tolled two minutes at the precise times each for attacks on Twin Towers, Pentagon and Flight 93 SCHENECTADY - Kirsh Helmets is moving out of downtown Schenectady. But the start-up company won't be going far. Kirsh makes popular half-shell motorcycle helmets that were named the official helmet of the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally in South Dakota in 2018 for their innovative safety design and appeal to bikers. The company moved into the New York BizLab on State Street in Schenectady in 2017 after being founded by Jason Kirshon, who invented the helmet and serves as CEO, and Donnie DeVito, a former Morgan Stanley financier who is the company's president and chief operating officer. Kirsh's helmets are made by a manufacturing company in Queensbury in Warren County, and it has a retail store located in Scotia. The company is planning to move its headquarters to the village, too. The company, which has raised $1 million from investors, is also seeking to license its technology to third parties and believes its potential market eventually could reach $1 billion a year. In four years, it has grown from just two employees to 18. BizLab has shown exactly how a business incubator can support a new company," DeVito said. "Its been a tremendous resource for Kirsh and has helped us become a serious competitor in power-sports accessories." The New York BizLab is owned by tech entrepreneur Antonio Civitella, who founded the transportation software firm Transfinder that is located down the street from the New York BizLab, which is a business "accelerator" designed to help startup companies get their footing in the marketplace. Rick D'Errico, managing director of the BizLab and the public relations director for Transfinder, says Kirsh "made the most" of the BizLab while also helping other BizLab employees. Sign up for The Knick Get the latest news and some area history with our afternoon newsletter. "Kirsh also gave back a great deal too, mentoring young startup leaders and assisting them with pitches, DErrico said. Thats what community is all about. We remain their biggest fans as they strive to become the regions next $1 billion company. The BizLab provides expert services and support, and it is an official state-accredited Start-up NY site that gives tax breaks and other incentives to start-up companies to grow their operations in New York. Start-up NY sites are affiliated with state universities and colleges such as SUNY Schenectady, which is affiliated with the New York BizLab. Kirsh leaders have presented at pitch events here, spoken before our entrepreneurship classes and hosted students at their headquarters at the New York BizLab just down the road from our campus," said SUNY Schenectady President Steady Moono. "We expect great things from Kirsh going forward. The latest in New York politics This article was featured in the Capitol Confidential newsletter. Sign up here to get it each morning. The parents of adults afflicted with conditions such as severe autism say they are being forced by a state agency to choose between sending their child to a fenced-in institutional facility in the far reaches of the Adirondacks, or face the prospect of losing funding for their long-term care. (TU) In spite of Canadas recent announcements that vaccinated Americans and foreigners with visas can visit the country, the asylum system still hasnt reverted to its pre-COVID norms. (TU) The local Tuskegee Airmen chapter launched a new flight academy that will guide minority students to become licensed commercial pilots. Their first six students arrived on Friday, the same day the new academy dedicated and opened at New York Stewart International Airport. The RedTail Flight Academy will aim to do its part to increase the number of minorities in a field where their percentage has remained small over the years. Glendon Fraser, the immediate past president of the local Maj. Gen. Irene Trowell-Harris Chapter of Tuskegee Airmen, Inc., and a retired Air Force colonel, said the percentage when he began flying 35 years ago was under 2%. Since then, it has only grown to around 2.5%. Fraser said there are minorities who would like to get into the field, but they lack resources, and other things. "They don't have mentors, and the cost is huge," Fraser said. He put the cost at about $80,000 per student. So, the RedTail Flight Academy will try to do its part to chip away at those obstacles by offering scholarships to students with financial need. That's one of the requirements for admission, financial need. Traye Jackson, a New Jersey native who now lives in Denver, will be one of the six students in the academy's initial class. Asked when he first developed an interest in flying, Jackson said he has to rely partly on his parents' memories. "Top Gun" apparently was his favorite movie from an early age. "I was 2 years old," Jackson said. "I used to sit in my dad's lap and I did not take my eyes off the screen." His interest in flying continued right up through high school, where he took part in a Career Connect program through which he got the only available internship with United Airlines. Denver is one of their hubs. After graduating from high school, Jackson attended Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in Florida, which is prominent in the aviation and aerospace industries. He took some flying lessons there, but noted flying lessons can be pricey $300 or $400 each. The program, which runs about nine to 10 months, will start small but with hopes to grow steadily. "We hope to be up to 30 students by 2026," Fraser said. And, he said, "We really want to go after female students." The students will be 18 to 21, and each of them must be recommended by one of the more than 50 chapters of Tuskegee Airmen. The Tuskegee Airmen take their name from the men who, during World War II, became the first Black pilots in what was then still known as the U.S. Army Air Corps, a division of the Army. The U.S. military was still segregated at the time. They trained at the Tuskegee Institute in Alabama and learned to fly at a nearby airfield. In the European theater, they escorted bomber planes on missions and shot down many enemy planes. Their tails were painted red for easy identification. The nickname "red tails" survived, and is memorialized in the name of the local flight academy. Jackson is a long-time member of his local Tuskegee Airmen chapter, and it was through them that he was nominated for the RedTail Flight Academy. He is looking forward to the program, which will end with him earning both his private and commercial pilot's licenses. "This program was a godsend," Jackson said. "This is my long-time dream coming true." All graduates of the RedTail Flight Academy also will have their multi-instrument rating. Fraser noted all this takes money, and the academy has been lucky to get community partners. One benefactor, who Fraser said prefers to remain anonymous, donated a Sikorsky S-76 corporate helicopter, which they sold and raised almost $1 million. But there are plenty of expenses associated with the program. Students' room and board will be covered. The students coming Friday will stay at a local hotel. So fundraising will need to be an ongoing part of the program. Downtime is the best time Make the most of your Hudson Valley weekend, every week with our newsletter. But despite such obstacles, Fraser is predicting the academy will be a success. "We're very excited about Friday's opening," Fraser said. "And you're going to see those red-tailed Piper airplanes flying all around the Hudson Valley." The academy will celebrate the opening of its facility with a ceremony at 1:30 p.m. Friday at Stewart Airport, where two of the original Tuskegee Airmen, Brigadier General Charles McGee and Lieutenant Colonel Enoch Woodhouse, are expected to attend. And after Friday, where will students like Jackson end up? Jackson said he's still evaluating all career options. In all his flight-related endeavors, Jackson has learned much about both the engineering and commercial sides of the industry. But when pressed he says he's likely to end up in the cockpit, flying the plane. "I think I'd like to be either a cargo or commercial pilot," he said. For more information about all aspects of the program, you can go to redtailflightacademy.org. ___ (c)2021 The Times Herald-Record, Middletown, N.Y. Visit The Times Herald-Record, Middletown, N.Y. at www.recordonline.com Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC. The radio hosts with B95.5's Breakfast Club show change more often than the daily high temperature in September. Meredith McNeil, who hosted the morning program alongside Chad O'Hara, announced Friday she was no longer with the Pamal Broadcasting station. McNeil made the announcement to her Facebook connections. While she did not go into why she left, she did end her post with "Things always happen for a reason." When reached for comment, McNeil confirmed she was no longer with the morning program, but declined to share why she left or what is next. Station manager Jon Reilly says McNeil will remain part-time with the broadcast company, filling in on multiple brands. As we've talked about before (including on The Eagle podcast), the broadcast industry is incredibly challenging and turnover high. Sean and Andrea McMaster were let go from this same job in August of 2020 (and then were rehired by Pamal in October to work The Cat). Prior to the McMasters hosting the Breakfast Club, Sean McMaster worked on that same show with McNeil. So it was McMaster and McNeil, then the McMasters and then McNeil (again) with O'Hara. Sign up for The Knick Get the latest news and some area history with our afternoon newsletter. As of right now, O'Hara is on his own. McNeil's name has been removed from parts of the website, although the 'listen live' on B95.5's mobile site featured both of them on the show's title Monday. Kristina Carlyle, who previously worked for Albany Broadcasting on WKLI/100.9 The Cat (KC & Kelly), will be joining O'Hara, says Reilly. Carlyle, took a job in Virginia in September 2020, but is from the area and will be returning to work alongside OHara starting Monday, September 20. ALBANY Keep your damn hands off our bodies, Gov. Kathy Hochul proclaimed Thursday at a Planned Parenthood rally in Brooklyn. It had been nine days since Texas new abortion law, SB 8, went into effect, a law that bans abortions in that state upon the detection of cardiac activity in embryos, which usually occurs after six weeks of gestation. There are a couple exceptions, such as if the health of the mother is in jeopardy. But still providers risk what the penalty is for violating the unusual law the right for citizens to sue those suspected of aiding in an abortion. Before Hochul made her comments, the U.S. Justice Department had announced that it would be suing the state over the controversial legislation, also known as the Heartbeat Act. As eyes turned to Texas this month, healthcare providers, politicians and advocates across the state began to reflect on New Yorks abortion access inequities. Lets not take our eyes off the struggles we face in our own backyards, state Attorney General Letitia James wrote in the New York Daily News. Although New York is considered a reproductive safe haven, there are still restrictions that surround ending pregnancy. The state does not allow for the procedure after 24 weeks, unless the pregnant persons life or health is in danger, or if the fetus is no longer viable. Access to various types of abortive medication and procedures is also not readily available in all corners of the state. There are folks living in parts of the state where they cant access later abortion care and in order for them to, they must drive up to 10 hours to get to the nearest provider, Odile Schalit, executive director at The Brigid Alliance, an organization that helps women seeking abortions from restrictive areas, told the Times Union. There can also be financial hurdles, particularly if a person is not insured. According to the New York Abortion Access Fund (NYAAF), the price of the procedure ranges from $523 at 10 weeks to $3,000 at 24 weeks. A patient might also need to take time off work, pay for childcare, transportation and accommodation expenses. For low-income pregnant people, the obstacles can be insurmountable. State Sen. Alessandra Biaggi, a Democrat whose district includes the Bronx and Westchester County, has introduced a bill which would allow taxpayers to contribute to a state abortion-access fund on their income tax returns. The state would not be handing out payments to people in need. The money would go to charities, and then those organizations would pledge the funds toward individual cases, potentially those brought by out-of-state residents. There is not yet a list of charities that would benefit from the legislation. It is not enough to have a right to an abortion in name, if you do not have the resources to access it, Biaggi wrote in a statement to the Times Union. There is a sentiment in New York that our work regarding reproductive rights is complete, she added, speculating on why the bill hasnt progressed. In 2019, the state Legislature passed the Reproductive Health Act, codifying Roe v. Wade into state law. The legislation also legalized abortion after 24 weeks, but only if a pregnant persons life or health is at risk or if the fetus is no longer viable. At Upper Hudson Planned Parenthood, approximately 15 percent of the patients need access to abortion funds, according to Chantal Wilson-Minnis, the health center's manager. The center works with the New York Abortion Access Fund. On a weekly basis, there are patients coming to the health center from different states, including Maine, Massachusetts, Delaware and North Dakota. North Dakota only has one abortion provider, a harsh reality for roughly one-tenth of states nationwide. New York abortion funds frequently help pregnant people from other states. The main reason people make the journey to New York is accessibility. Depending on what the ban is at home, some providers may offer services but only until about eight or 10 weeks gestation. Upper Hudson offers abortions until around 15 weeks; Planned Parenthood of Greater New York offers abortions up to 20 weeks, and Albany Medical Center can perform late-term abortions at 24 weeks gestation. The reason for fluctuating services has to do with the training a provider has received. Sign up for The Knick Get the latest news and some area history with our afternoon newsletter. Patients can also opt to take an abortion pill 11 weeks into a pregnancy. After 11 weeks, the procedure would need to be surgical. Abortion rights supporters say they urge people to keep in mind the varied reasons women seek to end their pregnancies - and the reason why women might need outside financial support to do so. Somebody could have five children at home and everything is fine, but financially adding one more child to that household could really do some numbers, Wilson-Minnis said. They couldve had a traumatic experience, or were taken advantage of, or now is just not the time, theyre in the middle of school and trying to get their college education." Furthermore, patients could be living in horrific circumstances. Wilson-Minnis recently came into contact with a woman experiencing domestic abuse. She was a married, stay-at-home caregiver and didnt want to bring another child into a volatile situation. Unable to use her husbands insurance or pull cash out of the bank without his knowledge, she sought to access an abortion fund. In some instances, a pregnant person might seek to leave New York to access further care. The Brigid Alliance has helped 230 of them travel to Maryland, the District of Columbia and Colorado since 2018. A pregnant person might seek an abortion after 24 weeks, which requires out-of-state care. Even though New York is liberal, access is still inequitable, Schalit said. There also continues to be a push to see an outright ban on abortions nationwide. Ed Wallace, pro-life chair at the Ancient Order of the Hibernians in New York, said that the bills passage would be a defeat, and he would rather see the focus be on bettering sex education to prevent unwanted pregnancies. He called the Texas law an encouraging step in the right direction. Abortion supporters try to use terms such as womens health, etc., just to mask what abortion really is, Wallace said. The killing of an unborn human being. TROY A 24-year-old city man and a teenager face attempted murder charges in a March shooting that left a 12-year-old paralyzed from the waist down. Julian Soto and the 17-year-old, whose identity was not released because of his age, were both charged with attempted second-degree murder and weapons possession in the March 8 shooting of M.J. Rivera. The child was sweeping the floor near the living room of his home, finishing chores, when a vehicle pulled up outside the house on ONeil Street in Troy. A passenger took out a gun and fired at the home in the Hillview Heights neighborhood. One bullet broke a window, pierced the living room couch and struck M.J. in the back, dropping the child to the floor, about an hour after the Troy Middle School student signed off from a virtual seventh-grade class. Police said Soto and the other suspect are in custody on separate incidents and will be arraigned on the new charges in the coming days. The drive-by shooting has left M.J. unable to walk. The bullet is stuck in M.J.s spine and doctors told the family it would be too dangerous to remove. Jona Rivera, M.J.s mother, said Monday she was happy arrests had been made. Rivera said she realized the criminal justice system can be hard to predict, but she hoped those charged in the shooting are ultimately convicted and given the maximum sentence. "It's going to be hard for them, but I hope they get these people to do a lot of time," she said. "I just hope when this goes to court they really want to seek the most justice for M.J., because no matter what anybody says, M.J. did not deserve this by any means." M.J. asked about possibly facing the shooters in order to ask them why they fired at the family's home, if the case goes to trial, she said. M.J. recently went back to school for in-person learning after spending most of the summer in rehabilitation and recovering from the shooting. "We're just trying to start life a little bit," she said. "The teachers are great up there at the middle school, the whole Troy school district, they're just amazing." Sign up for The Knick Get the latest news and some area history with our afternoon newsletter. At the same time, Rivera learned that her oldest child, Francisco, was charged in connection with a June 2020 that left a 26-year-old paralyzed. Francisco Rivera was initially arrested and charged with weapons possession shortly after M.J. was shot. At the time of the shooting, Jona said she believed the men who shot M.J. were in a running dispute with Francisco. On Monday, city police said he was charged with attempted murder, two counts of felony assault and possession of a weapon. Jona said she didn't know why police announced charges against the suspects they believe shot M.J. at the same time they released further charges against Francisco. She believes it may have been because one grand jury heard both cases. Rivera disputed the charges against her son. She believes the men suspected of shooting M.J are trying to implicate Francisco in hopes of getting a lighter sentence. "It's all a hot mess right now," she said. "I've reached out to the district attorney's office to get some clarification," she said. SARATOGA SPRINGS More Black Lives Matter protesters plan to turn themselves in to city police this week, a member of the Saratoga group confirmed one on Tuesday and two later in the week bringing the total number of arrests stemming from a July rally to 10. City police spokesman Robert Jillson said on Monday that the surrenders are "being worked on," but wouldn't say how many protesters are arriving at the police station to face charges, saying he wouldn't "give that out beforehand." Some BLM protesters are being charged for disorderly conduct, a violation, and others with an additional unlawful imprisonment charge, a misdemeanor, in connection with a July 14 protest in which police said marchers blocked Broadway near Congress Park. Police allege that protesters also stood in front of a car carrying a man who called 911 asking for help because he wanted to get home to take his heart medication. On a video supplied by police and taken from the car, a man could be heard saying on the phone "Can you please do something? We are stuck on Broadway. These people have blocked our car. We are stuck.We are not going to run them over because that is not legal." Jillson said last week that Chief Shane Crooks asked officers to look into the incident because it upset the balance between "protecting Constitutional rights and protecting societal rights." Police said they determined the participants could be charged, and asked a city judge to sign an undisclosed number of warrants. Jillson said he didn't know which of two city judges signed the warrants, but they were done on Aug. 31, the night that the protesters held a vigil for Darryl Mount, Jr., the 21-year-old biracial man who was seriously injured in 2013 during a police foot chase and later died. He said they didn't take protesters into custody on the warrants that night because "it wouldn't be right." The group's local leader, Lexis Figuereo, was arrested on Sept. 7 during a traffic stop in Malta. While he was at the police station, Figuereo's supporters rallied, leading to three others being taken into the police station on those same warrants. Minutes later a fifth woman with two children, who was clinging to a stroller, was also arrested for allegedly throwing a water bottle at police during the arrests. Her son could be heard crying and screaming "Mommy" on a video taken by a bystander. "It's judicial discretion," Jillson said. "We took them into custody it's not always pretty." One of the protesters who was held for four hours in a cell on Tuesday for the disorderly conduct violation said the arrest was "traumatizing." She also said that "our voice is the only weapon that we have." "These are scare tactics; it's intimidation and it's disgusting," she said. Protester and Clifton Park town board candidate Alex Patterson was arrested on Wednesday afternoon while he was at work. He was held overnight for a total of 14 hours. "I would like it to be known that it was a peaceful demonstration of the right to assemble guaranteed by the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, and that I do not hold an ounce of regret for my presence at the protest," Patterson said in a written statement. "In what is a clear effort to undermine democratic values and to intimidate those who dare to speak against the status quo, I will remain unwavering in my commitment to uphold the values that make us who we are." Sign up for The Knick Get the latest news and some area history with our afternoon newsletter. Jamaica Miles, co-founder of the Schenectady racial justice group All of Us, turned herself in on Thursday morning, making the seventh arrest. She and other protesters, brought into court in handcuffs, were arraigned by Judge Francine Vero. In an email sent around to supporters, Saratoga BLM wrote that "these actions suggest a coordinated set-up and round-up of activists." "Suddenly unveiling charges for a peaceful protest that occurred almost two months ago, one day after the conclusion of the racing season," the email noted. "It seems likely that SSPD is under orders to brush the horror of its repression into a portion of the calendar when it might least offend tourists." The Saratoga Race Course, which was closed to spectators last year because of the pandemic, was reopened to fans this year. Its last day of racing was Labor Day. Mayor Meg Kelly and Commissioner of Public Safety Robin Dalton have made no comments regarding the arrests. The New York Civil Liberties Union tweeted that the police department "is on an authoritarian crusade to silence its critics, even going as far as to target people accused of low-level misdemeanors for arrests at their jobs a chilling development." On Monday afternoon, Melinda Trimble, regional director of the NYCLU, said that the organization is "in the process of discussing what our options are" to address the issue of police and protesters in Saratoga Springs. ALBANY Gov. Kathy Hochul announced Monday that she will shore up loose ends in New Yorks Reproductive Health Act and affirm abortion access for those who need the services. Hochul made the announcement during a press conference at Central Park in Manhattan. In the shadow of statues paying tribute to Susan B. Anthony, Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Sojourner Truth, the governor was flanked at the event by U.S. Rep. Carolyn Maloney and U.S. Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, along with advocates from Planned Parenthood, the New York Civil Liberties Union and reproductive health professionals. The measures put forth by Hochul will include distributing a patient bill of rights in clinics, doctors offices and organizations where people need help; and directing the state Department of Health to launch a public information campaign to ensure abortion providers understand their obligations. Additionally, the governor called on Facebook to clean up misinformation on its social media platform that relates to Texas new abortion law. The legislation bans the procedure once a heartbeat is detected, which can be as early as six weeks. Hochul said that she was unaware she was pregnant with her first child by that time. I actually went on a white-water rafting trip at three months because I didnt know I was pregnant, she said. The governor also announced her support for updating regulations that would continue to make abortive medication available through telemedicine after the pandemic. Gillibrand called Hochul, who was sworn in three weeks ago after former Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo resigned, "the greatest governor in our lifetime to fight for reproductive rights." The senator also declared that she and Maloney would pursue efforts in Washington to pass the Womens Health Protection Act. The federal legislation would codify Roe v. Wade into federal law, and guarantee abortion care throughout the country by establishing a safeguard against bans and medically unnecessary restrictions. Robin Chappelle Golston, president and CEO of Planned Parenthood Empire State Acts, made similar remarks about Hochul. We are really proud to have a governor who will say 'abortion,'" Chappelle Golston said, alluding to Cuomos reluctance to utter the word. Two bills pending in the state Legislature, one in the Senate and the other in the Assembly, propose advancing the rights of pregnant people to access abortion care statewide. The legislation in the Senate would create a state abortion access fund that residents could contribute to on their income tax returns. The Assembly bill would require private insurance to cover abortions, regardless of the need for the procedure. Sign up for The Knick Get the latest news and some area history with our afternoon newsletter. In response to a reporter's question, Hochul said she supports the Senate's bill. If it comes to her desk, I have no doubt that shell sign it, said Chappelle Golston, who attended the press conference. The funds proceeds could potentially go to out-of-state pregnant people seeking care in New York, as more areas across the country begin to introduce laws restricting or limiting abortion services. The U.S. Supreme Court is set to hear a case from Mississippi this term that would ban most abortions after 15 weeks with very few exceptions. The case is a direct challenge to Roe v. Wade. The court is expected to make a decision by June. Chappelle Golston said she expects an increase of people coming to New York for abortion services. In some cases, a pregnant person might opt to leave New York for an abortion. The state does not permit the surgery after 24 weeks, unless there is a risk to the life or health of the pregnant person or if the fetus is not viable. Still, advocates praised Hochuls response to the Texas law, which would educate the public and health professionals about what's accessible in New York. If you dont know what your rights are, theyre not meaningful, said Donna Lieberman, executive director of the NYCLU. TROY Citing improper remarks by an attorney, a federal judge in Utica has overturned a civil jury verdict that in May cleared four Troy police officers of using excessive force on a man outside a Congress Street bar three years ago. U.S. District Judge David Hurd will reschedule the trial of patrolmen Christopher Parker, Louis Perfetti, Justin Ashe and Kyle Jones, who were exonerated of using excessive force on then-50-year-old Lamont Lee in 2018. In a 62-page decision, Hurd said Michael E. Ginsberg, the attorney for the officers, repeatedly told jurors that a video of the incident submitted by Lees attorneys had been fabricated and that a competing video offered by the defense was the official version. Ginsberg had made a statement along those lines nine times throughout trial, with every day of trial getting at least two unique variations on the attack," the judge said. He said at various times during trial, Ginsberg claimed Lee's video was "manufactured," "spliced," "duplicitous," and a "further attempt to pull one over on us" as opposed to the "official video." The flippant and thus-far unsubstantiated allegations made repeatedly in front of the jury leave the court no choice but to order a new trial, Hurd wrote. He said he was "not satisfied that Lees trial was a fair one." In addition to Ginsbergs remarks about the video, the lawyer told jurors in his closing arguments that Lees plan was "attempting to capitalize on the antipolice sentiment now. Going to come up from New York City with his New York City attorneys and hit a home run here in the Northern District (of New York) for $3 million. Hurd said that comment played to regional bias and to depict Lee and his attorneys as unscrupulous opportunists. While that remark alone would not be enough to warrant a new trial, it did so when coupled with Ginsbergs repeated comments about the video. The officers' defense "took every irregularity in the process of showing that video to the jury and used it to paint plaintiffs counsel as swindlers attempting to capitalize off the locals with a falsified video, Hurd wrote. SKIP DICKSTEIN The reversal was first reported by the New York Law Journal. The judge additionally sanctioned Ginsberg $3,000 for an expletive-laced remark the lawyer made to Lee and two of his attorneys after the verdict was delivered. The trial, which took place May 10-12, centered on the actions of police on March 3, 2018 when they stopped Lee outside Vivians Bar on Congress Street at about 9:45 p.m,, suspecting Lee of making a drug deal. Lee, who has a past conviction for attempted second-degree robbery, settled his criminal case by pleading guilty to a misdemeanor drug charge. The alleged excessive force took place after Lee reached down toward his left pocket. Officers have said they feared he was reaching for an officers' gun; Lee said he was grabbing blood pressure medication. The competing videos one introduced by Lee's attorney, David Roche, the other by Ginsberg became the key evidence at trial. Ultimately, the difference in the videos is that in Lee's version, Jones kneed Lee three times; in the police version, he kneed Lee twice. The two-part version presented by Ginsberg contained a "glitch" in the middle of the incident as the officers were restraining Lee, the judge said. The judge noted that in the first part of the video, Jones is seen kneeling on Lee's left knee with his right leg extended to the side, his back to the camera directly in front of Lees head and shoulders. A hat that Lee was wearing is seen on the ground near Joness right knee. As Jones begins to rise, the first part stops. When the second part begins, a another second has passed. It shows Jones is still rising but here, Lee's hat was moved at least a foot to the right. Lee's video for the same period of time shows Jones rise, bring his right knee down on Lee and catch his hat, which descends, knocking it a foot to the right. Jones rises again, braces himself and drops his knee two more times, the judge stated. Sign up for The Knick Get the latest news and some area history with our afternoon newsletter. The judge, while not assessing blame to either side, said despite Ginsberg's arguments to the contrary "something happened in the changeover" between the two parts of the video. "It is difficult to argue otherwise when Lees baseball cap is in one spot when (the first part) ends and another when (the second part) begins," the judge stated. The judge said Lee's attorneys brought their video to the attention of the defense just 11 days before trial. Ginsberg, he said, could have asked for an adjournment and gotten an expert to testify. "The solution was not to go on the offensive without any evidence to support that plaintiffs version of the video was fabricated," Hurd wrote. "Clearly, then, that unsupported attack on a crucial piece of evidence meant to be considered by the jury caused substantial prejudice." Hurd said he was unaware there would be competing videos until the morning of the trial. "If the slight difference between the two versions of the video seems innocuous, the parties at least thought it was worth sparring over from the start," the judge stated. "Apparently, though, they did not think the difference important enough to bring to the courts attention." Hurd said he was "blindsided" with the competing videos and that the case was "precisely the sort of mess that can be expected when a trial court gets caught flat-footed." Still, the judge said he and both parties must share a degree of blame for the way the video evidence was handled at trial. And Hurd also took the blame for barring Roche from objecting during the defense's closing argument as Ginsberg repeatedly claimed Lee's video was doctored. Roche could only address the issue in his closing argument. The judge set a hearing for Nov. 29 at 10 a.m. to discuss the video evidence for the next trial. Once resolved, Hurd said he will set a new trial date, with only one version of the video to show to the next jury. ALBANY The state Department of Health continues to see turnover among its employees as its second-in-command, Lisa J. Pino, departed Thursday after a little more than a year in the job. Kristin M. Proud is now the acting executive deputy commissioner, the agency said. Politico first reported the staff changeover. Proud was the commissioner of the Office of Temporary and Disability Assistance from 2013 to 2015 during the administration of former Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo. She left the position as Cuomo was preparing for a second term. "We thank Lisa Pino for her dedicated service and wish her well," Department of Health spokeswoman Jill Montag said in a statement. The department's overall employment numbers over the last three years, from prior to the coronavirus to current, have remained relatively steady, based on data from the department. In April 2019, the start of the state's fiscal year, the health department had 3,332 full time employees. In 2020, during the pandemic, that number rose to 3,457 and then by April of this year, it was down to 3,316, around its prior pandemic levels. Still, there have been numerous departures from the department of mid-level and high-ranking staffers. Pino's employment with the state ended on Sept. 9, according to the state comptroller's office. A New York City native, Pino took over amid retirements and departures within the state's health department last year. Pino, who was making $187,000, replaced Sally Dreslin, who was reported at the time to be on leave since April, four months prior to the change. Dreslin, according to the state's payroll database, is now working as a special assistant with the state's Department of Mental Health. Her rate of pay was cut by about $18,000, down to $160,000. Proud, according to the state database, was making $170,000 as a special assistant to the health department. Sign up for The Knick Get the latest news and some area history with our afternoon newsletter. Pino came on in July 2020 as a former Obama administration official, in which she served in several high-ranking roles. Pino previously held the positions of senior counselor to the secretary at the Department of Homeland Security and the deputy administrator of the U.S. Department of Agriculture Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP). State health Commissioner Dr. Howard Zucker remains in his post. Some Albany lawmakers, from the Republican leadership to some progressives, have called for Zucker's resignation. Some of the lawmakers have been pressuring Gov. Kathy Hochul to terminate the state's top health official for his role with the Cuomo administration in distorting the death toll in nursing homes during the coronavirus pandemic; Cuomo has denied wrongdoing. In a January report by the office of state Attorney General Letitia James on the nursing home issue, Zucker was never mentioned. The names of Zucker, Dreslin and Cuomo were at the top of the controversial March 25, 2020, directive that had instructed nursing home operators they must accept residents discharged from hospitals, even if they were still positive for COVID-19. Cuomo left office in August following a pending impeachment trial into issues that could have included James' investigation that found he sexually harassed multiple women. The issues around the nursing home data and directives, lawmakers said, were also on the table for an impeachment trial. Hochul was sworn in three weeks ago and has said she would put together her administration within 45 days of taking office. Less of the unnecessary and more of what matters A Mexican man has been sentenced to federal prison for trying to distribute methamphetamine dropped into the California desert by an airplane Police say an 18-year-old driver was killed when his sport utility vehicle rolled and crashed into a tree in the town of Garland, Maine Authorities have reopened nearly all lanes of a major Southern California highway as firefighters made progress on a wildfire that jumped across the road A newspaper says arrests on marijuana-related charges have fallen dramatically in and around Virginias capital since a new law took effect July 1 legalizing possession of small amounts of pot for adults 21 and over Jeff Ottney was a teacher at Titusville High School and was once the managing editor of Rollercoaster! magazine. While he owes his political views to Aristotle, Edmund Burke and George Will, he believes the most conservatizing experience one can have is becoming a parent. Ottney can be reached at jottney@gmail.com. InMoment Announces Finalization of Lexalytics Acquisition CX management solutions provider InMoment recently revealed it has officially finalized the purchase of Lexalytics, a data analytics solutions provider that is heavily focused in the areas of natural language processing (NLP) and artificial intelligence. The recent spike in the already ongoing cloud revolution has inspired businesses of all sizes to leverage valuable in-house data. As beneficial as this can be, the task can be a bit daunting for organizations with huge amounts of raw data that need to be processed, in order to bring any real economic or productive value. Lexalytics has spent nearly two decades developing text-analytics solutions that can sort and structure complex data from multiple channels, allowing customers to truly reap the benefits of in-house data. "Lexalytics is all about helping customers discover more meaningful intelligence in structured and unstructured data sources to help them drive more informed business decisions," said Lexalytics CEO Jeff Catlin. "By joining InMoment we have the remarkable opportunity to push additional innovative solutions and transformative expertise to our customers around the globe." With Lexalyticss knowledge and resources at full disposal, InMoment will now be well equipped to offer customers a well-rounded collection of solutions that drastically improve both customer experiences and internal operations. "With Lexalytics, we bring together the most powerful structured and unstructured data analytics engines with our award-winning XI Platform to give companies the unique capability to mine feedback with unprecedented clarity and go beyond surveys to meet their customers and employees where they arewith deeper understanding of their journey, emotion, intention, and the effort associated with an experience. Were excited to welcome the extraordinarily talented Lexalytics team to InMoment," said Andrew Joiner, CEO at InMoment. Edited by Maurice Nagle September 13, 2021 An imaginative mindset allows the cerebrum to analyze the surroundings and the world through a unique perspective. Not having an element of creativity in the thought process, restricts ones capacities. Such people look at everything according to anothers viewpoint, it ends up being comparatively impossible to channel the personalitys originality. Bring all this into consideration, the world requires cutting-edge creative people in each field to view things from a unique perspective, bringing about results that push the boundaries. One such field where an individual's creativity can do wonders is branding and brand consultancy. Different platforms admire people for their innovative capacity. This specific imaginative capacity of such gifted people empowers them to be the pioneers of their respective fields. One such individual who has dominated the realm of computerized promoting through brand consultancy is Aquiles Este, a world class professional working at the cross roads of branding and social listening technologies, also called Social Intelligence or Big Data. Embarking on the Journey as a Brand Consultant An overall subject matter expert and well-equipped in exhibiting firms offering imaginative responses for taking a brand to the next level, Aquiles Este is garnering much attention in the marketing world. His capabilities to think differently and look at things from a broader perspective has helped many businesses turned into leading brands. Aquiles acknowledges that everything can be given a twist, all it demands is an inventive and creative capacity and full command of technology. It is how Aquiles has been working in the respective field. His journey started when he thought about news coverage and brand promotions at Universidad Central de Venezuela. He later went to Universidade de Sao Paulo and Universidade Catolica de Sao Paulo, where he earned a doctorate degree in Semiotics with Summa Cum laude distinction. Having an imaginative outlook also helped Aquiles with intuition about the case, particularly as an early subject matter expert on viral communications and content shareability. In 1992, Aquiles wandered into his master calling and went to Caracas where he directed ProDiseno, a highly esteemed design school in Latin America. As dean of ProDiseno, Aquiles conferred his expertise to the school and helped them win the grandiose 'International Design Magazine Annual Design Review' in 2000. Along with this, he also taught at Estudios Superiores de Administracion (IESA), one of Latin America's driving business colleges at that time. Aquiles later wandered out to New York City in 1999 to work in the emerging field of Computational Linguistics with New York University's world renown specialist , Ray C. Dougherty. He drove an investigation project at NYU's Department of Media, Culture, and Communication on the interrelation between Charles S. Peirce's concept of sign replication and Marshall McLuhan's media theories. This was executed under the direction of media master Neil Postman, one of the founders of Media Ecology. As Aquiles was ceaselessly learning and creating, he ended up skewed towards the world of branding and advertisement. He began his business as the Creative Vice President for the British advertising network Lowe, known as MullenLowe today. He worked with this firm for three years. Before long, Aquiles got disappointed with the methodologies in use in the advertising industry. To bring his extensive portfolio and colossal experience in use, Aquiles moved to the United States of America in 2009 with EB1-A after passing the level of one-of-a-kind testing, becoming important to the USA. Being steady with the assertion, a few significant lengths of discernment and studies, Aquiles set up the system for his marking his own consultancy in Miami, Florida. As a learned individual, he comprehended the need to bridge the gap between technology and marketing. He found that it was imperative to fuse the two to devise winning marketing strategies. His firm oversaw data-driven marketing, a methodology not used by many at that time. In 2016, Social Data Intelligence, a British consultancy, anticipated the United States National Election results using one of Aquiles Este's prescient social listening models. In 2016, he coined the term 'polimercial brands,' to bring attention to the expanding number of commercial businesses that need to deal with capricious political and socially issues. The Established Organization Reflecting Thirty Years of Experience Throughout his time in the business, Aquiles has helped brands prosper in North and South America, Europe, and Asia, and in practically all categories and sectors; commercial, political, personal, and country brands. His thirty years of inclusion can be found in his organization's functional techniques. He offers brilliant choices for leading organizations, corporate and political pioneers. Today, Aquiles teaches Brand Content Management at the University of Miami, Herbert Business School, while fostering his brand consultancy using the latest Social Intelligence Technologies. With his extensive expertise, he became a New York Times contributor. He is an expert who demonstrated that outcomes will consistently be useful with the ideal methodology and relentless ability. His respected clients include Regional Brands and Global Corporations, Place Brands, Political Brands and Polimercial Brands. Alejandro Piscitelli, a prestigious researcher in advanced digital communications, recorded Dr. Aquiles Este as one of the true world class experts in the field of memetics and content replication. [September 13, 2021] AltruBio Continues to Strengthen Management Team With the Appointment of Jesse Hall, M.D., as Chief Medical Officer Jesse Hall, M.D., joins AltruBio with over 15 years experience in clinical development and medical affairs Dr. Halls drug-development experience will help advance AltruBios pipeline of biologic therapies through clinical-testing for treatment of patients with immunological disease SAN FRANCISCO, Sept. 13, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- AltruBio Inc. (AltruBio or the Company), a clinical stage biotech company dedicated to the development of novel therapeutics for the treatment of immunological diseases with high unmet medical needs, today announced the appointment of Jesse Hall, M.D., to the new role of chief medical officer. Dr. Halls depth of experience leading clinical development in immunology will help us to advance our novel therapeutic candidates in this disease area and to bring the therapeutics to patients, said Judy Chou, Chief Executive Officer of AltruBio. The addition of Dr. Hall is a milestone to further strengthen our leadership team and to complete the corporate turnaround we began almost 18 months ago. Dr. Hall added, I'm thrilled to join AltruBio and contribute to the growth of the company in developing more targeted treatments for immunological diseases. As a physician, I see the need for developing new treatments with fewer side effects for patients with these diseases. My deep passion for drug development and for assessing the best clinical outcomes for patients aligns with the AltruBios vision, and I am eager to help strengthen the clinical strategy and guide its drugs candidates towards the next stage of development. Prior to joining AltruBio, Dr Hall served as Executive Vice President and chief medical officer at Sublimity Therapeutics. He was responsible for leading the companys clinical development efforts across multiple disease indications and provided guidance on the life-cycle management of the Sublimity portfolio and led clinical due diligence on potential in-licensing and collaboration opportunities. Prior to joining Sublimity, Dr. Hall served as an executive medical director of Ardea Biosciences, medical director at Amgen, and associate medical director at Abbott Laboratories, respectively. Dr. Hall earned his M.D. from University of Oklahoma College of Medicine and a B.A. in Ocean Studies with a minor in Economics from University of San Diego. ABOUT ALTRUBIO INC. AltruBio is a privately held biotechnology company headquartered in the San Francisco that is focused on developing novel therapeutics for the treatment of immunological diseases with high unmet medical needs. The company has leveraged its deep understanding of the role PSGL-1 plays as an immune checkpoint regulator protein to develop a platform for T-cell mediated immunological diseases. Its lead molecule, neihulizumab (AbGn-168H), an immune checkpoint agonist antibody targeting PSGL-1/CD162 has achieved proof of mechanism in four autoimmune and inflammatory diseases and is currently prioritized for further clinical development in steroid refractory acute graft-versus-host disease (SR-aGVHD). The company also has a number of next generation PSGL-1 antibodies at the preclinical stage. Its lead preclinical candidate, leiolizumab (AbGn-268), has demonstrated higher potency than AbGn-168H and is advancing toward IND for autoimmune and inflammatory disorders. Note on Forward-Looking Statements Statements made in this news release that are not historical facts are forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Words such as expects, believes, intends, and similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements. Actual results may differ materially from those projected in any forward-looking statement. Specifically, there are a number of important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those anticipated, such as the Company's ability to raise additional capital, and risks related to the Company's ability to initiate, and enroll patients in, planned clinical trials. You should not place undue reliance on any forward-looking statements. The Company assumes no obligation to update any forward-looking statements as a result of new information, future events or developments, except as required by law. Contacts AltruBio Inc: +1-415-655-6603 +886-2-2627-2707 info@altrubio.com Media Contact: Darren Opland, PhD LifeSci Communications +1-646-627-8387 darren@lifescicomms.com [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [September 13, 2021] An innovative system based on optical fibers will monitor IEC's transmission lines for faults and damage PrismaPower provides alerts for different power transmission events. It was deployed in Israel Electrical Corporation as part of a commercial agreement, monitoring damage to lines and towers, electrical faults, and extreme weather conditions. TEL AVIV, Israel, Sept. 13, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Prisma Photonics Ltd and Israel Electric Corporation (IEC) have signed a pilot agreement to supply monitoring services for IEC's electrical power transmission grid. The collaboration has started as a part of Israel's Innovation Authority's program to run pilots in governmental companies and national infrastructure. Moving on from that beginning, these days, over 100 km of transmission lines are being monitored. PrismaPower uses the preexisting optical fiber network deployed as part of IEC's transmission grid. The system identifies safety events such as inflicted damage and climbing on power towers, detecting electrical faults, short circuits, partial discharges, and alerting on extreme weather conditions, strong winds, lightning strikes near the power lines, and more. Monitoring the optical fiber also protects from physical interferences to the communication infrastructure. PrismaPower turns the optical fiber network into a set of highly sensitive distributed sensors detecting and pinointing events to power tower locations in real-time. That's without any extra sensor installation on the powerlines or towers. It is remote sensing for hundreds of kilometers, all the time, everywhere, and in any weather. The solution is based on award-winning, patented technology and is the first-ever system to monitor the entire overhead electric grid using optical fiber sensors. It is an important step forward in the collaboration between the two companies. In addition, it demonstrates IEC's commitment to leveraging innovation to ensure the transmission grid's safety, integrity, and functionality while remaining environmentally responsible. "In keeping with its innovation strategy, IEC is constantly looking for new, innovative and creative technological solutions for its core business," said Amir Livne, Senior VP of Strategy, Innovation and Restructure process, IEC. "As a leading energy company, we welcome the cooperation with Prisma Photonics, as part of our partnership with startup companies to strengthen our abilities to provide reliable, high quality, readily available electrical power." "A cooperation between a government-owned corporation and a start-up is not obvious," said Dr. Eran Inbar, Prisma Photonics' CEO. "It shows the commitment to the changes in the local and global energy ecosystem and the openness to embrace innovation. We want to thank IEC for their trust in us and see this as the first step in a joint journey ahead." About Prisma Photonics: Prisma photonics helps to keep the most critical large-scale infrastructure running. Introducing the next generation of utility monitoring paving the way to smarter, safe, and efficient operations. We empower our customers and provide them with the best actionable insights on their assets, enabling them to move to a new era of digitalization. Prisma Photonics' Hyper-Scan Fiber Sensing technology is optimal for monitoring long-stretch utility infrastructure and covering many safety, preventive & predictive maintenance, and security scenarios. Prisma Photonics was established in 2017 by entrepreneurs highly experienced in lasers, optical fibers, algorithms, and machine learning. About Israel Electric Corporation: The Israel Electric Corporation (IEC) is a public and government-owned company, generating and supplying electricity to all sectors of the economy. IEC is 99.85% owned by the State of Israel. The IEC activities include the generation, transmission and transformation, distribution, supply, and sale of electricity. IEC supplies reliable and high-quality electricity, complies with leading service standards, maintaining economic, commercial, and environmental principles. For more information, please contact: Prisma Photonics: eitan.elkin@prismaphotonics.com IEC: iris.ben-shahal@iec.co.il [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [September 13, 2021] Applied Blockchain, Inc. Announces Groundbreaking Ceremony for First Hosting Facility DALLAS, Sept. 13, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Applied Blockchain, Inc. ("Applied Blockchain" or the "Company") (PINK: APLD) today announced it will host a groundbreaking ceremony at its first hosting facility site located in Jamestown, North Dakota. The ceremony is scheduled for 1:30 p.m. on September 14, 2021 and will feature company representatives, local government leaders, members of local economic development and strategic partners. Wes Cummins, Applied Blockchain, Inc.'s CEO and Chairman, said, "We are moving quickly to bring this large-scale project to life. Our team successfully selected and secured the site, entered into an energy services agreement, placed orders for long-lead equipment and signed multiple long-term hosting agreements. I'm proud of our team and all the hard work that got us to this point. We are excited to become a part of this community as we bring this project online." Follow us on Twitter at @APLDBlockchain. Find the latest video update from CEO and Chairman Wes Cummins at https://ir.appliedblockchaininc.com/events-presentations/ About Applied Blockchain Applied Blockchain, Inc. (OTC: APLD) delivrs high-performance crypto mining and infrastructure solutions to customers around the globe. The Company has partnered with Bitmain, SparkPool, and General Mining Research (GMR) to develop, deploy and scale its business. Applied Blockchain also engages in direct mining of Ethereum, Bitcoin and other crypto assets. The Company is backed by some of the largest family offices and institutional investors in the US. www.appliedblockchaininc.com Forward-Looking Statements This release contains "forward-looking statements" as defined in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 regarding, among other things, future operating and financial performance, product development, market position, business strategy and objectives. These statements use words, and variations of words, such as "continue," "build," "future," "increase," "drive," "believe," "look," "ahead," "confident," "deliver," "outlook," "expect," and "predict." Other examples of forward-looking statements may include, but are not limited to, (i) statements of Company plans and objectives, including our evolving business model, or estimates or predictions of actions by suppliers, (ii) statements of future economic performance, and (iii) statements of assumptions underlying other statements and statements about the Company or its business. You are cautioned not to rely on these forward-looking statements. These statements are based on current expectations of future events and thus are inherently subject to uncertainty. If underlying assumptions prove inaccurate or known or unknown risks or uncertainties materialize, actual results could vary materially from the Company's expectations and projections. These risks, uncertainties, and other factors include: decline in demand for our products and services; the volatility of the crypto asset industry; the inability to comply with developments and changes in regulation; cash flow and access to capital; and maintenance of third party relationships. Information in this release is as of the dates and time periods indicated herein, and the Company does not undertake to update any of the information contained in these materials, except as required by law. Investor Relations Contacts Brett Maas Managing Partner, Hayden IR brett@haydenir.com (646) 536-7331 Wes Cummins Chief Executive Officer, Applied Blockchain (214) 427-1704 View original content:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/applied-blockchain-inc-announces-groundbreaking-ceremony-for-first-hosting-facility-301375044.html SOURCE Applied Blockchain, Inc. [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [September 13, 2021] bunq Partners With Paysafe to Enable Cash Deposits for Digital Banking bunq, the app-based Dutch challenger bank, has partnered with leading specialised payments platform, Paysafe (NYSE: PSFE), to provide customers with access to cash services. Customers who prefer to use cash in their daily lives can now use Paysafecash, one of Paysafe's eCash solutions, to conveniently add cash into their bunq accounts. The international roll-out of the partnership between Paysafe and bunq, which starts with 21 European countries, facilitates quick and secure cash deposits directly via the bunq mobile app: After selecting Paysafecash as the top up method in their app, the customer chooses how much cash to deposit into the account and generates a unique barcode for the transaction. The customer can then go to a nearby payment point, scan the barcode at the point of sales terminal and make the payment in cash. The deposited amount will show on the bunq balance within minutes. Paysafecash is available at around 190,000 payment points in 29 countries (including the US and Canada), providing an extensive network for bunq customers in the 21 countries where the service has been activated. Ali Niknam, founder and CEO of bunq, commented, "bunq was founded to challenge what banking is and can do. By putting our users first we have created a bak that is super focused on making life easy in a sustainable way. Teaming up with Paysafe means bunq users in even more European countries now have a safe and easy way to add cash to their bunq accounts." Udo Muller, CEO of paysafecard, the team behind Paysafecash, added: "The partnership between bunq and Paysafe allows for truly convenient and inclusive banking services. Our well-established eCash network provides a perfect extension to app-based digital banking and allows bunq to reach cash-reliant customers, which represent a considerable and attractive target audience." NOTES TO EDITORS *The service is available in the following countries: Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, France, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain and Sweden. About Paysafecash Paysafecash, from leading specialised payments platform Paysafe, is an eCash payment method for customers who want to pay online easily and safely using cash. Available in nearly 30 countries, Paysafecash makes online transactions possible for customers, who do not have a debit or credit card, or who do not want to use them online. Payments are made by generating a barcode during the online checkout, which can then be scanned and paid for in person at one of more than 190,000 payment points. Paysafecash was launched in 2018 by the same Paysafe team who created the award-winning, prepaid cash solution paysafecard in 2000. A market leader in eCash payment solutions, paysafecard allows customers to buy prepaid vouchers that they can then redeem online. About Paysafe Limited Paysafe Limited ("Paysafe") (NYSE: PSFE) (PSFE.WS) is a leading specialised payments platform. Its core purpose is to enable businesses and consumers to connect and transact seamlessly through industry-leading capabilities in payment processing, digital wallet, and online cash solutions. With over 20 years of online payment experience, an annualized transactional volume of US $100 billion in 2020, and approximately 3,400 employees located in 12+ global locations, Paysafe connects businesses and consumers across 70 payment types in over 40 currencies around the world. Delivered through an integrated platform, Paysafe solutions are geared toward mobile-initiated transactions, real-time analytics and the convergence between brick-and-mortar and online payments. Further information is available at www.paysafe.com. About bunq bunq was founded in 2012 by serial entrepreneur Ali Niknam (1981) after he secured the first European banking permit in over 35 years. He set out to radically change the traditional banking industry and was bunq's sole investor until 2021, financing the company with 98.7m of his own money. This provided bunq with the freedom and independence to build a bank rooted in the wants and needs of its users. In April 2021, their deposits surpassed 1 billion for the first time, having doubled in 2019 and then again in 2020. In July 2021 bunq announced the largest series A round ever secured by a European fintech. bunq raised 193 million in a deal with British private equity firm Pollen Street Capital, valuing bunq at approximately 1.6 billion. At the same time, bunq also reported its first-ever profitable month. The first investment of external capital will help bunq to further expand across Europe and to continue incorporating M&A as part of its business growth strategy. As part of the deal, bunq acquired Capitalflow, a Dublin-based company which lends to SMEs across a broad range of sectors in the Irish economy.* bunq is currently available in 29 European markets: Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czechia, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Sweden and Spain. For further information please visit bunq.com. *The investment round is pending regulatory approval by De Nederlandsche Bank. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210913005274/en/ [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [September 13, 2021] CANOPY Management Introduces Accelerator Program for Amazon Seller Success AUSTIN, Texas, Sept. 13, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Amazon merchants can now sell more goods than ever before, thanks to the CANOPY Accelerator Program, or CAP, CANOPY Management announced today. The three-part approach has already begun to help CANOPYs beta partners to increase sales revenue. CANOPY Management, the full-service Amazon agency that helps brands scale their business and gain market share, began by helping Amazon sellers optimize their paid on-site advertising. Over time, the agency has developed its own structured system for achieving seller success across the Amazon sales funnel. The process begins with Growth Potential Analysis, or GPA a deep-dive audit on the account that shows CANOPY what the CAP can do. The CANOPY Accelerator Program helped us immediately, and our gains have increased further as time passed, said Do It Well Tradings Andrew Muller. The combination of listing optimization paid Amazon ads, and ads run via the Amazon DSP have really paid off for our brand. The CANOPY Accelerator Program consists of three parts: Listing Creation and Optimization By applying best-in-class creative, copywriting, photography and storefront design, CANOPY Management helps Amazon sellers create eye-catching product listings that convert. Paid Advertising As soon as the listings are ready to convert visitors, CANOPY uses PPC campaigns to increase traffic and optimize search results, harnessing Amazons algorithms to drive results. Average increase in profit: 105%. Amazon DSP CANOPY helps its partners reach their best customers via Amazon ads away from Amazon wherever they go on the Internet with constantly updated tech-enabled audience insights. CANOPY Management enables its partners to take advantage of this game-changing feature without having to make the usual $35K/month minimum buy. After the Growth Potential Analysis shows prospects how much more they can make, we use the CANOPY Accelerator Program to execute against that goal, said CANOPY Management CEO and Cofounder Brian Burt. Weve tested the CAP with a number of our customers. We know how important each step is, and were thrilled today to roll it out to all of our partners. This story appeared first in MediaPost: https://www.mediapost.com/publications/article/366343/amazon-advertising-spurs-growth-of-dedicated-agenc.html About CANOPY Management CANOPY Management is a full-service, A-to-Z Amazon marketing agency and the driving force behind many of the most successful brands on Amazon. Under CEO and Co-founder Brian Burt, CANOPY Management has helped Amazon sellers increase their profit by 84% on average YoY while receiving more than 19 industry awards since the agencys founding in 2018. From strategic planning and product listing and optimization to cross-channel advertising and review aggregation, CANOPY Management helps brands succeed at each, or every, part of the Amazon sales funnel. Visit us at https://canopymanagement.com . Media Contact: Bill Brazell bill@broadsheetcomms.com 917-445-7316 [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [September 13, 2021] CapRock Partners Starts Development on Largest Speculative Industrial Complex in the History of Phoenix CapRock Partners, a leading industrial investor, developer and asset manager in the Western U.S., today announced the development commencement of CapRock (News - Alert) West 202 Logistics, the largest speculative industrial real estate project in the history of the City of Phoenix. CapRock is transforming one of the largest remaining infill land sites in the Southwest Phoenix submarket into a state-of-the-art eight-building, Class A industrial warehouse complex totaling 3.4 million square feet. The project will be highly accessible to key logistics transportation routes and bring much needed modern warehouse space to the Phoenix metropolitan statistical area (MSA) as it continues to experience robust population and employment growth. CapRock secured the land for the project's development via a long-term land lease. Terms of the transaction are not disclosed. This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210913005151/en/ CapRock Partners is developing CapRock West 202 Logistics, a new 3.4-million-square-foot Class A industrial warehouse complex within the city of Phoenix. (Photo: Business Wire) "Phoenix is now the fifth largest municipality in the U.S. and also the fastest-growing big city. With a majority of the Valley's new industrial product delivering in the outer submarkets such as the northwest, CapRock Partners is proud to bring CapRock West 202 Logistics to central Phoenix, in an ideal infill location close to Downtown and along a major transportation corridor," said Bob O'Neill, senior vice president, acquisitions at CapRock Partners. "CapRock West 202 Logistics will surpass all other large-scale industrial projects within Phoenix's city limits by more than 1 million square feet. Unmatched in magnitude, location and accessibility, the project will set a new standard for warehouse development in the City of Phoenix, drawing world leaders in distribution, manufacturing and logistics in need of contemporary space to accommodate the region's remarkable growth." CapRock West 202 Logistics' eight buildings will range from 228,000 to 1,065,000 square feet, with clear heights between 32-feet and 40-feet. All buildings will feature dock-high and ground-level loading with secured concrete truck courts. Each of the buildings are designed with varying depths and are divisible to accommodate multiple tenants. The project will be developed in two phases. Phase I groundbreaking is planned or November 2021, with completion and delivery anticipated by yearend 2022. This phase will include the first five buildings, totaling approximately 2.5 million square feet. CapRock West 202 Logistics is located within the southeast quadrant of the I-10 Freeway and Loop 202, at the northeast corner of North 59th Avenue and West Van Buren Street. The project offers direct freeway access and is approximately seven miles to Downtown Phoenix, 12 miles to Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport. It is within a 45-minute drive to most of the Phoenix MSA. The project is surrounded by institutional owners, and neighboring tenants include Amazon, Kroger, CVS, Target (News - Alert) , Home Depot, Costco and many notable others. In 2020, Maricopa County added 86,820 new residents, more than any other county in the country, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. Supported by this rapid population growth, strong economic fundamentals, a business-friendly environment, temperate climate and lack of available product throughout California's major markets, Phoenix has emerged as a premier destination for Fortune 1000 companies looking to increase their inventory and distribution capacities. Phoenix's geographic position, within a single-day's drive to primary consumer markets and logistics hubs in Southern California, Dallas, Denver and Salt Lake City, has led it to become a critical node in the North American supply chain. Phoenix's industrial market set a record of 12 million square feet in net absorption in the first half of 2021, after experiencing its highest level of absorption in history of 13 million square feet in all of 2020, according to Cushman & Wakefield. "CapRock West 202 Logistics is coming online as Phoenix holds the spotlight as one of the most preferred cities in the U.S. from a lifestyle, employment and logistics standpoint; both businesses and individuals continue to relocate to the Valley in record-setting numbers," said Jon Pharris, co-founder and president of CapRock Partners. "CapRock West 202 Logistics is an extraordinary development in terms of what it means for Phoenix as the city advances in becoming an even more influential and dynamic North American economic center. CapRock is committed to providing state-of-the-art large-scale warehouse solutions in key Western markets as corporations rapidly adjust their operations to meet the demands of today's evolving economy." "CapRock West 202 Logistics is a critical project for CapRock Partners as one of the fastest growing industrial real estate firms in the West," added Pharris. "Since 2020, CapRock has added approximately 3.7 million square feet of Phoenix-area industrial product to its investment, development and management portfolio, and CapRock West 202 Logistics brings the firm's total pipeline in the Valley close to 7.5 million square feet. Our team is grateful for the opportunity to develop this unique and impactful project and contribute to Phoenix's positive growth." Don MacWilliam and Payson MacWilliam of Colliers International represented CapRock Partners in the CapRock West 202 Logistics land transaction and will oversee the project's leasing. CapRock West 202 Logistics' development partners include CCA Architects and civil engineer Kimley Horn. CapRock's recent development portfolio includes approximately 16 million square feet of Class A logistics facilities across Arizona, Nevada and California that the company recently completed, is currently building or is about to commence. Inclusive of the CapRock West 202 Logistics development, CapRock plans to be under construction on upwards of five individual 1 million-square-foot industrial buildings in 2021 and 2022. Beyond ground-up development, CapRock is actively acquiring middle market, value-add industrial assets, typically between $20 million to $50 million per acquisition. The firm recently announced the final close of its oversubscribed CapRock Partners Industrial Value-Add Fund III and is looking to acquire upwards of $1 billion of industrial assets for the value-add vehicle. ABOUT CAPROCK PARTNERS Founded in 2009, Newport Beach, Calif.-based CapRock Partners is one of the leading private industrial real estate investment and development firms in the Western U.S. The company specializes in acquiring middle-market value-add industrial assets, developing large-scale institutional-quality Class A industrial warehouse facilities in key locations, and providing third-party asset management services for institutional investors. The firm is actively acquiring land for development across the Western U.S. Since inception, its total investment and development pipeline exceeds 25 million square feet of industrial real estate. For more information, visit www.caprock-partners.com. Follow the company on Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter and Instagram. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210913005151/en/ [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [September 13, 2021] Caverion to acquire Felcon, a clean room specialist in Austria HELSINKI, Sept. 13, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Caverion has today signed an agreement to acquire Felcon GmbH ("Felcon") in Austria. Felcon Group is a small clean room specialist company based in Vienna, Austria. The company provides design, construction, installation, validation as well as technical services, among others. Through the acquisition, Caverion supports its growth strategy and strengthens its market position in the clean room business. The main owner and Managing Director of Felcon, Hans Lintner, founded the company in 1984. The Felcon Group is active mainly in the Austrian market. Its customers include companies in the pharma & medical, biotech as well as food & cosmetics industries. Now both of its shareholders have decided to sell the business due to retirement. The company has 13 highly skilled employees. The purchase price is not disclosed. "This acquisition is perfect addition to our existing cleanroom business. It is a bolt-on acquisition for us in the area of clean room technology, a smart technology area where we have a deep competence. We see great opportunities in scaling up these services in our operations," says Manfred Simmet, Head of Caverion's Division Austria. CONTACT: For more information, please contact: Manfred Simmet, Head of Caverion's Division Austria, +43 5060 2410, manfred.simmet@caverion.com Martti Ala-Harkonen, Chief Financial Officer, Caverion Corporation, tel. +358 40 737 6633, martti.ala-harkonen@caverion.com Milena Hggstrom, Head of Investor Relations and External Communications, Caverion Corporation, tel. +358 40 5581 328, milena.haeggstrom@caverion.com This information was brought to you by Cision http://news.cision.com https://news.cision.com/caverion/r/caverion-to-acquire-felcon--a-clean-room-specialist-in-austria,c3414103 The following files are available for download: [September 13, 2021] Cipia Records 197% Growth Year-Over-Year in H1 2021 TEL AVIV, Israel, Sept. 13, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Cipia , an AI computer vision in-cabin automotive solutions provider, announced rapid year-over-year growth, recording a 197% increase in revenue in H1 2021 compared with the same period in 2020. As part of its strong 2021, Cipia nearly tripled its revenue to close to $2.6M in H1 2021. "As more countries awake to the dangers of distracted driving, the global demand for DMS is rising," said David Tolub, CEO of Cipia. "With our Driver Sense DMS and our fleet focused Cipia-FS10 device, we provide quality driver monitoring solutions to meet the growing demand for state of the art safety features or OEMs and fleets." Utilizing Cipia's proprietary computer vision and AI algorithms, the company's Driver Sense DMS monitors visual indicators of drivers in real-time to detect signs of distracted driving and drowsiness behind the wheel. The integration of Driver Sense enables OEMs to deliver customers safer cars, which issue life-saving alerts and avert potential accidents. About Cipia Cipia is a leading provider of intelligent sensing solutions that use edge-based computer vision and AI for safer and better mobility experiences. The company focuses on the automotive in-cabin environment, offering Driver Sense - driver monitoring system, Cabin Sense - occupancy monitoring systems and Cipia-FS10 - a driver monitoring and video telematics device for fleets. Over a decade of research and development stands behind the company's proprietary market-leading computer vision technology. Cipia is constantly pushing the boundaries of what intelligent sensing solutions can see and accomplish, for better and safer mobility. Contacts Cipia Media Contact: Lazer Cohen lazer@westraycommunications.com 347-753-8256 Cipia Company Contact: Liat Rostock Liat.R@cipia.com View original content:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/cipia-records-197-growth-year-over-year-in-h1-2021-301375227.html SOURCE Cipia [September 13, 2021] Cogeco Communications Announces Private Offering of $500 Million 2.991% Senior Secured Notes MONTREAL, Sept. 13, 2021 /CNW Telbec/ - Cogeco Communications Inc. (TSX: CCA) ("Cogeco Communications" or the "Corporation") announced today that it has priced an offering of $500 million aggregate principal amount of 2.991% senior secured notes due September 22, 2031 (the "Notes"). The Notes are being offered through an agency syndicate consisting of BMO Nesbitt Burns Inc. and CIBC World Markets Inc., as joint bookrunners and co-lead managers, and including National Bank Financial Inc., as co-lead manager, and Scotia Capital Inc., Merrill Lynch Canada Inc., Desjardins Securities Inc., RBC Dominion Securities Inc., MUFG Securities (Canada), Ltd., TD Securities Inc. and Casgrain & Company Limited, as co-managers, and are being offered pursuant to a trust indenture to be entered into as of the closing of the offering. The offering is expected to close on or about September 20, 2021, subject to customary closing conditions. Cogeco Communications intends to use the net proceeds of the offering to fund spectrum auction spend, repay existing indebtedness and for other general corporate purposes. The Notes will be direct and unsubordinated secured debt obligations of Cogeco Communications and will rank equally and pari passu, with all other secured senior indebtedness of Cogeco Communications. The Notes have been assigned a rating of "BBB (low)" from DBRS Limited (DBRS Morningstar) with a "Stable" trend and Cogeco Communications expects that the Notes will receive a rating of "BBB-" from Standard & Poor's Ratings Services. The Notes are being offered in Canada on a private placement basis in reliance upon exemptions from the prospectus requirements under applicable securities legislation. The Notes have not been and will not be qualified for sale to the public under applicable securities laws in Canada and, accordingly, any offer and sale of the Notes in Canada will be made on a basis wich is exempt from the prospectus requirements of such securities laws. The Notes have not been and will not be registered under the United States Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the "U.S. Securities Act"), or the securities laws of any other jurisdiction, and may not be offered or sold in the United States absent registration under, or an applicable exemption from the registration requirements of, the U.S. Securities Act. This press release shall not constitute an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy, nor shall there be any offer to sell or a solicitation of an offer to buy any securities in any jurisdiction where it is unlawful to do so. ABOUT COGECO COMMUNICATIONS INC. Cogeco Communications Inc. is a communications corporation. It is the 8th largest cable operator in North America, operating in Canada under the Cogeco Connexion name in Quebec and Ontario, and in the United States under the Atlantic Broadband brand in 12 states. The Corporation provides residential and business customers with Internet, video and telephony services through its two-way broadband fibre networks. Cogeco Communications Inc. subordinate voting shares are listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX: CCA). Forward-Looking Statements Certain statements in this press release may constitute forward-looking information within the meaning of securities laws. Forward-looking information may relate to Cogeco Communications, future outlook and anticipated events, business, operations, financial performance, financial condition or results and, in some cases, can be identified by terminology such as "may"; "will"; "should"; "expect"; "plan"; "anticipate"; "believe"; "intend"; "estimate"; "predict"; "potential"; "continue"; "foresee", "ensure" or other similar expressions concerning matters that are not historical facts. In particular, statements regarding Cogeco Communications' objectives and strategies are forward-looking statements. These statements are based on certain factors and assumptions including expected growth, results of operations, performance and business prospects and opportunities, which Cogeco Communications believes are reasonable as of the current date. While management considers these assumptions to be reasonable based on information currently available to Cogeco Communications, they may prove to be incorrect. Forward-looking information is also subject to certain factors, including risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from what Cogeco Communications currently expects. These factors include risks such as competitive risks, business risks (including potential disruption to our supply chain), regulatory risks, public health crisis and emergencies such as the current COVID-19 pandemic, technology risks (including cybersecurity risks), financial risks (including variations in currency and interest rates), economic conditions, human-caused and natural threats to our network, infrastructure and systems, community acceptance risks, ethical behavior risks, ownership risks and litigation risks, many of which are beyond Cogeco Communications' control. Therefore, future events and results may vary significantly from what management currently foresees. For more exhaustive information on these risks and uncertainties, the reader should refer to the "Uncertainties and Main Risk Factors" sections of Cogeco Communications' 2020 annual MD&A and of the third quarter of fiscal 2021 MD&A. The reader should not place undue importance on forward-looking information and should not rely upon this information as of any other date. While management may elect to, Cogeco Communications is under no obligation and does not undertake to update or alter this information at any particular time, except as may be required by law. SOURCE Cogeco Communications Inc. [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [September 13, 2021] Cytovia Therapeutics and its Newly Formed China-Focused CytoLynx Joint Venture Raise $45 Million to Advance NK Cell Therapy Pipeline Cytovia eligible for up to $400 million in licensing milestones for Greater China rights Coordinated US and China clinical development of GPC3-targeted therapies for hepatocellular carcinoma AVENTURA, Fla. and SHANGHAI, China, Sept. 13, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Cytovia Therapeutics, Inc. (Cytovia), a biopharmaceutical company developing allogeneic off-the-shelf gene-edited iNK and CAR (Chimeric Antigen Receptor)-iNK cells derived from induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) and NK cell engager multifunctional antibodies, and CytoLynx Therapeutics (CytoLynx), its newly-formed China-focused joint venture, announced today that they have closed $45 million from institutional investors to finance the IND enabling and initial clinical development of their pipeline. Cytovia and TF Capital, a leading China-based biotech institutional investor, have formed CytoLynx Therapeutics. TF Capital along with YF Capital, BioTrack Capital, Ruihua Capital, and TG Sino-Dragon Fund (backed by TigerMed) have invested $45 million to support the new venture, as well as Cytovia research and development projects. The collaboration agreements between CytoLynx and Cytovia will advance multiple NK therapeutics through product development in the Greater China region. Additionally, CytoLynx obtained a technology license from Cytovia based on its core technologies to allow in-China development of additional NK therapeutics for global commercialization. Cytovia is eligible to receive up to $400 million in upfront development and commercial milestones under the agreement. Dr. Daniel Teper, Chairman and CEO of Cytovia commented: We are excited to accelerate the global development of our lead GPC3 programs for the treatment of hepatocellular carcinoma, a condition with significant unmet medical needs and a very large patient population in Asia, particularl in China, and establish a path to provide these therapies to the Chinese market. CytoLynx will also serve as a development and commercialization platform for additional Cytovia products, as well as in-licensed immuno-oncology assets. Dr. Wei Cheng, Managing Director at TF Capital added: We are delighted to partner with Cytovia Therapeutics to bring novel therapeutic options to patients in China. Cytovia has a seasoned entrepreneurial leadership team and best-in-class NK technologies, including iPSC-derived NK cells, gene editing, and NK Engager multifunctional antibodies. We believe that by combining the strengths of the two parties, we can make CytoLynx and Cytovia global leaders in NK cancer therapeutics and benefit patients worldwide. Dr. Albert Huang, Executive Director at Yunfeng Capital noted: "As the lead investor in this series of financing, Yunfeng Capital believes that Cytovia and CytoLynx are well positioned to become leading players in iPSC NK cell therapy. About Cytovia Therapeutics Cytovia Therapeutics aims to accelerate patient access to transformational cell therapies and immunotherapies, addressing several of the most challenging unmet medical needs in cancer. Cytovia focuses on Natural Killer (NK) cell biology and applies precision engineering to induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) to develop safe, effective, and broadly available off-the-shelf Natural Killer cell therapy as a first line of defense against cancer. Cytovias proprietary multi-specific antibody platform has been customized to engage and activate NK Cells at the tumor site. Both platforms offer optionality to clinicians and can also be used synergistically. Cytovias R&D laboratories in Natick, MA and GMP cell manufacturing facility in Puerto Rico are augmented by scientific partnerships with Cellectis, CytoImmune, the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, INSERM, the New York Stem Cell Foundation, STC Biologics, and the University of California San Francisco (UCSF). www.cytoviatx.com About TF Capital TF Capital focuses on investment in the life sciences industry, primarily investing in early stage companies with high potential. Through strategic investments in various key areas and right partnerships, TF Capital hopes to capture opportunities in the rapidly expanding Chinese life sciences market. Our investment team has vast experience and resources in industry to assist our portfolio companies. www.tfcapital.net Investor contact: Anna Baran-Djokovic anna@cytoviatx.com +1 (305) 615 9162 Media Contact: Sophie Badre sophie.badre@cytoviatx.com +1 (929) 317 1565 [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [September 13, 2021] Frequency Counter Market |Anritsu Corp., Schneider Electric SE, Texas Instruments Inc. among others to contribute to the market growth| Technavio NEW YORK, Sept. 13, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- The frequency counter market in the Semiconductor Equipment industry is poised to grow by $ 611.94 mn during 2021-2025. Technavio's latest market research report estimates that the frequency counter market will be progressing at a CAGR of almost 7.03%. This report offers an up-to-date analysis regarding the current market scenario, the latest trends and drivers, and the overall market environment. Technavio offers an up-to-date analysis regarding the current global market scenario & the overall market environment. Download a Free Sample Report The market is fragmented, and the degree of fragmentation will accelerate during the forecast period. Anritsu Corp., B and K Precision Corp., Berkeley Nucleonics Corp., Keysight Technologies Inc., National Instruments Corp., OMRON Corp., ORBIS TECNOLOGIA ELECTRICA SA, Rohde and Schwarz GmbH and Co. KG, Schneider Electric SE, and Texas Instruments Inc. are some of the major market participants. Although the increased demand from LTE technology and growth of the global connected cars market will offer immense growth opportunities, to leverage the current opportunities, market vendors must strengthen their foothold in the fast-growing segments, while maintaining their positions in the slow-growing segments. Frequency Counter Market 2021-2025: Segmentation Frequency Counter Market is segmented as below: End-user Communication Aerospace Others Type Bench-top Handheld Geography North America APAC Europe South America MEA To learn more about the global trends impacting the future of market research, download a free sample https://www.technavio.com/talk-to-us?report=IRTNTR45459 Frequency Counter Market 2021-2025: Vendor Analysis and Scope To help businesses improve their market position, Technavio's report provides a detailed analysis of around 25 vendors operating in the market. The report also covers the following areas: Frequency Counter Market size Frequency Counter Market trends Frequency Counter Market industry analysis Market trend such as the growing partnership with value chain members is likely to emerge as one of the primary drivers of the market. However, factors such as the necessity for low-cost and multiple-technology solutions may threaten the growth of the market. Register for a free trial today and gain intant access to 17,000+ market research reports. Technavio's SUBSCRIPTION platform Backed with competitive intelligence and benchmarking, our research reports on the frequency counter market are designed to provide entry support, customer profile & M&As as well as go-to-market strategy support. Related Reports on Information Technology Include: IGBT Market Report -The IGBT market has the potential to grow by USD 5.70 billion during 2021-2025, and the market's growth momentum will accelerate at a CAGR of 12.08%. Download a free sample report now! Probe Card Market Report -The probe card market has the potential to grow by USD 992.27 million during 2021-2025, and the market's growth momentum will decelerate at a CAGR of 8.79%. Download a free sample report now! Frequency Counter Market 2021-2025: Key Highlights CAGR of the market during the forecast period 2021-2025 Detailed information on factors that will assist frequency counter market growth during the next five years Estimation of the frequency counter market size and its contribution to the parent market Predictions on upcoming trends and changes in consumer behavior The growth of the frequency counter market Analysis of the market's competitive landscape and detailed information on vendors Comprehensive details of factors that will challenge the growth of frequency counter market vendors Table of Contents: Executive Summary Market Landscape Market ecosystem Value chain analysis Market Sizing Market definition Market segment analysis Market size 2020 Market outlook: Forecast for 2020 - 2025 Five Forces Analysis Bargaining power of buyers Bargaining power of suppliers Threat of new entrants Threat of substitutes Threat of rivalry Market condition Market Segmentation by End-user Market segments Comparison by End-user Communication - Market size and forecast 2020-2025 Aerospace - Market size and forecast 2020-2025 Others - Market size and forecast 2020-2025 Market opportunity by End-user Market Segmentation by Type Market segments Comparison by Type Bench-top - Market size and forecast 2020-2025 Handheld - Market size and forecast 2020-2025 Market opportunity by Type Customer landscape Customer landscape Geographic Landscape Geographic segmentation Geographic comparison North America - Market size and forecast 2020-2025 - Market size and forecast 2020-2025 APAC - Market size and forecast 2020-2025 Europe - Market size and forecast 2020-2025 - Market size and forecast 2020-2025 South America - Market size and forecast 2020-2025 - Market size and forecast 2020-2025 MEA - Market size and forecast 2020-2025 Key leading countries Market opportunity by geography Market drivers Market challenges Market trends Vendor Landscape Overview Landscape disruption Vendor Analysis Vendors covered Market positioning of vendors Anritsu Corp. B and K Precision Corp. Berkeley Nucleonics Corp. Keysight Technologies Inc. National Instruments Corp. OMRON Corp. ORBIS TECNOLOGIA ELECTRICA SA Rohde and Schwarz GmbH and Co. KG Schneider Electric SE Texas Instruments Inc. Appendix Scope of the report Currency conversion rates for US$ Research methodology List of abbreviations Technavio's in-depth market research reports now include a thorough analysis of the COVID-19 impact on various markets to help industry leaders navigate their business through the new normal. Receive Latest Free Sample Report in Minutes About Us Technavio is a leading global technology research and advisory company. Their research and analysis focus on emerging market trends and provides actionable insights to help businesses identify market opportunities and develop effective strategies to optimize their market positions. With over 500 specialized analysts, Technavio's report library consists of more than 17,000 reports and counting, covering 800 technologies, spanning across 50 countries. Their client base consists of enterprises of all sizes, including more than 100 Fortune 500 companies. This growing client base relies on Technavio's comprehensive coverage, extensive research, and actionable market insights to identify opportunities in existing and potential markets and assess their competitive positions within changing market scenarios. Contact Technavio Research Jesse Maida Media & Marketing Executive US: +1 844 364 1100 UK: +44 203 893 3200 Email: media@technavio.com Website: www.technavio.com/ View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/frequency-counter-market-anritsu-corp-schneider-electric-se-texas-instruments-inc-among-others-to-contribute-to-the-market-growth-technavio-301374922.html SOURCE Technavio [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [September 13, 2021] Hachiko Inu - A Project With Excellent Ecosystem & Strong Pillars Of Strength Cape Coral, Florida, Sept. 13, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- We all are well aware of the story of Hachiko, a Japanese Akita dog who is remembered for his remarkable loyalty to his owner. The project Hachiko Inu takes its inspiration from this legend and believes in building lifelong trust and loyalty with its holders and rewards them. Hachiko Inu is a decentralized ERC-20 Cryptocurrency token. 5% of all transactions are distributed to holders. By holding the Hachiko Inu token in your wallet, you are constantly getting reflections from all transactions. The aim is to increase the price of this token to the maximum and bring in a use case that makes it a long-term project for its investors. So you just have to hold Hachiko Inu in your wallet, sit back and watch your balance grow over time. There are a lot of other cryptocurrencies in the market with dog names, but the developers here wanted to stand out from the other project and not just become another Inu. Lately, we have seen many projects do rug pulls and the smart contract developers abandon their projects and run away with investors funds. Hachiko Inu was launched a few months back holding very well in the crypto space. $INU has come a long way and has proven it is not here for a one-day game or just another pump & dump token. The team behind the Hachiko Inu is trustworthy and transparent to the community in all aspects. The developers Kosak Kos & Michal Borec are present in the Telegram and update the community from time to time. They plan to nurture this project for the long term. They have anattractive Tokenomics explained below. TOKENOMICS: * 51% Supply Burned * 27% Of Total Supply Locked To Uniswap * 12% Of Total Supple Will Be Used As Liquidity For Hachiko Swap. * 10% will be burned at different stages to increase the price of existing tokens. A very thoughtful roadmap is followed by Hachiko Inu and they have been efficiently completing their goals be it short term or long term. Listed in CoinMarketCap, Bilaxy, Hotbit, Azbit, Coinsbit, and MintMe! For the long term, they plan to create this entire ecosystem mainly focused to benefit the investors and launching new tokens. The three main pillars of Hachiko Inu: * Hachiko Inu Swap * NFTs * Banking System The highly skilled team of Hachiko Inu is working day & night, taking feedback, and building an exchange that brings its users great benefits. They have successfully launched 50 NFTs and a new token $USA which will give strength to the founding token and will not devalue it over time. 0.5% from the new token and 25% profits from NFTs will be used to buy back $INU and burn it from the total supply, which will ultimately increase the price of Hachiko Inu. They have created this series of USA NFTs which are available at the Opensea marketplace. Around 50 USA states are available, each state has unique graphics, and only one NFT is made and sold for each USA state. This ensures no one else will own the same USA state as you. The team has applied at the European Union Intellectual Property Office for industrial design protection for the USA NFTs. This registration will protect your rights as an owner over this electronic map of the USA, as well as the whole idea of the project. To further extend this project, 50 USA tokens were launched which you can buy as well. There are only 50 of them and that moves the price violently. Hachiko Inu is the foundation stone of the whole ecosystem, they plan to bring in a banking system that connects the rest of the system and makes it stand apart from other cryptocurrencies. The developers envision using $INU not only for NFTs but for buying commodities with it and have a great utility. With that said they have huge marketing planned for the entire ecosystem and capital to scale this cryptocurrency way beyond. Hachiko Inu can be easily bought on Uniswap via metamask. More information can be found on the website. Hachiko Inu Website : http://www.hachikoinu.eu Telegram : https://t.me/hachiko_inu NFT Link: https://opensea.io/collection/usanfts Media Contact: Dave Ruiz Dave@CryptoKidFinance.com Source link [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [September 13, 2021] IHOP Announces 2021 Kid Chef and Adds Winning Pancake to Menus Nationwide to Benefit Children's Miracle Network Hospitals and Other Causes Today, IHOP named Rayaan, 8, of Orange (News - Alert) County, Calif. as the 2021 IHOP Kid Chef Champion. The third-annual Kid Chef contest invited pediatric patients ages 6-16 from any Children's Miracle Network Hospital to unleash their culinary creativity and concoct a new pancake recipe. Rayaan earned the 2021 chef's coat with his Caramel Apple (News - Alert) a la Mode pancake recipe: two fluffy buttermilk pancakes topped with warm, cinnamon-spiced apples, drizzled with caramel sauce, and crowned with one scoop of premium vanilla ice cream. This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210913005460/en/ Kid Chef Winner, Rayaan (Photo: Business Wire) "My mom makes the best apple pie ever!" said Rayaan. The Caramel Apple a la Mode creation pairs his apple pie affinity with pancakes, an unexpected favorite tool in his treatment journey. Diagnosed with a rare autoimmune disorder, resultant in coma and life support, Rayaan ultimately relearned how to chew, eat, and swallow on his own using pancakes as his practice food. To celebrate his journey, IHOP is featuring these special pancakes on menus for guests to enjoy nationwide for a good cause where $1 from every Caramel Apple a la Mode pancake full stack or combo ordered benefits Children's Miracle Network Hospitals or The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. Donations from pancake sales fund critical life-saving treatments and healthcare sevices, along with innovative research, vital pediatric medical equipment, and child life services that put kids and families' minds at ease during difficult hospital stays. Rayaan's winning pancake stack is available for dine-in only at participating IHOP restaurants from September 13-October 31, 2021*. "We are thrilled to crown Rayaan with this year's coveted Kid Chef title and welcome guests to sample his pancake masterpiece," said Jay Johns, President of IHOP. "For more than 60 years, IHOP has committed to serve its communities in fun, engaging ways that bring joy and smiles to guests of all ages." "Our local children's hospitals need help now more than ever," said Teri Nestel, president and CEO of Children's Miracle Network Hospitals. "IHOP's pancake-stack fundraising campaign with Kid Chef Rayaan makes it easy for everyone to give back, while enjoying a delicious treat created by a kid. When added together, these funds provide major support for our local children's hospitals to improve treatments and facilities, advance pioneering research and provide patient services now and what's ahead. When we change kids' health, we change the future - for all of us." Over the past 15 years, IHOP has raised more than $30 million for its portfolio of charity partners, including Children's Miracle Network Hospitals and The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society, helping support children and families across the U.S. * Caramel Apple a la Mode pancakes are available for dine-in at participating IHOP restaurants nationwide. Price and participation may vary by location. While supplies last. ABOUT INTERNATIONAL HOUSE OF PANCAKES, LLC For more than 62 years, IHOP has been a leader, innovator and expert in all things breakfast, any time of day. The chain offers 65 different signature, fresh, made-to-order breakfast options, a wide selection of popular lunch and dinner items, including Ultimate Steakburgers. IHOP restaurants offer guests an affordable, everyday dining experience with warm and friendly service. As of June 30, 2021, there are 1,747 IHOP restaurants around the world, including restaurants in all 50 states and the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico and Guam as well as Canada, Ecuador, India, Mexico, Pakistan, Panama and Peru. IHOP restaurants are franchised by affiliates of Glendale, Calif.-based Dine Brands Global, Inc. (NYSE: DIN). About Children's Miracle Network Hospitals Children's Miracle Network Hospitals raises funds for 170 children's hospitals that support the health of 10 million kids each year across the U.S. and Canada. Donations go to local hospitals to fund critical life-saving treatments and healthcare services, along with innovative research, vital pediatric medical equipment, child life services that put kids' and families' minds at ease during difficult hospital stays and financial assistance for families who could not otherwise afford these health services. When we improve the health of all children and allow them the opportunity to reach their full potential, we also improve our communities for years to come. Together, we can change kids' health. Together, we can change the future. To learn about Children's Miracle Network Hospitals and your local children's hospital, visit cmnhospitals.org. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210913005460/en/ [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [September 13, 2021] Joy Spreader's Interim Results Press Conference: Data Accumulation, Data Analytics and Algorithm Modeling Form the Core of the Firm's Strengths BEIJING, Sept. 13, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- According to the interim financial report for 2021 recently released by Joy Spreader Group Inc. (HKG:6988, "the Group", "Joy Spreader"), a leading marketing technology company listed in Hong Kong, the Group's spend on research and development (R&D) rose to HK$29.9 million (approx. US$3.8 million) during the first half of 2021, a YoY gain of 712.5 per cent. "The firm's key advantages lie in data and algorithms that are optimized through a continuous enhancement of the business model, which requires substantial R&D investment," explained one of Joy Spreader's executives at its interim results press conference held on August 31. The key advantages gained by the company as a result of increased spending on its data and algorithms confirm the wise decision undertaken by the company in calling for the strong R&D investment. Joy Spreader has built advantages in data and algorithms to meet its business needs thanks to the extensive experience that the firm has accumulated over time. The mobile new media performance-based marketing company's business model is based on facilitating transactions at marketing points by using its Direct to Consumer (DTC) solution that enables accurate matching of data-rich profiles and detailed descriptions of products as a result of an integration of its supply-side platform (SSP) and demand-side platform (DSP) services. The DTC model is designed to precisely define the relationship with users. With online shopping having become the most common way that goods and services are purchased, the performance of the DTC model largely depends on the ability to accurately respond to the new trends sweeping the consumption market, precisely target potential consumer groups and enable high precision matching with those groups, all of which require the underlying support of data and algorithms. Using the firm's DSP services as an example, to help corporate clients win new customers or additional orders from existing customers, Joy Spreader provides data-rich profiles of products from clients alongside an algorithm model-based marketing point recommendation engine to assist sellers in choosing the most suitable marketing point for selling or placing its products, stimulating purchases as well as downloading of apps or services purchased. Wih a large amount of data that the firm has accumulated over the past few years in mobile new media content, anonymous user behaviors and products, Joy Spreader has built a powerful technology platform that is supported by its proprietary business intelligence technology and strong capabilities in data collection and analytics. Data accumulation is known to have a decisive impact on the building and performance of models, helping Joy Spreader build up its leading advantages and competitiveness across the industry. These advantages are reflected in the firm's large collection of data models and its long-term, deep commitment to perfecting the quality of the data and the algorithms. On the one hand, the interim financial report showed that as of June 30, 2021, the number of data models being deployed increased YoY by 37.4 per cent to 169. In addition, the number of data labels used by its intelligent recommendation coupling model rose to 2,447, up 27.25 per cent YoY. On the other hand, the Group began developing data-driven and model-based algorithms on the WeChat Official Account Platform in 2013 before embarking on similar development on the Douyin platform, the Chinese version of TikTok in 2018. Joy Spreader's expanded database and enhanced capabilities in algorithms are closely associated with the continued increase in the Group's spending on R&D. The firm invested nearly 80 million yuan (approx. US$12 million) to develop and create an algorithm model for the marketing ecosystem on WeChat in 2013 and 2014, just as the new media platform was consolidating its dominance, demonstrating the firm's focus on and continuous efforts in R&D. Joy Spreader then continued increasing its R&D spend in tandem with the expansion of its business. During the first half of this year, the Group's R&D investment soared 712.5 per cent to HK$29.9 million (approx. US$3.8 million), with a heavy focus on data analytics and algorithm modeling. Based on its deep experience with algorithms, Joy Spreader built the DTC model that allows the Group to address the challenges facing the e-commerce marketing sector through more targeted marketing and a higher level of conversions while rolling out the roadmap to expand into foreign markets. Joy Spreader plans to focus on developing the short-form video (SFV)-based e-commerce marketing business outside of China as part of its next stage of growth. Most notably, the firm has taken the lead in building a new technology model tailored to the needs of overseas mobile new media markets as they are distinctly different from the domestic market in terms of both environment and characteristics. Building on the success and the extensive experience Joy Spreader has had in monetizing video content on domestic mobile new media platforms, Joy Spreader has begun doing the same on platforms outside of the country. So far, the firm has built a new technology model and service system specifically for foreign markets in preparation for its expansion onto overseas e-commerce platforms, with TikTok serving as a prime example. The Group has revealed that it has put in place an international algorithm team in Sweden to provide data analytics and professional support for algorithms optimized for its overseas business. As a leading Chinese mobile new media performance-based marketing technology company, Joy Spreader believes in the necessity and importance of investment in R&D. With the optimization of its data collection and algorithm modeling for SFV content, the Group expects to further increase its R&D spend while strengthening its advantages in data and algorithms, facilitating the continuous transformation of its core technologies into the company's key strengths. For more information about Joy Spreader Group Inc., please visit here. View original content:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/joy-spreaders-interim-results-press-conference-data-accumulation-data-analytics-and-algorithm-modeling-form-the-core-of-the-firms-strengths-301375029.html SOURCE Joy Spreader Group Inc. [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [September 13, 2021] Kinder Morgan and Neste Partner on Major Renewable Fuels Logistics Project in the United States HELSINKI, Sept. 13, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Kinder Morgan, Inc. (NYSE: KMI), one of North America's largest energy infrastructure companies, is partnering with Neste, one of the leading providers of renewable and circular solutions, to create a premier domestic raw material storage and logistics hub in the United States, supporting increased production of renewable diesel, sustainable aviation fuel and renewable feedstock for polymers and chemicals. Upon completion of the project, Kinder Morgan's Harvey, Louisiana facility will serve as the primary hub where Neste will store a variety of raw materials including, for example, the used cooking oil it collects from more than 40,000 restaurants across the United States. As part of the initial, committed phases of the project, Kinder Morgan will modify existing tanks and piping to enable segregated storage for a variety of raw material across 30 tanks. The scope of work also includes the installation of a new boiler for heating tanks and railcars and infrastructure improvements for rail, truck and marine movements. The project, which is supported by a long-term commercial commitment from Neste, is expected to commence operations in the first quarter of 2023. At Neste's option, the facility can be further expanded. "This clearly shows the positive role America's existing energy infrastructure can play in creating a sustainable future and fighting climate change," says Jeremy Baines, President of Neste U.S. "Neste and Kinder Morgan are transforming existing terminal assets into what can be considered green infrastructure, which will ultimately enable more American businesses and cities to power their fleets and supply chains with renewable fuels and other products." The commitment is one of Neste's largest to date in the U.S., supporting a more resilient, flexible and sustainable supply chain that can keep pace with the company's growing production capacity and increasing global demand for lower-emission products. It enhances Neste's leading position, building on the company's more than 15-year head start in creating an end-to-end renewable product value chain. In the long term, the project could also help improve the lifecycle climate benefits and competitiveness of Neste's renewable products through more efficient and less carbon intensive supply chain operations. Renewable fuels offer an immediate way to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from aviation and heavy duty road transport in the US. Neste's renewable feedstock for polymers and chemicals manufacturing can also significantly reduce the carbon footprint of the end products. In fact, Neste's renewable products prevented over 40 million tons of new GHG emissions from entering the atmosphere over the last five years - the same climate benefits as building 8,300 wind turbines or making 10.8 million cars zero emission according to the U.S. EPA's GHG calculator. Kinder Morgan is a trusted partner for Neste, with a strong history of collaboration between the two companies. In 2020, Neste began supplying sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) directly to San Francisco International (SFO) airport via a Kinder Morgan pipeline. More than 1 million gallons of SAF have been supplied into SFO to date. With this project, Kinder Morgan is further demonstrating its commitment to offer low-carbon infrastructure solutions to the country's fast growing renewable fuels industry. "We are thrilled to partner with Neste, a global leader in renewable fuels, on this important logistics project. As North America's largest terminal operator with existing infrastructure including 80 million barrels of storage, 266 docks, 462 truck bays and 6,800 rail car spots, Kinder Morgan Terminals is uniquely positioned to play a leading role in the transition to renewable fuels," said John Schlosser, president of Kinder Morgan Terminals. Because renewable products work with existing energy infrastructure, the U.S.'s vast network of pipelines, storage tanks, and distribution sites can be used to rapidly scale their availability. This is a major advantage, enabling renewable products to replace fossil products faster and more affordably. Further information: Theodore Rolfvondenbaumen, Communications Manager for Neste U.S. Theodore.rolfvondenbaumen@neste.com | +1 832 799 7029 Neste's media service, tel. +358 50 458 5076 / media@neste.com (weekdays from 8.30 a.m. to 4.00 p.m. EET Melissa Ruiz , Corporate Communications Director for KMI Melissa_Ruiz@kindermorgan.com | 713 369 8060 , Corporate Communications Director for KMI Melissa_Ruiz@kindermorgan.com | 713 369 8060 KMI Investor Relations km_ir@kindermorgan.com | 800 348 7320 This information was brought to you by Cision http://news.cision.com https://news.cision.com/neste/r/kinder-morgan-and-neste-partner-on-major-renewable-fuels-logistics-project-in-the-united-states,c3414193 The following files are available for download: https://news.cision.com/neste/i/neste-media---neste-s-storage-facility-in-rotterdam-netherlands,c2953450 Neste media - Neste s storage facility in Rotterdam Netherlands View original content:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/kinder-morgan-and-neste-partner-on-major-renewable-fuels-logistics-project-in-the-united-states-301375397.html SOURCE Neste [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [September 13, 2021] KLAR Partners funds invest in Oleter Group to build the leading Northern European provider of Property Damage Restoration ("PDR") services STOCKHOLM, Sept. 13, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Funds advised by KLAR Partners Limited ("KLAR Partners" or "KLAR"), have invested in Oleter Group, one of the Nordic region's leading PDR providers. KLAR has invested as a growth partner alongside the existing owners and management with the objective of developing the company into the leading provider of PDR services in Northern Europe. Oleter Group consists of Ocab and Friland Bygg Skade (FBS), market-leading providers of property damage restoration services. The service offering includes damage inspection, pest control and restoration of fire and water damage. The group has a strong geographical presence in Sweden and Norway with close to 1,700 employees in 90 locations. In 2020, Oleter Group had sales of approximately SEK 2 billion. The investment in Oleter Group is in line with KLAR's strategy to invest in companies providing mission-critical services in resilient and growing markets. "Our investment in the Oleter Group is at the very core of KLAR's expertise. The group is active in a highly attractive market and has a clear sustainability profile which forms a solid foundation on which we can build the next growth chapter of the business. We look forward to partner with management and the team to build a leading Northern European PDR platform," said Petter Darin, KLAR Team Leader. "We are excited to welcome KLAR as a new partner to accelerate the growth of Oleter Group, both organically and through acquisitions, into a market leader of PDR services. We share a strong focus on people and culture and in addition KLAR will contribute industry-specific experience and geographical reach to the team," said Bo Ingemarson, Chairman of the Board, Oleter Group. For more information: Carl Johan Falkenberg cj@klarpartners.com +44 7918 941 391 Petter Darin pd@klarpartners.com +46 70 240 5015 About Oleter Group Oleter Group is a leader in PDR in the Nordic region and consists of Ocab (dehumidification and decontamination services in Sweden), Friland Bygg Skade (PDR services in Norway), NHS (underground infrastructure services), MCM Relining and S-Pipe (relining), and Planea (property development consulting services). The business has a strong geographical presence with approximately 1,700 employees established in close to 90 locations in Norway and Sweden. The company benefits from close and stable customer relationships in stable markets with underlying secular growth trends. In 2020, the Group delivered SEK 2 billion of sales. About KLAR Partners KLAR Partners is a European private equity firm focused on investments in companies operating in business services and light industrials. The companies in which KLAR invests each have an annual turnover of approximately EUR 50-500m and are headquartered in the Nordics, Benelux or DACH regions. With investment professionals located in London, Stockholm, Frankfurt and Brussels, together with a broad international network in the industry, KLAR has a proven business model to support, develop and grow companies. KLAR's senior professionals have worked together for many years and have more than 50 years of combined investment experience in KLAR's industry-specific and geographical focus area. KLAR Partners is a signatory of United Nations Principles for Responsible Investment. More information about KLAR can be found on the company's website at www.klarpartners.com. This information was brought to you by Cision http://news.cision.com https://news.cision.com/klar-partners/r/klar-partners-funds-invest-in-oleter-group-to-build-the-leading-northern-european-provider-of-proper,c3413730 The following files are available for download: https://mb.cision.com/Main/19608/3413730/1467193.pdf Read press release https://news.cision.com/klar-partners/i/i8a0065,c2953068 I8A0065 View original content:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/klar-partners-funds-invest-in-oleter-group-to-build-the-leading-northern-european-provider-of-property-damage-restoration-pdr-services-301374940.html SOURCE KLAR Partners [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [September 13, 2021] The Latin GRAMMY Cultural Foundation Opens Applications for the 2022 Research and Preservation Grants Program The Latin GRAMMY Cultural Foundation announced that applications are officially open for its 2022 Research and Preservation Grants program. The program provides four grants each year to music institutions, musicologists, researchers, nonprofit organizations and individuals around the world who are enhancing and preserving Latin music heritage. Grants offered by the Latin GRAMMY Foundation fall into two categories: Research Grants , which fund projects focused on historical research, folklore and anthropology of Latin music genres. , which fund projects focused on historical research, folklore and anthropology of Latin music genres. Preservation Grants, which support projects aiming to archive and preserve the heritage of Latin music. Applications from qualified candidates will be reviewed by a committee of experts from Latin America, the Iberian Peninsula and the United States. Four applicants will each receive a grant with a maximum value of $5,000. "We remain committed to educational equity and strive to provide access to a quality education for the students we serve from around the globe," said Tanya Ramos-Puig, President, Latin GRAMMY Cultural Foundation. "We're proud to provide future Latin music creators the opportunity to advance their studies while simultaneously preserving our cultural heritage, and music, for generations to come." Since its inception in 2015, the program has awarded more than $135,000 in grants supporting 28 projects worldwide. Some of the recipients of the 2021 Research and Preservation Grant include: 2021 Awarded Research Grants: Universidad Nacional de Quilmes, Buenos Aires, Argentina - "Registro de canto con caja en entornos acustico originarios" seeks to create a dialogue between the ancestral music of a region and the landscape in which it developed through acoustic research and the creation of audiovisual recordings that can be experienced using immersive technologies (virtual reality, binaural audio). Specifically, the goal is to record Canto con Caja (singing accompanied by drum)-an ancestral tradition of the Andean region-in a very rich acoustic space: the natural amphitheater at Quebrada de las Conchas national reserve in Argentina. Maria Alejandra de Avila, Cordoba, Colombia - Through "Historia social del disco de banda tradicional en el Caribe Colombiano a traves de sus actores", de Avila plans to produce - by compiling oral sources featuring the main actors - an interactive social history e-book of discographic productions recorded by traditional banda groups from the Caribbean regio of Colombia from the 1960s through the 1990s. The book's objective is to highlight professional musicians who have remained unknown. 2021 Awarded Preservation Grants: Rafael Escalona Foundation, from Bogota, Colombia, is preserving more than 174 physical files belonging to the Rafael Escalona Foundation in order to create a digital collection recounting, through transmedia tools, the musical, artistic and cultural legacy of Rafael Escalona. In this way, the project aims to enable people of all ages and interests to appreciate the collection, but by offering it in new user-friendly formats and enable young audiences to participate and learn about music, culture and vallenato as a music genre from Colombia. The Latin American Music Center at The Catholic University of America, Benjamin T. Rome School of Music, Drama and Art Washington, D.C., U.S. - Funding for "Digitizing and Documenting The Latin American Music Center and The Catholic University of America" will support necessary ongoing archival and cataloguing work at the Latin American Music Center (LAMC) at The Catholic University of America. This collection includes the compilation of a complete and specialized library of scores, books, and recordings of Ibero-American music making it a special asset to those who study, teach, and perform this music. Applications and guidelines are available at www.latingrammyculturalfoundation.com. The materials can be submitted in English, Spanish or Portuguese. The deadline to apply is Nov. 20, 2021, by 11:59 p.m. ET. If you have any additional questions email us at LGCF@grammy.com. ABOUT THE LATIN GRAMMY CULTURAL FOUNDATION: The Latin GRAMMY Cultural Foundation is a 501(c)(3) charitable organization established by The Latin Recording Academy in 2014 to further international awareness and appreciation of the significant contributions of Latin music and its makers to the world's culture. The Foundation provides college scholarships, educational programs and grants for the research and preservation of its rich musical legacy and heritage, and to date has donated more than $6.5 million with the support of Latin Recording Academy members, artists, corporate sponsors and other generous donors. For additional information, or to make a donation, please visit latingrammyculturalfoundation.com, Amazon Smile or our Facebook page. And follow us @latingrammyfdn on Twitter and Instagram, and at Latin GRAMMY Cultural Foundation on Facebook. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210913005214/en/ [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [September 13, 2021] Mysolution expands into Germany The one-stop solution for the staffing and recruitment sector - Mysolution - is bringing its innovative software to German users FRANKFURT, Germany, Sept. 13, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- As from 1 September, Oliver Welz has been appointed Country Director of Mysolution Germany. This marks a logical step in the company's growth phase. After achieving stable and fast growth in the Dutch market, Mysolution is ready to realise its international ambitions in Germany. Oliver Welz was chosen by management due to his excellent knowledge and extensive experience in the sector. Mysolution made its start in the German market from the Netherlands, but has also decided to set up a permanent office in Frankfurt. In past years Oliver made a major contribution to the growth of Bullhorn in the DACH region. Starting in September, Oliver will be expanding his team to provide full service to German clients from within Germany. Personal and direct lines of contact with the client have always been the core of Mysolution's success, and this is explicitly the ambition when it comes to German customers. About his transfer, Oliver Welz says: "When I see the growth potential for Mysolution, I get really enthusiastic. I'm really excited about starting up in Germany with a committed team of people. Mysolution is a company with endless possibilities in an area where the staffing and recruitment market has a need for solutions for dealing with the increasing flexibility of the labour market and the impac of new technologies (such as robotics and AI). Specific developments in Germany, such as re-skilling staff on a large scale and continually changing laws and regulations governing labour relations, demand additional innovations. In order to advise the German market in the implementation of these innovations in their service provision, I'm honoured to be the one contributing not only technical solutions but also helping to build relationships of trust with our clients so we can really help everyone move one step forward." Jaap Postma, CEO of Mysolution, says: "We are really delighted to welcome Oliver Welz to the Mysolution team as Country Director for Germany. The experience that Oliver has accumulated within the industry in Germany is exactly what we were looking for. Oliver is going to be helping us with his knowledge, drive and enthusiasm to support staffing and recruitment businesses with their digital ambitions. Combining personalised relationships with clients and state-of-the-art technical solutions is our 'secret recipe', and that approach is a perfect for Oliver." Separate applications are a thing of the past Mysolution can provide staffing agencies with the Total Talent Management platform, a one-stop solution for digitalisation of all operational processes. This is a Cloud-based solution built on the Salesforce and Microsoft platform, Business Central 365. Mysolution understands the importance of "anyplace, anywhere, anytime" support for matching and placing candidates. The solution is configurable according to an organisation's specific needs, where the basic principle is always the best practices of the staffing industry. The whole candidate and customer journey from job application and matching to working hours registration, invoicing and payroll are organised through one centralised control centre. With easy-to-view dashboards, clients can see and access at a glance active placements, invoice status, available professionals and margins. About Mysolution Mysolution was founded in 2005 and is currently market leader in the Netherlands in the area of software for the staffing and recruitment market; since its acquisition of OTYS and Onrecruit, it employees 200 staff in the Netherlands, Belgium and the Czech Republic. In recent years, all products have been made available as SAAS applications for recruiting and deploying temporary personnel. More than 1,100 organisations are using solutions based on Mysolution technology platforms on a daily basis. Read more about Mysolution Germany at www.mysolution.com/de . https://we.tl/t-f7MjtbU1j9 Link to promo film: https://vimeo.com/599392225 [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [September 13, 2021] New Partnership Opens the Way for Rail Freight KYC (Know Your Cargo) Technology - Transparent Worldwide Tracking of Rail Freight and Rolling Stock Governments and private freight rail operators have long recognized the need for cargo and freight wagon trackability and security, particularly when goods move across borders. Until now, a major impediment has been finding a common and secure rolling stock identification system that rail operators, asset managers and investors can agree on. A major step towards solving this challenge has now been taken by the Rail Working Group and Nexxiot. This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210913005170/en/ New partnership opens the way for rail freight KYC (Know Your Cargo) technology - transparent worldwide tracking of rail freight and rolling stock. The Rail Working Group and Nexxiot to work together to drive complete digitization and security of worldwide cargo and rail assets. (Graphic: Business Wire) The Rail Working Group (RWG) is the international nonprofit charged with global implementation of the Luxembourg Rail Protocol, a uniform system for identifying, recognizing and enforcing security for creditors financing railway rolling stock. Now the RWG and Swiss supply chain digitization pioneer Nexxiot are joining forces to implement the forthcoming Unique Rail Vehicle Identification System (or URVIS) which will become available for the first time under the Protocol, to enable complete worldwide cargo rail digitization. This will use Nexxiot's proprietary cloud-based technology, which has the flexibility and scalability to encourage uniform acceptance by shippers, operators and governments, to place URVIS numbers on all rolling stock supported by Nexxiot as soon as these numbers are available. Howard Rosen, Chairman of the Rail Working Group, said: "The Luxembourg Rail Protocol creates a new global legal system to facilitate the recognition and prioritization of security interests held by creditors in this equipment. These interests will be registered in a new international registry, which is searchable by the public 24/7. A critical element of this system will be the unique identification of all railway equipment under a common structure with numbers issued by a neutral, trusted source, the international rolling stock asset registry, based in Luxembourg and established under the Protocol. This makes it possible, for the first time, for all interested parties to easily learn of a creditor's security interest, and for that creditor to enforce its security in cases of debtor default or insolvency." He added: "With Spain's recent announcement that it will adopt the Protocol, we expect it to come into force in all ratifying states in 2022." Since the adoption of the Luxembourg Rail Protocol in 2007, the RWG has engaged intensively with governments and the private sector to create a secure and reliable system that guarantees every rail asset in the world through a unique identifier. Now Nexxiot will combine its groundbreaking, solar-powered mobile sensor and gateway technology with the URVIS numbering to achieve complete rail cargo and rolling stock transparency and accountability. Investors financing rail assets take on significant risk. However,this risk is often assumed without the technology to give investors certainty that the assets will remain with the designated carrier, in agreed countries, and safeguarded against piracy and fraud. Although unique identification numbers have been standard for goods from electronics to automobiles for decades, until now this has not been the case for railcars - even though they are multimillion dollar assets. The URVIS number, facilitated by the Luxembourg Rail Protocol, changes this for the rail sector by introducing a single, global, unique identifier for all rolling stock. Nexxiot CEO Stefan Kalmund explained how Howard Rosen and the Rail Working Group are visionaries at the vanguard of efforts to establish a new legal regime for the recognition and enforcement of railway securities. "Howard Rosen was involved in drafting and implementing the 2007 Luxembourg Rail Protocol, and has been active for over 25 years in supporting the interests of the industry. He works closely with governments and international organizations, as well as financiers, operators, manufacturers and professional advisers, to implement a long-term vision for the benefit of all participants. Nexxiot is committing to incorporating the URVIS number onto its platform, at minimal cost, thereby making it much easier for clients to finance both existing and new rail equipment. This lets Nexxiot clients take advantage of the cheaper credit underwritten by the Protocol, while making it simpler for operators and creditors to track the status and location of the equipment. Howard's leadership and vision support a mutually beneficial partnership between our company and the RWG." Although the rail industry is moving quickly to equip its mobile assets with devices like Nexxiot's Globehopper sensor gateway, there is increasing pressure from cargo owners and shippers for rail operators to provide full cargo transparency throughout the entire journey. This "Know Your Cargo" (KYC) initiative is a major trend driven by Nexxiot. Similar to the way Fintech transparency measures have transformed the financial sector, it is equally important for operators to assume responsibility not just for the assets themselves, but for the goods they contain. This is important for risk reduction, safety and security, and to streamline business processes to drive up efficiency and customer satisfaction. Assigning each railcar across the globe with a unique, independently registered number maintained in a global repository is essential to providing the next level of accountability and security for the cargo rail industry, its financial investors, and the governments that secure them. As an innovator in the TradeTech space, Nexxiot's technology provides both the hardware and Intelligent IoT Cloud software platform that will enable the unique identification of every railcar in the world while offering shippers, carriers and governments the flexibility to track assets utilizing their own networks and systems. Based in Switzerland and adhering to proven Swiss precision and quality standards, the RWG and Nexxiot share a common vision and approach to cargo rail digitization. "Bringing together our two organizations in this project is a critical enabler that opens the door to diverse new services and quality standards needed all along the supply chain, as well as by the recipients of all created value - the consumer at the end of the line." Stefan Kalmund added. "We are very excited by this collaboration with Nexxiot and we encourage other rail manufacturers and service providers to work with us to adopt this ground-breaking initiative" added Howard Rosen. Nexxiot has been leading the RWG delegation at the UN Economic Commission for Europe Inland Transport Committee Group of Experts on the Permanent Identification of Railway Rolling Stock working to create a standard set of global guidelines for marking rolling stock. The Rail Working Group: Headquartered in Zug, Switzerland, the Rail Working Group (RWG) is a nonprofit organization mandated by UNIDROIT (the International Institute for the Unification of Private Law) to advocate for the global rail industry's adoption and implementation of uniform recognition and enforcement standards for security interests in railway rolling stock as presented in the 2007 Luxembourg Rail Protocol. With the goal of creating a new international system for recognising creditor rights in rolling stock, regardless of its location, the RWG's mission is to encourage greater and more cost-effective financing by the private sector of capital investment in railway rolling stock, which will strengthen supply chains and operational transparency around the world. The RWG's membership comprises a growing worldwide consortium of key rail stakeholders including rail and transport associations, and operates numerous policy advocacy groups that work closely with governments, the United Nations and other intergovernmental agencies towards the adoption of the Protocol. https://www.railworkinggroup.org/ The Luxembourg Rail Protocol to the Cape Town Convention on International Interests in Mobile Equipment is a new global treaty under the auspices of UNIDROIT, the International Institute for the Unification of Private Law. The Protocol will make it much easier and cheaper for the private sector to finance railway rolling stock. It sets up a new system for the recognition, prioritization and enforcement of creditor and lessor rights, which will be registered in an international registry based in Luxembourg, accessible to everyone over the internet 24/7. The Protocol applies to all rolling stock, from locomotives to freight and passenger wagons, trams and metro trains, and is expected to enter into force in contracting states in 2022. The European Union (in respect of its competences), Luxembourg, Sweden and Gabon have ratified the Protocol. France, Germany and Switzerland are in preparation for ratification, Mozambique, Italy and the UK have already signed the Protocol. Spain and South Africa are expected to sign the Protocol shortly. Many other states around the world, including Ethiopia, Kenya, Uganda, Namibia, Malta, Finland, Ukraine and Mauritius are working actively on adoption of the Protocol. Nexxiot AG: Nexxiot is a driver of the TradeTech solutions of tomorrow. An industry leader in the digitalization of asset and cargo transportation, Nexxiot empowers global shipping companies and suppliers to harness the power of their data through proprietary, cutting-edge technology and integrated data solutions to track, find and protect cargo from more than 167 countries around the world and across 450 network roaming partners to ensure accountability, security and efficiency. Headquartered in Zurich, Nexxiot operates throughout Europe and the U.S., employing people from 22 countries. The company's secure, industry leading Cloud comprises data from over 2.5 billion travelled miles. Committed to sustainability through corporate and social responsibility, Nexxiot's goal is to enable a five percent reduction in worldwide carbon dioxide emissions in the logistics industry by increasing cargo transport efficiency and eliminating waste caused by empty runs and inefficient routes. https://nexxiot.com/ View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210913005170/en/ [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [September 13, 2021] OneConnect Accelerates Strategic Growth with New "One Body and Two Wings" Five-year Strategy SHENZHEN, China, Sept. 13, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- On September 10, OneConnect Financial Technology Co., Ltd. (NYSE: OCFT) ("OneConnect"), a leading technology-as-a-service platform for financial institutions and associate of Ping An Group, hosted an open day event with the theme, "Technology Creates Value through Expertise". During the event, OneConnect CEO and Chairman, Ye Wangchun officially unveiled the company's five-year strategy to fuel growth in the future. Mr. Ye highlighted that the development plan would place a core focus on strengthening the company's customer base, products and ecosystem. "At OneConnect, we are committed to building a world-leading financial services ecosystem in order to create more value for customers and shareholders. Our new five-year strategy will help usher in the next wave of digital financial development and build an industry-leading financial services ecosystem. We are fully confident in the company's development trajectory and believe that, with the accelerated implementation of our strategic five-year plan, OneConnect will capitalize on existing and new momentum during this transitional phase to add value and cultivate deeper loyalty with our customers," said Mr. Ye. Adhering to a long-term vision to build new momentum By 2024, the digital transformation market for China's financial service institutions is expected to exceed RMB 400 billion (approx. US$ 62 billion), while the market for Southeast Asia is projected to reach RMB 180 billion (approx. US$ 27.9 billion). In response to growing demand, OneConnect has engineered its "One Body and Two Wings" five-year plan to capture market potential by minimizing low-production business and optimizing its structure. The "one body" in OneConnect's strategic development plan refers to the digital transformation of financial services as the key driver to empower financial institutions to improve efficiency and services while reducing cost and risk. Meanwhile, the "two wings" refer to the establishment of government policy, as well as a corporate user ecosystem and the expansion of overseas markets. Empwered by technology, OneConnect seeks to help the financial services industry truly achieve digital transformation. Its latest five-year plan comes following its highly successful first phase between 2015 and 2020, during which the company laid a strong foundation in terms of customers, products and operations. This stage was focused on growing individual products to meet the business needs of financial institutions, in order to gain widespread coverage, adapt to different scenarios and needs, reduce onboarding time, and rapidly capture market share. This year, OneConnect is tapping into extensive insights on the digital needs of financial institutions, as well as its long-term partnerships over the past five years, to upgrade and integrate more than 50 individual products into four products with "horizontal integration and full coverage across verticals." These four products include digital retail finance, digital corporate finance, digital insurance, and its Gamma Platform. Four stages to create a leading financial services ecosystem By leveraging Ping An Group's three decades of extensive experience in the financial industry, OneConnect is able to accurately grasp the needs of financial institutions to provide end-to-end services for banking, insurance, investment, and other sectors. As a result, the company has reached a number of milestones over the past half-decade, including the establishment of a widespread and solid foundation of financial institutions and government-regulated customers, the creation of a diversified range of innovative products and solutions, and achievement of continued business performance. OneConnect has also consistently improved its position in the market and currently ranks fourth for revenue among listed financial software service providers. As the company looks forward to its second stage of growth in 2021 and beyond, it has divided its strategic development plan into four stages: capturing the market, cultivating a deep and lasting relationship with customers, expanding its ecosystem, and establishing global leadership in the financial services industry. During this stage, OneConnect will seek to accelerate conversion and focus on customer loyalty, gross product profit and third-party revenue, in order to rapidly and effectively improve its products, services, and operations. OneConnect has already grown its customer base significantly during the first phase of its development. At the end of 2020, the company had 594 high-quality customers and 160 premium Plus customers, which represents a growth rate of 64% and 63% respectively over the past three years. At the product level, the company has continued to diversify and innovate its product portfolio across five types of businesses, including implementation, risk control, operational support, cloud platforms, and operations and maintenance. The proportion of revenue generated from business development has increased 13% from the 39% achieved in 2018. Furthermore, revenue generated from new products, such as its Gamma Voice Platform, has been responsible for a third of the total revenue. On the operational side, overall performance trends show that OneConnect is improving its position compared to domestic competitors. From 2018 to 2020, the company recorded a 53% compound annual growth rate from its operating income and a 58% compound annual growth rate from third-party revenue, whilst reducing its net loss rate from -85% to -37%. At the same time, OneConnect has optimized the ratio of its sales and management expenses from 31% and 37% in 2018 to 16% and 22% in the first half of 2021. Revenue and gross profit have maintained double-digit year-on-year growth for multiple consecutive quarters. OneConnect has also continued to invest in the transformation of the technology-enabled financial services industry with continued investment in R&D. Its ratio of R&D expenses has remained at 30% over the past three years, which has enabled the continued enhancement and advancement of its products and services. As of the end of June 2021, OneConnect had accumulated 5,075 global patent applications, including 1,199 overseas patent applications and 3,876 domestic patent applications. Looking ahead, OneConnect will continue to advance its "technology and business" model with a focus on product upgrades, cultivating relationships with its customer base and building its ecosystem. Underpinned by the philosophy that "Technology Create Value through Expertise", OneConnect is well-placed to become an integral player in the development of the nation's digital economy. View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/oneconnect-accelerates-strategic-growth-with-new-one-body-and-two-wings-five-year-strategy-301375046.html SOURCE OneConnect [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [September 13, 2021] ProMIS Neurosciences to Participate in H.C. Wainwright & Co. 23rd Annual Investment Conference TORONTO and CAMBRIDGE, Mass., Sept. 13, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- ProMIS Neurosciences, Inc. (TSX: PMN) (OTCQB: ARFXF), a biotechnology company focused on the discovery and development of antibody therapeutics targeting toxic oligomers implicated in the development of neurodegenerative diseases, announced today its participation in H.C. Wainwright & Co., 23rd Annual Investment Conference being held virtually September 13-15 2021. ProMIS Executive Chairman, Eugene Williams, will provide an update on the company with special focus on PMN310, ProMIS lead antibody for Alzheimers disease (AD), as well as an overview of the Companys unique, proprietary technology platform and ProMIS expanding portfolio of antibody therapeutic candidates targeting in addition to AD, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), Parkinsons disease (PD) and beyond. A narrated version of the slide deck presented at the conference is available on the ProMIS website by clicking on the following link: https://promisneurosciences.com/news/h-c-wainwright-and-co-23rd-annual-investment-conference/ About ProMIS Neurosciences ProMIS Neurosciences, Inc. is a development stage biotechnology company focused on discovering and developing antibody theraputics selectively targeting toxic oligomers implicated in the development and progression of neurodegenerative diseases, in particular Alzheimers disease (AD), amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) and Parkinsons disease (PD). The Companys proprietary target discovery engine is based on the use of two complementary techniques. The Company applies its thermodynamic, computational discovery platform -ProMIS and Collective Coordinates - to predict novel targets known as Disease Specific Epitopes on the molecular surface of misfolded proteins. Using this unique approach, the Company is developing novel antibody therapeutics for AD, ALS and PD. ProMIS is headquartered in Toronto, Ontario, with offices in Cambridge, Massachusetts. ProMIS is listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange under the symbol PMN, and on the OTCQB Venture Market under the symbol ARFXF. Visit us at www.promisneurosciences.com, follow us on Twitter and LinkedIn For Investor Relations please contact: Alpine Equity Advisors Nicholas Rigopulos, President nick@alpineequityadv.com Tel. 617 901-0785 The TSX has not reviewed and does not accept responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. This information release contains certain forward-looking information. Such information involves known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause actual results, performance or achievements to be materially different from those implied by statements herein, and therefore these statements should not be read as guarantees of future performance or results. All forward-looking statements are based on the Company's current beliefs as well as assumptions made by and information currently available to it as well as other factors. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date of this press release. Due to risks and uncertainties, including the risks and uncertainties identified by the Company in its public securities filings, actual events may differ materially from current expectations. The Company disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise. [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [September 13, 2021] Resolve Biosciences Appoints Erik Wiberg as Chief Financial Officer Resolve Biosciences, the pioneer in Molecular Cartography, today announced the appointment of Erik Wiberg as Chief Financial Officer. In this role, Mr. Wiberg will report to Co-founder and CEO Jason T. Gammack and be responsible for the company's finance, legal, human resources, and administrative functions. "Resolve Biosciences is building a world-class team featuring top entrepreneurial talent from Silicon Valley with leading genomics and precision engineering experts in Germany," said Mr. Gammack. "Erik is an extraordinary leader with a strong track record of developing and implementing comprehensive financial strategies for early-stage growth companies. His broad industry experience and passion for cutting-edge science make him a perfect fit for Resolve as we look to accelerate growth, drive operational excellence, and position the company for long-term commercial success." Mr. Wiberg brings more than 30 years of experience, including CFO roles at public and private firms in the medical device and biotechnology industries. Prior to joining Resolve, he served as CFO at REVA Medical, a leading provider of bioresorbable polymer technologies for vascular applications. He also held the CFO and Vice President of Administration position at Gyros Protein Technologies AB, as well a senior finance leadership positions at Thermo Fisher Scientific, AlliedSignal, and the Chamberlain Group. Mr. Wiberg holds a bachelor of science degree in mechanical engineering from the University of California, San Diego, as well as a master's degree in machine vision and optics and an MBA from the University of California, Los Angeles. "Resolve offered a unique, life-changing opportunity to join an international company that is poised to lead the next generation in molecular analysis," said Mr. Wiberg. "I'm looking forward to relocating to Germany, working with this exceptional team of professionals, and enabling more scientists to apply the power of Molecular Cartography to resolve some of the most complex challenges in biology." Scientists interested in learning more about the innovative Molecular Cartography services can contact the Resolve team. About Resolve Biosciences Resolve Biosciences is applying the power of Molecular Cartography to enable scientists to gain new insights based on the highest-resolution view of spatial biology. The platform features the company's proprietary, highly multiplexed, single-molecule detection technology, which offers full spatial context at subcellular resolution, all in a fully automated workflow that preserves the sample tissue. The Molecular Cartography technology offers unparalleled sensitivity and specificity that helps scientists detect individual transcripts and rare signals to interpret fundamental biology and rapidly advance the understanding of complex biological questions in critical fields such as oncology, neuroscience, and infectious disease. The technology has been under development since 2016 and is currently available through Resolve Biosciences' commercial service laboratory. Resolve Biosciences is privately held and based in Monheim am Rhein, Germany, with a North American facility and laboratory in San Jose, Calif. For additional information, visit www.resolve-biosciences.com. Resolve Biosciences, the Resolve Biosciences logo, and Molecular Cartography are trademarks of Resolve Biosciences. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210913005058/en/ [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [September 13, 2021] Stellar Cyber Announces Distribution Partnership with Pentio in Japan Stellar Cyber, the innovator of Open XDR - the only intelligent, next-gen security operations platform, today announced its partnership with Pentio Co., Ltd., a leading IT distributor that provides a full range of IT security products and services to companies of all sizes in Japan. Pentio will resell Stellar Cyber's security operations platform and also provide first-level support for Japanese customers. "Pentio is a major Japanese IT products distributor, and we believe they can provide us with entry into the Japanese market as no other company can," said Changming Liu, CEO and co-founder of Stellar Cyber. "We needed a security-savvy partner for our go-to-market efforts in Japan, and after a lot of research, Pentio rose to the top of our list." "Pentio is one of the leading IT security distributors in Japan, providing sophisticated technical support to customers of all sizes. They have experience for going to market with many foreign IT products and services. We are delighted to announce the partnership," said Makoto Fukumi, Country Manager - Japan at Stellar Cyber. Stellar Cyber's AI-powered investigation, detection and response platform gives security analysts 360-degree visibility across the entire attack surface, through normalized and enriched metadata from ANY source - network, cloud, endpoints, applications, users and more. It reduces attack detection time from days to down to real-time - even for smaller security teams - giving hackers far less opportunity to compromise servers and networks. Pentio will supply products and guidance to Japanese customers looking to better manage their security operations. As the leading next-generation, intelligent security operations platform, Stellar Cyber makes analysts far more productive and their companies far more secure. Stellar Cyber's platform now incorporates two key breakthroughs: a new, XDR-aligned kill chain and incident correlaton that gives context to cyberthreat detections. A New Kill Chain for Full Visibility Many current security products use the Lockheed Martin (News - Alert) Cyber Kill Chain, but it's an old approach, having been created in about 2011. It's malware-centric, while many attacks these days don't use malware, and it's not compatible with the newer MITRE ATT&CK Kill Chain. These kill chains make it hard to differentiate internal from external attacks, and they do not capture complex attack progression. Stellar Cyber has created a new XDR Kill Chain that covers all detections, is MITRE ATT&CK compatible, spots internal versus external attacks, and incorporates more tactics and techniques beyond the MITRE framework. The Stellar Cyber kill chain's Loop Interface shows five kill chain stages: initial intrusions, persistent foothold, exploration, propagation, and exfiltration - enough stages to prioritize attacks but not too many for an analyst to remember. Open Incident Management Spots Complex Intrusions Detections of individual signals is important, but analysts also need to understand the big picture. Stellar Cyber groups related alerts into a single incident, and then prioritizes incidents to identify more serious attacks. This creates better data, tags it better, and delivers better quality AI. Unlike traditional XDR platforms, Stellar Cyber can ingest data from any popular security system, so it does not force users to abandon their existing investments. "Stellar Cyber is the world's most advanced service in the field of Open XDR. Pentio will provide Stellar Cyber with advanced technical support to Japanese enterprise customers who need to counter external threats. We are looking forward to Stellar Cyber's business expansion in Japan," said Haruhiko Hasegawa, CEO of Pentio Co., Ltd. Open XDR vs. XDR: While standard extended detection and response (XDR) platforms enforce vendor lock-in and abandonment of existing security tools, Stellar Cyber's unique Open XDR platform works seamlessly with customers' existing EDR, SIEM, UEBA, NDR, and other solutions to preserve their investments. In addition, Stellar Cyber's platform enhances those investments by ingesting their data, normalizing and correlating it, applying AI-driven analytics to inspect it, and automatically responding to complex threats. Only Stellar Cyber's Open XDR delivers these benefits. About Pentio : Pentio Corporation is a provider of the cloud account management SSO service "OneLogin," cloud log management security monitoring "Sumo Logic," managed PKI and cloud RADIUS service "SecureW2," two-factor authentication device "YubiKey" and USB token and IC card "PKI authentication solution." PKI authentication solutions USB tokens and IC cards. Pentio provides Smart ID, which specializes in cloud user authentication and user management with a focus on OneLogin, Sumo Logic, SecureW2 and YubiKey. For more information, contact https://pentio.com About Stellar Cyber : Stellar Cyber's Open XDR platform delivers Everything Detection and Response by ingesting data from all tools, automatically correlating alerts into incidents across the entire attack surface, delivering fewer and higher-fidelity incidents, and responding to threats automatically through AI and machine learning. Our XDR Kill Chain, fully compatible with the MITRE ATT&CK framework, is designed to characterize every aspect of modern attacks while remaining intuitive to understand. This reduces enterprise risk through early and precise identification and remediation of all attack activities while slashing costs, retaining investments in existing tools and accelerating analyst productivity. Typically, our platform delivers an 8X improvement in MTTD and an 20X improvement in MTTR. The company is based in Silicon Valley. For more information, contact https://stellarcyber.ai. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210913005270/en/ [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [September 13, 2021] Study on Sputnik Light (first component of Sputnik V) vaccine's efficacy among the elderly in Argentina published in EClinicalMedicine journal - EClinicalMedicine is an open access peer-reviewed clinical journal published by The Lancet, one of the world's most respected medical journals MOSCOW, Sept. 13, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- The Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF, Russia's sovereign wealth fund) announces publication of a study in EClinicalMedicine (an open access peer-reviewed clinical journal published by The Lancet, one of the world's most respected medical journals) on efficacy of Russian Sputnik Light coronavirus vaccine (the first component of Sputnik V vaccine) among the elderly in the Province of Buenos Aires (Argentina). The study is available at: https://www.thelancet.com/journals/eclinm/article/PIIS2589-5370(21)00406-5/fulltext#%20 Sputnik Light is the first component of Sputnik V based on human adenovirus serotype 26. According to the study in the Province of Buenos Aires, the first component of Sputnik V has demonstrated 78.6-83.7% general efficacy against COVID-19 in high-risk elderly subjects aged 60-79 years old, which is significantly higher than efficacy demonstrated by most two-component vaccines. Sputnik Light has alo demonstrated efficacy against hospitalizations at 82.1-87.6%. The calculations are based on data from over 40,000 people collected by the Ministry of Health of the Province of Buenos Aires. There are 15 authors of the study: Soledad Gonzalez, Santiago Olszevicki, Martin Salazar, Ana Calabria, Lorena Regairaz, Lupe Marin, Patricia Campos, Teresa Varela, Veronica Gonzalez Martinez, Leticia Ceriani, Enio Garcia, Nicolas Kreplak, Marina Pifano, Elisa Estenssoro and Franco Marsico. They represent Ministry of Health of the Province of Buenos Aires, Faculty of Medical Sciences at National University of La Plata, Immunology Unit, Children's Hospital Sor Maria Ludovica, La Plata, Buenos Aires and Calculus Institute, University of Buenos Aires. Key advantages of Sputnik Light: Sputnik Light is the first component (recombinant human adenovirus serotype number 26 (rAd26)) of Sputnik V the world's first registered vaccine against coronavirus. Sputnik Light has proven effective against all new strains of coronavirus, as demonstrated by the Gamaleya Center during laboratory tests. Sputnik Light is compatible with standard vaccine storage and logistics requirements. The Sputnik Light vaccine is based on a well-studied human adenoviral vector platform that has proven to be safe and effective, with no long-term side effects, as confirmed in over 250 clinical trials conducted globally over the past two decades (while the history of use of human adenoviruses in vaccine development started in 1953). About Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF): Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF) is Russia's sovereign wealth fund established in 2011 to make equity co-investments, primarily in Russia, alongside reputable international financial and strategic investors. RDIF acts as a catalyst for direct investment in the Russian economy. RDIF's management company is based in Moscow. Currently, RDIF has experience of the successful joint implementation of more than 80 projects with foreign partners totaling more than RUB2 tn and covering 95% of the regions of the Russian Federation. RDIF portfolio companies employ more than 800,000 people and generate revenues which equate to more than 6% of Russia's GDP. RDIF has established joint strategic partnerships with leading international co-investors from more than 18 countries that total more than $40 bn. Further information can be found at www.rdif.ru Logo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1140939/Russian_Direct_Investment_Fund_Logo.jpg [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [September 13, 2021] Todos Medical to Present at H.C. Wainwright 23rd Annual Global Investment Conference September 13-15, 2021 (Virtual Conference) New York, NY, and Tel Aviv, ISRAEL, Sept. 13, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- via NewMediaWire -- Todos Medical, Ltd. (OTCQB: TOMDF), a comprehensive medical diagnostics and related solutions company, today announced that its President & CEO Gerald Commissiong will be presenting at the H.C. Wainwright Annual Global Investment Conference being held virtually September 13-15, 2021. Due to Todos late invitation, the Companys presentation is being recorded in the afternoon on September 13, 2021 and will be available thereafter. If you are an institutional or retail investor, and would like to listen to the Company's presentation, please click on the following link (www.hcwevents.com/annualconference) to register for the conference. The Companys CEO will also be available for 1-on-1 meetings with investors who are attending virtually on September 14th and 15th, 2021. For more information, please visit www.todosmedical.com. For more information on the Companys CLIA/CAP certified lab Provista Diagnostics, Inc. please visit www.provistadx.com. About Todos Medical Ltd. Founded in Rehovot, Israel with offices in New York City, Todos Medical Ltd. (OTCQB: TOMDF) engineers life-saving diagnostic solutions for the early detection of a variety of cancers. In 20201, Todos completed the acquisition of U.S.-based medical diagnostics company Provista Diagnostics, Inc. to gain rights to its Alpharetta, Georgia-based CLIA/CAP certified lab currently performing PCR COVID testing and Provista's proprietary commercial-stage Videssa breast cancer blood test. The Company's state-of-the-art and patented Todos Biochemical Infrared Analyses (TBIA) is a proprietary cancer-screening technology using peripheral blood analysis that deploys dep examination into cancer's influence on the immune system, looking for biochemical changes in blood mononuclear cells and plasma. Todos' two internally-developed cancer-screening tests, TMB-1 and TMB-2, have received a CE mark in Europe. Todos is focused on the commercialization of Videssa and will bring the TBIA tests to market thereafter. Todos has entered into a joint venture with NLC Pharma targeting diagnostic and testing solutions to address the COVID-19 pandemic. The Joint-Venture is pursuing the development of diagnostic tests targeting the 3CL protease, as well as 3CL protease inhibitors that target a fundamental reproductive mechanism of coronaviruses. The Companys proprietary therapeutic candidate Tollovir is currently in a Phase 2 clinical trial to treat hospitalized COVID-19 patients in Israel, and is preparing to initiate Phase 2/3 clinical trials for both hospitalized and non-hospitalized patients in Israel. Todos is also developing blood tests for the early detection of neurodegenerative disorders, such as Alzheimer's disease. The Lymphocyte Proliferation Test (LymPro Test) is a diagnostic blood test that determines the ability of peripheral blood lymphocytes (PBLs) and monocytes to withstand an exogenous mitogenic stimulation that induces them to enter the cell cycle. It is believed that certain diseases, most notably Alzheimer's disease, are the result of compromised cellular machinery that leads to aberrant cell cycle re-entry by neurons, which then leads to apoptosis. LymPro is unique in the use of peripheral blood lymphocytes as a surrogate for neuronal cell function, suggesting a common relationship between PBLs and neurons in the brain. Todos is also distributing certain (COVID-19) testing materials and supplies to CLIA-certified labs in the United States. The products cover multiple suppliers of PCR testing kits, extraction kits, automation materials and supplies, as well as COVID-19 antibody and antigen testing kits. For more information, please visit https://www.todosmedical.com/. Forward-looking Statements Certain statements contained in this press release may constitute forward-looking statements. For example, forward-looking statements are used when discussing our expected clinical development programs and clinical trials. These forward-looking statements are based only on current expectations of management, and are subject to significant risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those described in the forward-looking statements, including the risks and uncertainties related to the progress, timing, cost, and results of clinical trials and product development programs; difficulties or delays in obtaining regulatory approval or patent protection for product candidates; competition from other biotechnology companies; and our ability to obtain additional funding required to conduct our research, development and commercialization activities. In addition, the following factors, among others, could cause actual results to differ materially from those described in the forward-looking statements: changes in technology and market requirements; delays or obstacles in launching our clinical trials; changes in legislation; inability to timely develop and introduce new technologies, products and applications; lack of validation of our technology as we progress further and lack of acceptance of our methods by the scientific community; inability to retain or attract key employees whose knowledge is essential to the development of our products; unforeseen scientific difficulties that may develop with our process; greater cost of final product than anticipated; loss of market share and pressure on pricing resulting from competition; and laboratory results that do not translate to equally good results in real settings, all of which could cause the actual results or performance to differ materially from those contemplated in such forward-looking statements. Except as otherwise required by law, Todos Medical does not undertake any obligation to publicly release any revisions to these forward-looking statements to reflect events or circumstances after the date hereof or to reflect the occurrence of unanticipated events. For a more detailed description of the risks and uncertainties affecting Todos Medical, please refer to its reports filed from time to time with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Todos Corporate and Investor Contact: Richard Galterio Todos Medical 732-642-7770 rich.g@todosmedical.com [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [September 13, 2021] Top Restaurant and C-Store Executives to Speak at Paytronix User Conference NEWTON, Mass., Sept. 13, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Paytronix Systems, Inc., the most advanced digital guest experience platform, today announced the speaking lineup for its seventh annual Paytronix User Experience event, PXUX 2021, which will take place at the Boston Marriott Long Wharf Hotel and virtually on September 22nd and 23rd. Centered around the theme of being All In, PXUX 2021 will feature executives and founders from some of Americas most iconic brands. Theyll focus on how the future of food service is about being All In on blending the digital and physical customer experiences. This years speakers will share firsthand experiences and success stories involving the Paytronix platform, including utilizing Loyalty and Order & Delivery to deploy guest-pleasing features like curbside pickup, mobile ordering, and contactless payment. The list of luminaries presenting at PXUX 2021 includes: Tom Ryan, founder of Smashburger Blaine Hurst, investor, advisor, and retired CEO of Panera Anne Schultheis, digital loyalty strategist for Dutch Bros Coffee Allison Cocker, communications manager for Salata Salad Kitchen Headlining the event is Smashburger founder Ryan, whose brand has won numerous awards. In 2007, Smashburgerlaunched as a new concept devoted to the next generation of burger consumers, and it quickly became an industry icon for quality, growth, and business acumen. In 2018, Smashburger was acquired by Jollibee Foods Corporation, where Tom holds the title of Global Taste Advisor and focuses on optimizing concept and menu elements. He also contributes strategic and growth-based support to his namesake concept, Toms Watch Bar. Watch Tom Ryan on PX: Think Beyond Paytronix CEO Andrew Robbins and CRO Charles Gray will lead two full days of workshops, demonstrations, and interactive product roadmap discussions. The Paytronix product, engineering, and technical teams will brief attendees on how to fine-tune their customer-experience strategies through mobile, loyalty, messaging, and other tools that deliver results. Breakout sessions and ask the experts workshops will provide opportunities for smaller-group interaction. Paytronix users can also sign up to attend bonus in-person Master Class sessions when they register. Registration is open to Paytronix customers only. This years event welcomes either in-person or virtual participation. For more information, including FAQs and video highlights from the last PXUX, visit https://www.paytronix.com/pxux. About Paytronix Systems, Inc. Based in Newton, Massachusetts, Paytronix is a provider of SaaS customer experience management (CXM) solutions for restaurants and convenience stores. Through its innovative software design and integrations with more than 30 widely used point-of-sale systems, Paytronix empowers more than 500 brands across 30,000 locations, giving them the flexibility to deliver unique, revenue-enhancing guest experiences. Through one-to-one engagement with more than 285 million guests via Order & Delivery, Loyalty, CRM, and Stored Value, Paytronix generates Big Data consumer insights that motivate increased visits and spend. For more information, visit www.paytronix.com. Media Contact: Chuck Tanowitz Paytronix Systems, Inc. ctanowitz@paytronix.com 617-871-2319 [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [September 13, 2021] VisualCamp Chosen as Representative Korean Startup at TechCrunch Disrupt 2021 VisualCamp was selected to represent at TechCrunch Disrupt 2021 as one of Korea's pioneering startups that enriches lives thanks to the applications of its eye tracking technology to remote education services and mobile e-book apps. This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210913005329/en/ VisualCamp was selected to represent at TechCrunch Disrupt 2021 as one of Korea's pioneering startups that enriches lives thanks to the applications of its eye tracking technology to remote education services and mobile e-book apps. Its eye tracking software developed based on Artificial Intelligence (AI) model SeeSo is mobile optimized and virtually supports any device with a front-facing camera. It is currently the only no-hardware solution where users can collect gaze data in the end users natural environments. SeeSo also features attention monitoring that allows you to detect drowsiness from the end users through their APIs. It is being applied to various industries such as education, advertising, and medical care and is expected to be used for digital therapeutics and pre-diagnosis clinical trials. (Graphic: Business Wire) VisualCamp provides the 2021 GLOMO Award-winning SeeSo, an eye tracking software development kit (SDK) that is developed based on Artificial Intelligence (AI) model. SeeSo is mobile optimized. Virtually any device with a front-facing camera is supported, and SeeSo is currently the only no-hardware solution where you can collect gaze data in the end users' natural environments. VisualCamp has also announced alongside SeeSo's attention monitoring, you can now detect drowsiness from the end users through their APIs. SeeSo is being applied to various industries such as education, advertising, and medical care. Top Korean education companies such as Kyowon and LG U+ currently utilize SeeSo to measure students' engagement and learning effectiveness through attention monitoring. Millie, one of Korea's largest e-reader companies, is providing a function through SeeSo to have users turn pages with their eyes. SeeSo is also expected to be used for digital therapeutics and pre-diagnosis clinical trials for ADHD, Dry Eye Disease, Dementia, and Alzheimer's in 2022. VisualCamp is currently in the process of signing additional contracts with major US companies to provide its eye tracking technology. VisualCamp, headquartered in South Korea, has offices in Silicon Valley and China as well. Yeonho Kim, the US General Manager of VisualCamp, said, "Our goal with SeeSo is to change how we interact with our devices. Through SeeSo, we can lower the barriers to entry on eye tracking so that this data can be created, collected, and analyzed to have a deeper understanding towards users. We are very excited to see some of the projects we are testing with the US companies to disrupt the ways our devices work for us." VisualCamp also has been selected as one of the 2021 SLINGSHOT Top 500 Global Startups and will be moving forward to being selected among the Top 100 Global Startups. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210913005329/en/ [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [September 13, 2021] VizyPay Named #1 Top Place to Work by Des Moines Register for the Iowa Top Workplaces 2021 Award WEST DES MOINES, Iowa, Sept. 13, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- VizyPay, an award-winning leader in payment processing for small businesses across the U.S., today announces it has been ranked the number one best place to work for the Top Workplaces 2021 award by Iowa Top Workplaces. The company also received the Diversity, Equity & Inclusion and New Ideas awards for its commitments to fostering a diverse workplace and creating a culture that encourages and supports employees creative thinking. VizyPay recently earned the ranking of number 45 on the 2021 Inc. 5000 list, making them the fastest-growing private company in Iowa and placing them in the top 1% nationally with an impressive growth rate of 8000% since its founding in 2017. VizyPay was founded by small business owners, Austin Mac Nab and Frank Pagano, who understood the pain points, financial burdens and deception merchants frequently experienced with payment processing. Together, the duo built a payment processing company that leads with honesty and transparency in all aspects of business including its company culture and diverse team members. VizyPay has quickly grown from one employee to a team of 61 full-time employees working out of its West Des Moines office and 724 independent contractors. To-date, VizyPay has signed on more than 9,500 merchants across the United States. Company culture is a key pillar of VizyPays business model because we truly believe that when we treat our employees right and give them the tools they need to succeed, that same culture and attitude will trickle down to the merchants we serve, said Austin Mac Nab, Co-Founder and CEO of VizyPay. As a completely bootstrapped company built without any outside investment, we have full reign to shape ad maintain our company culture and hire diverse talent from all over the U.S. that share our values and lend to our companys vision and growth. As VizyPay continues to experience rapid growth, the company is set to open its new flagship headquarters in Waukee, Iowa on September 27, 2021. The new office space will accommodate up to 150 employees and feature 15,000 square feet of office and co-working space, conference rooms, a gorgeous mural commissioned by local Des Moines artist, Laura Palmer, and a functionable bar and event space that will be available to local community members for various events. VizyPay plans to hire another 15+ employees in the greater Des Moines area this year. Not often viewed as a mecca for technology innovation, VizyPay is helping put Iowas tech scene on the map, proving that you dont have to live in a big city or move to a major technology hub like Silicon Valley to work for a successful fintech company built on the premise of culture and opportunity. VizyPays aggressive hiring initiatives focus on keeping Iowas talent local, attracting new talent on a national level, and educating perspective employees on the career they can build for themselves by becoming a VizyPay team member. As part of the companys culture, VizyPay created the Look Local First (LLF) movement to support thousands of small businesses across Iowa, and the United States. VizyPay knows that when customers spend their money at a locally owned business, nearly half of the revenue stays circulating in the local economy. The LLF initiative encourages consumers to shop small and helps generate awareness for local businesses through digital marketing efforts, regardless of whether they are a VizyPay customer or not. "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 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." The Top Workplaces 2021 list is based solely on employee feedback gathered through a third-party survey administered by employee engagement technology partner Energage LLC. The anonymous survey uniquely measures 15 culture drivers that are critical to the success of any organization: including alignment, execution, and connection, just to name a few. For more information, visit https://www.vizypay.com/ About VizyPay VizyPay was founded in West Des Moines, Iowa, by entrepreneurs who each had either significant credit card processing experience or were previously small business owners. Their combined understanding of these different industries created the perfect cocktail for a credit card processing company that could truly look out for the business owner. VizyPay is growing rapidly by being honest and simple in an industry that is known for being complicated and deceitful. Their business model is unique and making a huge splash nationwide. Media Contact Brittany Johnson Uproar PR for VizyPay bjohnson@uproarpr.com 312-878-4575 x246 [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [September 13, 2021] WCI Technologies and Lumen Deliver Secure Connectivity for the Travel and Hospitality Industry WCI Technologies, a World Cinema enterprise offering, in collaboration with Lumen Technologies, is delivering a range of network and IT services to the travel and hospitality industry. Most recently, these services helped enable hotel management company Remington Hotels to deliver a better guest experience with increased connectivity for guests who opt to use digital amenities, like mobile entry and virtual check-in and check-out. Working with WCI Technologies, a Lumen Channel Partner (News - Alert) Program member, Texas-based Remington Hotels updated their wireless connectivity services at properties across the nation to provide enhanced performance, reliability and security. This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210913005004/en/ "Technology plays a role in every aspect of the travel industry and is only becoming more vital. We're very excited to add value to our customers through a secure foundation of connectivity services," said Rbert Grosz, Executive Vice President and Chief Commercial Officer, WCI. "WCI Technologies, in collaboration with Lumen, is expanding our advanced services portfolio and transforming our great legacy brand into a global technology leader in the industry." As a Lumen Channel Partnership Program member, WCI Technologies can utilize the flexible, fully integrated portfolio of network and IT services provided by Lumen that spans infrastructure, applications, services and geographies to enable greater adaptability for customers. Offerings include a range of managed network and IT services designed for easy installation, maintenance, monitoring and management, thus simplifying the path to deployment and use. "As businesses are using tech to fuel change and supercharge the customer experience, our Partners can leverage our solutions and expertise to help accelerate growth, increase efficiencies and exceed customer expectations," said David Young (News - Alert) , senior vice president, strategic sales for Lumen. "Our Channel Partner program is about making connections - not just to our global network and technology solutions, but also to a network of support, resources and training that can help companies deliver new opportunities and experiences." "Our partnership with WCI Technologies and Lumen has allowed us to deploy secure connectivity throughout our portfolio, catered to our modern-day traveler. Having partners that are committed to the success of the hotel industry despite the challenges of the pandemic is key. Their innovative technology paired with their top-of-the-line customer support has been a game-changer," Said Stan Kennedy, Chief Operating Officer, Remington Hotels. Companies are moving towards hybrid cloud environments to leverage the hyper-scalable user experience of the cloud. Digital transformation is underway and when connecting to cloud service providers, flexible bandwidth capabilities and low latency are the top features required. WCI will focus on bringing solutions that address these business needs to its existing portfolio customers. About WCI: Headquartered in Houston, WCI is a market leader innovating and delivering technology and services to guest-centric properties. The company was the first technology service provider to hotels nationwide, beginning in 1974. Today, WCI is building on that legacy as a stable and trusted provider of video, data and connectivity services to some of the largest owners and managers of hotel and multifamily brands in the world. The company serves over 4,300 properties nationwide with nearly 600,000 rooms under management and over 300 million guest encounters per year. onewci.com View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210913005004/en/ [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [September 13, 2021] Xinhua Silk Road: China-ASEAN Meteorological Development Index unveils 1st batch core results, further co-op achievements expected BEIJING, Sept. 13, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- The China-ASEAN Meteorological Development Index, jointly compiled by Guangxi Meteorological Bureau and China Economic Information Service (CEIS), unveiled its first batch of core results at opening ceremony of the 6th China Meteorological Equipment & Service Exhibition held on Saturday in Nanning, capital of Guangxi. The first batch core results include the China-ASEAN meteorological modernization standard system and the 2021 China-ASEAN Meteorological Development Index Report (Laos). A total of 49 evaluation indicators are collected in the four dimensions of environmental support, meteorological observation, weather forecasting, and meteorological services, which constitutes the core result of the China-ASEAN Meteorological modernization standard system, according to the released information. The China-ASEAN Meteorological Dvelopment Index Report (Laos) provides data analysis and practical suggestions on Lao's meteorological development. It is learnt that the China-ASEAN Meteorological Development Index will keep in line with China-ASEAN Expo's choice of its subject country and roll out corresponding report annually in the future. To strengthen the Belt and Road countries to share new opportunities in the digital era and further strengthen international meteorological cooperation, the index started research in May 2020 with the support of the China Meteorological Administration (CMA). The index is to provide analysis on meteorological development of the ASEAN countries, according to Zhong Guoping, head of Guangxi Meteorological Bureau, noting that it can provide digital references for further cooperation in the meteorological sector between China and the ASEAN countries. Xu Xiaofeng, head of the China Meteorological Service Association (CMS), said that the China-ASEAN Meteorological Development Index gathered multiple high-quality resources and collaborative innovations, laying a solid foundation for deepening international cooperation in the field of meteorology. The index report showed that Laos had continuously improved its ability to prevent and reduce weather disasters and respond to changes in weather, with its weather forecast accuracy and other related indicators meeting the modern standard, said Li Xiao, China-ASEAN chief analyst with CEIS, China's leading economic information service provider affiliated to Xinhua News Agency. The 6th China Meteorological Equipment & Service Exhibition is part of the 18th China-ASEAN Expo held during Sept. 10-13. Original Link: https://en.imsilkroad.com/p/323771.html View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/xinhua-silk-road-china-asean-meteorological-development-index-unveils-1st-batch-core-results-further-co-op-achievements-expected-301375092.html SOURCE Xinhua Silk Road [September 12, 2021] CCTV+: Xi advocates respecting teachers, valuing education BEIJING, Sept. 13, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Chinse President Xi Jinping has been advocating that the whole Chinese society should respect teachers and value education. His warm interactions with educators have long been storied. In his visits to schools and universities in recent years, Xi greeted many educators and acknowledged their contribution to Chinese social development. In 2016, he visited Beijing Bayi School where he spent his own elementary and junior high school years and extended his appreciation to the country's educators for their diligence and commitmnt. "I would like to take this opportunity] to extend utmost festival greetings to all the teachers and educational workers across the country," Xi said years ago while visiting Beijing Bayi School where he spent his own elementary and junior high school years. Xi held talks with many retired teachers of the school who witnessed Xi's development during his time as a student. Xi visited Peking University in May 2018 and called for more efforts in building the country's universities into world-class institutions with Chinese characteristics. When presiding over a symposium in Beijing for teachers of ideological and political theory back in March 2019, Xi stressed efforts to implement the Party's education policy and foster virtue through education with the thought on socialism with Chinese characteristics for a new era. In his inspection of Tsinghua University this April, Xi talked to students of the university and encouraged Chinese youth to shoulder their historic responsibilities and strive for national rejuvenation. He also thanked researchers and teachers for their academic contributions and encouraged young faculty members to continue making breakthroughs in their fields of study. Link: https://youtu.be/bjrsjGt0Cb0 SOURCE CCTV+ [September 13, 2021] Avicena Will Showcase Its Multi-Tbps LED-Based Optical Link for Chip-to-Chip Communication at ECOC 2021 Avicena Tech Corp., a privately held company in Mountain View, CA (News - Alert) , is demonstrating its LightBundle multi-Tbps LED-based chip-to-chip interconnect technology at the European Conference for Optical Communications (ECOC) 2021 in Bordeaux, France (https://www.ecocexhibition.com/). This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210912005056/en/ (Graphic: Business Wire) The Avicena LightBundle achieves order-of-magnitude improvements in power dissipation and density over any other interconnect technology up to a reach of 10 meters. LightBundle is purpose-built for multi-Tbps chip-to-chip interconnects in distributed computing, processor-to-memory disaggregation, and other advanced computing applications. LightBundle is based on arrays of novel GaN high-speed micro-emitters that leverage the microLED display manufacturing ecosystem and is fully compatible with high performance CMOS ICs. Interconnects are becoming the key bottleneck in modern compute and network systems. Highly variable workloads are driving the evolution of densely interconnected, heterogeneous, software-defined clusters of CPUs, Graphical Processing Units (GPUs), Data Processing Units (DPUs) and shared memory blocks. Exploding Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML) workloads are exemplary of emerging applicatios driving an accelerating need for interconnects with extremely high density, low power consumption and low latency. "The cloud and high-performance computing market is looking for a new class of energy efficient high bandwidth density interconnects," said Vladimir Kozlov, Founder and CEO of LightCounting. "Avicena's technology has the potential to deliver a paradigm shift in terms of power efficiency, bandwidth density, and reach." About the Technology Today's high-performance ICs use SerDes-based electrical links to achieve adequate IO density. However, the power consumption and bandwidth density of electrical links degrade quickly with length. Because optical interconnects have low attenuation, they have long been the prime contender to replace electrical interconnects for inter-chip communications. Unfortunately, conventional optical technologies (typically designed for networking applications) have been impractical for inter-processor and processor-memory interconnects due to their low bandwidth density, high power consumption, and inability to tolerate the high operating temperature of ASICs. "All of this is changing with the recent progress in optical emitter technology driven by advances in the display industry," says Bardia Pezeshki, founder and CEO of Avicena. "We have developed super-efficient, high-density optical transmitters based on emitter technology from the display industry. These innovative devices would have been impractical just a few years ago. Our optimized devices and materials support 10Gbps links per lane over -40C to +125C temperature with excellent reliability. We refer to our new optical sources as Cavity-Reinforced Optical Micro-Emitters or CROMEs. We connect CROME arrays with CMOS compatible PDs using multi-core fiber bundles to create massively parallel interconnects with 100s of parallel lanes with a density of 10Tbps/mm2 over a reach of up to 10m. We call this new class of optical interconnect the Avicena LightBundle." Avicena's CROMEs are about an order of magnitude faster than the current state-of-the-art LEDs. At 200 parallel lanes this extrapolates to an aggregate link bandwidth of 2Tbps with a bandwidth density of 10Tbps/mm2. The parallel nature of the LightBundle technology is well matched to parallel chiplet interfaces like AIB, HBI, and BoW, and can also be used to extend the reach of standard compute interconnects like PCIe/CXL, NVLink, and multi-channel DDR/GDDR memory links with low power and low latency. If you wish to learn more about the Avicena technology, here is a list of upcoming events: Avicena at ECOC 2021: Market Focus, Mon., Sept 13, 1:55 pm - 2:25 pm CET, Chris Pfistner, "Novel LED based parallel optical interconnects with 10Tbps/mm2 @ < 0.5pJ/bit for chip-to-chip communication" Technical Paper ID 0367, Session We1D VCSELs in Room D, Wed., Sept 15, 10:15 am, B. Pezeshki et al., "8x2Gb/s LED-Based Optical Link at 420nm for Chip-to-Chip Applications" Avicena story in the Special Edition of Compound Semiconductor Magazine for September 2021: Compound Semiconductor, Special Edition, September 2021, Chris Pfistner, "How COVID-19 enabled a great invention at Avicena" About Avicena Avicena Tech Corp. is a privately held company located in Mountain View, CA, specializing in the development of next-generation chip-to-chip interconnects that are more power efficient, offer higher bandwidth density and support longer reach than any current optical or electrical solution. Avicena's technology is a key building block in the evolution of new computer architectures that will reduce the energy impact on our planet. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210912005056/en/ [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [September 13, 2021] TBD Media launches 50 MENA Leaders campaign to highlight region's influence and transformation LONDON, Sept. 13, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Region becomes focus of Global Thought Leadership campaign. Internationally-renowned TBD Media Group are launching '50 MENA Leaders', a campaign to highlight thinkers and innovators shaping the future of the planet from within the MENA region. Covering topic areas such as industry, technology, sustainability, advisory, finance and energy, the project is being launched in collaboration with Gulf News, the region's most-trusted English language news source. Timed to coincide with Dubai Expo 2021, thought leaders from MENA's most forward-thinking businesses will appear in issue-led interviews to explore their approach, building on both ancient traditions and cutting edge technology to create a better future. These interviews will be available through the 50 MENA Leaders portal on the Gulf News website, reaching a truly global audience hungry to learn more about the region's growing economy. A full list of organisations participating in the 50 MENA Leaders initiative will be released prior to the event. About TBD Media Group: TBD Media Group is an international, purpose-driven, media developer that helps companies, organisations and governments tell their brand stories in a human and direct way. Learn more at https://www.tbdmediagroup.com/ . Video - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1613311/TBD__Global_Thought_Leaders.mp4 Media Contact: Jenna-Leigh Soobramoney Head of Marketing TBD Media Group j.soobramoney@tbdmediagroup.com [September 13, 2021] Data Center Server Market 2021-2025 | Cisco Systems Inc. and Dell Technologies Inc. to emerge as dominant players | 17,000+ Technavio Research Reports NEW YORK, Sept. 13, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Technavio has been monitoring the data center server market and it is poised to grow by USD 83.91 billion during 2021-2025, progressing at a CAGR of over 15% during the forecast period. The report offers an up-to-date analysis regarding the current market scenario, latest trends and drivers, and the overall market environment. To get the exact yearly growth variance and the Y-O-Y growth rate- Download a Free Sample Report With the continuing spread of the novel coronavirus pandemic, organizations across the globe are gradually flattening their recessionary curve by leveraging technology. Many businesses will go through response, recovery, and renewal phases. Building business resilience and enabling agility will aid organizations to move forward in their journey out of the COVID-19 crisis towards the Next Normal. This post-pandemic business planning research will aid clients to: Addressing Potential Impacts by Facilitating changes in Process Designs Focusing on agile execution of proposed and approved changes. Assessing Impact on Critical IT infrastructure and Software System Find COVID-19 Insights Right Here Key Considerations for Market Forecast: Impact of lockdowns, supply chain disruptions, demand destruction, and change in customer behavior Optimistic, probable, and pessimistic scenarios for all markets as the impact of pandemic unfolds Pre- as well as post-COVID-19 market estimates Quarterly impact analysis and updates on market estimates Get Access to Additional On-demand, Syndicated Extensive Research Reports using Technavio's Subscription Platform Technavio's SUBSCRIPTION platform Reports that might interest you: Global Green Data Center Market - Global green data center market is segmented by end-user (IT infrastructure, power solutions, general construction, cooling solutions, and monitoring and management) and geography (Europe, North America, APAC, South America, and MEA). Download Exclusive Free Sample Report Global Data Center Physical Security Market - Global data center physical security market is segmented by product (facility security, perimeter security, computer room security, and rack-level security) and geography (North America, APAC, Europe, South America, and MEA). Download Exclusive Free Sample Report Top 3 Data Center Server Market Players Cisco Systems Inc.: The company offers data center server products Automation and Hybrid Cloud, Converged and Hyperconverged, and Compute and Storage. Dell Technologies Inc.: The company offers data center server products Modular Data Center Micro 8-Series, Dell EMC DSS 8440 Machine Learning Server, and Dell EMC DSS 7000 Storage Server. Fujitsu Ltd.: The company offers data center server products Hybrid IT, Hyper-converged IT, and Big Data and Analytics. If you purchase a report that is updated in the next 60 days, we will send you the new edition and data extract FREE! Get report snapshot here to get a detailed market share analysis of market participants during COVID-19 lockdown: https://www.technavio.com/report/data-center-server-market-industry-analysis Data Center Server Market 2021-2025: Segmentation Data center server market is segmented as below: Type Rack Server Blade Server Tower Server Microserver Open Compute Project (OCP) Server Geography North America APAC Europe South America MEA The data center server market is driven by increasing investments in scaling up in-house data centers. In addition, an increase in enterprise server refresh cycles is expected to trigger the data center server market toward witnessing a CAGR of over 15% during the forecast period. Plan and Strengthen your business and marketing strategies: https://www.technavio.com/talk-to-us?report=IRTNTR45193 Market Drivers Market Challenges Market Trends Vendor Landscape Vendors covered Vendor classification Market positioning of vendors Competitive scenario About Us Technavio is a leading global technology research and advisory company. Their research and analysis focuses on emerging market trends and provides actionable insights to help businesses identify market opportunities and develop effective strategies to optimize their market positions. With over 500 specialized analysts, Technavio's report library consists of more than 17,000 reports and counting, covering 800 technologies, spanning across 50 countries. Their client base consists of enterprises of all sizes, including more than 100 Fortune 500 companies. This growing client base relies on Technavio's comprehensive coverage, extensive research, and actionable market insights to identify opportunities in existing and potential markets and assess their competitive positions within changing market scenarios. Contact Technavio Research Jesse Maida Media & Marketing Executive US: +1 844 364 1100 UK: +44 203 893 3200 Email: media@technavio.com Website: www.technavio.com/ View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/data-center-server-market-2021-2025--cisco-systems-inc-and-dell-technologies-inc-to-emerge-as-dominant-players--17-000-technavio-research-reports-301372752.html SOURCE Technavio [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [September 13, 2021] CureApp Hypertension Therapeutics App: Clinical Trial Results Announced at ESC Congress 2021 and Published in the European Heart Journal, a Leading Cardiovascular Journal The results of a Japanese Phase III domestic multicenter randomized controlled trial of a digital therapeutic app for hypertension (DTx) jointly developed by CureApp, Inc. (CEO Kohta Satake; hereafter "the Company") and Jichi Medical University were presented by Professor Kazuomi Kario of Jichi University's Department of Cardiovascular Medicine at the European Society of Cardiology Congress held at the end of August 2021 ( ESC (News - Alert) Congress 2021 - The Digital Experience: Late Breaking Trials in Hypertension). The results of this trial were also published in the European Heart Journal, one of the world's leading journals on cardiovascular disease. This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210913005308/en/ Overview of the digital therapeutic intervention (HERB system) for essential hypertension. (Graphic: Business Wire) Summary of the clinical trial This clinical trial*1 ran from January 2020 to December 2020 evaluating the efficacy and safety of the therapeutic app for patients with essential hypertension. This trial was performed as a comparative study of two groups, a control group who received guidance on lifestyle changes based on the Guidelines for the Management of Hypertension 2019 (hereafter, the "Guidelines")*2, and an intervention group who used this therapeutic app in addition to applying lifestyle changes in accordance with said Guidelines. This represented the world's first trial of a therapeutic app for the purpose of regulatory approval in the field of hypertension. Efficacy and clinical significance of the hypertension therapeutic app The difference in the 24-hour systolic blood pressure between the groups (adjusted mean value) based on ABPM*3 at the study entry point of 12 weeks - the primary evaluation item - was -2.4 mmHg, indicating a significant hypotensive effect in the intervention group using the therapeutic app compared to the control group (Fig. 1). The control group was provided guidance on lifestyle changes, and had their blood pressure monitored every day. A difference in the 24-hour systolic blood pressure between the groups based on ABPM of -2.4 mmHg represents a clinically significant change, reducing the risk of developing cardiovascular diseases and cerebrovascular diseases by 10.7%.*4 Further, the difference between the groups in terms of morning home SBP (systolic blood pressure) at the 12 week mark of the study was -4.3 mmHg (Fig. 1), an effect that was sustained until the 24 week mark. A J-HOP study*5 of patients at risk of cardiovascular disease in Japan found that morning home SBP is an independent risk factor for cerebral apoplexy, showing that an increase in systolic blood pressure of 10 mmHg increased the risk of a stroke by 36%. The 10 mmHg reduction of morning home SBP provided when using this therapeutic app demonstrates a clinically significant outcome in reducing cardiovascular diseases, while also demonstrating the effectiveness of the therapeutic app as an option for treating hypertension in the future. ABPM: Ambulatory blood pressure monitoring, Morning home SBP: Morning home systolic blood pressure Evening home SBP: Evening home systolic blood pressure Office SBP: Systolic blood pressure upon consultation source:European Heart Journal, ehab559, https://doi.org/10.1093/eurheartj/ehab559 About hypertension Hypertension is highly prevalent in Japan, with some 43 million*2 patients nationwide, and medical costs associated with hypertension upwards of around 1.8 trillion yen*6. Hypertension is the highest risk factor for cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases (stroke and heart disease), and an estimated 100,000 people*7 die of hypertension-induced cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases every year. Despite this, only 10 million people*8 are said to receive continuous treatment for hypertension, and mild stage medical intervention remains inadequate, with 70% of patients failing to meet their target blood pressure, or left untreated. While the importance of early adoption of sustainable lifestyle changes outside medical clinics and at home in order to maximize the benefit of treatments is being emphasized, there are large numbers of patients that are not receiving treatment at a medical clinic and, even for patients that are receiving treatment, there are limits to what doctors can achieve by providing individuallytailored lifestyle guidance within a limited consultation time frame. The potential of a "therapeutic app" for hypertension While lifestyle improvements are vital for treating hypertension, maintaining such changes is dependent on a patient's values and motivation, their workplace and home environment, and other factors. This presents challenges for effective intervention by medical institutions. In response to these issues, the DTx app automatically delivers personalized treatment guidance directly to the individual (optimal nutritional, exercise, and sleeping advice based on IoT blood pressure monitoring and lifestyle habit logs, and notifications prompting behavioral changes). This form of treatment encourages awareness and helps patients to adopt sustainable lifestyle changes, thereby providing a therapeutic effect that lowers blood pressure and alleviates hypertension. Doctors can also use the doctor's app to check up on the lifestyle changes the patient has made, while the therapeutic app helps bring the patient and doctor closer together, improving the quality of medical care and facilitating the adoption of sustainable lifestyle changes. *1 Kario K. Nomura A. Satake K. et al. A multicenter clinical trial to assess the efficacy of the digital therapeutics for essential hypertension: Rationale and design of the HERB-DH1 trial. J Clin Hypertens. (Greenwich) 2020;22(9):1713-1722 https://doi.org/10.1111/jch.13993 *2 Guidelines for the Management of Hypertension 2019 [JSH2019] The Japanese Society of Hypertension (2019) https://www.jpnsh.jp/guideline.html *3 Ambulatory blood pressure monitoring (ABPM): Continuous blood pressure measurements taken at predetermined intervals over a 24 hour period during the course of one's daily life. This helps determine variations in blood pressure (variation patterns over the course of a day). This is important due to the various factors which may alter one's blood pressure. *4 Is antihypertensive treatment based on home blood pressure recommended rather than that based on office blood pressure in adults with essential hypertension? Calculated based on the (meta-analysis) formula Satoh M, Maeda T, Hoshide S, Ohkubo T. Is antihypertensive treatment based on home blood pressure recommended rather than that based on office blood pressure in adults with essential hypertension? (meta-analysis). Hypertens Res.2019;42:807-816. *5 Hoshide S, Yano Y, Haimoto H, et al. Morning and Evening Home Blood Pressure and Risks of Incident Stroke and Coronary Artery Disease in the Japanese General Practice Population: The Japan Morning Surge-Home Blood Pressure Study. J-HOP Study Group.Hypertension. 2016;68:54-61. https://www.ahajournals.org/doi/10.1161/HYPERTENSIONAHA.116.07201?url_ver=Z39.88-2003&rfr_id=ori:rid:crossref.org&rfr_dat=cr_pub%20%200pubmed *6 "Medical Care Expenditure Summary" 2018 Study (Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare) https://www.mhlw.go.jp/toukei/saikin/hw/k-iryohi/18/index.html *7 "Vital Statistics Summary" 2019 Study (Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare) https://www.mhlw.go.jp/toukei/saikin/hw/jinkou/kakutei19/dl/15_all.pdf *8 "Patient Study" 2017 Study (Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare) https://www.mhlw.go.jp/toukei/saikin/hw/kanja/17/dl/05.pdf Details on the presentation and paper releasing the results of this clinical trial [European Society of Cardiology (ESC Congress 2021 - The Digital Experience)] Late Breaking Trials in Hypertension Speaker: Kazuomi Kario Jichi Medical University - Tochigi, Japan https://digital-congress.escardio.org/ESC-Congress?_ga=2.248172036.2087792987.1628038424-1168805000.1620870041 [European Heart Journal] Efficacy of a digital therapeutics system in the management of essential hypertension: the HERB-DH1 pivotal trial European Heart Journal, ehab559, https://doi.org/10.1093/eurheartj/ehab559 About CureApp, Inc. CureApp, Inc. is a medtech startup that conducts research and development and manufactures and distributes software medical devices. They focus on the development of Therapeutic Apps that realize the new medical concept of applying advanced software technology and medical evidence to treat diseases. In August 2020, CureApp obtained regulatory approval for "CureApp SC," the first nicotine addiction treatment application and CO checker in Japan, and in December of the same year, it received approval for national insurance reimbursement. The following digital therapeutics are also currently undergoing research and development NASH (nonalcoholic steato-hepatitis) therapeutic app (jointly developed with the University of Tokyo Hospital, clinical trial ongoing) Alcohol dependency therapeutic app(jointly researched with the National Hospital Organization KURIHAMA Medical and Addiction Center, clinical trial started at the Okayama City Hospital, Okayama City General Medical Center) Cancer patient support therapeutic app (jointly developed with the DAIICHI SANKYO COMPANY, LIMITED) CureApp also draws upon the knowledge accumulated through the development of these therapeutic apps for medical institutions to provide the "ascure Smoking Cessation Program" and "Specific Health Guidance-based ascure Smoking Cessation Program," a mobile health program for corporations that has been taken up at over 200 corporations and health insurance associations. CureApp leverages their knowledge in servicing both medical and corporate clients in providing an online smoking cessation program, "ascureDr. Smoking Cessation Program," to health insurance associations, corporations, and municipalities to facilitate CureApp SC prescriptions. Moving forward, CureApp will look to sequentially roll out their digital therapeutics solutions worldwide. * "CureApp SC" is a registered trademark of CureApp. [CureApp, Inc. Company Profile] Representative Director and CEO: Kohta Satake Head office: Kodenma-Cho YS building 4F, 12-5, Nihonbashi Kodenma-Cho, Chuo-ku, Tokyo, Japan Business description: Development of medical device programs, mobile health-related services URL: http://cureapp.co.jp/ [Jichi Medical University Overview] Name: Jichi Medical University Representative: Director, Toshio Oishi Address: 3311-1 Yakushiji, Shimotsuke-shi, Tochigi-ken, Japan URL: http://www.jichi.ac.jp/ View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210913005308/en/ [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [September 13, 2021] VoIP-Pal Provides a Summary of Recent Favorable Court Decisions Regarding its Pending Patent Litigations in the U.S District Courts in Northern District of California and the Western District of Texas WACO, Texas, Sept. 13, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- VoIP-Pal.com Inc. (VoIP-Pal, Company) (OTCQB: VPLM) is pleased to provide a summary regarding its current patent litigation cases and to clarify some of the recent court rulings. Last month the U.S. District Court in the North District of California (NDCAL) denied administrative motions by Apple and AT&T asking the court to relate their declaratory-judgment actions against VoIP-Pals Mobile Gateway patent lawsuit to their previously filed declaratory-judgment actions against VoIP-Pals RBR continuation patent lawsuits. Earlier this month the U.S. District Court in the Western District of Texas (WDTX), Waco Division denied requests from the defendants, Apple, AT&T and Verizon to stay VoIP-Pals existing lawsuits in the WDTX. In doing so, the Court rejected the defendants argument that the 2021 Mobile Gateway cases in WDTX were "substantially similar" to the 2021 RBR continuation cases in NDCAL. We are very pleased with these outcomes so far said VoIP-Pal CEO, Emil Malak. Hopefully these favorable decisions will be the first steps towards having our cases move forward in the Western District of Texas. We believe that our claims have merit, and we look forward to a favorable resolution of these matters. Patience is a virtue. About VoIP-Pal.com Inc. VoIP-Pal.Com, Inc. (VoIP-Pal) is a publicly traded corporation (OTCQB: VPLM) headquartered in Waco, Texas. The Company owns a portfolio of patents relating to Voice-over-Internet Protocol (VoIP) technology that it is currently looking to monetize. Any forecast of future financial performance is a forward looking statement under securities laws. Such statements are included to allow potential investors the opportunity to understand managements beliefs and opinions with respect to the future so that they may use such beliefs and opinions as one factor among many in evaluating an investment. While the Company believes in the circumstances that legal action is needed to monetize its patents, patent litigation involves various risks and uncertainties that could affect its ability to monetize the patents. We recognize that it is impossible to predict the specific outcomes of litigation. Corporate Website: www.voip-pal.com IR inquiries: IR@voip-pal.com IR Contact: Rich Inza (954) 495-4600 [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [September 13, 2021] Andes Wealth Technologies Named Winner in the Risk Tolerance/Client Profiling Category in the WealthManagement.com 2021 Industry Awards BOSTON, Sept 13, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Andes Wealth Technologies, an innovative wealth technology company, announced today that it has won the WealthManagement.com 2021 Industry Award in the Risk Tolerance/Client Profiling category. Combining behavioral finance with Risk Tolerance Test, Andes platform takes the risk conversation to a whole new level. Combining behavioral finance with its intuitive Risk Tolerance Test, Andes Wealth Platform takes the risk conversation to a whole new level. Its Risk Tolerance Test uses a single chart to map the investor's choice directly to one of the financial advisor's models, while behavioral finance helps investors identify their investor types and behavioral biases to help keep their emotions in perspective during market turmoil. "We are honored to receive this prestigious award from WealthManagement.com," said Helen Yang, CFA, founder and CEO of Andes Wealth Technologies. "Risk tolerance tools are becoming a must-have fo financial advisors and we are proud to provide the best-of-breed solution. We are also pleased to provide a way for financial advisors to use behavioral finance systematically to get to know clients really well." In addition to winning the Risk Tolerance/Client Profiling category, Andes Wealth Technologies is also a finalist in the Portfolio Analytics category for its patent-pending deep analytics and visualizations. Now in its seventh year, the WealthManagement.com Industry Awards is the only awards program to honor outstanding achievements by companies, individuals and organizations that support financial advisor success. "The WealthManagement.com Industry Awards allow us to recognize the creativity, success and excellence of firms like Andes Wealth Technologies that serve the financial advisor community," said David Armstrong, Editor-In-Chief of WealthManagement.com. "Congratulations on your achievement - we look forward to seeing you next year." About Andes Wealth Technologies Andes Wealth Technologies is the first company to combine behavioral finance with risk visualization to provide a new way to deliver wealth management services. Inspired by Dr. Andrew Lo from MIT and his Adaptive Markets Theory, Andes Wealth provides a comprehensive client onboarding and communication technology solution to help financial advisors differentiate and personalize services. Helen Yang, CFA, founder and CEO of Andes Wealth Technologies, shared the prestigious Harry Markowitz Award with Dr. Lo in 2011. Visit https://andeswealth.com to learn more. About WealthManagement.com WealthManagement.com, an Informa business, provides everything wealth professionals need to know to stay knowledgeable about the industry, build strong relationships, improve their practice, and grow their business - all from one site. Learn more about the WealthManagement 2021 Industry Awards at WealthiesCircle.com. About Informa Informa PLC is a leading international business to business information services group, operating in over 30 countries. Informa is listed on the London Stock Exchange and is a member of the FTSE 100. View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/andes-wealth-technologies-named-winner-in-the-risk-toleranceclient-profiling-category-in-the-wealthmanagementcom-2021-industry-awards-301374801.html SOURCE Andes Wealth Technologies [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [September 13, 2021] CooTek's Enhanced Profitability in Online Literature and Mobile Games Are Coming Along SHANGHAI, Sept. 13, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- CooTek (Cayman) Inc. (NYSE: CTK) ("CooTek" or the "Company"), a global mobile internet company, has achieved diversification of revenue and enhancement in profitability through the innovations in mobile gaming and original IP content, thanks to its improved digital operation and product conversion. Under the strategy of diversification, external expansion and innovation, the Company's global content ecosystem has become increasingly rich and robust. Enriching IP Content Reserve, Creating More Opportunities for Commercialization Fengdu Novel, CooTek's online literature app, has developed a solid foundation from its extensive IP content reserve, long-term operation strategy and the diversification of literature genres. In addition, Fengdu Novel has made several breakthroughs in its business model; for instance, Fengdu Novel has created a well-rounded distribution model for online literature, introducing more external players into the ecosystem to further enhance the profitability and influence of online literature business. Through the traditional online literature channels, Fengdu Novel aims to maximize its return by publishing authorized content to the target audience on its platform. In the meantime, it strives to promote its original content and cater to the user demands for fragmented content consumption on social media channels. These initiatives allow Fengdu Novel to fully unfold the value of novels and extend their lifecycle to reach a larger user group. Along with the development of original online literature, Fengdu Novel is also well-prepared to launch its derivative IP contents. In terms of audiobooks, Fengdu has been collaborating with industry leaders such as Ximalaya (????) and Lanren Tingshu (????) to expand the market for online literature audiobooks. A series of Fengdu-published novels, such as Three-Thousand-Year-Old Princess (??????), have also been authorized to be adapte into TV dramas. In the future, Fengdu will continue to expand its content ecosystem while focusing on product innovation and new technology. With the opening up of the IP value chain, the pathway to profitability has become increasingly clear. The well-rounded and bottom-up approach adopted by CooTek allows the Company to make the growth of IP contents more comprehensive, while its constant business innovation makes its growth more sustainable. Mobile Games Business Ushers in A High Monetization Period As supported by its excellent front-end operational capability, CooTek has continued to optimize the monetization capability of mobile games business. The stellar performance of CooTek's hit mobile games products has won universal recognition for the Company from the upper stream suppliers and downstream game studios. Moreover, the diversification of business models and the commercialization capabilities have been greatly improved. By integrating user traffic with the proprietary ad platform, CooTek has become more flexible in converting traffic into profits. Through strategic investment and cooperation, CooTek has built several outstanding game development teams while forming a full-service chain of game development, game operation and game publishing. For example, after launching Catwalk Beauty, a top-ranking game in more than 50 countries, CooTek's overseas game studio Smillage has developed a number of hit games, all of which have been widely followed and generating revenue with millions of dollars on a monthly basis. For the second half of 2021, CooTek expects a competitive product pipeline with more than 15 games in the domestic market and more than 20 games in the overseas market under the smooth combination of its internal development and external cooperation. At the same time, CooTek's enhanced profitability is also reflected by its long-term exploration and optimization of the IAA (In-App Advertisement) model. By integrating the various monetization tools, the ad bidding mechanism and the distinctive features of mobile games, CooTek is able to fully unleash the value of user traffic. About CooTek (Cayman) Inc. CooTek is a mobile internet company with a global vision that offers content-rich mobile applications, focusing on three categories: online literature, scenario-based content apps and mobile games. CooTek's mission is to empower everyone to enjoy relevant content seamlessly. CooTek's user-centric and data-driven approach has enabled it to release appealing products to capture mobile internet users' ever-evolving content needs and helps it rapidly attract targeted users. For more information on CooTek, please visit https://ir.cootek.com. For investor enquiries, please contact: CooTek (Cayman) Inc. Mr. Robert Yi Cui Email: ir@cootek.com ICA Investor Relations (Asia) Limited Mr. Kevin Yang Phone: +86-21-8028-6033 E-mail: cootek@icaasia.com View original content:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/cooteks-enhanced-profitability-in-online-literature-and-mobile-games-are-coming-along-301375105.html SOURCE CooTek (Cayman) Inc. [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [September 13, 2021] Carbon Streaming Announces Carbon Credit Streaming Agreement to Protect Cerrado Biome in Brazil Carbon Streaming Corporation (NEO: NETZ) (FSE: M2QA) ("Carbon Streaming" or the "Company") is pleased to announce that it has entered into a carbon credit streaming agreement ("Carbon Stream") to invest approximately US$0.5 million with Ecosystem Regeneration Associates - ERA Brazil ("ERA") to support the development and growth of ERA's Avoided Conversion Cerrado grouped project in Brazil (the "Cerrado Biome Project" or the "Project"). The Cerrado Biome Project is aimed at protecting native forests and grasslands in the Cerrado biome, one of the most biodiverse savannah regions in the world, albeit a highly threatened ecosystem due to the expansion of commercial agriculture. Investment Highlights: Under the Carbon Stream, ERA expects to deliver Voluntary Carbon Standard (" VCS ") credits generated by the Cerrado Biome Project. ") credits generated by the Cerrado Biome Project. US$512,258 investment with approximately US$250,000 paid on closing, followed by two separate payments at specific project milestones during development, implementation, validation and verification by Verra. The use of proceeds of the investment into ERA is to scale-up and build the organizational capacity to support the expansion of the Project. The Company's expectation is that the Project will generate an average of approximately 0.5 million VCS credits per year over its 30-year project life, with initial credit generation of approximately 0.1 million VCS credits per year. Project Highlights: The Project has been developed using a REDD+ grouped project scale-up model and currently consists of 2 parcels of approximately 11 thousand hectares. Verification of the Project is ongoing and anticipated to be completed in late 2021, with credit sales beginning in 2022. Expansion plans are underway to bring in additional parcels of land to increase the annual carbon credit generation. ERA has adopted the reputed SOCIALCARBON Standard, a framework developed in Brazil by the Ecologica Institute to monitor social, environmental and economic co-benefits through 18 indicators as well as contributions to multiple United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. Carbon Streaming's President & CEO Justin Cochrane said: "At Carbon Streaming we are always looking for high-quality carbon projects that complement our growing portfolio, that can provide sustainable returns and accelerate co-benefits for stakeholders. The Cerrado Biome Project is just such an opportunity, and we see significant growth potential to provide a stream of high-quality credits while protecting a unique biome. ERA has a vision that aligns with our own, and we're excited by their ambition and look forward to seeing their plans for the future come to fruition." The Cerrado Biome Project is a pioneering initiative fr native vegetation conservation of private lands in the Brazilian Cerrado, under significant threat due to expanding commercial agriculture (soy, corn, cattle) in the region. Also known as the "inverted forest", due to the huge and deep-dwelling root-system of its native vegetation (storing considerable amounts of carbon), it is the birthplace of key springs that feed major watersheds in Brazil and Latin America, including the largest aquifer of the continent, the Guarani. ERA's founder and CEO Hannah Simmons said: "We are losing the Cerrado biome at an alarming rate, roughly 2.5 times faster than the Amazon biome, giving way to agriculture and cattle ranching. The Cerrado Biome Project offers a new innovative alternative for landholders to protect surplus native vegetation while generating sustainable revenue - receiving payments for conservation through the voluntary carbon market." A portion of future carbon revenues under the Carbon Stream will be re-invested locally to support thriving communities and preserve the unique biodiversity of the region, promoting regional development and landscape connectivity through green corridors and agroforestry systems. Activities include environmental education and professional development, fire prevention, monitoring water quality and biodiversity preservation of such keystone species as jaguars, tapirs, macaws, maned wolves, giant armadillos, and giant anteaters. About ERA ERA's mission is to accelerate ecosystem conservation and catalyze regenerative agricultural systems in Brazil. Founded in 2018, ERA connects investors to landholders that want to regenerate or conserve their lands using carbon finance. By providing an economic incentive to landholders to maintain native vegetation, ERA hopes to guarantee the future of this habitat, and the species that rely on it for survival, as well as the wellbeing of local communities. More information on ERA can be found here. About Carbon Streaming Corporation Carbon Streaming is a unique ESG principled investment vehicle offering investors exposure to carbon credits, a key instrument used by both governments and corporations to achieve their carbon neutral and net-zero climate goals. Our business model is focused on acquiring, managing and growing a high-quality and diversified portfolio of investments in projects and/or companies that generate or are actively involved, directly or indirectly, with voluntary and/or compliance carbon credits. The Company invests capital through carbon credit streaming arrangements with project developers and owners to accelerate the creation of carbon offset projects by bringing capital to projects that might not otherwise be developed. Many of these projects will have significant social and economic co-benefits in addition to their carbon reduction or removal potential. To receive corporate updates via e-mail as soon as they are published, please subscribe here. Cautionary Statement Regarding Forward-Looking Information This news release contains certain forward-looking statements and forward-looking information (collectively, 'forward-looking information') within the meaning of applicable securities laws. All statements, other than statements of historical fact, that address activities, events or developments that the Company believes, expects or anticipates will or may occur in the future (including, statements and figures with respect to the estimation of future carbon credit generation and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions reductions at the Cerrado Biome Project; the use of the upfront payment and proceeds from the Carbon Stream; the generation of local community benefits; the conservation and protection of forests, grasslands and endangered species; the creation of future carbon credits; ERA's strategy going forward) are forward-looking information. This forward-looking information is based on the current expectations or beliefs of the Company based on information currently available to the Company. Forward-looking information is subject to a number of risks and uncertainties that may cause the actual results of the Company to differ materially from those discussed in the forward-looking information, and even if such actual results are realized or substantially realized, there can be no assurance that they will have the expected consequences to, or effects on, the Company. Factors that could cause actual results or events to differ materially from current expectations include, among other things: general economic, market and business conditions and the other risks disclosed under the heading "Risk Factors" and elsewhere in the Company's AIF dated as of June 30, 2021 filed on SEDAR at www.sedar.com. 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, the Company disclaims any intent or obligation to update any forward-looking information, whether as a result of new information, future events or results or otherwise. Although the Company believes that the assumptions inherent in the forward-looking information are reasonable, forward-looking information is not a guarantee of future performance and accordingly undue reliance should not be put on such statements due to the inherent uncertainty therein. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210913005313/en/ [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [September 13, 2021] Tauriga Sciences Inc. Completes Funding of the Study Protocol Phase of its Recently Initiated Clinical Trial NEW YORK, NY, Sept. 13, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- via NewMediaWire -- Tauriga Sciences, Inc. (OTCQB: TAUG) (Tauriga or the Company), a New York based diversified Life Sciences Company, today announced that it has completed the funding of the Study Protocol phase of its recently initiated Clinical Trial. This purpose of which, is: to examine the Effects of Different Cannabidiol Doses on Reducing the Frequency and Severity of Nausea in Otherwise Healthy Pregnant Women with Excessive First Trimester Emesis and the Diagnosis of Hyperemesis Gravidarum. The finalized Study Protocol (Protocol) will be submitted to, reviewed by, and subject to approval from a central Institutional Review Board (IRB). The Companys expects to formally submit its Protocol to the IRB within the next 30 days. Recall that on August 31, 2021, the Company announced that it had initiated a clinical trial to examine the Effects of Cannabidiol Doses on Pregnant Women with Diagnosis of Hyperemesis Gravidarum. The Companys proposed Cannabidiol delivery system (via: sublingual absorption / oral mucosa), utilizes its proprietary Cannabidiol infused chewing gum platform. This focuses on Sublingual Delivery, which refers to the pharmacological route of administration by which substances diffuse into the blood through tissues under the tongue. The Company expects to develop mission critical versions of its proprietary chewing gum, incorporating varying concentrations of CBD (potentially combined with other substances). The Company will provide an update to shareholders (via press release) once the IRB renders a decision with respect to this Protocol. The Company anticipates that this will occur within the next 90 days. ABOUT TAURIGA SCIENCES INC. Tauriga Sciences, Inc. (TAUG) is a revenue generating, diversified life sciences company, engaged in several major business activities and initiatives. The company manufactures and distributes several proprietary retail products and product lines, mainly focused on the Cannabidiol (CBD) and Cannabigerol (CBG) Edibles market segment. The main product line, branded as Tari-Gum, consists of a proprietary supplement chewing gum that is Kosher certified, Halal certified, and Vegan Formulated (CBD Infused Tauri-Gum Flavors: Mint, Blood Orange, Pomegranate), (CBG Infused Tauri-Gum Flavors: Peach-Lemon, Black Currant), (DELTA 8 THC Infused Tauri-Gum Flavor: Evergreen Mint), (Vitamin C + Zinc Infused Tauri-Gum Flavor: Pear Bellini), (Caffeine Infused Tauri-Gum Flavor: Cherry Lime Rickey), & (Vitamin D3 Infused Tauri-Gum Flavor: Golden Raspberry). The Companys commercialization strategy consists of a broad array of retail customers, distributors, and a fast-growing E-Commerce business segment (E-Commerce website: www.taurigum.com). Please visit our corporate website, for additional information, as well as inquiries, at http://www.tauriga.com Complementary to the Companys retail business, is its ongoing Pharmaceutical Development initiative. This relates to the development of a proposed Pharmaceutical grade version of Tauri-Gum, for nausea regulation (specifically designed for the following indication: Patients Subjected to Ongoing Chemotherapy Treatment). On March 22, 2021, the Company announced that it had Converted its U.S. Provisional Patent Application (filed on March 17, 2020) into a U.S. Non-Provisional Patent Application. The Patent, filed with the U.S.P.T.O. is Titled MEDICATED CBD COMPOSITIONS, METHODS OF MANUFACTURING, AND METHODS OF TREATMENT. On December 18, 2020 the Company disclosed that it had entered into a Master Services Agreement with CSTI to lead the Company's clinical development efforts. The Company is headquartered in Wappingers Falls, New York. In addition, the Company operates two full time E-Commerce fulfillment centers: one located in Montgomery, Texas and the other in Brooklyn, New York. DISCLAIMER -- Forward-Looking Statements This press release contains certain forward-looking statements as defined by the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 which represent managements beliefs and assumptions concerning future events. These forward-looking statements are often indicated by using words such as may, will, expects, anticipates, believes, hopes, believes, or plans, and may include statements regarding corporate objectives as well as the attainment of certain corporate goals and milestones. Forward-looking statements are based on present circumstances and on managements present beliefs with respect to events that have not occurred, that may not occur, or that may occur with different consequences or timing than those now assumed or anticipated. Actual results may differ materially from those expressed in forward looking statements due to known and unknown risks and uncertainties, such as are not guarantees of general economic and business conditions, the ability to successfully develop and market products, consumer and business consumption habits, the ability to consummate successful acquisition and licensing transactions, fluctuations in exchange rates, and other factors over which Tauriga has little or no control. Many of these risks and uncertainties are discussed in greater detail in the Risk Factors section of Taurigas Form 10-K and other periodic filings made from time to time with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Such forward-looking statements are made only as of the date of this release, and Tauriga assumes no obligation to update forward-looking statements to reflect subsequent events or circumstances. You should not place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements. Contact: Tauriga Sciences, Inc. 4 Nancy Court, Suite 4 Wappingers Falls, NY 12590 Chief Executive Officer Mr. Seth M. Shaw Email: sshaw@tauriga.com cell # (917) 796 9926 Company Instagram: @taurigum Personal Instagram: @sethsms47 Twitter: @SethMShaw Corp. Website: www.tauriga.com E-Commerce Website: www.taurigum.com [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [September 13, 2021] Copado Raises $140 Million Series C Round to Expand Its DevOps Platform Across Leading Enterprise SaaS Clouds, Approaches $1.2 Billion Valuation CHICAGO, Sept. 13, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Copado , a leading DevOps platform powering some of the world's largest digital transformations, today announced it has raised $140 million in Series C financing, bringing the total funds invested in the company to $257 million. The financing was led by Insight Partners with participation from new investors SoftBank Vision Fund 2 , Declaration Partners and DG Ventures , as well as existing investors Salesforce Ventures , ISAI Cap Venture (Capgemini and ISAI joint fund), Lead Edge Capital , and Perpetual Investors . Strategic investor IBM Ventures also participated in the round and will provide global expertise to the company as it expands its international presence. Citing a valuation approaching $1.2 billion, Copado will use the new funding to expand its DevOps and AI-enabled testing solutions across the leading enterprise SaaS platforms driving today's digital transformation projects. Proceeds will also be used to fuel international growth, particularly into the Asia-Pacific (APAC) market with SoftBank and Digital Garage Group's support. According to IDC, the total addressable market for DevOps is $18 billion, reflecting the tremendous growth potential for Copado's solutions. "DevOps is now strategic to every business as digital economies become mainstream," said Ted Elliott, Chief Executive Officer for Copado. "Nearly every company in the world is looking to accelerate their develpment lifecycle and empower teams to quickly deliver software without the fear of failed deployments. Since I joined Copado, we've been focused on making release days obsolete, allowing businesses to deliver more features, faster, more securely and with high quality. Copado is powering the next generation of cross-cloud digital transformation." Copado continued its impressive growth in the first half of fiscal 2022, more than doubling annual recurring revenue (ARR) and tripling the number of new seven-figure client engagements. More than 1,100 global brands now run on Copado including AmerisourceBergen , Cox Automotive and Linde . In the last six months, Copado added Campbell's, Splunk, Standard Bank and TalkTalk Group to the roster, signed collaboration agreements with industry leaders IBM , SoftBank Robotics and Veeva , and grew to more than 500 employees globally. The company completed acquisitions of New Context and Qentinel to bring additional security and AI-enabled automated testing capabilities to its platform. Copado's Summer 21 release was an industry milestone, creating the first and only true multi-cloud DevOps platform for enterprise SaaS and low-code development. "Rapid adoption of cloud technologies and low-code development products is underpinned by a driving need to digitally deliver services faster than ever before," said Nikitas Koutoupes, Managing Director at Insight Partners and Copado board member. "The best way for any CIO to ensure that their development team is up to the task of delivering secure, high-quality software at a rapid pace is to implement DevOps across the software development life cycle. DevOps is the engine of digitalization. We believe in Copado's ability to help companies achieve success in a multi-cloud world and are excited to be collaborating with its world-class team as they continue to deliver unparalleled value to their customers." "The enthusiastic support from customers and investors has been the driving force behind our success, enabling us to build a transformational company," said Philipp Rackwitz, Chief Strategy Officer and co-founder of Copado. "Today, our customers are asking us to replicate the success they have experienced using Copado with Salesforce on other SaaS platforms. This customer driven innovation is fueling our growth and multi-cloud expansion strategy. We are excited to find ourselves only at the beginning of this extraordinary journey." Copado is redefining how to achieve success with enterprise SaaS and low-code platforms with its data-driven approach to delivering faster, higher quality releases and improving trust across digital transformation projects. Organizations using Copado reported 20x shorter lead times, 10x faster recovery times and 4x reduction in change fail rate, driving $4.5 million in value and an ROI of 307% over three years with payback in less than six months. Additional Resources LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/copado-solutions-s.l/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/CopadoSolutions Copado blog: https://www.copado.com/learning/blog/ About Insight Partners Insight Partners is a leading global venture capital and private equity firm investing in high-growth technology and software ScaleUp companies that are driving transformative change in their industries. Founded in 1995, Insight Partners has invested in more than 400 companies worldwide and has raised through a series of funds more than $30 billion in capital commitments. Insight's mission is to find, fund, and work successfully with visionary executives, providing them with practical, hands-on software expertise to foster long-term success. Across its people and its portfolio, Insight encourages a culture around a belief that ScaleUp companies and growth create opportunity for all. For more information on Insight and all its investments, visit www.insightpartners.com or follow us on Twitter @insightpartners. About Copado Copado is the leading DevOps platform enabling some of the world's largest digital transformations in the cloud. Backed by Insight Partners and Salesforce Ventures, Copado accelerates cloud deployments, simplifies the release process, increases developer productivity, automates security and compliance, and maximizes return on cloud investments. Copado DevOps 360 includes Value Planning, Continuous Delivery, Automated Testing, Security and Compliance. More than 1,000 companies run on Copado including Boston Scientific, Coca-Cola, Fair Trade, Linde, MassMutual, Schneider Electric and Shell. Copado processes over 50 million DevOps transactions per month and is rated with a 100% score on the Salesforce AppExchange. More information can be found at: http://www.copado.com . View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/copado-raises-140-million-series-c-round-to-expand-its-devops-platform-across-leading-enterprise-saas-clouds-approaches-1-2-billion-valuation-301374969.html SOURCE Copado [September 13, 2021] DeFi Technologies, Through its Subsidiary Valour, Announces Launch of Solana Exchange Traded Product on Nordic Exchange New exchange traded product (" ETP "), Valour Solana (SOL) SEK, will enable institutions and individuals to invest in the SOL token as easily as buying shares from their bank or broker Trading in Valour Solana (SOL) SEK to begin on September 16th, 2021 on Nordic Growth Market stock exchange ("NGM"). TORONTO, Sept. 13, 2021 /PRNewswire/ - Valour Inc. ("Valour"), a subsidiary of DeFi Technologies Inc. (the "Company" or "DeFi Technologies") (NEO:DEFI) (GR: RMJ.F) (OTC: DEFTF) and issuer of investment products focused on digital assets, has announced it will launch its Solana ETP (VALOUR SOLANA (SOL) SEK - CH1114178762) on the NGM. Trading in Valour Solana (SOL) SEK is expected to begin on September 16, 2021. The Valour Solana ETP enables investors to gain exposure to SOL, the native cryptocurrency in Solana's ecosystem, simply and securely, via their bank or broker. Solana is the fastest blockchain in the world and the fastest growing ecosystem in the crypto universe, with more than 400 projects spanning DeFi, NFTs, Web3 and more. It currently sits is among the top ten cryptocurrencies in the world by market capitalization1, at USD $52.36 billion as of September 13th. Solana is a programmable blockchain that can run multiple decentralized finance operations. "The launch of the Valour Solana ETP is another achievement for our team in our mission to make the digital asset ecosystem accessible via mainstream channels," said Valour CEO Diana Biggs. "We've seen tremendous interest in the Solana ecosystem and this product is testament to the team's ability to rapidly respond to that demand, not only by bringing innovative products to market but the most cost-effective for investors. This is yet another major step for Valour and Defi Technologies as we continue to create not just revolutionary products but also shareholder value. With the Valour Solana ETP, and other innovative ETPs in the works, along with imminently listing our products on numerous other global exchanges we anticipate our AUM to grow rapidly." By gaining exposure to digital assets via Valour, investors of DeFi Technologies benefit from the standardisation, risk reduction and operational efficiency of a centrally-cleared product listed on a regulated stock exchange. For each exchange traded product of Valour that is bought and sold on the stock exchange, Valour purchases or sells the equivalent amount of the underlying digital assets, meaning the products are fully backed at all times. "Solana has gathered tremendous momentum in the broader blockchain community. It is great to see our team spotting this so rapidly by creating a new ETP such that public market investors can benefit from this nascent but growing protocol," said Wouter Witvoet, Chief Executive Officer, DeFi Technologies. ____________________ 1 Coinmarketcap.com as at 2 September, 2021 About Valour Solana (SOL) SEK Valour Solana (SOL) SEK (ISIN: CH1114178770) is a fully-hedged, passive investment product with Solana's native token, SOL, as its underlying asset. The new Valour Solana ETP, available in Swedish krona, is traded on the NGM, a regulated stock exchange based in Stockholm, Sweden, under local ticker VALOUR SOLANA SEK. Available for purchase via banks or brokers in the same way as any other security, the Valour Solana ETP removes the mystery, complexity and costs of trading and custody of SOL that have thus far impeded mainstream adoption of digital assets and decentralised finance. About Valour Valour Inc. issues exchange-listed financial products that enable retail and institutional investors to access investment in disruptive innovations, such as digital assets, in a simple and secure way. Established in 2019 and based in Zug, Switzerland, Valour is a wholly owned subsidiary of DeFi Technologies Inc. (NEO:DEFI, GR: RMJ.F, OTC: DEFTF). For more information on Valour, visit www.valour.com. About DeFi Technologies DeFi Technologies Inc. is a digital asset investment firm bridging the gap between traditional capital markets and decentralised finance. Our mission is to expand investor access to industry-leading decentralised technologies and the future of finance. We believe that decentralised technologies lie at the heart of financial innovation. On behalf of our shareholders and investors, we identify opportunities and areas of innovation, and build and invest in new technologies and ventures in order to provide diversified exposure across decentralized finance. As a trusted partner for our clients and investors, we provide industry-leading products and top-quality research and education in this fast-growing space. For more information visit https://defi.tech/. Cautionary note regarding forward-looking information: This press release contains "forward-looking information" within the meaning of applicable Canadian securities legislation. Forward-looking information includes, but is not limited to, statements with respect to the growth and adoption of decentralized finance; the pursuit by DeFi Technologies of business opportunities; the offering and trading of Valour Solana ETP on the NGM; the development of future ETPs and the merits or potential returns of any such opportunities. Generally, forward-looking information can be identified by the use of forward-looking terminology such as "plans", "expects" or "does not expect", "is expected", "budget", "scheduled", "estimates", "forecasts", "intends", "anticipates" or "does not anticipate", or "believes", or variations of such words and phrases or state that certain actions, events or results "may", "could", "would", "might" or "will be taken", "occur" or "be achieved". Forward-looking information is subject to known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause the actual results, level of activity, performance or achievements of the Company, as the case may be, to be materially different from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking information. Such risks, uncertainties and other factors include, but is not limited to, the growth and development of the Valour Solana ETP and the DeFi and cryptocurrency sector; rules and regulations with respect to DeFi; regulatory approval of ETPs abnd future adoption of Valour's ETPs. Although the Company has attempted to identify important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those contained in forward-looking information, there may be other factors that cause results not to be as anticipated, estimated or intended. There can be no assurance that such information will prove to be accurate, as actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking information. The Company does not undertake to update any forward-looking information, except in accordance with applicable securities laws. THE NEO STOCK EXCHANGE DOES NOT ACCEPT RESPONSIBILITY FOR THE ADEQUACY OR ACCURACY OF THIS RELEASE View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/defi-technologies-through-its-subsidiary-valour-announces-launch-of-solana-exchange-traded-product-on-nordic-exchange-301375067.html SOURCE DeFi Technologies, Inc. [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [September 13, 2021] Ether Capital Announces Appointment of Chief Technical Officer Ether Capital Corporation ("Ether Capital" or the "Company") (NEO: ETHC) is pleased to announce the appointment of Shayan Eskandari as Chief Technical Officer ("CTO") of the Company, effective immediately. "We're thrilled to welcome such a high quality technical expert to drive technology product development at Ether Capital and help the Company execute on its next phase of growth, said Brian Mosoff, CEO of Ether Capital. "Shayan will be instrumental in helping the Company leverage its technical capabilities, including around staking, decentralized finance ("DeFi") and other strategic opportunities and product initiatives within the Ethereum ecosystem that we are pursuing." Shayan Eskandari has a Masters in Information Systems Engineering from Concordia University and has dedicated his academic and career pursuits to blockchain technology since 2012. Previously, Shayan was a senior security auditor for ConsenSys Diligence, part of the ConsenSys Inc. group of entities founded by Joseph Lubin, one of Ethereum's co-founders. Prior to his work at ConsenSys, Shayan was a senior blockchain engineer at Bitaccess, where he led the building of an enterprise grade cryptocurrency wallet management system. Shayan is an author of numerous peer reviewed papers on blockchain technologies, having most recently published a systemization of knowledge on oracle designs within a blockchain framework. Shayan has previously worked with the Government of Canada's National Research Council ("NRC") on a pilot program to use the Ethereum blockchain to improve the transparency and integrity of publicly-disclosed NRC grant and funding information. "I am delighted to join Ether Capital and look forward to helping the team achieve its goals, particularly around staking and building products leveraging blockchain technology and DeFi," said Mr. Eskandari. "I believe Ether Capital is a great opportunity for me to put to use both my theoretical understanding of the technology as well as my experience building and auditing key pieces of infrastructure in the Ethereum ecosystem." About Ether Capital Corporation Ether Capital is a Toronto-based technology company whose long-term objective is to become the central business and investment hub for the Ethereum and Web 3 ecosystem. Ether Capital has invested in Ethereum's native utility token "Ether" as a strateic asset, and selectively invests in projects, protocols and businesses that leverage the Ethereum ecosystem and Web 3 technologies. Founded by a highly experienced Board of Directors and management team, Ether Capital has the experience and relationships to support businesses and invest in industry-shifting disruptive technologies. For more information, visit http://ethcap.co/. The content of this document is for informational purposes only, and is not being provided in the context of an offering of any securities described herein, nor is it a recommendation or solicitation to buy, hold or sell any security. The information is not investment advice, nor is it tailored to the needs or circumstances of any investor. Information contained on this document is not, and under no circumstances is it to be construed as, an offering memorandum, prospectus, advertisement or public offering of securities. No securities commission or similar regulatory authority has reviewed this document and any representation to the contrary is an offence. Information contained in this document is believed to be accurate and reliable, however, we cannot guarantee that it is complete or current at all times. The information provided is subject to change without notice and neither Ether Capital Corporation, nor any of its affiliates, will be held liable for inaccuracies in the information presented. Forward-Looking Information This press release contains "forward-looking information" within the meaning of applicable Canadian securities legislation. Forward-looking information includes, but is not limited to, statements in regard to the Etherum Protocol upgrades. The Company cautions the reader not to place undue reliance upon any such forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date they are made. Generally, but not always, forward-looking information can be identified by the use of forward-looking terminology such as "plans", "expects" or "does not expect", "is expected", "budget", "scheduled", "estimates", "forecasts", "intends", "on pace", "anticipates", or "does not anticipate", "believes", and similar expressions or state that certain actions, events or results "may", "could", "would", "should", "might", or "will" be taken, occur or be achieved. Forward-looking statements are based on information available to management at the time they are made, management's current plans, estimates, assumptions, judgments and expectations. Forward-looking information is subject to known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause the actual results, level of activity, performance or achievements of the Company to be materially different from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking information. Such risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to: general business, economic, competitive, geopolitical, technological and social uncertainties; uncertainties in regard to the development and acceptance of blockchain technology (including proof of stake and Ethereum 2.0), and the Ethereum platform and anticipated timing and impact of the Ethereum network upgrade, the impact of the outbreak of the COVID-19 coronavirus on the Company, and the other risk factors discussed in the Company's Annual Information Form dated March 25, 2021, the Risk Factors section in its most recently filed management's discussion and analysis, the Risk Factors section in its Supplement and Base Shelf Prospectus and its other filings available on-line at www.sedar.com. Although the forward-looking information contained in this press release is based on assumptions that the Company believes to be reasonable at the date such statements are made, there can be no assurance that the forward-looking information will prove to be accurate, as actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such forward-looking information. In addition, the Company cautions the reader that information provided in this press release is provided in order to give context to the nature of some of the Company's future plans and may not be appropriate for other purposes. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking information. The Company does not undertake to update or revise any forward-looking information, except in accordance with applicable securities laws. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210913005229/en/ [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [September 13, 2021] Bobbie Launches Feeding Study Alongside New Data That Shows 90% of Recent Moms Admit Caring for Their Baby Negatively Impacted Their Mental Health Today Bobbie, the only female-founded and mom-led infant formula company in the U.S., announced a new feeding study and research report called 'The Feeding Confessionals': a year long project capturing the personal video diaries of ten different parents throughout their feeding journeys backed by new third party research on the connection between infant feeding and parents' mental health. The Feeding Confessionals helps new parents and parents-to-be see raw, real, first-hand feeding journeys from across the US. To help support the mental health of a parent's fourth trimester, Bobbie teamed up with Mindful Mamas, a maternal wellness app company, to offer 20 first of their kind, guided meditations that hit four main feeding hurdles-Breastfeeding/Chestfeeding, Pumping, Bottle Feeding, and Weaning-specifically tailored to support parents through the emotional rollercoaster of feeding a baby. This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210913005285/en/ "Normalizing the facets of the feeding journey is critical for mental health. Under-education and misaligned expectations are a perfect environment for creating anxiety, isolation, and depression," stated Chief Wellness Advisor, Erica Chidi co-founder and CEO of LOOM. "Bobbie is reimagining the future of feeding support for parents with this rich content series and first of its kind meditation tools." Bobbie commissioned a survey to evaluate maternal mental health during the feeding journey and learned that the guilt and stress of new motherhood is taking a heavy toll-so much so that mothers can't even be honest with those who are supposed to be supporting them. To avoid judgment, nearly half (46%) of recent moms have lied about their feeding choices-including the majority of working moms (54%), according to a survey of 1,000 recent U.S. moms by Wakefield Research for Bobbie. When the years that should be filled with joy are overshadowed by guilt, it may be time to change the conversation around infant feeding. Other findings include: 90% of recent moms admit that the challenges of caring for their baby had a negative impact on their mental health 72% of recent moms said that feeding their baby was much more challenging than they had anticipated 70% of moms who had intended to exclusively breastfeed until 6 months were not able to meet that expectation 79% admit they have felt guilty about some aspect of their infant feeding jourey. "We set out to create a community at Bobbie and that starts by offering understanding and empathy to every parent that struggles to feed their baby. Every journey has its beauty," said Modi. "We recognize that the health benefits of breastfeeding (for the mother and baby) cannot be compared to formula but we hope to end feeding stigma in the parenting community because it has a severe impact on moms' mental health, emotions, and wellbeing," she added. The Feeding Confessionals will offer support on topics such as: What to do when your milk doesn't come in on time What the heck is a vasospasm What happens when your frozen milk contains too much lipase Advice for returning to work What to do when baby won't latch for several weeks to keep your BM supply going How to introduce formula when needed without feeling guilty- but educated on the decision In addition to the online hub, Bobbie is offering additional support to parents by partnering with Mindful Mamas, a maternal wellness company offering digital support to moms in need of daily encouragement through their mindfulness and self-care app. The Mindful Mamas' app can be downloaded on both iOS and Android (News - Alert) , and each of the 20 feeding journey guided meditations will be available for free- sponsored by Bobbie through the end of November. "On a daily basis, the Mindful Mamas team speaks with mothers who are riddled with guilt, second-guessing their decisions, or overwhelmed by information. We must continue to normalize experiences and give our mothers a safe place to rest their busy minds," said Mindful Mamas CEO and Founder Terra LaRock. "That's exactly what the app's new feeding meditations do. They normalize, they educate, they encourage, and they empower. We need to keep the drumbeat of maternal wellness alive, and that includes evolving the conversation around how we feed our babies," she added. With the launch of Feeding Confessionals, Bobbie aims to continue the conversation by conducting one of the largest social studies on maternal health of the feeding journey. The study will capture the journeys of 400 new moms over 6 months from pregnancy through the 4th Trimester via video diaries to understand how much expectations varied from reality. As a purpose-driven company, Bobbie started with community, not commerce. They first launched Milk-Drunk, a content site providing a place for parents at the crossroads of feeding to get straightforward answers, support, and information. They launched The MotherLode, an initiative enabling Bobbie customers to become their investors to start a new kind of relationship between brands and its consumers, democratize fundraising, and allow parents to invest in brands they believe in and use. Bobbie also recently launched their first national awareness campaign to evolve the conversation around how we feed our babies to be more inclusive of all parents and to normalize every kind of feeding journey. To see the full data report and Feeding Confessionals Whitepaper visit here: www.hibobbie.com/feedingconfesssionalsreport. About Bobbie Bobbie is an Organic Infant Formula company that exists to build a parenting culture of confidence, not comparison, where every parent is supported in the feeding choice that is right for them and their baby. Bobbie will be initially selling direct-to-consumer and offering a subscription service to parents across the US. Bobbie is mom-founded and led and supported by a 20 person "Motherboard" of advisors and a Medical Advisors made up of doctors, lactation consultants, doulas, pediatricians, and professionals who contribute their expertise to building a next-generation formula company. Bobbie was founded in 2018, is based in San Francisco, and is venture backed. For more information on Bobbie, visit www.hibobbie.com, and follow Bobbie on Instagram @bobbie. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210913005285/en/ [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [September 13, 2021] 21st Anniversary KCS Holiday Express to Benefit The Salvation Army in 21 Communities Kansas City Southern (KCS) (NYSE: KSU) announced today that it will celebrate the 21st anniversary of its KCS Holiday Express program and partnership with The Salvation Army with a fundraiser to benefit the Salvation Army in 21 communities on its U.S. rail network. Due to the ongoing pandemic, KCS will not operate its Holiday Express train, which traditionally draws large crowds in free, public events. "KCS is pleased to celebrate 21 years of Holiday Express benefiting The Salvation Army in communities throughout our U.S. rail network," said KCS president and CEO Patrick J. Ottensmeyer. "While it's still not safe to gather for visits with Santa and tours through the train, the true stars of the show are The Salvation Army and the work it does all year round." "In this pandemic, the fastest increasing area of need is for families who will be unable to pay their rent or mortgages and face eviction. The donations The Salvation Army will receive through the KCS Holiday Express will keep families in their homes and keep hope marching on for them into 2022," said Major Kelly Collins, divisional commander of The Salvation Army Kansas and Western Missouri Division. The 21 communities that will receive the funds raised for The Salvation Army include Kansas City and Slater, Mo.; East St. Louis, Ill.; Pittsburg, Kan.; Ashdown and Mena, Ark.; Poteau and Stilwell, Okla.; Houston, Laredo, Port Arthur, Victoria and Wylie, Texa; Baton Rouge, DeQuincy, Gonzalez and Shreveport, La.; and Corinth, Jackson, Meridian and Vicksburg, Miss. Over 20 years, the charitable component of the KCS Holiday Express project has raised well over $2.6 million. Anyone interested in making a tax-deductible contribution to the 2021 KCS Holiday Express fundraising campaign may do so at https://donate.salarmymokan.org/KCSHolidayExpress2021. The KCS Holiday Express was built on the tradition of the Santa Train, which ran on a segment of the network bought by KCS in 1997. In 2000, a group of warm-hearted KCS employees noticed that the Santa Train was the only Christmas some kids had, and that some kids did not have essential items like coats, hats and gloves, so they committed to elevating the project. In 2001, volunteers transformed a retired freight train to the KCS Holiday Express experience that thousands have enjoyed for 19 years. In the first 19 years, the KCS Holiday Express train stopped in 20 or more communities in five or six states between Thanksgiving and Christmas. At each stop, visitors could board the train, meet Santa and his elves and tour the inside of three cars of the festive six-car train. These events did not take place in 2020 and will not take place in 2021 due to the pandemic. Headquartered in Kansas City, Mo., KCS is a transportation holding company that has railroad investments in the U.S., Mexico and Panama. Its primary U.S. holding is The Kansas City Southern Railway Company, serving the central and south-central U.S. Its international holdings include Kansas City Southern de Mexico, S.A. de C.V., serving northeastern and central Mexico and the port cities of Lazaro Cardenas, Tampico and Veracruz, and a 50 percent interest in Panama Canal Railway Company, providing ocean-to-ocean freight and passenger service along the Panama Canal. KCS' North American rail holdings and strategic alliances with other North American rail partners are primary components of a unique railway system, linking the commercial and industrial centers of the U.S., Mexico and Canada. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210913005483/en/ [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [September 13, 2021] Filament Health to Webcast Live at Life Sciences Investor Forum September 16th VANCOUVER, British Columbia, Sept. 13, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Filament Health (NEO:FH), an exclusively-natural psychedelic drug discovery and extraction technology company based in Vancouver, British Columbia, today announced that Benjamin Lightburn, CEO and Co-Founder, will present live at LifeSciencesInvestorForum.com on September 16th. DATE: Thursday, September 16th TIME: 11:30am ET LINK: https://bit.ly/3mKt7tj This will be a live, interactive online event where investors are invited to ask Benjamin questions about Filaments recent period highlights, which included several industry firsts, as well as the companys upcoming plans, 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.lifesciencesinvestorforum.com . Recent Filament Health Company Highlights Became the first public company to be issued a patent for extraction of natural psilocybin; filed 20th patent application including three international PCT applications Received Health Canada Dealers License amendment to allow the possession, production, and delivery of all controlled natural psychedelic substances Successfully completed industry-first export of natural GMP psychedelics to the United States Announced approval to trade on OTC Pink Market plus plans to commence trading on OTCQB About Filament Health Filament Health is an exclusively-natural psychedelic drug discovery and extraction technology company. Its mission is to see safe, approved, natural psychedelics in the hands of everyone who needs them as soon as possible. Filament believes measurable and efficacious medicines will be a catalyst to addressing many of the worlds mental health problems and that natural psychedelics provide an optimal option for widespread adoption of these substances. Filament engages in natural extraction technology commercialization, utilizing its intellectual property portfolio, in-house GMP facility, and Health Canada Dealers License for all natural psychedelics. Filament is headquartered in Vancouver, British Columbia and trades on Canadas NEO Exchange (NEO:FH). About Life Sciences Investor Forum Life Sciences Investor Forum is the leading proprietary investor conference series that provides an interactive forum for Life Sciences companies to meet with and present directly to investors. A real-time solution for investor engagement, Life Sciences Investor Forum is powered by Intrado Digital Media and specifically designed for more efficient investor access. Replicating the look and feel of on-site investor conferences, Life Sciences Investor Forum combines leading-edge conferencing and investor communications capabilities with a comprehensive global investor audience network. CONTACTS: Filament Health Anna Cordon Director of Communications (778) 245-9067 anna@filament.health Life Sciences Investor Forum John M. Viglotti SVP Corporate Services, Investor Access (212) 220-2221 johnv@lifesciencesinvestorforum.com [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [September 13, 2021] Wipro and First Horizon Bank Forge a Cloud-Based Fintech Future for VirtualBank Wipro (News - Alert) Limited (NYSE: WIT, BSE: 507685, NSE: WIPRO), a leading global information technology, consulting and business process services company, has partnered with Tennessee-based First Horizon Bank (FHN) to transform the core banking channels and servicing capabilities of VirtualBank, an established digital bank that FHN inherited from Louisiana-based IBERIABANK as part of the merger completed in 2020. The combined entity's assets are approximately $87 billion. Wipro worked with six other companies to streamline VirtualBank's cloud migration and support its fintech stack on a public cloud ecosystem. Wipro also supported the bank's end-to-end program management, governance, customer data conversion, migration and validation, systems integration and testing services. This partnership resulted in a comprehensive transformation of VirtualBank's legacy technology stack to a cloud-based, Application Programming Interface (API) enabled offering. Wipro partnered with FHN to evaluate the fintech cloud products; developed end-to-end solution architecture, core configuration and accounting fund flows; and managed customer data migration and a quality assurance plan. Wipro also invested in a real-time event aggregator capable of collecting mission critical events from various cloud sources and reconciling and reporting on them for regulatory purposes. Wipro's business domain and technological insight and expertise contributed to a rapid cloud migration, requiring about eight months to complete the project implementation. "Offering full cloud support to a digital bank with thousands of customers was a challenging exercise. Wipro was able to help guide the process by combining the best aspects of modern and legacy financial systems. A repeatable playbook was created for the go-live launch sequence that can bring a competitive advantage to the market. Wipro is proud to be First Horizon's strategic business partner in this journey which has better equipped both companies for the future," said Mahesh Raja, Vice President and Sector Head - Banking and Financial Services, Americas, Wipro Limited. "We are proud to work with Wipro to support VirtualBank's adoption of cloud technology and new capabilities. Through a collaborative process, we addressed the unique challenges of converting to a cloud-based ecosystem and setting up new capabilities to build upon in the future," said Anthony Restel, Chief Operating Officer, First Horizon. Wipro has a successful history of supporting cloud migration for a range of enterprises, taking a bespoke approach that considers the unique situation of every customer and partner to create the ideal digital transformation. About Wipro Limited Wipro Limited (NYSE: WIT, BSE: 507685, NSE: WIPRO) is a leading global information technology, consulting and business process services company. We harness the power of cognitive computing, hyper-automation, robotics, cloud, analytics and emerging technologies to help our clients adapt to the digital world and make them successful. A company recognized globally for its comprehensive portfolio of services, strong commitment to sustainability and good corporate citizenship, we have over 200,000 dedicated employees serving clients across six continents. Together, we discover ideas and connect the dots to build a better and a bold new future. About First Horizon Bank First Horizon Corp. (NYSE: FHN), with $87.9 billion in assets as of June 30, 2021, is a leading regional financial services company dedicated to strengthening the lives of our associates, clients, shareholders, and communities. Headquartered in Memphis, TN, the banking subsidiary First Horizon Bank operates in 12 states across the southern U.S. The Company and its subsidiaries offer commercial, private banking, consumer, small business, wealth and trust management, retail brokerage, capital markets, fixed income, mortgage, and title insurance services. First Horizon has been recognized as one of the nation's best employers by Fortune and Forbes magazines and a Top 10 Most Reputable U.S. Bank. More information is available at www.FirstHorizon.com. Forward-Looking Statements The forward-looking statements contained herein represent Wipro's beliefs regarding future events, many of which are by their nature, inherently uncertain and outside Wipro's control. Such statements include, but are not limited to, statements regarding Wipro's growth prospects, its future financial operating results, and its plans, expectations and intentions. Wipro cautions readers that the forward-looking statements contained herein are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from the results anticipated by such statements. Such risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to, risks and uncertainties regarding fluctuations in our earnings, revenue and profits, our ability to generate and manage growth, complete proposed corporate actions, intense competition in IT services, our ability to maintain our cost advantage, wage increases in India, our ability to attract and retain highly skilled professionals, time and cost overruns on fixed-price, fixed-time frame contracts, client concentration, restrictions on immigration, our ability to manage our international operations, reduced demand for technology in our key focus areas, disruptions in telecommunication networks, our ability to successfully complete and integrate potential acquisitions, liability for damages on our service contracts, the success of the companies in which we make strategic investments, withdrawal of fiscal governmental incentives, political instability, war, legal restrictions on raising capital or acquiring companies outside India, unauthorized use of our intellectual property and general economic conditions affecting our business and industry. The conditions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic could decrease technology spending, adversely affect demand for our products, affect the rate of customer spending and could adversely affect our customers' ability or willingness to purchase our offerings, delay prospective customers' purchasing decisions, adversely impact our ability to provide on-site consulting services and our inability to deliver our customers or delay the provisioning of our offerings, all of which could adversely affect our future sales, operating results and overall financial performance. Our operations may also be negatively affected by a range of external factors related to the COVID-19 pandemic that are not within our control. Additional risks that could affect our future operating results are more fully described in our filings with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission, including, but not limited to, Annual Reports on Form 20-F. These filings are available at www.sec.gov. We may, from time to time, make additional written and oral forward-looking statements, including statements contained in the company's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission and our reports to shareholders. We do not undertake to update any forward-looking statement that may be made from time to time by us or on our behalf. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210913005508/en/ [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [September 13, 2021] Value Colleges Releases Rankings of the Best Online Criminal Justice Programs in the US CHAPEL HILL, N.C., Sept. 13, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Value Colleges ( www.valuecolleges.com ), an independent online guide to the best values in undergraduate and graduate education, is pleased to share three new rankings: Top 25 Best Value Online Undergraduate Criminal Justice Programs for 2022 ( https://www.valuecolleges.com/rankings/best-online-criminal-justice-programs/ ) Top 25 Best Value Online Graduate Criminal Justice Programs for 2022 ( https://www.valuecolleges.com/rankings/best-online-masters-criminal-justice/ ) Value Colleges features only fully accredited institutions that have proven their value for graduates on the job and on the job market. Value Colleges rankings are based on verified data from sources including IPEDS and Niche. Programs are ranked according to factors including cost and student satisfaction, so students can feel certain their choice of program will have a positive impact on their career. The Top 3 Best Online Undergraduate Criminal Justice programs are: 1. Bellevue University - Bellevue, NE 2. Penn State World Campus - University Park, PA 3. University of Central Florida - Orlando, FL The Top 3 Best Online Criminal Justice Master's programs are: 1. CSU Global - Aurora, CO 2. University of Central Florida - Orlando, FL 3. Boston University - Boston, MA The full list of featured schools will appear below this release in alphabetical order. "The Criminal Justice field is home to many of those perennial career options the jobs that are always needed, everywhere, and that will always provide job security, if not fabulous wealth,"according to the editors at Vlue Colleges; "Careers like law enforcement, corrections, parole, and legal clerks have a long history, and will never be replaced by machines or outsourced." According to Value Colleges, "Other criminal justice careers, such as cybersecurity and border patrol, are relatively new or gaining in prominence in recent years, and appear to not only be here for the long haul, but growing for the foreseeable future." The full ranking of the 25 Best Online Undergraduate Criminal Justice Degrees (in alphabetical order): Arizona State University - Tempe, AZ Ball State University - Muncie, IN Bellevue University - Bellevue, NE CSU GLobal - Aurora, CO Drexel University - Philadelphia, PA Florida International University - Miami, FL Florida State University - Tallahassee, FL Indiana Institute of Technology - Fort Wayne, IN Indiana Wesleyan University - Marion, IN Northern Arizona University - Flagstaff, AZ Northern Kentucky University - Highland Heights, KY Penn State World Campus - University Park, PA Portland State University - Portland, OR Sam Houston State University - Huntsville, TX University of Central Florida - Orlando, FL University of Louisiana at Monroe - Monroe, LA University of Louisville - Louisville, MO University of Maryland Global Campus - Largo, MD University of Massachusetts Lowell - Lowell, MA University of Nebraska at Kearney - Kearney, NE University of Nebraska at Omaha - Omaha, NE University of Oklahoma - Norman, OK University of Wisconsin Platteville - Platteville, WI Washington State University Global Campus - Pullman, WA West Texas A&M University - Canyon, TX The full ranking of the 25 Best Online Criminal Justice Master's (in alphabetical order): Arizona State University - Tempe, AZ Boston University - Boston, MA CUNY John Jay College of Criminal Justice - New York, NY CSU Global - Aurora, CO Concordia University St. Paul - St. Paul, MI Florida International University - Miami, FL Florida State University - Tallahassee, FL Michigan State University - East Lansing, MI National University - San Diego, CA Nova Southeastern University - Fort Lauderdale, FL Regis University - Denver, CO Rowan University - Glassboro, NJ Saint Joseph's University - Philadelphia, PA Texas Christian University - Fort Worth, TX University of Alabama at Birmingham - Birmingham, AL University of California, Irvine - Irvine, CA University of Central Florida - Orlando, FL University of Cincinnati - Cincinnati, OH University of Colorado Denver - Denver, CO University of Houston-Downtown - Houston, TX University of Louisville - Louisville, MO University of Massachusetts-Lowell - Lowell, MA University of North Texas - Denton, TX University of Oklahoma - Norman, OK University of San Diego - San Diego, CA Value Colleges is independent and unbiased, ranking degree programs, providing guides for the complex financial and professional questions of college students, and offering honest facts about the potential and pitfalls of a college education. Media Contact: Rhonda Corey Media Manager, Value Colleges 318681@email4pr.com (919) 864-2220 View original content:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/value-colleges-releases-rankings-of-the-best-online-criminal-justice-programs-in-the-us-301373664.html SOURCE Value Colleges [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [September 13, 2021] DISCO Announces Proposed Secondary Public Offering of Common Stock CS Disco, Inc. ("DISCO") (NYSE: LAW), today announced the commencement of an underwritten public offering of 5,000,000 shares of common stock offered by certain selling stockholders of DISCO (the "Selling Stockholders"). In addition, the Selling Stockholders expect to grant the underwriters a 30-day option to purchase up to an additional 500,000 shares of common stock at the public offering price, less underwriting discounts and commissions. DISCO will not receive any proceeds from the sale of common stock offered by the Selling Stockholders. The offering is subject to market and other conditions, and there can be no assurance as to whether or when the offering may be completed. J.P. Morgan Securities LLC and BofA Securities Inc. are acting as lead book-running managers and representatives of the underwriters for the proposed offering. A registration statement on Form S-1 relating to the proposed offering has been filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission but has not yet become effective. The proposed offering will be made only by means of a prospectus forming part of the registration statement relating to the offering. Copies of the preliminary prospectus relating to the proposed offering, when available, may be obtained from: J.P. Morgan Securities LLC, c/o: Broadridge Financial Solutions, 1155 Long Island Avenue, Edgewood, NY 11717, by telephone at (866) 803-9204 or by email at prospectus-eq_fi@jpmorganchase.com and BofA Securities, NC1-004-03-43, 200 North College Street, 3rd Floor, Charlotte, NC 28255-0001, attention: Prospectus Department, or by email at dg.prospectus_requests@bofa.com. In connection with the proposed offering, DISCO announced today that J.P. Morgan Securities LLC and BofA Securities Inc., the lead book-running managers in DISCO's recent initial public offering, are releasing the lock-up restriction with respect to certain shares of DISCO's common stock held by the Selling Stockholders, including certain officers and directors of DISCO. The release will take effect concurrently with this offering, and the shares may be sold only in connection with this offering. With respect to each Selling Stockholder, the shares released will count against the shares such Selling Stockholder could be eligible to sell under the early lock-up epiration provision disclosed in DISCO's prospectus dated July 20, 2021 in connection with DISCO's initial public offering. Except for the sale pursuant to this registered offering, the lock-up restrictions applicable to the Selling Stockholders shall remain in full force and effect pursuant to the terms of the lock-up agreements entered into in connection with DISCO's initial public offering. These securities may not be sold, nor may offers to buy be accepted, prior to the time the registration statement becomes effective. 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 DISCO DISCO (NYSE: LAW) provides a cloud-native, artificial intelligence-powered legal solution that simplifies ediscovery, legal document review and case management for enterprises, law firms, legal services providers and governments. Our scalable, integrated solution enables legal departments to easily collect, process and review enterprise data that is relevant or potentially relevant to legal matters. References to "DISCO", the "Company," "our," or "we" in this press release refer to CS Disco, Inc. and its subsidiaries on a consolidated basis. Forward Looking Statements This press release contains forward-looking statements, including, among other things, statements regarding the completion, timing, terms and size of the proposed offering and DISCO's expectations with respect to the underwriters' 30-day option to purchase additional shares of common stock. Words such as "may," "should," "will," "believe," "expect," "anticipate," "target," "project," and similar phrases that denote future expectation or intent regarding DISCO's financial results, operations, and other matters are intended to identify forward-looking statements. You should not rely upon forward-looking statements as predictions of future events. The outcome of the events described in these forward-looking statements is subject to known and unknown risks, uncertainties, and other factors that may cause DISCO's actual results, performance, or achievements to differ materially, including (i) our history of operating losses, (ii) our limited operating history, (iii) our ability to maintain and advance our innovation and brand; (iv) our ability to effectively add new customers; (v) our ability to effectively increase usage and penetration with our existing customer base; (vi) our ability to expand our sales coverage and establish a digital sales channel; (vii) DISCO's ability to expand internationally; (viii) our ability to extend and strengthen our channel partnerships and integrations; (ix) our ability to expand our offering portfolio to a wider range of legal processes outside of our current core offerings; (x) our ability to pursue strategic acquisitions and strategic investments to expand the functionality and value of our solution; (xi) our ability to comply or remain in compliance with laws and regulations that currently apply or become applicable to our business in the jurisdictions in which it operates; (xii) the potential that our computer or electronic systems, applications or services, or those of any third parties on whom we depend, fail or suffer security or data privacy breaches or other unauthorized or improper access to, use of, or destruction of our proprietary or confidential data, employee data, or personal data; (xiii) our ability to compete effectively with existing competitors and new market entrants; (xiv) general market, political, economic, and business conditions; and (xv) the impact that the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and any related economic downturn could have on our or our customers' businesses, financial condition and results of operations. The forward-looking statements contained in this press release are also subject to additional risks, uncertainties, and factors, including those more fully described in our filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including our registration statement on Form S-1 relating to this offering and our quarterly report on Form 10-Q for the fiscal quarter ended June 30, 2021, filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on September 3, 2021. Further information on potential risks that could affect actual results will be included in the subsequent periodic and current reports and other filings that we make with the SEC (News - Alert) from time to time. Forward-looking statements represent DISCO's management's beliefs and assumptions only as of the date such statements are made. We undertake no obligation to update any forward-looking statements made in this press release to reflect events or circumstances after the date of this press release or to reflect new information or the occurrence of unanticipated events, except as required by law. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210913005504/en/ [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [September 13, 2021] Trend Micro Launches Free, Innovative Tool to Help Parents Support Children's Safety and Wellness Online DALLAS, Sept. 13, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Trend Micro Incorporated (TYO: 4704;TSE: 4704), a global leader in cybersecurity, today announced the launch of Trend Micro Family, a digital tool to help parents ensure their children's screen time is safe, positive, and healthy. Trend Micro Family gives parents a centralized way to ensure content is age-appropriate, choose privacy settings across multiple apps, be informed of areas of concern, and access resources if concerns arise. While the pandemic has fueled an increase in screen time across all ages, parents generally feel positive about the role technology plays in their children's lives. Based on a recent study by the Digital Wellness Lab, 63% of parents believe time online provides their children social and emotional support and 64% say it has helps them build stronger ties with friends. Likewise, however, parents are concerned about the amount of their children's screen time, with 61% saying it is at least a little too much. In an effort to support families' digital wellness, Trend Micro Family was developed in direct coordination with Trend Micro's Internet Safety for Kids & Families program, a philanthropic initiative launched in 2008 and currently active in 20 countries; the program is designed to educate parents, teachers, and children of all ages on how to use the internet in safe, responsible, and positive ways. "We are very proud to welcome Trend Micro Family," said Lynette Owens, Global Director, Internet Safety for Kids & Families at Trend Micro, "After working with communities all over the world for more than 13 years, we created this tool in response to the unmet needs among families who want their children to thrive online but need more support to make sure it is a safe, positive and healthy experience. As a trusted authority in online security who has dedicated years to educating kids and parents, we feel uniqely positioned to help by coupling useful technology tools with the knowledge and resources families need." Key features include: Social Media Checker : An industry-first, Trend Micro Family provides parents a way to optimize the best security and privacy settings on their children's social media accounts in a centralized way versus setting them in each individual app. : An industry-first, Trend Micro Family provides parents a way to optimize the best security and privacy settings on their children's social media accounts in a centralized way versus setting them in each individual app. Safe Browsing: A less invasive approach, Trend Micro Family provides a safer internet environment by blurring out explicit images, as well as preventing them from accessing unsuitable sites and blocking unwanted ads or third-party ad trackers. A less invasive approach, Trend Micro Family provides a safer internet environment by blurring out explicit images, as well as preventing them from accessing unsuitable sites and blocking unwanted ads or third-party ad trackers. Personalized Settings: Families with multiple children can choose settings appropriate for each child. Families with multiple children can choose settings appropriate for each child. Screen Time Summary: Parents and guardians can see how their children are interacting with the internet to make decisions about managing their screen time and encourage healthy digital habits. Parents and guardians can see how their children are interacting with the internet to make decisions about managing their screen time and encourage healthy digital habits. Visibility Reporting: Parents and guardians can get a deeper understanding of the interests and worries of their children, which can support on-going conversations among families about how to practice healthy digital habits. Trend Micro Family is available in two forms, Trend Micro Family for Parents and Trend Micro Family for Kids. To take full advantage of the technology, parents must first download the Trend Micro Family for Parents app and then are guided to download the Trend Micro Family for Kids app onto a child's device. Additionally, Trend Micro Family for Kids comes with a complimentary Chrome Extension for a safer web browsing experience that is easily downloaded from the Chrome Web Store. When Trend Micro Family for Kids detects unsuitable content, such as explicit graphics, images are blurred out in real-time. If a child searches for keywords or terms that require attention from parents and guardians, Trend Micro Family for Kids sends a notification to the Trend Micro Family for Parents app. Parents have the option to alter the frequency and sensitivity of the alerts. "As we emerge from a trying and transformative couple of years, we should reflect on what we've learned about our relationship to the internet," said Brook Stein, Director of Consumer Product Management at Trend Micro. "With the increased time online among families, there's an even greater need to make sure that time is spent in a safe and positive way." Trend Micro plans to expand features in Trend Micro Family to include support for additional social media apps such as Tik-Tok and Facebook, filtering explicit videos, and providing more educational resources and tips to parents and kids which promote digital wellness and good digital citizenship. To learn more about this solution, please visit online at https://www.tmfamily.care/. About Trend Micro Trend Micro, a global leader in cybersecurity, helps make the world safe for exchanging digital information. Leveraging over 30 years of security expertise, global threat research, and continuous innovation, Trend Micro enables resilience for businesses, governments, and consumers with connected solutions across cloud workloads, endpoints, email, IIoT, and networks. Our XGen security strategy powers our solutions with a cross-generational blend of threat-defense techniques that are optimized for key environments and leverage shared threat intelligence for better, faster protection. With over 6,700 employees in 65 countries, and the world's most advanced global threat research and intelligence, Trend Micro enables organizations to secure their connected world. www.trendmicro.com About Trend Micro Internet Safety for Kids & Families Trend Micro's Internet Safety for Kids and Families (ISKF) program was launched to help kids around the world become great digital citizens. Founded in 2008, the ISKF mission is to empower kids to use the internet in safe, positive, and productive ways through educational programs, key partnerships, and a wide range of resources for communities. To date, the program has reached almost 3 million children, parents, and teachers in 20 countries. For more information as well as safety tips, tools and advice, visit: https://internetsafety.trendmicro.com. View original content:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/trend-micro-launches-free-innovative-tool-to-help-parents-support-childrens-safety-and-wellness-online-301374780.html SOURCE Trend Micro Incorporated [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [September 13, 2021] ZICIX Announces First Pilot Program Under New President Carson City, NV, Sept. 13, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Dr. Ramiro Jordan has announced his first pilot program as the new President of Zicix, Inc. (OTC Pink: ZICX). He will begin bringing healthcare technology globally as part of the Peace Engineering initiative at Zicix. As previously outlined in Company news releases, Dr. Jordan has access to networks of innovation and plans to use Zicix Corporation as the vehicle to bring these technologies to market. Now, Dr. Jordan, along with CEO William Petty, have signed a Letter of Intent to enter into a Joint Venture Agreement with SensorComm Technologies, Inc. to begin funding a pilot program based in Latin America and other regions. The technology which Dr. Jordan and SensorComm plan to pilot is the EvexiaBand system*: a smart wrist-worn wearable device, smartphone application, and subscription-based alert system as part of Data-Centric Care. Already available for sale in US and other places globally, this device identifies anomalies in the personal temperature profile of the user and sends alerts, potentially before a person becomes symptomatic with an illness (e.g. COVID-19 and beyond). The system is non-invasive and non-disruptive and keeps user data private. EvexiaBands early warning system provides increased confidence which allows the user to take preventative measures that can help slow the spread of illness (e.g. COVID-19 and beyond). While this device is currently available for purchase via Amazon.com, the partnership with Zicix Corp and SensorComm will allow for customization in local Latin American markets. The units will be translated and offered in Spanish. The pilot program(s) will run through December 2021. The Joint Venture Agreement will provide Zicix Corporation with the exclusive rightsto bring the technology to Latin America. For more information on the EvexiaBand please go to www.SensorCommTech.com To purchase your own EvexiaBand visit: www.amazon.com/gp/product/B09B32LR33 and use code 05ZCX0921 for 5% off your purchase. *This device is not intended to prevent the transmission of COVID-19, nor is it intended to diagnose or treat any medical condition, and should not be relied upon for any medical purpose. Temperature anomaly alerts, and use of other features and functionality, are for information and education purposes only. User is responsible for further evaluation/response. User response (if any) is at user discretion and may include, but not be limited to: social distancing, self-isolation, mask wearing, self-quarantine, COVID testing, and/or speaking with a doctor or qualified health care provider. About Zicix Corporation (OTC Pink: ZICX): Originally founded as a service provider to the Healthcare industry, the Zicix Corporation has recently been restructured with the intention of acquiring and developing technology applications designed for service companies in consumer, retail and other industries. Safe Harbor Act: This release may contain "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended and such forward-looking statements are made pursuant to the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. "Forward-looking statements" describe future expectations, plans, results, or strategies and are generally preceded by words such as "may," "future," "plan" or "planned," "will" or "should," "expected," "anticipates," "draft," "eventually" or "projected." You are cautioned that such statements are subject to a multitude of risks and uncertainties that could cause future circumstances, events, or results to differ materially from those projected in the forward-looking statements, including the risks that actual results may differ materially from those projected in the forward-looking statements as a result of various factors, and other risks identified in a company's annual report. For additional information, visit our website at www.ZicixGroup.com or call 830-331-0031. We are also on Twitter @ZicixCorp . [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [September 13, 2021] Cultural Competency Expert Sheila Thorne Hosts Webinar on Race, Ethnicity, Culture, and Health in America NEW YORK, Sept. 14, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- International multicultural healthcare marketing expert Sheila Thorne, President and CEO of Multicultural Healthcare Marketing Group (MHMG), will lead a webinar collaborating with Schneps Media to discuss the importance of health equity. The "A Courageous Conversation About Race, Ethnicity, Culture, and Health in America: It's Time for Transformative Action to Eliminate Healthcare Disparities" session is free and scheduled on Thursday, September 23 at 1 p.m. EDT. Healthcare executives, administrators, clinicians, clinical researchers, providers, diversity/inclusion specialists, business leaders, and marketing professionals, and others are invited to register in advance. Amidst a surge in COVID-19 infections across the country, the webinar will include an overview of racial and ethnic health disparities that have historically resulted in mistrust and distrust of the U.S. healthcare system among communities of color. The webinar will cover best practices in reaching out to and engaging these groups and guide collaborative partnerships with diverse patient advocacy groups. Thorne, who previously worked as a senior executive for leading U..-based healthcare marketing and communications companies, specializes in diverse global cultures. For more than two decades, she has worked with healthcare professionals throughout North America, Latin America, and Western Europe to help the top pharmaceutical, biotechnology, and medical device companies in the clinical research and marketing of prescription medicines and consumer health products to people of color. Earlier this month, Thorne was named one of the most inspiring people in life sciences by PharmaVOICE, an industry trade publication reaching 60,000 pharmaceutical executives. "The current COVID-19 pandemic has brought attention to the longstanding racial and cultural inequalities plaguing the healthcare industry," said Sheila Thorne. "I look forward to hosting this timely, critical conversation as we transform awareness into action to build a stronger, more equitable, and culturally competent healthcare system. As we work to head into a post-pandemic era, healthcare organizations that appropriately and strategically address racial disparities will rise above their competitors." Healthcare, human resources, business leaders, and marketing professionals can register for the free September 23 webinar here: https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_qlIzVsMJRS2VkXqDVwJGNA. To learn more about MHMG and Sheila Thorne, visit www.sheilathorne.com. PRESS CONTACT: Candace Sandy 318748@email4pr.com | Tel: (929) 249-2265| Twitter: @candacesandy View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/cultural-competency-expert-sheila-thorne-hosts-webinar-on-race-ethnicity-culture-and-health-in-america-301375305.html SOURCE Multicultural Healthcare Marketing Group (MHMG) [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [September 13, 2021] Study Finds Nearly 70 Percent of Companies are Blindsided by Changes in their Business, Despite Access to Data that Could Help After a year of unprecedented change, study uncovers frequent blind spots as well as analytic approaches to help address them OAKLAND, Calif., Sept. 13, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Outlier , the leading automated business analysis (ABA) platform, today released findings from its joint study with Incisiv titled Navigating Blind Spots: The State of Digital Marketing which explores how leading brands gather, assess and leverage data for business marketing and commerce efforts. The report offers valuable insights on significant changes in marketing approaches over the past tumultuous year, as well as common marketing blind spots and ways to avoid them. According to the new study, 70% of companiesdespite access to large volumes of business data continue to be surprised by changes in customer behavior, purchase processes and preferences that their data could help them uncover. A surprising 50% of respondents indicated they are not regularly using data to inform changes to their digital marketing strategy, although 81% of marketers made significant changes to their digital strategy over the past year. The research also revealed that nearly 65% of marketers are dissatisfied with the speed of customer data analysis. Our study confirms that while marketers are awash in large volumes of customer and campaign data, that data isnt translating into timely and useful insights, said Mike Stone, CMO of Outlier. Given the pace of change its more important than ever to be truly data-driven in everyday decisions, and that requires new approachs that can handle the high volume of analysis that is required. The report includes detailed information about the types of data marketers rely on most to make accurate decisions, as well as the data sources that most often contain surprising developments. Key takeaways from the study include: More than three quarters (76%) of companies are unable to leverage website traffic, digital advertising, paid search, social media engagement, and sales data to their full potential. 56% of marketers made substantial changes to their digital marketing strategies in 2020, but 67% cant spot trends or anomalies in their data to guide accurate actions or investment. 46% of those who use data regularly still cant uncover valuable or relevant trends, and 71% are unable to consistently uncover timely opportunities for growth from customer data. The study was conducted between June and July 2021 across North America and Europe, reaching more than 200 senior digital marketing executives at companies with annual revenues of $100M to $1B+ USD. Participants were evenly divided across retail and finance industries. Read Navigating Blind Spots: The State of Digital Marketing here or RSVP for the webinar on September 15, 2021 by registering here. About Outlier AI Outlier.ai , based in Oakland, California, helps marketers, data analysts and supply chain operators across consumer, financial services, retail and other industries identify unexpected changes within critical business data. The Outlier automated business analysis platform uncovers unexpected patterns and relationships using advanced AI and machine learning algorithms and communicates them in a simple, collaborative format that accelerates business action and decision-making. With its library of data connectors, organizations can integrate Outlier with existing data sources within minutes, allowing leaders to gather business insights quickly, identify potential opportunities and address the unexpected. Media Contact: Amy Fisher 612.805.5707 Amy.Fisher@PadillaCo.com A photo accompanying this announcement is available at https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/e47dea52-5842-44a8-a272-0f4c6596bd1b [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [September 13, 2021] J.P. Morgan Wealth Management Eliminates Upfront Fee on 529 Plans J.P. Morgan Wealth Management announced today that it will offer its advisor-sold 529 plans without the industry standard upfront fee ("front-end load or sales charge"). With this change, more of what the client invests goes towards their education goals. College tuition costs are rising 6.3% every year, according to J.P. Morgan's College Planning Essentials report. 529 plans provide a tax-advantaged way for families to invest for the future costs of higher education. Some also can help cover costs of K-12 tuition, vocational school and registered apprenticeships. There are no income limits on contributions or age restrictions on beneficiaries, unlike other types of accounts often used for education. J.P. Morgan Wealth Management advisors will offer select 529 plans without the sales charge, which for advisor-sold investments can be as high as 5.75%. Other fees and expenses will continue to apply. To learn more about J.P. Morgan Wealth Management's education planning offerings, visit https://www.chase.com/personal/investments/education/529 To read about common misconceptions about 529 plans and how they can help families invest for college, visit The Know, J.P. Morgan Wealth Management's investing education center: https://www.chase.com/personal/investments/learning-and-insights/article/529-all-the-latest-insights About J.P. Morgan Wealth Management J.P. Morgan Wealth Management is the U.S. wealth management business of JPMorgan Chase & Co., a leading global financial services firm with assets of $3.7 trillion and operations worldwide. J.P. Morgan Wealth Management has ~4,000 advisors and ~$670 billion of assets under supervision. Customers can choose how and where they want to invest. They can do it digitally, remotely, or in person by meeting with a J.P. Morgan Advisor in one of our 3,500 Chase branches throughout the U.S., or in one of our 21 offices. For more information, go to www.jpmorganwealthmanagement.com and follow @JPMWealth on Twitter (News - Alert) . INVESTMENT AND INSURANCE PRODUCTS ARE: NOT FDIC INSURED NOT INSURED BY ANY FEDERAL GOVERNMENT AGENCY NOT A DEPOSIT OR OTHER OBLIGATION OF, OR GUARANTEED BY, JPMORGAN CHASE BANK, N.A. OR ANY OF ITS AFFILIATES SUBJECT TO INVESTMENT RISKS, INCLUDING POSSIBLE LOSS OF THE PRINCIPAL AMOUNT INVESTED J.P. Morgan Wealth Management is a business of JPMorgan Chase & Co., which offers investment products and services through J.P. Morgan Securities LLC (JPMS), a registered broker-dealer and investment advisor, member FINRA and SIPC. Annuities are made available through Chase Insurance Agency, Inc. (CIA), a licensed insurance agency, doing business as Chase Insurance Agency Services, Inc. in Florida. Certain custody and other services are provided by JPMorgan Chase Bank, N.A. (JPMCB). JPMS, CIA and JPMCB are affiliated companies under the common control of JPMorgan Chase & Co. Products not available in all states. 2021 JPMorgan Chase & Co. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210913005197/en/ [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [September 13, 2021] Saving the Planet, One Student Idea at a Time Stride, Inc. (NYSE: LRN) believes high school students have what it takes to solve some of our planet's most pressing challenges-as Stride and The Nature Conservancy (TNC) invite students nationwide to join the first-ever Stride Innovation Challenge. The Nature Conservancy is a global environmental nonprofit working to create a world where people and nature can thrive. The theme for this inaugural event is "My Planet, My Neighborhood," which asks students to consider solutions for today's most complex environmental issues. Students are invited to identify environmental challenges in their communities, nationally, or globally, and propose innovative solutions that consider implementation, creativity, and impact. TNC is providing their expertise and science to help students explore critical environmental challenges in their community, will help judge the winning entries, and communicate this competition through its own networks and channels. The challenge is open to any ninth through twelfth grade student in the U.S. Proposals can be submitted online through November 30, 2021. State, regional, and national winners will be announced during the contest's final stage held at an in-person presentation at Stride's headquarters in Herndon, Virginia in April of 2022. Prizes range from $100 to $1,000 Amazon gift cards and more. "Innovation is about creativity, problem-solving, and working together, things our planet needs more than ever before," says James Rhyu, CEO of Stride, Inc. "Our first-ever Innovation Challenge will bring students together to explore the next great ideas from every corner of the country. And we are proud to partner with Th Nature Conservancy, the leader in environmental protection, to encourage young people all over the U.S. to come up with solutions to environmental problems in their community." This Innovation Challenge is open to students both inside and outside of Stride K12-powered schools. Teams can have one to three people. Please see full terms and conditions for eligibility and contest details. Registration is open from September 1, 2021, through 11:59 PM (ET) on November 30, 2021. About The Nature Conservancy The Nature Conservancy is a global conservation organization dedicated to conserving the lands and waters on which all life depends. Guided by science, we create innovative, on-the-ground solutions to our world's toughest challenges so that nature and people can thrive together. We are tackling climate change, conserving lands, waters and oceans at an unprecedented scale, providing food and water sustainably and helping make cities more sustainable. Working in 72 countries and territories: 38 by direct conservation impact and 34 through partners, we use a collaborative approach that engages local communities, governments, the private sector, and other partners. About Stride, Inc. At Stride, Inc. (NYSE: LRN) we are reimagining learning - where learning is lifelong, deeply personal, and prepares learners for tomorrow. The company has transformed the teaching and learning experience for millions of people by providing innovative, high-quality, tech-enabled education solutions, curriculum, and programs directly to students, schools, the military, and enterprises in primary, secondary, and post-secondary settings. Stride is a premier provider of K-12 education for students, schools, and districts, including career learning services through middle and high school curriculum. For adult learners, Stride delivers professional skills training in healthcare and technology, as well as staffing and talent development for Fortune 500 companies. Stride has delivered millions of courses over the past decade and serves learners in all 50 states and more than 100 countries. The company is a proud sponsor of the Future of School, a nonprofit organization dedicated to closing the gap between the pace of technology and the pace of change in education. More information can be found at stridelearning.com, K12.com, galvanize.com, techelevator.com, and www.medcerts.com. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210913005093/en/ [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [September 13, 2021] Global Employee Engagement Software Market Size to reach around 370 USD Million by 2026 with CAGR of 13.5% Over 2020 to 2026 - Zion Market Research NEW YORK, Sept. 13, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- As per the findings of Zion Market Research study, Employee Engagement Software industry gathered revenue about US$ 150 million in 2020 and is slated to earn revenue of approximately US$ 370 million by 2026. The Employee Engagement Software market is projected to register highest gains of approximately 13.5% over 2020-2026. Apparently, employee engagement software helps firms constantly garner data on employee engagement through employee surveys. The software coincides with performance management software allowing firms to determine goals of individuals, groups, divisions, and companies. Additionally, organizations are increasingly making use of employee engagement software as a tool for erecting strong work. Moreover, the software is used for reducing employee attrition rate and enhancing retention of staff. In addition to this, need to promote healthy work culture have culminated in growth of employee engagement software market size in recent years. Additionally, the software tool is utilized by HR to gain insights into organizational functioning. Get free Sample of this Research Report - https://www.zionmarketresearch.com/sample/employee-engagement-software-market Furthermore, large-scale use of novel technologies such as machine learning and artificial intelligence will proliferate expansion of employee engagement software industry over upcoming years. With huge penetration of tablets and smartphones across globe, market for employee engagement software is projected to gain traction over ensuing years. Large-scale utility of cloud-based employee engagement software will protrude growth of employee engagement software market over upcoming years. Escalating requirement of enhancing employee productivity and increasing transparency in evaluating employee performance will translate into humungous market expansion over upcoming years. Large-scale digitization of daily activities & tasks in private & public industrial units will assist employee engagement software business in setting up a strong foothold in private & public sector, thereby driving market trends. Focus on Employee Retention to Boost Market Growth By 2026 Massive need for ensuring employee satisfaction through creation of healthy work environment and providing encouragement to employees through appreciation will result in reduction in employee attrition rate, thereby promulgating growth of employee engagement software industry over forthcoming years. Citing an instance, over 70% of millennial staff expect their employers to emphasize on mission-based issues and over two-third of these employees are of the view that it is management's task of offering employees new growth avenues to retain them. For the record, more than 70% of staff wants work creativity. Request for Customization on this Report - https://www.zionmarketresearch.com/custom/3904> Moreover, new corporate world is witnessing a transition in business cycle with balance of power tilting more towards employee from employer. This has forced enterprises to address job requirements of employees and highlight issues such employee creativity, employee sensitivity, and passion of employees for enhancing employee engagement along with improving their dynamism at work. This is projected to lead to increase in demand for employee engagement software in many large, small, and medium-scale enterprises. Additionally, a large number of firms across globe are installing employee engagement software for determining correlation between factors such as compensation & demographics and customer engagement & customer retention. Furthermore, employee engagement software helps firms in measuring employee feedback & sentiment on real-time basis keeping in view (or in accordance with) frame of reference as work environment & management practices. North American Market Profitability to Bulge Over 2020-2026 Large-scale acceptance of employee engagement software by various business entities in countries such as the U.S. has helped in effectively mapping digital workspace concept with improvement of employee work experience resulting in enhanced work efficiency and breaking down employer-employee communication barriers. This has enlarged scope of market growth in North America. Large number of firms in the U.S. and Canada are making use of service-profit chain business model integrating internal service & employee satisfaction to customer value that ultimately results in positioning of brands or services, thereby not only adding to business profits but transforming phase of regional industry landscape. Inquire before Purchase of this Research Report - https://www.zionmarketresearch.com/inquiry/employee-engagement-software-market Key players profiled in report are Bitrix, Tap My Back, Qualtrics, Pingboard, People Gauge, Vocoli, VibeCatch, Quantum Workplace, Synergita, WorkTango, Gensuite, Officevibe, Sparble, Transcend, KaiNexus, Key Survey, and Zinta. This review is based on a report by Zion Market Research, titled, "Global Employee Engagement Software Market - by Deployment (On-Premises and Cloud-Based), by Enterprise Size (Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) and Large Enterprises), and by Vertical (IT and Telecommunication, BFSI, Healthcare, Retail, Manufacturing, Education, Government, and Others): Global Industry Perspective, Comprehensive Analysis, and Forecast, 20202026." Browse Other Related Research Reports Workplace Transformation Market - https://www.zionmarketresearch.com/report/workplace-transformation-market https://www.zionmarketresearch.com/report/workplace-transformation-market Digital Workspace Market - https://www.zionmarketresearch.com/report/digital-workplace-market https://www.zionmarketresearch.com/report/digital-workplace-market Flexible Office Market - https://www.zionmarketresearch.com/report/flexible-office-market https://www.zionmarketresearch.com/report/flexible-office-market Workplace Services Market - https://www.zionmarketresearch.com/report/workplace-services-market This report segments global employee engagement software market into: By Deployment On-Premises Cloud-Based By Enterprise Size Small and Medium Enterprise (SMEs) Large Enterprise By Vertical IT and Telecommunication BFSI Healthcare Retail Manufacturing Education Government Others By Region North America The U.S. Canada Europe France The UK Spain Germany Italy Rest of Europe Asia Pacific China Japan India South Korea Southeast Asia Rest of Asia Pacific Latin America Brazil Mexico Rest of Latin America Middle East & Africa & GCC South Africa Rest of Middle East & Africa About Us: Zion Market Research is an obligated company. We create futuristic, cutting edge, informative reports ranging from industry reports, company reports to country reports. We provide our clients not only with market statistics unveiled by avowed private publishers and public organizations but also with vogue and newest industry reports along with pre-eminent and niche company profiles. Our database of market research reports comprises a wide variety of reports from cardinal industries. Our database is been updated constantly in order to fulfill our clients with prompt and direct online access to our database. Keeping in mind the client's needs, we have included expert insights on global industries, products, and market trends in this database. Last but not the least, we make it our duty to ensure the success of clients connected to usafter allif you do well, a little of the light shines on us. Contact Us: Zion Market Research 244 Fifth Avenue, Suite N202 New York, 10001, United States Tel: +49-322 210 92714 USA/Canada Toll-Free No +1-855-465-4651 US OFFICE NO +1-386-310-3803 Email: sales@zionmarketresearch.com Website: https://www.zionmarketresearch.com Blog https://tecnoalimenportal.com/ Logo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1605489/Zion_Market_Research_Logo.jpg [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [September 13, 2021] Samsara Selected as Connected Operations Platform for the State of Tennessee SAN FRANCISCO, Sept. 13, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Samsara, the pioneer of the Connected Operations Cloud, today announced it has been awarded a single-source multi-year contract to supply the State of Tennessee and participating government agency fleets with its Connected Operations Platform. As part of its ongoing commitment to innovation, the State of Tennessee will make Samsara's technology platform - spanning vehicle telematics, equipment monitoring, and driver safety - available to all state, municipal and county fleets. Collectively, these fleets serve the State of Tennessee's growing population of nearly seven million people. Samsara is uniquely positioned to help public sector fleets elevate citizen services, save taxpayer dollars, and keep their employees safe. From public works agencies to sanitation teams to transit authorities, Samsara's Connected Operations Cloud empowers every department with the real-time data needed to harness actionable insights. "In the world of government services, the efficient use of assets and resources is a top priority. With Samsara, tese organizations gain visibility into operational data that can help them do just that - ultimately reducing maintenance costs, building fuel-efficient infrastructure, and streamlining response times to citizen complaints," Alexander Stevenson, vice president of product management at Samsara. "We're thrilled to have signed this agreement with the State of Tennessee and look forward to working together to make an impact on their local communities." Utilizing the latest advancements in Internet of Things (IoT) connectivity, artificial intelligence, cloud computing and video imagery, Samsara is driving the digital transformation of physical operations. With Samsara's IoT sensors and Connected Operations Cloud, organizations can combine data from their fleets, equipment and work sites into one integrated platform. Public sector agencies can seamlessly access, analyze and act upon operational data across all departments to drive smarter decisions, increase efficiency and improve the day-to-day lives of both employees and community members. With this agreement, the State of Tennessee joins more than 20,000 organizations using Samsara today to improve the efficiency, safety and sustainability of their operations. About Samsara Samsara is the pioneer of the Connected Operations Cloud, which allows businesses that depend on physical operations to harness IoT (Internet of Things) data to develop actionable business insights and improve their operations. Samsara operates in North America and Europe and serves more than 20,000 customers across a wide range of industries including transportation, wholesale and retail trade, construction, field services, logistics, utilities and energy, government, healthcare and education, manufacturing and food and beverage. Learn more about Samsara's mission to increase the efficiency, safety, and sustainability of the operations that power the global economy at www.samsara.com . View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/samsara-selected-as-connected-operations-platform-for-the-state-of-tennessee-301373692.html SOURCE Samsara [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [September 13, 2021] Concerned Shareholders of Rocky Mountain File Definitive Proxy Statement for Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory 2021 Annual Meeting AB Value Management LLC, collectively with its affiliates ("AB Value"), and the other participants in this solicitation (collectively, the "Concerned Shareholders of Rocky Mountain") representing approximately 14.63% of the outstanding shares of Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory, Inc. (NASDAQ: RMCF) (the "Company"), today filed their definitive proxy statement with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (the " SEC (News - Alert) ") to solicit proxies for the election of their five, highly-qualified, independent director candidates-Andrew T. Berger, Mary Kennedy Thompson, Mark Riegel, Sandra Elizabeth Taylor and Rhonda J. Parish-at the Company's 2021 Annual Meeting of Shareholders (the "2021 Annual Meeting"). "We put forward director nominations because while we believe that the Company has tremendous potential, it has been beset by haphazard, reactive leadership and governance. This reactivity has only been magnified in the recent months leading up to the 2021 Annual Meeting," commented Andrew Berger, Managing Member of AB Value. The Concerned Shareholders of Rocky Mountain believe the Company's proxy materials continue a pattern of false and misleading statements about the Company's actions and engagement with the Concerned Shareholders of Rocky Mountain. Summarized below are a few of the most egregious fictions contained in the Company's filings and how those misrepresentations can be combatted with facts that show the Company is manipulating the truth for its benefit: COMPANY FICTION #1: The Company's Board of Directors (the "Board") has been successfully implementing an ongoing refreshment program over the last several years. FACT: The Board has taken defensive and reactionary measures after our public involvement. The first time the Company publicly mentioned "Board refreshment" was on July 22, 2021, that is, less than a month after AB Value submitted its nomination notice. The Company also fails to mention that the Board turnover was not driven by some long-term, deliberate plan by the Company, but by continuing shareholder agitation: Tariq Farid-joined the Board in January 2020 as part of a strategic alliance with Edible Arrangements, LLC; Andrew Berger and Mary Kennedy Thompson-nominated to the Board by the Company pursuant to a settlement agreement in December 2019; and Jeffrey R. Geygan-appointed in August 2021 to the Board as a means of settling a proxy fight headed by affiliates of Mr. Geygan. COMPANY FICTION #2: The Board has engaged in substantial, good-faith dialogue with AB Value. FACT: AB Value and the Company had a nearly fully negotiated settlement agreement with a one-year standstill provision that had been agreed to in principle by the Company's general counsel, who communicated that the agreement was also approved of by the CEO, only to be deemed unacceptable by a contingency of the Board and abandoned by the Company. The Company's next "engagement" with AB Value regarding potential settlement, more than six weeks later, included a four-year standstill provision that would entrench incumbent directors for multiple years and the Board's refusal to change its composition as part of any settlement with AB Value (despite its willingness to do so when settling with Global Value Investment Corp. ("Global Value"), which had recently pursued a tender offer for shares of the Company). By refusing to put Mr. Berger on its slate, the Company is attempting to remove the director who championed the very governance enhancements the Company subsequently implemented (and glamourized in a PR campaign). COMPANY FICTION #3: The Company is committed to best-in-class governance. FACT: The Board makes the daily decision to retain a decade-long poison pill, adopted without shareholder approval, set to expire in March 2025. Despite the Concerned Shareholders of Rocky Mountain's qualifying and timely notice of its non-binding proposal to redeem the pill, the Board, led by Rahul Mewawalla, did not even have the courage to include our proposal on its proxy card for shareholders to consider at the 2021 Annual Meeting. COMPANY FICTION #4: The Company's nominees, six of whom are independent, constitute the right Board with the right depth and breadth of qualifications to drive the Company's growth strategy. FACT: Excluding the Board, none of Mr. Mewawalla, Gabriel Arreaga or Brett Seabert has ever sat on a public board. Mr. Mewawalla also lacks C-level experience with a public company and food and beverage experience. Similarly, neither Mr. Seabert nor Mr. Geygan had any experience in the confectionary industry prior to joining the Board. The facts also support questioning both Messrs. Seabert and Geygan's ability to exercise independent judgment. Mr. Geygan and Global Value recently attempted a tender offer for a control-like stake in the Company, threatened to replace a near-majority of the Board, and has made multiple indications of their desire to take control of the Company.1 Mr. Seabert, on the other hand, shares a close, intimate connection with the Company's CEO-Mr. Seabert may have found a Best Man in Mr. Merryman, but that doesn't make Mr. Seabert the best man for the Board.2 COMPANY FICTION #5: The Special Committee's purpose is to oversee the process of identifying new qualified, independent directors. FACT: The Company's own counsel confirmed that the Special Committee was formed in response to, and to address the proxy contest at the 2021 Annual Meeting. If the Company disputes this, we believe the Board resolutions drafted to create the Special Committee eliminate any doubt as to the committee's true purpose and scope. COMPANY FICTION #6: AB Value's nominees (except Ms. Thompson) do not have the requisite experience, skillsets or expertise to drive the Company's strategy. FACT: As the Company's largest shareholder group, the Concerned Shareholders of Rocky Mountain are aligned in acting in the best interest of all shareholders. The majority of our candidates have served at public companies and bring a wide array of experience: corporate social responsibility, restaurant and confection industry expertise, sophisticated financial analysis and judgment, and successful track records that the Board desperately needs to enhance value for shareholders. Indeed, the Company has conveniently changed its opinion of Mr. Berger since it published both its 2020 and 2019 proxy statements, in which it told shareholders that "[the Company] believe[s] that Mr. Berger's investment management experience, specifically experience within the food and franchising industry, qualify him to serve as a director of the Company." It is clear to the Concerned Shareholders of Rocky Mountain that its campaign has inspired reactionary, though haphazard, changes at the Company, but there is more work to be done. If elected, our candidates will bring increased shareholder insight into the boardroom, shareholder insight that is not tainted by a historically demonstrated desire to seek personal rewards at the expense of all other shareholders. The nominees of the Concerned Shareholders of Rocky Mountain pledge to ensure increased accountability and decisions that are made with shareholders' best interests in mind. The Concerned Shareholders of Rocky Mountain encourage shareholders to arm themselves with all the facts and take the Company's fictions for what they are-attempts to save the seats of certain incumbent directors. We are confident that shareholders armed with the facts will vote the BLUE card for new, honest leadership at the Company. 1 Such indications include two attempts implied from oral conversations between GVIC and Company representatives approximately five and ten years ago (both of which were recently confirmed by Mr. Geygan to AB Value) and a written offer made on June 8, 2021, as disclosed in the Company's definitive proxy statement filed with the SEC on September 9, 2021. 2 Mr. Merryman served as Mr. Seabert's Best Man at his wedding. The wedding announcement from the Reno Gazette-Journal may be found here: https://www.newspapers.com/clip/52304131/reno-gazette-journal/ View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210913005561/en/ [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [September 13, 2021] Ameriprise Financial Matching Public Donations to Feeding America Now Through Oct. 31 Ameriprise Financial (NYSE: AMP) today announced it is matching donations to Feeding America in support of the 38 million Americans, including 12 million children, struggling with hunger. Every dollar donated (up to $250,000) now through Oct. 31, 2021 will help provide at least 20 meals to families and individuals in need when matched by Ameriprise.* In total, the campaign will help deliver 5 million meals* to Americans across the country. To participate in the Ameriprise matching campaign, simply visit: supportfeedingamerica.org/Ameriprise to give. "There are people facing hunger in every county across the U.S. who rely on organizations like Feeding America for access to nutritious meals," said Brian Pietsch, Head of Community Relations at Ameriprise. "Our goal with this campaign is to encourage more people to donate - and have their contributions matched - to provide immediate support to individuals who are struggling with hunger amid the ongoing uncertainty of the pandemic." Since establishing a partnership with Feeding America in 2009, Ameriprise advisors, employees and clients have helped provide more than 100 million meals and volunteered more than 340,000 hours to support Feeding America and other hunger-relief organizations nationwide. The Ameriprise matching campaign was established in 2010 to encourage additional donations to Feeding America. In total, it has helped provide more than 148 million meals to people facing hunger in America, thanks to support from Ameriprise. About Feeding America Feeding America/sup> is the leading hunger-relief organization in the United States. Through a network of 200 food banks and 60,000 food pantries and meal programs, they provide meals to more than 46 million people each year. Feeding America also supports programs that prevent food waste and improve food security among the people they serve; educates the public about the problem of hunger; and advocates for legislation that protects people from going hungry. Individuals, charities, businesses and government all have a role in ending hunger. Donate. Volunteer. Advocate. Educate. Together we can solve hunger. Visit www.feedingamerica.org, find us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter. About Ameriprise Financial Community Relations Ameriprise Financial is dedicated to utilizing the firm's resources and talents to improve the lives of individuals and build strong communities. Through grants, volunteerism and employee and advisor gift matching programs, the company supports a diverse group of nearly 7,500 nonprofits across the country. By targeting its grantmaking, Ameriprise can make the most of its resources to make a collective impact with greater benefit for communities. Learn more here. About Ameriprise Financial At Ameriprise Financial, we have been helping people feel confident about their financial future for more than 125 years. With a nationwide network of 10,000 financial advisors and extensive asset management, advisory and insurance capabilities, we have the strength and expertise to serve the full range of individual and institutional investors' financial needs. For more information, visit ameriprise.com. *About the Match: Ameriprise Financial has committed $250,000 to Feeding America. This amount will be used to double the impact of gifts received between now and Thanksgiving. Gifts received after the campaign or in excess of this amount will not be matched but will still help provide food for those in need. Currently, $1 helps provide at least 10 meals secured by Feeding America on behalf of local member food banks. Historical meal equivalencies vary and are updated each year. 2021 Ameriprise Financial, Inc. All rights reserved. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210913005565/en/ [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [September 13, 2021] Fidelity Digital AssetsSM Research Finds Digital Asset Investment Products Gaining Favor Among U.S. and European Institutional Investors Surveyed The majority (84%) of U.S. and European institutional investors are interested in purchasing institutional investment products that hold digital assets, and in the U.S., investors favor accessing these products through traditional financial firms, according to new insights from Fidelity Digital Assets' 2021 Institutional Investor Digital Assets Study. Investors surveyed indicated that a fund manager with established crypto experience is their top consideration when evaluating institutional investment opportunities in the space, followed by fees and performance. While there is strong interest in investment products across all three regions surveyed (Asia, Europe and the U.S.), buying digital assets directly is currently the most common method of investment among institutional investors globally. "The interest expressed in both owning digital assets directly or through a variety of investment products is yet another indicator of the maturation of digital asset markets, the diversity of participants and progress in how these investors are viewing digital assets' role in portfolios," said Tom Jessop, president of Fidelity Digital AssetsSM. "We've reached an inflection point where many institutions are deepening their commitment to the space and seeking new investment opportunities to express that interest in portfolios - in some cases, looking to incorporate other digital assets in addition to bitcoin." Current Investment Allocations Among investors surveyed, digital assets were most commonly viewed as an alternative asset; however, nearly a quarter view it as an independent asset class. Today, one-third of respondents invested buy digital assets directly, 28% buy investment products holding digital assets and 16% gain exposure via futures contracts. Nearly one in four institutional investors surveyed own bitcoin and one in five own ether. Initial findings from the study released in July revealed that more than half of institutional investors surveyed currently invest in digital assets, with adoption increasing year-over-year in the U.S. and Europe. All institutional segments surveyed reported some level of investment; however, some were significantly more active in the space than others: In the U.S., aside from crypto hedge funds and venture capital funds, family offices and financial advisors surveyed were most active, with adoption in those two segments increasing 28 and 20 percentage points, respectively, year-over-year. In Europe, after crypto hedge funds and venture capital funds, high-net-worth investors and financial advisors surveyed were most actively investing. Institutional Investment Outlook As reported in July, seven in 10 investors surveyed plan to invest in digital assets in the future. U.S. institutional investor preferences are expected to continue to shift to invstment products holding digital assets, while European and Asian investors' future preference is for direct purchases. Overall, institutional investors surveyed indicated a strong preference for active management and multi-digital asset funds, though one-third expressed interest in both single- and multi-asset products. When presented with potential product structures, 44% of investors surveyed found a bitcoin ETF most appealing, followed by an actively managed multi-digital asset fund (41%). More than six in 10 U.S. and European investors surveyed expressed a neutral or positive view of bitcoin ETFs. "The data continues to show that institutional investors expect the digital assets industry to more closely mirror that of other asset classes - whether that's multiple product types covering a variety of investment strategies or the ability to access digital asset investments through traditional financial firms," said Peter Jubber, Managing Director, Fidelity Digital Funds. "Growing interest across institutional segments underscores the need for a diverse set of products and solutions to meet investors where they are in their digital assets journey." Investors Remain Open to Tokenized Assets The study also looked at investors' perceptions of tokenized assets and the potential for a U.S. dollar-backed central bank digital currency (CBDC). Nearly six in 10 investors surveyed reported they are willing to invest in tokenized real-world assets, most viewing real estate (27%), precious metals (19%) and stocks (18%) as having the greatest potential for tokenization. Fractional ownership (lower investment minimums), liquidity and price transparency were viewed as the primary advantages to tokenization. Across the three regions surveyed, crypto hedge funds and venture capital funds, high-net-worth investors and financial advisors were most open to investing in tokenized assets. Over half of the investors surveyed believe a USD-backed CBDC is likely to be implemented within the next five years, with crypto hedge funds and venture capital funds expressing the strongest conviction in the emergence of a digital dollar. While nearly 70% of investors surveyed globally held a neutral-to-positive view of a USD-backed CBDC, Asian and European institutional investors held a more favorable view than their U.S. counterparts. For additional insights, download the full 2021 Institutional Investor Digital Assets Study at https://www.fidelitydigitalassets.com/articles/digital-asset-study-2021. About the Survey The blind survey was executed in association with Coalition Greenwich on behalf of Fidelity Digital Assets and the Fidelity Center for Applied Technology between December 2, 2020 and April 2, 2021. The survey included 1,100 institutional investors in the U.S. (408), Europe (393) and Asia (299), including high net worth investors, family offices, digital and traditional hedge funds, institutional investors, financial advisors and endowment and foundations. About Fidelity Digital Assets Fidelity Digital Assets offers a full-service enterprise-grade platform for securing, trading and supporting digital assets. A business of Fidelity Investments, one of the world's largest and most diversified financial services providers, Fidelity Digital Assets combines the operational and technical capabilities of the broader Fidelity organization with dedicated blockchain expertise to deliver a completely new offering for institutional investors. Learn more at http://fidelitydigitalassets.com. About Fidelity Center for Applied Technology The Fidelity Center for Applied Technology (FCAT) is a catalyst for breakthrough ideas, contributing to a successful future for Fidelity and its customers. FCAT teams track emerging social and tech trends, test product concepts and ideas, and build scalable solutions that support more efficient operations and enhance customer satisfaction. For more information about FCAT, visit https://www.fcatalyst.com/. # # # The information herein was prepared by Fidelity Digital Asset Services, LLC and is for informational purposes only and is not intended to constitute a recommendation, investment advice of any kind, or an offer to buy or sell securities or other assets. Please perform your own research and consult a qualified advisor to see if digital assets are an appropriate investment option. Digital assets are speculative and highly volatile, can become illiquid at any time, and are for investors with a high risk tolerance. Investors in digital assets could lose the entire value of their investment. Fidelity Digital Asset Services, LLC does not provide tax, legal, investment, or accounting advice. This material is not intended to provide, and should not be relied on, for tax, legal, or accounting advice. Tax laws and regulations are complex and subject to change. You should consult your own tax, legal, and accounting advisors before engaging in any transaction. Trademarks and logos used within are the property of their respective owners. Services provided by Fidelity Digital Asset Services, LLC, a New York State-chartered, limited liability trust company (NMLS ID 1773897). Fidelity Digital Assets and the Fidelity Digital Assets logo are service marks of FMR LLC. Fidelity Brokerage Services LLC, Fidelity Distributors Company LLC, and National Financial Services LLC do not offer digital assets nor provide clearing or custody services for such assets. Fidelity Brokerage Services LLC, Member NYSE, SIPC 900 Salem Street, Smithfield, RI 02917 Fidelity Distributors Company LLC, 500 Salem Street, Smithfield, RI 02917 National Financial Services LLC, Member NYSE, SIPC, 245 Summer Street, Boston, MA 02110 2021 FMR LLC. All rights reserved. 992342.1.0 View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210913005118/en/ [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [September 13, 2021] Avenue 8 Strengthens Brokerage Leadership, Names Alan Long, Former DBL Founder and CEO, Past President of Sotheby's Southern California as Managing Director, Greater Los Angeles/Beverly Hills Avenue 8, the industry's only mobile-first residential real estate brokerage, today announced that esteemed real estate icon Alan Long will join the company as Managing Director, Los Angeles. In this role, Long will continue to develop Avenue 8's presence in the greater Los Angeles market. Long's appointment follows his DBL partner, real estate luminary Nick Segal, who recently joined Avenue 8 as Managing Director, Southern California. "For the last decade, I've been approached by nearly every real estate brokerage in Los Angeles-but what they've all lacked is a new or different approach, ultimately leaving agents with the same set of tools that cost them both time and money," said Alan Long, Avenue 8's Managing Director, Los Angeles. "When I heard about Avenue 8, it just made sense-the industry is moving away from brick and mortar, and agents shouldn't have to shoulder the cost of overhead they're not using. Making transactions for agents as simple as buying something online, while helping them keep more of their hard-earned commission is what attracted me to the company, and I look forward to growing our team and presence in Los Angeles." Long founded DBL in 1987, supporting more than 800 real estate agents before seeing the compan through its acquisition by Sotheby's in 2004. He then served as Sotheby's President of Southern California, overseeing $6 billion in annual sales before founding RSR Realtors in Park City, UT. Turning his passion for real estate into a commitment to help those experiencing homelessness in the local community, Long purchased and donated a facility to Chrysalis, a nonprofit organization that helps economically disadvantaged individuals find employment. There, he established a profit-sharing program with agents that generated hundreds of thousands of dollars for those in need, and currently sits on the Chrysalis board of directors. Additionally, Long developed and converted apartment buildings in South Central L.A. into learning centers, offering free rent to local teachers in exchange for tutoring sessions for residents' children. He is a major contributor to "Flights to Freedom," a nonprofit organization which flies animals from overcrowded shelters across the country and into forever homes. Long is also the recipient of the Greater Los Angeles Realtors Association's Lifetime Achievement Award. "Alan is a visionary leader with unparalleled industry knowledge and experience, and we're thrilled to welcome him to the Avenue 8 team," said co-founder Justin Fichelson. "Having built one of the most prominent real estate brokerages in the country and trained thousands of agents to be successful in this market, Alan's an incredible asset to our company at a key point of growth." Avenue 8 has seen unprecedented organic growth and agent demand since its launch and roll out in the greater Southern California market last year, with over 100 agents and nearly half a billion in home sales through its platform. This announcement comes on the heels of several high-performing teams leaving competitive brokerages like Side and Compass (News - Alert) --including Range Homes and Rubel Ashman Group, respectively-in favor of what Avenue 8 has to offer. The brokerage will continue its growth into additional national markets, including New York City and Miami, later this year. About Avenue 8 Avenue 8 is a new kind of real estate brokerage - one that simplifies and elevates the experience for agents, buyers, and sellers. Through intuitive technology, integrated services and responsive human support, Avenue 8 provides the tools to manage real estate transactions with radical efficiency, giving agents the freedom to work how they want. For more information, visit: https://www.avenue8.com/. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210913005709/en/ [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [September 13, 2021] Dorsey Receives Mansfield Rule Certification 4.0 Plus Status for 2021 International law firm Dorsey & Whitney LLP is pleased to announce that for the fourth year in a row it has achieved Mansfield Rule Certification Plus. "Plus" status indicates that, in addition to meeting or exceeding the baseline requirements, the Firm has successfully reached at least 30 percent diverse lawyer representation in a notable number of their current leadership roles. This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210913005727/en/ Dorsey & Whitney LLP is pleased to announce that for the fourth year in a row it has achieved Mansfield Rule Certification Plus. (Logo: Diversity Labs) Diversity Lab announced today that 118 law firms have achieved Mansfield Certification in 2021 after completing the Mansfield Rule 4.0 twelve-month certification program. The Mansfield Rule Certification measures whether law firms have affirmatively considered at least 30 percent women, underrepresented racial/ethnic groups, LGBTQ+ lawyers, and lawyers with disabilities for leadership and governance roles, equity partner promotions, formal client pitch opportunities, and senior lateral positions. "We are proud that we have once again achieved Mansfield Plus Certification," said Bill Stoeri, Dorsey's Managing Partner. "Despite the ongoing challenges of the pandemic, Dorsey has not deviated from our goal of creating an inclusive workplace where every lawyer has the ability to thrive and the opportunity to lead." Dorsey will take part in the fifth cycle of the Mansfield Rule Certification program process-Mansfield Rule Certification 5.0-that launched on July 15, 2021. About Dorsey & Whitney LLP Clients have relied on Dorsey since 1912 as a valued business partner. With locations across the United States and in Canada, Europe and the Asia-Pacific region, Dorsey provides an integrated, proactive approach to its clients' legal and business needs. Dorsey represents a number of the world's most successful companies from a wide range of industries, including leaders in banking & financial institutions, development & infrastructure, energy & natural resources, food, beverage & agribusiness, healthcare and technology, as well as major non-profit and government entities. About Diversity Lab Diversity Lab creates and experiments with innovative ways to close the gender gap and boost diversity in law firms and legal departments by leveraging data, behavioral science, and design thinking. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210913005727/en/ [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [September 13, 2021] Publix Receives an Inaugural Impact Award Progressive Grocer has awarded Publix an inaugural Impact Award in the category of Community Service/Local Impact. The publication's new program was designed to showcase the positive impact retailers, suppliers and solution providers are making with environmental, social and governance (ESG) efforts. "A primary tenet of Publix's mission statement is to be involved as responsible citizens in our communities," said Publix Director of Communications Maria Brous. "To us, Publix is more than just a supermarket, and we are committed to making a difference in the lives of our associates and customers, and in the communities we serve." During the pandemic, local food bank partners saw a growing number of families needing assistance and, at the same time, farmers were discarding produce and milk because of decreased demand due to the closure of schools, restaurants and hotels. As a food retailer, Publix had the unique opportunity to bridge the gap between the needs of impacted families and farmers. The company amplified its focus on hunger alleviation by purchasing produce from farmers and milk from dairies in the Southeast and donating it to Feeding America member food banks in the company's operating area. The company also continued to donate wholesome but usalable dairy, deli, meat and produce items from stores to give to Feeding America member food banks and other nonprofits. Furthermore, Publix Super Markets Charities, which supports nonprofit organizations in Publix's operating area, made donations to food banks and nonprofits across the Southeast, with the goal of providing additional food and other essential supplies to people hit hardest by the pandemic. To learn more about Publix's hunger initiatives, visit publix.com/hunger. To read about the Impact Award, visit progressivegrocer.com/progressive-grocer-reveals-inaugural-impact-award-winners.com. Publix, the largest employee-owned company in the U.S. with more than 225,000 associates, currently operates 1,282 stores in Florida, Georgia, Alabama, Tennessee, South Carolina, North Carolina and Virginia. For 24 consecutive years, the company has been recognized by Fortune as a great place to work. In addition, Publix's dedication to superior quality and customer service is recognized among the top in the grocery business. For more information, visit the company's website, corporate.publix.com. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210913005722/en/ [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [September 13, 2021] Collaborative Solutions for Communities Celebrates 25 Years of Local Impact Collaborative Solutions for Communities (CSC), a high-impact advocacy organization that provides critical services to families and neighborhoods across Washington, DC, is marking its 25th anniversary of fostering positive change with a gala event on September 25, 2021. Taking place in person at the Smithsonian National Museum of American History and also streaming online, the celebration will shine a light on decades of success building strong, cohesive families. This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210913005713/en/ Penelope Griffith, Executive Director, Collaborative Solutions for Communities (Photo: Business Wire) Founded in 1996, CSC (News - Alert) began as a coordinated effort to prevent children from entering the foster care system. Today, it has evolved into an integrated network of services ranging from comprehensive assessment and case management for families in crisis, to violence prevention, rapid rehousing, reentry assistance for women who have been incarcerated and workforce development. "We are proud to have made such a significant difference helping families thrive here in DC over the past 25 years," says Penelope Griffith, the organization's executive director. "It is tremendously fulfilling to have played a role in people's ability to turn their lives around." CSC is a donor- and grant-funded organization that leverages a combination of local, federl and foundation dollars to sustain innovative training, community capacity-building, economic development and social enterprise programs. Its work is premised on the notion that safe environments are a human right, and that sustained societal change is best achieved by empowering families and communities to lead the way. Patricia Sullivan, a program manager under CSC's contract with the DC's Child and Family Services Agency, knows the value CSC offers to the community first-hand. Formerly homeless, she accessed vital support from the organization and was ultimately inspired to join the CSC team, offering others the same type of assistance she once received herself. "A lot of us on staff were born and raised here; we know these folks, and we understand their needs. I'm so gratified by the trust they place in us and by our ability to open their eyes to new things," Sullivan says. Clients of CSC include Shauntell Harley, who learned about the organization during a stay at a halfway house for incarcerated women. She signed up for a life skills session CSC was offering on Zoom and says the improvement in her ability to navigate challenges was dramatic. "I realized I needed help and couldn't do it on my own, so I made a connection through CSC," she recalls. "The course gave me the encouragement I needed to set realistic goals for my life going forward." Hilda Martinez also depended on CSC to get her through a difficult time. Challenges related to COVID-19 made it hard for her 13-year-old daughter to make it to school, and she began accumulating truancies. Unfamiliar with school bureaucracy, Martinez reached out to CSC, which facilitated her communicating directly with her daughter's teacher and school counselor. "I was very worried, but thanks to CSC everything has gotten better, and my daughter is doing well in her classes," she says. "CSC's involvement was especially great for my daughter because it made her feel like she had a whole team of people who cared about her education." The gala will showcase similar success stories, highlighting CSC's track record of results over a quarter century of caring for the community. Invitees include Mayor Muriel Bowser and Robert Contee III, chief of DC's Metropolitan Police Department. CSC's Griffith says partnerships with civic leaders and city employees have been instrumental in advancing CSC's mission. Law enforcement and the community work well together," she says. "I know that's not a popular concept today, but in my experience, police officers really do have the best interests of the community at heart." CSC has set a fundraising goal of $500,000 for the evening. "We have accomplished so much, but there is still important work to be done," Griffith says. "Every donation helps." Click here to make a donation in honor of CSC's 25th anniversary. Register here to receive a link to the free event. ABOUT COLLABORATIVE SOLUTIONS FOR COMMUNITIES (CSC) Founded in 1996 as the Columbia Heights/Shaw Family Support Collaborative and now operating as Collaborative Solutions for Communities, CSC is a Washington, DC metropolitan area not-for-profit human service organization that provides: family support services, affordable housing, violence intervention, youth engagement and workforce development programs. Over two and a half decades, CSC has helped more than 20,000 families. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210913005713/en/ [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [September 13, 2021] Avionte Acquires Mobile Online Staffing Platform WorkN, Creating a Talent Enablement Powerhouse for Staffing and Recruiting Avionte, a leader in enterprise staffing and recruiting software, has acquired mobile on-demand staffing platform WorkN. This strategic move firmly positions Avionte as a leader in end-to-end and online mobile talent enablement. With the addition of WorkN mobile solutions to its portfolio, Avionte can further empower clients to compete for talent by helping them design compelling candidate experiences. WorkN, operating as a division of Avionte, will continue to serve large enterprise staffing companies and employers, a market in which WorkN already has penetration and momentum. At the same time, WorkN will gain access to Avionte's customer base of more than 1,000 staffing companies. "The acquisition puts a stake in the ground around Avionte's commitment to providing our customers with end-to-end talent enablement and candidate experience technology," said Avionte CEO Rishabh Mehrotra. "WorkN is the most innovative mobile staffing platform on the market. As partners for more than a year, we have completed WorkN's integration with Avionte and have numerous clients already benefiting from streamlined recruiting and an optimized mobile candidate experience. Our plan now is to enable WorkN to deliver its online mobile platform at scale, while we continue to focus on building out the capabilities of AvionteBOLD, our core enterprise staffing solution. The move also positions Avionte for accelerated growth as we establish a leadership position in the consumerization of staffing." With the consumerization of staffing and recruiting, creating an engaging mobile experience is a critical element in talent enablement. Hiring, engaging, retaining, and redeploing top talent effectively is inextricably linked to an effective mobile strategy. WorkN helps organizations build their mobile strategy and create custom, white-labeled apps that allow for comprehensive in-app experiences for candidates and workers. With the acquisition: Avionte is committed to investing in the core WorkN platform to ensure that WorkN remains the undisputed leader in candidate experience technology for the staffing industry. WorkN, as a division of Avionte, will continue to pursue and engage clients across multiple platforms to ensure they receive maximum benefits of future R&D investments. Avionte will continue to scale AvionteBOLD and WorkN integrations, which increase recruiter productivity, improve redeployment rates, and boost engagement with clients and talent alike. Avionte will give all customers the opportunity to take advantage of the WorkN platform as part of its core service. "We are delighted to join forces with an organization that is committed to the healthy digital transformation of the staffing industry," said WorkN Co-Founder and CEO Jakob Rohn. "Our partnership with Avionte will serve both our AvionteBOLD clients, while positioning WorkN as the foundational customer experience solution for the broader staffing market. This acquisition is a testament to Avionte's confidence in WorkN, the successful history of our partnership, and our shared vision and values. We are thrilled to bring our mobile platform to even more customers, while continuing to serve our large enterprise clients at the high service levels for which we are known. With Avionte's support, we will have additional resources to further innovate, as well as a gateway to introduce WorkN to a much broader audience." District Capital Partners acted as exclusive financial advisor to Avionte and Citizens M&A Advisory acted as exclusive financial advisor to WorkN. About WorkN Founded in 2015, WorkN is committed to transforming CX-Tech for the staffing industry. Our world-class software systems are designed to help match employers with today's workforce-by removing the friction points that reduce performance. We offer a white-labeled, online SaaS (News - Alert) staffing platform featuring fully integrated mobile apps. WorkN helps staffing firms deliver innovative, touchless mobile talent solutions through the client portal for order entry, transparency, scheduling, reporting, and workforce management. The WorkN difference is built on four key drivers: Our passion for the customer experience, our proven expertise, our focus on thought-leadership, and our SaaS platform capabilities. To learn more about WorkN, visit http://www.workn.com. About Avionte Avionte is a leader in enterprise staffing and recruiting software solutions, offering innovative end-to-end technology solutions to nearly 1,000 customers and 25,000 users throughout the U.S. and Canada. Avionte delivers a robust platform for clerical, light industrial, IT, and professional staffing firms to maximize profits and boost productivity. With powerful ATS, billing, and payroll solutions, including the first paycard designed specifically for the staffing industry, Avionte provides the technology every staffing firm can use to scale and grow their business. Learn more at https://www.avionte.com/. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210913005759/en/ [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [September 13, 2021] Desjardins makes online brokerage even more accessible by letting clients trade stocks and ETFs for free MONTREAL, Sept. 13, 2021 /CNW Telbec/ - Desjardins Online Brokerage has once again enhanced its offer by eliminating commissions on stocks and exchange-traded funds (ETFs) in CAD and USD when trading online or in the mobile app. This initiative applies to all clients and expands on the reduced commission fees that Desjardins Online Brokerage was already offering to active investors and 18-to-30-year-olds. "Desjardins Online Brokerage (Disnat) became Canada's first discount broker in 1982," says Marjorie Minet, Vice-President of the Wealth Management Advisory Services Division at Desjardins. "Now, our cooperative organization is taking concrete steps to make the stock market even more accesible to all of our clients. We're going to continue setting ourselves apart with unparalleled support and educational programs that promote financial empowerment." Desjardins Online Brokerage's client support In recent years, Desjardins Online Brokerage has rolled out a number of educational initiatives for its younger clients, among others. These include daily contents on economic and financial news and a newsfeed that provides real-time market updates. Desjardins Online Brokerage also took part in the publication of Michel Villa's book, Pile et Face, which delves into basic principles investors should know to better navigate the stock market. During the first half of 2021, some 23,000 participants attended 120 webinars and seminars on topics like how the trading platform works and the various exchange-traded products available. The entire team at Desjardins Online Brokerage is committed to simplifying access to the stock market and opening it up to everyone. About Desjardins Group Desjardins Group is the largest cooperative financial group in North America and the fifth largest cooperative financial group in the world, with assets of $389.3 billion. In 2020 it was ranked as one of the world's Top 100 Employers by Forbes magazine. To meet the diverse needs of its members and clients, Desjardins offers a full range of products and services to individuals and businesses through its extensive distribution network, online platforms and subsidiaries across Canada. Ranked among the world's strongest banks according to The Banker magazine, Desjardins has one of the highest capital ratios and credit ratings in the industry. SOURCE Desjardins Group [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [September 13, 2021] Canadian Chamber of Commerce Chooses Elavon as Referral Partner for Members Seeking Payment Services The Canadian Chamber of Commerce - a champion of small businesses through more than 450 local chambers representing more than 200,000 Canadian businesses - has selected Elavon to be its referral partner, providing members a simple, secure and reliable way to accept payments from their customers. Elavon has operated in Canada since 2005, helping businesses evolve with the changing purchasing preferences of customers, regulatory and security requirements and emerging technology that helps them run their businesses more efficiently. Small and medium-sized businesses will be able to take advantage of Elavon's advanced acquiring capabilities as well as flexible tools for debit and credit card processing that can be tailored to their needs. Businesses will also benefit from a seamless payments experience through a single point of integration helping to increase acceptance, improve customer experience and reduce fraud. "We are proud to serve businesses in Canada, particularly in this time when getting back to business has never been more important," said Mia Huntington, executive vice president, Digital and Associations, at Elavon. "Demand for contactless payment options is high, along with the need for simple and secure checkout processes that integrate into other critical business software. We are ready to help businesses meet these demands - worry free." "Over the last 18 months, Canadian small- and medium-sized enterprises have transitioned to eCommerce at an exponential rate," said Perrin Beatty, President and CEO of the Canadian Chamber of Commerce. "On behalf of our network of 250,000 member businesses, we are pleased to partner with te payment experts at Elavon who recognize that customers may come through the front door or via the homepage. As our partner, Elavon will help meet your business needs and customers' expectations with flexible electronic payment options." Members who take advantage of Elavon's payment solutions will receive our preferred partner pricing. Why choose Elavon? Accept payments online, in-store, or on-the-go with Converge, an all-in-one eCommerce solution. Simplify operations and uncover insights with talech, our in-house point-of-sale solution designed to grow with your business. Count on dedicated account managers to help support your business objectives. Lean on in-house multi-lingual customer support that is available around the clock - 24-hour-a-day, seven-days-a-week. Manage all aspects of your customers' payment activity with our online merchant portal. Better manage cash flow from next-day funding. To learn more about Elavon's powerful suite of payment solutions, visit www.elavon.ca. For the Canadian Chamber of Commerce membership benefits, call 1.844.935.3621. About Elavon Elavon is wholly owned by U.S. Bank, the fifth-largest bank in the United States, and provides end-to-end payment processing solutions and services to more than 2 million customers worldwide. As the leading provider for airlines and a top five provider in hospitality, healthcare, retail, and public sector/education, Elavon's innovative payment solutions are designed to solve pain points for businesses from small to enterprise-sized. For more information, visit www.elavon.com. About Canadian Chamber of Commerce The Canadian Chamber of Commerce helps build the businesses that support our families, our communities and our country. We do this by influencing government policy, by providing essential business services and by connecting businesses to information they can use, to opportunities for growth and to a network of local chambers, businesses, decision-makers and peers from across the country, in every sector of the economy and at all levels of government, as well as internationally. We are unapologetic in our support for business and the vital role it plays in building and sustaining our great nation. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210913005768/en/ [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [September 13, 2021] OTC: ILUS, ILUS International (Ilustrato Pictures International Inc), Summarizes the Interview on 8th September 2021 Conducted by Jonathan Burbank with ILUS Managing Director, John-Paul Backwell NEW YORK, Sept. 13, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- via NewMediaWire -- ILUS International Inc (OTC: ILUS): ILUS is a Mergers and Acquisitions company focussed on acquiring and developing public safety technology-based companies across the globe. As part of the fulfilment of its strategy, ILUS is currently working on acquisitions in the US and Europe, updating its Share Structure, working on several initiatives within its existing acquisitions and on the development and certification of new complementary technologies. Recently, ILUS Managing Director, John-Paul Backwell, sat down with Jonathan Burbank for a live stream interview which is currently available for viewing on YouTube. In this interview, John-Paul Backwell answered questions on the latest developments at ILUS as well as its upcoming plans, with the details revealed in this interview briefly summarized below, followed by the viewing link to the interview itself. When asked about the total number of initiatives that ILUS is working on, with initiatives being summarized as acquisitions and new projects or partnerships, John-Paul Backwell confirmed that ILUS is currently working on more than 20 initiatives. As part of the initiatives, the company currently has 10 acquisitions in its pipeline within the US, Europe, and the Middle East. These potential acquisitions are at various stages of exploration and due diligence, which has led to a strong deal flow. For a mergers and acquisitions company, deal flow is highly critical, especially as some of these deals can take time to complete their cycle, with some deals not passing through their respective due diligence stages. ILUS has a solid pipeline of deals which closely align with its strategy; therefore, the company does expect to close most of its targeted deals. Of the 10 acquisitions in the pipeline, ILUS is in the final stages of due diligence and purchasing negotiations for 4 potential acquisitions in the US. Two of these acquisitions have provisionally agreed purchase offers in place. In Europe, ILUS has agreed a deal in principle for a large acquisition which will enable large scale manufacturing capability and is linked to a possible large manufacturing contract. Regarding this deal, the company is now going through the required governmental administrative procedures, some of which were delayed by the recent August vacation in the region. With business now resuming as normal within the region, ILUS hopes to complete this deal very soon. Further acquisition discussions are taking place with companies in the UK and Middle East, with these targeted acquisitions all generating consistent revenue and as with the US acquisitions, they hold significant growth potential and strategic value for the company. ILUS confirmed that it is also currently working on more than 10 new partnerships and projects. Some of the partnerships are as follows: Milanion autonomous firefighting vehicle partnership where the vehicle development is ongoing, and a prototype is being tested. Takeleap Virtual Reality training platform where the software development for Fire Extinguisher Training and CPR training is complete and as a first step towards sales, BCD Fire has recently hired a new salesperson to promote and sell this technology in Dubai. The firefighting drone partnership, whereby the large firefighting drone has the capacity to carry up to 1 ton of weight. This technology is currently undergoing proof of concept testing in Europe. Reconnaissance drones for firefighting situational awareness and asset maintenance surveillance. ILUS is currently exploring two potential partnerships for this technology. Partnership on a US developed intelligent emergency response communication platform with connected building technology, which enables first responders to arrive on scene quicker and operate more efficiently on arrival. Some of the projects include: The development of a comprehensive E-Raptor range of all-electric commercial utility vehicles (UTVs) to complement the existing E-Raptor 6x6 UTV which is the worlds first and only 6-wheeled electric UTV. The range will include an electric 4x4 UTV in flatbed and dmp-bed format and a 4-seater road legal commercial passenger vehicle for event safety and last mile transportation. The testing and certification of ILUS fixed water mist systems for kitchen fires and battery fires. ILUS is already in discussions with large companies utilizing battery powered technology for the deployment of its unique water mist firefighting technology to rapidly suppress and extinguish battery compartment fires in passenger vehicles, public transportation, and energy storage facilities. Obtaining of the A license for ILUS acquisition, BCD Fire, which will enable the company to install and maintain fire systems in multiple buildings simultaneously, with no restriction on the number of floors per building in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). Under current licensing, BCD Fire can only install these systems in certain buildings through a sub-contractor and despite this, it has already been awarded large contracts since being acquired by ILUS, including the contract for the worlds tallest office tower, Burj 2020. With the A license in place, BCD Fire will be one of only a handful of companies in the UAE which can perform installation and maintenance of fire systems in all buildings, regardless of size and complexity. The research, testing, and procurement of a comprehensive range of wildland firefighting equipment and turnout gear to be on sale in the US this year, through an upcoming US acquisition. The ILUS research, development and manufacturing facility in Dubai is in the process of completing its ISO9001 Quality Assurance Certification. The research and development of wearable technology for firefighters which will integrate the backbone of existing virtual reality technology and monitoring sensors to provide firefighters with on-scene monitoring capability including incident command communications, heat stress monitoring, oxygen level monitoring, chemical and particulate monitoring, ECG technology to monitor for cardiac events, navigation guidance etc. ILUS has made several new hires in addition to those indicated in press releases. These new hires form part of the administrative, engineering, operations, marketing, and sales teams. The company is in the process of hiring additional US sales and marketing resources in preparation for upcoming acquisitions. Finally, ILUS confirmed that it hopes to complete the first phase of its anticipated Share Structure update this week. The link to the interview can be found here: https://youtu.be/BI9t571C0Gc For further information on the companies, please see their communication channels: Website: https://ilus-group.com Twitter: OTC_ILUS Contact: Email: IR@Ilus-Group.com Source: ILUS Related Links https://ilus-group.com Forward-Looking Statement Certain information set forth in this press release contains "forward-looking information", including "future-oriented financial information" and "financial outlook", under applicable securities laws (collectively referred to herein as forward-looking statements). Except for statements of historical fact, the information contained herein constitutes forward-looking statements and includes, but is not limited to, the (i) projected financial performance of the Company; (ii) completion of, and the use of proceeds from, the sale of the shares being offered hereunder; (iii) the expected development of the Company's business, projects, and joint ventures; (iv) execution of the Company's vision and growth strategy, including with respect to future M&A activity and global growth; (v) sources and availability of third-party financing for the Company's projects; (vi) completion of the Company's projects that are currently underway, in development or otherwise under consideration; (vi) renewal of the Company's current customer, supplier and other material agreements; and (vii) future liquidity, working capital, and capital requirements. Forward-looking statements are provided to allow potential investors the opportunity to understand management's beliefs and opinions in respect of the future so that they may use such beliefs and opinions as one factor in evaluating an investment. These statements are not guarantees of future performance and undue reliance should not be placed on them. Such forward-looking statements necessarily involve known and unknown risks and uncertainties, which may cause actual performance and financial results in future periods to differ materially from any projections of future performance or result expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Although forward-looking statements contained in this presentation are based upon what management of the Company believes are reasonable assumptions, there can be no assurance that forward-looking statements will prove to be accurate, as actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements. The Company undertakes no obligation to update forward-looking statements if circumstances or management's estimates or opinions should change except as required by applicable securities laws. The reader is cautioned not to place undue reliance on forward-looking statements. The Securities and Exchange Commission ("SEC") has provided guidance to issuers regarding the use of social media to disclose material non-public information. In this regard, investors and others should note that we announce material financial information via official Press Releases, in addition to SEC filings, press releases, Questions & Answers sessions, public conference calls and webcasts also may take time from time to time. We use these channels as well as social media to communicate with the public about our company, our services, and other issues. It is possible that the information we post on social media could be deemed to be material information. Therefore, considering the SEC's guidance, we encourage investors, the media, and others interested in our company to review the information we post on the following social & media channels: website: https://ilus-group.com Twitter: OTC_ILUS Note: ILUS Coin does not sit within ILUS International Inc (Ilustrato Pictures International Inc), so the public are recommended to follow the correct Media Channels relating to the public company OTC: ILUS [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [September 13, 2021] Hercules Capital Prices Public Offering of $325.0 Million 2.625% Notes Due 2026 Hercules Capital, Inc. (NYSE: HTGC) ("Hercules" or the "Company"), today announced that it has priced an underwritten public offering of $325.0 million in aggregate principal amount of 2.625% notes due September 2026 (the "Notes"). The closing of the transaction is subject to customary closing conditions and the Notes are expected to be delivered and paid for on September 16, 2021. The Notes are unsecured and bear interest at a rate of 2.625% per year, payable semiannually and will mature on September 16, 2026 and may be redeemed in whole or in part at any time or from time to time at the Company's option at par, plus a "make whole" premium, if applicable. The Company expects to use the net proceeds from this offering (i) to repurchase or redeem all or a portion of the Company's asset-backed notes (the "Asset-Backed Notes," comprising the Company's 4.605% asset-backed notes due 2027 and 4.703% asset-backed notes due 2028), (ii) to fund investments in debt and equity securities in accordance with the Company's investment objective, and (iii) for other general corporate purposes. Goldman Sachs & Co. LLC, SMBC Nikko Securities America, Inc., MUFG Securities Americas Inc. and RBC Capital Markets, LLC are acting as joint book-running managers of this offering. The offering may be made only by means of a preliminary prospectus supplement and an accompanying prospectus, copies of which may be obtained from (1) Goldman Sachs & Co. LLC, Prospectus Department, 200 West Street, New York, NY 10282, telephone: 1-866-471-2526, facsimile: 212-902-9316 or by emailing Prospectus-ny@ny.email.gs.com; and (2) SMBC Nikko Securities America, Inc., 277 Park Avenue, New York, NY 10177, Attention: Debt Capital Markets - Transaction Management, Toll Free: 1-888-868-6856: Facsimile: N/A: E-mail: prospectus@smbcnikko-si.com. Investors are advised to carefully consider the investment objectives, risks, charges and expenses of the Company before investing. The pricing term sheet dated September 13, 2021, the preliminary prospectus dated September 13, 2021 and the accompanying prospectus dated April 29, 2019, each of which has been filed with the SEC (News - Alert) , contain this and other information about the Company and should be read carefully before investing. The information in the pricing term sheet, the preliminary prospectus supplement, the accompanying prospectus and this press release is not complete and may be changed. The pricing term sheet, the preliminary prospectus supplement, the accompanying prospectus and this press release do not constitute an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy, nor shall there be any sale of, the Notes in any state or other jurisdiction in which such offer, solicitation or sale would be unlawful prior to the registration or qualification under the securities laws of any such state or other jurisdiction. This press release does not constitute a notice of redemption with respect to any of the Asset-Backed Notes. About Hercules Capital, Inc. Hercules Capital, Inc. (NYSE: HTGC) is the leading and largest specialty finance company focused on providing senior secured venture growth loans to high-growth, innovative venture capital-backed companies in a broad variety of technology, life sciences and sustainable and renewable technology industries. Since inception (December 2003), Hercules has committed more than $12.0 billion to over 530 companies and is the lender of choice for entrepreneurs and venture capital firms seeking growth capital financing. Companies interested in learning more about financing opportunities should contact info@htgc.com, or call 650.289.3060. Hercules' common stock trades on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) under the ticker symbol "HTGC." In addition, Hercules has one retail bond issuance of 6.25% Notes due 2033 (NYSE: HCXY). Forward-Looking Statements This press release may contain "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. You should understand that under Section 27A(b)(2)(B) of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E(b)(2)(B) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, or the Exchange Act, the "safe harbor" provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 do not apply to forward-looking statements made in periodic reports we file under the Exchange Act. The information disclosed in this press release is made as of the date hereof and reflects Hercules' most current assessment of its historical financial performance. Actual financial results filed with the SEC may differ from those contained herein due to timing delays between the date of this release and confirmation of final audit results. These forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance and are subject to uncertainties and other factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed in the forward-looking statements including, without limitation, the risks, uncertainties, including the uncertainties surrounding the current market volatility, and other factors the Company identifies from time to time in its filings with the SEC. Although Hercules believes that the assumptions on which these forward-looking statements are based are reasonable, any of those assumptions could prove to be inaccurate and, as a result, the forward-looking statements based on those assumptions also could be incorrect. You should not place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements. The forward-looking statements contained in this release are made as of the date hereof, and Hercules assumes no obligation to update the forward-looking statements for subsequent events. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210913005836/en/ [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [September 13, 2021] SME Awards Recognize Additive Manufacturing Innovation, Skill and Leadership CHICAGO, Sept. 13, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- SME, the professional association committed to advancing manufacturing and developing a skilled workforce, announced the winners of its Additive Manufacturing Community Awards, which were presented today at RAPID + TCT 2021, North America's largest and most influential additive manufacturing (AM) event, Sept. 13-15 at Chicago's McCormick Place. The awards were presented by SME's AM Technical Community Leadership Committee and Direct Digital Manufacturing Advisory Team, which produce content for the organization's programs and other industry events on advanced AM technologies and processes that allow the development, testing and manufacture of new products faster and more cost-effectively. The Additive Manufacturing Industry Awards celebrate the outstanding accomplishments of individuals, teams and companies creating significant impact in commercializing AM. SME's AM Technical Community Leadership Committee pre-dates the formation of RAPID + TCT. It originally was created in 1992 by the Rapid Prototyping Association (RPA), which joined the Society of Manufacturing Engineers (SME) one year later to become the Rapid Prototyping Association of SME (RPA/SME). It later was renamed SME's Rapid Technologies & Additive Manufacturing Community Advisors before eventually becoming what it is today. Its charge has always been to advise the organization on initiatives, activities, policy and strategy related to AM. Because of this mantra, all three of the awards, which traditionally are presented at RAPID + TCT, are focused on the application of AM technology to production, not just research and development. This year's Additive Manufacturing Community awards include the following: AM Industry Achievement Award The AM Industry Achievement Award, established in 2008, was developed to recognize an individual or team for outstanding accomplishments that have had significant impact in the application of AM in any industry. The award recognizes achievements that have been implemented or deployed in a commercial/industrial environment rather than research investigative work. Winners are selected with consideration for the scope and scale of benefits realized and the potential future impact theirwork will have on the industry. The recipient is: Name: David K. Leigh, PhD Title: Chief Technology Officer for Additive Manufacturing Business Affiliation: 3D Systems, Inc. Dr. Leigh is recognized for his career-long contributions to the AM industry. He has been instrumental in pioneering standards and specifications on qualification of AM; building successful culture and systems at printing service houses; and founding (and eventually spinning off) companies that broadened the market and audience for AM technology. Aubin AM Case Study Award The newly re-branded and updated "Aubin AM Case Study Award" looks to recognize innovations in application of AM technologies. The purpose of the award is to recognize outstanding use cases of AM adoption and implementation and to provide inspiration to others in their journey of AM application. The recipients include: Names: B. Dutta1, M. Lewan1, V. Singh1, R. Fortuna1, F. Ghadamli1, P. Gradl2, R. Hickman2, J. Fikes2, M. Ogles3, K. Wheeler4, V. Hafiychuk4, H. Hafiychuk4 Title: "Rapid Large Scale Additive Manufacturing of Full-scale RS-25 Engine Nozzle Liner" Business Affiliation: 1DM3D Technology, 2 NASA Marshall Space Flight Center, 3 National Center for Additive Manufacturing Excellence (NCAME)-Auburn University, 4NASA Ames Research Center Digital Manufacturing Challenge The 2021 Digital Manufacturing Challenge is a call for action to inspire the next generation of engineers. They are challenged to re-think ways to design, create, and utilize infrastructure-level systems that deploy engineering design and manufacturing solutions to strengthen infrastructure in the response, mitigation and/or prevention of such disruptive and devastating events and envision an optimistic view of healthy, robust, sustainable, smart, agile, peaceful communities. The recipients are: Names: Sagar Patel and Martine McGregor Title: "Rapid Deployment of Patient-Specific Prosthesis Assemblies in Emergency Medicine" Faculty Advisors: Mihaela Vlasea, Stewart McLachlin Business Affiliation: University of Waterloo For more information about the history of SME's AM Technical Community, read, "SME's Additive Manufacturing Community Celebrates Over 30 Years of Activity," by Zach Simkin, past chair of SME's Additive Manufacturing Community Advisory Board. About RAPID + TCT For more than 30 years, SME and the RAPID has defined the crucial role of additive manufacturing and empowered the establishment of an industry that continues to conceive, test, improve and manufacture new products at a faster, more cost-efficient pace. In 2017, the two industry leaders in 3D technology events, SME and The TCT Group, partnered to produce the annual RAPID + TCT event. For users and suppliers alike, the event is the premier destination for those who provide technology and for those who need to understand, explore and adopt 3D printing, additive manufacturing, 3D scanning, CAD/CAE, metrology and inspection technologies. For more information, visit rapid3devent.com, follow @RAPID_Event on Twitter or on LinkedIn. About SME SME connects manufacturing professionals, academia and communities, sharing knowledge and resources to build inspired, educated and prosperous manufacturers and enterprises. With nearly 90 years of experience and expertise in events, media, membership, training and development, and also through the SME Education Foundation, SME is committed to promoting manufacturing technology, developing a skilled workforce and attracting future generations to advance manufacturing. Learn more at sme.org, follow @SME_MFG on Twitter or facebook.com/SMEmfg. View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/sme-awards-recognize-additive-manufacturing-innovation-skill-and-leadership-301375578.html SOURCE SME [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [September 13, 2021] Virginia G. Piper Charitable Trust Awards $123 Million in Surprise Grants to 71 Nonprofits-the Largest Single-Day Grant Initiative in Arizona History Trustees of Virginia G. Piper Charitable Trust today awarded a total of $123 million in surprise grants to 71 Arizona nonprofits-the largest single-day grant initiative in Arizona's history. This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210913005840/en/ Trustees and CEO of Virginia G. Piper Charitable Trust award $123 million in surprise grants to Maricopa County nonprofits--a philanthropic milestone in Arizona's history. From left: Paul Critchfield, Jose Cardenas, Judy Jolley Mohraz, Jim Bruner, Sharon Harper, Laura Grafman, Mary Jane Rynd (CEO), and Steve Zabilski. (Photo: Business Wire) The grants were presented to the 71 awardees throughout the day on September 13, 2021-as a complete surprise. Trustees personally met with the CEOs and Board Chairs of the 71 organizations to thank them for their leadership and work and provide significant capital through grants that will give them strength and runway to help secure their futures. Despite a tumultuous year due to the global health crisis caused by COVID-19 and economic uncertainty across all sectors, many individuals and institutions with large investments in the stock market experienced extraordinary growth in the value of their holdings. Virginia G. Piper Charitable Trust's endowment grew by $123 million in the 15 months following the start of the pandemic. With these two opposing forces at work, and as stewards of the Trust's founder, Virginia Galvin Piper, Trustees felt compelled to share with the community all of the earnings in one swift action. This $123 million Trustee initiative-the Now is the Moment Grants Commemoration-provides grant awards to 71 nonprofit organizations categorized as follows: HUMAN SERVICES-TOTAL TO 29 GRANTEES: $54,950,000 Andre House of Arizona, Inc. Arizona Justice Project Benevilla Big Brothers Big Sisters of Central Arizona Black Family and Child Services of Arizona Boys & Girls Clubs of Greater Scottsdale Boys & Girls Clubs of the Valley, Inc. Catholic Charities Community Services Central Arizona Shelter Services Chicanos Por La Causa, Inc. Child Crisis Arizona Duet: Partners in Health & Aging First Place AZ Foundation for Senior Living Girl Scouts-Arizona Cactus-Pine Council, Inc. Human Services Campus, Inc. ICAN International Rescue Committee Jewish Family and Children's Service Maggie's Place Native American Connections, Inc. onenten Phoenix Rescue Mission Society of St. Vincent de Paul St. Joseph the Worker The Joy Bus The Salvation Army UMOM New Day Centers Valley of the Sun YMCA ARTS & CULTURE-TOTAL TO 22 GRANTEES: $32,750,000 Act One Arizona Musicfest Arizona Opera Arizona State University Foundation* Arizona Theatre Company Artlink, Inc. Ballet Arizona Black Theatre Troupe, Inc. CALA Alliance Children's Museum of Phoenix Childsplay, Inc. Cultural Coalition, Inc. Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation Free Arts for Abused Children of Arizona Heard Museum Jazz in Arizona, Inc. Phoenix Art Museum Phoenix Theatre The Phonix Symphony Valley Youth Theatre Western Spirit: Scottsdale's Museum of the West Xico, Inc. EDUCATION & ACADEMIC ENHANCEMENT-TOTAL TO 12 GRANTEES: $21,500,000 Arizona State University Foundation* Be A Leader Foundation Bourgade Catholic High School Brophy College Preparatory Creighton University Foundation for Blind Children Liberty Wildlife Rehabilitation Foundation, Inc. Notre Dame Preparatory High School Seton Catholic High School St. John Paul II Catholic High School St. Mary's High School Xavier College Preparatory HEALTHCARE & MEDICAL RESEARCH-TOTAL TO 5 GRANTEES: $8,175,000 Mission of Mercy Ryan House Southwest Autism Research & Resource Center (SARRC) The Translational Genomics Research Institute (TGen) Valleywise Health Foundation RELIGIOUS ORGANIZATIONS-TOTAL TO 4 GRANTEES: $5,625,000 Franciscan Renewal Center Mount Claret Retreat Center St. Joseph Catholic Church The Roman Catholic Diocese of Phoenix "Maricopa County, along with the rest of the country, has suffered dramatically in so many different and unexpected ways," said Trustee Sharon Harper. "Piper Trust cares deeply about our community and is proud of how community members have stepped up. However, we are still in a desperate situationthose who serve the underserved really have suffered. The arts and culture sector also has experienced significant setbacks due to the pandemic. We must ensure its fortification for the long-term vitality of the community and state," said Harper. The $123 million grants commemoration aligns with the Trust's increased grantmaking over the past two years in response to the pandemic, and its belief in the power of strengthening the capacity of nonprofits. In Fiscal Year 2021 (year ended on March 31, 2021), Piper Trust awarded more than $37 million to community organizations-a significant increase from its historical average of $22 million annually. Many of the 2021 grants were a direct response to the pandemic. Further, the COVID-response grants were unrestricted awards to provide grantees with full discretion and flexibility to use the funds as they saw fit for their respective organizations. In 2019, to mark its 20th Anniversary, the Trust invested an additional $20 million over five years in organizational capacity building of many grantees, over and above its annual grantmaking of $22 million. The Now is the Moment Grants Commemoration draws on Virginia Piper's visionary statement that continues to drive Piper Trust's actions today-"Managing the stewardship of charitable giving is a moment-to-moment dignified responsibility of a truly high calling in human affairs and human relations." "This grants commemoration is similar to a memorable action by Trustees over two decades ago when they made what the Trustees named 'the Cornerstone Grants' and awarded $41 million to eight organizations that Mrs. Piper supported over the years," said Mary Jane Rynd, president and CEO of Piper Trust. Of the seven Trustees, three are original Trustees appointed by Mrs. Piper, and four have served the Trust in their roles for over half the life of the Trust. "I believe Virginia would think that this is a momentous time for these organizations," said Trustee Laura Grafman, who was one of Virginia G. Piper's best friends. "I feel that so strongly because she loved to share. I can't help but feel that she would be thrilled and excited, and she would be the first one at the Trust on Monday the 13thVirginia would say, 'Thank you for what you do, thank you for everything you bring to this community, and now we have a little surprise for you.' I can just see Virginia in my mind walking around the Trust with great enthusiasm and with hope for the potential of these grants." Grantee selection was shaped by each organization's respective mission and impact in the community. The grants range in size and were determined by a variety of factors such as an organization's overall need, budget size, and populations served. Some selections were based on Virginia Piper's history of giving to organizations as well as her personal values. The $123 million Now is the Moment Grants Commemoration is a single-day investment in Maricopa County's nonprofit community. Piper Trust's annual grantmaking averaging $22 million will continue as usual. The seven Trustees of Virginia G. Piper Charitable Trust are: Jim Bruner, Jose Cardenas, Paul Critchfield, Laura Grafman, Sharon Harper, Judy Jolley Mohraz, and Steve Zabilski. "I think the Trustees understood that if Virginia Piper were alive, she would have seen the needs; she would have seen the good fortune that the investments have made; and she would have said, 'The time is now,'" said Trustee Judy Jolley Mohraz. "Piper Trust is a place-based foundation and has always worked hard to be partners with our nonprofit organizations, not just funders-and there is a distinction between those two. I think this gift is simply to say to nonprofits and the community they serve, 'We're going through this dark time, but we're going through it together-we're holding hands as we go down this uncertain path, and we're here for you.'" About Virginia G. Piper Charitable Trust: Virginia G. Piper Charitable Trust supports organizations that enrich health, well-being, and opportunity for the people of Maricopa County, Arizona. Since it began awarding grants in 2000, Piper Trust has invested more than $644 million in local nonprofits and programs. Piper Trust grantmaking areas are healthcare and medical research, children, older adults, arts and culture, education, and religious organizations. For more information, visit pipertrust.org | @PiperTrust | Facebook | #PiperTrustMoments For Piper Trust's Annual Financial Report: Fiscal Year Ending March 2020, visit FY 2020. ___ * Arizona State University Foundation is counted as one of the 71 grantee organizations; however, funds will be used within the University in two distinct areas falling within both Arts & Culture and Education & Academic Enhancement. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210913005840/en/ [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [September 13, 2021] DXC Technology Rings NYSE Closing Bell on Monday, Sept. 13, 2021 DXC Technology (NYSE: DXC) President and CEO Mike Salvino and members of the DXC leadership team today rang the New York Stock Exchange Closing Bell to celebrate DXC's new brand which stands for delivering excellence for its customers and colleagues. This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210913005885/en/ (Photo: Business Wire) NYSE Closing Bell photo and video DXC leaders who participated in today's NYSE Closing Bell (see acompanying photo) are: (Front row, left to right) Bill Deckelman, Executive Vice President and General Counsel; Jim Brady, President, Americas; Brenda Tsai, Executive Vice President and Chief Marketing and Communications Officer; Ken Sharp (News - Alert) , Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer; Mike Salvino, President and Chief Executive Officer; Mary Finch, Executive Vice President and Chief Human Resources Officer; Vinod Bagal, Executive Vice President, Global Delivery; Jamie Musson, Director Finance-Process and Controls. (Back row, left to right) Tim Weir, Vice President, Global Asset Protection; Mike McDaniel, President, Modern Workplace; Chris Voci, Senior Vice President Finance; Zafar Hasan, Senior Vice President and Global Head of Corporate Legal, Board Secretary; NYSE Closing Bell host; Tom Pettit, President, Americas; John Sweeney, Vice President Investor Relations. For additional photos and video, go to: https://www.nyse.com/bell/calendar. About DXC Technology DXC Technology (NYSE: DXC) helps global companies run their mission critical systems and operations while modernizing IT, optimizing data architectures, and ensuring security and scalability across public, private and hybrid clouds. The world's largest companies and public sector organizations trust DXC to deploy services across the Enterprise Technology Stack to drive new levels of performance, competitiveness, and customer experience. Learn more about how we deliver excellence for our customers and colleagues at DXC.com. All statements in this press release that do not directly and exclusively relate to historical facts constitute "forward-looking statements." These statements represent current expectations and beliefs, and no assurance can be given that the results described in such statements will be achieved. Such statements are subject to numerous assumptions, risks, uncertainties and other factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those described in such statements, many of which are outside of our control. Furthermore, many of these risks and uncertainties are currently amplified by and may continue to be amplified by or may, in the future, be amplified by, the coronavirus disease 2019 ("COVID-19") pandemic and the impact of varying private and governmental responses that affect our customers, employees, vendors and the economies and communities where they operate. For a written description of these factors, see the section titled "Risk Factors" in DXC's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended March 31, 2021, and any updating information in subsequent SEC (News - Alert) filings. No assurance can be given that any goal or plan set forth in any forward-looking statement can or will be achieved, and readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on such statements which speak only as of the date they are made. We do not undertake any obligation to update or release any revisions to any forward-looking statement or to report any events or circumstances after the date of this presentation or to reflect the occurrence of unanticipated events except as required by law. Source (News - Alert) : DXC Technology Category: Investor Relations View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210913005885/en/ [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] NASHVILLE, Tenn. - There are events throughout history that evoke powerful emotions: Pearl Harbor, President Kennedys assassination, the loss of Space Shuttle Columbia, and September 11, 2001. On that September morning in 2001, America watched in disbelief as terrorists destroyed the World Trade Center and attacked the Pentagon. The image of two passenger airliners slamming into the iconic New York City landmarks became seared into our collective memory. The deliberate brutality grounded air traffic across the country with one exception. Hours after the terrorist attack, the Federal Aviation Administration gave permission for a Tennessee Air National Guard C-130 to fly from Nashville to Houston, Texas. For a few hours, the 118th Air Wings aircraft was the only plane aloft in America. The crews mission was to transport a liver to a team of doctors waiting to perform emergency surgery on a six-month-old baby girl. Uncertain of another terrorist attack, elevated security at airports and government buildings was implemented. Tennessees governor, Don Sundquist, said he would order the Tennessee National Guard to do whatever necessary to enhance airport security. The orders came quickly and on September 28, Guardsmen went on duty at Tennessee airports. Military officials expected to fill the order entirely with volunteers and did not anticipate making an official call. That is exactly what happened. Guardsmen volunteered en masse to assist with airport security. Hundreds of volunteers were turned away. The volunteer state, indeed. The troops performed roving patrols and established check points to screen passengers arriving and departing from various terminals. Guardsmen patrolled the perimeter of the Nashville airport and checked for signs of forced entry or other indications of dangerous activity. Guardsmen provided extra security to the Capitol building, Legislative Plaza, War Memorial Plaza, and the Tennessee Towers in Nashville. Sundquist said, I want to ensure all Tennesseans that the most important function of state government is to protect the lives of its citizens. The events of September 11th have mandated that we shift our priorities and focus on every aspect of security in this state. Other sensitive sites that were considered terrorist targets were evaluated for possible National Guard support. Risk assessments were prepared for the Milan Arsenal, Holston Ammunition Plants, Watts Bar, Oak Ridge, and Seqouyah nuclear facilities. Military policemen from Ripleys 268th Military Police Company mobilized to ensure the safety and security of the Milan Arsenal and Holston Ammunition Plants. In the months that followed, Tennessee National Guard units were mobilized to participate in Operation Noble Eagle in order to help secure critical areas within the United States under homeland defense. They helped to protect numerous military posts and other valuable sites while troops deployed to Afghanistan and later Kuwait. The 130th Rear Area Operations Center (RAOC) deployed to Kosovo around October 1st. Many National Guard units were alerted and mobilized to participate in Operation Enduring Freedom and later, Iraqi Freedom, starting in October 2002. By February of 2006, over 100,000 National Guard Soldiers from across the country had been mobilized or deployed. 10,000 of these men and women were from Tennessee. Almost overnight, the Army National Guard became a front line combat military component. Soldiers like those assigned to the 730th Quartermaster Company from Johnson City and Charlie Company of the 46th Engineer Battalion from Paris, Tennessee, would be busting the berms into Iraq during the first days of the invasion in 2003. In the next five years, every Tennessee Guard unit would mobilize at some point to support the Global War on Terror. Tennessee is the fourth in the nation in deployed Soldiers since 9/11. Twenty-two members of the Tennessee National Guard have been killed in action. Most deaths occurred in Iraq and one in Afghanistan. Currently, the Tennessee Army National Guard has nearly 700 Soldiers deployed, and the Air National Guard has 330 for a total of 1,030. More than 290 are deployed in the United States and more than 730 are deployed primarily to Kuwait and the Horn of Africa. For the past twenty years, the Tennessee National Guard answered our nations call with a true volunteer response living out the National Guards motto of, always there, always ready. Story by William Jones Tennessee National Guard Public Affairs Office Over the weekend a political victory for Kansas City right-wing activists was mostly ignored. Here at TKC we think a proposed recall over the alleged "defunding" of police deserves more attention. To wit . . . KANSAS CITY PETITIONERS SIGN UP 1227 ADDITIONAL VOTERS IN THE FIGHT TO RECALL PROGRESSIVE COUNCILMAN ERIC BUNCH!!! Agree or disagree with their motives, that's an impressive number for a group composed mostly of middle-aged ladies on foot. Here's a highlight of a recent statement released to the media that most other outlets declined to share . . . "On August 31, 2021 we were giving a 10 day extension to obtain the remaining signatures needed to recall Councilman Bunch. On September 10, 2021 we turned in an additional 1227 signatures. Overall we collected approximately 3830 signatures with the majority coming from Jackson County. We must now wait for the additional signatures to be examined and added to the 1730 already verified. "Originally the city clerk gave us the number of needed signatures as 2427 via e-mail. However, when she issued the certificate of insufficiency the number increased to 2673. As of today we have not received an explanation as to why the number increased. "We would like to thank our volunteers who worked in extreme heat, rain and endured verbal abuse from some KC residents." Check their website for more deets. Moreover . . . These activists warn that this is merely the first part of their effort and more recalls of council members will follow. And so, here at www.TonysKansasCity.com we look for the fun to begin . . . Developing . . . The fallout of a controversial public healthcare declaration persists. Here's how one local news organization is reporting Missouri's approach to the vaxx mandate . . . "Schools receive federal funds and certainly have hundreds, if not thousands, of employees. But, schools are not considered a business. Teachers and staff are public employees; they are not federal employees. So, the federal mandate does not apply." Read more via www.TonysKansasCity.com news link . . . Missouri school employees exempt from federal vaccine mandate, Kansas still reviewing KANSAS CITY, MO (KCTV) -- President Biden's sweeping vaccination mandate will not apply to schools. Missouri's Department of Education clarified the matter in a statement to KCTV5: "Mandatory vaccinations for teachers and school personnel is a matter determined at the local level by policy voted on by local boards of education. More deets about tough lesson in COVID underway for Missouri . . . Missouri schools must prioritize in-person class. In first weeks, thousands quarantined The Danieley siblings, Lucy, 10, Teddy, 5, and Ruby, 9, hug on their first day back to school on Sept. 7, 2021. // Courtesy Teresa Danieley Teddy Danieley was devastated. Three weeks ago tears streamed down the five-year-old's face when he learned he couldn't attend the first-day of school in St. JoCo considers order as well . . . Shawnee Mission School District to discuss mandating vaccines for staff KANSAS CITY, Mo. - The Shawnee Mission Board of Education will discuss the possibility of implementing a vaccine mandate for its employees on Monday night. According to the district's COVID-19 dashboard , there are currently 76 people in quarantine which are mostly students. However, there are nine members of its staff in quarantine. Developing . . . Standing on the memorial ground where Flight 93 crashed 20 years ago, former President George W. Bush urged America to remember not only the memory of the heroes who fought back in the sky that day but also their legacy of selflessness that can still help unite the country today. Stay up to date on COVID-19 Get Breaking News Sign up now to get our FREE breaking news coverage delivered right to your inbox. Sponsored By: Dorsett Automotive So, Zermatt... Streets without cars but still bustling with people. A lot of people and they are all wearing hiking pants, carrying trekking poles, some with climbing gear, camping gear, ski gear and a lot with their doggies. We checked into our room, freshened up and headed out to explore a little bit and find something to eat. It was probably about 5:30 p.m. and the streets were crowded with pedestrians. We found a restaurant on the main street that we liked the looks of but alas, they were "cash only" and we did not have any Swiss francs yet, only euros. So we moseyed on down the street and found another restaurant with nice outside dining. The name escapes me at the moment, and yes everything was more expensive in Switzerland (Italy seemed like a bargain, lol), but this was probably our best meal of our trip. For us, our focus is always on SEE and DO rather than eat. Don't get me wrong, eating is one of my favorite things to do but I have found that when I travel, I rarely have great dining experiences. It is extremely hard to consistently find the best places to eat when you are only in an area for a short period of time. People watching while dining, I could not believe the number of hikers that were flooding the street. Old, young, able-bodied, not-so-able bodied. Where were they all coming from? By the time we finished eating, it was close to 7 p.m. and the shops were starting to close and the pedestrian traffic had dropped significantly. I begged my sleep-deprived mother into walking the main street southwards. The evening was nice and the Matterhorn was in sight. We made it almost to the Forest Fun Park and just couldn't go anymore so we trudged back to our room for a good night's sleep (well, better than the night before, at least). We only had one full day (the next day) in Zermatt and we asked the nice front desk staff which activity they would recommend for us, in search of a light, easy hike for my mom. They discussed the Five Lakes trail, along with another area in which to get a good view of the Matterhorn. Their third option (of three) was the Glacier Paradise, which they didn't seem too keen on. Over breakfast the next morning (a little late since we were still on American time), we ended up deciding to start out by going to Furi because we wanted to get to the suspension bridge. We made our way to the cable car and bought tickets (using our half-price fare cards), exiting at Furi and made our way to the suspension bridge. The sun was shining! The hikers and bikers and campers and climbers were out and about but they were all dispersed and it felt like we almost had the mountain to ourselves. A guy even rode his bike across that little suspension bridge (his girl pushed hers across). It was a magnificent day already and my apprehension from the previous night disappeared without another thought! This was the Zermatt I had wanted. Cute villages are nice and all but I don't travel half way around the world for a cute little village. The suspension bridge was a nice little hike, with beautiful views, fresh air and only a handful of people along the way. I don't know how it could have been any better. There was just a slight chill in the air but not enough to need long sleeves if you were hiking. After crossing the bridge, we decided to hike down the opposite way and at the bottom, below the station, we stopped for some cappucino and tomato zuppe. At that point, we decided to go all the way up to the Glacier Paradise. We were the only ones in our cable cars all day long. I was told by staff that the massive crowds had finished up and headed out just a few days prior. The scenery was breathtaking, riding over the glacier, spotting little lakes. We had to change at another station and on the last leg realized that our final destination was indeed that big rock at the very top. Eeek! I knew there would be a bowl or something opening up on the backside. I have ridden up a lot of ski lifts in the Rockies but this one was straight up a rock face, lol. Not for those scared of heights! We disembarked and headed to the viewing platform above. We met a father and son that had just summited the Breithorn (put that on my list for next time, please). They said there was very little ice and you didn't even need light crampons (although they had them). We could see tiny black dots in the distance that were other climbers, some seemingly having lunch in the snow. We saw a lot of skis but I never actually saw anyone skiing. They must have been out of my sightline. We went into the glacier (ice cave). Well, I did, my mom did not. It was a little strange being the ONLY person deep inside the ice cave. And it was very cold. The top of the viewing platform was really not bad as there wasn't much wind at all. That was surprising to me but the inside of the glacier made up for it. My fingers were hurting by the time I got out of there! We messed around a bit longer and then headed down, the entire cable car to ourselves again. So, I have ridden many ski lifts up the mountains in Colorado but I ski down. I do not take the lift down. This experience taught me that I don't like taking lifts down, lol. It is scary! I was dying a little when that car scooted out of that first station and swooped us over the rock cliff. We got off at Furi, stopped for a cappucino and some apfelstrudel, speaking with a nice French waiter that left San Francisco to get his passport renewed and then couldn't get back to the US because COVID hit. He was so happy to see some US tourists, hopeful that he might indeed make it back to the US sometime soon. I was dying to do some hiking/walking so I asked mom if she thought she could hike down and she did, so that is what we did. I have to be honest and say I was envious of the other hikers and exploers. The hike from Furi down to the bottom was so scenic and dreamy. So Swiss! We passed some people that had hiked up to Furi or part way, at least. Once at the bottom, we were treated to a great sunny view of the Matterhorn behind us and a beautiful rainbow over Zermatt Village and the river in front of us. What else can you ask for out of your first day in Switzerland?? When we were back in the village, the crowds of hikers returning for the evening were not nearly as thick as they had been the day before (Sunday). And we now know why everyone carries trekking poles. Whether you are officially "hiking" or not, everything is hilly and those poles could come in very handy, for young and old alike. Our 8 day adventure had just began but I knew one thing: I will be coming back to Zermatt and staying longer. Next up: Glacier Express! Hi All, We are a couple aged 30 and we are traveling to Switzerland from Dubai for 7 nights starting Sept 19th. We intend to have two bases in Switzerland and have day trip from there to visit places. Some must visit places for us: Bernese Oberland (mountain villages, top of Europe), one of the major swiss cities, if possible boat-ride in the lake brienz and visiting Matterhorn in Zermatt. We have a few queries and would appreciate if you can advise basis your experience: 1 - How's this time for traveling to swiss, can we be lucky enough to see snowfall somewhere? What will be the temperature. 2-Basis out interest, can you pls advise where to have our two bases during this trip to optimally visit all the places. We had a few options in mind - Grindelwald, Interlaken, Lauterbrunnen, Lucern. Looking forward to your help guys! The nearest snorkeling site to Playa Venao is Isla Iguana. It's not very good. Visibility is poor -- as it is at most of the Pacific beaches -- and according to the reports I've received, the dive/snorkel ops tend to drop you off on the island where you're on your own with no facilities other than what you bring. Boca Chica is extremely poor for snorkeling unless to take a boat out to Islas Secas -- about 90 minutes to 2 hours away. The best snorkeling in Panama is in the marine national park of Isla Coiba. You'll see Pacific reef fish, coral, turtles, a variety of morays, reef sharks and possibly neon colored frog fish. To get there, you'll have to drive to Santa Catalina, which will take most of the day from Playa Venao. From there, Isla Coiba is a 90 minute boat ride. I don't know about rental houses, but there are some nice inns and cabanas in Santa Catalina. Another option for jungle and water is Portobelo, on the Caribbean side, under 2 hours from Panama City. I'd highly recommend contacting Rey Sanchez at Golden Frog Scuba. Rey can take you to the mangroves and some nice snorkeling sites around Portobelo. Unfortunately, they're only accessible by boat. He also rents a couple of houses. (The one my wife and I rent when diving with him has the Caribbean for its backyard pool.) He can also set you up with horseback riding or hiking in the jungles and hills around Portobelo. If you do end up at Playa Venao, you might consider spending two or three days in Santa Fe, in the mountains above Santiago. There are some great mountain trails with beautiful vistas and waterfalls and good opportunities to see wildlife. About ALTO open-air rooftop restaurant reopens this APRIL. Open daily 12-9pm, last table 7pm. Walk-ins only from April - May 16th. Online bookings open NOW for May 17th onwards. Escape the city to a hidden Italy, high in the sky. Alto by San Carlo, our chic Italian restaurant & alfresco terrace & bar can be found at one of Londons most prestigious locations the rooftop at Selfridges. Accessed by an exclusive lift to the roof, altos restaurant serves an all day to night menu of tempting Italian medium sized dishes, perfect for sharing. The alfresco terrace offers lounge seating, a bar with table service and sweeping views of the skyline; the perfect spot for gathering with friends and loved ones Dining options: Takeout Description: Authentic barbecue with a Nantucket twist! That's the plan for our new restaurant set to open by early spring in the former Cap'n Tobey's building on Straight Wharf. Former Brant Point Grill Executive Chef Fred Bisaillon and his girlfriend Denise Corson, former Tobey's manager and longtime veteran of the island bar and restaurant scene, are behind B-ACK Yard BBQ, whose menu will include different 'cue styles from around the country, along with a selection of Kentucky bour-bons, Tennessee whiskeys and craft beer. We hope you'll come and sit for a spell this summer with us! >> we have, since mid July, moved on to relying on our well advanced vaccine rollout rather than formal lockdown or social distancing rules. Case numbers are high but its really hospital admissions that are the barometer here and the vast majority of those are unvaccinated. @valiants It's been reported in media here that Canada as a whole is ahead of the UK in vaccination rates. That has also been the strategy adopted here in Alberta (which lags slightly behind the rest of Canada in vax rates), starting from July 1st; our top public health doctor said it was time to move on to treating covid as yet another of the seasonal endemic diseases, and that the data from the UK seemed to indicate that with delta, while case numbers would rise, they would be "decoupled" from increases in hospital admissions. The results have been similar to the UK - rising infection rates and 85 to 90% of infections and hospitalizations are among the unvaccinated. Alberta's infection rates are not quite as high as in the UK but are/were the highest in Canada (until Saskatchewan overtook Alberta a couple of days ago). Alberta leads the country in sheer numbers of cases, even though it has only 12% of the population of Canada. However, hospitalizations have not been "decoupled" from infection rates and here in Alberta, our hospitals are in crisis, with very little remaining ICU capacity, and non-urgent surgeries and hospital procedures now on hold. The top doc has since backtracked and admitted that a strategy based on endemicity was premature, and with schools and universities having just begun the academic year, and with people gathering indoors more due to cooler weather, there are worries that the numbers are about to explode. Instant unlimited access to all of our content on triplicate.com. The Triplicate's E-Edition Newsletter emailed to you each week, the night before the paper hits the street! This subscription is for NEW or RENEWING online subscribers. (The charge will appear as "Country Media Inc." on your credit card statement) WASHINGTON (AP) House Democrats unveiled a sweeping proposal Monday for tax hikes on big corporations and the wealthy to fund President Joe Biden's $3.5 trillion rebuilding plan, as Congress speeds ahead to shape the far-reaching package that touches almost all aspects of domestic life. The proposed top tax rate would revert to 39.6% on individuals earning more than $400,000, or $450,000 for couples, and there would be a 3% tax on wealthier Americans with adjusted income beyond $5 million a year. For big businesses, the proposal would lift the corporate tax rate from 21% to 26.5% on incomes beyond $5 million, slightly less than the 28% rate the president had sought. In all, the tax hikes are in line with Bidens own proposals and would bring about the most substantive changes in the tax code since Republicans with then-President Donald Trump slashed taxes in 2017. Business and anti-tax groups are sure to object. But Democrats are pressing forward. Rep. Richard Neal, D-Mass., the chairman of the tax-writing Ways & Means Committee, said the proposals, taken together, would expand opportunity for the American people and support our efforts to build a healthier, more prosperous future. It's an opening bid at a daunting moment for Biden and his allies in Congress as they assemble the massive package that is expected to become one of the largest single domestic policy measures considered in decades. The president's Build Back Better agenda includes spending on child care, health care, education and strategies to confront climate change. It is an ambitious undertaking on par with the Great Society or New Deal. Republican critics decry the sweep of Biden's plan, suggesting it slopes toward a Western European-style socialism, and they particularly reject the taxes required to pay for it, bristling because it would reverse the GOP tax cuts that were approved just a few years ago. Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell said the proposal is the last thing American families need. All GOP lawmakers are expected to vote against it. But Republicans are largely sidelined as Democrats rely on a budget process that will allow them to approve the proposals on their own, if they can muster their slight majority in Congress. Democrats have no votes to spare to enact Bidens agenda, with their slim hold on the House and the Senate split 50-50 and Vice President Kamala Harris the tiebreaker if there is no Republican support. Democratic congressional leaders have set a target of Wednesday for committees to have the bill drafted. One Democratic senator vital to the bills fate says the cost will need to be slashed to $1 trillion to $1.5 trillion to win his support. Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., has suggested it's time for a strategic pause, and cautioned there was no way Congress will meet the late September goal from House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., for passage, given his wide differences with liberal Democrats on how much to spend and how to pay for it. I cannot support $3.5 trillion, Manchin said Sunday, citing in particular his opposition to raising the corporate tax rate above 25%, a figure he says will keep the U.S. globally competitive. Manchin is not alone, as other centrist lawmakers have raised concerns. Restive Democrats from high-tax, heavily Democratic states like New York, New Jersey and California are pushing for a repeal of the $10,000 cap on state and local tax deductions that was imposed by the 2017 Trump law. Neal indicated Monday that the issue is under serious consideration. Finding compromise will be a daunting project as progressives, including Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., are angling for the most robust package possible. As chairman of the Budget Committee helping to write the bill, Sanders has noted that he and other members of the liberal flank had initially urged an even more robust package of $6 trillion. For me, this is not a particular number, but it is making sure that we meet this moment, said Rep. Katherine Clark, D-Mass., a member of House leadership. The pandemic has shown us that we cannot continue to have an economy of haves and have nots. The White House welcomed the preliminary tax plan, which keeps to Biden's promise not to tax anyone making less than $400,000. The proposal makes significant progress towards ensuring our economy rewards work and not just wealth, said deputy press secretary Andrew Bates. The House, Senate and White House are working together to align their plans ahead of this month's deadlines, though some differences are emerging that will need to be resolved. The House tax proposal was pitched as potentially raising some $2.9 trillion, a preliminary estimate but it would go a long way toward paying for the $3.5 trillion legislation. The White House is counting on long-term economic growth from the plan to generate an additional $600 billion to make up the difference. Much of the revenue raised would come from the higher taxes on corporations and the highest earners, increasing the individual tax rate to 39.6% from the current 37%. Looking at wealthy individuals, Neal is proposing an increase in the top tax rate on capital gains for those earning $400,000 a year or more, to 25% from the current 20%. Exemptions for estate taxes, which were doubled under the 2017 Trump tax law to now $11.7 million for individuals, would revert to $5 million. Also proposed are increases in the tax rate on tobacco products and a new tax on non-tobacco nicotine delivered by e-cigarettes. The broader blueprint from Democrats proposes spending billions for rebuilding infrastructure, tackling climate change and expanding or introducing a range of services, from free prekindergarten to dental, vision and hearing aid care for older people. Congressional committees are hustling to wrap up their work to meet this weeks timeline from Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., to have the bill drafted. Pelosi is seeking a House vote by Oct. 1, and it would then go to the Senate. That's near the Sept. 27 timeline for voting on a slimmer infrastructure plan favored by moderate lawmakers. ___ Associated Press writers Hope Yen and Josh Boak contributed to this report. Fearing his parents wouldnt approve of his decision to get a COVID-19 vaccine but needing their signature, Andrew signed up for the appointment in secret, and then sprang it on them at the last minute. They said no. Andrew cursed at his mother and father and called them idiots. Andrews dad grabbed him by the shirt collar. He said, Youre not getting this damn vaccine; you need to lower your voice. Watch your tone when you talk to me. It was, it was the first time my dad had ever done something like that he grabbed my shirt and yelled in my face, said Andrew, a 17-year-old student in Hoover, Alabama. In most states, minors need the consent of their parents in order to be vaccinated against COVID-19. Navigating family politics in cases of differing views has been a challenge for students and organizers of outreach campaigns, who have faced blowback for directly targeting young people. President Joe Biden has encouraged every school district to promote vaccines, including with on-site clinics, to protect students as they return to school amid a resurgence of the coronavirus. But several governments and school districts have taken more neutral stances in areas where skepticism of the vaccine remains prevalent. In Tennessee, the health department ended vaccination events and outreach aimed at minors following criticism of advertisements that featured children and included slogans like Give COVID-19 vaccines a shot. Republican lawmakers accused the health department of peer pressuring children to get the vaccine and criticized a top official who sent a memo to vaccine providers explaining that they could legally waive parental consent under Tennessee law. Nationwide, half of people ages 12-17 have been vaccinated. That age group has been eligible for the Pfizer vaccine since May on an emergency use authorization. Trials are underway for younger children. Full approval for the drug was granted by federal safety regulators recently for people 16 and older. Last week, the Los Angeles Unified School District school board voted to mandate vaccines for students 12 and older. In Molalla, Oregon, the mayor pressured a high school to cancel a vaccine drive on campus this semester, citing a $50 gift card incentive he equated with bribery. Many who called for an end to the vaccine drive expressed opposition to the vaccines, although Mayor Scott Keyser said hes not against them. Misinformation surrounding in-school vaccination efforts has also eroded trust between parents and school districts across the country. School officials in Kettering, Ohio, received death threats in August after TikTok videos baselessly claimed the suburban Dayton district was vaccinating children without parental consent. There was no truth to the claims they came out before the school year began, and spring vaccine clinics required parents to be present but they caused huge hysteria in the community nonetheless, according to Kettering City Schools superintendent Scott Inskeep. Our families really are struggling with both information and disinformation, Inskeep said. Its like a match being put to a gasoline fire. When it starts its hard to put out. In a total of eight states, all in the Southeast and Pacific Northwest, providers can waive parental consent requirements Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Arkansas, Tennessee, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Alabama, according to a May review by the Kaiser Family Foundation. In some areas, there have been efforts to make it easier for kids to get vaccinated. State legislators in New York and New Jersey introduced laws that would allow teens to consent to vaccines without parental consent, but they were never passed. D.C. passed its law and is being sued by an anti-vaccine group. In New Mexico, health officials remade consent forms so that parents could sign them and send them with their kids, instead of having to show up in person. Elsewhere, some officials have tried to give parents more say over vaccinations for teenagers. In May, officials in two Oregon counties barred health officials from giving vaccines to kids without parental consent. Yamhill County Commissioner Lindsay Berschauer and the mother of three teenagers defended the move saying, Our children are not the property of the State of Oregon. But the counties backed down after state health officials issued a legal opinion affirming consent rights for children 15 and older. Berschauer continues to advocate against vaccine incentives for teens, calling the programs peer pressure. On paper, Alabamas law is one of the more liberal, allowing minors like Andrew to get the vaccine on their own. In practice, thats nearly impossible. The Alabama Department of Public Health requires parental consent as a matter of policy, and so do major pharmacies. The day after the argument with his parents, Andrews father took him to the pharmacy and signed, without saying a word. Andrews father confirmed his son's account but declined to be interviewed. Andrew asked that his last name not be used out of fear of further upsetting his parents. Pediatricians in some cases try to facilitate conversations between children and parents and promote the COVID-19 vaccine. But it doesn't always work, even with parents who have accepted their pediatrician's recommendation on other vaccines, including for HPV and the flu. They look at me like Im suggesting that they feed their child poison when Im recommending a COVID vaccine, said Dr. Katrina Skinner, president of the Alabama Chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics. Andrew's Hoover High School does not promote COVID-19 vaccinations on its website or social media channels, and theres no indication the school will host a vaccine clinic. School officials did not respond to calls and emails requesting comment. Alabama state health officials have been encouraging the vaccines among young people with a contest on the social media app TikTok that awarded $250 for the best video promoting COVID-19 vaccinations. One of Andrew's schoolmates, Rotimi Kukoyi, 17, was one of four contest winners. He shared the video with his 18,000 followers, built over two years by making jokes. I showed the CDC explaining how the vaccine is safe, and how its effective, and then I linked resources for people to sign up to get the vaccine, Rotimi said. ___ Attanasio reported from Santa Fe, N.M. Associated Press writer Ali Swenson in New York contributed to this report. ___ Attanasio 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 under-covered issues. Follow Attanasio on Twitter. ___ This story was first published on September 13, 2021. It was updated on September 14, 2021, to correct a quote from Dr. Katrina Skinner, the president of the Alabama chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics. Skinner said, They look at me like Im suggesting that they feed their child poison when Im recommending a COVID vaccine, not They look at me like Im suggesting that they feed their childhood poison when Im recommending a COVID vaccine. Ukraine military is set to buy another four Bayraktar TB2 unmanned aerial vehicles from Turkey. Thats according to the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, Lieutenant-General Valeriy Zaluzhny, who spoke with the Report Eastern European Bureau. "One complex was purchased this year by order of the Defense Ministry. Besides, to meet the needs of the Armed Forces, it is also planned to buy four more such complexes in 2021-2022. In the future, we intend to supplement our arsenal with the UAVs of domestic production." The commander-in-chief said the Army would focus on training personnel in operating Bayraktar TB2 drones. Read also: Turkish strike UAV with Ukrainian engine set to be accepted for service by security forces "Because, firstly, we need to learn to operate them effectively and secondly, we must definitely know the tactics of their application. Its not enough to just buy Bayraktars, he said, adding that the Ukraine military is now learning how to properly use these UAVs. As Ukrinform reported, in early August Ukraine tested Turkeys Bayraktar TB2 strike drones. Earlier, Deputy Defense Minister Oleksandr Myroniuk said the Turkish UAVs would become for the Ukrainian Navy part of the system to deter Russian aggression and defend Ukraine at sea. Ukraine received the first batch of Bayraktar drones back in 2019. Photo from the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine im Counterintelligence operatives with the Security Service of Ukraine have exposed and detained a citizen of Ukraine, who is reasonably believed to have been an active member of an illegal armed group. Thats according to the SBU press service, Ukrinform reports. The detainee turned out to be a resident of Kurakhovo, Donetsk region, who in 2014-2015, driven by his ideological convictions, was part of the DPR illegal armed group. "According to the investigation, during the said period, the culprit directly partook in hostilities in Donetsk region. Subsequently, he returned to the government-controlled territory, to Kurakhovo, Donetsk region," the SBU reported. Read also: SBU recording mass issue of Russian passports to residents of occupied Donbas ahead of Duma election It is reported that the militant has pleaded guilty and confirmed his position as commander of the 2nd motorized rifle platoon with the DPR Oplot battalion, and then as a "duty officer" with the so-called Russian Orthodox Army. Also, during the inquiry, the perpetrator testified about other members of the illegal armed group. The SBU has pressed charges against the man under Part 1 Art. 258-3 (creation of a terrorist group or terrorist organization) of the Criminal Code of Ukraine. The court ordered to remand the suspect in custody. As Ukrinform reported, for clandestine cooperation with Russias FSB, a resident of Berdychiv, Zhytomyr region, was found guilty of high treason and sentenced to eight years in prison. im In August 2021, Ukraines total volume of electricity exports decreased by 6.1%, to 344.1 million kWh, whereas imports rose 21.9 times, to 27.1 million kWh, Ukrinform reports with reference to the press service of Ukrenergo National Power Company. Compared to July 2021, electricity exports from the Burshtyn TPP Energy Island decreased by 21.2% to 193.8 million kWh in August 2021. The decrease was recorded in all directions: Hungary - by 13.4%, Slovakia - by 66%, and Romania - by 22%. Electricity exports from the Integrated Power System of Ukraine increased by 24.7% compared to the previous month, to 150.3 million kWh. Ukrenergo explained that this was due to the increase in commercial exports to Poland (+ 36.5%). At the same time, exports to Moldova rose by only 0.4%. In August 2021, the volume of imports accounted for 0.2% of total electricity consumption (gross), or 5.9% of total consumption within the Burshtyn TPP Energy Island trade zone. In general, in August 2021, electricity imports was conducted after August 8 and only from Slovakia to the Burshtyn TPP Energy Island. Compared to July 2021, total imports rose 21.9 times from 1.2 kWh to 27.1 million kWh. In total, in the first eight months of 2021, Ukraines electricity exports to Hungary amounted to 1,101.8 million kWh (46.1% of the total), Poland - 644.8 million kWh (27%), and Romania - 414.7 million kWh (17.4%). As to the imports, the largest volumes came from Belarus (522.6 million kWh or 51.5% of the total) and Slovakia (285.4 million kWh or 28.1%). As reported, in July 2021, compared to the previous month, Ukraines electricity exports decreased by 1.1% (to 366.3 million kWh) and imports dropped 3.5 times (to 1.2 million kWh). iy President Volodymyr Zelensky said that during a Washington meeting with his American counterpart, Joe Biden, the latter said he believes Ukraine should be in NATO, while making this happen depends on other leaders as well. The comment came during Zelenskys interview with Farid Zakaria on CNN, Ukrinform reports. Zelensky very directly asked Biden about Ukraine's NATO accession prospects. The Ukrainian president said Bidens response to this question and the issue of the Alliance in general took 20 to 30 minutes. "He said, 'I think that you have to be there, but it's not only my decision, said Zelensky, noting that he is not citing Biden verbatim. I think I heard this rhetoric from him before my meeting," the president of Ukraine said. According to him, the U.S. position is influenced by the advice of leaders of some major European powers. "I said to him: I know that youre right, Mr. President, Zelensky told the U.S. president, adding that his decision will make Ukraines path to NATO shorter. A joint statement following the Zelensky-Biden summit said the United States supports Ukraine's right to choose its own foreign policy course free from outside interference, including Ukraine's aspirations to join NATO. im Secretary of the National Security and Defense Council, Oleksiy Danilov, says the Ukrainian Army is capable of liberating the occupied east of Ukraine by military means and go for hostilities to regain Crimea, while the Ukrainian government is not yet going to take such a step. The statement came during Danilovs interview with Radio Svoboda, Ukrinform reports. Our Armed Forces are capable of purging the territory of Donetsk and Luhansk regions. We can fight for the territory of Crimea. But we must keep in mind that we cant allow tens, hundreds of thousands of people dying in such military missions. Thats because we just have an understanding of where that limit is. But this doesnt mean that we wont do this if required, Danilov said. The security official has explained that the NSDC has so far approved five scenarios for the developments in Crimea and Donbas. So far, Ukraine adheres to the first one: it is trying to regain own territories through political and diplomatic means. Next well see what happens, said the official. He added that Russia is currently failing to fulfill any agreements, including those adopted in Paris in 2019 on the opening of crossing checkpoints. Read also: MPs call on the world to condemn new wave of repression in occupied Crimea As Ukrinform earlier reported, the SBU recorded a mass illegal issue to Ukrainian citizens in certain districts of Donetsk and Luhansk regions of Russian passports, organized by the occupation authorities to ensure higher voter turnout in September elections to the Russian State Duma. im Ukraine is currently a priority for the United States, so Washington should not leave the country in any way, President Volodymyr Zelensky has said. He said this during an interview with Fareed Zakaria on CNN, according to Ukrinform. Zelensky said that at his recent meeting with his U.S. counterpart Joe Biden, they discussed, in particular, the U.S. presence in Ukraine. According to Zelensky, he asked Biden what it meant to leave Ukraine. He believes that it is the other way around - the United States should enhance their presence in Ukraine. Zelensky said he was glad that they had a very powerful meeting on the high level in the U.S. he said that Kyiv had been looking forward very much to this meeting. In fact, Ukraine was on the priority list of the countries President Biden was to meet with, Zelensky said. "It means that Ukraine is a priority for the U.S., and we are thankful for that. That's a big signal. But behind this signal we are also expecting actions," Zelensky said. Zelensky and Biden adopted a joint statement following their meeting in Washington, which says that the United States supports Ukraine's right to decide its own future foreign policy course free from outside interference, including with respect to Ukraine's aspirations to join NATO. Turkey does not recognize the attempted annexation of Crimea by Russia and will support Crimean Tatars and defend their rights. Thats according to Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu who spoke at a meeting with non-governmental organizations in Eskisehir, Ukrinform reports referring to Haberler. "We have never recognized the annexation of Crimea. And wont. We will continue to defend the rights of Crimean Tatars to the end," the minister said in his address. He also stressed that Turkey is "one of the leaders" in the Crimea issue and reaffirmed its position on the Crimea Platform diplomatic initiative. Earlier, the Turkish Foreign Ministry said that the country was monitoring the situation regarding the arrest of Nariman Dzhelyalov, Deputy Head of Crimean Tatars Mejlis, and expecting he will be released along with other held Crimean Tatars. As Ukrinform reported earlier, on September 3 and 4, security forces conducted a number of illegal searches in Crimean Tatars homes in the occupied Crimea before they detained Nariman Dzhelyalov, First Deputy Chairman of the Crimean Tatar People's Mejlis, as well as activists Eldar Odamanov, Aziz and Asan Akhtemovs, and Shevket Useinov. On September 6, the Simferopol District Court ordered that Dzhelyalov and the Akhtemov brothers be held in custody until November 4. Adamanov and Useinov were ruled to be held for 14 and 15 days, respectively, for resisting police. The prosecutors then amended the charges initially pressed against Nariman Dzhelyalov, illegally detained in the occupied Crimea. He is now being accused of committing an attack on a gas pipe feeding a military unit in Crimea (instead of the earlier charges of aiding and abetting the crime). On September 10, the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine adopted a statement calling on the international community to condemn yet another wave of repression against Crimean Tatars in the occupied Crimea. President Volodymyr Zelensky sees the latest raids and arrests in the temporarily occupied Crimea as Russia's reaction to the launch of the Crimea Platform and demands that those detained be released. Photo: AA im The process of creating a "Union State" of Russia and Belarus will not be a fast one, said Deputy Prime Minister, Minister for Reintegration of the Temporarily Occupied Territories of Ukraine, Oleksiy Reznikov. Reznikov expressed his opinion in an interview with Dom TV, Ukrinform reports. "It seems to me that despite the fact that today the situation in Belarus has changed a lot compared to previous years, the moods, even among those who are in power in Belarus today are not really about uniting," Reznikov said. He noted that he would not like to base any conclusions on assumptions, adding he had a feeling that "this will be a long history, so it wont complete so quickly according to e plan that is commonly referred to as restoration of the empire." As reported, on September 9, after more than three hours of talks with Alexander Lukashenko, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced that all 28 programs of the "Union State" of Russia and Belarus had been agreed. In the face of mass protests in 2020, the Lukashenko regime was able to survive in large part thanks to the Kremlin's support and Russian loans. At the same time, Russia demands that the two countries continue "in-depth integration" within the "Union State." im President Volodymyr Zelensky considers it incorrect to compare Ukraine with Afghanistan in terms of dependence on U.S. aid. The comment came as Zelensky spoke with CNNs Farid Zakaria, Ukrinform reports. Asked by the host whether Ukraine was worried amid the withdrawal of U.S. troops from Afghanistan that the United States could potentially abandon Ukraine, Zelensky said that "its not an accurate comparison. Ukraine is not so dependent on the U.S. like Afghanistan was," the Ukrainian president stressed. "I really believe that in four, five, or seven days you cant take such a big country geographically as Ukraine, with such a quite big population, said Zelensky. The president of Ukraine reminded that in 2014, when Russia occupied Crimea and hostilities broke out in eastern Ukraine, "no one was hand in hand with us, there was no military equipment other than what we had available at that time." "[W]e had the wave of volunteers, volunteer battalions, people who came together as a citizen effort to protect their own country. There was no one else. So in four days, even in eight years, Russia didnt manage to take over. Russia its not the Taliban army. This is one of the most powerful armies in the world. Thats why we think we stood for our statehood, and this is why I think we are as independent as possible from any economy," Zelensky stressed. According to the president, he told Biden: what does it mean to leave Ukraine? Zelensky said its the other way around. The United States should enhance their presence in Ukraine. Zelensky also noted he had had a "powerful" meeting with Biden. "The fact that we were in the priority list of countries that President Biden has met with it means that we are a priority for the U.S. And were thankful for that. Thats a big signal. But behind this signal were also expecting actions," Zelensky said. A joint statement following Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskys meeting with U.S. President Joe Biden said that the United States supported Ukraine's right to choose its own foreign policy course free from outside interference, including Ukraine's aspirations to join NATO. Photo: Office of the President of Ukraine im A delegation of Ukraine's Central Election Commission (CEC) has briefed U.S. State Department and USAID representatives on future challenges, a five-year strategic plan, and the opportunity for Ukraine to set an example for countries seeking democratic governance. These issues were discussed during the visit of CEC members to the United States, the commission's press service reported. "During their visit, the CEC delegation met with senior officials from the U.S. Department of State and USAID, including Deputy Assistant Secretary for Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor Kara C. McDonald, Coordinator of U.S. Assistance to Europe and Eurasia James Kulikowski, and Deputy Assistant Administrator Alex Sokolowski," the report reads. According to the report, members of the delegation briefly spoke about future challenges, their ambitious five-year strategic plan, as well as the opportunity for Ukraine to become a model for neighbors and countries seeking democratic governance. The U.S. government, in turn, noted the achievements of the CEC and Ukraine in accelerating electoral reform, strengthening the institution of elections through their own efforts, as well as through full cooperation with all participants in the election process, creating an environment of transparency and confidence in the election results. In addition, according to the CEC, the U.S. government said it would continue to support independence and the strengthening of democracy in Ukraine. A CEC delegation, headed by Chairman Oleh Didenko, is on a visit to the United States to study the experience of international partners in the electoral process. op The newly-appointed head of Ukraine's Mission to NATO, Natalia Galibarenko, launched her work at the new post by meeting with NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg. Thats according to the Missions tweet, Ukrinform reports. "I am sincerely grateful to Mr. Stoltenberg for the opportunity to meet on my first working day in office. We have agreed to work together to deepen relations between Ukraine and NATO," the Mission said, quoting Galibarenko as saying. Read also: Zelensky appoints four ambassadors As Ukrinform reported earlier, on July 30, President Volodymyr Zelensky appointed Natalia Galibarenko Head of Ukraine's Mission to NATO. The Mission of Ukraine to NATO is a diplomatic mission to an international organization established to ensure Ukraine's continued cooperation with the Alliance and to participate in the Euro-Atlantic Partnership Council. The position of Head of Mission had been vacant since August 2019. im Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has promised to prevent judicial reform in Ukraine from being blocked and to immediately assess and repulse any illegal actions in this matter, according to a statement published on the website of the head of state. "I will not allow the blocking of the most important reform in the country, which I promised to Ukrainians and which I initiated. Any illegal action aimed at blocking judicial reform will be immediately assessed and repulsed. I will not allow judges who hinder the reform and cleanup of the judiciary to deprive Ukrainians of their right to justice. And judges who want to work in a transparent system must have full support," Zelensky said. Among other things, the head of state thanked international organizations that provide assistance to Ukraine in the field of judicial reform and anti-corruption and which last week delegated their experts to a commission that will select members of the High Qualification Commission of Judges and the Ethics Council. At the same time, the President's Office said that on Thursday, September 16, a working meeting will be held with the participation of heads of judicial authorities, including the heads of the Council of Judges, the Supreme Court, representatives of parliament, and G7 ambassadors. Photo credit: President's Office Ukraine is planning to open three-four new checkpoints on the Ukrainian-Polish border in Lviv and Volyn regions, as well as on the border with Poland and Slovakia in Zakarpattia region. This was announced by Ambassador of Ukraine to Poland Andrii Deshchytsia on the air of the Dom TV channel, Ukrinform reports. "We have plans, there is an interdepartmental commission that develops plans for the opening of checkpoints. We already have experience, there are locations where we would like to open these checkpoints," he said. According to the ambassador, new checkpoints are planned to be opened in Lviv region (on the border section near the Polish city of Przemysl) and in Volyn region. Ukraine is also considering the opening of new checkpoints in Zakarpattia region, on the border with Poland and Slovakia. "It may be even in Zakarpattia region, although this checkpoint there will most likely be a pedestrian checkpoint for now," Deshchytsia said. According to him, this issue is complicated because there are national parks near the border. In particular, in Zakarpattia region, the border zone is located on the territory of Uzhanskyi National Nature Park, in Slovakia - Polonyny, in Poland - Beschadsky. It is more difficult to negotiate there because this checkpoint is located in a protected area. Therefore, we still need a permit from the national park," Deshchytsia said. iy The Ukrainian-language hotline in Egypt has been introduced for Ukrainian tourists to help in emergencies, according to the Ukrainian Ministry for Foreign Affairs. From now on, all the necessary consultations in Ukrainian about vacation can be obtained on phone number 196-54 in Egypt," the ministry posted on its Facebook page. The Ministry for Foreign Affairs is constantly working to make the world more open and convenient for Ukrainians. This is part of Ukraines Foreign Policy Strategy, the ministry added. The MFA also called on Ukrainians to check the current conditions of entry into a particular country using an interactive online map on the MFA website. As Ukrinform reported, in July, Deputy Minister for Foreign Affairs Dmytro Senik and Vice Minister for Tourism and Antiquities of Egypt Ghada Shalaby discussed the creation of a Ukrainian-language hotline for Ukrainian tourists to help in emergency situations. iy Today UNHCR published the UNHCR Global Education Report 2021. Despite progress in some areas, the continued rise in the global forcibly displaced population around the world means that almost half of refugee children remain out of school. Rana and her husband Mutayam arrived on Chios island in early 2020 with their four young children aged from 2 years up to 10 years old. With the onset of the pandemic, they have received little education since then. In Syria, they had no opportunity for formal education due to the conflict. The COVID-19 pandemic has made access to education difficult, affecting an estimated 1.5 billion learners globally. However, although it has affected all children, refugee children have been hit hardest. Globally, 42 per cent of forcibly displaced people are children. In Greece, according to data from the Ministry of Education, over 70% of an estimated 20,000 refugee and asylum-seeking children aged 4 to 17 years old were enrolled in schools last year. However, based on a report by the Ombudsman for Childrens Rights, due to multiple challenges including the pandemic, just over 14% of refugee children living in mainland and island camps were actually attending classes by the middle of the last school year. While huge strides have been made in providing online learning and resources globally, refugee children living in precarious conditions do not necessarily have internet connection, a suitable device, the necessary resources for such things, or a safe and quiet space to learn. Both Rana and Mutayam are University educated. Rana is a history teacher and Mutayam an Environmental Engineer. They both value education for their children above all else. While they never wished to flee their country, the safety of their children forced them to do so. Rana and Mutayams daughter having fun during a puppet making workshop on Chios island. UNHCR/Socrates Baltagiannis Mutayam shows his young daughter a video of him teaching young children in a classroom back home in Syria. UNHCR/Socrates Baltagiannis The whole family gather round a mobile phone watching videos of Mutayam teaching in a classroom back in Syria. UNHCR/Socrates Baltagiannis Two of Rana and Mutayams sons play together in the container where the family of 6 have been living in the Chios RIC since 2020. UNHCR/Socrates Baltagiannis Mutayam seen teaching young children in a classroom back home in Syria. Photo courtesy of Mutayam Rana and Mutayams nine year old son participates in a musical performance to welcome Amal a Syrian refugee puppet on her journey through Greece. UNHCR/Socrates Baltagiannis Rana and Mutayams eldest son is 10 years old. He is fascinated by science and learns with the support of his father. UNHCR/Socrates Baltagiannis When I went to the hospital to deliver my youngest son, the hospital was bombed. We were lucky to escape but we realized then that we had to leave. We exhausted all possibilities of remaining in our country, we did not want to abandon our home, we were the last ones to go says Rana. Back home in Syria, both were teaching children informally and through NGOs for around 10 years. They started early in the mornings to protect the children from hearing the bombings that began in the afternoons. They also worked in the fields to earn some money for the family. While the war and the pandemic have massively disrupted their education, Rana is confident that her children have the capacity to learn and to contribute to society in a positive way. My children are so smart. The eldest is most interested in science, with his father helping him. The second already speaks Greek and English, he has the ability to absorb languages. From the day my children were born they have faced a war that was not their fault. But they have so much positive energy and the society here will benefit from that says Rana with enthusiasm. The whole family looks forward to beginning a new life in Europe, where their children will finally be educated and work towards a brighter future. Education is life, it is the launching pad of life. Humans grow up and live, and until the moment they die, they should try to grow more and more she adds. Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Yalda and Hameed are students at LCC International University in Klaipeda, Lithuania. Originally from Afghanistan, they were both awarded scholarships through the universitys Middle East Scholarship programme and had the opportunity to move to the Baltic state. The scholarship provided an opportunity for the couple to continue their education Hameed as a Business Administration student and Yalda as a student of English Language and Literature. Integration with such a diverse community is a valuable and lifelong lesson for any student over here, Hameed explains and adds that, Im proud to be part of such a diverse community. Hameed shares that he hopes to one day reunite with his family, who he was separated from when they were forced to flee their home in Afghanistan in 2015. It is his and Yaldas aspiration to one day be able to help re-build Afghanistan and contribute to a better future. Share on Facebook Share on Twitter The top of the Washington Capitol in Olympia as seen in April 2021. A maps view of Hermiston and nearby cities and towns in Eastern Oregon and Southeastern Washington. The head of the nonprofit Blue Mountain Action Council has helped shape social services in Walla Walla for more than 40 years, but she says it's time for a change. Milledgeville, GA (31061) Today Cloudy with periods of rain. Low 68F. Winds light and variable. Chance of rain 100%. Rainfall near a half an inch.. Tonight Cloudy with periods of rain. Low 68F. Winds light and variable. Chance of rain 100%. Rainfall near a half an inch. The death of Marjorie (Marge) Veal Smith occurred Tuesday, Sept. 14, 2021. Services will be held at 11 a.m. Saturday at the chapel of Moores Funeral Home with the Rev. Mac Enfinger officiating. Private burial will follow at Memory Hill Cemetery. Ms. Marge was a native of Washington County an (@FahadShabbir) Advisor to Prime Minister on Commerce and Investment, Abdul Razak Dawood on Monday said transit trade agreement between Pakistan and Tajikistan would be signed soon, which help increase trade between the two countries ISLAMABAD, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 13th Sep, 2021 ) :Advisor to Prime Minister on Commerce and Investment, Abdul Razak Dawood on Monday said transit trade agreement between Pakistan and Tajikistan would be signed soon, which help increase trade between the two countries. Increasing transit trade between the two countries would be a new beginning for the region's bilateral economic and trade ties, as well as facilitating contacts with other countries, said a news release issued here. The Advisor said Pakistan was also working to promote bilateral trade and economic connectivity with the rest of Central Asian states. Razak Dawood said Prime Minister Imran Khan would also attend an investment and trade conference held in Tajikistan during his upcoming visit to Tajikistan starting from September 15. Meanwhile, Prime Minister Imran Khan would meet the leaders of various countries in the region and also meet the business community of Tajikistan, he said. H said during the visit, the Prime Minister would be accompanied by a delegation of local businessmen to hold talks with Business Quantum for promoting trade. In addition, Prime Minister Imran Khan would sign various bilateral agreements during his visit to Tajikistan and would also hold talks for promoting bilateral trade in few potential sectors. Today (13th September 2021), Gold Rates in Pakistan is 96,500 per 10 grams, and the rate of Gold is 112,500 per tola. See prices of 22k, 24k, 21k and 18 karat Gold Prices of all cities here. Gold Rate in Pakistan today on 13th September 2021 - Per Tola Gold Rate in Pakistan today is 112,500 for 24-Karat, 103,169 for 22-Karat. Per 10 gram Gold Rate in Pakistan today is 96,500 for 24-Karat, 88,458 for 22-Karat. UrduPoint brings you the latest prices for gold rates, silver rates on a daily basis and updates the rates every hour. Gold Rate in Pakistan Today Karachi is the center of the gold market in Pakistan because Gold prices are set by the Karachi Sarafa Market. All other cities set the gold price according to the Karachi Sarafa Bazar Association for Gold Price. According to the below table, the gold rates in different cities such as Lahore, Karachi, Islamabad, Quetta, Multan and Peshawar are the same. Location 24k 10g 24k per tola 22k 10g Pakistan Rs 96,500 Rs 112,500 Rs 88,458 Karachi Rs 96,500 Rs 112,500 Rs 88,458 Lahore Rs 96,500 Rs 112,500 Rs 88,458 Islamabad Rs 96,500 Rs 112,500 Rs 88,458 Rawalpindi Rs 96,500 Rs 112,500 Rs 88,458 Peshawar Rs 96,500 Rs 112,500 Rs 88,458 Quetta Rs 96,500 Rs 112,500 Rs 88,458 Sialkot Rs 96,500 Rs 112,500 Rs 88,458 ABU DHABI, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News / WAM - 13th Sep, 2021) Abu Dhabi Health Services Company (SEHA), the UAEs largest healthcare network, has joined the health community in observance of World Sepsis Day, which takes place annually on 13th September. Sepsis is the body's response when an already-existent infection triggers a chain reaction throughout the body. A fever above 101F (38C) or below 96.8F (36C), higher heart and breathing rate are some early symptoms of Sepsis. Infections that lead to sepsis most often start in the lung, urinary tract, skin, or gastrointestinal tract, common infections include pneumonia, kidney, blood and abdominal infections. Sepsis is responsible for approximately 11 million deaths each year, representing one in five deaths worldwide. Dr. Anwar Sallam, Group Chief Medical Officer, SEHA, said, "Prevention, recognition and management are key when dealing with sepsis. Our dedicated physicians at SEHA are vigilant when it comes to treating individuals with infections across the network, especially those from high-risk groups, to ensure the state of sepsis is avoided or quickly treated. With the governments unwavering support, SEHA has been, and continues to be, committed to providing world-class care for our community." Dr. Emmanuel Nsutebu, Chairman of Division and consultant, Infectious Diseases, Sheikh Shakhbout Medical City (SSMC), said, "COVID-19 has been a major cause for sepsis over the past two years, with a number of patients losing the fight due to COVID-19-caused sepsis. In addition, survivors are often left with long-term complications, such as fatigue and memory loss. Vaccinations against COVID-19 is the most effective intervention we have available to prevent COVID-19 and its complications. Taking recommended vaccines can significantly reduce the risk of acquiring infections and subsequently, sepsis. While prevention is better than cure, it is also important to know, recognise and treat early signs of sepsis." Dr. Hala Abuzeid, Chair of the ICU-Medical/Surg Department at Tawam Hospital, said, "Sepsis is a syndromic response to infection. Pregnant women, young children and older adults are at higher risk of getting sepsis. While all efforts are directed globally to raise awareness about sepsis and to combat it, there remain many challenges including poverty, healthcare inequities, lack of robust vaccination campaigns and recently, the COVID-19 pandemic. Health care professionals remain on the front lines in fighting this pandemic and in fighting sepsis and for that, we will remain ever so grateful for their actions and bravery." Ouagadougou, Sept 13 (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 13th Sep, 2021 ) :At least 480 civilians were killed in jihadist attacks in Burkina Faso between May and August, the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) said on Monday. The NGO also expressed alarm at the increase in the number of displaced people in recent months, with more than 275,000 people "forced to flee a new outbreak of violence" since April. According to the NRC, an average of 55,000 people have been forced to flee their homes each month since April, almost three times the average monthly figure between October 2020 and March 2021. In total, more than 1.4 million people have been forced to leave their homes in Burkina Faso due to the attacks. "The slowness and inadequacy of the humanitarian response are forcing people to choose between insecurity and hunger," the NRC also warned in a statement. The NGO pointed to the "impossible choice" of some families: "To stay in a besieged area where food shortages have become so critical that there are only leaves to eat or to walk for days in search of food and risk being attacked."It appealed to the government to allow it to provide support in the worst-affected areas. "Relief organisations have the capacity to help people in the most inaccessible areas where help is urgently needed," said Manenji Mangundu, NRC's director in Burkina. (@FahadShabbir) Kano, Nigeria, Sept 13 (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 13th Sep, 2021 ) :Nigerian gunmen have freed dozens of schoolchildren kidnapped this month in northwest Zamfara State, the local government said, following an army offensive on criminal gangs. Nigerian troops also came under attack in Zamfara at the weekend after an armed group raided a military base there killing 12 security officials, while gunmen stormed a jail in another central state and freed more than 200 inmates. Security forces began operations in Zamfara a week ago against heavily armed criminal groups known locally as bandits, who are blamed for a series of mass abductions in schools across Nigeria's northwest this year. Officials also shut down telecoms across the state to disrupt bandit communications as part of the offensive after more than 70 students and some teachers were snatched from the Kaya school in Zamfara on September 1. The students were freed on Sunday after nearly a fortnight in captivity. "A total of 75 hostages taken from the Government Junior Secondary School Kaya were released on Sunday evening," the local government source said. "They looked robust and unharmed." A video released by Zamfara State Governor Bello Matawalle's office showed him greeting busloads of students in the night and asking them if they had been harmed. A dozen girls in yellow headscarves and robes smiled and laughed from inside one minibus. According to security sources and the local source, the captors had released them in exchange for safe passage out of the forest as the army had surrounded their camp. The telecom shutdown had helped troops reach the bandit camp without giving away operations, the local government source said. "The enclave of the bandits was put under siege by security forces and they agreed to release the hostages in exchange for safe passage," the source said. "The mission was to safely rescue the hostages and the bandits released them unharmed." (@FahadShabbir) Kinshasa, Sept 13 (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 13th Sep, 2021 ) :Congolese President Felix Tshisekedi, who criticised the AstraZeneca vaccine for Covid-19 as inoculations began, received a first dose on Sunday and urged the nation to get jabbed too. A source in the presidential office declined to say which brand of vaccine Tshisekedi had received, and said that the main thing was the "strong gesture" of having it done. "The vaccine remains the best solution for now," Tshisekedi told journalists after receiving the shot on Sunday evening along with his wife, Denise. "Having lost several relatives and loved ones, I am best placed to testify about the devastation caused by this pandemic," he said. Officials meanwhile confirmed the arrival in the Democratic Republic of the Congo of more than 250,000 additional doses of Moderna vaccine. Several thousand more doses of Johnson & Johnson, AstraZeneca and Pfizer vaccines are also due in the coming weeks. In early July, already-widespread distrust of the vaccine increased after a statement by Tshisekedi about the AstraZeneca jabs. "I think I was right not to be vaccinated. I asked for the opinions of other people, but they were divided. Some reassured me that there was no danger. But myself, I had doubts," he told state television. "There are other vaccines coming and you will see me get vaccinated," he added. The vast country of more than 80 million people had by then received 1.7 million doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine as part of the Covax global access initiative, but returned 1.3 million doses due to lack of demand. Since April, more than 85,000 people have received at least one dose, with over 25,000 having received their second, official data show. Geneva, Sept 13 (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 13th Sep, 2021 ) :The UN's rights chief warned on Monday that environmental threats were worsening conflicts worldwide and would soon constitute the biggest challenge to human rights. Michelle Bachelet said climate change, pollution and nature loss were already having a severe impact but that countries were consistently failing to take action to curb the damage. "The interlinked crises of pollution, climate change and biodiversity act as threat multipliers, amplifying conflicts, tensions and structural inequalities, and forcing people into increasingly vulnerable situations," Bachelet told the opening of the 48th session of the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva. "As these environmental threats intensify, they will constitute the single greatest challenge to human rights of our era." The former Chilean president said the threats were already "directly and severely impacting a broad range of rights, including the rights to adequate food, water, education, housing, health, development, and even life itself". She said environmental damage usually hurt the poorest people and nations the most, as they often have the least capacity to respond. Bachelet said recent months have unleashed "extreme and murderous climate events", while drought was potentially forcing millions of people into misery, hunger and displacement. Bordeaux, Sept 13 (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 13th Sep, 2021 ) :A bronze statue of a black female slave in the French city of Bordeaux, a former slave-trading hub, has been defaced with white paint in an apparent racist attack, the city said Monday. The life-size statue is of Modeste Testas, an African slave who was bought by a family in Bordeaux in the 18th century and deported to the island of Hispaniola in the Caribbean to work on a sugar plantation. She was later freed after her French owner's death in the US and returned to settle in the western part of Hispaniola now known as Haiti, where she lived until her death. On Monday morning her statue, which stands on the banks of the Garonne river, was found smeared with white paint from the head to the waist. Bordeaux city hall, which had it cleaned by midday, said it would file a criminal complaint over the incident, saying it was "probably racist" in nature. The councillor in charge of heritage, Stephane Gomot, said that if racism was confirmed as the motive it constituted a "very violent attack on everything this statue represents" including "the memory of people deported by slave traffickers." The western city of Bordeaux was one of France's biggest hubs for trading slaves arriving from Africa, who were then shipped across the Atlantic to the Americas. The statue, which depicts Testas in a long skirt, clutching a shawl draped around her shoulders, was inaugurated in May 2019 -- one of a series of gestures by France's wine-making capital towards addressing its colonial past. Testas's Haitian descendants attended the unveiling of the statue. (@FahadShabbir) Washington, Sept 13 (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 13th Sep, 2021 ) :The United States military said Sunday missile tests conducted by North Korea over the weekend posed 'threats' to the country's neighbors and beyond. "This activity highlights DPRK's continuing focus on developing its military program and the threats that poses to its neighbours and the international community," the US Indo-Pacific Command said in a statement, using the North's official name. North Korean state media reported on Monday morning local time the country had test-fired a new "long-range cruise missile" on Saturday and Sunday, amid a long standoff with the United States over its nuclear program. The missiles travelled 1,500-kilometer (about 930 miles) flight paths -- including figure-of-8 patterns -- above North Korea and its territorial waters to hit their targets, according to the official Korean Central news Agency. Its report called the missile a "strategic weapon of great significance," adding the tests were successful and it gave the country "another effective deterrence means" against "hostile forces. " The North is under international sanctions for its nuclear weapons and ballistic missile programs, which it says it needs to defend against a US invasion. But Pyongyang is not banned from developing cruise missiles, which it has tested previously. The US Indo-Pacific Command statement said the United States would "continue to monitor the situation and are consulting closely with our allies and partners." It reiterated the United States' "commitment to the defense" of the North's neighbors South Korea and Japan "remains ironclad."Seoul and Washington are treaty allies, with around 28,500 US troops stationed in South Korea to defend it against its neighbour, which invaded in 1950. The reported launches are the first since March by the North, which has not carried out a nuclear test or an intercontinental ballistic missile launch since 2017. Geneva, Sept 13 (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 14th Sep, 2021 ) :UN rights chief Michelle Bachelet on Monday denounced the "intimidation and criminalisation" of political prisoners in Venezuela and called for their release. Bachelet, a former Chilean president, said she was worried by the "intimidation and criminalisation of rights activists and trade union leaders." She also called for the "release of all people held arbitrarily", underlining that 152 prisoners had been freed since 2020. The Venezuelan foreign ministry denied the allegations as fantasy conjured by "those who want to use these issues to attack" the country, in the throes of a long-standing political crisis. The Foro rights monitor says there are 262 political prisoners in the country. Bachelet said she hoped talks launched between the government and the opposition in August in Mexico would "lead to significant solutions and translate into real advances on human rights". Previous rounds of similar negotiations in recent years have failed to resolve the crisis. (@ChaudhryMAli88) ISLAMABAD, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 13th Sep, 2021 ) :Minister for Kashmir and Gilgit Baltistan Affairs, Ali Amin Khan Gandapur Monday said that Pakistan's dossier exposed Indian war crimes and human right violations in the Indian illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJK). "World must take serious notice of Indian brutalities in IIOJK," he said in a news release, citing forced burial of hurriyat leader Ali Gilani and cases against his family. The minister said India have turned the entire valley of occupied Kashmir into an open prison and detained thousands of Kashmiris. Gandapur said India should learn lesson from the past that despite decades long oppression it could not defeat the will of Kashmiris for right to self determination. Indian bigotry over Kashmir issue is the biggest obstacle for lasting peace and development in the entire region, he added. He said India must give Kashmiris right to self determination as the prevailing situation in the Sout Asia region has proved that war is not the solution to any problem. (@FahadShabbir) ISLAMABAD, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 13th Sep, 2021 ) :As Afghanistan stood at a crossroads after suffering for decades, Pakistan reiterated its call for international community to rise from the geo-politics to make efforts for helping Afghanistan avert economic and humanitarian disaster and promote intra-Afghan reconciliation. "Let us rise above geo-politics and try to mitigate the pain and suffering of Afghanistan. Pakistan urges all responsible actors to learn from past mistakes and let us not repeat them. We must not be prescriptive in our approach," Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi said in an op-ed published in Khaleej Times Monday. He viewed that Afghanistan stood at a historic cross-roads, where it could finally end the cycles of conflict and instability, or descend into state failure which would bring untold misery to its people and affect the region. After Afghanistan itself, Pakistan has suffered the most from the Afghan imbroglio, he remarked. He said Pakistan had endured 80,000 casualties and incurred economic losses to the tune of over $150 billion with the country still continuing to host approximately four million refugees. "That is akin to adding the population of a small country to that of Pakistan. But we remained steadfast. We never had the option or inclination, simply, to walk away. As an immediate neighbour we do not have the luxury to disengage," the foreign minister added. He said Pakistan had kept its embassy and consulates in Afghanistan open and the national airline, PIA, had braved all hazards to evacuate personnel of diplomatic missions, international organisations, INGOs and media entities. While Pakistan is committed to doing what it can, it would be essential to have a realistic perspective as the situation evolves. Qureshi said the Afghan crisis, its worsening and continuation were not of Pakistan's making but the country tried to help bring about a negotiated end to the "forever war". The foreign minister urged the "spoilers" to desist from stultifying the process of Afghan stabilisation. Afghanistan is a deeply wounded entity that needs healing not cynical manipulation. "Stop misleading the world by misusing cyber platforms and spreading baseless allegations to create wedge between people," he remarked. Qureshi urged the international community to stay the course and help Afghanistan avert an economic and humanitarian disaster. He called for not repeating the precipitous actions of the past which deepened the fissures in the Afghan society that were exacerbated by military action, mismanagement, corruption and squandering of fantastical sums of western tax payers' money. He asked the new dispensation in Afghanistan to try to bring about genuine reconciliation and create a polity where no one felt imperiled due to ethnicity or gender. Qureshi said as a responsible player, Pakistan not only facilitated the peace process but was also striving for a regional approach on Afghanistan. He said Pakistan had also reached out to the Western countries as well as all Afghan political factions to work together for lasting peace and stability in Afghanistan. "Pakistan calls upon every international player to heed its call for genuine efforts to promote intra-Afghan reconciliation. Afghanistan has had enough of conflict. Pakistan's sufferings have been second only to those of Afghanistan," he said. He said Prime Minister Imran Khan's vision for a transformed Pakistan was centered on economic security and that Pakistan had made a policy shift from geopolitics to geo-economics. He said Pakistan desired a peaceful and prosperous region adding to international security and stability. This would also help in the realisation of our mutual connectivity agenda leading to regional economic integration, he added. Providing generous support to Afghanistan would help it make a genuine transition from a fractured and mal-administered entity to a responsible member of the international community. He viewed that helping Afghanistan would help prevent an economic meltdown and a refugee crisis. "Financial measures at this stage would add to the suffering of common Afghans. We should extend our hands to lift them up, not to choke them," the foreign minister remarked. He said the mind-numbing speed with which the Ashraf Ghani-led house of cards collapsed has spawned many a hypothesis; there, also, was angst and bewilderment as well as sense of loss due to wasted investment of a regional actor that wanted to use Afghanistan as an anti-Pakistan Trojan Horse. "Let us rise above geo-politics and try to mitigate the pain and suffering of Afghanistan. Pakistan urges all responsible actors to learn from past mistakes and let us not repeat them. We must not be prescriptive in our approach" Foreign Minister Qureshi said. He called for seizing the opportunity to usher in an era where a stable and peaceful Afghanistan helped the world unlock the true potential of the region. (@FahadShabbir) Algerian authorities have arrested a journalist from a local French-language newspaper and searched his house, a rights group and one of his colleagues said Monday Algiers, (APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 13th Sep, 2021 ) :Algerian authorities have arrested a journalist from a local French-language newspaper and searched his house, a rights group and one of his colleagues said Monday. "Mohamed Mouloudj, journalist at the Liberte daily, was arrested on Sunday and his house searched," the Algerian League for the Defence of Human Rights (LADDH) said on Facebook. "He is still in custody in Algiers." Mouloudj's newspaper, where he has worked for a decade, did not immediately comment, but one of his colleagues confirmed the arrest. "He had already had run-ins with the security services, who took away his passport for months," Ali Boukhlef said. "He had also been taken in for questioning several times." Another Algerian journalist, Hassan Bouras, was arrested a week ago and formally placed in preventive detention on Sunday, accused of "glorifying terrorism" among other crimes, his lawyers said. Algeria is ranked 146th out of 180 countries and territories on the Reporters Without Borders (RSF) World Press Freedom Index. According to prisoners' rights group CNLD, around 200 people are in jail in connection with the Hirak pro-democracy protest movement that has shaken the North African country sporadically since 2019, or over individual freedoms. (@FahadShabbir) OBUZ-LESNOVSKY TRAINING GROUND (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 12th September, 2021) LESNOVSKY TRAINING GROUND, Belarus, September 12 (Sputnik) - Belarus will not engage in a discussion about undocumented migration with the West as long as Minsk remains under sanctions, President Alexander Lukashenko said on Sunday. "You want to live in safety come here. We will find a place to meet, hold meetings, discuss all this. But until they stop these dumb sanctions and humiliation of our patriotic people, no one will talk to them, we will not get on our knees," Lukashenko told journalists when asked to comment on the migration crisis that has recently soured Minsk's already strained relations with EU. The president went on to note that his country was not concerned about possible new penalties as the earlier ones had no effect. Lithuania, Latvia and Poland, which border Belarus, have been accusing Minsk of letting third-country migrants cross over. Minsk argues it can no longer afford tough border security due to Western sanctions. Belarusian border guards said on Monday they had prevented Polish forces from illegally bringing another group of migrants to the Belarusian territory MINSK (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 13th September, 2021) Belarusian border guards said on Monday they had prevented Polish forces from illegally bringing another group of migrants to the Belarusian territory. "On September 12, at the section of the Tushemlya outpost of the Grodno border unit, Polish border guards were reported to have brought a group of refugees to the border. While people hid in the forest, the security forces went for a so-called reconnaissance mission to make sure that there were no border patrols from the Belarusian side," the agency posted on Telegram. Polish border guards planned to secretly transport another group of refugees to Belarus, however, their actions were thwarted by the Belarusian border guards, according to the report. Over the past months, Lithuania, Latvia and Poland have reported an increase in the number of illegal third-country immigrants crossing over from Belarus, and accused Minsk of using migration as a hybrid weapon. According to Polish estimates, more than 4,000 attempts to illegally enter Poland from Belarus were made since August. In response, Warsaw has introduced a state of emergency on the territories neighboring Belarus, mobilizing the army and the police to protect the border. Minsk, in turn, argues it can no longer afford tough border security due to Western sanctions and refuses to "seriously" discuss the issue until imposed sanctions are lifted. The new leadership of Guinea that came to power following the recent military coup must respect the country's existing commitments under international humanitarian law, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet said on Monday GENEVA (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 13th September, 2021) The new leadership of Guinea that came to power following the recent military coup must respect the country's existing commitments under international humanitarian law, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet said on Monday. The 48th session of the Human Rights Council began in Geneva on Monday. It is scheduled to work until October 8. "Like the people of Mali, Chad and indeed every State, the people of Guinea deserve sound governance by representatives they have selected to address their needs and concerns. I emphasize that the new de facto authorities in Guinea, at all levels - and in all sectors of public service, including the military - must respect the country's obligations under international human rights and humanitarian law," Bachelet told the Council. Earlier in September, a group of Guinean military, led by special forces commander Mamady Doumbouya, stormed the presidential palace and detained ex-President Alpha Conde, who had been in power since 2010. Doumbouya dissolved the parliament and declared the constitution void, imposing a nationwide curfew. Foreign ministers of 12 Nordic, Baltic and Eastern European countries will meet in Finland on September 13 and 15 to discuss climate, energy and other international issues, the Finnish Ministry for Foreign Affairs said on Monday MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 13th September, 2021) Foreign ministers of 12 Nordic, Baltic and Eastern European countries will meet in Finland on September 13 and 15 to discuss climate, energy and other international issues, the Finnish Ministry for Foreign Affairs said on Monday. "Finland is coordinating the cooperation between the Nordic countries and Baltic states in the Nordic-Baltic Eight (NB8) format in 2021. The NB8 foreign ministers' meeting will be held on 15 September at Vanajanlinna, Hameenlinna. The NB8 countries and the Visegrad Group (V4) will have a joint meeting at foreign ministerial level on the previous day, 14 September," the ministry said. The V4 group consists of Hungary, Poland , Slovakia and the Czech Republic. This will be the ninth time the NB8 and V4 countries are meeting, but for the first time for Finland to act as the host. Other topics to be discussed by the foreign diplomats will include the situation in Afghanistan and COVID-19, according to the statement. "I am pleased that we are now able to be physically present again. These cooperation arrangements provide an important forum for exchanging views and sharing experiences between the participating countries," Finnish Foreign minister Pekka Haavisto said. The meeting will be co-chaired by Haavisto and Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto, whose country currently holds the rotational presidency of the V4 group. New witnesses testified Monday in a war crimes case in Liberia's capital, a police investigator said, in the latest stage of a landmark trial against ex-rebel Gibril Massaquoi Monrovia, Sept 13 (APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 13th Sep, 2021 ) :New witnesses testified Monday in a war crimes case in Liberia's capital, a police investigator said, in the latest stage of a landmark trial against ex-rebel Gibril Massaquoi. The hearing before a Finnish court marks the second time its judges have travelled to Monrovia in the case against Massaquoi, who is accused of committing rape and ritual murder during Liberia's brutal civil war. Around a quarter of a million people were killed between 1989 to 2003 in the West African country, in a conflict marked by merciless violence and rape, often carried out by drugged-up child soldiers. A Sierra Leone national, Massaquoi was a senior commander of the Revolutionary United Front (RUF), a Sierra Leone rebel group that also fought in Liberia. He moved to Finland in 2008 and was arrested there in March 2020 after a rights group investigated his war record. In an unprecedented move, the Finnish court decamped to Monrovia between February and April this year to hear witness testimony in the case. The proceedings were described as historic, as very few people have been tried for war crimes committed in Liberia, and none inside the country itself. Witnesses gave gruesome accounts of Massaquoi's alleged actions. One alleged that the former commander had murdered a victim and then drank his blood for ritual purposes. The court also heard testimony in Sierra Leone in May, before returning to Finland. It was back for fresh hearings in Liberia on Monday, according to Thomas Elfgren, a Finnish police investigator involved in the case. The move came after both the prosecution and Massaquoi's defence called for more witnesses, he said. The schedule calls for two hearings a week for about two weeks, Elfgren said. There are regular appeals to establish a war crimes tribunal inside Liberia, a poor nation of five million people where some ex-warlords remain powerful. President George Weah has resisted the calls, however. First Minister Nicola Sturgeon on Monday set out her plans for a new referendum on Scottish independence, arguing Brexit and the coronavirus pandemic had put Scotland on a different course from the rest of the United Kingdom Edinburgh, (APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 13th Sep, 2021 ) :First Minister Nicola Sturgeon on Monday set out her plans for a new referendum on Scottish independence, arguing Brexit and the coronavirus pandemic had put Scotland on a different course from the rest of the United Kingdom. The Scottish National Party (SNP) leader blasted UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson for imposing his "Brexit obsession" on the UK during the coronavirus pandemic, which is leading to food and labour shortages. And she said the economic hit on individuals and businesses from the UK's departure from the European Union, which most Scots opposed, had been made worse by hardline immigration policies hitting the workforce. But she told the SNP's annual conference that Johnson and his Conservative government in London would "use all that damage that they have inflicted to argue for yet more control", to argue against Scotland going its own way. "By making us poorer, they'll say we can't afford to be independent. By cutting our trade with the EU, they will say we are too dependent on the rest of the UK," she said. "Frankly it is not up to a Westminster government which has just six MPs in Scotland to decide our future without the consent of the people who live here," she added. Instead, she said Scots faced a choice between "a Westminster Tory government rejected by the people of Scotland and taking us in the wrong direction" and having their own government in its own right. Sturgeon has been calling for another referendum to be held by the end of 2023 when the coronavirus pandemic is over, but the move has to be sanctioned by the UK government. - 'Democratic wishes' - So far, Johnson has refused to do so, arguing the last vote in 2014, which saw Scots back remaining part of the UK by 55 percent to 45 percent, was a once-in-a-generation event. Sturgeon admitted her relations with Johnson were prickly but vowed to push her case for a legally binding referendum in a spirit of "cooperation not confrontation". "It's in that spirit of cooperation that we in the Scottish and UK government can reach agreement, as we did in 2014, allow the democratic wishes of the people of Scotland to be heard and respected," she said. "Democracy must, and democracy will, prevail."The SNP in May won elections to the Scottish Parliament in Edinburgh, which has devolved powers to set policy in areas such as health, education, transport and the environment. But they fell short of a majority, and last week signed a landmark power-sharing deal with the Scottish Green Party, giving them a pro-independence majority in Holyrood. MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 13th September, 2021) Sudan did not ask Russia for economic aid in exchange for a deal on the military base, Sudanese Charge d'Affaires in Moscow Onur Ahmad Onur told Sputnik on Monday, adding that such reports are groundless. On Sunday, a military source told Sputnik that Khartoum considers it necessary to amend the agreement on the creation of a Russian naval base in Port Sudan on the Red Sea in order to receive economic assistance from Moscow in exchange for a five-year lease with an option to sign a 25-year agreement. "It is not true. This news is not true. This is groundless news. The Sudanese side is not asking for any payments in connection with the military base agreement, " the diplomat said. Onur also said that asking for "some payments" would be bad for bilateral Moscow-Khartoum relations. The deal between Sudan and Russia on the military base will be signed in near future, according to the diplomat. "Small changes will be made, and after that, the agreement will be signed ... I think in the near future," Onur said, adding that possible amendments are discussed at the level of the Russian-Sudanese commission on military cooperation. TOKYO (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 13th September, 2021) The new long-range missile that was test-fired by North Korea over the weekend did not reach Japan's airspace or territorial waters and did not enter its exclusive economic zone, the NHK broadcaster reports citing government sources. In the early hours of Monday, the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) reported that North Korea tested a new type of a long-range cruise missile over the weekend. The launched long-range cruise missiles flew 1,500 kilometers (932 miles) before hitting the targets. NHK said citing military sources on Monday that with such a range, the new type of missile appears to be capable of reaching Tokyo. Japan's Chief Cabinet Secretary Katsunobu Kato told reporters on Monday that the Japanese government is concerned about the new test launch, since, if the 1,500-kilometer range is proved to be correct, it poses a threat to regional security and global stability. Kato said that Japan is closely cooperating with the US and South Korea on the issue of North Korean military activity. Earlier, the Pentagon said that it was aware of reports on North Korea's cruise missile test launches and warned that such activity is a threat to Pyongyang's neighbors and the international community. South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said as cited by the South Korean Yonhap news agency on Monday that an in-depth analysis of the test-launches was underway in close cooperation with US intelligence authorities. North Korea test-fired the new missiles on Saturday and Sunday, according to KCNA, which said that the test-firing was successful and was the result of two years of preparatory work and research. The weekend tests of the long-range cruise missiles were overseen by senior North Korean officials. Valdosta, GA (31601) Today Partly cloudy this evening followed by increasing clouds with showers developing after midnight. Low 72F. Winds light and variable. Chance of rain 60%.. Tonight Partly cloudy this evening followed by increasing clouds with showers developing after midnight. Low 72F. Winds light and variable. Chance of rain 60%. Covid 19 restrictions led to the cancellation of the 2020 annual pilgrimage. This year, thousands of pilgrims flocked to Angola Shrine of Our Lady of Muxima. Anastacio Sasembele Luanda, Angola and Paul Samasumo - Vatican City. With Covid-19 restrictions lifted this year, Angolans thronged the Shrine of Our Lady of Muxima, locally referred to as Mama Muxima. The theme for the two-day annual pilgrimage was, Mary, teach us to live joyfully in the family. To be like the Blessed Virgin Mary The Bishop of the Diocese of Dundo, Estanislau Marques Chindekasse, S.V.D., presided at the closing Mass of the Marian pilgrimage. He invited the faithful to be like Mary, who was always obedient to the word of God. The Blessed Virgin Mary listened earnestly to the Word of God and followed it up to its ultimate consequences, the Bishop explained. Mama Muxima We must ask Mama Muxima to make all Angolan families learn to live in peace, truth and justice, said Bishop Chindekasse. The prelate of Dundo ended his message to pilgrims by calling for the reconciliation of Angolan families, healing for the sick, consolation for the afflicted, forgiveness for sins and the conversion of all people. Need for a new future basilica The Bishop of the Diocese of Viana, Emilio Sumbelelo, spoke about the need to build a new future basilica for Mama Muxima. He expressed concern over the physical structure of the historical and symbolic chapel of Muxima, which was now showing signs of disrepair due to age. It was also reported that the current space is becoming smaller for pilgrims. With increased pilgrims, there is the need to rethink and transform the Mama Muxima Shrine. An amazing story dating back to the year 1589 The Shrine of Our Lady of Muxima is located 130 kilometres from Luanda. The Shrine is considered by many to be the most popular place of pilgrim and worship in Angola. Every year, the Shrine attracts local and foreign pilgrims. In the local Kimbundu language, Muxima means heart. The name was given to the Shrine due to its prime location in the middle (heart) of the province. Muxima sits on the edge of the Kwanza River. The village of Muxima was occupied by the Portuguese in 1589. They built in the village, a fortress and the Church of Nossa Senhora da Conceicao da Muxima. The Shrine has been a popular place of devotion to our Lady from one generation to the next. The Marian pilgrimage received a boost when Angolas Diocese of Viana was created in 2007, inaugurating a new phase in the history of the Shrine. Slovaks are surprised by Pope Francis energy, despite his age, exhorting all to live their faith, says the spokesman of the Slovak bishops. By Robin Gomes Despite the age and health of Pope Francis, Slovaks are inspired by his energy and exhortation to live their faith caring for others in need. Its an encouragement to see the Pope so strong, encouraging everyone, remarked Father Martin Kramara, the spokesperson of the Catholic Bishops Conference of Slovakia (KBS). The 84-year-old Pontiff who suffers from sciatica underwent intestine surgery in July. He is on the 34th Apostolic Journey of his pontificate, visiting Slovakia, September 12 to 15, after concluding the 52 International Eucharistic Congress in the Hungarian capital Budapest on Sunday. Speaking to Vatican News, Fr. Kramara explained that when people saw the busy schedule of the Pope in Slovakia, they were wondering whether he would make it. But seeing him in the cathedral, at the presidential palace and at the nunciature was just fantastic, he said. Listen to Fr. Martin Kramara of the Slovak bishops conference. He said Slovak Catholics are happy to see this encouragement in faith because it is the successor of Peter coming to them to show the way in times of incertitude, in times of Covid, when many people have lost their direction. The Pope comes and encourages us, not to look on ourselves but to look at others who may be left behind and need our help. The Slovak bishops spokesman said, Its so enlightening for the country not to think about ourselves and of our own problems, which many times are problems of the first world, but to see brothers and sisters in need and helping them find the way to Christ. Recalling the motto of the Popes Apostolic Journey to Slovakia - With Mary and Joseph on the Way to Jesus Fr. Kramara said that this is really the way the Holy Father is showing the way of faith in Christ. It is a faith that brings fruits, that is not selfish and closed in itself. The priest said that it is also a faith of good humour, as we have seen these days, a faith that is so fresh and vivid. He said the Pope speaks of a faith that makes people see others around, not just themselves. This is an encouragement not only for Catholics but for the whole country, which is talking about the Holy Father but also of Jesus and things of faith. We recall several highlights from the first day of Pope Francis' 34th Apostolic Journey abroad, which took him to Budapest, Hungary, and to Bratislava, Slovakia. The Pope touched down in Budapest on Sunday morning for a visit to the Hungarian capital. His first stop saw him visit the Museum of Fine Arts, where he met with the President and Prime Minister, then the country's Bishops, and finally the represenatives from several Christian Churches and Jewish communities. Pope Francis wrapped up the visit with the celebration of Holy Mass in Heroes' Square, concluding the 52nd International Eucharistic Congress, which has been running all week. The Pope then boarded the papal plane and flew to Bratislava, the capital of Slovakia, where he met with representatives of the Ecumenical Council of Churches. Pope Francis met in private with Jesuits from all over Slovakia at the Apostolic Nunciature in Bratislava on Sunday evening. The encounter was relaxed and filled with questions and answers, jokes, and expressions of encouragement in an era of pandemic, secularization and decline in vocations. By Salvatore Cernuzio Pope Francis greeted his 53 fellow Jesuits from all over Slovakia with a smile on Sunday evening, as he received them in the Apostolic Nunciature in Bratislava. The encounter, with the members of the Society of Jesus of the local Church, is now a solid tradition of every Apostolic Journey. The Pope listened to their questions, asked some himself, and encouraged their mission in an era of secularization and declining vocations. Never once did he appear tired, according to those present, despite the tour de force of the first day of a trip which, in 24 hours, saw him first in Budapest and then in Bratislava. A family meeting The encounter lasted about an hour and a half. "It went very well, in a serene atmosphere," said Father Jozef Bartkovjak, head of the Slovakian section of Vatican News and correspondent in Bratislava, who was present at the appointment that he defined as "a family meeting." Although the Pope had not yet had dinner and had just finished a meeting with the Ecumenical Council of Churches, he "seemed quite fresh. He had already done several things, but he was fully present, he joked, he was lively. He gave us the impression as if we had gathered with a very dear friend, with whom it is a pleasure to be together. A person we know but did not know closely. We listened to his words and were able to tell him what we desire, what we do." Pope Francis with Slovak Jesuits Encouragement in the mission The Pope strongly encouraged the 53 Jesuits (there are 80 Jesuits in total throughout Slovakia) to continue their mission in the country, which includes various apostolates, with particular emphasis on education and training, a theological faculty and two houses for spiritual exercises, which remained active even during the dark decades of the communist regime. His encouragement is much needed in today's difficult times, marked by the Covid-19 pandemic, but also by the secularization that permeates all of Europe, and the decline in population and vocations. "It's something we suffer a lot from... In the past, explained Father Jozef, in the underground Church during the communist regime, the Jesuits carried out formation for new members, almost a hidden novitiate. This made it possible that our Province never skipped a generation; every year was covered, even during communism." New challenges Now there are new challenges ahead, but, according to the religious priest, "having such encouragement from the Pope helped, since he really made us feel his presence, and appreciated what we do despite the difficulties, helping us not to lose heart." "In fact, every Jesuit," Father Jozef said, "who connects his vocation to that of the Successor of Peter has felt our identity strengthened. Being close to the Pope and not feeling any restraint was like a caress." Questions and answers What made the visit even more free and familiar was certainly the confidential nature of the meeting. It took place behind closed doors and without the presence of the media. The content of the encounter was not revealed by any participant, though several commented on the Popes state of mind. As Ive said, it was all very spontaneous, said Father Jozef. Several questions emerged from the Jesuits present but also from the Holy Father. We were able to talk about anything, very freely." The appointment ended with a group photo, and while "the Holy Father seemed satisfied," the Jesuits said they were "100% satisfied, in fact, 200% satisfied." When Pope Francis visits the Cathedral of St Martin in Bratislava on Monday, he will be presented with the reproduction of a renowned sculpture of St Martin and the Beggar, on the occasion of his Apostolic Journey to Slovakia. By Lydia OKane - Bratislava On entering St Martins Cathedral in the heart of Bratislavas city centre, its impossible to miss the imposing bronze sculpture which ranks among the greatest artistic treasures in the capital. Its entitled St Martin and Beggar and is placed on a marble pedestal on the right side of the nave, in the southeast corner of the cathedral. The work, which depicts St Martin sitting on a horse, holding a sword, and bending down to a beggar to give him a piece of his cloak, is the work of Austrian sculptor, Georg Raphael Donner who completed it in 1735. Its message of charity and mercy mirrors that of the Gospels. St Martin has become one of Europes most popular saints. He came from a pagan family but became a soldier and philanthropic Christian. It seems fitting, therefore, that Pope Francis, who has made the care of the poor and marginalized one of the cornerstones of his pontificate, should receive a miniature reproduction of this sculpture during a visit on Monday morning to St Martins Cathedral, where he will also address priests and religious. The work, made by Francesco Ciardiello, is a gift from the faithful here in Slovakia to a Pope who calls us not to identify almsgiving with the simple coin offered in haste, without looking at the person and without stopping to talk, to understand what he or she truly needs. As Pope Francis meets with the Jewish community on Monday in Bratislava, a Slovak theologian reflects on Jewish-Christian relations, and the importance of education. By Lydia OKane - Bratislava Just a stones throw away from the Cathedral of St Martin is Rybne (Fish) Square, an important reference point in Bratislava for both the public and the Jewish community. Just three months ago, Bratislava City Council designated the nearby space as a "Passage of Memory. It now replaces the Zion Neolog Synagogue which was demolished in 1969 to make way for a bridge over the river Danube. In 1996, the Holocaust Memorial was erected here to commemorate the 5.000 Slovak Jews who perished during the war. Each year, on September 9, the Day of Remembrance for the victims of the Holocaust and racial violence is held here. Remembering a painful past As you walk around this place of memory, you can still see the floral wreaths which were placed there for this years ceremony. The Pope is coming to Rybne Square on Monday to meet with the Jewish community here in Bratislava, as part of his Apostolic Visit to Slovakia. One of the people taking part is Christian Slovak Theologian, Dr. Lucia Hidveghyova, who is also the editor of a book on Jewish-Catholic relations entitled, From Seelisberg to Jerusalem and Rome". Speaking to Vatican Radio, she reflected on the significance of Pope Francis' visit. Listen to the interview I feel the personal presence of the Pope and his interest; this was his initiative," she said. "The meeting was not initiated by the Jewish community. So, I think this is a clear sign of his genuine interest. I hope it will bring more interest, more reflection, she added, on the nature of Jewish Christian relations from both sides, because I think we dont quite appreciate how close the Jewish religion is for Catholics or for Christians. Speaking about the importance of memory and educating new generations, Dr. Hidveghyova said, the importance of education in this field is something that cannot be overestimated. Learning about the past, she continued, keeps us sensitive towards these issues. The theologian stressed that the tragedy of the Jewish people is the tragedy of all people their culture is part of our culture, their history is part of our history. As Pope Francis visits St Martins Cathedral in Bratislava on Monday for a meeting with Bishops, priests, religious, consecrated persons, seminarians and catechists, the cathedrals vicar speaks about this place of charity, and expectations for the encounter. By Lydia OKane Bratislava I hope it will be a great and wonderful surprise what the Pope will say to us, says Fr Radoslav Saskovic, as he sits in the majestic surroundings of St Martin's Cathedral in Bratislava. It is the eve of the Popes meeting with priests and religious in this place of worship, and the cathedrals vicar adds, I like to be surprised by him; this great Pope, this great Bishop of Rome, so I dont think I have any special expectation about what he is going to say. Preparations are continuing unabated all around Fr Saskovic, as he describes this cathedral as a place steeped in charity. I think this cathedral is one of the best places for the Pope to visit We are here in St Martins Cathedral and you know St Martin is one of the patrons of charity, of Christian love, service to poor people, he says. Listen to the interview With the establishment of the Archdiocese of Bratislava in 2008, Metropolitan Archbishop Stanislav Zvolensky established the tradition of an annual collection on St. Martins Day just after the Archdiocese was founded, so that all might imitate this great saint with good works. The proceeds of the first St. Martins collection were donated to the Cenacolo Center, which offers help to those affected by drug addiction. The cathedral is also involved in care of the needy, and care of victims of human trafficking. As the faithful await Pope Francis visit here on Monday, Fr Saskovic is hoping that his example of care and support for the poor and vulnerable will be a source of encouragement to people in Slovakia to lend a hand to those who need help and support. SANDRA ESPARZA is a News and Features Reporter for The Vidette. Esparza can be contacted at smespa1@ilstu.edu. Follow Esparza on Twitter at @esparzasandra21 IF YOU SUPPORT THE VIDETTE MISSION of providing a training laboratory for Illinois State University student journalists to learn and sharpen viable, valuable and marketable skills in all phases of digital media, please contribute to this most important cause. Thank you. North Korea has reportedly carried out successful tests of a new strategic long-range cruise missile, with possible nuclear capabilities, that is capable of hitting targets in excess of 930 miles away, North Korean state-run media, KCNA, reported Monday. The tests were carried out over the weekend raising fears that the rogue nation has been attempting to master technology capable of delivering a nuclear warhead to Japan and beyond. The tests were conducted by the Academy of Defense Science of the DPRK and occurred on Sept. 11 and 12. The detailed tests included tests of missile parts, scores of engine ground thrust tests, various flight tests, control and guidance tests, warhead power tests, etc. with all tests being successful, KCNA reported. According to North Korean authorities, during the tests, a long-range cruise missile traveled for over 125-minutes in oval and pattern-8 flight orbits in the air above North Korean territory and waters and successfully hit a target 1,500 kilometers (932 miles) away. The long-range cruise missile is being characterized by the North Korean government as a strategic weapon of great significance. The development of the weapon was a key goal of the DPRKs five-year plan implemented to develop defense science that was set forth at the 8th Congress of the Party. The missiles have reportedly been under development for the past 2-years and the successful tests prove that North Korea has the ability to develop deadly weapons despite being subject to strict international sanctions. The United Nations Security Council (UNSC) have issued resolutions barring North Korea from testing ballistic missiles; however, cruise missiles are not explicitly banned under the UNSC. The communist country has been heavily sanctioned over its nuclear weapons program by numerous countries including the United States, Australia, South Korea and Japan. The tests came just days after a military parade was held in the North Korean capital of Pyongyang that marked the 73rd anniversary of the countrys founding. International reaction In a statement issued by the U.S. Indo-Pacific command on Sept. 12 the U.S. reiterated their commitment to the defense of the Republic of Korea and Japan stating that its commitment remains ironclad, adding that, this activity highlights DPRKs continuing focus on developing its military program and the threats that poses to its neighbors and the international community. Japans chief cabinet secretary, Katsunobu Kato, said that Japan had significant concerns about the latest tests and that Tokyo would continue to work closely with its allies, the U.S. and South Korea, to monitor the situation. The Guardian reported. While China called for restraint in the region, the news didnt make the top headline in South Korea, nor did it make the front page of North Koreas state newspaper. The BBC reported. North Korea has reportedly ignored offers from the Biden administration to resume negotiations to abandon its nuclear program. The tests over the weekend represent the most significant military activity by the North Koreans since Biden took office. China's Foreign Minister Wang Yi is visiting Cambodia, where's he expected to meet with Prime Minister Hun Sen and other officials to discuss COVID-19 and other regional issues. Cambodia's foreign ministry said Wang's meetings on Sunday and Monday would include discussions of trade and security as well. Wrapping up a visit to neighboring Vietnam on Saturday, Wang said China planned to donate 3 million vaccine doses to that country, which is under a lockdown to contain a COVID-19 surge. China is Cambodia's biggest investor and closest political partner. Beijing's support allows Cambodia to disregard Western concerns about its poor record in human and political rights, and in turn Cambodia generally supports Beijing's geopolitical positions on issues such as its territorial claims in the South China Sea. In recent months, the United States has expressed concern about their ties and urged Cambodia's leaders to maintain an independent and balanced foreign policy that would be in its people's best interests. The concerns partly have focused on China's construction of new facilities at Ream Naval Base in Cambodia and the potential for its military to have future basing rights there. Ream faces the Gulf of Thailand that lies adjacent to the South China Sea, and holding basing rights in Cambodia would extend Beijing's strategic military profile considerably. Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi on Sunday pledged $270 million in aid and three million more COVID-19 vaccine doses to Cambodia, one of Beijing's closest allies in Southeast Asia, officials said. State Councillor Wang flew in from Vietnam on a week-long tour that will also take in Singapore and South Korea, two weeks after U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris visited the region. Pa Chanroeun, an analyst at the Cambodian Institute for Democracy think tank, said China was keen to build on its relations with Cambodia, which will chair the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) next year. "I think it is a campaign to further strengthen and expand China's influence in Southeast Asia," Pa Chanroeun said. Cambodia sits on the Gulf of Thailand which leads into the contested waters of the South China Sea. China's Wang Yi officially also handed over a new national stadium, built with a $150 million grant from Beijing, to Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen at a ceremony on Sunday. Hun Sen said that without Beijing, Cambodia would not be able to upgrade infrastructure or vaccinate millions of people against COVID-19. "If I don't rely on China, who do I rely on?" Hun Sen asked, citing China's role in helping build roads, irrigation systems and power networks. The agreements on aid and vaccines would be signed later on Sunday, Cambodian Foreign Minister Prak Sokhonn said. Washington sees close cooperation with ASEAN as crucial to its efforts to counter Beijing's growing regional influence. Harris did not visit Phnom Penh on her tour. But In June, Deputy U.S. Secretary of State Wendy Sherman - the most senior U.S. official to visit Cambodia in years - expressed concern about China's presence there and urged its leaders to follow a "balanced" policy. Twenty years after the United States and NATO ousted them from power, the Taliban are back. But as VOAs Ayesha Tanzeem reports, the country they are trying to rule now is filled with a youthful population that is significantly more educated and aware. September 11, 2001, will forever be a date remembered by Americans. On that day, nearly 3,000 people were killed in an act of terrorism in three U.S. cities. President Joe Biden and first lady Jill Biden honored the lives lost on the days 20th anniversary with visits to the sites of the attacks. Funeral Announcements A daily list of current funeral annoucements as heard on KXRA 1490 AM/100.3 FM News Updates The daily news, sports, and events delivered daily from Voice of Alexandria. Sports Update This current sports headlines delivered daily from Voice of Alexandria. Upcoming Events This email is the events of the area delivered daily from Voice of Alexandria. Breaking News The big news. Sent only as it happens. User reports estimate the perceived ground shaking intensity according to the MMI (Modified Mercalli Intensity) scale Contribute: Leave a comment if you find a particular report interesting or want to add to it. Flag as inappropriate. Mark as helpful or interesting. Send your own user report! Translate near Englewood, Obion, Tennessee (13.7 km NE of epicenter) [ Map ] / Light shaking (MMI IV) / rattling, vibrating / 20-30 s : It seemed to be alot stronger than described by the news. Scared my whole family out of bed | 3 users found this interesting. near Tiptonville, Lake, Tennessee (10.8 km NNE of epicenter) [ Map ] / Light shaking (MMI IV) / complex motion difficult to describe / 2-5 s : In bed talking. Felt like something ran into the house. Like two waves of shaking. | 3 users found this interesting. Greensburg ky (321.8 km ENE of epicenter) [ Map ] / Weak shaking (MMI III) / rattling, vibrating / 2-5 s : I was asleep and I woke up to shaking and a rumble and then my curtain rood feel | 2 users found this interesting. Home / Light shaking (MMI IV) / rattling, vibrating / 2-5 s : House shaking and felt like an explosion nearby. | 2 users found this interesting. Newbern / Very weak shaking (MMI II) / horizontal (sideways) swinging / 1-2 s : Felt like the house was sliding back and forth and my bed went back and forth as well. | 2 users found this interesting. RIDGELY, TN 38080 / Light shaking (MMI IV) / rattling, vibrating / 10-15 s : Heard very loud rumbling and then shaking. Knew it was an earthquake | 2 users found this interesting. Ridgely Tennessee (7.3 km WNW of epicenter) [ Map ] / Moderate shaking (MMI V) / both vertical and horizontal swinging / 5-10 s : Loud rumbling and shaking | 2 users found this interesting. near Englewood, Obion, Tennessee (14.2 km NE of epicenter) [ Map ] / Weak shaking (MMI III) / single vertical bump / very short : Hard bump | One user found this interesting. Elbridge, TN (12.9 km NE of epicenter) [ Map ] / Weak shaking (MMI III) / single lateral shake / 2-5 s : Loud rumble | One user found this interesting. Tiptonville tn. (12.9 km NE of epicenter) [ Map ] / Weak shaking (MMI III) / single lateral shake / 1-2 s : Single shake heard a rumble | One user found this interesting. Ridgely, (7 km WNW of epicenter) [ Map ] / Weak shaking (MMI III) / rattling, vibrating / 5-10 s : Woke us up wondering what the heck was that! | One user found this interesting. Hornbeak (13.7 km NE of epicenter) [ Map ] / Light shaking (MMI IV) / rattling, vibrating / 2-5 s : Laying in bed! | One user found this interesting. Nashville / Weak shaking (MMI III) / rattling, vibrating / 2-5 s Minnick, Tennessee / Weak shaking (MMI III) / rattling, vibrating / 2-5 s : Heard a boom plus shaking and rumblings lasting several seconds. It felt stronger than the news reported. I thought that it may happen again since it was do strong. Prospect Kentucky (411.9 km NE of epicenter) [ Map ] / Very weak shaking (MMI II) / single vertical bump / very short : Loud Boom type Shake Ridgely / Light shaking (MMI IV) / rattling, vibrating / 2-5 s harrisonville MO (511.6 km WNW of epicenter) [ Map ] / Light shaking (MMI IV) / single vertical bump / 1-2 s Nicholasville, ky (464 km ENE of epicenter) [ Map ] / Light shaking (MMI IV) / rattling, vibrating / 2-5 s Hornbeak / Light shaking (MMI IV) / rattling, vibrating / 5-10 s Onion, tn / Weak shaking (MMI III) / rattling, vibrating / 2-5 s troy / Very weak shaking (MMI II) / rattling, vibrating / very short Ridgely / Light shaking (MMI IV) / rattling, vibrating / 2-5 s Ridgely / Light shaking (MMI IV) User reports estimate the perceived ground shaking intensity according to the MMI (Modified Mercalli Intensity) scale Contribute: Leave a comment if you find a particular report interesting or want to add to it. Flag as inappropriate. Mark as helpful or interesting. Send your own user report! Translate Riu guanacaste / Very weak shaking (MMI II) / single lateral shake / 2-5 s : Very weak shaking | One user found this interesting. Nosara (48.7 km ENE of epicenter) [ Map ] / Light shaking (MMI IV) / complex rolling (tilting in multiple directions) / 2-5 s : We were in bed in Nosara just waking up when I looked to the roof above and saw it swinging tiliting to the lwft and to the right. | One user found this interesting. 27 km of Samara, Nicoya, Guanacaste (35.9 km E of epicenter) [ Map ] / Light shaking (MMI IV) / rattling, vibrating / 1-2 s : My wife and I were close to being awake when our bed rattled and shook us awake. Tamarindo / Weak shaking (MMI III) / complex motion difficult to describe / very short : Two different moments of shaking Los Pargos / Very weak shaking (MMI II) / rattling, vibrating / 2-5 s : A few rumbles and some horizontal movement Tamarindo Costa Rica / Weak shaking (MMI III) / rattling, vibrating / 2-5 s San Jose de Pinilla / Weak shaking (MMI III) / rattling, vibrating / 1-2 s : Two very light bumps. My house rattled audibly. Naranjal / Weak shaking (MMI III) / horizontal (sideways) swinging / 1-2 s Tamarindo / Very weak shaking (MMI II) / 1-2 s Local news is important. It's the information that will directly impact your life because its going on around you, every day. Join our group of dedicated readers today ... Subscribe Photo: Erik Madigan Heck for New York Magazine Jessica Chastain and Liv Ullmann are cheerfully arguing about monogamy. The two women who first met when Ullmann, 82, directed Chastain, 44, in 2014s Miss Julie have reunited in the name of Ingmar Bergmans Scenes From a Marriage, the critically acclaimed 1973 miniseries starring Ullmann and Erland Josephson, which was blamed for destroying thousands of previously happy Swedish marriages. This month, Chastain and Oscar Isaac will viscerally dismantle their own fictional marriage, and perhaps the sacred unions of HBO subscribers the world over, in a remake of the series written and directed by Hagai Levi. Levi has taken Bergmans premise Johan (Josephson), a haughty professor, cheats on and leaves divorce lawyer Marianne (Ullmann), who is stunned but slowly finds a sort of liberation in her solitude and turned it on its head. Chastains dissociated tech exec, Mira, is the one who has the affair, leaving Isaacs forlorn work-from-home father, Jonathan, to pick up the pieces. Chastain and Ullmann cant quite seem to agree on a few key themes addressed in the series. Forty-eight years after the original aired, Ullmann is still aghast at her characters decision to have a later-in-life affair with her ex-husband In our version, I hated it! she says while Chastain sees it as free love, something pure and beyond moral reproach. (The disconnect may be related to Ullmanns deeply personal connection to the story: Before filming Scenes, she was in a serious, yearslong relationship with Bergman, which he drew upon while writing his script.) The two actresses also wildly disagree about the end of Henrik Ibsens A Dolls House, one of the many productions Ullmann is famous for and which Chastain will be starring in on Londons West End early next year: Chastain thinks the protagonist, Nora, abandons her family at the end, while Ullmann is horrified by the notion. She comes back the next day! says Ullmann. I never knew you were so , Chastain says, making a square with her hands. I like it! When was the last time you saw each other? Jessica Chastain: Was it Toronto? When we premiered Miss Julie. 2014, maybe? Liv Ullmann: Yes, Toronto. Have you kept in touch? LU: Not really, but she did suddenly tell me in a fax JC: I send emails, and someone then faxes them to her. [Laughs.] And then she writes on them, on top of the type. I have them all. Jessica, when did this part come your way, and why did you decide to take it? JC: It was January of 2020. And Oscar Isaac whos my friend of 20 years; we went to college together emailed me and said, I just had a meeting. Theyre doing an adaptation of Scenes From a Marriage. I really wanna do this with you. Im not attached yet, but are you available? And I was like, Well, my year is pretty booked. Im playing Nora in A Dolls House on the West End and all of these things, but if people can wait, Id love to do it. Then I heard nothing. Because of course nobody wants to wait. Studios and people want to just make things. Then comes COVID. A Dolls House gets postponed, and Im suddenly very free. But by then theyd already cast [Michelle Williams]. In October, I got another email from Oscar that was like, Listen, as you recall, you were the first person I reached out to. The actress who was gonna do it fell out. Please, can I send you the scripts? I read the scripts, and I loved them. We started secret rehearsals three days later. Secret in what sense? JC: Like we werent going to the studio. We were at my house, Oscars house, and Hagais house, working on the script and talking about life. Scenes From a Marriage is such a weighty legacy to take on. Were you scared about that? JC: Absolutely. The reason I thought it could work is that it explores gender in a relationship in that time period; I love that ours explores gender in a relationship in 2020. Now the woman is the breadwinner. What does that mean when she comes home? In our situation, she doesnt want to emasculate her husband, so she makes herself as small as she can be at home so he can be the king, which is why he talks so much and is, like, ruling the house. But if you have to make yourself smaller in a relationship, it will always come back to haunt you. You cant disappear who you are. Liv, how did you feel when you realized the characters had swapped places in the new version? LU: What is amazing about it is that Hagai is following every plot situation even though hes switched the gender. To me, its very clear that its a man looking and writing and directing this version. Whereas with Ingmar, it was a man that always looks as a woman at whoever he works with. Thats why we worked together so much. I always thought he wanted me to be him. But that wasnt it. He wanted the woman in him to come through me. In the original version, when they become lovers again, I was against that. I said, I really dont like it. Why would I have another life and meet with my ex-husband every Thursday? I was morally upset with that. JC: Thats so interesting! Because I love it. I like that its love without expectation of another person. He doesnt need to be her husband; she doesnt need to be his wife. Theres no ownership. It feels very pure. LU: I suppose I havent come that far. JC: But you lived through the 70s! Free love! LU: Im still Youre a little more traditional? LU: Im traditional. And Ive done all the wrong things, so it doesnt mean I havent done them. But I think a commitment is a commitment. I get hurt if I break it, and I get very hurt if he breaks it. I wish I wouldnt be like that; I wish I wouldnt have that anger in me. But its still there. I know its too late for me. Im 82 years old! JC: Eighty-two years young, Liv. I want to talk about the personal aspect of it, Liv. Youve said that filming it felt in some ways like a documentary because of your romantic relationship with Ingmar. LU: Well, it was long after it had ended with us. But in one scene, Im reading from a diary and Erland is falling asleep. When I had the script, I didnt recognize it, but when I was doing it, I realized it was something I had written years ago when Ingmar and I lived together. I was reading what I felt about love. I didnt say anything, but yes, it did hurt me. JC: So you didnt know that he was going to use that until you were sitting there filming? LU: We did it all in six weeks. We lived in little cottages, and we met in the morning at four oclock and did our lines. So I probably hadnt looked closely. But when I did, I said, Oh, thats my writing. But the series wasnt really [the story of my relationship with Ingmar]. JC: My husband watched the new series with me he needs to see it because its very intimate. And were all friends; Oscars family is friends with my family. But still, its an uncomfortable thing sometimes. And afterward, he was like, I feel mostly sad for Mira. I was like, What?! And he goes, Yeah, I just thought she made so many mistakes. I was like, Wow, thats a mans perspective. I wonder if men will say, You should have been nicer to Oscar Isaac. There are subtle little things I dont know if anyone will pick up on. In the first episode, every time Mira tries to go for the daughter, he cuts it off. Because Miras success is at work, he wants to be the one the daughter wants all the time. Im very defensive of Mira, but I think shes happier in the fifth episode than she is in the first. She didnt do anything wisely, but she did what she needed to do. LU: Hmmm. Shes not convinced. This is why it works; there are so many layers. Liv, at the time, your version was blamed for the rising divorce rate in Sweden. LU: Because people finally started talking to each other! At that time, 45 years ago, Scenes From a Marriage an incredible success. We were here in New York when the film premiered, and a taxi driver was driving us. He turned around and said to Erland, You are behaving horribly to your wife! It was very alive. Did filming this make either of you reframe your own relationships? LU: No. Ingmar was remarried when we did Scenes From a Marriage, and Erland and I had a house wagon [a trailer]. We did makeup in the main house, which used to be mine. Ingmar and I had bought it together, and now Ingmars living there with his new wife [Ingrid von Rosen]. One day, Erland and I sat in the house wagon and talked badly about her. I said, Can you imagine, Ive been to the toilet and shes reading this horrible womens magazine! Then I see Erland looking really strange JC: Oh, no. Was she there? LU: Not she, he! Ingmar was there. I got so scared. I said, Oh, no! I ran out. People knocked and said, You have to come out! No! Finally, Ingmar came and said, Liv, Liv, Im sorry. And later, he said, I dont know why I was sorry, but maybe I could get her out that way. You say yours was personal Ours was very personal. But it was loving. I cared for his new wife. I was also married again. We were very close, like I understand you and Oscar are. Jessica, whats it like to film these intimate scenes with someone youve been friends with for 20 years? JC: Its a blessing and a curse. The blessing is that, at the end, we were feeling each others thoughts. There was no wall between us. We joke hes my work husband. I could tell immediately if someone said something and it bothered him. At the beginning, we read episode four and I got emotional from reading it. In public, you put on your persona; you dont want to be a wreck. But I was deeply affected by the read. Oscar looked at me and goes, You okay, Jess? And I was like [gasps]. He could see I was in a tough place where nobody else in the room could tell. Thats the curse part. Because I was like, Okay, Im about to go on this journey with this scene partner who I cant hide anything from. Hes like a microscope with me. It makes the work better but more terrifying because sometimes you want some space. Youre like, I dont want you to be able to read my thoughts every moment. LU: I can disagree with that. I love it that we can read each others thoughts. To me, that makes the work easier. JC: You dont ever need any space? LU: No. JC: I thrive on isolation. Going into a cabin for a week by myself with no noise, I would be so happy. Just to be alone and still. Not forever! But I like solitude. LU: I like solitude, but not on the stage or in the film studio. JC: When Im acting, Im so open that I need to be in a place where I feel like I can recharge. Thats why I go off by myself a lot. LU: That I can understand. Erland Josephson and Liv Ullmann in 1973. Photo: Alamy Stock Photo Oscar Isaac and Jessica Chastain in 2021. Photo: Courtesy of HBO I want to talk about the sex scenes in both series. Theyre very different. Liv, you have one. It is more poetic and leaves more to the imagination. LU: The scene where were lovers? Yes, in the office before they sign the divorce papers. JC: Your hair is down. Its beautiful. Shes so powerful. Were you embarrassed? LU: No, because I dont think nakedness or anything private was shown. I just remember thinking it was good that the sex happened. Because hed had an affair and it was so hurtful between them before. You have two sex scenes, Jessica, and theyre relatively graphic. The way these scenes are shot has changed entirely in the years since Liv shot hers; we have intimacy coordinators and choreographers now. JC: Sex scenes to me are embarrassing. Filming them? Talking about them? JC: Im fine talking about them. For one scene, the intimacy coordinator came in after the first take and said, It doesnt look like you guys are having sex. That was the note. I was like, Were not having sex. [Laughs.] Both Oscar and I were like, Okay, great, thanks. How do you make it look more like youre having sex after that note? JC: I said, Well, I think its just a romantic moment? She said, Maybe more up-and-down action? See, its just embarrassing! So the next shot, its just like [moves her body awkwardly up and down]. I know it looks sexy, but its not. Oscar is such a good friend. Because I was so nervous, he played music and we drank a little bit of bourbon. Hed say, Just pretend theres nobody else here. Its okay. And theres a song I really like, so hed start singing in between the takes. So I was like, Okay, just lock eyes on him. The most beautiful part of one of the love scenes is the love in their eyes when theyre looking at each other. And he helped create that. Liv, you were surprised they re-created the abuse scene. LU: I didnt believe it when I saw that theyd make these two people beat each other. I can say this because I know Ingmar well: He was never violent. With his mouth he could be, but never violent. We had fun doing it. [Laughs.] JC: And its off-camera, right? Yeah, shes off-camera; you only see him kicking her. LU: There was never a touch of anything bad. We knew each other, so it was so easy. JC: For me, it was the most difficult thing to do. We had a stuntperson on set, but honestly, it was real, what we did. He manhandles me trying to get the keys, and I start hitting him. But it was real. When he [mimes someone slapping her], thats real. I was like, Whoa! But we were like, Lets just do a take, see what happens. We only did it once because it was shocking. For me, the most painful thing, which is also Miras, is right afterward, looking into the eyes of someone you love that you know loves you but also is hurting you. [Tears up.] Yours was real, and you felt emotional. Liv, yours wasnt, and you had fun. JC: And you guys laughed! LU: But, you see, this was in the old times, and we didnt have coordinators. Maybe if we had one JC: The reality is we didnt really use the stunt coordinator. Because we were like, Its so real. Were not violently hurting each other. Were just slapping each other. LU: It looked real. JC: Have you ever had someone slap you on-camera? I know Oscar has been hit a lot, on Star Wars and whatever. LU: Not a real, real one. Maybe Erland did in that fight scene. I did a movie with Charles Bronson [Cold Sweat], and I think he JC: Manhandled you? LU: Manhandled me a bit. And I had to cover up his blood [in the scene]. I was waiting with a handkerchief on the floor, and I helped him put the blood away. And he stopped the scene and said, Are you drying my face with the handkerchief you had on the floor? JC: He sounded like a real gent, that guy. LU: Oh, he was terrible. These safeguards are in place now because of how lawless things were during Livs time. Did you ever feel unsafe, Liv? LU: No, Ive never felt that. Ive never had Me Too. And if I had, it was very easy to go, What are you doing? Have you felt safe as an actress? JC: Yes, because Im very outspoken, and I started my career later. But Ive definitely been in inappropriate situations and in situations with people who were the gatekeepers to a job and who were incredibly inappropriate. I had to figure out how to turn them down without hurting their ego. LU: I really understand what youre saying. You had to be careful not to turn the male ego down. JC: We dont have to worry about that anymore. Who hit on each other first: you or Ingmar? Who made the first advance? LU: That was toward the end of Persona. We were walking on the beach, and he said, I had a dream last night that you and I are painfully connected. JC: Was that your first kiss? If this is too personal LU: I think we held hands. Saying Were painfully connected could also be a bad thing with his advantage. But I thought it was beautiful, and I took it as a proposal. This was towards the last days of filming. We were both married, but neither of us moved back home. Did you have a sense that he felt that way during filming? LU: It never happened during filming. I did see through the movie that he was looking at me a lot. But why not? I was playing the part. Did you have feelings for him then, too? LU: Oh, a lot. Yes. JC: So you must have been very happy when he said that. LU: Yes. When we were making it, it would never dawn on me that he would talk really privately to me like that. But he did. Youve said before that youve felt deeply connected to him, even after his death. LU: When he was dying, I came into the room, and this sounds stupid, but I said while Ingmar was lying there, You called for me. This is also in the film Saraband [the unofficial sequel to Scenes From a Marriage]. Erland, my husband in that movie, says, Why did you come here? And I say, Because you called me. I sat there for an hour, and he died a couple hours after. We always joked that when one of us died of course, he was 21 years older we would come back, but not frighten the other one. Wed fly or something. At his funeral, I went where we used to walk [on Faro Island], and I said, Ingmar, you have to come, I havent seen you yet! And nothing happened. My husband was there, too, and we went to Switzerland and woke up in the morning and the window was open. A bird was sitting on the table in front of the bed. He said, Thats Ingmar. The bird flew out of the window, and then while we were sitting there, the bird came back. I do not believe it is Ingmar, but I do believe its the energy. JC: He told the bird to come say hi. LU: It was so, so clear. I always felt very connected to him. It was not good to work with him while we were together. We worked on two movies while we were together, and nightmares followed me on the set. But we had wonderful work together. And the energy is there, for those who leave us. Andrew Neil has stepped down as chairman of GB News, just three months after the channel launched in the United Kingdom with a pledge to take on "woke warriors." Neil, a former BBC journalist with more than four decades of experience, will also abandon his prime time show, though he'll continue to make appearances on the channel as a guest commentator. "I am sorry to go but I have concluded it's time to reduce my commitments on a number of fronts," Neil said in a statement. "I wish GB News well in continuing to fulfill its founding promise and mission to reach audiences currently under-served by existing news broadcasters." Neil's decision deals a major blow to the network, which launched in June with the promise to shake up Britain's down-the-middle TV landscape with more opinion-led coverage. "GB News will not be yet another echo chamber for the metropolitan mindset that already dominates so much of our media," Neil said in his welcoming monologue on June 13. But early on, the network was beset by technical difficulties and has since struggled to build an audience. Neil took leave from his 8 p.m. program, which was supposed to air four nights a week, after just two weeks. According to data from the Broadcasters' Audience Research Board, the network pulled in 975,000 viewers in the week ending September 5, compared to 6.6 million viewers for BBC News and 4.3 million viewers for Sky News. GB News secured initial funding 60 million ($83 million) from investors including Discovery which has agreed to a merger with CNN parent WarnerMedia and hedge fund titan Paul Marshall. Neil had laid out big plans for the network, predicting it would make money by its third or fourth year and could then expand into other national markets in Spain or Eastern Europe. The-CNN-Wire & 2021 Cable News Network, Inc., a WarnerMedia Company. All rights reserved. Apple has updated its software for iPhones to address a critical vulnerability that independent researchers say has been exploited by notorious surveillance software to spy on a Saudi activist. Researchers from the University of Toronto's Citizen Lab said the software exploit has been in use since February and has been used to deploy Pegasus, the spyware made by Israeli firm NSO Group that has allegedly been used to surveil journalists and human rights advocates in multiple countries. The urgent update that Apple released Monday plugs a hole in the iMessage software that allowed hackers to infiltrate a user's phone without the user clicking on any links, according to Citizen Lab. The Saudi activist chose to remain anonymous, Citizen Lab said. Apple credited the Citizen Lab researchers for finding the vulnerability. "Attacks like the ones described are highly sophisticated, cost millions of dollars to develop, often have a short shelf life, and are used to target specific individuals," Ivan Krstic, head of Apple Security Engineering and Architecture, said in a statement. Krstic said Apple rapidly addressed the issue with a software fix and that the vulnerability is "not a threat to the overwhelming majority of our users." Still, security experts encouraged users to update their mobile devices for protection. In a statement, NSO Group did not address the allegations, only saying, "NSO Group will continue to provide intelligence and law enforcement agencies around the world with life saving technologies to fight terror and crime." The firm has previously said its software is only sold to vetted customers for counterterrorism and law enforcement purposes. Researchers, however, say they have found multiple cases in which the spyware was deployed on dissidents or journalists. In 2019, Citizen Lab analysts alleged that Pegasus was used on the mobile phone of the wife of a slain Mexican journalist. In a lawsuit filed in 2019, Facebook accused NSO Group of being complicit in a hack of 1,400 mobile devices using WhatsApp. (NSO Group disputed the allegations at the time.) The proliferation of easy-to-use mobile hacking tools has given governments around the world a new and stealthy means of targeting adversaries. Sophisticated spyware made by NSO Group and other vendors has been reportedly used from Uzbekistan to Morocco. The surge in spyware prompted a United Nations panel of human rights experts in August to call for a moratorium on the sale of such surveillance tools. The UN panel said the ban should remain in place until governments have "put in place robust regulations that guarantee its use in compliance with international human rights standards." The-CNN-Wire & 2021 Cable News Network, Inc., a WarnerMedia Company. All rights reserved. Nearly two dozen state troopers headed out to Lousiana to help after Hurricane Ida. They left Sunday morning and will return after 13 days. Troopers will help assist with traffic control and direction, maintaining public order and other tasks as cleanup efforts continue. MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) Former House Speaker Mike Hubbard in a Friday court filing apologized for his ethics conviction that he said hurt the state and his family as his attorney filed a request for his early release after serving one year of a 28-month sentence. Hubbards attorney argued his sentence of over two years behind bars is out of line with punishments handed down to other officials convicted of violating the state ethics law. In a letter to the judge, Hubbard wrote that, I recognize and admit my errors and apologized to the people of the state and others. My conviction has severely damaged and embarrassed me and and my family, friends, former constituents, community, church, the legislature and the state of Alabama. For this, I am severely sorry and respectfully ask forgiveness from everyone affected, Hubbard wrote in the letter to Lee County Circuit Judge Jacob Walker. He wrote that it was embarrassing to be convicted of violating an ethics law he oversaw being drafted and approved by lawmakers. Whether a criminal defendant has accepted responsibility and expressed remorse is often a factor when a judge weighs a request for leniency. A jury in 2016 convicted Hubbard of violating the state ethics law, including using his public office for personal financial gain. Prosecutors accused Hubbard of leveraging his powerful public office to obtain clients and investments for his businesses, violating the prohibition against giving a thing of value to an elected official. His defense maintained the contracts were legitimate work and unrelated to his position as House speaker. In upholding the conviction this spring, justices noted that when contacting a company for one client, Hubbard identified himself as a state legislator and as Speaker of the House of Representatives. They also noted how one company executive wrote in an email that Hubbard could get the company, in front of any speaker in the country regardless of party. The Republican was one of the states most powerful politicians until the ethics conviction in a corruption case ended his political career. Hubbard, the architect of the GOPs takeover of the Alabama Legislature in 2010, was a legislator from Auburn and former chairman of the Alabama Republican Party. He was elected House speaker soon after Republicans won control of both legislative chambers. Hubbard was automatically removed from office after his 2016 felony conviction. Hubbard was originally sentenced to 48 months behind bars, but that was reduced after some counts against him were overturned on appeal. His attorney argued the 28-month sentence is well outside the overwhelming majority of the similarly-situated individuals that have been convicted in state court of state ethics violations, and listed sentences of other elected officials convicted in state court. However, former Gov. Don Siegelman served six years in federal prison after being convicted in 2006 on charges that he sold a seat on a state regulatory board to HealthSouth founder Richard Scrushy in exchange for $500,000 in donations to Siegelmans signature political issue his 1999 campaign to establish a state lottery. Siegelman was convicted on a separate obstruction of justice charge that he tried to hide money he received from a lobbyist. Siegelman was released in 2017. He has regained his law license and says he plans to focus on criminal justice issues. The North Alabama HIDTA Drug Task Force recently seized more than a pound of drugs. Among those drugs were 7 ounces of meth and a pound of Flakka. The US Drug Enforcement Administration describes Flakka as a dangerous drug that is commonly known as bath salts. Huntsville Police say the investigation is ongoing and future arrests are expected. The Alabama Department of Public Health says about 40% of the COVID-19 cases in Morgan County, are in the Morgan County School System as of Sunday. Starting on Monday, students and faculty will be able to go to school without a mask. Morgan County Schools mask mandate was not reinstated Morgan County Schools mask mandate was not reinstated WAAY 31 spoke with several parents about the district dropping the mask mandate, and it seems to be split down the middle for parents who want there to be a mask mandate and parents who want it to be optional. Emily Manderson said the recent drop in COVID cases within the district should show them that masks should be worn. Obviously they dropped it because the numbers are going down, but the numbers are going down because the kids are masking," said Manderson. "I mean, its absolutely ridiculous. Manderson is one of the many parents who told WAAY 31 they're upset the Morgan County School District is not reinstating its mask mandate. When I got the text from his teacher I said, You have got to be kidding me. Like, I cant believe they are literally allowing it to expire," said Manderson. Manderson and her husband both work, so they are unable to do virtual schooling for their fourth grader. She said their son wore his mask before the mandate was enforced and will continue to do so. That's how Misty Langlois and many other think it should be: an individual's choice. I think they should leave that up to the parents to decide whether or not they want their kids to wear that mask," said Langlois. Like Manderson's two sons, Langlois is immunocompromised. She got the virus last year and still deals with some long-lasting symptoms. Langlois said she believes the district should not be the ones making this decision in regards to masking. "I feel like at some point if we lose our freedoms, our grandkids are not going to know that thats a freedom lost, and so, I feel like we really need the choice if we want something covering our face or not," she said. Other COVID safety protocols like social distancing and cleaning the schools will stay in place. Italy's school teachers and parents required to have Green Pass. Almost four million children in 10 regions of Italy will return to school on Monday 13 September, with new covid Green Pass rules in place for teachers and parents. This year Italy will have a total of 7.4 million schoolchildren, 3.8 million of whom are back to the classroom today in schools and kindergartens in the regions of Abruzzo, Basilicata, Emilia-Romagna, Lazio, Lombardia, Piemonte, Umbria and Veneto, as well as in Valle dAosta and the province of Trento. Schools in the other Italian regions will reopen over the coming days. As the new academic year begins, Italy retains its anti-covid rules from last year: staggered entry and exit times, social distancing, masks for children over the age of six, and reduced capacity on school buses. The main difference this year is that teachers, school employees, external staff and parents entering school property are required to carry the Green Pass - a digital or paper certificate showing that people have been vaccinated, tested negative or recovered from covid-19. The pass, which is not required by schoolchildren, is also mandatory for university staff and students. The Green Pass obligation for parents has been criticised by the president of the national association of school principals, Antonello Gianelli, who said that checking for passes could lead to queues and crowds. Details about the Green Pass can be found - in Italian - on the Certificazione Verde website while for official information about the covid-19 situation in Italy - in English - see the health ministry website. Photo credit: MikeDotta / Shutterstock.com. Italy's Lazio region to give third jab to transplant patients. Lazio, the Italian region around Rome, is to start administering the third dose of the covid-19 vaccine in the coming days. "Lazio starts with the third dose of vaccine" - the region's president Nicola Zingaretti wrote on Twitter on Sunday evening - "From next week we will begin with those who have received a transplant." The move comes days after health minister Roberto Speranza confirmed that the third jab would be given to Italy's "most frail patients" in September, such as cancer and transplant patients, before deciding to continue with the over-80s, nursing home residents and medical workers. Last week Italy's coronavirus emergency commissioner Francesco Figliuolo said tthe country is on track to reach its target of having 80 per cent of the population over the age of 12 fully vaccinated by the end of September. Lazio was set to achieve this target over the weekend, according to regional health councillor Alessio D'Amato, who told news agency ANSA on Wednesday that the region's next goal would be to reach 90 per cent vaccinated. Photo credit: Alessia Pierdomenico / Shutterstock.com. King Amanullah Khan, who ruled for a decade starting in 1919, pushed for Western-style reforms intended to modernize the country. Inspired by Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, the founder and first president of the Republic of Turkey, he introduced a new constitution that sought to guarantee rights for women as well as men. Child marriage was banned, polygamy discouraged, and the jurisdiction of religious leaders narrowed. Women were no longer required to wear the veil. Queen Soraya, who opened the first girls school in Kabul, became a champion of womens rights. The fast pace of change was lauded abroad but rattled conservatives in the largely tribal society, provoking revolt. The king was eventually forced to abdicate in 1929. His successor, Mohammed Nadir Shah, repealed the most progressive policies, but the backlash was short-lived. Zahir Shah, who ruled from 1933 to 1973 and was the last king of Afghanistan, reintroduced many of Amanullahs initiatives, albeit more cautiously. In 1964, women helped draft a new constitution, which gave them the right to vote and allowed them to seek elected office. They got jobs, ran businesses and entered politics. Tensions with traditionalists never went away, but women protested any attacks on their rights. The Americans with Disabilities Act allows a worker to request an exemption from a vaccine mandate if she has a disability thats covered by the law. In such a case, the employer must communicate with the worker to determine whether an exemption is a reasonable accommodation given her disability and job responsibilities -- and isnt an undue burden for the employer. Failing to engage in that process or provide a reasonable accommodation could be grounds for a lawsuit. A worker with a health condition that compromises her immune system has a good chance of prevailing on a claim if she has a doctors advice that she should avoid a vaccine. An employer would need to show that allowing a worker to remain unvaccinated would cause an undue burden or pose a direct threat in the workplace, which would be difficult to do if there are alternatives available such as working from home or moving to an area segregated from coworkers. The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, which enforces federal laws against job discrimination, has said that ADA protections apply to Covid vaccines. This research doesnt say exactly where prosecutors should draw the line on leniency, of course. But their current policies do not appear to be doing any harm and in some cases appear to be doing substantial good. So instead of demanding that they retract their policies, it may be more productive to focus on other options that are more likely to save lives. Still, in our haste to solve the climate crisis, we mustnt overlook the potential environmental impacts of seabed mining. Despite extensive research, some of it funded by TMC, there are still many ecological unknowns. The company lacks some necessary production permits, and global rules to allow exploitation of the seabed have yet to be agreed upon by the International Seabed Authority (though theres reason to think this could happen within two years). Kim has rolled out new solid-fuel ballistic missiles that are easier to move, hide and fire than many liquid-fuel versions. He has launched more than two dozen since May 2019 including nuclear-capable, hypersonic KN-23 missiles that can strike all of South Korea -- including U.S. forces stationed south of Seoul -- within two minutes. He has also launched KN-25 short-range missiles designed to be fired in rapid succession from a single launcher to overwhelm interceptors. The new ballistic Pukguksong-3 missile -- the biggest of the bunch -- is designed to be fired from a submarine and has an estimated range of 1,900 kilometers (1,200 miles). At last years parade, it rolled out an even more advanced version, which likely has a greater range and payload capacity. Weapons experts say North Korea is also developing an ICBM that uses solid-propellant technology, potentially giving the U.S. less warning ahead of any strike aimed at the mainland. The current exercise, Operation Guinex, will run until the end of September. It is led by the U.S. Africa Command and brings together navies from both sides of the Atlantic, including 10 African nations. Brazil has deployed a powerful frigate, the Independencia, and the Nigerian navy, the dominant maritime force in the region, has a half-dozen ships involved. In addition to naval maneuvers, there is an emphasis on training local special forces, along the lines of the U.S. Navy SEALs. The consumer focus stems both from the politics of energy and the history of deregulation in Britain. U.K. energy regulator Ofgem was set up in the late 1990s to protect consumers from price-gouging by what was then the Big Six suppliers. In its annual survey of consumer attitudes published last week, the report card was glowing: Nearly three-quarters said they were satisfied with the ease of understanding their bill and its accuracy. Just as many reported being happy with the customer service they are receiving. If thats the case, this looks like a pretty clumsy milestone in a rollout that the U.K. has trumpeted as a post-Brexit success story. The country has trashed its own investment, shaken confidence in a new generation of vaccines the French head of AstraZeneca Plc called it a blow and snubbed a chance for a pragmatic renegotiation. The European Union has had its own vaccine bust-ups with AstraZeneca, but it resulted in a delivery settlement and a stream of supply for the Covax initiative to vaccinate the developing world. Maybe the U.K. could have made a similar move here. The digital currency played a starring role Monday in a major pump-and-dump scam that ensnared Walmart Inc. A press release published via GlobeNewswire purported to announce a partnership between Walmart and Litecoin (a lesser-known crypto cousin to Bitcoin) under which the worlds largest retailer would start to accept digital currency as payment on its e-commerce platforms. This turned out to be fake and Walmart quickly refuted the statement. The Litecoin Foundation also confirmed it wasnt partnering with the retailer. The specifics of how and why this release came to be published have yet to be determined. Regardless, the incident will only add to the perception that cryptocurrency is at best a play thing for investors and at worse at hotbed of corruption. Democrats do. They are in power in the White House and in both chambers of the U.S. Congress. But they want Republicans to agree to raise it too, noting that they went along with debt limit hikes under Republican President Donald Trump without a fuss (despite opposing his tax cuts). Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell says Democrats should raise the debt limit on their own, given that they want to spend up to $3.5 trillion on President Joe Bidens economic agenda; Democrats say raising the ceiling is needed merely to accommodate spending under Trump. While Democrats have the power to raise the debt limit by simple majority votes on a so-called budget reconciliation bill, so far they have chosen not to go that route. As a result, it would take a supermajority of 60 votes to overcome a filibuster in the Senate, requiring at least 10 Republicans to sign on. Just perhaps, a little knowledge has been a dangerous thing for some foreign investors perturbed by Chinas shift in direction. The regulatory announcements emanating from Beijing in the past 10 months or so have been unpredictable and draconian, and the accompanying rhetoric has sometimes been alarming. It may be that local investors used to the way the Communist Party talks have been more willing to look through the noise and to trust that pragmatism will prevail, as it has for most of the past 40 years. Then again, those living in the pot may not be best placed to judge when the water starts to heat up. The conclusive truth of this communication breakdown will only become clear in time. Todays Headlines The most important news stories of the day, curated by Post editors and delivered every morning. Email address By signing up you agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy So far, counting the last day of August, we have now recorded 13 consecutive days below 90 degrees in a period that is generally regarded as still being summer. The hearing, which lasted more than five hours, consisted of short five-minute exchanges with lawmakers who often repeated similar points and questions. Blinken hewed closely to the administrations core arguments, though he noted he has not spoken to the Taliban directly and revealed that former Afghan president Ashraf Ghani told him he would fight to the death rather than leave Afghanistan shortly before he fled. Pattern or practice investigations are serious business, and if the Justice Department conducts such an investigation and finds areas that require remedy, then its critically important that the remedy is effectively administered, said James Pasco, executive director of the National Fraternal Order of Police. Unfortunately, that hasnt always been the case over the years, in every instance. These changes go a long way in improving the manner in which public safety is enhanced in cities large and small. I stand here as someone who grew up in the city of Boston, was bused during the desegregation era, faced rocks and racial slurs as an 11-year-old girl just trying to get an education, Janey noted during an event several days ago. The fact that she was in position to step into the mayors role this spring is a testament to how far our city has come. After about an hour-long briefing, the president met with and thanked technicians, smoke jumpers and first responders. Just outside the center, hundreds of protesters gathered in opposition to the presidents policies on the coronavirus, Afghanistan and immigration. Many displayed support for former president Donald Trump and carried expletive-laden signs about Biden. Trump won Idaho in the 2020 presidential election with more than 63 percent of the vote, and some in attendance echoed Trumps claim that the presidency was stolen from him despite no evidence of voter fraud. I did think it was very wrong, and I wrote a dissent, Breyer said. The dissent gave my reason, and the timing wasnt very good for my book because its pretty hard to believe in a case like those that come along that were less divided than you might think, but here we are. Sometimes people, as I did in that case, do feel pretty strongly, and then youre not going to get compromise. The reconstruction and the coming together of the jigsaw puzzle will come when there is an agreement at the JCPOA level, he said, a reference to the talks on reviving the 2015 deal between Iran and world powers. But at that time, we will have all this information and there will not have been a gap. Japanese Chief Cabinet Secretary Katsunobu Kato said during a news conference on Monday that reports of the missiles potential to reach Japan were concerning, and Japanese officials were analyzing and monitoring the situation in cooperation with South Korea and the United States. A Russian-negotiated cease-fire deal went into effect last week to end a government siege and intense fighting in Daraa city with rebel fighters holed up in Daraa al-Balad. But the agreement was riddled by fighting and government bombing of rebel-held areas, where civilians also lived. After the deal went into effect, scores of fighters were taken in buses to other rebel-held areas north of the country and hundreds of others handed over their weapons in return for amnesty. Charlene Thomas, 73, passed away while at the Daviess Community Hospital, Sept. 8, 2021. She was born April 23, 1948, in Washington, to Eugene Matteson and Eileen (Best) Matteson. Charlene was a homemaker who loved to play the piano, enjoyed genealogy, and liked to play cards and board games 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 Commonwealth Bank has been accused of defaming a Colombian-Australian remittance service using cryptocurrencies, after the bank told its customers using the service they were possible victims of a scam before closing their accounts. According to the claim filed in the District Court of NSW, CBA defamed the company by writing letters to customers of remittance group Colcambios Australia urging them to contact the police in Colombia, as it appeared money deposited in their accounts were proceeds of fraud. The only cryptocurrency licensing that exists in Australia involves the Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Terrorism Financing Act, which is administered by AUSTRAC. Credit:Bloomberg The case is the latest example of the tension between the big banks and cryptocurrency dealers, with the fintechs claiming they are being unfairly debanked and the banks saying they are acting in accordance with regulations, particularly those pertaining to anti-money laundering. This week the big banks were accused at a senate inquiry of debanking small businesses in the cryptocurrency space, including by Bitcoin Babe Michaela Juric who told the inquiry she had been debanked by 91 financial institutions, been bullied by Austrac and put on a terrorism watchlist. The tension between financial innovators and governments globally is on view within Australia where the innovative fintech sector, fresh off the global success of BNPL company Afterpays acquisition by Square, is at loggerheads with the banking sector. Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele. Credit:AP Schot-Guppy reports that fintech companies in Australia are being dropped as customers by banks at a higher rate than their peers overseas, amid fears of falling afoul of anti-money laundering and anti-terrorism laws. Entrepreneur Michaela Juric from the Bitcoin Babe peer-to-peer trading platform said she was turned down by 91 financial institutions because of her business. But the other driver to debanking, many in the fintech community suspect, is the desire for major banks to maintain their dominance. Last week Schot-Guppy testified to the Select Committee on Australia as a Technology and Financial Centre that 150 fintech companies have been de-banked by major banks. Instances of debanking occur at far less frequency on other markets, she said. So I could see jobs and innovation moving there. Yet the real impact of cryptos rise may run past the banking sector. Internet 2.0s Robert Potter sees inherent tensions between the crypto and banking communities. Australian National Universitys Dr Philippa Ryan said cryptocurrency will be a wake-up call for the banking industry, she said, yet the heart of banking will remain lending against property and tangible assets. A bigger problem will be for the black market and tax system, and the ability to move wealth between nations without attracting tax or oversight. Ryan said cryptocurrency undermines borders and undermines government. Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies disruptive nature is also key for the kind of innovation that has emerged as a new area of geopolitical competition. China has launched a digital currency controlled by its central bank that gives it the potential for international influence that could challenge the US dollar. Facebook is trying gamely to promote Diem (previously known as Libra) as an alternative to a China-dominated future. Bitcoin, which is controlled by no government, has the prospect of forming an alternative trading system and shadow economy, as it is doing in Lebanon. As El Salvador imposed so-called B-Day on unprepared citizens (Millennial-bro President Nayib Bukele wants to use volcano power to support energy-intensive bitcoin mining), the clash between innovation and caution seen internationally is evident at home. Governments dont want to regulate cryptocurrency yet, says Robert Potter Co-CEO of Internet 2.0 because they dont want to crush innovation. But there is a tension between letting this grow and not letting it get out of hand, he said. For now, the cryptocurrency and fintech community enjoys a lot of freedom compared to banks that have obligations that dont go away, he said. Its entirely reasonable for banks to have an interest in maintaining their status, he said but theyre regulated into those positions as well. There is an inherent cultural difference between the cryptocurrency and the banking community, too. When you listen to people who build these crypto exchanges they often talk about disrupting financial institutions and the regulatory environment they have created, Potter said. Light regulation of dramatic innovations: the collapse of Lehman Brothers was seen as the trigger for the 2008 global financial crisis. Credit:Daniel Acker Whether supervision will catch the risks created by innovation is not clear. One of the triggers of the global financial crisis of 2007-8 was the banking innovation mortgage debt repackaged and resold in ways that no one could fully understand. The financial collapse, which unregulated innovation helped trigger, kicked off a steep economic recession, bringing pain to the public in the US and Europe. Loading The nature of cryptocurrency means that its risk is increasingly carried by the public. Encrypted, and peer-to-peer trading could cloak vulnerabilities that like misinformation on social media -emerge only after the technology is fully adopted. When exchanges collapse, or are hacked, or when an owner loses their crypto keys, to date, the individual often bears the risk. High-profile examples abound. Last month, $US97 million worth of digital coins were hacked from Japanese crypto exchange Liquid, about half of that total was converted to another crypto asset through decentralised exchange, allowing hackers to make off with the funds. ANUs Dr Ryan, who trades in cryptocurrency, said that last week she got an email from a platform she was using instructing her that her account would be closed in a several weeks time. She was instructed to trade her funds before to avoid losing the currency held by the exchange in effect, a forced transaction. If that isnt manipulating, I dont know what it is, she said. The uneven playing field has been criticised by no less a figure than Jackson Palmer, co-creator of Dogecoin the currency embraced by Elon Musk. Lose your savings account password? Your fault. Fall victim to a scam? Your fault. Billionaires manipulating markets? Theyre geniuses. He said this is the type of dangerous free for all capitalism cryptocurrency was unfortunately designed to facilitate since its inception. In 1998 young aspiring actors Ben Affleck and Matt Damon unexpectedly won an Oscar for a script they had written together about a disturbed young maths genius, played in the film by Damon. It was a modest film, made bigger by the dominance of a major actor, Robin Williams as a professor. Twenty years later, they have written another film, The Last Duel, a huge period movie directed by Sir Ridley Scott, whose mastery of enormous sets, surging crowds of extras and soaring crane shots put him firmly on the side of the historical epic. How things change in 20 years. I think we found it an entirely different process this time, Damon told a press conference at the Venice Film Festival, where the film had its world premiere on Friday. Matt Damon, Ben Affleck and Ridley Scott on the red carpet in Venice. Credit:AP One of the things that had kept us from writing for so many years was that the way we wrote back in the 90s, when we were 22 and 20 years old, was really inefficient. We ended up writing thousands of pages we never used and all kinds of scenes that just wouldnt make any sense in the movie that eventually came out. The thing thats gone missing though is not the house, but the why of it all. Why do we do it like this, why do we live like this, why this design and not another one? And thats the difference, thats whats missing. But what Ive noticed the most is speaking to public audiences, you only have to scratch the surface a little bit and there are so many people who are really interested in the topic area: they just havent been invited into the tent yet. And if you can make that offering theyre very willing to come across the line and want to know more. As the host of the show, do you get close to the owners of the properties, or do you keep more detached? This is the biggest surprise for me: I thought it was going to be all about architecture, because thats what I do. But meeting the homeowners, they were all in their own way it probably sounds a bit naff to say it but I so enjoyed meeting all of them, and they are all so different. But they clearly share one passion in common. I guess the one thing that unites them all is that they are differently passionate about what theyre doing. I was not prepared for their level of enthusiasm. Theyre not home renovators: these are people who feel theyre making a small but significant contribution to Australian culture and Australian heritage. Theres a responsibility that they take very seriously, and I think that is really fantastic. Of course the show is about architecture and our built heritage and how were going to bring it back to life and theres lots to say on that subject, but the one thing Ive been really enthused by is the relationships with the homeowners. I never thought dobbing and snitching was part of the Australian character, said an aggrieved Tony Abbott, photographed by a member of the public walking without a mask on Manly Beach, and copping a $500 fine last week. As far as he was concerned, it seemed, the dobber was not a brave citizen-enforcer with the public interest at heart, but just a busybody who probably didnt like his politics and if he cared about the absence of a mask at all didnt have the guts to confront him in person. And this weekend there were thousands like him on the beaches of Manly and Bondi. The moment at Fairy Bower that got Tony Abbott into trouble. The question of dobbing had been on quite a few peoples minds since NSW Police Minister David Elliott called on the public to dob in those who flout lockdown laws or expose others to COVID-19, announced on the front page of The Sydney Morning Herald on August 17 under the provocative heading: Minister urges public to become informers. Isnt it un-Australian to be a dobber? asked Robert Ballinger, of Pymble, in as letter to the editor the next day. By October last year, the federal government had been sitting on draft legislation for an anti-corruption commission for almost a year. In the Parliament, Anthony Albanese asked Scott Morrison why it hadnt been released. A little snidely, Morrison said that, while Albanese might not have noticed, the government had been dealing with bushfires and a pandemic. When Albanese pressed him, asking how either of those elements stopped the government releasing legislation it already had, Morrison told Parliament he was not going to have one public servant diverted from managing the pandemic. Illustration: Jim Pavlidis Credit: Well, OK. Now heres an answer Morrison gave three weeks ago. Albanese used his well-worn line about the government failing at its two jobs, vaccines and quarantine. Morrison, no doubt tired of hearing this, had his response ready: Anyone who thinks a prime minister of this country only has two jobs isnt up to the job. He went on to say Afghanistan had been the centre of government efforts that week. Its an ingenious tactic, really. Ask Morrison about a subject, hell say his focus has been on something more urgent. Ask him about that thing, and hell say his focus was on something more urgent still. At some point, trying to discover where Morrison and his government actually spend their time begins to seem like searching for the end of a rainbow. You think you can see it, just, if you look hard enough, but by the time you arrive it always seems to have moved somewhere else. A Bayswater mother who couldnt walk or speak properly after her drink was allegedly spiked while out with friends in Fremantle says the terrifying ordeal could happen to anyone. Kura Perkins, 46, said all she remembered was dancing with friends at Freo.Social on Friday night and having a few drinks before things drastically went downhill about 10pm. I completely blacked out theres about an hour where I dont know exactly what happened, she said. I do have a flash of memory of trying really hard to focus I just couldnt stand up straight. I couldnt even really speak. It was scary, it was a feeling I never had before. Its terrifying. I can sincerely say that it has been a much longer run than I had hoped for or expected, he wrote. In a June 3 email to parents, Mr Berryman states: I cannot in good conscience continue to request that you continue to keep your children at home. Please feel free to send your child to school if you feel that this is best for them or best for your family balance. I do not write this lightly, as this does breach government imposed directives for schools. Three days later he wrote that the Department of Health had contacted the school and warned him to comply. By late July, Mr Berryman was again inviting parents to breach remote learning rules. I am again offering you all the option of sending your children to school, he wrote in an email on July 20. The Age attempted to contact Mr Berryman but could not reach him on Sunday. Mr Andrews declined to answer when asked on Sunday whether it should be mandatory for teachers to be vaccinated, but flagged the government was considering compelling some people to get immunised. Making it mandatory in a number of areas is very important. It wont just be schools, it wont just be teachers, it wont just be nurses - it will be a whole range of different people because we think its [important]. I will make those announcements when Im ready. Vaccination Lead from DPV Health Kylie Rhook sets up a micro vaccination centre at Broadmeadows Community Hub. Credit:Paul Jeffers Victoria on Sunday launched a pop-up vaccination program targeting postcodes in the north and west of Melbourne. Sixty-five per cent of new coronavirus cases detailed on Sunday were in Melbournes north, particularly the council area of Hume, where 147 new cases were recorded. Just 107 of the cases detailed on Sunday were from known outbreaks. Eight of the pop-up vaccination centres will be in secondary colleges in a bid to get more students immunised. These high schools are in Dandenong, Point Cook, Gladstone Park, Roxburgh, Brunswick, Tarneit, Werribee and Lakeview Senior College in Caroline Springs. Lakeview Senior College principal Shayne Rule said more than 110 students and staff had booked in for a jab on-campus this Thursday, but more had already had their first shot or made an appointment elsewhere. Mr Rule said his senior students desire to be vaccinated as soon as possible was overwhelming, although a small number of parents had expressed hesitancy or outright opposition to the notion of their children being vaccinated. Osama Jabry receiving his COVID-19 vaccination from nurse Sonya El-Abbas, accompanied by his wife Manal Kareen, and children Rokaya and Hussien at Broadmeadows Town Hall vaccination hub. Credit:Paul Jeffers I know of a number of kids who come from anti-vaccine families and the kids have hopped on buses, made their own appointments and gone and got shots without the support of their parents, he said. I really admire their courage and commitment. Year 7 student Lucy Kerr, 13, who attends Our Lady of Mercy College in Heidelberg, will become eligible for the COVID-19 vaccine from Monday and said she was eager to book in for the jab as soon as possible. Im just excited for when there are enough people vaccinated that we can end lockdowns, she said. Kylie Kerr with her 13-year-old daughter Lucy at home in Greensborough. On Monday, 12-15 year old children will be eligible for COVID-19 vaccination. Credit:Paul Jeffers Lucy is in her first year at her school and said it had been much harder to make new friends at her new school learning remotely much of the time. Opening up vaccination to students aged 12 to 15 would ease the worry that schools would reopen only to have to shut again if cases climbed, she said. It will help us be able to go back to school and there not be this worry of, what if we go back into lockdown, she said. Her mother Kylie Kerr, a lecturer at ACU, said she was confident the vaccine was safe for her daughter. Ive had it and Im fine and my husband has just had it and hes fine, she said. Its worse to get COVID. On Sunday, Mr Andrews faced questioning over when students were likely to return to schools for classes. He declined to nominate a date, saying modelling being done by the Burnet Institute held the key to reopening for face-to-face learning. He said he wanted schools back this year but a plan for the rest of the school year would be made public in about a week. Despite hundreds of daily infections, Victorias contact-tracing team is reaching almost 100 per cent of COVID-19 cases within 24 hours and primary close contacts within 48 hours, Deputy Chief Health Officer Dan OBrien said. He added that while contact tracing had been challenged, it had been meeting the national benchmarks since the beginning of the latest outbreak. Government sources told The Age the public could expect a road map that outlined when, and how, all Victorian students would be allowed to return to school, giving parents and children a level of certainty with added caveats heading into term 4. It is unlikely that all year levels will be able to return at the same time. The Premier also flagged that the government was considering potential staggered start and end times and improvements to ventilation. The Department of Education has drawn up several plans, and is awaiting the Chief Health Officers approval following the outcomes of the Burnet Institute modelling to determine what level of COVID-19 cases Victoria could handle without stretching the healthcare system. Victorias public health workforce status, including the surge capacity, remains in the green zone under the Commonwealths traffic light system, meaning it is within capacity and does not require extra support. Seven per cent of intensive care patients in Victoria have been diagnosed with COVID-19, compared to 24 per cent in NSW, where the health system has been strained. Mr Andrews previously promised once the state reaches 70 per cent of eligible people having a first vaccination there would be an expanded 10-kilometre travel limit, a three-hour exercise limit, and outdoor personal training and real estate inspections would return. By Sunday, 66.2 per cent of Victorians had a first vaccination and 40.8 per cent were double dosed. FILE - In this Nov. 29, 2019, file photo, customers walk outside of a Kohl's store in Colma, Calif. A number of stores including Kohl's, J.C. Penney, Ulta Beauty and others are encouraging shoppers on their websites to order online in the next few days - unless they want to pay for expedited shipping fees to ensure their items are delivered in time for Christmas. (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu, File) Israeli police check cars with Palestinian laborers as they search for two Palestinians who broke out of a maximum-security prison last week, on a road leading to the West Bank town of Jenin, near Gan Ner Israel, Sunday, Sept. 12, 2021. Israeli police on Saturday said they arrested four of the six Palestinians who broke out of the prison including Zakaria Zubeidi a famed militant leader whose exploits over the years have made him a well-known figure in Israel. (AP Photo/Ariel Schalit) Winchester woman with COVID-19 says she regrets decision not to be vaccinated CHARLESTON, W.Va. West Virginia set two daily records in the past week for positive coronavirus cases as the pandemic continues to ravage the state. Thursdays total of confirmed cases was a record 1,738, only to be broken by Saturdays total of 1,821, according to state health data. The previous one-day high of more than 1,700 was set on Dec. 31. The statewide total of 7,849 positive cases for the six days ending Saturday has already passed the seven-day total for the previous week, which had been the second-highest during the pandemic. Sundays figures will be released on Monday. The highest for one week was nearly 8,200 cases in early January, a time when virus vaccines were being offered only for people ages 65 and older. The amount of weekly virus deaths statewide has gone up steadily since early August, when six deaths were reported for the week of Aug. 9. There have been 83 deaths in the past week and 3,207 overall. ___ MORE ON THE PANDEMIC: Northern Idahos anti-government streak hampers COVID fight Internet funding rule could favor rural areas over cities UK ditches plans for vaccine passports at crowded venues Chinese city with coronavirus outbreak stops buses, trains Japan passes 50% vaccination rate, may ease limits in Nov. See AP coverage at https://apnews.com/hub/coronavirus-pandemic. ___ HERES WHAT ELSE IS HAPPENING: LINCOLN, Neb. Nebraska Gov. Pete Ricketts says he plans to join other Republican governors in challenging President Joe Bidens sweeping new vaccine requirement in court. Ricketts said on Fox News Sunday that Nebraskas attorney general has been consulting with other attorneys general who believe the federal government is overstepping its authority by mandating that all employers with more than 100 workers require them to be vaccinated or test for the virus weekly, affecting about 80 million Americans. The roughly 17 million workers at health facilities that receive federal Medicare or Medicaid also will have to be fully vaccinated. This is really going to create huge problems for all small businesses and for our American workers. and again, you shouldnt have to make the choice of keeping your job or getting a jab in the arm, Ricketts said. In Nebraska, Ricketts has encouraged people to get vaccinated and wear masks but he has resisted mandates to do either. The seven-day rolling average of daily new cases in Nebraska has risen over the past two weeks from 715.14 new cases per day on Aug. 27 to 822.86 new cases per day on Friday as the highly contagious delta variant of the virus spreads. Ricketts said he is focused on making sure hospitals have enough capacity to handle the surge in COVID-19 cases. ___ LITTLE ROCK, Ark. -- Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson says federal vaccination mandates announced by President Joe Biden last week hurt efforts to overcome the publics resistance to taking the COVID-19 vaccine. The Republican governor has been notable in working to persuade reluctant Arkansas residents to be vaccinated against the coronavirus. But in an appearance on NBCs Meet the Press on Sunday, Hutchinson said a comprehensive federal vaccination mandate hardens the resistance. The expansive rules mandate that all employers with more than 100 workers require them to be vaccinated or test for the virus weekly, affecting about 80 million Americans. And the roughly 17 million workers at health facilities that receive federal Medicare or Medicaid funding also will have to be fully vaccinated. Hutchinson said federal requirements are counterproductive, interfering with state vaccination efforts instead of supporting them. We talked about the fact that weve historically had vaccination requirements in schools, he said. But those have always come at the state level, never at the national level. And so this is an unprecedented assumption of federal mandate authority that really disrupts and divides the country. It divides our partnership between the federal government and the states. And it increases the division in terms of vaccination when we should all be together trying to increase the vaccination uptake, he added. ___ LONDON Britains health secretary said Sunday that authorities have decided not to require vaccine passports for entry into nightclubs and other crowded events in England, reversing course amid opposition from some of the Conservative governments supporters in Parliament. Sajid Javid said the government has shelved the idea of vaccine passports for now but could reconsider the decision if COVID-19 cases rise exponentially once again. Weve looked at it properly and whilst we should keep it in reserve as a potential option, Im pleased to say that we will not be going ahead with plans for vaccine passports, Javid told the BBC. The U-turn came just days after the governments vaccines minister and the culture secretary suggested that vaccine passports would still be necessary, despite growing opposition from lawmakers. Such passports are required in other European countries, like France. In particular, members of the governing Conservative Party have objected to such passports as an unacceptable burden on businesses and an infringement on residents human rights. ___ PRISTINA, Kosovo Kosovo authorities on Sunday decided to postpone the launch of the school year next week and toughened restrictive measures following a continuous hike of the daily cases. The government decided to postpone opening of the elementary, secondary, and high schools from Monday to Sept. 26, the second two-week postponement, because the epidemiological situation with COVID-19 in Kosovo continuous to be grave. It also decided that only a limited essential staff will be present in the public institutions and all those present there should show confirmation they have been vaccinated or had a recent test. Students also need to show virus tests or vaccine confirmation to enter university halls later this month, or to book a room at their dormitories. ___ DHAKA, Bangladesh Bangladesh has reopened schools and other educational institutions after 543 days of closure as its virus situation eases and more people are vaccinated. Schools were closed on March 17, 2020, after the virus arrived in the nation of over 160 million people. Authorities decided to reopen after almost 97% of the countrys teachers and staff have been vaccinated, the government says. Wearing masks, students arrived Sunday morning at schools that were decorated with balloons and ribbons. Many schools in the capital, Dhaka, and elsewhere gifted candies and chocolates to children. Education Minister Dipu Moni on Sunday warned against any lax enforcement of safety measures. Initially, every class will attend once a week, authorities say. Daily counts of deaths and positive cases have eased in recent weeks. Over last week, on average 55 people have died while daily deaths were around 250 in late July. Bangladesh has recorded 26,880 deaths and more than 1.5 million cases. The government says most Bangladeshi adults will be vaccinated by the end of this year. ___ TOKYO Japans government says more than 50% of the population has been fully vaccinated. Japans vaccine rollouts began in mid-February, months behind many wealthy countries due to its lengthy clinical testing requirement and approval process. Inoculations for elderly patients, which started in April, were also slowed by supply shortages of imported vaccines, but the pace picked up in late May and has since achieved 1 million doses per day. Economy Minister Yasutoshi Nishimura, who is in charge of COVID-19 measures, told NHK public televisions weekly talk show Sunday that about 60% of the population is expected to be fully vaccinated by the end of September, on par with current levels in Europe. The government is studying a roadmap for easing restrictions around November. That would allow fully vaccinated people and those who test negative to travel, gather for parties or attend mass events. ___ BEIJING China on Sunday reported 46 new coronavirus infections, including 20 locally acquired cases in a southern province where authorities are trying to contain an outbreak. No deaths were reported. Nineteen of the locally acquired infections were in Putian in Fujian province and one in nearby Quanzhou, the National Health Commission reported. It said all other infections were believed to have been acquired abroad. Chinas death toll stands at 4,636 out of 95,199 cases. The Health Commission announced Saturday it was sending experts to Putian to oversee disease-control work. ___ WELLINGTON, New Zealand New Zealand is buying an extra 500,000 doses of the Pfizer vaccine from Denmark as it tries to keep its coronavirus vaccination program running at full speed, the government said. The doses are on top of New Zealands regular shipments from Pfizer and come a few days after officials announced a similar deal with Spain for more than 250,000 extra doses. New Zealand was slow to get its vaccination program running but has seen demand spike since an outbreak of the delta variant in Auckland last month. That had left the country in danger of running out of doses ahead of a large scheduled shipment in October. New Zealands government has been attempting to eliminate the virus entirely in Auckland by imposing a lockdown but is finding the delta variant hard to stamp out, with another 20 daily community cases reported on Sunday. About 54% of people in New Zealand have had at least one dose and 28% are fully vaccinated. ___ YUCAIPA, Calif. The husband of a California nurse who died of COVID-19 more than two weeks ago has died after battling the disease himself. A family member told news station KTLA-TV that Daniel Macias of Yucaipa died on Thursday, leaving behind five young children, including a newborn girl. He and his wife, Davy Macias contracted COVID-19 after going on a family trip to the beach and an indoor water park. They were admitted to the hospital days apart, and it was there that a doctor delivered the couples daughter several days before Davy Macias died. Her brother said she was hesitant to get vaccinated because she was pregnant. ___ CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa Hospitals in Iowas second-largest city are limiting elective procedures because of increased numbers of patients driven partly by a surge in COVID-19 admissions. The Cedar Falls Gazette reports that both UnityPoint Health-St. Lukes Hospital and Mercy Medical Center confirmed Friday their facilities are preserving capacity because of high patient counts in recent weeks. Cedar Rapids hospitals had not delayed or postponed elective surgeries and procedures since last fall. St. Lukes is limiting surgeries that require a hospital stay to 10 per day. Mercy officials confirmed that it also is temporarily reducing the number of elective procedures that require hospital stays after surgery. HAMDEN For the first time in the towns history, voters will choose from three mayoral hopefuls in a Democratic primary. Lauren Garrett, a former Legislative Council member and business owner who unsuccessfully challenged incumbent Mayor Curt Balzano Leng in a 2019 primary, won the Democratic Town Committees endorsement this time around. Leng bypassed the endorsement process, petitioning his way onto the ballot with his own slate of candidates for townwide office. He is seeking his fourth full term in office. And Peter Cyr, a newcomer to the Hamden political scene who has a background in statewide political organizing, became the wildcard this season when he announced his run and successfully petitioned for a spot on the ballot. We asked all three candidates about their priorities, what strategies they would use to address the challenges facing Hamden and why they are the best fit to lead the town. Heres what they said. (Each candidate provided their answers as written responses.) Lauren Garrett Garrett served as a Hamden councilwoman from 2017 until 2019, when she made her first run for mayor. She holds a engineering degree and manages finances for her familys real estate business. The latter experience, she contends, gives her important know-how to bring to the mayors office As a small business owner, I have paid off debt, grown my business, and negotiated good deals all things we can do in Hamden with careful planning and a sound financial strategy, she said. Hamdens financial issues drove her to seek office, she said, adding that she sees a need for increased fiscal transparency and long-term financial planning. Asked what makes her a good fit to lead the town, she said she considers ethics to be at the heart of any good leadership style and strongly (believes) in collaboration and (places) a high value on teams. She also indicated she prioritizes the towns most vulnerable residents in her approaches to problem solving. I have a skilled and hard-working team in place to get to work on day one, she said. You can trust that I will work with other small businesses to guide them through the process of realizing their dream while at the same time growing our grandlist. Top Priorities: 1. Town finances at the forefront of our issues, specifically taxes and town deb.t 2. Public safety everyone has the right to feel safe in their own community. 3. Climate change & sustainability we are all experiencing the effects of climate change firsthand. Strategies to address town issues: 1. Strengthen finances by pursuing a five-year financial plan and competitive bidding. 2. Address root causes of crime such as employment, safe housing, food security, and family support, explore unarmed response options for nonviolent incidents and support hiring practices that produce a police department that reflects the community it serves. 3. Shift to electric vehicles, modernize infrastructure, plant trees and convert to green forms of energy. Curt Balzano Leng (incumbent) Leng, 47, first got involved in local politics around the age of 20, when he ran for Legislative Council. He served as Hamdens chief administrative officer from 2009 to 2015 under former Mayor Scott Jackson, who tapped Leng as his successor when he left for a job with the state in 2015. Asked why he decided to run for office, Leng cited a feeling of responsibility to serve and help our residents. He said he wants to strengthen the towns finances to ensure services our residents count on and deserve. Good judgment, strength and all-in commitment in times of crisis or challenge make him a good leader, he said, adding that his experience and professional team will protect and build upon the services our town provides and what we can provide and achieve in the years ahead. Thanks to hard work, Leng contended, Hamden is in a financial position thats stronger than over a decade. In the week before the primary, Leng issued a release saying the last fiscal year showed a preliminary surplus of $10 million that increased the fund balance to $7 million. The town closed its latest fiscal year with a surplus and recent financial reports show reasons for optimism, including better budgeting practices, a growing fund balance and a slightly better outlook. But reports also show the town faces towering debt, little wiggle room in spending and a history of unbalanced budgeting practices. Top priorities: 1. Helping residents in times of need protect residents and neighborhoods with focused community & prevention based police services and added presence to deter crime. 2. Financial stability lower our too high mill rate. 3. Keep Church Street and Shepherd Glen elementary schools open (the Board of Education previously voted to close those schools but has since rethought the decision). Strategies to address town issues: 1. Implement a full time mental health and social worker support system to compliment (our) police and fire response system. 2. Continue fully funding (our) Town Pension As required by the state, last years budget funded Hamdens full actuarially required contribution for the first time in years. 3. Expand social services and youth programming. Peter Cyr Cyr jumped into the mayoral race after working as a lead organizer for #FightBackCT, U.S. Sen. Chris Murphys field campaign. He previously worked as an organizer for state Democrats, a legislative aide in Massachusetts, and a field organizer for Hillary Clintons 2016 presidential campaign, he said. Cyr graduated Hamden High School in 2012 and earned a bachelors degree in political science from the University of California at Berkeley. He is running for mayor to bring new ideas and new leadership to town. I'm not tied to past administrations which can bring the clear perspective to budgeting that this town needs, he said. We need a new narrative for our town, one that is more positive and focused on the issues. What makes him a good fit for the job? Being an organizer I am always focused on finding low cost solutions to big problems. Hamden needs a drama free, issues oriented mayor to help reduce taxes, reduce gun violence, and slow down traffic, he said. We offer a realistic, and attainable platform that the town can get behind. Top Priorities: 1. Taxes the increased burden on our middle class community. 2. Gun violence and the trauma it is having on our citizens. 3. Dilapidated infrastructure and traffic safety issues. Strategies to address town issues: 1. Audit every department to make them less administratively top heavy, implement a systematic approach to base department expansion on specific metrics and lobby the state for additional aid. 2. Model Oaklands project Ceasefire, which Cyr described as a community based approach to reducing gun violence, associated with a 50% reduction in gun violence in Oakland from 2012-2018. 3. Implement a program based on Portland, Ore.s Vision Zero initiative to identify the most dangerous roads and design safer infrastructure. meghan.friedmann@hearstmediact.com BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) Among the many tragic stories in the aftermath of Hurricane Ida are the deaths of seven Louisiana nursing home residents who were evacuated to a warehouse where health inspectors say conditions quickly became unsafe once the storm struck. The squalid conditions found at the Tangipahoa Parish warehouse that sheltered more than 840 people raised new questions and concerns about whether Louisiana is doing enough to protect its most vulnerable residents. The short answer is more needs to be done, said Denise Bottcher, Louisiana state director for AARP. Each hurricane presents us with opportunities to learn how can we do it better. This storm showed that we continue to fail our most fragile and vulnerable citizens." Bottcher has a unique perspective. She was then-Gov. Kathleen Blancos chief spokesperson when Hurricane Katrina struck 16 years ago and highlighted the inadequacies of nursing home storm preparations. State officials said they are investigating the evacuation of the seven nursing homes owned by Bob Dean to the warehouse facility. The health department revoked the nursing homes' licenses and ordered the facilities closed so people couldn't be sent back after authorities moved the residents from the warehouse to shelters and other sites. But health department leaders also said they intend to review the evacuation and sheltering preparation required ahead of any storms. I think this is going to and should be an ongoing conversation, said Dr. Joe Kanter, the chief medical officer at the Louisiana Department of Health. I think clearly there is more that has to be done. Theres absolutely no question about that. After Ida roared ashore as a Category 4 hurricane on Aug. 29, representatives of the seven nursing homes were telling the health department the situation was fine, but inspectors who made multiple visits to the warehouse facility told a different story. Authorities found water entered the building, trash piled up on site and residents were packed into close spaces despite the coronavirus pandemic, according to documents filed by the health department. Inspectors making follow-up visits described people lying on mattresses without food or clean clothes and with strong odors of feces and urine filling the space. One evacuee said she hadn't had a bath in four days, while others were found naked or wearing only unclean diapers. An evacuee struggling to breathe and yelling for help was ignored, until a nurse was prompted to assist him by an inspector, the health department documents said. Agency officials said they met repeated resistance to address the concerns from Dean, who they said ordered inspectors off the property and used a campaign of threats, intimidation and attempts at interfering with efforts to assess the safety of evacuees. Dean has not responded to messages left by The Associated Press at phone numbers listed for him and his businesses and through attorneys who have represented him. But Dean defended the Ida evacuation to WAFB-TV: We only had five deaths within the six days, and normally with 850 people youll have a couple a day, so we did really good with taking care of people. Louisiana rewrote its nursing home laws and regulations after Katrina was blamed for dozens of nursing home patient deaths in 2005. A health department study of Katrina's death toll found 132 nursing home patients died, including from the stress of the evacuation or preexisting conditions exacerbated by the storm impacts. Thirty-five residents of a nursing home in St. Bernard Parish drowned in Katrina's floodwaters. Kanter said that before Katrina, some nursing homes didn't have evacuation plans at all. He said they are now required to submit annual plans to parish and state officials describing their emergency preparations in extensive detail. But after Ida, questions are being raised about whether those plans are reviewed closely enough to ensure safety, whether staffing levels are adequate for evacuations and whether enough is done to make sure family members know where their loved ones are going in an evacuation. Clearly there were nursing homes that evacuated that did everything they were supposed to do to provide for the safety and welfare of their residents, Bottcher said. But she added: Theres some gaps. Bottcher would like to see the emergency preparedness review also include senior housing sites that are regulated through a mix of federal and local oversight. New Orleans officials said several elderly residents died at such locations after Ida left them without electricity and air conditioning. ___ EDITORS NOTE: Melinda Deslatte has covered Louisiana politics for The Associated Press since 2000. Follow her at http://twitter.com/melindadeslatte. HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) More than 70 members of the Connecticut National Guard are heading to Poland as part of ongoing U.S. military preparedness exercises with European allies. A send-off ceremony was held Sunday at the state armory in Hartford for the Danbury-based 142nd Area Support Medical Co., which will be supporting Operation Atlantic Resolve over the next year by providing medical care. DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) A federal judge on Monday ordered the state of Iowa to immediately halt enforcement of a law that prevents school boards from ordering masks to be worn to help prevent the spread of COVID-19. Judge Robert Pratt said in an order signed Monday that the law passed in May substantially increases the risk of several children with health conditions of contracting COVID-19. Pratt said he has looked at data on the effectiveness of masks to reduce spread of the virus and agrees with recommendations from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the American Academy of Pediatrics on mask wearing in schools. "Because Plaintiffs have shown that Iowa Code section 280.31s ban on mask mandates in schools substantially increases their risk of contracting the virus that causes COVID-19 and that due to their various medical conditions they are at an increased risk of severe illness or death, Plaintiffs have demonstrated that an irreparable harm exists," he wrote. His order said Gov. Kim Reynolds and Iowa Department of Education Director Ann Lebo cannot enforce the new law banning local school districts from using their discretion to mandate masks for students, staff, teachers and visitors. He issued a temporary restraining order to be in effect immediately. It remains in effect until the court issues an order for a preliminary injunction. Eleven parents and The Arc of Iowa, a group that defends the civil rights of people with intellectual and developmental disabilities, sued the state on Sept. 3. The dispute is one of several playing out in school districts nationwide, where parents, school administrators and health officials are battling over enforcement of mask protocols. The U.S. Education Department has opened civil rights investigations in five Republican-led states, including Iowa, that have banned or limited mask requirements in schools. Reynolds said in a statement that the judge unilaterally overturned a state law, ignored the decision by our elected legislature and took away parents ability to decide whats best for their child. She said the state will appeal and exercise every legal option we have to uphold state law and defend the rights and liberties afforded to any American citizen protected by our constitution. Hours after the decision was announced, Des Moines public schools Superintendent Thomas Ahart said he would reinstate a mask mandate for all students, staff and visitors to the district's schools beginning Wednesday. Des Moines schools is the state's largest district with about 33,000 students. A spokeswoman for the Iowa City school district said the school board will meet Tuesday to consider its options. A message was sent to district families from Superintendent Matt Degner that said we strongly encourage all students and staff to wear a mask to school tomorrow as we anticipate the district implementing a mask requirement for all individuals in school buildings. Pratt pointed out that it's been almost 40 years since the U.S. Supreme Court recognized that, regardless of citizenship status, denying school-aged children a free public education violates the U.S. Constitution. He said the parents want Iowa school districts to have the opportunity to comply with federal law and ensure that each child receives an education in the least-restrictive and the most-integrated environment without jeopardizing their lives or safety. Iowas mask mandate ban makes it not only dangerous for disabled or immunocompromised children to attend school, but several pediatricians opine it is also dangerous for healthy siblings to attend school in person because they risk carrying the virus back to their disabled or immunocompromised siblings, Pratt said. He said the AAP has recorded about 3,500 new COVID-19 cases among Iowa school-aged children since July and some public schools in Iowa are experiencing COVID-19 infection rates at upwards of 60% of last years total for the entire school year. In the most recent state public health update children aged 17 and younger made up 29% of the new coronavirus cases in Iowa. Fifteen children under age 17 were hospitalized with COVID-19, including 12 under the age of 11. Lebo has said any districts that violate the law will be referred to the State Board of Education and risk loss of funding. Pratt also points out that the motion by the parents to halt enforcement of the law comes on the heels of the U.S. Department of Educations investigation into whether Iowas mask mandate ban violates the Americans With Disabilities Act and Rehabilitation Act by discriminating against school-aged children with disabilities. The parents in the lawsuit claim similar violations of federal law. They claim that in-person learning is essential and point out that Lebo remarked in January 2021 that a return to in-person learning is necessary as students engaged in remote learning are falling behind academically. The parents of these children thus lament the choice of having to either send their children to school in person with the rest of the kids their age without a mask mandate or swallow the lesser option that is not always available to themremote learning," Pratt said. He concluded that the law seems to conflict with the ADA and the Rehabilitation Act because it excludes disabled children from participating in and denies them the benefits of public schools programs, services, and activities to which they are entitled. An arson investigation is underway in Muhlenberg County's Powderly, Kentucky, after firefighters found a mobile home burned to the ground. The Greenville Fire Department says it was notified of a fire on Whippoorwill Hill in Powderly on Sunday morning just before 11:00 a.m. The fire department was told that a house trailer had burned sometime in the early morning hours. When firefighters arrived, they found a 15x40 house trailer completely on the ground, with a small amount of fire and smoke still visible. The fire department says multiple other authorities were called to the scene to begin investigating, which led to neighbors being interviewed and security camera footage from the area being reviewed. According to GFD, the fire has been ruled as an arson, but no arrests have been made and the investigation is ongoing. Anyone with information on the fire can call Central Dispatch at (270) 338-2000 or the Greenville Fire Department at (270) 338-3305. Reading, PA (19601) Today Mostly cloudy and muggy with a few showers or gusty evening thunderstorms, especially from the Lehigh Valley points north and west. . Tonight Mostly cloudy and muggy with a few showers or gusty evening thunderstorms, especially from the Lehigh Valley points north and west. Allentown, PA (18103) Today Mostly cloudy and muggy with a few showers or gusty evening thunderstorms, especially from the Lehigh Valley points north and west. . Tonight Mostly cloudy and muggy with a few showers or gusty evening thunderstorms, especially from the Lehigh Valley points north and west. It is impressive how well Ayub Khan Din's family comedy East Is East has weathered the time. This production celebrates the 25th anniversary of the play's premiere at Birmingham Repertory Theatre and yet it feels just as fresh today. Set in 1971, the piece takes the audience into the lounge of the Khan family where trouble is brewing. Patriarch George is determined his family will follow Pakistani tradition but his children feel otherwise while his white wife Ella tries to keep the peace. When George decides two of his sons must marry his choice of bride, the simmering tensions become all-out war. At the centre of the drama is Tony Jayawardena's George, a man riven by his own uncertainties and contradictions. While he chose to step outside tradition by marrying Ella, he believes his children should follow his rule and yet his stern grip is constantly flouted. Tony plays a George bordering on desperate he veers from hearty chuckles and cuddles with his wife to physically attacking her when she disagrees with him. He has a great fondness for his children and yet wants to bend them to his will. Jayawardena draws out the human at the heart of George so that the audience is as divided as his family we want to despise his small-minded ideas and yet we empathise with him despite everything because we recognise the fragility of his self-belief. It is impossible not to love Sophie Stanton's Ella. She is warm, humorous, loving, fiercely loyal and yet pulled between her husband and her children. Stanton has an almost off-hand dry delivery and brilliant comic timing which comes to the fore at the climax of the play as she attempts to stage manage a visit from Mr Shah, the father of the prospective brides. Noah Manzoor plays the youngest of the family Sajit, whose mental anguish at the pain he sees around him manifests itself in physical tics and a desire to hide in his parka coat and in the coal shed. Amy-Leigh Hickman as the sole daughter Meenah is the perfect stroppy teenager her face when forced to wear a sari for the visit of Mr Shah is a picture. All of the cast create strongly individual family members, each with their own personality battling to express themselves in this repressive household. Their agony is offset by visits from a bustling Auntie Annie, played by Rachel Lumberg, who can prattle on totally oblivious to the chaos around her. Khan Din's play is bitterly and wickedly funny Mr Shah's visit exposes the division at the heart of the family but does so in a way that makes you laugh out loud. There are moments when you are just squirming in your seat at the awkwardness of the situation as Ella tries to keep everyone calm with a cup of tea. Presented by Birmingham Repertory and the National Theatres, the production is directed by Iqbal Khan, who earlier this year was appointed associate director at the Rep. He returns to a play he knows well, having also directed a production at the theatre in 2009, but there is a sense he has come to it with new eyes, teasing out the tensions in the relationships and giving each actor space to develop their characters. Bretta Gerecke's set wonderfully recreates the 1970s, mixing period furniture and furnishings with a series of screens in the background which displays black and white photographs of the time. East Is East is a piece of theatre tinged with nostalgia but also with a message which feels totally contemporary. Its explorations of identity, race, relationships, power, gender dynamics and familial aspiration ensure it still has as much to say to audiences of 2021 as it did 25 years ago. Israel PM in first official trip to Egypt in over a decade The leaders of Egypt and Israel have met as part of the first official visit by an Israeli prime minister to Egypt in more than a decade CAPITOL RECAP: Energy bill heads to Senate, Pritzker says he will sign it Willmar, MN (56201) Today Clear to partly cloudy. Low 63F. Winds S at 10 to 20 mph.. Tonight Clear to partly cloudy. Low 63F. Winds S at 10 to 20 mph. WASHINGTON (AP) California voters are being asked to weigh in on two questions in Tuesday's recall election for Gov. Gavin Newson. But its possible The Associated Press will only declare the winner in one of the races. Heres a look at how AP plans to handle the calls in an election with some unusual mechanics. TWO QUESTIONS, BUT ONLY ONE MAY MATTER Forty-six candidates are on the ballot to replace Newsom but it won't matter who comes in first unless the effort to remove the first-term Democrat succeeds. California voters are being asked these two questions: Should Newsom be removed from office, yes or no, and who should replace him? If a majority votes yes on Newsoms removal, the candidate who gets the most votes on the second question would become governor for the final year of Newsom's term. But if the recall fails, the question of who would replace him would be irrelevant. That's why The Associated Press will only declare a winner among the replacement candidates if the vote to recall Newsom is successful. The top vote-getter on the replacement ballot could become obvious before the outcome of the recall vote is decided. Talk radio host Larry Elder, a Republican, is polling well ahead of the other 45 candidates. AP will report on the status of the replacement election in its news coverage, but will not declare a winner unless Newsom is recalled. Winners are declared only when AP is fully confident a race has been won defined most simply as the point when the number of remaining votes do not provide a path to victory for a trailing candidate. Before Election Day, AP analysts study county-by-county election results for past races, vote-counting procedures, recount requirements and changes to state election laws, relying on information from APs election research group. On election night, they study the incoming vote and are in constant contact with APs vote count team, in search of the latest information about whats been counted so far and how many ballots may still be left to count. BE READY TO WAIT FOR IT If the races are close, it could take a while to determine the winners. California historically takes weeks to count all the votes in statewide elections. In 2020, when nearly 18 million people cast ballots, a third of the votes in the presidential election were counted after Election Day. Two years earlier, more than 40% were counted after Election Day. After the polls close, the first results released by most counties in California include the mail-in ballots and early-in person votes that officials were able to count before the polls closed. Then they start counting the votes cast on Election Day at local polling places, a process that can last through the night. Mail ballots can arrive up to a week after Election Day and still be counted, as long as they are postmarked by Election Day. This can take days or weeks. Mail ballots are generally counted in the order they are received, so the last ballots to be counted tend to be the last ones to arrive. MARGINS MAY SHIFT In 2020, Republicans were much less likely than Democrats to vote by mail in part because then-President Donald Trump repeatedly claimed without evidence that voting by mail was unsafe and susceptible to fraud. If that trend continues, the results in the recall election could swing back and forth on election night, depending on which types of votes are being reported mail ballots or in-person votes. Most California voters cast their ballots by mail, a trend that accelerated during the pandemic as many voters were reluctant to enter crowded polling places on Election Day. About 87% of California voters cast their ballots by mail in last year's presidential election. For Tuesday's election, all 22 million registered voters were sent a mail ballot. Mail ballots take longer to process than in-person votes because election officials must remove the ballots from their envelopes, check the voters registration and make sure that the voters signature on the envelope matches the one on file. Then the votes can counted. When voters cast ballots in person, officials perform security measures at the polling place so the votes can be counted soon after the polls close. Voters who dont want to vote by mail can vote in person, on Election Day or during the early voting period. Voters can also drop off mail ballots at local polling places, county election offices or in county drop boxes. ___ Ohlemacher is the AP's Election Decision Editor. CALGARY - A lawyer for Alberta Health Services says an Alberta pastor and his brother found guilty of contempt after deliberately violating COVID-19 health orders should go to jail. A woman wears a mask as she enters the Calgary Courts Centre during COVID-19 restrictions on Monday, May 17, 2021. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jeff McIntosh CALGARY - A lawyer for Alberta Health Services says an Alberta pastor and his brother found guilty of contempt after deliberately violating COVID-19 health orders should go to jail. Artur Pawlowski and his brother Dawid Pawlowski of Calgary were arrested in May and accused of organizing an illegal gathering as well as promoting and attending an illegal gathering. The arrests came after court orders were granted allowing Alberta Health Services and police to charge anyone who advertised gatherings that would breach health restrictions. At a sentencing hearing Monday, the health provider asked that the pastor be jailed for 21 days and that his brother be sentenced to 10 days. "It is ... reasonable to assert that the respondents' breach on May 8 posed a risk to the public health, given the ongoing presence of the pandemic," said lawyer John Siddons. "AHS also underscores that the respondents' breach of the court order was done in a publicly defined manner which was recorded and posted to Artur Pawlowski's social media account ... effectively publicizing his breach of the order to the world at large." The court is also being asked to fine Artur Pawlowski $2,000 and impose $15,000 in costs. Siddons played a number of videos for Court of Queen's Bench Justice Adam Germain in which Artur Pawlowski was interviewed by Rebel News after being convicted of contempt. There was also a speech in Portland, Ore., last month that the pastor gave as part of a speaking tour about his experiences. "Just two weeks ago I faced four years (in) prison for inciting people to come to church. My brother Dawid was arrested right beside me and was facing two years. Now that has been changed," Pawlowski told his audience. "For me, 21 days prison, and for Dawid, 10 days prison unless I ask for forgiveness ... and to say I'm sorry. My message to those devils is simple. Lock me in prison, take the key and throw it away. You will never hear sorry from me." Siddons said Pawlowski is apparently seeking to gain from the "notoriety" he's received following his arrest. "These proceedings have given him a degree of fame that has allowed him to travel throughout North America on tour," Siddons said. Stay informed The latest updates on the novel coronavirus and COVID-19 delivered to your inbox every weeknight. Sign Up I agree to the Terms and Conditions, Cookie and Privacy Policies, and CASL agreement. "Furthermore, his comments can also be interpreted as inciting others to engage in the same form of disobedience that he participated in." The lawyer for the Pawlowskis is to finish her case Tuesday, but has already suggested her clients should not face time behind bars. "It would frankly be appropriate to waive sanctions completely," said Sarah Miller. "What AHS has proposed is there is nothing besides imprisonment that would support the current or other sentencing principles. That is simply not true," she said. "In many, many contempt proceedings sanctions of fines are the more appropriate. Incarceration should only be used as a last-case situation." This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 13, 2021. OTTAWA - The federal New Democrats and Liberals made mirror pledges on Monday to criminalize protesters that block hospitals or harass health-care workers as party leaders denounced planned demonstrations at hospitals countrywide. Liberal Party Leader Justin Trudeau waves to the media on arrival prior to the English language leaders' debate, in Gatineau, Que., Tuesday, Sept. 7, 2021. Canadians will vote in a federal election on Sept. 20. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Frank Gunn OTTAWA - The federal New Democrats and Liberals made mirror pledges on Monday to criminalize protesters that block hospitals or harass health-care workers as party leaders denounced planned demonstrations at hospitals countrywide. A group calling itself Canadian Frontline Nurses has planned "silent vigils" in response to public health restrictions aimed at slowing the spread of COVID-19, which they say are "tyrannical measures and government overreach." Dozens of demonstrators gathered outside Toronto General Hospital, many to condemn Ontario's proof-of-vaccination system that is scheduled to take effect next week. Police were also there as part of what local officials said would be an effort to maintain access for doctors, nurses and patients, if necessary. Speaking in Sioux Lookout, Ont., NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh said a federal government can't ban protests, nor can it limit where people can demonstrate. But Singh pointed to the Criminal Code as a means to dissuade such demonstrations from happening. His party's platform pledges to make it a federal offence to harass or obstruct someone from accessing medical care, and provide harsher penalties for anyone assaulting a health-care worker. He said protesting at hospitals was different than demonstrating elsewhere, such as rail lines, noting that blockading a hospital could mean someone dies. NDP leader Jagmeet Singh puts on his jacket following a morning announcement in Sioux Lookout, Ont., Monday, September 13, 2021. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jonathan Hayward "It is not the space, it is not the place to protest," Singh said in front of his campaign plane in the northern Ontario town. "If you're in any way threatening health-care workers, impeding their ability to go to work, you're impeding patients' access to care. If cancer patients aren't being able to get into the hospital, that is just not on." The issue of vaccinations and how to respond to the pandemic has been a mainstay of the federal campaign, which wraps up in one week on Sept. 20. Anti-vaccine and anti-mask protesters have dogged Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau along the campaign trail, even pelting him with gravel at one stop, after he promised to forge ahead with mandatory vaccination rules for travellers. Hours after Singh spoke, Trudeau outlined an identical pledge of criminal sanctions for anyone blocking access to hospitals, vaccine clinics, testing centres, pharmacies and abortion clinics, and those intimidating or harassing health-care workers. Speaking in Vancouver, Trudeau said the Criminal Code already has provisions about intimidating people who work in the justice system, but there is now a need to protect doctors and nurses in a similar way. "It's not OK any day to know that a nurse going into a late shift crossing a parking lot might be afraid that there could be someone there to spit on her or shout obscenities at her," Trudeau said in his opening remarks. The Criminal Code also already prohibits intimidation, including using violence, uttering threats or watching someone's workplace, to prevent another person from doing something they have a lawful right to do. The Liberal leader took aim at Conservative Leader Erin O'Toole as Trudeau repeatedly looked to use the issue of vaccines and public health measures as a wedge. Speaking in the rural Ottawa suburb of Carp, O'Toole said the planned protests are "completely unacceptable," and called for unity even as he denounced Trudeau with sharpened personal attacks. "There is the ability to peacefully protest and things like this, but to harass and to try and block people from accessing health care in a pandemic is completely unacceptable," O'Toole said. "Now is the time for us to work together, using all the tools we have including vaccines, rapid tests, distancing, masks in our fight against COVID-19. We need to come together as a country in this crisis, not divide ourselves." The Writ The federal election occurs Sept. 20 and we have you covered. Get the latest campaign news, insights, analysis and commentary delivered weekly to your inbox with our free newsletter. Sign Up I agree to the Terms and Conditions, Cookie and Privacy Policies, and CASL agreement. Asked what he would do if elected, O'Toole said he trusted local officials to manage the situation. His party's platform does include a plank to create a Criminal Code offence for anyone interfering with "critical infrastructure," which includes pipelines, rail lines, and, the party said, hospitals as well. Meanwhile, Green Party Leader Annamie Paul made a rare campaign stop outside of Toronto on Monday as she visited candidates in Prince Edward Island, a place where the Greens have made political inroads as the official Opposition in the provincial legislature. Paul pointed to that success and the dozen-plus pieces of legislation the provincial party has pushed as something voters in other parts of the country should consider when they cast a ballot. Monday marked the final of four days of advance polls, and Elections Canada said Sunday that 1.3 million people came out on Friday, more than what was recorded on the first day of advance polls in the 2019 vote. This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 13, 2021. With files from Liam Casey in Toronto TORONTO - Two police officers escorted Faye Doiron and Randy Longaphie as they left Toronto General Hospital on Monday, helping the pair make their way through a crowd of protesters denouncing pandemic measures. An ambulance passes through a crowd of people protesting COVID-19 vaccine passports and mandatory vaccinations for healthcare workers, in Vancouver, B.C., Wednesday, Sept. 1, 2021. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Darryl Dyck TORONTO - Two police officers escorted Faye Doiron and Randy Longaphie as they left Toronto General Hospital on Monday, helping the pair make their way through a crowd of protesters denouncing pandemic measures. Doiron, who came to Toronto from Prince Edward Island to wait for a lung transplant, was leaving after a physiotherapy session at the hospital, with Longaphie, her cousin, pushing her wheelchair. The crowd of largely unmasked demonstrators parted slowly but peacefully to let them through as one officer led the way and another walked behind them. "It's terrifying," Doiron said. "Doctors told me if I ever catch COVID, I won't make it." Dozens of demonstrators attended the rally Monday, many of them condemning Ontario's proof-of-vaccination system, which is scheduled to take effect next week. A larger demonstration also took place earlier Monday afternoon outside the Ontario legislature. The event was one of several expected across Canada on Monday. An organization calling itself Canadian Frontline Nurses posted notices of "silent vigils" set to take place in multiple communities, which it said were meant to critique public health measures put in place to curb the spread of COVID-19. Planned locations included the Winnipeg Health Sciences Centre and the Queen Elizabeth II Health Sciences Centre in Halifax. Organizers said they wanted to take a stand against what they call "tyrannical measures and government overreach," but added they were not encouraging nurses to walk out on their shifts or abandon patients. In Montreal, demonstrators rallied at McGill University Hospital Centre's Glen site, some of them carrying signs questioning the use of COVID-19 vaccines. Others bore signs opposing rules imposed on health-care workers. Health-care workers in Quebec who are in contact with patients for more than 15 minutes at a time are required to be fully vaccinated by Oct. 15. The Health Department has said workers who are not fully vaccinated by then will be reassigned, if possible, or suspended without pay. Roughly two dozen protesters gathered on the sidewalk in front of the Queen Elizabeth II Health Sciences Centre in Halifax on Monday, many of them voicing concerns about the proof-of-vaccination system announced by health officials in that province last week, which takes effect Oct. 4. Police officers wearing yellow vests controlled a crowd of protesters at Calgarys Foothills Medical Centre on Monday afternoon, ensuring patients and staff could enter the facility safely. Dozens of people rallying against public health restrictions notably vaccine passports crowded one street corner. Some bore signs that read medical vaccine = medical tyranny and lockdowns are a crime against humanity, while a group of counter-protesters held up a sign that read we stand with AHS (Alberta Health Services). Sparky Johnson, one of the protesters at the Queen's Park event in Toronto, said she was a member of Take Action Canada, a group opposed to mandatory vaccination. This is my body and I get to choose what to put in it," she said. Toronto police said there were no reports of hospital staff or patients being blocked from accessing Toronto General Hospital as part of the demonstrations, and no disruptions to hospital services. However, the University Health Network, which runs Toronto General Hospital, said such protests are disheartening for staff. "To see protests in front of hospitals is demoralizing for all who work here but particularly for the staff who have cared for the people dying of COVID-19, often without all of their family and loved ones around them," the hospital network said in a statement Monday. That sentiment was echoed by some doctors who stood outside the hospital as the protest got underway. Dr. Andrew Boozary, the executive director of social medicine at the University Health Network, said the event "feels like a moral gut punch" for those in a health-care system already grappling with burnout due to the pandemic. "I think we just have to remind ourselves this is a very small, vocal minority," Boozary said. Some high-ranking Ontario politicians and prominent health-care organizations had issued warnings in anticipation of the events. Ontario Premier Doug Ford described such events as "selfish, cowardly and reckless" in a tweet on Sunday. The Registered Nurses Association of Ontario and Ontario Medical Association issued a joint statement "strongly condemning" the planned disruptions and calling for designated safe zones around health-care facilities to protect staff and patients a proposal the province's New Democrats have also floated. Toronto Mayor John Tory condemned the protests planned for some city hospitals, adding he had been in contact with the local police chief about the events and received assurances that staff would be protected and patients could access the buildings. Outside Vancouver city hall, police estimated a crowd of about 400 gathered to protest against vaccinations and vaccine passports, which went into effect in B.C. on Monday. Some carried signs that read "My body, my choice." They later began marching downtown to British Columbia's Supreme Court while police diverted traffic. It was announced Monday that all health-care workers and volunteers in B.C. will soon have to be vaccinated against COVID-19. Provincial health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry said hospitals are under strain from people who are unvaccinated. "Sadly, the choice of not to get vaccinated is affecting our families and our communities across the province," she said. Police in Victoria said a man was arrested for assault during a protest at the B.C. legislature. They say while the protests in the city were centred at the legislature, a square adjacent to city hall and some media outlets, officers did provide routine patrols to Royal Jubilee Hospital and health-care facilities. Victoria police say the man was arrested after a person was assaulted by being doused with a hot liquid. The alleged victim declined medical treatment, said police, who are continuing their investigation. No charges have been laid. Some federal party leaders also addressed the planned demonstrations while out on the hustings. Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau vowed to bring in legislation that would make it a crime to obstruct access to any building providing health care, or to intimidate or threaten health-care workers carrying out their duties as well as any patient receiving that care. "Its not right that the people tasked with keeping us safe and alive during this pandemic should be exposed to hatred, violence, fear and intimidation," he said at an event in Vancouver. Conservative Leader Erin O'Toole said peaceful protest is one thing, harassing people accessing and working in health care is another. "This type of harassment and protest in front of hospitals is completely unacceptable," he said during a campaign event in Ottawa. NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh said it is wrong to protest at hospitals. The Writ The federal election occurs Sept. 20 and we have you covered. Get the latest campaign news, insights, analysis and commentary delivered weekly to your inbox with our free newsletter. Sign Up I agree to the Terms and Conditions, Cookie and Privacy Policies, and CASL agreement. "No health-care worker, no patient, no one seeking health care should in any way be limited or have a barrier to getting the care they need," he said while campaigning in Sioux Lookout, Ont. Past protests have centred on both public health measures and the prospect of proof-of-vaccination systems that would limit access to many public settings for those who have not been immunized against COVID-19. Ontario's system is set to launch on Sept. 22. Quebec's rolled out earlier this month, Manitoba began issuing vaccine cards in June, and both Nova Scotia and Yukon have said proof-of-vaccination systems are in the works. With files from Alanna Smith in Calgary, Danielle Edwards in Halifax, Jacob Serebrin in Montreal, Allison Jones in Toronto and Hina Alam in Vancouver. This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 13, 2021. THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) A court in Amsterdam ruled Monday that Uber drivers fall under the Dutch taxi drivers' collective labor agreement meaning they are entitled to the same employment benefits as taxi drivers. Uber said it would appeal the ruling. FILE - In this May 15, 2020 file photo, an Uber sign is displayed inside a car in Chicago. A court in Amsterdam ruled Monday, Sept. 13, 2021 that Uber drivers fall under the Dutch taxi drivers' collective labor agreement meaning they are entitled to the same employment benefits as taxi drivers. Uber said it would appeal the ruling. (AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh, File) THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) A court in Amsterdam ruled Monday that Uber drivers fall under the Dutch taxi drivers' collective labor agreement meaning they are entitled to the same employment benefits as taxi drivers. Uber said it would appeal the ruling. The Amsterdam civil court said in a statement that three judges ruled that the legal relationship between Uber and its drivers conforms to all the characteristics of an employment contract. The Dutch workers' organization that brought the case called the decision a major victory for Uber drivers. This verdict shows what we have been saying for years: Uber is an employer and the drivers are employees, so Uber has to abide by the taxi traffic collective labor agreement, Zakaria Boufangacha, vice-chair of the Federation of Dutch Unions, said in a statement. Uber, which has 4,000 drivers in Amsterdam, decried the ruling as a blow to the gig economy model. "We are disappointed with this decision because we know that the overwhelming majority of drivers wish to remain independent," said Maurits Schonfeld, Ubers General Manager Northern Europe. He added that drivers "dont want to give up their freedom to choose if, when and where to work. In the interest of drivers, we will therefore appeal the courts decision, whilst also continuing to improve platform work in the Netherlands. Ready, Pet, Go! Leesa Dahl looks at everything to do with our furry, fuzzy, feathered, fishy (and more!) pet friends. Arrives in your inbox each Monday. Sign Up I agree to the Terms and Conditions, Cookie and Privacy Policies, and CASL agreement. An Uber spokesman said that nothing would change for drivers using the app as the company appeals the ruling. The court ordered Uber to pay the FNV 50,000 euros ($59,000) in damages for not adhering to the collective labor agreement. FNV said the ruling means Uber drivers are entitled to more pay and have more rights if they are ill or have their employment terminated. The Dutch court decision follows a similar ruling by Britain's High Court in February that said Uber drivers are workers and not self-employed. ___ For all of APs tech coverage, visit https://apnews.com/apf-technology LOD, Israel (AP) An Israeli defense contractor on Monday unveiled a remote-controlled armed robot it says can patrol battle zones, track infiltrators and open fire. The unmanned vehicle is the latest addition to the world of drone technology, which is rapidly reshaping the modern battlefield. Israel Aerospace Industries' semi-autonomous four-wheel-drive "REX MKII" is seen at an IAI facility near the central Israeli city of Lod, Thursday, Sept. 9, 2021. Israel's state-owned Israel Aerospace Industries unveiled Monday a state-of-the-art unmanned vehicle their specialists said will be deployed alongside ground troops to assist in combat situations. (AP Photo/Sebastian Scheiner) LOD, Israel (AP) An Israeli defense contractor on Monday unveiled a remote-controlled armed robot it says can patrol battle zones, track infiltrators and open fire. The unmanned vehicle is the latest addition to the world of drone technology, which is rapidly reshaping the modern battlefield. Proponents say such semi-autonomous machines allow armies to protect their soldiers, while critics fear this marks another dangerous step toward robots making life-or-death decisions. The four-wheel-drive robot presented Monday was developed by the state-owned Israel Aerospace Industries REX MKII." It is operated by an electronic tablet and can be equipped with two machine guns, cameras and sensors, said Rani Avni, deputy head of the companys autonomous systems division. The robot can gather intelligence for ground troops, carry injured soldiers and supplies in and out of battle, and strike nearby targets. It is the most advanced of more than half a dozen unmanned vehicles developed by Aerospace Industries' subsidiary, ELTA Systems, over the past 15 years. Israel Aerospace Industries' semi-autonomous four-wheel-drive "REX MKII" is seen at an IAI facility near the central Israeli city of Lod, Thursday, Sept. 9, 2021. Israel's state-owned Israel Aerospace Industries unveiled Monday a state-of-the-art unmanned vehicle their specialists said will be deployed alongside ground troops to assist in combat situations. (AP Photo/Sebastian Scheiner) The Israeli military is currently using a smaller but similar vehicle called the Jaguar to patrol the border with the Gaza Strip and help enforce a blockade Israel imposed in 2007, after the tiny territory was seized by the Islamic militant group Hamas. Gaza is home to 2 million Palestinians who have largely been locked in by the blockade, which is also supported to some extent by Egypt. The border area is the site of frequent protests and occasional attempts by Palestinian militants or desperate laborers to infiltrate into Israel. According to the Israeli army's website, the semi-autonomous Jaguar is equipped with a machine gun and was designed to reduce soldiers exposure to the dangers of patrolling the volatile Gaza-Israel border. It is one of many tools, including drones armed with guided missiles, that have given the Israeli military vast technological superiority over Hamas. Unmanned ground vehicles are being increasingly used by other armies, including those of the United States, Britain and Russia. Their tasks include logistical support, the removal of mines and firing weapons. The tablet can control the vehicle manually. But many of its functions, including its movement and surveillance system, can also run autonomously. With every mission, the device collects more data which it then learns from for future missions, said Yonni Gedj, an operational expert in the company's robotics division. Critics have raised concerns that robotic weapons could decide on their own, perhaps erroneously, to shoot targets. The company says such capabilities exist but are not being offered to customers. Doug Speirs | Uplift A weekly review of funny, uplifting news in Winnipeg and around the globe that is delivered to your inbox each Wednesday. Sign Up I agree to the Terms and Conditions, Cookie and Privacy Policies, and CASL agreement. It is possible to make the weapon itself also autonomous, however, it is a decision of the user today, Avni said. The maturity of the system or the user is not there yet. Bonnie Docherty, a senior researcher from the arms division of Human Rights Watch, said such weapons are worrisome because they cant be trusted to distinguish between combatants and civilians or make proper calls about the harm attacks may do to nearby civilians. Machines cannot understand the value of human life, which in essence undermines human dignity and violates human rights laws, Docherty said. In a 2012 report, Docherty, a lecturer at Harvard Law School, called for fully automated weapons to be banned by international law. The defense magazine Janes said the development of autonomous ground vehicles has lagged behind autonomous aircraft and boats because moving across land is far more complex than navigating water or air. Unlike the open ocean, vehicles have to deal with holes in the road and know exactly how much force to apply to overcome a physical obstacle, the report said. The technology in self-driving vehicles also has raised concerns. Electric car manufacturer Tesla, among other companies, has been connected to a series of fatal accidents, including an incident in Arizona in 2018 when a woman was hit by a car driving on autopilot. The Israeli drone vehicle is being showcased at this weeks Defense and Security System International arms trade show in London. LONDON (AP) At least 227 people died last year defending their homes, land and livelihoods from environmental exploitation as the deepening climate crisis increasingly pits economic interests against local communities, according to data compiled by the environmental group Global Witness. LONDON (AP) At least 227 people died last year defending their homes, land and livelihoods from environmental exploitation as the deepening climate crisis increasingly pits economic interests against local communities, according to data compiled by the environmental group Global Witness. The total is the highest since Global Witness began gathering information about attacks on environmental defenders in 2012. Almost a third of the deaths were linked to resource exploitation, such as mining, logging and dam projects. It has become clear that the unaccountable exploitation and greed driving the climate crisis is also driving violence against land and environmental defenders, Global Witness said as it published its report. All but one of the deaths occurred in developing countries in the Southern Hemisphere, where authorities have been unwilling to curb logging, mining and industrial development, the group said. Over half took place in just three countries: Colombia, Mexico and the Philippines. Colombia recorded the highest number of deaths for the second year in a row, with 65. Mexico recorded 30 and the Philippines 29. Ready, Pet, Go! Leesa Dahl looks at everything to do with our furry, fuzzy, feathered, fishy (and more!) pet friends. Arrives in your inbox each Monday. Sign Up I agree to the Terms and Conditions, Cookie and Privacy Policies, and CASL agreement. The findings from Global Witness are horrific but expected, said Mary Lawlor, the U.N.s independent expert on human rights defenders, who has conducted similar research. Corruption in criminal justice systems too often shields governments and businesses responsible for these murders, and the guilty are rarely brought to justice, she told The Associated Press. Until the political will to stop these killings is found, until this corruption is rooted out, were likely to see hundreds more killings of human rights defenders, including many defending the environment. The threat to environmental defenders has risen steadily since Global Witnesss first report in 2012, when it counted 147 killings worldwide. Theyre at risk because they find themselves living on or near something that some corporation is demanding, Bill McKibben, a leading climate change author and a scholar in residence at Middlebury College in Vermont, wrote in a forward to the report. Accountability is rarely accepted by the C-suite. But corporations need to be more accountable and they need to take action. ___ Follow all AP stories on climate change and environmental issues at https://apnews.com/hub/climate-change. Mike Gilpatrick, who as a teenager was incarcerated at the Youth Development Center, poses on the front steps of his home, Wednesday, Sept. 8, 2021, in Nashua, N.H. Gilpatrick, 38, filed a lawsuit Monday Sept. 13, alleging he was physically and sexually abused at the former Youth Development Center in Manchester, which has been the target of a criminal investigation since 2019 and is slated to close in 2023. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa) CONCORD, N.H. (AP) The warnings came through the wall vents at King Cottage: Beatings had begun. Michael Gilpatrick, who spent three years at New Hampshires youth detention center in the late 1990s, said he and other boys sometimes stood on their toilets, yelling into vents to spread word of approaching staff. Once they went into the first room, and restrained the first person and beat him, theyd go right down the line and do it to every single one of us, he said. You can hear it happen. You cant necessarily see it, because youre locked in yourself. And who knows what else they were doing in there, because a lot of us kept that stuff to ourselves. Gilpatrick, 38, isnt keeping much to himself these days. He filed a lawsuit Monday alleging he was physically and sexually abused at the former Youth Development Center in Manchester, which has been the target of a criminal investigation since 2019 and is slated to close in 2023. Its the second of what could be hundreds of individual lawsuits after a judge dismissed a class action suit in May, leaving only the lead plaintiff's claims intact. More than 300 men and women have come forward with allegations involving 150 staffers from 1963 to 2018 at what is now called the Sununu Youth Services Center. Mike Gilpatrick, who as a teenager was incarcerated at the Youth Development Center, poses showing this tattoos that were inked with a sharpened guitar string while serving time in prison as an adult, at his home, Wednesday, Sept. 8, 2021, in Nashua, N.H. "That place turned us into what we were. I can't say what I am now because I'm a better person now. But coming out of that place, I was a monster.", Gilpatrick said during an interview with the Associated Press. Gilpatrick, 38, filed a lawsuit Monday Sept. 13, alleging he was physically and sexually abused at the former YDC in Manchester, which has been the target of a criminal investigation since 2019 and is slated to close in 2023. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa) Gilpatrick is suing the state, the youth center and five of the 11 men who were arrested in April and charged with either sexually assaulting or acting as accomplices to the assaults of more than a dozen teenagers. Among them, Bradley Asbury and James Woodlock are accused of restraining Gilpatrick while he was assaulted by Jeffrey Buskey and Stephen Murphy in 1997 or 1998. A state trooper testifying at Asburys probable cause hearing said colleagues described the four as a clique or the muscle of the cottage, and said they often used physical force to deescalate conflict. Gilpatrick wouldnt discuss that episode in an interview with The Associated Press, but he said the teens referred to the four as a hit squad because they responded to every incident, even minor arguments between youths, with violence. Ive seen them personally respond to hundreds of incidents, where they could have defused the situation in a lot better way, than bringing the kid down to the ground with a knee on the back of the neck, dropping elbows and kicking them, and dragging them back to the cottage, he said. The lawsuit also names the state health and human services commissioner and several former staffers, including one who has died. Woodlocks attorney declined to comment Monday because he had not yet received the lawsuit. Attorneys for the other defendants did not immediately respond to calls and emails Monday, nor did a spokesperson for the Department of Health and Human Services. In addition to physical and sexual abuse, Gilpatrick alleges, he was held in solitary confinement for as long as three months at a time. And then it would just become a daily occurrence where they would come in to antagonize us ... start throwing our stuff around, take our pictures off the wall, rip them up, whatever, he said. Just a way to get under our skin so we could get at them. And it just gives them another reason to keep us in our room even longer. Staffers sometimes removed everything from the room, even the mattress, and left him there in his underwear, he said. He didnt report the abuse, he said, because in some cases, supervisors were the abusers. Ready, Pet, Go! Leesa Dahl looks at everything to do with our furry, fuzzy, feathered, fishy (and more!) pet friends. Arrives in your inbox each Monday. Sign Up I agree to the Terms and Conditions, Cookie and Privacy Policies, and CASL agreement. There was nobody you could go to at YDC to talk to. You were literally stuck in your own thoughts, in your own fear every single day," he said. That place turned us into what we were. I cant say what I am now because Im a better person now. But coming out of that place, I was a monster. The lawsuit also alleges that abuse was pervasive and widely known by supervisors, and that abusers threatened physical retaliation if victims reported them. Gilpatricks attorney, Rus Rilee, said Monday he represents 375 clients with similar claims. Today is only the beginning of hundreds of lawsuits that will be filed over the coming weeks against the state on behalf of the brave survivors of decades of systemic governmental child abuse, he said. Gilpatrick left the youth center just before he turned 17 and was in prison within two years. He spent more than a dozen years behind bars and frequently used drugs, but now says he hasn't used for four years and co-owns a waterproofing business. He has two children and praises his wife of six years for standing by him. One of the many tattoos covering his arms, legs and torso features angels battling demons. Thats the biggest thing I struggle with, he said. Trying to keep myself good, but fighting with everything that Ive dealt with that brought me down all these years. ST. JOHN'S, N.L. - Advance polls in three of Newfoundland's seven federal ridings have reopened after hurricane Larry forced them to shut down for a day. Murray Caines removes his wife's municipal election signs before the arrival of Hurricane Larry, in Conception Bay South, N.L., Sept. 10, 2021. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Paul Daly ST. JOHN'S, N.L. - Advance polls in three of Newfoundland's seven federal ridings have reopened after hurricane Larry forced them to shut down for a day. Elections Canada opted to shutter the polls in the ridings of St. John's East, St. John's South-Mount Pearl and Avalon after the storm caused widespread damage and power outages along the Avalon Peninsula. Spokeswoman Francoise Enguehard says the decision was made out of an abundance of caution, noting local officials asked residents to stay home and give crews a chance to clean up from the storm. But Enguehard says advance polls in all three ridings are back up and running as of this morning. She says there will be no additional day of advance voting in those ridings to make up for the one lost, noting those wishing to cast an early ballot have until 9 p.m. Monday to do so. The Writ The federal election occurs Sept. 20 and we have you covered. Get the latest campaign news, insights, analysis and commentary delivered weekly to your inbox with our free newsletter. Sign Up I agree to the Terms and Conditions, Cookie and Privacy Policies, and CASL agreement. Advance polling opened across Canada on Friday and is set to run for four days ahead of election day on Sept. 20. Larry made landfall as a Category 1 storm along the island's south coast late Friday night, bringing sheets of rain and sustained winds of up to 130 km/h across much of the eastern part of the province. Elections Canada initially said opening of advance polls in the three ridings would be delayed as officials assessed the damage caused by the storm. St. John's East is a hotly-contested riding, with Liberal newcomer Joanne Thompson vying to swipe the seat from the NDP following Jack Harris's announcement that he wouldn't be running again. The NDP are hoping labour leader Mary Shortall will maintain the party's hold on the district. This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 12, 2021. CALGARY - When it comes to the cookie-cutter pattern of federal politics in the Conservative heartland of Alberta, Calgary Centre is an anomaly. Federal election campaign signs are pictured in the riding of Calgary-Centre in Calgary, Alta., Thursday, Sept. 2, 2021. When it comes to the cookie cutter pattern of federal politics in the Conservative heartland of Alberta, Calgary Centre is an anomaly. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jeff McIntosh CALGARY - When it comes to the cookie-cutter pattern of federal politics in the Conservative heartland of Alberta, Calgary Centre is an anomaly. The Tories often sweep much of Alberta, other than one seat in Edmonton, but a riding in Calgary's downtown has elected members of Parliament from the Reform Party, Progressive Conservatives, Conservatives and, in 2015, the Liberals. It's notable that 21 years ago voters there elected former prime minister Joe Clark, after he came back to lead the Progressive Conservatives, over incumbent Reform/Canadian Alliance MP Eric Lowther in Calgary Centre. Clark, whose campaign sign included his photo with the message "Not just another pretty face," received support from across the political spectrum. "The progressive side of the party has always been important to a lot of people and Joe just reached out and was able to bring out the best of people and I think that was part of the magic that was him a standup, ethical, moral guy," said his former press secretary, Stacy Hatcher, who noted Clark knocked on a lot of doors when he wasn't travelling during that campaign. "I think it's a riding that can't be taken for granted and that's how Joe ran the campaign, too, in Calgary Centre, is: don't take it for granted never take the people for granted. When it comes to Alberta politics, one political scientist said Calgary Centre is one that's not like the others. "It's a different animal than what you find elsewhere in Calgary," explained David Taras of Calgary's Mount Royal University. "It looks like other places in Canada more than it looks like other places in Calgary. It's the city centre, young population, it's more transient. It's kind of hipper. Suburban Calgary is a different world. It's a blue world." The 2016 census showed Calgary Centre was home to 119,176 people and more than 53,000 of that number are between the ages of 20 and 44. The median age was 35. In 2015, former member of Parliament Kent Hehr, along with Darshan Khan in Calgary Skyview, became the first Liberals elected in Calgary since 1968. Hehr, who grew up in the riding and also represented parts of it provincially, said its demographic is similar to what you would see in Vancouver, Toronto or Montreal. "There are different groups of people who are always changing and moving into the community. So many new Canadians who are starting out their journey in life in this country settle right here in Calgary Centre," he said. "It's really a multicultural, diverse community that I think understands politics very well and tends to vote Conservative, but it has progressive leanings underpinning their values." The Writ The federal election occurs Sept. 20 and we have you covered. Get the latest campaign news, insights, analysis and commentary delivered weekly to your inbox with our free newsletter. Sign Up I agree to the Terms and Conditions, Cookie and Privacy Policies, and CASL agreement. The riding is currently held by Conservative Greg McLean. He is facing Juan Estevez from the NDP and Sabrina Grover from the Liberals in the election on Sept. 20. Former Conservative MP Joan Crockatt, who lost to Hehr by 750 votes in the 2015 election, said the riding is one of the few truly urban ridings that the party holds and likely has a high undecided vote. "Are they hardcore committed to party? No they're not. There are a lot of new people who have moved in here from all over the country, all over the world and they don't know that Alberta is Conservative," Crockatt said. "Is there an opportunity in this riding? Yes, but you have to work for it. It's not a slam dunk. You cannot mail it in." This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 12, 2021. Note to readers: This is a corrected story. A previous version listed Jacob Cohen with the People's Party of Canada as a candidate in the riding. SIOUX LOOKOUT, Ont. - NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh listened quietly to a mother who lost her daughter to suicide in an isolated fly-in First Nation in northern Ontario where the community has been facing Canadas longest boil-water advisory. NDP leader Jagmeet Singh speaks in Sioux Lookout, Ont., Monday, September 13, 2021. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jonathan Hayward SIOUX LOOKOUT, Ont. - NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh listened quietly to a mother who lost her daughter to suicide in an isolated fly-in First Nation in northern Ontario where the community has been facing Canadas longest boil-water advisory. During the final week of campaigning before Mondays federal election, Singh said it was important to use the critical time before ballots are cast to visit Neskantaga First Nation and get a firsthand view of the effects of the 26-year water advisory on the living conditions of the community. "It is a stark and startling example of how bad things are," Singh said following a more than five-hour tour throughout the nation. Marilyn Waswa was held by family members as she talked about walking to the First Nations makeshift water station to get jugs to take home. When she arrived, she found her 14-year-old daughter dead. "I wish the water was clean," Waswa said through tears, adding she believes it contributed to her daughters death. It was the second time in a month that Singh visited the community. He went to a small graveyard where Cynthia Moonias spoke about many of her children who also took their own life. Singh sat with a mother of two who said she cant wash with the water because it is causing a skin condition. Singh also drove past the local school where about 50 children, mostly wearing orange, yelled "fix our water" while holding signs calling for action. "Indigenous people continue to be denied a basic human right of drinking water," Singh said. "It doesn't have to be this way." Desmon Moonias, 19, walked around the water treatment plant along with Singh. He said the advisory has been in place his entire life. He hopes one day children in his community wont experience the same thing. In 2015, Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau promised to lift all long-term drinking-water advisories by March 2021. His government acknowledged in December that the deadline would be missed despite the lifting of more than 100 long-term drinking-water advisories in five years. In March, the Liberal government said it remains committed to ending all the advisories, but it wont set a new deadline, as 52 long-term drinking-water advisories in 33 First Nations communities are still in place. At the time, Indigenous Services Minister Marc Miller said some First Nations chose to maintain drinking water advisories until they finish the construction of long-term projects. The federal government additionally reached a nearly $8-billion settlement in July with First Nations, including Neskantaga, whose members filed a class-action lawsuit over the lack of clean, safe drinking water in their communities. It includes at least $6 billion to support reliable access to safe drinking water on reserves. Singh didn't say how an NDP government would specifically end the remaining drinking water advisories more quickly than the Liberals, but he said he will make it a priority if elected. He said repeatedly that it relies on the political will to make the change. "It is not a problem for a G7 nation when it comes to resources, it's not an issue of access to technology, it's not an access to resources question, it's really making it a priority question, and that's what we'll do," he said. Neskantaga First Nation Chief Wayne Moonias said the community has been under the drinking water advisory for more than 9,700 days under both Conservative and Liberal governments. Theyve heard promises and commitments, but the chief said the community still cannot drink their water. "We want action and we want action right now," Moonias said. There must be a real sense of urgency in the next government, the chief added, before endorsing Singh and the New Democrats. Otherwise the stories of family members death and illness will continue, he said. "This is what happens when the promises that are made to us are not fulfilled," Moonias said. The Writ The federal election occurs Sept. 20 and we have you covered. Get the latest campaign news, insights, analysis and commentary delivered weekly to your inbox with our free newsletter. Sign Up I agree to the Terms and Conditions, Cookie and Privacy Policies, and CASL agreement. Singh used his two stops in the Kenora, Ont., electoral district Monday to demonstrate the effect of what he called Trudeaus broken promises. The district has bounced between Liberals and Conservatives since it was created in 2004. Conservative Eric Melillo is the incumbent after the New Democrats came in a close third during the last federal election. At an earlier stop in Sioux Lookout, Ont., about 230 kilometres northwest of Thunder Bay, Ont., Singh also criticized the Liberals' progress on emission levels and housing. The NDP leader was the first federal party leader to make a campaign stop on a First Nation. He went to the Cowessess First Nation in Saskatchewan early on. He has also made efforts to connect with Indigenous leaders and voters during a stop in Winnipeg. While historically turning out to the polls in lower numbers, some say Indigenous populations could be key voting populations in certain ridings. The Native Womens Association of Canada has said Indigenous women could play a significant role in deciding the vote. This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 13, 2021. MONTREAL - Survivors and families of victims of the 2006 Dawson College shooting in Montreal are marking the 15th anniversary of the tragedy on Monday by urging Canadians to think twice before voting for the Conservatives in the Sept. 20 federal election. A couple observe a public memorial at the scene of the Dawson College shootings in the early morning of Sunday, Sept. 17, 2006. Survivors and families of Montreal's Dawson College shooting victims in Quebec are urging Canadians against voting for the Conservatives and party leader Erin O'Toole. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Ian Barrett MONTREAL - Survivors and families of victims of the 2006 Dawson College shooting in Montreal are marking the 15th anniversary of the tragedy on Monday by urging Canadians to think twice before voting for the Conservatives in the Sept. 20 federal election. "We need you to not vote Conservative," said Kathlene Dixon, whose daughter, Meaghan Hennegan, was shot twice in the attack and survived. "We need you to vote Liberal, or if you live in Quebec, to vote Liberal or Bloc Quebecois, she said in a news release. The release says the Dawson killer was the legal owner of a handgun and a Beretta CX4 Storm with a legal 10-bullet magazine. The weapons were used to take the life of 18-year-old Anastasia De Sousa and injure 16 others at the Montreal junior college. The Beretta the Dawson shooter used was among 1,500 makes of semi-automatic firearms that were banned following a May 1, 2020, Liberal cabinet order. Handguns, however, remain legal. The Conservative party platform initially included a section about repealing the ban. That section, however, has been amended since the election document was released. Conservative Leader Erin O'Toole has said his party would maintain the Liberal cabinet order and that "all firearms that are currently banned will remain banned." Hennegan said in the release that O'Toole has boasted about receiving positive reviews from gun-rights activists about his policies. Hayder Kadhim, who was shot at Dawson College in 2006, said a vote for the Conservatives is a vote for the gun lobby. The Writ The federal election occurs Sept. 20 and we have you covered. Get the latest campaign news, insights, analysis and commentary delivered weekly to your inbox with our free newsletter. Sign Up I agree to the Terms and Conditions, Cookie and Privacy Policies, and CASL agreement. "If you care about your safety, about the safety of future generations, if you dont want the gun lobby hijacking our laws like they do in the United States, then please dont vote for the party that is beholden to the gun lobby," Kadhim said. On the eve of the Dawson shooting anniversary, O'Toole told the CBC about the gun used by the killer: "I believe it was an illegally obtained firearm." But on Monday, the leader clarified his statement, saying the firearms used at the Dawson mass shooting were "transported and stored in an illegal manner." The Liberals promise that if re-elected, they would force the owners of firearms that were banned in 2020 to sell them to the government or make them inoperative. O'Toole has said his party would simplify the country's gun-classification system and strengthen penalties for gun violations. This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 13, 2021. CANDIAC, Que. - Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau went on the offensive against Conservative Leader Erin O'Toole and Bloc Quebecois Leader Yves-Francois Blanchet on Sunday, even as he continued to face questions regarding the treatment of two of his own former MPs. Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau makes a campaign stop in Candiac, Que., on Sunday, Sept. 12, 2021. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Sean Kilpatrick CANDIAC, Que. - Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau went on the offensive against Conservative Leader Erin O'Toole and Bloc Quebecois Leader Yves-Francois Blanchet on Sunday, even as he continued to face questions regarding the treatment of two of his own former MPs. Trudeau spent a second straight day targeting Bloc-held ridings on Montreals South Shore, where his party hopes to regain some of the ground it lost in 2019. Trudeau was in the La Prairie riding near Montreal on Sunday, a seat the Liberals lost to the Bloc's Alain Therrien in the last election. As he spoke at a park in Candiac overlooking the St. Lawrence River, he hammered home his commitment to Quebec and the fact that only his party, and not Blanchet's, can form government. Trudeau said Blanchet has a mixed record of standing up for the environment and "has not been particularly strong or clear" in pushing for COVID-19 vaccination. "I think Mr. Blanchet is struggling to be relevant on any of those big issues because he can speak for Quebecers, but so do we," Trudeau said. "Except we can deliver for Quebecers." At dissolution of Parliament, the Liberals held 35 seats in Quebec compared to 32 for the Bloc. The Conservatives held 10 and the NDP had one. Gaining more seats in Quebec will be key to Trudeau's hopes of returning to majority status. But the Liberal leader's campaign has been hampered in recent days by criticism from Quebec Premier Francois Legault, who has said the federal Liberals, NDP and Greens have an overly centralized approach that would weaken Quebec's powers. Trudeau said Sunday that while he and all Quebecers may not always agree on a vision of federalism, he believes their values align on issues such as the environment, gun control and COVID-19 vaccination. But Trudeau also doubled down on another issue in which he and the Quebec premier have been at odds. He told reporters that he remained open to participating in an eventual court challenge against Quebec's secularism law, which bans some public servants from wearing religious symbols on the job. A ruling on the law, called Bill 21, is currently being appealed, and Trudeau said any federal intervention would only come after that process is completed. "We have not taken off the table intervening at a later date because no federal government should take off the table the ability to stand up for people's fundamental rights," he said. As much as Trudeau wanted to talk about Quebec, he could not escape questions about former justice minister Jody Wilson-Raybould's tell-all book that touches on the criminal prosecution of Quebec engineering giant SNC-Lavalin, which was facing bribery charges related to contracts in Libya. Wilson-Raybould would later testify that senior party leaders wanted her as attorney general to stop the prosecution for political reasons. Trudeau said the matter had been thoroughly dissected in parliamentary committee hearings, newspaper articles and other testimony prior to the last federal election in October 2019. He said the RCMP had never contacted him regarding the SNC affair. Similarly, Trudeau brushed aside a question about former Liberal MP Celina Caesar-Chavannes and comments she made in an interview that aired Sunday on The West Block. In it, she said she planned to support her local Conservative candidate due to her disappointment with Trudeau. "I wish Celina all the best," Trudeau said Sunday. "People have a really important choice to make in this election." Trudeau repeatedly pivoted to target O'Toole, who he blasted for failing to mandate mandatory COVID-19 vaccinations for his candidates. Trudeau also stressed his own party's promise to get daycare costs to an average of $10-a-day nationally within five years, as well as a $6 billion child-care agreement his party signed with Quebec. He attacked O'Toole for planning to axe the plan in favour of a system of tax credits, which Trudeau said would hurt women's ability to participate in the workforce. The Writ The federal election occurs Sept. 20 and we have you covered. Get the latest campaign news, insights, analysis and commentary delivered weekly to your inbox with our free newsletter. Sign Up I agree to the Terms and Conditions, Cookie and Privacy Policies, and CASL agreement. "Mr. O'Toole wants to take it back to 1951, apparently," he said. Trudeau also criticized the NDP, saying the party's recently released costed platform that depends largely on taxing the ultra-wealthy doesn't stand up to closer scrutiny. He also took aim at the People's Party of Canada, which he likened to the kind of "divisive" and "polarizing" populist movements that have been rising in the United States and elsewhere. Trudeau was greeted by a small crowd of supporters who cheered him warmly at the riverside park. There was also one lone protester, who yelled loudly that Trudeau was a "traitor" and let out a cheer when the name of People's Party Leader Maxime Bernier was mentioned. Later, Trudeau marked a return to high-energy campaign rallies -- with a pandemic twist -- as he hosted an event at a drive-in movie theatre in Oakville, Ont., alongside Toronto-area candidates Anita Anand, who has served as procurement minister. The partisan crowd, some of whom donned maple leaf ponchos to ward off the rain, cheered and honked their car horns as Trudeau attacked O'Toole for failing to require candidates to be vaccinated and urged supporters to vote Liberal if they want the pandemic to end for good. This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 12, 2021 No more needling his partys approach to governing in 280 characters or less. The PC partys resident social media pundit really is ready to lay out a leadership vision of his own. No more needling his partys approach to governing in 280 characters or less. The PC partys resident social media pundit really is ready to lay out a leadership vision of his own. Tory MLA Shannon Martin will officially enter the race to become the next leader of the Progressive Conservative Party of Manitoba at a campaign launch Monday. The McPhillips MLA will make his announcement at Bayview Construction in Oak Bluff at noon. Martin was first elected to the Manitoba legislature in 2014 to represent the rural seat of Morris and won reelection in 2019 in Winnipegs McPhillips constituency. The backbench MLA became a frequent critic of his own party via social media earlier this summer as former premier Brian Pallister was assailed for widely condemned comments on colonialism and reconciliation. Pallister stepped down on Sept. 1. Steinbach MLA Kelvin Goertzen will serve as premier until the PCs select a new leader at a convention on Oct. 30. Martins decision to confirm his candidacy comes just days after another Tory leadership hopeful kicked off her campaign in a launch that generated controversy. Shelly Glover, a federal cabinet minister in former prime minister Stephen Harpers government, held her campaign launch in the parking lot of Habitat for Humanity Manitobas ReStore at 60 Archibald St. on Friday morning. Habitat for Humanity Manitoba builds homes for low-income working families to purchase through no-money-down, interest-free mortgages. Glovers campaign did not respond to requests for comment on Sunday after concerns were raised that the launch, with the non-profit organization as a backdrop, violated federal tax rules. Habitat for Humanity CEO Sandy Hopkins apologized in a statement on Saturday calling it "a serious error in judgment" to allow Glovers announcement to be held on the charitys property. Want to get a head start on your day? Get the days breaking stories, weather forecast, and more sent straight to your inbox every weekday morning. Sign Up I agree to the Terms and Conditions, Cookie and Privacy Policies, and CASL agreement. "I deeply regret allowing this event to proceed," he said. Initially, the charity maintained that it had only "loaned space in a parking lot to a longtime supporter for an announcement." Canada Revenue Agency federal tax guidelines rule out participation of charities in partisan political activity. Hopkins said it was not his intention to imply an endorsement of Glovers campaign by him or Habitat for Humanity. Martin and Glover join Tuxedo PC MLA Heather Stefanson as candidates to helm the PC party. Stefanson was first to stake her claim for the leadership in a kickoff event on Aug. 18 that attracted the support of many of her fellow PC MLAs. fpcity@freepress.mb.ca WINNIPEG - A Crown prosecutor has told a murder trial that it was an act of vengeance against a three-year-old boy's mother when a man repeatedly stabbed the child as he was lying in bed. WINNIPEG - A Crown prosecutor has told a murder trial that it was an act of vengeance against a three-year-old boy's mother when a man repeatedly stabbed the child as he was lying in bed. Daniel Jensen, 34, pleaded not guilty Monday on the first day of his trial on a charge of first-degree murder. Hunter Straight-Smith (Supplied) Hunter Smith-Straight was stabbed six times in his head and neck. A jury heard that police were called to a home in Winnipeg's North End in the early morning of Oct. 30, 2019. "A little boy was stabbed," a crying and screaming Brenda Smith told a 911 operator in a call that was played in court. "I think he is dead," she said. The Crown said Smith placed the call, which lasted less than a minute, the morning Hunter was attacked. Smith's relationship to the boy was not explained, although court heard Hunter had been at the home with several older cousins. A woman sits beside posters of Hunter Haze Smith-Straight at a vigil outside Winnipeg's Childrens Hospital, Friday, Nov. 1, 2019. THE CANADIAN PRESS/John Woods Prosecutor Courtney St. Croix said during her opening statement that domestic violence is at the core of the case. The Crown told the jury that Jensen attacked the toddler to get back at his mother, Clarice Smith, whom Jensen was in a relationship with at the time. Court heard Jensen and Smith were at a bar together with two others earlier in the night and a physical fight broke out between the two. Jensen had been prohibited by a court order from being in contact with Hunter's mother. The Crown alleges Jensen went back to Smith's nearby home and stabbed the boy in retaliation. St. Croix told the jury that Jensen was overwhelmed by his desire to harm the boy's mother and wanted to "hurt her in the cruellest way." "(Jensen) had so much rage toward his domestic partner," said St. Croix. St. Croix told the jury none of the people in the home saw Jensen stab Hunter. The toddler was transported to a hospital, where he was placed on life support due to brain damage from severe blood loss. He was removed from the machines three days later and died. Jensen was originally charged with second-degree murder, but that was upgraded to first-degree murder during a preliminary hearing. The Crown said the premeditative nature of the attack justifies the higher charge. "This was not an accident. This was not an impulsive act. This was deliberate. This was something (Jensen) thought on and planned as he walked from the Northern Bar to (the home)," said St. Croix. The court also heard from several Winnipeg police officers who were at the home that morning. Want to get a head start on your day? Get the days breaking stories, weather forecast, and more sent straight to your inbox every weekday morning. Sign Up I agree to the Terms and Conditions, Cookie and Privacy Policies, and CASL agreement. "It felt like people were everywhere. We rolled into a very emotional and chaotic scene," Const. Kevin Toews testified. The trial is scheduled to last for 20 days. This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 13, 2021. ___ This story was produced with the financial assistance of the Facebook and Canadian Press News Fellowship. Note to readers: This is a corrected story. A previous version said Jensen faces a charge of second-degree murder. Manitoba southern First Nations say theyre not impressed with new, temporary Premier Kelvin Goertzen, arguing the PC party's more collaborative tone needs to translate into actually changing its policies. Manitoba southern First Nations say theyre not impressed with new, temporary Premier Kelvin Goertzen, arguing the PC party's more collaborative tone needs to translate into actually changing its policies. "I am afraid until a new premier and administration are in place, we are looking at the tragic legacy of Brian Pallisters status quo," Southern Chiefs' Organization Grand Chief Jerry Daniels wrote in a news release Monday. He was among senior chiefs who met Sept. 10 with Goertzen as the Progressive Conservatives try healing their relationship with Indigenous leaders. Goertzen is premier for a two-month period as the PCs elect a new leader. Former premier Pallister resigned after some of the worst COVID-19 outcomes in Canada and comments about colonizers many deemed racist. The premiers office said it had a productive conversation with First Nations leaders, but Daniels argued it lacked substance. He said the PCs need to rule out any legislation that could violate Indigenous peoples right to peaceful protest, after the government shelved a bill that sought to criminalize rail blockades. First Nations want better consultation on issues such as hunting, and adequate funding for foster care and road repairs, Daniels said. "For them to continue to ignore us will only serve to further exacerbate our seriously fractured relationship," he wrote. First Nations are also planning legal action over restrictions on smoking indoors and cannabis sales, which they believe violate their constitutional autonomy. Daniels claimed Goertzen had no response when asked how he would help bridge the life-expectancy gap faced by First Nations. A 2019 report found it has been worsening, with non-Indigenous Manitobans living on average 11 years longer than First Nations. Want to get a head start on your day? Get the days breaking stories, weather forecast, and more sent straight to your inbox every weekday morning. Sign Up I agree to the Terms and Conditions, Cookie and Privacy Policies, and CASL agreement. Goertzens office did not refute that claim, instead saying the premier set up the meeting with the five most senior chiefs in the province "for an important and honest discussion" on Indigenous priorities, wrote spokeswoman Olivia Billson. "The meeting was productive and premier Goertzen looks forward to continued dialogue on future opportunities and matters of concern." Before Fridays meeting, First Nations and Metis leaders said they were pleased to speak with Goertzen shortly before he was sworn in as premier Sept. 1, but said they needed a change in policy. Those leaders were also pleased Goertzen was open to implementing an Indigenous land acknowledgement in the legislature, but Daniels argued thats insignificant. "The interim premier and everyone in his caucus need to understand that repairing our fractured relationship goes way beyond public land acknowledgements or trotting out the minister of Indigenous reconciliation in a beaded vest for public appearances," he wrote. dylan.robertson@freepress.mb.ca The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of St. Boniface is planning to erect a monument to students who died at the former St. Boniface Industrial School. The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of St. Boniface is planning to erect a monument to students who died at the former St. Boniface Industrial School. The monument would be located at the cathedral cemetery on Tache Avenue, where as many as 74 of the estimated 80 students who died while at the school might be buried. Daniel Bahuaud, a spokesman for the archdiocese, said research by the Societe historique de Saint-Boniface confirms 34 students are buried in the cemetery, along with five probable burials. Bahuaud noted the research into what happened to the students who died is ongoing. The graves are not marked, which is not unusual for the cathedral cemetery, Archbishop Albert LeGatt said. "There are over 6,000 people buried in the cemetery," he said, noting only a few hundred are marked with headstones. Two-hundred and fifteen orange ribbons line the path to the old St. Boniface Cathedral in June, a memorial to the 215 children found buried in an unmarked gravesite at the former Kamloops Indian Residential School in B.C. (Mike Deal / Winnipeg Free Press files) Placing permanent stone memorials on graves was not a usual practice in earlier times, LeGatt said. "That was usually only done by those who could afford to place memorials on graves," he said. Wood markers might also have been used, but they would have deteriorated over time and disappeared, LeGatt said. The graves are not found within the current boundaries of the cemetery, he said, noting that at one time the cemetery which was established in the early part of the 19th century once extended to the Red River and to the north and south of its present location. This was underscored some years ago when a city crew digging up a sidewalk on Cathedral Avenue, on the opposite side of the street bounding the cemetery, discovered bones from an unmarked burial. "It was estimated the bones dated back to the early 1800s," LeGatt said. Historians have confirmed there are 34 residential school students buried at the St. Boniface Cathedral cemetery. There may be as many as 74. (Ruth Bonneville / Winnipeg Free Press files) The locations of the graves of the students are not known, he said. "We dont know where they are buried, just as we dont know where most of the others who are buried in the cemetery are located," the archbishop said. "There are no records of their location. That was not a concern about burials at that time." LeGatt said the creation of such a memorial would only be undertaken through consultation with Indigenous people in Manitoba, particularly representatives from Sagkeeng First Nation, from where the students were taken to the school. Want to get a head start on your day? Get the days breaking stories, weather forecast, and more sent straight to your inbox every weekday morning. Sign Up I agree to the Terms and Conditions, Cookie and Privacy Policies, and CASL agreement. No timeline has been set for the creation of the monument, which would be located on the grounds in a place where people could easily find it to pay their respects. "The purpose would be to honour those children," LeGatt said. "We dont want them to be forgotten." As for other efforts at reconciliation with Indigenous people, including an apology from the archdiocese, those conversations are ongoing, he said. The St. Boniface Industrial School was one of 139 residential schools across Canada, including 14 in Manitoba. Located on Des Meurons Street at Hamel Avenue, it operated from 1889 to 1905 and was funded by the federal government. faith@freepress.mb.ca Justin Trudeau is known for many things, but logical consistency isnt really among them. Opinion Justin Trudeau is known for many things, but logical consistency isnt really among them. When Parliament recessed for the summer, the prime minister bemoaned the "toxic" and "obstructionist" conduct of the opposition, as if toxicity and obstructionism were somehow new to Parliament Hill. The minority parliamentary environment, he intoned, was dysfunctional and the opposition was at best slowing down or at worst blocking his agenda outright. Trudeaus implication was clear the Liberals need a majority government to carry through their vision for Canada. He was telegraphing his request for a dissolution of Parliament and a general election. But now that hes on the campaign trail, Trudeau wants Canadians to believe that over the past two years his minority government has had major if not historic achievements, notably in the areas of climate change, Indigenous reconciliation and improving conditions for the middle class. In particular, Trudeau has pointed to his governments handling of the COVID-19 pandemic through unprecedented borrowing and spending to keep Canadians and businesses afloat, most of which was approved by the very same Parliament that was dissolved owing to its alleged obstructionism. A need to be accommodating In reality, the opposition parties have been relatively accommodating to the government by passing the most consequential fiscal policies in a generation the byproduct of which is the largest federal budget deficit, at 15 per cent of gross domestic product, since the Second World War. Trudeau also says he needs a new mandate for his "build back better" agenda to seize the "window of political opportunity," to quote Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland. He says he wants to embark upon the most important general election since 1945, drawing a comparison between post-war reconstruction and the Liberals post-pandemic agenda. A more appropriate analogy, however, is 1943, when the tide had turned in favour of the Allied powers during the Second World War, yet there were still two years of fighting ahead before victory could be declared which is likely what it will take before the COVID-19 pandemic is behind us too. The truth about why the election was called is far less grandiose than Trudeau would have us believe. Its happening now for one simple reason to secure a majority government for the Liberals, thereby doing away with the accountability, stresses and inconveniences inherent in minority parliaments. An insiders view I have had the privilege of working for cabinet ministers in both majority (1993-2003) and minority (2004-06) governments. Put simply, for politicians and their staff, minorities are much more work and stress, and a lot less fun. The prevailing view inside the government tends to be the sooner the minority is put to bed in favour of majority rule, the better. In minority parliaments, the government must be on the lookout constantly for common ground usually with an opposition party that it can typically barely tolerate and practise the art of compromise, including accepting amendments to its legislation. This is hard work, time-consuming and sometimes demoralizing. I remember, for example, when the Paul Martin minority government suffered the indignities of negotiating the 2005 budget with its mortal enemy, the New Democratic Party, ultimately making nearly $5 billion in concessions to the NDP to secure the budgets passage. Minority governments also typically feel the need to listen to and accommodate "stakeholders" (otherwise known as special interests) beyond what is done in majority situations. This, too, is time-consuming, challenging and often frustrating for ministers and their staffs. In minority parliaments, most House of Commons committees are not controlled by the government. This can lead to inconvenient if not highly damaging studies, investigations and inquiries into government conduct (witness the WE scandal hearings last year, and the SNC-Lavalin scandal hearings the year before). Probes like these would never happen in a majority parliament where government members chair and dominate committees and set their agenda in line with what the prime minister wants. Travel curtailed Ministerial and backbench MP travel one of the fun parts of the job is significantly curtailed in minority parliaments, where "all hands on deck" in the House is the basic philosophy. Want to get a head start on your day? Get the days breaking stories, weather forecast, and more sent straight to your inbox every weekday morning. Sign Up I agree to the Terms and Conditions, Cookie and Privacy Policies, and CASL agreement. I once had to cajole two opposition MPs to accompany the minister of national defence on an important foreign trip because the Prime Ministers Office made the trip contingent upon bringing the opposition along to balance out the numbers in the House. In short, to state the obvious, minority governments are much more accountable for legislation, policy and operations than majorities are. Those added accountabilities, and the ever-present threat of a loss of confidence (and a snap election), produces more work for and added stress on the prime minister, the cabinet and staff. Its this environment of heightened accountability, a degree of instability, and most especially the inability of the government to do what it wants with impunity, that led Trudeau to ask the Governor General for a general election plus public opinion polls that showed the Liberals were getting close to majority government support levels. Nothing more, nothing less. Eugene Lang is a lecturer/adjunct professor in the school of policy studies at Queen's University. This article was first published at The Conversation Canada: theconversation.com/ca. When considering last weeks reopening of Canadas borders to fully vaccinated foreign travellers, a couple of questions spring to mind: Editorial When considering last weeks reopening of Canadas borders to fully vaccinated foreign travellers, a couple of questions spring to mind: Should the United States be reciprocating by opening its land borders to non-essential Canadian travellers? And, were such a change to be implemented, given the current COVID-19 situation on both sides of the border, should Canadians travel for leisure to the U.S.? These are not questions with simple answers. But they merit serious consideration as the pandemics fourth wave gains momentum and increasing caseloads in both nations have governments considering the reimposition of restrictions to limit the spread of COVID-19s delta variant. To be clear, reopening Canadas border does not amount to unlocking the gates and letting visitors rush on in. To be eligible for relaxed quarantine-upon-entry requirements, non-essential international travellers must show proof of having completed a full course of COVID-19 vaccination at least 14 days prior to crossing the border, and must also produce proof of a negative COVID-19 molecular test completed within the past 72 hours. They are also required to upload their vaccination information to the ArriveCAN app or online portal. These are prudent and necessary measures that will minimize the chances Canada-bound travellers will bring a viral load across the border with them. Random COVID-19 surveillance tests on fully vaccinated U.S. citizens and permanent residents crossing the border in the past three weeks showed a positivity rate of just 0.19 per cent. Want to get a head start on your day? Get the days breaking stories, weather forecast, and more sent straight to your inbox every weekday morning. Sign Up I agree to the Terms and Conditions, Cookie and Privacy Policies, and CASL agreement. To date, the U.S. has shown no inclination to reciprocate by opening its land-border crossing to non-essential Canadian travellers. However, pressure is mounting on both sides of the international divide for the White House to announce a loosening of restrictions on Canada-U.S. border crossings, as a show of support for businesses that rely on cross-border commerce and to ease the burden experienced by border-adjacent residents who have long been separated from family and friends. "The U.S. government has failed to follow the science and allow vaccinated and tested Canadians to cross the U.S.-Canada land border," the grassroots advocacy group Let Us Reunite said in a released statement. Despite the complexities involved in formulating fair and safe policies for a nation with international borders both north and south, it is time for the U.S. to reconsider its Canada-specific restrictions in a way that reflects both the unique relationship the two nations share and the current COVID-19 reality in each country. The second question remains, however: if southbound travel restrictions ease, should Canadians take full and immediate advantage of the opportunity to visit the U.S.? With autumn arriving and winter weather looming, surely many Canadians so-called "snowbirds" in particular would consider plans to return to warmer stateside climes after having last year been forced to endure the travel-ban-induced chill of an at-home winter. With the traditional winter destinations for Canadians Florida, Texas and Arizona currently ranking among the worst U.S. states for increasing COVID-19 caseloads and anti-vaccine activism, even fully vaccinated Canadians might be inclined to think twice about a return to snowbirding. Having received the shots reduces ones chances of contracting the virus or suffering a severe outcome if infected, but relocating even temporarily to an environment where cases are exploding and vaccine opposition is widespread undoubtedly re-raises the risks. Should the U.S. follow Canadas lead on border restrictions? Yes, its time. Should Canadians flock across a reopened U.S. border? Only with the most extreme of caution. The Winnipeg Fire Paramedic Service is asking its employees to disclose their vaccination status, according to an internal department memo leaked to the Free Press. The Winnipeg Fire Paramedic Service is asking its employees to disclose their vaccination status, according to an internal department memo leaked to the Free Press. The change in policy was announced by Marc Savard, district chief of paramedic operations, in a department-wide memo late Friday. The reversal came one day after the City of Winnipeg disclosed it was not tracking vaccination status for public-facing employees, including police, paramedics, firefighters and bus drivers, following inquiries from the Free Press. "Effective Monday, Sept. 13, the online COVID-19 fitness for duty screening questionnaire is updated based on current provincial criteria. A major change is the consideration of vaccination status when Occupational Health review the answers on the form," Savard wrote. "The updated online questionnaire now includes a top section which is mandatory for everyone to complete, and a lower section that only personnel not fully vaccinated are required to complete." It remains unclear if the city will follow other Canadian municipalities in mandating two doses of a COVID-19 vaccine for public-facing jobs. On Aug. 24, the Toronto Police Service announced a vaccine mandate; one day later, Hamilton police followed suit. Want to get a head start on your day? Get the days breaking stories, weather forecast, and more sent straight to your inbox every weekday morning. Sign Up I agree to the Terms and Conditions, Cookie and Privacy Policies, and CASL agreement. In late August, the Manitoba government announced all provincial employees who work with vulnerable populations must be fully immunized by Oct. 31 or submit to regular testing. In his memo to staff, Savard said all WFPS personnel will be required to fill out the form at the beginning of every shift, but that additional information will be expected from those who remain unvaccinated. "This process continues to be valuable for the safety of our workplace," Savard wrote. It remains unclear at this time if other civic departments, including the Winnipeg Police Service, will follow in the footsteps of the WFPS and ask employees to disclose their vaccination status. ryan.thorpe@freepress.mb.ca Twitter: @rk_thorpe Saint Marys University of Minnesota ranked No. 3 in the Best Value category among all Regional Universities in the Midwest and No. 1 among all Minnesota universities in this category according to U.S. News & World Reports 2022 ratings. Support Local Journalism Your membership makes our reporting possible. {{featured_button_text}} According to criteria, the Best Value calculation takes into account the schools academic quality and the net cost of attendance for a student who received the average level of need-based financial aid. According to U.S. News, The higher the quality of the program and the lower the cost, the better the deal. Additionally, the university was ranked No. 34 in the Best Regional Universities of the Midwest category. The ranking positions Saint Marys in the top 20% of the 157 schools listed in this category and as third among all Minnesota universities in this category. At least two of every three state employees have received one or more doses of a COVID-19 vaccine, Gov. Tony Evers Department of Administration announced Monday. The administration says at least 69.9% of all executive branch employees were at least partially vaccinated as of Friday. There are more than 30,000 Wisconsinites who work for state executive branch agencies, which dont include the University of Wisconsin System or local school districts. The administration recently ordered all executive branch employees to provide their vaccination status. According to the administration, 86.9% of executive branch employees, interns and contractors have reported their vaccine status, with 80.4% of respondents indicating they are at least partially vaccinated. When accounting for the roughly 13% who havent responded, the figures show 69.9% of all employees being partially vaccinated, assuming none of the 13% are vaccinated. Younger teachers in particular reported different goals for their students that go beyond commemoration or a focus on the shocking nature of the events of the day. They want young people to recognize how the events and policies that followed 9/11 impacted daily life in ways they might not realize. This reflects their own experience, which was less a vivid memory of the day of the attacks but perhaps constant reminders of the color-coded terrorism threat levels issued by the Department of Homeland Security from 2002 to 2011. They want students to understand the recent evacuation of U.S. personnel from Afghanistan in relation to both 9/11 and the U.S. role in Afghanistan in the 1980s. Or to examine provisions of the USA Patriot Act of 2001, which allowed greater surveillance of U.S. citizens. Encourage students to explore questionsIf the goal of teaching history is to develop citizens who use knowledge of the past to understand the present and inform future decisions, educators need to help students learn from 9/11 and the war on terror, and not just about them. This means going beyond the facts of the day and the collective memory aspects to also engage in inquiry into why they happened and how the U.S. and other nations reacted. Thankfully, that never happened, though F-16s from Truax did have to confront a stolen plane from Canada, escorting it to a safe landing in Missouri. On another occasion, they responded to a jet with a passenger breaking into the cockpit, though authorities determined the intruder wasnt a terrorist. I certainly felt proud that we were there just in case something happened, and as a deterrent, Van Roo said last week. Its hard even for this generation in the military to understand how different the day before 9/11 was from the day after 9/11. The world changed in so many ways. America lost its innocence 20 years ago on Sept. 11, realizing in the most dreadful of ways that we were vulnerable to fanatical enemies who could exact a terrible toll despite limited resources and crude means of violence. Nearly 3,000 people died in the 9/11 attacks at the World Trade Center, at the Pentagon in Washington when a third plane crashed there, and in Pennsylvania where a fourth jet plunged into a field (thanks to courageous passengers who fought the hijackers, preventing what might have been the destruction of the U.S. Capitol). Never forget became Americas rallying cry. Well never forget the lives taken nor the heroes who saved lives. First-responders ran into burning towers. Many never made it out. Covid fallout: Vulnerability and signs of recovery in Gauteng There is no doubt about the enormous scale of the shocks South Africa has experienced over 2020-21. New survey results launched on 9 September by the Gauteng City-Region Observatory (GCRO) reveal just how much socioeconomic fallout the Covid-19 pandemic has caused for Gauteng. A full 11% of all adults in the province have lost a job since March 2020, while 4% were forced to permanently close a business. Of those who lost a job or closed a business, only 44% subsequently found new employment. There are, however, also indications of positive responses from both the government and society as a whole. Almost one quarter of households in Gauteng included an adult who received the Covid-19 Social Relief of Distress grant, while 13% received food support, while levels of community trust have risen dramatically. These numbers from the GCROs sixth Quality of Life Survey capture contradictory household experiences of what is undoubtedly an epoch-defining moment in our history. The Covid-19 pandemic has brought two new kinds of threat to survival. First, the virus itself has caused enormous loss of life. At the time of writing excess deaths across South Africa stood at about 250,000 since the start of the pandemic, and these continue to grow at more than 5,000 each week. Second, large parts of the economy and society have been constrained or suspended altogether. Ordinarily people survive and thrive in cities precisely because urban living enables them to move around and interact. While no doubt a necessary response to the public health shock of Covid-19, the injunction to stay at home has triggered extensive socioeconomic shocks. Jobs have been whacked, along with education and many urban amenities including local libraries, restaurants and train services that we used to take for granted. As we all understand well, these health and socioeconomic shocks landed in a context where the ability of a significant portion of the population to survive was already extremely precarious. When societies are hit by an unexpected shock drought, flood, earthquake or pandemic households may be cut off from their means of survival. Those that have something to fall back on savings, social networks, a plan b can absorb shocks and re-establish themselves once it is possible. Since poor households typically have very little to fall back on they are vulnerable, and may not be able to make it to the other side of the crisis without help. In such contexts, it cannot be expected of all households to be independently resilient. Instead, responsibility for the resilience of individuals is in the hands of society at large, through its ability to provide the means of survival to the vulnerable. As we pick up the pieces from the crisis, we need to ask hard questions about whether we have done enough to ensure both individual and collective resilience, and what other mechanisms could be established for a better post-crisis future. To answer these questions we need more nuanced insights into how different kinds of households and parts of society have been differentially affected in the crisis. Here, data from large-scale socioeconomic and attitudinal surveys can be crucial. From October 2020 to May 2021, Quality of Life Survey fieldworkers visited each of the provinces 529 wards, interviewing a total of 13,616 adults who were carefully sampled to be representative of the inhabitants of the province. Comparing these results to those from the five previous surveys in this series allows us to see both continuities and changes in the wake of the pandemic. The survey is wide ranging, with more than 200 questions on a wide variety of topics, providing evidence of the multidimensional knocks the province has taken over the past year. First, the survey results show the ways in which everyday behaviour in Gauteng has changed since the arrival of Covid-19. For example, nine out of 10 respondents stated that their households had avoided public spaces and gatherings. One-third of households changed where or how they bought groceries. Trips out of the home are now less likely to be for work, and are more likely to be shorter than in the past. Some changes, initially required by regulations, did not snap back immediately to pre-pandemic norms once regulations were lifted. For example, two-fifths of households with children kept them away from school even after they were allowed to return. The impact of children being kept out of school is compounded in many of these households by limited access to home internet and computers. Three out of every five households with children under the age of 18 do not have a working computer, and four out of every five of these households do not have a home internet connection. This would have severely constrained options for childrens learning at home, even though families and schools have adapted in different ways to learning and teaching in the pandemic. School closures and the health crisis in general have also disproportionately impacted women, 40% of whom spent more time than usual looking after children or other family members since March 2020, compared with only 18% of men. The survey shows the scale at which people lost work in Gauteng, whether due directly to lockdown restrictions, or a more general loss of demand. Over and above the 4% of all adults who had closed a business permanently, and the 11% who lost a job, 19% took a cut in salary and working hours since March 2020. Importantly, of those who had lost a job or closed a business, 50% have been unable to find new work, and 7% have dropped out of the labour market altogether. However, white respondents, and those with higher levels of formal education, were notably more likely to have found new jobs than black African respondents, or those with lower levels of education. This provides a stark example of the differential ability of people to bounce back from shocks. Other variables also illustrate the variations inability to cope, with some households and individuals more vulnerable than others. For example, the percentage of low-income respondents who recently missed a debt repayment went up, while the percentage of high-income earners who missed a debt repayment decreased. In a context where the proportion of Gautengs households living below the average poverty line has risen to 36%, from 25% in 2017/18 (the last time the Quality of Life Survey was run), how have vulnerable households been able to survive? Here the role of the state is crucial, not only in continuing to provide the infrastructure and services that make urban life possible, but also through safety nets to help households meet their needs in the absence of sufficient work. In total, almost half of all Gauteng respondents (48%) said that someone in their household received a social grant of some kind. This was up from 42% in 2017/18. In May 2020, the Covid-19 Social Relief of Distress grant was introduced for people who were unemployed. Almost a quarter (23%) of survey respondents indicated that someone in their household was receiving this R350 grant. While grants are no doubt essential to those who receive them we should note that R350 is one-tenth the minimum wage, and as such is not a replacement for decently paid employment. We also see evidence of broader social support in the survey data. More than one in 10 respondents received food support, whether from the government or an NGO, since March 2020. Levels of community trust have increased substantially since 2017/18, continuing an upward trend from 2015/16. However, community trust levels remain notably lower for black African and coloured respondents than for Indian/Asian and white respondents. Participation in organised social activities such as church, stokvels or sport actually increased very slightly relative to 2017/18, despite lockdown regulations limiting in-person gatherings for much of 2020. Participation increased most substantially among individuals reporting extremely low household incomes, suggesting that these activities might have provided an element of support for Gautengs poor during the pandemic. Despite various forms of support, results from the survey show that the pandemic has taken a toll on peoples physical and psychological wellbeing. Self-reported health, overall satisfaction with life, and mental health have all worsened relative to 2017/18. Using a screening tool for depression, our data show that 14% of Gautengs residents are at high risk of depression. This is an increase from 12% in 2017/18. Those who experienced at least one of the five economic impacts highlighted above are far more likely than the average to be at high risk of depression. Mental health services must be prioritised in Gautengs recovery, although the overburdened public healthcare system is struggling to cope with the pandemic, and even basic healthcare needs are going unmet: 7% of adults in Gauteng have struggled to access healthcare since March 2020, and more than 2% have been turned away when requesting a Covid-19 test. Since the survey interviews were concluded in May 2021, Gauteng has experienced a particularly brutal third wave of Covid-19 infections and extreme civil unrest. Our data cannot reflect how these additional shocks have affected Gautengs residents. However, the results from the Quality of Life Survey 6 (2020/21) speak to the context in which these events occurred: one in which many more households are more broadly vulnerable, across multiple socioeconomic fronts. We can only anticipate that more recent events have intensified the vulnerability of many households. Analyses of disasters show that shocks can set vulnerable households back well beyond the duration of the crisis itself. The fact that some households have been less able to cope with the multifaceted shocks triggered by Covid-19 underscores the importance of collective responses. As the geographer Neil Smith argued, it is not inevitable that some people should struggle to survive to leave vulnerable people stranded is a societal choice. Given the reach achieved through social grants, and the fairly widespread provision of food support, there is no doubt that positive steps have been taken. These measures have gone at least some way in helping vulnerable households and individuals survive. But looking back we can ask whether additional support might not have softened the blows for the many still not coping. And looking to a post-crisis future we need to consider seriously how we might institutionalise systems of care for those who have been disproportionately affected, and are unable to achieve resilience on their own. The writers are with the Gauteng City-Region Observatory: Dr Richard Ballard (specialist researcher); Dr Julia de Kadt (senior researcher); Graeme Gotz (director of research strategy); Christian Hamann (researcher); Sthembiso Pollen Mkhize (research intern); Yashena Naidoo (junior researcher); Dr Alexandra Parker (senior researcher); Rashid Seedat (Executive Director). This article was first published in the Daily Maverick. The democratic transition in 1994 did little to undermine the foundations of white economic power Race and capitalism: no easy answers, but posturing will get South Africa nowhere It is likely that historians will conclude that there was no one reason why the recent riots and looting of supermarkets, shops and warehouses in KwaZulu-Natal and Gauteng, South Africas two most economically important provinces, caught up so many generally law-abiding citizens in their slipstream. There were seemingly numerous dynamics at play, from the sheer poverty of numerous black citizens through to the manipulations of social media by supporters of former President Jacob Zuma, angered by his arrest. However, one explanation which has been touted in various quarters has been that the upheaval was the outcome of the racial capitalism to which South Africa has been subjected over the centuries. Such an explanation hearkens back to the racialised policies of the past, and how they twinned the political ideologies of segregation and apartheid promoted by South Africas white governments before the democratic transition in 1994. This view holds that the inequalities of the present, which continue to have a strong racial dimension, along with the brutal treatment handed out to poor black people for instance, by the police at Marikana in 2012, in the North West Province, when police shot dead 35 protesting miners are a product of the history of racial capitalism in South Africa. It is difficult to disagree with the major thrust of much of the analysis which is put forward in this vein. It is widely accepted that the democratic transition in 1994 was the result of an elite pact which transformed the countrys politics but did little to undermine the foundations of white economic power. It is continuity as much as change which characterises the post-apartheid political economy. Nonetheless, South Africans need to take care in ascribing all the present crises to racial capitalism. Blaming racial capitalism for all the countrys ills can easily become a way of deflecting responsibility away from the countrys present politicians and from South Africans themselves. The past as present Colonial conquest happened in tandem with the development of capitalism. Both projects requiring non-white people, notably Africans, to become instruments for the purposes of others. Africans were stripped of their land and their possessions and became the tools of their oppressors. This process was not stopped by the arrival of democracy. When miners of Lonmin in Marikana, in the platinum-rich North West Province demanded a reasonable increase in their wages, the state colluded with foreign capital to crush their dissent. Inequality nurtures this objectification of humans, leading to greater exploitation of the poor, who are overwhelmingly black. The problem with the solution that is often provided that the entire system of racial capitalism should be overthrown is that it is so remarkably bland. So, it is worth attempting to deconstruct it. So, what is to be done? Is the implication that racism and capitalism are inseparable? If that is so, is the further implication that capitalism itself should be overthrown? Which is perhaps a very nice idea, but first, is this practical and likely? Who is to do the overthrowing? At what human and other cost (as its unlikely that capital and the state would give up without a fight)? And what would be put in capitalisms place? Is this to be a new socialist order, and if so, will South Africa be following historical examples (which, on the whole, have not been very successful) or will it be charting its own way forward? Or is the implication that capitalism can be deracialised? This is very much what, in theory, the African National Congress (ANC), which has governed the country since 1994, has set out to do through equity employment and black economic empowerment legislation. Although the corporate profile, in terms of ownership and management personnel has registered no insignificant change, most would agree that the achievements of ANC policies have been remarkably modest. However, it remains a matter of considerable debate whether this is because of corporate resistance, social factors (such as inadequate supplies of suitably trained black personnel) and or the incompetence of the state. Leaving aside the entire question of whether de-racialised capitalism would be less exploitative than a racialised one, and whether it would be less patriarchal, the more fundamental issue is how can South Africa achieve it if current strategies which most would agree are well intentioned are proving inadequate in realising their goals. Should equity employment and black economic empowerment be ratcheted up, when the prevailing cry from the business establishment is that more regulation serves as major barrier to the inflow of much needed foreign investment? Will this increase or deter a rise in much needed employment? Or is it that current strategies should be re-engineered? Often left out of such analysis is the question of what sort of state will be required to bring about the transformation to the more humane society South Africans are looking for. Present disillusion with the post-1994 order highlights the limits of South Africas democracy, and the ways in which ANC dominance has eroded it. Much attention lately has been focused on the ANCs strategy of deployment, how this has led to the substitution of political loyalty to the party for the capacity to do the job, how deployment has led to corruption, how it has destroyed state-owned corporations, how it has undermined the efficiency of government, and how it has collapsed local government. The answer that is usually given is that it is necessary to undo the merger of party and state and entrench the independence of the state to allow for expertise to flourish, and to ensure the rise of meritocracy. But then we are left with the conundrum of whether the ANC is capable of bringing such a transformation about, or whether the ANC itself needs to be removed from power. That, in turn, demands not only that it must lose an election, but that it will gracefully concede its loss if it did so. Perhaps both dimensions of that last sentence are unlikely. No easy answers So where does all this lead South Africa? Quite frankly, I dont know. But I do know that the answers to South Africas numerous problems are far from easy. This does not mean that South Africans cannot work their way to finding the solutions, and unless they are just going to give up, they have to believe that they can. But, it is going to be extremely hard work. South Africans will have to talk to, listen to, and bargain hard with each other to find their way. But one thing South Africans must draw from such complexity is that any realistic and workable answers will not be arrived at by posturing. Alas, there are no easy answers. Roger Southall, Professor of Sociology, University of the Witwatersrand. This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article. The brightly-colored robotic boats made by Saildrone seem to have a death wish. Saildrone makes autonomous ocean vessels to study the environment. This summer, the Silicon Valley startup sent five of its vessels directly into the path of hurricanes in the Atlantic Ocean. While airplanes can fly through hurricanes, the screaming winds kick up such huge waves that attempting to sail boats right into them is something best to be avoided. Saildrone's vessels are uncrewed, and built to survive hurricane winds and huge waves. Scientists are excited that the vessels could improve our understanding of how storms intensify. "If you're in the center of a hurricane at those type of wind speeds, the ocean is just this big, frothy mess right there where the water begins and the air ends," National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration director of engineering Chris Meinig told CNN Business. "I cannot imagine purposely flying a plane or a ship into a hurricane. I'd much rather send these robots in there and have them do their work." Saildrone has a partnership with NOAA to study how hurricanes form, including their rapid intensification. Hurricane Ida, which struck the Gulf Coast before traveling to the Northeast recently, grew from a Category 1 to Category 4 storm in less than 24 hours. Saildrone's vessels are 23-feet long and have four cameras on them. They measure wind as well as the temperature of the ocean and the air. Saildrone CEO Richard Jenkins told CNN Business that they're focusing their attention on the spray and foam on the water during a hurricane. They want to understand how energy and heat are exchanged between the ocean and atmosphere. Data is streamed back to Saildrone's Alameda, California, offices in real time, he said. "No one's ever observed what happens to waves of froth to spray in the center of hurricane. So we're hoping that we can see with the camera what the water looks like," Jenkins said. Saildrone told CNN Business that all five of its vessels have survived the hurricane season thus far. The drones are in the Atlantic Ocean, so weren't in the path of Hurricane Ida in the Gulf of Mexico, which killed at least 78 people across Louisiana and the Northeast recently, but Saildrone said it also plans to study storms in the Pacific Ocean. Saildrone and NOAA have previously studied oceanic conditions near Alaska. Saildrone told CNN Business that it's sailed over 500,000 miles to date, and claims that in 2019 it became the first uncrewed vehicle to circumnavigate Antarctica. Saildrone's other customers include NASA, the US Coast Guard, the Department of Defense as well as universities. Saildrone has made about 100 vessels and plans to make more, including larger vehicles. Jenkins said that concerns about the climate motive his team. "The oceans are really driving our global weather and climate," Jenkins said. "Understanding the rate of change is going to really give us deep insights into our future and how we might need to change things." Rachel Crane contributed to this report. The-CNN-Wire & 2021 Cable News Network, Inc., a WarnerMedia Company. All rights reserved. As the US averages more than 1,000 Covid-19 deaths daily, not getting vaccinated is akin to driving while intoxicated, one health expert said Friday. "We need to start talking about the choice to remain unvaccinated as the choice to go out and drive intoxicated," CNN Medical Analyst Dr. Leana Wen told CNN's Wolf Blitzer. Wen's remarks come after the Biden administration announced Thursday a Covid-19 vaccine mandate plan that directs the US Labor Department to require all businesses with 100 employees or more to ensure their workers are either vaccinated or tested once a week. President Joe Biden also signed an executive order requiring all government employees to get their Covid-19 vaccine shots, with no option for regular testing to opt out. And while some Republican officials have criticized his move as overreaching, health experts say the President should have implemented stricter measures to curb the recent surge of Covid-19 cases. "From a public health perspective, it is not overreach at all. And in fact, I wish that they came out earlier and went even further," Wen said. "We're in the middle of the biggest public health crisis of our lifetimes. We have more than a thousand Americans who are dying every single day. We, as a society, set laws that protect people's health and well-being all the time." An average of 1,110 people died in the US from Covid-19 each day over the last week, data from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention showed on Thursday. The rate of deaths since late August is the highest it has been since early March. While 73.5% of those ages 12 and up have been vaccinated with at least one dose, tens of millions of eligible recipients remain unvaccinated as the highly contagious coronavirus Delta variant continues to grip pockets of the country. Around 62% of the same age group is fully vaccinated as of Friday. "The vast minority of Americans are resistant to vaccination, but that's where the virus has been circulating," CNN Medical Analyst Jonathan Reiner told CNN's Don Lemon on Friday. "We live in a country that has rules. You can't smoke in most buildings in the United States, and you can't drive drunk. You can't smoke on planes. And you can't blow virus into my face. "That's how it has to be in this country. And if you're going to be a persistent threat to the public health by refusing to get vaccinated, well your actions have consequences, and the consequences may be you can't work at your job." An August poll from Gallup showed that 56% of Americans favor vaccine requirements at work while 53% support them for restaurant dining and 61% approve of them for air travel. And as for those who have not yet gotten their shots, it's not too late to convince them, former US Surgeon General Dr. Jerome Adams said Friday. "We need to remember that most of these people are not what I call 'vaccine-resistant' -- some people say 'anti-vax,' I find that term pejorative," Adams told CNN's John Berman. "Most of these people are in the movable middle. They're vaccine-hesitant. "I found that when I talk to them with compassion and with empathy, I can convince a lot of them over time to get their vaccination." Health care systems strained Six US states saw at least a 10% increase in new Covid-19 cases in the past week compared to the week before, data from Johns Hopkins University showed Friday, while the other states didn't see a change or experienced a decline in cases altogether. Alabama, one of the states that saw the recent drop in new cases, is now facing a shortage of 60 intensive care unit beds -- an uptick of 20 from last Friday, the state's Health Officer Dr. Scott Harris said. That's 60 patients "who are receiving critical care because they're chronically ill, and yet they don't have an ICU bed," Harris said Friday. "They're being cared for in an emergency department or a ward bed that's been converted to an ICU room or on a gurney in the hallway," Harris said. Alabama on Thursday reported 2,667 Covid-19 hospitalizations and 53 deaths, he added. In West Virginia, 252 Covid-19 patients are in ICUs and another 141 are on ventilators, marking the most people hospitalized with the disease since the pandemic began, Gov. Jim Justice said Friday. "A high percentage of the folks in the hospitals are unvaccinated," Justice said. "We lost another 38 people since Wednesday. We're going to continue to lose people in this surge without any questions," he said. Minnesota health officials linked at least 69 Covid-19 cases to the State Fair, according to a statement obtained from the state's health department by CNN affiliate WCCO. The Minnesota State Fair's website says the event ran from August 25 through September 5 in Falcon Heights. Heated debate over mask mandates Meanwhile, the debate over mask mandates remains heated in many states, especially when it comes to schools. In Kentucky, schools will have the choice of whether they will mandate masks, after the General Assembly overrode the governor's partial veto on that portion of a bill pertaining to Covid-19 provisions in schools, officials say. Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear vetoed the part of the SB1 bill that would eliminate the mask mandate for K-12 schools and leave it up to school districts to decide if masking is necessary, he said at a media gaggle on Friday. Beshear said that the Senate's recent rejection of a statewide school mask mandate is the wrong choice -- and one that will reap harmful results. "Mask requirement for schools is not only the right thing to do for our young people, especially those who are too young to even get vaccinated," Beshear said. "It's our best way to keep our children learning in the classroom." Meanwhile in Mississippi, Gov. Tate Reeves said Thursday that Biden's vaccine mandate plan is unconstitutional. "A member of the executive branch of government does not have the authority to mandate something such as this," Reeves said. The-CNN-Wire & 2021 Cable News Network, Inc., a WarnerMedia Company. All rights reserved. ROME, N. Y. -- There was a huge turnout for the unveiling of Phase 2 of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial on Sunday. The dedication ceremony was in honor of those who fought in the Vietnam War as well as other Americans who fought in other wars. The UH-1 Huey helicopter, a chopper known to have played a big role in the Vietnam War, is now a big part of this awesome new memorial. Remarks were made by many officials in attendance. Wreaths were laid out, a flag fold was presented and a rifle salute took place. "I think this was an outstanding tribute today and really credit to Rick Falcone, Mark Jennings and all of those who worked together so hard over the years to make this happen because they did this on their own with a lot of support from the community. With their drive and determination, the abdominal human spirit, that's representative of all these veterans who served this great country, with courage, honor and valor. Vietnam veterans particularly who never got the appropriate recognition and gratitude that they deserved and earned" says New York State Senator Joe Griffo. There will be another ceremony on Veteran's Day at the memorial in Rome. More details will follow, as soon as they are released, we'll pass them along. Israel had always had a passion for chemistry but had left school in Ghana with no formal qualifications. After making the decision to switch his career, he stepped his learning up a gear and started to study at various colleges in London. He secured an Applied Science qualification at Level 2, passed his English and Maths GCSE qualifications before studying for a Biomedical Science qualification and then studied a three-year Access to Higher Education course to help him to get to University. He had applied to a University in London to study Pharmacy but called the University of Wolverhampton during the Clearing period, securing a place on the BSc Pharmaceutical Science with Foundation Year which would provide a step up to the Masters of Pharmacy Degree (MPharm) in the Universitys School of Pharmacy. Israel said: Learning during lockdown hasnt been easy. Ive had to sit my exams at home surrounded by my family, but I had plenty of support from my wife who has encouraged me and helped me enormously. My handwriting was terrible when I began studying at the University and the Student Enabling Centre secured me some funding, which I had to pay towards, to help me get assessed it turns out I was dyslexic. After being diagnosed I got additional support with exams and assessments which really helped me. Its been a long journey but every step was worth it. Throughout all the studying and working part-time, during the night and during holidays, I also got married and had a child so there was a lot going on in my life I was funding my studies, and also had a new family to look after. I cant thank the University lecturers enough for all of their support. It feels great to have achieved so much after this length of time. Everyone thought I was stupid to give up my job as a bus driver in London, but now that Im training to be a pharmacist and have almost achieved my goal I am proud that I have made a better life for myself. Its an amazing achievement. Its a very good University and does everything to give you the opportunity to succeed. Dr Colin Brown, Head of the Wolverhampton School of Pharmacy, said: Israels story shows what can be achieved through hard work and determination and his drive to succeed in his ambitions had really paid off. We are really proud of our longstanding tradition of positive action in the recruitment of, support for, and development of students and staff who represent all groups within society. Our students predominately come from the local area and many arrive with disadvantages which we need to address early on. Our students undertake lots of small group enquiry based learning and they benefit from a lot of study and pastoral support. The MPharm course, in particular, provides considerable support for students in their transition from further to higher education. We recognise the needs and challenges faced by all of our students and we use teaching methods which breakdown barriers, promote inclusivity and develop the skills and attributes needed for success. During his time at University, Israel was President and then Vice-President of the Pharmacy Society and was also a Course Representative. His wife, Ama Dadzie, is also studying for a Nursing Degree at the University whilst working as a Housekeeper at New Cross Hospital in Wolverhampton. The University of Wolverhampton is currently ranked third in the UK for BAME attainment gaps in its School of Pharmacy. The University of Wolverhampton has invested 1/2 million in interactive teaching spaces offering Pharmacy students flexible learning. First, second and third year students studying on the MPharm course have benefited from the 250,000 Team Based Learning facilities at the Universitys City Campus in Wolverhampton. The structured classroom space is equipped with touch screen technology and mobile classroom seating all designed to create a collaborative and flexible learning environment and encourage student teamwork. The University has also invested 250,000 in a new Pharmacy Practice Suite to support clinical aspects of the course and a further investment of 3 million for the refurbishment of its facilities for Pharmacy students at its City Campus in Wolverhampton is currently underway. Improvements to facilities will include an extension of the existing practice suite offering a flexible working space for students. A new dispensary will be created alongside a new study area for Postgraduate students, two new meeting rooms and a new reception area. There will also be a new multi-purpose flexible teaching space which will be able to accommodate up to 120 students. More information about the MPharm course, including its integrated structure, the use of enquiry-based teaching and learning methods and the emphasis on skills and placement experience, can be found on the website. Class of 2020 graduate successes will be celebrated on the Universitys Alumni Facebook page as well as their Instagram and Twitter channels. Graduates are invited to share photos, thank you messages and memories of their time at the University of Wolverhampton. Graduates are encouraged to keep in touch with the Alumni team and take advantage of a range of benefits and support on offer to them including a discount for Postgraduate study and opportunities to benefit from mentoring, volunteering and career advice. Anyone looking to study at the University of Wolverhampton should register for one of our forthcoming Open Days. The Delta Variant is causing an uptick of COVID-19 cases in children and the unvaccinated across the country. President Joe Biden unveiled a sweeping new pandemic response plan, mandating employers of more than 100 workers to require vaccinations or weekly tests to slow the spread of the disease. Company behind car dealership expansion says it is delighted planning permission was granted The company behind plans to extend the car park at Wrexham car dealership has said it is delighted with Wrexham Councils decision to grant planning permission for the development. An application for the Lindop Toyota site in Bradley was backed by a majority of planning committee members at a meeting last Monday. The proposals include extending the car park area to cater for an increase in electric vehicle sales and install charging points. Although the plans had been recommended for refusal twice by the councils head of planning amid concerns the development would have an impact on the green barrier space. However councillors went against their advice after business owner Steve Hopewell previously warned it was likely to result in the firm closing, resulting in the loss of 30 jobs. The company has now said it has recognised the responsibilities which go alongside a development of this nature and will deliver an outcome which will be beneficial to all interested parties. A spokesperson for the company said: The team at Lindop Toyota are delighted with Wrexham Councils decision to grant planning permission for a car park extension at their Toyota dealership in Bradley. The business thanked the councillors who supported the proposal for their support and their pragmatic approach to the application. Lindop Toyota now looks forward to continuing the development of their business in partnership with the local community and Toyota (GB) secure in the knowledge that they can invest with confidence over the long term, creating secure jobs, and delivering outstanding service to existing and prospective customers. First Minister refuses to commit to holding Wales specific inquiry into Welsh Governments handling of the pandemic The first minister has again refused to commit to holding a Wales-wide public coronavirus inquiry into the Welsh Governments handing of the pandemic. As we have reported over recent months Mark Drakeford has faced increasing calls for decisions made over the last 19 months to be examined at a devolved level. The UK Government also already confirmed it will hold a UK-wide inquiry and last month Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon confirmed an independent inquiry into the Scottish Government covid response would begin by the end of the year. In August opposition parties Plaid Cymru and the Welsh Conservatives reiterated their calls for a separate investigation into how the pandemic was handled in Wales and the decisions that were made. In a letter to the first minister, Leader of the Welsh Conservatives Andrew RT Davies MS said it was imperative that families who have lost loved ones have the answers they deserve. However the Welsh Government has continued to resist pressure and previously suggested doing so would lead to duplication of much of the work done by a UK-wide inquiry. The most recent public briefing First Minister Mark Drakeford was pressed on why his decisions that have affected Welsh lives and livelihoods wont be scrutinised in Wales. Mr Drakeford said provided there is a specific Welsh focus in the UK-wide inquiry, he believes that is the best way to move ahead. He said: I absolutely want the decisions that we made here in Wales to be properly scrutinised, that is not the issue. I am absolutely determined that the things that the Welsh government has done and the things that other actors in the Welsh context have done should be subject to that investigation and scrutiny. The question is, how is that best done. I had a meeting in a conversation with Michael Gove, the minister in charge of the Cabinet Office, who is leading from the UK Government on this, I met him last weekend. I said to him that we will need assurances that a UK-wide inquiry would be constructed in a way that would allow for a direct focus, a specific separate focus on the decisions that were made here in Wales. But also then to be able to understand them in that wider UK context. I talked to him about making sure that to UK inquiry has access to Welsh specific expertise, that such an inquiry would, for example, maintain Wales, and feel the evidence directly in Wales. And as part of its report, it would have specific chapters, reflecting the Wales only experience. provided that the inquiry does deliver that I continue to believe that that is the best way of having a proper focus on the decisions that were made here in Wales. But to do so in a way that can also explore the interconnectedness between Welsh decisions and what was happening across the whole of the UK. I was encouraged by that meeting by the response of Mr. Gove. Ive written to him today to set all that out on paper for the UK Government. I think so long as we can get an agreement with them that the Welsh experience will be properly and thoroughly included within that Uk inquiry, that is the best way to move ahead. New supporting living space in Wrexham helping people with learning difficulties A modern living space in Wrexham is helping people with profound learning difficulties enjoy a more independent life. Heddwch, in New Broughton, was previously a four-bed residence for people with severe learning disabilities. The building has now been redeveloped into four one-bedroom flats with staffed communal areas giving residents more independence, while still making sure they get the help they need. The works were funding by the Welsh Government and ClwydAlyn. Construction has been undertaken by North Wales firm Williams Homes, and the rejuvenated building welcomed its first residents earlier this year Suzanne Mazzone, Executive Director of Housing Services at ClwydAlyn, says: Weve been able to redevelop Heddwch into a unique supported living facility to provide 24-hour care and support for residents, whilst also enabling independent living through safe and secure self-contained flats. The scheme has been made possible through strong partnership working between ClwydAlyn, Wrexham Council and Williams Homes, and we are delighted to have been able to work in collaboration to deliver high quality homes and support to enhance the lives of residents. Over two per cent of adults in the UK are believed to have a learning disability, with different people affected in different ways. For some, it can make it much harder to manage day-to-day things like household tasks, socialising or understanding complicated information. But with enough help, they can overcome these challenges and feel safer and more confident in life. Councillor David Bithell, Wrexham Councils Lead Member for Adult Social Care, says: Heddwch is an ideal supported-living facility, and its already making a difference to peoples lives. It provides the right balance between support and independence, and is just one example of how the council and its partners are working to help people with learning difficulties. Id like to thank everyone involved in Heddwch. Its wonderful to see these kinds of projects come to fruition they make a huge difference to so many people and their families. Welsh Government has provided funding through its Integrated Care Fund, which supports health and social care projects across Wales. A survey of 1,500 British state school leaders conducted by the National Association of Head Teachers (NAHT) revealed 83 percent do not have sufficient funds to repair dilapidated school buildings. Speaking to the Observer newspaper, school leaders complained of leaking ceilings, faulty heating systems, broken windows and inadequate ventilation systems. The run-down state of Britains classrooms will exacerbate the already dangerously high risk of COVID-19 transmission in schools. NAHT head of policy James Bowen commented that the pandemic has laid bare the scale of the problem. He added, Issues like ventilation and having enough space suddenly became really important. We were desperately ill-prepared for that. The governments latest advice on ventilation for schools said open as many windows as you can. If your windows are screwed shut because theyre not deemed to be safe, or youve got external doors that are faulty, thats a real problem. The findings of the NAHT survey confirm those of a Department of Education (DfE) study, which found that schools in England alone face a repair bill of 11.4 billion. It concluded that 2.5 billion was needed for electrical and IT repairs, 2 billion for boilers and air-conditioning repairs, and 1.5 billion for mending roofs, windows and walls. The DfEs estimated cost of 11.4 billion for remedial work to repair or replace all defective elements is a near 5 billion increase on the 6.7 billion recommended by the National Audit Office (NAO) as necessary to return all school buildings to a satisfactory condition in 2017. The DfE admitted, While [the NAO report] was calculated on a slightly different basis, this does demonstrate that the overall condition need in the estate has grown over the last six years. Spiraling repair bills are a measure of the ruling classs utter disregard for state schoolchildrens wellbeing. Earlier this month, the unexpected findings of a school project run by the Don Hanson Charitable Foundation shone a light on the consequences. The Foundation sends out educational materials on different topics to 20,000 UK schools. Over 600 schools received equipment for testing local water sources, as part of the Great British Water Project. Fourteen schools discovered that their water contains lead concentrations five times higher than the safe limit. This is not an isolated example. Two years ago, 676 state schools were referred to the Health and Safety Executive over concerns that they were not safely managing asbestos in their buildings. According to the ONS, between 2001 and 2019, at least 305 school workers have died of mesothelioma, a cancer almost exclusively linked with asbestos exposure. A study published in Environmental Health Scotland in 2018 found that there were five times more mesothelioma deaths among teachers than would be expected for populations not exposed to the substance. Parading its indifference to children and educators alike, the DfE report merely recommends that fire-sprinklers be fitted in new schools, four years after the horrific Grenfell Tower fire. It only gives clear guidance that fire-sprinklers should be installed in new special schools and boarding accommodation, as well as in school buildings with floors higher than 11 metres above ground level, effectively four storeys or higher. Fire safety design guidance currently has only an expectation that new buildings have fire-sprinklers installed and in recent years only one in three new school builds have had fire-sprinklers fitted. Tilden Watson, head of Zurich Municipals education section, specialists in school insurance, told the Guardian, By limiting sprinklers to schools above 11 metres, the government is effectively writing off a significant proportion of the school estate. This will create a two-tier system of safety, which is arbitrary and ill-thought-through. As predominantly single-storey buildings, primary schools will be hardest hit, especially as they already suffer nearly twice the rate of blazes as secondary schools. The disastrous state of the UKs school infrastructure is the result of longstanding government neglect, private profiteering and savage austerity cuts. School funding was slashed after the 2008 financial crash. As an example, in 2011 the repair budget for schools on Merseyside, including the city of Liverpool, was slashed by more than half, from 130 million to just 61 million. Another 12.5 percent cut followed the next year. Even prior to the crash, in 2006, Liverpools schools were 50 million short of what was needed to bring their buildings up to standard and were forced to hold classes in 168 mobile classrooms, up from 40 just one year before. Overall government capital spending on schools declined by 44 percent between 2009-10 and 2019-20. The Institute for Fiscal Studies has calculated that school funding per pupil in England fell by 9 percent in real terms in the same period, the largest cut in over 40 years. Increasing numbers of schools are therefore running financial deficits, with many struggling long before the pandemic. The size of the total schools deficit stood at 233.3 million in 2018/19 and rose to 266.4 million in 2019/20the highest level since records began in 2002/03. The Liverpool Echo reported how on Merseyside alone a total of 74 schools had a combined deficit of 18.5 million in 2019/20, according to DfE figures. That was up from 49 schools in 2018/19, with numbers having already risen sharply upwards from 16 in 2012/13, when comparable figures began. The average deficit per school in 2019/20 was 249,739 and Gateacre secondary school in Belle Vale, Liverpool alone has a deficit exceeding 3 million. Gateacre School in Liverpool (Credit: Creative Commons) Schools built under Private Finance Initiative (PFI) contracts, a specialty of the Tony Blair-Gordon Brown Labour governments, are especially laden with backbreaking costs. Under the terms of a PFI deal, the government or local authority commissions a private firm to build a project using their own capital, with the local authority then paying back enormously inflated costs to the corporations over decades. Liverpools Parklands High School in Speke, constructed under a 100 million contract and opened in 2002, still costs Liverpool council 4 million per year despite the school closing in 2014. The citys taxpayers must fork out 12,000 per day until 2028. In total, PFI deals have locked Liverpool authority into approximately 13 million each year in repayments. Sixteen Merseyside schools built under PFI contracts continue to face financial difficulties which negatively impact pupils. These facts show up the governments pledge to spend a pathetic 25 million sending CO2 monitors to schools for the contemptible fraud it is. The ruling class will not provide the resources necessary for a minimally acceptable learning environment and standard of safety in normal times, let alone in a pandemic. The decades-long neglect of schools and the abandonment of children and educators to the virus are part of one and the same class policy, which prioritises profits over the basic needs of the vast majority of society. The point of the monitors, which have yet to arrive in most schools and will do nothing except diagnose a problem everyone already knows exists, is to encourage the fiction that classrooms can be made safe. The reality is that only a combination of school and workplace closures, together with extensive public health measures, testing, tracing and vaccination, working towards the elimination of the virus, can bring an end to the dangers posed by COVID-19. Such a programme will necessarily bring school workers, students and parents into conflict with the trade unions, who have allowed schools to fall into such disrepair and for their members and the children in their care to be herded back into classrooms at high risk of infection. The fight for the implementation of the necessary safety measures must be organised independently of these organisations. An Educators Rank-and-File Safety Committee has been established to help develop this struggle in Britain, and to assist in the building of a network of rank-and-file committees of educators and parents who oppose the murderous policies of the government and its backers in the trade unions and the Labour Party. We call on all those who agree to contact the Committee today. US President Joseph Biden and Chinese President Xi Jinping held their first phone conversation since February last Thursday [US time], amid mounting tensions fuelled by Washingtons aggressive stance toward Beijing across the boarddiplomatic, economic and strategic. Few details were issued. Both sides issued brief read-outs from the 90-minute discussion, but no decisions were announced and no joint statements were issued. In short, Biden initiated the call in a bid to enlist Chinas assistance on matters of US concern, but offered nothing in return and the standoff between the worlds two largest economies continues. The tensions were evident even in the limited official reports. A White House statement declared that the two leaders had discussed the responsibility of both nations to ensure competition does not veer into conflict. An administration official told reporters that Bidens message had been to ensure we dont have any situation in the future where we veer into unintended conflict. Xi Jinping (Left), Joe Biden (right) (Image Credit: Alan Santos Wikimedia Commons (Left), AP Photo/Evan Vucci (Right)) The very fact that the prospect of conflict between two nuclear-armed powers is raised in formal statements indicates it is under discussion behind closed doors. Over the past decade, beginning with the pivot to Asia initiated by the Obama administration, in which Biden was vice-president, the US has sought to undermine China and prepare militarily for war. According to a Chinese foreign ministry statement, Xi made clear that the policies that the United States has adopted toward China for some period of time have pushed Chinese-US relations into serious difficulties. Xi warned: Whether China and the United States can properly handle mutual relations is a question for the century that concerns the fate of the world, and both countries must answer it. A senior White House official told reporters on Friday that Biden had requested the call after becoming exasperated by the unwillingness of lower-level Chinese officials to hold substantive talks with his administration. The unwillingness of Chinese officials is no surprise. The Biden administration has not only continued, but escalated, the Trump administrations aggressive anti-China policies, including: * Perpetuating the Wuhan Lab lie that the COVID-19 pandemic originated at the Wuhan Institute of Virology, despite expert evidence to the contrary and a World Health Organisation investigation which found it was extremely unlikely to be the case. * Denouncing China for genocide of the Muslim Uyghur minority in the Xinjiang region of the countryanother unsubstantiated lie. Beijing undoubtedly uses police-state measures in Xinjiang, as it does elsewhere in China, but there is no evidence it is engaged in the physical elimination of the Uyghur population. * Strengthening ties with Taiwan and thereby undermining the One China policy that has been the basis of diplomatic relations between China and the US for three decades. In 1979, the US ended diplomatic ties with Taipei, effectively acknowledging that Beijing was the legitimate government of all China, including Taiwan. * Maintaining Trumps trade war measures that included tariffs on more than $360 billion worth of Chinese goods, leading to China to retaliate with tariffs on more than $110 billion of US products. The US has also provocatively imposed bans on Chinese hi-tech giants, such as Huawei, aimed at limiting their sales and access to components. Driving the dangerous confrontation between Washington and Beijing is the determination of US imperialism in its historic decline to prevent any challenge to its global hegemony by all means, including war. While also targeting Russia and Iran, the US regards China as the chief threat to its position and has demanded that Beijing abide by the international rules-based system by which Washington has set the rules for global capitalism since World War II. Shortly after taking office, Biden made abundantly clear that his administration would maintain Trumps anti-China policies. At the first top-level meeting between US and Chinese officials in Alaska in March, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken provocatively opened up with a list of American denunciations and grievances against China, triggering an extraordinary slanging match before the press. Chinas top foreign policy official Yang Jiechi responded by pointing to Washingtons hypocrisy on human rights and indicating that US references to an international rules-based system were tantamount to insisting that Beijing bow to US interests. China upheld the UN-centred international system, he said, not what is advocated by a small number of countries of the so-called rules-based international order. Yang also noted that, unlike the US, China did not believe in invading through the use of force, or toppling other regimes through various means, or massacring the people of other countries. The only difference between the orientation of Trump and Biden toward China is a tactical one. Biden has sought to marshal support from US allies for its confrontation with Beijing, in particular by holding the first-ever leaders meeting of the Quadrilateral Security Dialoguea quasi-military alliance with India, Japan and Australia, directed against China. Since March, meetings between Chinese and US officials have continued to stall amid mutual acrimony. In July, US Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman flew to China and met with Foreign Minister Wang Yi but left complaining that she faced a list of demands and grievances. This month, Wang told Bidens climate envoy John Kerry, who visited Tianjin for talks, that cooperation on climate could not be separated from other issues, and called on the US to take steps to improve the broader relationship. According to the US statement on last weeks call between Biden and Xi, the two leaders had a broad, strategic discussion in which they discussed areas where our interests converge, and areas where our interests, values, and perspectives diverge. As well as climate change, the US was evidently seeking Chinese assistance over North Korea and its debacle in Afghanistan. After reviewing US policy toward North Korea, the Biden administration is appealing for talks with Pyongyang. At this stage, the North Korean regime has rejected negotiations, which in the past two decades have led to nothing but broken US promises and crippling sanctions. Washington now wants Beijing to pressure Pyongyang to come to the negotiating table by threatening to cut off its economic lifeline. The Biden administration is concerned that the ignominious collapse of the US puppet regime in Afghanistan will open the door for greater Chinese and Russian influence in the strategic Central Asian country. Chinese officials have held talks with senior Taliban officials, seeking guarantees that the new regime will not allow its territory to be used by Uyghur separatist groups. Even as it seeks Chinese cooperation, however, the Biden administration continues to ramp up its confrontation with Beijing. Top US officials are reportedly discussing whether to launch an investigation into Chinese industrial subsidies, with a view to imposing greater trade penalties on Beijing. Just hours before Biden spoke to Xi, the media reported that his administration was considering allowing Taipei to include Taiwan in the name of its representative office in Washingtona further undermining of the One China policy that would anger Beijing. Bidens call for Chinese cooperation has a hollow, hypocritical ring to it. He is steering a course not toward peace and prosperity but conflict and war. The Delta variant is spreading through Dana plants across the US, putting workers lives and the lives of their loved ones at risk, auto parts workers at Dana report. Although the contract for some 3,500 auto parts workers expired August 18 and workers rejected a proposed tentative agreement by 90 percent, the USW and UAW have forced workers to continue workingincluding mandatory overtimeto help the company stockpile parts in preparation for a strike. As a result, the plants are becoming centers for the spread of the pandemic. The WSWS contacted Danas Office of Safety as well as spokespersons for the UAW and USW to request specific numbers and received no response as of press time. A number of hospitals near Dana plants also said they could not provide information about the number of hospitalizations among workers. The following review is based on statements from local union officials, reports from workers and data from county health departments. Dry Ridge, Kentucky The most serious outbreak appears to be at Danas plant in Dry Ridge. Multiple workers report that a large proportion of the plant's workforce of around 800 is currently out due to covid. Ex-Dana worker Steven Fletcher says he was fired from Dana Dry Ridge after missing time due to COVID earlier this year. Warren, Michigan There are currently 9 active cases at the plant in Warren, Michigan, according to an update from the company dated September 9. The company claims there were 53 confirmed positive cases in 2020, but already 114 this year. At least one worker at the plant has died from COVID in 2021. It appears that coronavirus has spread in the Warren plant nearly four times faster than in the surrounding city of Warren, a large suburb of Detroit. This year has seen 7,312 total cases in the city, equal to 5.42 percent of Warrens population, according to the county COVID dashboard. By contrast, at the Dana plant, which is believed to have a workforce of roughly 600, the 114 reported cases in 2021 would amount to around 19 percent of the plants typical workforce. This is up sharply from last year, when the percentages for Warren and the Dana plant were roughly 5 and 8.8 percent, respectively. Incredibly, workers report that Dana and the UAW are sending a team of workers from Warren to the Dry Ridge plant to help fill orders. The plant in Columbia, Missouri, is also reportedly sending a group of workers to Dry Ridge. There is a substantial risk that they will get infected in Dry Ridge and then bring the virus back to their coworkers. Crossville, Tennessee It appears there is also an outbreak at Danas Crossville, Tennessee, plant. A USW notice published September 10 said that due to COVID infections, we had to delay the vote at the Crossville Local. However, while the vote was postponed, the union kept production going. Fort Wayne, Indiana An individual with detailed knowledge told the WSWS that COVID is spreading in the Fort Wayne plant. Two of the individuals with whom this source works are presently sick with COVID. In a separate department of the plant, one worker says there are 5 confirmed positive cases. Other workers at the plant report that they have asked for exact numbers, but that the USW and company have not told them. Workers say the company sprayed them with fungicide at Fort Wayne earlier this year and forced them to keep working when there were reports of positive cases. Paris, Tennessee A worker at the Paris plant reports that at least two workers in their department are currently sick with COVID and that recently, an entire shift of maintenance department workers tested positive. Another person with knowledge of conditions at the Paris plant told the WSWS, I dont know the exact number of active cases. The company makes a point of keeping cases as quiet as possible. I know for sure there have been 2 deaths, but I think there was a third. Many others have caught COVID that turned into pneumonia which made recovery even more difficult. Danville, Kentucky One worker at the Danville plant reports five workers in their department are presently sick with COVID. According to a company notice, 8 workers at the plant out of a workforce of 300 are currently out for confirmed cases. Lima, Ohio A worker reports that there have been at least 5 or 6 recent cases in their department and that the company did not clean any of the equipment after the workers tested positive. Another worker in Lima, Ohio, said, We would never know [about active COVID cases], its not like they clean or care anyways. Workers at other plants were unable to confirm the total case number because they say the company and unions are not reporting the numbers. A worker in Toledo, Ohio, told the WSWS: We have had employees who have tested positive been told not to tell others as they cant afford for a whole line to call off on a COVID leave. Ive had people gone for days on my line thinking they were on vacation and hear later that they had COVID. This is the normal at our Dana plant. I worked next to my team lead every day who tested positive, I didnt know until 3 days after she had been gone. I thought she was on vacation. An Auburn Hills, Michigan, worker says, They dont notify us by text like they used to. Our own safety guy isnt vaccinated so its hard to take him serious. Case data from local government organizations reveals that in every county where a Dana plant is located, COVID cases are on the rise substantially. Cases are at an all-time peak in Dry Ridge, Henderson, Louisville and Danville, Kentucky, as well as Paris, Humboldt, and Crossville, Tennessee. Cases are increasing rapidly in Lima and Toledo, Ohio; Fort Wayne, Indiana; Columbia, Missouri; Pottstown, Pennsylvania and Warren, St. Clair and Auburn Hills, Michigan. If workers get sick, it is more likely than ever that they will not be able to be treated in the hospital. The hospitals in Paris, Crossville and Danville have no ICU beds available, according to public reporting. In Fort Wayne, Indiana, the only two hospitals with public data are 99 and 97 percent full. In Maumee, Ohio, there is only one bed remaining at St. Lukes hospital located on the same highway exit as Danas world corporate headquarters. The shortage of beds is particularly acute in Kentucky and Tennessee, where nine of Danas 21 US plants are located and which are currently experiencing some of their worst-ever surges. For seven of these nine facilities, ICU bed utilization within a 30-mile radius of the plants physical address is above the national average of 81.82 percent, according to the US Department of Health and Human Services. For the Louisville plant, according to the latest government figures, ICU utilization is 110 percent. For three plantsDanville, Kentucky; Gordonsville, Tennessee; and Crossville, Tennesseethere are fewer than 10 available ICU beds within a 30 mile radius. By keeping the plants open, Dana and the UAW are not only placing workers own lives at risk, but also the lives of their spouses, children, elderly parents and the community at large. The Delta variant has proven capable of killing healthy children or giving them lingering effects, including impairment of brain function. If the virus is already in Danas plants, that means it is likely spreading in the schools, grocery stores, the restaurants and everywhere else. Indeed, manufacturing plants, next to schools, are known to be key drivers of community transmission. At the beginning of the pandemic, major outbreaks in rural counties throughout the country were highly correlated with outbreaks at meatpacking plants, which management, with the support of an executive order by the Trump administration, kept open in spite of mass infections. Efforts to mitigate the spread of the pandemicincluding through mask wearing and vaccinationare not enough to stop the spread. As long as the plants are open, the virus will spread. The Delta variant spreads indoors even with mask wearing, and breakthrough cases of vaccinated people are more common. The plants are poorly ventilated, without adequate air conditioning, meaning particles sit in the air and spread to every production line and every part of the plant. The policy of the US government and the corporations is to kill workers for profit. Right now, the governors of all states where Dana plants are locatedwhether Democrats or Republicansare opening up schools and forcing workers children as well as teachers to risk their lives so workers can go to work to be exploited for profit. As a result, 660,000 people have died in the US. Every day, twice as many people die of COVID in the US (roughly 1,000) than soldiers on both sides died on an average day during the Civil War (roughly 500). All over the world it is the same, and over four million people are dead. Meanwhile, corporate profits and the stock market are reaching new records, while the billionaires enrich themselves through pandemic profiteering. The World Socialist Web Site and Autoworker Newsletter call for the immediate shutdown of all Dana plants, with full quarantine pay for every worker! Workers must not be forced to choose between infection and eviction. Dana CEO James Kamsickas 2020 salary alone ($10.5 million) is enough to provide every Dana worker with $3,000 immediately to cover costs during quarantine. Add to this the $14 million in quarterly dividend payments Dana pays outwhich it resumed in March after suspending it in 2020 due to the pandemicas well as its $7.3 billion in total assets, and there is more than enough money to pay workers full time for the weeks required to control the spread. A crisis for the US and global financial system is looming, unless a conflict over lifting the US debt ceiling can be quickly resolved. The conflict came into public prominence last week, when US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen wrote a letter to Congress, warning that the government was running out of money, after a debt limit on government borrowing was reinstated on August 1. The limit had been suspended for the previous two years. Since then, Yellen wrote, the Treasury had been employing certain extraordinary measures to ensure that the government could continue to fund itself, but these measures were reaching their limit. Janet Yellen in Congress in 2017 (Source: Federal Reserve) Once all available measures and cash on hand are fully exhausted, the United States of America would be unable to meet its obligations, for the first time in our history, she said. The Treasury was not able to provide a specific estimate of how long the extraordinary measures would last, but the best and most recent estimate was that money would run out some time in the middle of October. This is not the first time a conflict has arisen over the debt ceiling. The last major battle was in 2011, during the Obama administration. While it was ultimately resolved, and a default avoided, the conflict produced significant turbulence in financial markets and led to a downgrade of the US governments credit rating, for the first time in history. Standard and Poors lowered the nations credit worthiness from AAA to AA+. It is estimated the conflict cost the government $1.3 billion in increased interest charges on its debt in 2011, with additional costs in the years that followed. Reporting on the present dispute, the Financial Times wrote that stand-offs over the debt limit are sometimes dismissed as political theatre that is ultimately resolved, but top Biden administration officials view the stand-off with increasing seriousness. Those concerns were set out in Yellens letter. We have learned from past debt limit impasses that waiting until the last minute to suspend or increase the debt limit can cause serious harm to business and consumer confidence, raise short-term borrowing costs for taxpayers, and negatively impact the credit rating of the United States, she wrote. A delay that calls into question the federal governments ability to meet all its obligations would likely cause irreparable damage to the US economy and global financial markets. She urged that Congress address the debt limit with broad partisan support, in order to protect the full faith and credit of the United States by acting as soon as possible. But broad partisan support is the least likely of all outcomes, as the debt ceiling issue has become part of Republican opposition to the Biden administrations spending programs. The Republicans have insisted that any resolution must be part of a budget reconciliation vote. It can be passed in the House, where the Democrats have a majority, and by the Senate, which is split 5050, with Democratic Vice-President Kamala Harris having a tie-breaking vote, without any Republicans having to vote for it. They have refused to pass stand-alone legislation that would lift the debt ceiling, with 46 Republican senators signing a letter to that effect, meaning that it would not reach the level of 60 votes needed to defeat a filibuster. Their position was summed up in an interview given by Wisconsin Senator Ron Johnson, who said the Democrats shouldnt be expecting Republicans to raise the debt ceiling to accommodate their deficit spending. Republican Senate leader Mitch McConnell has insisted in the past that Democrats not expect any Republican support on the debt limit, a position he repeated in an interview last week. This debt ceiling is going to cover all of the things that all of us have been opposing, he said, and the Democrats need to do the responsible thing and raise the debt ceiling because America must never default on its debt. In fact, the raising of the ceiling is needed to cover measures already authorised by Congress and reductions in revenue, going back to the Trump tax cuts of 2017, as well as relief packages carried out under his administration. White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki appealed for bipartisan support, saying the debt issue was a shared responsibility, and Congress should move forward as they have multiple times. But these times are very different. Large swathes of the Republican Party continue to insist that the election was stolen and provided crucial support for the attempted coup by Trump of January 6, with the fascist-led storming of the Capitol. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi told reporters last week: We have several options. But she maintained that an increase in the debt ceiling would not be part of the Biden spending package, which the Democrats are now seeking to put through Congress. In what could become a high-stakes conflict, the Wall Street Journal reported last month that one option being considered was a stand-alone bill, that would put pressure on Republicans to support it or risk rattling financial markets. But given the overriding concern of the Democrats for the stability of Wall Street, and their continued subservience to the Republicans, this option would have to be considered as highly unlikely. Another option may be to attach the debt ceiling to another piece of necessary government funding. While it has not been featured heavily in news coverage, the debt ceiling issue is attracting international concern, because of its possible impact on highly fragile global financial markets. Last week, the Financial Times ran the Yellen letter as its lead news story, warning of the mounting risk of a US sovereign debt crisis. In Australia, a column last Friday, by Sydney Morning Herald financial commentator Stephen Bartholomeusz, warned that America could be only weeks away from a debt default that would throw the US economy and global financial markets into chaos. He wrote that a default on US debt was almost unthinkable, and Congress had always found a way to avert such an outcome. However, he continued, it cant be ruled out entirely given how intense and unpredictable politics has become since last years US election, and Trumps eviction from the White House. A New York Times analysis of the August 29 US drone strike in Kabul, Afghanistan, based on military-intelligence sources as well as interviews with survivors and co-workers of the victims, demonstrates that the incineration of ten members of an Afghan family, including seven children, was a wanton act of mass murder. Despite claims by General Mark Milley, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, that the attack followed a rigorous protocol and was a righteous strike, the Times report, published September 11, indicates that every step, from the initial identification of the target to the final decision to launch, was carried out in a reckless fashion, entirely indifferent to the human consequences. Every stereotype of punch-button, remote-control warfare is confirmed. Military-intelligence sources admitted to the Times that they did not know the identity of the driver of the white Toyota Corolla when they gave the orders to strike it with a Hellfire missile, nor did they know who lived in the home where the car had just stopped in the courtyard. The decision to attack was based entirely on the pattern of conduct by the driver, who allegedly visited an Islamic State-Khorasan (ISIS-K) safe house, and was later seen loading heavy objects carefully into his car, in a way that supposedly suggested bomb materials (they were actually water canisters). US MQ-9 Reaper Drone (Image credit: U.S. Air Force/Paul Ridgeway public domain) The initial claims from the Pentagon were that four ISIS-K militants had been killed, along with three civilians, and that a secondary blast, much larger than the first, had taken place, indicating that the US missile had caused a large cache of explosives to detonate. The actual toll was three adults and seven children, six of them ten or younger, and there was no secondary explosion. The prime target of the attack, Zemari Ahmadi, the driver of a vehicle that was supposedly being prepared to carry out a bomb attack on US forces at the Kabul airport, was actually a long-time employee of a California-based aid group, Nutrition and Education International. He and another victim, his cousin Naser, had applied to the US Embassy for refugee status in the United States, fearing they would be targeted by the Taliban because they worked for an American non-governmental organization. Instead, they were murdered by the US government. Ahmadi had gone to his job at the groups office in Kabul, a longtime location of a US-based organization which would certainly have been known to the US Embassy and US intelligence services, and in the course of the day loaded his car with canisters of water for his family and neighbors, because there was no water service there in the chaos following the collapse of the Afghan government. When he returned home, which he and his three brothers and their families shared, in the fashion typical of Afghanistan, the children ran out to welcome himand all were incinerated in the fireball caused by the detonation of a Hellfire missile launched by a circling drone. The victims included Ahmadi, 43; his sons, Zamir, 20, Faisal, 16, and Farzad, 10; three nephews, Arwin, 7, Benyamin, 6, and Hayat, 2; his cousin Naser, 30; and two 3-year-old girls, Malika and Somaya, whose relationship to the family is unclear. According to information supplied to the Times by military-intelligence sources, Ahmadi was initially identified as a potential target because on his way to work he stopped at a home that had been identified as a safe house for ISIS-K, the terrorist group that carried out a suicide bomb attack August 27 at the Kabul airport, killing 13 US soldiers and at least 170 Afghan civilians. Ahmadi reportedly made three stops on his way to work, two to pick up co-workers, one to visit the home of his boss, the director of the Kabul branch of Nutrition and Education International. How any of these locationsall belonging to employees of a US-based charitycould be identified by US intelligence as havens for terrorism was not explained. The actual decision to fire at this alleged ISIS-K target was equally unexplained. According to the Times, Although the target was now inside a densely populated residential area, the drone operator quickly scanned and saw only a single adult male greeting the vehicle, and therefore assessed with reasonable certainty that no women, children or noncombatants would be killed, U.S. officials said. Eyewitness accounts gave a diametrically opposed picture. The Times report continues: But according to his relatives, as Mr. Ahmadi pulled into his courtyard, several of his children and his brothers children came out, excited to see him, and sat in the car as he backed it inside. Mr. Ahmadis brother Romal was sitting on the ground floor with his wife when he heard the sound of the gate opening, and Mr. Ahmadis car entering. His adult cousin Naser had gone to fetch water for his ablutions, and greeted him. The cars engine was still running when there was a sudden blast, and the room was sprayed with shattered glass from the window, Romal recalled. He staggered to his feet. Where are the children? he asked his wife. Theyre outside, she replied. The report on the Kabul drone strike does more than expose the monstrous carnage for which the US military-intelligence apparatus is responsible in this instance. There are countless such episodes over the past two decades, always justified in the same fashion: US intelligence identified a terrorist operative or facilitator, the pattern of activities indicated that an attack on a US target was imminent, the strike was carried out in a fashion calculated to minimize civilian casualties, and all of these actions were taken on the basis of reasonable certainty. Most of these drone-missile strikes have been carried out in rural areas or remote towns inaccessible to media investigation, unlike the Kabul strike which was conducted, in a sense, with the whole world watching. But there is no doubt that if a serious investigation were conducted into any of thousands of such missile strikes, which have incinerated tens of thousands of people in an area stretching from Central Asia to North Africa, the results would be similar to those found by the Times in Kabul. American imperialism is, in the full sense of the word, a gigantic criminal enterprise. Its leaders should be tried, convicted and punished to the fullest. And its apologistslike the Times itself, on 364 out of 365 days every yearshould be branded as such. One days truth cannot outweigh the years of deliberate lying and cover-up that have served to conceal from the American people the reality of the imperialist war on terror. The Socialist Equality Party (SEP) is stepping-up its campaign against anti-democratic electoral laws, rushed through the Australian parliament in less than 24 hours on August 26. The measures are part of an escalating assault on the basic rights of the working class. The Labor Party opposition worked in lockstep with the Morrison Liberal-National Coalition government to pass the legislation, which forces parties that do not have a seat in parliament to submit a list of 1,500 members to the Australian Electoral Commission (AEC), treble the previous number. Under conditions where the Delta variant of COVID-19 is raging across the country, all 36 minor parties now have less than three months to present this new list of members or face deregistration, which means they cannot run in the federal elections with their own name on the ballot paper. The AEC has been given the power to decide which parties can include certain words in their registered party name, such as socialist or communist. SEP members speaking with JBS meat workers during 2019 federal election. [Source: WSWS media] The SEP has begun a determined campaign to defeat these laws, demanding the removal of all restrictions on the right of parties and individuals to run in elections. On Sunday September 19, the SEP is holding an online public meeting, to discuss the campaign and how to advance this fight. Click here to register. At the same time, the SEP is appealing to all supporters and readers to join the campaign and become an electoral member to help ensure that it can advance a socialist perspective at the next election. The comments below are part of a series of interviews and statements from electoral members, World Socialist Web Site readers and others supporting this campaign. **** Robert Thomas is a 38-year-old electrician who worked for 20 years in the mining industry, until he was recently injured in the workplace. He discovered the World Socialist Web Site last year and subscribed to its daily newsletter. Thomas decided to become an SEP electoral member, after reading about the new electoral laws on the WSWS. I think these new electoral laws are disgusting. They put the final nail in the coffin for presenting different ideas to the Australian public. Labor and Liberal arent that different. I hate that it is a two-party system in Australia, he told the SEP. Robert Thomas []WSWS media] The mass media distracts everyone and dictates to people what news is considered important. Google is also seeking to prevent people from joining the dots. The biggest voice in the world is money. Controversy about vaccinations is being whipped up in the media, but what about the withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan? I think Bush, Howard and Blair are all war criminals for launching these wars overseas, but they will never get tried in court and now they are preparing for war with China. Capitalism may have worked in the 1800s, but capitalism todayIm totally against itbecause its just feeding the top one percent of the population. Theres a huge wage gap developing today. Bob Hawke [former ACTU president and Australian Labor Party prime minister] passed away with a $9 million estate. How does an ex-trade unionist get that much wealth? Workers everywhere are being used more and more. There should be more rights given to the workforce, with workers in every country given decent conditions and pay,' Thomas said. Aditya, an overseas graduate with a Master of Biomedical Science, is from a religious minority in Pakistan, and came to Australia to escape rising communalism in the region. He arrived as an 18-year-old, commencing a Bachelor of Science in 2016, and completing his masters amid the outbreak of COVID-19 in 2020. Like many overseas students, the cost of acquiring his qualifications in Australia was very high for his family, and the pandemic has added further burdens. Aditya has no access to government assistance, state-funded medical care or a guaranteed placement in his field. Not wanting to further burden his family, he is obliged to work as a cleaner or fast food delivery driver. Although he spent most of his adult life studying, while paying taxes in Australia, Aditya is unable to exercise the most basic rights guaranteed to the rest of the population, including being able to vote in elections. This means the Australian Electoral Commission refuses to classify him as an electoral member of the SEP. The Australian governments new measures to limit voting rights do not surprise me, he said. Almost everyone would agree that this is a blatant attempt by the existing government to silence opposition and keep power concentrated in their own hands. There are already legal barriers to free democratic elections in Australia, one example being that only citizens can vote. But for me to become a citizen would take several years and huge amounts of money. There are many people who have lived in Australia for years, studying as part of the countrys export of higher education, usually working in small underpaid or specialised jobs with valuable skills, but who have no say in the elections. Adiyya said broad layers of the population had no confidence in Labor and the Liberal-National coalition. If the entire population knew about these laws this would only increase their dissatisfaction with the large parties, and make them more interested in other options, he continued. This is what these laws are trying to prevent, but theres no way for the government to convince most people that this is a fair decision that casts them in a good light, so theyd rather keep it quiet. Its also worth noting that the SEP managed to achieve the [previously] required 500 electoral members just a few months ago. The government is conscious of preventing popular support for socialism. The new election laws were being imposed, Aditya noted, right when establishment parties internationally are being challenged for their reckless response to the COVID-19 pandemic. The pandemic has made the priorities of governments around the world starker. Limitless financial aid is provided to the super rich, while many ordinary people have been left to fall into poverty or risk disease. Seeing this unfold would make many people more conscious about the indifference of the major parties to the needs of the people, and make them more interested in other parties. In Australia, even the [state] governments that had initially made efforts to eliminate the virus, did so too late and without sufficiently supporting the disadvantaged. Now they are allowing the pandemic to return in force, blaming individuals who arent following rules, while allowing workplaces to open. Aditya met the SEP in 2019 and regularly attended International Youth and Students for Social Equality (IYSSE) meetings in 2020. He decided this year to take up the fight for the SEPs socialist and internationalist program. Im attracted to the SEP because of the depth of their analysis of events and history. The policy of internationalism is of great importance to me because the problems of our time are far beyond the scope of single countries and attempts to solve them are held back by national divisions. People should become electoral members of the SEP because this party, in Australia and in every other country where it operates, fights in a principled way against the greatest problems of our time. They are fighting on a global level that both understands and matches the scale of these problems. Following the U.S. Supreme Courts ruling which ended the eviction moratorium, millions of renters stand the risk of losing their housing amid the new surge of the pandemic. Eviction filings have already skyrocketed for the week ending September 4, with four of six states monitored by the Princeton Universitys Eviction Lab having already exceeded historic averages. The U.S. Census Bureaus weekly Household Pulse Survey for the week ending August 26 found that 3,511,056 respondents are facing the likelihood of eviction in the next two months. This is taking place as the Biden administration has allowed the expiration of federal unemployment benefits for 7.5 million jobless workers, who will be left with nothing, and the end of the $300 supplement for another three million workers still receiving meager state unemployment benefits. While data is only out for the first four days of the month, within these days dramatic increases in eviction filings have already been observed. Out of the 31 cities that the Eviction Lab tracks, 13, or more than a third, have seen an increase in evictions above and past their respective historic averages for the same period. The three largest increases seen as of September 4 were recorded in Charleston, South Carolina, at 232 percent the historical average; Wilmington, Delaware, at 238 percent; and Dallas, Texas, at 134 percent. People from a coalition of housing justice groups hold signs protesting evictions during a news conference outside the Statehouse, Friday, July 30, 2021, in Boston. (AP Photo/Michael Dwyer) Five states saw filings increase relative to historic averages in previous months, with Delaware seeing a 130 percent rise. Before September, Delaware saw eviction filings consistently at half or less of its 2016-19 averages at virtually every point following March 2020, when the moratorium was implemented. Indiana is now 22 percent above average. It had also stayed under historical averages since March 2020. New Mexico has seen a similar increase, with evictions averaging now at 140 percent the states 2017-2019 averages and reaching the highest point since the Eviction Lab started tracking the state. Other states like Minnesota and Connecticut did not increase past their historical averages but saw increases nonetheless relative to the months preceding the end of the moratorium. Rental assistance funds of $46.5 billion have been allocated, but the vast majority of the money has not been distributed. Treasury Department Secretary Janet Yellen has warned that she would begin to move funds from jurisdictions that have failed to distribute assistance by the end of September to ones that did. In other words, the Biden administration will allow poor renters in areas with unwilling local governments to be deprived of federal rental assistance. In a hearing on Friday, California Democratic Congresswoman Maxine Waters said state and local governments have only distributed 11 percent of the emergency rental assistance funds available. There is no question that the funds are not reaching landlords and renters quickly or widely enough, she meekly complained. One of the major reasons for the failure to distribute the funds is resistance from landlords themselves who have exploited the landlord-friendly character of the measure, which gives them veto power over whether to accept it or not. The solution the congressional Democrats advocate would be even more favorable to landlords. The Expediting Assistance to Renters and Landlords Act of 2021 bill, introduced by Waters, would allow landlords to directly apply for back-rent themselves, in what essentially amounts to a bailout of the landlords. Slumlords who maintain illegal units will simply throw out residents late on payments and get new, desperate renters. The recent flooding in New York City caused by Hurricane Ida exposed that hundreds of thousands of low-income residents live in illegally converted basements. In Los Angeles County, with a population of 10 million, there are an estimated 200,000 such illegal units. In addition, the New York Times noted, Federal and local officials, housing experts, landlords and tenants cited an array of problems that slowed the flow of aid: bureaucratic missteps at all levels of government, onerous applications, resistance from landlords, the reluctance of local officials to ease eligibility requirements for the poor, difficulty raising awareness that rental aid even existed, and a steep rise in rents that increased the incentive for kicking out low-income tenants. Housing assistance has also been decimated by decades of bipartisan attacks on the remains of the social safety net in the country. The only comparable program to the Emergency Rental Assistance Funds program is the Section 8 voucher program, a federal program that provides funding to make up the difference between what tenants pay and what the going market rate is for housing by paying landlords and nonprofits. As the Times notes, Section 8s funding has been stagnant for decades and waiting lists of up to 10 years are not uncommon in many cities. Given the onerous nature of the certification requirements, Section 8 was unable to provide any sort of useful means for the new money to be directed. That is, no preexisting infrastructure was in place for the relatively small amount of funds to be distributed for rental assistance. By contrast there is a vast governmental infrastructure for the various bailouts of the financial and corporate oligarchy, which has received trillions of dollars looted from the public treasury. This includes the bailouts following the 2008 global financial crash and many other small bailouts of individual industries, such as the airlines in 2001, as well as GM and Chrysler in 2009. The bipartisan CARES Act has funneled trillions more to the largest corporations, including purchases of their bad debts, and the Federal Reserve pumps $120 billion in virtual free credit into the financial markets every month. In other word, a well-oiled infrastructure exists for distributing aid to the ruling class, which has enriched itself during the pandemic, while tens of millions of people are being threatened with destitution and homelessness. Following an unprecedented dragnet operation across Israel and the occupied West Bank, the Israeli authorities captured four of the six Palestinians on the run after their audacious jail break on Monday from the maximum security jail in Gilboa, Israel. Four of the prisoners were serving life sentences for their involvement in attacks on Israelis during the second Palestinian Intifada (2000-2005), while two had been held for years, awaiting trial. As Palestinians living on land captured by Israel during the 1967 Arab-Israeli war, they had been held in Israel by the Zionist states military regime that has for decades used collective punishment, house demolitions, expulsions, torture, forced confessions and systematic theft to strip the occupied population of almost all democratic rights and human dignity. Their detention in an Israeli jail contravenes Article 76 of the Fourth Geneva Convention that outlaws the transfer of prisoners outside of the occupied territory. This is, however, a widespread Israeli practice that serves to prevent the prisoners families in the West Bank and Gaza from visiting them. According to Addameer, the prisoners rights group, Israel holds 4,750 Palestinians, including 42 females, 200 children and 550 administrative detainees, across dozens of prison facilities. Protesters carry posters with pictures of Palestinian prisoners that read "Ahed Abu Ghalmeh a life sentence and five years, freedom for Mohammed al-Salaymeh, a 25 years sentence," during a rally supporting Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails, in the West Bank city of Ramallah, Wednesday, Sept. 8, 2021. (AP Photo/Nasser Nasser) Many of these prisoners are awaiting trial, while others are in so-called administrative detention, whereby they are held without trial or even charges. Their conditions in captivity are nothing short of brutal, and they face the constant threat of beatings and torture. The Israeli authorities even deny them food, with the result that the Palestinian Authority (PA) pays their families to support them in jail. Two were caught on Saturday in the Arab town of Umm al-Ghanam in Israel. One was Zakaria Zubeidi, 46, from the northern West Bank city of Jenin. Zubeidi joined and later emerged as a leader of the al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, Fatahs armed faction, after Israel launched a horrific attack on the Jenin refugee camp in April 2002, killing hundreds of Palestinians and carrying out a mass demolition of homes, including Zubeidis family home. The other was Mahmoud al-Arida, a member of the Al-Quds Brigades, the military wing of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad. A further two, Mahmoud Arda, 46, and Yacoub Qadri, 49, were arrested late on Friday night in Nazareth, a predominately Arab town in northern Israel. The remaining two, Ayham Kamamji, 35, and Munadel Infiat, 26, Muhammed Arda, 39 and Zakaria Zubeidi, 46, remain free. While there were reports that local residents in Umm al-Ghanam and Nazareth had turned in the prisonersclaims denied within the two townssparking angry denunciations by Palestinians in the West Bank, others have suggested that such reports were part of a deliberate attempt by the Israeli authorities to drive a wedge between the Palestinians in Israel and the West Bank. The men all hail from Jenin, where there is mass opposition to President Mahmoud Abbass corrupt Fatah-dominated Palestinian Authority for its role as Israels subcontractor in its efforts to permanently subjugate them in their own land. In recent months, there have been gun fights between Israeli forces and the Palestinians in the Jenin area and the refugee camp, with the PAs own security units unwilling to enter the camp. Two weeks ago, Israeli security forces killed at least four Palestinian men with live fire when Israeli special forces raided the Jenin refugee camp to arrest a Palestinian man. The prisoners audacious escape from the high security jail prompted jubilation and hilarity among the Palestinians and throughout the Middle East while profoundly embarrassing Israels military intelligence apparatus that described it as a major security and intelligence failure. It is one of just a handful of such escapes that include the escape of three Palestinians from the Kfar Yona facility in 1995 and an escape via tunnels from the Shata prison in 2014. The Palestinians had tunneled their way out of Gilboa by digging a hole with a spoon from their cell toilet floor to open underground passages built during the prisons construction, whose plans were apparently on the website of the architectural firm that had designed the prison. As the underground passages were open and apparently not monitored, the prisoners were able to dispose of the building waste without detection. The hole beyond the prisons fence through which the prisoners escaped was situated directly below a watchtower whose guard was asleep. The Israel Prison Service (IPS) immediately announced that it would relocate around 400 Islamic Jihad-affiliated inmates inside Gilboa, Megiddo, Rimon and Katziot prisons in Israel to other prisons to isolate them from each other, some of whom were later held in solitary confinement. Their use of special units and the military to transfer prisoners who refused to go voluntarily prompted days of tensions inside the jails. On Wednesday, after Palestinian prisoners in Katziot prison set fire to seven cells in protest against their transfer, the military moved in to reassert control, while the IPS banned all visits for Palestinian prisoners for the rest of this month and declared that no new visits could be booked. As the news of the tensions within the prisons emerged, angry demonstrations broke out across the West Bank that were put down with brutal force. According to the Palestinian News Agency, Israeli forces fired stun grenades and tear gas at protesters, injuring nearly 100 Palestinians in the Nablus and Hebron governorates, while four were injured in clashes in East Jerusalem. On Friday, the Palestinians held a mass Day of Rage protest, called by Hamas, the Muslim Brotherhood-affiliated group that controls Gaza, in solidarity with the prisoners. Israel deployed hundreds of troops to scour villages and the countryside for the escapees and arrested several of the prisoners relatives, a form of collective punishment outlawed under international law. The military extended the closure of the occupied West Bank beyond the planned closure from last Monday to Wednesday during the Jewish New Year celebrations and set up hundreds of checkpoints to prevent the escaped prisoners from crossing into the West Bank and Gaza, amid calls for the security forces to catch and kill them as a deterrence to others. The Palestinian Authority warned that Israels repressive measures against the prisoners could ignite a new intifada. A PA official said, Israel is playing with fire. The issue of the prisoners is extremely sensitive. The situation is very dangerous. He warned Israel that the West Bank is on the verge of explosion because of the anger over the measures taken against the security prisoners, while the PA Foreign Ministry said that Israels latest measures rise to the level of war crimes and crimes against humanity. The PA is acutely aware of mounting public anger over its cooperation with Israeli security forces, its rampant corruption and nepotism, mismanagement of public monies and refusal to tolerate dissent, especially if it targets Fatah, the ruling party that has enriched a handful of Palestinian families at the expense of the broad mass of the population. Last week, the PA was forced to indict 14 members of the PAs security services on charges of beating to death Nizar Banat, an outspoken activist well known for his fierce criticism of the PA on social media, last June. His death at the hands of the Palestinian security forces turned into a rallying cry against Abbas and the PA. Banats family, however, dismissed the indictments, saying that the 14 are merely sacrificial lambs and that the senior Palestinian officials that gave the instructions should also be charged. Last month, Israel agreed to transfer $155 million to the Palestinian Authoritymonies it described as a loanto keep the cash-strapped government afloat. In Gaza, following threats by Islamic Jihad and Hamas to launch rockets into Israel if the six escapees or other prisoners were hurt, militants fired a rocket into Israel on Friday and again on Saturday, causing no damage after the prisoners were captured. Israel launched air strikes on the Palestinian enclave in response. A Hamas spokesman said that Hamas will demand that the escaped prisoners be included in any future prisoner exchange deal negotiated with Israel, which is seeking the release of two Israeli civilians and the bodies of two Israeli soldiers held in Gaza. There is still no agreement with Israel over Gazas reconstruction following Israels 11-day assault last May, after the PA backtracked on transferring Qatari monies through its banks in the West Bank to Gaza, citing concerns that its banks would be exposed to lawsuits alleging support for terrorism, as Hamas is designated as a terrorist organization by Israel and other Western countries. As part of the German federal election campaign of the Sozialistische Gleichheitspartei (Socialist Equality Party, SGP), members of the SGP and the International Youth and Students for Social Equality (IYSSE) in Leipzig have been conducting interviews with workers and youth to discuss the situation of workers in delivery branches, the pandemic and the re-opening of schools as well as the ever-increasing social inequality and the need for an international movement of the working class. The discussions have highlighted the growing anger and opposition regarding working conditions as well as rising concern about the spread of delta and the complete lack of security measures for the population. At the Gorillas branches in Leipzig, many workers had heard of the Berlin strike and expressed support for their colleagues. SGP members campaign in Leipzig Franco said, I am also from Argentina like Santiago [a sacked Gorillas worker]. There should have been another measure taken before firing him, I think it was very drastic. What happened is very bad. I agree with their [Berlin Gorillas] strike, I think it is for a good cause and I support them. Gorillas worker Carlos, his name changed for anonymity, spoke about the working conditions in Leipzig. The working conditions here are so bad. There are so many accidents. The roads are fine, but the alleys are stone-paved so the bike will often skid while driving and theres nothing we can do about it. Their slogan is ten minutes, but what they do now, as they dont have enough riders, they force you to take two or three orders at a time, which means the last person who gets the order gets it late, but they make more money that way. We carry heavy loads on our backs and we are constantly exposed to the elements, to traffic, we have to drive close to trams, as quick as possible. It wears you down psychologically. We dont have any rain gear, many riders are drenched and ride with their shoes full of water. We dont get any training. They just ask us if we can ride a bike and thats it. They are really putting our lives at stake. Once I was riding down a street with someone behind me, he slipped because it was raining and hurt his knee, he was bleeding. When accidents happen, we are just told to ride carefully, not to hurry. Even though we work the most, we are payed very little, he continued. What I liked about your flyer is that you did some research about the company and how much money they make. Their excuse for paying us minimum wage is that we get tips, but getting tips depends on the person, we cant force anyone to give us tips. Even on their website they acknowledge how hard the work is, they dont deny it, but we are not being treated accordingly. I really would like to ask the managers of this company to try doing what we do. What they expect from us is impossible. Asked about their opinion regarding the SGPs perspective of rank-and-file committees independent of the unions to raise demands and organize strikes, he responded, I think it is good. But many riders dont have as many grievances because they know they will have to move on, as most of them are on a working visa and cant stay with one employer. Many people I know will leave within the next month. Also, it is very difficult to discuss among colleagues, as we are constantly being watched. If I gave you an interview in front of Gorillas, I might get fired. Our reporters were indeed interrupted by a manager on one occasion, who intimidated the workers they were speaking to and warned them not to divulge any information. Mahabur At the Amazon plant in Leipzig, SGP campaigners spoke to workers about the Dana auto parts workers strike in the United States. When Paul heard about their struggle against their current unsafe and grueling working conditions, he said I want to send my greetings to the workers and tell them I support their struggle. They shouldnt let themselves be exploited, they should fight, theres no question. Eighty-four hours a week? Thats slavery, thats insanity! Asked about the unions in Germany and the recent Amazon strike in Bad Hersfeld, Paul commented: The strategy of the unions makes no sense at all, why split up the strikes? No one [from the union] was able to explain that to us. No one wants to explain that to us, his colleague interjected. Asked about the conditions during the pandemic, Paul explained that they only received a two Euros pay rise for three months, which was then abolished without explanation. The number of employees allowed to work together has also been increased again. In the city center, SGP campaigners met Mahabur, an architect from Bangladesh and a former Amazon employee. I lost my job during the pandemic. I was working in historic preservation, but all the museums closed. Im still looking for a job and thinking about other options to survive. I know that this winter, the pandemic will get worse again. Asked about the re-opening of schools and public life as a whole and the role of the governments worldwide in stopping the pandemic, Mahabur said, No nation can stop the pandemic alone, everyone has to work as a team. I also agree with the fact that the corporations profited a lot from this pandemic. The formula for the vaccine should not be profitable, it should be accessible to all. The pandemic is still going on, the risk has not diminished. When I was working at Amazon and other warehouses last year, there were not enough security measures, not enough disinfection. They canceled our [COVID] bonus after three months and many who started working a bit later were not even eligible. I am worried because Delta is becoming the dominant strain. Our reporter insisted that only the working class, which is the biggest social force and which has the most interest in stopping the pandemic, can impose the measures to actually eradicate the virus. That is the combination of a global, thorough lockdown with full compensation for workers, contact- tracing and a rigorous vaccination program combined with an educational campaign. This is only possible through the mobilization of the international working class on the basis of a socialist program, which puts lives above capitalist profit interests. To organize a fight to stop the pandemic and improve workers living conditions, we support the formation of rank-and-file committees in schools, factories and all workplaces. These committees must be established by workers independently of the unions, politicians and government apparatus. Contact us here to form a rank-and-file committee or report on the working conditions at Amazon, Gorillas and other delivery services. In order to support the SGPs election campaign, fill out this form. Town Hall Meeting: Eradicate the pandemic and save lives! The Socialist Equality Party hosted a second town hall meeting with the partys candidate in the California gubernatorial election, David Moore, on Saturday, September 11. Moore, a special education teacher from Oakland, California, urged workers and youth to mobilize to defend lives by fighting for a strategy to eradicate COVID-19. The candidate presented a strategy and answered many questions from teachers, students, healthcare and other workers. The event was moderated by the SEPs vice presidential candidate in 2020, Norissa Santa Cruz. For more information on the campaign of David Moore for governor, visit socialism2021.org. The UK Conservative government announced extra funding for the National Health Service (NHS) and Social Care last week by increasing National Insurance Contribution (NIC) payments of working people by 1.25 percenta 10 percent increase on the current 12 percent NIC rate. Not a single penny of the wealth of the financial oligarchy, who enriched themselves during the pandemic, will be touched to fund the services millions depend on. After promising to allocate an extra 5.4 billion for the NHS over the next six months, Prime Minister Boris Johnson boasted, We will continue to make sure our NHS has what it needs to bust the COVID backlogs and help the health service build back better from the worst pandemic in a century. National Health Service workers at a hospital in southern England (WSWS Media) Health and Social Care Secretary Sajid Javid declared, Funding over the next 6 months is critical to ensuring the health service has what it needs to manage the ongoing pandemic and helping to tackle waiting lists. Johnson and Javids pledges are bare-faced lies. This meagre sum will solve none of the critical problems the overwhelmed and vastly under-resourced NHS is facing. Instead, the crisis facing NHS due to funding shortfalls, lack of beds and staff shortages will worsen due to the governments murderous COVID-19 policies. Only 5.3 billion of the 36 billion revenue clawed back from working people in the next three years through increased taxation is ring-fenced to go towards social care. Contrary to Johnsons rhetoric, the amount allocated for the NHS is only a half of what is needed to maintain even the current level of services. The NHS Confederation and the NHS Providers say that they need at least an extra 10 billion in 2022/23 to cover ongoing COVID-19 costs, recover care backlogs and make appropriate allowance for efficiency savings demanded by the government. The health services bodies warned, It is vital that the government provides this resource. If it fails to do so, it will inevitably become harder for patients to access the care they need, when they need it, and for the NHS to provide the right quality of timely care to all who require it. Ben Zaranko, a research economist at the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS), said, The extra funding provided for the NHS in yesterdays (September 7) announcement will result in spending growing at 3.9% a year between 201819 and 202425, exactly the same rate of growth as was planned between 201819 and 202324. That suggests little or no long-term additional costs as a result of the pandemic. Even before the effects of the criminal reopening of schools and winter pressures are felt, tens of thousands of COVID-19 cases are being reported across the country, with more than 8,000 people now being treated for the disease in hospitals. COVID numbers are set to rise further along with other respiratory illnesses. The Academy of Medical Sciences warned in July, A lethal triple mix of COVID-19, influenza, and the respiratory virus Respiratory Syncytial Virus (RSV), could push an already depleted NHS to breaking point this winter unless we act now. Some hospitals are already buckling under the burden the pandemic has put on them. The Isle of Wights County Press newspaper reported last week that in St Marys hospital, 20 percent of their acute beds are occupied by Covid-19 patients. Debbie Fleming, the chief executive of University Hospitals Dorset NHS Foundation Trust, recently admitted that the trust was really heaving and bracing for a perfect storm of pressures. During the past decade, the NHS has been hit with the longest and deepest financial squeeze in its history due to unrelenting austerity measures carried out by Tory-led governments. The starving of funds and lack of commitment to resolve training health professionals, including the attacks on bursaries for student nurses and allied health professions, has created a massive staffing and bed capacity crisis never seen before in the NHS. In England alone, total bed capacity was slashed from 160,254 in 2009 to 118,000 in 2020, according to NHS England figures. To avoid cross infection from COVID-19, hospitals have had to operate with a further 12 percent reduction in bed capacity. The list of patients waiting for elective procedures is growing rapidly and has reached 5.6 million people, the highest since the records began in 2007. Under one scenario projected by the IFS, people waiting for surgeries could jump to 14 million in autumn next year. Even in their most optimistic scenario, the IFS said, the number of people waiting for treatment would rise to over 9 million next year and would only return to pre-pandemic levels in 2025. But that would require the NHS to increase capacity by 5% in 2021 and 2022 compared with 2019 and then by 10% in 2023 onward (the equivalent of treating around 1.6 million additional patients per year, relative to 2019 volumes, at a potential annual cost of at least 2 billion, before any allowance for additional infrastructure). The Nuffield Trust health charity fears that waiting lists could reach even higher and could top 15 million people in four years without a major increase in NHS capacity. Although the Johnson government is trying to put the blame for the creation of a massive backlog in elective procedures solely on the pandemic, it has been years in the making. The criminal herd immunity policy which put profits of the super-rich before lives only exacerbated problems the NHS was already facing. The dismantling and privatisation of NHS-run services has affected its world ranking as the best value for money health service among 11 developed countries. The influential Commonwealth Fund thinktank in the US recently cut the NHSs overall ranking from first position in 2014 and 2017, to fourth place in 2021. Commenting on the move, Siva Anandaciva, the chief analyst at the Kings Fund healthcare thinktank, told the Guardian, We cant brush this under the carpet as being solely a consequence of the impact of the pandemic on patients, staff and services. Even before Covid, waiting lists for treatment were already sizeable after a decade of stalling funding and a growing workforce crisis. Johnson and his cronies have already made sure, through large-scale privatisations, that an enormous swathe of any money spent on reducing the backlog or on the NHS will go directly to line the pockets of the private hospitals and health company owners, many of whom are in the Tory Party or closely connected to it. Just as criminal is the silence or occasional lame response of the so-called opposition, the Labour Party and trade unions. They have done nothing to mobilise the groundswell of opposition brewing within the working class to the governments criminal policies. Labour and the unions refused to give official backing to a national day of action organised for the 73rd anniversary of the NHS in July. The WSWS commented, Staffed by well-paid bureaucrats, either unelected or elected on tiny turnouts, these organisations did not want to cut across their bankrupt policy of holding Johnson and his fellow criminals to their poisoned declarations of love for the NHS. Their overarching fear is of any genuine opposition movement developing among workers. This would not only cut across their own lucrative relations with NHS and corporate management and the state apparatus. It would of necessity have to turn its fire on the unions themselves, whose sellouts have created the pay and privatisation crisis in the health service. New Jersey is struggling to recover from the impact of the remnants of Hurricane Ida earlier this month which caused the deaths of 29 residents. The bodies of Seton Hall University students Nidhi Rana and Ayush Rana were recovered this week. The two Passaic, New Jersey residents had been swept away after their car was overwhelmed by flood waters. Two people remain missing nearly two weeks after the storm hit. Ida brought massive floods that destroyed homes and small businesses across the Northeastern United States, in addition to Louisiana, where the hurricane made landfall, knocking out power for one million people and killing 31. Many are wondering how they will put their lives back together. I hope they understand the devastation that this community is suffering right now, I really do, because nobody is answering telephones, and its really hard, Ms. Mann, a resident of Millburn, told NJ Spotlight News as she fought back tears. So much help is needed, I dont even know what to ask for. Do you understand? Utility workers walk along a street piled with debris from flood damage caused by the remnants of Hurricane Ida in Manville, N.J., Sunday, Sept. 5, 2021. (AP Photo/Craig Ruttle) On September 6, President Joe Biden declared Bergen, Gloucester, Hunterdon, Middlesex, Passaic and Somerset counties major disaster areas. This designation enables the storms victims to seek federal assistance for rebuilding. On the following day, Biden toured hard-hit areas of New Jersey with Governor Phil Murphy, who argued that Essex, Union, Hudson and Mercer counties also should be declared major disaster areas. In addition, federal and state officials are evaluating whether Burlington, Monmouth, Morris and Warren counties meet requirements for this designation. This long list, which includes 14 of New Jerseys 21 counties, gives an initial sense of the magnitude of Idas effect on the state. These counties are home to approximately 7.4 million, or 83 percent, of the states 8.9 million residents. Manville, which Biden and Murphy toured, had some of the worst flood damage in the state. The predominantly working-class town is home to about 10,000 people. Manville has a large community of Eastern European immigrants, including one of the largest Polish populations in the state. Many immigrants from Latin America have come to the town in recent years. We lost everything, resident Kurt Jelenek told CBS2. Our cars are under water. What we are wearing right now is what we have. We lost our animals, which drowned, and you just cant imagine the loss. He added that the floodwaters rose from his ankles to his shoulders within minutes. Residents have been frustrated by their efforts to interact with the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). Jelenek said that the agencys website was not working, and no one had told him what assistance he would receive. We dont even know where to start, resident Robert Moskal told CBS2. We get on the phone with FEMA: 120-minute wait time. Storm-damaged and moldy belongings have waited at the curbside to be picked up and removed. In addition to the flooding, two buildings exploded in Manville in the aftermath of the storm. One was a home, and the other a business called Saffron Banquets. The explosions may have been caused by gas leaks resulting from the flooding. Manville, which was named after the asbestos manufacturing company Johns Manville, is an emblem of capitalist contempt for the working class. For years, white flakes of asbestos, a carcinogen, floated through town. Creosote, another toxin, was dumped into lagoons on which unknowing residents ice skated. The groundwater and drinking water became contaminated, and a section of town later was named a Superfund site, designated by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Residents have struggled with flooding for decades without any significant help from the state or the federal governments. A high-profile example is Hurricane Floyd, which struck Manville hard in 1999. But an Army Corps of Engineers study concluded in 2016 that Manville did not meet the cost-benefit standard for any flood protection project. Millburn, a suburb of Newark in northern New Jersey, also experienced serious flooding during Idas onslaught. Water surged through its downtown area as the storm passed through. Resident Neeraj Nagpal lost the contents of three of the four floors of his house. Jeff Cassin, another resident, told NJ Spotlight News that hundreds of households in town had been affected. But Millburn is in Essex County, which FEMA has not declared a major disaster area as of this writing. The remnants of Hurricane Ida also damaged the aqueduct that provides water to Hoboken and Jersey City, which are across the Hudson River from New York City. A boil water advisory that went into effect 24 hours afterward remained in place for four days. Residents are angry at Suez Water, the company that owns the aqueduct, because it was slow to begin repairs. Responding to public anger, local politicians have made a show of expressing outrage. Jersey City Mayor Steven M. Fulop criticized Suezs distribution of fresh and bottled water to residents as chaotic. Hoboken Mayor Ravi Bhalla has demanded an apology and an explanation from the company. Hoboken and Jersey City are in Hudson County, which has also not been declared a major disaster area as of this writing. Flooding was not the only catastrophe brought by Ida. The storm spawned a tornado that passed through Mullica Hill, a town in southern New Jersey that is approximately 25 miles south of Philadelphia. The tornado was a Category 3 on the Enhanced Fujita Scale, which indicates winds of 136 to 165 mph and severe damage. Our entire property was destroyed, resident Jennifer Culling told NJ Spotlight News. Water flooded her basement. The tornado tore off part of her roof and destroyed her shed, garage, cars, fence and several windows. Almost every tree on her property was knocked down. Elsewhere in town, roofs and even entire sides of houses were torn off. Residents reported never having seen destruction on this scale. During his tour, Biden pledged federal assistance to the ravaged state and promoted his infrastructure plan. But the plan, which would provide about $579 billion in new infrastructure spending, is not adequate to address the needs created by decades of neglect and austerity. The sewage and storm water networks in many parts of the state are more than 100 years old. The state will need $8.6 billion to address its drinking water needs over the next 20 years, according to the American Society of Civil Engineers. New Jerseys wastewater needs a total of $17.5 billion. The state has 229 high-hazard dams. In addition, 7.8 percent of its bridges are structurally deficient, and 37 percent of the roads are in poor condition. The effects of Hurricane Ida were exacerbated by man-made climate change, a clear and present danger that Biden was forced to acknowledge in his remarks. But Biden, like his Republican and Democratic predecessors, offered platitudes instead of the massive investments and international scientific coordination that the fight against climate change requires. The inability of Biden and Murphy to address the grave challenges facing New Jersey and the nation reflect their role as long-standing agents of the financial elite and enemies of the working class. Over 3,500 workers at automotive parts maker Dana Inc. are engaged in a powerful fight against low wages and oppressive conditions, which are prevalent in the parts industry. Over the last few weeks, workers in Michigan, Indiana, Ohio, Missouri, Tennessee, Kentucky and other states overwhelmingly rejected a five-year concessions-laden contract pushed by the United Auto Workers (UAW) and United Steelworkers (USW) unions, which have long overseen low pay and sweatshop conditions at Dana. The UAW and USW have reacted to the rebuke by announcing that they will extend the current contract and keep workers on the job, ignoring the strike authorization votes by workers and widespread sentiment for a walkout. The Dana Workers Rank-and-File Committee, which was set up to provide a voice and leadership to workers, is demanding strike action and coordinating the opposition of workers across all the plants, as well as appealing to workers at GM, Ford, Stellantis, Deere & Co and other companies which use parts built by Dana workers. The World Socialist Web Site recently spoke to a former press operator at the Paris, Tennessee plant who left Dana because the long hours of mandatory overtime made family life impossible. The worker, who stays in close contact with her former coworkers, described the dangerous and abusive conditions at the plant and expressed her support for a unified struggle by Dana workers. Image composite: WSWS Media Paris, Tennessee is located roughly two hours west of Nashville in largely rural Henry County. According to the United States Census Bureau, Henry County has 32,199 residents with a median household income (in 2019 dollars) of $40,502. The number of persons living in poverty is 18.3 percent, well above the national average. In the area we live in, there arent many decent jobs, said Anita, who used a pseudonym to protect her identity. Its basically McDonalds, Wal-Mart or Dana, and unfortunately, Dana is the best option. People say Leave, find a new job. But its not that easy when you have family relying on you and there arent a lot of opportunities. You cant just leave, and you shouldnt have to. You should be entitled to your basic human rights. Nobody should be forced into heat exhaustion. Nobody should be forced to breathe poisonous chemicals. Anita described the horrific conditions inside Dana, which are akin to some of the worst conditions of the 19th century. Workers are being forced to endure 12-hour days, seven days a week, for weeks on end. They also risk their lives operating dilapidated machinery, oftentimes in temperatures exceeding one hundred degrees. Ive seen people be terribly injured at work, and youre lucky if they let you go to the hospital. Even if they do let you go to the hospital, theyre not going to pay for you to have proper care. People have been burned on presses because they wont fix them. Management stays on the maintenance technicians to fix them, but they wont supply the parts needed to fix things. Dana talks a lot about safety measures, but its not safe; they only want to give you the illusion of safety. Ive seen people burned so badly and told to work the next day. Theyre burned so horrifically but Dana doesnt give you enough time to get a skin graft and expects you to be at work the next day. A man had molten plastic shoot out of a press onto his face. Hes not the only person to have been burned by molten plastic. Ive seen a mans arm impaled by a machine and he had to be airlifted to Nashville. You would think they would say, Well, maybe we do need to change something. Every day, there are people risking their lives. Ive seen the top plates of these [press molds], which are moved with forklifts because theyre solid metal, fall inches away from people. The company wont provide proper bolts. They wont fix the safety chains. Everyone is working in 115-degree heat. And 115 degrees in a building with stamping presses, which produce heat like giant ovens, is a different kind of heat. Its really hard to handle. Your body is not meant to withstand that for very long. Due to the nature of Danas production, workers are constantly exposed to hazardous chemicals and fumes, which increases their chances of long-term illness, including cancer. I understood when I went to work in a factory that there are chemicals and things that might be harmful, but I didnt agree to breathe that in 12 hours a day, five days a week and weekends. I agreed to 40 hours. I cant count the number of people I know who have gotten sick with lung issues, or cancer, or have died. It shouldnt be like that. Far from opposing these conditions, the UAW helps enforce them, Anita said, I read some plants get heat breaks. We didnt know that was a thing until we saw some comments on one of [the WSWS] articles on Facebook. We brought it to our UAW reps and asked, What is a heat break? Come to find out, its in our agreement, but we didnt know, it was kept from us. The union is not doing what its supposed to do. Every single Dana employee is not only fighting the company, theyre fighting the people who are supposed to be fighting for them. Anita also described how the new 12-hour, seven-day-a-week schedule at the plant was increasing the danger of COVID-19 infection. That doubles your chances of exposure. Not only do you have to come in for your shift, but when you have to come in early or stay late, youre exposed to a completely different shift of a completely different set of people. If you dont get your test results back in a certain amount of time youre going to get pointed, she said, referring to punitive disciplinary points. Were people, and we deserve basic human rights, and part of those rights is being able to protect ourselves, our families and our coworkers from something that is killing so many people every single day. Our plant doesnt even have a plan. They dont have a protocol. Youve got to have rules, especially when youre talking about something as critical as peoples lives. If youre exposed, you go home, get tested, quarantine, do what you have to do. People are killing themselves every day just because they need a means of providing for themselves and their families. Anita said Dana workers were becoming more confident that they could fight these conditions. When I started working at Dana, I didnt know I was selling my soul. I was just trying to get a job and make a living, but youre signing your life away and your familys life away when you sign that employment agreement. We finally have a chance to take that back, get a new agreement on our terms, that allows us to be good employees and good for our families. Its well past time to make a change. When I heard the 12 hours would start again, I got angry and sad, because I thought I cant do anything about it. I cant do anything about it, but we can. As a whole, we can. She described how the UAW reacted to the overwhelming no vote by Dana workers, including by 83 percent of the workers at the Paris plant. We pay the union money to protect us, to help us and to fight for us, and when youre being told, Get ready, this is our chance, were going to strike, were going to stick it to them, and then literally hours before youre told, Never mind, were going to put an extension on it and youre just going to have to sit tight and deal with it. Every single employee, every single family member of an employee Ive spoken with felt like that was nothing but a slap in the face. Weve heard that the UAW International is talking about making committees to go around to each local to find out what we want from the contract, but weve also heard that theyre not going to be allowed to speak to the workers, only the union representatives in each plant. I think its a facade. I think theyre trying to hold us over, to make it look like theyve been negotiating. The UAW not telling us anything until the last minute is horrifying. They have something to hide. Anita described how the WSWS was helping Dana workers communicate with each other and coordinate their opposition. Dana likes to isolate people. They dont like to talk about other plants in other parts of the country, or anything like that, so when this started becoming a big thing and I started reading your articles, I was literally brought to tears. I realized that there are people who have it worse than what weve experienced, thats astonishing to me. There are so many workers and family members that truly appreciate what you guys are doing. I cant tell you how many times Ive gotten emotional because someone is providing this information. For years, we thought it was a local issue, that our local management was so bad and causing all these problems, and its just so hard to wrap your mind around the fact that its happening across the country and being allowed to happen. If we stop, [Dana] stops. They cant get people in there to work now, whats going to happen when theres none of us left? Ive heard a lot of times, You need [Dana] and that paycheck more than they need you, and thats not true, because without us they dont get a paycheck either. They dont get their pockets lined unless were making the product. When everybody realizes that we do have power, as long as we unite, if we demand basic human rights, we can do it if we all stand together. Your whole life youre taught that [Democrats and Republicans] have power, and you dont, but youre the one making their power. Youre the one putting in your labor to make their power, so who really holds the power? We need change. People cant keep living in this hell. Yes, we need raises. While Dana employees are some of the best-paid in our area, its still not enough to make it. Its definitely not enough to compensate for the things that theyre put through. On Saturday, former US President George W. Bush gave the main address commemorating the September 11, 2001 terror attacks at a memorial in Shanksville, Pennsylvania. Flanked by former Vice President Dick Cheney and current Vice President Kamala Harris, Bush declared, In the weeks and months following the 9/11 attacks, I was proud to lead an amazing, resilient, united people. Bushs appearance was preceded by an op-ed by former National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice in the Wall Street Journal, titled We Are More Secure Than We Were on 9/11, which defended the policy of the Bush administration in response to September 11. Rice made the rounds of the Sunday morning talk shows, extolling the invasions of Iraq and Afghanistan and opining on US foreign policy. Bush, Rice and Cheney were the architects of a series of massive violations of the US Constitution and international law, as well as crimes against the populations of Iraq, Afghanistan and the United States itself. They pioneered the institutionalization of torture, kidnapping, illegal warrantless government spying and the launching of wars of aggression that have killed more than one million people. From left, former President Bill Clinton, Hillary Clinton, former President Barack Obama, Michelle Obama, President Joe Biden, Jill Biden, former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, Diana Taylor, Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, and Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer stand for the national anthem during the annual 9/11 Commemoration Ceremony at the National 9/11 Memorial and Museum in New York. (Chip Somodevilla/Pool Photo via AP) Leveraging the shock and horror created by the 9/11 attacks, Bush and his co-conspirators implemented, within a matter of days, a set of plans years in the making. The criminal ethos that overtook the White House was expressed by Cheney, who declared in a nationally televised interview just days after the attacks, We have to work the dark side Were going to spend time in the shadows. And so they did. In secret, Bush, Cheney and their allies set up dungeons where US soldiers and intelligence operatives repeatedly suffocated detainees, electrocuted them, stabbed them, beat them, shoved them in tiny boxes, smeared them in excrement, sodomized them and forced them to masturbate in front of cameras. In secret, they created the Stellarwind warrantless surveillance program, which allowed the government to launch an electronic version of a police raid into the house of every person on the planet, whether they were a US citizen or not. In secret, they fabricated evidence that the Iraqi government possessed weapons of mass destruction, bombarding the American public with lies in order to launch a criminal war of aggression. But in the words of Harris, who spoke after Bush and repeated the same talking point almost verbatim, the legacy of Americas response to 9/11 was fundamentally positive. In the days that followed September 11, 2001, we were all reminded, that unity is possible in America. We were reminded also, that unity is imperative in America. It is essential to our shared prosperity, to our national security, and to our standing in the world When we stand together, looking back, we remember the vast majority of Americans were unified in purpose. Biden reiterated Harriss claims in a taped video statement, declaring, Unity is our greatest strength. The unity lauded by Bush, Harris and Biden was a myth. The Bush administrations dictatorial actions and criminal wars prompted massive opposition, with the first protests against the Afghanistan war occurring within less than two weeks of September 11. This was followed by the march of millions of people in the United States and around the world against the war against Iraqthe largest global anti-war protests in history up to that point. But the real content of this myth of unity was the unity within the government to wage war and carry out a massive assault on democratic rights. This led to the nearly unanimous passage of the Patriot Act, which upended critical sections of the Constitution and passed the Senate 98-1, and the Authorization for Use of Military Force of 2001, which passed the Senate 98-0. Invocations of the myth of national unity have long been a hallmark of commemorations of 9/11. But it has never rung hollower than it does today. Bush, Biden and Harriss paeans to unity come eight months after Trumps January 6, 2021 coup attempt, when a substantial faction of the ruling class sought to instigate a fascistic insurrection to stop the transfer of power, in the process threatening to kill members of Congress and even former vice president Pence. For his part, Trump greeted the anniversary of September 11 by sneaking into New York City and speaking before uniformed police officers, repeating his claim that the 2020 election was stolen. In a dose of irony, former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani, lauded in the media as Americas Mayor and the personification of unity following the September 11 attacks, greeted the anniversary with a deranged fascist rant targeting his opponents within the state apparatus. More fundamentally, in their calls for unity, the representatives of the ruling class look nervously upon the seething social discontent within the United States. They hope to somehow cobble together a political framework for continuing the project of American imperialism for world domination and suppressing domestic opposition. To this end, all factions of the US media have joined together to defend the legacy of the war on terror. Narratives that depict the past 20 years of engagement as an endless series of blunders lack balance and perspective, declared the Democratic-aligned Washington Post in an editorial. Defending Bush and his co-conspirators, the Post stated, Many shortcomings that are today blamed on the hubris and duplicity of US leaders are attributable at least partly to the nature of the fight itself. The Post is defending not only the Bush administration, but the media establishment itself. After all, the same newspapers, television broadcasters, and columnists that defended and justified the Bush administrations crimes and its lies about weapons of mass destruction are still in business. Some, like former New York Times reporter Michael R. Gordon, have gone directly from lying about Iraqi weapons of mass destruction to peddling the conspiracy theory that the COVID-19 pandemic was released from a laboratory in Wuhan, China. America may be ending the war in Afghanistan, but the changes carried out within the framework of the war on terror have permanently entered the bloodstream of American politics. The defense of the Bush administrations crimes by the US media establishment is aimed not only at the past, but at the future. As usual, the Wall Street Journal was most explicit: The saving grace of 9/11 was the demonstration of American courage and resilience But the country also united for a time in political purpose... If another attack comes, perhaps with bioweapons that kill like Covid-19, would we have the same resolve and resilience? History suggests that we are going to find out. In other words, the time will come when another murky and unexplained incident may be used to radically alter the framework of American politics. The tools of aggressive war and dictatorial infringements on constitutional rights implemented as part of the war on terror will prove useful to American capitalism in the future. The endless talk of unity comes as the United States is more divided by class than at any point in postwar history. The financial oligarchy has used the COVID-19 pandemic to vastly enrich itself, while workers have been forced to work in unsafe conditions, subjected to mass death and economic dislocation. Seeing itself beset by political opposition, the US ruling class seeks unity by banishing criticism or examination, no matter how minor, of its past crimes. But no matter how the American media and political establishment attempts to circle the wagons, the crimes committed in the name of the war on terror will have massive consequences. They have torn the mask off American democracy and American capitalism, exposing it as a ruthless dictatorship of the financial oligarchy. As the working class begins to enter into social struggle, they will more and more see their fight as being not just against individual employers, but against the social order that created the horrors of Guantanamo, Abu Ghraib and Fallujah. Shadow education minister Tanya Plibersek addressed an elite business gathering last month, presenting a future Labor government as the best means of escalating the corporate restructuring of tertiary education. In her August 16 speech to the Australian Financial Review Higher Education Conference, Plibersek said nothing about the destruction of tens of thousands of jobs throughout the countrys public universities, since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, let alone commit a Labor government to reversing the cuts. Instead, she echoed the demands of the corporate elite, highlighted by a recent blueprint issued by the EY global consulting giant, for the pandemic disaster to be exploited, in order to radically reshape higher education and to satisfy the vocational training and research requirements of big business. Part of the University of New South Wales in Sydney (Credit: UNSW promotions) Plibersek proposed an Australian universities accord. It would be a partnership between universities and staff, unions and business, students and parents, and, ideally, Labor and Liberalthat lays out what we expect from our universities. This would be a corporatist regime. It would tie university staff and students, via the trade unions, to a bipartisan Labor front, with the Liberal-National Coalition and university managements to deliver the profit-generating demands of the capitalist class. The aim of the accord, according to Plibersek, would be to build consensus on key policy questions and national priorities, in order to help university reform stick. A chief principle of that reform would be prosperity: A university system designed to underpin job creation, productivity and our national prosperity. And where the benefits of university research are used to create Australian jobs and economic growth. That means subordinating universities, even more, to the dictates of employers and the corporate elite as a whole. No aspect of the higher education system will be out of bounds, Plibersek assured the audience. There would no tinkering around the edges. Another principle would be sustainability. Plibersek spoke of boosting national export income from the tens of billions of dollars that universities generate each year. In other words, universities must intensify their exploitation of high fee-paying international students as cash cows, to offset chronic government underfunding. Plibersek boasted that previous Labor governments had led the way in transforming tertiary education from a basic social right, free to all, into a money-making enterprise, featuring ever-higher student fees. Labor, she said, deserves credit for introducing the HECS system, through which the Hawke Labor government reimposed fees in 1987. At the same time, the Coalition deserved credit for supporting the introduction of the demand-driven system by the previous Labor government. The Rudd-Gillard Labor government, in which Plibersek was a cabinet minister, imposed an education revolution, featuring a demand-driven system. It slashed university funding, by several billion dollars, in 2012-13, and compelled universities to compete with each other for enrolments, particularly in business-oriented courses, in order to survive financially. The system has been retained by the Coalition government since 2013, as the bedrock of the deepening cuts and pro-business transformation of tertiary education. Pliberseks proposal dovetails with the EY report, released in the same week, that proclaimed the death of higher education and demanded an end to universities as they currently exist, to be replaced by corporate vocational and research services. For Labors vision of universities, Plibersek invoked a successful history of bipartisanship when it comes to national security and defence policy. This also indicates a closer integration of universities into the military and intelligence apparatus, and preparations for war. Speaking at the same Australian Financial Review event, Education Minister Alan Tudge advanced a similar vision. He declared that once international students returned to Australia after the pandemic, we need to do it differently. There had to be a better alignment with skills shortages, and a drive to reach new markets with different models of offerings at different price pointsfrom pure online, to on-campus learning offshore, to shorter stints in Australia, to microcredentials etc. Tudge vowed to continue the Research Commercialisation agenda, to tie university research funding to corporate demands and partnerships. He said the government wanted to see Australia to be more like the United States or Israel, where our universities produce not only great pure research, but then translate this into real-world benefits for Australia. Such is the bipartisan consensus advanced by Plibersek. It is also one shared by the university trade unions, such as the National Tertiary Education Union (NTEU). Having backed and enforced the previous Labor governments offensives against tertiary education, including the pro-business education revolution, the unions are again supporting the return of a Greens-backed Labor government. This is because they share the underlying outlook that universities must serve the interests of the ruling class, including by raising billions of dollars in revenue for Australian capitalism every year. To fight this destructive agenda, a socialist perspective is needed: one that fights for the complete reorganisation of society in the interests of all, not the soaring wealth accumulation of the billionaires. That would provide the billions of dollars needed to establish free, high-quality education, from kindergarten to university, and the basic right of all education workers to full-time employment, with decent pay and conditions. Twenty thousand participants took part in a demonstration in Berlin on Saturday afternoon under the slogan: Housing for all! Together against high rents and displacement. It began with an opening rally at Alexanderplatz, led from there to the Brandenburg Gate and on towards the Victory Column, where the closing rally took place. The protest was organized by the Action Alliance against Displacement and Rent Madness. In addition to a large number of tenant groups, representatives of social and welfare organizations and trade unions also took part. Delegations also came from other citiesincluding Hamburg in the north and Ludwigshafen in the south of the country. Prominently represented was the group Expropriate Deutsche Wohnen & Co., which has initiated a referendum in Berlin for the expropriation of large real estate corporations. It will take place on September 26 at the same time as the Bundestag (federal parliament) and Berlin state legislature elections. Protesters attend a demonstration against rent increase in Berlin, Germany in 2019. (AP Photo/Michael Sohn) The Action Alliance is calling for a change of course in rent and housing policy that will make rents affordable again. This is to be achieved by measures such as the expropriation of large real estate concerns, a nationwide rent cap, halting the conversion of publically/communally owned dwellings into private property, and stopping landlords from serving eviction notices on the grounds they need a property themselves and the like. Also on Saturday afternoon, a dance demo took place in Berlin entitled Who owns the city? Together against social division, which moved from Friedrichshain via Leipziger Street and Potsdamer Platz to Tempelhof. The question of rents is one of the most pressing social issues in the capital, but also in other major cities. Rents have been rising dramatically for years. While real estate speculators are making a killing, it is almost impossible for families to find affordable housing. It is not unusual for tenants to have to spend more than half their household income on rent payments. For this reason, recent years have seen the growth of demonstrations and protests against high rents and the companies who profit from them. When the Supreme Court overturned the so-called Berlin rent cap in April, 10,000 people protested against it. A few days earlier, 10,000 had taken to the streets in a rent demonstration . Now, demonstrators again gave vent to their anger about the untenable conditions. The WSWS spoke with Volker, who has lived in Berlin for more than 25 years. When he moved to the capital from western Germany, he had been able to move into a nice little apartment close to work despite a relatively low income. Five years ago, he had to move, and now spends more than twice as much on monthly rent. If rents keep going up like this, Ill end up on the street at some point, is his fear. I will definitely vote yes in the referendum, Volker says. However, he is very critical of the fact that the real estate sharks will be compensated for any expropriation. Every cent they get is one too many. Supporters of the Sozialistische Gleichheitspartei (Socialist Equality Party, SGP), which is running its own candidates in the elections to the Berlin legislature and the Bundestag, distributed a statement, The expropriation of rent sharks requires a socialist perspective. It was met with great interest. The SGP calls for a Yes vote in the referendum on the socialization of the housing holdings of large real estate corporations. It warns, however, that real expropriation can only be achieved by fighting the Social Democratic-Left Party-Green Senate (Berlin state executive) on the basis of a socialist program. The Senate has already stated that it considers the referendum result legally non-binding and will ignore a positive result. The SPD and the Left Party, which together with the Greens form the Senate, have played the leading role in the last twenty years in selling off hundreds of thousands of public apartments to real estate corporations at giveaway prices and in cutting the capitals infrastructure, clinics and public services to the bone. However, this did not prevent the Left Party and the Greens from hypocritically pandering to the demonstration. Klaus Lederer, the lead candidate of the Left Party for the Berlin House of Representatives election, walked along, as did Green candidate for the Bundestag, Canan Bayram. The SPDs top candidate, Franziska Giffey, on the other hand, reacted almost hysterically in opposition to the demonstrators demands. But it is with her as governing mayor, however, that both the Left Party and the Greens want to form the next Senate. The German Confederation of Trade Unions (DGB), whose head Reiner Hoffmann has been inciting the most vicious attacks against train drivers who are fighting for better wages and working conditions, was also represented at the demonstration by its board member Stefan Korzell. The SGPs statement reads: The SGP is pursuing a completely different strategy than the initiators of the referendum. We do not rely on the establishment parties and trade unions, but on the independent movement of the working class, which is developing energetically worldwide. ... The aim of the SGP is to give a socialist orientation to the opposition and the struggles of the working class, to unite them internationally andtogether with its sister parties in the Fourth Internationalto build a mass socialist party. The political establishment and corporate media have effectively buried a major study that shows Canadas official tally of pandemic deaths is a vast undercount. Titled Excess all-cause mortality during the COVID-19 epidemic in Canada, the study was released by the Royal Society of Canadas pandemic task force on June 29. In examining the period between February 1 and November 28, 2020, it found that overall pandemic fatalities were likely underestimated by two thirds with approximately 6,000 deaths of people aged 45 and above not being registered as being caused by COVID-19. These deaths were instead attributed to heart attacks, strokes and other ailments. The authors wrote that their conclusions were based on an examination of the best available reports of excess deaths across Canada, the pattern of COVID-19 fatalities during the pandemic, cremation data showing a significant spike in at-home versus hospital deaths in 2020 and antibody surveillance testing that collectively unmasked the likely broad scope of undetected COVID-19 infections. A member of the Canadian Armed Forces working at a Quebec nursing home. (Canadian Dept. of Defence) To ensure the most accurate results, the researchers were compelled to factor in the growth in opioid-related deaths. The arrival of the pandemic significantly worsened the opioid epidemic, which has claimed thousands of deaths across Canada in recent years. The report also points to the degree to which workers have succumbed to the pandemic. A quarter of the un-official COVID-19 deaths were in the 45-64 age cohort, likely consisting of frontline and essential workers. The report offers several possible explanations for the large discrepancy in the official death toll and the number of excess deaths. In comparison to wealthy countries of similar size, testing in Canada has remained very low when adjusted for case burden. There is no systematic post-mortem testing except in the provinces of Manitoba and Quebec. When there is no positive test attached to a mortality, many provinces do not report likely causes of death. These factors have contributed to COVID-19 deaths being missed when comorbidities are present in the deceased. The authors explain, however, that their results are only preliminary even for the period which they examined. The nations antiquated reporting system (baseline data from the period of 2015-19 only became available late last year) means that mortality statistics for the study period are still rolling in. The death count is therefore likely to be revised upwards as more data becomes available. Differences in the per-capita death rate and seroprevalence numbers indicate that the attribution of 95 percent of cases and deaths to Ontario and Quebec may not be accurate. Seroprevalence itself, the authors point out, may underestimate the extent of infections as levels of antibodies decline over time. Content to downplay the risks inherent in their drive to reopen the economy amid the pandemic, officials allowed testing capacity to remain woefully inadequate as the virus spread. The report observes that by May 17, 2021, Canadas peer countries had performed a cumulative average of 98 tests per positive case over the course of the pandemic, while Canada had performed 25 tests per positive case. This graph showing the weekly number of cremations in Ontario from January 1, 2020 to April 13, 2021 confirms the Royal Society's findings of large numbers of uncounted COVID-related deaths. It shows excess deaths, including and excluding those officially attributed to COVID-19, as compared with the average number of weekly cremations from 2017 to 2019. (Ontario COVD-19 Science Table) Screening of the population was rare; even long-term care homes, whose residents were the hardest hit in the pandemics first wave in the spring of 2020, only implemented regular testing during the second wave. This meant that, in the words of the report, During the frequent, lengthy periods of the Canadian COVID-19 epidemic when local public health contact tracing was overwhelmed and non-epidemiologically linked community cases were high, a person who died of symptoms clinically compatible with COVID-19 would not be reported as a COVID-19 death unless post-mortem testing was conducted. The authors damning findings are undermined by their effort to impose a racial framework on the excess deaths that is rooted in reactionary identity politics. They write that among the uncomfortable truths brought to light by the pandemic is the existence of systemic racism in light of the high numbers of immigrants and minorities among the dead. In truth, the deaths among these groups point to their overrepresentation in the most oppressed layers of the working class. Compelled to live in multigenerational homes, ride crowded transit vehicles, and work in-person in jobs with little prospect of social distancing, it is their socio-economic, i.e., class, status that put them at increased risk of contracting the virus. Despite this weakness, the study itself ultimately acknowledges the class nature of the pandemic. It states that [blood] donors in the most materially deprived neighbourhoods were nearly four times more likely to be seropositive than donors in the most affluent neighbourhood. With little reported information on the occupations of those who died from COVID-19, the authors examined 142 workplace outbreaks and found that among the jobs commonly associated with infection were health care workers, cleaners, transportation workers, postal workers, agricultural and restaurant workers, as well as those in the mining, manufacturing and construction sectors. Internationally, reports on excess deaths during the period coinciding with the pandemic have also shed light on the degree to which the toll of COVID-19 has been understated. A recent report by the Economist magazine estimates that the virus has claimed the lives of more than 15 million people worldwide, triple the official figure. The response of the ruling classes in every country to these revelations has largely been to ignore these studies or, in the case of the Narendra Modi-led government in India, to virulently denounce them. The hostility stems quite clearly from the recognition that the true death toll is further evidence of the fruits of the murderous herd immunity policy pursued by capitalism the world over so that profits can be ensured by forcing workers back on the job, public health be damned. Canadas media has for all intents and purposes suppressed the study since its initial release. Many news outlets carried reports on the Royal Society study on the day of its release. But this was not followed up with further analysis building on its findings of excess mortality, let alone scrutiny of the political decisions that left Canada woefully unprepared for the pandemic and have led to successive waves of mass infection and death. Subsequent reporting on Canadas official death toll has almost never been accompanied with the acknowledgement that the real number of COVID-19-related deaths is in all probability far higher. All sections of the Canadian ruling class have advocated the prioritizing of profits over saving lives, and backed the ruinous back-to-work/back-to-school drive. Provincial governments whether led by the New Democrats in British Columbia, the Coalition Avenir Quebec in Quebec, the Progressive Conservatives in Ontario, or the United Conservative Party in Alberta have systematically abandoned even the most basic public health measures aimed at slowing the spread of the disease. At the federal level, with the election campaign entering its closing stages, the major parties have been squirming to differentiate their virtually identical approaches to the pandemic. All of the parliamentary parties support a profits before lives strategy that insists that the wellbeing of the big banks and corporations must take priority over the safeguarding of human life. The only difference between the pandemic policies of the Liberals, Conservatives, New Democrats, Bloquistes and Greens is the degree to which they support vaccination mandates. Even the BBC was forced to conclude that the differences in the parties COVID-19 platforms were pretty thin. All are committed to keeping the economy open, whatever the cost and are complicit in the enormous death toll this strategy has produced. The ruling class and its political representatives are determined to prevent lockdownsalthough they have been shown to be the most effective means of preventing the virus spread. Thus, they promote vaccination as the only acceptable public health measure to fight the pandemic, placing their hopes that the hospital system does not collapse as the pandemics fourth wave rages (despite models showing enormous strain on ICU capacity), and the working class does not independently intervene to shut down schools and workplaces until the pandemic is brought under control. Vaccination, while a critical component of the fight against the disease, is not a panacea. A policy guided by a scientific understanding of the disease must recognize the threat posed to the unvaccinated and the threat of new variants emerging that evade existing vaccines. The Royal Society report points out that the official death toll of nearly 26,000 at the time of writing in early June (currently more than 27,000) is greater than any mass casualty event in Canadian history, save the influenza pandemic of 1918 and the two world wars. To prevent further devastation and to institute a rational, science-based response to the pandemic, the working class must intervene to halt all non-essential work, so that the necessary public health measures, travel bans, school closures, vaccination, testing, and contact tracing can be employed as part of a comprehensive eradication strategy to stop the continued spread of the deadly virus. Tamil nationalist parties in Sri Lanka met on August 22 to discuss working together in support of the US-sponsored resolution on Sri Lanka at the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC) and for mediation in a power-sharing agreement with the Colombo government. The UNHRC resolution, which was passed in March, calls for an investigation into human rights violations committed during the 30-year communalist war against the separatist Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE). Last months meeting was initiated by the Illankai Tamil Arasu Kachchi, which leads the Tamil National Alliance (TNA), and also involved the Tamil Eelam Liberation Organization, a partner of the TNA, the Eelam Peoples Revolutionary Liberation Front, the Tamil Peoples Alliance, and the Tamil Nationalist Party. Tamil families fleeing war in January 2009 [Source: Wikimedia] Participants agreed to press the Rajapakse government on four issues: the removal of the Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA); the release of political prisoners; an end to land acquisitions in the North and East; and for Colombo and New Delhi to fully implement the 13th constitutional amendment. The PTA was enacted in 1979 to suppress Tamil groups, including the LTTE, along with working class and any other political opponents of the Sri Lankan government. Dozens of Tamil political prisoners seized under the draconian PTA remain in jail, as do several Muslim leaders and journalists arrested in recent months. The 13th amendment emerged from the July 1987 Indo-Lanka Accord to disarm the LTTE and devolved limited powers to the Tamil elite in the North and East. Successive Colombo governments have been hostile to any power-sharing with the Tamil bourgeoisie and have not fully implemented this amendment. The call for an end to land requisitions is for release of land forcibly acquired by the military during the war and in the last decade following the LTTEs defeat in 2009. Some of this property is being used for the militarys economic activities and used for military camps. Buddhist temples have also been provocatively established in areas where Tamil people are living. Widespread anger is brewing among the Tamil masses over these repressive actions by the military which has occupied the North and East for decades. Like successive Colombo regimes, President Gotabhaya Rajapakses government, which rests on the military and Sinhala-Buddhist chauvinist groups, opposes any concessions to the Tamil elite. At the same time, it uses anti-Tamil propaganda to divide the working class. The Tamil elite is cynically using the UNHRC resolution, not to defend the democratic rights of Tamil workers and the poor, but to pressure Colombo for concessions. In line with this agenda the Tamil parties are providing political assistance to the US and other major powers which are exploiting the human rights violations and repression of the Tamils to further their own geopolitical interests. Eelanadu, a Jaffna-based online publication, reported that last months meeting of Tamil parties decided to be firm and not give any space for the government to escape the international pressure. The meeting was held after US diplomats in Colombo had at least two discussions with TNA leaders. On July 16, the US ambassador in Colombo, Alaina B. Teplitz, met with TNA leader R. Sambandan and other party officials at his residence. Sambandan told the media that they complained to the ambassador about the insincerity of Colombo governments in resolving the grievances of the Tamil people and urged the international community to directly intervene to provide a solution. Teplitz also held discussions on political reconciliation with TNA spokesman and parliamentarian M. A. Sumanthiran at an August 15 dinner. Cabinet minister G.L. Peiris was also invited, five days before he was appointed foreign minister. The US has kept India fully informed about its discussions with TNA leaders, who have also met several times with Indian envoy Gopal Baglay in Colombo. India is aligned with Washingtons military preparations for war against China and hostile to Chinese influence in the South Asia region. On August 30, Sumanthiran told the Jaffna media that Colombo needed to present a solution to the issues faced by the Tamil people and that the US should be a mediator that studies and approved those solutions. The next UNHRC meeting, which is scheduled to begin today, will review the progress of implementation of its call for the investigation of human rights violations. UNHR Commissioner Michele Bachelet has called for member states to collect evidence of war crimes in order to prosecute those responsible. The UN estimates that about 40,000 Tamil civilians were massacred by the military in the final months of Colombos war against the LTTE that ended in May 2009. Hundreds of LTTE cadres who gave themselves up simply disappeared, while surrendering LTTE leaders were killed. The US and other major imperialist powers, which are responsible for countless war crimes internationally, have no concern about the violation of human rights in Sri Lanka. Washington is using these crimes to persuade the Rajapakse government to sever its relations with Beijing. The cash-strapped Colombo regime, which faces a deepening economic crisis worsened by the pandemic, is increasingly reliant on investment and loans from Beijing. In April it began the operations of the China-funded Colombo Port Citya 269-hectare seafront area and an important component in Beijings Belt and Road Initiative to counter future US threats to its trade routes in the Indian and Pacific oceans. Washington opposed former President Mahinda Rajapakses close relations with Beijing which provided his government with financial assistance and military hardware. It initiated a series of human rights and war crimes resolutions at the UNHRC in an attempt to force Colombo to distance itself from Beijing. When this failed, Washington orchestrated a regime-change operation that ousted Mahinda Rajapakse and replaced him with the pro-US Maithripala Sirisena as president. The Tamil parties, including the TNA, backed the US-initiated human rights resolutions and then the regime-change operation. Even as it manoeuvres with the imperialist powers and India, the TNA leadership has sought meetings with President Gotabhaya Rajapakse. The Tamil language Kaalaikathir recently reported that Sumanthiran held a closed door discussion with Rajapakse on August 23 but provided no details. The developments over the past two months confirm that the TNA and other Tamil parties are prepared to provide whatever assistance they can to the US and other imperialist powers. In doing so, they are backing US war preparations against China. Like their counterparts in Colombo, the Tamil elites are fearful of the developing struggles of the Sri Lankan working class, across all ethnic and religious lines, and long ago dropped previous demands for withdrawal of the military from the North and East. They have said nothing about Rajapakses repressive public sector strike bans and other anti-democratic measures. In opposition to the Tamil parties turn to the imperialist powers, Tamil workers must unify with workers across Sri Lanka and internationally to defend their democratic and social rights. The developing class struggles across the island have prepared the ground for advancing such unity. The fight for democratic rights is bound up with the struggle to overthrow capitalist rule and the communal discrimination embedded in Sri Lankas formal independence in 1948. The Rajapakse regime, which is rapidly moving towards a presidential dictatorship, is stepping up its attempts to divide workers along communal lines. The Socialist Equality Party calls for a Sri Lanka-Eelam Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, as part of the struggle for socialism in South Asia and internationally. This is inseparable from the building of an international anti-war movement as advanced by the International Committee of the Fourth International. Around 180 bus drivers in Sydneys southwest walked off the job last Thursday afternoon in opposition to unsafe COVID-19 conditions and the ending of regular testing of workers. The snap strike took place after workers learned that a driver at the Smithfield depot had tested positive for COVID-19. The previous week, more than 70 workers were deemed close or casual contacts of another confirmed case at the nearby Hoxton Park depot, also part of Region 3 of the citys bus network, operated by Transit Systems. The Transport Workers Union (TWU) ensured the stoppage was ended in less than 24 hours, extracting a promise from management to implement rapid antigen testing for all drivers at the Smithfield depot starting today. Image credit: transportnsw.info The walk-out is part of a growing wave of hostility in the working class to the criminal, pro-business response to the pandemic by state and federal governments. The swift termination of the strike by the TWU was motivated by the fears within the ruling elite and its trade union accomplices that any prolonged action could be the spark for a much broader movement. For 18 months, workers in sectors including transport, warehousing, manufacturing, retail and health have been forced to work in unsafe conditions, while at the same time being subjected to wage freezes and job cuts enforced by the unions. With daily infections averaging almost 1,400, and the states hospital system in crisis, New South Wales (NSW) Premier Gladys Berejiklian continues to insist that schools and businesses must reopen and all lockdown measures must be lifted, beginning next month. Hundreds of ICU nurses last week signed an open letter to the state government demanding immediate action to increase staffing levels, stating: We do not want to see our patients die from understaffing. The NSW governments abandonment of surveillance testing of essential workers is part of a broader strategy to hide the real extent of the pandemic and the role that the states inadequate safety restrictions continue to play in the spread of the coronavirus. Berejiklian announced Friday that she will no longer conduct daily press briefings on the COVID-19 situation, despite acknowledging that case numbers will surge in the coming weeks and months. The state had already drastically reduced the reporting of known COVID-19 exposure sites, and workplace infectionsthe main source of transmissionhave been consciously suppressed from the outset. In line with the demands of big business and the corporate press, and with the support of the national cabinet, Berejiklian has falsely promoted vaccination as a silver bullet against COVID-19. This has been used to justify the imminent lifting of all safety restrictions and the full reopening of businesses and schools, along with the insistence that the population must learn to live with the virusi.e., accept widespread illness and mass deathin the interests of corporate profit. In a media release issued on Friday celebrating the massive win of rapid antigen testing, the TWU said, it should never have come to this. Absolving the private operator of responsibility for the health and safety of workers, the union stated: The NSW Government cant keep leaving this to the private operators to deal with they need to fund rapid antigen testing in every bus depot across Sydney. On Monday September 6, bus drivers at four depots in Western Sydney carried out two-hour stoppages in response to the state government removing the requirement for regular COVID-19 testing of workers who live in one of the 12 local government areas (LGAs) of concern where transmission has been high, but work in a different LGA. The workers were calling on the government to implement rapid antigen testing of all public transport workers, regardless of their home address or vaccination status. While bus drivers across Sydney all confront the danger of COVID-19 infection on a daily basis, no such requirement for regular testing has been established elsewhere than the Smithfield depot. Prior to shutting down last weeks strike, the TWU did not even demand that the same measures be introduced at Hoxton Park, or at any of Transit Systems four Region 6 depots, although all are either located within NSW Healths LGAs of concern or have been the site of publicly reported COVID-19 infections. In mid-August, at least 560 transport workers were in isolation as close or casual contacts of confirmed cases, including more than 200 at the Leichhardt depot and around 50 based at Tempe, both in Region 6. The TWUs declaration of victory after testing was promised at a single depot is a sharp demonstration of the union-enforced balkanisation of workers in Sydneys almost entirely privatised bus network, a complex array of ten contractors as well as the government-owned State Transit. Both the TWU and the Rail, Tram and Bus Union (RTBU) have coverage over different sections of the workforce. Expressing its complete lack of concern for the health and safety of workers during the pandemic, the RTBU has made no public comment about the Smithfield stoppage. This is particularly noteworthy given that Sydney Trains and NSW Trains workers, who face similar dangers to bus drivers and are also represented by the RTBU, are currently engaged in protection action over a new enterprise agreement. So far this action has been limited to Mischief Saturday, in which workers were invited to use public address systems to tell the world the most important claim to you, and the wearing of union apparel at work this week. TWU NSW State Secretary Richard Olsen raised last week: The NSW Government cant rely on vaccines alone to keep bus drivers and passengers protected from COVID. The TWU statement noted that several vaccinated bus drivers had recently tested positive after working while infectious and that in at least one of these cases, the driver only got tested because he was unaware that the mandatory surveillance testing requirements were no longer in force. These comments are entirely cynical coming from a union that has done as much as, if not more than, the government to keep workers on the job throughout the pandemic, building upon years of collaboration with private transport companies against the interests of workers. The TWU, along with the RTBU and numerous other unions, has repeatedly opposed the introduction of even marginal COVID-19 restrictions and safety measures, along with mandatory vaccination for transport workers, despite broad support for them in the working class. For example: On July 17, Berejiklian announced that workers (other than in health or emergency services) residing in LGAs of concern (then limited to Fairfield, Canterbury-Bankstown and Liverpool) would not be able to work outside their LGA. The TWU responded by demanding: ALL essential transport workers must be automatically exempt from panicked snap restrictions from the NSW Government. This exemption was granted. On August 20 the NSW government declared that, from August 30, workers in LGAs of concern would only be allowed to work outside their LGA if they had received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine or their workplace implemented rapid antigen testing. On August 27, the vaccine deadline was extended to September 6 and the exemption for rapid antigen testing was removed. On September 1, the RTBU stated: The Union is pushing for a return to Rapid testing and standard COVID testing as options. Ultimately, the decision of when to be vaccinated is a personal one, and the beliefs that underpin that decision are also personal. Also on September 1, the RTBU complained: Last week the RTBU, working with the MUA and TWU secured an exemption for Transport Workers for the Rapid Testing deadline, with the standard COVID test put back in. Then just hours later the Government changed its mind and vaccinations were made mandatory for Authorised Workers who live in LGAs of concern.[sic] On September 5, the vaccine deadline was extended to September 19. The RTBU posted on Facebook: Congratulations to Unions NSW for fighting for this sensible delay. Well continue our fight to ensure testing regimes are in all workplaces to allow all transport workers to continue to earn a living. None of these measures apply to transport workers who live outside of the LGAs of concern, regardless of the location of their depot or their route. This means that, even accepting the premise that the virus is limited to these areaswhich it is notunvaccinated drivers who are potentially exposed to COVID-19 on a daily basis will continue to work without any requirement for regular testing. It is clear that these publicly reported instances of COVID-19 among transport workers represent a mere fraction of workplace infections. Governments, Labor and Liberal-National alike, big business, the corporate media and the unions are working hand-in-hand to conceal such outbreaks in order to ensure operations and profits continue with minimal disruption. At the same time, these organisations are promoting illusions that vaccinations are a silver bullet which will allow all other restrictions and safety precautions to be torn down. The experiences of the last 18 months demonstrate that workers can only defend their health and lives through a rebellion against the unions, which have functioned as a political and industrial police force of governments and corporations. Having imposed the dictates of governments and the corporations for decades, the unions have responded to the pandemic by backing massive cash handouts to big business, by deepening the assault on workers jobs and conditions, and by forcing those they falsely claim to represent into unsafe workplaces. Workers must make a conscious break with these corporatised organisations. New organisations of struggle, including independent rank-and-file committees, are the only means of protecting health and lives and fighting against the onslaught on jobs, wages and conditions. Such committees would serve as a forum for democratic discussion among workers, enable the sharing of information across industries and throughout the working class and the planning of joint action, including strikes, against the profit-driven reopening drive and the criminal handling of the pandemic by the ruling class. The Socialist Equality Party urges workers to contact us to discuss this perspective and to report COVID-19 infections at their workplace. On September 11, Donald Trump addressed a virtual rally organized by the Unification Peace Federation, an offshoot of the Christian-fascist Unification Church. During the event, which featured speeches from several one-time heads of state, including former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, Trump, the keynote speaker, praised the late founder of the church, Sun Myung Moon, for establishing the far-right newspaper the Washington Times. Trump also celebrated the churchs current leader, Hak Ja Han Moon, calling her a tremendous person. In just a few decades, Trump said, the inspiration they have caused for the entire planet is unbelievable and I congratulate you again and again. In less than one lifetime, they took a war-torn land and turned it into one of the great nations and great democracies of the world, while standing as Americas friend and ally. Rev. Sun Myung Moon, left, and his wife Hak Ja Han, are shown during the traditional invocation of a blessing at a mass wedding in Seouls Chamsil gymnasium where 6,000 couples from about 80 countries were married on Oct. 14, 1982. (AP Photo) The online event, dubbed the Rally of Hope, purported to focus on the peaceful reunification of the Korean Peninsula. Followers of the Unification Church, which was established in 1954, are commonly referred to as Moonies. The churchs teachings are a blend of anti-communism and Christianity. Core tenets of the movement include pre-arranged marriages, no homosexuality or divorce, and supreme devotion to the True Parents. In addition to praising the leaders of the far-right cult, which preaches that the founder, Sun Myung Moon, along with his progeny, are ordained by God to rule as kings over the entire planet, Trump boasted that he had brought peace to the Korean peninsula through a policy of unprecedented strength. And as many of you will remember, the rhetoric got very, very tough and nasty and mean, Trump said, referring to his genocidal threat in August of 2017 to rain fire, fury and, frankly, power, the likes of which this world has never seen before on North Korea. Following Trump, Hak Ja Han Moon, who assumed leadership of the movement following the passing of Sun Myung Moon in 2012, likewise heaped praise on herself for having blessed America over the last 40 years. Moon, who calls herself the Mother of Peace, outlined her vision for a peaceful, heavenly Korea during the event. This nation cannot be a secular nation that is only focused on human interests, she said. It must become a nation that attends God as the Heavenly Parent. Not just political leaders, all of the people in this nation must become peace associates and attend God, the Heavenly Parent. By Heavenly Parent Moon is speaking of herself. Moon, referred to in church documents and by members as the True Mother, is a billionaire, having assumed control of the Moon movements assets following the death of her husband. The churchs assets are vast and run the gamut from a shipbuilding operation to restaurants, a seafood company, real estate holdings and hundreds of business subsidiaries. It controls political and social groups in the US as well as the aforementioned Washington Times. In South Korea, the Moon church-owned conglomerate, or chaebol, named Tongil Group, has its tentacles in ginseng production, construction materials and even machine parts for the South Korean military through Tongil Heavy Industries. Trump is not the first Republican politician to appear at a Moon movement event. On May 8 of this year, another Rally of Hope event was held that featured speeches from former Vice President Mike Pence, former Secretary of State and CIA Director Mike Pompeo, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich and former Defense Secretary Mark Esper. The death of the founder Sun Myung Moon led to the splintering of the Moon family, as rival factions fought for control of the business empire. Despite the internal divisions, the youngest son of Sun Myung Moon, Hyung Jin Sean Moon, while currently estranged from his mother, also enjoys close ties with the Trump family. Sean Moon, founder of the World Peace and Unification Sanctuary, an explicit pro-Trump sect of the Moonies, personally led a contingent of his followers during the siege on the US Capitol on January 6. In a video posted to Instagram by the church, Moon is seen recovering after getting doused with tear gas. Moon and his followers were also seen climbing scaffolding outside the Capitol and fighting with Capitol Police. None of them have been charged criminally for their actions as of this writing. In the months leading up to the coup, Moons group aligned itself with Trumps claims of a stolen election, deploying members at Stop the Steal rallies in Washington D.C., Pennsylvania and Georgia, where they listened to speeches from former Trump White House advisor Steven Bannon and Pennsylvania State Senator Doug Mastriano. At an October 2020 Rod of Iron Ministries rally in Greeley, Pennsylvania, held in the parking lot of Kahr Arms (a small arms manufacturer founded by Kook-Jin Justin Moon, another son of Sun Myung Moon), Bannon encouraged the crowd of roughly 5,000, brimming with National Rifle Association members, to watch polling places because Democrats were trying to steal the election. We need tough people, said Bannon. DCReport.org reported that during a November 12 online sermon, Sean Moon warned that if Joe Biden became president, they would have to fight against a tyrannical, globalist, Satanist, Luciferian force. Inciting fascistic violence, Moon asked: How many conservatives are actually going to go out in a pile of lead? Or brass--a pile of brass? That means youre going to be in a gunfight with the police. How many conservatives are going to do that? Moon closed out his sermon with a plea for his followers to attend a big rally coming up on Saturday in D.C. He added, Already our veteran friends and folks have contacted us. Theyre going to be down there, too, so were hooking up with all of them. The Million MAGA March was one of two D.C. rallies held following Trumps electoral defeat that served as dry runs for the siege on the Capitol. Sean and Justin Moon attended both the November 14 and December 12 rallies. Moons splinter group is also known as the Rod of Iron Ministries, a reference to a passage in the Book of Revelations in which Jesus rules with a rod of iron. Sean Moon has interpreted this passage as reference to an AR-15, which he and his group fetishize, incorporating the rifle into church ceremonies. In 2018, Sean Moon was photographed for the Washington Post wearing a gold crown of bullets and a camouflage suit jacket, while holding a gold-plated AR-15. From his church, located in Newfoundland, Pennsylvania, Moon offers paramilitary training in between sermons filled with fascistic conspiracy theories, violent threats and apocalyptic proclamations. The Democratic Party has become the communist party funded by Nazi collaborator George Soros, Moon ranted during a 2018 sermon. In August 2016, Eric and Lara Trump attended the grand opening of Justin Moons Tommy Gun Warehouse in Greeley, Pennsylvania. In comments made at the grand opening, Eric thanked Justin for defending the Second Amendment. You deserve tremendous, tremendous credit, he said. Following Trumps failed coup, Sean Moons church purchased a 40-acre campground and marina located about an hour east of Waco, Texas for just under $1 million. In an interview with DCReport.org, Steven Hassan, a former member of Sun Myung Moons Unification Church and author of four books on cults, expressed concern over the recent purchase. When I saw that they bought the compound near Waco, Texas, near David Koresh, I was like, Oh, so theyre training people how to shoot guns and assault rifles. Hassan said that the Moon Movement and its offshoots, along with fascist Alex Jones, are attempting to program people that were going to have civil war in the streets and we need our guns to kill all the commies. Im very concerned. 25 years ago: Sham elections held in Bosnia Muslim voters cast ballots in Potaci, Bosnia-Herzegovina, in US-controlled national elections On September 14, 1996, American-controlled elections were held in Bosnia. The vote was a cynical exercise aimed at providing the illusion of progress towards peace and democracy, while the reality was one of deepening ethnic polarization, which set the stage for a new round of civil war in the former Yugoslav province. In this supposedly free election, no candidates were allowed to publicly oppose the Dayton Accords, which had sanctioned the partition of Bosnia along ethnic lines. US officials who supervised the elections under the Dayton terms made little attempt to disguise their determination to have an election that would be labeled a success for the Clinton administrations foreign policy in the run-up to the American presidential elections. Half of Bosnias population became refugees as a result of the war, and only a handful crossed the ceasefire lines patrolled by NATO troops to vote. Just 20,000 out of an estimated 300,000 displaced Muslims and 4,000 out of 250,000 displaced Serbs took buses to vote under NATO escort. One of the conditions of the vote was that those who came to their former homes to cast ballots had to reboard the buses and return immediately to their new places of residencein many cases, refugee camps. The de facto partition of the country into Serb, Muslim and Croat-dominated entities was accentuated by the election campaign. Candidates opposed to the three major nationalist partiesthe Serb Democratic Party, the Croatian Democratic Union, and the Muslim-based Party of Democratic Actionwere subjected to intimidation, censorship, loss of jobs and physical violence. On the eve of the vote, the Clinton administration dispatched an envoy to the region to compel the rival ethnic bosses to comply with US dictates. Richard Holbrooke, the diplomatic thug who retired after the Dayton Accords for a high-paying stint as an investment banker, returned to the Balkans on special assignment for the State Department. The rigged and undemocratic vote was more than just a trophy for Clintons reelection campaign. It also demonstrated the true attitude of imperialism toward democracy and the rights of small nations. 50 years ago: Chinese leader Lin Biao killed in plane crash Lin Biao On September 13, 1971, Lin Biao, the first vice chairman of the Chinese Communist Party and second in command only to Mao Zedong, was killed in a plane crash over Mongolia. Lin was in the process of being purged from the CCP by Mao and was apparently attempting to flee China before the crash. A hardline Stalinist, Lin had been a leading general during the Chinese revolution and had played a key role in the military defeat of the Kuomintang by the Chinese Peoples Liberation Army. Once the Communist Party had come to power, Lin had been one of Maos most ardent supporters. In 1966, at the outset of the Cultural Revolution Lin was promoted to be the sole vice chairman of the CCP when other long-term members were being purged. Three years later, Mao officially named Lin as his successor and had Lins position enshrined in the partys constitution. The details surrounding his death have never been fully explained. The official narrative provided by the Chinese government was that Lin had launched a coup against Mao and ordered several assassination attempts, which all failed. Then, after realizing the coup had not come to fruition, Lin attempted to flee to the Soviet Union but crashed when his plane ran out of fuel. There is every reason to distrust the official narrative. While some differences emerged between Mao and Lin in the year leading up to his death, it is unlikely that Lin, who had been a longtime supporter of Mao personally and was one of the most experienced Chinese military commanders, would make such a hasty and ill-conceived attempt at a power grab. Maos claim of a coup attempt was to provide cover for the complete purge of Lin and his supporters from the CCP. Despite promoting Lin to second in command to ensure he had strong supporters in high-ranking positions, Mao had become increasingly suspicious of conspiracies to remove him from power, real or imagined. Further, Lins death and the supposed coup plot were used as the pretext for a major purge within the Chinese military. All those known to be close to Lin or sympathetic to him were removed from their positions, amounting to the majority of the military high command. Within one month of the plane crash, over 1,000 Chinese military officers were removed from their positions and 93 arrested. 75 years ago: Underground archive of the Warsaw Ghetto unearthed Emanuel Ringelblum On September 18, 1946, a massive tranche of documents detailing the Nazi persecution of the Jewish population in the Warsaw Ghetto was discovered in 10 metal boxes beneath the ruins of a school in the Polish capital. While suffering water damage, most of the documents were ultimately restored. Together with a second section of the archive, discovered in 1950, the material spans some 30,000 pages in 6,000 separate documents, providing an unparalleled record of the fascist annihilation of Polish Jewry. A third section, believed to have been deposited somewhere in the city, has never been discovered. The archive was compiled and maintained from the beginning of World War II, in September 1939, until the liquidation of the Warsaw Ghetto in 1943. It was the work of Oyneg Shabes, a collective of Jewish intellectuals, teachers, rabbis and historians. The group was established and coordinated by Jewish-Polish historian Emanuel Ringelblum, who was also an avowed socialist and internationalist. The archives documented conditions in the Warsaw Ghetto, the open-air prison in which the citys Jewish population was confined beginning in late 1940. Oyneg Shabes gathered diaries and accounts of the Nazi persecution in Warsaw, as well as throughout Poland and Europe. They carried out thousands of interviews with the residents of the Ghetto and even conducted several surveys on the composition of the population. The research and archival work was carried out clandestinely, with members of the Oyneg Shabes constantly threatened by the Gestapo and faced the prospect of death if they were caught. Up to July 1941, some 100,000 people in the Ghetto had died of hunger. As part of its genocidal final solution, the Nazi regime began the physical liquidation of the Ghetto in July 1942, with mass deportations of its residents to the gas chambers in Treblinka. In the space of a month, an estimated 265,000 Warsaw Jews were murdered. As it became clear that the Nazis were preparing to destroy the Ghetto entirely, Oyneg Shabes buried the archives in April 1943. The same month, many of its members were involved in the Warsaw Ghetto uprising, a heroic struggle against the Nazis, that inspired the anti-fascist struggle throughout Europe. Ringelblum was murdered by the Nazis in March 1944. 100 years ago: Japan proposes modifications to its occupation of Chinas Shandong province Location of Shandong Peninsula On September 15, 1921, a diplomatic note by the Japanese government was made public in which Japan suggested limitations to its occupation of the Shandong Peninsula in the northeast of China. Although the Japanese proposed returning nominal control of the region to the Chinese, Japan would maintain its economic domination of the region. Japan had seized the key German-controlled area of Shandong, the Jiaozhou (Kiautschou) Bay Leased Territory, which included the city of Quingdao (Tsingtao), at the outset of World War I in 1914, and strong-armed China into accepting its continued occupation in secret negotiations in 1915. The League of Nations had awarded the area to Japan in the 1919 Treaty of Versailles in the aftermath of the war, sparking mass opposition in China to the settlement, including the eruption of the May Fourth Movement, the mass student radicalization that contributed powerfully to the founding the Communist Party of China in 1921. At the American-sponsored Naval Conference of 1922 in Washington D.C., the United States brokered a deal by which Japan returned the peninsula to Chinese control, specifically to the Zhili clique of warlords based in Beijing. The Zhili clique was backed by the Japanese government. The Japanese kept control of some of the main railways in the province and maintained a considerable presence of Japanese nationals. In 1928 the troops of Chinese Nationalist leader Chiang Kai-shek would come into conflict with Japanese troops in the Shandong provincial capital, Jinan. The Japanese military would invade the province again in 1937 and hold it with great brutality until 1945. Louise Hough managed the 40-bed Gwastad Hall Nursing Home near Wrexham, Wales, alongside her husband Vernon. She has called for an inquiry into the Labour Party-led devolved governments handling of the pandemic. Vernon, 61, shot himself outside the local Police Divisional HQ on May 21, 2020, just a mile from his care home, as a direct consequence of the traumatic experiences of seeing elderly residents die from Covid-19. Gwastad Hall Nursing Home (Credit: Gwastad Hall Nursing Home Facebook page) Gwastad Hall was opened in 1987 after the Hough family converted the old hall on the 11-acre site in Cefyn-y-Bedd into a nursing home. In early March 2020, when the rapid spread and deadly consequences of the pandemic were becoming ever clearer and with sections of workers in Europe and the US walking off the job in a series of protests and strikes, staff shut the Gwastad Hall Nursing Home without waiting for an official government response. In the opening months of the pandemic, hospitals nationwide, under instruction from the Conservative government, were discharging patients into care homes to free up an already inadequate number of beds due to years of austerity measures. Many of those elderly patients were infected with COVID and spread the disease to many others before dying themselves, unable to receive even the most basic treatment. When the Houghs refused to accept elderly patients without a negative Covid test, the local health board allegedly threatened to report them to Care Inspectorate Wales (CIW) for bed-blocking. As in countless instances across the world, due to the failure of the authorities to provide even basic personal protective equipment (PPE) for workers, care home staff had to desperately improvise to protect themselves and vulnerable elderly residents. Louise told WalesOnline, I was having to buy stuff on Amazon. We were wearing painters gowns, those all-in-one paper things. People in the village here were making us theatre gowns out of duvet covers and face masks because I couldnt get them from anywhere. The virus swept through the home and claimed many victims. Louise begged her local health board to provide the home with some oxygen as many residents drew their last desperate breaths. Imagine a fish pulled out of water. That is how they were gasping for air. I had no oxygen here. I was begging the health board for oxygen just to give them some relief. There is still no oxygen in any care home, who decided this I don't know. Louise said that within 36 hours many of the residents had died due to a lack of oxygen, and some were not able to see their families. Having known many of the 40 residents for years and being devoted to them, their deterioration and his increasing helplessness in the face of a raging pandemic had a particularly shattering effect on Vernon. A week prior to her husbands death, when many residents had already died, Louise explained, We had 15 staff off sick and everyone was in rooms isolating. We had to take four patients each so we could get through feeding them all. He [Vernon] was still doing the maintenance and was going round supermarkets trying to find toilet roll. He was going from one to another queuing up because the supply chain was ridiculous and we couldnt get anything. It was really wearing him down and he was losing weight. I said, listen you have got to take a step back from the care home. We live next door. I told him to stay at home for at least a week, stay away from the place and do not turn the telly on. I said we would go on holiday at the end of June and get away from all this and the next day he went to feed his patients. One of the ladies wasnt very well and he came back, got his shotgun and shot himself. Louise is angry that there will be no specific inquiry into what happened in Wales. The public do not know the appalling stuff that happened in care homes as well as in hospitals I imagine. People in care homes are written off. Absolutely written off. I do hold the Welsh government accountable. People say that we didnt know what was coming but we had seen what had happened in Italy. We knew this was coming, why did they not get prepared for this? Louise singled out for condemnation the Labour governments failure to test people if they were not symptomatic. When asked about why they were not testing asymptomatic staff and patients the Welsh Government didnt say it was because they havent got enough tests, they said they had the tests but would use them elsewhere. I wrote down what [Welsh First Minister] Mark Drakeford said. When he was confronted about whether the decisions were due to a lack of resources, he said there have always been more tests available than are being used. If they are available why not use them? But he said that residents and staff had to be symptomatic to be tested. He was killing people. An official UK government inquiry will only be launched by Spring 2022. The Labour administration in Wales is relying on what will inevitably prove to be a whitewash to conceal its own crimes, with a spokeswoman arguing, A UK-wide inquiry will have the capacity and force to oversee the interconnected nature of the decisions that have been made across the four nations [England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland] and the best way for the experiences of people in Wales to be properly understood. Care home resident Joan Potts, aged 102, is seen through a viewing screen installed for residents to safely receive visits from family members, as she speaks to Dr. Jane Allen after receiving her first dose of the Oxford/AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine at the Wimbledon Beaumont Care Home, run by Barchester, in south west London, Wednesday, Jan. 13, 2021, during England's third national lockdown since the coronavirus outbreak began. (AP Photo/Matt Dunham) Vernon Hough was one victim among many of the savage policy of herd immunity pursued by Prime Minister Boris Johnsons Conservative government, with the active collusion of the Labour Party and the trade unions throughout the UK. More than 20,000 care home residents, vulnerable, elderly, disabled and often chronically ill, lost their lives directly to COVID-19 in the first wave of the pandemic last year, according to the Office for National Statistics (ONS). As of early February 2021, this figure had shot up to 42,000, including 37,895 deaths in England and Wales, 3,189 deaths in Scotland and more than 1,000 in Northern Ireland. The true number of deaths in care settings is far higher. Researchers at the University of Manchester found that COVID-19 deaths were hugely underestimated in the first wave, when 10,000 fatalities went unrecorded in England alone, due to the tardy introduction of mass testing. ONS data compiled in February revealed that were 20,664 deaths in care homes in England and Wales during the second wave of the pandemic from March to September 2020an increase from the 21,677 in the first wave from September to April 2021. Elderly residents continue to die. A report published last month by the Welsh Government and Care Inspectorate Wales (CIW) found that From 1 March 2020 to 28 July 2021 CIW has been notified of 1,928 care home resident deaths [in Wales] with suspected or confirmed COVID-19. This makes up 18.9% of all reported deaths. In the week up to August 13, Office for National Statistics figures revealed that 57 care home residents across England and Wales had diedup from 50 the previous week. On September 10, Wales First Minister Drakeford said there were around 520 cases per 100,000 people in Wales, with hospital admissions rising. The last time rates were this high was during the peak of the second wave last winter. Michael K. Williams, the actor best known for his role as Omar Little in the HBO series The Wire, died last Monday. The talented performer, found dead in his Brooklyn, New York apartment by his nephew, was only 54. While an official cause of death has not yet been determined, it is suspected that he died of a drug overdose, according to investigators. Michael Williams most iconic role was that of Omar Little, the gay anti-hero character in David Simons The Wire (2002-2008), a five-season, 60-episode HBO series that was critically acclaimed. The Wire was set in Baltimore and explored the terrible social conditions that plagued the city. Michael K. Williams in The Wire Williams was born in Brooklyn, the child of an immigrant mother from the Bahamas and a father raised in South Carolina. Williams grew up in the impoverished and crowded Vanderveer projects in East Flatbush. He told the New York Times a few years ago, Vanderveer is 59 buildings, six floors high, with seven apartments on each level. There are so many people here beautiful and beautifully flawed people and I want all of their stories to be told. Undoubtedly Williams drew inspiration from his own life for his work in The Wire, and his brilliant performance as Omar is loved by audiences of the series. The show probed a number of themes, including police and political corruption, drug violence, poverty, the conditions of port workers, the crisis facing public education, homelessness, surveillance, journalism and more. The Wire was at its strongest when it treated issues facing the lower depths, as well as the massive, built-in corruption of the political order in Baltimore (run by Democrats), a microcosm of the wider social and political situation in America. One of the great strengths of the series was simply the large number of inner-city and working class personalities it brought before a viewing audience, the type of human being rarely seen or considered on American television. At the same time, the show was limited by its police-centric framework, too often wallowing in the world of cops and drug gangsters, as though that was all there was to a city like Baltimore, once a major industrial center. The bleakness and the absence of a broader picture helped to create the impression that the social order was fundamentally unchangeable. Michael Williams character of Omar appears throughout the series, but his role as a moral anti-hero who holds up gangsters had problematic aspects to it, despite Williams exceptional performance. The Wire was unusual and intriguing, especially in its earlier seasons, and ushered in an era of more serious work on US television. Simon is certainly one of the more productive and thoughtful television writers and producers of the past two decades (Generation Kill, Treme, The Deuce, The Plot Against America). Michael K. Williams, 2012 (Photo creditDavid Shankbone) In regard to Simon and Ed Burns, the Wires co-creator and a former Baltimore policeman and teacher, the World Socialist Web Site noted in a generally positive review of The Plot Against America that there was no reason to close ones eyes to the serious limitations of their outlook, associated with liberal and Democratic Party circles, and its consequences for their artistic work. Simon was a supporter of Barack Obama and spoke with him about The Wire in 2015 at the White House, months after the brutal crackdown on protests in Ferguson, Missouri against police murder. On Sunday, Simon penned a moving tribute to Williams for the New York Times (The Question Michael K. Williams Asked Me Before Every Season of The Wire), in which he stressed some of the actors considerable strengths. To Simons credit, he explains that he pushed back against the argument that the show should center around primarily the black working class. Simon persuaded Williams before the series second season that, We want to have a bigger argument about what has gone wrong. Not just in Baltimore, but elsewhere, too. Simon notes that he insisted to Williams that we also make clear going forward that the drug culture is not a racial pathology, its about economics and the collapse of the working classBlack and white both. He added, I came to trust Mike to speak publicly to our drama and its purposes, to take personal pride in all that we were trying, however improbably, to build. He became increasingly political as the show aged, and in interviews took to addressing societal and political issues, his arguments ranging well beyond Omars arc. Its clear that Williams work with Simon affected the former significantly. Williams publicly opposed mass incarceration, police brutality and more. The Times and other media outlets, however, have tried to paint a picture of Williams as focused on race. In a 2017 interview with Time magazine about his role in The Night Of, Williams made his viewpoint clear. In my perspective, he told Time, the show has very little to do with race, and everything to do with class. Ive come to realize that the race thing is a smoke screen. The real war is a war on class. Its about how much green you have in your pocket. In this country, you can unfortunately literally get away with murder if you have enough political background behind you. You are innocent until proven poor. Williams had a number of important roles after The Wire, including as the bootlegger Chalky White in Boardwalk Empire and as Montrose Freeman in Lovecraft Country. He did a fine job as the grieved father of Bobby McCray in the powerful Netflix series When They See Us, about a group of black youth known as the Central Park Five who were falsely accused of rape and attempted murder of a white woman. Prior to The Wire, Williams also played roles in Martin Scorseses Bringing Out The Dead (1999) and The Sopranos. Williams was a sensitive and insightful actor whose outlook and social awareness developed over time. The roles he took would weigh heavily on him, especially the one in the The Wire. To play Omar, he apparently adopted a gangster lifestyle and began to abuse cocaine, which would have devastating consequences. His drug addiction left him destitute at various points. A remarkable actor and thoughtful person, Michael K. Williams death at such an early age is a tragic loss. VIGO COUNTY, Ind. (WTHI) - If you plan to go to Monday evening's Vigo County School Corporation meeting, you'll need to make sure you mask up. The school corporation will meet to discuss stricter masking mandates for middle and high schools in the county. The school board says masks are required for anyone who plans to go to the meeting. It starts at 6:00 at the West Vigo Conference Center. News 10's Hannah Follman will be at this meeting and let you know what happens on myFOX10 at 10 and Nightwatch at 11. WABASH VALLEY, Ind. (WTHI) - CenterPoint Energy has filed a plan to invest $1.2 billion in Indiana - and that investment could cost you. The company says it is planning natural gas infrastructure improvements through 2026. It's a continuation of work ver the last seven years. The company is working on upgrading and maintaining its 13,000 miles of gas mains and lines. If regulators approve the plan, customers will see an impact on their bill starting in 2023. A CenterPoint representative told u the calculation will be finalized after plan approval. VIGO COUNTY, Ind. (WTHI) - The Vigo County Health Department is teaming up with the State Department of Health to provide free COVID-19 services to people in the Wabash Valley. The agencies have a drive-thru COVID-19 clinic at the Wabash Valley Fairgrounds. They are giving the COVID vaccines and tests at no cost. They are at the fairgrounds on September 13, 14, and 15 from noon to 8 pm. If you can't make it to the fairgrounds, you can schedule a vaccine closer to you at these links. In Indiana, click here In Illinois, click here Update Sept. 14, 2021 According to the Humphreys County Sheriff's Department, Garnett Hughes is back in custody. Garnett Hughes Garnett Hughes He was found in Ohio. Original article below JACKSON, Miss. (WTVA) A man convicted of kidnapping and sexual battery in Alcorn County escaped from law enforcement, and officers are now trying to find him. That man is Garnett Hughes, 33, who was sentenced in 2014 to life in prison. A spokeswoman for the East Mississippi Correctional Facility said officers were escorting him to the funeral of a family member in Belzoni when he got away from them. This happened around 9:30 a.m. Friday. Alcorn County Sheriff Ben Caldwell said there is no information that Hughes is in the county or would return to the county. However, he asked anyone who sees him to call the sheriff's office at 662-286-5521. You must be logged in to react. Click any reaction to login. Love 0 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 1 Angry 0 Morgantown, WV (26505) Today Partly cloudy this evening with more clouds for overnight. Low near 65F. Winds light and variable.. Tonight Partly cloudy this evening with more clouds for overnight. Low near 65F. Winds light and variable. Shadow of the Tomb Raider Comparison - Xbox One vs. Xbox One S vs. Xbox One X vs. PS4 vs. PS4 Pro OTTAWA (Reuters) - Here are brief profiles of the Canadian political party leaders contesting the Sept 20 election. Justin Trudeau (Liberals) - Trudeau, 49, has been prime minister since November 2015 after he became the first leader to take a party from third place to an election win. He then lost his parliamentary majority in 2019 after old photos emerged of him dressed in blackface and now heads a minority government. Trudeau, the son of former longtime Liberal Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau, has championed gender equality, toughened environmental laws, and spent heavily on economic and social supports amid the COVID-19 pandemic. His party also launched a national daycare program, signing deals with a majority of provinces before the election was called. He has twice been found in breach of federal ethics rules. Trudeau has faced crowds of angry protesters, most of them opposing COVID-19 vaccine mandates. He sank in polls early in the campaign but recent surveys suggest he is recovering. Erin O'Toole (Conservatives) - O'Toole, 48, was elected leader in August 2020 and was relatively unknown heading into the campaign. His tightly managed campaign and socially conscious platform have made his party unexpectedly competitive. O'Toole, a former army helicopter navigator, vows more restraint on government spending, but his platform promises tens of billions in investment and no clear path to a balanced budget. He also faces tension with social conservatives within his party over issues such as climate change, gun control and abortion. Jagmeet Singh (New Democrats) - Singh, 42, made headlines in October 2017 when he became the first person from an ethnic minority to be elected leader of a major Canadian political party. It lost almost 40% of its seats in 2019, but Singh has cultivated a large following on social media and polls suggest he is gaining in popularity. If he picks up seats and no other party wins a majority, he will likely retain his role of kingmaker, able to help the governing party pass legislation in exchange for policies his left-leaning supporters favor. Singh promises more social spending to be offset by higher taxes for the very wealthy and multi-national corporations. Story continues Yves-Francois Blanchet (Bloc Quebecois) - Blanchet, 56, took over the separatist Bloc in January 2019 and more than trebled its seats in the election later that year. The Bloc, which seeks independence for the predominantly French-speaking province of Quebec, only runs candidates in Quebec. Under Blanchet - who rivals concede is a dynamic performer in English and French - it could hold onto its gains. Annamie Paul (Greens) - Paul, 48, is the first Black person to head a mainstream Canadian federal party. The activist and lawyer was elected leader of the Greens last October but has recently become mired in a dispute over Israel policy that could undermine the party. Her party lost one seat when a lawmaker crossed the floor to join the Liberals and now only has two legislators. Maxime Bernier (People's Party of Canada) - Bernier, 58, an ex-Cabinet minister who was once forced to resign as foreign minister after mislaying secret documents, defected from the Conservatives to create the populist PPC in 2018. The party performed poorly in 2019 and Bernier lost his seat. But he has tapped into public frustration over pandemic restrictions and his party is climbing in polls. That growing support could bleed votes from the Conservatives, posing a challenge. Bernier was arrested in June in Manitoba for attending a rally against COVID-19 restrictions and PPC signs have been seen among the anti-vax hecklers on Trudeau's campaign. A PPC party official was expelled over allegations he threw gravel at Trudeau. (Reporting by David Ljunggren and Julie Gordon; Editing by Peter Cooney and Alistair Bell) Hearst Magazines and Verizon Media may earn commission or revenue on some items through the links below. On August 23just weeks ahead of her 40th birthdayBeyonce revealed the news that she and her husband JAY-Z are the newest ambassadors for Tiffany & Co.'s new "About Love" campaign. The collaboration features a series of stunning shots of the Carters, including Beyonce wearing the iconic 128.54-carat Tiffany Yellow Diamond. Now, the couple has released the official campaign visual. The short film was directed by Emmanuel Adjei at Orum House, a three-story home overlooking Bel Air in Los Angeles that was personally selected by the Carters. Featuring Beyonce singing an updated version of the song "Moon River"made famous by Audrey Hepburn in the 1961 movie Breakfast at Tiffany'sthe cinematic visuals pay homage to the 1960s, with many shots captured by JAY-Z on a Super 8 Camera. As the glass-walled house offers glittering views of LA, the vignette begins with JAY-Z typing at a typewriter as he regards a video of his muse singing at the piano. We then flash to whimsical moments of the couple embracing, popping champagne, and, of course, subtly showing off their Tiffany jewels, all while Beyonce croons. Along with the famed Tiffany diamond and several other jewels, the pop star evokes Holly Golightly in a tousled updo and little black dress while her husband wears Tiffany's legendary Bird on a Rock brooch, reimagined as cufflinks. The brooch was originally designed by Jean Schlumberger, a French jewelry designer known for dressing high societys elite in the 1960s and '70s. Along with the official campaign film, the couple also shared a behind the scenes video of how it all came together. In a series of dreamy clips from the set, Beyonce and JAY-Z can be seen preparing for each shot, as well as greeting their 9-year-old daughter, Blue Ivythe oldest of their three children, who also include 4-year-old twins Rumi and Sir. Story continues In another behind the scenes moment, the rapper playfully jokes to his wife that he wants an engagement ring. "I want you to engage me," he quips, to which Beyonce promptly replies: "I will engage you." Later, she looks at the camera and says "Twenty years...twenty years next year," alluding to the anniversary of the year she and JAY-Z began dating. The pair married in 2008. This content is not available due to your privacy preferences. Update your settings here to see it. The videos come days after the Carters and Tiffany & Co. announced that, in addition to their campaign collaboration, they were also teaming up for the About Love Scholarship. In partnership with Tiffany & Co., the couple's philanthropic initiativesBeyGOOD and the Shawn Carter Foundationare offering tuition for students attending five Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs). The total amount of $2 million will be distributed amongst students pursuing the arts and creative fields at the following private and state schools: Lincoln University in Pennsylvania, Norfolk State University in Virginia, Bennett College in North Carolina, University of Arkansas Pine Bluff and Central State University in Ohio. Interested students can apply at each individual institution from now until September 26 at 11:59 ET. For more on the "About Love" campaign and scholarship, you can visit tiffany.com. And don't miss the full campaign video and behind the scenes clips above. You Might Also Like Off the eastern coast of Belize lies unparalleled dive sites most famously the Blue Hole. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the U.S. State Department raised their travel alert levels Monday for the Caribbean travel spots of Saint Kitts and Nevis, and Belize due to the "risk of getting and spreading COVID-19 variants." The CDC raised both dual-island nation Saint Kitts and Nevis and Belize to a level 4, which signifies "very high'' COVID levels and means tourists should avoid travel to the popular Caribbean vacation destinations. Those who must travel to either destination, the CDC travel health notice says, should be fully vaccinated. Aside from following each country's specific guidance, CDC recommends travelers wear a mask and stay 6 feet apart from others. Visiting Maui this fall? Forget about indoor dining at restaurants, bars unless you're vaccinated. Which EU countries are open to US tourists?: A breakdown of EU travel restrictions by country The CDC also raised several countries' travel alert to a levels 4, including: Slovenia Serbia Mauritius Lithuania Israel Grenada Albania Afghanistan The agency raised the alert levels last week for Jamaica, Sri Lanka and Brunei to level 4. The CDC assesses COVID-19 risk based on each destination's new cases and new case trajectory. The Travel Health Notice level can be raised if a large increase in COVID-19 cases is reported or a destination's case count meets or exceeds the threshold for a higher level for 14 straight days. Level 4 destinations have more than 500 new cases per 100,000 people over the past 28 days or more than 500 cases period if their population is smaller than 100,000. Contributing: Dawn Gilbertson, USA TODAY This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Belize, St. Kitts and Nevis travel: CDC alert says to avoid travel Despite the first day of fall still being more than a week away, the first signs of autumn have been spotted in New York, according to the state's first Fall Foliage Report that was released last week. The weekly reports, which will be released each Wednesday afternoon, are crowdsourced from volunteer leaf peepers around the state who submit the status of the color changes in their areas. The interactive map makes it easy to look for nearby attractions to best enjoy the foliage. New York State fall foliage map Courtesy of I Love NY "New York State's 2021 fall foliage season is underway, with the first signs of the spectacular seasonal colors to come appearing in the Adirondacks and Catskills regions, according to volunteer observers for the Empire State Development Division of Tourism's I Love NY program," the first report notes. Other parts of the state have a 5% or less change this week, it adds. One area with the most color change is around Tupper Lake in the Adirondacks. "The summer greens are starting the cycle to autumn brilliance with subtle traces of goldenrod and copper, and the soft maples are providing a patchy, rhubarb splatter," the color report for the Adirondacks notes, adding that it's expecting up to 10% color change this weekend. Aerial view of the Adirondack mountains in autumn with the foliage GabrielPevide/Getty Images Other areas in the Adirondacks that are forecasted to hit that percentage include Lake Placid, Newcomb, and parts of Essex County, while Delaware County's Hamden in the Catskills also expects about a 10% color change, with shades of yellow starting to show. The state also recognizes that this fall foliage season still comes with the realities of the pandemic. "I Love NY urges travelers to follow all COVID-related public health and safety guidelines while enjoying the foliage this season," the report says, pointing to a list of coronavirus travel resources. 62nd Annual GRAMMY Awards Red Carpet Source: Lester Cohen / Getty Saweetie is having the best year ever! Fresh off her big collaboration with fast food restaurant change McDonalds on the Saweetie meal, the Best Friends rapper is now adding brand ambassador to her growing resume. This time, the partnership is with the popular makeup line, MAC cosmetics, making the 28-year-old beauty the companys newest global brand ambassador. The news was revealed this weekend when MAC took to Instagram to share a clip of the self-proclaimed Icy Girl looking flawless, as usual. She wore her platinum blonde locs in a slicked back, high ponytail with her baby hairs popping. She wore a curve-hugging blue dress and had her signature, sparkly hoop earrings, and an iced-out necklace on to set the entire look off right. Our new Best Friend , MAC captioned the short video. @Saweetie is the new MAC Girl and Global Brand Ambassador. Stay tuned #MACLovesSaweetie. Im definitely a MAC girl. I know thats right, Saweetie said in the snippet, giving us all a tease for whats to come. Check out the quick clip below. This content is not available due to your privacy preferences. Update your settings here to see it. Over the weekend, the Bay Area native attended a celebratory event in honor of her exciting new venture into the makeup industry and shared a few photos from the big night to her IG page. Rocking her slicked back, high ponytail again, Saweetie wore an extra sexy, cut-out, sparkling silver gown and paired the look with an orange shawl. Big Mac Mama is now Mrs. MAC ! , she captioned the series of photos. This content is not available due to your privacy preferences. Update your settings here to see it. Over the weekend, the rapper was spotted at an event in celebration of her exciting step into the makeup industry and while photos of her stunning outfit have been popping up all over Twitter, one video, in particular, still has Twitter in a chokehold. The video is of the rapper and model Lori Harvey sharing a moment of girl talk. We can only imaging what was said. Check out the video below. This content is not available due to your privacy preferences. Update your settings here to see it. We love to see two boss babes link up! In the words of Saweetie, we know thats right! Story continues Dont miss Our Favorite Saweetie Fashion Moments Saweetie On Pretty Privilege: It Wasnt A Privilege For Me The statue of U.S. President Abraham Lincoln sits in the main chamber of the Lincoln Memorial on President's Day, February 15, 2021 in Washington, DC. Samuel Corum/Getty Images Missouri State Rep. Tony Lovasco suggested the statue of President Abraham Lincoln at the Lincoln Memorial should be removed. His comment on Twitter was in response to the removal of a 12-ton statue of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee in Virginia. "If we insist on tearing down statues of reprehensible people, let's at least be fair and balanced about it, he said. See more stories on Insider's business page. A GOP Missouri state representative appeared to suggest the statue of former President Abraham Lincoln at the Lincoln Memorial should be removed if statues of "reprehensible" people, like Confederate General Robert E. Lee, were taken down. "If we insist on tearing down statues of reprehensible people, let's at least be fair and balanced about it," Missouri State Rep. Tony Lovasco said in a tweet Thursday. Lovasco attached to the tweet a photo of the statue of Lincoln seen at the forefront of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, DC. The tweet was in a response to a video that showed the large statue of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee atop a horse being removed in Richmond, Virginia, earlier this week. The 12-ton statue was the largest remaining statue honoring the Confederacy in the US and was ordered removed by Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam, as Insider previously reported. This content is not available due to your privacy preferences. Update your settings here to see it. In the tweet, Lovasco did not explain how or why he viewed Lincoln as "reprehensible." In a follow-up tweet, the GOP state representative responded to critics of his earlier message who said his tweet implied he supported the Confederacy. "It's unfortunate how many people think saying 'Lincoln was reprehensible' equals some kind of support for the Confederacy, especially given the context of my tweet," Lovasco said, "It's quite possible to point out that neither Lincoln nor Lee were good people deserving of honor." In a statement to Insider on Saturday, Lovasco said he was not "officially" calling for the removal of the statue of Lincoln and said his tweet was not to be taken as a "serious policy proposal." Story continues "I made a mostly sarcastic comment about it to make the point that while Lee may have been a terrible person (and should be condemned as such), Lincoln was no hero," Lovasco said. "Lincoln forcibly conscripted people to fight against their will for the Union army, suspended the right of habeas corpus, and was responsible for the needless deaths of thousands of people, including large numbers of Native Americans," he added. The statue of Lee stood in Richmond for over 130 years and was sent to a state facility to be temporarily stored until officials determined its future. Its removal Wednesday marked the latest instance of officials removing or renaming statues and places that honored the Confederacy or Confederate leaders. That effort has been spearheaded by anti-racism activists who argue these statues and monuments inappropriately honor the Confederacy. More than 160 Confederate symbols were renamed or removed from public spaces last year, according to a tally by the Southern Poverty Law Center. "This is an important step in showing who we are and what we value as a commonwealth," Northam said earlier this week. Read the original article on Business Insider What are the consequences of long-haul COVID-19? There's a lot we don't know. Texas is bracing for as much as 2 feet of rain from Tropical Storm Nicholas. And a huge nest of murder hornets was found in Washington. Hey! It's Laura. Y'all doing OK? Drinking enough water? Grab a snack and buckle up it's Monday's news. But first, this is nuts! You might think of a more domestic animal having human-like traits, like a dog or a cat. But there might just be another fluffy animal near your home that acts more like a human a squirrel! Here's why. The Short List is a snappy USA TODAY news roundup. Subscribe to the newsletter here or text messages here. For millions, COVID-19 just won't go away "Doctors are completely lost," said Ronald Rushing Sr., who has had a slew of tests and been put on "medicine after medicine," all to no avail, more than a year after coming down with COVID-19. Pain shoots through his head from the moment he opens his eyes in the morning until he closes them at night. Scientists say there are no good numbers for how many people have lingering symptoms after a COVID-19 infection, but as many as 30% of those infected are long-haulers. In one survey, more than 90% said they still had symptoms eight months after their bout with COVID-19, recording 203 symptoms ranging from the most common brain fog, pain, headaches, tiredness, racing heart to the bizarre, including hallucinations, painfully swollen toes, and full-body convulsions. Treatments are usually directed first at problems that show up on medical tests, and then at the most bothersome symptoms but there's no standard therapy for tiredness, and lung, brain and cardiac scans often come up clean. Read the rest of the story here. Changed by COVID-19: This story is part of a USA TODAY Network series exploring long-haul COVID-19, the people whove suffered and the experts trying to help them. To keep up with the series, sign up for our COVID-19 newsletter here. Story continues Who'll be able to get a COVID-19 booster shot and when? That's still in limbo. COVID-19 numbers have some snowbirds saying they'll skip Florida this year. Religious exemptions for COVID-19 vaccines may be an option but can be denied. Prince Andrew's sex abuse lawsuit in court Process serving was expected to be the main topic of discussion Monday at a virtual hearing involving Prince Andrew, son of Queen Elizabeth II, and Virginia Roberts Giuffre. Giuffre and her celebrity lawyer, David Boies, were expected to tell a federal judge about the trouble they've had serving Andrew with the lawsuit she filed against him last month. An affidavit turned up in New York federal court on Friday in which a process server in London attests that he went to Andrew's residence on Aug. 27 and delivered documents from the shocking sex abuse lawsuit. Giuffre is accusing Andrew of rape and sexual assault, claiming she was sex-trafficked to him at age 17 by Andrew's former friend, the late convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, and that the prince knew it at the time. According to federal rules in civil cases, Andrew has 21 days to respond to Giuffre's lawsuit, but he's not expected to do so. Andrew has vehemently denied all her accusations, and Buckingham Palace has publicly backed him. Prince Andrew has few options for restoring reputation after accuser's lawsuit. Prince Andrew at the Royal Chapel of All Saints at Royal Lodge on the Windsor Castle estate, on April 11, 2021, a few days after his father, Prince Philip, died. What everyone's talking about Texas braces for up to 2 feet of rain from Tropical Storm Nicholas Schools closed and storm surge watches and warnings raced across the Gulf Coast as Nicholas churned along the Texas coast, a strengthening tropical storm that could reach hurricane status when it slams ashore later Monday. Nicholas, with sustained winds of 60 mph, was forecast to move onshore along the coast of south or central Texas by Monday evening. Strengthening is forecast Monday, and Nicholas could reach the northwest Gulf coast as a hurricane, according to the National Hurricane Center. Weakening was anticipated Tuesday and Wednesday as the storm moves over land, the center said. Louisiana, where more than 100,000 homes and businesses remain without power two weeks after the devastation of Hurricane Ida, was under a state of emergency. In Texas, Houston could be blasted with 8 to 12 inches of rain, and nearby areas could see up to 24 inches, AccuWeather said. As Nicholas nears Texas, NHC is monitoring 3 other systems in Atlantic. Louisiana declares state of emergency as Nicholas targets battered region. This satellite image provided by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration shows Tropical Storm Nicholas in the Gulf of Mexico on Sunday. Tropical storm warnings have been issued for coastal Texas and the northeast coast of Mexico. Biden in California ahead of recall election President Joe Biden heads on Monday to the state that gave him the most votes last year, making a last-minute appeal to supporters to ensure California keeps its Democratic governor. Polls indicate the attempt by Republicans to recall Newsom is likely to come up short in Tuesdays election for which many votes have already been cast. So the trip may end up benefiting Biden as much as Newsom. "The trip associates Biden directly with a significant political victory," said Dan Schnur, a political science professor at the University of California, "and he could use one right now." The recall election also gives Democrats a chance along with Virginias gubernatorial race in November to test potential playbooks and to generate momentum going into difficult midterm elections. Real quick More murder hornets found After officials destroyed the second Asian giant hornet nest of 2021, a third one was found in Washington state. The Washington State Department of Agriculture said it planned to eradicate the nest, which was found 2 miles from a nest found in 2020. Almost 1,500 hornets were found in various developmental stages inside the nest. Asian giant hornets are the largest hornets in the world, up to 2 inches long, and got their "murder hornet" name for being the cause of up to 50 deaths a year in Japan where they are commonly found. Murder hornets will also kill bees and other insects. No murder hornet deaths have been reported in the USA. Photo gallery: Here's what murder hornets look like. Visual guide: What we know about the invasive murder hornets. In this Oct. 24, 2020, file photo, a Washington state Department of Agriculture worker holds two of the dozens of Asian giant hornets vacuumed from a tree in Blaine, Wash. When scientists destroyed the first nest of so-called murder hornets found in the U.S. recently, they discovered about 500 live specimens inside in various stages of development. A break from the news More exercise, fewer calories? Weight loss is more complicated than that. An Uber glitch made my ride jump from $20 to $98. How can I get a refund? iOS 15 is arriving soon. Here's what we know so far. This is a compilation of stories from across the USA TODAY Network. Want this news roundup in your inbox every night? Sign up for The Short List newsletter here. This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Long-haul COVID-19, Tropical Storm Nicholas, Prince Andrew lawsuit, Gov. Gavin Newsom recall, murder hornets. It's Monday's news. Funding startups that help manufacturers and sellers distribute products and merchants access them on a single platform keeps increasing across Africa. Today, Cairo-based B2B e-commerce startup Capiter continues that trend by raising a $33 million Series A round. The investment was co-led by Quona Capital and MSA Capital. Other participating investors include Savola, Shorooq Partners, Foundation Ventures, Accion Venture Lab and Derayah Ventures. Capiter was launched in July 2020 by Mahmoud Nouh and Ahmed Nouh. Speaking with TechCrunch, CEO Mahmoud Nouh says Capiter solves problems around reach and insights for suppliers and manufacturers. Many of the manufacturers in Egypt today do not have the right infrastructure of the supply chain in place to reach merchants. Nouh says that manufacturers can only reach 30% of merchants in the market, but with Capiter, that number goes up between 80% to 100%. Also, a large portion of the manufacturers' end trade happens via traditional channels where there is basically no transparency over data or market insights. Using machine learning, Capiter says it helps these manufacturers gain critical insights into the markets they serve, the products they sell and how they fair with competition. Then for merchants, Capiter attends to three problems. The first is the inconvenience merchants have to deal with engaging several suppliers to find the right product. The second is transparency, which involves some back and forth between merchants and manufacturers on pricing. The third is that merchants often have little or no access to working capital to get the right product and the right time. With Capiter, merchants can order products from FMCGs and wholesalers while the company delivers them. Capiter also provides fair pricing and matching techniques that showcases a wide range of inventory for merchants. Then it affords working capital to them to buy more products even when they are strapped for cash. Capiter partners with local banks in Egypt and the Central Bank to perform this. Story continues Capiter has more than 12 merchant types on its platform, including mom-and-pop stores, hotels, restaurants, cafes, electronic shops, supermarkets, grocery shops and catering companies, each with its own customized solutions. "We're able to get the data from the products they buy. So we offer them the best solution on what they should sell, at what time and peak seasons, including when are the offerings happening. All of these are customized solutions that we offer," said Mahmoud Nouh. Capiter The Capiter app. Image Credits: Capiter The company's revenues are derived from little margins on the products bought from manufacturers and sold to merchants. Then on rebates for the suppliers and commission from the working capital provided to merchants. Capiter also makes money from providing market insights and data services to manufacturers and FMCGs. Typically B2B e-commerce platforms operate either asset-light or inventory-heavy models. Nouh tells me that Capiter chose to use a hybrid model -- making deliveries without owning any trucks to ensure scalability and owning inventory, especially for high-turnover products helping the company with high availability and better pricing. "This way has enabled us to scale the business in a very fast manner and at the same time, efficiently and reliably. Regarding warehouses and trucks, we don't own them; we rent them. We deal with third-party logistics for transportation and we manage them." Over 50,000 merchants and 1,000 sellers use Capiter. According to CEO Nouh, the company has provided up to 6,000 SKUs. He also adds that the company is targeting an annualized revenue of $1 billion by next year. "We're on a very good trajectory for achieving this," he added. "In terms of team members, we have a team of more than 1,000 people at the moment, including in warehouses, delivery, etc. So we've seen good traction across all board," he answered when asked about Capiter's traction. Quona Capital, the co-lead investor in this round, is known to have made some B2B e-commerce bets over the past years, for instance, Kenya's Sokowatch. The investment in Capiter adds to the firm's portfolio in that regard and a growing presence in the MENA region being its first check made in Egypt. In a statement, Quona co-founder and managing partner Monica Brand Engel said, Capiters embedded finance model, combined with its expertise and strong user engagement, can have a dramatic impact on the financial lives of SMEs, helping them optimize their income which helps communities to thrive. SME supply chain inefficiencies are massive throughout the Middle East. We believe the key blocker is the lack of working capital in the system. Capiter has built an asset-light way to aggregate retailers and suppliers and facilitate credit into the system through a comprehensive multi-product offering such as commerce, credit financing, digital payments, bookkeeping and inventory management for SMEs, leveraging on the ecosystem built by the local banks and financial institutions. adds Ben Harburg, partner at MSA Capital, a global VC that has invested in fintechs like Nubank and Klarna. According to Ahmed Nouh, the company's COO, Capiter will expand into new verticals like agriculture and pharmaceutical offerings. The co-founder brings experience from the shipping and logistics space. Both he and Mahmoud are serial entrepreneurs. The latter's journey is quite prominent, having worked in the mobility space as the co-founder and COO of Egyptian ride-hailing company SWVL. The company recently announced a potential SPAC deal valuing it at $1.5 billion and is one of the few African startups breeding a tech mafia. Ahmed Sabbah, another co-founder of the company, now runs early-stage fintech startup Telda. Capiter has attracted a global team that brings together expertise from companies like Careem and Flipkart needed to achieve the companys targets, said Mahmoud. He adds that the team, alongside the provision of financial services via partnerships with banks and its hybrid model, are ways the company stands out in a competitive market with the likes of Fatura, Bosta and MaxAB. Following this investment, the company plans to expand vertically (in terms of the buyer type) and geographically within the next year. "We want to serve every single SME in the MENA region and expanding inside Egypt and globally." He adds that Savola Group, one of its investors and the largest investor for FMCG products in the MENA region, will prove pivotal to this growth. Capiter also plans to diversify its financial services offerings to include payments. A teenager receives her first dose of the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine in Detroit on Thursday, Sept. 2, 2021. (Emily Elconin/The New York Times) WASHINGTON Like other Republican governors around the country, Tate Reeves of Mississippi reacted angrily to the coronavirus vaccine mandates President Joe Biden imposed on private businesses. Declaring the move terrifying, he wrote on Twitter, This is still America, and we still believe in freedom from tyrants. There is a deep inconsistency in that argument. Mississippi has some of the strictest vaccine mandates in the nation, which have not drawn opposition from most of its elected officials. Not only does it require children to be vaccinated against measles, mumps and seven other diseases to attend school, but it goes a step further than most states by barring parents from claiming religious, philosophical or conscientious exemptions. Resistance to vaccine mandates was once a fringe position in both parties, more the realm of misinformed celebrities than mainstream political thought. But the fury over Bidens mandates shows how a once-extreme stance has moved to the center of the Republican Party. The governors opposition reflects the anger and fear about the COVID-19 vaccines among constituents now central to their base, while ignoring long-standing policy and legal precedent in favor of similar vaccination requirements. Sign up for The Morning newsletter from the New York Times Republicans care about getting beyond this pandemic every bit as much as Democrats do, said Dr. Ashish Jha, dean of the Brown University School of Public Health. But, he added, politicians are certainly happy to exploit this issue for political gain, which is why I think the Republican governors are up in arms. Biden also imposed vaccine mandates on federal workers and many health care workers. But Republican outrage is really boiling over his plan to require all private-sector businesses with more than 100 employees to mandate vaccines or weekly testing for their workforces. Gov. Greg Abbott of Texas called the presidents move a power grab. Gov. Henry McMaster of South Carolina promised to fight Biden in court, to the gates of hell. Gov. Greg Gianforte of Montana called it unlawful and un-American. Gov. Kay Ivey of Alabama called the move outrageous and overreaching. Story continues But each of these states indeed, every state in the country already mandates certain vaccinations for children and sometimes for adults, including health care workers and patients in certain facilities. Mississippi, which has one of the lowest coronavirus vaccination rates in the nation, has consistently led the United States in childhood vaccinations a point of pride for its health officials and many of its lawmakers. Alabama, similar to Mississippi, also refuses to acknowledge philosophical, moral or ethical exemptions to mandatory childhood vaccinations. Experts in public health law agree that Biden is on solid legal footing because his actions are grounded in federal workplace safety laws. They say Republican governors who insist that vaccine mandates are an intrusion on personal liberty need a refresher on their own state policies. That is pure hypocrisy, Lawrence Gostin, a public health law expert at Georgetown University, said of Reeves remarks. Even religious exemptions are swept away in the state of Mississippi, so how can he say that an order that a president makes to keep workers safe, with authorization by Congress, is an overreach or in any way unconstitutional? A spokesperson for Reeves, Bailey Martin, rejected Gostins assertion. The only people being hypocritical are President Biden and his administration, who for months have said they would not mandate the vaccine, she said in an email, adding that Reeves would use every tool at his disposal to block the mandates. Republican suspicion of vaccines was building before the pandemic; when Donald Trump was running for president in 2016, he rejected established science by raising the debunked claims that vaccines cause autism. Now some of the governors argue that given the countrys outsize divisions and widespread suspicion of Washington, federal intervention would be counterproductive. It would be best, they say, to let state officials continue making the case that the vaccines are safe and effective and to allow people to make decisions themselves. Im trying to overcome resistance, but the presidents actions in a mandate hardens the resistance, Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson, a Republican, said Sunday on NBCs Meet the Press. School mandates, he said, have always come at the state level, never at the national level. And so this is an unprecedented assumption of federal mandate authority that really disrupts and divides the country. Jha said Biden had in fact done Republicans a favor. What the president does is, he creates political cover for Republican leaders, who will scream loudly because its politically expedient, he said. But I think many of them are actually feeling relieved, because now they dont have to do the hard work of convincing their constituents. Indeed, when the highly infectious delta variant began ripping through their communities and overwhelming their hospitals, many elected Republicans notably, Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., the minority leader started pleading with people to get vaccinated. Most of the Republican governors criticizing Biden have said much the same. Even as Reeves blasted Biden on Twitter, he took care to declare the vaccine itself lifesaving. McMaster held a news conference last month to encourage South Carolinians to take the shots, saying, Now is a great time to do it while were getting ready for the fall. In Alabama, Ivey has adopted the same stance as Biden: Its time to start blaming the unvaccinated folks for the deadly coronavirus surge, she said recently. Three-quarters of American adults have had at least one COVID-19 shot, which suggests growing acceptance of the vaccine. Bidens move is aimed at the roughly 80 million Americans who are eligible but remain unvaccinated. Experts call it an unprecedented exercise of presidential authority to encourage vaccination. Its really uncharted waters, said Claire Hannan, executive director of the Association of Immunization Managers, which represents state immunization officials. Biden is pointing to childhood vaccine mandates to make his case. Parents, get your teenagers vaccinated, he said Friday during a visit to a middle school in Washington. You got them vaccinated for all kinds of other things measles, mumps, rubella. To go to school and play sports, they have had those vaccinations. The Supreme Court has twice upheld vaccine mandates, beginning more than a century ago in the 1905 case of Jacobson v. Massachusetts, in which Justice John Marshall Harlan reasoned that a community has the right to protect itself against an epidemic of disease in that case, smallpox which threatens the safety of its members. Both cases upheld state or city mandates and do not apply to Bidens actions, according to Gostin. Because public health powers are reserved to the states under the Constitution, he said, the Supreme Court would almost certainly strike down a national mandate. But Biden did not impose a national mandate. He took a series of specific, limited actions that legal experts agree are within his purview as president. The mandates he announced for the federal workforce and federal contractors, for employees of health care facilities and Head Start programs that accept federal funding, and for large businesses are grounded in powers that Congress has granted to the president, including the authority to ensure a safe workplace under the law that established the Occupational Safety and Health Administration. And Biden gave businesses an out. Employees who do not want to get vaccinated can undergo weekly testing a fact that his critics fail to note. Reeves, for instance, asserted that the president had no authority to require that Americans inject themselves because of their employment at a private business, without mentioning testing as an option. Vaccine mandates are not new, nor is resistance to vaccination. As far back as 1721 in Boston, a vaccine opponent threw a small bomb through the window of Cotton Mather, who was promoting inoculation against smallpox during a deadly outbreak. By the early 1900s, smallpox vaccination again emerged as a contentious issue in Massachusetts, giving rise to the Jacobson case. By the 1920s, many schools in the United States required vaccination against smallpox, according to the History of Vaccines, a project of the College of Physicians of Philadelphia. When vaccines for diseases like pertussis, polio and measles became widely available in the 1940s and 50s, the American public, inclined to have faith in science and government, voluntarily accepted them, said David Rosner, a Columbia University historian who specializes in the intersection of politics and public health. The 1960s brought social upheaval and an anti-establishment mood and with it, the beginnings of the anti-vaccine movement, which led many states to enact mandates, Rosner said. Often, there is pushback, especially with newly developed vaccines. When the varicella vaccine was developed to combat chickenpox in 1995, for instance, Idaho refused to mandate it. But it was ultimately added to the states list of required vaccinations for children born after Sept. 1, 2005. One Republican governor, Pete Ricketts of Nebraska, drew a distinction between COVID-19 shots and childhood vaccines, insisting in an appearance on Fox News Sunday that childhood vaccine mandates do not violate personal freedoms because parents have had a long history with them. Of COVID-19 shots, he said, This is a process thats going to take time to bring people along, and thats why it should be a personal choice. But public health experts say the safety of the community supersedes personal liberty when everyone is at risk from a communicable disease. Its always a little noisy and uncomfortable when vaccine requirements are first imposed, said Jha of Brown University. But over time, he said, people get vaccinated, and whatever infectious disease you are trying to deal with fades into the background, and people move on, and thats what I expect to happen here. Still, never before has a vaccine been so caught up in partisan politics. Rosner sees something deeper at work. This is part of a much larger dissolution of American society, he said. It is part and parcel of the resistance to all forms of social harmony and sense of social purpose that the country is undergoing right now. Eleven states, including Arizona, Florida and Texas, have already expressly banned COVID-19 vaccine mandates, either through legislation or a governors order, and questions are bound to emerge over whether the presidents mandates will trump those state policies or laws. (The answer is yes, Gostin said.) Dr. Marcus Plescia, chief medical officer of the Association of State and Territorial Health Officials, warned in an interview last month that the backlash against COVID-19 vaccine mandates could prompt state legislatures to also tinker with the idea that maybe all of these childhood vaccines are an overreach of government. So far, at least, there is no indication of that. And even in Republican-led states where Bidens mandates are inciting outrage, the delta variant is making the case for him. In Mississippi, one of the hardest-hit states, hospitals were so overwhelmed last month that the University of Mississippi Medical Center put up a field hospital in its parking garage. Today, the state is no longer last in the nation for COVID-19 vaccination, as it was throughout the spring and into early July. More than half of Mississippi adults are fully protected against the coronavirus. 2021 The New York Times Company The headline-making sex-abuse lawsuit against Prince Andrew is inching along after a first hearing in New York on Monday and there wasn't a lot of good news for the royal to come out of it. A federal judge declined to OK the release of a secret settlement agreement that Andrew's lawyers think could absolve him of liability in the case. Instead, the 40-minute telephone hearing before U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan in Manhattan focused on process serving and the relevant rules in America and the United Kingdom, and whether those rules were met when a process server left a copy of the lawsuit at the front gate of Andrew's Windsor residence last month. No immediate decision was made: Kaplan gave the parties several deadlines to make their case about whether or not Andrew was properly served, and whether officials at the English high court need to weigh in on the question. Kaplan set another hearing on the issue for Oct.13. Prince Andrew at the Royal Chapel of All Saints at Royal Lodge on the Windsor Castle estate, on April 11, 2021, a few days after his father, Prince Philip, died. Neither the Duke of York, 61, nor any of his London lawyers participated in the hearing, the first proceeding scheduled since the plaintiff, Virginia Roberts Giuffre, 38, filed her lawsuit last month. So far, Andrew and his British lawyers have refused to respond to the lawsuit. But in a last minute surprise, they sent in a high-powered litigator, Andrew Brettler of Los Angeles, to make a "special appearance" on the prince's behalf for the purpose of challenging the process service and the overall validity of the lawsuit, issues Brettler argued are related. In her suit, Giuffre reiterated accusations she's publicly made against Andrew since January 2015: She accuses him of rape and sexual assault, claiming she was sex-trafficked to him in 2001 at age 17 by Andrew's former friend, the late convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, and that the prince knew it at the time. Andrew has vehemently denied all her accusations. Attorney David Boies in Washington in 2014. Prince Andrew's lawyers seek release of sealed 2009 settlement Story continues Brettler told the judge that the prince contests the validity of the service under U.K. law and the Hague Convention, which governs such matters in international cases. But he also questioned the "propriety" of the lawsuit in general. "It's a baseless, non-viable, potentially unlawful lawsuit filed against the duke," Brettler said. He said there is a settlement agreement in a different matter involving Giuffre that "releases the duke and others from any and all potential liability." In 2009, Giuffre and Epstein reached a confidential settlement in a lawsuit she filed against him, which has been sealed ever since. Last month, according to documents on file in federal court, Giuffre dropped her claim of sexual battery she made in a separate lawsuit against lawyer Alan Dershowitz, who formerly represented Epstein, after Dershowitz invoked this part of the 2009 settlement agreement. But the judge interrupted Brettler before he could launch into his argument, saying this hearing was not intended for that discussion, and was focused only on the service issue. Later, after Brettler again brought up the sealed settlement issue, Kaplan batted it away, even as he said he understood Brettler's position. "If there is a document that would provide your client with an affirmative defense to a claim, or help him out in England or both, you'd rather see it sooner rather than later. There's a lot to be said for that point of view," Kaplan said. Virginia Giuffre, center, who says she was trafficked by sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, sued Prince Andrew saying he sexually assaulted her when she was 17. But he added there is also a lot to be said for the position of Giuffre's lawyer, David Boies, about dealing with the service issue first before delving into "discovery" matters. Kaplan noted there is a "high degree of certainty" that Andrew can be effectively served "sooner or later." "This is the swiftest way to get to the substance (of the case)," Kaplan said. "You two need to talk about that (because) I can see lot of legal fees and time being spent in delay and ultimately that would not be productive for anyone." As for releasing the settlement agreement, Kaplan said that would be up to a different federal judge. In fact, Dershowitz is seeking the permission of U.S. District Judge Loretta Preska, who is presiding in his lawsuit with Giuffre, to release the relevant portions of the settlement agreement to Andrews lawyers for his defense. Preska has not yet ruled. Prince Andrew attends Sunday service at the Royal Chapel of All Saints at Royal Lodge, Windsor, following the death announcement of his father, Prince Philip, April 11, 2021. Dershowitz argues that Giuffre's lawyers should have notified Judge Kaplan that she dropped her claim against him before filing a lawsuit against Andrew. "The same reasons for dismissing the case against me seem to apply to Prince Andrew," Dershowitz said in a statement obtained by USA TODAY. "These documents should get the charges against Prince Andrew thrown out." The discussion on process serving was anything but gripping, focused on such details as whether or not the Hague Convention trumps Federal Rule 4F3. Boies contends the service, which took place on Aug. 27 at Andrew's residence at Royal Lodge on the Windsor Castle estate, meets the requirements of English and international law, and Andrew now must respond to the lawsuit. "There are two methods (of service) in England and Wales and that is to deliver the (lawsuit) to the last known address and send by Royal Mail, both of which we have done," Boies told Kaplan. Since last week, Andrew has been in the Scottish highlands, staying with his ex-wife, Sarah, Duchess of York, at Balmoral Castle, the 50,000-acre estate where his mother, Queen Elizabeth II, usually spends about two months in late summer and early fall. So far, Andrew and his lawyers at the London firm Blackfords have chosen not to engage with the lawsuit: They haven't responded publicly in any way and neither has Buckingham Palace. They were not expected to participate in Monday's hearing. To do so might suggest he will engage, and his legal strategy appears to be non-cooperation while taking advantage of the complexities of international law, according to lawyers following the case. This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Prince Andrew lawsuit: Judge won't OK release of secret settlement Southerners like pina coladas. They also love bushwackers, daiquiris, the occasional martini, and a good, strong Tom Collins, too, at least according to two recent cocktail surveys. First, swimsuit company Pour Moi sifted through data from more than 100 million Google searches conducted over the past year to find the most-searched-for cocktails around the world, including, naturally, the South. According to the survey, the daiquiri was the most-searched for in Texas, Louisiana, and Mississippi. Folks in Florida and Virginia had to look up their favorite pina colada recipes and Long Island Iced Tea took the top spot in South Carolina. Other popular drinks around the country include dirty martinis, negronis, and Aperol spritzes, while the northeast is apparently having a love affair with espresso martinis. While a writer over at the Houston Chronicle pointed out at least one major flaw with the findings (specifically, what Texan prefers daiquiris to margaritas?) it's still a fun snapshot of the South's cocktail drinking habits. Cocktail Sitting on a Tray with Limes Getty/Annie Otzen That said, if you're not convinced by the swimsuit company's cocktail findings, perhaps an online deal company's research will do. Groupon recently conducted their own research into the preferred summer cocktails of the residents of all 50 states and Washington, D.C. To make their determination, they pored over Google searches from the last 10 years, with a special focus on April through August to limit the findings to summer cocktails. Their research determined that Alabama and Tennessee have a strong predilection for the bushwacker. Those boozy chocolatey milkshakes are a good choice for helping ease the summer heat. Texas and Florida residents were searching up mojitos, a recipe that reportedly dates back more than 500 years, according to Mental Floss. Virginia apparently loves a Dark and Stormy, while Georgia and South Carolina prefer Pina Coladas (no word on walks in the rain). North Carolina residents opted for vodka martinis while Louisiana and Mississippi residents couldn't stop searching for the perfect Tom Collins recipe. The results are an interesting peek into the online search habits of Southerners looking for something to sip on the front porch. That said, we're just going to go out on a limb and guess that Southerners didn't need to Google recipes for ranch water, Sazeracs, juleps, grasshoppers, and, definitely, margaritas. Sep. 13WASHINGTON TWP. Nearly all speakers who addressed the proposed redistricting maps for Ohio House and Senate seats at a local hearing criticized them, calling them unconstitutional plans that would not fairly represent voters in Dayton and surrounding areas. Plans to reshape the state's 99 House and 33 Senate districts of which Republicans hold majorities in both chambers was denounced by all but one of the nearly 40 speakers Sunday at the Ohio Redistricting Commission's hearing, officials said. The hearing that attracted more than 100 people to the Washington Twp. RecPlex was among the last chances for public input before the Sept. 15 ratification deadline for redistricting based on 2020 census data. The final hearing is set for 10 a.m. Tuesday at the Ohio Statehouse in Columbus. The Republican proposal for new district maps, adopted by the Ohio Redistricting Commission last week as working documents, is "unconstitutional gerrymandering," Dayton City Commissioner Darryl Fairchild told the panel. "Extreme gerrymandering harms Dayton residents by diluting their voices in the statehouse," he said. "Neither proposed map leaves Dayton intact. And the maps cut off Dayton from our suburban neighbors that face challenges similar to our own. "Montgomery County which typically vote relatively evenly between Democrats and Republicans would almost surely be without any Democratic state representation in the Senate," Fairchild added. "And (it) would have only one of five members as Democrats" in the House. The Republican-dominated commission gave the maps tentative approval on a 5-2, party-line vote. That "does not bode well" for bi-partisanship and "fails to uphold even the basic tenants of fairness," said Derrick Foward, Dayton NAACP president. The maps draw "black communities in with rural counties," he said, adding that Trotwood should be paired with like communities, not with areas of Preble County. Story continues But Hamilton County attorney Michael Odioso commended the commission "for good faith efforts to shepherd Ohio" through the process, which "so far is constitutional," he said. "Never before has Ohio redistricting been more transparent, has seen so much voter input...and been guided by specific procedures," Odioso said. One of his prime concerns, Odioso said, is that "critics of this commission have already proclaimed that its workings are rigged, an offense to democracy and cannot pass the smell test." The seven-member commission is co-chaired by state House Speaker Robert Cupp, R Lima, and state Sen. Vernon Sykes, D Akron. Its other members are Gov. Mike DeWine; state Auditor Keith Faber; Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose; Ohio Senate President Matt Huffman, R Lima; and House Minority Leader Emilia Sykes, D Akron, daughter of Vernon Sykes. Before Republican state lawmakers unveiled their proposal Thursday, Senate Democrats submitted map proposals a week earlier but the commission rejected them, again on a party-line vote. Commissioners are expected to consider amendments to the Republican proposal before the voting deadline. Fair Districts Ohio led by the League of Women Voters of Ohio and Common Cause Ohio in partnership with ACLU Ohio, Ohio Council of Churches, Faith in Public Life and other groups has pushed for more transparency in the process and an end to gerrymandering. Fair Districts Ohio will lobby for changes in the proposed maps, but if a gerrymandered final version is approved, the group would consider lawsuits, Jen Miller, director of the Ohio League of Women Voters, has said. Ohio voters approved a constitutional amendment in 2015 to create the bipartisan state legislative redistricting commission. Reflecting state government's current makeup, the Ohio commission has five Republican and two Democratic members. Ive always had a strong affection for the Atlantic Coast Conference because we were both cr Our directory features more than 18 million business listings from across the entire US. However, if we're missing your business, add your business by clicking on Add Your Business. New Delhi: Captivating audiences with their stellar projects, Eros Now recently announced the release of their popular and most awaited film 'Haathi Mere Saathi' starring Rana Daggubati. Furthermore, taking the excitement level several notches higher, the leading OTT platform today unravelled the outstanding trailer of the film and it's totally eye-grabbing. Keeping in mind the amount of excitement and love they received on its initial buzz, the makers decided on this worldwide release and what's better than the auspicious month of Ganesh Chaturthi for the release on its very own OTT platform Eros Now. Check out the trailer of Haathi Mere Saathi: The magical trailer will surely keep you all at the edge of your seats. Slated to begin streaming on 18th September 2021 on Eros Now, the film is directed by Prabu Solomon, the adventurous film depicting the bond between humans and animals features Rana Daggubati and Pulkit Samrat. Shriya Pilagaonkar and Zoya Hussain will also be seen essaying supporting roles in the movie. New Delhi: Jet Airways will restart domestic operations by the first quarter of 2022 and short haul international flights by the last quarter of the next year, Jalan Kalrock Consortium, the winning bidder for the grounded airline, stated on Monday. The first flight of Jet Airways would be on Delhi-Mumbai route, it mentioned, adding that the airline would now be headquartered in Delhi instead of Mumbai. The National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) in June this year had approved the Jalan Kalrock Consortium's resolution plan for Jet Airways, two years after the once-storied full-service carrier went into insolvency proceedings. In a statement, Murari Lal Jalan, Lead Member of the Jalan Kalrock Consortium, said, "Jet Airways 2.0 aims at restarting domestic operations by Q1-2022, and short haul international operations by Q3/Q4 2022." Our plan is to have 50-plus aircraft in three years and 100 plus planes in five years, which also fits perfectly well with the short-term and long-term business plan of the Consortium, he noted. "The aircraft are being selected based on competitive long term leasing solutions. It is the first time in the history of aviation that an airline grounded for more than two years is being revived and we are looking forward to being a part of this historic journey," he said. The Consortium's statement read that the revival plan for Jet Airways is being implemented as approved by NCLT and all the creditors will be settled according to the plan in the coming months. The process of reviving the grounded carrier is on track with the existing Air Operator Certificate (AOC) already under process for revalidation, it mentioned. The Consortium is working closely with the relevant authorities and airport coordinators on slot allocation, required airport infrastructure, and night parking, according to the statement. "Senior Members of the Jalan Kalrock Consortium along with Jet 2.0 Operations Team led by the newly appointed Capt. Sudhir Gaur, Accountable Manager, and acting CEO visited key airports last month and held productive meetings with them," it noted. Captain Gaur said, "We will start with domestic operations on an all narrow-body aircraft fleet leased from major global aircraft lessors who have approached us, and with whom we continue to engage." "Jet Airways has already hired 150+ full time employees on its payroll and we are looking to onboard another 1,000+ employees FY 2021-22 across categories," he mentioned. The airline was grounded in April 2019 due to fund crunch and high debt. Live TV #mute New Delhi: A four-storey building collapsed in north Delhi's Sabzi Mandi area near Malka Ganj on Monday afternoon, triggering panic among local residents. According to the police, a person trapped under the debris was rescued and immediately rushed to a nearby hospital. Delhi | A four-storey building collapsed in the Sabzi Mandi area. One person has been rescued and taken to the hospital. More details awaited. (Visuals from the spot) pic.twitter.com/iQ3poHtYCN ANI (@ANI) September 13, 2021 Few more people are believed to be trapped under the buildings debris. ''So far, no casualties have been reported due to the incident. The rescue operations are still underway. The Delhi Fire Service received a call about the incident at 11.50 AM about the building collapse, said Atul Garg, the director of DFS. Total seven fire tenders were rushed to the spot after that, he added. "Teams of local police, MCD, NDRF among others are present to undertake rescue operation. We need time to assess a number of people stuck under debris. One person has been rescued so far. He sustained a head injury and has been sent to hospital,'' NS Bundela, Joint CP, Central Range, Delhi Police, said. Meanwhile, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal informed that he is ''closely monitoring the situation.'' "The incident of building collapse in Sabzi Mandi area is very sad. The administration is engaged in relief and rescue work. Through the district administration, I am myself monitoring the situation," he tweeted in Hindi. Delhi Fire Service officials said that they were yet to ascertain what exactly caused the building collapse; however, they were of the view that heavy rainfall for the last few days in the city could have weakened the structure of the building. The national capital has been witnessing heavy rainfall for the last few days, due to which several areas were reported waterlogged. Live TV Gandhinagar: Two days after Vijay Rupanis resignation from the top post in the state months before the Assembly elections, Bhupendra Patel will take oath as the new Chief Minister of Gujarat on Monday. Fondly addressed as Dada by his supporters, Bhupendrabhai Rajnikanthbhai Patel is set to become the 17th Chief Minister of Gujarat. It is believed that Patel holds a strong influence in the Patidar community in Gujarat which the BJP party has banked upon to win the upcoming elections. With Vijay Rupani`s resignation on Saturday as the Chief Minister, he became the fourth CM in the BJP-led state government in the country this year to opt for this move. Earlier, former Karnataka Chief Minister BS Yediyurappa, Uttarakhand Chief Minister Tirath Singh Rawat and Trivendra Singh Rawat tendered their resignations. The announcement of the 59-year-old BJP leader`s name as the Chief Minister-elect at a legislative party meeting of the BJP on Sunday came as a surprise for many as the low-profile MLA was not seen to be among the top contenders for the post. However, BJP said the selection of Bhupendra Patel, a man known for his gentle personality and is said to be a protege of former chief minister Anandiben Patel was a unanimous decision by all leaders present in the party`s legislative meeting. Till early Sunday morning, Patel was just another MLA attending small party events in his constituency, where he was panting saplings and planning next organizational programs. Born in Ahmedabad, Patel is a first-time MLA from the Ghatlodia seat, a post previously held by Anandiben Patel, who is currently serving as the Governor of Uttar Pradesh with an additional charge of Madhya Pradesh. He had won his maiden seat by a margin of 117,000 votes in 2017, the largest margin in that poll defeating Congress candidate Shashikant Patel. He grabbed more than 72 per cent of the vote share in the Ghatlodia constituency during the 2017 assembly polls. Patel is, however, not a new face in politics and has served as the Ahmedabad municipal councillor. Patel, who holds a diploma in civil engineering, also served as the chairman of the Standing Committee of Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation and Ahmedabad Urban Development Authority (AUDA). With Assembly polls in the state scheduled to be held in 2022, BJP went with Bhupendra Patel, a Patidar face for the Chief Minister. He is also a trustee at Patidar organizations Sardar Dham and Vishwa Umiya Foundation. The Patidars are a dominant caste in Gujarat with a sizeable control over the electoral votes. The community also dominates the political economy with a stronghold over education, realty and cooperative sectors. The choice of a Patel name is important for BJP because besides being a Patidar, he is also a Kadva Patel. He will be the first Chief Minister in Gujarat from the Kadva Patel community which forms nearly 12.4 per cent of the state`s population. Till now all the other "Patel" chief ministers of Gujarat were from the Leuva Patel community. Patel has been invited on Monday by Governor Acharya Devvrat to the oath as the chief minister. BJP has said the decision regarding the new Gujarat cabinet will be taken later. The party is counting on Patel to navigate the party through tough waters during the upcoming assembly elections in 2022. In the 2017 state election, the BJP won 99 of the state`s 182 Assembly seats, Congress got 77 seats. Live TV New Delhi: Chief Minister Amarinder Singh on Monday (September 13, 2021) told farmers that their ongoing protests in Punjab are not in the state's interest. Singh appealed to the representatives of farmers' unions to not hold protests across the state against the three new farm laws as the state and its people have already expressed solidarity with them on this issue. "I want to tell Punjab farmers that this is their land. Their ongoing protests here are not in the state's interest. Instead of holding protests in the state, farmers should mount pressure on the Centre to get farm laws repealed," Singh said at the foundation laying ceremony in Hoshiarpur. He said that these ongoing protests at 113 places in Punjab by the farmers were not at all in the interests of the state, which has considerably impacted its economic development and hoped his request would be acceded by the farmers on agitation. "Anything within the purview of his government was done by us promptly," Amarinder Singh stated. The Congress leader also attacked the Centre and said that the constitution has been amended 127 times since 1950. "So why not one more time to repeal the farm laws for providing succour to the farmers who have been sitting at Singhu and Tikri borders," he said. Amarinder Singh added that the state government has provided Rs 5 lakh to every farmer from the state who died during the agitation against farm laws, besides a job to the next of kin of deceased farmers. He also launched a scathing attack on the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) for double-crossing the farmers over the issue of farm laws and said the farm laws were drafted with the consent of the Akali Dal with Harsimrat Kaur Badal as the Union Minister. He claimed that even former Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal had argued in favour of these laws but changed their tune completely when their move backfired. This is to be noted that farmers have been protesting since November last year against the three newly enacted farm laws: Farmers' Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Act, 2020; the Farmers Empowerment and Protection) Agreement on Price Assurance and farm Services Act 2020 and the Essential Commodities (Amendment) Act, 2020. The measures, introduced last September, allow farmers to directly sell their produce, outside government-regulated wholesale markets, to big buyers. The government says this will unshackle farmers and help them get better prices. Farmers, however, say the legislation will hurt their livelihood and leave them with scant bargaining power against big private retailers and food processors. Farmer leaders and the Centre have also held several rounds of talks but the impasse remains. (With agency inputs) Live TV Amaravati: Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy on Monday requested the Centre to help repatriate several workers belonging to the state who were being 'ill-treated' by their employers in Bahrain. In a letter to External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar, the Chief Minister said several Indian workers were being ill-treated by their employers and had sought assistance to return to their home towns. "Among the impacted workers, a sizeable number of workers belong to the state of AP," Jagan said. He said the state government would extend all possible support to the Centre to repatriate the affected workers from Bahrain. He wanted the External Affairs Ministry officials to co-ordinate with either the Resident Commissioner in New Delhi or the CMO in Amaravati for any assistance. Live TV New Delhi: In order to prevent road accidents and ensure safety, the Union Ministry of Road Transport and Highways has issued stricter guidelines. The new order will be implemented in over 13 cities in Uttar Pradesh, including Noida and Ghaziabad. As per the new guidelines, the transport department has decided to make the challan system 100 percent digital within the next three months. According to a report in Hindustan Times, the authorities have also directed the traffic police to also deduct online challans in case of overcrowding of vehicles in 13 cities with a population of more than one million. These cities are Lucknow, Kanpur, Jhansi, Firozabad, Gajraula, Ghaziabad, Khurja, Moradabad, Noida, Rae Bareli, Varanasi, Gorakhpur and Meerut. The transport department revealed that Lucknow is the city with the most numbers of traffic violations in Uttar Pradesh, adding that the target challan for the city is one thousand per day. The transport department is going to use the mobile camera for invoicing these e-challans. ALSO READ | Uttar Pradesh jails no longer fun centres for criminals: Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath According to the report of the Union Ministry of Road Transport and Highways, back in 2019, there were over two lakh challans for violating traffic rules across the country, and this figure has increased manyfold since then. From 2020 onwards eight lakh challans are being deducted every year, which is four times the previous year. Raees Akhtar, DCP Traffic, Lucknow informed that cameras have been installed at all the intersections under the ITMS project. Online challan trial has started and the police stations are being mapped. Soon this system will be implemented all over these cities. ALSO READ | Uttar Pradesh giving out daily COVID-19 doses faster than United States Live TV New Delhi: The much-awaited nod by the World Health Organisation (WHO) for the Bharat Biotech's Covaxin is likely to be given this week, the ANI news agency reported on Monday (September 13, 2021). The development comes a month after Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya met WHO Chief Scientist Dr Soumya Swaminathan and held discussions over the global health body's approval for the homegrown COVID-19 vaccine. Held a meeting with Dr Soumya Swaminathan, Chief Scientist of @WHO We had a productive discussion on WHOs approval of @BharatBiotechs COVAXIN.@DoctorSoumya also appreciated Indias efforts for the containment of #COVID19 pic.twitter.com/5gnAOQkeT3 Mansukh Mandaviya (@mansukhmandviya) August 12, 2021 This is to be noted that all documents required for Emergency Use Listing (EUL) have been submitted by Bharat Biotech for Covaxin to WHO as of July 9 following which the review process by the global health body had commenced. ALSO READ | Six Indian states and UTs vaccinate all adults with first COVID-19 dose Developed by Bharat Biotech in partnership with the National Institute of Virology (NIV) and the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), Covaxin was approved for emergency use in India on January 3. Bharat Biotech in its Phase 3 trial results of Covaxin had claimed that it demonstrates overall vaccine efficacy of 77.8%. The Hyderabad-based company had said that the Covaxin has been proven 'safe' in India's largest efficacy trial and shared the final Phase-3 Pre-Print data published on medRxiv. Meanwhile, the Office of Mansukh Mandaviya informed that India on Monday achieved the milestone of administering 75 crore COVID-19 vaccine doses. Tricolour is soaring high in all aspects! Congratulations to all countrymen, as India administers crore #COVID19 vaccine doses, in our year of independence.#SabkoVaccineMuftVaccine#AazadiKaAmritMahotsav pic.twitter.com/0AU6LHgdKQ Office of Mansukh Mandaviya (@OfficeOf_MM) September 13, 2021 ALSO READ | Do you know how to identify fake Covishield, Covaxin, Sputnik V COVID-19 vaccines? Check here Live TV NEW DELHI: India on Monday witnessed a significant decline in daily new cases of COVID-19 infections for the second day in a row. According to the Union Health and Family Welfare Ministry, India reported a single-day rise of 27,254 coronavirus infections, taking the overall tally to 33,264,175. ''Of 27,254 new COVID-19 cases and 219 deaths reported in the last 24 hours in India, Kerala recorded 20,240 COVID-19 cases and 67 deaths,'' the Health Ministry said. During this period, active cases of COVID-19 infections also declined by nearly 10,652 and now stand at 3,74,269. The COVID-19 related death toll has reached 44,28, 74 with 219 daily fatalities reported on Monday, according to the data released at 8 am. The active cases have declined to 3,74,269, constituting 1.16 per cent of the total infections, while the COVID-19 recovery rate was recorded at 97.51 per cent, the health ministry said. The number of active cases declined by 10,652 in a span of 24 hours, it said. India reports 27,254 new #COVID19 cases, 37,687 recoveries and 219 deaths in last 24 hours, as per Health Ministry. Total cases: 3,32,64,175 Active cases: 3,74,269 Total recoveries: 3,24,47,032 Death toll: 4,42,874 Total Vaccination : 74,38,37,643 (53,38,945 in last 24 hours) pic.twitter.com/XYgrQdIr0t ANI (@ANI) September 13, 2021 A total of 54,30,14,076 samples for Covid-19 tested up to 12 September. Of which, 12,08,247 samples were tested yesterday," according to Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR). The daily positivity rate was recorded at 2.26% per cent. It has been less than 3 per cent for the past 14 days. The Weekly positivity rate was recorded at 2.11% per cent. It has been below 3 per cent for the past 80 days, according to the health ministry. The number of people who have recuperated from the disease surged to 32,44,70,32, while the case fatality rate was recorded at 1.33 per cent. The cumulative number of Covid vaccine doses administered in the country has exceeded 74.38 crore, according to the ministry. India's COVID-19 tally had crossed the 20-lakh mark on August 7, 2020, 30 lakh on August 23, 40 lakh on September 5 and 50 lakh on September 16. It went past 60 lakh on September 28, 70 lakh on October 11, crossed 80 lakh on October 29, 90 lakh on November 20 and surpassed the one-crore mark on December 19. India crossed the grim milestone of two crore on May 4 and three crore on June 23. Live TV New Delhi: Human beings desire to live forever is not something new. Since time immemorial, humans have tried to find out ways to achieve immortality. And the search continues to date. Many scientists are conducting research in this area and none other than the worlds richest person, Jeff Bezos, is funding one such group seeking to find a way to cheat death. Zee News Editor-in-Chief Sudhir Chaudhary on Monday (September 13) discussed humans desire to conquer death and how far they are willing to go to achieve it. Bezos has invested in a company called Altos Labs which is trying to find a way to make humans immortal. The company aims to do this through cellular reprogramming which means reprogramming human cells to make them new again. A human body is made up of 724 trillion cells. Most of these cells die over time and the body is unable to make new cells in proportion to compensate for the loss. This is what is called getting old. The scientists at Altos Labs are conducting research under which the old cells in the human body will be converted into Stem cells, and then new cells will be created with the help of these Stem cells. Stem cells are in a way the raw material from which the body and different parts of the body are made. With the help of these, special types of new cells can be made for different parts of the body. Some of the scientists working on the project are Nobel Prize winners. At present, the scientists hope they will be able to increase the lifespan of humans to at least 50 years, that is, a person who would normally live 80 years will be able to live up to 130 years. But in the future, with the help of this technology, efforts will be made to make humans immortal. This dream of making humans immortal is not just based on cell reprogramming. According to American scientist Raymond Kurzweil, by the year 2030, a certain kind of nanorobots will be invented which can be released in the human body along with the bloodstream. These nanorobots would be able to eliminate viruses, bacteria, clean the blood, prevent clotting, and even kill tumors in the body, and repair your cells if needed. There are some scientists who believe that a person is not identified by his body but by his mind, and thoughts. These scientists want to upload the feelings and thoughts present in the human brain to a computer so that even after the death of the person, their feelings and thoughts can be kept alive. Jeff Bezos is not the only industrialist to invest in the dream of being immortal. Several big industrialists around the world are going to invest Rs 45 lakh crore on this. The famous Israeli writer, Yuval Noah Harari, wrote in his famous book Homo Deus that for religious people, death may be a decision made by God. But for scientists, death is merely a technical glitch in the body. He says that scientists can correct this technical glitch in labs and death can be avoided. This is not the first attempt by humans to achieve immortality, but humans have been trying to stop aging and make themselves immortal for thousands of years. It is written in the scriptures that drinking Somras, which is obtained from a rare plant named Soma, can make humans immortal. But this plant is very rare. Scholars and Ayurveda experts believe that this plant is found only in present-day Afghanistan. 2200 years ago, Qin Shi Huang established the largest empire in China. After that, he started dreaming of becoming immortal. He ordered all the doctors of his kingdom to find and bring the medicine to become immortal. It is said that mercury was discovered in China at the same time. Some physicians thought that it was a kind of elixir. They started administering mercury to the emperor in small quantities. However, mercury is actually very poisonous and that is why within a few months the emperor died. He was just 40. About two thousand years ago, there used to be a famous queen in Egypt named Cleopatra. It is said that she was very beautiful and that she used donkey's milk to keep her so. Strangely, donkeys milk is once again being sold in the market and it costs between 5 and 10 thousand rupees per liter. It is used extensively in beauty products as well. Psychologists believe that the desire to always look young has always been there in humans. The human body starts aging but they do not want to accept that their body is not as capable as before and that one day the body will die. At this point, it is hard to predict if and when science will conquer death. But if one really wants to be immortal, they can make their life so memorable that even after they are gone, the things and memories related to them will endure. Live TV New Delhi: The Supreme Court has observed that an employee cannot insist on a transfer to a particular place and it is for the employer to shift the staff considering the requirement. The top court made this observation while dismissing the petition of a lecturer challenging the Allahabad High Court's October 2017 order. In its September 6 order, the apex court bench of justices M R Shah and Aniruddha Bose said, "It is not for the employee to insist to transfer him/her and/or not to transfer him/her at a particular place. It is for the employer to transfer an employee considering the requirement." Earlier, the Allahabad High Court had dismissed the lecturer's plea against the rejection of her representation by the authority concerned for transfer from Amroha to Gautam Buddha Nagar. The woman, who was posted as a lecturer in Amroha district, had said that she had made a representation for her transfer to a college at Gautam Buddha Nagar and it was rejected in September 2017 by the authority. Namrata Verma's counsel had argued before the high court in 2017 that she was working at Amroha for the last four years and under the government policy, she was entitled to a transfer. The high court had noted that the order passed by the authority concerned showed that she had remained posted at a college at Gautam Buddha Nagar for about 13 years from the date of her initial appointment in December 2000 to August 2013 and, therefore, her request for posting her again at the same institution was not justified. The high court had ordered that the petitioner was not entitled to be posted at a place where she had already worked at a stretch for about 13 years. The court had also directed that that in case the petitioner has completed the requisite number of years at the place of her present posting, she may request for transfer to some other place but not to a place where she had already worked for 13 years. Notably, senior Advocate, Parvez Bashista had appeared for the petitioner in the Supreme Court while Advocate Sanjay Kumar Tyagi had appeared for the state of Uttar Pradesh. (With Agency Inputs) New Delhi: The Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI) has announced the ICAI CA Result 2021 for July examinations today (September 13). Candidates who appeared in the Final Examination (Old Course & New Course) and Foundation Examination can check their results at caresults.icai.org. Candidates can check their results on the following websites as well -- icaiexam.icai.org and icai.nic.in. Taking on to Twitter ICAI informed: Results of the Chartered Accountants Final Examination (Old Course & New Course) and Foundation Examination held in July 2021 declared. Same can be accessed at: icaiexam.icai.org, icai.nic.in, caresults.icai.org Arrangements have also been made for the candidates of Final Examination (Old Course & New Course) and Foundation Examination desirous of having results on their e-mail addresses to register their requests at the website i.e. icaiexam.icai.org from 11th September 2021. All those registering their requests will be provided their results through e-mail on the e-mail addresses registered as above immediately after the declaration of the result, said ICAI in a statement. ICAI CA Result 2021: Heres how to check the result Step1: Visit the official website caresults.icai.org Step 2: On the home page click on the relevant links: CA Final (Old) July 2021 or CA Final (New) July 2021 and CA Foundation July 2021 Step 3: A new window would open Step 4: Enter your roll number and pin number or your registration number Step 5: Enter the captcha or text shown for verification and submit Step 6: Your CA Result will be displayed on the screen It is important to note that for accessing the ICAI CA Result 2021 at the abovementioned websites the candidate shall have to enter his/her registration no. or PIN no. along with his/her roll number. Live TV New Delhi: India and the United States on Monday (September 13, 2021) jointly launched the Climate Action and Finance Mobilization Dialogue (CAFMD) of the Agenda 2030 Partnership. The Union Cabinet Minister for Environment, Forest & Climate Change Bhupender Yadav met US Special Presidential Envoy for Climate John Kerry and stated that CAFMD will provide both countries with an opportunity to renew collaborations on climate change. "CAFMD will provide both countries an opportunity to renew collaborations on climate change while addressing the financing aspects and deliver climate finance primarily as grants and concessional finance, as envisaged under Paris Agreement to strengthen climate action," Bhupender Yadav said. He added that the dialogue will not only strengthen India-US bilateral cooperation on climate and environment but will also help to demonstrate how the world can align swift climate action with inclusive and resilient economic development. Taking forward the initiative by Prime Minister Shri @NarendraModi ji and @POTUS at the Leaders' Summit on Climate in April 2021, today both countries jointly launched the Climate Action and Finance Mobilization Dialogue of the Agenda 2030 Partnership. pic.twitter.com/sEzAijWfPx Bhupender Yadav (@byadavbjp) September 13, 2021 It was great meeting United States Special Presidential Envoy for Climate Mr @JohnKerry today. We discussed a range of issues to deepen our collaboration in combating climate change and ensuring sustainable development. I look forward to more such meaningful engagements. pic.twitter.com/dOmXi9tUAc Bhupender Yadav (@byadavbjp) September 13, 2021 Earlier in the day, Union Minister for Power and New and Renewable Energy RK Singh also met a delegation led by John Kerry to discuss further collaboration on climate change issues. The Ministry of Power informed that the US side appreciated India for its Energy Access drive and commitment to achieve 450 GW of RE by 2030. The US also lauded India for electrifying 28.02 million homes in 18 months and achieved universal household electrification. As both India and the US earnestly respond to the climate crisis by prioritizing Energy Transition under the leadership of PM @narendramodi and President @JoeBiden, @JohnKerry congratulated Minister Singh on Indias achievements in the clean energy sector. Office of R.K. Singh (@OfficeOfRKSingh) September 13, 2021 John Kerry said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi has set very ambitious targets in India. "The target of 450 GW by 2030, of renewable energy, is one of the most powerful goals in the world. You have already reached about 100 GW. I congratulate India for a remarkable milestone," he said. He also expressed that India is a world leader in demonstrating that economic development and clean energy can go hand-in-hand. "We are absolutely confident that the 450 gigawatts as a goal can and will be reached and we look forward to partnering with India," he added. "I look forward to seeing this ambition hopefully given its proper due credit at COP in Glasgow," the US special envoy added. Kerry is on an official visit to India from September 12-14, during which, he will meet with India counterparts and private sector leaders to discuss efforts to raise global climate ambition and speed India's clean energy transition. Good to see @ClimateEnvoy John Kerry. Continued our discussions on climate action and climate justice. pic.twitter.com/79L0dUoASd Dr. S. Jaishankar (@DrSJaishankar) September 13, 2021 The special envoy's travel will also bolster the US bilateral and multilateral climate efforts ahead of the 26th Conference of the Parties (COP26) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), which will be held from October 31 to November 12, 2021, in Glasgow (United Kingdom). (With agency inputs) Former JNU students' union president and CPI leader Kanhaiya Kumar is in talks with Congress leaders to join the party, sources in the party told ANI. If Kumar joins the Congress, a dramatic change might come about in the opposition in the coming days. If all goes well, a meeting will be arranged with Congress leader Rahul Gandhi after which he may join the party, sources said. Kumar had fought the Lok Sabha polls in 2019 on CPI ticket but lost to BJP's Girraj Singh. Since then he has maintained a low profile and is now set to launch a fresh political innings in the Congress. A top Congress source said that including Kanhaiya in the Congress is under serious consideration at the top level of the party, but it has not yet been finalised how and when he will join. The joining could be significant at a time when the party is apparently facing a leadership crisis with no big faces to attract the masses. Kumar is considered to be a crowd puller, especially among youth. But the Congress needs to consider how this will be viewed by its ally the Rashtriya Janta Dal. A senior leader told ANI that talks were initiated during the Bihar assembly polls too, but for some reason, no fruitful results came. Now another round of talks have been started with the young leader, sources told ANI. Live TV New Delhi: The head of the family is a truck driver with modest education, but the academically brilliant, high-achiever daughter is a medical aspirant. The young ladys dreams were almost close to being shattered owing to a suspected technical glitch in the online portal that generates the exam admit card. However, the Judiciary turned saviour by helping the girl and her family out in a late night hearing that took place on Saturday evening, hours before the National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (NEET) exam on Sunday. V Shanmugapriya, who belongs to Madurai (Tamil Nadu), was all set and ready to give her best shot in the NEET exam. It was on Saturday when she accompanied her father to a nearby browsing centre to download her hall ticket, as the family did not have the means to do it at their residence. She had just completed her 12th grade this year and was keen on attempting her medical entrance exam. To their shock and horror, the father and daughter noticed that the admit card had a photograph and signature of another student. But the personal details on the card including her name, roll number, her fathers name were that of her own. The familys desperate attempts to reach out to the admit card issuing authority, National Testing Agency (NTA), via mail and calls bore no fruit. Given the stringent checks and scrutiny at the test venue, the duo was almost certain that all hope was lost, but tried to give another shot. By 5 pm on Saturday evening, her father reached out to a Madurai-based advocate, who immediately filed the matter before the Madurai bench of the Madras High Court and sought an urgent posting. "The case was filed by 6 pm and fortunately for us, the permission for urgent hearing was granted by 7 pm. Over the next two hours, the required staff and officials assembled at the Court and Justice Suresh Kumar conducted the hearing from 9:15 pm to 10:30 pm. It's extremely rare for such last-minute hearing requests to be entertained, the lawyer told Zee Media. He added that the draft of the order copy was first made available by 11 pm and the final copy was ready post-midnight hour, till which the anxious father waited with bated breath. His daughter meanwhile was resting at home for her big day, for which she had toiled over one year. Finally, armed with the Court order and a lawyer and the intervention of officials, the girl was admitted into the hall and permitted to take her exam on Sunday. Bearing the students roll number, application number, the Court order had strictly instructed the officials to permit her to take the exam. The Court also observed that she was a bright student who had secured 92.8% in her 10th grade and 91.54% in her 12th grade, and that denying her the right to take the exam in 2021 would be havoc to her life and career. The Court also noted that the error in the admit card might have occurred only at the Testing Agencys end, adding that the reasons behind this error could not be unearthed at that moment. This is to be noted that nearly 16 lakh students across India had appeared for the NEET 2021 exam on Sunday. New Delhi: A detailed advisory on precautions to be taken against the Nipah virus was issued by the Karnataka Health Commissioner Dr KV Trilok Chandra on Sunday (September 12, 2021). While issuing the advisory Karnataka Health Commissioner said that the people who are coming from Kerala will be kept under surveillance. "We have already issued a detailed advisory on precautions to be taken against the Nipah virus. Advanced surveillance measures are already in place at all border districts. People coming from Kerala will be under surveillance," he said. Earlier, on September 7, the state government issued an advisory to prevent the outbreak of the infection of the Nipah virus in Karnataka and the health department instructs the district administrations to monitor the arrivals from Kerala for symptoms like fever, altered mental status, severe weakness, headache, respiratory distress, cough, vomiting, muscle pain, convulsion and diarrhoea. In the advisory issued earlier, the Karnataka government, stating that Human Nipah Virus (NiV) infection is an emerging zoonotic disease, had said that in India, two outbreaks in humans were reported from West Bengal and neighboring Bangladesh in 2001 and 2007. Further, confirmed cases and deaths were also reported from Kerala during the outbreak in 2018. The health department also added that this virus can also be transmitted from person to person and through contaminated food. (With Agency inputs) Live TV Noida: The Noida Metro Rail Corporation (NMRC) has decided to resume services of its Aqua Line between Noida and Greater Noida on Saturdays, officials said on Friday. The decision has been taken in view of the Uttar Pradesh government lifting the curfew on Saturdays, NMRC Managing Director Ritu Maheshwari said. Earlier, the government had imposed curfews due to the COVID-19 pandemic on Saturdays and Sunday, with the metro rail service between Noida and Greater Noida also remaining suspended for the weekend. "The weekend curfew has been lifted by the Uttar Pradesh government on Saturdays. Accordingly, the NMRC has decided to resume the metro rail service on Saturdays," Maheshwari said."This change will be effective from August 14 onwards. The train operation will not be there on Sundays because the state government has not lifted the curfew on Sunday," she added. The trains run at an interval of 10 minutes during peak hours (8 am to 11 am and 5 pm to 8 pm) and 15 minutes during non-peak hours from Monday to Friday, the NMRC said. Metro train services on Saturdays will be available at an interval of 15 minutes throughout the day, it said. Also, from August 14, the NMRC said it will operate its metro train services from 6 am till 10 pm from Monday to Saturday. Live TV New Delhi: Senior Congress leader and former Union Minister Oscar Fernandes died aged 80, the official Twitter account of the Indian National Congress (INC) informed on Monday (September 13, 2021). Oscar Fernandes reportedly breathed his last at a private hospital in Mangaluru. "A Congress stalwart, his vision for an inclusive India had a huge influence on the politics of our times. The Congress family will deeply miss his mentorship and guidance," the INC tweeted. We are deeply saddened by the demise of Shri Oscar Fernandes ji, our heartfelt condolences to his family. A Congress stalwart, his vision for an inclusive India had a huge influence on the politics of our times. The Congress family will deeply miss his mentorship & guidance. pic.twitter.com/UXcLI765yP Congress (@INCIndia) September 13, 2021 Prime Minister Narendra Modi condoled the death and expressed, "Saddened by the demise of Rajya Sabha MP Shri Oscar Fernandes Ji. In this sad hour, my thoughts and prayers are with his family and well-wishers. May his soul rest in peace." Saddened by the demise of Rajya Sabha MP Shri Oscar Fernandes Ji. In this sad hour, my thoughts and prayers are with his family and well-wishers. May his soul rest in peace: PM @narendramodi PMO India (@PMOIndia) September 13, 2021 Congress' General Secretary Randeep Singh Surjewala took to his Twitter and said that Oscar Fernandes was a guide, mentor, an organizational builder who connected to the Congress workers and they loved him in return. "A banyan tree of the Congress Party has fallen. There will perhaps never be anyone like him. Our heartfelt homage to an eternal Congressman!," Surjewala said. Oscar Fernandes ji was a guide, mentor, organizational builder; who connected to the Congress workers & they loved him in return. A banyan tree of the Congress Party has fallen. There will perhaps never be anyone like him. Our heartfelt homage to an eternal Congressman! pic.twitter.com/PHbl4WKy5d Randeep Singh Surjewala (@rssurjewala) September 13, 2021 Oscar Fernandes was hospitalised in July after reportedly suffering a fall while doing yoga at his house. The Rajya Sabha member had also undergone surgery to remove a clot in his brain. Live TV It is 'unbelievable' that the Centre is refusing to file a detailed affidavit on a batch of pleas seeking independent probe into the alleged Pegasus snooping row, one of the petitioners argued in the Supreme Court on Monday. A bench headed by Chief Justice N V Ramana was told by senior advocate Kapil Sibal, appearing for veteran journalists N Ram and Sashi Kumar who have filed one of the pleas, that the government cannot tell the apex court to 'shut your eyes'. "This is unbelievable that the Government of India says we will not tell the court," Sibal told the bench, also comprising justices Surya Kant and Hima Kohli. "The government cannot tell your lordships to shut your eyes and say we will do what we want and we will do it through an internal inquiry," Sibal said, adding it is the bounden duty of the government to tell its citizens the factual position on the issue. During the hearing, Solicitor General Tushar Mehta said the government does not wish to file a detailed affidavit in the "larger national interest" on the pleas as such issues cannot be a subject matter of public discourse. Sibal said the petitioners want to know whether Israeli firm NSO's spyware Pegasus was used in the alleged surveillance of some eminent Indians, and this does not reveal any secrets of the state or impact national security. "My friend (Mehta) says making that statement on oath itself is detrimental to national security. I am sorry, it is detrimental to the process of justice," the senior lawyer said. Fundamental rights of the citizens have to be protected, he said, adding that Pegasus spyware is illegal and cannot be used. Sibal said international agencies have stated that Indians were targeted by the spyware and yesterday, Germany has also accepted that Pegasus was used for the purpose of countering terrorism. He said the government should not be allowed to constitute a committee of its own. Senior advocate Shyam Divan, appearing for one of the petitioners, said the snooping has been "an assault on the democracy" and the spyware not only snoops but it may also implant some material into the devices being tracked. Several senior lawyers such Rakesh Dwivedi, Dinesh Dwivedi, Colin Gonsalves and Meenakshi Arora also argued in the case and demanded credible and independent probe into the snooping allegations. Arora said that a special investigation team headed by a retired judge of the apex court should be there to look into the matter. Advocate M L Sharma, one of the petitioners, drew the court's ire for saying "your colleague judge" during the arguments. "What is this your colleague judge? Is this the way to address the court," the CJI told Sharma. The solicitor general also objected to Sharma's submission and said he cannot address the court like this. "It is nor correct Mr Sharma. There is dignity in arguing the matters," the bench said. Sharma said he wanted to say something else but he think, he gave a wrong impression. The bench, after hearing the submissions, said it would pass an interim order in the matter. Mehta told the bench that government has "nothing to hide" and that is why the Centre has on its own said that it will constitute a committee of domain experts who will look into these allegations. He said the issue whether a particular software is used or not used by the government cannot be a subject matter of public discourse as it has its "own pitfalls" and it would be better if target groups, like terror outfits, do not know what is being used to combat their activities. The Centre had earlier filed a limited affidavit in the top court saying the pleas seeking an independent probe into the Pegasus snooping allegations are based on "conjectures and surmises or on other unsubstantiated media reports or incomplete or uncorroborated material". The pleas are related to reports of alleged snooping by government agencies on eminent citizens, politicians and scribes by using Israeli firm NSO's spyware Pegasus. An international media consortium has reported that over 300 verified Indian mobile phone numbers were on the list of potential targets for surveillance using Pegasus spyware. Live TV New Delhi: First-term MLA Bhupendra Patel on Monday (September 13, 2021) took oath as the Chief Minister of Gujarat and was congratulated by several leaders including Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The 59-year old who was unanimously elected BJP legislature party leader on Sunday was sworn in as the state's 17th chief minister by Governor Acharya Devvrat at a ceremony in Gandhinagar. Extending congratulations to 'Bhupendra Bhai', PM Narendra Modi said that he has known him for years and have seen his exemplary work in the BJP Organisation and in civic administration and community service. "He will certainly enrich Gujarat's growth trajectory," PM Modi expressed. Congratulations to Bhupendra Bhai on taking oath as CM of Gujarat. I have known him for years and have seen his exemplary work, be it in the BJP Organisation or in civic administration and community service. He will certainly enrich Gujarats growth trajectory. @Bhupendrapbjp Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) September 13, 2021 The Prime Minister also praised Vijay Rupani and said that during his five years as CM, the former Chief Minister of Gujarat has undertaken many people-friendly measures. He "He worked tirelessly for all sections of society. I am certain he will continue to contribute to public service in the times to come," PM Modi said for Vijay Rupani, who made a surprise exit from the post on Saturday. During his five years as CM, Vijay Rupani Ji has undertaken many people-friendly measures. He worked tirelessly for all sections of society. I am certain he will continue to contribute to public service in the times to come. @vijayrupanibjp Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) September 13, 2021 During the oath-taking ceremony, Union Home Minister Amit Shah and chief ministers of some BJP-ruled states were also present at the Raj Bhavan. Union Home Minister Amit Shah congratulates the new CM of Gujarat, Bhupendra Patel after the sworn-in ceremony. CMs of BJP ruled states, including Haryana CM Manohar Lal Khattar, Madhya Pradesh CM Shivraj Singh Chouhan, Goa CM Pramod Sawant were also present in the ceremony. pic.twitter.com/BR0v9CxZNp ANI (@ANI) September 13, 2021 Post ceremony, Vijay Rupani also said that he has full faith that under Patel's leadership, the party will move forward, as will the development of the state. "Gujarat will become a role model for all states," he said. "In the upcoming Assembly polls, BJP will win Gujarat under the leadership of Bhupendra Patel. I will keep on working as a party worker and will follow his (Patel) instructions," the former Gujarat CM added. Born in Ahmedabad, Patel is an MLA from the Ghatlodia seat, which he won by over 1.17 lakh votes in 2017, the highest margin in that poll. Patel, notably, has never held a ministerial post, just like PM Narendra Modi, who was never a minister when he became Gujarat CM 20 years ago. With state Assembly polls scheduled in December 2022, the BJP is banking on Patel, a Patidar, for poll victory. In the 2017 Assembly elections, BJP had bagged 99 of the 182 seats and Congress got 77. (With agency inputs) Live TV New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Monday (September 13) said it would hear on September 20 the West Bengal government's appeal challenging the Calcutta High Court order directing court-monitored CBI probe into the heinous cases of rape and murder during the post-poll violence in the state after accepting the NHRC panel's recommendations. A bench comprising Justices Vineet Saran and Aniruddha Bose deferred the matter to go through a chart submitted by the state government. Senior advocate Kapil Sibal, appearing for the state government, pointed to the members of the committee that has been formed to investigate the incidents and said, "Can you imagine these people have been appointed to collect the data? Is this a BJP investigating committee my Lords?" He further said that for cases like rape and murder there is the CBI and for other events, there is a Special Investigative Team (SIT). The apex court then observed, "If somebody had a political past and if he lands up in an official position by that very fact will we treat him to be biased?" Sibal submitted that the members are still posting posts related to BJP and how can the chairman of the Human Rights Committee appoint such members? He sought some interim order in the meantime. The apex court then said that it would hear the case on September 20. "Nothing will happen. We'll have it on Monday," the bench said. The state government in its special leave petition alleged that it did not expect fair and just investigation by the central agency which is busy foisting cases against the functionaries of ruling Trinamool Congress Party. Earlier, lawyer Anindya Sundar Das, one of the PIL petitioners on whose plea the High Court August 19 verdict came, had filed a caveat in the apex court urging that no order be passed without hearing him if the state or other litigant move appeals. A five-judge bench of the High Court, headed by Acting Chief Justice Rajesh Bindal, had ordered a CBI investigation in all alleged cases of heinous crimes in West Bengal after the assembly poll results this year in which the ruling TMC came back to power. As regards other criminal cases related to post-poll violence, the high court had directed that they be investigated by a Special Investigation Team under the monitoring of the court. The high court bench, which also comprised justices I P Mukerji, Harish Tandon, Soumen Sen and Subrata Talukdar, had observed that there were "definite and proved" allegations that complaints of the victims of violence in the aftermath of the West Bengal assembly polls were not even registered. Ordering setting up of an SIT to probe all other cases, it had said that it will include Suman Bala Sahoo, Soumen Mitra and Ranveer Kumar, all IPS officers of the West Bengal cadre. "All the cases where, as per the report of the Committee, the allegations are about murder of a person and crime against women regarding rape/attempt to rape, shall be referred to CBI for investigation," it had said. The high court has also directed the NHRC committee, constituted by its chairman on a direction by the five-judge bench, and any other commission or authority and the state to immediately hand over the records of the cases to the CBI to carry forward the probe. The bench had said it will monitor the investigations by both the CBI and the SIT and asked the two agencies to submit status reports to the court within six weeks. It had said that the working of the SIT will be overseen by a retired Judge of the Supreme Court for which a separate order will be passed after obtaining his/her consent. In its ruling, the bench had said heinous crimes such as murder and rape "deserve to be investigated by an independent agency which in the circumstances can only be Central Bureau of Investigation". The bench had said the state failed to register FIRs even in some cases of the alleged murder. "This shows a pre-determined mind to take the investigation into a particular direction." "Under such circumstances, investigation by independent agency will inspire confidence to all concerned," it had noted. It had said allegations that the police had not registered a number of cases initially and that some were registered only after the court had intervened or the committee was constituted were found to be true. It had observed that the facts in relation to the allegations made in the PILs are "even more glaring" as the incidents are not isolated to one place in the state. The NHRC committee had on July 13 submitted its final report to the court. An interim report of the NHRC committee had mentioned that Atif Rasheed, a member of the committee, was obstructed from discharging his duty and he and his team members were attacked by some undesirable elements on June 29 in the Jadavpur area on the southern fringe of the city, the court noted. The PILs had alleged that people were subjected to assault, made to flee homes and properties that were destroyed during the violence in the wake of the assembly elections and sought impartial probe into the incidents. Live TV New Delhi: Ahead of filing her nomination from Bhabanipur assembly constituency, the Bharatiya Janta Partys (BJP) candidate Priyanka Tibrewal interacted with the reporters on Monday (September 13, 2021) and said that the people of Bhabanipur have been given a big opportunity to make history. This is a fight against injustice. This is a fight for justice, for the people of West Bengal. I would like to tell the people of Bhabanipur that they've received a big opportunity, they should come forward and make history, said BJP's Priyanka Tibrewal ahead of filing nomination from Bhabanipur assembly constituency. This is a fight against injustice. This is a fight for justice, for the people of West Bengal. I would like to tell the people of Bhabanipur that they've received a big opportunity, they should come forward and make history: Priyanka Tibrewal, BJP candidate for Bhabanipur bypolls pic.twitter.com/NHUxfulnZR ANI (@ANI) September 13, 2021 Priyanka Tebriwal is scheduled to file her nomination papers for the by-election to the Bhabanipur seat today. She will contest against West Bengal Chief Minister and Trinamool Congress Supremo Mamata Banerjee. Targeting Mamata Banerjee over post-poll violence in the state, Tibrewal said that the people have the right to live but this right is being taken away by Mamata Banerjee and her party. Additionally, Tibrewal also visited the Kalighat Temple, Kolkata on Saturday where she offered her prayers to Goddess Kali. Tibrewal also stated that the elections would not be conducted with transparency as the ruling party supports violence. Live TV New Delhi: Apparently, 9/11 (terrorist attacks against the US carried on September 11, 2001) had nothing to do with Sikhs, but the community inadvertently became victim to one of the ghastly attacks on the US soil carried out by Islamist terror group al-Qaeda. Immediately after the attack, the Sikh males were targeted, especially by white supremacists, who would taunt them for their turban, beard, and similar looks to that of Islamist terrorists. The young Sikh children were bullied in schools and marketplaces and often subjected to hate crimes of varied natures. Various Sikh bodies across the world claim to have worked tirelessly to acquaint the world with the distinct Sikh identity post 9/11 and even during the coronavirus pandemic but have not been completely successful in achieving their target owing to which Sikhs still become victims to hate crimes. The international Sikh leadership had also been endeavouring to lobby politicians and use technology and their contacts across the globe to ensure that those in power understand their concerns. Amrik Singh, Chair of the Sikh Federation (UK), said that they had held National Sikh Convention at Guru Nanak Gurdwara, Smethwick on September 12. Twenty years earlier we had the vision to develop the first-ever Sikh agenda for the UK government that was launched at the convention in September 2001 within days of the 9/11 terror attack. Since then we have had new global challenges, especially linked to discrimination and attacks on our Sikh identity. We have however had some notable successes in defending our Sikh identity and have come a long way, although the re-emergence of the Taliban will create further difficulties he told Zee Media. "Post attack at twin tower on September 11, 2001, there has been strong sentiment against the perpetrators of this attack in the United States but at many places in the US, Sikhs were targeted because of mistaken identity. From verbal to physical attacks reported at many places, even places of worship were targeted and the first casualty was a Sikh, Balbir Singh Sodhi with a fatal shooting But gradually efforts were made to educate the American people to let them know about Sikhs," said Pritpal Singh, coordinator American Gurdwara Parbhandhak Committee (AGPC). This was one of the main reasons for the inception of the American Sikhs Congressional caucus, Which is supported by bipartisan Congressmen of the united state of America claims Pritpal Singh. Many Sikh organizations including Sikh Coalition, United Sikhs, AGPC, Eco Sikh like Sikh bodies contributed, and cases of hate crime were put onto trials and punished by the courts, yet there is still a gap to fill however we were able to bring the law of hate crime in force. On the 20th Anniversary of the #911attack, we remember and mourn the lives of the people who were killed in the horrifying attacks. That day continues to haunt individuals who, in the aftermath, became the targets of #racism and #victims of #hatecrimes. https://t.co/xJ3YtwPqmu pic.twitter.com/ZL2ysLjut7 UNITED SIKHS (@unitedsikhs) September 12, 2021 The hate crimes against Sikhs have been largely due to their outlook no matter how much the community performs or even outperforms others in the humanitarian services across the globe. Through the support of the Sikh Coalition and other allied organizations, Congresswomen Pramilya Jayapal and Judy Chu introduced a resolution recognizing the racist backlash faced by our communities after 9/11 and calling for a full review of the ways that our government furthered that backlash, said Satjeet Kaur, Executive Director of the Sikh Coalition. Today, we join the world in solemnly recognizing the 20th anniversary of the #September11 attacks. More than 3,000 individuals lost their lives that day; thousands later died due to injuries or long term effects, and countless more were lost to hate or war in the decades since. Sikh Coalition (@sikh_coalition) September 11, 2021 Twenty years after 9/11, we have made so much progress--but still have more to do together, said Satjeet Kaur, Executive Director of the Sikh Coalition. MeanWhile paying respect at the 9/11 Memorial in New York, Taranjit Singh Sandhu India's envoy to the United State of America said, "the world must unite against this menace September 11". Paid respects at the 9/11 Memorial in #NewYork today. Remembering all the innocent victims of the dastardly attacks. 20 years on, 9/11 is a stark reminder of the continuing threat of #terrorism. The world must unite against this menace!#September11 pic.twitter.com/MFFVWORik5 Taranjit Singh Sandhu (@SandhuTaranjitS) September 11, 2021 Here in India both the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee and Delhi Sikh Gurdwara Management Committee, the key Sikh organizations, have been harping on their voice of doing relentless work to inform the world about the distinct Sikh identity through Indian embassies abroad but their efforts appeared to have born no fruits given the incessant hate crime against Sikhs. Live TV New Delhi: The Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) has released several Assistant Professor vacancies and has invited applications from interested candidates. The vacancies have been announced at upsconline.nic.in and eligible candidates can apply online. The last date to apply is September 30, 2021. Check all the details below: UPSC Recruitment 2021: Name of posts and number of vacancies Assistant Professor (Chemistry) -- 01 Assistant Professor (Electrical Engg.) -- 01 Assistant Professor (Electronics & Communication Engg.) -- 02 Assistant Professor (Electronics & Instrumentation Engg./Control Instrumentation Engg.) -- 01 Assistant Professor (Mathematics) -- 01 Assistant Professor (Manufacturing Engg./ Production Engg.) -- 01 Assistant Professor (Mechanical Engg. ) -- 01 UPSC Recruitment 2021: Qualifications Assistant Professor (Chemistry): (i) Good academic record with at least 55% marks (or an equivalent grade in a point scale wherever grading system is followed) at the Masters Degree level in Chemistry from an Indian University, or an equivalent degree from an accredited foreign University. (ii) The candidate must have cleared the National Eligibility Test (NET) conducted by the UGC/CSIR or similar test accredited by the UGC like SLET/SET. (iii) Candidate with PhD Degree awarded in accordance with the University Grants Commission (Minimum Standards and Procedure for award of PhD Degree) Regulation 2009 are exempted from the requirement of NET/SLET/SET. (iv) NET/SLET/SET shall not be required for such Masters Programmes in discipline for which NET/SLET/SET is not conducted. Assistant Professor (Electrical Engg): First class Masters degree in Electrical Engg Assistant Professor (Electronics & Communication Engg): First class Masters degree in Electronics & Communication Engg Assistant Professor (Electronics & Instrumentation Engg/Control Instrumentation Engg): First class Masters degree in Electronics & Instrumentation Engg./Control & Instrumentation Engg. Assistant Professor (Mathematics): (i) Good academic record with at least 55% marks (or equivalent grade in a point scale wherever grading system is followed) at the Masters Degree level in Mathematics from an Indian University, or an equivalent degree from an accredited foreign University. (ii) The candidate must have cleared the NET conducted by the UGC/CSIR or similar test accredited by the UGC like SLET/SET. (iii) Candidate with PhD Degree awarded in accordance with the UGC. (iv) NET/SLET/SET shall not be required for such Masters Programmes in discipline for which NET/SET/SLET is not conducted. Assistant Professor (Manufacturing Engg/ Production Engg): First class Masters degree in (Manufacturing Engg./ Production Engg.) Assistant Professor (Mechanical Engg): First class Masters degree in Mechanical Engg. UPSC Recruitment 2021: Age limit Assistant Professor (Chemistry) -- 40 years Assistant Professor (Electrical Engg.) -- 38 years Assistant Professor (Electronics & Communication Engg.) -- 40 years Assistant Professor (Electronics & Instrumentation Engg./Control Instrumentation Engg.) -- 38 years Assistant Professor (Mathematics) -- 35 years Assistant Professor (Manufacturing Engg./ Production Engg.) -- 35 years Assistant Professor (Mechanical Engg.) -- 38 years While some of the vacancies have been announced for unreserved candidates, the others have been announced for reserved candidates. Click here to check the official notification. Live TV NEW DELHI: The Shivraj Singh Chauhan-led BJP government in Madhya Pradesh may soon announce a 5 per cent hike in the Dearness Allowance (DA) for the state government employees and pensioners. It has also emerged that the MP government is also likely to hike the Dearness Relief (DR) for pensioners across the state. With regard to this, the states Finance Department has prepared a draft proposal and sent it to the chief ministers office for consideration. The final decision in this regard will be taken by the Chief Minister. At present, the state employees are getting 12 percent Dearness Allowance (DA), which can be further hiked by 5 percent. If the proposal is approved, around 7 lakh MP government employees will benefit from the move. But the decision to hike DA and DR is also likely to increase the financial burden on the states exchequer. It may be noted that the central govt employees already get a 28 percent dearness allowance. The Shivraj government has already announced the annual increment to the employees. In view of the upcoming by-elections and the festive season, it is expected that the MP government will soon increase the dearness allowance. The previous Kamal Nath government had decided to increase the DA of state government employees by 5 percent, but it could not be implemented due to the Coronavirus epidemic. The opposition parties had been attacking the Shivraj government over the same. Now, with the COVID-19 situation and economic activities back o track, the revenue collection of the government has also improved significantly. In such a situation, the MP government is now mulling to implement the decision to increase DA and DR. It may be noted that the state government employees have also put forward their demand for a hike in DA. The MP government has reportedly agreed to consider giving a hike in DA to address the growing resentment among the state government employees and pensioners. The Centre is also likely to give a big bonanza to central employees as a Diwali gift in the coming days. It has emerged that the Centre can increase the rate of dearness allowance (DA) and dearness relief (DR) for pensioners. At present, central employees get 28 percent dearness allowance, which is likely to be increased to 31 percent. The DR of pensioners can also be increased to 31 percent, sources told Zee News. Live TV New Delhi: Candy starring Ronit Roy and Richa Chadha has opened to raving reviews from audiences and scores high on IMDB with a rating of 9.3. Starring Ronit Roy and Richa Chadha, and directed by Ashish R Shukla, the show has earned a rating of 9.3 on IMDB, making it one of the highest rated shows. The thriller, set in Rudrakand, started streaming on Voot Select on 8th September, wowing the OTT audience. Revolving around how a murder impacts those in power and brings them under the radar of law, the eight-episode series is packed with diverse elements from drugs, corruption, redemption and monsters to cops, masters, and students. Richa essays the role of the policewoman Ratna Sankwar, while Ronit plays a character named Jayant Parekh. The show also features Manu Rishi Chadha, Riddhi Kumar and Gopal Dutt in pivotal roles. Candy has been lauded by the critics as an an engaging thriller with unpredictable twists, worth binge-watching, full of twists galore, and a good mix of drama, mystery and intrigue. Ever since the show began streaming on Voot, audiences and critics have been showering praise on it on social media. Taran Adarsh, tweeted, #Candy - the new murder-mystery on @VootSelect - is thrilling, captivating... The script is a big plus, which keeps you hooked till finale... The edge-of-the-seat thriller - embellished with drama + twists + first-rate performances [@RonitBoseRoy, @RichaChadha ] - is a must watch! #Candy - the new murder-mystery on @VootSelect - is thrilling, captivating... The script is a big plus, which keeps you hooked till finale... The edge-of-the-seat thriller - embellished with drama + twists + first-rate performances [@RonitBoseRoy, @RichaChadha] - is a must watch! pic.twitter.com/WCJflON2sy taran adarsh (@taran_adarsh) September 7, 2021 Sreedhar Pillai praises the show and writes, #Candy seems to be an outstanding mystery thriller on @VootSelect - a completely dramatic dose 4 Indian audience with amazing cliffhangers to hold you on till finale.The sharply written thriller filled with interesting twists & stellar performances of @RichaChadha & @RonitBoseRoy #Candy seems to be an outstanding mystery thriller on @VootSelect- a completely dramatic dose 4 Indian audience with amazing cliffhangers to hold you on till finale.The sharply written thriller filled with interesting twists & stellar performances of @RichaChadha & @RonitBoseRoy pic.twitter.com/T1fLXKMvLF Sreedhar Pillai (@sri50) September 7, 2021 Komal Nahta, tweeted, What should you expect from Voot Selects new web series, Candy? It will stream from tomorrow. Heres my review of the whodunnit: https://youtu.be/H7W2hVqD3Z8 #Candy @vootselect #UnwrapTheSin @RichaChadha @RonitBoseRoy A user on Twitter wrote, Shashank Baranwal tweeted, #Candy on @VootSelect is a must watch for all. After Illegal and Asur, this is again one of the best series from @VootSelect and @RonitBoseRoy, running short of words to praise your acting and performance. Loved it. Brilliant. OTT viewers, watch it. Another user commented, @RichaChadha is really great in #Candy. I highly recommend to watch this #CandyOnVootSelect. Both Ronit and Richa are pleased with the response their show has garnered from the audiences. For someone who always loves to experiment with her character and movies, Richa says, Voot Selects Candy is an opportunity for me to play a distinct character of a cop with such a vivid graph. Its been challenging to play a badasss policewoman. Ronit says, Candy is a really enthralling and exciting story that holds a great amount of mystery, fear, hope and suspense. Ive had the privilege to have worked with many talented actors and directors and this one is no different. Thanks to our creative heads and director Ashish Shukla who have made every character nuanced and extremely engaging. This is the first time Ive had the chance to play such a layered character. I'm really looking forward to this one. Stay tuned as the series will unwrap the sin. New Delhi: 'Ayushmann Bhava' and 'Taarak Mehta Ka Ooltah Chashmah' actor Prashant Bajaj escaped with minor injuries as his car met with an accident at the MTNL junction in Mumbai recently. An FIR was registered against the driver of an autorickshaw that hit Prashant's car which was badly damaged on the front. Prashant said, "I can't thank God enough for escaping this. It looked horrible initially. I felt as if I lost my limb. I was numb but then people were there and I could come home safe. We have filed an FIR and the police will do their due diligence. The autorickshaw driver who hit me is safe as well and thank God for that. A huge thank you to all my fans for the love and support. Stay safe." Online frauds have increased a lot these days. Keeping that in mind, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) had issued a warning to the general public against the rise in fraudulent transactions. On September 13, RBI in a tweet alerted people against bank frauds that are related to Know Your Customer (KYC) documents. The apex bank warned people that they should never share any kind of personal account-related information with fraudsters. This comes after the bank has received so many complaints and reports on the customers being cheated in the name of KYC updation. People should not share any kind of OTP, card details, PIN number or anything confidential. RBI said in a tweet, RBI cautions against frauds in the name of KYC updation. It also had a link to the press release put out by the RBI. RBI said, The usual modus operandi in such cases include receipt of unsolicited communication, such as calls, SMSs, emails, etc., by customer urging him/her to share certain personal details, account/login details/ card information, PIN, OTP, etc. or install some unauthorised/ unverified application for KYC updation using a link provided in the communication. Such communications are also reported to carry threats of account freeze/ block/closure. Once customer shares information over call/message/unauthorised application, fraudsters get access to customers account and defraud him/her. Members of public are hereby cautioned not to share account login details, personal information, copies of KYC documents, card information, PIN, password, OTP, etc. with unidentified persons or agencies, the apex bank added. RBI further said in a statement that certain details should not be shared via unverified or unauthorised channels/websites or even applications after getting such a request. If this happens, customers should quickly contact their bank branch to cross check documents or information. The RBI said, It is also clarified that while the Regulated Entities (REs) are required to undertake periodic updation of KYC, the process of periodic updation of KYC has been simplified to a large extent vide circular dated May 10, 2021. Further, vide circular dated May 5, 2021, REs have been advised that in respect of customer accounts where periodic updation of KYC is due and pending as on date, no restrictions on operations of such account shall be imposed till December 31, 2021, for this reason alone, unless warranted under instructions of any regulator/ enforcement agency/court of law, etc. Live TV #mute Walmart Inc said on Monday that a press release regarding the retailer`s partnership with cryptocurrency litecoin was fake. A spokesperson for the company told Reuters that the release "was not real". Litecoin did not immediately respond to Reuters request for comment. The fake statement said Walmart would allow its customers to make payments with litecoin at its online stores, sending litecoin prices up as much as 27.4%. It quickly gave up most of those gains and was last trading up about 5%. An email to a contact person given in the fake statement has remained `undeliverable`. NEW YORK: An old video of a bizarre incident in which an American woman is being attacked with a semen-filled syringe has now become viral on social media. The viral video shows a man, identified as Thomas Byron Stemen, stabbing the victim - Katie Peters - with a syringe filled with semen in Maryland, America. The bizarre and extremely shocking incident that was caught on CCTV took place in February 2020. Stemen had attacked Katie Peters while she was roaming at Christopher's Fine Foods on Shady Side Road in Churchton. The CCTV footage shows Stemen walking closely behind Peters before stabbing her with the sperm-filled injection. The woman confronted the attacker when he injected the syringe in her buttocks, I know, it feels like a bee sting, doesnt it? he said as he injected her in her buttocks. Stemen was arrested and charged with first- and second-degree assault and reckless endangerment. Later, the Maryland Police also discovered more syringes in his car and home, all full of his semen. According to investigators, Stemen had in past attacked two other people before Peters. It was also found that the attacker had moved from Ohio and had six prior convictions on his record from 1986 to 1996. He had been previously served a warrant in 1999 as a fugitive from justice, according to Maryland online court records. The records showed that he was also booked in 2013 for a domestic violence civil suit. He had pleaded guilty in June and has now been jailed for 10 years for stabbing the woman with a syringe filled with his semen in a supermarket. DUBAI: Qatar`s foreign minister said on Monday the Gulf state has urged Afghanistan`s new Taliban rulers to respect women`s rights and that it was still too early to consider recognising their government. Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al-Thani was speaking in a joint news conference with French foreign minister Jean-Yves Le Drian in Doha. Le Drian said dozens of French nationals are still in Afghanistan and Paris is working with Qatar to evacuate them. "We have always urged the Taliban and the government, we reiterated that yesterday, that the Afghan people`s gains must be protected including women`s rights and their role in the development of Afghanistan," Sheikh Mohammed said. "We gave them many examples of Muslim countries, including Qatar, a state with an Islamic system, where women enjoy fully their rights," he added. During their previous 1996-2001 rule, the Taliban severely restricted women`s rights, including banning them from education and work, and there are fears they may do so again following their return to power last month with the collapse of the Western-backed government and the withdrawal of foreign forces. Qatar, an absolute monarchy where political parties are banned, has itself come under criticism from Human Rights Watch and others for its position on women. Although they have a relative freedom in the Gulf state, women are still under the guardianship system that prevents them from making independent decisions on basic rights such as marriage, travel and accessing reproductive health care without a male guardian`s approval. The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet said on Monday the Taliban had contradicted public promises on rights including by ordering women to stay at home, blocking teenage girls from school and holding house-to-house searches for former foes. CONSIDERABLE INFLUENCE Sheikh Mohammed met with the Taliban government`s prime minister and other senior officials in Kabul on Sunday. He said the Taliban had told Qatari officials they want to engage with the international community and for embassies, shuttered after it took over Kabul, to reopen. The Qatari and French ministers said the international community is waiting for the Islamist group to fulfil its promises and that it was too early to discuss recognition of the new government in Kabul."We believe keep insisting on the issue of recognition right now is not going to be helpful for anyone," Sheikh Mohammed said. "The position of the state of Qatar as a mediator in the first place has remained impartial and we have said isolation will never be answer, recognition is not a priority but engagement is the only way forward for all of us." Qatar has considerable influence over the Taliban and played a pivotal role in the U.S.-led airlift of its own citizens, other foreign nationals and Afghans who helped Western countries. The capital Doha hosts the Taliban`s political office, which oversaw the negotiations with the United States that eventually led to the withdrawal of U.S. forces from Afghanistan. Le Drian said France was expecting a more inclusive government in Afghanistan but the Taliban failed to create one. The Islamist group announced its cabinet last week formed from its top leaders and excluding other Afghan parties. Live TV